§ Mr. R. Smithrose to submit to 823 the House the motion of which he had given notice respecting the island of Banca. He was surprised to find that his Majesty had transferred the sovereignty of Banca to the Dutch, for he never knew that his Majesty had claimed any sovereignty over this island. The only right we had to it was acquired by the conquest of Java, and by the cruelty which the sultan of Java was said to have exercised towards the Europeans residing in it, which did not appear to him to justify us in assuming the sovereign disposal of it. He, therefore, moved an Address to his royal highness the Prince Regent, praying that there be laid before the House, copies of all the documents and dispatches received by the East India Company, relative to the acquisition of the island of Banca, in the East Indies.
§ Mr. Wallacecordially coincided in the hon. gentleman's motion, because the papers would most fully prove the gross infraction of all the laws of nations, by the sultan of Java towards the Europeans residing in the island of Banca. We had deposed the sultan of Java, and it was incumbent on us to do so, in order to prevent like atrocities towards Europeans in the Eastern world in future. The hon. member went into a history of the sultan's barbarous conduct. The papers would most fully justify his Majesty's Government in the disposal of Banca.
Mr. Forbeswas happy to find that the motion was not likely to meet with any opposition. He feared, that the sultan owed his deposition less to the massacre of the Dutchmen than to his refusal to continue the tin contract under a disadvantage.
§ Mr. Thomas Courtenaycorroborated the statement of Mr. Wallace.
§ The motion was then agreed to.