ble documents, that if the trade be allowed to remain under its present restrictions, it will languish, decay, and pass into the hands of other states: that it must, if continued, diminish the sources of private wealth and national revenue:-that the reasonings in favor of the monopoly proceed from narrow partial views, have been demonstrated fallacious, and will apply equally to every other branch of British commerce: that it is humiliating to individuals, degrading to the national character, and a national grievance.

3d. That, notwithstanding the increase of the Company's territories, their trade has decreased, though protected from enemies and hostile rivalry: that, since the renewal of the Charter in 1793, they have added greatly to their debt: that the pecuniary participation held out to the country in 1793, has not been realized, but has been converted by the East India Company into repeated claims on the public purse and credit, for enormous sums to support their establishments; and that further and still greater pecuniary assistance is now required, to avert embarrassments, in which they may be soon involved.

4th. That a full and free right to trade to and with all countries and people in amity with his Majesty, and more particularly those countries acquired and maintained by the efforts and valor of the forces of his Majesty, is naturally the undoubted birthright and inheritance of the people of this empire, of every subject of it, and every port in it; and that the unrestrained exercise of that right is essentially necessary to the maintenance of the manufacturers, and prosperity of the commerce of this country: that the confinement of the eastern trade to the port of London would be a violation of that right, at once unnecessary, unjust, and impolitic: unnecessary, because the duties may be collected with greater ease and less loss by pilferage in the Outports, the taxes on West Indian and American produce being now collected with known safety: unjust, because every mercantile place in the United Kingdom is entitled to the same privileges: and impolitic, because the superior economy and dispatch that prevail in the Outports, are requisite to secure an equality with foreign nations. In these claims for the Outports, there is a general concurrence in the petitions from Plymouth, Glasgow, Paisly, Dundee, Arbroath, Leith, Edinburgh, Belfast, Bristol, Liverpool, and Hull; of which three last-mentioned places, VOL. II. No. III. G

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Bristol and Liverpool state, that they have, in contemplation of the opening of the trade to India, enlarged their docks; and Hull, that there should be no restraint as to the size of vessels to be admitted into the Indian trade.

5th. That no satisfactory reason can be assigned, why the trade to China should not be opened: that the difficulty apprehended in collecting the tea-duties is ideal: that the British character forbids injurious suspicions, as to inconveniences in India and China from opening the trade: that, in the avowed opinion of one set of petitioners, the merchants of this country should be allowed to trade directly from the East to the British West-Indies; and another set claim, that the products of the East shall, without being first landed in this kingdom, be transported to the British West-Indies, the American colonies, and all other countries south of Cape Finisterre, and within the Mediterranean.

6th. That the existing monopoly has, contrary to reason and justice, led to a singular peculiarity,-the concession of privileges to foreign nations, in amity with his Majesty, which are rigorously denied to merchants of the British empire; or, according to others, that the trade is open to all the world except British merchants: that the American States have long enjoyed this trade, at the expense of our own people, employing British capital, and compelling the Company to shrink from competition: that they have engrossed a great part of this trade, and also of that to China, which the Company formerly possessed: that the American merchants, being unfettered, have undersold the Company in the markets of Europe, have deprived them of those markets, and also the markets of South America, the West-Indies, the Mediterranean, and Malta, whilst the English trade has become less extensive and profitable : that the example of the citizens of the United States, who have evinced the superiority of individual industry, when opposed to the negligence and prodigality of a joint-stock company, and the delays and abuses of their concerns, proves the competency of British individuals to carry on an extensive commerce to the East-Indies, China, and other countries within the Charter of the Company: that the monopoly is favorable to foreigners, injurious to British subjects, and its abolition necessary, to enable British merchants to meet neutrals, and other foreigners, in fair competition with the

products of the east in their own markets; or at least, according to others, that British subjects should be put on a footing with foreigners in this trade.

7th. That the distresses and privations of the manufacturing and trading classes (distresses aggravated, say some, by the monopoly of the East India Company,) under the continental system of Buonaparte, the disputes with America, the exclusion from usual markets, the stagnation or decline of trade, are grievous: -that the mercantile, manufacturing, and shipping interests, all suffer:- that the country is burthened with great naval and military establishments:—and that, under such hardships, pressures, and exclusions, every possible relief is wanted, and new sources of trade ought to be looked for; and that, on account of the existing war, and for the maintenance of our naval supe riority, and the preservation of our commercial, maritime, aud financial interests, an open trade is necessary.

8th. That it is a well ascertained fact, that during the time of the Protectorate, there were men who boldly violated the Company's Charter, and carried on the trade with such success, that they were able to sell the commodities of the East in the different markets of Europe, on lower terms than had ever been known; and, at this day, individual merchants have traded to India with profit, even under all the difficulties, delays, and taxes imposed upon them by the Company :-that the private trade has continued to increase, although fettered with many restrictions; but that these restrictions deter people, unacquainted with India, and residing at home, from engaging in the trade:-that a free trade to the East would be a measure admirably calculated for removing present evils, would be a substitute for the loss of European commerce, an equivalent for all other markets, and would necessarily open new and extensive markets; a field greater than any other country offers, and beyond the grasp of the enemy; a field to British skill, industry, and enterprize, and to capital, otherwise useless, whilst the national resources are stunted:-that thousands, who are now reduced to idleness and poverty, might be actively engaged:-that the capital, spirit, and knowledge of British merchants, are unbounded:-that a free trade to India would turn the wealth acquired by the foreign merchant into the

pockets of the subjects of this country; would excite a fair emulation to bring all the produce of the east to its proper level in the home market, to the great benefit of this country; would enable our manufacturers, with more advantage, to exert their skill and industry to produce new articles of trade, and to give full employment to the operative classes of the community; would circulate the trade, now confined to London, through every part of the United Kingdom; would be the means of increasing our maritime strength, our financial resources, and the wealth and glory of the British Empire. Such is the general tenor of the petitions on this head; but the language of the one from Sheffield is so animated and sanguine, that it may not be improper to transcribe a part of it. "The petitioners are fully persuaded, if the trade to the East-Indies were thrown open to all His Majesty's subjects, such new and abundant markets would be discovered and established, as would enable them to set at defiance every effort to injure them, by that sworn enemy to their prosperity and the peace of Europe, the present unprincipled ruler of France; and that the petitioners doubt not, if the trade of this United Kingdom were permitted to flow unimpeded over those extensive, luxuriant, and opulent regions, though it might, in 'the outset, like a torrent repressed and swoln by obstruction, when its sluices were first opened, break forth with uncontrollable impetuosity, deluging, instead of supplying the district before it, yet that very violence, which, at the beginning, might be partially injurious, would, in the issue, prove highly and permanently beneficial; no part being unvisited, the waters of commerce, that spread over the face of the land, as they subsided, would wear themselves channels, through which they might continue to flow ever afterwards, in regular and fertilizing streams; and that, to the wealthy, enterprizing, honorable, and indefatigable British merchant, conducting in person his own concerns, no obstacle would prove insurmountable, no prejudice invincible, no difficulty disheartening: wants, where he found them, he would supply; where they did not exist, he would create them, by affording the means of gratification."

9th. That the imagined hardship of depriving the Company of the only lucrative branch of their trade, that to China, will be

alleviated by the wealth, influence, knowledge, and experience, which, in their united capacity, they will still be enabled to oppose to the unassisted efforts of private merchants :-that if, indeed, the Company can carry on trade to greater advantage than the private merchant, they have nothing to fear; they will reap their merited reward by the benefit of competition; and without competition, neither would commerce have risen to its present standard, nor will it increase to bear the increasing expenses of the nation:-And with respect to the danger of excessive speculation, it is said by Glasgow to be immaginary, because the enterprize of individuals is uniformly limited by their means and success; because any evil of this nature is temporary, and checks itself; and that, the very worst that can occur, in the event of the abandonment of the trade by the public, would be, that matters would again return to their present state.. On all the grounds, therefore, stated in the petitions, they in general require a full and entire freedom of trade to the Eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, including China, and all the countries within the Charter of the East-India Company; and, for the means of indemnifying or remunerating the claims of the Company, one petition proposes, "a fair and equal impost on the trade in question."

Your Committee having thus submitted an abstract, under different heads, of the contents of the petitions, in which abstract, they are persuaded, nothing material is omitted, will now proceed to offer some observations on each of those heads.

And first,—With regard to the doctrine of monopolies in general, your Committee do not conceive, that they are much called upon to enter into any discussion of it; because, what is termed the monopoly of the East-India Company is, as it now exists and has long existed, an institution of a singular nature, formed upon principles peculiar to itself, not merely or chiefly for the purposes of trade, and must be examined with reference to the ends of its institution, and the importance of those ends, which will be the subject of the next article. In the mean time, it may be observed upon this first head, that the ablest writers on political economy, and the most strenuous against monopolies, have not condemned them simply and univer