m .0 . An hifi&ricul Account of the Inter courje Book L 
in Motley-, or by Bills of Exchange, or otherwife, towards 
promoting or fupporting fuch Company, or the Trade 
thereof, or fhall fubfcribe to the eftablifhing any other fo- 
reign Company, for trading to the Eaft- Indies , or be con- 
cerned in any Stock therein, iftc. the Perfon fo offending 
■fhaH forfeit their Intereft and Share in the Stocks of any 
fuch Company, with treble the Value thereof, one Third 
to the Crown, and the remaining two Thirds to the Eaft - 
India Company, if they inform or fue for the fame ,; other- 
wife one Third of two fuch Thirds to the common In- 
former, recoverable by Adtion of Debt, &c. 
And the Attorney-General, of his own Authority, or 
at the Relation of the faid united Company, and for the 
Company, may file a Bill of Complaint in, the Court of 
Chancery, or the Exchequer, againft any Perfon who fhall 
have fubfcribed or contributed to, or promoted, or any 
Ways become interefted in the eilabli filing any fuch fo- 
reign Eaft-India Company, or the Stock, or Trade there- 
of, for the Difcovery of his Offence, remitting or waving 
the Forfeiture of the treble Value of the Offender’s Stock, 
or Concern in any fuch Company, and infilling only on 
the fihgle Value. And thereupon, fuch Perfon fhall an- 
fwer to the Bill, and not plead, or demur to the Difco- 
very thereby fought; and in cafe the fingle Value only of 
fuch Intereft or Share fhall be decreed to be paid, one 
third Part thereof fhall go to his Majeily, and the other 
two Thirds to the Company. If any Subjed fhall have 
accepted of any Truft, or know of any Intereft, Share or 
Concern, which any of his Majefty ’s Subjeds fhall have, 
or be entituled to, in any fuch foreign Company, and 
fhall not within fix Months after accepting the Truft, or 
the coming to the Knowledge of any fuch Intereft, i£c. 
truly difcover the fame in Writing, to the laid united 
Company of England , or their Court of Directors, he 
fhall forfeit treble the Value of the Intereft, &c. fo ac- 
cepted in Truft, or fo known, and not difeovered, one 
Moiety to the Crown, the other to him who will fue for 
the fame, by Adion of Debt, &c. or fuch Offender fhall, 
at the Difcretion of the Court where the Profecution is 
commenced, fuller one Year’s Imprifonment ; and Perfons 
that within the Time above limited fhall voluntarily come 
to the Court of Diredors, and make a true Difcovery in 
Writing, of the Intereft, Share or Concern of any Sub- 
jeds in the Stock of any fuch foreign Company, fhall 
have one half Part of the clear amount of the Forfeitures 
arifing by this Ad. 
In cafe any of his Majefty’s Subjeds (other than fuch 
as are lawfully authorized) fhall go to, or be found in the 
Eaft- Indies , they are hereby declared to be guilty of a 
high Mifdemeanor, and may be profecuted for the fame, 
in any Court at Weftminfter , and being convided thereof, 
fhall be liable to fuch corporal Punifhment, or Imprifon- 
ment, or to fuch Fine, as the Court where the Profecu- 
tion is commenced fhall think fit ; and the Offenders may 
be feized, and brought to England , and any Juftice of 
Peace may commit them to the next County Goal, till 
fufheient Security be given by natural born Subjeds, or 
Denizens, to appear in Court, &c. and not to depart out 
of the Kingdom without Leave. 
All Offences againft this Ad, or againfl 9 W. III. cap. 
44. or 5 Geo. I. cap. 21, c Cc. fhall be laid in London or 
Micldleftex , at the Pleafure of the Profecutor ; and & Capias 
in the firft Procefs fhall iffue upon any Bill, Plaint, In- 
didment, (Cc. profecuted for the faid Offences. One 
would have imagined, that thefe Laws might have pre- 
vented any EngUJh Subjeds from being concerned in Defigns 
fo prejudicial anddeftrudive, as thefe manifeftly were to their 
native Country ; yet when we come to fpeak more parti- 
cularly of this- Oft end Trade, we fhall be obliged, tho* un- 
willingly, to fhew the contrary, and that all the Meafures 
that have been fince taken in other Countries to leffen the 
Commerce of our Eaft- India Company, have been brought 
about by .the Intrigues of fuch avaritious Perfons as- were 
-determined to make their Fortunes at any Rate, and 
from fuch 1 elf- interefted Views, facrificed the Welfare of 
this Nation . to their private Advantage. 
What in fame Meafure contributed to this, might be 
the Pains taken by the Company to prevent the Frauds 
.committed by fame in- their own Service, in order to which, 
a Law was paffed in the feventh Year of the fame Reign, 
for the better preventing an unlawful, and further fecuring 
a lawful Trade to the Eaft-Indies , by which it was enad~ 
ed, that all the Goods fhipped on Board any Ship to the 
Eaft-Indies (except Goods of the Company, or fuch as 
are licenfed by them, and naval Stores, Provjfions, and 
N ecdffaries for the Ship in her Voyage) and all Goods ta- 
ken out of fuch Ship in her Voyage homeward bound from 
the Eaft- Indies y &c. to England, before her Arrival here, 
fhall be forfeited, and double Value, and the Mailer, or 
Officer of fuch Ship, knowingly permitting the Goods to 
be fhipped or taken out of fuch Ship, fhall forfeit for eve- 
ry Offence one thoufand Pounds, and fhall not be entituled 
to any W ages, &c. 
Agreements or Contracts made, or entred into by any 
of his Majefty’s Subjeds, or any in Truft for them, on 
the Loan of Monies by Way of Bottomry, upon any 
Ship in the Service of Foreigners, and bound to the Eaft- 
Indies, &c. and all Contrads for Loading, or fupplying 
any fuch Ship with a Cargo of any fort of Goods, Mer- 
chandize, Treafure or Effeds, or with Provifions, Stores 
or NecefTaries, and copartner Ships entred into, relating 
to any fuch Voyage, the Profits thereof, and all Agree- 
ments for the Wages of any Perfons ferving on Board any 
Ship to be employed in fuch Voyage, fhall be void ; and 
every Perfon, Subjed of his Majefty, that fhall go to the 
Eaft-Indies contrary to the Laws now in Force, fhall be 
deemed a Trader, and to have traded ther.e, and all the 
Goods there bartered, or trafficked for, or purchafed by 
any fuch Perfon, or found in his Cuftody, or any other in 
Truft for him, by his Order or Procurement, fhall be for- 
feited, and double the Value. 
And by this Ad it fhall be lawful for the Attorney-Ge- 
neral, or for the united Company trading to the Eaft-In- 
dies, at any Time within the Space of fix Years, to file 
in any or the Courts at W ftminfter , Informations againft 
clandeftine Traders, and if the Defendants fhall be found 
guilty thereof, the Court fhall forthwith proceed to give 
Judgment againft them, &c. Alfo it is declared lawful 
for the Attorney-General, at the Relation of the Compa- 
ny, or by his own Authority, to exhibit Bills of Com- 
plaint in the Exchequer, againft Perfons trading, dealing, 
trafficking, or adventuring to, or from the Eaft-Indies , 
& c - contrary to Law, or againft any Perfon concerned as 
an Agent, or Fador, or Copartner with fuch illegal Tra- 
ders, for difeovering of fuch their trading, 0 c. and for 
the recovering of the Duties and Damages, CM and fuch 
Perfons fhall pay to his Majefty the Cuftoms of the Goods 
arifing or purchafed by the faid unlawful Trade, and fhall 
anfwer to the Company 30 per Cent, according to the Va- 
lue thereof in England ; and if fuch Offenders pay the 
Cuftoms, or the Amount of the fame, into the Exchequer, 
and Damages to the Company, they fhall not be other- 
wife profecuted by this Ad, or any other Statute, for the 
fame Offence; but if a Decree be obtained againft the 
Defendants, they fhall pay Cofts to his Majeftyj and the 
Relator refpedively. 
And if fuch Bills (being exhibited at the relation of 
the Company) be difmiffed by the Court, fo that the Par- 
ties are acquitted, the Company fhall pay every Defendant 
his full Colts ; the Forfeitures and Penalties herein before 
appointed, or in former Ads relating to the Eaft-India 
Company, may be fued for, not only by the Attorney- 
General, or the faid Company, but alfo by any Officer of 
the Cuftoms, fuch Officer having the Content and Direc- 
tion of the Court of Diredors of the united Company, 
as by the Ad is particularly required ; and one third Part 
of all fuch Penalties fhall be to the Crown, one other 
Third to the Company, and the remaining Third to fuch 
Officers of the Cuftoms as fhall inform and fue as afore- 
faid. The faicl united Company fhall be allowed to ftiip 
out Stores, Provifions, Utenfils of War, and NecefTaries 
for maintaining their Garrifons and Settlements, free of 
all Duties, fo as the Duties, if they had been paid, do 
not exceed in any one Year three hundred Pounds. No 
Eaft-India Goods to be imported into Ireland , or the Plan- 
tations, but from Great ’Britain, on Pain of forefeiting 
Ships and Goods, &c. 
It 
i 
