The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1806-04-23 00:00:00

r Ifrained and disciplined. It would stow be right t o gnmpare the savings on Loth sides, and estimate .e value of voluntary and compulsive service. when applied to Englishmen. In his view of the sts'jr!l, change to compulsory service, was not onl y unnecessary, but unconstitutionat The Crown had already the power of commanding the service of every man, in case of actual invasion ; and nothing, he believed, but the existence of that necesA y, could justify it. What good ground was there for so harsh a measure? Why should they force the service of only 200,000 men, when there . were 300,000 men already voluntarily in arms ? If therelwere a necessity, it was incumbent on His Ma jetty's Ministers to thew it. He was aware, that the volunteer system was a very delicate subjeCt, which had already caused a great ferment itr the country, and he was far horn being one of those who had any disposition to promote it. (A greet cry of ! hear ! He, however, repeated the assertion, and said, that the etre& of his motion would be to make that let ment subside, as well as the disposttion,which was so prevalent amongst the volunteers, to resign. It was likely that they would now wait with patience till they found what would be the decieion of the House They knew, that on this, as well as all other important subjeCts, there would be a grave and deliberate discussion; and should the new plan then be adopted, they would of course cheerfully submit, on a convietion, that it was a measure of ne cessity. resiaes,they must consider, that they might have those enemies to deal with, who would'now readily takeadvantage of any intemperance theyrnight manifest ; and it was therefore the more incumbent upon them to be upon their guard. But, after all, it must be admitted, in candour, that great allowance mud be made for the feelings of gallant men,who, dis- De' -ing their avocations. and their usual habits, come forth with alacrity, in ar:ns, upon the call of Parha m nt,when they are told that they are such, that it is a shame for the military to appear in the same uni fin m with them ; that their discipline should be re laxed, and that they were not to be trusted in line; however, all this would, no doubt, be forgotten, if the necessity were made to appear. He then tuner& for an Account of all sums of money paid en account of the volunteers, since the commence ment of the user, to the latest period, distinguish ing each year. Mr. Secretary FOX said, he certainly did not rise for the purpose of opposing the motion, as it was ight that the House should be in possession of the amount of the exisences. Ile could not, however, but observe, upon the difference there was be tween the masion and the speech of the Right Hon. Gentleman. The speech, as far as respected his anprnval of the Volunteers not deliberaring on the measures of Parliament, was not objeetion able ; but the foregoing part of it by no means cor responded web the conelusion. If he were to lay down the criterion of judging, whether or not there was an intention to inflame, he did not know of a better one he could lay down, than 'that of a revolts of capacity misrepresenting others. and giving a sense to exprrssions,which they were never infant to convey. For instance, when his Right 'ion. Friend (Mr. Windham) proposed to relax t' e discipline of the volunteers, he evidently meant n more than that they should be called out fewer days, because they had been trained already. But when he Wend men, capable of better things, catching hold of words, and distorting their mean leg, be thought it afforded the criterion of a dispo sition to inflame. WI-en the Right Hun. Gen tleman talked of an intention to call out 200,000 men, and disband 300,000 volunteers. he would refer him to his own advice to the volunteers, and say, " Wait till you have the plan before you, then examine it in all its parts, and see what it will do." That by subjecting them to a greater portion of ex pence, some diminution may take place in a num . ber of 300,000 men, might be very true ; but lie de nied that his flight Honourable Friend had ever expressed an intention to disband any of them.— When the plan was before him. then, indeed. the Right Honourable Gentleman might consider what rednBion it might be likely to create; but he did not think him justified in giving a premature *pinion. Besides, if the expence should actually be productive of a diminution in the Volunteers, it would be hut fair to state against it the advantage it may afford to the recruiting service. Ile believed, however, that the Vnluoteers themselves would ne ver think, that a diminution of the expence which 1 they occarion, from motives of public economy, ,would be entaat as a stigma or an affront upon them, as represented by the Right Hon. Gentle man It was also imputed to his Right Hon. Flier's!, that he formed hi, plan in such a way, that he left the Volunteer System as only an asylum for such as were unwilling to serve their country in any other way. Now trite plan on the contrary was, to allow the rich !ran to serve his country in his own way, but at his own expence ; and the poor man to serve his country without any expence. But to allew all men to serve in their own way, in case of .aCtual invasion, would be an insult, not only on the Volunteers, but upon common sense and the spirit of the country. Upon the whole, the effect of the measure would be to diminish the expence, but by no means to diminish the number of the volunteers. As to inflammatory feelings upon this subject, he d.d not think they were much encouraged in the countt y. The Bight I lonourable Gentleman said, Slur the Volunteers had enemies who would take advantage of any intemperance they may shew. "7 If hi acew that they bad enemies in that House, it would become.: him to point them out; and, after having done that, it vanitld be incumbent on him to prove them to be such; after which he would be justified in using the expression. Mr. PERCIVAL contended that he did not misrepresent the Right lion. Gentleman. Ile spoke of what he said, in the manner in which he under stood him; and would appeal to the generality of the Members of the House, whether they did not f alert understand him in the same manner? Lord CAS ILEREAGf I expressed himself high ly pleased with what fell irons Mr. Fox, as it gave reason to repeal that the Bill, when brought in, w add be very different from the opening that was m tde of it, ion only is .shat tegarded the Volunteer s, bin Also in what related to the Standing Army, Arincli he hoped to find reveled from his grasp, and Haws Lisuestrufive reforms. From the general tenor of the Right Han Gentleman's speech. it ssf must have been understood, that he fiend that cur I\ military system was ton experstre, too loose, too irregular, and that he found, to use his own phrase, the stage occupied by that to which he had the greatest avei zion, runtely, the Volunteers. 'that he found himself so much fettered, embarrassed, and crippled by them, that he should be obliged to call upon Parliament to abolish them immediately ; and that, in voting their clothing for this year. it was not to he expefted that Government would allow it any snore ; that they were totally inadequate to serve in line ; and that they should he deprived of the benefit of Itsspeiting Field Officers, whose re ports concerning them he thought entitled to no credit. From relaxing their discipline, there fore, it was to be inferred, that he meant to disqualify them altogether from moving as an army ; for be also diminished their drill serjeants, took away their corporals, and wished rather to retain them at home than employ them to co-ope rate with any army.—lt was evident, that in all parts of their organization; his wish was to deprive them of all the means by which an army could act, and reduce them to the state which he admired most, that of an armed peasantry, or a chilled po pulation. After every :25 days' drill, they were to be throaty back into the population, either with muskets or without them, but certainly without any officers competent to lead them against an enemy. Mr. FRANCIS here spoke to order, and asked whether it were regular, upon a simple motion for papers, to go into a debate upon a subject not then before the House? Mr. PAUL also complained of this motion, of which no notice was given, being suffered to take precedence of that of which he had given notice a considerable time since. The SPEAKER acquainted Mr. Paul, that he I was under a mistake, as notice had been given of this motion; and to the point of order, he said, that he did not feel himself warranted to say, that any part of the debate was irregular. Lord CASTLEREAGH then observed, that he should not have gone so much at length into that part of the subject, if he had not thought that the constralion put by Mr. Fox on the opening of Mr. Windham, did not make it necessary for him to compare that construftion with some of the aOual declarations. His principal object was, however, to express his satisfaCtion, in hoping that the new system would be found different from what was to be expeded. Mr. WINDHAM said, there was a certain figure in speech, the name of which he should not then mention, which was apt to lead more to pas sion, than could be done by any force of argument. He was glad, therefore, of the interruption given to the emotions it excited, as he should be able to deliver himself wits that temper which a man would naturally be desirous always to preserve. Of the two Members 'oho spoke on the other side, there was only one who dealt in general arguments upon the merits of a qmstion not before the House; and the ohs:remit), ,s of the other were of that nature which did not cod for argument, but for contradietion, for he pro ceeded upon the most open bare-faced misconception, he would call it, which he ever heard in his life. He set out with professing to explain the -nature of his motion ; but he then did not expl•+ir. the °Weft of his motion. From this specimen, he could now see the nature of the warforc that was 'lobe waged, in order to in flame the public agaiv.st His Majesty's Ministers, whether right or wrcr g. That, he supposed to be, in their estimation, ri correft scheme of Parliament ary warfare ; but ho wished the Gentlemen to be more correct in their conception, as they might derive no advantage frrim having recourse too often to this method ; tone charge made against him was, that of saying t hat the army would be degraded by using the same uniforms as the Volunteers. What he said then, 'ne would now, and always aid s ad here to, which r was, that our army, as well as all other armies, could only exist by its distinctions, which would be destroyed, if universally extended. Beyond that, he denied that he had said any thing, or used any t xpression, which could imply disgrace. Neither did Ice say, that the Volunteers would be an asylum for such. as did not choose to serve in any other way., What he said was, that those who ohje&ed to car npulsory training, would in the Volunteers hay e an opportunity of being trained in their own Tray, and at their own expence.— If that were an offence, it was given long ago by the Right Hon. G entleman (Mr. Percival) himself ; who, on a former occasion, was very active in the detail of a mea sure which appointed training by distriets, as the conditions upon which the Volun teers were• to ha re their exemptions. It was surely no reproach, th. tt where an option was given, that option should be taken. It was a strange thing, to hear that Right lion. Gentleman complain of corn pultion, as if the Army of Reserve, of which he was, as it wore,l:he parent, was not the very essence of compulsio is. He complain of it, who gave it as his legal opts ion , that the Volunteers had not a power to resign ? Su. :11 was the Gentleman who now repiescuted c onspulsion es a disgrace. As to the discipline, the Right Hon. Gentleman was unable to fix upon as y thing but the incautious word rrlaw; In point of criticism, to be sure, the Right Ho. nourable Gil tlemaa hal there, certainly, the advantage of him, as he should have expressed Isis meaning I ietter, had he said the word remit, which was e :hat he intended. As to their being deprive) of the Inspating Field Officers, that could pig duce no alteration of their discip line ; for these officers had no power over the Vo lunteers, not es .n so much as to compel them to at tend. In maki ist this reply, his objeft was confined to a statement e •t these faults. He was ashamed to stand up there t a justify himself, for he disdained to do so, when he +►as unconscious of having done and therelore a poke only for the single purpose of refuting. Pohl! c economy, however, was necessary to be attended to ; which he believed the House would feel, whe s he stated to them, that out of the number of 350,t 00 Volunteers, no less than 300,000 of them were ps .id, as appeared by the pay lists of June and Aug* Ist Mt. If the Hon. Gentle nun opposite to him, therefore, argued right, supposing his plan to go no farther than the stoppage of d to payments, it would disband these 300,000 s :olunteers who received the pay, and leave no ens •re than 50,000 inarrns ; but were they not placed upon the plan in which they first originated, not ay, that of armed associations, serving at their own expellee? According to the . reasoning on _the other side, the consecoener. would be. as he had already stated. That this was the oily idea of volunteer as ociations at first. Was not to be disputed ; it was indeed all that they them selves entettained, and so strongly were they im pressed with it, that many of the corps, when it was first proposed, highly resented it, and even spurhed at the idea of being paid at all. For his own part, he thought that the ellen of this measure, would, and ought to be, to augment considerably the num ber of volunteers. Relying, as he did. on the spirit of the people, he thought the principle of his plan would be, to inctease the number of Volunteers. lie declared that he had no wish upon this suhjea, which he should 1:el the least teclinition to dis guise ; and his sincere opinion was, that the effe& of the Training nil!, would do more to. wards increasing the mil a y str.•7;;th of the country, than could he eff . -Eled by incurring the expense of the allowances to Volunteers ; but in either case, he made no doubt, ti.at the liiil would perform what it ought to ds. Referring again ICI the motives of the Right Hon Gentleman (Mr. Percival) he concluded with say;ng, that he sidered the object of his speech to be meant for a little more than the °hie& of /I:. motion. General TA RLETON assured the House it was not his intention to take up much of their time; he could not, however, omit the oppettunity of con gratulating the House on the difference of tone which they had he ird this night from the Right Hon. Gentleman, compared with that which he had used when,on a former night, he favoured the House with that short statement of hi. plan (a lavAl. The Right Hon. Gentleman then took from them their Inspeling Field Odicers an 4 their Drill Serjeants, in order to surrender them over to the Lords Lieu tenant of Counties ; a relaxation of discipline. which, in a military point of view, nothing could well exceed • and yet this Right Hon. Gentlem in contends, that he meant only to remit, and not to relax their discipline. He supposed, however, this difference of tone had arisen in consequence of the difference of tone that had taken place throughout the country. The Right Hon. Gentleman's speech was made before the Quarter Sessions came on, and he had since heard, the General supposed, that at these meetings a considerable degree of interesting conversation took place on this suhjec'l, and several resolutions were formed by the Volunteers, which were not very agreeable to the Right Hon. Gentle man's feelings. file had, therefore, thnught it necessary since then to alter his tone; and right glad he was to see it. The Right Hon. Gent. had, cn a former night, in opening his plan, stated, that the Volunteers had, in the space of three years and a half, received five mill:ons sterling. His Hon. Friend near him, who brought forward the present motion, wanted to know under what heed, or heads, these expences had been incurred, in order, that it econo my can he obtained, that side of the I louse on which he spoke, might participate in pointing it out, as well as the other ; they were equally anxious for it, and the means ought not to be denied them. The Right Hon. Gentleman had said to-night, that bis measure will tend to increase the Volunteers ; but he thee ht it a very curious way to des so, by depriving them of their Inspetling Field-Offiuers, their Drill Serjeants, their reasonable allowances, Ste. and then telling them, as had been done to-night, that all this was a compliment to their discipßne. As, how ever, the nyition was not to be opposed, and there would be many occasions in future, in which all these matters might be most amply d;scessed, he would not at present take up the further time of the House. The question was then put, and the motion agreed to. A message from the Lords informed the I louse s that their Lordships had passed a Bill for indemni fying certain Governors and other Officers of the Crown in the West India Islands, for certain Or ders issued by them for dispensing with the Adi of Navigation, to which they desiled 'the concurrence of that House. CI lARGF. AG \INST MARQUIS WELIISLEY. Mr. PAUL rose to mike the motion of which he had given notice. He began by sayicg, that he rose to offer to the House the charge which it was his intention to prefer against the MurquisWellesley. If it had been his intention to trespass at any con siderable length oe the time of the House, the lung debate which had just taken place, would certainly have induced him to shorten it. It never was, however, his intention so to do, and he should con tent himself with adverting to the mode of proceed. ing he meant to adopt. It might perhaps appear odd to many persons, why he should stand forward to volunteer Lis services in a business of this nature ; to which he answered, that he was induced horn a sense of duty to bring forward the business relative to the condua: of the Governor-General towards the Rajah of Ferrukabad, because he could not prevail with those whose duty it most peculiarly was, to bring it before the House. He was sensible it would have come with more force and effect, and with more propriety also, from that great and re speCtable body of men, who would, hereafter, in all likelihood, have to come to that House for a supply to defray the expences of the Noble Marquis's ex travagant measures, he meant the Court of Direc tors of the Last India Company, than from an hum ble individual like himself. He bad, therefore, applied to the Court of Pireaors for that purpose, and had ,endeevoured to stimulate them to bring the matter forward for the consideration of the House ; but they declining to do so, he had eitered upon the perilous undertaking, and he was sorry only to think that it had not fallen into the hands of some Hon. Member, whose talents, consequence, and connexions in the House, and in the country, might have done it more ample justice than it was in his power to do. Every thing, however, in his power, he was clan:trifled to exert, in order to ful fil the sense of duty by which he was aftuated. and he must leave the rest to the indulgence, and the well.known justice of the House. He believed the Court of Direftors now feel, they ought to have come forward, for they have since drawn up a kind of indietment against the Noble Lord. lle re gretted the absence of a Noble Lord (Oisulstone, we understand) from real indi•.position alone, who, he was certain, would otherwise have supported him, which would have given him a great ad vantage, of which he was now deprived; but, as such was unfortunately the case, he must procasel alone. He was sensible he had great difficulties to t d i rectionhA present e sncg: enenunter. He found he was so Fttie kn-inen to the House, an d i on so much less known to tins pitiblic II? was fearful al! his e ff orts would he ahle to ott e ei but little. Ile hnwever , with the permiiisin n of the Hoese, state the mode or proceeding he in. eeded en pursue. He would follow the cour s e edema,' in the case of Mr. Hastings. and if th e House thought the charge worthy of laying on the table, he would then move, that on a future day it be taken into consideratiea. Ile begged only to say one ventd , as to the manner in which the charge was drawn up.— i p ce tes o e r n t H o e rm h , ad be n e o n t, 2 l s 7 6t l:: j itti. b ig it in i s r any of the teamed Gentlemen of the Law, but had done it himself aecording to the best of his abiliiies ; and if it should happen to he incorrect in point cf mode, or defi:ient in any technical formalities, h e hoped the House would not reject it on that account. 14av'ng said thus much, he would net at trouble the House any further, but proceed to read his charge, which be did, to the fi arming pm-port : " That the Most Noble Richard Marquis Welles ley, was appointed by His Majesty Governor-Ge neral ot Bengal, and arrived th re in the month of May, 1798, read subservient t, that, was apenintrd Commander Chief o: the Forces, and coot inted to execute the o ce of Governor-Genet al, until August 11105,when he was succeeded by theappnintnient and arrival time ado. MJlqiiiiCornwAl'ii..That by thi appointment as C;nverner.Clenerel, he was bound to watch nem defend, proteg e end cherish, the into. rests of his empinyers. the Fast India Company ; but that contrary to such duty, and atting as an arbitrary and oppressive master,. he negleeled to watch over, protel, and cherish the interests et his said employers; and did, of his own accord, and cnntrary to their will and inclination, as w e ll as their direa an] positive orders, squander and make away with, in a wasteful and extravagant manner, the revenues and tunnies of his said employer., ac. cording to his own personal caprices, and for the purpnse of displaying and supporting his own love and inzlination for pomp, parade, magnificence, and splendour. That he had further transgte-sed against his employers, by a surrender rd their rights ; for it had been declared by aft or Parlia ment, that the revenues of the Company in India should be appropriated, in the first place, to the cx pences of the Company there, and after defraying such expences, the Company should pay 500,000 i. annually to the Government; and in case this should not be paid, in consequence of war, or any other unforeseen causes, the Company should make- a proper representation thereof to the Government. That notwithstanding these ccnditions and under. takings, the Company have not, since der passing of the said aft, paid the said stitedated sum of except for the first year; and in consequence ot such negleft or incapacity to pay the same, they now stand indebted to the public in a sem arnisuntiag to upwards of six millions sterling. This defalcation, so contrary to the aaoand obviously so injurious to the public, had not arisen from any negled er want of faith on the part of the Company, but had b owing to the miscondua of the Marquis Welledee, who had shamefully sad wastefully tquania red away the property and revenues of theCempany in a manner hitherto unknown and unheard ef in h:.• as. nals of this country or any other. That the East India Company have been obliged, in orderto pay theirdebt in India, to rale money by loans at 8, 10. and to per cent. That the Marquis Wellesley, iu t; y 9. found at debt in India amounted to 11,42,6881. and at the time he was superseded by Marquis Cornwallis, it amounted to thirty-one millions stetting. That in 1793, he found all was peace and quietness in In. dia, and the affairs of the Company, in their political, as well as the'r commercial a,petts, were truly prees perous, and mail he followed the laudable condua of his predecessors, there is every reason to believe they would have continued so ; but having pursued a line of conduit altogether the reverse of the sys tem which had been previously aged upon, he had greatly injured the Company's affairs, and had been driven to the desperate attempt of selling the Cum. parry's territorial imposts on the lands of Bengal. That soon after the Marquis Cornwallis arrived in India, in August, 1805, he wrote a letter to the Court of DireBnrs, giving a most deplorable account of the general stare of the Company's affairs. but of their finances in particular.—(Here Mr. Paul read the letter from Marquis Cornwallis, relative to this sutieft, which appeared in this Pa rr very soon after itt arrival in England, which stated, am ng other thit g:, that he anvil be obliged to discharge part of the native troops, and though it might he objefled to that measure, that many of those would Join the enemy, yet of two evils be must chuse the least, as the finances were in such a state of dilapidetiato that I.e mast he obliged to take and rue the investments intended fear China, in owe to discharge the arrears then due to the nigh lar army, and to defray the present esmices, which amounted to 70.0001. sterling per mouth.) The charge then stated, that in March 1799. aar was commenced with Tippoo Sultan, which ended by the taking of Seringapatam ; and that since that perimiclos Governor-General had, at sr:winos Urns., extorted from other Princes in India, such 25 the Subadar of the Deccan. the Rajah et Fettukebad , the Nabob of Oode, and, lastly, the Nabub of Arcot, various sums of money and territorial possessions. In Seillember, 1805, he commenced the Mae with the Mahrattas, which was ended by the treaty of H ; • &abed. That in all this period, except the WATS above alluded to, the Governor-Genital had been engaged in no wars which cost the Company more than the loss of lives, and the waste of honeen but that the Marquis Wellesley had, from an un exampled extravagance and prodigality, with a to sinister and corrupt purposes, and for the purpoet of indulging his own attachment to pomPiP i. li rade, and splendour, augmented and uew ttlode , k the Secretary's office, for the purpose of heapt: large salaries on particular favourites. by which I e . had increased' the Company's expences to the eons mous amount of 120,000 i. in that department oeifi and in the whole to 1,300,0001. sterling ; that _ had buil-, contrary to the express ntders of Court of Directors, a college at Fort William. in three years had cost use Company I3li,0001.; taa. in 1801, in making a visit to the upper provint', which he did against the consent of the C"'" Directors, he had been guilty of the most rair i and ostentatious parade, pomp, and espens•ve s, by employing no less than sieves hniuiresl boat: r canvry himself and his staiv, which, nift ne, 5 s 011 tit; ('I 15: igu sit di to all Li r ti C b it II t