that dreadful malady the jungle fever, that for ever infests the interior of Ceylon, and for ever des stroys the inhabitants of Europe. This fever, Sir, upon this cccasion, destroyed hundreds upon hundreds of our troops in Candia. Of the 51st regiment alone, above 300 perished; of the 19th regiment 170, besides the 200 of the same regiment who were afterwards murdered. One should have thought, Sir, as wo had thus displayed our power by the seizure of the King of Candy's capital, and putting the king to flight; as we had paid so dearly for it, in the death of our sol diers, and as the country presented no object worthy of our posssesion, that our government would have instantly withdrawn the surviving troops: but it seems, Sir, our governor was now deter mined to play a great part in the politics of the Candian govern seems some subjects of the British government had purchased in Candia a quantity of the arecca nut, and which, in its way to our settlements, was seized by officers of the Candian government. I have heard that such contracts by Candian subjects are against the laws of that country; but be that as it may, our government claimed the property, and it was agreed to be restored or the value to be paid for it: the value I believe was 3001. certainly not more, and the first difference between the English and the Candian governments was, whether this sum of 3001, should be paid instantly, or at the expiration of a few months; the real cause, therefore, of the war which was about to take place, was the difference between the prompt and protracted payment of 3001.-It was in this transaction that our national honour was supposed to be involved, for this our government-for this purpose he left a ment left its useful occupation, and put all the troops in Ceylon in motion, to chastise the King of Candy, to invade his dominions, and seize his capital. It is, per haps, necessary for me here to state, that the King of Candy's dominions are composed principally, of woods and mountains af fording no possible object for any rational enterprize, situated in a climate the most fatal to Europeans, and that his capital is in the heart of his dominions.-Some time in January 1803, this war began, and in a very short time, and scarcely with the loss of ten men killed in battle, we pene. trated as far as Candy, which we took, and found the king was fled. So far we were all successful; but then, Sir, came what our goverument of Ceylon knew must come, garrison in Candy, to secure suc, We During During all this time, Sir, the garrison of Candy were daily diminished and enfeebled by death and sickness there were only left, of British troops, the nineteenth regiment reduced to 200 men, and a Malay regiment. The house will know how to appreciate the climate of Candy, when I state to them, that of the 200 of the nineteenth regiment, 160 were sick in their cots, and perfectly disabled. At this period, Sir, the town of Candy was surrounded, I have heard, by 20,000 Candians, certainly I believe not less than 10,000. Our troops, cut off from all provisions, reduced by death and sickness, as I have mentioned, and the Malay regiment beginning to desert, surrendered, and laid down their arms. The termination of this dreadful tragedy we all know--upwards of twenty British officers, with the 200 unfortunate troops of the nineteenth regiment, were led out, two by two, in the streets of Candy, and then by the orders of the very adigar we had guaranteed in this government, they were knocked on the head, and had their throats cut, and this not even with the exception of the 160 men of the nineteenth regiment, who were dragged from their cots and murdered. About the same period, all our fortresses in Candia were attacked, all the garrisons compelled to evacuate, and all the sick in those fortresses were leit and murdered. Thus ended, Sir, our invasion of Candia. It began in January, and before the end of June our invading army was all, either expelled, had died, or were murdered. From the date of the event I have last alluded to, the destruction of our garrison in Candia, to the latest accounts I have seen, which are dated September last, the situation o. the island became every day more alarming: the Candians, elated with the expulsion and destruction of the British, had, in immense numbers, invaded our settlements from one end of the island to the other, and according to the latest accounts, had left us nothing but our forts. The natives, or Coolees, who live under our dominion, men of the most ferocious natures, encouraged by the example and successes of the Candians, were beginning to display the most alarming spirit of disaffection to us. Such of the king's troops as remained alive, were still under the influence of the diseases they had contracted in the Candian expedition, and, in short, such was supposed to be the danger of the colony on the continent of India, as well as at Ceylon, that in the beginning of September, an expedition was fitting out at Calcutta for its immediate assistance.-The latest letter that I have seen on this subject, is of the 15th September, from Madras; the writer states, as a most extraordinary circumstance, that no tidings from Columbo have been received since the 4th, and from this, and from other circumstances I have stated, expresses the most serious apprehensions for the safety of the island. Now, Sir, if this statement be correct, (and I think in most parts that it is so,) it is, I think, a little extraordinary, that His Majesty's ministers should never have communicated a single syllable of information to parliament, upon a subject of so much importance. I apprehend the facts I have stated are perfectly sufficient to induce parliament to call call upon ministers for the most full and minute particulars respecting a war apparently so destitute of all advantage, and so evidently fatal and disastrous in its effects. It is the duty of parkament, at all times, to examine into and ascertain the objects for which the brave defenders of our country are sacrificed, and it is more peculiarly the duty and the interest of parliament to do so, at this present time. There are, Sir, likewise circumstances connected with this war, and consequences arising out of it, that more imperiously call upon us, to inquire into the conduct of the governor, and which I will briefly state to the house. When we first took possession of Ceylon, it was not the least of our advantages that we took with it all the experience of the preceding settlers-The Dutch had made this particular experiment of subduing the Candians over and over again. They had twice, with as little loss as ourselves, seized the capital, and expelled the king: but on every occasion, their army was finally destroyed by the same causes which destroyed ours. It is singular, Sir, that on one occasion, the precise calamity which has lately befallen our garrison at Candia, befel the Dutch.-The Dutch garrison at Candia were compelled to capitulate, and on their march, and within two days of Columbo, were, to the amount of 400 men, all murdered. The effect of these experiments upon the Dutch, was to convince them, that all attempts upon the interior of Candia were not only fruitless, but fatal to themselves, and, accordingly, for the last twenty years of their settlement in that island, such projects 66 were never again repeated.The present governor of Ceylon was in possession of these facts and of this experience before he doomed our soldiers to such inevitable destruction; they are recorded in a very valuable and interesting account of Ceylon, written by an officer of the army we first sent there, and the materials for which history were collected under the immediate eye of the governor. I wish, Sir, the writer of that history had been more correctly prophetic, when he says, "our government will, doubt"less, avoid the errors of former European masters of Ceylon,who "wasted, unprofitably, in vain attempts to subdue the natives, "that time and those resources "which might have rendered this "island one of the most valuable "colonies in the world."--With respect to the consequences of this war, independent of the unprofitable termination of it, and the mortification we must feel at having our brave troops apparently so idly sacrificed, they are really, Sir, of the most alarming nature. I need scarcely remind the House of the contiguity of Ceylon to the continent of India. India is allowed to be the great object of French ambition; we act upon this supposition in all our political calculations: it is with reference to this that Ceylon derives its greatest importance as a conquest; it is with reference to India that Trincomalle is beyond all value; and yet, Sir, with a war carrying on in India on an enormous scale, with a French squadron in the East Indian seas full of troops, so often said to be captured, but still unaccounted for; with the French ports full of vessels and troops, ready for ex peditions, peditions, with a necessity at home for our regular army, more urgent than was ever known, and with that regular army more than ever neglected, we are placed in the distressing dilemma, that we must, either by withholding assistance from the government of Ceylon, endanger our possession of that most important colony, or we must, in this hour of need and necessity, deprive ourselves of a part of our most valuable and rare species of defence. I peans, the late fate of St. Domingo, As long, Sir, as the natives of Candia, or St. Domingo, shall possess the local advantages they now do, as long as the inhabitants of Europe shall be subject to the diseases they now are, I believe, Sir, that all our attempts to subdue the natives of these countries must prove, not only fruitless, but fatal to ourselves, I think, Sir, if this war shall appear to have been as rash and impolitic in its origin and commencement, and as calamitous in its consequences, as have been stated, I think the opinion of this house will be, that there is abundant matter for inquiry into this subject. There are, Sir, also, transactions of this war, that I have touched upon before, which I apprehend the house must likewise think call for particular inquiry. am informed, Sir, that 10,000 troops of the line are now embarking, or have embarked already for Ceylon. I am sure such supply is necessary for the security of the colony; but I ask the House if they will permit the country to make so important a -sacrifice, without a full and most' minute inquiry into what has caused the necessity for so un-I allude to our interference in fortunate a measure.Sir, there the politics of Candy, to our de is another most dreadful conse- throning and making of princes quence of this war; after the lit- and new forms of government in tle discretion our government has that country. If, Sir, we are hitherto shewn in going to war for really in earnest, when we proapparently so trifling an object, fess our respect for established I am afraid, when the passions and governments, and our abhorrence resentment of our countrymen are of all usurpations; if we really rouzed, by the recollection of wish for any character of consist what has lately passed at Candy, ency in the eyes of Europe upon I am afraid that any prospect of this important subject, it is high peace with these Candians is very time that we bestow some criti remote. I am afraid we are cism upon the very singular transdoomed to an eternal war with actions of our colonial governors, other this race of people, and that Cey- I am not aware, Sir, of any lon, instead of being the valuable reasons I can adduce in support acquisition it is so naturally of the inquiry I wish to be insti made for, will only prove to be the tuted: but before I conclude, Sir, grave of our armies. I do hope, I beg to advert to a very cruel Sir, that ministers, in their dis- and unfeeling account, that has patches to the governor, will not lately been published by His Maail to remind and press upon him, jesty's ministers, purporting to the past experience of this island. be a dispatch from the govern I hope, Sir, they will remind him ment of Ceylon, and giving an of the great lesson for all Euro- account of the murder of our garrison garrison at Candy. This letter, Sir, is an attempt to account for the final disasters of this war, and which rest entirely with the governor, by insinuations the most fatal to the honour and character of a British officer, who has fought, and who has perished, in the service of his country; and this, Sir, in the absence of any species of testimony on which such insinuations could be founded. I do entreat this house on behalf of the character of that most unfortunate officer, to recollect how he was situated.There were only 200 troops, 160 of them were sick in their beds, the remaining forty I presume were not very healthy. They were surrounded by (at least) 10,000 Candians, they were cut off from provisions, and were sixty miles from our nearest settlements. In this situation they were ordered by our new ally the first adigar to lay down their arms, and they were deserted by the Malays in our service. Does any man believe it to be physically possible, that these forty men, so unhappily circumstanced, could have cut their way through all these difficulties? Of this, at least, we may be certain, that had they attempted so to do, the 160 who were sick would have been murdered. I contend then, that if, in the absence of all testimony respecting the conduct of that unfortunate officer, we allow ourselves to speculate upon his motives, we are bound in fairness to believe, that he was influenced by a very natural and generous sympathy for this great majority of his sick and helpless fellow-soldiers, and that in acting as he did, he consulted what he conceived to be the best, not only for himself alone, but for the whole garrison of Candy.-Mr.Creevey concluded by moving, for "Copies of alt papers, letters, and dispatches from his majesty's governor of Ceylon, to the government of Candia, in that island, and from the Candian government to his majesty's governor, respecting the cause or origin of the war in Ceylon. 2. Copies of all correspondence between his majesty's governor of Ceylon, and officers commanding his ma jesty's troops in that island, during the war in Ceylon. 3. Copics of all treaties entered into between his majesty's governor of Ceylon and the Candian government. 4. All the returns of his majesty's forces in Ceylon from January 1, 1803, to the present time. On the first motion being put, Ld CASTLEREAGH said he should trouble the house with as few words as possible, as when the papers were laid before the house, they would then have an opportunity of forming an opinion upon the subject. He assented to the general principle, that when a war was entered into in any part of our colonial possessions, unless government could give some reason of expediency for not producing such information, that par liament had a right to possess itself of full information with respect to the origin and causes of that war. To this point the present motion went, and so far he had no objection; but he should certainly object to any motion that went to produce information as to the state of our force in Ceylon, as that would be shewing the enemy the number of troops we had to defend the island, and might tend to invite an |