Chap. III.] SIR WILLIAM COURTEN'S ASSOCIATION. 2G9
Admitting that the Company were thus far in fault, it does not follow that a.d. i635. Charles was justified in the method which he took to supplant them. They were entitled, at all events, to a three years' notice, and therefore ought not to have been threatened with violent extinction before even a single note of warn- ing had been jjiven. The truth is, that Charles had now been brought into that unhappy position from which he thought himself entitled to seek relief by any means which promised to be successful, however much they might be at variance with honour and equity. He was engaged in the ftital experiment of attempt- ing to ride without a parliament ; and having thus excluded himself from the only means of obtaining money by legal taxation, was ready to snatch at any expedient for replenishing his treasury. There can be little doubt that the license granted to the rival adventurers, afterwards known by the name of "Courten's Association," was one of those expedients. The truce recently con- Coui-teirs
association.
eluded With Portugal was represented as about to open up new sources of wealth, and the king, consulting only his necessities, was deluded into the belief that, by means of a new body of adventurers, a large and permanent addition might be made to his own revenue. Sir William Courten, a wealthy London merchant, had the principal share in the new company, and has hence given it its name. He had lent large sums both to the king and his father, and may possibly have cancelled part of the debt, or granted a new loan, in return for the royal license. It is plain, however, from the - — --. language employed, that Charles
had more than an indirect in- / <^^ ^^^ terest in the success of Courten's association. He speaks of the ffu^^^S) ' ^^^t voyage as having been partly undertaken "at and by the charge ^;,J^f^^j and adventure of us, and of our trusty and faithful servant, En- V ^^ J dymion Porter, Esq., one of the grooms of our bedchamber," and authorizes the ships, 'as an ensign
that they were specially employ- ed by us," to carry the "union
flag which our own ships, and none but the ships employed in our particular service, ought to bear."
The old Company, naturally alarmed at the special favour thus shown to the R<?mon- new adventm-ers, and the open mfringement of the exclusive privileges guaran- .ngainst it. teed to them by the chartere of Queen Elizabeth and King James, presented an earnest remonstrance ; but though they succeeded so far as to cause a new pro- clamation to be issued, in which the right of traffic conferred on the a.sso- ciation was restricted to " such of those parts and places before named, where the said East India Company had not settled factories and trade before the 12th December, 1635," they were so far from gaining their main object, that the license, originally granted only for a single voyage, was extended to five years, and declared to stand good against all who might be disposed to challenge it. "any charters, lettei's-patents, grants of incorporations, or of any liberties, powers, jurisdictions, privileges of trade or traffick. or any act of parliament,
• Seal used by Sir William Courten's Association. — MS. vol. Peter Manday'a Travels, in Lib of E. I. House.
