COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. become so much extended as to require further regulations to be made for the due government of the same. "And, whereas the province or district of Benares has been ceded to the said united company, and been annexed to the said presidency of Fort William in Bengal, since the establishment of the said supreme court of judicature at Fort William aforesaid, and it is expedient that the same should be subject to the jurisdiction of the said court, in like manner as the kingdoms or provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa; and that the said province or district, and all other provinces or districts, which may hereafter be annexed and made subject to the said presidency, should be subject to such regulations as the governor-general and council of Fort William aforesaid have framed, or may frame, for the better administration of justice among the native inhabitants, and others within the same respectively be it, therefore, further enacted, that, from and after the day of March, which will be in the year of the Lord one thousand eight hundred and one, the power and authority of the said supreme court of judicature, in and for the said presidency of Fort William aforesaid, as now, and by virtue of this act established, and all such regulations as have been, or may be hereafter, according to the powers and authorities, and subject to the provisions and restrictions before enacted, framed, and provided, shall extend to and over the said province or district of Benares, and to and over all the factories, districts, and places, which now are or hereafter shall be made subordinate thereto and to and over all such provinces and districts as may at any time hereafter be annexed and made subject to the said presidency of Fort William aforesaid."* 351. The company on various occasions, with the authority of his Majesty, has expressed great anxiety to commute the subsidies of the Carnatic and of Tanjore, for adequate territorial security. It never has occurred until the present moment to represent such a commutation as in any degree repugnant to the wish, the honour, or the policy of the nation, or to the letter and spirit of the acts of regulation. 352. On lord Wellesley's arrival in India in April, 1798, he endeavoured, in conformity to his original instructions from the words of this preamble, that the legislature admitted the propriety of extending the company's territority in India, under certain circumstances, and in certain cases, notwithstanding the declaration of the law concerning "schemes of conquest, and extension of dominion." These words form a further explanation of the intention of the legislature respecting any extension of territory which might occur subsequently to the passing of this act in 1800. So far from considering any such extension of territory to be illegal, this act expressly supposes the case, that other provinces and districts may hereafter be annexed and made subject to Bengal, and provides for the good government of such new acquisitions. In fact, a part of the cessions from Oude was annexed to the district of Benares, and the remaining cessions from Oude, together with the cessions from the Mahrattas, were formed into another district. The whole was annexed to the presidency of Bengal, and brought under the jurisdiction of the supreme court by the operation of this act. COURT'S DRAFT, OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, instructions from the court of directors, to obtain a 353. Lord Hobart and lord Wellesley were equally unsuccessful, but their efforts have received the most unequivocal testimonies of official approbation; nor was an attempt hazarded to represent their endeavours for the improvement of the subsisting subsidiary engage ments of the company in the Carnatic, as a systematic violation of the act of 1793, although the success of those endeavours must have been accompanied by an extension of the civil and military authority of the company, over territory not at that time subject to either. $54. In the settlement of Mysore, upon concluding subsidiary engagements with the rajah of Mysore, lord Wellesley declared to /the court of directors in 1799, that his express purpose was to facilitate the direct control of the company over the whole territory of Mysore, with a view to the more effectual security of the subsidy, and the good government of the country. In fact, the territory governed in the name of the rajah, was actually annexed to the company's dominion, by that article of the subsidiary treaty of Seringapatam, which empowers the company at any time to assume the direct management of the whole country. But this treaty has not until the present moment been quoted to prove the existence of a systematic plan of territorial acquisition, inconsistent with the policy of the art of 1793. 355. In Tanjore a commutation of subsidy wa effected in 1800, founded on the spirit of the governorgeneral's original instructions respecting the Carnatic, and accordingly the territory of Tanjore was subjected to the company's authority. 356. At the termination of the war with Tippoo Sultaun, while hostilities still continued in various provinces of Mysore in the year 1800, a new treaty of subsidy was formed with the Nizam; adverting to the uniform policy pursued by the company since the act of 1798, to the tenor of the governor-general's instructions respecting the Carnatic, and to the experience of the evils resulting from the existing systems of subsidy in Oude and the Carnatic, lord Wellesley framed the subsidiary treaty with the Nizam upon the principles of obtaining territorial security for the payment of the subsidy, instead of depending for the safety of those funds, on the precarious power and imperfect administration of an Indian govern ment. $57. It as never been supposed that such an arrangement was precluded by law. The government at home was fully apprized of the whole transac tion. 358. The treaties of Surat, and the treaties with COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, No. 128. the Guickwar were founded on similar principles with those of Tanjore and Hyderabad, substituting territorial security for an engagement to pay the amount of the subsidy from the treasury of the state. The right to conclude a subsidiary engagement with the Guick war, was derived from that stipulation of the treaty of Saibye, which constitutes the company to be the guarantee of the succession and government of the Guick war state. 359. The new subsidiary treaty concluded with the nabob of Oude in November, 1801, rested on the same foundations, and effected a commutation of all the nabob vizier's engagements with respect to subsidy and in war, for a cession of territory. $60. The treaty of Bassein concluded with the Peishwah, proceeds on the same grounds; in renewing the ancient alliance between the peishwah and the company, it has cemented that alliance by a subsidiary engagement, and by a territorial cession formed upon the improved plan of policy repeatedly sanctioned by the authority of his majesty and of the East India company, and already elected with other dependant states, in preference to that defective scheme of subsidiary alliance, which had produced innumerable evils in various parts of our dependencies in India, (which for many years) had constituted an annual theme of lamentation for all the governments in India, and for the honourable court of directors, and the policy of which appeared to have been exploded by the deliberate wisdom and long experience of that body. 361. The whole course of the negotiations at Poonah, from the year 1799, to the conclusion of the treaty of Bassein, was regularly submitted to the secret committee. 362. The transfer of the civil and military government of the Carnatic to the company in 1801, was warranted by the justice and necessity of that proceeding, founded upon the forfeiture incurred by Mahomed Alli and Omdut ul Omrah, and upon the dangers which menaced the security of the company's rights on the coast of Coromandel, in consequence of their treachery. The justification of this proceeding rests upon principles similar to those by which war is justifiable against any public enemy; and the extension of authority which accompanied the prosecution of a just and legitimate public right, cannot be condemned upon any principles correctly derived from the act of 1793. 363. In prosecuting the just rights of the company against the nabob of the Carnatic, lord Wellesley resorted to his original instructions respecting the Carnatic, and he framed the new settlement with reference to the acknowledged expediency of effecting a commutation of the subsidy for territorial security, and of rescuing the Carnatic from the evils of divided government and conflicting power, by establishing over that province one distinct authority in the hands of the company, with a liberal provision for the nabob and his family. It is impossible to comprehend COURT'S DRAFT, OBSERVATIONS ON THE COURT'S DRAFT, the application of the act of 1793, to any part of this 364. The acquisitions of territory which have been 365. The second description consists of the possessions of Omdut ul Omrah in the Carnatic; and the last comprehends the territories commuted for subsidy by the rajah of Tanjore, by the Nizam, and by the nabob of Oude, and the territories ceded in payment of subsidy by the nabob of Surat, by the Guickwar, and ultimately by the Peishwah. 366. The records of the company will furnish sufficient evidence, that every extension of territory ac quired under each of these classes, has originated in principles, not only strictly conformable to the att of 1793, but to the general maxims of justice and policy applicable to our Indian empire. 367. No extension of territory has been acquired otherwise than by the prosecution of a just and neces sary war, or of just and legitimate public right; the result of these acquisitions has not involved the neces sity of defending any territory, which had not previously furnished increased means of offensive war to our enemies, or which we were not previously bound to defend either by the obligation of positive treaty, or of our own manifest interest. $68. Our means of defence in every case are now greatly augmented by the annexation of the civil and military government of the territories from which we derive the military resources, applicable to defray the charge of their respective protection and security. 369. The result of the whole progress of these wars and negotiations, will appear to be nearly conformable to the following statement: (1st.) The limits of the company's cis il and military authority have been considerably extended since the year 1784. (d.) The principle of those successive extensions of power, has been conformable to justice and good policy, and regularly brought under the consideration of the authorities at home, and sanctioned either by distinct law, or by orders from the government at home, or by long acquiescence in the arrangements effected in India. (sd.) The magnitude of our empire in India has been increased by these events, but its strength and resources have also been greatly increased; our frontier in every quarter is improved, our internal government invigorated, and our means of defence conside rably augmented. APPENDIX A. 1 APPENDIX A. MINUTE OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL. THE increasing extent and population of Calcutta, the capital of the British empire in India, and the seat of the supreme authority, require the serious attention of government. It is now become absolutely necessary to provide perma nent means of promoting the heath, the comfort, and the convenience of the numerous inhabitants of this great town. The construction of the public drains and water-courses of the town is extremely defective. The drains and water-courses in their present state neither answer the purpose of cleansing the town, nor of discharging the annual inundations occasioned by the rise of the river, or by the excessive fall of rain during the south-west monsoon. During the last week a great part of this town has re mained under water, and the drains have been so offensive, that unless early measures be adopted for the purpose of improving their construction, the healtĺ of the inhabitants of Calcutta, both European and native, must be seriously affected. The defects of the climate of Calcutta, during the latter part of the rainy season, may indeed be ascribed in a great measure to the state of the drains and water-courses, and to the stagnate water remaining in the town and its vicinity. The health of the town would certainly be considerably improved by an improvement of the mode of draining and cleansing the streets, roads, and esplanade. An opinion is generally entertained, that an original error has been committed in draining the town towards the river Hooghly; and it is believed that the level of the country inclines towards the salt-water lake, and consequently that the principal channel of the public drains and water-courses ought to be conducted in that direction. Experience has manifested that during the rainy season, when the river has attained its utmost height, the present drains become useless. At that season the rain continues to stagnate for many weeks in every part of the town, and the result necessarily endangers the lives of all Europeans residing in the town, and greatly affects our native subjects. Other points connected with the preservation of the health of the inhabitants of this capital appear also to require immediate notice. No general regulations at present exist with respect to the situation of the public markets, or of the places appropriated to the slaughter of cattle, the exposure of meat, or the burial of the dead; places destined to these purposes must necessarily increase in number with the increasing population of Calcutta. They must be nuisances wherever they may be situated, and it becomes an important branch of the police to confine all such nuisances to the situations wherein they may prove least injurious, and least offensive. It must however have been generally remarked, that places of burial have been established in situations wherein they must prove both injurious and offensive; and bazars, slaughter-houses, and markets of meat,, now exist in the most frequented parts of the town. In those quarters of the town occupied principally by the native inhabitants, the houses have been built without order or regularity, and the streets and lanes have been formed without attention to the health, convenience, or safety of the inhabitants. The frequency of fires (by which many valuable lives have been annually lost, and property to a great extent has been destroyed) must be chiefly ascribed to this cause. |