Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/386

 378 EAST INDIA COMPANIES EASTLAKE naval officers. Before 1836 the majority of the stockholders were merchants and bankers, but the changes in the constitution, which ex- tinguished the company as a trading associa- tion, caused a material decrease of this class. The court of directors was originally composed of 24 stockholders, qualified by the ownership of at least 2,000 of stock. By the act of 1853 the court consisted of 18 members, of whom 12 were elected by the stockholders, and 6 were chosen by the crown from men who had served in India. For expediting business, the members were annually divided into three committees : one on finance, and interior and marine interests connected therewith ; the sec- ond on politics and war ; and the third on the judicial and legislative interests. The most important part of the court of directors, how- ever, was the secret committee. To this, com- posed of the chairman, deputy chairman, and the senior director, were referred all confiden- tial communications between the board of con- trol and the court. The despatches of the board as to political matters were transmitted through the secret committee, and might be sent on by them without being submitted to the court. The chief privilege of directorship was that of making appointments ; the direc- tors filled all vacancies, not only in the English branch of the company's service, but in all the subordinate functions in India. The board of control, the governing power in the com- pany, consisted at first of six members, but afterward the sovereign had the privilege of appointing a suitable number, of whom the lord president of the council, the lord privy seal, the first lord of the treasury, the two principal secretaries of state, and the chancel- lor of the exchequer must form part. The powers of the board increased until long before its abolition in 1858 it had become a court from whose decisions there was no appeal. The expense of the company's military force in the East Indies in 1856 was 10,229,584. The debts of the Indian government in Eng- land on May 1, 1857, amounted to 9,377,401, and the credits to 5,488,467, leaving a sur- plus of debts of 3,888,934. The Indian revolt of 185 7-' 8 called public attention more forcibly than at any previous period to the management of Indian affairs by the company, and led to the passing (Aug. 2, 1858) of the act " for the better government of India," by which " all the territories heretofore under the govern- ment of the East India company are vested in the British queen, and all its powers are to be exercised in her name, one of the principal sec- retaries of state to have all the powers hither- to exercised by the company or by the board of control. The military and naval forces of the East India company are to be deemed the forces of the queen, and all persons hold- ing any office, employment, or commission in India are transferred to the service of the crown. All functions and powers of the courts of directors and proprietors are to cease, to- gether with the salaries paid, and the board of control is likewise abolished." This act, al- though depriving the East India company of all its power and importance, did not abolish it, and provided for the manner in which the directors should thereafter be appointed ; but its functions are by it almost exclusively con- fined to the administration of the stock and the distribution of the fixed interest or dividends upon the old share capital of the company. EAST INDIES, a vague geographical term applied to southern Asia east of the Indus, and to the adjacent islands. (See INDIA.) The name India was unknown to the earlier Greeks, and the later ones used it to signify an indefinite extent of country lying beyond the Indus, of which they had a very imperfect knowledge. The modern Europeans applied it in much the same way until after the dis- covery of America. Columbus supposed that he had reached India by sailing westward, and the lands discovered by him and the other Spanish navigators in the western hemisphere were for a time collectively known as India. The king of Spain assumed the title of king of the Indies, and the council for the colonies was styled the supreme council of the Indies. When the mistake was discovered, the distinc- tive term West Indies was applied to America, and that of East Indies to Asiatic India. In process of time the term West Indies became restricted to the islands lying between North and South America, and the term India to the two peninsulas of Hither and Further India. The latter country is also called Chin-India or Indo-China, and in its most restricted sense the term India now includes only the western of the two peninsulas, or Hindostan in the wider sense. The term East Indies, as vaguely and popularly used, comprises Hindostan, Burmah, Siam, Laos, Anam, Malacca, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, the Sunda arid Banda islands, the Moluccas, the Philippines, and the rest of that vast archipelago, and is sometimes extended even to China and Japan. EASTLAKE, Sir Charles Lock, an English painter, born in Plymouth in 1793, died in Pisa, Italy, Dec. 23, 1865. He commenced the study of art at the royal academy, under the direction of Fuseli, and continued it at the Louvre in Paris. He was compelled to leave France by the return of Napoleon from Elba, of whom he painted soon after a portrait, as he appeared at Plymouth on board the Bel- lerophon on his way to St. Helena. In 1817 he went to Rome, and remained there for many years, with the exception of visits to Greece, Sicily, &c. Among his most celebrated paintings are one in illustration of a passage in Byron's "Dream," "Christ weeping over Jerusalem," " Escape of Francesco di Carrara," " Pilgrims arriving in sight of Rome," " Christ blessing little Children," " Hagar and Ish- mael," and the " Raising of Jairus' daughter." In 1841 he was appointed secretary to the royal commission on fine arts; from 1843 to