THE WORK S OF THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE, WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL INTRODUCTION, BY HENRY ROGERS. AND PORTRAIT AFTER SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. VOL. II. LONDON: SAMUEL HOLDSWORTH, AMEN CORNER, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCXXXVII. Appendix B. No. 1. Copy of a Letter from the Governour- - Appendix B. No. 3. Letter from Governour Hastings to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors; 22d Appendix B, No. 4. Account of Sums received on account of the Company by the Governour-General, or paid to their Treasury by his order, and applied to their service ib. Appendix B. No. 5 and No. 6. Affidavit of William Lar- kins, Esq. and Letter of Governour-General to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, respectively of the Appendix to the VIIIth and XVIth Charges, Letter from War- ren Hastings, to William Devaynes Letter to William Elliot, Esquire, occasioned by a Speech 92 Three Letters addressed to a Member of the present Parlia- NINTH REPORT From the SELECT COMMITTEE (of the House of Commons) appointed to take into consideration the state of the Administration of Justice in the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and to report the same, as it shall appear to them, to the House; with their observations thereupon; and who were instructed to consider how the British Possessions in the East Indies may be held and governed the greatest security and advantage to this Country; and by what means the happiness of the Native Inhabitants may be best promoted.-(25th June, 1783.) WI gestions to persons in power, without a regular L-OPSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF THE COMPANY'S publick enquiry into the good or evil tendency of AFFAIRS IN INDIA. any measure, or into the merit or demerit of any person intrusted with the company's concerns. Present laws relating to the East India company, and its internal policy. and external The plan adopted by your committee is, first, to consider the law regulating the East India company, as it now stands; and secondly, to enquire into the circumstances of the two great links of connexion, by which the territorial possessions in India are united to this kingdom; namely, the company's commerce; and the government exercised under the charter, and under acts of parliament. The last of these In order to enable the house to adopt the most proper means for regulating the British government in India, and for promoting the happiness of the natives, who live under its authority or influence, your committee hold it expedient to collect, into distinct points of view, the circumstances, by which that government appears to them to be most essentially disordered; and to explain fully the principles of policy, and the course of conduct, by which the natives of all ranks and orders have been reduced to their pre-objects, the commerce, is taken in two points of sent state of depression and misery. view, the external, or the direct trade between India and Europe; and the internal, that is to say, the trade of Bengal, in all the articles of produce and manufacture, which furnish the company's investment. Your committee have endeavoured to perform this task in plain and popular language, knowing that nothing has alienated the house from enquiries, absolutely necessary for the performance of one of the most essential of all its duties, so much as the The government is considered by your comtechnical language of the company's records; as mittee under the like descriptions of internal and the Indian names of persons, of offices, of the tenure external. The internal regards the communication and qualities of estates, and of all the varied between the court of directors and their servants branches of their intricate revenue. This language in India; the management of the revenue; the exis, indeed, of necessary use in the executive depart-penditure of publick money; the civil adminisments of the company's affairs; but it is not neces-tration; the administration of justice; and the sary to parliament. A language, so foreign from state of the army. The external regards, first, all the ideas and habits of the far greater part of the conduct and maxims of the company's gothe members of this house, has a tendency to dis-vernment with respect to the native princes and gust them with all sorts of enquiry concerning this subject. They are fatigued into such a despair of ever obtaining a competent knowledge of the transactions in India, that they are easily persuaded to remand them back to that obscurity, mystery, and intrigue, out of which they have been forced upon publick notice by the calamities arising from their extreme mismanagement. This mismanagement has itself (as your committee conceive) in a great measure arisen from dark cabals, and secret sug people dependent on the British authority and next, the proceedings with regard to those native powers, which are wholly independent of the company. But your committee's observations on the last division extend to those matters only, which are not comprehended in the Report of the Committee of Secrecy. Under these heads, your committee refer to the most leading particulars of abuse, which prevail in the administration of India; deviating only from this order, where |