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III S'I‘C)I{'Y' Cl}? EIIIl1<D.P EL

mitation, with refpett to the appli- cation of the one fourth allotted to them in this participation, after the payment of their {imple con- tract debts, and the reducing of their bond debt, to the point af- fixed by the Houfe, is fo fubverfive of all their rights and privileges, by denying them the difpofal of their own property, though all their creditors {hall be fully fecured ac- cording to law, that rather than fubrnit to fuch conditions, as pro- ceeding from any confent expreiTed -or implied by themfelves, they de- clare their defire, that any claims againft them, that can be fuppofed to give rife to fuch reltrifilions, may receive a legal decifion, from which, whatever may be the event, they will at leafi have the fatisfac-

tion of knowing what they may call their own. h d

The Houfe a now,

May 3d’ for about two months,

been almolt continually occupied

by the affairs of the Bali-India

Company, when at length refolu-

tions to the following effect were

moved for by the minifier, and

made the foundation of a Bill,

“ for eltablilhing certain regula-

tions for the better management of the affairs of the Ealt-India Com-

pany, as well in India as in

Europe.” 1R. That the court of directors fhould, in future, be elect-

ed for four years; fix members

annually; but none to hold their feats longer than four years. 2d.

That no perfon lhould vote at the election of the direclors who had

not pofieifed‘ their flock twelve months. 3d. That the flock of qualification, fhould, inllead of 5001. be tooo l. 4th. That the may0r’s court of Calcutta, lhould

[*1oI

for the future be confined to fmall mercantile caufes, to which only its jurifdiclion extended before the ter- ritorial acquifition. 5th. That in lieu of this court, thus taken away, a new one be eft-ablifhed, confifiing ofa chief jullice and three puifne judges. 6th. That thefe judges be appointed by the crown. 7th. That a fuperiority be given to the pre- fidency of Bengal, over the other prefidencies in India.

Some ofthefe propolitions were fupported upon the following prin- ciples, That in the prelent llate of the Company, the gentlemen in the direction were fo difconcerted by the fhortnefs of their turn, and their time f0 much tal-Len up by caballing for their re-eleélion, that they had neither leifure to form, nor time to execute, any permanent fyliem of general advantage. That the term offix months tyas too fhort for a qualification to vote, as it did not preclude temporary purchafes of flock, merely for that purpofe; and that the prefent qualification of 50o l. capital flock, was not a. lufficient intet-elt in the Company, to entitle the holder to a vote. That the contraction cf powers in the mayor’s court at Calcutta, was only reducing its jurildiéition with- in that narrow circle, to which it had been originally confined : that it was a court compofed of mer- chants and traders, and therefore evidently improper and incompe- tent, to the trial of thofe many great, momentous, and complicat- ed matters, which mult now come before it; that for thefe reafons, the ereéiion of a new judicature was abfolutely neceffitry; and that the judges ought evidently to be appointed by the crown, n0! 0R1)?

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