EAST INDIA COMPANY. The name given to trading companies entrusted by various Euro pean got eminent, with the monopoly of their trade with the East Indies. The most important one was the EN!, CONIPAN Y. the original which was obtained from Queen Eliza beth on December 31. WOO, granting for fifteen years the monopoly of trade with all parts of the world, not held by friendly European powers. between the Cape of Good Hope eastward to the Straits of :Magellan. There were originally 125 stockholder,, from whom were chosen each year the governor twenty-four directors. to man age all the business of the company. The origi nal stock was i:72.000: indeed. the first voyages of the company were undertaken at the risk of such of the stockholders as would advance the requisite capital. In 1612 it Illade a joint .01(•k company, with £400,000 capital. At the beginning of the eighteenth century. the stock had increased to three millions, and in 1853 it was valued at six.
At first the venture was esteemed to be of such a precarious nature that the company was aided by exemption from export antic's. and in other ways. The first voyages, however, were highly successful. and the trade continued to in crease, notwithstanding the bitter and often bloody struggles with foreign companies. the wealth of I >Hen t haVitag other European nations than the English. The Portu guese hall a practical monopoly of the trade dur ing the sixteenth century, but they =do but sorry traders, being rather concerned with establishing an empire and spreading Catholicism. With them t he \\lade trade \Va.: a royal monopoly. When Portugal was united with Spain under Philip 11.. nearly all its East Indian possessions were lost to the Duteh in the wars of the latter against Spain. The Dnteh, who were traders only, looking for immediate returns. and being without far-sighted plans of future gains and em pire. did not maintain their great advantage. In their struggle with the English Company. they indeed maintained their establishments in the Spice Islands. Sumatra. Java. Malacca, and else where. and tl•ove the English away, hut they lost their possessions in India. Then came the most serious struggle between the English and the French company. the latter having been established in li1114. it began in 1745. and was not finally terminated until 1761. Victory fell to the English through the genius of Clive, which was almost matched by the Frenchmen La Bour donnais and Dupleix. These wars caused the Europeans to mingle in the affairs of the native States, with the result that during the eighteenth century the English Company had hecome a great territorial power, and laid the foundations of the British Empire in lndia.
As a trailing organization, it held for over two hundred years the practical monopoly of the trade of C:reat Britain with the Far East. The most important trade was with India and China, importing tea, pepper, spices, drugs. calicoes, silks, diamonds, etc. its chief exports were the preeions metals, for lvhiell reason the company from its inception. very nnpopular at home.
According to the current economic doctrine of the day. only that trade should he encouraged Which (Mind for English anal brought money into the country, thereby pro moting the national welfare. It was urged in reply that nusre money came into England by the sale of Ilriental goads than the company could possibly take away—reasoning which experience 1.roved to be correct.
For this and other reasons, the stockholders oftcn had difficulty in getting their charter re newed, having usually to pay for it by a loan to the Government. or s(nne other service, although they usually• succeeded in maintaining their mo nopoly. In 1050, and again in 1033. they absorbed rival companies, hail been incorporated under the Commonwealth and Protectorate. In deed, in 1053. the experiment of free trade with India was tried. but proved a failure. After the Revolution of I1138, whieb. in the Declaration of Rights, maintained the right of interlopers to trade. the company experienced great difficulty in obtaining a Parliamentary charter in addi tion to the royal charter they already possessed. Parliament was opposed to monopolies on prin ciple, and favored the admission of interlopers to the trade. The company maintained that the interlopers were quite irresponsible. and, if un successful in trade, often took reprisals on the natives and embroiled then, with the latter. Nevertheless. a new general company, open to all individuals. was established iu 1698. After bitter struggles and great eonfusion in the trade, both companies were united by act of Parlia ment in 1702. Every member holding over i300 of stock vas entitled to from one to four votes, according to his holding. in the general court of proprietors, who elected the governor and a board of twenty-four directors from among the holders of not less than 122000 of stock. The directors were chosen for four years, six re tiring each year.
Meanwhile the inereasing political power of the company furnished endless opportunities for corruption among its servants in India, and for misrule and oppression of the natives. Its bane ful influence in corrupting Parliament was well known. It was quite natural, therefore, that in 1709 a more complete control by the Govern ment was established. In 1784 an act originated by the younger Pitt gave to the King the power of appointing a Board of Control over the civil and military, hut not the vommercial, acts of the company. In 1813 the trade with India, was thrown open. the eompany maintaining its exist enee as a politieal body for the government of India only, and in 1833 its last great monopoly. the trade to China, was abolished, the dividends of the company being guaranteed by taxes levied on the India possessions. Its inability to cope with the terrible 'Indian revolt of 1857 gave Par liament reason for concentrating all its powers iu the Imperial Government, which guaranteed a per cent. yearly dividend on £0.000,000 of its stock. Henceforth the East India Campany VI 'minim] to exist as an organization fin- reeeiv ing and distributing these dividends only.