A Petition of the mayor, burgesses, and commonalty of the city of Bristol, in common council assembled, was also presented and read; setting forth, tries comprised within the limits of the E. 1. Company's present exclusive privilege, and the petitioners may add with as much security to the due collection of the duties of customs and excise as in the port of London; and praying, that the House will not consent to a renewal of any of those contained in an act passed in the 33d of his present Majesty; but, on the contrary, that at the expiration of that act, the trade to the east of the Cape of Good Hope may be as fully and freely enjoyed by all his Majesty's subjects to and from every port of his Majesty's United Kingdom as it is at present by the East India Company and the port of London exclusively." Ordered to lie upon the table. PETITIONS AGAINST THE CLAIMS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS-FROM The Dean and CANONS OF WINDSOR-THE CLERGY OF NORFOLK AND THE MAYOR, &C. OF BEVERLEY.] A Petition of the dean and canons of Windsor, was presented and read setting forth, "That the petitioners, impressed with a deep sense of the great importance of, and the national and individual benefit which may be expected to arise from lay-exclusive commercial privileges which are ing open the capital skill and industry, and restoring the inherent right of his Majesty's subjects throughout the ports of the United Kingdom to the fuil and free enjoyment of trade and commerce to all ports and places either in possession of or in amity with his Majesty, observe, with the strongest feelings of regret, that it is in the contemplation of the East India Company to apply to the House for a renewal of the Charter granted in 1793; and that the petitioners observe, by the correspondence which has been carried on between the chairman of the E. I. Company and the commissioners for the affairs of India, that the E. I: Company have conceded the general principle of a free trade from the out-ports of the kingdom to the E. I. settlements, still that their concession is coupled with propositions, which, "That the petitioners humbly beg if adopted by parliament, must effectually leave to express their hope that they shall exclude the merchants of this city, as well not be thought to merit the imputation of as those of every other part of the United intolerance, if they pray the House not to Kingdom (except London), from any grant the right of admission either to the prospect of advantageous participation in highest offices of trust and power, or to the trade when so opened; and that it is the exercise of legislative functions, of a declared object of the E. I. Company to late so importunately claimed by our felprevail upon parliament to continue in low subjects the Roman Catholics of the themselves the exclusive possession of the United Kingdom; and that the petiBritish trade with China, under an appre- tioners presume to maintain, with confihension that the greatest danger of quarrels dence, that, in presenting this their humble and the ultimate loss of the China trade Petition to the House, they prove themwould be likely to ensue from a free com- selves to be the friends and advocates of mercial intercourse with that nation, toleration in the only just and constituwhereas the experience of a long course tional acceptation of the term, for they of years, during which the subjects of the cannot forget that the bulwarks erected United States of America have traded ex-by our forefathers in defence of the Protensively with China, must completely set testant faith, were designed as barriers aside all ground for such alarm; and that against the ascendency of those whom exthe petitioners humbly presume, that no-perience had but too fatally shewn to be thing can possibly tend in a greater de- intolerant of any other religion than their gree to the increase of the revenue, and own; and that these barriers and restricthe prosperity of a nation, than the free- tions the petitioners humbly conceive to be dom of its commerce, and the general dif- essential to the integrity of the British con. fusion of the means of carrying it on; and stitution in Church and State, a constitution that, from the recent and very extensive under which, ever since they were imposed, improvements which have been made in a greater share of happiness has been enthe harbour of Bristol, ships of very con-joyed than ever fell to the lot of any siderable burthen can receive and discharge their cargoes afloat, and the port is in every respect suitable for carrying on an extensive commerce with the coun other people, and which has consequently been the envy and admiration of the world; and that, to the possession of so great a blessing, as Englishmen, the pe of the United Church of England and Ireland, cemented in the blood of its martyrs, unless parliament shall in its wisdom provide other means of security, which the petitioners have never yet seen detailed, that may prove a support and defence equally permanent and solid." titioners cannot wish to be thought insensible, but, as ministers of religion, they conceive that they should betray the trust committed to their charge, if they refrained from humbly imploring the House to frustrate all attempts to deprive them of the support and protection of those provisions and enactments to which, under God, they ascribe it, that the purity of the holy faith which they profess has been hitherto maintained." A Petition of the archdeacons of Norwich and Norfolk, and of the clergy of the county of Norfolk, was also presented and read; setting forth, A Petition of the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the town of Beverley, in the county of York, in common council assembled, was also presented and read; setting forth, "That the petitioners have seen, with alarm and sorrow, the unceasing efforts of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects to be admitted into offices of the highest trust and power, and even to sit in the imperial parliament to legislate for a Protestant Church and State; and that the petitioners look, with satisfaction, at the degree of toleration which has been granted to his Majesty's Roman Catholic Protestant ascendency as essential to the safety and stability of the constitution, and dread any innovation which may endanger the civil and religious liberty which this kingdom has so long enjoyed, and which has raised it to its present state of pre-eminence among the nations of Europe; and praying, that the House will resist those claims of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, and continue those safeguards by which our invaluable constitution in Church and State has hitherto been preserved." Ordered to lie upon the table. "That the petitioners view, with increasing concern and alarm, the repeated and persevering efforts of the Roman Catholics of the United Kingdom to obtain from the legislature an elevation to a degree of political power, which, in the humble opinion of the petitioners, cannot be granted them without the most immi-subjects, but at the same time they regard nent danger to the constitution both in Church and State; and that the petitioners feel they should be guilty of a dereliction of duty were they longer to defer expressing, in the most unequivocal but respectful manner, not only that firm and zealous attachment to the Church of which they are ministers, springing from the belief that its doctrines are scriptural, and its ordinances apostolical, for which they claim credit from the House and their country, but also their full persuasion that, with the preservation of that Church, the best interests of true religion, as well as the stability of the monarchy, and consequent happiness and prosperity of the people, are most intimately, and indeed inseparably connected; but great as is their confidence in the purity of the Church as by law established, the petitioners contemplate, with unfeigned satisfaction, the complete and unrestrained exercise of their religion granted to all who separate from her communion; and they humbly conceive that Roman Catholics, in common with all Protestant dissenters, enjoy this toleration in the most ample manner; and therefore the petitioners humbly and most earnestly implore the House not to relax those salutary regulations in the instance of persons professing the Roman Catholic religion, to which all Protestants are at this time compelled to submit, nor to remove those guards and fences which have been so wisely planted round the venerable fabric HOUSE OF LORDS. Wednesday, February 3. PETITIONS AGAINST THE CLAIMS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.] The Bishop of Chichester presented a Petition from the archdeacon, clergy, and others, of Chichester, against the Catholic Claims. He also presented a Petition from the bishop, dean, and chapter of Ely, against the Catholic Claims.-Earl Nelson presented a Petition from the archdeacons of Norwich and Norfolk, against the Catholic Claims. The Bishop of Norwich observed, that the Petition was contrary to his sentiments, and he could not but give his public testimony against the propriety of the clergy interfering in this question-a question which nearly concerned the welfare of several thousands of his Majesty's loyal and faithful subjects, and which ought to be left to the unbiassed decision of the legislature. He could not but lament that any part of the clergy should lead the way in contributing to raise the detestable cry of No Popery, which on a former occasion had produced so much mischief, and he deeply regretted that those illiberal and uncharitable sentiments which petitions of this nature upheld, and which had been banished from the rest of the world, should leave their last footsteps in the sanctuaries of our religion and our temples of literature. The Petition having been read, The Duke of Norfolk observed, that one expression in it, that the Catholics enjoyed the same privileges as the Protestant Dissenters, was not founded in fact, Protestant Dissenters being allowed to sit in parliament, whilst a part of the oaths tendered was levelled expressly at Catholics to prevent their sitting there. The Bishop of Salisbury presented a Petition from the dean and chapter of Salisbury against the Catholic Claims.He also presented a Petition to the same effect from the archdeacon and clergy of Berks, and the dean, archdeacon, and clergy of Salisbury, and two other jurisdictions within the diocese of Salisbury. On one of these Petitions, devised, and by the most solemn appeal to God, denied that they entertained any such tenets. The Bishop of Salisbury also presented a Petition from the dean and chapter, the archdeacon and clergy of Exeter, against the Catholic Claims. Viscount Sidmouth presented a Petition to the same effect from the mayor, aldermen and assistants of the borough of Leeds.-Ordered to lie, upon the table. EAST INDIA COMPANY'S CHARTER.] Viscount Melville presented Petitions from the chamber of commerce of Edinburgh, the convention of the royal burghs in Scotland, and the corporation of Stirling, assembled in guild, against the continuance of the monopoly of the East India Company. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Wednesday, February 3. PETITIONS RESPECTING THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S CHARTER FROM THE MERCH ANTS, &c. OF MANCHESTER—and the MaGISTRATES, &C. OF GLASGOW AND THE MERCHANTS OF BRISTOL.] A Petition of the merchants, and manufacturers of Manchester and Salford, was presented and read; setting forth, The Duke of Norfolk observed, that it stated that the Catholics still believed in "That many of the petitioners have the infallibility of the Pope; and on an- been long and extensively engaged in other, that it charged the Catholics with commercial transactions, embracing still holding the tenet, that sovereigns chiefly the sale and exportation of the might be excommunicated by the Pope. cotton manufactures of this kingdom, on On the language of Petitions which were which the numerous population of the now lying for signature in every alehouse town and neighbourhood of Manchester in Westminster, it would not be worth mainly depend for their support; and while to remark; but when a Petition that the petitioners have entered fully into came from a learned body, it was natural the various considerations which arise to expect that it would be correctly ex- from the efforts of the East India Compressed. It was, therefore, with surprise, pany to obtain a renewal of their expiring he found the Catholics still charged, in charter, and it appears to the petitioners Petitions from learned persons, with hold- capable of the most satisfactory proof, ing the tenets of the infallibility of the that the exclusive privileges hitherto en Pope, and the excommunication of sove-joyed by the company, under the authoreigns; although, by the strongest oaths that could be put to man, they had absolutely denied that they entertained any such tenets. These Petitions, therefore, asserted that which was not the fact, and it was of importance that the misrepresentation should be contradicted. Lord Holland thought the noble duke entitled to thanks for thus vindicating the Catholics from misrepresentation, it being notorious that all the Catholics of Ireland had, by the strongest oaths that could be ( VOL. XXIV.) rity in question, have been found highly " sioned by the unexampled measures of the enemy to effect the destruction of British commerce, and the natural results of the wars in which the nation is now unavoidably engaged, are circumstances which call loudly for every attention to new and legitimate sources of a more extended and permanent trade; and that, to establish an open commercial intercourse generally with the countries from which the existing charter excludes the British merchants, would not only afford the most effectual relief in the present situation of public affairs, but would, as the petitioners confidently submit, most essentially contribute to the lasting benefit and prosperity of the kingdom at large, for it cannot be doubted that the daily improvement and marked superiority of our machinery, the unrivalled skill and ingenuity of our artificers, and the great variety and perfection of our manufactures, would constantly ensure them the advantage of the markets alluded to; and that the petitioners therefore earnestly trust that the House will be pleased to adopt such measures as may, after the termination of the present charter, fully secure to all his Majesty's subjects the right of a free and unlimited trade with those countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope from whence they are now prohibited; and that with this view the petitioners humbly crave leave to be heard, by their counsel, against the expediency of renewing the Company's exclusive powers, and that, if necessary, they may be also allowed to give evidence on the subject at the bar of the House." A Petition of the magistrates and common council of Glasgow, in council assembled, was also presented and read; setLing forth, "That, observing, from its recent resolutions, that the House is to take into its early consideration what arrangement ought in future to be adopted for the regulation of the commerce of these kingdoms with the countries situated to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, and to the west of Cape Horn, the petitioners deem it their duty again to appeal on this most important subject to the justice, the wisdom, and the liberality of parliament; and that the petitioners have learned, with surprise, that it has been maintained the House is precluded, by the vested rights and privileges of the East India Company, from adopting such an arrange ment as may be ascertained to be, upon the whole, the most just and expedient ; and that the petitioners humbly conceive that, in point of justice, all his Majesty's subjects are equally entitled, as the united company of merchants trading to the East Indies, to hold commercial intercourse with all the quarters of the habitable globe: they apprehend that freedom of commerce is one of the birthrights of Britons, which nothing but state necessity, or strong and obvious national expediency, ought ever to induce the legislature to abridge or controul; and they submit that the present question is in reality not whether parliament ought to take from a trading corporation its vested rights and privileges, for these, being of an artificial and temporary nature, necessarily cease with the charter to which they owed their origin, but whether parliament can, in the discharge of its great and paramount duty, longer lend its sanction to an exclusive grant, which experience has proved to be highly inexpedient in general, and not even advantageous to the possessors, and by which the interests of the whole are obviously sacrificed to those of a part of the nation; and the petitioners cannot entertain a doubt that, by laying open to the capital, the skill, and the enterprize of British merchants, those vast regions from which they have been so long excluded, the manufactures of this country will be promoted, its commerce and navigation extended, and the financial and naval resources of the government thereby augmented; and the opening of such a field is certainly at the present conjuncture peculiarly necessary, when the overgrown power of the tyrannical ruler of France excludes this nation from so large a portion of the European continent, and when the natural intercourse with the North American States is for a time interrupted; and that the petitioners are convinced that, under proper regulations, the import as well as the export trade with the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope may be extended indiscriminately to the ports of the united kingdom, without any risk of the payment of the revenue derived by government from that source being evaded; and, if the latter object can be attained, the extension of the privilege to all his Majesty's subjects who are in condition to avail themselves of it is certainly most consistent with the liberal policy of the British legislature; and that the petitioners are also firmly persuaded ture by the East India Company, for a renewal of their exclusive privilege of trade, and confident in the justice and wisdom of the House, the natural and powerful guardians of the people's right, deem it their indispensable duty thus early to represent to the House, that the full and freeright to trade to and with all countries and people in amity with their sovereign, and more particularly with those countries and settlements acquiredand maintained by the efforts and valour of the forces of his Ma that, under proper regulations, the merchants of Great Britain and Ireland may be admitted to a free and unfettered commercial intercourse with the provinces of India, without exciting any unfavourable disposition in the natives towards this country, and without any danger whatever to the stability of the provincial government; and, while they cannot but consider as extremely hard the existing enactinents, by which foreign nations have been admitted to the benefit of this commercial intercourse, and Bri-jesty, is the undoubted birthright and intish subjects excluded, the petitioners humbly suggest the propriety of making such arrangements as may in future secure to the British merchant trading to the British possessions in Asia that protection and reception to which he is justly entitled; and that finally, the petitioners own they cannot perceive that the expenditure incurred by the company in the extension and in the government of the British possessions in the Indian peninsula affords any sufficient ground, in justice or expediency, for continuing to that corporation the monopoly of the trade to China; they have reason to believe that the trade with China, although laid open to all his Majesty's subjects, may be placed on such a footing, and under such regulations, as to prevent any risk of offence by individuals to the government or people of that vast empire; and they are decidedly of opinion, that admission to the Chinese trade is indispensably necessary to enable the British merchant to carry on the trade with the British possessions in Asia with advantage, and with success; and praying the House, in its wisdom, to refuse its sanction to any renewal of the exclusive commercial privileges of the E. I. Company, and to restore to his Majesty's subjects in general their right to carry on, from as many of the ports of the united kingdom as the security of the revenue will permit, a free trade with the British possessions in Asia, and with the other countries situated to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, particularly the empire of China; and farther praying to be heard by counsel in support of this Petition." A Petition of several merchants, traders, and other inhabitants of the city of Bristol, was also presented and read; setting forth, "That the petitioners, in contemplation of an intended application to the legisla heritance of the people of this empire; and that the exclusive privilege of the E. I. Company is a manifest infringement of that right, from which many and great evils have resulted; and that the petitioners further humbly submit to the House, as a sound and incontrovertible principle, that, in this enlightened age, commerce can neither be benefited nor extended by monopoly; and that all ideas of direct participation by the public treasury in behalf of the nation, in the profits of trade, as a compensation or purchase for such monopolised commerce, must and ever will be vain and illusory; and the petitioners humbly adduce the disap. pointed expectations of the nation and the legislature, in regard to the E. I. Company in complete illustration of this principle; and that the petitioners refer to the information before the House, to show that the trade carried on by the E. I. Company has decreased at the very time when, by British exertions, its field has been extended and itself protected from enemies and hostile rivalry; and that foreigners, by the advantages of free and unfettered exertions, have been at the same time successfully competing with the E. I. Com. pany not only in the trade of the Company's own settlements, but also in the trade to China to a vast amount, whilst such trades have been long and obstinately denied to the subjects of the United Kingdom; and that the petitioners further humbly submit to the House, that the prospect of pecuniary participation held out to the country in 1793, not only has not been realised, but has been converted into repeated claims by the E. I. Company on the public purse and credit; and that further and still greater pecuniary assistance will be required to avert embarrassments in which the E. I. Company must otherwise soon be involved; and that the petitioners rely, with the utmost confidence that the House will disregard |