HARDOIN DE LA REYNERIE, Louis-Eugène; Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Gerbier; Alexandre-Jules-Benoît de Bonnières.

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Consultation pour les actionnaires de la Compagnie des Indes. First edition of the French East India Company's defence of its restored East Indies monopoly, arguing that only a national trading company could provide the capital, commercial credibility, and diplomatic standing necessary to compete with rival European powers in Asia.After the East India monopoly was suspended in 1769, French merchants traded privately in the region. In 1785, however, the monopoly was restored under the newly established Nouvelle Compagnie, prompting criticism from merchants and political economists, led by André Morellet, who maintained that private trade had proved more successful.To answer these criticisms, the company commissioned three leading lawyers to prepare this report. They contended that the scale, risks, and long-term financing required for Asian commerce were beyond the resources of private merchants, that the absence of a chartered company had damaged French commercial and diplomatic prestige in India, and that Morellet's evidence for the success of free trade was misleading because many supposedly profitable voyages relied on carrying goods for foreign merchants rather than conducting trade independently.The 23 detailed tables record voyages undertaken in the period of private trade from 1769 to 1785.

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