The first commercial transactions of the Dutch, after they bad cast tali the Spanish yoke, were with the Portu guese. From Lisbon they procured the productions of In dia, to sell them again to the nations of the north of Eu rope. This trade, however, was put an end to by Philip II. when he because toaster of Portugal ; and the Dutch then endeavoured to discover a passage by the north seas to China and India. This enterprize was unsuccessful ; but, while engaged in it, I loutinan, a native of Holland, con fined in the prisons of Lisbon for debt, proposed to the merchants of Rotterdam, to reveal to them the knowledge he possessed of Indian navigation and commerce, provided they liberated hint lions ptisun. His proposal was accept ed ; and an association was formed, which sent out four ships to India under Houtinan, in the year 1594. On their first arrival in the Indian Seas, the Dutch and Pot tuguese had only occasional skirmishes ; but a sanguinary war soon followed, which in the end totally destroyed the Portuguese power. The native peinces, iu these contests, generally took the part of the Portuguese, either front fear of the Dutch, or from other motives. The Portuguese also had another advantage, in their superior knowledge of the In dian seas. But the Dutch, on the other hand, were much braver, and more activt—stimulated by stronger motives, and yet in the vigour of their republican enthusiasm. Be sides, they received continual reinforcements from Holland; whereas, alter the conquest of Portugal by Spain, the con nection betwext the Put tuguese settlements and the mo ther country was very much loosened, and the intercourse abridged. Spain, jealous of the prosperity of her newly ac quired subjects, left the Indian settlements entirely to their own force. In the three years, 1620 to 1622, that Hernan de Albuquerque was viceroy, he never once received any letter of instruction or information from the court of Spain. The colonies, therefore, must have been supported entire ly from their own resources, which involved them in a de structive war with the Dutch. Success was notwithstand ing long doubtful ; but the Dutch at last gained the ascen dancy. The Portuguese at first lost Malacca and Ceylon ; and in the year 1660, they were driven from Macassar, Co chin, Cananore, and other settlements on the coast of Ma labar. In 1663, the Dutch obtained permission from the native princes to establish factories at Negapatam, Sadras, Pulicat, and Bimlipatam, on the east coast of the peninsula. From this period, the affairs of the Dutch are so interwoven with those of the English in India, that we shall defer their future history till we come to treat of the establishments of the latter.
For several years after the Portuguese, Dutch, and Eng lish had penetrated to India, the French contented them selves with procuring its productions from the Portuguese and Dutch. In the year 1601, indeed, a Company had been formed in Brittany, which sent two ships to India ; but they returned with cargoes barely sufficient to defray the expences of the equipment and voyage; consequently the company was dissolved. In 1633, another Company was formed ; but as their enterprizes were confined to the island of Madagascar, they do not fall within our plan. The attempt to colonize this island not succeeding, the French sent some ships direct to India, and established factories with the consent of the native princes. Their chief rendezvous at first was at Surat ; but the Dutch and English uniting against them, them to abatt don it. They text attempted to seize on Trincomalee ; but in this also they were unsuccessful.
In 1672, a French force, commanded by M. de la Haye, landed at St Thon.e, a sea-port contiguous to Madras, for merly possessed by the Portuguese, but then belonging to the king of Golconda, and carried it by assault. War, however, breaking out the same year between Holland on the one side, and France allied with England on the other, a powerful Dutch armament, assisted by the armies of the king of Golconda, invested St Thon,e by sea and land. Af ter a skilful and obstinate defence, the town was reduced in September 1674 ; but the king of Golconda insisted on retaining the conquest. This occurrence is principally re markable, as noting not only the first appearance of the French on the coast of Coromandel, but the origin of their power in that quarter ; for, from the wreck of their estab lishment at St Thome' was formed their celebrated settle ment of Pondicherry, where a small district was ceded them by the native prince. At the beginning of the 18th
century, their establishments consisted of Pondicherry, with small and insignificant factories at Masulipatam and Rajapore. Soon after this period, the history of the French and English nations in India are so blended, that they must be considered together.
In the year 1716, the Europeans established in India found themselves unexpectedly encountered by a new and powerful rival ; for there appeared off the coast of Malabar two forty gun ships, under imperial colours, which had been fitted out at Ostend. In the year 1720, the Ostend East India Company, by whom these ships had been fitted out, received a regular charter from the emperor ; and in 1723 they had established factories at Coverlong, between Madras and Sadras, and at Bankibazar on the Hooghly. The Dutch, French, and English, immediately took the alarm ; and in 1727 a treaty was signed at Paris, in which the emperor promised to suspend the company for seven years. Before the expiration of that term, he pledged him self, by the treaty of Seville, to the dissolution of it altoge ther ; and this accordingly took place.
The Danes received the first idea of forming establish ments in India from a Dutchman, who, discontented with his own government, offered his services to Christian IV. to form a settlement at Ceylon. This man, however, dy ing on his passage, and the Danes having been unfavour ably received at Ceylon, they proceeded from thence to the coast of Coromandel, where the king of Tanjore allowed them to form a settlement at Tranquebar. The little that remains to be. told of this Danish settlement will be found under our account of the British proceedings in India.
Queen Elizabeth was the first English Sovereign who thought of obtaining for her subjects a share in the trade to India. In the year 1583, she granted letters to two ad venturers for the princes of India, and in 1596, other letters. All these adventurers proceeded to the court of the Great Mogul, by land, where they were well received. The at tempts to discover a passage by the North Sea to China having failed, the English resolved to go round the Cape of Good Hope. Accordingly the Queen, on the last day of the year 16:)0, granted letters patent to a society of mer chants in London to trade to the East Indies. The object of the company was principally pepper and other spices ; and therefore their voyages were to Achen, Java, and the Spice islands. In the year 1612, four ships were sent out by King James, for the purpose of conciliating the Mogul emperor, some of whose vessels had been annoyed by the English in the Red Sea. The commander of this fleet succeeded in his mission ; and, at the same time, he ob tained from the court of Delhi the liberty of establishing a factory at Surat ; and this city was some time afterwards regarded as the principal English station in the west of India. The Portuguese, alarmed at the success of the English, attacked their fleet near Surat, but they were re pulsed. This voyage, therefore, may in some'respect be regarded as the origin of the power of the British in the East ; the two foundations of which were, the grant of the Mogul sovereign, and their own naval ability and resources. The presidency of Surat controlled all the factories in what may be called western India, or the tract extending from the parallel of Cape Comorin westwards to the Per sian and Arabian Gulfs. Soon afterwards they obtained an establishment on the coast of Coromandel, at Masulipa tam. To this they were prompted, because the cloths of Coromandel were in high request in the Spice Islands, and consequently constituted the best medium of exchange for popper and lather spices. In the year 1615, Sir Thomas Rue was sent by King James as the first British ambassa dor to the Mogul, from whom he obtained considerable privileges for the East India Company. About the same time, the Zamorin of Calicut granted them similar privi leges ; so that a long range of settlements was formed, im mediately subject to the presidency of Surat, among which were, in the Mogul territory, Broach, Brodera, Ahmeda bad, and Ajmeer ; and in the Zamorin country, Craganore, and Calicut.