grievance, the East India monopoly, but to resolve that, on the principles of a liberal economy, the advantages of that trade shall be enjoyed by the nation at large, without exclusion or limitation; lastly, before the evils, which now press so severely on the various classes of the community, are extended and multiplied in a degree, from the contemplation of which in its various aspects the mind revolts, the petitioners beseech of the House to investigate the causes, to ascertain effectual means of counteraction, and, from motives of humanity, of policy, of patriotism, and of justice, to administer the appropriate remedies." Ordered to lie upon the table.

PETITION FROM ESSEX RESPECTING REFORM.] Mr. Westerne presented a Petition from the freeholders and inhabi. tant householders of the county of Essex, setting forth,

they would claim the attention of the House, and which, they are persuaded, will be found to prevail in the case of a great majority in every part of the united empire; and that the petitioners, residing in a town and district, than which none in their county ranks higher in manufacturing importance, and but one in population, possess the means of accurately observing the effects of protracted war and restricted commerce; in illustration of these effects, they would submit to the attentive consideration of the House the high price of all the necessaries of life, the multitudes of the labouring classes of the community thrown out of employment, the consequent difficulty, if not impossibility, of their obtaining honestly, and without parochial aid, the means of subsistence, and the too well founded anticipation of consequences, which (by adding to physical moral evils) must prove still more calamitous both to the individual sufferers, and to the country at large; in thus adverting to the peculiar distresses of one particular class, the petitioners would by no means have it inferred that they are the only sufferers; it must be obvious to the House that the unprecedented number of failures and bankruptcies in the higher departments of commercial society, and in all its descending gradations, are immediately owing to the same causes, which in their ultimate but severest operation affect the labourer and mechanic, war (and especially when conducted on the principles of that in which we are at present involved) being more injurious to a commercial nation like our own, than to one which possesses within itself greater physical resources; and the petitioners pray, that the House will do all that in them lies for the attainment of an honourable peace; but if this great and truly desirable object proves at present unattain able, the petitioners will still feel an anxious solicitude (a solicitude which has increased with each succeeding day's experience) that the House should give due attention to the importance of public economy, and to the removal of all obstacles in the way of commercial intercourse with neutral nations, excluded as this country is in a great degree from the European and American markets; the necessity is sufficiently obvious of widening every remaining channel for the free employment of the commercial capital of the empire; the petitioners therefore most earnestly intreat the House not to allow of any prolongation to the present term of that great national (VOL. XXII.)

"That the petitioners, impelled by a strong sense of the duty they owe to themselves and to their country, at this eventful and unprecedented conjuncture of public affairs, avail themselves of their right of petitioning the House, in order to lay before them their sentiments on the present very imperfect and inadequate representation of the people in parliament under the existing forms of election; and that the petitioners conceive, that one excellent part of the constitution consists in the representative system, by which the people are allowed' a due share in the government; but, after they have seen it distinctly stated, in a Petition presented to the House, on the 6th day of May, in the year 1793, and evidence tendered in proof of the facts, that three hundred and seven of the members, for England and Wales only, are not sent to parliament by the suffrages of the people, that they are, on the contrary, returned by one hundred and fifty-four Peers and Commoners; and when they find that these allegations stand at this day on the Journals of Parliament uncontradicted, they cannot but conclude that the House has lamentably departed from its original and constitutional character, "a full and free representative of the Commons of these realms;" and that to this alarming defect the petitioners ascribe the far greater part of their national calamities, therefore it is they would bring to the recollection of the House the blood that has been wasted in wars, which to say the least, wiser councils might have avoided; therefore they would remind the (4 A)

House of the vast and fearful magnitude of the public expenditure, and of the accumulated increase of debt and taxation; and that to the same source they ascribe the decisions of the House, on various occasions, in manifest opposition to the declared sense of the country, and to its most essential interests, as well as in direct contradiction to their own recorded opimions; above all, the petitioners attribute to this unhappy cause the unwillingness hitherto shewn in parliament to enquire into and correct the corruptions and abuses which prevail, too notoriously for denial, in the procuring of seats in the House, and which tend, by diminishing its virtue, to destroy the confidence of the people in the Commons' House of Parliament; and that for these, as well as for many other powerful reasons that might be derived from existing circumstances, which the petitioners forbear to mention, lest they should too much mix their present feelings with discussion on the vital principles of the liberties of England, they beseech the House, that the Septennial Act, which, under a plea of public danger, was, in contempt of national right, passed by a House of Commons chosen only for three years, be forthwith repealed; and that, in addition to the land-owners, and in lieu of returns to parliament, in the name of depopulated or close or venal boroughs, the householders of Great Britain and Ireland, directly paying a certain assessinent to the state, may, with the exception of the peers of the realm, have a vote in the election of members of the House, and under such regulations of the poll, as would prevent the ruinous expence of contested elections, but too often the result, as they are now conducted, a precaution, they will add, not more necessary towards the independence and integrity of parliament, than it is for the preservation of public morals; and that an efficient and constitutional Reform in the powers of election to the House, they are fully persuaded would afford a safe certain and speedy remedy for the numerous grievances under which the petitioners labour; and they are, moreover, persuaded, that it is the only efficient remedy to be found for them, because it is only by such Reform, and with the term of the representative trust considerably shortened, that the House can restore that identity of interest between the members of the House of Commons and the people at large, without which the petitioners have no rational as

surance that they shall enjoy the blessings of free and equal government under the safeguard of the English constitution; and that the disastrous times in which we live demand this open avowal of the thoughts and wishes of the petitioners, on a measure again and again brought before the House, and in the language in which they have conveyed them, they intreat the House to believe they intend the House no disrespect, though the petitioners frankly confess they are unacquainted with words too strong to express what they feel on a topic so intimately connected with their dearest rights and most valuable interests; and that in conclusion, they earnestly pray the House to undertake a constitutional Reform before it be too late, according to the provisions they have presumed to point out, or in such other mode, as to their wisdom shall seem more effectual, to the accomplishment of the important object which the petitioners have in view, so shall the affections of the people be conciliated, the House retrieve its due weight and influence on the public mind, the internal peace and independence of the country be secured, stability given to the throne, and our liberties, our best inheritance, be perpetuated."

Ordered to lie upon the table.

LORD STANLEY'S MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE ON THE PETITIONS AGAINST THE ORDERS IN COUNCIL.] Lord Stanley on rising, expressed his regret that it had not fallen to the lot of an abler person than himself to bring the important subject on which he was about to address them before the consideration of the House. It was not his intention, however, to go at any great length into the general question of the policy of the Orders in Coun cil, a subject so lucidly and eloquently treated on a recent occasion by his hon. and learned friend. He should limit himself therefore to that view of those Orders which were connected with the immediate motion which he was about to submit. In the year 1806, the violent measures and decrees of the enemy induced the British government to take such steps as seemed best calculated by a counter operation to inflict upon the French government those commercial injuries with which it had endeavoured to assail us. Whatever might be the policy of the Order then issued, he must deny that the Decrees against which it was directed were constructed upon any novel or unprecedented principles. Simi

through her means, and which it was beyond the power of the enemy to prohibit, before he was aided in his views by our own injurious and disastrous policy, were sacrificed together. But whether all the evils that were now so deeply felt, ought or ought not to be traced to the operation of the Orders in Council, it was undeniable that there was at present great and general distress, and as a member of parliament, and more particularly as the representative of part of one of the counties affected in a peculiar manner by that distress, he had deemed it his duty to call the attention of the House to the Petitions now lying on the table. The distresses that at present existed no one could deny, whatever difference of opinion there might be with respect to the cause In the Petitions with which their table was crowded, various remedies were suggested. It was thought, by some, that relief could be derived from the reduction or abolition of sinecure places, and the lessening of salaries, which were disproportioned to the services performed; but whatever might be his opinion upon the expediency of such a measure, he thought it would go a very short way towards the effectual relief of the country. Another suggestion was, the non-renewal of the Charter of the East India Company, and the extension of the trade of that country and China to the merchants of the United Kingdom; but even that measure, great an effect as it appeared calculated to produce, could not take place for two years; and the distress of the country was such as could not wait the effect of an operation so distant.-He, therefore, was willing to hope, that something might be devised more likely to be efficacious. One of the Petitions complained of the insensibility which the petitioners declared a right hon. gentleman (Mr. Rose) had shewn to their sufferings. Whatever might have passed on the oc casion alluded to, he was ready to acquit the right hon. gentleman and the government of any decided insensibility to the distresses of the country; but while he abstained from attributing any improper motive to the right hon. gentleman, (which he was sure was far from his mind): he thought, at the same time, that, standing as he did, in the capacity of a confidential adviser of the crown, he should have been a little more cautious in the language he made use of; and he should have recollected, that though what he said might seem to contain nothing extraordinary in

lar principles had been adopted in 1739, and 1756. They had been acted on during the American as well as the late wars. Never, however, had they been attended with those consequences which unfortunately now so distinctly depressed the trade and commerce of the country. Never had they been found to produce the practical result of destroying the manufactures, and annihilating the trading prosperity of the empire. So far from their having been followed by any such effects, it was well known that until the present period, those manufactures continued to flourish more and more, and that prosperity progressively to increase. The measures therefore of 1739 and 1756 had been completely impotent in their effect on British commerce; and in his opinion there had been no reason to expect that the Decree of 1806 would have had a mere extensive operation upon it. Had Buonaparté any greater power than his predecessors in the government of France to enforce his hostile schemes against our commerce? Were his fleets so large, or his command over the ocean so entire as to enable him to do what the former rulers of his territories had never succeeded in accomplishing? But admitting his object to be the complete exclusion of commodities of British growth or manufacture, from all the ports of his dominion, what was this but acting on a policy which had been exercised by other continental powers as well as by the British government at various periods? What was it in short but adopting a principle of policy, and enforcing it with more than ordinary vigour, which every state had an inherent right to adopt, as a principle of mere municipal regulation? It remained for others to shew how any such regulations could affect the trade between neutral states and the belligerent, against whose interests they were directed. They had not operated in the present instance to raise the rate of insurance, and the remittances from Europe rose subsequent to their promulgation. What was the case after the system, the childish and impotent system of retaliation was adopted on our part? The face of things was at once changed. -The remittances fell in a short time in the ratio of 100 to 30; America, almost the only neutral nation, was disgusted; her ports were shut against us, all intercourse ceased, and not only the trade which we carried on directly with her, but that which we maintained circuitously

humble instrument of bringing about so | desirable an event. But if the House should decide otherwise, he would have the consolation of reflecting, that he had endeavoured to discharge his duty to his constituents and to the country. He might in that case regret the decision; but he should submit to it, and he hoped that others out of the House would submit also, and that there would be no repetition of those disturbances which had disgraced many parts of the country. But at the same time he could not help saying, that it was almost too much to expect a starving population, deprived of the possibility of getting employment, to submit, without a murmur, to an accumulation of distress. It were much to be wished, that the people should always proceed by the proper and constitutional mode of Petition; but he was not surprised at enormities committed by those who seemed to be influenced by no idea but that of their sufferings; and as he believed they acted entirely from the impulse of the moment, in consequence of the distress they laboured under, he thought that there was much to be overlooked in the misguided conduct of those persons. He would not take up the time of the House any further, but would proceed to move, That the several Petitions which have been presented to this House, in this session of parliament against the Orders in Council, be referred to the consideration of a Committee of the whole House."

Mr. Rose expressed his satisfaction that the time was come when the subject could be fully discussed. From what had fallen from the noble lord, it appeared that he was wholly unacquainted with the real nature of the Berlin Decree. The noble lord had described it merely as a municipal regulation, and that of a nature by no means novel. In May, 1806, in consequence of prior efforts of France to distress British commerce, the late government of this country issued orders to blockade all the ports from Brest to the river Elbe. In the wisdom and justice of this order he perfectly concurred. At that period we had a naval power sufficient to enforce the blockade, and it was consistent with the law of nations to do so. The consequence was, however, the promulgation of the Berlin Decree. This Decree denied our right to take merchant ships at sea, who were endeavouring to violate the blockade. Was that not novel? It declared that a blockade could extend only to fortified

places, actually besieged, a denial extended by a subsequent explanation on the part of the duke of Cadore, to places beWas sieged by land as well as by sea. that not novel? It declared the British islands to be in a state of blockade, prohibited all continental intercourse with them, proclaimed all British subjects, wherever found, to be prisoners of war, and what was more extraordinary and unprecedented in the history of the world, all British merchandize, wherever found, to be forfeited. If British goods for instance were found on board of an American ship trading between America and China, by this Decree they were to be confiscated. Was all this not novel? Was it a municipal regulation? Nothing could be more unlike any former proceeding. He had often been told that the Berlin Decree was nugatory, and that our ships had traded after its promulgation as uninterruptedly as before it. He readily admitted, that from the time of its promulgation, in November, 1806, until after the peace of Tilsit, in July, 1807, the Berlin Decree did actually remain a dead letter; because, during that time, the enemy had no means of enforcing it. But what followed? Immediately that the peace of Tilsit placed his army at the disposal of the French emperor, he marched troops into all the ports of the continent, for the purpose of carrying the Berlin Decree into effect. This active operation of the Decree commenced in August, 1807, and it was well known that two months afterwards no less than 65 British vessels returned, heavily laden, from Heligoland, having been unable to get rid of their cargoes. In consequence of this interruption of British commerce, the Order in Council of 1807 was issued, which recited that the former Order had been found ineffectual, and declared all the ports of Europe in a state of rigorous blockade. This was followed in the succeeding month by the Milan Decree, which enacted that a neutral of any nation, having touched at an English port, or having allowed herself to be searched by an English ship, should for that act be denationalized, deprived of the protection of her king, and treated as English property. These were the two Decrees which the noble lord had characterized as having nothing new in them, nothing that had not been common in former wars; which ought not to have put us on our defence, or led us to retaliate. In April, 1809, the Orders in Gouncil of 1807 were so modified as to confine the prohi