by the French, he made Brazil the seat of his government. This mode has a direct tendency to identify the interests of the conquerors and conquered, and constitutes the true explanation of the firm hold which the Mohammedans have retained of India long after their authority has passed away. But this is a mode of governing India which the crown of England could not adopt, and to which the people of Eng land would not submit. A second mode may be conceived-that of granting a kind of independence to the conquered country, by establishing over it a new dynasty in the person of a member of the family that reigns in the conquering country; and, at the same time, creating a kind of dependence on the latter, by exacting an annual tribute and commercial advantages, or by treaties offensive and defensive. This would resemble, in some respect, the connection that has subsisted between certain European States; that, for instance, which Napoleon, by means of his brothers, attempted to establish between France and Holland, Spain, &c. But it does not appear that such an arrangement, with regard to India, has ever entered into the plans of any English statesman. The third and only other mode that need now be mentioned, is that of governing the conquered and more populous country by the delegated authority of responsible agents, removed from time to time, and exercising their authority with a strict regard to the instructions and interests of the conquering and less populous country. This, as all are aware, is the course that England has pursued with all her colonies; and it is the course she has pursued with India, which is not a colony, but an immense, dependent empire, and which is thus made to receive her deputed rulers, at second hand and at successive periods, from a distant and dominant country.

A delegated government may exist under various forms. The delegation of power may be made by the supreme authority of the State, with or without the concurrence of the popular will. It may be made to one or to many. It may or may not consist with the enjoyment of political rights and franchises by the people over whom the delegated authority is to be exercised, qualifying and abridging the exercise of that authority. Peculiar circumstances is each case determine the constitution and character of a delegated government; and, in the instance of India, a very extraordinary combination of circumstances has produced a very irregular, and, in some respects, unprecedented, system of government. A company of merchants, trading to the East Indies, conquered India; and, although the commercial character of that company has ceased, yet the proprietors of its stock, consisting of individuals of both sexes and of all classes and conditions, are the nominal rulers of India, and formally entrusted with its political government.

Bat the proprietors of India stock, constituting the East India Company, exercise most of the powers conferred on them through the medium of a Board of Directors, elected from among themselves, and thus practically made the sovereigns of India. The acquisition of territory by the company, and the exercise of political power by its directors, early roused the jealousy of the ministers of the crown, and, accordingly, a Board of Commissioners for the affairs of India exists, expressly appointed by the crown, to control the proceedings and measures of the directors of the company. But the ministers of the crown, including of course the minister who presides over the Board of Control, are responsible to parliament, and parliament is responsible to the nation at large; and there are thus, in England, five organizations or powers that are entitled to participate in the government of India, in a manner more or less direct and formal: first, the proprietors of stock; second, the directors of the company; third, the ministerial board; fourth, parliament, and, fifth, the constituency of the united kingdom, who elect members of parliament. The Court of Direc tors is the central authority, around which the others revolve, and which they watch-but it is the joint operation of them all that constitutes what is called the home government of India, and a few words, devoted to illustrate the separate power and influence of each, will serve to give precision and accuracy to the views of the reader.

The miscellaneous character of the proprietors of East India stock has already been stated; and this arises from the fact, that the purchase of stock, unless in exceptional cases, is never regarded as an instrument for influencing the condition of India by the power it confersbut, either as a safe investment of capital, or as a means of obtaining valuable appointments, in India, for relatives. Hence, proprietors of stock are found residing all over the kingdom, from Caithness to Cornwall, in Europe, America and India, as well as in England, aliens as well subjects of the crown, merchants, lawyers, clergymen, civilians and soldiers, women as well as men. This heterogeneous body is required to hold quarterly meetings at the India house, in London; but it is evident that only those residing in the metropolis, or its vicinity, can, in general, attend-and they are, for the most part, under the influence of the enormous patronage-power possessed by the directors- and thus these quarterly meetings of proprietors have become mere occasions for awarding the behests of their own servants, the directors. Proprietors have one, two, three, or four votes, according as their stock amounts to £1,000, £3,000, £6,000, or £10,000 sterling; and, besides the regular quarterly meetings, a special meeting must be summoned, on the demand of nine or more proprietors, each holding £500 stock. At these

meetings, or general courts, as they are called, the ordinary business is to choose directors to supply vacancies in their number, and to make by-laws, and, although they are not empowered to rescind, suspend, revoke, or vary any order of the Court of Directors, touching the civic, or military government, or the revenues, of India, after it has been approved by the Board of Control-nor to revoke or vary regulations respecting the trade of friendly nations with India-yet all these subjects, and every other, without exception, embraced in the home or foreign government of India, in its internal or external policy, may be discussed, information called for, and votes of censure or approval passed. This opens a very wide field, and these periodical and special meetings might be made powerful checks on misgovernment; but they have not been so employed: and, although feeble attempts have been made, from time to time, with such a view, by a small number of public-spirited proprietors, yet their influence, as a body, on the government of India, must be pronounced null. It may be added, that the East India company, originally existing only for trading purposes, gradually acquired territorial power and assumed political functions, and, dropping its mercantile character, now nominally exists only as a political body; so, it is not impossible, that, in a few years, it will be deprived of its political authority, and reassume its original character of a trading company. This change may take place under the following circumstances: at the last renewal of the charter, the stock of the company amounted to £6,000,000 sterling, and, instead of looking to the profits of trade for dividends, they, in 1834, surrendered the whole for an annuity of £10 10s. per cent. per annum, charged on the Indian revenues, not redeemable by the British government until 1874, and then redeemable only at the rate of £200 sterling per cent., i. e., by the payment of £12,000,000 sterling for £6,000,000. But the act of parliament, which invests the company with the political government of India, has effect only from 1834 to 1854, a period of twenty years; and if, at the close of that period, now rapidly approaching, parliament shall refuse, which is not altogether unlikely, to renew the political functions of the company, then the company, within one year, may demand the redemption of the dividend, and provision for the redemption must be made within those years. Two courses will then be open to the proprietors of stock: either to dissolve the company, resolving themselves into their original elements, and dividing the spoils; or the mercantile character of the company, which is now only in abeyance, may be revived, and the company, as an unprivileged, but still powerful body, may enter the market of the world with a capital of £12,000,000 sterling, or, in round numbers, from fifty to sixty millions of dollars.

The right to demand the payment of this sum must give the company an immense influence over the minister of the day, whether whig or tory, and the sudden introduction of it into the channels of trade, might sensibly affect the value of commodities, and the condition and prospects of the mercantile world.

The next authority, in the home government of India, is that of the Court of Directors, who are nominally the representatives and servants, but really the masters, of the proprietors of stock, and the rulers of India. There are twenty-four directors, each of whom must be a holder of £2,000 stock, and a natural born, or naturalized subject, of England. The election of directors is only for four years, and, consequently, six go out annually by rotation, and are ineligible for one year; and this provision, which was designed to infuse some new life into the body every year, is entirely defeated by the reëlection next year, always, of the same individuals, through the influence of their co-directors, which is omnipotent for such a purpose. The election of a director, therefore, is practically for life, and, practically, the Court of Directors is a self-elected, close corporation. They have the whole patronage of the local government of India, as far as it can be possessed and exercised by men residing in England, and they have nearly the whole patronage of the home government of India. Their establishments in England, including the India house, in London, in all its departments, a college at Hayleyburg for the education of civilians, a military seminary at Addiscombe, a military depot at Chatham, and recruiting officers and staff throughout the kingdom, embraced, in 1840, four hundred and four persons, receiving salaries and allowances, which amounted to £109,410 per annum. They appoint the governor-general of India, the governors of Bengal, Madras and Bombay, the commander-inchief of all the forces in India, the commanders-in-chief of the armies of the subordinate presidencies, the members of the council of India, and the members of the councils of the subordinate presidencies; and they select, appoint, educate and send, from England, the persons who shall alone be entitled to enter the privileged civil and military, politcal, medical and clerical, services of India, and from whom alone the government of India are permitted to recruit those services. By means of those whom they thus choose and appoint to office in India, they collect, administer and control, the revenues of India, averaging from £20,000,000 to £23,000,000 per annum, and they give authoritative instructions to the different governments of India, extending to the minutest details of administration, political and military, civic, financial and judicial, from the invasion of a kingdom, or the subversion of a dynasty, to the making of a turnpike or the levying of a town-rate.

In the exercise of some of these powers, the directors are controlled by the ministerial Board of Commissioners; but, notwithstanding these restrictions, of all bodies similarly constituted, they are, perhaps, the most powerful that has ever existed. They have the management of greater powers and resources, both physical and pecuniary, than any other like body ever enjoyed. They sit securely, unostentatiously, almost unobservedly, at the India house, in Londonhall street, London, and yet, at will, they convulse all Asia, raise provinces and put them down, and directly influence the condition of a sixth portion of the hu

man race.

The sovereignty of the crown over the territorial possessions of the company, was expressly reserved in every royal charter and act of parliament bearing on the subject; and it was in the exercise of this sovereignty that a Board of Commissioners for the affairs of India, commonly called the Board of Control, was appointed in 1784, and its powers have been from time to time extended, until it now controls the directors in the entire administration of the government of India, except in the disposal of their patronage, and even to some extent in that also. The Board is constituted by letters patent, or commission from the crown; and the first named commissioner is the president of the Board, and, in fact, the Board itself, for he is the only salaried commissioner-while the others, consisting of other ministers of the crown, are, quoad hoc, unsalaried, ex officio, and therefore only nominal commissioners. The total expenses of the Board are limited to £26,000 per annum, which sum is defrayed from the revenues of India. The Board is entitled to have access to the books and papers of the company, to call for the preparation of all such accounts, statements and abstracts, as it may require, and to receive copies of the minutes of the proceedings, both of the proprietors and directors, and copies, also, of all dispatches received from India. The directors are not permitted to send any orders to India on any public matters whatever, until submitted to the Board; and the Board must return the orders thus submitted within two months, either approved, disapproved, or attested, as the Board may think fit. The directors, if their proposed orders have been disapproved or altered, may further represent and defend their views in writing, addressed to the Board, and the Board will then give further directions, which are final and conclusive. The Board may even originate orders to the government of India, for transmission by the directors, if the directors should neglect to frame dispatches within fourteen days after having been required to do SO. On the other hand, if the directors deem the directions of the Board contrary to law, they may jointly send a special case

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