The Sun.
London, England, 1822-03-11 00:00:00

TIN WEST INDIA: IN'TERCOVRSE.

'THE SPEECH O 'SIR WILLIAM CRANT,AGAINST.TIIE
AMERICAN INTERCOURSE RILL. - SESSIONS 1806.
The MASTER of the Boats rose and said,—" One the
observations of the Noble Lord (Petty), who spoke last, is
the most extraordinary I ever -kneW to be used in a debate,
Tutruely,—that what has passed on former occasions has ren-
dered tinneceeedry all argument in support of this Bill, and, as
*he thinks, has rendered unavailing, all arguments against it.
• 'Objections have, indeed, he says, been urged which might
have had some foriT, but a satisfactory explanation has been
given to them, and these the Noble Lord has left untouched.
In his very outset, the Noble Lord has left untouched one-half
of the argument urged against him, by which he has left un-
'touched' one 'half of -his own Bill. All the arguments against
one whole clause has entirely escaped the Noble Lord's obser-
vation,, and he. proceeded juse as if the provisions of that clause
were not in the-Bill at all.
Sir, 'when I compere the very limited purpose which the Bill
profeseeion the face Of its preamblee. with the extensive powers
which the Billrreates,*l am utterly, a loss to. guess at the ob-
ject of rte framers. It would be an affront to their 'understand-
ing to say they bed no object, 'and yee:to say that the granting
such poWereto any government -is preper, is what lam not
prepared to do, and what I rine sire the Noble Lord has not
enabled meitoedo, .and whit, therefore "-I cannot consent to do.
. Sir, the..Blllepeofeeses, in its peeamble, to be intended, and
states iteelfato he calculated, to meet a necessity of the most
limitedleinde and the Noble Lord haSesaide :that the only ob-
ject ofehe.Bill is, to. de thatlegally, which has been for years
found indispensably nee' essary to be. done in of the
law : .such is stated, bosh; in -the preamble of' the Bill, and by
the Nobla-Lord's explanation of it; but what 'does the Bill do'?
By a foreeaud eoncisentss: beyond all exarnple, it strikes out
of your statute books, or reduces to a dead letter, all the body
of the levee -of this realuta made for the support of our neviga-
tion, the eufe of our colonial systen; and .every thing that de-
.pendeuri both ; this is said to be the effect of necessity. Is this
a proYed necessity, or only. an alleged necessity ? When did this
neceleitygtow up ? what is the extent of it ? it must have been
of a very limited kind for these two months ; for the Secretary
of Statesleiter is dated so far bade as April last; by which it
appears, that' he felt no other necessity than that. the West.
India Coloniei shoUld be eupplied with lumber, and with a few,
but pot with:all, articles of proVisiOn •;-and that: those. who do
eupplyilitrokinies with ..this lumber, and with these few ar-
tieles.ofprovieion,, shall be all Owed to carry. with them rum
and moliessee that is all the necessity which exists in the month
of April;ebut inthe month of May following, that is, in one
-month, it is discovered that there is' a necessity for transferring
from Parliament all the'controul it ever had over this important
subject, and from the Colonial Government all shin discretion it
ever had, and of vesting in the hands of his Majesty's Mini-
sters an entire, absolute, and uncontroulable power to exercise
their discretion over the whole body of the Navigation Laws of
this- realm, as far as 'those laws depend upon your colonial
system, Now, will the Noble Lord tell me that he is arguing
. the merits of this Bill when he leaves entirely unanswered all
that haSbeen said on the other side with respect to this colonial
system and the NaVigation Laws? Why, Sir, to say' that
these diecussions.are not relevant, which apply to the very sub-
- ject of The Bill itself, chews the truth of what has been said on
the billet side, that the 'Noble. Lord- himself is not in the secret
of the:real 'meaning and true object of this Bill ; or that it
contains 'meaning, and' has au object,. which the Itoble Lord
does ruet think fit to disclose to Parliament; and here I take
leave to ask, when a measure iS presented to Parliament, under
a lase' character and description, is it not fair to infer, that
-under its true charactet and description it would not be en-
dured 7. But it is.said, in support of this Bill, that the power
which has hitherto been entrusted to the Governors of the
Islands, is now to- be transferred to the Privy Council. Sup-
posing ie did no more than that, and that the power so to be
transferred to the Privy Council was tote confined in its exer-
cise to the 'objects specified 'in the Secretary of State's letter,
-that ieathat the whole power was to be confined to'lumber, and
the few. articles to, be imported into the.Coloniee,, and the rum
and thelasseato be carried out of them, then there would not be
intieb'Objection to it ; but that is nothing like the extent of the
powee id be given by this Bill ; for, by -this Bill, the
power Is without limit as it -regard's the regulation of
-the whole of your colonial system, and the whole of your
navigation' laws. And when did Parliament ever give
• this power before ? did it ever giYe it, or any thing like it, to
the Governors of the Islands ? I know it 'has from year to
year passed acts of, indemnity for what they did, and this, is
•stated to be like the'case of the King's prerogative to pardon a
crilninaL Ceitainly, the royal 'prerogative extends to the
pardon of a 'criminal for an offence, and a valuable prerogative,
it is, wh'En judiciously exercised ; and, I have no doubt, that
these.acts of indemnity, like the royal prerogative, have been
-a jutlizious exercise o discretion ; but did we ever hear of any
prerogative that empowered any body before-hand to commit
an offence ? The power which Parliament gave to the Go-
-seniors of the West Indies, Parliament expected to be dis-
creetly exercised; confined to cases of absolute necessity, and
that they would allow of none of those importations into the
'Colonies by strangers, except in cases of clear necessity. There
is no instance of any bill of,indemnity passing or of being
asked for upon any other foundation. • Parliamentnever meant
eto grant any indemnity on any other conditions, nor is it too
-much to assume that Parliament never would have granted
any indemnity on any other condition,; for, in . every act of
indemnity thai' ever passedon the subject, it is stated, ,that
' " it was necessary for the GoYernors of the Islands to allow
ethe importation of 'lumber and provisions ; and that those who
=imported them should be allowed to take away certain. articles
.of colonial produce- in return for the same ; that is the limited
edesteintion which you have-given-them, and the power is only
,given to the Governors in a case of absolute necessity ; but
here it is provided, that you shall give the power to the Privy
'Council absolutely; and in the first instance. Now, I would
• say; before I gave it any wherebefore I would say where
the power should lodge, I would inquire whether it be neces-
•tary to lodge it any where ? and I would ask this
.1-louse whe-
ther it be a matter of course to give, this power ? I say a matter
-of course, to give the. Privy Council a power of suspending
_,any law without laying the foundation of the, necessity of it
eupon a previous inquiry into the matter. There may be a case
of public notoriety on. which Parliament would act without a
epreveous inquiry, but that is not this case; there may be such
a ease as that which occurred in 1784, in which a previous in-
luiry may be unnecessary by the notoriety of the necessity ;
'hut that 'is not like the present case. How do I know whether
'.hare has been lately, is now, or may hereafter be, at any given
,time, a competent supply'for the British Colonies by British
ships from Great Britain, or from the British Colonies in North
America by British ships ? -Bowed° I know what the state of
.ethetrade at home is ? Hew do I know what state the British
,Gelonies of North America are in? How do I know what the
'estate 'of British tonnage is at this moment ?. How do I know
-Whet state'Wis 'likely to be in Some given time hence ? What
-Pori know of the state in Which,Britieh tradeis without in-
* ? Will the etIVOCat43 for' this 'Bill say that inquiry
Vitt)! .
nothing, :at a momcnt when it'is 'most manifett, that without
inquiry every Ole else is worse then nothing ?e -Will they
'giye us a staterhent fiets of their own framing, anti which
ought to Tema& the:subject of inquiry, when that statement
is disprited ? aii'l'et deny that inquiry to -those 'who offer to
ertrove the tenth of -a- centrary•statement, and that at the very
,"time when they theitiselyeaare sliming the necessity of laying
a greittiorfor Nth/Mier-leery investigation ? Sir, .I distrust ex-
tremely allegeneral argutilents.in this case; and, indeed, almost
.all geeeral.ergumentsayhen they are made. to apply to particu-
ler cases; nothing; is more easy than to
_iittapt stathnient of
Facts of your own -making :to general principleie-.and to apply
-general arguments to that'stetement ; and therefore I distrust
all generalargeirnetate,ivhen applied to this case;., mid for this
reason, because' I' remember that the wet,' Mane arguments,
and the very same answers were Made, word foe Word, for this
trade, as now, contended, for, in timoof• peace, that are now
made id. time at is not one syllable said this day,
time of Wee,. eii4e Was not advaneedin the year -1784; to chew
athaie the, opening, of` MIS trade was necessary ; that is to say,
,'that it is as necessary in thheorpeaeeaS in war time; a propo-
kition which 'Ministers, whstever they may wish, have not yet
.thought fit .to go the length of,eontending ; but their argu-
ements, and so must 41 general, arguments, go that length.
The Very language of the Honotttable Baronet is to be found
in the answer which _was made in the year 1784 : the Noble
Lord and the HenottFable Baronet have said, they thought
it extraordinary that British shipping" could* he capable
ffi of carrying on this trac, under all the, circumstances of
-this trade; so it was said in 'as many words in the year
1784, that •the trade .for the supply of your colonies cannot
1)3 :carried on, by reason of the circuitous voyage which
the British ships are obliged to take ; and that you are at once
Obliged to come tee the direct American trade in American
But my Noble Friend over the way, (Lard Castlereagh),
•etated the ground of.what was ordered to be done in 1784, and
of the non-application of it to this case; when the necessi of
the measure them attempted appeared upon the very face of it ;
there was, therefore, no necessity for inquiry into the particu-
lar facts on which the measure was founded ; it grkw out of the
~situation, the partieular situation,' in' hiCh things were placed
by the American revolution ; and this skews the impropriety
of the application of the argument of the Noble Lord who spoke
.last ; who referred, by way of justification of elie.preseht men-
: sure, which he proposes for the adoption of -Parliament; to an-
-other measure which had been -proposed,: indeed; and offered
too ; but which had been rejected by Parliament ; (alluding to
:the draft of a Bill penned by Mr;Pitt, which had been referred
.to by Lord Henry Petty, and partly quoted by-him;) and that.
emeasure was .supported by much the same arguments as the.