setters and calenderers of the East India | or injury, to erect castles, fortifications, Company. PETITION OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY FOR THE RENEWAL OF THEIR CHARTER.] A Petition of the united company of merchants of England trading to the East Indies was presented and read; setting forth, forts, and garrisons, and also to coin Indian money; and that, by virtue of these powers, the said governor and companymade settlements, and built forts and factories, at different places in the East Indies, at a very great expense, which settlements, forts, and factories, with some territory annexed to them, were purchased from the native princes of the countries within their limits; the sovereignty remained with their respective chiefs, but the immediate government of those acquisitions was exercised by the company under the powers which are before men "That the petitioners, in approaching the House with an application for a continuance of the system by which the reJation between Great Britain and the East Indies is now regulated, hope they may be permitted to state the outlines of the history of the establishment of the petitioned to have been granted to them by tioners, as well as their present situation as to their property and rights, their functions and obligations; and that the first adventurers in a trade from England to the East Indies, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, were incorporated by queen Elizabeth, by her royal letters patent, bearing date the 31st day of December 1601, by the stile of "The governor and company of merchants of London trading into the East Indies," to whom, by the same instrument, the exclusive right of trading to that country was granted by her said majesty for a term of 15 years from Christmas then last past; and that the corporate capacity of the said governor and company of merchants of London trading into the East Indies, with the privilege of the exclusive trade, was renewed revived and confirmed to them in perpetuity by several charters or letters patent, granted respectively by king James the 1st, king Charles the 2nd, king James the 2nd, and king William and queen Mary, subject nevertheless to a provision, that, if the continuance of any of their charters, in the whole or in part, should not be profitable to the realm, that apon three years warning to be given to the said company, all the said charters should cease determine and be void; and that the said governor and company were empowered by their charters to establish factories and settlements in the East Indies, to have the government of such factories and settlements, and to appoint governors with a judicial power to equip and maintain military forces by sea and land for the defence of their settlements, with the power of making peace and war with any princes or people who were not Christians, within any places of their trade, to make reprisals from those persons, in those parts, from whom they should sustain any loss charter; and the said company made also a settlement in the island of Saint Helena, on its being abandoned by the Dutch, about the year 1651; and that the property and sovereignty in and over the port and island of Bombay having been ceded by the king of Portugal to king Charles the 2nd, as part of the dowry of the infanta of Portugal on her marriage with king Charles, his said majesty by his royal letters patent, bearing date the 27th day of March 1669, granted and conveyed unto the said governor and company, their successors and assigns, the property thereof, with all the rights profits territories and appurtenances, and constituted them the true and absolute lords and proprietors of the port and island, in the most unlimited manner, saving to his majesty his heirs and succesors, his royal sovereignty of and over the inhabitants there; but his majesty granted the authority of immediate civil and military government of the place to the company; and Saint Helena having been taken from the said company by the Dutch in the war of 1674, was re-taken by a force belonging to king Charles the 2nd, who, by his royal letters patent bearing date the 16th day of December 1674, re-granted that island, with all the rights, profits, territories, and appurtenances whatsoever, unto the said governor and company, their successors and assigns, and his majesty constituted them the true and absolute lords and proprietors thereof, saving the allegiance due to his majesty, his heirs and successors; and the said charter contained powers and authorities for the government and defence of the said island; and that, by an act of parliament passed in the 9th year of king William the 3rd, for raising a sum of two millions by loan for the public service, it was enacted, that all the subscribers to the said loan should sum of 2,000,000l. to be raised, became entitled to trade in respect of it; and therefore, by an act of parliament passed in the 12th year of king William the 3rd, their corporate capacity was contiuned to them, subject, nevertheless, to be deter mined upon the redemption of the fund established by the said act of the 9th of his said majesty's reign; and that the said English company acquired and settled several factories in the East Indies, at a very large expense; and that, previous to the erection of the English company, the London company had carried on their trade with the East Indies in competition with the Portuguese and Dutch and French companies, and also in competition with unlicensed adventurers from Great Britain who traded there, notwithstanding the exclusive grants which the London company was in possession of, and which unlicensed adventurers, at times, acquired consider be intitled to traffic and use the trade of merchandize in such places, and by such ways and passages as were then already frequented found out or discovered, or which thereafter should be found out or discovered, and as they severally should esteem to be fittest or best for them, in to and from the East Indies, in the countries and parts of Asia and Africa, and in to and from the islands ports havens cities creeks towns and places of Asia, Africa, and America, or any of them, beyond the Cape of Bona Esperanza to the Streights of Magellan, where any trade or traffic of merchandize was or might be used or had, and to and from every of them: and, by the said act, his majesty was empowered to incorporate any of the subscribers who should desire to trade with a joint stock; and it was enacted, that at any time, upon three years notice, after the 29th day of September 1711, upon repayment by parlia-able ascendency amongst the native ment of the said sum of two millions, or such part thereof as should be advanced, all the corporations to be created in pursuance of that act, and the benefit of trade thereby given, should absolutely cease and determine; and it was enacted that all such persons as should have a right of trading by virtue of that act, should have the sole and exclusive trade within the limits before-mentioned; and that the said sum of two millions was subscribed within the time limited by the said act; and thereupon, by a charter bearing date the 5th day of September 1698, his said majesty was pleased to incorporate the larger part of the subscribers to the said loan, by the stile of "The English company trading to the East Indies;" and, by the said charter, powers of making settlements, and governing them, and maintaining military forces for their defence, were granted to the English company, similar to those which are before stated to have been granted to the old company, since distinguished by the appellation of the London company; the sovereign right, power, and dominion, over all the settlements to be made, being reserved to his said majesty; and that the above act of parliament and charter would have operated to have extinguished and determined the corporate capacity and privileges of the London company, but the act contained a provision that they should have liberty to trade till the 29th of September 1701, and the London company having subscribed the sum of $15,000l. towards the powers, and, after the incorporation of the English company, they became also competitors in the said trade; and that no European nation having then acquired any considerable territorial dominion, the whole of the trade by Europeans was carried on entirely at the despotic will and sufferance of the native princes of the Mogul empire; the government and officers of which almost constantly showed their favour and protection to such of the competitors from whom they could obtain the largest presents; and in proportion as they protected one of them, they oppressed the others; as an instance of which, the petitioners show, that the servants of the English company in India, by means of corrupt influence with the ministers and servants of the Mogul, procured all the principal officers and members of the presidency of the London company at Surat, then the chief seat of their trade in India, to be imprisoned for several seasons, and wholly to interrupt their commercial transactions; and that the London company and the English company, finding, that if their competition had continued, ruin must have ensued to both, agreed, about the year 1702, to unite together: the union was effected by force of two several indentures, dated respectively the 22d day of July 1702, one being an indenture tripartite, made between her late majesty queen Anne of the first part, the said London company of the second part, and the said English company of the third part; and the other being an indenture quinquepartite, made between the said London company of the first part, the said English company of the second part, and certain persons, trustees of property belonging to the London company, of the third, fourth, and fifth parts, and by force of an act of parliament, passed in the 6th year of the reign of queen Anne, and of an award of the earl of Godolphin, the lord high treasurer of Great Britain, dated the 29th day of September 1708; and that by the terms of the union, all the property and rights belonging to both companies, at home and abroad, including the settlements, forts, factories, and territories, which they had acquired as is above stated, were valued, and, in consideration of the value of the property of the London company being paid or allowed in account to them, they, by proper legal instruments, transferred and made over all their property to the English company, and the English company were allowed, in account, the value of their property; and the property and rights of both companies were thenceforth vested in them, for the benefit of the united concern; and the London company having completed the transfer of its property, surrendered its corporate capacity; and from thenceforth the English company took the stile of "The united company of merchants of England trading to the East Indies;" which is now the stile of the petitioners; and that the petitioners crave leave to draw the attention of the House to some part of the subjects of which the property of the petitioners consisted at the time of the union of the two companies in 1702, and which they derived by transfer from them, with the cognizance and sanction of her majesty queen Anne, and of the parliament; amongst other things, the petitioners were then entitled to and possessed of the islands of Bombay and Saint Helena, the sovereignty of which was vested in the crown of Great Britain; they were entitled to and possessed of the factories of Surat, Swally, Broach, Amadavad, Agra, and Lucknow : on the coast of Malabar, they were entitled to and possessed of the forts of Carwar, Tellicherry, and Angengo, and the factory of Callicut: on the coast of Coromandel they were entitled to and possessed of Fort St. George, with the castle, fortifications, and territory thereto belonging, on which a large city called Madras was built, the houses of which belonged to and paid rent to the petitioners; Fort Saint David, being a strong fort and factory, and about three miles compass of the circumjacent country, on which several small towns and villages were erected; the factories of Codolore, Porto Novo, Pettipolee, Madapollam, and the fort and factory of Vizagapatam: in Bengal, the petitioners were entitled to and possessed of Fort William and the town of Calcutta, with a large territory thereto belonging; the factories of Ballasore, Cossimbuzar, Dacca, Hughly, Maulda, Rajamaul, and Patna, and all these possessions were subject to the sovereignty of the great mogul: on the island of Sumatra, the petitioners were entitled to and possessed of York Fort at Bencoolen, and a factory with a territory of about five miles thereto belonging, and a factory at Indrapore; and that, after the union of the two companies, the petitioners conducted themselves so as to conciliate and acquire the confidence of the natives of India, and for a considerable period of time they had no occasion to use the right which they enjoyed of maintaining a military force, except for purposes little beyond those of police, and as guards of their fortifications against surprize; but near the middle of the last century it became necessary for the petitioners to enlarge their military force, and to exercise the power of war, and of making political engagements with some of the native powers, to support the British interests in India, and in order to counteract the intrigues of the French, who had become auxiliaries to other native powers, with the design of driving the petitioners out of the East Indies, and of excluding the British nation wholly from Asiatic commerce; but by means of the forces raised and maintained by the petitioners, and at their sole expence, the petitioners completely defeated those objects; so that, at the conclusion of the war which ended in the year 1763, the French were left without one single settlement, and almost without influence, in any part of Asia; and that, in the year 1757, the nabob of Bengal permitted the petitioners to establish a mint at Calcutta ; and in the same year the said nabob made over to the petitioners the property in certain lands in Bengal, generally called the twenty-four purgunhas, and the saltpetre lands of the whole province of Bahar; and in the year 1758, the petitioners obtained a grant from the said nabob for the free tenure of the town of Calcutta, discharged from the rent to which, to that time, it had been subject; in the year 1759, the soubah of the Decan made over to the petitioners the whole of the circar of Masulipatam, with eight districts, as well as the circar of Nizampatam and the districts of Condavir and Wacalmanner; in the year 1763,the nabob of Arcot made over to the petitioners several districts of land surrounding Madras, which lands have since been called the jaghire of the petitioners; and such transfer was confirmed in the year 1765 by the said nabob, and also by the great mogul; in the year 1764, the mogul made over to the petitioners the country of Gauze Poor and the rest of the zemindary of rajah Bulwant Sing; in the year 1765, the great mogul granted to the petitioners the country called the Northern Circars; and in the following year such grant was acceded to by the soubah; and in the year 1765, the great mogul ap. pointed the petitioners, in perpetuity, to the office of dewan of the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, such appointment being made as a free gift; and by virtue of such grant the petitioners, in the execution of the office, acquired the right of collection of all the revenues of the said provinces, for their own use, free from any account thereof to be rendered; and that the petitioners crave leave to remark, that no part of the property in any of the forts, factories, or territories, which became vested in the petitioners at the time of the union of the two companies, nor any of the territories nor rights lastly hereinbefore mentioned to have been granted to the petitioners, were acquired by conquest, but by purchase, by means of pecuniary payments, or by services rendered to, or other good considerations moving the grantors; and that, about the year 1767, a claim was made on the part of the public to the beneficial interest in the territorial acquisitions and revenues then lately obtained there, and thereupon agreements have been made from time to time that the possession of such acquisitions and revenues should remain with the petitioners, upon a participation of the profit of the revenue between the public and the petitioners, as mentioned in several acts of parliament made and passed at different times since 1767, without prejudice to the claims of the public or of the petitioners; and that, previous to the year 1773, the government of the settlements and acquisitions in India was conducted under the uncontrouled direction of the petitioners, by virtue of the powers of government which they derived from their charters; but, ever since the year 1773, the mode of the immediate government of India has been regulated by parliament; and from that time to the year 1784, in pursuance of directions of acts of parliament, the lords commissioners of his Majesty's treasury, and one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state, in their several departments, were made acquainted with the correspondence and orders sent to and received from India by the petitioners, in any way relating to the management of the revenue, or civil or military affairs and government of the petitioners in that country; and from the year 1784 to the present time, all acts, operations and concerns, which in any ways have related to or concerned the civil or military government or revenues of the territories and acquisitions in the East Indies, have been placed under the superintendence and controul of certain commissioners appointed by his Majesty, in pursuance of acts of parliament passed for that purpose; and the petitioners have been restrained from giving any orders or directions relative thereto, without the concurrence of the said commissioners; and in cases in which the said commissioners have been of opinion that the subject matter of any of their deliberations, concerning the levying war or making peace, or treating or negotiating with any of the native princes or states in India, communicated in orders to any of the governments in India, have been of a nature to require secrecy, such orders have been sent through the medium of a secret committee of three of the court of directors of the petitioners, according to the provisions in that case made by parliament, without any privity of the petitioners, or of their court of directors, and without any discretionary authority on the part of the members of such secret committee; and that, between the period when such claim as herein before mentioned was first made, on the part of the public, to the territorial acquisitions in the East Indies, and the year 1793, a further acquisition of territory was made in India; and that the term heretofore granted to the petitioners in the exclusive trade to the East Indies, being about to be redeemed in the year 1794, an act of parliament was made and passed in the 33d year of his present majesty, whereby it was enacted, amongst many other things, that the territorial acquisitions in certain the peninsula, besides very extensive proformer acts mentioned, together with the vinces in the north of Hindostan, and conterritorial acquisitions then lately obtained tain, as it is supposed, above fifty millions in the East Indies, with the revenues of inhabitants, and have been acquired thereof respectively, should continue in wholly at the expence and risk of the pethe possession of the petitioners during titioners, without any charge whatever to the further term by that act granted in the the British exchequer, for, though land said exclusive trade; and that the peti- forces belonging to his majesty have been tioners should have the exclusive trade employed, in conjunction with the forces within the limits mentioned in the said act raised by the petitioners, yet the whole of parliament passed in the 9th year of of the expence of such forces of bis making William the 3rd, subject nevertheless jesty, whilst they have been employed in to such right of trading as is thereby such service, as well as for their passage given to individuals, to be carried on in out and home, and in recruiting, has been the manner therein mentioned, and sub- defrayed by the petitioners; besides which, ject to a proviso to determine such right for a considerable length of time, the petiat any time, upon three years notice to be tioners furnished or paid for victualling given by parliament, after the 1st day of and stores for the use of his majesty's March 1811, upon the expiration of ships of war in the East Indies; and that the said three years, and upon payment the petitioners beg leave humbly to remade to the petitioners of any sum or present, that the welfare and happiness of sums which, under the provisions of any the inhabitants of the countries which act of that session of parliament, should or have come under the care of the petimight, upon the expiration of the said tioners has been their chief object, and three years, become payable to the peti- they have reason to hope and believe that tioners by the public, according to the the amelioration of the condition of the true intent and meaning of such act; but people is most eminently conspicuous; it was enacted, that nothing in that pro- when Hindostan was first visited by Briviso, or in any proviso in the said act in tish traders, and long after the union of the 9th year of king Williamn the 3rd, in the two companies before-mentioned, the said charter of the 5th of September, when the opposition, not only of British in the 10th year of his reign, or in any subject against British subject, but of other act or charter, should extend to de- European against European, and the cortermine the corporation of the petitioners; rupt and impolitic attempts which were and, by the said act, certain appropria- constantly made by one party to raise the tions were made of all the profits arising despotic power of the Indian states against from the territorial acquisitions and reve- other parties, had in some measure ceased, Bues in India, and also from the sale of the character of the native governments, goods, and all other profits of the peti- as well as of the native individuals, retioners in Great Britain, during the time mained unchanged, the ill usage which of the exclusive trade thereby granted to they had received from individual and asthe petitioners; and that the notice re-sociated Europeans roaming about without quired by the last mentioned act hath been given by the Speaker of the House, for determining the exclusive trade of the petitioners on the 10th day of April 1814; and that, since the passing the said last mentioned act, a further acquisition of territory and revenue in India has been made, and is now in the possession of the petitioners; and the petitioners also show that they have taken all the forts and factory to the mogul, who was considered tories which belonged to the French, Dutch, and Danes in Hindostan; and the petitioners are now in possession as well of the territories mentioned in the said lastmentioned act as of those which have been since acquired, and the British dominions in India, without a rival, or any enemy, now consist of a very large proportion of responsibility or controul, raised a jealousy and animosity against every stranger without distinction, and the internal state of the country, where justice and injustice were equally articles of traffic to be bought and sold, left the rights of persons and property entirely at hazard; and that the petitioners found the country divided into many different states, all feuda the sole proprietor of the whole; these states were again divided among zemindars and chiefs, with other designations, under whom there were sub-infeudations, down to the ryots, who were the actual cultivators of the soil, and no man held any land, and scarcely a crop, but at the will of another of superior power; there |