58] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



CHAPTER Vlt. 



Proceedings in Parliament respecting the Reneivaf of the Charter of the 



East India Company. 



THE great business of the East 

 India Company's Charter, 

 concerning which so many peti- 

 tions had been presented to parlia- 

 ment, was brought regularly before 

 the notice of the House of Com- 

 mons on March 22nd, when that 

 House resolved itself into a com- 

 mittee to consider of the affairs of 

 the Company. 



Lord Cnstlereagh introduced the 

 subject with observing, that as the 

 East India charter was on the eve 

 of expiring, it fell to the lot of 

 parliament to decide on the future 

 government of a country contain- 

 ing threefold the number of inha- 

 bitants existing in this kingdom. 

 He said, that if he and his col- 

 leagues had conceived that the ar- 

 rangements they had to propose 

 •would shake a system which had 

 unquestionably answered all the 

 great purposes of government, they 

 should have hesitated before they 

 had suggested them ; but his pro- 

 position would not only abstain 

 from touching the principle of that 

 system, but would render it more 

 applicable to the circumstances of 

 the times. He then spoke highly 

 in praise of the government of the 

 Company in India, and of the per- 

 sons who conducted it ; and he as- 

 sured the committee of his readi- 

 ness to change his opinions on the 

 subject, though they were the 

 result of mature consideration, if 

 tlicy should be convicted of error. 



There were three propositions 

 in this question which his Majesty's 

 ministers had to consider ; Whe- 

 ther the existing government in 

 India should be allowed to con- 

 tinue in its present state — whether 

 an entire change should be effected 

 in it — or whether some middle 

 course could be adopted that would 

 be satisfactory to all parties. With 

 respect to the first, he was strongly 

 impressed with a conviction that 

 the present system could not be 

 properly persevered in by the le- 

 gislature. There was no reason 

 for tying up, during the period of 

 another charter, the commerce of 

 the country from half the habit- 

 able globe, by placing it under the 

 administration of the Company 

 alone, and excluding all other per- 

 sons except foreigners. The com- 

 mercial sphere was become too ex- 

 tended for the limited powers of a 

 chartered company, and it was the 

 duty of parliament not to consign 

 the private trade to the control 

 of their shipping system. The 

 noble lord said, he was prepared 

 to contend, that the Company had 

 taken a burthen on their shoulders 

 beyond their power to administer 

 with justice to their own interests 

 and to the public ; and that the 

 evil rising from a want of capital, 

 compelled them to withdraw from 

 branches of commerce which it 

 would be most beneficial for them 

 to exercise, and to engage in other 



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