Star.
London, England, 1813-01-22 00:00:00

I Pdrlianunt their eirtiendeuhthie interests, letithees• 1
of London, in the etclusiye trade from India ; and it
would be for Parliament to judge-hoer far those in-
terests should weigh in the scale of national policy,
or were compatible with the welfare of the country.
This was the express, avowed, and only practicable
object of the patient Meeting, and from this obj
they ought not to be diverted by considerations to-
tally foreign and irrelevant to it. There were other
places. the India House, and the Common Council,
where Gentlemen might state their objections. He
said, that when the Mussulrnen of the East wished
to indulge in the unclean luxury of eating pork, they
generally satisfied their coascience by first persuad-
ing themselves that it was beef--{Here there war a
general expression of diapprobatiost, and the application of
this sigtik was lost by the iseterruption that followed.]
Mr. Warrumae, at length, proceeded, and said,
thAt his only w ish was, that- the City of London
should not decide upon ex parte evidence. The first
Resolution confounded the India and China trade
together, and involved in the same imaginary ruin
the civil, military, and commercial establishments of
the East India Company. But it was evident that
this sweeping conclusion was not warranted by facts.
The Resolution also stated, that the Company had
subsisted for a long time, and had many persons de-
pendent upon it. We were at first told that the
number of persons so dependent was 18,000, which
had insensibly swelled to 30,000 ; and this had
again, by including various other descriptions of peo-
ple, mounted up to 100,000, directloor indirectly
dependent on the India Company. But he could
not conceive that the number Could be any thing like
what was pretended, considering that the trade of
India was only a million and a half annually ; and
he was quite sure that it ought not to be so great, as
the influence and patronage consequent upon it must
be highly prejudicial to a free state. As to the dimi-
nution of the revenue, it was all nonsense. Let the
King's Ministers look to that ; whatever other faults
might be found with them, they were seldom defi-
cient in what related to the raising of the revenue. If
they had shewn the same ability in making use of it
when they had got it, as they had in getting it, they
would more frequently have had his feeble support.—
[Here there were cries of Question.]
Mr. WAITHMAN observed, that these interruptions
were by no means disagreeable.to him, as they were
a relief to the effort of speaking ; and those who had
never made the attempt could not be aware of the
extreme difficulty Of making the human voice heard
in a room of so large an extent as that in which they
were assembled.

The LORD MAYOR said, that he stood there in the
eye not of the Corporation only, but in the eye of the
City of London, and he should certainly wish to do
justice to eve: y individual present; but he must again
request that Mr. Waithman would confine himself
strictly to the questioit.
Mr. Warrtimat: resumed—He said he was about
to state the teal quesion, which was, whether the
supposed injury to be done to the East India Com-
pany and City of London, would not be more than
compensated by the benefit of the general mercantile I
interests of the country ? As to the exclusive trade
to and from India, it appeared from authentic docu-
ments, that the Company had lost two millions by '
it in six years, and in one year only £396,000. We
had been referred to the authority of Mr. Dundas ;
but that Statesman had declared, that all general
reasoning and general experience was a.;ainst the ex-
elusive charter of the Company ; but that tb::it's was
a particular case, the Company had acquired a habit
and that habit could not be safely. broken into. If
Lord Melville had, however, lived to the present
day, might he not have said to the India Company,
your trade is a losing wade, your debts have in-
creased from seven to thirty one millions, your own ex-
perience is against you, and I am, therefore, willing
to allow sonic farther facility to an open trade. IVith
all the advantages of which the Company boasted,
what had they to fear, if their statements were cor-
rect, from the efforts of individuals ? Another con-
sideration which ought to weigh on the Meeting was,
the Americans carried on a trade to India to an ex-
tent half as great as that of the India Company !
Would it be desirable, therefore, that the trade should
be forced into the hands of other nations, or that it
should be carried on by British subjects ? On such a
subject as the present, when they were called on to
depart from the fundamental principles of commerce
laid down by Adam Smith, and all other writers on
political economy, he (Mr. W.) was obliged to con-
fess that he was rather staggered when he found that
the Company were- carrying on a losing trade.—
(Math of applawe and disapprobation.)—He begged
the meeting not be imposed on by agieeicg to Reso-
lutions utterly unfounded in fact.
[Here Mr. W. was interripted for some time, by
long and reiterated marks of disapprobation on the
part of some Members of the Meeting, as well as by
the applause of chose who wished him to proceed.]
The Loan Micron rose to order, but without effect.

Mr. WAIMMAN declared that he was ready to stay
there till tomorrow.—[The tumult continued for
some time, but Mr. W. was at last suffered to pro-
ceed ] He did not at all object to the Company's
stating their case to Parliament—but it behoved the
Citizens of London, before they adopted such an
exparte statement, to ,examine into the truth of it.—
How %you'd the monopoly which was now so stre-
Amonsly supported, do when applied to the trade with
America., to that, with the West Indies ? It had been
said that competition was dangerous—that the goods
would not find an advantageous sale ; but was not
this competition the main spring of all Conimerce ?
It was true that the Company, notwithstanding their
carrying on a losing trade, was enabled to pay a RA
per cent. dividend. Their object was the patronage,:
the disposal of the revenue of India ; they could well
afford to lose their commerce. He (Mr. NV.) had
an interest in the trade with India—he had been I.,ng
concerned in a trade in the staple commodity of that
country, in all pat is of this kingdom. But the ques-
tion was, wherter there would not be more trade in
the city of London in the event of the breaking down
the monopoly, than at present—(4tplauser.) The
home trade could not be removed trom London. It
was in London that the consumption of the goods
imported trout India was the greatest—the fine piece
goods in particular, being almost entirely consumed
by the families of distinction in the Metropolis. The
resolutions committed suicide, by stating that all the
trade would be removed from London. This gla-
ring impossibility divested them of all the weight
which might amorally be atischeit to them. It the