will have on the general commerce and government of the kingdom."[1]
On the 3rd of May the Government proposed a new scheme for the government and administration of India. The Company was to receive a loan of £1,400,000 at 4 per cent, and the Government was to forego the annual payment of £400,000 till that debt was paid; the dividend was not to exceed 6 per cent during the same period, nor 7 per cent till the bond debt was reduced to £1,500,000. The surplus receipts, after the payment of £400,000 to the Government, were to be divided in proportions of three-fourths to the Government, and one-fourth either to the reduction of the debt or to a guarantee fund. The territorial revenue was on these conditions left under the management of the Company for six years, the unexpired term of the charter. The Government of Bengal, to which the other Presidencies were subordinated, was to be vested in a Governor and Council, with salaries sufficiently large, as it was hoped, to place them beyond the temptations of corruption and fraud. A supreme Court of Judicature was to be established at Calcutta with an extended area of jurisdiction. The several high officers were forbidden to engage in trade, and the servants of the Company were forbidden to accept presents. All the affairs of the Company except those relating to trade were to be submitted to the Ministers; the first Governor-General and Council were to be nominated for five years by Parliament, and afterwards by the Company with the approbation of the Crown; and the length of the tenure of the Directors and the qualification for a vote at the India House were both to be increased. On the motion of General Burgoyne the three following Resolutions were also carried:
1. That all acquisitions made under the influence of a military force or by Treaty with foreign Princes do of right belong to the State.
2. That to appropriate acquisitions so made to the private- ↑ Shelburne to Chatham, June 12th, 1773.
