Page:The wealth of nations, volume 3.djvu/112

 either to mere merchants, or to the freemen of London; and granting to all such persons the liberty of exporting, from all the ports of Great Britain to any port in Turkey, all British goods of which the exportation was not prohibited; and of importing from thence all Turkish goods of which the importation was not prohibited, upon paying both the general duties of customs, and the particular duties assessed for defraying the necessary expenses of the company; and submitting, at the same time, to the lawful authority of the British ambassador and consuls resident in Turkey, and to the bylaws of the company duly enacted. To prevent any oppression by those bylaws, it was by the same act ordained that if any seven members of the company conceived themselves aggrieved by any bylaw which should be enacted after the passing of this act, they might appeal to the Board of Trade and Plantations (to the authority of which a committee of the Privy Council has now succeeded), provided such appeal was brought within twelve months after the bylaw was enacted; and that if any seven members conceived themselves aggrieved by any bylaw which had been enacted before the passing of this act, they might bring a like appeal, provided it was within twelve months after the day on which this act was to take place. The experience of one year, however, may not always be sufficient to discover to all the members of a great company the pernicious tendency of a particular bylaw; and if several of them should afterward discover it, neither the Board of Trade, nor the committee of council, can afford them any redress. The object, besides, of the greater part of the bylaws of all regulated companies, as well as of all other corporations, is not so much to oppress those who are already members, as to discourage others from becoming so; which may be