Star.
London, England, 1813-06-01 00:00:00

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erfstics were signified in its folds, its dormant energy
At be exemplifiedin events. • Enough lutd been
stated in evidence; enough was. matter of hissorieal
record to shew that they were the same people which
they were three thousand years ago ; that amidst
continual political fluctuation they had remained un-
changed ; that successive Empires hichbeee reared,
and systems of persecution been • established; that
the lordly .power.. of Timour i had been extended
over them ; that even the convulsion of nature had,
not shaken them from their customs, and that the
Ganges had changed its course whilst those who
still drink of its waters adhered to the habits of
their fathers. (Hear, hear, hear.) To any aug-
mentation of legitimate commerce, he saw, then, no
prospect, yet this was the grand argument : our ma-
:,ufacturers were to be redeemed. from misfortunes,
and to find amongst sixty milli.:ns of men an equal
r. tuber of customers. This' was the doctrine at
Yosley and Glasgow; but why, he would ask them,
if unlimited access was all that was wanting to the ex-
Evasion of commerce, were dot the southern islands
covered with our manufactures ? why were not the
shores of Africa varrounded with a commercial navy,
not for the purpose of prosecuting that traffic in which
puny most active agents of the company were once
engaged:; but of maintaining an innocent and lucre.
five trade ? But admitting all those advantages even
to the fullest measure of the most sanguine, he would
again call their attention to the interests and happiness
a the India people. How were these to be affected,
by permitting mercantile adventurers to repair there
with no other pursuit than the acquisition of wealth ?
Was it reasonable to suppose that they would be
scrupulously attentive to the prejudices, and sensibly
alive to the comforts and rights of the natives ? He
had heard much of the honourable British trader, a
character of which it would be easy to produce a mul-
rtude of examples, both within and without those
calls ; .but could they controul the conduct, or trans-
fuse their spirit into all their subordinate agents, and
into all those classes of needy and desperate adven-
turers who would be tempted to try their fortunes on
thatdistant and boundles stage ? He was supported
by the uniform testimony of history, in the apprehen-
sion which he now expressed, and was justified by the
same authority in observing, that except in Asia, the
establishment of British dominion, in remote quarters
of the globe, had been productive of nothing but
misery and ruin to the natives. Look at North Ame-
rica, and see the curse which had been inflicted, see it
in the unrttnitting exercise of every cruelty that could
be devised, in the partial extirpation of the old in-
habitants, in the banishment of the remainder to
forests, and in the
.lasting strife and indelible ran-
cour which still subsisted between that race and
the descendants of Europeans. He feared, indeed,
that there were some who might not be unwilling to
travel through the same list of enormities, for the sake
of disposing of 12 millions of British manufactures.
With this sacred view, these scenes might be again
acted over on the plains of Hindostan, in the exercise
of this philanthropic generosity all other considera-1
Lions were to be sacrificed, per fa: a imp: eelerare viam
ague diem atkerd platen!. Yet had not it been seen
in the course of these efforts which finally accom-
plished the tardy abolition of the Slave Trade, what
were the motives and the conduct of these honour-
a\ale British traders, what was the resistance made by
them to that glorious measure,a measure that would
carry down to the remotest ages the names of its au-
thors, and which suspended a course of human afflic-
tion that would for ever sadden the face of History i
Wai it then to their tender mercies that the House
was, prepared to abandon the subjects of an Indian
Impire ? Was it to the merchants of Liverpool,
whojn a petition, written in the blood of Africa, had
accused the Company of fomenting war and separa-
ting such natural allies as ,peace and commerce ? He
knew that' the: sanguine visions entertained by some
had been illustrated by an allusion to the feelings that
were eiciteg in those early adventurers who first be-
held the 'proipect of the Southern Ocean. He was
ready to acknowledge the magnificence of the image,
but it associated, itself in his mind with the memory
of events to which he feare'd a countel-part, might one
ely be presented 'in en Indian Empire. It recalled
hisrecellectOn the withering look Which the first'
appearance of EuroPeans presented to the New World,:
that shed the blight of death upon its happiness, and
deluged those smsliag regioni with torrents of nativel
blcod.. Never ineglat such a fate be in 'Store for Asia,
Fewer might, his apprehensions be realiZed, and that
worn happy dominion be converted into a vast stage of
atilt and desolation! The Indian people of all things
deprecated change; they were not then indeed to re-
monstrate against it, but thel would not be without
;their advocates, In hiM th 4 now .spoke; through him
limy 'millions threw supplkating Yoke at the feet of
.ihtrlianient, 'waft:Wok the* to. exercise that mighty
aticietiOn 'which was tearadhover i waste of ocean,
:and decide.the Hestia es of a continent with anxious'
anOretnernhe'ring humanity, conjuring theM not to
!indulge in balinfolia 'speculations or selfish avidity',
by every bond that Could connect the 'Governor and
rte subje'cr, by all those. ClutieS and regard's which'
'formed the very essence of legisjatiOn, and by eiery,
te that could bind the heart of man to the principle
ftf eternal justice. If the experiment were once made,!the txperiment vas made for ever.:—(Hedr, herir.)—
tic fences were once broken up, they were fOr ever
ilernolished ; the spiiit of the system, if it sli”Ulci once
xp:re, could not be revived, and the Vote of that
: fi,use, which involved in it the diatherge of a so-
lemn duty,would confer inestimable benefit, or listing
a:ll*u on the population of Hindostan. (Rea. r,heir.)
Mr.. HART DAVIS took notice of the losing'
I ride which had been long carrying on, and which
be still more evident, but fur the gross deln-
On alCeb the nature of their accounts enabled them
m maintain. He believed that, if fairly stated, there
was no hoprietor of East India Stock who would
not_ desire the Directors to abandon their Indian
ri.intrals and to confine their views to the China
nuue4nrs and the management of their territorial reve-
• As to the conduct of the agents of the nub
rats, it had been perfectly fair and candid, and
thvs.2n!ad. professed to Ministers a perfect readiness to
to every- restriction necessary to political se-
tulit7• with respt ci to an increase of trade and to
tne•aid of 'our manufacture, it was more desirable
that •
IL should be gra-!ual than immediate ; but they
•
saint be much lesysanguine than he was who did not
ste infie •
nite advantages to the carrying trade of this
"1"7, in conevetang the voyages of private adven-
14"as to inch./ with the marts of Brazil andWestera