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 Letter... to the Court of Di- 
 rectors of the FCast India Com- 
 pany on the Trade of India... 
 
 ^g;3 Richard Colley, Marquis 'ellesley 
 
 Ric
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 
 
 /' 
 
 LETTER 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 MARQUIS W EL. LESLEY, 
 
 $c 4fc. kc.
 
 > 
 
 * , 
 
 V\ v*
 
 LETTER 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 MARQUIS WELLESLEY, 
 
 GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 COURT OF DIRECTORS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EAST INDIA COMPANY, 
 
 TRADE OF INDIA, 
 
 DATED 
 
 Fort William, 30th September, 1800. 
 
 ILontion : 
 
 Printed by G. Sidney, Northumberland Street, Strand ; 
 
 and published by richardson, opposite the royal 
 exchange; and budd. pall-mall. 
 
 1812
 
 fc 1
 
 
 1 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The accompanying letter from the Mar- 
 quis Wellesley to the Court of Direc- 
 na* tors, on the Private Trade of India, was 
 n published in ISO 1. The Court of Directors, 
 it is true, appeared to consider, " that from 
 " the various important events which had 
 <5> " occurred during the short period of Lord 
 " Wellesley' s- Government, and the appli- 
 1* " cation of his mind to other studies, he, 
 ** " though acquainted with the general prin- 
 " ciples of commercial policy, for which 
 " the Court also maintain a liberal regard, 
 " had not been able perhaps to contemplate 
 14 the effects of the proposed changes in a 
 " commercial country like England, with 
 " the lights which the position, mercantile 
 " experience, and habits of the members 
 " of the Court of Directors reflect upon it." 
 
 354829
 
 6 
 
 The late Lord Melville, however, de- 
 clared that Lord Wellesley's letter of the 
 30th September 1800, " had with clearness 
 " and perspicuity, ably detailed, and, (in 
 " Lord Melville's judgment) demonstrated 
 " the grounds of those opinions, which he 
 " (Lord Melville) had from time to time 
 " taken the liberty of laying before the Court 
 " of Directors upon the subject of Indian 
 " Trader 
 
 The publisher trusts, that he renders 
 an acceptable service to all those Persons, 
 (both in and out of Parliament,) who 
 feel an interest in the Renewal of the 
 Company's Charter, by offering to their 
 perusal a document, which, at this moment 
 of time, cannot fail to excite many useful 
 reflections.
 
 LETTER 
 
 FKOM THE 
 
 MARQUIS WELLESLEY, 
 
 $c. %C. fyc. 
 
 Honourable Sirs, 
 
 1. Having deemed it to be my duty to 
 revert, during the present season, to my 
 plan of the 5th October 1798, for the en- 
 couragement of the private trade between 
 India and the port of London, I now have 
 the honour to submit to your honourable 
 court, a view of the urgent considerations 
 which have determined me to adopt this 
 temporary arrangement for the current year; 
 and to add the reasons which induce me to 
 hope, that your honourable court will speedily 
 confirm my proceedings, by a permanent
 
 8 
 
 system of regulation founded on similar 
 principles. 
 
 2. Tour orders of the 25th of May 1798, 
 were not received by the governor-general 
 in council until the 29th of October in that 
 year, when the arrangement for the private 
 tonnage of the season of 1798-9 had already 
 keen published, and several ships and car- 
 goes had been already provided, according 
 to the terms of the advertisement of the 
 5th of October 1798- Under such cir- 
 cumstances, it would neither have been just 
 nor expedient to have disturbed that arrange- 
 ment; but my dispatches in council of the 
 1st of March, and my separate letter of the 
 9th of March 1800, will have apprized 
 your honourable court, that I had con- 
 sidered it to be my duty to adhere strictly, in 
 the year 1799-1800, to your orders of the 
 25th of May 1798 ; and that, in deference 
 to your authority, I had suspended for the 
 season 1799*1800, the operation of the plan 
 contained in the advertisement of the 5th 
 of October 1798, although my conviction 
 remained unaltered with regard to the ex- 
 pediency and justice of that plan.
 
 3. I entertained a confident expectation, 
 that I should have received, at an early 
 period of the season, the sanction of your 
 honourable court, for reverting to the plan 
 of October 1798* or for adopting some ar- 
 
 'rangement equally calculated to facilitate and 
 encourage the private trade between India 
 and England ; and my letter in council of 
 the 1st of March, as well as my separate 
 letter to your honourable court, of the 9th 
 of March 1800, will have satisfied you of 
 my disposition to await your final determi- 
 nation on this important subject, and to avoid 
 even a temporary departure, without your 
 direct authority, from your orders of the 
 25th of May 1798. 
 
 4. But I have been disappointed in my 
 expectation of receiving an early and season- 
 able notification of your final commands ; 
 and the usual season for exportation from 
 this port to Europe is already opening, un- 
 der such circumstances as absolutely compel 
 me to adopt a resolution, which my duty 
 and inclination would have induced me to 
 delay. 
 
 5. In the dispatch from the governor-
 
 10 
 
 general in council to your honourable court, 
 dated the 13th instant, 1 had the honour to 
 submit to you a statement of the intended 
 distribution in India of the tonnage pro- 
 vided by you, for conveying the Company's 
 investments of Bengal, Fort St. George, and 
 Bombay, and those of Ceylon and Fort 
 Marlborough, to England, in the season 
 of 1800-1. 
 
 6. From that statement, your honourable 
 court will observe., that the expected amount 
 of the tonnage of 1800-1 is inadequate to the 
 demand in India, and that a large propor- 
 tion of the gruff goods belonging to the Com- 
 pany at this presidency, and nearly the 
 whole of the private goods,* for which the 
 Company is bound by law to furnish tonnage, 
 cannot be shipped during the season 1800-1 
 
 * The whole of the private goods of this season must 
 be shipped in Indian shipping, with the exception of a 
 small proportion of light goods, which may be employed 
 to assort the cargoes of the extra ships. 
 
 N. B. This and the following notes to this letter 
 are inserted by the governor-general himself in the origi- 
 nal.
 
 11 
 
 for England, unless ships built in India shall 
 be employed between this port and that of 
 London. 
 
 7. The employment of ships built in In- 
 dia between this port and that of London, 
 is therefore no longer merely a question of 
 expediency, or of liberal commercial policy. 
 The deficiency in the tonnage expected from 
 Europe reduces me to the absolute necessity of V 
 providinga large proportion of Indian tonnage 
 for the service of the present season, in order 
 to secure the conveyance of the heavy arti- 
 cles of your investment, and to fulfil your 
 /ega/obligations. The only question on which /v 
 I retain the power of exercising a free 
 judgment with relation to this subject, is 
 confined to the mode of obtaining the neces- 
 sary tonnage for these indispensable pur- 
 poses. 
 
 8. In forming my decision on this ques- 
 tion, it was also necessary to consider what 
 provision should be made for the convey- 
 ance to the port of London of such goods 
 as might be provided during the current 
 season, by private British merchants resident 
 in India, beyond the amount of the statu-
 
 12 
 
 able tonnage of 3000 tons, and by what 
 regulation the exportation of such goods 
 should be governed. The importance and 
 urgency of both these considerations were 
 greatly enhanced by the actual state of the 
 foreign trade of this port. 
 
 9- The nature of the case appeared to me 
 to limit my decision to an option between 
 the regulation observed in the season 1/99- 
 1800 (conformably to the orders of your 
 honourable court of the 25th May 1798) 
 and the plan contained in the advertisement 
 published by the board of trade, under my 
 orders, on the 5th of October 1798. 
 
 10. I have carefully compared the princi- 
 ples, objects, policy, and practical opera- 
 tion of both systems ; and I have now the 
 honour to lay before your honourable court 
 the result of that comparison. 
 
 11. The orders of your honourable court 
 of the 25th of May 1798, were fra- 
 med with a view of facilitating and en- 
 couraging the private trade between India 
 and England. The primary objects of those 
 orders were, to protect the merchants, not 
 being proprietors of ships, ' against any un-
 
 13 
 
 due enhancement of the price of freight by 
 the proprietors of ships, and to prevent per- 
 sons, being proprietors of ships, and also 
 merchants, from trading to greater advantage 
 than such merchants as might not unite both 
 capacities. 
 
 12. From the dispatches of the governor- 
 general in council, dated the 1st March 1800, 
 and from the correspondence to which those 
 dispatches refer, your honourable court will 
 have observed, that your order of the 25th ^ 
 May 1798, was considered by the mer- 
 chants, for whose benefit it was intended, 
 (particularly by the proprietors of heavy 
 goods) to be extremely prejudicial to their J 
 interest. 
 
 13. Those orders were received with; 
 equal dissatisfaction by the proprietors of 
 ships, who manifested the greatest reluct- 
 ance to let their ships unconditionally to the 
 Company, although the rate of freight allow- 
 ed for the ships was comparatively high. 
 
 14. The same corespondence affords 
 abundant evidence, that the proprietors of 
 ships, and the freighters (possessing no pro- 
 perty in ships) considered it to be for their 
 
 J
 
 14 
 
 mutual advantage, that they should be left 
 to make their arrangements with each other ; 
 both parties appearing equally adverse to the 
 intervention of the company's agency 
 
 15. Under the plan contained in the ad- 
 vertisement of the 5th October 1798, the 
 proprietors of ships were enabled to make a 
 more perfect assortment of the cargoes, to 
 load their ships in the most advantageous 
 and expeditious manner, to dispatch them at 
 the most favourable periods of the season, 
 and to prevent the loss which (under the 
 plan adopted in conformity to your orders of 
 the 25th May 1798,) the proprietors of ships 
 sustain, by unavoidable delays in the adjust- 
 ment of accounts, and in the payment of the 
 freight by the Company in England. 
 
 16. The proprietors of ships were en- 
 abled, under the plan of October 1798, to 
 afford the freight at a reduced rate, at the 
 same time that they derived a greater profit 
 on that rate than on the higher rates of 
 freight fixed by the governor-general in 
 council in 1799-1800, in conformity to your 
 orders of the 25th May 1798. 
 
 17. To the merchant who is not pro-
 
 15 
 
 prietor of a ship, the plan contained in the 
 advertisement of the 5th October 1798, 
 affords the most important advantages ; he 
 obtains a considerable reduction in the rate 
 of freight ; he is enabled to settle his en- 
 gagements with the proprietor of the ship, 
 previously to the purchase of goods; to pur- 
 chase such goods as may be advantageously 
 invested under the existing rates of freight ; 
 and to regulate every consignment and draft, 
 according to the quantity of the tonnage en- 
 gaged, to the period of dispatching the goods 
 from India, and to that of their expected 
 arrival in England. 
 
 18. The merchant is embarrassed, if com- 
 pelled, under any modification, to depend I , yfrffjy&ff* 
 on the Company for tonnage, for the ar- 
 rangement of the rates of freight, or for 
 the distribution of the cargo : he can nei- 
 ther be secure of the requisite quantity of 
 tonnage, nor of the time of dispatching his 
 goods from India, nor of the ship on which 
 they may be laden, nor of the mode in which 
 they may be distri buted ; and his trade is 
 burthened with an expensive rate of freight. 
 
 b4w^ 
 
 jy 
 
 \
 
 16 
 
 which deprives him of all reasonable 'expec- 
 tation of profit. 
 
 19* The quantity of tonnage (exclusive oi 
 the goods sent in the privileges of the com- 
 manders and ..officers ojf ships) annually oc- 
 cupied by private .goods shipped from this 
 presidency alone, in the several years elapsed 
 subsequent to the act of parliament in 1793, 
 is stated in the following account : 
 
 Tons. 
 1794-5 - - - - 2,473 
 1795-6 - - - - 5,316 
 1796-7 - - - - 4,659 
 1797-8 - - - - 3,787 
 1798-9 - - - - 6,223 
 i 1799- 1800 - - - 7,748 
 
 20. The correspondence of the board of 
 trade with the governor- general in council, 
 on the subject of the provision of tonnage, 
 has been submitted to the consideration of 
 your honourable court. The reports of that 
 board, with the documents annexed to them, 
 afford abundant proof, that a much larger 
 SHUtitfity of private goods would have been 
 ship ped tor JE.riglaadjluxing-lbe seasons enu- 
 merated in the preceding account, (particu-
 
 17 
 
 larly during'the year 1799- 1800), if adequate 
 encouragement had been extended to the 
 navigation and commerce of your dominions, 
 in ships built in the ports of India ; and if 
 the British merchants resident in India had 
 been assured of permanent indulgence to 
 their trade with the port of London. 
 
 21. Upon an average of the six years 
 specified in the preceding account, about 
 5000 tons of private goods from Bengal 
 alone were annually exported to England; 
 the amount, therefore, of the private goods 
 exported from Bengal alone, during that 
 period of time, has exceeded, by 2000 tons 
 annually, the amount of the tonnage allotted 
 by law for all India. It is to be observed 
 that a considerable portion of the total 
 amount of these 5000 tons was annually 
 furnished by ships built in India. 
 
 22. Exclusively of two ships recently 
 engaged and provided with cargoes, to the 
 amount of 1500 tons, the port of Calcutta 
 now contains above 10,000 tons of shipping 
 built in India, of a description calculated 
 for the conveyance of cargoes to England- 
 
 c 
 
 \
 
 18 
 
 This tonnage has already been tendered, and 
 is actually at command for that purpose. 
 
 23. From the preceding statement, and 
 from the correspondence of the governor- 
 general in council with the board of trade, 
 it is evident, that the wise policy which 
 dictated the clauses of the act of parliament, 
 passed in 1793, with respect to the trade of 
 
 j private merchants between India and Eng- 
 land, has been to a great degree frustrated 
 by the insufficiency of the tonnage furnished 
 from England, and by the unavoidable ex- 
 pense and inconvenience attending the terms 
 and manner of its provision. 
 
 24. From the quantity of private ton- 
 nage now at command in the port of Cal- 
 cutta, from the state of perfection which 
 the art of ship-budding has already attained 
 in Bengal (promising a still more rapid pro- 
 gress, and supported by abundant and in- 
 creasing supplies of timber*), it is certain 
 that this port will always be able to furnish 
 
 s 
 " Large and thriving plantations of teek have been 
 
 :niide in Bengal, and the cultivation of that timber is 
 
 spreading over the whole province.
 
 9 
 
 tonnage, to whatever extent may be requi- 
 red, for conveying to the port of London 
 the trade of the private British merchants of 
 Bengal. 
 
 25. The considerable amount of tonnage 
 occupied by private goods from Bengal in the 
 years 1795-6, 1798-9, and 1799-1800, com- 
 pared with the amount occupied by goods 
 of a similar description in the years 1794-5, 
 1796-7, and 1797-8, affords a- satisfactory 
 proof, that the permission granted to indi- 
 viduals of providing their own tonnage, was 
 equally favourable to the interest of the pro- 
 prietors, and to that of the freighters of the 
 ships. 
 
 26. This conclusion is not affected by the 
 large quantity of goods shipped in 1799*1800, 
 under the arrangement made in conformity 
 to your orders of the 25th May 1798 ; for 
 it is well known, that under a confident ex- 1 
 pectation of enjoying the continual advan- 
 tages of the plan of 1798, the merchants 
 had considerably extended their provision of 
 goods for the European markets. Many from 
 necessity, others from motives of respect to 
 the laws, shipped their goods on the ton- 
 
 c 2
 
 20 
 
 
 
 nage provided by the government, while 
 others disposed of their goods to the numc* 
 rous foreign agents then employed in the port 
 of Calcutta. 
 
 27. The quantity of private goods shipped 
 for England in 1799-1800, affords there- 
 fore, an incontrovertible proof of the eager- 
 ness and alacrity with which the British 
 merchants, resident in Bengal, provided goods, 
 with a view to embrace the expected oppor- 
 tunity of conveying their trade to London on 
 terms of advantage ; but no argument can 
 justly be drawn from the same circum- 
 stance, to prove that the continuance of the 
 regulations adopted in 1799-1800, would 
 afford adequate encouragement to the pri- 
 vate trade between India and England. 
 
 28. The preceding considerations satisfied 
 me, that the plan of hiring ships on the part 
 of the Company, and of re-letting _ th em 
 to the proprietors of ships, leaving the pro- 
 prietors of ships and the merchants at liber- 
 ty to settle the terms of freight, is more 
 advantageous both to the proprietors and 
 freighters of ships, than the arrangement 
 adopted under: your orders of the 25th of 
 May 1798.
 
 21 
 
 29- In your letter of the 25th May 1798, 
 your honourable court appears to have inti- 
 mated an opinion, that persons uniting the 
 capacities of proprietors and freighters of 
 ships, may trade from Bengal to the port of 
 London, to greater advantage than mer- 
 chants possessing no property in ships. It 
 appears to me, that the difference between 
 the actual charge incurred by merchants, 
 being proprietors of ships, on account of the 
 freight of their goods sent to England in 
 their own ships, and the rate of freight paid 
 by merchants not being proprietors of ships, 
 cannot be deemed a profit derived by the 
 proprietor of a ship on his goods. No per- 
 son will employ any part of his capital in 
 the purchase of property in ships, without 
 the prospect of deriving an adequate profit 
 on the capital so invested. I am satisfied, 
 that it would not be practicable for the pro- 
 prietors of ships in this port to maintain an 
 effectual combination for the establishment 
 of enhanced rates of freight. Unless such 
 a combination should be maintained, it 
 is to be presumed, that the profits of the 
 proprietors of ships on their capitals invested
 
 21 
 
 in ships, will never exceed, on an average, 
 a reasonable advantage on the amount of 
 those capitals, after defraying allti ee^ipenses 
 of their ships.' This profit no list, ttier< fore, 
 be deemed entirely distinct from the p 
 which the proprietors of ships may tW- 
 on their goods conveyed to England in ti.cn 
 own ships, and consequently, the proprietors 
 of ships cannot be supposed to possess, in 
 the general course and conduct of their trade, 
 in the purchase, transportation, or sale of 
 their goods, any material advantage over 
 merchants who are not proprietors of ships. 
 30. Various additional arguments, invol- 
 . ving consequences of a more complicated and 
 Comprehensive description, appeared to me 
 to demand, not only that I should recur, 
 without delay, to the plan of the^th of October 
 1798, but that 1 should respectfully represent 
 to your honourable court, in the most dis- 
 tinct terms, my decided and conscientious 
 conviction, that the permanent l estab ishment 
 of a systematic inter ' urse between the ports 
 of India and that of London, regulated by 
 principles similar to those adopted by this 
 government in October 1798> is become in-
 
 23 
 
 dispensable to the united and inseparable 
 interests of the Company and of the Nation 
 in India. / 
 
 31. Under the beneficial influence of the 
 British government in India, combined with 
 the increased demand, both in Europe and 
 in America, for Indian commodities, the 
 produce and manufactures of the British 
 
 territories in India have increased to an 
 
 jfo> 
 
 ext entjjar e^ggc?ijz^the amount, wh ich jh^ 
 capital applicable to the purchase of the 
 "~ Company s investment can embrace. . 
 
 32.The wise policy, the just pretensions, 
 and the increasing commercial resources and 
 political power of Great Britain in India, 
 claim for her subjects the largest attainable 
 share in the valuable and extensive commerce 
 of such articles of Indian produce and ma- 
 nufacture, as are necessarily excluded from ' 
 the Company's investment. f/wj^ 
 
 33. A large proportion of this valuable \ ///? 
 trade is already in the possession of foreign 
 nations; and, unless means be immediately 
 adopted for depriving those nations of the 
 undue share which they have obtained in that 
 trade, the most serious consequences are to 
 
 A
 
 I 
 
 24. 
 
 be apprehended to the combined interests of 
 the English East-India Company, and of the 
 British Nation. 
 
 34. In the letter of the governor-general 
 in council of the 1st March 1800, I stated 
 to your honourable court, that the British 
 merchants at this presidency, not having ob- 
 tained the expected permission to freight 
 their ships to the port of London in the last 
 year, agreeably to the plan adopted in Octo- 
 ber 1798, goods to a large amount, origi- 
 ginally intended for the port of London, 
 had been sold to foreigners in the port of 
 Calcutta, and thus diverted to the channel 
 of the foreign trade. At the same time, I 
 transmitted a list of the foreign ships, which 
 either had sailed, or were preparing to sail 
 from the port of Calcutta to Europe and 
 America, in the season 1799-1800. 
 
 35. The nature and extent of that trade 
 have since undergone a particular investiga- 
 tion. From the accompanying statements, 
 your honourable court will observe, that the 
 trade of America and Portugal with the 
 port of Calcutta alone, in 1799-1800, a^ 
 mounted,
 
 Fn Imports - 
 In Exports - 
 
 25 
 
 - Sicca Rupees 8,131,005*. 
 7,130,7321 
 
 being an increase in 1799-1800, of the trade 
 carried on in ships bearing American and 
 Portuguese colours, compared with the ave- 
 rage of that trade in the three preceding 
 years, 
 
 In Imports Sicca Rupees 6, 398,^78 % 
 
 In Exports * 4,392,768 
 
 36. On the other hand, the imports of 
 the British subjects in the year 1799-1800, 
 amounted only to 4,787,101 Sicca rupees,^[ 
 and the exports to 6,766,649*|| 
 
 37- Of the trade carried on in foreign 
 bottoms with the other ports in India from 
 Europe and America, I possess no suffi- 
 ciently accurate information. It is, however, 
 known to be conducted on a very extensive 
 scale. 
 
 38. In the present season, the trade con- 
 veyed in foreign bottoms, if left unrestrained, 
 
 JJ 
 
 * 1, 022,56232. f- 891,2961 | 7,99,5341. 549,0961 
 % 599,6371 8 845,5811 |
 
 26 
 
 promises to increase beyond even the rapid 
 progress of last year. From the accom- 
 panying statement, your honourable court 
 will observe, that the port of Calcutta, at 
 this early period of the season, contains 
 about 8,500 tons of shipping, under Ame- 
 rican, Portuguese, and Danish colours. 
 
 39. I possess no means of forming an 
 accurate estimate of that proportion of the 
 foreign trade from India to Europe, and to 
 America, which is supported by capital ac- 
 tually belonging to the nations, under whose 
 flags the ships are navigated. 
 
 40. It appears, however, from the state- 
 ments prepared by the reporter of external 
 commerce, that less than one fourth of the 
 funds imported by the Americans in 1799- 
 1800, for the purchase of their investments, 
 was brought from America. Of the bullion, 
 200,0001. was imported from JLondon, and 
 the remainder from other parts of u rope, 
 and from the Island of Madeira. I have 
 not been able to ascertain the proportion 
 of British capital employed in the trade 
 between India and Portugal. Admitting 
 the whole capital employed in the foreign
 
 trade -with India to belong to the nations 
 under whose flags the ships are navigated, 
 the undue prop ortion which they ha ve ob - 
 tained of that trade, to the injury of the 
 
 S. 
 
 British merchants, demands the most seri- 
 ous attention. 
 
 41. The trade conveyed in the foreign / 
 ships is conducted with all the advantages of // 
 
 a comparatively low rate of freight, of strict Vy J* 
 economy in the management of the concern, 
 and of voyages and returns of extraordinary 
 expedition and celerity. The voyage from I //s 
 America to Calcutta, is frequently performed \ + r%/ ' 
 
 'hi 'less than four months? ln~tEe lastseason, v^fe*-* 
 
 lt I M I '' - - -- . 
 
 several American ships disposed of their im- 
 ports, purchased their cargo for exportation, 
 and left the port within twentyj-five^ jmd[ 
 some within twenty days from_Jhe_jlate_gil 
 
 their arrival. 
 - i, i 
 
 42. Under all the existing impediments, f /^ , 
 and under the uncertainty which has hither- ^ o * 
 to embarrassed the trade of the British mer- & ~*f * 
 chants in India, it is impossible that his 
 
 goods can reach the markets of the continent 
 of Europe, through the channel of the pub- 
 lic sales in England, at so low a price as the
 
 l! 
 
 / 
 
 -* 4 
 
 H 
 
 2 
 
 goods conveyed directly from India to the 
 same markets in foreign bottoms. The Com- 
 pany's sales in England must necessarily be 
 affected by the quantity of Indian goods 
 passing into the markets of the continent of 
 Europe, through the channel of the foreign 
 trade ; and the profits of the private British 
 merchant, whose goods are disposed of at 
 the Company's sales, must be proportionably 
 diminished. 
 
 43. Although the voyage by which the 
 produce of India is conveyed in foreign 
 ships to Europe may occasionally be circui- 
 tous, the superior advantages enumerated in 
 the preceding paragraphs, enabled the pro- 
 prietors of the goods to dispose of them at a 
 lower price, than that for which the same 
 descriptions of goods can be brought to the 
 continental markets of Europe^ if exported 
 from India by British merchants, under the 
 heavy freight, and* other incumbrances tq 
 which their trade is at present subject. 
 
 The Portuguese and Americans pay only one per cent, 
 on Indian produce imported and re-exported, by the 
 warehousing act lately passed in Great Britain. Calicoes
 
 29 
 
 44. It must ever be impracticable, if it 
 were justifiable or politic, by any restrictions 
 or penalties on the trade of the British sub- 
 jects, to prevent the increasing produce and 
 manufactures of India from being conveyed 
 to the markets in Europe, where a demand 
 for such articles shall exist. Such restric- 
 tions tend to throw the trade into the hands 
 of foreign nations, and to enable them to 
 supply the markets of Europe, on terms 
 which must equally affect the Company's 
 sales in England. If the same goods which 
 now pass to the continent of Europe through 
 foreign hands, were brought to the Company's 
 sales in England, the effect on the general 
 price of articles exposed to sale at the Com- 
 pany's warehouses would be less prejudicial, 
 than that now experienced from the sale of 
 those goods in the markets on the continent 
 
 pay 2|, muslin 7 5 P^ 1 " cent, on the sales, if sold for ex- 
 portation ; all other goods (excepting cotton, spices, 
 bullion, &c. diamonds, precious stones, which pay no 
 duties,) pay two per cent, exclusive of the convoy duty, 
 payable by the importers. A reduction of those duties 
 in England is absolutely necessary to complete the system 
 of drawing the private trade of India to the jbort of 
 London. 

 
 i 
 
 ut 
 
 t- 
 
 30 
 
 of Europe. The Company and the private 
 British merchants would equally feel the ad- 
 vantage in the improvement of the gene- 
 ral sales in England ; and the private trade 
 of India would become a fertile source of 
 wealth and strength to the British nation, 
 instead of contributing to the opulence and 
 
 AGGRANDIZEMENT of FOREIGN powers. 
 
 45. The interests of the Company and of 
 the British nation are undivided and inse- 
 parable, with relation to this important ques- ' 
 tion. Every principle of justice and policy 
 demands the extension of the utmost prac- 
 ticable facility to the British merchants in : 
 India, for the export from India to the port 
 of London, of the largest possible proportion 
 of the manufactures and produce of India, 
 not required for the Company's investment. 
 Such advantageous terms of freight, and such 
 other benefits should be opened to the Bri- 
 tish merchants in India, as should not only 
 remove every inducement to conduct the 
 trade through foreign channels, but should 
 enable the British Merchants in India to 
 enter into a competition in the markets of 
 Europe, with merchants trading in goods of
 
 31 
 
 similar produce or manufacture, provided 
 lay foreign capital. 
 
 46. To foreigners the indulgence may 
 safely be extended, of purchasing with their 
 own capital such part of the manufactures 
 or produce of India, calculated for the Euro- 
 pean or American markets, as may not be 
 embraced by the capital employed in the 
 purchase of the Company's investment, and 
 of the cargoes of the British merchants resi- 
 dent in India. 
 
 47. It is, however, doubtful, whether* 
 foreign nations would be able to retain any 
 considerable proportion of the . trade from 
 
 * The Americans obtain Indian goods so much cheap- 
 er by a direct intercourse with India, than they could 
 through the circuitous route of Europe, that they will 
 probably continue to deal largely, even on their own 
 capital, with India. It is now the ordinary practice of 
 the Americans, under the last treaty of commerce, to 
 ship cargoes in India for America, to touch at 3orae port 
 in America, and without trans-shipping or unloading 
 the goods in America, to proceed directly to Europe, 
 and to dispose of their Indian cargoes in an European 
 pott. This practice is, unquestionably, contrary to the. 
 tfaty of commerce with America.
 
 32 
 
 India to Europe, were the British merchants 
 in India permitted to avail themselves of 
 their superior means of drawing the whole 
 of the trade to England. Their local know- 
 ledge, added to all the advantages necessarily 
 derived from a constant residence on the spot, 
 must always enable them to command a 
 supply of goods, of a better quality, and at 
 a cheaper rate than foreign merchants can 
 obtain. I n the convey a nce of Indian go ods 
 to Europe rests the foreign merchant's sole 
 /^ | ad vantage over the British . The superior fa- 
 cility which the foreign merchant enjoys, in 
 this respect, gives him so decided a com- 
 mand over the trade, that he is enabled not 
 only to outbid the British merchant in India, 
 but also to undersell him in the markets of 
 Europe. 
 
 48. Were the British merchants in India 
 permitted to provide their own tonnage, as 
 occasion might require, every reason exists 
 to justify a belief, that they would soon pos- 
 sess themselves of nearly the whole of the 
 private export trade from India to Europe, 
 and would render London the universal mart 
 for the manufactures and produce of Asia.
 
 33 
 
 Y 
 
 ' 49. If' the capital of the merchants in In- 
 dia, and the remittance of the fortunes of 
 individuals, should not supply funds suffici- 
 ent for the conduct of the whole private ex- 
 port trade from India to Europe, no danger- 
 ous consequences could result from applying 
 to this branch of commerce, capital drawn 
 directly from the British empire in Europe. 
 .?, 50. Beneficial consequences of the utmost 
 importance would' certainly.: result to the 
 British empire in India, from any Consider- 
 able increase of its active capital, which is 
 known not to bear a- just proportion to the 
 productive powers of the country. 
 ^%\. "The necessary effect- of such an in- 
 crease of active Capital in India,- would be to 
 augment the produceandmrtnufactures of your 
 dominions, to the full extent of any possi- 
 ble demand. The high rate of interest on 
 money applied to mercantile purposes, and 
 the charge of the public debt, Would conse- 
 quently bediminished in- India; while every 
 source, both of public and private credit, 
 would be proportionably improved. No 
 possibility appears of any injurious conse- 
 quences resulting to the British empire in 
 Europe from an event so advantageous to 
 
 
 Ha
 
 34 
 
 *%, 
 
 
 7*1*4/ 
 
 India. It cannot be supposed that the 
 j private trade of India will ever absorb anj 
 \ portion of British capital, which can find 
 more advantageous employment at home. If 
 any portion of British capital be now em- 
 ployed in the American, or Portuguese, or 
 Danish trade with India, the general interests 
 of Great Britain will unquestionably be pro- 
 moted, by inviting, under increased advan- 
 tages, the application of the same funds to 
 the trade of the private British merchants 
 resident within the Company's dominions. 
 
 52. From whatever source the capital of 
 the private British trade in India might be 
 derived, the goods would be obtained in 
 India under the same wise, humane, and 
 salutary regulations, now enforced, with 
 respect to the provision of every article of 
 produce or manufacture in this country, 
 either by the Company or by private mer- 
 / chants : Great Britain would enjoy all the 
 advantages of that trade, which is pow a 
 source of increasing wealth and strength 
 to foreign nations, and which tends ulti- 
 mately to introduce foreign intrigue, to 
 establish f oreign influence , and to aggran- 
 dise foreign power in India.
 
 35 
 
 53. It would be equally unjust and im- 
 politic, to extend any facility to the trade of 
 the British merchants in India, by sacrificing 
 or hazarding the Company's rights and privi- 
 leges, by injuring its commercial interests, 
 by admitting an indiscriminate and unres- 
 trained commercial intercourse between Eng- 
 land and India, or by departing from any of 
 the fundamental principles of policy, which 
 now govern the British establishments in 
 India. 
 
 51. It may be urged, that if a considerable 
 proportion of the goods now exported from 
 India to the continent of Europe by foreign- 
 ers, were to be imported into England by the 
 British merchants in India, under raies of 
 freight more advantageous than those now 
 paid by the Company, the demand for the 
 Company's goods would be reduced, and 
 the value of the Company's goods would 
 be impaired. 
 
 55. It has already been observed, that 
 the public sales of East-Indian goods in 
 England must necessarily be affected by the 
 aggregate quantity of those goods sold in 
 the continental markets of Europe ; and 
 that the effect on the sales in England would 
 
 d 2 
 
 +Cu -
 
 36 
 
 probably be less prejudicial, and could not 
 be more so, if a larger proportion of the 
 goods provided in India for the European 
 markets, should be imported into England 
 and sold, in the first instance, at the Com- 
 pany's sales. 
 
 56. The long establishment of the Com- 
 i pany's factories in India, the skill of its 
 \ servants, (regularly educated for the conduct 
 
 of those factories,) the habitual confidence 
 of the manufacturers in the good faith and 
 integrity of the Company, have secured to 
 the Company so decided a superiority in the 
 provision of the most valuable articles of 
 piece goods and raw silk, that no private 
 merchant, by any practicable reduction of 
 freight, can be enabled to rival the Company 
 in those important articles of its investment. 
 
 57. In the first purchase of sugar and 
 other gruff goods, the trade of the private 
 British merchant has more nearly reached 
 that of the Company ; nor will the Com- 
 pany ever be able to trade* advantageously 
 in these articles, unless the government in 
 India shall resort to ships built in India for 
 the conveyance of such goods. r Ihe valu- 
 able branches of your investment will, it is
 
 37 
 
 supposed, be always conveyed with more ad- 
 vantage in your regular ships. 
 
 58. If the British merchants should be per- 
 mitted to employ ships built in India under 
 the plan of October \7 l J$, the Company's 
 gruffgoods may also be conveyed to England 
 in ships of a similar description, at rates of 
 freight equally advantageous with those paid 
 by the private merchants.* [he Company 
 will therefore derive a considerable benefit r/y A 
 in this branch of trade, from encouraging '' M - XJ>7-u 
 the trade of the private British merchants in fi^ajf/tfjc 
 India. At present, neither the Company / 
 nor the private British merchant can rival 
 foreigners in the markets of Europe, in the 
 less valuable articles of Indian produce and 
 manufactures. 
 
 5y. It is now evident that the extra ton- 
 nage engaged in England by the Company 
 for the service of India, can never be render- 
 ed a practicable channel, through which the 
 British private trade of India can contend 
 with foreign adventure. This observation 
 
 * The probable saving to the Company in the preseni. I /l / 1 
 season, by the conveyance of their gruff goods in ships J t y 
 . built in India, may amount to 20,0001. / 
 
 :$54829
 
 38 
 
 necessarily applies with more force to the 
 regular ships of the Company, although ex- 
 perience has proved those ships to be admira- 
 bly calculated for the conveyance of the 
 Company's valuable investment. 
 
 60. The plan contained in the advertise- 
 ment of the 5th of October 1798, affords to 
 the British merchants every necessary faci- 
 lity for the conduct of the private trade from 
 India to England, while the important prin- 
 ciples of the trade and government of India 
 are preserved from hazard, and sufficient pre- 
 cautions are provided against all the dangers 
 justly apprehended from an unrestricted com- 
 mercial intercourse between England and 
 India. 
 
 61. The essential object of preventing the 
 resort to India of persons unlicensed by the 
 Company is not effected ; the powers of the 
 government in India over unlicensed per- 
 sons remain in full vigour and efficiency; 
 no goods or passengers can be received in 
 the private ships either in India or England, 
 without the sanction of the Company, or of 
 its government ; the voyage to England, and 
 the return to India, are required to be per- 
 formed under the instructions and controul
 
 of the same authority ; and as the proprie- 
 tors of ships, the commanders and officers, 
 the seamen (mostly natives of India,) and 
 all the persons concerned in the immediate 
 conduct of the trade, are subject to the au- 
 thority of the British government in India, 
 it is always in the power of tjie Company and 
 of its government to prevent the perversion 
 of an intercourse thus regulated between 
 India and England, to any sinister purposes, 
 endangering the rights and privileges of the 
 Company, or the interests of the British 
 Empire. 
 
 62. Omitting the difference in the rate of 
 freight, these considerations alone are suffi- 
 cient to recommend the employment of ships 
 built in India, in the private trade between 
 India and Great Britain : Over private ships 
 furnished from England, the Company and 
 their government in India could not exercise 
 an equally efficient control. 
 
 63. It is remarkable, that the principle 
 which has hitherto regulated the commer- 
 cial intercourse between India and England, 
 has actually occasioned the very evils which 
 it was intended to avert. 
 
 64. The operation of this erroneous prin-
 
 40 
 
 ciple has forced the trade between India and 
 Europe from a channel in which it could 
 have been controlled and regulated without 
 difficulty, into the hands of foreign nations, 
 where it cannot, without considerable diffi- 
 culty, be subjected to any degree of con- 
 trol, regulation, or restraint. The same 
 mistaken policy has filled the ports of India 
 with the ships of foreign nations ; has ena- 
 bled those nations to rival the Company, 
 both in Europe and in India, in many arti- 
 cles of its export and import trade ; has in- 
 vited from Europe and America, adventurers 
 of every description ; and, by the number 
 and activity of these foreign agents, has 
 
 menaced the fo undations of your com hum-- 
 f ) . cial and political interests throughout every 
 
 part of Asia, and even within your own do- 
 minions. 
 
 65. If the extension of additional indul- 
 gences to the British merchants necessarily 
 /. involved the admission of numerous British 
 adventurers into India, the wisdom of your 
 honourable court could not fail to remark, 
 that your government can always with less 
 * x difficulty Control the operations of British, 
 
 ff'l-lf/. than those of foreign agents; while the
 
 41 
 
 danger to be apprehended from the views aTid ~ L 
 designs of foreigners, of every description, 
 must ever be greater than any which can 
 probably arise from an increased resort of 
 British subjects, under such limitations and 
 restraints as vour wisdom mav frame, and 
 the vigilance of your, governments in India 
 may be enabled to enforce. 
 
 66. But it does not appear probable, tha t 
 any increase of the private British trade of 
 India would necessarily produce a propor- 
 tional augmentation in the number of British 
 agents resorting to your dom inions, the Bri- 
 tish merchants now resident in India being 
 equal to the conduct of much more extensive 
 concerns, and likely to be employed by per- 
 sons engaged in commercial concerns at 
 home, who might easily conduct their ope- 
 rations with India, through those British 
 subjects actually established within your 
 dominions. 
 
 67. On the other hand, foreigners gene- 
 rally deal directly with the natives , or with 
 foreign houses or agency. 1 he number of 
 
 *> 
 
 'V*** 
 
 these houses (in consequence of the war,) is /A /is 
 now inconsiderable ; the increase of foreign fjL 
 adventurers will, therefore, be a necessary /V ^J/
 
 42 
 
 ft 
 
 ./ 
 
 t- 
 
 f /t-tL 
 
 consequence of an}' considerable increase of 
 the trade in foreign hands. ForcigrFstiips 
 also being necessarily exempt from the con- 
 troul of the British governme nt in Eur ope, 
 offer to every emissary of the enemy, and to 
 every dangerous political adventurer, an 
 easy entrance into India. In proportion 
 
 to the increased resort of foreign ships to 
 our ports in Indm, foreign intrigue will find a 
 more ready channel of admission. It is a well 
 known fact, that those to whom your per- 
 mission and license to visit India have been 
 refused, usually resort to foreign ships', and* 
 thus evade your authority. "Trie same chan-" 
 nel is also always open to afford refuge, and 
 the means of escape, to every public defaulter 
 and delinquent, from the authority of your 
 government in India. 
 
 68. It is impossible to check the resort of 
 the ships of foreign nations to India by any 
 other regulation, than by rendering the trade 
 unprofitable to foreign adventure: this effect 
 cannot be accomplished, otherwise than by 
 enabling the British merchants in India to 
 undersell foreigners in the markets of Europe. 
 A system which, under due regulation, shall 
 afford to the British merchants in India the
 
 43 
 
 greatest practicable facility of conveying their 
 trade to England, instead of endangering the 
 stability of the trade, and power of the Com- 
 pany and of the nation in India, will there- 
 fore constitute the most solid basis of security, 
 for the preservation of both. 
 
 69. The preceding observations, may, \ 
 trust, satisfy your honourable court, that 
 the principles of the plan of the 5th October 
 1798, combine the requisite indulgence to 
 the private trade, with the indispensable pre- 
 cautions necessary for securing your interests 
 in India. 
 
 70. It is not my duty to enter into anyt n 
 detailed discussion of the objections urged I Jr. J ' . 
 by the ship-builders in England, against the j y^ , 
 admission of ships built in India, to a par- r4r/*yl^ 
 ticipation in the trade from India to the port / $\ 
 
 of London. It may not however be useless j u 
 
 to add some remarks on this part of the sub-| 
 ject. 
 
 71. Experience having proved that ton- 
 nage cannot be furnished from England on 
 terms, which would enable the British mer- 
 chants in India to rival foreigners in the trade 
 between India and Europe, the exclusion of 
 the ships built in India from the port of
 
 44 
 
 London would not increase the number of 
 British ships hitherto engaged in the Indian 
 trade in any proportion which could mate- 
 rially benefit the ship-builders in England. 
 This measure, therefore, ivithout any pro- 
 portional benefit to the ship-builders in Eng- 
 land, would perpetuate and aggravate the 
 evils now experienced, from the restraints 
 imposed on the private trade between India 
 and England : On the other hand, by admit- 
 ting ships built in India to partake of the 
 trade to England, the ship-builders, and 
 other artists, manufacturers and traders in 
 England, will reap all the benefits arising from 
 the large sums expended in the repair of the 
 numerous ships, annually resorting to Eng- 
 land from the ports of India. Otherinterests, 
 connected with the building of ships in Eng- 
 land, will also derive the profit resulting 
 from the great demand for the articles neces- 
 sary in the construction and outfit of the 
 ships built in the ports of India, the fact 
 being established, that many of those articles 
 must necessarily be brought from England. 
 72. On their return to India, these ships, 
 1 the moderation of their rates of freight 
 will afford a most advantageous mode of con-
 
 45 
 
 veyance, for such of the manufactures of the 
 British empire in Europe, as may be de- 
 manded in India ; consequently the facilities 
 granted to the private trade, and to the ships 
 built in India, will serve to encourage the 
 exportation of British manufactures to Asia, 
 to whatever extent the demand may be en* r 
 larged. 
 
 73. I have thus carefully revised the plan 
 contained in the advertisement of October 
 1798, for the encouragement of the trade 
 of the British merchants resident in India 
 with England ; I have compared that plan 
 with the arrangement adopted under the 
 orders of your honourable court, of the 
 25th of May 1798 ; I have considered the 
 probable effects of any future attempt to 
 provide for the conveyance of the private 
 trade of India to the port of London, either 
 in the company's regular ships, or in extra 
 ships hire I in England ; and I have advert- 
 ed to the comparative practical operation of 
 the systems adopted by this government, in 
 the years 1798-9 and 1799-1800, as it ap- 
 pears on tie accounts of the exports and im- 
 ports of the court of Calcutta in each of 
 those years. I have also submitted to your
 
 46 
 
 examination, a combined view of the mo- 
 tives which induce me to revert to the plan 
 of October, 1798, for the present season ; 
 and to form an anxious expectation, that 
 my conduct in this proceeding may meet 
 with your approbation and countenance, and 
 may become the foundation f an improved 
 and durable system of intercourse between 
 India and England, under the sanction of 
 your authority. 
 
 74. The rapid groiuth of the foreign 
 trad during the last season, urgently de- 
 manded the immediate interference of your 
 government on the spot : The number of 
 foreign ships actually in the port of Cal- 
 cutta; the alacrity, enterprise, and skill of 
 the foreign agents, now assiduously em- 
 ployed in providing cargoes, and the neces- 
 sary inaction and languor of the British 
 private trade, embarrassed by the restraints 
 of the existing law, created a serious appre- 
 hension in my mind, that any further delay 
 in the decision of this momentous question 
 might occasion evils, of which the remedy 
 might hereafter become considerably diffi- 
 cult, if not absolutely impracticable. The 
 unrestrained progress of the foreign trade in 
 the present season, added to its great in-
 
 47 
 
 crease during the last, might have established 
 its predominance over the private trade of 
 British subjects, to an extent, which no future 
 regulation might have proved sufficient to 
 limit or restrain. The difficulty of diverting 
 this lucrative commerce from the channel 
 into which it had been forced, would natu- 
 rally be aggravated, in proportion to the 
 length of time during which the trade should 
 continue to flow in that course. 
 
 75. Under these serious impressions, and 
 convinced that a prompt decision was de- 
 manded, with a degree of exigency equal to 
 the importance of the question at issue, I 
 directed the accompanying notice to be pub- 
 lished at Fort William, on the 19th instant ; 
 and I ordered the governments of Fort St. 
 George and Bombay to publish correspon- 
 dent advertisements at those presidencies, 
 with such modifications, as local circumstan- 
 ces may render indispensably necessary. 
 
 76. It will rest with your honourable court 
 to determine, whether this plan shall be 
 rendered permanent. A temporary restraint 
 is now applied to the progress of the foreign 
 trade in India during the present season ; and 
 a temporary encouragement is granted, for
 
 48 
 
 the same period of fime- to that of British 
 subjects resiJeir a your dominions. 
 
 Ample time is th rded for the delibe- 
 
 rate formation of your final judgment; the 
 result of which 3 .s-ial! await with a respect- 
 ful, but a confident hope, that your wisdom 
 may approve and iate the policy which 
 
 dictated my orders of the fnh of October 
 1789, and of the 19th of September 1800 ; 
 and that ycv.r liberality may confirm to all 
 the interests effected by this important mea- 
 sure, the lasting enjoyment of those com- 
 mercial and political advantages, which it 
 has been my constant endeavour, under your 
 countenance and favour, to cultivate, to im- 
 prove, and to extend. 
 
 I havetbe honour to be, 
 
 Honourable Sirs, 
 
 With the greatest respect, 
 
 Your most obedient, 
 
 And faithful servant, 
 
 WELLESLEY. 
 
 G. SiujiK.Y, J unit!, Novtiiuuibcrlaud Street, Strand.
 
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