and more candid and fair with respect to the house, to have simply moved for the papers, and then let them tell their own story. As for his part, he was fully convinced that when those papers should be produced, they would tell a story very different from that which the honourable gentleman stated. Instead of this war of extermination, and thirst of blood, that was imputed to his noble friend (lord Wellesley), it would be seen that he had conducted himself with unexampled moderation and forbearance to this very rajah of Bhurtpore. As to the high character which the rajah of Bhurtpore had in India, and his great connections there, they only made his treachery more inexcusable and his hostility more dangerous. He utterly denied that he had been forced to the treaty which was signed in September 1803, as it was a treaty which secured to him great advantages.There was a fourth article to that treaty which the honourable gentle man (Mr. Paull) had not stated, by which "each of the contracting parties was bound to furnish assistance to the other, in case his territories should be invaded." It was in consequence of this article the rajah was called upon, and did actually furnish a body of cavalry which joined our army, and he on his side received from the company a very valuable accession of territory and revenue, equal to onethird of all he was before possessed of. A very short time afterwards the war with Holkar broke out; and no sooner had colonel Monson's detachment met with a defeat, than this rajah was found to be in correspondence with the enemy, and conspiring to turn against us those auxiliary troops he had sent to join our army. The copies

of this intercepted correspondence were sent to lord Wellesley in the month of July 1804; and neverthe less his lordship, who was stated to have sought a war of extermina. tion, wrote to lord Lake, that he would not wish to punish the rajah, who was probably misled by mischievous agents and advisers. These were the instructions with which general Lake marched to Agra, and which were afterwards left with general Fraser. The first direct act of hostility was com mitted on the part of the rajah, whose fortress of Deeg afforded a protection to the remains of Holkar's army, and fired upon the British troops, which enabled Holkar to carry off a great part of his army, and place his artilley in that fortress. After the fort of Decg was taken, and notwithstanding the several unsuccessful attacks on Bhurtpore, the rajah at last came to his senses, and was glad to conclude a peace, by which he agreed to pay to the company. twenty lacks of rupees in four years, and the company guarantied him his territories.

He was also bound to keep no Frenchmen or Europeans in his army. On these conditions, the conquered countries, and even the fort of Deig itself, had been since restored to him. In all these transactions, he could perceive nothing of that implacable vengeance which was imputed by the honourable member to the noble. marquis.

Mr. Johnstone observed, that some expressions had fallen from the honourable mover, which might naturally induce the house to believe, that he had concurred in this accusation of lord Wellesley, and, had advised the honourable gentleman to bring it forward.-The advice, however, which he had

given him at different times was directly the reverse. He had advised him, in the first place, not to stand as candidate for the borough he represented, and not to seek a seat in that house. The second piece of advice he had given him, was, by no means to agitate that buşiness. It had appeared to him, that the stirring this business would have been disadvantageous and inexpedient for both of them. He should not speak about the private reasons which might dissuade others; but he should say, that for himself he feared it would only make the situation of those princes in India, to whom he was attached, still worse than it was at present. He had seen their wrongs, but despaired of being able to redress them.

Mr. Hiley Addington said, that he saw no objection to the grant ing the papers: his private feelings would rather induce him to second the motion than to oppose it; for he felt convinced, that when the papers were produced, they would exhibit a great many amiable qualities in the character of lord Wel

lesley, which many gentlemen were then unwilling to give him credit for. They would show, that to this very rajah he had exercised an extraordinary forbearance, and an unexampled moderation. Without meaning to oppose the motion, he would just observe, that he doubted whether a sufficient parliamentary ground had been assigned for it. It did not appear to him proper, that any member should move for a vast mass of papers, merely to fish out some cause of complaint which he did not know before. As for the declaration of hostilities against the rajah, no such paper did exist; there never was a declaration of hostilities, but the war began by the cannon of the fort of Deeg firing upon

the British army, and protecting the retreat of Holkar. It was at a time when the rajah was writing the most friendly letters to lord Wellesley, and saying, in the ori ental cant, "make me happy by your letters," that he was conspiring with the enemies of the company to expel the British from India. Nothing would be more demonstrable and unequivocal than the perfidy of the rajah, whom the honourable mover now extolled so highly. As soon as we had met a disaster under colonel Monson, this faithless'prince chose that moment not only to violate his treaties, but to conspire the utter destruction of that power for which he professed so much friendship, and to which he owed so much obligation. The manner in which the governor-general gained information of his treachery was most unquestionable. A confiden-. tial agent of his at Maturah first informed the British resident of it, and about a week after a vakeel was taken, with the correspondence,' which went to the whole extent that had been stated. Notwith

standing this certain information of the treachery of this prince, lord Wellesley was still inclined to impute it to intrigues and evil advi sers, and did not give directions to go to war with him for above eight months afterwards, and not until actual hostilities had been committed on the part of that prince against our troops, who were pursuing Hoikar in the neighbourhood of the fort of Deeg. The question was then put on the various motions for papers respecting the treaty, and all the transactions of the government of India with the rajah of Bhurtpore, and the several papers moved for were granted unanimously.

Mr. Paull, on the 17th, introdu

ced another motion for certain additional papers, as a foundation of a new charge against lord Wellesley, by taking a view of the noble marquis's conduct in Oude, Bhurtpore, the Carnatic, and Surat, and, on the whole, declared there was not a part of that immense peninsula which had not felt the system pursued by the noble marquis, which seemed to lead him to omit no opportunity of seizing on the territories of the defenceless. For what purpose, he asked, had Mr. Hastings been tried, but for example, and to hold out to the native princes of India, that the British government would never coun⚫ tenance such a system as that which had been pursued by him? On such principles had lord Cornwallis acted; and there was not a prince, not an individual in India, who would have uttered a complaint against his government; but in the

course of three months the marquis Wellesley had completely changed the system from one extremity of the peninsula to the other. He hoped such a system would not gain countenance in that house. He concluded by moving for a number of papers connected with the territory of Surat.

Earl Temple, while he protested against such voluminous productions without any specific reason being assigned, declared, that on the part of his noble friend the mar quis of Wellesley he courted the inquiry, On the subject of Surat, he should only state, that from the year 1752 it had been governed by the same family. In the year 1759, a treaty was made, by which the castle and fleet were declared to be under our control. On the marquis of Wellesley's arrival, he found the throne of that territory vacant. He gave it to the next

heir, and, a thing which had not been before, made it hereditary in the family, giving them a greater share than they formerly had in the revenue. This was the way in which the noble marquis, in this particular instance, verified the statement of the honourable gentleman, and "seized on the territory of the defenceless." He should tell the honourable gentleman what he would do in his case: if he felt in. terested in the character of lord Wellesley, he would bring forward the charge; if he felt anxious for his own, he would put the motion in his pocket. His lordship then read, as part of his speech, a resolution of thanks by the court of directors to lord Wellesley, for the very service which was the subject of the present motion. After a de bate in which several members took part, the papers moved for were granted.

On the 24th Mr. Pole moved for papers (1) relative to the affairs of India in general: (2) relative to the rajah of Bhurtpore: and (3) relative to the war with Holkar: which were all ordered. Various other papers were moved for by Mr. Paull at different times, which were generally granted. Upon one occasion, April 18, Mr. Hiley Addington declared he had not the smallest wish to oppose the production of papers. He should only request the house to keep themselves free from every bias, and to sacrifice some time in inves tigating the documents moved for.

Mr. W. Keene thought that in the management of an immense empire like India, it was possible that the governor-general might, for the salvation of the country, be obliged in some instances to violate the strict letter of the law, and yet deserve the thanks of the country.

He

He thought that no member was qualified to vote a censure on the governor-general for any particular transaction, without having studied very much in detail the whole system of the Indian administration.

Mr. Francis said, he had dis couraged Mr. Paull from proceeding in this business, as he was sure he would not meet with support. As to his own speech, the more he thought on the subject, the more he believed what he had there stated was true, and he confessed that it contained charges of a very serious nature. It might be asked why he did not proceed upon these charges: that was not his object. His design was to have lord Wellesley recalled, and another system adopted; but he thought at the same time that there were sufficient grounds of impeachment against that nobleman. His object was in some measure answered, when lord Cornwallis was sent to India; and as to the impeachment of lord Wellesley, he did not proceed with that, partly because he was not equal to such a task, and partly because he had little hopes of having efficient sup

port.

Mr. Fox observed, that when a bad system of government prevail ed, the best mode of remedying this was not, in general, by im peaching an individual. The object was to remove the person who carried on such a system, and to take care that none such should be acted upon in future; and this being obtained, it might often be inexpedient to carry the matter any further. But, at the same time, there might be particular acts of so enormous a kind as to call for impeachment. Impeachment was a bad mode of proceeding except

1

in particular cases, and certainly it was not advisable to adopt it with regard to a governor-general of India merely on account of his system. He did not say that impeachment ought in all cases to be abandoned; but he was really of opinion, that if it were often resorted to, it would from its difficulties be soon given up in despair, and impunity might thus be procured for almost all sorts of crimes and misdemeanors committed by a governor-general of

India.

On the 14th of April, Mr. Hobhouse, in consequence of a petition which he had presented on a former day, from certain creditors of the late nabob of Arcot, praying that the powers of the commission for examining into their claims should be enlarged, moved for leave to bring in a bill "for enabling the commissioners! acting in execution of an agreement made between the East India company and the private creditors of the late nabob of the Carnatic, the better to carry the same into effect." This motion he prefaced by a by a very long, elaborate and masterly speech on the subject, which he concluded by saying that he had stated from the year 1784, when parliament first established regulations respecting the debts of the nabob of Arcot, the funds which had from time to time been appropriated for their discharge, and the effects produced by the successive treaties and arrangements he had shown, and he trusted satisfactorily, the justice and propriety of the agreement which in July 1805 had been made between the East India company and the creditors of the late nabobs :-he had also explained the grounds of the present application to parlia

ment,

ment, and the leading provisions in the proposed bill. He trusted that the decision of parliament, whatever it might be, would be speedy. The commissioners were unwilling longer to remain in a state of inactivity as to the most important part of their duty, namely, the adjudication of claims. He had every reason to believe that many of the claimants were in the greatest state of pecuniary embarrassment; their claims, therefore, •hould as soon as possible be brought to a decision; that, if solid, the parties might possess the means of relieving their distress; and, if unfounded, they might be taught no longer to depend upon an unsubstantial resource, or lean upon a broken reed.

Mr. W. Keene could not help remarking, that in looking over the list of claimants he saw a number of names of persons bearing high situations in India, and who perhaps had no strong claims on the humanity and equity of the company in this instance. He must also observe, that although in 1784 this country claimed no right of participation in the surplus revenue of the company, yet from the year 1793 the public had a claim of half a million annually, which it had never received; and, on the contrary, it was now stated, that a million was due from the

public to the company. This might be a consideration in the discussion of the measure proposed.

On the 16th Mr. Francis moved for an account of all moneys which have been paid to the private cre, ditors of the nabob of the Carnatic, since the passing of the act of the 24th of his present majesty; and also for an account of the several debts now due or demandable from the said nabob. Reverting

to the subject to which he was about to attract the notice of the house, the hon. member remarked upon the equivocal character of these frequent claims upon the nabob of Arcot. A great deal of such claims had been already paid. After the payment of several mil lions (five or six), it was naturally supposed that no more debts were to be heard of. But still some pretended creditors started up. If such pretensions were attended to, he really believed that the whole revenue of the Carnatic would be insufficient to answer them; and if not, then they must come upon this country. He therefore cautioned the house to pause upon a transaction, of the character of which scarcely any one who heard him could be wholly ignorant; for every one must remember something of the nabob of Arcot's debts; it was a tolerably notorious topic. That distinguished statesman Mr. Burke had many years since very properly stated his opinion, that a combination of evidence served to show that sums had been distributed for a course of years, in the name of the old nabob of Arcot, to the servants of the East India company, in a most scandalous manner, and that there was strong reason to suspect that most part of the debts demanded were only fictitious. And that great orator showed that, even if these debts were really due, they were, from their amount, calculated to excite alarm, as the affairs of the company were so distressed as to be unequal to their liquidation. This the house would recollect was in the year 1784, when the situa tion of the India company was almost prosperity itself, compared to what it is at present. But even then, as Mr. Burke remarked, the company's