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 || Remarks on the Propositions 
 u . . .on the Renewal of the 
 if India Oor-nany's Charter. 
 
 

 
 F: 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 OK THE 
 
 PROPOSITIONS 
 
 SUBMITTED BY HIS MAJESTY'S MINISTERS TO PARLIAMENT, 
 
 .N THE RENEWAL OF THE 
 
 'g Barter, 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 N IMPARTIAL OBSERVER. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 Printed at tlic Miucrva-Prcss, 
 BY J. DJRLIIfa, LEAVES UAH-STREET. 
 
 1813.
 
 if 
 
 I 
 
 \ *3 
 
 / 
 
 # % IT is some time since the following remarks 
 were penned; but the author has been deterred 
 from offering them to the public, from the mul- 
 tiplicity of publications on the subject, having 
 
 
 
 the same tendency, containing, in many particu- 
 lars, similar reasoning, the correctness of which 
 has been amply established by the evidence be- 
 fore parliament. The consideration, however, 
 I. of the Propositions, collectively, not having been 
 made the subject of any specific publication, the 
 remarks in this form, although voluminous, have 
 been thought more consonant to the general 
 3 view of the question, than the separate observa- 
 * tions hitherto circulated; and under that impres- 
 sion, the editor has had permission to give them 
 to the public. 
 
 354884
 
 
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 r
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 THE FIRST PROPOSITION. 
 
 JL HE term proposed for the continuance of the 
 charter could not be more limited, with any 
 prospect of benefit; a shorter term would occa- 
 sion so many difficulties and obstacles to the good 
 government of India, as to subvert, in a consi- 
 derable degree, the whole system, and reduce the 
 essence of the Company's existing authority and 
 credit to a mere nullity. Nor could govern- 
 ment expect the Company to pay the war debt 
 of twenty millions in less time, or that any 
 shorter period could furnish the means of ac- 
 complishing it. 
 
 Ministers have therefore very considerately 
 admitted of the term of twenty years; andwhat- 
 , ever may be the future prospects of the nation, 
 or of the Company, the determination is one of 
 wisdom and political propriety. Independent of 
 these considerations, the East India Company are 
 considerately to contemplate the situation in 
 which they will be placed, unless such apparent
 
 ___ 6 
 
 efficient means are preserved to them as wiu suf- 
 fice to maintain the existing government, and 
 allow of a surplus revenue to annihilate the 
 debt. If the proposed innovations are to de- 
 prive the Company of a certain and sufficient 
 revenue, the exercise of a parsimonious sove- 
 reignty, with the obloquy and responsibility at- 
 tached to it, the Company had better relinquish. 
 The Court of Directors must, in honour, recom- 
 mend such a determination, however willing and 
 desirous they may severally be to undertake, as 
 the agents of the public, the important task; for 
 although they are not personally interested, the 
 responsibility on the Court would be such, as 
 every creditable character must deem insupport* 
 able. 
 
 THE SECOND PROPOSITION. 
 
 The exclusive limitation of the Tea trade to 
 the East India Company, concurs with the feel- 
 ings and sentiments of every statesman that has 
 heretofore been at the helm on the renewal of 
 the charters. 
 
 There is a required consistency and regularity 
 in this trade beyond any other, and greater risk 
 of evil, from the enterprize of individuals, who, 
 from attempts to make profitable returns, coute 
 qui coute, would not scruple to embarrass the 
 Company and nation with the Chinese. The 
 report of the boards of excise and customs should
 
 alone decide the question, as it respects the re- 
 venue of this commercial country. It is also 
 imperious to restrain ships from places where 
 they can lade teas, which may be obtained with 
 facility at Batavia and the Eastern Islands ; for 
 such is the duty (95 per cent, on the sale price) 
 in this kingdom, that the temptation to obtain 
 and smuggle tea, could not be resisted or con- 
 trolled by the revenue officers. The collusions 
 between revenue vessels and officers is very pro- 
 verbial ; and if there be any truth in the remark, 
 it must apply particularly to the out-ports, in 
 consequence of their distance from the con- 
 trolling power. 
 
 The total prohibition from the Chinese coast, 
 seas, islands, and ports in its vicinity, becomes, 
 therefore, an indispensible measure, under the 
 penalty of the seizure and confiscation of the 
 ship, by any officers of the Company abroad, 
 or by any commander of his majesty's ships; 
 and even country vessels should not be allowed 
 to go thither, except under licence of the go- 
 vernments in India; and the supercargoes should 
 have control over that class of traders, and cer- 
 tify their cargoes from China, to prevent the 
 deposit of teas at some of the ports or places 
 between India and China, for the free ships to 
 take in. As one complete cargo of teas brought 
 to our coasts, and smuggled in, would render 
 any second voyage to the commander unneces 
 sary, arrangements would soon be made for that
 
 purpose. These cargoes of teas may indeed be 
 carried to the continent in Europe, or America, 
 and the ships again proceed to India under the 
 original clearance or licence; ami if found there 
 on her second voyage, it might be her protec- 
 tion and justification. Some period for each 
 ship's voyage, from home to India, should there^ 
 fore be distinctly ascertained, that other voyages 
 than that out and home might be detected. 
 
 THE THIRD PROPOSITION. 
 
 This contains the essence of the controversy 
 between the Government, in behalf of the Out- 
 ports, and the Company, and therefore claims 
 very close and dispassionate investigation, free 
 from the heat and spirit of crimination that has 
 too much manifested itself in the party prints 
 and publications. In the first place, it authorizes 
 an unlimited export of goods from this country 
 (excepting those which war, or other causes, 
 have prohibited) to any port within the limits of 
 the Company's charter. This is a most extensive 
 range, and will open a field for abuse and mal- 
 versation without detection ; nay, even without 
 the knowledge of the governments in India, which 
 cannot be apprized what vessels arrive upon the 
 distant coasts and islands. Adventurers may have 
 trafficked through extensive regions to the east- 
 ward, without even an intimation reaching the
 
 seats oF government, to give the opportunity 
 either to prevent or remedy evils that such a lati- 
 tude must occasion, as they can remain within 
 these limits unnoticed, nay, unheard of: they 
 might commence freebooters, or practise any 
 thing short of hostility, if not real acts of it, 
 under the British flag, to the national disgrace, 
 perhaps total destruction of our credit, influence, 
 and power. Should this free intercourse be al- 
 lowed, under the sanction of parliament, or con- 
 tinue for any time, the requisite inspection 
 and watching such adventurers from port to port, 
 will require establishments in all the minor ports 
 throughout India, at an immense expence: 
 these establishments would require more authori- 
 ty than they could have power to exercise, to 
 control the characters who would have access 
 either in their own ships or those of merchants, 
 and who might, in a few years, establish them- 
 selves and become formidable; for ships of three 
 hundred and fifty tons are not of that class which 
 can either be respectable, or their owners respon- 
 sible for aggressions and mischiefs that may re- 
 sult. Security for good conduct appears highly 
 needful : but admitting the responsibility of the 
 owners, and as bonds should be given for orderly 
 conduct, it may reasonably be asked, how long 
 are they to hang over the heads of the securi- 
 ties? for as complaints, before they can be trans- 
 mitted home, must first be communicated to the 
 government of India, and as they must be in*
 
 10 
 
 vestigated, or inquired into,, before they can be 
 framed into a complaint for cognizance here, is 
 it to be expected that any process can possibly 
 be instituted in our courts, before all the parties 
 answerable are dispersed, and the evidences up- 
 on which the decision must rest no longer forth- 
 coming? Under such delay, how justice in any 
 case can be administered, so as to check or reme- 
 dy abuses, is incomprehensible. 
 
 When the American intercourse was the ob- 
 ject of complaint and envy, their ships were 
 confined to the presidencies ; nevertheless, un- 
 der that control, they supplied the enemy with 
 every warlike store, provisions, &c. and such 
 intelligence as enabled their cruisers to make 
 captures ; and afterwards purchased the prize- 
 goods, or took them in exchange for the sup- 
 plies of stores and provisions they brought to 
 the Isle of France. It was thought necessary to 
 prevent American intercourse with the minor 
 ports; so his majesty's ministers may be assured 
 it is not less incumbent on them to restrain the 
 -private traders to the presidencies. If India is 
 to be held by the Company for the public, can 
 it be reasonable that individuals should have 
 more substantial advantages than the Company 
 themselves possess, when a participation of 
 privileges is beyond what they are entitled to, 
 considering the unexampled exertions by which 
 the India Company has obtained her possessions ? 
 The Company's formidable ships may be re-
 
 11 
 
 tained to defend India, stay beyond their periods 
 at great cost, and their cargoes withheld from 
 sale, whilst the private ships of three hundred 
 and fifty tons may enjoy an uninterrupted tran- 
 sit and unrivalled markets. This event, which 
 has and may again happen to the Company's 
 ships, would augment the injury to be sustained 
 by the participation, and render their remit- 
 tance investments still more unproductive. 
 
 In the intercourse between this country and 
 India, the size, respectability, and strength of 
 the ship, with the known responsibility of the 
 owners, has hitherto upheld the British maritime 
 character. Those ships, chartered by a public 
 company, laden under its orders, and the direc- 
 tion of its officers the knowledge of every 
 movement from port to port the stated returns 
 of the ships to this country the regularity of 
 employment to the commanders and officers, all 
 interested in the welfare of the Company, and to 
 whom alone they look up for future favours, in- 
 duce the most punctual observance of all regula- 
 tions. Contrast this statement with what may be 
 the fact with many ships navigated strictly, per- 
 haps, according to law, but divested of other re- 
 straints, under the command of persons scarcely 
 amenable to any jurisdiction, who have no one 
 to look up to for future advantages or fixed em- 
 ployment, whose determination consequently 
 will be to make a successful enterprise. It is a 
 painful suggestion, but their voyages may be
 
 19 
 
 from India to any and every port in the world ; 
 and after a desperate, or successful expedition, 
 their ships may be sold abroad, or never return 
 to this country ; and after committing enormi- 
 ties throughout the eastern world, which may 
 neither be heard of or cognizable, and whither 
 they may never return, to answer for their pro- 
 ceedings to the natives, or to the British- autho- 
 rity, can it be supposed that any restriction the 
 legislature may here impose would be effectual 
 to control such parties ? the very idea is ridicu- 
 lous : if the shifts and evasions of the Liverpool 
 and other merchants, engaged in the slave trade, 
 be contemplated, what can be expected of such 
 characters let loose on the eastern world, a range 
 so far beyond that of the coast of Guinea, as to be 
 not only out of sight or observation from any of 
 our cruisers or officers, but mostly out of mind? 
 
 Nor is it irrelevant to consider the vicinity 
 of Botany Bay to the navigators of the eastern 
 seas; want of success may make persons desperate, 
 and the trade may degenerate into a system of 
 freebooting; enterprises disgraceful to the British 
 character would easily be accomplished by the 
 aid of the inhabitants of Botany Bay; and the pe- 
 riod of their transportation expired, what is to 
 prevent them from hereafter building ships, and 
 trading with all India, or the mother country, or 
 any other nation, the right being once admitted 
 to all British subjects? 
 
 Infinite difficulty would also arise from the
 
 13 
 
 ships belonging to one class of owners, and the 
 cargo appertaining to others. Supercargoes will 
 be requisite without limit; and it may be con- 
 cluded that these agents would remain in the 
 country to dispose of their goods ; and what au- 
 thority is to compel their departure with the ships 
 they arrived in ? The repetition of these events 
 will, in defiance of all regulations to the con- 
 trary, colonize the eastern empire. 
 
 The European character has been hitherto re- 
 spected among the Hindoos ; the profligacy, the 
 crimes, and necessary punishments, that must at-* 
 tend such an intrusion of Europeans into India, 
 will unquestionably bring them into the like 
 disrepute as the Portuguese, who are, at present, 
 more disregarded than their own low casts ; and 
 the empire they held throughout India has been 
 wrested from them, as it will from the British, 
 when their character becomes in like manner de- 
 graded. Hence commercial restrictions are not 
 the only requisites, and they are closely allied ta 
 good policy. All ships navigated according to 
 law, provided with proper clearances, and regu- 
 lar manifests, are permitted to import any 
 description of eastern produce, excepting tea, 
 from every port within the limits of the Com- 
 pany's charter, to certain ports in England, Scot- 
 land, and Ireland, such ports being provided 
 with approved securities 4br the revenue. This 
 permission will include the whole class of Indian 
 ships navigated by Lascars, during war, and eigh-
 
 14 
 
 teen months after, when they are to be lega- 
 lized by other provisions, as expressed in the 
 Seventh Proposition, which will be under con- 
 sideration in its turn. As the clearances and ma- 
 nifests can be obtained only at the Company's 
 ports, and the limit of the adventurers is be- 
 tween Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, 
 a ship may come half laden with goods and half 
 ivith tea ; for if there is no manifest but such as 
 is made by the adventurer, he will not be bound 
 to bring a full cargo, or account for vacant space, 
 which the East India Company's ships" are con- 
 strained to do. 
 
 The permission to ships of three hundred and 
 fifty tons to trade to India cannot be justified on 
 any principle of national policy or advantage, 
 vhen the description of these ships in their equip- 
 ment, their defenceless state, the competency of 
 master and mariners, are contrasted with those 
 which the Company provided for the export and 
 import of individuals, all which ships have been 
 of the most perfect class, as it respects their re- 
 pairs, force, equipment, and the knowledge of 
 masters and officers, and the security to the ad- 
 venturers or underwriters, the responsibility of 
 their owners, and the amenable state of the 
 master and crew. When also the freight of the 
 two classes of ships' f be considered, the East 
 India Company's extra ships having been eh* 
 gaged as low as . 12,'jfad none hrghfer thart 
 c. 15, per ton, peace freight, ; c oHt : arid home/
 
 15 
 
 and which might be considerably reduced, if the 
 equipment, repairs, and force were not so exact 
 and complete, can there be a question either as 
 to the advantage and security that must attach to 
 one class beyond the other ? It is not intended 
 to defend the Company in the deviations from 
 their agreement with the public in 1802. It 
 is admitted, that the facilities expressly con- 
 ditioned for were not fulfilled, and the Company 
 appropriated these ships to their own immediate 
 use, to services of warfare, the carrying of troops, 
 stores, and ammunition, and abridged the ac- 
 commodation to the private trader; and after a 
 time they dropped this description of extra ships, 
 taken up for a permanency, on low terms, and 
 engaged others year by year, upon very advanced 
 terms, which still further prevented the British 
 merchant from exporting, and opened the door 
 to an inundation of country ships. Whatever 
 motive led to the suspension of the cheap extra 
 ships for those of higher terms, it has also been 
 subversive of other principles affecting their ser- 
 vice, by giving temporary rank and employment 
 to their naval officers for a voyage only, instead 
 of its being permanent ; thus adding to the list 
 of commanders, without affording them the means 
 of subsistence by constant employ, a result to 
 be deplored on every account. Such an event 
 is to be lamented, and can only be remedied by 
 enactments of the legislature, should the provi- 
 sion of tonnage for the private trader be ever
 
 16 
 
 allowed to the Company. There can be 
 no doubt, under such enactments, that the whole' 
 individual interest, as well as that of the com- 
 pany, would be secured ; for none other class of 
 shipping, sailing with individual goods for India, 
 will ever be so secure for the merchant or un- 
 derwriter, against the risk of the sea or capture 
 a consideration of national moment. From 
 admitting the transit of merchandise between 
 India and Britain, upon every description of ships 
 of three hundred and fifty tons, and upon all- 
 Indian bottoms, it is not difficult to predict the 
 following consequences: * 
 
 1st. Annihilation to the Company's import- 
 ance and authority, already very much abridged, 
 by the opulence and influence of the Indian 
 residents not in the Company's service. 
 
 2dly, The interference of the Europeans ( who 
 come in those ships) with the police and o Vern- 
 ment of India, which catmot be guarded against 
 by any authority in the Company's settlement?. 
 
 SdJy. Tke ruin of tl*e commander^ and offi- 
 cers in tfce Company's service, with whom the- 
 best improvements in navigation have original 
 ed; the respectability of the establishment muse 
 be destroyed; and the employment- in future 
 imt : worth the icquired education and know-; 
 
 fcdgfcl 
 
 4 th/ The armrhilstiott of fhe consequence o 
 British shipping, -hitherto so much upheld, 
 throughout India, by: the establishment under
 
 ir 
 
 the Company's authority, of which these ships 
 will be perfectly independent. 
 
 5th. The risk of loss, and consequent supply 
 to the enemy, by the capture of much British 
 property, most privateers being equal to its 
 accomplishment. 
 
 6th. Evasions of customs by the ships of that 
 burthen, in consequence of being less distin- 
 guishable when on the coast, so as to be over- 
 looked by the revenue-cutters, &c. 
 
 7th. Evasions of duties, from the want of 
 that established control at the outports which 
 has been matured and improved in the port of 
 London, and the greater probability of smug- 
 glers meeting the ships, and concerting means 
 for landing goods, beyond what can be effected 
 in the Company's ships, whose commanders are 
 liable to suspension or dismission, or other pu- 
 nishment ; and whose detection is more proba- 
 ble, from the number of the crew, or disagree- 
 ments with each other. 
 
 8th. Enormous expence of revenue-officers 
 on the new establishment, which will become 
 matter of patronage and influence to ministers, 
 of no small political consideration. 
 
 9th. Great expence to the outports, for estab- 
 lishing docks, warehouses, officers, &c. &c. 
 for this branch of commerce, which cannot 
 amount but to few ships annually, and which 
 will consequently be a heavy tax on the adven- 
 turers individually concerned.
 
 18 
 
 10th. Ultimate ruin to all the parties, by thfc 
 probable competition from every outport, which 
 will, in the first place, be destructive alike to 
 the adventurers from those several ports, to the 
 Company's trade, and, progressively, to the 
 Indian revenue, independent of the injury likely 
 to arise to our own cotton manufactures. 
 
 When loss to the individual* adventurers is 
 stated to be the result of their undertaking, it is 
 not on slight grounds this opinion is advanced ; 
 the commanders of the Company's ships now re- 
 turned are strong evidence thereof, though they 
 pay no freight ; for let it be considered also, that 
 independent of the requisite provision for the 
 security of the property and revenue for a few 
 ships, the dead weight for the purposes of ballast 
 is not easily procured; it is generally of saltpetre, 
 sugar, or rice; and the latter being the only arti- 
 cles that can be allowed them, the profit will be 
 very equivocal, and they will probably suffer a 
 serious loss. 
 
 The competition, as stated between the differ- 
 ent ports, must produce inevitable confusion and 
 Joss. The articles, either carried out or brought 
 home, may noWbe realized in any time to suit the 
 monsoons; and hence a second capital becomes 
 necessary, or the voyages will be lengthened be- 
 yond all limit, by circuitous passages. 
 
 Merchants, who are not ship-owners, will be 
 at the mercy of the owners, or their representa- 
 tives, as to the periods of sailing ; for notwith-
 
 19 
 
 standing they may profess to sail at particular pe- 
 riods, they will be illusory proposals, as they 
 must always be subject to their being laden; 
 hence the loss of market, by unavoidable delay, 
 when the periods for the sailing of the Compa- 
 ny's ships are regular, and the delay only what 
 arises from winds, weather, or other untoward 
 events. 
 
 The accounts of the Company being subject 
 to be called for by parliament, it is suggested, 
 with perfect propriety, that after a certain period 
 of experiment, the private traders, if they are 
 permitted a free intercourse by the legislature, 
 should furnish some statement of the permission 
 having answered thegood intended; otherwise, the 
 injury to the Company may be extended through- 
 out the charter, which surely cannot be intended 
 by government, unless upon beneficial grounds 
 to the country. 
 
 j 
 
 A question naturally arises, whether the mer- 
 chants at the out-ports are to be individual 
 freighters, or may be companies of any number, 
 like those of the late insurance, or copper compa- 
 nies? by them the individual trader may be equally 
 overpowered as by a chartered joint-stock compa- 
 ny, and the present complaints come again forward 
 in a new form. Admitting the propriety and 
 importance of a free trade, is it not rational that 
 the experiment should be first made by the port 
 of London, where the parties may have the ad- 
 vantages of the Company's sales? and if this
 
 20 
 
 should prove, for a term, successful to the mer- 
 chants of the metropolis, it might be extended 
 to other ports, upon more substantial grounds, 
 and with less injury to the Company. 
 
 The intention of the legislature, in the year 
 1793, was never to give the private adventurer 
 a preference or advantage over the Company in 
 their commerce, but to suffer them to enjoy the 
 trade to India, subject to the same inconvenien- 
 cies the Company felt by the detention of ships, 
 and other obstacles ; the proposed facilities go 
 to give the adventurer a manifest and superior 
 advantage, if their capital should be equal to 
 their trade. 
 
 No private adventurers have been prohibited 
 by the Company from shipping any of the pro- 
 duce of the kingdom; so that opportunities have 
 been offered in abundance to try such new arti- 
 cles upon, which calculations of profit have 
 "been made ; disappointments in this, and other 
 points, will be infallible results; and of this 
 many of the merchants areas fully satisfied as the 
 author of these remarks. 
 
 That a progressive increase of the trade to In- 
 dia has taken place, as well as to China, is ob- 
 vious, and it may still be extended; but it ha,s 
 been in a very moderate and progressive man- 
 ner, not by any sudden large influx. 
 
 Thus, to compensate for the evils they may 
 bring on the Company, there does not appear 
 one positive good likely to result to the adven,-
 
 turers the charms of novelty and speculation 
 \vill be their only reward. The nation- and its 
 legislature should however reflect, that if an un- 
 restrained commerce is granted to individuals, 
 between this country and India, who may export 
 what they please of gold or bullion, as best suits 
 their profit, the East Indja Company cannot b9 
 expected to undertake the vend of woollens to 
 the extent of a million, or tin or copper to the 
 amount pf one thousand five hundred tons, an- 
 nually, and other articles by which they lose, in- 
 dependent of all the requisite stores, for the main- 
 tenance of the empire, when the loss they here- 
 after sustain may be brought forward as an 
 argument for any further interference of indi- 
 viduals in the trade, by which the injury to the 
 Company must be aggravated beyond every 
 prospective limit. 
 
 The East India Company necessarily export, 
 for the support of British India, goods, ammuni- 
 tion, and stores, to the extent of 800,000, 
 \vhich must be remitted for, or the supply cease ; 
 if the goods they bring back are either not sale- 
 able, or only sold at reduced prices, inconsequence 
 of the supply brought in by the private traders, 
 the empire cannot be maintained. The idea of 
 furnishing merchants with goods in India, and 
 taking their bills and goods on mortgage, does 
 not deserve a serious consideration. 
 
 |t is not the mere desire of participation, on 
 the one hand, that should be the motive for de-
 
 S2 
 
 spoiling the party in possession; malversation, 
 and injury to the general interests of the empire, 
 are the only paramount causes. In common 
 courts, in this country, evidence upon oath can 
 only be entitled to credit ; and are privileges of 
 two hundred years standing to be subverted on 
 such requisitions as are now made ? 
 
 THE FOURTH PROPOSITION. 
 
 This is so consonant with the existing act, that it 
 can give rise to little objection. The allotment 
 of one million for investment is lost sight of, fov 
 reasons that cannot be mistaken. 
 
 T 
 
 'HE FIFTH PROPOSITION. 
 
 This has so nearly the same bearing as the act 
 of 1793, that it is not of consequence to discuss 
 the subject of appropriation, the third direc- 
 tion therein applying to the present dividend, 
 even after the separate fund for the half per cent, 
 shall have been exhausted; the interestof the pro- 
 prietors has, in this, therefore, been attended to. 
 
 THE SIXTH PROPOSITION. 
 
 This contains such an appropriation as is truly 
 fanciful ; it begins with a when, and ends with a
 
 proviso, as problematical and visionary as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 Whom this was to captivate, it is not easy to 
 discover; for of all the fallacies that have been 
 held out, year after year, by the India budget, 
 exhibiting an inconsistency on these matters be- 
 yond belief, this proposition teems with some 
 of the most improbable events. 
 
 The commercial gains and capital of the Com- 
 pany have been dedicated to the maintenance of 
 the empire, whose revenue scarcely pays its or- 
 dinary expenditure, and in the event of a future 
 war, there must be a deficiency : contrast these 
 facts with the suggested appropriations. But 
 when a debt of twenty-six millions is to be li- 
 quidated, the interest of a part to bejiaid at 
 home, at the same time that provision is to be 
 made for the payment of the dividends, for the 
 annual supply of civil and military stores, to the 
 maintenance of a large territory, for the cost of 
 outward investments, and the expences of an 
 establishment, which will require a sum equal 
 to four millions when all this is to be accom- 
 plished by a trade of remittance and profits on 
 the China cargoes, which also must be considered 
 far from permanent, it will be little short of in- 
 sanity for the Company to undertake the govern- 
 ment of India, subject to the propositions before 
 the public, or without every possible guard, as 
 heretofore, for their commerce; and it will nci- 
 
 354884
 
 ther be respectable or honourable to im'dertaW 
 what, in the nature of things, is impracticable. 
 
 The Court of Proprietors, iri their petition to 
 the legislature, stated " Your petitioners sub- 
 mit, that they would not be justified in becom- 
 ing parties to any system which, on considera- 
 tion, should appear to them like to prove a 
 delusion." 
 
 This was moved to be expunged from their 
 petition ; but there was honesty enough in the 
 court to avow the principle; arid it behoves 
 their executive, ih their negociations and re- 
 presentations, not to lose sight of this highly 
 honourable determination, or join in the de-^ 
 lusion to the world at large, by the acceptance 
 of a task thev cannot fulfil. 
 
 END Otf PAHT I. 
 
 Pi inted by J. Darling, 31, Leadenhall-Street.
 
 HE MARKS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PROPOSITIONS 
 
 SUBMITTED BY H[S MAJESTY'S MINISTERS TO PARLIAMENT, 
 
 ON THE RENEWAL OF THE 
 
 PART THE SECOND, 
 
 AN IMPARTIAL OBSERVER. 
 
 LONDON -. 
 
 Printed at the Minerva-Press, 
 JBK /. DJRLIXC, LEADEN BALL-SI REET. 
 
 1813.
 
 THE original Propositions, printed by order of 
 the House of Commons, on the 22d March, (and 
 which were the subject of the first part of these 
 Remarks,) having been considerably altered by 
 those submitted 3d June, a variation of no mean 
 importance has been made in the aspect of the 
 Indian administration. The modifications to 
 guard against apprehended abuses and evils, it 
 is hoped will undergo still farther corrections 
 in the detail, so as to obviate every possible in- 
 jury. It cannot be supposed that the legislature 
 of the country, composed of enlightened and 
 patriotic characters, could set aside every prin- 
 ciple of good policy and equity, and the most 
 decided evidence of persons well informed and 
 perfectly uninterested in the question. They 
 jnust reflect, that the responsibility is not only 
 on the Ministers, but on each and every indivi- 
 dual who decides it, and that no policy pr rea- 
 soning will exonerate them from their share of
 
 iv 
 
 the result. We may therefore be justified in 
 reiving on a more guarded detail, in the clauses 
 of the bill about to be introduced. 
 
 The magnitude of the subject must pervade 
 every part of the act. ,This country has an in- 
 terest at stake beyond the petty controversies of 
 commercial speculation. To those interests we 
 should look with most anxious concern, nor 
 regard the vehemence of the competitors. How- 
 ever Ministers may be inclined to favour a par- 
 ticular class, they must perceive, that after their 
 object is obtained, the same principle which has 
 led them to impeach the body under which many 
 have attained wealth and consequence, may be 
 exerted, from similar pleas, against their present 
 patrons and advocates, on some future occasion.
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 THE SEVENTH PROPOSITION. 
 rp 
 
 JL HE necessity of such regulations as part of the 
 act, is not obvious; the object might have been 
 otherwise obtained. In no instance could the 
 Directors have been supposed to refuse the adop- 
 tion of them, and therefore it implies a reflection 
 on the Court. The measure is one of wisdom and 
 correctness, and will enable the public at large 
 more easily to judge of what has been so strongly 
 urged by the Directors, though so little credited 
 or understood by the generality of the legisla- 
 tive body. 
 
 THE EIGHTH PROPOSITION. 
 
 This proposition, on the renewal of the Com- 
 pany's Charter, appears to have as little to do 
 with the Company as with the Emperor of Russia,
 
 6 < 
 
 in as much as the Company never build but only 
 freight ships for their service; it must therefore 
 be perfectly indifferent where the ships are built, 
 provided the freight required from the Company 
 is within such terms as to constitute a claim for 
 employment, and this the India ships may here- 
 after do to a greater extent than British, as will be 
 subsequently explained. Until of late years, 
 British-built shipping was alone used in the India 
 trade, and it becomes a consideration of high im- 
 portance, whether a company, enjoying exclu- 
 sive advantages of trade, sliall le at liberty to seek 
 freight out of the kingdom, and not be restrained 
 to the spirit and intention of the navigation act. 
 Ships navigated according to law were formerly 
 British-built, and had British seamen, except in 
 time of war, when some relaxation in the latter 
 point was allowed; and colonial ships were en- 
 titled toBritish registers, when navigated by Ame-' 
 ricans, because they originally were emigrants 
 from this country, and had fought her battles. 
 But the measure proposed to the consideration 
 of Parliament, for the admission of India-built 
 ships into the Indian trade of the Company and 
 resident merchants, is such a direct infringement 
 of the principles of the navigation act, and so 
 totally subversive of the advantages hitherto se- 
 cured to this country, that it demands the most 
 mature and serious deliberation. It becomes 
 those who are advocates for the measure to 
 shew on what principle of true policy such
 
 encouragement is to be given to Indian mariii- 
 iacturers, artificers, and European settlers, to the 
 injury of those in this country, the produce of 
 whose labour is doubled, by the amount paid iii 
 direct and collateral ta^es, when in India no- 
 thing is contributed to the support of the state. 
 It is, however, to be hoped, that advocates will 
 hot be wanting to support the rights and privi- 
 leges secured (from time immemorial) to British 
 Shipping. 
 
 The admission of this foreign shipping, by the* 
 act of 35th Geo. lit. cap. 115, which was passed 
 iinder special circumstances, was neither unlimit- 
 ed or absolute in its permissions, nor gave any- 
 right of permanent employ. Indian ships, built iri 
 a distant land, not a colony, or established as one, 
 were never considered entitled to colonial pri- 
 vileges, until it became a desirable measure to the 
 India houses here, and the residents in India, whose 
 united influence have so far operated, aS to supeY- 
 cede the established principles of the navigation^ 
 act and the interest of the nation. The timber 
 is foreign., the workmen, shipwrights, sawyers, 
 caulkers, are foreigners, the equipment mostly 
 so, and they are navigated by Lascars, who have 
 now the appellation of Asiatics, and British sub- 
 jects, because they are'natives where the British 
 flag is paramount, although by the act of 34th 
 Geo. Ill, they are so deemed to the east only of the 
 Cape. Ships built at Sierra Leone, Cape Coast, 
 and other settlements, manned with negroes, ot
 
 8 
 
 at Cape Bona, and navigated by Hottentots, or 
 from Botany Bay, with the savages of that part, 
 may be considered as legitimate, and they have in- 
 deed more rightful pretensions. 
 
 The proposition therefore to legalize, until 
 eighteen months after the war, the introduction 
 
 O 
 
 of Indian, and the export of British produce to 
 India in Indian shipping; an intimation being 
 also given, that with some few exceptions, this 
 would be the case after the peace; confirms the 
 opinion of their not being privileged as colo- 
 nial shipping; for wherefore legislate to obtain 
 what they can claim, under existing acts, as a 
 right? 
 
 This question really belongs not to the re- 
 newal of the Charter, but to the great and im- 
 portant question or contest between the resident 
 ship-owners in India and those in this country ; 
 ^between the builder in India and his subordi- 
 nates, and the British builders and artisans. It is 
 not a controversy between the Company and the 
 public. If the benefits of the transit are to go to 
 the residents in India, equally as to the natives 
 of this country, then a colony in the moon would 
 be as useful to Great Britain as the empire in the 
 EasJ; and unless there be a limitation as to num- 
 ber, the whole fleet will shortly be composed of 
 
 Indian shipping. 
 
 Under the* consideration of these momentous 
 facts, will the legislature tolerate such an inroad 
 into the navigation act, and the welfare of this
 
 country, to gratify the views of the residents in 
 India? depriving, as it unquestionably will, Bri- 
 tish artificers of their birthright, by whose labours 
 and expenditure this country is advantaged ? or 
 can the shipping interest of this country suffer 
 such ships to have the privilege of British-built 
 tonnage, without remonstrating against a mea- 
 ,sure so pointedly inimical to the interest of the 
 country ? It is not the British builder whose cause 
 alone is advocating, but that of numbers through- 
 
 c> 
 
 out the kingdom; and when it can be proved be- 
 yond controversy that the very materials of our 
 ships, and their equipment, give employment to 
 many different characters in their respective 
 lines of mercantile intercourse, each and all of 
 them are interested in this subject. 
 
 That British shipping should have a preference, 
 and not be superseded in employment by colo- 
 nial or foreign ships, was never, until of late 
 years, a question, nor can it be doubted which is 
 most for the interest and welfare of the nation. 
 Any indulgence as to the transit should Hot be 
 made, when our own means for that purpose are 
 adequate. Except in the case of two ships ex- 
 pressly built at Bombay fortreirown immediate 
 commanders and officers, and v\hich were natu- 
 ralized by 13th Geo. III. the introduction of In- 
 dian shipping for the East India Company's ser- 
 vice is of late date, when the powerful interest and 
 
 administration of Mr. , with that of other 
 
 houses of agency, introduced the Surat Casrle and
 
 id 
 
 Scaleby Castle into the service for permanent em- 
 ploy : this opening occasioned similar exertion 
 and interest to introduce others. Ten are now 
 in the service ; and whoever looks at the list of 
 ships lately built, will perceive that for five twelve 
 hundred ton ships built in England, five have beeri 
 permitted to be built in India. It is now pro- 
 posed to sanction such measures as these by the 
 authority of the legislature; and throughout Indisi 
 will be established a permanency of ship-build- 
 ing for a mercantile company in this country, 
 and in a few years forlhe intercourse of indivi- 
 duals with our Eastern dominions. 
 
 The act of the legislature, 35th Geo. III. caff. 
 115, extended by act 42dGeo.III. cap. 20, during 
 the exclusive Charter, allowed them to be intro- 
 duced to supply the deficiency of tonnage, occasion- 
 ed by furnishing government with the Company's 
 ships, under a particular pressure, and was only 
 to take place on such occasion. The very con- 
 struction of the act is of a temporary description, 
 but has been erroneously acted on by the Com- 
 pany for permanent service, when the ground for 
 the permission did not exist. 
 
 That the British residents throughout India 
 should be allowed to send to this country the 
 produce of India in ships there built, and that 
 the Company should be allowed to employ them 
 as temporary tonnage, is not controverted ; but 
 to allow merchants resident in this country to 
 export and import goods to and from thence
 
 ii 
 
 in ships not British built, as a permanent mea- 
 sure, is a transgression against the welfare of the 
 nation, beyond all possible remedy ; and if al- 
 lowed to the Company, individual merchants 
 have an equal right. 
 
 The consequence of this policy it is easy to fore- 
 see; we can only lament the bias that is so preva- 
 lent, and regret that our legislation is not prospec- 
 tive, but temporary. Yet the shipping interest of 
 the nation, if true to their own cause, if the land- 
 holders value their woods the adventurers in 
 mines their iron, copper, or lead if the several 
 trades who furnish the equipments, or the merchant 
 who imports the hemp, deals, and other timber, 
 feel that lively attention to their several interests 
 which persons so involved are in the habit of 
 doing, the Minister must draw a different line, 
 although his own predilections, or the arguments 
 of his Indian friends and others engaged, may 
 furnish representations to promote their owni 
 Views, that he deems unanswerable. 
 
 The idea of a scarcity of timber is no sufficient 
 cause for this proceeding; and, admitting the 
 fact, the way to augment the evil is to lessen the 
 demand ; for in the present day, it is so advanta- 
 geous to take down timber and convert the land 
 into tillage, from the superior price that corn and 
 other produce bears to timber, that the possessor 
 will scarcely let it stand for a large scantling, 
 when he can have only a solitary market for it, 
 viz. the demand of government, (who will then
 
 12 
 
 buy at their own price.) It becomes, in fact, 
 an encouragement to bring timber to an early 
 sale; and government will find their mistake in 
 suffering Indian ships to be substituted for British, 
 and hereby expecting to have the large timber at 
 their command. 
 
 The welfare of the mother country, in prefe- 
 rence to that of its dependencies, should be the 
 governingprinciple; for, independentof all other 
 considerations, let us but look at the great want 
 of seamen for our defence, as well as for the mer- 
 chant service. It is become an evil of such mag- 
 nitude, and the want so urgent, that with the in- 
 fringement of our navigation laws, it must under- 
 mine our maritime superiority. Foreigners of all 
 descriptions are doing the duties of Englishmen, 
 and bands of mercenaries are hired for our navi- 
 gation and defence, from the total apathy of the 
 country, to devise means for the increase of sea- 
 men; and this measure of employing Indian ship- 
 ping will hasten the, sub version of our best interests, 
 by the discouragement given to British transit. 
 
 Supposing the ships built in India are en- 
 titled to British registers under any act of par- 
 liament, does it follow that this indulgence is to 
 be continued, when it produces effects not in the 
 contemplation of the legislature at the time the 
 act was framed ? In cases of minor consequence, 
 when a law, in its origin good, produces, from 
 any change of circumstances, effects injurious to 
 the country, it is a sufficient argument for its re*
 
 13 
 
 vision. In a case of vital importance, as it 
 effects that maritime prosperity which it has 
 been the object of innumerable laws to protect 
 and encourage, are we to rest satisfied because 
 otir naval strength is to be destroyed according 
 to law ? 
 
 It is the employment, or construction of ships, 
 and not the trade, that has been the object with 
 the residents in India ; and every year, their fa- 
 cilities being increased, they will become more 
 our rivals in this, and every other, branch of 
 labour. It could never have been supposed 
 that a colony was to supply the mother coun- 
 try with articles of her own production with- 
 out an equalizing duty : and when Ireland is 
 subject to this principle, should India be ex- 
 onerated, if allowed at all to rival us? If the 
 principle is abandoned with regard to India, a 
 conquered country, why is the produce of Mar- 
 tinique and Guadaloupe not on a footing with 
 that of our West India islands ? What but the in- 
 fluence of the West and East India merchants 
 could furnish such an anomaly in the policy un- 
 der consideration ?
 
 THE NINTH PROPOSITION, 
 
 * <. 
 
 This is a very proper restraining clause on the 
 
 executive power; for as the former act restricted 
 the amount of pensions, the principle should alsq 
 apply to the grant of sums of money. If the funds 
 are to be protected in one branch by a restric- 
 tive enactment, it should apply in every other. 
 The extent of grants, although in most instances 
 highly merited, should be equally under con- 
 trol with annuities, which, for services abroad, 
 might be approved by the board of commission- 
 ers; in England, by the proprietors as at present, 
 when extended to . 300, instead of . 200, per 
 annum. It is here proper to observe, in reply 
 to some animadversions on the establishment at 
 home, that its enlargement has become necessary, 
 from the extent of empire, c. ; nor can talents 
 be commanded but by adequate remuneration. 
 The clerks in the home establishment are of a 
 superior description, and are too essential, from 
 talent and experience, to be upon bare living 
 salaries, or stipends. Their training, and subse- 
 quent knowledge of the Company's business, 
 very far exceeds that of the Directors, and en- 
 titles them to comfortable incomes. Reduction 
 of emolument, it is true, they may be constrained 
 to acquiesce in, for they can possibly obtain no 
 other employment ; yet if clerks, and servants
 
 15 
 
 of this great commercial and political organ, are. 
 ?o be elected on the economical system of free 
 and open competition, their successors talents 
 may readily be estimated ; and a principle more, 
 injurious in its consequences could not be 
 suggested. Restrictive resolutions,, respecting 
 great emoluments to heads of office, have lately 
 been carried into effect, by a yery equitable and 
 encouraging arrangement ; npr is there a public 
 office in this kingdom conducted more efficiently, 
 pr vyith greater attention to the individuals who 
 have business to transact. 
 
 Those worst compensated are the Directors ; 
 l?.ut reasons have operated, and do still operate^ 
 against any increase of salary. 
 
 THE TENTH PROPOSITION . 
 
 This, applied to the great stations in the Com- 
 pany's establishments throughout India, is a mo- 
 dification of the present system jn favour of 
 government. 
 
 The usage has been, to concert with his Ma^ 
 jesty ? s. Ministers on these appointments ; it is, 
 therefore, but a change of mode,, and the es- 
 sence Js the same. Mr. Robert Grant has justly 
 observed, that the limits of the two authorities 
 over Indian policy have been better defined, 
 and carripd into effect, through the mutual
 
 IS 
 
 Cession and accommodation which has hitherto 
 subsisted, than by any distinct definition of their 
 respective authorities. The points in this pro- 
 position are hardly an object for contention, 
 though they may excite a degree of jealousy on 
 constitutional principles. 
 
 THE ELEVENTH PROPOSITION. 
 
 The number of his Majesty's troops, to be 
 maintained at the Company's expence, should be 
 adjusted, and reduced to a fixed limit. A va- 
 riety of the details involved in the subject, from 
 their number and importance, of the most se- 
 rious consideration, it is not necessary to dis- 
 cuss; they are too complex for any person's 
 comprehension but those conversant in these de- 
 partments. 
 
 The Company have hitherto paid for King's 
 troops, exceeding the number prescribed in 
 former acts of the legislature. There are also 
 allowances to all persons serving in India, that 
 greatly augment the cost of a regiment, beyond 
 the expence in Europe. Independent of these 
 charges, all the movements of troops upon ser- 
 vice out of the Peninsula, although for warfare 
 against the common enemy's possessions, have 
 proved very heavy upon the Company, who 
 have always, with a liberality and patriotism, 
 never suffered an expedition to fail through
 
 IT 
 
 want of resources within their reach ; but when 
 stated against government, the account has been, 
 generally controverted, or only in part allowed. 
 On this subject the nation should not be igno- 
 rant or misinformed. The Company have fur- 
 nished the means of warfare, when their own 
 settlements were not at risk, or even interested 
 beyond that of the general welfare. They have 
 been held up to public reprobation, as if en- 
 joying splendid advantages, without any consi- 
 deration or statement of the enormous ex- 
 pences that they have incurred on the public 
 account, their great exertions in the common 
 cause, their being loaded with a debt of twenty 
 millions on that account, and the interruption to 
 all their mercantile concerns, by the deviation 
 both of funds and shipping. Equity and true po- 
 licy dictate that the nation at large are bound to 
 bear these expences, as for the defence of other 
 commerce. 
 
 The reasonableness, therefore, of this propo- 
 sition becomes apparent from what has been ad- 
 duced; and the public purse must bear, in fu- 
 ture, every extra charge beyond that of the 
 agreed establishment. It is evident that the 
 appointments of staff and other officers as the 
 Indian register exhibits, has been erroneously 
 extended, but over this the Court of Directors 
 have as little controul, as the towns of Liver- 
 
 c
 
 18 
 
 pool, Hull, &c. their sole patronage in the mili- 
 tary branch being confined to a few cadets. 
 
 All persons that feel an interest for the cause 
 of religion, will not be averse to some principle 
 of this kind relative to the church establishment. 
 The chaplains throughout India may be forty ; 
 and although amenable to the government for 
 any neglect, malversation, or improper con- 
 duct, and notwithstanding they have been se- 
 lected by the Court with every attention to their 
 moral and religious deportment and knowledge, 
 a head to superintend and regulate such an esta- 
 blishment in spiritual matters is highly expedi- 
 ent, however it may be revolted at, on the 
 score of economy by some, and from different 
 motives by others. 
 
 This patronage of bishop and archdeacons is 
 intended to be a part of the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury's jurisdiction ; that it will be duly consi- 
 dered, and proper characters appointed, his high 
 credit and respectability are a guarantee ; but it 
 is submitted, with great deference, whether those 
 who have been labouring in that vineyard should 
 not be, now, and hereafter, in the line of promo- 
 tion to the archdeacon's situation, which the se- 
 nior chaplain, or any other more competent per*
 
 19 
 
 Son, should enjoy, as well as his chaplaincy. 
 This arrangement would act as a stimulus to 
 the proper performance of the duty, and would 
 iiot create that sensation of disorder or appre- 
 hension throughout the country, as by sending 
 from hence persons who are unacquainted with, 
 the usages, manners, and language of the natives. 
 
 THE THIRTEENTH PROPOSITION, 
 
 Of all the expedients tending to alienate the 
 minds of the Hindoos or Mahomedans, the inha- 
 bitants of India, the one under contemplation, 
 by the different sectarists, will be productive of 
 that evil to the greatest extent. It is needless to 
 enlarge on the enthusiasm that generally per- 
 vades those characters, when invested with the 
 office of missionary. Whatever zeal, perseve^ 
 ranee, or energy, any merchant may employ irt 
 pursuit of wealth, each of these characters wilt 
 surpass ; for the mind of man is so constituted, 
 that when conversion is the ruling passion, there 
 are no lengths to which it will not be carried; 
 and the most sanguinary and inveterate contests, 
 animosities, and warfare, have been those where 
 religion has actuated the passions. 
 
 To prejudge those who may be allowed to 
 proceed thither, would be invidioas and uncan- 
 did; but what is the possibility of their union
 
 4$ 20 
 
 in preaching one and the same doctrine ? Zealots 
 alike in their cause, the Christian religion will be 
 disgraced by theirseveral differences and enmities; 
 and " I am of Paul,'' and " I of Apollos," will 
 be prevalent with all their converts. In this 
 civilized country, it is apparent what bickerings 
 and party dissensions exist amongst the different 
 sectarists; can less be expected from the mis- 
 sionaries abroad? The uninstructed Indians will 
 be at a loss to ascertain the cause, and request 
 that they may not be disturbed in their own faith, 
 until those, who have come from the same coun- 
 try with their governors, are more agreed in 
 their opinions, as to the best way to comfort 
 here and happiness hereafter. 
 
 The proposition is a truism, but the mode of 
 improvement is the object of doubt. The designs 
 and intentions of all sects may be equally bene- 
 volent, and we shall be pledged to afford them 
 facilities, as far as is consistent with the prim:$- 
 ples on which the natives of India have relied for 
 the free exercise of their religion. What a con- 
 tradiction must exist if we are to allow Catho- 
 lics, missionaries of the Church Establishment, 
 Trinitarians, Socinians, Unitarians, Moravians, 
 Baptists, Quakers, Presbyterians, and Methodists 
 of Wesley and Whitfield's persuasions, Bible 
 Christians, and Gospel Teachers, and various other 
 sectarists, as so many separate instructors to go- 
 to India? In truth, they may then as well siaj
 
 af 
 
 at home, nay better; for the differences on such an 
 important slibject will disgrace us as a nation. It 
 must dppefSr that we had not yet determined on 
 the best mode of serving our Creator, and ful- 
 filling our several duties, and yet come to in- 
 struct them in that we have not ourselves agreed 
 
 upon. 
 
 mbil bsTffJCCs -b-fi 
 
 is **. 
 
 'THE FOURTEENTH PROPOSITION. 
 
 The assumption by government of '.'authority 
 over the two seminaries, for the education of 
 the civil and military servants for India, is not 
 to be justified, although 'some recent 1 events 
 of ^urnuTf in the. yppth^ or indecisioVi in the 
 
 ^N ' ' ' ' f 1 1 ! 4 4* I'.l'J .'' '"."" 
 
 Court, , pr even of.culpaDility and partiality m 
 
 'i 
 one Or I wb "instances, may seem to support it; 
 
 the consciousness as to mismanagement having 
 been so fully admitted, as to induce the mem- 
 
 f ' i i p*^'' i- ^*(i f^'/t *it r ~ n ^"t ti* ' T '*- " t w* 
 
 bers to relinquish, in. future, their control and 
 interference, by divesting themselves of the 
 power the Court have assumed, it is not irre- 
 levant to ask, which of the departments of the 
 state, rias not, at one time or other, through 
 interest, or other motive, glossed over palpable 
 and gross conduct of their subordinates? and 
 can it be supposed, that by having the patronage 
 of such seminaries, they will be more purely 
 Administered than by the Directors ? When it is
 
 considered that the vehemence and impetuosity 
 of youth have, at times, in all the seminaries of 
 the kingdom, produced convulsions and rebel- 
 lion, is it cause for wonder, that youths, of the 
 age from sixteen to eighteen, all of the aristo^ 
 cratic community, are prone to revolt and com- 
 mit excesses ? With the expectations of filling 
 high situations, and separated from the variety 
 and degree of rank that preserves the equipoise 
 of other institutions, at the commencement of a 
 system, it was to be expected that they would 
 struggle far some latitude pf freedom : but the 
 Directors have been considered the cause of the 
 $vil, in not being so decided as to inflict sunv 
 mary punishment ; or after having determined 
 to punish, by the expulsion of a few, afterwards 
 restoring therrj, and not adhering to their deci- 
 sions, which were required to be unalterable, like 
 the laws of the Medes and Persians. 
 
 The motives for this conduct may have been 
 
 '' . 
 
 suspected in one or two particular cases, but 
 
 1 
 
 the persuasion should be fully authenticated be- 
 fore guilt is inferred. Compassion towards the 
 youths, commiseration towards their parents, the 
 proposed correction of the system of manage- 
 ment in future, it is believed, were the most 
 prevalent motives, and fhe charity of them, 
 should have been admitted, before so heavy a. 
 censure had been passed by candid and superior 
 minds. The habit of viewing vacillation through
 
 $3 
 
 all departments, but not punishing to the ex* 
 treme of severity, might have suggested other 
 means of correction than such a public censure. 
 It is natural to ask those who now sit in judg* 
 ment on these instances, (few as they, have 
 been,) who would not, under similar circum- 
 stances, have admitted the plea of parental affec- 
 tion or influence? There is a strictness abroad, 
 on some points, beyond all reasonable argument, 
 suitable, perhaps, to the disciples of the Stagy~ 
 rite, but not those of Christian functionaries, or 
 philosophers. 
 
 The clause is a degradation of those to 
 whom the administration of the affairs of a grea 
 empire are entrusted. A superintending power 
 established over them by act of Parliament, foe 
 the government qf a seminary of boys, is an in- 
 consistency beyond all precedent ; indeed, from 
 the principles of education to fit the youths for 
 legislators, they will be disqualified for subordi- 
 nate offices, but in which their ability is equally 
 necessary. 
 
 Having thus detailed opinions pn the several 
 Propositions submitted to the legislature by his 
 Majesty's Ministers op a renewal of the Ea^t India 
 Company's Charter, it is not irrelevant to vyiiH\ 
 up the subject by some independent and un- 
 biassed observations. 
 
 1st. Chqnge of any system that has been sanc- 
 tioned by long prescriptive usage, is not only 
 jiazardous to the commonweal, but highly ot}-?
 
 M 
 
 jectioriable, unless some imperious urgency arises, 
 or when the result has been detrimental, or art 
 obviously more beneficial system can be substi- 
 tuted. 
 
 2d. Hence an establishment of two hundred 
 years, that has been in so many instances under 
 the cognizance and consideration of the legis- 
 
 " O 
 
 lature, cannot experience any radical change, 
 without involving great and hazardous events 
 ultimately, if not directly. 
 
 3d. The application of certain regulations, if 
 correctly adhered to, might secure the East India 
 Company's and the national welfare. In - the sub- 
 sisting controversy, no man in his right mind 
 can assert that it is reasonable to change for the 
 sake of change, or to try experiment where the 
 stake is so important : and as nothing is proved 
 of the good effects of a change of system but 
 on speculative grounds, how great should be our 
 caution in admitting a variation that may be 
 ruinous ! 
 
 4th. To the nation at large it is matter of in* 
 difference, provided the aggregate quantum of 
 benefit is the greatest that can be obtained, who 
 are the parties by whom it is communicated; but 
 it behoves them to consider what effect inno- 
 vation may have upon benefits already experi- 
 enced. 
 
 5th. The case between the East India Company 
 and the out-ports, as well as the port of London, 
 involves points of that high consideration, that
 
 25 
 
 should excite the most serious reflection as to 
 its ultimate issue, before it be adopted. This 
 must be apparent to every sober, thinking mind; 
 it will be an era of that importance, which affects 
 the vital interests of both India and this country. 
 
 6th. Divested, as the Directors individually are, 
 of all interest as to the commerce with India, 
 (their patronage of youths for minor situations 
 riot being at issue,) it is for the public at large 
 to judge who are likely, on this important ques- 
 tion, to be the best-informed parties those who 
 have dedicated years to its consideration, and 
 been in the actual conduct of the concerns, and 
 men of no mean talents, or those of his Majes- 
 ty's councils, or the parties interested in the in- 
 novation. In fine, what but a sense of duty 
 should induce all the individuals of the Court of 
 Directors to disagree with the government? 
 
 7th. It behoves, therefore, the legislature to 
 consider and weigh well the losses that a wild 
 competition may excite, and to consider the dis* 
 tresses the country has been involved in through 
 the madness of such theorists; and how far theEast 
 India Company monopoly, regulated and modi- 
 fied as it has been, may by still farther modificaA 
 tions and enactments be rendered effectual to all 
 legitimate and wholesome intercourse with India, 
 by suffering no discretion in the Court of 
 Directors, (should they have to furnish tonnage 
 for individuals,) to vary the plans that may be 
 adopted.
 
 26 
 
 8th. The wonderful advantages derived to this 
 country through the medium of the East India 
 Company, have given her a rank and pre-emi- 
 nence in all civilized countries; these benefits 
 should be appreciated not by speculative adven- 
 turers, but by the sober-minded statesmen, look- 
 ing to the consequences of the proposed change. 
 Every settlement and island in the East has been 
 brought under the British dominion through the 
 East India Company. Envy and calumny ba- 
 nished Aristides. The clamour of the interested, 
 the private influence of those who have acquired 
 fortunes in her dominions, and the jealousy of 
 patronage, may, now, annihilate the East India 
 Company, unless upheld by the independent 
 and patriotic part of the kingdom. 
 
 9th. Should, at length, the open trade be to- 
 lerated, certain established principles cannot be 
 overlooked, to prevent the evils of such an in- 
 tercourse. The ships should be confined to the 
 presidencies, nor any European permitted to havq 
 more indulgence than the free mariner. As tq 
 the interior, the government there should have 
 positive directions and authority (without the 
 (Jread of appeals to courts here) to send to Eng- 
 land whatever Europeans have not the Company's 
 licence, or who may remain over the season. 
 None but licenced Europeans should be allowed 
 to navigate from the Peninsula to China, or to 
 reside there, or to trade from port to port in 
 India pr China.
 
 27 
 
 10th. Should East Indian shipping be legalized 
 in this line of commerce, notwithstanding all that 
 has been represented, it should be confined to 
 the transit of East India produce, and the manu- 
 factures of this country to India ; and the owners 
 of such ships, and of the cargoes, should be 
 resident in India, nor should they be entitled to 
 any other register than would authorize such 
 transit. 'And all ships, as well as other manufac- 
 tures and productions of the East Indies, intro- 
 duced into these kingdoms, either for sale or the 
 equipment of shipping, or any other purpose 
 whatever, should be liable to duties of customs 
 or excise, (and a pro rata duty if they have been 
 in use,) with a declared intent in the act to pro- 
 tect the manufacturers, artisans, and establish- 
 ments of the British islands. 
 
 Constantly reprobating the wild speculations 
 in commerce, the theory of adventurers hav- 
 ing brought the country to a very low ebb in 
 commercial transactions, the speculations and 
 theories of successive cabinets are thought mat- 
 ters of course; and what was relied upon as a 
 foundation on which generations might safely 
 embark their property, has now no permanency. 
 The principles of former legislators are done 
 away ; the acts of Parliament, however beneficial 
 in their operation, are only a lease for twenty 
 years; and short-sighted characters, forgetting 
 their own declared sentiments, and the principles
 
 18 
 
 have formerly supported, are as prone to 
 as the boufequiers of the country. 
 
 We are, unfortunately, arrived at an era when 
 a total -change of all former principles seems ne- 
 cessary to establish superiority of talent, and in 
 rfetfgiori as well as politics and commerce, the 
 sneient ordeY of things is to be reversed. Ex- 
 perimental vacillation is the order of the da^r; 
 and should one not succeed, others must be 
 adopted, rather than continue as we have been, 
 however prosperous. 
 
 Some fatality attends all states, and brings 
 them to that decline which those before them 
 have experienced. Every deviation from trfed 
 principles, which have hitherto upheld the em- 
 pire, its commerce and prosperity, is termed 
 liberality, and adhering to those principlesbigotry 
 or ignorance; dreading (he imputation of either, 
 we rush headlong into change, through apprehen- 
 sion of being stigmatized as illiberal ; and the 
 religion of our fathers, and the former policy of 
 the country, are to be sacrificed at the shrine of 
 speculation and untried theory. 
 
 Although the Propositions have had the con- 
 sent of the Commons,, and it has been urged, that 
 it is needless to contend against a stream, ( violent,, 
 impetuous, and resistless, as the mountain tor- 
 rent,) which has not been diverted or withheld, 
 notwithstanding the most respectable and rational 
 evidences, it is to be hoped cooler moments may
 
 succeed, and that in the formation of the bill, 
 and the consideration of its clauses in both 
 houses, expedients and amendments may occur 
 to render it less injurious than the outline pre- 
 scribes, or the termination of this unhappy con- 
 troversy will be severely felt by posterity. India 
 will become a millstone round the neck of Great 
 Britain, and be her bane, as it has been in great 
 part her exaltation. 
 
 END Of PART If.
 
 FEINTED BY J. DARLING, 
 
 Spnerta H3r0 
 
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