The Sun.
London, England, 1812-07-23 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.WEDNESDAY.

The Deputy Usher of the Black Rod summoned
the House to the House of Peers; and on their
return the Speaker announced, that the Royal
Assent had been given by ConuoissiOn to several
Bills, for which see our report of the Lords.
• " The second report Of the Committee on the Irish
Finance was brought np.and agreed to.
The reports of the Vote of Credit Bill, the
White Herring Bill, and the Irish Insolvent
Debtors Bill, were brought up and agreed to,
and the Bills ordered to be read a third time tm
morrow. , •

The report of the certain English Insolvent
.Debtors Bill was-brought up, when—.
Sir T. TURTON spoke afew words, lamenting
that this Bill was only calculated to aliord partial
relief ; but as he was a friend to the principlei on
'which it-Was. proposed,. he did not mean to Op-
pose it.
Mr. ABERCRO\mipi thought the benefits, hf
this Bill should have been made to extend .to the
Isle of Man, and the Islands.ofacrsey and Guern-.
-.sey, as he understood-that in these' islands the
situation of debtors was such as- reguifed,,some.
relief. •

'Mr. ItosE said, that the Constitution of these.
Islands was such, that tliey; would require a Bill
for this purpose,.. to beluade to apply exclusively
to themselves.

. - Mr. "OintrnitEAD -observed, that some great
amendment should take place in Jersey 'as to the
- situation of Debtors, 'Front the smallness of the
apartments in which_they are confined, and the
treatment they met with, it would seen,as if it
were meant for the purpose of terminating their
~existence. He did not take it upon him to say,
that this representation is -altogether. true ; he
rave it to the House
.as' it had been told to him
a'person who said be bad suffered such treat-
ment in that =lsland. if the case was really so,
it reflected a censure on the Legislature, for not
pro-viling some permanent, eflettnal,.and salutary
correction. *

The report was. then agreed to; and the Bill
read a.third time and passed. -

Sir F.'BURDETT moved to refer the Petition of
lirfr. Bail, complaining of 'hardships suffered by
lin% in consequence of a prosecution for smug-
gling. No Member seconded the worthy 84-
Imet's motion, so That no question could be put,
the forms of the Iloussprevented any counter-
;ttiement.- . .

TREATY WITH PORTJTGAL.

CANNING held iu his haul 6. Petition from

certain British Merchants trading to Portugal
and the Brazils, complaining of the infringethent
of two articles in the treaty between this country
and Portugal. This treaty had been set on foot'
while he had the honour of filling the office of

Secretary of State for Foreigp Affairs ; but had
been concluded since he quitted the office. The
.two articles of the :treaiy, the infringement of
which was complained of, were the Bth and 25th ;
the first of these stipulated, that the trade be-
tween the two kingdoms should be. carried on
with 'equal advantages by both nations ; that is,
that' the British Subject should enjoy; in the sale
'''and -purchase of commodities, the same privileges
With thesubjeCts of Portugal. The 25th Article
puts an end to all the British factories in Portu-
gal,_ and in return confirms. all the privileges
granted,by the Bth. The grievance of which the
British 'Merchants chiefly complained, was the
existence of a company, Called the Portuguese
,iloyapVine 'Company; .which had monopolized
the wine- trade for a considerable time, to the
prejudice of the British Merchants. In conse--
quence of this monopoly, the quantity of wine.
exported from Oporto, which, _previous to the
existence of this Company, had been 50,000 pipes
annually, yielding .a4evenue of two millions, was
no reduced, to )8;600, reducing the revenue to
only 900,000 k- 'The 'prayer of the Petitioners,
after stating the grievances under which they la-
boured, was, ,that the House take such measures
as they should think the most effectual for secur-
ing the fulfilment of the above-mentioned articles •
of the treaty before the' next vintage. • 'He. did
not wish to press this on the .House during the .;
present Session, but merely wished that the
tion should be brought up, in order that Govern-
ment might take means to provide remedies against
the grievances complained of; before the ensuing
Session.

Lord CASTLEREAGH said, that the case was of
sufficient national-importance to induce inquiiy.
Somegorrespond en ce was at present on foot between
our Government and the Portuguese Court at the
Brazils, .but owing to the great distance Or the
present seat of that Court, some time must elapse
before an arrangemeincan take place. He thought,
it proper to observe, that some advantage was
enjoyed by the British merchant, in having his
goods imported at a lower tariff than the Portu-
guese have for the goods they send to this 6-win-
try : his Majesty's Ministers, however, did not
think that this was to be considered in any degree
a compeniation for the evil complained of by
.our
.merchants. From what he had stated,, he thought
the Hon. Gentleman would see that it was not
necessary to press the matter, further during the.
present Session.
Mr. CANNING professed himself satisfied with
the Noble Lord's explanation,' and merely .wished
that the Petition be brought up.
7 Mr. BARING thought that it was a case attended
with considerable difficulty-. ffe was of opinion
that the interests of the merghants of bothcoun-
tries should be attended to.

Mr. ROSE observed, that by the treaty, Portu-
guese subjects were placed on the same footing
with British.

Mr. WHITBREAD understood that the stipula-
tions of the Treaty had not been very honourably
fulfilled on the part of the Portuguese. Consi-
dering the relations of the two countries, he was
surprised that any cause of complaint should ex-
ist against Portugal., He took this _opportunity
of inquiring whether it was .true that the Slave
Trade of Portugal luul increased? And if the. case
Was so, why the stipulations regarding this trade
were not fulfilled ?
Lord CASTLEREAGH declared that no exertion
on his part should be wanting to carry into effect
what the cause of humanity so loudly called upon
him to support ; but that in the present, state of,
.things, he did not think himself able to give so
explicit an answer to the Hon: Gentleman's ques-
tion as he could wish. ',He only knew that the
Prince Regent of Portugal had professed himself
anxious'to supp'brt this part of the Treaty, and
that nothing should. be wanting on the part of
his Majesty's,Government to,insnre the fulfilment
of this particular article of it. Further 6.t pre-
sent
he could not state.

Mr. BROWNE thought it was proper to. mention
that it was reported and very generally believed,
that certain persons *ere • employed by our Go-
vernment on-the coast of Africa to pick up slaves
for the, purpose of recruiting the black regiments
in the West Indies.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCIIEQUER admitted
that persoth were employed on the coast to enlist
free men who,were willing to enter into theser-
vice but that this enlistment was so free in its
nature, that the persons so enlisted were allowed
toaremain for some time, that, they might consi-
der the Trature of their engagements.
Mr. WitiTnaHav thought it was. very injudi-,
cions on the part of Government to employ per-
sons on a service of -a nature so likely to be
abused, He therefore moved that a copy of the
commission, authorising the enlistment, should be
laid before the House, in order that the trans
action Might be examined in all its features, and
that the House might correct any thing that Was
wrong.
The- CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEAUER had 4o
objection to lay before the house c6pies of all the
papers and correspondence on the subject.
Mr. TIERNEY ,and Mr. CANNING made a few
obs-72rvations, anci then the Yetiti4 was ordered
to lie on the table.
Copies of the Quarterly Reports • of the State
of his Majesty's Health, *ere presented; and laid
on the table..