The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-13 00:00:00

EAST INDIES.

The following is a copy of the petition of the
British and Native Inhabitants of Calcutta against
the Stamp Regulation lately promulgated :

TO TIM RIGHT if ONOURABLZ THE VICE-PRESIDENT IN

COUNCIL.

The humble petition Of the British and Native Inhabi-
tants of Calcutta,

Showeth—That your petitioners respectfully, but most
earnestly, entreat the attention of your Lordship in Council
to the Stamp Regulation lately promulgated, and which
has excite.: the greatest apprehension and alarm among the
British and Native Inhabitants of Calcutta.

2. In the preamble, it is stated to have been passed by
the Vice-President in Council, under the powers vested in
him by the 98th and 99th sec. 53 Geo. 111. c. 155, and
with the sanction of the Court of Directors, and the appro-
bation of the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India.
3. Your petitioners have always tinderstood that the
statute adverted- to, as vesting this power in the local Go-
vernment, Was limited to duties and taxes connected with
customs, and was passed for the express purpose of obviat-
ing difficulties arising from the imposition of such duties
and taxes, within the jurisdiction of the King's Courts in
India. _ _

4. Your petitioners cannot think that the Legislature in-
tended to give to the local Government the right of un-
limited taxation. They humbly submit, for the considera-
tion of your Lordship in Council, that if the Legislature
bad intended to bestow any general power of taxation
beyond the subject matter of customs specifically mentioned,
such power would have been introduced by a suitable pre-
amble, reciting the expediency or exigency of the measure,
and would have been strictly defined as to its objects, and
cautiously limited as to its extent. Your petitioners can-
not think that Parliament would heedlessly bestow the
dangerous power of unlimited taxation, by general expres-
sions, unconnected with the subject matter, and of dubious
construction. . -
5. Fourteen years have illy eliipsed snare the enact-
ment of the 53d Gee. 111., entdoscing periods of great
public difficulty, when the country was 'engaged in expen-
sive wars, yet no tax has ever been imposed under the
authority of that statute; and your petitioners pray that a
power, which, if it exists, has thus slumbered since its
creation, may not be called forth at a period of public
peace and tranquillity, when they hope that the exigencies
of the State cannot require its exercise, and in times of
commercial pressure and difficulty, when individuals are
ill able to bear it. . .

6. Your petitioners, in thus drawing the attention of
your Lordships in Council to the legality of the regulation,
and the important principle which it involves, cannot be
misunderstood. They disclaim any wish or intention to
question the power or authority of Government; they are
only desirous of respectfully conveying to your Lordship in
Council, their opinion upon a subject of the greatest mo-
ment to their present and future interests.
7. With respect to the operation of the regulation, your
petitioners are unable to express to your Lordship in
Council, the public inconvenience, embarrassment, and
actual distress, that will inevitably follow its enforcement.
8. The Native Shroffs in particular have already taken
the greatest alarm, and contemplate abandoning an occu-
.pation which they could not pursue without ruin, under
the provisions of the Stamp Regulation.
9. In every country such a tax waist produce great in,
convenience in its operation, and be attended with great
vexation in its collection ; but circumstanced as this coun-
try is, your petitioners avow their belief that, that if the
regulation should be carried into effect, commercial deal-
ing' would be impeded to a degree affecting public credit,
and that money transactions would be wholly suspended.
IQ. Your Petitioners have often experienced, and ac-
knowledge most thankfully, the considerate attention always
paid by Government to the opinion of the community,when
respectfully urged : and they entreat the attention of your
Lordship in Council to therespectability and number of the
signatures to this petition, evincing that it speaks the sen-
timents and opinions of the British and native inhabitants
of Calcutta.
11. Your Petitioners abstain from troubling Government
by going in detail through the regulation, and pointing out
the evils likely to ensue from each provision. They do not
believe that human wisdom could devise any regulation of
time same general nature and character that would not, in
its consequences, be injurious to the public and to Govern-
ment; and the prayer of their petition is not for the modifi-
`""'", "- ' -:--""-- "; +hp.measure.
12. In conclusion, your Petitioners ueciare uiss uw asA.,
sure jos ever been fussed or proposed by Government which
excited such general alarm and dissatisfaction ; and they
earnestly pr Iy, that your Lordship in Council will be pleased
to allay such t;.'elings, and restore public confidence, at a
period of known tommercial embarrassment, by annulling
and abolishing the regulation in question ; and your Peti-
tioners shall ever feel grateful.
[Here follow the signatures, amounting to nearly
500, including all the principal mercantile houses in
Calcutta.]

vuzeles OF STOCKS %HIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK.
Bank Stock — South Sea Stock —
3 per Cent. Red. ......... 9354 2% Old Annuities —
Sper Cent. Cons. ......... shut New Ditto
3% per Cimt. . .............. POI Ex. Bills, .-El,OOO 2d. 43 42 pm.
Ditto Red. SO% 3i 1 Ditto 5OO 2d. 43 42 pm.
4 per Cent. New shut Ditto Small
Ditto, 1826
Bank L. Ann. lB% 19 Bank for Account —
I` ndia Stock shut India for Account —
Ditto Bonds :0 72 pm. Cons. for Ac. 83V;i34%

PRICE!, OF FOREIGN FUNDS THIS DAY AT CNE O'CLOCK.
Austrian Bonds, 5 percent. Neapolitan, 1824
Brazilian Bonds 6l 60% Peruvian Bonds 26 %
Buenos Ayres Bonds — Portuguese Bonds —
Chiltan Bonds, 6 per ct. —2634 1 Prussian, 5 per cent.
Colombian Bonds — Ditto, New —

-
11 ti