the mother country, and an impulse to the development of its
fleet. In the case of England and Holland, the enterprise of the
companies saved them from suffering from the monopolies of Spain and
Portugal, and the wars of the English, and those of the Dutch in the
Indies with Spain and Portugal, were paid for by the companies. They
furnished the mother country with luxuries which, by the 18th century,
had become necessaries. They offered a career for the younger sons of
good families, and sometimes greatly assisted large and useful
enterprises.

During the last twenty years of the 19th century there was a great
revival of the system of chartered companies in Great Britain. It is a
feature of the general growth of interest in colonial expansion and
commercial development which has made itself felt almost universally
among European nations. Great Britain, however, alone has succeeded in
establishing such companies as have materially contributed to the growth
of her empire. These companies succeed or fail for reasons different
from those which affected the chartered companies of former days, though
there are points in common. Apart from causes inherent in the particular
case of each company, which necessitates their being examined
separately, recent experience leads us to lay down certain general
principles regarding them. The modern companies are not like those of
the 16th and 17th centuries. They are not privileged in the sense that
those companies were. They are not monopolists; they have only a limited
sovereignty, always being subject to the control of the home government.
It is true that they have certain advantages given them, for without
these advantages no capital would risk itself in the lands where they
carry on their operations. They often have very heavy corresponding
obligations, as will be seen in the case of one (the East Africa) where
the obligations were too onerous for the company to discharge, though
they were inseparable from its position. The charters of modern
companies differ in two points strongly from those of the old: they
contain clauses prohibiting any monopoly of trade, and they generally
confer some special political rights directly under the control of the
secretary of state. The political freedom of the old companies was much
greater. In these charters state control has been made a distinguishing
feature. It is to be exercised in almost all directions in which the
companies may come into con