The East-India Trade. EAST INDIA COMPANY. Published by London: printed, and are to be sold by E. Whitlock, 1696 First edition of this anonymous contribution to the debate surrounding the East India Company, which had lost its monopoly on Indian trade in 1694 through the lobbying of merchants and ex-company members who wanted to enter the lucrative market themselves. The author offers their own solution - the formation of a regulated government company, one in which any Englishman could enter on an equal footing, and which can direct trade to the public good. The author asserts that at present no company can "prefer the Publick Good in Prejudice to their Joint Stock", that they only import and export that which will give them profits, and that they are guilty of "employing few others than Men of broken Fortunes, or Youths at very mean Salaries". In contrast, the author's envisioned company will "bring home much greater Quantities of all Commodities, imploy many of the Younger Sons of the Gentry. Encrease the Customs, and will in every Point be of Infinite Advantage to the Publick" (p. 22). ESTC R212949; Goldsmiths' 3233; Kress 1992; Wing P3745.