The Sun.
London, England, 1803-03-15 00:00:00

and also the Interest or the Debt ; but there was
no certified amount of the Capital of the Debt, he
was therefore obliged to
,form the best Estimate in
his power. In order to prevent mistake, and to be
as sure as possible, he' wool& take the Capital of
the Debt at the highest amount, and state it at
18,560,0001. which would completely cover the
Whole of the Debt. Of this sum, as he had 'before
stated, 6,000,0001. bore Interest, the annual
amount of which was 1,438,7911. This certainly
was a most serious sum, and must necessarily be a
most serious 'dedudiOn from the Incorise of the Corn.
Parry. 'But, great as it was, still it was a most',
satisfadory consideration, that if the state of the
Company in 1793, with all the necessary increase
of expence in the course of the War,' was compared
with its. present state, there would be a correspond.
ing increase in the Assets of the Company, at least
equal to the Incumbrances incurred, so that the
Company were in as good a state as they were at
the commencement of the War. In Considering the
Debt of the Company, the first thing that naturally'
occurred to the mind .was the very high rate of Inte-
rest which they paid for their Debt ; the Interest
amounted to very little short of 9 per cent. He
stated this, in the hope that the Committee would
bear it in mind, while he adverted to what occurred
to.him upon another part •of the subject. If the
• Company had no surplus Revenue at all to apply to
the liquidation of their Debt, still there was ano.
ther operation which they might have recourse to,
and which would contribute very materially- to that
object, and that was the conversion of their Indian
Debt bearing the high Interest he had stated, into
an European Debt, This would put the Company
into the, possession of a considerable Fund for the
ettinEtiOn of their Debt, because tithe difference of
Interest between an Indian• Debt, to the amount
he had stated, at 9 per Cent., and an European
Debt at
.5 per Cent, would afford to the Company
a,,s"ving of ab0ut.5,380,0001. a year. He wished
therefore that the Committee would always bear
'n mind that there were applicable to the extindion
Of the Debt.not only the existing Funds, but the
saving to be made by this change,in the nature of
the Debt. The present means, which the Company
posSessed to meet their incumbrances must arise
from their Revenues abroad, and'from their Capital
at home. The estimated Revenues, according to
the latest accounts which had been received, would
be altogether 11,976, t 801. ; the estimated Charges
• were 9,346,3691.; there would then remain a
surplus of 2,729,8111. from this, however, was to
tu4'dedaeled die Commercial Charges, the Supplies
to Bencotilen, and' the Interest ot the Debt, and
there would then remain a nett surplus of 1,053,5821.
This Surplus arose partly from an increase in the
kilevenue, and partly from some redutions which
had been made in the expences. No redudion,
however, had been taken credit for, which had not
been adually accomplished, though there were
Others in contemplation which he hoped would be
extremely produdive: In adverting to this Subjed,
it was impossible that the attention of the COmmit.
tee should not be turned to the Noble'Persem now
at the head of the Government in India, the Mar.
quis WELLESLEY ; anti he. would venture to say,
that high as his character stood upon other grorunds; •
it would stand still higher when the measures he
had adopted for improving the Finances of the Cont.
palsy were considered; it would be' found that the
Same energy ,of mind, which carried him through
the other difficulties which surrounded him, had par.,
ticularlycharaderized his financial ,arrangetnents.—
Having, however, mentioned the Reduttions which
had
.been made, he wished that the Committee
should not entertain any apprehensions that they
were such as would in any degree endanger the safety
• °f our Empire in India, and perhaps the best way to
satisfy the Committee upon this head would be, to
state the amount of Our Army in India. It
amounted to 2.4;o00 Europeans, of Whom 17,000
were King's Troops. The Native Force amount-
ed to 89,000 Men ; and the, Irregular Force, in.
. eluding Lascars, to 10,000, making altogelher an
Army of above 124,000 Men; With such a force,
there' vvas no ground for apprehensiOns either from
attacks from Europe, or from contests in
His Lordship then proceeded to comment upon the
Commercial State of "the Company, and contended,
that nothing could shake them in the Commerce of
the East, because nobody would embark a large
Capital against a Company that had so large a Sur.
plus Revenue, which they must remit to Europe, and
which must enable them to drive any Competitor
out of the market. With regard to the sum which
. at -the last renewal of the Company's Charter was
to be paid to the Public, the non.payment of it' had
OnlY been occasioned by the War, but
,undoubtedly
in the event of the continuance of Peace, the Payment
would be regularly made. According to the At
for the renewal of the Charter, the appropriation of
their surplus,Revenue was as follows : the first half
million was to answer 'Bills from India, the second
• half million was to be paid to the Public, and the
remainder was to go in extindion of the Debt. The
result of this statement would be, that after paying
the Public 500,0001. a.year, 'there would remain a
sum of above one million applicable to the reduCtion
of the Debt, independent of-the Measure to which he
had before alluded, of the conversion the Debt. He
Wished here to observe, that it was not in content.
elation to liqoidate the whole of the Debt, it was
proper, for many reasons, that a part of the Debt
should remain ; 'one of those reasons was,, that the
• advantages
they have under our Government) in the
Permanence- of the Company. Supposing then the
amount of Debt to be reduced was 12,000,0001.
and the sum applicable to. the reduCtion to . he
2,00cn0001. a year, it would obviously be
d in• six years, and the interest due
.upon the
remainder, taking' it even at 6 per Cent. would be
Only 240,0001. a year.: He presumed that the inte-
rest Might, under these circumstances, be reduced to 6
Per Cent. and in the present state of .thC,COMpiilly'S
affairs, they would not have occasion to raise
any money for the first tWo years. , He was aware
that the Committee alight suppose that he was giving
an exaggerated accourst of the affairs of the Corn.
fanYs but he would state the grounds of his Cajetl
ati°n as applying to the alternative tither 'of Peace
orf) ar' His Lordship then entered into the
tl)(vi
)wing statement of the Company, and the ap-
Vlicability of those means to the liquidation of their j