Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/386

 3o2

IlLSTORY OF INL»IA.

[Book If.

A D. 1692. be made without leaving a .sufficient fund t(j pay all debts and carry on tlie tra^le — that no ships, either with permission or without, for the future be allowed to go to the East Indies, except only such as should be of a company, or be estab- lished by act of parliament — and that the joint stock of a company to trade to tlie East Indies be for twenty-one years, and no longer."

Intention of Thougli iu tlicsc rcsolutious no express mention was made of the existinj; Com-

parliament o i o

to continue pany, it bccame evident, from other resolutions adopted immediately after, that

the mono-. .„,., ,. ,. -/.i

poly. the intention oi parliament was to continue them in possession of their mono-

poly; for after stipulating "that per- sons having above the sum of i?5000 in the stock of the present East India Company, in their own or other per- sons' names, be obliged to sell so much thereof as should exceed the sum of J?oOOO, at the rate of one hundred pounds for every hundi'ed," and "that tlie members of the committee of the East India Company be obliged to give security, to be approved of by the house, that the stock and estate they now had should be made good .£749,000, all debts paid," it was added, "that security being first given, an humble addi'ess be presented to his majesty, to incorporate the present East India Company by charter, ac- cording to the regulations agreed upon by the house, that the same might pass into an act." Address to To somc of tlicsc regulations as unnecessary or impolitic, valid objections

the crown to. .,

dissolve the might casuy have been made ; but the Company apparently resolved to waive pmpani. ^j^gj^. ^^^ within a week. Sir Thomas Cooke the governor, and two other com- mittees of the Company, produced their proposals of security. They were not deemed satisfactory, and the house, after a short delay, adopted the following resolution, dated 11th February, 1692 — "That an humble address be presented to his majesty to dissolve the present East India Company, according to the

Old East India House, circa 10.00. '

' This view is from an old print, copied from a painting in the possession of Mr. Pulham, of the India House. The inscription on It is, " Het Huis van den Oost Indische Compagnie en London." A brief notice of the houses used by the Company is at foot of print, -whence we extract the following: — From 1604 to 1621 the affairs of the Company were chiefly transacted at the house of the first governor, Sir T. Smith, in Philpot Lane. The regular establish-

ment of the Company in 1621 was at Crosby House, in Bishopsgate Street, then belonging to Lord Nor- thampton. In 1638 the Company removed to the house of Sir Christopher Clitheroe, in Leadenhall Street, at that time governor; and in 1648 removed to the house represented above, adjoining to Sir Christopher's. In 1726 a new front was made, and a new building was in progress, which remained till 1796, when the present structure was commenced.