APPENDIX I THE OTHER EAST INDIA COMPANIES

Indian affairs in the eighteenth century were complicated by the existence of a number of East India Companies which had in one way or another obtained imperial or royal licence, but all of which in reality existed as ‘cover’ for merchants who wished to evade the still-existing monopolies of the English Dutch companies. Whatever the name and ostensible nationality of those companies, they were all to a large extent staffed and financed by English subjects, and a large part of their profits went into Dutch or English pockets.

The following companies are identifiable:

1. The Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies (1695), more commonly known as the Darien Company from the name of its first and most disastrous enterprise in the Western world (1698–1700). The Act of Union between England and Scotland had not yet taken place, and Scotland therefore provided very convenient cover.

2. The Ostend Company (1722). In this company English interests were dominant, as is evident from the astonishing careers of the Hume family – Robert, Alexander, Abraham, John and David – who were deeply involved in trade with the East. Of these, though all were engaged in illegal trade, Abraham was knighted in 1769, and Alexander (d. 1765) became a director of the East India Company and also Member of Parliament. Opposition from the English and Dutch companies was so strong that the emperor was persuaded to suppress the Ostend Company in 1727.