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
And can the British people _now_ fail to open their eyes, and to discern
the strait to which the ancient crown and realm of England would be
reduced, by submitting to acknowledge this _new estate_ in the Empire?
Greatly as it would be to be lamented that any thing should disturb the
present internal tranquillity of our political system, yet, if such
should be the necessary result of a resistance to the ambitious views of
the East India Company, it ought to be manfully and cheerfully
encountered; rather than admit, by a temporizing concession, a claim
which shall bend PARLIAMENT to the will of, and degrade THE CROWN to an
alliance with, a Company of its own subjects; which owes its recent
existence to the charters of the Crown, and the enactments of
Parliament, and yet aspires to seat itself for ever, side by side, by
its own supreme Government.
The Company have carried too far their confidence in the _constitutional
defence_ by which they hoped to ride in triumph over the Executive
Government. Their exorbitant pretensions have bred a _new constitutional
question_, to which the public mind is now turning. In their solicitude
to fortify themselves with _constitutional jealousies_, they have
constructed a formidable fortress, which threatens to embarrass the
Citadel of the State, and must therefore of necessity awaken its
jealousy. A change in the Administration of the Indian Government
(should the Company finally provoke such a change), _need not
necessarily_ throw the patronage of India into the hands of the Crown;
means are to be found, by which that political and constitutional evil
may be effectually guarded against. But if, through a precipitate
assumption, that no such adequate substitute can be provided for the
present system, Parliament should, at this critical moment, unguardedly
yield to the demands of the Company, and give its sanction to their
claims to a _perpetuity_ of those privileges which they have hitherto
been contented to receive _with limitation_, what difficulties would it
not entail upon its own future proceedings? If the _corporate
sovereignty_ of the Company is once absolutely _engrafted_ upon _the
Sovereignty of the State_, it cannot be extracted without lacerating the
ancient stock, and convulsing the general system.
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