posing General Wellesley to fight the enemy with such unequal numbers, that fight was the result of an accident against which no foresight could have guarded; and Colonel Stevenson was at the time within half a day's march of the General with a reinforcement of 10,000 men. The reference to the law, as restraining us from extending our territory in India, the right Honourable Gentleman stated to be very incorrect; as the act which passed in 1794 prescribed only that we should not commence a war in India for the sake of conquest; but to maintain, that in the course of a war we should make no conquests that might tend to secure ourselves, or facilitate a peace, was a proposition too extravagant to be listened to. He professed his wish to abstain from any allusion to the legitimacy of the war, until the house should be in possession of the means of fully examining and fairly judging upon it; and called for the approbation of the house to the services of the Noble Marquis as a military commander, not as a civil officer. Mr. Fox was extremely sorry to have any difficulty in acceding to the present motion; but in his opinion, it was in all reason and all argument, impossible that such a motion should be sanctioned. He considered it a new principle to vote the approbation of the house to any but those actually engaged in the exploits, which it from time to time had thought proper to distinguish by that honour. It was, however, stated, that Marquis Wellesley had set the army in motion. He might have given commands to that effect, but if such connection with an army were to be admitted as a claim to parliamentary thanks, the Commander in Chief of this country would have a right to be included in any vote for any achievement performed by the British army; and upon the same principle the Admiralty should have participated of the thanks voted to Lord Howe and Lord St. Vincent, for their glorious victories in the course of the last war. He hoped the two questions would be kept distinct, and that the execution would not be blended with the arrangement. It was, indeed, contended, that all this had been done in the character of Captain General; but was it a matter of doubt that the title of Captain General was in this instance, entirely of a civil signification, and the person who filled it, however respectable in other points of view, was a person of a perfectly civil education, without any military experience whatsoever; a person who could not be trusted with the command of the army. The Noble Marquis must be sensible of all these things, and if the thanks of the house voted to him on this ground, he would think the house was laughing at him. He felt himself under the necessity, from a regard to the consistency of the house, and from motives of respect for the Noble Marquis, to protest against mixing him in this vote. He should therefore move the previous question upon this resolution. were the practice was not new. But whether there were precedents or not, he thought it impossible to contemplate victories, such as should animate every British breast, and to refuse to associate in the thanks which were bestowed on them, the men whose wisdom and prudence had contributed most to them. the Mr. JOHNSTONE said, vote of thanks to 'Marquis Wellesley, on the occasion alluded to by the Honourable Gentleman who spoke last, was founded on the sagacity with which he had discovered, and the promptitude and ability with which he had defeated, the intrigues of the French and Tippoo; merits belonging to his civil capacity, and distinct from a military character. He feared the Mahrattas would prove more dangerous enemies, now that they were dispersed, than when, by a mode of warfare unused to them, they were united in large bodies, and ventured on pitched battles : his apprehension was increased by the fact of there having been no intelligence from General Wellesley for 20 days before the last dispatches left Bombay. Perhaps the dispersed armies, by cutting off his supplies in the hilly country into which he had entered, had compelled him to raise the siege which he had undertaken, and to retire with loss. If the house were in the alternative of voting its thanks now, or being precluded from voting them al together, he should concur in the vote, though not acquiescing in all that had been said in support of it. But that was not the case now the ancient and customary mode of voting the thanks of the house was not immediately on gach victory, but at the end of the campaign, as was evident from a reference to the votes of thanks to the Duke of Marlborough. No mischief could arise from delay, while much mischief arose from haste. It sometimes happened, from too great precipitancy, that a person received a vote of thanks, whom it was afterwards thought necessary to remove from his command. He would not mention names, but the case of Copenhagen must be fresh in every one's memory. The expedition to Hol land was also an instance of the rashness of voting the thanks of the house too hastily. On these principles, he should vote for the previous question. Mr. WILBERFORCE expressed himself in the warmest terms of approbation as to the conduct of the British troops in India; but at the same time observed, that he' confessed he did not like the question in its present shape. He could not possibly bring his mind to approve of the conduct of a Governor General, at a time when the propriety or impropriety of that conduct was yet unascertained in the most material points. We had no knowledge whatever of his reasons for going to war in the first instance, and the campaign had not yet come to a termination, from which a general conclusion could be drawn. He was as far as any man from thinking to the prejudice of the Noble Lord who had so far conducted our affairs in the East with such extraordinary success; but as there were no grounds before the house upon which he could be able to form an opinion, he could not say that the greatest crimes had not been com➡ nitted in the course of that war," or in the provocation to the war. He knew that mankind were in general general too prone to ambition, and too much gratified with adulation. As he was at present but groping in the dark, and had no means of seeing the whole of the question clearly before his eyes, he felt himself under the necessity of putting hypothetical cases. If it should turn out, which he was far from supposing it probable that it would, that the Governor General's conduct was extremely improper, that he acted with injustice towards the natives, or in defiance of an act of Parliament, was it not possible that future Governors General might be induced to adopt schemes of aggrandizement, with a view to obtain similar honours to those which were to be conferred in the present in stance, on a person of whose rectitude he had not the smallest doubt, but as to the propriety of whose conduct the house had not the smallest means of judging, otherwise than as to his direction of our military operations so far? War was one of the greatest evils that could befall mankind, and he trusted that the house would pause before they gave the sanction of their vote of approbation to a war which, however splendid in its progress, might possibly afterwards appear to be unjustly forced upon those with whom we were contending. Supposing even, as he could do nothing else but conjecture on the subject, supposing that the resolution of going to war had been formed a long time previous to the commencement of hostilities, that would materially detract from the merit of the transaction; as a great portion of it consisted in the promptitude and alacrity with which the whole was executed. He had not the smallest hesitation in saying, that it was not only kis hope, but also that it was his most firm belief, that on a fuller investigation the conduct of the Noble Lord would appear to have been most strictly consistent with justice and honour, and that it would be such as was highly creditable to the nation. But as he did not like to thank by halves, as it was his disposition to be inclined to thank with his whole heart, he wished that the proposition of a vote of thanks had been postponed, until he had such an opportunity that he could feel himself most conscientiously justified in giving it his support. Mr. HOBHOUSE declared that he was extremely sorry to see that any misconception should bave arisen in the mind of the Honourable Gentleman who had just sat down. He had supposed the war in India to be a war of aggrandizement, and he had spoken as if it bad been in contemplation for some years. There were no such facts before the house, nor did any of the circumstances warrant such conclusions. The question before the house was only directed to the military operations of the war; and though he might lament the evils of war in the same way as the Honourable Gentleman had done, yet seeing that neither the justice nor the policy of the war were involved in the least in what was submitted to the house, he could not at all find himself justified in withholding his vote of thanks from the persons who had achieved so much for the honour and glory of their country. The house had done the same or more in the vote of thanks to our officers and troops in Egypt; they had received the thanks of the house for the manner in in which they effected their landing, and they were afterwards thanked by the same house of commons at the end of the campaign. The honourable gentleman (Mr. Francis) who lately moved for the production of papers relative to the affairs of India, had then displayed his usual candour. He was sorry to see him now prejudge the question. He thought that there was a most strong mark of genius in the conception of such extensive plans, and in the direction of every part of the opera tions, in such a manner as to be most completely in unison, not withstanding their vast distance from each other. He was always inclined to give praise where praise was justly due, and therefore he gave his most hearty support to the original motion. Mr. WILBERFORCE, in explanation, said, that he had neither spoken of the war as having been many years in contemplation, nor had he said that it was a war of aggrandizement. Having no facts before him, upon which he might be enabled to argue, he had put these hypothetical cases, which he was sure the house would recollect that he had used with a considerable degree of caution. Mr. GREY said, that he was surprised to hear the interpretation that had been given to the words of his honourable friend (Mr. Francis). From the turn which the debate had taken, and from the length to which it had been extended, he should not have troubled the house with any observations upon the subject, were it not that he felt himself bound in justice to his honourable friend, to rise for the purpose of rescuing him from the imputation which had been thrown upon him by the speech of an honourable gentleman opposite (Mr. Hobhouse). His honourable friend was not known at any time to be deficient in candour, and he denied that in this instance he had prejudged the question. In the course of a very long and able speech which had been delivered by the Noble Lord who opened the debate, he had dwelt for some time upon the circumstance of the great acquisition of territory which had been obtained by the late successes in India. He would appeal to the house, then, if it was not fair for his honourable friend to answer, that such wars appeared, prima facic, to be objects of suspicion. All wars in India, by which conquests may be obtained, are doubtful in their nature, and the house should see the justice of such wars before they proceeded to a vote of thanks. Another honourable friend of his (Mr. Johnstone) had also been misrepresented: he did suppose not intentionally, but certainly he was misrepresented. He had observed that it had been the ancient practice of the house to give a vote of thanks only when the campaign was ended, and when something was seen to have been established with some degree of security by means of the conquests which had been obtained; and he lamented that a different sort of practice had crept into the proceedings of that house. To that an exception was taken by another honourable member, and he had quoted the precedent of the vote of thanks to our troops in Egypt. That could hardly be said in a serious manner to be among the ancient proceedings of that house. His honourable friend had declared, that he thought it to be irregular regular, for the house to pass a vote of thanks to the governor general of India in his military capacity only, as abstracted from any idea of his civil situation, and in support of that, the vote of thanks to Marquis Wellesley for his conquests in the Mysore was referred to. He here read the words of the vote from the Journals of the house, the subtance of which was, that the house returned him thanks for the uniform wisdom and moderation of his conduct in opposing the enemy, and also for the penetration, ability, and vigour which he had displayed in counteracting the intrigues of the FrenchThis precedent was equally inades quate to the support of the position which it was called in to strengthen. Moderation must unquestionably refer to his conduct in his civil capacity. His penetration and ability in counteracting intrigues, which were also objects of the commendation of that house, could not be fairly reckoned among the duties of a soldier. It was therefore evident, that such a vote of thanks was not confined solely to the view of military tion which might possibly create embarrassment in their future proceedings. Thanks had been voted to Mr. Hastings for the ability and vigour which he had displayed in a transaction, for the injustice of which that house had afterwards felt it their duty to impeach him at the bar of the house of lords. Though it was not the business of soldiers to think, but to execute, he should wish that the thanks of that house should not be given even to our troops, for their bravery in the performance of an action which, though it was a duty in them to execute with alacrity, and though it should have been achieved in the most splendid manner, might eventually be proved to be found. ed in injustice, and contrary to the written laws of our country. It was a painful task for him to dissent from a vote of thanks as the reward of valour; but with the scanty information that was now before the house, he thought that the most just, the most honourable, as well as the most candid line of conduct that he could pursue, would be to abstain from passing any judgment upon the case, and to give his support to the motion of his honourable friend. conduct. The vote to Mr. Duncan might be said to be in some degree a precedent for the vote which the house was then Sir THEOPHILUS METCALFE called upon to pass; but even agreed, that if the war was on our that was not completely applica- part a war of aggression or inble. In the present case the justice, then there should be no house might give their thanks for vote of thanks, nor even the shaconduct that was exceedingly medow of thanks. As the honouraritorious, or they might, for aught ble gentleman on the bench bethey knew, express their appro- low him (Mr. Wilberforce) apbation of conduct which they peared to him to have cast some might hereafter be induced to reflections on the war, and as censure. He He thought that it the honourable gentleman oppowould be a much more prudent site (Mr. Francis) had on a forline of conduct for the house to mer night, made use of the alluavoid the adoption of any resolu- sion of the tender wolf and the Violent |