Note 24 — No. 1.

The East India Company was a famous joint stock trading corporation, formed in England early in the seventeenth century, to carry on commerce with the East Indies. They established stations in various places, and in 1702, were newly chartered as "The United Company of Merchants Trading to the East Indies." The executive power of the Company was vested in a court of twenty-four directors, each of whom must own £2000 of stock, and held office four years. This Company became a great territorial power, and laid the foundation of the British Empire in India. Its monopoly of the China trade was abolished in 1833, and the Company was then deprived of its original character as a commercial association. The Sepoy Mutiny, in 1857, combined with other causes, induced Parliament to transfer the dominion of India to the Crown. This change was effected in 1858, after strenuous opposition from the Company. Trading companies to the East Indies were also chartered by Holland, France, Denmark, and Sweden; that of Holland being the oldest.