The Sun.
London, England, 1825-02-21 00:00:00

EAST INDIA HOUSE.

THE MARQUIS OF HASTINGS.

A Special Court. of Proprietors of East India
Stock was held on Saturday, by adjournment, at the. East In-
dia House, in Leadenhall-street, for the purpose of taking into
consideration the Hydrabad papers, so far as they respected the
conduct of the Most Noble the 3larquis of Hastings, late Go-
vernor-General of India.

The CHAT RATAN (W. Astell, Esq. M.P.). said that he had to
inform the Court that they were now stet by adiountinent of a
Special Court, called at the request of nine Honourable Propri-
etors, to consider the papers laid before them, in pursuance of
the order made for that purpose at the Court of Proprietors,held
on the 3d day of March last.
The SECRETARY then read the requisition. He also read
the original motion made by the Honourable Douglas Kinnaird,
viz.—" That this Honourable Court, having taken into consi-
deration, ordered to be printed, and laid, before it, at a Court
held on the 3d of March last; relating to certain pecuniary
transactions with the house of M essrs. l'illiams;Paltner, and Co.
at Hydrabad,is of opinion that there is nothing contained therein
Whicb tends to affect in the slightest degree the personal charac-
ter, integrity, and' honour of the late Governor-General of In-
dia, the Moat Noble the Marquis of Hastings.".
The amendment, moved by the Chairman, and seconded by
Sir George Robinson, was then read, viz.—" That this Hon.
Court, having taken into Consideration' the papers laid be-
fore it relative to certain pecuniary transactions with the house
of Messrs. Palmer anti Co. at Hydrabad, • is of opinion that
there is no ground for imputing corrupt motives to the Most
Noble the i%larquis of Hastings, late Governor-General of In-
dia, nor to-any other Member of the Bengal Government; but
at the same time it feels itself called upon to express its appro-
val of-the several dispatches to India, made by the Honour-
able Court'of Directors, on the 24th of May, 1820; 28th of
November. -1821 ; 9th of April, 1822; and the 21st of
2.
Ja-
nuary;
184." -
Sir. Paa-risosz said, that as he understood there was a copy
of a letter-in the possession of the Chairman, which had been
addressed to the Marquis of Hastings by the Court of Directors,
he wished that letter to be read.
Mr. Fittsurt LD said, that if the Hon. Director had that
letter read, it must be considered as part of his speech, and that
he would not be at liberty, at a subsequent stage of the proceed
ings of the Court, to address it again, as it would be exceedingly
informal for the Hon. Proprietors to call for papers to be read
which did not form part of those now before the Court, and then
afterwards to be allowed to comment upon them.
Mr. Samuel Dixon, Mr. Rigby, and the Lion. Douglas Kin-
naird, severally expressed their opinions as to the propriety of
the letter being read. The latter Hon. Gentleman observed,
that their lion. Chairman had set the example, by engaging
two persons to read for him, at the last meeting, a pile•of docu
ments, as part of his speech, and if that were a had precedent,it
was not the Hon. Director (Mr. Pattison.)
Mr. PAT T ISON said he was. anxious to give information to
the Court ; and if it should be supposed that by having the let-
ter in question read, he should be precluded from speaking af-
terwards, he certainly should consider, that by having the letter
read, he should be rendering more assistance to the Court
than if he were to speak for two hours.
It was finally agreed that the letter should be read. It was
dated the 15th of July; 1624, and written by the Secretary of
the Court of Directors to the Marquis of Hastings, in reply to
certain letters from his Lordship;- in which letter the Directors
said, that whilst they could• not approve of the observations
made by his Lordship, in his letter to them, still less could
they concur in the doctrine expressed by his Lordship, that
where they entertained opinions of disapprobation or suspicion
against any of the Company's servants, that it was incumbent
on them to institute proceedings against them.
Mr. CARRUTHERS rose anti said that the question to be dis-
cussed was one of so painful and delicate a nature, that he re-
gretted it should have been persevered in. lie-had hoped that e
the discussion which had already taken place would have led to
a reconciliation of feeling—(Hear, heart)—by some friend of
the party coming forward, anti so arranging it as that the sub-
ject might have been most satisfactorily put an end to. He felt
that as this had not been done, it was found to be an imprac-
ticable step. It being therefore unavoidable that the Court
should proceed, he trusted that it would proceed with the most ,
temperate and cool deterniination to do justice to all parties.
Sorry should he he to treat this subject in any other way ; rather
would he imitate the Hon. Gentleman who brought forward the
original motion, anti who, by his temperate forbearance, had
obtained the approbation of their lion. Chairman. He now
presented himself before the Court, determined to give his ver-
dict from the evidence before them,. free from all prejudice,
passion, or party feeling. It was stated by an Hon. Member
at the last meeting, whom he did not now see in Court (Mr.
John Smith), that he considered the question to have been nar-
rowed into a very small compass; that it resolved itself, in fact,
into these two questions : did he, or did he not, believe the
Marquis of Hastings to he an bonourablo man ? Now he (Mr.
Carruthers) would say with that lion. Proprietor, that the Mar- i
quis of Hastings. was an honourable man. lilt he must go
further; he must also ask himself, did he or did he not, after
a careful perusal of the papers now before the Court, and a cat-n•
did judgment formed upon the statements contained therein—
did he or did he not (he would repeat) feel that the Marquis of
Hastings, out of a partiality entertained by him towards Sir
William Rumbitld, who was a partner of. the house of Palmer
and Co. fall into the error of favouritism, and use the power
and autlimNty which he possessed as Governor-General, in fur-
therance of that error? He (Mr. Carruthers) could not even
stop here; he felt obliged to carry the question still further,
and ask, whether he did or did not believe the Honourable
Court of Directors were honourable men ? Did he or did he
not believe that they were fully and completely justified, by
the facts that had been communicated to them, and the do-
cuments that were before them, in preparing and sending
out to India those four dispatches which were referred to in
the amendment ? Ile would declare to these questions, that
he did ; that he not only believed the Court of Directors to
be honourable men, but that they were quite justified in
preparing and sending out those dispatches. He should
state to the Court the evidence which led him to this con-
clusion, but lie would endeavour not to occupy much of the
time of the Court, because the same evidence had already
been gone into by his friend (Mr. P.) in a manner alike credit-
able to his feelings and enviable to his talents. He found in p. 5,
of the printed papers, a letter signed by the Marquis of Hast-
ings, in which that Noble Lord stated his reasons for granting
the licence dated 23d July, 1816, to Messrs. Palmer and Co.,
empowering them to make a loan with his Highness the Nizam.
Now, he (Mr. Carruthers) found that that licence contravened
the 13th of Geo. 111., which was passed to prevent British sub-
jects from entering into money transactions with the native
subjects of India i • and this licence, it appeared, was granted for
the benefit of his Highness of Nizam. But it seemed that the
illegality of this measure had so strongly impressed itself on the
minds of the Members of the Council of the Bengal Govern-
ment, that constant opposition was given to it. He next found,
in page 45, a letter front the Noble Marquis, dated 17th June,
1820, in which he said, that they who impugned his conduct
respecting the licence, must be in this alternative—that the
evils of the Nizam of Hydrabad were of less importance to the
Government than the amount of the interest to be paid, or that
the money could be obtained at a less rate, which was known
to be impossible. In consequence of this letter, Mr. Adam
and Sir. Stuart proposed two other modes for raising the re-
quired loan : the one was, that the money necessary for the
Nizam should be furnished by the Bengal Government, and
that security should be taken from the Nizam. Now, when he
(Mr. Carruthers) read this proposition, it appeared to him to be
a good and a sound one ; but it fell to the ground in conse-
quence of an opinion which had been obtained by the Marquis
of Hastings from Mr. Spankie, as to whether it could be carried
into execution. He (Mr. C.) would not stop to observe upon
the manner in which this opinion had been obtained, but would
proceed to page 53 of the printed papers, where he found that
Mr. Adam stated his concern to learn that the plan was viewed
with such repugnance by the Governor-General. In conse-
quence of this plan having been rejected, the Council stated
what course should be observed. Now, what was that course ?
Why, that the money should be obtained by subscription from
the British merchants in India, and the great glut of money in
the India market gave ever) fair ground of believing that the
loan would soon have been raised in that way, and this money
was to be raised fbr the benefit of the Nizam.
Mr. KIN NAIRD—In what year was that ?
Mr. CARRUTHERS-It was immaterial what year; it was
enough for him to state the page.—(Laughter, and cries of
" the date, the date.") It was in the year 1820. -He would
now proceed with his argument. lie found. that that proposi-
tion was made by Mr. Stuart, and sup Ported by Mr. Adam.
In looking at it, he (Sir. Carruthers) must declare, this also
seemed to him to be a very reasonable proposition; and lie was