344>
IFls'I"()l;^■ or india.
fTV>0K II.
A.I), loss.
Tenure of M;i(lriui.
TliLs view of the matter so fai- prevailed, that the charter was made to paas under the common seal of the Company. Under this charter the coq)oration was t<» consist of a niay(;r and ten aldermen (tiiree Company's servants and seven natives), who were to be justices of the peace, and wear thin silk scarlet gowas, and of 1 20 burgesses with black silk gowns.
At the ])eriod when this charter was granted, the population of the city of Madi-as, the town of Fort St. George, and the villages within the Company s bounds was estimated at 300,000. The whole was held of the King of Golcond;i at a quit-rent of 1200 pagodas, or about £430. The obligation to pay this sum could not be disputed ; and yet, as if the Company under their new policy had considered themselves entitled to dispense with justice wherever force could effect their object, they caused intimation to be made to the king that theii- future payment to him would depend on his keeping St. Thom^ in such a manner as not to become an annoyance to Fort St. George. If he would not let it on lease or farm to the Company, the president, " as repre.senting an independent power, was not only to refuse pajonent of the quit-rent, but to declare the place the property of the Company. ' For the gross fraud and violence thus propo.sed to be perpetrated, the only justification attempted was that the King of Golconda's power had been " much decreased by the victories of the Mogul, and his expul- sion from Masulipatam by the Dutch," and that "it was impracticable to can-y on trade, or maintain a seat of government without revenue." Such were the Machiavellian principles shamelessly advocated by the court in their lettei-s to Madras in the season 1687-88. Continued When the failure of the expedition to Bengal was annoimced in England,
Wtir with
the Mogul the court, instead of attributing it to the tortuous policy which they had begun
to pursue, were ungenerous enough to throw the whole blame on their ser'ants
in India. The agency of Bengal were censured for their timid conduct, charged
with having selfishly pursued their own ends, regardless of the honour and
interests of the king and Company who had confided in them, and threatened
with expulsion from the service if, by their sinister schemes, the objects of the
war should not be accomplished. These objects the Company were not 'et
willing to abandon; and therefore, when despatching a large ship, called the
Defence, under the command of Captain Heath, and a small frigate, fully
armed, and carrying a reinforcement of 1 60 soldiers, to assist in the war, the}'
intimated their determination that "imless a fortification and a district around
it should be ceded, to be held as an independent sovereignty, the charges of the
armament 1 )e defrayed, and permission to coin money in Bengal, to pass cuiTent
in the Mogul's and nabob's dominions, be gi'anted, they would not consent to
a peace, or send any more stock or goods to the Ganges." These boastings and
menaces become ludicrous when viewed in connection with the actual position
of affairs, and only ]n-oclaim the ignorance, presumption, and foll}^ of those to
whom the home management of the Company was at this time intrusted
