Ebook wait

Such an extraordinary
eagerness to deal in opium lets in another view of the merits of the
alleged dulness of the market, on which this trade was undertaken for
the Company's account.
The Council, who had with great condescension and official facility
consented to every demand hitherto made, were not reluctant with regard
to this last. The quantity of opium required by the freighters, and the
permission of a trading voyage, were granted without hesitation. The
cargo having become far more valuable by this small infusion of private
interest, the armament which was deemed sufficient to defend the
Company's large share of the adventure was now discovered to be unequal
to the protection of the whole. For the convoy of these two ships the
Council hire and arm another. How they were armed, or whether in fact
they were properly armed at all, does not appear. It is true that the
Supreme Council proposed that these ships should also convey supplies to
Madras; but this was a secondary consideration: their primary object was
the adventure of opium.


Pages:
185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209