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 380

IIISTOItV OF INI)IA.

[Book IF.

A.D. iron

Obstacles to cordial uiiiun.

Patna. Also the right and title of the said governor and Company to Bantam, or any other' settlements in tiie South Seas; and all rents, customs, and other profits, and all privileges, graunts, and phirrnaunds in India."

It must be admitted that the sulyects above enumerated were very mrxle- rately valued, and had not only cost more, but would have been rated far higher for an absolute sale. The object, however, being to effect an amicable amalgamation, the London Company lost little by con.senting to liVjeral terms, though the effect certainly was to give an unfavourable view of the .state of their affairs, and countenance the allegation that at the period when the arrangement was made, notwithstanding the large dividends regvdarly declared, they were barely solvent. This would almost seem to have been their own impression, for though they had at first professed aversion to the union, they at la.st became so urgent for it as once more to a«k in the aid of the now notorious Sir Basil Firebrace, and purchase it by the promise of an enormoas reward. As a compensation for his services, if they proved .successful, £150,000 of the Company stock was to be transferred to him at £80. Assuming the .stock to be at par, he was to make a gain of twenty per cent., or in other rewards receive a douceur of £30,000. The arrangement- was not more extravagant than impolitic, because it led many of the English Company to imagine that they had been outwitted in the bargain, and thus disposed them instead of entering into it cordially, to throw obstacles in the way of its completion. This want of cordiality was especially manifested abroad, where the servants of both companies, disregarding the instructions which they received from

home, seemed determined to carry on a kind of internecine warfare. Year after year thus passed away, and the process of winding up the separate concerns of the companies, prepara- tory to the final amalgamation, made little progress. The necessity of tak- ing some more decisive step for this purpose having become apparent, it was at last resolved to have recourse to a referee. This important office was undertaken b}^ no less a personage than Sidney, Earl of Godolphin, the lord high-treasurer of Great Britain; and in order that fuU effect might be given to his award, it was previously made binding on both companies by a special clause in an act of parlia- ment.

This act of parliament (6th Anne, chap. 17), exa<;ted a new loan of £1,200,000

Sidney, Earl of Godolphin.— After Sir G. Kneller.