The Sun.
London, England, 1809-03-30 00:00:00

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14,,'Iertlav' a (lorteth Gereral Court of the East
.
Company was hdd, purspnt to. public notice.
After the proceedings-of the lastCLort, and some
a,t,"Oonts were read,
.• , .
Te."C hHAittmAN called the rti,eniion of the Court
to time Report of the Committee of' tht4t. House of;
Commons, appointed to inquire into the Osteoce of
nboses in the disposal of the patronage of the East
India Company; After a few pre;atory remarks, he
proptAt.td, " That the said Report be now read ;"
which hi..ing,agreed to, the Clerk read the Report.
The COAIRAIAN was .then proceeding to move
other holiness of the day ; when
Mr. RANtiALL. JAcksoN rose, and said, he could
not suifer this.subjea to pass without expressing his
titOlogs of indignation on hearing this long list of abo-
nritmable 'and base corruption ; .was,what he little
Imp:tiled to have heard.-.-it Was entirely new to him.
It. the Court ot,DireClors did not lift up their voice
upon the present occaskm, it might everovially go to
the utter extiret,ion of the -Company. When, in
the year Iso 1., the question for inquiry into the
abuse of patronage was lost by, a nrjority 'of
one hundred and forty, Inc. thought it might
one day or other be brought up in jodgment,against
the Directors, but never anticipated it to the. ix-
tent io which It now appeared. It was not his
intention to take op time time of • the ..court,
w;,hc-a the. ttept»t should be printed for the
'use alhe Members; of the Court, and intimated his
intentioti of' moyipg to that etrect. however,
stains! , nut sit down -wilhont ng his
• senti-
' of gratitude and admitai,ot, of the worthy
‘4reOor,' who, when in the HOuve of, commons,
iffirnediltely upon time sobjea• beiog mentioned by
Mauna!), tOok Op time business, and brought these
iniqoitous transactions to light ; •ft time me time he
felt. he owed to the character olanot her Wort hy,friend
of his, to state los coils ictoo, Ow, had. tie been pre-
sent, he would have pursued a similar course. Mr.
. JaCkson then adverted to the Bill bet Ore time House
or,Cotomons• for checking the sale of -places, antj
thought it a subject w unity of the serious considera-
foil of the Conrr, whether the provisions of that Bill
should not btl extended to the sale of places within
the patronage of the .East India Company./ Nothing‘
short of making time offence a misdemeanour would
cheek the prattice. There was one more subjea up-
on which he wished to say a few wards, viz, the lia-
bility to punishment 'of these wholesale dealers in
'places; lie was aware of the difficulties mentiooed
by tile Chancellor of the Exchequer; shit he•was
of opinion, that as laws existed against such. ,prac7-
tic'es, those win) broke through them Might be Imo-_
niihe4,, whatever the rank ht the wretches
ba;
.even to the saere.i functions of a Chaplain. He
perceived that. the Directors were acquitted of orti-
cipatiOn,,and pledged himself to take up the subject
in ct manner Much. 0041 prevent such. abuses in ,
. fatutoescaping unpunished he would take it
not on time grounds of being a friend to morality, a
title which he should be proud: to. attain, but as a
friinid to the best interests of the East India Com-r
piny. He then Foneluded with moving, e' That
this RePort he printed fOr the use of the Members
of the Coon," '
w nes kild, be was convi [teed the ott•
tronage of the Direttors had increased, was
• crealing, mid ought to be diminished • and wished ,
part of the pa't ronage was aOpropriated to a funS for
the widows and orphans of those who hid, died in
their sent ice. He then proposed a. vote of Thanks
'to Mr. G. Sruith, for the, Tanner which he bad
taken up this subj"ett tholiousc of Cointoons.•
Mr. GOtrur said, he.was happy that the senti...•4
mfmnis Of the. Dircaora coincided vs,ith those which
had thllen from ' 14Ir. JaCkSon. • Time Court bad
meant to -let the subject drops alter reading lire
Report, till they could bring forward some decided
opinion upon the labjea. Theyhrid only obiabied,
by favour, a copy yesterday, and meant to consider
it further to-morrow they had-it now withou't 'the
Appen !ix, which would contain the evidence, and
which would not be ready tor some days; it was
the subject thus impeller:lly before
them, the Chaim man did-out propose entering, inio
discuSsion this day. As•to the proposition for
imrioting the 'Repoli., lea was not aware of anz-oti-
jebioil; upori the, point of decorum, as they
.received (twin by favour, ati4 before they were re,.
gularly distributed. "
it was. then agreed that the Report, together- with.
the ',Appendix, as' satin as •it • could be obtained,
litoOd be printed for the use of the Members of the
Court,
Mr...LowNimes pressed his motion for a vote of
' Thanks. to Mr: Smith,
Ja,ox,soN thought; .while he gave credit to.
the mover for his motives, that it would More prim-
petty Come forward at a future day.
Mr. %Mit diwlainted .any particular merit. it
was only by chance, he said, that he -reiniiined in,
the EOllBBOl. Congruous, when it Wag very thin, and
' WAS convincedilmact any of Iti.s colleagues been tliere,
they would have dooe'aa, be had done. Reports in •
jurists to the Direaor. had gained ground, relative
to the disposal of panonag, and they had inetfec
tually endeavoured to trace it to its source. .Before
lie sat down lie wished to state, merely as an aft of
;justice to an lion.: Fiiend of his (Mr. Thellusson).
now a Candidate for the Directurship, that although
his patrenimge had been abused, he was convinced it.
wiry entirely without his knowledge.
Mr. LOWNOBI then agreed to withdraw his ma-
ti on.

Mr. TRORSTOW said, it was owing to the Mem-
ncrs..of the Court of. Direttors 'that- the inquiry had
been to effeaually prosecuted.. When he lest the
House of Commons, it was between tmn, 3nd two
o'clock, when nothing more of an important nature
wasexpeCied.
GnAlar thonght it necessary to state what
steps the Court of Direetors lyad taken. :,Mr. Smith
on the following day to (hat 9n which the subject
had been mentioned, gated to the Cann d what ha
passed, when the Court restiested Mr: Smith, and
two other Members, to move for a Committee to
inquire into these abuies, so that as this measure
originated with hie Dire:4l6re, it was but justice to
tittribute it to their zeal.
The CH A faM As then proposed, " That the Re-
port of the Committee, recommending the appoint.l