The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 606 - 304 Field’s Analysis_2

However, the East India Company’s indefinite charter was, after all, issued through legal procedures, and they had always been profitable. It was neither morally nor legally justifiable to directly revoke their monopoly.

But this minor difficulty apparently did not deter the "heroes" who all wanted to seek fortunes in India.

In the spirit of "where there’s a will, there’s a way," everyone quickly came up with a sneaky workaround.

Although they couldn’t cancel the East India Company’s charter, Parliament could simply allow other companies to enter Indian trade, which would effectively end the East India Company’s monopoly in the region, wouldn’t it?

Not only that, but to prevent new entrants in India from being crushed by the East India Company’s scale, Parliament itself entered the arena by legislating the creation of a new company named "British East India Company" to compete with the old East India Company.

Feeling threatened, the shareholders of the East India Company frantically scrambled together several hundred thousand British Pounds to buy shares in this new shell company. Not only that, in a display of loyalty to the government, the board of directors brainstormed through the night and finally came up with the first company motto in history — Auspico Regis et Senatus Angliae ("By the Command of the King and Parliament of England").

Although the East India Company repeatedly urged its employees to understand the implications of the motto, to fully implement its spirit, and emphasized time and again that "the King and Parliament command the company" was the fundamental principle on which the East India Company was built, this ultimately failed to win back the hearts of the King and Parliament.

When the King and Parliament realized the new company’s development in India was not going as expected and failed to impact on the old company’s monopoly, their scheming minds became lively once more.

Sensing trouble, the East India Company this time took the initiative and proposed a merger of the new and old companies, inviting the Department of Colonial Affairs, the Treasury, and the Board of Trade to be deeply involved in the company’s restructuring, with Parliament to oversee.

Eventually, though reluctantly swallowing a government-enforced loan of 3.2 million British Pounds, the merger plan of the new and old companies smoothly passed Parliamentary scrutiny.

In return, Parliament "generously" restored the monopoly rights in India to the company.

Although, according to the stipulations of the old charter, these rights should have belonged to the company all along.

However, grumbles aside, once the issue of uneven profit distribution was solved, the British Government quickly provided full support to the East India Company again in diplomacy and military matters.

On the diplomatic front, the East India Company obtained tariff exemption rights in the Bengal region from the Mughal Empire.

Militarily, a large number of regular Royal Navy and Army officers were sent to serve in the East India Company troops, including prestigious individuals.

For example, Robert Clive, who with 3,000 troops defeated an army of 70,000 Mughals and conquered Bengal; or Duke Wellington, who with 7,000 troops launched a surprise attack on a 40,000-strong Mysore artillery force and emerged victorious.

It was thanks to the government’s assistance that the East India Company grew to its current size.

However, the balance between the East India Company and the government was always very delicate; whenever Britain was in conflict with other European countries, the government would loosen its reins for stable income.

And once peace returned, Parliament and the Cabinet would almost daily ponder how to tighten those reins once more.

After the passage of three bills in 1784, 1786, and 1813, although the organizational structure of this once commercial juggernaut had become bulkier than before, it sadly discovered that not only did it have a new Board of Control for India on its head but also a Governor-General of India had been appointed over it.

Moreover, its commercial functions were constantly being eroded and compressed by Parliament. Trade volumes of this golden goose were steadily rising, but the increase in profits could not keep pace with the growth of expenses.

The greatest reason for the significant increase in expenses was that, in response to calls from senior management, many local administrative offices that brought no profit to the company were set up in India.

Arthur had spoken about the East India Company with Lionel, the young Rothschild Family lord, before.

From the Jewish young lord’s words, Arthur learned that the current East India Company was saddled with a total debt of nearly ten million British Pounds. Although their trade volume was still substantial, profits had been whittled down to a very slim margin by the calculating Parliament.

Occasionally, during years when the trade market fared poorly, it was not uncommon for the East India Company’s annual financial reports to show negative profit growth, even losing money.

It could be said that, after losing its monopoly rights in India completely in 1813, the East India Company was like a frightened bird, easily startled by the slightest disturbance.

In the defense of their commercial interests, they did not mind playing some tricks, such as starting a war.

Or to put it another way, after more than two centuries of various tumults, the East India Company had developed a conditional reflex to Parliament.

Their code of conduct was: Be submissive to Parliament, strike hard at the Indians! If French and Portuguese traders dare intervene, we’ll strike at them too!