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distant and warlike nations, in order that after enriching himself with the commerce of such countries, his subjects might be better enabled to pay what future taxes he might think proper to impose upon them.

"In political philosophy, an exclusive company and exclusive trade are exactly the same. Dr. Adam Smith himself (the philosophical champion for the abolition of the monopoly, of the EastIndia Company) gives the very worst character of a regal monopoly; but it seems to have been utterly unknown to him, that such ever was, and is, the Portuguese commerce between Europe and India; utterly unknown to him, that the Portuguese free trade in the Indian seas was a disgrace to commerce, was ruinous, in every principle, was esteemed infamous, only fit for felons in the days of the Portuguese prosperity; and, in order to its suppressiou, was taxed greatly beyond the trade carried on by the natives.

"The continuance or abolition of the United English EastIndia Company is a matter of the very first importance. If the territory of British India is to be the King's, he must have mên in office to manage it under him, and these will have their private interests to serve, as well as the officers of a company. Whence then are we to expect their superior virtue? Not surely from their greater opportunities of extortion, and of evading inquiry. The clerks of a crown office have infinitely better opportunities of evading detection, and of amassing perquisites, than those of a company. But the question is, whether the valuable revenue, arising out of the present system, would be diminished or increased, were every port open, and every adventurer free to fit out what ships he pleased, to traffic with India.

"Were this allowed, what an army of custom-house officers must there be in waiting at every port of the kingdom! What a door for smuggling the luxuries of India would this open! aud, it need not be added, what a diminution of revenue!

"Besides the great revenue which it brings to the national coffers,' the East India Company forms one of the most active sinews of the state. Public funds are peculiar to England. The credit and interest of the nation depend upon their support, and the East India Company is not the least of these. It has often supported government with immense loans. It has often co-operated with government in the successful prosecution of the national wars. It has often made extensive sacritices for the benefit of the nation at large, and its continuance includes the promise of future support in the like emergencies.

Upwards of four millious sterling, per annum, without any expense to the

nation.

And must this stupendous and important fabric be demolished to make way for an untried theory! For a free trade, which, while it increased our imported luxuries, would greatly diminish the revenue which arises from them; for a trade which would injure our own manufactures, were the present restrictions abolished; for a trade which could not be established in India for many years, and which, probably, is in its nature impracticable; and for a transition which, though possible, must be attended with innume rable difficulties, considering what convulsions, even the smallest stroke of legislative authority upon private property generally produces, notwithstanding all the precautions which may be used. In fine, for a system which must render THE SOVEREIGN the military despot of an immense and rich territory, and make him the sole master of an UNCONSTITUTIONAL REVENUE. A revenue which, in the hands of a corrupt ministry, would easily defeat the noblest check against arbitrary power provided by the British constitution, the right of taxation in the House of Commons.

"The immense power which would be added to the crown, by our dominions in the East falling immediately under its management, must be a serious consideration with every one who believes the preponderating weight which that part of the constitution already possesses; and who wishes, at the same time, to preserve the just balance. Every intelligent mind must foresee the immense additional influence that would accrue, by the command of such a number of troops, the administration of such extensive revenues, and the disposal of so many offices..

"Alas! at this present hour we feel a most melancholy proof of the sad mismanagement of the officers of the crown in the Western hemisphere; and of the difficulties and disappointments of raising a revenue in a remote country. May God never curse Great Britain by fixing her views and hopes on such distant, such little, and such transitory support!

"If properly watched and defended--if not sacrificed to the dreams and dotage of theory, the grand machine of her commerce will ever render Great Britain both prosperous and formidable. In this grand machine, the East-India Company forms a principal wheel. The concentered support which it gives to public credit,

The author's indignation at the thought of such an attempt, has occasioned him to overlook an important fact. It has been tried, and it wholly failed.

2 British woollen manufactures and tin have been exported annually, by the Company, to a great amount, but with a positive loss. Will the private mer chant do this? Put the question to him.

3 Sixteen millions sterling.

the vast and most rational home tax which its imported luxuries' afford, a tax which forms a constitutional source of revenue, ever in our hands, never to be affected by the politics of distant colonies; the population which it gives to the mother country, by the domestic industry employed upon the staple commodities which it exports; and the essential balance of trade given and secured by the exportation of its imports, are the great and permanent consequences of the present commercial system; consequences which can never arise from the importation of the greatest revenue.

"By an appeal to undeniable principles, we have held up to view the unavoidable disadvantages of laying open the Indian commerce; and from other principles, equally fixed and evident, it amounts to demonstration, that a despotic revenue, raised in a distant country, must ever be productive of war, transitory, unconstitutional, and dangerous in the Crown. We have, at the same time, evinced, that the benefits arising from the commerce of India, on the great principles of its present establishment, are important, domestic, and permanent. In an auspicious trade, therefore, we must submit to that necessity of circumstances which we cannot alter. We must not shut our eyes against the broad glare of the light of facts; and amputate the limbs, and dislocate the joints, of commerce, in order to shorten or to lengthen it to the standard of theory, as Procrustes is fabled to have fitted his unhappy captives to the standard of his iron bed.

"Every institution relative to man, is not only liable to corruption, but (such is the imperfection of human nature) is sure to be corrupted. Both the servants of a company, and the officers of a king, are liable to the influence of self-interest. But the monarch's ear is hard of access, and often guarded, and the regulations of a regal monopoly, or despotic revenue, are variable at his will. Appeal must here be hopeless. But under a Company, governed by fixed institutions, there exists (generally) not only a legal claim of redress, but a legal right of opposition. If errors and corruptions, therefore, be natural to every system of human government, let the system most open to inspection and correction be preferred, and let its errors and corruptions be corrected. Happily, the British parliament is possessed of the power of such inspection and correction."

1 The principal of which (Tea) has been described by the Earl of Buckinghamshire, the first commissioner for the affairs of India, as one of the necessaries of life."

2 And begin with the executive body of the Company. God knows they stand in need of a radical reform.

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Thus far, our author; if Gracchus can successfully confute him, or if he thinks he can, he will doubtless favor the public with another lucubration. In the mean time, I once more seriously exhort his Majesty's ministers to ponder well, ere they suffer themselves to be misled by the clamors of an interested party, who would wildly put to hazard an ascertained revenue of upwards of four millions sterling, per annum; and with it the salvation of British India!" Their eyes have been opened to all the dangers that must result from any important change of system; and if they do persist, the blame must be all their own.

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