276 BRITISH INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 



tion, the companies acrced to a compromise, and to act 

 thenceforth under the title of the United Company of Mer- 

 chants trading to the East Indies. Godolphin, reckoned the 

 greatest statesman of the age, was appointed arbiter, and on 

 the basis of his decision was formed a constitution, which 

 with slight alterations, has subsisted to the present day. 

 There was nominated a court of proprietors, comprising all 

 who held stock to the amount of 5001. These were to meet 

 four times a year, oroftener if necessary, to make regulations 

 for the management of the company's affairs, and deter- 

 mine the amount of dividend. They elected a committee 

 of twenty-four, called afterward the Court of Directors, 

 who, with a chairman, conducted all the details of business 

 and traffic. This was a government purely democratic ; 

 for, though Mr. Mill compares the chairman and directors to 

 the king°and lords, they had in fact no legislative power nor 

 independent functions whatever ; they were the mere ser- 

 vants of the body of proprietors. Yet the fact is, that, in- 

 stead of suffering any of the inconveniences of democratic 

 rule, it has proved almost a complete oligarchy, centering, 

 as might be expected, in the court of directors. 



In 1730 a strenuous effort was made, by petitions from 

 the chief mercantile towns, to have the Indian trade thrown 

 open to the nation, allowing the company to retain the forts 

 and other establishments, and to receive an allowance on 

 the imports and exports. But the latter had influence suf- 

 ficient to defeat this application, and to procure a farther 

 extension of their charter for thirty-three years. 



During this interval the circumstances of the company 

 underwent an entire and most important change. At first 

 they attempted nothing more than to maintain factories for 

 the accommodation of their agents, and p'aces of deposite 

 foi their goods. Sir Thomas Roc, their ambassador to the 

 Mogul court, had strenuously advised them to proceed no 

 farther, and to avoid fortified stations, which, besides in- 

 volving large expenses, were likely to excite jealousy in the 

 native princes, and to occasion ruinous wars. Yet the ma- 

 rauding character of the Indian chiefs renders it doubtful 

 how far such a plan could have been pursued with safety. 

 The company therefore, as formerly observed, erected sev- 

 eral forts : they had even, in 1689, conceived the design of 

 establishing dominion in India, and of making revenue one 



