Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-11-24
From the Philadelphia News. The British East India Comnanv

tuition.
 
 From the Philadelphia News
 The British East India Company.
 It may not be uuustructive at the present momentto give, in the brief and imperfect man. her which a newspaper article will only allow. a succlnct history of this remarkable comnany ot merchant princes, who starting as huinbla supplIants for mercantile privileges upon the coasts of the far-tamed peninsula of HindostaD have extended and consolidated. their authority With money and with arms, until the British power rules with undisputed sway, from the llimmaaya mountains to Cape Comorln. over land which was the seat of industry. of com merce, and ot the arts, when Europe was sunk Ill barbarsm. In the middle ages, the mer- chants oi enlce alone imported into Europe the precious produce of India, which they ob ained through the ports ot Egypt and the Red Sea Alter the discovery oi the passage to India by the Cape oi Good Hope the mait me Powers of Europe entered largely into coutes for the supremacy ot the Asatc seas and the commerce ol the country. In this contest the Portuguese. then Ill the zenith of their power, were the most successful and for nearly a quarter of century nonopolized the trade without inter. ference rom any European rival. Suiseuueut- y the Dutch competed with the Portuguese. ana divided With them the profits of it, com meice, ana at length the attention oI the British merchants Was earnestly directed to the same field
 IL was on the last day of the sixteenth cen- tury, that Queen Elizabeth granted the first charter to the East India company, giving them the right o exclusive trade iu the India seas for fifteen years, with promise of renewal Previ- ous to 1913, each member of the association managed his affairs on his own account, but in that year the capital was consolidated. As early as the period ot the commonwealth, pub. Ac opinion became SD strong against the com pany, principally in consequence of alleged abuses Ill the time of the S.uarts, that Cromwell destroyed the charter which had been urjgiuul- y only royal grant. After the restoration of the royal family, the charter was renewed bv Charles Il. h 16Y0, government being in waEt of funds, in consideration of large loan. iucor- porated a rival joint stock company; but the ri Valry proved so detrimental to bogh colnpauies aud to the nation at large, that a union was ef- | tected in 17O2, since which time the company has existed on its present basis.
 Up lo thIs tme the organization and man. a5cmcnt of the association had been merely \ commercial; but npNN through the introduction ! o native soldiers into the service of tue ,ompa- ny, under the pfeteNt ot defending their lacto- ric,, the Initiation Was taken in the grand scheme oi conquest and wrong, which has given to the [ managers oi tia4ulg cumPaI4y iu London a kingdom ten time, the sze of Euglanl with a population of l5oOD0,UOO of inhabitants, and which, from a counting house n Leaaen [ all street, has for century, instead ol engaging in the peaceful pursuits of trade, engaged in var. | bn md q ' and ruled over Kings The political power of the English commenced in 1748, by the con- | quest oi Bengal. AmI.ton and ayarice, polti- cal and mercantile cunning, European arms and l discipline, under the leadership of the able 1 Give, who, then but an humble lieutenant in | tue company's seryce finally won his way to | the Peerage and Governor Generalshjpof India l proved all powerful against the brave but euer- yaled Indian. The first important act in the ! drama Was the famous battle oi Piassy, in which l Give deposed the rghtiul King, Sutaia Doula, ' and elevated Tn his place by reasonable cons l piracy vizier, Nicer Jatiier, who having served I the company'S purpose by paying enormous sums oi money, and gIvlng up large portions ot ' territory, was in his turn driven from his throne \ by the English, who elevated his son-iu-law | Nicer CoSslm, in his stead, and subsequently 4 deposed him also. Conquest followed con- 1 quest, anneXatlon came after annexation, unti l. ln less than ten years the East India company were elevated from being refugees in an insigni. ticant mud fort at Calcutta to the sovereigils oi one of the richest kingdoms in the world. with a population of 3O,OOO,OOO souls and revenue of 25,OOO,OOO rupees. Next followed in rapid succession the annexation of the extensive pro- vinces in the northwest of India, extorted from the weakness of the King of Dude with ter rltory Of 32,OOO square miles, and population of b, ,O0O,OUO.
 Already, however, the magnitude of the h. dian Empire and the inability of the compauy to properly govern it, attracted the jealousy 0 the government. In June, 1773, the Legisla. ture altered the constitution ot the Association and vested in tbe Crown the supervision it has since exercised. A Governor General was ,ap pointed by the directors, but subject to the ap proyal of the King, while Supreme Court Q Judicature was established at Calcutta. vii Judges selected by the Crown.
 The period from 177l to 1765 is memorabl, as the term during which Warren Hastiuy, a, mnistered the government, and extended. witt ! interruptions hand the territory and resource of the company. Charged upon his return tc Europe with tyranny, eXtortion, and corruption with infamous outrages through his agents, up on innocent people; by torturing them wtl hunger, stripes, and mprisonment-with out rages upon females as a means of exorting thei jewels or their weaIth--with the exterminatiol of the Rohillas by fire and sword, and with de vastatmg the provinces of Dude and B Bunares- his famous impeachment is we'll known to in popular mind. Although acquitted by tn House of Peers the history of that trial and it results has become an inetiaceable blot upon tn escutcheon of hs country, and it is folly not t. see that the administration of Warren ilastinp was the seed that has produced the crop o swords now drinking the blood of Eng!ishme throughout the territory of Bengal. Perhap nothing in the English tongue is more borrow ing than that portion of the famous philippe c Burke, which describes the horrible outrage up on men and women, committed by his agent. As the crowning point to Mir. Hastings's infamy he caused the arrest of his accuser. the Raia Nundcomer on charge of forgery, tried hin before jury of Engshmen, and hung hin amid the tears and lamentations of his country men.
 The fall of Tippoo Saib, in 1792, placed an other large kingdom at the disposal of the the Governor the late Duke of Wellington. Whe that officer had taken possession oi all the com pany then thought fit to appropriate, it was re solved to form the remainder into natl ve kino dom, and place upon the throne child si years old, who should be under the charge c the British government
 The Influence of British authority was b this time extended over the greater part of II dla, not only by conquest, but by protectiv treaties. Itls apparent, that the presence of
 military force superior to its own must hay reduced every Piince in whose territory It wa statione to a state of complete suhjectIon.- . The next step taken by the company was t