\8\'5 Remarks on the Charter of the ^ast India Company . ^sll&Mi; v ili l >: V /*---"&-- rffcK'V . , ^:: L_ n = REMARKS ON* THE I OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY JAMES IIOOSO.V : A.VD TO BE HAT) OF J. MURRAY, ALBEMAULE-STUEETJ AVTr.XTE AXD KOBIXSOX, PATERNOSTER- HOW '; AND OF THE 1>:'.1 NCIP \ L BOOKSELLERS J\ BIRMINGHAM, BRISTOL, CLASHOW, IIL'I.r.. LIVERPOOL. MAXCUE.STER, XOR\V1CH, AM) \OTTINOHAM. /V/L-e Tfirrf S/:il!ins.s.' I 813. HE regular notice required by the Act of " Parliament was given in April 1811, by the UJ Speaker of the House of Commons, to the East V- l India Company, that their Charter would expire on the first of March 1814. It is curious to remark, how little interest was ; at first taken by the public in the very important objects, to which this notice might have been ex- pected to awaken attention. The Act of Parliament commonly termed " the Charter of the East India Company/' was passed in the Session of 1793, in the 33d year of the reign of his present Majesty, and finds its place (chap. .52.) in our Statute Book, according to its date, like all other Statutes of minor im- portance. B Iii the 3 T car 1783, the very proposal of a plan for the regulation of the government of India convulsed the whole empire j and, after the severest conflict between the two rival parties in both houses of Parliament, terminated in the titter defeat and dissolution of the existing Mini- stry. Our Indian Empire from that period progressively advanced in extent and import- ance to the year 1?93, when the present Charter was granted to the East India Com- pany. It has proceeded on a still wider scale of en- largement to the present hour. It cannot, there- fore, be now thought unseasonable to make some brief observations on the nature and magnitude of the chartered rights of the East India Company, - they may chance to catch the eye of some, whose situation render them competent to reduce to practice, the suggestions that maybe offered; or to acquaint those less habituated to read through Acts of Parliament, how immense is the impor- tance of the subject?, to which the Charter of the Fast India Company applies. In the following pages it will be first attempted to shew: I. WHAT IS THE EXTENT OF TERRITORY TO WHICH THE CHARTER OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY APPLIES ?* II. THE EQUITY OF RENEWING THE CHARTER VI LL BE BRIEFLY CONSIDERED! III. THE POLICY OF SUCH RENEWAL, IV. SOME CHANGES WILL BE SUGGESTED IN TH E COMMERCIAL AND POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, I. The public cannot be more effectually sa- tisfied of the extent of territory to which the * The apology for offering this head, as the first object of our remarks, must be, the very imperfect apprehension which is so often entertained, of the extent of the Countries to which the Charter applies. East India Charter applies, than by requesting them to spread out the map of the world, (if of Mercator's projection it \vouldbe preferable) and, with the map before them, to read carefully the sections of the Act of Parliament called the Charter, which are hc>'e inserted. Section 71. c. 52. of 33d year of George III. " And be it further enacted, by the authority i; aforesaid, That the said United Company of " Merchants of England trading to the East " Indies, and their Successors, shall have, use and fi enjov, and shall continue to have, use and " enjoy, the whole sole and exclusive trade and " traffic, and the only liberty, use, and privilege ' of trading, trafficking, and exercising the trade ' k or business of merchandize into and from the *' East Indies, and into and from all the islands, " ports, havens, coasts, cities, towns, and places " between the Cape of Good Hope and Straights '' of Magellan, and limits, in an Act made in the " ninth year of the reign of King William the i{ Third, or in a certain Charter of the fifth day " of Sentember, in the tenth vear of the same " King, mentioned, in as ample and beneficial " manner as the said Company could thereby or " otherwise lawfully trade thereto, subject never- " theless to the several limitations, conditions, " and regulations in this Act contained, and also " subject to the proviso hereinafter contained for " determining the same; any former Act or " Acts, matter or thing, to the contrary notwith- " standing. Section 61. of c. 44. of the 9th and 10th of William and Mary, referred to in the above section of the 33d of the present King, enacts, c< That the general society (viz. the East India " Company then forming) shall, and lawfully " mav, by themselves severally, or by their " agents, freely traftic and use the trade of mer- t Indies, in the countries and '' parts of Asia and Africa, and into and from is the i-land:, port:-, havens, cities, creeks, towns " and places of Asia, Africa, and America, or (< any of them, beyond the Cape of Good Hope, " (Bona Esperanza) to the Streights of Magellan, * where any trade or traffic of merchandize is or " may be used or had, and to and from every of " them." From these sections of the above Acts here recited, it appears that the exclusive trade of the East; India Company, extends, overall the Eastern Coast of Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Isthmus oi Suez ; all the coast of the Red Sea ; all the coasts of Arabia, of Persia, of India; all the coasts of the minor kingdoms of Ava, Pegu, Si am, Cochin-China; all the conti- nental empire of China (a small exception being made in the event, of any cession from the Chinese government, of territory not continental) all Japan, all Sumatra, Java with Batavia, and over the whole of the vast and numerous Islands and Clusters of Islands in the Eastern Archipe- lagoes. II. IT IS NOW PROPOSED VERY BRIEFLY TO CONSIDER THE EQUITY OF RENEWING THE CHAR- TER OF THE COMPANY. But that the public may have before them a correct view of the rigidity of the restrictions in favour of the Company, we shall here insert, different Sections of the Charter. The following specify the penalties to which every British subject is made liable who ven- tures to trade to, or even to set foot on, the almost unbounded territory, over which the exclusive jurisdiction of the East India Company is by charter extended. Chap. 52. 33 Geo. III. Sect. 129. Be it enacted, " That if any of the subjects tl of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, of or " belonging to Great Britain, or the islands of <{ Guernsey, Jersey, Aklerney. Sark, or Man, " or Faro isles, or to any of his Majesty's colo- " nies, islands, or plantations in America or the " West Indies, other than such as by the said " United Company shall be licensed, or other- f( wise thereunto lawfully authorized, shall at ic any time or times, before such determination th sec- tion of the Charter, to be appointed by the Court of Directors. The power of the East India Company thus vested in the Court of Director?, is truly formic! a- ble ; and has been experimentally proved, fully competent to fetter the operations of the Sovereign Government at home. For, by the ,35th section, the Crown may recal any of the oflicers appointed by the Directors. Let both exercise their rights to the full extent, let the Directors appoint Go- vernors, and the Crown recal, and an absolute suspension of government immediately ensues, through the whole of our Indian empire. 3. A third objection to the continuance of a company chartered as is that of India, arises from the military system. A strange distinction lias grown up between the military servants of the Company, and the armies of the Crown of Eng- land. In the reciprocal jealousies of these two sets of military servants, we have recently seen such just ground of alarm that it is needless to dwell on this political objection. 4. The influence of the Charter over the re- ligious interests of India, is as trivial as obvious. When we consider the immense population of Gentile India, compared with that which pro- fesses the Christian faith, we ought not perhaps to regret this. Moreover, except in some un- fortunate instances, without any provisions rela- tive to religion made by the Charter, the prac- tice has generally been, to respect the religious opinions of all the native inhabitants of India, and of the other countries comprehended within the Charter; whether Musselmen, Hindoos, &c. But in a future Charter it will surely be proper to make some permanent provision, for attaching that due degree of exterior dignity and impor- tance to the offices of religion, which Chris- tianity, in India, is so often perceived to want : It is no less desirable that validity should be given, by expressed law, to marriages contracted in India, without the intervention of protestant ecclesiastics. IV. TO PROCEED THEREFORE TO SUGGEST CER- TAIN CHANGES IN THE COMMERCIAL AND POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, AND OF THE COUNTRIES COMPREHENDED WITHIN THE CHARTER OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. The two great and fundamental objections to the present Charter of the East India Company we have already remarked to be, 23 First. The excessive extent of the countries and coasts comprehended in their privileged trade. Secondly. The fatal confusion to which the powers of appointment vested in the Directors, and the powers of rccal reserved to the Crown, are obnoxious. Both these objections it should seem, may be obviated if for the .old Great Company we sub- stitute Six, constituted and appointed as will be no\v specified. 1. The India Company. 2. The Company of the Isles. 3. The Persian Company. 4. The Arabian Company. 5. The Eastern African Company. (3, The China Company. 24 1. To the first may be assigned the whole exclusive Trade of the Peninsula of India. 2. To the Company of the Isles, may be as- signed the exclusive Trade of all the Coast East- ward of the Mouth of the Ganges to the Western Bank of the Canton River viz. of Ava, Pegu, Siam, Cochin-China, and all the Coast of Asia Eastward, from the Peiho or Yellow River to Cape Lopatka, and all the Islands and Clusters of Islands (Formosa excepted) lying between and included within Latitude 60 North, and 10 South of the Equator, and between Longi- tude 110 and 180 East of the Meridian of Ferrol. 3. To the Persian Company we would assign the exclusive trade from the Mouth of the Indus to Cape Ras al Gat (Cape Cats-head) on the South East point of Arabia. 4. To the Red Sea or Arabian Company, the whole of Arabia, including the two shores Eastern and Western, of the Red Sea. o. To the Eastern African Company, the whole Coast of Africa,, from Cape Guardafui to the Cape of Good Hope, including- the Islands of Socotra and Madagascar. The Madeira Isles, the Canaries, the Cape Verd Isles, the Isles of St. Helena and Ascension, and the Cape of Good Hope, to be open ports to all the several Companies, to touch at, refresh at, and refit. The Board of Commissioners for the affairs of India, to be nominated, constituted and ap- pointed, as that which subsists under the present Charter of the East India Company ; and which is commonly termed the Board of Controul. D -The territorial Government of India to be under the regulation of twenty-five Directors chosen as the twenty-four Directors are now. The same territorial Directory of twenty-five members to regulate the whole commercial and territorial government of the China Company, but to be entirely subordinate in the commercial E 26 concerns of India, to the Indian commercial Di- rectory resident at Liverpool (as will be referred to hereafter). The administration of government in India, to be conducted with as near analogy as possible to the system enjoined by the present Charter, excepting those exceptions since ordered by Parliament, or hereinafter to be suggested. The commercial concerns of the Company of India, to be under the regulation of seventeen Directors. The commercial concerns of the Company of the Isles, to be under the regulation of thirteen Directors. Those of each of the other three Companies of Persia, Arabia, and Eastern Africa, to be under seven Directors. The government of the Peninsula of India should, as at present, be administered by the 27 three Presidencies of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay. The Governor of Fort William in Calcutta, should possess the same pre-eminence and autho- rity over the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay, as in the present Charter; he should be ap- solutely appointed by the Crown. The Go- vernors of Madras and Bombay, to be also in the absolute appointment of the Crown. The Governors of Fort William, Madras, and Bombay, should be assisted by three Counsellors each, appointed and empowered as in the manner now provided by the present Charter. Sect, 24, 25, &c. &c. 2. We propose the whole foreign commercial and territorial government of the Company of the Isles to be administered by two Presidencies ; the one stationed at Prince of Wales's Island, for all affairs on the part of the continent of Asia, to which the charter of such Compaivy shall be made to refer. The other Presidency for all affairs of all the Islands, to be stationed at 28 Amboyna, Banda, or on the Isle of Java : the Governors of these Presidencies to be in the absolute appointment of the Crown ; their Coun- cils of three Members to each, to be chosen by the thirteen Directors of the Company of the Isles. In the event of a settlement being formed by natives of the British dominions on the Island of Japan, with the approbation of the Govern- ment of Japan, a third Presidency to be esta- blished at such settlement, having a Governor appointed by the Crown, and a Council of three appointed in the same manner precisely as the other two Councils of the Presidencies of Prince of Wales's Island, and of Amboyna, &c. The jurisdiction of this third Presidency of Japan to extend from Latitude 20 to 60 North of the Equator ; and from the Mouth of the Peiho or \ellow River, and the meridian of Longitude passing through the same, to Longitude 180 East of Ferrol. The Presidency of Amboyna to retain a similar pre-eminence over the Presidency of Prince of Wales 's Island., or of it and of Japan, which the Presidency of Calcutta main- tains over those of Madras and Bombay. 29 3. The whole foreign, commercial, and terri- torial government of the Persian Company, to be administered by a Governor appointed absolutely by the Crown, and by three Counsellors ap-" pointed absolutely by the seven Directors of the Persian Company. The Governor to be resident at Biisheer in the Persian Gulf. 4. The whole foreign, commercial, and terri- torial government of the Arabian Company, to be similarly appointed and constituted with that of the Persian Company, and to be resident at Mocha, Suez, or the Cape of Good Hope. 5. The whole foreign, commercial, and terri*- tonal government of the Eastern African Com- pany to be similarly constituted and appointed with those of the Persian and Arabian Com- panies ; and to be resident at the Cape of Good Hope. All the Islands lying between the Longitude of 180 East of Ferrol and the Western Coast of America, to be annexed to and become coinpre- 30 hended in, the exclusive commerce of the present: South Sea Company. 6. , The trade to Canton and to the whole Coast of China proper, to be reserved exclusively to the present East India Company ; the commercial concerns to be regulated by a Council or Directory of twenty-five Members (the same to whom it is proposed to commit the territorial government of India, as already mentioned) at home; and abroad, by a subordinate Council resident at Macao. All proceedings of a judicial nature to be referable to the Governor General in Council at Calcutta, and in the dernier resort, to the Court of King's Bench at home. This exclusive trade to continue for 10 years from the expiration of the East India Company's present Charter, viz. to cease and determine in March 1824. All these appointments and regulations have two primary objects in view First, the securing to the Crown a proper degree of authority over ]ts colonial empire, by the absolute nomination of 31 all the Governors of the chief foreign station of each Company. Secondly, the providing a coun- terpoise to this authority of the Crown, by the reservation to the Directors of the two Companies of India and China, whose establishment would subsist on more tried experience, as well as to the Directors of all the new Companies severally and respectively, the power of nominating the Mem- bers of the Councils of all the several Presidencies. It is suggested, that each new Company should advance a sum of money to Government, by way of Loan, to be termed the Stock of such particular Company the specific sum each Com- pany should advance, to be determined by Parlia- ment ; as well as the Interest which Government shall pay for the same. It may be thought, that the appointment of so many new Companies will induce great per- plexity into the whole system of oriental com- merce. Such was found to occur in Holland, prior to the establishment of the Dutch East India Company : it may be thought, that this perplexity not bo sufficiently compensated by the ac- 32 tivity, assiduity, and oeconomy, which the appro- priation of advantages to individual Companies is intended to excite, and to secure. It must be admitted, that such perplexity is almost insepa- rable from the regulations and changes proposed ; ( but even after the consolidation of all the Dutch Companies into one East India Company, distinct Chambers of Commerce existed in different parts of the United States of Holland, though under one Direction ) but it is in reality inherent in the immensity of the concern, territorial and com- mercial, however appropriated. Wherefore, to simplify, if possible, the appointment of six Companies as already suggested, and to render them more distinctly applicable to the proposed measure of opening all the Eastern commerce, except that of China, to the British Empire ; let the following farther limitations be adopted: 1. Let the whole Export and Import China Trade be confined to the Port of London. 2. The whole Export and Import Trade to and from the Peninsula of India, to the Ports of Liver- pool, Edinburgh, Cork, and London, 33 :j. The whole Trade of the Company of the l:;les, to Glasgow, Hull, and Dublin. 4. The whole trade of the Persian Company, to the Port of Bristol. The principle especially kept in view, in sug- gesting this and the other appropriations of par- ticular ports to particular Companies, is, to assign that trade whose returns will be most immediate, to those ports where the merchants have less accumulated capital, but no want of spirit, ac- tivity, and judgment ; and to attach the trade which requires longer credit, to the ports of the old Capitalists. These are obviously the relative predicaments of Liverpool and the Company of India, of Bristol and the Persian Company: it is admitted, that other principles have had their -weight in the respective assignments, which may on .some future occasion be detailed, ^ 5. Let the whole trade of the Arabian Com- pany, including that to the Red Sea, be confined Jo the Ports of Milford, Falmouth. and Belfast, r/k v c /{c --: '. /T. . i r-: - . it "t^ J 34 6. That of the Eastern African Company, to the Port of Lynn Regis. / O Finally, we recommend, that in each of the new Companies now to be privileged, the several sets of Directors should be chosen bv a majority of proprietors of 100. Stock in each respective Company. That the Directory of the China Company be, as at present, resident in London; the number of Directors 25. That of the Indian Company in Liverpool, 4 being chosen in Edinburgh, 4 in Cork, 4 in Lon- don, and 5 in Liverpool 1? in all. The Directory of the Company of the Isles to be resident in Glasgow j but chosen, 4 from Hull, 4 from Dublin, and 5 from Glasgow 13 in alL This Directory, as well as that of the Indian Company, to have each three Representatives, resident in London. The Directory of the Persian Company to 35 consist of seven Members, chosen in Bristol 01 course resident in Bristol. That of Arabia to consist of seven Members, chosen, 2 in Fal- mouth, 2 in Milford, and 3 in Belfast to be resident in Belfast. The Directory of the Eastern African Company to consist of seven Members, chosen, 4 in Norwich and 3 in Lynn to be re- sident in Lynn, Each of the three last-mentioned Directories to have one Representative, resident in London. These several Representatives, resident in London, 9 in all, to be the organs of communi- cation between their respective Companies and Ministers the Board of Trade, and the Board of Controul. The Board of Controul, it is intended, should retain, in all cases, over all the six Companies, their Directories and Representatives, the same controul and authority as the present Board oi Controul exercises over the prr^eiu Kcist Indir- Company. But, to secure that attendance on meetings of the Board which is so imperiously necessary, and which the other avocations of the Members may not on all occasions admit, let there be allowed to each Member a power of appointing a Deputy to act in his absence j the voice of such Deputy at the Board, in the absence of such Member, to be of equal effect with that of the Member him- self; such Deputy being removeable at the pleasure of the Member appointing him. In all cases, as already observed, we propose the several Directorial Courts of each Company to be chosen by the Proprietors of ,100. Stock in each Company ; and with as near analogy as may be found convenient to the present form of choosing the Directors of the existing East India Company. Last of all, it is necessary to specify the qua- lifications which, and which only, we propose to exact of British subjects who desire either tp, trade to, or visit, the Coasts or Countries com- prehended within the priviledged commerce of the five new Companies, hcnccfoiwaid to be con- 37 stituted That of China remaining on its present footing. First, let it be required of every person trading- to any of those Countries, that he enrol himself in that Company to which the exclusive trade he wishes to engage in, is assigned. To entitle himself to such enrolment, lie shall produce an attestation of his character for in- tegrity, signed by the Minister and Church- wardens, or Minister and three respectable Householders, of the parish, or of each of the parishes, in which he has resided for the last three years, in the following or similar form : We, the Minister and Churchwardens, -*c-rt?_ , ing vote or determination to be ebelemiined by ballot, if any doubt or difference arise. This Board, so constituted, to have an Agent chosen by themselves in any town or port of the king- dom of Great Britain, authorised to receive and transmit certificates to the Board ; such Agent being responsible on oath for the genuineness of such certificates or attestations. An appeal from the decision of this Board, to lie to the sitting Magistrates of the Quarter Sessions of the district, or nearest district, to that in which the person appealing resides, and from them to the chief or senior Justice of the Court of Assize. S9 next to be held within the county in which the person appealing resides. Any fraud in any Member of the Board of Attestations, to be liable to the penalty of forfeiture of half his real and personal property, one moiety of such forfeiture to go to the sitting Magistrates of the Quarter Session first appealed to, and the other moiety to the appellant. Secondly. It shall, we propose, be required of every person who goes to any coast or country of the said five new privileged Companies, that he produce the following attestation, to the afore- described Board of Attestations, signed by the Minister and three reputable Householders of the parish or parishes, in which he shall have resided for the last five years. We the Minister, &c. of the parish of in the town of in the county of do attest that, to the best of our knowledge and belief, A. B. has acted honestly and peaceably for the last five years- 40 And in addition to such attestation, it shall be farther required of such person desirous of goiug to the coasts or countries afore-mentioned, that he invest in the ship in which he takes his passage, or in other ships which leave England the same season, one-third of the whole of the value of his real and personal property, in British manufactures, or in the manufactures or produce of British Colonies. The Minister and Householders in any parish, signing any attestation of character for the pur- pose of qualifying any person, by virtue of either of the certificates above required, to trade to, or to go to the privileged limits, knowing such attestation to be false, to be liable to fine not exceeding jEoQQ. and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three vears. at the discretion of the Judges of Assize before whom the offence shall be tried. Any person trading to any territory compre- hended within the limits appropriated to any one of the new chartered Companies, without such certificate or attestation, to forfeit one moiety of 41 the property embarked in the trade, to the Di- rectors of that Company, to whose chartered territory he shall have consigned such property the same to he divisible among those Direc- tors for their private use and emolument. Any person actually emharked, for the actual purpose of "'oi/ig to any territory comprehended within the limits appropriated to any one of the new chartered Companies, without the second Certificate or Attestation, and not having actually emharked in it, or other ships for the actual purpose of trade, one-third of his whole property, to forfeit one moiety of his whole property to the Directors of the Company for whose char- tered territory himself or property was destined and the other moiety to he divided among his family, as if he had died intestate, hy the ordi- nary laws of inheritance of the kingdom of England. Any Captain or Commander of a Vessel con- voying the property of such person so embarked; unprovided with such Attestation, to forfeit a -nm of 500. _'2oO. thereof to be paid by 42 himself, and the remaining 250. to be levied on the five principal officers of his ship next in rank to the Captain, in equal portions of <50. each, y^ Any Captain or Commander taking out to any of the territories of any privileged Company, any person unprovided with the proper Attesta- tion, to forfeit 5000. 3500. to be paid by himself, and the remaining 2500. to be levied in equal portions of 500. each, on each of the five principal officers of the said vessel. By these new arrangements we conceive commerce would be prosecuted with unwasteful assiduity under each Company; and the Crown would be unfettered from the existing danger of conflict with an immensely powerful and opulent empire, constituted and appointed within its own metropolis. Above all, encouragement would be given to private traders., to export the manu- factures of Great Britain, but onlv to traders of approved in tc^rilu. No further examination will now he attempted .'.-,, .r , L n./r, n< ^ >v //^p .*< tL HiJui+f 43 of the detailed sections of the present Charter, nor any other changes suggested in the commer- cial or political government of India. What has already been offered, may seem sufficiently pre- sumptuous: but as no TRW principles have been advanced, but what have long obtained general admission, nor any statements dwelt on, but what may most easily be maintained from evidence open to all the world, it is trusted that these pages will be regarded in no other light than as an attempt to awaken the attention of the public to the expiring Charter of the East India Com- pany; and to direct that attention, when awakened, to such modifications and alterations in the present system of Indian polity, as reason and equity demand. LONG since the above Remarks were pre- pared for the Press, the public attention has been awakened to the vast importance of oriental commerce, by a deluge of Petitions, Addresses, Debates, and Pamphlets. Multiplied grounds of objection have been offered, by the Advocates of the Renewal of the East India Company's Char- ter, to throwing open the trade. h may not be unseasonable to refer to some of the most important those most momentous points, the Indian Army, and the adjustment of the affairs of Finance by equitable compensations, being omitted; because it appears those are not to be made the main grounds of controversy. One objection to any alteration, and b\ IK, moans a modern one, ib proposed in the enor- mous patronage v/hirii \\<-uKl be transferred t' the Crown by any alteration in the Charter 45 It may be supposed that this was the strong hold, in which those who opposed Mr. Fox's celebrated India Bill of 1*1 804-5, so firmly in- trenehed themselves. Let a moment be devoted to the consideration of this Bill, and the following will be found to be its prominent features: The Bill -'reposed, That the whole commercial and territorial Government of India should be abso- lutc'y surrendered, for four years, into the hands of seven Directors named in the Bill viz. Earl Fitzwiiilam, Lord Lewisham, Sir Henry Fletcher, Mr. Frederick Montagu, Sir Gilbert Elliott, Mr, G. A. North, and Mr. Gregory. Nine Assistant Directors were to be named for the commercial all airs of India, by the votes of such Proprietors as possessed ci>2l>00. Capital Stock; such Assistant Directors to act under the orders of the afore-meiitioned Directors. All vacancies in the said Directorv to be filled up by his Majestv; all vac. nicies in the Assistant. Directory, by a majority of the Pro- priety's of East India Stock, 46 The Assistant Directory liable to removal by five Directors; and the Directory and Assistant Directory, liable to removal by his Majesty, on the address of either House of Parliament. The effect of any alteration in the present Bill, it has been contended, would lead to the re- sult then predicted of Mr. Fox's Bill the over- throwing the Constitution, by vesting so enormous a patronage in the hands of the Crown. But the assimilation of the cases is a little forced Mr. Fox's Bill was fm.-illy carried in the House of Commons by 208 Members against 102. Soon after its presentation to the House of Lords, is it not generally understood, that a Noble Earl, father of a Noble Earl now high in the confidence of the Regent of the realm, as heretofore in that of his Sovereign, represented to his Majesty, that the enormous patronage vested in the hands of the Minister, through the medium of those his friends to whom was to be consigned the absolute go- vernment of India, commercial and territorial, for four complete years, might be attended with unfortunate consequences? the Bill was finally 47 lost in the House of Lords, on a division of 95 to 70. Does it not seem then, that the unfortunate consequences capable of resulting from the pa- tronage of India, arose from the possibility of a Minister being enabled, through ifs means, to enthral the Crown not from the enormity of the patronage to be given by the Bill to the Crown? Those alterations in the Charter, which it is ventured to suggest in the above Remarks, will certainly, in time, filter the patronage of the commercial Government of India and imme- diately vest in the Crown, the power of appointing to the supreme Governments of all the divisions proposed of Eastern Territory and Commerce. But we may now look forward, with some rational hope, to peace to peace, with an Army and Navy reduced to a far more moderate scale than, anterior to the tremendous reverses of the French arms in Russia, could have been calculated upon. With an Army and N'avy so reduced with a very considerable reduction, ^raduallv accom- j - )li>hed. of Sinecure* with the reduction of the 43 colonial Western patronage, if not to the stan- dar;! at which it existed previous to the war, at least much b., j low that at which it n >,v stands, it inay fairly be do.tbied if the incre,.-e iii ihe Eastern patronage of the Crown will not be rather necessary than formidable to the Consti- tution; espee. v.ould have dour in l?t)0, with I lanover? Vv'h.-'.t shiill we sav, if we compare its efllcacy with that of the Revenue of, certainly, .800,000. assigned to his Majestv Ceorge the Fiist, in 171<5? But the I^roits of Admiralty have been enor- mous \\iil anv one under-ake to prove, that out aniouul, the C'm\\ u in !JO years has 49 actually given away four millions? granted that, beside remuneration to Captors, &c. &c. not less than X J 1,000,000. have been given away spon- taneously by the Crown;* this will raise tde average income only to about 1,200,000. per annum: surely not much more than equal in efficacy to one-third of the private Revenue of / *- George the First. ' Of (hat four millions, some has been distributed among the diiTorent branches of the Royal Family. If we calmly reflect on the real extent of the incomes of some of those per- sonages, the application may not seem ineligible. Till the administration of Lords Grey and Grenville. and Lord 1/insdown, the allowance to the five junior Sons of the XmTi'i;;!! \va-> Pi '2,000. per annum: it was then raised to 48, 000. Their several Ucgiments, &c. might have, on a:i average, brought up their effective incomes first to ^P, 14,000. and now to -P20 ; 000. per annum. Suppose them to be, in consequence of unapproved mar- riages, or other motive, desirous of changing these annuities into landed property they would then probably have in per- petuity, in lieu of their annuities, about six thousand per annum a property notoriously not exceeding one-twentieth part of thst of our wealthiest class of nobility. The incomes .f the Princesses, now that they hare independant incomes, are similarly disproportionate to their rank, not amounting in perpetuity to more than one-twentieth pait of the incomes ot 'in. highest class of the unmarried female nobility 11 50 From this comparison of the past and present patronage and private revenues of the Crown, we conclude, that the augmentation of patronage to be derived to the Crown by the proposed alter- ation of the Indian Charter, is not fearfully alarming. We fear, without aflecimg any idle sarcasm, when it is so often intimated that the Company's is a losing trade, we must infer., either that such intimations are incorrect, or that the true object of their advocates is, to secure to the Company the patronage of the East in compensation for their losses by trade. 2. The next objection that will be briefly re- curred to, may be the character of ihc American Trade to India. The gentlemen at the India Tlouf-e, and in the Cily, are said to aver, that ihe ample participations in Eastern commerce which America has so long enjoyed, arose from their peculiar predicament as neutrals, and were not originally approved by the Directors, but at length conceded to the Americans at the repeated ; leaner? of the Brit.i:-:h Ministers: Certainly this 51 s a very important explanation; nevertheless, it is admitted, that America did trade in the Eastern Seas to a vast amount, ihat ir;, that they did con- duct an immense and vciy profitable trade, chiefly, it is averred, import or carrying, over and above that trade which the Company or the British pri- vate trade, as patronised by the Company, could compass, or did enjoy. When, then, can so fa- vourable an opportunity occur for the extension of the Eastern trade, to the whole British Empire, as when an acknowledged unoccupied trade is presented by the secession of the Americans, ne- cessarily consequent on the American war? If the peace some hope soon to see with France, humbled as surely she must be now, should arrive, will she not claim the right of ad- mission into the Eastern Seas? and if conceded to her, for peace sake, the earlier our anticipation of the Eastern commerce by the enlarged privi- leges of the Outports, the more nugatory will be our concession our own merchants will have taken possession of the trade. J. A third observation bearing a-raiiu-t the 5-2 enlargement of the trade is, that since the year 1794, the Company has provided 58,000 ton of Shipping for the accommodation of the private trade, in the course of the last 18 years, of which only 15,000 was actually employed by the prhate traders ; but this was Export, not Import Tonnage it is for the latter, the merchants of the Out- ports so strenuously contend: moreover, this Export Tonnage was not under the ca:c and at the actual disposition of the consigners, except through the medium of the Company's .Agents, to which the private traders have always ex- pressed the most invincible objection. It is but candid, however, here to express a doubt of the immense advantages that will //;?- 'icditiichj accrue, under any circumstances, from the extension of the trade to the outports. China has an incredibly superfluous popula- tion, whose industry, an intelligent and sagacious dvnaptv, guided by a wisely organizer] code of' .' */<.- \/ i/ commercial lav..-:, must ever be solicitous to em- pluv, id the supcrcessiun of all impoited ir,i-:nu- facturcs, India enjoys a climate so favourable to the fixed habits and delicate productions of her own soil, her real wants are so few, and those so easily supplied within her own bosom, that a long period of time will be requisite to cultivate any fastidious cravings; much longer .uiv real occasion or enormous demand for our manufac- tures. The Isles of the Kant are, however, either already prone to capricious longing after European luxuries, or may with some facility- be taught it. The cold regions of mountainous Bootan and chilled Tibet, may in time be rendered accessible to our fine wo\e fleeces; their honest inhabitants must welcome them with many, many other articles of cur manufactories, \v believer they are brought within their reach; ai.d of that, surely an enlarged system of trade uilurds some chance. But the mighty Burhampooter, unlike her sister Ganges, sha^-s her tortuous course over rocks and rugged precipices most nnli iendly to the purposes of inland commerce ; her subsidiary streams are >t.il; 'ess accessible to the bark of the merchant ; the moimtain mule path is there the ,54 wearisome substitute for internal navigation. Some woollen manufactories have been long established even there. And above all, the in- fluence of China, so peculiarly jealous of the British trader, is, as has been most recently com- municated, there alarmingly predominant. Far fairer is the prospect in the fertile plains of Ava, and the whole Burman Empire. The shores of Arabia and of the Red Sea. "VTh;it an eventual market for our fine linens and for our cutlery, now that, the great mart of Mecca (in the destruction of the tomb of t he- prophet) is sunk so low.* * But lot not the Manufacturers of Birmingham and Shef- field fondly hope their military Cutlery Mill lival those im- ported into /Ejjypt from Mahomodan countries : they have been personally assured, to their astonishment, that the tesr of a Mamlouk or [)a;na->cus sabre is its competency at one i>low of a man of moderate strength, to cut, in twain a silk sack of feathers, of one foot in diameter, so loosely stufled as to stand upright 'on one extremity and no more. The Mohamedans are, as it is concluded from personal observa- tion, fond of fine Avatches, -watch trinkets, &c. as well as of horse equipage, and above all, of ornamented weapons. But who that has a IK ad and a heart, -would allow the exportation of military A\eapon.s of any description, to aw foreign port whatever, as an article, of commerce ; The Ptolemies of /Egypt, as the wisest of the sons of men in more distant ages had done before them, trafficked with immense advantage O through the whole of the Red Sea, and far along the South Eastern coast of Africa. In time, some semblance of that far-famed traffick might haply be revised; above all, if aided by slow, honest, honourable colonizations. Persia, too, after long losing, in the hideous din of civil warfare, her inclination for domestic comfort, together with her manufactories, now that she has again tasted the reviving influence of stable government, may once more open the ports of her empire to the judicious perseverance of enterprizing merchants. Time may effect much, perhaps, even for our exports; if the private traders will now profit from the fatal warning which Buenos Ayres, and the well intended invitations of Sir Home Pop- ham, so far and so loudly, and so unhappily proclaimed to all. Till that period arrive?, the private traders claim their share in the import trade; and to that claim we shall presume to consider one flir.il objection. 4. This consists, first in the reiterated repre- sentations made, of the vast and most commodious establishments formed in London and its environs, for the reception and disposal of the Eastern imports, now about to be rendered nugatory by the alteration, not the annihilation of the Com- pany's Charter, attended by a similar injury to their Shipping interest; and, secondly, in the attendant penury or ruin of the Company's nu- merous servants and dependants. To both forms of remonstrance one observa- tion may be thought to apply, that if true novr, they are likely to acquire greater strength, as with increase of age, the establishments of the Company and the number of their dependants naturally increase. And that therefore, for ccer, their chartered privileges must be still extended, in consequence of each successive and superadded indulgence. With regard to the establishments in houses, warehouses, &c. &c. we should cer- tainly wish to see a liberal compensation made for the value of all such now to be rendered use- less, to the erection of which the Company were encouraged by Government. Probably many of j > them, with small alterations, might be equally 57 adapted to the Baltic Merchants, as to the Com- pany and that a great trade to the Baltic, and even to the Black Sea, must immediately ensue, can scarcely be doubted. Government has high duties on various articles of Baltic produce; in the East India supernumerary storehouses, that produce might be stored, and the duties levied. Those warehouses, formed of private dwellings on the banks of the Thames or in old London, might be purchased by Government on fair terms, they advancing the purchase-money, and repaying themselves by a moderate assessment on the Imports and Exports, ad valorem, of the new privileged Outports. Those near the Thames might be advantageously pulled down, as well as many within the thinly inhabited streets and courts of the old city of London ; and thus the Outports might, in return for some of the bene- fits they expect to derive from the privileges now to be transferred to them, contribute most essen- tially to improve the beauty, and secure the health of the inhabitants of the Metropolis. With respect to the Shipping Interest, it is pre- sumed that most of the Company's best and largest vessels must still be wanted for their con- 58 tinned entire China trade, and for their still allowed share of the India trade. A portion may be employed in that commerce from the Eastern to the Western Indies which America must forfeit, by the war, and in which the Com- pany may advantageously compete with the pri- vileged Outports ; the remainder, probably 3 those Outports themselves will be ready to purchase at a fair valuation,. With regard to the loss the dependants of the Company will sustain from the proposed transfer of a part of their trade to the Out- ports, some distinction may equitably be made between those who by their station and edu- cation were fully competent to ascertain and to appreciate the probable duration of their pri- vileges, and those who are strictly speaking, in too servile capacities to be capable of either. To the former, when really led by Ministers to expect a renewal of their Charter, should not, in common justice, large compensation be made: To the latter, if unable to obtain reasonable means of maintaining themselves in the service of other merchants, (providentially by the won- derful events in ihe North of Europe, unlooka.l 59 for and extraordinary occasions are likely to occur to them), still greater consideration ought to be had. Would it not be eligible to allow those who O have taken short leases of their houses, fep%g afesjed, at the end of a much shorter period, to cancel their leases, in order that if they think fit, they may migrate unincumbered ? To the bet- ter sort, that a portion of them be of necessity introduced into the employ of the new Mer- chants of the Outsorts? And lo others, espe- cially the aged and infirm, that with the aid of the Out ports, some parliamentary provision be made for them ? That they all be admitted to the full rights of franchise, as if denizens in all she Outports to which they shall choose to mi- grate : In a word, is it not desirable that the Oat- ports should be bound liberally to lend assistance io Parliament, in the luljustmcnt. of every such loss to the poorer dependents un the Company, ihat Parliament in its wisdom ^hall recommend : --inn*, ihat this llbi :>i;i! v should be with due *.it-creli..n rxrer.Jed to the iivmibk-r dependents 60 of the Company in India; the more readily, as it is yet to be proved, that the servants of the Company are unworthy such regard,, or that the Company itself, in the persons of their inferior servants, have shewn themselves unkind or cruel Lords of the amiable millions of Hindustan. No farther to attempt to amplify dissertation on a subject now so universally controverted, and on which controversy must be always un- bounded as the realms to which it refers, we shall conclude by observing, in fine, that the object of the former remarks was, to awaken the atten- tion of the outport merchants to the dawning prospect of Eastern Commerce; and to direct that attention to what was deemed the most eligible 1 m%de of regulating its extension, the objects of these annexed remarks are, attention being now alive indeed, candidly to examine some of the objections offered to such extension s and at the same time to guard the mercantile world from the fond and fatal delusion that - " All the glitter of the East is Gold." }. J/OJ3SCW, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 1973 uC SOUTHERN .W 000001 459 j ILITY h \ ./