174] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1792. 
He took notice, that by the accounts 
produced in the preceding session, 
the surplus, after deducting all 
charges, was 1,409,000I. applicable 
to the reduction of the Company’s 
debt, and to the purchase of an in- 
vestment. The actual revenues of 
Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, he 
stated at 7,350,000]. The sum re- 
maining, together with that arising 
from the sale of impost goods, 
amounted to 591,0001. from which, 
deducting the interest paid at Ben- 
gal, Madras, and Bombay, making 
588,0001., the surplus of the whole 
was between three and 4,000I. 
Mr. Dundas next entered into an 
elaborate account of India debt; the 
summary result of which was, that 
ow the 30th of April, 1790, the 
debt in Indiaamounted to 7,056,600 
and odd pounds; on the 30th of 
April, 1791, to 8,150,900 and odd 
pounds; the increase of debt in In- 
dia being altogether 1,094,2841. 
By Mr. Dundas’s statement, it 
appeared that the expences of the 
war, and the interest of debt, had 
almost exhausted the whole revenue 
of India, and the profit arising from 
sales; and that adebt had been con- 
tracted of 1,782,3281. arising from 
the purchase of investments. 
Notwithstanding the increase of 
the India debt, Mr. Dundas stated 
the affairs of the Company to be 
on no worse a footing at the com- 
mencement of 1792, than at the 
commencement ef 1791, by the 
amount of this debt. They had 
been improved at home, by the 
payment of debts to the amount of 
964,0001, and by: an increase of 
money in their treasury, amount- 
ing to 541,4001. Thus, after a war 
of eighteen months, the Company’s 
finances were only the worse by 
276,0001. 
The surplus revenue of Bengal, 
after deducting the interest of debt 
and supplies to Madras and Ben- 
coolen, would leave more than a 
million for the supply of Bombay: 
a much larger sum than could have 
been expected. 
Bengal had not, in Mr. Dundas’s 
opinion, suffered bythe war: bul- 
lion, to the amount of a million, 
had been remitted thither by the 
directors within one year. This 
prevented the interruption of com- 
merce, from a drain of specie for 
the use of thearmy. He concluded, 
by repeating the expectation he 
had antecedently expressed, that 
India would more probably be as- 
sisting to this country, than require 
its assistance. 
Mr. Francis, in an answer to Mr. 
Dundas, declined any investigation 
of the statements he had made out. 
He differed wholly from him res- 
pecting the prosperous situation of 
Bengal. In proof of the contrary, 
he appealed to the newspapers of 
that country ; which were continu 
ally full of advertisements for the 
sale of lands, seized for not paying 
the revenue. Two of them he held 
in his hand. One advertised the 
sale of seventeen, the other of for- 
ty-two villages. He appealed to 
the testimony of Lord Cornwallis 
himself, whose very words in one of 
his minutes were, that one-third of 
the Company’s territory in Indostan 
was inhabited by wild beasts. Great 
Britain, added Mr.Francis, former- 
ly received large quantities of mo-= 
ney from Bengai,—but our own 
specie is now sent thither. Mr. 
Dundas himself has- confessed that 
a million had seen sent in the course 
of the very last year. 
Thus ended the principal part of 
the discussion on the affairs of In- 
dia. The opposite opinions of those 
who were esteemed the best ac+ 
quainted 
