GENERAL HISTORY. 



[103 



who entertained a jealousy of the 

 consequences which might result 

 from submitting the grounds of 

 Christian doctrine to the judgment 

 of the unlearned, yet the idea of 

 opening the scriptures to all ranks 

 of people is so conformable to the 

 principles and practice of the early 

 reformers, that the opposition to it 

 has borne an unfavourable aspect. 

 It has been a more plausible ob- 

 jection, that, as a charity, such 

 institutions were not at the present 

 time particularly wanted ; that the 

 means were disproportioned to the 

 end ; and that the matter has been 

 taken up like one of those rages 

 which successively occupy the 

 mind of the public, and foster ex- 

 travagant and delusive expecta- 

 tions. Meantime it cannot be 

 denied that much occasional bene- 

 fit has accrued to the promoters 

 of these associations, by giving 

 exercise to their benevolent feel- 

 ings, and joining them in charita- 

 ble union with the well-disposed 

 of different persuasions. 



The agitation produced in the 

 commercial world by the proceed- 

 ings respecting the renewal of the 

 charter of the East India Com- 

 pany has been noticed in the ac- 

 count of the parliamentary trans- 

 actions relative to that important 

 national concern ; and it cannot 

 be doubted that the changes in- 

 troduced into the new charter, 

 (the principal of which are to be 

 found in our abstract of the bill) 

 will render the present year an 

 era in the history of British com- 

 merce. Those changes are in- 

 deed less than were expected by the 

 sanguine advocates for free and 

 open trade ; and it was manifest, 

 during the course of discussion; 



that the influence of the East In- 

 dia Company with the govern- 

 ment was exerted with powerful 

 and progressive effect. Still, how- 

 ever, a large scope is afforded by 

 the new regulations, to that spi- 

 rit of enterprise which so pecu- 

 liarly characterises the British 

 commercial body ; and specula- 

 tion is doubtless already busied in 

 framing plans for future adven- 

 tures. The passing of the bill in 

 the House of Commons, on July 

 1 3th, produced a minute from 

 the committee of the Courts of 

 Directors, dated on the 15th, in 

 which a detail was given of the 

 circumstances attending the ne- 

 gociations between the company 

 and the government on the occa- 

 sion, with a view of the regula- 

 tions in the bill, and the effects 

 on the company's prosperity which 

 might be expected to result from 

 them. On the 2lst, a general 

 court was held at the East India 

 House, when the opinions from 

 behind the bar being read in fa- 

 vour of accepting the bill for the 

 new charter, a motion was made 

 to that effect by sir Hugh Inglis. 

 After some discussion, and the 

 rejection of a proposed amend- 

 ment, the motion was carried 

 unanimously; and the chairman, 

 Mr. R. Thornton, congratulated 

 the court upon the attainment of a 

 charter which, in some instances, 

 had exceeded their most sanguine 

 expectations. 



The bounteous harvest which 

 crowned the hopes of the year, 

 has already produced the desirable 

 effect of reducing the price of the 

 most necessary articles of human 

 subsistence to half, or two-thirds, 

 of that which they bore during 



