tle acts of the Prosecutors, and restoring Captain Baillie to his command. If he does this, then his once will be no more than the too common one, of having suffered lär own personal interest to prevail over his public duty, in pricing is voters in the P spital Lint if, on the contrary, he continues to prect the Pro ecutors, in spite of the evidence of their guilt, which has excited the abbrrence of the numerous audierce that crowd this Court,-18 HE KEEPS THIS INJURED MAN SUSPENDED, OR DARES TO TURN THAT SUSPENSION INTO A REMOVAL, I SHALL THEN NOT PLE 10 DELARE M AN ACCOMPLICE IN THEIR GUILT—A SHAMLI 5S OPPRES O2—A DISGRACE TO HIS RANK, AND A TRAITOR TO IP'S ALT. but as I should be very sorry that the fortune of my brave an i honom.bl friend should depend, either upon the exercise of Lord's virtues, or the influence of his fears, I do most earnestly entreat the Court to mark the malignant object of this prosecution, and to defeat it :-I beseech you, my Lords, to consider, that even by discharging the rule, and with costs, the defendant is neither protected nor restored. I trust, therefore, your Lordships will not rest satisfied with fulfilling your JUDICIAL duty, but, as the strongest evidence of foul abuses has, by accident, come collaterally before you, that you will protect a brave and public-spirited officer from the persecution this writing has brought upon him, and not suffer so dreadful an example to go abroad into the world, as the ruin of an upright man, for having faithfully discharged his duty.

My Lords, this matter is of the last importance. I speak not as an ADVOCATE alone-I speak to you AS A MAN-as a member of a state, whose very existence depends upon her NAVAL STRENGTH. If a misgovernment were to fall upon Chelsea Hospital, to the ruin and discouragement of our army, it would be no doubt to be lamented; yet I should not think it fatal: But if our fleets are to be crippled by the baneful influence of elections, WE ARE LOST INDEED!-If the seaman, who, while he exposes his body to fatigues and dangers-looking forward to Greenwich as an asylum for infirmity and old age-sees the gates of it blocked up by corruption, and hears the riot and mirth of luxurious landmen drowning the groans and complaints of the wounded, helpless companions of his glory,-he will tempt the seas no more. The Admiralty may press HIS BODY, indeed, at the expense of humanity and the constitution; but they cannot press his mind-they cannot press the heroic ardour of a British sailor; and, instead of a fleet to carry terror all round the globe, the Admiralty may not much longer be able to amuse us, with even the peaceable unsubstantial pageant of a review.

FINE AND IMPRISONMENT!-The man deserves a PALACE, instead of a PRISON, who prevents the palace, built by the public bounty of his country, from being converted into a dungeon, and who sacrifices his own security to the interests of humanity and virtue.' I. 20. 29-32.

The

The profeffional life of this eminent perfon, who has, of late years, reached the highest honours of the law, is in every refpect ufeful as an example to future lawyers. It shows, that a bafe, time-ferving demeanour towards the Judges, and a corrupt or fervile conduct towards the Government, are not the only, though, from the frailty of human nature, and the wickedness of the age, they may often prove the fureft roads to preferment. It exalts the character of the English Barrister beyond what, in former times, it had attained, and holds out an illuftrious instance of patriotifm and independence, united with the highest legal excellence, and crowned, in the worlt of times, with the most ample fuccefs. But it is doubly important, by proving how much a fingle man. can do against the corruptions of his age, and how far he can vindicate the liberties of his country, fo long as courts of justice are pure, by raifing his fingle voice against the outcry of the people, and the influence of the Crown, at a time when the union of thefe oppofite forces was bearing down all oppofition in Parliament, and daily fetting at nought the most fplendid talents, armed with the moft juft caufe. While the adminiftration of the law flows in fuch pure channels,-while the Judges are incorruptible, and are watched by the fcrutinizing eyes of an enlightened Bar, as wel as by the jealous attention of the country,-while juries continue to know, and to exercife their high functions, and a fingle advocate of honesty and talents remains-thank God, happen what will in other places, our perfonal fafety is beyond the reach of a corrupt miniftry and their venal adherents. Juftice will hold her even balance, in the midft of hofts armed with gold or with steel, The law will be adminiftered steadily, while the principles of right and wrong—the evidence of the fenfes themselves-the very axioms of arithmetic-may feem, elfewhere, to be mixed in one giddy and inextricable confufion; and, after every other plank of the British conftitution fhall have funk below the weight of the Crown, or been ftove in by the violence of popular commotion, that one will remain, to which we are ever fondeft of clinging, and by which we can always moft furely be faved.

ART. VI. Strictures on the Present Government, Civil, Military and Political, of the British Possessions in India: in a Letter from an Officer resident on the Spot, to his Friend in England. Svo. pp. 124. London, 1808.

An Accurate and Authentic Narrative of the Origin and Progress of the Discussions at the Presidency at Madras: founded on Original

2

Original Papers and Correspondence. 8vo. pp. 273. London, 1810.

A Letter from an Officer at Madras to a Friend formerly in that Service, now in England; exhibiting the Rise, Progress and actual State of the late unfortunate Insurrection in the Indian Army. 8vo. pp. 116. London, 1810.

An Account of the Origin, Progress and Consequences of the late Discontents of the Army on the Madras Establishment. 8vo. pp. 294. London, 1810.

W E have copied over the titles of these recent publications, with a view to point the attention of the public, not so much to their individual merits, or to the particular occurrences of which they treat, as to that rational curiosity respecting the state of India, of which they afford a fresh and remarkable indication. At present, we propose nothing less than to take a general view of those grand questions respecting the future government of India, which will, in a short time, come before the nation, not for discussion merely, but for legislative decision. It is high time to do what depends upon us, to direct that mass of intellectual power which the country undoubtedly contains, to this extraordinary subject;-that, when the hour of decision arrives, we may have some chance of a legislative provision, not dictated by ex parte statements and former practice; the strongest minds shrinking from the question, from the view of insufficient time, the great mass of the weak and timid, from conscious ignorance and aversion to thought. What, indeed, can be the consequence of coming to the decision of such a question, with minds utterly unprepared, but that they on whom the decision depends will, at all hazards, say to themselves- We can do nothing better than just to leave matters as nearly as possible in the state we found them?' Whatever may be the event,—and it is but too likely to follow precedent,-it shall not be our fault, if a question of so much importance shall be again decided on any such blind and unmanly principles.

The Company's charter, the discussion for the renewal of which was at one time destined for the present session of Parliament, and will, with little doubt, be the business of the succeeding one, involves two objects. 1. The Commercial Monopoly: 2. The

Government.

. I. As we cannot, within our narrow limits, do every thing,or rather, as we can do but a very few things, we shall consider the question of an exclusive company for the purposes of trade,

as

as decided. We shall consider it as a point settled, and, among thinking men, no longer bearing to be disputed, that an exclusive company presents prima facie evidence of an institution that ought to be abolished. Wherever an institution of this kind is to be defended, therefore, it must be on some special ground. Something must be contended for, which it is asserted takes that particular case out of the list of ordinary cases, and makes it a rule to itself. Pleas of this kind, in sufficient abundance, and very industriously complicated, have not been wanting in behalf of the East India Company: but if these cannot bear examination, (and that we shall try immediately), the exclusive trade of the East India Company is proved to be of the same nature with other exclusive trades; that is to say, a nuisance.

'*

Before we proceed, however, to these special pleas, it is necessary at least to mention, that monopoly, in the most extensive and absolute sense of the word, still finds among the directors men who are capable of standing up in its defence. It is a question,' say they, of the policy of states, whether their subjects shall be encouraged to enter into competition with each other at any particular foreign market. Suppose this question decided as the proposers of it evidently wish it decided, viz. that subjects should not be so encouraged; then we ought to have, not only an East India Company for an East India trade, but a West India Company for a West India trade; an American Company for an American trade; a Russian Company for a Russian trade; and, in short, no merchants, and no commerce, but those of exclusive companies. And such is the secret of those politicians for enriching nations by the medium of trade.

They go on to say, The monopoly, by preventing competition, enables Great Britain to buy cheaper, and sell dearer, in India, than otherwise she could do; that is to say, the monopoly enables the inhabitants of Great Britain to pocket a sum of money, annually, at the expense of the Indians. As coming from the lips of the Sovereign of these people, the paternal character of this boast will not be disputed. As usually happens with all schemes of injustice, however, the policy is Find and deceitful. For, what is the fact? In the first place, the Company themselves tell us, that they sell in India with a loss, that they suffer by the export trade. In the next place, the nature of things prevents them from buying in India below a fixed and wel-deliaed price. To produce goods, the labourer must VOL. XVI. NO. 21.

I

Report of the Special Committee, to whose consideration the let ter of Mr Dundas ca Private Trade (dated April 24, 1800) was cfened, Art. x.

--

be maintained during the time he is producing them ;-the raw materials must be bought;--and the price of these, with some sort of profit on the advance, must be given by the ultimate purchaser; otherwise, the goods will not be produced. Now, this is the very point to which the competition of sellers, by its nature, necessarily reduces price ;-and, therefore, the East India monopoly has not only no tendency to make goods cheaper in India, but has a decided tendency to make them dearer. It prevents all that encouragement to the manufacturer which competition would afford; and of which the inseparable consequence would be, those improvements in the productive powers of labour, by which prices are, to an indefinite extent, reduced. The Directors take care to say nothing of the high price at which the nonopoly enables them to sell their goods in England; because the people of England could not then fail to discover, that whatever is, from this source, conveyed into the pockets of the Company, must be unfairly drained out of theirs. It is abundantly clear, however, that if any pecuniary advantage is derived to the Company from its monopoly, it is derived at the expense of the British people, and of none other. This, we are told, is pouring wealth into the country.

There is no pretence of which Lord Melville and the Directors have made more frequent and efficacions use, than the assumed necessity of an exclusive company for bringing home the surplus The soundness of this pretext,-the knowrevenue of India. * ledge which it displays, if it was sincere, and the intention, if it was insincere,-it is now altogether unnecessary to expose. The fact is at last too well ascertained, that there is no surplus revenue to bring home, and none to be expected; that there is, on the contrary, a large deficiency, which it has been necessary to supply from the wealth of Great Britain. But suppose the fact were otherwise, that there was a tribute to bring home, and a large one,would not the bills of the British merchants be as good for this, as they are for remitting sums of a still larger amountsubsidies, for example, to Austria or Sweden?

The old asseveration, which at one time performed excellent service, viz. that private traders would not have capital sufficient for the commerce of India, though it is not yet entirely set aside, will no longer bear to be loaded with any great proportion of the burthen The part which the Americans, and which private raders do engross of that commerce, is too notorious to be denied; and there are causes which have compelled the Company

*

535.

to

See Historical View of Plans for British India, &c. p. 193, 911,