said applies to the Press in its corporate and irresponsible capacity; of their faults exactly that they are placed in a false position, in respect of This is the most that can be said in extenuation of their timid, seesaw, and compromising conduct; and after all, it does not lessen the magnitude of the evil under which the public suffers. That this evil exists, and to an enormous extent, we shall establish, from the present state and management of The Times. This journal exercises an irresponsible power, dangerous to the interests of society; and were this power exercised in opposition to the government—which, by the by, is not likely, as this journal has evinced a fixed determination to stick to the dynasty de facto, whether Tory or Whig-it would be dangerous even to the government. Had we the option, whether, as an instrument of the general happiness, we would prefer the return of 100 honest members to parliament from the unrepresented towns, or we would have the Times at our beck, we should unhesitatingly say, give us the beldame of Printing-house-square, with her good name, her Medusean front, her quiver of poisoned arrows, her subtlety, literary tact, experience of town, and general acquaintance with all the springs of life and action. The influence she is enabled to exercise over public opinion is incredible, and can only be appreciated by those habituated to observe social movements, and the agency by which they are produced. It is because a newspaper has such power, which may be directed to a beneficial or malignant purpose, that we consider the state of the Press objectionable. Irresponsible authority is as objectionable in the gentlemen of the Press as in the Boroughmongers, and for the remedy of this literary usurpation we know nothing so well adapted as the opening of the trade, by means of minor publications. The suppression of the cheap political pamphlets by lord Castlereagh always appeared to us both unjust and impolitic. Sedition and licentiousness might have been effectually restrained without destroying an instrument which, ultimately, might have been made subservient to the attainment of the most salutary ameliorations. It is the imposition of the stamp duty, not the demand of security of which we complain; the former completely interdicting, to a vast majority of the community, a source of amusement and intellectual improvement. Some of the most dangerous popular errors, we are convinced, were eradicated solely by the agency of the cheap tracts. Among these we reckon the prevailing opinions on Catholic Emancipation. Before the establishment of the weekly pamphlets the mass of the population was decidedly anti-catholic, and hardly less obstinate in their prejudices than Lord Eldon or Sir C. Wetherell. A prodigious change was effected in the character of the people in another respect. During a scarcity, or high prices, the rage of the labouring classes was mostly vented on the butcher, baker, and farmer; such senseless outrages are now never heard of. The introduction of machinery, for obvious reasons, was opposed by the mass of the people. It was impossible they should at first be reconciled to inventions which, though tending to the general advantage, by the multiplication of commodities at a cheaper rate, yet, if they did not deprive some classes of the means of subsistence, degraded them into lower stations. It was natural, therefore, they should resist this innovation; and, in so doing, we believe, they did no more than the legal, ecclesiastical, or any other class would have done, had their interests been sacrificed, though that sacrifice were made for the general good. It was necessary, however, the principle should triumph. The people resisted; severer laws were made against frame-breakers, and a terrible sacrifice was made at York: but all this would have been ineffectual, had not another cause interfered. This cause, we verily believe, was the introduction, by Mr. Cobbett, of the two-penny trash; which demonstrated that, however injurious the employment of machinery might be to particular branches of industry, yet, inasmuch as it augmented the supply of food and clothing, consequently rendered them cheaper to all classes, it must be ultimately beneficial. We are convinced if pamphlet writing had continued unchecked during the last twelve years, the effects of the knowledge it would have spread, and the discussion it would have excited, would have saved the country from the Swing fires,' and those outrages against the machinery and property of individuals who suffer as much as their unfortunate work-people from the manifold difficulties in which we have been involved by a long course of misgovernment. 6 Much has been said about the pernicious, dangerous, and absurd doctrines which were propagated. It might be the case; with important truths, error also might be inculcated; ideas beneficial to society might be accompanied with others of a contrary tendency. This, however, was matter of opinion; and a more proper subject for discussion than coercion. Admitting that cheap publications were injurious as well as beneficial, it afforded no argument whatever for their suppression. The same objection might be made to plays, novels, romances, and almost every other publication; the same objection might be urged against the amusements of the theatre: all these, no doubt, are productive of evil as well as good to the community; but who ever, on that account, thought that they ought to be suppressed? Who ever expects to see any improvement unaccompanied with some countervailing disadvantage? The only principle in this, as in every other case, is to balance the good against the bad; and it was on this principle the fate of the cheap publications ought to have been determined. It is unnecessary, we think, to say any thing more in defence of political pamphlets. We were desirous of submitting a few observations, because it is generally understood Ministers have some measure in contemplation by which the future state of the Press is to be regulated. There appear only two courses open to them to pursue; either we must have a restricted or free trade in politics. Public opinion has declared against the former, it would require a literary preventive service to enforce it, and after all the people would obtain the contraband commodity, though, perhaps, both dear and deleterious; whereas, by open competition, the cheapest and best, in the long run, would possess the market. We have not dwelt much on the fiscal part of the subject; it has been better done by others than we could do it, and, moreover, is exhausted; beside we have not so bad an opinion of Ministers as to think that the loss or gain of the revenue will form a material item of consideration when the question is whether a great community shall be informed, or remain in ignorance of its real and permanent interests. There is one point we have omitted to notice; namely, the opinion entertained that the reduction of the stamp-duties would inflict serious pecuniary loss on the newspaper press. We cannot foresee such result; our impression is, that both the public income and the newspaper proprietary would gain by the alteration. Under the existing system the circulation of the journals is chiefly confined to the opulent; were the price reduced one-half many would take in two or more papers who only take in one: hundreds of thousands who are restricted to an hour's inconvenient and hasty perusal, or obliged to resort to a coffee-house, news-room, or alehouse, would become subscribers to a paper for their exclusive use, or for the morning, after-dinner, or evening amusement of their families. The consequence would be a prodigious increase of sale, and, of course, revenue. The Times, which now circulates 7000 or 8000, would circulate 20,000 or 30,000, and the Morning Chronicle and other journals would have a corresponding augmentation of demand. That there would be increased competition we believe, but it would be a competition of opinion rather than of profit. The old journals would retain their supremacy,- the result of great capital-admirable business arrangements--literary connexion-valuable correspondence in every part of the globe-and long established channels of circulation. Against such advantages new rivals might contend, but they would contend with the odds greatly against them, and if they succeeded, their success would be the result rather of the special favour of the gods than of any other favouring circumstance. To conclude, we think, by a reduction of the newspaper duties, a vast social benefit would be conferred, without inflicting loss on any class of individuals, or even the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It would be like the discovery of some new and useful invention, which brings within the reach of the whole community an article of luxury or comfort that had previously been confined to the richer classes. Were newspapers sold for threepence, every respectable family could afford its daily journal, and every working man his weekly one; their circulation would be as great in England, in proportion to the reading population, as in France or the United States. The advantages that would result-moral, social, and political-are too obvious to be enforced. EAST-INDIA COMPANY. AMONG the monopolies and privileged communities which impede individual enterprise and national prosperity, the East-India Company and the Bank of England stand pre-eminent: these have formed the outworks, the strongholds, of the Borough System; and, by their connexions and interests, added greatly to that mass of influence by which the latter has been supported. Both these powerful associations have become more like petty states, acknowledging a feudatory dependence to the supreme power, than companies of traders, originally incorporated for commercial purposes. Both have risen from very humble beginnings, and perhaps it would not be easy to strike the balance of turpitude by which their power has been respectively acquired. Both have been nurtured under the fostering care of the Oligarchy, to which, under particular emergencies, they have been indebted for assistance; and, probably, it is from a knowledge of this paternal obligation, that these chartered bodies feel such a lively interest in the permanency of the existing system, and that whenever any popular movement indicates proceedings hostile to the government, they are instantly alarmed, and the Bank and the India-House immediately placed in a defensive attitude. Both the Bank and the East-India Company claim particular attention, from the period having arrived about which their charters expire; and the legislature, either in the session of 1831 or the following year, will have to determine their future immunities, and the relative position in which they are to stand to the government and the community. Before entering on the exposition of the present state of the EastIndia Company, it will be proper to give a brief outline of the history of this powerful association, and briefly indicate those extraordinary events by which a few traders in mace, nutmegs, and ginger, have been able to extend their sway over 120 millions of inhabitants, whose happiness depends on their wisdom and justice. In giving this notice, we shall enter into no detail of Asiatic triumphs, of battles and sieges. We have little taste for these things at best, but still less when the combatants are unequally matched,-when we should have to present a counterpart to the conquest of Peru and Mexico by the Spaniards,— exhibit the conflicts of wolves and sheep, and show how a handful of crafty, hardy, and unprincipled Europeans wrested a mighty empire from the feeble grasp of the artless and effeminate Hindoos. Leaving out, therefore, with one or two exceptions, military details, which in justice ought never to have formed part of the history of the EastIndia Company, we shall confine ourselves principally to the civil transactions of this association. The first attention to the India trade appears to have been attracted by the success of the Dutch merchants. These rapacious traders, having supplanted the Portuguese in that part of the world, had an entire monopoly of the trade, and availing themselves of the exclusive possession of the market, exacted exorbitant prices for the productions of the East. To frustrate their avarice, and obtain some share in this lucrative traffic, the merchants of London despatched a mission to the Great Mogul, to obtain from him a grant of commercial privileges to the English. The success of this mission was not known till the year 1600; but, in the mean time, the lord mayor, aldermen, and other principal merchants of the city, to the number of 101, assembled in Founders' Hall, and established an association for trading to India, for which they subscribed a capital of £33,133. To this society, and in the year mentioned, Queen Elizabeth granted the first charter of incorporation, with the exclusive privilege to trade to all parts of Asia, Africa, and America, for fifteen years, and the company to be managed by a chairman and twenty-four directors chosen annually. The capital of the corporation amounted to £70,000. They fitted out four ships of the burthen of 240, 260, 300, and 600 tons. The value of the ships' stores and provisions, of the merchandize forming the cargoes, and of the bullion, was estimated at £68,373. This expedition was tolerably successful, brought home valuable cargoes of merchandize, and succeeded in establishing factories at Bantany, and on the Molucca Islands. But, notwithstanding the success of this undertaking, no great effort was made to follow it up, and for several years after, the trade and capital of the Company gradually declined. In 1606, only three ships were fitted out. In 1608, the Company having subscribed a capital of £33,000, for a fourth voyage, the whole of their ships were either wrecked in India, or on their voyage home. Next year they were more fortunate, and their ships bringing home a valuable cargo of mace and nutmegs, they divided a profit of 211 per cent. Encouraged by this success, the Company solicited the renewal of their charter, and seemed resolved to push the trade with spirit. They built the largest ship that had ever been constructed in England for commercial purposes, being no less than 1000 tons burthen. King James and his court attended the launch, and named her The Trade's Increase. Unfortunately this vessel was lost, and Sir Henry Middleton, her commander, soon after died of grief. The trade subsequently declined, for which various causes may be assigned. The rivals of the Company, the Dutch and Portuguese, made use of every expedient avarice and treachery could suggest, to impede their success; besides which, we may add, the erroneous principles on which the different voyages were undertaken. Instead of the trade being conducted upon a joint |