Chap. H.] FIXAL EXPULSION OF THE PORTUGUESE. 



47 



wliich the soldiers of Portugal resented and resisted 

 the attacks of the native princes, was exchanged for 

 tlie subdued humbleness with which the merchants of 

 Holland endured the insults and outrages perpetrated 

 by the tyrants of Kandy upon their envoys and officers. 

 The maintenance of peace was so essential to the ex- 

 tension of commerce, that no provocation, however 

 gross, was sufficient to rouse them to retahation, pro- 

 vided the offence was individual or local, and did not 

 interrupt the routine of business at their factories on the 

 coast. ^ 



The unworthiness of such a policy was perceptible 

 even to the instincts of the barl^arians with whom they 

 had to deal ; and Eaja Singha 11. , by the arrogance and 

 contempt of his demeanour and intercourse, attested the 

 scorn with which he endured the presence of the faithless 

 intruders, whom he was powerless to expel. 



He disregarded all engagements, violated all treaties, 

 laid waste the Dutch territory, and put their subjects 



A.D. 



1G58. 



^ Valentyn, ch. xvii. p. 177. In 

 the instructions wliich Hen- Von 

 Cioens left for his successor on retir- 

 ing from the Government of Ceylon 

 in IGGl, the leading injunction was 

 to humour Raja Singha to the ut- 

 most, to do him all honour, and rather 

 to endm'e offences committed by him 

 than to resort to retaliation ; at the 

 same time to watch and distrust him. 

 " Men moet ook in alle manieren 

 betragten om Raga Singha geen 

 redenen van misnoegen te geven ; 

 maar veel liever hem caresseeren 

 hem veel eerbied bewyzon, en liever 

 wat ongelyk van hem lyden dan hem 

 diit aandoen ; dog ondertusschen hem 

 ook nergeus in betrouwen en op hem 

 wel naeuwletten." (Ch. ix. p. 148.) 

 See also Roggenwein's Voyage, 

 Harris's Coll., vol. i. p. 290. 



It is to be regretted that the post- 

 ponement of national honour to com- 

 mercial advantiiges was not confined 

 to the subjects of Holland in the 



East, and the observance of the same 

 humiliating policy is to be foimd, on 

 a still gi'eater scale, in the early inter- 

 com-se of the British East India 

 Company with the Emperor of Delhi. 

 There is nothing in the records of 

 the Dutch more disgTacefid tlian 

 these official documents of the En- 

 glish in India, at the beginning of 

 the last century, wlio, in the name of 

 " (jod," laid at the feet of the Great 

 Mogul " the supplication of the Go- 

 vernor of lienijat, tchose forehead is 

 hisfoofiifool;" setting out that "the 

 Enylifhmen tradiny to Benyal are 

 his Majesty's slaves, always intent on 

 doiny his commands, and having' 

 readily obeyed his most sacred orders, 

 have thereby found favour'''' — and they 

 " craA"e as his servants a finnan for 

 trade and protection to follow their 

 business without molestation." — Let~ 

 ter of Governor Rit^sdl, loth Septem- 

 ber/1712. 



