The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1805-01-05 00:00:00

if 1. at le U. 'l : 1.• :r. for 1 v, , is C{ N , . EASTVPIDIA HOUSE. Yesterdar, at twelve o'clock, a General Court of r-oprietors was held at the India-House, on special The first business whi,ch came before them, was a motion made by Mr. Twtetato, on a former day, I r granting an etseurrr TO SIR N. DANCE. Mr. 'fete:tee, after a few short observations, brought forward his motion in the form of a reeilu. n. " That an annuity of 5001. a . y ear be granted r s i e c' elr N. Dance, and certain sums of sooner to the seamen employed in meking so gallant and glorious defence of the Company's ships, when attacked I,y Admiral Linois, with such a superior force." Mr. It. JACK sari seconded the metion ; but ob served, at the same time, that he should take some future opportu n ityof bringing forward a measure , t he operation of which should be to restrain the Corot of Direftors front granting sum.; of money for any specific purposes, in the semi. wey as they were restrained by Ait of Parliament from granting Fees iees, without the consent of the Court of Pro pep os• question was then pat on Mr. Twining's Re solutiue, and carried unanimously. PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND. The CNA lOC 11.1 then called the attention of the Court to the proceedings of the Court of Direftors, whit e hail, on a former Jay, been submitted to their CJNideration, relative to the future Government of die Prince of Wales's Island. lik.Jontisroet began a speech of considerable lenrh, by saving, that before he entered into the qiestion itself, he must beg leave to touch slightly on the manner in which the Court of Proprietor; had been treated by the Gentlemen behind the Bar (the Direetors), wbo, in his opinion, had not shewn that candour and impartiality he expefted from t' era. Several material papers had been withheld from that Court, and they had nothing to judge by, but the letters of Lord Melville. The Committee of Correspondence appeared to have had ten papers before them. Many of these had been withheld from the Court of Proprietors—amongst which he mentioned the minutes of the conversation between Lord Melville and Mr. Philip Dundes. The opi nion of Mr. Tate, as to the situation of the island in question, and several others, which induced him to th:r,k the whole a foul and cot rupt job, for inte rested purposes alone. He declared he meant no disrespect to the Chairman or the Direetnes; for he believed they aCted on ail occasions for the interests of the Corapai,y ; but that, in the present critical times, they Oared not did r with this Majesty's Mi nisters. for fear of risking the very existence of the Corr pony. He should confider th:s intended establishment, be said, first, a.; to its commercial inspottaneii s Se condly, its military ; and, thirdly, shipesuoldine. sad the expences which weeld attend it. In regnd to its importance, in a ecorner-ial point of be quoted the opini..n of Colonel /OA. ehich hei bad given in a report made several years vzn, long before the present establishment was thmight of; and ehich he, therefore, considered as a dim ission ete one. in this report, the Colonel says, ti be thinks it pro lent to give up an establishment, which is at so great a distance from ally of the seats of tbairommeta ht I.nita. and did not hesitate to give an opinion, that the benefits to be expeieted tom it were too slight and uncertain to warrant m ex pensive an undertaking." They had been told, on a former day, thet for what of such an establish ment, if Admiral Lints had some time ago at tacked this Island, property to the amount of one or two millions might have been destroyed ; where as he had every reason to ;relieve, the whole of tee property there did not emitter to more than 300,0001. It had been Mid, it woold be an emporium fur trade which to him appeared truly ludicrous ; for the only article they had to traffic with liengel and China was that of opium ; so that the shops of London might as well be called so many empo riums as this Island would turn out to be. He alluded to a book published by Captain Mt Allister, appointed one of the present Council, as to ti:e situation and popalation of the Island ; which honk, bethought, dal him no credit. It consisted chiefly of extra as trona the reports of Colonel Kidd and Sir George Leith, and yet Mr. M'Alltster asserts the population to he 30,060, while Sir George Leith, *twee accuracy no one has ever doubted, estimates it at no more than 12,G00 SOUL, On Cirr grounds be contended the island would be of little import ante in a commercial point of s iew. He nest preceded Si consider its military pur poses rise .t Lord of the A,lniirelty had, he v A id, very inxeeeetsly discovered of late, that An sitablr sbaseat en telt Island was absolutely necessary to save our r. ivy from destruSion. For his part h e saw no fCA.1 . 113 tot putting the Cerneany to such an texper.ce, but vett it should be governed by his ne phew and three other Scotchmea. That Noble Lord, sifter having, during fourteen years ef his Admi aiterati in, involved the Company in the most se times and in fourteen milleoes of debts bad also, by way of remuneration lot his advice, ge aeroosly accepted an annuity of 70001. a year for life, and was now deurms to incur still mote enor mities 1111111MICts, by en ming a naval arsenal in this blast As to a port and docks, the only evidence before the Court, went dtraftly to sLew the imprac ticability of forming any such thing ; for, accord ing to the report o: Colonel Kidd, at aptiox tides, the water only rives eight feet; and Sir George Leith says, oniy nine; so that nn potje t e could well be more estrevagant and prepeotverms, than au attempt to build decks in rich . situation. He Loh', that. lifter tee many weights arguments that had set !reopen!, been beta against building ships that country, he could not but be now surprised to sae the Company an eagerly 'Nahum into it. They were wk.; i. was requisite for the safety of His Majesty's teary. Lord Melville says, we Can build frigates and thips of the line, as far ca 64 eon, at ; but he expetls he shall be able to build 74 lusettoss At this island. Hi. Lordship may have document& on ert.oh to ground his opinion, but the Court of Proprieties have none. lie instated that err Call bold ships enough at Cakllll.l j and that as 9 , 1 amber, it mil be )sat Pegs, At es small an atfutua. alai be as time, as it could at this What Tao Piga ships were weak in Over trans:. wit sae iieferier us those of Bengal an .I klonba r j easeell 74 va.thip, be vi ...AM sienna te ago ~~:~ i ~ :- Ai: ~ M o tia. ►r. wilt, 1 I h•• i•i~ $ al is lilt ma woe i 1114. a.. molge , ▪ ti weal. O da :irked 41.11 at the morfli rica,k. -4 a: cc• %O;. r h 4% • into of t ,, un! 1 iii, J gittiCe. h. tv• ,ipag. v Irwt ,vii, , et , t maw PP P 4*. r/04 t V‘e ...#1 So I .4 the kJ the isf %la wiaj d t• "roll 0 %swim- IZI - Proi is% 0 4 kw da • • there would not be 04 built at Prince of Welees Island s in the course of ten years. He mentioned an instance of a person who was a ship-builder, having gone thither to settle in his huriness, and who was obliged to return, finding it impossible to carry it on. He contended that no Docks should be established, nor a naval devil fixed in a place where they cannot be defended by land forces. If the French were again to attack in :he manner :hey did under Suffrein, they would soon take your naval depot. When we first got posses sion of Trincomalee, we were told in the most pom pous terms, that it gave ui a great and decided naval srmer:ority ; now, it seemed to be of no advantage. Tile Company were told great part of the ezpences on this'ousiness were to be paid by Government, whereas Lord Melvilie's private letter informs them that the J>cks and fortification; were to be built at the ex periee of the Company. The l)ire&ors, he said, talked of feeling their way as to the expences, but he was much afraid they would not be able to do so, and therefore wished that, according to the advice of Sir G. Leith, the scheme might be supended for nine months ; that a civil engineer might be sent out to make the necessary surveys, and that on his report it should be determined whether the Company should proceed, or abandon the scheme altogether. He denied the expediency of the measure, and repro. bated the enormous expence attending it ; lie said, would amount to 60,01Xiil. a year, at least. An estimate had been g: , .en in of 4*(1001. but in the' many necessary officers were not included The Directors had given a large Civil Government, and a very small Military one ; so that they had squared one with the other, and tOr the defence of this highly important naval arsenal, had only grant ed one battalion of sepoys, and eOO European col dim s. As to the Civil Government, he thought there was no necessity for a Governor and Council; the authority should be vested in one person. A Mayor's Court had been formed in all our set tlements, and had afterwards been uniformly anrogated. It was allowed they were bad, and did infinite mischief. He expressed his surprise, that in the enumeration of salaries, the stipend of the Chap lain should be 1,6001. and that of the Master of the Naval arsenal, whohad the whole under his care and charge, was only 9001. He could see no reason either, why this Chaplain should be paid more than those of Bengal. He recommended particularly to the Direr ors.that they should duly consider the claims and interests of the present Governor of the Island (Mr. Parke). and of the gentleman of the 1.1'7 who was sent thither by Lord Wellesley, and has for four years exercised the office of Judge Aber... The covenanted servants of the Company ar Bencoolen had also considerable claims to situa tions at this Island, which he hoped the Direftors would attend to. The expence of this measure, he said, would no' be a trifling one. The Civil Esta. blishment would he 60,0001. the Military 50,0001. and thine would be a great deal more for buildings and other ex which he thought would not ammunt, in rk i r w hole, to less than 500,0001. He wished the •smot.•herefore. to consider well before they sashed -in such an enormous carnet., merely On the authority of Lord hlelvilte's privies- letter, aided by the opinions of his nephew and another. Ti this private letter, he ohser vet!, Lord Castle reagh. conneeled as he is wiih Lord Melville, had r4 , .tv.d give the nonillion of his IeCOMIIIOII4I4tIOII. Fnr 0-eve reasons, be thought it his ditty olio.- strongly to the measure. He was Consciona he had taken up much of the time of the Court, and thanked them for the attention with which they had. honoured him ; hut he felt the measure to be of the . highest importance, and, therefore, had dwelt oef it so long. Mr. It. JACKSON thanked his Hon. Friend who had just sat down for his speech, so replete with ill formation, and hoped lie would ever continue equal ly watchful of the erpeeces of the Company, as be had hitherto on Al occasions done. Much, how. ever, as he admired the whole of the speech of hie' Hon. Friend, there were some of the leading points in which he could not avoid differing from He perfeactly coincided with him in opinion, that the measure ought to be considered as to the advantages likely to result from it, both commercial and mili tary, as well as the amount of the disbursements attending it. With respect to its commercial ad vantages, he differed from his Hon. Friend ; be cause he thought it might, under certain modifica tions, and well-digested regulations, be made high ly advantageous to the future trade and interests of the Company. It was allowed on all hands to be the most commanding situation we could possess in the midst of those countries which have for such a length of time enriched the Portuguese, the Spani ards, and the Dutch. The last unfortunate people, indeed, continned to this moment to receive the greatest benefits from their settlements in that quarter of the globe; for how could they have lived on the face of nations, round down, op pressed and exhausted as they have been, by the plunder and robberies of an inexorable and insatiable tyrant, under whose baneful domination they have long 'groaned, had it not been for those fiches? Ile hoped that we shall be able to allure those riches into our coffers. if we calk form this settlement on the limited scale he should propose. As a ihei - candle emporium, he thought there is not a place in the world so capable of being turned to the advan tage of Ili i country. Every author who has w, melt on the subjeSt is unanimously of this opinion. how ever they may dicier as to the'expeslienci or pro priety of making it a military 4pet. He wished the vast expenditure which had been held out as at tending it. should be fairly met. sod then we should see, and be able to judge fairly, whether the adv i se. tapes to be derived .rem it would be adequate or nit. As to the size of this island. which hid been objeaed to by his Hon. Friend, he rejoiced at it, and was glad it was not mare extensive. He rejoiced that there was no interior—no vast lan. pulation into which to carry tire and sword; that there was no Kaj ih to dethrone for the pu t .. pose of putting another in his place —no young Prince to hurl from his throne into a dungeon, and to deliver into the custody of his bitterest enemies. In short, that there were no other but mere commercial advantages to result from it, without dipping the hands in human blood. He tss-gged pardon for this digression, but hoped the tune WAS not far distant when that Court would in stitute at. inquiry into these proceedings, if it should sat be done in any other place. Ilis flan. Fiiend had vnstsed she authority of the Government to be • vested in one perscn only: he differed widely-fi cm him on this point, ander* truly 'prey She Company had ever departed Trout their old and excellent constitution, by roalciag Governors in India inde pendent of controul. The Resident of Bencoolen a db been • mentioned ; but he was sure the Corn pany deprecated the appointment of that Resident, in the manner it had taker. place. The Marquis Cornwallis had delegated--[ Here Mr. Jackson re colle.led himself, and begged pardon for his mi .- take] ; he meant to say, the *aqui: Wellesley lira taken upon him to delegate absolute power. fle sent this person as Resident to Bencoolen ; who, im mediately on his arrival, called nut the army, aria read his Commission, without even mentioning the name of the Company. The reason of his using, by mistake, the name of th..t most respeatable and revered charafter, Marquis Cornwallit,• was, that the difference of his procedure on a similar occasion was full on his mind. That great and gond man, when asked to appoint a Resident in the same way, and to the same place, refused to do so—and made this noble reply al his reason : N.'," said he, " the Legislature has vested absolute power in me, but they did not give the power to delegate it." His Hon. Friend had stiled this " a foul job ;" if it were so, he wished to look it in the lace. Ho was, how ever, inclined to think, it was not deserving so hard a name, because he was confident the Gentlemen who filled the two Chairs, would not have counte nanced it, if it had been so. He did not mean to become the panegyrist of Lord Melville; nor to de ny that he had caused the Company to be drawn in to enormous expences.nellho p had deliberately consi dered the several apt soWlims which had already taken place, and was sorry to observe, that Englirh• mere arc the only persons excluded the pale of his Lordship's attention. He hoped, notwithstanding. that the Court of Direftors would take care of their covenanted servants (whose political parents, at least, they arewhc have been many years in India, and w ho may have contributed to its welfare by their care and industry, or pre served it by their blood and valour, and whose former services ought not, on such an occasion as the present, to be forgotten or negleeted. He con demned the state of oblivion into which Trinco malee was now thrown, from which one would sup pose that an earthquake had swallowed it up. He then adverted to the report of Capt. *Allister, and said, he could not confide in it, because it was direifly opposite to that of Col. Kidd, of whose talents and impartiality be had the highest opinion. But, said he, though Trincomalee be capable, that is no reason why your Navy should not be repaired at Prince of Wales's Island when there. This was, however by no means, an argument for a naval depot. lie was, therefore, sorry to find that it had been so far coantenaeced by the DireCtors. Bat he was sure theCuairrnaa mist sometimes countenance measures he does not approve. from the threats which are always thrown not (but which he begged them not to fear) of dragging th e Company before Parliament and the Count! y, wlsenever they presumed to differ from His Majesty 'Ministers. He gave a de cided preference to Bengal for building ships; bad no objeelion to &as Island being made a rendezvous for slaps to repair, but would not agree to it• becoming an arsenal or military depot. It had been thought the Company were going to build ships for the country, and that Goeernment would liberally pay foram ; but Lord Meireilise's }ewe teats you, the docks, dock-yards, and the fortifications, arc to be built at the expence of the Company. This ex pence, he said, would amount to three millions, and, where, he asked, are the investments to come from ? The several expeditions undertaken by the Company last war, including that to Egypt, from Lord Castlereagh's authority, amounted, with the interest, to seven millions ; and yet, by the same authority, it was doubtful on whom it might ulti mately fall, whether on the Company or the Country. He was sorry the Company had not, on all occasions, corns to black and white with Government as to the time of reimbursing, and conjured them not to proceed in this measure, tiU they come to a speci fic agreement with Government on that subjeft. On these terms, he would agree to the arrangements. He then read the amendments he had to propose, which embraced all the concluding points of his speech : alter which, he apologised to the Court for having taken up so much of their time. He had not, he said, troubled them much of late, not from being less ardent in his affeetion for the inte rests of the Company than heretofore; but, de spairing of being useful, he was afraid of being troublesome. To the present question, he had given every Attention his faculties would permit, and he their offered them the result of a conscientious mind, on a striae& which he deemed of the highest import ance to the future interests and prosperity of the Company. MI it. resat , seconded the motion for the amend ment. A Nor I sros (whose name we could not learn) said. he had some local knowledge of Prince of Wales's Island, and thought it would not answer the purpose from want of water. lie thought the Court ought tallier to advise Ministers to fit out a intheient to take the Mauritius, and then they would secure India for ever. Colonel Sy ASS differed from Mr. Johnstone in every argument he had advanced on the sulsjeft, mid positively contradilled several of them. Me. Joe nstone captain d. Sit I tome Puma's said, that from the reogra phical •ittiAllorl, this Island was the best possible for a naval Arsenal, as it was always easy of weer , ' buds in the Nurth-Easat and South-West mor soar% There were always good water and plenty of pro visions, anil, as suds, be thought the experiment ought to be made. The expediency was what he contended for—whether it should be at the ea pence of Government or the Company. he would not pretend to say. He had DO doubt of its Com mercial advantages, and should, thetetore. give his vote tor the original Motion. The CHAIRMAN felt himself called upon to notice some of the observations made by the Hon. Gentle man who opened she debate. Ile di:claimed the idea of the thre6ofll having withheld any nem.- say papers ; and assured the Court. he should think himself unworthy further confidence, had he countenanced such a proceeding. It was nett in. (erred, the Direterws were nut under free agency. lie had meted the contrary to the Lest Com. and then repeated. that they were as tree agents in this business, ea ever men were in any other. They had • aaually determined they_ would !axe ,another go vernmentr' foe PcisiCe of Wifesc Agetrallii nisters interfered. The Hawn Gentleman had said, this was -a Tsui , job. He assured the. Court, MI 7 was as much incapable of a foul inb,. as th• Hon. gentleman, or any other man could he; however <Wet ence of opinion might excite suspleion, this was, he thought, a s:ronc; expression, and not pr .per-in such a debate. He could also answer for the rest of the Directors, that they were as incapabld of such a job as he was. The Hon. Gentieri:us had expressed some warmth attlte Government consisting of three Scotchmen. He would ask, what country did he spring from ? As to the choice of the person appointed to be the Governor, it was entirely his own. If it was a wrong one, he only nas to blame. His chief reason for this choke WAS, that he knew him to be a man of honour, homanitt, and unim peached charafer, and every way qualified to fill the office with credit to himself, mid advaaa tale to the interests of the Cornanny. He had heard that sonic of the Arse men In the 411 entintry were making interest for it, and not t.:4,41- ing that proper, he satd he would find onet•A''' He therefore waited on Mr. Philip Dundas, and asked him if lie would go out ? He went to t!..4z. Gentleman—teat Gendeman did not core to Neither did he eaten eagerly at it, but tonic a week. to ece7sitier of it, at the end of which time, he in formed him he was ready to accept it. He then hiformed the Deputy Chairman of what he had done; and, till after this, Lord Melville knew no thing of the appointment, though Mr. linnias is his ne_phew. No doubt there might be many as St for the office, but he declared, he did not know one fitter, The Hon. Gentleman seemed as little plea ,ed with the appointment of Mr. *Allister, beeline he was born where he would not wish him to be ty hingh). Ile was happy, he said, to nod, they were not all of the same opinion; for, if they had, he would then not have been in that situation. tie assured the Court, Mr. *Allister was a man of great abi lities and tried integrity, and had been the unani mous choice of the Direflors. He noticed the re mark as to the stipend of the Chaplain, and assured the Court he thought he was rather under than over-paid ; and, as to the comparison made by the Hon. Gentleman, between that and the salary of the Master Attendant of the Arsenal, the Hon. Gen tleman must certainly have mistaken the nature of the employment, which was only a subordinate situation, and mnch resembling the boatswain of the yard. The salary was deemed fully adequate to the office. There were several other parts of the Hon. Gentleman's speech he should certainly have noticed; but they had been so ably replied to by other Hen. Gentlemen, that he thought it would be nay. ing the Court, and the Hon. Gentlemen, a better compliment, at this late hour, to take so further notice of them. Mr. Tuitions expressed himself favourable to tile" measure, but argued for the amendment, so far aa it related to the expenses of the Company. Mr. Gaiter (the Deputy Chairman) reprobated the expression of this being a foul and corrupt joh for private purposes. He war aorry to find many persons had formed an idea this was a scheme which originated to serve certain persons; he could more the Conn it was no such thing. The Dien/tors had actually resolved to have another Government be; fore any one interfered. lie then proceeded tacos. (wrn &that the Chairman had stated on ibis sub. jed, and concluded by requesting that Gendemen would put such an idea out to their minds. Sir H. IscLis disclaimed for himself, and the rest of the Directors, the idea of er unterrancing a foul job. He confirmed what had ialim from both Chairs. After some altercation as to form, the question was then put and carried for the orignaal motion. A ballot was afterwards siemanal.al by the friends of the amendment, which was fixed fur Tuesday next.—Adjourned to 'Tuesday. ---- - SHOCKING ACCIDENT. On Tuesday last, a gentleman of fortune, wtho resides in the vicinity of Curson-street, dined with a friend, at Perrin's lintel, in Duke-street. Tim latter, who lives near portman•square, brought with him a large Newfoundland dog. The animal lay quiet under the table until after dinner, when his miter's friend, having made some jocular observa tions in rather an elevated tone of voice, the dog, thinking, no doubt, that they were quarrelling, suddenly at his master's friend, and tore a his nose and upper lip, and otherwise mulled aad dis figured his face in a most shocking manner, before the unfortunate gentleman could be extricated from his gripe. NutriDr. .-_. As a ch,irman was passing by the Bast in +e Green Park, yesterdry, he observed the lie .s.l nqd shoulders of a female sticking above the ire in pan of the surface which had been broken since the recent thaw. He immediately gave an ale-m t and the body being taken nut, was found to h- thlt of the niece of the Landlord of the Truimphstit Cha tint public house, Piccadilly. Aho•tt four worts ago she had a dispute with her awn, and left Th.? house shout tocveli eloek a' night, saying that she would drown herself, end never region #li•e. Sh. was dressed in the same clothes she wire on the night she left the house. As no ten, eof her enold he discovered until yesterday, it is ymposci she went direialy and threw 'herself into the ?sane. She had hens a beat:rift:l giti. The body was identified by her otily brother. ....mminme!•••=11110 Ai it it so e-4nerron of tato years fnr gentlemen to ailverrirre for wive. I.nnw.itig a slot of enotparrocy, it may not be unace. ptlble. at the pre-rot ev.tieal moment. to recommend t,r 411 such. and to biche. lor; in general. to beeortw the ..thmrs of that 1 4 dt odd lady. relict! Dame h 1)il I Ver. Ste can bestow. , with ti liberal hand. Tear an.l Tweeter e Theeqe•• •f* Pored'. If any lotto is, let thorn clew the soils and very opulent tor.! , ento ra dr* Rr ttol 1 , 1 , 4PrY• whieb cooteasores Dr ;wing the • eth issuot. Ot tvw deleck en Monday mot., keg. A fit. sem ;hoovered ih the ts4-11,%ser of Nit. NANO. rr Mei I. none ; but. by the t itely a1...t .n. e e the .fin ors and prlcairs of the Rinst Docks. is al si &tic M. h a t s aunts. ass a n es were sinsensklisti ihnl= material ittjttry bras Jone. primes te the at the depot said gowa