1805.

have the aid of the Committee of 1810, in unravelling the confusion and re- CHAP. XIII. moving the obscurity of the Company's accounts. The government of India had at this time enjoyed three years of uninterrupted peace; when the financial effects of the administration which closed in 1805 may be supposed to be sufficiently ascertained. In that year the revenues amounted to 15,525,0551.; the charges, including supplies to out-lying settlements, and the interest of debts, amounted to 15,551,097.; constituting a surplus of charge to the amount of 26,0421. This was a great reduction from 2,268,6087., the excess of charge in 1805; it was even somewhat less than 118,7467., the excess of charge in 1798; but far was this from being a state of receipt adequate to pay the interest and redeem the capital of that enormous sum expended by the wars to which the administration of Marquis Wellesley gave birth. The debts, as they appear upon the face of the accounts were, in England 10,357,088/. in 1810; in India 30,876,788 in 1809, which was the last year of which the Committee had received the accounts. The sum of debts was therefore 41,233,8761.; being an addition to the sum of the debts existing in 1805, of little less than 10,000,000/.*

Among the accounts from the East India Company which are annually presented to parliament, is an account entitled stock by computation. This consists of all the debts of the Company, including every acknowledged claim, on the one side; of the whole of its disposable effects, on the other. On the credit side of this account is placed all the property which has been already spoken of under the name of assets, excepting the greater part of what stands under the name of dead stock, and has little real, though set down by the Company at a great imaginary value, fixed at the pleasure of those who determine the shape of the accounts. The Committee of 1810 has given the results which this document presents.

On the 1st of March, 1793, the debts were less than the effects; in other words, there was a balance in favour of the concern, to the amount of 1,956,866/ On the 1st of March, 1810, the debts were greater than the effects; in other words, there was a balance against the concern, to the amount of 6,025,5051. This constitutes a deterioration during the intermediate period, amounting to 7,538,7397. To this sum the Committee of 1810 adds the money raised for capital stock in 1793 and 1794; and after some other adjustments exhibits the deterioration in those seventeen years at 11,062,5911. †

* See the second and fourth Reports of the Committee of 1810.
+Fourth Report, ut supra, p. 451.

BOOK VI.

1805.

To the balance of 6,025,505l. against the Company in 1810 is to be added the sums received for capital stock, amounting as above to 7,780,000/. This exhibits on the debit side of the Company's account a balance of 13,805,505l. ; in other words, an amount to that extent, of legitimate claims, which there is nothing whatsoever in the shape of property to meet.

As the operations of the Company are two-fold, those of government and those of commerce, it is a question whether the unfavourable result which appears on the comparison of the accounts of stock in the years 1793 and 1810, was produced by the government or the commerce. This question the Committee in 1810 makes an attempt to answer. Beside the charges which clearly belong to the government, and those which clearly belong to the commerce, there are some, of which it is doubtful whether they belong to the government or the commerce. The charges which the Committee represent as clearly belonging to the government exceed the receipts by 6,364,9317. Beside this amount there is a sum of 6,875,350/., which they represent as doubtful, whether it belongs to the government or the commerce. This constitutes an unfavourable balance, to the amount of 13,240,2817. Exclusive of these doubtful charges, there is a profit upon the goods purchased and sold, or, the commercial transactions of the period, to the amount of 14,676,8177. Out of this was paid the dividends upon stock, and the interest upon debt in England, amounting to 12,515,2847.; after which remained a surplus, in aid of government, to the amount of 2,164,5331.; reducing the unfavourable balance of 13,240,281/. as above, to 11,075,758, the net deterioration of the period.*

The Committee exhibits an account which is intended to show how much ngland gained or lost by India, (not including China), during the period of seventeen years from 1793 to 1810. During that period the value of property sent by England to India is stated at 43,808,3417.; the value received by England from India is stated at 42,178,6407. England therefore lost 1,629,701/.*

We have a statement by the Court of Directors, which supplies the omission of China. In the year 1808, the financial distresses of the Company compelled the Directors to apply to parliament for relief. To lay a ground for the application they submitted an exposition of the state of the Company's finances at home and abroad. In this exposition is contained a statement of the sums disbursed in England on account of India and China, and of all the property

* Fourth Report, ut supra, p. 452. App. No. 51.

+ Third Report, ut supra, p. 373..

received from them in return, beginning with the year 1797-8, and ending with CHAP. XIII. the year 1806-7. During that interval, England sent to India and China, value more than it received from them, to the amount of 5,691,6897. *

The peace which terminated the war with the Mahrattas, a few months after the period of Lord Wellesley's administration, is the last great epoch, in the series of British transactions, in India. With regard to subsequent events, the official papers, and other sources of information, are not yet sufficiently at command. Here, therefore, it seems proper, that, for the present, this History should close.

*The passage in the exposition itself, p. 7, requires to be seen. "The Company have long been in the habit of paying in England political charges strictly appertaining to the territory. For these charges the Company never have credit in the Indian accounts. The large supplies of stores, and part even of the goods, sent out annually by the Company to India, are intended for political purposes, and the whole amount of them should be brought in India to the credit of the Home concern from the time they are shipped; but the practice has been to credit the Company for them only as they were taken out from the Indian warehouses for use, and no losses of such articles in the way outwards, or in India, have ever been brought to the credit of London at all. Moreover, it is evident from what has been already stated in this exposition, that the supplies of goods and bullion from England have at times at least exceeded the returns in the same period. The only way therefore to come to an accurate conclusion, is to state all that England has received from India and China; and sent to or paid for India and China in any given period, and thence to strike the balance. Such a statement is exhibited in the accompanying paper, No. 5, which begins with the year 1797-8, and ends with the year 1806-7. On the one side this statement shows all that has been sent to India and China in goods, stores, and bullion, and all that. has been paid for bills drawn from thence or for political charges attaching to the Indian territory; and on the other side, the statement shows all that has been sent from India and China in goods and bills, and all payments received here from government, or payments made in India for commercial charges, and also for any loss that has occurred in English exports sold there. India and China are not debited for goods lost in the way thither, and they are credited for goods sent thence which have been captured or lost on the passage home. After all these allowances and adjustments, which, according to the best knowledge of the Court, comprehend every thing the account ought to contain, the balance is in favour of England, or of the Company at home, 5,691,6897. If it be asked from what funds at home the Company have been able to bring India so largely indebted? the answer is obvious; from the increase of their capital stock and bonded debt, and from the considerable temporary credits they always have for investments outward.. From this account it is clear, that of the sum of 19 millions of debt contracted in India since the year 1798-9 down to the year 1807-8, England, or the Company in its commercial capacity, is justly chargeable with no part, and that, on the contrary, India has in that period become. largely indebted to England."

1805.

[For Indian Terms and Titles not to be found in this Index, consult the GLOSSARY prefixed to Vol. I.]