The Sun.
London, England, 1809-06-22 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY, JUNE. 21 .

At a Quarterly Court of Ploprietors or the East
India company,: held- at their House this day, for
certain Special and General Purposes,
Atter the-Dividend for the Quarter had hen de-
clarecL and agreed to, and the other usual business
gone through,
JACKSON moved that this House at its rising
to-day, do adjourn till this day fortnight, being the
sth of July, to take into consideration the Report
of the Committee of the' House of Commons on
Eat India Patronage, and the. undue disposal of
Writeishipsand Cadetships in that Company's Ser-
vice. Agreed to.

LACANI. •
The Court then proceeded to .the consideration of
the Resolution of. the Court of Direotors of the 7th
of April, tig increasing the Pension. of Mr. Ben-
jamin Lacam, from 6001. to tuoul. per annum, and
Ica- increasing the Pension of his ,5.% Re, from' 4001. to
6001. per annum, in case she should survive him.
the niotion that the Court of Proprietors do
concur in this Resolution---

Sir PRLSTON rose, and bore testimony to the
meriis of Mr. Lacam, and to the very signal service
he had rendered to the cbuntry in general, and to the
East.l.lndia Company in particular, by the invention
or discovery of an eastern passage up the river of Cal-
cutta; instead of the western passage, which proved
clestruelive to two out of every three of the Com-
pany's. ships. He was•friabled the better to judge
on this subje6t, having himself been in the service
of the Company by sea, and iu that capacity having
expehenced the dangers of the one passage, and the
facilities attending the other. He had also while in
Parliament, been Chairman of the Committee to
which Mr. Lacam's claiMs had been referred, and in
that situation had' occasion to know. the.many
testi-
menials borne both by naval officers, and by. those
who had been in the Company's service,' to the uti-
lity of the diseovery, which had been made so far
hick as the year i 775. •
The Honourable Baronet in the course of his
speech was repeatedly interrupted by a Proprietor,
who asserted die invention to have been his, and
not Mr. Lacain's. . •
;In answer to the Honourable Baronet,„ he stated,
that he had been marine surveyor to the Company,
at the time the discovery in question was alleged
to have been made by Mr. Lacam ' • that he tiad pre-
vious to the time at which Mr,. Lacam claimed the
merit of the iovention, made and lodged with the
Company 'a survey of the very passage; and that
Mr. Lacam had merely availed himself of his la.:
bours. In ,fae:t, that...it was an imposture from be-
ginning to end.. -
Mr. i3Eas, one of. the Dire&ors, supported the
assertions of the last Speaker, to whose character
for ability and zeal in the Company's service he bore
the most ample testimony. He referred wake Stir."
veys and charts, and contended that Mr. Lacain's
were:inade without skill, and with as little preten-
sions to the charaCter of scientific charts, .as if he
had,been a persou taking a walk from that Hpuse to
Charing-Cross, who would naturally cliuse the.
shortest. road. .
Mr.ELPRINsToNa, from the experience,. he had in
the naval service of the Company, was enabled to
say, that the Western Passage was a. most difficult
and dangerous one, and which threatened ultimate
destration to the Company's marine. It was with
peculiar 'pleasure he 'learned in the year t 776, that
Mr. Lacain had, discovered the Eastern Passage, and
though be was ready to concur in every tribute to
the ability of the Company's' Marine Surveyor, he
must declare the merit of that discovery to be Mr.
Lacam's. '
.Mr. Ron ram; supported the argnments and asser-
tions of Mr. Babb.
Earl ST.VincENT thought that this question could
best be judged of by professional tneo. He had ne.
ver been in the East Indies, and therefore could not
be stfpposed a competent judge. Justice and hu-
.manity, howeVer, seemed to him to go hand in band
in this instance with professional teitimetty.
'Sir MARK WOOD stared that Mr. Lacam had corn=
municated his discovery to hint se far back as the year
.1771. He was convinced any surveys made by the
Company's
.Mariite Surveyor, whose merits he
should be one of the first to acknowledge,. were then
unknown to Mr. Lacam.

Mr. Y. Mooes stated, that he happened, in the.
year i 775, to be'.appointed.as a junior Member: of
the Revenue Board in India, , to deliver to r Mr. i.
Lacam the pOssession of the land which he was
to receive from the Government' for. his proposed
oration of New' Harbour. On this occasion Mr.
Lacam demanded from him the right to the water
also. , This he had no powers to give, and according-
ly returned to 'the Governor and Council, inform.
ing them of the deficiency of his powers; and, if he
mistook 'not, the Hon. Surveyor, whoM he now saw
for the first time in his life, did give to Mr. Lacam
the possession of the water. lt, theiefore, there
was any objation. to the grant ; if it was,' as the Hon.
Surveyor now stated it to all an imposture, was
not that the most proper period to have detested it ?
The Hon. Surveyor had also stated the passage.
marked as Mr; Lacam's .to imputaicable. The
fact, however, was, that he (Mr. Moore) had' gone'
it along with Mr. Lacatu repeatedly. As to .the,
plea thot no expence had been incurred by Mr.
Lacatn, that be could also cootradia from his own
'knowledge. Be had himself, in Mr. Lacam' s absence,
laid out equal to 10001. at a time, and -the atinal
expenditure, independent of interest, was 60,0001.
Mr. JACKSON followed on the same side, vindi-
cating Mr. Lacam in every particular; pointed out
the injustice„done him by the Government abroad, in
declaring the grant made to hint null and void ; the
hardships he submitted to itf coming twice to this
country, where, after the most laborious inquiries,
his Meritorious Services and unjust treatment were
recOgnized by two Reports of different Committees
of the House of Commons the injustice: again done
him in India by a Report of Surveyors, as to the,hu,
praelicability at his passage, which was absolutely
false ; . the sufferiogs, imprisonments, and privations
which he had thence sustained, and .to which now,
at the age of upwards of seventy, ha was still emios-
ecl, and left it not to the humanity, but . to the jus.
tice of the Court tol say, if this paltry annuity was
any recompense to be conferred ou him at his ad-
vanced period-of life. He proceeded to read some
handsome compliments paid by Mr, Lacam .to. the
Cornpany'a- Surveyor, and lecommended to him,

When tre next Tanceo or Inf.
.I,aCUM, to 10(1uvv au
praise:wprthy an example.'
Lowtons was of opinion, after what. he had
heard, that the compensation was by: no means
adequate..
Mr. GRANT (the Chairman) assured, the court,
Direoors, insitad' 9f yielding to the Impulse of
humanity, Were`of opinion that they'had lett justic'e
unsatisfied.
The ReSoluticn to agree with the Dire6tors in
-the proposed increase was then put, and agreed to
themihe conitadieente:
SIR 1011 K riPPHERSON.;',..
•

The Court then cane to an unaitimoto approva.
of a Resolution of the Court of Dire tors to grant
an annuity of 10001. per ann. to Sir John M‘Plier-
son, Bart., formerly Governor-General of. Bengal,
on condition of his assigning, to the Cowpony a
claim be bad against the Nabob
.of Arcot, in se-
curity of a loan of .10,001. made by the Company
to Sir John.

WRITERS AND CADETS,
q' the C

Mr. SANSOM begged to know if t.
ret.lors had come to any determination in conse-
quence of the recommendation made to them by the
. Court of ProprietOrs, on the subject of the recall from
India of the young men whose ittuaticni had been
procured by improper means..
Mr. GRANT -said, the Dreams had paid every
attention to the rectimmeudation of the Proprietors,
ancthad come to a datision Which they should either
stare now of at meeting, when his Hon. Friend
.(Mr• Jackson) had given notice of his motion on the
subject of the Report of the Committee of the House
of Commons.
Mr. JACKSON, in answer to several questions put
to him, stated, that his objea was not ib propose a
.review of the.,sentence of the Court of DireCtors on
this point.
A tier some conversation it war agreed-, that the
Chairman should now state the.determination of the
Diretlors on, the subject. He ktated, that in corn-
leg to the Resolution they had done, their executive
bo iy had sacrificed their own inclinations to an irn-
- .perinus sense of duty. He then read the Resolu-
tion of the Court, which was, that the Direaors
feeling.,esery deference to the opinion of the_ Pro-
prietors,. and desiroits, ,if in their power, to yield to
their recommendation, felt themselves Under the
necessity, of affirming the Resolution they had come
to They regretted extremely the fate of the young
men who were to Suffer from this decision, princi-
pally through the Molt of their fathers or other re-
latives. But the safety of the Company, and the
charader of the Directors, required them to abide
by the decrsion they had formed. •
Mr. LUSHINGTON submitted to the Dire6tors the
propriety of coosidering, whether they tided agree-
ably .to the different Acts of Parliament, in proceed*
ing in the mode they had adopted:
Mr. Low snits recommended to the consideration
of the Direetots the,observatiens' upon this subject
of that great man,. Sir Satnuel Itomilly, who stood
an high in the opinion of all parties in PArliament,
and throughout the. country; who was equally ad-
mired for the elegance and' discrimination of his
judgment, and the goodness of his heart, and whpse
knowledge and love of equity end justice stood tin-
' rivalled in this country. • Theyeould not suppose
than they did amiss, or 4acriticed their, own charac-
ters, or the interests of the Company, in following
his suggestions.
Mr. TWINING was unwilling to start any question
on the rights which thepiredtors had so long, been
in the use of exercising.
Mr. GaAtiT observed, that the present discussion
was ,irregular, there lteing no question before the
Court. If the exercise of the piredurs' 'rights in
the dismissal of their servants wits now to be endea-
voured to be cootr6uled, it would, he was afraid,
lead to evils of which gentlemen were,not 'aware.
This, however, would come
.more properly to be
discussed, when the motion on the Report 'was laid
before them. Adjourned: ,

:Ourt'o

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