ENGLISH EAST INDIA COMPANY. 



779 



civil and military correspondence of the company was 

 to be communicated to the ministry. Under the old 

 system, in many disputed cases, conscience, or, at 

 least, common sense, had decided ; but now, the in- 

 troduction of a new and strange legal constitution 

 occasioned the ruin of all legal relations. The court 

 decided in the case of every complaint made against 

 any individual who was directly or indirectly in the 

 service of the company, as well as all complaints 

 relating to contracts in which the parties had sub- 

 mitted to its jurisdiction. If we consider that nothing 

 was more uncertain than the personal condition of 

 the Indian ar.d Mohammedan inhabitants of Hindos- 

 tan ; that the company governed some provinces im- 

 mediately, others indirectly, by means of the nabobs ; 

 that the zemindars were sometimes considered as the 

 independent nobility of India, sometimes as officers of 

 the company, &c. it follows, that the court could 

 take all cases into its own hands, or decline them, at 

 pleasure. Immediately after its establishment, it 

 gave a specimen of the spirit by which it was actu- 

 ated. Nunkomar, who had accused the governor- 

 general, Hastings, was convicted, on insufficient 

 grounds, of forgery, and hanged ; which, as has been 

 ingeniously remarked, is about the same as punishing 

 a Mohammedan for bigamy. On the whole, the his- 

 tory of the British East India trade justifies the as- 

 sertion, that, except Burke and the family of Welles- 

 ley, scarcely a single Englishman has ever entered 

 completely into the spirit of the people of India. 

 When the inefficacy of the measures of 1773 was 

 sufficiently proved, and the finances of the company 

 again suffered by the American war, the establish- 

 ment of a board of control was again discussed in 

 parliament, and on broader grounds ; .from 1782 to 

 1784, the greatest men of England were engaged on 

 this important subject. The famous East India bill 

 of Fox. which proposed seven commissioners, to be 

 appointed by parliament, and invested with supreme 

 power, and, as it were, the right of protection over 

 India, could not be agreeable to the court, as the 

 principal object of the bill was to deprive the crown 

 of all influence on Indian affairs, and to place an 

 intermediate power between the king and India. 

 Pitt's project, therefore, took effect. A board of con- 

 trol was erected, dependent on the crown, authorized 

 to superintend the civil and military government 

 and the revenues of the company, and to transmit 

 the despatches of the directors to the different pre- 

 sidencies. The salaries of the governor-general, the 

 president and the council were fixed by the king. 

 But, notwithstanding the superintendence of this 

 board, the finances of the company still continued 

 unprosperous. Dazzling accounts were, from time 

 to time, given of the immense revenue likely to be 

 immediately derived from India ; and, on the faith 

 of these, many acts of parliament were passed for the 

 appropriation of surpluses that never had any exist- 

 ence. A striking example of this is afforded by the 

 proceedings that took place at the renewal of the 

 charter in .1793. Lord Cornwallis had then concluded 

 the war with Tippoo Saib, and the company's re- 

 ceipts had been increased, in consequence of acces- 

 sion to their territories, and subsidies from native 

 princes, to upwards of eight millions sterling a-year ; 

 which, it was calculated, would afford an annual sur- 

 plus, after deducting all charges, of 1,240,000. 

 On the strength of this, parliament, in the act pro- 

 longing the charter, enacted, lst,That500,OOOa-year 

 of the surplus revenue should be set aside for reducing 

 the company's debt in India to 2,000,000. 2d, 

 That 500,000 a-year should be paid into the exche- 

 quer, to be appropriated to the public service, as par- 

 liament should think fit to order. 3d, When the India 

 debt was reduced to 2,000,000, and the bond debt 



to 1,500,000, one-sixth part of the surplus was to 

 be applied to augment the dividends, and the other 

 five-sixths were to be paid into the bank, in the 

 name of the commissioners of the national debt, 

 to be accumulated as a guarantee fund, until it 

 amounted to 12,000,000. All these arrangements 

 proved unnecessary. Instead of being diminished, the 

 company's debts began immediately to increase. In 

 1795, they were authorized to add to the amount of 

 their floating debt. In 1796, leave was given to the 

 company to add two millions to their capital stock, 

 by creating 20,000 new shares ; but as these shares 

 sold at the rate of 173 each, they produced 

 3,460,000. In 1797, the company issued additional 

 bonds, to the extent of 1,417,000. Between 1797 

 and 1805, the British empire in India was augmented 

 by the conquest of Seringapatam, and the whole ter- 

 ritories of Tippoo Saib, the cession of large tracts by 

 the Mahratta chiefs, the capture of Delhi, and various 

 other important acquisitions ; so that the revenue, 

 which in 1797 had amounted to 8,059,000, was in- 

 creased, in 1805, to 15,403,000 ; but the expenses 

 of government, and the interest of the debt, in- 

 creased in a still greater proportion than the revenue ; 

 having amounted, in 1805, to 17,672,000, leaving 

 a deficit of 2,269,000. Long before the termination 

 of the company's charter in 1813, a conviction had 

 been gaining ground with the public, that the trade 

 to the East was capable of being greatly extended, 

 and that the monopoly alone confined it within nar- 

 row limits. Many efforts were accordingly made to 

 have the monopoly set aside, and the trade to the 

 East thrown open ; but the company had interest 

 enough to procure a prolongation of the privilege of 

 carrying on an exclusive trade to China to the 10th 

 of April, 1831, with three years' notice ; the govern- 

 ment of India being continued in their hands for the 

 same period. The trade to India, however, was 

 opened to the public, under certain conditions. These 

 were, that private individuals should trade, directly 

 only, with the presidencies of Calcutta, Madras, and 

 Bombay, and the port of Penang ; that their vessels 

 should not be under 350 tons burden ; and that they 

 should abstain from engaging in the carrying trade 

 of India, or in the trade between India and China. 

 Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the enterprise 

 of private traders gained an immediate ascendency 

 over the monopoly of the company, and in a short 

 time more than trebled our trade with India. This 

 fact was so powerful, that when the question as to 

 the renewal of the charter came to be discussed in 

 1832 and 1833, the company could no longer oppose 

 the privilege of free trading ; and the act 3 and 4, 

 Will. IV. c. 85, for continuing the charter till 1854, 

 terminated the company's commercial character, by 

 enacting that the company's trade to China ceases 

 on the 22d of April, 1834, and that the company is, 

 as soon as possible after that date, to dispose of their 

 stocks on hand, and close their commercial busi- 

 ness. Under the new act, the functions of the com- 

 pany are wholly political. It is to continue to govern 

 India, under the supervision of the board of control, 

 till the 30th of April, 1854. All the property be- 

 longing to the company is vested in the crown, and 

 is to be held or managed by the company in trust for 

 the same. The company's debts or liabilities are 

 all charged on India. The dividend is to continue at 

 10j per cent., and provision is made for the establish- 

 ment of a security fund for its discharge. The divi- 

 dend may be redeemed by parliament, on payment of 

 200 for 100 stock, any time after April, 1874 ; 

 but it is provided, in the event of the company being 

 deprived of the government of India in 1854, that 

 they may claim redemption of the dividend any time 

 thereafter upon three years' notice. 



