to the Proprietors 
 ;t India 
 
 By
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 PROPRIETORS AND DIRECTORS 
 
 OF 
 
 EAST INDIA STOCK. 
 
 TOGETHER WITH AN 
 
 EPISTLE DEDICATORY 
 
 i 
 
 ROBERT GREGORY, ESQ. 
 
 CHAIRMAN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COURT OF DIRECTORS 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF THE AFFAIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EAST INDIA COMPANY. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED IN THE YEAR Mj 
 
 REPRINTED M,DCC,LXXXTII.
 
 5J 
 
 V./& 
 
 kOBERt GREGORY, 
 
 CHAIRMAN 
 
 OF TH2 
 
 COURT OF DIRECTORS, &c. 
 
 pROM the projlitution of party or needy writers, 
 every fort of Dedication, let the motive of addrefs 
 be what it will, has become fujpefted of flattery ; and 
 if Lord Mansfield's opinion is juft, that the greater 
 the truth, the more criminal the libel, it may with 
 equal jujiice be applied to this Epijile Dedicatory, and 
 to the Letter itfelf\ for the writer is not confcious of 
 having tittered a word but what is truth. 
 
 Ihe eld proverb is not in this inftance againft me } 
 for if truth may be fpoken at any one time, theprefent 
 js that time, tfhe new Miniftry declare themf elves 
 the advocates of complete liberty, as laid down in the 
 laws of the land. As long as they are able to convince the 
 B good
 
 good people of this country, that fuch is their prirtci/le 
 of ablion, factious cppofttion may fnarl and Jhew its 
 teeth, but it will not be able to bite. 
 
 If one inflame can be produced of good to the State, 
 or to the Company ', from the interpofuion of miniflerial 
 influence in "Leadenh all-street, I Jhould be glad to be 
 informed of it, it having efcaped my obfervation ; but 
 if a lift of pojitive evils and glaring abfurdities, grow- 
 ing out of their forced direction, are wanting, I will 
 engage to furniflj a complete lift, which Jhall convince 
 many of their adherents of the truth of my remark. If 
 the prefent Proprietors Jhould, in the courfe of this* 
 or the next year, be obliged to receive a dividend of 
 lefs than 8 per cent, on their flock, it will be natural 
 for them to conclude, that it has been owing to their 
 having been forced to give up four hundred thoufand 
 pounds of their property, on no very clear ideas offub~ 
 Jjtantial juftice. 
 
 I hope, Sir, to hear of your making a proper fl and 
 at both ends of the town, againfl further interference 
 in the Company's affairs, at home or abroad. If you 
 do not underfland their real interefls, you have grofsly 
 wifpentyour time for the lafl twenty-five years of your 
 life, in the courfe of which I have known you very 
 fcnverfant in the trade of Afia, on your own account, 
 as agent for other individuals, and as manager for 
 the Company. I had once the honour to be confidered 
 by you as a very intimate acquaintance, nor have I to 
 
 complain
 
 ( iii ) 
 
 complain of your having forgotten that circumjlance 5 
 your treatment of me the only time I have feen you 
 fince I have been in England, was polite and kind. 1 
 jhall not now infult you by Jlattery, or be afraid of 
 offpeaking the truth ; there is nothing elfe in the fol- 
 lowing Letter i and to your judgment of it, 1 refer 
 my honourable fftiftrejjes and mafters, and depend en 
 your jleadinefs and well tried integrity, to prevent 
 'more minijlerial interpofition, which may chance to 
 ruin the real national mercantile interejls, our loft 
 great Jlake in Afia. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Tour moft obedient well voifiier 
 And humble Servant, 
 The AUTHOR. 
 
 B 2 TO
 
 TO THE 
 
 PROPRIETORS and DIRECTORS 
 
 OF 
 
 EAST INDIA STOCK. 
 
 LADIES and GENTLEMEN, 
 
 THE charafter and conduct of Governor Haf- 
 tings, hath, for the laft feven years, been, 
 in fome fhape or other, the fubject of fevere fcru- 
 tiny and general converfation. From the year 
 1750, to the year 1774, that gentleman had been 
 in your fervice, had rofe gradually from the rank 
 of a writer, to that of Governor of your moft im- 
 portant provinces in Bengal. If, in the courfe of 
 that time, he had been guilty of any crime, his 
 enemies would not have been backward in pointing 
 them out. Their filence on this fubje6t, is his 
 ^reateft panegyric ; for to fuch lengths have his 
 
 fyftematical
 
 fyflematical adverfaries proceeded, in accumulating 
 falfe information againft him, that there is no doubt 
 
 out if any true had exifted, their extreme malice 
 would not have overlooked it. 
 
 So much has been already faid on the methods 
 ufed by the late adminiltration of this country, to 
 acquire an afcendancy over your minds, and by 
 their influence, both in Parliament and in Leaden- 
 hall-Street, that it will be needlefs for me to enter 
 much into it. The men they fent out empowered 
 te interfere in your concerris, either as marine am- 
 baffadqrs or land commanders, have always affecled 
 to act by a power independent of, and indeed 
 inconfiftent wkh, -your true intereft as mer- 
 chants. If your own records contained any thing 
 elfe than one continued confirmation of this after- 
 lion, I fhould.be induced to trouble you with par- 
 ticulars from Sir John Lindfey's interpofition in 
 your affairs on the coaft of Coromandel, to the 
 fending out the Majority in the Supreme Council 
 at Bengal ; the whole has been of a piece. I fhali 
 therefore confine my remarks moftly to general 
 fubjects,. and feldom enter largely into particulars, 
 except to elucidate or confirm ibme particular 
 point, I fhall go into obfervations on your general 
 trade j the political fhuation of your prefent con- 
 nections with the country powers ; remark on the 
 conecYions and dependencies your different Prefi- 
 dtncies have, and ought to have, on one another ; 
 
 obierve
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 obferve on the conveniences and inconveniences of 
 your prefent conftitution, civil and military; urg- 
 ing nothing but what I will explain by fome per- 
 tinent and applicable inftance or inftances, in fup- 
 port of what I fay, drawn from my own particular 
 obferyation and experience, collected in a refidence 
 of thirty years at your different prefidencies and fet- 
 tlenients in India, not one of which but I have 
 frequently been ar, and traded very largely to the 
 whole. 
 
 So far am I from being abafhed, or afraid to 
 fpeak on affairs of fuch vaft national importance, 
 in the prefence of your Chairman, Robert Gregory, 
 Efq. that I am even impelled the more readily 
 to addrefs it directly to him, becaufc he is now your 
 Chairman, and can fpeak from his own knowledge, 
 to the private character of the man who thus ad- 
 drcffes you. He is very converfant in the true 
 mercantile interefts of the Company in Afia, and 
 is not uninformed of every other fubject on which 
 I mall treat. If he difapproves of any thing I fay, 
 he will tell you fo, and I defire you to believe him. 
 I wim to obtain no credit, but what mall arife 
 from the conviction of minds independent and 
 honeft, as is his, nor am I a fupplicator to you for 
 fee or reward. 
 
 THE great objection to my former writings on 
 Jnclia affairs, is, that whenever I am about to give 
 
 an
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 an inftance in proof of any part of management 
 which was injurious to the State or the Company, I 
 have been hurried into the mention not only of the 
 thing itfelf, but allb of the man, or men, who were 
 the perpetrators of ir, and of joining fuch epithets 
 to their names, as left a doubt whether I was not 
 more influenced by fpleen to the men, than dif- 
 pleafed with their conduct. I wilt rectify that 
 miftake, and touch only meafures, not men, relate 
 facts, and their inevitable confequences, faying no- 
 thing perfonally where I cannot commend. 
 
 IF there is any thing faulty in the original confti- 
 tution of the Company, as a body of merchants, 
 there have been opportunities enough to repair it ; 
 but for my part, never did I obferve the ftate in- 
 terpofe in your affairs, in order, as faid, to mend 
 matters, that they did not make things worfe. 
 "What good hath accrued to State or Company, 
 from the Regulating Act of the i3th of the King? 
 Will any body inftance the conduct of the Majority 
 in the civil government, or the fuperiority of the 
 Supreme Court, to that of the Mayor's Court at 
 Calcutta ? It is not a thing likely to happen in 
 our day, bijt Englifhmen may, in the courfe of 
 time, become as effeminate as the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans of the prefent age, and the Afiatics may fub- 
 due Great Britain under fome future Timur Beg 
 Aurenzebe, or Hyder Ally; but the conqueror 
 from the eaft will never act fo inconfiftently, as to 
 
 attempt
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 attempt to introduce the Hindoo cuftoms, laws, 
 #nd manners, on the banks of the Thames, as you 
 have done yours on the banks of the Ganges. Had 
 the Portugueze been content to have enjoyed the 
 wealth and trade of Afia, and left the people to their 
 own cuftoms and mode of worfhip,the Dutch could 
 never have difpoflefTcd them of their fettlements. 
 Mynheer went to the other extreme, and denied his 
 God, to obtain trade amongft the Japanefe. What- 
 ever perfons fhall be entrufted with the government 
 of the civil power, have command of the military 
 power, or be employed in the mercantile concerns 
 of the nation to Afia, they muft go abroad young, 
 and be trained to their feveral occupations early. 
 No gentlemen will ferve the office of Director, 
 without fome emolument ; and I could wifh they 
 were to be allowed 5000!. a year each, the Deputy 
 Chairman Soool. and the Chairman io,oool. and 
 all patronage taken away, or at leaft regulated ; 
 for at prefent, writers are fent out who cannot write, 
 cadets who cannot fpeak Engliili, and doctor's 
 mates who cannot let blood, the confequence of 
 which is, thrry are obliged to go to fchoolin India, 
 and the Company pay people to do their duty in 
 the intermediate time- 
 To remedy this very great evi!, let each Direc- 
 tor nominate fo many lads of twelve years old for 
 writers, and fo many forcadets, affiftantfurgeons,&c. 
 and their parents enter into engagements to educate 
 
 them
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 them at fucli academies, and in fuch a manner, ss 
 the Company may direct, until they are full fixteen 
 years of age 5 then let them undergo an examina- 
 tion, and draw lots fairly for their chance of fettle-? 
 menr, that is to which of the Prefidencies abroad 
 they fhall be fent. The inconveniences, the jea- 
 loufies, and the heart burnings, which this, or 
 fome fuch plan, would caufe to be avoided, would 
 require a volume fully to fet forth. 
 
 I BELIEVE there are few remaining advocates for 
 an open, general, and promifcuous national trade 
 to Afia, otherways 1 would fay fomething on that 
 fubjcct. I have handled it largely in fome Letters 
 formerly publilhed, though now forgotten. I mall 
 only obferve here, that an open trade to Afia, would 
 foon become no trade at all j and I fear this na- 
 tion would, as now circumftanced, but ill bear 
 the lofs of two millions per annum from the neat 
 revenue. 
 
 WHEN the Company's mips have run four 
 voyages in their fervice, the owners mould have 
 permiflion to fend them to India for fale, on con^ 
 dition of carrying out fo many recruits, or fomany 
 tons of goods, freight free for them : the advantages 
 which would arife from fuch indulgence, are toq 
 evident, and ttf important, to need explaining, 
 though I may talce the matter up again further on. 
 By admitting innovation in their fervice, civil or 
 
 military
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 military mentofuperfede their o!dfervants,is,excki- 
 five of the pernicious confequences, fo apt to fubject 
 the Directors to fuch folicitations from great and 
 powerful men, that I wonder the Directors do not 
 rid themfelves of it by one firm and pofitive refolu-* 
 tion, never, on any account, to admit flrangers 
 into the Company's employ ; it has been the fource 
 of more real evil to the fervice in general, and teiz- 
 ing to the Directors in particular, than any other 
 caufe whatever. 
 
 WHILST we hold the rank in India that we do 
 now, at lead one hundred and twenty thoufand 
 men of all forts, will be cloathed by the Company, 
 in all forts of woollen cloths of our national manu- 
 facture, and double the number are cloathed in the 
 fame way by the country Princes ; every yard of 
 which mould be delivered in India, to any perfon 
 who would receive it at the Knglifh prime coft ; 
 and this the State mould oblige the Company to the 
 performance of. The neglect of it, come a peace 
 whenever it may, will induce the French to fend 
 into India, mips loaded with their light coarfe 
 cloths. Such an interpofition as that would be 
 worthy a Britifh Miniftry, inftead of {looping to 
 force upon the Company fome worn out officers, 
 to command and ftarve the men, or needy ftatef- 
 men, to perplex and confound their affairs. 
 
 THAT
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 THAT we have a war at all with the Dutch, is to be 
 lamented : but there is not a Tingle inftance of the 
 mifmanagement of the late Miniftry fo reprehen- 
 fible, as their bad management, and ill choice of a 
 commander, to conduct the grand fcheme of taking 
 pofieffion of the Cape of Good Hope. I fpeak 
 with certainty, that two months before the declara- 
 tion and manifefto againft that Republic came our, 
 the very naked ftate and helplefs fituation of all the 
 Dutch pofieffions in Afia, was given in full detail 
 to the leading man amongft them, in particular 
 thofe of the Cape of Good Hope and Batavia. A 
 fourth part of the force Commodore Johnfon had 
 with him, would have been full fufficient to have 
 taken pofleflion of that important place, or highly 
 vifeful half-way houfe to India. I pafs by the unfea- 
 man-like manner in which the Commodore clumped 
 his fleet at St. Jago, and fifty other delays and fri- 
 voloufneffes on the way there, to note at once the 
 abfurdity of the man, in concluding that the French 
 Commodore would not take advantage of his going 
 back into port, to knot and fplice a few ropes, 
 which might have been as well done at fea The 
 object of both commanders, was to get to the Cape 
 firft; and had our fleet done fo, as was clearly in 
 their power, I know not what the French Admiral 
 could have done for water or refrefhments. To 
 have been obliged to have gone on to the French 
 Jflands without either, would have deftroyed two 
 thirds of his people : this he well knew, and there- 
 fore
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 fore puihed on at all events to gain his objecl, 
 whilft we idled away our time at Port Prayo. 
 
 COMMODORE Johnfon had with him Captain 
 Peafely, as good an officer as, perhaps, the navy '"-, 
 can boaft. I faw him at the Cape myfelf, in the 
 Sybil frigate, the preceding April, noting every 
 thing neceffary to be knov/n, of the defencelefs 
 (late of the place. Befides, not one captain, or 
 perhaps officer, of ten years flanding in the Indii 
 Company's mips, but who would have undertaken 
 ,to have conducted his fleet into Falfe Bay. Why 
 the Englifh fleet wanted water at all, is not clear 
 to me. That the French, equally long atfea, did 
 without it, is evident. But had the Commodore 
 gone on the next day after the engagement, the 
 Cape had now been ours, and the war in India, both y\ 
 with France and Holland, cut up by the roots, as 
 much as if a barrier had been run from the Cape 
 of Good Kope to Cape Horn, and the keys in our 
 own poffeflion. The French could do nothing 
 from their Iflands, without conftant fupplies from 
 the Cape, of bifcuit and faked meat. The bread 
 and wine taken from Monfieur, is as bad as cutting 
 fhort John Bull of his beef and pudding. 
 
 THE entry of Hyder Ally into the Carnatic, 
 hath, for the prefent, faved the Ifland of Ceylon, 
 and other of the Dutch eaflern fettlements, not one 
 of which would, at this hour, have remained to 
 
 them.
 
 But that is not the worft, for every lover of either 
 England or Hplland, muft wifh that each had their 
 own again, and that a firm peace was concluded. 
 The great obftacle to which now, is their having 
 pledged themfelves to the French nation, on con- 
 dition they fent out a force to fave the Cape and 
 Batavia, that they would conclude no feparate peace 
 with England, and if they do, Monfieur will give 
 back neither the Ifland of Java, or the Cape of 
 Good Hope. So much we owe to mere men of 
 words, who have battled no where but in the Se- 
 nate Houfe, or with a fellow fubjed. 
 
 THAT Hyder Ally will, in the end, be well 
 ehaftized for his preemption, there is not a doubt ; 
 nor is this unknown to thofe, who have knowledge 
 of the real force, and real interefts, of the Princes 
 on the continent of India. There are but two modes 
 of conduct which can be purfued, in coming to a 
 conclufion of the war with that Prince : The firft, 
 and I think beft, will be to oblige him to grant 
 you a ftrong barrier on the fide of the Carnatic, 
 and pay the Company part of the expences of the 
 war ; this may be done : but there is another^ 
 which, as it will gratify revenge, furnim the means 
 of retaliation by plunder, and promife a complete 
 expulfion of him and his family from the kingdom 
 ofMyfbre, and the feinftalment of the old family 
 under the Company, I much fear witt be adopted, 
 before you can interpofe. 
 
 No
 
 No fooner will the Mahratta powers hear of his 
 being on the point to be driven out of the Carnatic, 
 than they will clofe with you on any terms, fhort 
 of becoming tributary, or fuffering you to hold 
 polls any where but on the fea coafts, (and this I 
 hope moft fmcerely will be accepted,) for reafons 
 hereafter to be mentioned, and they will encourage 
 you to go on with the war againft Hyder, and pro- 
 pofe to join you to attack him at Mangulore, from 
 Bombay, and fo penetrate into his country on the 
 Malabar, whilft Sir Eyre Coote does the fame on 
 the Coromandel, and their own army from the 
 Cannara country. 
 
 THE Bombay gentlemen will clofe with this 
 plan, on the idea of keeping the rich and fertile 
 provinces of Mangulore and Onore, to fecure the 
 whole trade of fandal wood and pepper for the 
 Company's China trade, and pay the full expences 
 of the military eftablimment on that fide of India, 
 to keep the French entirely off from that continent, 
 and to liberate the Naier Princes, and other pow- 
 ers, now fubjecl: to Hyder, and make them depen- 
 dent on the Company. 
 
 ALL thefe are glorious ideas, and may be jufti- 
 fied on as lound principles, as the means ufed to 
 acquire any other of our Afiatic provinces, and 
 perhaps the mercantile part may be nccefTary, and 
 not unattainable from Hyder himfelf i but more 
 
 will,
 
 t n ) 
 
 will, I think, break down the balance of power, 1 
 which really, and imperceptibly, hath formed it- 
 felf on the continent of India, and of which I come 
 now to fpeak with confidence, for I fpeak with cer- 
 tainty. My words are fimple, becaufe my ideas 
 are clear. I have ftudied the nature of power in 
 Alia, and the genius of the people who poflefs it, 
 and fear no refutation of arguments, compofed of 
 experience and of truth. I have no hopes of bene- 
 fitting individually by what I fay, and am too much 
 loft to the world, and to the few friends I have, 
 to be in the way of enjoying praife, or fuffering 
 from the effects of envy, on the occafion. If I 
 flart one thought that may be of ufe to my coun- 
 try, I mail not have lived in vain ; and that idea 
 throws in one ray of light on the wafte and dreary 
 fcenes before me, and ferves to fill up moments,, 
 which muft otherwife be fpent in unavailing reflec- 
 tion, and ufelefs retro fpection. 
 
 IF a meridian line be drawn in the latitude of 26 
 degrees north, from the mountains of Aflam, or 
 Bootan, eaft, until it cut the river Indus on the 
 weft, it will include the whole of that part of the 
 continent, orpeninfula, of India Proper, in which 
 the Englifh nation has been for fome time pad, and 
 is now fo extremely interefted ; though this im- 
 menfe region (the richeft for extent in the world, 
 mercantilely fpeaking, which is fpeaking like an 
 Englifhman) is inhabited by an innumerable num- 
 ber
 
 ber of Kings and Princes, formerly tributary to 
 the family of Timur Beg, or the Great Mogul, but 
 170 vv independent. Yet there are not more than 
 four powers, who properly can be faid to have 
 lhared amongft them this vaft empire, and thofe 
 are firft the Englifh, next the Mahrattas, then Hy- 
 <ler Ally, and laftly the Nizam, or Subah of the 
 Deccan -, all the others, more or lefs, look up for 
 fupport, to one or other of the above mentioned 
 great powers. 
 
 I SHALL not concern myfelf about what part of 
 this tract of .country, the Englifh may have had; 
 or have now, but attend to what parts (fince they arc 
 fo deeply engaged) they ought to have, and muft 
 have, to maintain the neceflfary influence, to fup- 
 port their mercantile advantages, and to keep 
 peace. The diftrict of Broach, Gundavia, and the 
 other provinces about Surat, with the Ifland of 
 Sailer, which they held before the laft rupture 
 with the Mahrattas, is all that is neceflary, and 
 what muft be held to fupport Bombay. Thefe the 
 Mahrattas will yield with pleafure, and with confi- 
 dence. The port of Baffeen, and all other conquefts 
 on that part of the Malabar, muft be given up, or 
 you will never have a firm peace with the Paifii- 
 wah, or governing power at Poonah. If matters 
 can be fo fettled with Hyder Ally, as to induce 
 him to grant you an exclufive right to trade for the 
 fandal wood.^ cardamums, and pepper, produced 
 C ia
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 in his dominions, it will be very lucky , and you 
 fhould on your fide, guarantee his dominions on 
 thofe favourable terms. I call them favourable, 
 becaufe when I come to fpeak on your China trade, 
 I (hall prove them to be fo. This, and a ftrong 
 barrier on the fide of the Carnatic, is all you, in 
 juftice, and in policy, (except you can force him 
 to pay the expences of the war,) ought to afk of 
 him. 
 
 THE Carnatic, and all its dependencies, inclu- 
 ding Tanjore, you muft hold yourfelves. More 
 than foolilh has been the policy of attempting to 
 fupport the Nabob of Arcot, in a Mate independent 
 of yourfelves ; but it took its rife in the fame policy 
 which made the peace of Paris, and wanted to whip, 
 rather than footh, our brothers and fitters in Ame- 
 rica, into our meafures. Strange that our wars 
 from the fame caufe, and no other, with Co'flim 
 Ally, and Sujah ul Dowlah, at Bengal, mould not 
 have opened our eyes, but that Sir John Lindfey 
 was fent out to infpire Mahommed Ally Cawn, 
 with hoftile notions againft the Company, who 
 created him, under the idea of the King's having 
 guaranteed, at the peace of Paris, what the Com- 
 pany conquered for him: but that is now over: 
 allow him and his family, enough for pomp and 
 ftate, as his brethren at Bengal , but allow him not 
 the power to involve you again in wars ; if you do, 
 he is a human being, and what is more, an Afiatic, 
 and will attempt it. 
 
 THE
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 THE Nizam mould either have his ftipend of 
 five lacks of rupees, paid him for the Northern 
 Sircar Provinces, regularly every year, or have the 
 reverfion of the Guntoor Sircar granted to him 
 and his family in perpetuity -, and this is all he 
 would afk; except, perhaps, he might defire a 
 defenfive alliance with you againft Hyder Ally ; of 
 whofe power he is really afraid, but not of yours - t 
 for let what will have been faid by ignorant and in- 
 terefted men, there was nothing he dreaded fo much, 
 as the fuccefs of that turbulent and ambitions 
 Prince, well knowing that had he fettled himfelf 
 in the Carnatic, his own dominions would have 
 next been over-run. 
 
 THE Boundary of the Caramnafia river, as pro- 
 pofed to be fixed by Lord Give, was a good mer- 
 cantile line ; but we had engaged too deeply in the 
 politics of Afia, to fuffer fo reftlefs, powerful, and 
 ambitious a Prince, as Sujah ul Dowlah, on our 
 borders, who had wantonly engaged us in twofuc- 
 cefiive wars, and invaded our dominions unjuftly. 
 Lord Clive rectified the blunder, in difarming the 
 Nabob of Bengal, by taking the revenues into our 
 own hands, but he continued it in the Vizier's do- 
 minions. He put a bridle into his mouth it is 
 true, but there was no curb to it ; nor was he eafily 
 to be managed : this Mr. Haftings faw. He faw 
 too, that his fon and fucceflbr, was the mofl de- 
 fpicable of all the human racej and that not only 
 C the
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
 the Vizier's dominions, but all our own, would be, 
 involved in wars and troubles, the inftant Sujah 
 ul Dowlah (hould die. He therefore prepared for 
 the event, and thereby faved both countries from, 
 the ravages of war. The boundary now held on 
 that fide of India, is abfolutely neceflary to your 
 fafety and your peace. You ought no more to 
 part with any of the dominions you now (land pof- 
 fefled of, and what I have pointed out to be necef- 
 fary on the other fide of India, than you fhould at- 
 tempt at conquering more : in fuch a pofition, you 
 will frand in the golden mean. It is to this point 
 that Mr. Haftings is labouring to bring your af- 
 fairs, and it will be highly impolitic to difturb him 
 whilft he is about it. If he muftfuffer, punifh him 
 after he has done the bufinefs in hand, and which 
 will fecure the peace of India for ages to come : but 
 to take him away, and fend new ignorant men now 
 to fupply his place, will be folly in the extreme. 
 The man who thinks him an advocate for war, 
 further than to obtain fome fuch permanent peace, 
 as that I have pointed out, knows nothing of him. 
 
 THE reform of your army will naturally take 
 place after a peace j and you have on your records, 
 the clear and decided opinions on that fubjecl, of 
 fome as good officers as the nation ever could boaft. 
 If a line was to be drawn of the dominions which 
 you or the ftate mall determine to keep in Afia, 
 why not call a meeting of the numerous general 
 
 officers
 
 ( 17 ) 
 
 pfficers now in England, who have ferved you 
 honourably and gallantly, and who know every 
 foot of the ground given up in the above fketch. 
 It might be thought prefumptuous in me to draw 
 a lift, but I dare fay a dozen of them would meet, 
 and form a plan for a peace eftablifhment army, 
 and being themfelves quite out of the queftion, 
 as to perfonal interefted views, would produce one 
 fuch as no man, or body of men, could except 
 againft. You want no afiiftance from national offi- 
 cers ; your own fervice hath bred as good ones, as 
 ever the King of Pruffia did ; and the fuperfeding 
 of them as has been done, carries with it confequen- 
 cesof the moft pernicious nature. I could inftance 
 fads, fuch as mould convince the moft ftubborn 
 fceptic, but I have confined myfelf to general prin- 
 ciple?, to avoid offence. 
 
 THOSE who fay the country powers have no 
 confidence in your warlike abilities, and national 
 faith, know nothing of the country powers ; they 
 are mere men of word?, of which the nation is too 
 full. Lord Chefterfield tells us, that he was in- 
 ftru&ed to fpeak in defence of the change of ftile, 
 and to draw fome of his arguments from the fci- 
 ence of aftronomy, of which fcience he knew no- 
 thing. So have we men, who, by reading the ma- 
 nufcript accounts at the India Houfe, which have 
 moft of them been formed in the fpirit of party, 
 and dictated by fpleen, come full fraught to pro- 
 
 pofe
 
 pofe plans of government for a country, of which 
 they know little more than they do of what is going 
 forward in the moon. Your being, Sir, at the 
 head of the direction of the Eaft India Company's 
 affairs, has induced me to draw up this hafty fketch, 
 or general outline, of the real ftate of the national, 
 political, and mercantile interefts in Afia. You 
 ferved a double apprenticefhip in Bengal, and 
 learnt the mechanical parts on the fpot, and have 
 been long converfant in the fcientific parts in Lea- 
 denhall-Street. I know that you follow me in my 
 reaforiing, with a knowledge capable of benefiting 
 from fome parts of this little irregular and hafty 
 production, and can correct me in others where I 
 may be miftaken. I have neither time nor oppor- 
 tunity, to refer to any authority. The whole of 
 the political ftate of the Company's affairs in Afia, 
 and their general European and Afiatic mercantile 
 plans of commerce, are in my head : it has been 
 thirty years collecting, and 1 throw it out now, 
 without form or order, for your ufe, fomething 
 like a memorandum book, and, Sir, you may ufe 
 it as fafely as if it was your own. 1 have no inten- 
 tion to deceive, or to miflead ; all is honeft, open, 
 and fair, and addrefled to you, becaufe you act 
 on the fame fcale of policy. 
 
 MONOPOLY is a word that does not found well in an 
 Englishman's ears ; though no word in all Johnfon 
 is more fcantily defined. We hear of monopolizers 
 
 of 
 
 J
 
 ( '9 ) 
 
 of empire and of potatoes, of beauty and of birch- 
 brooms. The bed application of it, is the Dutch 
 monopoly of fpices. I (hall fay no more on it here, 
 than juft to allure you, that when I fucceeded you 
 in your Bengal houfe, and fome of your tranfac- 
 tions with the Dutch at Chinfura, as alfo when I 
 vifited Batavia in 1764, I had the very bed autho- 
 rity to fay, that the Dutch collect the cloves, mace, 
 and nutmegs, (which you know are what we mean 
 by fpice, and is alone the produce of the Molucco 
 I (lands,) into their warchoufes near Batavia, at no 
 greater expence to their company, than three Jiivers 
 (fence) per pound, and with which they ferve the 
 whole world at what price they pleafe, and this has 
 been fuffered by all Europe, for more than one 
 hundred years. Far be it from me to wilh to dif- 
 turb them in the pofieffion of it. I am one of 
 thofe, who, knowing fomething of the true intereft 
 of both nati9ns, wifh the Dutch had their own 
 again, and that John and Nick had fhaken hands, 
 and made the foolifh affair up, and fo they would, 
 if Baboon and Efquire South would permit them. 
 
 OUR national trade to Afia is not a monopoly, t 
 it 'could not exift without an intermediate agent be- 
 tween the ftate and individuals; and you, Sir, 
 know, that I could prove this beyond all cavil i 
 but I want you to adopt a fmall plan of monopoly 
 in Afia. 
 
 YOUR
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 YOUR China trade is become necefTary to a luxu- 
 rious nation. I have heard that our home con- 
 fumption of teas, fairly and truly imported, amounts 
 to eight millions of pounds weight pef annum, and 
 that the mips imported within thefe eight months, 
 have landed teas, that will, from their produce, 
 pay into the national treafury, a million and a half 
 fterling. You know thefe facts better than I do ; 
 but I know that your trade from England to China, 
 is very trifling, that the Chinefe receive a vaft ba- 
 lance in bullion, that the mother country cannot 
 ipare one third of it, and that Bengal is almott 
 drained, and cannot go on to fupply much more 
 filver to be fent abroad, and of gold me has lefs to 
 fpare. il ^ 
 
 I THINK then, Sir, that you muft fecure the 
 cotton of Broach, JumbofTeer, and Surat, the fandal 
 wood and pepper of the Malabar, and the fait petre 
 and opium of Bengal, and load your own mips 
 with fome of thofe articles, and what gold duft and 
 tin, the others will produce on the eaftern fide the 
 Bay of Bengal : thefe articles the Chinefe can no 
 more do without, than you can without their teas, 
 and they will exchange it with you for them, on 
 yery advantageous terms on your fide. 
 
 THIS is no chimerical idea, nor mall I infult 
 jour experience and underftanding, by pointing 
 out the means to effeft it a honourably as merchants, 
 
 and
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
 land honeftly political, as fovereigns of the country 
 where the articles are produced. 
 
 THE Dutch, who, in peaceable times, have four, V 
 five, and fometimes fix fhips, arrive in Holland 
 from China, half the cargoes of which fhips are 
 fmuggled into England, from Flufhing in Zealand, 
 and other place?, manage their China trade as fol- 
 lows : As faft as they can collect recruits for their 
 army and navy in Afia, they fend a ftiip away with 
 three hundred of them, and as many marine and 
 military (lores as me can carry : the fhip flops at 
 the Cape of Good Hope, and lands all her fick; 
 Ihe is there cleanfed, and her people refrefhed : 
 fuch of them who remain in, or have recovered 
 their health, return on board : when this is done, 
 the fhip proceeds on to Batavia, where the recruits 
 are landed, and the fhip loaded with block tin, 
 pepper, chefls of cloves, mace, and nutmegs, and 
 fome hundred picols of fine Japan copper- From 
 China thefe mips come direct for Europe, without 
 flopping in their way home at Batavia : And, Sir, 
 I could prove as clearly, as that one and one makes 
 two, that on the nice management of thefe curious 
 branches of their Afiatic trade, depends the whole 
 profits of the Dutch Eaft India Company. f* 
 
 GIVE a map of Afia to one of our fpeculative 
 
 ftatefmen, point out to him how near Japan lies to 
 
 China, on the north-weft fide, from whence the 
 
 D fine
 
 .fine copper comes ; (hew him how fmall a diftanc^ 
 weft, the Molucco Iflands lay, from whence the 
 fpices come; then carry his eye to the fputhward, 
 until it meet the Iflands of Java and Banka, where 
 the tin is dug from the bowels of the earth, and the 
 pepper cultivated ; and then inform him, that not- 
 withftanding none of thofe noble iflands lie more 
 than half a month's 'diftance from China, and that 
 fhe has junks, or oriental fhips, of her own, failing 
 to thofe places, yet cannot avail herfelf of an open 
 fair trade with any of them, but is obliged to re- 
 ceive all, or the greateft part, of thofe valuable ar- 
 ticles of merchandize, from a fmall European ftate, 
 whofe feat of government is in the center of Eu- 
 rope, furrounded by other more powerful ftates, 
 able to fwallow her up in a fingle campaign, was 
 k not that fhe has, and does, fupport herfelf, by 
 fuch fecrets in trade. I know men who think 
 themfelves great managers, not an hundred miles 
 from Leadenhall-Street, who, becaufe they have 
 had no opportunity of knowing what I fay, will 
 think it an improbable tale. Such managers are 
 fit mafters for Mr. Philip Francis, who never heard 
 of the Ranna of Ghoud, until he met his name in a 
 letter of Governor General Haftings', after he had 
 arrived in England, though he had fpent fix: years 
 at Bengal, at an expence of ten thoufand pounds 
 per annum to the Company, to learn the language, 
 and abufe the Company's fervants at Calcutta. But 
 j write to you, Sir, and thofe who do underftand 
 
 the
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 the trade you profefs, not to the tools of ministers, 
 who are in general equally fit for all profeffions. 
 
 THE advancing that the Princes of Hindooftan, 
 have no confidence in your faith, is one of thofe 
 aflertions compounded of ignorance and falfehood, 
 that one would not have expected to have heard 
 from any one who could pretend to more informa- 
 tion than a man in Wales, whom 1 myfelf met 
 with, and (finding him a true John Bull's (on, 
 gaping for any thing marvellous,) perfuaded to 
 believe that Lord Clivehad little black children cut 
 up, and made into curry for him, in the fame man- 
 ner that Frenchmen fricafee frogs: no, Sir, our 
 errors ariie frorp the direct oppofite extreme. 
 
 THE Afiatics are naturally a poor pufillanimous 
 fet of people, but being human creatures, are fub- 
 ject to that vile pafiion, mean revenge, and always 
 ready to endeavour at engaging Europeans in their 
 political and family quarrels. They will give up 
 hot only part of their own province?, but engage 
 to join you to conquer for yourfelves, the territory 
 of i heir neighbours, in order to glut their revenge. 
 The Portugueze, the Dutch, and the French, have 
 brought their affairs to decay, from having been 
 tempted to engage in fuch quarrels, inftead of acting 
 as umpires in fettling them, and thereby changing 
 their characters of merchants, into that of conque- 
 rors. You have tailed iufficiently of that bitter 
 
 cup. 
 
 .'55-
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 cup. At prefent, it will be prudent to get out of 
 your Afiatic wars with fpirit, to leave on their 
 minds a proper impreffion of your real power ; but 
 no fooner fhall the peace of that continent be re- 
 ftored, than chain down your ieryants to peace and 
 merchandize, and all will foon be well again. Be- 
 lieve me the Governor General has nothing more at 
 heart. His character is well known to the Afiaric 
 Princes, and there is not a man in the world, with 
 whom they will more readily treat. . If he muft be 
 recalled, have a little patience until -you can better 
 fpare his extenfive experience and well tried abi- 
 lities. 
 
 YOUR own records will inform you, how averfe 
 Mr. Haftings was to ^the war with Coflim Ally 
 Cawn in 1763. The necifllty of your affairs at 
 home and abroad, which compelled him to extend 
 your boundary through the Rohillo country, to 
 the hills, and to the upper Ganges, in order to pre- 
 vent the irruption of the Mahrattas from that 
 quarter, as well as to obtain money from the Vizier 
 Sujah ul Dowlah, for your prefent wants, and to 
 put a curb to. the bridle, Lord Clive had put into 
 that vicious Prince's mouth. You are not ignorant 
 of his extreme averfion to the Mahratta wars, until 
 he was dragged into it from neceffity, or rather or- 
 ders from home j nor does his amazing exertions 
 portend more than the obtaining afafeand honour- 
 able peace, and that he will bring about, or no 
 
 other
 
 ( 25 ) 
 
 other man in the world can on equal terms , for a 
 change now would encourage the India powers to 
 go on with the war ; nothing elfe can .do it ; for 
 they well know his fteadinefs, financial abilities, 
 and fixed refolution to give up not one foot of 
 what the Company flood pofTeffed of before the 
 way. 
 
 I INTENDED to have gone more into the flate of 
 your revenues, and a plan for eftablifhing an ex- 
 tenfive trade from province to province in Afia, in 
 order thereby, to feed your lucrative and beneficial 
 China trade, which you muft fupport, not only on 
 account of the great revenue deriving therefrom, 
 to the government of this country, but alfo to 
 prevent the Dutch, as foon as peace fhall be made*, 
 from fmuggling their teas in upon you as ufual, to 
 the great draining of our national coin : but your 
 prefent Chairman only wants hints filch as I have 
 given ; and I hope the New Miniflry will not fa- 
 crifice the true intereft of the nation, for the grati- 
 fication of a few individuals : at prefent they are 
 unincumbered with greedy fycophants, nor want 
 to govern on the principles of deception, having, 
 I hope, the national fupport, in all that is jtiftand 
 truly conftitutional in their meafures. 
 I am, Ladies and Gentlemen, 
 
 Your moft obedient well w 5 flier 
 London And humble Servant, 
 
 782. The AUTHOR. 
 
 THE END.
 
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