East India Company. invoices, bills of lading, or book-keeping by double-entry, could discharge these royal functions. To relieve the Company of the burden of these important duties, Mr. Fox, then one of the Secretaries of State, in 1783, introduced his famous India-bill. According to this sweeping measure, the Company were to be entirely divested of the management of their affairs, and the administration of the whole of their commercial and territorial transactions was to be vested in the hands of seven noblemen and gentlemen, as directors, assisted by nine others, who should be proprietors of East India stock to at least the amount of £2000 each. The new directors were named in the bill, all and were not removable except by an address to his Majesty by either House of Parliament, and their successors were to be named by the King. The assistant-directors were removable at the pleasure of any five of the principal directors; so that, virtually, the constitution of this high tribunal would be vested in ministers, placing at their disposal the whole of the Indian patronage, and adding thereby enormously to the influence of the crown in Another bill was also introduced by Mr. Fox, for defining the the powers of the governor-general, presidents, and council, and for preventing arbitrary and despotic proceedings in the East. The Company's governors were not to make war but in self defence, and were prohibited from making treaties of partition, hiring troops to the native princes, and every illegal present Segal-present was to be recoverable by any person for his own benefit. This bill also contained regulations for securing the property of the princes of India, and for terminating the disputes fomented among them. The provisions of these bills sufficiently show the nature of the abuses prevailing in India. They were both violently opposed by Mr. Pitt, then out of place, and an oppositionist and reformer. The question agitated the whole nation; and such was the outcry raised by the Company against the pretended violation of their charter-representing such a precedent as endangering the security of all the corporations in the kingdom, that they finally prevailed, and the bills, though passed in the Commons, were rejected by the Lords. Next year a dissolution of parliament and change of ministers having taken place, Mr. Pitt introduced a new bill for the better government o of India. Many of the provisions of this bill were similar to those of Mr. Fox. The most important difference related to the appointment of the Board of Controul. The commercial affairs and territorial possessions s of East India Company. the Company, were to continue in their hands, subject to the controul and superintendence of a board of commissioners appointed by the crown.ovei The next subject of any interest is the trial of Warren Hastings. This gentleman had presided over India thirteen years, and arrived in England on the 16th of June, 1785. On the 26th of the same month, Mr. Burke, who had brought heavy accusations against him in the preceding session, gave notice of his intention to impeach him for high crimes and misdemeanors, alleged to have been committed in India. After long debates in this and succeeding sessions, the prosecution was sanctioned by the Commons, and in 1787 articles of impeachment were sent to the Lords. The trial was protracted from year to year, till 23d of April, 1795, when the accused was acquitted, on the payment of his fees, of all the charges preferred against him. The Company in consideration of the services of this officer discharged the expe..ses he incurred by the prosecution, amounting to upwards of £70,000, aud settled upon him an annuity of £5000. The house of Commons must have degenerated very much in its love of justice since 1785. At that period, it devoted eight years to the investigation of crimes alleged to have been committed on the other side the globe; while at the present day, it refuses to devote a single day to the investigation of crimes, certainly not less atrocious, committed almost within view of its walls. Most ou M 309In 1793 the charter of the Company was renewed, and their exclusive privileges continued to them until the first day of March, 1814. In this act à clause was inserted to restrain the belligerent propensities of the Company's servants, but it appears not to have been much regarded. In 1792 Tippoo Saib was despoiled of half his dominions, and compelled to deliver two of his sons into the hands of the Marquis Cornwallis, as hostages for the performance of a treaty by which he engaged to pay £1,600,000 in money to the Company. In 1799 this prince was again attacked by Lord Mornington, now Marquis Wellesley, under pretext of having entered into negotiations with the French, and some of the native princes, for the entire expulsion of the English from India. This war completed the destruction of the sultan. His capital of Seringapatam was taken by assault, himself slain in its defence, and his dominions dismembered. His children and relatives are now supported by pensions from the ci-devant dealers in mace and .114 to seo. of 10 cloves. Company having obtained possession of the different members of the Mogul empire, in 1803, completed their conquests by attacking the Mogul East India Company. himself in his capital of Delhi. This monarch and his family were also placed upon the pension-list of the Company. We shall only mention a few more facts connected with the Company's history till the opening of the trade in 1814. By the 29 Geo. III. c. 65, they were authorized to add one million to their capital stock. The new stock being subscribed at 174 per cent, produced £1,740,000, which raised their joint stock to five millions. In 1793, they were authorized to add another million to their capital by subscription. This additional stock produced £2,000,000, being subscribed at 200 per cent. In 1797, valuable concessions were made to the Americans, with regard to the India trade. They were permitted to carry on trade with the Company's territories in India, in articles not prohibited by law, on paying only the same duties paid by British vessels, and paying such port charges as are paid in the ports of the United States by British vessels. These advantages were not neglected by the Americans. In a few years the trade of the United States in India, equalled nearly one half the trade of the Company. It was singular policy to admit a foreign state to the participation of the India trade when our own merchants were excluded. In August, 1803, during the alarm of an invasion, the Company, at a general court, came to a resolution to present to government 10,000 tons of shipping to guard the coast, and to be maintained at their own expense. In the years 1808 and 1809, the Company lost four outward-bound and six homeward-bound ships. The value of the ships and cargoes was estimated at two millions. We have now mentioned the most important facts in the history of the East India Company till the year 1813, when the exclusive privileges of this association were in part abolished. Prior to that time, private traders were not wholly excluded from the India trade. By the 17th clause of the act of 1793, the Company were obliged to appropriate 3000 tons of shipping for carrying out goods belonging to private merchants and manufacturers. The act of 1813 continues to the Company the exclusive monopoly of the China trade for twenty years, but the trade to India, subject to certain restriction and regulations, is thrown open to the enterprise of individuals. The territorial acquisitions in India are also to remain in the government of the Company for twenty years, from April, 1814.. The clauses of this act amount to 125, and are far too numerous to be here particularised. We shall now speak of the revenue and other sources of influence of the Company. East India Company. The principal source of emolument and influence to the East IndiaCompany, is 'the immense amount of patronage, affording the most lucrative appointments for their children and relations. The naval, military, and civil patronage of the Company exceeds the patronage of the crown before the revolutionary war. Of the extent of this patronage the following statement of the number of persons in the Company's service will give some idea: Persons either in the service of the Company, or connected with, and employed in their 2,146 Civil Service. Persons in India employed in the judicial, 1,056 Seamen employed and reared in the Military and Naval Natives in the Ser vice of the Comрану. ... service commanding European troops .. British officers and cadets in the Company's service commanding native troops...... British non-commissioned officers and soldiers in the service of the Company .. British officers in the Company's naval department in India .... Natives employed in various departments in the civil service of the Company Natives employed in the Indian armies.... 140,000 Natives employed in the naval service es .... 1,000 3,000 16,000 113 12,362 timated at about ..... Total 800 201,477 Mr. COLQUHOUN, from whom this statement is taken, says, that out of the 201,477 persons in the service of the Company, at least 6000 in the civil and military departments at home and abroad, enjoy emoluments from £200 to £10,000 a year, exclusive of the Governor General. On the appointment of the first Governor General of Bengal, in 1773, his salary was £25,000 a year, and four counsellors with a salary of £10,000 a year each. The salary of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Calcutta, is £8000 a year, with three other judges at £6000 a year each. By the act of 1813, the salary of a bishop in India was to be £5000 a year, and East India Company. of three archdeacons £2000 a year each. of different officers was fixed by the same act, as follows: The expense of outfit, &c. Governor General of Fort William, in Bengal. .. •£5000 Each of the members of council there.... 1200 Commander in Chief of all the Forces in India... 2500 པ་་་་་༔ མ་ ་ ་ 'to the month to general The allowance for the outfit, &c. of these officers, is about one-fourth the amount of their salaries, exclusive of other emoluments. According statement in the East India Register, the allowance per and regimental officers when in the field, on the Bengal establishment, is as follows: |