Volume III Part 9 (1/2)
It equally concerns the honor of our government, that such natives as may have been put in any degree of authority over the collections, in consequence of the deed of a.s.signment, and who have proved faithful to their trust, shall not suffer inconvenience on account of their fidelity.
Having thus given our sentiments at large, as well for the surrender of the a.s.signment as with regard to those arrangements which we think necessary to adopt in consequence thereof, we cannot dismiss this subject without expressing our highest approbation of _the ability, moderation, and command of temper_ with which our President at Madras has conducted himself in the management of a very delicate and embarra.s.sing situation. His conduct, and that of the Select Committee of Fort St. George, in the execution of the trust delegated to Lord Macartney by the Nabob Mahomed Ali, has been vigorous and effectual, for the purpose of realizing as great a revenue, at a crisis of necessity, as the nature of the case admitted; and the imputation of corruption, suggested in some of the Proceedings, appears to be totally groundless and unwarranted.
While we find so much to applaud, it is with regret we are induced to advert to anything which may appear worthy of blame: as the step of issuing the Torana Chits in Lord Macartney's own name can only be justified upon the ground of absolute necessity;[71] and as his Lords.h.i.+p had every reason to believe that the demand, when made, would be irksome and disagreeable to the feelings of Mahomed Ali, every precaution ought to have been used and more time allowed for proving that necessity, by previous acts of address, civility, and conciliation, applied for the purposes of obtaining his authority to such a measure.
It appears to us that more of this might have been used; and therefore we cannot consider the omission of it as blameless, consistent with our wishes of sanctifying no act contrary to the spirit of the agreement, or derogatory to the authority of the Nabob of the Carnatic, in the exercise of any of his just rights in the government of the people under his authority.
We likewise observe, the Nabob has complained that no official communication was made to him of the peace, for near a month after the cessation of arms took place. This, and every other mark of disrespect to the Nabob, will ever appear highly reprehensible in our eyes; and we direct that you do, upon all occasions, pay the highest attention to him and his family.
Lord Macartney, in his Minute of the 9th of September last, has been fully under our consideration. We shall ever applaud the prudence and foresight of our servants which induces them to collect and communicate to us every opinion, or even ground of suspicion they may entertain, relative to any of the powers in India with whose conduct our interest and the safety of our settlements is essentially connected. At the same time we earnestly recommend that those opinions and speculations be communicated to us with prudence, discretion, and all possible secrecy, _and the terms in which they are conveyed be expressed in a manner as little offensive as possible to the powers whom they may concern and into whose hands they may fall._[72]
We next proceed to give you our sentiments respecting the private debts of the Nabob; _and we cannot but acknowledge_ that the origin and justice, both of the loan of 1767, and the loan of 1777, commonly called the Cavalry Loan, appear to us clear and indisputable, agreeable to the true sense and spirit of the late act of Parliament.
In speaking of the loan of 1767, we are to be understood as speaking of the debt as const.i.tuted by the original bonds of that year, bearing interest at 10_l._ per cent; and therefore, if any of the Nabob's creditors, under a pretence that their debts made part of the consolidated debt of 1767, although secured by bonds of a subsequent date, carrying an interest exceeding 10_l._ per cent, shall claim the benefit of the following orders, we direct that you pay no regard to such claims, without further especial instructions for that purpose.
With respect to the consolidated debt of 1777, it certainly stands upon a less favorable footing. So early as the 27th March, 1769, it was ordered by our then President and Council of Fort St. George, that, for the preventing all persons living under the Company's protection from having any dealings with any of the country powers or their ministers without the knowledge or consent of the Board, an advertis.e.m.e.nt should be published, by fixing it up at the sea-gate, and sending round a copy to the Company's servants and inhabitants, and to the different subordinates, and our garrisons, and giving it out in general orders, stating therein that the President and Council did consider the irreversible order of the Court of Directors of the year 1714 (whereby their people were prohibited from having any dealings with the country governments in money matters) to be in full force and vigor, and thereby expressly forbidding all servants of the Company, and other Europeans under their jurisdiction, to make loans or have any money transactions with any of the princes or states in India, without special license and permission of the President and Council for the time being, except only in the particular cases there mentioned, and declaring that any wilful deviation therefrom should be deemed a breach of orders, and treated as such. And on the 4th of March, 1778, it was resolved by our President and Council of Fort St George, that the consolidated debt of 1777 was not, on any respect whatever, conducted under the auspices or protection of that government; and on the circ.u.mstance of the consolidation of the said debt being made known to us, we did, on the 28rd of December, 1778, write to you in the following terms: ”Your account of the Nabob's private debts is very alarming; but from whatever cause or causes those debts have been contracted or increased, we hereby repeat our orders, that the sanction of the Company be on no account given to any kind of security for the payment or liquidation of any part thereof, (except by the express authority of the Court of Directors,) on any account or pretence whatever.”
The loan of 1777, therefore, has no sanction or authority from us; and in considering the situation and circ.u.mstances of this loan, we cannot omit to observe, that the creditors could not be ignorant how greatly the affairs of the Nabob were at that time deranged, and that his debt to the Company was then very considerable,--the payment of which the parties took the most effectual means to postpone, by procuring an a.s.signment of such specific revenues for the discharge of their own debts as alone could have enabled the Nabob to have discharged that of the Company.
Under all these circ.u.mstances, we should be warranted to refuse our aid or protection in the recovery of this loan. But when we consider the inexpediency of keeping the subject of the Nabob's debts longer afloat than is absolutely necessary,--when we consider how much the final conclusion of this business will tend to promote tranquillity, credit, and circulation of property in the Carnatic,--and when we consider that the debtor concurs with the creditor in establis.h.i.+ng the justice of those debts consolidated in 1777 into gross sums, for which bonds were given, liable to be transferred to persons different from the original creditors, and having no share or knowledge of the transactions in which the debts originated, and of course how little ground there is to expect any substantial good to result from an unlimited investigation into them, we have resolved so far to recognize the justice of those debts as to extend to them that protection which, upon _more_ forcible grounds, we have seen cause to allow to the other two cla.s.ses of debts. But although we so far adopt the general presumption in their favor as to admit them to a partic.i.p.ation in the manner hereafter directed, we do not mean to debar you from receiving any complaints against those debts of 1777, at the instance either of the Nabob himself, or of other creditors injured by their being so admitted, or by any other persons having a proper interest, or stating reasonable grounds of objection; and if any complaints are offered, we order that the grounds of all such be attentively examined by you, and be transmitted to us, together with the evidence adduced in support of them, for our final decision; and as we have before directed that the sum of twelve lacs of paG.o.das, to be received annually from the Nabob, should be paid into our treasury, it is our order that the same be distributed according to the following arrangement.
That the debt be made up in the following manner, viz.
The debt consolidated in 1767 to be made up to the end of the year 1784, with the current interest at ten per cent.
The Cavalry Loan to be made up to the same period, with the current interest at twelve per cent.
The debt consolidated in 1777 to be made up to the same period, with the current interest at twelve per cent, to November, 1781, and from thence with the current interest at six per cent.
The twelve lacs annually to be received are then to be applied,--
1. To the growing interest on the Cavalry Loan, at twelve per cent.
2. To the growing interest on the debt of 1777, at six per cent.
The remainder to be equally divided: one half to be applied to the extinction of the Company's debt; the other half to be applied to the payment of growing interest at 10_l._ per cent, and towards the discharge of the princ.i.p.al of the debt of 1767.
This arrangement to continue till the princ.i.p.al of the debt 1767 is discharged.
The application of the twelve lacs is, then, to be,--
1. To the interest of the debt of 1777, as above. The remainder to be then equally divided,--one half towards the discharge of the current interest and princ.i.p.al of the Cavalry Loan, and the other half towards the discharge of the Company's debt.
When the Cavalry Loan shall be thus discharged, there shall then be paid towards the discharge of the Company's debt seven lacs.
To the growing interest and capital of the 1777 loan, five lacs.