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<DATE>2009-10-06</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<HEAD>Some Con&s;iderations Relating to the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">&V;pon occa&s;ion of &s;ome Papers lately &s;et forth again&s;t the Company.</HEAD>
<P>THo&s;e Worthy Per&s;ons who fir&s;t attended to the Management of the Pre&s;ent <HI>East-India</HI> Joynt-Stock, were excellently Temper'd for the recovery of a Trade, &s;o &s;adly di&s;or|der'd by the preceding Interlopers, in the extravagant Enhan&s;ing of the Commodities of tho&s;e Countreys, and beating down of Ours There; which could never have been reduced, but by &s;uch moderate Beginnings, and Continuance of &s;ome Years. Which when once Effected, and all things well &s;etled, It was no le&s;s &s;ea&s;onable, for the indefatigable Appli|cation of that Eminent Per&s;on, (&s;o unju&s;tly a&s;per&s;ed) with the Concurrence of the re&s;t, to dilate the Trade; wherein that Progre&s;s was made, and tho&s;e new foundations laid and traced out, as particularly along the Coa&s;ts of <HI>Mallabar,</HI> in the Queen of <HI>Attingas</HI> Country, and in the <HI>Ging<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e</HI> Country on <HI>Choromandell</HI> &s;ide, and of <HI>Sumatra,</HI> and the more Ea&s;tern Seas, as would have exceeded Expectation.</P>
<P>When &s;uch a Crew of New Interlopers broke in again, as put all into confu&s;ion. And not &s;o content, made in their Bu&s;ine&s;s to Decry, to Clamour, and to In&s;tigate all Mankind again&s;t them; as well in the <HI>Mogul</HI>'s Dominions, as here. To which alone that Expen&s;ive War with &s;o great a Prince, (though not un-pre&s;idented by the <HI>Portugue&s;e, Hollanders</HI> and other <HI>Europeans</HI>) and all the Vexations here at home, particularly that &s;udden Calling in of Moneys, do owe their Original; But which by the Goodne&s;s of God, have all hitherto been waded through, with &s;o much Honour and Ju&s;tice, as nothing but Ill Will and Mischievous De&s;igns, can deny them this Prai&s;e.</P>
<P>The Style of the <HI>Mogul</HI>'s <HI>Phirmaunds,</HI> will affect none, who have ob&s;erved that of the Ea&s;tern Princes to all their Neighbours. As for In&s;tance, that of the <HI>Turks,</HI> to the Emperour of <HI>Ger|many,</HI> to the <HI>Poles, Venetians, Per&s;ians,</HI> &amp;c. And &s;o of the <HI>Saracens</HI> and <HI>Tartars,</HI> from whom He derives. Mean while the Company is not only Tolerated, but Courted to Return, and Settle again in all his Provinces.</P>
<P>The admi&s;&s;ion of <HI>Armenians</HI> (being no more than our Neighbours would be glad to afford them) is but a Temporary Allowance, whereby to gain &s;ome in&s;pection into the <HI>&V;p-Land</HI> and Northern parts; and thereby New Markets for our Woollen Manufactures, which have never yet penetrated &s;o far up, and is above all things &s;ought after by the Company. And in Truth, tho&s;e <HI>Armenians</HI> are the only Merchants on the face of the Earth, that can greatly encrea&s;e the Vent of <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Cloth, and would wonderfully Augment it, if they might carry Our Cloth to <HI>Turkie,</HI> paying that Companies Duties, as they may, <HI>Dutch</HI> Cloth, without paying any Duties, but what the Natives pay them&s;elves.</P>
<P>The proportioning the Number of Votes, by the quantity of Stock, is no more than is war|ranted by the Royal Charters, carrying with it The approbation of Kings, Privy Council and Sages of the Law, The General U&s;age of all the Joynt-Stocks in <HI>England,</HI> Of all Part-Owners of Shipping in <HI>Europe,</HI> And tho&s;e famous Sea-Laws of <HI>Olleron</HI> and <HI>Barcellona</HI> &s;o univer&s;ally received. Without which, in a Joint-&s;tock, The Proprietors of &s;mall Stocks, might buy and &s;ell the Whole: An incon&s;iderable Bribe or Advantage, out-weighing their Trivial, and perhaps de&s;igning Shares in the Joynt Concern. But this is &s;eldom u&s;ed, in ought but in Elections for the Court of A&s;&s;i|&s;tants; (In which Court the whole management of the Stock being tran&s;acted, no Member hath any more than a &s;ingle Vote.) And yet of great nece&s;&s;ity to be exerted, in ca&s;e of Combinations of the Cyphers again&s;t the Figures. It being much le&s;s probable, that the greater Stocks &s;hould mi&s;u&s;e this Priviledge, than the &s;maller.</P>
<P>Our Prudent Neighbours, as Popular as the Con&s;titution of their State is, have yet thought good, and found it &s;o, to &s;ettle that of their Company wholly Ari&s;tocratick, and Perpetual: and (for fear of O&s;traci&s;ms, good only to Exile the Be&s;t, the Able&s;t, and the mo&s;t Experienced;) have e&s;tabli&s;hed their Court of A&s;&s;i&s;tants (or &s;eventeen <HI>Bewinthebbers</HI>) for Life, and &s;till to be &s;up|plyed by the Votes, not of the Multitude, but the Survivors.</P>
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But this objection &s;eems to ari&s;e from &s;uch, who&s;e practices have run the Company upon the nece&s;&s;ity of Private Contracts, (Which are no other than Sales, by allowance of the General Court, committed to the management of the Court of A&s;&s;i&s;tants, and by them made to who bids mo&s;t.) The &s;ame thing as by the Candle, only &s;ometimes thought fitter, when the q<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="3 letters">|tity is great, and Combinations apprehended. Or el&s;e from &s;uch, who for other ends, would have us criple our &s;elves, from the power of a Remedy, which no Merchants nor Companies in the World, were ever yet debarred of, nor can be without; Trade will be free, or will go where it may be &s;o. It may allow of a Limitation to the a&s;&s;ent of the General Court, but no Exclu&s;ion.</P>
<P>Nor is it nece&s;&s;ary for Joynt Stocks to be &s;trained like <HI>Procru&s;tes</HI>'s Gue&s;ts to the Model of Ele|ctions for <HI>Parliament.</HI> Which, were that to be new framed, who knows what Modifications it might admit of? But yet will all good Patriotts, ought to beheld, as Venerable and Sacred for its Noble Antiquity, as Ble&s;&s;ed, for its happy Influences on this Nation.</P>
<P>As for the I&s;land of <HI>Polleroon,</HI> no Fortifications upon &s;o &s;mall, &s;o Remote an I&s;land, &s;o &s;cituated within the &s;trength of our Undi&s;turbed Neighbours, could ever be rendered <HI>Im|pregnable.</HI> Nor was it for &s;o Changeable and Precarious an E&s;tabli&s;hment as this Companies is now repre&s;ented, to be very lavi&s;h in that way of Expence; as the&s;e pretended Under-Va|luations, of tho&s;e which they have el&s;ewere found needful to Undertake, do but too much confirm.</P>
<P>And although the Sugge&s;tions, as if the maintaining an Amba&s;&s;ador at the <HI>Mogulls</HI> Court, would excu&s;e all the great expence of Fortifications, may &s;eem plau&s;ible at fir&s;t hearing, un|till we take into con&s;ideration, the In&s;tability of that Government, Frequent Convul&s;ions a|bout the &s;ucce&s;&s;ions, Rebellions, Wars and Di&s;turbances, to which that Unfini&s;ht Con|que&s;t, is ever obnoxious, (Where &s;o many of the Ancient <HI>Raja's</HI> do &s;till retain a Tributary Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, in the many <HI>fa&s;tne&s;&s;es</HI> of tho&s;e Woods and Mountains;) And then the Nece&s;&s;ity of Forts and Ca&s;tles will &s;peak for it &s;elf. Not forgetting the late attempt of the <HI>French,</HI> in the Road of Fort St. <HI>George.</HI></P>
<P>And here I mu&s;t needs admire their mon&s;trous Zeal for their Countreys honour, at the charge of their Countrey men; Who rather than their Project of Sub&s;criptions, &s;houl<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter"> not be received in <HI>India</HI> with all imaginable applau&s;e, would have their needle&s;s Amba&s;&s;ador, go &s;tuff|ed with the Re&s;titutions from the Company in Specie, which (they cannot but have learnt) have been allready made at Surrat in ready Money, with the very Fraights to the <HI>Junks</HI> out of which the Goods were taken, to the content and admiration of all Parties concerned; As if they would have the &s;aid Companies Stock laid out in Carpets, for this new One to make a Solemn Entry upon.</P>
<P>That the Company are in a capacity to revive and carry on their Trade, is now Actually in practice. But whiles they make &s;uch a noi&s;e, the imaginary Nece&s;&s;ity, of &s;o va&s;t an Increa&s;e of the Stock, for the full carrying on of the <HI>Indian</HI> Trade, it were fit, to con&s;ider &s;oberly, how great a Limb of the Con&s;umption of tho&s;e Commodities here, is lopt off by the <HI>French</HI> Prohibition; be&s;ides other ob&s;tuctions as &s;uch a Juncture at this, and it will then appear, how &s;afe a Precedent, the Prudence of the fir&s;t Conductors of the pre&s;ent Joynt-Stock have laid before us.</P>
<P>It was no Fault of the Companies, that they have not been allowed a Parliamentary Con|firmation, whil&s;t it was neither fit nor &s;afe, may I not &s;ay Criminal, for them to que&s;tion a<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="1 letter"> Authority, in their Ca&s;e, which the Parliament them&s;elves would never yet undertake. Nay have on &s;everal occa&s;ions, if not directly approved, Let pa&s;s. But it had been a National, and Irreparable Misfortune had they Sat &s;till, and waited for it until now.</P>
<P>The Companies Enemies are at length brought to agree, that a Joynt-Stock is the only good way to manage and improve the Trade for <HI>India.</HI></P>
<P>Mean while, what Loads of Jnjuries and un&s;peakable dammages, have the Interlopers and their Adherents heaped upon the Company, and by Con&s;equence upon the Nation, under this Exploded Pretence of <HI>Liberty,</HI> to undo both the one and the other, as far as in them lyes; Be&s;ides the&s;e un&s;ea&s;onable di&s;turbances to the High Court of Parliment, which Battery being thus blown up, they do but change their Colours, and under the fre&s;h notion of a new Stock, begin again. But what pity, were it, that &s;uch re&s;tle&s;s Intruders &s;hould be &s;uffered thus to proceed, from one Cavillation to another, to di&s;credit, and mole&s;t &s;o well de&s;erving a Society! Rather may our Honourable Repre&s;entatives make reflexion, how mi&s;chiveous they mu&s;t needs have been in <HI>India,</HI> from their carriage here.</P>
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So they a&s;per&s;e the Company on the one hand, for making a <HI>Piratical War in India,</HI> to recruit their Stock, by rich Prizes from tho&s;e Merchants. And on the other hand, for not condemning them when brought in, Though (as appeared) out of an honourable intention to pre&s;erve them intire, in order to a fair Re&s;titution; when the great <HI>Mogul,</HI> being better &s;atisfyed of the Mi&s;|demeanours of his great Governours (who were thereupon di&s;placed, and &s;ucceeded by others, better di&s;po&s;ed towards the Company) &s;hould conde&s;cend to an amicable Compo&s;ure. Much more might be enlarged here to the Reputation of the Company, had they not ju&s;t grounds to apprehend ill Offices abroad, by the In&s;truments of the&s;e our homebred Enemies; whereof we have had but too many In&s;tances, in the inflaming of the Quarrel. It is good Manners, to let Great Princes &s;peak their own Style, whiles they do us Right.</P>
<P>That Infamous Term of <HI>Con&s;pirators,</HI> and <HI>Tricks,</HI> is mo&s;t liberally be&s;towed upon the Com|pany, for their Worthy Endeavours, to a&s;&s;ert the Right of a &s;tock, intru&s;ted to their Manage|ment. But after &s;o many years combining, to ruine it, both abroad and at home, and the cour&s;es taken to inveigle others into their Intere&s;ts, by cajolling them into Sub&s;criptions for a <HI>new Stock,</HI> upon hopes, if not a&s;&s;urance, of twenty <HI>per Cent.</HI> profit thereon (without one peny disbur&s;ement) as &s;oon as ever they &s;hall have obtained an Act of Parliament for their purpo&s;e: One would think this &s;hould much better &s;uit with their own Intreagues, Con&s;piracies being generally ingaged in, to ruin the Innocent, and not the pre&s;erve a Right in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion. But in this manner, with unequall'd Confidence, do they lay their own Mi&s;chiefs at the Companies door. Imputing the Wars with the <HI>Mogul</HI> and <HI>Siam,</HI> with all the multiplyed con&s;equences to the Trade, the Stock, the Ship|ping, Mens Lives, the Cu&s;toms, the Nation, and even the calling in of Moneys, unto the Com|panies Piratical de&s;igns. Whiles all the&s;e have been the meer effects of their own unworthy Practices.</P>
<P>As if a Company of Men &s;hould come to the Supream Magi&s;trates, and tell them. <Q>There lies a &s;pacious Plain upon the Confines of three Potent States; of a con&s;equence well known to all. Our Indu&s;trious Countreymen have &s;everal times, and not un&s;ucce&s;sfully, put in for our Nations &s;hare; but for want of Countenance from above, have been as often di&s;turbed, by men of like unruly Principles with our &s;elves. At length, &s;ome Publick Spirited Per&s;ons, with &s;uch Authority as the Reigning Powers would afford them, (and this from the time of Good Queen <HI>Elizabeth</HI>'s fir&s;t Charter, never di&s;allowed of before,) took heart, and rather than indure &s;o irreparable a lo&s;s to the Nation, Undertaking the Work, had at length recovered this De&s;olate Plantation into a po&s;ture &s;o inviting, That We not longer able to refrain, re&s;olvedly broke in (at the Windows, though the Doors were open) and throwing down all the Fences, with all the Mi&s;chief and Combinations we could devi&s;e and pack again&s;t them, both abroad and at home: We have reduced it into a Condition, which will require both Time and Charge to re&s;tore it. And now, how rea&s;onable &s;oever it were, to &s;trengthen and comfort the Undertakers, and their Suc|ce&s;&s;ors, who having &s;o vigorou&s;ly Weathered all the&s;e &s;torms, and laid out in Building Ca&s;tles, Towns, Factories, and Buying Lands, Territories Priviledges and Revenues, which co&s;t them at &s;undry times above 1000000 l. might promi&s;e to them&s;elves from this High Court, that tender Con&s;ideration at lea&s;t, which our Laws do allow even to a Tenant at Will, (who having Tilled his Ground, and Sowed his Grain, may not be turned out before he has got in his Crop.) E&s;pecially, when the main Encouragement upon which they did engage their Fortunes, was, that they &s;hould have three years continuance after warning. We do pre&s;ent the&s;e our Clamorous Reque&s;ts to the Supream Magi&s;trates, that laying a&s;ide all regard for the injured Parties, the Widows, Orphans, and all that number of Intere&s;&s;ed, unconcerned in any of our Sugge&s;tions, they will de plea&s;ed to Legallize all the Wrongs that we have done them, and (for Encouragement to &s;uch as our &s;elves,) give up this co&s;tly Plantation to our Di&s;cretion, that we may take all that they have, at all manner of Di&s;advantages, to them; In &s;hort, <HI>We may kill the Heir and the Inheritance &s;hall be ours:</HI></Q></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>William Langhorn.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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