The Sun.
London, England, 1824-06-14 00:00:00

STATE PAPER,.

( Concluded from Saturdai 'SSUN.)
TREATY between His BRITANNIC MAJESTY and the
KIND of the NETHERLANDS, respecting TERRI-
TORY and COMMERCE in the EAST INDlES.—Signed
at London, March 17, 1824.
[Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His
Majesty.]

NOTE addressed by the BRITISH PLENIPOTENTIARIES tO
the PLENIPO TE TIARIES of the NETHERLANDS.

In. proceeding to the signature of the Treaty
which has been agreed upon, the Plenipotentiaris of his Brit-
tank Majesty have great satisfaction in recording their sense of
the friendly and liberal spirit which has been evinced by their
Excellencies the Plenipotentiaries of his Netherland Majesty
and their conviction that their is, on both sides, an equal dis-
position to carry into effect, with sincerity and good faith, the
Stipulations of the beAly, in the sense in which they have been
negotiated.
The differences which gave rise to the present discussion,
are such as it is difficult to adjust by formal stipulation : con-
sisting, in great part, of jealousies and suspicions, and arising
out of the acts of subordinate Agents, they can only be removed
by a frank declaration cf intention, and a. mutual understanding
as to principles between the Governments themselves.
The disavowal of the proceedings whereby the execution of
the Convention, of August 1814, was retarded, must have satis-
fied their Excellencies the Netherland Plenipotentiaries, of the
scrupulous regard with which England always fulfils her en-
gagements.

The British Plenipotentiaries record, with sincere pleasure,
the solemn disavowal on the part of the Netherlend Govern-
ment, of any design to aim, either at political supremacy, or
at commercial monopoly, in the Eastern Archipelago. They
willingly acknowledge the readiness with which the Nether-
land Plenipotentiaries haVe entered into stipulations, calculated
to promote the most perfect freedom of trade between the sub-
jects of the two Crowns, and their respective dependencies, in
that part of the world.

The Undersigned are authorized to express the full concur.
.rence of his Britannic Majesty, in the enlightened views of his
Majesty the King of the Netherlands.
Aware of the difficulty of adapting, at once, to a long esta-
blished system of monopoly, the principles of commercial
policy which are now laid down, the Undersigned have been
-authorized to consent to the exception of the Molucca Islands
from. the general stipulation for freedom of trade, contained in
the Treaty. They trust, however, that, as the necessity for this
exception is occasioned solely by the difficulty of abrogating, at
the present moment, the monopoly of Spices, its opearatiOn will
be strictly limited by that necessity.
The British Plenipotentiaries understand the term Moluccas
as applicable to that cluster of Islands, which has Celebes to
the Westward, New Guinea to the Eastward, and Timor to the
Southward ; but that these three Islands are not comprehended
in the exception : nor would it have included Ceram, if the
situation of that Island, in reference to the two principle Spice
Islands, Amhoyne and Band; had not required a prohibition of
intercourse with it, so long as the monopoly of Spices shall-be
Maintained.

The Territorial exchanges which have been thought expo
dient for avoiding a collision of interests, render it incumbent
upon the Plenipotentiaries of his Britannic Majesty to make,
and to require, some explanations with respect to the depend-
ents and allies of England, in the Island from which she is
about to withdraw.

A Treaty concluded in the year 1819, by British agents, with
the King of Acheen, is incompatible with the 3d Article of the
present treaty. The British, Pleni”otentiaries therefore under-
take, that the Treaty with Acheen-ishall, as soon as possible,
vessels in the port of Acheen...._
and subjects beepntiootnliofifedßrinittiosha simple arrangement for the hospitable re-
ception as some of the provisions of that Treaty, (which has been
communicated to the Netherland Plenipotentiaries) will be con-
ducive to the general interests of
Europeans established in the
Eastern Seas, they trust that the Netherland Government will
take measures for securing the benefit of those provisions.—
And they express their confidence, that no measures, hostile
the King of Acheen, will be adopted by the new possessor of
Fort Marlborough.
It is no less the ditty of the British Plenipotentiaries to re-
commend to the friendly and Paternal protection of the Nether-
land Government, the interests of the natives and settlers, sub-
ject to the ancient factory of England at Bencoolen.
This appeal is the more necessary, because, so lately as the
year 1818 Treaties were made with the Native Chiefs, by which
their situation was much improved. The system of forced cul-
tivation and delivery of pepper was abolished ; encouragement
w
Rice ; the relations between the
cultivating
giventivatin to
gclathsse
eicultivation of
dtiiecinefs of the Districts were adjusted ;
the property of the soil was recognized in those Chiefs; and all
interference in the detailed manageinent of the interior was
withdrawn, by removing
i the European residents from the out-
stations, and substituting n their room native officers. All
these measures were calculated greatly to promote the interests
of the native inhabitants.

In recommending these interests to the care of the Nether-
land Government, the undersigned request the Plenipotentiaries
of his Netherland Majesty to assure their Government, that a
corresponding attention will be paid, on the part of the British
Authorities, to the inhabitants of Malacca, and the other
Netherland Settlements, which are transferred to Great Britain.
In conclusion, the Plenipotentiaries of his Britannic 'Majesty
congratulate their Excellencies the Netherland Plenipoten-.
tiaries, upon the happy termination of their conferencies. They
feel assured, that, under the arrangement which is now con-
cluded, the commerce of both nations will flourish, and that
the two Allies will preserve inviolate in Asia,'no less than in
Europe, the friendship which has, from • old times, subsisted
between them. The disputes being now ended, which, during
two centuries, have occasionally produced irritation, there
will henceforward be no rivalry between the English and the
Dutch nations in the East, except for the more effectual esta-
blishment of those principles of liberal -policy which both have
this day asserted in the face of the world.
Excellencies the Plenipoten-
tiaries . .
will accept the assurances of
tiaTriehise oufnhdiesrsNigentheedrlraert
their. distinguished consideration.
(Signed) est
Majesty, their E
- GEORGE CANNING.
CHARLES WATKIN WILLIAMS WYNN.
London, March 17, 1824.
[TRANSLATION.]
REFLY of the NETIIERLAI.TD PLENIPOTENTIARIES to the
NOTE of the Px.rwiPoTENTlaltiEs of GREAT BRITAIN.
The undersigned, Plenipotentiaries of his
of the Netherlands, have tound in the Note, which is just de-
Majesty the King
livered to them by their Exceliencie"le British Plenipoten-
tiaries, a faithful recapitulation of the communications which
had taken place at the time, when
circumstances, independent
of the will of the Negotiators, caused a suspension of their con.
ferences.

Summoned to resume a work, the completion of which has
ever been desired with equal sincerity by both patties, the un-
dersignedthis work, that spirit of equity and conciliation-, which facili-
have not failed to recognize in their co-labourers in
tates the arrangement of the most complicated questions, and
to which they cannot do justice at a time more fitting, than that
which is about to sanction, by the signature of a formal Treaty,
the resolutions, adopted after a most strict examination, as
eminently usetill for the maintenance of a good understand-
ing, even among the inferior Agents of the Contracting
Powers.

This essential aim and principal tendency of the Treaty is
evident to all who read its different Articles with attention.—
removal, by common consent, cif all uncertainty which might
What is therein expressly stipulated ought to suffice for the
present itself in the sequel. llowever, as the British Plenipo-
tentiaries have considered it necessary to enter into some further

details, the undersigned, who, o❑ their part, are sensible of the
importance of leaving nothing doubtful in so important a mat-.
ter, have no difficulty in following them through these de-
tails, and in supplying; by a concise display of their view of
the subject, the answer which is due from them to the afore-
said Note of their Excellencies. _ . .

The 7th Article contains an exception to the general principle
of liberty of commerce. The necessity of that exception, al-
ready admitted by England in the conferences of .1320, rests
upon the existence of the system which respects the exclusive
trade in spice. Should the determinations of the Government
of the Netherlands lead to the abandonment of that system, the
rights of free trade will be immediately restored, and the whole
of that Archipelago, which haS been very justly described as
.comprised between Celebes, Timor, and New Guinea, will be
open to all lawful speculations, on the footing to be established
by local ordinances, and, so far as particularly concerns the
subjects of his Britannic Majesty, in conformity with the
grounds sanctioned by the Treaty for all the Asiatic possessions
of the two Contracting Powers.
On the other hand, so long, as the exception in question re-
mains in force, the ships which traverse the Moluccas must
refrain from touching at any ports but those whereof the de-
scription has been officially communicated to the Maritime
Powers some years back ; -except in cases of distress, in which
it h superfluous to add, that they will find in all places, where
the flag of the Netherlands may he flying, those good offices.
and succours which are due to suffering humanity.
If the Government of Great Britain conceives it to be a real
advantage, that by disengaging itself, according to the prin-
ciples sanctioned by the Treaty which is about to be signed,
from the connections which were formed by its agents four.or
five years ago, in the kingdom of Acheen, it secures, by some.
new clause, the hospitable reception of British vessels and sub-
jects in the ports of that kingdom ; the undersigned hesitate
not to declare, that, on their part, they do not see any difficulty
in it, and conceive that they may assert, at the same time, that
their Government will apply itself, without delay, to regulate
its relations with Acheen, in such a manner that that State,
without losing any thing of its independence, may offer both to
the sailor and the merchant, that constant security which can
only be established by the moderate exercise of European in-
fluence:

In support of the information contained in the last Note of
the British Plenipotentiaries on the subject of Bencoolen, their
Excellencies have communicated to the undersigned the two
Conventions respectively signed on the 23d of May and the 4th
of July 1818, by the Lieut.-Governor of that Establishment, on
the one side, and by the Chiefs of some neighbouring Tribes, on
. the other. They have likewise communicated a dispatch of the
Governor-Gen. in Conn cil,dated Fort William the 9 tit °fill ay 1823,
and according to which the British Government has abolished at
Fort Malborough the monopoly of pepper; encourage the cul-
tivation of rice ; and placed on a firm and uniform footing the
relations of the different classes of natives, as well among
themselves, as with their Chiefs. But inasmuch as the under-
signed are not wrong in supposing that the object of these ar-
rangements has been, the- security of the agricultural prosperity
of the Colony, and the removal of the vexatious which often
result from the immediate contact of the native population
with the subordinate authorities of a Foreign Government,
they experience great satisfaction in saying, that, far from
having cause to dread retroactive measures, the individuals in-
terested in the existing order of things may, on the contrary,
cherish the hope that the new Government will respect their.
acquired rights, and their welfare ; and, what the undersigned
are above all things desirous to guarantee, that it will cause.
the Articles of the above-mentioned Conventions to be observ,,
ed, on the.faith of which the inhabitants of Pasummah, Ulu
Manna, and the other Colonists in the interior, have recog-
nized the authority, or accepted the protection of the British
East India Company, saving, however, the power of substitut-
ing, with 'the full consent of the parties interested, 'other ana-
logous conditions, is circumstances should render a change
necessary. '
With respect to the equitable and benign intentions of the
British Government, towards ,the inhabitants of Malacca, and
the other Dutch Establishments ceded by the Treaty, the Ple-
nipotentiaries of his Majesty the King,of the Netherlands, ac-
cept the assurance thereof with unlimited confidence; and the
same sentiment prevents them from insisting that the orders and
instuctions which shall be addressed to the English Authorities
in India, relative to the surrender of Fort Marlborough, and
its Dependencies, should be conceived in such clear, precise,
and positive terms, that no cause of uncertainty, or any pre-
text for. delay, may be discovered in them :—beiug persuad-
ed that the British Plenipotentiaries, after having accomplished
their labours with so much moderation and equity, will take
care that the result of their common exertions be not compro-
mised by any regard to subordinate interests and secondary con-
siderations. This result the British Plenipotentiaries them-
selves have described in their last Note, and it only remains for
undersigned to congratulate themselves on having contri-
butedthereto, anti to unite their wishes with those of their the
Ex-
cellencies, that their respective agents in their Asiatic posses-
sions, may ever shew themselves sensible of the duties which
two friendly nations, animated with truly liberal views, have to
fulfil, both with reference to each other, and also towards the
natives whom the course of events or Treaties have placed
under their influence.

The undersigned avail themselves of this opportunity of re-
newing to their Excellencies the British Plenipotentiaries, the
assurances of their most distinguished consideration.
(Signed) H. FAGEL.
London, March 17, 11124. A. R. FALCK.

MR. OWEN'S REPLY

To PROCEEDINGS of the GENERAL ASSEMBLY of
SCOTLAND, relative to the NEW LANARK SCHOOLS

REVEREND Sins—ln the Report of the pro-
ceedings of your last Meeting, as published in the
Glasgow Chronicle of the first of June, which I
have just read, I find the following paragraph :

" A correspondence was read, from which it
appeared, that Mr. OwEx of New Lanark had
refused the Presbytery of Lanark admittance td
examine his Schools last April. The Assembly
unanimously appointed a Committee to confer with
his Majesty's Solicitor-General, that the proper
steps may be taken to enforce a strict compliance
with the acts which require Presbyteries to exa.;
mine all the public and private schools within
their bounds."

It is true, Reverend Sirs, that I did refuse the
Presbytery of Lanark admittance into our pri-
vate schools at New Lanark,—but I added, that
as gentlemen and neighbours, I should be at all
times happy to see them in their individual ca-
pacity, and to shew them the schools and every
other part of the Establishment.
I refused admittance to the Presbytery of
Lanark, because .they claimed that as a right, to
which I believe they have no title whatever. I
refused it, because in a former exorcise of this
supposed right, they appear to the to. have dis-
played a total want of whatever appertains to
pure and genuine religion.
I thank yOu most cordially, Reverend sirs, for
thus bringing the subject fairly before the public,
because I wish the public to judge between us.
You claim an inquisitorial right over the con-
sciences of those who live within your bounds:
I deny that right upon principles of the most.
simple and obvious justice. Every man must of
necessitu believe what appears to him true, and
cannot bp possibility believe what appears to him
false. To force any other expression of opinion
from him, is to force him to become a hypocrite.
By such proceedings has insincerity .been univer-
sally formed, and 'vice made to abotind : by such
-proceedings
,arc.deception and hypocrisy at this
hour successfully forced upon the minds of the
rising generation..
You have the right, in common with all other
men, of expressing your opinions in the way of
fair argument. If that right prove insufficient
for their support, any attempt to force them upon
the minds of those who are unwilling to receive
them, willhe considered, in the present advanced
state of the human mind, as a futile desire to ex,
ercise a monstrous pcivver, which, as it can only
engender. and perpetuate vice, will never agalny
I trust, be recognised as belonging to any indi,
victual or to any body of men.

You, Reverend Sirs, are a body, professing,
like many other bodies of awn, who difFer ma-
terially from you, to have discovered and to be
who are
subjectsco usci
yeonu.
exclusively in possession of True Religion.
oe
f many millions v
tio
Iu
sl am n y
oobl
gd an
have lamentably erred, and that your practice
proves how much you have been mistaken.
There are at present many contending compe.
titors for the discovery of true relivioti. When
true religion is discovered, it will he easily
known, because it will make men charitable and
kind to all. Now as no such general character,
up to the present period, has been formed, is it
not reasonable to conclude that pure and genuine
religion, freed from corruptions and errors, does
no where exist ?

This is the age of great "discoveries, and of
much competition. I cannot avoid believing that
I am in possession of that which has been so ar-
dently sought for, TRUTH ON THE SUBJECT Or
RELIGION ; and I mean almost inunediately to
bring my sentiments into competition with yours,
and with those of all the . other searchers for
truth on this most important subject. Titelriendly
contest between us, as I hope it will be, must be
decided, not by. anger and irritation, not by jea-
lousies, and a desire for power to do evil, but by
the fruits which shall respectively be produced.
These considerations bring the difference be-
tween us to a point. If your system of religion
and.morals shall he found in practice to' "form the
more virtuous .individual character, . and the
better state of society, then will I come over
to your views, and aid and assist you to the
utmost of my. powers ; but if, on the contrary, I
. I
should discover to you the principles upon which
4,
and
consistent in all
,its parts;
alone can be founded a religion pure, simple,
a religion which shall
form men to be kind and charitable to all, what-
ever be their difference of opinion, which shall
withdraw from men all desire to domineer over
their.fellows, or to dictate to their consciences, or
all violent support for itself, and all
in any manner to do them an injury ; a religion,
which shaltreject, as worse than useless, all exclu-
sive
of conversion; a religion whose
privilegesine
willa 71'sthink it unworthy their support. if
i brciue
only weapon is dispassionate argument, and whose
;—then 'do
abuses and
followers„, it Ha weapon they cannot defend it
the
eadopt 'those
elrreoxrir
(t.thyaotu you
will
present relinquish
system,
alt,
principles,
m y
mysterious night of darkness icohl shall,ereloniegs,: anddi d
seloecepseti:
you and to the world.•
The
cheering light of truth
five to experience, in you, Reverend Sirs, may
tion is expiring, and the
begins to appear. That
peace and quietness, the
benefit of this light, is the sincere wish of your
faithful Servant, _

ROBERT OWEN.

125, Pall-Mall, 9th June, 1824.