Thoughts on Improving the
Government of the British Ter.
ritorial Possessions in the
East Indies
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
THOUGHTS
O N
IMPROVING
THE
GOVERNMENT
OF THE
BRITISH Territorial Pofleffions
" IN THE
EAST I N D J E IS.
r.ai TO/I/SC
i'J p-ivti, B'.
'Oreo * Ken // <pap IJ.OLV.UV
. in Agam.
We will confult, that what h well may keep
Its g|pdnefs permanent, and what requires
Our healing hand, with mild fevericy
May be corredled.
POTTER'S Translation.
LONDON:
Printed for T. CAD ELL, in the Strand.
M.DCC.LXXX.
[Price ElGHTEKN-PENCF.,]
ERRATA.
Page 55. line 25. far anology read analogy
Page 73. laft line, for trabitur read trabelur
5@C $>\ Jk\ *^ ,J:* ^
THOUGHTS, &c.
~: ' ^ H E advantages which may arife
JL from a proper adminiftration and
folid arrangement of the political govern-
ment of our territorial pofTeffions in the
Earl Indies, have never yet met with that
^confederation from the legiflature which
"they deferve. If no other motives can
- induce us to think of the very great be-
'/ nefhs which may in every view be derived
from thence, our prefent exigencies at
lead may have that beneficial efFect.
Three vaft provinces, full of induftry
and wealth, were acquired by Lord Clive's
treaty in 1775, yielding 1,650,9007. to the
Eaft India Company, independant of a
m of 50 lacks, which Were allotted to
ujah Dowla, and of Lord Clive's Jag-
hire. We have, belides this, the fettle-
A 2 meets
354758
[ 4 ]
ments upon the coafts of Malabar, and
Coromandel. Yet thefe have produced
but a very inadequate benefit to this
country, and are in danger of becoming
lefs and lefs beneficial to us, owing to the
want of due attention to the nature of fuch
eftabliihments, both with refpect to the
power which governs them at home, an4
the conft-itution of their government
abroad.
The object of thefe few pages is to point
out fome of the moil material defects in
the adminiftration of our affairs in the
Eaft, both at home and abroad, and to
propofe the method of amending them ;
by which the public will receive much
I of that advantage which now falls into
the hands of individuals, and thereby
becomes rather an evil than an advan-
tage.
That all conquefts or acquiiitions made
by fubjects, either by means of arms or
of negociation, belong to the fovereignty
of the ftate, to the effect of giving the
national council a right to regulate the
adminiftration of them, and of giving the
public a right to participate in the advan-
tages
[ 5 ]
tages which may be derived from them,
is a pofition denied by no fpeculative wri-
ter, and is directly affirmed by the law
and constitution of Great Britain. Agree-
ably to this principle, the legiflature has
often adverted to this fubjecl:, but till of
late years the extent of its importance
feems not to have been underftood, nor
has it yet been fo underflood as to fuggefl
the fundamental principles, which can
alone fecure to us the advantage to be de-
rived by fuch acquilitions.
The two great foundations of all nati-
onal wealth, are agriculture, and com-
merce. In Europe the commercial fyftem
has had a decided fuperiority over the
agricultural, ever fince the difcovery of
America, and of the paflage to India by
the Cape of Good Hope. A ftrong and
immediate attraction of the national capi-
tal towards the one, can never operate but
at the expence of the other, and to thefe
two events is in a great meafure to be af-
cribed, the advancement and improvement
of commerce, while agriculture has been
furprizingly neglected, as the face of every
country in Europe will teflify, England
itfelf
t 6 ]
itfelf not excepted. The opening of thofe
vaft fources of commercial advantage to
the kingdoms of Europe, roufed in a mo-
ment every avaricious principle, which
lurks in the breafts of ftates, or indivi-
duals. Monopolies inftantly fprung up in
every nation except the Portuguefe, and
general monopolies begot individual mo-
nopolies, by much the moil deftruftive of
the two. It may not now be the proper
time to agitate the great queftion, whether
the trade from Britain to India ought to"
be carried on by an excluiive company or
not, but it is certainly a fit time to exa-
mine the principles on which the govern-
ment of our dominions in the Eaft ought
to be carried on, with as much public ad-
vantage as a monopoly can admit of. If
the monopoly of this trade {hall continue
to be thought nece/Tary, yet the delega-
tion of the powers of government needs
not for that reafon to be placed in the
hands of the monopolifts, but on the con-
trary it ought to be taken out of thofe
hands, when the territories which have
fprung from our trade become objects of
too great magnitude, for the fuperinten-
dance
[ 7 3
dance of any power but that of the legif-
lature.
The monopolies of the European ftates
have been of two forts. The one, ex-
cluding all other nations from any com-
merce with its foreign dominions, of
which the British trade with America may
be taken as an example. The other, ex-
cluding all their own fubjects, except a
favourite company, from any mare in the
trade to diftant fettlements, as in the cafe
of the Baft India Company. Both of thefe
monopolies are attended with very pernici-
ous confequences to the fbate which adopts
them. It would be foreign to the prefent
enquiry, to examine the effects of the for-
mer, but the latter fpecies may properly
be confidered as expofed to the following
obfervations. The eftablimment of an
exclufive company puts all the reft of the
fubjects at the mercy of that company,
with refpect to the price of every com-
modity which they import, and limits the
extent of the quantity of labour required
from this country, to fupply the Eaft,
according to the pleafure, or the good or
ill conduct of thofe who conduct the mo-
nopoly.
[ 8 ]
nopoly. It is, in the ftricteft fenfe of the
word, a monopoly againft our fellow-
fubjects. When any man purchafes Eaft
India goods, it is obvious that he muft
pay, not only the original price of the
commodity, together with an exorbitant
profit to the company, but that he muft
alfo pay a (hare of the wafte occafioned by
the frauds and abufe neceflarily connected
with fuch an inftitution, and which every
man knows have uniformly attended it.
The fpirit of monopoly, when left entirely
uncontrouled, as in the Dutch Spice
Iflands, in a fhort fpace of time produced
a compleat defolation and a destruction of
the very articles of commerce which thofe
iflands produce, in order to perfect the
fyftem of monopoly. In the Britifh do-
minions, the fame principles have pro-
duced effects fimilar in their nature, and
differing only in degree. An order that
rice mould be eradicated, to make way
for a crop of opium, and vice "oerfa, when
the mercantile Governor found his intereft
in that cruel meafure, is related in the
hiftory of our adminiftration in Bengal ;
and little doubt can be entertained, but
[ 9 1
that We mould have followed the Dutch
example throughout, had not the legifla-
ture at times interpofed ; which proves to
a demonstration the neceffity of eftablim-
ing an overruling authority in India, de-
rived from the legiflature itfelf, and inde-
pendant of the mercantile company. The
Englim and the Dutch have made confi-
derable conquefts in the Eaft, yet the fpi-
rit of monopoly has ever crufhed the fir ft
appearances of eftabliflied colonies, in
thofe countries. It is very obvious to
every attentive mind, that the flourishing
condition of foreign porTeffions, with re-
fpect to population, manufacture, and a-
griculture, muft augment the quantity of
labour, in that State which has dominion
over them ; and it follows e conver/b, that
a diminution of the profperity of thofe
pofleflions, proportionably deprefles the
quantity of labour which might be pro-
duced in return for their commodities, in
the governing ftate. Another proportion
is equally clear, namely, that in every
country, the revenue of the fovereign, or
fovereign ftate, muft be derived from that
of the people. The greater the number
Bl of
t 1 ]
of that people, the greater will be the
furplus of their labour, beyond what fup-
plies their own exigencies ; and confe-
quently the greater will be the portion
which may be fafely allotted to the fove-
reign, or fovereign Hate. If this be a de-
monfirable or rather a felf-evident truth,
and if it be equally demonftrable, though
perhaps not equally felf-evident, that ex-
clufive companies have a direct tendency
to counteract population, commerce, and
agriculture, the inference is irrefiftible,
that if an exclufive company be unavoid-
able, the utmoft degree of care is necef-
fary to obviate the ill effects of it as far
as poffible, with refpedt to the SOVE-
REIGNTY. The directors of the Eafl
India Company have evidently the fame
intereft in the good government of the
Eaft, which the ftate itfelf has ; but the
fervants of the company have no intereft
whatfoever in its permanent profperity.
The directors have therefore in general
meant well, in ail their regulations, and
have been in a continual ftate of conten-
tion with their fervants, endeavouring, as
far as lay within the compafs of their
I judgment,
I " ]
judgment," or their powers, to reftrain the
ill conduct of their agents in India. But
all their efforts have been weak and inade-
quate. No country was ever expofed to
fuch inordinate rapine by the hands of
thofe who had no intereft in its exiftence,
beyond the fhort term of their residence
there. The powers of the company have
fcarce been able to check this rapine,
though with the affiftance of the legifla-
ture they have in a confiderable degree ac-
complifhed that purpofe. But the origo
mali lies farther back. The Court of Di- '
reciors, or in other words a committee of
merchants, are in the nature of things
unfitted for the purpofe of governing that
country in which their exclufive mono-
poly is exercifed. The firft object with a
body of profeffional men, is their profef-
fion. Merchandize is the firft object with
merchants. Government will only be an
acceffbry, a mere fecondary confideration,
fubfervient to its principal. To fell very
dear, and to purchase cheap by dint of
authority and power, will be the natural
confequence of this impolitic union of the
fnercantile and fovereign characters ; and
B a temporary
temporary profit will in a great degree
take place of lading policy, even among
the Directors. The mercantile character
is no way fuited to the exercife of autho-
rity, nor can they maintain it in any other
way than by the afliftance of military
force. If this reafoning be well found-
ed, the concluilon to be drawn from it
will naturally be this ; that a compleat
remedy ought to be found, for the imper-
fections, of the ad mi nitration of our affairs
in India, at home as well as abroad. The
Directors of the company are nothing
more than a committee of the ftock-
holders, chofen from among thernfelves
by ballot ; and when they are thus cho-
fen, almofl the whole of the government
pf the Britilh intereft in India, as well as
the trading concerns of the company, is
committed to their charge, fubject to the
review of the ftock- holders at large. The
welfare of twelve millions of people, and
the extent and duration of the national
advantage to be derived from the trade and
territorial revenue of India, reft on this
foundation. Nothing furely can be more
contrary to every principle of government
which
[ '3 ]
which has been known among men, than
that fuch a ftate mould ultimately de-
pend upon the votes of a large number of
accidental proprietors of ftock, men of
all defcriptions and of all nations, who
purchafe a mare in its government to-day,
and may fell it again to-morrow. It may
I believe be fafely aflerted, that the go^
vernment of a diftant Empire was never
before placed in a body of men fo fluctu-
ating in their nature, and related to the
fubj eft-matter of their government by no
other tie, than that of getting a tolerable
in.terefb for one or two thoufand pounds,
That the proprietors of the trading capital
mould manage the trade carried on with
that capital, may be right and beneficial ;
and the obvious inference is, that the de-r
liberations of thofe perfons, when afTembled
in their corporate capacity, ought to be
confined to that fubjecl only. The Eaft
India Company mould therefore be re-
ftrained in this point, merely to what re-
gards their inveftments and dividends;
and thefe, it is to be obferved, were the
only fubjects, which originally exifted for
their determinations. This is fair politi-
cal
[ 14 J
cal ground for retraining them, as It ne-
ver can be maintained, that their powers
are to he commenfurate to every poffible
increafe of the Britifh Empire in thofe
parts. This muft be the foundation of
all good government in India, viz. that
the executive officers there, mould be
appointed by the crown, in the fame
manner as they are direded by the con-
fiitution to be, in our other foreign do-
minions $ and no good reafon has ever
been given, why a difference fhould be
made in this eiTential point, between Afia
and America* The argument agaifift this
has ufually been drawn from an appre-
I> ;nfion of the public danger which would
arife, from an over great extcniion of the
patronage of the crown. This anfvver
however may be given to it, namely, that
as that patronage has nearly fet in the
Weft, it may rife again in the Eaft, with-
out any alteration in the former equili-
brium ; and this more general anfwer
may alfo be given-, that it is the neceiTa^
ry coniequence of the increafe of empire.
If it is an evil, it is the fmaller evil of
the tvyo j and the common adage will here
give,
t is 3
give us a right and folid conclufion, that
of two evils we muft chufe the leaft.
Reafon and pair, experience (which in po-
litics is the furer guide of the two) both
concur in fettling this point ; but as It
may be doubted by men of democratic
perfuaiions, fome other arguments maj
have weight in this confideration, derived
from the nature of the country itfelf.
The great Peninfula of India is a con-
quered country, parcelled out among Ma-
hometan tyrants, and thofe few native
Princes who remain in porTeffion of their
original territories. This creates two he-
reditary parties. The native princes jaft-
ly abhor the Mahometans. They are of a
peaceful, laborious, patient character, and
a juft and gentle government eflablimed
there, they are fenftble would be a com-
fort and protection to them. The Ma-
hometan princes are humiliated and galled
with the thought of being under the fway
of a company of merchants, and have
turned their eyes towards the crown of
thefe realms, ever fince they acquired a
knowledge of the nature of the Britifh,
government. The caprice of the com-
pany's
pany's government, added to all the rapine
that has attended it, has made it odious
to an extreme. All this paves the way to
a change beneficial to the public. I fay
beneficial, becaufe it would fatisfy and
reconcile to us the natives of Indoftan.
The politics of thofe princes, are exactly
of a nature refulting from fuch a ftate of
government as they have hitherto lived
under; they confift of intrigue, artifice,
fufpicion, and all crafty methods of get-
ting materials to guide their conduct, by
means of fpies, corruption, &c. and du-
plicity becomes of courfe their favourite
plan. Fear and jealoufy compel the na-
tives, to return to the bowels of the earth
the precious metals which were original-
ly extracted from them -, yet by a wife
condudl thefe might be turned to a better
ufe, as fhall hereafter be {hewn.
All this and much more has certainly
arifen, from an undignified, unfteady,
mercantile government carried on by mo-
nopolifts ; much of it therefore might be
done away, by eftablifhing a national go-
vernment there, to which fome late regu-
lations have tended. According to the
habitual
f '7 1
habitual opinion of Afiatics, it is a matter
of importance that they mould conlider
themfelves as connected with the Supreme
Power in that flate to which they are fu-
bordinate ; the whole current of their
ideas having flowed in that courfe, they
will with pleafure bend themfelves in
fubjection to officers appointed by the So-
vereign who reprefents that ftate; being
fully apprifed of the comparative dignity
of fuch an appointment, and that of a
fuperior appointed under the feal of the
company. It will be (hewn too in the
fequel, that the number of appointments
to be vefled in the crown is but fmall,
and fuch as needs not reafonably to be
alarming to thole, who have a dread of.
increafing the power of that member of
our constitution. It will furfice, and am-
ply fuffice, if a few of the principal of-
ficers are appointed by the crown; for ths
government of any diftant country under
the ultimate controul of parliament,
ought not to be placed in many hands.
Taking it then as clear that the territo-
rial, poffefiions in India Ihould be deemed
(to all purpofes of civil government) a
C part
r is j
part of the Britifh Empire, and as fuch to
be governed with the fame view to public
benefit that other conquefts and acquifi-
tions are ; we are now to confider the ob-
jects which moil require a legiflative cor-
rection, and the manner in which the
civil government ought to be carried on.
It feems to be the opinion of all men, that
fomething extenfive, permanent, and ra-
dical muft now be done, in order to ar-
range matters in fuch a manner, as that
all poffible affiftance may be derived from
that country to aid us in our prefent dif-
ficulties, and be a fund for enabling us to
bear thofe which may hereafter arife.
The expiration of the company's charter,
and the decided preponderance of the Bri-
tifh influence in India, added to every
motive which can arife from a confciouf-
nefs of paft neglect, abfolutely require
that the conductors of public bufinefs
mould advert moil feriouily to this vaffc
object. We who live under governments
long eftablimed, grounded upon wife
principles, and gradually brought to a
wonderful degree of perfection, are fo
much accuftomed to contemplate thofe
princi-
[ '9 ]
principles in a familiar manner, that we
think it trite or pedantic to repeat them :
but when we find that thefe principles
have never yet been applied to the go-
vernment of the Baft, it is plain we re-
quire to be reminded of them. One of
thefe principles is, that in proportion as a
fubordinate territory is well or ill govern-
ed, in fuch proportion exactly will it be
productive and beneficial to the fuperior
ftate. If this be a pofition generally
true, with what force does it apply to a
country, once crouded with peaceful ma-
nufacturers and hulbandmen, whofe pecu-
liar characteristic was induftry ? A coun-
try which was the cradle of every thing
uieful or ornamental that is known among
men ; and which, under the thorough re-
gulation that might be afforded to it by a
Britifh legiflature, would again be reftor-
ed to much of its original wealth and fe-
licity. But the neglect of this nation has
been fuch, that the fubject has become
almoft too great for the attention of thofe,
in whofe hands the remedy for thefe evils
is lodged. The utmoft that can at firft
be done in this great national work, is to
C 2 fix:
[ 20 ]
fix right principles, and to eftablifh the
main fupports of good government in In~
dia ; to fet wife and able men at the head"
of our fettlements, leaving the operation
of thofe principles to work its effects in
the courfe of time. That period will ar-
rive much fooner than the generality of
men expert ; for when a gentle, docile,
and induftrious people cry out for a good
government, and Great Britain is difpof-
ed to give it, a few years will firmly efta-
blim it, if proper perfons be employed
in that great and merciful tafk. Pallia-
tive and temporary meafures will do more
harm than' good. The people of that
country have feen the bad effed: of waver-
ing and uncertain fchemes, and have not
been induced to increafe the refpecl: which
we mould endeavour to acquire from them,
by thofe weak and perplexing meafures.
The main objects of our attention in
endeavouring to perfect the government of
India are the four following :
i ft. To fecure our influence and the
permanency of our eftablifhments there,
by placing ourfelves in fuch a light among
the princes and powers of that country,
* a
[ ' ai - ] i
as will make it appear beneficial to them-
felves to be upon good and friendly terms
with us, and confequently will induce
them to prefer our interefts, to thofe of
any other European nation.
2dly, To revive the internal profperity
of the country more immediately belong-
ing to ourfelves, by giving to the natives
a permanent inducement to induftry, in
cultivating the rich and fertile foil of the
provinces they inhabit, which will necef-
farily be followed by an increafe of manu-
facture, and that again by an increafe of
revenue.
3dly, To eftablifh fuch a confolidated
body of civil government, as mall preclude
diftraction, diflention, and that fluctuation
of counfels which has been fo pernicious
and difgraceful, and by this means to give
promptitude and dignity to our proceed*
ings there on all occafions.
4thly, To eftabliili a mode of adminif-
tering juftice, among the Europeans, and
fuch of the natives as may be engaged
with Europeans in fuits at law, or who
may be guilty of crimes, better adapted to
that country than has hitherto been done.
I.
I. The fecurity which the princes of
India will place in the juft and equitable
conduct of this nation towards them in
time to come, will depend entirely upon
the intentions which they mall find ex-
prefled in the ads of the Britifh Parlia-
ment. The veil is taken from before
their eyes ; and they who imagine that
the Indian princes do not perfectly under-
hand, that the Eaft India Company is the
mere creature of a fuperior authority, are
very much miftaken. That matter is
perfectly underflood, and they are willing
to believe that all mifmanagement and
oppreffion has arifen from their having
only an indirect connection with the fove-
reign power of the ftate, and a direSt con-
nection with a corporation of merchants,
to whom the government of that country
has been delivered over ; and they have
alfo been made fully to comprehend that
this company is the creature of the King
and the national council. Thofe perfons
who have the moft intimate knowledge of
that country will all teftify, that nothing
could fo effectually reconcile to us the
hearts of thofe Afiatic powers with whom
{ 23 1
we are connected, as a kind of parliamen-
tary faith held out to them for their con-
tinuance in their prefent dominions fafe
and undifturbed, and the power of tranf-
mining them to their poflerity according
to the Gentoo or Mahometan practice.
This iingle circumftance would make the
English nation take root in thofe regions,
fo firmly as not to be plucked up by any
ftrength to be apprehended from Europe,
The eftablimment of a compact British
Empire there, with an alTurance on the
part of this nation that it mould protect
its neighbours, and maintain each in his
juft rights, would be a meafure which
never yet was thought of as a means of
acquiring permanency to any nation in
thofe parts, and from every account that
can be collected is the great point for
which the powers of India moft ardently
wim. Were this nation to eftablifh iuch
a league, and put itfelf at the head of it,
(as it naturally would be) we mould foon
have reafon to be fatisfied of having fixed
our Empire in the Eafl upon a certain and
durable foundation. A time of perfect
tranquillity in thofe parts, is the proper
time
t 24 ]
time to "eftablifh this balance of power*
and to take that balance into our own
rmids, to be held for generations to come.
An example will illuftrate this. Hyder
AH is confidered as a formidable enemy.
Nothing is better known than that he is
fuch from provocation and diftruft ; it is
alfo well known that he is not without
apprehenfion from the Marrattoes. His
inclination is to be allied to the Englim,
yet that beneficial alliance has never been
carried into effect. Thefe two points
therefore are eflentially nccefTary to our
well-being in India. Firft, that the na-
tives of our own territories there mould
feel themfelves to live under the autho-
rity of the ftate itlelf, and not under an
authority fubordinate to that of the ftate.
Secondly, that the powers of India with
whom we have connections by relations
more or lefs near, mould feel themfelves
to be allied to the Britim nation, and not
to the Eaft India Company only. This
will give them a perfect alTurance of their
own permanancy, aud will accord with all
thofe ideas which prevail in Aiiatic minds.
It muft, I mould conceive, be a necefiary
confequence
t 25 ]
confequence of fuch a conduct as this
that the Princes of India would find their
own intereft in preferving and defending
the fyftem here laid down. But in order
that the good correfpondence between the
Britifh and Indian powers Should be con-
ftantly maintained, it will be of great im-
portance, that the fuperintending govern-
ment of our fet dements mould have pro-
per perfons refident as minifters in all the
courts of India. The French have conftant-
ly obferved this rule, and have given us
great difturbance by their attention to it.
Very able men have been found among
the Company's fervants, and ftill abound,
equal to this tafk in point of knowledge,
afiiduity, and addrefs. This would teach
men the art of conducting public buiinefs,
and would recommend them in time-to the
moil important offices of the govern-
ment.
II. The next object of our confederation
is the profperity of the natives inhabiting
the Britifh fettlements, being that upon
which our immediate advantage mult de-
pend, and which will be moil effectually
D fee u red
fecured to us by the meafures touched up-
on above. The Britifh dominion in Ben-
gal is 600 miles in length, and 300 in
breadth ; the extent of our interefts in the
Carnatic, and on the coaft of Malabar, has
of late years been fo much the fubjedt of
public difcuffion, that it is known to every
reader with fufficient accuracy ; and every
map will point it out. In Bengal the
great fource of the Sovereign's revenue is
the rent of land; it becomes therefore
more peculiarly neceflary to attend
to the internal wealth of the coun-
try. In this territory however our mif-
management has occafioned a very mani-
fefl decline in agriculture, in trade with
the reft of Alia (from whence fpecie flows)
and in the manufacture of the country.
Thefe three great fources of wealth mufl be
refiored before the fovereign ftate can ex-
pect to reap any thing like the advantage
which fuch dependencies might from their
nature afford. This may be effectuated in
a very confiderable degree by one fimple
regulation, namely, by abolifhing the de-
ductive practice of letting the lands for
(hort terms of years ; a practice introduced
by
by the Mahometan conquerors for the
purpofe of periodical plunder and oppref-
fion, and adopted by the Britifh after their
example.
Neither agriculture nor manufactures,
which have a reciprocal ^connection and
effect on each other, can ever flourifti
where there is no permanent property $
and it has become a maxim even in the
Spanifh government in their South Ame-
rican dominions, according to a late ele-
gant hiftorian, that in order to obtain an
increafe of people, a furplus of labour,
and of every thing dependant upon that
furplus, the land ought to be divided in-
to moderate mares, the dominion over it
made compleat, and the alienation ex-
tremely eafy. It would be an aftoniming
thing to fee defarts in the fineft foil under
heaven, towns and villages abandoned,
and the moft wretched poverty prevailing
among a people naturally bent to induftry,
were not a bad fyftem of internal govern-
ment, and the want of a permanent intereft
in the land, fully fufficient to account
for this melancholy phenomenon. The
pernicious practice of letting the lands
D 2 far
for a fhort fpace of time, gives birth to a
regular gradation of tyranny. The great
farmers underletting their lands to fmaller
tenants, who in the end furnifh all the
food for rapine. All political writers have
obferved, that there is no effort of legif-
lation more arduous, no experiment in
politics more uncertain, than an attempt
to revive the fpirit of induftry where it
has declined. This muft be acknow-
ledged to be indifputably true, and the
application of it to our own cafe mould
be, that every means mould be attempted,
to cherifli what remains of that fpirit
which in Bengal has advanced very far in
its declenfion. In order to obviate fo fatal
an evil, the fyftem above-mentioned ought
immediately to be abolimed, and the lands
ought either to be fold in perpetuity, de-
fcendible or devifeable according to the
Gentoo or Mahometan practice, or let for
very long terms : The effect of this would
foon be felt, and there is demonflrable
evidence of its good confequences ; for in
thofe parts of India which are not fubjedt
to a foreign power, and where this is the
ufage, the .moft flouriming people are
found
3
found. This is a point fo clear in its own
nature, that reafoning upon it cannot make
it clearer. If that country is conceived
by any man to be an exception to the
general rule in favour of the permanency
of property, the public will at leaft expect
to be made acquainted with the grounds,
on which that exception is founded. This
has never yet been unfolded, nor has the
Company ever entertained any ideas of
correcting this practice; and unlefs the le-
giflature fhall think fit to interpofe, the
private interefl of particular officers under
the Company will render it perpetual.
Reafon, principle, and the hiftory of every
other nation concur, in leading us to con-
clude that a contrary practice would give
new vigour to the agriculture of our ter-
ritories, and would even induce the fub-
jects of other Mahometan princes to fettle
within the Englifh pale. This would
draw after it its conflant attendants, in-
creafe of population, of manufacture, and
of commerce to the other parts of Afia,
which laft ought to be encouraged and
promoted, by every means that a wife go-
vernment can devife; for the quantity of
manufacture
[ 30 ]
manufafture will ever be co-extenfive with
the market which invites the fale of it;
open a free paflage to more extenfive mar-
kets, and every exchangeable commodity
will find its way there in abundance. The
inveftments would alfo be naturally and
necefTarily increafed in quantity, and de-
creafed in price.
The terms upon which the practice 'al-
luded to mould be aboliihed, might be
made a means of acquiring a great public
Hock. A permanent intereft in the lands
of Bengal, &c. would raife, on the moft
gentle and equitable terms, ten millions
fterling, and continue fubjed to a quit-rent
nearly if not fully equal to the prefent re-
ferved rent. Much hidden treafure, as
was obferved above, would rife again from
the bowels of the earth to be given in re-
turn for this permanent property, and it
would become the intereft of the purchafers
to concur in preventing any hoftile at-
tempts from the European powers, againft
the Britifh provinces. Moderate and e-
quitable imports, in the fhape perhaps of
an equal and fmall land tax, and of equal
and fmall duties on merchandife, (except-
ing
L 3' 3
ing always grofs articles to be wrought up
in man u failures) might fecure a regular
addition of income, exclufive of the quit-
rents, which would keep pace with the
growing profperity and wealth of the
country. Alterations in the ftate of any
extenfive territory, which are of the mag-
nitude and importance of thofe here pro-
pofed, muft however be cautioufly and
gradually introduced. Wherefore it mould
ieem to be advifeable, to try the experi-
ment upon a certain portion of the lands,
and to be guided by the fuccefs of the ex-
periment in that inftance. Should it be
attended with the advantages which every
principle of found policy leads us to hope,
all the benefits above flated will neceflarily
follow, and no lofs can accrue from hav-
ing made the attempt. The anhual quit-
rent would be chearfully and punctually
paid ; and confequently thofe painful-ex-
pedients would not be neceiTary, without
which the rents payable for a fhort and
precarious intereft cannot now be recover-
ed. A few officers would fuffice to collect
it, a few boards to receive it, and much
litigation and difpute between the council
and
[ 3* ]
and court of juftice would be prevented.
Without fuch an extenfive meafure as this,
it is demonftrable by figures that Bengal
cannot fupport the heavy balance againft
her. A large and perpetual wafte pipe
mull drain the refervoir, unlefs the means
of influx be opened and kept free.
As thefe few pages are confined to ge-
neral principles only, founded upon that
which is univerfally acknowledged by
every one acquainted with that country,
a proof of the comparative efflux and in-
flux of fpecie into, and out of Bengal,
would be tedious and unneceiTary, having
already frequently been laid before the
public. At a future time, when the prin-
ciples themfelves mall have been in the
hands of the public, particular points may
with more advantage be enlarged upon.
III. Having endeavoured to fet forth in
a few words the meafures by which our
interefts in India are to be placed on a fe-
cure footing, both with refpect to the fo-
vereign powers there, and the native inha-
bitants of the Britifh provinces ; we come
now to treat of that form of government
abroad,
[ 33 ]
abroad, which muft eftablilh and preferve
this great national work.
Separate and unconnected governments
are in their nature liable to every objection;
a contradictory fyilem of politics may take
place in each of them, and has in fadt
taken place on many important occafions,
and accordingly the late Eaft India aft has
confidered them as pernicious. A general
fuperintending power ought ever to be
eftablifhed in diftant fubordinate territo-
ries, and by parity of reafon, it may be
concluded, that the executive authority of
government, placed in feveral co-ordinate
perfons, will be attended with the fame
kinds of inconvenience. Party, fadtion,
and fluctuation of meafures, have been
found to be infeparable from fuch a fyftem,
as the late revolution at Madras, and the
political hiftory of Bengal during the laft
five years, have proved beyond all doubt.
Could one man be found equal in point of
ability to the talk of governing alone, and
fit in point of integrity for fuch a truft, it
would be the beft poilible method to a-
dopt ; but as many reafons muft imme-
diately occur againft that mode, indepen-
E dent
[ 34 1
dent of the difficulty, or perhaps impoffi-
bility of finding fuch an individual, the
neareft practicable plan muft be adopted.
The precarioufnefs of life in every part
of India, renders it necefTary to guard a-
gainft its fatal effects.. For this reafon a
fucceffion muft be provided in every office
political and judicial, and the relidence of
the fuperintending government may be re-
moved from Calcutta, with great advan-
tage to the provinces, and to the conduct
of public buiinefs. The coniideration al-
fo of the great extent of power which muft
unavoidably be placed in the hands of the
executive authority there, makes it abfo-
lutely neceffary that a flrong check mould
be put upon the Governor General ; yet at
the fame time it is highly impolitic that
this check mould be of fuch a nature as
may eventually overpower him. The right
medium has never yet been adverted to,
the confequence of which has been, that
diiTenfions have arifen in the fettlement of
Madras, highly prejudicial to the interefts
pf this country, and the moft difgraceful
contefts and fluctuation of counfels have
taken place in Bengal. It is a humiliating
5 coniideration
[ 35 ]
confideration to think that the form of the
government eftablimed there mould admit
of fuch degrading animofities, and that
public meafures in thofe countries mould
in many inftances be decided by the doc-
trine of three to two, and feven to lix> as
the chances at a gaming table. The indi-~
viduals have a<5ted on all (ides, as men will
ever do in fimilar iituations, namely, ac-
cording to their private interefts, and as
the infatiable love of gain mall direct
them. The legiflature at home is alone
to blame, which leaves room for fuch
a childifh train of politics. The natives
may juftly exclaim with the frogs in the
fable, " It may be fport to you, but it is
" death to us ;" and the Britifh nation
at large may, in a great degree, join in that
exclamation.
The commiffions under which the Go-
vernors appointed -by the Company have
acted, leave it doubtful among the beft
lawyers of the time, what is the precife
fituation and power of a Governor. Some
conceive him to be a neceffary party in all
deliberations, as the mayor of a corpora-
tion -, others, that a majority may over-
E 2 rule
[ 36 ]
rule him, exclude him, and even ad:
without him, as the Eaft India Company
have determined in their late inftruclions
to the Governor and Council of Madras,
contrary to the opinion delivered very
lately from the Bench, on the late trial of
the information directed by the Houfe of
Commons. On the other hand, it has been
contended by a late Governor of Madras,
that he had a negative voice in all matters
of ftate, under his prefent commiffion :
Any one, who will give himfelf the
trouble to inveftigate this queftion, will
fee that there is fome ground for this va-
riety of opinions, arifing from the conti-
nuance of that inaccurate form of a com-
miffion, which was fufficiently explicit,
at a time when the Governor and Council
were little more than a committee of mer-
chants fuperin tending the Company's
trade. From hence it is plain that the
nature of a Governor's office muft now be
new modelled, and accurately defined
by the inftrument of his appointment.
The afcertaining of a Counfellor's office
will then be no difficult tafk ; but we muft
go much deeper. Nothing is more clear
in
[ 37 ]
in theory, than that a general fuperin-
tending government is abfolutely necefiary
in India, and in practice it has been found
to anfvver very falutary purpofes, both a-
mong ourfelves, and among the Dutch.
It was a favourite idea of the late Lord
Clive, who knew that country well, and
whofe political fagacity was inferior to no
man's, that the relidence of the general
government ought not to be at Calcutta,
but that it would be placed with more ad-
vantage at MUXUDABAD. The benefits
which would aVife from this change of the
feat of government, are very confiderable :
The collectors of the revenue would not
then be under the neceffity of coming to
the extremity of the province, in order to
tranfact their bufinefs, and of leaving their
refpective diftri&s during their abfence, in
the hands of deputies who fail not to take
an advantage of that circumftance, ex-
ceedingly injurious and oppreffive to their
inferiors. The cabals, intrigues and par-
ties prevailing at Calcutta, which is
crouded with people of every rank and de-
nomination, would in a great degree be
prevented, by placing the general govern-
ment
,'554758
ment at fome diftance, and every man
would not then enter into politics and
party, as has been too much the cafe at
Calcutta ever fince the Britim nation
grew to its prefent height in that coun-
try. Another conlideration too ought to
have fome effect. The climate of Muxu-
dabad is one of the wholfomefl in In-
doftan ; a confideration which from every
reafon ought to weigh very much, and if
no irrefragable argument can be urged a-
gainft it, ought to be decifive. Much ad-
vantage might alfo arife from placing the
great executive authority at a little diftance
from the familiarity, which in the nature
of things mujft take place between the
Governors and their fubjeds, in the great
mercantile town of Calcutta; fuch familia-
rities being naturally increafed by'a certain
feeling of banimment, common to all men
who find themfelves fubjected to the fame
perils, in a country very diftant from their
native land. The city of Muxudabad is
but twenty-four hours journey from Cal-
cutta; fo that on preffing occafions, the
Governor might foon be prefent there,
and his difpatches would be little retarded
by
[ 39 ]
by a diftance fo inconiiderable. The Go-
vernment General has now very little to do
with the mercantile concerns of the Com-
pany, as a Board of Trade fuperintends the
matter of inveftment ; and this obviates the
only objection to Lord Clive's idea, which
was, the neceffary attendance of the Go-
vernor and Council at Calcutta for that
particular purpofe. All thefe reafons,
therefore, concur in favour of the Gover-
nor's refidence at Muxudabad, viz. The
comparative wholefomenefs of the climate,
the great convenience to the natives, the
abfence from diilipation, party, and fac-
tion, and I may add too, the coincidence
with the prejudices of the country, in fee-
ing the government eftabliilied in the an-
cient place of its refidence. The Exche-
quer muft of neceffity follow the Supreme
Power, but the miniflers of juftice might
ftill remain at Calcutta, together with all
other Boards and Officers connected with
the merchandife of the Company - y and
very falutary effects would proceed, in a
variety of refpecls, even from the local fe-
paration of traffick from politics,
The
f 40 ]
The fubordinate governments of Ma-
dras and Bom !'*; ar by the A& 13 Geo.
III. c. 63. fubjecled to the Supreme Power,
only in matters reflecting peace and war.
This is undoubtedly a reftri&ion much
too narrow; for it becomes a queftion of
nice caiuiftry, what may, or may not be a
a matter of peace and war. Thus in the
late confufions at Madras, it has been
doubted whether the cognifance of that
matter did or did not fall within the literal
or conftrj&ive terms of the adt of parlia-
ment, giving coercive authority to the Su-
preme Council : But it is obvious that a
Supreme Government ought to be fu-
preme in every point. Nothing that is
done in any of our fettlements can be in-
different to us, or without fome pomble
confequences which may materially affedt
the general intereft; and as the Supreme
Government muft be confidered as a public
deputation, intended to regulate the na-
tional interefts in the whole of our Eaftern
dominions, their authority ought to be
without fpecific reftraint or defcription
in exerciiing the legal power delegated by
the nation. This conliftency in govern-
ment
ment has ever yet been wanting, and the
want of it has been regretted by every
writer upon the fubject of our affairs in
India, as well as by every individual con-
verfant in them ; and having been reme-
died in a very beneficial degree by the late
act of parliament, we have every reafon to
make that part of the government perfect,
by following out the imperfect regulations
of that act on this fubject, which were
wifely intended to be but temporary, and
experimental. The powers therefore veft-
ed in the Supreme Council being circum-
fcribed by no bounds but thofe which the
law of the land impofes, and extending to
all perfons, and all places, it becomes a
very important point to fettle the confti-
tution of this fuperintending authority.
It was obferved above, that feparated
and unconnected governments were in
their nature "an impolitic ? inflitution, and
that by a fimilar kind of reafoning, equal
or nearly equal authority, vefted in feveral
perfons, muft alfo be confidered as impoli-
tic. Hitherto the authority of the Go-
vernfcr, in his capacity of Prefident of the
Council, has been confidered by the warm-
F eft
[ 42 ]
eft advocates for the extenfion of his
power, as giving him only a cafting vote,
and a neceffary feat in all deliberations.
In a variety of inftances the Governor of
Bengal hasbeenin theminority,and has been
wantonly teazed and humiliated by the ma-
jority : Different parties have by death or
other accidents been triumphant in their
turns, and government by that means
ihamefully debafed. If it be ever intend-
ed that the government of India fhould be
carried on with vigour and uniformity, it
will be neceliary to inveft the Governor
with a power of putting a negative upon
the proceedings of his Council, that Coun-
cil being always at liberty to minute their
proportion when they (hall fee occafion.
The praclice of corrupting the Council,
which has poifoned the whole fyftetn of
Indian government, will by this means
be done away, and a fufficient controul
will ftill remain upon the Governor, as
he will be under the necem'ty of ftating
all matters to his council, of hearing every
thing dated by them, and of running the
hazard of adting againft the opinion of a
majority. Any man who ventures to maks
fe
f 43 1
life of his negative power, muft be very
well founded in his judgment; nor can it
eafily be fuppofed, that he would differ
from them, un-lefs his reafons for fo doing
could well ftand the teft of examination ,
The queflion refolves itfelf into this. Is
it a greater evil, that a Governor mould
have it in his power to put his negative upon
the proceedings of his council, than that the
Counfellors mould be co-ordinate with the
Governor, fo as that a faclion among
themfelves, or a fyftem of corruption*
mould enable them to overpower the Go-
vernor, and thereby render themfelves ob-
jects of bribery, job, and Afiatic intrigue ?
Experience has mewn that the latter is the
leaft dangerous of the two. The council
has ever been the feat of corruption, be-
caufe they have had a deliberative voice ia
the adminiftration of government, and
could compel the Governor to adopt their
meafures. If that deliberative voice mould
be rendered not binding upon the Gover-
nor by means of the negative propofed, the
beft and moft difinterefted effects of a
council will ftill remain, and the price of
a counfellor's vote in the Indian market
F a will
[ 44 ]
will be rendered of little or no value.
The nomination to all civil and military
offices ought from the fame reafons to be
placed in the hands of the Governor, fub-
je<5t to a controul from Europe ; for all
cabal and intrigue in the councils have
mewn themfelves in thefe appointments.
The diflentions at Madras afford ample
evidence of this. Who mould, or mould
not be appointed to fill the higheft fta-
tions at Tanjore, was the queftion which
brought to light the diffentions in that
fettlementj and it has been fufpefted by
many (though certainly never judicially
proved) that this queftion, apparently
trifling, became important to the parties
from an undue influence obtained over
the majority of the council : Be that as it
may, the fad: itfelf is a powerful reafon
for diminiming their authority, and giv-
ing fome preponderance to that of the Go-
vernor. Of late years, accident has often
determined in Bengal the hands in which
the fupreme authority mould refide; the
inferior fervants of the Company have
therefore been capricioufly difmiffed from
their employments, and their fucceflbrs
as
t 45 1
as capricioufly difmifled, when chance
turned the cafting vote the other way.
Can fuch a mode of government be either
creditable or beneficial to the public ?
Experience is the only fure guide in all
political regulations, and that experience
tells us, that if a Governor be not invefted
with fuch a negative authority as is here
propofed, a corrupt or caballing council
will never be wanting to rule according to
their own interests or caprices*' Such a
power being vefted in the Governor, it
becomes fo much the more important to
conlider of what defcription that Governor
ought to be. It is with fome furprife that
we now look back upon the practice
which obtained till within thefe few years,
of raifing the Governors and Counfellors
to thofe high ftations merely by rotation.
This might be a juft and equitable practice
before the acquifition of a great political
intereft in that country, becaufe the ma-
nagement* of mercantile concerns is in a
great degree matter of experience only;
but when complicated political interefts
of a vaft empire become the fubject-matter
*f their truft, very chofen men muft
be
[ 46 ]
be fpecially appointed to undertake that
charge. Even lince the paffingof the late
aft of parliament, the ancient predilection
feems to have continued in favour of
gentlemen who have paffed the former
part of their lives, and have received their
education and habits in that country ; and
with refpect to Madras, (where this has
been the cafe without exception) a great
law officer lately threw out in the court of
King's Bench, that fome perfons of that
defcription were now bidding for that very
government. It is certainly a very illibe-
ral thing to fuppofc, that every man who
has made his fortune in India is unfit to
be trufted with the government. Many
able and honeft men have returned from
that part of the world, after having ren-
dered lignal fervice to their country. Men
who by a fpirit of adventure and great per-
feverance advance their private fortunes,
beginning in an humble ftation, and rifing
to a certain degree of rank in the ftate, are
intitled to every degree cf refpedl. All
the diftindlions of rank in fociety have be-
gun in that manner, and the profpeft of
arriving at wealth and honours is the great
flimulus
I 47 ]
ftimulus to all fubje&s, born to the ne-
ceffity of profecuting fome profeffion in
this country. No man of candour there-
fore will withhold his approbation of the
honours which have been beftowed on
gentlemen who have made their fortunes
in India, and intitled themfelves to the
notice of their Sovereign. At the fame
time it muft be confeffed, that great and
liberal ideas of government are not moil
likely to be acquired, in the progrefs from
poverty and infignificance to wealth and
power in India. The generality of men
are not fo much influenced by the abftradt
principles of moral rectitude, as by fome
powerful fecondary principles of adtion.
One of the moft conliderable of thofe fe-
condary principles, is the prefervation of
an eftablifhed character, and the fear of
difgracing our acquaintance, our friends,,
and relations. Men too young to have
eftablifhed a fixed reputation in England,
and born in the lefs confpicuous ranks of
life, if they {hall chance to return to their
native country in affluence acquired in In*
dia, have then to begin the work of form-
ing a reputation at home; but during their
reftdence
[ 48 ]
residence in the Baft, they have not felt
the influence of the motives above-men-
tioned. They were never deterred from
purfuing the favourite object which was
early fet before them, by the controul
which arifes from the relation they bear
to many refpectable connections in Eng-
land, and the dread of not acting up to
the uniform tenor of their lives in their
native climate. Having none other than
the habits and ideas prevalent in the
feat of their early education, they are
principally directed by them. When men
of a different defcription have been placed
at the head of affairs in India, they have
ever been found proof againft the contagi-
ous avarice and rapacity, which prevail
there. The reafon is plain ; no price
can be found adequate to the mortification
of returning to England, and finding a
character once unexceptionable, perfectly
altered, or even rendered difputable. Ac-
cordingly, no man has ever ventured to
infinuate the fmalleft degree of reflection,
upon the integrity of Sirjohn Clavering, and
Mr. Monfon, who felt that it was expect-
ed of them, in aconfpicuous ftation abroad,
to
[ 49 ]
to fupport the honour of their numerous
connections at home, and of relpectable
and noble birth. It ought to be the duty of
a minifter not to accept of the firft and moft
neceffitous volunteer, but to difcover with
fome pains men who are bound by all
thefe confiderations, and to fecure to them,
and their families a handforne indemnity
for the profpects which they may relin-
quiih in Europe : Nor is it to be imagined
that fuch men are not to be found, unlefs
we adopt the maxim which is induftrioufly
propagated from that country, that there
is fo much intricacy and myftery in the
affairs of Afia, that a whole life-time is
fcarcely adequate to the comprehenfion.
of them. This do&rine has been artfully
and fuccefsfully inculcated ; and yet we
find that a common mare of good under-
ftanding, joined to much attention and in-
duftry, has enabled fecret and fele<3: com-
mittees of the Houfe of Commons, in no
long fpace of time, to be more matters of
the fubject, than moft men who return
from the common routine of bufinefs in
the Baft. We find many individuals alfo
who are very confiderably verfed in Indian
G affairs
C 5 ]
affairs from converfation, correfpondence,
reading, and reflection : And in truth thefe
matters have of late years become fo much
the fubjedt of public attention, that almoft
every one has gained a competent know-
ledge of the hiflory, manners, and politics
of that country. There can be no doubt,
therefore, but that a man of education,
with an underftanding turned to public
bufinefs, carrying out with him a general
knowledge of Eaftern politics, would in a
thort time acquire that degree of local
knowledge, which would render him ca-
pable of executing, with infinite advantage
to the public, every meaiure which his
good intentions, and the powerful obli-
gations impofed by the pride of a clear re-
putation, together with the dread of dif-
gracing an honourable parentage, could
fuggeft to him. For thefe reafons, it is
manifeftly a matter of great public confe-
quence, to place fome men of reputation
and connection, from this country, at once
in the higher ftations of the government
in India. It is far from being contended,
that men of the defcription which has been
given, mould entirely exclude all others,
but
[ 5' I
but only to prove that they ought not tobt
excluded ; on the contrary, that without
a mixture of fuch ingredients there can be
no good government in that country. It
muft be owned, that the difcovering of the
characters here alluded to, is no very eafy
tafk, though undoubtedly it may be ef-
fectuated. The nature of our free confti-
tution, together with the manners which
follow from it, and the profpects which
it affords, makes it a matter of fome dif-
ficulty to find men of ability willing to
adventure^ in thofe diftant undertakings j
at the fame time this very constitution and
thefe manners form a greater number of
fubjects adequate to fuch employments,
than any others in the world. The field
which is opened in England to every de-
gree of talents and induftry is very large.
The profeffion of arms in the land and fea
fervice, demands a great fupply, and the
learned profefiions of divinity and law
have their refpeciive allurements. The
former offers ample emoluments by means
of what is vulgarly called in te reft,, and the
latter by means of genius and induftry.
The number of able fubjects feated in either
G 2 Houfe-
r 5* i
Houfe of Parliament, and who from that
fituation are exempted from the neceffity
of indulging or cherifhing the fpirit of ad-
venture, or expert fo to be, is very large ;
and thefe coniiderations mail ftrongly in-
fluence every man fo circumftanced, who
thinks of abandoning his clofeft connec-
tions for a time, and who runs a rifk of
falling a facrifice to the climates of the
Eaft.
Difficult however as the tafk may be, it
is certain, that with, fome degree of pains,
and proper encouragement fuch men are to
be found ; or rather it ihould be faid, that
men are to be found in. the Britifh nation,
equal to any poilible tafk where honour is
to be acquired,; or public fervice to be
done, ready to undertake it. In a cafe
where fo deep an intereft is at flake, it
may reafonably be required of a minifler
to confider in his own mind, or to be in-
formed from others, of perfons adequate
to thefe flations, and to take every means
of inducing fuch perfons,, when found,, to
bear that part in the public fervice : But
inftead of making fuch efforts, it has been
ufual to be fatisfied with chufing out of
two
[ 53 1
two or three volunteer's, who having made
one fortune in that country and mif-fpent
it in this, are defirous of returning to
make a fecond as quickly as poflible.
Many perfons fitted in every view to
conduct our difrant political interefts,
either defpairing of fuccefs in their appli-
cations to thofe in power, or who may
not have turned their thoughts to that par-
ticular object, would, if it were fuggefted
to them, readily accept that fervice.
The fame induftry ought therefore to be
ufed by the minifters in this country as in
France, to caft their eyes on the mod pro-
per perfons, and propofe fuch employ-
ments to thofe whom they mall think the
moft virtuous and moft capable. In this
refped the French and other nations have
fome degree of advantage over us : For as
the opportunities of obtaining a mare in
the administration of public affairs, are not
fo extenfive among them by reafon of the
want of legiflative alTemblies, they there-
fore have a great furplus of fubje&s, able
and willing to ferve the ftate in public ca-
pacities, in any corner of the globe, and
thofe too men of the beft and moft honour-
able
[ 54 J
able families. The honour of bearing the
King's Commiffion is fufficient to induce
any fubject in France to forego for the
time his comforts and enjoyments ; the
objects of his ambition at home being very
few, and attainable with great difficulty.
For this reafon, the French ambafladors,
governors, and foreign agents of every
defcription, have been found in almofl e^ery
inftance to have been men of very fupe-
rior capacity and addrefs, and of thefe
there has never been wanting a fucceffion;
whereas in England, it has been matter of
fome difficulty to find a fucceffion of per-
fons fit to conduct the bufinefs of the ftate
with ability in the fubordinate foreign de-
partments, and who are at the fame time
deiirous of being fo employed, or would
fubmit to the difgufts which attend all fe-
licitations addrefTed to perfons in office.
The forward applications of indigent or
prefuming perfons, are generally in fuch
cafes attended to; and minifters fuffer
themfelves to be overcome by the fuperior
.mportunity of fome one of many impro-
per candidates, and exert their influence in
the India Houfe accordingly. But they
fhould
[ 55 ]
recollect that the character which
ought to be fent to our foreign dominions,
for the purpofe of placing them upon a
fecure foundation, and of introducing juft
and enlarged principles of government, is
exactly oppofed to that of an importunate
volunteer. A man of knowledge, cool-
nefs, and moderation, will not be a likely
perfon to purchafe fuch an appointment at
the expence of a follicitation at the Trea-
fury, or the India Houfe : Yet fuch is the
character fit to be appointed, and fuch a-
lone can fave that part of our dominions
from becoming detrimental inftead of
being highly profitable. It were better
too that our Governors in India fhould
not be permitted to hold their feats in
parliament, as that naturally gives them
an additional deiire to return from their
ftation ; nor ought they in juftice to enjoy
that privilege, if they are nominated by
the Crown, when a Governor in our Weft-
India fettlements is deprived of it. An
Bail India Governor fo nominated, would
indeed by anology, or even a found con-
ftruction of the difqualifying acts, be con-
iidered
r 56 ]
fidered as incapable of fitting during the
continuance of his government.
Not many years ago the minifters of
Spain found it necefTary toconfider in their
own minds, of fome fit perfons to condudt
thegoverment of South America, which had
hitherto been very ill adminiftered. One
man of abilities and integrity, the Mar-
quis de Croix, was picked out for this
purpofe, who has rendered more elTential
fervice to both Old and New Spain, than
perhaps any fubjedt that country ever
produced. He returned in the year 1772,
with great honour to himlelf, his friend?,
and relations whom he had left behind
him, and with that unfpeakable iatii-
faclion of mind which arifes from a confci-
oufnefs of having wrought the utmoft
degree of good which his fuperior know-
ledge, humanity, and parts eminently qua-
lified him to do; and what is more re-
markable, with a very moderate addition
to his fortune, if he made any addition to
it whatever.
I have dwelt a little the longer upon
this particular topic, becaufe it is general-
ly conceived that feveral new appoint-
2 ments
I 57 1
ments muft foon i take place in that line
of public employment : and if this plain
fbte of the mifchiefs which may arife
from continuing the old fyftem of nomi-
nating Governors and Counfellors, mould
accidentally chance to be hono.ur.ed with
the penafal of any among the principal
fervants of the State, it is poffible that it
may help to awaken their attention to a
matter fo extremely important.
The Governor ia each of the three
presidencies mould be affifted by a coun-
cil, not exceeding four in number j and
it is obvious that fome of thofc mould be
perfons the moft eminently converfant in
the detail of the country bunnefs. The
command-er in chief for the time being
mould alfo be of this body, but the chief
Law Officer need not have a feat at the
political Board, but ought however to be
coniidered as bound to give his affiftance
when required. A council fo conftituted,
and fubject to the Governor's vefo, but at
the fame time at liberty to record thek
own propolitions if negatived, and the
grounds of their diflent from thofe of the
H -Cover*-
Governor, Teems to cpmprife in it all ths
advantages of a controul upon the Go-
vernor, and at the fame time of extract-
ing that fting with which they have in
many recent instances fo grievouily anr
noyed him, to the great impediment of
our national concerns. The councils
upon the coafts of Malabar and Coroman-
del being in all refpects fubjec~t to the
Supreme Council in Bengal, ftrength an4
confiftency will thereby be given to the
whole Britifh dominion in India; and
thofe deflrudive fcenes which have ex r
pofed us to the contemptuous hatred of
the natives, and the ridicule of Europe,
will probably be prevented, or will at
leaft be lefs likely to occur than they
'have been heretofore.
IV. It were to little purpofe to eftablilh
a well-connected mode of government
jn any ilate, or to afcertaii} by laws the
permanency of every man's intereft in
his lands and goods, unlefs that govern-
ment were itfelf controuled, and that
permanency of property fecured, by an
2 ui
i 59 i
Upright adminiftrationof juftice j for this
it is, which gives real efFeit to the wifeft
regulations that human prudence can in-
vent. In this matter the legiflature has
felt itfelf under very confiderable difficul-
ties : on the one hand, they were fenfible
of the great wifdom of the municipal law
of England in the protection of private
property, and they felt that the merciful
nature of the Englifh mode of trial in
criminal matters makes it applicable to
many cafes; wherefoever they might hap-
pen to arifej being founded in the true
and univerfal principles of abftradl: juftice;
and proceeding upon rules of evidence,
fcrupulous and accurate to an extreme;
On the other hand it muft be acknow-
ledged, that much of that law^ compli-
cated and voluminous as it now is, takes
its rife from the peculiar nature of the
Englim government, and the manners
and cufloms of a free people j fo that in
many refpe&s no fyftem of municipal law
can be more local or more peculiarly a-
dapted to the country where it prevails.
To tranfplant it, therefore, is a work
H 2 of
[ 60 I
of- great delicacy, and the good or bad
effects of that meafure muft entirely de-
pend on the judicious manner of apply-
ing the principles which govern the laws
of one country, to another differing en-
tirely in its cuiloms, habits, manners, and
iubfiiling regulations. A vaft proportion
of the technical fyftem of our law,
though highly beneficial to ourfelves,
would be intolerable to any other people,
and even the principles themfelves ought
to be felected by a very liberal under-
ilanding, in order to be made applicable
to any other people, even in matters of
private property. With refpect to crimes,
peculiar manners give occafion to a feve-
rity in punifhing, very different in diffe-
rent focieties, according to their deftructive
tendency in each refpective fociety. A
moment's confideration will be fufficient
to convince any man, that an act done in
England, and attended with the forfeiture
of life itfelf, need not perhaps be attend-
,ed with any punifhment at Conjiantinople,
approaching to that degree of feverity.
The crimes which are called mala infe,
muft
[ 6, ]
mull it is true be univerfally confidered
as the proper objects of vindictive juflice;
but the inferior clafTes, even of fuch
crimes, may differ very much as to their
pernicious tendency in different flates -,
and the mala prohibita are in their nature
offences relative to the peculiar fociety by
which they are enacted. The great dif-
ficulty therefore confifls in the applica-
tion of fuch parts only of our law civil
and criminal, as may, from its abflract
juflice, be applied to cafes arifing in a
country differing from our own, and of
reflraining the miniflers of juflice from
an improvident application of it in other
parts. It is impofiible to lay down a
precife rule to regulate a judge in this
nice determination. That the law of
England mould be adminiflered to parties
purely Englim is liable to no exception,
but, on the contrary, it is the right of
Englim fubjects in civil cafes, and is what
they have been taught to expect in cri-
minal profecutions. The difficulty com-
mences when we fuppofe one of the na-
tives to be party to a civil fuit, or pri-
foner
t 62 ]
jbner in a criminal proceeding. The
jurifdi&ion of the Supreme Court of
Juftice eftablifhed at Calcutta by the Act
of the 13 G. III. c. 63, is extended, with
refpect to the natives, " to all perfons
' who are or have been employed by, or
c< fhall then have been directly or in-
" directly employed, in the fervice of the
" faid united Company, or any of his
" Majefty's fubjeds." The number of
perlbns who fall within the defcription
of being actually employed, or having
been formerly employed, in the fervice
of Europeans, is very coniiderable, and
this defcription was for fome time inter-
preted by the Judges to comprehend all
perfons connected with the collection of
the rents; and alib to fuch of the natives
as were impriibned by thofe collectors.
Writs of habeas corpus were accordingly
granted to public debtors fo impriibned.
This was found to affect the public re-
venue of the country moil eiTentially, and
has at laft been fettled by a fpecies of
compromife between the Supreme Coun-
cil and "Supreme Court. Some explicit
rule
[ 6-5 ]
fule however is necefiary in this matter,
for there are evils to be guarded againft
on both fides. The mofl obvious feems
to be to withhold the habeas corf us in
cafes of imprifonment for non-payment
of rent, leaving the party to his remedy
when he ftiall have paid it; in which cafe
the Judge fhould think it his duty to
carry vindictive juflice to -an extreme a-
gainft the oppreifor. The collector falls
within the defcription of the act of par-
liament as a perfon employed in the fer-
yice of the Company, and is therefore
amenable to the juftice of the Supreme
Court, in all cafes where he mall have
abufed his authority; and the -King's
Attorney General in the fettlement might,
jn all fuch cafes, file an information,
with leave of the court, againfl the op-
preiTor. The line of diftinction, drawn
by the act above-mentioned, namely,
that a native mufl have fubmitted hi.m-
felf by a contrad: in writing to the deter-
mination of the Englifh Judges, is very
juft and proper : But even then, if a
Judge fhall conceive himfelf bound by his
oath
[ 64 ]
oath to adminifler the Englifh law in its
full purity, his decifion may not accord
with the intention, and habitual meaning
of the native party. Much latitude
fhould therefore be allowed to any Judge
deciding upon a tranfaction arifing in a
country, where the laws, habits, reli-
gion, and manners, differ totally from
thofe of England. He ought, in fuch
cafes, to frame his decifions fecundum
aquum et bonum, and according to the in-
iight he may acquire into the peculiarities
of the national ideas, rather than ac-
cording to any pofitive fyftem. In cri-
minal cafes, the abfurdity or rather cruel-
ty of applying doctrines pofitivi juris,
without confidering the current ideas of
the country in which they are applied,
is fo glaring that every man muft per-
ceive it. The tragedy of Nundocomar
muft immediately prefent itfelf to every
one's mind. A native Hindoo, of great
rank and opulence, was indicted for a
forgery, contrary to a pofitive flatuta
paCed in the year 1728, and was con.-
idemned and executed for an offence
againfl
a'gairift that ftatute, committed nine years
before, "and which had never been con-
fidered in India -as deferving of the laft
degree of human punifhment, nor even
in Englarrd till within forty years pre-
ceding, at which time the frequency of
the orrence, and the peculiar danger of
it in this country, made it neceflary r6
rank it among the hundred and eleven
capital crimes, which a fubjecT: of Eng-
land may commit, and for which he may
fuffer in the firft or fecond inftance.
From what has been faid it will readily
c be acknowledged, that difficulties almoft
infiiperable occur in the difpenfation of
Englifh law to the natives, when they
happen to be one of the parties litigant.
The moft beneficial inftitution for them
would bej to leave the Supreme Court at
liberty to adl: rathei^as Arbitrators than
as Lawyers^ in all cafes where natives are
interefled on the one fide or the other. The
court will naturally have a leaning to-
wards thofe principles of jurifprudence
which are familiar to the Judges ; and at
the fame time it will be enabled to give full
I fco#e
[ 66 ]
Icope to all local and equitable Ideas. la
all criminal cafes their power of inflicting
capital puniiliments ought to be cireum-
fcribed by the ancient fimplicity of our
own law. Treafon, murder, rape, and
wilful burning of houfes, were in an-
cient time the only capital offences, and
theie would ftill be fully fuflicient in In-
dia. All iubordinate crimes are of a
magnitude merely relative to the exi-
gences of the fociety in which they have
beep made capital. Were the parliament
of Great Britain now for the riril time to
begin th-e formation of a criminal code,
it is highly probable that they would not
very much exceed the limits here pre-
fcribed; a fortiori, when they are to in-
troduce a fyllem of criminal law into the
Aliatic provinces, they fhould confine
the catalogue of capital offences within
the narrowed bounds. In all commer-
cial countries, it is true, that the crime
of forgery becomes a ferious object of
coercion ; yet a fpecific punimment, fuch
.as one or two years imprifonment, a
public difgrace fimilar to the pillory*, a
2 very
[ 67 1
very lieavy fine, or a forfeiture of three
times the fum, as in the cafe of ufury in
England, might have the fame good con-
fequences in India, and would be agree-
able to the law of all the world. Wre
the latitude of determination in all civil
cafes which is here propofed, left to the
Englifh courts of juftice in India, and
the offences to be -capitally punifhed
there, limited to thofe four which were
alone thought worthy of -death by the
humanity of our own anceftors, and were
the crime of forgery fubjedted to very fe-
vere confequences fhort of death, an
Englim court of juftice* governed as far as
is poflible by Englifh maxims of law,
would be an -eflential blefling to the na-
tives of that country. At the fame time
that fuch limitations are impofed upon
the court with refpedt to the natives in
criminal cafes, and fuch latitude given in
civil cafes, it is by no means propofed
that the law of England mould be admi-
niftered to parties purely European dif-
ferently from what it is in England : they
fire bound to fubmit to it, they are ac*-
I 2 acquainted
[ 68 ]
quainted with it, and revere it, but the
cafe is widely different with refpect to the
Aliatic fubjects. An appeal from the
Supreme Court to his Majefty in council
is ellentially neceilary in this cafe, as in
.every other of the fame nature, in order
to preferve the uniformity and integrity
pf the law, to controul the proceedings
of inferior courts, and keep them within
the line of their duty. As the latitude
which muft neceilarily be- given to the
Judge is very extenfive, he muft be made
proportionably refponfible in all cafes of
wilful malverfation. The conftitution of
the Court of Juftice in Calcutta has
mewn itfelf liable to fome material ob-
jections. It coniifis at prefent of four
Judges, a number objectionable from its
liability to equal divifion, and flill more
fo from its being expofed to altercations
and conteft, of which the inhabitants of
Calcutta have feen the mod indecent
examples. Much difcretion muft be af-
fumed (if it be not directly given) by
any court eftablifhed in that country,
and this will of itfelf beget great varia-
tions
t 69 ]
tions in their fentiments : but the moft
material defect has been feen in their
tendency to party attachments. This
has occafioned a perfuafion in niofl men,
acquainted with Calcutta, that a fingle
Judge with a deputy to affift him, fimilar
to the Chancellor and Mader of the Rolls
in England, would anfvver the purpofes
of juflice in a more effectual manner $
,and that two perfons acting in limilar
capacities might be afforded to Madras.
The Superior Judge might be confined
to caufes exceeding two hundred pounds
in value, except where they were tried by
confent before the inferior, from whom
an appeal might lie to the Superior
Judge in all cafes exceeding one hundred
pounds. A fpecies of rivalftiip between
the two courts would thus be eftablimed,
and they would operate in a degree as a
kind of controul upon each other. In
criminal cafes they ought to fit together,
and the Superior might at all times call
the other to his afliftance in civil caufes.
The fame institution eftablimed at Ma-
dras would be of infinite fervice to that
fettlement,
[ 7 ]
fettlement, as the late disturbances very
clearly evince. The interpofition of a
ieniible Judge might poffibly have pre-
vented the imprifonment of the Gover-
nor, and the confequences which have
followed from it to all parties, and
would undoubtedly have prevented the il-
legal and unjuft proceedings of the pre-
tended coroner's inquefr,, which no man
can read without horror and aftonim-
ment.
Weftminfter-Hall will not afford four
capable men for each of thefe fettle-
men ts, who would be difpofed to remove
into thofe climates, at the advanced pe-
riod of life which is requifite for the
cxercife of thefe folemn functions. The
candidates for the honours and emolu-
ments of that profeffion being in general
not men of defperate circumftances, are
not much tempted to feek their fortunes
in India ; and fuch of them as would
naturally attract the attention of thofe to
whom it belongs to recommend them,
have from that very reafon, well-ground-
ed hopes of acquiring a competent fhat'e
of
[ 7' 1
of employment in their own country.
There will always therefore be a fcarcity
of Indian Judges; and it is reported that
upon the firft eftablifhment of the Su-
preme Court of Juftice only five candi-
dates prefented themfelves, to fill the
four feats ; and as the novelty of that
inftitution produced fo fmall a number,
it is not to be fuppofed that many per-
fons will offer themfelves on future va-
cancies. If the Englifh Bar will barely
fupply four Judges, and it be thought
proper to eftablifa a Court of Juftice at
Madras ; it will be nebeffary to divide
them in the manner above-mentioned,
with a direct appeal from Madras to the
Privy Council. The fum at prefent al-
lotted to the Supreme Court is 26,000!.
a year. This fum might be diftributed
between the two fettlements, fo as to
afford a very handfome emolument to the
chief and fecond Judge of each, by al-
lotting 9000!. to the chief Juftice of Ben-
gal, 5000!. to his deputy, yoool. to the
Chief Juftice of Madras, and 4000!. to
the inferior Judge, leaving loool. to the
officers of the New Court at Madras.
The
I 72 ]
The fettlement of Bombay is fo narrow,
that no necerTity has yet appeared of
giving them an expensive Court of Judi-
cature. By thefe means, all diilention,
altercation, and tendency to party, would
ceaie"; and if an expectation of fuccemon
were held out to the deputies, it would
be an inducement to younger men of
merit at the Bar to prefent themfelves
for thofe two fubordinate ftations. Both
Calcutta and Madras would by this re-
gulation be well fu'pplied, by the fame
number of- Judges, and at the fame ex-
pence that one court only is now filled.
It may be thought that fubordinate
Judges will not fo eafily be found, when
their falary is 5000!. and 4000!. as they
will be on the prefent eftabliihment of
6oool. but the great inducement arifing
from the hopes of fucceeding immediate-
ly to the very high ftation of a Superior
Judge, will Simulate more powerfully.
than the difference of lalary propofed
Would difeoiirage.
We have now touched upon the feveral
.head? propofed, and have endeavoured to>
attract
..
attract the reader's attention towards the
fundamental points which ought to be
fettled, when the new arrangement of the
affairs of the Eaft Indies comes under the
conilderation of the legiflature. The au-
thor's objedt has been to imprefs the
reader, whether he be a plain citizen of the
State, a Member of Parliament, or Mi-
nifter> with a juft fenfe of the vaft extent
and importance of the fubject, It has
been attempted alfo to (hew; that nothing
fhort of a found and enlarged political
fyftem, founded and carried on by fome
confiderable men, can fave our territory iri
the Eaft from being gradually depopu-
lated and exhaufted ; and that by the
eftablimment of fuch a fyftem, well car-
wed on, the advantage to this kingdom
would be both great and lading. It is
very much feared by the public, that no
fuch extended meafures will find their
way into the clofets of thofe who are to
determine whether the old fyftem is ia
fubftance to continue, with flight and
partial amendments, or whether
Immzdicabile ijulnus
fan/? recidendum eft ncparsjincera trahltiir^
K This
t 75 ]
This apprehenfion arifes from an opinion,
that the confideration of thefe affairs re-
quires time and leifure, and that few
minifters are actuated by abflract princi-
ples of policy in the government of
fubordinate ftates, but rather by the ne-
ceffities of the prefent hour.
In the midft of a dangerous and com-
plicated war, and much diftracted by the
activity of a warm oppofition in Parlia-
ment, it is feared that our Minifters will
fcarcely be able to afford to this fubject
the attention which it deferves, or that
they can avoid conceding many points to
the Company, very pernicious to India,
for the fake of fome temporary profit.
Every ground, however, for fufpecting
their zeal for the profperity of fubordi-
nate kingdoms, feems now to be unge-
nerous and unjuft, when we turn our
eyes towards the kingdom of Ireland.
The fervants of the State will turn their
attention with the fame humanity, affi-
duity, and true political principles, to-
wards the Eaftern dominions. They
will recoiled! that fo favourable an oppor-
tunity as the prefent never can arife, -to
2 lay
C 76 ]
lay the foundation of a lucrative, profpe-
rous, and permanent intereft in that part
of the world; that the true intereft of
this kingdom requires our Afiatic terri-
tories fliould be rendered as productive to
the fuperior State as poffible, confiftenu
ly with a view to futurity, which can
only be done by confulting the true /-
ternal interefts of thefe provinces them-
felves. By thefe means the revenue to
be derived from their profperity, and
their profperity only, muft be greatly
augmented, perhaps beyond our moft
fanguine expectations -, and might be di-
vided between the purfe of the Company,
and that of the Nation, as far as refpects
the territorial revenue, and the flock to
arife from the fale of a long or perpetual
intereft in the lands, as Parliament, upon
a full examination, ihall think juft and
reafonable.
FINIS.
27 3 5
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