The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-05-02 00:00:00

TIIE STATESMAN

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS.—TausiDAv.

The Earl STANHOPE presented a petition from a
gentleman named Charles Andrew Thomson, of Chis-
wick, in the county of Middlesex, stating that be and
his father had been germ' years since, merchants at
Oporto, that they returned to England with a large
fortune, which was laid out in the purchase of
land, at a time when land bore a very high price :
but that in consequence of the return to cash pay-
ments, by which land and agricultural produce became
reduced-in value, and various other misfortunes, the pe-
titioner was now reduced from a state of atiluence to po-
verty l and he prayed that measures might be adopted to
prevent the opprisston occasioned by the operations of
unjust laws, and for an equal adjustment of contracts.—
The Noble Earl commented on the injustice of those laws,
by the operation of which this petitioner, and thousands
of otl•ers, had suffered in their property, and contended,
that it was the duty of Parliament to take some step for
the redress of their grievances.
The petition was ordered to lie on the table.
The Bill to prevent Profane Cursing and Swearing was
read a third time and passed.
The Warehousing Bill was reported.
The Weights and Measures Bill was read a second
time.—Adjourned.

EQUITAPLE ADJUSTMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Ma 1, 1E437

Lord Stanhope presented the following Petition of C.
A. Thomson. Esq. which was read by the Clerk to the
Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of
the United Kingdom of Grit Britain and Ireland, itr
Parliament assembled :

TNE PETITION OP CHARLES ♦NDREW TRONSON, OP CHIS-

WICK, IN THE COUNTY OP 14IDDLISCI.

Most humbly showeth,—That your Petitioner has, for
many years oast, paid large aunts of money, out of the pro-
duce of his industry, for the support of the Government and
laws of the Country ; that he has always been taught to be.
lieve, that, in return for this support, be had a right to ex-
pect from the Government and Laws protection In the right-
ly enjoyment of his property ; but that he has, by that Go-
vernment and by those Laws, been despoiled of his proper-
ty, and that, from a state of opulence, he has, by the unjust
effects and irresistible force of Acts of Parliament, been
reduced to a state of ruin and bankruptcy.
That your Petitioner imputes no intentional wrong-doing
to your Honourable House or to any branch of the Govern-
ment : that to err is not criminal ; that it is not given to
man to be free from error ; that from error wroug may la- '
nocently be committed ; and that of that obstinate prise-
, verance in error, which converts unintentional wrong into
premeditated injustice, your Petitioner confidently hopes
that he is not doomed to witness an instance in the conduct
of your Honourable House.
Thst your Honourable House has not now to be inform-
ed of the mighty mischiefs resulting from the measures for
returning to Cash Payments, unaccompanied as they un-
happily were with measures for rectifying contracts ; that
the cries of thousands upon thousands of families, sudenly
plunged into penu.y and want, from a state of ease and
of plenty, cannot fail to have reached the ears and to have
awakened the compassion of your Honourable House •
bat that, amongst the thousands upon thousands of suf-
ferers, your Petitioner believes, that the case of r few can
exceed, in hardship and injustice, that to which he now
most earnestly begs the attention of your Honourable
House.
That your Petitioner and his Father (now deceased) were
Oporto merchants for thirty years, and In the most ex-
tensiee trade ; that, in this trade, and iu that of wine
merchant, in whim. your Petitioner's Father had been for
many years pretious to those thirty, they gained a large for-
tune ; and that in 1611 and 1812 they, with a part of their
capital, made divers purchases of Land.
Tnat they purchased the Estate of Northaw, in Hertford-
shire, for which they paid, in ready money, 02,0001. ; on
which estate they built two excellent new houses and six
tatteges, and broke up 200 acres of land, which they brought
Into a state of fine culiivation ; that the whole of these im-
provements cost them 10,000/. ; and that the estate, therefore,
has cost them 72,0001.
Thatin 1812 your Petitioner and his Father bargained for
the estate of Pontrylas. in Herefordshire, for 00,0001., the
proprietor of which estate was John Ashfordby Trenchard,
Doctor of Divinity, of Highworth in the county of Wilts,
and paid 5,5551. as a deposit ; that the Title was by the law
adviser of your Petitioner deemed not good, and that your
Petitioner accordingly refused to complete the purchase,
and brought an action for the deposit ; that the vender !ap-
plied to the Court of Chancery to stop the action ; that the
question remained undecided in that Court until 1819, during
which time your Petitioner had not the power to sell the Es-
tate ; that at the end of that period the Vice Chancellor de-
cided against your Petitioner; that there was then due to
Trenchard for purchase money and interest thereon. 71 957/.
19s. sd. and from Trenchard to your Petitioner for rests
received 0.8391. It. 9d. making a balance against your Peti-
tioner of 63,1181. 17s. Bd.
That its the mean time your Petitioner bad experienced
great reverses in his commercial affairs, In consequence of
the same all-ruinous cause, sod, being unable to pay the
sum of 03,1181. 17r. Eld„ rave to Trenchard a mortgage for
03,0001. on the estates of Pontrylas and Northaw.
That between the year 1519. when the Chancery suit was
decided, and July 1921, your Petitioner paid in part of the
debt of 65,0001, the sum of 5,000/. ; and 8,0001. interest oat
the same up to July 1521.
That on the decision of the Chancery suit your Peti-
tioner was put into possession of the Estate, and continued
in possession until he became bankrupt ; during which time
your Petitioner received, on account of rent and timber,
3,4101.
That in July 1821 your Petitioner offered the two Estates
for sale, but could not obtain for them a price at all equal to
his expectations or the amount of the sam for which they
were mortgaged.
That In October 1821 your Petitioner became a Bank-
rupt.
That Trenchard thereon took the proper and legsl steps
to retain the profits of the estate, and has since given notice
of fore-deting the mortgage.
That thus your Petitioner has actually paid to Trenchard
18,6551. while he has received from the estate 3,410/. and
is in danger of losing both this estate and his estate at
Northaw, which cost your Petitioner 72,0001.
Thet, on the other baud, Dr. Trenchard has received in
cash from your Petitioner MAU.; together with the
whole rents of the estate from the time of sale up to the year
1819; and that he has now applied to the assignees of your
Petitioner far leave to take the two estates, together with
all arrears of rent, which are due from February ISI9 (and
which, together with timber felled, your Petitioner esti-
mates at about 3,3001.) in lieu of the debt of 60,000/.
That the Assignees of your Petitioner are now praying
the Court of Chancery to agree to the above proposal, and
that if the prayer should be granted, Trenchard will hive
received the whole reuts and profit of tha estate except for
two yeers, and 1,4701. for timber; that lie will have been
paid 18,5551. by your Petitioner ; 'and that in addition to
his own estate he will have acquired the estate of Northaw,
which cost your Petitioner 72,0001.
That your Petitioner and his deceased Father purehased
other estates, in 1811. In the counties of Middlesex, Essex,
and Hants, for 33,1001. which have now been actually sold
for 12,00014 that your Petitioner and his Father, owing to
the depression in the price of land, and to a like depression
in that of their stock in trade, were in 1821 reduced to a
state of bankruptcy ; that seven children of your Petitioner,
ten children of his itrother' and seven children of his Sister,
will now be left wholly destitute, while your Petitioner s
Father, Vita a heart broken by these calamities, died in the
year 1822.
It is to prevent this act of crying injustice and cruelty
that your Petitioner humbly implores your ilonouranle
times, to interpose the exercise of that Power which you
possess, for the purpose of protecting his Majesty's people
against oppression. Your Petitioner thinks it wholl un-
necessary to take up the time of your Honourable House
in Mewing. that this threatened confiscation of his proper-
ty has .risen wholly from those Legislative measures which
hue produced that change in the value of money, which
Ism token two-thirds from the price of Agricultural produce,

sod which has, of coarse, lessened lo the same degree the
pries of land. His case js so plain that it cannot be mis-
understood; and, therefore, begging leave to remind your
Honourable House of the Bank-Suspension Act in 1797, of
the Suspension of Actions against the non-resident Clergy
in MOO (which action were afterwards quashed by an Act of
your Honourable House), and of the suspension of the
Landlord's power of distress against Tenants, in :
your Petitioner begging leave to remind your Honourable
House of these precedents, most humbly prays your Ho-
nourable House to suspend the power by which the Mort-
gages above-mentioned may be enabled to take from him
his Estate; and he further prays your Honourable House,
%o cause such equitable adjustment of contracts between
man and man, as may prefent the utter ruin of your Pe-
titioner; and of the numerous persons dependent for their
bread on his pecuniary means.
And your Petitioner will ever pray.
CH•RLES ANDREW 'Thomson.

MEETING OF MERCHANTS AND BANKERS.

Yesterday, a meeting of Alerchants and Bankers of the
city of London, took place ►t the London Tavern, for the
purpose of adopting measures for the greater security of
the money advanced by them, in the course of their com-
mercial transaction., upon the deposit of merchandise and
goods, and for a more adequate protection than is at pre-
sent afforded by the English law against the fraudulent
conduct of foreign men:to-tots.
Joux SMITH, Esq. M. P., was unanimously called to
the Chair.

The CISATRMAN said, it was well known to them that
merchants, hankers, and other capitalists, were in the ha-
bit of advancing money on the security of merchandise
to a considerable extent, as well on the deposit thereof as
in payment of bills of exchange, drawn by the consignors
from foreign parts, or from one port to another within
the United Kingdom. To encourage the employment of
capital by means of such advances, by which the amount
of capital actually engaged in commercial operations was
intreased, and the trade of the country was carried to a
vast extent, was a sound principle of policy ; but it aas
to be lamented that no adequate protection was afforded
by our law to such transactions. On the contrary, the
English capitalist advanced his money at his peril, and to
his loss, if the goods proved to he the property of any
other person than the individual borrowing or drawing
upon the credit of them, although such fact was un-
known and nniliscoverable by the person making the ad.
vance. To provide against such a hardship, it became
t' e crest body of the capitalists of the nation to make
every effort. It was worthy of reinark, that our Scot-
tish brethren had exhibited upon this, as well as upon
other questions, a much greater degree of prudence than
we had exercised, as would be shown in the course of
his discussion. In fact the English law was unfair and
Omni in the highest degree; for it went to prevent the
circulation of capital biond any measure that, perhaps,
bad ever been brought before Parliament.
. .

Mr. FARRAND, M.P., rose to submit certain resolutions,
which had, he said, been drawn up under the legal opi-
nion and advice of Messrs. Kaye, Freshfield, and Kaye.
He observed, that the rule that a factor, though clothed
with apparent ownership of goods, and the power of sale,
could not pledge them, or dispose of them by barter, ori-
ginated in cases determined a century ago, and turned
principally en apparent fraudulent practices between the
actor and the individual with whom the goods were de-
posited. The courts of law had carried the principle
to such an extent as to render all advances on goods ex-
tremely dangerous, by exposing English capitalists, who
advanced money on merchandise to frauds on the part
of foreign merchants.
Mr. Thomas WlLsoy, M.P., said he felt much for the
foreign merchants. Care should be taken to protect them
from abuse of trust.

The CUAIRMAN thought that nothing could be more
uncertain in general then the c tnjectitre as to the *Maim
of the law officers of the Crown; but believed they were
not hostile to the proposition of remedying the existing
evil. Indeed, he understood their disposition as friendly
towards the change. f the proceedings of the meeting
were brought to a speedy termination, a bill might be
brought into Parliament this season.
The resolutions were agreed to, and the merchants
and bankers signed a petition to Parliament.