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was then given to several public and prirate Bills, after which his royal highness the Prince Regent closed the Session with the following Speech to both Houses:

nevertheless, put forth our whole strength, and maintain, with our antient superiority upon the Ocean, those Maritime Rights which we have resolved never to surrender.

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But, Sir, whatever doubts may cloud the rest of our views and hopes, it is to the Peninsula that we look with sentiments of unquestionable delight and triumph; there, the world has seen two gallant and independent nations rescued from the *mortal grasp of fraud and tyranny, by British councils and 'British valour; and within the of five short space the dawn of our successes at Roleia and Vimiera, the same illustrious Commander. has received the tribute of our admiration and gratitude for the brilliant passage of the Douro,―the hard-fought Battle of Talavera, the day of Busaço,-the deliverance of Portugal,-the Mural Crowns won at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, the splendid Victory of Salamanca, and the decisive overthrow of the Armies of France in their total rout at Vittoria ;-deeds which have made all Europe ring with his renown, and have covered the British name with a blaze of unrivalled glory.

"Sir, That the cause of this country, and of the world, may not, at such a crisis, suffer from any want of zeal on our part to strengthen the hands of his Majesty's Government, we have finished our supplies with a large and liberal aid, to enable your Royal Highness to take all such measures, as the emergencies of public affairs may require, for disappointing or defeating the enterprizes and designs of

the enemy.

"My Lords and Gentlemen;

"I cannot release you from your attendance in parliament without repeating the expression of my deep regret at the continuance of his Majesty's lamented indisposition.

"The attention which you have paid to the public interests in the course of this session, demands my warmest acknowledgments.

"The splendid and signal success which has attended the commencement of the campaign in the Peninsula, the consummate skill and ability displayed by Field Marshal the Marquis of Wellington in the progress of those operations which have led to the great and decisive victory obtained near Vittoria, and the valour and intrepidity by which his Majesty's forces, and those of his allies, have been distinguished, are as highly gratifying to my feelings as they have been to those of the whole nation. Whilst these operations have added new lustre to the British arms, they afford the best prospect of the deliverance of the Peninsula from the tyranny and oppression of France; and they furnish the most decisive proof of the wisdom of that policy which has induced you, under every vicissitude of fortune, to persevere in the support of this glorious contest.

"The entire failure of the French Ruler

in his designs against the Russian empire, and the destruction of the French army employed on that service, were followed by the advance of the Russian forces, since joined by those of Prussia, to the banks of the Elbe; and though, upon the

“The Bill, which I have to present to your Royal Highness for this purpose, is intituled, An Act for enabling his Majesty to raise the sum of Five Millions for ⚫ the service of Great Britain, and for ap-renewal of the contest, the allied armies plying the sum of 200,000l. for the service of Ireland:'

"To which Bill his Majesty's faithful Commons, with all humility, entreat his Majesty's Royal Assent."

have found themselves obliged to retreat before the superior numbers collected by the enemy, their conduct, during a series. of severe and sanguinary conflicts, has nobly upheld their military character, and commanded the admiration of Europe. THE PRINCE REGENT'S Speech at the "I have great satisfaction in acquaintCLOSE OF THE SESSION.] The royal assenting you there exists between me and the

[1228 courts of St. Petersburgh, Berlin, and Stock-subjects of the United Kingdom in general holm, the most cordial union and concert; a participation in the commerce of counand I trust I shall be enabled, by the aids tries within the limits of the East India which you have so liberally afforded, to Company's Charter, which will, I doubt render this union effectual for the accom- not, have the effect of augmenting the plishment of the great purpose for which resources of India, and of increasing and it has been established. improving the trade and navigation of his

" I regret the continuance of the war Majesty's dominions. with the United States of America.

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My desire to re-establish between the two countries those friendly relations, so important to their mutual interests, continues unabated; but I cannot consent to purchase the restoration of peace by any sacrifice of the maritime rights of the British empire.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons; "I thank you for the liberal provision you have made for the services of the present year.

"It is a great satisfaction to me to reflect that, by the regulations you have adopted for the redemption of the national debt, you have established a system which will not retard its ultimate liquidation, whilst at the same time it provides for the vigorous prosecution of the war with the least practicable addition to the public

burdens.

"My Lords, and Gentlemen;

"The tried and affectionate loyalty of his Majesty's people, the constancy which they have displayed during this long and arduous war, and the patience with which they have sustained the burdens necessarily imposed upon them, have made an indelible impression on my mind. Such continued and persevering exertions, under so severe a pressure, afford the strongest proof of their attachment to that constitution which it is the first object of my life

to maintain.

"In the success which has recently attended his Majesty's arms, I acknowledge, with devout gratitude, the hand of Divine Providence. The use I desire to make of these, and of all other advantages, is to promote and secure the welfare of his Majesty's people; and I cannot more decidedly evince this disposition, than by employing the powerful means you have placed in my hands in such a manner as may be best calculated to reduce the extravagant pretensions of the enemy, and thereby to facilitate the attainment, in conjunction with my allies, of a secure and honourable peace."

And afterwards the Lord Chancellor, by his royal highness the Prince Regent's command, said;

"I entirely approve of the arrangements which you have made for the government of the British territories in India, and for the regulation of the British commerce in that part of the world. They appear to have been wisely framed, with a view to the circumstances which have occurred since this subject was last under the consideration of parliament. By these arrangements you have preserved, in its "It is the command of his royal highessential parts, that system of government ness the Prince Regent, acting in the name which experience has proved to be not and on behalf of his Majesty, that this less calculated to provide for the happi-23d of August next, to be then here Parliament be prorogued to Monday the ness of the inhabitants of India, than to holden; and this Parliament is accordpromote the interests of Great Britain; ingly prorogued to Monday the 23d day and you have judiciously extended to the of August next."

"My Lords, and Gentlemen;

ADDITIONS

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

The following Speeches of MR. CHARLES GRANT, sen. on the Affairs of the East India Company, having, in the Reports of their dates, been given imperfectly, a fuller account of them is here introduced.

March 22, 1813. See Vol. XXV. p. 255.

Mr. C. Grant, sen. delivered his sentiments to the following effect:

open the trade to all the ports and subjects of the United Kingdom. The Company had in papers which were before the House, He felt great satisfaction that in the deprecated this great change as likely to luminous and comprehensive view which prove ruinous to their commerce, by the noble lord had given to the important raising the prices of commodities abroad, and complex subject they were now about lowering them at home, and marring the to consider, he had done so much justice to system of their public sales, and introducing the administration and the servants of the extensive smuggling, and likely also to Company abroad. He well knew from the endanger the security of their Indian official intercourse it was formerly his lot possessions, by the influx of numbers of to hold with the noble lord, his lordship's Europeans. The wildest notions had been very extensive and accurate acquaintance spread of a new world of commerce to be with the affairs of India, and the ability discovered and occupied by the extinction with which he conducted the department of the Company's Indian monopoly. The entrusted with the controul of them. His most extravagant expectations were entersuffrage, therefore, in favour of the exist-tained, the loudest clamours excited, the ing system and of the functionaries employed in it, not even excluding those who acted in this country, was of great value, and might be set against many of the errors and misconceptions on Indian subjects, which spring from want of information, and from prejudice. He was glad also to find, that it was the professed intention of his Majesty's ministers to continue by the provisions of a new charter, the system of the Company, and the powers requisite for its efficiency. But he heard with alarm and regret of innovations which were projected in that system; innovations so great, and involving such consequences, that they threatened to break down and to destroy it.

It was proposed at once to change the mode in which the intercourse between this country and India had been carried on for two centuries, that is, since the commencement of the Company, and to throw

most unfounded accusations advanced against the Company, and at length government, contrary to its original intention, had been prevailed on to consent that the Indian trade should be opened. The reasons now assigned to the House for this great change were, that the commerce of this country and of India should be enlarged-that the Company could not, for want of means, manage the whole of the Indian commerce, being obliged to borrow money for it at Indian interest; that the private trade at present permitted was hampered, by being confined to the ships of the Company, as well as the occasion of loss to the Company themselves in the freight they supplied for it; yet that notwithstanding the restraints it lay under, it had greatly increased-and that the Americans had been allowed to go largely into that trade from which our own subjects were so much excluded. The ques❤

tion here, however, was not so much what | the East was capable of producing in the way of trade, but whether the exports of this country to India, or the imports of that country into this, could be materially increased if the trade were thrown open? The Company had adduced many arguments to shew that they could not, and those arguments had never been answered. The tastes, the usages, the modes of life, the climate of the Indian people, were altogether dissimilar to ours. They could use but few of our articles either of luxury or convenience, and their demands for these were already abundantly supplied. The increase that had taken place in the exports of private trade was only for the increased European population in Indiathe increase in the imports therein was chiefly in indigo, an article fostered by the Company, and in cotton piece goods. For both the exports and the imports, the present channel of conveyance was abundantly sufficient. Yet if it were not, the Company did not propose it should be confined to its actual limits. They were content that the port of London should be open to all the subjects of the United Kingdom for exports and imports, and in their own ships, without adhering to the present arrangement, the inconveniencies of which had been industriously aggravated by those concerned in the Indian trade, with a view to its further enlargement, as the loss of the Company by the freight of private trade had also been. And the notion of the Company's carrying on their trade by the aid of capital borrowed in India at the high interest of that country, was contradicted by the elaborate statements of accounts made out by the Select Committee of the House, The Company also could with facility extend their Indian trade, if circumstances invited them to do so. The idea of making their Indian commerce liable to the payment of half the dividend on their capital stock was untenable. Did any merchant expect that all parts of his trade were to be equally profitable? The different parts might nevertheless be mutually aiding and serviceable in his plan of trade. The Company had undoubtedly strong political reasons for desiring to be continued in so much of the exclusive privilege of that trade as they at present possessed.

With regard to the participation of the Americans in that trade, it was a privilege conceded to them by the government of this country without consulting the Com

pany. And the great benefit they derived from it was owing to their abuse of the treaty which conceded it, and to their neutral character during a long war, which gave them access to countries not open to our ships. But if this was an evil, the remedy was easy-not to deprive the Company of their remaining privileges in that trade, but to exclude the Americans from it, the treaty which admitted them into it being now at an end.

The Company had very justly argued, that the transfer which had taken place to this country of the Indian debt, would require them to increase their commerce from India in order to meet that new demand on the home treasury; and that the entrance into the trade at the same time of so many new adventurers would in all probability occasion the market to be over-stocked, and their goods, intended to meet the payment of the territorial debt, to be unsaleable. The noble lord had replied to this, that the Company might, like all other governments, remit their revenues by the bills of private individuals. The noble lord, by such a suggestion, proposed to divest the Company so far of their commercial character, which was part of their constitution; he proposed that the Company's money should be given to these new adventurers to serve them as a capital in their enterprizes, and that the Company, instead of having their own consignments of goods to look to, should depend on the credit and punctuality of such persons for the regular pay. ments of the bills to be drawn on them for the Indian debt, payments on the accurate discharge of which the general credit of the Company depended. Nothing could be more unfair nor more odious to the Company than to place them in such a degraded and dependant situation. A doc trine had now for the first time been broached respecting the Indian patronage. It appeared to be thought that it might be taken from the Company and yet not fail to the crown. As no such measure was actually proposed, it was the less necessary to examine the theory on which it was suggested, but all those who were anxious for the safety of the British constitution would do well to beware of altering the present safe system upon any speculation so little promising. The noble lord had treated the apprehension of colonization by Europeans in India as a chimera, arguing that it was not the want of opportunity but the want of means of subsistence there,

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which prevented Europeans from resorting thither now, and that the country is open to the Americans who might have colonized there if they would. But it is a certain fact that the greater resort of British subjects to India has been prevented only by the existing restraints,-that they sometimes over-leap those restraints is a proof of the existence of the desire of resorting thither. The Americans have no permission to go into the interior of the country. Our government would, of course, prevent them from infringing the existing regulations. The new privileges now proposed to be granted to British subjects, would constitute the great source of danger, which is much more from our own subjects than from foreigners. However the

noble lord might slight the apprehended danger of colonization, lord Cornwallis had judged far otherwise, and the generality of persons who had local experience did so. The scheme now brought forward went to throw down the whole fabric of the India Company. It was impossible therefore it could have his approbation. A subject of such immense importance should not be hurried through the House, but investigated with great deliberation, and he was desirous that evidence should be heard at the bar of the House on certain points, particularly the danger which might result from a large influx of Europeans into India, and the probability of increasing the export of British manufactures for Indian consumption.

June 3, 1813. See p. 550 of the present Volume.

Mr. C. Grant, sen. began by denying | mours so industriously raised by the outthat it was the original intention of minis-ports, their agents and abettors, there ters to open the trade generally to the outports, as the hon. gentleman (Mr. Courteney) had stated. The letter of lord Melville in 1808, which the hon. gentleman had read, expressed no such intention, and he could assert from his own personal conference at that time with the noble lord, that his lordship had then no other idea than that the import trade from India should be confined to the port of London. And this most distinctly appears in his Answer to the 6th of the Hints or Propositions submitted to his lordship by the directors in March 1812, wherein they require that the whole of the Indian trade shall be brought to the port of London, to which he replies " that the adoption of this regulation will probably tend to the security and advantages of the public revenue," thereby evidently acquiescing in the proposition, and evincing that he thought the interest of government was concerned in it. The Company certainly never had any other view of this subject; nor were they aware of the change respecting it in the sentiments of his Majesty's ministers until it was announced by lord Buckinghamshire in the month of April last. However preposterous therefore the confining of the private trade to the port of London might seem to the hon. gentleman, it was not at first thought to be so by his Majesty's ministers, nor had the reasons for that restriction been ever yet solidly answered. That the change was the effect of the cla(VOL. XXVI.)

could be no doubt. In the numerous Petitions which they had presented to parliament,-in their meetings and resolu tions communicated by various channels to the public, the Company had been grossly misrepresented, and an ignorance shewn of their affairs truly wonderful. All the accusations of those parties had been refuted by the Company, but by dint of association, perseverance and canvas, they had gained much of public prejudice and parliamentary support in favour of their objects. The principle on which individuals were admitted into the trade of India in 1793 was that of affording a greater vent for the manufactures of this country, and the means of remitting hither the fortunes of British residents in India, but all was to be transacted through the medium of the Company's ships. The late lord Melville had no idea of such an opening of the trade as was now proposed, and the hon. gentleman was mistaken in supposing his lordship to have been a party to the negociation in 1802 for the further enlargement of the private trade—a measure also produced by clamour and misrepresentation when his lordship was retired from office. The plea drawn by the outports from the trade carried on to India by neutrals had been repeatedly answered. That trade had grown up whilst we were in a state of war, shut out from most of the ports of foreign Europe, where therefore British merchants, had they been permitted to trade to India, could have had no access. (4K)

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