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Dutch became desirous, though they did not succeed, to unite with it against the Portuguese. Its factories were extended to Java, Sumatra, Borneo, the Banda islands, Celebes, Malacca, Siam, the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, but chiefly to the states of the Mogul, whose favor the company had very prudently secured. Their success was such, that, a new subscription being opened in 1616, the amount raised was £1,629,040. But, in 1627, complaints were made of bad management, and abuses of all kinds, particularly in regard to the private commerce of the officers, which has always been of the greatest disadvantage to all such companies. The opposition to the royal authority, under the Stuarts, brought into question the monopoly of the company which rested on a royal grant. The kings themselves contributed to raise these doubts, by granting to individuals the privilege of trading to India, much to the disadvantage of the company. During the time of the commonwealth, the public opinion became very strong against monopolies, and Cromwell, by destroying the charter, in 1655, attempted to make the East India trade free. But this was impracticable. To give up the company, was to destroy the whole capital of power and influence obtained in India. After the restoration of the royal family, the charter which even Cromwell had been obliged to renew, was again in full force. During the short period which elapsed from this time to the revolution of 1688, the company obtained, by the acquisition of Madras and Bombay, the predominance on the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, and laid the foundation for the extension of its possessions into the interior of Hindostan, and for that power which rose on the ruins of the empire of the great Mogul. The affairs of the company were not, however, in a prosperous state; and, soon after the revolution, the question was started, whether the king could impose restrictions on commerce by a charter, and whether a sovereign, who possessed the rights of sovereignty conditionally, could confer them on a privileged compa

ny.

The consequence was, that, the company not being able to perform their obligations, on account of the losses occasioned by wars, infidelity of officers, extravagance, &c., parliament granted a charter to a new East India company, in 1698, on condition of a loan of £2,000,000 sterling, at 3 per cent., for the service of the state. But the great contentions between the two companies scon made it necessary

to unite them, and a union was effected in 1708.

3. Period from 1708 to 1748. In 1708, an act of parliament was passed, establishing the English East India company on its present footing, under the title of The united Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies. Its exclusive privileges were granted till 1726, after which it was determinable upon three years' notice. The capital was raised by the sale of the shares: one share (of the value of £500) gave the holder a vote in the "General Court;" four shares, or stock to the amount of £2000, rendered the holder eligible as one of the twenty-four "Directors," who managed the government of the company. The shares being transferable, the great mass of stockholders are constantly changing, and take no personal interest in the affairs of the company, but merely speculate in the shares. The whole management is thus left to the directors, and all the numberless abuses of an oligarchical constitution are readily introduced. The local affairs of the company were intrusted to the three councils of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta, while the general direction was retained in England. But, as every thing depended ultimately on the local officers in India, the pernicious abuse prevailed of attempting to secure the fidelity of the superior officers by allowing them to appropriate to themselves the inferior lucrative posts. The renewal of the charter in 1732 was not obtained without great difficulty, and against a powerful opposition. The company therefore thought it advisable, in 1744, to advance £1,000,000 sterling, at 3 per cent., for the service of government, in consideration of an extension of their grant till 1780.

4th Period. The political power of the English in India commenced in 1748. The French had already set the example. In 1746, a French battalion had destroyed the army of the nabob of the Carnatic, and, soon after, the French officers succeeded in disciplining Indian troops according to the European method. The inferiority of the native Indian troops opposed to European soldiers, and the facility of instructing Indian soldiers, known by the name of Seapoys, in the European discipline, was thus proved. Ambition and avarice, political and mercantile cunning, could now act on a larger scale; and the independence of the Indian princes was gone whenever this trading company, which was already encroaching upon all the rights, both of the rulers and the people of those countries, should establish a

permanent military force. Thus far, the military organization of the company had been merely on the defensive: it now became able to act offensively; and the entire difference of the European and Indian notions of law could never fail to furnish opportunities to put this new means of power into action. The rights of succession, and all the rights of princes, subjects and families, were so much disputed on the different principles of the Indian, Mohammedan and British laws, that the company (which often interposed as arbitrator) easily succeeded in extending their legal jurisdiction. If called to account in Europe for any of its undertakings, it was easy to uphold the correctness of its conduct, politically, on the ground of self-defence, which, at the distance of several thousand miles, could not be called in question; and, in legal matters, by taking advantage of the impenetrable labyrinth of law. Edmund Burke, who experienced, in the case of Hastings (q.v.), this impregnability of the company, accused them justly "of having sold every monarch, prince and state in India, broken every contract, and ruined every prince and every state who had trusted them." The high officers in India, whatever great names may appear among them, become despotic from situation: 1. because each receives an inheritance of injustice, which must be maintained; 2. because public opinion has no influence ;* 3. because no moral and religious connexion, nor even that of language, exists between the ruled and the rulers; 4. because no fear of dangerous insurrections can exist, on account of the great division of the Hindoo and Mohammedan classes and interests; 5. because the officers of the company have no object but to make money with a view of spending it in England as soon as they have accumulated sufficient to satisfy their wishes, and therefore are not disposed to make opposition against abuses. In 1749, the robberies of the company began with its protection of the pretender of Tanjore. Under pretence of illegitimacy, the nabob of this district was driven out, for the purpose of obtaining some cessions

*The East Indian government takes great pains to prevent the expression and consolidation of public opinion. Thus newspapers, which are so free in England, are under strict regulations in India. They are not allowed to criticise public measures or public officers, nor to say any thing which may cause dissatisfaction among the natives. Violence always produces violence. The statement, at the end of this article, of the proportion ment, at the end of this article, of the proportion of the English to the natives will easily show why such precautions are deemed necessary.

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of territory, and then restored, on making further concessions. The rapid progress of the company in the art of extending their possessions appears from their treaties with Surrajah-Dowlah, the nabob of Bengal, in 1757, when large and rich provinces were the reward of their faithless policy. This enlargement of territory caused such enormous expenditures, the difficulties of governing increased so greatly with the increase of power, the numerous officers became so much more independent, rapacious and disobedient, that the finances of the company suffered. The direction in London was now nothing more than a mere control of the real gov ernment, which had its seat in India. Its orders were antiquated before they reached Calcutta. The governors having the advantage of being on the spot, it was to be expected that they would obey only when personal interest required it. Thus the repeated prohibition to carry on a traffic in the interior, with salt, tobacco and betel nuts, was entirely disregarded, with the express consent of the East Indian councils; and, long after the directors had forbidden the officers of the company to accept presents from the Indian princes, it was proved that they had openly received them, to the amount of £6,000,000, from the family of the nabob of Bengal alone. On this account, the internal situation of the company became constantly worse, and, in 1772, it was compelled to raise a loan, at first of £600,000, from the bank, and afterwards of £1,400,000 from the government, for its current expenses. The public dissatisfaction was the greater, as it had been expected that the extension of British power in India would have brought much wealth into the mother country. At the same time, great complaints were made against the unprincipled conduct of the company's officers towards the princes and people of India; and, as the expected advantages appeared not to have been obtained, it now began to be proclaimed. that the rights of humanity had been trampled upon. The popular hatred was unjustly directed against the directors; their power was to be limited; they, who had to manage a disobedient world, were to be still more cramped. Control was demanded; as if a control which sympathizes with the oppressors, and has no connexion with the oppressed, could avail any thing; as if oppression were a single act, which might be prevented by superwhat would be the effect of a controlling intendence, or punished like a crime: and power whose commands would require

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6-9 months to be conveyed to the spot, and as much more time before the result could be known in Europe? And, if the company had obtained a power by force, which could only be preserved by the same means, on what principle should the control act? Burke's famous, but unsuccessful struggle of seven years, against Hastings, and in the cause of humanity in India, proved, that the only possible control of the offivers in India, is the public opinion of the British nation. One party asserted that all would be well as soon as the company divided its power with the ministry. Another party maintained, that all that was wanting to the Hindoo was the benefit of British law. Some thought it would be sufficient merely to increase the difficulty of becoming a director. Thus the incomplete reform of 1773 took place. Instead of £500, £1000 was made necessary to give the right of a vote, £3000 for two votes, £6000 for three votes, and £10,000 for four votes. Ouly six directors were to be annually elected. A governor-general, with four counsellors (at first named by parliament, that is, by the ministry, but afterwards by the directors, for five years), was to be placed over the provinces of Bengal, Baliar and Orissa; the other provinces were to be dependent upon him. As a counterpoise to this concentration of power, a supreme court was established in Calcutta, with a chief justice and three associate judges, who were independent of the company, and were appointed by the crown. All the civil and military correspondence of the company was to be communicated to the ministry. Under the old system, in many disputed cases, conscience, or, at least, common sense, had decided; but now, the introduction of a new and strange legal constitution occasioned the ruin of all legal relations. The court decided in the case of every complaint made against any individual who was directly or indirectly in the service of the company, as well as all complaints relating to contracts in which the parties had submitted to its jurisdiction. If we consider that nothing was more uncertain than the personal condition of the Indian and Mohammedan inhabitants of Hindostan; that the company governed some provinces immediately, others indirectly, by means of the nabobs; that the zemindars were sometimes considered as the independent nobility of India, sometimes as officers of the company, &c.—it follows, that the court could take all cases into its own hands, or decline them, at pleasure. Immediately after its establishment, it gave a specimen

of the spirit by which it was actuated. Nunkomar, who had accused the governor-general, Hastings, was convicted, on insufficient grounds, of forgery, and hanged; which, as has been ingeniously remarked, is about the same as punishing a Mohammedan for bigamy. On the whole, the history of the British East India trade justifies the assertion, that, except Burke and the family of Wellesley, scarcely a single Englishman has ever entered completely into the spirit of the people of India. When the inefficacy of the measures of 1773 was sufficiently proved, and the finances of the company again suffered by the American war, the establishment of a board of control was again discussed in parliament, and on broader grounds; from 1782 to 1784, the greatest men of England were engaged on this important subject. The famous East India bill of Fox, which proposed seven commissioners, to be appointed by parliament, and invested with supreme power, and, as it were, the right of protection over India, could not be agreeable to the court, as the principal object of the bill was to deprive the crown of all influence on Indian affairs, and to place an intermediate power between the king and India. Pitt's project, therefore, took effect. A board of control was erected, dependent on the crown, authorized to superintend the civil and military government and the revenues of the company, and to transmit the despatches of the directors to the different presidencies. The salaries of the governor-general, the president and the council were fixed by the king. We have thus given a historical outline of the constitution of the company. The power of control in England, so far as any exists, is in the hands of the ministry; the particular direction of the government is subjected to the company. It is certain, that, since the establishment of the board, much less is known of Indian affairs than formerly. The ministers have not the same grounds for occasional investigation; the stockholders, in the general meetings of the company, can effect nothing, even if desirous to interfere, while the board and the directors agree; and this agreement is the more firmly established, as a committee of secrecy exists, consisting of three directors, which can consult and decide, with the concurrence of the board, withcut any communication with the other directors. The improvement of the moral condition of British India is impossible, while the fear of a result like that which occurred in the case of the North Ameri

can colonies prevents the regular colonization and establishment of British subjects in India. A race of Englishmen born in India could alone succeed, in the course of time, in bringing order and harmony into the jarring interests and relations of the country. The political importance of the East Indies, in their present state, to England, is too great to allow us to expect an essential improvement in the condition of this country. A taxable population of 83,000,000 of inhabitants, with 40,000,000 under dependent native princes; an army of 200,000 men, in the service of the company; about 16,000 civil officers; an annual export of about £14,000,000, and an import to the same amount, from all parts of the world; £4,000,000 paid in the shape of duties to the British government annually, and an annual contribution of £11,000,000 for the general circulation of the British empire, are objects which outweigh all moral considerations. The funded stock of the company, at present, amounts to £6,000,000, their indivisible and fluctuating property to about £50,000,000, and the amount of their annual land-tax is £28,000,000, half as large again as that of Russia. This gigantic political-mercantile association will exist as long as a small military power is sufficient to prevent a great nation from attempting to throw off the yoke; as long as the system de faire le commerce en sultan et de faire la guerre en marchand can survive; as long as the pretensions of the metis, the offspring of European fathers and Indian mothers, do not incrcase; and the Indians and Mohammedans remain ignorant of the real weakness of their oppressors; that is, as long

per

as the course of nature is reversed. Since 1813, all British subjects have been mitted to trade to the East Indies, under certain conditions advantageous to the company, which has, however, claimed the exclusive commerce in tea. As the charter of the East India. company is to expire in 1834 (having been renewed the last time for twenty-one years), interesting debates will, of course, take place in parliament as to its continuation or abolition. In the session of 1830, parliament appointed a committee to inquire into the attairs of the company. Hume, M'Intosh and Huskisson are members of it.-It appears that the revenue of the British possessions in India is greater than that of any European state, excepting France and England. In 1827-28, it amounted to £23,035,164 in 1828-29, it is estimated at £23,350,317. The interest on the debt is about £2,000,000 yearly;

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the total interest on the debt and charges, including those paid in England, and the expenses of the island of St. Helena, was £26,314,344, in 1827-28, and £23,994,503, in 1828-29; the surplus of charge above revenue was, in 1825-6, over three millions; the estimated surplus revenue in 1829, £1,318,593. Before the Burmese war, there was a surplus of revenue over expenditure of one million and a half; but in the twenty years preceding 1828— 29, there are only six which show a surplus revenue. The total assets of the company, including property of every description, amounted to £18,406,039. The rate of dividend, since 1793, has been 101 per cent.

It is believed that the value of American imports from England into China amounts to $800,000, whilst that of the company amounts to £800,000. The company's tonnage to China had increased, for the last nine or ten years, 5,000, on an average. The East India company exported tea from Canton, from 1824-25 to 1827-28, and sold in England and the North American colonies, during the same period, as follows: Erported from Canton.

Prime cost.

28,697,078 £1,900,666

27,821,121

1,729,949

40,182,241

2,368,461

33,269,333

2,086,971

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gal presidency, 58,000,000; Madras presidency, 16,000,000; Bombay presidency, 11,000,000; total British, 85,000,000; subsidiary and dependent (say), 40,000,000; outports in the bay, &c. (say), 1,000,000; total under British control, 126,000,000; independent states, but controlled by the British arms (say), 10,000,000; approximate total, not European, 136,000,000; total Europeans, about 40,000; about one European to three thousand four hundred natives, or, where they have the whole command of the government and revenue, one European to two thousand one hundred and twenty-five natives.-We are glad to end our account by stating, that, at last, the English have abolished the suttees, or burning alive of widows. The order is dated Dec. 4, 1829.

IV. The French, Danish and Swedish East India companies have been of little importance, even in their most flourishing state, to the commerce of the world. The French, established in 1664, could not succeed; in 1796, the trade was again thrown open. A new company, established in 1785, expired in 1791. The East India company in Denmark established in 1618, and several times renewed, finally surrendered its possessions to the king in 1777. The company has now only the Chinese trade. The Swedish East India company, established in 1731, and renewed in 1766 and 1786, still exists at Gothenburg. For every voyage it pays $75,000 in silver to the crown, to which, on its establishment, it was obliged to advance $3,000,000 in silver, of which one million, not on interest, is merely a security, and the other two millions are considered as a loan.

EAST INDIA FLY (lytta gygas). The color is a decp azure or sea-blue; all parts of the insect, head, elytra or wing-cases, body and legs, are of the same color, with the exception of the under part of the chest, on which there is a brown spot. Its size is from three fourths of an inch to an inch in length, being nearly twice the size of the lytta vesicatoria, or cantharides. They have little or no odor. This species of cantharides has been tried at the Philadelphia alms-house. They proved to be exceedingly active as vesicatories, and never failed in their effect. They produce a vesication, in general, much earlier than the Spanish fly, and, from being found so much more active, only one half the quantity is added in making the emplastrum cantharidis. (See Cantharides.)

EAST INDIES. (See India, and the different articles, as Calcutta, Bengal, &c.)

EASTON; a post-town and borough of Pennsylvania, and capital of the county of Northampton; 60 miles N. of Philadelphia, 73 W. of New York; population, in 1820, 2370. It is situated on the Delaware, at the junction of the Lehigh river and canal, and also near the western end of the Morris canal, which connects it with New York. It is regularly laid out, handsomely built, and contains a court-house, a jail, three churches, has valuable mills in its vicinity, and is a place of considerable trade. The situation of the town is low, and it is surrounded by considerable eminences. Here is a bridge across the Delaware, 570 feet in length.

EASTPORT; a post-town and seaport of Maine, in Washington county, situated at the most eastern limit of the U. States, on Moose island, in Passamaquoddy bay, at the mouth of the Schoodic, or St. Croix, and Cobscook rivers; 93 miles E. Bangor, 260 E. N. E. Portland, 370 N. E. Boston; lon. 66° 56' W; lat. 44° 54' N.: population, in 1810, 1511; in 1820, 1937. It is a flourishing commercial town, and contains a bank, a printingoffice, 4 houses of public worship, 70 ware-houses and stores, and 225 dwellinghouses, all of wood, and many of them handsome. Eastport is the most commercial town in the eastern part of Maine. It is very well situated for trade, having an easy communication with the interior, by the rivers which flow into the bay. Its harbor is one of the best in the U. States, capacious enough to contain a large navy, and of safe entrance. The wharfs are built nearly 40 feet high, on account of the extraordinary tides in the bay of Fundy. The common tides here rise 25 feet. The shores of Moose island and the other smaller islands, have all the preparations necessary for curing fish, and unloading timber and other articles of commerce. In 1820, a handsome tollbridge, 1200 feet long, was erected over the ferry between Moose island and the main land, connecting Eastport with Perry. About 1500 tons of shipping are owned in this town. The exports consist of lumber, and provisions of various kinds.

EAST RIVER communicates with the Hudson in the bay of New York, and is formed by the narrowing of Long Island sound, which opens with a broad mouth at the eastern end, and receives a strong impulse from the tides in the Atlantic. This channel is so called in contradistinction to the North river (the Hudson). As the sound contracts, to the west of the broad expanse in front of New Havcu,