the town of St. Pierre, which had been the fource of all the troubles in Martinique, when remaining in the open country, he might at least have fhewn his pacific difpofitions, and, if fo inclined, have afforded afliftance to the British arms? Mr. Malefpine ftates that after the proclamation was iffued, the inhabitants took the oath of allegiance; juft as if the oath had immediately followed the date of the proclamation. The impreffion intended to be produced by this mode of statement, was fufficiently obvious. Mr. Grey faid that he would next proceed to the statement of facts, in fupport of which he could produce the evidence of a number of refpectable of ficers, who were attending near that Houfe, if their teftimony fhould be required. These were the officers who had commanded in the different divisions who had made their attack on feveral parts of the island, and who had not experienced the smallest affiftance or fupport from one white inhabitant. With a view to injure the fame of the commanders, the fervice had been attempted to be depreciated. It had been said that the conqueft had coft only twenty-eight days; when in reality it had taken up from the 6th of February to the 25th of March; and that only eighty-four men had been loft, when it would be found from the returns that the number of killed and wounded amounted to between two and three hundred. Where the Gentlemen who have brought forward the motion have been careful to pafs over every thing unfavourable to their purpofe, they have been equally affiduous to pervert known facts, and to bring forward others entirely void of foundation. Malefpine fays that the whites were restrained by fear of the blacks, and the people of colour. Whereas from the statement it would appear that the town of St. Pierre is chiefly occupied by the whites; that they manned the works, and worked the guns; and that almoft all those who were killed were whites. Mr. Grey faid, that as it might now be deemed too late in the feflion to enter into the inquiry, he would read the report of the officers in their own words. He read the report of the officers who commanded the different divisions in the attack on Martinique-General Myers, Colonel Chalmers, Captain O'Callagan, the Aid-du-camp to General Dundas, Major Stuart, Major Burnet, and Captain Douglas of the 30th regiment. The teftimonies all concurred, upon the honour of the Gentlemen who figned them, which they were willing to fanction with their oaths, that no white perfon in the island gave the leaft fuccour, affiftance, or intelligence-That the troops landed in different quarters, and no where met with fupport, but, on the contrary, with refiftance-That the attack lafted from the 26th of February to the 28th of March, inftead of eighteen days; and, as the returns would fhew, that inftead of eightyfour men only loft, they loft between two and three hundredWith Bellegarde alone they loft feventy. They furthermore ftated, that those who were killed were almost all whites, in their military uniforms, and that the whites alone worked the guns and batteries. They gave an account of Mr. Dalling's coming from St. Pierre, with a flag of truce, and attended by a military guard, and they fhewed that from Trinity town to St. Pierre a distance of twenty miles, not one perfon joined them except fome negroes. They all agreed that the whites might have fubdued the people of colour if they had been inclined, and that when the royalists were expelled in 1793, on account of General Bruce, the inhabitants of St. Pierre were moft violent.-To these he add-` ed the voluntary teftimony of Colonel Coote, who could not find a white guide through the whole ifland, and when two were found for his Royal Highness Prince Edward, they would not go till a certificate was figned for them, ftating that they were compelled to do fo at the point of the bayonet. The report, which was equally distinguished by precision of detail and perfpicuity of language, went in the plaineft and most direct manner to contradict all the facts alledged in the memorial and the affidavit.—Mr. Grey ftated, that he had received voluntary offers of teftimonials to the fame purpose, from almost every officer who had ferved under the commanders. Of thefe he should only read thofe of Colonel Craddick and Captain Brown of the Afia, who commanded the fquadron at St. Pierre, while the Vengeance was on the other fide of the island, who ftated that they might have fent à canoe off in a calm, if they wished conciliation. This was the account they gave of the general difpofition of the white inhabitants; and General White and Major Mafon, whom the Hon. Gentleman had fo defervedly praised, were willing to affirm the fame :-But circumftances also spoketheir being in St. Pierre, instead of protecting their property in the plantations, which, though an open town, was defended by redoubts and forts. The Bellegarde army was never within fifteen miles of St. Pierre; and a fpirit of refiftance was manifefled upon every occafion, to the last extremity. It had been faid that the courts of law were full of complaints against the conduct of the commanders. He faid he had communicated with the Solicitor in order to ascertain the fact, and had found, whatever might be in preparation, that no claim had hitherto been exhibited, but that of Mr. MaleVOL. III. fpine. 3 I fpine. He faid, he hoped to convict Malefpine of perjury, for the fhops were opened the next day after the proclamation, and the advertisement for the fales appeared on the 10th of April, and all the fales took place in that month, nor were there any after the 21ft of May. He then remarked on the fanctity of General Dundas's word, which was alone a fufficient pledge in comparison with the affidavit of fuch a contemptible wretch as Malefpine, who, he doubted not, was one of the five hundred fubfequently expelled from the ifland, and he could not difcover the ufe of this question fince the proclamations were not acted upon. As to what had been faid of no notary public having dared to draw a pen in remonftrance while the commanders remained in the West Indies, he defied Gentlemen on the other fide to produce a single inftance in which any complaint presented to thofe commanders had been rejected.-Laftly, he fhewed, in reply to the obfervations of the Right Hon. Gentleman on our conduct towards the emigrants, that as it was, they complained of neglect, and if it had been otherwife, they would have complained that we had incurred the fame principle of retaliation. With a brief recapitulation he then concluded an able and eloquent defence, and faid that under all the circumstances of the cafe, he was prepared to give his negative to the motion. The difavowal of the proclamations could not be contended to be useful, fince they had already been virtually reverfed: And when by the motion claiming that difavowal, it was intended to wound the feelings, and to injure the fame of commanders who had rendered their country the moft eminent fervices, and had in confequence received the thanks of that Houfe, whatever elfe might be thought proper to be done, he at leaft could have no hesitation in giving it his decided negative. Mr. Manning explained; he declared that the letters he had read had never been made any improper ufe of; they had come to him in a regular way, and he had taken fuch good care of them fince, that he was much furprifed to hear them argued upon as they had been; he never fent them to any newfpaper. Mr. Secretary Dundas faid, that in every view of the queftion before the Houfe, in which he could argue upon it, he muft refilt the motion; taking it in all its bearings, it appeared to him a very improper motion to be entertained by the Houfe. He felt himfelf called upon to make fome reply on two grounds, namely, to defend his own conduct in refifting the importunities and applications of the Weft India merchants to to him, in his official capacity, and to keep the debate as much as poffible to the queftion immediately before the House -the confideration of the papers on the table, upon which the motion was grounded. On the first point he had expreffed his fentiments fo fully in the letter which he wrote to the refpectable body of merchants and planters who applied to him, that from the most minute investigation, and upon the moft mature deliberation fince, he was convinced that it was * Copy of a Letter from Mr. Secretary Dundas to Lord Penrhyn. "MY LORD, Horfe Guards, 8th May 1795. "I have received your Lordship's note, accompanying the memorial of the Weft India planters and merchants, praying for a strong military force, both by fea and land, for the general protection of the British Weft India iflands, and a feparate garrifon to be ftationed in each ifland; alfo for a public difavowal of the proclamations iffued by Sir Charles Grey and Sir John Jervis. "I feel much fatisfaction in recollecting, that at no period fince the commencement of the war, has there been a deficiency of exertions in furnishing the West India poffeffions with fuch a fupply of both naval and military defence as the national force of the country would admit of; and if at any time thefe exertions have not, in all refpects, had their complete effects, it has arisen from circumstances in which it is impoffible to impute any blame to his Majesty's minifters. These exertions will be unremitted; but you are aware that in fending reinforcements to the Weft Indies, the feafon of the year muft of neceffity be attended to; and permit me to take the liberty of fuggefting to the confideration of the Weft India planters and merchants, how far fuch frequent public difcuffions on their own fuppofed weakness, is not calculated to increase, rather than diminish their danger. "I am well aware that the prefent warfare is, in almost every respect, different from any that ever exifted; and that there is too much reafon to apprehend, that the object of the enemy with whom we are engaged is rather a plan of favage devaftation, than of conqueft beneficial to themselves; but I cannot admit that fuch a plan originated in any of the tranfactions of Sir Charles Grey and Sir John Jervis; it being an abfolute certainty, that the fyftem is the natural confequence of the principles on which the prefent government in France is founded, and existed long before either Sir Charles Grey or Sir John Jervis were employed in the Weft Indies. "With regard to the proclamations to which you refer, I think it unneceffary for me to add any thing to what is ftated in the letter from the Duke of Portland. It is notorious that thefe proclamations were abandoned or annulled almoft as foon as they were iffued; and it must be mere pretext, if fuch ufe is made of them as you feem to apprehend. I object therefore to the propofition of the Weft India planters and merchants, becaufe they call upon his Majefty's minifters to eftablish a general rule on a fubject which, in the various ufage of war, does not admit of a special definition; and, if the matter occurs to you in the light it does to me, I am fure you cannot be difpofed to continue a difcuffion which can have no other tendency than to injure the feelings of meritorious officers, to whofe great exertions their country is much indebted, and in particular that part of the British empire in which the West India planters and merchants are fo deeply interested." "I have the honour to be, &c. "HENRY DUNDAS." The Right Hon. Lord not poffible for him to have done his duty, had he given any other answer. Having read a part of his letter, he said it was his intention upon a variety of grounds to oppofe the propofition brought forward, by moving another in its ftead. The Hon. Gentleman who brought it forward had very fairly firft moved for an inquiry. On a motion of that fort, it was fair for every man to argue upon affertion and fuppofed facts. They had however abandoned that mode, and come forward that day with a propofition for the Houfe to come to a decifion grounded upon the paper before them. He meant no difrefpect to either the mover or the feconder of the motion; but they certainly had not kept to the question, and those letters which had been read, apparently written from motives of animofity and malice, he confidered as perfectly extraneous. Much of what had been faid by the Right Hon. Gentleman in his reply (Mr. Grey), he likewife confidered to be not directly to the queftion. But that Gentleman was placed in a fituation totally different from the other two. If he had gone farther than the precife order of debate admitted, which he did not mean to fay the Hon. Gentleman had done, he would have been amply and completely juftified in bringing forward every topic, and commenting on every circumftance that could tend to bring before the House and the country the fair statement of all the tranfactions that had taken place. It became him to act as he had done from every confideration of public and private duty, as well as from thofe feelings that must arife from zeal and regard for the honour and character of one that was most dear to him, being involved; and from the difcuffion of a fubject, fo interefting to the Hon. Gentleman as the House muft feel it to be, he was fully warranted in taking it up as he had done, and entering into every part of the question with a fenfibility that the Houfe would give him credit for, and acknowledge him to be perfectly justified in. While he said this of the Hon. Gentleman's fituation, he could not allow that liberty to others: They had grounded all their complaints and fears upon the papers before the Houfe, while they could not, nor had they even attempted to prove that any thing in the proclamation iffued on the 10th of May by the commanders in the West Indies, or arifing from it, gave just foundation for the fears and alarms they had fo induftriously circulated. If by an extravagant ftretch of the imagization, Gentlemen attributed to Sir Charles Grey's and Sir John Jervis's conduct the fubfequent and favage conduct of the French, the bare ftatement was fufficient to refute itfelf. Did what had taken place at St. Vincent's proceed from thofe proclamations; or, was it not from the infurrection of the Caribs, aided by Ja |