The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1812-08-07

dlStrICts.' Had such been the case. he
would ask, did IT not appear that the dis
.resS IN forkshire was even greater than
IN Birmingham He then rccapitulated
ma part OF the evidence relating TO York
shire, To prove that fact. He had stated the
evidence--tbc House had heard it-but it
was impossible Tor him To state it in the at
iecting manner in which it had been given.
10 conceive that, gentlemen must have
heard the witnesses give their evidence at
the bar, some had SAID, to those who stated
these hardships. do yon impute the scar
city to the Orders in Council !"--No, he
did not but there were two sorts of scarcitv
-one produced by Its being impossible to
get TODD by any means-and the other pro
duced by not having the means of getting it.
l hey did nos impute the scarcity of corn to
the Orders in Council, but they did impute
the scarcity or wages to that source, and
that was what aggravated the. scarcity 10
the lower classes. 1t had been put to
all the Witnesses, whether they rccoilected
the situation OF the poor in former years of
SCARCITY, and whether it. was then as bad
as 1T was ut present: The answer. was uni.
icrmly no not half so bad. And here he
could not help adverring to the late mea-
surcs pursued towards America, which, he
SAID, by preventing our army in the PENN
s'la being supplied from that Country tend
ed to encrease the scarcity: and to enhance
the price of provisions in this country. In
answer to all this evidence, only one person,
whose name he would not mention, had been
called, and he alone had said that the peo.
pie did not feel distress This man, who
was, he was sorry to say, one of the most
opulent merchants of the city of London
who had himself risen from an humble ORR
Sia-had said, that the manufacturers were
PAID wages beyond their deserts--that one
third their present wages would be equal
to their wants d; and this man had dared to
say, in the face of the Representatives of
the people OF England, that oatmeal and wa
Ter was TODD equal to the wants of an Eng.
m and if they had more, they became
painpered. Having no evidence to answer
this case, the Hon. and Right Hon. Gentle
man opposite had reverted to the old stale
tl1ck OF calling MIR. Ervine, to produce
custom House documents, to prove the
hourishing state of the country /; but when
ne could produce better evidence-evidence
winch proved that these official documents
were tallacious-he could no LONGER give
credit to them.
he Hon. Member then went through a
review OF the Custom House accounts, from
"h,ch lie made 1t appear, that there had
beeh since the existence of the Orders in
council, a very great falling off in the trade
. III - year III DdlLiCulHI.
namely, IN 1909. as compared with 1911,
the former years exports exceeded that of
the latter by near 81, 90, 0OOl, /; and in one
ysarihe dahrit had,hsan ~ ,-~~ lr.--sS,
OC6, 0Co andby no means could the present
pressure on our manufacturers be removed,
except by doing away the Orders i'll Coun-
CHI and thus opening to ourselves to North
American market. 1t had been said, why
did rot the manufacturers try the home
marEHtC the fact wv thor tha hDnnA
market itself was injured by the suspension
OF our trade with America /; this was pro-
we'd by the evidence from Sheffield. Gut
iery, which was generally a luxury, was
the staple commodity of Sheffield ; and,
from the evidence, it appeared not only
had the supply sent to America been re-
turned upon their hands. but it appeared
that so affected were the circumstances OF
ether commercial places at home, by the
state OF commerce., that he home con-
sumption, was very much affected by it.
One circumatance of belief afforded by home
consumption, has indeed occurred in the
course OF thce evidence, and that was. a tide
Of prosperity which flowed in upper Leeds
about n year and a half ago, from the cir
curnstancc Of the ladies adopting the fashion
OF wearing cloth p~elisses instead of silk /;
this indeed did afford that place a relief be-
yopd what any pcrscn could Conceive; but
how was that relief obtained ? why. as APP
peared by a subsequent part of the evidence,
10y the ruin of the Spitalfelds Weavers. II
now remained for him TO advert to what
had been said on the subject of our mari
time rights, and that the concession of the
Orders III Council would be the abandon.
mcnt of those rights. He Could only say,
mat il such appeared tohim TO be the case,
he would be the last man 10 advise such a
measure on the contrary, lie was of OPT
commerce and cur rights would go hand in
hand. 1t was said, that if we now aban-
doned our maritime rights, we never could
resume them.
Was this the fact ? had they not all, at
different times, in different treaties, been ri
ven up for a time, and again resumed As
well might it be said, if he had a right Of
way, that he must Continue without ceas-
ing, without eating, drinking, or sleeping,
gong to Church or going to Court, to walk
on that way, since, If he onCc abandoned it,
and stepped aside ohIy for an instant, he
could not, having relinquished il, ever re
sume It. lie was the last man that woulG
consent TO give up those rights which were
essential TO the support Of tho dignity OF the
Crown and tile safety and honour Of the
country however, when those maritime
rights were incompatible with our interests
and trade, lie thought they ought to be sus-
pended Tor the general benefit. He would
deny thata an abandonment Of them for time
was tantamount to.an concession of them
altogether, as had been proved by various
treaties. We now say that free bottoms
~ rNNN no IL t.