The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-06-17 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

The House went into a Committee on the Gloss Duty Draw-
backs, in millet' certain Resolutioas were agreed to, the Re-
port of which was ordered to be received to-morrow.
The Bill to prevent Starch being made from Grain, nns
brought in, read a first, and ordered to be reed a secood time
to-morrow.
The House went into a Committee respecting the Wool sold
by the Farming Society of Ireland. A Resolution was moved
to exempt the sale of it from the Auction deties, which was
agreed to,andfthe Report ordered to be received to-morrow.
Mr. VVHARTON brought in a Bill to transfer the Scotch
Excise ( hasty Superannuation Fund to the Consolidated
Fund.—Read a first, and ordered to be read a second time to-
, morrow.
Mr. LOCKHART withdrew the notice be had given, respect-
ing American Claims.
Mr. W. POLE moved for leave to bring in a Bill to amend
the Act fur regulating Port Duties in Ireland.—Leave wasgivea
to bring in the Bill.
Mr. W. POLE obtained leave to bring in a Bill to amend
the Law with respect to the Inland Excise and Taxes of Ire-
land. _ _

The Howe went into a Cnnanittee on the Irish
____

ofkpiealtCitant Bill.—Report etdeted to be received to.
morrow.

Mr. LUSHINGTON brought up the Report of the Commit•
tees of Supply, and Ways and Means, which were agreed 10.
Mr. N. CALVERT gave notice, hat be would Waterfall'
move for an Account of ibe number of French Prisoners at Its
berty on their parole and also for a Return of the nunsbotnbls
bad escaped by the violation of it.
The House Reolved itself into a Committee ma the Bening&
and Bahama Trade, In which it was resolved that time 4.babolie
should ask leave to bring in Bills to authorise the ezportatiimi
of their produce in foreign sesseb to America, Ste. die same haw-
ing been previously imported in British ships,—Bills were or-
dered accordingly.
The House went into a Committee nn the Newfoundland Trade
Bill, in which it was proposed to impose an additional duty on
spirits imported there. The Report was ordered to be received
to-morrow.
The Copper Duties Bill was read a second time, and commit-
ted for to-morrow.
The Report of the Bank Token Bin was brought UP sal
agreed to, and the Bill ordered to be read a third time to-
morrow.
. Mr. WROTTESLEY brought op the Report of the General
ibielosure Bill, which was ordered to be printed, and to be taken
tats further consideration on Monday.
Sir F. BURDETT c.illed the attention of the Geodeseen be-

Ismeng to the Admiralty, to the easeef se inii;idual frao whom
he had received a letter, and a bons be believed to he as Ameri-
can. This person, whose name was Williamson, stated himself
to be a native of America, having been born in Long Wad, is
the State of New York. lle bad come to Logland, sad Matters
premed and taken to the Nore. He would nut enter low the
service, bat took au opportunity to escape. lie was, however,
retaken, and had been carried back as a deserter, and he seder-
stood him to be at present on board the Esaritorize. The Hop. Baronet then stated, that he held In Ms band a Petition treat a
Debtor in Lancaster Castle, complaisiag of the c..adret of the
gaoler. Ile meant to throw no unpuao. set the
the keeper of that prison, but he thought which
had been made against him called for same inquiry meta bh con-
duct.
The Petition was then read.—On the question being pet, that
this Petition do lie on the sable.
Mr. BLACKBURN said, be bad that morning received a let-
ter from a Gentleman, who bad been making enquiries se the
subject, which represented • the coodoct of Mr. Maio (the
gooier) to be ray ttllfereat from what it was tbetstitlet of Bie

iZtai There w
before the House to make it appear. The Ildn. Gee, _ ...... A
ere, he would allow, many of the founded
then begged leave to read the 11111181i100111 decisiin of the
4litgistiates, who, on a formeroccaslon,hog IN mitigated the een_ on good and sound views of policy. The Petition
Wardle from Liverpoot was one of this description. That
to•ilomperior. Higgins,nsufthe oonasemereroarl
MaldtareveePirererredaastagainuelou!diYminjiereThseirn. tolrn would, he believed, teceive Material advantage
decides was, that the charges preferred
fwoulthadedasseandofmthaeliperiojiuosu.ersHeundbeeirievtheedearthosee a aritisiatiorroueo, , from the abolition of the Monopoly; but could the
who ; same be said of all the places frotn which Petitions
were disposed to resist the exercise of that authority, which was to that effect were presented ?He knew of one dis-
iegany vestedin the gaoler.
Sir F. BURDETYrepeated what he bad asserted on a former • trict from which a Petition against the monopoly *as
eveeisig,
In that he couldon not answer for the correctness of the fact, ' presented, the object of which, from his knowledge
set fuck the Petiti.
Oa She question being put, considerable opposition was made i of the place, could be no other than praying leave
to its being laid on the table. The Speaker thought the " Noes .to export black cattle to India for the people of
had It." The gallery however was cleared for a division, but ' that district had no other commodity,—[A laugh.]
we could not learn the result.
There was another from Newcastle-upon-Tyne the
ORDERS IN COUNCIL 9
object of which was, he believed, a permission to
Mr. BROUGHAM rose, he said, for the pur. `export the light and very portable goods of that town,
pose of bringing before the House a proposition for the use of the hot-houses of China.—LA laugh.]
d
a subject which had already met with much! But though many Petitions
1 I barrassments under rious discussion. He did not fear the charge cumstaticed like Newcastle,Coming from istricts car=
could gain nothing by
seration when he said, that it was the most ! the abolition, they
tmigwoo
rtant which could possibly occupy the attention • all seemed the distress and cuss
the commerce of the cogn.
of the House or of the nation. After six weeks; try was straggling. One could not reflect upon the
painful enquiry, and after going through a mass of 1 numerous Petitions that had crowded upon the House,
stridence which, at least, !ti point of extent, was pert; without calling to mind the times formerly visited by
baps unprecedented in the history of Parliamentary j that dreadful calamity, the plague, and the stories
Investigation, it new remai .ed for theta to make up I told of frantic men running from their homes lute
their minds upon that evidence, -aid upon a subjects the street, and madly calling out for relief and suc-
which could not be surpassed, if vice ;el in the great tour, not considering that they only spread the in-
and alarming results which it had produced upon the ; fection they wished to avoid. In such times too em.
commerce and welfare of the country. It now re- , pirics were not wanting, who, by an affectation of
Mained for them, by their decision upon this ques- 1 unfailing skill, and by vending the most ridiculous
lon, to do their duty both to the Crown and to the ' nostruMs' accumulated fortunes in the short space of
Country. Whatever the extent or the difficulty of : a week. In the present commercial disease of the
the enquiry may appear to be, or however great the: country, there were to be found the same extent and
'Suss of papers to which that enquiry had given birth, ! madness of contagion ; the same empiric' and nos.
to those however who had attended in the Committee, trams; the same fortunes accumulated by deceit.—
sr even tothose who had perused theevidence,it would I He would beg to state to the Houses that it was not
ilppear that the grounds upon which their decision his intention to carry them with any minuteness of
limy be safely rested, lay indeed within a very nag-' reference into the details of the evidence. He would
sow compass. He could, he thought, without va- I only ask those who attended in the Committee, to
city, undertake to convince even those who were recollect what a picture had there been presented,
sot prepared for the discussion, that seldom or never . by not less than one hundred witnesses, who had
vu there introduced in that House a question, the ! been examined from thirty different manufacturing
merits of which were combined within narrower , towns. The only difficulty with respect to witnesses,
bounds, or one in which the conclusions lay more ; was to keep back the hundreds who were crowding
to the surface of the facts. There was one part of to give their evidence. 'They all agreed in one story,
tie task which it became his duty to perform that • and except in a single instance, no attempt was made
night, from which he would willingly recede; he : to deny the general distress. He would ask the Howl
felt himself, however, called upon to draw the at- to look at Birmingham and its neighbourhood, which
tention of the house, and to state to the many Gen- ! for 30 miles round, used, in better times, to swarm
denten who had not attended the Committee, the ' like a hive, with not less than 400,0(X) persons, alt
various scenes of distress which had been brought to employed and contented ; what was now its appear.
light in it, the bare recital of which could not but mice ? Those persons, once so happy and contented,
fill every person of feeling Kith pain for the suffer- were reduced in a great degree to idleness and want,
Ings and miseries of so many thousands. To such as or obliged to work at half prices. Many of their
attended the Committee, what could possibly be former employers retained them at a vast sixpence,
more painful than to have seen respectable and an- many were obliged to turn them off, and not one
tient men, who It tti been the pillars of the coin/tierce single employer who was examined, but stated, that
of this country, complaining, not that the riches upon the decision of this question depended the can-
they had drawn together by long and laborious duct which they must in tenure pursue with respect
industry were dissipated, but lamenting because !to their workmen. The evidence given at the Bar of
they were deprived of those means by whirl!! the House disclosed this one important fact, that if
they were enabled to do that which, from .mere' they said no to the motion now before them, there
motives of charity, they had long continued to' was not one in the whole district last nientioned who
do, lamenting that they Could no longer afford re- would not be driven from employment. In the only
lief to the numerous classes who were dependent , conversation which he ever had the pleasure of hold-
upon them for subsistence, and complaining that • i ing with the late Chancellor of' the Exchequer, he re-
they must now turn adrift to beggary and to want membered that Right Hon. Gentleman to have said,
the thousands who had no means of supporting life I that he (Mr. Brougham) proved his case with respect
but by their labour. He was unwilling to call thelto the hardware manufacture, but that the proof did
attention of the House to the painful part of tire' not extend to Yorkshire.—He would now con.
subject. He would rather ask the house now to ! tend, that it did extend to Yorkshire. From the
reflect upon the more general symptoms of distress' evidence, it appeared that there were merchants
which had manifested themselves within the last six in thA country, whose stock, varying in value
months. In the first place, it was natural to attend !from 10,0001. to 90,0001. was at present locked
to the many Petitions which had been presented I up, and useless for want of a market. There was
against the Orders in Council. They might naturally ! one affectine circumstance came out in evidence.—
dwell upon those Petitions as most in point upon the I The poor people in one of the manufacturing districts
present subject. The Orders in Council were pro- I were obliged, from distress and want of employ.
pert), to be considered as commercial measures, as meat, to part with what little clothes and furniture
measures originally adopted for affording protection they possessed, so that the' stores of the pawn.
to the trade of the country. He would ask, then, : brokers were completely full of them. The same
was it nothing to see that even the very commercial' took place in Sheffield, where the cutlery business
classses themselves cried Out, even before investiga- i was carried on. In that place an extraordinary car.
Lion, and as it were by anticipation, against the sort lcumstance with respect to pawnbrokers occarred.—
of relief which it was thus proposed to afford them, I The workmen being no longer able to find sale for
and beg rather to be left to the mercy of their cue- ! the goods they manufactured, were obliged to pawn
mies, than subjected to a relief which would end in ! them, and tbe consequence was, that the pawnbrokers,
their ruin ? Was it; lie would ask, nothing in such a !bringing such goods to market were enabled to beat
question, that the great manufacturing counties of ; down the prices and undersel theemployers. The same
Warwick, Lancaster, and York, cried out against' difficultiesanddistresses prevailedinthedistrictswhere
them ? There were other symptoms besides the Peti- ! woollen and cotton goods were manufactured. One
tions equally general; the various and unsuccessful ,of the witnesses, a Mr. Bending, said, that he had
projects which had been adopted by merchants, some ; been in the habit of letting out a number of cottages
of those projects absolutely immoral, were a proof, :to poor working men. Formerly the rent was regu-
the difficulties to which they were reduced. Ti the ; larly paid, bat when he had gone lately among them,
excesses which had been committed on the machinery i he saw the poor people, whom he had known a short
in various parts of the country, he was unwilling to time before enjoying all the humble comforts of life,
allude. They might, be thought, be traced to the sitting down to a miserable repast of meal and wa-
same origin. No man could blame more than himself ter. He turned away with pity firorn the prospect,
' excesses of that kind ; but there was no person who ! and could not demand the rent which he came for the
could forbear, in considering those riotous proceed- purpose of collecting.—[flour, hear!]---ile was not
ings, to mingle some share of pity with his disappro- • the only person who had acted in this benevolent
bation. In some of the Petitions he would allow, ! manner. The masters and employers' in the dis.
that the remedies p:oposed were such as must have : tressed districts had done good in various ways. The
prOceeded from persons not capable of discerning the i Weis could not conceive the distress that was felt,
sources from which their troubles arose. In not a , and came out in evidence. One witness stated, that
few of them allusion was made to an obsolete Statute • he had frequently gone out of the way on Saturday
for fixing the rate of wages; more of
them, which !night to avoid the view of misery which he must
he himself had presented, prayed, as a remedy, that have experienced, had he remained at home. It
useless sinecure places should be abolished ; and he appeared, that esenmar.ifyhhuads
muocffhe,redantdhemirucwhormkoaret
Could not but remark,
heard n the Committee, end may be read
a measure could net have any great or visible effect had been i
in passing, that though such a fourth of the price.
upon the situation of the country, yet as the holders by such as had iiqt attended to it; but those who
of many such places were interested in the continu- had not attended
edi evidencecru d been deliveredldnobtaknowtheaffecti t theyngman-
ance of war, the removal of places so circumstanced nor in which
judgei ofa sdelivered. the tine,irel lu h
the features,wab thee nohionywy
mayma wouldiopnro.ventteni mp o
request
uesto servicethtoe tHheouinseteretostlsoookf theat
withld t
t w which
the numerous
EousPsettitinoesdiapcpreosem Company. `Co whattedagainsttheother known n
mono- said, he
ndealludedr thpaortiacpuienation of the Society of:arly to that class of mea
poly of the
cause could many of them be.treced
charities of
than to the ge- Friends, who were the first to cons forward
oust distress that pervaded all classes of society ? where in V was made to the, end
J .