council at Bengal, during the years 1798, 1799, and 1800, and the fact sought to be made out from his examination was, how far it consisted with his knowledge that the Marquis of Wellesley had endeavoured to obtain the entire possession of Oude, and failing in that attempt had contented himself with the half of that territory, in lieu of the sum of money payable by the nabob to the company.

Similar objections to questions put for the purpose of learning the witness's construction of the treaty between the nabob and the company, as those made the preceding day, were again urged, and the questions withdrawn.

Lord A. Hamilton, Mr. Paull, and Col. Wood, however, maintained that the witness being a member of the council, and one of the parties to the treaty, he must of all others be best qualified to give an opinion as to the fair construction to be put on it.

Mr. Hurst asked the witness whether the line of conduct pursued by the Marquis of Wellesley was not, on the whole, calculated to promote the British interests in India, and to protect the dominions of the Nabob of Oude?-Witness answered" In the highest degree."

After some farther questions by Mr. Wallace and Sir A. Wellesley, Sir T. Metcalfe asked whether any other governor the witness had heard of, had more frequently or more con fidentially consulted the opinion of the government council than the Marquis of Wellesley?-The witness answered in the negative.

Some further interrogatories were put by Mr. Whitshed Koene, Mr. Paull, and Sir William Young, when the witness withdrew.

Mr. Hurst observed that it was a fundamental principle of the law of England, that the accused should be presumed innocent until actually found guilty. Therefore he should feel himself warranted in stating that the noble marquis who was the object of this accusation was innocent, and indeed so far as the evidence had yet gone, nothing but his innocence had appeared. But as it was the object of the accuser to establish the guilt of the accused, he would suggest to him the necessity of bringing forward some evidence congenial to his views. This suggestion he thought it his duty to offer merely for the sake of regularity, without having the honour to know either the honourable member who brought forward the accusation, or the noble defendant.

Mr. Paull maintained that that part of the charge which be had submitted to the House relative to the noble lord's having

having declined to resort to the advice of his council upon matters of great public importance as his duty prescribed, was fully proved by the evidence even of the last witness.

Mr. Airley was called in and examined. His statements, for the most part, went to shew that, in the district where he was magistrate, which appeared to be in the ceded provinces, the zemindars and principal inhabitants, who infinenced the mass of the population, were inimical to the British government, in consequence of the introduction of certain regulations, and that they were ripe for revolt. The presence of troops was necessary for the collection of the re

yenne.

Mr. Beresford, after the witness had been ordered to withdraw, said, that had he not been disinclined to interrupt the business, he would have objected to such questions being put, as they would give information to the enemy.

Major Ouseley was then examined: he had long resided. at Lucknow, and was in the habits of intimate acquaintance with the present nabob, in whose employment he is at present. As to his general character he stated, that he was a man of dignified manners, and very princely deportment; that he was well versed in all the literature of the East, and was possessed of an excellent taste in architecture and other arts; and that in private life he was social, and fond of horses, of hunting, and of all field amusemenis. Notwithstanding the intimate acquaintance that the witness had. with him, he never saw any great depression of spirits in hiin on account of the changes introduced by Marquis Wel. lesley. His cavalcade was not quite so great as that of his predecessor Asuf Dowla, but it was better appointed. He had now in his stables about three thousand of the finest horses, including about 150 Arabian saddle-horses. He had about 1300 elephants, and in all the other expences of his state he was more sumptuous than before; he went to more expence in building palaces, and furnishing them; and, upon the whole, according to his opinion, had had no reason to be dissatisfied with the change. He had, it was true, changed his turban for a while, and suffered his beard to grow, which in that country was considered as a sign of affliction; but since that time he had appeared perfectly reconciled. When Holkar invaded the Douhab, he ad-. vanced ten lacks of rupees, (about 100,000l.) of his own. free will, to enable Lord Lake's army to march against him; and there was no less than 400,0007. collected at. YOL. III. 1895-6. Lucknow

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Lucknow for the same purpose. As to the police that subsisted formerly at Oude, nothing could be worse. It was true, there were but few executions by law, but then it was equally certain, that there was no security either for property or life. The country was infected with banditti, who plundered or murdered those who were not well guarded. As an instance of this, he mentioned Mr. Metcalfe (son to Sir T. Metcalfe), who, having gone on a hunting party. from his house, was attacked and maimed by some of those banditti, although he had all the necessary Mahratta passports about him. The Nabob himself requested Marquis Wellesley to suggest to him some improvement in the police and government of his country; to which the marquis replied, that he would first try, as experiments, on the ceded provinces, what he thought would be adviseable, and that if they answered there, the nabob could adopt them with greater confidence. The tendency of the remainder of the testimony of this witness was to exculpate the noble marquis from the matters charged against him.

Some questions were put to him, which he declined answering, on account of the violation that it appeared to him that this would be of private friendship and confidence. Some of the questions were then withdrawn.

Upon the examination as to the charge of the marquis baving kept all Europeans from advising with the nabob during the negotiations, the witness was asked, had not the marquis accused Mr. Treves of advising the nabob contrary to the interests of the company? The witness objected on the ground that the answer might implicate the character of Mr. Treves, who was then out of England, and in the service of the company. This objection was, however, at length overruled; and upon the witness being again asked the question, he submitted another objection, namely, that he had no sort of knowledge except from confidential letters from friends, which he hoped the House would not urge him to disclose.

A long debate took place in the committee respecting this objection, and upon the motion of Mr. Johnstone, it was ordered that the gallery should be cleared.

Strangers were not again admitted; but after some further examination of Major Ouseley, and of Mr. Johnstone, the chairman had leave to report progress, and to sit again.

At a quarter before two o'clock in the morning the House adjourned to Monday.

HOUSE

HOUSE OF LORDS.

MONDAY, JUne 23.

The House met about half past two. Counsel were heard, and evidence examined on Simpson's divorce bill, which was read a second time. The other bills on the table were forwarded in their respective stages, and the House adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

MONDAY, JUNE 23.

Sir John Newport brought up the Irish militia volunteering bill, which was read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time on Friday.

The Irish school bill was committed; report the next day.

The land tax commissioners bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Friday.

Mr. Vansittart presented a report of the comptrollers of army accounts. Ordered to lie on the table.

Sir John Newport moved that the Irish election bill be committed, with a view, he said, to have the blanks filled up, and to have the bill printed as amended, in order that it might, in this state, get into the possession of the public. But he was so convinced of the fitness and the propriety of this bill, and that the more it was considered, the more favourably it would be received, that he would abandon it for the present session, pledging himself to bring in a bill at the commencement of the next session, upon the same principle, and with the same provisions. This he did that there might be no objection as to the point of time and notice, and that no one might say that he took advantage of the influence of his official situation, when he wished the bill to rest entirely on its own merits.

Colonel Vereker would not object to going into the com. mittee, as the bill was to be abandoned, but he would op. pose any future bill of this kind, and all the corporations of which he was a member, to the number of six, would petition against it. He conceived it to be founded in injustice, and that it was an attack on the charters of the corporations. He trusted he should be enabled to prove that

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the

the motive for bringing it into the Ilouse, was on account of the city of Waterford alone.

The bill was then committed, and the report was ordered to be received that day two months.

The report of the committee on the Newfoundland trade was committed. In the committee, Mr. Vansittart moved that fish should be allowed to be imported, for a time to be limited, and that a bounty of three shillings per cwt. of fish should be granted. This was agreed to. Report the next day.

The excise office regulation bill, and the custom-house fees bill, were read a third time and passed.

The Irish spirit licence bill was committed. Report the next day.

Sir John Newport gave notice that, early next session, he would move for leave to bring in a bill to remove all obstructions to the trade between Great Britain and Ireland, as far as the same was practicable.

A petition was presented from the British fire insurance office, against the Globe insurance company incorporation bill. Ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. Hobhouse brought up the report of the West India trade bill. After a few words from Mr. Canning, the report was ordered to be further considered on Wednesday. The stamp office regulation bill was committed. Report the next day.

Mr. Paull moved for copies of the treaties concluded with the Nabob of Oude, from 1765 to 1801. Ordered. He then moved that the order for the account of the net revenue of Oude should be complied with forthwith.

Mr. Paull, as he understood that the general training bill was to be discussed the next day, postponed his motion for the printing of the first charge against Marquis Wellesley till Wednesday.

Lord Howick moved, that Mr. Giles and others should be added to the committee to which the surgeons' petition was referred. Ordered.

DISABLED SEAMEN.

Lord Henry Petty appeared at the bar with a message from his Majesty. This being brought up was read by the Speaker as follows:

"G. R.