A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF INDIA. BOOK VII. FROM THE OPENING OF THE TRADE TO INDIA TO THE EXTINCTION CHAPTER I. Renewal of the Company's charter by Act 53 George III. c. 155-Its leading provisions-Earl Moira governor-general-Hostilities with Nepaul-Repulses at Kalunga-Its capture-Combined attacks defeated-The Ghoorka lines at Ramghur turned-Capture of Ramghur-Subsequent operations -Retreat of General Marley-Invasion of Kumaon-Malaun captured-Negotiations for peace -Hostilities renewed-Peace concluded-Proceedings in Cutch-Disturbances at Hyderabad and Bareilly-Capture of Hatras. Proposed re newal of the Company s charter. T the last renewal of the Company's charter in 1793 the con- A.D. 1808. tinuance of their monopoly was strenuously opposed, particularly by the large commercial towns, which naturally desired to share in the traffic to the East, and insisted that with perfect safety it might, and therefore in justice ought to be, thrown completely open. The concession made in 1793 was very slight, and consisted only in requiring the Company to allot a certain quantity of their tonnage annually for the accommodation of the private trade. This paltry concession increased rather than diminished the general discontent. Not merely the limited amount of the allotted tonnage, but the heavy freight charged for it and the inconvenient regulations by which the use of it was trammelled, formed just subjects of popular complaint; and it was foreseen by all parties that, in any new charter that might be granted to the Company, concessions at once more extensive in their nature and more liberal in their spirit behoved to be made. Prudence required that a discussion, which could not be avoided, and which would of necessity be keen and protracted, should not be too long postponed; and hence, as early as 1808, while the House of Commons appointed a select committee to inquire into the state of the affairs of the East India Company, Mr. Dundas, on the part of the Board of Control and the crown, suggested to VOL. III. 197 A.D. 1812. the directors the propriety of endeavouring without delay to come to an understanding on the subject of a new charter, in order that it might be submitted to the early consideration of parliament. Opposing views of go and the directors. The directors thus invited had no difficulty in approving of an early disvernment cussion, and, after an interview with Mr. Dundas, gave a written exposition of their views in a letter dated 10th December, 1808. They proposed a charter for twenty years, which should recognize their right to the territorial possessions, provide for increased dividends in proportion to the improved revenues of India, assist them in the liquidation of the Indian debt, relieve them from the portion of military expenditure incurred for objects purely British, and continue the present system of what was called "a regulated monopoly of the trade," as being "the most expedient both for the foreign and domestic interests of this country." In regard to this last point, which was rather suggested than stipulated, Mr. Dundas intimated that ministers would not consent to any charter that did not confine the Company's monopoly of trade exclusively to China, and throw it open within all their other limits to his majesty's subjects at large in their own vessels. He also proposed the adoption of some method for consolidating the Company's troops with those of the crown serving in India. These views were so diametrically opposed to those of the directors that they declared their determination not to acquiesce in them, and as there was not as yet any absolute necessity for immediate action, the conferences were in the meantime dropped. Negotiations on the subject In the end of 1811 the president of the Board of Control (now Lord Melville) again opened the discussion, by informing the directors that the admission of the ships as well as the goods of private merchants to the trade with India, under such restrictions as might be deemed necessary, was regarded by ministers as a settled point, and that no charter would be granted which did not concede it. The directors, now convinced that by yielding too little they might endanger the whole, contented themselves with reiterating their objections, and at the same time agreeing to lay the proposal of opening the trade before the proprietors. They took the precaution, however, to express their belief that ministers, while advocating a free export to India from British ports generally, did not mean to interfere with the present warehousing system, by which all imports from India were confined to the single port of London. In accordance with these views the court of proprietors, on the recommendation of the directors, presented a petition to the House of Commons on the 7th of April, 1812. This petition was the signal for many others of an opposite character, which poured in from almost all the ports and manufacturing towns of the kingdom. These petitions prayed generally for the entire abolition of the Company's monopoly, and were unanimous in protesting against the absurdity of a free export from all British ports, and an import confined only to the port of the metropolis. negotiations government directors. It would seem that ministers, when they first invited the directors to a A.D. 1813. discussion of the subject, were not unwilling to have confined the import to London, and thus continued the Company in possession of all their warehousing Failure of advantages. Had the original terms which they offered been accepted, there between is little doubt from the apathy existing in the public mind in regard to every- and the thing but the astounding events of which the continent of Europe was then the theatre, that a renewed charter might have been obtained, nearly on the very terms on which they were at length petitioning that it should be granted. It was now too late. They had lost their opportunity, and been outwitted by their own grasping spirit. A change of ministry had taken place, and several members of the new cabinet, influenced as much perhaps by political connection as by conviction, declared loudly in favour of commercial freedom. The Earl of Buckinghamshire, whom as Lord Hobart we have already seen governor of Madras, was now president of the Board of Control, and lost no time in informing the directors that the import as well as the export trade must be opened, though the former would necessarily be subjected to some restrictions, intended chiefly for the prevention of smuggling. All hopes of a successful compromise were in consequence abandoned by the proprietors, who, on the 5th of May, held a general court, in which they adopted a series of resolutions, and drew largely upon their imaginations in depicting the misery and ruin which must ensue by allowing any place but London to import directly from India. Ministers, so far from being alarmed at this gloomy picture, closed the discussion on the 4th of January, 1813, with a kind of menace to the effect that, if the Company thought themselves incapable of governing India under a system of free trade, it would remain for parliament to determine whether their future intervention in the government might not be dispensed with. The proprietors, equally resolute, not only repeated their former resolutions, but on the 22d of February presented a petition to parliament, deprecating any extension of the import trade from India to the outports of Great Britain, and praying for a renewal of the privileges granted by the charter of 1793. revived. Nothing now remained but to commence the struggle, and accordingly on Discussion the 22d of March, 1813, Lord Castlereagh submitted to the House of Commons a series of thirteen resolutions, containing the leading provisions which it was proposed to embody in an act renewing the Company's charter. Most of the questions discussed were then novel, and both the dangers apprehended by the one party, and the expectations entertained by the other, made it necessary for the legislature to proceed with the utmost caution. Information was sought from all quarters, and whole volumes of evidence were taken from those who were supposed most competent to give it. In the debates which afterwards ensued, there were few speakers of eminence in either house who did not deliver their sentiments, and deem them of so much importance as to justify the A D. 1813. subsequent revisal and publication of their speeches. So great, however, has been the progress of political economy as a science, and so strong the light Parliamen- which has been thrown upon it by experience since this famous debate, that on renewal many of the propositions most elaborately argued are now regarded as truisms, and much of the alarm sounded is felt to be mere exaggeration. The result is therefore the only thing which now possesses much historical interest, and tary debates of Com pany's charter. charter. nothing more is necessary here than to give a very brief analysis of the most important sections of the Act 53 Geo. III. c. 155, which, while essentially modifying and curtailing the privileges formerly possessed by the Company, renewed their charter for another period of twenty years, to be computed from the 10th day of April, 1814. After declaring that the territorial acquisitions now in possession of the Company, are to remain with. them "without prejudice to the undoubted sovereignty of the crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in and over the same, or to any claim of the said United Company to any rights, franchises, or immunities," the act proceeds, in its first section, to declare it ex Terms of new pedient that "the right of trading, trafficking in and adventuring in, to and from all ports and places within the limits of the said United Company's present charter, save and except the dominions of the Emperor of China, should be open to all his majesty's subjects in common with the said United Company. subject to certain regulations and provisions, but that the existing restraints respecting the commercial intercourse with China should be continued, and the exclusive trade in tea preserved to the said Company." The principal "regulations and provisions" enacted were that the trade thus opened should be carried on in vessels of not less than 350 tons registered measurement, and that the imports from India should be admitted only to such ports as should be certified for that purpose by orders in council. The above provisions for opening and regulating the trade with India constitute the main features in the act, but there were others not of a commercial nature which met with strenuous opposition, and were denounced by many as dangerous in the extreme, if not absolutely incompatible with the existence of provisions charter. residents. the British power in India. After reading the earnest and virulent declama- A.D. 1813. tion directed against the 13th resolution, proposed by Lord Castlereagh, one is surprised, and at the same time relieved, on finding that, both as it was Leading originally expressed and as it now stands embodied in the 33d section of the of new act, it pledged the legislature to nothing more than the following simple proposition: That "it is the duty of this country to promote the interest and happiness of the native inhabitants of the British dominions in India, and such measures ought to be adopted as may tend to the introduction among them of useful knowledge, and of religious and moral improvement; and in furtherance of the above objects, sufficient facilities ought to be afforded by law to persons desirous of going to and remaining in India, for the purpose of accomplishing those benevolent designs, so as the authority of the local governments respecting the intercourse of Europeans with the interior of the country be preserved, and the principles of the British government, on which the natives of India have hitherto relied for the free exercise of their religion, be inviolably maintained.” In order to give effect to this declaration, the section proceeds to enact that "persons desirous of going to and remaining in India for the European above purposes," or "for other lawful purposes," should apply for permission to the court of directors, who should either grant it, or, in the event of refusal, transmit the application, within one month of the receipt of it, to the Board of Control, who were empowered finally to dispose of it. All persons obtaining permission, whether from the court or from the board, were to be furnished by the directors with certificates, entitling them, "so long as they shall properly conduct themselves, to the countenance and protection of the several governments of the said Company in the East Indies, and parts aforesaid, in their respective pursuits, subject to all such provisions and restrictions as are now in force, or may hereafter be judged necessary with regard to persons residing in India." The only pecuniary provision made in connection with this section, was the allotment of a sum of not less than £10,000 annually for the "revival and Education. improvement of literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences. among the inhabitants of the British territories in India." Such a sum, paltry as it was, was not permitted to do the good which might have been expected from it, and instead of being employed in instructing the natives generally, continued for many years to be partly paid away to learned Mahometans and Hindoos, for explaining and inculcating their respective dogmas, and partly allowed to accumulate, as if expenditure for native education were impracticable or useless. The only sections of the act in which there was any distinct recognition of Religion. the claims of Christianity were those in which provision was made "for the maintenance and support of a church establishment" in the East Indies. By section 49th, it was provided that, if his majesty should be pleased by his royal |