83 
HINDOOSTAN. 
pany ; for the legal regulations of which, fee the article 
Company, vol. iv. p. 875-883. 
The firft fleet fitted out by this company failed under 
the command of captain James Lancalter, on the 5th of 
June 1602, and fafely arrived in the road of Acheen, in 
Sumatra ; by the fovereign of which place, after the deli¬ 
very of the queen’s letters and prefents, they were ho¬ 
nourably received, and fanftioned by a treaty. They af¬ 
terwards touched at the Moluccas, where they were re¬ 
ceived with equal diftinftion ; and fuffered to return with 
a valuable cargo of fpices, with which they reached the 
Thames in September 1603. 
The fecond Englifli voyage to India was undertaken in 
1604, with a fleet of three fhips, under fir Henry Mid¬ 
dleton, who returned not only wit-li one of the richeft 
cargoes that had ever before arrived in the Britilh Chan¬ 
nel, but with letters and prefents of confiderable value to 
king James I. from the fovereigns of Bantam and Tidore. 
Captain Keeling commanded the third Englilh fleet to 
India; and with him was difpatched captain Hawkins, 
in quality of ambaflador to the Mogul court; where he 
procured for his countiymen thofe early commercial en¬ 
couragements, which laid the foundation of all their fub- 
fequent profperity in the Eaft. The fourth expedition, 
deviating from the regular channel of trade, vifited the 
fhores of the Arabian Gulf, with indifferent fuccefs; 
but the fifth, which captain Middleton a fecond time com¬ 
manded, was eminently fortunate ; for, after triumphing 
over the machinations of the Dutch at the Moluccas, he 
is faid to have brought home with him a hundred and 
thirty tons of nutmegs, and the fame quantity of mace, 
befides many other valuable articles of traffic. 
The united efforts of the Dutch and Portuguefe were 
now to be called forth againft the Englifli, to render, if 
poflible, their commercial plans abortive. The Dutch, 
having become abfolute mailers of the fpice-iflands, and 
ufing both fraud and force to retain them, it was refolved 
by the Englifli to attempt gaining a fettlement on the 
fhores of the province of Cambay. In 161 r, four flout 
fhips, under the command of captain Beft, failed for In¬ 
dia ; and after a profperous voyage, came to anchor in 
the road of Surat, and eftablifhed a fadtory there. A 
powerful fleet was loon difpatched by the Portuguefe 
viceroy at Goa, to exterminate this Englifli fettlement; 
but after three aftions, the Portuguefe were totally de¬ 
feated, and the Englifli exulted in their fuccefs. After 
this triumph, captain Beft failed for Acheen and Java, 
where the fame of his exploits had arrived before him, 
and fo intimidated the Dutch, that no obftruclion was 
thrown in the way of his commercial intercourfe ; and he 
returned to England in 1614, loaded with riches and 
glory. 
The fuccefsful miflion of captain Hawkins, at the Mo¬ 
gul court, gave occafion for James I. to fend out fir 
Thomas Roe, on an embafly to Jehanguir, the then reign¬ 
ing fultan of Hindooftan, at the court of Agra, as noticed 
at p. 44 of this article. A fquadron, fitted out under cap¬ 
tain Keeling, conveyed the new ambaflador,with a ftately 
coach, and other magnificent prefents, to the fhores of In¬ 
dia ; and which, proving highly acceptable to the Great 
Mogul, procured for the company many important privi¬ 
leges. The Dutch, however, were fo firmly eftablifhed in 
their newly-erefted city and caftle of Batavia, and forti¬ 
fied in a manner fo impregnable, that after many fevere 
battles, fought with unfliaken courage on both fides, a 
treaty was entered into, by which it was ftipulated, July 7, 
1619, that from that date a general commerce, through¬ 
out the Eaft Indies, fhould be uninterruptedly carried on 
by both nations; and" that, to prevent all unfair prac¬ 
tices, the price of the different commodities fhould be 
fixed by commiflioners appointed for the purpofe; but 
that, in confequence of prior right, and incalculable ex- 
pences incurred in erecting forts and magazines, in (the 
Molucca ifles, Banda, and Amboyna, thd Englifli fhould 
enjoy one-third part of the commerce, and the Dutch the 
other two-thirds; with many other equitable and falutary 
regulations. But this treaty was almoft immediately vio¬ 
lated by the Dutch; after which followed, in 1622, 
thofe horrible cruelties and maflacres on the part of the 
Dutch, which for ages eaft a dark veil over the facred 
charafter of Chriftianity, and rendered its followers odious 
both in the fight of Mufiulmans and Hindoos. For 
particulars of tliefe unexampled atrocities, fee the article 
Amboyna, vol. i. p.405. 
In the year 1661, a new charter was granted to the 
Englifli Eaft-India Company by Charles II. with the ad¬ 
dition of many new and great privileges. And now a 
ftill more important benefit was obtained, by the acquifi- 
tion of the port, town, and ifland, of Bombay, ceded to 
his majefty by Portugal, as part of his confort the In¬ 
fanta’s portion, and configned in full property to the Eaft- 
India Company for ever. See the article Bombay, vol. iii. 
p. 163. The fituation being eminently convenient for 
their trade in this quarter, no expence was fpared in the 
improvement and defence of the ifland ; it having alio 
the advantage of a fpacious harbour, in which a numer¬ 
ous navy can at all times ride in fafety. 
In the mean while the company had formed a new and 
extenlive fettlement at Madras, on the eaftern fide of the 
peninfula, which was confiderably aided by the friendfhip 
of the king of Golconda; who in 1691 agreed to accept 
an annual fium or tribute for a free trade in his dominions, 
inftead of the cuftoms which had been at firft levied on 
all their mercliandife. To defend this fettlement, Fort 
William was conftru6led, and formed a large irregular te¬ 
tragon, of brick, and a peculiar kind of mortar ufed in 
India, which becomes harder than ftone. The town was 
built in a ftraggling manner, which, with the gardens in- 
difpenfible to eaftern dwellings, covered a large traft of 
ground. At Hoogly, and in its vicinity, the Dutch and 
French, allured by the great profits of the Bengal trade, 
had alfo forts and faftories ; but they were in a fliort time 
greatly furpafled by the Englifli fettlement of Fort Wil¬ 
liam, now Calcutta. In order to fanftion tliefe eftablilh- 
ments with imperial authority, an embafly had been dif¬ 
patched to the court of Ferokhfere, as noticed under the 
reign of that Mogul fovereign, which was raoft favoura¬ 
bly received, and proved the means of obtaining a fir- 
maun or royal grant of feveral important immunities; fuch 
as to coin money, conltrudt fortifications, trade with the 
interior of Hindooftan, and import and export goods, free 
of cuftoms, within the-extent of their own domain. From 
this period, Calcutta and the province of Bengal, which 
had, till now, looked up to the fettlement of Madras for 
protection and advice on all occafions of difficulty and 
danger, became the fuperior prefidency and emporium of 
the Englifh nation in the eaftern world. See the article 
Calcutta, vol. iii. p. 610. 
The two rival fettleinents of Madras and Pondicherry, 
being both lituated on the coaft of Coromandel, at the 
diltance of only one hundred miles apart, could fcarcely 
avoid being involved in the difputes and conflicts that, as 
we have already teen, w'ere for ever breaking out between 
the native princes in the Deccan; fo far removed from 
the court of Delhi, that the Mogul emperor, even had he 
been in the zenith of the Muflulman power, could hold 
but little reftriCtion over them. The fuperior knowledge 
too of the Europeans in military fcience, and, above all, 
the infinite advantage w'hich their well-condufted artillery 
gave them in Indian warfare, made the native powers at all 
times folicitous to have their afliftance in their contefts 
with each other. Theywere at firft indeed only auxilia¬ 
ries ; but a mutual thirft for national fuperiority between 
the French and Englifli, aided by the enchanting profpeft of 
becoming fharers in the immenfe fpoil, foon induced them 
to act as principals in the political wars of the country. 
But before any aCtive part was taken in the quarrels 
between the rajahs or nabobs of the Deccan, it unfortu¬ 
nately happened, that, in a trial of ftrength between the 
Englifh and French, the latter were the viftors ; and, by 
this 
