Sitting of 19 February 1813

PETITION OF WINE MERCHANTS, CORRESPONDENTS OF THE ROYAL WINE COMPANY OF OPORTO.
Petition of several wine merchants in Great Britain, correspondents of the Royal Wine Company of Oporto, was presented and read; setting forth,
"That a Petition was presented at the close of the last session of parliament to the House, by certain persons calling themselves "late members of the factory at Oporto," the intent of which Petition was to obtain the abolition of the Royal Wine Company's charter, through the interference of the House, under the pretence that the said Company was an establishment whose tendency and intention was, "the exclusion of his Majesty's subjects from the traffic in the wines of Portugal," and that in consequence of this Petition an application has been sent out from the British government to the Portuguese government at Rio Janeiro and Lisbon, for the relieving the British traders in Portugal from the operation of all the privileges of the Royal Wine Company, that are incompatible with the free and unrestricted trade and commerce carried on by British

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subjects in the kingdom of Portugal, in conformity with the stipulations of the 25th article of the said treaty; and that the petitioners have every reason to fear, that if this application is deemed, in the present situation of the two countries, to be equivalent to a demand of the abolition of the Company's charter, or of any regulations which would render it nugatory, and is acted upon in that view, under an idea that the subject has been fully investigated in this country, that the immediate consequence will be, the inundating of Great Britain with artificial compositions under the denomination of red port, and to materially injure the commerce, navigation, and revenue, of both countries; and that, to enforce their request, the said Petition appeared to contain an opinion of the lords of the Board of Trade in their favour; but that, on the petitioners applying to the said board for the grounds on which such opinion had been given, the petitioners were informed that the opinion alluded to was given about fifty years ago, and that there was not any documents to shew the grounds of it, or upon what investigation it had been founded; from this answer, as also from other documents, the petitioners have reason to believe that this opinion of the lords of trade was the result of ex parte statements, given at the first establishment of the Company, and before its beneficial effects could be felt; and that if this evidence could be produced, it would be found to be the result of disappointed interests and unfounded fears, and not of an investigation of facts, as the petitioners are unable to ascertain that either the Company, or any of its correspondents, were ever called upon to answer any statement against them before such answer was given; and that notwithstanding the heavy complaints made by those petitioners of the grievances and annoyances to which they are subject, and in language which would lead the House to suppose that they had lately arisen, and had annihilated the British wine trade in Portugal, it is a certain fact, that no new restraints have been adopted or acted upon, and those which are the subject of complaint were established to prevent British merchants at Oporto from purchasing such wines as were, before 1756, used to adulterate port wine to such a deterioration of its quality, as caused it to be pronounced in England, by the physicians, injurious to health; and the petitioners are able to prove that the Company was established, and the restraints
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enforced, solely for the purpose of preventing the ruin of the trade by the adulteration of the wines; and that the petitioners observe, that it is slated that the average importation, for a series of former years, paying duty, has been 50,000 pipes; the petitioners, on the contrary, are satisfied that it will appear that the largest series of importations, and those owing to peculiar circumstances, was from 1797 to 1806, when the annual importation, for ten years, was only 47,152, and even from this should be deducted the average annual exportation of 2,208 pipes, which leaves but 44,944 for duty on consumption, and even that this amount is far greater than has ever been annually consumed in Great Britain; and that the importation of 18,378 pipes only, in 1811, was not owing to the prices of the wines being increased by the monopoly of the Wine Company, and to the petitioners not being able to prevent it, in consequence of their having been driven from Oporto, but arose from the large demands for wine for the consumption of the army in Portugal, and more particularly from the large surplus stock of wine in the bonds of Great Britain, from the excess of importation over consumption in the above ten years, and that therefore the revenue has not been injured by the smallness of this importation, there being at the end of the year 1812, after a still smaller importation, about 50,000 pipes in the bonds ready to pay duty, if there was a necessity from consumption to take it out; and that the petitioners have reason, from evidence, to believe, that if the charter of the royal Wine Company be taken away, the greater part of the wines from Oporto would be mixed with thin acid wines, which would afterwards be brought by brandy, elderberry juice, and other intoxicating ingredients, to an artificial strength and colour, such having been the practice before the establishment of the Company, and such practice having, as the petitioners have before stated, decreased its sales; and that the Royal Wine Company was first established in 1756, for twenty years, and has had its charter twice renewed in consequence of the benefits it has produced; that in 1747, ten years before the establishment of the Company, 19,420 pipes only were exported from Oporto; in 1754 this quantity decreased to 13,820; in 1755 it further decreased to 12,869 pipes; and in 1756, the year the Company was first established, it was reduced to 12,111

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pipes; but that, in the year 1757, immediately after the establishment of the Company, it increased to 12,488 pipes, and has ever since continued gradually to increase; so that, though in the ten years prior to the Company's charter there was exported from Oporto only 166,609 pipes of port, yet, in the first ten years after their charter, there was exported from Oporto 166,130, in the second 214,601, in the third 244,744, in the fourth 432,340, in the fifth 471,500; and that the British merchants and the British shipping receive the benefits of this importation, the Royal Wine Company never having exported to Great Britain more than 5,000 pipes in any one year prior to the invasion of Portugal; and the excess of exportations by the Company, since that period, has been to serve some of those who now petition for the abolition of the Company, without whose assistance they could not have kept their trade together; and that the petitioners are satisfied that they are able to prove, upon any candid enquiry into facts, that the Royal Wine Company's charter is not productive of any restriction or hindrance to the free commerce of British merchants, bat that, on the contrary, the existence of the Company and its controul over the making of the wines, and all their regulations as heretofore and at present enforced, is essential to the protection of the trade itself; and that the petitioners have no wish to support any monopoly or privileges injurious to the British merchant, and are wholly ignorant that any such exist; they have in vain endeavoured to ascertain upon what facts those who complain, in this country, assert that any restrictions which have been established by the Company have proved injurious to the merchant or the wine trade in general, or what particular privileges of the Company are objected to, as those who complain have not stated them here or in Portugal; that no specific charges are preferred which can be met either by argument or proof, and merely general assertions of monopoly and restrictions; and that the petitioners are most anxious for an opportunity of meeting any charges which may be brought forward against the conduct of the Port Wine Company, being satisfied that the result of such investigation will completely prove, that the privileges of the Company and their superintendence has proved most beneficial, and is essential to the preservation and prosperity of the port wine trade; and
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praying the House to take the premises into their consideration, and to grant such relief to the petitioners as to the House may seem meet; and that the petitioners may, in case the same should become necessary, or be deemed fit by the House, be heard by themselves or their counsel, agents, and witnesses, in proof of the allegations submitted by them to the House."
Ordered to lie upon the table.

PETITION RESPECTING THE EAST INDIA COMPANY, FROM THE SOCIETY IN SCOTLAND FOR PROPAGATING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
Mr. Wilberforce presented a Petition from the Society in Scotland for propagating Christian knowledge; setting forth,
"That the society was incorporated in the year 1709, by a charter from her majesty queen Anne, for the farther promoting of Christian knowledge and increase of piety and virtue within Scotland, especially in the Highlands, Islands, and remote conners thereof, and for propagating the same in Popish and infidel parts of the world; and that since that time, in consequence of the donations and bequests of pious and benevolent persons, the funds of the society have increased to a considerable amount, and have been faithfully applied to the purposes of the charter, agreeably to the will of the donors; and that the labours of the society, by means of their teachers, catechists, and missionaries, have, it is well known, been attended with great success in the education of youth, in furthering the interests of religion and virtue, and in diffusing, both in Scotland and America, the blessings of civilization and industry, subordination to lawful authority, and attachment to the constitution and government of the British empire; and that it appears to the petitioners, that the exertions of the society can no where be employed more agreeably to the object of the royal charter, or with greater prospect of success, than in those territories and provinces in India which now form a part of his Majesty's dominions; and that, while the natives of those countries have long been and still continue in a state of deplorable ignorance, and addicted to various idolatrous and superstitious usages of the most degrading and horrible description, many of our own countrymen, members of the church of Scotland, employed in the different civil and military departments in India, are

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precluded from enjoying the ordinances of Christianity agreeably to the forms of the Church to which they are attached; and that, while the situation of India, destitute of the means of religious instruction, has long presented the most urgent claims to the humanity of Britons and of Christians, the restrictions to which the intercourse with those countries has hitherto been subjected, have prevented attempts for affording them the relief which the exigencies of their situation so imperiously required; and praying the House to take into consideration the facts which have been stated in this Petition, and to provide, in any Bill that may be passed for renewing the East India Company's charter, that it shall be lawful for the petitioners to impart the benefits of Christianity to the natives of India, and to afford the advantages of religious worship and instruction to our countrymen members of the church of Scotland, who may reside in that part of the British empire, subject always to such salutary regulations as parliament in its wisdom shall judge it necessary to establish."
Ordered to lie on the table.
Petitions against the Claims of the Roman Catholics were presented from the inhabitants of the county of Sligo, the archdeacon and clergy of Bedford, and from the bailiffs, burgesses and other inhabitants of Carnarvon. A Petition in favour of the Claims of the Roman Catholics was presented from the mayor, recorder and inhabitants of Wallingford.

ADMIRALTY REGISTRAR'S BILL.
Mr. Henry Martinrose, pursuant to notice, to move for leave to bring in a Bill relative to the office of the Registrar of the Admiralty. In the brief observations which he intended to make, it would be sufficient to observe, that a great part of the proceeds arose from the money of suitors in the Admiralty Court. It was not the intention of the Bill to interfere with the legitimate fees of the office. It appeared from documents on their table, that the average annual sum which was solely employed for the benefit of the noble lord (Arden) who now held the situation of Registrar, was 200,000 l. and for which no security was taken. It had been conceded last session, by a late right hon. gentleman, who was certainly interested in the profits of the office, for the reversion of it was vested in him, he meant Mr. Perceval,
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that the situation required to be regulated, and indeed he proposed to regulate it much more extensively than it was the object of the present Bill to do, which merely went to assimilate the practice of the court of Admiralty in securing suitors' money, to the practice of the high court of Chancery. The hon. and learned member concluded by moving for leave to bring in a Bill to regulate the office of Registrar of the High Court of Admiralty and the Court of Appeals for Prizes.
Lord Castlereaghsaid, that he certainly should not oppose the Bill in that stage of it, hut that if it should prove to be a similar one to that brought in last session, he should feel himself compelled to oppose it in every part of its progress.—Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.

ROMAN CATHOLICS.
Lord Kenyonmoved for a Return of those Roman Catholics who, during the last ten years, had taken the Oaths, and subscribed the Declaration prescribed by the 31st Geo. 3. His lordship observed, that the Catholics having stated as a reason why further indulgences should be granted to them, their having numerously taken the Oaths and subscribed the Declaration, he wished to ascertain the number who had so done, not with any disposition to question their loyalty, believing that his Majesty had not
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a more loyal class of subjects, but for the purpose of information.
Lord Hollandsuggested the propriety of extending the motion to Ireland, with respect to the oaths taken under the 33d Geo. 3. He wished to know also whether the object of the noble lord's motion was a return of those who had taken the oaths with a view to a qualification, or those who had voluntarily taken them?
Lord Kenyonhad no objection to the motion suggested respecting Ireland. His present object was a return of those who had spontaneously taken the oaths.
The Earl of Radnorobserved, that the returns were made to the privy council, and suggested therefore an alteration in the motion.
Lord Redesdaleread the clause in the Act by which the returns were to be made to the privy council previous to the 25th of December in each year, and observed that chiefly those Catholics took the oaths who possessed property, or who, for other purposes, sought the qualification which the taking the oaths conferred.
The motion was then agreed to.