““He solicited others for a more recent history of the East India Company, that arm of the British Crown that really ruled India now. More aspects of going to India disturbed him. One helpful friend showed him a statute passed by Parliament: Be it further enacted that if any subject or subjects of His Majesty not being lawfully licensed or authorized shall at any time directly or indirectly go, sail or repair to, or be found in the East Indies...all and every such persons are hereby declared to be guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to fine or imprisonment or both as the Court shall think fit.[9]””
