Commanders-in-chief in India, since 1774 Commanders-in-chief in Bengal, since 1777 Commanders-in-chief at Madras, since 1784 Commanders-in-chief at Bombay, since 1787 .... Votes of Thanks by the East-India Company Votes of Pensions and Money by the East-India Company. 773 Votes of Statues by the East-India Company ............... 780 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EAST-INDIA COMPANY. THE discovery of a passage by sea to India, at the close of the fifteenth century, was embraced by the Portuguese, who persevered in acquiring seats of trade and dominion in that distant country, where they maintained an ascendancy and engrossed almost the whole of the Asiatic commerce until the year 1595, when the Dutch, who had revolted against the authority of the United Kingdom of Spain and Portugal under Philip the Second, followed the Portuguese to India, soon becoming their rivals, and subsequently the subverters of their power in the East. Attempts had been made about the same time by various merchants of London, under the sanction of the Queen, to prosecute the trade with India. Their efforts proving unsuccessful, a charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth, on the 30th December 1600, in the forty-third year of her reign, incorporating the London East-India Company, whose affairs were to be managed by a governor and twenty-four committees. They were to enjoy the exclusive privilege of trading to all parts of Asia, Africa, and America, beyond the Cape of Good Hope, eastward of the Straits of Magellan. In the early period of the Company's existence they encountered |