In fact, the Company treated them as if they were apprentices in a warehouse in St.Paul's Churchyard, and, when the conditions of their service are taken into account, it is not surprising that there was a considerable amount of dishonesty among them.

These conditions apart, they were neither worse nor better than the men of their time.

As the original Company gained stability by the incorporation of its upstart rival established in 1698,[2] which put an end to a condition of affairs that promised to be ruinous to both, and by the grant of perpetuity issued in the year following incorporation, there was a gradual improvement in the quality of their civil servants.

Though no increase in the salaries of junior officers took place for many years afterwards, the greater facilities opened to them, for trade, attracted better men into the service, among them some cadets of good family.
Miserable as was the display of military incompetency at Carwar and on subsequent occasions, it is hardly surprising when the condition of the Company's soldiers is considered.

The Company's policy was to keep officers and men in a state of degrading subjection; to prevent the officers from having any authority over their men, while pledges as to pay were often broken.
When the Company first received Bombay from the Crown, the royal troops in the island were invited to remain in the Company's service on the same rank and pay, on the condition that they might resign when they pleased--a condition that made discipline impossible.