nor of England generally, nor any of the Company's servants, were allowed to export or import except in ships belonging to or chartered by the Company; appropriating, however, under various restrictions, three thousand tons of space in their ships for the use of private traders, at the reduced rate, in time of peace, of 5l. outwards, and 15l. homewards, for every ton occupied by them in the Company's ships, but stipulating that this rate of freight might be increased in time of war by the approbation of the Board of Control.
Restrictions on private traders. "It might have been," remarks Mr. M'Culloch,[1] "and indeed was most probably foreseen, that very few British merchants or manufacturers would be inclined to avail themselves of the privilege of sending out goods in the Company's ships, or of engaging in a trade fettered on all sides by the jealousy of powerful monopolists, and where consequently their superior judgment and economy would have availed almost nothing. As far therefore as they (the English merchants) were concerned, the relaxation was more apparent than real, and did not produce any useful results." Indeed Lord Melville quotes, from a letter written by the Marquess of Hastings to the Company, dated 21st of March, 1812, the following passage, "It will not be denied that the facilities granted by that Act (the Act of 1796) have not been satisfactory, at least to the merchants of this country or of India. They have been the source of constant dispute, and they have even entailed a heavy expenditure upon the Company without affording to the public any
- ↑ 'Commercial Dictionary,' p. 570.
