The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-08-22 00:00:00

cnnduft of Russia defeated her intention, whereac,

instead of temper and impartiality, Russia betrayed

only intemperance and aairno‘ity.

It remains now to be known which of the two
Powers, Prussia or Austria, will be the first tn de-
clare against France. That Prussia has openly as-
serted, that she would keep aloof from the frantic
rage of the English ; that she was at a loss to see
what such incousiderate irritating proceedings could
lead to ; in fine, that under no pretext whatever
should she be prevailed on to take up arms against
Prance. If Russia raised her tone, and endeavoured

to involve Prussia in a war with France, the opinion

of the veteran Mollendorff, the intimate compan'oes
of Frederick the Great, that Prussia has nothing to
fear from France, but every thing to dread from
Russia; and that in point of justice as well as po-
lky, she shoull rather unite 100,000 Prussians w'th
100,000 French, to ass•rt her independence. and
hold in awe that half Eu-opean, half Asiatic Power,
who, separated by des r s from Enrols... pv-sses
down, when she pleases, all her neighs ur ; w
she may also, when she wishes it, shelter l•esself
from all the storms she has been diligent to rat -.
It now depends upon the House of Austria to J.

ride the question. Peace or war is in the hands of
that Court. If England believes Austria to he as
firm in her pacific system as she knows Prussia to
he, she should silence her hatred, a-A me-t the

wishes of all nations, by evincing a sincere desire, a
desire neither cloakeJ in cunning, or set forth with
ostentation, to conclude an equitable reAre
If Austria takes any delight in seeing France and
England worry one another, she will order her ar-
mies to march, she will adopt proper di.prnitlons to
encourage the war faftion in England, and she .sill
acquire the melancholy glom• of protraaing the an-
xieties and the sufferings of two great nations.
But the English deceive themselves ; such policy
can oever influence the conduit of a Prince so opera
a man so excellent as the Emperor Francis 11.
There is for Princes, as for individuals, but one
road to honour. If the Emperor Francis was
hnstilel► disposed, he would Alta his stand trd. He
has a gallant army ; a numerous population ; Ise is
convinced that a hollow, lowly muttered war, is
unworthy of him, and of the nation he governs.
We have no doubt hut that Asistria is antis.* for
the glory of contributing to a maritime pe see, and
she, too, is interested in it, since the present me.
ment alone may determine the separation of the
crowns of France and of Italy ; that it may bar the
Russians from Corfu and the Morea ; and the Eng-
lish from the Mediterranean, three things eq tally
advantageous to Austria. If such, we sly, he ;Le
wish of Austria, she has a very simple way to ac-
complish it. Let her convince E.,gland of what
Prussia has convinced her ; and let the Ministerial
Journals no longer have any colourable pretext to
induce a belief that by degrees Austri t may he :ire-
wailed upon imprudently to become the stalk'ng-
horse of England.
But is it the interest of England to p•o'ong the
war, even with the aid and co-operation r f Austria
A well-infotmed Englishman observed, Isp-n a so-
lemn occasion, that the Cabinet of St. LIT 5.% woos
in a wrong direai m, when it wished a id endea.
Toured to purchase a coalition by pecuniary s teri-
fires ; for, said he, it was the first coaliti. :hat de-
livered up Belgium and Holland to France ; the se-
cond gave her Piedmont and Italy ; and the third
might give her new coasts and new harbours. This
political lesson, which is to no suspicion in
the mouth of an Voirlish nay apt,- sr so in
this Journal, but it is not the less true. In the pre-
sent position of affairs, England can look for rothiog
,o advantageous to her commerce as a just peace.

Let England be persuaded that the present lace
111 Frenchmen, educated and hardt.ned in camps.
are no longer the Frenchmen of I.nuii the Nth's
reign, that the time when she diaated a treaty of
commerce to the Cabinet of Versailles is almost as
remote from us as the time when she kept a Com-
mi-...ary at Dunkirk. It was well said by the Em-
peror to the King of England, " The worl.l is wi.'e
e:tough for the two nations," or radio, 16341 we
say, for every nation.


•

• .41,;.0 11.•••••

I

INDIA.

ON THE BRITISH DoNirNiuN IN THE EASTIN-
DIES, AND THE PRE,,LNF STATE OF THAT
COUNTRY.

1 t
j,

The destinies of fifty milli acts of men, the present
population of the territories A. the English East-I' -
dia Company, are certainly deserving of a moment's
attention, were even the delierifol climate of the
ever-verdant garden they inhabit incapable of ex-
citing any interest. or the Peniii•ithi
on this side the G urges, that extensise region, which,
according to every appearance, seems to be the
most ancient on the face of the globe, and on which
Nature has lavished her choicest ble:sings, with all
that can contr;nute to the happiness of men, was,
from remote ages, destined to be the objeft of the
lost of conquest. Almost all the conquerots of the
world attempted to subdue it. Osiris. or Bacchus,
Semiramis, Sesostris, and Alexander, subjugated In-
dia. The Romans and Carthaginians alone, sought
not to reduce its inhabitants, with whom they had
esralalislied the relations of commerce. This condo&
in the former appears rather extraordinary, especial-
ly as they had subjeSed the Western and Northern
part of the Comment of Asia. The ancient commer-
cial nations of the East successively visited India ;
whose ports were opened to them by trade, if it was
not done by arms. In later times, .Ihengis Khan,
Tamerlane, and Kouli Khan, brought this delight-
(.l portion of the cat th under their dominion ; aid
the descendants of the second established themselves
there. The meek nation of the Hindols, which
had long been the happiest on the face of the earth,
became, by their subketion to the Tartars, the most
wretched of people. Their manners and their laws
were overturned ; the restless, all-destroying faith
of Mohammed was incorporated with the mildest
and most philanthropic of religions; rude customs
and cruel setirimmts accompanied patriarchal man-
nes: ; and the regions, which might have been deno-
minated the aboshr of felicity, became the theatre of
wretchedness. A few Princes, as they were called,
exclusively possessed the treasures of the Ilindons,
who found themselves destitute of every thing, when
the Europeans arrived in their country ; and nu
sooner had these communicated to them their wows,'

[ -

char they Inst their independence. Labour, with.
cut which they bad befre existed, was now their
only resource against penury and distress.
Had India the situation of Tartary, it would still
have beets independent, and as unknown to the Eir_
ropeans as the latter. Nature appeared to have
placed a barrier against invasion, on the part of Eu-
rope, by encompassing with sea,.. the richest por.
Linn of these regions. But. it was these very seas
that decided their sutjug;ition and their ruin. The
treasures of India, which European luxury has
made the °Nei!: of its desires, excited the rapacity

of various nations of our continent, as soon as the
way by the Cape of Good Mope was discovered ;
and the necessity for the commodities which India
produces obliged all comntercial nations to turn
their attention toward that country. They ergted
trading establishments on the coasts of Malabar and

C'romandel, where they bartered for the produc-
tions of India. Avarice soon begot the desire of
territorial possession, and awakened the spirit of
conquest, which was farther instigated by the riches
in India, a'id the imbecility of its powers. This

country, incapable of opposing any of its enemies,
now beheld various foreign nations contending for
its f.itc, and &staining its territory, and the ocean

which w.t,hes it, with blood. he Portuguese made
the first conquests, of which they retained a very

small portion ; their possessions passed successively
int r the hands, of the Dutch, the French, and the
English, and the latter now rule, without a rival,
in the Fast 1.0 es, where they have even subverted
the throne of Mysore.
The calculations that lA-re made before the sub-

jugation of Tippoo Saib's empire, gave a popula-
tion of 33 millions of men to the wide extended

¶l,

possessions of the English East India Company :
since tie Mysore and the Carnatic have been united
to them, the number of inhabitants, according to
Mr. 'Tennant, amounts to at least .50 millions. And
yet that writer assures us, that this immense domi-
nion is of little bass it to the mother coentry, and
that all its wealth Bows into the chests of private
individuals. The same opinion was recently main-
tained by a Member of the British Senate. Mr.
Francis, who for eight years had a seat in the Su-
preme Council of India, and is perfally acquainted
with the affairs of that country.
" India," said he, "as it is at present governed,
yields us not the smallest revenue. Our resources
are there exhausted in ruinous conquests, the Bower
of our troops are there destroyed in battles, produc-
tive of no advantage to the nati.lnal welfare. On
the contrary, were a mote judicious political sys-
tem to be adopted, India might be an inexhaustible
source of benefit, opulence, and commercial advan-
tages."

The first settlement of the F.nglish in India was
calculated only for the purposes of trade : the

tire Princes even carried their good-will towards
them so fAr, as to grant them privileges not enjoyed
bylheir own subjetts. They acted wisely in pro-
moting commerce; but while they opened one eye
to trade, they shut the other to politics. They did
not observe the reasons which exclude the Europe:us

nations from all influence in China. It was in the
year 1765 that the situation of the English in India
first underwent an important change. Their first
expedition against Bengal had the air of an adven-
ture; they soon became sovereigns. Lord Clive,
the founder of this vast empire, however, said on
this occasion, that he hoped the conquests of the
English would be confined to Bengal, Bihar, and
Orissa; that the plan of more extensive convests
would be equally absurd and extravagant; and
that, if the system of the Company were not to be
entirely changed, no enlightened governor could
entertain such a design. The same principles were
avowed by Parliament in the years 173'2, 1744, and
I 789.
A di-tinflion ought certainly to be made between
wars undertaken fur conquest and for defence; but
neither the Parliament nor the public has ever been
able to form an opinion on the justice of the wars of
India. We have nothing more than the testimony
of one belligerent power against the other, and such
evidence is always liable to suspicion. Nothing
farther was known than that war had been begun,
and that great acquisitions had been made. The
Indian Princes have no Ambassadors to represent
their case; they beheld their countries ravaged,
their wealth dissipated, their power trampled upon,
and received no other satisfaaion than the general
opinion, that they wee forced into a war by unjust
ambition. Thus were Bengal. Benares, Oude, the
Rohillas, Terrokabad, the Carnatic, and the king-
dom of Mysore, subdued, and the families of their
sovereigns extinguished. The Nabobs of Tanjore.
Tinevelly, Travancore, Decals, Gwicomar, Guzu.
rat, Bundelennd, the Mogul, in a word, the whole
peninsula from Delhi to Cape Comorin, excepting
the country of the Mahrattas, is tributary to the
English, and subjea to their dominion.
Notwithstanding so many conquests, the thirst of
the English for making farther acquisitions is
become still more pressing : and this lawless desire
produced the war with the Mahratta Chiefs, which
is equally impolitic and unjust. The documents
laid before Parliament hut too plainly admit, that
those unfortunate Princes were ever treated by the
Company as ambitious enemies, merely to compel
them to cede a considerable portion of their do-
minions, if they were not determined to defend
them. It is extraordinary, that the Peishwah
should always be represented es the sovereign, the
Chief of all the Mahratta Princes, when, in hats
he is no more than their equal, only the Prime
Minister of the confederacy of the Mahratta States.
He was only Prillt&lT inter pares, and had not even
the privilege of rejeding the last treaty, against
which he had a very manifest repugnance.—
The same ennduel was pursued with respea to
Scindea, after he had been represented as a lawless,
weak, and rapacious Prince. The Government of
Bengal proposed a treaty, according to which he was
to maintain an English army continually in his
states ; to cede to the Company a territory sufficient
lot the support of these troops ; to submit, in all dis-
putes with the Nizam, or the other powers of I lin-
dostan, to the decision of the British Government,
and to deliver up to the Company his portion of
the Duab, with the fortress of Agra and Delhi.
All these concessions, were, of course, to have
been for his onn advantage and security.
It is, indeed, objelled, that the Mahrattas have
taken into their service French Officers, with designs
hostile to England ; and it is even asserted that they
have among them 14,000 Fre:'ch troops, under
Capt. Perron. This statement, however, is as de-
stitute of proof, as it is highly exaggerated. There
is but a very small number of French officers in
the army of the Mahrattas, and there is no reason to
apprehend that the latter will learn from them the
European ar: of war. It is their ancient method to
carry on war by means of straggling corps, which
renders them as formidable to the English troops as
the Parthians were to the Romans. Scindea was
never desirous of employing trench soldiers ; and,
though he could not accept the humiliating treaty
proposed to him, yet he both suspeeted and hated
Perron, whom this circumstance induced to eapitu-
' late with his little force. The dispersion of the
English army over the prodigious space from Delhi
to Poonah, is, besides, extremely dangerous ; be-
cause they are obliged to be as much upon their
guard against the treachery of the sepoys incor-
porated with it, as against the hostile designs of the
natives.
To these observations—proceeding from one well
acquainted with the subj-d, and which diffuse con-
siderable light over the night-piece usually exhibit-
ed by the Ministry, relative to the state of the Fast
Indies—Administration could oppose scarcely any
arguments. On the other hand, Charles Fox
maintained, with the warmth natural to his

clsaraaer. that after the subjeftinn of Tippoo, the
governetens of India had .attem,sied to conclude
re falthleis treaty with the Mahraps4 and that their
I•
hands, like Macbeth 's, were so dyesiewitii the blood
that the crimson stain co not be washed away.
" If," said. he, " Cie war be•commenced against the
Mahrattas, only fi,r fear of the French, the same
pretests miy be employed against every state ot
India, till, in our progress from destru to de.
struftion, we arrive at the great wall of China.—
We make war upon the Mahrattas because they are
the only power remaining in India ; that is, we are
determined not to be quiet till the whole of the
East Indies is suhjeaed to the English dominion."
This, in faa, appears to be the plan of the all
grasping English East India Company : however
hasardous such an extension might be, government
itself is aware of the danger of the present situation
of affairs. In the same remarkable debate to which
we have already alluded, the Minister of the East In-
dia department, Lord Castlereagh. observed, " that
the British power in the East Indies would be me-
naced with great danger, if the Empire of the Mah-
rattas were united under a single Sovereign ; that
the French officer, Perron, had. at a certain period,
one million sterling annually, and an army of forty
thousand men at his disposal ;,. and that if the French
had, at that time, been able to throw ten thougand
troops into Cuzurat, the consequences would have

been incalculable."
(To be concluded to-morrow.)

THE ARITISH PRESS.

LON DON,

THURSDAY, ArGVST 22.

At a late hour last night, we received, by Ex-
PRUS, several sets of Dutch Papers, but none
of them of a later date than those received on
Tuesday. We therefore mention the circumstance.
merely as a proof that no embargo has yet taken
place in the Dutch ports.
We give this day the first part of an article upon
India, as translated from a Continental Publication
of great respectability. It must be interesting to
the people of England to know tile opinions enter-
tained in foreign nations of the system which we
save pursued in India.

Government, we understand, have determined to
augment the navy with twelve new ships of the
hoe. They are to ►e built in the ports of Russia,
under the inspedlion and management of Colonel
IBANTHSSII, who has set out for St. Petersburgh for
that purpose. From the cheapness of labour, and
of the materials for ship-building in Russia, COM
pared with the prices in England, there will be a
great saving upon this plan. This intelligence is of
importance in another point of view, as it chews the
friendly disposition of ALIII4IIDLIt towards this
'wintry, and his hostility towards France. This ac.
oommodation afforded to a belligerent power will
oertainly be regarded by 800 APART' as an hostile
a& Colonel BINTISAid is, we believe, a native of
Hampshire, but served early in the Russian army,
in which he obtained a command under the auspices
and patronage of Prince POTCMKIN. In the reign
of the Emperor PAUL, he lost the favour of the
Court and returned to England, where he has been
since employed in the impel-ion and superintendance
of the navy.

We are enabled to state, says The Cork Mercantle
Chi-smirk of the 16th instant, from a quarter the
most eminent in accuracy and authority, that at
this moment Me Spanith Monarchy 'Athol to itr Jona-
&lion. The series of circumstances which immedi-
ately roused all those symptoms indicative of the
approaching decadence of this antient Monarchy,
we cannot now develope for special reasons—but we
can aver that the utmost consternation prevails in
the Palace of Madrid, as well as in the Cabinet and
Councils of the State. The arrogance and tyranny
of the Pa Ince of iliac, have roused the indignation
of the higher orders, as well as of some of the most
antient public Institutions; acknowledged by the
Laws of Spain. He has bad the temerity to intrr-
fere with the public justice of the country, by pre.
veiling upon the King to suspend the fumftions of
the Supreme Council of Coslik, that had confirmed an
appeal from a Provincial Tribunal, adverse in its et-
leas to one of his favourites, who was a party in the
cause. The Council have addressed the King in
terms becoming the antient Spanish charaner —they
have admonished him of the consequences of such
an untoward mediation ; they base reminded him,
in bold and manly language, of the dependency of
his predecessors upon the laws of )pain, and upon
the determination of the Supreme Council of Castile
in former times; and they have stiggetted the to
merity of putting a daring favourite *hove the laws,
and intim.tted the probable consequences its times so
e►pecially marked by such vicissitudes in hurn.in au-
thority. " The Court is in dismay," says our Cm-

respondent—as hat sallaa and distrustful—tl•rir nit
sures are obstinate in some respells, and vravering •
others. The Pa it4Cg of Peace bresthes venge4a"
and the Supreme Council of Castile avows rai:
ances and seems Cr) be the popular party. The Pr
vinces are in disorder; and the Urge Cities curs,
lent. BONAPARTE has offzed th: King a
is
army to crash the spirit of rebellion, as it is calk!
and it the impotency of the Court accept the off,
' Spain will be engulphed in his obvious prajed cf
er
tending the French Empire.' At present we cam

enter into further particulars; but those which
have related, our reader; may be persuaded, are i
dub:table fads."
We now find that Lord NILSON'S ship WAS n,; to
leased from quarantine until Monday eveaing ;
his Lordship landed, he immediately set otf
Gordon, and reached town ohs To.:sday. At
e:trly hour yesterd:ty he attended at the Ad:nir.ilir,
and had a long interview with Lord Bunts,
After this interview his Lord Wp visited M-ur..
MARSH and Cutts, Navy Agents, Norfulk—tiee,
Strand. He then visited tfie Navy-Office, &metre:.
house, and returned to the Admiralty. A conenaw
of people followed his Lordship down the Snail.
He looks remarkably well, and in good he..ith.
He was dressed in plain David uniform, and rote a
green shade over his left eye. After his second visit
at the Admiralty, his Lordship paid a visit is
Downing-street. to Mr. Pm., hid come to
town from Brom/ay...accompanied by Sir SIDNST
&WEN, to meet Itiktoriship. After this visit, he
walked across
_St. JSmes's Park, to his bout io
Charges-street ; and, in the evening, he went obi;
seat at ilerton, in Surrey. it is rumoured ti.at
Lis Lordship will be appointed immediately to a
new command, anti that Sir Si ONLY SMITH will ba
comprisetPleillie arrangement. Lord NILSON•
is costaidently reported, never heard of Admiral
CALDER'S adios till he arrived in the ChanneL

An American vessel arrived at Portsmouth has a
man on board who states that he was Steward
His Majesty's ship Blancie,.of 36 guns, Captain
Munoz, and that she was .unk in the \Vest Ind.th
after a desperate engagement with a sup-ri.w fun:,
consisting of a Fr.:rrch frigate, a sloop, and a brig.

We yesterday gave every article of interest in di
Paris Papers, to the 14th, ezzept a long Note in Cie
Alen;triir of the 11th, upon the present state of t‘ie
Continent, in relation to the expeaed event of a
confederacy of the principal Powers of Europe
against France. This Nate, w:tich is :zivet in or
first page, is distinguished by the moderation of i:s
tone towards England, and its angry observations
upon the policy of Russia. It has precisely made
the two nations to change places, and lavished op°,
Russia all the abuse it us:J to bestow upon Eng-
land. Every well-informed Englishman must rnile
at such a silly attempt to cajole him,—and the
Moniker may reply in the words of the Satyrist—
ss Qu ndes!--asistete amine, de to
Yabule narrater

The inference to he drawn from this Article, in
which the oflizial Gazette of Box AAAAAA com-
mends Prussia, flAtters Austria, sympathises wide
England, and reviles Russia, ic, that the latter power
has finally resolved to resist, by force, the crimes
and aggressions of France.

We understand that Admit al Sir Rnstry Cactus
has been detached frurn the Channel Fleet, with As
increased force, to cruise olf Ferrol.
Yesterday a Court of Direeors was held at the
East India House, which adjourned, at sex o'c:ock,
till Wednesday neat.
On Monday the Duke of Yoax attended at his
Office in the Horse Guards, and transaßed business
for the first time since his return from Weymouth.
His Royal Highness was constant in his attend-
ance on Tuesday And yesterday, giving director's
for the arrangements that are now making in the
army.
The Marquis WELLast.ev, not having heard of
the appointment of Marquis Coariwaws. knead-
ed, it is said, to set out with the first ships of nest
season, on his return to England.
A spirit of distention and revolt, we learn, still
continues to pervade several of the provinces in the
vicinity of Canton, and several skirmishes had taken
place between the insurrinte and the imperial Anne'
with alternate S.ICCCSS ; a sJ it wits supposed it wound
require All the force and energy of the empire to
restore tranquillity to the state.
Letters from the Gulph ol Persia state, that the
Imaum of Nitric av was lately killed in an engage-
ment between a past of the fi..et And the inhahitaate
of the opposite shore, who have 'Jog been in hoiti-
lity ; the latter being '.he disciple of Was AIME, sail
the former a I rue Believer.
The Beltiqueux, Capt. B 1. 0, is not to convoy the
ontward.tmund East India Fleet, as was intended'
The Thasfere, Sir 110114 E POPHAM, is to take the
charge of them, being destined tot the Ent 1"1"'
The Genyurrer, of 71 guns, another ship of Lord
Nation's squadron, has returned to Plymouth r.
refit.
Letters, it is said. have been received by the Cot
tenburgh Mails, which state, that a 1111106 r/
English merchant ships at Cronstadt have, with
it
concurrence of &Le British Minister and I "ffictil
been put in req :isit:on, for the purpose of rein,
porting llus-ian twerps. Tney will be earned
Stralsund, and employed in conjurZion with Cl
Swedish forces in the nresteelion of Pomerania. at
for any future operations that may be concerted.