1 N D I A. 



41 



ii --. 



T-..T 



ports, they passed onto warih ilif re^innsbey^nd^heGan- 

 gei, and the Malay peninsula, of the riches of which they 

 had beard wonderful accounts from the merchants ot'Su- 

 rat. Their conquests here, however, and in the Spice 

 islands, do not fall within our notice. In the middle 

 of the loth century, they had become masters of the 

 east coast of Africa ; of the coasts of Arabia and Persia ; 

 of the two peninsulas of India ; of the Moluccas ; and 

 of the trade to China and Japan : they seized every 

 vessel that sailed on the Indian seas without their per- 

 mission, ravaged the coasts, insulted the native princes, 

 destroyed the temples of their religion, and established 

 the inquisition at Goa. But in the midst of these abu- 

 ses of their power, their settlements were divided and 

 torn by factions ; the tribute paid by one hundred and 

 fifty princes of India, as well as the revenue derived 

 from other sources, was squandered by individuals ; so 

 that the forts and the ships were in a very ruinous con- 

 dition. In this state of things, the Portuguese empire 

 in India must soon have fallen, had not Juan de Castro 

 arrived as viceroy. But great aa hk talents and virtues 

 were, and indefatigable and wise as be was in his en- 

 deavours to restore* his countrymen to their former cha- 

 racter, the task was beyond his powers ; and the na- 

 tive princes, at last roused by the indignities and op- 

 pression under which they had so long suffered, and 

 encusuagid by the effeminacy and supineness of their 

 oppressors, united in a league to exterminate them. In 

 this object they would have succeeded, bad not rein- 

 forcementa arrived from Portugal at this critical mo- 

 ment, by the assistance of which, the attack made by 

 the native princes on the Portuguese establishments in 

 _,f 1*57 was repulsed On the union of Portugal to Spain, 

 .4 -which took place soon afterwards, in I MO. the former 

 ttuaal. country lost nearly all her power and her establish- 

 ment* m Indss, m the manner which we shall presently 

 describe. At this tisne they pass res>J the following 

 place < houl, Baesein, Sabette, Bom- 



bay, and Goa ; they had factories at, and influenced the 

 governments of Dabul, Onore, Barcrlore, Mangalore, 

 Caaacjnre, Calicut, Cranganore. Cochin. . 

 they had also factories in the Bay of Bengal, at Masu- 

 lipatam. Negapatam, and St Thome, with uueanisrrisl 

 stations in UM province of Bengal. All these posse*- 

 sions end earahhshraaitts were independent of what they 

 had in Malacca, the Eastern Archipelago, tee. At pre- 

 sent the settlement of Goa. nominally re- 

 mains tothtm, is almost wholly abandoned by the mo- 

 ther count: inhabitants scarcely speak their na- 





A. U. IMO, 



rntir p*e 

 rut .el!*. 



intelligibly. Their poverty is such, 

 of the beat families earn their subsistence 

 lace or artificial flowers, and working inns* 

 The remaining Portuguese posaeseioni arc !> 

 i. a sea port in the province of Aurungaba. 

 miles north from Bombay, Dhelli in the island of Ti- 

 mour, and Macao in China. 



The first commercial transactions of the Dntrh, after 

 they had cast off the Spanish yoke, were with the Por- 

 tuguese. From Lisbon they procured the productions 

 of India, to sell them again to the nations of the north 

 of Europe. This trade, however, was put an end to by 

 Philip U. when be became master of Portugal; and the 

 Dutch then endeavoured to discover a pasaage by the 

 north aeaa to China and In. . enterprise was 



unsuccessful ; hut, while engaged m it, I loutman, na- 

 tivr of Holland, confined in the prisone of Lisbon for 

 debt, proposed to the merchants of Rotterdam, to reveal 

 to them the knowledge he fomimtA of Indian naviga- 

 VOL.XII. r\i 



' 



tion and commerce, provided they liberated him from 

 prison. His, proposal was accepted ; and an associa- 

 tion was formed, which sent out four ships to India f|ye m 

 under Houtman, in the year 15{H. On their first ar- ,|j x 

 rival in the Indian seas, the Dutch and Portuguese had A. D. 1591. 

 only occasional skirmishes; but a sanguinary war soon 

 d, which in the end totally destroyed the Portu- 

 guese power. The native princes, in these contests, 

 generally took the part of the Portuguese, either from 

 fear of the Dutch, or from other motives. The Portu- 

 guese also had another advantage, in their superior 

 knowledge of the Indian seas. But the Dutch, on the 

 other hand, were much braver, and more active stimu- 

 lated by stronger motives, and yet in the vigour of their 

 republican enthusiasm. Besides, they received conti- 

 nual reinforcements from Holland ; whereas, after the 

 conquest of Portugal by Spain, the connection betwixt 

 the Portuguese settlement* and the mother country was 

 very much loosened, and the intercourse abridged. 

 Spain, jealous of the prosperity of her newly acquired 

 subjects, left the Indian settlements entirely to their 

 own force. In the three years, 16120 to 162'2, that Her- 

 nan de Albuquerque was viceroy, he never once recei- 

 ved any letter of instruction or information from the 

 court of Spain. The colonies, therefore, must have been 

 supported entirely from their own resources, which in- 

 volved them in a destructive war with the Dutch. Suc- 

 cess was notwithstanding lung doubtful ; but the Dutch 

 at last gained the ascendancy. The Poitugueae at first Dutch car- 

 lost Malirca and (>> Ion ; nnd in the year 166X), they ( | ^ the 

 were driven from Macassar, Cochin, Cananore, and 

 other settlements on the coast of Malabar. In I 

 the Dutch obtained permission from the native princes 

 to establish factories at Negapatam, Sadras, Pulicmt, and 

 Bimlipatam, on the east coast of the peninsula. From 

 this period, the affairs of the Dutch are so interwoven 

 with those of the English in India, that we sludl defer 

 their future history till we come to treat of the esta- 

 blishments of the Utter. 



For several years after the Portuguese, Dntch, ami Frcr 

 Pnglish had penetrated to India, the French contented <!"i 

 themselves with procuring its productions from the Por- ' " JU - 

 tvgvese and Dutch. In the year 1> I, a Com- 



pany had been formed in Brittany, which sent two ships 

 idia; but they returned with cargoes barely suffi- 

 cient to defray the expences of the equipment and voy- 

 age ; consequently the Company was dissolved. In 

 lo'SS. another Company was formed ; but as their en- 

 terprises were confined to the island of Madagascar, 

 they do not fall within our plan. The attempt to co- 

 lonise this island not succeeding, the French sent some 

 ships direct to India, and established factories with the 

 consent of the native princes. Their chief rendezvous 

 at first was at Su rat ; but the Dutch and I'nji-li uni- 

 ting against them, soon obliged them to abandon it. 

 They next attempted to seise on Trincomalee ; but in 

 this also they were unsuccessful. 



In 1672, a French force, commanded by M. de la A.D. 1;. 

 I {aye, landed at St Thome, a sea-port contiguous to Ma- 

 dras, formerly possessed by the Portuguese, but then be- 

 longing to the kingof Golconda, and carried it by assault. 

 War, however, breaking out the same year between Hol- 

 land on the one side, and France allied with England 

 on the other, a powerful Dutch armament, assisted 

 by the armies of the king nf dolconds. invested St 

 Thome by tea and land. After a skilful and obstinate 

 defence, the town was reduced in September 1674; 

 but the king of Golconda insisted on retaining the con- 



