A JOURNAL OF Several Remarkable Passages BEFORE The Honourable House of Commons and the Right Honourable the Lords of Their Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council RELATING TO The East-India Trade THE Ruinous Condition of our Trade to the East-Indies having put several Merchants and others upon considering by what means so Advantagious and Profitable a Trade might be secured from being utterly lost to this Kingdom and if possible be re-establisht It was concluded that the most likely way to obtain that end was to endeavour the procuring an Act of Parliament for establishing a new East-India Company founded on a new and sufficient National Joint-Stock clear of all Incumbrances Whereupon those Merchants prepared the following Petition which was delivered to the Honourable House of Commons the 23 October 1691. Praying such an Establishment To the Honourable the Commons of England in Parliament Assembled The Humble Petition of several Merchants and Traders in and about the City of London and other Their Majesties Subjects Sheweth THat the Trade to East India is of great Importance to this Nation and yet by the manifold abuses and unlawful Practices of the present East India Company both at home and abroad who have managed the same only for their Private Gain without any regard to the Publick Good the said Trade is like to be utterly lost to this Kingdom and to fall into the hands of Foreiners unless timely prevented by some better Regulation thereof on a New Joint-Stock and Constitution Your Petitioners therefore most Humbly pray this Honourable House for preventing so National a mischief to take into your Consideration the Establishing a New East-India Company in such manner and with such Powers and Limitations as in your great Wisdom shall be thought most conducing to the preservation of so beneficial a Trade to this Kingdom And Your Petitioners shall ever Pray c. This Petition was Signed by a great Number of Gentlemen Merchants and other Traders who together with several Noble Lords shewed their Willingness to Promote so good a Work and to be Concerned the several Sums by them Subscribed towards Raising such a Stock to carry on that Trade making it their request to those persons who had engaged themselves therein to pursue their endeavours to procure such an Establishment as appears by a Writing Signed to that effect Copy whereof follows WHereas the Trade to East-India is of very great importance to this Nation and yet through the many Abuses and Vnlawful Practises of the Managers of the present Joint Stock both at home and abroad is like to be utterly lost if some speedy Care be not taken by Application to Their Majesties and the Parliament to procure a regular and lawful Establishment of the same which cannot be compleated without a new and sufficient National Joint-Stock clear of all Incumbrances And Whereas divers Eminent Merchants and Traders in and about the City of London are accordingly endeavouring to procure such an Establishment for the Benefit and Advantage of all Persons who shall or will be concerned in the said Trade We the Subscribers being willing to promote so good a Work and desirous to preserve a Trade so highly beneficial to Their Majesties and this Kingdom in general do hereby severally Promise and Oblige our selves so soon as such Establishment shall be made to pay the several Summs of Money by us Subscribed towards raising the said Stock at such time and place as a Committee to be chosen by the major part of us the Subscribers shall direct and appoint And we do hereby make it our Request to those Persons who have engaged themselves by a certain Writing under their hands bearing date the 8 instant to endeavour the procuring such Establishment to pursue those their endeavours to perfect and compleat the same And we do hereby further promise to allow and pay them out of the said Joint Stock when the same shall be settled as aforesaid all such Sums of Money as shall be thought necessary by them to be laid out and disbursed in obtaining the said Establishment according to the true intent and meaning of this Preamble so as the account thereof be Allowed and Signed by the major part of those who have Subscribed the Writing above mentioned The Honourable House of Commons shewed a very great inclination and readiness to promote an undertaking so necessary and advantagious to this Kingdom and made a considerable Progress therein But finding themselves prevented in the Accomplishment of it as well by the pressing occasions of other Publick Affairs as by the great opposition of the then Company they presented to His Majesty the following Address Sabbati 6 die Februarii 1691. Resolved That An humble Address be made to His Majesty to Dissolve the present East-India Company according to his Power reserved in their Charter and to constitute another East India Company for the better preserving the East-India Trade to this Kingdom in such manner as His Majesty in His Royal Wisdom shall think fit Resolved That the said Address be Presented by the Whole House Jovis 11 die Februarii 1691. Mr. Speaker Reported to the House That he did yesterday Present to His Majesty their Humble Address touching the East-India Company and that His Majesty was pleased to express Himself to this effect That it was a matter of very great Importance to the Trade of this Kingdom and that it could not be expected He should give a present Answer to it but that He would take time to consider of it and in a short time give them His positive Answer Whereupon His Majesty during the recess of the Parliament referred the Consideration of the Settlement of that Trade to a Committee of the Lords of His Most Honourable Privy Council who were likewise prevented therein by the then Company as may appear by the Regulations which their Lordships proposed to them and their Answer together with His Majesties Message sent to the House of Commons the last Sessions complaining of their Carriage upon that occasion all which being lately Printed it will be needless to repeat them The Merchants who were entrusted in endeavouring to obtain the Establishment of a New East-India Company by Act of Parliament delivered another Petition to the Honourable House of Commons in the next Sessions as follows viz. To the Honourable the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled The Humble Petition of several Merchants and Traders in and about London and other Their Majesties Subjects Sheweth THat the Petitioners with many others did in the last Session of Parliament make their humble Application to this Honourable House for the Erecting a New East-India Company to preserve that Trade which for want of Settlement is in great measure lost to this Kingdom will wholly fall into the hands of our Neighbours unless timely prevented The Petitioners therefore humbly pray this Honourable House to take into Consideration the Erecting of a New East-India Company for the Retrieving and Securing that Trade to this
Nation in such manner as to the Great Wisdom of this House shall seem most Expedient And Your Petitioners shall ever Pray c. This Petition was delivered the 14th of Novemb. 1692. being the same day the aforesaid Message from His Majesty was sent them Wherein He acquainted the House That the Settlement of that Trade could not be perfected but by Parliament and Recommended it to them to prepare a Bill in Parliament for that purpose Accordingly they prepared a Bill for the Erecting of a New East-India Company but the perfecting of the same being again prevented by the Late Company that Honourable House made a second Address to His Majesty only to Dissolve the said Company which together with His Majesties Aswer was as follows Sabbati 25 die Februarii 1692. Resolved That an Humble Address be Presented to His Majesty That he will Dissolve the East-India Company upon Three Years warning to the said Company according to the Power reserved in their Charter Resolved That the said Address be presented by the whole House Veneris 30 Die Martis 1692. Mr. Speaker reported to the House That he did yesterday present to His Majesty their Address touching the East-India Company and that His Majesty was pleased to express himself to this Effect Viz. Gentlemen I will always do all the Good in my Power for this Kingdom and I will consider your Address Soon after the Rising of the Parliament it was generally reported Regulations were agreed on to establish the Late Company adding 756000 l. to their Stock by new Subscriptions without any Security which Summ with their supposed 744000 l. should make a Stock of 1500000 l. being what the House of Commons had Voted a Fund necessary to carry on that Trade The Members of the Company having given assurance that the 756000 l. would be readily Subscribed amongst themselves on those terms if others should decline it A New Charter was thereupon ordered to be prepared and it was given out That all Persons were satisfied with and agreed to these Regulations and particularly that they were approved of by all or the most of those who had been entrusted to procure the Settlement of this Trade in a New Company establisht by Act of Parliament But they being far from approving any such Proceedings thought themselves concerned to Vindicate their own Reputation lest they should be censured as consenting thereunto and so to have betrayed that Trust which was reposed in them viz. To endeavour the obtaining the Establishment of a New Company for that Trade by Act of Parliament with a New and Sufficient Joint-Stock free of all Incumbrances Therefore they resolved to Petition His Majesty in which all those who first engaged in the prosecution of that Business concurred excepting one who desired to be excused and another who had already changed his mind acting in behalf of the Late Company in opposition to what he had at first undertaken The Petition was delivered the 23d of March as followeth viz. To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of divers Merchants and others of the City of London Sheweth THat the Petitioners with many others after their humble Application first made to Your Majesty did prefer their Petitions to the Commons of England in Parliament assembled the two last Sessions for the Establishing a New East-India Company and preserving that Trade to the Nation whereupon two Addresses to Your Majesty ensued from the said House Now in as much as the Petitioners do most humbly conceive That such an Establishment by a New Free and National Subscription for the Raising a sufficient and real Fund to carry on that Trade would be of great Advantage to this Kingdom and most acceptable to Your Majesties Subjects in general And that the Adding New Subscriptions to the Imaginary Stock of the present Company would expose such of Your Majesties Subjects as should Joyn with them to a certain great Loss and Damage and their New Money become liable to Pay the Debts and Demands due from the present Company whereby all the Stock raised by such New Subscriptions may be swallowed up and consequently the entire Loss of that Trade endangered The Petitioners therefore most humbly Pray That Your Majesty out of Your Princely Care for the Good of Your People would be graciously pleased to take the same into Consideration so that the aforesaid Mischiefs may be prevented and all Your Majesties Subjects made Partakers of the Benefit of that Trade upon Equal Terms And Your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever Pray c. The Parliament having Taxed several Joint-Stocks the last Sessions and among others the Joint-Stock of the East-India Company and Rated it at 744000 l. and the Members of the East-India Company who were of that Honourable House pleading to excuse that Tax That their Stock would be worth little or nothing if they Payd their Debts it was thereupon Enacted as follows And in case the Governours and Treasurers of the said respective Companies shall make Default in Payment of the said several Sums or any of them respectively Charged on the Stocks of the said Companies at the Days and Times aforesaid according to the true Intent of this Act the Charter of such Company respectively shall be and is hereby Adjudged to be Uoid The Company nevertheless made Default in Paying the first quarterly Payment of the said Tax on the 25 of March being the day limited in that Act whereby their Charters became absolutely Void which put a stop to the further proceeding of their intended New Charter Hereupon it was generally concluded This Accident would have given a favourable Opportunity for the speedy Settlement of that Trade on such a Foundation as the House of Commons had desired and the Nation expected which had before been so long Obstructed by the Late Company seeing they were now Dissolved by their own Act and thereby the difficulty of the Three Years Warning was wholly removed But those Hopes were soon dissipated Orders being given for the drawing a New Charter to Restore to the Late Company not only their former Grants but to establish new Regulations appointing 756000 l. to be added by new Subscriptions to their supposed 744000 l. without any Security to be given to make their Stock worth it in like manner as it was resolved to have been done if their Charters had not been Forfeited Upon which those who had been entrusted to obtain the Establishment of a New East-India Company by Act of Parliament entred Caveats at all the Offices against the Passing any Grant to the said Company that so nothing might be wanting on their parts to Oppose it But the Difficulties were so great in Modelling such a Charter as was proposed that after some time spent at last it was judged most practicable and expeditious first to Grant a Charter of Incorporation and Restoration and afterwards to add to it the other intended Regulations Notice was sent to those who were concerned in the Caveats that they
prove That their Unjust and Unwarrantable Actions have been such as have tended to the Scandal of our Religion to the Dishonour of the Crown and Nation the Reproach of our Laws the Oppression of the People and the Loss of the Trade it self For some of which they and their Agents have been justly Censured in Parliament But to follow the Respondents in their own Method As to the Petition relating to the Charter now lying before Your Majesty The Petitioners in all humility Reply That the Respondents have endeavoured to Evade the main Scope thereof which was not as they insinuate only to suspend the Passing of the Charter but that the Petitioners Right to the Freedom of that Trade might be determined by a due course of Law In order to which the Petitioners offered to Join in a speedy Trial which would settle this matter and the Respondents avoiding it plainly argues their own Conviction that the Law is against them which makes them decline that Method of a Legal Determination by which the common Rights of all Men are and ought to be decided and therefore endeavour to draw it into question before Your Majesty in Council where they themselves know it cannot be determined But the Petitioners in humble Confidence of Your Majesties Justice hope that Your Majesty will not deprive them and the rest of Your Majesties Subjects of their Right thereunto For that the Petitioners are advised That not only the Executing such Prohibitory Powers but even the very Obtaining them are criminal and punishable by Law As to the First of the Eight Points insisted on by the Respondents viz. The Nature of the Avoidance of their Charters by Act of Parliament c. The Petitioners humbly Reply That the desired Charter is not so properly a Restauration of the Late Company as a New Creation and that a Corporation when once Void as in the present Case cannot be Restored by a Charter of Restauration but must be done either by an Act of Parliament or a Charter of New Creation and so is the Scope of the Grant now desired And as to the Respondents Pretence That the Intention of the Parliament was not to Dissolve them 'T is most evident That the Parliament did Intend that their Failure of Payment at the day should Determin their Charter for that the time of Payment is made peremptory and penal by the words and meaning of the said Act and no Averrment in any case ought to be Received out of Parliament to Construe an Act of Parliament contrary to the express Letter of it especially where the Parliament who made the Act is in being and like to be so soon Assembled again But the industrious and eager Application of the Respondents for a Charter to Pass when the Session is so very near plainly shews they are convinced That the Parliament had no such Intention whatever they may pretend For the House of Commons was so far from discovering the least Intention to continue them when they were a Company much less to Restore them now they are not that they have twice solemnly Addressed to His Majesty to Dissolve them and in the whole time that this matter was depending before them 't is observable they did not make any the least step which tended to their Continuance Moreover the restless Importunity of the Respondents for a Charter at this time is the more unseasonable in regard His Majesty declared in His Message to the House of Commons the last Session That the Dissolving the Late Company and constituting a New one tho' necessary to preserve this Trade could not be perfected by His own Authority alone without the concurrence of the Parliament to make it complear and useful And for that reason having commanded all the Proceedings in that matter to be laid before them His Majesty referred it to their Settlement who being prevented by the Companies great Opposition Addressed to the King the last Session to Determin the Charter reserving the Settlement of that Trade to themselves as His Majesty had graciously Referred it And this zealous Application of the Respondents for a Charter to pass so nigh the Session can be no other than a Design in them to take the Settlement of that Trade out of those very hands to which His Majesty did so expresly commit it Therefore it seems a great failure in the Respondents of that Duty they owe to Your Majesty To press so earnestly the Passing a Charter in direct opposition to the declared Sence and repeated desires of the Commons in Parliament so nigh the time of their Meeting As to the Respondents pretence of Equity in case of Penalties and Forfeitures the Petitioners humbly Reply That tho' there can be no Equity against the penalty of an Act of Parliament yet the forfeited Estate of the Late Company being now Your Majesties may be Restored to them at Your Majesties pleasure without any such Charter as is desired if Your Majesty shall think fit so far to remit the Forfeiture which with humble submission is all the equity they can pretend to And if their Estate be so valuable as they alledge it is Your Majesties Remitting their Forfeiture as to that will be so great a Grace and Bounty toward them that they will have no reason to urge the Payment of their Tax as an Argument for a New Charter or any ways to regret the Payment ' thereof And because the Respondents have endeavoured to excuse their Non-payment alledging the Exchequer was shut and that their Money was ready had the Officers been there to Receive it The Petitioners cannot but Observe That all their other Allegations are made the less creditable by the insincerity of this For when this Matter was referred by Your Majesty to be Examined it did plainly appear by the Testimony of some of the Principal Officers in the Receipt of Your Majesties Exchequer taken in the presence of several of the Respondents themselves and afterwards confirmed by the Affidavits of several of the Under-officers now ready to be produced That the Office-doors were open on the 25th of March last during the usual Hours that the Officers were attending in their Places that Publick Business was dispatched and that the Respondents Money would have been Received if it had been Tendred Which Misrepresentation of this Matter to Your Majesty is a great Presumption in the Respondents Besides their eager pressing for a New Charter is a sufficient Argument of their Self-conviction That their Money was neither Paid nor Tendred at the time appointed and consequently That their Charters are Void As to the Second Allegation in the said Answer wherein the Respondents charge the Petitioners to insist That such Restitution and Grant of the Sole Trade is against Law and do assert the Power of the Prerogative in Granting a Sole Trade to some with Exclusion to others Forasmuch as the Respondents do urge the Power of the Prerogative to Obstruct the Petitioners in the Exercise of their Lawful
from some Subjects and to grant it to others exclusive of the rest would be of dangerous consequence to this Kingdom having a direct tendency to incline future Kings to Farm out all Trade and so to raise Money without the Aid of a Parliament And the Asserting the Right of the Subject is now the more requisite in as much as the omitting it so long has been a Grievance which calls the louder for its present Redress having already given way to a Pretence of Prescription which was also urged as an Argument for the Power of the Crown to restrain this Trade Though it will as is humbly supposed plainly appear by what has been already observed as well as by these following considerations That the Crown has not the Power of restraining Foreign Trade to some and Excluding others without an Act of Parliament 1. By the confirming the Hudsons Bay Company by Act of Parliament since Their Majesties Accession to the Crown which is a clear demonstration of the Insufficiency of any Charter to Exclude the Subjects of England from Foreign Trade without an Act of Parliament and of this the East-India Company were sufficiently convinc'd having Petitioned this present House of Commons for the like Establishment whereby they themselves admit That the Crown could not Exclude from that Trade without an Act of Parliament 2. By the several Judgments which have been given in Westminster-Hall since their Majesties Happy Accession to the Crown against the stopping Ships bound to the East-Indies and against the seizing of Ships and Goods by colour of such Excluding Charters for Trading to the East-Indies and Guiney within the limits of them thereby declaring it Lawful for the Subjects of England to Trade into the East-Indies and Guinney notwithstanding those Charters and without any particular License from the King for so doing 3. By His Majesties Message sent the House of Commons the last Session in answer to their Address of the former Session for Dissolving the late Company wherein it s declared That he could not settle it by his own Authority alone and that the Concurrence of the Parliament is necessary to make a compleat and useful Settlement of this Trade To Conclude a short Bill for the Declaring and Asserting the Right of the Subject to the Freedom of Foreign Trade might be Past speedily without obstruction to the other Publick Affairs and might be a means to facilitate the establishment of a new Company for the carrying on this Trade by a new National Joint-Stock to be raised by new Subscriptions if the Wisdom of the Parliament shall think that the best method for the future carrying on of this Trade This would remove those Difficulties and Oppositions which have hitherto prevented that settlement by making the opposite Parties Concur in their endeavours to obtain it and would be a means effectually to secure that Trade from being lost until such a settlement of it can be made as the Parliament shall judge most beneficial to this Kingdom One great Objection urged by the Favourers of the Company against such a Freedom of Trade is That it will spoil the Trade which therefore deserves to be considered But it s very remarkable if they are ask't how the Trade will be spoilt whither the Trade will not be carried on our Manufacture Exported and East-India Goods Imported They will allow all these will be done in an open Trade But how then will the Trade be spoilt The Answer is obvious just as it would spoil any other Monopoly who have the sole Buying and sole Selling of any Commodity if others were admitted to sell the same they must be content to get less English Goods will be sold cheaper there and East-India Goods will be sold cheaper here And if this he the Case as its plain it is such a Freedom of Trade would make the Trade better for the Publick though it might be worse for those that drive it All which is Humbly submitted to the Honourable House of Commons c. FINIS
might attend the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham on Monday the 31 of July and be heard as to what they had to say against the Passing the Grant to the East-India Company which was then before his Lordship At which time several Merchants attended his Lordship on both sides whom his Lordship made acquainted with the Contents of that Grant a Copy of which was desired by those who were concerned in the Caveats and that some time might be allowed them to make such Exceptions as they should be advised were Necessary and the Company consenting a Copy was granted which was delivered the next day in the Evening and the same Afternoon Her Majesties pleasure was signified That those who did Oppose the Passing the Grant to the East-India Company should be heard before Her Majesty in Council the Thursday following They attended accordingly and having informed Her Majesty That they could not possibly Instruct their Counsel or be ready themselves at so short a warning to give Her Majesty the Satisfaction which was necessary in a matter of so great concern they Humbly Prayed 14 days longer time to which Her Majesty was graciously pleased to condescend and Ordered that all Persons should attend the 17 day of August as appears by the following Order At the COVRT at White-Hall The Third of August 1693. Present The QVEENS Most Excellent Majesty in COUNCIL A Draught of a New Charter to the East-India Company having been Presented to the Queen and several Merchants and Traders having Humbly Prayed to be Heard before the Passing of the said Charter Her Majesty in Council is pleased to Order and it is hereby Ordered accordingly That this Matter be Heard at the Board this day Fortnight Whereof all Parties concerned are to take Notice and to give their Attendance accordingly William Bridgman Those who called themselves the East-India Company having Petitioned Her Majesty for Protection for 1200 Seamen a Method practised by all Traders during this War On the 17th of August the Merchants that Opposed the Late East-India Company Delivered a Petition also to Her Majesty in Council Praying Protection for 400 Sea-men to Man 5 Ships for the East-Indies this Season For as there was no Law so neither was there at that juncture so much as the Pretence of any Charter to hinder them in the Prosecution of that Trade or which could give colour to Deprive any of Their Majesties Subjects of an equal Enjoyment of it And if it had not been for the War and the want of Protections for Seamen they would have Entred their Ships at the Custom-House Bare-faced for the East-Indies and stood upon the Law for their Justification The Petition following was Read but no Order was made thereupon To the Queens Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of several Merchants and Traders of the City of London in Behalf of Themselves and others Your Majesties Subjects Sheweth THat whereas the Petitioners are Advised by Counsel Learned in the Law That they and all Your Majesties Subjects have an Equal Right to the Trade of the East-Indies And for as much as the Petitioners have Provided considerable quantities of Cloth and other Manufactures of this Kingdom to be Exported thither and that the Exportation thereof for other Parts is very much Interrupted by reason of the present War to the Great Damage and Discouragement of the Manufacturers The Petitioners therefore Humbly Pray Your Majesty would be graciously pleased to Order That the Petitioners may have Four Hundred English Seamen to go to the East-Indies in Five Ships to carry out such Woollen and other Goods as they shall Provide to be Exported thither this approaching Season And Your Petitioners shall ever Pray c. The same day in pursuance of the Order of the 3d of August all Parties Appeared and being Called in the Merchants who Opposed the Passing of the Late Companies Charter Represented to Her Majesty I. The Unseasonableness of the Time for doing it so near the Sessions of Parliament to whom the Settlement of this Trade was Recommended by His Majesties Message sent the House of Commons the Last Sessions II. The Unlawfulness of a Grant of the Sole Trade to some Exclusive of others III. The Illegality of several other Clauses and Powers contained in their former Charters intended to be restored The Power of Her Majesties Prerogative to Grant that Trade to some and Exclude others was Vigorously Asserted and Maintained as Law Whereupon it was Proposed by the Merchants Council that an Issue should be setled in which they would join and bring that Point to a Tryal the next Term that so it might be Legally determined But this was declined and it was alledged the matter had been Legally determined already by a Judgment in Westminster-Hall which Judgment its remarkable was given in a Time when Judges did also declare the Crown had a Power to Dispence with all Laws neither of which Judgments were ever esteemed as Law by Men Skilled in that Profession After much Time spent in hearing the Arguments on both sides the Parties were dismist without any resolution taken and Her Majesty not having declared her Pleasure on the Petition which was delivered for Protection for 400 Sea-men to go to the East-Indies this Season The 31th August the Merchants delivered Her Majesty in Council another Petition to the same effect as the former To the Queens Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of several Merchants in behalf of themselves and others Sheweth THat whereas the Petitioners and several others in Pursuance of the Right which they conceive they have by Law to Trade to the East-Indies did lately make their Humble Application to Your Majesty for 400 English Sea-men to go thither in Five Ships and carry out such Cloth and other Goods as they should provide to be exported thither this approaching Season The Petitioners therefore Humbly Pray Your Majesty to take their said Application into Consideration and Order them Protections for 400 Sea-men to go to the East-Indies this Year it being now high time to make Provision for the said Voyage or that they may be heard thereupon before Your Majesty in Council And Your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall Pray c. And the same day these Three other Petitions were likewise delivered To the Queens Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of several Merchants in behalf of themselves and others Sheweth THat whereas a Grant is now depending for the Restoring and Confirming to the Late East-India Company their former Charters and the Petitioners with several others having in Obedience to Your Majesties Commands Attended Your Majesty in Council Offered some Reasons against the Passing that Grant and being advised That as the said Charters are Voided by Act of Parliament they cannot be Restored and that they contain certain Clauses and Powers Repugnant to the Laws of this Land Magna Charta and several other Statutes And whereas the Late Company have formerly by colour of those Illegal Powers greatly