The Sun.
London, England, 1813-01-20 00:00:00

EAST INDIA IT OUSE.

lid4tiiiidr a. tic ,ITT cif I)irvethi.s rml.Vroprictors
v.. -; t-43 I( to*t:d,e ino
the 1,0111 illitgiNGHANt

Sir HUGH 1N61..1S in
The minutes - the procce4ings of the la;

Court having been read, .
:. .
Th 4! CHAIRMAN Shot (1/ state;.;. tor` purpose for
Niibich thtvAvere ass;!mbled, w.:c.:o he conSidered
2 ~..... ~ i
to be.a snoiect., taai, e-':,.'Hit *one more in'tpOrtant
.
had never .been ak...4teci iii that room, 'important
not,olllYas It concerned the Lust India COmp,my,
nor, as. it "concerned thennoty thouslulds depc:nling
on the List I.ndht Company fin: etut)loyjnynt, :mil
constitnently. for support, but' illtpOltztlit :u
.0.5
highest ilegree to the nation at latge :it was one
that, required all 'their wisdrun, and all their mo-
deration and temper to be exerted, while discus-
sing,- as it was, one on. which depended not. only.
the welfare of the East India Company, but also
those of the merchants and traders of the City Of
London, and that of the City of L.;adou itself.
The, proposed extoosion Of the trade must excite
a defalcation in the revenue of the country,, and
how was t‘tich defialcation to be made up ? It
could only be made up - by. haying op new taXes.
Hating- ,aid thus mach, he -.:ad only to entreat
them to take the subject. into then' serionscon-
sideratio», and decide oo the line -of conduct to be
pursued. Doing thiS,- it was. his
tope
they would
stew equal titanneSs and moderation, and evince
in their proceedings every anxiety to conciliate
the Government of the' Country, if it Nvere..pos.:-
4ible to do so, without sacrificing their dearest
rights. He thought it proper 'to state, that the Gen.
tlemeta behind that bar had seen nothing since
they last met, to induce them'to alterthe opinions
they had at, that titne 'expressed. Reports had
gone' abroad, that an accommodation had taken-
place. These,.. he was obliged to say,-were un-
founded. Winild to' GOd they wete not. tut at
.presentf lie wits- sorry‘to add, be kneW of noap-
yroxinultio to such an erent. ' 7 .
~ Mr': WAvTANG'said, though he was a 'tropic,
tor 'of Last India stuck,. yet the stake he had in
the Company was small compared with, that Which
he had in thegenerat welfare of flit:. country. The
interests of theNonimunity at large reere of greater
importance to him thanthe shceess of the totw.
play ; 'and the
.therefOre hoped, 'that hi forming
his opinion. on Thal subject, he had libt that Witt
oil his jturginetit, front which,- when deciding on
afl'itirS immediately' connected Nvit h theh' own in-
terests; . the be..t. Minds could not alwayS be free:
lie.hopeil'thk v,•0111,1 not be, matte -a- party. clues-
tion. Ile believed thOse who' formed. the •Go-
vernment of the country to be actuated by. a site..
.cere 'desire to do the duty with impartiality,
anxious to act;witle:strict justice tti all partibW
In the, present ease, the Petitions preaented
against. the renewal of the Charter, and the .repre
sentatioos made in favour Of tim'COmpany, were.
so opposite, that, thosb placed in the situation' otl
umpires, must feel that-they were called upon „not
to compromise, but to decide. He Wasthenabout
to describe the course the negociatiOn had taken,
'when
.he appeared to have forgotten what lic had
intended to' offer, and after a pause of "some..
.:length remillied Iris scat.
Mr. lit vas thonght , the question before them
most ' impoitunt. His. opinion was, that .to re-
move:the trade 7Troia the port of London was to
measure fraught with danger, as it mini(' be pro-
ductive of considerable disadvantages to London,
while it .could' do no possible good to the out-
ports. He had made four voyages to India ; he
had gone-out in the character of art Agent , and
in that of M Merchant ; amm4 the result of his ex-,
perience. W 35 a conviction, that to throw open the
trade would do intuit harm. The exports which
had been made to India, limited as they were, had
considerably exceeded the demand : Swore goods.
had been :exported than could -be consuteed, ex-
cept by the.climate, and he would ask any private
trader there, who might feel competent to answer
the question, if; the profit of:the trade was.such
as. to make, it. worth while to carry it on ? The
. idea that,the vessels used in. the'.West India trade
Would be found lit to be - employed in the trade to
theEast.lndies., was erroneous; those ships which
were fit4o-,earry hogsheads of sugar,'&e. were not
iit_ to bring home :silks and indigo from the East
.Indies-;. nor were they tit to sail round the Cape
of Cipod Hope.. It appeared to him, 'that if ,Go-
vernment knew the real state of easr, they would,
not hesitate to reject the petitions .of the out-
pmts.. It was doubtless the duty of Ministers to
attend to. the representations of all parties ; but
.it was not their duty to. give way to ignoranee,
and on'this subject he thought they were at ore:-
sent ltd' a state of ignorance. 41. e. then gave se;
veral instances of facts, which had come to his
knowledge, to prapye the correct:tie:is of the opt-
,nions he had expressed. ()n one, occurrence he
particidarly dwelt,'which tt ent to spew how mach
i the"- Exports , had exceeded the dentand. la the
year 1.791 the shirk, ,ItOmney Waif . cOßSigiled froill
London to Madras and Ilengal.,:The.Captain car-
ried out goods to the amount of 1 2,00014 Of those
one third -WitS;intended for • Madras, and two-
thirds for the Ilengal market. When the Ship ar-
rived itt .Nadrus,- the Governor had occasion to
send, her immediately back to .England, and the
consequence was, 'goods to the amount Of 'eight
thousand pounds,:which Were -int.ended for lActi-
gal,- were thrown upon the Madras inarLet. The
, storeheeper would not ' buy them, and' several:
other persons applied to, refused to become pur
chasers, and it was afterwurck tried to retail them,
but it was found they could not he sold in , this
way. The Governor (Lord HobatO interested
himself in the business, and offered Ito mita_ the
money to. this .country, but he could get 116 money'
en the :goods to'.remit, and finally,
,they were
obliged, as a dernier resort, to be disposed Of by a
lottery. He- (Mr: Davis) was a(Mitdras at the
time, :mil he firmly belle..,:eil the mune of Lord
HoluartAippearett at thehead,of the list of soh,.
serihers to this project, :This sheaved that there
,had heant u.-considerable influx of .Eriglisit goods
into India, autl that a greater could not he belie-
fiend to dime desir,ius of trying the experimeut.
-.He, forhis- °wit part, wiis for d
a safe trade, no
t.. not for: tt speculatiVe 00,f; , lle thought it a g'reater
objeq to!ketip_ trade. nearly at par, for to drive a
Vitt increaSt; it: tme year, and ii great frilii„,,,,,,- oft:

t.

;

in the
,next, was most, ir,jurious. to our inerehr His
an map fax ture rs , as was ohvious fititu are ,it
e\hrtilik no'ir :flefore them. it the Governthent
kdeav-, ihe merits ,of the ease, he thought they
would dismiss 'the :petition's-Of those who were
preSent- so deSi4sol:injitring themsei,ves., After
Minisrershad poAsfed theinsely, ; of that- inform-
otion tckieh :they n'i'ust get ou till.; subject, he
thought they-woohr do so.; but if, having that in-
forsinttion., .t hey. ShOuld persevere in their project,
of,opening the import trade to the out-ports, he;
for'one; exfclaim

. .
. . I'iuworMiiiads et dona rereatei.,
. llir. IVA vLilsid again rose... lie expreised regret
‘
ihat he had been so far overpo-,•..ered hy his .1.,-d-
-ing, 11F, to lie .16r,npable of tn,,,pressing wkat he:
,vas going to a.,.,y,. He would, hpv.ever, "I,ad his
sentinients, as he Itad throwO.them into the form,
of,resoli!tions, so ii;cit ,he wished to-suhmit to
the Court.'He was proceeding to. read thew,.
•Nyheli . , , . - . . . . .

Sir 11. INGLAs, sitggestkl,that it tno,ht be better •
for tlie Gentleman to• give themto soiui_ one who
(I)lll(lrf...ad them wiali a loader-Voice-.
I.IIOV -t- LANG availed hiMself of this suggeStioil,,,
and the Resoltaions were banded tO the Chnit, by
whom they were read.---'They regretted the ceurse"
, . .
the negoetatuin tati.en; and set 'forth .the evils
to lie appt ehended front the extension of the im-
port trade.. 1. , • • ,
Mr. NVAYLP.OO said, such were the ResoltitionS
which he had framed, and on 'which 'it had bet:li
hi's intention to :enlarge.. He had only to 'say,
theyliati been forme-ii on due, deliberation..
was sorry be had been linable: to proceed .with
What it was his intention to Mid-the hint he
bad received that thty would for the -future )catch
him to employ his pen instead aids tongue.
The. first Resolution 'was. then read separate
frmn'the ' rest. It, stated, that the Court saw,
With deep ..regret, trant: aft& a long correspon-
,
deuce: with Government, .conditeted with exein-
plary firmness on like phutthe.l-litectors, which
had eloSed with their beiug referred, to the peti-
tion;Pi.esented to Parliament, by the parties
posed-to theth; for the information they required;
they had reached.that point, Mitt, it was nt.t-
sttry that.adecision should, be made between ruin-
ing the Cotapany, and rejecting the petitions of
the out-ports:
7.7,1r.thr.r. tipologised on the present occaiion
when so many
persons 'of superior talents were,
ready' to offer their sentiments; it might., appearlike arrogance in him to do so ; .but his wish was
that on a subject so important, :every thing con
fleeted with it Might be'beard and discussed with.
that temper WitiChwas calledfOr by its importance.
Ile differed from the Geotleman who bad. just sat
down, as to the inference lie drew front • the facts
which.he bad stated. 'Everyone conversant With'
comuiercial affairS 'knew that at times ',the Market
-*would. *be• Over-ittiaked, thought sonittinuts the
, .
supply would be so deficient, that the export's
WOlllll produce one or tyro hundretU per cent. in-,
crease on the invoice. These insulaledeases,hoW-
ever, ought to weigh but little in their delibera,7
tionS.. ThesewoUld notinfluenee their decisions.,
which ought to be fotindett on a grant. coniprelien-
sive view• of the whole subject, Ills obleet Was. to. •
produce nothing but facts. Ile did not doubt the.
Gentleman had on his mind a conviction am the •
'resoltitiouS• he hod propoe'd &attained inithinglitit
triith ; but the decision of the Court ought to 'be
founded Oil a reference to facts. Some very good
friends of his Seemed to )hall: that he Was uhont
to act an ungenerous part by attacking the laiiti
loges of the Gainliauy. Ile balled lite). won't!
cease to think so, when the 'motives by which' lie
was actuated .were captained, Ms motives were
threefold. .1 le felt sinceie. veneration for the Coin-
pany, Ile had been iti'itisM-viee fifteen years, and
'hadliassed aconsi4e-rithie portion •of his life' iii
India: He hadbeini in every prirt of the
ny's,territories, and Was not e feisty
.opinion,
'but one which was the residt of malty years deli.,
beration. If it had been proposed that the East
. India. Company should concede all that was re-
quired by GoVerfintent, he, though an insulatiA.
individual„.would have come forward to oppose
such a resaution. . His first motive, as,he had,
ready stated, was. veneration for the East India
Company. lle hitil been in 1111 its establislimentl
abroad, Au idea had gone forth that their Co• •
vernmenf was marked by a Willa, of freorioui,
like-
tatlity, mid justice. He knew of. no tiVverntuent
entitled to greater praise for the protection it af-
forded the yights and liberties of
.the subject.
compared with the establislonentS under the Eng-
lish Crown in this country, or in its other 'coloui—
.al territories, they Were as superior ill eiib.iency
onethiug iambi be, to another. If he turned bis
eyes to the military department, 'that sdicli bad
beep achieved, inhis,opinion, soul I not he excel.'
led by any thing Which British valour •fiad in ceiiil
pliihed elsewhere, however briitiant our
,trinuiplis
Inut Inca in other places. They had not iit-fali3
-an unsettled accomit yeal'S •
though the revvnue amounted tai i
revenue oilimr.,land was beilOre the continence-.
anent cif•the war, ies it, Inid ie,ielied 1 5,00u;0T,;/,•
'Those
.fa ulna had not Crept into their s t.d,ft.ll-
- which, in !,lnlie to COM",
,
pliiined Of in this country. :Hating '
he hoped that It would trot be iil.l)u+.rtl to him that '
lie wished .to dust toy the Company. Ifei was n
Proprietor of E,eit India Stock, certainly not to a
great amount., but to nit amount which, to a 'man
like hint, retire] from active life, v.ith ioHois.
or his fortune, was of as unwn iniport- •
auce to him as as lunch target:stake in the Compa-
ny wad to,othcr, lllas, then, it NVUOId be serf)
(114t:11i0 Si 'lllotll'e was personal intereq,
whjsh would endeavbnriug ter injure the'
(~:oropany ; and hits third mitts Was the
owed to his country', The Subjeet“; e>tl iihich lie
now intended to tonell opon Might'be classed notice
five before th'ent—t
stilts of the Company'a territories, and the eNpee-
tkuions entertained by. the
the trade., and the tionsideratien whether it wOuld-
be likely to benefit India and Etiglanil—thc. revt.-.-
noes of the Company's territorie—md their re—.
:,,ources and moans of raising their revenites: the
tiegocititions for the renewal of the Chotier. (tuffs-
euenee4 iii 1 SOO', Government-had at first.seented
disposed to renew it 011 the terms prop.:,ited -the...
Dj.rectors,, but sultsegnently tv/o ttlturittion,3. were.
painely, the opening.. of the: trad6.l:;‘t.tud.,

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