The experiment of free trade with India had therefore been tried under every disadvantage, or, to speak more correctly, had not been tried at all.

The general opinion had always been that some restriction was necessary; and that opinion had been confirmed by all that had happened since the old restrictions had been removed.

The doors of the House of Commons were again besieged by the two great contending factions of the City.

The Old Company offered, in return for a monopoly secured by law, a loan of seven hundred thousand pounds; and the whole body of Tories was for accepting the offer.

But those indefatigable agitators who had, ever since the Revolution, been striving to obtain a share in the trade of the Eastern seas exerted themselves at this conjuncture more strenuously than ever, and found a powerful patron in Montague.
That dexterous and eloquent statesman had two objects in view.