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
Recompence for the Injury the loss of Life being irrecoverable The Petitioners therefore Humbly Offer it to Your Majesties Consideration How far it may consist with Your Majesties Justice or the Safety of Your People to trust the Respondents with such a dangerous Advantage over the Lives Liberties and Properties of their Fellow-Subjects by giving them a Grant of so mysterious Powers under the obscure denomination of such as may be Lawfully used especially when the same Persons have already believed all the Powers in their old Charters to be Lawful and have Executed them so Inhumanely as aforesaid Wherefore the Petitioners with all due submission to Your Majesty cannot but think themselves the more concerned to oppose the desired Charter in the very passing it for that after it is once passed the Petitioners some of whom have considerable Estates in the East-Indies and also all the rest of Your Majesties Subjects who being entituled to the Freedom of that Trade shall exercise the same have no way to avoid the Execution of the Dangerous Powers therein restored and contained or to secure their Lives Liberties and Estates in India against the Violences which by colour of such Powers may as formerly be there executed in as much as those Powers being generally such as are to be used in Places remote and out of the reach of the ordinary Justice of this Kingdom Your Majesties Subjects can neither be able to prevent or resist those Violences before they are committed nor to recover any Satisfaction or Redress for the same by any course of Law after they have been committed of which the Respondents have given the Nation already too many woful Experiments though the Powers in their former Charters were declared to be limited to such only as were not repugnant to the Laws of this Land and yet divers of them were notoriously illegal and owned to be so lately in Your Majesties Presence even by the Respondents own Councel As to the Respondents Answer concerning the Petitioners Request for a Protection for 400 Sea-men to go in Five Ships to the East-Indies Though the Respondents have insinuated as if the Petitioners design to invade and lessen Your Majesties Prerogative thereby The Petitioners in all Humility reply That the Respondents make a very forced and unnatural construction of that Your Petitioners humbly desire for no consequence can be thence inferred of prejudicing any Right Your Majesty hath by indulging them in that their Request And the Petitioners humbly conceive they cannot be said to diminish Your Majesties Prerogative by desiring only a Protection for Sea-Men for the exercise of their lawful Trade and Merchandize which tends to the promoting the publick advantage of the Kingdom in general and in particular the augmenting of Your Majesties Revenue The Petitioners therefore humbly offer it to Your Majesties consideration how far it may be thoughtfit in this place to determine so great and National a Property of which all the people of England are now in actual Possession by passing any Charter to the contrary whether it be put in execution or not especially so near the Session of a Parliament who have had this matter under their Debate for Two several Sessions's and in the last by the particular Command and Recommendation of the King Himself And therefore the Petitioners humbly Pray that the settlement of this Trade may be left to the Parliament to whom His Majesty hath already so expresly Referred it by his Message Or that the Right of the Subject to that Trade may be determined by a due Course of Law before any farther Proceedings And in the mean time that the Petitioners may have Your Majesties Gracious Protection for 400 Sea-men to Man Five Ships to the East-Indies this Season at whose Return the Customs payable to Your Majesty will not amount to less than 60000 l. that so they may not be interrupted in that Trade at this time when by reason of the War the Trade for most other parts is in a manner wholly Obstructed And Your Petitioners shall ever Pray c. An Abstract of some few of those Numerous Authorities of Common Law referred to in the preceding Reply THE Lord Chief Iustice Fortescue in the Reign of King Hen. 6. was a Man not only of great Learning but of remarkable Fidelity to the Crown and a Friend to the Lawful Prerogative and in his Book de Laudibus Legum Angliae cap. 36. he declares it Lawful for any man to Trade and Store himself with any Wares and Merchandizes at his own pleasure and that every Inhabitant of England by Law enjoyeth all the Fruits of his Land with all the Profits he gaineth by his own Labour by Sea or Land and is not to be hindred And in cap. 13. That the King is made and ordained for the Defence of the Law of His Subjects and of their Bodies and Goods and cannot Govern them by any other Law And Bracton lib. 3. fol. 123. says That which is anothers cannot be given away by the King And the Lord Cook 8. Rep. fol. 92. averrs That which is ours cannot be taken from us and transferred to another without our own act or defect And the Freedom of Trade being as necessary to a man as his Life the Law is so careful to preserve it to him that in many Cases the Law will not suffer him to be deprived of it neither by his own act or defect 1. As to his Act If a man give a Bond Not to Use his Trade tho' it be his own wilful act yet the Bond is Void and so is the Dyer's Case in Hen. 4. And if a man cannot Debarr himself of his Trade by his own act the King cannot certainly debarr him 2. As to his Defect If he make Default in paying his Rent c. the Tools of his Trade are by the Law protected from a Distress Which shews what care the Law took to prevent no more than a meer temporary Obstruction in a man's Trade and therefore how much more will it secure him against the total Deprivation of it And by Magna Charta cap. 14. An Amerciament must be so moderate as to be Salvo Contenemento and on a Merchant particularly Salvâ Merchandizâ Iudge Fitz-Herbert in his Natura Brevium fol. 85. declares By the Common Law every man may go out of the Realm to Merchandize or on Pilgrimage or for what other cause he pleaseth without the King's leave In the Lord Cook 's 3. Instit. fol. 181. Trade is declared to be Free for all and not to be converted to the profit of a few and that 't is unjust to permit some and prohibit others And in His 11. Report fol. 55. in the Taylor of Ipswich his Case and in Darcy and Allens Case fol. 86. it is expresly declared as the ground of the Resolution in both those Cases That by the Common Law no man can be Prohibited from his Trade And in the Report of the first of those Cases in 1.
bound not for Alicant as pretended but to East-India or other those Parts and Places the Sole Trade whereof is Granted to Your Petitioners by Your Majesties gracious Charter Which Proceedings being as well in contempt of Your Majesties Government and the known Laws of this Kingdom as to the very great prejudice of Your Petitioners They Humbly Pray a Stop may be put to the said Ship 'till Your Majesty shall be satisfied where she is really bound And Your Petitioners shall ever Pray c. Whereupon the following Order past At the COVRT at White-Hall The 21th of October 1693. Present The QVEENS Most Excellent Majesty in COUNCIL UPON Reading this day at the Board the Humble Petition of the Governour and Company of Merchants of London Trading to the East-Indies setting forth That they have notice that the Ship Redbridge Edward Smith Commander with fifty Seamen who had License to proceed on a Voiage to Allicant in Spain from the Commissioners of the Admiralty pursuant to an Order of this Board of the 12th of Sept. last is really bound not for that place but to the East-Indies or other places the sole Trade whereof is granted to the Petitioners by Their Majesties Charter and therefore Praying a Stop may be put to the said Ship It is Ordered by Her Majesty in Council that the said Ship Redbridge be immediately stopt from proceeding in her pretended Voiage to Allicant or elsewhere until further Order from this Board and the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury and Commissioners of the Admiralty are to give the necessary directions accordingly And accordingly the said Ship was actually stopt to the great loss and damage of the concerned by which Practices the Exorbitancy of such a Power will appear and this plainly shews what construction the Company do and will put upon those Powers granted them by their Charter of Restoration Whereupon the Owners of the said Ship presented to His Majesty in Council the following Petition on the _____ of Novemb. 1693. To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of James Bateman Samuel Watts and Thomas Dade on behalf of themselves and others Owners and Freighters of the Ship Redbridge Sheweth THAT Your Majesty having been Graciously pleased to Grant Your Petitioners License for sending the said Ship Redbridge for Alicant Your Petitioners did Victual Fit out and Man the said Ship for the said Voyage And there being Four other Ships bound also for that Port all the Five Ships did interchangeably Enter into Covenants of the Penalty of Two Thousand Pounds and upwards each to stand by and assist one another if they were Attacked by the Enemy as by the said Charter-Party hereunto annexed more fully doth appear That Your Petitioners have paid all the Duties and Clearings and also given very good Security by Bond at the Custom-House that the said Ship shall Sail directly for Alicant and return from thence directly for England and the said Ship was in all points ready to have Sailed according to the said License when an Officer of the Admiralty by Vertue of an Order from Her Majesty and this most Honourable Board put a Stop unto her upon the East-India Companies Petition that they have Notice that the said Ship is bound to India Now forasmuch as this detention if longer continued will not only loose the Consortship of the other Four Ships which wait for her in the Downes wherein the Security of the Voyage doth so much consist but is also a present Loss upon Your Petitioners of Nine Pounds a Day for Wages and Victuals to the Sea-men And in regard the said Ship was stopt upon the bare Allegation of the said Company without any Proof or so much as a Hand to the Petition your Petitioners hope that the Charter Parties hereunto Annexed and the Bond given at the Custom-House shall be sufficient to clear her from this present Stop Therefore Your Petitioners do most Humbly pray Your Majesty that the said Ship may be permitted according to her License and the Security given to proceed on her Voyage for Alicant in Company with the other four Ships And they shall ever Pray c. Upon which Petition the Examination of this matter was Referred by His Majesty to the Lords of the Admiralty and after some time the Ship was cleared and permitted to proceed on her Voyage to Alicant as appears by the Report made to His Majesty by the Lords of the Admiralty and the Order of Council thereupon Copyes whereof are hereunto annext Admiralty Office 7th Nov. 1693. By the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of England Ireland c. IN Obedience to His Majesties Order in Council on the Petition of James Bateman Samuel Watts and Thomas Dade on behalf of themselves and others Owners and Freighters of the Ship Redbridge Praying That the Stop lately put to the Sailing of the said Ship to Allicant may be taken off and that she may be permitted to proceed on her said Voiage We have Examined into the same and find that the said Ship Redbridge is bound by Charter-party to proceed for Allicant and return from thence directly for London in Company with four other Ships And Sir William Gore Sir Samuel Dashwood Mr. Isaac Houblon and several others in behalf of the East-India Company as also Mr. Shephard Mr. Bateman and other Owners and Freighters of the said Ship being fully heard the former as to what they could alledge against and the latter for her Proceeding It does not appear to us that there is any grounds for Continuing the present Stop on her And therefore we are humbly of opinion she may be permitted to Sail on her intended Voiage to Allicant which the aforesaid Gentlemen who appeared in behalf of the East-India Company did consent to upon Mr. Shephard 's declaring before this Board That the said Ship is not bound to the East-Indies but to Allicant and from thence back to London Faulkland J. Lowther Rob. Austen R. Rich. At the COURT at White-Hall The 9th of November 1693. Present The KINGS Most Excellent Majesty in COUNCIL UPON Reading a Report from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty Dated 7th Instant It is this day Ordered by His Majesty in Council That the Ship Redbridge be permitted to proceed on her Voiage to Allicant pursuant to the Order of this Board of the 12th of September notwithstanding the Stop put to her Sailing by Order of the 21st of October last on the Petition of the East-India Company and the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury and Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are to give Directions accordingly William Bridgeman By which its very plain that such proceedings if they are not prevented will render all the Foreign Trade of England Precarious by being subject to be interrupted by the Caprice or Malice of any one who is a Committee Man of the East-India Company The admitting such a Power in the Crown to restrain Foreign Trade
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
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
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
supply so large a Trade Which is an Argument to enforce the Petitioners Prayer That all Your Majesties Subjects may have the Liberty freely to Export Cloth thither And the rather for that the Petitioners find there was 953 Cloths Exported in the two Ships which went to the East-Indies last year for Private Accounts which was near three times as much Cloth as the Company had Exported for Three Years Trade Viz. in 1688 89 and 1689 90 and 1690 91 and was so much more than would have been Exported if those Ships had not gone thither And as to the Pretence of their Exporting this Year the Value of 100000 l. in Cloth and other Goods of the Product of England if they may obtain a Sufficient Number of Shipping It will appear to be of very little weight when it 's considered how little Cloth they have Exported thither in their Four last Years Trade of which the whole Value doth not amount to above One Fifth Part of the Sum which they pretend they will Export this Year although they had a Sufficient Number of Shipping in those Years And the Petitioners have great Reason to Believe and are ready to Prove That all the other Merchandizes of the Growth and Manufacture of England which they Exported in those years did not amount to more than the Cloth And the Petitioners being certain they could now Sell great quantities of Cloth to other Merchants for the East-Indies if a Liberty were allowed to all Your Majesties Subjects freely to Export it thither Do therefore Humbly Pray Your Majesty That a Free Exportation of Cloth for the East-Indies may be Allowed to All Your Majesties Subjects at this time for that the Exportation of the said Manufacture is in a manner wholly Interrupted by reason of the present Obstruction of Trade for Turkey and the Streights And Your Petitioners shall ever Pray c. But the Clothiers Reply not being Delivered the Merchants gave in to Her Majesty in Council the following Paper being an Account of the Cloth which the late East-India Company had Exported in Five Years Trade which Account was taken from the Custom-House Books CLOTH Exported by the East-India Company in the Years 1688 89 1689 90 1690 91 1691 92 1692 93. 1688 89. On the Chaundois .... 54 Cloths 343½ Cloths 1688 89. On the Benjamin ... 178½ Cloths 343½ Cloths 1688 89. On the Herbert .... 111 Cloths 343½ Cloths In 1689 90 and 1690 91 None at all  1691 92. On the Modena .... 900 Cloths 918 Cloths 1691 92. On the Charles the 2d .. 18 Cloths 918 Cloths 1692 93. On the Princess Ann 421¼ Cloths 565½ Cloths 1692 93. On the Defence .... 144¼ Cloths 565½ Cloths  1827 Cloths The same day Counsel was heard again on behalf of those who entred the Caveats to whom Their Majesties Council and the late Company Reply'd A Petition was likewise delivered by the Inhabitants of Cornwal which took up some debate which Petition follows To the Queens Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of several Inhabitants of the County of Cornwal in behalf of themselves and other the Inhabitants of the said County Sheweth THAT His Late Majesty King Charles the First of Blessed Memory did by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England bearing date the 26th of January in the Nineteenth Year of his Reign for the Considerations therein Expressed Grant unto all and every the Men and Inhabitants of the County of Cornwal then being or that hereafter should be that they and every of them by themselves and their Factors should from thenceforth and forever have a Free Trade and Commerce unto and from all Ports and Places whatsoever in Amity with the Crown of this Realm By vertue of which Grant the Petitioners humbly conceive they have a Right to Trade to the East-Indies as well as elsewhere And whereas the Petitioners are informed that a Charter is now under Your Majesties Consideration for Granting the Sole Trade to the East-Indies to Sir Thomas Cook and others Exclusive to all the rest of Your Majesties Subjects The Petitioners therefore Humbly Pray Your Majesty That the Rights and Priviledges Granted by the said Letters Patents to the Inhabitants of the said County of Cornwal may be preserved to them in the said intended Charter or that the Petitioners may be heard thereupon before Your Majesty in Council And Your Petitioners shall ever Pray c. Whereupon the following Order to Refer it to Mr. Attorney General was made Viz. At the COURT at White-Hall The 21th of September 1693. Present The QVEENS Most Excellent Majesty in COUNCIL UPON Reading the Annexed Petition of several Inhabitants of the County of Cornwal in behalf of themselves and other the Inhabitants of the said County Humbly Praying that the Rights and Priviledges Granted by Letters Patents of King Charles the First to the said Inhabitants to have a Free Trade and Commerce unto and from all Ports and Places whatsoever in Amity with the Crown of this Realm may be preserved to them in the intended Charter Granting the Sole Trade to the East-Indies to Sir Thomas Cook and others It is this day Ordered by Her Majesty in Council That it be and it is hereby Referred to Mr. Attorney General to examine the Petitioners Allegations And to Report to Her Majesty in Council how he finds the matter of Fact together with His Opinion thereupon Richard Colinge Next Council day Mr. Attorny General gave the following Report on the Reference made to him on the Cornish Petition viz. To the Queens Most Excellent Majesty May it please Your Majesty IN Humble Obedience to Your Majesties Order in Council upon the Petition of several Inhabitants of the County of Cornwal in behalf of themselves and other Inhabitants of the said County hereunto annexed I have in the presence of some of the Petitioners and their Counsel and some of the East India Company and their Counsel Examined the Petitioners Allegations and do find That His late Majesty King Charles the First by His Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England bearing date at Oxford the 26th day of January in the Nineteenth year of His Reign out of His Princely Contemplation of the many and extraordinary faithful Services to His said Majesty then of late performed by His County of Cornwal and for their better Encouragement to proceed in their Duty and Allegiance to His Person and Crown and for other Considerations Did for Himself His Heirs and Successours Give and Grant unto all and every the Men and Inhabitants Liege Subjects of the Kingdom of England within the said County of Cornwal then being and then after to be That they and every of them by themselves or any of them their or any of their Factors Agents or Servants Liberty and Freedom from time to time and at all times for ever afterwards to Trade Traffick and Commerce with their Ships and Vessels Goods and Merchandizes unto and from the Hanse-Towns and all
Ports and Places within the Dominions of the King of Denmark and Great Duke of Muscovia and all Ports and Places in the Levant Seas whilst they or any of them should be in amity with His said Majesty His Heirs and Successours and unto all other Ports and places for the time being in amity with His said Majesty His Heirs and Successours whether the Merchants of the East-land Russia and Turkia Companies of London and Company of Merchant-Adventures of London or any of them did or might Trade and unto and from all other Ports and Places whatsoever beyond the Seas for the time being in amity with His said late Majesty His Heirs and Successours whether any of the Subjects for the time being of His said Majesty His Heirs or Successours did or might Trade in as full and ample manner as His late Majesty could Grant the same saving His Right to His Customs and Duties Yielding and Paying therefore to His Majesty His Heirs and Successours the Summ of Four Shillings to be paid to the Sheriff of Cornwal at All Saints And His said Majesty did thereby for Himself His Heirs and Successors Promise and Grant to the said Men and Inhabitants as well present as to come That if any Doubt or Question should happen to arise touching the validity of that Grant that then upon the Petition of the said Men and Inhabitants or upon Notice or Certificate of their Learned Counsel touching any Defect to be amended * * Here the Crown Covenants to make this a Grant valid in Law in case of any defect therein His said late Majesty His Heirs or Successours would Grant other Letters Patents unto the said Men and Inhabitants with such Amendments Explanations Amplifications and Additions for supplying the said Defects as by their Counsel should be advised and thought fit and which might tend to the Confirmation of that present Grant or to the Perfection of His Majesties Intentions any way appearing with several Non obstante 's amongst which one is Tho' the said Men and Inhabitants in Construction of Law be not reputed a Corporation or Body-Politick nor Capable in Law to have and hold the Priviledge thereby Granted The Petitioners produced a Printed Paper Dated at Sudeley-Castle the 10th of September 1643. which was previous to the Grant purporting His said late Majesties Declaration of His sense of the Extraordinary Merit of the County of Cornwal for the Defence of His Person and Rights of His Crown wherein are contained many Gracious Expressions of thanks and acknowledgments to that County The said Petitioners produced also another Paper alledged to be a Copy of a Letter or Order from King Charles the Second and to be Countersigned By Mr. Secretary Coventry and Superscribed To the Right Honourable John Earl of Bath the Lord Mohun Lord Arundel of Trerice and divers other Eminent and Considerable Gentlemen of that County dated the 17th of March 1673. reciting the former Grant of King Charles the First and Commanding all Governours of Islands Castles Forts c. Captains Officers Agents Factors Merchants and all other His Subjects not to hinder or molest the Inhabitants of Cornwal their Agents Factors or Servants in their Trade or Traffick nor to detain seize or prejudice their Ships Goods or Merchandize but in all respects to treat them as His Majesties loving Subjects ought to be they always producing the Copy of the said former Grant and of the Letter attested under any five of the Persons hands to whom that Letter was Subscribed Commanding That no other Person be permitted to Trade under pretence of that former Grant but such only as are thereby designed Provided That if any of the Companies or Corporation of Merchants should find themselves aggreived with or by reason of the said former Grant they may try the validity thereof in any of His Majesties Courts of England proper for the same The Petitioners Council insisted that this was a good License to all the Inhabitants of Cornwal then and in future times to Trade to the Places therein mentioned and that though the East-Indies be not therein named yet that the Inhabitants might Trade thither as to a Place in Amity with the Crown and desired that a Proviso might be added to the Charter preparing for the East-India Company for saving the Inhabitants Right to that Trade by Vertue of the said Grant of King Charles the First and that the said Charter may not prejudice the same The Councel for the East-India Company Objected against the validity of that Grant of King Charles the First as not making any Corporation nor Conferring any Right to Trade in the East-Indies that place not being named nor any League Truce or Amity being made out to be between the Crown of England and the Princes or Governours of the places within the East-Indies and Asserted that this Grant of King Charles the First was never put in Execution and that if it was and continues a good Grant in point of Law it cannot nor will be prejudiced by passing the Charter now under Consideration to the East-India Company In my Humble Opinion the Grant of King Charles the First is of an unusual Nature and by the Non obstante in it it seems as if it did not nor was not intended to make a Corporation and as this Case is I humbly conceive it did not make the Inhabitants of Cornwal a Corporation though there be a yearly Summ of Four Shillings reserved to the Crown and to have it operate as a personal Grant to each Inhabitant present and to come is not pretended to be good and by the general Words of it it seems to be an Invasion upon the Rights of the former Company therein mentioned which they held by Royal Charters preceeding to it and in Words confers a Liberty to Trade into Russia against an Act of Parliament that establishes that Trade to the Company Exclusive to all others This Grant was made when a former Charter was in being to an East-India Company which Charter was afterwards in the Reign of King Charles the Second renewed to that Company and for ought I can perceive there is no pretence of Exercise of the Liberty Conferred by that Grant since the making of it Vpon the whole matter I humbly conceive that Grant of King Charles the First to the Inhabitants of Cornwal * * Admittinâ— it were noâ— good yet 〈◊〉 Crown hatâ— covenanted to make it 〈◊〉 good Granâ— by any subâ—â—quent Charâ—â—â— to supply 〈◊〉 defects of tâ—â— former if ever it was good in Law cannot nor will be prejudiced by Passing the pretended Charter to the East-India Company which is rebutive only to what the late East-India Company lawfully Enjoyed the 24th of March last though there be no Proviso for saving the supposed Right of the Inhabitants as is desired All which nevertheless is most humbly submitted to Your Majesties Royal Wisdom and Pleasure Edw. Ward 28th Septemb. 1693. A Petition was then likewise Delivered by