PETITION OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY FOR THE RENEWAL OF THEIR CHARTER.

HC Deb 22 February 1813 vol 24 cc659-76

A Petition of the united company of merchants of England trading to the East Indies was presented and read; setting forth,

"That the petitioners, in approaching the House with an application for a continuance of the system by which the relation between Great Britain and the East Indies is now regulated, hope they may be permitted to state the outlines of the history of the establishment of the petitioners, as well as their present situation as to their property and rights, their functions and obligations; and that the first adventurers in a trade from England to the East Indies, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, were incorporated by queen Elizabeth, by her royal letters patent, bearing date the 31st day of December 1601, by the stile of "The governor and company of merchants of London trading into the East Indies," to whom, by the same instrument, the exclusive right of trading to that country was granted by her said majesty for a term of 15 years from Christmas then last past; and that the corporate capacity of the said governor and company of merchants of London trading into the East Indies, with the privilege of the exclusive trade, was renewed revived and confirmed to them in perpetuity by several charters or letters patent, granted respectively by king James the 1st, king Charles the 2nd, king James the 2nd, and king William and queen Mary, subject nevertheless to a provision, that, if the continuance of any of their charters, in the whole or in part, should not be profitable to the realm, that upon three years warning to be given to the said company, all the said charters should cease determine and be void; and that the said governor and company were empowered by their charters to establish factories and settlements in the East Indies, to have the government of such factories and settlements, and to appoint governors with a judicial power to equip and maintain military forces by sea and land for the defence of their settlements, with the power of making peace and war with any princes or people who were not Christians, within any places of their trade, to make reprisals from those persons, in those parts, from whom they should sustain any loss or injury, to erect castles, fortifications, forts, and garrisons, and also to coin Indian money; and that, by virtue of these powers, the said governor and company made settlements, and built forts and factories, at different places in the East Indies, at a very great expense, which settlements, forts, and factories, with some territory annexed to them, were purchased from the native princes of the countries within their limits; the sovereignty remained with their respective chiefs, but the immediate government of those acquisitions was exercised by the company under the powers which are before mentioned to have been granted to them by charter; and the said company made also a settlement in the island of Saint Helena, on its being abandoned by the Dutch, about the year 1651; and that the property and sovereignty in and over the port and island of Bombay having been ceded by the king of Portugal to king Charles the 2nd, as part of the dowry of the infanta of Portugal on her marriage with king Charles, his said majesty by his royal letters patent, bearing date the 27th day of March 1669, granted and conveyed unto the said governor and company, their successors and assigns, the property thereof, with all the rights profits territories and appurtenances, and constituted them the true and absolute lords and proprietors of the port and island, in the most unlimited manner, saving to his majesty his heirs and succesors, his royal sovereignty of and over the inhabitants there; but his majesty granted the authority of immediate civil and military government of the place to the company; and Saint Helena having been taken from the said company by the Dutch in the war of 1674, was re-taken by a force belonging to king Charles the 2nd, who, by his royal letters patent bearing date the 16th day of December 1674, re-granted that island, with all the rights, profits, territories, and appurtenances whatsoever, unto the said governor and company, their successors and assigns, and his majesty constituted them the true and absolute lords and proprietors thereof, saving the allegiance due to his majesty, his heirs and successors; and the said charter contained powers and authorities for the government and defence of the said island; and that, by an act of parliament passed in the 9th year of king William the 3rd, for raising a sum of two millions by loan for the public service, it was enacted, that all the subscribers to the said loan should be intitled to traffic and use the trade of merchandize in such places, and by such ways and passages as were then already frequented found out or discovered, or which thereafter should be found out or discovered, and as they severally should esteem to be fittest or best for them, in to and from the East Indies, in the countries and parts of Asia and Africa, and in to and from the islands ports havens cities creeks towns and places of Asia, Africa, and America, or any of them, beyond the Cape of Bona Esperanza to the Streights of Magellan, where any trade or traffic of merchandize was or might be used or had, and to and from every of them: and, by the said act, his majesty was empowered to incorporate any of the subscribers who should desire to trade with a joint stock; and it was enacted, that at any time, upon three years notice, after the 29th day of September 1711, upon repayment by parliament of the said sum of two millions, or such part thereof as should be advanced, all the corporations to be created in pursuance of that act, and the benefit of trade thereby given, should absolutely cease and determine; and it was enacted that all such persons as should have a right of trading by virtue of that act should have the sole and exclusive trade within the limits before-mentioned; and that the said sum of two millions was subscribed within the time limited by the said act; and thereupon, by a charter bearing date the 5th day of September 1698, his said majesty was pleased to incorporate the larger part of the subscribers to the said loan, by the stile of "The English company trading to the East Indies;" and, by the said charter, powers of making settlements, and governing them, and maintaining military forces for their defence, were granted to the English company, similar to those which are before stated to have been granted to the old company, since distinguished by the appellation of the London company; the sovereign right, power, and dominion, over all the settlements to be made, being reserved to his said majesty; and that the above act of parliament and charter would have operated to have extinguished and determined the corporate capacity and privileges of the London company; but the act contained a provision that they should have liberty to trade till the 29th of September 1701, and the London company having subscribed the sum of 315,000l. towards the sum of 2,000,000l. to be raised, became entitled to trade in respect of it; and therefore, by an act of parliament passed in the 12th year of king William the 3rd, their corporate capacity was contiuned to them, subject, nevertheless, to be determined upon the redemption of the fund established by the said act of the 9th of his said majesty's reign; and that the said English company acquired and settled several factories in the East Indies, at a very large expense; and that, previous to the erection of the English company, the London company had carried on their trade with the East Indies in competition with the Portuguese and Dutch and French companies, and also in competition with unlicensed adventurers from Great Britain who traded there, notwithstanding the exclusive grants which the London company was in possession of, and which unlicensed adventurers, at times, acquired considerable ascendency amongst the native powers, and, after the incorporation of the English company, they became also competitors in the said trade; and that no European nation having then acquired any considerable territorial dominion, the whole of the trade by Europeans was carried on entirely at the despotic will and sufferance of the native princes of the Mogul empire; the government and officers of which almost constantly showed their favour and protection to such of the competitors from whom they could obtain the largest presents; and in proportion as they protected one of them, they oppressed the others; as an instance of which, the petitioners show, that the servants of the English company in India, by means of corrupt influence with the ministers and servants of the Mogul, procured all the principal officers and members of the presidency of the London company at Surat, then the chief seat of their trade in India, to be imprisoned for several seasons, and wholly to interrupt their commercial transactions; and that the London company and the English company, finding, that if their competition had continued, ruin must have ensued to both, agreed, about the year 1702, to unite together: the union was effected by force of two several indentures, dated respectively the 22d day of July 1702, one being an indenture tripartite, made between her late majesty queen Anne of the first part, the said London company of the second part, and the said English company of the third part; and the other being an indenture quinquepartite, made between the said London company of the first part, the said English company of the second part, and certain persons, trustees of property belonging to the London company, of the third, fourth, and fifth parts, and by force of an act of parliament, passed in the 6th year of the reign of queen Anne, and of an award of the earl of Godolphin, the lord high treasurer of Great Britain, dated the 29th day of September 1708; and that by the terms of the union, all the property and rights belonging to both companies, at home and abroad, including the settlements, forts, factories, and territories, which they had acquired as is above stated, were valued, and, in consideration of the value of the property of the London company being paid or allowed in account to them, they, by proper legal instruments, transferred and made over all their property to the English company, and the English company were allowed, in account, the value of their property; and the property and rights of both companies were thenceforth vested in them, for the benefit of the united concern; and the London company having completed the transfer of its property, surrendered its corporate capacity; and from thenceforth the English company took the stile of "The united company of merchants of England trading to the East Indies;" which is now the stile of the petitioners; and that the petitioners crave leave to draw the attention of the House to some part of the subjects of which the property of the petitioners consisted at the time of the union of the two companies in 1702, and which they derived by transfer from them, with the cognizance and sanction of her majesty queen Anne, and of the parliament; amongst other things, the petitioners were then entitled to and possessed of the islands of Bombay and Saint Helena, the sovereignty of which was vested in the crown of Great Britain; they were entitled to and possessed of the factories of Surat, Swally, Broach, Amadavad, Agra, and Lucknow: on the coast of Malabar, they were entitled to and possessed of the forts of Carwar, Tellicherry, and Angengo, and the factory of Callicut: on the coast of Coromandel they were entitled to and possessed of Fort St. George, with the castle, fortifications, and territory thereto belonging, on which a large city called Madras was built, the houses of which belonged to and paid rent to the petitioners; Fort Saint David, being a strong fort and factory, and about three miles compass of the circumjacent country, on which several small towns and villages were erected; the factories of Codolore, Porto Novo, Pettipolee, Madapollam, and the fort and factory of Vizagapatam: in Bengal, the petitioners were entitled to and possessed of Fort William and the town of Calcutta, with a large territory thereto belonging; the factories of Ballasore, Cossimbuzar, Dacca, Hughly, Maulda, Rajamaul, and Patna, and all these possessions were subject to the sovereignty of the great mogul: on the island of Sumatra, the petitioners were entitled to and possessed of York Fort at Bencoolen, and a factory with a territory of about five miles thereto belonging, and a factory at Indrapore; and that, after the union of the two companies, the petitioners conducted themselves so as to conciliate and acquire the confidence of the natives of India, and for a considerable period of time they had no occasion to use the right which they enjoyed of maintaining a military force, except for purposes little beyond those of police, and as guards of their fortifications against surprize; but near the middle of the last century it became necessary for the petitioners to enlarge their military force, and to exercise the power of war, and of making political engagements with some of the native powers, to support the British interests in India, and in order to counteract the intrigues of the French, who had become auxiliaries to other native powers, with the design of driving the petitioners out of the East Indies, and of excluding the British nation wholly from Asiatic commerce; but by means of the forces raised and maintained by the petitioners, and at their sole expence, the petitioners completely defeated those objects; so that, at the conclusion of the war which ended in the year 1763, the French were left without one single settlement, and almost without influence, in any part of Asia; and that, in the year 1757, the nabob of Bengal permitted the petitioners to establish a mint at Calcutta; and in the same year the said nabob made over to the petitioners the property in certain lands in Bengal, generally called the twenty-four purgunhas, and the saltpetre lands of the whole province of Bahar; and in the year 1738, the petitioners obtained a grant from the said nabob for the free tenure of the town of Calcutta, discharged from the rent to which, to that time, it had been subject; in the year 1759, the soubah of the Decan made over to the petitioners the whole of the circar of Masulipatam, with eight districts, as well as the circar of Nizampatam and the districts of Condavir and Wacalmanner; in the year 1763, the nabob of Arcot made over to the petitioners several districts of land surrounding Madras, which lands have since been called the jaghire of the petitioners; and such transfer was confirmed in the year 1765 by the said nabob, and also by the great mogul; in the year 1764, the mogul made over to the petitioners the country of Gauze Poor and the rest of the zemindary of rajah Bulwant Sing; in the year 1765, the great mogul granted to the petitioners the country called the Northern Circars; and in the following year such grant was acceded to by the soubah; and in the year 1765, the great mogul appointed the petitioners, in perpetuity, to the office of dewan of the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, such appointment being made as a free gift; and by virtue of such grant the petitioners, in the execution of the office, acquired the right of collection of all the revenues of the said provinces, for their own use, free from any account thereof to be rendered; and that the petitioners crave leave to remark, that no part of the property in any of the forts, factories, or territories, which became vested in the petitioners at the time of the union of the two companies, nor any of the territories nor rights lastly hereinbefore mentioned to have been granted to the petitioners, were acquired by conquest, but by purchase, by means of pecuniary payments, or by services rendered to, or other good considerations moving the grantors; and that, about the year 1767, a claim was made on the part of the public to the beneficial interest in the territorial acquisitions and revenues then lately obtained there, and thereupon agreements have been made from time to time that the possession of such acquisitions and revenues should remain with the petitioners, upon a participation of the profit of the revenue between the public and the petitioners, as mentioned in several acts of parliament made and passed at different times since 1767, without prejudice to the claims of the public or of the petitioners; and that, previous to the year 1773, the government of the settlements and acquisitions in India was conducted under the uncontrouled direction of the petitioners, by virtue of the powers of government which they derived from their charters; but, ever since the year 1773, the mode of the immediate government of India has been regulated by parliament; and from that time to the year 1784, in pursuance of directions of acts of parliament, the lords commissioners of his Majesty's treasury, and one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state, in their several departments, were made acquainted with the correspondence and orders sent to and received from India by the petitioners, in any way relating to the management of the revenue, or civil or military affairs and government of the petitioners in that country; and from the year 1784 to the present time, all acts, operations and concerns, which in any ways have related to or concerned the civil or military government or revenues of the territories and acquisitions in the East Indies, have been placed under the superintendence and controul of certain commissioners appointed by his Majesty, in pursuance of acts of parliament passed for that purpose; and the petitioners have been restrained from giving any orders or directions relative thereto, without the concurrence of the said commissioners; and in cases in which the said commissioners have been of opinion that the subject matter of any of their deliberations, concerning the levying war or making peace, or treating or negotiating with any of the native princes or states in India, communicated in orders to any of the governments in India, have been of a nature to require secrecy, such orders have been sent through the medium of a secret committee of three of the court of directors of the petitioners, according to the provisions in that case made by parliament, without any privity of the petitioners, or of their court of directors, and without any discretionary authority on the part of the members of such secret committee; and that, between the period when such claim as herein before mentioned was first made, on the part of the public, to the territorial acquisitions in the East Indies, and the year 1793, a further acquisition of territory was made in India; and that the term heretofore granted to the petitioners in the exclusive trade to the East Indies, being about to be redeemed in the year 1794, an act of parliament was made and passed in the 33d year of his present majesty, whereby it was enacted, amongst many other things, that the territorial acquisitions in certain former acts mentioned, together with the territorial acquisitions then lately obtained in the East Indies, with the revenues thereof respectively, should continue in the possession of the petitioners during the further term by that act granted in the said exclusive trade; and that the petitioners should have the exclusive trade within the limits mentioned in the said act of parliament passed in the 9th year of king William the 3rd, subject nevertheless to such right of trading as is thereby given to individuals, to be carried on in the manner therein mentioned, and subject to a proviso to determine such right at any time, upon three years notice to be given by parliament, after the 1st day of March 1811, upon the expiration of the said three years, and upon payment made to the petitioners of any sum or sums which, under the provisions of any act of that session of parliament, should or might, upon the expiration of the said three years, become payable to the petitioners by the public, according to the true intent and meaning of such act; but it was enacted, that nothing in that proviso, or in any proviso in the said act in the 9th year of king William the 3rd, in the said charter of the 5th of September, in the 10th year of his reign, or in any other act or charter, should extend to determine the corporation of the petitioners; and, by the said act, certain appropriations were made of all the profits arising from the territorial acquisitions and revenues in India, and also from the sale of goods, and all other profits of the petitioners in Great Britain, during the time of the exclusive trade thereby granted to the petitioners; and that the notice required by the last mentioned act hath been given by the Speaker of the House, for determining the exclusive trade of the petitioners on the 10th day of April 1814; and that, since the passing the said last mentioned act, a further acquisition of territory and revenue in India has been made, and is now in the possession of the petitioners; and the petitioners also show that they have taken all the forts and factories which belonged to the French, Dutch, and Danes in Hindostan; and the petitioners are now in possession as well of the territories mentioned in the said lastmentioned act as of those which have been since acquired, and the British dominions in India, without a rival, or any enemy, now consist of a very large proportion of the peninsula, besides very extensive provinces in the north of Hindostan, and contain, as it is supposed, above fifty millions of inhabitants, and have been acquired wholly at the expence and risk of the petitioners, without any charge whatever to the British exchequer, for, though land forces belonging to his majesty have been employed, in conjunction with the forces raised by the petitioners, yet the whole of the expence of such forces of his majesty, whilst they have been employed in such service, as well as for their passage out and home, and in recruiting, has been defrayed by the petitioners; besides which, for a considerable length of time, the petitioners furnished or paid for victualling and stores for the use of his majesty's ships of war in the East Indies; and that the petitioners beg leave humbly to represent, that the welfare and happiness of the inhabitants of the countries which have come under the care of the petitioners has been their chief object, and they have reason to hope and believe that the amelioration of the condition of the people is most eminently conspicuous; when Hindostan was first visited by British traders, and long after the union of the two companies before-mentioned, when the opposition, not only of British subject against British subject, but of European against European, and the corrupt and impolitic attempts which were constantly made by one party to raise the despotic power of the Indian states against other parties, had in some measure ceased, the character of the native governments, as well as of the native individuals, remained unchanged, the ill usage which they had received from individual and associated Europeans roaming about without responsibility or controul, raised a jealousy and animosity against every stranger without distinction, and the internal state of the country, where justice and injustice were equally articles of traffic to be bought and sold, left the rights of persons and property entirely at hazard; and that the petitioners found the country divided into many different states, all feudatory to the mogul, who was considered the sole proprietor of the whole; these states were again divided among zemindars and chiefs, with other designations, under whom there were sub-infeudations, down to the ryots, who were the actual cultivators of the soil, and no man held any land, and scarcely a crop, but at the will of another of superior power; there were no effectual means of resort for the support of any right, or the avenging any wrong, and the will of the strongest was the only practical rule of conduct which was established; and that, under the management of the petitioners, the scene has been entirely changed; by fixing certain permanent and invariable rents, a new and valuable property has been, as it were, created to the natives; by the establishment of courts of justice, and the appointment of liberal emoluments to those who devote their lives to the study and administration of laws adapted to the usages, customs, and religions of the inhabitants, they have removed temptations to corruption, and have provided the means for the inhabitants to be insured in the enjoyment of properly thus created for them; courts of criminal judicature have also been universally erected, which have effectually provided for personal liberty and security; and by the alterations which have taken place, the practical means of foreign commerce, of traffic from port to port and internally, have been facilitated, very greatly to its increase; and, that it may not be supposed that the petitioners have assumed merits which they are not entitled to, they beg leave to refer to the Fifth Report of the select committee of the House on the affairs of the East India company, which was presented to the House on the 28th day of July last; and that, notwithstanding the ameliorated condition of the natives of India under the government of the petitioners, to which they have been accustomed, yet the tranquillity of the country is not maintained by a physical force, but chiefly by moral influence, and in a great degree even by prejudice; any change would alarm them, and their submission to British authority would be greatly endangered by an unrestrained resort of Europeans in search of wealth, either by commerce or other means, at distances from the principal seats of government, or in such numbers at those seats as to be beyond the controul of the governors, and by the resort of persons who may not have such connection with (and interest to uphold) the authority of the ruling power, as will insure the utmost care in their conduct, not only not to irritate but positively to conciliate the natives with whom they may have dealings; and the petitioners beg leave to represent, that their military establishments, artillery, and marine, have been of other most important advantages to this nation, in as much as, in the several European wars in which this country has been engaged since the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the forces of the petitioners alone, or in conjunction with the forces of his majesty at the expence of the petitioners, have taken all the settlements belonging to the Europeans on the continent of India with whom this nation has been at war, and such captures have formed part of the price of national peace, without any compensation to the petitioners; and that, upon the suggestion of his majesty's ministers, the petitioners sent a large force from India into Egypt, by the Red Sea, to co-operate with his Majesty's forces against the French, in the year 1801; and, in the present war, by expeditions equipped from India, all the possessions of the French, Dutch, and Danes, in the East, have been conquered; and though, as to such of those expeditions the accounts of which have been settled, the petitioners have been allowed considerable sums on the part of the public, yet such allowances were calculated to reimburse only a part of the vast expenditure actually advanced by them for those great national objects; and that the petitioners humbly hope they will be found to have been as attentive to, and as successful in, the cultivation of the trade with China as they have been with respect to the concerns in India; the peculiarities of the Chinese, and the delicacy attendant upon any intercourse with them, must be too well known as matter of history to every member of the House, to require any statement of it in this Petition; it will be sufficient to inform the House, that it is but a little more than one hundred years since any trade whatever has been carried on between this country and China; and that at this time about 46,000 tons of shipping are employed by the petitioners therein, and that they entertain in China for the purposes of that trade a regular establishment of servants called supra cargoes, and others of inferior ranks, whose business it is to keep up a connection with the few merchants, or more properly mercantile officers of the Chinese government, who are deputed to manage on the part of the Chinese all the commercial transactions between Great Britain and China; by this means the trade has been cherished and preserved through and notwithstanding many perils arising from circumstances apparently trivial, and the fatal consequences of which could only have been averted by the most delicate conduct, and by the whole commercial concerns of the British nation being confided to one united authority; and that the petitioners feel it incumbent upon them to submit to the House an abstract of their financial operations since the arrangement contained in the above mentioned act of the 33rd year of his present Majesty was made; at that time the capital stock of the petitioners amounted to the sum of 5,000,000l.; since that period, in pursuance of an act passed for that purpose, the capital stock has been encreased by the sum of 1,000,000l. contributed by the subscribers at the rate of 200l. per cent.; and that at the time when the act of the 33rd of his Majesty was passed, sundry debts incurred in the defence and protection of the British possessions in India, bearing interest, were then due and owing by the petitioners, amounting to 7,000,000l. sterling, or thereabouts; since that period the said debt has been very much increased for the same purpose, and great part of such increased debt was raised upon loans, by the terms of which the creditors were entitled to the option of being paid off in India or by bills of exchange to be drawn upon London, and upon such obligations becoming due, the petitioners have been obliged to provide out of their funds and credit at home, the means of paying bills of exchange drawn upon them since the year 1807, to the amount of 10,902,924l. sterling, in discharge of Indian debt, and the debt contracted for political purposes, now remaining due in India, according to the latest advices from thence, amounts to the sum of 26,000,000l. or thereabouts, over and besides the sum of 3,000,000l. reduced 3 percent, annuities, and the sum of 1,400,000l. consolidated 3 per cent. annuities, on which the sum of 2,500,000l. sterling was raised, in pursuance of an act passed in the last session of parliament, to enable the petitioners to pay bills of exchange, which had been drawn upon them from India, in part discharge of the Indian-debt, as hereinbefore mentioned, and also over and besides the sum of 2,202,000l. or thereabouts, now owing by the petitioners upon bills of exchange not yet due, but payable in London, and which have been drawn in India, in further part discharge of the said Indian debt; and that the revenues of the territorial acquisitions in India, in the possession of the petitioners, in the year 1793 amounted to the annual sum of 8,000,000l. or thereabouts, and by the latest account and estimates received from the East Indies, the revenues of the territorial acquisitions, now in the possession of the petitioners, amounts to the annual sum of 16,000,000l. or thereabouts, but the civil and military expenses of the government have proportionably increased: and that the profits of the trade carried on by the petitioners since the year 1793, to the latest period to which the accounts can be correctly estimated, have amounted to the sum of 6,289,405l., over and above the commercial charges of the petitioners, and beyond the payment of interest on their bond debt in England, and besides the dividends from time to time paid on the capital stock of the petitioners, according to the directions of the said act, passed in the 33rd year of his present Majesty; and that in 1793, the bond debt in England of the petitioners amounted to the sum of 3,200,000l., or thereabouts, since which, by an act passed in the year 1797, they have been empowered to raise money by increasing their capital stock, by the amount of 2,000,000l. but they have not availed themselves of that resource, but, under the authority of several acts of parliament, they have raised money upon bond, and their bond debt in England now amounts to the sum of 5,409,325l., but the petitioners are entitled by law to issue bonds to the amount of 7,000,000l. in the whole; and that the annual interest upon the present amount of the Indian debt now amounts to the sum of 1,600,000l., or thereabouts, and as by the terms of the loans on which such money was raised, the creditors are entitled to receive their interest by payment of money in India, or by bills of exchange, to be drawn and made payable in London, at rates favourable to the holders; and, judging from the amount drawn within the last half year, the petitioners estimate that the annual sum of 1,500,000l. or thereabouts, will be necessary to be provided annually in London for the payment of such interest, besides which, although the several sums of money payable in respect of the reduced and consolidated annuities, (on which the said sum of 2,500,000l. was raised by virtue of the said act of the last session of parliament) for interest and sinking fund attendant thereon, amounting altogether to the annual sum of 242,820l., are expressly charged upon the revenues of the territorial acquisitions in the East Indies, yet the petitioners are bound by the said act, at all events, to pay such sums of money into the Bank of England, in manner in the said act mentioned; and the petitioners will also be obliged to provide, in London, the interest and other charges which may be attendant upon any further loan which may be necessary, in consequence of the said further sum of 2,202,000l., part of the Indian debt, for which bills of exchange, drawn upon the petitioners, are now outstanding; and it is estimated that political charges (including payments to be made to the creditors of the late nabobs of the Carnatic) consequential upon the Indian territory, to the annual amount of 910,000l. or thereabouts, will be to be defrayed in England; and as, from the best estimates which can be made, there appears but little reason to expect (without a considerable reduction of the military expences of the petitioners in India) that there should be any sufficient surplus revenue to be remitted for those purposes, the petitioners apprehend that the punctual discharge of the pecuniary obligations of the petitioners in relation thereto, as well as the payment of the interest upon their bond debt in England, and the dividends on their capital stock, will depend most essentially upon the trade to be carried on by the petitioners; and that, in pursuance of several acts of parliament since 1807, the petitioners have increased their bond debt in England by the sum of 2,409,325l.; and in pursuance of an act passed in the 50th year of his present Majesty, the petitioners have borrowed exchequer bills of the public to the amount of 1,500,000l.; and by virtue of an act passed in the last session, as hereinbefore mentioned, the petitioners raised on loan, by way of reduced and consolidated annuities, the sum of 2,500,000l.; and all such sums of money, together with the said sum of 6,289,405l., which has arisen from the surplus profits of the trade carried on by the petitioners, as herein-before mentioned, have been absorbed by payment of debts and expences incurred in respect of the territorial acquisitions in India; and that in the expeditions on the part of the British nation against the European enemies of his Majesty, and by advances for his Majesty's navy and other public services, the petitioners have incurred very large expences, which they submit they are entitled to be reimbursed by the public; and the petitioners compute, that after allowing such sum as they are indebted to the public for the loan of exchequer bills, to the amount of 1,500,000l. as herein-before mentioned, pursuant to an act for that purpose, passed in the last session of parliament, and after allowing such sums as the petitioners are indebted to his Majesty for troops in India, and for recruiting, the sum of 2,294,426l., at the least, will he found due to the petitioners; and that the petitioners have now exhibited, they hope, with candour, the real situation of their affairs, and of the British trade, and relations with the East Indies and China; the petitioners do not presume to offer an opinion whether any other arrangements than those which have taken place would have led to results equally or more advantageous than have arisen to their country, but they apprehend it to be quite undeniable that the privileges entrusted to the petitioners have produced a large quantity of positive benefit to the British empire, and they submit that any material change in the Indian system would be matter of experiment, for which there can be no sufficient data from which its success can be calculated; and that the petitioners feel it to be their duty to express to the House their sincere opinion that the public interest cannot be better consulted than by continuing the petitioners, as the sole organs and channel both for the trade with and the government of India, upon the principles established by the act of the 33d year of his Majesty's reign, with such variations as to the financial appropriations, and in some other points of detail, as present circumstances require, and experience has pointed out; the petitioners ask not for an exclusive trade upon the narrow principles of monopoly, for the mere purpose of commercial gain; they have under their care interests of a much more extended and liberal nature, which it is their duty to attend to; the petitioners are ready to become parties to any arrangement which shall be consistent with their rights, and the security of British India, and which will not deprive them of the means of fulfilling their pecuniary engagements with the public and individuals, or the performance of the functions which may be continued or allotted to them; and they hope they will not be deemed presumptuous in humbly submitting their opinion, considered and re-considered, that the opening the trade with China in any degree would endanger its existence altogether; and that the petitioners have at no time contemplated any alteration even in the export trade to the East Indies without considerable doubt and hesitation; but they are firmly of opinion that the unrestrained liberty of importation from that country, otherwise than through the medium of their establishments in London, would produce effects which every well-wisher to his country must deprecate, and which would put to extreme hazard any pledge on their part for the good government of India, or the performance of their obligations; the petitioners submit that they would not be justified in becoming parties to any system which, on consideration, should appear to them likely to prove an illusion; and that, as the petitioners do not venture to anticipate what may be the determination of the House upon the question hereby submitted to its decision, they hope that they will be excused for humbly stating what, in the event of the dissolution of the present system, they conceive would be found to be the rights of the petitioners, as well as their fair pretensions upon the justice and liberality of parliament; the absolute right of the petitioners, for their own use, to a considerable part of the forts, towns, islands, territories, and rights which they have acquired abroad, never has been questioned, and they believe it to be unquestionable; and, notwithstanding the claim made for the public to other parts of the territorial acquisitions and revenues of the petitioners, they entertain a strong hope that the property, as well in those parts which were acquired by conquest under the powers of peace and war lawfully exercised by them, as in those parts which were otherwise acquired, would be found to belong to the petitioners, in the same way as any other property within his Majesty's dominions belongs to the owners thereof, subject to the sovereignty and allegiance due to his Majesty; but even supposing it should be determined contrary to the sense and expectations of the petitioners, touching their rights, that those places were not the property of the petitioners, they submit, that in that case, if the possession were to be assumed on the part of the public, they would have a just right to reimbursement of the expences which they have incurred in acquiring and maintaining them, and in making the fortifications, and civil and military buildings and works, which they have erected and improved upon them, with a compensation for the services and risk of the petitioners during the long time which they have had the possession and government of such territories, under the confirmation of parliament, and all other charges incurred by them relative to such territories; these expences and charges amount to many millions of money; the petitioners also submit, that they have a just claim to be reimbursed all "the sums they have paid in discharge of debts contracted on account of the territories, and to be indemnified against all other debts in respect of them, and which now remain undischarged; and that the petitioners do not question, as an abstract principle, the right of any of his Majesty's subjects to trade with any part of his Majesty's dominions; but they humbly submit, that it cannot be contended that any persons can have a right, except with the consent of the petitioners, to use the settlements, factories, and seats of trade, or to avail themselves of the means and facilities, moral and physical, which the petitioners at a great expence and risk, have created or acquired, and now at great current charge maintain, for the purposes of commerce and civil intercourse; and that, on account of the complicated nature and variety of the matters necessary to be considered and prepared in relation to the subject of this Petition, the petitioners were unable to prepare a Petition submitting their case relative thereto to the consideration of the House, until the time limited for presenting Petitions for private Bills was expired; and praying that leave may be given to present a Petition, praying that the House will take the premises into its consideration, and make such provision, as in its wisdom it shall see fit, for continuing the government of the territorial acquisitions in the East Indies in the petitioners, and for settling the trade to the East Indies and China, and other places, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Streights of Magellan, according to the present system; or that the petitioners may have such relief, in the premises, as their case may require."

Ordered to be referred to a Committee.