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415

Proceedings in Parliament, 1773.

formable to justice; for the fortifications, warehouses, &c. the property of the Company in India, supposing them of immense value there, could not fairly be eftimated as of any value here; they were fubject to cafualties; a thoufand accidents might intervene, granting the Company difpofed even to convert them into cafh.

The poftponing the propofed refolutions for even a few days, could anfwer no end; for a reftriction of the Company's dividend to fix per cent. was either a proper or an improper meafure. If it was an improper meafure, the fooner it was difcuffed and laid afide, the better; if, on the contrary, it was a proper meafure, why poftpone it? He concluded, that he believed the propriety of the reftriction of the dividend to fix per cent[3 words Italicized]. was univerfally allowed by the Houfe, as fcarcely a fingle argument had been advanced againft it.
Me. Edm-nd B-rke next arofe, and begged the Chairman (Mr. B-c-on) to read the refolutions; which being complied with, he defired that they might be put and debated feparately, and that only the firft relative to the "reftriction of the Company's dividend to fix per cent[3 words Italicized]." might then be agitated. Lord N-rth confented; and, the firft being read, Mr. B-rke ftated the propofitions he meant to prove, the moft material of which were the following:

1. That the Eaft-India Company were not before the Houfe.
2. That, if ever they were before the Houfe, they had been brought there by 
force, fraud, and menaces.
3. That the treaty between the Government and the Company was, on the fide of the Government, iniquitous in every part.
4. That, with refpect to the territorial acquifitions, not one lawyer, with a "rag of a gown upon his back, or a wig with one tie," had given it as his opinion, that the right to thefe poffeffions was vefted in the Crown, and not in the Company.
5. That the French Eaft-India Company, under a defpotic government, was in a better fituation than the Englifh Eaft-India Company, under a government which pretended to liberty.
6. That, in refpect to the mode of conducting itfelf, the French government was angelic[italicized], compared with the Englifh.
7. That the very vote, then about to pafs, was fuch an infringement upon charter rights, as the fpirit of Englifhmen ought not to brook; and fuch a violation of the conftitution, as might indeed be parallelled, but could not be exceeded, in the annals of any country, how defpotic foever.

To prove the firft propofition, Mr. Burke argued, That the act of the Company was contained in the whole of the propofals laid before the Houfe; that the Houfe was to treat with the Company in its corporate capacity, and to accept or reject the whole of its acts; that to accept of part of the Company's propofals, reject the reft, and ingraft new propofals of its own upon thofe offered by the Company, was to drop the idea of a treaty between Parliament and a corporate body, and to defroy the charter rights of the Company. 

To prove the fecond propofition, Mr. B rke faid that "a fhrill voice" (fuppofed to be the late Mr. Beckford's) came from that fide of the Houfe, to the following purport- "Look to the Eaft!" that the bait which tempted the Adminiftration of that time was thirteen millions of specie: that to the populace without doors was held out the allurement of "no additional tax upon porter;" to the landed gentlemen within was propofed that tempting circumftance of "no land-tax." Thus allured by the profpect of the thirteen millions, Adminiftration forced the Company to open a treaty; and, to expedite the propofals on the Company's fide, menaces were then, as now, thrown out; and the threats to deprive the Company of its territorial acquifitions, had fo far the effects intended, that Adminiftration raifed their demands, in proportion to the alacrity fhewn by the Company to enter into treaty. The fraud[italicized] on the part of Adminiftration lay in exacting from the Company an annual payment of 400,000l. at a time when the Company was actually involved, and incapable of paying 40,000l. a year. So that this treaty was begun by force, carried on by fraud, and concluded by the means of defpotic menace. 

To prove the third propofitfon, Mr. B-rke contended thus: The pretext for interfering in the Company's affairs was in 1767 the fame as in 1773; mifmanagements, corruption, frauds, and peculations of every kind, were faid to have been committed by the Company's fervants both at home and abroad. 

415

abroad. Have thefe evils been rectified? Not one fingle fufpected perfon hath been examined. On the contrary, if the evils complained of did really exift, - if the whole of the management of the Company's affairs was one fcene of bloodfhed, rapine, violence, and perfidy abroad, - of corruption, ftock jobbing, trick, villainy, and artifice at home,- you, Minifters, at the fame time that you held out this as a reafon for entering at all into an examination of the Company's affairs, - you, I fay, fanctified thefe crimes, and granted a royal permit[2 words italicized] for the Company's fervants to practife them in future, for the valuable confideration of 400,000 l. 

What is now advanced will hold with refpect to the Company's territorial acquifitions: the lawyers equivocated when the queftion was agitated: on faid, "the Company's territorial poffeffions were held by grant under office, and not by conqueft;" another faid, "that the Crown, tho' it could not claim them by a legal right, yet ought, per fas aut nefas, to enjoy them." But the Company's poffeffions were NOT gained by conqueft, and, therefore, the Crown can have no right to them; or, granting them to be all gained by conqueft, even then the Crown has no right to them; no Lawyer hath ventured pofitively to affert fuch claim.
 
Refpecting the French East-India Company, Mr. B-rke faid, that, when they were in a deplorable fituation, the King took their debts[italicized] upon himfelf, and has fince punctually difcharged them; that in the worft of times he had permitted them to divide five per cent. and that he and his minifters had acted, compared with our King and his minifters, with refpect to their Eaft-India Company, like angels; and that the French Eaft-India Company had flourifhed more in a land of defpotifm, than the Englifh Eaft-India Company ever had done in a land of boafted liberty: but our liberty confifted in boafting only, and was imaginary. In proof of which he referred to his feventh propofition; "for what, fays he, are you now about to do? Are you not going to invade the rights of the Company as invefted in them by charter? Have you fuch an authority by the conftitution? No. Are you not going to affume it? Yes. Are you not, as my noble friend [Lord J. C-v-nd-fh] has oberved, going to feize the executive[italicized] power, and illegally to deprive the Directors of the Company of their rights? For to them, and not to you, the declaration of a dividend appertains."

Mr, B-rke having concluded, Sir Fl-tch-r N-rt-n faid, That, in vindication of a profeffsion, in the purfuit of which he had fpent the greateft part of his life, he could not help attempting to correct the miftakes of the Honourable Gentleman, by informing him, that, fo far from no lawyer having openly declared in favour[italicized] of the Crown's right to the Eaft India Company's territorial poffeffions, no lefs that three[italicized]refpectable characters had given their opinions exprefsly on that fide of the queftion. Sir Fl-tch-r then read a copy of thofe gentlemen's opinions, the purport of which was, that "his Majefty had an undoubted right to all thofe territorial poffeffions in India which the Company had acquired by conqueft." This, continued Sir Fl-tch-r, I thought proper to produce, in contradiction to what the Honourable Gentleman advanced;and it may ferve to convince him, that men who have whole gowns,inftead of rags of one, upon their backs, have avowed fentiments which the Honourable Gentleman was pleafed to fay no lawyer ever yet avowed. Refpecting the opinion I formerly gave upon the fubject, being, faid Sir Fl-tch-r, not then in office, it may be fuppofed a tranfcript of my real fentiments. What my fentiments on this head now are will appear more fully when this matter comes before the Houfe; and I wifh it to be difcuffed in a fair, candid, and open manner; when I fhall difcharge the duty I owe my country, as a Senator, as a Man, and I hope, a found Lawyer. 

Colonel B-rre next arofe; the Houfe was all attention; and the Colonel thus broke filence. He faid, with a fmile, that his ingenious friend [Mr. B-rke] had been fo rapid in his flight, that it was fcarcely poffible for a common obferver to follow him with the eye. He entered into juftification of the treaty made in 1767 with the Eaft India Company. He faid, that the Adminiftration of that time meant everything for the benefit of th eCompany, and the intereft of the nation; but that they had been interrupted in their purfuit by little factions, fomented even by their friends as well as enemies. 

Transcription Notes:
There is a symbol over many of the "Cs" that proceed "Ts" in this documents - making it look like an "8". I was not sure how to capture this. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-22 19:53:19 removed [[italicized]], as instructed in TIPS