A MODEST and JUST APOLOGY FOR OR DEFENCE OF THE PRESENT East-India-Company AGAINST THE ACCUSATIONS OF THEIR ADVERSARIES Wherein the CRIMES alledged against them are fairly Examined The CALUMNY's Confuted and all submitted to the Judgment of Impartial and Unprejudiced PERSONS LONDON Printed Anno Domini MDCXC To the READER THIS Apology was drawn up some little time before the last Prorogation of the late Parliament though upon some Reasons forborn to be publisht which I thought it necessary to give you notice of lest finding some Passages therein adapted to that time you may think them something improper as to the present You will not find in this any particular notice taken of any of those many Papers by their Enemies published abroad to defame them except the Preamble of their own Subscriptions which indeed was industriously avoided They being so filled with scurrilous Language and opprobrious Expressions that they deserve no Answer What hath been here endeavoured is to relate matter of Fact truly leaving you to make the Inference which I have not willingly falsified in any one particular If any such should be I do declare it hath bin through inadvertency and not designedly The whole is submitted to the censure of the unprejudiced Person which being fairly and impartially considered together with the Circumstances attending those several Actions here discoursed of I doubt not but the supposed Monster will not now appear so black and ugly as he hath bin of late depainted It is possible That these Papers may meet with a Reply For I cannot expect they will satisfie every one But if such be their fate If the said Reply be managed with Candour and Ingenuity they shall have from me a fair acknowledgment of my Error where it is so or a fair Rejoynder where it is otherwayes But if it be filled with such scurrilous Language as those Papers have bin which of late have bin exposed to the Publick against them Let the matter be what it will It shall receive no other Answer from me than the rest have done viz. Contempt and Silence Farewel N. T. A Modest and Just Apology for or Defence of the present East-India-Company c. WHAT great and indefatigable industry hath bin imployed What Arts and Devices made use of to blast the Reputation of the present East-India-Company is notoriously evident to all who either give themselves the trouble of listning to those Calumnies dayly inculcated in all noted Coffee-Houses against them or to the reading of those Prints exposed publickly and delivered gratis in the said Coffee-Houses to all such as will but accept them Wherein the said Company are not only set forth to be Bankrupts as to their present Condition but represented as vile and odious as Malice it self can invent or a Pen dipt in the very gall of Asps can depaint so that it may justly seem necessary that at this time a just and modest Vindication of them and their present Condition from the said Aspertions should be published and the rather since their Enemies have endeavoured of late to impose not only upon the unthinking Vulgar but upon the Members of the Honourable House of Commons by putting Papers into their hands wherein besides the scurrility of the Language sutable to the Authors there are many things notoriously untrue nay they have presumed so far upon the whole Body of the Legislative Power of the Nation King Lords and Commons as to declare to them in the preamble to their new Subscriptions by them now Printed and Published the very terms of an Act of Parliament to be by them passed without which their Subscriptions are ipso facto void and no wayes obliging and withal are become so confident as to publish to the World their Assurance that an Act shall pass in such terms as they have there prescribed which withal submission is left to a just censure It is now confessed almost by all even the very Enemies of the present Company That the East-India Trade is of a great National advantage That for the making of it more advantagious it must be carried on in a Joynt Stock That that Stock must be in a Company exclusive to all Interlopers That a Joynt Stock and Interlopers are things inconsistent That such a Company must necessarily be invested with Powers sufficient to govern their respective Residences abroad and carry on their Trade So that these things being sufficiently evident to common sense and now by almost all in general acknowledged it will be needless to bring any Arguments for the proof of them by which means the business of this present Paper will be much contracted and applyed only to undeceive the World in some of those Calumnies by which the Enemies of the present Company have endeavoured to blacken them and render them most obnoxious to the Publick Wherein I shall be as concise as possible I can without so much as in the least taking notice in particular of that scurrilous Language and opprobious Expressions they are pleased to cast upon them The first Objection then that presents it self to Consideration and which hath created them so many Enemies is That the said Company have at several times given disturbance to those Persons who traded into the places of their Priviledge and were not free of the said Company and are therefore stiled Interlopers and that by stopping their Ships and Goods and by other ways and means to the hindrance of their Trade To this it is answered That the Premises before laid down fairly considered and which are now in a manner universally acknowledged viz. That the Trade of India to render it Nationally advantagious must be carryed on in a Joynt Stock That the said Trade in this Nation hath been so carried on all along in a Joynt Stock exclusive to all others not free of the said Company by vertue of and under the Power of the Charters of the several Princes of this Realm ever since the Trade was first established That a Joynt Stock and Interloping are wholly inconsistent And that the present Company had the same Trade wholly and entirely granted to them equally with their Predecessors from the lawful and undoubted Soveraigns of this Realm I say these things fairly and impartially considered It will appear no more injustice in this present Company to put all stops and Inconveniences they could upon all Persons not free of the said Company attempting to break in upon them by trading into the parts of their Priviledge so granted to them as aforesaid than it would be in a private Person to defend himself from the attempts of those who would wrong him in his Person or Estate and by force endeavour to wrest him out of the Possession of his Freehold Nay it may truly and rationally be affirmed That had not the Managers of the said Stock exerted all the Powers granted them in their Charters to the keeping out of all unfree Persons from breaking into their Trade they had been unfaithful to the Trust
for the obtaining of a Peace and yet at the same time by publishing to the World in the Preamble to their new Subscriptions that the Company should be obliged by Act of Parliament to purchase a Peace have done as much as in them lyeth to render it next door to an impossibility ever to obtain it which will come to be consider'd amongst those Observations which shall be made upon some of the particulars of the said Preamble And this is what at present I think sufficient to answer to that Calumny so industriously spread abroad by the Enemies of the present Company that They did begin the War in India not out of necessity but capriciously and have and do continue it wilfully Having thus as briefly as I well could answered the main and most plausible Objections against the present East-India Company by which their Adversaries endeavoured to render them so odious to the World It may not be amiss in the close of this Discourse to consider a little the Preamble to their new Subscription by them lately Printed and Published Not to enlarge upon the boldness of the Attempt in General which hath been hinted at already As for them to Erect as it were a new Company before ever the matter was come into either of the Two Houses of Parliament Or That any of them had voted There should be one And Not only so but to take upon them to dictate to the whole Legislative Power of England King Lord and Commons the very terms of an Act to be by them passed or else their Subscriptions signifie nothing Which is as much as to say If we may have a new Company upon our own Terms we will but if not we will have none And that which is yet a further degree of presumption they do publish to the World That they have received assurance That such an Act shall be passed even before the things are come into the House of Commons by a report from their own Committee To come to the Preamble it self Wherein may be taken notice of the disingenuity of the Preface and the unreasonableness of the Terms by them prescribed to the Parliament For should the Parliament comply with the Terms by them proposed or prescribed rather It would be so far from promoting the Peace they seem so much to desire as that it would infallibly obstruct it In the Preface they are pleased to say That the Committee of the Honourable House of Commons did declare their Opinion That the best way of managing the East-India Trade is by a new Company with a new Joynt Stock to be Established by Act of Parliament And it is so for Truth but it is not the whole Truth For they most disingeniously leave out the latter part of the said Vote which is That the present Company be continued exclusive to Interlopers and all Permissive Ships until the said Act of Parliament be passed as not for their Turn and wholly inconsistent with their present Undertaking for it being in Terminis that the present Company should be continued until the said Act of Parliament was passed it doth wholly exclude the Erecting of a New Company until that be done And what is the publishing their Preamble consisting amongst other things of the Term of their present Constitution and future Government of their new Company and appointing when and how their Governour and Committees should be Elected their subscribing several Sums of Moneys and appointing when and how their Subscriptions should be paid in and propounding Interest to such as shall timely pay in their Money I say What is all this but as much as in them lieth the Erecting a new Company during the continuance of the Old and consequently contrary to the Vote of the said Committees so that in stead of waiting the Issue of the Parliaments Determination They by way of prevention Erect their New Company to the destruction of the Old which is quite contrary to the sense of the Vote of the Honourable House of Commons The Vnreasonableness if not Injustice of their Terms hereby appear in that they do require the Parliament to oblige by an Act the present Company to make good the demands of the Subjects of the great Mogul and King of Syam before it be so much as enquir'd into much less known of what Nature the said demands are whether for Debts contracted for Goods bought or Goods taken by the Company Flagrante Bello by way of Reprisal for the Goods of the Company by them seized in the Companies Factories But taking it for granted without any Examination of matter of Fact that this present Company have bin the Agressors they would have by Act of Parliament the Company be obliged to make good whatever the Subjects of either of these two Princes should demand If they do reply they do limit it to Debts and Demands that are just In that case I would desire to be informed Who should adjust the Account Should the Subjects of the Great Mogul and King of Syam it may be presumed That they would demand enough especially knowing before hand as without doubt they would be well inform'd that the Company are under an Obligation by Act of Parliament to comply with their Demands Or should the present Company adjust the Account that on the other hand would be thought to be done partially for themselves Or Should the Account be stated and adjusted by Commissioners chosen respectively by the said Princes and the Company How can that well be when there is no room left for such an indifferent adjustment that Act being once passed For how can it be supposed there can be an equitable Arbitrament where the one Party is at liberty to demand what they please and the other Party previously bound up to comply with their Demands Or Should the New Company depute Persons to adjust the said Demands it may reasonably be supposed in that case That those who without cause have so industriously endeavoured the ruin of the present Company in a matter of that Nature will not be very favourable to their just Interest Nor is it less unjust That they fix the Dammage if any such should be due from the Company as they do to be made good by the Persons and out of the Estate of the Managers thereof Whereas It is well known to every one that knoweth any thing of the Company that the Company being a Joynt Stock and the Court of Committees who are the Managers thereof being generally many of them as much if not more concerned in the Joynt Stock than others are annually chosen by the Generalty and by them intrusted with the management thereof are not lyable either in Law or Equity in their own Persons and Estates to any Action for any thing done by them in the management of that their Trust For if they were it is not reasonable to be supposed that any one would take upon him such an Employment where the Hazzard of any Miscarriage should be his and
excepted is worthy consideration It is well known that upon the first Establishment of the East-India Trade in this Nation the Adventurers were established in a Company with a Joynt Stock by Queen Elizabeth as by her Letters Patents in the Forty Third Year of her Reign appeareth That during the remainder of that Reign they traded as a Company exclusive to all others without interruption under the Powers granted to them by the said Charter That by King James the first their Charter was again renewed and they continued in the Enjoyment of their Trade exclusive to Interlopers by vertue of the same Powers during His Reign and that of King Charles the first True it is That in the time of the late Usurpation more particularly from the year One Thousand Six Hundred Fifty Three to the year One Thousand Six Hundred Fifty Seven they were invaded in their Trade by Interlopers so that in a manner the whole Trade was carryed on by private hands and by that means the Trade of India was brought to that miserable pass as it became so far from being an advantageous Trade that to the knowledge and experience of many yet living it proved the contrary And while our Neighbours the Dutch managed the same Trade in a Company and Joynt Stock to their great advantage The English by a general permission to all Persons to trade thither drove on their Trade to a considerable loss besides many indignities affronts and injuries which were by several Princes in India where they traded put upon them even to the forcing them to sell their Goods and to take others at such Rates and Price as they pleased which could not have been put upon a Company in a Joynt Stock This made the then Traders thither though originally Interlopers themselves to apply to the Usurper Oliver for the Erecting a New East-India Company as He did in the Year 1657 and during his time they enjoyed their Trade exclusive to all Interlopers Upon the happy Restauration of His late Majesty King Charles the Second The Company applyed themselves to Him for the renewal of their Charter and had it granted to them accordingly And under the Powers thereof enjoyed the Trade to themselves in all peaceable manner both here and in India exclusive to all Interlopers until about the Year 1680 About which time and in the following Years the Nation being then in a ferment they were broke in upon by Interlopers their now inveterate Enemies The fatal consequence of which in relation to the Interest of the Nation will be more particularly considered when I come to discourse of the Origine of the War in India Their Trade being as above broke in upon by Interlopers They did as in reason they ought address themselves to their then Soveraign the late King Charles the Second for further Powers to obviate those inconveniences who being fully convinced of the necessity of them in order to the preserving that Trade to the Nation granted them accordingly which were afterwards again renewed and confirmed by the late King James the Second This being then the true state of matter of Fact as to the carrying on of the Trade in India ever since it was established in England it is fairly left to the Impartial Judgment of all Indifferent and unprejudiced Persons to judge what the present Company could or should have done when their Trade was so broke in upon by Interlopers Should they have broke up themselves and traded as private Persons That had been infallibly to have lost the Trade to the Nation Should they have continued their Trade in a Joynt Stock and permitted all Freedom to the Interlopers That had been as certain to have ruined themselves first and let the Trade be utterly lost in time Or Should they as some do alledge have got their Charter to have been confirmed by Act of Parliament That it must be confessed had been as happy for them as it was earnestly desired by them But those who shall seriously consider the temper of the Princes of the two last Reigns how tender they were upon all the points of their Prerogative must withal acknowledge that such an attempt in them would have been to have attempted that which was next door to an impossibility Should they have first addressed themselves to the King for such an Act of Confirmation they would have been rejected with indignation scorn and contempt as calling in question the validity of that Power derived from their Prerogative by which they had enjoyed the Trade all along since its first establishment Should they have petitioned the Parliament that then was for an Act to establish it For that being to pass the Royal Assent would in all Mens Judgment should such an Act have passed both Houses have been there rejected and either of the late Kings so far exasperated against the Company by an attempt of that Nature in diminution of their Prerogative that the least which could have been expected had been a Quo Warranto upon their backs to an utter dissolution of them So that upon the whole matter the present Company were put upon this Dilemma either to relinguish the Trade to the Interlopers and trade as private Persons which had been as before hinted to ruine themselves first and lose the Trade to the Nation in time Or to continue the Trade in a Joynt Stock exclusive to Interlopers upon and under the same Powers they then had as that Trade had been carryed on ever since its first establishment Which they doing How can it reasonably be fixed upon them that they were therefore Criminal or any wayes deserve those black aspersions which are now cast upon them for so doing Which is all shall be said to this last part of the first Objection That they had acted upon the Powers in their Charter which as some are pleased to say are not legal as not confirmed by Act of Parliament The next Objection against the present Company by which they are endeavoured to be rendred vile and odious is that they are in a Bankrupt Condition An Imaginary Fund a Nominal Stock not having any Estate or real Stock And to fortifie this Calumny they have been pleased to take the pains to draw up the form of an account wherein besides vast Sums left in Blank They have therein made the present Company to be 900000 l. worse than nothing A most excellent attempt and sutable it is confessed to the confidence of the Undertaker To enter upon the examination of any of the particulars therein contained would seem as ridiculous as their attempt of exposing them Since no Man that understands any Dealing in the World but understandeth withal that at that rate it is an easie matter to make any either Community or Private Persons Bankrupt at their pleasure Sufficient it is that the present Company are not only willing but able to pay their own just Debts without being liable to satisfie the capricious Demands of every idle Brain Nor can any