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

MAR RATTA WAR.

Mr. FRAN.CIS desired that the Resolution df the 1
House,- and- an. Aa of Parliament upon the stibied
of COmmunicition froM the .Governor General of
India to the Governtnent of this. Country, in case of
any War in. India, might be read ; which being
done,
Mr. FRANCIS proceeded to observe, thatitlie
House was in.such perfect possession of the nature of
the Clause which had been read of the Ad of Parlia-
ment; that he need not detain it long with many
observations upon that topic : theobjed of it was to.
prevent aroluntary Wars, on our part, in India,
that was on the part of our Indian Government,
without the full consideration of our Government
at linme; He had two reasons for bringing this sub-
jed forward at the. present moment :—First, to re-
mind the House of its own .Ad.and Resolution in
cases of this kind ; namely, that they
.by their Re-.:
solution, and tbe, whOle Legislature had by Ad of
• Parliament,
_prevented voluntary Wars on our part .
in India :=Secondly, to' show the policy of, such
ResolUtiOn and Ads of Parliament, and to endeavour
as-far as depended on him, to have the law carried
in.to execution ; on which grounds he hoped for the
-concurrence of the House. In his opinion, it was.
the wiser policy and the safer praCtice not to make
any law at all, than .to make ,
gout'
in their Aisobey them ; and
this was particularly applicable to the present case,
on account of the, distance of the party whose con-
duff was to be inquired into, and who was so' far ,
retnoved from this Country, and who had an oppor-
tunity, if so disposed, of disguising and inisrepre.
tenting the proceedingS. He stated this to open
the grounds of his Motion, not meaning -to charge j
any man now in India with 'any offence whatever; .1
he stated as grounds of Inquiry only,• whether s'uch,
and such things have been done or not ? He said
that the Governor General in India, who made
War without the knowledge of this Country, with';!
-any Indian Power, adopted that which the law pro-
hibits, and by doing so he puts himself upon his
defence; all general principle's and presumptions were
against him, and he is therefore thus, by his own ad,
put upon his defence, for we are to presume, in such a
case, that he is ailing against the not to con.
demo him, but-for the purposeof inquiry. Another
ground was, that these Wars in general were sup-
posed to be proVnked by the aggression of the In-
di,m Powers • againSt the British, that was to say,
that all Regression came from the weaker against
the stronger party, an opinion not warranted by
. experience, and which was contradicted; ,by prac-
tice ; and indeed it appeared to be unreasonable in
theory, for the States of India were such, that no
one of which was considerable enough to be for-
midable to us, generally speaking, and almost all of
them united together might be said to be hardly
equal to the British power there ; and therefore Olt
probability was, that we were generally the ag-
gressors, because, generally speaking, in States as
well as in individual affairs, the strong was the *op-
pressor of the weak much oftener than the weak
was the provoker of the strong.--l-Diving , said
this much by way of general sentiment, lie pro-
ceeded to observe, it was impossible to lay down
better rules for the Government of India than-those
-Which where laid down by the Resolutions of the
Court of Ditedots, for the purpose of preventing
, unnecessary Wars in India, and when that system-
failed of itsobjed,- as fail it certainly did, the Le-
gislature interfered, and he was sorry to say pretty
neatly with the same success. He appealed to the
House whether this was not generally true, that
since the At of Parliament, since the year 1782,
we had heard of nothing but of wars and the ac.
quisition of territory in India. One might have
hoped, that afterwards we might have heard of a
few years of Peace in India, but we are now in-
volved in War with the Mahrattas; but when
he said that the Mahrattas as an Indian power,
were weak, he meant with . reference to per.
manent operations against the British ; he did not.
mean to say they did not possess the means of an.
noying us ; 'on the contrary, they did possess spell
means. He observed, that the Presidency .of Born-
bay entered into an adventure some time since, of
-which he gave the particulars, lie said they were.
afterwards surrounded by the Mahratta Army, and ,
were obliged to make an ignominious capitulation,
put perhaps we are stronger now, and they may be

to eon-
weaker ; hut that could be no reason for us
tinue a War if that was unnecessary, forus tvh:::liaaa:
rattas have it in their power to annoy
tlaerrgiaellbYo.dyiotfw'Hasorstiel
pet haps, and invade our upper Provinces of Bengal'
and proceed with 'great rapidity, and lay the par_'t
,eiarnp rhauandi creedto
thousandassein blec aa
vvael rrrY
they past over in waster and which-. we -could not
prevent, then to. retire as rapidly into the heart, w
their own territory, whither we could not I°l,.°la
them without innumerable toils and incalculanci
expence ; neither, could we 'repair fur many Yea
the injury which we thus received on,the sudgen;
Now whether they would again invade the Prov`°ce
of Bengal as they have 'done,' and which they
sta h,a'a
the power of doing, he would not say ;jt was all
cient to aay, that' they have the power whi_ac,
might overwhelm us, or do us infinite mischt
which he had not the power of p "
reventing, or
meeting in butte : nor could we follow thematic
wards in any way to be effedual., without foll°t;
ing them into the heart of their Country, Or o
have any advantage avec them at all, the ell'enj'a
and trouble.of which would be immense. Since e'',
had-been in India, the general bent of. the 111'n'oaa
ment of the Government there was that of a t,arie
for making War; that:fa& was established, 3°` Yee.
should have hoped that the. Noble 11'
of
attended.. to
.the dottrine. laid flown in the-Aa„ a*,
Parliament, to which he had referred, as well be
the Resolution-of the House. But here let it
understood, that he accused 'no one transaainn
India under the present Governor. General ; bu eat
said' that Noble Lord was bound, and Governin:
• 9
here were boundo to. justify his condo& to t
case: There was one other topic which be rchl
state,: namely, that he had reason to stispea, at'.o
this War, which commenced in actual hostility'
long ago as the month of June last, and yet no,:or
dire& account had been given of it, of the e4s"ar
of the reasons for entering into it, of its orignl'o.
of any thing that had been done concerning ic,°,•fec-
thing had been transmitted to the Court of v
tore by the Governor-General of Ihdia, nor ha' It
House any official information. on the subje6ti: tv ?
knew, indeed, that Alie• War -existed, but, `0
:Circuitously from Calcutta to Bombay, '1°,1,0%111-0 '
5
thence to England, and by common rotri"-
Members of the House, as to any other Cncliv"l-: to
but the Governor.:Gentral, frOm,whom "ga-
have come the information direCify, had sent n(nlti;
. that would be, in his opinion, a primp facie case
oe
ii
spew That he had not tted up to the.Rasetlations
the House, to which he had called the attention
oc:?;
the House, and • that -his negletling . ttrstimt
these accounts, was a ..breach of his duty,-an" -
might be an additional charge, Whenever.lts,
charge came, for none was at present made43°i.
that Noble Lord, nothing was asked but intlir•ll,o
tion whereby to prepare for an inquiry. 14..e,red,
read a clause in the Aft of Parliament, will° aa,
leas_ that' in all cases Where lio;rilitiea 51'41 °ay
mence, the Governor.Ganetal and Council shall,ol,
the most expeditious means they can devise, e°o,
rouoicate the same, together- with information'
`aelligence, &c. Now this comMenced in the rrii:a.l
of June or July, and six months and I.lpWar'sbeco
elapsed without any official account havin6 fos
-sent. He should not trouble, the House furtilate as `'.
his objed,was -already made out a hisaobiffr%r With
.shew we ought to know why we are at
Mahrattas: :He had"`- °'
the che'vn -the cleccss'e,
-theHou'se being in possession of that knowal,earia•
to whipli'he could hot sea any
o at
lion of. this kind' had_been Made when we wee at
Mar with Tippoo-Saili, and *Ministers ithoughttora
to grant -all the Accounts, and to lay theca" be to
:the House. Ministers thought that the best ollara
defend Lord Cornwallis, who was then Cover op,
.General- of India, was to lay the whole of his cls!
:dud before Parliament-.. The ground of Per jail
confidence was not then, nor ever should he, aoal.
dowO against inquiry ; for it . was but a roor ;0,
shabby defence, when any man was charged;ter;„
misconduct, to say that he was a man of chara
and if this was to be'a rule, no man of prevO-,n5,1.l -
good charaaer could be tried at all. Lord joe
wallis was a -person of as higha charaaer anY:by
could be, but that was • not urged as a reason f‘ Os.
information should he withheld upon any part ao
'conduCt. Here again he must repeat, there "'col
charge made against the present Governot-Ge,"oo
of India ; but he' trusted that his eliaraCter''laiohe
not be made an answer to the Motion ''''aionse
should' submit to the House, otherwise the
•nn''
must be asked to do this which would be ve-i:oluft
pleasant—to say, there is something in thC,COwhicti,
of the present Governor-General of Benga' aate;
cannot be explained but by an appeal to his Pte" 11.15.
chara&er. He should now proceed to 11.1 a-,;
Motions, but he should first make oneobser'itis-a"
which he had almost forgotten, which was ator
that whenever these Accounts came from Jodi"' tor%
should he considered with-some allowances
Cr
tiality, for they were at best but ea:parte evi"e":',er
the real truth might, after all, be perhaps be 01
known if we could also hear the other pallo'',.tti•
which, however, we had in these cases nO 'ye foie
nity. He then moved, '' That there be ce: of
the House Copies or Extracts of all DisPa,te:',- Of
the 'Governor-General of Bengal, or PresTe-Gco,
the Board of Fort George, in Bombay, to the 01°
vernment of this Country, so far as relates t-
a
present War between us and the Mahrattas, sccca'rre,
• The next Motion was for Copies of all `indis
sponclence between the British Government in
arid the Maliratta Princes, Chiefs, on size-a
subject.
The third was for Copies of all .Orders • orn.
tb
struaiOns sent from this Country to India uP
same subject.

The first maim being put, . 05
Lord CASTLEREAGH observed, that this 1114
not, in his opinion, the season for entering 011
the
general policy of India, but the Ouestion VW' He
House might be disposed of in a 'shorter waY• who
begged leave to pay to the Hon. Gentleman oat
brought this subjed forwards his tribute of re
fit it
for the candid manner in yhich he had brnu3,von
before the House. He admitted the princiP'ed—ubt
which this Motion was made. .There was
not pvr'
but that, generally speaking any Member f the
i iament had a right to ask for information do'
ground on which any part of His MaiestYh'sc
110
minions were at war in order to judge vv!"

'.:11 war was just.. or -.necessary, ,and generally
(sohj,d to stich i x.-eptions as !night be
. t?.kt.o anti to LIT,' or mode) it ti.is the duty
ar v Onien t tilose groan I, b.stb.te.• Par,
.ra•nr,an<j that t they ought, to be :Omitted in,
• HI trusted, however, in toi, Case, th
'e. option would, nor he pres;ed at. prz!sen,.
- cured the House .o,eie was no dtSposition to con.
any thing. He wished the use or to w 41(
-.while, and he had n; doubt but that full inforin
i'an would be given. He trusted it would appear
-:sere had been no want:of diligence in communica-
' i')P in this case'. If a short interval- was allowed,
.'lleTirifoiniation might come so that the question
•-a)iglit be brought before Parliament in:a better state
ih;in it can -now, for if Government were to lay
oefare the Houso all the iafprtnation they had, it
would be so irnperfea, that the. question would.
c.:111-ie-before the House in a manner and 'Shane that
would be extremely unsati,faftary to Parliament,
and unjust to the Noble Lard, because'it could not
be accompanied.-with those reasons which- had in-'
,duced the Noble Lard tp adopt the condo& he had
He trusted that . no great length of time
would elapse before he should be enabled to produce
the aicuments which the Hon., Gentleman now
called foi—as soon as they arrived in
.this Country,
.be should be apprized of them, to that he might re-
irew his appliCation to the House upon- that subjeci.
---He Observed, that the length •of ;'erne which
had elapsed; was not so great as the Hon.. Gen-
11;Aan had been led to suppose, for that hostilities
did not commence between the British Forces and the
-Isilibrattas until the month of September : .and some of
the plspatelles travelled very slowly by land a
great
distance. Government were in possession of some
preliminaries of general question, but it would
be neither doing jus,ice to the NOble: Lord, nor
giving any thing like. satisfadion to the House to
bring forward milterials of too impeded a nature
to enable the House to-<ume to.an opinion upon this
important subjeti. The House, • therefore, could
not Wish to proceed to, an inquiry -into the conduit
'of a Noble Lord, whose prima
.I7cie case was cer-
tainly that of a claim of full confidence in his per-
fed integrity, without hearing his reasons for such
conduit. Upon these grounds he trusted the Rm.
`9entleman would not press his Motion for the pre_

Mr. JOHNSTONg thought the motion pro Per,
and that it was important the inquiry should be
entered into without delay. He .expressed great
apprehensions in the event of our being unsuccess-,
fill in this war, that it might lead to, our extirpa-
tion from India.
Lard CasTLEat ACH eXpialivA. . • Mr. FRAN'C'IS said, that in consequence of
what had fallen from the Noble Lord, be was in,
duced to withdraw his Motjmn, relying upon the
promise of the Noble Lord that as soon as dis-
patches were received from India that he-should, re_.
intimation (it it.
The other orders of the day
of, and the House adjourned till were lithen disposed
to.morrow•

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,
-- • .
I\l•',NY of the
think themselve poor, though Beneficed ClerZY!.
s highly obliged to he ..B-IsH-°P
ASAP,II for his.friendlycautians, inserted in .1;(ws
useful PdPcr. They are unable to pay. Fees for the,
opinion Of Counsel upon the Nova Pavia Leg;s, to
which he so kindly adverts ; and hrnl u)ly entreat
some good Correspondent to favour them with An.
wers to the following Queries;
,-Aiisera est servitus, übi jus est' vagum et incertum.
We are, Sir, •
Ytsr humble Servants,.

POOR CLERGYMEN.

-~=..._

An Incumbent, having no proper house at all,
or an unfit house, and
performing the dtvy of his
parish himself, it Seems, must have a License to
psateft him, as, a Non-resident : Does that License
proted him from penalties for Non-residence, ac-
cording to the new Law, on another Livin, which
g
he may also possess, where there is a
roper
house, without another
License ? p and fit
of thel Clause 59, line 4, are the words "to reside out
proper house of residence or out of the parish,
and within such distance therefrom,". conneded with
and pervading any, or all; or which of the s'everal
cases after-mentioned in th it C), ' .? ' ' may 'd'e
Bishop in his License nmit t‘o me;ll:l,e,ri t;Z'distirn.:;,
if cut .of the parish, of the resi&nee it..aE.', ti,e pari;li ?
The Stipendiary Curate, or Prete4he;in.at-iy :Pr.).
.
prietary Cis;: in cities .or toWns, having and
holding any Benefice, kc. of small .thzlzie, ~nd ser-
ing a Curacy elsexvhere, with the License of •the
Bishop of the Diocese, , may ma ve a prote6ting Li-
cense : May they by this Clause have and hold two
Benefices, &c. each being of small value, and' he
proteded in the
Arid eni,yment of both by Licenses ?
further, will the License of the Ordinary of a
Peculiar avail in the same manner as the License of
the Bishop, I'vhich is ON L Y expressed in the Aft ?
A Minor Canon has no house, or an unfit house
belonging to his Minor Canoni-y, and resides in the
'City where the Cathedral is, and attends the Cathe-
dral during his weeks of reading, and also occasion-
ally at other times : aius such Residence and suds
performance of duty exempt liiin, as to his Parochial
Preferments; from the Penalties of the New' Resi-
dence Bill, in the CunstrUttion of the Fifteenth,
Clause ?

PRICE OF STOCKS,
THIS DAY AT TWELVE O'CLOCK.
Consols - ----- 56 a 57

THE SUN.

SOLEM QUIS DICEkI,FALSUM AUDEAT ?

LOND.ON, MARCH is, 1804.

, " Queen's Home, March 15, iSo4.
li Is Mai EsTy still advances in recovery.
(Signed) " L. PEPYS. " F. 1111LNIAN.
- '6 H. R. REYNOLDS. "W. HEBEp.DEN."
HIS MAJESTY repeated his walk yesterday in the
c) ";en's., Garden.

\-Vt are s'ili unable to by before our Readers any
'lll"rlieulais reirt(l.ling the heavy and continued Firing
which 4-,gs‘tWet, ktrOf 'tm the French Coast; neat
B ,clogne. A rep,,rt tins yesterday in circulation in
.
the o of our Frigates had been'sunk by
the fire from the French Batteries. We are

. .
•
to- say th:'t -there is no foundation for this report. It
is stated indeed' in A letter from our Correspondenrat
Dover,: that an Armed Cutter had been becalined.tinH
der the French batteries and taken, and one of our Fri-
gates wai seen steering for the Downs, which appear-
ed to have suffered considerably in her masts and rig--
The firing was continued yesterday.

ging.

Yesterday Dutch Papers were received to the
loth instant. They do not bring any intelligence
'from Paris of a later date than that which we received
by the Moniterirs. They give, however, some further
details respecting PICHEGRU and GEORGES, pro_
bably extracted from the other French Papers. It
is not yet known when the Prisoners are twbe
brought to trial, but there can be no doubt that
their fate is already determined upon, for the trial
by Jury has been suspended for two years, and the
Grand Judge has pionounced them guilty. Under
Such circumstances, it is absurd to talk •of giving
them a fair trial.

Yesterday about twelve o'clock, HER MAJESTY
and-the PRINCESSES ELIZABETH and MARY, at-
tendrd by the Countess CARDIGAN, took an airing
by Islington and Clayton.
Thursday Lord Cr..t v E, late Governor of Madras,
and suite, landed, at Northileet, from the Castle
Edetti East Indianian, Capi.-Ct.rmiNG. His Lord
ship, after taking some refreshment at the India
Arms 'Tavern, proceeded to town.
Gener,tl Fox arrived at Croydon on Monday.
evening, and on Tdesdity Morning he inspe6ted the
Croydon Voltinteer Corps of Cavalry and Infantry,.
who went through a variety Ornew manceuv.res,
in a stile that would have adne honoiir to any
veterans, and for which the General paid them many
high complimen:s.—He then procee-ded,to Crciydon
Barracks, and incpeeted the Royal. Waggon Train,
who are stationed there. He then. went .to Oatlands
to dine with the D,uti of Yiimc ;in his way he
inspected the Mircham, Merton and Tooting Vo-
lunteer Cor'ps, with whom he expressed himself
highly pleased..

Colonel Hti.LAßr's two Battalions of the First
Essex Legion Volunteers, and Troops'of attached
Cavalry, the whole forming 1039 effective men un-
der arms, were inspeEted a few days since at Latch.
ingdon, in thait County. They received the Inspeo-
ing Officer, Col.' ADD ENB KOK t, in line, the Caval-
ry,. Pioneers, .and Blnd of Music, on the right.—
After the salute, they marched by both in slow and
quick time, when forming in line again, a general
salute i:vas given, the whole being executed with the
greatest regularity. The ground they took was
the commanding eminence near the windmill, and
in 'their rear were drawn up 74. waggons, with four
horses to each, which brought 'the men. from the
most distant divisions ; the whole forming as inte-
resting a military speCtacle as could possibly have
been displayed. on such an occasion. Colonel A.
expressed himself to Colonel HILLARY, highly sa-
tisfi:d with the discipline and soldierly appearance
lof his men. •

The 4..11 Regiment of Loyal London Volunteers
had a field day yesterday, on the ground adjacent
to Montpellier Gardens, Walworth. They mustered
very strong, and executed, under ,the command of
Major Pktcu., the different evolutions and ma.
nwuvres with a precision that was highly honour.
able to their subordination and discipline.
At a General Meeting attic County of Berwick,
held at Greenlaw on Frith.) 'Oft 2ti inst. it was re-
solved to appoint soo Peace Officers for the internal
security of-the Counts, 'in -the event of Invasion.
the Meeting also dire6ied public notice to he given
to the Inhabitants, 'recommending to them to avoid
:burning heath :Ind _as much as possible, at
this ctilicai time, as thestt Ares might occasion twist
aLirflis to the Cmmty, or be mistaken for nighe

•
The pri: t•cpa, part of Lord CAME LFORD'S fortune
'he has bciaeatlied rd his sister Lady GRENVILLE,
to be emireiy at her own disposal. Her Ladyship,
we now nod, is the ,ole executrix. Among the
principal beciutt-sc,s, his Lordship, after expressing.
the highest regard for his friend Captain BARRIE,
directs that ati his (C.lptain B.'s) debts may be
immediately paid, and an annuity of two hundred
pounds per annum allowed him during his life.
He has lett several sums to be devoted to bene.
volent purposes.• His servants, although not men-
tioned ia the Will, his Lordship recommended in
a very particular manner to Lord.GRENviLLE, who
has undertaken to provide for them.
We hear, that it is in the neighbourhood of Berne,
in Switzerland, that his Lordship desired his body
to be deposited.
The Countess of POMFRET, who has recently
obtained
.a separation from her husband, is highly
esteemed for her amiable qualities, and her person is
so elegant and interesting, that she might reason.
ably have exue6ted every comfort in wedlock, suit.
able to her rank, worth, and beauty.
THE ORATOR Io.—The sacred music performed
at Covent Garden Theatre last night, was the first
At of HAyntes sublime composition entitled The
Creaticn,avd f-I AN E L's beautiful Serenata Acis and
Galatea. At the end of Part the Second, a Con-
certo on the Grand Piano-Forte was executed with
great skill and spirit by Mr. NEATE. Mr. G.
ASHLEY led 'the Band very ably, and the whole
went off with correaness and grandeur.
The Airs in The Counterfeit were composed partly
by Mr. KELLY, and partly by Mr. CONDE
They are very pretty, elegant, and effe4tive:
CHERRY. was received in the most flattering man,
ner on Tuesday night, when he first made his ap.
. pearance in the new Farce of The Counterfeit, on
account of the popularity which has attended hi;
-Comedy, of The Soldier's. Daughter.