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rity of the inhabitants, and the permanent interests of the company, which they considered as inseparably connected. But, notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances, they are pleased with the Bengal government having made this a subject of correspon dence with their respective presidencies at Madras and Bombay, with a view of facilitating this object; and they relied on the continuance of their zealous co operation with the subordinate governments for ite gradual accomplishment."

126. During lord Wellesley's residence at Fort St, George, in the year 1799, a most voluminous, able, and comprehensive report from the board of revenue at Madras was submitted to him, respecting the introduction of the system of internal government established in Bengal, into the British possessions on the coast of Coromandel. This report was afterwards brought under the consideration of the governor general in council; that the government of Fort St. George might receive the benefit of the detailed sentiments of supreme government, after an experience of ten years of the advantages of the same system in the provinces subject to the presidency of Bengal after the most mature deliberation, instructions were issued to the government of Fort St. George, under date the 31st December, 1799, directing the introduction of the new system of government on the general principles stated in the report of the board of revenue at Fort St. George.

127. The whole proceedings were transmitted to England, on the 18th January, 1800, by the governorgeneral in council; and on the 6th March, 1800, lord Wellesley addressed a separate letter to the chairman, for the purpose of explaining the motives which in duced him to perpetuate the settlement, without pre vious reference to the court. In that letter, to which no reply has been received, lord Wellesley observes, that the new settlement of the land revenue of the territories subject to the immediate government of Fort St. George, will, I trust, prove a source of great additional wealth to the company, as well as of hap piness to their subjects. I flatter myself that the court will approve my motives for perpetuating the settlement without previous reference to them. I acted on information from Madras, which, although not yet official in form, convinced me that the settlement would be frustrated for the present, if not wholly defeated, by any such reference; otherwise every motive of respect would have induced me to refer the settlement, in the first instance, to the court of directors. But they would not wish the substance of

In fact, the court of directors were regularly apprized of the progress of this arrangement by the government of Fort St. George, who, on the 22d January, 1800, reported the measures which they intended to adopt for carrying into execution the permanent settlement. The letter of the government of Fort at. George of the 22d of January, 1800, was acknowledged by the court on the 3d September, 1800; and had the court disapproved of the arrangement, their orders might have been issued in time to have prevented it.

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No. 128. of so important a measure to be sacrificed to the observance of a form of respect, and I believe they will as little suspect me of any design to weaken their just authority.”

128. On the 11th of February, 1801, the court of directors issued their final orders on this importaat subject to the government of Fort St. George, in a general letter in the revenue department, of which the following is an extract. A copy of the letter was, at the same time, transmitted to the governor-general in council, for the information of the supreme government.

Extract of a letter from the court of directors to the government of Fort St. George,dated 11th February, 1801.

“ We have received your revenue dispatch of the 22d January, 1800, referring us to minutes and pro. ceedings preparatory to the introduction of a permanent system of revenue and of judicature into the company's territories under your presidency, and we bave perused, with great attention, the report of the revenue board upon this important subject, with their subsequent instructions to the collectors, and we have to express our approbation of the industry and abilities which the revenue board lias displayed in the investigation and elucidation of this extensive and complicated subject. We observe, with peculiar satisfaction, that they have fully availed themselves of the luminous information, to be derived from the minutes and proceedlings so ably conducted by marquis Cornwallis and lord Teignmouth, at the time when a similar institution was under the consideration of the supreme board at Calcutta.

“ An early attention to this subject has been necessarily pressed upon our consideration by our reference to a letter from Bengal in their judicial department, dated 5th March, 1800, addressed to your presidency. By that letter you are directed to proceed to the permanent settlement in question, without any clause suspending its final effect, till it should receive our ultimate sanction. As this injunction was so different from what occurred at Bengal when the measure was esecuted by the able government, which, at that time, presided over our councils in India, we were naturally led to pause, before we could thus agree to give out of our own hands the final decision upon a subject of such deep importance to our interests in India. But upon mature reflection, after a revision of what took place at Bengal, and after an accurate perusal of the proceedings already held at Fort St. George, we have come to a decided opinion to concur in the instructions you have received from the governor-general. Particular cases may occur, in which we may regret, that the final correction of error did not remain with us, but this inconvenience, if it should prove one, is so much morecounterbalanced by the danger which might accrue to the whole system, if a doubt of permanency was in the early stage of its execution created in the minds of the natives of India, with whom these transactions are to be carried on, that our doubts have subsided, and we Test confident in the conviction, that our interests will

be

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No. 128. be best secured by giving to our governments on the spot, the confidence which their abilities and integrity so justly merit.

« In addition to this general confidence, two consi. derations have naturally operated upon our decision. In the first place, the subject is not a new one. The leading principles of the measure have already received our sanction in our letter to the Bengal government of the 19th September, 1792, when the business, with the luminous information which attended it, was fully before us, and maturely considered by us.

The general principles, therefore, being recognized, it is only the detail and execution of those principles which we leave in your hands, and there can be no doubt that such detail can, with infinitely more advantage, be considered on the spot, than by the ablest investigation

we can give to the subject at home.” 13th. Transfer of the 129. In the general letter from the court of directors provinces of Malabar and in the public department, dated 2d December, 1800, the Canara, from Bombay to court observes, " we have been advised of a resolution Madras, without waiting of the governor-general in council, vesting the civil she sanction of the court. and military government of the provinces of Malabar

and Canara under the control and authority of the governor in council of Fort St. George.

“ The government-general have assigned such cogent and satisfactory reasons for the adoption of the measure, that we have come to the resolution, and accordingly direct, that from henceforward the civil and military government of the provinces of Malabar and Canara, including the revenues and administration of justice, bé placed under the control and authority of the governor in council of Fort St. George.

“ With respect to the institutions from the government-general upon the subject, to the respective go. vernments of Fort St. George and Bom' ay, of the 26th of May last, we have only to signify our entire appro

bation thereof, and to direct a compliance therewith." 14. In renewing the 130. The reasons which determined lord Wellesley settlement of Balamban- to renew the settlement at Balambangan, are stated in gan, without the previous Mr. secretary Edmonstone's instructions to Mr. Farsanction of the court, quhar, under date the 15th March, 1803. Adversing who have not even been to the correspondence of the court of directors with advised of th measure, the government of Fort St. George, and to the imporexcepting by a communis tance which the court attached to the reservation of cation from Madras. one of the territorial grants in the eastern islavda,

merely for the convenience of the company's ships in the China trade, (those ships having been exposed to considerable distress in repeated instances, by the want of a British port in the eastern seas) lord Wellesley determined to establish a settlement at Balambangan, which had been ceded to the company in 1767.

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15. In continuing to make unauthorized adVances on account of buildings and the new government-house, the expense of which is stated to be 167,3591. the court having limited such advances, including the purchase of lands for the purpose of building, to one lac of rupees per annum, in the public and judicial department: that, notwithstanding that instruc

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132. It is evident, therefore, that it would have been impossible to have referred these points to the previous consideration of the court of directors. The Batavian commissioners for receiving the restitutions, were daily expected in the eastern seas, and the discussion of the company's rights in the eastern seas was intimately connected with the mode and time at which the restitutions were to be carried into execution. At the same it was necessary to furnish Mr. Farquhar with orders for the proposed settlement at Balambangan. Lord Wellesley was in possession of the general opinion of the court of directors, with respect to the importance of a British port in the eastern seas, and was convinced that this circumstance involved the welfare of the company in an essential branch of its commerce. His conduct was dictated by a zeal for the prosperity of the company's interests in the important trade to China, and he believed himself to be acting in exact conformity to the opinion of the court of directors on that subject. The renewal of the settlement of Balambangan at the time, and in the manner, directed by the governor-general in council, was also connected with a very important question respecting the orders received from his majesty's ministers, with regard to the time of making the several restitutions under the treaty of Amiens. This question is fully stated in Mr. Farquhar's instructions. The orders on this subject having been received directly from the secretary of state, the reply was returned to him, with a desire that it might be communicated to the secret committee.

153. Under these circumstances, Mr. Farquhar was directed to re-occupy the island of Balambangan, and to state to the governor-general his sentiments, with respect to the force necessary for the defence of that island, and to the measures which ought to be pursued, with a view of deriving the greatest advantage from the new settlement.

134. The court of directors, however, having ordered the establishment to be withdrawn, these orders were carried into execution as soon as they were received, and the settlement of Balambangan has been withdrawn with as much expedition as has been possible.

135. The amount which the government is authorized, by the court's letter of the 26th August, 1801, to advance on account of public buildings is five lacs of rupees, or 60,0001. viz. one Jac in the civil and judicial, and four lacs in the military department. This order certainly cannot be considered to apply to buildings which had already been commenced, and were in a state of progress; nor is it reasonable to suppose, that it could be intended to prevent the government from making the necessary repairs to decayed buildings, or even from rebuilding publis offices or houses which were in a state of ruin.

136. With respect to the new government-house, it will be sufficient to state, that soon after the arrival of the governor-general, lord Wellesley, at Fort

William

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tion, the advances in 1802-3, on account of the government-house alone, amounted to 3,27,887, rupees, or 40,9861.: that the court's orders upon this subject were never acknowledged or replied to. The new government house is stated to have been began in 1798, without the court's knowledge and previous consent, and without any information being communicated to the court respecting the progress of the building, and the expense attending it,

&c. &c. The first intimation relative to the new building which the court received, is stated to have been conveyed in a letter to their chairman, dated 2d April, 1801, transmitting, a general statement relative to public buildings, and an estimate of the expense of the new government - house, amounting to Sicca rupees, 5,79,838, or 72,4791.

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William, in the month of May, 1798,* his attention was directed to the means of effecting, on just principles of œconomy, a reduction of the expenses incurred for the rent of public offices, and an improvement of the public buildings of the government.

137. The necessity and expediency of a new arrange ment, with regard to the buildings occupied for public purposes at Calcutta, and in the interior of the country, will appear from the following facts and observations.

138. 1st. That the apartments contained in the building occupied by the governor general, and deno. minated the government-house, both with respect to their construction and accommodation, were inferior to the apartments in the ordinary houses of individuals, exposing the health of the governor general to the most serious injury from the effects of the climate.

139. 2d. That the building did not furnish any ac commodation for the family of the governor-general, or for the public officers immediately attached to his per

sou.

140. 3d. That the building did not contain any apartments suited to occasions of public ceremony, or for the reception of the augmented number of the inhabitants of the capital of the British possessions in India, reducing the governor-general to the necessity of hiring buildings constructed by individuals for places of entertainment, whenever public or other occasions required that he should assemble the principal officers and inhabitants of the settlement.

141. 4th. That from the decaved state of the building, the sum of Sicca rupees 79,000, or 98751. was requisite for putting it into a suitable state of repair; that the proprietorf cou'd not, with justice, have been required to defray this charge, in addition to the heavy expenses which he had recently incurred for repairs and alterations, and, consequently, that the expense of the further repairs required must have been made at the charge of government.

142. 5th. That the amount of the rent paid for the building being Sicca rupees 1625, or 2031. per month, far exceeded the value of the building.

143. 6th.

Vide proceedings of the government, and resolutions of the governor-general in council, 24th December, 1798.

Vide also extracts from the proceedings of the governor-general in council, under date the 1st April, 1801. The proceedings of government are regularly transmitted to the court of directors every year. The general plan, for the improvement of the public buildings, therefore, must have been near seven years before the court.

The proprietor of the house was a native of high rank, name! Dilavur Jung, (son of Mohammed Reza Khan) and the house was mortgaged to a private individual residing at Calcutta If the mortgagee, in the event of failure in the payments due to him from the proprietor had taken possession of the house, and had chosen to proceed to that extremity, he might either have raised the rent to an exorbitant price, or have deprived the governor-general of his residence at Calcutta.