Star.
London, England, 1830-03-19 00:00:00

MR. BUCKINGHAM'S ALLEGED RETAINER

FROM THE EAST INDIA COMPANY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR.

London, March, 1830.
SIR, I appeal to your sense of justice, to read and
give the utmost degree of publicity that your means will
afford, to the following brief statement, for the purpose
of removing the scandalous imputation which has been
so unjustly fastened on me, as a traitor to the cause I pro-
fess to serve.

In several of the public journals the following para-
graph has appeared, and from its having gone the round
of the Provincial Press before it was brought to my no-
tice, has remained uncontrad►cted. It is couched in these
terms :—'• It is confidently stated that Mr. Bucking-
ham has received an ample retainer from the East India
Company, and that he will therefore retire from public
life.'

The impressions created by this assertion, which is
made with a confidence proportioned to its falsehood, has
been injurious to me in the highest degree; and has al-
ready led to proceedings which have driven me to the
very verge of despair. lam therefore compelled, painful
as such an alternative must be, to choose between giving
countenance, by my silence, to this base imputation, or
disclosing to public view the sad reverse of the picture
here pourtrayed. I prefer the latter, because truth is
better than deception, and because, great as have been
my sufferings, I stand proudly free from all taint of
infidelity to the public cause with which my name has
been so long associated.
The history of my labours to effect a beneficial inter-
course between England and India may be told in a few
words. I was first banished from Bombay for having
dared, without the permission of the East India Corn.
pany, to visit that port from Egypt, for the purpose of re-
viving its ancient freedom of trade. I was next banished
from Calcutta, although thou furnished with the Com-
pany's permission or licence to reside there, for having
dared to attempt the advocacy of English laws in oppo-
sition to irresponsible power, and to plead for the freedom
of commerce and the freedom of opinion combined.
Through these severe punishments, each inflicted without
a trial, hearing, or defence, I was subjected to enormous
losses :—by the first,
I was deprived of a maritime command and a fortune
of 30,000/. sterling ; by the second, a property worth
40,000/. was annihilated, and an income of 8,0001. a
year, which I then enjoyed from this property, entirely
of my own creation, utterly destroyed. Independently
of this, I brought with me to England more than 10,0001.
and during the last seven years that I have devoted to
the public cause, the whole of that sum has been ex-
pended in the promotion of the one great object of my
constant and undeviating pursuit—namely, the opening
of the marts of India and China to British Commerce,
and with it to British Capital, skill, and enterprize, with
all the blessings of morality and religion, which these
are sure to bring in their train.
During the past year, 1829, my efforts have been di-
rected to visiting all the principal towns and ports in
England and Scotland, for the purpose of awakening
public attention to the evils of the East India Company's
monopoly ; and during the whole of that period I have
scarcely omitted a day (the Sabbath alone excepted) in
which I hare not been addressing assemblies of the
greatest intelligence and respectability, varying from
12 to 1,200 in number each, for I deemed no audience
too small to be neglected, or too large to be attempted.
Throughout these journies not less than 100,000 dif-
ferent individuals have been informed and animated by
what they heard from my lips, and thus induced to unite
in petitioning against the renewal of the East India
Charter• In fifteen of the principal places of the kind-
dom, public associations have been formed by my per-
sonal persuasion and influence. In almost every provin-
cial paper of the island, discussions on the India Ques-
tion have been agitated, chiefly by my visits and ad-
dresses in the neighbourhood ; and at the present mo-
ment there is sitting in London a Committee of Deputies
from the provinces, from whom, in their respective
homes, I was honored with public votes of thanks for