.II. 
of Mr. W ILL i am Adam 
£>. 
therefore Experience {hews us, that tho* in poor Countries 
the People are generally fpeaking more prolifick ; yet it 
does not follow, that they are more populous, becaufe 
their Wants drive them Abroad, and that too under fuch 
Circumftances, as that they feldom return Home. 
But to fum up all, the Dutch Witers themfelves inform 
us, that of late Years, among other Reftraints impofed up- 
on them by the Japonefe , the very Quantity of Goods 
they are to fend into the Country is limited, and this to 
about the Value of one hundred thoufand Pounds of our 
Money j notwithstanding which, the fame Writers own, 
that the Profits on this Trade amount, one Year with ano- 
ther, to near four Times that Sum ; and thus, I think, 1 
have effedually fhewn, that there is nothing wild, chime- 5 
rical, or abfurd, in propofing to recover our Trade to Ja™ 
pon , if it be poffible ; to which I beg Leave to add, that 
while the Price of Wool is fo low, the Number of our 
Poor fo great, our Taxes fo many, and fo high, and the 
Complaints of the lower fort of People, for want of Em- 
ployment, fo loud and general, a Man muft be of a very 
timorous Difpofition, who can be afraid of Cenfure, for 
endeavouring to point out the only Way by which thefe 
Evils can be effectually cured, and the Wants and Diftreffes 
of the Multitude prevented from either driving them 
abroad, or rendering them mutinous and troublefome at 
home, with which Remark I fhall conclude this Sedion. 
SECTION XXXIIL 
An hijlorical Account of the Inter courfe between the Inhabitants of Great-Britain, and the 
People in the Eaft-Indies : Containing likewife a compleat Hiftory of the Eaft-India Com- 
pany ^ from its EreBion under fftueen Elizabeth of glorious Memory 5 and of the fever al 
Alterations that have bee?i made therein down to the prefent Reign . 
i. An Account of the Voyage of Sighelmus, Bifhop of Shireburn, his Voyage -to the Eaft-Indies in the Reign 
of King Alfred, and of foine other ancient travellers. 2. Of the Manner in which the Venetians imported 
Indian Commodities into this Kingdom ,, to the time of Queen Elizabeth. 3. Of fever al Matters previous to 
the erecting the Eaft-India Company in her Reign , with a large Account of her Charter to that Company. 
4. A fuc cruel Hiftory of the feveral V yages undertaken under that Charter, in the Reigns of Queen Eliza- 
beth and King James. 5. Of the Tranfadiions of the Englifh Eaft-India Company , from their 
obtaining a new Charter from King James I. to the time of the unfortunate Bufinefs at Amboyna. 
6. The Account publified cf that Tragedy by the Englifh Eaft-India Company. 7. The Dutch Relation of 
the fame bloody Bufinefs. 8. Remarks made by Order of the Eaft-India Company upon this Account of the 
Dutch. 9. The Hiftory of the Eaft-India Company , continued to the End of the Reign of Charles I. 
10. The Profecuticn of the fame Subject to the Clofe of the Civil Wars. 1 1. An Account of the new Charter 
granted to the Company by King Charles II. and of the Progrefs of their Affairs during his Reign . 12. Of 
the Charter granted by King James II. and of what followed to the Time of his Exclufion. 13. A brief 
View of the State oft the two Eaft-India Companies , and the Dfputes betwee?i them under the Reign of King 
William III. 14. The Conclufion of thofe Difputes , and the Settlement of the prefent Eaft-India Company . 
15. The Affairs of the Company , from the Time of this new Settlement to the Clofe of the Reign of Queen 
Anne. 16. The fame Hiftory purfued down to the prefent Titne. \y. A clear Profpedl of the prefent State 
of the Affairs oft' the Englifh in the Eaft-Indies. 
1. Ik S we have now paffed through the greateft Part 
of thofe Subjefts, which it was propofed fhould 
JL JL be handled in this Chapter, we come regularly, 
and in that Order which was originally laid down, to fpeak 
of the feveral Companies that have been formed in Europe, 
for the Management of the Commerce of the Eaft-Indies 
which Method, as I conceive, fooner or later, has been fol- 
lowed by every Nation, that fince the Dilcovery of the Paf- 
fage by tire Cape of Good-Hope , hath been concerned therein. 
We will begin with the Englifh, and with all the Accuracy 
that is in our Power, trace the Hiftory of their Commerce 
into thefe cliftant Parts from the earlieft Accounts we have 
of them down to the prefent times. But it will be requiftte 
firft of all to obferve, that there is good Reafon to believe 
our firft Knowledge of thefe Countries was derived to us 
from the Romans, at fuch Time as this Ifland made aPart 
of their extenfive Empire ; but I do not find any Evidence 
to prove, ox indeed fo much as a Hint to fuggeft, that any 
Commerce was attempted with that Country from hence 
before the Clofe of the ninth Century. 
At that Time there fat upon the Englifh Throne (as it 
is a Truth, I hope I may fpeak it without Offence) the 
greateft and wifeft Prince that was ever placed thereon ; I 
mean the famous Alfred, the Glory of whofe Reign, even 
the Confufion of fucceeding Times, and the Obfcurity of our 
ancient Hiftories, have not buried in Oblivion* He, Annd 
Domini 883, as the Saxon Chronicle informs us, fent on6 
of his favourite Ecclefiafticks, whofe Name was Sighelmus , , 
to carry his Alms to the poor diftreffed Chriftians of Saint 
Thomas and Saint Bartholomew in the Indies. The Fad 
is, indeed, pretty extraordinary j and if we had not as dear 
Numb. 59. 
and diftind Evidence to fupport it, as any one Point in our 
ancient Pliftory, I fhould not have mentioned it ; but as 
the Saxon Annals, which have been always allowed to con-, 
tain as fair and as authentick an Account of Fads as any 
Hiftory whatever, fets down this as a Paffage, which cer- 
tainly fell out in that Year ; and as this Sighelmus did not 
only perform that Voyage, according to the Inftrudions of 
his R.oyal Mafter, but afterwards returned home, and be- 
came Bifhop of Shireburn, or Sherburn, in Dorfetfhire, and 
left in the Treafury of his Church, as William of Malmf- 
bury hath recorded, both Spices and Jewels, which he brought 
back with him out of that Country •, I fee no Reafon at all 
to doubt or queftion a Fad for which we have all the Evi- 
dence that the moft fcrupulous Critick can defire. 
But it muft, however, be confeffed, that though this Ek 
tercourfe was fo early begun, yet the moft diligent Enqui- 
rers into Subjeds of this Nature, fuch as Eden and Hakluyt , 
have been able to find no Footfteps of Continuance, fince 
they immediately defeend to much later Times, and fpeak 
particularly of the Travels of an Engliflman , whofe Name 
is not mentioned through the Country of the Tartars , and 
of Sir John Mandeville. But, however, though no fuch 
Footfteps appear as to the V oyages or Travels of particular 
Perfons, yet beyond a Queftion, there was not in thofe 
Days an entire Stop put to the Commerce between the 
Weft and Eaft Parts of the' W T orld, or the Englifh Nation 
entirely deprived of Indian Commodities. 
2. If it be enquired how any Certainty can be had of 
this, or by what Channel fuch a T rade could be carried 
on, I muft take leave to remind them, that when the Goths 
and Vandals overturned the Roman Etnpire, - that Commerce 
1 a N through 
