ts of the 
 Govern: v/ith 
 
 'airs c 
 any 
 
 le, 
 
 ..rl of Stair
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 THE PROPER 
 
 LIMITS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GOVERNMENT'S Interference with the Affairs 
 of the EAST-INDIA COMPANY, 
 
 ATTEMPTED TO BE ASSIGNED. 
 \V I T H SOME FEW 
 
 REFLECTIONS 
 
 Extorted by, and on, the diftraded State of the Times* 
 
 By JOHN, EARL of|STAIR. 
 
 - And bcffjrew my foul, 
 But I do love the favour and the form 
 Of this moft fair occalion } by the which 
 We wiil untread the fteps of damned flight 
 And, like a 'bated and retiring flood, 
 Leaving our ranknefs and irregular courfe, 
 Scoop low within thefe bounds we have o'erlook'J t 
 And calmly run on in obedience. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR J. STOCK DALE, 
 
 OPPOSITE BURLINGTON-HOUSE, PlCCADILLY. 
 MDCC LXXXI1T. 
 
 Cnteten at Stationers paff *
 
 V- II 
 THE PROPER 
 
 I M I T S 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Q 
 
 GOVERNMENT'S Interference with the Affairs 
 of the EAST-INDIA COMPANY, 
 &c. 
 
 TJ^ACH day's experience proves the falli- 
 bility of conjecture, even when efta- 
 
 bliflied on apparently the fureft founda- 
 tions. 
 
 Having ftated, indeed materially and 
 fubftantially proved, that the annual peace 
 
 expenditure 
 
 *\r- .1 J'--
 
 expenditure of the flate, if decently, not 
 profufely, nor even amply provided for, 
 could not be performed for lefs than 
 fixteen millions five hundred thoufand 
 pounds j and having aflerted, with truth, 
 that the annual receipts have fcarcely, on 
 the moft productive years of the public re- 
 venue, exceeded twelve millions j and the 
 neceflary corollary, arifing out of thefe 
 proportions, being an annual furplus or 
 finking fund to the amount (if at all pro- 
 portional) of at leaft fifteen hundred thou- 
 fand pounds, as a provifion for great civil 
 emergencies or future wars, without which 
 no fyftem of finance can be either refpec- 
 table or afluredly permanent ; and it follow- 
 ing of neceflary confequence from thefe pre* 
 mifes, that the proper peace revenue, from 
 fomething more than twelve millions, which 
 is its prefent amount, ought to be raifed 
 
 to
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 to eighteen millions yearly : thefe mat- 
 ters, I fay, being as I have reprefente^l 
 them, I firmly believed the public affairs 
 of this country were tolerably embarrafTed, 
 and weakly imagined Minifters might find 
 full employment in extricating them, with- 
 out courting, and eagerly, through right 
 and through wrong, afpiring and grafping 
 at the management of affairs fully in as 
 great a ftate of confufion as our own. But 
 I find I greatly under-rated the cravings of 
 the appetite of our late rulers, who feem 
 to have had ftomach for all difficulties, 
 however remote from the natural and need- 
 ful courfe of their public functions, and 
 however averfe the parties interefled were 
 to truft their concerns to their direction. In 
 confequence of this canine hunger and thirft 
 after regulation, a bill was brought in and 
 paffed by a very great majority of the Houfe 
 
 of
 
 ( 8 
 
 of Commons, to virtually confolidate the 
 embarraffed concerns of the Eaft-India 
 Company, in direct oppofition to the de- 
 fires of the proprietors, with the no lefs 
 embarraffed affairs of this unhappy coun- 
 try. This bill has been thrown out by a 
 wife and virtuous majority in the Houfe of 
 Peers j but as the majority there was but 
 fmall, and threats are thrown out (in or- 
 der to make r it ftill fmaller) againft Peers, 
 for exercifing their indifpenfable diftinctive 
 prerogative duty of giving honeft counfel 
 to their King ; and as the fame majority, 
 leagued to promote their own advance- 
 ment and the ruin of the Hate, flill exifts 
 and exults in the Houfe of Commons , I 
 doubt not but the fame ftrange deftrudive 
 meafure will be refumed. It therefore be- 
 comes the bufinefs of every well-wifher to 
 . the prosperity of Britain, to oppofe and 
 
 to
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 to refute the fpecious nothings offered to 
 blind and to conceal from the public the 
 defigns of a dark and fatal tendency at- 
 tached to it; and I think it my duty, 
 moreover, and a juftice due to the credi- 
 tors of the public in particular, at leaft, 
 to fuch as fhall adhere to me, to proteft 
 and enter my difTent in their name againfl 
 any increafe of the public debt, by the ad- 
 dition and incorporation of the debts of the 
 Eaft-India Company with thofeof the pub- 
 lic, in any manner, whether openly, or 
 by implication and management. 
 
 I now proceed to confider the reaforis of- 
 fered in vindication of the bill by which fo 
 daring a violation of every thing the laws 
 hold moft facred was attempted. 
 
 The firft plea that was infixed on* 
 
 , that the Company was brankrupt ; but 
 
 B this
 
 this argument defeats itfelf. If they are 
 bankrupt, the law has provided a due courfc 
 of proceeding : Minifters, or the Deputies 
 of Minifters, are not the proper affignees to 
 the bankrupt's eftate : the trade is, more- 
 over, by the civil death of the Company, 
 open to every adventurer. But this pretext 
 of bankruptcy is but a flimfy difguife eafily 
 feen through : Minifters are not fo eager to 
 obtain the administration of the affairs of 
 a bankrupt : the virtuous majority in the 
 Houfe of Commons, incrcafed without any 
 vifible caufe, or known fuccefs, or advantage 
 of any kind, real or pretended, obtained 
 to the public from the cares of the late ad- 
 mifliftration j-^-increafed, I fay, from afmall 
 doubtful few in the difapprobation of the 
 peace, to a fteady, triumphant majority of 
 one hundred and fourteen in the bufinefs of 
 the Eaft-India Company ; gives no note or 
 
 appearance
 
 appearance of a prefent bankruptcy in the 
 Company's affairs ; but to thofe that do not 
 know the incorruptible integrity and difin- 
 tereftednefs of the Britim legiflative bodies, 
 gives an ugly hint and furmife of what is 
 likely to happen in future. Of bankruptcy 
 I need fay no more ; it confutes itfelf. 
 
 The next plea is humanity, and a wifh 
 to reftore in India a better and a jufter 
 fyftem of government, lefs rapacious, and 
 lefs oppreflive to the natives. This is cer- 
 tainly a fair and generous object -, but how 
 do the means correfpond with the end, or. 
 what folid proof have we that excefles do 
 exift, or, at leaft, have been carried to the 
 fingular and unnatural extent each parliamen- 
 tary declaimer is pleafed to affign to them ? 
 Having forced the Company to bear a fhare 
 in all the foolifh wars Britain involved her- 
 B 2 felf
 
 felf in, money muft be found. The fmooth 
 fwindling methods of funding, without givr 
 ing the creditors adequate fecurites for 
 either principal or intereft, are not prac- 
 ticable in Cina. Self-preftrvation enforced 
 the neceffity of violence, more obnoxious 
 in the beginning, but, perhaps, in the end, 
 lefs ruinous than the foft, fly deceits of 
 Europe. - Thofe violent meafures, palliated 
 by the neceffity of felf-prefervation, except- 
 ed, what remains but an ex part e charge, in 
 Reports to the Houfe of Commons, curious 
 and voluminous indeed, but without con- 
 frontation of the accufed, or any other ne- 
 ceflary preliminary to condemnation, fought 
 by private equity, or required by public 
 juftice ? We have only an inform mafs of 
 matter, where difappointment, vanity, and 
 malevolence, are too often prompted by 
 management and defign to accufe, and every 
 
 accufation
 
 ' 
 
 accufution is held forth as compleat evU 
 dence of guilt. Indeed, fome accounts fcat- 
 tered through the vaft abyfs of eaftern man- 
 ners and cuftoms, make by much the moft 
 ufeful and entertaining part of this exceed- 
 ingly tedious farrago i though in this part 
 it falls far (lion in beauty of'ftyle and com- 
 pofition, and probably does not much exceed 
 in veracity, the Arabian Night's Entertain- 
 ments, But grant that wrongs and injuflice 
 predominate, who are to reftore the golden 
 age in India ? We know the late Miniftry, 
 their habitudes, and connections ; from 
 Brooks's, then, it is fair to fuppofe the dar- 
 ing Argonauts were to have failed in fearch 
 of the Golden Fleece : from Almack's our 
 bold Pizarros muft have taken their courfc 
 to civilize our new-acquired minifterial 
 Peru. Determined minds ufed to fet fame 
 and fortune on the dies uncertain caft : foft 
 
 fouls,
 
 fouls, overflowing with Chriftian forbear- 
 ance, and the milk of human kindnefs 
 fuckt in at the gaming-table, from fuch 
 apoilles, alas ! I rather fhould fufpect, 
 
 With Ate by their fide, come hot from hell, 
 Shall in thefe confines, with a monarch's voice, 
 Cry havoc ! and let flip the dogs of war. 
 
 Yet I readily agree that it may be proper 
 to fend out a well-chofen commiffion of vi- 
 iitation and infpection, with adequate and 
 efficient powers from Parliament ; though 
 I am greatly deceived, if they do not find 
 that matters are much exaggerated. The 
 Reports to the Houfe of Commons from 
 Committee's are generally very falfe mediums 
 to view the object they treat of through : 
 they are moved for common by perfons in- 
 terefted in the event, feduloufly attended by 
 them, and the materials are too often mo-* 
 
 delled
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 delled and made up according to their views, 
 and to ferve their purpofes. I have there- 
 fore ever greatly regretted the abolition of 
 the board of trade, the fair, candid judges in 
 thefe matters, or who might be made fo. 
 The argument from the abufe to the ufe, is 
 not a fair confequence j and I fincerely and 
 earneftly recommend the re-eftablimment 
 of that board. From the revenues of the 
 Duchy Court of Lancafter now vacant, and 
 a fmall gleaning from the enormous over- 
 grown fine- cures in the Exchequer, this 
 may be done without expence, and with 
 great emolument to the Crown and to the 
 
 public. 
 
 t 
 
 
 It is, betides, the height of abfurdity, to 
 think the Indians are unhappy becaufe they 
 do not live under the fame conftitution as 
 the inhabitants of thi ifland. The govern- 
 
 merit
 
 tticnt in that country, for a very long period of 
 time, has been fo unfettled, that no form of it 
 that has any (lability, or affords any degree 
 of protection to the Jubjects that live under 
 it, can be pronounced to be a bad one : in 
 every other cafe, the weaker are almoft 
 fure to be exterminated by thofe that are 
 ftronger* 
 
 I mould efteem it, in fuch uncertainty of 
 doing any good of any kind, extremely im- 
 proper for the public to make a common 
 caufe with the Eaft-India Company, fur- 
 ther than I have already ftated, and like wife 
 by affifting them with fome neceffary pe- 
 cuniary aid Jn their prefent diftrefs. The 
 confequences of the public taking upon 
 themfelves the direction of the Company's 
 trade, or even of their territorial acquifi- 
 tions, I apprehend would be moft ruinous. 
 No nation has ever attempted any thingof this 
 
 kind
 
 ( '7 ), 
 
 kind without being greatly lofers by it, even 
 where government was carried on principles 
 infinitely more favourable to fuch an enter- 
 prife than the free conftitution of this coun- 
 try admits of. 
 
 France has often been compelled, in or- 
 der to preferve the trade to India and their 
 Companies from finking, to interfere, and 
 I believe is ftill concerned in the national 
 trade to India j but this is on mere com- 
 pulfion and neceffity, and is, and has ever 
 been, a very lofing bufmefs to the Crown of 
 France. If this is fo, then how much 
 worfe muft it be here, where the advan- 
 tages taken of the public in every public 
 bufinefs are enormous : and indeed the un- 
 certainty of the time of payment, and the 
 difficulty of paffing the account, do war- 
 rant a demand of a great latitude at any time ; 
 but at prefent, when the ordnance debentures 
 are at 3opercent.difoount, and the navy bills, 
 C which
 
 which carry an intereft of 4 per cent, are 
 at 17 percent, difcount, it is alrnoft im- 
 poffible to fay on what terms a contract 
 with Government wo'uld be advantageous. 
 In more fettled times, 1 believe, 25 per 
 cen* on eftimate, and near 50 per cent,- 
 on arbitrary ftatements, did not vary 
 much from the difference, to the difad- 
 vantage of the public, betwixt public and 
 private contracts for the fame perfor- 
 mances. 
 
 Jn this view, and it is a juft one, no- 
 thing but 'abfolute neceflity, and the fure 
 confequence of loiing the trade altogether, 
 could juftify the interference of Govern- 
 ment beyond the limits already affigned, 
 if even thefe could juftify it. But this ne- 
 ceility is happily entirely out of the 
 queftion at prefent : the Company anxioufly 
 deftre to go on with their trade; a 
 
 for-
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 forbearance of duties due, is all they afk, 
 to the extent of, I think, a million. If it 
 was three times as much, Government 
 would be mad, if they hefitated in the 
 alternative betwixt indulging them in their 
 demand, and taking their concerns into 
 their own hands. The affairs of the Com- 
 pany have been embarrafTed before ; they 
 have borrowed large fums from Govern- 
 ment, which they have honeflly repaid. 
 Their furplus in peaceable times is very 
 large ; and if tranquillity is any way du- 
 rable in India, and the adminiftration of 
 the Company's affairs is continued in the 
 hands of that powerful genius of refource, 
 Mr. Raftings, I make no doubt they will 
 extricate themfelves with honour, and do 
 juftice to every creditor they have. I am 
 at leaft fure, that this is giving the only 
 chance of making them beneficial to this 
 country j and it is what the Company is 
 highly entitled to. 
 
 C 2 I have
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 I have often wondered upon what, prin- 
 ciple of policy one of our two great com- 
 mercial companies ftiould be the enfant gale, 
 the fpoht child of every ad m migration 
 whilft the other was treated like the ftep-ibn ' 
 of the Mate, with every mark of jealoufy 
 and unkindnefs. The merits of the Eaft- 
 India Company towards the nation are great 
 and notorious. Whilft every other country 
 has bem taxing their fubjecls, in order to 
 fupport their Eaft- India trade, the Eriglifli 
 Eaft- India Company has been the fupport, 
 to a good extent dirtdly, and in a very great 
 and eminent degree indirectly, of the Britifh 
 finances j and in the late war the Company 
 maintained alone, in their dominions and 
 enterprifes, the fuperiority which ufually 
 attended the Britifh arms in every quarter 
 of the globe; and at laft, in the acquifitioas 
 made by the Company's arms, the material 
 indifpenfable facrifices to procure a neceflary 
 peace were found. Indeed, their expences 
 
 in
 
 ( 21 ) 
 f 
 
 in the reduction of Pondicherry, and the 
 value of it, and of the other reftitutions made 
 to the French by the definitive treaty of 
 peace, feem to me a very onerous and mod 
 juft debt on Britain, and why they are not 
 ftated as fuch by the Company, I cannot 
 fee any fhadow of a reafon. 
 
 It was under the direction of tfteir own 
 -proprietary,uncontrouled by parliament,that 
 the Company rofe to an unexampled height 
 of wealth and profperity : fince the inter- 
 ference of parliament, their affairs have de- 
 clined. Poflibly now the patronage is fo 
 valuable and extenfive,their conftitution may 
 be defective, by the too immediate depen- 
 dence of the directors on the proprietors, 
 .who, by their brigues and cabals, overawe, 
 and often make abortive the beft intentions 
 of the directors. But matters of charter and 
 property are of fo difficult and delicate a 
 
 nature,
 
 nature, that it is hard to fay, whether any 
 attempt to remedy this might not do more 
 harm than good* 
 
 It is related, that Monfieur Colbert, 
 Lewis the Fourteenth's very able minifter o 
 commerce and finance, and to whofe me- 
 mory France ftands much indebted, called 
 an afTembly of the moft eminent men in the 
 French king's dominions in the commercial 
 line, to whom he propofed the confidera- 
 tion, if any, and what advantages might 
 accrue to commerce by the interference of 
 Government. The unanimous anfwer of 
 the affembly was, LaiJJ'er le faire, let it 
 alone. 
 
 A new doctrine has been likewife attempted 
 to be eftablimed in favour of the late India 
 Bill, viz. That meafures are not to be 
 fo fully and fairly canvafled as they ought, 
 
 but
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 but are to rely and be fupported by the 
 refponfibility of the propofer of them. 
 The prcfumption and abfurdity of fuch a 
 proportion is too great to require an an- 
 fwer. The refponfibilty of the propofer 
 often would not procure him ten pounds ; 
 and as to any thing fanguinary, God knows ! 
 the hazard is very, very trifling. Indeed, the 
 perfons who avowedly, firfl by denial of 
 juftice to America, plunged us into a war, 
 and afterwards, by obftinately perfevering 
 in it, when experience had evinced the 
 fucccfs was impracticable, and who by fo 
 doing have irretrievably (I fear) undone 
 their country, enjoy in pomp and fere- 
 nity, even to oftentation, the honours and 
 lucrative employments heaped upon them. 
 If juftice is demanded for glory, for 
 wealth, for dominion loft, they pay you 
 with an ideal jeft : if you want more, a 
 ready vote of acquittal is at hand from a 
 
 packt
 
 packt majority, united on the moft fordid 
 principles, to promote each other's advan- 
 tage, in open and abandoned violation, on one 
 part of the coalition, of the faith a thou- 
 fand times pledged to bring delinquents to 
 juftice, who now are not only protected, 
 but reprefented, with a falfehood and incon- 
 fiftency that degrades human nature, as great, 
 wife, and virtuous minifters, by thofe very 
 men who not very many months ftigmatized 
 them as the bafe undoers of their country. 
 
 His Majefty has, however, been pleafed 
 to nominate a new miniftry : they are 
 young and untried : I wim them well ; and 
 my poor fupport (hall be theirs, if they 
 deferve it. I hope their real effential bond 
 of union is at leaft lefs dangerous than that 
 of their predeceflors, viz. .through violation 
 of charters to obtain the plunder of India 
 for themfelves and adherents. 
 
 I mould
 
 I fhould have thought a diflblution of 
 Parliament neceffary to have preceded, in 
 order to procure any liability in the fettle-^ 
 ment of a new miniftry. The reafon of- 
 fered againft this meafure was quite trifling, 
 viz. the delay of public bufmefs ; for the 
 Parliament would have been diflblved, and 
 a new one eleded, in little more than 
 the period of ufual recefs at this time of the 
 year; which recefs was not intended to 
 have been Shortened, if the late overthrow 
 of the miniftry had not taken place. 1 
 Should the indecent interruption of every 
 thing that does not promote their own con- 
 tinuance, ftill prevail in a majority of the 
 Houfe of Commons, the delay of public 
 bufinefs will be well compenfated by the 
 facilities a new election will probably af- 
 ford, and by the rapid progrefs of meafures 
 beneficial and neceflary to the public that 
 D will
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
 take place hereafter, which, under the 
 prefent jarring fituation and equipoife of 
 parties, cannot, in my poor opinion, ever 
 "be carried on with either certainty or dif- 
 patch. 
 
 But I ftill dread the continuance of the 
 'prefent diftraclions. The politics of St. 
 James's have had ill luck for common, 
 and, by fome fatal afcendancy, have gene- 
 rally backwards trod the very paths they 
 xnoft anxioufly fought to fhun. The fac- 
 tion has emiiTaries fpread far and wide to 
 pluck allegiance from men's hearts. It will 
 demand, on the part of the King, an ac- 
 tive, unremitting attention to replace him- 
 felfinthat ftate of pre-eminence and influence 
 the constitution allows, and even requires. 
 Let this never be out of mind. When his 
 Majefty hunts the flag, let him reflect that 
 
 he
 
 lie is himfelf the hunted flag, the royal 
 hart held at bay by a fierce, unrelenting 
 faclion, who deny, or mean to explain 
 away, his deareft, cleareft prerogatives. 
 A prince fo virtuous, who never was even 
 fufpecled to mean any foul play to the 
 flate, ought to command in every honeft 
 fervice, and he will command no other, 
 thofe fervants whom he is now obliged to 
 fue to, and often is refufed. The onward 
 path, ingenuous opennefs of fair fincerity 
 aii,-. prudent ceconomy in private life, lead 
 to peace of mind, and to heaven's beft 
 gift, independence; they martial kings to 
 greatnefs, to awe, and dFe&ionate venera- 
 tion. I know the delicate ground I tread ; 
 but I owe much to my fovereign, and, above 
 all, TRUTH j and I will pay the debt, tho* 
 the moft ungrateful office, yet the furefl 
 pledge of real love and refped: that I can 
 
 give. 
 
 354872
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
 give. What have T to fear ? I have lived 
 too long; I v,'er wi&ed to lurvive the 
 glory of my country j and I cannot form a 
 wifli fo mean as to furvive its liberties. 
 Whig as I am, if liberty muft expire, I 
 hold its Cuthanaria to be in a mild defpo- 
 tifm. But in all the bills of mortality, of 
 human grandeur, never fure was fo ftrange 
 a cataftrophe recorded, as a king taken pri- 
 foner, and a great and glorious conftitutiort 
 fquirted to death, by the fportings of a 
 fet of prodigal, undone, gambling, friblifh* 
 impudent Eton boys. 
 
 Jan. i. 1784; 
 
 FINIS.
 
 27 85
 
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