The Sun.
London, England, 1804-03-15 00:00:00

CEYLON.

Mr. CREVEY rose,. pur'snant to notice, to move,
he Said, for such papers as' were necessary to =found
an Inquiiy'respeEting the War which the Governor
of Ceylon had'been. carrying on in-that ISland.` He
should not have taken-up this subjeEt if he had not
considered it of great importance, but conceiving
it to be of considerable importance, and no' other
Member having touched upon :the'subjetfl, he. con-
s idered it his.duty to rake it up. The House -and
the Public were in possession of no official details with
respeCt to the origin of this War, or of its • cons
quences; heshould therefore shortly State what•infor-'
, illation he had upon the subjed. From the year 1795,
whenCeyloniwas taken possession of on the part of
this Country, to the year 1802, the Government
ptiriuecl the wise policy of not interfering in the in-
ternal concerns of the inhabitants, and our-affairs
there were prosperous •In the latter end of
,year 1802, some British property was 'seized by
some Officers of -the- CandiarfCx'nvernment restitu-
- lion was 'demanded and agreed to, and the sum to
be paid was 3001. and he understood, that the sole
cause of the War•arose from a difference of opinion
its-.to whether' the money .should be paid
mediately or in two months. The War - was
then -began, and in a short time the British troops
'far. .prOsperoiits; but
then-came that dreadftil and destruetive: malady
which destroyed hundreds' and- hundreds of our
' troops. It might have been thought that when the
Candians had thus been degraded in thivapital,
when our advantages had been so dearly s ed,
anal when the country presented no objedworth pos_
seSsrng; that the Government would hay.e lost no
time in recalling the troops. It seemed however,

that the Governor oferyierrywas determined to take
a part in rig internal ,affaits „of the Candians. In
the first place, it was tltinght proper to dethrone
the legal Moliarch of the e',:tintry, and to substi:
tutenottier, "who was 'unitetsally odious to the
oatidiritr,-,-,and who ha-d-sini..‘e !been murdered: Hav-
ing failed in establishing this new Monarch, a
Treaty was entered' into:-with the. Adi)ar, by
(h Government was placed 'in his hands.•
In' the mean i;me,- the garrilttri—of Citndy was daily
dißtiitiithed ;
.out of zoo' kitish 'fioops, i 6o were
co,lioed to their cots by sickness, ; whilst there was
only- tie'iiCii,"Aiiciut. j 'or 4.o6.MidayS. The Can-
digits 'egaspdrated'at • cur stay in the town, and ;at'
our .interfgreiice- with respect' to the Government of
the:colintty;: stturomded_.the-place; ittmlimbrrs TIM
lesis han 'to,000: The 'l3ritimii Troops, cut (.ff
fi.ofn Lll josistanee, lyeierorftrelled: to saire:rder,
atlif lAy.Awn'iheir arms:" Bien Came 'the sad'ter_
mirritiOn-Of the tragedy;' which- was" already well
ibi:7l;NWn : they were led-out tivO by two into the.
btryets-Of :Candy, 'and-there' knocked' oh 11,-,id •
with their o,vo mucquets, and Their throats were'
aftr:vards cut ; this was'done by tirtlt: of the
v-6iy ANjiir whom We had supported. Ar'the saute
time uur garrisrins were attacked, and.the'sick'.
murdered. Thus ended the Candian expedition, arid
ft'op.4L the'period or the rriut,:ler of our troops in
tie r 3th ~of September, the'thite of the
latest accounts frnm thence, the Government of
had)been kept iii daily alarm. The-Candi_
ans elated by their sty:-cess, 'had descended into Ali
onr'4ettieni4hll,,anifilre grirish were atitrAlly con_
fitted to their forts. Such 'was the supposecidanger
of he Island, that,the greatest ;Jar-In-prevailed on
that subjcit,--.on"rhe Continent of • India," and an 'ex-
pedition was fitting out- theft' in the beginningof
September, with a. view to- the relief of the Go-
4e-finent of Ceylon. He thought there were' abun-
tiiiTif-xtobndsf. r inquiry- info the causes and origin
of-a war NtliCl) =tvnq apparently so impolitic, and
evidently so- dreadful and disastrous
its-troitsegaences. There was one circurrt-
s,Orgti :resiltd:lng ;his war which more particularly'
foi when • we first took 'possession
of the IslantiVive had before us the-experience of
what held the Dutch,. 34'11.4 .in the year, 1764, pe-
rolfcltsdjap,AbOoterjor Of. the-blitnd,
.but . whose
il,4ll4oAeTtn.inated in the salilc, disastrous way as
ours tti+4:dPfls,.their, troops: being
.mutOred in the
kkir-44-4npfF..,Jhe„ ..,01‘rerlut, of Ceylon was in
possession Of ;all these fkis. As to the consequences
!if this War, i 4 was indisputable that she loss of so

many hrave troop'; must be severely felt. When it
was considered also that we vs'ere carrying or: an
exterliive,War on•the dontinent.riT India, aid that
a French Squitfron was.'in the ;Indian Seas, it was
a very s,erious'consequence that any portion of,our
regular troops should be. sent from India, where
chty were so much wanted, in order to •repair' our
losses in•Ceylen. The Government of India were
placed in a dileanns, as by withholding assiStance
they might deptiVe this Country of the valuable.
Island of Ceylon, whilst by sending aid they were
depriving out Indian possessions of their best means
of defence, regular, troops, of which he understood
rOOO were Co he sent to Ceylon. He asked whether
the House would nor c:msider all these as sufficient
grounds to go to inquiry ? There was also another
consideration of a most momentous nature. After
the little discretion displayed by the Government
of Ceylon in going to war, there was great reason
to fear that continual disputes would arise between
our troops and the Csndians, and that the Island
would•prove the grave of our soldiers. He hoped
that His Majesty's Ministers, in their 'dispatches
to Ceylon,-wouldcall n the artentio of the Govern-
ment-there to past experience, for it was impossi-
ble, whilst the, natives remained- as they were, and
our soldiers were subject to diseases, that any ad..
vantages could, be derived by penetrating into the
Country ; on the contrary,
.such kind of expedi-
tions would-not only he useless, but fatal to our-
selves. There were some transa'tions, such as de-
throning the legal Monarch, and substituting an.
which peculiarly. called fur inquiry, and if
they preserved any respect for regular Governnients,
it was high time to bestow some attention upon
these extraordinary circumstances. He thought if
the fafts which he had stated were deemed.corretl,
they were sufficient to go to' iriqui,ry; to. ground
which he .should move for paperi. Before he sat
down, however, be wished .to. advert to the
dispatches which appeared in the Gazette,
from the Governor of Ceylon, and which appeared
as if intended to throw the blame off- the shoal.
ders of the Governor, upon an Officer -who bad
died in the service, of his country. Upon this
subjetl he would just beg. leave to say, that out of
zoo troops under •the command of that Officee,..,i6o
were sick, and they were surrounded by 1-Ci,6:.-.)0
Candians., If that Officer, had attempted to force
his way with the 40 men who were effective, he
must have-left the 160
,iele.to be murdered .by.
the •Candians; it appeared therefore, and might
be fairly inferred, that he capitulated in order to
save the whole. He concluded by moving fur co-
pies of all dispatches which, bad been passed be-
tween the Government here said the Governor of
Ceylon, relative to the lam war in that Island. He
read several other motions fOrdispatches and papers
relating.to the Same- sul)jea.
On -the first motion: being put,
Lord C ASTLERk AG H said, he should trouble
the House--with as 'few words as poSsible, as, when
the papers were laid befOre the House, they would
then have an ~opportunity of forming an opinion I
upon the subjed. He assented to the general prim-
ciple, that when a War was entered into in any part
of our Colonial possessions, unless Government
could state some reason of expediency for not pro-
clueing' such information, that Parliament had a
right to possess itself of full information with re.
' sped to the origin and causes of that War. To
this paint the present Motion went, and so far he
§04611;0711liail a Ili; fit-"To produce information -as
to the state of our force in Ceylon, as that would
he shewing the enemy' the number of Troops we had
•in the Island to defend it, and night tend to'
invite an attack. It might be also inexpedient to
disclose the state of any Negotiation carrying on in
the, bland by the Governor. He only wished that
no prejudicial impression might remain in the minds
of Gentlemen, The Hon. Gent. (Mr. CREVEY)
had stated the War to have originated in a dispute
• about.property to the amount of only 3col. but the
Kalue was,of little consequence ; the.Candian Go-
; vernment .had long demonstrated an hostile mind
towards us, and,the detention of property, about
which the first dispute.took place, was only one of
the symptoms of that hostile disposition. The form
of the Motion was, he 'said, nut accurate, as Cey -
!on formed no part of the Dominions of the East
India COmpany, _but was annexed to the Crown ;
he had therefore framed a Motion which he -would
make, if the Hon. Gentleman would consent to
Withiltiw • his, He 'concluded by reading
tion, "That an humble AchlOSs be presented to
His Majesty, praying that His 'Majesty would be-
'graciously pleased to order to be laid before the'
House, Copies or Extracts of such -Letters and Pa-
pers as had been received from the Hon. Fcederic.
North, Governor of Ceylon, relative to the causes
,of the hostilities which had ti:!zert place between
His Majesty's Government and the King of Candy."

Mr. CR EVEY having consented to withdraw his
motion, the motion of Lord CASTLEREAGH was
agreed to.
Mr. CREVE v then moved for C-pies of all Dis-
patches and Letters from the Governor of Ceylon to
the British Officers empLiyed there, and from the
latter to the former..

Lord CASTLEREAGH obje(ted to this motion,
as calling for information whiCh it would be inexpe,,
dient to produce, and therefore moved the previous
question.
Mr. FOX opposed the previous question, on the
ground that no case had been 'made out why the. in-
formation moved for ought not to be granted at. the
present moment, 'nor wits any time stated when it
Would be convenient "to grant it. Was it to be de_
ferred `till the end of the War, when an inquiry
could lead to no pradical use ?

General M AITL AND objroeti to laying upon the
Table any informati.in which might. expose.the ha_.
ziardous stale of the Island, anti thereby endanger
. its loss. He trusted, however, that. the time was
not far distant, when there would be no objettion
to produce the information called for.. -
: Mr. JOHNSTONE thought it. probable that the War
in Ceylon had already terminaied, and therefore the
information might be laid upon Lk Table with per.
tea safety.
: Laid QASTI, F AGH , that it was too
much to assume that the Witi had already terminate 3.
Sir Wrt. GEnk opposed the previous questiQu
and Ms. W ALLA E tIIIIIOE ted•it

Mr. CALCRAFT was bf opinion that no'good ob_
jefti:On had been made to the prot'luaiott of, the
Pape'rs.
General MAITLAND explained, ,

•
LOrd HENRY PETTY.- thought it of:import-
.ance, that the information should be produced, in
order that they might duly appreciate the conse-
quences. of the ,war in Ceylon, particularly as it
was reported in :private letters from India, that an
exPedition of're),ooo inert WAS about to be sent from
Madras, in oilier to effeet the conquest of that
Island. 'He really thought it was the duty of the
House to consider how far Troops ought to be
dven tared in 'such expedition, which they could
only do'by,having the papers- before them. To• Say
that the information ought not to be granted till
the end of the war, •was
.similar, to refusing to exa
mine into the condition of a vessel at sea until 'she
came into pOrt. - • -
The CHANCELLOR of • the EXCHEQUER
said, that the Papers already , ordered would give
sufficient infotmation to. ground upon them any
ulterior decision as to the
_point whether the War
in Ceylon was undertaken-on justifiable grounds. 7—
The 'objea, the 'causes, and circumstances of the War
would be ;explained by these Papers, and if the
House should then think that the War was unjust]
it' would be competent for them to advise His Ma:-
jest). to prevent =its further prosecution:. With.re-
speti to Ith.e -statement of the Noble. Lord (Lord
HENRY 'PETTY) of 10,066 men being abbot to be-
sent to Ceylon from Madras, •iati information of that
nature had been received by His Majesty's
nisters.

Lord HENRY PETTY and the CHANCELLOR Of
the EXCHEQUER severally explained.

.. The Huuse.divided,
For the Motion, - - 47
For the preyious Q9estion 7o

..A.Message from the Lords. infQrined the House,
the Lords had agreed to the London Dock Bill with
some Amendments; to which they desired the con-
currence7of the House, and to some.other-Bills.