The Sun. — London, England, 1813-01-23 00:00:00

Ilm 7 r „ aGsI I ;13. :34, :is. 2 cr. a: el 3; ;;;:, Tr; el • o 30.05 .Q 4 .18 .40 .42 .65 Do: Do. Fait •. Snow in in night. HOTIS.U. rhibAy, 3 . Ax. 22, 1813. COMPANY'S, CHARTER. The Chairman, Sir HUGH INGLIS, addressed the Meeting, which was very numerous, inform ing them that this wits tan adjyurned Meeting, ,for the purpose of taking into consideration the fur therpapers which had been laid before them, on the subject of, the Renewal of the Company's Charter. • ft was most desirable, that their Court of Directors should he furnished with the result of their deliberations as speedily as possible, and therefore he was anxious that the debate should be finished this day. Since they met last, he had received-a letter from the Earl of Buckingham shire, in consequence of an observation which had been made at the last Meeting, and which he should now read as a part of his speech. The letter j efeiTed to an ohservation made by Mr. Da vis, as to his belief, that, on an occasion, while Lord Hobart was Governor of Madras, the Cap tain of the Rodney being unable to find a market for the whole of his investment, 8000/. of . which Was intended for Bengal, but which it'became ne cessary for him to dispose of altogether at Madras, the 'ship being ordered back to England, a Lot tery was thought of as the only means of dispos ing of the 'gooils, and that 'Lord , Hobares name appeared at the top_ of the list. • 'Of this circum cumstatice the - .Earl of Buckinghamshire, in his letter, declares helms no recollection ; but men tions a case, of another Captain, as he conceives, of 4 very different nature, where the ship (the Tilbury, Indiaman,) being ordered away sospeedi ly, that the Captain had not time to dispose of his investment, his Lordship scut for him., and, on being informed vallie he put . upon' it, or dered the amount to he paid him by ,a person on the spot, I,\ , :vhom th::, - goods .'ere to he disposed becoraing persOnally, responsible for ic.s; might arise. If any profit had been made: on the transaction, 'he could not Say ; but that there was no loss he was satisfied, no application having ever been male to hint on the subject. HaVing read the letter, the Chairman said he should apprehend this .subject could not interfere with the main debate. •The question now for their consideration was on the original motion and the amendment. What had been stated by the Honourable Proprietor had now been .replied to in a .satisfaCtory manner. Mr ; RANDAL Iscx.soN said, he thought the Ho nourable Proprietor 'Lind been misunderstood. — The circumstance alluded to by hint he had stated as a transaction highly honourable to Lord Buck inghamshire. Mr. DAVIS explained, that he had believed, and Captain Carruthers himself wile impressed with, a similar belief, that the name of Lord But:hinge hanishire stood at the top of the list to which he had Alluded. The letter of the noble Earl, how ever, "only strengthened his assertion, by furnish ing another instance where a Captain weld not find a market for his investment, and proved that they were all distressed how to dispose of the ton nage, alloWed theta. He had contended, and he again repeated, that the trade was as open as it w ould be good for the manufactures, or service-. able to the State, that it ought to be. He knew'' that there was not a single year in which he' might not have shipped 500,000 tons more than he had done. He did not knOw that he himself might not be benefited by having the trade thrown open ; but his wish was, that our inantifacturerif should not be misled. A Proprietor, whose name we could not learn, denied that the quotation read by an Honourable Gentleman (Mr.llume) as conveying the opinion of Mr. Colebrooke, was any proof whatever of his opinion on the subject of an open trade. It was read from a - joint production of that Gentleman and Me. 'Lambert, who Was greatly interested in the 'private trade. He asserted, that the exports. could . not be increased.: it was the grossest delusion to say that they could. The vital interests of the country were concerned in the present questiou. We were told, that by the system hitherto purstied, we were now in pus sessiomet India without having a single foe there. and was this a moment to venture on such a plait as' might endanger. India and. the country ? Juse tics and policy were with the Company, and if the present system:were touched with an unskil ful hand, that fabric Which had been so proudly raised to its present emitiettee, would, in all pro bability, fall to ruin. Mr. RonEwr GRANT expressed the gratification be felt in having•givenplace to the two Honour able Gentlemen who had,already spoken,. and front whom the Court had received much information He now rose for the purpose of making a-few res. marks on the only speech which they had heard, at their last, meeting, and, he trusted, he should make them in such a manner as not to give offence to the Ilonourahle Gentleman by whom the speech hati been made. That Honourable Gene tlenem had been pleased, on a former day, to pay seine compliinents to hint (Mr. , Grant), but he should prove himself unworthy of those compli ments and praises, were he, for the sake of them, to sacrifice his private opinion. It was with the most cordial satisfaction that he had listened to the -speeele'of the I I ()limitable Gentleman. Even the prolixity of it (if he might use the expression without offence) pleased hint. It had been thought out of doors that the 'Court desired to stifle dis . - eussion ; and that they trusted more to their wills than to their argutnent. He (Intuited the Honour ableGentlem:nt, therefore, in the name , of the Court, for trying their patience, :and for seeing how ranch they were willing to take both in Tian tity and quality, of statements against themselves. He gave the , Honourable Gerais:num credit for his professions of fairness and contour, though he could not but feel that .when the mind was fully imbued on a subject, it was hardly possible to ' view with that candour which one would wish.--- The llouourable Gentleman objected to the term domineering language,- as 'applied to the Letter of Lord Beckingliamshire, thought be did not see any intpropriety' ,its charging ihe C.:nurt of Directors' with being actuated by the hese and ignoble pas- Sion of securing; to themselv=es' the patronage o f, the East. It Was not his intention to follow the : Honourable Gentletnao through .the commercial details into which he had entered, being aware that there were many gentlemen present much better qualified for thetesk tben he could pretcni to be. lie lioped to be albs, In a few sentences, to sliew that far the greater partrof them, wag either totally irrelevant, or inconclusive. The Him. Gentlemen talked of the advantages derived to the Americans from the Indian trade : he did not say one word s however, -as to the cause of those ad vantages, or whether they were owing to her mers cent i!e energies, or to her neutral immonity. The Honourable Gentleman also entered into a his tory of the indigo trade, the great increase of it by private individuals, and that it could never. haVe been brought to that state by the Company, while, at the same time, his own statement proved that the indigo could never have been brought to that state without, the Company. The Honour able Gentleman, along with many - average state 'silents, gave the Court a few insulated facts as to private trade, but he had not told them bow that trade had succeeded, whereas their Chairman told theni that she imaorts, for the last three years were lying wasting on their bands. s ---- The Honourable Gentleman had also told them that the opinion- of Mr. Colebrooke was in favour of an open trade : ---whereas another Hon. Gentles man gave,them to understand that this was not the opinion of Mr. Colebrooke, hut of another, person deeply interested- in the private trade. — The [lmmovable Gentleman had also fa%onred them with the opinion privately communicated to himself, of an unnamed Commissioner, on the sub ject s Of smuggling. Leaving all these points, however; out of consideration, the main question remained in untouched integrity, and it became the . ditty of the Court to consider whether they were not 'to endeavour to guard against those political evils which threatened to overturn them. Had he (Mr. R.,Grant) left the room at the mo ment the Honourable Gentleman was concluding that panegyric on the Indian Government, which he gave in such glowing colours, he must have be lieved that lie was warmly with the Directors. — He should have imagined, that if there had ever been the most distant fear of danger to that perfect system which he bad described, the Honourable Gentleman would have wished to see every arm raised up in its defence. That he would have agreed with him in thinking that a system, of that nature should never be :icrificed, even in the must distant degree, to any commercial advantages whatever, The Honourable Gentle man proceeded to yindicste the conduct of the Directors in their management of the Correspond ence, while th'e Mioisters, iii reply to their appli cations rfluesting to be put is possession of the reasoss for opening the trade, tell them that they ars st liberty to hunt through -the Petitions ,pre sented to Parliament for the arguments by which Ministers have been induced to alter their opinion. ,The great reason against the opening of the trade, relied on by the Directors, was, that the mono poly to China would he shaken from its founda-. tion.' Even Dr. Adam Smith, who was an arguer fora free trade, agreed in the difficulty of cliceLing an iliicit trade : and the experience of late years goad slieWn thst even burning airl death are . not sufficient to deter from the practice of it. Minis sterS Were called on to give same express regithis Lions on the subjfct, and to describe how they pro posed to checit the shipping in the seas of the East, but they hail given only some embryo mei sores, for the better prevention of smuggling af ter the vessels come into port, or to prevent them from running along the coasts of Scotland or Ire. land. Thaw had not said is single word as to the shipping of the article in the East, unless in v. hat they stated as to, the extension of the Manifest Act. The East, it was to be observed, contained an'almost countless timber of islands, sonic of them as large almost -Britain Must custom-house officers, he ; would ask, bad Go vernment in those seas to put ,in force the Mimi fest Act.? If he were to ask them, did they intend sending revenue officers thither, lie dared to any • they would smile at his folly,; though, he con .tended, that such a question Would not be more ridiculous than the idea of opening the. trade, without any security or regulation having been thought Of, but trusting that sonic lucky thought would drop from the clouds upon them, to. enable them to guard against the effects of strong tempta, tion and lavish opportunity. He did not doubt that Mihisters would be willing to assist them in their dilapidated affairs : that they, would be anxious tisservesthemrafter the evil had taken place. 4,ut, it was noteitouglsio such circumstances to have the will, if they bad not the power also. They gave them the evils in the gross, the good in detail. All that %yes' bad was certain and immediate; what was good contingent and remote. The opening of the trade would be the commencement ot an intercourse extremely ruinous to both 'countries, both to the natives of Hindostan and to this country. • For half a century it had beep the business to endea vour to settle the intercourse with the natives of India, in such a manner as to he mutually. advan tngeous. After so great a loss of time, they had at length succeeded. in bringing about a perfectly pacific intercourse between two countries, the no— fives of the one, probably, the most enterprising, those of the other, probably, the most pusillani mous in the world—between'prestiming strength oo the one hand, and unresisting weakness am the other.ls—And, now, were all their efforts .to be, rendered uselesss, :and an intercourse, without any restraint or restriction, was at'once to be als lowed. But it was Said, in anticipating evils tta the natives this free in tercourse, h a e nd n deot t i o u r c e t ti:sli private lmerchantiobeitled.; India h." and t•ro tna, civility, pr(valt was te leg merchant eti, was titan t()le ex front ) ati l i ' L ct it ed is limit Company. A work, well known .for its ability and its abuSiveness, the " burgh Review," had, in their last Number, published an article- against .the Company for the purpose, it seems, of insinuating that .cruel ties were exercised, by the Company towards the natives. This was a proclamation issued by Mr. Franci4s so fir 'back as the year 1780 ; nod to hold that this was proof of the existence of any thing of the -saute kind in the year 1813, seemed rather absurd. As well might it he said, that 'London was at this moment in a state of de stroctiou, Odin flames, and iii proof that it es ,is so, refer back to that same yen., 1780. What had bean . said of Tyre of old, " that her icier - Omits Were Princes, and her Traffickers the Ilo ' pourable of the Earth " -• 1 , :agreed might, with e qual justice, : be said of the nierchente Of Great 13ritain, equally distinguiehed for their wca for their princely liberality ! But, were t!ivv the persons who would go as speculators to India ? It was true, that no more honourable men co}lid fi il:! be found than the private merchants rc , ident in India, and yet it was a fact well known, tiu the time of Lord Clive they were of a very dif ferent description. The higher elasq of Merchants engaged in the Slave Trade Were stated to he men of the remelt humanity ; but, was it,not known that the lower class of porsons engaged in that . . traffic were guilty of praetices Ottna ture shuddered. lie tild not prete:ld to understand that trade so well as their friends connected with the . oat-poets did, - but that-trade its an example that were, not to eortip!iinent away the rights, privileges, and happiness ()four fellow men. This subject had been touched on, and Init lightly touched on by Ministers. But the Cann puny were told they were too late, and that us persons would go out to India in comequence the Export Trade being opened, it was too much .to make the intercourse with India an objection against extending the import From India to the out ports. lie (fir..ll,,Airat,t) did not agree that the Company had coneedeil the export trade ; they had only said upan the subject of it, heettusethey con- sidered it as, comparatively speaking, of little ira. portance. What, however, :did the lion, (rout. and others who, with him were for opening the export trade to India, say on the, subject ? Why, not a ship, and nut 1 man would, :n come quence.of the opening of the export trade, rein in in India. Thus did they, on. the one hand, tell the Company, that in conceding the Export Trade they gave up all ; and, on the Other band, that la doiiiiso they 'gave up nothing. The Hon Hume) . Pro prietor (Mr. ue) was ofoi in'on, that the number of persoiis who, in consequence of the opening of the Trade, would go out to "India, would be limited, because no Mall need go ant -but train the hope,ot gain. In nine or ten points of the Honourable Gentleman's speech, however, he held out the prospect of gain to those going out, as being without bounds or stop,; and if so, if the hope at gain was unbounded, and the numbers who went out would be regulated by the hope of gain, he had the authority of the Hon. etentleman.him,elf for saying, that the numbers who' went out would lie-unimuuded. The lion. Gentleman went on to deprecate what must pro duce a complete change of system,where the present system ,was admitted to be so excellent. The rule was always to spare that 'whiCh is good. Stip posing (which there was every ' reason to do) that the expectations of those who embarked in the trade, under tire: regulations now proposed, should be disappointed, might we. not ,expect to see them' return,' again and again, and oak to have this and the other additional relaxation ? And' might not the company be again invited .to con ferences with the ,liinisters, till they were, again out-argued, and called On the Company, siithout ‘ assigning any 'reason, to give Op all, because they had, already given op so much ? He (Mr. Robert Grant) should-have thought the last . tWeaty years 'would have taught them the danger of trying ex periments. When revolutionary Francs told this country that she could furnish us with a better Con atitution than that under which we lived, why did we not allow her to try her hand ? 'Why did we not trust to her assurances that she would not devour us too fast ? There was one on the opposite shore win) was still ready to assure its that he could give us an infintely better Constitution than we now possessed. Why did we not let him try his hand ? We might be assured he would be ready to try it, were we inclined. Try it, he (Mr. Omit) begged, on England rather than on India. Do' not ask the inhabitants of HOrlostan to be come parties to the experiment. The Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Hume) had told the Court that, in his opinion, those who suffered by the'opening of the trade should be indemnified. Though the , Hon. thmtletrom might he disposed to give to Mi nisters such advice, trey had not (Inv even a hint tharthey would be willing to take It; and he would advise those %vim would he snllerers by the measure, to look for some better security for in demnitythan the good wishes of the Hon. Gentle man. Supposing, .however, that those persons could he'indemnified ; if the alteration of the sys. 'tent were to be attended with ruin to India, how was. that to be repaired ? What Pension List could indemnify her ? Where is the Exchequer which could compensate the injuries of sixty mil lions of people ? Whence could they find a re medy for the broken heart of an Empire ? If once the people of India were.sacrificed to this experi ment,, it would be easier for them to cover the whole Empire with statutes of indemnity and par don, than to replant the seeds of social order •and comfort which had thus been destroyed Hon. Gentleman concluded .a most brilliant speech, of which we have been enabled to give but a feeble outline, amidst repeated shouts of ap ' plause, which laSted for several miuotes. A Gentleman, whose name we could not learn. apologised to time Court for a N nger, like him. self, presuming to address after the able speech of the Honourable Proprietnr who pre- . ceded' him, The calculations of the Honourable Proprietor (Mr: Hume) however ingenious, were' altogether irrelevant to the question ; and his whole arguments ought rather to have 'been de livered to a meeting of the merchants of Liver pool.and Birmingham,'than to a 'meeting of the. Proprietors of East Intlia Soak. He was struck with the wisdom 'which the Court of Directors, had displayed in the'. course of their correspond . ence with his Majesty's Ministers, and he hoped the Court of Proprietors would ream mead a con tinuance of the same system of wisdom which was so manifest in that correspondence. Mr, Isn'a was glad that the argumeots of the Hooonrable Proprietor who moved the amend anent (Mr. Home), notwithstanding their prolix i- ty, had been heard, with patience. ITe did not . .knoW any 0, y of the connections of that Gentle' man ; butt he thought that he could not be very far wrong, when he consiclered the.Speeeh of the Honourable Proprietor as the speech of my Lord Buckinghamshire. Mr. I.l6tit rose to order. He had never seen Lord Blickinghtonshire in his life, and never bad the smallest communication with bim. Mr. - Isares• observed, that the Honourable Pro prietor had stood up in that Court as the advo cate-Ot Lord Buckinghamshire; and his speech the inhabitants, and trade and commerce hare re covered new life amongst us.' Moscow, Dec. 21.—The number of inhabitatits who have returned ' hither increases . from day to day. Some house s are a l most ent i re l y , repaired, and there is no place capable of furnishing rooms for a residence, that is not occupied. Trade and ionnafactur es rev i ve i n a n extraordinary manner , 2 500 shops are already b u lk ; an d th e markethilace is every' (lay thron ge d w i t h a pro di g io us number•of liuyvisi and selters. On the 13th instant, his eminence Augustin, bishop of Dmitrow' and .Vicar of this Metropolis, consecrated to the protectiOn and intercesision of t '''' virgin Mary, the lower Church of the Cathe "Nl, where the relicts of Wassilji, the righteous telinse, and ~vitli it the whole suburb'of the Kitay. Attire commcncement of this religious procession, a I)Nycrwas s iid at the place of public executions from Which the procession passed to the above-mentioned ' suburb, Tlw concourse of people on this occasion_ W as extraordinary' . Processions were made, as Ills Majesty the Emperor had directed, for the pit lifiention of t.la churches through slit the whole thy, Iyuts, Dec, 14.—Large parties of French prixoners' still continue i ncessant ly t o be brought m here.' They are all provided with proper cloth in"' 1- 11 'g' 411 (1 som e' of them are possessed of different articles and money, which is a cowdming proof of the exemplary humanity, and disinterestedness of their conquerors. tents:, 3 N. r! . ' Frea c h army was On the 3d of December the joined by 20,000 fresh troops near Moloszno. ,fI LH ,' Dr.e. 26.----After the arrival of a Con '''''' " 'le oight between the 16th and 17th, f?ur t t t 'tl 4 of Vreach t roops were am,cninced as coming Tho th Ku''ig'b''tt, Marienbui g, Marienwerder, and odlich wer e stated, by Count Dant, as eon ts.istiag of 25,0;+0 men each ; ' ar, for whom 5000 ra ",l," , 4 ' 5 ,000 portions, were bespoke at every ,;,'",.('' At the same time the military effects remov • lail.'"lltfinigsberg to-G-Atident A, arrived here, ; ,---- "erY preparation was made for receiving the,se r, of wh om ,„ Were t o w, .‘ that they were p in g 10 take another position, and to quit the t ''''' t " "f the King of Prussia." This informa t. - ~:1 "'as d„ te ,i the lath . instant, from, Sta "i i 'll' n ; but at 10 o'clock, on the I itb , a courier 1 461 '0, ‘vli,, hrought the intormation of an ttflPir ,''ll!):.;l.ilitni pl.ic K e at Kowno, on the 13th, in wh ieb 1114: t em:tind er o f the army • announced to come he : t', was beaten, the magazines at Kowno ~were til t on ti re, and that theant - o(provisions, and W ' "') 1 1, svws. the sole cause of the army's dis peisiou : and. that ;t would no longer obey' any ?",.ders• This intelli!;encc was confirmed on the J i l_Nh, b y a traveller passing through here from ae. army. 13 assano arrived s i ng l y i n a sledge at gsberg; and f ug i t i ve Generals, Adjutants, and meets, tire hourly passing through this place, with cornier horses. The last cavalry corps, formed ofofficers, on the retreat and consisting of ' ' GOO horse, is said to have existed only two days ; and at present merely the Guard§ keep The t roops announced, will conSequentltogether. y not ar rive Here; and we are apprehensive that the Wahl ' 1)111884M COVps is sarrOuuded, . it -1.1 is di ro•- eeive o r d ers to retreat until the 14 1 ' ' t i inst. not Many exaggerated reports are spread about, such as . tor's having' capitulated with 24,000 men ; and that the King of Naples. arrived at Tilsit on horse hack all alone, and prevented the town from bein,g, 4 1 . 1. "., Our Lithuanian country stud-horses win ettv,s7infour days, as will likewise our depots of li k ''''.Y, which are in East 'Friesland.• They talk "Ise of • • t ic. aPi admiration, which the victorious 1h army army carries with it; and distrilmte's.— the want of WitteY WEIS so great at head-quarters, l oll ,• they filtrated the finest llourdeaux wine so .1 ,, till it lost both taste and colour, anti ap- Pireared like the clearest water. Constantine had hem ( 1 2 1 eing the nations' of the. Cossacks, and had not t r i. y confi rmed but extended their privileges; su th 4 n t ,_',everal of them are to ha ve sea t s an d votes i n - '(mat t ' I hat in return, this nation him Milted another. ley of 40,000. m en , an d t h ese to be f at liull ' ' y ed . Y L q u 'l'Ped• Dombrousky is layi ng , wound n, is eatate, not far from h ence Poniatow , V.ty is woanded in the ,knee by the fall of his oorse, ,witich was killed und e r hi m r h e mus t le 9e , Of the i ncogn i to passengers, who have rued tee(, h ere , the following have been • o gnized ; Ilerthier, Duroc, Lefevre, Murat, In!' theArehhisliop of Medilin. The departure r this last gave the signal for a general 'gilt at 'Warsaw. All the treasury , is here, an( iie xt week the w,hole e t:mi t t: it of State will ar-! live here. J. ' ;ae French army is now totally this , pets(( and destroyed. . The common soldiers were t elert ed by their Officers, who merely soug ht : save themselves. Generals, and other Officers ! th l'e 4 1 3 r. 'ayrking . here. There lately P A ns l se s 4 l dent' here 150 sledi4ea, with .r.ddies Rik ' soi A, being the remains di a division of cavalry, The loss of tl ' i '° are to procure horses in Silesia. , , . , alliet . is estimated at 14 .( at my, up to this date, , . at '4,, vannon, their whole cavalry and baggage, . v a, . . ”Itioo men. . 01v , 82 —Thursday James Cook, e or r ,e)y. eh arr .'larkson, underwent another examination, of ItiV With uttering 4 forged draft for upwards re. eo to Mr. Cooper, of Bond street. He was Ithnitted for further examination. NI E.TEOROLOGIC BY It. 112 .4L JOURNAL. INKS, PRlLdsortii CAL I NSTRIIN ENT 7,,IAKER, STRAND. Tlierra . orrtf4 er. ,Weather.. F 4 r, Ia: d I a .~ v Fair no. Do, tidy.* ~~: ~ Y rait - Ifly. Ito. 1)o. Pair