ter to the -Sari of Shelburne, on the Subject of Vr . Secretary Town sh end 1 3 Lette UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES LETTER TO THE EARL OF SHELBURNE, ON THE SUBJECT OF Mr. SECRETARY TOWNSHEND's LETTER T O T H E CHAIRMAN AND DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN OF THE EAST-INDIA COMPANY. INJURIOSO NE PEDE PRORUAS STANTEM COLUMNAM. HORACE. LONDON: PRINTED FOR JOHN DEBRETT, (SUCCESSOR TO MR. ALMON) OPPOSITE BURLINGTON-HOUSE, PICCADILLY. MDCCLXXX1II. .; > .. TO THE EARL OF SHELBURNE. MY LORD, WITHOUT profefling much per- fonal attachment to your Lordmip, I wifh to contribute my mite to the fup- port of your administration : with this view I defire to be permitted to remonftrate with your Lordmip on your intended attack on the Eaft-India Company. As no man in this country is difpofed to give up his rights, and leaft of all, the Eaft-India Company, if we may judge from experience, one certain confequence of this attack will be, that there will be a warm ftruggle, that the public bufinefs B will ;i54857 ( 2 ) will be neglefled, and the King's affairs diftradted. If your Lordfhip could be, what I ve- rily believe you are not, fo poor a creature as to look forward to fome little advan- tages to arife from a coalition of men, who may poffibly agree in wiihing to hunt down the Bad-India Company, you would be deceived. If you are to affume the port of a great minitier, preffing forward thro' all formal obftacles and difficulties to the attainment of fome important public good, Have a care, my Lord ! your good is problematical at beft, your means are vio- lent beyond meafure. Rafh and ill-advifed was that ftep, which committed the dignity and authority of the Commons of Great-Britain in Parliament aflembled, with a popular aflembly in Leadenhall-flreet, upon a ground of re- commendation. It furely required no extraordinary degree of political fagacity to have ( 3 ) have forefeen that fuch a recommendation, which was not a, command, and yet was fo nearly allied to it, muft have created heart-burnings among men, jealous of their rights ; and muft have difpofed them to refift, were the meafure recommended ever fo proper in itfelf. In the moment the General Court of Proprietors of Baft-India ftock did refift, with that degree of fpleen and ill-humour, which manifefted that hi their fenfe of things, their rights were in- Vaded. It happened that in the progrefs of the bufmefs, the nature of the fubject un- der confideration, put weapons into their hands, which enabled them to fight the battle with great fuccefs, and much popu- lar applaufe. The public are imprefTed with reverence for the character of Mr. Haftings. He is the Chatham of the Eaft. He is looked up to as a man of a vigorous and culti- vated underftanding, of an enlarged mind, of infinite application, of incorruptible iu- B 2 tegrity, ( 4 ) tegrity, and above all, of great experience in the affairs of India. People are (hocked with not very unreafonable apprehenfions of infinite confufion, to arite from the ap- pointment of new men, to fucceed at once to the management of a moft extenfive and complicated fyftcm. They feel in general difmclined to hazard, at this time, a change in the government of India. In a word, they feel, upon the fubject of re- moving Mr. Haftings at this hour, as your Lordmip would wifli they fhould feel, if they were told that you, my Lord, were to be removed, in the moment when you had brought things into a train for a peace. A moment's reflexion will convince your Lordfhip that thefe impreflions in fa- vour of Mr. Haftings bore down every other confideration in the General Court. Men of all defcriptions, parties, factions, if you pleafe, united in his fupport. There was not even a decent appearance on the fide ( 5 ) fide of the Directors refolution to difmifs this upright Minifter. The numbers upon the ballot were, For refcinding the refolution of re- moval 428 Againft 75 Numbers, my Lord, which could not have been obtained but by the weight of public opinion. Numbers fo much ex- ^ ceeding the expectations of certain peribns, who were unwilling to believe that Mr. Haftings was fo dear to the public, that your Lordfbip knows you were (hrevvdly fufpefted of not having played fair with V them. That was the jealoufy of contracted minds. Thofe perfons ought to have known that not even your Lordmip's weight thrown into the fcale, without public opi- nion on the fide of Mr. Haftings, could have ( 6 ) have produced thofe nmmbers. Your Lordfhip, who muft be confcious that you did not affift that vote, will make very lit- tle ufe indeed of your knowledge of man- kind, if you hefitate to afcribe it to its true caufe. And you are not the able State- Fhyfician you ought to be, if it does not point out to you, how the public pulfe beats with refpect to the whole of the proceedings regarding Mr. Haftings. Inftead of embarking in a childim quar- rel with the General Court upon fmall points, I wim to prevail upon your Lord- (hip to difmifs all other confederations, and to confine your attention to the fingle quef- y tion, whether the Minifter of this coun- try is called upon by urgent, invincible, palpable ftate-neceflity, to refume the - charters of the Eaft-India Company, and to refcind by force what has been done in purfuance of thofe legal powers which they delegate ? This ( 7 ) This is the only confideration arifing out of this fqhjedt, worthy or the atten- tion of a great Minifter, who is above paying compliments at the expence of men's rights. It" it could pofllbly have happened that your Louiihip had perluaded y.uiidt that fuui a necvfiity did exili, ypu will permit me to obferve that your work is not half r done. The public muft go along with you. The charcerb of the Eaft India Com* pany canuot be ton from them for the z of carrying jome point of a com- plexion. doubtful to them. With a proper difpohii .. vc> give the Minifter credit upoa fubjedls removed from their own obferva- tion, it is irnpoifible to prevent them from judging k .'ves upon this fubjetl, where they have all the evidence before them, and it is too late to hope that their judgment will favour the attack, which is . meditated, becaufe inftead of feeling the neccffity of removing Mr. Haftings, they' have ( 8 ) have already decided againfl the expedi- ency of that meafure. It is not impoffi- ble that they may have decided ill, but I think myfelf warranted to obferve, that when the fources of intelligence are fairly open to the obfervation of the people, and the dog-ftar happens not to rage, they ge- rally come to the true conclufion. In this inftance your Lordmip will have to main- tain, againft ftrong prejudices, and very general prepofleflions, that in protecting Mr. Haftings the Eaft India Company have been fo grofsly and ruinoufly wrong, that the ftate cannot exift unlefs the error be inftantly reformed at all hazards, and at the expence of the moft acknowledged rights. , Admitting for the fake of the argu- ment, that your Lordmip was perfuaded, that the Committee of the Houfe of Com- mons had demonftrated, that the condmft of the Governor-General had been ill-ad- vifed and exceptionable in the points moft eflential ( ) tflential to the general welfare, ftillwhen the queftion arifes whether it is necefTary, or even whether it is expedient to remove him from the government, common pru- dence, as well as common jufl ice, Teems to require, that his merits mould be thrown into the oppofite fcale. ;< Ubi plura " nitent non ego pauci offendar maculis? What if the great and efential fervices of Mr. Haftings fhould be thought to out- weigh his errors ? Ought fuch a man to be difgraced ? Ought the public to be de- prived of the benefit of his future labours, again ft the fenfe of his employers, by an extraordinary interposition, more efpe- cially if any othtrfafe courfe can be taken ? This leads me to exprefs a wifli, that your Lordfhip would call to mind, that although the removal of the iervants of the Eaft India Company is by law vefted in the Company, the conticul over them in all points, which relate to. the great lines of government, viz. treaties with the country C powers, f 1 ) powers, and the levying war, and making peace, is given to the King's Minifters, Your Lordmip is therefore enabled to reform fuch errors, as may have crept into the fyftem of the adminiftration of India affairs, in a ftritf legal courfe, with- out difgracing an honourable and merito- rious man, and without infringing the rights of the Company. Suppofe your Lordmip faw reafon to apprehend that a gangrene might come on, would you call at once for the knife, without firft trying whether fuch alterations as may be fafely adminiftred without danger to the conftitu- tion may not improve the juices, correct the habit, and fave the diftempered limb. Without a figure your Lordmip will do very little for the India Company, by in- terpofing with violence to remove parti- cular men from offices. Go to your clofet, my Lord ; digeft regulations for their con- duct. You will be obeyed, becaufe you are ad ing within your province. Do not forego ( II ) forego thofe advantages to your fyftem, which may be derived from the experience of men converfant with Eaft India affairs. What may we not hope for from Haftings at the helm in India, and Shelburne at home ! Can it be prudent to hazard the fubfti- tution of Lord Macartney ? Can it be neceflary to bring about fuch an event by downright force and violence ? Once more therefore do I prefume to call your Lord- fliip's attention to the queftion of abfolute irrefiftible necefiity. All other points in this bufinefs are paltry and infignificant : ti\Q fringes of the caufe, as the lawyers term it. Suppofe for a moment, that the Proprietary, fore upon the fubjecl of their rights, had part a hafty, angry, furly refo- lution, that they would not be dictated to by the Houfe of Commons ; does your Lordmip believe, that the Earl of Chat- ham, if he had been living, would have condefcended to quarr^ with thefe city C 2 manners. ( 12 ) manners. The pride of fmaller men might have been galled j but the paflions and infirmities of fuch men would have been no fpur to his generous mind. He would have feizsd the Cu-Tiparv's, charter, if he had feen reafon for doing it, but it muft have been a better reafon, than that they had not bowed low enough to the Houfe of Commons. How it may be in thefe days I know not ; but if the roughnefs of fuch a refuta- tion as I have above fuppofed, is to be deemed an offence, I mould be curious to fee how Mr. Attorney General would mould it into an information or an im- peachment for high crimes and mifde- meanors. To be fuse breach of privilege might take it in. / The General Court was in fadl tempe- 7 rate in its conduct. They received from the Court of Directors a firing of refolutions leading to, and concluding with the re- moval ( 13 ) moval of Mr. Haftings. They entered into the merits of thofe refolutions ; they called for papers j they propofed a vote accompanied with reafons ; that there / might be time for deliberation, they fent it to the ballot. No candid man will deny that this vote confidered only with reference to the refolutions of the Court of Directors was a right vote, for more unfounded refolutions were never brought forward. If , it is confidered as oppofed to the recom- mendation of the Houfe of Commons, I muft put your Lord(hip in mind, that the fituation of our affairs in India was changed (I fpeak of our knowledge of thofe affairs) fince the vote of recommendation paflcd. Advices from India had diiclofed a new ftate of things, which had been commu- nicated to the Proprietors, which it was their duty to take into confideration, and upon which, being called upon by the directors, they were bound to form a judgement, Poflibly ( 14 ) Poflibly your Lordfhip may begin to think that thefe are circumftances which afford fome ibrt of apology for the Court of Proprietors, who. if they may have cre- dit for thofe opinions, by which I have fuppofed them to have been governed, acted honeftly, if not wifely. But who, my Lord, mall apologize for thofe men, who with abundantly more zeal than dif- cretion, hurried thofe refolutions forward, upon which the Proprietary decided ? Had they been content to have waited 'till the meeting of Parliament, the Com- mittee might have refumed the enquiry, taken the new matter into confideration, and have come to fome refolution upon the whole, in fome regular pailiamentary courle of proceeding ; and your Lordfhip would not have been driven to take up the bufinefs of the recommendation, or to denounce, by Mr. Secretary Townfhend*, that * See his Letter to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Eaft-India Company, page 19. ( IJ ) that parliamentary vengeance, which it feems this unfortunate refolution of the / Court of Proprietors is to draw down upon the devoted Eaft India Company. A more unfortunate interpofition I verily think is not to be found in the annals of minifters. If your Lordfhip had reflected upon the fituation in which you flood, on your fuc- ceeding to the adminiftration of the trea- fury, you muft have feen that you were out of the (crape of the recommendation j and that your being out of it, would enable thofe, who were the deepeft in it, to make a decent retreat : If they were bent upon purfuing their own courfe, I did conceive that they might perplex your Lordfhip for a moment ; that you might find yourfelf pent up in a narrow crooked path, and under fome difficulty in getting back into the plain road. But ( 16 ) But I trufted that the reins of govern- ment were in fteady hands, that little difficulties would be got over, that you would go on in the old parliamentary track, to make laws to bind the King's fubjecls by the authority of the King's Ma- jefty, by and with the confent of the Lords and Commons of Great-Britain in Parli- ment aflembled : and that you would have left it to your old colleague in office V to maintain, that the recommendation of one Houfe of Parliament is to have the force of a law. Your Lordmip may be afTured that this would have been not only the more direct, but the fafer courfe. Your Lordmip cannot flatter yourfelf, that by giving your countenance to its meafures, you will for one moment conciliate that inveterate oppofition, you will have to cope with. Depend upon it as foon as they fee you completely plunged into this bufinefs, and made refponfible for all the violence violence that is meditated, they will turn upon you, join in the cry of liberty, pro- perry, violated charter rights, &c. &c. and you will be hunted down and devoured by your own dogs. I fee, with great concern, my Lord, that the actual ftate of things is, that his Majc'fty's name has been introduced into this bufmefs, and that the Royal Authority is alfo committed in this unhappy and un- necefTary quarrel with the Eaft India Corn- piny, and by fome fatality one would think, committed upon a ground of law lefs tenable than the doctrine of recom- mendation by a Houfe of Parliament. If it is not difficult in point of argument, it may be dangerous in practice to attempt to confine the power of the Houfe of Commons within certain limits. Privi- lege may ftride over all thofe bounds, which mark the precife extent of ordinary jurifdictions. Some may be jnterefted to D maintain, maintain, and many may not have firm- nefs to deny, that a recommendation of the Houfe of Commons muft be obeyed. But your LordQiip muft not expect, that in thefe days, the Royal Authority, that facred depofit, for which your Lord- fhip is accountable, has any fuch guard about it. The luftre of it dazzles no man. We approach it : We view it with eagle eyes. It is in general treated with very little reverence, and all men are difpofed to refift moft obftinately the flighteft excefs of it. How it has happened that the gentle- men in Leadenhall-ftreet were content to V difmifs Mr. Secretary Townmend with fo little obfervation, I can only guefs. Pro- bably they were of opinion that an early notification to their fervants in India, that Mr. Haftings was not turned out, was not very eflential. I fhould have thought that your LordQiip might have been of the fame ( 19 ) fame opinion, and not have hazarded Mr. Secretary Townfhend's * letter to pre- vent it. D 2 Very * The letter here alluded to is as follows : Whitehall, Nov. 16, 1782. To the Chairman and Deputy Chairman. Gentlemen, " I have received your letter of the yth, in- clofing a difpatch of the fame date propofed by the Court of Directors of the Eaft India Com- pany to be fent to the Governor-General and Council of Fort William, Bengal, on the fubjecl ./ of the removal of Warren Haftings, Efq. the Governor General. " The refolution of the Court of Directors formed in compliance with the Direclion of the General Court of Proprietors, is fo dire&ly re- pugnant to the fenfe of the Houfe of Commons exprefled in their refolution of the 28th of May, as well as to the opinion of the Court of Direc- tors, which appears by their refolution of t e 22d of October, that I have received His Majef- ty's commands to withhold my approbation to j the draft before-mentioned ; and 1 defire you will pleafe to inform the Court of Directors, that it is His ( 20 ) Very open to obfervation the letter certainly is : for with Mr. Attorney-Ge- neral's good leave I muft take the free- dom to declare, that I cannot fatisfy myfelf that the act of parliament does warrant Mr, Secretary Townfhend's inter- poiition upon this fubject Having laid fo much, I am bound to flate to your Lordmip the grounds of my difficulties, for I agree that no man is at liberty to arraign the proceedings of Go- vernment, without dating the reafons upon which he grounds his charge. The claufe of the ftatute of the 2ift of George the Third, upon which this quef. tion arifes, is as follows. " And J His Majefty's intention to order the proceedings relative to this bufmefs to be laid before Parlia- ment. I am likewife to inftrut you to fufpend fending the faid draft to the Eaft Indies till the matter now depending fliall have undergone the confideration of Parliament. (Signed) T. TOWNSHEND." " And be it further enacted by the au- thority aforefaid, that the Court of Di- rectors of the faid United Company (hall, and they are hereby required and directed to deliver to the Commiffioners of His Ma- jefty's Treafury, or any three or more of them for the time being, or to the High Treafurer for the time being, copies of all fuch letters and orders as {hall or may any way relate to the management of the re- venues of the faid United Company four- teen days at the leaft before the fending or difpatching of fuch letters and orders re- fpectively; and in like manner (hall deli- ver to one of His Majefty's Principal Se- cretaries of State, copies of all fuch letters and orders as fhall or may any way relate to the civil and military affairs and govern- ment of the faid United Company, to any of their fervants in India ; and fuch copies {hall be figned by two or more of the Di- rectors of the faid United Company : and that the faid Court of Directors of the faid United Company fhall, and they are here- by by required to pay due obedience to, and fhall be governed and bound by, fuch in- ftruclions as they (hall receive from His Majefty by one of his Majefty's Principal Secretaries of State, fofar as relate to the condtttt and tranjattions of tie jaid United Company, and their Governors, Prefdents, and Councils refpetf.vely, with the country powers in the Eafl Indies* and alft to the levying war and making peace, in fuch or- ders as the faid Court of Directors (hall from thenceforth give to the Governor and Council of their Prefidency of Fort Wil- liam, in Bengal, and alfo to their Prefident and Council in the other fettlements re- fpeclively belonging to the faid United Company : Provided neverthelefs, that in cafe the Secretary of State to whom the copies of fuch letters aforefaid mail be de- livered (hall not, within fourteen days after the delivery thereof, communicate^^ or- ders and inftrufticm as aforefaid in writing, to the faid Court of Directors > and in iuch cafe it mall and may be lawful for the ( 23 ) the faid Court cf Directors to difpatch and fend luch orders to their lervants in India, in fuch manner as they (hall think fit." Upon good advice, I take upon me to affirm to your Lordmip, that the true as well as the plain and obvious conftrudtion of this ftatute is, that the Secretary of State is thereby only authorized to com- municate his M.ijefty's inftrudlions for the conduct of the Company and their fervants in their tranjaftious with the Ccuniry Powers, and refpetting the levying of war and making of peace ^ by which inductions the Court of Directors are to be governed in the orders which they tranimit. The Secretary of State has no power given to him to interfere beyond thefe two heads, tranfaclions with country powers., and making war and peace : nor can he interfere by any conftru&ion that will not authorize his interpofition in every article that compofes a part of the detail of the civil civil and military affairs of the Company ; which 1 prefume no man will contend for. If any one is difpofed to afk, why are copies of all letters refpecling the civil and military affairs of the company to betranf- mitted to the Secretary of State ? I an- fwer, that upon a view of the whole h may be enabled to form his inftruclions upon thofe fubje&s it belongs to him to inftruct upon. It is too plain a cafe to require further difcuffion. Mr. Secretary Townfhend was not authorized to withhold his Majejlys approbation^ or to injlrutt the Directors to fufpend the tranfmijjion of the paragraphs. Here then we have a recommendation from one Houfe of Parliament, which the law knows nothing of, enforced by an adl of State, which the law condemns. Who fuggefted this meafure to your Lordmip, I know not ; but I think I may venture ( 25 ) venture to fay, that your Lordfhip's word enemy could not have given you more pernicious advice. You are upon ground that trembles un- der you. You have advanced but one ftep, and you find no footing : by a violent ef- fort you may flounder through the bog, but I fear you will leave the conftitution, which (hculd be under your protection, behind you. Your Lordfhip, I confefs, is reduced to a condition, in which it will be neceflary for you to compare very great evils, and to chufe the letter. If you feel that you ought not to pro- ceed, recede with as much grace as may be, and as foon as may be. No man is infallible, and the public will be conloled by oblcrving, that the ridiculous pride of pcrfevering in en or is not the vice, which belongs to the character 6f the prefent firft E Minifter. 1857 ( 26 ) Minifter. By tracing back every ftep you have taken, you will redeem yourfelf, and what is of infinitely more confequence, the intereft of the public; and all its im- portant concerns will not be facrificed, while a whole feffion of Parliament is wafted in an acrimonious ftruggle for the patron- age of the Eaft-India Company. 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