The Works of William Cowper / His life, letters, and poems, now first completed by the introduction of Cowper's private correspondence

by William Cowper

[208] Lord Thurlow and Colman, to whom he presented his first volume, and received no acknowledgment.

[209] Private correspondence.

[210] A considerable fire occurred at this time in the town of Bedford, and thirty-nine houses were consumed, but it is said from accidental causes.

[211] The discovery of balloons had attracted the attention of the public at this period, and various speculations were indulged as to the probable result.

[212] Private correspondence.

[213] Private correspondence.

[214] Private correspondence.

[215] What would Cowper have thought, if he had lived to see the modern invention of railroads, and the possibility of travelling thirty miles in one hour and twenty minutes, by means of the operation of steam?

[216] As repeated allusion is made to the affairs of the East India Company, by Cowper, in the following letters, for the information of those who may not be conversant with this subject, we add the following information.

The great abuses that were imputed to the system of government established in that country, where a company of merchants exercised the supreme sway, led Mr. Fox, in 1783, (the period in which he was a member of administration,) to introduce his celebrated East India Bill, in which he proposed to annihilate the charter of the Company, and to dispossess them of their power. The measure passed in the Commons, but was thrown out by the Lords; and royal influence was said to have been exerted to procure its rejection. The failure of this bill led to the dissolution of that administration, in the December of the same year. In the succeeding January of 1784, Mr. Pitt introduced his no less celebrated bill. Instead of going the length of violating the charter, granted in the time of William III., (the great defect attributed to Mr. Fox's preceding bill,) his object was to preserve it inviolate, but with certain modifications. The main feature in his plan was to separate the commercial from the territorial concerns of the Company, and to vest the latter in a Board, nominated by government; thus withdrawing from the East India Company the exercise of powers belonging only to the supreme authority. This bill, though more just and popular than the preceding, was nevertheless rejected by a majority of eight; but it was subsequently renewed, and carried, and is the origin of that Board of Control which is now so well known, as superintending and regulating the concerns of our Indian empire.