Star.
London, England, 1802-06-24 00:00:00

P.lOll 4MBNTART PROCEEDINGS.

HOUSE Of I.ORDS, WEDNEciDAY, JUNE 2.1.
Ceurifil were heard in cantin.latiw, •ri •1, Scotch
An;law. .:d othtrs v. the Th• mcich int
h?"1'" 1 kri.itO, la;iisburgh, &c. lutthcr Lrair.g was
to-atorrow.

INDIA.

Lord So rrot R rofe t.. make the motion r.f which
be had nenice, relative to the affa4s of the
India Coroptny, and lefort Le did fo, laid he
fhould make a few e.hfervatinus on the conduel they
bad purtoed toward, lonic of the powers of that
country. IIi; Lordihip then took notice of the
ocenpali..n, on the part of the Company, of the
kingdom of Arcct, the. Princes of which country
had always (hewn the molt faithful and friendly
attachment to the iraerefts of Great Britain, and
On that account the cond& of thole who had lately
removed the young Nabob from the throne of his ,
anceffors was highly r,prehenfible ; at !call, it ap- !
Feared lo fr.)m every circumstance that had as )et
come to the knowledge of people in this country.
A Noble Lord (Moira) had given notice of his in-
tent:on to bring forward a motion relative to this
tranfadion. It was much to be regretted that the I
waht of fufficient documents had prevented teat
butintit from being ,liicutred during the prefent
he caufe it was rf the utmost importance
that the public lanuld be fati:fied cancernings it.— i
The imprefi:on which noav relied on men's minds
was, that the India Company did exclude a Princel
from the thron, to which lie was entitled by birth,
and take ponflion of his territories, and this with-
out any colour of right or jullice. Another part
of the conduit of the Government of India, which'
he hoped would be enquired into, was, the taking
polfeftion of one-third of the territory of Onde ; a
coin.try that farmed a harrier between the Britifh
poirefflons and ether nations that would have been
hostile to us, and the Nabob of which had been the
faithful ally of the India Company. The very
Centleman whom he charged with being the au-
thor of a great part of the difficulties of the Com-
pany, exprefsly difapproved of this fpirit for con-
(pelt, and extenfion of territory. His Lordfhip
then quoted fome palfages from letters written by
Mr. Dundas, in which he declared it as his opinion
that conqueßs ar.d extenfion of territory were in•
jurious to the iaterefts of the Company. His Lord-
!hip among other things obferved, that when Mar-
quis Cornwallis led his vidotious army up to the
walls of Set'ngapatam, he, like a wife Statelnian,
flopped Ilion, and permitted the power he was con-
tending againft Rill to furvive ; but when, under
the dire.ftion of the prefent Governor General, that
power was exterminated, the affairs of the Com-
pany became expofed to alarm and danger. His
Lordlbip next adverted to the debts of the Corn.
pany, which, he laid, amounted to twenty-two
millions. An expence of about four millions mu ft
have been incurred in fending an army from India
to Egypt, which money, he fuppofed, Government
mull advance, as the Company were unable to pay
it, and it would he added to the debt of twenty-
two millions, making the whole amount to about
twenty-fix. He contended that the affairs of the
Company were net, as had frequently been Rated,
in that profperous fituation which could firpport
such an enormous debt asthis,andtheaccumulation
of it he, in a great degree, attributed to the late
Prefident of the Board of Controul,who had canted
the Company to increase its capital. There was
no chance of this debt being liquidated ; but on
the contrary, it was likely to continue encreafisig
until it would terminate in the ruin of the Com-
pany. There was another circumstance he had to
notice, which was, that no India Budget had been
brought forward lately ; no accounts concerning
the Rate of affairs in that country had been laid
before Parliament. The flatements concerning the
profperity of India, which the late Prefident of the
Board of Controul ufed to make fo frequently in
Parliament, were very far from the adual Rate of
the Company's affairs. After fome further °bier-
vations, his Lordfnip concluded with moving for
" an account of the amount of the debts due by
the Lai India Company ; and alfo for an account
of the flock and afros of the Company.
The Earl of DARTMOUTH, in anfwer to what
had fallen from the Noble Earl who had jail fat
down, first oblerved, that he law no objection to
the produdion of theft accounts called for. He
faid, it would be unnecefrary for him to take up
the time of the Houfe in following the Noble Earl;
much of what be faid being irrelevant to his main
or regular objea of difcufron, or intended for fu-
ture difcuflion ; in the courfe of which he doubted
not, that the expeded information would evince,
that the Noble Lords entrufted with the Govern-
ment of India, and whole meafures on thofe cc-
cations were arraigned by the Noble Earl, had a&-
ed upon principles of found policy and juftice. His
Lordfltip then entered into a detfailed flatement of
Tome length, relative to the provincial affairs of
India, and which were drawn from official docu-
ments and extracts, which he regularly referred
to as he proceeded, and the refult of which he was
confident mull do away the unfavourable impref-
lions received by the Noble Earl, and thew that
the debts of India by no means amounted to what
the Noble Earl had Rated, or that its financial
concerns were in fuel' a Rate as he teemed to ima-
gine : to follow the Noble Earl at the head of the
Adminifiration of India, in his financial Rate-
ments, would be impollible ; the result was to the
above general effect. He Rated the progreflive
in,:reafe of the debts of India from 1786 to rflot,
and dared there under the different heads to
which they appertained, of Foreign Bills, Inveft.
ments, AlTets, &c. and calculated that the whole
did not exceed .8,637,0°01. as Rated in the of-
ficial documents before the Houle. He contend.
ed that the debt was not incurred by the expences
of the war in the degree the Noble Earl teemed
to imagine. With refpe& to the increafed charge
for the Troops to the Government of Oude,
they were Rationed parfuant to the provilions of
the treaty for the defence of that country, and
circumftances requiring an increafed number of
troops in that quarter, a proportionate charge of
courfe took place. He contended that the Rate of
Iladia was of late very much improved, particu-

.
any ofieesnat ar titront anion of thl- iyilettil
f Englith jurifprudence, and the benign influence
of our laws into that country. The refources of
India were in a flourishing Slate, and her debts
would be put into a train of expeditious Belinda-
thin, one ingredient in which undoubtedly is a
fyllem of aria economy, and alto a reduetion of
the Military Eltabliffiments of India. A great
deal in the way cf liquidation would be effeEted,
by transferring the debts of that country through
the medium of Commerce to Leadenhall- Street.--
After expatiating for tome time on the refult of his
financial Ilatements, which were to the effect above
mentioned, the Noble Earl concluded by repeating
he had no objeftion to the motion.
The Earl of Burrow: laid a few words in ex-
planation, and adverted to the advantages the No-
ble Earl at the head of the Board ofControulhad
in recurring to official documents : it was impof-
iible for him to refer to papers which be had not
leen ; he had no doubt of the flatements being cor-
reCt, and he expreffed his fatisfaaion at hearing
that the Military Ettablithments of India were in-
tended to he reduced.

The queflion was then put, and the accounts
were ordered to be produced accordingly.

ILLEGAL GAMBLING.

On the order of the day fin the third reading ofl
the Bill to prevent the game of Little Goes, and
other games,
Lord HOLLAND renewed the objellion he had
on a former day made to it. Ile °Wetted to the
Bill, becaufe it related to a low frivolous fobjea,
unworthy the notice of Parliament; becaufe it
would fubjeft perfons committing a very trifling
offence, to very fevere penalties ; /and becaufe it
would not remove the evil it went to remedy.—
The great mifchief of Bills of this kind was, that
they went to multiply the bufinefs of legiflation
beyond meafttre, and would make it necefrary to
have a fpecifie Ad for every particular 'pecks of
offence : and new offences would then be adopted
with a degree of ingenuity much greater than any
which parchment could exercife in fuppreffing
them. This kind of legiflation put him in mind
of a Rory he had heard of Sir Ifaac Newton, who
was frequently vifited in his chamber by a favourite
cat, that ufed to come in and go out through a
11:41e in the door, large enough for it to pats
through : the cat happened to have a kitten ; and
this great man, who, in other refpeCts, law every
part of his fuhjell, thought it neceffary to make
another hole of left dimenfions, for the kitten to
pals through. If laws were to be properly and
jufily executed, they fhould be as general as the
nature of the fubjedt would admit; and laws fhould
not be made on every new occafion that might
arife. If fuch a praetice was purfued in legiflation,
the ingenuity of thofe againft whom the laws were
direEted, would foon out-run that of the Legifla-
ture, and all their attempts to put a flop to of-
fences would be fruiticfs. He would not pretend
to deny,but that a very mifchievousand deftruCtive
fpecies of gambling was carried on under the
name of Little Goes. But what he contended for
was, that a Bill of this kind would not anfwer the
purpofe of fitpprefling them. The great offenders
would evade it, by finding out Tome other mode
of gaming; while boys, who played for ginger-
, bread, or at chuck-farthing, were liable to fuffer
a punifhment as fevere as was fometimes inflided
for filonies. He thought it would be impoffible for
their Lordfhips to give this Bill the confideration
it ought to receive in the' prefent felGon ; and,
therefore, he would move to put it off for three
months.

The LORD CHANCELLOR perfeCtly agreed with
the Noble Lord who (poke laft, that this Bill
ought not to have been fent to the Lords at fo late
A period of the fellion. At the fame time he muff
oblei vc, that it was of the utmolt importance to
put a (lop to the pratlices againft which the Bill
was dirated. It was a praftice-now become al-
ma} univeifal throughout the kingdom, for per-
Cons to go into ale-houfes with bags filled with tick-
ets, which were drawn in imitation of the ella-
blithed Lottery, with blanks, prizes, &c. and
thoufands of the lower ordets of the community
fpeculated in there lotteries, not only as to the
purchafe of tickets, but in infuring the numbers
to be drawn ; and thus exifled in a much more
eaten five degree, all the evils that had ever been
complained of in the great lottery. There places
were frequently the caufe of young men being
brought to the Old Bailey, and afterwards to the
place of execution. While he laid thus much in
fupport of a Bill that went to fupprefs the molt
mifchicvous pratices •that could exift in fociety, he
muff obferve that many parts of it required fur-
ther confideration. It included a variety of games
which did not come under the denomination of
Little Goes, fubjeEted the perfons in whofe houfes
they were played, to a penalty of sodt and all
perfons concerned were to be treated as rogues
and vagabonds. There was not a fhop in Mar-
gate, or in other towns on the lea thore, in which
the perfons who fhould raffle fqr a fmall toy, would
not be liable to be fubjeded to the very fevere pe-
nalties of this Bill. It was an improper time to
fend fuch a Bill up to that Houfe, when the fef-
tiOn was on the point of doling : it too often hap-
pened that regulations of importance were delayed I
till it became fo late in the leafon that they could
not receive a due difcuflion. He could not think
of calling on the Houfe to pats the Bill that day ;
he Mould poftpone it to Friday, and if it fhould
be 1011, the blame mutt lie, not on that Houle,
but on thole who brought it forward.
The third reading was then put of till Friday.