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the co-operation of those members of the Indian government who should have supported him. If the great talents of Lord Hastings found it difficult to succeed without entire confidence at home and active co-operation abroad, what must be the situation of Lord Amherst? Again he asked the Directors, could they did they repose full confidence in Lord Amherst? If they did, in his name he called upon them to come forward to state that fact, and save the noble lord from the future disgrace of having lost India by a want of confidence on their part by whom he was employed. Were the court ignorant of the general feeling in India, as to Lord Amherst's government ? He would not say what might -be the contents of the official communications addressed to the Directors-but any man who had an opportunity of seeing the private correspondence from India must be aware that there was in that -country but one feeling on the subject, and that a conviction of its utter imbecility. Let the court look at the correspondence from India, and see whether he was borne out in his assertion. He did not expect that he should succeed that day in his motion, but he nevertheless did not think it would be without its use; it would have an effect, though perhaps at a late period. He had submitted several motions in that court, which were rejected at the moment, as he anticipated, but which, in the course of a few years, operated in bringing the Court of Directors round to his opinion. Some five or six years ago he submitted a motion on the subject of Haileybury College-it was lost at the time, but just now the Court of Directors were beginning to act upon it. He hoped, however, that his motion on the present occasion would have a more immediate effect. He was led to entertain this hope from the fact which had been unwittingly let out by the hon. Chairman himself, which shewed that they had both the same belief as to the state of public opinion in India on the subject of Lord Amherst's government. The hon. Chairman had stated, that the reason why the motion now before them was not advertised in the usual way was, that it would be dangerous to allow such a firebrand as this motion to go out to India, unaccompanied with the decision of the court upon it. He wished that the bane and antidote should go to gether, as the mere mention that such a question was agitated in the court, un accompanied with the vote upon it, would -be extremely injurious to the public service in India; but by sending the motion and the decision by the same conveyance, India would be quiet, and Lord Amherst safe. Was not this an admission, on the part of the Directors, of the state

of opinion in India, when they heard that the mere mention of the Governor's recal, would remove the little confidence which remained in his administration? But how would the sending out an account of the rejection of this motion, along with that of its discussion, tend to uphold or restore public confidence in India? He would tell them it would do no such thing, unless the Directors came forward and stated, as a reason for rejecting it, that Lord Amherst possessed the entire confidence of the Court. If they made such a declaration, and expressed their belief that he had abilities sufficient to extricate them from the present dangerous situation, then their decision might be of some value in India; but unless they did this, he would tell them that their vote on the present occasion would be worse than nugatory. He maintained then, that in defence of Lord Amherst himself, in support of his character as a public officer, the Court were bound to declare, and that in the most public and unqualified manner, that he was worthy of the confidence which they placed in him. If, however, from a consideration of all that had occurred since the beginning of his administration, and from a knowledge of the general opinion in India on that subject, they thought that that confidence was misplaced in the first instance, and that it was now unmerited, then he (the Hon. D. Kinnaird) was their best friend in giving them this opportunity of letting the public know, that the continuance of such a man at the head of their affairs was not their act, but was the fault of Mr. Wynne and the Board of Control. (Hear, hear!) Let the fault, then, lie with those who really deserved blame; but if the Court of Directors did their duty manfully, it would no longer rest with them. The course before them was the most plain and simple imaginable: it was pointed out by the answer to one or two plain questions. Did the Directors believe that Lord Amherst was capable of managing their government in India in its present state?-if they did, then let them boldly state their belief to the world: if they did not, let them recommend his recal; and if their recommendation were not complied with, the kind of interest by which he was upheld would be manifest to the public, and the Court of Directors completely exonerated. He wished to be understood that, in making this charge of incapacity against Lord Amherst, he did not come there and say that he would lay his finger on some five or six acts of his lordship's public conduct, and urge them as the grounds of his recal. Such a course was not necessary on his part. He did not mean to try his lordship's administration by the test of a few isolated acts; but, looking at it as a whole,

from its commencement to the present time, he would ask any man to point him out any one act from which his Lordship could lay claim to the confidence of that court or the country? (Hear, hear!) Would any Proprietor or Director get up in his place and declare, that any part of his Lordship's administration was such as to entitle him to confidence? He would admit, that, at the head of their Indian affairs, he might be a wise man in many respects he might be eminent as a warrior or a statesman-he might even conciliate the good opinion of the Directors, but still be unfortunate in his adoption of some particular measures, or unhappy in his mode of carrying them into effect. He might be driven into the necessity of declaring war, and be unskilful in his manner of conducting it. He might have many of his public acts worthy of praise, though some others might deserve censure: but, in the instance before the court, that was not the case; there was no part of their Governor-General's public conduct which could be approved of.—If any person present knew of such, let him declare it. In every one act he had the misfortune to be mistaken. He found him undertaking a war without consulting the commander-in-chief of the army, and going on with that war, without considering whether he possessed the materials by which it could be carried on with advantage: these were some of the first acts of his administration. He next found him a civil governor, who should be without passion, whose inclination as well as duty one would suppose to be a desire to moderate the rigour of military discipline, or of softening down as much as possible, consistently with the public service, the punishment of those, who he involved in a violation of that discipline. Instead of this, however, he found him acting a part towards a multitude of troops who had been guilty not of a violent outrage, but of a disobedience of orders, under circumstances of severe hardship on their side, which part, if one could suppose it to have been deliberately planned, or if it could not be looked on as the sudden and unconsidered, and mistaken decision of the moment, would mark Lord Amherst and his advisers on the occasion as the greatest monsters that were ever cursed with the possession of power, or that had ever afflicted mankind by its abuse. Would it be believed, that when informed of the disobedience of the unfortunate but mistaken troops, who were involved in what was called the mutiny, instead of bringing up a force which would be sufficient to terrify them into submission, his Lordship ordered that they should be exposed to the fire of a masked battery, which they never saw until it commenced the work of destruction upon them? The unfortunate men

could not have been prepared for such an attack, for they themselves meditated no violent measures; not a man of them had his musket loaded, and while in this, he might well say defenceless state, they were mowed down in hundreds, and the rest of that day spent in pursuing those who escaped the first fire, and shooting them wherever they were overtaken, as if they were wild beasts-and for what? for not doing that which was impossible! The men declared that they could not march, unless some adequate means were found for conveying their baggage. They had an allowance from government for the purchase of cattle for that purpose, but it proved wholly insufficient, because the government itself became their competitors in the market for those very cattle; the consequence was, the price of the cattle was raised, and their allowance was wholly insufficient to procure them. The government were thus guilty, at one and the same time, of embezzlement and cruelty towards those unhappy troops. Was this the conduct of a wise or politic government ? Was that a course which ought to have been pursued in the outset of a war, in which the utmost energy, arising from the most devoted attachment, was necessary among the troops in our pay? To what could such disastrous events be attributed, but to the fact of placing a man without the capacity of judging of the most important. measures at the head of affairs? There were other acts of the Indian government. which, if he could look on them as the acts of Lord Amherst, would render his character pitiful and contemptible in the lowest degree; he alluded particularly to the outrage upon the property of Mr. Buckingham, than which a more outrageous or scandalous violation of the rights of a private individual could not be well imagined; but if he were to look on the other side of the picture, what, he would ask, were the redeeming qualities of the noble Lord? He could find none, except that respectability of private character could be said in any degree to atone for the greatest imbecility in a public situation; coming into office as the successor of Lord Hastings, whose splendid talents shed such a lustre on the situation he held, and who did more to extend and secure British dominion in India than any other who had ever ruled there, he admitted, it would require no ordinary abilities in Lord Amherst to appear even moderately qualified for the office; but when, instead of talent, his whole career had evinced only great imbecility, the contrast must necessarily appear the more striking: he did not wish to depreciate Lord Amherst's character, in mentioning the disastrous events which had marked his career hitherto, but he thought it would be unfair not to attribute those events to their true cause, What,

What, he repcated, was the having ap pointed to a high and most important situation, a man who, during the whole course of his previous condnct, had given no promise of any one talent to qualify him for the discharge of the duties of that station? Let those who believed that he had any talents fit for his office come forward and state that fact, and let them do justice to those by whom Lord Amherst's appointment had been procured and sanctioned. He (Mr. D. Kinnaird) did not believe that the Court of Directors had, in reality, any confidence in Lord Amherst; he believed that the appointment of that nobleman was the result of the personal favour of one of the ministers, and that it was owing to the tricks and intrigues in the English cabinet that some more able person had not been already called to supply his place: for he had heard, and he believed it was very well understood in the country, that the appointment of a new Governor-General would have long ago been made, except for the difficulty experienced amongst the members of the cabinet as to who that successor should be. The bestowing of this high and important trust was canvassed amongst ministers, and made the subject of bargain and agreement, as if it were that of a supercargo. (Hear! hear!) Let the Directors rescue themselves from the imputation of being in any way a party to those intrigues; let them, by declaring the truth-that they had no confidence in Lord Amherst's administration-shew to the country that they were not to blame if an inefficient person was kept in the situation of Governor-General. It was well known that there were in this country many men who had given promise and proof of great talent. Let the Directors say that they had no confidence in the present Governor, and a successor must be appointed to him, and India might yet be saved by his timely recal. (Hear! hear!)

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Mr. R. Jackson said, that he had listened with deep attention to the speeches of the hon. mover and seconder of this motion. He was by no means incredulous as to many of the facts stated-he had heard them with heartfelt sorrow; but he thought, that in a question of such awful moment to the character of the nobleman referred to, the Court should proceed only upon grounds consistent with the importance and magnitude of the charge. No such grounds had, in his opinion, been submitted to them, but they were required to be content with the assurance, that the two hon. gentlemen themselves were convinced of the truth of what they asserted, as arising from their private correspondence with India, aided by facts of broad notoriety. Were statements like these, he would ask, sufficient data on which to assent to so serious a proposition as that now submitted to them?

Were they to decide upon a subject of this magnitude, because one hon. gentleman read an extract from a private letter, and another repeated to them some reports that had reached his ears, and which he entirely believed? He called upon the Court to examine their records, and see if there were among them an instance of their ever having so acted. If those records gave even one instance of, the Court. having attacked the character of the head of their executive Government in India upon such materials, he would give up the point, but he was satisfied that no such instance could be found. The thing was in itself too unjust to be justified by any precedent; he should therefore oppose the motion of the hon. gentleman. In taking this course he was doing no more for Lord Amherst, than he had on former occasions done. for. Lord Wellesley and the Marquis of Hastings, when motions affecting the public conduct of those noblemen were submitted to the Court. On each of those occasions he had contended, that it would be unjust to the noble individuals then concerned to proceed to any decision, without being in possession of the fullest information on the subject; and in both those instances papers were laid before the Proprietors. The result was, in each case, that a candid and impartial examination of those papers ended in the complete justification of those noblemen; one of whom. had since conferred such important benefits on his country, by his happy and skilful administration of our Indian affairs; he alluded to Lord Hastings (hear, hear!)—and, if he had one wish or prayer more earnest than another, for the benefit of England and. the safety and happiness of India, it would be, that the noble Marquis might be in-. duced once more to set his foot in the latter. country as Governor-General. (Loud cries. of hear, hear !) He said this earnestly, because he believed most sincerely that. such an event would be the salvation of that country, and rescue it, if within the reach of preservation, from the peril with which it was now beset. (Hear, hear!) He hoped that no false pride would stand in the way of such an application; he could not imagine to himself an act of more. glorious magnanimity, than the Directors. making it, and thus preferring their country to all other considerations. Such an invitation was not without precedent: an instance of the kind had occurred in the case of Lord Cornwallis, whom he was in the habit of designating as the Good Cornwallis, when affairs in India was in. such a state as to excite great alarm; when mutiny was supposed to be fast engendering, and an experienced Governor-General was loudly called for; the then Chairman and Deputy-Chairman put themselves into a post-chaise, and lost no time in repairing to that nobleman's residence

in the country. As soon as he understood that the Court again desired his services, under urgent and critical circumstances, he said, with that ingenuousness which had ever marked his character, "if the Company think my services important to their interests, and that my King approves of it, I have no objection again to accept the Government; allow me forty-eight hours for consideration." His answer was in the affirmative, and in a very few days he was ready to embark. (Hear, hear!) He mentioned this circumstance to show, that if such a blessing could be obtained for India as the return of Lord Hastings, and the Directors should be in the mind to propose it, that such an instance of mutual and patriotic concession would not be without a precedent in their annals. Bat to return to the subject more immediately before them, whether the papers, for which he intended at the close of his speech to move, would have a similar effect in the case of Lord Amherst, as those had which were laid before the Court in the cases of Lords Wellesley and Hastings, he would not pretend to say; but let what might be the issue, it was, he contended, only fair that they should be put in possession of them, as the means of forming a sound and impartial judgment. By such means, the question would be set in its true light: he knew that, disapproving of this motion in its present shape, he might, if he pleased, get rid of it by moving "the previous question," and thus put it out of that Court; but he preferred a course which, while it secured a dignified and impartial adjudication, preserved to the Proprietors the free exercise of their high calling, to pronounce on the conduct of their public servants. The Court were not, he thought, in a situation to come to any present conclusion, and he thought it would be more satisfactory, and more honourable to all parties, to let their decision be the result of more deliberate consideration. The affair of Barrackpore had been mentioned. Now he would ask, were the court, without more information as to the particulars of that melancholy event, prepared to pronounce Lord Amherst and his coadjutors murderers? He was certain that they would not adopt a course so obviously unjust. Let them do in the present case as in those which he had mentioned, namely, proceed but upon full and authentic information. He did not say that the effect of the papers in Lord Amherst's case would be the same as in those of the noble Lords alluded to; all he requested was, that they should not be called upon to record an opinion without having the facts before them, and the causes in which those facts originated. Were they, he would ask, now in a situa tion to judge of the merits of the Burmese war? He meant, had they docuAsiatic Journ. VOL. XXI, No. 211.

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ments before them on which they could rely in forming their opinion as to the propriety of entering into it, and as to the mode in which it was conducted? Need he remind British Citizens, that a war might be wisely begun, and wisely con ducted, allowing for all new and trying. circumstances, and yet be unfortunate in its issue? Two years had now elapsed since that war commenced, and as yet no documents had been laid before them to shew why it had been begun, or why it had been continued? They had heard the present Governor-General attacked for want of judgment in having begun the war, and for want of skill in the conducting of it were they in a condition to judge of either of those propositions? Let them wait for proper information, and if, after having obtained it, they should be of opinion, all circumstances: considered, that the charges were well founded, let them then submit a motion for the noble Lord's removal. In the mean time, let them confide in the discretion of the Directors for supplying. the information which they required by. the motion with which he should con clude (by way of amendment to that already before them), he would leave it, to the discretion of the Court of Directors to withhold whatever they might judge to be of a secret nature. Great indeed was the responsibility of the Directors; he would not believe, if they had been of opinion either that the war should be discontinued, or take a direction less prodigal of human life and less devouring of their funds, but that they had had the courage to assert and maintain their opinion. For a considerable period, therefore, Lord Amherst must be presumed to have shaped his conduct agreeably to the commands of his superiors, and time would show, when the whole correspondence should be published, whose war it now was. Such a course would be worthy of the Court of Proprietors and rescue them from the charge of pronounc ing a censure of the most severe nature upon their highest functionary in India, without having before them the means for a rational opinion. Common justice required that they should not thus prematurely cast a stigma so highly injurious to the character of this nobleman, and so extremely painful to the feelings of his family and friends, who might yet give a very different history of the Burmese war, as far as it respected his lordship. The learned gentleman concluded by moving, "that all the words of the original motion after the word That be omitted, and that the following be substituted:"- "There be laid before the court copies of all despatches from the Governor-General in Council and other authorities; relative to the commencement S.

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Mr. Poynder rose to second it, but expressed a wish that the latter part should be read again, as he did not distinctly catch the words.

Mr. R. Jackson again read his motion. Mr. Hume suggested, that there should be added to the words "all despatches from the Governor-General in Council and other authorities relative to," &c. these words," and all answers of the Court of Directors to those despatches." By these means the court would be put more fully in possession of the whole of the case, and also learn to form a better judgment of Lord Amherst's conduct, by ascertaining how far he had complied with instructions sent out to him.

Mr. R. Jackson said, that the information to which the hon. gentleman alluded was not necessary at present; any such information had not been sought for in the motion on the Nepaul war. All he sought by his motion, was sufficient documents to enable the court to form an opinion on the conduct of Lord Amherst. The time might come, and that at no distant day, when the information contained in the answers of the Directors to the despatches of Lord Amherst might be necessary, when the court might be called upon to pronounce its judgment on the conduct of their executive at home; but, at present, he was disposed to confide in the discretion of the Directors, and leave it altogether to them to say what papers, were necessary, in order to put the proprietors in possession of the facts as far as the conduct of the Governor-General was concerned.

The motion and amendment were again put from the chair, and

Mr. Poynder again addressed the court. He rose, he said, to second the amendment, not because he approved of any of the arguments of the gentleman who had preceded him, but to exercise his right as a proprietor, and give his opinion against the original motion. He thought that no grounds whatever had been stated why the court should assent to so serious a charge against one of its highest functionaries. He had every respect for the mover and seconder of the original motion, but the court had only their speeches; and these too, he must say, without meaning the slightest personal disrespect to those gentlemen-only very light ones for so very grave a subject; but, such as they were, the court had only those speeches in support of a proposition by which they were called upon, not to enquire into-or examine any particular act or acts of the noble Lord at the head of our Indian affairs, but without any such enquiry, or giving him any opportunity of offering any thing in explanation of his conduct,

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to dismiss him at once from his high employment—(Hear, hear!) Such a course would, he thought, be very little to the credit of any public body, professing to make due deliberation the basis of its decisions. Much stress was laid on the assumption, that nothing had been or could be advanced in favour of the noble Lord, who was thus at once accused and .condemned. Such an assumption was by no means fair: it did not follow that, because nothing had been said in answer to the charges brought against our GovernorGeneral, that nothing could be said, if the subject were properly ripe for discussion. If any proprietor had come forward to reply to the charges made, it would very probably be said that he was paid for bestowing his praise, and the court would have a good deal said about interested votes. But why, he asked, should any answer or explanation be given by any friend of Lord Amherst's? there was no accusation in such a shape as to call for an answer or explanation. There was an old observation of the French which might be applied here- Qui s'excuse s'accuse." The court should bear in mind, that to answer any charge before it was regularly made, would be, in some degree, to admit that it was not made without foundation. Insinuations were thrown out that the Burmese war had been unwisely commenced, and was badly conducted; but this was made before it was almost known what was the nature of that war, or its progress, or what would be its probable termination. Suppose sonie enemy of the Duke of Wellington had, in the commencement of any of his campaigns, attempted to condemn his mode of proceeding, would it not be considered premature? and would it not, in the absence of better information, be thought absurd to make such a charge the subject of serious discussion? He thought an opinion as to the policy or mode of conducting the Burmese war, was in the present case equally premature. The hon. member who introduced the original motion bad talked of the natural boundaries, and of mountains so many thousand feet high being regarded as the natural limits of empires. We had often heard of those natural boundaries before, though perhaps the mountains were not then so high as they would turn out to be in the excellent map which was to come forth in a short time under the hon. gentleman's sanction; but notwithstanding the height and extent of such "natural boundaries," we had before us the practical fact, that within a few years they had been passed, and our empire extended and secured far beyond their extent, and very probably it would soon be the case with respect to those very boundaries of which the hon. gentleman spoke. The hon. mover and seconder laid much stress on the accuracy of the private correspondence

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