Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/85

Rh apparent attempts on your part to give an increase of patronage to the Crown, which could not be justified on the soundest constitutional principles, or on the ground of evident necessity; and could make use of it to misrepresent your intentions and principles, and to endeavour to influence the minds of the natives against you.

'An addition of patronage to the Crown, to a certain degree, will, however, in my opinion, be not only a justifiable measure, but absolutely necessary for the future good government of this country.

'But, according to my judgment, a renewal of the Company's Charter for the management of the territorial revenues and the commerce of India for a limited time (for instance, ten or fifteen years), and under such stipulations as it may be thought proper to annex as conditions, would be the wisest foundation for your plan, both for your own sakes as Ministers, and as being best calculated for securing the greatest possible advantages to Britain from her Indian possessions, and least Likely to injure the essential principles of our own Constitution.

'The present Court of Directors is so numerous, and the responsibility for public conduct which falls to the share of each individual is so small, that it can have no great weight with any of them; and the participation in a profitable contract, or the means of serving friends or providing for relations, must always more than compensate to them for the loss that they