Star. — London, England, 1813-06-03 00:00:00

poned to the end of the Scw.lon, the House of Commons would become a mere Court of Regi*try, wherein might be recorded the demands of the Cabi, Lord P4I.MERS I ON said. that ao unnecessary delay what ever wawa t ke place in bringingtbe subject before Parliament. Mr. POSONBY said, lac not complain of that business In purticul,ar bt ing delayed, but all questions involving a voto of money appeared iq bim to be most unnecessarily delayed. On the t ;oaf* being remmed, the Irish Sessions House Bill was read a lei (line, and ordered to be committed to-morrow. • EAST INDIA COMMITTEE. The Hoose ten resolved itself into a Committee on tilt Affairs of the East India Company. Mr. ItICK3'iRDS said, he felt a considerable de gfeefif interest in every thing relating to India, in which - lic had patted the best . part of his life. There was in that country a most, numerous population, who, from a want of other means, were obliged to till the ground for a subsistence. • Commercial wealth could thftre, as in Europe, overflow to the agriculture of the country. There was a great portion of agri cultural misery, which was one cause of the scanti- . _ ness of commercial wealth. There was a great defect in the Fl.evenue Laws, which it would be necessary t.' correct. A great part of the evils he alluded to, arose from the Mahotnetan conquests, and the Sove wign being the proprietor of the soil.. The state of the c4ltivators was the poorest, the most deplorable, and miserable, that could be conceived. They were ofiligsd to live all the year round on rice, and had nothing but a thin covering of cotton cloth. Much of this misery was occasioned by the severity in the collection of rents and taxes. When Lord Corn wallis was iii India, he endeavoured to establish a Zeminlar to the population—that was, to have a class of cultivators possessing capital, and a portion Of land sufficient to caTry on the bUsiness of agricul- ture on a large scale. The effects of this system were described in a letter he received from a native of Malabar, as having contributed to the peace and hap piness of the Country, But the letter further stated, that, owing to the appointment of low persons to the offices of 'lax Collectors, this happiness was done away, and the inhabitants were treated with the greatest tyranny and oppression. These men were called Mootadors ; they were a sort of farmers of tams, who boasted that they were the Lords of the soil ; and they oppressed and pillaged the people of every thing they could find in the farmers' houses; and the pocr peasants were unable to obtain redress, because it would require a journey of four or five days to go to a Court of Justice, in order to nuke their complaints ; and they were unable to bear the expences of such journies. These Mootadors were of such a character, that there was reason to fear they would take the first favourable opportunity of rising up in rebellion. After having read the letter, the Non. Gentleman proceeded to point out the processes by which the whole of the lends of Bengal had, in the course of a few years, changed masters. When arrears of taxes were to be collected, the lands were taken and sold ; and it generally happened that the sales did not produce so much as the taxes amounted to. This was, then, the boasted system of Govern ment so much talked of in that House ! The opi nion of every body was, that this system bad been established for the purpose cf destroying the Zemin ears of the Country; and he was certain that the op. pressed natives would be ready to join the first stan dard of rebellion that might be raised against a Go vernment whose sole object was revenue, and who, in the collection of such revenue, had recourse to the means now described: The trice of food was so low in• Bengal, as to be scarcely worth the labour of cul tivating the land, and the price of labour was pro portionably low. One shocking effect arising from this state of things was, the increase of enormous vices and crimes, to which the wretched people were driven by want of subsistence. By this system, the benevolent intentions of Lord Cornwallis were wholly defeated ; and the system was contrary to the wishes of the Court of Directors themselves, who had very just notions of government ; but whose good political maxims were defeated by commercial speculation.— Now the internal commerce of Bengal had not in creased ;—and consequently the condition of the people could not have been bettered ; and he hoped this condition would shortly engage the attention of the House. There were advocates in that House for' people in all other parts of the world ; but the poor injured Indian had no advocate; and he would in treat the House to turn its attention to that oppressed criutury, as much for the sake of humanity and jus tice, as fir that of the safety and interests of the em pire. We are now suffering a commercial loss, in Consequence of the system, .and the evils he enume refer'. could never be dope away until the trade to ladia became free and unshacklel—Weee, It was not possible, in the nature of things, to pre. ent orecessinn, when the rulers of the country were ni.”-c!, :41d 'l, tarsi when these merchants were mono. p•iliset ;—some great measure of correct;on and hu es everucue was then indispensible, and a necessary eels toward* it was the • opening the trade. It vies .iu antiquated prejudice, much more alssurd than the bind's° 'lleology, to say, that the natives of India bad a fixed, unchangeable character. One would suppose, from the mysterious accounts given of the Hindoos in this country, that these people were not made of flesh and blood. But he knew that they had the same passions, the same feelings, and the same wants, as other human beiogs ;—and he was coofident that, if they were well treated, and their condition ameliorated, and a system of justice and open commerce established aresoeg them, they would be found to conduct themselves like people similarly situated in Any other part of the world. He assured the House, that in what he Low veld, he was actuat ed by no sort of hostility towards the India Com pany. Hjs -sentiments had been long known ; and to pure were his motives, that the course he now pursues! woeld probably involve him in disappoint ment a n d loss. Mr. GRANT defended the conduct of tire 'nth .n government against the charges of the Hon.Gentle ie man, whe.h, it true, wi ale prove that all which had been dem by ,ornter Governors - in India was writ, g. The tfon. Gentleman held forth the idea that core mice aline was necessary to make the people ut India happy. N.yr the fact was, that they were al. agiiculturai, and could not be a commercial people. The Hon. Gentleman 'was incorrect in many of his etements, The Ze-mind. rs were not ehe original etoprieteee of the soil. Thet was the property of the 4overeign, in consequence of the system intreduceo tsy the Mahoecteteres among the people 090 years before the English got possession of the country.— The system of land ,— revenue was not such as was described. A certain portion of the :sop was taken, without any acts of oppression. There was no such persons as old Zemindars in Bengal ; for these per sons had supplanted one set of Zemindars, just as the latter supplanted others that had gone before diem. He next denied the statement of the Hon. Gentleman, that the internal commerce had declined, for there was an evident increase of population, and such must have brought an increase of consumption along with it. Therefore, there must have been an increase of commerce. Mr. C. GRANT challenged the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Rickards) to give to the world the statement he had made to the Houce that night. He begged the House would suspend its judgment till the whole was fairly before it. Mr. RICKARDS replied, and stated that many great authorities had said the same as he had ; only, perhaps, not in such strong language as he had used. His proposal to change the revennsystem of India was meant as a trial, and intended qnly to be made on the insignificant island of Salset&, in the neigh bourhood of Bengal. Sir E. COOTE considered that the affairs of India had already greatly flourished under the guidance of the East-India Company, and he was unwilling to give up' a certain good for a supposed advantage. Mr. TIERNEY said, that although he might be differing in opinion on the subject of that night's de bate, yet he found his opinions were the same as those of Lord Grenville on this subject. His Lordship had publicly lamented that the Report of the Committee had not most strongly recommended the adoption generally of the permanent system of revenue in In dia. He contended, that not one fact had been ad duced whiCh should make the East-India Company lose its charter. All that had been said against the Company had been matter of assertion and debate, but not by way of evidence or proof. It had been said, that the Company's monopoly was destructive of commerce, &c. This, it true, was capable of proof, but no one *as brought to prove it. But he would maintain that a case had been most strongly made out in fas>our of the Company, which had not been attemptedtio Be disproved by any one. His firm con viction was, that on the decision on this debate, would materially depend the safety of the empire. This ought to be a question of discussion, not to be de cided merely by voting. It had been said, that the system of the East-India Trade was encouraged by Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas, as a mere experiment. In that light he could not consider it; but he it so, it was entitled to some consideration with all other ex periments, whether it had been beneficial or hurtful. The fact was, that sixty millions of people had been governed in India with as much regard to their happiness as ever any people had been go. verned on the face of the earth. It might be, that the Company had carried on a losing trade with India, but for that he did not care. The question was, bad the inhabitants of India been governed with a just regard to their lives, property, and general happiness. He contended that this had been done. The Corn. pang had Civil and Military Establishments of such a nature as not to be paralleled in the world. He be. licved that its Fervants wished to do their duty fairly, in the face of the world. The Government had been allowed, on all hands, to be most excellent ; yet was it all to be thrown down—not for the purpose of in creasing the happiness of the people of India, but only to give this country a little more trade ! .He con tended that the abstract principle was erroneous— namely, that trade was of no use or advantage unless it were free. It wa. the proper mode of considering what was the best way of carrying on the trade with India. He said, that it ought to be done through the Port of London. The other side said no ; and that .ought to be the subject of fair discussion. Without that, they would be throwing down one thing known to be good, for a new circumstance, of the good or bad effects of which they could have no idea. The sort of opening to the trade proposed to be granted, was nothing better than a sort of regulated monopoly also; and if they granted that, he thought they ought to allow every man to go to, and ,return from India, in his own ship, and on his own bottom. He had heard nothing stated which could lead him to sup pose, that while India was obliged to receive our manufactures, we were to receive an increase of hers. It, therefore, could not be from any desire to benefit the natives of India, that these persons were so very anxious to have the trade with that country opened to them. He considered, that the introduction of Europeans into India would be attended with most imminent danger to our empire in the East. For his own part, he should be very sorry to see a Liverpool Captain and crew, accustomed to the Slave Trade, going out to India. But it was said, that the Police in India was to be extended, to prevent any such evil; but what would the inhabitants of that country say to this, who had hitherto lived in peace ? They would naturally enquire why time vigorous measures were to be taken and the answer to that must be, . 4 here are the Gentlemen of the Out-ports coming among you." Under all these considerations, he trusted the Noble Lord would step in and prevent this plan being adopted—A pl in which, it carried into effect, would, lie was convinced, in less than five years, break down the East India Company entirely. Lord. CAS I'LEREAGH contended, that Parlia ment had a right at any time, when chartered rights should expire, to renew or withhold such rights and privileges, on such terms as it might think proper. He was ready to meet the Right Hon. Gentleman at any time on the merits of the plan now proposed, and to contend, that it was for the interest of the Empire, both .it home and abroad, that it should be adopted. • After proceeding to remark on the nature of the mea sure now proposed, he declared that he never had thought so well of t!:e measure before, or of its since th wis dom, as he had done sine Right Hon. gentle ' man's impeachment of it. Mr. kINLA k' and Mr. FORBES supported the measure. • Mr. R. THORNTON proposed an adjogrnment of the debato on this question till to-morrow (this day.) Mr. PONSONBY and Sir J. NEWPORT sup ported this mipositirsa, and each of them declared their opinion that the measure ought not to be pressed !trough the House during tit. present Session. Alter a few words from Lord CASTLEREAGH and Mr.CANNING, the Chairmaireported progress and obtained leave to sit again, and the House ad journed at Halt-past One. FRENCH PAPERS, P4RIS, MAY IS. I Her Majesty the Empress Queen and Regent has received intelligence from the Army, dated from Hocherchen, the 21st, at five in the evening ; it states that, in consequence of the -advantages gained -the preceding 4sy, a second battle took place on the 21st, in which the most complete - success- crowned the Emperor's arms: Our loss in the two days has not been considerable. The Emperor was in perfect health. T.' nl .. L • . ob i iii JIAL sub 1 - 11 TEIA ila4 Col COI np( bi- sitl ed Pa so po Tri‘ G 3T) tit T rn 1 1 39 PARIS, MAY 29. Her Majesty the Empress queen and Regent has received the following intelligence respecting the events which have passed at the Army, during the days of the 19th, 20th, '2lst, and 22d, and of the position of the Army on the 23d. The Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia attributed the loss of the battle of Lutzen to the faults their Gene. rals had committed in the direction of the combined forces, and particularly to the difficulties attached to an offensive movement of from 150 to 180,000 men. —They resolved upon taking the position of Bautzen and Hochkerch already celebrated in the History of the Seven Years War; to unite there all the rein forcements which they expected from the Vistula, and other points in their rear, to add to that position every thing for which art could furn;sh the means, and there run the chances of a fresh battle, of which all the probabilities appeared to them to be in their fa TOW. The Duke of Tarente, commanding the 11th corps, left Bischofswerder on the 15th, in the evening of which day he found himself within cannon shot of Bautzen, where he found all the enemy. He took a position. From this moment the Ptench army marched upon the camp at Bautzen. The Emperor left Dresden on the 18th, he slept at Herla, and on the 19th, at ten in the morning, arrived before Rant-, zen. He employed all the day in reconnoitring the lenemy's positions. We learned that the Russian corps of Barclay de Tolly, Langeron, and Sass and Kleist's Prussian corps, had rejoined the combined army, and that its force might be estimated from 150 to 160,000 men. On the 19th, in the evening, the enemy's position was as follows : his left was sup. ported by mountains covered with wood, and perpen dicular to the course of the Spree, nearly a league from Bautzen. Bautzen contained his centre. This town had been intrenched, and covere:l by redoubts. The right of the enemy leaned upon fortified rising points, which defended the deboucbes from the Spree, from the side of the village of Nimschet ; all his front was covered by the Spree. This very strong position was but a first position. We distinctly perceived at 5000 toises distance in the rear, the ground newly dug up, and works which marked their second position. The left was still sup ported by the same mountains at 2000 toises in the rear of those of the first position, and considerably in advance of the village of Hochkerch. The centre leaned upon three intrenched villages, where so many works had been erected, that they might have been , considered as strong places. A marshy and difficult ground covered three quarters of the centre. Lastly, their right leaned in rear of the first positic.n, upon villages and rising grounds likewise intrenched. The enemy's front, either in the first or second position, extended about a league and an half. After this re. eonnoissance, it was easy to conceive how, notwith standing a lost battle, like that of Lutzen, and eight days retreating, the enemy could still have hopes in the chances of fortune. According to the expressions of a Russian officer, who was asked what they inten ded to do ? " We neither wish to advance nor retire." " You are masters of the first point, (replied a French officer) and the event in a few days will prove whether you are masters of the other." The head-quarters of the two Sovereigns were in the village of Natchen. On the 19th the position of the French army was as follows : Upon the right was the Duke of Reggio, leaning upon the mountains to the left of the Spree, and sepa rated from the left of the enemy by that valley. The Duke of Tarente was before Bautzen on horseback, upon the Dresden road. The Duke of Ragusa was upon the left of Bautzen, opposite the village of Niemenschutz. General Bertrand was upon the left of the Duke of Ragusa, leaning upon a windmill and a wood, and appearing to intend debouching from Faselitz upon the enemy's right. The Prince of Moskwa, General Lauriston, and General Regnier, were at Hoyerswerda, out of the line, and in the rear of our left. The enemy having learnt that a considerable corps was to arrive by the road of Hoyerswerda, was doubtful that it was the Emperor's intention to turn their position by the right, to alter the field of battle, and to cause all his en trenchments to fall, which had been erected with so mush pains, and the objects of such great trouble.— Not being yet informed of General Lauriston's ar rival, he did not suppose that this column could con sist of more than sixteen or twenty thousand men. On the 19th, he therefore detached against them, at four o'clock in the morning, General Yorck, with twelve thousand Prussians, and General Barclay de Tony, with eighteen thousand Russians. The Kus sips posted themselves at the village of KHz, and the Prussians at the village of Weissig. Count Bertrand had, in the mean while, sent Qt. send Perin with Op Italian division to Koenigswerda, to keep up our foinunupicatlon with the detached cups. Being arrived there at noon, General e e ry made bad disposiifons. He did not cause the nt;gh. bouring forest to be properly reconnoitreti ; he plv e d his posts badly, and at four o'clock he was ass a il e d ' by a hourrah, which threw same battalions into cr is . order. He Jost 600 men, among whom was Getz. ral Balathier, of the ItAlian brigade, woundet!, kcannon.:itid three caissons, but the diviaionll7..-.( taken to their arms, kept thenaselres to the e5 . L.(,,. and faced against the enemy. The Count de Valney haring a cavalry, put himself at the head of the Italian i• sion, and retook the village of Koenigswerda. At this very moment, the corps under Count 1,1 6 . riston, which marched at the head of the Prince 01 Moskwa's, to turn the enemy's position, and had dr. parted from HoyersweVela, arrived on Weissig. 11, battle commenced, and the corps of General yt:k would have been destroyed, had it not been for V.., circumstance of the troops having to pass a ( idl e, which caused that they could come up only in sue cession. After a battle of three hours, th e v ill age of Weissig was carried, and D'York's corps 1)& 1v , thrown, was driven to the other bank of the Spree. The battle of Weissig was in itself as irnpi atang event. A detailed Report will shei4l7 make knout% the particulass concerning it. On the 19th Count Lauriston therefore remained in the position of Weissig, The Prince of Moskwa at Mankersdorf, and Couni Regnier at the distance of a league in the rear. The right of the enemy's pp. sition was evidently its disorder. On the 20th, at 'eight o'clock in the morning, the Emperor went to the heights in the rear of Bautzen. He gave order/ to the Duke of Reggio to pass the Spree, and attack the mountain which supported the enemy's left; to the Duke of Tarento to throw a bridge on chevalets over the Spree, between Bautzen and the mountains; to the Duke •of Ragusa to throw another bridge e e chevalets across the Spree in the turn which thatriw takes to the left at half a league from Bautzen ; to the Duke of Dalmatia (to whom his Majesty had given the command of the centre) to pass the Spree and disturb the enemy's right and finally to the Prince of Moskwa, under whose orders were the 3d corps, General Lauriston and General Regnier, to push forward on Klix, to pass the Spree, turn the enemy's right, and to carry his bead-quarters Iron Wurtchen to Weissenburg. At noon the cannonade commenced. The Dula of Tarente had no occasion to throw his bridge of Ichevalets across the river, as he found a stone bridge before him, over which he forced his passage. The Duke of Ragusa threw his bridge across, and the whole his corps passed over to the other bank of the Spree. After six hours brisk cannonade, and several charges made by the enemy without success, General Compans caused Bautzen to be occupied. — General Bonnet occupied the village of Needkayn, and, by a running charge, took a plain which ren dered himself master of the whole centre of the ene my's position. The Duke of . Reggio got possession of the heights, and, at seven o'clock in the evening the enemy was driven back on his second position. General Bertrand pissed one of the arms of the Sprees but the enemy kept the heights which supported his right, and by this means maintained himself betweea the Prince of Moskwa's corps and our army. to At eight o'clock in the evening the Emperor ens tiered Bautzen, and was received by the inhabitants and the Constituted Authorities, with sentiments due from Allies who were happy in finding themselves delivered. from Stein, from Kotzebue, and the coos sacks. This day, which, Were it single, might be called the Battle of Bautzen, was merely the prelude to the battle of Wurtchen. However, the enemy be. gan to comprehend the possibility of being forced is his position ; his hopes were no timber the same, and he must, from this moment, have had the pi esage d his defeat. Already were all his dispositions changed; the fate of the battle was no longer to be decided be. hind his intrenchments. His immense works, :.nd SOO redoubts, became useless. The right of his piisi tion, which %as opposed to the Fourth Corps, became his centre, and he was obliged to offer his right, which formed a good part of his army, to oppose the Prince of Moskwa, in a place which he had not studied, and which he believed beyond his position. On the 21st, at five in the morning, the Emperor marched towards the heights, three quarters of a league in advance of Bautzen. The Duke of Reggio sustained a lively fire of musketry towards the heigi;s4 which defended the enemy's left. The Russians, who felt the importance of his position, had rlaced a strong part of tke army, in order that their lett should not be turned. The Emperor ordered the Dukes of Reggio and Tarente to keep yp this combat, to keep the enemy's left from disengaging itself, and to hid: from him the real attack, the result of which could not be Celt before noon, or' one o'clock. At eleven o'clock the Duke of Ragusa advanced 1,0(K) toises from his position, and engaged in a dreadiui C3n• nonade betore all the enemy's redoubts and iimench. menu. The guard and the reserve of the army, con. sealed by rising ground, had easy debouches to asi• "ranee, by the left or right, according as the virisil• utdes of the day might require. The mum) w'= . thus kept in uncertainty resreciing the real pout o f attack. During this time -he Prince of Moskwa overthrew the enemy at the village of Kb:, pasae,l the Spree, and led fighting what he had bet' 'e trim to the village of Preeletz. At ten o'clock he eau