Book I. 
An hiflcrkal Account of the Inter courfe 
dead Stock both abroad and at home, at 70,000 l. and 
that the old Company, at the .Time of transferring the firft 
fourth Fart of the laid 673,500 /. do transfer ali their dead 
Stock, abroad and at home, to the new Company, the 
new Company paying for one Moiety thereof at the fame 
time 16,5006 and that the old Company fhall alfo pay 
to the new Company 35,000 /. for the. Moiety of their 
dead Stock ; and thereupon the oid Company fhall have, 
and be entitled to a Moiety of both the faid dead Stocks, 
as Members of the new Company. 
The Members of the new Company transferring, fhall 
be entitled to the Arrears of their Annuity until the Time 
of the feveral Transfers *, after which all Annuities arifing 
by the old Company’s 315,000/. fhall be paid to fuch 
Perfons as fhall be appointed for that Purpofe, by the faid 
old Company for their Ufe ; and the new Company fhall 
have the Benefit of all Money arifing before their Agree- 
ment, and alfo 5 L per Cent . on all Ships entered or clear- 
ed before the Execution of the faid Agreement, each 
Company is to defift from any feparate Exportation. 
That, during feven Years, each Company fhall have an 
equal Power in the Adminiflration and Management of the 
Fund and Trade ■, and, to that End, twelve Perfons fhall 
be appointed by the General Court of each Company re- 
fpefhvely, out of the Courts of Committees and Directors 
of the faid Companies, who fhall be called in the new 
Charter, Managers of the United Trade to India ; and a 
new additional Stock fhall be raifed for carrying on the 
future Trade, and be advanced in fuch Proportions as the 
faid Twenty-four Managers, or the major Part of them, 
fhall, from time to time, appoint the General Courts or 
each Company agreeing thereunto. 
The old Company, during the Space of feven Years, 
fhall preferve their Stock in their political Capacity ; and, 
for that Time, remain a feparate Corporation, fo as to 
transfer and affign in their own Books, as new they do ; 
and, at the End of the faid feven Years, the old Company 
fhall transfer and affign in the Books of the new Company 
their Share in the Fund to their feveral Members who 
fhall be then entitled to the fame ; and thereon the faid 
Members of the old Company fhall become, and be ad- 
mitted Members of the new Company gratis. 
That each Company fhall indemnify the other from 
their refpeCtive Debts and Demands, and a proper Provi- 
fion be made for that Purpofe : And, that the new 
Company, after the executing their Agreement, fhall not 
take up any Money upon their common Seal, or do any 
other A< 5 t, except what relates to their feparate EffeCts as 
aforefaid, without the Concurrence of the old Com- 
pany. 
A Covenant to be entered into, that his Majefly fhall 
make a Re-grant within ten Days after the making fuch 
Affignment as aforefaid ; and that the old Company, 
within one Month after the faid feven Years are expired, 
fhall furrender their Charter and Corporation ; and alfo 
that the King, within ten Days after fuch Surrender, 
fhall make a new Grant to the fame Trultees, and fubjeCt 
- to the fame Truft of all fuch Eftate and Effects of the old 
Company as fhall come to, or devolve upon the Crown, by 
reafon of the faid Surrender. 
That immediately from and after the faid Surrender, the 
new Company fhall change its Name, and be called the 
United Company of Merchants of England trading to the 
Eaft-Indies. Neverthelefs, the future Management of the 
faid Stock and Trade, after the faid Term of feven 
Years is expired, is £0 be, according to the new Com- 
pany’s Charter, on the 5th of September , 1698. And 
for the better attaining the Purpofes aforefaid, that there 
be a Tripartite Indenture, executed by his Majefly and 
both the faid Companies, wherein fuch Covenants and 
Provifions may be made as fhall be thought reafonable, 
with proper Reteafes from his Majefly to each Company ; 
fo that as foon as the aforefaid feven Years, allowed for the 
Conveniency of Affairs on both Sides, are expired, the 
two Companies may be entirely one in Name and EffeCt. 
This, in Truth, was the only Remedy that could be 
devifecl for the Cure of fo great an Evil, many of the bad 
Confequences of which were fore-feen before it took Ef- 
3 
fedl, which, however, proved but few in companion of whart 
was difeovered by Experience. Some there were who ima- 
gined that this was a Dutch Defign originally, and formed 
with a View to undermine our national Intereft in this 
Trade to favour their own ; and, tofpeak freely, there are 
fame Circumftances which give feme Probability to his No- 
tion ; and, perhaps, arnongft thefe Circumftances, there is 
none ftronger than that the Subfcription of the Two Mil- 
lions was chiefly promoted by Foreigners, as we are ex- 
prefly told by the Author of the Compleat Hifiory of Eng- 
land, in his Account of the Reign of King William , who 
magnifies the Alacrity with which that Sum was fubferib- 
ed, and feems to think, that twice as much might have 
been obtained, if the Ad of Parliament had extended fo 
far. But it may feem a Paradox to fay, that People would 
venture their Money to hurt the old Eafl- India Company : 
But this is eafily folved, by confidering that little depended 
on that Trade where they were to have fo large an Inte- 
reft as Eight per Cent, for their Money. 
The only Way to form a right Judgment of this Af- 
fair is, to take a View of the Situation of Things in the 
Indies after this new Eftablifhment took Place: And of 
this, in his Account of Bengal , the before- mentioned 
Captain Hamilton has given us a very full and fair Rela- 
tion, interfperfed with feme Concerns of his own, which 
fhews that he was an Eye-witnefs, and did not deliver any 
thing from Elear-fay. If we wanted other Evidence, I 
might cite that of Mr. Lockyer , who, in his Account of 
the Trade of the Indies , informs us, that the old and 
new Companies, had each of them a Fadory at Surat ; 
and that thofe that managed them, aded with fuch Ani- 
mofity againft each other, that it was very hard, even 
after the Companies were united, to reconcile them. It 
is extremely difficult to find out, and bring together fuch 
Relations as thefe •, but the Defire I have that the Readers 
ffiould be perfedly acquainted with the State of this Com- 
merce in different Periods of Time, that he may frame 
the better Notion of what has contributed to promote, 
and what has occafioned, at any Time, the Decay of this 
Trade, has encouraged me to take all the Pains I could to 
range the feveral Accounts J have been able to coiled, in 
fuch Order as might make them beft underftood, and beft 
anfwer the End that I propofed. It was folely with this 
View, that I refolved to give the following Paffages from 
Captain Hamilton' s Travels, which, I hope, will fet this 
Matter in as clear a Light as either myfeJf, or the Reader, 
could wifli. The Country about Bengal deferibed, he 
proceeds a little higher. Up the Eaft-fide of Hughly 
River, is Ton jelly , a Village where a Corn-mart is kept 
once or twice in a Week: It exports more Riches than 
any Place on this River. And five Leagues farther, up- 
on the other Side, is Tanna Fort, built to proted the Trade 
of the River, at a Place convenient enough, where it is 
not above half a Mile from Shore, but it never was of 
much Ufe; for, Anno 1686, when the Englifh Company 
quarrelled with the Mogul, the Company had feveral great 
Ships at Hughly ; and this Fort was manned, in order to 
hinder their Paffage down the River. One fixty Gun 
Ship approaching pretty near the Fort, faluted it with a 
Broad-fide, which fo frightened the Governor and his 
Myrmidons, that they all deferred their Polls, and left 
their Caftle to be plundered by the Englifh Seamen. 
About a League farther, upon the other Side of the Ri- 
ver, is Governapore , where there is a little Pyramid, built 
for a Land-mark, to confine the Company’s Colony of 
Calcuta , or Fort-William , on that Side : And about a 
League farther up. Hands Fort-William. 
The Englifh fettled there about the Year 1690. After 
the Mogul had pardoned all the Robberies and Murders 
committed on his Subjects, Mr. Job Channock , being then 
the Company’s Agent in Bengal , he had Liberty to fettle 
an Emporium in any Part of the River- fide below Hughly ; 
and for the fake of a large fhady Tree, chofe that Place, 
though he could not have chofe a more unhealthy Place 
on all the River ; for three Miles to the North-eaftward is 
a Salt-water Lake that over- flows in September and Oliober , 
and then prodigious Numbers of Fifh refort thither ; but 
in November and December , when the Floods are diffipated, 
thefe Fifties are left dry, and with their Putrefaction afteft 
