In the year 1698, in consequence of complaints against the East India
Company, and their inability to make any dividend, they thought it
necessary to give in a statement of their property in India. In this they
asserted that they had acquired, solely at their own expence, revenues at
Fort St. George, Fort St. David, and Bombay, as well as in Persia, and
elsewhere, to the amount of 44,000_l_. per annum, arising from customs
and licenses, besides a large extent of land in these places; they had also
erected forts and settlements in Sumatra, and on the coast of Malabar,
which were absolutely necessary to carry on the pepper trade; they had a
strongfort in Bengal, and many factories, settlements, &c. in other places.
The result of the complaints against the Company was, that a new company
was established this year; the two companies, however, united in the
beginning of the eighteenth century.
We shall conclude our account of the state of English commerce during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with some more general and
miscellaneous topics.
I. Exports. In the year 1534, the total value of our exports did not exceed
900,000_l_. of the present value of our money: the balance of trade was
estimated at 700,000_l_.: this arose principally from the very great
exportation of woollen goods, tin, leather, &c., on which an export duty
was laid, bringing in 246,000_l_.
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