tion of parliament and the gratitude of the country: but such Judgment and vigilance could not excite surprize, when it was recollected that they were evinced by the same personage who gave such signal proof of the superiority of his mind in the detection and overthrow of that inveterate enemy of the British interests in India, the late Sovereign of the Mysore. Another distinguished trait in the character of this war, the Noble Lord observed to be the time in which such important acquisitions to the fame of our arms and the security of our empire had been obtained. It appeared that all had been done in the space of three months, during which General Wellesley had con quered every thing from Scindia in the Guzerat and the Deccan, while General Lake had subdued an immense tract of territory in another quarter, and on the whole those officers, with the other detachments of our force, had made more extensive conquests, and obtained more decisive victories, than could be found to have been achieved, within the same space of time, in the annals of military history. If the force with which our army had to contend consist ed merely of the natives of India, formed and arrayed as they ordinarily are, our glory would not, Ire confessed, be by any means so high; but it was to be remembered, that the Mahrattas were a power materially different froin the other native powers of India, and that in this instance they were not only disciplined but officered by Europeans. Having noticed the success and the length of the campaign, as matter equally of sur prize and triumph, the Noble Lord expressed his hope that the

house would excuse him for de tailing some particulars of its pro gress, although he felt it would be impossible to describe it altogether in terms of adequete justice. In the course of the war, there were eight places of great military strength and importance captured by our army, four of which were taken by escalade, and in a manner, he could venture to say from the best information, not to suffer by a comparison with the most renowned attacks of the same nature which occurred on the Continent during the last war. The operations of our army, however, were not confined to sieges or storming parties, They had equally distinguished themselves in another species of warfare. They had fought no less than four pitched battles, in two of which Gen. Wellesley commanded; in the others Gen. Lake. To compare the nature of these victories, he felt was not the way to do justice to either of the gallant officers, for there was a peculiar merit belonging to each. Their cases, and the circumstances connected with them were distinct and separate. The victory of the 23d of September was particularly honourable to the courage and skill of General Wellesley. was now known to be a fact, that with the 4500 troops he commanded, he defeated a force not less than ten times that number; and this defeat was the more astonishing, as this superior force was not only formidable from number, but from discipline; it was acquainted with tactics, and as it was capable of the varieties of military evolution, it actually changed its position five different times in the course of the engagement. in fact, the fate of that day was de,

be supposed that, if any occasion arose, that glory would not be equally conspicuous at home?He felt that it would be a presumption in any individual to wish that such an occasion should occur to express a desire for a contest with the enemy on our own soil; but he would say that, after all the pompous and insulting menaces of that enemy, he could trace nothing in the state of our preparations, in the spirit of parliament or the people, which could lead him to wish that the enemy should not come. If he should come, sure he was, that there was no ground to fear for the result. It was obvious, that the genius of Englishmen, which could urge to such extraordinary exertions in distant colonies, when acted upon by all the important considerations which prompt to the defence of liberty, independence, family, and home, would rise to exertion and glory of a still higher nature. Should that day of trial come, he was confident that our army would not be contented with emulating even their countrymen who have fought in Egypt and India, but that the result of the contest would be the source of joy, exultation, and gratitude, not only in their own country, but throughout the whole civilized world. The noble lord concluded with moving the thanks of the house to the Most Noble Richard Marquis Wellesley, Governor General of India, for the zeal, energy, and ability, with which the military resources of this government were applied in the late war with Scindia and the Rajah of Berar; also, that the house do attribute the result of that war in a great degree, to the vigorous and comprehensive measures

adopted by the government of India, and to the system of promptitude and efficiency by which the armies were brought into the field.

Mr. FRANCIS.-Mr. Speaker; the motion made by the noble lord puts me under great difficulty, and if it prevails, I think, will reduce the house itself to a similar difficulty in its future proceedings on the subject of the war in In dia. I shall state it fairly as it strikes me, and leave it to the candid consideration and impartial judgment of the house. When I attended yesterday, in consequence of the notice given by the noble lord, it was with an expectation, well warranted by the terms in which he gave it, that nothing was intended but a particular vote of thanks, in which I should have heartily concurred. to parties and for services of which he cannot think more highly than I do. I believed and I expected that the motion would be confined, as I still think it ought to be, to persons and to actions concerning which there could be no difference of opinion, I mean the eminent gallantry and skill with which all the military operations against the Mahrattas appear to have been conduct. ed. The memory of the brave men who have fallen in these conflicts, is entitled to every mark of honour which this house has the power of conferring. The services of the survivors have an equal claim to the gratitude of their country. Whether so ma ny valuable lives have been unprofitably lost, or in a quarrel which ought, or ought not to be avowed by parliament, or whether such great exertions have been made with a sufficient consideration

of the policy, the justice, and the necessity of the war, are questions which it was not edvis able nor in any shape necessary to be brought this day into debate. The Noble Lord's motion forces them to a discussion withdut necessity, and in effect decides them without know ledge. The merits of the war itself ought to have been left untouched and entire for future deliberation. By this motion that question is prejudged; or at least the use and effect of that deliberation is precluded. It is impossible for parliament to go with a free and unbiassed mind to examine the wisdom or the justice of a war, to the author and director of which they have already returned their thanks in such exalted terms, first for the plan, and then for the success of it. The Noble Lord has been very cautious, as he says, not to confound the two questions. He has drawn a line of distinction between the merits and services of Marquis Wellesley in his military capacity, that is, for the plan and operations of the war, which cannot be too highly applauded, and the justice or policy of the war itself, which, he says, are still left open to the examination, and possibly to the censure of parliament, when the evidence comes before them. This I hold to be impossible in practice. When once this house has pronounced that the plan, the execution, and the success of a great measure deserve your highest approbation, you cannot tread back your steps; you cannot say to the same man, under another character, as if he played two parts in the same performance, that the principles on which he acted deserve your VOL. 6.

severest condemnation. I put the case as a bare possibility in argument, and not meaning to utter a word, or to breathe a thought in prejudice of that part of the question which the Noble Lord says is still reserved for a free discussion. On a former occasion when this subject was first introduced, I flatter myfelf that the manner in which I urged an inquiry into the causes of the war in India, existing then, and indeed still existing, without the knowledge of parliament, had given general satisfaction. I said not one word in disparagement of Marquis Wellesley; nor shall I now. No other evidence of the merit of his measures is within our knowledge, but that his measures have succeeded. On that principle, in fair and honourable argument, if his measures had been defeated, we must have condemned him on the principle of his conduct. The Noble Lord, who extols the care taken, and the extraordinary provisions made by Marquis Wellesley to guard against defeat and to insure success, in one instance forgets himself: he says that one of General Lake's victories was obtained by a handful of men against an immense disparity of numbers. That indeed, I allow, is saying a great deal for the skill of the general, and for the valour of the army; but it is not saying much for the precautions taken, and the means furnished by the civil government. Whatever the event may be, no government has a right to expect, or to calculate upon the probability that a handful of men will succeed against a very superior force.

In the first action ander General Wellesley, on the other side of India, I know with cer

tainty