3. As to colonization, the charter provided that the company "may advance the peopling of fruitful and unsettled parts." Usselinx, the original author and the persistent advocate of the plan, would gladly have made more adequate provision for the establishment of colonies, the stimulation of agriculture and mining, good government in these colonies, their religious life, and the conversion of the natives. He had a picture in his mind of a great commercial dominion, settled from Holland and other countries, forming a market for European manufactures, and producing colonial goods for the use of the Netherlands. [Footnote: Jameson, Usselinx, 43.] But the charter was granted in war time, and by a body of aristocratic traders, who, as Bacon says, "look ever to the present gain"; so that the capture of Spanish plate-fleets and the sacking of West Indian settlements are contemplated with as much assurance and interest as are colonization and more legitimate commerce.
4. In view of later disputes between England and her colonies, it is worthy of note that even such an enlightened advocate of a prosperous, self-governing colonial empire as Usselinx should have insisted, in 1618, that the colonists were to pay taxes to the home government, to trade with the Netherlands only, and to have no manufactures that would compete with those of the mother-country. [Footnote: Ibid., 63]
5. The political or semi-public powers of the company, according to the charter, were very extensive: it could form alliances and make war, so long as the war was defensive or retaliatory, could build forts, maintain troops, appoint officers, capture prizes, and arrest offenders on the high seas.
6. By way of subsidy the company was given one million florins, the use of sixteen government ships and four yachts, and exemption from all tolls and license dues on its ships.
7. The duties required of the company were an oath of fidelity to Prince Maurice, the stadtholder, and to the States-General, on the part of its officers; the provision of a number of vessels equal at least to those provided by the government; the return of its ships whenever practicable to the ports from which they had set out; the preservation for military purposes of all prizes captured from enemies of the States-General; the periodical publishing of accounts; and the division, after six years, of all surplus over ten per cent, in such a way that, in addition to what the shareholders received, one-tenth should go to the States-General and one-thirtieth to Count Maurice.
The government of the Dutch West India Company was very complicated, reflecting the political arrangements of the Netherlands and the jealousies of a merchant aristocracy distributed in provinces and cities. There was a governor-in-chief of the company's colonial possessions, but his powers were dependent on a general board of nineteen directors, who were the supreme authority in the regulation of the company's affairs. Below this central body were five territorial chambers, with a combined membership of seventy-eight. The numbers, powers, and influence on the policy of the company of these chambers were in proportion to the wealth of the cities they represented and to the amount of the stock subscribed from these cities. The Amsterdam chamber, which was to subscribe one-half the capital stock, was far the most influential and had the largest number of directors; after it in order came the chambers of Zealand, of the cities on the Meuse, of the cities of North Holland, and of the cities of Friesland and Groningen. These local boards elected the general board, one-third of their number, chosen by lot, retiring each year. [Footnote: Jameson, Usselinx, 33, 34.]
When Richelieu became prime-minister of France in 1624, one of the earliest definite lines of policy he initiated was the formation of privileged commercial companies. [Footnote: Edict of Reformation of 1627, art. 429; Isambert, Recueil General des Anciennes Lois Francaises, XVI., 329.] He saw with great clearness and formulated in a state paper [Footnote: Michaud et Poujoulat, Memoires, I., chap, xviii., 438.] the reasons for recognizing the superiority for distant commerce, under the conditions of that period, of chartered companies over individual traders. He was also much impressed with the power and success of the great East India companies of England and Holland. His first plan was a general French company of commerce, to include all the outlying sections of the world, and at least two such companies were chartered in succession. They came to nothing, and soon gave place to companies authorized each to carry on commerce with a specified part of America, Africa, Europe, or Asia.[Footnote: Pigeonneau, Hist. du Commerce, II., 426-431.] The most important of these was the company of Canada, chartered in 1628 on the plans of Champlain, and intended to take the place of all earlier companies and individual grantees having privileges in that region. The chartered powers and privileges of this company may be analyzed as follows:
1. The region to which they extended was "the fort and settlement of Quebec, with all the country of New France, called Canada." [Footnote: Isambert, Recueil General, XVI., 216-222.] It was described as extending along the Atlantic coast from Florida to the arctic circle, and from Newfoundland westward to the sources of the farthest rivers which fell into the St. Lawrence or the "Fresh Sea."
2. The power of the company over the soil was complete. It was allowed to sell or dispose of it in such portions and on such terms as it should see fit, except that if it should grant great fiefs such as duchies or baronies, letters of confirmation to the grantees should be sought from the crown.
3. The continuance of the company in its full form with all powers and duties was to be for fifteen years, while for other purposes its life was to be perpetual.