PRIZE MONEY. LETTERS-PATENT were issued by his Majesty King George II, on the 14th January 1758, granting to the East-India Company all booty and plunder taken in wars, hostilities, or expeditions begun, carried on, and completed by forces raised and paid by the Company alone, or by the ships employed at their sole expense; reserving the right to the Sovereign to distribute the said booty or plunder, in such manner and proportions as might be deemed fit, in all cases where any of his Majesty's forces by land or sea may be appointed and commanded to act in conjunction with the ships or forces of the Company. In the instances where the Company's troops only have been engaged, as in 1778, against Pondicherry, and in 1781, against the Dutch setlements, the Company gave up all booty to the captors. Of the prize-money arising out of the Mysore campaign in 1792, from Pondicherry in 1793, from the military stores taken at Seringapatam in 1799, from Serampore in 1812, and Rasool Khyma in 1819, the portion granted by his Majesty's warrant to the Company was given up by them to the captors. The question relative to the "Deccan Prize-Money" having created considerable interest in the public mind, the following brief detail may be calculated to explain the subject, and cause of the delay which has unavoidably occurred in its distribution. During the progress of the Pindarrie and Mahratta war of 1817-18, questions arose as to the mode in which the booty acquired in the course of the operations should be distributed. Lord Hastings, as commander-in-chief of all the armies in the field, asserted his right, and that of the forces under his immediate authority, to participate in whatever prize might be taken by any portion of the troops in the field; whilst Sir Thomas Hislop, as commander-in-chief of that part of the combined forces which was designated "the Army of the Deccan," contended that no right to share could be maintained by any other troops than those belonging to the particular division or sets of divisions by which the capture was effected. The Court of Directors lost no time in applying to the Lords of the Treasury, praying the grant of the booty in the usual form. Their first memorial to this effect was dated in March 1819; and no grant having been made, a second memorial was addressed in January 1820. In consequence of the delays interposed by the legal advisers of the different parties interested in the result, a decision was not passed until February 1823, when the Lords of the Treasury adopted the following minute, by which the claims of Sir Thomas Hislop were admitted, to the exclusion, generally, of those of Lord Hastings and the Bengal Army. Treasury Chambers, Wednesday, 5th February 1823, PRESENT, The Earl of Liverpool, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Honourable Berkeley Paget, Viscount Lowther, Lord Granville H. Somerset. My Lords having heard counsel in support of the claims of the Marquis of Hastings and the grand army, and of those of Sir Thomas Hislop and the army of the Deccan, and having maturely and deliberately weighed and considered all the documentary evidence laid before them in behalf of the several parties, and the arguments of the counsel, are of opinion that the most just and equitable principle of distribution will be, to adhere, as nearly as the circumstances of the case will admit, to that of actual capture; and that although they are aware that the principle of constructive capture must under certain circumstances in a degree be admitted, the disposition should be to limit rather than to extend that principle. They are therefore of opinion, that the mode of distribution originally intended by the Marquis of Hastings would be most equitable and just with respect to the booty taken at Poonah, Mahidpore, and Nagpore, and that the booty taken on each of those occasions respectively should belong to the divisions of the Deccan army engaged in the respective operations in which the same was captured; but that as the division of the Bengal army under Brigadier-General Hardyman appears appears to have been put in motion for the purpose of co-operating directly in the reduction of Nagpore, and to have been actually engaged with a corps of the enemy antecedent to the surrender of that place, this division appears to my Lords to be justly entitled to share in the booty captured at Nagpore; and that such other booty arising from the operations against the Mahrattas in the year 1817 and 1818, as may now be subject to his Majesty's royal disposition, should be granted to such divisions of the grand army under the command of the Marquis of Hastings, and of the Deccan army under the command of Sir Thomas Hislop, as may respectively have captured the same. My Lords are also of opinion, that conformably to the letter of the Marquis Hastings to Sir Thomas Hislop of the 12th of January 1818, Sir Thomas Hislop as commander-in-chief of the Deccan army, and all the officers of the general staff of that army, are entitled to participate in the booty which may arise from any capture by any divisions of the army of the Deccan, until the said army of the Deccan was broken up on the 31st March 1818. My Lords have felt it to be inconsistent with their duty to recommend to his Majesty to give his sanction to any agreement for the common division of booty into which the several divisions of either army may have entered, as it is their decided opinion, that if the principle of actual capture be not adopted in this case as the rule of distribution, no other correct or equitable rule could have been adopted than that of a general distribution amongst the forces of all the presidencies engaged in the combined operations of the campaign. My Lords do not consider that, under all the circumstances of this case, it will be expedient to recommend to his Majesty to grant any part of this booty to the East-India Company. And my Lords will submit to his Majesty their recommendation, that he will be graciously pleased to direct that his royal grant of the said booty may be made in conformity with these principles. And for the purpose of better carrying into effect his Majesty's gracious intentions in this behalf, my Lords will recommend to his Majesty that a grant be made of the said booty to trustees to be appointed by his Majesty, for the purpose of ascertaining and collecting the said booty, and for preparing a scheme for the distribution thereof conformably to the principles above stated, which my Lords will submit for his Majesty's final approbation and sanction, under his royal sign-manual warrant. And that if any questions or differences should arise thereon, or between the East-India Company and the said trustees, in regard to what may or may not be properly considered as booty, according to the legal acceptation of the term booty, with reference to the principles governing any capture of property from an enemy in Indian warfare and the chartered rights of the East-India Company, and the 2 P 3 true true intent and meaning of his Majesty's grant, or if the governor. general or governor-general in council may have ordered any captured property to be restored, or may have considered any such property as not the proper subject of prize or booty, and the said trustees shall claim the same as such, all questions or differences relating to any such property or booty which may arise between the East-India Company and the said trustees should be submitted to this Board, either for his Majesty's decision thereon, or for such directions as his Majesty may be pleased to give for referring the same for final adjudication, as the case may require. And my Lords are pleased to direct that a copy of the aforegoing minute be transmitted to the agents of the respective parties for their information, and also to the Chairman and Deputy-Chairman of the East-India Company for the information of the Court of Directors; and that a copy thereof be also transmitted to the King's proctor, with instructions to him to confer with the King's advocate, and under his advice to prepare and submit, for their Lordship's consideration and approbation, a draft of a warrant to be submitted to his Majesty for granting the said booty to trustees, to be appointed by his Majesty, for the purpose of ascertaining and collecting the said booty, and for preparing a scheme for the distribution thereof conformably to the principles above stated. On the 22d March 1823, his Grace the Duke of Wellington and the Right Honourable Charles Arbuthnot were appointed the trustees. In carrying into effect the provisions of the minute of the Lords of the Treasury, and of the grant made by his Majesty founded on it, various questions arose as to what property was to be considered as booty within the meaning of the grant. All treasure, grain, military stores, &c. which had been actually captured by the troops, were of course held and admitted to be prize; but claims were set up to large sums, not on the plea that the troops had seized them, but because they had been the property of the enemy, and had come into the possession of the East-India Company in consequence of the war. After much correspondence, these sums were directed by the Lords of the Treasury to be considered as booty. This decision had the effect of re-opening the question, which was understood to have been set at rest by the minute of February 1823: for the sums thus admitted to be prize had not been taken by any parLicular division of the army, and the principle of sharing by actual capture could not therefore be applied to them. The claims claims of Lord Hastings were, in consequence, again brought before the Lords of the Treasury, and a determination was adopted, by which the whole of the troops engaged in the war were admitted to share in all property not captured by any particular division, but which was acquired in consequence of the general results of the war. The following is a copy of the second minute of the Lords of the Treasury. Copy of Treasury Minute of 16th Jan. 1826, PRESENT, The Earl of Liverpool, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Berkeley Paget, Lord Lowther, Lord Granville Somerset. My Lords, assisted by the trustees of the Deccan booty, Lord Bexley, and the law officers of the crown, having heard counsel on behalf of the Marquis of Hastings and the grand army, and also on behalf of Sir Thomas Hislop and the army of the Deccan, upon the subjects of discussion relating to the distribution of the Deccan booty, which have arisen out of the difference between the actual circumstances attending the capture of a large proportion of that booty, as stated by the trustees, and those which were assumed at the hearing before their Lordships in January 1823, and having maturely considered the arguments severally stated by the counsel, and also the whole of the documents upon the subject of this booty now before the Board, are of opinion: 1. That with respect to all that portion of the booty now at the disposal of the crown, which is described as having been "taken in the "daily operations of the troops," the distribution thereof should be made to the actual captors, according to the terms and conditions of the minute of this Board of the 5th of February 1823, and of the warrant of his Majesty of the 22d March following. 2. That with respect to that part of the booty which consists of the produce of arrears of tribute, rent, or money due to the Peishwah, it appears to my Lords to have been acquired by the general result of the war, and not by the operations of any particular army or division; and they are of opinion that it ought, therefore, to be distributed in conformity with the alternative stated in their minute of the 5th of February 1823, as being "the only correct or equitable rule, if the "principle of actual capture cannot be adopted, viz. amongst the "forces of all the presidencies engaged in the combined operations "of the campaign." 3. With respect to the property captured at Nassuck, my Lords are 2 P 4 of |