pi% ' An hiftorkal Account of the Intercourfe . /'Book B 
mindj that there is fcarce a Branch of Trade which we at 
prefen t enjoy, but is fome way or other affeded by our Im- 
portations from India, and which, confequently, muft fo 
far depend upon them, fince, if we had not thefe Goods, 
we could not carry them on. 
Another great Advantage this Commerce beftows, is the 
Exportation of our Manufactures, to which the Eafi-India 
Company are bound, by their Charters, with which they 
not only comply, but have greatly exceeded what was ex- 
peded from them *, and, of late Years efpecially, have 
conftantly increafed their Exportations, fo that a great 
Part of thofe valuable Effeds which they bring home are, 
‘ftri&ly and properly fpeaking, the Produce of the La- 
bour and Induftry of our own People. But, befides this, 
they bring home feveral raw and unmanufadured Goods, 
fuch as Silk, and Cotton, which are wrought up here, and 
vafl Quantities of them exported to our Plantations, by 
which we obtain a great Part of that prodigious Ballance 
in our Favour which arifes from that Trade. 
There is yet another Point which I muft infift upon, 
which is the furnifhing us for our own W ear, with large 
Quantities of cheap and beautiful Stuffs, that might ena- 
ble us, if our Poor were properly regulated, and due Care 
taken to excite an univerfal Spirit of Induftry, to make 
and fend abroad vafl; Quantities of woollen Goods : For 
though it be true, that our own Confumption of thofe 
Goods is of great Confequence to fuch as are employed in 
the making of them, yet with refped to the Nation, it is 
of no Confequence at all \ for what we gain one by another, 
is no Acceffion of Wealth to the Publick, for that muft 
arife from what we draw from other Nations, either by 
■ paying for the Goods and Manufactures which we receive 
from them by what be export to them, or bringing over 
the Ballance in Money •, or, which is ftill better, in fuch as 
we can again export, and foadd the Freight and Profit upon 
thofe Goods to the Ballance by which they accrue. If 
thefe are not clear and convincing Proofs of the Benefit re- 
fulting to us from this Trade, it is Amply impoffible that 
we fhould have any fuch ; and if our Opinions are not to 
be guided by thefe, it is not eafy to fay upon what they 
muft be grounded. 
But perhaps it may be expeded that I fhould form 
fome Computation of the Profits arifing from the Eafi- 
India Trade, which, I muff confefs, will be a very diffi- 
cult thing, and would require much more Room than I 
have to fpare ; to which I may add, that this has been al- 
ready done by Dr. Davenant and others, in a Way that will 
convince any Man who hasLeifure, Attention, and Capaci- 
ty, of the Truth of what they have delivered. However, 
that I may not feem altogether deficient in what many of 
my Readers may conceive the moft material Point in this 
Enquiry, I will venture to lay down a Faff, the Proof of 
which I am ready to undertake whenever I am properly 
called upon fo to do, which, I hope, will fatisfy them, 
and it is this ; that the Nation gains Cent, per Cent, by all 
that tide Efifi-India Cofopany exports': And, indeed, it is 
my private Opinion, that for every five Pounds which 
the Eafi-India Company employs in that Trade, the Na- 
tion gains fix Pounds ; but how far this may be leffened by 
the fetting up fo many different Eafi-India Companies in 
all Parts of Europe , is a Confideration of another Nature, 
and with which therefore I fhall not meddle here. 
The fecond Thing I promifed was to fhew the Expedi- 
ency of fupporting the Eafi-India Company, and of leav- 
ing that Trade in the Channel it is now in. In the firft 
Place, I muft premife, that I am abfolutely difinterefted 
in this Matter, and fo far from having any Diredion or 
Inftrudions from, that I have not the leaft Connexion with 
the Company, or any of its Diredors ;and amlikewifefo far 
from being a Friend to exclufive Companies in general, 
that I think this the only one that is, or can be beneficial 
to this Kingdom, for which I fhall very freely affign my 
Reafons. The firft is, that the Trade to the Eafi-Indies 
is of fuch a Nature that it is of the utmoft Confequence to 
the Nation to have, from time to time, diftind Accounts 
of its State and Condition, which could not be fo well, or 
at leaft, not fo eafily received, if it was not managed 
by a Company : As, on the other hand, the necef- 
fary Inftrudions and Regulations, could not, with 
fuch Facility, be any other Way conveyed. What 
fee ms to ftrengthen and inforce this Opinion, is the 
Conduct of all other Nations, who whenever they have 
adventured to interfere in this Trade, have conftantly put 
it under the Management of a Company ; and to lay the 
Truth, whoever fhall confider how Things are to be diftri- 
buted in the Indies, and what a Connexion there is be- 
tween the Commerce of the feveral Countries included 
within the Extent of th t- Eafi-India Company’s Charter, 
will very eafily difcern, that if the whole were not un- 
der the Management and /Diredion of a Body of Men 
converfant therein ; and not only capable of givino- Di- 
rections, but properly empowered to fee thofe Directions 
carried into Execution ; it would be impoffible, that this 
Commerce fhould thrive, or even, that it fhould fubfift. 
Qne may in like Manner conceive, that if the Poffef- 
fion of the Colonies and Forts in the Indies were in the 
Crown, and the Management of the Trade only in the 
Hands of the Company, it could not but be attended 
with numberlefs Inconveniencies, as indeed Experience 
fhewed, in the Reign of King Charles II. when Bombay 
came to the Crown, by his Marriage with the Infanta of 
Portugal, and therefore both that Hand, and .the Bland 
of St. Helena , have been granted to the Eafi-India Com- 
pany, for the fake of publick Conveniency. We may 
like wife difeover from the Diforders oft the Eafi-India 
Company’s Affairs , in that Reign, and in the Reign of 
King James, that it is very detrimental to this Commerce, 
and to the Benefits refolting from thence to the Nation, 
that the Company fhould be immediately under the Power 
of the Crown, fo as to ftand indebted for all Encourage- 
ment, and to have no other Refourfe in cafe of Grie- 
vances, than what they can draw from Royal Power ; for 
this on the one Hand renders Trade precarious, and on 
the other, interefts a great Body of People in the Sup- 
port of the Prerogative, which might be of dangerous 
Confequence. 
The Mifchiefs flowing from two Eafi-India Compa- 
nies fubfifting at one Time, we have known from Expe- 
rience ; and fo great they were, that both Companies b e- 
came very foon fenfible, that nothing but the Unfon of 
their Interefts, could poffibly afford a proper Remedy.’ 
Yet I think one may fafely conclude, that the laying; this 
Trade open, which is what has been often contended for, 
would be a Scheme big with ftill greater Inconveniencies, 
hecaufe it would be at the Bottom a Multiplication of 
Companies, all acting upon feparate Interefts, which con- 
fequently would be perpetually claffiing and interfering 
with each other. But as Things ftand at prefect, and as 
all other Countries carry on this Trade in this Way, there 
remains no other for us, and we muft either fupport the, 
Eafi- India Company, or refolve to give up our Commerce 
to the Indies , there being no middle Courfe for us tp. 
fteer ; and it was, without Doubt, from a juft Senfe of 
this, that in the two laft Reigns, fo much has been done 
by Parliament, in Favour of this Company, and fo many 
new Powers granted them. 
I am very fenfible, that even thefe Powers, and in- 
deed, all the Powers with which the Company are intruft- 
ed, may be liable to many, and fome of them juft Objec- 
tions but if the Powers of the Board of Trade were en- 
larged, and its Jurifoidion properly inforced, all thofe In- 
conveniencies upon which thefe Objections are grounded, 
might be eafily taken away •, and belides, we very well 
know, that the Courts of Chancery and Exchequer can, 
and do interpofe, as well in Favour of Foreigners, as Na- 
tives, whenever the Power of the Eafi-India Company, 
or any of its Officers, is fo exercifed, as to commit Ads 
of manifeft Injuftice. 
But at the fame Time, that from all thefe concurring, 
and, as I conceive, unanfwerable Reafons, I am perfuaded, 
that this Trade is beft carried on by an incorporated Bo- 
dy. I am very far from contending, that they fhould ad 
without controul, or that they fhould not he in ail refpeds 
fubjed to whatever Regulations the .Legiflature fhall from 
Time to Time think fit to enad, for rendering the Com- 
merce they carry on more and more beneficial to this Na- 
tion. It is from a due Senfe of this, that I could' heartily 
wifh, Propofals might be made to the Board of Trade, 
