DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9697#0039
INTRODUCTION.
XX111
into or come from the Levant Seas, for and towards necessary
charge, maintenance, and supply of their ministers, officers, and
government.
" That no person shall send ships into these parts limited by
their corporation, but such as are free brothers, or otherwise
licensed, each person to pay, if a mere merchant, ^50, if above
twenty-one years of age, or ^25 if under that age; and they
shall have power to fine persons disobeying their orders in a sum
not exceeding ^20, or imprisoning their persons till the said sum
be paid."
About this time the Levant Company suffered
somewhat from the conflicting state of parties in
England. Sir S. Crowe was appointed in 1642 as
ambassador of the Levant Company; he was a
staunch lovalist, and, during his tenure of office
abroad, his goods in England were confiscated by
the Parliamentarians. On hearing this, Sir S. Crowe
imprisoned many of the English factors in Con-
stantinople, and appropriated their goods. The Par-
liamentarians forthwith obliged the Company to send
out another representative, Sir J. Bendish, who,
after some difficulty, succeeded in establishing him-
self as the ambassador of England, and Sir S. Crowe
was sent home. On arriving in London, he was
impeached at the suit of the Company, condemned,
and kept in prison till 1653.
The regulations of the Company with regard to
their ouployds were very strict in those days ; none
of the consuls under their authority might marry
without the consent of the directors, and the factors
or merchants at Constantinople and elsewhere in the
Levant frequently received admonitions from the
governing body at home against "sensuality, gambling,
XX111
into or come from the Levant Seas, for and towards necessary
charge, maintenance, and supply of their ministers, officers, and
government.
" That no person shall send ships into these parts limited by
their corporation, but such as are free brothers, or otherwise
licensed, each person to pay, if a mere merchant, ^50, if above
twenty-one years of age, or ^25 if under that age; and they
shall have power to fine persons disobeying their orders in a sum
not exceeding ^20, or imprisoning their persons till the said sum
be paid."
About this time the Levant Company suffered
somewhat from the conflicting state of parties in
England. Sir S. Crowe was appointed in 1642 as
ambassador of the Levant Company; he was a
staunch lovalist, and, during his tenure of office
abroad, his goods in England were confiscated by
the Parliamentarians. On hearing this, Sir S. Crowe
imprisoned many of the English factors in Con-
stantinople, and appropriated their goods. The Par-
liamentarians forthwith obliged the Company to send
out another representative, Sir J. Bendish, who,
after some difficulty, succeeded in establishing him-
self as the ambassador of England, and Sir S. Crowe
was sent home. On arriving in London, he was
impeached at the suit of the Company, condemned,
and kept in prison till 1653.
The regulations of the Company with regard to
their ouployds were very strict in those days ; none
of the consuls under their authority might marry
without the consent of the directors, and the factors
or merchants at Constantinople and elsewhere in the
Levant frequently received admonitions from the
governing body at home against "sensuality, gambling,