Besides an ample supply of provisions to each ship, the commander had almost every luxury he could desire provided at the expense of the Company.[388] He was also allowed to import two pipes of Madeira wine,[389] which were not reckoned as part of his allowance. The first mate, besides his proportions of freight and provisions, had as “indulgences” on each voyage twenty-four dozen of wine or beer, two firkins of butter, one hundredweight of cheese, one hundredweight of grocery, and four quarter cases of pickles. The second the same as the chief, except that his allowance of wine or beer was limited to twenty dozen; and the other officers in somewhat similar proportions. So that their appointments, if not so lucrative as that of the commanders, must have been very desirable and comfortable.

If such were the advantages of the officers in the maritime service of the Company, what must have been the gains of its civil servants in India, who appear not to have been limited or controlled to the same extent in their perquisites or trading privileges. No wonder that the Company, even with its vast monopoly, found itself frequently in difficulties, and obliged to seek, especially in the earlier portion of its career, the assistance of government. Indeed instances sometimes occurred when the commanders and officers, not having filled their allotted space with produce of their own, received for it from China not less than 50l. per ton as freight to London; and in one instance within our own knowledge, the commander of one of the ships employed on the “double voyage”—that is, from London to India, thence to China,[390] and thence back to London, where he had a large interest in the freight on cotton or other produce conveyed from India to China—realised no less than 30,000l.

But notwithstanding these numerous privileges, the Court of Directors having frequently received information of an illicit trade carried on by too many of the officers and commanders of their ships, at last resolved, with the view of putting an end to practices “so detrimental to the revenue, the Company, and the fair trader,” to invariably dismiss from their service any one found guilty of such practices. Indeed, in the hope of detecting the delinquents, they went so far as to publish advertisements, wherein they state that “having received information that great quantities of woollens, camblets, and warlike stores have been illicitly imported; also great quantities of tea, muslins, China-ware, diamonds, and other merchandise have been imported in their ships and smuggled on shore,” they “offer a reward to any person who shall make a discovery of such offence of one-half of what the Company shall recover and receive over and above all other rewards the parties are entitled to by law.”[391]

But these illicit practices appear at one time to have been carried on not merely in London and at the ports to which the ships of the Company traded in India and China, but at places in England, Scotland, and Ireland their ships had no business to be; for the Court of Directors passed a standing order wherein it was declared that within six weeks of the clearance of the cargoes of the homeward-bound ships, the commander and officers were required to attend a joint committee of private trade and shipping, to whom it was referred to make strict inquiry into the reasons of any deviations made on the passage to London, or during any portion of the voyage, and the committee were enjoined with all convenient speed to report their opinion to the Court. The Directors further “resolved unanimously” that, as these illicit practices were shown to have occurred, and were “frequently carried on” at foreign ports, as well as at out-ports in England, Ireland, and Scotland, to which the ships proceeded “contrary to the orders and instructions given to the commanders,” or by “means of vessels which meet the Company’s ships at sea, and there deliver goods to, and receive goods from them,” stringent measures should be adopted to detect the delinquents.[392] It was consequently further ordered that the clerk to the Committee of Private Trade should within four weeks of the arrival of each ship collect from her journals, and from letters and other means of information brought before him, an account of all the ship’s proceedings “to or towards any port or place, both outward and homeward, without or contrary to the Company’s orders or instructions, and of all the ship’s deviations from, or loitering in, the course of her voyage in the English Channel or elsewhere,” and report the same in writing to the chairman or deputy chairman, and also to the Committees of Private Trade and Shipping. If satisfactory accounts were not given for these deviations, the solicitor to the Court was instructed to file a bill in the Court of Exchequer against the commander of the ship or other persons implicated.

But though deviations for any such purposes must have been difficult to trace, as so many excuses could be brought forward in the shape of contrary winds, stress of weather, sickness, loss of spars and sails, or the necessity of a fresh supply of water and provisions for the crew and passengers, the Court of Directors appear to have done everything in their power to discover the delinquents by still further resolving, that on the arrival of the Company’s ships in the River Thames the clerk of the Committee of Private Trade was forthwith to give notice thereof to the Master Attendant or his assistant, or if they were otherwise previously employed, to the Surveyor of Shipping or his assistant, to proceed at once on board of the ship, and before any goods were delivered to carefully examine the state and condition of her hold, and of every part of the lower decks, and report to the Committee of Private Trade what vacant space, if any, remained therein which was fit and proper for the stowage of goods, and also whether any packages appeared to have been removed or displaced during the homeward-bound passage. When any vacant space was discovered which could not be satisfactorily accounted for, the commander was fined in the sum of 100l. for every sixty cubical feet of such vacant space. But these apparently stringent regulations were somehow or other too frequently of no avail, especially in cases where the illicit practices were effected by the connivance of the officers of Customs, or in various other ways, more easily understood than explained, so that convictions were too often rendered impossible or impracticable. And whenever these were made and actions were raised, the “compositions of such suits, very much to the prejudice of the Company,” were so frequent that the Court had to request the Commissioners of his Majesty’s Customs “to be pleased to give an account to its solicitor of all suits which were pending,” and from time to time “of all suits that shall hereafter be brought against any of the commanders and officers of the Company’s ships for practices of smuggling.”[393]

Considering the very high remuneration of the Company’s commanders and officers, and the very liberal manner in which they were treated, we should have thought that no one among them would have been guilty of illegal practices, especially when they were found to be highly prejudicial to the interests of employers at whose hands they were so handsomely treated. But such, we fear, must have been the case, towards the close of the last century, and that to a large extent, or the Court would not have deemed it necessary to issue such stringent regulations for their suppression. Happily the class of men, and the high character of the families to which, as a rule, they belonged, who entered the service in later years, combined with the rigorous enforcement of the Company’s regulations, brought about a different state of things, and put an end to a system which ought never to have prevailed in the best paid maritime service in the world: and did we not feel bound to record such instances of wrong and ingratitude, as these official documents too clearly reveal, we would gladly omit altogether the notice of acts which reflect great discredit on a class of men otherwise deserving our respect and our gratitude for the invaluable services they, on more than one occasion, rendered to their country.

But the liberality of the Company was not confined to the most ample remuneration to their commanders and officers while in active service. It extended to them in their retirement, and provided for those of their widows and children who required its aid. In 1800 the Court of Directors[394] resolved that every commander, officer, seaman, or other person who had served in any of the Company’s ships, or any of its freighted vessels, for eight years, and who had regularly contributed to what was known as the “Poplar Fund,”[395] should be entitled to a pension, subject to the following conditions: that is to say, where a commander was not worth 3,000l., or did not possess a fixed income of at least 150l. per annum, he became entitled to a pension of 100l.; and in cases where the chief or second mate had not 2,000l., nor a clear income of 100l., he received a pension of 60l. per annum. The other officers, down to the midshipmen, were also allowed pensions of from 30l. to 18l. per annum if they did not possess a certain fixed income, or were not worth 600l. Commanders’ widows who stood in need of aid received 80l. per annum, and 16l. for each child under five years of age; and their orphans were each allowed 33l. 6s. 8d. per annum. In these allowances were included the widows, children, and orphans of all mates, pursers, surgeons, and midshipmen who had served in the Company’s own or chartered ships, for the period of eight years; or who had been killed, or maimed, or wounded in the service, so as to be rendered incapable of further service at sea.

The internal economy and discipline on board of the Company’s ships were much more perfect than in any other merchant vessels of the period. The crew or seamen of each were divided into two watches, starboard and larboard; the officers into three watches. Each watch of the former had, during the night, four hours’ rest below, and four hours’ duty on deck. At half-past six A.M. the watch on deck commenced to wash and clean decks; at half-past seven the hammocks were piped up, and stowed in the hammock nettings round the waist by the quartermasters. At eight o’clock all hands breakfasted, after which they commenced the ordinary duties of the day. These consisted, when the men were not required to set, shorten, or trim sails, of work of the most multifarious description, such as setting up rigging, shifting or repairing sails, splicing ropes, making spun yarn, weaving mats, painting, tarring, greasing masts, and so forth. Twice every week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, they cleaned and holy-stoned[396] the ’tween-decks, in the fore part of which they slept and had their food, the whole crew being divided into messes of eight men each, who had a space allotted to them between the guns, where their mess utensils were arranged. When these cleaning and scouring operations were finished, the ’tween-decks were carefully inspected by the commander and surgeon, to see that everything was clean and in order, and that all mess kids, brass pots, and kettles, tin pannikins, and other utensils were properly scoured and polished.

On Sunday no work was allowed to be performed except what was urgent and necessary; and on the morning of that day the crew were mustered and inspected before assembling at prayers, which every person on board was expected to attend in his best attire. Dinner was served at noon; after that the men, on week-days, resumed their work until the “dog watches,” which commenced at four P.M. These, no doubt, derived their name from the fact that they were (according to Theodore Hook) cur-tailed, that is, lasted for only two, instead of four hours each watch, viz., from four to six, and from six to eight, when the crew, instead of going below to rest, usually employed themselves in sorting the contents of their sea-chests, or in making or repairing their clothes, and frequently in games or other amusements, which every good commander encouraged. On Saturdays, during these hours, if the weather permitted, they had their dance or songs and music, drinking health and wealth, long life and happiness to their “wives and sweethearts.” In harbour the crews of the Company’s ships performed, without the assistance, as now, of the natives, all the work on board, such as discharging, loading, and stowing cargo, as well as stripping and refitting the rigging of their ships, and keeping the boats in order. In China they rowed guard, on Sundays, among the ships in harbour. One day every week was allotted to washing their clothes; and once every month they scrubbed their hammocks. These were known as “washing” days.

Nor did their duties end here. The Company’s ships were ships of war, as will be seen by the many gallant actions they fought, as well as merchantmen. Each of them mounted from twelve to twenty-six guns, chiefly eighteen-pounders, and the men were drilled to gun-exercise with almost as much care as the gunners of the royal navy. They had likewise to go through a regular course of musket, cutlass, and other small-arms drill, in which they were expected to be thoroughly efficient, as also in the art of handling the boarding-pike, more especially for the purpose of defence. Courts-martial were held on board, as in ships of war, the members of which were composed of the commander and the four senior or sworn officers, the fourth or junior mate giving his opinion of what the verdict ought to be before any of the other members. And when punishments were inflicted, which was too frequently the case for the most trifling offences, the lash from the brawny arm of a boatswain’s mate over the bare back and shoulders of the delinquent was much more severely felt than would have been the lash of a drummer’s mate. Three dozen of such lashes was no uncommon punishment.

The renewal of the Company’s charter in 1814, until 1831, though granted by Parliament, was, as we have seen, so stoutly opposed by the representatives in Parliament of the out-ports and the great manufacturing districts, that various concessions were offered to the growing intelligence of the people and to their increasing wants. But the granting of licences and the extension of conditional privileges did not satisfy the demands of a people who were beginning to ask their rulers the unanswerable question why they should not be allowed to purchase what they required in the cheapest markets; and who saw that though the territory of the Company had increased to an enormous extent, its commerce, considering the extent of the land and the richness of the soil now in the Company’s possession, was altogether insignificant; in a word, that territorial aggrandisement had now become the Alpha and Omega of the Company’s policy.

Events thoroughly demonstrated the force and truth of these impressions. In the face of many difficulties, private traders, whenever they obtained a footing in the trade of the East, were certain immediately afterwards to secure an ascendancy over the Company in its trading operations, and in a very short time trebled the trade of England with the East. Such in this case, as in numerous other instances, are the effects of individual energy, even when curtailed and contracted as in the present instance, over monopoly, however influential and powerful. How indelibly marked are now the footprints of free-trade in the pages of the commercial history of the East Indies! In 1814, when the close monopoly of the Company was brought to an end, the value of exports from the United Kingdom to British India amounted to 1,870,690l.; in 1820, after the trade had been partially opened to individual energy, it reached 3,037,911l.; in 1830, when still somewhat fettered, it was 4,087,311l. In 1840 the exports amounted to 5,212,839l.; and in 1850 to 7,242,194l. In 1854 the value of the exports and imports was 20,293,572l.; in 1860 it had reached 32,791,195l.; and in 1870 it amounted to no less than 45,183,912l.[397]

It is very questionable if the East India Company, even at the period of its closest monopoly, or, indeed, during any portion of its career, ever realised much profit by its commercial operations. Many of their employés were enabled to amass very considerable fortunes, but the shareholders were paid their dividends from other sources of gain than commerce: sources it is not our province to explore; and perhaps, for the credit of England, it would be better if a veil could be drawn over many of the acts of the Company and its servants. Nor were the Directors, whatever they may have been as individuals, competent, as a body, to conduct a lucrative commerce at distances so remote. “It was not in the nature of things,” remarks Mr. McCulloch,[398] “that the Company’s purchases could be fairly made; the natives could not deal with their servants as they would have dealt with private individuals, and it would be absurd to suppose that agents authorized to buy on account of government, and to draw on the public treasury for the means of payment, should generally evince the prudence and discretion of individuals directly responsible in their own private fortunes for their transactions. The interference of such persons would, under any circumstances, have rendered the East Indian trade peculiarly hazardous. But their influence in this respect was materially aggravated by the irregularity of their appearances. No individual not belonging to the Court of Directors could foresee whether the Company’s agents would be in the market at all, or, if there, to what extent they would either purchase or sell. So capricious were their proceedings, that in some years they laid out 700,000l. on indigo, while in others they did not lay out a single shilling, and so with other things. A fluctuating demand of this sort necessarily occasioned great and sudden variations of price, and was injurious alike to the producers and the private merchants.”

Indeed when, in 1832, the renewal of the Company’s charter came to be again discussed in Parliament, the Directors had no valid reasons to offer against the entire opening of their trade, and had evidently no longer any desire, especially in face of the increased power of the free-traders, to resist the demands which were made to allow private shipowners to trade to all parts of the East, including China, on the same conditions, in all respects, as the vessels belonging to or chartered by the Company: the owners, therefore, finding it impossible to compete, with any prospect of success, against individual energy, unless protected, sold their ships, and from that time the Company ceased to be traders.

In the Appendix[399] will be found an account of how the vessels belonging to the Company were disposed of, the names of their purchasers, and the prices realised, which are small indeed compared with what they must have cost.[400] From April 1834, when the Company’s trade with China ceased, its functions have been wholly political, and the Directors, though retaining their patronage in the civil and military services, became little more than a council to advise and assist the president of the Board of Control. In 1858 they were deprived by Parliament of all their power and privileges, and ceased to exist as a governing body, the whole of the British dominion in India being then placed under a Secretary of State in Council for India, and its military and civil services merged with those of the United Kingdom.

When the Company’s commercial operations were brought to a close the commanders and officers of their “maritime service”[401] memorialised the Court for compensation for loss of employment, and requested to be placed on a footing somewhat equivalent to what the officers and servants on their own ships would have been entitled to claim by law or usage, had they been discharged or otherwise deprived of employment. This memorial, which will be found in the Appendix, contains a good deal of information connected with the service worthy of perusal. Though drawn up in the form of a petition, it reads more like a demand, the memorialists resting their claims upon certain words in their agreements for servitude, and upon one of the sections of an Act of Parliament.[402]

Although opposed to the demand, and furnishing very valid reasons for their opposition, the Directors,[403] nevertheless, after reference to a meeting of shareholders, and to Parliament, “being anxious to extend the measure of relief as widely as possible,” granted compensation to all commanders and officers who had been actually employed in the “maritime service” within the period of five years antecedent to the 22nd of April, 1834, upon their declaration that it had been their intention to continue to follow their profession in the maritime service of the Company. This compensation amounted to a money payment of 1,500l. to each commander, 1,000l. to a master, and sums ranging from 600l. to 150l. to the chief mate, down to the fourth mate and purser. Besides these payments, they gave by way of further compensation to each commander, upon their declaration as to the number of voyages which they would have performed had the service continued, the sum of 4,000l. for three unexpired voyages, 3,000l. for two voyages, and for one voyage of which they had been deprived, 2,000l. Pensions[404] were likewise granted by the Company on a graduated scale to commanders and officers who had served ten years in the service, not for sickness or incapacity, but simply on the ground, for which their own attestation was sufficient, that they were unable to obtain employment, and that any income they possessed should go in abatement of such pension.

The commanders of the ships belonging to the Company (their number was small compared with those on the hired or “maritime service”) who had five voyages to perform were each paid, by way of compensation, a sum of 5,000l.; four voyages, 4,500l.; three voyages, 4,000l.; two voyages, 3,000l., and one voyage, 2,000l.; while the officers of these ships received compensation according to the situations they filled.[405] Nor were they less liberally dealt with in the way of pensions when the commercial affairs of the Company were brought to a close. Each commodore then received 400l. per annum; each commander 300l.; and each officer, from the chief down to the warrant officer, was granted a pension for life, ranging from 200l. to 30l. per annum. Widows were allowed two-thirds of their husbands’ pensions during their widowhood. Nor were the children overlooked, for they too received pensions according to their wants.

We should have been at a loss to understand the cause of the very liberal conduct of the East India Company to its servants, had the Directors themselves not derived emoluments far beyond what they were entitled to receive by the conditions on which they had agreed to serve, and our readers also might have been puzzled to understand why they displayed such extraordinary liberality. No doubt some qualms of conscience led them to feel that they ought to pluck the beams from their own eyes before scrutinising too narrowly the motes in those of their servants.

The fixed and acknowledged remuneration to the Directors was 300l. per annum; but the general opinion of the day seems to have been (and this opinion was frequently expressed) that the worth of each directorship amounted to no less than 10,000l. per annum, in one form or another; and certainly the avidity with which these directorships were sought after, when a vacancy occurred, and the large sums of money expended in obtaining the appointment, too clearly show that there were valid reasons for the popular rumour. Candidates, who were nearly all men otherwise in the enjoyment of lucrative employment as bankers or merchants, or who had filled high appointments in the civil or military service of the Company, would not have sent “carriages and four” to remote parts of the kingdom for voters, each of whom was limited to four votes, to secure an appointment to which they were expected to devote some portion at least of their time, and this, too, for the paltry remuneration of 300l. per annum. Indeed it was not in the nature of things that they should do so.

The reason, however, may be explained by the fact that, associated with the position of a Director, there was a large amount of patronage under his own immediate control, which he claimed by rotation. That this must have been of very considerable value, may be suspected from the fact that the successful candidate sometimes gave the whole of his first year’s patronage to the chairman of his election committee. The estimated value of these nominations we have no means of knowing, nor would it be possible to ascertain what other sources of gain were within the reach of those Directors who felt disposed to avail themselves of them. Among, however, the more common and direct appointments, all the cadetships were at their disposal, as were also assistant-surgeons, chaplains, solicitors, and pilots, who were constantly required to fill up vacancies, or meet the ever-increasing demands of the service. Governors and members of the Indian Council had likewise to be supplied, and their places filled as vacancies occurred. Then there were writerships, worth from 4,000l. to 6,000l. per annum, at the disposal of the Court; while there was a grand plum in the appointment of young gentlemen to the civil service of the Company in China, each of whom, if he lived, was certain to reach the office of “Tyepan,” known to be worth 20,000l. per annum. But the appointments to this special and highly-favoured service were exclusively in the gift of the chairman, who seems almost invariably to have bestowed them upon some member of his own family, or near relative, or upon the son of a Director who, no doubt, reciprocated so great a favour when he had the opportunity. These nominations, however, were considered so valuable, that, though the chairman had double patronage, he was expected not to exercise any portion of it during the remainder of the year when the nomination to the Tyepanship fell to his lot.