Page:Warren Hastings (Trotter).djvu/57

Rh in Council he held the important post of Export Warehouse Keeper, the duties of which his predecessors had been wont to discharge by deputy. As a thing of course, the Company's investments in silk and cotton had been so carelessly overseen, that the roguery of native contractors had brought about a marked decline in the quality of the wares shipped off yearly for England. Hastings at once resolved to find some remedy for evils which threatened the very life of a most important trade.

It was no light task which he had undertaken; but his former experience in Bengal served him well. He began by repressing with a firm hand the extortions practised by native middle-men upon the poor weavers, who had been forced to work on terms that plunged them deeper and deeper into debt, and consequent suffering. They had sunk into a state of bondage as cruel as that of the Israelites in Egypt. Before Hastings left Madras, a steady improvement had taken place in the bales of silk and cotton prepared for the English markets. Hastings sent home to the Court of Directors a well-considered scheme for placing their investments at Madras on a sound commercial footing. In ready accordance with his advice, they resolved to entrust the duties of Export Warehouse Keeper to a separate officer of proved capacity, and to furnish him with a competent staff of trained clerks. This officer was empowered to displace the whole body of contractors and middle-men by agents of his own choosing, who