Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/83

Rh I am persuaded, however, that experience would give a contradiction to that theory, for if they should not have lost their commercial talents by having been Emperors, this country is totally changed by being under their dominion. There are now so many Europeans residing in India, and there is such a competition at every wharf of any consequence, that in my opinion even an upright Board of Trade sitting at Calcutta could not make advantageous contracts or prevent the manufactures from being debased; and therefore, that unless the Company have able and active Residents at the different factories, and unless those Residents are prevented by the power of Government from cheating them as they formerly did, London would no longer be the principal mart for the choicest commodities of India.

'If the proposed separation was to take place, not a man of credit or character would stay in the Company's service, if he could avoid it; and those who did remain, or others who might be hereafter appointed, would be soon looked upon as an inferior class of people to the servants acting under appointments from His Majesty. The contempt with which they would be treated would not pass unobserved by the natives, and would preclude the possibility of their being of essential use, even if they were not deficient in character or commercial abilities, and upon the supposition that the Company could afford to pay them liberally for their services. When you add to