d
his observation, to make amends for his first omission, improved both on
his own proposal and on that of the person who had improved on him. He
therefore applied for leave to take two hundred and fifty chests on his
own account, which he said could "be _readily disposed of_ at the
several places where it was necessary for the ship to touch for wood and
water, or intelligence, during her intended voyage through _the Eastern
Islands_." As a corrective to this extraordinary request, he assured the
board, that, if he should meet with any unexpected delay at these
markets, he would send their cargo to its destination, having secured a
_swift-sailing_ sloop for the _protection_ of his ship; and this sloop
he proposed, in such a case, to leave behind. Such an extraordinary
eagerness to deal in opium lets in another view of the merits of the
alleged dulness of the market, on which this trade was undertaken for
the Company's account.

The Council, who had with great condescension and official facility
consented to every demand hitherto made, were not reluctant with regard
to this last. The quantity of opium required by the freighters, and the
permission of a trading voyage, were granted without hesitation. The
cargo having become far more valuable by this small infusion of private
interest, the armament which was deemed sufficient to defend the
Company's large share of the adventure was now discovered to be unequal
to the protection of the whole. For the convoy of these two ships the
Council hire and arm another. How they were armed, or whether in fact
they were properly armed at all, does not appear. It is true that the
Supreme Council proposed that these ships should also convey supplies to
Madras; but this was a secondary consideration: their primary object was
the adventure of opium. To this they were permanently attached, and were
obliged to attend to its final destination.

The difficulty of disposing of the opium according to this project being
thus got over, a material preliminary difficulty still stood in the way
of the whole scheme. The contractor, or his assignees, were to be paid.
The Company's treasure was wholly exhausted, and even its credit was
exceedingly strained. The latter, however, was the better resource, and
to this they resolved to apply. They therefore, at different times,
opened two loans of one hundred thousand pounds each. The first was
reserved for the Company's servants, civil and military, to be