Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/408

 •^'t IIISTOIIY OF INDIA. [Book II.

A.D. ico'i occupic'il ill its first part with regulating the salt and starnj> (]utie.s, from wliieh his majesty was to derive the annual sum of £160,000, nece.ssary to pay the in- terest or annuities exigible at the rate of eight per cent, on the £2,000,000 loan. In regard to the loan itself, the leading provisions are, that " it shall and may be lawful to and for his majesty, by commission under the great seal of England, Act estab- to take and receive all such voluntary subscriptions as shall be made on or before ne« com the 29th day of Sej^tember, 1698, by or for any person or persons, natives or '"'" ■ foreigners, bodies politick or corporate (the governor and company of the Bank of England only excepted), of any sum of money whatsoever, not less than £100, for and towards the raising and paying into the said receipt of the exchequer the said sum of £2,000,000.' The whole simi was subject to redemption; but during the non-redemption his majesty might, by letters-patent, incorporate the subscribers under the name of the General Society entitled to the advantages given by this act of parliament. Of the General Society thus incorporated, the sum total of subscriptions was to form the principal stock, and every subscriber to the amount of £500 and upwards was entitled to have one vote, and not more than one, in the election of twenty-four trustees, each of them qualified by the possession of not less than £2000 of the society's stock in his own right. The subscribers, their executors, successors, or assigns, and the persons licensed by them, were to have the privilege of trading to the East Indies, each to the extent of his stock ; or if, instead of thus acting individually, the whole or any number of them, or even corporations, should prefer to manage their share of the trade as a company or joint stock, they might be incorporated for this special purpose. In order "to maintain such ambassadors or other ministers" as the crown, at the nomination of the trustees, directors, or managers of the General Society, or of a joint-stock company established as aforesaid, should "be pleased to send to any emperor, prince, or state" within the specified limits, and to "defray any other extraordinary or necessary expense in carrying on the said trade," a duty of five per cent, was to be levied on all India goods imported, but should any surplus remain after these purposes were served, it was not to belong to the state, but to be distributed among the shareliolders. The right of trading to the East Indies was in future to belong exclusively to the General Society, subject, how- ever, to two most important provisoes: — first, that on three years' notice after 1711, and the repayment of the £2,000,000, all the rights granted by the act were to cease ; and, second, that the old Company might still continue to trade as before, till the 29th of September, 1701. This was meant to be an equivalent iNotice given for the thrcc years' notice to which they were entitled under their charter, and

to the old. /»ii Tin li.

compmy. yet fell far short of it, as the true meamng of the charter undoubtedly was, that while the three years were running, they were to enjoy the whole trade, instead of being subjected, as they now were, to a formidable competition. The equi- valent, however, imperfect as it was, was not given without a grudge, and had something like a stigma attached to it by a clause in the act, which expressly