r\ : A! 0! 0! 0! 01 1 4 4 9 Resolutions ., .relative to an Application to Parliament for a Renewal of their Exclu- sive Privileges. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES RESOLUTIONS Of THE GENERAL COURT OF PROPRIETORS OF EAST-INDIA STOCK, KELATIVB TO AN APPLICATION TO PARLIAMENT FOR A RENEWAL OF THEIR EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES. LONDON: Printed by E. Cox and Son, Great Queen Street, Lincoln' 's-Inn-Fields, 1813. (313 V' *J THE following Resolutions Were adopted (with only one dissentient voice} at the con- clusion of the Debates at several adjourned Courts of Proprietors of East-India Stock, ^ held at the East- India House on the 19M, 22 Ji :i). ) RESOLUTIONS. At a General Court of the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East- Indies, held at the East-India House, the 26th January 1813. Resolved, That this Court perceives with deep regret, that after a long correspondence and discussion, conducted with exemplary firm- ness, temper, and ability on the part of the Court of Directors, and with much difference of opinion among the several Ministers who have represented His Majesty's Government in the discussion, and closed on the part of His Majesty's present Ministers with a reference to the petitions lately presented to Parliament, as a ground of their new determination, the par- ties have at length arrived at a point, when decision is absolutely required, between the ruin A a 6 of the Company and the disappointment of the petitioners against their Charter. Resolved, That on former discussions rela- tive to the renewal of the Company's charter, and particularly in 17^3, His Majesty's Govern- ment were prepared, at the outset, to state the precise extent of concession which could safely he allowed to the petitioners against the Com- pany's charter : and their mature conviction appeared then to be, that the regulated mono- poly of the Company was essential to the inter- ests of the country, and that this consideration alone was a sufficient answer to all pretences for interference with that monopoly. That the territorial possessions of the Com- pany in India are their certain right, and that the system provided for the Indian Government hy the wisdom of Parliament, together with the disinterested spirit in which it has been administered by the Company, have extended and consolidated the British Empire in the East, and added to the strength and glory of the British Empire at Home. That the trade of the Company has long 7 ceased to bear the character of a strict mono- poly ; and that, by some further modifications, if thought indispensible, in addition to the arrangements of 1793 and of 1802, it may be rendered as much an open trade, as will be consistent with the security of revenue and the prosperity and safety of the Indian Empire. That it is the opinion of the ablest Indian, statesmen, as well as of the generality of per- sons acquainted with India, that no large or sudden addition can be made to the amount of British exports to that country or China. That this opinion is confirmed by the practice of the Americans, who export chiefly bullion, and by the overloaded state of the Indian markets. That the habits and religion of the natives are hostile to any such extension ; and that the Company actually suffer a loss in this depart- ment of their concerns, with the view of em- ploying the capital, and encouraging the indus- try of their countrymen at home. That so far as relates to the ordinary produce of India, the import trade is now carried to the full extent of the demand, as appeal's by the A 4 s value of two millions and a half sterling of private property at this moment remaining in the Company's Warehouses ; and .that to open the outports to that trade, , would be no other than a ruinous transfer of it into new channels, to the destruction of immense and costly esta- blishments, and the beggary of many thousands of industrious individuals. That an extension of the trade in other pro- ducts, the supposed effect of opening the out- ports, could be realized only by a large transfer of capital to India, and its consequent coloniza- tion. That, if realized, it might fatally inter- fere with the manufactures of England, or with her commerce to countries where similar pro- ducts are already raised by British capital, im- ported in British shipping, and paid for by * JL O * J British manufacturers, and that, thus, such extension would deeply injure those very persons who are most impatiently petitioning for it. r ; v fo That any unrestrained intercourse of Euro- ', i J3fil *?IT (V peans with our Indian Empire is highly to be r i t> j deprecated. That the unlimited competition ^tcraffj- of commercial agents would, from the peculiar 1 oorn; 9 circumstances of the country, produce " a boundless scene of confusion and fraud, and ultimately the ruin of the manufacturers them- selves ;" and that tempting- opportunities would be held out to the agents to maintain illicit in- tercourse with the Native Powers, and to con- duct a dangerous system of communication with China from the Eastern Islands. That this Court do most highly approve the conduct of the Directors upon the vital question of admitting the outports to the import trade from India ; and that the confusion and hazard from irregular sales at the outports, the loss to the revenue from smuggling, and the consequent ruin of the Company's China trade, are decisive obstacles to the policy of such a measure. They are therefore firmly of opinion, that the Court of Directors should, on no consideration what- ever, cede this point in the discussion. That it also appears, from numerous petitions presented to the last Parliament, that on the faith of ap- proved and long established practice, an im- mense capital has been invested in establishments, peculiarly adapted to the export trade between It) India and China ; and that many titr-ttVy tngagt^ merits hafe been entered into by pt?rsofts ih'fcHe city of London, ahd on both banks of the Thames, from Lbndon -bridge to Gravefefetid} ttoe very subsistence of many of whom depends upon the continuance to the port of London of the export trade to India and Cfeiufc ; and nearly 10,ODO industiiotis artificers, with their families, would be in dangfeTof beg- gtiry, in proportion as they Would fee thitWii- tttft of employment, by the remb^il of the Report trade fi*otn it's accustomed channel, This Goatt therefore conceives, thftt it is of vital iinportaticfe t6 the city and port of London-, that the export trade to India and China should continue to fee tarried on as hefetofbre. That since the high duties oft articles imported would still remain, the abatement in the prifcfc of frelglit, expfe'CM by petitioners to ehsne from the subversion of tlie present system, wotifcl he prodcrctive of trifling relief to the consurteV ; ^ina that this relief waiiM Bfe ^chased at the cxh-cnrf! hn;:anl of the fcvenitfc of Customs and Exx-U-c, no\t coftected easily by the 11 As well as imminent danger to all the sources of their wealth in India. That there is no foundation, in fact, for the statement which ascribes to thfe Company's charter the advantages enjoyed by neutral fo* feigners over British merchants, in the admis- sion of the former to a trade from which the latter are excluded ; for that the profit with which that trade has been carried on by thosfc foreigners} has been entirely owing to the fa- feilkies necessarily belonging to their neutral cha* racter, and which, of course, cannot belong to the merchants of a belligerent state. iiC'That the discharge of the political function* of the Company depends on the continuance of its 'Commercial privileges. That the pro* positions of His Majesty's Government, by giving a fatal blow to the commercial interests of the Company, will, if insisted on, eventu* ally terminate in its political dissolution ; and that political advantages, of the highest il* portance, will thus be lost to the country^ among which the following deserve to be dis- tinctly noticed, as much too valuable to be sacrificed for a trifling reduction in the freigtii of Indian goods to Europe* 1. A marine of 100 large ships, containing n. tonnage of 103,333 tons, employing 1400 officers and 10,000 seamen, of acknowledged skill and bravery, and which has heen found ready and able, at all times, to minister to the national convenience and to augment the na- tional glory. 2. An extensive establishment of yards, which has cf en rendered large and seasonable assistance to the Royal Navy, and might, in cases of necessity, be made available to the national defence. 3. The remittance of the fortunes accumu- lated by above 3,000 officers of the Company's military service, and some hundreds of civil 9 * servants, which are transferred to the capital, and stimulate the industry of Britain. That, in addition to these considerations, the liberal disbursements of the Company for national enterprizes, and the meritorious con- tribution of their service to the national fund of strength and glory, are entitled to a just ancj 13 honorable remembrance, in the preparation of any measure whicji may vitally affect their interests. That connected with this department of the subject, is the extreme danger to which, in case of the Company's dissolution, the balance of the Constitution would be exposed, by the transfer of the Indian patronage to the Crown, and the enormous burden which would be en- tailed on the Public, in satisfying the claims of compensation on behalf of the Company, and of all the complicated interests which would be involved in its fate. That, by the destruction of the Company, a vast number of those Proprietors, amongst whom its capital of twelve millions sterling is divided, would be reduced to extreme distress ; and nearly forty thousand persons, directly em- ployed by the Company, with many others in- directly concerned in its prosperity, would be brought to a state of absolute beggary. That, from the tenor of the preceding con- siderations, it appears to this Court, that no case of political or commercial delinquency has 14 been established against the Company, to jus- tify the ruin with which they are threatened, or to forfeit their claim to a continuance of their Charter. That, on the contrary, their com- mercial management has been frequently de- ranged and interrupted by costly enterprises, to which they were compelled on grounds of in> perial policy, and which no temporary posses- sion could have induced them to execute. That their remonstrances against these undertakings were silenced by reference to future and distant recompense, in the improved prospect of permanent peace, revenue, and commerce, and that, by arguments which implied little less than a pledge that their privileges should be continued, at least until their indem- nity should be complete, and that it is mani- festly unjust to allege against them, as a proof of commercial mismanagement, pecuniary diffi- culties, arising out of this forcible diversion of their commercial funds to national purposes. That with a view to their financial difficulties, thus incurred on the public account, the Di-> rectors, in the year 1803, apprehending the 15 consequences of the transfer of the Indian ter- ritorial debt to England, proposed methods to meet and provide for those consequences ; but that His Majesty's Ministers refused to forward those propositions to India, and have not sub- stituted any other proceeding for the same end. That the Court appeal confidently to the fol- lowing particulars, from the close of the Fourth Report of the Committee of the House of Com- mons appointed in the late Parliament, for a proof, not only that the Company have carried on their affairs without any expense to the finan* ces of this country, but that the operations of their system have been manifold ways beneficial to its interests. 1st. That since 1/91, British industry has been encouraged by the employment of ^46,000,000. 2d. That the produce and manufactures of India, purchased with this sum, together with those of China, sold in. England, realized in sale amount nearly ^140,000,000. 3d. That the purchase of the produce and manufactures of England amounted to ,29,200,000. 16 4th. That the employment of British ship- ping amounted to ,25,000,000. 5th. That the duties on imports, collected through the Company at a trifling expense to Government, amounted to ^39,300,000 ; and onexportsto^660,000;together,^39,960,000. 6th. That the combination of these, and other sums, producing ^185,960,000, shews that, on an average of the last seventeen years, ^10,900,000 has been diffused in various channels, through the whole circulation of the British Empire, &c. That, for proof of the moral and political benefits derived to the population of India from the government of the Company, this Court appeals to the Fifth Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, which exhibits the gratifying picture of a people raised from the lowest disorder and degradation, to a state of industry, security, and freedom ; and that this Court confidently hopes, the improvement in the condition of fifty millions of natives will not be interrupted, by the pernicious experi- ments to which the sanction of Parliament is now so loudly solicited. 17 That the interests of the Company are now become so interwoven with the political and commercial system of Britain, that, by their sudden dissolution, the credit and grandeur of this country would receive a shock, which must be perilous, and might be fatal : and that the measures proposed by Government are therefore anxiously to be deprecated, inasmuch as they must have the effect of bringing the Company to speedy destruction. That, with such a case in favour of the Company, the Court is assured they may approach Parliament with confidence, and without the smallest alarm from the misrepre- sentations with which they have been assailed ; and they are persuaded that the wisdom of that enlightened body will never countenance the sacrifice of clear and positive interests of one class of men, to the contingent and uncertain advantage of another ; nor demolish a mighty practical system, which has been raised by such immense exertions, in order to place its mate- rials at the disposal of interested speculation. That this Court approves, most highly, the 35488ft * * ,. 18 firm exertions by which the Directors have now enabled the Company, if necessary, to bring their case in its integrity before the tri- bunal of Parliament. They tender their warm- est thanks to the Chairman, the Deputy Chair- man, and the Court of Directors, for their zeal and ability in support of this important cause j and they trust that, if any opening should pre- sent itself for a renewal of the discussion be- tween the Company and His Majesty's Govern- ment, upon the principles detailed in this reso- lution, it will be conducted by them with the energy and moderation which they have hither- to displayed. JAMES COBB, Secretary. . . LONDON : Printed by E. Cox and Son, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. 1 1 A.M. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. <*