this nature, as I could on no account have entered into it without an express stipulation that I should preserve in full force and liable to all its consequences my determined attachment to your Lordship; assuring him at the same time that I was certainly not aware at present of anything that would occasion any alteration in my conduct respecting the support of his Administration. I added, that I should on the contrary think, that I acted agreeably to your wishes, if in a moment of such a trial when the King had been so shamefully deserted, I exerted the full force of my service in the contest, which was to ensue. I received in return a profusion of compliments and expressions of regret, that under the present circumstances he could not venture to press for my official assistance, though he should hope for it, and my advice particularly, in framing an India Bill."[1]
It does not appear from Shelburne's correspondence with Mr. Francis Baring at this period what his plan for the territorial Government of India was; but from his conduct in 1773 and subsequently in 1786 it may be surmised that he was in favour of control by means of publicity and inquiry, rather than by actual Government interference.[2] The grounds of his objection to the India Bill were not those generally put forward. He considered that the future danger would come not from the increased power of Mr. Fox so much as from the increased influence of the Crown. Ultimately if the Bill became law, he wrote to Mr. Baring, "the Crown would gain all the influence of India and of the Company at home. … It may be accounted easy to transfer the Administration from the Commissioners to a Secretary of State at any time the Administration changes, by Act of Parliament." On the other hand the Fox party, he admitted, would for the moment gain reputation, and the reputation of power, and "C. Fox more ground to scramble on."[3] The commerce of India he intended to leave absolutely free and unrestricted, which implied the abolition of the
- ↑ Orde to Shelburne, December 23rd, 1783.
- ↑ See Vol. I. p. 449.
- ↑ Shelburne to Baring, October 4th, 1783.
