MADRAS. vided the English would settle there, and likewise to exempt them from all customs on trade: so much importance was attached to securing this position, that without waiting for instructions from England, a fortification was commenced at the expense of the Company, giving to the fort the name of FORT ST. GEORGE; the town retaining its original appellation. In 1653, Fort St. George was raised to the rank of a presidency; and, on the application of the Company in 1687, it was incorported by royal charter from his Majesty King Charles II. The question was agitated before the Privy Council, whether such charter should proceed from the King under the great seal of England, or from the Company, under its broad seal, from being vested with a right to exercise a delegated sovereignty in India. His Majesty was pleased to consent to its going under the seal of the Company. For the particulars of the discussion before the privy counsel, vide THE SOVEREIGN. In 1692, the French formed a settlement at Pondicherry, on the coast of Coromandel. In 1746, a French fleet anchored off Fort St. George: which place capitulated after sustaining a bombardment for five days. It was restored by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and delivered up to the English in August 1749. It was again besieged by M. Lally, and the Count D'Estaign in 1758, but an arrival of a convoy with troops under Admiral Pococke, from Bombay, and the want of supplies on the part of the enemy, obliged them to raise the siege. In 1767, Hyder Ally, one of the most formidable foes which the British had to contend with in India, began his first operations against the English, and approached without opposition to the very precincts of Madras. The situation of the Company in Bengal compared with their position on the Coromandel coast, was very different. In Bengal, possessed of the authority of Dewan, they were invested with the principal functions of the internal government of that country: At Madras, they were dependants on Mahomed Ally, whose interest they had upheld; and who, through their influence, had been proclaimed Nabob of the Carnatic; which country was rendered independent of the Nizam. The Nabob, un equal MADRAS.-BOMBAY, equal to the charge of protecting his own dominions, transferred to the English, who already possessed the maritime district of the four Northern Circars (obtained from the Mogul in 1765), the military defence of the country, allowing out of its revenues a sum proportionate to the expense incurred by that arrangement. A detail of the ulterior measures, which were adopted with regard to the Carnatic, will be found under the head of CARNATIC COMMISSIONERS. When Bengal was declared to be the seat of the GovernorGeneral in Council by the act of the 13th Geo. III, cap. 63, in 1773, MADRAS and BOMBAY were designated presidencies subject to Bengal; and it was not until 1784, that the administration of the affairs of each of those settlements was vested in a governor and three counsellors, by the act of the 24th Geo. III, cap. 25, under which form they are still administered, according to the legislative provisions hereafter mentioned. BOMBAY. THE first settlement of the East-India Company on the western side of India was at SURAT, a populous city in the province of Guzerat, where a factory was established in 1612. It became the chief commercial establishment of the Company, when their agents were obliged to retire from Bantam. The Island of Bombay had been ceded by the crown of Portugal to King Charles II, as a part of the dowry of the Infanta Catherine, who was married to the King in 1661. In 1668, the King granted the Island of Bombay to the Company; and in 1687, it was constituted the chief seat of the British government in India, all the other settlements being de clared subordinate to it. The Court of Directors considered it as the key of India, and it was accordingly to be fortified as strong as art and money could make it." It has already been observed that, in 1773, it was declared a presidency subject to Bengal; and in 1784 was formed into a government, consisting of a governor and three counsellors, under, which form its affairs continued to be administered. 66 PRINCE OF WALES' ISLAND, SINGAPORE, AND MALACCA. PULO Penang, subsequently called Prince of Wales' Island, in the Straits of Malacca, was granted by the King of Queda to BOMBAY. to the East-India Company, and taken possession of by Captain Light on the 11th August 1786, under the authority of the Bengal government. The objects contemplated at the formation of the settlement were both commercial and political; to connect the Bengal and China trade, and procure a windward port during the north-east monsoon for the refreshment and repair of the King's ships in time of war. Captain Light was authorized to receive such colonists as he might judge expedient, and to allot such portion of land to each family as circumstances would admit. In 1800, the Court of Directors, from the importance of Prince of Wales' Island in a commercial point of view, issued orders that a senior civil servant from Bengal fully competent to the charge should be immediately appointed superintendant of the island. The Bengal government, in the interim, had appointed Sir George Leith, Bart., to the charge. In 1805 it was determined that the future system of managing the affairs at that settlement should be by a governor and three other members of council, who were accordingly nominated and proceeded to their duty in the course of that year. The same system was continued until the year 1825, with the exception of the members of council being reduced to two, in addition to the governor. In the year 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles, then Lieutenant Governor of Bencoolen, was deputed by the Governor-General the Marquis of Hastings to proceed to the Straits of Malacca, with the view of fixing upon some settlement in the Eastern Archipelago, which should present a favourable position for counteracting the efforts which the Dutch were exerting to engross the whole of the trade of the Eastern Islands, to the total exclusion of the British trader. The result was the acquisition of the island of Singapore. Considerable differences arose out of this transaction - the Dutch contending that by treaty with the state of Rhio, to which they represented Singapore as subject, we had no right or pretension to fix the British flag on the latter settlement. In order to adjust such difference, and to remove all further cause of disagreement between the agents of the British and Netherlands governments in India, a negotiation was opened in Great Britain in 1823, and brought to a conclusion in 1824, when a treaty between his Britannic Majesty BOMBAY. Majesty and the King of the Netherlands, bearing date the 17th The said possessions on the continent of India, together with the island of Singapore and the settlement of Malacca, were transferred to the East-India Company, under the provisions of the 5th Geo. IV, cap. 108; and by an act of the following year, 6th Geo. IV, cap. 85, the Company were authorized to annex Singapore and Malacca to Prince of Wales' Island, or otherwise as they might see fit. Under the foregoing powers the Court of Directors issued orders on the 12th October 1825, constituting the three settlements one government, to consist of a governor and three counsellors; one counsellor to be resident at Prince of Wales' Island, one at Singapore, and one at Malacca. The whole being designated the GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL OF PRINCE OF WALES' ISLAND, SINGAPORE, AND MALACCA; which government is subject to the Supreme Government in Bengal, under the 40th and 44th sections of the 33d Geo. III, cap. 52. LAWS. 1793. 33 Geo. 3, c. 52, § 24. LAWS. Form of Government. Governments of the presidencies vested in the governors and three counsellors spectively. Form of government. re (1) And be it further enacted, that the whole civil and military government of the presidency of FORT WILLIAM in BENGAL, and also the ordering, management, and government of all the territorial acquisitions and revenues in the kingdoms or provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, shall be and are hereby vested in a governor-general and three counsellors of and for the said presidency, subject to such rules, regulations, and restrictions as are made, provided, or established in that behalf in this act, or in any other act or acts now in force, and not by this act repealed or altered; and that the whole civil and military government of the presidency of FORT ST. GEORGE, on the coast of Coromandel, and the ordering, management, and government of all the territorial acquisitions and revenues on the said coast, and also so much and such parts of the territories LAWS. 1793. c. 52, § 24. territories and possessions on the coast of Orissa, with the revenues of the same, as have been and now are under the administration of the government or presidency of Fort St. George, shall be and are 33 Geo. 3, hereby vested in a governor and three counsellors of and for the said presidency of Fort St. George, subject to such rules, regulations, and restrictions as aforesaid; and that the whole civil and military government of the presidency and island of BOMBAY on the coast of Malabar, and the ordering, management, and government of all the territorial acquisitions and revenues on the said coast of Malabar, shall be and are hereby vested in a governor and three counsellors of and for the said presidency and island of Bombay, subject as aforesaid, and the said governors and councils of the said presidencies of Fort St. George and Bombay respectively, being also subject to the superintendence and control of the said Governor-General in Council, in manner by this act provided or directed in that behalf, any act or acts to the contrary notwithstanding. Councils, in the first place, to consider matters proposed by the governor, who may postpone any matters pro sellors. Council, Form of Proceeding in go (2) And be it further enacted, that the GovernorGeneral and counsellors of Fort William, and the several governors and counsellors of Fort St. George and Bombay shall at their respective council boards proceed in the first place to the consideration of such posed by coun- matters or questions as shall be proposed by the vernor-general, or by the governors of the said presidencies respectively and as often as any matter or question shall be propounded by any of the said counsellors, it shall be competent to the said governor-general or governor respectively, to postpone or adjourn the discussion thereof to a future day; provided that no such adjournment shall exceed forty-eight hours, nor shall the matter or question so proposed be adjourned more than twice without the consent of the counsellor who proposed the same. $38. If any Member incapable of attending, a provisional Successor may be called in. (3) And be it further enacted, that if any of the members of the $ 34. council of either of the said presidencies shall by any infirmity or、 otherwise be rendered incapable of acting, or of attending to act as such, or if any of such members shall be absent from the presidency, and the governor-general, or either of the said governors, shall be desirous of having the advice of a full council upon any urgent business, the governor-general, or such governors respectively, shall, by virtue of this act, have full power and authority to call any provisional successor appointed then on the spot, or, there being none such on the spot, then any senior merchant on the spot, to assist at the council board for that turn; but that such provisional successor, or other person |