The Earl of SUFFOLK replied, that this was the very reason why he wished to call the attention of the house to the subject. The act of parliament provided that no war should be entered upon in Judia without communicating the grounds of it to the legislature. But here was a war carried on for a long time, without a single official document having been sent to the executive government of this country. He agreed to postpone the motion, but promised to bring it forward soon, without fixing any particular day. APRIL 19. nature tance; nor was the information required by him of a that could produce any disadvantage to the public service. He should not, therefore, trouble their Lordships with any further observations, as he could not conceive any grounds on which these papers could be refused by his Majesty's government. Lord HAWKESBURY said, he had no objection to the production of the papers in question. In opposing the motion, which he rose to do, he proceeded on other grounds. There were two sorts of papers which might be called for in parliament; one of that nature, that there need be no particular reason assigned for calling for them, it being plain, as a general rule, that no inconvenience could arise from their being produced. Of this kind were accounts relative to the revenue; and many others might be instance. In all such cases, the onus probandi lay on the government; if they refused the papers, they must show a particular reason applicable to that particular case, because the business to which such accounts and papers referred, grew out of the proceedings of parliament. But the second kind was very different : it respected proceedings growing out of the discretionary exercise of the executive power; and though it was competent to par liament to call for papers of this kind, it was not the parliamentary custom for any noble lord to make a motion to that effect without signing the reason which should induce the House to interpose its authority in that particular The motion of the noble Earl The Earl of CARLISLE ob served, he had to move for some necessary information, as prepa ratory to a subject of considerable Importance, and which he thought particularly worthy the serious attention of the house; especially as rumours strongly prevailed, which induced a suspicion of the propriety of that conduct. He alluded to the commencement of hostilities in India. However, what in the present instance he should propose, he thought so obviously unobjectionable, as that no sort of resistance could be me... ditated against his motion; which was, "That an humble address be presented to his Majesty, pray ing his Majesty to give directions, that there be laid before the house an account of the date of instructions sent to the officer commanding the naval force in the East Indies, previous to his Majesty's message to parliament on the present rupture, with the date of their arrival in India; and also the date of the instructions sent previous to the actual as case. cane rupture, with the date of their distinctly under this last division, arrival in India.” His Lordship and he must oppose it, because he said, the subject was of import i had heard no reason urged t prove its necessity or use. With respect to to the papers moved for, he had no hesitation in saying, that instructions were forwarded to the East Indies, after the rupture was foreseen, with all possible expedi tion. The Earl of CARLISLE said, he had used no particular argument to induce the House to agree to the motion, because he could not have imagined it would be opposed by his majesty's ministers. He would now, however, inform the noble Secretary of State, that this was a subject of no small moment, that there were very disagreeable rumours abroad, that thepublic opinion did not coincide with his Lordship's statement, and that the Ilouse had a right to know the facts from documents, and could not be justified in a matter of this consequence, in taking the mere assertion of one of his Majesty's ministers. He would tell the noble Lord, there was a report, on authority perhaps as good as his Lordship's, that Admiral Rainier did not receive his instructions from government till 17 days after the rupture was announced in India by private letters from England; and that the French admiral, Linois, had, in the interval, while the English admiral was near him, cut his cables in the night, and withdrew his squadron in safety; no doubt, having received his instructions from his government. He was informed, that when the dispatches were sent by government to India, they were sent by a frigate, which, so far from going directly, and with the utmost expedition, convoyed a fleet, and touched at Lisbon. He did not know how far this was true or not; he did not know what might be the exact foundation of the public opinion on this subject; it was his duty, and that of the House, to ascertain the truth, and to inquire if there had been any culpable neglect. If there had not, he gave government the oppor tunity to repel those aspersions. Lord HAWKESBURY said, he had heard no argument from the noble Earl to induce him to change his opinion. As to the statements of the noble Lord, he entirely denied them, with all possible civility certainly; but he meant to say the noble Earl was misinform ed. Previous to his Majesty's mes sage, instructions were sent to Admiral Rainier; a second time, between that and the rapture; and again on that event. Instructions, in the first instance, had been sent as early as possible, and by the most speedy conveyance, and had arrived in an unusually short time. Earl SPENCER said, he came down without any previous knowledge of this motion; but, after he had heard what had been urged by the noble Earl, and the answer of the noble Secretary of State, he felt it his duty to support the motion. Without dissenting from the noble Lord opposite to him, as to the principle on which papers were grantedor refused, he thought the noble Earl had laid a parliamentary and proper ground for demanding the information in question. He thought ministers could not refuse the papers, without acknowledging the charge advanced, not by the noble Earl, but by the public voice. The motion gave the government an opportunity to defend themselves from a very heavy charge. It was no light question, whether the earliest information and instructions had been conveyed to Admiral Rainier or not. Suppose the French in that quarter had been superior superior in force to us, instead of the contrary, what might have been the result of their receiving the intelligence of the rupture earlier than our admiral? And, inferior as they were, what benefit may we not have lost by this tardiness in sending dispatches, if the fact be as the public feeling seems to declare? With respect to the degree of expedition which was used on the part of our govern ment, in forwarding dispatches of such importance, he would ask, did they arrive in India previously to the 12th of August? and farther, were they not sent in a frigate which was encumbered with convoy; and did not the vessel actually touch at Lisbon in her passage? A great deal of what was desired would appear from the production of the dates. The Earl of CARNARVON said, the noble lord who had just sat down had stated, that Admirał Rainier received information of the state of affairs from some quarter; this might be, and yet government be no less culpable. It was the duty of parliament to inquire, whether government had discharged its duty in this most important point. If our squadron had received timely instructions, there could be no doubt the French would now be the weaker by the loss of their squadron under Linois; and the mischief he had done in the East Indies, and might still do with that squadron, would have been avoided. The strongest parliamentary ground was laid for the motion, and he should most heartily give it his vote. Lord HOBART maintained, that Lord HARROW BY expressed public rumour was not a parlia- his opinion as to the principle mentary ground to justify the call- which should regulate the conduct ing for papers. If that were ad- of parliament upon such occamitted, every one of their lord- sions as the present. Upon the ships, as they severally happened first appearance of the present to be affected by the public tales question, regarding such consiof the day, might impede the ex- derations in the light he did, he ecutive government by calling for was rather inclined to oppose the ⚫papers. His lordship asserted, motion; but, in consequence of that every degree of possible ex- what transpired in the conversapedition was used in forwarding tion, he thought a case so far the dispatches in question to In-made out as to shew the propriety dia, and that they arrived at the of acceding to it. The house different presidencies in an extraor- then divided on the Earl of Cardinarily short interval. Informa- lisle's motion, when there appear. tion of an important nature had ́ed, been received by Admiral Rainier, and at a period, if not earlier, as early as any intelligence received by the French admiral, as, in point of fact, it was at the time of the British admiral being actually deliberating upon the expediency of taking steps to secure the French squadron, that the latter slipped its cables, aud got away. Contents 31 30 Majority against ministers 1 MAY 3. VOTE OF THANKS TO THE The order of the day for a vote of thanks to Marquis Wellesley, and and to the other civil and military officers in India, and to our force there, for their great zeal and courage manifested in our late success in India, being read, Lord HOBART rose to move a vote of thanks from that house to those gallant officers, and to the non-commissioned officers and privates who had so zealously supported the cause and contributed to the glory of this country in the East Indies. In moving this vote he did not mean to extend it to the policy of the war, but merely to confine it to the military successes with which in its operation it had been crowned. Neither was it bis intention to confine the vote of thanks to the noble Governor General, but to extend it to the other civil and military governors in the different establishments, and to the officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates in our armies. His Lordship then went through an enumeration of the different splendid successes which our troops had experienced in that quarter, which, he said, might more reasonably have been expected to have been perforined in three campaigns than in three months. He said he was the less inclined to trouble their Lordships at length upon the subject, not only from his confidence that what he should have to propose would meet the sense of every Lord present, but from the consideration that there were many in the house who had been instrumental in placing him in that situation. Lord HAWKESBURY added his share of applause to that of the Noble Lord who preceded, as to the meritorious conduct of the Noble Marquis, and in terms of the warmest admiration, adverted to the gallantry displayed by the commander in chief in another part of the country in which the victories were obtained, and which had been alluded to by his Noble friend. On the services performed by that gallant officer, he particularly commented, and extolled as well in India as other parts of the globe. The Earl of LIMERICK fols lowed, and spoke warmly in support of the motion. In the course of his speech, he highly panegyrised the conduct of General Lake, particularly in America, while serving in the army of a Noble Marquis not then in his place. The Earl of CAMDEN also strongly supported the motion, and took occasion bandsomely to descant upon the professional merits of General Wellesley.→→The ques tion was then put, and the thanks of the house were voted nem. dis. Lord HOBART then proposed the thanks of the house to Lord Clive, for his very meritorious conduct as Governor of Fort St. George, in the late war against Tippoo Saltaun, &c. These were voted nein. dis.-His Lordship afterwards proposed the thanks of the house to Jonathan Duncan, Esq. Governor of Bombay; to Generals Lake, St. John, and Wellesley; and to the several subordinate officers, &c. which were severally voted, nem. dis. by their Lordships, after which it was ordered, that the Lord Chancellor do trausmit the same to the Governor-General, &c. Adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. MAY 3d. VOTE OF THANKS TO THE ARNY IN INDIA. Lord AGH 10se, purSuaut suant to notice, to propose a vote of thanks to the Marquis Wellesley, and to the officers and soldiers concerned in achieving our late successes in India. The Noble Lord accounted for the postpone ment of this motion to a period so long after the intelligence of several of the brilliant victories in that quarter had reached this country, by stating that Government waited for the full official details, in order that the name of no meritorious officer should be omitted; that in this mark of distinguished acknowledgment, the services of no man should be overlooked, who had any claim to participate of the honour meant to be conferred by a motion of this nature, a motion which he begged to be understood as distinctly confined to the military transactions, from which he wish ed to separate every thing of a civil or political nature, every thing connected with the cause and origin of the war. This would form a subject for future discussion. Whatever might have been the policy which prompted to the commencement of the war, he felt it was due to the magnitude of the question, and to candour towards the Honourable Gentleman on the other side, (Mr. Francis,) to make it the ground of a special examination, and not at all to blend it with the motion he had now the honour to submit to the house. From that consideration, therefore, he should confine himself, on the present occasion, to a military view of the subject; and he would not call upon the house to pronounce any opinion upon the other part of the transaction, which it was not at all his desire to prejudge. Although impressed with the persua sion, that nothing in his power to urge could advance the military merits of the several officers engaged, he would not attempt to chill the feelings of the country, which must have been so strongly excited, and so highly elated, by the narration of the brilliant exploits which had been performed; exploits which owed so much to the previous arrangement and preparation of Marquis Wellesley. Although he conceived the wisdom of the original contrivance, and the skill and bravery of the execution, to be much beyond the reach of any panegyric he could bestow, yet there were two or three prominent features in this transaction, of which he could not decline to take notice; and first, he observed that Marquis Wellesley, after having made ample provision for the security of our Indian empire, and after having sent a considerable detachment to reinforce our troops in Ceylon, was able to bring into the field against Scindia, &c. no less a force than 55,000 effective men. This served to shew the vigorous exertions of the Noble Marquis, and the knowledge of the fact must be grateful to the country, as it afforded a proud display of the extent of our military resources in that, quarter of the empire. Another meritorious point in the conduct of the Government of India, was the prompt and judicious distribution of this force. Immediately after the rupture, the troops commenced their ope rations at different and opposite points of the enemy's territory. Every part of the plan of attack manifested such a degree of skill and arrangement on the part of Marquis Wellesley, as particularly entitled his Lordship to the atten |