Extracts of Letters relative to the Rohilla War. At this moment of univerfal curiosity on the fubje&t of India concerns, particularly as far as the conduct of Mr. Haftings is concerned, the following very important extracts from documents of undeniable authenticity, cannot but be highly acceptable to our readers. Extract of a Letter from Col. Champion to Warren Haflings, Efq. dated June 12, 1774. "If Strangers, my good Sir, to what has pafled in thefe countries, were to read your letter, they would be led to imagine that the Vizier had been constantly harraffed by the Rohillas; that they had been in the use of making continual in-roads into his country, and of calling foreign aid to diftreft him. In fhort that, without reducing them, there could be no fafety, no reft for Sujah Dowlah! But I have never heard it alledged, even by the Vizier himself, that these people had even betrayed an indication of a difpofition to incroach on him, or give him the fmatteft caufe of diftiuft.” Extract of Ditto, to the Board at Cal cutta, June, 12, 1774. "In Confequence of the Board's defire, I am now to mention a very unpleafing fubject, the Vizier's treatment of the family of Hajez Rhamut, &c. the inhumanity and difhonor with which they, Melulah Khan, his brother Fittulah Khan, late proprietors of this city and country, and their families have been ufed, is known over all thefe parts. A relation of them would fwell this letter to an immoderate fize, and withal prove difagreeable reading. I fend you tranflations of two letters, and a copy of a third, which affecting as they are, will convey but a faint idea of the treatment thefe unhappy people have met with. "Icould not help compaffionating fuch unparralleled mifery, and my requests to the Vizier to fhew lenity where frequently but as fruitlefs as were thofe, which I almoft hourly gave him regarding the deftruction of the villages; with refpect to which I am more conftrained to declare that, although he always promifed as fairly as I could with, yet he did not obferve one of them, nor ceafe to overfpread the coun. try with flames, until three days after the fate of Hajez was decided; but gentlemen, as in all points, expecting fuch as refpect the operations in the field, he is folely em powered to prescribe, the reputation of the British name is in his hands and the line which has been laid down for me is very clear. "The above families have been dif patched to Fizabad, that their mal-treatment might not be fo generally known to us. I have, however, frequent accounts of them and it will give me the moft fenfible pleasure that you fretch forth the hand of benevolence effectually to relieve thein from fuch indifcribable mifery! and that you may better devise the means of fo doing, I am to inform you, that every application of mine in their favour, though poffeffedly taken in good part by the Vizier, yet only ferved to procure them more vigorous treatment!" Extract of Ditto, dated at the Camp, "I am moft heartily difpofed to believe, that the Board did not fufpect their orders would have fuch confequences as have fallen out. They could not have forefeen fo fudden and fo total an expulfion and downfall of a whole race of people; they could not have fuppofed that a man, exalted and fupported by British arms, could pay fo very little defference to the advices and counfel of a British commander; nor was it poffible to conceive that a man, who had himself tafted the gall of misfortunes, fhould be fo totally unmindful of the unbounded and unparalelled grace fhewn to him, as to delight in denying a single ray of benevolence to others Such however, has been the cafe, and in due intimation of it I have difcharged that which was incumbent upon me. I too, can fay, that the Nabob, as the agent of oppreffion, is alone culpable; but, while all Afta knows that the English gave him the rod, and while they in vain look up to them, as thofe who ought, if not to direct the application, at least to prevent an ill ufuage being made of that rod, will they not reafonably conclude, that the scourges, which the agent gives, are connived at? Will they not fay, that every English chief is another Sujah?--I am glad you did not addreis the Vizier concerning the family of Hajez. Your good sense figured circumftances as they really were. I did not mean to fay that Hajez's family fhould be rendered independent of Sujah Dowlah; I wrote to Mr. Haftings, requesting that he would take them under his protection, by" iufluencing the Nabob to make provifion for them in fome degree fuitable to their birth."-They themselves propofed, that any, or as many of the fons as the Nabob pleafed, fhould remain in his hands; but prayed him not to difhonour the Begum, and other women, by drawing them about the country to be loaded with the fcoffs of the rabble, and otherwife ftill worfe ufed: but he was deaf to all my intreaties, which you will find by my letter of the 11th, were alfo ineffetual with regard to the deftruction of the villages; a circumftance, with refpe&t to which I am now forry I did not undeceive you fooner; but it proceeded from a real difinclination to enlarge upon his exceffes, which has alfo prevented my defcending to the particulars of his conduct." Abstract of the feveral Articles of Public Receipt and Expenditure. (From the Report of the Sele& Committee.) RECEIPT Further produce of Taxes From 5th Jan. 1785 to 5th of Jan. 1786. impofed in 1784 Total net payments into the Exchequer, from 5th of Jan. 1785, to 5th Jan. 1786 £. 12,499,916 Deduct therefrom The refpited duties paid by the Eaft-India Company Excefs beyond the future amount of the Window Duties Further produce of Taxes impofed in 1785, including the improvement of the Medicine Duty Paid at the Excife and Alienation Office, in part of 401,118 Civil Lift 22,009 242,000 14,000 Produce of the Land and 56,101 Malt 2,600,000 £. 15,973,475 EXPENDITURE. Intereft and Charges of the 253,534 Public Dehts 9,275,769 Exchequer Bills 258,000 Civil Lift To complete the former 900,000 Duty on Male Servants Further produce of the +Navy Duties on Horfes, Waggons, Army }1790 1790 1,800,000 1,600,000 Ordnance 348,000 Militia 91,000 Mifcellaneous Services 74,274 66,538 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES, (Continued from our laft, Page 215.) HOUSE of COMMONS, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 1786. SHOP TAX. MR. For this day rofe in his place, and faid, when he had the honour to prefent the Petition of the shopkeepers of Wefmifter, praying a repeal of the At impofing a tax on retail fhops, he had no inftractions to move, that the petitioners might be heard by themfelves or counfel, but having understood fince, that fuch was their defire, he begged leave to make the neceifery Motion for the purpofe. Mc. Fox moved accordingly, and Icave was given. FORTIFICATIONS. Mr. Baflard faid, before the Houfe proceeded to enter upon the difcuffion of the great queftion of fortifying the Dock Yards, he conceived they ought to have the fulleft information on the fubject that could poffibly be got. He would therefore make a motion, which would fufficiently fpeak its own purport, and as the time of the Houfe would be fully occupied by the debates about to be brought on that day, he would barely make his motion. Mr. Baftard then moved for a Copy of the Report of the Officers appointed to infpect into the state of fortifications at Plymouth in 1784. The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied, that when any information was demanded by any Hon. Member, he always felt the frongeft inclination to have it granted, where it was poffible to be done confiftently with the interefts and fafety of the nation. That the information now required was not of that defcription, he apprehended, needed no other proof than barely to read the title of the paper called for by the Hon. Gentleman's motion; he according ly read it to the Houfe, and it appeared to be an account of the places and means by which an enemy could eafieft effect an invafion. Mr. Baftard rofe again and faid, he could not conceive that any bad or dangerous confequences could poffibly refult from laying upon the table the copy of a report made fo long fince, but as he held a copy of the report in his hand, he would read POL. MAG. VOL. X. APRIL, 1786. it as a part of his fpeech Mr. Baftard was proceeding to read the report, when The Chancellor of the Exchequer stopt him and faid, that he could never acquiefce in any gentleman's reading as a part of his fpeech, a paper, purporting to be an It official document, without ftating to the Houfe how he had obtained it, that fo they might know it to be authentick. was alfo, whether authentick or not, irregular, and highly improper for any paper of fuch a nature to be exhibited without an order of the House for producing it, for the Houfe at large could only be a proper judge of its neceflity and ufefulnofs-He went fhortly into the queftion, and ftated, that any information that could be derived from the Report now moved for, would in itself be abfolutely nugatory, becaufe the refult of the Report by a Board of Military and Naval Officers, (whose competence no gentleman could pollibly question) comprehended and involved the refult of the former one, and from the former one, and from the nature of the fabject of that Report which he had just read to the Houfe, it would appear, that nothing but its general refult could with fafety be made publick. Mr. Baflard rofe a third time, and said, he wifhed not by any means to infringe upon the orders or practice of proceeding in that Houfe, and if he had done fo in any degree, he begged it might be imputed to his not being fufficiently experienced in their mode of proceeding. With regard to the report, as he found it to be irregular to read it, he would not proceed, but would content himfelf with faying, that the whole jet of the questions and anfwers in that report, went to establish it as a position not to be dispured, that an enemy might effect an invafion if no attempt was made to oppofe and repel their efforts, just as if a perfon was to ask, if an enemy could make a landing behind the Speaker's Chair and the anfwer given. was to be, " Undoubtedly; if no endea vour is exerted to prevent it.” Mr. Baftard withdrew his Motion. Captain Macbride role to make his promifed Motion, which was, he faid, for a paper, that in his idea could not poffibly produce any inconvenience or afford the Icaft information to the enemies of the country LI country, that might affect the fafety of the State. When the Board of Enquiry fat at Plymouth, the Naval Officers entered a minute on their proceedings, infifting on having before them the report of Lieute nant Hawkins, Engineer, who had infpected the coaft of Whitefand Bay; that report had been before them, and when that was feen and the opinion of the Naval Officers upon it, it would be found, that the Naval Officers opinion was directly in the teeth of the fortifications. The Captain concluded with moving for a copy of the Naval Officers minute, and of Lieutenant Hawkins's report. The Chancellor of the Exchequer again declared his uneafinefs at being obliged to withhold from any Hon. Gentleman fuch aids and materials as he might judge neceffary for his own information, or that of the House, on a subject of so much importance as the prefent, but his duty as a fervant of the public, and as refponfible, for the fecurity of the nation, he could by no means give his affent to the Motion that had been made. The report of Lieutenant Hawkins was on a subject of a very delicate nature, and related to the practicability of an enemy's landing on Whitefand Bay, and the coaft adjacent from the Ramhead to East Looe, an extent of feveral miles, and gave a particular detail of the tides, the foundings, the fmall harbours and inlets, the anchorage, and other material objects to be confidered, with regard to the practicability of an enemy's landing, likewife of the various circumstances of fituation, of diftance of ground, and of the time and difficulty that would attend the landing of troops, horfes and artillery, and the probability there was in cafe of their landing, that they would be able to penetrate the country in order to make an attack on the "Dock Yards, together with the time that it might be expected frigates could remain upon the coaft for the purpose of effecting and covering the debarkation, from which it muft appear to the Houle how exceedingly incompatible with wifdom and policy it would be to have it laid before the publick in the manner now demanded. Captain Macbride made a fhort reply, in which he difciaimed any intention of moving for any papers, that could convey information to the enemy, and obferved that the landing must be effected before the enemy could proceed to penetrate the country, and that confequently the naval part of the queftion was effential to the Houfe, as a primary confideration to any confequences that might take place, after the enemy once got on thore. The Captain ridiculed the idea of our having it in our power to communicate any intelligence refpecting the British coafts to the enemy; he faid, they knew them full as well as we did ourselves, as every body might recollect, when it was confidered that the French fishing boats were perpetually over in our bays and harbours; befides, was it to be imagined that they would attempt to land in corners, and on fuch parts of our coafts as they faw our cruizers carefully avoiding, as dangerous in the extreme? The Chancellor of the Exchequer difclaimed any feelings of a perfonal nature on the fubject of the Report moved for, which he faid, it was impoffible to impute to him, with any fhadow of propriety or juftice. He paid Captain Macbride a high compliment, declaring, that it was impoffible for him who knew the Hon. Gentleman's zeal for the fervice of his country, and the great reputation he had acquired in the difcharge of his profeffional duty to fufpect for a moment, any but the pureft intentions to have influenced him in making his Motion. He argued ftrongly against the attempting to go into the detail of the Report, as the Gentleman oppofite feemed inclined to do, by obferving, that as the fubject matter of the Report was of fuch a nature as appeared to the House to be improper for them to inveftigate; and as they had, as it had been well said in that House, "fent the queftion to an arbitration," by directing that a Board should be appointed for the purpofe, because the bulinefs could be done more effectually and more fecretly in that mode than by a parli amentary enquiry, it was departing from the principle of the Houfe now to enter upon the minute parts of the fubject, which it had already avowed itfelf incapable of examining with propriety. He demanded an explanation from the Hon. Gentleman, whether he had intended to ftate that the land officers diffented in their opinion from the report of Lieutenant Hawkins, or that the naval officers had difapproved of the fyftem of fortifications in toto, a pofition, which, as the Hon. Gentieman had not abfolutely affirmed, he could without any rudeness directly contradict, as the very first article of the report went to establish the neceffity of fortifications by an unanimous vote of the whole board. Captain Macbride replied, and then a loose and defultory converfation followed between the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Captain Macbride, Mr. Marsham, and and Captain James Luttrell, till at length Captain Macbride withdrew his mo tion. General Burgoyne made a short speech, in which he pointed out two omiffions in the Extracts from the Report of the Board of Naval and Military Officers, that appeared to him to be material. The General faid, he did not mean to caft any imputation whatever, or to have it imagined that he thought the omiffions wilful, he did not believe they were, but he thought it right to mention them. He faid further, that although he was as fully prepared upon the subject, as ever he fhould be, yet he had a Motion to make for fome papers, to which he did not foresee the poffibility of an objection, but which, in his humble judgment, were fo important and fo highly neceffary to be before the Houfe, that the Houfe would not be ripe to proceed to difcufs the question of fortifications, till after the papers were on the Table. The General then moved for "a return of the Infantry in the Kingdom, the number of effectives, and the deficieneies to complete the establishment, in the year 1779." This motion occafioned another converfation of fome length. Mr. Martin profeffed himself an advocate for all the information that could be got, but declared no one of the papers moved for that day, went to the removal of the objection he felt to the propofed fyftem of fortifications, and that was, that the adoption of that fyftem would make an encrease of the standing army neceffary, a matter which he was too much of a whig to give his confent to, notwithstanding tle good opinion he entertained of the Noble Duke at the head of the Ordnance, and the great partiality of his mind to his Majefty's prefent Minifters, who he hoped would long remain in poffeffion of his Majefty's confidence, and the confidence of the people. Mr. Martin faid farther, that he did not confider the queftion of fortifications as a perfonal one, nor did he Speak from private motives of any kind, but he thought it his duty to declare his genuine fentiments, and he hoped every friend of the Minifter would give his genuine fentiments on the fubject like wife. The Chancellor of the Exchequer entirely coincided in principle, as in general he had the good fortune and honour to do, with the Hon. Gentleman, that an increafe of the standing army would indeed occafion an almost infurmountable objection to the accomplishment of the plan under confideration, but he affured him and the House, that they need be under no apprehenfions of any fuch neceffity arifing from the fortifications propofed being carried into execution. He would, he declared, undertake to prove to the fatisfac tion of every unprejudiced perfon, that fo far from rendering it unneceffary to increafe the ftanding army, they would operate in the direct contrary way, and afford the means of defending the kingdom in cafe of an invafion with a much fmaller force than at prefent was neceffary. As to the moved for paper he could fee no fort of neceffity for it, but it appeared to him to relate to one of those matters, that formed the immediate duty of the executive government. Mr. Fox faid, if the Right Hon. Gen. tleman really meant to refift such a motion as that of his Hon. Friend, it would be better to fay at once, fortification was not a fit queftion for that Houfe to difcufs; for was it poffible for the House to form any opinion refpecting the propriety of making fortifications, if they were not allowed the means of judging upon the fubject? It was admitted, he conceived, on all hands, that fortifications muft neceffarily be confidered in one of thefe two lights: they would either prove a ftrength to the kingdom, or they would add to its weaknefs, and, in cafe of an invafion ftrengthen the enemy. This must depend altogether on our capacity of manning them, and keeping them in our own hands; and how was that matter to be decided and ascertained? It could be known only by two means,-he should prefume no good minifter would refort to the fuppofition, what might happen to be the internal force of the kingdom at any future period, he furely would not, but would look back to what the internal force of the country had been in former periods of danger. Mr. Fox faid, he would not take upon him to pronounce that the year 1779 was the beft year to be felected for the objects of the motion, or whether it would not be proper to felect a series of years, in order that the matter might be more fairly viewed and deter mined, but at any rate he faw not the utility of the Houfe's proceeding to the debate upon the fortifications, without having fome fuch papers before them, as his Right Hon. Friend had moved for. The Chancellor of the Exchequer repli ed, that he should have looked upon it as Liz a rea |