Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

abled with one hand to check the in-
dustry of the poor, and with the other
to narrow the enjoyments of the rich.
There is but one way of promoting
industry with effect-to increase the
demand for its productions; and there
is also but one way to extend con-
sumption by lowering the price of the
articles consumed. Under these two
heads may be ranged almost every pro-
position in the science of political eco-
nomy, as well as every rational scheme
for accelerating the progress of opu-
lence; and yet it is not a little singu
lar, that the attainment of both these
great ends forms the very objection
which the East India Company were
pleased to state to the abolition of their
commercial monopoly. They commercial undertakings.
plained that private competition would
enhance the price of Indian commodi-
ties;-in other words, that it would en-
courage industry among the subjects of
the British government in India; and,
with perfect consistency, they com-
plained also that the same private com-
petition would lower, in the home
market, the value of Indian produce,
that is, would greatly extend the con
sumption.

commercial benefits which they might
otherwise promise themselves from the
partiality of government. The strong
stimulus of individual interest, and the
benefits of private vigilance, being lost
by the very constitution of the society,
the inference is no less inevitable in
theory, than we have found it invaria-
bly justified by the event, that such
an association, with all its privileges
and immunities, could not for a single
day sustain the competition of the pri
vate merchant; nay, that even when
secured against this competition, such
are the negligence and waste insepara
ble from its plan of administration, that
it cannot, with any rational prospect
of success, hope to continue its com

What has been already stated is, with some limitations, true of all monopolies; even of those which leave scope for the enterprize and vigilance of the private traders of a particular province or state. But the argument applies with tenfold force to a monopoly so very narrow as to include only a single commercial association, so constituted as to forfeit entirely all the benefits derived from the powerful stimulus of private interest, and the control of private inspection. Such an association as this, while it deprives industry of all the advantages derived from a free competition, and sacrifices the interests of the community to the prejudices of a few individuals, is so ingeniously contrived as to forfeit, even for the grantees, all the

But there was still another circum stance connected with the state of the East India Company since its immense territorial acquisitions had been made in India, by which it was most unfavourably distinguished from almost every other monopoly, and aspired to a pre-eminence over every other impolitic establishment, viz. the combina tion of the incompatible functions of merchant and sovereign, which must for ever preclude advances in commercial improvement. If the sovereign of any European state had an entire mo nopoly of its foreign trade, what are the consequences which every man of common understanding would anticipate from so preposterous an union of different, or rather opposite characters? Would he not expect, with the most perfect confidence, either that the trade would be rendered quite subservient to the fluctuating schemes of administration, and of course would sink quickly into insignificance, or that the paternal interest, which is natural even to the worst of governments, in the prosperity of its subjects, would be shamelessly abandoned for the pursuits of unlawful gain, at the hazard of committing the greatest oppressions in the

<

industrious classes of the people? The case was precisely the same with India: the Company, as sovereigns, ought to have felt an interest in extending the manufactures and trade of India; but, as monopolists, it was clearly their busi ness to compress them within the narrow limits which were found suitable to their own circumstances and re

sources.

The accuracy of these general views has been well illustrated in the history of this great establishment. In the year 1784, the attention of the legislature and the country was imperiously called to Indian affairs, by the profligacy and mismanagement which seemed to mark the whole of the Company's proceedings. It had at this period become notorious, that the oppression exercised by the Company's servants abroad over the independent princes of India-princes in alliance with the Company as well as over the provinces which had submitted to the British government,-were such as to endanger the very existence of the British in India. So very critical and alarming was the state of British India then deemed by the legislature, that after elaborate and voluminous reports by committees of the House of Commons, in which every species of misgovernment was brought home to the Company, the most violent remedies alone were pronounced suitable to the disease. Mr Fox and his friends did not hesitate about proposing a measure which involved the temporary, forfeiture of the most valuable privileges belonging to the Company; while Mr Pitt, with less precipitation, and more tenderness for the Company's rights, could discover no cure for the disorder short of a participation by the execu tive government in the conduct of the Company's political affairs.

During the anxious discussions of that memorable period, it seems to have been conceded on all sides, that there

VOL. VI. PART I.

were vices inherent to the very constitution of the Company, which disqualified it for the exercise of the functions with which it was entrusted; that the greater number of the proprietors must always be much more disposed to intrigue for political influence, than to speculate for the sake of commercial wealth; and that the court of directors, being a representative body, must of necessity be supposed to participate in the vices and prejudices of their constituents. It was but too obvious, from the whole scene of iniquity which was unveiled, that the more bustling and ambitious of the proprietors were naturally so much interested in the welfare of the Company's servants in India, who were of their own selection, as to aim at securing certain impunity for all classes of delinquents; and it was at once perceived, that the irregular and undefined controul then exerted by ministers over the proceedings of the directors, must for ever be found inadequate to the remedy of such grievances. It availed not the Company to pretend, that the instructions dispatch. ed by them to their servants in India had in general been wise and politic, because it had been remarked with astonishment, that every breach of these instructions had been ultimately re warded with the Company's approbation. Of the disposition natural to a set of men like the proprietors of India stock, a very good specimen was at this time given, in the confirmation of the power of Mr Hastings, after his recal had been determined upon by the House of Commons; and, in short, it was, in the whole circumstances of the case, quite manifest, that no remedy could be found for the defects inherent to the constitution of the Company, but in the exercise of a powerful and efficient controul over the selection of their servants, as well as their plans of policy. A most important revolution

I

in the government of British India was of course determined on, and a great share of that power which the Company had shewn itself so ill qualified to exercise, was transferred to the crown, which was thus enabled to controul the proceedings of the directors, by the power of appointing to offices of trust in India, of imposing a negative on the appointments made by the Company, and of removing improperand unworthy servants from the situations to which they had been nominated. A direct influence over the policy pursued in India was bestowed on a body of commissioners, created for the purpose, who have since been known under the appellation of the Board of Controul. Thus did the Company's acknowledged incapacity to manage its affairs prescribe a change of system to the legislature, which amounted to a direct and serious encroachment on the rights then claimed, even under an existing charter, which had received the sanction of parliament.

By far the most solid and important of the advantages which England may derive from her vast empire in India, is that of a great and extended commercial intercourse with the immense regions included in the Company's charter. The splendid acquisition of extended empire is but of doubtful advantage the surplus of revenue after defraying the expences of local government is but precarious and uncertain at the best, while the law. ful gains of an honourable commerce form an important and substantial addition to the power and resources of the parent state. Few persons would have been disposed to challenge the Company's administration, even if it had secured for the mother country no advantages except those which are of the most unequivocal character, by the increase of her manufacturing industry and the extension of her commerce. Had the Company done this

to any extent worth mentioning-had it fulfilled the expectations even of those who estimate on the most moderate principles the commercial value, to such a country as Great Britain, of the exclusive influence which it had, by a series of fortunate events, been enabled to acquire among the nations of Asia-or had it not rather kept down the enterprise'and baffled the hopes of the British people? Every one knows what answer must be given to these questions.

But had the Company's transactions been profitable to itself? It is true, indeed, that so long as the manufactures of India found no rival in those of Great Britain-while the Company was in the undisturbed enjoyment of all its exclusive privileges, with the advantage of a ready mar ket, to which no competitor could venture on approaching-and while there yet remained some faint traces of the mercantile origin of the esta blishment, in the habits of vigilance and economy which correspond with that character-they did contrive to make a profit on their mercantile adventures, although even then the profit was as narrow as a very careless management of their affairs would permit. But of late years the scene had been quite changed-the admission of Ame rica, in the year 1797, to that share in the trade both of India and China, which was denied to the British merchant, appeared to have altered entirely the form of the Company's commercial concerns, and since that fatal year the general balance on their mercantile transactions had, with hardly a single exception, been against the Company. The year 1797 was the first in which a total loss on the mercantile transactions of the Company was fairly admitted. In 1798 the same discouraging result was presented; in 1799 there was a great loss on the exports to India ; and in 1800 aserious loss was again sus

2

tained on the exports to India, for which no compensation could be found in the sales in Europe. From 1801 downwards, the accounts present nothing but a repetition of the same disasters in India-of heavy losses sustained on the Company's exports from Great Britain, which are scarcely ever compensated by the profits on their imports. The trade of the Company for the last fifteen years has therefore exhibited nothing but a series of very heavy losses, as well as various other symptoms of decay, from which there seemed to be no chance of rescuing the commercial intercourse betwixt Great Britain and India so long as the system of exclusion was pursued.

When the great question as to the renewal of the Company's charter was under discussion, the private merchants laid claims to a participation in the trade exclusively enjoyed by the Company-that is, to a free trade both with India and China, together with such a right of residence in the territorial possessions of the Company, as might be found necessary for enabling them to manage their concerns, free of arbitrary conditions and restraints of every description!

Against this demand the Company alledged the natural and necessary limitation of the trade to India, and from this they inferred the expediency of continuing the monopoly. But even if the public had been satisfied that there was no chance of an increase of the trade, there would still have been great propriety in acceding to the demands of the petitioners. Whether the trade should, after it was thrown open, prove susceptible of great improvement in point of extent, this at least was certain, that it might admit of much amelioration in the mode of management-and this seemed quite a sufficient reason for acceding to the propositions of the merchants. But the sentiments of the Company on this

head were liable to the strongest suspicions. Their own failure, in extending the trade to India and China, afforded no proof whatever that the trade was not susceptible of improvement-and even the scanty introduction of British manufactures which had already been effected among the people of Asia, afforded evidence that under better management the trade might admit of indefinite increase. It was obvious, at all events, that things could not be worse than they were, but that they might become much better; and this consideration seemed sufficient of itself to justify and even to prescribe a change of system.

It could not escape observation, that the apparent contempt with which the trade of India was spoken of, and the instant ruin with which private adventurers were threatened, were not quite consistent with the serious remonstrances of the Company against the removal of the restrictions. If the trade were really so narrow and unprosperous as they would have had the public to believe, the surrender of their exclusive right to it could not be so very serious; and if it were to be fraught with ruin to those who might dare to embark in it, the Company might have safely left it to the intelligence of the private trader to have made the discovery, and to his prudence to retire from utter destruction, should his sanguine hopes seduce him into a perilous undertaking. In short, the future extent of the trade to India could never be estimated by any calculations of its amount while under the management of the Company; nor could the warm remonstrances of the directors against the admission of private adventurers be readily ascribed to their disinterested apprehensions about the safety of their rivals.

But the most decisive and satisfac tory assurance on this branch of the

subject was derived from the vast progress which America had unaccountably been permitted to make in the trade of India. In a trade which should have admitted of no increase from private interference, the mercantile adventurers of America had been allowed to participate so largely, that they had the supply, not only of their own market, as well as that of South America, but had actually competed, to good purpose, with the Company itself, in the general market of Europe. These facts, which were quite notorious, threw considerable suspicions on the prophecies, which, in the abolition of a baneful system of exclusión, foreboded the ruin of an extensive trade, and the subversion of an empire.

It was maintained by the Company, that the capital of the private merchants would be found inadequate to the proper encouragement of the trade with India, because the native manufacturers are so poor that large advances must be made to them long before the fruits of their labour can be realized. But those who urged this absurd plea forgot, that the concerns of an extensive commerce naturally give rise to many subdivisions in the employment of capital, and that while with the benefits of a free trade, the capital of one class of merchants might be devoted to the purchase in India, and the transmission to Europe of Indian manufactures, that of another class would naturally seek employment in furnishing for the native workmen the means of enabling them to prepare and bring forward their commodities.

It was alledged besides for the Com. pany, that the Hindoos, and indeed the whole people of Asia, are of a very timorous and suspecting character that they are very unwilling to hold any intercourse with strangers that a long experience of the Com

pany's transactions had however inspired universal confidence in their ho nour and good faith, but that the private merchants would find the difficul. ties of trade with the whole race quite insurmountable. It was even maintained, that the progress made in the introduction of British manufactures into China, had been the result of the talents and address displayed by the agents and supercargoes of the honourable Company, who had dexterously resorted to artifices of various kinds, for the purpose of seducing the Chinese into a taste for these productions, whose value they would never otherwise have been able to appreciate. But these pretences were too flimsy to require a moment's consideration.

It is well known that the trade betwixt Europe and India was contemplated with much jealousy and apprehension by the advocates of the commercial system, as it was called, whose tenets are not yet entirely abandoned. The constant exportation of bullion in return for commodities, was calculated to alarm those persons who considered the increase of the precious metals as comprehending every thing which it was the object of a wise policy to accumulate, and who pretended to discover, in the constant drain of these objects of fond attachment, the downfall of the commercial prosperity of the European states. It was to be expected, that the defenders of monopoly, to whom every part of the same commercial system is naturally so dear, would avail themselves of the popular prejudices on this subject, and endeavour to raise an alarm about the ruin which must in this way ensue, from the extension of our commercial intercourse with India. It can hardly be worth while to expose so pitiful a prejudice; but if the argument applied in favour of the Company, it struck with equal force against it. If it would be dangerous

[ocr errors]

21

« PoprzedniaDalej »