Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/84

78 the evils which I have described, and which no man acquainted with this country will think fictitious, the jobbing that must prevail at the India House in a department which is in a manner given up to plunder, you will not, I am sure, think that I have gone too far in prophesying the bankruptcy of the Company.

'In answer to this statement of the impossibility of the Company's carrying on the trade when all the other parts of the administration of the country are taken into the hands of Government, it may be said by people who have reflected but little on the subject, "If the Company cannot carry on the trade, throw it open to all adventurers." To that mode I should have still greater objection, as it would be very difficult for Government to prevent this unfortunate country from being overrun by desperate speculators from all parts of the British dominions. The manufacturers would soon go to ruin, and the exports — which would annually diminish in value — would be sent indiscriminately to the different countries of Europe.

'As the new system will only take place when the rights of the present Company cease, you cannot be charged with a violation of charters, and the attacks of the Opposition in Parliament will therefore be confined to an examination of its expediency and efficacy. I fancy I need hardly repeat to you that they would above all things avail themselves of any