Star. — London, England, 1806-04-23 00:00:00

li p thinking man malt regret. tr would, therefore, be a great miferincotinn of his objerl to fuppofe that by this motion he meant to encourage any difpofition to difcontent among the Volunteers. He would molt ftncerely deprecate any thing that could contribute to 17 (itch an effeet. Indeed it was ferionfly to be deplored, that the Volunteers, or any other defcription of per (one, Ihnutd take up any miprelTion from the mere propofition of a meafure in' Parliament, as to what Parliament was likely to do. For jolt in the fame *Fee that any rich meafure was unjuft IT unwife, erlikily to prefs feverely upon them, lbould any por tion of the people feel that Parliament would not feel dlfpored to adopt it. The people should at leaft wait Until the decifintt of Parliament was knows. And Until that decifion, inftead of apprehending evil, their prefomptiOn'ought to be, that fuch a meafure would toot be adopted. The eharafter of Parliament, and Vie jutt refpeEt which the people entertained for its 4h , old naturally incline the public mind to that pre. , c:t-totion. To the Volunteers he particularly adl Airclfed thefe observations; and to indicate a difspft2 'lion different from that be recommended, would ots their part, to fay the 'eau of it,be impolitic and unwife: For any indecorous conduit, at prefent particularly; swill be injurious to thensfelves and their advocat by' furnißong to their emmies die ftrourft argurnenti viand them. Hr felt; however, that it oinfkbe con fided the &frac and difcontent of the Volunteers was, in a great meafure, excutable. It was very na tural for them tocomplain when they Nutt /anglaise tiled repo,* •them by a .Government eompof e d; for the molt part, Of men who originally encouraged their formation, and whet alma* unlfanoly pinny., rind their conduit. When they few any part of firth a ()overman, inftead of patronifiag them, manifetling a nterto throw impediments and obna. cles in their way, the fame feelings which led• the Volunteers to miirtheir habits rind employments to prepare for the 'field of war, malt now difpofe them to chagrin and ditappointment. When they were held up as a difgracc to the military profelfion...• when told that it was degrading to the army that they Mould /be dreffed in the fame uniform with them—that it was an affront to military officers, that Volunteer Corps 'tumid 'have any thing like fimilar dittinetions—that although their want of difcipline had been .the general complaint heretofore, the re medy now propoted was to-relax that difcipline—it was no wonder if - rhe zeal of the Volunteers was, in films degree, damped, and their difpofitioris toured. Bat Rill they Ihould not fatter thernfelves to be agis tatted, bat nail in refpcdtful confidence the detifiron of the Legitimate. The Right Hon. Gentleman ems• Melded nWs moving for, an account clad fuels liked cad expended for .the •fervioe .of the Volunteers of Great "Britain, from the commencement of the pratent 1 war to the liked period at which thelame could be made out, Mtn:mailing molt leas, and alto oath bead of hrvica. Mr. FOX did not rife to . die& to tisernotion of the 'Right 'Honourable Gentleman, bocaufe without loch a nobtlom icons intended his Right am. Friend (Mr. Windham), to larthirdocument , lasfore the H. But.lias Rig h t lionountee-Gentionin's *teeth and hiscwotion being far from the fame thing, be mad fay, that althoogh he acquisfoed in the one, he vosywansh objeard toleveral.parts of the other. The Ri c .hiononnsble Gentleman's obittwation, that the Volunteers &Quid, before they took a thong isopreffion as to. his Right Hon. Friend's plan, wait, the elavifion of Parliament, was certainly uncle". tionablv ; but he could not help ebferving that dye fentiment very ill confided with other parts of th, light Honourable Gentleman's (patch. When a pion of anderftanding, competent to conceive that pmeiedier of that Houk ' was found to mifreprefeat snit& winch it was impolible to mifconceive it was, notcfialcnk to infer his obje& . Nothing could have Ilwasaworc explicit than the .meaning of l'is Right Heranurable Friend. When he alluded to a relaxa dos of difcipline, be meant merely that the Volun tars &mild only be feldomer called out to exercife, and 0- %being obvious, it ought to have been beneath Hon. Gentleman to catch at words. Was that the Right Hun. Gentleman could be • understand that any intention e x iled the istsZt, nasaubto an to so._ _ al dlliniuding the Volunteers? Sure he was, th at if lila ROI Honourable friend entertained any fuch intention, be had concealed it from him. That his Right Honourable Friend laid any thing on the day eluded to, to warrant-futh an inference, he moll pe temptorily and abfolotely denied. It would have been rather more becoming in the Right Hon. Gen tleman to have waved any remark on this plan until it was perfeelly underßood for it was quite clear that he did not underhand it ; and it was much to be regretted that Come indultry was made to propagate a &radar mifundevaanding throughout the country, but, thank God, with very little Needs. With ref pal to the are made by the . Right Honourible Gen tleman of.tho word afylum,' it could only have been applied by his Right Honourable Friend to the Volunteers, as the body which thole men in the hijher clalfes of life, who might with to be exempted from the compulfory training,wnuld naturally chnofe. The Right Honourable Gentleman talked of fubflituting aoo,ooo men trained according to the new arrange ment to 300,G00 difciplined Volunteers. But the Right Honourable Gentlemen did not feem to recol-, teat that it was not aoo,ooo men merely, but the people of the country, in rotation, that would be trained, is addition to the Volunteers. The only change, on the whole, in the Volunteer Syltem, was , merely to retain Aimfe only, who &Gold terse with out pay, and that would be conformable to the mi• giaal principle of their formation. Therefore the change could occafion no murmurs, 'oriel's men were predetermined to complain. He was lorry to hear of the exifienee of any dikontent, although he was perfuaded that it could proceed only from wirconcep sista. But when the Right Honourable Gentleman olepseemed any iiittmperance on the port of the Vo lionteers, left it &mild furnilh their enemies with ar guments againfl them. be would with to know where the Right Hoeretueable Gentleman eonfnlered the tocroies of the Volunteers 1 for he knew of no fuch t rt'rfoot in that Houk. The Right Hon. Gentleman right fay whom he fufpeElod, but he rather believed 'tat ire would feel it difficult to (late the grounds of !i• Calpicion. That a difference of motth.n prevailed n..ti this quellinn, both in and out of the Hnufe, he w-os ronfeety convinced. He could not hope for un.o upon a fair and full moieritandung of A .se meafdre, he bad little doubt that the number of oppoilene would be comparatively very few. Mr. PERCIVAL contended that he did not ntit% repaint the Right Honourable. Gentleman. Hi (poke of what he Paid, in the manner in which he undorllood him ; and he would appeal in the gene. I rality of the Members of the Honfe, whether they did not alto underhand him in the fame manner ? Lord CASTLEREAGH exprefred the fatisfae• tion be felt upon the alteration of tone which the Houle had witneiTed in the Gentlemen on the other Gde, fince a former evening. They had had op portunity for farther refledion. He Gnterelywifhed that thefe Gentlemen would extend their amended opinion to the other objedionable parts of their new propofition, and particularly to that relative to the flooding army, which every man anxious for the , Way of the country muff naturally wills to efcape the!grofp and effeds of the. Right Honnerable Gen tleman's deftrative reform. It was faido that the Right Honourable Gentleman had no intention to difband the Volunteers, but he begged the ,Houle to recoiled the Right Honourable Gentleman's own words, upon the night he opened the fubjed, when he declined to pledge himfelf or any of his colleagues • &sunny (apply to , the Volunteers for move than one year. When it was urged that the Right Honoura ble Gentleman ezpreiled no with to lower the difci plias of the Volunteers, he would refer only to his outwards. Heprofeffed a defire to take front them their infpeding Office's. their drill Serjeants, sad it might naturally be fuppofedto.reduce them at length toe viol with that armed peatentty, that anwieklY ' waft from whom it was prepofterous to expel any thing in the fhape of an army. 'He pot it to the Hoofs, whether it would be pnslttelto eollelt a force fo loofioed. fo imperfectly trained. and convert them to die purpofe of an•eymyt Here Mr. FRANCIS rofe to order, coaceiving the Noble Lord to exceed the proper limits of the qui: don before the'Henife. MroPAULL alto rote to order ; but after a few wordvfrom the SPEAKER, who did not confider the,Noble Lard diforderly, although he was cer tainly branching into confiderations not imme , liately connected with the motion before the Houle, nill be felt tharhe mutt leave it to the Noble Lord's own dikretinn. Lord CASTLEREAGH reamed, and Paid that h,e•fhould not have travelled out of the Motion before the . Houle, if it had not been for the obferva- lions of the Right 'Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Fox), andthe charge of mifreprefentation which he had. made anaintt his Learned Friend (Mr.Pereival.) Mr. WINDHAM faid, that, of the two who bad fpoken on the other fide, one only had ufed argu ment, and of that he fhouhi take notice at a ptnper time. But to the other, who bad dealt in nothing but affertian, .he Amokl offertnothing:but.contradic tion, for all he had !Laud willed npon the .molt glar ing mifennception. This Right Honourable Gentle -1 man had begun by Rating, that he was defirous to explain his motion, 'but he expreffed no defire to ex plain his übje4t, and yet it was extremely evident.— , When the .Might Honourable Gentlemen determined on any Parliameutasy warfare, they might, at leak to rcpreknt fairly the language of thole they meant to oppnfe, and keep their own condua in recollec tion. •In talking of compulfory meafures, it would have been decorous in the Right Honoorablc Gen tlemen to bear in mind the Army of Referee AO, which he fupposted, and the byltem of the Militia. both of which were compulfory levies. Ent even though thole meafures efcaped his recolltaion, he ought not, finely, to have forgotten the maMerable npinion which he himfelf declared, that a Volunteer could not relign (a mists:reef laughter, and bear, bear.) As to the remarks of the Learned Gentleman, on his 1 tile of the word " relaxation," he confeffed that, in point of verbal eriticifms, a" remiflion of difeipliae" wouldtave been mare appropriate. But it was an ucefrary to dwell on filch a thing, for the tenor of his plan explained his meaning. With the enforce ment of dirciplina the Infpeaing Field Officers could have no influence, for they had not the power to en force the attendance of the Volunteers even for in fpatien ; and why not then rave the expence of loch Officers. Inliead of diminilhing the Volunteer Corps, the Right Honourable Gentleman contended that his plan would ferve mole materially to' increare them. —For what did the change import ? limply nothing more than to put all Volunteer Corps on the fame footing on which 300,000 out of the 330,000 now in Great Britain, already flood. This meafure would rather tend, he maintained, to prevent a diminution of the Volunteers, which was to be apprehended if no new arrangement were made. General TARL ETON congratulated the Houk on the effea which the loudly expreffed fentiment of the country teemed to have on the tone of the Right Hon. Gentleman. Gentlemen had been through the country doting the Reed's, and could not but report the public opinion to Miniflert. He had himfelf fren feveral warm letters from the country on the fubjeB of what was generally called Mr. Windham's plan. —He begged pardon for mentioning the Honourable Gentleman's name. He felt that It was not Parlia mentary, but he and (obers called the plan by that name in contradiftinaion to any the army had ever before heard of. The motiqn was agreed to. A Mange was brought front the !Anis, fiathtt that their Anithipa had agreed to air lobo Doekworth's Annuity Bill; and that they had paired the We India C.nveruura' ihtkittrity P4•114231$ Mr. PAULL rote, agreeably to notice. to move his article of impt:achment againft Lord Wellefley, for a watleful expenditure of the money of the E.ttt ,India Company. He declared it nut to be his-intention to trefinifs long on the indulgence of the Houk, in its then exhanfied hare. It might be afked, why he had volunteered himfelt in bringing forward accufations againfi the Marquis of Welletley ? Knowing intl. matcly the caufe>, of complaint againft the N•tble Matquis, hr expedited, that thole who had !offered mull by his conditEt, whore lopplies and reroute's he had lariihed. would have Upped forward if his n euters, and accordingly applied to them on the fob- Find;ng, however, that they 4 teclined the en quiry, and being in polleflion of the Gas, lie relolved to undertake it, leeling, as he did, its magnitude, aware as he was that it did not poffelt Infficient weight to add authority to his accufation. The Court of Directors, however. he was now c.meinced, were of opinion that they ought to have been the accu ler:. They had drawn tip a Bill of I odiament a b alnit him more ferious in its nature, and from the facts which it divulged, than was often to be suet with , It criminal actotationt. He regretted the stbfbnee of a I Noble Load, whore charafter Ita:ti high among the, `youth of the Nobility of this country, who had hp potted him. and would Rill fupport him in this quel ltion, and whom nothing but inners prevented from at. ; tending at prefcnt. Having little knowledge of the form of proceeding in fuch a Winds, he had taken the cafe of Mr. Haflings as his precedent. If the Houle fhould think the charge worthy of I ying on the table, he thould move that it be taken into confidera tion on Come future day. As to the mode in which the charge was drawn up, any inaccuracy or irrego • larity in form he hoped might be fupplied, as he had not been aided in the framing of it by any Gentle. man of the Law. He then proceeded to read the Ar ticle of Impeachment which was of immenfe It commenced with Rating the period when Marquis Wellefley was appointed to the Government of India, and the time be was fuperceded by the fending cot of Marquis Cornwallis. That it was his duty in this filtration to have attended to the ;nitrations of' his employers, and to have cherilbed and protaled their interehs ; but, that letting at nought their orders, and taking on himfelf the eliaraften of a defpotic mailer, he, in many initances, aced in dire& oppoli don to their infirottions ' and to gratify his own v:aiity and inordinate love of , fbew did genfsly wage and lavilb the money of the Eaft lndia Company. It then proceeds to Bate the Al of Parliament granting the Ea ft India Company Charter, the engagement which the Company thereby came under to pay to this coon. try the Cum df 500,0001. annually, that on failure for am& year it timid then become a debt -recoverable but the profits of the Company, and bearing is hmt. buena, and that payment of fuch debt , ukt only . belpodponed. on application to the Trea fary, asewing that the failure in payment proceeded from being engaged in a war or other neceffary rade. That, notwithhanding, no part of this coo p aderation money, except the firft year's initalment, had bean paid. That when the Marquis of. Wel lefley went out to India, the debt of the Company amounted to eleven millions, and, at the time of {I his being floperkded, to thirty-one millions, ti'. additional twenty millions having been borrowed , at an ;meta of fix, eight, and ten per cent. That,i et the time of•his going out to India, all was peace, and commercial as well as political profperity ; and that nothing was required Whim but ordinary at tention to the orders of his employers to prelim things lutist fame train. Yet, notwithßanding, fo exhauded were the re:Wm of India before his re. -cal. that he felt himfelf driven to fell the imports of Bengal, to relieve the immediate embarraffirsents.— The paper then proceeds to thew in what ftste Mar. 'pis Cornwallis found the affairs of India, as expref fat in his difpateh to the Company at home. It then toes on to fate the proceediags in the different wars sawhich Lord Wellefley had been engaged, at con mimed in his own letters. in which he gives a favour• kfaillepifture of the fifuation of the Company's affairs; and Rates, that eicept thefe, he was entamed in no labors whatever which could nesafusuany•lofs or ex plain but•that of livesand of honour. That to other utak', thereforeymuß be afcribed the embarraffmetiu and pecuniary diffreffes to which the Company *as reduced, and there were the unexampled. prodigality, profufion, and love of fplindoor which charieerifed his government. That almoft every mealure df ' his adminiltration was marked by an entire difre gard to the orders and ineruelions of his employers, and by a new modelling and enlarging of every fpe eies of expence. ! hat in this way, in providing for his favourites, granting finecures &c. he expended in one year 1,3 00 , 0001 . For a College in India, after it had been difapproved of by the Company. in the courfe of three rears, 121,7001. In the year 180 t , in a lira to the Upper Provinces, which was alfo dif approved of, an expence of upwards of 30,0001. For a boufe, no,oool. In a yard and houfe, at Barrack ore, i 5,0001. The body guard, which had been pre, by Sir J. Shore, he replaced: in addition to that cavalry, led on by his ungovernable love of (hew, and thereby, for the fivft three years, incurred an expence of 40,8001. yearly, which, notwithfland. ing orders to the contrary, he con.inued till the arrival of Marquis Cornwallis, thereby making the expence to the company amount to 250,0001 It then alludes to the expence of the TownHoufe at Calcutta, and hates, that all thefe extravagsncies were gone into at a time when the pay of the troops was five months in arrear. It then proceeds to Rate his fending his brother, H. Wadley, to Oude, as Governor, at an eapence, in thirteen months. of a 6,0001. 'being a 'Cum exceeding that allowed to the Governor General of Bengal hindelf. That his own falary was re,otiol. year, in addition to which he was prohibited from taking any falary or gratuity whatever, direely or indireftly, and that. notwithitanding this prohibition, he did order large Cervices for his table, and for put poles entirely dometlic and private, to the amount of 140,0001. or thereabouts. The illuminating of ' his houfe, and the general fplendour of hi. living. wasluch as greatly exceeded that of any former Go.' vernor, or any former idea even of Bittern magni ficence ; and at this very time it was hated that the Company were paying at the rate of 16 per cent. for the money which they were borrowing. By all of which intlances of profofion it was charged that the Paid Marquis had greatly contributed to the embar. ratinsent of the Company. Mr. Paull then moved, that the laid Article of Impeachment do lie on the Table. The SPEAKER °Verve& that the proper mode , of proceeding would be tor the Honourable Member to deliver in the paper at the table, when it would be • read. After the courfe, however. which the Hon. Member had himfelf adopted, it would be for the Houle to exercife their judgment how far the latter part of this proceeding would be neceffary? • The paper was then given in, but the the of it• only was read. The SPEAKER arced Mr. Patric, what he bad next to propofe t Mt. PAULL (aid, to move that the paper do lie on the Table. The SPEAKti.R °Vetoed, that teas rot a quenion He taok a view of the different cafes !ince the Revo lution, in which Anieles of Imricachmi.nt had been given in at the bar by individual Membeis. The right of a Member to do in, he beiieveel, could hard ly be quellirtned ; it would, however, be afterwards .or the Hnufe to fay, whether ihcy would erttertain the T•eftion, and in what manner they would take it up? There were various modes r,f proceeding. /It Tome cafes the motion that witneflea be caned its rapport of the elrargv. In ethers, thee the thole be taken into coafuieration. Mr. PAULL raid, that in the care to which hIP had already alluded, the charge had been exhibited one day, and taken into confideration on a fulafequent- He had now only to move, that the Paper be take* into confideration. The SPEAKER raid, it bad been caßomary, in recent tares, to move that the Papers be printed, or that it be referred to a Committee of the whole Hoare. Mr. PAULL accordingly moved ti - at the Paptt be printed.—Ordered. Mr. PAULL then mentioned, that when the cult e Papers relative to Lord Welltfley't eondult, as to Oude and Furruckabad, lhnuld be ready, *bleb would probably be in the courfe of the week, hejhould follow the fame mode of proceeding as that now adopted. ' The SPEAKER raid, there being now no quaint, before the Houfe, it was his duty to (late fo to the Houfe, and to oak, if it was the judgment of the Houle, that things fhould be allowed to remain in th•it loofe and unfettled Rate, or to enquire of the Honourable Member if he had not Come ulterior ma tion to make ? Mr. PAULL did not pretend to fuch a knowledge of the Journals of the Houle as to enable him utility to fay what was the preferable mode of proceeding. He fhould move, however, that the Paper be t a k en into farther confideration this day three weeks. There being no perlon feemingly inclined to fecond the motion, Mr. Paint. again referred to the Noble Lord to whom he had formerly alluded, when Sir WM. GEARY rote and fecondcd the motion. Mr. Secretary FOX obferved, that the Hotta, flood in a peculiar fituation in the prefent cafe. They had been called on to take into eonlideration a charge of Impeachment again* a Noble Lord, of which not a tingle voucher was yet before the Houfe, nor, to far as he knew, was yet moved for. He was far from quellioning the right of any Gentleman to Wog a charge of this nature before the Haute, and in the prefent cafe the Honourable Member might think that he had fulfieient documents on which to rely; but ftill it was proper that chore fhould be before the Houle, and he was eoavineed the Hoeurahle Glad tleman would set find himfelf in a plea font fituation, if he fixed on a day at which it might be polfible that the Papers Mould not be before the Houk. It would hardly be expelled that. the Houle &mild grant say delay for the purpoCe of enabling them to be pro duced. lie fubmitted to the Honourable hfeMber if a tingle night, if even this night, timid be lion forwarding their produttion, he would feel that he flood in an aukward fituation in bringing (overlord an Impeachment without any documents to fubitati tiate it. Mr. PAULL (aid. in cafe of the papers not Wag ready, it would fursly be aueffary for hien so isoik that the bufinefebe delayed till the oeeeffa 'Trailers Vie printed. He held in his hand a lift of them, anji fubmitted that it would have been more owed in en Honourable Friend of Lord W.'s to have alloireld him to move for them before he had moved •for 'papers neeeirary for the Marquis's defence in the sir fair of Oude. Mr. LEE fubraitted that, both in the cafe of Mr. Hattings and of Sir E. hum, the .Hotife were to poffttrion of the documents from whence the *At *as inferred before they had fixed a day for contain., ing of, or at all entertaining the impeachment. Hs bagged it to be obferved; that this was tate fir* in. Ranee finee the revolution of Inch a proceeding u the prefent, where not a tingle document was Wore the Hook. He did not fay that they hid a right to fee fuch proof as would amount to munition t barb at lea*, before going farther, they ought to have filth evidence as would fatisfy a Grand Jury. Mr. FOX agreed there was a great deal in erboe had fallen from the Honourable Gentlemen who (poke haft, and if, in agreeing to take the paper itittt confideration one future day', he thought the Houtb pledged then to entertain it, he fhouid doubt much of the propriety of adopting that mode of proeied log. To guard again* that, he fhould move. V Mot ; , regular, that the debate be poftponed to this day fe'nnight, thereby giving the Honourable Member an opportunity of producing hit vouchers. Mr. ROSE thought this ton great an indulgence in fuch a cafe, where folios had been already granted on the motion of the Honourable Member. Sir W. GEARY declared that his Ojai in (mind ing the motion was not becaufe he was conrineed of the guilt of the Noble Margo's. When, however, he fa* article, of Impeachment of fo grave a nature. he thought it due to the dignity of the Houle that an opportunity of proving fuels charges if well founded, lhould not be denied. Mr. PAULL pledged himfelf to adduce docu• menu to prove every tittle of the charges he hid brought forward. He complained, that he met much difficulty and interruption in being able to procure , the neceffary documents ; and he alluded to an Hon. •Gentkman. who had faid, laa night, he would move for papers that would refute every tittle of the charges the, ( Mr. Paull) was to bring forward this day, though the particulars of thcfe charges were not ditclofed by him. Mr. GOULDING (to whom this allulion was di retied) laid, that be too was convinced, horn finding the charges to vague, futile, end indefinite, that tire Ron. Gentleman had only moved for the numerous thcum[nts already produced, with a view to fills for charges. • Mr. R. THORNTON raid, that as he, and t/ Members of • refpeßable Body to which he had the honour to belong. had been to pointedly alluded to, he felt it necelTary to fay a few words in explanation. He felt much regret for the iituation into which • Hon. Gentlentan who brought forward the cli .rg. had kd hinnelf and the Houfe. But yet he woi take thelbauty of hating his own feelings on the I Winn. He knew the length to which' he ought al would go, and had gone. and from which he cue not remelt He fineerely regretted that the Hoot table Gentleman had brought ii.rseard this (patio] ..—He bad not the honour of any knowledge of tt Hon. Gentleman, until he law him in the that which he affurned in that Houk ; and though I thought him eatirled to every credit for the man! perfeverance and spirit he had mai.iiedeel upon tl excafion ; though he was ennreion, that he had right to complain, and that be &mild have complal ed with him, had lie communicated to him his inter tiany yet he (houghs his purp.ife would have heel I mud; better antwei ed by proceeding to enquiry. ' die felt jettpc, Whet chats i2opearitenent. By node las but lui veil, he JuelL joie sem tiani tars • A y I \, ro gr 0, it 7 it IL Pe . • k r • r. LI `. r 0 :0 It • :01 k k rt to re of .r, e• I d o o• td :h re n. • p ve ea SA bT di- n; the Il i I . the • \ the to, lon. the gni nild oct end •ahl me. ion. the . ape ;1 be O• nly the d a t l lin. ' • 104 , ,1q 1 Ws 4 •-