The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg, Va., 1775-04-14 00:00:00, page 5

sssssssissi U_ PsiP L ElMsisisiEctsiN Tctss
APRILIM
L Q.ssN D 0 N, january 26.
Houst—z or COMMQNS, jzmuary 23.
HIS day the Speaker of the House of
Commons took the chair at two
o'clock, and after five or six members had
been sworn, and some other trifiing,r business
had been finished, Mr . Alderman Hayley in—
sormed the House that he had & petition to
present from the merchants, traders, and
other persons in the city of London. He
stated its contents shortly, and being desired
from the chair to bring it up, he presented
it, moved that the same nnght be referred
to the committee appointe to take into
consideration the papers presented by Lord
..North, b his Majesty's command, on
-Thursdav {as}: '
The ground of the petition is, that eve
ry article almost of British and Irish manu
facture is expert-ted, to aldery considerablc
amount, to America; that we import a
vast deal of various raw materials from
that country, which, being worked un
here, are again exported in great quanti-p
ties; that, by the course of this trade, it:
is directly and .collaterally connected with
our trade to the XV est Indies; that th?!
benesits derived from this commercial insi
lcrcourse is not barely confined to & comsi
- munication betWeen Great Britain, this
West Indies, and America, but that the
different commodities imported from Ame—
-rica add. cOnsiderably to our commercc with
.—the East- Country, German , Holland,
France, Spain, Portugal, an the different
Italian states. It states the returns in bul—
lion, &c. from those different countries,
and the various advantages arismg there
from, icularlsiy how this circuitous in
tercou e increases our seemen and ship
Ping, and gives employment to our various
[manusacturem It next proceeds to show
the very great advantages we derived from
'our commerce with America till the year
1765, the period that the effects of the stamp
act were first felt in this country. It-chen
'alters to the apparent-benesits derived from
the re eal of that law; and so, taking no
tice o the act of 1767, for laying duties on
tea, paper, painters colours, and glass,
shows that the trade and commercepf this
country flourished or declined just_ as the
-mother conntr perlilted or relaXed in her
resolutions for flying dnties for the purpose
of raising areVenue in that country. The
petitiOn likewise stated,- that the Ameri
'cans were indebted to the merchants of
Great Britain to the amount of two mil
iions; and concluded by praying, that they
might be heard by themselves, or agents,
before the said committee.
- ctpij} ctVVilssliam Meredith arose, and pro—
posed. do amendmeut, ,viz. " that the
woffl the be left out, and (! inserted in its
stead," and that the latter part of the mo
tion be ernsed ; which would leave it in the
fiillowing, that the petition might be re—
ferred to (: committee. Sir si\-'v illiam's
"opinion was, that the petition could not be
"referred to Thursday's committee, as that
-was appointed to take into emiiideration
the American paper-s only. Belides, said
Sir William, the hearing the merchants
would greatly retzu'd the business- {rhich
'was meant to be done for a reconciliation
between the mother country and Ameriea.
Mr. E. Burke (m.-se, and, in reply to
Sir William, proceeded to show how ma
terially the trade end eomm'cree \\ hh Ame
riczt ought to be considered before any dc
cilive steps Wert—taken, and declared him
self totally ignorant that the committce
appointed for 'l'hnrsilny were to_tuke into
consideration tliep:xper-; onlssv ulneh lsirv on
the table. lsie insziied, that e\'e1*_\siinli>r
ntlion possxl—l-si would add totlleclc-lpzxteli,
and not to the delay", ol'n l't'tss'tnlt'illsilllflll7.
that as the izsssisihle Lord (T'Lonll) had el"
filed tllmn If"; (.'l>si_'\\i.*ss!1('-l' ]u'rionxsitm the
spot; the cozzctnittee euuld not l'CL'L'i'u'Cniul'C
material insornmtion than from the mer
chants tra-ling thither, who wer
e greatly
interested in the colonies welsare; th'—It if
there was not time sufficient to settle the
American business, was not the noble LUl'd
'in fzult in ad'ouming a month, to eat
mince pies, and drink Ghrishnas ale, when
o material a question was dependin '
Sir \-Villiam Meredith replied .to [fine of
his questions, and (bid he was sorry to
think the merchants would be obliged to
exposc the danger their trade and credit
was in, and begged leave to remind the
House osthe ruinons state an eminent mer
chant (Mr. Reeves) brought himself to,
; by exposiug t le situation of his trade at
the bar of'that House.
Mr. Burke answered him, by observing,
that it was a considerable distance of time
. between Mr. Ree v ea's examinatiun and that
of his sailnrc; and that the circumstances
of delivering the flute of their tradc was
quite different, the one by desire, the other
llot .
Sir Gilbert Elliot next arose, and sup
ported the idea thrown out by Sir William
Meredith . ,
Mr. T. Townsend spoke very ably in
defence of the petition, and was for its
being referred to Thursday's committee-'
Lord Clare was for not submitting to
the Americans in the least degree, and
ridiculed the opinion of those who said we
have aright to tax America, yet should not.
Mr. Charles Fox arose, and spoke 63;
tremely spirited in favour ofthe Americans,
and repeatedly called to know who was the
man that advised the late acts ; for it was
he that created the disturbances, it was he
that laced'General Ga e and hissi troops in
the r1diculous situation in which they were,
and it was he that on in to answer to his
country for the mischief and expenses that
might enshe in consequence-thereof .
Lord [. Cavendish was for the" petition
being heard with the papers, and condemn—
ed Lord North for bringin in estimates at
the beginning of the set lon, before he
knew that expense which would be neces—
sary; that it was a deceit in the countrx
Gentlemen, who retired into the country
satisfied with the estimates at first,; and
who never imagined there would be any
farther sum required; that his LOEdship
was pressed, and ought to havelaid before
the House the psipers before the holidays.,
as he was desired, , ct '
Lord North, in reply, lind: His reason
for not laying the papers before them was
on accountofwhat he called an illegal and
reprehensible mecting not being finished ;
and that he was informed & petition would
he sent them from the 'I'hrone, which
would reconcile all matters in an amicable
manner. .
. Sir'George-MctCartney was sevcre against
the petition, though, as Sir George said,
he ctwish'ed to be thought a friend to so re
spectablc a body us the petitioners. Peti—
tions, he said, Were generally sramed and
brought about by some interested persons,
who had nrtifice enough to seduce others
to sign them.
Mr. Innes, amerchnnt of the city, made
a short speech, declaring that many of the
merchants who had signed the petition ex
pected nothing by it; that he could even
ment' n their names; that all he knew
abc>u%\'0rth America was, that no money
was t' he got, the Amerienns being resolv—
ed not to pay theirdcbts; but, thz-tnlsiz God,
he hzid very little concerns with them.
A division sollowed, v—hen Sir William
Meredith's nmendment was carried; for
it 197, against it 18. Mr. But-he now,
in :i very sevcre lpccch, which he pointed
('lllt'il'.' izt Lord North, condemned their
l,si-l..1\'iour in this business, declaring that
ll'.t'\' had, for dcccnch sake, admitted
there—tition, yet by the vote lind determin
ed that it should never be heard. He shid
he had & petition in his hand from the fix!—
" cipal merchants in Bristol tracting to me}—
rica, yet, as he found there were two
committecs now, the one for heariugc gi
dence, the other for burying petitions; 'e
plainly saw his petition would share the
sate of the other, and be buried in oWi
on, though not in sure and certain hope
of a joyful resurrection; that his worthy
colleague, Dir- Cmgcr, had likewise ].
petition ot'the merchants of Bnsistoi to pre
sent, but it would go to the silent com
mittee, and the three, he imagined, would
be left to fleep together. He concluded
with asking leave to present his petition,
which being anted, he made the same
motion, as Afirerman Hayley, for its be-ct
ing referred to Thursday's committee,
when Lord North arose and objected to it,
as it did not desire to' be heard; he observ
ed, it'could not be of any information.
Mr . Burke again replied to his Lordshin.
shying, the noble Lord had obsiected to one
because it desired to Be hear , .the other
because it did not desire to be heard.
Lord North arose, and endeavonred to
exculpate himseisfi-om the charge of being
accesiory to the present disputes. He ob
served, concerning the 'tea dut , that he
had taken offshe exportation uty of 9d.
per pound, by which he asiifl'ed the India
com any, And suffered the Anterieans to
= drin tea Cheaper by gd. per pound thadct
usual; 'yet', to show their restless and re
bcllious spirit, they had suffered it to be '
landed when they paid !S. per pound,: and
destrzyed in when they paid only gdfsi per
un . 7;
PoMr . Charles Pox, likewise was again very
severe on bussLordship, which closed the _
debate; and on the same question being
put, whether the petition should be refer
red to Thursday's committee, it likewise
"passed in the ne ativc, 19: to 61.
armmy 24.
, A petitionsiwsias presented by the mer
chants os Glasgow, which occasioned a
short conversation; and the question be'
put, the House divided, Ayez, for sending
it to the cominittee appointed to take into
D
consideration the petitition from London
and Bristol on Friday next, 68; Noes, 26.
Mr. (Imger desired to present apctition
from the merchants of Bristol, similar to
that presented on Monday by Mr. Bnrke,
which was granted; but on the question,
whether it should he reserred to the corn
mittee appointed to sit on Thursday on the
American papers, it was carried in the ne
gative, by a great nmjority.
Fanuary 25. '
The Speaker took the chair, about half
mist two o'clock.
si After a little private businesi, the Ser—_
jeant, attended by a. messenger carrying.
the mace, visited the different coflsiee-hou-ss
ses, &c. in search of members, that the
* halloting for a committee to try the West
minster election might cofne on. About
:: quarter past three he returned, the doors
were immediately locked, and the ballot
ing began.
As soon as the 51 names were known,
and the counsel withdrnwn to strike off 36,
Mr. Edward Bacon arose, and beg si'
leave to resent & petition from the mer
chants o Norwleh; which being agreed
to, the same was read, setting forth " the
dangerous situation to which the tradc was '
reduced by the non-impormtion agreement ,
and prctying that the House would, in their
wisdom, do such things for the resiorlng
harmony as appeared most proper."
A little conversation ensued he'siwcen
IWr. Burke and Mr. l'sineon, as to the con
dition ol'the peribns who sighed the Pell
tlon. flsr. Burke desired to l now is they
were tra-ders to North Amcrlm; Mr. BA
eon rtpctlied, not that he knew of.
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