"It is impossible for the Select Committee to go through the whole themselves, nor can they expect to see a thorough reformation take place, unless they are assisted with the zeal and assiduity of others. If the gentlemen of Madras whom I have recommended were here, I could be certain of having my plan soon completed. The Directors will, I am sure, be surprised when they see what a total inattention (to call it by no worse a name) there has been in the gentlemen of council, with regard to their employment, and what gross frauds have been committed by the natives acting under them.
"Still more will they be surprised, when they see the late military expenses, compared with the present; for there is now a system of economy, consistent with the true interest of the Company, and yet the allowances are not reduced below what they ought to be.
"Neither the general nor committee's letter is very full upon the subject of remittances. This year we shall probably draw upon you to the amount of treasure sent to China. There still remains 24 lacs of restitution money to be paid, 3 lacs of donation, 30 lacs of bonds and 10 or 12 lacs to be sent to Bombay; and if to this you add 20 lacs to be sent to China, the whole will amount to 87 or 89 lacs. Our treasury at present is low, as we have not yet received the benefit of our new grant; and large sums have been advanced for the investment, which will exceed 40 lacs this year.
"The trade of salt, betle, and tobacco is now become an object of the utmost importance, both to the Company and to individuals. If the profits should greatly exceed what they are stated at, as some are sanguine enough to imagine, you may be assured the Company shall receive the benefit; for, if the clear gain should exceed a certain sum, the indulgence will become too great. As matters are settled at present, the Company will receive one half of the advantages by allowing them a duty of 35 per cent. upon salt, which is the principal article. The proprietors pay 10 per cent. for the loan of money, and 5 per cent. may be allowed for the loss of boats and wastage."
The Court of Directors appear, from their general letters sent by Lord Clive, and those of subsequent date, to have been very anxious to put an end to the internal trade carried on by their servants and their native agents, which they considered as being alike oppressive to the inhabitants of the country, and injurious to the native governments. It constituted a great source of profit to individuals, but was, they stated, directly opposed to the interests of the Company, and from the mode in which it was carried on brought disgrace upon the English name. In the general letter of April 26th, 1765, the Court observes, with reference to the conduct of the civil servants who had charge of the government before the arrival of Lord Clive, and who pretended that their right to engage in the internal trade, and to have their goods passed free of duty, was founded on the Emperor's firman to the Company;—
"Treaties of commerce are understood to be for the mutual benefit of the contracting parties. Is it then possible to suppose that the court of Delhi, by conferring the privilege of trading free of customs, could mean an inland trade in the commodities of their own country, at that period unpractised and unthought of by the English, to the detriment of their revenues and the ruin of their own merchants? We do not find such a construction was ever heard of, until our own servants first invented it, and afterwards supported it by violence. Neither could it be claimed by the subsequent treaties with Meer Jaffier, or Cossim Ali, which were never understood to give one additional privilege of trade beyond what the firman expressed. In short, the specious arguments used by those who pretended to set up a right to it convince us they did not want judgment, but virtue to withstand the temptation of suddenly amassing a great fortune, although acquired by means incompatible with the peace of the country, and their duty to the Company.
"Equally blamable were they who, acknowledging they had no right to it, and sensible of the ill consequences resulting from assuming it, have, nevertheless, carried on this trade, and used the authority of the Company to obtain, by a treaty exacted by violence, a sanction for a trade to enrich themselves, without the least regard or advantage to the Company, whose forces they employed to protect them in it.
"Had this short question been put, which their duty ought first to have suggested, 'Is it for the interest of our employers?' they would not have hesitated one moment about it; but this criterion seems never once to have occurred.
"All barriers being thus broken down between the English and the country government, and every thing out of its proper channel, we are at a loss how to prescribe means to restore order from this confusion; and being deprived of that confidence which we hoped we might have placed in our servants, who appear to have been the actors in these strange scenes, we can only say, that we rely on the zeal and abilities of Lord Clive, and the gentlemen of the Select Committee, to remedy these evils. We hope they will restore our reputation among the country powers, and convince them of our abhorrence of oppression and rapaciousness."
In the general letter, under date the 19th February, 1766, recurring to the same subject, they write:—