Letter's v/hich See^\ to reserve 
 
 l 'eqi;ire t^e v ost Serious \tten 
 -t^.on of th- :-.ers of Hoth Houses 
 
 Pnp]iqment, in the Present 
 ' the India Question
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 LETTERS 
 
 WHICH SEEM TO DESERVE AND REQUIRE THE MOST 
 
 MEMBERS OF BOTH HOUSES 
 
 $arliament 
 
 IN 
 
 India Question. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by J, Innes, Wellt Street, Oxford Street, 
 
 1813.
 
 s lib 
 MO 
 
 LETTERS, 
 
 Scc. fyc. 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 THE 
 
 JSARL OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 London, 20th May, 1813, 
 
 THE undersigned Agents for diffe- 
 rent mercantile houses established in the British 
 territories in the ]'<ist Indies, beg leave humbly 
 to submit to your Lordship's consideration a 
 Copy of a Memorial lately presented to the 
 Governor-General of Bengal by the principal
 
 4, 
 
 merchants there, on the subject of the duties of 
 customs imposed by the Government at that 
 port. At the time when the ileet, recently ar- 
 rived, was dispatched for England, no answer to 
 it had been received, and it was not expected 
 that the undeniable hardship of the grievances 
 complained of, would procure any mitigation. 
 
 It has therefore occurred to the undersigned, 
 that the most effectual mode of obtaining ade- 
 quate and permanent relief to their constituents, 
 upon the points stated in the Memorial, would 
 be to lay the case before your Lordship, whose 
 talents and exertions are at present so usefully 
 directed towards the establishment of the com- 
 mercial intercourse between Great Britain and 
 her Indian territories, upon a footing mutually 
 advantageous to both parts of the empire. The 
 undersigned deem it unnecessary to occupy your 
 Lordship's time in enforcing the importance of a 
 fixed and equitable scale of import and export 
 duties, to the prosperity of the trade with British 
 India, if the existence of the private trade is to 
 be at all permitted under any modification of 
 freedom. 
 
 They beg leave also to submit for your 
 Lordship's information, upon a subject intimately
 
 connected with the present, that by letters 
 brought by the last fleet, authentic accounts are 
 received, that a duty of eight per cent, on all 
 Cotton and Piece Goods of every description, 
 exported from Madras by private merchants, 
 has been imposed there : and that a similar regu- 
 lation may be expected to take place at the 
 other Presidencies. Your Lordship must be 
 aware, that the effect of such a regulation, is not 
 only to exclude all competition with the Com- 
 pany in the commerce of these articles (as they 
 themselves are exempt from the duty), but 
 must operate as a most serious discouragement 
 to the cultivation of Cotton, a commodity as yet 
 in its infancy. Your Lordship is acquainted 
 with the applications recently made to His Ma- 
 jesty's Government, with a view to obtain addi- 
 tional protection and favour to this article of 
 Indian produce in the British market. Whatever 
 success may attend that object, the undersigned 
 humbly submit to your Lordship's judgment, the 
 propriety of establishing, as part of the system on 
 the renewal of the charter, some security, in all 
 similar cases, against financial regulations, by the 
 Company's Government in India, the effect of 
 which necessarily must be, as in the present 
 instance, to oppress, by excessive taxation, an 
 object of agriculture in India, which woidd ra-
 
 6 
 
 ther require a bounty for its encouragement and 
 to enhance, at the same time, to the British 
 consumer, the price of a raw material, which 
 every reason of policy demands to be supplied 
 at the cheapest rate. 
 
 My Lord, 
 Your Lordship's most obedient humble servants, 
 
 (Signed) FAIRLIE, EONHAM, and Co. 
 
 BRUCE, BAZETT, and Co. 
 PORCH ER and Co. 
 PALMER, WILSON, and Co. 
 EDMUND BOEHM and J. TAYLER. 
 MORRIS and RENNY. 
 LARKINS, SON, and RUSSELL. 
 JAME AMOS and Co. 
 WM. and THOMAS RAiKES,andCo. 
 PAXTONS,COCKERELL, TRAIL, and Co- 
 
 P. S. We beg leave to inclose, for your Lord- 
 ship's information, extracts of two letters, one 
 from Madras, and the other from Calcutta, on 
 the subject of the grievances complained of.
 
 TO 
 
 GEORGE DOWDESWELL, ESQ., 
 
 SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Calcutta, July 18, 1812. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 IT is with regret we find ourselves 
 obliged to lay before the Right Honorable the 
 Governor General in Council the hardship and 
 inconvenience now suffered by the commerce of 
 this port, in consequence of the heavy duties to 
 which it is liable ; and in doing so, we beg leave, 
 in the first instance, to advert to the original duty 
 of two and a half per cent., authorised by act of 
 parliament, which has, at different times, been 
 increased to the present burdensome rates ; first 
 by an additional one per cent., on the plea of 
 reimbursing the expencc of the armed ship Non-- 
 such, equipped for the protection of the trade 
 against the enemy's privateers; and afterwards
 
 by an impost of four per cent., under the deno- 
 mination of town duty, making in all, seven and 
 a half per cent., which continued to be levied, 
 under different regulations, until the month of 
 May, 1810, when fresh regulations were promul- 
 gated, the duties being increased, on many arti- 
 cles of import, to ten per cent., and upwards, 
 and which is, in some cases, still further increased, 
 from the valuation of the goods, and the exchange 
 fixed at the Custom House. 
 
 Although, by these regulations, at a time when, 
 from the war, and other causes, commerce had 
 lost its usual activity, the magnitude of the duties 
 levied could not but be severely felt, still we con- 
 
 / * 
 
 ceived tl*em to be established on a fixed basis ; 
 and it was iri some degree satisfactory to know 
 precisely what our trade was chargeable with : 
 but in this we have been disappointed ; the du- 
 ties having been subsequently altered, at different 
 times, with a view of further benefiting Govern- 
 ment, without any proportionate consideration 
 towards the merchant. As an illustration of this, 
 we beg leave to instance the articles of Copper, 
 Tin, and Tuthenague ; which, by the regulations 
 of 1810, bore a fixed valuation ; but having, for 
 some time past, supported a higher price in this 
 market, the duty upon them was directed to be
 
 9 
 
 levied ad valorem. On the other hand, however, 
 on articles, the value of which was also fixed by 
 the regulations, but which have fallen in the 
 market proportionably, as Coffee, Pepper, Cloves, 
 Bettelnut, &c., no alteration has been deemed 
 necessary, and the duties continue to be levied 
 at the Custom House valuation : whereas, if the 
 duty in one case was altered to benefit the Go- 
 vernment, we trust we might, at the same time, 
 have looked for relief on imports that laboured 
 under particular depreciation. 
 
 In regard to the exchange fixed at the Cus- 
 tom House between foreign money and the 
 currency of this country, we consider it to be 
 greatly over-rated ; the pound sterling being esti- 
 mated at ten Sicca rupees, and dollars at two 
 hundred and twenty-five Sicca rupees per hun- 
 dred : thus, in the exchange, adding twenty per 
 cent, to the amount invoice of goods imported in 
 this manner, exclusive of the advance they are 
 subject to before levying the duty. 
 
 We have also to notice the regulations re- 
 specting draw-backs on the exportation of goods, 
 when only two thirds of the import duty is re- 
 funded, and which, we conceive, operates as a 
 hardship in the case of goods being shipped to
 
 10 
 
 the other ports in India, when duty is again le- 
 vied in full ; the duty on articles so situated being 
 thus increased one third, which we think should 
 be remitted in the payment of the second duty. 
 
 With respect to the mode of collecting the 
 duties, we are sorry to state, that it is, on many 
 occasions, vexatious, of which the appeals we 
 have found it necessary to make to the Board 
 of Revenue, and to Government, will afford evi- 
 dence in matters of moment ; in those of lesser 
 importance there is also cause for complaint, and 
 particularly in duty being levied on articles of 
 private use, with a minuteness that has not 
 hitherto been customary, and which we cannot 
 suppose to be the intention of Gbvernment. 
 
 We trust we shall be excused for drawing 
 the attention of his Lordship in Council to this 
 subject, trusting that the duties on the trade of 
 this port may be established at a moderate and 
 fixed rate; and should an alteration afterwards 
 
 be judged necessary, that a public notification 
 may be given of the same, and a certain period 
 allowed for persons at a distance to make their 
 arrangements with reference thereto, which has 
 not been the case in recent instances, and disap- 
 pointment has, in consequence, arisen to many.
 
 11 
 
 who were not aware of their goods being charge- 
 able with a greater duty thai* before. 
 
 We have the honour to be, 
 
 Sir, 
 Your most obedient, 
 
 humble servants, 
 
 (Signed) FAIRLIE, FERGUSSON, and Co. 
 
 HOGUE, DAVIDSON, ROBERTSON, and Co. 
 
 ALEXANDER, and Co. 
 
 PALMER, and Co. 
 
 COLVINS, BAZETT, and Co. 
 
 CRUTTENDEN, and M'KiLLor. 
 
 J. SCOTT, and Co. 
 
 J. BARRETTO, and Co. 
 
 J. GILMORE, and Co. 
 
 W. ROLLINGS. 
 
 J. MACKENZIE. 
 
 P. LEAL. 
 
 MACKINTOSH, FULTON, M'CLINTOCK & Co. 
 
 TULLOH, and Co. 
 
 GOULD, and CAMPBELL. 
 
 D. HUNTER. 
 
 P. STEWART. 
 
 J. SARKIES, and Co. 
 
 P. DA CRUZ. 
 
 JOHN DA CRUZ. 
 
 S. G. HUSSEN. 
 
 HADJIE HYDER. 
 
 RAMGOPAUL MULLICK. 
 
 RAMRUTTON MULLICK. 
 
 RAMDOLOLL DAY. 
 
 NANJIE JOY CURREN. 
 
 BYRAMJIE, and CURSETJEE COWASJEE.
 
 12 
 
 Extract Letter from Madras. 
 
 Dated 1st July, 1812. 
 
 " Should the Company's charter be re- 
 newed, we trust that considerable facilities and 
 advantages will be conceded to the private mer- 
 chants ; but these will be of no avail, unless 
 some restrictions be laid on the Company as to 
 
 The extent of duties, or customs, to be levied by 
 
 ^ j - . - f _ - - */ 
 
 lem on goods exported for England. At pre- 
 sent they can charge what they please; cotton, 
 which was formerly exported free, not only to 
 England, but to every part of the world, is now 
 charged with a duty of eight per cent. Piece 
 goods of every description are also charged with 
 a like duty, and Indigo also ; but on the latter 
 there is a drawback of three per cent, if it be 
 exported to England/* 
 
 " If the Company be allowed to levy any 
 duty they may deem proper, it will of course at 
 any time be in their power to put a stop to 
 private trade altogether. At present they are 
 desirous of monopolizing all the cotton produced 
 in the countries under this government ; and if 
 eight per cent, will not put a stop to the export- 
 ation or it by individuals, they will, we presume, 
 double the duty, rather than not carry their 
 plans into effect/'
 
 Extract Letter from Calcutta. 
 
 Dated ZZd October, 1812. 
 
 " The renewal of the Company's charter, 
 with the restrictions which we have a right to 
 contemplate, will no doubt make an epoch in 
 the history of this country. It is, however, much 
 to be regretted, that the commercial community 
 here and at other places of India, have been so 
 little prepared to point out the serious grievances 
 under which the trade of this country is suffering, 
 and which, if not remedied, threatens the anni- 
 hilation of all private traffic. The whole system 
 
 ofarbitrary taxation on imports and exports, 
 shews the narrow-minded short-sighted policy of 
 ignorant monopolizing merchants u jealous of their 
 neighbours, instead of the fostering care of a 
 good government, conscious that their own pros- 
 perity is best promoted by the general prosperity 
 of their subjects. Our Custom House tariff the 
 most imperfect, the worst digested composition, 
 is of itself a heavier load upon trade than it can 
 afford, but it becomes still more oppressive when 
 to this is added the most arbitrary alterations. iu 
 the rates of valuation. There is a most glaring 
 instance of the injustice of their proceedings in a
 
 14 
 
 ) new duty just laid on, of 400 rupees on Arab 
 horses below 14. 1., anc( 200 rupees on horses 
 above that size; arid the duty is put in force 
 immediately on the arrival of the annual Arab 
 ships, with large importations of horses, without 
 any previous notice of such duty having been 
 given. To give you an idea of the duty out of all 
 proportion to which the trade here is liable, I 
 shall only mention a parcel of coast cloth from 
 Ingeram, which came here, and was sent to the 
 Isle of France for sale, and before the returns 
 were received here, there had been a duty of no 
 less than forty-seven per cent, paid to govern- 
 ment; viz. eight per cent, on exporting it from 
 Jngeram, ten per cent, here, twelve per cent, at 
 the Isle of France, and fifteen per cent, on export- 
 ing dollars, or an equal premium for getting 
 government bills. Those goods, it is true, were 
 entitled to a drawback here of five per cent., but 
 in most cases the collectors find some plea or other 
 to refuse admitting it/' 
 
 '* The prevailing principle seems indeed to 
 be that of making the most of the present moment, 
 without any regard to future consequences, as it 
 requires but common observation to perceive, that 
 the oppressions under which the trade is now 
 labouring, must ultimately prove its destruction ;
 
 15 
 
 that however may perhaps be the object in view, 
 to annihilate all private trade, by giving the 
 Company such advantages over individuals, that 
 they may carry their goods to the different 
 markets without fear of competition from the lat-l 
 ter. They have been sending regular investments, 
 and opened shops at the Isle of France and at 
 Amboyna; at Java they have monopolized the tin, 
 and if you were made acquainted with all the details 
 of the opium business, from the time Government 
 pledged themselves that the trade for that article 
 at Java should be put upon the same footing as at 
 Pinang and at Bencoolen, till the present day, 
 when they screen themselves behind their uncon- 
 trouled authority, and withhold indemnity for 
 breach of engagement, you could not help feelitig 
 indignant, and acknowledging, that similar conduct 
 in an individual would have marked him with, 
 disgrace. The cotton trade to China will no doubt 
 be the next object of their grasp ; and I fear much, 
 that if no effectual stop is put to the present system 
 of oppression, while the charter is under discussion 
 at home, and the prerogative of individuals not 
 properly dejined, that little general benejit is likely 
 to result from the opening of the trade." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 J. INNES, Printer, Wells Street, Oxford Street, London,
 
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