The Sun.
London, England, 1812-04-01 00:00:00

PAPERS RESPECTING the IVEGO:IATIO
roR A RENEWta OF
COMPANY's LX :LUSIVE
KIVILEGES.

• No. VI. •
SECRET COURT OF DIRECTORS.

LETTER.
_FROM THE RIGHT HON.-E. DUNDAS TO THE

CHAIRMAN AND DEPUTY.

[Continued from Yesterday.]
Downing-street, Dec. 28, 183
Gentlemen,—ln subtnii tang-a o your consideration
such observations as have occurred to me on our
letter of the 16th last, it is necessary that you should
understand them to be merely rehminary, in con-
templation of future discitssions, and by no means
as the result of any plan or projected ,sy'stetn, ma-
tured in concert with his Maje,ty's confidential ser-
vants. It will depend on the judgment which the
Court of DireCtors may form on the propriety or
necessity of adhering to the present system of their
Indian trade and administration in all its pairs, whe-
ther I shall'be enabled to hold out to !hem any ex-
peetation that their application to Parliament for a
renewal ot the company's Charter will meet with
theconcurrence of Government.
I shall follow the order adopted in your letter, in
respe& to the subje6ts which you hale particularly
mentioned; and shall offer some additional remarks
on any other important branches of the present sys-
tem, in which alterations may probably. be deemed
indisrnsably necessary.
Ist. Concurrieg in substance- with the proposi-
tion contained in the first article, I blOl not enlarge
upon its details. I have not yet heard or read all
arguments against the continuance of the. system
under which the British possessions in. India are
governed, of sufficient weight to counterbalance the
praittic l beneEs which have been derived from
in their increased and increasing prosperity, and, the
general security ausl happiness of their „inhabitants.
It is possible that the same effects might have been
produced under a Government immediately depen-
dent on the Crown ; but for the attainment of those
objects the experiment is, at least, unnecessary,
and it might be attended with dangers to the Con-
stitutien of this country, which, if they can be
avoided, it would to unwise' to encounter. Any al-
teration,- therefore, which may be suggested in .this
part of the system,- will probably be only in its de-
tails. ,It may, however, bc7d:emed.advtsable to ex,
tend the controlling auttiorily of the Board of Corn-
missioners to such proceedings or the Court of Di-
rector. in England, as are immediately connected
with the government or revenues ot the C rnpany's
territorial possessions. in India, more especially if the
suggestion contained in your fourth article should be
adopted.
2d. In the view which I have already taken of the
proposition contained in
,the preceding article, it is
Certainly unnecesssary to disctiss the Company's
right to the permanent possession of the British ter
ritories in India. It is impossible that this right
should be relinquished on the part of the public, or
that a claim can be admitted, on the part of the
Company, to the extent which has sometimes been
maintained, and to which you seemed to have ad-
verted in the second article.
3d. It is equally impossible to acquiesce in all the
reasoning, though I am perfeelly willing to concur
in the conclusion deduced from it in the third article.
I think it very desirable that no measure should be
adopted, in the renewal of the Charter, w hich would
have the effect of reducing the value of the capital
+stock of the East India Company; and that due
care should be taken to secure their proper share of
'advantage in any future amelioration ot their affairs ;
but as the w has regulated the mode in which those
affairs, at home and abroad, should be administered,
I cannot enter into the distinClion which is stated
in this article, and which I have met with on other
other occasions, as to the equitable claim of the
Compaq to any remuneration from the public, or
other benefit, on account of wars, or other events,
which, as represented in your let er, did not ori-
ginate in " the Executive body of the Company, but
proceeded from causes which that body could not
control."
It would be premature, in this stage of the discus-
sion, to enter into any details, as .to the proportion
of benefit to be derived by the Company or the pub-
lic, respettively, from any future amelioration in
the state of your finances; and 'any contingent ex-
peetation of that nature must, at all events, be post-
poned till a large portion of the Ipdiau debt has been
discharged.
4th. The liquidation of that debt is. undoubtedly
a measure of indispensable necessity, not only to the
Company but to the public. If we were now call-
ed upon to disuss the right of the public to the ter-
ritorial revenues, which have been obtained in India-
either by cession or conquest, it would be impossible
to relieve the question from the fair claims ot the
Company, and their creditors to a reimbursement
of the expences which have been incurred, and the
discharge of the debts which have been contratled,
in the acquisition and maintenance of those posses-

Entertaining that opinion, and convinced that the
liquidation of the Indian debt, in the moil speedy
and effeaual mode, would be a measure of Mutual
interest and advantage, I do not suppose that your
suggestion in the fourth article would be objected to
by Government, provided the necessity, or at least
the expediency of such an interference, on the part
of the public, is made obvious and apparent ; and
provided also, that sufficient security is
_afforded for
the punCtual payment of the interest, and of'an ade-
quate 'sinking. fund, for the liquidation of the prin-
cipal ot any sums adaanced for-that purpose. I need
not remind you, however, that any such aid from
the public will be unavailing, and the relief afforded
by it will be temporary and delusive, unless by the
zealous exertions of your Governments abroad, and
the minute and detailed investigation and unremit-
ting attention of the Court of DireCiors, the ordi-
nary expenditure in India, including the interest of
debt, shall be brought within the limit of your an-
nual income. The most sanguine expectations of a
result even more favourable, and of a large surplus
retenue above your ordinary eipences in time of
peace, have recently been conveyed to you by Lord
Mioto ; but I trust that the Court of Directors will
not be induced by those hopes, however well found-
ed, to relax in their exertions. Every item of those,