India. He had before called the attention was sorry to say, that the orders of the of the Court to the manner in which their Court of Directors were better calculated servants in India had withheld from them to obstruct than to open the doors to comimportant public documents: four years ago plaint. In proof of it, he referred to the he had brought this very subject under its order of the Court, which was sent in the consideration. Some time previously, year 1806 to Calcutta, prohibiting all certain transactions had taken place in meetings of the inhabitants without leave India, which had produced considerable of the Governor-General, on any subdiscontent. Memorials had been sent to ject in which their interests were matethe local government, from those who rially concerned. By that order, he reeither were oppressed or conceived them- peated the assertion, the inhabitants of selves to be so. He alluded to the case Calcutta were forbidden to assemble to of several officers, who, after a long ser- consider of any complaints which they vice, found themselves suddenly super- might have to urge against the govern seded by a new system of promotion being ment, without first obtaining the leave of adopted in their army in India. Three that very government against which the years after this promotion had taken place, complaint was to be presented. The anseveral officers who had come home from nunciation of such an order conveyed to India to obtain redress, found, upon in- the minds of the inhabitants of Calcutta quiry at the East-India House, that the this idea that unless they met for the purmemorials which they had drawn up had poses of adulation-unless they assembled never been transmitted to, or received by, to record their approbation of the measures the Court of Directors. On that occasion, adopted by the Governor General and his when the subject was regularly brought be Council, it was not intended that they fore the Court of Proprietors, justice was should meet at all; the order was, theredone to Lieutenant-Colonel Keble and one fore, considered by them as a measure or two other officers, by giving them the rank subtilely devised for the purpose of stifling to which their long service entitled them. any attempts they might be inclined to Other officers afterwards applied to the make in order to obtain a redress of grievCourt for redress: but whether justice ances, Coupling this order and the effect was done to them or not, he was not able it had produced, with the manner in which to recollect. He did not recollect who complaints might be withheld from the filled the chair at that time; but he well Supreme Government, he must say, that recollected the clear and strong expres- he considered the present motion to be one sions which their present Chairman had of most serious importance to the welfare then used. He told them, upon that dis- of India. He conceived that if the Court cussion, that "sound policy and strict of Directors had condescended to take the justice equally required that a free, easy, advice which he had formerly ventured to and quick channel should be open to all give them, and had declared that every complainants, in order that they might individual neglecting to send home reobtain, as soon as possible, a remedy for quisite information, should by that very any grievances of which they had reason neglect be rendered incapable of serving to complain." He (Mr. Hume) was the Company, and should be ipso facto reperfectly convinced of the truth of that moved from his office, they would have position, and had therefore endeavoured had no occasion to discuss a matter like to illustrate it as fully as he could. that which at present engaged their attenhad pointed out the lamentable con- tion. The utmost facility ought, in his sequences which had emanated from the opinion, to be given to the reception of the suppression of the complaints which had complaints of those whom we governed. been made by the people in Madras and He knew that some backwardness had its vicinity, He had likewise pointed out formerly existed to receive them, and that the consequences which had ensued from backwardness he wished to remove. He the same misconduct on the part of the would not give to any resident or deputylocal authorities in the province of Cut-resident the power of withholding from tack, where a rebellion raged for upwards of three years, owing to the obstructions thrown in the way of all complainants. The individual who had created those obstructions was dismissed, as soon as they were discovered by the Supreme Government. He was sent home. On his arrival in this country, he petitioned the Court for redress; but he did not obtain it, because, in point of fact, he did not deserve it. The incre dismissal of that functionary was not, in his opinion, a sufficient punishment for the offence he had committed, in obstructing the channels of complaint. He He the Governor-General a single complaint which came to his hands in the discharge of his official duty. It was true that the complaint might be frivolous, groundless, and unfounded; but it should be sufficient that a party declared himself injured, to entitle it to be sent to the Governor-General. The Court would not be doing jus tice to the thousands who were subjected to its sway, if it did not throw the doors of justice wide open to all claimants.(Hear!) If it sanctioned the propositions laid down by the hon. proprietor on the other side of the Court, it would put an end to all means of of correcting misgovernment, and of checking misrule. If the hon. proprietor were to express the same opinions as a director, which he had just now expressed as a proprietor, he would express opinions which no director hitherto had ever ventured to assert. They had been told that the government which the Company exercised in India was a system of despotism. For the sake of argument he would say, be it So. Now, of all despotisms of which he had ever heard or read, none was so absolute as a military government; yet, in a military government, as they had heard from his hon. and gallant friend near him, every subaltern officer-nay, more, every private soldier, could compel his commanding-officer to transmit to the commander-in-chief any complaint which he had to urge against him. If, then, their government in India were the despotism which it had been asserted to be, still he would advise them to give to every soul who lived in it under their sway, that right which belonged to the meanest soldier in the army-that of transmitting an account of their grievances to those who were supreme over them. He did not know whether the sentiments he had expressed would be supported by the Court; but he knew that the motion of the gallant officer near him was rendered advisable by the course of recent events, and that, if it were carried, it would prevent the repetition of similar occurrences. At the same time he would admit, that it might be expedient not to press it at the present moment; it might be supposed that it was meant as a charge of neglect against the executive government. (Hear!) Still, before he would advise the gallant officer to withdraw it, he must hear whether the Court of Directors were inclined to rectify such abuses in future. If they were so inclined, and would declare themselves to be so, the object of his gallant friend's motion would be answered without pressing it further; for the discussion of that day would teach all their Residents in India not to exercise such a discretion, with regard to the communication of complaints to the government, as had recently been exercised by Sir C. Metcalfe. Mr. Weeding rose to explain. He hoped that no person, except the hon. gentleman who had just sate down, had misunderstood the observations which he had submitted to their notice. The hon. gentleman had put words into his mouth which he had never uttered, and had then amused himself by commenting upon them. Whatever might be the imperfection of the hon. gentleman's memory, he trusted the Court would recollect that, in the outset of his argument, he had admitted in the fullest manner the propriety of giving the utmost facility to those who felt aggrieved, in the transmission of their complaints to the Supreme Government. His reasoning only went to shew that Sir Charles Metcalfe had been no impediment to so useful a practice, and that the motion before the Court was totally uncalled for. The Chairman would suggest to the gallant general the expediency of withdrawing the motion which he had proposed, assuring him that it was an invariable rule that the subordinate authorities in India should communicate to the superior all the information which came to their knowledge. This rule of course applied also to the regular transmission of all official documents, and few seasons occurred in which the Court of Directors did not take occasion to impress upon their servants in India the necessity of attending to it; and the Court themselves were in the habit of calling for any explanation which they thought requisite to the most complete elucidation of the papers they received. He trusted that the motion would be withdrawn; he should be truly sorry if it were persisted in, because he thought that the pressing it at the present moment would be highly inconvenient. Honourable proprietors ought to recollect that the Court of Directors could not always send out to India such despatches as they might themselves wish. There was a controlling power provided by the legislature, to which they could not but submit their own opinions. Under these circumstances he should be sorry to resist the motion of the gallant general; but should be much better pleased if he would consent to withdraw it. (Hear!) Mr. Trant conceived that if this motion were to be withdrawn, it must be by the consent of the Court. After the grounds of accusation which had been laid against Sir C. Metcalfe by the hon. and gallant officer opposite, justice would not be done to Sir C. Metcalfe unless a few words' were heard in his defence. His hon. friend near him had alluded to particular parts of the Hyderabad papers, as exculpating the conduct of Sir C. Metcalfe, but had not been able to put his finger upon them immediately, in consequence of his not having expected such a discussion as that in which they had just been engaged. He would, therefore, with permission of the Court, read those passages to which his hon. friend had only alluded. For the benefit of those who were not present at the late discussions on the Hyderabad papers, it would be necessary for him to premise a few words, in order that they might know who the Rajah Chundoo Loll was. He was stated to be the minister of his highness the Nizam Mr. Twining rose to order. After the intimation which the proprietors had received that the withdrawal of the present motion would not be unacceptable to the Court of Directors, and after the silent annunciation annunciation of the gallant general, that he had no objection to accede to the course which the Chairman had suggested, he begged to submit, with all due respect to the hon. proprietor, whether it would not be most advisable to abstain from such a discussion as that into which he appeared desirous of entering. (Hear! hear !) Sir John Doyle merely rose to say one word. He trusted that after what had fallen from the Chairman, the good sense of the gallant officer would see the propriety of withdrawing the present motion. General Thornton said that he was much disposed, in consequence of the recommendation of the Chairman, seconded as it was by that of the gallant officer near him, to accede to the wishes of the Court of Directors, and to withdraw his present motion. Mr. Lowndes rose again, amid cries of "Spoke !" As the character of one of their servants had been attacked, he thought that the Court ought to hear it defended. In common fairness, when an attack was made, the party attacked, or his friends if he were absent, should be allowed to enter into his defence. (Cries of Spoke, spoke !) Mr. S. Dixon rose to order. Mr. Trant said that he would submit to the Chairman. [Great clamour, amid which] The Deputy Chairman rose, and said that nothing had given him greater pleasure than the words which had just fallen from the hon. proprietor; namely, that he would submit to the chairman. (A laugh.) He hoped that the hon. member who had brought forward this motion would indulge in the same feeling of submission to the chair, and that he would permit him to say, that the Court of Directors were most anxious to establish a system of complete information, as to every thing which related to the concerns of the Company abroad. On every occasion, when any deficiency of information was evident in the despatches received from India, they pointed out the deficiency to the local government, and enjoined them to use every exertion to supply the defect, and to avoid a repetition of it in future. There was no objection, behind the bar, he assured the Court, to the motion of the gallant general, except that, as the constitution of the country had given to the Directors the power of originating all despatches for the governance of their dominions in India, and to the Board of Control the power of approving or disapproving them, it would occasion great difficulty and inconvenience if the opinions of individual proprietors should be laid down as the standing rules and orders of the Company. If the gallant general withdrew his motion, the present Court would, he was sure, separate satisfied that the Court of Direc tors would, for their own sakes, take care that the object of it was fully accomplished; for there was no point on which they were more anxious, than to receive the fullest information of every thing which took place in India. Mr. Trant rose amid great confusion. He did not wish to enter into a discussion disagreeable to the Court; he only wished to say five words. ("Yes," exclaimed a member, "but those five words may lead to five hours' discussion.") If he had not been interrupted he should already have concluded what he had to observe. (Great outcry! If he were permitted to go on, he thought that he could remove from the mind of the Court all doubts as to the rectitude of Sir C. Metcalfe's motives. (Cries of hear! and no! no!) As the outcry continued, the hon. member at last sat down. General Thornton then formally withdrew his motion. BURMESE WAR-CONDUCT OF LORD AMHERST. The Chairman then proposed the question, that this Court do now adjourn. Mr. Lowndes asked what security there was that the agreement made with the Nizam about the £70,000 a year would not be withdrawn? No reply was given to this question. Mr. Hume.-One motion had now been disposed of; he trusted that the Court had not forgotten that he had given notice of another. He had on a former occasion declared his intention to bring under their consideration the conduct of Lord Amherst in India. It was his opinion that Lord Amherst ought to be recalled from that country, in consequence of his inability to discharge the duties imposed upon him. He had only to ask at present, first, whether any document or information had been received from India by the Court of Directors, or by the Secret Committee, respecting the origin and progress of the Burmese war? and secondly, whether any report of the court of inquiry, which had sat upon the cruel massacre at Barrackpore, had yet arrived in this country? He hoped that he should not be considered as acting prematurely in putting these questions, when it was recollected that eighteen months had elapsed since the commencement of the war with the Burmese, and that the country was still ignorant of the progress which had been made in it. The Chairman in reply to Mr. Hume, observed that certain papers relating to the origin and progress of the Burmese war had already been laid before Parliament, and had been printed pursuant to a vote of the House. With respect to the other question which the hon. proprietor had put to him, regarding the report of the court of of inquiry into the mutiny at Barrackpore, he must reply, that no such report had yet arrived in this country. Having given these answers, he should move that this Court do now adjourn. them. As to the papers which had been printed by command of Parliament, respecting the origin and progress of the Burmese war, he had only one word to say. If there were no other cause for that war except the cause assigned in those papers--if the war were carried on for the small income derived from the island of: Shapuree, which, he was told by the right hon. the President of the Board of Control, when he moved in his place in Parliament for a return of the revenue derived from it, did not exceed one farthing-he suggested that he was already in a condition to submit to the Court a vote of censure on the government of Fort William; though he was not in a condition to move a vote for the recal of Lord Am. herst, for not sending home all the papers in their possession, to explain the causes which had led them into so difficult a war, for an object in itself so insignifi-. cant. Connected with that subject was another, which required the serious consideration of that Court, if any subject ever did: he meant the massacre-for he knew no other name to call it by-which had taken place at Barrackpore. No subject ever claimed greater attention from that Court; and yet no information had yet arrived as to the result of the inquiry instituted into it. It was upon these grounds, exclusively of the expense which this war must throw upon the funds of the Company, that he could not allow the Court to separate without expressing some opinion on the conduct of the Bengal govern ment. He should, therefore, conclude by proposing a motion, of which he would dictate the words to the secretary. [The hon. member here began, but desisted as soon as he saw the Chairman rise to address the Court.] Mr. Hume could not allow the Court to adjourn at present, as he was not altogether satisfied with the answer he had received from the Chairman. He should, therefore, submit a motion, which he thought the present situation of their affairs fully warranted. He could not find words to express the regret with which he rose to bring forward a charge imputing blame to an individual, whose justification they could not hear on account of his absence. He was informed, however, by authority, which he had no reason to doubt, that Lord Amherst had written privately, to some of his friends on the subject of the Burmese war. In those letters he had communicated his opinions as to the cause and progress of it, and had stated his views in it from first to last. Now, if what those letters stated were true, a great culpability rested, in his opinion, on the government of Bengal, which had engaged in a war from mere views of conquest and aggrandizement, contrary to an act of Parliament, which expressly declared that the commencement of a war, upon such grounds, was contrary to the laws and statutes of the realm. Here the hon. member read the preamble to the act of Parliament.] Now, while that statute remained on the statute-book, it behoved the proprietors, if they were impressed, as they ought to be, with a sense of the impolicy and of the injustice of such a proceeding, to consider how it was that a government, acting in direct violation of the law, delayed to lay such a statement before the Court of Directors as appeared to justify the line of policy which it had determined to pur- The Chairman said, that the communicasue. He was of opinion, that under ex- tions and despatches from India relative to isting circumstances, the Court was bound the Burmese war came home in the secret to pass a vote of censure on the Bengal department; and that such of them had government, for neglecting the duty im- been published as had been deemed proper posed upon it by the legislature. For by the competent authorities. He wished what had been the conduct of that govern- to recall to the memory of the hon. proment? Not only had it declared war prietor, and indeed to that of the Court at against a power which had not committed large, that in the beginning of most of our hostilities upon us; and carried our army wars in India, even of those which in their from its own territories into those of ano- termination had been most successful, they ther power; but it had also placed the had appeared in England to be unpropitious, British forces in a situation in which they He, therefore, was of opinion that, until had never before been placed in India, and the Court received further despatches from he never wished to see them placed again. India, it would be well for it to withhold They had marched our troops to Rangoon, the declaration of its opinion, especially where, from the month of January down during the time that preparations were to the latter end of April, they had been carrying on. He would recall to their in a state of complete siege, having done memory another circumstance, which he nothing in all that time except making a trusted would lead them to the conclusion few sallies upon the forces of the enemy. he wished. They would all recollect It was, therefore, matter of importance the situation in which that gallant officer, that something should be done to rescue Lord W. Bentinck, had been placed. He the British arms from the disgrace which was of opinion that great injustice had the Bengal government had cast upon been done to that gallant officer, by the VOL. XX. Asiatic Journ. No. 115. S opinions opinions which were crudely and hastily formed of his conduct. With that fact as a warning before them, he cautioned them not to come to a hasty and precipitate judgment; for it would be wrong to impeach the conduct of the Governor-General, without having more experience to act upon. Mr. Hume said, he fully agreed with what had fallen from the worthy Chairman respecting the case of that meritorious officer, Lord William Bentinck. The measures taken with regard to that gallant individual were harsh in the extreme, because subsequent events proved that they were entirely undeserved. If he could have supposed that any such results were likely to accrue from his rising on the present occasion, he would not have risen. He had before stated, that he was most unwilling to rise, and he must again repeat, that he was at a loss about what he ought either to say or to do. Though the documents which he wanted to see had been long in coming, they might still come at last, and that consideration heightened the reluctance which he had just now felt at having to address them. Lord Amherst was, in his opinion, unfit for the situation which he now held; and therefore it was a matter of serious consideration whether the Court ought or ought not to move an address for his immediate recall. He was so completely at a loss as to the nature of the motion which he ought to make, that he rather felt inclined to yield to the suggestion which the Chairman had proposed to him. Sir Charles Forbes said, that though his hon. friend, the member for Aberdeen, was inclined to let the matter pass by him without further discussion, he could not consent to allow it to be so disposed of. He was very much surprised at the conduct of his hon. friend (Mr. Hume). His hon. friend seemed to think that he had not yet got sufficient grounds to act upon; but he was of a different opinion, from recollecting the old proverb" what every body says, must be true." He challenged any inan to lay his hand upon his heart, and to say upon his honour that he considered Lord Amherst to be a fit man to be entrusted with the supreme government of India. The feeling of the whole country, when he was appointed to that distinguished situation, was astonishment, not unmingled with a feeling of alarm. The appointment was attributed to private interest alone. It was his firm belief that such was the cause of it. It was said that the Court of Directors disapproved of it. If the Court did not disapprove of it, let any one of its members come forward and answer this question upon his honour: "Was Lord Amherst in your opinion a fit man to be entrusted with the affairs of the East-India Company on the continent of india?" He begged that he might not be misunderstood. He was speaking of Lord Amherst only in his public capacity; of Lord Amberst in his private and individual capacity he had heard nothing but what was correct, virtuous, and amiable. It was an able statesman, however, more than an amiable man, whom the East-India Company wanted as the governor of India. He begged the Court to consider the situation of its affairs in In dia. After a war of eighteen months' continuance, were they in the same situation as at its commencement? No such thing: would to God that they were! They were in a worse situation; for their army of 12,000 men had dwindled away to 1,300. Even the. despatches of its commander, Sir A. Campbell, warranted that inference; but the private letters from the scene of warfare warranted an inference still more melancholy. Was it not notorious that two regiments of Europeans, which had left Fort William 1,000 strong, had been reduced to less than 100 men each? How had that happened? Was it by some unforeseen calamity of the field, some unexpected accident of nature? No such thing: it was evident to the common sense of almost every man acquainted with India, that the government was sending to their grave every soldier, not merely European, but native, whom they were sending at that season of the year to the marshes of Rangoon, a locality than which there is none more pestilential in all the territory to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope. While such was the fate of the army at Rangoon, what were the proceedings of the army on the Chittagong frontier? None at all. The Chittagong horse had, it was true, gone a little way into the Arracan country, when they found themselves opposed in their progress by the sea. Yes, the Chittagong horse found themselves, as another portion of our army once found itself, at the Burrampoota river, obstructed by the sea, or at least by the Arracan river, of which, so little was the country known, nobody knew the source. Such was the report of the proceedings of the Chittagong force, as detailed in private letters; and it was even added, that that force was detained on the banks of the Arracan river until pontoons could be sent for and brought from Calcutta. As to any advance of our army from the north-east frontier, it had been abandoned as impracticable; and yet they were opposed by nothing but an impenetrable jungle. Where now was Sir A. Campbell and his force? He had been told that he had made an advance into the country, in the hopes of joining with Gen. Morrison's horse; but that he had been obliged to retrograde, in consequence of their not being able to form a junction with him, owing to the obstacles he had just |