Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/689

EAST INDIA COMPANY. 601 EAST INDIA COMPANY. the day, only that trade shoiiM bo encouraged which found markets for English goods, and brought money into the country, thereby pro- moting the national welfare. It was urged in reply that more money <ame into England l)y the sale" of Oriental goods than the company eould possibly take away — reasoning which experience proved to be correct. Eor this and other reasons, the stockholders often had dithcully in getting their charter re- newed, having usually to pay for it by a loan to the Government, or some other service, although they usually succeeded in maintaining their mo- nopoly. In iOoO, and again in 10.")5. they absorbed rival companies, which had been incnr|iorated under the Commonwealth and I'rotcetorate. In- deed, in 1G53, the e.i)eriment of free trade with India was tried, but proved a failure, .fter the Revolution of Iti,^, which, in the Declaration of Rights, maintained the right of interlopers to trade, the company experienced great dilUeulty in obtaining a Parliamentary charter in addi- tion to the royal charter they already possessed. Parliament was opposed to monopolies on prin- ciple, and favored the admission of interlopers to the trade. The company maintained that the interIoi)ers ^veI•e quite irresponsible, and, if un- successful in trade, often took rcjuisals on the natives, and embroiled them with the latter. Nevertheless, a new general company, open to all individuals, was established in 1098. After bitter struggles and great confusion in the trade, both companies were united by act of Parlia- ment in 1702. Every member holding over £.")00 of stock was entitled to from one to four votes, according to his holding, in the general rnurt of proprietors, who elected the governor and a board of twentv-four directors from among the holders of not less than £2000 of stock. The directors were chosen for four years, six re- tiring each year. -Meanwhile the increasing jiolitical power of the company furnished endless opjiortunities for corruption among its .servants in India, and for misrule and oppression of tlu^ natives. Its bane- ful inlluence in corrupting Parliament was well known. It was quite natural, therefore, that in 17G9 a more complete control by the (Jovern- ment was established. In 17S4 an act originated by the younger Pitt gave to the King the power of appointing a Board of Control over the civil and military, but not the commercial, acts of the company. In 1S13 the trade with India was thrown open, the company maintaining its exist- ence as a political body for the government of ' India only, and in IS.^.V its last great monopoly, the trade" to China, was abolished, tlic> divideiids of the company Inking guaranteed by taxes levied on the India possessions. Its inability to cope with the terrible Indian revolt of 18.57 gave Par- liament reason for concentrating all its powers in the Imperial Government, which giniranteed a Iftiv, per cent, yearly dividend on £0.000,000 of its stock. Henceforth the East India Campany continued to exist as an organization for receiv- ing and distributing these dividends only. The Ditch Ea.st Ixoia ('omi-anv was incor- porated In- the States General of ll<illand in 1002. with a capital of 0.000.000 llnrins. It was the union of several snuillcr ciimi)anics which had been formed in conseipience of sn<cessful voyages to the Spice lslan<ls. bcL'iiming with l.i0.5. when Philip of Spain closed the port of Lisbon to the Dutch. Its monopoly extended from the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of iMagellan, with sov- ereign rights in whatever territory it might ac- quife. The lirst expeditions (1002-0.')) were very successful, and resulted in permission from the native States to use a large nundier of ports, and to build a fortilied factory in .lava. In 1005 l)egan the sixty years" war with S]]ain,at the end of which the Dutcli Company had despoiled Por- tugal, which was then united with Spain, of all its East Indian possessions, and had sup])lanted the Portugueses in the Svmda and Molucca Isl- ands, Ceylon, the Malabar Coast, Malacca, Japan, and the Cape of (Jood Hope. As a basis of their power the Dutch secured vast territorial posses- sions in the Suinla Islands, especially in .lava, Sumatra, and Celebes, and in the AIolucciis. They had other stations, but they were for tiMilc only, ami were unfortified. The most inlluential foun- der of the Dutch Indian Empire was Governor Jan Pietersz Coen, who, in 1010, established Hafa- via in .Java as its capital. Hither came the ships from all the other stations, a centralization which enabled them to control the trade. In the insular possessions of the comjiany the native governments were left in control, subject only to taxes and to the trade monopoly of the company. Directed lv practical merchants of experience, the company prospered. Between 1002 and 1000, the dividends were never less than 12 and some- times as high as 03 per cent. The charter wa.s renewed every twenty years, in return for finan- cial concessions made to the State, to which the comi)any in ItiilO contributed ,S.obo,000 tlorins, in addition to 400,000 tlorins for the privilege of raising taxes. It was of far greater impor- tance than any other company during this period. But in the eighteenth century came the decline, due to the contnd of the company by a few rich families, who used it as a means of inuncdiate gain, and to its cruel conduct toward the natives, by which its territorial possessions came into great disorder. No dividends were paid after 1724. When the English attacked its possessions in 1780. on the pretext that Holland was about to join tlu' league of neutrals in favor of Ameri- ca, the Dutch Company was incajjable of resist- ance. It lost practically all of its po.ssessions, and although most of them were retiirned to Hol- land by tile treaty of ISl.'i, in the meantime (17!).5) the company itself had been abolished and its possessions incorporated with those of the State, which also assumed its debts. The French East India Company was estab- lished in 1604. during the reign of Louis XIV., through the instrumentality of Coll)ert, under the name of La Compagnie des Indes Orientales. Its original cajjital was 0,000,000 livres. afterwards increased to l.i.OOO.OOO of which the king sul)- scribed 3,000,000. It was founded under favor- able con<litions, with almost complete sovereignty of the territory it might acquire, and with all possible i)rotection from the Erench (lovernmeiit. It served the political purpose of operating against the powerful Dutch Company, against wliich, however, it made but little headway. Cnder the governorship of the Dutchman Caron, the first Erench factory was established at Su- rat, and successful negotiations were begun with Persia and Indo-China. His successor Francois .Martin founded Pondichf'ry in 1070. and under his long and prudent administration, which lasted