Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A35860
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A Dialogue between a director of the new East-India Company and one of the committee for preparing by-laws for the said company in which those for a rotation of directors and the preventing of bribes are particularly debated.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing D1293; ESTC R343
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20,712
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32
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the Commanders Licences to trade we may expect they will be more favourable to their own Interest than that of the Company by how much the one is nearer to them than the other And when Directors may freight their own Ships any Tool they have will be adjudged fit for our Service whereas when they are not concern'd themselves and so not byass'd by their Interest they will not fail to be curious and nice in their Choice and we shall be sure to have the best and properest Ships the Kingdom affords and upon the best Terms To let the Directors be both Buyers and Sellers of their own Commodities and letting and hiring their own Ships is the same thing would be an unaccountable folly in us and I hope the loss and inconveniences the Old Company have suffered by that Liberty will be a sufficient warning to us to avoid the same Errour At present there are not many of our Directors concern'd in such Shipping as is proper for the India Trade therefore this By-Law can be only an Inconvenience to a few and why we should for the Advantage of five or six Directors neglect the making of a Law that will for ever secure the Company from many mischiefs which may attend us by wanting such a Law is what I cannot understand besides it will be less prejudicial to the Directors and easier obtain'd to make such a By-Law now while they are little concern'd in Shipping than hereafter when by such a Liberty their Concern in it is become much greater And without pretending to a Spirit of Prophecy I will affirm that before we are six Months older those Directors who are not concern'd in the Shipping you shall freight for this Season will not have such an aversion to this By-Law as they now seem to have If any Director have a small Part of a Ship that is fit for the India Trade which by this Law cannot serve the Company till that Director hath sold his Part the rest of the Owners will readily buy it almost on his own Terms to make her free for the Company 's Service so that in that Case which is thought the hardest the Director can suffer no Loss but will be rather a Gainer But if his Part be very large every one may guess how that will byass him to the Company 's Prejudice It may be said those Directors that are not concern'd in Shipping may hire Ships adjust Damages Demurrages c. But every body knows how apt those that sit at the same Board are to favour one another so that such a Method will but deceive us and can be no Security to the Company besides those Directors that have not been concern'd in Shipping will want Skill and Experience to manage those Affairs and cannot be thought so proper to compose a Committee of Shipping as others that have been long acquainted with the nature of it And while I am speaking of Committees let me observe to you that a By-Law for a Change or Rotation amongst the several Committees as well as amongst the Directors at the Annual Election would in my Opinion be of great Advantage and Security to the Company both for preventing Corruption and giving each Director an opportunity to be acquainted with all the Affairs of the Company whereas by continuing the same Committees they will be almost Strangers to all other Business but that under their particular management We have liberty by our Charter to make what By-Laws we please for our Security and good Government and since we have seen those Rocks and Sands on which the Old Company have split we shall be extreamly wanting to our selves and our Posterity if we do not provide sufficiently against them but suffer our selves to be bubled out of our Safety and Senses by Sophistry and false Reasoning D. You seem mighty warm for your By-Laws as if they were so great a Security to the Company against the ill Practices of the Directors whereas if we were ill Men it would require no great thought or cunning to elude the force of most of them and more particularly your By-Law about Shipping and that against receiving Gifts or Bribes as you call them therefore when all is done you must trust to our honesty C. I am senlible there is a great deal of Truth in what you now say yet it is no good Argument against having By-Laws because ill Men may elude them they will however be some Awe and Restraint upon them if ever we should have such Directors lest they should be discover'd But if By-Laws cannot restrain them or secure us nor Mens Integrity be intirely depended upon by reason of the general Corruption of Mankind then as I said before with which I will conclude The best and only good Security we can have against the evil Practices of bad Men and subjecting our best Men to Temptations will be a frequent change of Hands by a thorow Rotation of the Directors in the space of three Years For if the Directorship be but of a short continuance and none enjoy it above three Years successively they cannot have time to form and accomplish private Designs before they be removed for those that succeed them will discover their Intrigues and break all their Measures And which may be of no small Advantage and Security to us Men will be at a loss where to place their Gifts when the Power and opportunity of recompencing them is by this means become so precarious and uncertain FINIS Advertisement THis Dialogue was prepared several Months ago but the Publication of it was defer'd till the By-Laws to be proposed to the General Court were finish'd by which means some Passages in it may have elapsed their time BOOKS sold by Andrew Bell in Cornhil DIscourses concerning Government by Algernon Sidney Son to Robert Earl of Leicester and Ambassador from the Commonwealth of England to Charles Gustavus King of Sweden Published from an Original Manuscript of the Author Price 16 s. A complete Collection of the Historical Political and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton both English and Latin With some Papers never before publish'd In 3 Vol. To which is presix'd The Life of the Author containing besides the History of his Works several extraordinary Characters of Men and Books Sects Parties and Opinions Price 40 s. The General History of England both Ecclesiastical and Civil from the earliest Accounts of Time to the Reign of his present Majesty King William III. Taken from the most antient Records Manuscripts and Historians Containing the Lives of the Kings and Memorials of the most Eminent Persons both in Church and state With the Foundations of the Noted Monasteries and both the Universities Vol. I. By James Tyriel Esq Fol. Price 1 l. An Inquiry concerning Virtue in two Discourses the first of Virtue and the belief of a Deity the second of the Obligations to Virtue Price in Calf 2 s. 6 d. 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