of the islands. A sceond, how far the conditions had been complied with? Thirdly, how far they had been forfeited by the conduct of the inhabitants? This could not be done, however, without inquiry. The next thing would be, the degree of resistance which the inhabitants made to his ma jesty's troops in the islands, and whether it justified the severity and the force of military law which had been adopted. These were points which could not be settled without inquiry, and therefore he put them by for the present; nor would pers were produced he gave notice of the present motion, which he appointed for the second open day, which was afterwards deferred at the express desire of the chancellor of the exchequer. Before he proceeded to state the grounds of the motion with which he intended to conclude, he should inform the House that his motion was not for a committee of inquiry into the conduct of sir Charles Grey and sir John Jervis, and this for two reasons: one, that he was not at all pledged to make any such motion; nor could he tell what motion would be pro-it be necessary for him at all to notice per, until he had seen the papers which them unless the inquiry should be entered he moved for. The other, that he did into; and in order to give his opponents not think he should obtain it if he moved full benefit of every thing that could be for it, and that a great part of his object urged on those topics, he would admit might be obtained without inquiry: how beforehand every thing that it was posever, if his opponents should propose an ble for them to prove. Supposing, then, inquiry, he could have no objection. the resistance to have been made, he With regard to some of the proceedings would consider how far the proclamation of the commanders in the West Indies, of the commanders could be justified acthey spoke for themselves intelligibly cording to the practice of war in modern enough, and to them he should confine days, and according to the law of nations: the grounds of his motion. Out of them how far it suited the particular situation he did not intend to travel, unless his op- of the West India islands at the time; and ponents should set him the example. If how far it was compatible with the genehe should be told of the service of plate ral interest of the state. With regard to the that had been given to these commanders, resistance made by the inhabitants of the and that this was a proof of the estimation islands to his majesty's troops, he was perof their services in the islands, he should suaded that all the accounts which had been answer that this was not expressive of the given of it, were very much exaggerated. general sentiments of the inhabitants, but What he complained of did not apply to was the act of a few persons who were the particular acts of severity of the comdependent upon the commanders. If manders; they, many of them, were now they should say any thing of the testimo- in a course of legal discussion; but it was nials, he should answer, that the inhabi- the principle of the proclamation on which tants of the islands are now complaining those acts proceeded. And he could not in courts of justice of the conduct of help observing, that the conduct of those these commanders-a proof that these who defended the commanders was a little inhabitants think their conduct illegal, as curious. If he complained of the acts, they well as unfair. There was a document referred to the proclamation. If he com on the table which some gentlemen might plained of the proclamation, they referred to rely upon a good deal, in the discussion the acts. With regard to the proclamaof this matter. He meant the affidavit tion, he should consider it in a general way, of general Myers. He had nothing to and examine the spirit of it. He proceeded say against this officer, but he must re- to read extracts from the printed papers, in mark, that as the document had been laid the course of which he made several comon the table without any notice to him or ments. In the first place, the inhabitants any other person interested in the part were told, that "all those who availing he took in this discussion, it would have themselves of the invitation, in a quiet been but fair to allow time to them to and peaceable manner, should submit to answer it. Besides, this affidavit was no- the authority of the king, and put themthing but ex parte evidence, and that, too, selves under his majesty's protection, from a witness who was something of a should be assured of personal safety, as party in the business.-There were seve- well as a full and immediate enjoyment ral points to be considered in this business. of all their lawful property, according to One, the original promise of protection their ancient laws and customs, and on from the commanders to the inhabitants the most advantageous terms, those per sons alone excepted, whose removal should and mulattoes. Nor was this all; the whole be found necessary for the safety of the island of Martinique was stormed; and island; and even to persons of this dés- gentlemen might judge of the necessity cription, whatever may be their conduct, of such a measure, by imagining what we promise a safe conveyance to France." their surprise would be to hear of the In this nothing was said of confiscation. storming of Hampshire. He would ask, He then came to the two proclamations if there was any insurrection here, would of the 10th and 21st of May, 1794, on any person talk of taking Hampshire by which he chiefly founded his motion, storm? At Martinique, an island strongly and signed by general Prescot, under fortified and capable of the greatest rethe order of the commanders. By sistance, as it contained 15,000 white inthese proclamations, nothing could be habitants, besides negroes and people of more clear than that a general con- colour, the contest lasted 23 days, and tribution, and a general confiscation only 84 men were said to be lost. Gauwere intended, and there was no spe- daloupe held out for eight days; St. Lu cies of property that was not enume- cie, three days, and was said to be taken rated under them. How it was to be without loss. If, under such circumstances proved that these proclamations were not these places could be said to be taken intended to be carried into effect, he by storm, the conclusion to be drawn could not conceive. The next thing to from it was, that the fate of war was wonbe considered was, whether there was any derfully altered, and the French must necessity for this? Whether the inhabi- have lost entirely, in this case, their chatants had opposed his majesty's troops, racter for fighting. Very different was so as to make it necessary? He had care- his conclusion from such premises; he fully perused the dispatches, and there thought the circumstances proved beyond was not the least proof of any such resist- a doubt that the inhabitants did not at ance having been offered by the inhabi- all oppose us. But even supposing that tants, persons of any property whatever. they actually resisted us, it would then be The whites were always well inclined to a question how far these proclamations the British government, but were kept in were agreeable to the law of nations, and subjection by the Mulattoes, and the Ne- compatible with our interests as a state; groes, and the Petits Blancs, which are a and upon this he thought the House ought set of people possessing no property. to come to a decision, otherwise the law The emigrants also had been driven into of nations would appear to be nothing but exile, and their property confiscated. a chimera-an idea that would be very There might have been something of the injurious to the interest of all well regukind done by a banditti, but he thought it lated states. He laid it down as a princireally fair to conclude there was none of ple, that enemies when conquered immethe resistance to make those proclama-diately became subjects entitled to protions necessary. These inhabitants in tection. The inhabitants of the islands consequence of the first proclamation had had not been so regarded in this case, and joined us; and from the manner in which therefore the House ought to annul the they were treated afterwards, they saw proceedings of the commanders. He conclearly it would have been better for them tended, that this mode of levying contriif they had opposed us. This appeared to butions, and subjecting to confiscation, him to be highly injurious to our cha- had never been the practice in former racter, as a people generally renowned for wars, and that the manner in which the justice and humanity. It was inconsistent commanders in the West Indies had alwith the rest of our conduct in this war; lowed the taking of booty, was contrary and while in various parts of the globe, we to the act of parliament which regulated were covering our enemies with bounty, that point on our part. He insisted also, those who trusted to our good faith met that the conduct of these commanders with ruin.-With regard to the idea of was contrary to their instructions. these islands having been taken by storm, then proceeded to show that the proclathe thing appeared to him to be astonish- mations had been acted upon; and he ing. St. Pierre was stormed without rea- read a petition that had been presented to son or necessity, it being nothing but an the commanders, reminding them of open town without wall or ditch: and their declaration in March, promising prowhen the British troops advanced, resist-tection, &c. and complaining that the subance was only made by a few negroes sequent proclamations for contribution and He confiscation had been enforced against them. Even supposing that these proclamations had not been acted upon, in his opinion they ought to be disavowed. He would ask, by way of illustration, whether the manifesto of the duke of Brunswick ought not to have been censured, although it had never been acted upon? For these reasons he trusted the House would come to a declaration upon the proclamations, and that no shift would be made use of to get rid of the subject, by moving the previous question, or any think of that sort. The House should not suppose that by passing this subject by, they would be doing nothing; they would be doing that which was very dangerous. He concluded with moving, "That an humble Address be presented to his ma jesty, representing, that it appears to this House, that certain Proclamations were issued by sir Charles Grey, and sir John Jervis, in the island of Martinique, and dated May the 10th and 21st 1794, which this House conceives to contain principles not warranted by the law of nations, and of dangerous precedent in all future cases of hostility, and which have occasioned great alarm and dissatisfaction in his majesty's colonies; and therefore humbly praying his majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to take such measures for recalling the same, and removing the apprehension of his faithful subjects, as to his majesty shall seem good." Mr. Manning referred to the declaration published in 1793, as explanatory of the principles upon which the war was to have been conducted, and from which he conceived the proclamations to be a wide de. viation. He referred also to the instructions to the commanders in the West Indies, which in speaking of booty, expressly excepted the property of the settled inhabitants; that very species of property, against which the proclamations were directed. He felt himself called upon to support the motion, not merely as a West India merchant who had a considerable interest in that quarter, but as a British subject who demanded that the character of the nation should be vindicated from the reproach of injustice. The affidavit of general Myers stated, that a general resistance had been made to the British arms in Martinique. It was to be recollected that this island was thirty leagues in length, and seven in breadth, from which it would appear how far it was probable that such a resistance had been made. | was He could refer to many former instances, where there had been a considerable degree of resistance; and yet no such principles as those contained in the proclamations, had been attempted to be enforced As a proof of the loyal dispositions of the inhabitants of Martinique, he quoted the authority of general Bruce, who mentioned, that 800 French planters had taken up arms in the British cause, all of whom must have either been removed or massacred; yet there appeared no evidence that in the late expedition any steps had been taken to secure their property for the use of their heirs. As an additional proof of the loyalty of the inhabitants, he stated that at the time appointed for taking the oath of allegiance, the concourse was so great, that the person employed to administer the oath obliged to send many of them away. He referred to the distinction between the laws of war and the rights of conquest. When the conquest took place in the islands, no reservation had been made of the rights of war; the inhabitants took the oaths of allegiance, and were recog nized as British subjects; yet soon after an assembly was convened for the purpose of levying a contribution, who by declining to meet, gave evident proof of their dissatisfaction. The first instance of contribution had taken place in St. Lu cia. A sum of 300,000l. was imposed, which was afterwards reduced to 150,000l. Of this, only 35,000l. had been raised, a plain proof that the original imposition was felt to be exorbitant. It had been urged, that during the command of sir Charles Grey and sir John Jervis, no complaints had been transmitted to this country. The reason was obvious: no notary could be found to draw up a remonstrance with the certainty of incurring the displeasure of the superior council, and the consequent risk of being expelled from the islands. He instanced some particular cases of oppression which had taken place; among others, that of Mr. Thornton, who had an estate of about 20,000l. a year in the neighbourhood of St. Pierre, who was at that time dismissed the island, without a shirt to his back, and under the necessity of borrowing a guinea from a friend to purchase his passage to France. He affirmed that the proclamations of the 10th and 21st of May, were neither justified by the principles of the law of nations, nor the practice of former times. He contrasted the conduct of the marquis of Bouille with respect to St. Kitt's with that which had been observed by the British commanders. After the French had taken the island, he himself continued regularly to receive his remittances through Ostend, Bruges, or Hamburgh. The complaint on this occasion had been ascribed entirely to disappointed speculators: but he himself had received hundreds of letters from respectable planters in different places, unconnected with commerce, and not personally interested in the French West India islands, that reprobated in the strongest terms the conduct of the British commanders. From these he read some extracts to the House. These extracts talked of the inhuman and avaricious conduct of the British commanders as having fixed a stain upon the name of the country; and of the example which they had exhibited of rapacity and oppression, as being calculated in a reverse of fortune to produce a most dangerous retaliation on the part of the French. In vindication of the proclamations great stress might possibly be laid on what had formerly taken place in the island of St. Eustatius-a precedent which, he believed, would not be very popular in the country. In that case, however, the commanders had been particularly instructed to take possession of the island as a hostile arsenal. Mr. Manning entered into a definition of what was to be considered as booty, which he confined to the description given under the prize act, and stated it as his opinion that the rights of conquest consisted merely in the exercise of legal sovereignty; that the laws of war only applied to the instances in which a place was taken by storm, and could not be supposed to exist with respect to the subjugation of an extended territory. The object of the motion was, to call for a disavowal of the proclamations; which was only calling upon ministers to do publicly what they had already done in private, by instructions sent to the West Indies annulling those proclamations. Considering that disavowal to be necessary, upon principles of reason, justice, and sound policy, he should support the motion. the disavowal of the proclamations which had taken place, in consequence of the letters of the secretary of state, might have sufficiently satisfied their apprehensions as to any consequences that might have been produced in the West Indies. If they had been sincere in the wish which they had expressed, of not giving pain to the feelings of gallant commanders, would they have had recourse to the line of argument they had adopted, in bringing forward a motion, which, though not in itself a charge against those commanders, was supported by charges, which, if true, there was no punishment for their delinquency which could be too severe. If these proclamations had been attacked merely upon the general principle; if ground of accusation had not been sought from matter not at all connected with the proclamations (that they might be carelessly worded he would not deny), he would have left it to others better acquainted with the law of nations to have undertaken their defence, and not have come forward on a question, with respect to which he felt more anxiety than he had ever experienced in any former discussion. As to one commander in whose conduct he was particularly interested, and to whose character the hon. mover had stated that there did not exist the smallest reproach, but whose conduct that hon. gentleman had been pleased to ascribe to mistake, inadvertence, or misinformation, expressing at the same time a hope that the testimonial would not be disdained by him; that testimonial he must say, lost its value from what had followed: when he heard of the inhuman and avaricious conduct of British commanders, when he heard of their rapacity and oppression, as calculated to fix a stain upon the British name, and to set to their enemies an example of tho most dangerous retaliation, if he must not say that he did not disdain a tribute of applause, followed up with such epithets, he at least would say, that to him it had no value whatever. The two hon. gentlemen had supported the motion upon different principles, which, though not very disMr. Grey said, that after the two ex-tinct in their statement, he would endeatraordinary speeches which the House bad just heard, he felt himself anxious to rise as soon as possible, in order to obviate the effects which they were calculated to produce. If the hon. gentlemen had really felt the reluctance which they pretended to bringing forward the motion vour to separate in the discussion. It had been asserted first, that the proclamations were contrary to the principles of the law of nations; to the hon. gentleman's construction of the law of nations, it might; but the argument was new to him, and he believed to every body else. But though the objection had been made on the ground of principles, it had been chiefly supported upon an enumeration of facts. It had been broadly stated that every thing done at St. Eustatius had been done in the late expedition. There was some confusion as to other topics. At one time the House were told of the danger of retaliation, in consequence of the cruelty experienced by the subjects of the French government; at another the complaint was, that our own supporters and allies had not been treated with proper regard. As to the cruelty experienced by subjects of the French government, he had always heard that the present war on the part of the French was a war of plunder, rapine, and devastation; that it was carried on by them in opposition to all order, humanity and religion: the West India merchants had joined in this representation; but it now appeared that the fact was quite the reverse that the French were a moderate, humane, and equitable people, and that no apprehensions were to be entertained from them, except so far as they might be influenced to retaliation by the example of cruelty and oppression afforded by Great Britain, in the prosecution of the contest. It had been insinuated, that the misfortunes in Grenada and the other West-India islands had been owing to the oppression and rapacity of the British commanders: as well might they trace the disasters in Flanders to the same source. What could be more absurd than to suppose that proclamations which had been annulled, and not acted upon, should have occasioned the subsequent devastations in Guadalope and Grenada? Objections had been taken to the manner in which the wording of the proclamations had been attempted to be explained. What, however, could be more evident than that by the expression "the value of the conquest," nothing more was meant than the value of the property liable to be confiscated, and not the value of the fee simple of the island? Great complaints had been made on account of the proclamations not having been transmitted to this country. Sir Charles Grey in his letter assigned the reasons why that had not been done. As to their being inaccurate, it appeared upon the face of the proclamations themselves that the translations must be inaccurate.-On the subject of the rights of conquest, it had been stated, that the moment resistance ceases, a legal sovereignty succeeds, and the people who are subjugated come under the protection of the conquerors. He always had understood, that when terms had been refused, when the utmost resistance had been made, the persons and property of the vanquished became subject to the sovereign whose troops occupied their territory. Such was the doctrine which prevailed in the law of nations, and which was not carried in the proclamations beyond what was allowed by the mitigated practice of modern times. It had been stated also that the soldiers had no right to booty, except of the description defined in the prize act. The prize act applied only to that species of booty which belonged to the captors; it did not lessen the right of majesty to that booty, which was uniformly the reward of conquest in every instance where resistance bad been pushed to its utmost limits. Under this description of booty the proclamations included nothing but the stores and produce of the planters, which had been manufactured and packed up for exportation before the 23d of March; and this booty had been assigned to the soldiers only under grant of his majesty, and subject to his future disposal. By their proceeding on this occasion the comman ders had shown themselves anxious to maintain at once the rights of the sovereign, and the discipline of the soldiery. Even for the sake of the conquered country, such a procedure was perhaps the most desirable. If the soldiers were not to be allowed what they felt to be a due reward of their labours, they would conceive that they had a right to take it; what they thus thankfully accepted as a boon, they would then extort by violence; and instead of a moderate contribution, a system of universal plunder would follow. The commanders, then, did not want for their conduct the apology which had been assigned them of mistake, inadvertence, or misinformation: they had acted from a sense of duty, from zeal for the rights of their sovereign, and from regard to the discipline of the troops under their command. Their conduct was even such as, from enlightened views of policy, would be found ultimately most conducive to the peace and security of the conquered country.-On this occasion reference had been made to their instructions. On inspecting these instructions, he was blind enough to think that they furnished a complete vindication, not only for what |