House of Commons
Monday, July 16 1804
Minutes
Lord Marsham presented a petition from Cyprian Willock, who had been committed to Newgate, for prevarication before the Middlesex Election committee, expressing contrition for his offence, and praying to be discharged out of custody. On the motion of Lord Marsham, he was ordered to be brought up on Wednesday, in order to be discharged.—The house, in a committee, heard witnesses on Tighe's Divorce bill; when the Speaker observed that there were certain parties concerned in that bill, whose presence was necessary; that the notice requiring their attendance had not been sent off till Saturday; and that they had to come all the way from Chester, it would not be possible for them to be present that day; he therefore moved, "that the chairman report progress;" ordered, and the committee was ordered to sit again to-morrow.—The Woolwich Ordnance bill; the Accountant General's bill; the English Vote of Credit bill; the Irish Vote of Credit bill, and the London Ducks bill. were read a 3d time, and passed.—A person from the Mint, brought up an account of the quantity of silver brought there, and the quantity of silver coined there, from the 19th of March 1797, to the 25th of Dec. 1803. Ordered to lie on the table.—The Consolidated Fund bill, and the Bahama Islands Salt Exportation bill, were reported, and ordered to be read a 3d time to-morrow.—In considering the amendments made by the Lords in the Felons' Apprehension bill.—The Speaker observed, there was one in that clause of the bill which went to regulate the mode of defraying the expenses of apprehending felons who should pass from Ireland to G. Britain. The amendment was to defray the expense of apprehending those passing from G. Britain to Ireland, and it was one of such a nature, as infringed on the privileges of the house. But it appeared from the preamble of the bill, that such a provision was to have been made: and if the house thought that what the Lords had done was in furtherance of the intentions of the commons, they would then agree to the amendment.—The question was then put, and the amendment was agreed to. The Speaker then observed, that this proceeding was conformable to the rules and usages of the house; but that in order to guard against any apprehension or error, it would be necessary to make a special entry of the case on the journals.—Mr. Williams, from the Board of Naval Inquiry, presented the 8th report of the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry, which was ordered to lie on the table and to be printed.—On the motion of the Attorney General, the bill for the more effectual administration of Justice was read a 2d time, and ordered for commitment to-morrow.—On the motion of Lord Castlereagh, the order of the day for taking into farther consideration the report of the Committee on the E. India Accounts, was postponed till Thursday next. The reason of his postponing this order, his lordship said, was, that there were certain papers he would move for to be laid before the house, which would, he was persuaded, satisfy an hon. gent. who had differed from him on this subject, and who was not now in his place. His lordship gave notice, therefore, that on Thursday next he would move for certain accounts relative to India.—Mr. Huskisson presented an account of the balances in the hands of the Receiver-General of the Assessed Taxes of G. Britain on the 5th of July, 1803, which was ordered to lie on the table and be printed.—On the motion of Mr. Huskisson, the house took into farther consideration the report of the Stamp Duties bill. The several amendments were agreed to, and the bill ordered to be read a 3d time to-morrow.—The London Dock Warehousing bill was read a 3d time, and passed.—The Irish Treasury Bills bill was read a 3d time and passed.—Mr. Alexander brought up the report of the Irish Revenue Regulation bill. On the question being put that the amendments be read a second time,
rose to object to the measure as one that had, he conceived, no tendency to promote the interests of Ireland. It would bear hard, he said, along with another bill now before the house, on the Irish distillers. He complained also, that the Irish distillers had not had time to remonstrate against those measures, they having been taken, in some degree, by surprise. He complained also, that the exportation of spirits was not permitted from Ireland in vessels of less than a hundred tons, whereas in Scotland, it was permitted to export in vessels of from seventy to a hundred. The distillers, he contended, should be permitted to import into this country any quantity. They had expected, he said, this advantage from the union, and a greater capital had been consequently engaged in that trade. Should any loss, therefore, be occasioned by subsequent regulations, some provision ought to be made for compensation. He submitted to the hon. gent. who had brought forward this measure, how far it might be proper to delay the period of its commencement.—The amendments were then read a 2d time, and the bill ordered to be read a 3d time to-morrow.
Additional Force Amendment Bill
On the motion that this bill be read a 3d time,
rose, he said, in order to ask a question of the right hon. gent. opposite to him. This bill had been introduced in order to remove all doubts existing in a former act relative to purchasing lands for the purpose of erecting fortifications; he wished, therefore, to know if, by the introduction of such a bill at this late period of the session, it was intended to proceed to the erection of any particular fortifications or military works, against the next session of parliament?
said, that the legislature had already thought proper to grant powers for that purpose; but these not being sufficiently explicit, the present act was intended to amend and render this more effective. These improvements were therefore introduced upon general grounds, and had no reference to any particular procedure.
then said, that if his Majesty's ministers had any object in contemplation, he should certainly think it his duty to move, that an account of the expences thereof should be laid before parliament. It was certainly the duty of ministers to inform the house of their intentions, in order that the necessary expence might be provided, and the public money not voted away without the consent of parliament, upon a proper estimate, so far as the same could be made up. He suspected that some works of that nature had already been erected during the present war, without any such estimates being put in.
said, that as his Majesty's Chancellor of the Exchequer had just now told the house, that the present bill was brought in only upon general grounds, he was led to imagine, that no particular exertion was to be looked for before the meeting of parliament next session. He thought, that from the conduct of ministers themselves, the general opinion of the country had been of late greatly relaxed, as to the apprehension of invasion. His Majesty's ministers, unless they had really good reasons for thinking the dangers not so pressing, ought, on the contrary, to have endeavoured to have kept up the zeal, public spirit, and energy of the country, We certainly had already been making great prepartions, but he might ask, had not the enemy also been making vast preparations, so as to keep pace with us in every particular? On the whole, he was led to imagine, that the country was not at this present moment properly awake to a just sense of its dangers.
said, that he understood some months ago that fortifications were to be made, and he thought them very necessary for the defence of the country. He would wish to know why such plans as had been formerly approved of by the right hon. gent. himself, had not been carried into effect.
said, he had never meant to assert, as the hon. bart. insinuated he had done, that all danger of invasion was over. He certainly thought that considerable progress had been made to bring forward our force to a state of as great perfection as possible; and he trusted, that our means of doing so were yet increasing. He should be sorry to find any person imagine that our present situation did not still require our utmost energy and exertion. Upon the very last application for a vote of credit, the country had been represented as in very great danger. He could assure the hon. gent. opposite to him, that he had not changed his mind as to the necessity of using every means he had formerly approved of for the defence of the country, and that every thing that could possibly be suggested by the most skilful military men would be attended to.—The bill was then read a 3d time and passed.
Irish Spirits Warehousing Bill
On the order of the day, for the committee on the Irish Spirits Warehousing bill,
said, since this subject was discussed before, he had received communications from distillers in Ireland, stating, that they were liable to be aggrieved by the measure. Many had, since the union, speculated on those advantages which were now about to be taken away; and one house had vested the sum of 3000l. in such a speculation; perhaps it might hereafter be fit to consider how far these parties were entitled to a compensation.
said, if persons had thought proper to speculate in sums of money, on the strength of what they might gain in consequence of the act of union, that was no ground why any unreasonable advantages, which they might have enjoyed, should be continued any longer.—The house then resolved itself into a committee on the bill.
wished to put off for 6 weeks longer, the period at which the bill was to take effect. This was opposed by
, who observed, that the advantage to the distiller, of warehousing his spirits, was one which ought not to be delayed a day longer than could be avoided.—The bill then passed the committee, and the report was ordered to be received tomorrow.—Adjourned.