pany until 1813, with the same reservation. In 1813 the territorial acquisitions were continued in the possession and under the government of the Company, together with the exclusive trade with China, and in tea, from the 10th April 1814, until three years' notice by Parliament after 10th April 1831: the rights of the Company, as a corporate body, are fully reserved to them. It was at the same time declared, by the 95th section, that nothing should be construed to affect the undoubted sovereignty of the Crown in and over the territorial acquisitions, nor to preclude the Company, after the determination of the term before-mentioned, from the enjoyment of or claim to any rights, franchises, or immunities which they now have, or to which they may be hereafter entitled. The rights and immunities possessed by the Company, in virtue of royal charters admitted and confirmed by Parliament, are most important and extensive, and were brought before the Legislature, in the Company's petition for a renewal of their exclusive privileges, in February 1813, with reference to which the reservation contained in the 95th clause of the 53d Geo. III. was inserted. LAWS. 1813. 53 Geo. 3, c. 155. $ 1. LAWS. on the continent continue in the government of the East-India Company for a Territorial Acquisitions continued in the Government of the Company further term. acts LAWS. 1813. c. 155, § 1. acts of Parliament in that behalf, or are made and provided by this act: and whereas it is expedient that, from and after the tenth day of April one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, the right of trading, 53 Geo. 3, trafficking, and adventuring, in, to, and from all ports and places within the limits of the said United Company's present charter, save and except the dominions of the emperor of China, should be open to all his Majesty's subjects, in common with the said United Company, subject to certain regulations and provisions, but that the existing restraints respecting the commercial intercourse with China should be continued, and the exclusive trade in tea preserved to the said Company during the further term hereby limited: may it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the territorial acquisitions mentioned in the said act of the Parliament of Great Britain of the thirty-third year of his present Majesty, together with such of the territorial acquisitions since obtained upon the continent of Asia, or in any islands situate to the north of the equator, as are now in the possession of and under the government of the said United Company, with the revenues thereof respectively, shall remain and continue in the possession and under the government of the said United Company, subject to such powers and authorities for the superintendence, direction, and control over all acts, operations, and concerns which relate to the civil or military government or revenues of the said territories, and to such further and other powers, authorities, rules, regulations, and restrictions, as have been already made or provided by any act or acts of Parliament in that behalf, or are made and provided by this act, for a further term, to be computed from the said tenth day of April one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, until the same shall be determined by virtue of the proviso hereinafter contained. The King's Sovereignty nor Company's Rights to be affected. Act not to prejudice the King's Sovereignty or affect rights of the Company. (2) Provided always, and be it further enacted, that nothing in this act contained shall extend or be construed to extend to prejudice or affect the undoubted sovereignty of the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in and over the said territorial acquisitions; nor to preclude the said United Company, after the determination of the term hereby granted, from the enjoyment of or claim to any rights, franchises, or immunities which they now have, or to which they may hereafter be entitled. $95. TRADE WITH INDIA. A COMMERCIAL intercourse may be traced to have existed, at a very remote period, between the nations bordering on the south-west coasts of Arabia and India; it was not, however, until the eleventh century, when the Crusades had ceased, that the more western European countries began to participate in that trade. The ports of Egypt, Syria, and Constantinople, then became the marts for such traffic; the states of Genoa and Venice enjoyed unrivalled the beneficial commerce. The discovery of a route to India by the Cape of Good Hope, in 1500, led to the importation by the fleets of Portugal of valuable cargoes from that distant country, which accordingly lowered the price of such commodities in the Italian markets; the comparatively limited trade of the Republics became consequently depressed, and was gradually drawn from the Mediterranean (which had long been the emporium of Eastern commerce) to the shores of the Tagus. The Portuguese exclusively possessed this trade until the union of Spain and Portugal, under Philip II, in 1580, which event led to its decline, and ultimately caused its ruin. Philip, bigotted to the Roman Catholic faith, attempted to establish an uniformity of religion throughout his extensive dominions. The persecutions and enormities to which the measure gave rise occasioned the revolt of his Netherland subjects, where the seeds of the Reformation had been already sown. Philip, aware that the commercial resources of the Dutch would enable them to oppose his designs, prohibited them from all intercourse with Lisbon, from whence they had been long accustomed to obtain the products of India. In the room of effecting the object which the Spanish monarch contemplated, it only excited the more strenuous efforts of the Dutch to extend extend their commerce, and to seek at the fountain head, what they were debarred from obtaining nearer home. Accordingly in 1795 four ships appear to have been despatched from the Texel and to have reached Java. Portugal threw off the Spanish yoke in 1640, the Duke of Braganza being declared King of Portugal by the name of John IV. He paid more attention than his Spanish predecessors to the India trade: but the Dutch had so firmly established themselves in various islands in the East, and had supplanted the Portuguese in so many of their settlements, that all endeavour to regain possession of them, or of successfully opposing the progress of the Dutch, proved fruitless. Thus of the widely extended dominions which the Portuguese once possessed in India, they at present only retain Dieu, and some inferior ports in the Gulph of Cambay, besides Goa, which is now, as formerly, their capital in India. In China they have the settlement of Macao, which they obtained in 1586: their island of Madeira is supplied with India produce by Great Britain. Such is the revolution in the commercial affairs of a nation, which engrossed for nearly a century this important trade. The spirit of enterprize which had brought wealth to the Portuguese and to the Dutch, diffused a new principle in the rising commerce of England, associations being formed for extending on joint credit the trade of the realm. In 1554 Edward VI. countenanced the establishment of the Russia Company: that monarch died previous to the grant of a charter, which was obtained from Philip and Mary. The Levant Company was established by Elizabeth in 1581. The English Merchants, in 1589, turned their thoughts to the advantages which might be derived from engaging in a trade with India. A memorial appears to have been presented to the Lords of the Council in that year, adverting to the several countries bordering on the Indian and China seas, stating that such a trade would by degrees add to the naval force of the country, and requesting the Queen's license for three ships to be equipped for, and protected in such trade. The memorial was favourably received, and in 1591 Captain Raymond, with three ships, was sent on the expedition. A subsequent subsequent adventure was made in 1596, and the result brought forward an association of merchant adventurers; to whom, on the 31st December 1600, a charter was granted by the Queen, as the London Company, being the first establishment of an English East-India Company. The trade appears to have been directed to Acheen, and from thence through the Straits of Malacca, to Bantam and to the Spice Islands. Factories were established at Bantam and the Moluccas. The Company's servants resident at those settlements. having represented that the cloths and calicoes imported from Cambaya, on the western side of India, were much esteemed by the natives in the eastern Archipelego, an establishment was. formed in 1612 at Surat, under a phirmaun from the Mogul, who then resided at Agra. The Portuguese, jealous of the English, endeavoured to obstruct their trade by attacking their fleet, but were repulsed; and Mr. Edwards, who was sent as ambassador to the Mogul with presents, obtained a perpetual phirmaun for the trade of the English in his dominions. In 1615 Sir Thomas Roe was sent as ambassador from James the First to the Mogul, and amongst the presents was a coach; but Sir Thomas suggested that four or five handsome cases of red wine should be sent as presents to the King and Prince, "as 66 never were men more enamoured of that drinke as these two: "they would more highly esteem them than all the jewels in "Chepeside." A perpetual league of friendship between the Mogul and the King of England being agreed upon, British subjects were permitted to settle factories in any parts of the Mogul empire, specifying Bengal, Sundy, and Surat. Such was the commencement of the intercourse between India and Great Britain. During the first century of its existence the Company had to contend against foreign enemies in the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Dutch. The aggressions of the latter power were so repeated, that the Company felt themselves constrained to appeal to Parliament for redress. They likewise had to meet formidable opponents at home in the private traders, who from time to time entrenched upon their privileges; and their attempts were promoted by the grant from James I. of the privilege of trade to an association of merchants, at the head of which was Sir William Courten w ho |