But it is our positive order that no part of
such investment be provided with borrowed money which is to be repaid by
_drafts upon our treasury in London_; since the license which has
already been taken in this respect has involved us in difficulties which
we yet know not how we shall surmount."
This very instructive paragraph lays open the true origin of the
internal decay of Bengal. The trade and revenues of that country were
(as the then system must necessarily have been) of secondary
consideration at best. Present supplies were to be obtained, and present
demands in England were to be avoided, at every expense to Bengal.
The spirit of increasing the investment from revenue at any rate, and
the resolution of driving all competitors, Europeans or natives, out of
the market, prevailed at a period still more early, and prevailed not
only in Bengal, but seems, more or less, to have diffused itself through
the whole sphere of the Company's influence. In 1768 they gave to the
Presidency of Madras the following memorable instruction, strongly
declaratory of their general system of policy.
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