Leeds Meeting For South A...
The Times, 1824-07-01T00:00:00

-~ -O1~~d~~las a eetig. ~sield at the Court-house, in Leeas, isulrs.uastee thzplw ng eqi14tion -"TO 'THE W60ISHUPFUL THE, MAYOR OF LEEDS. -% -e, thie undersigned-, request- you -wmill - call a meeLting -of- the mnerchants and Others intere-sted in the trade to South America, to take into cone-ideratlon the laroptriet.v of' p-titioning Ilia Majesty in council, to achnowledge'the indepe'ndence of Buienos Ayrer,, Chile, r'eru, .Mexico, and Colombia "JOSIAH _OATEiS AND SON, * " ~~TuioctAs KAEiKEy, RAWSON, T;HAc5UA,% LRD BROTHERS, "OLDAIM, PEASE, ZND'6. - BENJAItI1N- (OOT? AND SON', "'TioMAS AND )J. BtsCrnosr AND CO., "JAtE:s BROWN-AND CO., "SHAW, DRIVER, AND CO., " A. RHODES AND CO., - " BROTHIERS MYREN' AND CO.,- " UTIoRrY-AND APPLEDY, "CLAPHAM AND BROTHERLS, LiTMAND G.- DonsoNs, "JOHN- AND JERRE NEYLOII AND CO., "THomAs BESKETT, "JOSHEUA TAYLOR AND CO.'~ "In complianic wvith the abovereqaisition, I do hereby appoint a meeting of the mnerchants and Others, to be held at the Court-house, in Leeds. at 11 o'clock Ox Tuesdav neXt, the 29thi instant, for the purpose abovemnentioned. " THOS. TENNANT, Mlayor." At twelve o'clock the M'tAYoIR took the Chair, and said that he 'had conveneAd the meeting in- pursulane of' thie requisition which lied just been reatd. Thie questio&i was so eiituiely, comimer-cial, and thie gentlemen presenit were so MUCh MOte COmIpetent than himnself to give effiect to such adiscusision, that he shiould not f'eel it to be his dtint to trespass long upon thteir attention in opening th'e reguilar business ofthe dlay. Indeed, it wvould be presiumption in himi to off'er many Observations uopn the subject. They liv-ed in timies whichl were productive of great events-they were informiied thiat great chtanges had taken place in thie soutthern hemisphere-that a vast conltfinent (at lc.,st so they hadi reason fromi public intelligence to believe) had readeredlitself' independent-a continent, richi int popu- lationi, rich in the fruits of -the eartlt, full Of the most valuiable miineral.s. Such a chianige, opening us it uudoubtedlv htd, nlew enler- gies4 to commierce, usdoiterefore o'f impnortant consequenice in its re- sults to Great Britain as a commiercial nation, naturally attracted thle attention of this country, indteedl of she whole civilized worldl. (H-ear, hiear.) Thi-e great change-% afihcting them commnercially, naturally inivitedl their attention : he presumed thiey assemnbled merely to discuss the qutestion as it affected their eommercial rela- tionis: engaged as they were in commnerce,they were iustly entitled to ecinsidersasubject so connectedi whiti their immnediate a'nd ekssetial vur- 41uitS; thlere WaS no im1proprittV therefore, oni the contrary there wats thle gretes ptprity,in theircolamiunicating theirview o6fsheir, owiO lair interests, as connticted with Eliegreat change-s wghich had recenitly oc- curred. The great extenision of commerce which the new state of things~ unfolded, called upon tbea. certainily for ssie expression of any pliticl beaings hichIt mIghI esppsdt ve' in a largr viw. t prsenthe resume h rrgto ot 1-ar-~.nent leftthemno oher hannl ofcomn uto o h conveyanceO Of their sentiments, than through the King and Council. Th com- mercial parr of' this great mianufactuiring dlistrict mnust Obvious-ly hiave a dieep interest, and he pres,mned tbat was all to which they di- rected their attention.in the remioval ofalil restrictions wichiti n iipedea thec extension of the commiiercial relations in whiceh they were so largly mbared.The G`.overnmnent must participate in the nsaile senimets,othrwie tse~(the mieeting) mright be sukpposed to he embrkingin a artyid niot a commercial viewv of the quesioneliitle wicowould be quite unfavourable to thet objet they had in view. He. was quite persuaded that they cam to te discussion of this question for nio other purpose than as coinmercial meni, to consider its commrercial hearitngs ant-id in that expect'ation. lie was readly to concur with thiem in giving e;ffect to the. dicsso. id r4 egretted the thinness of the meeti:g, buit was ready to hear any lpropositioli which any gentleman lied to soibmit. (Hleas.) Mlr. JERntE NEYLORt (Of Wakcefield) conceurred in Lamenting the absence of several of the requisiters, through whose agency the nieer- lag hadtlbeen convened. lee had signed the requisition), although osecia prsuts Hewa redy threore tat hemeeting should eithe proeed t busness ith hateer resouioshadl been pre. pare, oradjorn ntila moe covenent time frensuring a mur. The MAYOR Said, dilt lie -was, quite ready either to remain for thfe purpose! of proceeding to business, or to adjourn to enisure a f'ul- 1er attendatice, if thaut course wvere deemied better calculated to gtive "llect to thieobet Pofthe meeting. Hews qutite reAdy to Obey whatever c.urseappearednmore expedlienitto those who wefein artetid. 3nce. fie confessed himnselfrdisappointed at theattetidance,considering the great comimercial respect6~ility of' the paffties at witose requl. sition he had conivened the mi-eeting. -Mr. KiaxaY said, that he also regretted the non-attenlance of th,ysle requisitors, altitough h1e was aware thiat this being the market- day,the hadothr engagemnents whiceh pressed upon the: n h course ol buries li -scranypeae ith a few resolu- tiolis for tdie considerationi of thie mneeting, -ntd lie was ready eithier ut go on withi themn, or to refrain until another opportunity, a-t the option, of the mieeting. If' thiey wouild permit himn, however, he would proceed to- offer the resolutions, gnd then leave thiemi at the disposal of -he ineeting. An object SO important as the extensive commiiercial relations of their towni and nieighboirliood ought niot, hie Ethoughl, to be lineneesarily delayed; and particularly whien thee kitew tfie advantinige fiom whidch they, were excluded by .the pre- sent relative cunnexion of Southi America withi Great Britain, in ma cominiei-cial point of view. [t was notorious that there was a wvide fieldi of capital opeii to thts coniitry with Southi Aniserica, if' circunistatnces admitted of its hitll cidiargcinmeat. Hitherto thlat trade reinained ink its inifancy ; still it was growing, amidist the disadvan- tages which at piesen-t inipeded it, ijito a consideration of greet im- portance to this country. This was c-lear fromn the amnount or Britishl lirodu-e imiorted, tinder every disadvantage into Southi Amiericat mince rthe struggle lhad occurred, In the year t822, the direct imupartationt of Britishi produce and mnanu- nutactures amounted to 341867,9591. In the year following it in- crewied above'2,O000,OOOL, viz, to 5,6-8,7691.- If, therefore, time in- dependence and commirercial condition otf Southi Anietica were fairly recognized, the natuiral presainption would be, that the aniount of British triade would Considerably increase. Hel was glad to findl, judging fromn th'e sentimuents of MVinisters thirough the accounits its pulViC prinits, that they (the Mlinistem) were free to avow, that at soeprod or ather thie inde-pendence of' the new states nusts be re- conie., The quiestioni then was, why Should it be protracted when the result wa-s so clear ? In atddition to the essent-ial commercial ad- vanltages whiich issust e&crue fromi giving this country a better relative connexion with Southk Aymerica, there wias another thing that they ouight not to put out of' their view-nlamcely, the situiationl in which the great aniount of' loans stood, that had beeni cotitracted witht thec new Governments. These loans, lie thotught, though contmacted for by indtividuals, had an eventual operationt which affected thie commecrcial interests of the cuty These loans, fie believed, exceeded in amouint twelve milin st.erling-an amiount whilch nisust be exposed to unfavourable fluctuations so long as the contracting Goversimeut was tiot recognized. Wrhen, in thte year 1810, Spaini applied to thi cutyfradopoect e from French invasion. She mrade certain conccssions in favour of' Great -Britaini to trade with hier SouthAmericatn cslonies. Tlie-Go. veroiment of Spain, howvever, had not f'ollowed up that arranigemient as thiey ought to have dione. The lhojis genitlemanl tile" referredl to the act of Spain as aff'ectiure British commerce, after the engagemneut. ieic the aletee no Inderd, Spain herself had acknow- ledged the initistice of' those acts, by the agreement of' the Cortes, in the year 11-2 to grant. aii indermtity (if' 400,0001. for the depreda. tions whbich the British coiumerce with Mexico had sustained. If they followved the comnmercial view round Cape Horn, thaey wouild find othier captures and( othier seizures quite at variance wvith the stipulated faith, and whiich could not concur, if the recog- nition of the nets States hadl takeni place- He wished entirely io view this question in its comnmercial, and not in its political bearings; and hin this view he would direct the attention of the mieetinig to the -broad facch that thie recognition to which they looked forward must be followed by an immediate reduaction of the South American,dutiies u-pon British commerce. At present-they paid3 guneaspercent upo expnse of ex-portation to Soutli Ame- rica whih wold e reucedto 2s. er cent. (the rate to Brazil) if therecgntio tok lac. Beids, llgoods consigned to South Amerca mst -passthrogh te agncyof niative ciftizens. This woul ne bethecas undr te nw oderof'things, if' Great Britaits recognized the South American relton.'lhe mom-ent that the Unite States of Amierica recognized Colombian independence, then the restrictive regulations wet e removed ; the seine result would no doubt follow a sinmila-r act on the part of Great Britain, 6:nd the im- po:tanlce of the fulfilment of the object could no longer be made a matter of question. 'He concluded by lfeadingz the folo-wing resola- tians, anti proposing thm for the anoption of tile meetinig. TEhey Resolved, r.-Ta it is teo ion of this meeting that the ~cknwlegmeir b thijiitedKindomof thepolitical independence of te Sattsh clones-in SuthAmeiaaould- he Productive of "2. hatthetrae hthero crrid o -wth outlh Amierica lias been limited in extent, and-renjderedisceir topain, frm not enjoying thkat M.tcint 'i't twnf aette uner goi31 Tathprmtrcgionof thie independec ofthe new state ofSuhAeiai eaded by considerations of sound com-mercial poicy, and bytht ravrbl'e regard which every con- stitutional overnmnent shudetrantowa cis naioswihav uneqjuivocally asserted their -claim and hiave, de facto, established their title to be treatedl as indepen it Powers. "9 4. That a petition to tihelKing's Most Excellent Majetty in Council, founded upion the above resolutions, be adopted by this mneeting."- A log cnveratin- aoseuponthe-verbal constru~tion of the re- soluion, bt tey ereultmatly doped in thle form in which we OnTtme ueston hat paidonfoudedupoti thege resolutions be preentd t th Kig aid ounil,anoherconversatdon upon points of mnere form arose. Alany gentlemen, parlicularly AIr. JOHN GOTT and AIt. NAY- I.:R, were of opinion, thiat as manufacturing men, they -had nothing to do wvith loans, and therefore did not wish tp have tne allusion to theim (as intended) to forn any part of their petition-not that they objected to the introduction of the tollic, if deemed absolutely neces. sary to give eflct to the purposes of the petition, but otherwise, thley had rather avoid the topic. On the other hand, it wascontended by Mr. J,K17tsY and other gentlemen, that the manufacturers had bec; in part paid for tbeir goods by the prOduce of tho6e loans, and therefore that the value of such securitv was not altogetlher irrelevant in the recital of their reasor.s to the ICing ainid Cotncil, when they subnmitted the impediments which were encountered, fro:n the exist. _L___ .k -I. olti.-n -ith Snuth1 AntieGia. Mr. BiADTs beggedl to re ark, and he dlid so mierelvy'.y"ii'y of" snuggstion, thlat as thie loans alluded to were admlittedl by Coinmer- cig gentlemnezn to have hatd a connexion with their tradle, there was noreasonl why. they tivould not be sdlo%vied to furnish an additionai reason for'their present ~e iton to the King in Council. It being admitted on all hands that they could do no harn, af'ter some verbal alterations in the mode of proceeding which were Rug- gastcdF by Mlr. Bsines,--thefollowing petition was adopted by the "6 To the King's. .Most Excellent .Uajesty in Coancil. 'dThe humble petition of the undersignad lerchants, Tra4ers, and Inhabitants ef the town of Leeds, in the county of York, coovened at a Public Alcedng held at the Court-house, the 29th !'day of June, 1824, " Showeth, That your Uajesty's petitioners are engaged or in. terested in the trade carried on with the countries in America for- - Thatethwe edxotinicntiton of Spanish authority in the greater part of th'it tl .cnt -thie ctagen.eij-i out ' lir..' jesty 's Government at home, Indhted your petitlaohrs to- -m-' barZ -ii that extensive commerce with full - nfidene tb'ei't woiAld receive protetion, and ultimately Drove bentfi;1w tc* themselves and to the miuntiy at larae that in -the s s. . of 1822 an act of Parliament was plaed (can. 4) -Authorinjz . impcrtAtlon of goods, the'grawtb, production,orrnanuf_ctureoF arey country- or place in America, beirg, or havinr be, -a part of tie dominions of the Ming of Spaio.' In the following vrear, I <nsu Y were appointed to prozeed to the pons thereof, and subsenigly d there has been mule public the declaration of -one of his 11aiev' Alinisters, that in his opinion ' the recognition of sueb of the ner; states as have established, de facto, their separate politleal-exitenx p I cahnot be much Ionaer delavol.' "That the inhabitants oSt Buenos Ayres, Cliie, Peru, 'lexica, and Colombia, having succestively thrown off the authority of the ! parent state, and declared thernsalves independent, have it length, after arduous struggles, effeatl their emanmcpation, and hate M claiimed a free commerce with eqery other nation except Old Spain, " That zreat losses, difficulties, ania inconvenienre.S hame been experieneed by British subjects traiding with the Spanis1j Americua . States, in consequence of those States Dot being recognized by Grat Britain, and of no commercial treatv existng with them. - That the apprehensions which jour Majestyvs netitinners enter. fain for the safety of their propertv in Soath America are, not vague and indefinite, but founded upon various acts and dc1warationg of the Spanish Government, us well as of the late Vicerovs of thb se countries which have recently emancipated themselves from theyoke- of Spain. " That Tour Majestv's petitioncrs acre informed, that by the laws of Cohmbia tcreigners are excluded fr6m. importing goods, except in the namne and bv the intervention of a native citi. zen. Tlhat previous to th&erecogaition of the Coli1 bian Govern. ment bv the United States, an extra duty of 5 per cent. wvas levied oin imports male by foreigners but the additional imposi .vas rcmitted to the citizens of the United States, by the Govern. ment of Colombia, immediately on the indenendence of the ltter beingacknowledged, the British merchaots being still compeDled io' transact thrir business under the diffictlties and disqualifcation in- cident to other toreizners. "That loans to the amounlt of l2,8OD,OA0L of Britislth cartallivi been ncegtiated in l,ondon for the service of the Governments of Co- lombia. Alexico, Peru. Chile, and Buenos-Avres- the due payment of the interest of wvhich, and the ultimate repaymeRt of the princi. pal, nutst necessarily be placed in considerable jeopardv go long as the i rndepender,ce of those States remains ur-tGowled-ed, and the intrieues of SDain continue to foment internal dissensions. "Wheref',re, your Majesty's petitionems humbly pray, that your Majesty will be p!eased to take the vhole prewdsks itmt your most gracious consideration, al,d direct thie immediate retzogition of the independence of the newly-established Statei in Soutb Amnerica and Mexico, w-ith a view of encering into suchl political and comrnmereial relationn with them aS m:v best secure and promotethe muttial bene. fits of a valuable,extensiie, and unfettered commerce, and put an end to the miseries of war in the Western hemisphere. A And vour Majesty's 2titiunera, as in duty bound, siall ever pray, &c." After n few vords from Mr. Josrm OATMcas for the purpose oF being satisiLd upon the connexion between theloans and the South American onimierce; the M O1AYORt who had withdrawn for a few mirutes, to attend his magicterial dutieA, resumned his seat, and the petition was ordered to be prepared and signed in the usual manner, and transmiamcd to Hiii Majesiy in Council, through the Secretary of State for the Home Department. LRRDS. M7ZETTNG FOR SOtLTTI 4AMERlICA I .-. I-VDEPENDENVCE. . ,