RENEWAL OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY’S CHARTER.
It was generally supposed at this time that the charter of the East India Company, which was on the eve of expiration, would be abolished, and that the whole Indian trade would be thereby thrown open to British enterprise. The public expectation however, was doomed to be disappointed. On the 23rd of April Mr. Dundas brought the question before the house, in consequence of a petition from the company, and after taking a view of the prosperous state of India under the present system, he brought in a bill for the renewal of the charter for twenty years, which passed without a division. At the same time Dundas proposed certain regulations, tending to promote a free trade, but not interfering with the company’s charter.