384 HLSTOUY OF INDIA. [Book III.
A. I). 1708. and their influence wa-s accordingly often employed not in promoting hut in thwarting it. A court of directors elected on eiToneous principles, and con- sisting of members who had no certainty of retaining office beyond a single year, could scarcely be expected to ccmduct the affairs of the Company on any regular and permanent system. This serious defect was aggravated by the constitution of the court itself. Under the old chartei-s provision was made for the appointment of a governor and deputy-governor, who, by occupying the chaii- for a definite period, were able to arrange the basiness and give some degree of uniformity to the proceedings ; but in the new charter this provision had been lost sight of, and for several years, whenever the directors met, the occupation of the chair was determined by a new election made on the spur of the moment. The obvious inconveniences of this arrangement were ultimately obviated by a by-law, which re-established the original practice. The othei" defects, however, remained ; and more than half a century elapsed before any serious attempt was made to remedy them. K;iii.viii.stor.v Tlic liistory of the United Company during the first years of its existence
fuinpan.v. fumislies few incidents deserving of special notice. The rivals who had ques- tioned the legality of former charters with the view of securing a .share in the East India trade, seeing themselves excluded by express acts of the legislature, had been obliged to quit the field; and encroachments on the exclusive monopoly which had been seem-ed, being now deemed hopeless, were no longer attempted. All the commercial transactions of the Company were henceforth carried on according to a regular routine ; and the record of them would only present a dry detail of exports and imports, vaiying in amount from year to year, yet exhibiting on the whole a permanent and important increase. The pi'ofit also increased, though not always in the same proportion, the amount of dividend often fluctuating with the state of af^iiire at home and abroad. In 1 708, when the complete union of the companies was effected, the dividend was at the rate of only five per cent., in 1709 it was eight per cent., in 1710 and
1711 nine per cent., and thereafter annually till 1723 ten per cent. A decline then took place, and the rate settled down at eight per cent. In
1712 the exclusive privileges of the Company, prexdouslj' terminable in 1726, were prolonged by 10 Anne, c. 28, to 1733. By a subsequent prolongation, three years were added to this period; and finally, by 17 Geo. II. c. 17, the exclusive trade was secured till the expiration of three years' notice after 1780.
Unsettled While the Company were thus secm'ed at home against any attempts which
Mogiu em- might havc been made to deprive them of their privileges, dangers threatened '^"^ them from various other quarters. Of these, the first in order, if not the most
alarming, was the state of anarchy with wliich the whole country seemed about
to be overwhelmed, in consequence of the dismemberment of the Mogul empire.
After Aurungzebe's death in 1707, a kind of will was found under his pillow.
He had foreseen the contest which would be wag-ed for his succession, and endea-
