The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-09-10 00:00:00

EAST INDIA SHIPPING.

Yesterday a Court of Directors was held at the
East India-house, When the following Captains were
sworn into the command of their respective ships :
Captain J. It. Francklin, new ship, building by
Nlessrs. Clays ; Captain Alexander Lindsay, new
ship, building at Northfieet. The following ships
were thus timed, viz.:—
Marquis Camden, Charles Grant, Lowther Castle, Inglis. and
Essex, for Bombay and Chinn ; to he adoat 12th of November.
tail to Gravesend 2811, November, May there thirty days, and be
in the Downs 3d January, 1519.
Bombay and General Harris, for St. Ilekna. Bombay. and
China ; new ship. building by Messrs. Clays, and General Kyd,
fur Madras and China ; A la. and Streatham. for Bengal and
Chinn; to be afloat 12th December, sail to Gravesend 27th De-
cember. stay there thirty days, and be in the Downs 2d Fe-
bruary, 1819.
Bose and Minerva, for Madras and Bengal ; to be afloat 25th
January. 1819, sail In Gravesend 9th February, stay there thirty
days, and be in the Downs 17th March.
Carnatic, for Muskat and Bengal; to be afloat 23d February.
sail to Gravesend 111 k March, stay there thirty days, and be ill
the Downs 16th April.
Princess Charlotte of Wales and Marquis of Wellington. for
Bengal direct; to he afloat 25th March, sail to Gravesend lush
April, stay there thirty days. and be in the Dawns 16th May.
Waterloo' for Bengal and China ; to be adoat 13th Decem-
ber, tail to Gravesend 27th December, stay there thirty days,
-and he in the Downs id February.
Thomas Grenville, for Madras and Bengal ; to be afloat 23d
February. sail to Gravesend Ilth March, stay there thirty days,
and be in the pu% ns 16th April.

DISCOVERIM—The scientific Journals of the
Continent slate, that various Naturalists are at pre-
sent engaged in esploring the Southern regions of
Africa. Some are examining the prodoctions of the
vast British Empire in India; some have proceeded
to South America ; some to the British Settlements
in North America ; and others as far Si the confines
of Russia and China. The indefatigable zeal and ac-
tivity displayed in their researches promise an abun-
dance of new facts sad observations on the meteoro-
logy, hydrography, zoology, botany, sod mineralogy,
of 'those remote regions.
Thirteen thousand firkins of Irish butter have
been leaded at Portsmouth within the last month ;
notnitintatidin& wbich the price is upwards of 138 s.
per cwt►

tUS RSriitCH at rnto a Pin &WC A.
TIO '.ICSTA IS LIN 11 if lan%
• The billowing are some further estrecte hobs Mr:
Brougham's pamphlet, on this interessipg subject "
As the Bill first stood the Crimestssioners were
to be named in it. The Ministers proposed that the
appointment should be vested in the Crown—that is,
in themselves. To this important alteration. the
Committee with extreme reluctance submitted rather
thaa assented.; We were aiware that epee the fitness
of the persons selected to carry on the enquiry MI
success mainly depended. We had before tactile ei
simples of the Commissions of Public Accounts, end
of Nivel anti Military Enquiry, from which the
country had derived the Most signal benefits, chiefly,
as we conceived, because the Acts establishing these
Boards had nominated the Members who were le
form them., Nn private selection, of Commissioners,
how conscientiously soever it might be performed,
could give the game security against improper or
inefficient appointments. Without accusing the Mi.
mister to whose department it belonged, of so foul a
crime as a wilful prostitution of patronage in this
mnst delicate matter, we felt that all nten io high
office are beset by applicants; that they must fre-
quently trust to others for their information as to
individual merit ; and that private friendships often
blind very respectable persons in the reports which
they make or the suits which they prefer. We could
not indeed believe that the Secretary of State was
capable of rhnositig met, whom the piece might suit,
rather than those suited to the place ; that he could
shut his eyes to the claims of acknowledged merit,
and prefer unknown persons backed by powerful
supporters ; or that, instead of regarding their fit-
ness for the new office, he should bestow the salary
as the wages of former service. Least of all did a
suspicion ever enter our minds that care might know.
ingly and wilfully be taken to avoid those men, whose
zeal fur the cause, and whose habits of investigation,
gave a certain pledge that all abuses would be sifted
to the bottom, and that the in no sta.
Lion belipared. Yet we were afraid that a certain
degree of carelessness or easy gnod-nstare, the al-
most necessary attendant upon official habits, might
he shown in the selection; and that he whom we
were willing to believe incapable of voluntarily
converting into a job the most sacred part of
his patronage, or of taking poecaulons to screen the
enormous delinquency of robbing the poor, might,
from imperfect information, sod in the hurry of a
'busy department, choose Commissioners far less
adapted to the objects of the Art than those upon
whose fitness a public decision by the voice of
Parliament should be pronounced. To assist the
Legislature in making this selection, we had sp.
plied ourselves with much attention in the Com.
mittee, canvassing with perfect freedom the qualifi-
cations of many Gentlemen who were at different
times offered to our notice. And we were pre.
pared to propose a list, in which was to be found the
name of no one connected by ties, however remote,
with any of ourselves. I may add, as far as regards
myself, that all hut one were of political connections
adverse to my own ; that I was upon a footing of in-
timacy with none of them ; and that one Gentle-
man, of undeniable qualifications, having been pro
posed, I desired his name might be co more men-
tioned, as he happened to be a near relation of mine.
Some persons, whose opinions I highly respect,
deemed that we acted unwisely in abandoning this
main point of the nomination. But we only gave it
up when we found the Ministers determined to op.
pose the Bill, unless they were allowed to name the
Commissioners. We still trusted that the power
would not be abused; and we looked to the whole.'
some controol of Parliament and the Public for a se-
curity that the work would be done with diligence,
upon whomsoever it might devolve."
" Among the honorary Commissioners, we had.
heen led to hope that the Marquis of Lansdowne
and the Bishop of London would appear. It is not
easy to find two individuals more admirably qualified
for the office, by the union of flexible integrity with
conciliatory temper, and of acute understanding, with'
habits of application to affairs. But I own that, in my ,
eyes, those distingoished persons were still further
recommended by their avowed dispositlin in favour
of the proposed enquiry; and I am therefore the
more disheartened, when I find their places sup-
plied by two Right Rev. Prelates, one of whom dis.
played his irreconcileable hostility to the Bill, by
even voicing against its commitment; and the other,
his disinclination towards it, by'retiririg before the
division, in which the Bench of Bishops took so
active a share. `These are the only Peers whose
names I find in the list. Neither Lord Rosalyn,
who brought forward the question with such 'Pipet
ability, nor Lord Holland, nor Lord Common, I
who powerfully supported him, are included.
" But I feel myself compelled, however irksome
the task, to take notice of another omission. No
Members of the Education Committee are stationed
at the Board, to superintend the execution of their
own measure, to keep watch for the Public, stimu-
lating the doubtful zeal of some, and checking the
declared hostility of others; in a word, to give the
country a substantial security, that the abuses so
loudly complained of shall in good earnest be inves-
tigated, and the the Commission shall trot be changed
from an unsparing inquisition, into a thicker cloak
than that under which the poor have already Deem,
despoiled. It might have been expected that either
Mr. Babington or myself, who had taken the princi-
pal part in the labours of the Committee, would have
been placed upon the watch for these purposes. Of Mr.
Babingten's claims to the office, everyone who knows
him will admit that I need say nothing. Unfortunately
he has lately by his retiremeut from public life, added
one qualification, which all who have marked the hn.
nesty and usefulness of his Parliamentary conduct will
allow, that the country has cause to lament. After
titles to notice, so much higher than any that I can
bring forward, had been disregarded, I could hardly
feel surprised at my own offer of service being re-
jected, with silent contempt, by the eminent head of
the Home Department. I was induced to tender
myself, by the strong representatioes of my fellow.
labourers in the Committee. As the office conferred
neither emolument, nor pateonage, nor power;- as it
only gave the privilege of hard homer, of which the
habits of my life and my zeal for the came made It
very clear that I should cheerfully take edvantage;
I imagined that the most implacable species of um.