Star.
London, England, 1812-06-16 00:00:00

soles consideration oil. five minutes, down it eame,l
eeomeneoded of course most strongly to the adop-
'em tithe House. Then their orator, who had just
12g down, had his sppech to make. It was made—all
was eery well ; and the country, the good-natured
country, was now to be saddled with an increased
eerriand of two millions and an half. Such was the his-
tory of this application ; btit he hoped, that in the ab-
meeent all information, the House would not adopt
gegen. The petition stated, that the wars in India
wee tee cause of the Company's present application.
fiehowever,wasof opinion, that theirembarrassments
meowing to great commercial blunders. Since 1806
ions, by Reports mach as the present, that the gentle-
men up stairs covered their nonsensical fooleries, and
humbugged thecountry. Every day they were asking
esouch, for Gon's sake, horn the country; and for the
hg thirty years we had been continually lending them
mnoey. By their own spewing, the East India. Com-
ny was £15,000,000 worse than nothing. (Hear,
They said, to be sure, that they had assets,
ewe debts, etc. but the fact was that all their stock was
owe and that it was an excessively convenient thing
fer teem to have an ally in the Government. But
though the Company was fifteen millions worse than
whine, it was not so with the Directors, &c. They
had a famous business of it. Every one of them had
a roost beneficial patronage. Three lvriterships, ten
cadetship, and places for fifty or sixty ticket-porters,
Wen is the gift of each of them. Then there were
the Ladies and Gentlemen Proprietors, who had
nothing to do but receive their dividends, and hear
an anniversary deelamation, on the prosperity of the
company from the Gentleman who did the annual
oratory-business for them, and he balloted also for
the Bank. (A laugh) There was nothing in the
world so fine as this public orator's speeches to the
Ladies and Gentlemen composing the United Con-
of Merchants trading to the East Indies. (A
.*.) The Company and the Bank were all one to
hire ; he would prove them both to be as safe and
peed as possible ; and in one annual address, the in-.
'liras of fifty thousaud of people were dispatched by
him with all imaginable ease. But besides the Bat-
wing unction of the Gentleman's oratory, the Ladies
lad Gentlemen composing the United Company, had
rbe gratifying vanity of every year dictating Cover-
less to the Great Mogul Empire. After some few
Meter observations, during which he said, that he un-
*mood the efforts for effecting a loan in the City to
be quite unsuccessful, the Honourable Gentleman
occluded, by expressing his determination to oppose
the grant in all its staves.
Mr. R. THORNI ON defended the propriety of
the grant. When the Honourable Gentleman said
that th seCompany were 15 millions worse than no-
ting, he must have been making an unintentional
*statement, or he must have said it as a joke. He
*lced the Honourable Gentleman for the good-
',tour of his speech, and he complimented him on
hhtmccess in_decorating so dry a subject with so
Nob amusement. The Honourable Gentleman did
his duty this year quite in a pleasing way. Every
lembe came forward as a warning voice, with a me-
mitiori in his mouth ; but this reminding them of
their mortality, had just as much good nature in it as
the Spanish Benediction, tt May you live a thousand
pm" As to the loan, it was but a temporary ac-
mwesodation • and did not the Company deserve to
berelieved ? Had they not conquered every inch of
ground that could be conquered in India ? Had they
lot secured to the country a territory that yielded
46,000,000 a year revenue; £4,000,000 of which
went to the country, and that was, he believed, no
sum to be sneered at.—(4 loud laugh.)—The fault of
the Directors, if indeed they had any fault, was too
much economy.
Sir THOMAS TURTON said, that when so
large a sum as; that of 02,500,000 was required by
the East India Company, he expected that some
reason would be given to shew the House that jus-
tice had been done to the public by stating the
grounds for this advance. But they said this sum
was not asked as a loan, for that all above 0900,000
was owing to them. He thought the Company
ought to shew their Debtor and Creditor Account,
and prove hew that fact really stood. The territory
of the Company, he considered as no security : the
conquests they had made were not those of the Com-
pany, but the conquests of the country ; and he pi o-
Phecietls that whether it was wrested from us in the
arbitrary way we had seized it, or whether it remained
et it 'as now, we should never receive any benefit
from it. The Company were coming to the House
ear mu loan after another, and he thotrght it was the
duty of the House to make a stand, and to consider
the interests of the public as well as those of the Com-
pany; for which reason he cord not agree to the vote.
Mr, C. GRANT (a Director) denied that the
Company owed the country arty thing : the debts of
the Company contracted in India were war debts,
mot at all commercial ; and the Company did not ask
that the public shauld be teed for the payment of
the interest of this debt, but the Company would
provide for it, and pay it out of their own funds.
From the retrenchment of their expenditure, and the
"dtiction they lead been enabled to make in the in-
t_c_reurtlie Crimpan7 would soon have it in their power
Nue off all their loans. The territorial debt did not I
4rwitint to two years' rent. of the country, which was flehOUo I
,000 annually ; and though the debt had
eme exec! at £30,000,000 it did not actually amount
watore than £26,000,000, which was not two years'
tent. The Company had only borrowed of the Pub-
Lc 41,000,000 in the last fur years, and that had
°Y been paid off.
°He HUSXISSON submitted to the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, whether it would not be desirable to
make a eireeng fund of 1 per Cent. or some other
rJetthat should be adequate to redeem the present
lola to the course of the new term to be granted to
ethe Company, by the renewal of their charter, which
oesuw no reason to suppose wonted not be made next
Session.
Mr. N. VANSITTA RT agreed as to thepropriety
of a_sinking fund being provided ; and it must also
considered, that there was always aerunning ac-
count between the Company and Government, which
tieing chiefly for war expences, it was highly desirable
should be brought into the regular' accounts of the
Iraq and navy. This was the intent of Government,
bat it %vas impouible to effect it at present.
/AL HALL said, the question was, whether it was
deaf, or rather, whether it was not necessary, to
telthiS SUM to the East-India Company, to enable
to carry on their affairs. He came down with