THE CASE OF THE Governour and Company OF MERCHANTS of LONDON Trading to the East-Indies Humbly Represented To the LORDS Spiritual and Temporal In Parliament Assembled May it Please Your Lordships THE Present East-India Company are Intituled to the Trade to India by several Charters Granted by the Kings and Queens of this Realm They were first Incorporated near One Hundred Years ago viz. 43 Eliz. which Charter gave them Power to Trade to the East-Indies Exclusive of all others by a Joint Stock for Fifteen Years And that Noble Princess gives as a Reason for Her Settling this Part of our Traffick under such an Establishment That 't is for the Honour of England for the Increase of Navigation and the Advance of Trade Which Words are repeated in all subsequent Charters In the next Reign viz. 7 Jac. 1. there was a Charter Granted to them reciting that of Queen Elizabeth and setting forth the great Success of the Company and the Honour and Profit this Traffick brought to the Kingdom This Charter confirms the former But whereas before they were Incorporated only for Fifteen Years King James the First by this Patent upon Experience of the Benefit this Trade produced in the Nation Erects the Company into a perpetual Body Politick Afterwards viz. 13 Car. 2. 1661 there was a Charter Granted to them with the like Recital of the great Benefit accruing to England by the Trade to those Parts and which Confirms their former Priviledges with these Clauses among others That they from henceforth forth for ever be and shall be one Body Corporate and Politick in Deed and in Name by the Name of the Governour and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies And them by the Name of the Governour and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies one Body Corporate and Politick in Deed and in Name really and fully for ever for Vs Our Heirs and Successors We do Make Ordain Constitute Establish Confirm and Declare by these Presents And We have Condescended and Granted and by these Presents for Vs Our Heirs and Successors We do Condescend and Grant unto the said Governour and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies and their Successors That We Our Heirs and Successors during all the Time that these Our Letters Patents shall be and remain in Force as aforesaid will not grant Liberty License or Power to any Person or Persons whatsoever contrary to the Tenor of these Our Letters Patents to Sail Pass Trade or Traffick to the said East-Indies or into or from any the Islands Ports Havens Cities Towns or Places aforesaid or any of them contrary to the true Meaning of these Presents without the Consent of the said Governour and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies or the most part of them Subsequent to this viz. 20 Car. 2. they had another Charter whereby the Inheritance of the Island of Bombay is Granted to the Company and they are thereby for ever Made and Constituted the true Lords and Proprietors of it And this Grant has incouraged the Company to Expend out of their Quick Stock very great Sums of Money from time to time to Fortifie the said Island which is one of the principal Securities of their Effects and of the English Ships Trading thither The Company have since had other Charters That of 25 Car. 2. takes Notice That Sancta Helena which had been Granted to them was Taken during the then War which by being Retaken by the King's Forces became Vested in the Crown This Charter therefore Regrants the perpetual Propriety of Sancta Helena to the Company And in Fortifying this Island for the future Benefit and Security of English Traders they have likewise Expended considerable Sums They had another Charter 2 Jac. 2. which Recites the other Charters and the Benefits arising to the Nation from the Trade and Confirms to them their former Priviledges and Immunities The Grants here Recited did induce the Adventurers to think That they had a Right in Law to the Trade at least that they should have an Uncontroverted Title to the Land of Inheritance the Towns Forts and Castles Rents and Dues purchas'd in India with their own Money Upon which Presumption and Relying upon the Publick Faith and Credit of the Great Seal of England for the Preservation of their Property They have since the Year 1661 Expended upwards of a Million as they are ready to make appear in Extending their Territory and in Fortifying several Places for the greater Ease and Safety of their Factors All which they did in order to preserve their Factors and Servants from the Insults of the Natives and the Incroachments of European Traders and to render the Trade more Lasting to this Kingdom And in Prospect of this Right which they humbly hop'd would never have been Disturbed They have acquired at such their Expence Revenues at Fort St. George Bombay and at Fort St. Davids in Persia and elsewhere of above 44000 l. per Annum which are Daily increasing and a large Extent of Lands in the respective Places They have also Erected divers Forts and Settlements and procur'd Territories in the Island of Sumatra and in the Queen of Attinga's Country and elsewhere on the Coast of Malabar without which the Pepper Trade must have been intirely Lost to England And they have Erected a strong Fortification in Bengale with several Factories some of them Fortify'd and many Buildings and Settlements in divers other Parts within the Limits of their Traffick And they have Purchas'd of the Indian Princes and others at a great Rate many Priviledges and Immunities All which they were Incourag'd to do out of a firm Belief that their said Rights and Inheritances upon all Occasions would be Objects of the Publick Care Since His Majesty's happy Accession to the Throne in several Committes of the Honourable the House of Commons appointed to consider of the East-India Trade and in Committees of the whole House and by the House as also by your Lordships it has been declar'd That the East-India Trade should be carry'd on in a Joynt-Stock exclusive to all Others During the Transaction of this Matter in Parliament His Majesty was pleased to signifie in a Message to the House of Commons of the 14th of November 1692 That upon Examination of the Charters and consulting with His Judges and Learned Council His Majesty found that He could not legally dissolve the Company but upon Three Years Warning and that during the Three Years after warning the Company must subsist and might continue to Trade And that though the King might constitute a new Company yet he could not impower such new Company to Trade till after Three Years The Crown having expresly covenanted not to Grant any such Liberty Hereupon His Majesty was very apprehensive of the ill Consequence of giving Warning to the Company because
formerly it has been the constant Custom in Farms Bargains and Offers of the like Nature not to close with a new Proposal till the first Bidder be ask'd whether he is able to advance farther in this Case the Company notwithstanding their Charter and the Right they have to the Trade were early told without doors That their Proposal should be oppos'd though they would lay down the two Millions in question However the Company thought it their Duty to do their Utmost for the Service of the Government And being inform'd of Resolutions made by the Honourable House of Commons for the raising Two Millions on a Fund of 8 per Cent. with the Additional Advantage of the Trade to the East-Indies They for the Preservation of above a Thousand Families interested in their Joynt-Stock in a General Court held the 10th of June Instant did agree to submit their present Stock to a Valuation of 50 per Cent. viz. 20 per Cent. for their dead Stock and 30 per Cent. for their quick Stock which they were contented to warrant at the said Sum and upon these Terms they offer'd to open their Books for new Subscriptions in order to raise the said two Millions And afterwards to ascertain the Payment of the said two Millions they held a General Court on the 20th instant in which they agreed to an immediate Subscription by private Adventurers of 200,000 l. to be paid as the first Payment subject to make good the subsequent Payments which Subscription was accordingly made by persons of known Abilities and Substance And these two Proposals the Company is likewise ready to exhibit to your Lordships And the Company will presume Humbly to affirm before your Lordships that from the Resolution and Chearfulness which was observ'd among the Adventurers they have Grounds of Assurance that the Government might have firmly depended upon the Performance of such their Proposal But May it please your Lordships the Company is inform'd that there is a Bill pass'd the Honourable House of Commons and now depending before your Lordships which highly tends to the Prejudice of the Companies Charters and Rights thereby granted and also to deprive them of the Property which they have in Lands of Inheritance and other Estates and Interests in Forreign Parts to the Value of 44000 l. per Annum which Bill likewise by undeniable Consequence deprives them of their Possession and Right in several Forts and Fortifications the Purchase and Improvement of which have at several times cost them above a Million of Pounds Sterling And they crave leave humbly to lay before your Lordships that this Bill grants to a General Society to be establish'd That from the 29 th day of September 1698 they shall have use and enjoy the whole and sole Trade and Traffick to and from the East-Indies and the only Liberty Vse and Priviledge of Trading and Trafficking thither Which Grant the Company humbly conceives to be directly contrary to the Tenour of their several Charters viz. Of that from King Charles the Second dated April the 3d 1661 whereby there is granted to the Company for the King his Heirs and Successors That they shall for ever hereafter have use and enjoy the whole intire and only Trade and Traffick to and from the said East-Indies subject to the Conditions therein mentioned And directly contrary to one other Charter from His present Majesty bearing date the 7th of October 1693 whereby the King for Himself His Heirs and Successors grants to the Company to have hold use exercise and enjoy the Ports Islands Plantations Territories Castles Powers and Priviledges in such and the same Manner as they might or ought lawfully to have held the same by their former Charters subject to the Conditions therein mention'd And contrary to one other Charter of His said Majesty bearing date the 11th of November 1693 whereby the King for Himself His Heirs and Successors does Order Direct Limit and Appoint That the Joynt-Stock of the said Governour and Company shall continue One and Twenty Years to be computed from the Date of the said Letters Patents subject to the Conditions therein mention'd The Company humbly submit to the Consideration of your Lordships That since the said Charters were granted no Breach or Forfeiture of their Rights has been committed by or pretended to be charg'd upon them 'T is true that in a Charter from His Present Majesty bearing Date the 28th of September 1694 there is a Provisoe That if it shall appear to the King His Heirs or Successors that the said two Charters or any other Charters heretofore Granted shall not be Profitable to the King his Heirs or Successors or to this Realm that then and from thenceforth upon and after Three Years VVarning to be given to the said Company by the King His Heirs and Successors under His or Their Privy Seal or Sign Manual the said several Letters Patents c. shall cease be void and be determin'd But the Bill now depending does in no part suggest That the said Charters or the Trade from thence arising have been Unprofitable to the King or Kingdom On the contrary the Trade depending upon the said Charters is rather declar'd Profitable by the Scope of the said Bill being thereby made the Recompence and Incouragement for raising of Two Millions But if the said Charters upon the present Exigency should be pretended Unprofitable to the King and His Realm by being a Bar to the raising of this Supply yet the Companies Offer and Proposal aforesaid removes as 't is hop'd that Pretence And the Company submit it to the Wisdom and Justice of Your Lordships Whether their Charters shall be thus prejudg'd Unprofitable and whether the Rights thereby Granted ought not to remain till the said Charters are found Unprofitable to the King and His Realm by the usual Forms of Law The Bill now depending Enacts That after the 29 th of September the East-Indies shall not be visited frequented or haunted by any other of the Subjects of His Majesty c. during such time as the Benefit of Trade thereby given or intended to be given to the Subscribers ought to continue And the said Bill lays great Penalties upon such as shall do any thing contrary to the Intent and Purport of the said Act. 'T is true in a subsequent Clause Provision is made That the Company may continue Trading to the East-Indies for Three Years viz. to the 29 th of September 1701 But after that Time being prohibited resorting thither the Forts and Castles which have cost a Million Erected in those Parts will be a dead Loss upon them and they can reap no manner of Advantage from their Plantations Edifices Dues and Rights in India and Persia which now yield them 44000 l. per Annum And 't is humbly hop'd that Your Lordships will not think it consistent with Your Justice to give Property so large a Wound
Not only the Company must suffer an Immense Loss by this intended Dissolution of their Charter without any Provision for the Reimbursement of their Expences and without any Satisfaction for their Lands and Rights of Inheritance in those Parts which they hope will have its due Weight with Your Lordships but they presume they shall be able to show That the Kingdom in General and the Trade it self must receive great Prejudice by this sudden Dissolution of the Charter and shifting of Hands without Previous Agreements and Stipulations with the Indian Princes and Governours It would be less Prejudicial to the Body of this Kingdom if what were Lost to the Company in their Revenue arising in India were like to accrue to their Successors But their Rents at Fort St. George Fort St. Davids and at Bombay being produced from the Particulars following viz. From 5 l. per Cent. Custom on all private Persons Goods Imported or Exported by Sea From Licenses for selling Company yet that New Company ought not to Trade during the Three Years by Reason His Majesty has Covenanted to the contrary The Bill impowers any New Corporation or Subscribers to Trade even during the said Three Years concurrent with the Company but with this disadvantageous difference That the Company must send out every Year a Hundred Thousand Pounds in Woollen Manufacture and the New Subscribers none The Company must deliver to the King 500 Tuns of Salt petre at an under-value the New Subscribers none They are charged with Taxes for their Capital Stock the New Subscribers are exempted by the Act from Payment of Taxes The Company must maintain their Forts and Castles and the New Subscribers will have an equal Benefit in the Trade So that this unequal Burthen is in effect immediately depriving them of the Trade And 't is plain from this inequality although they are allowed Three Years they can thereby reap no Benefit And 't is likewise humbly laid before your Lordships that though the present Company consists of many persons of Figure in the Nation and of Substance as is evident from the Proposal they made of raising the two Millions and from the Subscription of 200,000 l. to ascertain the said Proposal compleated in two Hours yet so large a Body as theirs is consisting of 420 old and 781 new Adventurers besides those which hold Stocks in other Mens Names which make near double the number Doth also contain very many People who are by no means able to bear so great a Loss as the Consequences of this Act must unavoidably bring upon them The Company therefore humbly craves leave to offer that there are among them some Hundreds of Families many of which are Widows and Orphans who have no other Subsistence but their Interest in this Stock whose utter Ruin this Bill if it take effect must certainly occasion But 't is more especially hoped that the Noble Minds of your Lordships will be struck with Compassion when in your Wisdoms you consider the Deplorable Condition of some Hundreds of the New Adventurers who in 1693 did Imbark their whole Fortunes in the said Stock Subscribing thereunto large Sums upon the Credit of the King's Charter in which Subscription they met with no Opposition Check nor Discountenance from the Parliament then sitting And have farther Imbark'd in the said Trade for support thereof by advancing very great Sums of Mony the loss of which will be hazarded by this Bill which will yet more contribute to their Undoing Since the new Subscription the Company have lost twelve great Ships which in England would have sold for near Fifteen Hundred Thousand Pounds not through any Fault of theirs but by the Accidents and Calamities of the War Notwithstanding which great Losses their Charters and the Trade from thence arising have been so far Profitable to the Publick that they have still carried on the Trade during a long War and since the new Subscription have paid in Customs 295,000 l. and in Taxes besides Taxes for the Current Year 85,000 l. They did likewise supply His Majesty in Holland with 6000 Barrels of Gun-powder upon a very pressing occasion And they subscribed at a time of great Extremity 80,000 l. to the Circulating of Exchequer Bills at the Instance of the Lords of the Treasury the Principal Persons of the Company promoting the said Subscription very much among the other Adventurers which was then judg'd an Important Service May it please Your Lordships It appearing manifestly 1 st That the Company have a Right to the Trade to India by several Charters of which no Breach has been assign'd 2 ly That their last Charters are made pursuant to several Regulations Propos'd and Resolv'd in the Honourable the House of Commons 3 ly That the said Regulations contain Provisions Advantagious to the Crown and Beneficial to Trade in General and particularly to the Woollen Manufactures of which there is no care taken in the Bill depending 4 ly That the Company have made a Proposal to advance the two Millions intended to be raised by the said Bill which Proposal they afterwards ascertain'd by a Subscription of 200,000 l. subject to Forfeiture in case of Failure 5 ly That the Kingdom may lose very considerably besides their Footing and Settlements in those Parts which will be an irrecoverable Loss by this sudden Dissolution of the Charter with many Rights and Priviledges which the present Company now has in India Persia and other Places 6 ly That the Bill makes no Provision for Settlement of a Stock to carry on the Trade for want of which in process of time it may be lost to England 7 ly That it admits Foreigners into the Benefit and Mystery of the Trade which may produce bad Effects 8 ly That the Bill does not seem fram'd with Encouragements sufficient to bring in the intended Subscriptions 9 ly That during the three Years in which the Company are allow'd to Traffick the Trade is put upon such an unequal Foot between them and the General Society erected by the Bill that during the said Term the Company can reap no Advantage from the Trade 10 ly That many Hundred Families have their whole Fortunes depending in the Stock of the present Company who must be entirely ruin'd if this Bill take Effect All which Matters being duly weigh'd and consider'd 't is humbly hoped Your Lordships will find it reasonable to reject the said Bill Signed by Order of the said Governour and Company Robert Blackborne Secretary The East-India Company first Incorporated in the 43 Q. Eliz. For 15 Years Her reason for so doing And in the 7 Jac. 1 forever 13 Car. 2 1661 their former priviledges confirmed With a Clause that no others should have the Liberty of Trading to India besides the Company The Company made Lords Proprietors of Bombay 20 Car. 2. Whereupon great Sums have been expended by them to strengthen it St. Helena granted as their perpetual propriety 25 Car. 2. All their former Priviledges confirmed by Charter 2 Jac. 2. The Company have expended above a Million on the Credit of these Charters in Fortifications c. for the benefit of their Trade they have a Revenue of 44000 l. a Year Also several Forts and Settlements And Priviledges in India Both Lords and Commons have Voted the Trade to India should be in a Joynt-Stock exclusive His Majesties Message to the House of Commons with the Judges Opinion touching the Companies Charter The Company not paying their Tax the 25th March 1693 their Charter was questioned Whereupon his Majesty the 12th of May ordered a new Charter to granted Which the Interlopers opposing before the Queen and Council it was not Seald till the 7 th of October 1693. A Charter of Regulations granted the 11 th of November following And thereupon 744000 l Subscribed and paid in during the sitting of the Parliament No Objections being against that Charter 781 New Adventurers came in on the Credit thereof many of them Widows and Orphans In six Months time the Company sent out 11 rich Ships And 150000 l. worth Woollen Goods c. Another Charter of Regulations granted the 28 th of September 1694 Company by these Charters bound to export yearly 100000 l value in Cloth c. to the great benefit of the Nation And to furnish the Crown with 5â—0 Tons of Petre at â—5 l. a Ton in Time of War Tho' then worth above 70 l. The Company suffering by the War and yet supporting the Trade hope to enjoy the Profit thereof in Peace Upon Intimation given They offer'd a Loan to the Government of 700000 l. in April 1698. Upon this in May came the Proposal of 2 Millions whereupon the 10 th of June The Company offer'd to raise 2 Millions And by Persons of known Abilitys to pay down 200000 l. to secure the rest as by their subscriptions the Company well assured they could comply But a Bill is now passed the Commons tending to deprive the Company of their 44000 l. per Annum Revenue also of their several Forts c. Granting to others the Sole Trade to India contrary to the Tenour of their Charters viz. Whereof no forfeiture is charged upon them The Proviso in September 1694 no way affects the Company on pretence of unprofitableness The present Bill and the Companys offer proving the Contrary The Companies Grant as is conceived remaining Good till it proves unprofitable by the forms of Law The Bill now depending forbids all Trade to the East-Indies except the subscribers under great penalties and after the Companies 3 years makes no provision for their Revenue and dead stock By the Companies dissolution the Kingdom will be greatly prejudiced The Companies Revenue likely to cease with them This Bill entitles Subscribers to Trade during the three Years Several hardships the Company lye under thereby more than the others Many hundred family's will be ruined by this Bill who came in upon the Credit of the Kings Charter and have advanced more Money for the support of the Trade after the loss of the 12 Ships which happen'd since that Charter they have also paid 295000 l. Customs above 85000 Taxes Provided for the King 6000 Barrels of powder in Holland advanced 80000 l. to circulate Exchequer Bills