The Sun.
London, England, 1806-09-25 00:00:00

E.ISP MIA HOUSE.

. .
Yesterdayy-A General Court' of Pt'oprietors was
held,' at which a Resolution of the Court of Direc-
tors, of the 10th instant, was laid before this Court
for their . approbation. This was for annexing a
salary of 30001. per annum to the Office of ire-
corder of Prince of Wales's Island, and the meet-
ing was .summoned pursuant to the 17th'and
Se&ions of the 6th Chapter of the Company's Bye-
Laws. A Resolution of the Conn of Dirthors,
of the 30th of April last, was alsii submitted to ,trie
Meeting, agreeably to the 19th Section of the same
Chapter of the Company's Bye-Laws;' this was for
granting a Pension of -10001.. per ant-min to.the Re-
corder of Prince of Wales's Island after his haying
'served that office ten years.
The Chairman stated, that the Court of Directors
had re-considered'the question of the salary to he
given to that Officer, arid having come to the Reso-
lutions above-stated, its it was indisPensibly neces-
sary,,that such an Officer should be appointed, they
came to the Proprietors with the proposition of this
reduced salary, with the addition of a pension t 0
that high Law Officer after ten years faithful ser-
vice in an Eastern Climate.

Two letters from the Governor of the Island.
were read, statjng his opinioh of the urgent necessity
of the appointment of a Criminal Tribunal, for the
trial of Asiatic as well as British subjeets, in cases of
felony, and giving an instance-of a Sepoy, who had
stolen about as million of dollars, •but Who escaped
the hands of justice, from the Want of such a COurt
of Judicature on the spot, and his being sent to Ben-
gal, where the witnesses,.who were military men,
could not, consistent With the interests of the Com-
pany, be sent to give evi,:ence.
Mr. KEMBLE opposed the second Resolution, on
the ground that 111 the course of ten years the Offi-'
cer to w!iom the grant. was proposed to be given,
might be enabled to save a very handsome compe-
tence; for the future support of himself and family.
Mr. JokisrsTo NE suggested that the question Might
be ,:nore decorously. brought forward two months
- hence, whet there would be a greater number of
Proprietors in town. The general' establishment of
this Island be conceived to be already far more ex-
tensive than, it ought to be, consistent with any coll.!
sideration of the extent or importance of the place,
or with a view to the present state of the Company's
finances. The Gentlemen who wrote the letters
which oad been read, were about sip: months at the
head of the Governnient Of that place, and, from
their having adduced but a single instance of the
inconvenience resulting from the want of such a
Tribunal as was illere stated, he thought he might
fairly infer that they could have.had no great reasop
to complain of the inadequacy of their Laws. Was
not that Sepoy amenable to a Milnary Tribunal ?
Then why not try him by a Court Martial instead
of incurring the expence and suffering the delay and
inconvenience of sending him round to Bengal,
less it was done f"or the purpose of laying that case
before a Court of Proprietors in London ?—At a
time when the state of the CoMpany's affairs was
so unfavourable, when the best-informed servants
Of the Company had but -little hope of then cir-
cumstances being speettny retrieved, it surely *would
not be wise in the Court to set such an example of
profusion in their expenditure—it would be vain
for them to expeCt• that economy in otoers which
they themselves appeared to disregard. The Go-
vernor had a Salary or 10,0001'. the • Parson, he
believed, about 20001. and the Surgeon about 30001.
'so that it was not so much that he objected to
the proposition' now before the Spurt, considered in
itself only, as that he complained of making so great
an addition to the expence of an establishment al-
ready by far too great in proportion ,to the value of
the place. If the Court was to think of proceeding
at this rate to squander.away their money upon a
place of comparatively no importance, he conceived
that it would be much better for them to attend to
the suggestions of a Right Hon. Director (SirFaAN-
CIS BARING), and come to a determination rather to
transfer theGevernment of the Island to His MA-
JEsr—for all the arguments that were urged in sup-
port of this'establishaient on a'former occasion were
in favour of the Nation, and not in faYour of the
Company's interests. To • that proposition he was
induced to give his assent, however, only from a con;.
sideratiOn of the expence of the establishment. He
therefore opposed both the Motion S—but more par-
ticularly the latter pne ; and concluded with moving
the previous question.
Mr. KEMBLE complained of, the thinness of tho
Court. If he was in the Chair he should, in such
a case as thish have left the question to be decided
by ballot. -Alit was he declared, that be was ready
to sign a requisition for that purpose. s
Mr. SYMES observed, that according to the con-
fession of an Hon. Meznber Opposite (Mr. JOHN-
STONE), he did not think the salary which was pro-
posed to be given to the Supreme Judge 'of Prince
of Wales's Island,was by 'any means too great ; his
objc6tion only went to the general establishment of
that place, and that was not the, question now 'be-
fore the Court It was obvious, then, and in fat}
the truth must strike the mind of every liberal man;
that we could riot send out any person who was
qualified to fill the high office of the Chief Law of-
. ficer in that Settlement in such circumstances that
he must be bound to live there in obscurity and
without that it would be impossible that he could
save in the manner that an Hon. Member (Mr.
KEMBLE) had supposed he could ;" for the expense;
of subsistence in that Island were nearly
.dauble
what they were in any other Settlement; and the
inferior Judges in some other "parts of our Eastern
,Territory had a salary of 50001. a year. Another
Member (Mr. JOHNSTONE) had supposed that a so-
litary case had been made out, for the purpose of
enforcing the necessity of appointing a criminal tri
builal at this place ; but be could inform that Mem—

her of inn such 'instances; and' to his knowledge
prisgners were sent arrnot every fortnight- to Cal-
cutta. In answer to the idea of sending the Sepoy
who had been spoken of, or any other person,. to a
military tribunal, he would say that it would be ex-
tremely improper to have any civil offence tried by
a military tribUnal, where a civil Court could'
possibly be'resorted to— tae civil always sUperseded
the militry tribunal. \ Upon the Whole view of the
subject, he hoped that, for the credit of the Court
of Proprietors,-for' the credit of the Company, and
for. the sake of that decent respeft 'which is due
to the situation of the Supreine Judge of the Esta-.
blishment, the sum of three thousand pounds per

anntim'would, at least, be voted to that Officer, and
a-pension of one thousand pounds upon his retire-
' ment, if he should be so fortunate as to survive thit
ten years arduous duty.
The CHAIRMAN appealed'to any Gentleman who
was at all acquainted with Ind,a to decide upon the
importance of Prince of Wales's Island', considered
as a naval depot, and as a place of succour to our.
Shipping at the time of the Monsoons. Most pro-,.
bably the thing would not happen this War but if
a French Fleet-‘u-Is to escape to the Indian Seas, the
importance, of this_lsland would then be manifest,.
This would. in itself be sutErjent to justify the main:
a
,nce of regular establishment at that place.
lift its advantages in a Commercial point of view
kk ere ilk() of the utmost importance : from its local
situitic;n, being placed between the great Eastern
-and Western Seas, it afforded such facilities to com-
merce, as nothing but a total want of consideration .
of the subje& could, induce any Member of that
Court to think lightly. of, As to the 'idea of sur-.
rendering the Government of that place to the State,
he thought it might be productive of Abe most se-

rious consequences--a place that was* in the very
centre of the Company's territory-7-a place that
posSessed every convenience for building Ships of all
descriptions almost. Then, with respeol to the sa-
laries of the Offieers,' the Hon. Gentleman on the
left below the bar (Mr. Joni7sToNE) had most un-
accountably exaggerated • every one of them wins
nearly doubled ; one (the Surgeon's) was exa&ly
doubled ;, and the necessity of having a criminal tri-
bonal at this place, competent to try cases of felony,
would be seen when Gentlemen were informed,
that it cost the Company 7000 dollars in the•course
of seven months for the transfer of prisoners from
this place to Calcutta, and that the Jails were
now crowded with felons. Bombay had cost the
Company an immense sum of money—and by the
late acquisitions of territory it may now be capable
of defraying the expences annexed to its establish-
ment. But still it was to be observed, that Bombay,
is not a Naval situation, and that if we have a place
of that description, it appeared to him to be incum-
bent on us to' take every opportunity of increasing
the advantages of such a situation:- If it was ne-
cessary that a Criminal Tribunal should be appointed'
in that Island, 'and that he-believed he had already
sufficiently established; the head of that Court, must.
be a Gentleman of education and_ ability, and-we)!
ought, to reward him in proportion ; besides that,
it must be 'Obvious,' that 4 Judge would-not impress
that-degree of reverential awe to which his station
was, entitled'Tif he were td live on a limited and
narrow scale, ‘sUch as might be abundance 'for a
man! in an inferior situation. Upon the whole, he
assured The Court, teat he 'continued to be of the
opinion that' he formerly stated, that 40001.
a-year- was rather too small an intome to be an-:
nexed to so unportant,an bffiCe, in one of the most
expensive parts of our l'Osp“ion.s. however,- in
order that be might conform to the wishes of his*
constituents, he had agreed to the granting Of a
smaller salary to that Officer—arid he should be.very
sorry indeed if the' East India Company's affairs
were in such a situation that'they could, not afford to .
reward their Servants 'according to the dignity of the
situation which they 'filled.
Mr. HUpDLESTONE, in consideration of the talents
and education of the person who was to fill the situa-
tion, agreed-to the Vote of 30001. a-year salary ; but
he could by no means concur in the idea of a cer-
tain pension', to be voted prospectively, without as-
certain inew 'tether the person. who .filled` the office
would be entitled to such a reward from the merit
of his services, and. without ascertaining what might
be the4neans of the Company to pay that sum in ten
years time. •

Mr. JOHNSTONE and the Right Hon. CHAIRMAN
mutually explained.

Sir HUGH INGLis supported the two propositions;
as to the first, he thought that 30001. was rather
too small a salary for a Gentleman who should have
obtained any degree of celebrity in a Learned Pro-
fession—and as to the second, he could not think of
suffering a man to return home, after ten years
fatigue in the service of the Company, without some
provision, as it was evident that he would by that
time have lost all his former connexions here, and
might, besides, have suffered materially in his con-
stitution, from being so long in a climate to which
he was unused.

The Question was then put on the first Resolu-
tion, which was carried with only three dissenting
voices.

Upon the Question being put from the Chair that
the Court agree with the 2d Resolution,
Mr. INGLIS, Mr. BRIM, Mr. KEMBLE, and Mr.
JogNsToNa, opposed the Motion—the CHAIRMAN
and Mr. CorFoN supported it.
In the course of the Debate it was stated by the
CHAIRMAN, that he and some:other Direaors had
been of opinion that the judicial, proceedings of the
Island might be managed as well. by a Mayor and
Aldermen
,as by any Court. composed of 'persons
learned in the law—but that they had given way to
the . opinions of several others whom they thought
were more competent to judge in such cases, as well
as those of three successive Administrations of the
Country. •

On the, Question. being put again, a division was
called for, and the Motion was lost by a mojority- of
fifieen... •

Adjourned

The improvethents at the Parliament House are
going oniwith the greatest activity,. and whin com-
pleted will have a most magnificent appearance.
The entrance.into the House of Lorils will be en-
tirely new; and the ParliaMent Hotel is pulled down,
'and will 'be converted into Ofikes. In- the front
towards Cotton-Garden,- three Gothic. towers are in
a,state of great forwardness, which will be embel-
lished. by two Gothic bow=windovvs, after designs
by Lady GREN-VU.LE. ,There -will be a new entrance
into Westminster Hall fronf the- Hodse of 'Coin-
Mons.... All the Exchequer Bill "Offices are altered.
The body of St. Margaret's Church :% ill soon be vi-
sit,* from Palace-yard, as -the old houses in the front
of it are nearly pulled down ; and the: Board of Ord-
nance. will also be pulled down, a notice having teen
given to quit it by the 7th of next month: • West-
minster Abbey- will also he repaired ; the towers to-
wards the House of :Lords, which are in a very
decayed state, will- he new plaistered with succo, and
the ornaments repaired to.theiror;ginal state. The,
whole of..this extensive workis under tne direEtion
of J. T. G o VEs, Esq. .