The National Register. — London, England, 1813-04-04 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. converted a ; and anotb r perso!., a Catholic priest, was ac companied with several persons whom he called Christians ' but ap peared to be totally ignorant of the habit s of th e p e opl e with whom he was mixing. The question as to the propriety of a Church Esta blishment was one of great difficulty and delicacy ; much would de pend on the tempts!. and demeanour .of the person raised to the sa ercd office. But he could not help saving, that he wished sonic other time had been chosen for this experiment, as a surmise had gone abroad, that there was an intention of forcing our religion on the katives; an opinion which might tend to the greatest mischief, esptciatly if propagated amongst the native infantry, who were the great defence of the Empire. a question, vk heftier there would be any serious danger horn the Company's settlements in India from the residence of a t 1.4 more European merchants there? Mr. Hastings said, he bad alre4tly Answered that question. Being asked, whether the sovereignty of the Company was belie fici to the country ? He said, the question seemed to be put for the purpose of ascertaining whether the political power might or might not be used against the commercial power. That, however, could only be the case were there was a , competition ;• and as the Court had no competithr, it could not apply to them. In answer to • a question, respecting sane former opinions of his own with regard o India , he answered that to many of the points retCrred to, the time which had elapsed was so long since, that it was impossible he could recollect them with any degree of certainty. He did not come there to answer for his own inconsistencies of sentiment. He might at one time have entertained and promulgated opinions from which he now ditliTed. However, he was willing to assign his rel , on for such change of opinion, it' the matters were read over to him to refresh his memory. Being asked, what he thought of Missionaries being sent over to convert the natives of India from their religion, by telling them Mahomet was an impostor, &c. and what would be the effeete He said, he thought any attempt to change the ru;iiion of the country by declaring Malumiet to be an impostor, cause a religious war. There had been instances of Mahonu.tan enthusiasts being very ferocious; and in such a case there was no knowing what might be the consequence. In answer to a question respecting the danger of admitting a great number of Europeans to resort to India, we understood him to say he thought there would be d irmer ; and being further questioned, whether that opinion took in Americans he auswered that it made a distinction between Americans nod Europeans. _ [The %violable Warren Ristin7s, was condneted from the Speaker's chamber to the floo,e by Sir Thomas Plomer and Mr. R. Th6rnton, the Director. Mr. H. is little altered in hi• appearance from ‘s li;tt he was nearly 20 ) cars back, off the memorable ocen aim) of his trial in Westminster Hall He is rather thinner in his person and swops a little, hot though in his nith year. his eye re tains its wonted fi"c and animation, and his countenance its intelli gence and expression.] _ _ d TEIGN MOUTH W,IS the next witness examined. The fiats continue:) to be engaged in hearinz evidence, till past mi t hfi g ht. It was arced on Ilie slIgV slim) of Lord CASTLEREAC H, 30 commence taking evidence to-morrow at halt' pa.•t four. so a% to futi%li at an Cady hour, and proceed to the other business aftcrwards. Adjourned. WFDVF , D Y, 31 RC!! PRINCESS OF WALES. Nr. WHITER EAD Said, it Wa% with great pain and reluctance he ro , r to call the attention of the Muse to a snbject which he hail h ped was at re.st for ever. The public mind was quip t under the convietion of toe innocence of her Royal Highness the Prineess of Wales, and all secret eXaminations, with respect to her eon Met had, as he was informed, ceased. This circumstance was streno;leued by the visit whi , ll the Prineess Charlotte of Wales was allowed to make to her Mother, and tlu• I:eneral sensation upon th a t permksion was such as to predict a future pleasing consequence from the termination of thfv-e distressing transactions. He was, lowever, elle( ked in his expectations that the subject was at rest ' for ever, upon seeing a letter in a newspaper, signed 64 Moira," ad dressed by his Lordship to a brother Mason, in which, alluding to Lis examination of the servants of Lord Eardley, iu I r.PS, the Noble Lord remarks. " When the Prince did me the honour of relating to me this re presentation of Lord Eardley's, expressing great imeasiness that the asserted notoriety of the interviews at Belvedere, .and the comments of the neighbours should force him to take any public steps, I sug gested the possibility that there might be misapprehension of the circumstances; and I entreated that, before any other proePtlin e 'sp)tould b.determined upon, I ;night send for the steward (Kenny) APRIL 4. and the porter (Jonathan Partridge) to examine them. This was permitted I sent for the servants, and questioned them. My re port to the Prince was, that the matter _had occasioned very little observation in the house, none at all in the neighbourhood, and that it was entirely unnecessary for his Royal Highness to notice it in any shape The servants had been desired by me never• to talk on the subject; Lord Eardley was informed, that his conceptidn of what had been stated by the servants was found to be inaccurate ; no mention was ever made to any one, not even 4o the Lords nilo conducted the enqniry, three Scars afterwards, of the particulars related by the servants; and the eircumstsyme never would have been known at all, had not the legal advisers of the Princess, for the sake of putting a false Mean on that investigation, indiscreetly brought it forward. The death of Kenny, in ti►e interval, tempted them to tisk this procedure. Jonathan Partridge having been known at the time when he was questioned to be devoted to the Princess, from Ili• own declaration to the Steward, no one can doubt that her Royal Highness would the next day be informed by him of his haying been examined. The measure was most eiliuisive, if not juititied by some uncommon peculiarity of eirentestanee. Yet a•.relnte siknee is preserved upon it for so long a period by her Royal Highness's advisers ; a forbearance only to be solved by their being too cautions to tooch upon the point while Kenny was Wire." Mr. WHITBREAD said, that this passage evider•tly implied, that Kenny's evidence was unfavourable to the character of tier Royal HighneFs, and as it was highly neee , sary Lord Moira should explain the liminess before lie departed for India, he moved, 46 That a Mes sage be sent to the Lords, to desire their Lordships to grant leave that the Earl of Moira .stamid he called before this House, to give an explanation at the bar, tonehing certain matters wit bin his knew- Wee, relating to her Royal Highness the Princess ef Wales." The SPEAKER suggested, that the motion was irregular, there being no inquiry before the House ; and Mr. PONSONBY opposed it upon the same ground, as being unprecedented.---The motion was there "i re negatived. Mr. Law wished to know if any communication had been made to his Majesty's Government, relative to the employment of Russian troops in Spain? Lord CASTIrnPAGII answered, that the Hoch. Gentleman must be aware that this was a point on which it was not proper to make any communication o the House. Mr. LAW then gave notice, that to-morrow se'nnight he should make a motion on this point. Mr. VAN!IITTAni moved the grant of two millions to the East India Company, in order to meet a balance of :2,291,0001. which ap peared on the accounts to be due front the Public to the Company. The Resolution was agreed to. FINANCE. The House being resolved into a Committee of Supply, the Cu ANCELLOR EXCII rQuEn. stated, that he had that morniog proposed to a meeting of Bankers and Loan Contractors, sum moned f or the purpose, the fundite4 of 12,000,0001. of Exchequer Bills, on the following terms : —For every 1001. of Exchequer Bills, 1151. 10s. of Navy Five per Cents. will be given, with an option to such of the holders oi' Exchequer Bills as may think tit to subscribe an additional sum of fifty per cent. in money, for which Otbrutareg %% ill be given, transtisrable II endorsement, and bearing an int, rest of fire pt.). cent. payable halt-yearly at the Bank, the pa incipal to be paid in April 1815, or the Ist of April twelve months after the ColleitOloll of Peace.----The Right Hon. 'Gentleman obsert cd, that the rate of interest which the public would lia%e to pay, would cer tainly be very considerable. On every 1151. los. there would he an iota:rest of 51. 15s. (;d. which, with the charge tbr Sinking Fund of 11. :is, id. would make a total of 6i. 18s. 7th He then expatiated at eonsidera;;le length on the advantages of the plan. particularly the introduction of Debentures transferable by endorsement, which gave them a greater character of soli dity than those secoritit s which are transferable' by were The Rlglit Hon. Gentleman then proposed New Taxes to the aniontst of 10'27,1631. to early into effect the New Plan of Finance. These taxes consist principally of an additional duty on tobacco (equal to that imposed last year), estimated to 100,c0N.; an a ,di lion to the cowolithited customs on goods imported (except tea, sugar, wine. cotton, wool, and raw silk), 800,0001. or 9:)o,0o71.; it duty on French wines of about 1:31. per bottle, 30,0011.; an addi tion of one-third to the duty on the good; imported from Franco and her dependencies, the produce uncertain ; on go,als exported an addilion of (medial: per cent. • The next article 1w p;:poscd was a duty of one penily per pound, on the importation of tbreign hides. • Lastly, a duty of three halfpence per pound on cotton int. ported from America in British vessels, • and sixpence likewise ad. ditionai per pound on the .saine cotton irr l ported in foreign. vetisets, ~~~~ f e V t y t I e e ti t e e • 4