said, it must be in the recollection of several members of the house, that he had lately made some propositions to the house respecting the war that was entered into, and carried on by the direction of the British governor-general in India, without the consent or knowledge of the govt. of this country. Since he had offered that proposition to the house, he had seen published in the Court Gazette of this country, as well as in dispatches coming from the India-house, the accounts of many important events, of which the advices had been recently received. From the circumstance of these accounts having been published in the Gazette, he was justified in concluding, that ministers must have received some further advices from India. And he thought it might be useful to bring this subject again before the house, in order that the noble lord (Castlereagh) might have an opportunity of giving some explanation upon it. He thought it necessary to observe, that the military successes obtained by our army in India formed no part of the question on which he meant to rest his proposition. A war might be attended with the most brilliant success, and yet have been undertaken contrary to law, and on the most unjustifiable grounds. On the other hand, a war might be undertaken on the most wise and just principles, and prove disastrous in the end. Therefore, the circumstance of the war in India having been successful, could form no part of the consideration, whether that war had been improperly undertaken or not. His object now was, to know from the noble lord, whether it would be convenient to him to state to the house, any communication that might have been received from the govt. in India, relative to the cause of that war. It appeared from the official dispatches, that the army under General Wellesley was in motion, in the beginning of Aug. last; therefore, there was ground to conclude, that the orders he had received must have been of a much earlier date than that period. Such great operations as those, which appeared to have taken place in India, must have been a subject of long deliberation; much preparation must have been made, and the business must have been determined upon in the council at Calcutta, three months at least before the commencement of hostilities. That determination then must have been made in May last. What he wanted to ask, therefore, was, whether the Marquis of Wellesley had advised the Court of Directors of such a resolution; whether a report had been made to them of the plan, the grounds, and the projects of the intended hostilities? There certainly was sufficient time for them to have received an account of any resolutions that might have been taken in Calcutta since May last. This was all he wanted the noble lord to explain. He should then move, "That there be laid before the house, copies or extracts of all dispatches received by the directors of the East-India company, from the governor-general of Bengal, or from either of the presidencies of Fort George or Bombay; so far as the same related to the hostilities lately carried on with the Mahratta states."

thought it would be much more proper to wave the discussion of this subject until the practical question should come fully before the house. The same reasons which had induced him on a former day to resist a proposition brought forward by the hon. gent., made it necessary for him to oppose the present. In point of fact, he could assure the hon. gent., that no direct communication had been received from Bengal, either by sea or land, concerning the hostilities in question. The advices that were received came from the presidencies; and it was from these the court of directors had the accounts of the brilliant successes which took place in India. He was ready to admit, that these successes made no part of the question, whether the war had been properly undertaken or not. At the same time, he thought it necessary, in order that no conclusion might be drawn to the prejudice of the noble marquis at the head of the govt. in India, to state that no advices had been received from him later than the 26th of June last. With respect to communications overland, they had of late been very slow; and he could not account for the delay of these advices through that conveyance, which were long expected. It was true, the measures which led to the war arose out of a treaty that had been concluded some months before; but govt. was not yet in possession of the resolutions of the govt. and council relative to the war. He hoped, however, the business would be looked upon as a whole, and not in a confined or partial manner. It would be impossible to form an accurate judgment on the transaction, until dispatches were received from the supreme govt. in India, and until then, he wished the hon. gent. might forbear making any motion on the subject.

said, he could not forbear expressing his astonishment that govt. had received no information as to the grounds upon which hostilities had been commenced in India. There were three opportunities of conveying information on the subject from Bengal. An overland dispatch was sent off on the 9th of Sept. from that place; and two vessels had since sailed from thence. The act of parliament positively prescribed, that information concerning war should be conveyed as speedily as possible; and it was extraordinary, that no information had been sent to this country relative to the causes of the war; and even if the information should arrive, there was danger, from its probable length, and the time necessary for printing it, that it could not be taken into consideration before the present session of parliament should pass away. As far as he was able to judge of the battle which took place on the 23d of last Sept., he could not see in it any of the fruits of a victory. He hoped he should be disappointed in his apprehensions concerning that combat; but he thought it most extraordinary and unaccountable that the information the house had a right to expect, had never been conveyed to it.

said, that his Majesty's ministers were in possession of the discussions which took place between Scandia and General Wellesley, and which led to hostilities in the Mahratta country, but they were not in possession of any documents that could shew what had been the governor general's view of the subject, when he gave directions to commence hostilities. At present it was not candid to suppose that he had neglected any opportunity of making the necessary communications, because one or two ships might have happened to sail from Bengal, without bringing any dispatches from him.

said, he knew none of the parties concerned in those transactions to which he alluded, and therefore he could not be supposed to act from prejudice towards any of them. But this he knew, and from the knowledge he had of India, and his residence there, he thought it his duty to state it; that one of the leading principles always inculcated there was to preserve the peace of India, and no governor had a right to enter upon a war from his own authority. It was a most lamentable thing to hear of wars being now carried on along the Malabar coast and north of Delhi. He was not now discussing the operations of General Wellesley. What he pressed upon was, that the house ought to be in possession of the deliberations which took place at Calcutta, when it was determined to make war, and send an army against the Mahrattas. And all this must have been done before the 26th of last June. At present he had no objection to withdraw his motion, but he should resume it again whenever he should find it necessary to do so; as he conceived it to be of the utmost importance that the house should discuss a question of this kind.—The motion was then withdrawn.

said, that upon inquiry, he found that the petition of right ought to be tried before any other petition relative to this election; and as it must be the wish of all the parties to save the expense of sending for witnesses from Cornwall, to appear before three different committees, he should propose such days for taking the different petitions into consideration, that one might speedily follow the other; and as the witnesses on each were nearly the same, one journey to town would serve for all.

said, he had no objection to the days being fixed in the following manner: the 24th of April, the 3d of May, and the 7th of May.—The petition of right was then postponed to the 24th instant; and the petition of T. Sheridan, Esq. was ordered to be taken into consideration on the 3d of May. On Mr. Sheridan's moving to put off the consideration of Mr. Huskisson's petition until the 3d of May, the motion was opposed by Mr. Banks, Mr. Burroughs, &c. and at last it was withdrawn on the suggestion of the Speaker, who observed, that if it should now be negatived, the house could not afterwards alter the order which now stood for taking it into consideration.

declared, that he did not feel himself completely satisfied as to the propriety of such a measure as that which the bill before the house professed to enforce. At a time when that country was particularly supposed to be the chief object of invasion, nothing could prove to him the propriety of withdrawing 10,000 good and effective troops out of the island, unless any hon. member could bring forward a clear and positive demonstration that there were at present in Ireland full 10,000 men more than were absolutely necessary for the defence of that part of the empire. He might be told, perhaps, that they were to be replaced by another levy of the same description. He was certain, however, that no new raised troops could be rendered as efficient as those to be withdrawn, within the time in which it was probable that some attempt might be made by the enemy; it would be difficult even to recruit such a force within the time, as far as he could infer from what he had heard his Majesty's ministers declare respecting the danger of invasion. The Irish militia had proved themselves to be a most gallant and useful body of men during the late unfortunate rebellion; and, though it might be added that the appearance of the English militia was also of some importance at that period, he could not suppose that any gentleman could for a moment imagine that the danger of this country was at present so far greater than that of Ireland, as to justify a similar offer on the part of the Irish militia. Their liberality and loyalty he did not mean by any means to call in question. But there were some circumstances respecting the offers of particular regiments which might perhaps be further explained in the course of debate. All that at present he could wish was, to hear the matter fairly accounted for, and all its concomitant circumstances related to the house.

rose to state that his sentiments with respect to this measure had undergone no alteration since he had last the honour of addressing the house, although, from the thinness of the house upon the present occasion, he should not enter into the subject at any length, but would reserve himself for a future opportunity.

said, that he entirely coincided with the hon. member who had just sat down, as to the nature and tendency of the bill before the house.—The motion was then agreed to, and the bill ordered to be com- mitted for Tuesday. The Irish militia argumentation bill was also read a third time, and committed for Tuesday.

expressed a wish that provision should be made in the bill to prevent the oil manufacturers of Ireland from being injured in their trade.

said, if his hon. friend would read the bill, he would find that, although bad or damaged flax-seed was not permitted to be sold till the first of July, yet it might be served out to the oil manufacturer, sooner than that time, on his giving security that it was not be sown in the ground.—The bill was then read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Wednesday next.