330 INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. 



1793, it was stipulated that the company should set apart 

 3000 tons of shipping for the accommodation of private 

 traders ; but this boon was found to be quite nugatory. 

 In 1813, therefore, when another renewal of the charter 

 was required, the principles of free trade, which had been 

 gaining ground, and the immense British capital for which 

 employment was required, produced an impulse too strong 

 to be resisted. The company were indeed allowed to re- 

 tain the monopoly of China trade, which alone yields them 

 any profit, but were obliged to consent that the traffic with 

 India should be thrown open under certain restrictions. 

 These limitations were, that it should be conducted only 

 under license from the directors, in vessels of not less than 

 350 tons burden, and the homeward cargo brought only 

 into certain towns where sufficient Warehouses and docks 

 had been provided. The ships of private merchants were 

 also restricted to the leading ports of Iodia, — Calcutta, 

 Madras, Bombay,— though the company might grant 

 licenses for any intermediate one, and were expected not 

 to refuse without some special reason ; while their decision 

 could be reversed by the board of control. The limitation 

 as to tonnage was taken off in 1823, and a license was no 

 longer required for the principal settlements ; but the other 

 restrictions were continued. The company likewise retain, 

 as rulers, the power of preventing any person from taking 

 up his residence in India, or even proceeding into the in- 

 terior more than ten miles from the capitals of the three 

 presidencies, without special license. This costs from 

 seven to fifteen guineas, with securities to a considerable 

 amount that the individual shall not become chargeable to 

 the local government. 



Under this arrangement British merchants have engaged 

 with characteristic enterprise in the Indian trade, and car- 

 ried it to a most remarkable extent. They may npw be 

 said to have driven the company entirely out of the field, 

 and the trade left to them appears to be preserved only by 

 submitting to extensive loss. The following is the result 

 of their transactions for the year 1829-30, as reported to 

 parliament : — 



