450 A. D. 1652. 



have kept pofTeflion of thofe ifles. That this lanerui{hing condition of 

 our company incHne<l the king and council in 1635 to grant a pa- 

 tent to Sir William Conrten to trale to, and plant in, fuch places only 

 where the old company d; I not trade. That Courten's enterprife great- 

 ly alarmed the Dutch company, who feized one of his fhips bound 

 from Goa for China. &c. 



In this and other wri'ines, in behalf of Courten's reprefentatives, our 

 compaiiy is accufed of having combined with the Dutch company to 

 ruin Courten's projed. Mr. Courten, fon and executor of Sir William, 

 continued the trade till 1646, when, as he alleges, by the cruel ufage 

 of the Englifh and Dutch companies, he was forced to abandon it, to 

 the damage of feveral hundred thoufand pounds. His complaint was 

 revived after the reftoration of King Charles II ; yet we do not find 

 that any redrefs was ever obtained : and indeed it was not much to 

 be wondered at, when it is confidered that Courten's original grant was 

 made in prejudice of our Eafl-India company's exclufive charter. 



1653. — In the year 1653, the treaty concluded between Denmark 

 and the United provinces in 1 649 for farming the toll in the Sound was 

 refcinded, and a new one was concluded at Copenhagen, whereupon 

 the Dutch advanced the fum of 525,000 gilders to the crown of Den- 

 mark, by way of anticipation : the Danifh court agreeing to repay that 

 fum in annual payments, with 5 per cent interefl:. [Thurloe, V. i, 

 p. 482.] 



The portage of a great trading nation's letters is undoubtedly, in fome 

 degree, a kind of political pulfe whereby to judge of the increafe or 

 decreafe of the public wealth and commerce : yet it would be more 

 efpecially fo, where franking of letters by members of parliament did 

 not take place, which, it is apprehended, was not the cafe as yet in 

 England, whofe council of (late this year farmed the poftage of England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, to John Manley, Efq. for Lr 0,000 yearly, which 

 was confirmed by the protector in 1654. By this fettlement fingle let- 

 ters carried as far as 80 miles paid 2d, and double ones ^d ; beyond 80 

 miles o^d, and double ones 6^'. We fliall hereafter fee this revenue great- 

 ly increafed, in confequence of the increafe of our general commerce, 

 and alio by additional poftage. 



The naval war between the two firfl republics of the univerfe ftill 

 ,continued very fierce. In June this year happened off Dover the fifth 

 general engagement : Monk and Deaue commanded the Engliih fleet of 

 100 fail ; and Van Tromp, De Witt, De Ruyter, and the two Evert- 

 fens, commanded the Dutch one of above 100 fhips of war. Afrer 

 continually fighting for two days, the Dutch were difcomfited, eleven 

 of their fliips being taken, fix funk, and two blown up, with but little 

 lofs on the fide of the Englifh. From this difafl;er Van Tromp, in a 

 memorial to his maflers the ftates-general, fet forth, that the fhips and 



