The National Register. — London, England, 1813-01-10 00:00:00

PP. s. GL , “LEM[N, .' A General Special Court of Proprietors of East I iulir St•lek was field .on Tuesday, within their Court ttoifm, at 't In-tit House, Leadenhall•strert, on special affairs connected • Charter. bir HUGH I NGIA s, the Chairman, inf irmed the Meetriw, enat this Court had lat•enspecially summoned fur the purpose of submitting to their consideration certam papers which had passed between Ministers and the Court of Directors, on that most important subject—the re newal of the Comitany's Charter ; and he was sorry to have to inform them, that the pre;orit appe'aranee of nc e ;ociation presented a must W1E:vow:Ole aspcct. 't he papers wcre read, and conc;sted chit:fly of minntes of the Secret Committee of Coriesi:oneknee of the Court of Directors, com municating to the Whole court ;he liticrent st;:ps in the prowess of their collar:fume:it ions wit'a :he President of the Board of Contront. A ertiat number of letters were read. Thew on the 'Fut of mi nisters, stated, govennnent to be disposed lo extend the trade to the out ports, and repeated that the principit uniformly iwntionett as the basis of any amingement 14 the renewal of the Charter, viz. that intrclt.ffits of this country have as substantial claims to as suricl4 lib rty of trade as they can enjoy, without injury to other int. Por'f4 nt national establishments could not be departed from. On the oarr of the Company, it was contended, that to open the trade would truinowi to tin in, and injurious to the count ry,atid they alsocalled for me re infor!.iation than had been given on the subject of the argu. :runts used by those interested in the extension of the trade to the (at-po 's. In answer to this, the following letter had been received from Load Budonghatusture. India Board, Jan. 4, 1813. rllaJ the honour to receive your letter of the 30th ultimo, and pro ceed to c.invey to you Ilbv seuttmeuts ut his llajesty's Government, a►s f':►r as it would seeoi ads isa.ble, wider I►resent circumstances, to ( ~,/ a in u e the discussion. With respect to your observation. that the representations which in duced his Majesty's Government to form their opinions upon the sub joct oldie extension ot the Import Trade have been withheld from the V;f4ll • of Directors, and that your objections to that t xteosion have not been " adequatelV answeied ;" you must allow me to avail myself of this ocecsion to apprize you, that although his Majesty's Government has shewu r .strong disposition to eater into the most flank and mire sei red explauations midi the Court of Directots, they have not felt that it was within: the range of their duty to en:we in a controversy upon the point at 'issue :—That duty lii been sufficiently discharged, in slit ting forth_ information of the Court of Proprietors, the eoliditio” op II svhich tliey WE - se prepared to submit a ploposition to Parliament for tbi• renewal oldie Charter, accompanied by such reasons Rs are conveyed in the communications they have authorized isle to make. I can, howe'ver, have no ditlieirhy in acquainting you, that the claims or the Merchants connected with the out ports have not been brought behire Governuient by written document., that they have bees urged and diseusaed at personal conferences with individuals interested in their success, and tf at you h-Ive already been informed ratite grounds upon which they were supported ; but that it does not appear to his Majesty's Government, that you can he warr7oned in expecting that they should give la more particular account of the arguments adduced at these confere aces. I may odd. however, that as the Merchants and Manufaiurers con nected with the oat ports, comidering themselves entitled sit the evp;. talon of the Charter of the vast India Company, to carry on that trade from which they had been excluded for limited time, had enter ed into a statement of their case by Petitions presented to Parliament in cour e of the last St.s,ron, you may obtain from those records that further inforainti , oi which you appear desirous to possess: With regard to those pintos to which you have alluded RR requiring .particular regulation, the Ministers of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent having sitontied to you, that consistently with their sense Of pUblie tiwy, they can submit no arrategenient to Padiament tint does Lot . :ncliele an extenSion ut the 'upon f rade, and tin' Court of Directors triving, x‘itb t!ie ((no...lt:lige of their opinbnas upon that point, 19y their Resolution el the ti:th lilt declined to reectuniend to the Court of Pro prietors to I:4ret: to suet; an extele,ion, ii would seem prematurt toet.ter info det:liis t'utt' tpicseion sh:11; have been finally determined. Yo k , ct (ii..o)o%•tion pt hi INfaiebt‘'s Government to . . • nirieic te, t'ic...przlsvitt system a .I'lluinistration in In lia, ant I am ni,t th.it 1 cir,!amttancies shoold ad ritit of its continuance, it would be ucecss.ry to nroiit”,:: env material alteration . in the existing pruvitiors for carrying it Into osecution, extfept such as !nay a u se (TOM the open ing of 11i...! it% The you cxpresg in the wisdom and justice ref Porliament, will, l ant rrsami, d, not tie disa iyolitteti ; nor is alt.) be iit4ipos. d, Out in Ow consi , ler•itio,i of this gr e:it question, (to use own worth, ) [lva sat..qj t'te and the British Coilstituttt.ixt 1 JAN. 10. eii her by the Legislature ur the MatiAeis if H* Cuivarnmeot of India cauuet be carried on %sills safety to the except throw , ll the inivivutition of the Cmopany, the pre ( .'.f! of Directors, whatever they allay be, 'oust uncon ditionallt• be admired. It will Le for Parliament t , ) determine whether the nation is in this r* spect xit !mat au alternative, or whether, it a chringe of stein should 'be rendered neces:rary by the decision. , the 1 7 .A.it India Coiupaoy, rueu.. sures ini:4lit not be token for openiro.: the t, ado, duct at the !-airie time providirwstich un Admiiiistration of the U igerilment ut Lidia, as might be fins , d compatible ‘rith the int:r.:rsts ind security ut the blitibt stituti in. I Cie honour to he, (;(.-tilettien, Your obedient Zeild tionitde Servant, The Chairman and Dcputv-Clia;mse of the East India • Con.pstey. The Cu ens st.AN. tlilli et as a m f important doeonient, eished to know if the Court was di sirous that it should be wad a second thee? Thi., eceordiegly done, 'Fite COAL RNI A N hoped that row, - as nn all fernier occasions, they would net proceed to any hasty step. hut adjourn the consideration of the matter till they lied an opportuility, calmly and coolly, of looking at it in their closets. From the late Jew r which the let er hed been received, and the early hour t;)r which the Court h been called, the Directors had not had above halt en hour to consider it. Alter the Proprietors had weighed the matter calmly and coolly, their Duce. tors should be happy to receive their instructions, and to act upon them. Mr. Rielly spoke with some warmth of the language contained in the letter, which he thought a most extraordioary production. Mr. ROBERT THORNTON th eight that the very Petitioners to Par liament would ultimately beThemselves the sufferers. If their peti tions were complied with, they would have the effect of debtrollug the only commerce which remained uninjured in the world. Those Deputies who came up last year, with the expectation et being ad. mhted to participate in the golden trade of India and China, anti who were sent back again to their iron trade at Sheffield and Birmieghem, would not, lie hoped, be able to persuade the House of Commons to adopt their opinions. The. Rev. Mr. Tu ILLW ALL taitt, the Company did not employ less than three. thousand labourers, .whs were paid every week, and by whom not less than 120,0001. was circulated every week, within three miles of this place. This did not include the stuns paid to clerks.— The warehouses were valued at a trills. n, and probably paid upwards of fifty thousand pounds in annual burdens, of which at least ten thou. sand pounds went to the poor. There must be altogether at least twenty thousand individuals dependent upon the Compaily here.— Wes not this a case which highly called tOr the attention of his Ma jesty's Ministers—a ca•e where the interel-ts of 20,000 individuals in the Eastern District were at stake ! (Applause.) Mr. KENNET SMITH thought the Charter of the East India Com'. party was granted for ever, on the condition that it should not be pre judicial to the Crown of this country. Had any prejudice to the Crown been ever proved ? This would have been a Lair ground to go on, but it was a ground which it was impossible to take. He had some time ago a conversation with the Mayor of one of the peti tioning towns, and when he asktel him why he signed the petition ? he was answered, he did so because. others did it. This, he conceived, was almost uniformly the case in these towns ; men petitioned merely because th y found others petitioning. without having any definite or rational view of the consequence. For his part he should have no tear to go at once to Parliament, and, after hearing the petition read, to submit the answer to them to the wisdom of the Legislature. Mr. ROBERT GRANT said the (pestle!' for the consideration of the Court was, whether tae East India Company should at once throw themselves on the justice of the country and of Parliament, in a con test with the Executive, or whether they shbutd allow the interests of India to be male the subject - of a rash commercial ex pei iment ? Ministers were weighing the ledgers of the out-i orts against the chartered i wrests of the Company, and the prosperity of fifty millions of men in India. (A pplause.) Ile did not mea.' to say Government entertained a systematic intention to destroy the East India Company; but it was of the nature of power to be encroaching; and he could very easily see what would he the consequ:eice if the Compony were to he lett in the possessim cf their political functions, but at the same . time deprived of rite mans of carrying them into execution. " We shall be obliged , " said Mr. G. "to reirrender our political power, nd then we shall be told that it is a. voluntary surrender. If is true that no engines of war will ue employed against us, but the foundation on which we stand will be undermined ; and when we collapse into a greet ruin, we shall he told that we t.ll by our own weielit. As was once said by a greet man in Parliament, we shall be checkmated with all our pieces on the board." (Applause.) He should think it not improper to remind Ministers of the services rendered by the Lest India Company to this country, and to the people of India. He knew it was said, that in doing these services they were mule - A by no rt band to the weliVe either of the peeple of Lithe et the ee:kele " . • T N virt()‘4s:Al37-I . r z e_ SDIA IfOusE. II at ,h,)ii.e," will be ovc..ooked If the 1• • 7