The Sun.
London, England, 1819-02-02 00:00:00

CESSION OF CERTAIN DUTCH COLONIES.

The Order for summoning their Lordships be•
iog read,
Ihe Marquis of LANSDOWNE rose to bring for-
ward his noticed motion on this subject. What
he meant to require, he observed, were Copies of
Instructions forwarded to the British Governors
in India, relative to the Cession of certain Duch
Colonies in that 'quarter ; hut wore especially to
Sir Thomas Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Fort
:Marlborough. What he had to direct the atten- ,
Lion of their Lordships to in this discussion, re-
ferred not only to questions of great national po-
licy, but to considerations of great importance, as
affecting the honour and character of the British
Government. He particularly referred to certain
eircoinstances connected with the Cession of the
Island of Java. In 1811, an expedition had been
sent by the Earl of Miuto, then at the head of the
Government in India, with a view to the capture
of the important Dutch Settlement of Java. This
operation was eminently successful, as it shortly
proved that the capture was. of still greater im-
porance than it was at first held to be. In the
course of a few years, its prosperity increased in a
greater degree than perhaps any other colony in
tire same interval. Its Government had been en-
trusted to Sir T. Raffles. The population and pros-
perity of the interior was soon found to be much
greater than had been expected. The former
amounted to bet ween 4 and 5 millions of inhabitants,
some of whom were long under the dominion of
independent Princes, with whom beneficial con-
nexioos were formed ; yet, when the island was
surrendered to lie Dutch at the general peace,
no stipulation had been made for the execution of
those treaties which we had formed with these
ind pendent powers—treaties, to which he mils:
coosid••r the faith and honour of the British Go-
vernment as pledged. He particularly referred
to the island of Banco, which was made over by
treaty to the British by its ancient Sovereign, the
of Palangam. Under that treaty we ob-
tained possession of it, and the acqnisition•prov-
ed to be of considerable importance; yet, not
very long after, all these possessions were sur-
rendered to the Dutch Those they held in 1803
were expressly stipulated for restoration by treaty;
but the island of Banca•did not come tinder that
description, and, in his view of it, the surrender'
had been made in wanton disregard of the treaty
by which it came into our possession. It was
surrendered by a separate article for the Dutch
settlement of Cochin, and on the understood pre-
text of its having been a mere military occoira-
tion. The remonstrances, winch were made. on the
ground of its having been transferred tons by a
Native Sovereign, were disregarded, and the ex-
press letter of the subsequent treaty was referred
to as hilly warranting the cession ; and those re-
monstrances were afterwards even made a pretext
by the Dutch for ad ticking t he Sultaun of Palangam.
The attempts made by Sir Thomas Raffles for
procuring that Sovereign those benefits to which
he was ,nettled by treaty were ineffectual. Thus
the honour of his country was compromised, in-
dependently of toe obvious impolicy of the ces-
sion. Such considerations must have an injurious
effect upon the Bri; ish character, in the event of
similar situations occurring, and the case furnish-
ed, in his mind, an adequate ground for Parlia-
mentary investigation as to the real merits of the
case. He therefore felt it his duty thus to come
forward, and to call for a communication of the
instructions forwarded to the Governors of
Java, and other East Indian colonies ceded by
the Ditch ; and also for the instructions sent to
Sir Thomas Raffles, on the occasion to which he
particularly referred.
The Noble Marquis having moved to this ef-
fect---and on the question being put,
Earl BATITURsT Observed, that if the Instruc-
tions alluded to by the Noble Marquis were those
for the purpOse of carrying into execution the
Treaties agreed upon between the two Powers, he
saw no objection to their tieing communicated ;
but the nature and effect of these Treaties should
be attentively considered. There were more Trea-
ties than one : some provided for the restitution
of whatever Colonies were taken from the Dutch;
another, for the Cession of the Island of Banca ;
and the Governor-General of India transmitted
instructions to those acting under hiro for carry-
ing such Treaties into effect. But if it were
meant, that such communications as had taken
place between the Governor-General and the
Lieutenant-Governor of Fort Marlborough (as
we understood the Noble Secretary of State) and
sent to this country, should be laid before the
House, he should feel it his duty to object to the
production. The whole of these papers contain-
ed a great variety of matter, and points in discus-
which were so circumstanced, as he was
sure the Noble Martinis himself would think they
were not tit to lay before the House. It could
Dot he conceived to have been the duty of
the British Government to give obstructions
to the execution of solemn and deliberate
treaties. If these were altered in India, the
Dotch Government here would not deem itself
ohliged to' accede to such alterations. Our

vernors liar no right to insist upon such altera-
tion. The British Goveinment had never de-
clared an intention to retain Java at the end of
the war. The surrender of Banca, upon which
the Noble Marquis laid so much stress, was in
fact a complete exchange : we got for it the va-
-lUable settleMent of Cochin. It was undertakewl
that all places taken from them should be-restor?'
ed ; and it was made an express condition after-
wards, that lianea should be given to them for
Cochin, in full sovereignty. The Dutch Govern-
went bad an establishment in that island ; they
had made a regular settlement there ; and an ex-
pedition had been sent to take possession of it
by the Governor of Java. The Sultana
gam had given up his right, whatever it was, to it,
anti in return he was acki,oaledged an independ-
ent Sovereign. The question was, whether,
in fact, the Dutch Covet ument had a right to all
those establishments which they held in 1803 ; and
the argument, that we had no right to look to it,
was a subject in discussion between the two Go-
vernments. With respect to Sir Thomas Raffles,
be was Lieuteaant-Govet nor of Java. '[here
were charges brought against him, but of these he
had been fully and honourably acquitted. He was
sent back to Bencoolen ; but, though he was re-
cognized as a Lieutenant-Governor, yet, as lie
went as a Resident, he was considered by some,
or felt himself, a degraded character, and in con-
sequence was appointed Lieut.-Governor of ano-
ther place ; but lie was given to understand that
his powers were not thereby increased, and that
he was to be considered as a Commercial Resi-
dent. Doubts were entertained as to his power
to give an officil character to some of the points
adverted to. Under all these cirrumstances he
thought it better not to adopt the motion, at least
in its present shape.
Lord HoLLatao contended that the objections
advanced by the Noble Earl did not do away
those important grounds upon which his Noble
Friend's motion rested. The transactions respect-
ing Java and its dependencies, were of a nature
that required the serious consideration of Parlia-
ment ; and be thought the Noble Earl must have
taken an erroneous view of his Noble Friend's ar-
guments, to come to the conelosiOns he had form-
ed. For his part, he deprecated the impolicy of
abandoning those Princes with whom we formed
Treaties. The national hooour and character
were involved in the question ; and it may be
matter of serious consideration, whether certain
secret articles tl:d not exist in the Treaties. The
whole formed a case proper for the attention of
PAdiament, and the Noble Earl himself stated,
that 'some negociations were still going on be-
tween us and the power in question. He trusted
that points which affected so deeply the interests
of the country, and the honour of the nation,
would not he trifled with. In these views of the
question, unless his Noble Friend agreed to alter
or amend his motion, he would vote for it as now
before the House.

Earl BATHURST spoke shortly in explanation.
lie adverted to the mode in which Bianca came
into the possession of t he British, and to the return
which had been made for it ; and seemed to ad-
mit, that in some points of view, the case was
one which had called for inquiry.
Lord HOLLAND ricplained, that he understood
the Island at Banca was given to us by the Saltaun
of Palattgant, in return for our acknowledging him
an independent Sovereign.
The Earl of LIVERPooc was of opinion that one
of, the principal papers called for was not, pro-
perly speaking, an official document, but one
which the party had no right or authority to
make. Neiiher could it be laid before the- House
as such. The points still in discussion were not
such as had been absolutely decided upon between
this country and the King of the Netherlands, but
upon points which may be regarded as -condi-
tional, and his Noble Friend's meaning, in what
he stated, went no farther. He must deprecate
the exposition of any documents which went to
affect such a state of things. The sovereignty of
territories was not, conferred by their actual owl—
paiion by a conquering Power; unless they were
actually ceded by the conquered Power at the
-conclusion of a peace, their possession in the in-
terval must be regarded as a temporary possession,
Or as a military occupation. Under these consi-
derations, different conclusions were sometimes
drawn by those concerned.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNB spoke at some
length in explanation, and seemed to say, though
his views of the real merits of the case were very
little, if at all, changed by what the Noble Earls
had advanced, yet as it appeared to be admitted
that some negociatious were still going
.on be
tween the two Goveinments concerned; and as
he still conceived some benefit may result from
his thus coming forward, he was inclined to shspe
or new model his motion, so as to ddaway those
objections by which'the Noble Earls appeared to
be most strongly actuated.,
The motion was then, in the course of a few
words interchanged across the table, so altered
by the Noble Marquis, in 'a way which principally
seemed to respect what had seen called for rela-
tive to ceding the Island of Banca, and (as we
could collect) the omission of Sir Thomas Raffles's
protest. The question being put, the modified
motion was agreed to by their Lordships.—Ad-
journed till to-morrow.