The Sun.
London, England, 1812-05-18 00:00:00

.11:11NUTES OF E;7I.IIENCE,

TAKEN BEFORE THE POthaTTEE OP THE WHOLE
HOUSE, TO WHOM IT WAS REFEREE!), TO CONit-
DER OF THE SEVERAL PETITIONS, WHICH PIAVE.

BEEN PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,
1(4 THIS StSSION OF PARLIAMENT, AGAINST THE

ORDERS IN COUNCIL..
Mercarij,• 29 die Aprilis, 1812.
TIIONLAS BABINGTON, Esq. in 'the Chair.

Mr. T. ATVA'OOD called in and examined.
[Continued from our Paper of Saturday. j

Then how con;d you, in stating your information
from that source, exclude, as you now ten the
Comm4tee you did, the manufadnres of that dis-
tritt ?—I believe I did•not say that I excluded them;

I believe I said I was not aware that by -any means
so great an amount of their goods were sent as of the
,manufaaure of Birmingham.
Then when you spoke of 800,0001. or 1,000,0001.
as being the export from Birmingham to America,
did you 'or•did Jon not mean to include the mann-
tadures of those distritits ?—I certainly did mean to
include some part of the manufadures of those Cis-
tritis, but to what extent I cannot speak.
By what means of distipetion .-ould you separgc
any part from the rest ?—The principal means that
I lave of distinguishing any part from the rest is, by
observing the very great distress that has taken place
in my own immediate neighbourhood, that is in the
town of Birmingham : wit hitthe last twelve months
I have not been in the neighbourhood so much, and
therefore I can speak • of their aistresses only' from
the report of others, and from what I have teen on
one side of Birmingham within ten miles, where
reside occasionally.
Thr,tpestion does not respect the distresses, hut
the aclual export haye no other means of judg-
ing what part of the, 800,0061. or 1,000,0001.. of
produce was manufat.tured in Birmingham, than
by observing the great- distress occasioned in Bir-
mingham since the cessation of the American in-
tercourse.

You judge'-then of the ame;unt of the ordinary
export, from the present distr-es ?-1n• a grearde.
gree ; I do not mean to say; that I judge of .the
amount of the "present exvort by the distress, that
would be a very fallacious mode.; but I mean to say,
that I calculate upon my own persOnal observation
when I stare that amount, and my reason for think-
ing the greater, part of that •was the ntaoufa&ure of
Birmingham atone was; my seeing the accumulated
diStresses of my neighbours, within jilt last\weive
months. - -

Then you mean t 6 state, that speaking of Bir-
mingham .alone, the total value of the manufactures
may be about 2,000,000 i. ?--1 ihink so.'
Of which 800,0601. Went to America ?—,-1
'think so.

One half then, or- 1,200,0001. of those: mann,.
raetores having lost their former mai kets —Certain.
ly J should consider I have not. • -

-
Yet you state, that one thilai of the present ma-
nufadurers must be out of 'employ, and that ;he
remainder must loci reduced to halt employ, that is,
that two-thirds of the manufactureS must
_be out of
employment,. if the intercourse with America is not
opened ?—I am altogether aware of the imeropriely
of judging of the distresses of the manufacturers
from paper documents, or froth anV guess calcula-
tions of the exports or_imports of Birmingham, or
tfie country at large; my own way 'of judging of
their distresses is my having seen them, and I- have
seen them with great regret for the last 12 months.
Yoti suppose that twolthirds olthe employment
will be reduced by the loss of less than one-half of the
trade ?—I am not aware that I said two-thirds ; I
did say that one-third might be turned off, and pro-
bably the remaining two-thirds would be employed
at short -work,, perhaps hall ; but it is impossible
for me to say to what extent. I have takeh con-
-sidersble pains to ascertain,the real state of the la-
bouring part of Birmingham, and if, it is proper I
will state the measures I took, to ascertain. that :
previoria to the investigation respecting the, East
India Charter, being convinced
.that though justice
was eternally the same, and policy and light the
same, yet necessity was stronger than all. I ad-
dressed twenty letters officially to the most respect.
able manufacturers in Birmingham, men engaged in
the largest manufactures of the town, and men in
whose characters could place undoubted reliance, 2
and in whose word I could place the same; the
object of those letters was to ascertain the. real state
of employ of, the labouring meehanics of Birming-
. hani : two months are the answers intilv greater part
of those letters solemnly assuring me they had not
more than one-third a full' employ; I consider
'that the full extreme ; many others of them asured
me they. had not more than one-half, and but a few.'
assured me they had not aboVe two-thirds ; but I ,had
no letters whit% assured me :they had More than
two-thirds; the average of tho•Se letters was, that
they 'hail, nut at this boar more than half a full em-
ploy.; they_ might exist, because ten shillings, a
week is tut-Belem
toexist upon, but it is a miserable
existence to men used to receive thirty or. forty
it raises them above parish rtlief,"and if they do•
apply to the piash they willreceere no relict till they
are. upon the'ver(7*e of starvation.'
• Do you escribe.any part of this distress to the
presaut high price' of provisions I—Certainly the.
distresses of the' tnanufactnrers are greatly embitter-
ed by the high price of
rTo he continued.]

Saturday, in the court of Common Pleas, an ac-
tion against Ihe • Si:6 ria was tried for the cniscun7
ductui one of his 'officers, who having to levy an
execution ,on the goodsgf a person named Gardner,
whose whole furniture; in the estimation of tl)e
neighbouri, was, nOt worth more than WI. laid in-
advertently suffered some utensils and bruches to be
curled off to the house of a tteihnour. Sir, James
Mansfield left the case to the Jury, who, Without
hesitation, found for the-defendant.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.--Op, Wednesday J. Com-
rie \vas icidictO lordefrauding Mary Ann Ciarte o!
6001. The defendant pleaded not guilty ; and Mr.
ALLEY stated, that ite was happy circurnstaricts
had occurred which rendered it unnecessary to call
any witnesses, and the Jury inimediAtely acquitted
bitn.—The expec;lation of seeing Mts. Clarke in
Court had colle6ted a lconstderabie"auditoly ; she,
howevecdid not appear. 0