-tter to the Hight Hon- upable ^ ac ; tc -> > Present -'rocee- Concernl I 3t-lnd5- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES LETTER To the RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD NORTH, &c.&c.&c. [ Price One Shilling. ] J>5 [ 1 ] .1773 t.. LETTER To the RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD NORTH. MY LORD, o I Gave all the attention due to the im- portance of the fubjeft, and to your Lordfhip's great abilities, when on the 5th of April you opened to the Houfe of if Commons a propofition, tending to permit ^4 the territorial acquifitions and revenues, f lately obtained in India, to remain, under reftridions and regulations, in the B pofleffion ,'554761) pofleflion of the Company, during a term not exceeding fix years j the public to forego all participation in the produce thereof, until the Company fhall have repaid fuch fums of money as (hall be ad- vanced by the public for the relief of the Company, and the bond-debt of the Com* jpany be reduced to 1,500,000!. from thenceforth, during the remainder of the faid term, three fourth parts of the fur- plus nett profits of the Company at home, above rhe fum of 81. per cent, per anntwi^ upon their capital fTock, to be paid into the Exchequer, for the ufe of the public ; and the remaining fourth part to be ap- plied, either in further reducing the Com- pany's bond-debt, or for compofing a fund to be fet apart for the ufe of the Company in the cafe of extraordinary emergencies. Such is the fubftance, and nearly fuch \vere the words, of your Lordfhip's mo- tion. The Company can be fupported by no means fhort of thofe propofed by you for their prefent relief. The terms of participation (3] .participation are certainly equal to what they can, in any degree of moderation, expect. Nay, I think, they exceed every reafonable expectation which the Com- pany could form, and that the public have a juft claim upon the whole of that fourth remaining part, which, in the question and the resolution upon it, is to be applied ei- ther in further reducing the Company's bond- debt, or to the ufe of the Company " in extraordinary emergencies. Although, upon a medium of many years back, the Company have divided 81. per cent, and fallacious calculations have been produced to juftify fuch exceffive di- vidends ; yet it is certain that thefe profits, fairly ftated, did not entitle them to divide above fix. An addition of 2!. per cent. principally arifing out of the territorial re- venue, now acknowledged to belong to the public, will furely be fu^ficient for the Company. Were the furplus fourth to be appro- priated to an increase of the Company'? B .2 ca * ta l [4] capital in trade, as your Lordfliip, in your fpeech, wiihed it might, and you called upon the Houfe for the opinion of other members upon that fubjeft; fuch increafe, while it augmented the revenue of the public, would accumulate profits, which, although they could not be applied to the immediate benefit of the Company in an increafe of dividend, muft become their property, whenever their agreement with the public mould ceafe. In the poffible fuppofition that the trade might not admit of an increafed capital, provifion mould furely be made for lending that fourth part to the public, at a very moderate rate of intereft, if any at all mould be thought reafonable. But as your Lordfhip's invi- tation to the members, to declare their opinion upon the moft proper purpofes to which that furplus might be applied, was uot accepted, the queftion puffed in the original words of the motion ; and I much fear, that extraordinary emergencies can never be interpreted to mean that increafe 4 of [5 J of capital, from which alone the public can derive any advantage. Such emer- gencies may much more probably here- after arife from, and be conftrued to mean, the Company's bond-debts in the Indies, which, by accounts received from India fiuce your Lordfhip's fpeech on the 5th of April, amount to 1,416,000 1. Thefe have not been taken into your Lordfhip's con- templation, nor into any of the calculations formed upon theftateof the Company. No provifion has been made for their difcharge ; nay, their amount, until now, was not precifely known. No redactions appear to be thought on, to prevent their increafe ; nor can it be laid with certainty, that emergencies may not arife in India to render an increafe of debt neceflary. Yet the creditors of the Company there have, and will have, as good a claim as thofe in Europe, who have lent fums to the Company, which they had no right to borrow. Equity and compaflion will be equally ftrong in both cafes, and law but equally weak. I have I have dwelt thuslong uponthe impro- priety of applying the furplus profits to the ufe of the Company, not (b much from a belief that they will become an object much worthy of attention during the remainder of the Company's term, as from an ap- prehenfion that fuch a precedent may be prejudicial to the public in any future bargain with the prefent or any other Company. I have no doubt of your Lordfhip's in- duftry in enquiring into the nature of the evils to be remedied, and in devifing the beft means to eradicate them, and prevent their return. But, forgive me for faying it, I as lit- tle doubt the impoffibility, by any regu- lations which can be formed, of curing evils fo interewoven with the original con- ftitution of the Company, as, in the words of the Poet, to " grow with their growth, and ftrengthen with their ftrength." In fuch cafes, if you would eradicate the evils, you muft deftroy the patient. Their evidence is coeval and infeparable. The 171 The evils to be cured are, gambling in the alley, and frauds and malverfations at home and abroad. The caufes are felf-evident : an open and indifcriminate admiffion of all defcrip- tions of men, and a right in fuch men, under certain real or fictitious qualifica- tions, to choofe their Directors, and after fuch choice to controll their councils and actions, during the (hort continuance to which their exiftence is limited. Thefe caufes were admitted into the original for- mation of the Company, and became a part of its cflence : remove thefe, and you annihilate the Company. But while this Company remains, the evils arifing from thofe caufes muft exift. 'Fhey grew as the Company flourifhed ; but, feeding up- on its vitals in proportion as the nourifh- ment increafed, they confumed that fup- piy by which both were fupported : They now decline together ; and will rife toge- ther, if the Company fliould ever revive. Palliatives may be ufed, temporary expe- dients [8] dients may be tried : fuch have been ufed and tried; and every further endeavour will only ferve to prove the inefficacy and futility of fuch attempts, while the caufe remains rooted and untouched. As the poflefiions of the Company were extended in India, the Direction increa- fed in importance, and became after their acquilition of the territorial revenues one of the great objects of avarice, ambition, and party ; artifice, fraud, and corruption, means ufual and natural to them, were employed to operate upon the body of electors, then compofed of men moft fuf- ceptible of their impreffions: the fober, honeft, and difcreet Proprietors of the late liflte retired from the Company, fatisfied with a large and unexpected increafe of fortune; and were fucceeded by adven- turers and gameflers, a fluctuating fet, who bought in or fold out as their ever- varying fpeculations directed them. The body of Directors, whofe annual election depended upon fuch conflituents, were [9] were equally fubjeft to viciffitude and change : in the numberlefs fhiftings of Proprietors new men were to be gratified ; and in every change of Directors 'the friends of thofe difplaced were to be won over by new gratifications. In either event the intereft of the publick was facrificed, and the plunder of the Indies made the reward and wages of corrupt fervices, while the uncertainty of the tenure fpread quicker and wider the fcenes of cruelty and devaftation. It may not be improper here to infert Lord dive's defcription of the General Courts and the Court of Directors, with which he clofed his fpeecb in the Houfe of Commons on the ^oth March 1/72. " With regard to the General Courts I believe I need not dwell long on the confequence of them. Their violent pro- ceedings have been fubverfive of the au- thority of the Court of Directors. The agents abroad have known this: They have therefore never fcrupled to fet the C orders [ 10] orders of Directors at defiance, when it was their intereft to difobey them; and they have efcaped punifhment, by means of the over-awing intereft of individuals at General Courts. Thus have General Courts co-operated with the Court of Di- rectors in the mifchiefs that have arifen in Bengal; whilfl annual contefted elec- tions have in a manner deprived the Di- rectors of the power of eftablifhing any authority over their fervants. The firft half of the year is employed in freeing themfelves from the obligations contrac- ted by their laft election ; and the fecond ftalf is wafted in incurring new obliga- tions, and fecuring their election for the next year, by daily Sacrifices of fbme in- tereft of the Company. The Direction, notvvithftanding all thefe manoeuvres, has been fo fluctuating and unfettled, that new and contradictory orders have been frequently fent out ; and the fervants, who to fay the truth have generally un- derftood the intereft of the Company much much better than the Directors, have in many inftances followed their own opinion, in oppofition to theirs." Yet great as the evils have been arifing from an annual choice of Directors, a prolongation of their term would be a hazardous expedient, until a better mode of choofmg (hall enfure a better choice. The furprifing turn of events, by which the Company was fnatched from the brink of deftrudtion and raifed to the throne of Aurungzebe in the moft flourifliing part of his dominions, is too well known to require a repetition here, even were it ne- ceflary to my prefent purpofe. The caufes which have fince produced another re- verie, equally aftoniming, are various and numberlefs. Many of them are ftill hid- den in the obfcurity natural and neceflary to guilt ; but the fatal effects are notori- ous : The Company is bankrupt, and India is ruined. Nations rife to profperity and affluence by flow degrees ; but their fall may be fudden and precipitate. The late C 2 flourifh- [ *] nourifhing ftate of India was the work of ages : the defolation now fpread over it, is, as we have feen, the operation of a very few years ; whije Britain, far from being enriched, is impoverimed by its fpoils. The fcenes of villainy and horror, de- fcribed in Fielding's Life of Jonathan Wild the Great, have been realized and heightened there ; fo far will avarice and rapacity furpafs all the creative powers of invention, in the purluit of their objects. The mifcreant actors who ftarted up in- to Nabobs m India, are iince become Lords of no inconfiderable pofleffions in Great Britain ; and fome are become legiflators here, who, by all laws human and divine, would for far leis crimes committed in any civilized country, be punimed there with imprifonment, conhfcation, and death. But India became lawlefs from the moment (he pafled under our government ; the fceptre, wrefled from the gentle grafp '3 'of [ '3] of Afiatic defpotifm, was thrown afide, and rods of iron put into the hands of Britifh barbarians : No rule for direction, no fanftion for punifhment, no interefl in the rulers for the prote&ion and perferva- tion of the governed, prevailed there. The harveft was abundant, but the feafon Ihort and precarious : not a moment was loft in gathering, not an art Was omit- ted that could expedite the hoarding. Pride and emulation ftimulated avarice ; and the foleconteft was, who mould re- turn to that home, which they aimed all quitted beggars, with the greateft heap of crimes and of plunder. The firft labourers tired and fatiated left the gleanings to others, who are fince fucceffively returned with fmaller, but not inconiiderable, bundles ; and the only men left deftitute are the unhappy natives, to whom the whole of right belonged. Wealth operates on a nation as food on the animal body : to give ftrength and health, it muft gradually diffufe itfelf, pro- perly f'O perly prepared and digefted, over all the parts through an infinite variety of chan- nels. Too great a quantity thrown in at once over-charges the fyftem, flops the paflages, and interrupts circulation ; pro- ducing difeafe, langour, and death. Wealth acquired by manufacture and commerce, the earnings of all ranks of men from the labourer up to the mer- chant-exporter, will enrich all with pro- portional mares of profit and reward ; while a fudden influx, poured in by rapine and fraud, choaks the channels of in- duftry, deluging and impoverifhing the face of that country which they were wont to fertilize. Such was the fate of Jlome when Carthage was plundered ; and fuch have been the confequences derived to Great Britain, from Eaft-India devafla- tion. Although the heavy diftrefles under which we continue to labour, have had their commencement with the frauds and mifconduft of the Company, and the enor- mities t'5] mities committed by their fervants; air though the lofles and ruin of thoufands in thefe kingdoms proceed evidently and im- mediately from that polluted fource ; yet there have been other concurrent caufes, and it would not be fair to lay the whole of our calamitous fituation to the charge of one of thofe caules only, although it may have mixed with and aggravated our misfortunes in every other inftance. The fame inclement winds blowing from the eaft would have blafted our har- vefts, and {hinted our cattle, although they had not wafted thofe fwarms of lo- cufls to us. But increafed confumption produces greater fcarcity ; and gold lavimed in feducing the laborious to idlenefs, and fpreading the contagion of vicious exam- ple, increafes price, while it difcourages in- duftry. If the company could be faved for the benefit of the public, they cannot be in better hands than your Lordfhip's. Si Pergama dextra defsndi poffent, etiam hac de- 3 < f*f* 16 ] fenfafuiffent. And this will be the only comfort of much toil and difappointed la- bour, which will remain with your Lord~ fhip, in your attempts to refcue from de- ferved ruin a race of ignorant and wicked barbarians, offenfive .-to heaven and earth. I do not mean to include under this de- fcription of the aggregate body every indi- vidual of which it is comppfed, among whom there are, no doubt, many, who, free from the crimes of their aflbciates, are not difgraced by being members of fuch a community. Some there certainly are, who, Awhile they have acquired wealth by honeft means, have with a Gregory and a Haftings gained no lefs honour by an avowed difap- probation of thofe who have enriched themfelves by fraud and rapine. The formation of the Eaft India Com- pany, ill adapted even to the narrow object of their firil inftitution, became abfolutely incompatible with the elevated fituation to which they have been fince raifed. If it was ill-judged to truft the choice of Directors, who had only afewfmall facto- ries ries to govern in India, and a trade not very confiderable to direct, to a company compofed of all forts of men, the impro- priety of i'uch a mode of election became greater as the truft grew more important, the electors lefs fit to be confided in, and the temptations to a wrong choice incom- parably ftronger. The trade to the Eaft Indies, even as it flood in the reign of Elizabeth, when we had no pofleffions there, when our capital did not exceed 26,000!. nor our (hipping one thoufand four hundred and thirty tons, fhould not have been trufted to Directors chofen by fuch men as (land qualified to vote upon the prefent lift of Proprietors. But that fuch men mould choofe not only the Di- rectors of the moft extenfive and important trade known to the mercantile world, but that the fame vote mould raife them to ar- bitrary dominion over an empire, contain- ing from fifteen to feventeen millions of inhabitants, and that every year the fame mode of election mould be repeated, is an D abfurdity abfurdity not to be paralleled in any time* or in any country. It is true, that all are admitted to pur- chaie flock in the Dutch Eaft-India Com- pany ; and although the whole of their ca- pital be but about 600,000 1. upon which the dividend is, at a medium, about 15 per cent, nearly five of which is paid in the firft place to the States ; and although none of tbofe furprifing revolutions have hap- pened in their Eaft-India pofletfions* which have opened that wide field of ipeculation that has drawn adventurers from all parts of Europe into our company; yet gamblers in Dutch Eaft-India ftock are not unknown in the United Provinces. The numbers in- deed are few, nnd the evils confined within a narrow compafs. But were the holders of Dutch itock, under certain money'd qualifications, entrufted with an annuai choice of their Directors, who, Jike ours, are ibveieigns in India, and with a conftant control over them ; inconfiderable as the fums are, to which their ftock and divi* dead [ '9] dend amount, the offices to be difpofed of in Batavia, and the other extenfive Dutch Settlements in India, under the influence of iuch .conftituents over the creatures of their choice, would deluge the Dutch pofieffions xvith the tame enormities that have de- flroyed Bengal, and would fpread over the United Provinces the fame misfortunes which have lately overtaken fome of their inhabitants, lefs cautious adventurers in our Baft-India flock than their wary country- men have been, and are wont to be. Whoever perufes the lift of our Pro- prietors will fee by the quantity of flock poflefled by each, calculated as qualifica- tions to choofe and for being chofen Di- rectors, that elections are the object to which the general attention was entirely directed. Their hopes and expectations arofe from an unjuft and partial adminif- tration, favourable to them and their friends j not from a wile and honefl con- duct, equally beneficial to all : they trufl- ed to peculation, and not to fair profit ; D 2 while 1*0] while Nabobs, placing the immenfe bulk of their fortune in other fecurities, beyond the reach of that tottering edifice whofe foundations they had fapped, left jufl enough behind to entitle them to (hare in the property and difpofal of the materials of the ruin. The Proprietors of flock, in Holland, have not the choice of their Directors, nor have any but the Directors a decifive voice in the management of affairs. Up- on the death of a Director, for the Di- rectors are continued for life, thofe of the Chamber where the vacancy happens, and who mean to be prefent at the election, fummon an equal number of Proprietors, pofleffed of about 550!. ftock, to attend, and to concur with them in the nomina- tion of three perfons of the Company, out of whom a fucceflbr to the deceafed is chofen by the Sovereign, who has alfo a voice, by his reprefentative, in each of the fix Chambers. Seven Proprietors are admitted into the afTembly of 17 Direc- tor?, t *] tors, deputed by all the Chambers, to meet twice a year -, thofe Proprietors may make any propofitions they think proper, and deliver their opinions upon any fubjet propofed ; but they have no vote in the decifion of any controverted queftions. Here end the functions of the meer Dutch ftpck-holder, with refpedt to the general concerns of the Company ; and, thus re- ilrained from any influence over the Di- rectors, and from any management of the Company's affairs, it is of little impor- tance, with refpect to thefe objects, who they are who compofe the body of Pro- prietors in Holland. But it is far other- wife in our Company ; and I will venture to affert, that, while elections remain in the body of Proprietors, whatever the mo- ney'd qualifications may be made, no re- gulations or restrictions that can be deviled will prove fufficienr. Thofe reftrictions and regulations muft either originate in Parliament, or in the Company. But, wherever they take their 6 rife, jjfe, they mould be confirmed, and their duration fecured, by Parliamentary autho- rity ; and this mould be done in the very firft inftance, as proper regulations and re- ftrielions are, in the queftion of the 5th of April, made the condition under which the pofleilion of the territorial revenues is to remain with the Company during a term not exceeding fix years. If the condition be not accomplished, and the regulations and reftriftions expref- fly and compleatly fettled at the time that the grant to the Company is made, it muft remain refumable upon non-performance; and fhould die whole or any coniiderable part be fufFered to reft upon the precari- ous ground of the Company's by-laws, uncertainty and infecurity will be the na- tural confequences, in both cafes ; and thefe, in their turn, will produce the fame fpirit of gambling and adventure which has already proved fo very fatal. Yet, my Lord, it will be impoffible in this feflion of parliament to perfect that great great work of legiflation. The Company never can do it : they are equally unfit to enaft or to execute. Thofe among them, who know moft, are the leaft fit to be ad- vifed with: they are the authors of thofe very mifchiefs you would redrefs. Yet, in the printed fpeech of their noble apo- logift, page 42 to 46, " The Company's fervants have not been the authors of thofe ads of violence and oppreffion of which it is the fafhion to accufe them. Sued crimes were committed by the natives of the country acting as their agents, and for the moft part without their know- ledge," until u they were dragged into the kennel by thofe agents and Banyans :" then indeed they began to know fome- thing of the matter, for, " then the a&s of violence begin." The Banyan, charm- jng as a fair lady to the Company's fer- vants, lays his bags of filver before him to-day, gold to-morrow, jewels the next day; and if thefe fail, he then tempts him in the way of his profeffion, which is is trade. The Company's fervant has no refource, for he cannot fly. In iliort, flefh and blood cannot bear it. Thus are poor Englifh youths of fixteen fent out by the Company to be writers, not worth a groat, corrupted in their principles at their very fir ft fetting out, left at the mercy of Banyans and in a ftate of dependence under them, who commit fuch a<5ls of violence and oppreflion as their intereft prompts them to, under the pretended fanction and authority of the Company's fervant." Good God! what mufl thofe Directors be, who fend out fuch boys in jftations which command fuch influence ! And what muft thofe intrufted with power in India be, who permit its exercife ! But wonder will ceafe, when we confider, that Directors muft bind their conftitu- ents to them by obligations, ftronger in proportion to the unfitnefs of the perfon recommended and preferred ; and that the fervants of the Company in high ftations role by the fame fteps, and learned in the fame t *5] fame fchools thofe admirable maxims of government, which they ever after prao tiftd. Hence, exclaims our author, ari- fes the clamour againft the Englifh Gen- tlemen in India." Poor Gentlemen ! while our hearts bleed for the oppreffiou and dependance under which they groaned in India* dragged through kennels, heavi- ly loaded with filver, gold, jewels, and precious merchandife by cruel Banyans ; we are at length relieved in page 46, by the pleafmg picture of thofe Engli/h Gen- tlemen* releafed from their captivity* " in a retired fituation when returned to Eng- land, wheii they are no longer Nabobs and Sovereigns of the Eaft j nothing ty- rannical in their difpofitions towards their Inferiors :" poffibly the tables kept for their upper fervants, may have been open to the late proprietors of the houfes which they inhabit. " Good and humane ma- flers to their fervants ;" fome of whom they formerly ferved in the loweft fta- tions. " Charitable, benevolent, gener- E ous v c 26 J ous and hofpitable," to every poor bo- rough that would {hake off the yoke of natural intereft. " Not one character fuf- ficiently flagitious for Mr. Foote to exhi- bit on the Theatre in the Hay-market." Here his Lordmip miftakes the nature of thofe characters which are fit for far- cical reprefentations. Nabobs black with crimes of the deepeft dye, are not objects to ex- cite laughter : the magnitude of both de- mands a more folemn audience, and points them out as proper perfons in a more feri- ous drama* Poffibly their wives, dreft out in diamonds and oriental pearls, might not improperly blaze in the character of the Queen of Shebah, and, with an auk- ward difplay of wealth in clumfy magni- ficence and mifplaced ornaments, become only the objects of mirth and ridicule ; could the fpectator forget that the deftruc- tion of India and infamv of Great Britain were the price at which all this coftly finery was purchased. Previous Previous to Lord Clive's vindication of the much injured and mifreprefented ier- vants of the Company in India, he gives a defcription of the inhabitants of Indoftan, whom he reprefents, efpecially thofe of Bengal, as fervile, mean, fubmiffive, and humble, in inferior ftations ; and in fupe- rior, luxurious, effeminate, tyrannical, treacherous, venal, cruel." Whether the contraft be fo great as he would have us believe, between the fervants of the Com- pany and the Indians in fuperior ftations, and whether thofe Engttjh Gentlemen had not adopted and improved upon the laft fet of Eaftern qualities, will beft appear in the reports of the Select and Secret Com- mittees. But the inftruction to be col- lected from the aflertions and characters contained in the fpeech of the Peer and Hero of Plafley.is plainly this : the enor- mities committed in India are all to be laid to the account of the native Indians, Guard againft them by reftrictions and regulations ! free the fervants of the Com- E 3 pany pany from their tyrannic influence xvhiph they cannot now fy ! and all may be fafely trufted tothofe humane Eng/i/h Gen* ikmen, " who were the Cabinet-Council that planned every thing, and with the Officers of the navy and army, who have had great pare in the execution, juftly claim, not only a part, but the whole me- rit of our great acquifitions. p. 46. It is true, indeed, that the whole of the inland trade, upon which depends in fome degree the receipt of the revenues, and almoft totally the happinefs and proiperity of the people, has been taken into the hands of thofe meritorious fervants of the Compa- ny, and of their agents, which they have carried on in a capacity before unknown ; for they have traded, not only as merchants, but as fovereigns ; and, by grafping at the whole of the inland trade, have taken the bread out of the mouths of thoufands and thoufands of merchants, who ufed for- merly to carry on that trade, and who are , jaow reduced to beggary. To this caufe the [ *9] the diftrefs in Bengal, as far as it relates to the inland trade~, is owing." p. 48, 49. And one inftance of that diftrefs, has been the famine of 1770, in which many thou- fands fell a facrifice to the avarice and ty ranny of thofe mo ft merciful monopolifts. But we are told, in p. 43, that " The Company's fervants have not been the authors of thofe acts of violence and op- preffiou, of which it is the fafliion to ac- cufe them ; and that fuch crimes are com- mitted by the natives of the country, act- ing as their agents, and for the mofl part without their knowledge." However cruel thofe agents may have been to their unhappy countrymen, their tendernefs and honefty towards their ma- flers are exemplary and unexampled, en- riching them with the fpoil, while they faved them from any participation of the guilt by which it was acquired, and from the horrors with which their charitable, benevolent, generous, and hoffitable fouls, would 1 3 J would be affe&ed by the knowledge of fuch abominations. The leflbn thus taught by that noble Lord's fpeech, is no bad fpecimen of the advice likely to be given to your Lordmip by any of the inferior Nabobs, mould any be taken into your councils, for the formation of laws properly adapted to the prefenfe ftate of India. Adequate remedies and preventives can^ not now be hoped for. A few out-lines are all that the wit of man can produce from the materials with which your Lord- fhip is furnilhed. The reft muft be left, at leaft for the prefent, to the wifdom and integrity of thofe who (hall be entrufted with the adminiftration of government in India. Speculative fyftems of legiflation are hazardous ; but thofe tranfplanted from one country to another, diffimilar in al- moft every circumftance, will certainly fail. A perfect plan to be formed at once, is of all imaginary entities the moft vain and chimerical. 2 The [3' 1 The edifice muft rife by flow degrees, through many alterations, fuggefted by trial, and approved by experience. So rofe our Gothick ftructure, fuperior in ufe, ftrength, and duration, to the fplendid pro- ductions of Greece and Rome. But fuch a ftructure can never be fitted to an Afia- tick climate. A barbarous people require fewer laws, than nations excelling in the refinements of arts, tafte, and luxury. Fewer means are neceflary to direct ignorance, than to reftrain contrivance and invention from deviating into forbidden ways. The ideas of barbarifm, and the objects of its paf- fions, are not many. But its habits, in- clinations, and prejudices, are ftronger in proportion as they are lefs diffipated and are confined to a narrower channel. To com- bat thefe by compulfary laws, is a hard and ungrateful talk. To form and mold the mind to compliance, would be more eafy and fuccefsful. This alone can be effected effected by the influence of precept, ex- ample, and kind treatment. When thefe have had their efFecl:, laws fhould be adapt- ed to the impreffions they have made, and to the genius and propenfities which they have created. Let the barbarian believe you love him, and mean him good j he will confide in, and be directed by you. Perfonal authority, anting from love and reverence, muft precede laws, where ty- ranny is not meant to be eftablifhed ; and is it poflible to luppofe, that fuch authority can ever exift in India, in the iervants of the Company ? That very title muft, for ages, render them odious ; and the appel- lation (hould be changed, although the men were to be continued. Ruflia is perhaps the ftrongeft initnnce to be found in Hiilory, of Barbariihi hu- manifed, and national ignorance enlightned. By the unexampled wiidom, perieve- rance, and patriotifm of one great man, followed by immediate fucceiibrs adopt- ing his iyftem, ibme progrefs has been made [ 33 } made towards civilizing that country; and a fmall diftrici: furrounding the feat of the moft exteniive European Empire, is now emerging from darknefs. The ca- pital has an academy, founded by the late Emprefs, where fcience begins to dawn ; and the, prefent Sovereign has published an efTay towards a cede of laws. But the Ruffians are flill (laves. Natural as liberty is to man, fociety feems ftill more natural : all are certain- ly made to afTociate ; but it is not io clear that all are made to enjoy liberty, while two thirds of the human fpecies, women and children, are formed fuhjett to the will of others. ' ; Where-ever the human footflep is found, civil focieties are eftablifhed; and in every fuch fociety natural freedom is retrained either by a voluntary furrender, or by the exerciie,of force or cunning, qualities na- tural to fame, as imbecillity, and puiilla- nimitv, producing fubjeclion, are to others: F & [34] 111 thofe it is natural to rife, in thefe to fink. All effects are from the operation of natural caufes, various and differ- ing as the caufes which produce them differ and prevail. Tawny complexions are as natural in Afia, as fair are in Eu- rope. They are not to be altered; be- caufe the caufe is permanent, and what- ever proceeds from that influencing prin- ciple, whether in bodily form or the af- fections of the mind, is equally unalterable. If the climate which tinges the Afiatick Ikin unnerves the hand and heart, you may warn the Afiaticks white as eafily as make them free. Would to God! that the caufes which produce and preferve liberty were equally permanent and prevalent; and that other caufes equally natural, but hoftile to free- dom, did not ofteneft prevail even in thofe foils and climates, where its growth feems mod natural. There are, and have been, Haves in all latitudes of the known world. Greece [35] Greece and Rome were free ; Great Britain flill remains a third inftance, and hiflory produces but three, of an empire compofed of many provinces connected by laws, and not preffed together by the grafp of arbi- trary power. In Alia, there is not a (ingle trace of the fmalleft community where li- berty ever prevailed. The very deiire of being free, if it ever could be fuppofed to exift, is extinct there; and the utmoft hap- pinefs which the multitude are capable of receiving is from defpotifm wifely and hu- manely exercifed. They have been fome- timesblefled with good matters. Let it be the care of Great Britain, that the people under her dominion (hall ever have Inch. Should the authors of ruin, continued as the inftru- ments of falvation, fhift their nature and habitudes, the prodigy will be as great as 311 empire in India, governed by the fame laws, and enjoying the fame liberty, with Great Britain. F 2 I do [ 3 ] I do not menu to argue that there fliould be no laws for direction and punifhment : fuch are to be found in the moft arbitrary go- vernments, and none can fubfift without them. The dominion exercifed by the Com- pany in India, did it deferve the name of go- vernment, would be an exception. The legif- lature of Great Britain will, no doubt, in time, compofe a better code than could be produced byEaftern tyranny; but inthebeft that human wifdom can devife for Alia, more will depend upon execution than legiflation: great difcretionary powers mud be allowed; and in the dilemma, if fuch exifted, of be- ing obliged to truft folely to either, good men would be preferable to the beft laws. The Company have produced few fuch men ; and by trying what they may here- after do, an experiment which cannot fuc- cctd, you will retard, and poflibly render j-.n practicable, every future remedy. If the writer of this letter finds that a continuance of his corrcfpondence with your [37] your Lordfhip may be likely to produce any benefit to the public, he will venture to lay before you and them, at leaft, fome general notions of what in his opinion would be preferable to the expe- riment which you mean to try. If it mould appear fo in the eyes of the public, your Lordfhip, from a laudable deference to them, may adopt what you would not be otherwife induced to propofe. This confederation, and this alone, has deter- mined me to publifti what at firft was in- tended for your private perufal, by MY LORD, Your LORDSHIP'S Moft humble and Obedient Servant, April 2 4th, ^ g '773- 354769 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. r> AUG 1 7 1962 tlHJKL ''FfcP 3 QL MARl^ .IM fc -A I QL -uu^ 30!889f 21969 Form L9-32m-8,'58(5876s4)444 A 000017690 9