East India House.
The Times, 1824-12-23T00:00:00

A ,lIat.erly General Court of Proprietors of rEast India Stosk i-as held yesterday. * ~~~~DIVIDEND. 't~he minutes of the lant General Court having beez) read, The CHAIRMAN (WV. Astell, Esq.) Troye that the Court do afiretoa reoluion f te Cort f Drectors of the 15th inst., de. darig a i,'iendof D~ pe cet,oth Company'si captal atock, forthehal ye? csnencp.~o~ he thof July last, end ending on te 6t of anury n -U i uanimously. MAflQuIs or HA INIGS. The AIfnl5AIA stated, thiat in consequence of a letter which had been addressad to the Secretary by the Allarquis of Hastings, dated Mialta, October 22, I8Pi4, thte Court of Directors bad come to a reso- lution to lay before the Proprietorq certain other papers to whiich the itoble MNarquis had referred. These consisted of deapatches9 from egial., iii 1819, and alsocer-t.in official statement.. made by Colonel Bile. These documents were prepared, end wvould be printed, along wlith others, for thie use of thc Proprietors. Au'er conic conv~eraion as to the printing of the various docu.- ments, Mr, R. JACr~90Y said It wvas well known that an hon. member behind the bar (03lonel haillie) had moved for certain papers rela- tive to Ouede; butas the hion. Director had been at avery considerable distance fromn town, he supposed that they hand not yet been seecCted. He Was extremnely glad that the papers mentioned by, the honourable Chairmaa would be printed: he hoped that all documtents relative to the character of the Companv'e servants would be printed as woon as possible. There irs o n point that required so saeer a revision as the conduct of their Te- sidents. Greater candour and complaisance~hemucttobserve,couldI not have k2en shown, than was mnanifested thtoughouit the proceed. mica in this Co.urt, by thuan gentlemen who were called the frieads] of the Mrtarquis 'of Hastings. Let them still be so calledl; for, en long, as bhe thlought of thie noble Al arquis As he did at present, he nhoulId glor -t that title. No application had been made to the fred fte tnobile AMarquis that wae not at onieeconeeded. Six months had elapsed since anaisonourrable- gentleman (Mr. D. Kin. naird) had made a motion, generallv, for Vapers. Another ho'nour. able gentleman then called or papers relative to Rydrabad. When this was done, he, end his hionourable friend, aaid, "1In God's name produce them. We want to conceal nothing." The Chairmani and list honouTable colleague then frmTed a more com~prehensive motion, which was agreed to. Papers had, in consequence, -beens laid before them., antl he rFzarded it as the bounden duity of the pro. prietors to proce-ed with as little delav as possible to decide on those Hydmabad p-apers. They ought to cdecide at ozice whether the noble 3iarqula vwa to live in a state of disgrace or of1 honour. He was v2lllhzg to call a Court, and to go into the Hydrzb~A transactions, without waititng for any other papeTs. If the delay were much lconf.er protracted, they-oight,-coaee q:s! wzate, toprceesdwltlr-ear -ALI~said, the Oude paper had not been moved fl0 by' Main- but were, at his suggostien called for by an honour. n-'fid(Sir.- G. Robinson). Rhose docuiments did not L "-the administr-ation of the noble Miarquis in any degree. He~ Irlcttel Baillie) hadl, h6wever, felt himselif called on, when a me" irr minade for the pamphlet of the noble MNarquis, to declare tbthztb lbtibted the correctner of somne of the statements contained in is- In the first place, it. wan said that the Government of Oude wi Nj a 'itate of thraldom inconsistent wifth existing treatie-an as. r=icn which affected Lord M1into's adiministration. The second point to which hereferred was, whiere it wa!3 represented that the loan made tothe.Vizierwastierfectly voluntary. Having breecaled on inenother Plac, be had pointe out ihe inconsistency of the one istatement with th thr uch was his evidence before a Committee of the House of Comonsfie believed no thraldom was ever intended by tbhe previous Government, and therefore he supported the call for thosee papers as The besg -method of ascertaining the fact. The cause of the delay in predutW,)g the papers was obiviousv. They were vole. mninous, and it toots much time to make the necessary selection. Amongst them, it should be recolleced, were the proceedings of the resident at Lucknow for seven years. Air. R. JACYKSoN said, that he and his hsotourable friendls stood on this ground, end this; ground only-that, withi a knowledge of the transactions connected with All these papers, the Court of Directors came to a resolution, saaflattering as men could do, in favour of the Mlarquis of Hastings, hiciih TrpOltstion was zigeed to, and its con. seiats echoed by the Court of Proprietors. On that rock he sttood, aind If they pubilished as many papers as would fill a waggors, it would noDt foTce him from that position. His honourable friend (Air. J. Smitb) admitted the general merits of the noble la-rquis but'he had a tdoubt oni the Jlydrabadj question. In hjte opinion, how.- ever, nothing was discoverable i the Hydrabadl paperts that could lead them to recindlthe rerolutlosathey had already come to.- Had any thin occurred since the panbing of that resolution which ap. peered derogatory to the character of the noble lord ? If not, they wiere undoubrtedly calledi on to dismiss the subiject as soon us pes. aible, and to declare the nioble marquis innocent of any iMPTOPr!ety. Dir. HuAtsi said, it appeared they had now' before themo every thing that could be advanced so crimninate, ini any degree what. ever, the iMarquis of Hastingst. They oughit, therefore, to pro. ceed immediately withi the inve3tigation. As the honourable dl. rector (Colonel BMillie) had resided so long at Oude, hee had a right to call for documenits thzat mij&h clear-up any point connected with the Government there but as those (documentst were not crimina. tory of the Mlarquis of. Hastings, their non-production could afford, no reason for delaving a decislion on the Hydrabad papers, which were nowr before the Court. He should be glad to know, whiether those who called for the Hydrabad papers mecant to found any, me. tion on thiem. If not, let the subject be left In the bands of hit, hon. friend (Alr. D. KCinnaird), who, would bring it fairly forward.' Mr.! D. MN ITAI aD would aash oftse hon.gentleman(Mir.J. Smithi) ublifelv, a question which he had already, asked of him In private. Thehon. gentlesnati hasi moved for those Hydrabad papiera, and he wished to kisow, whether, after havilig rande blifnseltmasterof theni lie meant to use them as the foundation of any mnotion ? Ho asked Alis, hecasi~eo twaeson the transactions -disitead in thezspnprs thu sIte on. gentlemnan restedbhlsdoubts. Itwagnatoriopusttheilme,that on acront tof the noljaguahdr*ed by.tbeCourt of Directors, on ccointof heproceedings at Hydrabad ;andl the hoti. gentlemran (Mrl. J. Smith) declared that he would oppose any vote to the Mlar. quis of Hastiingsi, unitil he got some inforniatlon as to the transactions at H ydrabad. The papers relative to that quaestion had been before the Coutt for months, and he took it for g3finted that the hou. gen- tlemran had comie to somne definite decision in his own mind with re. stpect to the nierits of the eae. He (Alr. Kiunaird) undoubtedly bad, so far as the nohie i4arquiss was coneLrned. He felt himnself hound in justice and In horour to resist any grant to the noble'Mnr. quis till those papers wvere di.,poaed of-not by a gentleman getting up andI sai'ing ' 1 am satisfied," hut by a solenin vote ot:that Cotirt. lie hoped, therefore that he' might expect to see thie opinion of the lion, gentleman - wit?u respect to those. papers permaneAitly and for. rnally recnoreld. Mfr. .1. SMITHs-i sid, the honourable gentleinan, in proposing th-is question, had enitered into an argUment to show that it was impera. tire on him (Mr. Smithi) to bring on a discussion relative to the transactions at Hydrabad. lie, howVeve, entirely differed froni the bsononirable gentleman on that point. When the question was brought forward, certaizn rumours were afloat with respect to those trangac. tions. Ile (Air. Smith), in drawing attention sto tienm, atateui dis. tinctly, that he lied eard nothing derogatory to the honour of the noble Marquis. There were rumouirs on) the subject, unquestionably; and ho thoutght, that in acting as he did, in obedience to the wishes of the gentlemnen round him, he liadi merely done a public duty. The difficulty hc was in wasi this-he had readi the papers over atid over again, and he thiought it was a nsixed ease. 'Ihlere were points whiichi he could not approve of; and these were other ponts whiere he did not concur in the justice of' the reasoning, or thei result of the s,easonng, of Sir C. Metcalfe. What, thien, could he do? Co,)ldt he, under these circumstances, bring forward a specific mieasure ? uit even if lie had mnade up lila iiiind on these documents, still lie was prevente(I from making any motion, because he understood the lionourable gentleman himself was preparing sonic publicationi on the subject. IlIe should like to stee that production, as it might, perhaps, illustrate the subject, aiid clear up particular points. There W,as also Another circumstance, and one otf great import-ance. Sir W.. Rusuibold, who was Implicated, was in Europe, and certainly could not remail silenit. Hielhad no wish that any formalitiest should stand in the way of justice. They couild not enter into tbig question withouit taking it allogetiser : the whole subject iiiust be decided at onice. If Palmier ansi Co. lhad acted properly, then, of~ course, no Imputation whatever could rest on The noble. Marquis,. Those transactions required niucli explanation ; and thtere wrere gen. tlemen nowv in hii, eye, whtolhad held high situations in India, who had neat scrupled to express their dislike to matters disclosedi in these papers, in a very ,inarked'atanner. He lbaked at thist sub- ject as one that r~quired very grave consideratiosi. lie denied the gehseret,aoctrine, that because a gentles-nzn called for papers which every mnaS,might read as wcll as himself, lie was hound to submnit a mnotion on themn.flie would give no opinion on thiese transactions, exccepthon oti, point, on whichbh laie marade up his mind; and that was, that tI' alJhosi of Palmer and Co. had been treated with a se- veri ty of w ei edid niot quite ap prove. (Hear.) Ahir. D. TIMASRD said, asg the honourable gentleman (lid not mean to nina~-a'notdon oni this subject, lie hoped he would not think hiin w7anting .,I courtsess, if' lie brought forward a substantive pro. position connected with it. The lionourable gentleman liad, it neesned, marle up his inind not to act usitil he saw a publication withi Isis (11r. Kinrnaird',.) name affixed to It: but that publication would treat of concern&~ far larger And more important than those of the M11arquis of Flaxtingst. Assy person who readl those papers must ab. solve the noble miarquis from tIme slightest censure. He nieant, _h-ewever, to huing thien before the Court by many different mnotions, vdtb ihih other persoi.s would ho connected. The Alarquis- of Has. iirs we nt tmeperon hiely ntrested : there were others who we-'mastdeepy so andhe wuldendeavour to find otlher proprie. (~>t7bowoud jin visi hm icaling a Court at a very early pe- .:v~t~4 fr b epuipos o coingtoa resolution on tie Hydrasbad UAIA LEV asRY COLLEGEi. Dir. Hu DE insqusired wlhether there wias any report relative to the 1Uocecdings at the Comipany's college. The CrsA 5nlMAS was niot aware of any. A report wee.nmade atJ.h Septeamber Court every year. This lind, of course, been laid before thieProprietors in tliepresent year. Everytliing required by the by. lea-aalhad brems done. DECCAX PniZE-SiONEY. . r. DixoN nqiuired whetherti lose who had just clain s on the ieccaa bounty were likely soont to have them setiled. The CHASIRIIAN sA4, idie suabjert did not coine wIthin the pro. vince of the Court o f Directors, It was a matter that belonged ex- elusively to the Trca y.r fliJaNING OF WIDOWS. if 1r. BthTTE naoOsLTia wished to know, as a papei had been laid before Parlia:nent, fromr which it appeared that in five years 3$OO ,widows liae becTisacrificed in India, wvhether the Court of Direc- tOro had setem nut any orders to discourage such a barbarous practice. The CHAIRSS AN said, a despatcl on this subject I ad bee n s ent ot to Bengal on tihe o7tln of June, 1823; that clehratch had been laid before Pailiamnent, aidl was subsequently placcd on the table of the Court. No answer had bcen received relative toit. AIr. . UTs TITaWOltT 'wilshcd to knew,whlether Mr. Elrhinstbr and ,Mfr. Blo-ee had not esitered into a protest on this subject. He pould, at the next Couort, m ove for that protest. The (ifAissssAsr said, it was not the fact that there was a protett. It was not in that state to be called a protest. Therefore, he hoped thet honourable gentlemisan 7ossld not persist in his niotien. After a fewv word s from i l lr. BUsT- rtWOR,ru, Thle CIIA I UAN advised hil to let his notice stand ; the Court of Directors woald consider of it, and do what was expedient. ICALF.YIURY eOLLEGE. Dir. D. KINVAIRD, after invelgiting strongly against the systein _p Fc yiP i young nmeji inenteded o the civil service to rjefeil tteir edutcatton at this establishment, in conseqatent e of which ah. sturd rule, i f thley hapIened to he expelled, their prospecs were d de ttrroyd lor Ince , gan garling himiself most explicitly against the idea of anutgang to cast any imputation on the professors, whom he wished to rei eve from a power which, when e<ezcc,ed, effected the rui of a young mal, moved " for a retua of Oil t6Ce esplul1onb1 whlich have taken place since thelast report was laid before theCoart."' Air. flUME seconded the notlon. It was important for the publfp interest, and the interestofeducation,that the truthahouldb e knbwl. Mr. BUTTERWORTH hoped the honourable gentleman would not require the names of the young men. Such a disclosure would be hig.tg inj'urlous. Air. D. KI NNArI)D gaid, certainly not. He would do every thing to sooth misfortune-not to aggravate it. The CAIRm1AW, stated fromr the report of time College,Councll, that one pupil, who had been detected in cerlain disreputable trans. actions, had been expelled; a second, who had taken part In these transactions, had been rusticated for a twelvemonth ; end a third, vwho had made aseertions, wbich afterwards appeared to have been wilfully falsc was rusticated for a ternn Alr. R. JACKsON was proceeding to cemplain, that those persons who were expellel from the civil servie could not serve the Coni. pany in any other capacity, when he was informed by The CHAIRMA' that the practice was altered. Such personsewere now eligible to the military nervice. A9r. 1I JAcRsoN aid, Ihe principle was a humane one. He was glad the cruelty of the old system was done away. Mr. II tuIE said, It appeared fronr what the Chairman otated that a person who had forfeited his word was expelled, and could not enter the civil service, but yet he was admitted into the military service, where honour wva every thing. It was a etaiss und stigma on the whole service. The CUMIIMAN said, in the case of the young man alluded to, he was merely rusticated for one term, not expelled. That punishment was ldeemed cuflicient. Air. D. KNiv?AtAD said his object was completely answered; and he would withdraw his motion. CASE OF MEESSRS. DUCEItNGHASI AND ARNOTT. The CHAIRlMAN stated, that the Court was made special, at the request of two proprietors ( Messrs. Hume and. Kinnaled), fot the purpose of discussing a motion for the production of all minutes of correspondence, or other documents, relative to the removal from Ii. dia OfMTr. Buckinpham, the proprietor of the C'alcuta Journal, end of Mfr. Arnott, late sub.editor of the same paper. iMr. HUME addressed the Court at very great length. He expa. tlated on the inestmable blesnings of a free press, and then proceed- ed to detail most minutely the vexatious proceedings which had been adopted by MIr. Adam, the late Governor-General ef Indis, to ha- rass and ditreasD r. Buckingham-proceedlngs, that ended in his expulsion from India, and the destruction of a veryvaluableproperty. Lie attributed the conduct of Atr. Adam to a feeling of malignatt revenge. He then went over all the facts of Mr. Arnott' case, who was, by command of Lord Amherst, seized at the French netths. ment of Chandernagore, hurried on board a ship,.and sent towards England, via Bencoolen, Instead of being allowed to proceed direct to Eng]an, .EHe dweltk?great lenth-o-a.cu theactit -of ehe two cases; but we do not deem it necessary, as the pcublic are already acquainted with the subject, which was debated both in the Route of Commons and in thia Court, to give more than a curnory glance at the speech of the honourable gentleman, who concluded by mov- inS for napers, in the terms of the requisition. Ir. D. KINNAIUD seconded the motion. Air. R. JACKSONr expressed hir,self in favour of the mot}oh. Though he did not, like his hon. friend (Mr.Hume , approve of the uncontrolled freedom of the press in India, yet lie wished to see a well-regalated freedom of the press, which would annwer every purpose oft'lsserninating knowledge, established there. Ifthe eir. igting regulations were hostile to such a well-regulated freedom of the press, they ought to berevised. The CIrASt31SAS oppoPsed the motion, and stated that the Coiart of Directors had come to a resolution to move, through brim, the previous question on thin occasion. The reasons stated for this step in the resolution were-first, that Mr. Buckingham had ap- pealed to the King In Council against the regulations of the Supreme Court at Calcutta for the government of the press, under which he was nent out of the country; and second, that they had no official information with respect to air. Amnoten case. The Directors had, iedeed, heard unofficially, that Mr. Arnott had gone back to Ben- gal. If It were so, and that Lord Amherat, in the exercise of his discretion, chone to lot him remain, the Court ol Directors would not interfere with the arrangemnent. The previous questlon_" That this qtestion be now put"-was then put from the Chair; the Court divided, when there appeared- For putting the question, 13; against it, 49.-.Wajority against Air. Ihum s's motion, 36. __________ 2A.S? f7DJA HO17SR.