The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1873-05-29
The East India Company.

The East India Company.
In looking through q file of English
newspapers, of recent date, we find that
ment of Great Britain for 1.-THE dissolution
of the East India Company" the said bill
providing that it's affairs shall be wound
up "by June Let, 1874" This is the ia
nous commercial company founded two
and three-quarters centuries ago, and
which has not only great CONNER cial,
but an important colonial and political
history. The first commercial intercourse
of Great Britain with the East Indies was
a private adventure of three ships, fitted
out in 1891; but only one of said ships
reached the Indies, the two others being
lost through mutiny and shipwreck. The
successful argosy commanded by Capt.
Lancaster) returned to England after three
years. absence, richly laden with the fruits
of her voyage to the semi.tropical regions
of 1.-THE far East" Captain Lancaster's in
formation led to the establishment of
'The East India Company" which was
chartered in December, 1900, with capt.
tai stock of e72,OOO. This company built
four ships, and meeting with extraordinary
success, increased the number to a re-
spectacle fleet, and through q monopoly
Of the East India trade made all its stock
holders immensely wealthy. The original
price of share was one hundred pounds
sterling, but as early as 1858 these shares
were sold for five times that amount.
Another evidence of the immense wealth
of this great corporation is the fact
that in 1850 its gross revenue was 1885,
OOO,O 900, or nearly $675, OOO. 900 in our cr:-
rency.
The almost fabulous prosperity of this
commercial association-whOse members
founded some of the wealthiest families in
England-led to an opposition company,
which was chartered in 1903. Both asso-
Citations throve and prospered, side by
side in the great harvest Of Oriental CON-
merce; but in order to still further mo-
nopolize the business, these companies
were united in 17O2. The field of the con-
solidated EAST India Company's" trade
at that time were two small ports in Him.
dostan Zone of which is now Calcutta a
trading post in Siam, and also light
business with Sumatra. But eventually
this great corporation extended its COM
merce throughout the greater part OF the
peninsula of HindOstan, from the Indies
to the frontiers of Burmah; also to the
islands of Ceylon, Malacca, Sumatra and
BOrneO. 1t has been rumOred, and gen.
orally believed, that this great monopoly
at one time kept up an illicit trade with
ancient Cathay, and that much merchan-
disc was purchased from piratical Chi
nese traders There is no evidence to-day
to corrobOrate these rumOrs; hence we
must believe that the East India Com.
pany's" gains were earned by honest and
legitimate trade.
The colonial and political history of
British India is largely identified with the
rise and progress of this identical East
India Company" Up to 1854 British In.
dia was practically under the control and
influence of the company. In 1857 Bonn
bay was erected into " a presidency" al
though its protector was not Great Britain,
but the EAST India Company"
Some half a century later the provinces
of Calcutta, Madras and Bengal, by an act
of the British Parliament, were placed
under the administration of Governor
General. Lord Give, who went to Madras
in 1747 as commercial agent, soon passed
to the military service, and by success
sion of conquests added immense terrific
rial acquisitions to British India These
exploits so pleased Lord Chatham that ne
lCIulCu OllSC uCdtCl"UOuA oSASANA
and so gratified was the EAST India Com.
pany" that it put him in possession of
enormous wealth. British India also gave
him the title of "Omrah of the M0gul
Empire"; and Great Britain conferred on
him an Irish peerage. In 1878, after he
had returned home, savage attack was
made upon him in the House of Com
mons, respecting his political conduct in
| India; but the motion was rejected, and
vote of thanks passed declaratory of his
eminent foreign services. He committed
suicide the following year, and was sin
cerely mourned by the people of Britain
as the great founder of the British Empire
in India. Still, the measures which he
adopted, to carry out his colonial and po
litical policy, do not accord with the
strict honor and justice of to-day.
For more than two centuries Gf we can
interpret history, was the Empire of In.
dia, with upwards of two hundred million
people, ruled and managed solely for the
benefit of the "East India Company
This great corporation, which dethroned
the Mogul dynasty and conquered its do
minions, had but one object in vicw-the
purchase and sale of ivory, spices, dia-
monds and ingots of gold-and cared
nothing for the welfare or happiness of
the people of that vast Empire whose
territory it had conquered by commercial
greed and military superiority. The ex-
traordinary power, influence and AFRO
gance of this company was first checked
by William Pitt, in 1884, who got through
Parliament a bill called 1.-THE Board of
Control" which placed the affairs of the
company under the control of the British
Government, and which ultimately con-
trolled the executive and political govern
ment of India. Hence, We must accord to
that great statesman the credit of changing
the administration of British India from a
of Justice, civilization and progress.
This brief and imperfect sketch of the
famous East India Company" would be
still more imperfect without reference to
Warren Hastings, whose name and fame
are indissolubly associated with the his
tory of British India, and also with the
East India Company" In 1850 Mr..
Hastings was sent to Bengal as clerk in
the company's service. Through the ex-
hibition of marked ability he was pro-
noted to second in council at Madras,
then raised to the presidency of Calcutta
and Bengal. At this critical period, 1863,
war broke out between Hyder Ali and
the British India colonies. Hastings, by
bold and vigorous efforts, crushed the re-
volt, protected the EAST India Compa-
ny's" interests, and saved India to Great
Britain. But the means he took to de-
fend these interests-extreme cruelty to
the enemy-awoke terrible remorse in
England, and general horror throughout
Europe. He was recalled home in 1856,
and his impeachment was moved by Ed
mund Burke, the great Irish orator, then
in Parliament The trial for impeachment
did not begin until February, 1888, when,
in the language of Macaulay, THE high
court. of Parliament was to sit according
to forms handed down from the days of
the Plants nenefs On an En- rlishrnan accnsed