The Marquis of Lansdownsaid, he held in his hand a Petition which, he believed, was the first of that nature that had as yet been decided upon by all the merchants of London engaged in the private trade to India. Many of these individuals had expressed their opinions upon the subject separately, upon various occasions, but this was the first time that they had con-jointly sent forth in a public manner their views and sentiments. It had been stated that the merchants trading privately to India from the Port of London differed in their opinions upon the subject, from the merchants who were engaged in a similar traffic at the out-ports of the United Kingdom. He was, therefore, requested to state, that the petitioners gave it as their opinion, that it was highly desirable that some alteration should be made in the Company's Charter. In this opinion he concurred and recommended the Petition to their Lordships' consideration.
§ The Petition was read and referred to the Committee upon the East-India trade.