The Company would have done wisely, if, instead of resting their case upon pretensions erroneous in fact, inadmissible in law, and derogatory of the authority addressed, they had rested it wholly upon their own endeavours to promote the original purpose of their incorporation: namely, _the honour of the Crown_, and _the advantage of the commonwealth_. Upon that ground the Company might have stood strong; and all that would then have remained for the consideration of Parliament, would have been a question, how those great interests could, under existing circumstances, be best advanced; either by continuing the present arrangement without alteration, or by modifying it in such particulars, as Parliament in its wisdom might judge to be necessary. But instead of this, they have taken ground upon high pretensions of RIGHT, which must necessarily provoke investigation; and we have discovered, in the foregoing inquiry, how far those pretensions are supported. The determination of this great question, however, is now reserved for Parliament; and, upon the wisdom of Parliament, the Country may with confidence rely, for a full consideration of all the public rights, commercial as well as political; and likewise, for the final adoption of such an arrangement for the government and trade of India, as shall appear to be the best calculated to advance the real interests, and to promote the general prosperity of the Empire, both in the East and West. GRACCHUS. THE END. FOOTNOTES: [9] Anderson's Hist. of Commerce (1698), vol. ii. p. 221, fol. [10] A Short Hist. of the East India Company, p. 6. [11] De Portibus Maris, p. 2. c. 6. p. 77. [12] Short Hist. of East India Company, p. 11. [13] History of Indostan, vol. i. p. 335. [14] Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xxxiii. p. 811. [15] Short Hist. of the East India Company. [16] Short Hist. of the East India Company, p. 56. [17] Morning Post, Jan. 15, 1813, Letter, signed Probus. [18] Short History of the East India Company, p. 38. [19] Ibid. p. 37. [20] Letter to Lord Buckinghamshire, Dec. 30, 1812. [21] De Portibus Maris, p. 2. c. 7. p. 84. S. Gosnell, Printer, Little Queen Street, London. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Letters of Gracchus on the East India Question, by Grachhus