Star. — London, England, 1815-12-21 00:00:00

T r .~. ~ - . INDIA HOUSE. • . • • Yesterday a General Court of Proprietors assembled at the India House, and on the Chairman's taking the Chair the Resolution of the Court of Directors, • with respect to the propriety of granting a pension of4loCe) per ann. to General Ochterlony was read... T Chairman, Mr. CHANT, in submitting this re solution to the consideration of the Court orProprie tlrs, f>hserved, that the merits of the gallant Officer to who'Oi it referred were so well known, he could nit think it necessary to dwell upon them in order to induce an unanimous approbation of the grout. Thus much, however, he thought it proper to remark, that General Ochterlony had surmounted great and pecu liar difficulties, by an extraordinary display of skill :1111 val-ur, in consequehce of which that meritorious o flizer had had a high honour conferred upon him by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, to sustain the dignity of which that grant WAS necessary which the India Company owed to bis eminent services.— Upon such a. proposition he could not apprehend any di:Frrence of opinion, for it was the best interest, as well as the imperative duty of the Court of Proprie tots, to reward the merit of its Officers. Hr. R. JACKSON said, that the documents refer ring to this transaction ought to have been generally submitted to the review of the Proprietors, before' they *ere called upon to accede to the proposed grant. He did not indeed think it becoming to press such a proposition without due consideration, especially in Cie present state of the Company's finances, encum bered as they were with a debt of no less than forty millions. Having himself read the papers which re lated to the conduct of General Ochterlony, he was ready to hear the fullest testimony to his merit. But still he felt that it would be more honourable to the character, and must be more grateful to the feelings of that gallant Officer, to vote the proposed pension after his merits should have been fully understood by the ProPrietory. The Learned Gentleman here ad verted to what he deemod an irregularity in the pre sent course of proceeding ; for according to the prac tice of the Court, •in the cases of Lords Cornwallis and Wellesley, and of other Governors of our India possessions, thanks were voted to the Commander in Chief, Before it was proposed to reward any Officer, of the Company. In this instance, however, it was prnpoied to reward a particular General, without taking any notice of the conduct of the superior au thorny from which the orders of that Officer ema nated. It was proposed, indeed, to distinguish a sttherdinate Officer, while the Commander in Chief wis entirely overlooked. Of such a. mode of pro. cve„ling he could nut approve, for it appeared to in velve a silent affront upon that truly iilusttions per sonage Earl Moira—(ll r, &Ir.) He had seen the public dispatches sou that Nobleman, and he must say, from those dispatches, that unless there were some ptivitte patch upon his conduct, the system which hiS Lordship pursued were entitled to unqualified praise, both as a great statesman and as a skilful Offi cer. That Nobleman's system was indeed at once form and pacific, resolifte and conciliatory. His J. rds!h:phad endeavoured by every practicable means e - arciii.:te the Rajah of the Napaul,..t . nd persevtred his enieavours until that Prince had actually en eroaciiett up n the Comeenv's possessions, and indeed sn•ce of t!a: Company's arnaas were murdered in cold blood—until, is a word, such acts of injustice and atroc:ty were perpetrated, as would have ren dered any farther iorhearance on the ratt of Lord Moira disgraceful to the character and injurious to etc interest of his country. It was then that his Lordship deelded far war, and having so decided, he made the witest atrangernents for bringing it to a speedy termination, bting fully aware of the evils in. scoarthle. from a protracted war in India. • Those evtls were indeed such, that a second campaign, how. ever distinguished by victory, was productive ut Sit• ctifices almost tantamtatat to the misfortunes that might accompany ' defeat. That consideration he (Mr. Jackson) particularly wished the Court to bear in mind, together with this fact, that Lord Moira's first declar,:tion of hostility was dated in November, 1311', and that within six months afterwards an am bassador from the enemy arrived at the British camp, armed with uniiMited powers to conclude such a peace, as afforded ample indemnity for the past, and estOrlished complete security for the future. With this splendid twat in the view of the Court, he risked, whether it would allow any slight, either t;ieect or implied, to be cast upon the character of Lotti Moira ? But such a result was among the . ILippy consequences naturally to be expected from the vigorous system of the Marquis Wellesley, who, on quitting the Government of our possessions in India, left them surrounded by States who were all tither our tributaries or allies. To follow up that s)s•tm was the wisest course for any Governor of . •4dia to pursue. But it was the peculiar felicity of ntira's character, that it combined the energy ot Lord Wellesley, with the conciliation of Lord Cornwaliis, and the proverbial induitry of Lord Llinto. Would the Court then consent to any moot lrkely to reflect upon the character of such a riterit(4.-.Us Nobleman, anti there was but too much :t :war to apprehend that the adoption of the present motion in the shape in which it was brought forward, ‘icutu, put of doors, be considered as a side.wind csnisur.; upon the conduct ot Lord Moira. With this trench h utjccted to the motion, while he highly es :to:rued the merits of General Ochterlony, but he W.qi persuaded that the recognition of those merits by unit Court, would be intinitery more respectful after M'•mbers had had an opportunity of fully exa mining tie papers upon which the proposition of the Cour t of Directors piofessed to rest. Mr. Hoses expressed a hope that the motion ivould not be negatived, as the merits of General Cchter lot:y were so sioal, and sa universally fecognized. ffe sves:te•l that the motion had been brought fervard in an unoscerionanie shape, but he trusted that no mine futmaluy , sotild be allowed to stand it t the way cof the proposed vote. Any informality, indeed, lV!licil appeared, he believed to result lather from an anxiety to do justice to distinguished met it, arid not at .ail from any wish to slight the services of the army or the merits of the Commander in Chef. Upon orerit, however, he : o ust think that the Court of : h .) it ect , ,ra had had ample opportunity of forming an ;,isno!s, front the information before them, and that ppiiiiop ought to have been expressed, whether , i svgair 0, or h ostile to the Noble Lord alluded to. c could not a pprove of any delugture Ito* the • • -Is4: established precedents or the Court, and he that it did not seem regular, according to those pint cedents, to notice the merit of a subordinate officer, - while the Commander in. Chief was totally over looked. Still he could have no hesitation in acced ing to the proposed grant, for he was well acquainted I with, and highly appreciated the merit of General Ochterlony. Here the Honourable Gentleman en tered into an historical detail of the life of General Ochterlony, who had, he said, been no less than 34 years in the Company's service, with very gloomy prospects, until the recent display of his great talents attracted universal notice. This officer had, he ad ded, been brought up in the school of the Company's service ; and it was, he was convinced, essential to the interest of that service amply to reward such an offi cer, in order to afford due encouragement and ade quate stimulus to the exertion of others. Mr. GRANT denied that the proceeding under con sideration involved any departure from precedent. The papers upon which the proposition was grounded were open to the reading of all the Propiietors„ and iu this respect more had been done to communicate in formation to the Proprietors than was required by the bye-laws or by any precedent. Same o: the Proprie tors had, it appeared, read these papers ; and, he was sorry to witness a disposition not to make a very liberal use of the information thus afforded. As to the oh. servation, that the merit of the Commander in Chief and the Army should have been br.eight under the consideration of the Court befole the present m eion was proposed, he contended that there Nv.s n 3 rule whatever to influence the discretion of the Court of Directors upon that sub'ect ; and it did not seem be. coming to abuse the exercise of that discretion, be- cause it did not conform to the views of particular individuals—still less was it becoming to censure the Directors before it was known what they meant to propose with. regard to the Commander in Chief.— But whatever might be the opinion respecting the system of the Commalider in Chief, under whose di. rection the war was conducted, that opinion could have no connexion with the merit of the aim under consideration, that merit consisting in a particular military operation; therefore the motion before the Court might be adopted without prejudicing any questions that might hereafter arise with respect to other points connected either with the met its of the Commander in Chief or the policy of the war. The Court of Directors had, then, taken the course which they deemed most regular and expedient, and if they were called upon to surrender their judgment to others, that surrender would seem tai eeprive them of the executive authority which constitutionally belong ed to them, and which, he hoped, they had ezetcibrd to the satisfaction of the Court. Mr. I). KINNAIRD complained of the style and tone of the Chairman, and that a Proptietor delivering his sentiments upon any question submitted to the Consideration of that Court, should be exposed to the charge of illiberality. But this, he observed, was not the first time in w}.ich the Chairman had thonght lit to express himself in such a querulous manner.— (A. cry of 66 Order! order!")—Mr. li.inn4ird ap pealed to the candour of the assembly if. jastification of his words, and bore testimony to the important services of the Wcrilly Member ( sir. Jacksi.n), to', whom the Chairman's censorious r:in:1:1. appeared to !refer, and especially in that Menshato prop,si.ion of those bye-laws which secured to the Proprietors sf , nie controuling in!hicnce in the di,:,..),„1 o f their fonds. The Honourable Mcia..r ei.foreed the npi nion of Mr. Jackson, with respect to the propiety of I voting :hanks to the Commander in Cola and the 1 Army belire a inntion of this nature was brought forward, observing, that the nlcrits os a siogle oirisfer 1 wcne thus rather inviA,. , usly seltcted, and that such a selection seemed to cast at least an indirect :Anion upon his comrade..; and superiors. The merits of this officer be (Mr. Kinnaird) did not mean to dispute, but he.thought all the Member? of the Comt should have an opportunity of judging of those merits, by reading the dispatches alluding. to them. With a view then of affording mat opporturwy, he proposed An Amendment, to the following ett...ct :—‘• That while the Court highly estimated the merits and set. vices .of General Sir David Ochterlony, it was felt expedient to adjourn the discussion upon the question before it, until the Members had time to read the do. 1 contents upon which the Court of Directors thought proper to recommend the grant of £lOOO alear to that o&cer." An Officer who had served in India. but whose name we could not learn io opposed the Amendment, contending that several instances had occurred, both in our naval and military history, where subordinate officers were publicly thanked tar particular opera tions, while the Commanders under whom they acted were not at all noticed. Therefore the vote now proposed could not be said to involve any tefiezion upon Lord Moira, for whose character he felt the highest respect. Mr. Howmern, Mr. P. Moons, and Mr. DIXON, followed on the same side. The latter &is:3 ved, that Load Nelson was thanked by Parliament for his splen did achievement at the Nile, while Lord St Vin,ent, who was the Commander in Chief under whom that great hero acted, was not mentioned in the vote of thanks. Yet the omission was never •ifeerned any re f Ilion upon, or in the slightest degree invidious, to ward Lord St. Vincent. Why then should the pre sent proposition be conceived to involve any retleYtuts upon 'Lord Moira ? Mr. li.Twiss forcibly supported the original motion. Atter some further rscoarks,, the Amendment was withdrawn, upon the recommendation of Alderman ATKINS. Mr. It. JACKSON moved for the production of the dispatches received by the Court of Directors from Lord Moira, from the commencement of the late war up to the latest period, excepting only those of a se. cret nature. Mr. GRANT, the Chairman, asked, whether the Learned Gentleman meant to exclude the answers sent by the Court of Directors to those dispatches i adding, that the whole would not serve to furnish the Court with a complete view of the subject. Such vu w could not, indeed, be afforded, until the arrival of farther dispatches from India. Mr. IscasoN expressed his readiness to include the answers alluded to; observing, that he did not desire the publication of these documents, but mcrely that t h ey ,h o uld be accessible to any Proprietor who de sired to read them. Mr. Jackson's motion w then read as follows _ _ " 'aft aias a4O WO" 14 ,1 cows 41114,tc4es flake, esseameramat last allawAticsived from ht. Lordship op tllet 1u ct ;as well as such his as have been forwarded by the of Vim tars to his Lads*, excepting such as may be era et nature." The motion was negatived. Mr. H. Twiss asked Mr. Jackson whether he meant 'to move a Vote of Thanks to Lord Moira and the Army, to which the latter answered in the negative. Mr. HOWARTIi waved, for the present, his notice of a motion to render persons holding any office under the Crown ineligible Members of the Court of Di rectors. Mr. Hums said, that understanding the ennduct of the College at Hertford, to which his notice of mo tion referred, was undergoing the investigation of the competent suthority, he should not press his motion, but wait until the result of that investigation was known. After a long and desultory conversation, with re gard to the case of Mr. Sherson„ who, according to the opinion of Messrs. Jackson, Kinnaird, and Hume, ought to be restored to office in India, while Mr. Coke, his false accuser, should be dismissed from of fice and brought to trial, Messrs. Grant and Bosan quet expressed a different opinion as to Mr. Coke, and the Court adjourned. 4 4 4 4 1: • • • • • • FRENCH PAPERS. PARI% DECEMBER is. It is now thought that his Royal Highness the Duke D'Angouletne will not return to Paris before the beginning of next month. Several persons having inquired this day, why the gardens of the Thu;Betio; and the Luxembourg are kept shut ?—we can easily answer those, that the dad weatlitr are the cause of it ; and the apprelictis;on of seeing these fine promenada outrage d by the crowd of evil persons who were too apt to fiviluent them. _ _ The Doke of Reggio had the honour this morning to present to Monsieur a m !dal struck is honour commemoration of the homage rendered to his Royal Highness on the fete of St. Charles. A detachment of veterans (the Notional Coards) were this day at the posts of the Palms Bourbon and the Chamber of Deputies. It was reported last night that the family of M. de Lavidette entertain well.f ,unded hee•ees that the arplications now making for an extension of the. Royal clemency towards him, will be successful. The King did not go out yesterday, but trans•eet eci business for some time with the Ministers of Ma rine and the Duke de Richelieu. A Deputa.tiun from the Chamber of Peers, leaded by the Chancellor, presented to his Majesty the law for the Institution of Prevotol Omits. After M.*s, hi s Kfjesfy also received a &potation from the Chamber of Deputies; it consisted of the Presidents cl the different Committees. Yesterday, after the public sitting, the Chaml:wr of Deputies resolved into a Close Committee, in order to consider the subject of the expenditure. One ar. title more especially engaged the attention of the Assembly, viz. the citcumatauce of the names of tour Regicides being found among thine to whom pensions were granted by the Chamber in 1814, as ancient Functionaries of the Cour: Legislaif. In the result, their names were ordered to be struck out of the list. Reporter df the First Council of W.tr yuster. day corered upon the eiAttlipation of Gen. Drouet. It is thciti t ht that judgment in his case will be pr... mulgated next MCA. A considerable escort of English waggons. laden with baggage, Stc. passed along the quays this 11101 - , ing, through the barrier of the Throw. %%re see no longer g tows of chance played ttrln the blulevards of the Temple, which occasioned such I.a tumultuous assemblage of :barrels and other ex : ceittionable characters. CIIAMSEK OF DEPUFIES, DEC. 16. Several propositions were m.tde by different Mem bers, but of such a nature that the Chamber voted the order of the day upon them. The Reporter of the Committee of Petitions stated certain instances of 1 irge pecuniary offers, or offers of the remission of certain ailtged du• s to them by the Government, being m ide by different indisoduals : these practices were censured by ti.e Committee, as unconstitutietial and 'pilots, and urged the Cliatn her to take the suhj c, into its serious considerition. M. DuatENTEL DE CLAir;s, a Counsellor of the Royal Court il' Bessitcon, solicited, in the way of petition, the suppre s,ion of divorces, as subversive of public murals, .end even of the stability of a ler;iti. mate Government. These, and st.veral other peti tions touched u;ens by the Reporter, were ultimately referred to the Committee charged to make t rep irt u,n'n the Law of Amnesty. M. de MoNrync, and other inh.ibitants of tlertunaed a sokqnn declaration on the part of the As,embly, in the name of all France, that the person of Lou,: XVI. was sacted and inviolable—that there existed sio right to judge him—and that a law should be enecled, declaring that the anniversary of his death should be in perpetuity a day of fast and of mourning. Many voices csclaimed.• 44 iftttat— iWtryc !'' .itTher a short discussion, the Chamber decreed, that the propsition submitted by M. de Montjoye. should IN: referred to the Committee of !'rotes Ver. order to fix a time for its deliberate dis cussion. The Order of the Day was then entered upon for the discussion of the project of law for the suppression of the Procurcurs Criminels. Some debate on the subject took place, which ter minated by the adoption of the project in an amend ed shape, by a. majority of 251 to S. NAPLES, NOVEMBER 24. The Ambassador from France to our Court, pre. tented to his Majesty, on the lith of this month, At an extraordinary audience, the felicitations of his Most Christian Majesty, for the represaiun of the au dacious attempt of Murat. M. Prince Jablonowski, Envoy Extraordinary from Austtia, presented also a letter of congratulation on the same event. By a Decree of the 6th instant, his Majesty has created a Prince —tin Commander Alvaro ituffo, in consideration of the services which he rendered, as Minister from his Majesty to the Congress at Vienna. By a Decree of the same day, the Duke Serrate: priola was invested with the Grand Cross of • _t • he Or der of St. F er di nan d, t o; his services at the court of St. Petersburgh. - - •- • PRBAPCBTNIEra Some of the Parisian Journalists have affected to lament our want of liberality in ascribing to the French Nation as crimes, acts of robbery which were perpetrated exclusively by the French army. Let them tern to the column of the Meniteur [we think for 1;95, firour copy is mutilated], and when they have read the following letter, which the Clare of lA terairre and of the National butigute, addressed to their colleagues at Rome, let them say whether the crime charged against them belongs exclusively to the arm v YAMS. 19 FAUCIIDOR. DEAR COLLEAGUES---The Moister for hureigr, Affairs sent to us yesterday, the List of the StAti.e: And Pictures which you have selected at Rm..— They were discussed at the Sitting of the same day, in order eat you might Lave as early as possible tle result of our discussion. We desire to have he , ;des, it possible, STAT t: .1 RT. I. A butt of Ariadne, In the Vatican. U. The Nile and the Tiber, iu the Vatican. 3. A second candelifeltm to hang. 1. 3 Mltue in the Vatican, cslied :Le Etruscan Sold! 5 S. Urn., with ba,o G. Two :Antique Baths, in tot,altes. 7. !sva L g Egyptian figure., in the Capitol, of the Three A s;lta!, uttinbct of LtruKan Vwfbelo. ILI the ...L. a t t $• Vatican. TICTI;? I. Nn Pietre Conon*, we have enough in the Mt..c.at.. . . . . 4. I.e.IVC 1k h tit! the Miracle ul Atierrw Sacchi, Mid :. The Miraclr at St. Cecilia, by %ramie. 9t sr. Era,tri ti . , A,r,tl)sntil.r;leter Guieo, ( VT 0 ! 4 I Ake the Martyrdom of Sr. Proces a... 1 St. March:tar.. r Nth 5. I Ake Ihe Sr. : , :ba4tiart tot l's: ii.n. r•il 6 l . c .r or a r k e::: l n e ti m w a it r l t i y i r l d ie ei M n which CX;Sii; in Niloie. 7. 'F a ke the it. iciorne in the tizsart, in the ebt.: of the Chirreuz. Fin Ty, take nintiMed ter% of all the antiqat.s w: !mi.: rut the oligioals.--iiestch srd haternity. TO THE EDITOR OF TILE STAR. Stn—ln your account of the inhimons R. roil., f;4r - . in your columns of yesterday, you have on:i;:ed notice what WAS perhaps the most remarkable cir cumstance of his life, and which, in fact, di•pelled many of the illusions which were unhappily q.v....if on the subject of the French n t in ot:,ei countries, at tl:e time. As the official organ Terrorists, it was REAL who pitslicly uttered tile fol. !owing chef (retiree of revolutionary logic :—" All persons cariied bAose a rev•ilutinaiy tribunal, are guilty, because they are suspected ; for ia rev lu tionary times, to cause suspicion is always guilt— and all guilt deserves death ! A Citizen w;io men tions the name of a King, or who talks of Peace with a King, commits high treason towards his nation, and is As colp.ible as the parricide who strailles his tither, the matricide who poisons his mothLr, or the fratricide who stabs his brother !" I am, Ice. URA=. VANILIM,VE. Our old (liens! VANDAIIatE has again made his ap• pearatice on the political stage. He, poor innocent blameless creature, hits been vilely calumniated of late, and like SOUL?, Nay. :in," a variety cf other pupils of the same ccho .1, VA7MANINIE has also, put turd' his lifon,ire Juseyi:atij: N t having gem the whole of this precious liter oy p..iformance, we can e it sp....tk of its merits : we doubt not that as a argument, it is c..mplae in all its pai ts—consirocted by the rules of logic and right reason, and Hf " strange saws and modem ilctdcnts." There 4e a few farce in the life of VANDAMM4 however, winat drly all the power of Oa-colic to soften down, and these we shall lay before our Readers as a prelude to his deence. ci me before us when it may. VANDANIMit is the son of a bather at CAM!, in t!:e nr rth of France : in 1787 he enlisted as a con.mou soliier in the French corps call:d the ltvgimerit of Flanders. Nexr rear he was convicted or r..bberf and house breaking, and condemned to be hanged. ley ill.. ill-timed lenity of liirun L'Aww.ois, criminal judge at Cassel, and of whom we shall sae more herexter. the sentence of death was commuted for ten years slavery in the gallies, and to be brarded on both shoulders by the common executioner. To Iltost lse was conveyed in pursuance of his sentence; but, in 1790, in: escaped amid the incipient contu• sions of the revolution. At Paris, whither he fled, as the grand focus of attract;on tor the ma:viral: supers of all countries, be commenced Jacobin and Mountaineer—thundered in the clubs as well as the best of them about libzrty And equality, and in due time was made a G.:neial by ROBESPIGRII In the campaigns of 1793 and 1794, he command ed in Maritime Flanders. When the Convention creed that all emigrants taken prisoners should tz shot, there was a reluct:ince to comply on the pail of many even of the revolutionary commanders. VANDAUME set the truly laudable example of short ing, with his own hand, an emigrant o:ficer, wha was brought to him as a prisnner at Furnes, in 1791. "this manly act was of tutus greatly applauded hy th. wretches who then called themselves the Govan mt-nt of France ; but VANDAMMI was soon com pelled to evacuate Fumes, the inhabitants having conceived the utmost abhorrence against him and his troops—besides the Allies pressed hard Although he saved his baggage and ammunition, lie was ordered to Paiis to give an account of his coos duct before the Committee cf Public Safety. In the summer of 1794 he arrived in Paris, but such was the satisfaction which he gave to Itonasrleanat that he was officially declared by the Committee of Pub lic Safety, to be 66 a true Sans Culotte, without clime or reproa c h," an d h e was restore d to his cam mond in Flanders. During his stay at Paris, an incideat occurred truly remarkable in the lite of this great man, 7 111 1 on which we cannot dwell without ,feelings of no common k:iid. Vital:mama had been saved in 1788 from being h4nged by the clemency of the Baron L'ANouni , his indge : in 1793 he had an opportunity of evincing hi, gratitude. L'Asiams was one of the4iches►' but nevertheless the most humane and the most ge nerous inhabitant of French handers. VANI)0.00 1 paid him a domiciliary visit, ransacked and pillaged his 'suasion, and then sent the saner, who was 80 years of age, to Paris as a suspected linalist. Un the occasion VANDAMME wrote to the National Con vention, that the prisoner was excellent game for the guillotine." Such wa# the stye inspired by his