proposed, proceeded on the principle of ineliorating the future condition of the soldiers, by the prospect of future advantages, it was necessary therefore that confidence should be inspired into the people to give it its due effect. But the clause now proposed went to destroy confidence and to diffuse distrust. If it was expected from what had been said the other night by a noble lord, it was intended eventually to allow those soldiers who had enlisted for a term of years, to change that term for life, this would be an atrocious breach of faith; for the prohibition which now existed was the protection of the soldier, and were it to be removed he would be exposed to the solicitations and ultimately to the vengeance of his officers. After arguing at considerable length on these topics he concluded, by expressing his hopes that the house would rise with one common feeling of indignation against the insidious attempt, which was made without any plausible pretext whatever, to destroy that which after deliberate and repeated discussion had received the solemn sanction of parliament. ers. and, for the defence of that country, he proposed, that four different corps-d'armée should be formed and stationed at Dublin, Athlone, Mallow, and Brough. From Ireland he passed to America, and, in contemplating the possibility of a war with that country, he thought that it would be right to set up an army in Canada. From America he passed to the East Indies, and recommended the precautions necessary for frustrating the projects of Buonaparte upon our possessions in that part of the world. Glancing at the present situation of Sweden, the hon. general pronounced it to be his opinion, that no British troops should be sent to the aid of our ally; but that he should be supported by large pecuniary succours, and by the German legion, the casualties of which would be more easily supplied abroad than in this country, as it consisted entirely of foreignThe rest of the army ought to be coneentrated in England and Ireland; for, in one or other of these countries, the battle must be fought, and thither, we might depend upon it, all the force which he had employed upon the continent General Tarleton said, that in would be sent. any other country he should think the principle of limited service a good one; but in this country he thought it would be dangerous to adopt it, on account of the extent of its colonies. There was likewise another point of view in which he considered it as very objectionable, namely, the necessity that there was of having a large army at all times in readiness to oppose those schemes of invasion which it was beyond a doubt Buonaparte never for a moment lost sight of, in the prosecution of the present war. The hon. general, however, did not confine himself to the question immediately before the house, but availed himself of the latitude of debate permitted in a committee, to take a general view of the defence of the country. And in order to establish its security on a firm basis, he was of opinion that it would be highly expedient to assemble all the regulars, militia, and volunteers, in different camps round the metropolis, and there to keep them in constant exercise, so that when the hour of danger came, every man might know his place. He wished also, that a part of the artillery should be thrown into the rear of the army; and, for this purpose, he should be extremely glad if the half of Woolwich could be transferred to Nottingham. From England the hon. and gallant general passed over to Ireland; The heart and entrance of the kingdom ought therefore to be guarded with the utmost vigilance. When Buonaparte invaded our shores with his numerous and formidable legions, would it be sufficient to oppose to him Magna Charta, our constitution, or a friendly and conciliating opposition? It would, perhaps, be objected to him, that military men were fond of war; but the hon. general assured the committee, that this was by no means the case; at least he, individually, was not fond of war, though he had fought and bled, and was ready to die in defence of his country. On these grounds the hon. and gallant general gave his decided support to the clause of his noble friend, empowering recruiting for life. The Secretary at War was not sorry for giving precedence to the gallant general. The sentiments that fell from him were just and correct, and he fully concurred in them. It was not his intention to follow the right hon. gent. (Mr. Windham) through the long speech delivered by him, which was as usual characterized by brilliancy and eloquence. The right hon. gent. had dwelt at considerable length on the shortness of the notice given, and on the mode of proceeding adopted; but when it was considered that this subject had been frequently before debated, and had excited much of the public attention, he trusted the house would feel that the notice given, which was upwards of a week, would be deemed reasonable. The principle of the amendment was to remedy a very serious inconvenience, which would arise from the army being deprived of a great number of men, who, had they the option proposed, would continue in it. He contended, that this would remedy the evil to be apprehended to the public service, which would materially suffer with out its adoption.-A division then took place, when there appeared for the clause proposed by lord Castlereagh 169; against it 100; majority 69. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Wednesday, March 9. [EXCHEQUER BILLS.] The house went into a committee of ways and means. under what the sinking fund for the year would be able to discharge, it was reasonable to conclude, that the loan may be negociated under terms of extraordinary advantage, particularly when the present arrangement should be disconnected from the loan, and brought into the market at separate times. The facility which he hoped would be given by taking the five per cents. out of the loan, would also be a mutual advantage. He proposed to give an option to the holders of exchequer bills, to subscribe them either wholly in five per cents. or partly in five and partly in four per cents. As the advantage to the public from a subscription in five per cents. was so such greater, he proposed to allow an exchange of 105l. five per cents. for every 100l. exchequer bills, the interest to commence from the 5th of Jan. If the subscription should be made jointly in five and four per cents. the rate he proposed was, 501. of the latter, and 631. 4s. of the former: the interest to commence on the 5th of April. If the whole 4,000,000l. should be funded in five per cents. the capital to be provided for would be 4,200,000l. If the funding should take placed in mixed stock in the proportions he stated, the amount of capital would be in five per cents. 152,5594.; in four per cents. 100,000l.; making together 253,1591. He then made a statement of the charges of management and sinking fund, according to both arrangements. In a comparison of the relative advantage of the terms with an investment in the three per cents. he allowed that a fall of something about one per cent. had taken place in the five per cents. in consequence of the knowledge of the intention to make this addition to the amount of that stock. But a proportionate fall would take place in the three per cents. if it were fixed that that stock should be the medium of the funding, and the capital to be provided for in that stock, according to a calculation on the most accurate principles, would be 4,253,6577. He then moved, that for every 100l. exchequer bills, funded on the 18th of March, there be allowed a capital stock of 1051. five per cents. bearing interest from the 1st of Jan. ; or a joint stock of 631. 4s. five per cents. and 501. four per cents. bearing interest from the 5th of April next. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in pursuance of the notice he had given on a former day, was about to propose to the house, to fund a certain portion of the Exchequer Bills now outstanding. The object he had in view, was to fund four millions of these exchequer Bills; and as the five per cent. stock was that with respect to which the contractors for loans made most difficulty, being desirous, as much as possible, to exclude it from their bargains, and to make their biddings as much as possible in the three per cents. he thought a considerable facility and advantage towards the negotiation of the ensuing loan would be gained, if it could be so arranged as that these 4,000,000l. of exchequer bills should, as far as possible, be funded in five per cents. This would take off from the loan the weight of five per cent. stock, which was considered by the subscribers as a dead weight on the three per cents. and of course rendered the biddings less favourable than they would otherwise be. The loan would not be contracted for before Easter, and of course the sinking fund on this part would be free till that time. This arrangement would afford 4,000,000l. towards the supply, and would so far reduce the loan for the year. Though all the supplies for the year were not yet voted, and of course it was not possible exactly to determine the amount that would be wanted; yet there was reason to think, that the amount of loan of exchequer bills, out of the market, would not be more than 8,000,000l. for England. This sum being considerably After a short conversation, the resolution was agreed to; and also another, limiting the amount of exchequer bills to be thus funded to 4,000,000l. [CONDUCT OF MARQUIS WELLESLEYOUDE CHARGE.] The order of the day being read for resuming the adjourned debate on the Oude Charge, The house would give to it the gravest consideration, and adopt those measures which a sense of public justice and national honour should dictate, unbiassed by feelings Lord Folkestone rose, and began by stat- of favour or prejudice. The noble lord ing some alteration in his Resolutions. then proceeded to recapitulate the cirHe then observed, by way of preliminary cumstances, under which the interference observations, on the complaint made by of marquis Wellesley in the affairs of the marquis Wellesley's friends of the delay reigning Nabob of Oude originated; which in bringing forward this question. For interference terminated in the violation of his own part, he had used as much haste a solemn treaty between the East India as was consistent with the importance of Company and the Nabob, and, by deprivthe subject, and the time indispensably ing that prince of all authority whatever necessary to read and maturely consider and controul within his own dominions, the voluminous documents produced and left him entirely at the mercy of the East printed on the subject. He also disclaimed India Company. In this case, the house any attempts to prejudice the public mind were called on to judge between the noble against marquis Wellesley by means of marquis and the nabob; but he begged the press; but he doubted extremely the house to recollect, that, in truth, there whether the friends of the noble marquis was only one party before them. could say as much. He had seen but three marquis Wellesley had every advantage. pamphlets on the subject, only one of The case was to be tried on his, own which appeared in any degree hostile to grounds: the only documents, his own acthe noble marquis; and the other two count of the transaction. He was before were written to bias the public mind in the house, if not in person, at least reprehis favour, and were distributed gratis, not sented by friends and relations, persons only to the members of that house, but in bound to him by ties of blood, by friendlike manner through all the principal ta- ship, by services, by obligations. The verns and coffee houses in London. Even nabob, on the other hand, had no represome of the Resolutions which he himself sentative but such as the justice of his had first offered to the house, had been cause and the cruelty of the oppression he published in the Papers with Alterations had suffered had called forth. He had no and Comments; and this publication he means of telling his story; no opportunity could with certainty trace to the friends of producing his proofs. The house ought of the noble marquis, from the circum-to look with a partial and indulgent eye to stance, that they were precisely in the form in which he had transmitted these Resolutions to them, but in which he had subsequently made some verbal alterations. He did not complain of this; he left the house and the country to judge of the fairness and decency of such a proceeding, and of the strength of the cause which required such assistance; but he did say, that those, who held such a conduct themselves, should have been the very last to cry out at any attempts to prejudice the public mind. All attempts, however, of the sort he utterly disclaimed for his part; and he equally denied the knowledge of any such by any other person. Having premised thus much, the noble lord proceeded to his Charges against the noble marquis, to which he entreated the serious attention of the house. If he should not be able to establish this case, no man would more sincerely regret than himself that he had ever trespassed upon the time of the house; but should he be able to sustain his case, he trusted the VOL. X. his case. However, as the advocate of the nabob, he asked for nothing but justice; sheer naked justice-justice founded on the facts as lord Wellesley had himself related them and he was sure that, if the house would but give a fair hearing to the case, these facts thus detailed would be sufficient to induce the house to mark, with the severest reprobation, the conduct of the noble marquis: he hoped, too, to afford some relief and mitigation to the unfortunate nabob.-Lord Folkestone then proceeded to comment upon the treatment which the nabob had experienced from the hands of lord Wellesley, as detailed in the papers on the table of the house; and, taking the course he had pursued in his Resolutions, to make good the grounds on which they were founded. In 1798, the nabob ascended the musnud of the province of Oude, and on that occasion entered into a treaty with the East India Company; which, being the last compact between the two powers, must be considered as the rule of their future connec3 S country.-It certainly was no less the interest of the nabob-it was his wish toowe have frequent expressions of that wish; aye, and actions too in conformity therewith, notwithstanding all the accusations of lord Wellesley to the contrary.-ACcording then, to this evident interest of the two contracting parties, an article was inserted in the treaty of 1798, that such a reform should be set about, and that the nabob should advise with the Bengal go It tion. It was a gross disgraceful breach of that treaty with which lord Wellesley was charged a breach unaccompanied by any circumstances of excuse or palliation, inasmuch as the other party, the nabob, on his side ever showed himself a scrupulous and attentive observer of all the provisions of it. The treaty of 1798 provided, that the entire defence of the territories of Oude, as well against internal, as against external enemies, was to rest with the Company, in return for which the nabobvernment on the occasion. The nabob, was to pay, by monthly instalments, an annual subsidy of 76 lacks of rupees, or 912,000l. sterling; that for this purpose of defence the Company should constantly retain in Oude a force of from 10 to 13,000 men; and that if at any time the defence of Oude required the presence of more than 13,000 men, the nabob should defray the expence of the difference. By this treaty it was further stipulated, that if at any time the monthly instalments of the subsidy should fall in arrear, the Company should then require security for the future regular payment of the same. All political power, and even all communication with other states, was taken from the nabob; but full authority over the internal affairs of the country,, " over his household affairs, hereditary dominions, his troops, and his subjects," was left to him by the express words of the treaty.The house should observe the circumstances under which this nabob mounted the musnud. By the interference of the Company in behalf of his hereditary right, his predecessor, an acknowledged usurper, was removed. But it is to be observed that this man, probably conscious of the weakness of his title and the instability of his tenure, had endeavoured to acquire the affections of the troops by unbounded largesses, so that, when the change took place, the new nabob found them discontented at the change and disaffected to his person. Again, the two preceding reigns had been signalized by great profusion and expence; the affairs of the country had been neglected, its finances dilapidated, agriculture neglected, the treasury emptied, and the most burthensome taxes imposed on the people. -Under these circumstances, considering the close connection subsisting between the Company and the Sovereigns of Oude, it was manifestly desirable to the former that a new and amended system of policy should be adopted; and a reform established in the civil and military arrangement of the -- on his part, faithfully acted according to purpose of putting into execution his pro- | the subsidy. Indeed, another proposition ject in Oude. With this view he orders of a still more extensive nature was pressed troops to march into the country. The over and over again: "the transfer to the professed object of their introduction, was Company of the exclusive management of defence against the threatened invasion of the civil and military government of the Zemaun Shah; but the real reason being so country" was asked for; but, notwithto overburthen the treasury of the nabob, standing all his efforts to obtain this reaas to compel him to disband his own forces; sonable request, lord W. was disappointed. for the house will recollect, that those ad- It will not be necessary to detain the house ditional troops were to be paid by him. by a narration of all the negociations There was, however, another convenient which arose upon these demands; suffice it motive with lord W.; the relief of the Com- to say, that after a very protracted negociapany's finances. In vain did the nabob tion, in which, on the one side, is displayed remonstrate against this measure; in vain all the arts of chicanary, accompanied did he plead the provisions of the treaty. with threats the most undisguised, and lanLord W. argued, that he was bound to guage of reproach and reviling the most defend him; and that it was impossible contemptuous and unmerited, while on the for him to do so, unless he maintained, in other, patient forbearing, and earnest suphis dominions at all times, forces sufficient plication were alone manifested, the unto contend against the most distant and happy nabob was compelled to yield to the improbable contingencies. The house Company a portion of territory of the aldoubtless will be astonished at such an ar- ledged annual income of one crore and 35 gument being gravely stated and seriously lacks of rupees, or 1,620,000l. in perpetual urged; yet so it is, and on no better sovereignty, and to deprive himself even of foundation were troops poured in upon all efficient government over the remainthe unfortunate nabob, till he was actually der. This forced cession was finally setcompelled, in order to find money for the tled by the treaty, as it is called, signed at payment of them, to disband his own Lucknow in 1802. I do not wish," said troops. This resolution being once adopt- the noble lord, "to detain the house, but I ed, the work was proceeded in with dili- must offer a few observations on these progence. No proposals of Scott's were ob- ceedings: 1. The house will observe, that jected to; the nabob patiently acquiesced by the treaty of 1790, the Company were in every suggestion, and things went on bound to maintain, at all times, in Õude, a under his sole direction. One should certain number of troops; and, in case of therefore have hoped that the Bengal go- necessity, to supply a larger number for vernment would now at length have been its defence: That the constant stationary satisfied, the means of security, which number was to be paid for by a fixed they wished for, were obtained, the inter- subsidy, and the increase by a proporference, which they thought necessary, tionate increase of payment. Now it will was accomplished; their troops were in appear evident, I think, that there could be possession of the country, and the nabob's no right to pour into Oude, and to burthen power and person at their mercy. Not the nabob with an increased number, unso, however, could lord W. be satisfied.- less a real, bonâ fide, danger existed. Any The country was exhausted, and there such danger was so far from existing at was danger that, at some time, the subsidy the time when lord W. poured his forces would not be regularly paid. Harrassed into the country, that an attack of a preby renewed and increasing applications, tended Golaum Hadier was made the prethe nabob at length expressed apprehen- text for the introduction of troops; and sions to this effect; he in truth accom- was persevered in even after his defeat and panied it by assurances of his best endea- death had removed the possibility (probavours to remedy the danger, and an offer bility there never was) of any danger aristo lay open the state of his affairs to col.ing from his arms. And, indeed, lord W.'s Scott, and to consult with him how to provide the necessary funds. Overlooking this fair offer, lord W. could see nothing but the danger, which he immediately pronounced to be imminent and alarming, and such as to be removed by nothing but a cession of territory, the annual revenue of which should equal the full amount of justification of this increase of troops in Oude is sufficient to prove the injustice of it. "It is impossible, says he, "to defend the country, (which I am bound to do,) without maintaining, at all times in it, a force sufficient to resist remote and contingent danger." A more preposterous doctrine was surely never maintained. And |