the Company in fresh difficulties; and being unable to meet them, they were obliged, in 1783, to present a petition to parliament, setting forth their inability to pay the stipulated sum of 400,000l. a year to the public, and praying to be excused from that payment and to be supported by a loan of 900,000l.

All parties seemed now to be convinced that some further changes in the constitution of the Company had become indispensable. In this crisis, Mr. Fox brought forward his famous India Bill; the grand object of which was to abolish the courts of directors and proprietors, and to vest the government of India in the hands of 7 commissioners appointed by parliament. The coalition between Lord North and Mr. Fox having rendered the ministry exceedingly unpopular, advantage was taken of the circumstance to raise an extraordinary clamour against the bill. The East India Company stigmatised it as an invasion of their chartered rights; though it is obvious that, from their inability to carry into effect the stipulations under which those rights were conceded to them, they necessarily reverted to the public; and it was as open to parliament to legislate upon them as upon any other question. The political opponents of the government represented the proposal for vesting the nomination of commissioners in the legislature, as a daring invasion of the prerogative of the Crown, and an insidious attempt of the minister to render himself all-powerful, by adding the patronage of India to that already in his possession. The bill was, however, carried through the House of Commons; but, in consequence of the ferment it had excited, and the avowed opposition of his Majesty, it was thrown out in the House of Lords. This event proved fatal to the coalition ministry. A new one was formed, with Mr. Pitt at

By this

its head; and parliament being soon after dissolved, the new minister acquired a decisive majority in both Houses. When thus secure of parliamentary support, Mr. Pitt brought forward his India Bill, which was successfully carried through all its stages. bill a Board of Control was erected, consisting of 6 members of the privy council, who were "to check, superintend, and control all acts, operations, and concerns, which in anywise relate to the civil or military government, or revenues, of the territories and possessions of the East India Company." All communications to or from India, touching any of the above matters, were to be submitted to this Board; the directors being ordered to yield obedience to its commands, and to alter or amend all instructions sent to India as directed by it. A secret committee of 3 directors was formed, with which the Board of Control might transact any business it did not choose to submit to the court of directors. Persons returning from India were to be obliged, under very severe penalties, to declare the amount of their fortunes; and a tribunal was appointed for the trial of all individuals accused of misconduct in India, consisting of a judge from each of the Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer; 5 members of the House of Lords, and 7 members of the House of Commons; the last being chosen by lot at the commencement of each session. The superintendence of all commercial matters continued, as formerly, in the hands of the directors.

During the administration of Marquis Cornwallis, who succeeded Mr. Hastings, Tippoo Saib, the son of Hyder Ally, was stripped of nearly half his dominions; the Company's territorial revenue was, in consequence, greatly increased; at the same time that the permanent settlement was carried into effect in Bengal, and other important changes accomplished. Opinion has been long divided as to the influence of these changes. On the whole, however, we are inclined to think that they have been decidedly advantageous. Lord Cornwallis was, beyond all question, a sincere friend to the people of India; and laboured earnestly, if not always successfully, to promote their interests, which he well knew were identified with those of the British nation.

During the 3 years ending with 1793, the value of the Company's exports of British produce and manufactures fluctuated from 928,7837. to 1,031,2627. But this increase is wholly to be ascribed to the reduction of the duty on tea in 1784, and the vast increase that, consequently, took place in its consumption. - (See article TEA.) Had the consumption of tea continued stationary, there appear no grounds for thinking that the Company's exports in 1793 would have been greater than in 1780, unless an increase had taken place in the quantity of military stores exported.

In 1793, the Company's charter was prolonged till the 1st of March, 1814. In the act for this purpose, a species of provision was made for opening the trade to India to private individuals. All his Majesty's subjects, residing in any part of his European dominions, were allowed to export to India any article of the produce or manufacture of the British dominions, except military stores, ammunition, masts, spars, cordage, pitch, tar, and copper; and the Company's civil servants in India, and the free merchants resident there, were allowed to ship, on their own account and risk, all kinds of Indian good, except calicoes, dimities, muslins, and other piece goods. But neither the merchants in England, nor the Company's servants or merchants in India, were allowed to export or import except in Company's ships. And in order to insure such conveyance, it was enacted, that the Company should annually appropriate 3,000 tons of shipping for

the use of private traders; it being stipulated that they were to pay, in time of peace, 51. outwards, and 151. homewards, for every ton occupied by them in the Company's ships; and that this freight might be raised in time of war, with the approbation of the

Board of Control.

It might have been, and, indeed, most probably was, foreseen that very few British merchants or manufacturers would be inclined to avail themselves of the privilege of sending out goods in Company's ships; or of engaging in a trade fettered on all sides by the jealousy of powerful monopolists, and where, consequently, their superior judgment and economy would have availed almost nothing. As far, therefore, as they were concerned, the relaxation was more apparent than real, and did not produce any useful results. It was, however, made use of to a considerable extent by private merchants in India; and also by the Company's servants returning from India, many of whom invested a part, and some the whole, of their fortune, in produce fit for the European

markets.

The financial difficulties of the East India Company led to the revolution which took place in its government in 1784. But, notwithstanding the superintendence of the Board of Control, its finances have continued nearly in the same unprosperous state as before. We have been favoured, from time to time, with the most dazzling accounts of revenue that was to be immediately derived from India; and numberless acts of parliament have been passed for the appropriation of surpluses that never had any existence The proceedings that took place at the except in the imagination of their framers. renewal of the charter, in 1793, afford a striking example of this. Lord Cornwallis had then concluded the war with Tippoo Saib, which had stripped him of half his dominions: the perpetual settlement, from which so many benefits were expected to be derived, had been adopted in Bengal; and the Company's receipts had been increased, in consequence of accessions to their territory, and subsidies from native princes, &c., to upwards of eight millions sterling a year, which, it was calculated, would afford a future annual surplus, after every description of charge had been deducted, of 1,240,000?. Mr. Dundas (afterwards Lord Melville), then president of the Board of Control, availed himself of these favourable appearances, to give the most flattering representation of the Company's affairs. There could, he said, be no question as to the permanent and regular increase of the Company's surplus revenue; he assured the House that the estimates had been framed with the greatest care; that the Company's possessions were in a state of prosperity till then unknown in India; that the abuses, which had formerly insinuated themselves into some departments of the government, had been rooted out; and that the period was at length arrived, when India was to pour her golden treasures into the lap of England! Parliament participated in these brilliant anticipations, and in the act prolonging the charter it was enacted, 1st, That 500,000%. a year of the surplus revenue should be set aside for reducing the Company's debt in India to 2,000,000l.; 2dly, That 500,000l. a year should be paid into the exchequer, to be appropriated for the public service as parliament should think fit to order; 3dly, When the India debt was reduced to 2,000,000l., and the bond debt to 1,500,000l., one sixth part of the surplus was to be applied to augment the dividends, and the other five sixths were to be paid into the Bank, in the name of the commissioners of the national debt, to be accumulated as a guarantee fund, until it amounted to 12,000,000%. ; and when it reached that sum, the dividends upon it were to be applied to make up the dividends on the capital stock of the Company to 10 per cent., if at any time the funds appropriated to that purpose should prove deficient, &c.

Not one of these anticipations was realised! Instead of being diminished, the Company's debts began immediately to increase. In 1795, they were authorised to add to the amount of their floating debt. In 1796, a new device to obtain money was fallen upon. Mr. Dundas represented that as all competition had been destroyed in consequence of the war, the Company's commerce had been greatly increased, and that their mercantile capital had become insufficient for the extent of their transactions. In consequence of this representation, leave was given to the Company to add two millions to their capital stock by creating 20,000 new shares; but as these shares sold at the rate of 1731. each, they produced 3,460,000l. In 1797, the Company issued additional bonds to the extent of 1,417,000%; and notwithstanding all this, Mr. Dundas stated in the House of Commons, on the 13th of March, 1799, that there had been a deficit in the previous year of 1,319,000l.

During the administration of the Marquis Wellesley, which began in 1797-8 and terminated in 1805-6, the British empire in India was augmented by the conquest of Seringapatam and the whole territories of Tippoo Saib, the cession of large tracts by

In his letter to the East India Company, dated the 21st of March, 1812, Lord Melville says: "It will not be denied that the facilities granted by that act (the act of 1793) have not been satisfactory, at least to the merchants either of this country or of India. They have been the source of constant dispute, and they have even entailed a heavy expense upon the Company, without affording to the public any adequate benefit from such a sacrifice."— (Papers published by E. I. Comp. 1813, p. 84.)

the Mahratta chiefs, the capture of Delhi, the ancient seat of the Mogul empire, and various other important acquisitions; so that the revenue, which had amounted to 8,059,000l. in 1797, was increased to 15,403,000l. in 1805. But the expenses of government, and the interest of the debt, increased in a still greater proportion than the revenue, having amounted, in 1805, to 17,672,000l., leaving a deficit of 2,269,000l. In the following year the revenue fell off nearly 1,000,000l., while the expenses continued nearly the same. And there was, at an average, a continued excess of expenditure, including commercial charges, and a contraction of fresh debt, down to 1811-12.

Notwithstanding the vast additions made to their territories, the Company's commerce with them continued to be very inconsiderable. During the 5 years ending with 1811, the exports to India by the Company, exclusive of those made on account of individuals in their ships, were as under:

1807
1808

1809

£952,416
919,544
866,153

1810 1811

: : :

£1,010,815
1,033,816

The exports by the private trade, and the privilege trade, that is, the commanders and officers of the Company's ships, during the above-mentioned years, were about as large. During the 5 years ending with 1807-8, the annual average imports into India by British private traders, only, amounted to 305,4961. — (Papers published by the East India Company in 1813, 4to. p. 56.)

The Company's exports include the value of the military stores sent from Great Britain to India. The ships employed in the trade to India and China, during the same 5 years, varied from 44 to 53, and their burden from 36,671 to 45,342 tons.

For some years previously to the termination of the Company's charter in 1813, the conviction had been gaining ground among all classes, that the trade to the East was capable of being very greatly extended; and that it was solely owing to the want of enterprise and competition, occasioned by its being subjected to a monopoly, that it was confined within such narrow limits. Very great efforts were, consequently, made by the manufacturing and commercial interests to have the monopoly set aside, and the trade to the East thrown open. The Company vigorously resisted these pretensions; and had interest enough to procure a prolongation of the privilege of carrying on an exclusive trade to China to the 10th of April, 1831, with 3 years' notice; the government of India being continued in their hands for the same period. Fortunately, however, the trade to India was opened, under certain conditions, to the public. The principal of these conditions were, that private individuals should trade, directly only, with the presidencies of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and the port of Penang; that the vessels fitted out by them should not be under 350 tons burden; and that they should abstain, unless permitted by the Company, or the Board of Control, from engaging in the carrying trade of India, or in the trade between India and China. And yet, despite these disadvantages, such is the energy of individual enterprise as compared with monopoly, that the private traders gained an almost immediate ascendancy over the East India Company, and in a very short time more than trebled our trade with India !

In the Report of the committee of the House of Lords on the foreign trade of the country, printed in May, 1821, it is stated, that " the greatly increased consumption of British goods in the East, since the commencement of the free trade, cannot be accounted for by the demand of European residents, the number of whom does not materially vary; and it appears to have been much the greatest in articles calculated for the general use of the natives. That of the cotton manufactures of this country alone is stated, since the first opening of the trade, to have been augmented from four to five fold (it is now (1843) augmented many hundreds of times). The value of the merchandise exported from Great Britain to India, which amounted, in 1814, to 870,1777., amounted *, in 1819, to 3,052,7417.; and although the market appears then to have been so far overstocked as to occasion a diminution of nearly one half in the exports of the following year, that diminution appears to have taken place more in the articles intended for the consumption of Europeans than of natives; and the trade is now stated to the committee, by the best informed persons, to be reviving. When the amount of population, and the extent of the country over which the consumption of these articles is spread, are considered, it is obvious that any facility which can, consistently with the political interests and security of the Company's dominions, be given to the private trader, for the distribution of his exports, by increasing the number of ports at which he may have the option of touching in pursuit of a market, cannot fail to promote a more ready and extensive demand."

Besides the restraints imposed by the act of 1813 on the proceedings of the free traders,

This is the amount of the Company's exports only, and the sum is not quite accurate: see post. †These restraints were a good deal modified by the 3 Geo. 4. c. 80., passed in pursuance of the recom. mendation of the committee quoted above.

they frequently experienced very great loss and inconvenience from the commercial speculations of the East India Company. The latter had commercial residents, with large establishments of servants, some of them intended for coercive purposes, stationed in all the considerable towns; and the Marquis Wellesley has stated, "that the intimation of a wish from the Company's resident is always received as a command by the native manufacturers and producers." The truth is, that it was not in the nature of things that the Company's purchases could be fairly made; the natives could not deal with their servants as they would have dealt with private individuals; and it would be absurd to suppose that agents authorised to buy on account of government, and to draw on the public treasury for the means of payment, should generally evince the prudence and discretion of individuals directly responsible in their own private fortunes for their transactions. The interference of such persons would, under any circumstances, have rendered the East India trade peculiarly hazardous. But their influence in this respect was materially aggravated by the irregularity of their appearances. No individual, not belonging to the court of directors, could foresee whether the Company's agents would be in the market at all; or, if there, to what extent they would either purchase or sell. So capricious were their proceedings, that in some years they laid out 700,000l. on indigo, while in others they did not lay out a single shilling and so with other things. A fluctuating demand of this sort necessarily occasioned great and sudden variations of price, and was injurious alike to the producers and the private merchants.

And besides being injurious to the private trader, and to the public generally, both in India and England, this trade was of no advantage to the East India Company. How, indeed, could it be otherwise? A company that mantained armies and retailed tea, that carried a sword in the one hand and a ledger in the other, was a contradiction; and, had she traded with success, would have been a prodigy. It was impossible for her to pay that attention to details that is indispensable to the carrying on of commerce with advantage. She may have gained something by the monopoly of the tea trade, though even that is questionable; but it is admitted on all hands, that she lost heavily by her trade to India. When, therefore, the question as to the renewal of the charter came to be discussed in 1832 and 1833, the Company had no reasonable objection to urge against their being deprived of the privilege of trading. And the act 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 85., for continuing the charter till 1854, terminated the Company's commercial character; by enacting, that the Company's trade to China was to cease on the 22d of April, 1834, and that the Company was, as soon as possible after that date, to dispose of their stocks on hand, and close their commercial business. And the wonderful increase that has since taken place in the trade with the East is the best proof of the sagacity and soundness of the opinions of those by whose efforts the incubus of monopoly was removed.

From this period down to last year (1858), when the Company was finally abolished, its functions were wholly political, and the directors were, in truth, little more than a council to assist and advise the President of the Board of Control. During the period now alluded to (from 1834 to 1858), some most important events have taken place in India. The British Empire has been increased by the acquisition, in 1845, of the territory of Scinde, at the mouths of the Indus; in 1849, of the extensive and fertile country of the Punjab (Five Rivers), in N. W. India, between the Sutlej and the Indus; and, in 1852, of Pegu and Martaban, in Burmah. Being occupied by comparatively brave and hardy races, the subjugation of Scinde and the Punjab was not effected without much difficulty, and after the occurrence of several well-fought battles. The period referred to is also distinguished by the ill advised invasion of Affghanistan in 1839. This unprovoked aggression led to the greatest reverse that has ever happened to the English in India. But the disastrous retreat from Caubul having been avenged, and the prestige of our arms restored, we finally withdrew from the country in 1842. And it is to be hoped that we may never again, unless from the most urgent necessity, attempt to extend our empire in that quarter beyond its present limits.

A conviction had been for a lengthened period gaining ground, that the Company's intervention in the government of India had become inexpedient, and that it should be directly administered by the Crown. In 1853 a step was taken in this direction by the act 16 & 17 Vic. c. 95., which reduced the number of directors from 24 to 18, part of which were to be nominated by the Crown, and made other changes. It is not easy to say how long this modified system might have gone on, had it not been for the outbreak of the gigantic mutiny of 1857. It would be foreign to our object to introduce details with respect to the origin of this insurrection, its progress and suppression. These are known to all our readers. Here it is sufficient to mention, that the incipient prejudice against the Company having been strengthened, though without much reason, by the disasters in India, advantage was taken of their occurrence to introduce a bill into

Parliament for transferring its government from the Company to the Crown, which soon after (2nd August 1858) became the act 21 & 22 Vic. c. 106. Thus has terminated, after a prolonged existence of about 258 years, the East India Company *,— the most celebrated joint-stock association of which history has preserved any account. For a lengthened period its commercial had been sunk in its military and political character. It had subjugated one of the most extensive empires in the world. And though its policy has been in many respects of a very questionable description, it is entitled to the high praise of having vigorously exerted itself to restrain abuses on the part of its servants, to protect the vast population within its dominion, and provide for their well-being.

The government of India is now vested under the 21 & 22 Vic. c. 106. in a Secretary of State, assisted by a council of 15 members: 8 of the latter were nominated by Her Majesty, and 7 by the East India Company. On vacancies taking place among the former, their successors are to be nominated by the Crown; and vacancies among the Company's nominees are to be filled up by election by the council. Members hold their situations during good behaviour, receive a salary of 1200l. a-year, and a retiring pension of 500l. a-year. The majority of the council are to consist of persons who have either served or resided in India for 10 years. They are not allowed to sit in Parliament.

II. EAST INDIES (STATE OF SOCIETY IN, GROWING DEMAND FOR ENGLISH GOODS, TRADE, COLONISATION, ETC.).

1. Distinction of Castes in India. Inaccuracy of the Representations as to the Inhabitants being unalterably attached to ancient Customs and Practices. We have taken occasion in the preceding sketch of the history of the East India Company, repeatedly to notice the small extent of the trade carried on by its agency. It was contended, however, that this was to be ascribed, not to the deadening influence of monopoly, but to the peculiar state of the people of India. A notion has long been prevalent in this quarter of the world, that the Hindoos are a race unsusceptible of change or improvement of any sort; that every man is brought up to the profession of his father, and can engage in none else; and that, owing to the simplicity and unalterableness of their habits, they never can be consumers, at least to any considerable extent, of foreign commodities. What is now in India, has always been there, and is likely still to continue." -( Robertson's Disquisition, p. 202.) The Hindoos of this day are said to be the same as the Hindoos of the age of Alexander the Great. The description of them given by Arrian has been quoted as applying to their actual situation. It is affirmed that they have neither improved nor retrograded; and we are referred to India as to a country in which the institutions and manners that prevailed 3000 years ago may still be found in their pristine purity! The President de Goguet lays it down distinctly, in his learned and invaluable work on the origin of laws, arts, and sciences, that in India every trade is confined to a particular caste, and can be exercised only by those whose parents professed it.”—( Origin of Laws, &c., Eng. trans. vol. iii. p. 24.) Dr. Robertson says, that the station of every Hindoo is unalterably fixed; his destiny is irrevocable; and the walk of life is marked out, from which he must never deviate."—(Disquisition on India, p. 199.) The same opinions are maintained by later authorities. Dr. Tennant says, that "the whole Indian community is divided into 4 great classes; and each class is stationed between certain walls of separation, which are impassable by the purest virtue, and most conspicuous merit."-(Quoted by Mr. Rickards, p. 6.) This unalterable destiny of individuals has been repeatedly assumed in the despatches and official papers put forth by the East India Company; and has been referred to on all occasions by them and their servants, as a proof that the depressed and miserable condition of the natives is not owing to misgovernment, or to the weight of the burdens laid upon them; and that it is in vain to think of materially improving their condition, or of making them acquainted with new arts, or giving them new habits, so long as the institution of castes, and the prejudices to which it has given rise, preserve their ascendancy unimpaired.

66

But notwithstanding the universal currency which the opinions now referred to have obtained, and the high authority by which they are supported, they are, in all the most essential respects, entirely without foundation! The books and codes of the Hindoos themselves, and the minute and careful observations that have recently been made on Indian society, have shown that the influence ascribed to the institution of castes by the ancients, and by the more early modern travellers, has been prodigiously exaggerated. In the first part of his work on India, Mr. Rickards established, partly by re

It still exists in name for the receipt and distribution of dividends and other routine matters; but it is probable that this phantom, magni nominis umbra, will speedily disappear.