The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-01-30 00:00:00

LICENSES FOR TRADE.

Mr. /101trik1i,in tiuiiaeOf his previous
notice, rose, for the purpose of makiug his pro-
mised motion for the production of certain Papers
relative to this subject. As he did not expect that
there could be any opposition to it, he should he
brief iii stating the pnrposes he had in view. He
did wit mean to enter into the subject of the
Orders of Council, recently issued by lin Ma-
jesty's Government, nor to break in upon the sub-
ject of that important discussion which was likely
afters ards to take place; but merely to bring under
the notice of the (louse those Licenses which His
Majesty's Privy Council had granted to certain
merchants of this country, for the purposes of
trade not sanctioned by the law. Nor did he in-
tend to make any objec.ion to the existing laws, or
to investigate whether or not Bills of Indemnity
were necessary to sanction such proceeding. His
object was to know to what extent such practice
had been carried in re: ard to the exercise of the
prerogative of the Crown, which went not only to
the imposing of restrictions in time of war, but
also of granting certain exemptions from those

restrictions to particular individuals. Of late
times the eitemptions from such ordinary re-
striction* hays ;pearly increased, in consequence
of our superior power in nasal operations. It
was originally his intention to bring before the
House all the evidence connected with this subject,
in order to enable the House to judge how far it
was connected with that order of embargo which
had lately been imposed ; but be was sensible that
for public reasons of utility, it would be better to
forego some of that information, rather than en-
danger the interest of the country by lead-
ing to any unnecessary or improper disclosure.
—Foregoing that part of the motion, therefore, he
meant to resrict it to such orders as would put the
House into possession of the number of Licenses
granted during the present war, and the amount
of the money collected in the name of fees received
front persons obtaining.these Liesisses, it being no-
torious that this modern practice had grown to
such an extent, as to have substituted, as it were,
a new system of Foreign Trade with this country,
and had made such an innosation as touched so
much upon principles of commercial policy and
eimititutional law, as to render it necessary that
the House should have this information, in order to
remedy. if it thought prozwr, the existing law. In
his opinion, the principles of commercial policy
might be endangered by this system being perse-
vered in during the whole period of the war, as
the exercise of the whole controul of the Foreign

Trade of the country, was too much power in the
bands of the Executive Government, and it was
necessary to deteriniue what shall' be the ex-
tent of the Vounnunication with neutrals.--It
tended te defeat those constitutional priociples,
by which it. was provided that no money should
be exacted from a shbject, without the authority
and coutroul of Parliament; and more especially,
no mosey should be exacted from them in matters
of taste. if he were not misinformed, the umount
of the fees collected at the office of the Privy Coun-
cil was very great, although he was ignorant of the
amount. By what rule or right they had beet, col-
lected he was at a loss to conceive ; but it was
surely sufficient for this House to know, that al-
most the whole foreign trude of this country was
carried on by means of those Licenses in time of
war, and that fees were exacted, nut by law, or au-
thorised by Parliament, thereby establishing a eye-
Win of im:sost and taxation upon the foreign trade
of the country. With a view, therefore, of investi-
gating this matter, in order to produce a disconti-
nuance of the practice lie alluded to, the first
motion he should submit was "That an humble
Address be presented to His Majesty, praying that
he would be graciously pleased to direct that there
be laid before the House a list of all Licenses that
have been granted by Hir Majesty in Council to
private merchants, or others, !mounting such per-
sons to trade in a manner that would otherwise have
been illegal, from the commencement of this pie-
sent war, in 1803, dow a to the Ist of September last."
Mr. ROSE said, that from the manner in which
the Hon. Gentleman had shaped his motion, he
was entitled to every indulgence and attention from
the House, but he merely wished to observe, that
in his mind there arose some objections to the
wording of it. lithe account welded was intended
to include every individual License that had been
granted, he apprehended that there would be a
very considerable delay before it could possibly be
made out. He could state, from his own kimw-
ledge, that the number of Liceases so granted, from
the connnencement of the war, down to the 10th
of August, 1807, amounted to no less than 2400;
he should therefore suggest the propriety of sewb
limitation of the motion, in order to promote expe-
dition in procuring the necessary inforruatioa.
Undoubtedly this might he called a modern prac-
tice, having originated in the year 1798, in conse-
quence of some applications proceeding from the
Chamber of Commerce at Edinburgh, and from
other quarters. stating to the this evicting Go-
vernment, that it was found impossible to carry on
tonic in any other way. A variety of rircam-
stalices concurred, at the present period, to ren-
der it impossible to carry on commerce in the ordi-
nary way, without having recourse to such • prac-
tice. When the Honourable Gentleman talked of
the Constitutional principles of the law of the
country having been departed from, he shou d ad-
vert to this, that during the last war, a law was
passed, absolutely authorising such licenses to be
granted. He could riot think that it would be
possible to comply with the motion, in so far as it
required an account of all licenses for trade, that
would have been otherwise illegal. Now this re-
quired a previous determination of the le-
gality or illegality of such themes, a thing
which could not be accomplished in less than five
years, as a question would necessarily arise upon
each. As to the fees exacted upon rush occa,ions,
he might notice, that there was hardly an office
Within the kingdom, where the fees and gratuities
were legalised by any authority of Parliament.—
He knew that reports had gone abroad as to very
large sums, amouuting to about i 0033001., being
annually raised by such means. Upon this point
he anxiously wished to give every information pos-
sible, and could now mention, that the several
item of these fees paid in procuring such a license
did not exceed 141. Itia. and the total amount thus
arising from them was bestowed towards paying
the Secretary and Clerks in the Privy Council
Office—a plant which went materially to the dimi-
nution of the public expenditure. In July last the
subject of the fees came under the discussion of
the Treasury, and great progrez;s was made to-
wards effecting a new arrangement, there being an
persons in the Committee of trade that have any
connection with this business.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
justified the practice which now prevailed, as to the
granting of such licenses, which, he said, prevailed
during the several administrations of Lerd Glen-
Lord Sidmouth, and Mr. Pitt, more or lee,
according to the state of the country. It might,
however, be a question with the House, whether it
would not be prudent to mark the illegality of
such measures, by granting an Act of Indemnity
to those who thus thought it prudent to grant
them ? Although he had no objection to the mo-
tion, yet he certainly thought that the object
would he better accomplished by some alteration
in the mode of expression.
. Mr. HORNS R added, that he was willing to
make any alteration that would facilitate the ob-
ject he had in view.
After some further conversation upon this sub-
ject, the following was the motion made and
agreed to:
That an humble Address be presented to His
Majesty, praying that he would be graciously
pleased to direct, that there be laid before the
House, an account of the full amount of all fees
or gratuities that have been yearly received by His
Majesty's Privy Council, or other offices, from
persons obtaining licenses for trade, from the com-
mencement of hostilities in 1803, to the Ist of Sep-
temher last, specifying in what proportion they
have been so received, how disposed of, and Nader
what regulation or rate they bare been required."