fume, though too "affected to be real, unfortunately had the ill
effedt of dlfparaging.and Undervaluing it in the eyes of the nation.
If they ihould be inclined to plead a want of information
with regard to the treaty of peace, let them recolledt that, under
the adminiftratiori of Lord Bute, after the preliminaries of peace
had been figned by the Duke of Bedford, the latter was inftrudted,
at the inftance of the Court of Diredtors,- to. alter an article that
related to the Carnatic, or to break .ofFihe 1 négociation ; and
the article was altered accordingly. Thus might it alfo have
been with regard to the Cape of Good. Hope, had thediredtors
confulted the real interefts of the Eaft India Company., But, as
there is reafon to believe that, though late, they have feen their;
error, and that they are now convinced the Cape muft either
become a Britiih territory, or their interefts will very .materially
fuffer; it is to'be hoped they will ihew themfelves as folicitous
to remove the evil as they were before indifferent in preventing
it • for ihould the prefent opportunity be allowed to flip, Tempus
eril magno curn optaverit cmptum.
What the Dutch meant to have done with it, had. not the
prefent war broken out, is uncertain. I was told, from good
authority, that their intention was to give it a fair trial of ten or
twelve years; unclogged and unfettered ; to endeavour to raife
it, by every encouragement, to its greateft poflible value as a
territorial poffeflion ; to admit the commerce of all nations on
equal terms with their own, and to allow an influx of fettiers
from Europe ; if, at the end of that time, the revenues were
not fo far improved as not only to meet the ordinary and contingent
tingent expences of the eftablilhment and the garriion, but to
produce a furplus for the ufe of the State, that they ihould
then confider how to difpofe of it to the beft advantage.
■All Ihips were, accordingly, admitted to an entry of European,
American, or Indian produce and manufadtures, on payment
of a duty of 10 per cent, on the invoice prices; and all
Indian goods, teas and fpices excepted, were fuffered to be again
exported on a drawback of the fame amount as the duty. How
far fuch a regulation may interfere, in time of peace, with the
interefts of our Eaft India Company, I am not fufficiently acquainted
with the fubjedt to determine; but it would feem to
open a wide door for fmuggling Indian commodities into Europe,
under Engliih capitals, to an amount that muft be alarming
to the Diredtors themfelves.
The operation of this meafure will be checked, to a certain
degree, by the prefent war, which, it is to be hoped, may ultimately
be the means of once more annexing the fouthern extremity
of Africa to the dominions of Great Britain. In fuch
an event, the determination of fecuring it, at a peace, will be a
more important objedt than the confideration how its government
is to be adminiftered; whether as a dependency of the
crown, or as a territorial poffeflion of the Eaft India Company.
The interefts, indeed, of the two, are fo intimately counedted
that any queftion of privilege, in a matter of fuch national importance,
is a mere fecondary confideration, and ought, therefore,
to bend to circumftances. The interefts of the Company,
during our late tenure, were, as I have ihewn, feeured and
vox.. II. n n promoted