Governing Over Distance: Delegating Trust and Dealing with Disorder in the Early East India Company Trade

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study uses an overlooked case to reveal how the problem of distance shaped the early English East Indies trade. In 1617, preacher William Lesk returned to London from Surat. He had been sent to be a moral leader for East India Company factors, but they returned him when his scandalous behaviour threatened the survival of the Company’s trade in the Mughal empire. The social circumstances of the factory had real, material consequences. The factors sent signed eyewitness accounts of his misdeeds for Company leaders to address, but in London, Lesk’s claims of first-hand knowledge of the East Indies trade and affairs in Surat, along with savvy use of the politics of publicity, meant that Company leaders found him challenging to deal with. The story of Lesk reveals how managing distance required compromises on how best to govern the East Indies trade. Distance shaped how Company leaders interpreted events in the East Indies, while also opening up avenues for resisting Company judgements. Distance informed every aspect of the Company’s operation – not just economic but also social and political – and is essential to understanding how and why the Company developed as it did, both in the East Indies and London.