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HISTORY OF INDIA.
[BfKJK I.
General meeting of adven- turers.
A.D. 1000. the Eai'l of Cumberlanfl, after some liiggling, for £3700. 'Jo these purchasfjs that of a pinnace was added; and the whole exjjedition, as then projected, Ht<jod thas: — The Malice Scourge, whose name was subsequently changed to that of the lied Dragon, 200 men, 600 tons; the Hector, 100 men, 300 tons; the Ascen- sion, 80 men, 260 tons; the Susan, 80 men, 24-0 tons; and a pinnace, 40 men, 100 tons — in all, 500 men and 1500 tons. Tiie investment, consisting of iron (wrought and unwrought), tin, lead, 80 pieces of Vjroadcloths of all colours, 60 pieces of Devonshire kerseys, and 100 pieces of Noi'wich stuffs, with smaller articles chiefly for presents, was computed at £4545 ; and the provisions for a twenty months' voyage at £6600, 4s. lOcZ. The remainder of the original sub- scription of £30,133, 6s. 8cZ., under deduction of the pui'chase and equijtment of the vessels and other payments, was to be taken out in bullion. The.se calculations could only be considered conjectiural, 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 attoniey-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 iiTeconcilable. In one passage (vol. i. p. 130; he says, " It is remarkable that these pajTnents were made by the whole of the adventurers, with the exception of four only, who withdrew their subscrip- tions." Immediately after he speaks of " the funds of the society being thus pro- vided 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 adventm-ers should be paid in by the 1 3th 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 he 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 defaultei^s 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
Subscrip- tions paid up.
