COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. 11th. Postponing the dissolution of the college, with the express design of obtaining a reversal of the order for its abolition. The court observe, that there was no necessity for an instant decision on this subject: the institution ought to have been referred to their consideration, as the natural guardians of the young men who were to become students; and, therefore, that, by the establishment of the OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. 117. The rule above prescribed, in the case of lieutenant-colonel Monson, is similar to the rule established by lord Cornwallis, by his lordship's minutes, recorded on the proceedings of the d August, 1792, on the occasion of his lordship having deputed captain Madan to proceed to Europe with public dispatches. 118. The same rule was applied to lieutenantcolonel Harcourt, of his majesty's 12th regiment, who proceed to Europe overland in charge of the governorgeneral's public dispatches. Lieutenant-colonel Harcourt was accordingly considered to be entitled to the pay and allowances of his regimental rank only, for twelve months from the date of his embarkation at Bombay. 119. The preceding arrangements cannot be deemed irregular, since it would be unjust to deprive officers, employed on public duties, of the pay and allowances which they are entitled to receive in any part of the world, as long as they may be employed in the public service. The court of directors resolved, on the 4th of May, 1803,* to defray colonel Monson's passage to Bengal, according to the regulations established for officers of his rank, and in reply to colonel Monson's application to have his pay and allowances as commandant of the 76th regiment continued to the day of his arrival in Bengal, directed the government of Bengal to decide the question by the regulations of his majesty's and of the company's military service. The governor-general certainly was of opinion, that the public service required the care of the officers specially appointed to take charge of the dispatches in question; and that the importance of the dispatches demanded such special care It cannot justly be inferred, as a proof of a systematic design to assume irregular authority, that he fixed the scale of their allowances for that service. The court's proceedings upon the case of colonel Monson, would have induced the governor-general to believe, that no material objection had occurred to that arrangement. 120. The reasons which induced the governorgeneral in council to found the college at Fort William, are fully stated in his notes, under date the 18th August, 1800. It was impossible for the governorgeneral to suppose, that such an institution could prove otherwise than satisfactory to the court of directors; and the mode of providing for the expenses of the college was stated in the letter from the governor-general in council, 30th July, 1801. 121. The motives of public duty which induced the governor-general in council to direct, that the order passed by the government of Bengal for the abolition of the college of Fort William, should not take full effect until the 31st December, 1805, are fully stated in the public proceedings of the govern ment, and in the governor-general's letters to the chair man, Vide letter to Bengal, Public Department, par. 4, 5, and 6. COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. college without reference to them, it appears to have been lord Wellesley's intention to supercede the deliberation of the court. The court also observe, that no regular statement of the annual expense has been sent home; but that they find, from the annual estimates, that the establishment and the expenditure were excessively great. 12th. Ordering the permanent settlement of the revenues at Fort St. George, without the previous sanction of the court, against which reference no necessity or expediency eould justly be pleaded. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, man, dated August, 5, 1802. Par. 110 to 129, both 122. It is only necessary, therefore, to observe in this place, that in consequence of the governor-general's letter of the 5th August, 102, the court of directors, in a letter under date the 2d September, 1809, state, that "they had given the most serious attention to this subject, and after maturely weighing all the arguments adduced by his lordship, although they differed from him in several of the positions he had laid down, yet, having in their former orders left a reserve for the future re-establishment of a college, and their finances being not then under a pressure equally severe as they were at the former period, they, on these considerations, and un ler all the circumstances of the case, were led so far to acquiesce, in his lordship's desire, as to direct that the institution be continued until further orders." 123. Adverting to the final determination of the court for continuing the college, it appears that the suspension of the original order admitted that result, which was the ultimate effect of the court's mature deliberation. It seems extraordinary to impute contumacy to the governor-general in this transaction. 124. The expenses of the college during the first year, ending on 31st October, 1801, were stated by the governor-general in his letter to the chairman of the 5th August, 1802, to be 6,30,000 rupees, or 78,8501. and the future annual expen-es were estimated at from three and a half lacs to four lacs of rupees per annum. By a letter from the governor-general in council, dated 3th June, 1805, relative to the college, it appears that the expenses of the college had been gradually reduced to rupees 3,38,988, or 42,378, per annum, and that a further revision took place previously to lord Wellesley's departure, by which the future annual expendi ture was paid at rupees 2,07,660, or 25,9571. These reductions arose principally from the separation of the writers of Madras and Bombay, from the institution under the court's orders. 125. In the general letter, judicial department, dated 23d May, 1798, from the court of directors to the governor-general in council, the court observes, that from the experience which they had had of the good effects of the judicial and revenue arrangements esta blished at the presidency of Bengal, they were extremely desirous, as far as local circumstances would admit, of seeing the same system introduced upon the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar. They were sensible, however, that the defective knowledge of the real resources of those countries, the turbulent disposition of the principal rajahs, and the little progress that had been made in establishing the company's authority, so as to make it felt and esteemed, rendered it improbable that the completion of that important object should be obtained as soon so was to be wished, for the prospe rity college, may be seen by reference to a book printed by Cadell and Davies, entitled, College of Fort William in Bengal." COURT'S DRAFT, OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. 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 correspondence with their respective presidencies at Madras and Bombay, with a view of facilitating this object; and they relied on the continuance of their zealous cooperation with the subordinate governments for its 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 governorgeneral 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 deliberatjon, 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 previous 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 happiness 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 St. George of the 22d of January, 1800, was acknowledged by the court on the ad September, 1800; and had the court disapproved of the arrangement, their orders might have been issued in time to have prevented it. COURT'S DRAFT, OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, of so important a measure to be sacrificed to the 128. On the 11th of February, 1801, the court of directors issued their final orders on this important 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 proceedings preparatory to the introduction of a permanent system of revenue and of judicature into the company's territories under your presidency, and we have 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 has 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 proceedings 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. But "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 suspanding 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 executed 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. 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 more counterbalanced 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 rest confident in the conviction, that our interests will be COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. 13th. Transfer of the provinces of Malabar and Canara, from Bombay to Madras, without waiting the sanction of the court. 14. In renewing the settlement of Balambangan, without the previous sanction of the court, who have not even been advised of the measure, excepting by a communication from Madras. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, 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 considerations 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." 129. In the general letter from the court of directors in the public department, dated 2d December, 1800, the court observes," we have been advised of a resolution of the governor-general in council, vesting the civil 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, be 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 governments of Fort St. George and Bombay, of the 26th of May last, we have only to signify our entire approbation thereof, and to direct a compliance therewith." 130. The reasons which determined lord Wellesley to renew the settlement at Balambangan, are stated in Mr. secretary Edmonstone's instructions to Mr. Farquhar, under date the 15th March, 1803. Adverting to the correspondence of the court of directors with the government of Fort St. George, and to the importance which the court attached to the reservation of one of the territorial grants in the eastern islands, 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. 131. This question was also connected with the consideration of the validity of certain territorial cessions which the Malay princes had made in favour of the honourable company. It was necessary to ascertain the state of these cessions, previously to the restitution of the Dutch settlements, which Mr. Farquhar had been instructed to carry into execution, according to the stipulations of the treaty of Amiens. · 182. It |