The Sun.
London, England, 1813-01-06 00:00:00

Yft.GßAN't did not r'ft with a *iew,toPls the
motion. The Gentlemen behind that bar wished
for no expressions of approbation which did not
come, a free -and spontaneous offering. .Tbe Hon.
Gentleman had supposed that this meeting;had
been calledto consider whether or not they slinuld
agree to the premises laid down by Ministers-,
He (Mr. Grant) had understood no such thing,
and he apprehended no question bad been laid
before the Court till that of adjournment was
proposed. The Court had . been summoned by
the Directors for the purpose ,ot communicating
to the Proprietors the correspondence which hart
taken place, aml_ so far the Hon. Gentleman had
mistaken the object of the. meeting. Itched viewed
the question respecting the out-ports, as it it were
one which could be separa4Ay disposed of.. Ile
(Mr. Grant) contended); that if imports Were
admitted to them, the China trade, 'could no
longer remain free from violation, the Compaq
would be injured, they would lose their dividend:,,
and their means be presently aground and incapa-
ble of discharging their political limetions. ThiS,
if the Hon. Gentleman had read the papers with
attention, could not have esenped him, lie (Air.
II.) appeared to suppose that the Directors had
called upon Government for a categorical answer,
at once to decide on the grand qnettion. . They
bad not done so. They bad wished to know why
iSlinisters were disposed to favour the out-ports;
cad the general plan theyhad in contemplation to
submit to Parliament, and no more. In solicit;
inginformatiOn oo these points they had not been
out of order. The India trade was not made the
subject of a quarrel with the .Governinent and,
with the country, but it was the China trade
which they felt they shotild lose, if the out-portg
had the trade extended to them: The [lon. Gen-
, denten had ridiculed the Compatty for interfering
with the Constitution of thiS country. In his
opinion this Was a subject in which all were rote-
rested,and one on which they had a
.right to
state their sentiments, as freemen and as Loardi-
ans of the Indian constitution, It was the wish
of the Directorstlmt every thing' should be iinpar-
tinily discussed.. Government had expressed a will,
ingnesss freely t) discuss it, and this 11;1(1 encourag
eti the Directors to ask' to see the ease which the
Merchants and Trailers connected with the out-
,
ports had made out. It
,was not thought by the
Ministers of 1793, out of the line of their duty.,
eminnunicate to the Company all the dectunents
received from those who wished the trade to be,
thrown open. . Government now told them
that what, had passed was not in writing; Writ had, ,
chiefly been oral. In a common way, hoWeVer,
they knew that it was almost 'impossible for such
conferences to take place without minutes being
.made:, of them, and had thought it would not be
improper to asi; to see them. They had wished
to discuss the business argumentatively, but 111i-
lusters had de,,iined doing so; and in their last
letter, instead of argument,' they had given de-
cision. lie trusted it would not appear unreason-
able in tltc ttt to wish to know the arguments used
on the other silk:, This was what they had
wished to know—this they, still wished, and fol-
lo,ving up the sitbjeet with a spirit of conciliation,
it. would be no fault- of theirs, if the 'wished-for
intorm'ation were not obtained, and every thing
sal Id. actory adjusted at *last. .
I. Stu rat, Zia chplanation, Nuid; he
,had
propci,od to express 4ipprpbation of the con-
duct lit the DileChit'S on this occasion, principally
for what their conduct had been that day.
A Mola4a, whOse name we 'could nut learn,
suggested the expediency of adjourning for a
week instead of ti fortnight. He also suggested
propriety of their closing the discussion with
Mini',,ters, -us if it were to close unfavourably, be
could wisii the letter (4 Lord ockingliamshire,
to be the last d6citinent in an` iticrence between
time Company and the Government.
After some conversation as to the period
,to
which it might be proper to adjourn,
Sir H. INoms gave it us his opinion, that it
would be desirable to adjourn tau more distant
period than the last proposed, arid he theret.ore
wiihed to adhere to the original proposition. klc
maintained time Directors bad asked oothing of
Ministers hot what they were competent to give.
To give up the out-ports, he contended, was
to give up the whole ,of their trade, as their 1,
very depeoded on their brini.;ing
their imports into the port' of London ; and
this had been the doctrine laid down awl main
tained by ,the late Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt,
He was sarprised to hear ,any one speak as if the
Company had Do concern with the constitution of
their country. With respect to Oita had 'been
said of their general trade bcirig at losidg trade, he
would say, it had not been so very deficient as the
konourable Gentleman supposed. It had prOilue-
from 100,m1(1/. per annum, to 3V0,0001.
100,0001. and 590,000/. «'h it was so lefty as „
to be; the subject of complaint, it was through a
dreadful calamity—the loss of their ship ; biat
this surely was not a reason for abaudotting their
trade. The Geetleman who had Opposed the mu...
thin had spoke of .113. is • VOW, It
Was a not . vote of thanks, :hut•_merely an
expression of .upprobittion; If be- did not
wcotake, if time' Gentlemen coalg ,carry
the Court ‘vith, him, lies would. rather express .
disapprobation, Sv hatever respect the Ilon.Gent.
might feel for the Government, he would say,
he felt as high a respect for the individuals who
compos!'d .it ; but that respect would never lattice
him give up one iota of what he owed to the
Company., If it was time wish of the Proprietors,
that the Directors should agree to the premises
prOoosed by Miuisters, they winthl obey ; but till
this was signified. in the most explicit manner,:
they evonlit leak their 'duty to persevere in that
title of
,conduct which they liad hitherto pu-
rled,
'

Mr; Alderman ATKIN3 wets sure thelion. Gen-
denial' would ,find plenty in that Court ready to
support the propositions for opening,the trade,if
they were satisfied it would be for the good of the
conutryt, lit such. a ease be was satisfied their con-
duct would not be regulated by such 'narrow views
...is to, hesitate for a moment. l'he reasoning
they hid heat'd against it
.was to him most satis-
factory and.conelusive. 12iis answered, ht. would
join hands with the.tionourable Gentleman, and

.4.0014, Brytit.,,es-41.1741 C.vent-gr,,r4l
a.? 1':';‘). 1,1401ii50110114`5, ()rd it to