The National Register.
London, England, 1819-02-07 00:00:00

HOUSE OF LORDS.

MONDAY, rim I.
CESSION OF BANCA.
The Karrpsialli NItDOWN ruse to inner forte Address to
I}he lirgrot, praywg that hr would eons., to he laiti before the
House ropi4 of 'be itiNtructions to titr r. RoOlom, late Lieut.
Giorgi sot lt Ja;a, respecting the Cevaiou of Basica to the
Nethet Wools ; and for ropier of all coraspondenee with the

I.)4ltCh ColllllljAsi 111 l ers, 0c... He would not now call in ques-
tion the propriety o: c. ding the colonies takeu from the
Ditch, during the last war, to them again ; fur whatever
policy thetatud these cessions of colonies, becoming daily
more awl Mute Villollll4le and important to ns, It ninst now be
coiwidered as ha%iug received the sanction of Parliament.
lint the papers he was about to :Twee fur were necessary for
viittlicatrun of the rt ional character for bononr and iu-

'cony in the maintenance of onr Treaties. It would be
reeollee led that an exp. tidier' 11113 stted out by Lord Minto,
Governor-General of India, to subjugate Java, which sue.
ceedeti. With ntut h difficulty a ''..lovoritinent was established
c,pable of drawing forth the %%bole of the resources of that
colony. This Wall done with much labnor, and answered all
the dews of that great and enlightened Statesman. ditch a
mode of Government was ealrulated to call forth all the ad-

vantages of that colony, and of making it eminently nsefnl to
the. country. However sanguine the hopes that were enter-
tained of producing these great effect'', every one who was ac.
/planned with the affairs of Java knew well that they were
snore theta fulfilled; and in seven years the island was brough,
into a state of ntosperity which it had never experienced be
fore. To the wisdom, energy, and exertions of Sir T. RafliPx.
did the Goverdor-General ascribe this sudden and wouderful
improvemeitt. As soot' as our method of govermaent was
established, it was found that the population of the island
ismounted to five millions of persons, ender Princes mostly
native, legitimate, and tudependent, which the Dutch had
before court -tied. With those native Princes our Govern.
Thent entered into Treaties, but no securities were given for
the fulfilment of them. 'l•bis was particularly the ease with
the Wend of Banca, which, from its situation, and harbours
might have become a valuable depot for merchandise
in those seas. The Government of Java did not take forcible
possession of Banca, but it was obtained time the Sultan of•
Palembang, who possessed the sovereignty ut it; and in re_
turn we guaranteed his territories to him in the unhand ofJava.
At the peeve it was de•ermined to restore to the Dutch all
their colonies, but Banco had never been in the hands of the
; yet was a separate Treaty made by us to give to
*Holland BAIICA for Cochin, without extemiliirg any protective,
which we were bound to Jo, to the Salting of Palembang.
Sir T. Rallies, feeling intercested as as iudividual who bad
teamed the treaty melt the Stine's, and ter his country's
honour. protested against the cessiaa ; Lot the Dutch Author-
cities tanned round upon hies, asked if lie bad auy authority
to make that pretest, a question he could net answer. The
batch then, acting on the strict letter of this unguarded Trea-
ty, proceeded to violate the neutrality ut the Suntan of Palem•
bang. This became the subject of a secoud unavailing pre-
test on the pars of Sir 'l'. Raffles. It was for &cantons to
throw light ore these traesactious that be untended to save.
He reprobated is strong terms the Mc:unities violation of
sacred Treaties. especially with persons whom we could urn)
govern by /hewing them that the Biitish tdith was the best
security they could receive in Me world. He then moved an
Address to the Prince fregerit for a copy of the Treaty of the
CASSiAII of Basra to HOdAhld, and of the protest of Sir T.
Raffles on the subject.
Earl BATHURST had no objeetieu to some of these papers,
but must trines the currespoodtlice between the
Lieutcunm
Giva•uor of Java and tile hutch Commissioners, because
they relate to twitters in sonic 'aspects not yet settled. Java
and Bellied %Vele give up on au understanding that the
Dutch slioiiiii not violate any Treaties which we had entered
loto with Ina native Posen ; but, if they did violate them,
we had uo tight to intertsPie unless by ;monstrance. 0111
Government uad never a uttioi izeit the making of Ally Treaties
'with the native Pr triers, securing to Mena, end guerauteeiug
to them, the possession of the terr.turte•s if we should deliver
sip Java and Ranee to the Dutch. The Noble Lord was
mistaken when lie said the Dutch had no previous possession
of Banca; they had there a saleable establishment, and it
was taken possession of by a regular expedition sent by
Sir T. Reifies. Thus it arose that we gave back Banca 1,,
the Dutch ; but we did not bind ourselves to protect the
Sultan of Palembang, sew should we leave him eutirekv
witiiont support ; that was a matter in agitation between
the two. rummies. Sir T. Hanes on charges preferred
against him, was most honouraoly acquitted, sail sent oat as
:Resident at Beticoalen. He kepi esented that, having here
once a Lieutenant Governor iu that part of the world, i 1 he
went Lace as a three Resident, it wound be thought that he
had been degraded. He had, therefore, the title of Limit.
•sovernee conterred on him; but was at the same thee told.
that he must consider lienself solely as a commercial, and
not at all as a political agent. Fur these reasons he could'
not agree to giant all the papers on this subject.
Lord HOLLAND said, the object of his Noble Friend was,
to discover whether the Treaty was such as °tinged us to
abandon the native Princes or not. Thus was necessary, to
*hew whether we, who went about teaciiiiig the world
moral lessons, had adhered to good faith ourselves. If we
had agreed to support the SlOlllll of Palembang, told had
afterwards deserted him, it nag a most foul taansaction
indeed; and he hoped his Noble Friend would move fur the
Treaty between the Lieutenant Governer of Jara and the
Sultan of Palembang. Though the Dutch had a settlement
in Bailee, vet the street eignty was in the Sultan ut Patent-
bang. He thought this trausietiun was sticis as required the
Briush Parliament to inquire strictly into it. It' the Noble
Earl retased the docunituis on this subject, he would load hits
GOvressineut wide shame. tie had sa►d, some at range:omits
wore going VII respecting this matter; but it should never Le
said that we could ruler into atuicable adjustment with tue
Dutch Gev ernment eu a breaets of 'Jul' haul.
The Marquis or LAMOOWNE'II 'notion was altered to a
Treaty concluded between the Sultan of Palembang and
Sic T. Rutile,. fur thu cession et Bianca.
. •Tire motion was then agreed to, sad the !louse then
adjourned.