The Sun.
London, England, 1825-02-03 00:00:00

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]
- .

We had occasion, on Monday last, to notice
the mis-statements of The Times on the subject of
the Deccan booty. We have now to call the at-
tention of our readers to the glaring inaccuracies
of The Courier, in an article on this subject in
his last night's publication.—The Courier is
pleased to assert, that the property captured by
the army, 44 exceeding in value five millions of
pounds sterling," is improperly kept back by the
East India Company. This property, we under-
stand, falls short, in any view, of one million
sterling ; and the East India Company, instead of
withholding it, have been exceed,ingly desi-
rous to pay over whatever should be adjudged
by the Crown to belong to the Army, at the
earliest possible date. This adjudication by the
Crown has only taken place within the last
week; and until that took place it was impos-
sible for the East India Company to pay one
farthing of it to the troops. Let it be observed,
that Indian interest, twice as great as English in-
terest, is allowed by the Company for all prize-
money paid into the Treasury in India, from the
date of its receipt to the date of repayment. We
understand that the following were the real causes
which have prevented the distribution of this
booty at an earlier period :—lt will be recollect-
ed that the military operations in India during
the period to which the present question has re-
ference, were of great magnitude, and combined
the movement upon one point of nearly the
whole of the armies of Bengal, Madras, and
Bombay, that the Marquess of Hastings took the
field as Commander-in-Chief in India ; and Sir
Thomas Hislop as Commander-in-Chief of the
army of the Deccan. Whilst the operations
were in progress, Lord Hastings announced to
the army, that whatever booty might be taken
by any division, should be shared separately
by that division ; and not by the army
at large ; but in consequence of sonic claims
which were set up by a portion of the troops
to a combined participation, his Lordship after-
wards altered his instructions, and directed that
booty should be held in deposit to await his Ma-
jesty's pleasure. Lord Hastings then memorial-
ised the Authorities in England, soliciting on
behalf of the army of Bengal, that they might be
admitted to participate in the booty taken in this
campaign. Sir Thomas Hislop, on the other hand,
who commanded the army of the Deccan, by which

nearly all the captures were efFected, made
strong solicitations that the distribution should be
confined to the actual captors. The Court of.
Directors lost no time in submitting this question
to the Lords of.the Treasury, but in consequence
of the legal impediments thrown in the way by
the advisers of the respective parties to the ap-
peal, their Lordships did not arrive at a decision
on the point, although submitted to them in
March, 1819, until March, 1823. It is known
that the decision was in favour of the actual cap-
tors. Having arrived at this decision, there
were other questions to be settled of great
importance. The booty had been deposited i❑
the Treasuries of the Local Governments,
under the orders of the Marquess of Hastings.
—lts amount was ascertained, and it might
have been distributed at once ; but there was
other property, which, although not taken by
any portion of the troops, had fallen into -the
hands of the East India Company in conse-
quence of the war, and which Lord Hastings had.

determined was not to be considered as prize or
booty. To this property, however, Sir Thomas'
Hislop laid claim ; and it has been only within
the last fortnight that the Lords of the Treasury
have decided the question. The East India
Company have in no way opposed the grant
of the property. All that they have done has
been to lay the whole of the Papers, containing
Lord Hastings's decision gild the grounds of it,
before the Lords of the Treasury, in order that
their Lordships might have a full view of the
question. The documents, however, were ex-
ceedingly voluminous, involving many points of
considerable intricacy and difficulty, and the
delay in determining upon their contents has,
we believe, for the most part been unavoid-
able. In all former wars, the Crown has
made a grant to the.: East india Company
of the whole of the
,booty, one half for
their own use to defray the expences of car-
rying-oh the war, the other half for distribution
amongst the
.troops : and the Company have in-
variably given up their moiety to the army. Had
a similar grant been made on the present occasion,
we venture to assert, that the prize taken in 1818
would long since haye been distributed. It is pro-
per to notice, that as soon as the operations in the
hit& war closedi the ,Ai.ithorities in India, in con-
sideration of the fatigues to which the troops had
been'exposed,-and-of the probable insignificance
of the booty, made - them a -donation of pay,
which cost the Company not less than 200,0001.
As to the murmurs amongst the native troops, on
the occasion of their embarking on the late war
against the Burmese, in consequence of the delay
in the distribution of this booty, to which The
Courier gives credit, the whole story is false. So
far from this being the case, the native troops
never evinced greater ardour and alacrity in pro-
, eeeding on foreign service.