In the beginning of this year violent disputes arose between the government and the house of commons in Ireland, on the almost forgotten subjects of privilege and prerogative. The commons conceived they had an undoubted right to apply the surplus of their revenue towards national purposes, without the consent of their sovereign; and accordingly, in the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine, prepared a bill with this preamble, “Whereas, on the twenty-fifth day of March last, a considerable balance remained in the hands of the vice-treasurer or receivers-general of the kingdom, or their deputy or deputies, unapplied; and it will be for your majesty’s service, and for the ease of your faithful subjects in this kingdom, that so much thereof as can be conveniently spared should be paid, agreeably to your majesty’s most gracious intentions, in discharge of part of the national debt.” This appropriation gave great offence to the advocates for prerogatives in England, who affirmed that the commons had no right to apply any part of the unappropriated revenue, nor even to take any such affair into consideration, without the previous consent of the crown, expressed in the most explicit terms. It was in consequence of this doctrine, that the duke of Dorset, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, told them in the next session of parliament, held in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-one, he was commanded by the king to aquaint them, that his majesty, ever attentive to the ease and happiness of his subjects, would graciously consent and recommend it to them, that such a part of the money then remaining in the treasury, as should be thought consistent with the public service, be applied towards the further reduction of the national debt. This declaration alarmed the commons, zealous as they were for the preservation of their privileges; and in their address of thanks, which, like that of the parliament of Great Britain, used always to echo back the words of the speech, they made no mention of his majesty’s consent; but only acknowledged his gracious attention to their ease and happiness, in recommending to them the application of the surplus. They accordingly resolved to apply one hundred and twenty thousand pounds of that overplus towards the discharge of the national debt; and, in the preamble of the bill, framed for this purpose, made no mention of his majesty’s consent, though before they had acknowledged his goodness in recommending this application. The ministry in England were highly offended at this purposed omission, which they construed into a wilful encroachment on the prerogative; and the bill was sent back with an alteration in the preamble, signifying his majesty’s consent as well as recommendation. The Irish house of commons being at that time deeply engaged in a minute inquiry into the conduct of a gentleman, a servant of the crown, and a member of their own house, accused of having misapplied a large sum of money, with which he had been intrusted for rebuilding or repairing the barracks, were now unwilling to embroil themselves farther with the government, until this affair should be discussed. They therefore passed the bill with the alteration, and proceeded with their inquiry. The person was convicted of having misapplied the public money, and ordered to make the barracks fit for the reception and accommodation of the troops at his own expense. They did not, however, neglect to assert what they thought their rights and privileges, when the next opportunity occurred. The duke of Dor-get, when he opened the session of this year, repeated the expression of his majesty’s gracious consent, in mentioning the surplus of the public money. They again omitted that word in their address; and resolved, in their bill of application, not only to sink this odious term, but likewise to abate in their complaisance to the crown, by leaving out that expression of grateful acknowledgment, which had met with such a cold reception above. By this time the contest had kindled up two violent factions, and diffused a general spirit of resentment through the whole Irish nation. The committee who prepared the bill, instead of inserting the usual compliments in the preamble, mentioned nothing but a recital of facts, and sent it over in a very plain dress, quite destitute of all embroidery. The ministry, intent upon vindicating the prerogative from such an unmannerly attack, filled up the omissions of the committee, and sent it back with this alteration: “And your majesty, ever attentive to the ease and happiness of your faithful subjects, has been graciously pleased to signify that you would consent, and to recommend it to us, that so much of the money remaining in your majesty’s treasury as should be necessary to be applied to the discharge of the national debt, or such part thereof as should be thought expedient by parliament.” This then being the crisis which was to determine a constitutional point of such importance, namely, whether the people in parliament assembled have a right to deliberate upon, and vote the application of any part of the unappropriated revenue, without the previous consent of the crown; those who were the most zealously attached to the liberties of their country, resolved to exert themselves in opposing what they conceived to be a violation of those liberties; and the bill, with its alterations, was rejected by a majority of five voices. The success of their endeavours was celebrated with the most extravagant rejoicing, as a triumph of patriotism over the arts of ministerial corruption; and, on the other hand, all the servants of the crown, who had joined the popular cry on this occasion, were in a little time dismissed from their employments. The rejection of the bill was a great disappointment to the creditors of the public, and the circulation of cash was almost stagnated. These calamities were imputed to arbitrary designs in the government; and the people began to be inflamed with an enthusiastic spirit of independency, which might have produced mischievous effects, had not artful steps been taken to bring over the demagogues, and thus divert the stream of popular clamour from the ministry to those very individuals who had been the idols of popular veneration. The speaker of the house of commons was promoted to the dignity of an earl; and some other patriots were gratified with lucrative employments. His majesty’s letter arrived for paying off seventy-five thousand five hundred pounds of the national debt. The circulation was thus animated, and the resentment of the populace subsiding, the kingdom retrieved its former tranquillity.

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TRANSACTIONS IN THE EAST INDIES.

The ambition and intrigues of the French court, by which the British interest was invaded and disturbed on the continent of America, had also extended itself to the East Indies, where they endeavoured to embroil the English company with divers nabobs or princes, who governed different parts of the peninsula intra Gangem. That the reader may have a clear and distinct idea of these transactions, we shall exhibit a short sketch of the English forts and settlements in that remote country. The first of these we shall mention is Surat, [348] [See note 2U, at the end of this Vol.] in the province so called, situated between the twenty-first and twenty-second degrees of north latitude; from hence the peninsula stretches into the Indian ocean as far as the latitude of eight north, ending in a point at Cape Comorin, which is the southern extremity. To the northward this peninsula joins to Indostan, and at its greatest breadth extends seven hundred miles. Upon the west, east, and south, it is washed by the sea. It comprehends the kingdoms of Malabar, Decan, Golconda, and Bisnagar, with the principalities of Gingi, Tanjaour, and Madura. The western side is distinguished by the name of the Malabar coast: the eastern takes the denomination of Coromandel; and in different parts of this long sweep, from Surat round Cape Comorin to the bottom of the bay of Bengal, the English and other European powers have, with the consent of the mogul, established forts and trading settlements. All these kingdoms, properly speaking, belong to the mogul; but his power was so weakened by the last invasion of Kouli Khan, that he has not been able to assert his empire over this remote country; the tributary princes of which, and even the nabobs, who were originally governors appointed under their authority, have rendered themselves independent, and exert an absolute dominion over their respective territories, without acknowledging his superiority either by tribute or homage. These princes, when they quarrel among themselves, naturally have recourse to the assistance of such European powers as are settled in or near their dominions; and in the same manner the East Indian companies of the European powers which happen to be at war with each other, never fail to interest the nabobs in the dispute.

[ENLARGE]

ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS.

The next English settlement to Surat, on the coast of the peninsula, is Bombay, in the kingdom of Decan, a small island, with a very convenient harbour, above five-and-forty leagues to the south of Surat. The town is very populous; but the soil is barren, and the climate unhealthy; and the commerce was rendered very precarious by the neighbourhood of the famous corsair Angria, until his port of Geria was taken, and his fortifications demolished. The English company likewise carry on some traffic at Dabul, about forty leagues further to the south, in the province of Cuncan. In the same southerly progression, towards the point of the peninsula, we arrive at Carwar, in the latitude of fifteen degrees, where there is a small fort and factory belonging to the company, standing on the south side of a bay, with a river capable of receiving ships of pretty large burden. The climate here is remarkably salubrious; the country abounds with provisions of all sorts, and the best pepper of India grows in this neighbourhood. The next English settlement we find at Tilli-cherry, where the company has erected a fort, to defend their commerce of pepper and cardamomoms from the insults of the rajah, who governs this part of Malabar. Hither the English trade was removed from Calicut, a large town that stands fifteen leagues to the southward of Tillicherry, and was as well frequented as any port on the coast of the Indian peninsula. The most southerly settlement which the English possess on the Malabar coast, is that of Anjengo, between the eighth and ninth degrees of latitude. It is defended by a regular fort, situated on a broad river, which falls into the sea, and would be very commodious for trade, were not the water on the bar too shallow to admit ships of considerable burden. Then turning the Cape, and passing through the strait of Chilao, formed by the island of Ceylon, we arrive on the coast of Côromandel, which forms the eastern side of the isthmus. Prosecuting our course in a northern direction, the first English factory we reach is that of Fort St. David’s, formerly called Tegapatan, situated in the latitude of eleven degrees forty minutes north, within the kingdom of Gingi. It was, about six and-twenty years ago, sold by a Mahratta prince to the East India company, and, next to Bombay, is the most considerable settlement we have yet mentioned.*

* The trade consists of long cloths of different colours, sallampores, morees, dimities, ginghams, and succations.

Its territory extends about eight miles along the coast, and half that space up to the country, which is delightfully watered by a variety of rivers; the soil is fertile, and the climate healthy. The fort is regular, well provided with cannon, ammunition, and a numerous garrison, which is the more necessary, on account of the neighbourhood of the French settlement at Pon-dicherry. But the chief settlement belonging to the company on this coast is that of Madras, or Fort St. George, standing farther to the northward, between the thirteenth and fourteenth degrees of latitude, and not a great way from the diamond mines of Golconda. It is seated on a flat, barren, scorching sand, so near the sea, that in bad weather the walls are endangered by the mighty surges rolled in from the ocean. As the soil is barren, the climate is so intensely hot that it would be altogether uninhabitable, were not the heat mitigated by the sea breezes. On the land side it is defended by a salt water river, which, while it contributes to the security of the place, robs the inhabitants of one great comfort, by obstructing the springs of fresh water. The fort is a regular square, the town surrounded with walls well mounted with artillery, and the place, including the Black Town, is very populous. Madras, with several villages in the neighbourhood, was purchased of the king of Golconda, before the mogul became sovereign of this country. The governor of this place is not only president of Fort St. George, but also of all the other settlements on the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, as far as the island of Sumatra. He lives in great pomp, having inferior judges, who pass sentence of death occasionally on malefactors of any nation, except the subjects of Great Britain. All the company’s affairs are directed by him and his council, who are invested with the power of inflicting corporal punishment, short of life and member, upon such Europeans as are in the service, and dispose of all places of trust and profit. By virtue of an act passed in the course of this very session, the military officers belonging to the company were permitted to hold courts-martial, and punish their soldiers according to the degree of their delinquency. In a word, Madras is of the utmost importance to the company for its strength, wealth, and the great returns it makes in calicoes and muslins. Towards the latter end of the last century, the English company had a flourishing factory at Masulipatam, standing on the north side of the river Nagundi, which separates the provinces of Golconda and Bisnagar, in the latitude of sixteen degrees and thirty minutes; but now there is no European settlement here, except a Dutch factory, maintained for carrying on the chintz commerce. At Visgapatam, situated still farther to the northward, the English possess a factory regularly fortified on the side of the river, which, however, a dangerous bar has rendered unfit for navigation. The adjacent country affords cotton cloths, and the best stripped muslins of India. It is chiefly for the use of this settlement that the company maintains a factory at Ganjam, the most eastern town in the province or kingdom of Golconda, situated in a country abounding with rice and sugar-canes. Still farther to the north coast, in the latitude of twenty-two degrees, the company maintains a factory at Balasore, which was formerly very considerable; but hath been of very little consequence since the navigation of the river Huguely Avas improved. At this place every European ship bound for Bengal and the Ganges takes in a pilot. The climate is not counted very salubrious; but the adjacent country is fruitful to admiration, and here are considerable manufacture of cotton and silk. Without skilful pilots, the English would find it very difficult to navigate the different channels through which the river Ganges discharges itself into the sea at the bottom of the bay of Bengal. On the southern branch is a town called Pepely, where there was formerly an English factory, but this was removed to Huguely, one hundred and sixty miles farther up the river; a place which, together with the company’s settlement at Calcutta, were the emporiums of their commerce for the whole kingdom of Bengal. Indeed Huguely is now abandoned by the English, and their whole trade centers at Calcutta or Fort William, which is a regular fortification, containing lodgings for the factors and writers, store-houses for the company’s merchandise, and magazines for their ammunition. As for the governor’s house, which likewise stands within the fort, it is one of the most regular structures in all India. Besides these settlements along the sea-coast of the peninsula, and on the banks of the Ganges, the English East India company possess certain inland fac tories and posts for the convenience and defence of their commerce, either purchased of the nabobs and rajahs, or conquered in the course of the war. As the operations we propose to record were confined to the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, or the interior countries which form the peninsula intra Gangem, it will be unnecessary to describe the factory at Bencoolen, on the island of Sumatra, or any settlement which the English possess in other parts of the East Indies.