chairman, deputy-chairman, and senior member of the Court. The
Secret Committee sign the despatches which emanate from the
Board, but they have no power to withhold or to alter them. They
have not even the power to record their dissent. In fact, the
functions of the Committee are only those which, to use the words
of a distinguished member of the Court (the late Mr. Tucker), who
deplored the mystery and the mockery of a system which obscures
responsibility and deludes public opinion, could as well be
performed "by a secretary and a seal."'

Further on he says--

'In judging of responsibility, we should remember that the whole
foreign policy of the East India Company is regulated by the
Board of Control; that in the solution of the most vital
questions--questions of peace and war--affecting the finances of
the country, and, therefore, the means of internal improvement,
the Court of Directors have no more power than the mayor and
aldermen of any corporate town. India depends less on the will of
the twenty-four than on one man's caprice--here to-day and gone
to-morrow--knocked over by a gust of Parliamentary uncertainty--
the mistaken tactics of a leader, or negligence of a whipper-in.
The past history of India is a history of revenue wasted and
domestic improvement obstructed by war.'

This is very much what I complain of. I admit the right of the East
India Company to complain of many things done by the Board of Control;
and I am of opinion, that if the House left the two bodies to combat one
another, they would at last come to an accurate perception of what they
both are. The East India Company accused the Board of Control of making