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THE COMPANY AND ITS DOMESTIC RIVALS 265 selves and the nation. We have seen that the attempt in 1647 to embody the Company's charter into an Act of Parliament failed; the Ordinance for the Trade, although it passed through the Commons, was rejected by the House of Lords. After the king's death in 1649, SHOP OF A MERCHANT OF THE VAIST therefore, the Council of State had to face the whole question anew. It did so in no revolutionary spirit. Without going into constitutional questions as to how far a trade- charter from King James held good under the Com- monwealth, it took up the matter as it was left by the
