in the daily conduct of its business. No single voyage could be equipped without a separate commission from the sovereign. Warrants from the lord treasurer for the passage of victuals from port to port, or for re- straining the sale of pepper until the king's stock should be disposed of, and royal warrants for each separate voyage, occupy many pages of the records. Even in its internal management, the directors (or " Commit- tees ") were constantly running to the Privy Council whenever a difficulty arose. Thus if defaulters would not pay up their subscriptions to a voyage, or if a further subscription were required, or if coercive pow- ers were needed to float a northwest expedition, or if carpenters had to be pressed for fitting out the ships, or if an unsuccessful captain had to be dealt with, it was to the Lords of the Council or My Lord Treasurer that the company applied. It was also from their lordships, and My Lord Admiral and Mr. Secretary, that the company received rebuke for slackness in its duties. The " Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies " was, therefore, in many senses a " Regulated Company: " regulated as to its general powers by royal charter; regulated as to each partic- ular voyage and as to its internal management by the Privy Council and the crown; very strictly regulated as to its individual members by its own governing body, consisting, under the charter, of the governor and twenty-four committee-men. It thus stands as the per- fected type of the Regulated Companies which formed
