What must add to the confusion
is, that the alteration has not the regular and official authority of
the original plan, and may be presumed to indicate with certainty
nothing more than that the business is _again_ afloat, and that no
scheme is finally determined on. Thus the Company is left without any
fixed data upon which they can make a rational disposition of their
affairs.
The fact is, that the principles and economy of the Company's trade have
been so completely corrupted by turning it into a vehicle for tribute,
that, whenever circumstances require it to be replaced again upon a
bottom truly commercial, hardly anything but confusion and disasters can
be expected as the first results. Even before the acquisition of the
territorial revenues, the system of the Company's commerce was not
formed upon principles the most favorable to its prosperity; for,
whilst, on the one hand, that body received encouragement by royal and
Parliamentary charters, was invested with several ample privileges, and
even with a delegation of the most essential prerogatives of the
crown,--on the other, its commerce was watched with an insidious
jealousy, as a species of dealing dangerous to the national interests.
Pages:
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116