U^D. t6*3 A-ava. \nfc menfe benefits which were derived to the nation from the manly, fpiritcd, and honour- able ( 6 ) able exertions of the fervants of the India Company : but the names of Lawrence, Clive, Pigot, Ford, Vanfittart, and many others, will be mentioned with admiration by pofterity, when the voice of Slander ihall be forgotten. It is not pretended but that the eitablifh- ment of a new empire like that in Afia may have afforded fome inftances of irregularity ; but however the ac"lors in thofe great fcenes may have been defamed by party, they furely have had great merits ; and though they have been fubjecl: to failings like men, it is evident that no ac"ls of cruelty ftained their path to conqueft and dominion : none fell by their means, but in the field of battle, nor have any wanton feverities been exercifed over the coo- quered inhabitant ; it may be fafely faid that their lituation in general has been happier un- der Britifh government, than under any which preceded it, and tho* the men who formerly held high and lucrative offices under the Sou- bahs of Bengal, are great fufferers by our af- fumption of th government, yet no remedy can be given them, unlefs the legislature fhall think it prudent to reftore to the natives of India the management of the Britifh dominions in Afia. When reproach is caft upon the India Company and its fervants, let the nation recollect that the poffeiTions in Afia have been conquered and preferved by their exertions and good conduct ; whilft Parliament and ad- miniftration, with their united wifdom, and the ftrength of the kingdom, have not been able ( 7 ) able to retain the Britifh colonies in Amend: the nation, therefore, ought to view with a very jealous eye the parliamentary executive board propofed for the adminiftration of India affairs, left the erTccl of the fame fpirit and meaiures which have loft one part of the Bri- tifh dominions, fhould fever India alfo from this country. It is admitted by all, that regulations for the better government of India are at prefent very much wanted ; but when it is remembered that many evils confeffedly originate in the act of 1773; and that the interference of parlia- ment has not hitherto produced any good, the public have caufe to dread the effccl of regulations likely to be made fo much in a fpirit of prejudice and party, as thofe now to be offered to the confederation of parliament. It is very popular in thefe times to caft in- djfcriminate reproach upon the fervants of the India -Company : hut it is wonderful that a man of Mr. Fox's ability and precilion fhould not only chime in with the general cry of a- bufes in India, but that he fhould alfo fnper- add an imputation upon gentlemen returned from that country, that their mode of fpend- ing their fortunes at home has been as devoid of credit, as' were the means of acquiring them abroad. Without entering here into the mode by wh : ch fortunes in India have gene- rally been obtained, or without admitting that they were unjuftly gained, I can venture to coritradift the latter infinuation. From my own ( 8 ) own knowledge of many gentlemen returned from India, I can aflert that their conduct in private life, in the expenditure of their for- tunes, and care of their familieSj would not be a difgrace to the regularity, the prudence, and economy to which Mr. Fox himfelf has fo inviolably adhered. Their deportment, their fentiments, their converfation, render them acceptable to the moft refpected focie- ties in this kingdom ; nor do Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke difdain familiar intercourfe with fuch as aiTill: in their political fchemes on India* I own I feel indignant, when I hear reproaches caft indifcriminately on a great body of gen- tlemen, many of whom have confefledly ferved the public with honour, and whofe lives here are very worthy of imitation : they are moft of them too wife to gamble away the fortunes they have earned at fo much rifque ; they have too much fpirit, and too much fenfe to hazard their independence on a dye, or to recommend themfelves to notice by partaking of the midnight amufements in St. James' s- Street : the fortunes they have gotten, they endeavour to fpend ufefully, honourably and prudently ; yet I prefume they are ready to receive a wife lerTon on this ground from Mr. Fox, whenever he will pleafe to afford it. I cannot help thinking that Mr. Fox and many members of the Houfe allow their minds to be improperly influenced by the partial re- ports of the Select Committee ; partial I may lay, becaufe avowedly they record only fuch evidence, ( 9 ) evidence, and fuch fads as tend to fnpport opinions previously entertained. The Com- mittee themfelves fay, that their reports are not charges, nor do they hold themfelves bound to bring, forward compleat evidence of what may tend to criminate or exculpate every perfon whofe tranfactions they may find it ex- pedient to report ; and yet the Houfe is indu- ced to act upon them, as upon deductions fairly and fully proved from records and com- pleat evidence. A certain right hon. gentleman feems to de- light in talking of the murders committed in In- dia. It is wonderful that the Houfe can patiently bear to hear fuch unfupported reproach thrown upon their countrymen. Whoever has attend- ed much to the India reports will know, that they do not contain any proof of fuch crimes, nor even grounds upon which fuch fufpicions can be built. Why will that gentleman give fcope to fuch a wandering fancy ? he allows it to range from Eaft to Weft ; and now when the feene is clofed in America, he returns to feed on imaginary ravages and depredations in Afia ! In the Ninth Report of the Select Commit- tee, where he has taken a very active part, the conduct of the Bengal council in 1763 towards Coflim Alii Cawn is canvafled and cenfured in ftrong terms : it is flated, that the fervants of the Company had engrofled the whole commerce of the country ; and that the Nabob, finding his own fubje'cts excluded as B aliens aliens from the trade of the country, and the revenues of the Prince overwhelmed in the ruin of the commerce of his dominions, had recourfe to the unexpected expedient of de- claring his refolution at once to annul all duties on trade, fetting it equally free to fubje&s and foreigners. The Committee then add, " Never was a method of defeating the oppreilions of a monopoly more forcible, more ilmple, more equitable, nor could any plaufible objection be made to it; and yet the prelident and council of Calcutta openly denied to the prince the power of protecting the trade of his fubjects by the remiiTion of his own duties. " Whoever re- collects the proceedings of thofe times, will difavow this doctrine of the Committee ; Cof- fim Alii Cawn was not the lawful fovereign, nor could his own rebellious aflumption of the vice-royalty of the Mogul government entitle him to make regulations fo materially affecting the rights of foreigners, as thofe in quell ion. Not only the Englifh Eaft India Company, but other foreign companies traded to Bengal under phirmaunds, confirmed by fucceffive Monarchs of Hindoftan phirmaundsobtained at great expence to the parties, and granted by the court of Delhi, on a conviction, that if fome peculiar immunities were not granted to foreigners over the trade of the natives of Ben- gal, they never could be encouraged to trade there: was then the council of the Company in Bengal to fufFer a privilege fo important as this to be rendered nugatory by the device of a man man raifed to power by themfelves? an at- tempt they would have refifted to the utmoft of their ability, even had it flowed from the fource of legal authority. The immunity by s which they had been encouraged to fettle in Bengal was like a charter confirmed to Euro- pean companies, and too valuable an one to be tamely furrendered. When the fer- vants of the Englifh Company acquired great influence with the country government, it may be true, that having fcarce any other emolu- ment from the Company but what arofe from the communication of this privilege, they might make too free an ufe of the immunity ; but was that only to be remedied by the annihilation of the indulgence granted by the Mogul, and at the pleafurc of a viceroy created by the af- fiftance of the company ? the very attempt added ingratitude to injuftice ! However, the conduct of Coflim Alii is al- fo defended on this plea that the revenues of the prince were going to ruin : but to fhew the fallacy of thefe reports, and this argu- ment in particular, it will fuffice to fay, that out of a revenue of upwards of three millions which the three Bengal provinces have annual- ly yielded, not above two hundred thoufand pounds have arifen from cuftoms; fo that the depredation on that part of the revenue could not have been felt, nor could it be his motive : befides, it is elfewhere afTerted by the com- mittee, that no Soubah of Bengal ever raifed fo great a revenue as Coffim Alii Cawn B 2 which which is a fiat contradiction of one of the in- ducements afcribed to Coffim Alii by the com- mittee for laying the trade alike open to all. Probably the order, had it been acquiefced in, would not have anfwered his expectations ; for we do. not learn that the commerce of Ben- gal is become more flourifhing fince the Com- pany have of themfelves renounced the exer- cife of[this immunity. Many think it has ruin- ed the trade of Bengal, and that its revival is the moft difficult object of the prefent intend- ed regulations. Every good fubject will fup- port fuch as promife to enfure profperity to our India porTefiions ; but when- a fyftem to- tally new as to men and meafures is propofed, the public have a right to fcrutinize both ; and after the laboured but juft panegyric beftowed on Lord Fitzwilliams, with an affurance to the Houfe that his colleagues would not be infe- rior in point of knowledge and ability, virtue, and diligence, they muft be aftonifhed to find among the propofed lift of directors the names of men, who do not by any means equal the high expectation held out to the nation :- per- haps it might be fairly arTerted that more than one of them are totally unfit for a truft of fuch labour, refponfibility and patronage : To fay more might be invidious: beiides, the infer- tion of fuch names was perhaps neceffary to render the bill palatable to fome of Mr. Fox's colleagues ; but it is furely a burlefque upon all character, to hold out the feven propofed by the late India bill as the moft independent, the ( '3 ) the moft wife, and moft fit men in the nation for the execution of a trull of fuch infinite im- portance to the public. The propofed appointment of feven Direc- tors may lead many to reflect on the mifchie- vous effects of patronage in India ; but the fubject cannot be more forcibly preffed upon the public attention than in the words of a let- ter, (recorded by the Select Committee in their fixth report) from the Governor General and Council of Bengal, dated May 1781. " The civil offices," fay they, " of this government might be reduced to a very fcanty number, were their exigency alone to determine the lift of your covenanted fervants, which at this time confifts of no lefs a number than two hundred and fifty-two, many of them the fons of the fir ft families of Great-Britain, and every one afpiring to the rapid acquifition of laaks, and to return to pafs the prime of their lives at home, as multitudes have done before them. Neither will the revenues of this country fuf- fice for fuch boundlefs pretenfions ; nor are they compatible with the Company's or the national interefts, which may eventually fuf- fer as certain a ruin from the effects of private, competition, and claims of patronage, as from the more dreaded calamities of war, or the other ordinary caufes which lead to the de- cline of dominion. We dare not purfue this fubject ; nor could we', without a Sacrifice of our duty, with-hold this brief fuggeftion of it from your notice." The public are here fuf- ficientiy ficiently awaked to the alarming effects of patronage ; and may be affured, that the evil will not be leffened by the extenfion of mini- fterial influence. ^ Air. Fox, in making his objections to the accounts delivered to the Houfe of the Com- pany's circumftances, afferted that the fum of .4,200,000, lent by them to Government, for which they now only receive three per cent, ought not to have been ftated to the cre- N dit of the Company but as fo many three per cents. ; which, at the prefent market-price, * would only produce three fifths of the origi- <^ nal fum. ^ Had it not been for a mifapprehenfion of the facl, Mr. Fox could not have been led '\ into fo unfair a conclulion : he rouft have ad- ^ jnitted, that a fum lent originally to govern- ^ ment at fix per cent, and from time to time v^ reduced, as the price of new charters, to three \ per cent, had no connection whatever with our \ x funds. The principal fum was in part mort- N gaged as a fecurity to the Company's bond creditors ; and whenever the exclufive right is taken from them, the principal fum muft be repaid by government ; therefore it was furely fair to bring the whole fum to the credit of the Company. In enumerating the mifchievous cifecls of the Company's government, Mr. Fox ftated to the Houfe, that the Nabob of Oude, Afoph ul Dowla, appeared to be reduced by their exactions to fuch diftrefs, as to be obliged, for the ( '5 ) the purpofe of paying fomc late demands on him, to borrow money at the exorbitant inte- reft of two per cent, per menfem. It muft be in the firft place remarked, that it is no un- ufual thing for very rich men to refift lawful demands upon a plea of poverty. The fa- mous Chezt Sing, who pretended inability to pay a demand of five laaks, is known after- wards to have offered twenty laaks as a peace- offering, and at Jail: to have carried on with him an immenfe fum in fpecie. It is even not uncommon for men of fome confederation in India to fubmit to the rod more than once in the far" 3 day. before they will pay an un- difputed denlan&'tfkr rent, while they are the whole time pofTefTevi of the means to difcharge it, and which they ,vill ;u Jail produce. The plea of poverty is therefore no proof; and as to the two per cent, per menfem^ laid to be paid by the impoverifhed Afoph nl Dowla, gentle- men will recollect, that it is a rate of intereft as common in that country as five per cent, is in this; and that the Houle in 1773, being feniible of this circumftance, pafTed an act to limit Europeans to an intereft of 1 2 per cent. per annum, which in India they are now authorized to receive. It is furprifing, therefore, that fuch a mifreprefentation could have been made to the Houfe without contradiction. To poi- fon the minds of the public ftill more again!! the Company's government, Mr. Fox read a. letter from a Maior Beanjou; who in 1772 had been fern by the Prefident and Council of Madras ( 16 ) Madras with a party of the Company's forces, at the requeft of the Nabob of Arcot, to re- duce to obedience fome refractory varTals : the Major met with a reliftance he little expected, and was compelled in the exercife of his com- miffion to acts of feverity that fhocked his feelings ; and muft fhock thofe of every rea- der of the letter. But to bring this home as a charge againir the President and Council, we fhould know what impreffion Major Beaujour's letter made on them, and what orders they fent in confequence. The liberty an officer took to remonftrate with his principals, plainly ,fhe\ F s his belief that fuch feverities \\ere i*v-m-their contem- plation when they ga've the orders; and fuppofe the circumftances oC the rebellion were inch as required perfeveuince, have not fimilar meafures been pirjucd by the adminiftration of this country wit/i regard to America ? Let the inhabitants of ./Efopus, and other parts of America, defcantupon the oppreilicn of Britifh government, and they will probably drefs up a more melancholy picture of woe and civi- lized barbarifm, than any which the India Company's records can warrant, or the de- famers of their fervants invent. In order ftill more to encreafe the clamour againft the India Company, it has been inlinuated, that they are become a burden to the public: the Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Exchequer in one Houfe, v Lord Carlille in another, tauntingly iifk, if the people, will be fatisfied to have their refources ( -7 ) refources exhaufted in the maintenance of a monopolizing body; who, wiih great revenues are by mifmanagement brought to the brink ot 'ruin themfelves; and if parliament does not timely interpofe, will in all probability acce- lerate the downfall of this country ? In fupport of fuch an appeal, the public fhould have been told to what extent the company had heretofore been an incumbrance to the people ; and in what mode they are now imploring the aid of Parliament ; but as this information has been with-held, it willnot be improper toftiew how little foundation there is for thefe infinu- ations. In the beginning of the war of 1755, the Company could not obtain any force for the protection of India ; the Directors acquainted the fervams abroad that their application for that purpofe had been unfuccefsful ; and that their only dependence was on their prudence and fpirited exertions. Every body mufr. re- coiled: that they were not difappointed ; and and that fuch was the opinion which the great Lord Chatham and the Parliament of thofe days entertained of the Company's efforts in in the common canfe, that an aid was voted to the Company of 20,000, and continued for three or four years. In return, as it were, for this fmall alTiftance, theCompany in the fifteen years fubfequent to the attainment of their territorial poiTeflions in Bengal, paid into the exchequer for cufroms and excife 6, 447,168 fterling more than they had done in the .fifteen years preceding thofe fuccefles; the C whole whole fum which the public in that term re- ceived from the Company being 19,890,616 fterling on thofe accounts. It like wife appears that on the ground of participation in the ter- ritorial revenues, Government during that period re3eived 2,169,398. 181. 2d. fterling, which is equal to a dividend of 4. 10. o. per cent, per annum, on the capital (lock of the Company for fifteen years; whilft the proprie- tors in the fame term have been allowed an encreafe in their dividends only equal to 4r. 6d. per cent, per annum, over and above what their commercial profits had ufually af- forded ; and yet the Company had difburfed in military cxpences and fortifications 9,55 r ,549 fterling, without any pecuniary aid from the public, except the So,ooo above-men- tioned : for though, in the latter part of the war of 1755, a confiderable marine as well as land force was fent out by Government, for the purpofe of driving the French from their fettlements in India ; yet the Company fhonld not be upbraided with the charge fo brought upon the public ; as they are as much entitled to the general protection of the ftate as any other part of its fubjec~ls. From that time to 1773, the Company did not receive any afTift- ance from Government ; but on the contrary, contributed largely to the neceffities of the ftate ; and at that period, the only boon afked of Parliament was, that they would lend the Company, diftreffed vi-h large and unex- pected ( .9 ) peeled drafts from India, the fum of 1,400000 frerling ; which requefr, though it was com- plied with, was yet ufed by the minifters of that day, as a pretext to extort from the Company a large fhare of their patronage. They afTiimed the nomination of Governor- General and Supreme Council, and alfo efta- blifhed a new Court of Judicature, both at the expence of the Company. In two years,, or three at mofr, the Company repaid this fum ; and being now again become fuppliants to Parliament, they do not reqneft that the military expences in India may be defrayed, out of the public treafury, but that a debt of near a million of money, now due from the Company to the irate for cuftoms and excife, may be procraftinated for fome certain time ; and that Parliament would either lend. them as much more v or . allow them to borrow it. This is the extent of the great burden with which the Company are now overwhelming the public; nor has any other afTiftance been ever granted them, tho' they have annuajly paid for fifteen years together, near a million and a half into the public treafury. It is very fit to remind the nation that the prefent diftrefTes of the Company, which are but temporary, have chiefly been brought on by the late war. The encreafed war price of freight, and the aug- mentation of tonnage, for his-Majefty's troops and naval ftores, have occalioned an extraor- dinary charge to the Company of 700,000 : they loft a very large fum by the capture of C * their ( 20 ) their flaips by the combined fleet; and, tojdc- prefs them ftill more, labouring under fuch unufual and heavy burthens, their fhips have not regularly returned with cargoes to Europe, having been, delayed by attendance on the King's ftiip?, or in military expeditions in In- dia, to the great detriment of the Company's, finances in England. Beneficial, then, as the company has proved to the nation, unburthenfome as it certainly has been, it is not fair to alarm the people with an idea, that they are to be oppreffed with taxes for the fupport of a monopolizing company, when there is no canfe to dread fuch an event. The nation ought to be made ful- ly fenfible of the great advantages derived from India, that they may ponder awhile, be- fore they commit fo great a flake to the ma- nagement of men 'moftly Grangers to thofe affairs. Since the aft of 1773, the minifters of the Crown have had a legal right to inter- fere in the Government of India ; and when they thought fit, have exercifed their control- ling power : it furely therefore is not juft to attribute the mifmanagement folely to the Company ; the minifters fhonld come in for their fhare of refponfibility and reproach ; and the public thence learn, not to form too fan- gnine expectations of the wife meafures that will be purfued by lodging more authority in adminiftration. The idea of extending that liberty which we ourfclves enjoy to millions of people, delights lights a generous public; but pofftbly the in- habitants of another hemifphere, uaufcd to reafbn upon the be ft poflible fyftem and go- vernment, and bred up under a defpotic au- thority, may not have feelings fimilar to ours. They perhaps may be affected with deep rooted attachments to the laws and government under which they have lived, and not wi(h relief in the mode we are difpofed to afford : the in- habitants of Bengal probably have not in any inftancc fuffered more from Britifh authority than in the attempt to fubject them to an En- glifh court of judicature, where forms in many cafes feem to take place of fubftantial juftice. The laws themfelves have proved fources of more grievous oppreflion than they ever felt from the hand of defpotifm, and that at a pe- riod too, when they are called on to admire the benevolence of the Britifh legislature in the communication of their Jaws to India. Cer- tainly a native of Bengal will not eafily dif- criminate between the fuperior excellence of Britifh laws, and the evils which they intro- duce, from the mode in which they are dif- penfcd ; but they will ail remember that the execution of Nundocomar was one of the firft efTecls of the new fyftem; and when they fee a man of his confequence fuffering like a com- mon malefactor by the operation of thofelaws, they will not be eafily convinced that they are the fureft guardians of their own lives and property. Tormented by the quirks of law and lawyers, the poor native may often per- haps 354894 haps have fighed for the adminiftration of ju- ftice in the old way, when it was fimply and equally difpenfed to all. Regulations that may give fecurity to property, that may fubftan- tially protect the people from oppreffion, which may check that fpint of enterprize and con- queft which has of late produced fo much mifchief; but above all, fuch as will effectually prevent European adventurers from entering into the military or civil fervice of any native prince of India fuch fort of regulations, ori-^ ginating not in a fpirit of party and prejudice, but in the true principles of moderation, Jnftice and found Policy will fhower down blefllngs upon that country, and prove not only an ho- nour to us, but a lafting benefit to the com- merce of this kingdom, and to the Eaft India Company. THE END. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-32m-8,'58(5876s4)444 UNIVERSITY DS 463 v.9 Remarks on Some A2P2 Late Assertions 174 in a Great Assembly Relativ* to_ East India DS 463 A2P2 1784 v.9