one be said to be in a Bankrupt Condition who neither hideth his Head nor refuseth Payments of his Just Debts when due neither of which is done by the present Company How far their Enemies have prevailed to render them if possible what they would fain have them and give them out to be may appear by the Companies having been required to give a true state of their Stock by delivering in a perfect Account of their Moneys Goods and Debts both here and in India as they now stand in their Books A thing justly questionable Whether ever before demanded of either private Person or Commonalty Since exposing themselves and their whole concern to so publick a view must certainly have broke them had they not had a valuable and real Stock to have subsisted upon Notwithstanding which the Company did humbly submit to that Command and in Obedience to it did present to the Honourable Committee of Parliament a Faithful Just and True account of the same and perfect so far as their Books did enable them And to make their candidness therein appear For the Justification of the said Accompt did humbly submit the inspection of their Books in order to the Valuation of their Stock to such Committee as the Honourable the House of Commons should appoint and their last Advices from India to the Honourable the Chairman of the said Committee or to such two or three of them as the Committee should appoint not thinking it reasonable that their whole concerns should be exposed to the publick view whereby their inveterate Enemies would likewise have come to the knowledge of them And that not without reason since a Copy of that very individual Account which was by the Company presented to the Honourable House of Commons was immediately by some of their Adversaries sent into Holland for them to make such advantages of it to the prejudice of the Company as they should think fit as may appear by a Transcript of it return'd to some Jews here with a desire to be inform'd by them Whether that Transcript agreed with the Account devered in by the Company So that what uses they would have made of such an advantage is easily judged by those who shall consider what they have done without it But to close this Subject which is so apparent a Calumny that it may rationally be supposed they themselves do not believe what they do so industriously insinuate into the belief of others For whenever was any Man envied that was worse than nothing Or to what purpose is the dissolution of the present Company so earnestly desired by them if they are worse than nothing and are not able to carry on their Trade For if that be true they will quickly dissolve in course nor will their Credit be able long to support them without there be a real and substantial Stock left to found it upon That having been as much blasted as the Wit or Malice of Men could invent Divers other publick Funds have failed The Exchequer that hath been stopped The Chamber of London that hath not been able to comply The most noted Bankers have turned Bankrupt and some other Companies there are which shall be here nameless whose Debts are now of a long standing and are not yet satisfied But where is the Person that ever lent Monies to this East-India-Company which have not been satisfied both their Principal and Interest their greatest Enemies cannot instance in any one single Person And shall those who have so faithfully and readily complyed with all their Engagements be now upon the bare affirmation of their Enemies esteemed Bankrupt until they are guilty of some Action that may truly render them such No no! It is not their Poverty but their supposed Wealth that hath created them so many Enemies amongst which more ungrateful they are some who have been Servants under them and have taken the Oath of a Freeman of the said Company or purely raised by them True it is upon what Stock hath been continued there for divers years or those Persons who have had the good Fortune to sell themselves out when the Actions were very high amongst which are some of their now greatest Enemies Those it is confessed have made considerable advantage by it But as for many if not most of the present Adventurers who came in when the Stock was sold very high they will be so far from deserving Envy that they will rather deserve Pity amongst which are many Widows and Orphans in as much as they will be most certainly great sufferers by a Dissolution Notwithstanding which the present Company have not presumed like their Adversaries to dictate to the Legislative Power of the Nation the very terms of the Act to be by them passed But as in Duty bound in their Petition lodg'd with the Chairman of the Committee in order to be presented to the Honourable House of Commons did submit themselves and their Concerns to the Justice and Wisdom of the Parliament Another Aspersion which is cast upon the present Company and urged by their Adversaries as an Argument for their dissolution is That its present Constitution is not sufficiently National To which is answered That what is free for every Man to come into cannot be said to be limited It is well known that by the present Constitution no Man is debarred coming into it either Englishman or Stranger It is likewise well known That there is every day Stock to be bought on the Exchange and that much cheaper if Truth may be the Judge then it is really worth so that no Man but may when he pleaseth come into the Company and have what share in the Trade he pleaseth so far as he is able to purchase And what greater extent can any new Company to be Erected have than this where no Man is debarred But whereas they further Object That the present Stock is not sufficient to carry on so great a Trade as those Places comprized within their Priviledge will bear It is answered Suppose that to be true which is not granted yet that defect may be supplyed otherwise than by a dissolution even by an enlargement of Stock in a new additional Subscription to such an increase as the Wisdom of the Nation shall think fit Nor need they fear to graft their new Subscription upon the present Stock notwithstanding those Twelve Reasons instanced in their late scurrilous Paper which had they been penned without such opprobrious Expressions should have received an Answer but being such as they are put out not to convince others but to blast the Company they deserve none For in truth Whatever the Adversaries of the present Company do or may exclaim to the contrary their present Stock is really worth more than it was then valued at and will and must appear so when Persons indifferently chosen on both sides shall examine it in order to the adjusting of its Valuation But if it be further alledged that there are many of the Constitutions
for the obtaining of a Peace and yet at the same time by publishing to the World in the Preamble to their new Subscriptions that the Company should be obliged by Act of Parliament to purchase a Peace have done as much as in them lyeth to render it next door to an impossibility ever to obtain it which will come to be consider'd amongst those Observations which shall be made upon some of the particulars of the said Preamble And this is what at present I think sufficient to answer to that Calumny so industriously spread abroad by the Enemies of the present Company that They did begin the War in India not out of necessity but capriciously and have and do continue it wilfully Having thus as briefly as I well could answered the main and most plausible Objections against the present East-India Company by which their Adversaries endeavoured to render them so odious to the World It may not be amiss in the close of this Discourse to consider a little the Preamble to their new Subscription by them lately Printed and Published Not to enlarge upon the boldness of the Attempt in General which hath been hinted at already As for them to Erect as it were a new Company before ever the matter was come into either of the Two Houses of Parliament Or That any of them had voted There should be one And Not only so but to take upon them to dictate to the whole Legislative Power of England King Lord and Commons the very terms of an Act to be by them passed or else their Subscriptions signifie nothing Which is as much as to say If we may have a new Company upon our own Terms we will but if not we will have none And that which is yet a further degree of presumption they do publish to the World That they have received assurance That such an Act shall be passed even before the things are come into the House of Commons by a report from their own Committee To come to the Preamble it self Wherein may be taken notice of the disingenuity of the Preface and the unreasonableness of the Terms by them prescribed to the Parliament For should the Parliament comply with the Terms by them proposed or prescribed rather It would be so far from promoting the Peace they seem so much to desire as that it would infallibly obstruct it In the Preface they are pleased to say That the Committee of the Honourable House of Commons did declare their Opinion That the best way of managing the East-India Trade is by a new Company with a new Joynt Stock to be Established by Act of Parliament And it is so for Truth but it is not the whole Truth For they most disingeniously leave out the latter part of the said Vote which is That the present Company be continued exclusive to Interlopers and all Permissive Ships until the said Act of Parliament be passed as not for their Turn and wholly inconsistent with their present Undertaking for it being in Terminis that the present Company should be continued until the said Act of Parliament was passed it doth wholly exclude the Erecting of a New Company until that be done And what is the publishing their Preamble consisting amongst other things of the Term of their present Constitution and future Government of their new Company and appointing when and how their Governour and Committees should be Elected their subscribing several Sums of Moneys and appointing when and how their Subscriptions should be paid in and propounding Interest to such as shall timely pay in their Money I say What is all this but as much as in them lieth the Erecting a new Company during the continuance of the Old and consequently contrary to the Vote of the said Committees so that in stead of waiting the Issue of the Parliaments Determination They by way of prevention Erect their New Company to the destruction of the Old which is quite contrary to the sense of the Vote of the Honourable House of Commons The Vnreasonableness if not Injustice of their Terms hereby appear in that they do require the Parliament to oblige by an Act the present Company to make good the demands of the Subjects of the great Mogul and King of Syam before it be so much as enquir'd into much less known of what Nature the said demands are whether for Debts contracted for Goods bought or Goods taken by the Company Flagrante Bello by way of Reprisal for the Goods of the Company by them seized in the Companies Factories But taking it for granted without any Examination of matter of Fact that this present Company have bin the Agressors they would have by Act of Parliament the Company be obliged to make good whatever the Subjects of either of these two Princes should demand If they do reply they do limit it to Debts and Demands that are just In that case I would desire to be informed Who should adjust the Account Should the Subjects of the Great Mogul and King of Syam it may be presumed That they would demand enough especially knowing before hand as without doubt they would be well inform'd that the Company are under an Obligation by Act of Parliament to comply with their Demands Or should the present Company adjust the Account that on the other hand would be thought to be done partially for themselves Or Should the Account be stated and adjusted by Commissioners chosen respectively by the said Princes and the Company How can that well be when there is no room left for such an indifferent adjustment that Act being once passed For how can it be supposed there can be an equitable Arbitrament where the one Party is at liberty to demand what they please and the other Party previously bound up to comply with their Demands Or Should the New Company depute Persons to adjust the said Demands it may reasonably be supposed in that case That those who without cause have so industriously endeavoured the ruin of the present Company in a matter of that Nature will not be very favourable to their just Interest Nor is it less unjust That they fix the Dammage if any such should be due from the Company as they do to be made good by the Persons and out of the Estate of the Managers thereof Whereas It is well known to every one that knoweth any thing of the Company that the Company being a Joynt Stock and the Court of Committees who are the Managers thereof being generally many of them as much if not more concerned in the Joynt Stock than others are annually chosen by the Generalty and by them intrusted with the management thereof are not lyable either in Law or Equity in their own Persons and Estates to any Action for any thing done by them in the management of that their Trust For if they were it is not reasonable to be supposed that any one would take upon him such an Employment where the Hazzard of any Miscarriage should be his and
of the present Company which render it not so comprehensively National as otherwise it might be As the great quantity of the Stock in the hands of some particular Persons and consequently the advantage they may have thereby by the Number of their Votes as to the management of it It is answered Not to enter upon particulars Divers of these things are submitted by them to the Regulation of the Wisdom of the Parliament as appeareth by the Scheme by them delivered into the Honourable the Committee of Parliament at their Command And this is all shall be said as to this Objection Another thing that the Adversaries of the present Company do take advantage to calumniate them upon is the present War in India which they endeavour to make the World believe was entred into them by capriciously and not enforced thereunto by the Necessity of Affairs Whereas the contraty is true that they were not only necessitated thereunto But that the Occasion of that Necessity did arise from the breaking in of the Interlopers upon them into their Trade which are now the greatest Exclaimers against the War which breaking in upon them by the said Interlopers and thereby the dividing of the English Interest in India The Company did wisely foresee would inevitably occasion either the breach of all the Agreements made by their Predecessors and themselves with the great Mogul by and under which they had enjoyed their Trade with all peaceableness and quietness from its first Establishment to that time and that thereby they would be enforced tamely to submit unto all such Impositions and Avenia's which his Avaritious Officers would at their pleasure lay upon them and raise out of their Estates Or they must be at the charge and run the hazard of a War to oblige the Moors to make good their former Agreements and Phirmaunds One of these two was certainly foreseen would follow the dividing the English Interest as above and accordingly the Company did prepare for the worst Notwithstanding which they did not exercise any Hostile Act though they had reason enough to have begun having had very great Sums of Money extorted from them until the Moors by their barbarous Murder of an Englishman and assaulting the rest at Hughly begun the War and became the Agressors which will most plainly appear by giving a true though short Account of the Origine of the War which was as followeth It is well known What a flourishing Condition the East-India-Company were in about the Years 1680 1681 1682 1683. When besides many large Dividents to the Adventurers their single Stock was sold for 360 per Cent. to the admiration of Foreigners and Emulation of their own Countreymen especially some Merchants who made not the like advantage in their particular Trades who though they might have come into the Company and enjoyed a share of the Trade with them Yet resolving to go a shorter way to work and taking advantage of the great fermentation that was then in this Nation arising between several different Parties and Perswasions of Men they fell to Interloping into which many well-meaning Men by the Craft of some Cunning designing Persons bred in the said Companies Service and the hopes of finding quicker returns for their Stock by an Interloping Trade than they could do by coming into the Companies Stock gave them the encouragement And this proceeded so far as to the sending out for East-India at several times very many private Ships with large Stocks contrary to the Companies Charter and His then Majesties Proclamation Upon the whole the Company did address themselves to His then Majesty humbly representing unto him the Injustice of such Proceedings and the destructive consequences to the Company to whom the sole Trade had been granted by his said Majesty exclusive to all others By which they had been encouraged to be at vast charges in the Establishment of it and were at very great Expences in maintaining Forts and Garrisons to defend it And withal did further represent to His said Majesty what evil consequences such attempts would have upon the Trade and Navigation of this Kingdom by such a division of the English Interest and Nation in India particularly that it would be a means to loose all the English Priviledges in India That the Native Governours of India would oppress the English seeing them so divided And the French Dutch and Danes would make their advantages of such a confusion amongst the English Their Debtors in India would neglect to pay them their just Debts And above all All the Wicked and Evil disposed Persons amongst the Companies Commanders Factors and Servants would that they might the better carry on their designs of wronging the Company and enriching themselves joyn themselves to the said Interlopers which if not prevented would produce Rebellion in some of the Companies Garrisons in India So that the loss and expence of a Million of Money and many English mens Lives would not re-estate the English Interest in India in so prosperous a condition as it was before the breaking in of the said Interlopers into their Trade All which they humbly submitted to His Majesties consideration nor were they out in their Conjectures For accordingly as they did foresee and foretold to His Majesty in their representations to him it came to pass For upon the first arrival of the Interlopers in India They to procure Abettors to themselves and the better to carry on their own Undertakings corrupted some of the Companies old Servants which had lived long abroad gave out many untruths of the Companyes weak condition in Europe Suggested that the old Company were fallen under the displeasure of the King That the Nation was under great disturbances That themselves were the new Company All which untrue reports were ecchoed and improved by the Enemies of the present Company especially by such of their Servants as by their unfaithful dealings had rendred themselves obnoxious and consequently had no way so proper to secure themselves as to herd and joyn with the Interlopers Upon this Captain Kegwin with other Confederates set up for themselves at Bombay and under pretence that our Nation was together by the Ears and that the Company was in Rebellion against His Majesty They declared for the King exclusive to the Company Imprisoned the Companies Deputy-Governour there refused Obedience to the Companies President Seized on the Companies Treasure and took the Companies own Ships Arming and Manning them against the Company particularly the Hunter and Return and some other smaller Ships And our Rivals in Trade took the advantage of dividing the English Interest in India which was not to be let slip to possess themselves of Bantam and drove the English from thence The like consequences upon the Report and Suggestion of the Interlopers followed at St. Helena where almost the whole Island ran into an open Rebellion and attempted to take the Companies Castle by force of Arms and by imitation of the Rebels at Bombay declared for the