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CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER IX.

5

HISTORY

OF

BRITISH INDIA.

BOOK IV.

FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT, ON LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY, OF ONE EXCLUSIVE COMPANY,
IN THE YEAR 1708, TILL THE CHANGE IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COMPANY, BY
THE ACT OF 13TH GEO. III. IN 1773.

CHAP. I.

The Constitution of the East India Company, its practical Arrangements for the Conduct of Business, and Transactions till the Conclusion of the War with France by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

1708.

By the union of the competitors for Indian commerce into one corporate body, CHAP. I. and by the privilege of exclusive trade, founded on legislative authority, the business of the East India Company became regular and uniform. Their capital, composed of the shares of the subscribers, was a fixed and definite sum: Of the modes of dealing, adapted to the nature of the business, little information remained to be acquired: Their proceedings were reduced to an established routine, or a series of operations periodically recurring: A general description, therefore, of the plan upon which the Company conducted themselves, and a statement of its principal results, appear to comprehend every thing which falls within the design of a history of that commercial body, during a period of several years.

VOL. II.

B

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