The Sun. — London, England, 1812-04-03 00:00:00

PAPERS RESPECTLVG the 1V EGOCIAT FOR A ItENEW4L OF THE EAST•INDIA COMPANVS EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES. No. VIII. • SECRET COURT OF DIRECTORS. LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN,AND DEPUTY CHAIR- MAN TO TAB RIGHT HoN. R. DUNDAS, NOTICED IN THE PRECEDING MINUTE. • • { C ontinued from YeSterday.) • East India I-louse, lan. 13, 1%,9. Among the speculations of the present day, the idea may perhaps be suggested, of carrying the pro diitilions of India dire.ily to the ports of Portuguese and Spanish America; arid eagerness for relief from the pressure which our commerce now feels, mar be ready to make so great a sacrifice of the na vigation law's; but such a measure would essentially exclude the mother country from being the medium and emporium of our Indian trade ; and, whilst it served to . ettrich India, rather than Britain, would facilitate the progress of the former to independence. If, however; so dangerous an innovation were not 'adopted into our commercial code, it is altogether - probable that English ships, admitted without ban ! . tation into the Indian Seas. would take the liberty of sailing to those markets which would be thought the most promising, so that, in etiett, The opening of the Indian trade would be not solely or' chiefly for this Country,alone, but for other, perhaps for all parts of the world , . Having thus shewn, that the opening of the Indian trade to the subjefis of Great Britain could not Ma terially increase, either thb export of the manufac tures of this country, or its commerce in the pio dudions ut India, it will next be proper to consider, what the etleds of the proposed change would be upon the East India,Company and upon British India. And, in the first place; it wotild in Vbstence and in -form, entirely abolish the qualified monopoly, which the Company still enjoys of the Indian trade. The admission• of all private merchants, at their pleasure, and of their ships into that trade, would make it as perfeelly, free as thearade to our Amer:- can or West Indian Colonies, There would as to - India, be an end of all exClusive privilege of trade. This would not be any. modification of the Ad of 1793, but an essential departure from it. - That At permitted only the export of British manufa&ures, and intended only to provide for thereturns to them, end' for the remittance in goods, of British fortunes .from India ; both on the ships of the Company. The proposed measure must, in the nature of it, make the trade from India not merely a vehicle for the remittance of fortunes acquired there, or the produceof British manufadures, but a general trade; and What is a still more radical change, instead of a limiled amount of tonnage not incompatible with the Company's system, it admits all ships, without. any limitation, or option on the part of the Colle t any: it throws all India open to those ships, and thus sets aside' the Company horn being the sole channel and medium of the trade, through their own shipping, or shipping engaged by them, which com p ivests there of the last remnant of exclusive prielieee an ;dial trade. It would be no argument to say, that in a trade, by heti they :eye; gain little, they Might admi4, without much s ,ct dice, -the rest of , the commercial awe ko Sll,ll*, Tire loss 'of the Indian monopoly, such as it Ll' A+ left by the Ad of 1793 -would lead, by no slew process to the entire Subversion of the Cotneany; - both in their commercial and political . caeacity, and of that system which .the Legislature has apeeented for the Government of British India, of ..vhiah system the Company forms an integral and esseutial part: . . If the Indian trade were thrown open, ships would at tint, no doubt,' swarm into it,. and there would be a ruinra c impetition in the markets, both abroad and at home. Goods would. be enhanced in cost. there, as well as deteriorated itr quality; the selling prices at home, already too low, reduced still lower, *and the market overstocked. This was the effect, in some measure, produced by throwing 'open the trade in the time of Oliver CrOmwell, who, after the experience of a few years, revived the Company. The same - etree't followed from, the collision of the Old and New - Companies, in, the beginning of the last century, which forced them to unite, and their Union received the san'aion of Government. It is not sufficient to say', on this head, that in creased demand abroad will produce increased sup ply, and diminished price of gooas at home increase the sales ; so that this gs will, at length, in both coun tries, find their due level. From the nature of the Indians and, their division into casts, it is. not so easy among theth as in Europe, to meet an increased demand by increased production; and it is still less easy, when they can subsist by furnishing things of luw or' ordinary quality, to make them aim at ex , cellence, which the sepposition of increased sales at home would require. But of such an increase, in the present and prospedive state of the trade in lediatt imparts, enough has been above said to,snew toe improbability; and before that 'supposition could, in any case, he realised, the ruin of the parties ittn medi;itely enib irked in' the trade (a trade so distant, requiaing large caeitals, and snaking slow returns), toight he c impleted, with the ruin also of the Com pany, whose establishments would, have been de-. ranged by this great change. If the change. itself did not occasion the fallett the company, the disap pointments which the private.adventurers could nut tail to experience, would, ay them, be "charged to the influence of the renteinieg privileges of the Corn pane, a nd they would not rest until the whole were extinguished. , But it may be observed here, and it is an observation which might be urged more for inelly nod fully, that although the Company have the justest claim to these territories, which the powers vested in them by the laws of this land, the ability of their servants, arid the hazards they have 'encountered, here enabled them He acquire, and that this right was never questioned, until the acquisi tions, and consequently the merit of making th,-m, became great ; yet that, in a more peculiar sense, all the principal marts and factories of British-India are their .property, acquired in /their purely corn tnerctal period, either with their money orby grants from the native princes of the country, and that the power of admitting settlers and traders to them stritily belongs to the Company. One part oi r the present system, and a henefiCial one fur all panics, is to hate only one place of sale for Indian goods,—that k, London ; to' make all 3 Iles by public auction at stated periods, and these sales to be regulated a',d conducted by•the Com pany. ' With the proposed enlargements, it would seem hardly possible -to continue that practice.-- D tfetent towns would have their own sates, at their own times. • Individuals might fri-quentlY choose to dispose of their goods by private' bargain. The g. , neral resort of buyers which the sales were wont' to bring to London, a ',resort often proddilive other commercial speculations, would thus be at an end ; and the benefit derived from public andion, when that was the sole mode, would be lost in the midstof many private sales and competitions; but to dispbse of the goods of the Company by private negotiation, might open a door/ to many abuses, which would render that mode totally unsuitable for _their business. The Company, with such a com petition, could not go on to purchase the goods of India. With the cessation of their Indian trade; their Indian stihordinate factories, which have been reared in the course of more than a century, and which are the seats of the best-. manufactures pro duced in the country, must be abandoned, alid all the ,commercial branch of their civil servants be thrown out of employ. Their purchases of goods at home, for the Indian market, must also cease, with the- circulation of money which has enabled them to support their credit in England; anti to pro vide, for the payment of bills, which it has been long and necessarily the praaice to draw on tlem. from India ; a practice which, under, such a change 'of circumstances, could not be continued ; and, in ge neral, the great aid which the political affairs of Eti tish India have, at all tanes, derived trnm the com mercial credit and resources of the Company, with the reciprocally beneficial co-operation of Ihe differ ent parts of the Company's system, must thus , be destroyed. In like manner the Company must cease to employ the numerals claps of excellent ships they have engaged tOr the Indian tradel ships COD3llll6i ed for warlike defence as well As for commerce, and rendered expensive only, by being necessarily des tined and fitted for the performance of political ser vices. • Those ships the Company have contracted to_ employ for the term of their duration ; there is a large capital embarke4 in. them, and they can be employed in no other way than in that for which they were built. When they can no longer be-kept up, the means of conveyance they have hitherto so well afforded for troops, and the large supplies of naval and inilitaty stores annually sent to India must be lost. But there is no reason to believe the evils would end here. The monopoly of the China trade, which iOs proposed to continue, would not be safe. Bri , tisiv ships, when permitted to range at pleasure through the Indian seas, however interdided. from that trade, would attempt to participate in it.either by resorting to it as the country ships do, under.co lour of carrying on the coasting trade; or by other means obtaining teas, and the other productions of China, at the most convenient Indian ports. Love of gain, disappointments in other ways, the hope of impunity,-would stimulate their conduttorS to break through restridions imposed in this country. British subjects,who now. navigate the Indian Seas, sail from some one of our established settlements there, and are amenable to the laws of it : it would not be so, with men having no domicile in India. In ranging the numerous islands and coasts of the Eastern Seas, where they would be unknown, and whence they could not be loilowed to England by complaints, the probability of impunity might tempt them to commit upon the weak natives, accustomed to repose confi dence in Englishmen, acs of injustice and licentious ness, which would wound the national character, raise complaints throughout India, and set the - people against us. ' In this manner the Portuguese for merly rendered themselves odious- in the East, and contributed to the downfall of their own power. In China, where the effeds of such a spirit would be most to be feared, we could exercise no authority sufficient to cent:oul men not within the reach of the Indian. Governments, or to defeat, tlmir schemes and, associations for eluding the laws. Pra&ice would embolden them, and time increase their. numbers. It is hardly conceivable they would not venture upon irregularities which would offend the Chinese Government, who, whilst the delinquents escaped to England with impunity,would, doubtless, take satisfaction of the national fadory ; and the pride and jealousy of that government, alarm ed by repeated instances of this nature, from the desultory visits of a new paler of English men, insubordinate to the representatives of the nation, might determine to dismiss the whole to gether. If this extreme case be not supposed, which, however, is too probable and too momen tous in its consequences to be hazarded, can it be doubted, that whilst the duties on tea continue at even 'the fourth part of what they are at present, private English ships adventuring to the -Eastern seas will not, by means of country vessels and- interme diate pits, if by no other means, procure teas and revive the practice of smuggling them into this king dom The consequence seems inevitable, and the ships of our own country, especially if , allowed to choose their port of discharge, as the proposed change ; seems to rennire, would have facilities, which those of foreign Europe or. America could not comma eid.— In these ways, the China monopoly of the Company, reduced in its profits would be rendered likewise insecure, and in the end ndtenable;, and the noble fleet of ships employed in that trade by the Company, must be also laid aide. How the immense revenue, now derived by Government from the very high duties on tea, could, under such circumstances, be realized, or a substitute found for them, may be an important, and, to all appearance, a most difficult 'subject of inquiry. But a more serious ,consequence than all these would still remain. A free trade to India would, unavoidably, draw after it the residence of Hume.; roux and , continually increa,ina Europeans .there, whatever prohibitions might at first be opposed to their scaling in the country'. When all restraint to the importation of ships and goods 13 taken off, men must be allowed to follow their property, and to remain . at the place where they land it till they haye disposed of it c they must be allowed to navi gate the Indian seas, and to return to the,saml place when their business calls them : they will thus, in sensibly., and with hardly reasonable grounds for op- LONDON : Printed by THom A s WOOD, of No. 35, Maiden►-l4nc, Covent.garden ; and At the Su °MICE, No, 112, Strand, where didveriisernents, Orders t position, tionsiciliate thems - elves ; nor would ah unsuccessful trade prevent them, but many would seek to 'indemnify themselves on shore for their loses by the voyage. The histances of such settle ments will be numeroua,•and it will be impossible clot - any police to follow up the cases of -individuals, 'and continually lo exercise a rigorous system of ex - closion. This has not •bitht rto been ' done, though attended with comparatively little difficulty : atul the attempt would soon,. under the • new order of hings, be abandoned -. as hopeless. .Co;onization 'must in such case follow. Large communities of Europeans wilt struggle for popular rights : new feelings with resped to the mother country, new in terests and attachments will then spring upa and in a region so remote, so rich and populous, and so accustomed to yield to the ascendancy of the Eti ropeau charaEter, the tendency2nnd process of these things cannot be difficult to conceive. With • the ptospea of all these consequences, comthercial and,politieal, before the Court, it.is ims possible that they, as fait hftil ; guardians of the inter ests committed to their care; or as men truly solici tous for the welfare of 'their country, which they profess themselves to be, can advise their cons'itu ents to seek a reneWal of their charter, on conditions -which would despoil it of all its solid: advantages, deprive the Company of their most valuable privi leges, and incapacitate them from -pet - aiming • for themselves and the natioo, the part hitherto assign ed to them on the Indian syStem. Such a further enlargement of the Indian trade, in favour of indi viduals, as may be compatible with , the preservation oithese essential objeos, the' Court ,will; in. the present circuMstances, certainly be disposed to re commend. They willlae ready to enter into a serious inquiry concerning the concessions ' which may be made, without trenching upon the principles esta blished by the Ad of 1793 ; and trust that the jus tice and wisdom of his Majesty's Ministers w ill not require the Company to' make essential. ,sacrifices forthe sake of giving to the public what would, after all, be more an ideal thin a real benefit, and be; in other respects, produ6tive of incalculable dis advantages. The other important proposition 'which is next to, be considered, is the transfer of the Indian army to the King. The reasons' assigned for this . proposi tion are, that an end may be put to the jealousies and divisions, which have too much preVailed, be tween the officers of his Majesty's army; and those employed by the Company, and that the responsibi lity in th'e country, of providing for the military de fence of India may be ascertained and strengthened. The Indiau army is the main instrument'by which the Comptny have acquired and 'retained the terri toriaLpossessions they have added to the British Empire..• The people of those countries, submitted more easily to an authority exercised by means of a body formed from among themselves. We fought battles and governed provinces as the native powers did ; and our new subjects, undisgusted with the -sight of a foreign conquering army, supposed the Government to continue substantially the same, and the principal change to be in the individuals who exercised it. The constitution and charatSter which this Indian army has acquired, have been the subject of just, ad miration. These have been Owing essentially to the happy mixture.of hr %very and generosity.; oltiyinnesi and kindness, exercised towards the Sepoys ter their European ,officers. The super for lights and energy of the European charaEter have direcled the powers and conciliated the prejudices of the native troops; but it was because the officers knew the peOple and their prejudices well. These officers had been train ed up among them from an early age; the nature, the cs3ges, and the language of the natives, were be come familiar to them ; and the natives, retnarfi ably the creatures of habit, in return, from being ac- custouted, become attached to them. Without such knowledge., however, on the part of th 6 officers, they utiglit every day have revolted the minds of so peculiara race, and have alienated them from our service And government. • f To he continued, j From the LONDON G4ZETTE, Mara, 31, PARTNERSHIPS DISSOLVED. T. Oldkniaw, jun. and C. Bassett, Nottingham, mercers. March tB, 18 t 2. C. Brady, King's Lynn, Norfolk, and j. Barron, Wells next the Sea, Norfolk, dancing-masters. March zr, 1812. j. Perkins and 1. Perkins, Balsovcr-street, Oxford-road, news-vewkrs. March 2 , 7, 1812. W. Heath, W. Heath, and li. Junes, Well.court and Queen street, Cheapside, London, and Golelsmith-place, Hack ney-road, Middlesex, stationers. Dec. 31. 18 to. F. Richardson, 11. Neal, and A. Tozer, Upper Thames street, warehousemen. March 19, 'Bl2. ' S. Cawood and R. Perry, Ship Tavern Wharf, Broad-street, Ratcliffe, Middlesex, - coal-merchants. March 26, 181,z. J. White and • 1. Macpherson, Middle-row, Holborn, and High-Holborn, linen-drapers. March 25, tBl2. R Cooke and W. Spratley, Carey-street, Middlesex, work ing -silversmiths. March 2,5, IEI2. R. Meek and. 1. Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, Downini, mill wrights. March 23, 1.:2. Sawiders and T. Saunders, Shadwell lligh-street, Mid. diesex, flaberdashers. March 25, 1812. C. Royle and M. Ashton, Manchester, calenderers. March 26, 1812. T. Hodgson and W. Acomb, Leeds, tobaccp-roanufadurers. , 'March 23, IEI2. I. 13riggs and T. Ellis, Golcar, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, wool-staislers. March 19, in a. 30.—Sir JAMES HALL, Bart. has been eleded President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in room of hii Grace the late Duke of BuccLcoGn. _ _ On Saturday night or Sunday'porning, the *le dO nian Mercury Office was forcibly entered, and every desk broken open ; after which the thieves effected their escape, entirtly disappointed of plunder. —lt is evident, they 'must. have gone most delibe rately'to work„ as they conld not have done what they did without candles, which,' if any one had been in the way to look after the premises, mtht have been the means of dete6tilig them, as there are no'sbutters . On a great proportion of the windows. The desks and papers were all Minutely examined,' also a few bad shillings, which the thieves did not thit►k it worth their w bile to carry off. • The Ruse, RYBURN, from Liverpool to Westport, was lost on the sth ult. in Lochendold ;, part of the „cargo saved. The Croydon, BLYTH, from London, to Rio Ja neiro, ran on shore near Pareba, on the gth ot De cember ; great part of the cargo saved•. A few nights since, the house. of „Mr. Finche, on the Edgware-road, was broke open, and robbed. Published by VII LIAM AR . MIG r. R 8C RIPPS, South Molton-street, (;rlsti•eror-square, :c.l the Paper, Letters tat the Editor, &c. (post-paid), must be addresecl„ YORK ASSIZES. , IliWarnChester was ch arge d with a b urk l ar y, in' forcibly breaking into the dwelling-lionse 01 G. - 'ote Oliver, of Appleton-le-street, in the North Riding, between.the.hours• of one and twoi-n the, mowing of 14111 of October, •with an intent to steal another count in the indidtrent charged it to be with the intent to murder the said George Oliver dad hi, wife. • Mr. Gent ge Oliver, the prosecutor, stated, that ha was a blacksmith, and also, kept a small . public house, at .Appleton,le-street. Himself and family went to bed at the usual hour Ot4 Sunday night, the 13th of Otiober, between ten and eleven o'clock ; after witness hid been in bed a considerable time, he was awoke by a noise, which s•erned to . proceed from the window having been forced in. He cure,l "to his daughter to know what was th e matter , ;RA received for answer that a man wasgetting in.at the Window. - Witness immediately got up, but as hd was getting on : the floor, he recei%ed sevvrd violeut blows on the heo; witness immedinielj-got , hand round the person's neck, and by th e a ss ist ance of hiri' wife overpowered the pAtoner, and threw him upon the bed, , where they held hhri, until InS. daughter had alarmed the neighbourhood, wfeo Cooper came to their assistance, and with the assistance of other persons; who, presently - came in, the prisoner was secured and taken into custody.— The window-frame and glass was broken, andforced. into the room. Avery large thick codgel, errathr Club; was pro ! . duced in Court, bound in witness's bed-rooin, w tact' was broken into three pieces. Alary Oliver, the wife of the prosecutor, gave evi• dence io• the same effect. Wil lam Cooper, in consequenCe of an alarfp given by the daUghter . of George 'Oliver; 'immedi ately got out of bed, and ran to Oliver's house,wh;.re he found the prisoner laying upon the bed., and George _Oliver and his wife laying upon Itii - n‘; desired them to get up, as he thought himself ca pable of dealing with him. Other persons soon after came in, atid the .prisoner was taken into cus tody. . James Cooper stated, that he went into Oliver's house early on the morning of the .14th Ociotter, and saw the prisoner; he asked him , what his 01,-. ject was in breaking into-the hou se ? th e -priscinet said, to plunder the desk ;, and, if lie was attacked, to kill or be killed. The Jury, without hesitation, found the prisq.knes Guilty. Three Rounds per Cent. Consols being 450,,G0% vernment Life Annuities may now be purchased. The Loungers of Bond-street were" on Wednesdar• amused by a rencontre of rather a curious deacr;p tion, which took place between two dashing Jekris, whe.accidentallv locked the'wheels of each othei* gigs so firmly together, that • their career was etrec wally stopped. After mutual but fruitiss etfortv disengage themselves, the Gentlemen -proceeded• to impute to each other the want of skill which lefl'to the accident'. This imputation .being s ore ly f e l t Or both parties, they waxed warm, an d at length trau.3- ferred the lashe s of th e i r w hi ps f rom the i r horses to each others shoulders.. • The quadiupeds ,becorni4 alarmed, and occasionally sharing the blows intet),l , ed for the tipeds, exerted their strength so effeW - ally, that at last the wheel of one of the - vehick:s 'was fairly broken off, and the other being thus frete ,l from its trammels, was, with its driver, carried off in triumph. BIRTHS. On the 18th ult. the Lady of Lieutenant-Colonel Black/ of a Son. On the 28th ult. the Lady of the, Hon. Richard Fitzgerala King, of a.Son. _ _s_ On the 3rst ult. at Sulham-!louse, near Reading, the Lady of Robert Sherson, Esq. Jun. of a Daughter. On Sunday, in Upper Fitzroy-street, the Lady or Major General Burr, of a Daughter. MARRIED. Yesterday, at St. George's, Bloomsbury, _Mr. Edwagi Christopher Bryant, of Copthall-court, to Caroline Sophia. third daughter of S. Medina, Esq. of Upper Guildford. street, Russell square, DIED. On the 28th of February; at Lisbon, the Lady of Brigachr. Major Milne, of the pith Regiment. • On the 2gth - ult. at Bath, Mrs. Sarah Rosewell Arch bould, fetid of Henry Archbould, Esq, both of the Island of Jamaica. On Sunday last, at . Belmont, near Aberdeen, Cohn nand, Esq. On Monday last, Frederick, the infant son of Peter Ds Nully, Esq. of Gloutester.plaee, Portman-square. On Tuesday, in the both year of his age, Mr. john Bicker- , staff, Chemist and Druggist, Aldgate. The same day, in the 81st year of her age, Mrs. Ann Van.. ham Fownes, widow of the late Rev; Thomas Fownes, 4 Kettery Court, in the County of Devon. • On Wednesday last, at her son's, Mr. Greenwood's house. Btornpton Park ,_ Mrs. Graham, aged c;5, relief of the IL-+r- Charles Graham, late Bettor of Aston, lierts. Same day, at his hotue, Lower Tooting, Surrey, in than 75th year of his age, W. Johnson, Esq. late of Knebwottha Wits. Lately, at Edmonton; • rs . Catherine Them, aged .22. On the Loth or Fet ruary, at Botcherby, near Carlisle, a t the advanced age of go, Miss Margery lackson, a niai,ied Lady , 1111. L ol' MORTA !ATV. FROM 2Bl:tat-TAR)! 26 TO MARCIL 24. Christened. Buried. Males 73 1 166 _ - Malcs 712 1. , 3 Fecriales 732 -' 4 Whereof have died under Two years aid, 4c;. LckwEEN zi6 so and 6o 41 6o 7o 4 9 70 &.) -- 105 180— 9) I'S 90 roo .. i 50 lands S --16 io . 20. 20 jo 3 0 4 0 qo ' 4O COAL NIARKET, APRIL I. I Ships at Market. Ships sold. Price. as Newca?tle . . .17 . 455. od. to 553. 6d. I 3 Sunderland . . 2 . 445. 6(1. to 456. 01._ HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE, TO-MOtt, ROW. Mottling, s min. after 7. Evening, 30 min. after -7. PRICE OF STOCKS lISTSRDAY. India Bonds, par, is. pr. South Sea Stock, Excheq. Bills, is. dis. ts. Omnium, Imperial 3 per Cent. 583 3' Cons. for loth April, tie 11 59 6o sank Stock, shut • Navy 6 per Cent. pi 91 - 9oi 4 per Cent. shut shut s9i 6o , 3 ,,,t.) 1 I ) ,e .l k r t c l.. L . . t e . n Ac t n . ot ß in. s e s. d hiut India Stock, _ ,