ENGLISH EAST INDIA COMPANY. 



777 



During the first fourteen years, its members were, in ] islands, Celebes, Malacca, Siam, the coasts of Mala- 



a great measure, independent. In the following 

 ninety-five years, although it bad a common capital, 

 its operations were confined by the superiority of the 

 Dutch in the Indian seas, by the civil ware at home, 

 and particularly by the calling in question of its ex- 

 clusive privileges, which were merely a royal and 

 not a parliamentary grant. For the succeeding forty 

 years, it enjoyed all its rights undisputed, and founded 

 on parliamentary authority, but confined to mere 

 commercial transactions. And, finally, during the 

 subsequent seventy years, its political power was de- 

 veloped. 



1. Period from 1600 to 1613. The English, in 

 their first attempts to reach India, directed their 

 course to the north-west, as the Dutch did to the 

 north-east. John Cabot, in the employ of Henry 

 VII., had discovered Newfoundland, and the coasts 

 of North America, in 1497. In 1553, his son, Sebas- 

 tian Cabot, under Edward VI., engaged in a second 

 enterprise of this kind. The king chartered a com- 

 pany, which, with a capital of .6000, equipped three 

 vessels, for the discovery of a northern passage to 

 India. Part of this expedition was lost in the nor- 

 thern ocean ; another part landed on the northern 

 coast of Russia, and formed commercial connexions 

 which gave rise to the English Russian company, in 

 the same manner as the Hudson's bay company owes 

 its establishment to the attempts to discover a north- 

 west passage, which have been continued to the 

 present day. The English, at the same time, endea- 

 voured to penetrate to India, directly, by land, and 

 at least to rival the Venetians, if they could not con- 

 tend with the Portuguese. This was the main object 

 of the English Turkish company, establi shed in 1581, 

 which, however, soon became convinced of " the im- 

 practicability of the attempt, and was induced, by 

 Sir Francis Drake's account of his circumnavigation 

 (1591), to send out three ships to India, under the 

 command of captain Raymond, on the route of the 

 Portuguese. This attempt, and that made by Robert 

 Dudley, in 1596, failed entirely. The Spanish war, 

 the shutting up of Lisbon, and the avarice of the 

 Dutch, gave, however, a new vigour to the enter- 

 prise of the London merchants, and, September 22, 

 1599, a society was formed in London, which, hi the 

 course of two centuries, acquired the greatest power 

 of any commercial association on record. The origi- 

 nal capital amounted to .30,133 sterling ; and queen 

 Elizabeth, December 31, 1600, granted to the gover- 

 nor and company of merchants of London trading to 

 the East Indies, for fifteen years, the exclusive right 

 of trading to all countries from the cape of Good 

 Hope eastward, to the straits of Magellan, excepting 

 those which were in the possession of friendly Euro- 

 pean powers. Until 1613, the company consisted 

 merely of a society subject to particular regulations ; 

 each member managed his affairs on his own account, 

 and was only bound to conform to certain general 

 rules. Notwithstanding the disadvantages of this 

 arrangement, the profits of eight voyages amounted 

 to 171 per cent. 



2. Period from 1613 to 1708. At this time (1613), 

 the capital was united, and the constitution, in con- 

 sequence, became more aristocratic ; the largest 

 stockholders having the principal management, and 

 the great mass of the stockholders having only a 

 nominal control in the general meetings. Those lat- 

 ter, in reality, had only in view speculation in the 

 shares. The concerns of the company were so pros- 

 perous, that, hi the course of four years, the shares 

 rose to the value of 203 per cent., and the Dutch 

 became desirous, though they did not succeed, to 

 vun'te with it against the Portuguese. Its factories 

 were extended to Java, Sumatra, Borneo, the Banda 



bar and Coromandel, but chiefly to the states of the 

 Mogul, whose favour the company had very prudently 

 secured. Their success was such, that, a new sub- 

 scription being opened in 1616, the amount raised 

 was 1,629,040. But, in 1627, complaints were 

 made of bad management, and abuses of all kinds, 

 particularly in regard to the private commerce of 

 the officers, which has always been of the greatest 

 disadvantage to all such companies. The opposition 

 to the royal authority, under the Stuarts, brought 

 into question the monopoly of the company which 

 rested on a royal grant. The kings themselves con- 

 tributed to raise these doubts, by granting to indi- 

 viduals the privilege of trading to India, much to the 

 disadvantage of the company. During the time of 

 the commonwealth, the public opinion became very 

 strong against monopolies, and Cromwell, by destroy- 

 ing the charter, hi 1655, attempted to make the East 

 India trade free. But this was impracticable. To 

 give up the company was to destroy the whole capi- 

 tal of power and influence obtained in India. After 

 the restoration of the royal family, the charter, which 

 even Cromwell had been obliged to renew, was again 

 in full force. During the short period which elapsed 

 from this time to the Revolution of 1688, the com- 

 pany obtained, by the acquisition of Madras and 

 Bombay, the predominance on the coast of Malabar 

 and Coromandel, and laid the foundation for the ex- 

 tension of its possessions into the interior of Hindos- 

 tan, and for that power which rose on the ruins of 

 the empire of the great Mogul. The affairs of the 

 company were not, however, in a prosperous state ; 

 and, soon after the Revolution, the question was 

 started, whether the king could impose restrictions on 

 commerce by a charter, and whether a sovereign, 

 who possessed the rights of sovereignty conditionally, 

 could confer them on a privileged company. The 

 consequence was, that, the company not being able 

 to perform their obligations, on account of the losses 

 occasioned by wars, infidelity of officers, extrava- 

 gance, &c., parliament granted a charter to a new 

 East India company, in 1698, on condition of a loan 

 of 2,000,000 sterling, at three per cent., for the 

 service of the state. But the great contentions be- 

 tween the two companies soon made it necessary to 

 unite them, and a union was effected in 1708. 



3. Period from 1708 to 1748. In 1708, an act of 

 parliament was passed, uniting the two English East 

 India companies into one, under the title of the 

 United Company of Merchants of England trad- 

 ing to the East Indies. Its exclusive privileges 

 were granted till 1726, after which it was determina- 

 ble upon three years' notice. The capital was raised 

 by the sale of the shares : one share (of the value of 

 500) gave the holder a vote in the "General 

 Court ;" four shares, or stock to the amount of 

 2000, rendered the holder eligible as one of the 

 twenty-four " Directors," who managed the govern- 

 ment of the company. The shares being transferable, 

 the great mass of stockholders are constantly chang- 

 ing, and take no personal interest in the aflairs of the 

 company, but merely speculate in the shares. The 

 whole management is thus left to the directors, and 

 all the numberless abuses of an oligarchical constitu- 

 tion are readily introduced. The local affairs of the 

 company were intrusted to the three councils of 

 Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, while the general 

 direction was retained in England. But, as every- 

 thing depended ultimately on the local officers in 

 India, the pernicious abuse prevailed of attempting 

 to secure the fidelity of the superior officers by al- 

 lowing them to appropriate to themselves the inferior 

 lucrative posts. The renewal of the charter in 1732 

 was not obtained without great difficulty, and against 



