COMPANIES IN JOINT-STOCK Unnecessary and Inconvenient: Free Trade to INDIA IN A Regulated Company, The INTEREST of ENGLAND.  
Discoursed in a LETTER to a FRIEND.  
SIR,  
IN Obedience to your Commands I shall here give you my Opinion as to Trade managed in Joynt-Stocks, and particularly that to India.  
All Joynt-Stocks in Trade are in themselves a Monopoly, though some are more extensive than others, as taking in more Persons at the first Constitution, but they come in Time, by Purchase or otherwise into few Hands, as is that of the present East-India Company, the African Company; and the same may be said of the East-India Company of Holland. The Jews and a few of the States, and other rich Men having the largest Share of that Stock, which to my Knowledge for that and other Reasons, is there accounted a Grievance. All Trade ought to be Free and under no Constraint, this being every Subjects Natural Right; Joynt-Stocks and other Limitations of Trade, tend chief to the enriching of a few, in prejudice to the general Good of a Nation, Subjecting it to a double Tax. For such Monopolists buy the native Growths and Manufactures cheap at Home, and sell the Foreign, which they Import Dear to the Subject; which Practice in both kinds can be proved upon the Present East-India and African Companies, and I am inclined to believe, that the late raising Pepper in England sold formerly at Six Pence and Seven Pence per Pound, to Sixteen Pence per Pound, may have been a Contrivance between some great Men concerned in the Dutch East-India Company, and others of ours here, which same Practice I doubt not was used to raise Calicoes and other East-India Goods sold in Holland, and here at this time for double and most of them triple the usual and former Prizes, and so in many other particulars may Joynt-Stocks be proved to be a Tax upon the People, whereas a Free Market for Buying and Selling would exempt them from it.  
This, Sir, is sufficient to let you know that Joynt-Stocks in Trade, are a National Evil, and that however they may have been useful in the Infancy of Foreign Trade, and permitted in prospect of a future National Benefit: Yet at this time when we of this Kingdom are arrived at the utmost Degree of Experience in Commerce with all countries', even the most distant, and that our Mariners are the most expert in the Universe, and we having Stock enough to carry on, as well as to increase our Trade and Navigation; I cannot see any Reason why the Subject should be clogged by Joynt-Stocks, to the general Damage of the Nation, as I have before made evident.  
Having given my Thoughts of Joynt-Stocks as Combinations and Monopolies in general, I shall now consider them in relation to the future Management of the Trade to India, which I should be glad could be left free to all, as most Trades in Europe are, but few, allowing that to be feasible, I shall endeavour to demonstrate (since a Joint-stock hath and will always have such ill Consequences) that this Trade as that to Turkey and others, may be managed by a regulated Company, whereby all the Mischiefs of a Joint-stock will be removed, and very great Advantages accrue to the Public; And the better to explain myself, I will lay before you what I have met with in favour of a Joint-stock against a Company regulating a free Trade to India, with my Answers to them.  

Question I. Under a Regulation how can the Forts and Islands of St. Helena and Bombay, Fort St. George and Bencoelen now in the Companies Possession be paid for and afterterwards maintained?  
Answer I. A regulated Company must have Power to make Levies on Ships that go to India either here or there, to raise Money for Freedoms, and if Occasion be, by Loans at Interest or Gratis, of all that will be of the Company, sufficient for the purchasing the present Companies dead Stock, as Ammunition, etc. according to an equitable Valuation by indifferent Men chosen on both sides; and for the future support of their ordinary and extraordinary Charge, even as the Turkey Company do for the Maintaining an Ambassador at the Ottoman Court, Consuls, Ministers and other Officers at their several Ports of Trade there, as well as at home; which together with Presents made frequently to the Grand Signior and his Ministers, amounts yearly to a great many Thousand Pounds, and as much as perhaps would bear the needful Charge in India; for in reality Fort St. George and Bombay are of little or no use to the Company or Trade of India, and a great many think they had better quit them, as the Dutch have lately Policat, a strong Place near Fort St. George, and the only Fort they had any where in all the Mogul's Dominions, not thinking it worth their Charge to keep it. For while they are in Peace they will be protected by the Mogul in his Country, and if they should again return to the Folly of Warring with that Prince, they cannot defend or keep them against one of the greatest Monarches in the World.   

Quest. II. What Security can be had of those People in India when you trust them with your Money for making Investments.  
Answ. II. The same security as the present Company have, the Honesty of the People and the Protection of the Government; for the Company trusted most, and their greatest Investments were made where they had no Forts, as at all the subordinate Factories on the Coast of Cormandell, in Bengall, and at Surat, and the Factories under that Presidency, and though great Sums have been trusted to those People, yet there is no Example of their having Committed any Violence upon our Persons or Estates, but we have had always Justice done us, and better Treatment then from European Governments, and in Turkey great Sums upon mere Pretences have been extorted from that Company by Tyrannical Bashaws, Cadies, and other Officers Civil and Military.   

Quest. III. Will it not be a means to ruin the Trade and lessen the Exportation of our Manufactures and Growths?  
Answ. III. It's evident the Merchants of England are greatly inclined in all their Commerce to export our own Manufactures, and vend them at reasonable Advance, as to Turkey under that regulated Company, so much Cloth is annually carried as can possibly be there disposed of, and in time of Peace especially, it hath been sold so cheap, that we have almost excluded from that Trade, the French and Dutch, and the same upon a Regulation will be done in India, much better than by a Joint-stock: For particulars can and will be obliged to fallen for little Profit, and the present East-India Company as an Excuse for their having lately permitted Armenians and other particular Merchants to Export to India our Manufactures paying them 12 per Cent. for the Licence. alleged it was for the improving that Trade.   

Quest. iv Will not the Natives raise the Price of their Goods, and lower the Price of ours?  
Answ. iv This Argument may as well be urged to have the Trade to every particular Country in the World in Joynt-Stocks; but Traffic must have its natural course, sometime the People of those Places where we have a Trade sell us their Commodities Dear, and buy ours of us Cheap, according to the Quantities of Goods to be Purchased of, and Sold to them; at another time, when a good Market hath made them provide largely of those sorts of Goods, and less Demand is for them, than we Buy Cheap, and carrying fewer of our Commodities, we Sell the Dearer: So Dear Goods beget Cheap, and Cheap beget Dear, every Man in this as all other Trades, will take care of his own Interest and use his utmost Skill, and make Provision of Stock in the Country to Buy his Goods, and give out his Money in the interval of Shipping, to be returned him by the next, as is practised in Turkey, and most other Foreign Trades, and particularly to the Spanish and Portugal American Plantations, whereby the English Trading in their Ships are two and often three Years out of their Money; however the cheaper we Sell our Manufactures and Growths, the more we shall introduce the Expense of them and prevent our Neighbours in their Competition with us.   

Quest. V How will you maintain the Pepper Trade on Sumatra and North Coast of India and Malabar.  
Answ. V It's true the Company have a small Fort at Bencoelen which may as well be maintained by a regulated Company (as hath been already proved) as by a Joint-stock; but the Place is so very unhealthful, and kills so many of our Seamen and of the small Garrison and Factory that reside there, that I believe it hath not, nor ever will countervail this Loss, nor the Expense of keeping it; especially since vast Quantities of Pepper may be procured on the North Coast of India and Malabar, where the present East-India Company have no Forts; but Factories may be settled there, and there is no reason to believe that the rajas or Princes of those Countries will give better Treatment to a Joint-stock Company than to a regulated one, which will much more increase Trade in their Countries.   

Quest. VI How will you support the Trade to India, if the Dutch or any others should attempt by force or fraud to out you of it, or defend it in Case of a War with them, or any other European?  
Answ. VI The present Company have sadly experienced, that making War is a very chargeable and pernicious way of Righting themselves in India, because of the great distance of place; and for any Injury that may be done us there, by the Dutch, or other Europeans, satisfaction must be obtained at home; and 'tis to be presumed, that our Government will be always as ready to support the Subject, and obtain Reparation in the Case of a Regulated Company, (which is more National, and will very much add to its Revenues) as of a Joint-stock, which will always have the same need of it, or any other of our Trades; and in War there may be Convoys, as to America, and other remote Countries, or we may send out Ships of Force only, which may go out, and return home in Fleets, as the Regulated Company shall direct, and as the Turkey Company practice, when in the General Meetings of all the Traders, they appoint what Number of Ships, and of what Force shall unite and proceed to the several Ports of Turkey.   

Quest. VII. Will it not be very difficult to keep in good order, and govern the several Factories, and Merchants that shall reside in India?  
Answ. VII. Every Factory may have Consuls, with Powers given them, by Virtue of a Legal Authority to govern their respective Factories, and be always answerable to the Regulated Company, for their well or ill Administration; besides, it will be very useful to maintain an Ambassador at the Mogul's Court, by which Methods the Turkey Company have governed their several Factories with great Oeconomy.   

Quest. VIII. Will not Interlopers go out from, and return to other Countries in Europe, and so avoid those Impositions that a Regulated Company must necessarily lay on all Ships and Goods for their support?  
Answ. VIII. When all that will may be free of the Company, and upon very easy Terms may Trade with what Stock they please to all parts of India, it will not be worth any body's while to attempt Interloping; and as great Powers may be given to a Regulated Company, as any other, to prevent it; and indeed such an Authority may be much safer given into their hands than to a Joint-stock.   

Quest. IX. The Dutch are esteemed the best Judges of Trade, and its Advantages, of any other People, and do not they carry on their Trade to India and Guinea in Joynt-Stocks.  
Answ. IX. The Trade to India and Guinea in Holland had both of them their Original in the Minority of that State, when they struggled with the mighty Power of Spain, in a long and bloody War; and the Spaniards and Portuguese, who were then under the same Monarch, being Masters of the whole Trade of both the Indies and Guinea, the States, to weaken their Enemies, encouraged Merchants to send Ships into those Seas, by giving them Commissions of War; and they effectually did it, by taking considerable Booties from them, and augmenting their Force, had great success at Sea, and seized on some of their Fortifications. This brought the Merchants of Amsterdam to join with those of other Towns; whereby prosecuting their Trade, and Privateering several Years, they became very considerable; when the States politicly united them farther, that they might yet be more serviceable to annoy their Enemies, and brought the whole Trade and War (for so it was) to both Indies and Guinea, into Joynt-Stocks, and gave them mighty Privileges, especially to the East-India Company, that of paying no Customs in or out, which they enjoy to this day, and this was the reason so long ago, that induced the States to settle these two Companies; and not, that they thought it was best so to do, for the general good of the Trade, or that it could not be as well managed by a Regulation, if their Circumstances had been otherwise, but as an Engine of War, and Depredation on their Enemies; and the East-India Company being thus Established, as it were by Conquest, and thereby encumbering themselves with a great many Fortresses in the South Sea and Ceylon, to maintain to themselves the Spice Islands, there seems a kind of necessity upon them, to drive that Trade in a Joint-stock; for indeed their Establishment in India is another Commonwealth, which howsoever useful the States may think it to them, and that because many of them are concerned in the Stock, they still keep it upon the old Foundation, yet there is nothing more evident, than that this Company make no profits by the Trade, for their Actions rise and fall every Week, and are now sold at about 500 per Cent, but whoever buys, or hath for several Years passed bought at these Rates, hardly make 4 per Cent per Annum of their Money, for they seldom receive Dividends, and when they do, they are very small, and these suspected and judged by most to be rather out of their Quick-Stock, than real profit; for they own, and continually take up vast Sums at Interest at home as well as all over India: So, as I have said, the Company get nothing by the Trade, whatever advantages the States may imagine they draw from it, and therefore I think we have no cause to envy them their manner of carrying it on; nor indeed could we imitate them, were it ever so desirable. And this is a certain truth, that from the Year 1653, to 1656, while our Trade to India lay open to all, the Holland East-India Company sunk greatly in their Stock and Credit; for we under-sold them in all East-India Commodities, and brought home Spice in spite of them, procured at Macassar, and elsewhere; which gave them such apprehensions of losing their Trade, that to prevent it (as I have been informed by good hands) they employed some Persons to influence Oliver Cromwell to establish this present Joint-stock; which he did in 1656, and they gave a Pension to two of the then Committee of 500 l. a Year each, to prevent our possessing Polleron, or any other of the Spice Islands we had a just Claim to.— wherefore it is not to be wondered, that the Dutch East-India Company are at this time so very apprehensive that we shall lay open the Trade to India, since they will so sensibly feel the effects of it, by our vast Importation and Exportations of all Commodities, and the affording them at so much a cheaper Rate than they can possibly, besides all Combinations with Colleagues here to enhance the Prices will be removed, as well as the opportunity of Bribing in order to do good Offices.  
The same Consequences happened to the Holland Guinea or West-India Company, in the Year 1660, when we had that Trade also open, their Stock was then worth but 8 per Cent. but not sooner was the Trade to Guinea limited here by a Joint-stock, but that Company began to flourish again, and their Actions are now worth 80 per Cent. So that whatsoever reason the Dutch have for the keeping the Trade to the Indies and Guinea in Joynt-Stocks; the only Monopolies they have it is evident, that it will be infinitely more to the advantage of this Nation to carry them on by Regulated Companies; Which will certainly have all these good effects.  
It will increase the Exportation of our own Manufactures and Growths.  
We shall be able to furnish Europe with all the Commodities of those Countries, much cheaper than any other People, especially the Dutch.  
It will add greatly to our Navigation.  
The Crown will gain much by the Customs.  
And it will in every point be of infinite advantage to the Public, as well as to all Adventurers and Traders, whose Right and Property it is, that the Commerce and Traffic by Sea, be as unlimited and free as the Inland Trade.  
All which, I doubt not, Sir, will convince You, and all reasonable, disinterested Men, That Joynt-Stocks in Trade, and particularly that of East-India, are of evil Consequence to the Kingdom.  
10 Octob. 1691.   
FINIS.