Better to the Proprietors 
 of r ^ast India. Stock Upon the Ques 
 tion...for Granting to Lord Clive 
 Three Hundred Thousand Pounds .
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 PROPRIETORS 
 
 O F 
 
 EAST INDIA STOCK, 
 
 Upon the Queftion to be ballotted for or* 
 
 TUESDAY the 24th Day of March, 
 
 for granting to Lord CLIVE 
 
 Three Hundred Thoufand 
 
 Pounds. 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 L ON DON: 
 
 Printed for W. NICOLL, at the Paper-Mill, 
 
 No. 51. St, Paul's Church-Yard. 
 
 MDCCLXVII.
 
 T O TH E 
 
 PROPRIETORS 
 
 O F 
 
 EAST INDIA STOCK. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 IN the quarterly court of the Eaft In- 
 dia Company, held on the 17th in- 
 flant, a motion was made for granting, 
 out of your property, thirty thoufand pounds 
 a year, for ten years certain, which is equal 
 in value to a fum of 300,000!. A ballot was 
 demanded upon this queftion by nine Pro- 
 prietors, as it is to be taken at Merchant- 
 Taylors Hall on Tuefday next. 
 
 As this is a meafure not only of t*he moft 
 ferious confequence, but alfo moft alarm- 
 ing, as to the manner in which it is at- 
 B tempted 
 
 3548O1
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 tempted to be carried through, I thought 
 it my duty to expofe to my fellow Pro- 
 prietors, in as diftinft a manner as the hurry 
 of the occafion would permit, the reflec- 
 tions which have occured to me upon it, 
 hoping that they will induce every man 
 who values his own interefl, and has the 
 general good of the Company at heart, to 
 give his attendance at the ballot, to oppofc 
 this mameful delapidation of the Compa- 
 nies fund, and. difappoint the fclfim views- 
 of thofe men who are thus liberal of your 
 . property for their own ends, even too, at a 
 time when the right to the very acquiii- 
 tion, out of which this enormous fum of 
 300,000!. is demanded for Lord Clive, is 
 contefted with us; and no man can yet- 
 pofitively fay, whether, in confequence of 
 the refolutions of P t, he may ever be 
 benefited one {hilling by all his Lordmip'&- 
 boafted fervices. 
 
 But, before I enter into a diicuflion of 
 the merits of Lord Clive's pretenfions, let 
 me fuggeft, that this ram and precipitate 
 meafure, into which you are attempted to 
 be hurried, may have confequences of 3 
 
 very
 
 ( 7 > 
 
 very difagreable nature j for there are many 
 gentlemen among your own number, men 
 of knowlege and ability, who are of opi- 
 nion that it is not in the power of the ma- 
 jority of the voters, either at a general court 
 or by ballot, to give away the property of 
 their fellow Proprietors, and that fuch a 
 gift is void in law. 
 
 The vores of the majority of an incorpo- 
 rated body, may, no doubt, regulate the 
 ordinary management of affairs, they may 
 alfo fettle, by compromife or arbitration, 
 doubtful queftions at law ; but, in order to 
 give away the undoubted property of the 
 Company, the confent of every lingle Pro- 
 prietor feems in law to be requifite. 
 
 If, therefore, this unreafonable and un- 
 precedented grant is carried at the ballot, 
 it is not to be fuppofed that thofe gentle- 
 men will fubmit to it, they will apply for 
 redrefs where itbeft can be obtained, either 
 to the ordinary courts of juftice, or to the 
 fupreme Legislature of Great Britain ; nay 
 it has been openly declared as a determined 
 purpofe, to feek a remedy by petition to 
 B 2 that
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 that refpedtable body ; and how dangerous 
 it may prove, in our prefent critical iitua- 
 tion, to have our rights and managements 
 difcufled by P : t, I leave every man to 
 judge. 
 
 I hope the event of the ballot will pre- 
 vent this difagreable necefiity. The mif- 
 chievous confequences, which naturally fol- 
 low fuch proceedings as are here complained 
 of, are fo obvious, that every difintejefted 
 Proprietor mufl fee and oppofe it. Let us 
 only fuppofe, that it fhould come about 
 hereafter, that a few men, with the over- 
 grown fortunes of German Commiflaries, 
 or Indian Governors, mould pofTefs them- 
 felves of a large proportion of the Stock, 
 would it not be in their power to rob the 
 reft of the Proprietors, under the cover of 
 a general court, compofed of their own fplit 
 votes, where, by a violent refolmion, they 
 might give away to one another, under 
 various pretences, the greater! part of that 
 fund which ought to be applied to a gene- 
 ral dividend upon the Companies Stock. 
 In the cafe now before us, there are circum- 
 flances not altogether different from thofe 
 
 which
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 which I have fuppofed. It is certain, that 
 the number of fplit votes intended to ferve 
 this jobb, are very confiderable ; that un- 
 lefs the real Proprietors do exert themfelves 
 in the moft vigorous manner, they will 
 certainly be overpowered, their property 
 fhamefully lavished away, and the means 
 of redrefs become very difficult, and per- 
 haps impracticable. 
 
 Let us now confider the fpecious pretence 
 for this wonderful benevolence. It is faid 
 that the Company owe to Lord Clive the 
 great acquiiitions lately obtained in India, 
 and that therefore they cannot be too libe- 
 ral in rewarding him. Thofe who argue 
 thus, are themfelves confcious of the obvi- 
 ous anfwer which muft occur to every per- 
 fon who is acquainted with the facts : no 
 man, no fervant of the public in any coun- 
 try or any age, ever was fo liberally rewarded 
 as that noble Lord has already been. Had 
 my Lord Clive lived in ancient Rome, ad- 
 mitting all his preteniions to be well found- 
 ed, he would have been rewarded with a 
 crown of oak and a triumph ; but to bring 
 an inftance from our own times, and our 
 
 own
 
 own manners: the great duke of Marlbo- 
 rough, bred up in a court, the companion, 
 the favourite of three fucceffive Monarchs, 
 Minifter at home, and General over half 
 the united armies of Europe, vi&orious in 
 all his attempts, over the moft powerful ri- 
 yal of his country, and the moft military 
 people in the world at that time; this 
 great man at laft became the object of envy 
 and prolecution ; for having amafTed a for- 
 tune of about i2,opol. per annum* during 
 the long courfe of his fervices in his coun- 
 try's caufe. But our heroe, from a fmall 
 fortune and obfcure iituation, has been ad- 
 vanced to opulence, dignity and power: 
 and hardly two years have elapfed, iince 
 this company, notwithstanding the immenfe 
 fortune he had before acquired in their fer- 
 vice, voted to him 30,000!. a year for ten 
 years, if he mould live fo Jong, 
 
 Every Proprietor muft remember the 
 declarations of that afpiring nobleman, 
 when he obtained this laft grant from the 
 Company, That he would go out to India 
 on the Company's fervice, without mean- 
 ing to increafe his fortune a fingle rupe$. 
 
 And
 
 And, indeed, gratitude to a Company, in 
 whofe employment he had reared up fa 
 large a fortune, required this return at his 
 hand. 
 
 His letters from India contain the moft 
 extravagant proteftations of his diftnterefted- 
 nefs, and his great contempt for money, at 
 the fame time that his friends here requeft 
 a grant from the Company of no lefs a fum 
 than 300,000!. They tell us, as an ar- 
 gument for this demand, that he has left 
 his family ^ and rifqued his life, for the 
 Company. But furely a voyage to India, 
 which is no new thing to his lordfhip, can 
 with no propriety be called rifquing his life. 
 And it is acknowledged, that fince he left 
 us, he has encountered no dangers of a 
 higher kind having never yet feen the 
 face of an enemy. A feparation from his 
 family for two years, in order to ferve the 
 Company, to whom he owes every thing, 
 does not appear to intitle him to this en- 
 ormous accumulated reward, which is with 
 fo little decency now demanded. We are 
 told, as another argument for this grant, 
 that his lordfhip intends to beftow amongft 
 
 hit
 
 ( li ) 
 
 his friends and favourites in India all the 
 money which may come into his poffeffion 
 there > and that he is to return home not a 
 fhilling richer than he went away. 
 
 The partifans and abject flatterers of his 
 lordfhip may, if they pleafe, give credit 
 to fuch declarations 3 but if they were 
 true, what pretence does this afford to de- 
 mand from the Company fo immenfe a fum, 
 merely to enable him. to be profufe to his 
 creatures and dependents ; which, in effect, 
 the Company, by this reafoning, are to vote 
 for thefe favourites of his, whofe names 
 and whofe fervices are equally unknown to 
 the Proprietors. 
 
 This affectation of generofity in hislord- 
 fhip is too thin a difguife, not to be feen 
 through. He pretends to give away, to a 
 fet of dependents in Afia, confiderable fums, 
 that he may have a pretence for demanding 
 infinitely m6re from the Proprietors at 
 home ; and the Company are to pay back 
 ten-fold to him the money which he pre- 
 tertds to have unneceflarily diftributed to his 
 followers abroad. 
 
 I mall
 
 ( '3 ) 
 
 I mall now endeavour to make an efti- 
 mate of the prefent fituation of my lord 
 Clive with refped to fortune, that the Pro- 
 prietors may judge how far he is an object 
 of their companion, that they mould thus 
 charitably grant to him a yearly penfion 
 equal to 2 per cent, on their whole capital 
 flock, before they have divided from their 
 laft acquifitions one farthing among them- 
 felves. 
 
 His lordmip's eftate already in 
 England, which he intirely 
 owes to his being employed 
 in the fervice of this Company, 
 may be computed at no lefs per An. 
 than ------ > T. io,ooo : 
 
 His jaghire, which he holds for 
 
 life, is - - - - - - 30,00 
 
 His falary and emoluments, as 
 governor of Bengal, are, at 
 leaft, (befides his extraordinary 
 expences in the field) - - - 9,000 
 
 His profits from the monopoly of 
 fait, beetlenut, and tobacco, not 
 lefs than - - - - - - 26,000 
 
 Jn all, per annum - 75>ooo 
 
 C All
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 All this, befides the prefents which it is na- 
 tural to prefume he muft receive, and 
 which, to a certain extent, he may law- 
 fully receive, notwithftanding the co- 
 venants. 
 
 In the foregoing ftate, the article of mo- 
 nopoly is of fo curious and extraordinary a 
 nature, that it merits a particular ex- 
 planation. 
 
 Salt, beetlenut, tobacco, are in India 
 confidered as the abfolute neceflaries of 
 life : the trade on thefe articles is, there- 
 fore, very exteniive, and the revenues ari- 
 fing from thence confiderable to the fove- 
 reign. We contrived, by a treaty with 
 Meer Jaffier in 1764, to fecure to our- 
 felves a participation in this trade. Th 
 Directors difapproved of this, as productive 
 of a thoufand diforders, and exprefsly or- 
 dered lord Clive, in concert with the Na- 
 bob, to fettle it on a more free and equit- 
 able footing. My lord Clive no fooner 
 arrived in India, than, in direct contra- 
 diction to his inilructions, he changed the 
 trade from bad to worfe, and, inflead of 
 
 leaving
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 leaving it in the hands of all the English, 
 in common with the natives, he reduced 
 it to a vile monopoly among a few friends, 
 and helped himfelf to five fhares out of 56. 
 I know this is a charge fo home and of fo 
 heavy a nature, that it will ftartle many an 
 honeft man, who never before viewed his 
 lordfliip's condudt in fo bad a light. But to 
 ihew them how much I am warranted in 
 what I advance, 1 will give them an extract 
 of a letter from the prefent Directors them- 
 felves, dated -9th February, 1766. They 
 fay, " We muft and do confider what you 
 ft have done (viz. in the affair of the in- 
 <c land trade) as an exprefs breach and 
 " violation of our orders, and as a de- 
 ft termined refolution to facrifice the in- 
 " tereft of the Company, -and the peacs 
 ft of the Country, to lucrative and felfifli 
 ft views." Fellow Proprietors, you are 
 now to vote 300,000!. to this man, who 
 put the inland trade upon a much more 
 felfift footing than was known to your Di- 
 rectors at the date of that letter of igth 
 February, 1766. 
 
 In the 28th paragraph of this letter they 
 
 add, " We do pronounce that every fer- 
 
 C 2 " vant
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
 " concerned i: guilty 
 
 Covenants with us, and 
 
 Di'c-^oi-s, are yen to reward, with 
 ?n ' car, ilie fervant who broke 
 tii~ ^~ _______ which he voluntarily ac- 
 
 cepted hirnfelf, and, -with the mofl impla- 
 cable zealj impofed on other men ? 
 
 I now appeal to the judgment of every 
 impartial man, whether the above appoint- 
 ments snd emoluments are not ample tefti- 
 monies of the Company's profufe difpofi- 
 tlon, and might, as one would think, be 
 fufficient to fatisfy the avarice of one who 
 was not born to a fortune of 500 1. a year. 
 
 Every perfon does admit that his lord- 
 mip has been fully and compleatly re- 
 warded for the fervices which he per- 
 formed to this Company, before his laft 
 voyage to India ; and it is frefh in the me- 
 mory of every one that he himfelf declared, 
 before his jaghire was voted, that he ex- 
 pected no further reward for the fervices 
 which he might perform upon his return 
 
 to
 
 ( '7 ) 
 
 to that country, for the third time ; and 
 here it may be proper to confiacr what 
 thefe fer vices have truly been. 
 
 That the Company's Stock is become 
 much more valuable than it was, is true ; 
 and it is the common opinion, that this 
 has been entirely owing to lord Clive. No 
 opinion, however, can be more erroneous. 
 Every enemy of the Company was fubdued 
 before the arrival of this hero in India ; 
 and a treaty actually concluded, by which 
 the Company obtained a revenue of 60 
 lack, or 800,000 1. for the maintenance 
 and flipport of their military eflablifliment, 
 befides near 300,000 1. yearly more from 
 Banares ; fo that at his lordfhip's arrival in 
 Bengal, he found the country in a flate of 
 perfect tranquillity, and the Company in 
 pofleffion of an income of 140 lacks, or 
 about one million feven hundred and fifty 
 thoufand pounds -, viz. 
 
 Lacks. 
 
 Former conceffions - - - 6,000,000 
 Monthly allowance for the troops 6,000,000 
 Province of Banares - - - 2,000,000 
 
 14,000,000 
 Thefe
 
 / 
 
 Thefe large fums were acquired to the 
 Company by the good conduct of th ir fer- 
 vants, civil and military, whofe names have 
 hitherto, moft unaccountably, been allowed 
 to remain in oblivion. Had the affairs of 
 the Company remained upon this footing, I 
 do aver, that the Proprietors would have 
 found themfelves in a better fituation than 
 can be expected in confequence of any of 
 the propofitions now offered to govern- 
 ment. If thefe propofitions mould be 
 accepted, of which we have no certainty ; 
 had his lordmip contented himfelf with 
 the advantages claimed by that treaty, 
 there is not the leaft reafon to fuppofe that 
 government would have interfered with 
 Our acquifitions. The laft grant being only 
 a fum for maintenance of our military efta- 
 blimment, it was impoflible that govern- 
 ment could have made any demand for a 
 fhare of it ; and our former acquifitions 
 had been enjoyed, for many years, without 
 being challenged ; fo that upon the footing 
 of that treaty made by Mr. Spencer, the 
 Proprietors would have obtained 20 per 
 cent, dividend out of the revenues, after 
 paying all military charges, befides the 
 
 whole 
 1
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 whole profits of their trade. But the 
 boafted treaty of lord Clive will not, upon 
 the footing of any of the propofitions of- 
 fered to government, yield a dividend of 
 15 per cent, over and above the profits 
 of the trade ; and therefore the Company 
 has, in reality, received no real benefit 
 from lord Clive's proceedings, but have 
 been thereby involved in the mod difagree- 
 able altercation with the legiflative power 
 of this country, to which the wifeft man 
 cannot fee an end. Muft not, therefore, 
 every impartial perfon agree with me, that 
 his lordmip has already received a moft 
 ample reward for thefe unfruitful fervices. 
 Every man, who knows the fituation in 
 which our affairs flood in India when his 
 lordmip arrived, will declare, that any en- 
 fign or writer of the Company could, in 
 oonfequence of an order from the governor 
 and council, have obtained the fame grant; 
 of the duanny, which his lordmip procured, 
 and there was neither merit nor difficulty 
 in obtaining it. A grant had been offered 
 of this duanny as early as the year 1761 ; 
 but the Company's fervants abroad refufe4 
 to accept of it ; and their reafons were 
 
 ftated,
 
 ftated, and fent home to the Court of Di- 
 rectors, where they met with the fulleil 
 approbation ; and the Proprietors may, at 
 the firfl General Court, call for thefe rea- 
 fons, and the reply of the Directors which 
 approved of them ; fo that the great merit 
 afcribed to lord Clive, upon account of 
 obtaining that grant, appears to have no 
 fort of foundation, fo far as the Proprietors 
 are concerned j and we cannot be at a lofs 
 to guefs at the motives of the Directors 
 (who are known to be perfons nominated 
 by lord Clive) for concealing from the 
 publick the advantageous treaty, already 
 mentioned, concluded by governor Spencer, 
 and his council, before his lordmip arrived, 
 which leads the Proprietors to think, and 
 indeed it is generally imagined to this day, 
 that every thing has been owing to his 
 lordmip : whereas the direct contrary is 
 the fad. 
 
 If it is pretended that lord Clive has any 
 claim to this enormous fum of 300,000 L 
 on account of the grant he had of his jag- 
 hire ; I anfwer, that it was demondrated, 
 to the convr&ion of all mankind, by the 
 
 very
 
 tery iable arifwer to his lordmip's printed 
 letter, publifhed in 1764, that his right t6 
 that jaghire was deftitute of foundation. 
 'Tis true, he did obtain the opinion of a 
 learned counfellor, his particular friend* 
 favourable to that right ; but I am aflured 
 that no other gentleman at the bar did 
 then, or does now, entertain fuch aa opi- 
 nion. It has further been, averred, in a* 
 printed letter to the Proprietors, not con-, 
 tradifted, that there Was a nullity in the 
 grant which would have appeared front 
 the face of the writings, and would have- 
 been known to every Proprietor, had thefe 
 writings been fairly laid before them, and 
 not partially printed at the end of his 
 lordfhip's letter. Tranflations of thefe 
 papers, tranfmitted from India, are now 
 in the hands of the Directors ; and from 
 them every Proprietor may fatisfy himfelf 
 with refpedl to the nullity. If any pro- 
 polition, therefore, was to have been made 
 with refpecl: to this jaghire, the Proprie^ 
 tors had reafon to expe&, that it would 
 have been for an enquiry into the Validity 
 of the original grant, in order to recal the 
 confent which the Proprietors had been 
 D
 
 haftily led to give in favour of his lord* 
 ihip three years ago, by an erroneous pub- 
 lication of the titles. This jaghire his 
 lordfhip has already enjoyed for ten years : 
 it was obtained at a time, and m. man- 
 ner, which has expofed his reputation to 
 many remarks j and the proportion now 
 made, is for continuing it to him for near 
 twenty years more. 
 
 If there could be a time more peculiarly 
 improper than any other for making a pro- 
 pofition of this fort, it is the prefent, 
 when the Company's right to their whole 
 acquifitions has been called in queftion by 
 the fupreme legiflative power, and the de- 
 cifion altogether uncertain : when the 
 Company owes debts to the amount of 
 more than a million in England, and their 
 creditors preffing for payment j befides 
 j, 800, ooo 1. due upon their intereft bonds, 
 beyond what is due to the Company by 
 government : when an encreafe of di- 
 vidend of no more than 64,000 1. was fo 
 lately cppofed by the Court of Directors, 
 on account of the embarraffed circum- 
 ftances of the Company's affairs : when 
 7 the
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 the Dire&ors have fo lately applied to his 
 Majefty's minifters for leave to borrow a 
 million to pay off the moft preiljng of their 
 creditors: when it appears, by accounts 
 delivered into parliament, that the Com- 
 pany have expended during the war, no 
 lefs than four millions fterling, which is 
 not yet reimburfed. In this fituation of 
 the Company's affairs, to propofe a grant, 
 of no lefs than 300,000 1. in favour of the 
 mofl opulent man perhaps in this king- 
 dom, muft appear to all impartial men as 
 the moft impudent and indecent party-job 
 that has been attempted in this or any 
 other age. X 
 
 We have been told a great deal of.ths 
 (avings which lord Clive has made for the 
 Company, by reducing the batta allowed 
 to the Company's officers in India ; and in- 
 deed the affairs of the company required 
 an exertion of ceconomy. But this faving, 
 I am well informed, does not amount to 
 20,000 1. a year ; and, in order to obtain 
 it, his lordfhip has actually put to the ha- 
 zard the whole of our new acquired pof- 
 fefllons ; for this batta is fo neceflary for 
 D 2 the
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 the comfortable fubfiftance of the officers 
 abroad, and they have been fo long ac- 
 cuftomed to receive it, that it is ftill 
 uncertain whether an univerfal revolt may 
 not be the confequence of their diflatif- 
 faction. It is ^urpriiing that his lord- 
 fhip, who thought the Company's affairs 
 required the rifquing their whole pofTe 
 iions to fave about 20,000 1. yearly of 
 batta, mould now make a demand of 
 30,000!. yearly, to be granted to hirnfelf 
 and his perfonal reprefentatiyes. 
 
 The glaring partiality which has been 
 fhewn in favour of his lordfhip, muft have 
 ^he mofl difagreeable effect upon the con-r 
 dudl of every other fervant of the Com- 
 pany. NQ notice has been taken of * gene- 
 ral 
 
 * Left it fhould be obje&ed that I have concealed 
 the reward bellowed on General Lawrence, as forming 
 &ftr<wg precedent in favour of lord CJive, I fhall here 
 ^ive it in all its force. 
 
 General Lawrence, an officer of approved valour and 
 tmrivalled abilities, who carried on a war for near fif- 
 teen years in India, againft an European rival, fuperior 
 jn force, ajid fui nifhed with infinite refouices, who re- 
 ftored the Company's affairs when they were almoft 
 flefperate, and laid the foundation of our military- 
 
 pqwej
 
 ( *5 ) 
 
 f al Lawrence, colonel Coote, colonel Ford, 
 major Adam?, colonel Munro, and Sir Ro^ 
 bert Fletcher, to whofe fervices I will venr- 
 ture to fay the Company have been more 
 Indebted than to lord Clive himfelf : no 
 mention is made of grants to be made to 
 them, nor even of any acknowledgment 
 whatever for their gallant behaviour. The 
 civil fervants of the Company, who laid 
 the foundation of every thing which has 
 been lately done in India, have not only 
 been treated with total neglect, but profe-* 
 cutions, I am told, have been brought 
 againft them for prefents received at the 
 time they made the moft advantageous 
 treaty for this Company that ever was made 
 in India. The whole of thefe prefents do 
 not amount to j 20,000!. and thefc fervants 
 have been loaded with every fpecies of 
 abufe on that account, by the fame perfons 
 who applaud lord Clive for having taken 
 
 power in India, eanie home at laft, old, broken in 
 conftitution, and with a very moderate fortune : the 
 Company, in full reward of his great and faithful fer- 
 vices, granted him an annuity of not 30,000 1. r 
 f>ut 500!. for life, and the general thanked them for 
 fheir generofity. 
 
 10 
 
 3548O1
 
 a 
 
 to himfelf a prefent of 300,000!. after the 
 battle of PlafTey, and for having fecure^d to 
 his private ufe a jaghire of 30,000!. at a 
 time when the Company's affairs required 
 the aid of that jaghire for their moft ne- 
 ceflary expences : and the fame men arc 
 now demanding a grant of 300,000 1. more 
 in favour of his lordfhip, when no man 
 can fay that the Company will reap the 
 lead advantage by his lordfhip's late voyage 
 to India, 
 
 Fellow Proprietors, it is your buflnefs 
 not to be led away by the cry of a faction. 
 Every means has been ufed to depreciate 
 and undervalue every gentleman who has 
 done you fervice, in ord. r to exalt one favou- 
 rite minion, and to heap praife and wealth 
 upon his head : he has not been wanting 
 in art to accomplim this ; he has even 
 dared to attack the characters of every {ingle 
 man employed in your fervice in Bengal, 
 in order to induce you to believe that he 
 alone is fit to be trufted and proper to be 
 rewarded. He has put himfelf in pofleflion 
 of all power, both in India and at home, 
 and, in order to fupport himfelf in that 
 
 power,
 
 power, he now endeavours, by means of 
 iplit votes, to grant away to himfelf another 
 300,000!. of your property; fupported, I 
 am told, by a late German commuTary, 
 who having himfelf fhared largely of the 
 public money, is willing to amft in grant- 
 ing away yours. And a governor, lately 
 returned from one of your fettlements 
 with an immenfe fortune, folely acquired 
 by prefents, has united himfelf to the fame 
 band. No doubt the noble lord in queftioa 
 will repay the obligation, by obtaining 
 grants out of your property in favour of 
 thefe his able affiftants. All fhame and all 
 decency feems to be laid afide : but I hope, 
 if this Cabal fhall carry their point at the 
 ballot, that the real Proprietors of this 
 Company will apply by petition to Par- 
 liament for redrefs. 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, 
 'Your humble Servant, 
 
 An Independent PROPRIETOR.
 
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