1830.] the Company s Charter. 503 



assert it to be ; and request permission to suspend our judgment until a 

 fair survey has been instituted, upon an actual and minute examination 

 of facts and circumstances. 



Upon an investigation of this nature we propose to enter. We intend 

 to inquire in the first place, and principally, how the Company have 

 governed their magnificent empire ; what wisdom they have shown in 

 the conduct of affairs so great and momentous as those which have been 

 committed to their management; how far they have consulted, in 

 intention, the happiness and best interests of the people under their 

 sway ; and in what degree their efforts have been actually successful, 

 when regarded in connexion with the difficulties of situation, and the 

 resistance of circumstances. And we desire to make these the principal 

 subjects of our inquiries, because, whatever may be thought by those 

 whose talk is of cotton twist and piece goods, and who consider the 

 question now agitated as one entirely of freight and market, demand 

 and profit, we are most decidedly of opinion that the welfare of our 

 fellow-subjects is the primary object of consideration. Desirable as it 

 assuredly is, to create a new market for the manufactures of Manchester 

 and Paisley, and to increase the exports of Liverpool and Glasgow, we 

 shall be guilty of the grossest injustice if we purchase those benefits at 

 the expense of the people of India. The dominion that we enjoy in 

 that country was bestowed upon us for purposes very different from 

 that of affording a field for experiment, or for the consumption of the 

 produce of our spinning jennies ; and although the direct interests of 

 England ought, doubtless, to be consulted, we shall abuse the trust 

 committed to us, and eventually deceive ourselves, if we suffer any 

 selfish and narrow views of immediate advantage to interfere with a 

 more noble and liberal policy. With reference solely to the world in 

 which we live, there are motives of action, there are objects of attain- 

 ment, higher and holier than any that are to be found in merchant's 

 ledgers, or on the cockets of the custom-house ; and the fruit, however 

 fair and tempting to the eye, which we greedily catch at, in disregard 

 or contempt of more sacred obligations, will most indubitably turn to 

 ashes and wormwood upon our palates. From what has already tran- 

 spired in the House of Lords, however, we are inclined to indulge a 

 hope that a benevolent concern for the well-being of the many million 

 natives of our gigantic dependency will be allowed some weight in the 

 balance, in spite of the clamour of those who arrogate fr> themselves the 

 title of anti-monopolists, and who value an outlet for their manufac- 

 tures above all earthly considerations. We trust that the country will 

 not disgrace itself, nor inflict any injury upon the native population of 

 India, to pander to their greediness. 



We desire not to be misunderstood in this matter. We have the 

 strongest anxiety for the extension of our commerce and manufactures 

 we should be rejoiced to see the sails of our shipping spread to every 

 wind of heaven, and channels opened for the admission of the products 

 of our industry to the very innermost parts of continental Asia, but, if 

 we can avert it, even these advantages shall not be grasped at to the 

 sacrifice of justice and mercy; because we know that supreme wisdom 

 has so ordered the sequences of cause and effect, that such a dereliction 

 of principle, at the instigation of short-sighted selfishness, must inevitably 

 be followed by evil consequences. As far as it may be found practicable 

 to reconcile the two ends at which we aim, and to promote the interests 



