COMPANY. 



presidencies. The appointment of the 

 Governor-general, President, or Counsel- 

 lors in the differentprecidencieswasmade 

 subject to the approbation and recall of 

 his Majesty ; and a tribunal was created 

 for the trial of Indian delinquents. Some 

 further regulations were adopted in 1786, 

 the chief of which were, bestowing on 

 the Governor-general of India the high 

 prerogative, of deciding in opposition to 

 the sense of the majority of the council ; 

 and uniting the offices of Commander in 

 Chief and Governor-general in the same 

 person. The Company were empower- 

 ed to increase their capital, by creating 

 800,OOU/. new stock, for which they ob- 

 tained 1,240,000/. at the rate of 155 per 

 cent. ; and in 1789 they were authorised 

 to add a million to their capital, which 

 was effected at the rate of 174 per cent, 

 and preference was given to such per- 

 sons as were stockholders at the time of 

 subscription. Their annual dividend at 

 this time was 8 per cent, and continued 

 at this rate till 1793, when, in pursuance 

 of an agreement with government for the 

 renewal of their charter, another million 

 was added to their capital, which thus be- 

 came 6,000,000^. and the dividend was 

 raised to 10 per cent. 



By the agreement in 1793, the term of 

 their exclusive trade was continued, under 

 various regulations, for 20 years from the 

 1st of March, 1794, with the former pro- 

 viso, that if, after the expiration of that 

 term, their right to the sole trade shall 

 cease, in consequence of three years pre- 

 vious notice being given by parliament, 

 and the repayment of such sums as may be 

 then due from the public, they shall con- 

 tinue a corporation notwithstanding, with 

 power to carry on a free trade in common 

 with other persons. 



The Company is underthe management 

 of twenty -four directors, elected by the 

 proprietors of the Company's stock, who 

 hold WOOL or upwards. Such proprietors 

 are likewise entitled to vote, on all occa- 

 sions, in the quarterly and special general 

 courts of the Company. 



COMPANY, South Sea. The scheme for 

 satisfying the national deficiencies by the 

 establishment of this Company was ar- 

 ranged and brought forward in 1711, by 

 Mr. Harley, then chancellor of the Ex- 

 chequer, and the opinion of its efficacy 

 for retrieving the languishing state of 

 public credit was so great, that upon his 

 beingcreated Earl of Oxford, this service 

 was particularly mentioned in the patent 

 as one of the chief reasons for advancing 

 him to that honour. It certainly afforded 



considerable relief to government,by con- 

 solidating a variety of debtt> and arrears 

 of interest.and making a general pro' ision 

 for them, which the expectatioai0-edhp 

 from the commercial undertakings of the 

 Company induced the proprietors readily 

 to accept. These debrs and deficiencies 

 formed the first cap.rai of the Company, 

 which amounted to 9,177,96: 15s. 4d. in- 

 cluding half a million raised towards the 

 current services of the year. In 1715 their 

 capital was increased to l'J,OiKyjOG7. and 

 in i719 to 11,746,844/ 8*. 1> ,</. ; but as all 

 the sums thus subscribed into South Sea 

 stock consisted of public debts, which 

 were thus transferred from the individual 

 proprietors of them to the company, it 

 became necessary for the company to 

 borrow money on bonds, to enable them 

 to undertake their ostensible object of 

 trade to South America. 



In 1720, the Company engaged in one of 

 the most memorable'projects ever attemp- 

 ted in Great Britain. It was founded upon 

 an agreement with government, autho- 

 rizing the Company to take in, either by 

 subscription or purchase, all the public 

 debts, at such prices as they could agree 

 upon with the respective proprietors; and 

 they were empowered to raise the money 

 which would be necessary for making 1 

 these purchases,either by calls upon their 

 members, by annuities, bonds, or bills, or 

 by opening subscriptions for new stock. It 

 is difficult to conceive how the Company 

 could expect to derive such permanent 

 advantages from this transaction, as would 

 support any considerable increase of their 

 dividend ; ye^f the expectation of great 

 profits was so general, as to excite the most 

 extensive, though the most extravagant, 

 infatuation that was ever known in money 

 transactions in this country. South Sea 

 Stock was soon sold at double the sum 

 that had been paid in upon it, and in the 

 course of a short time reached the enor- 

 mous price of 1000 per cent. The rapidi- 

 ty of its fall, however, exceeded that by 

 which it rose ; for, before the end of the 

 year, the difference of price was more than 

 800 per cent, in the course of only three 

 weeks, by which thousands of persons suf- 

 fered very severe losses, and many were 

 entirely ruined. 



The only branches of trade in which 

 the Company ever engaged were, in sup- 

 plying the Spanish colonies in America 

 with negroes, and the Greenland whale- 

 fishery. In both these undertakings the 

 Company were considerable losers ; in 

 consequence of which, in 1748, they gave 

 up the contract with Spain, and from that 



