In September, 1599, doubtless after many preliminary conferences, an association of merchant adventurers was formed in London for the purpose of prosecuting a voyage to the East Indies. At first, though a permanent company was evidently contemplated, only a single voyage was proposed. Accordingly, their contract simply purports to be “The names of suche persons as have written with there owe handes, to venter in the pretended voyage to the Easte Indias (the whiche it maie please the Lorde to prosper) and the somes that they will adventure, the xxij September, 1599.” The aggregate sum amounted to £30,133, 6s. 8d., and represented 101 adventures or shares, varying in amount from £100 to £3,000.
At the first general meeting, held two days after the date of the contract, it was resolved to petition the queen for her royal assent to a project “intended for the honour of their native country and the advancement of trade and merchandise within the realm of England; and to set forth a voyage to the East Indies and other islands and countries thereabout.” On the following day, when the fifteen committee men, or directors, to whom the management had been intrusted, held their first meeting, the petition was read and approved. After stating that “divers merchants, induced by the successe of the viage performed by the Duche nacion, and being informed that the Dutchemen prepare for a new viage, and to that ende have bought divers ships here, in Englande, were stirred with noe lesse affeccion to advance the trade of their native countrie, than the Duche merchaunts were to benefite their commonweal, and upon that affeccion have resolved to make a viage to the East Indias,” they pray to be incorporated into a company,
“for that the trade of the Indies being so remote could not be traded on but on a jointe and united stocke.” They also prayed to be permitted to export foreign coin, or, in the event of a deficiency, to have bullion coined for them at the queen’s mint; and, lastly, to be exempted for several years, as the Dutch merchants were, from payment of export or import duties.
On the 16th of October, the queen having signified her approbation of the voyage, the committee were exerting themselves to obtain permission for the vessels to proceed on their voyage without further delay, when an insurmountable obstacle arose from an unexpected quarter. Spain had suffered so much during her late wars that she began to feel the necessity of peace. Philip II, too, whose bigotry and ambition were the great obstacles to it, had been called to his account; and negotiations were commenced under circumstances which promised a favourable result. Were anything wanting to prove that England was sincere in the matter, it might be found in the retrograde step which government took in regard to the projected voyage to India. Its approbation had been formally declared; and yet, under the impression that the voyage might give umbrage to Spain, that approbation was expressly withdrawn. The committee of adventurers, fearing such a result, presented a long and elaborate memorial, in which they endeavoured to show, by a careful statement of all the localities in which the Spaniards could, with any show of reason, claim an exclusive right of trade, that the projected voyage would be so conducted as not to interfere in the least with the progress of the pending negotiations; but the lords of council answered that “it was more beneficiall for the generall state of merchandise to entertayne a peace, then that the same should be hindred by the standing with the Spanische commissioners, for the mayntayning of this trade, to foregoe the opportunity of the concluding of the peace.” To this answer no effectual reply could be made; and the adventurers, “fearing lest, after they were drawn into a charg, they should be required to desist their viage, did procede noe further in the matter for this yere, but did enter into the preparacion of a viage the next yere followinge.”
The memorial above referred to, furnishing an excellent summary of the grounds on which the adventurers claimed and ultimately obtained permission to establish an East Indian trade, possesses, independent of its interest as an historical document, intrinsic merits which justify a very liberal quotation. It is entitled, “Certayne Reasons why the English Merchants may trade into the East Indies, especially to such rich kingdoms and dominions as are not subject to the King of Spayne and Portugal; together with the true limits of the Portugals’ conquest and jurisdiction in those Oriental parts;” and proceeds as follows:—
“Whereas, right honorable, upon a treatie of peace betweene the crownes of England and Spayne like to ensue, that is not to be doubted, but that great exception will bee taken agaynst the intended voyage of her majestie’s subjects into the East Indies, by the Cape of Buena Speranca; therefore the adventurers in the sayd intended voyage most humbly crave, at your honors’ hands, to take perfecte knowledge of these fewe considerations underwritten.
“First, they desire that it wold please your honors to urge the commissioners of the Spanishe peace to put downe under their hands, the names of all such islands, cities, townes, places, castels, and fortresses, as they are actually, at this present, possessed of, from the sayd Cape of Buena Speranca, along the cost of Africa, on the cost of Arabia, in the East Indies, the Malucos, and other Oriental parts of the world: which, if they may bee drawne truly and faythfully to put downe, so that wee cannot be able, manifestly, to prove the contrarie, then wil wee be content, in noe sort, to disturbne nor molest them, whersoever they are alreadie commanders and in actual authoritie.
“Secondly, if they will not, by any means, bee drawne to this themselves, then wee, for your lordshippes’ perfect instruction in this behalfc, wil take the paynes to doe it for them. That may please your honors, therefore, to understand, that these bee al the islands, cities, townes, places, castles and fortresses, whereof they be, at this present, actual commaunders, beyond the Cape of Buena Speranca, eastward.”
After a list of Spanish and Portuguese possessions, arranged according to their positions “On the Coste of Africa,” “In the Mouth of the Persian Golfe,” and “From the Persian Golfe along the Coste of India, southward,” the memorial proceeds:
“Thirdly, All the places which are under their government and commaund being thus exactly and truly put downe, and wee being able to avouch it to be so, by many evident and invincible proofs, and some eye-witnesses, if need require: that there remayneth that all the rest rich kingdoms and islands of the East, which are in number very many, are out of their power and jurisdiction, and free for any other princes or people of the world to repayre unto, whome the sovereign lords and governors of those territories wil bee willing to admitte into their dominions:—a chiefe parte whereof are these here ensuinge.” Here follows a catalogue under the title of “The names of the chiefe knowne islands and kingdoms beyond the Cape of Buena Speranca, wholly out of the dominion of the Portugalls and Spaniards, in the east, south-east, and north-east parts of the world.”
As this catalogue furnishes, in the very terms employed, a vivid idea of the brilliant results anticipated from the establishment of an East India trade, it is here subjoined verbatim:—
“The Isle of Madagascar, or San Lorenzo, upon the backside of Africa—The kingdoms of Orixa, Bengala, and Aracan, on the Gulfe of Bengala—The rich and mightie kingdom of Pegu—The kingdom of Juncalaon—The kingdom of Siam—The kingdom of Camboia—The kingdom of Canchinchina—The most mighty and welthy empire of China—The rich and goulden island of Sumatra—The whole islands of Java Major, Java Minor, and Baly—The large and rich islands of Borneo, Celebes, Gilolo, and Os Papuas—The long tracte of Nova Guinea and the Isles of Solomon—The rich and innumerable islands of Malucos and the Spicerie, except the two small isles of Tidore and Amboyno, where the Portugals have only two small forts—The large islands of Mindinas and Calamines—The goulden islands of the great and smal Lequecos—The manifold and populos sylver islands of the Japones—The country of Coray newly discovered to the north-east.”
Immediately after this catalogue, the memorial reiterates the statement that “in all these, and infinite places more, abounding with great welthe and riches, the Portugales and Spaniards have not any castle, forte, blockehouse, or commaundement,” and appeals in proof of it to numerous authorities, consisting of “Portugalle authors printed and written,” “Spanish authors printed in Spayne,” “Italiens,” “Englishmen,” and “Hollanders.” The last two, which alone now possess much interest, include under the former head—“Sir Francis Drak’s men yet living, and his own writing printed,” “Mr. Thomas Candishe’s Companye, yet living, and his writings printed,” “Mr. Ralph Fitche’s Travayles through most of the Portugal Indies, in print,” and “Mr. James Lancaster’s and his Companye’s voyage as farre as Malacca, printed;” and under the latter head—“John Huygen de Linschoten’s worke, which lived above seven yeres in India,” “The first voyage of the Hollanders to Java and Baly, in printe,” “The second voyage to Java, in Dutch and English,” “The testimonie of William Pers, Englishman, with them in the sayd voyage,” and “The third returne of the Hollanders from the East Indies this yere.” After this array of authorities, the memorialists, confident that they had triumphantly established their case, continue thus:—
“Fourthly, let these shewe any juste and laweful reasons, voyd of affection and partialitie, why they should barre her majestie, and al other Christian princes and states, of the use of the vaste, wyde, and infinitely open ocean sea, and of access to the territories and dominions of so many free princes, kings, and potentates in the East, in whose dominions they have noe more sovereign commaund or authoritie, then wee, or any Christians whosoever.”
The point thus argued could not be rationally contested, and yet it was quite clear that the Spaniards would not consent to yield it. They claimed in virtue of a Papal grant, which had arrogantly bestowed upon them exclusive right to all new lands which might be discovered either in the East or West; and hence, until this claim was set aside, or voluntarily relinquished, the memorialists, in so far as the question lay between them and such claimants, were doing little better than beating the air when they argued that every locality not actually occupied by the Spaniards and Portuguese was open to all the world. To every such argument of the memorialists, their opponents were always ready to answer, “We claim not merely what we occupy, but the whole that we have discovered, or may yet be discovered in those regions.” A claim so extravagant could not be acquiesced in by any Protestant government; but Queen Elizabeth, though she had doubtless determined that the maritime enterprise of her subjects should have full scope in the East, dealt with the memorial in the cautious spirit in which she usually acted, and before deciding, caused a report to be made upon it by the celebrated Fulke Greville, afterwards Lord Brooke. In this report, which was made to Sir Francis Walsingham, who had requested “the names of such kings as are absolute in the East, and either have warr or traffique with the King of Spaine,” Greville enters very fully into detail, commencing rather superfluously on the coast of Barbary, and proceeding first south to the Cape of Good Hope, and then north to the mouth of the Red Sea. It is here only that his report begins to bear properly upon our subject. Though he acknowledges it to be merely a compilation from two or three authors, “having neither means nor tyme to seek other helps,” it is well entitled, notwithstanding several geographical blunders, to more than a passing notice. After tracing the east African coast as far as the Cape of Gardafuy, he thus proceeds:—
“At the said cape the Portugalls yeerly lye in wayte for the Turkish shippes, which adventure to traffique without their licence, houldinge themselves the only commaunders of these seas. From the cape to the mouth of the Red Sea are also many small dominions of white Mahometans, rich in gould, sylver, ivory, and all kyrd of victualls: and behind the cuntries, in the mayne, lyeth the great empire of Prester John, to whom the Portugalls (as some write) doe yeerly send eight shippes, laden with all kynde of merchandise, and also furnish themselves with many sayllers out of his coast townes in the Red Sea. In the bottom of this sea, at a place called Sues, the Turckes build gallies which scoure all that coast, as far as Melinde, and everie yeere annoy the Portugalls exceedinge much. Beyond the Red Sea, Arabia Faelix is governed by manie sultans of greate and absolute power, both by sea and land; uppon the pointe thereof standeth the riche and stronge cittie Aden, wher both Indians, Persians, Ethiopians, Turkes, and Portugals, have exceadinge greate traffique. Beyond the Gulf of Persia that kinge possesseth all the coast, and hath great traffique with the Portugals, with pearles, carpets, and other rich commodities. The ile of Ormus lyeth in the mouth of this golf, and is subject to the Persians, but so that the Portugals hath a forte in it, and ther is the staple of al India, Arabia, Persia, and Turkie, whither Christian merchants do also resort, from Aleppo and Tripolis, twyse in the year.”
Continuing eastward he arrives at India, of which he says:—
“Beyond the Persian lieth the kingdom of Cambaia, which is the fruitfullest of all India, and hath exceedinge great trafficque: the Portugals possesse ther the towne of Dieu, scituate in an iland in the mouth of the Indus, wher he hath great trade with the Cambaians, and all other nations in these partes. Next is the cuntrie of the Malabars, who are the best souldiers of India, and greatest enemies of the Portugals: it was once an entyer empier, now divided into many kingdoms; part is subject to the Queen of Baticola, who selleth great store of pepper to the Portugals, at a towne called Onor, which they hould in her state: the rest of Malabar is divided into fyve kingdoms, Cochin, Chananor, Choule, Coulon, and Calechut; the last was the greatest, but, by the assistance of the Portugals, Cochin hath now prevailed above him. Beyond the Malabars is the kingdom of Narsinga, wher the Portugals also traffique: then the kingdom of Orixen and Bengalen by the ryver Ganges, as also of Aracan, Pegu, Tanassaria and Queda.”
The latter part of the report is less carefully drawn up, and commits the egregious blunder of confounding Taprobana, or Ceylon, with Sumatra. It continues thus:—
“The island of Sumatra or Taprobuna is possessed by many kings, enemies to the Portugals; the cheif is the King of Dachem, who besieged them in Malacca, and with his gallies stopped the passage of victuals and trafique from China, Japan, and Molucco, till, by a mayne fleet, the coast was cleared. The Kinge of Spaigne, in regarde of the importance of this passage, hath often resolved to conquer Sumatra, but nothing is done. The Kinges of Acheyn and Tor are, in lyke sorte, enemies to the Portugals. The Philippinas belonged to the crown of China, but, abandoned by him, were possessed by the Spaniards, who have traficque ther with the merchants of China, which yeerly bring to them above twenty shippes, laden with all manner of wares, which they carry into New Spain and Mexico. They trafficque also with the Chinois at Mackau, and Japan. And lastlie, at Goa, there is great resort of all nations, from Arabia, Armenia, Persia, Cambia, Bengala, Pegu, Siam, Malacca, Java, Molucca, and China, and the Portugals suffer them all to lyve ther, after their owne manners and religions; only for matter of justice they are ruled by the Portugall law. In the yeere 1584, many ambassadors came to Goa from Persia, Cambia, and the Malabars, and concluded peace with the Portugals; 1586, the Arabians slew above 800 Portugals.”
This report is dated the 10th of March, in the year 1599, according to the old, but 1600 according to the present mode of reckoning, and must have had a favourable effect, as the queen’s approbation of the projected voyage was shortly after signified; and a general meeting of the adventurers was held at Founders’ Hall, on the 23rd of September, when it was resolved “that they would goe forwards with the voiage.” The management was intrusted to seventeen directors, or, as they were then called, committees, who met for the first time on the very same day, and two days after made a purchase of the ship Susan for the sum of £1,600. The economical spirit in which the purchase was made appears in a stipulation by which the sellers agreed to take her back at half-price on her return. The next day (26th) the purchase of two other ships, the Hector and Ascension, was agreed to; and a call was made upon the subscribers for payment of a third of the whole stock on or before the 30th. On this day a draft of the patent of privileges, or charter, to be submitted to the crown, was read and approved. It had been prepared by a Mr. Altham, who received a fee of £4.
In the course of these preparations, the directors were somewhat startled by an application from the Lord-treasurer Burleigh, recommending the employment of Sir Edward Michelborne in the voyage. The ground of the application is not stated, but various circumstances lead to the conclusion that the possession of court favour was Sir Edward’s highest qualification. The directors were only petitioning for their charter, and must have been perfectly aware of the risk they ran in refusing to comply with the wishes of such a statesman as Lord Burleigh. It says much both for their firmness and their prudence, that they managed to place their objection to his lordship’s nominee not on personal but on public grounds, declaring their resolution “not to employ any gentleman in any place of charge,” and requesting “that they might be allowed to sort their business with men of their own quality, lest the suspicion of the employment of gentlemen being taken hold upon by the generalities, do dryve a great number of the adventurers to withdraw their contributions.”
Were the words gentleman and gentlemen here employed in the sense which is now usually attached to them, the answer would not only afford what Mr. Mill thinks he finds in it, “a curious specimen of the mode of thinking of the times,” but indicate a narrowness and illiberality of mind sufficient to prove that the directors were unworthy of the honourable office with which they had been intrusted. It is impossible to believe, that in laying the foundations of a company in which one of the leading objects contemplated was, to use their own expression, “the honor of their native countrie,” they intended to lay it down as a general and inflexible rule, that a man, however well qualified he might be in other respects—however skilful as a seaman—however expert as an accountant—however shrewd and experienced as a merchant—was to be deemed unfit for employment “in any place of charge,” if he happened to have been born of a good family, and to possess the manners and accomplishments which entitled him to move in the first circles of society. However strange the language may sound, its meaning evidently went no further than this, that in making their appointments the directors would be guided solely by professional ability, and were determined to have nothing to do with those who, pluming themselves on being gentlemen and nothing more, would only draw the profit, without performing the duties of any office to which they might be appointed.
Though the charter was not yet granted, the directors, having now no doubt of obtaining it, proceeded with their arrangements. The purchase of three vessels has already been mentioned. On the 5th of October, a fourth, called the Malice Scourge, and double the size of any of the others, was purchased from the Earl of Cumberland, after some higgling, for £3,700. To these purchases that of a pinnace was added; and the whole expedition, as then projected, stood thus:—The Malice Scourge, whose name was subsequently changed to that of the Red Dragon, 200 men, 600 tons; the Hector, 100 men, 300 tons; the Ascension, 80 men, 260 tons; the Susan, 80 men, 240 tons; and a pinnace, 40 men, 100 tons—in all, 500 men and 1,500 tons. The investment, consisting of iron (wrought and unwrought), tin, lead, 80 pieces of broadcloths of all colours, 80 pieces of Devonshire kerseys, and 100 pieces of Norwich stuffs, with smaller articles chiefly for presents, was computed at £4,543; and the provisions for a twenty months’ voyage at £6,600, 4s. 10d. The remainder of the original subscription of £30,130, 6s. 8d., under deduction of the purchase and equipment of the vessels and other payments, was to be taken out in bullion. These calculations could only be considered conjectural, and afterwards, as will be seen, underwent considerable modifications.
On the 30th of October, the same day on which the charter was sent to the attorney-general for his opinion, a general meeting of the adventurers was held, and the important resolution was adopted of increasing the number of directors from fifteen to twenty-four. That number was accordingly elected, and their names, along with that of Alderman Thomas Smith, who had the honour of being the first governor appointed, were ordered to be inserted in the anticipated charter. Another resolution was that each adventurer should pay up his subscription. On this subject Bruce, whose Annals of the East India Company furnish the only printed information, makes statements which are very obscure, and apparently irreconcilable. In one passage (vol. i. p. 130) he says, “It is remarkable that these payments were made by the whole of the adventurers, with the exception of four only, who withdrew their subscriptions.” Immediately after he speaks of “the funds of the society being thus provided for;” and yet he afterwards quotes from the minutes of another meeting of the adventurers, “summoned on the 8th of December, to make up the fund with which the voyage was to be fitted out,” and at which “it was agreed that the whole of the sum subscribed by the adventurers should be paid in by the 13th of that month; and declared, as the ships were now ready to proceed to sea, that such of the subscribers as should not, at the preceding date, have paid in their proportions, should be held to be liable for any losses that might happen in consequence of the stipulated subscription not having been made good by them.” These statements cannot easily be reconciled. If all the original subscriptions, with the exception of four only, were paid up, how could it be necessary to hold out a general menace threatening all defaulters with actions of damages? The most probable explanation is, that after the original list of 101 subscriptions was completed, other parties had been tempted, by the near prospect of obtaining a charter on advantageous terms, to come forward and put down their names. It is almost certain that something of this kind must have been done, since the number of persons actually incorporated by the charter is not confined to those of the original list, but amounts in all to 218.
Among other arrangements made previous to the date of the charter, may be mentioned the appointments of Captain James Lancaster to the Red Dragon, with the title of general or admiral of the fleet, and of Captain John Davis to the second command, with the title of pilot-major. Both of these officers had previously made the voyage: the one under Captain Raymond, in the unfortunate expedition which has already been described; and the other in 1598, as a pilot, in the employment of the Dutch. The terms of agreement with the former are not mentioned; but those with the latter deserve notice, in furnishing a good idea of the spirit in which the voyage was undertaken, and of the hopes entertained as to its success. The terms were £100 wages, £200 on credit as an adventure, and a commission on the profit, rated alternatively at £500, £1,000, £1,500, or £2,000, according as the clear returns on the capital should yield two for one, three for one, four for one, or five for one. The leading object in this arrangement was to give Captain Davis a personal interest in the success of the voyage. The same object was kept steadily in view in arranging with all other parties. Thus the factors or supercargoes, thirty-six in number, were arranged in four different classes: of which the first received £100 wages, and £200 advanced as an adventure; the second £50 wages, and £100 adventure; the third £30 wages, and £50 adventure; and the fourth £20 wages, and £40 adventure. Even the common seamen were treated on the same principle, and received four months’ pay, of which the half only was paid as wages, while the other half was advanced as an adventure.
The charter was granted on the last day of the sixteenth century, 31st December, 1600. Like all deeds of the same kind, it is spun out to such a length by verbiage and vain tautology, as to occupy twenty-six pages of a printed quarto volume. It is, of course, impossible to give it at length. Fortunately it is also unnecessary, as everything of importance in it may be compressed within comparatively narrow limits.
Proceeding in the queen’s name in the form of letters-patent, addressed “to all our officers, ministers, and subjects, and to all other people, as well within this our realm of England as elsewhere,” it begins with stating that “Our most dear and loving cousin, George, Earl of Cumberland, and our well-beloved subjects, Sir John Hart, of London, knight, Sir John Spencer, of London, knight, Sir Edward Michelborne, knight, William Cavendish, esquire,” nine aldermen of London, and other individuals specially named, amounting in all to 218, have “been petitioners unto us for our royal assent and licence,” that they, “at their own adventures, costs, and charges, as well as for the honour of our realm of England, as for the increase of our navigation, and advancement of trade of merchandise, within our said realm, and the dominions of the same, might adventure and set forth one or more voyages, with convenient number of ships and pinnaces, by way of traffic and merchandise to the East Indies, in the countries and parts of Asia and Africa, and to as many of the islands, ports and cities, towns and places, thereabout, as where trade and traffick may by all likelihood be discovered, established, or had; divers of which countries, and many of the islands, cities, and ports thereof, have long since been discovered by others of our subjects, albeit not frequented in trade of merchandise.”
In accordance with this petition, her majesty, “greatly tendering the honour of our nation, the wealth of our people, and the encouragement of them, and others of our loving subjects in their good enterprises, for the increase of our navigation, and the advancement of lawful traffic, to the benefit of our commonwealth,” constitutes the petitioners a “body corporate and politick, in deed and in name, by the name of The Governor and Company of the Merchants of London, trading into the East Indies,” empowering them and their successors, in that name and capacity, to possess or dispose of land, tenements, and hereditaments, to have a common seal, to sue and be sued; and, in general “to do and execute all and singular other things by the same name,” as fully and freely as “any other our liege people.”
The charter then goes on to prescribe the mode of management of the affairs of the company, fixing it in a governor, and twenty-four other members called committees, who are to have “the direction of the voyages of or for the said company, and the provision of the shipping and merchandizes thereto belonging, and also the sale of all merchandizes returned in the voyages;” and, in general, “the managing and handling of all other things belonging to the said company.” Thomas Smith, alderman of the city of London, is nominated as the “first and present governor,” and twenty-four other members as the “first and present committees” of the company; but as these nominations were to continue in force only for a year from the date of the charter, the mode of electing their successors in office is next pointed out. For this purpose the company, or a majority of those “present at any public assembly, commonly called the court, holden for the said company,” the governor always being one, are empowered to elect a deputy to act in the governor’s absence; and thereafter, “every year on the first day of July, or at any time within six days after that day, to assemble and meet together in some convenient place,” and, while so assembled, to elect a governor and twenty-four committees for the ensuing year. In the event of the death or deprivation by misconduct of any of the persons thus elected, the company, again met in court, are authorized to supply the vacancies thus occurring, but only for the time of office which remained unexpired. Not only the officials thus elected were to swear “well and truly” to execute the offices committed to them, but “as well every one above named to be of the said company or fellowship, as all others to be hereafter admitted, or free of the said company, to take a corporal oath before the governor of the said company, or his deputy for the time being, to such effect, as by the said governor and company, or the more part of them, in any public court to be held for the said company, shall be in reasonable manner set down and devised, before they shall be allowed or admitted to trade or traffick as a freeman of the said company.”
In this last quotation the important point of membership is incidentally alluded to. A more explicit statement occurs in a subsequent clause, in which “all that are or shall be of the said company,” and all their sons, “at their several ages of one and twenty years or upwards,” and all their “apprentices, factors, or servants,” “which shall hereafter be employed by the said governor and company, in the trade of merchandise of or to the East Indies,” are empowered freely to traffic during the period and within the limits assigned to the company. The period is restricted to “fifteen years,” with the promise of an extension to other fifteen, if asked by the company and approved by the crown, but the charter might be recalled at any time after a notice of two years.
The space over which the company might trade is of enormous extent; and, though spoken of under the general name of the East Indies, is more particularly described as including “the countries and parts of Asia and Africa,” and “all the islands, ports, havens, cities, creeks, towns, and places of Asia, Africa, and America, or any of them beyond the Cape of Bona Esperanza to the Streights of Magellan, where any trade or traffick of merchandise may be used or had.” Within these limits the company are empowered to traffic freely “by seas, in and by such ways and passages already found out and discovered, or which shall hereafter be found out and discovered, as they shall esteem and take to be fittest;” the only restriction being, that “the same trade be not undertaken nor addressed to any country, island, port, haven, city, creek, town, or place, already in the lawful and actual possession of any such Christian prince or state, as at this present is or shall hereafter be in league or amity” with the British crown, and “who doth not or will not accept of such trade, but doth overtly declare and publish the same, to be utterly against his or their goodwill and liking.”
The more effectively to carry on this trade, the company are authorized to meet from time to time, and make “such and so many reasonable laws, constitutions, orders, and ordinances,” as may seem “necessary and convenient” for the good government of the company, and of all their factors, masters, mariners, and other officers; and for the better advancement and continuance of the trade; and not only to make such laws, but to enforce the observance of them by inflicting upon offenders “pains, punishments, and penalties, by imprisonment of body, or by fines and amercements, or by all or any of them,” it being, however, always understood that “the said laws, orders, constitutions, orders and ordinances be reasonable, and not contrary or repugnant to the laws, statutes, or customs” of the realm.
The privilege of trade within the limits above described is declared to belong exclusively to the company; and all subjects of the English crown, “of what degree or quality soever they be,” are strictly forbidden, “by virtue of our prerogative royal, which we will not in that behalf have argued or brought in question,” to “visit, haunt, frequent or trade, traffick or adventure, by way of merchandise, into or from any of the said East Indies, or into or from any the islands, ports, havens, cities, towns, or places aforesaid,"—every person or persons presuming to traffic in defiance of this prohibition “shall incur our indignation, and the forfeiture and loss of the goods, merchandizes, and other things whatsoever, which so shall be brought into this realm of England, or any of the dominions of the same, contrary to our said prohibition, or the purport or true meaning of these presents, as also of the ship and ships with the furniture thereof.” One-half of the forfeitures thus incurred is reserved to the crown; the other half is granted to the company. The offenders are, moreover, “for their said contempt, to suffer imprisonment during our pleasure, and such other punishment as to us, our heirs or successors, for so high a contempt, shall seem meet and convenient, and not to be in any wise delivered until they and every of them shall become bound to pay unto the said governor for the time being, the sum of £1,000 at the least” not to repeat the offence.
These severe enactments against interlopers strikingly contrast with the large discretion given to the company, who, in addition to an exclusive right of traffic carefully guarded against encroachment, are empowered, “for the better encouragement of merchants, strangers, or others, to bring in commodities to our realm,” and “for any consideration or benefit to be taken to their own use,” to “give license to any person or persons to sail, trade, or traffick into or from the said East Indies.” To enhance the value of this large discretionary power, the queen gratuitously binds herself, her heirs and successors, not to grant license of trading within the limits of the charter to any person whatever “without the consent” of the company.
On the ground that the company “have not yet experienced of the kinds of commodities and merchandizes which are or will be vendible” in the East Indies, “and therefore shall be driven to carry to those parts, in their voyages outward, divers and sundry commodities which are likely to be returned again” into the realm, the exports of their four first voyages are declared “free of custom, subsidy, or poundage, or any other duties or payments.” On imports, during the whole period of the charter, credit of six months on the one half, and of twelve months on the other half, of the duties exigible, is to be allowed after sufficient security for ultimate payment has been given; and because the company “are like to bring to this our realm a much greater quantity of foreign commodities” than can be required for home consumption, the duties which might have been exigible on the export of such commodities as are afterwards reshipped for transport to other countries are to be remitted, provided the reshipment take place in English bottoms, and not later than thirteen months from the date of import. The only other privilege necessary to be mentioned is the permission annually to export the sum of £30,000 in bullion or coin, of which at least £6,000 should previously be coined at the royal mint. This permission—which, owing to the crude ideas then generally entertained on the subject of the currency, was probably regarded at the time as the least defensible of all—was granted only on the express proviso, that after the first voyage a sum at least equal to that exported should previously have been imported.
Though the original adventurers contemplated trading on a joint-stock, and several parts of the charter seem framed on the understanding that this original intention was to be carried out, the subject remains involved in the greatest obscurity. The words joint stock do not once occur in the charter; and there is nothing in any part of it to indicate that the 218 individuals to whom the charter was granted possessed any higher qualification than that of having signed the petition on which it proceeded. It is known that 101 individuals or firms became bound by their subscriptions to adventure on an experimental voyage, sums which, in the great majority of cases, amounted to £200 each, and formed an aggregate of £30,133, 6s. 8d.; but whether these were the only sums subscribed at the date of the charter, or whether all the new parties who concurred in petitioning the crown had previously qualified themselves for membership by subscribing, are points which it is impossible to decide with any degree of certainty. The only clause in the charter which bears on these points is one which makes it optional for the company to disfranchise those members who should fail against a certain day to pay up their subscriptions. The clause is as follows:—
“Provided always that if any of the persons before named and appointed by these presents, to be free of the said Company of Merchants of London, trading into the East Indies, shall not before the going forth of the fleet appointed for this first voyage, from the port of London, bring in and deliver to the treasurer or treasurers appointed, or which, within the space of twenty days from the date hereof, shall be appointed by the said governor and company, or the more part of them, to receive the contributions and adventures, set down by the several adventurers in this last and present voyage, now in hand to be set forth, such sums of money, as have been, by any of the said persons by these presents nominated to be of the said company, expressed, set down, and written in a book for that purpose, and left in the hands of the said Thomas Smith, governor of the said company, or of the said Paul Banning, alderman of London, and subscribed with the names of the same adventurers, under their hands, and agreed upon to be adventured in the said first voyage, that then, it shall be lawful for the said governor and company, or the more part of them, whereof the said governor or his deputy to be one, at any their general court, or general assembly, to remove, disfranchise, and displace him or them, at their will and pleasures.”
In order to facilitate communication and friendly intercourse with the countries which might be visited during the first voyage under the charter, the commander was furnished with duplicate letters, in which the queen addressed their supposed sovereigns in the following terms:—
“Elizabethe, by the grace of God, Queene of England, Fraunce, and Ireland, Defender of the Faithe, &c.,—To the greate and mightie King of—, our lovinge Brother, greetinge:
“Whereas Almightie God, in his infinite wisdom and providence, haith so disposed of his blessings, and of all the good things of this world, which are created and ordained for the use of man, that howesoever they be brought forthe, and do either originallie growe, and are gathered, or otherwise composed and made, some in one countrie, and some in another, yet they are, by the industrie of man, directed by the hand of God, dispersed and sent out into all the partes of the world, that thereby his wonderfull bountie in his creatures may appeare unto all nacions, his Divine Majestie havinge so ordeyned, that no one place should enjoy (as the native commodities thereof) all things apperteyninge to man’s use, but that one countrie should have nede of another, and out of the aboundance of the fruits which some region enjoyeth, that the necessities or wants of another should be supplied, by which meanes, men of severall and farr remote countries have commerce and trafique, one with another, and by their enterchange of commodities are linked togeather in amytie and friendshipp:
“This consideration, most noble king, together with the honorable report of your majestie, for the well entertyninge of strangers which visit your countrie in love and peace (with lawful trafique of merchaundizinge) have moved us to geave licence to divers of our subjects, who have bene stirred upp with a desire (by a long and daungerous navigacion) to finde out and visit your territories and dominions, being famous in these partes of the world, and to offer you commerce and trafique, in buyinge and enterchaunginge of commodities with our people, accordinge to the course of merchaunts; of which commerce and interchanging, yf your majestie shall accept, and shall receive and entertayne our merchaunts with favour, accordance to that hope which hath encouraged them to attempt so long and daungerous a voiadge, you shall finde them a people, in their dealinge and conversacion, of that justice and civilitie, that you shall not mislike of their repaire to your dominions, and uppon further conference and inquisition had with them, both of their kindes of merchaundize broughte in their shippes, and of other necessarie commodities which our dominions may afforthe, it may appeare to your majestie that, by their meanes, you may be furnished, in their next retourne into your portes, in better sort then you have bene heretofore supplied, ether by the Spanyard or Portugale, who, of all other nacions in these partes of Europe, have onlie hetherto frequented your countries with trade of merchaundize, and have bene the onlie impediments, both to our subjects, and diverse other merchaunts in the partes of Europe, that they have not hitherto visited your countrie with trade, whilest the said Portugales pretended themselves to be the sovereignes lordes and princes of all your territories, and gave it out that they held your nacion and people as subjects to them, and, in their stiles and titles, do write themselves Kinges of the East Indies:
“And if your majestie shall, in your princelie favour, accept, with good liking, this first repaire of our merchaunts unto your countrie, resortinge thether in peaceable traffique, and shall entertaine this their first voige, as an introduction to a further continuaunce of friendshippe betweene your majestie and us, for commerce and intercourse betweene your subjects and ours, wee have geaven order to this, our principall merchaunt (yf your majestie shall be pleased therwith) to leave in your countrie some such of our said merchaunts as he shall make choice of, to reside in your dominonns, under your princelie and safe protecion, untill the retourne of another fleete, which wee shall send unto you, who may, in the meane tyme, learne the language of your countrie, and applie their behavior, as it may best sorte, to converse with your majestie’s subjects, to the end that amitie and friendshipp beinge entertayned and begun, the same may the better be continued, when our people shall be instructed how to direct themselves accordance to the fashions of your countrie.
“And because, in the consideration of the enterteyninge of amytie and friendshipp, and in the establishment of an intercourse to be continued betweene us, ther may be required, on your majestie’s behaulfe, such promise or capitulactions to be performed by us, which wee cannot, in theise our lettres, take knowledge of, wee therefore pray your majestie to geave eare therein unto this bearer, and to geave him creditt, in whatsoever he shall promise or undertake in our name, concerning our amytye and entercourse, which promise, wee (for our parte), in the word of a prince, will see performed, and wil be readie gratefullie to requite anie love, kindness, or favour, that our said subjects shall receive at your majestie’s handes; prayinge your majestie that, for our better satisfaction of your kinde acceptaunce of this our love and amytie offered your highenes, you would, by this bearer, give testymonie thereof, by your princelie lettres, directed unto us, in which wee shall receive very great contentement. And thus,” &c.