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"account, has proved such a monopoly, that the manufacturers have been obliged to sell their commodities at any price which those employed to purchase for the company think proper to give for them. If Armenians " or others attempted to purchase, there was an immediate cry, that it "interfered with the company's investment: this plea has been made use of "in all quarters for private emolument, to the stagnation of trade, and "the oppression of the chassars, manufacturers, and others. The latter, finding no free vent for their commodities, are discouraged from producing them, and it is certain that, if the present monopolizing system "continues, even the company's investments will be reduced very low, although all other considerations should continue to give way to it.""I well remember this country," he subjoins, "when trade was free, and "the flourishing state it was then in: I now see its present ruinous con"dition, which, I am convinced, is greatly owing to the monopoly that "has been made of late years in the company's name of almost all the "manufactures in the country. Let the trade be made free, and this fine country will soon recover itself, the revenues increase, and the company procure as large an investment as they can find money to purchase; and "these purchases will prove a benefit to the country, instead of tending to "its ruin, as they now demonstrably do."-That the virtuous, the reforming, the self-denying select committee, not only sanctioned these destructive monopolies but partook largely in the profits of them, is exemplified in the scheme adopted immediately after its establishment, for an association, into which all the company's servants were admitted, for an inland trade in salt, betal-nut, and tobacco, upon which enormous duties were in consequence laid; a scheme which, beside its immediate ill-effects, was remotely prejudicial to the unfortunate Indians by affording a precedent for more distressing and more destructive monopolies.

i

Upon the whole, it was evident, that, notwithstanding the company had made vast acquisitions of territory, and that immense wealth was rapidly accumulated by individuals, these advantages were merely specious, the company itself was in fact less prosperous, and its prospects far less promising, than at former periods, when, instead of preying upon the vitals of the native Indians, they were content to share with them in the profits of a fair and

h

Life of Clive. 2. 350.

4 Life of Clive. 1. 417. Belsham. 1. 331.

open

open trade, whose honest and rational principles afforded a security for its permanency and increase.

These circumstances, and reports made of the maleadministration of their affairs in India, particularly in what concerned the late disastrous war in the Carnatic, induced the court of directors to take them into their most serious consideration, in the preceding year. In the result of their deliberations, messieurs Vansittart, Scrafton, and Ford, were appointed commissioners to examine into and superintend the affairs of the company in all the presidencies. Moreover, on their application to government for a squadron of men of war, sir John Lindsay was sent to the East Indies, with the appointments of commander in chief of their naval force, and plenipotentiary from the company to all powers near the Persian gulph, and his majesty's plenipotentiary to Indian princes in general. *

k

Unfortunately for the interests of the company and the state, the Aurora frigate which conveyed the commissioners was lost on its passage. The admiral, on his arrival at Madras† was coldly received by the council, as a person who was come to supersede them in authority, and to proclaim to all the princes of India that the association of merchants, whom they had hitherto considered as an independent power, was subject to the control of the British government, which had a right to take cognizance of their actions.

This measure of the state was in no instance so grievous and mortifying as in what related to the nabob of Arcot. He resided, at this time, at Madras, and was in all respects subservient to the arbitrary will of the presidency; in conformity with which he made peace and war, he exhausted his treasury, and endangered his dominions to gratify their rapacity and ambition. When sir John Lindsay opened to him his embassy, and declared his sovereign's resolution to afford the nabob his protection, pursuant to the engagements he had made in the treaty of Paris, Mohamed Ali expressed his warm sense of gratitude. Yet, reflecting on the fate of other princes who had incurred the company's vengeance, he was with difficulty brought to acknowledge the ambassador's power. On repeated assurances of the king's protection, should he stand in need of it, he, however, laid aside his reserve, and recounted to the plenipotentiary all the grievances which he

had

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+ July 26.

History of the Company. 170. 71.

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had suffered during the period that he had been honoured with the alliance of the British crown: and from this time the presidency viewed the good understanding subsisting between the admiral and Mohamed with an eye of jealousy, and considered them as a party formed to undermine their power.

GREAT

1

History of the Company. 171.75.

GREAT BRITAIN.

1771.

THERE is nothing more interesting in the perusal of history than the observing in what manner minute causes, those secret springs which are to be sought in the inmost recesses of courts, are seen to influence the great affairs of state. Of this we have a remarkable instance in the course of the present transaction between the British government and Spain.-We have seen, that, at the close of the late year, the aspect of things portended an immediate rupture with the confederate houses of Bourbon. This really ensued: and open hostilities were prevented only by an intrigue of the French court. The duke de Choiseul, who had long presided in the councils of Lewis the Fifteenth, was desirous to preserve his own power, and retrieve the honour which the French crown had lost during the late war. But the spirit of enterprise which had actuated him in this undertaking, and had raised him to the elevated station which he occupied, now proved his ruin. Knowing his sovereign's aversion to war, he had instigated the court of Spain to hostilities with England, without acquainting him with his intrigue, that warlike measures might become absolutely necessary on the part of the French government, as a member of the Bourbon confederacy. Although the object was national honour, yet, in the attainment of it, the monarch was to be made the dupe of his minister's ambition. This was the rock on which he split.— The league which his rival, the duke d'Aiguillon, had formed against him, perceiving the dangerous situation to which his ardour had carried him, seized the favourable opportunity to effect his ruin. Madame du Barré, the

1771

king's

:

1771

king's mistress, was the agent employed to acquaint the dotish monarch with his premier's designs; and Lewis's disposition gave success to the intrigue. Desirous to spend the remainder of his days in luxurious ease, he was frighted at the idea of being involved again in war; and dismissed his minister at the instant that he was ready to execute a plan which he had formed for making a descent on the English coast, and giving a mortal wound to the public credit of this kingdom.—This event having paved the way to conciliatory measures, by convincing the catholic king that he could no longer depend on the crown of France to support him strenuously in a war with England, the negotiations for peace were afterwards prosecuted without any obstruction or signal occurrence.-The marquis de Grimaldi, the Spanish premier, expressed his sovereign's desire to live on friendly terms with his Britannic majesty; but refused to consent to any concessions prejudicial to the honour of the Spanish crown. As an expedient calculated to save the honour of both parties, prince Maserano, ambassador from don Carlos, proposed a convention, which was agreed to, t by which the catholic king disavowed the violence used by the Spanish governor at port Egmont, and consented that every thing there should be restored precisely to the same state in which they were before the reduction; but stipulated that this engagement shall not affect the prior right of the Spanish monarch to the sovereignty of the Malouine or Falkland's islands."

On the re-assembling of parliament after the recess, the papers relative to this transaction were called for, and the merits of it were discussed with great warmth in both houses. The mediation of France was objected to, and the terms of the convention were represented as inadequate to the purpose intended,. of saving the dignity of the British crown. To which it was replied, that our claim to the islands was very disputable; that the terms of the convention were the best that could be devised to saye the honour of both crowns; and that it would have been impolitic to have involved the state in a war with the whole house of Bourbon for a possession of such small intrinsic value. The result was an address of thanks and approbation, which was voted by a great majority; ‡ against which, however, nineteen peers entered their protest.