Chap. II. Efiablijhment of the Dutch Eaft-India Company. 93 J 
Butch , the King of Mutaram had at laft laid Siege to Batd- 
via, and at the End of three Months was forced to break up 
with the Lofs of 16,000 Men. Peter Vanden Broecke , who 
had likewife been long in India , and was the firft Introducer 
of Trade upon the Red-Sea and the adjacent Countries, re- 
turned home the next Year: He brought with him feven 
Ships, the Cargoes of which were valued at Eight Millions. 
But thefe happy Incidents were accompanied with a very 
difagreeable Circumftance ; for of the eight Veffels he 
commanded, he brought home but fix, one being loft by 
Fire under the Agores-Ifands , and the other having ftrag- 
gled from the Fleet ; however, the laft went round by 
Ireland , and came fafe home. Broecke acquainted the 
Company that General Coen died fuddenly two Days be- 
fore the Arrival of James Spex’s , and that Spex a&ed as 
General by way of Provifion. In fine, Antony Van 
Diemen returned in the Year 1631, with feven Veffels, 
which brought the Company incredible Treafures. 
Thefe mighty Advantages enabled the Eaji-India Com- 
pany to profecute their Defigns to their utmoft Extent to en- 
large their Commerce in the Indies by every Method poffible, 
and in order thereto made ufe, with great Dexterity, fome- 
times of Force, and fometimes of fair Means, to compafs 
their Ends, and to fecure to themfelves the largeft Share of a 
Trade, which, by Experience, they found of fuch won- 
derful Benefit. It was with this View, that in 1641, they 
attacked the Importance of Malacca , the ftrongeft Place 
the Portugueze had left in the Indies , and which was of 
fo much the greater Confequence, becaufe it not only fe- 
cured their Commerce with the Kingdoms of Johore, Siam , 
and Pegu , but alfo afforded them vaft Advantages for the 
Management of their Trade with China and Japon \ at 
the fame time it made them Mailers of thatStreight which 
is of fo great Confequence to the Commerce of the Indies 
in general •, fo that whoever is Mailer thereof may, in 
time of War, be in a Condition to give Law to all the 
Nations that carry on any Trade in that Part of the 
World. 
It was in the fame Year that the Butch fecured to them- 
felves the entire PoiTeflion of the rich Commerce of Ja- 
pon, by the total Exclufion of the Portugueze , and all 
other Chriftians. We have already mentioned this Mat- 
ter more than once, and given the Reader fuch Lights 
therein as may enable him clearly to conceive how that 
Matter was brought about, and how far the Dutch may be 
juftly charged with contributing thereto. Inftead there- 
fore of infilling farther upon that Matter here, I fhall con- 
tent myfelf with a fingle Remark, which I think of fome 
Importance. 
It is this, that whatever other Nations, or the Butch 
themfelves, may think of the Benefits accruing from this 
Exclufion of other Nations ; it is however, demonftrable, 
that they would have carried on a more extenfive Trade to 
that Country, and with much more Eafe to themfelves, if 
that Trade had remained on the old Foot j for immedi- 
ately after the Expulfion of the Portugueze , the Dutch 
themfelves were obliged to quit the Port of FirandG , where 
they had ere&ed a noble Magazine, built all of Stone, and 
were obliged to fliut themfelves up in the little Bland of 
Difma , where they have ever fince been fubjeCt to the Ca- 
price of the Japonefe , and expofed to a Multitude of In- 
fill ts and Inconveniencies, which never could have befallen 
them but from this Event ; fo that, though I confefs, the 
Butch are much enriched by the Japonefe Trade, 'yet, I 
think, I have Reafon to deny that they are at all the better 
for the Exclufion of other Nations. 
13. The Power and Credit of the Company was now 
grown to filch a Height, the Wealth they brought into 
the Nation was of fuch Confequence, and fo neceffary to 
the State, and the Circumftances of Things were fo chang- 
ed in their Favour, that without any Difficulty, at the 
Time of the Expiration of their fecond Charter, they pro- 
cured the Renewal thereof for the fame Term of twenty- 
one Years, to commence from the Firft of January 1644. 
And fo effectually did their Directors twill the Affairs of 
the Company with thofe of the Government, that upon 
the Conclufion of the general Peace, the fame Care was 
taken of their Interefts as of thofe of the Republick, to 
which the Spaniards confented, and thereby relinquished 
Numb. LXIV. 
their Right, as they had long before loft: the Power of 
queftioning the Conquefts of the Company in the Eafi-In - 
dies . It was in Gratitude for all thefe Favours, that the 
Company entered the fame Year into a Proje< 5 l of erecting, 
at an immenfe Expence, a Monument to the commercial 
Fame of the City of Amjlerdam. 
The Occafion was this : The old Town-houfe, or 
Guild-hail, which had hitherto ferved well enough as an 
Exchange for the Merchants, in which they met to tranl- 
aCl Bufinefs, was now thought too little, and alfo too mean 
an Edifice for a City of fuch Wealth and Trade. Upon 
this the two great Companies of the Eaji and W \ 'fl-Indies , 
undertook to build a new Stadthoufe, the firft Stone of 
which was laid on the 29th of Offiober 1648. While this 
noble Structure was railing, an Accident happened, which 
rendered it not only convenient, but neceffary \ for by 
fome Means or other the old Town-houfe took Fire, and 
was burnt down to the Ground, which obliged them to 
haften the Ere&ion of the new one, which was fit for 
Ufe in the Year 1655, and has been ever fince confidered 
as one of the fineft Structures in the World, in which 
all the Power of Architecture is difplayed to the ut- 
moft without, and all the Riches of the molt diflant Coun- 
tries in the World are affembled to render it magnificent 
within. There never was a Time in which the Company 
were better able to launch into fo vaft an Expence, her 
Commerce being now at its greateft Height, and her 
Power raifed to fuch a Degree, that, from the Cape of 
Good- Hope to the molt diftant Parts of China , there fcarce 
inhabited a Nation which had not learned to refpeCt her, 
by having experienced the EffeCts either of her Refent- 
ment or Good-will. 
Yet all this Power, Wealth, and Trade, did not ren- 
der fuch as had the Care of the Company’s Concerns at 
ali flothful or negligent ; on the contrary, they were al- 
ways contriving fome new Scheme for the Benefit of thofe 
by whom they were entrufted •, and being very defirous of 
overcoming thofe difficulties which had hitherto cramped 
their Trade in China , the General and his Council at Bata- 
via , in the Month of July , 1655, fent a folemn Em- 
baffy, at the Head of which were Peter Boyer and James 
Keyfel , with rich Prefents to the Chinefe Emperor. Fie 
then refided in the City of Peking , to whole Prefence, 
after a Stay of eight or nine Months, they were admitted, 
and from the Civility ftiewn them at their firft Audience, 
they had great Hopes of Succefs ; but they foon difco- 
vered that there were Perfons in that Court who traverfed 
all their Defigns, and found Means to mifreprefent all the 
Propofitions they made. The Chief of their Enemies 
was Father Adam Schaal , a Native of Cologne in Germany , 
and by Profeffion a Jefuit. He had refided in China up- 
wards of five and thirty Years, and had wrought himfelf 
fo highly into the Emperor’s Favour, that he raifed him to 
the Degree of a Mandarin of the firft Rank, and placed 
him at the Head of all the Philofophers and Mathemati- 
cians in the Empire. This Man, by his great Interefl, 
and Knowledge, effectually baffled the Defigns of the 
Dutch , for he reprefented them as a People without any 
Lands or Settlements in Europe , who lived merely by 
Peddling and Piracy, and had by Treachery and Cruelty 
raifed themfelves a large Empire in the Indies , at the Ex- 
pence of the Natives, and more efpecially of fuch Princes 
as fuffering themfelves to be deceived by their fair Pre- 
tences, had admitted them into their Dominions, and by 
that Means afforded them an Opportunity of diftrefling 
them and their Subjects. 
The Chinefe , who are naturally fufpicious, having once 
got thefe Notions into their Heads, began to put fuch 
Queftions to the Butch Embaffadors as might bell enable 
them to judge of the Truth of what they had been told : 
And, upon their afking at how great aDiftancethe Seat of 
their Government lay from China ? they anfwered, about 
five thoufand Leagues •, and being interrogated as to the 
Power and Strength of the Colony at Batavia , they gave 
fuch Anfwers as were true in themfelves, and moft likely 
to create RefpeCt : But thefe were precifely the Things 
that turn moft to their Difadvantage becaufe they feemed 
exaClly to agree with what Father Schaal had laid down. 
So that towards the latter End of the Year 1657, the Em* 
u E baffadors 
