160 Chronological Table. 



Sir Gervase Lucas sent out to Bombay as Governor, by tbe King ; he imprisoned 

 the acting Governor, Mr. Cooke, Secretary to the late Sir A. Shipraan, for extortion 

 and peculation.— Bruce. 



1667. — Palaroon ceded to the Dutch by the treaty of Breda — Anderson. 



Autangzebe, in his wars with Persia and Sevajee, began to value European mili- 

 tary talent, and demanded from Surat some artillery men and engineers for his 

 armies. The request was evaded. — Bruce. 



1668. — Bombay ceded by the king (23rd September) to the Company. Its reve- 

 nues, as per return on cession, were £2,833 per annum. The two companies then 

 stationed there, of H. M. soldiers, volunteered into the Company's service, and thus 

 formed its first military establishment at Bombay*. 



This year Tea is first mentioned in the Company's dispatches. A letter to Bantam 

 from the Court, thus orders the agent, " send home by these shifts lOOtb. weight of 

 the best tey, that you can gett." 



Mr. Cooke, ex-Governor of Bombay, who had escaped to Goa, associated him- 

 self with Jesuits, and endeavoured to assemble a force to repossess himself of Bom- 

 bay : proclaimed a traitor. The revenue of Bombay more than doubled itself, under 

 the Company the first year. — Bruce. Hamilton. 



1669. — Sir G. Oxinden appointed from home " Governor and Commander-in- 

 Chief" at Bombay, but he died on 14th July of the preceding year. 



This year also were received orders from home, to institute a pilot establishment 

 at Hoogly, to build a pinnace to be manned with intelligent seamen from the 

 Indiamen, to take charge of the shipping up and down. Thus originated the Bengal 

 Pilot Service. 



St. Helena now regularly colonised under Captain Stringer, appointed Governor; 

 the Captains of Indiamen touching there to act as members of his council. There 

 were 22 regular Indiamen then in the service, as appears by a list of those entitled 

 to act as members of the St. Helena council. 



The military regulations in use, to controul the small force at Bombay, founded on 

 authority vested in the Company, by charter, to levy, embody, and entertain forces, 

 &c. Their military establishments were thus upheld for years, until kind's troops, 

 serving in India, questioned their competency to hold courts martial. — Bruce. 



1670. — The English trade considerably increased, as apparent from the fact of the 

 outward investment of bullion and goods being £303,500. But the Dutch influence 

 predominated ; their ships from Europe this season were 52 in number. — Mill. 



1671. — Bombay rising; in consequence, a mint ordered, andthe buildingof two ships 

 and two brigantines commenced upon. Captain Hermau Blake, who came round 

 via Persia, appointed engineer and surveyor general ; the first of that rank. 



Surat again attacked, but well defended : its situation now deemed precarious for 

 a presidency. — Bruce. 



1672. — The presidency at Surat, in a letter on military subjects, recommended 

 that the " principle of seniority must be observed in adjusting the rank of the offi- 

 cers at Bombay."— Bruce. 



The French capture St. Thome, it was retaken two years subsequently by the 

 Dutch and king of Golconda, when the French purchased the village and district of 

 Poudicherry, which they fortified. — E. I. Chion. 



The oldest record of the Company extant in 1792, at the presidency of Fort St. 

 George, bears the date of this year. It is a letter from Bantam, dated 1st June. Its 

 recorded " abstract" was as follows : 



" Mentions that the Company had ordered Factories to be established at 

 " Tonkeen, whither was sent Mr. W. Giiford in the Zant. 

 " Tywan do. David Stephens, Experiment, 



" Japan, do. Symon Delboef, Return." — Dalrymple's 



Orient. Rep. 



The Court recommended the Council, for the first time, at Bantam, to open a 

 direct trade to China, and, at the same time, with reference to the attempt above 

 alluded to, settle at Tonkeen, Tywan, and Japan; ordered their agents " to wear 

 dresses of English cloth, with gold and silver lace, that their appearance might 

 convey to the emperor and his officers impressions of their rank." — Bruce. 



1673. — St. Helena having been several times taken and retaken, recaptured this 

 year by a naval force from the Dutch, and regranted by charter to the English Com- 

 pany. — E. I. Chron. 



* Derivation of Bombay doubtful, said to be from Buon Bahia, Portuguese; also from Bomba 

 Devi, a Hindoo goddess. 



t Mr. Delboe failed, it seems, at Japan, and was ordered awny. The English flag had the St. 

 George's cross, and thus somewhat resembled the Portuguese flag, which nation was hateful to 

 the Japanese. The alliance by marriage with the princess of Portugal was also given as another 

 cause, but Mr. Delboe returning by way of Macao, negotiated for permission to establish a factory 

 there, and probably to this incident may be traced the origin of the present China Trade— Bruce. 



