e for parliament to inquire
by what right the company administered its territorial revenues. He
considered that it had no right to its new position of a virtually
sovereign power, that the sovereignty of the crown should be asserted,
and that in return for the privileges which it enjoyed it should
contribute a portion of its revenues to the national treasury. The
company should apply to parliament to make good its defective title, and
parliament should then settle what portion of its revenues should be
assigned to it by way of favour. His ideas were based on an imperial
policy. As early as 1759 he held that the territorial acquisitions of
the company should be claimed for the nation. With him it was a matter
not merely of revenue but of government, and though his ideas are
indistinctly indicated, and were perhaps vaguely formed, it is probable
that he had in his mind some idea of making the government of India an
imperial matter. Yet, sharing as he did the general belief as to the
wealth of the company, he certainly attached much importance to the
possibility of obtaining from it an increase of the public revenue.

A special reason may be discerned for his desire to obtain such an
increase at the end of 1766. The government wanted money; there was a
heavy debt on the civil list, and the navy needed a large grant. An
increase of taxation was inadvisable, for corn was dear. Various schemes
for the increase of revenue were in the air. Many members of parliament,
the court party, the country interest, and the Grenville and Bedford
connexions were regretting the repeal of the stamp act. "We must look to
the East and not to the West," wrote Beckford to Chatham,[75] and he
spoke the mind of his leader. The cabinet was divided. Grafton and
Shelburne agreed with Chatham that the question of the company's rights
should be decided by parliament. Townshend declared that it would be
"absurd" to force the company to share its power with the crown, and
both he and Conway desired that the question of right should be waived
and that its relations with the government should be settled by amicable
arrangement. In May, 1767, the proprietors insisted on a dividend at the
rate of 12-1/2 per cent. A motion was carried to bring the affairs of
the company before parliament. Townshend, as Chatham said, "marred the
business"; he managed to open the door for negotiation, and to make it a
mere matter of money. In June, 1767, a bill was passed, based