these the court was virtually annihilated; or if substantially it
exists, it is to be apprehended it exists only for purposes very
different from those of its institution.

The fourth object of the act of 1773 was the Council-General. This
institution was intended to produce uniformity, consistency, and the
effective coöperation of all the settlements in their common defence. By
the ancient constitution of the Company's foreign settlements, they were
each of them under the orders of a President or Chief, and a Council,
more or fewer, according to the discretion of the Company. Among those,
Parliament (probably on account of the largeness of the territorial
acquisitions, rather than the conveniency of the situation) chose Bengal
for the residence of the controlling power, and, dissolving the
Presidency, appointed a new establishment, upon a plan somewhat similar
to that which had prevailed before; but the number was smaller. This
establishment was composed of a Governor-General and four Counsellors,
all named in the act of Parliament. They were to hold their offices for
five years, after which term the patronage was to revert to the Court of
Directors. In the mean time such vacancies as should happen were to be
filled by that court, with the concurrence of the crown. The first
Governor-General and one of the Counsellors had been old servants of the
Company; the others were new men.

On this new arrangement the Courts of Proprietors and Directors
considered the details of commerce as not perfectly consistent with the
enlarged sphere of duty and the reduced number of the Council.
Therefore, to relieve them from this burden, they instituted a new
office, called the Board of Trade, for the subordinate management of
their commercial concerns, and appointed eleven of the senior servants
to fill the commission.