Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/507

 doubt some qualms of conscience led them to feel that they ought to pluck the beams from their own eyes before scrutinising too narrowly the motes in those of their servants.

The fixed and acknowledged remuneration to the Directors was 300l. per annum; but the general opinion of the day seems to have been (and this opinion was frequently expressed) that the worth of each directorship amounted to no less than 10,000l. per annum, in one form or another; and certainly the avidity with which these directorships were sought after, when a vacancy occurred, and the large sums of money expended in obtaining the appointment, too clearly show that there were valid reasons for the popular rumour. Candidates, who were nearly all men otherwise in the enjoyment of lucrative employment as bankers or merchants, or who had filled high appointments in the civil or military service of the Company, would not have sent "carriages and four" to remote parts of the kingdom for voters, each of whom was limited to four votes, to secure an appointment to which they were expected to devote some portion at least of their time, and this, too, for the paltry remuneration of 300l. per annum. Indeed it was not in the nature of things that they should do so.

The reason, however, may be explained by the fact that, associated with the position of a Director, there was a large amount of patronage under his own immediate control, which he claimed by rotation. That this must have been of very considerable value, may be suspected from the fact that the successful candidate sometimes gave the whole of his first year's