we are disposed to regard as of almost equal | VI., in whose time, and that of Elizabeth, importance, immunity from agitation. We others of a like character were repeatedly notice the defect, not, we say, for the purpose undertaken by such well-known navigators as of underrating the horrors of anarchy and the Cabots, Frobisher, Davis, Hudson; some terrors of misrule, from which our govern- to seek out a north-west, others a north-east ment has saved the people of India; or of passage to India. These intrepid mariners depreciating the higher degree of civilization failed in finding for their country the short which it has been, to a great extent, the track to the gold of Cathay, or to the diameans of introducing; but for the purpose mond mines of Golconda; but they taught of showing that to compensate for a defect her a better service, in rendering her sons which appears to be inherent in the nature hardy and accomplished seamen. The disof our connection with India, we are bound covery of the Cape of Good Hope, by the more carefully to consult her interests, Bartholomew Diez, in 1486, and the actual and, as a means towards this, to make them voyage made to India, by Vasca de Gamo, more known, in various forms, through the in 1498, revealed the long sought for course. press. Interest and pride seem alone to link We have, in our former paper, noticed the us to India-interest in its rich resources- steps by which the Portuguese and the pride in the honors we have won there. We Dutch, availing themselves of this discovery, long to be united to that country by a holier established their connection with the East. tie-by that good feeling which must arise It was not until Drake's circumnavigation from well-directed efforts to improve the voyage that our English merchants directed condition and raise the character of its many their attention to the course to India by the peoples. Our humble sphere is, to aid in Cape. Drake, who had passed that promonmaking these known, and our first step an tory in fair weather, disrobed it of the terattempt to outline their history. rors with which it had been invested by the Portuguese and Dutch; and his voyage, which had given new impulse to the enterprise of our traders, was soon followed by an incident well calculated to stimulate their desire for gain-we mean the capture of some Portuguese Indiamen with immense treasure, and with papers affording information of greater value. Besides the details thus made known, there had been a good deal of knowledge on the subject of the Indian trade, collected by an association called the Levant Company, which had been for some years established, and which conveyed goods from Aleppo and Bagdad, and thence by the Tigris to Ormus, on the Persian Gulf. This company succeeded in opening a very extensive intercourse with India; but the expenses of the transit were so great that the returns were not very lucrative. Encouraged by the hope of larger profits, and prompted, as we have said, by the spirit of maritime enterprise, vessels were fitted out, and voyages made to India, some by government vessels, and some by vessels fitted out by individuals. They in all cases partook of a piratical character, and their gains were usually enormous. the hazards were found to be too great for private capital, and an application, in consequence of this, having been made to Queen Elizabeth, she, in December, 1600, granted to the petitioning merchants a charter, erecting them into a corporation, under the title of "The Governors and Company of Merchants of London trading to the East The India trade was, from the earliest period, looked on in the West as the most magnificent of all commercial objects; and each European nation, as it rose in maritime importance, aspired to a participation in its golden fruits. It is characteristic of the genius of Alfred, justly named the Great, that he endeavored to direct the attention of our merchants to that line of traffic. He, as we are told by William of Malmesbury, sent in the year 883, Sighelenus, Bishop of Sherburne, to India, under the pretext of making offerings at the shrine of St. Thomas, and the monk adds, that at the date of his chronicle, some of the commodities which the bishop brought back were to be seen in the church at Sherburne. The crusades, in later periods, made us somewhat better acquainted with the usages and productions of the East; but it was not until about the period of the Reformation, when, and much owing to that event, we were becoming a manufacturing people, that the expanding spirit of commercial enterprise began to exhibit itself in vigorous efforts to extend our trade, and then intercourse with India became our first object. The earliest of these attempts was the voyage of Robert Thorne, in the reign of Henry VIII., in the year 1527, to discover a north-west passage to India. Then followed the fatal voyage of Sir Hugh Willoughby, who, with all his crew, perished on the coast of Lapland. This voyage was in search of a north-east passage, and was made in the reign of Edward Still Indies." This charter gave them the privilege of exclusive trade; but the crown reserved to itself the right of resuming its grant, after a three years' notice. The early intercourse of the company was with the Indian islands, and their chief station was at Bantam, in Java. They subsequently found it advantageous to open a trade with the continent of India, which was first attempted at Surat, in 1609. The Portuguese, who were at that time in possession of the trade there, showed every disposition to oppose them; but they quailed before the determination of Sir Henry Middleton, who commanded the company's ships. Our merchants soon made some character with the native traders, and gained no little influence with the nabobs and princes of the country. On the 11th January, 1612, they obtained from the Emperor Jehanghire a firman, authorizing them to hold establishments in certain places along the shores of his kingdom. Pursuant to this, they, in the course of that year, built a factory at Surat, and thus made their final settlement on the continent of India. This was in the reign of James I., who, about the same period, sent out Sir Thomas Roe as his ambassador to the court of the Great Mogul. This mission supplies us with a most interesting account of the emperor, his court and country, but was not attended with any political advantages. Soon after this an incident occurred, which led our merchants to abandon their connection with the Eastern Archipelago, and to direct all their attention to the trade with continental India. The naval power of the Portuguese was declining, and with it their influence in the East, but the Dutch were our active and powerful competitors. They were deeply jealous of our endeavors to share with them the lucrative trade of the Spice Islands, and evinced this feeling in an act which will for ever stain their annals-known as the massacre of Amboyna. They had in that island a strong fort, garrisoned with two hundred men, and there were eighteen Englishmen residing in the town engaged in trade. These they arrested altogether, with some few Japanese and one Portuguese, on the ground that they had conspired to seize the fort. The statement of the charge exhibits the improbability of its truth, and this is further heightened by the nature of what they called their evidence. Their first information was from one of their own Japanese soldiers, and obtained by the application of torture. They then put all the prisoners to the rack. At first each of them denied any knowledge of such a plot, but the torture being again applied, they of course confessed all that their accusers wanted. When released from pain, they repeated their denial of the charge, but being tortured anew, were compelled to reconfess it. Nine of the English, including their captain, were put to death, their heads being cut off by a scimitar. They all declared their innocence in the most solemn manner. Nine Japanese and one Portuguese shared their fate, while the remaining Englishmen were pardoned. The account of this cruel proceeding excited, as might be expected, the greatest indignation in England, and to increase it, the court of directors had a picture prepared, copied and circulated, representing the horrors of the scene. It was not, however, the interest of our government to go to war on the occasion, and negotiations were commenced, which were protracted from 1623, the period of the transaction, until about 1654, in the time of Cromwell, when an adjustment took place. The immediate result was, however, what the Dutch no doubt anticipated-the abandonment of our intercourse with the Indian Archipelago. Our merchants felt that they had neither forces nor forts enough to protect a trade, and thus was this guilty act long attended with all the advantages which its originators had contemplated. Mill, whose prejudices often mar his work, assumes at times an air of impartiality, which is sadly misplaced. He endeavors on this occasion to excuse the Dutch, by suggesting that, biassed by self-interest, they may have believed their rivals guilty. The fanciful assumption of motives may palliate any crime; but unhappily this is not the only proceeding which taints the colonial conduct of the Dutch. On the contrary, it is only characteristic of their selfish and cruel policy in the East. Partly in consequence of the loss of trade which ensued directly on this catastrophe, and partly from the large expense incurred by their contests with the Portuguese, the East India Company became at this time a good deal embarrassed; and it was while their finances were thus deranged, that a circumstance took place, which led to their settlement in Bengal, and subsequently proved the main source of their prosperity. A physician, named Boughton, having been called on to attend the daughter of the Emperor Shah Jehaun, in a dangerous illness, was so fortunate as to cure her, and, in consequence, gained her father's good will. With generous feeling, he availed himself of this to advance the interests of his countrymen, and obtained for them the privilege of carrying on a free trade. The same gentleman was equally successful at the court of the Nabob of Bengal, from whom he procured, in 1636, permission for the company's servants to erect a factory at Hoogley, on the so-named branch of the Ganges. Much about the same time a fort was erected at Madraspatam, on the Coromandel coast, where we had for some time previously had depots. This new station was named Fort St. George; and thus have we traced the commencements of our three presidencies, on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, and in Bengal. But the state of affairs in England precluded the company from availing themselves of these opening prospects, and during the civil wars their existence, as a corporation, was in peril. The India trade was in fact thrown open, for the five years which preceded 1657, the date at which Cromwell renewed the privileges of the company. The effects of this free trade are very differently stated in works of the period; but the nearest guess we can make at the truth leads us to think that our merchants offered India goods at low prices, and extended their sales to almost every part of Europe, underselling the Dutch even in Amsterdam. In confirmation of this last fact, Sir John Malcolm cites a passage in the "Letters of Thurloe," Cromwell's secretary, to the effect that the merchants of Amsterdam, "having heard that the Lord Protector would dissolve the East India Company at London, and declare the navigation and commerce to the Indies to be free and open, were greatly alarmed, as they considered such a measure would be ruinous to their own East India Company.”* The prospects of our own East India Company became more encouraging under Charles II. and his brother James. The former renewed and extended their privileges, and made over to them the island of Bombay, which he had received as part of the portion of his queen, the Infanta of Portugal. James added the important prerogatives of levying troops, holding courts-martial, and coining money. It is not, perhaps, to be wondered at, that these high powers were sometimes abused that merchants with such prerogatives were too eager for gain-that factors, living in what was felt, from its distance, to be a new world, forgot their responsibility. In 1665, Sir Edward Winter, governor of Madras, being superseded for undue prac * Malcolm's India, vol. i., p. 19, n. | tices, had the boldness to imprison the person who was sent out to succeed him, and actually held the government until 1686, when, by the special direction of the king, he resigned it. Sir John Child seized thirteen large ships at Surat, the property of merchants there, and sailed with his plunder to Bombay, of which he was then governor. It appears, indeed, that this was effected with the knowledge of a sub-committee of the directors at home; but if this circumstance diminishes the audacity of the act, it exhibits the morals of the company as of no very elevated order. Quite in agreement with this view are the sentiments of the chief director, as expressed in a letter to one who was appointed a judge in India. "I expect," says that autocratic trader, "that my will and orders shall be your rule, and not the laws of England, which are a heap of nonsense compiled by a number of country gentlemen, who hardly know how to govern their own families, much less the regulating companies and foreign commerce. Having now the power of condemning the company's enemies, or such as shall be deemed so, particularly those that shall question the company's power over all the British subjects in India, I expect my orders from time to time shall be obeyed and received as statute laws." It was not, as our readers will easily believe, by conduct and principles such as these, that the East India Company advanced in power, but in despite of them. They incurred the dislike and the hostile feelings of the native princes, and Arungzebe threatened to raze their factories to the ground. He seized Surat, sent a fleet to attack Bombay, and at the same time assailed them in other points. The servants of the company made the most abject submission, and the Emperor, only looking on them as traders, and conceiving their commerce to be of some importance to his subjects, forgave them. The enemies from whom the company had most to dread at this time were the merchants of their own country who interfered with their monopoly, and were known by the name of "Interlopers." Their profits were doubtless larger than those of the company, and they became so influential at home, that when, in 1698, the charter of the East India Company was brought under the consideration of Parliament, they actually obtained for themselves the exclusive right of trading with the East. This they acquired by offering to the government an advance on better terms than those proposed by the company. But the latter soon after got a new confirmation of their grant; and thus the nation had at the same time two East India Companies, each with privileges alike exclusive, granted by the crown and confirmed by the legislature, and both expending their gains in corrupting parliament, not only by purchasing seats, but also by directly bribing members of the lords and commons. Wearied by such expensive struggles, they at length combined their stock, under the charter given to the old company, on the 5th September, 1698, and assumed the name under which they have ever since remained incorporated-"The United Company of Merchants Trading to the East Indies." The privileges of the united corporation were confirmed and extended by an act of parliament, in 1708, and the general tranquillity which, a few years afterward, ensued on the peace of Utrecht, was favorable to their in terests. It was a little previously to these last dates that the company seems for the first time to have raised their views from trade to territory. In 1689 they write out to their agents that revenue is for the future to engage their attention, as much as traffic; that they wish to be "a nation in India," and they cite with approval the example of the Dutch, who they say wrote to their governors ten paragraphs about tribute for every one which concerned commerce. But as yet their views in this respect were of the humblest character; they only extended to the acquisition of territory by purchase, and in this manner they became possessed of some districts on the Coromandel coasts, where they built Fort St. David; and the Nabob of Bengal, desiring to replenish his exchequer, in order to enable him to sustain a war, the company succeeded in buying from him the zemirdarships of certain towns and districts, amongst which was that of Calcutta, where they erected Fort William, and which was, in 1707, declared to be the seat of a presidency. From the peace of Utrecht until the recommencement of hostilities in Europe, embracing a period of more than thirty years, the company advanced in commercial prosperity. The date of the war which then took place between England and France, 1744, is a cardinal era in the history of our Asiatic realm; but before we attempt any narrative of its events, we must glance at the relations of the latter power with the East. In the reign of Louis XIV., and the year 1664, Colbert founded a French East India Company; their capital was £625,000; their charter, pursuant to the views of the This age, was a monopoly, with what were even at that time singular encouragements. They were to have not only an immunity from all taxes for fifty years, but the government bound itself to make good to them any loss they might sustain within the first ten. Their commencing efforts were made in Madagascar, but their settlement was ill-chosen and unsuccessful. They afterwards, with better fortune, took possession of the islands of Ceane and Mascarenhas, and gave them respectively the names of Mauritius and Bourbon. In 1668 they established a factory at Surat, and after failing in other places, they formed a station at Pondicherry. place, which was well fortified, became the centre of the French trade in India, and they acquired some territory around it. When, in 1744, Walpole was driven from power, and war took place between England and France, the French conceived the idea of destroying our settlements in India, and of extending their own influence. They had at this time some agents there of distinguished ability. One was M. de Labourdonnais, a native of Brittany, who, early in life, engaged in trade in India, and made there a considerable fortune. His talents attracted the attention of the viceroy of Goa, at whose suggestion he entered the service of the king of Portugal, and was for two years the agent of that government on the Coromandel coast. Returning to France, he was selected by his own government to form their new colonies in the isles of France and Bourbon, and by a wise and energetic administration he advanced the resources and civilization of those islands in a very remarkable manner. He made roads, constructed bridges, had the natives taught the most useful trades, extended and improved the cultivation of the coffee-plant, and introduced the culture of indigo, and of the sugar-cane. The character he thus made raised his influence with the ministers at home, and on his return to Europe, in 1740, he suggested a plan whereby he should be prepared, on the first outbreak of hostilities, to attack and destroy the English settlements in the East, before a fleet from Europe could arrive to support them. This we shall see he afterwards attempted. M. Dupleix, who was at this time governor of Pondicherry, and chief of the French in India, was also a remarkable man. He inherited from his father, who was a director of the French East India Company, a large fortune, which he greatly increased by successful speculations in the India trade. He was, in 1720, sent out as first member of the council at Pondicherry, was afterwards made chief of the French station at Chandernagore, and having in these positions made known his public talents, he was appointed Governor-in-chief at Pondicherry. He was bold, able, unscrupulous, and ambitious. Being largely engaged on his own account in the internal trade of India, he became better acquainted with the politics and relations of that country than any other European of that period. These were the two most prominent Frenchmen in India when the war of the Austrian succession broke out, in 1744. At this time France had undoubtedly more influence in the East than England. Her East India Company was to the full as wealthy, and she had besides extensive possessions in the Spice Islands. She could also command a larger military force, and had besides armed and disciplined the Sepoys. It was, we may observe, from her that we learned the two main secrets of our successes in the East--the superiority of regular troops when employed against Asiatic hordes, and the enrolment and maintenance of a Sepoy force. When the intelligence that war had taken place in Europe reached Labourdonnais in the East, he found himself without the naval force which his government had promised him; but, notwithstanding, he resolved to act on his own resources. He accordingly detained such vessels as touched at his island, manned them with sailors as well as he could, training for this purpose even the natives of Madagascar; and having thus procured nine ships, and mustered a force of 1,100 Europeans, with some 400 Sepoys, and 300 Caffres, in addition to his seamen, he first attacked the English squadron of four ships and a frigate. Night terminated the action, but the English fleet sheered off, and disappeared from the After looking out for it some days, Labourdonnais proceeded to Madras, which was at that time our chief station, and most important settlement on the continent of India. It afforded but indifferent means of defence, and its small garrison exhibited little heroism. They capitulated on the 10th of September, 1746; and after having achieved this triumph without the loss of a man, Labourdonnais proceeded to Pondicherry. His reception there was far different from what he deserved. Dupleix, jealous of his success, maintained that he had exceeded his powers, refused to support him in his views, and compelled him to return to France, where he made such unfavorable representations of his conduct that he was arrested, imprisoned in the Bastile for three years, and soon after coast. wards died. Freed by this unworthy conduct from all rivalry, Dupleix resolved to follow up the measures of Labourdonnais, which were quite consonant to his own aspiring policy. He looked forward, first, to the destruction of the British settlements, and next to the establishment of a French dominion in India; and his ambition compelled us to adopt that line of action which has led to our acquisition of empire there. Dupleix, evading the terms of the capitulation of Madras, even exposed that place to plunder, carried off the governor and chief inhabitants, and paraded them as prisoners through the town of Pondicherry. Amongst the English, who now regarded themselves as absolved from their parole, given to Labourdonnais, was a young clerk, Robert Clive, whose yet humble name was soon to be known as foremost of the Europeans in India. He escaped in the. disguise of a Mussulman to Fort St. David. The Nabob of Arcot, who, when Pondicherry was, in the preceding year, threatened by our fleet, had, as prince of the province, interfered to save it, now thought proper to extend a like protection to Madras, and accordingly he sent his son, with 10,000 men, to expel the French and restore it to the English. This proved in its results one of the most important incidents in our history. The French had 1,200 soldiers, with some artillery, which they managed well; and with this small force they not only repelled the attack of the nabob's troops, but following them for four miles, assailed them in their own position at Mount St. Thomas, and put them completely to the rout. The spell which upheld the Mahommedan power in India was for ever broken; the Europeans saw in the superiority of their discipline, and their well-served artillery, the secret of their strength, and were not slow in availing themselves of the discovery. Dupleix next assailed Fort St. Ďavid, and while before it, had the address to gain over to his interests the Nabob of Arcot, who was now impressed with a high idea of the prowess of the French troops. Fort St. David was, however, soon relieved by the appearance of an English fleet before it, consisting of nine sail of the line, and having on board a body of 1,400 soldiers, making the largest European force then in India. This circumstance quite changed the aspect of affairs. Pondicherry was besieged by the English; but their arrangements were ineffective, the sickly season set in, and they were compelled to abandon the attempt. Dupleix claimed |