Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/89

Rh 'The alternate line to be drawn would give to the Court of Directors the appointment of writers to the civil branches of the service and of cadets for the native troops, and the power of prescribing certain general rules under the description I have mentioned for the disposal of offices by the Government in India, and of calling the Governors, &c., to an immediate account for every deviation from these rules; but they ought to be strictly prohibited from appointing or recommending any of their servants to succeed to offices in this country, as such appointments or recommendations are more frequently granted to intrigue and solicitation, than to a due regard to real merit or good pretensions, and such interference at home must always tend in some degree to weaken the authority of the Government in India.

'Upon the supposition of the Charters being renewed, it appears to me highly requisite for the public good that the right of inspection and control in the King's Ministers should be extended to every branch of the Company's affairs, without any exception as to their commerce: and as altercations between the controlling power and the Board of Directors must always be detrimental to the public interest, whether occasioned by improper encroachments on one side or an obstinate or capricious resistance on the other, it seems particularly desirable that not only the extent, but also the manner in which the Ministers are to exercise the right of inspection and control