ts
forests would make her independent of the Baltic countries for naval
supplies. Once gain a footing in India and America, and the commerce of
England, now so largely foreign, would be diverted into national
channels to the benefit of all concerned: "Our monies and wares that
nowe run into the hands of our adversaries or cowld frendes shall pass
into our frendes and naturall kinsmen and from them likewise we shall
receive such things as shall be most available to our necessities, which
intercourse of trade maye rather be called a home bread traffique than a
forraigne exchange."

The identification of the industrial and political interests of the
nation with the fortunes of the centralized state was necessarily
accompanied by a marked change in the character of international trade.
The national king, whose power rested so largely upon the industrial
class, could not leave in the hands of municipal councils the control
which they had formerly exercised; while long ocean voyages, and traffic
with countries inhabited by alien and often hostile people, required the
combined capital of many men and a more powerful backing than any
municipal council could furnish. Individual trading, therefore, gave way
to corporate trading; the joint-stock company, assisted or controlled by
the state, replaced the individual merchant operating under municipal
encouragement and protection. It was accordingly in the age of
Elizabeth, when English merchants were lamenting the want of markets,
and when English ships were pushing into every part of the world, that
such chartered trading companies made their appearance in rapid
succession, taking their names from the distant regions in which they
obtained a monopoly--Cathay, the Baltic, Turkey, Morocco, Africa. Of
these, and of all subsequent organizations of a similar character, the
most famous in England was the East India Company. By the charter, which
bears date December 31, 1600, two hundred and fifteen knights and
merchants were incorporated into a self-governing association competent
to acquire property in land, and enjoying a monopoly of English trade
with all countries lying east of the Cape of Good Hope as far as the
Straits of Magellan. The laws of the company were required to conform to
those of England, and its officers to take the oath of allegiance to the
Crown. Encountering many obstacles and some serious reverses, the
Company soon established a thriving trade in the Indian Ocean;