trade of the Empire-should be surrendered to exclusive Companies. But such as the Company's arguments were, they seemed satisfactory to parliament. They, however, consented to reduce the interest on the debt due to them by the public from five to four per cent., and contributed a sum of Two Hundred Thousand Pounds for the public service. On these conditions it was agreed to extend their exclusive privileges to lady-day, 1766, with the customary addition of three years' notice For about fifteen years from this period, the Company's affairs went on without any prominent changes. But notwithstanding the increased importation of tea, the consumption of which now began rapidly to increase, their trade continued to be comparatively insignificant. At an average of the eight years ending with 1741, the value of the British goods and produce of all sorts, exported by the Company to India and China, amounted only to One Hundred and Fifty-Seven Thousand, Nine-Hundred and FortyFour Pounds, Four Shillings and Seven-pence a year! And during the seven years ending with 1748, they amounted to only One Hundred and Eighty-Eight Thousand, One Hundred and Seventy-Six Pounds, Sixteen Shillings and Four-pence And when it is borne in mind that these exports included the military stores of all sorts, forwarded to the Company's settlements in India and St. Helena, the amount of which was at all times, very considerable, it does appear exceedingly doubtful whether the Company really exported, during the entire period from 1730, to 1748, One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds' worth of British produce as legitimate mercantile adventure! Their trade, such as it was, was entirely carried on by shipments of Bullion; and even its annual average export, during the seven years ending with 1748, only amounted to Five Hundred and Forty-Eight Thousand, Seven Hundred and Eleven Pounds, Nineteen Shillings and Two-pence. It would seem, indeed, that the Company had derived no perceptible advantage from the important concessions obtained from the Mogul Empire, in 1717. But the true conclusion is, not that these concessions were of little value, but that the deadening influence of monopoly had so paralyzed the Company, that they were unable to turn them to account; and that, though without competition, and with opulent kingdoms for their customers, their commerce was hardly greater than that carried on by some single merchants. VOL. II 17 In 1732 the Company were obliged to reduce their dividend from 8 to 7 per cent., at which rate it continued till 1744. The opposition the Company had experienced from the merchants, when the question as to the renewal of the Charter was agitated in 1730, made them very desirous to obtain the next renewal in as quiet a way as possible. They therefore proposed, in 1743, when 23 years of their Charter were yet unexpired, to lend One Million to Government, at 3 per cent., provided their exclusive privileges were extended to 1780, with the usual notice. And as none were expecting such an application, or prepared to expose it, the consent of Government was obtained without difficulty. But the period was now come when the mercantile character of the East India Company, if indeed, it could with propriety, be, at any time, said to belong to them,—was to be eclipsed by their achievements as a military power, and the magnitude of their conquests. For about two centuries after the European powers began their intercourse with India the Mogul Princes were regarded as amongst the most opulent and powerful of Monarchs.Though of a foreign lineage-being descended from the famous Tamerlane, or Timur Boy, who overan India in 1400— and of a different religion from the great body of their subjects, their dominion was firmly established in every part of their extensive Empire The administration of the different provinces was committed to officers, called soubahdars, or nabobs, intrusted with powers in their respective governments, similar to those enjoyed by the Roman praetors. So long as the Emperors retained any considerable portion of the rigour and bravery of their hardy ancestors, the different parts of the Government were held in due subordination, and the soubahdars yielded a ready obedience to the orders from Delhi. But the Emperors were gradually debauched by the apparently prosperous condition of their affairs. Instead of being educated in the council or the camp, the heirs of almost unbounded power were brought up in the slothful luxury of the seraglio; ignorant of public affairs; benumbed by indolence; their minds contracted with their enjoyments; their inclinations were vilified by their habits; and their Government grew as vicious, as corrupt, and as worthless as themselves. When the famous Kouli Khan, the usurper of the Persian throne, invaded India, the effeminate successor of Tamerlane and Aurengzebe was too unprepared to oppose, too dastardly to think of avenging the attack. This was the signal for the dismemberment of the Monarchy. No sooner had the invader withdrawn thar the soubahdars either openly threw off their allegiance to the Emperor, or paid only a species of nominal or mock deference to his orders. The independence of the soubahdars was very soon followed by wars amongst themselves; and, being well aware of the superiority of European troops and tactics, they anxiously courted the alliance and support of the French, and English East India Companies. These bodies having espoused different sides, according as their interests and prejudices dictated, began very soon to turn the quarrels of the soubahdars to their own account. Instead of being contented, as hitherto, with the possession of factories and trading towns, they aspired to the dominion of provinces; and the struggle soon came to be, not which of the native Princes should prevail, but whether the English or the French should become the Umpires of India. But these transactions are altogether foreign to the subject of this Work; nor could any intelligible account of them be given without entering into lengthened statements. We shall only, therefore, observe that the affairs of the French were ably conducted by La Bourdonnais, Dupleix, and Lally, officers of distinguished merit, and not less celebrated for their great actions than for the base ingratitude of which they were the victims. But though victory seemed at first to incline to the French and their allies, the English affairs were effectually retrieved by the extraordinary talents and address of a single individual;-Colonel (afterwards Lord) Clive was equally brave, cautious, and enterprising, not scrupulous in the use of means; fertile in expedients; endowed with wonderful sagacity and resolution; and capable of turning even the most apparently adverse circumstances to advantage. Having succeeded in humbling the French power in the vicinity of Madras, Clive landed at Calcutta in 1757, in order to chastise the soubahdar, Surajah ul Dowlah, who had a short time before attacked the English factory at that place, and inhumanly shut up 146 Englishmen in a prison, where, owing to the excessive heat and want of water, 123 perished in a single night! Clive had only 700 European troops and 1,400 Sepoys with him when he landed; but with these, and 570 Sailors furnished by the fleet, he did not hesitate to attack the immense army commanded by the soubahdar, and totally defeated him in the famous battle of Plassey. The victory threw the whole provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, into our hands; and they were finally confirmed to us by the treaty negotiated in 1765. Opinion has long been divided as to the policy of our mili tary operations in India; and it has been strenuously contended, that we ought never to have extended our conquests beyond the limits of Bengal. The legislature seems to have taken this view of the matter: the House of Commons having resolved, in 1782, "that to pursue schemes of conquest and extent of dominion in India are measures repugnant to the wish, the honour, or the policy of the nation." But others have urged, and apparently on pretty good grounds, that, having gone thus far, we were compelled to advance. The native powers, trembling at the increase of British dominion, endeavoured, when too late, to make head against the growing evil. In this view they entered into combinations and wars against the English; and the latter having been uniformly victorious, their Empire necessarily went on increasing, till all the native powers have been swallowed up in its vast extent. The magnitude of the acquisitions made by Lord Clive powerfully excited the attention of the British public. Their value was prodigiously exaggerated; and it was generally admitted that the Company had no legal claim to enjoy, during the whole period of their Charter, all the advantages resulting from the conquests, to which the fleets and armies of the State had largely contributed. In 1767, the subject was taken up by the House of Commons; and a Committee was appointed to investigate the whole circumstances of the case, and to calculate the entire expenditure incurred by the public on the Company's account. During the agitation of this matter, the right of the Company to the new conquests was totally denied by several members. In the end, however, the question was compromised by the Company's agreeing to pay Four Hundred Thousand Pounds a-year for two years; and in 1769, this agreement, including the yearly payment, was further extended for five years more. The Company, at the same time, decreased their dividend, which had been fixed by former agreement at 16 to 12 per cent. But the Company's anticipations of increased revenue proved entirely visionary. The rapidity of their conquests in India, the distance of the controling authority at home, and the abuses in the govern-. ment of the native Princes, to whom the Company had succeeded, conspired to foster a strong spirit of peculation among their servants. Abuses of every sort were multiplied to a frightful extent. The English having obtained, or rather enforced, an exemption from those heavy transit duties to which the native traders were subject, engrossed the whole internal trade of the country. They even went so far as to decide what quantity of goods each manufacturer should deliver, and repress what he should receive for them. It is due to the Directors to say, that they exerted themselves to these abuses. But their resolutions were neither carried into effect by their servants in India, nor sanctioned by the proprietors at home; so that the abuses, instead of being repressed, went on acquiring fresh strength and virulence. The resources of the country were rapidly impaired; and while many of the Company's servants returned to Europe with immense fortunes, the Company itself was involved in debt and difficulties; and so far from being able to pay the stipulated sum of Four Hundred Thousand Pounds a-year to Government, was compelled to apply in 1772, to the Treasury for a loan! In this crisis of their affairs, Government interposed, and a considerable change was made in the constitution of the Company. The dividend was restricted to 6 per cent., till the sum of One Million Four Hundred Thousand Pounds advanced to them by the public, should be paid. It was further enacted, that the Court of Directors should be elected for four years, six members annually, but none to hold their seats for more than four years at a time; that no person was to vote at the Courts of Proprietors who had not possessed his stock for twelve months; and that the amount of stock required to qualify for a vote, should be increased from Five Hundred to One Thousand Pounds. The jurisdiction of the Mayor's Court at Calcutta was in future confined to small mercantile cases; and, in lieu of it, a new Court was appointed, consisting of a chief justice and three principal judges appointed by the Crown. A superiority was also given to Bengal over the other presidencies, Mr. Warren Hastings being named in the act as governor general of India. The governor general, councillors, and judges, were prohibited from having any concern whatever in trade; and no person residing in the Company's settlements was allowed to take more than twelve per cent. per annum for his money. Though strenuously opposed these measures were carried by a large majority. At this period (1773) the total number of proprietors of East India stock, with their qualifications as they stood in the Company's book, were as follows: Englishmen possessing £1,000 STOCKS. PROPRIETORS. stock and upwards.. |