42 



INDIA. ' 



"7- quest. This occurrence is principally remarkable, as 

 V ~""V~* noting not only the first appearance of the French on the 

 coast of ( .iroin.uidel, but the origin of their power in 

 that quarter ; fur, from the wreck of their establish- 

 ment at St Thouic, was formed their celebrated settlc- 

 Poadkbcr- mint of I'oudicherry, where a small district was ceded 

 T them by the native prince. At the beginning of the 



18th ivntiiry. their establishments consisted of I'ondi- 

 cherrv, \vitii small and insignificant factories at Masu- 

 lipatam and Rajapore. Soon after this period, the his- 

 tory of the French .-mil English nations in India are so 

 blended, that they must be considered together. 



In the year 171 6, the Europeans established in India 

 found themselves unexpectedly encountered by a new 

 and powerful rival ; for there appeared off the coast of 

 M .lab.tr two forty gun ships, under imperial colours, 

 Otterd E-t w hjch had been fitted out at Ostend. In the year 1720, 

 Com- ^ Osten<l East India Company, by whom these ships 

 bad been fitted out, received a regular charter from the 

 emperor; and in 1723 they had established factories 

 at Coverlong, between Madras and Sadras, and at Ban- 

 kibazar on the Hooghly. The Dutch, French, and 

 English, immediately took the alarm ; and in 1727 a 

 treaty was signed at Paris, in which the emperor pro- 

 mised to suspend the company lor seven years. Before 

 the expiration of that term, he pledged himself, by the 

 treaty of Seville, to the dissolution of it altogether ; and 

 this accordingly took place. 



The Danes received the first idea of forming esta- 

 blishments in India from a Dutchman, who, discon- 

 tented with his own government, offered his services to 

 Christian IV. to form a settlement at Ceylon. This 

 man, however, dying on his passage, and the Danes 

 having been unfavourably received at Ceylon, they pro- 

 ceeded from thence to the coast of Coromandel, where 

 the king of Tanjore allowed them to form a settlement 

 at Tranqueliar. The little that remains to be told of this 

 Danish settlement will be found under our account of 

 the British proceedings in India. 



First Erg- Queen Elizabeth was the first English Sovereign who 

 >h adven. th OU gjjt of obtaining for her subjects a share in the trade 

 A. D 1583. * Indi*- I* 1 tne year 1583, she granted letters to two 

 adventurers for the princes of India, and in 1596, other 

 letters. All these adventurers proceeded to the court 

 of the Great Mogul, by land, where they were well 

 received. The attempts to discover a passage by the 

 North Sea to China having failed, the English resolved 

 to go round the Cape of Good Hope. Accordingly the 

 Queen, on the last day of the year 1600, granted let- 

 ters patent to a society of merchants in London to trade 

 to the East Indies. The object of the company was 

 principally pepper and other spices ; and therefore their 

 voyages were to Achen, Java, and the Spice islands. 

 In the year 161 2, four ships were sent out by King James, 

 for the purpose of conciliating the Mogul emperor, 

 some of whose vessels had been annoyed by the Eng- 

 lish in the Red Sea. The commander of this fleet suc- 

 ceeded in his mission ; and, at the same time, he ob- 

 tained from the court of Delhi the liberty of establish- 

 ing a factory at Surat ; and this city was some time af- 

 terwards regarded as the principal English station in 

 the west of India. The Portuguese, alarmed at the 

 success of the English, attacked their fleet near Surat, 

 but they were repulsed. This voyage, therefore, may 

 in some respect be regarded as the origin of the power 

 of the British in the East ; the two foundations of which 

 were, the grant of the Mogul sovereign, and their own 

 naval ability and resources. The presidency of Surat 

 controlled all the factories in what may be called west- 



ed. A L>. 

 161*. 



ern India, or the tract extending from the parallel of History. 

 Cape Comorin westwards to the Persian and Arabian ^"""/""^ 

 Gulfs. Soon afterwards, They obtained an establish- 

 ment on the coast of Coromandel, at Maulipat.rn. To 

 this they were prompted, because the cloths of Coro- 

 mandel were in high request in the Spice Islands, and 

 consequently constituted the best medium of exchange 

 for pepper and other spices. In the year I(il5, Sir 

 Thomas Roe was sent by King James as the first Bri- 

 tish ambassador to the Mogul, from whom he obtained 

 considerable privileges for the East India Company. 

 About the same time, the Zamorin of Calicut granted 

 them similar privileges ; so that a long range of settle- 

 ments was formed, immediately subject to the presi- 

 dency of Surat, among which were in the Slogul ter- 

 ritory. Broach, Brodera, Ahmedabad, and Ajineer ; and 

 in the Zamorin country, Craganore and Calicut. 



The disputes and wars with the Dutch followed soon The Dutch 

 afterwards ; and these were not only fatal to the British harassthem. 

 settlements in Amboyna, but also prejudicial to those 

 settlements on the Coromandel coast. In consequence 

 of disputes with the Dutch and with the king of Gol- 

 conda, in whose dominions Masulipatam was situated, 

 in the year 1629 they left this place, and fixed them- 

 selves at Armegum ; but soon afterwards they again 

 took possession of Masulipatam. About 16*0, the 

 Dutch began systematically to harass the European 

 commerce on the coast of Malabar. In consequence of Presidency 

 this, the English fixed on Madraspatam, which they ef .Madias, 

 obtained from the chief of the district. They immedi- A - D - 1653 

 ately built a fort, with the name of Fort St George ; 

 and in 1653, this station was raised by the Company 

 to the rank of a presidency. 



Nearly about the same time, the commercial trans- 

 actions of the British commenced on the Ganges. In 

 1634, they obtained from the court of Delhi the privi- 

 lege of a free resort to the port of Pipley, in the pro- 

 vince of Bengal. This privilege was much extended 

 in 1645, chiefly through the professional skill and suc- 

 cess of a surgeon of one of the Company's ships, who 

 had thus, at the Mogul court, conciliated the favour of 

 the monarch. Factories were accordingly established Their facto- 

 in Bengal, the principal of them at Hooghly ; but this, ries in Ben- 

 as well as the others, was subject to the presidency of 8 al csta - 

 Madras, or Fort St George. The factories of the Bi-i- bUshed> 

 tish at this time were Madras with its dependencies 

 Masulipatam, Madapollam, Pettipolu, and Hooghly ; and 

 the factories subordinate to Hooghly, were Cossimbazar, 

 Balasore, Patna, and Malda. 



But the Mogul government, as well as the other In- 

 dian princes, though they granted to the British the 

 privileges of commerce, yet denied them the exercise 

 of civil jurisdiction, or the use of military strength. 

 The factory of Surat was strongly built ; but it was 

 not 'allowed to be either fortified or garrisoned. This 

 factory was exposed to still farther inconvenience and 

 danger ; for it was exactly placed on the debateable 

 ground between the Mogul and the Mahrattas, and, as 

 we have already seen, was more than once plundered 

 by Sevajee the Mahratta chief. It is probable, there- 

 fore, that the British would have been obliged to have 

 given up Surat, had not they gained an unexpected re- 

 lief. In the year 1(>68, King Charles II. ceded to the Obtain 

 Company the island of Bombay, which he had received Bombay, 

 as a part of the marriage portion of Catherine, the In- A> D - 

 fanta of Portugal. This was a strong place, and it was 

 within 200 miles by sea from Surat, to which it was 

 made subordinate. The British now commanded greater 

 respect, both from the Mogul and the Mahratta offi- 



