272 



ANNUAL REGISTER, I8I6. 



than the safety of the property 

 and even the lives of the inhabit- 

 ants of the town of Guildford and 

 its neighbourhood, observed, that, 

 looking at the amount of powder 

 seized, he was ])crsuaded he 

 should have but little diiliculty in 

 showing to the Ikncli that what 

 had been called tlie nervous fears 

 of the complainants on this occa- 

 sion, was at least not fears with- 

 out foundation. As little difiiculty 

 should he have in showing tliat 

 for a Icngtli of time past, tliese 

 gentlemen, the defendants, had, 

 from a love of lucre, been carry- 

 ing on their trade, ncghgcnt — 

 entirely negligent — of tlie safety 

 of their neighbours and of the 

 public, and in o|)cn defiance of the 

 provisions of the Act of Parlia- 

 ment upon whicii the present in- 

 formation was founded, and on 

 the 7th section nf which lie should 

 on this occasion principally rely. 

 The manufacture of powder was 

 not only a necessary one, but a 

 politic one ; and further, the Le- 

 gislature had made it a legal one. 

 At the same time, aware of the 

 dangenms nature of it, they had 

 surromided it with precautions ; 

 and the act in tpieslion, the 12th 

 of the King, was ui fact a precau- 

 tionary act. Notwithstanding all 

 the precautions which could be 

 taken, however, explosions would 

 frequently occur. And in the 

 manufactory of the defendants, 

 two such events had occurred 

 within the last fnc years. The 

 object of the present act was to 

 render these nna\ oidable accidents 

 as little dangerous as po:,sibIe. 

 To eifect this object, one of its 

 provisions was, that attached to 

 every powder manufactory there 

 ehould be a magazine^ or store- 



house, in which to deposit tlie 

 powder as fast as finished, there 

 to remain till called for by the 

 consumer. A further provision 

 of the act was, that there should 

 be buildings of a certain descrip- 

 tion and construction, called 

 charge-houses, to w Inch the pow- 

 der, whUst in the different states 

 of process, should be received, so 

 that not more than 40lbs. of fin- 

 ished powder should be in any 

 building where there was machi- 

 nery at one time. This was in- 

 tended to prevent the explosion 

 of a large (juantity. These were 

 some of the provisions of this act. 

 lie understood it was to-day to 

 be contended, that the Chilworth 

 mills were ancient mills, erected 

 long before the p;issing of this 

 act, and not liable to its regula- 

 tions, lie (Mr. Cowley) must 

 deny that position, lie had look- 

 ed ()\cr the ^arious acts of parlia- 

 ment on the subject, and he cer- 

 tainly found exceptions in favour 

 of sonic pri\atc mills in Sussex, 

 mentioned by name, and exemp- 

 tions rchiti\e to his Majesty's 

 works, but in none did he find 

 any mention made of the Chil- 

 yvoith-mills ; but allowing it had 

 been so, none of the mills in ques- 

 tion were exempted from having 

 a magazine. Yet the defendants 

 h;ul been going on for years with- 

 out one : and, if suffered to go 

 on, must still do so without that 

 necessary safeguard for the pub- 

 lic. They wouhl never be allow- 

 ed to erect a magazine, because 

 they were in a situation where 

 they ought not to have one. For 

 this reason they carried on their 

 business w ithout one, hiding their 

 powder in holes and corners ; so 

 that instead of liaving only 40 or 



iJQlbs. 



