Chap. VIIL] TWO COMPANIES ESTABLISHED. 377
to the several benefits of the said act," proceeds to dechire that they shall • con- a.d koo. tinue and be one body, corporate and politick, by the name aforesaid, subject, nevertheless, to be determined upon redemption of the fund. ' The reasons given for the enactment are, that the London Com})any, though entitled to the ])enefits confen-ed on the subscribers to the loan, would, notwithstanding, be dejuived of them " should they cease to be a coqjoration ;" and " for that several hundred persons are interested in the said subscription of £315,000, they cannot manage the same, and the benefit of trade accruing thereby, but in a corporation."
Thus, by solenni acts of the legislature, two indeiiendent East India Com- Tw., in.ie panics were estal)lished, without any provision whatever to prevent the evils East indu which would necessarily arise from their rivalship and collision. The geogra- phical limits of the trade were sufficiently ample for both, and each might have been assigned a distinct field, within which it would have found ample scope for all its capital and enterprise. Iii-stead of this they were placed at once in hostile array, and commenced a system of warfare which, while it exposed them to the derision and extortion of the native rulei-s, could only terminate in their common ruin. So early was this perceived, that the new or English Company, afraid to face the difficulties which, from the very first, began to gather around them, made overtures for a union. The London Company were not disposed to listen. They had been forced into a struggle which they were most anxious to prevent ; but, now that it had commenced, felt so confident of victor}', that when their agents abroad expressed their alarm, they spoke slightingly of the danger, and described it "as a blustering storm, which was so f;u- from tearing them up, that it only a little shook the roots, and made them thereby take the better hold, and grow the firmer, and flourish the faster." The language thus em])loyed was more vainglorious than sincere ; and when tiie violent feeling-s which at the com- mencement of the struggle kept the companies aloof had been giaduall- mode- rated, a general desire for union began to be entertained. The king himself, probably convinced that the legislature itself was to blame for much of the con- fusion which had arisen, openly declared in favour of a union, and in particular when, agreeably to a practice then usual in pfvssing a private act, a deputation of the London Company, consisting of the governor and committees, and about 100 inoprietoi-s, accompanied by the lord-mayor, sherifts, and ten of the alder- men of London, obtained an audience of his majesty at Kensington on the 8th of March, 1700, to re(piest that he would give the royal assent to the bill for continuing them a corporation, he took the opportunity, while assuring them of his favour and protection, to recommend the union of the two companies to their serious coiLsideration, on the ground '• that it would he mo.st for the interest of the India trade. '
Though the union of the companies was not effected during the reign of Toms on
.,,. tiT-ii* 1" 1*11 f t • n • "1 which tlie
Kmg William, las recommendation had a powerful influence m paving the way .,.iiii..-»ni«>
for it At first, indeed, the London Company, instead of meeting its rival on ur^^*** VuL. 1. 48
