62 RELIGION, COLONISING AND TRADE 
of ‘ The United Company of Merchants of England 
trading to the East Indies.” This was ¢ The Honout- 
able East India Company,” which under successive 
charters made history on a great scale until, after the 
Mutiny, it was brought to an end in 1858. 
It has been seen ! that from the first the East India 
Company were at pains to make provision for the 
spiritual welfare of their employees. When the new 
Company was incorporated in 1698, the terms of its 
charter were almost the same as those of the charters 
of the old Company, with the exception that a provision 
was inserted for the maintenance of ministers and 
schoolmasters. This was found no obstacle to the 
amalgamation of the two companies, for ‘the old 
Company, though not bound by such a provision in 
any of their charters, had fully recognised their responsi- 
bility in that respect. A chaplain had always formed 
part of the establishment at a principal station or fac- 
tory, and various books of divinity were sent out from 
time to time. . . .”# ‘The provisions were accordingly 
continued, after the companies had been united, the 
intent being to have a chaplain at every large factory 
and on every ship of soo tons and upwards, and where, 
as at St. Helena, schoolmasters were required, to 
provide them also. The chaplains, of course, varied 
greatly in character and kind. There were among 
them men who should never have been employed, as 
well as others who succumbed to temptation and a hot 
climate. We read of a man who, after he had been 
1 See above, p. 22. 
% See Charters relating to the East India Company, with Preface by 
John Shaw (Madras, 1887), printed for the Government of Madras, 
The quotation is from the Preface, p. xiii.