all the proprietors of the said debts, in the usual style and form. This Act allows the Company £8,000 per annum for charges of management. And, for better securing the privileges of the Bank of England, this new Company shall not borrow money on their bills or notes on demand, nor at any less time than six months neither shall they discount bills of exchange, nor any other bills or notes whatsoever; nor shall they keep any books or cash for any persons or corporations, excepting their own alone.

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' And whereas it is of the greatest consequence to the honour and welfare of this Kingdom, and for the increase of the strength and riches thereof, and for vending the product and manufacture, goods and merchandise of, or brought into, this Kingdom, and the employment of the poor, that a trade should be carried on to the South Seas and other parts of America, hereinafter mentioned, which cannot so securely and so successfully be begun and carried on as by a corporation with a joint stock, exclusive of all others. For the better encouragement of the members of the said intended company, be it enacted:

That this Company shall, from the 1st of August, 1711, be vested for ever in the sole trade and traffic, unto and from all the kingdoms, lands, islands, cities, towns, ports, creeks, and places, in America, on the east side thereof, from the river of Orinoco to the southernmost part of Terra del Fuego; and on the west side thereof, from the southernmost part of the said Terra del Fuego, through the South Seas, to the northernmost part of America; and into, unto, and from all countries, etc., within the said limits, which are reputed to belong to the crown of Spain, or which shall hereafter be found out or discovered within the said limits, not exceeding three hundred leagues from the continent of America, between the southernmost part of Terra del Fuego and the northernmost part of America, on the west thereof, except the kingdom of Brazil, and such other places on the said east side of America as are now in the actual possession of the crown of Portugal, and the country of the Surinam in the possession of the States-General of the United Provinces; it not being intended that the sole trade to any part of the east side of America, now in the actual possession of the crown of Portugal or the States-General, shall be granted by this Act but it shall be and remain lawful for all Her Majesty's subjects to trade and traffic thither, as full and freely, in all respects, as they might or could do, if this Act had not been made.

::

'None shall trade within those limits, but the Company, their agents, and factors.

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The Queen may, in her intended charter of incorporation, empower the said Company to make laws for the good government of their trade, etc., and to inflict reasonable penalties, by imprisonment and mulcts, for any breach thereof.

'Forfeiture of ships and merchandise, and double their value, for any but the Company, or those licensed by the Company, trading to, or frequenting, any part of their limits; one-fourth to the Crown, one-fourth to the informer, and onehalf to the Company.

'The Company to be the sole owners and proprietors of all islands, forts, towns, and places which they shall hereafter discover within their limits; to hold the same of the Crown, in free and common soccage by fealty, on the annual rent of an ounce of gold, if demanded.

All prizes of ships and merchandise, taken by the Company, shall be their sole property: for which end, they may seize by force of arms the persons, with their ships and goods, trading within their limits.

'The Company's bond shall charge as well their annual fund, as their other stock effects, and estate; and shall be assignable by endorsement. And it shall be felony to counterfeit this common seal or bonds, or to alter or utter the same knowingly.

'The Company not to sail into any of the before-named limits beyond Terra del Fuego, except only through the Straits of Magellan, or else round the said Terra del Fuego; nor shall sail from thence unto any part of the East Indies; nor shall they return to Great Britain or to any other part of Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, by any other way except through the said Straits of Magellan, or by Terra del Fuego aforesaid : neither shall they trade in the goods of India, Persia, or China, nor in any other commodities of the countries within the limits of the East India Company. Nor shall this new Company's ships sail farther west than the shores of Chili, Peru, Mexico, California, or any other shores contained between Terra del Fuego and the northernmost part of America, than three hundred leagues; under forfeiture of ships merchandise, and double the value: one-third to the Crown, and two-thirds to the East India Company.

And forasmuch as nothing can more conduce to the increase of the strength and riches of this kingdom, and the breeding of able seamen, than preserving and enlarging the fishery, the Queen may, in her Charter to this Company, direct a stock of

£20 upon every £100 of the capital stock of the Company, to be kept apart, and always employed for carrying on, improving and enlarging, the fishery of this realm, or any other fishery; so as none other of the Queen's subjects be excluded the fishing trade. And as no calls of money for the fishery, or for any other parts of the Company's trade, be made but by order of a General Court, on a fortnight's notice.

'Neither the Governors nor Directors of this Company shall be capable of being such in the Bank [of England], nor in the East India Company, at the same time.'

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The scheme fired the imagination of the British people, and the general public was anxious to participate in the benefits which, in its ignorance, it felt sure must accrue from it. Nor were the merchants slow in swallowing this gilded bait, and the fancied Eldorado which shone before them dazzled even their discerning eyes,' Stanhope has written. The exploits of Drake were quoted, and the dreams of Raleigh revived. This spirit spread through the whole nation, and many, who scarcely knew whereabouts America lies, felt nevertheless quite certain of its being strewed with gold and gems.' 1 To fan the flame came the rumour that Spain would cede to England four ports on the coasts of Chili and Peru, and folk at home saw themselves exchanging, at enormous profit, their manufactured goods for the wealth of the mines of Potosi and Mexico.

On June 27 a Commission was signed directing that the persons therein named, or any five or more of them, should, as soon as conveniently might be, provide one or more books for taking subscriptions to the joint or capital stock of the Corporation, to be erected in pursuance of a late Act of Parliament, for carrying on a trade to the South Seas; that the said Commissioners should provide a convenient house to be the office or

1 History of England, II., 3.

offices; and at the said offices such subscription books should lie open every day, except Sundays, from eight to twelve in the morning, and from three to six in the afternoon, until July 7, unless the whole subscription to the said capital stock should be sooner completed.

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The Commissioners thereupon began, on June 29, to receive subscriptions at Mercer's Hall, Cheapside, in the City of London, but owing to the time occupied in examining the title of the bills and debentures, only £2,000,000 was subscribed by July 7. The period for subscribing was then extended to the end of the month, by when another £2,000,000 of stock had been taken up. It is remarkable,' a contemporary writer stated, 'that £2,000,000 are ready to be subscribed for the use of the public as soon as the accounts of the various offices are made up, so that it may be computed that £6,000,000 are as good as subscribed; and there's no doubt but the £3,500,000 remaining will also come in as soon as the subscription and transfer books are opened. Upon the whole matter the bringing so great an undertaking so near perfection in so short a time may well be reckoned among the wonders of Her Majesty's most glorious reign.'1

The last step in the inauguration of Harley's scheme was a Royal Charter, dated September 8, 1711, which incorporated the subscribers of the debt by the name of the Governor and Company of Merchants of Great Britain trading to the South Seas and other parts of America. It ordained that the Company should have a Court of Directors, and appointed the manner of the proceedings in that Court and in the General Courts,

1 Political State of Great Britain, I., 448.

2 The qualification for a Governor was £10,000; for a Director, £10,000; for a vote, £1,000.