This page lists every recorded use of the words injurious and injuriously in parliamentary debate during 1813. Each instance is reproduced in its context as recorded in Hansard.
This survey forms part of the evidence for the correct legal interpretation of injurious weeds in the Weeds Act 1959. See also why “harmful weeds” misrepresents the law.
| Speaker | Context |
|---|---|
| Mr. A. Baring | The 30 or 40 vessels in the Chesapeake to which he had alluded, had disgraced the country by their ineffectiveness, or rather by their injurious mode of warfare. |
| Lord Castlereagh | The only thing, he apprehended, which they had to guard against was, the exciting competition in the militia, which might be injurious to the regular army; and with that view he intended, when the Bill was in the committee, to propose an alteration in the rate of bounty, from what he had suggested on a former night. |
| Mr. Lockhart | For that reason, and also because the delays already experienced, as well those which must inevitably attend upon executing the provisions of the Act in question, from the numerous individuals who would claim under it, were really injurious to those persons whose relief the legislature contemplated, he should, unless he saw a disposition to do it in another place, propose on an early day to delegate to the courts of quarter sessions a concurrent jurisdiction for hearing and discharging insolvent cases, leaving the disposal of the debtors' property to the commissioner appointed under the Act.—The Petition was then ordered to lie on the table. |
| Lord Castlereagh | His Majesty's government certainly protested against the idea of entering into a congress without any satisfactory understanding as to the ends in view, or any ground of calculation as to the extent of the discussion; because there was too much reason to apprehend, that such a meeting might serve only to chill the exertions of the confederacy, to fill the mind of Europe with false hopes, and to lead individuals into injurious speculations; while it would enable the enemy to practise delusion upon the people of France. |
| Lord Castlereagh | If compared with the points to which it might be necessary to call them, without carrying them to such a distance as would 190 be injurious to their concerns and families, he thought that period would be found sufficient. |
| Mr. Rose | For instance, 218 according to these provisions, none were permitted to practise as apothecaries or attornies without serving a regular apprenticeship, and so having the opportunity of acquiring adequate professional skill; but if these provisions were repealed, low, ignorant and uninformed people might undertake these professions, and thus the repeal might become materially injurious to the public. |
| Mr. Lockhart | The Act, in prescribing that a debtor must be imprisoned three months before he could obtain liberation upon surrendering his properly, might be very injurious to the interests of both debtor and creditor; for that period would too probably pass in spending the property which ought to belong to the creditor, and in deteriorating the moral habits of the debtor. |
| Mr. Lockhart | For instance, how often might revengeful malicious persons be forward to bring an action perhaps of the most injurious kind, against the objects of their revenge and malice, if the only hazard of the experiment were to be three months imprisonment. |
| Mr. Hammersley | Any Bill which might pass without such a distinction, would in his opinion be very injurious to the community. |
| The Earl of Darnley | He was the last man who would advocate an interference with the markets; but nothing was more injurious to agriculture than a sudden fluctuation in the necessaries of life; and unless means were taken to give the British farmer full possession of the market, the present low price of corn, however paradoxical it might appear, might lead to consequences highly to be deplored. |
| Mr. Abercrombie | The change of the constitution in Holland was to be regretted, he thought, on account of the other states on the continent, and might be injurious to the alliance; because the concurrence of many states in the attempts to effect the deliverance of Europe must have been in the hopes of ameliorating their internal condition. |
| Sir S. Romilly | That of docks for repairing ships, double and single, there were fifty-one 342 double, an eleven single, and in these there were but eighteen vessels, under repair; which circumstances, so injurious to the petitioners and to the country, they stated, was attributable to the arrangements which had been made for building ships in India, whither a great number of the artisans, heretofore employed in England, had been constrained to fly; and those who remained behind were entirely destitute of the means of supporting their numerous families. |
| Sir Samuel Romilly | He was not desirous of dividing the House; but he thought it was incumbent on those, who brought forward a Bill so injurious to the lower orders of people, to show what was peculiar in this 386 parish which required so particular a law. |
| the Speaker | I should be very sorry indeed to be thought insensible to the peculiar course of proceeding adopted by the noble lord, injurious also, as I think, to the character and dignity of the House; but nevertheless I shall abstain from all further comment on that head. |
| Mr. Lockhart | The hon. gentleman then went on to state, that the principles by which the trade of the carpenters bad been regulated were of such a nature, that it would be injurious to their interests if they were altered or subverted; which, they conceived, would be the case if the 5th of Elizabeth, were altered in the way proposed.—The Petition was ordered to lie upon the table. |
| Sir Robert Heron | His object was correspondent with justice, in endeavouring to remove, by the production of these papers, any injurious impression which the censure or charges alluded to were calculated to produce upon the public mind. |
| Mr. Rose | * said: Sir; as far as the Resolutions now moved by the hon. baronet differ from those he brought forward last year, they are in some degree less exceptionable; but I hope to be able to shew, that the adoption of these would be seriously injurious to the best interests of the country, and that no proceeding of any sort should be founded on the Report made last year. |
| Sir Henry Parnell | The opinion of Dr. Smith did not, therefore, apply to the present time.—Another argument of Dr. Smith was this—the proportion of foreign corn imported, he says, being only a five hundred and seventy-first part; of the whole quantity consumed, a free import cannot be injurious. |
| Sir Henry Parnell | Now let us examine what the operation of a free importation of corn would be upon the industry, the annual produce, the wealth of the country—always keeping in mind, that the state of our agriculture has been brought to what it is by the peculiar circumstances of the times, and that the prices have been raised much beyond the level of the rest of Europe, in consequence of the restricted intercourse with the continent—it is obvious, the immediate effect must be a still greater fall of price, a most injurious extent of loss to all our farmers, a great diminution in the demand for agricultural industry, a decrease of our annual produce, and, consequently, in the amount of our general wealth. |
| Sir Henry Parnell | He illustrates his reasoning by reference to the Navigation Act—which Act, though 715 he praises it as the wisest law in our statute-book, as contributing to our means of defence, he shews also be very injurious to our commercial prosperity.—Corn, then, being an article of indispensible necessity for our subsistence, in proportion as we habituate ourselves to depend on a foreign supply, we expose ourselves to the greatest risk and danger to be brought under subjection to some foreign state.—The second exception of Dr. Smith's is, when an article of domestic produce has been made subject to internal taxation—he says, in such a case, it is fit to impose a duty on the importation of the same article from foreign countries, which shall be equal in amount to our own tax. |
| Lord A. Hamilton | This was a contradiction; indeed, the measure was made up of them; and if adopted it would prove in its operation either nugatory or injurious. |
| Mr. Lushington | If the Bill passed as it then stood, it would be most injurious to the elective rights of persons who might be in the army; in fact, to the soldier it would be virtually a disfranchisement. |
| Mr. Serjeant Onslow | replied and observing upon the petitions on the table against the Bill, expressed his conviction that they were not the unsolicited acts of the petitioners; as indeed appeared from several placards about town, inviting signatures to such petitions; and those petitioners, he meant especially the journeymen mechanics, would find the repeal of the Act of Elizabeth rather materially serviceable, than in any degree injurious to their interests. |
| Mr. Western | The suspension of intercourse would not only be much less injurious to them, but the immediate consequence would be to give additional food to their people, and encouragement to their manufactures—to us universal distress, and absolute ruin to thousands of manufacturers. |
| Mr. Huskisson | The effect of the consequent variation of price on the poorer classes would be in the highest degree injurious. |
| The Chancellor of the Exchequer | He viewed the experiment of economy on the prime necessaries of life as a very unwise attempt; but he would agree with the hon. gentleman that nothing was so injurious to agriculture; as unsteady prices; yet it was only by the resolution of parliament to avoid frequent interference with them, that they could be properly regulated. |
| Mr. Rose | contended, in opposition to the arguments of an hon. gentleman opposite, that the high price of bread was of material importance to the labourer; and that either he must seriously suffer, or it must be made up to him by an increase of wages, Adverting to former regulations, he shewed that it had uniformly proved injurious to fix the price of corn by parliamentary enactment. |
| Earl Stanhope | "Who share with knaves in cheating fools!" The mesne process was peculiarly injurious to commerce. |
| Earl Stanhope | On that subject much useful information would be found in an admirable pamphlet, written by a barrister well known in Westminster and at the Westminster elections, Mr. Jennings, entitled, "A Free Enquiry into the merits of lord Redesdale's Bill." There was another class of persons to whom mesne process was very injurious. |
| Mr. Whitbread | The Petition was thereupon read; setting forth, "That the petitioner would not presume to address the House, if the singularity of his case, and the extraordinary hardships under which he labours, allowed the smallest hope of relief other than that which he now most respectfully implores at their hands; and that, although a Prussian subject by birth, he nevertheless is the son of an unindemnified American loyalist; that he has resided in this kingdom ever since the year 1788; and that he not only by numerous voluntary, zealous, and disinterested endeavours, but also by 16 years service, has placed his adherence to the oath of allegiance which he took to his Britannic Majesty beyond all possible doubt; and that he was apprehended on Friday the 8th of April last at Leith in Scotland, by virtue of an order issued by the Secretary of State under the Alien Act, but without any specific charge being make known to him; although in a state of sickness, he was, in consequence of such order, forced, under peculiar restrictions and undue humiliations too numerous here to be stated, to London; where he arrived on the morning of the 12th of April perfectly exhausted; and that he was then placed in close confinement at a messenger's lodgings, attended day and night, and on all occasions, by Bow-street officers, without the indulgence of writing private letters to his friends; and although his solicitor was the only acquaintance 971 whom he saw, and that with leave only, even then obstacles were frequently made to his conversing in private with him; and that he there laboured under a dangerous sickness, which however did not, for a considerable time, prevent the aggravating and consequently injurious intrusions of several persons whom the petitioner had declined to see; and that the petitioner, on the 22d of April, addressed a respectful letter to Mr. Becket, as under Secretary of State, repeating what his solicitor had verbally stated, in order to represent urgently that the nature of his illness placed his life in danger, if his confinement was continued, and praying to be allowed to give good and sufficient bail for his appearance whenever called upon: instead of any reply to this reasonable request, the petitioner was, on the 29th of April, about half past four o'clock, without the smallest previous intimation, forcibly hurried to the Old Bailey, there to plead to an indictment which had been preferred, charging him, with some others, with a conspiracy to raise the funds; and although pennyless, as he was known to be (because all his money and clothes, excepting a small change of linen, had, as well as all his papers, been taken from him), it was even with the utmost difficulty that the petitioner was allowed, after firmly persisting in his desire to call for his solicitor in his way, who immediately foresaw that he would be lodged in Newgate, as bail could not be accepted without 48 hours notice, which was rendered impossible by the sudden manner of his being forcibly carried into court without any notice whatever; and that accordingly, after pleading ill, as the petitioner proved, he was, late on the 29th of April, lodged on the felons' side of Newgate, without sufficient money to pay his fees, or to procure even necessaries, where, but for the humanity of Mr. Newman, and those under him, his confinement would have been horrible and insupportable; and that the prosecutors having removed the said indictment to the court of King's bench, the petitioner was, on the 7th of May, carried into court to plead to the same, after which his bail was tendered and regularly accepted by the said court, the petitioner consenting, without hesitation, to an additional clause, binding his securities to his personal appearance in court on the day of trial, and which he might have over-ruled; and that thereby having entitled himself to his im 972 mediate enlargement, it nevertheless was refused on the plea of an order, signed by lord Sidmouth, to detain him in prison, and unjustly and untruly describing the petitioner as an alien dangerous to this realm; whereupon he was remanded to Newgate; and that, in consequence of this unfounded charge, the petitioner, on the 10th of May, memorialized viscount Sidmouth, setting forth, that not only his impaired health and the danger of his existence demanded his enlargement, but respectfully pointing out the impossibility of his collecting by means of his agents witnesses whose persons only he knew, but not their names, and who in like manner alone can recognize him, that such witnesses are indispensable, as much to clear him from the charges he laboured under, as for the purposes of public justice; and that he next distinctly, and by reference to his actions, showed that, as disloyalty or other acts hostile to this, nation could not possibly, or even with the slightest colour of plausibility, be laid to his charge that it was additionally injurious to him that his detention and close confinement should continue under such a form; and he prayed his lordship, for these various and solid reasons, to order his speedy liberation, on his giving reasonable securities, while he also requested the restoration of his money and other properties; and that to this memorial Mr. Becket replied, by letter addressed to the petitioner's solicitor, dated May the 13th, stating, that lord Sidmouth declined his liberation, but that a return of a part of his property should take place; and that the petitioner, with the education and feelings of a gentleman, and under no accusation of felony, has received an irreparable injury, which must blast his future prospects in life, by haying been confined on the felons' side of Newgate, although no felony is imputed to him, and although he has complied with every form considerately laid down by the laws, in order that so disgraceful, so indelible, an impediment to future honest employ, as such imprisonment invariably proves, should not be entailed on persons accused of misdemeanour only, who can procure bail; and that the petitioner continues to pine in sickness, but, what is infinitely worse, to labour under singular impediments fatal to his seeking evidence in order to prepare his defence against the accusations of the indictment which will be speedily tried, and while others under 973 the same charge are at liberty, not deprived of their papers or other property, and in a situation to forward their defence without obstacle, attempts, sanctioned by government, are even made in Newgate to interrupt his preparative endeavours, by forcing strangers into the petitioner's room against his will; and that the petitioner, under all these painful circumstances, respectfully entreats leave to draw the attention of the House to these singular hardships and impediments to regular legal investigation, as also to the injustice which deprives him not only of the essential use of his exertions, but, in addition to the privation of his liberty, must stain his character, already artfully misrepresented, with the charge of being a dangerous and disloyal person, which (although resorted to without a shadow of truth) must prejudice the public, including the jury by which he must be tried; and that it next behoves the petitioner to state, that in no instance since his arrest, has he been examined, which, had it taken place, no doubt would have enabled him to have proved his innocence of the charge alledged in lord Sidmonth's warrant, or of any other brought against him, sufficiently to prevent the hardships which, for the want of such examination, he has experienced, and continues to endure; and as it would be unbecoming in the petitioner to attempt to trace the motives for such unexampled severities and obstructions to the preparation of his defence, he prefers to throw himself on the liberality and consideration of the House, entertaining full confidence that it will, in its established wisdom and justice, order such measures as will enable him to seek fairly and without obstacle the indispensable means of defending himself in the mode humanely established by the British laws for the equal protection of all persons accused." The hoentleman then said, he would proceed to make a few observations on the use which had been made of the Alien Act in this case. |
| Mr. Whitbread | The Petition was thereupon read; setting forth, "That the petitioner would not presume to address the House, if the singularity of his case, and the extraordinary hardships under which he labours, allowed the smallest hope of relief other than that which he now most respectfully implores at their hands; and that, although a Prussian subject by birth, he nevertheless is the son of an unindemnified American loyalist; that he has resided in this kingdom ever since the year 1788; and that he not only by numerous voluntary, zealous, and disinterested endeavours, but also by 16 years service, has placed his adherence to the oath of allegiance which he took to his Britannic Majesty beyond all possible doubt; and that he was apprehended on Friday the 8th of April last at Leith in Scotland, by virtue of an order issued by the Secretary of State under the Alien Act, but without any specific charge being make known to him; although in a state of sickness, he was, in consequence of such order, forced, under peculiar restrictions and undue humiliations too numerous here to be stated, to London; where he arrived on the morning of the 12th of April perfectly exhausted; and that he was then placed in close confinement at a messenger's lodgings, attended day and night, and on all occasions, by Bow-street officers, without the indulgence of writing private letters to his friends; and although his solicitor was the only acquaintance 971 whom he saw, and that with leave only, even then obstacles were frequently made to his conversing in private with him; and that he there laboured under a dangerous sickness, which however did not, for a considerable time, prevent the aggravating and consequently injurious intrusions of several persons whom the petitioner had declined to see; and that the petitioner, on the 22d of April, addressed a respectful letter to Mr. Becket, as under Secretary of State, repeating what his solicitor had verbally stated, in order to represent urgently that the nature of his illness placed his life in danger, if his confinement was continued, and praying to be allowed to give good and sufficient bail for his appearance whenever called upon: instead of any reply to this reasonable request, the petitioner was, on the 29th of April, about half past four o'clock, without the smallest previous intimation, forcibly hurried to the Old Bailey, there to plead to an indictment which had been preferred, charging him, with some others, with a conspiracy to raise the funds; and although pennyless, as he was known to be (because all his money and clothes, excepting a small change of linen, had, as well as all his papers, been taken from him), it was even with the utmost difficulty that the petitioner was allowed, after firmly persisting in his desire to call for his solicitor in his way, who immediately foresaw that he would be lodged in Newgate, as bail could not be accepted without 48 hours notice, which was rendered impossible by the sudden manner of his being forcibly carried into court without any notice whatever; and that accordingly, after pleading ill, as the petitioner proved, he was, late on the 29th of April, lodged on the felons' side of Newgate, without sufficient money to pay his fees, or to procure even necessaries, where, but for the humanity of Mr. Newman, and those under him, his confinement would have been horrible and insupportable; and that the prosecutors having removed the said indictment to the court of King's bench, the petitioner was, on the 7th of May, carried into court to plead to the same, after which his bail was tendered and regularly accepted by the said court, the petitioner consenting, without hesitation, to an additional clause, binding his securities to his personal appearance in court on the day of trial, and which he might have over-ruled; and that thereby having entitled himself to his im 972 mediate enlargement, it nevertheless was refused on the plea of an order, signed by lord Sidmouth, to detain him in prison, and unjustly and untruly describing the petitioner as an alien dangerous to this realm; whereupon he was remanded to Newgate; and that, in consequence of this unfounded charge, the petitioner, on the 10th of May, memorialized viscount Sidmouth, setting forth, that not only his impaired health and the danger of his existence demanded his enlargement, but respectfully pointing out the impossibility of his collecting by means of his agents witnesses whose persons only he knew, but not their names, and who in like manner alone can recognize him, that such witnesses are indispensable, as much to clear him from the charges he laboured under, as for the purposes of public justice; and that he next distinctly, and by reference to his actions, showed that, as disloyalty or other acts hostile to this, nation could not possibly, or even with the slightest colour of plausibility, be laid to his charge that it was additionally injurious to him that his detention and close confinement should continue under such a form; and he prayed his lordship, for these various and solid reasons, to order his speedy liberation, on his giving reasonable securities, while he also requested the restoration of his money and other properties; and that to this memorial Mr. Becket replied, by letter addressed to the petitioner's solicitor, dated May the 13th, stating, that lord Sidmouth declined his liberation, but that a return of a part of his property should take place; and that the petitioner, with the education and feelings of a gentleman, and under no accusation of felony, has received an irreparable injury, which must blast his future prospects in life, by haying been confined on the felons' side of Newgate, although no felony is imputed to him, and although he has complied with every form considerately laid down by the laws, in order that so disgraceful, so indelible, an impediment to future honest employ, as such imprisonment invariably proves, should not be entailed on persons accused of misdemeanour only, who can procure bail; and that the petitioner continues to pine in sickness, but, what is infinitely worse, to labour under singular impediments fatal to his seeking evidence in order to prepare his defence against the accusations of the indictment which will be speedily tried, and while others under 973 the same charge are at liberty, not deprived of their papers or other property, and in a situation to forward their defence without obstacle, attempts, sanctioned by government, are even made in Newgate to interrupt his preparative endeavours, by forcing strangers into the petitioner's room against his will; and that the petitioner, under all these painful circumstances, respectfully entreats leave to draw the attention of the House to these singular hardships and impediments to regular legal investigation, as also to the injustice which deprives him not only of the essential use of his exertions, but, in addition to the privation of his liberty, must stain his character, already artfully misrepresented, with the charge of being a dangerous and disloyal person, which (although resorted to without a shadow of truth) must prejudice the public, including the jury by which he must be tried; and that it next behoves the petitioner to state, that in no instance since his arrest, has he been examined, which, had it taken place, no doubt would have enabled him to have proved his innocence of the charge alledged in lord Sidmonth's warrant, or of any other brought against him, sufficiently to prevent the hardships which, for the want of such examination, he has experienced, and continues to endure; and as it would be unbecoming in the petitioner to attempt to trace the motives for such unexampled severities and obstructions to the preparation of his defence, he prefers to throw himself on the liberality and consideration of the House, entertaining full confidence that it will, in its established wisdom and justice, order such measures as will enable him to seek fairly and without obstacle the indispensable means of defending himself in the mode humanely established by the British laws for the equal protection of all persons accused." The hoentleman then said, he would proceed to make a few observations on the use which had been made of the Alien Act in this case. |
| Sir James Mackintosh | His learned friend had presumed that the object of the petitioner was, to destroy evidence which might be injurious to him. |
| Mr. C. W. Wynn | He had, however, much doubt on the subject; from which the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Bathurst) might relieve him, if he could state, that a disclosure of the grounds of De Berenger's apprehension to a secret committee, would be injurious. |
| Mr. Rose | He would incur the imputation of faction, or any other imputation, rather than see a measure of this injurious tendency thus precipitately carried. |
| Mr. Ponsonby | He, however, deeply lamented the Letter sent to the Princess of Wales by the Queen; and had hoped that what passed in this House last year would have put an end for ever to this disgraceful and injurious subject. |
| Mr. Elliot | felt compelled to vote against the motion; yet anxious that his vote should not be misunderstood, or misconstrued into any approbation of the advice given to the Regent: he condemned it as most cruel to one illustrious person and most injurious to the other. |
| Earl Stanhope | He presented them with great pleasure to their lordships' consideration, because he was convinced that the intended measure on this subject was absurd—it was far from being well considered—it was unfounded in its principle, and would be injurious in its consequences. |
| Sir W. Curtis | has been produced by British labour, on materials principally of British produce; and that many thousand artisans 1073 were thereby usefully employed; and that the national advantages derived from the perfection to which the art of clock and watch-making has been carried in this country, are not limited to the value of its produce, but extend to every branch of manufacture in which machinery is used; and that, from the operation of various causes, the value of the clock and watch manufactory as a source of national advantage has of late years been greatly deteriorated, and continues rapidly declining; the manufacturers, deprived of adequate employment, are obliged to seek other means of subsistence, and the workmen in all its branches are, in great numbers, reduced to distress, or are dependent on parochial relief for support, and many of the superior workmen, destitute of suitable encouragement at home, have been seduced to foreign countries, carrying with them their knowledge and ability, to construct and employ the most valuable and useful machinery, whereby the principal manufactures of Great Britain will be transplanted and established in foreign countries to the exclusion of British manufactures; and that the former prosperity of a manufactory so intrinsically and relatively important, was in a great measure attained by the enforcement of the restrictions imposed by act of parliament on the importation of foreign clock and watch work, as well in an incomplete as in a complete state; and that, in the year 1787, a duty of 27½ per centum was imposed on all foreign clocks and watches imported into this country, which duty has subsequently, from time to time, been increased, and now amounts to 75 per centum; and that, in consequence of the want of provisions adequate to the collection of such import duties, the illicit introduction into this country of foreign clock and watch work has obtained to an extent ruinously injurious to the British manufactory, and the advantage derived by the smuggler having increased in proportion to the increase of the duties, the illicit trade is now so regularly systematized, that the importers will undertake the safe conduct and delivery of foreign clock and watch work, without payment of duty, in this country, for 10 per cent. |
| Lord Castlereagh | But even as far as the French colonies were concerned, without anticipating the discussion on the subject, he could assure his hon. friend, that he acted under the strongest instructions from government at home, to make every possible effort to induce France to relinquish the traffic; and that, if be had relaxed in his demands upon that point, it was because he thought that to relax would be serviceable to the interests of the cause itself; and that to attempt to dictate to that great nation would be the most injurious course that could be pursued with respect to it. |
| Mr. W. Smith | He had presented a petition that evening against the proposed alteration, signed by 12,000 persons, 7,000 of whom had actually assembled to prepare it: all of whom felt that the projected measure would very sensibly and injuriously affect their interests—but this feeling did not produce any riotous or disorderly conduct. |
Injurious weeds and the law | Why “harmful weeds” misrepresents the law