The lobbying activities of provincial mercantile and manufacturing interests against the renewal of the East India Company’s charter, 1812-1813 and 1829-1833

The aim of this thesis is to reassess Cain and Hopkins’ gentlemanly capitalist explanation of British imperialism in Asia during the first half of the nineteenth century through examining the lobbying activities of provincial mercantile and manufacturing interests against the renewal of the East India Company’s charter during the periods 1812-1813 and 1829-1833. This thesis particularly has focused on Glasgow’s lobbying activities although Liverpool and Manchester’s cases have also been examined. In Cain and Hopkins’ model, the position of provincial manufacturing interests was outside from the gentlemanly capitalists’ circle consisting of non-industrial capitalists based in London and South-east England, such as the landed aristocracy, the merchants and bankers of the City and professions. Economically, there was a split between these gentlemanly capitalists and the provincial manufacturing interests, and politically, the provincial interests could exercise minor influence on the national politics. This thesis has contributed to three issues related to Cain and Hopkins’ gentlemanly capitalist thesis. The firs issue is the degree of influence of provincial commercial and manufacturing interests on the formation of Britain’s imperial policy. The second issue is the relationship between the gentlemanly capitalists in London and the provincial mercantile and manufacturing interests. The third issue is the Scots contribution to the formation of the British Empire, to which they failed to give their attention. Regarding the first issue, this thesis has demonstrated that the provincial mercantile and manufacturing interests organised effective lobbying activities for the opening of the East India and China trades and succeeded in exerting undeniable influence over the state’s decisions in both the first and second campaigns through well-organised lobbying strategies, powerful lobbing means, and their access to the centre of the national politics through their influential parliamentary supporters. In this thesis, the provincial lobbyists’ economic interests and political backgrounds have closely been examined. Although the provincial lobbyists’ economic and political interests were varied and they split up over some economic and political issues, these did not affect their unity in their challenge against the London merchants’ dominance in the East India trade. This contrasts with Cain and Hopkins’ argument on the gentlemanly capitalists’ superior influence on the national politics. In terms of the second issue, this thesis has shown that there is no evidence for the collaboration between the provincial interests and the London merchants during the 1812-1813 campaign. Nevertheless, as the connection between the provincial manufacturing interests and the London agency houses grew after the opening of the India trade, in the 1829-1833 campaign, the provincial lobbyists and some of the London mercantile interests showed their collaboration. Therefore, this thesis supports the application of Webster’s more complex model than Cain and Hopkins’ original model to British imperialism in Asia during this period. Finally, in respect of the Scots contribution to the formation of British Empire, during these two national campaigns for the opening of the East India trade, the Glasgow lobbyists were very active and the GEIA played a significant role in their lobbying activities

The Making of the \u27Free Trade Nation\u27 : The Opening of the East India Trade and the British Manufacturing Industry, 1790s-1830s

The British East India Company was originally established to trade with Asia exclusively, but after the late eighteenth century it gradually ceased its commercial function by the 1830s in the course of Britain\u27s adoption of free trade. This paper reassesses this process and reveals the significance of the creation of provincial lobbyists\u27 nationwide network to organise their effective free trade campaigns. At the same time, the case study of James Finlay & Co. of Glasgow emphasises that provincial manufacturers got in closer business relationships with a part of the London mercantile community and private merchants in the East Indies through their trading activities, which turned into the instruments of their political influence in the debates on the Company\u27s Charter renewal. Furthermore, this paper reconsiders how the statesmen and the Company as well as the provincial manufacturers and merchants perceived Asian commodities in a series of free trade campaigns. Especially, regarding provincial manufacturers\u27 perceptions of Indian piece goods, by the 1790s, they recognised not only the advantage of their goods against the Indian rivals, but also its limitation. This was reflected in their claims for the restrictions on the import of Indian piece goods in the free trade movement of the early 1790s. However, because their perceptions had been changed by the early 1810s, in the depressed economic condition, the provincial lobbyists did not seriously demand the state to restrict the import of these goods but rather to open the Indian market for their own manufactured goods

The East and West India interest in nineteenth-century Glasgow and the debates over the equalization of sugar duties

本稿においては、19世紀前半のイギリスの通商政策の形成におけるスコットランド人の役割について検討するために、グラスゴーの利害関係者の観点から東西両インド産砂糖に対する関税の均一化問題を論じる。砂糖関税の均一化は19世紀前半のイギリスの通商に関わる主要な問題の１つであり、グラスゴーでは西インド利害関係者と東インド利害関係者の双方がこの問題に関与し、ロンドンやリヴァプールなどの利害関係者と連携しながら議会や政府に対してロビー活動をおこなった。また、グラスゴーの利害関係者の組織化による圧力団体の結成は、ロビー活動の強化につながった。加えて、英領西インド植民地経済が衰退していく中にあっても、少なくとも1830年代半ばに至るまで、グラスゴーの西インド利害関係者は、地方の政治や経済に対して強い影響力を保持し続けた。本研究はJSPS科研費 (16K03798) の助成を受けたものである。また、2019年度関西大学学術研究員制度に基づく成果の一部でもある