-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 
 
 
 
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