Chronological Table. 159 



If 56. — Reductions in all the establishments abroad ; supernumeraries sent to 

 England. Columbo taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch, who also, this year, 

 established Cbinsurah as a factory. — Bruce. E. I. Chron. Hamilton. 



1657. — The London Company suffered much from the intrigues of rivals. At last 

 Cromwell failing to open a free trade with advantage to the country, on the opinion 

 and advice of his council of state " that the trade of East India be managed by a 

 United Joint Stock, exclusive of all others," consented to grant a new Charter, on 

 the 10th February, and took the Company under his especial protection. From this 

 year the Company attempted to settle permanently at St. Helena. — Bruce. Mill. 



1658. — The Beneral establishments ordered from home to be continued under the 

 presidency of Fort St. George, the agencies at Cossim Bazar, Ballasore, and Patna 

 to be subordinate to the factory at Hoogly. Surat the chief presidency ; new regu- 

 lations made for the servants in India. The emperor, Shah Jehan, being afflicted 

 with mortal illness, his four sons contended for the succession. Aurangzebe's 

 superior abilities and cunning prevailed. The Dutch completely expelled the Por- 

 tuguese from Ceylon. — Bruce. Dow. 



1659. — In consequence of the new charter, the English trade revived in India. 

 Aurangzebe became emperor, Shah Jehan lived some years afterwards, confined at 

 Agra. — Bruce. Dow. 



1660. — The uncertainty of public affairs in England, after Cromwell's death, pre- 

 vented the Company from making this year any exertions at home. A China Com- 

 pany attempted in France. — Bruce. E. I. Chron. 



1661 . — The embarrassments of the Company's funds at the commencement of this 

 year again so great, it was resolved to relinquish many out stations in India, and 

 instructions were issued to this effect, but on the 3rd April, Charles II. granted a 

 new charter " for ever," with considerable privileges. The Company were autho- 

 rized to make peace and war with any prince or people not Christians, erect fortifi- 

 cations, maintain armies, send home unlicensed Englishmen, and administer justice 

 as a sovereign state. The Portuguese power in the East now reduced to the pos- 

 session of Goa and Diu, the Dutch having expelled them from their ports on the 

 coast of Malabar. The Island of Bombay ceded to the English by Portugal, as a 

 marriage portion to Charles II. but its final possession withheld for four years, on 

 various pretences. — Bruce. Gleig. Mill. E. I. Chron. 



1662. — The Earl of Marlborough and Sir Abraham Shipman sent by the king with 

 troops to take possession of Bombay. The Viceroy refused to deliver up the place. 

 On the junction of the Assada and the East India Companies, the factories in Africa 

 had become the property of the latter. They were Fort Cormantine, Fort Wyamba, 

 Cape Coast Castle, and Benin ; but this year the king obliged the whole to be hand- 

 ed over to the Royal African Company. " African Labourers" had early been sent 

 to the Indian Factories as servants and gtiards ; their descendants were subsequently 

 a constituent part of the military guards at the Company's principal establishments. 

 Sir Geo. Oxinden, an able man, sent out as " President and chief director of Surat 

 and all other factories," in the north parts of India. He received however a salary 

 only of 250 rupees per mensem, and a yearly gratuity of 2,000 rupees as a compen- 

 sation for private trade, — Bruce. 



1663. — Factories which had been attempted at Patna, Cossim Bazar, and Balla- 

 sore ordered to be discontinued, and purchases and sales made only at Hooghly. 

 Major F. Willoughby appointed from home, Governor of the Island of Palaroon, at 

 a salary of £50 per annum, for five years. — Bruce. 



1664. — A French East India Company formed under the minister Colbert. — E. I. 

 Chron. 



In January, the town of Surat pillaged by Sevajee, the founder of the Mahrattas. 

 Sir George Oxinden bravely defended the English factory, and the Mogul granted 

 an exemption from customs for one year, in token of his admiration. — Bruce. 



Sir A. Shipman, the deputed Governor of Bombay, perished by disease at Angede- 

 vah, with 300 soldiers, the Portuguese refusing to comply with the treaty, and the 

 English factory of Surat afraid to admit armed men, from apprehension of the 

 Mogul's displeasure. About 100 men only survived of four companies, when the Por- 

 tuguese finally gave up Bombay, but without any of its dependencies. — Bruce. 



1665. — The Mogul, jealous of the possession of Bombay by the king, but unable 

 to comprehend the distinct characters of the King's and Company's establishment. 



Mr. Foxcroft sent out as president at Fort St. George, when the incumbent, Sir 

 Edward Winter, seized his intended successor on some pretence of treasonable 

 speeches, and contumaciously held the fort for nearly two years. — Bruce. 



The deposed emperor Shah Jehan died in confinement at Agra. — Fraser. 



1666. — By the fire in London the Company's saltpetre and pepper ware-houses, then 

 under the exchange, destroyed. Tea imported in England from Holland by the 

 Lords Arliugton and Ossery ; it sold for 60s. per lb. ; but two years previous, small 

 quantities had reached, as presents to the king. — Bruce. E. I. Chron. 

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