The Sun.
London, England, 1805-04-06 00:00:00

PREvENTioN OF SMUGGLING.

The CHANCBLLOR of the EXCrQUER
'moved, that the kouse should go into a-(..ommittee
to consider the propriety tA making some additionil
provisions to check Smuggling, which would he ri.-
most effedual means of augmenting the Public Re.
venue. The first remedy he would 'propme• Wooi,l
go to check 1110 smuggling of articies of hit,h duty,

• • I • ,
sc. hich Were reiiiited to be colivqed- in
,packages
over a certain size. lie would propose that such
articles, improperly, Conveyed, should be seizable, if
kind within too leagues of the English' coast, if in
English Vessels, for, with respea to our own trade,
we were at liberty to adopt ,what limits .we chose..
Another. provision would fie made with respeet to
Guernsey and the Islands in • its vicinity, where
Smuggling was carried on to an enormous amount.
There would theref:)re be a distinct provision with
respell to Vessels with packages below the legal
size, approaching these Islands nearer than a certain-
distance. A further provision would be made,. when
Ships were seized with. illegal packages on board,
to' make the crews subjett to penalties, unles3 they
transferred themselves, with their own consent, to
His, Majesty's Navy. Thd'e smugglers who should
resist the Officers of His Majesty's Customs to be
subject to the same penalties which now applied to.
resistance to Officers of the Revenue. The sale of
seized spirits in the out.ports, . and the conveyance
of spirits under proof, by permit, to he no longer
allowed.; but all such spirits to he brought up to
town, and applied in the best manner to the Public
ServiCe. The Chairman of the, Currisnittee was
instruded to move for leave-to brit.g in a Bill ac.
emdingly ;. the Report was brought up, and leave
was given.

Mr. FRANCIS rose pursuant to his notice, and,
in a very ooMprehensive Speech, enumerated the past
transatlions, censured the present system, and en.
fervid the acknowledged policy of Britain_ in India.
He began 'with representing, that in proportion as
our Empire in that quarter increased, and it not's,
comprehended the whole ?entre)ls, its burthens and
its difficulties accumulated. This was a proof that
it was not attended to by Parliament. PosSibly it
may be too peat for 'Parliament toafford it that
attention which it required.. If it was so, the
greater the folly of eteritally tteeking to extend
it still more. The extent and remoteness were
unfailing sources of abuse ; but the most alarming
part of the mischief was, that abuses generated Otte
would soon be felt here, and that Empire, which, it
properly governed, would be . a ,anuree of wealth
and strength to us, would bring us but trouble, anti
disaster, anti oppression. 'He took' the liberty of
representing to the House, which. was so much
changed with respea to its Members since he first
entered it, why tie took such an interest in the,afe
fairs of India. Here the Huh. Gentleman stated
briefly and
.runpatentationsly the circumstances' of
his connexipn With India, since • he *first went out
on a Parliamentary, appointment to the Council
of Bengal, in 177.3, and the approbation which
his conduet had received throughout. He thetf,-
"traced the History of the British. Power in In.
dia from its origin, in a permission to trade,
throUgh the successive establishment of faaories,
and. garrisons, to territories area conquests. - From
the acquisition of Bengal in 1.765, it •had been
the opinion of our 'wisest Politicians,
.that `we.
should rather study to preserve, than to in..
crease, 'our indien 'territory. Among these- able
Politicians 'lie' mentioned Lord Clive as the first :
Lard Clive had; restored the couquered possessions
of Sujili Ui Dowlah, on -the express ground that
'the British 'Territory should be confined tai Bengal,
Behar, and Orissa. This was the policy of, Mr.
MASTrNas alto, whose name'he would never mention,
but when he had an opportunity of mentioning it
with approbation. The same principle was en.;
forced in his instruftions. it wso, 045., whet( the
French had an establishment at Pondicherry. Theve-
was a Resolutioo of, Parliement - to,the same effeet
in :1782, -proposed by Lord MELVILLE, often at
the head of the 'Bard df Controel. The same
policy was insisted Lion in the Ael .of .t7S+, and
in the Charter granted in t 793. But sinee that
there had been continued deviai toes, and continual
conquests, acquiesced. in by Parliament, and by
she Country, as if success justified the violation of
-the policy so clearly laid down by the law. To
'thew the magnitude of the British pOwer, and how
little room there was for any apprehension as ta its
security, he enumerated rite, naines,of the Sovereign.
ties either extinguished. by it, or so eompktely
Merged, as to have. no longer an exittenceoulfiL;ient
to alarm. Among these were the_Nebots-of Bengal,
the Rajah of Bemires, the Nabob 'of Ode, the RP-
billet, the , Nabob of .Heliabaci, the -Nabob. of 'the
Carnegie, the Mysore, in whicha child of five years
old we's the Rsjsh, totally .dependent on the. Bri.
tish power, the Rajah of Tanjore, the Sovereign
of Delhi, the Rajah of Tr3V2IOCOO, the Subah 41 the
Decan anti the Nizam. After all this, there. sure.
ly 'Could be no apprehensions for our security
from the Mehrattas. Marquis Wellesley—him.
self had said, that on the extinaion of Tippon,
our security in India was completely establish-
ed. He proceeded then to state the history of our
interference in the disputes of the Matirattae. The
Noble Marquis thought it .prudent to loins a league
of neutrality with this people. This was difficult.
•TheY Were under different Chiefs, and these Chiefs
were at war with each other, but none of them was
guilty of any aggression against us, As the first
step to that which was thought so desirable for us, a
Subsidiary Treaty was set on foot with the Peishwa,
and it was proposed to him to receive a British
Garrison into his capital, anti to eerie a portion of
his territory for the maintenance of this Garrisen.
The.Peithwa was by us sated the Sovereign, with a
view to the uses we might make. of our can.
nexiun with him ; 'but he was, in feet, hut the Mi.
*lister of the Polygar Rajah ; and but a Fellow
Chief of Holkar, Scindeah, and 'Bartle. Proposi.
lions of a similar nature had heen made to Scin.
deah, to whom our Ambasador had proposed to re.
eeive British Garrisons into Agra and Delhi, anti
to make a cession of Territory for the maintenance
of these Garrisons The Ambassador was at the
same time insttufted to.represent these offers as can.
cessions for the security of this Chief. The Am.
hissadors, Colonels Close and Allins, however,
found thst there was in both instances tile most
determined' aversion to this generous prottaion,
and in their dispatches to the' Noble Marquis they
excloimed most loudly against the wicked policy
- of these Chiefs who were represented,' in

various pasts
_of ;the P..pers before t4d Hume, as
inex r ienced youths. Oar .poticy afforded no, ho-
imurdbie contrASt with that of Tainetlane, who had
t:, .sated he COI quer, but tu lac a iltittt

SOVereign,' While we inundated ourselve9 as
teaors but to subdue. Here the Hon. Gentlemad.
adverted to the reasons given in stoiptirt of the
War, which lie considered as . eXtreinely weak.-4
First,. as to the necessity of providing againsc
the- Frencharwer in India ; there was, nu, such
power. Lord Melvi!le and Lard Curnwallis
had said, that the reduition of Tippoo destrdy.a
ed the French . power: The so touch talked.
of French force, tinder General Perron, did .not
contain a dozen Frenchmen, and these, with Per.
roll at; their head, were disgusted with- the Chiefi
whorls they served, and desirous of, nothing mere
than to be. allowed by tin to retire thr tugh our ter.
ritory with their. wealth. He considered that the
instruaions in European taaics, whiclowere se much
dweltupon, went to ruin the military strength of
the M thretras, who, like the Nubians of old, were
formidable only by irregular &id desultory attacks,
and rapid retreats. As an immense body. of Cavalry
they were to be feared ; when on foot, and seeking to
form themselves by European tanks, they were tube
despised. He had to state further, that rite Malt.
,rattan, averse as they were to British alliaece, were
still mare so,to connecting themselves with the
French,. The Marquis Wellesley proposed to treat '
the. independent Marinate Chiefs as enemies if they
opposed the placing of a British Garrison in Pooneh.;'
What ! If-the Emperor of Austria had a dispute
with 'seine of his States, and Bonaparte effcred to
place a French Garr isonin Vienna, to guarantee his
power, would it 'be contended that the Eleaort
had no right to be jsalous for the independence
of the Empire, -or to oppose the introduction of ssk
Foreign Force t. The cases were, extaly the same.
And the wereohe people of whose ambition we
compleined,a while our Armies were in the heart of
their territury; andwhese, rapacity we found so in.:
tolerable, While
,we had Garrisons its their Capitals;
and cleimed these doinioions for the support in' these
Gtrrisons.. He- represented the danger of n'ew wars;
which, though they could not reduce the British
Power, would harass it with unprofitable campaign,
lug,. so as to exhaust the Colonial Revenues, ant''
throw back as a Inn-then on Our.dotnestie resources
what- ought rather to be a means of relief and as.
sistance. He represented the. (longer, when oui.
European Force was dispersed in small parties, of
the Savoys being seduced by the Native Princes,
and the Bramins, their Emissaries, to join in' one;
concerted enrt to free themselves front our yoke.
Nothing was. .mrire likely, to excite eltia general
spieit than the intrbdatioe of British Garrisons into
the Capitals of, the Naive Powers. A force of
25,000 Europeans, 20:000Kiug's troops, and !..:oo ef
the Company's, spread over the vast extent a 1 coon.
try which was comprehended in our territory, and the-,
scent: of out military enierprizea, atf toted hut an'
uncertain security against enterprizes taf (iiie kind,
He therefore lamented that all the recent succei-es
were gained at. so great an expense , of that Euroo
pean blood which shophi. be 'preserved as the de.
fence of our possessions- against native invasienp•
conspiracy, insurreaitm, and rebellien. In sten_
tning,up the heads 'est: the arguments wills Which he
prefaced his. Metioe, he paid a high compliment to
the tolenttoof Marquis Wetoistey, Whith would
be of the highest sere Cc. to his Country in auto.
titer situation—but in. India they 'operated in dire.t
opposition io the acknowledged policy of Britain
in, that quarter.. The known qualities of Ole sue..
censor of the. Noble Movie,. indicated the fallacy
of. the eystemihe,had,pur sued, 'as the remedy shoot!
the disease. The fins earmee and moderation of
Marquis Coe okeotOts, whose whole condua" and
history merited utiveried approbatioe, wuuid, ha
hoped, restore ouroFenpire in the )last Indies to the
eituati )11 it ought to lie in. I lie Motion would be
shaped in such a may as to cast no refl:dion on,any
oersoti. He did not•touch, on ehe War with
kar,, becathe we were not informed ut its rnetives•;
it atm.& hila that it: was a breach of the low that..
the Noble Marquis had rot sent advices of these
things within .the year. eince the War had torsi.
meneed. , He totiched on the situation of the ,ivloo
gel, and thought it worthy ^of the generosity of"
Britain to make n provision for this unbrtursate
scenthot of Tamerlane : there wes but one other
fall to be colt:pared ,thiS--,it• was that of the
Biorbons. lie concluded with moviog a Reseluo
" That this House -adheres to the principles'
of the Resolution unaeimonsly Agreed, to on the
21sr Ntly, a 782, recognized and edopted by two
successive Aas of the Legislatere; that pursuing
schemes of conquest in India was foreign to the
wish, the honour, _.and th'e pelicy of admin."'
Lord C 4STLiiR EAG H rose to zcpiy to the speech
of the Hon. Gentleman, who, in his opinion, 41
unnecessarily endeavoured to eetablishett his claim
to the attention of the (louse, by stating the ripe.
Bence which he possessed on the affairs of India.
He would, however, observe, ,that -the Hut, Gear.
Skin iii'S atteFttitAt had chiefly, beers diretted to the
financial concerns of our Asiatic Possessions, anti
that he had seldnin,iocluded in his view the eaten.;
sioe range of our political interests in that quarter‘
The. Noble Lord exposed the impossibility of en.
tering, with any degree of accuracy, into (Ise his.
Intl of such a large Empire as that of the F.llO. in
the short space of a single night, anti the unreason.
ableness of calling upon the House on so-superficial
an examination of thesubjed, to seal the ignominy
of the proceedings of the taut thirty years, and to as,
sett that theasystem pursued during that , period
had been one of oppression and rapine. The' mode
in which the Hon. Gentleman had coroluaed his
argument rendered it peColiarly„ difficelt to -ans;Ver
He had atletted front the ito e. meese volum of
Papers on. tilt Table prticorar,• pato-ages which he
conceived calculated to maiittain tise. eo:itions ad.
vanced by him , Lott die Hoose rtiUst convinced,
that unless the context
.were likewise produced, suah
a Ocooedote was in the highest degtoe totfair. What
rendered, the ditiaulty styli wearer was, that tioril
this mon:lt:ea he was utterly unepprieed of the specia
lie nPfUre, of the Honottruble Geul.frivAnis Motion,
which the House must reeolleti he had on 4 ior.,
suer oec.isiori itt vain Cliciereitnifed to draw from
huts. I„.Jfitt thele" difiaClV‘Mt4ges, 00,,,,0,r,a lie
would, with .as little delay as possible, tronow tie
Honourable -Gentleman through the gent,rel
lines of his aceutraorts. A main Vitt of she
Hanuerable Gentlemen's. argu7neut was the con
strufli in that he put on the Ciause of tire tOs.
Petliament, which declared what ought to b' is

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