Litchfield enquirer., 1857-11-12
History of the East India Company.

History OF the East India Company.
In the same year that Chauvin undertook tc
COLOMBO Canada under patent from the King
of France, and eleven years after the assign
ment Of Raleighs Virginia Patent to Thomas
Smith of London, Queen Elizabeth chartered
"The Governor and Company of Merchants
trading to the East Indies" aud Thomas Smith
(Raleigh's assignee y was elected the first
ern East India Company-the sole survivor
with the Hudson's Bay Company, of the nu'
merous trading corporations of that enterprl-
sing age.
For full century and half the Govern
or and Company of Merchants" were faithful
to their ensgn-they were traders. and moth
: ing more. Necessity occasionally compelled
them to thrash the Dutch ard Portuguese
but these were accidental deviations from their
beaten track When Sir Thomas Roe waited
on the Grand Mogul at Delhi, he protested
| that all his countrmen wanted was liberty of
trade if this was granted, the Emperor would
have no more faithful subjects than they. They
did not own a foot of land in India for over
hundred years after their incorporation. AS a
mercan lie enterprise, the Company was sue
cessful. BY fair or by foul meaus the stock
holders made money, and aroused opposition
Pressure was brought to bear On the Govern
ment a rival Company was chartered in def
ance of the monopoly, and strenuous efforts
were made to have the charter CT the original
/ association revoked. These efforts were made
by copious corruption on the part Of the old
Company Government and rivals were brought
| up together, the old charter was enlarged, aud
| the rival Company merged in the successful as
ISOLATION. Within short period thereafter,
a purchase OF twenty square miles of land was
made, for warehouses and Company's servants,
at Fort William, Calcutta and about tie
same time territorial establishments were erect
| ed at Bombay and Madras These were the
nuclei round which the Company's dominions
have grown up, and the greatest sovereignty in
the world-the Chinese Empire alone except
ed-has been founded.
Tie beginning Of the greatness of the Com
pany grew out of the efolts of the French
Their attempt to wrest Madras and Bombay
from the English, established British suprenl-
acy in Southern India, and developed the gen
ius of Give. What they began, Suaa jah
Dowah continued lie was Viceroy of Ben
gal, a sort of feudal retainer of the Emperor
OF Delhi. He tancied the English warehouses
"V SoiIubtu NCiC WI III liz Dt!ltl-
dtred them accordingly Not content with
this he Suffered a hundred and Twenty three
persons of English birth to be stined to death
II the Black Hole For this, Clive-hasteu-
ing from the south with 5000 men-met and
beat him in the grove of Passy, just one hun
bred years ago and following up tina. victo-
ry, gradually broke the power Of the Viceroys,
till the last Of the race was glad to accept a
hereditary pension from the Company, and the
Emperor made over TO Give, as Governor, the
absolute dominion of Bengal This was in
l765.
Two men built up the British Empire in H.
dia--Clive and Hastings The former, as we
have seen, commenced his career by saving the
British trading posts from French conquest.
aud ended it 10y founding the British sovereign
ty of Bengal. Between Give and Hastings
there was an interval of some six ycars--dur-
ing which time the history of the Company
may be briefly described as a combination of
corruption, rapine and robbery by the Compa-
nys servants in India, and pecuniary enbar-
rassment and peril in England. Hastings Ger
tainly was no model Of probity--a NHbob CT
the NabobS ; but he suppressed much tregrl-
lar pllferlng by the Company's subordinate Off
Gals and, by systematic spolation in Bengal,
by lending out his troops for the conquest of
the Rohias, by the conquest of Benares, and,
, lastly, by the plumber of the Princess of Gu
de, he contrived to support an immense estab-
llsh'ncnt, civil aud military, in Hiudostan, to
secure Madras from the encroachments of IIv-
der Ali, and above all, to pay to the rropr-
ctors Of East India stock a regular dividend
Of 10 to II per cent
| Since his dov tho prorroec of +bo C.,,,,.,,,,
has been steadily onward in the work of con
quest. 1t would be tedious to enuuerate suc-
cesslvcly the various territories and states
which have been annexed or made tributary
let it suffice to say that the whole peninsula,
from the Hlmalayas to Cape Comorin, has been
virtually placed under their dominion Some
native rulers are nominals independent, and
are said to be "protectcd' by the Company,
whose resident gives "advice," which the ma
tive chief is bound to obey. Some states pay
tribute, while the administration of their in
ternal government is left to their native RAJ
jah Others again--and these are the richest
and most fru;tful-form part of one of the
three Presidences of Bengal, Madras, and
Bombay. But it is well Observation-Disclosures
er be the nominal condition of each state
that, for all practical purposes, all are the
domnons of the Company.
On the other hand, the East India Compa-
ny has ceased to be trading corporation. In
1914 the old charter was modified the trade
OF India was thrown open, and the Companys
monopoly restricted to the tea trade. This
charter lasted twenty years, during which the
commercial transactions of the Company large
" declined, while its political Importance in.
creased IN proportion to the extent of terrific
ry it added to the British dominions. In 1888
in anticipation Of the expiration of the charter
q new QUE was passed by the British Para.
ment. By this the trading monopoes of the
Company were forever abolished, an6 its DOW
ers, and even its property, were declared t.
vest in the Government of England, in trust
En,, xrhiok 4hos, r,,nro ho hold b.. 4ho r.,.x>