respect to the publick funds, in which the dividends are fixed for payment on the 5th of July, and the 5th of January, could take it for granted that the India dividends were fixed for the 24th of June and the 24th of December; and we must suppose too that they could take this for granted, which is so contrary to the general practice in other funds, without making any enquiry of the directors, who daily attended, and were examined while the bill was passing: for if they did make enquiry, they must have heard that this company observed the same days of payment with the government, and have done so invariably from the original institution; and in such a case, the blunder can hardly be called the effect of oversight, but a wilful blindness.

This absurdity is too gross to pass current, but the clause (C) in cap. 48 of the said act, will shew that the parliament were not ignorant, that the dividends would become due on the 5th of July, but have proceeded on the consideration of it's being due on that day. In this clause, they say, that no declaration, &c. shall be after the 10th of July. Now when they had in contemplation the making of a dividend, they mentioned the 24th of June, a time preceding the 5th of July, in order to prevent it; when they had in contemplation the declaring of a dividend, they say the 10th of July subsequent to the 5th, to distinguish between the terms making and declaring, which have been so often confounded.

It must appear highly improbable to every impartial mind, that the legislature should enact a law, to regulate the making of dividends, without knowing the time, when they are made payable; or if they were ignorant, that they would not enquire, when the directors attended to answer all enquiries, and were actually examined from day to day, while the bill was framing; and very few will be hardy enough to affirm, that if the parliament were aware, that the dividends would be due the 5th of July, such a blunder could creep into the act of parliament. The most natural construction, upon reading the said act, is, that the 24th of June was not inserted by mistake, but by design, and that the legislature plainly intended, in the restraining clauses, that the India company should make no dividend at all from Christmas last, which was before the encrease of the dividend, to the beginning of the next session of parliament; in which time, all your homeward-bound ships would arrive, the Midsummer annual account would be made up, and the ministry would have an opportunity of learning from Lord Clive, what was the real situation of the affairs in India.

I know it is commonly imagined to have been the intention of parliament, to rescind the resolution of the 6th of May about the 6l. and 1-4th. per cent. but this imagination is contrary to fact, for that resolution is unrepealed, unrescinded, and unless the parliament, at the next meeting, shall make some law to prevent it, you may divide 6l. 1-4th per cent. at Christmas next—No single word, in either act of parliament, mentions the resolution of the 6th of May, and the act which restrains the dividing between the 8th of May, and the beginning of the next session, manifestly avoided mentioning the 6th of May, and made the interval of restraint commence on the 8th, to shew it did not mean to rescind the resolution of the 6th of May. Had the parliament designed to restrain the dividing according to that resolution at Christmas next, the interval of restraint would have gone beyond the 5th of January—as that clause, which restrains the present dividend, the manifest object of the parliament, stopt short of the 5th of July, and would not have stopt, as it has done, at the beginning of the next session of parliament.

The preamble of the act professes nothing for its object, but "to secure as well the permanent interest of the company, as the state of credit both private and public, from the mischiefs which must ensue, from an improper, and improvident increase of the dividends of the said company." Thus the parliament had in view only improper and improvident dividends, dividends made without a due regard to the circumstances of the company, whether the same should be 12l. 1-half per cent. 10l. per cent. or 6l. per cent. And I may appeal to yourselves, Gentlemen, whether you had any objection to the dividend of 12l. 1-half taking place at Christmas, that did not arise from a consideration of these circumstances, from your apprehension that your finances would not be such at Christmas, as to enable you to pay off the company's debts, to pay the 200,000l. the first half yearly payment to government, and to make a dividend of 6l. 1-4th to the proprietors. And I would ask, Whether any other consideration weighed with the legislature? You will confess, as the undoubted truth is, that this alone made you wish, that parliament would interpose to prevent the dividing 6l. 1-4th at Christmas. And I affirm this alone determined the wisdom of the legislature to interpose for that purpose. They have interposed, and what have they done? They have stopped your making any dividend till the meeting of parliament. But they have determined nothing with respect to the 6l. 1-4th per cent. The resolution of the 6th of May stands unrepealed; and if it shall then appear, such an increase will not be improper, and improvident, at Christmas next, if, I say, Gentlemen, after the arrival of the homeward-bound ships, after the examination of the annual account, which has never yet been produced, if after hearing the opinion of Lord Clive, concerning the real situation of your affairs in India, the flourishing state of your trade, the regular payment of your revenue, and the stability of your possessions, you shall think that the 6l. 1-4th per cent. may be paid without giving any cause of complaint to the creditors of the company, and join with the general court in a representation to the ministry, that such an encrease will not be improper, or improvident, at Christmas, there can be no reason to suppose, that parliament will again interpose, by a new act, to restrain your making such a dividend; and if they do not interpose by a new act, you may divide 6l. 1-4th per cent. by a due exercise of your present powers, as will be shewn in another place. But should there, on the contrary, be any room, at the meeting of the parliament, to believe such a dividend at Christmas will be improper and improvident, it is no doubt the intention of parliament to make a new act, the next session, to restrain your dividing 12l. 1-half per cent. 10l. per cent. 6l. per cent. or any per cent. at all, if it shall be so necessary, in order to prevent the mischiefs recited in the preamble before mentioned.

The remedy provided by the wisdom of the legislature, is, according to this construction, adequate to the mischiefs apprehended; as at the time of making the act, the dividend even of five per cent. was proved by you, and nothing can be clearer than that you did prove it, to be improper and improvident, they have restrained it till the meeting of parliament, and as it may then be represented by you, that such a dividend will not be improper, or improvident, they have made the time of restriction stop at that period, to give you a future power of dividing that sum, or 6l. 1-4th agreeable to the resolution of the 6th of May, if they see no reason for interposing against it. But if the legislature had not restrained you from making any dividend, between the 24th of June, and the beginning of the next session of parliament, if they had left you to divide