404 
COM 
it has since been rather under this amount. 
1 he imports consist of skins and furs of all 
kinds. I lie total number of vessels which 
entered inwards, in the year 1804, was 270 
the mnnber which cleared outwards 384. 
i lie Last India trade is a concern of vast 
magnitude, it considered merely in a com- 
mercial point of view. The annual sales of 
the imports of the company for 16 years pre- 
<e<iing lo/, amounted to about 2,035,000/. 
on the average; during the succeeding 10 
oTro non/ 11 * sales of hnports increased to 
-V ->0,000/. per annum; in the following 10 
years they rose to 3,330,000/. per annum. 
Um nig the American war, the sales of im- 
ports fell oil about 200,000/. per annum ; hut 
irom that period to 1792, they increased 
SnJ amounted on an average to 
4,/08,2-i'-/. I he accounts of the following 
yeais shew a still greater increase. 
• -™ nount of the East India companv’s sales 
} ea , rS en , din S 1st March, 1801, 1802, 
1303, and 1804. 
COM 
COM 
lfim , , T i ,(lia - China. Total. 
Z -J> y/8 » 8 °0 £.3,616,381 Z. 7,595,181 
ono 6,94 ^ 3,539,404 6,626,347 
1303 2,289,2/4 3,753,252 6,042,526 
1304 2,236,396 3,629,677 5,866,073 
I he exports to India are chiefly woollens, 
metals, and naval and military stores; for 
the purchase ot teas in China a considerable 
amount of bullion is annually exported. The 
investments in India are formed from the pro- 
ceeds ot the exports of the company, from 
the proceeds, of part of the territorial reve- 
nues invested in merchandize, and from the 
fortunes of private individuals and the profits 
ot their trade remitted to this country, which 
are paid into the company’s exchequer, -and 
remitted by the company in merchandize 
from India. 
'I he trade lo Africa is chiefly for the pur- 
ebase ot slaves to supply the West India 
islands. The total number of vessels which 
entered inwards from Africa in the year 
1804 was 38, the number which cleared out- 
wards was 1 76. 
I he vast extent of the foreign commerce 
of Croat Britain lias been shewn irom the 
custom-house accounts of the imports and 
exports: it will be further illustrated by the 
following statement of the whole number of 
merchant- vessels, the amount of their ton- 
nage, and the number of meu and boys usual- 
ly employed in navigating them, which be- 
longed to the several ports of the British em- 
pire on the 30th September, 1804. 
Great Britain. 
Ships. 
17,794 
. 'Eons. 
2, 017,240 
Men. 
134,032 
Ships. 
1,061 
Ireland. 
Tons. 
58,060 
Men. 
5,176 
Ships. 
2,870 
The Colonies. 
Tons. 
196,628 
Men. 
15,091 
Ships. 
21,725 
Total. 
Tons. 
2,271,928 
Men. 
154,299. 
This number of vessels, great as it appear 
is still increasing ; the number o£new vessels 
each year considerably exceeding the losses 
to which such an extensive navigation must 
unavoidably be subject. The number of ves- 
sels built and registered in the different ports 
ot the British empire, in the year endinp' the 
5th January, 1804, was 1 402 ; and the amount 
of their tonnage 135,349 tons. 
COMMERSONIA, a genus of the penta- 
gyma order, in the pentandria class of plants. 
1 he calyx is a monophyltoiis, five-parted, co- 
rolliterous perianthium, with sharp ovated seg- 
ments; the corolla has five linear petals; the 
stamina are five very short filaments at the 
bases of the petals; the pericarpium a globu- 
lar, hard, quinquelocular nut, with two ovated 
seech m each division. There is one species, 
a tree of Otaheite. 
. 9 C^l^ilbSARY, a title of ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction, appertaining to one who exercises 
spiritual jurisdiction in places so remote 
from the chief city, that the chancellor can- 
not call the subjects to the bishop’s principal 
consistory, without exposing them to »xeat 
inconvenience. 
Commissary general of the musters, an 
oiiicer appointed to muster the army, as of- 
ten as the general thinks proper, in brder to 
know the strength of each regiment and com- 
pany, tq receive and inspect the muster-rolls, 
and to keep an exact state of the strength of 
the army. ° 
Commissary general of stores, an officer 
m the artillery, who lias the charge of all the 
stores, for which he is accountable to the office 
of ordnance. 
Commissary general of provisions, an 
officer who has the inspection of the bread and 
provisions ot the army. 
C OMM1SSION, is taken for the warrant 
or letters patent, that all men exercisino- ju- 
risdiction, either ordinary or extraordinary 
have foi their power to hear or determine any 
cause oi action ; thus the judges and most 
of the great officers judicial and ministerial 
of this realm, are made bv commission. 
Commission of bankruptcy. See Bank- 
rupt. 
Commission of delegates, a commission 
under the great seal, directed to certain per- 
sons usually two or three temporal lords, as 
many bishops, and two judges of the law, au- 
thorising them to sit upon an appeal to the king, 
in tne court of chancery, from a sentence 
given by the archbishop in any ecclesiastical 
cause. 
Commission of lunacy issues out of the 
court ot chancery, to inquire whether a 
person represented to be a lunatic is so or 
not. 
Commission of peace. See Justice of 
the peace. J 
Commission of rebellion, generally term- 
ed a zvr it of rebellion, issues where a person 
after proclamation made by the sheriff, on a 
process out of the chancery or exchequer, 
required, upon pain of His allegiance, to ore- 
sent himself to the court bv a day assigned 
neglects to appear. ' ° ’ 
Commission of servers is a commission 
directed to certain persons, to inspect and 
see drains and ditches well kept in the marshy 
and fenny parts of England, for the better 
conveying of water into the sea, and preserv- 
ing the grass on the land. 
Commission, in commerce. See Fac- 
torage. 
COMMISSIONER, a person authorised 
by commission, letters-patent, or other law- 
ful warrant, to examine any matters, or exe- 
cute any public office, &zc. See Customs 
Excise, Navy, Treasury, &c. 
C OMMI 1 MEN 1 , is the sending a per- 
son to prison by warrant or order, either 
fora crime or for contumacy. If for a crime 
the warrant must be until discharged accord- 
ing to law ; but for contumacy, until lie 
comply, and perforin the thing required. 
Carih. 153. The commitment should be in 
writing ; otherwise, by the habeas-corpus act, 
the prisoner may be admitted to bail what- 
ever his offence may have been. 1 Burn 
379. 
Who may commit. — Wherever a const a! tie 
or person may justify the arresting another 
for a felony, or treason, he may justify the 
sending him or bringing him to the common 
gaol. 2 Haw. 1 16. But it is most advisable, 
lor any private person who arrests another for 
1*1 on y, to cans# him to be brought as soon 
as possible before some justice of the peace, 
that he may be committed or bailed by lim/ 
Dali. c. 118. 
"Ihe privy-council, or any one or two of 
them, or a secretary of state, may lawfully 
commit persons for treason, and for other 
offences against the state. 2 Haw. 117 . 
ji o what place.— All felons shall be com- 
mitted to the common gaol and not elsewhere. 
5 Hen. IV. c. 10. But vagrants and other 
criminals, offenders and persons charged with 
small offences, may, for such offences, or for 
want of sureties, be committed either to the 
common gaol or house of correction, as the 
justices in their judgment shall think proper. 
6 G. c. 19. 
Who may be committed. — All persons 
who are apprehended for offences not bailable, 
and those v ho neglect to ofler bail for offences 
which are bailable, must be committed ; and 
wherever a justice ot peace is empowered to 
hind a person over, or to cause him to do a 
certain thing, lie may commit him, if in his 
pi esence lie shall refuse, to be so bound 
or do such a thing. 2 1 law. 1 1 6. 
A commitment must be in writing, either 
in the name of the king, and only tested by 
j the person who makes it; or it may be made 
i JW sut ; h Person in his own name, expressing 
Ins office or authority, and must be directed 
to the gaoler or keeper ot the prison. 2 
Haw. 14 9. The commitment should contain 
the name and surname of the party com- 
mitted, if known; if not known, it may be 
sufficient to describe the person bv his age 
&c. and to add, that he refuses to tell his 
name. 1 H. 11.557. It ought to contain 
t he causes, as for treason or felony ; and also 
the special nature of the felony, briefly,. as for 
felony for the death of such" a one," or for 
burglary, in breaking the house of such a 
one. 2 II. II. 12 2. A commitment must 
also have an apt conclusion ; as if for felony, 
till lie be thence delivered by due course 
of law. 2 II. H. 123. All commitments 
grounded on acts of parliament ought to be 
conformable to the method prescribed by 
them. 2. Havy. Not. 33. and where a sta- 
tute appoints imprisonment, but does not li- 
mit the time, in such cases the prisoner must 
remain at the discretion of the court. Dalt 
c. 170. u 
1 he duty of a gaoler respecting commit- 
ments, 11 the gaoler shall refuse to receive 
