won the 1783 contract on the basis of 1% commission, and, when war ended and the contract was terminated prematurely, he won contracts for the disposal of stores. Government savings were at least 10% and Baring was personally rewarded in other ways. Between 1784 and 1786 he (and not his firm) received £7,000 in commissions for undertaking government work and a further £4,250 from interest on government money in his hands. Against this, in his private accounts he charged the £3,000 expenses incurred in winning his Commons seat in 1784. Nevertheless, transactions for the government stretched his resources in these years. He apparently "borrowed" stock from Martin & Co., his brother-in-law's firm, "to enable me to negotiate the government business". Yet the returns on these risky adventures were clearly immense. During the war, when government expenditure soared, his firm also emerged as a contractor for marketing British government debt; it was believed to have made profits of £19,000. The East India Company Francis Baring's other distraction from his firm was his directorship of the East India Company from 1779. By 1783 he led the City interest on the company's court, and in 1786 he was reckoned its most able member. His commitment was significant; he gave up each Wednesday and occasionally a Friday to its affairs. Notwithstanding his views on the liberalization of American trade, he promoted the company's monopoly and commercial independence "with an ardour contrary to the usual moderation of his character" He joined the East India Company when the British government was anxious to exert greater political control over it, recognizing the great territorial power that it had become. Baring actively fought off the far-reaching proposals of Lord North and Charles James Fox, believing that "India is not a colony and God forbid that it ever should be", but he worked with an old friend from the period of his apprenticeship and now a fellow director, Richard Atkinson, to modify and facilitate the acceptance of Pitt's India Act. In 1792 and 1793, as Pitt's preferred candidate, he was elected chairman and charged with the task of renegotiating the company's charter. The experience of his chairmanship was both exhausting and distracting. His private accounts went unwritten for two years and in 1792, "being obliged to travel for my health". he was utterly unprepared for the collapse in prices of British government securities which reduced his private capital of