956 v fhe Hiftory of the French Eaft-India Commerce , See. Book I. 
Captain who commands them * he has alfo a Foot Guard 
of three hundred Men, Natives of the Country, called 
Peons, and when he appears in publick, he is carried in a 
Palan kin very richly adorned with gold Fringe. But all 
this Pomp and State is difplayed only on proper and par- 
ticular Occafions, upon the receiving of Princes, or Am- 
bafladors ; at other Times his Guards are employed in 
the neceffary Service of the Company, and earn to the 
full the W ages they are paid •, for, as we have already (hewn, 
there are few Settlements better regulated, or more dii- 
cretly governed than this, which the Reader will more 
eafily believe when he is told, that according to the laft: 
Account taken of the Inhabitants of this Place, there ap- 
pear to be in it no lefs than one hundred and twenty 
theufand Chriftians, Mohammedans and Gentiles j a 
thing altogether incredible, if the Fad was not fupport- 
ed by Teftimonies, the Authority of which is not to be 
difputed. 
There cannot be a Place better feated for Trade than 
this, being in the midft of the European Settlements on 
the Coaft of Coromandel , and having all the Bay of Ben- 
gal open before them •, fo that here the Company’s Ma- 
gazines are full of ail the Commodities and Manufactures, 
not only of the Coaft of Coromandel , but of other Parts 
of the Indies , fuch as Bengal , Surat , and the Coaft of 
Malabar , as alfo of fuch as are imported from Perfia and 
the Coaft of the Red Sea ; and here likewife are their 
Warehoufes for all forts of European Commodities, which 
are conveniently tranfported from thence as Occafions re- 
quire, to all the Markets in the Indies. The Staple Trade 
however of the Place is efteemed to be Piece Goods, of 
which the ft n eft are made in the neighbouring Kingdom 
of Golconda , and the beft painted here ; they likewife 
have great Quantities of Silk raw and manufadured, Gold 
and Silver Brocades, Perfumes, Spices and Diamonds •, in 
which laft Trade they are laid to have made a great Pro- 
grefs of late, and for which it is certain they are very con- 
veniently fttuated, as being at a very fmall Diftance from 
the fined: Mines in the Indies , and by having amongft them 
Perfons as well fkill’d in Jewels as any in the World. 
The French Eaft-India Company therefore can neither be 
blamed for their Choice of this Refidence, which all 
things conftdered is the fitted: for them of any in the 
Indies , or for the Pains and Expence they have be- 
llowed about it, amounting in the whole to about eight 
hundred thoufand Livres, or forty thoufand Pound Ster- 
ling. Since thereby they have rendered it fo ftrong and 
fo commodious, that it might very eafily drive ten times 
the Trade they have ever had in this Part of the 
World. 
10. We are now to return into France , and to confider 
the Situation of Things with refpeCt to the Company, as 
low as .the Demife of the late King Lewis XIV. The 
War, as it brought numberlefs Mifchiefs on all other 
Branches of the French Commerce, fo it particularly af- 
fected the Eaft-India Company, and this as much through 
the wrong Notions that were formed of that Trade at 
home, as from the Interruptions it met with abroad. 
The Farmers of the Royal Revenue not only continued 
their Perfecutions, by attacking from time to time the 
Priviledges of the Company, and almoft always without 
Succefs : But new Enemies were daily arifing, that added 
to the Number of their Hardftiips and Misfortunes. 
The Office of High- Admiral, which had been for a 
long time fuppreffed in France , was given by the King 
to his Natural Son, the Count de T'ouloufe , who took Ex- 
ceptions again!! two Priviledges of the Company. The 
firft granted them the entire Property of all the Prizes 
taken by Ships in their Service, and the fecond exempted 
them from the Rights of the Admiralty, in regard to 
Wrecks. This occafioned a very long Difpute, which 
at laft ended in a Decilion contrary to the Intereft of the 
Company. It appeared clearly from hence, that on the 
one hand the Company had entirely loft its Credit at 
Court, and on the other, that their Priviledges were far 
enough from refting on a firm and fettled Foundation, 
firice they were liable at every turn, to be fubverted and 
taken away by fuch kind of Judgments to the Compa- 
ny’s Prejudice. 
Such a continued Series of Mifchiefs and Misfortunes 
not only crufhed the Trade, but broke the Spirits of the 
Company, and that to fuch a degree as to oblige them to 
have recourfe to Expedients for their own Support, which 
were not very advantageous, though at the fame time they 
were highly difhonoured. We have before obferved, that 
in the Year 1682, they had entered into a Scheme for 
permitting private Trade upon certain Conditions, which 
we have mentioned ; but their Affairs were now fallen in- 
to fuch Diforder, that they were not only content to fuffer 
private Perfons to fhare in their Trade, but even to re- 
lign it to them, and that upon very moderate Condi- 
tions. 
Accordingly, in 1708, they granted Leave to Mr. 
Croizat to fit out two Ships in the Name of the Eaft- 
India Company, upon Condition that he paid them fifteen 
per Cent, upon all the Goods imported under this Privi- 
ledge, and two per Cent, upon all the Prizes they fhould 
make beyond the Line with a farther Refervation, that 
the Company might be at liberty to bring home on board 
his Ships ten Ton of whatever Commodities they pleafed, 
without paying any Freight. The Reafon they affigned 
for this extraordinary Step was, that their Affairs were be- 
come fo embarrafied, and the Perfons employed in their 
Service fo loaded with Debts, that without the Affiftance 
of this ProjcCt they muft have been obliged to relinquifh 
their Settlements in the Indies. It is reafonable to believe 
that they found from this Expedient fome little Relief, 
which induced them to extend their ProjeCt, and for the 
Prefervation of their Servants in the Indies , who by this 
time were above ten Millions in Debt, they fairly facri- 
ficed themfelves. 
For in the Year 1712, they entered into a Treaty with 
fome private Traders at Saint Malo's , by which they yeild- 
ed up to them all their Priviledge as a Company, upon the 
beft Terms they could obtain, and this with a View to 
furnifh fuch as were employed by them in the Indies , with 
Sums fufficient to keep under the Intereft of their Debts, 
and thereby prevent all things from falling into Confufion. 
A miferable Situation this, and yec the Company found 
themfelves unable to undertake any thing upon their'own 
Bottom, fo that on the Expiration of their own Priviledges, 
about the Time of this King’s Death, they warmly-- loli- 
cited a renewal of them, not from any Elopes of reviving 
their Trade, but purely with an Intention to renew their 
Agreement with the Merchants of Saint Malo’s, that they 
might gain enough thereby to preferve their Settlements, 
and not fuffer fuch as they had employed to be utterly un- 
done in their Service. 
It is very clear from hence, that the Ruin of the French 
Eaft-India Commerce has hitherto been the Nature of their 
Government, which is a Point I ftiall take the Liberty of 
laying open for the Information and Satisfaction of the 
Englijh Reader. In the firft Place, I muft obferve, that 
the Edicts for their Eftablifhment, and the extenfive Pri- 
vileges granted by them, though they are in one Sen ft, 
neceffary to the Being and Foundation of the Company, 
yet are hurtful and difadvantageous. to it in another. Since 
though few dare exprefs their Thoughts freely upon the 
SubjeCt, yet all Men of good Senfe cannot help difeern- 
ing, that in a Country where fo much depends upon the 
Will and PJeafure of the Crown, no Commerce can ever 
be fecure ; for as the fame Power that gives may take 
away •, fo it may likewife alter, abridge, and even deftroy 
by new Edicts, any of thofe Privileges, though granted 
and confirmed in the ftrongeft Terms that Words can ex- 
prefs. 
In the next Place, as the Company muft be almoft flip* 
ported by ACts of royal Favours, fo the obtaining theft 
muft always depend upon the Temper of the Adn^iniftra- 
tion, or, in other Words, and in plain Terms, upon the. 
Will of the Prime-Minifter for the Time being, which Is 
fuch a dangerous and precarious Tenure, that no Man, 
who thinks at all, can believe he has any Property while it 
depends thereupon. In the third Place, the Maxims of 
the Government, rendering it abfolutely neceffary to pre- 
fer the Intereft of the royal Revenues, upon which the 
Administration of the Government icftlf depends, to any 
other Intereft whatever , this is fuch. a Source of Dan- 
4 ger 
