The Letters of Gracchus on the East India QuestionMiles, William Augustus
History
The Letters of Gracchus on the East India Question
Miles, William Augustus
East India Company; India -- Politics and government -- 1765-1947
A review of the debate at the India House,--with the Directors, either
silently withholding what they were enabled to impart in justification
of the Government, or by the rhetoric of some of them tending to blow
wider the flames of discord,--would almost authorize a suspicion, that
the Directors were not displeased at the fever which their silence
nourished. It is therefore earnestly to be hoped, for the honour of the
East India Company, and more especially for the interest of the
Proprietors, that some Director, or other individual, may, at the next
General Court, strive to efface the memory of the last; who may call
upon the Deputation, to render to the Ministers of the Crown whatever
justice is due to them, for their conduct in the late discussions; and
who may recommend a revision of the statement, in which they represent
to those Ministers, that the terms on which Government have offered to
the Company a Charter, are such as may "_leave their dividend unprovided
for_," and "_create a necessity for their going to Parliament_!" For,
unless they have brought themselves to a state to suppose, that
Ministers and the Public have lost all intelligence, they must know,
that both Ministers and the Public are well aware, that they are
actually under _a necessity of going to Parliament_ for aid, as soon as
Parliament shall be assembled; and that, at the present moment, _their
dividend_ may, in strictness, be considered as _unprovided for_.
GRACCHUS.
LETTER V.
_Tuesday, January 19, 1813._
The writers, who have recently undertaken to defend and justify the
opposition of the Court of Directors to any extension of the Import
Trade from India to the out-ports of the kingdom, have laid a peculiar
stress upon an opinion conveyed in that part of Mr. Dundas's Letter of
the 2d of April 1800, in which that Minister was considering "the
_agents_ to be employed at home; to manage the private trade of
individuals from India, and to take care of their interests in the
cargoes of the returning ships." He states his opinion, that "there is
no use of any interference by the Company; that the great interest to be
attended to on _the part of the Company_, is, that no goods come from
India that are not deposited in the Company's warehouses; and that the
goods, so imported, be exposed at the Company's sales, agreeably to the
rules prescribed for that purpose."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account