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Smythe had no trouble deflecting the slanders of 'malicious and scandalous
tongues' against John Saris at the general meeting of members of the EIC on 6
December. As its Governor, he had constantly to answer stockholders' charges
against his employees, and he was good at it. His standard trick was to remind
them that their enemies would be only too happy to watch over the destruction of
the Company. Solidarity within the Company was the only protection against this
sortofgangingupfromwithout.Thestockholders'shouldnotbeenymiestothem-
selvesbycondempningethisthere[their]comander',astheminutesofthemeeting
have him saying. Fortunately, he was able to report that the auditors were already
estimating that Saris had tripled the capital put into the voyage. Things would turn
out well as long as everyone stayed calm.
The allegations about problems inside the Company were nothing, however,
compared with the looming pornography scandal. The Company had the good
sense not to inquire too closely into what men on ships got up to, yet the charge
thatSarishadbroughtJapanesepornographyintoEnglandwouldbeaneasyexcuse
to spark the malicious into alleging that the Company lacked a moral rudder and
should be stripped of its monopoly on Asian trade. Big business had to appear to
berighteousbusiness,orsomeoneoutsidethecompanywouldwanttotearitdown
and keep a piece of the business for themselves. Ten days later Smythe had to re-
port to the Court of Committees - the Company's board of directors - regarding
'some imputacions and aspersions beinge cast upon Capt'ne Saris for certain lasci-
vious bookes and pictures brought home by him and divulged'.
Bringing erotica home from Japan was one thing; showing it around was
something else entirely. The directors felt that Saris should have shown better dis-
cretion than to display pictures of men with prodigious genitalia copulating with
compliant female partners - certainly the most spectacular erotica that anyone in
England had ever seen. Saris's lack of judgement had unleashed 'a greate scandall
upon this Companye', which the directors regarded as 'unbeseeminge their gravit-
ie to permitte'. They might have put their gravity aside and let the scandal die its
own quiet death, had word of the pictures not got out. But it did. Notoriety forced
Smythe to act. Assuring his directors that he disliked the pictures as much as they
did, he told them that he knew the offending materials were in Saris's house, and
thathewould'gettthemoutofhishaundesyfpossibliehecould'.Hisrecommend-
ationtotheCourtofCommittees was that the topics andpictures'beeburntoroth-
erwise disposed of as the Company should thinke fit'.
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