102 



THE PREDECESSORS OF THE 



money paid into the Company's cash. The Court of Directors 

 in their letter forwarding a copy of this opinion to Fort St. 

 George say : " We expect that an Instrument or Act do pass 

 under the seal of the Mayor's Court containing a declaration 

 that the Town House and the Regalia are the absolute right 

 and property of the Company, and that they pay into you 

 immediately Mr. Jennings' legacy, which they have received 

 and withhold without any colour of right. With respect to 

 the conclusion of their letter to you we do not think it 

 worthy of our notice." 66 



An idea of the acrimony with which the dispute was 

 carried on may be formed from the following passage in 

 paragraph 67 of the General Letter of 27th January 1762 

 already quoted : " We desire that the Register of the Court 

 may be permitted to examine the transcripts of the paragraphs 

 in our letters which you send them with the originals, taking 

 care that no other parts of our letters be inspected by him." 



The Mayor's Court appears to have applied to the Govern- 

 ment for a law library, for the following passage occurs in 

 the General Letter to Madras of 23rd January 1759, para- 

 graph 92 : — 



" The only book we think can be of real use to the Mayor's 

 Court in the list now sent over is Jacobs' Law Dictionary, 

 which we will take care to transmit, together with a book 

 concerning the office of a Justice of the Peace, called Burn's 

 Justice, which we are informed is the best practical book of 

 that kind now extant." 



CHAPTER Y. 



The additions to the Company's territories in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the factories subject to Fort St. George fell far 

 short both in extent and value of their acquisitions in Bengal ; 

 and a great change in the relative importance of Madras and 



66 Letter to Madras, 24th March 1767. 



