inferior to the general courts, where their acts were liable to be overruled by the proprietors; and that an advantage might be taken during the Christmas recess, of sending the supervisors far out of the reach of parliament. That this bill was no invasion of any charter, it was only an act to prevent a possible evil; to prevent the Company from crowning all their former extravagance, by entering into an unnecessary and ruinous expence, when they were just upon the brink of bankruptcy.

On the other side, the whole measure, as well as the unconstitutional nature of the committee from which it originated, were condemned in the most severe and pointed terms. It was said to be neither more nor less than a bill to suspend the laws of the land; that it was subversive of rights, which the Company not only enjoyed by charter, but had purchased from the public, for high and valuable considerations. That it disgraced the dignity of parliament, by a wanton exertion of authority, without a motive; that too many complaints were already loudly and publicly made, that every ministerial job was adopted as soon as proposed, without regard to reason, argument, or consequences, whereby the respect and confidence, so essential to the nature of parliament, were sunk to a degree that could scarcely be paralleled in the worst of times. That administration had found out an admirable method of rendering the Company great and glorious; they began by plundering them, under the name of an agreement, of above two millions, and now put the last hand to the work, by taking ad

vantages of the distress principally caused by that plunder, to deprive them of their charter, and overthrow their constitution; first they tempt and terrify them into a ruinous extravagance of grants and dividends, and then, as a punishment, deprive them of whatever this extravagance had left. That indeed the minister was lavish in his declarations of his friendly intentions towards the Company; and these declarations must be considered as a full compensation for every thing they suffered. It was farther said, that this bill must be productive of the most fatal consequences with respect to the other funds, and put an end to all confidence in the public faith; and it was asked with great bitterness, what security there could be in a country, where the royal charters, repeatedly ratified and confirmed by acts of parliament, could give no permanent establishment to property. That the argument of expence was a mere pretext to cover worse designs. That it was admitted some sort of supervision was necessary; and the objection of expence was equally applicable to any sort of supervision. As to the want of powers, it was said, that if there was any defect of that sort in the Company's charter, they might be given with equal effect to the commissioners who are legally appointed, and without any violation of the rights or charter of the Company.

To these and many other strictures, the distresses and extravagance of the Company, the necessity of observing the strictest economy in their affairs, together with a due regard for their welfare, which was so intimately connected

with that of the state, and a just attention to the security of their creditors, were deemed in general sufficient answers; it was also insisted on, that this measure was no invasion of their rights; and that if it had, the legislature had an unquestioned right to interfere, to prevent their running headlong to ruin. Upon a division, the question was carried by a great majority, being supported by 114 votes, against 43 only, who opposed the bringing in of the bill.

In the farther progress of this bill, a petition, couched in the strongest terms, was presented against it by the India Company; and several of their servants, consisting of the examiner of the records, the auditor of Indian accounts, the accountant general, and the superintendant of the custom-house accounts, were examined by the Company's desire, at the bar of the House of Commons, in order as well to shew a true state of their affairs, as the misconduct and disobedience of their servants abroad, and the consequent necessity of the supervision. In the course of these examinations it appeared, that the exorbitances and oppressions still continued to be committed by the Company's servants in India. Through their own imprudence, in asking needless or improper questions, a full share of those charges were brought directly home to some of those gentlemen who were then sitting in the House.

It appeared, that since the year 1765, the Company's expences had increased from 700,000l. to the enormous sum of 1,700,000l. annually. It also appeared that government had received by the net

duties, the indemnity upon tea' and the stipulated 400,000l. little less than two millions annually from the Company. That the latter had lost by the indemnity agree-. ment, from its first commencement, at least one million, of which 700,000l. went to government, and the remainder to the purchasers. It was also shewn, that government had profited, extraordinarily, by the Company, within the last five years, to the vast amount of 3,395,000l. viz. by the produce of the annual stipulated sum, 2,200,000l. and by the increase of the revenue, compared on a medium with the five preceding years, 1,195,0001. That the whole of the Company's receipts of dividend during the same period, scarcely amounted to 900,000l. more than six per cent. upon its capital, which was the lowest trading dividend that had ever been made during the most expensive and dangerous war. It appeared upon the whole, that the Company's mercantile profits during the above period, amounted on an average, to 464,000l. annually, which would have afforded a dividend of twelve and a half per cent. so that while government profited to the great amount we have mentioned, the Company and proprietary, instead of benefiting a single shilling, lost considerably of the dividend, which the profits on their trade only would have afforded. Thence they argued, that far from being delinquents, their merits with the public were unparalleled by any example. That the abuses committed by their servants were such as they could not prevent, because they could not foresee; that when they were known, they endeavoured

by

by reiterated orders from home to correct them; that they had prepared various commissions for that purpose; one under Lord Clive; a second, which had been unfortunately lost; and a third, which,, contrary to their rights, was now proposed to be rescinded. They contended, that parliament could not take this step, as being contrary to public faith. The matters of fact in the petition were stated by the evidence with clearness and precision. We have been the more particular in this detail, as it will undoubtedly excite the admiration of future ages, to consider the power and opulence which had been once in the possession of a company of English merchants.

A second report had been made during this time by the secret committee, which contained a long statement of the Company's affairs; of their debts, credits, and effects, both at home and abroad. It was objected that this piece was so overloaded with figures and accounts, and so full of intricacies, that it could afford but little information, (except what was taken for granted from the gross sums) within the narrow time that such information could be necessary, with respect to the present bill. This state of their affairs was considered by the Company and its friends as a very unfavourable, if not unfair, representation of them; and drew many strictures upon the committee, the darkness of its proceedings, and the doubtful information that could be obtained through such a medium. It was again lamented, that a fair and open enquiry had not been carried on, according to the happy genius and spirit of the English constitution, by which every

gentleman would have had an opportunity of founding his opinion upon matters as they appeared to himself, and of requiring such explanations as he thought necessary; that the time unavoidably spent in such an investigation would afford leisure for cool deliberation, and for digesting in some degree the several parts of such complicated. matter; whereby, random opinions and hasty reports, framed in a hurry, and without a possibility of seeing all the sides of the subject, would be precluded; and at the same time, the parties concerned would have an equitable opportu→ nity of attending to their respective interests, clearing up doubtful points, rectifying mistakes, and the satisfaction of knowing the ground upon which measures were to be founded, in whose consequences they were so deeply affected.

On the other hand it was urged, that the committee had acquitted itself of its trust with the most distinguished fidelity, and had dispatched and gone through so complicated a business in less time than could be expected; which could not have been done, if the committee had been open, and subject to debate on the several articles. That it is no wonder that matters of account in such a business should appear to produce different conclusions, according to the different manner of viewing and stating them. But unless direct falsification were proved, the House must necessarily abide by the statement of those whom they had chosen for the purpose.

Upon the third reading of the bill, counsel was heard in behalf of the Company, after which great debates arose. It was advanced by

the

the opposers of the bill, that as the Company's legal right to the appointment of all its own servants, and to the entire management and regulation of its internal affairs, had been so clearly proved as not to admit of a question, and that the rapacity, misconduct, and disobedience of the servants in the presidences abroad, was so notorious as to be allowed on all hands, no reasonable objection could now lie to the exercise of that right, when its expediency, and even necessity, were so evident; and that as every delay in the present circumstances, must be ruinous in the highest degree to the Company, and proportionally prejudicial to the nation, it was to be hoped, that no farther opposition would be made to the carrying of the commission of supervision into immediate execution, and that the present bill would be rejected, as founded upon false principles, and of an unconstitutional and dangerous tendency.

To this it was answered, that the evidence given at the bar, and the arguments opposed by the counsel against the bill, contained the strongest reasons that could possibly have been brought to shew the urgent necessity of its being passed, That they fully demonstrated the evils in India to be of such a magnitude, that nothing less than the legislature could reform them; that no powers could be granted to the supervision, competent to the remedy of such enormities; that the commission was besides faulty in its principles, as the governors and councils in the respective presidencies in India, were joined in power by it, with the supervisors who were intended to be sent from England;

that as the number of the former was permanent, they must soon, by death or sickness, become a majority; that by this means, the capital offenders, who were the authors of all the evils complained of, would become the judges of their own crimes, and the redressers of their own oppressions; was it then by men, who had long rioted with the most unrelenting cruelty in the distresses of their miserable fellow-creatures, that justice was to be restored to her proper course, and the mischiefs which their iniquities caused were to be removed?

That the legislature had a supreme controlling power, to which all things must, and ought to submit; that this power could never be applied with greater propriety, or benefit, than in the present instance, when the welfare and security of many millions, and the preservation of great countries and revenues depended upon its exertion. That laws, as well as charters, must submit to a change of times and seasons, and must be altered, modelled, or repealed, as circumstances, and the nature of things require; that it could never have been intended, at the time of granting the Company's charters, to give them a power of legislation over great countries, in which it was not possibly to be supposed they ever could have any other footing, than a permission to trade as inmates and strangers. That India affairs were now under the consideration of parliament, and while matters were in this suspense, it would be absurd to allow the Company to proceed on their own bottom, and to snatch the business out of their hands: either there was, or

there

On the other side it was observed, that parliamentary interposition had hitherto been attended with very little advantage to the Company. That the last parliament had undertaken in the year 1767, the regulation of their affairs, and after spending the greater part of the session upon that business, the result was, the extortion of a vast sum of money from the Company without an equivalent, and the leaving their affairs to shift for themselves, without the smallest regulation; that their affairs had since continued open to parliament, without any thing being done, but the making or renewing of bargains for the benefit of government, without the smallest attention to that of the Company; that a select committee had been appointed in the preceding session, which had continued its sittings throughout the summer, and it was not pretended that the Company had reaped any advantages from them; and that a secret committee had newly started up, the benefits of which were yet to be discovered, as nothing but complaints had hitherto attended its proceedings. That if the Company was not armed with sufficient powers, for the punishment of its servants and the regulation of its governments in India, the fault lay wholly in administration, as a bill had been brought in for that purpose in the preceding session, which was laid by, under pretence of waiting for the discoveries that

were to be made by the select committee.

That the evils apprehended, from the extraordinary powers of the supervision falling into the hands of the offenders in India, were merely imaginary; the Company had well foreseen, and effectually provided against those evils, in the body of the commission; no act of the supervision can be valid, without the presence of three of the commissioners; the first of these is to have the casting voice, and they are to be assisted by the governor, commander in chief, and second in council, only as inferior assessors; and the supervisors have power, if they see cause, to dismiss the governor and the whole council, and have a power of control in all cases.

That if the particular interests of the Company were considered as matters of indifference, the great revenues and immense benefits it afforded to the public were not to be wantonly sported with; that as the restraint in the bill was laid for six months, and the season of the year would of necessity continue i. for six more, twelve whole months, in the present critical state of their affairs, would be totally lost to the Company, before any intended regulation, whether by parliament or otherwise, could possibly take place; that this delay might be productive of the most mischievous effect to the Company, as the grievances and evils, which they wanted to remedy or prevent, would have the accumulation of all that time added to their present amount; and as the design of regulation would be so long known before-hand to the offenders, they would use such industry in their several departments, that there would

not