Google This is a digital copy of a book lhal w;ls preserved for general ions on library shelves before il was carefully scanned by Google as pari of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. Il has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one thai was never subject to copy right or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often dillicull lo discover. Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher lo a library and linally lo you. Usage guidelines Google is proud lo partner with libraries lo digili/e public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order lo keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial panics, including placing Icchnical restrictions on automated querying. We also ask that you: + Make n on -commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request thai you use these files for personal, non -commercial purposes. + Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort lo Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. + Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each lile is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. + Keep it legal Whatever your use. remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other countries. Whether a book is slill in copyright varies from country lo country, and we can'l offer guidance on whether any specific use of any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through I lie lull lexl of 1 1 us book on I lie web al |_-.:. :.-.-:: / / books . qooqle . com/| igitized by GoOgle I , Google 2>S M3i- Digitizedby VjOOQlC , Google Digitized by CjOOQlC Digitized by CjOOQlC DEFENCE OFTHB UNITED COMPANY Merchants of England, Trading to the EAST-INDIES, ANP THEIR SERVANTS, (Particularly Those at BENGAL) Againft the Complaints of the DUTCH EAST-INDIA CO MP ANT, BEING A MEMORIAL from the Engmiii Company to His Majeftjr on that Subjeft. Armaqitt in Armatot fumere Jurajimmtt Otip. i ] — i LONDON: Printed for J. Brotiiirtow, in Cental-, and Sold by R. and J. DooSLsy, in Pall-Mttl, and T. Walur, in FttaStrat. M.PCC.LXB. , Google , Google ADVERTISEMENT. *T H E Dutch East-India Company having thought Jit to publifk- in their own Language the Memorial prefented, by his late Majefiyt Command, to their High Migbtinejfes the Stales-General, on the \\tb of Augufi, 1760, accompanied with an Extract of a Letter from the Prefdent ana Council of Calcutta, to their Principals, the Directors of the Englijb Company, containing a Narrative of the late TranJacJtons between the Two Companies in Bengal ; and likewtfe their own Report to their High Mtgbti- neJJ'es, in Anfwer to tbefaid Memorial and Letter ; and-tbefe Papers having been lately tranjlated into Englijb, and pubUjhtd in London ; the English East-India Company* in Order to vindicate their own Conduit, and that of their Servants, from the injurious Mifreprefentations of the /aid Re- port, find it necejfary to offer to the Public a Copy of their Memorial to ffjj M a j3 ) be conGdered hereafter) againft an apprehended Danger ; and unaccompaniej with any thing hoflile in tbe Manner or in tbe Intention. Ih confrquence of thefe Steps on the Part of the Englifh, ihe Directcre and Coun- cil of Chinfura, it is fa id, refolved, on the loth of November, " to treat the Englifh *• as ihey had treated them, to flop alfo their r'ejftls, and ftnd back tbe 7rccps that " might be found on board, to the Places from whence tliey came, but to let Mcr- '* tbandize pafs freely** Here then, in the Motives to this Rcfo!ut:on, we have a true Account of what the Governor of Chinfura then underload to have been done by the Englifh, which agrees exactly with our Reprefentation of it, however it may now be aggravated or varied. In confequence of this Refolution, fay they, the Englilli Veffcls were ftop'd on the 14th. Now, fuppofing for a Moment they were warranted, by what h id pjflfd, to come to this Refolution, does the Refohition itfelf warrant what was done, as it is laid in confequence of it ? To do as they had been done by is the Subttance of the Refo- lution. The Englifh had ftop*d their Veflels only while they fcarched them, and took out the Troops, if any, without the lead Infult to their Flag. The feven Englifh Veflels in Queftion are admitted to have been feized and detained till re- stored by the Treaty, and had in fair, their Colours (truck,* and were in all refpects treated as lawful Prizes, though the Gentlemen Directots affert to doubt of the Circumftance of flriking the Flags which neverthelefs was admitted, and difavowed, as done without Orders, in the Treaty. The Troops found in the Dutch Veffelt were fent back to the Places from whence they came, and the reft of the Crew fuffered to proceed with their Veflels wherever they pleafed. The Englifh Crew, without Dilf.imir.ion, are admitted to have been all made Prifoners. The Dutch Merchandize was let to pafs freely. Every thing found on board the Englifh Veffcls is admitted to have been detained. The Gentlemen fay indeed, that this was not done with any Intention to appropriate but to prevent a detrimental Ule of it i and, to induce a Belief of this, they fpeak of thefe Veflels as wholly laden with Military Stores. The Fact however is, that mod of them were trading Veffels,-|- laden with various Sorts of Merchandize, from which no detrimental Ufe could be apprehended. This Transaction therefore of the 14th of November, which the Gentlemen Di- rectors confider as the firft Hoftility on their Part, cannot be jultified by the Pre-, tence of any Thing prior of the like Kind, on the Part of the Englifh. • Vidt Appendix, No. 7. + No. 7. B. E They yGoogle ( if) They fay further, that their Advices do not mention the drilling our Flags and burning our Purgannaes* at Foha and Rajapore ; and in reflect of the Aftion of the 24th, at Chandernsgorc, they infill, on the Authority of a Lieutenant, that the Dutch Troops did nor, as we fay, attack Colonel Forde, but were attacked by him -, Teeming to think this material, in order to fhew, that though they were the Aggreflbrs by Water, rhey were not fo on Shore. If we comprehended the Ufe of this Diftin&ion, and thought it material to authenticate thofe Fafts, as ftated in the Prefidcnt and Council of Fort William's Letter, we would follow the Gentle- men into that Detail; but, apprehending, as we do, that, when we have eftabliflied the Fa£t of one open Hoftility which cannot be juftified, we have done all that is neceffary to determine the Queftion, who were the Aggreffors, we beg Leave to decline fo ufelefs a Taflc. If we are right, in thinking the hoflile Seizure of our Ships by the Dutch on the 14th of November fo diftinguifhable from the precautionary Meafures con- certed and executed by the Englilh before that Time, as to receive no Colour of Juftification from thence, perhaps this Queftion need be purfued no further r even the Justification of thofe Meafures, on our Part, confidered only as relative to this Queftion, might be fpared us. This, however, for another Reafon that will appear, we fhall not omit. But, before we proceed to ir, we will (late fome previous Pro- ceedirtgs of the Dutch, in order, among other Purpofes, to fhew that the Tranfac- tion of the 14th of November was not a rath and unadvifed Step -, the Light in which the Dutch Commiffaries reprefented it on the Treaty, in order to have fome Colour of Exeufe j but, on the contrary, the Refult of Premeditation, Preparation, and Deliberation. That, on the firfl Intimation of the Approach of this Armament, the Nizam fent the Dutch a Perwannaf forbidding it — That the Directore and Council of Chinfura returned him a fotemn Promife of Obedience — That on the Arrival of the firft Ship he repeated his Perwanna, and they their Promife, with an Affurance, that fhe would foon depart, waiting only for a Supply of Water and Provifions— are Fails ftated in the Letter, and not denied in the Report. Their Proceedings however very ill accorded with their Promifes. Inftead of fending the Ship away, they attempted all poffible Means to difembark and bring up their Troops. In this Attempt MefT. Zuydland and Trembley were detected, as has been mentioned : This happened on die 29th of September. A few Days before this the Subah came down to Calcutta, to confer with the Prefident and Council on the proper Meafures to be taken in this precarious Situation - * Villagw. f An Order under the Nizam's own Hand. , Google ( '5) of Affairs. Whilft he was there, the reft of the Durch Armament arrived ; and the Government of Calcutta now heard from all Quarters of their Preparations for Hoftilicies. Even their triend Coja Wazeed, who *as then at Houghly, informed the Nabob in a Letter about this Time, " That the Dutch had relinquifhed all " Thoughts of Trade for the prefent, and employed themfclves Day and Night " folely in repairing (heir Forts, &c." The Nabob now appeared inclined to treat them with great Rigour, and actually propofed to the Prefident and Council to expel them from his Country for ever. This the Prefident and Council conftamJy oppo- fed j the Prefident reprefenting to him tbar, though the Behaviour of the Dutch had been, in many Inftances, unkind and ungrateful, yet, as the two Nations were in Amity in Europe, they had not the Icaft Defire to difturb, much It fs deftroy, their Trade-, that the Continuance of thefe Difturbances would be as prejudicial to the Interefts of the Company, as to the Tranquillity of the Country ; and, in fine, that nothing would give him more cordial Satisfaction, than a fohd and lading Reconciliation, to which he, with the reft of the Council, were ready to contribute to the utmoft of their Power, In Confequence of this DeGre in the Englifti, to rtftore and eftablifh the Peace of the Country, the Subah left Calcutta in the fame Difpofition, declaring he would admit the Dutch to an Audience, and hear what they had to propofe. For this Purpofe he ftaid fome Time at Houghly in his Return, where their Deputies had frequent Accefs to him ; but inftcad of co-operating to that defirable End, they abufed the Favour the Government of Calcutta had procured them, and tried all poflible Means, not only to prevail on him to withdraw his Prohibition, bur, by groundlefs Surmifcs, bold Atfertions, and artful InGnuations, to turn his Refentment on thofe, to whom they owed the Opportunity of making this ungrateful Return. To this end they magnified the Power and Influence of the Engiilh % hinted that the Difficulties he felt in railing Money to pay hisTroops were folely imputable to them; that they were the Caufe of the general Poverty and Diftrefs of his Country ■, and that he would Toon be incapable of oppofing his Enemies, with an Affurance, that if he would favour them in this Inftance, they would ever be at bis Command; they even hinted at the Negotiation we have mentioned (which they actually called an Agreement) as having encouraged them to take this Step, and conclude with defiling his Favour, as that without which they could not root out their Enemies. To prove all this, we (hall fubjoin*the Directores Letters without referve. One of thefe Letters expreffes a Notion, equally injurious to Truth and to the Nabob's Dignity, viz. that his Prohibition arofe from an Agreement he had been compelled to enter into with the Engiilh whilft at Calcutta, which they tell him he • yiit Appendix, No. 6. , Google ( .6) is not bound to abide by; and in the fame Letter they aflfert that the Army was lent for in Confcquence of his Directions. Tub Notion of fitch an Agreement between the Nabob and the Englifli is refuted, by obferving that his Orders had been given, and al mo ft all the Steps they complain of taken in Confcquence, long before he came to Calcutta; and we had repeated and folemn Declarations from the Nabob, that the Affertion of fuch an Agreement between him and them was equally falfe. Tfrs Letter gave him great Offence, and it appears, by the Beginning of the next, that he returned a very angry Anfwer to it. When they found ihey could not fucceed in this Negotiation, but on the con- trary received a peremptory Rcfufal, with an AfTurance however of Protection in their Trade, they pacified the Nabob by repeating their Promife, that the Ships and Troops (hould depart as foon as the Seafon would permit. Satisfied with this Affurance, the Nabob treated their Deputies with great Civility, gave them Keilants or Veils of Honour, and then returned to his Capital, where an Apprehenfion of another Irruption of the Shauzada required his Prefence ; having tuft delivered to our Vaqueel a Copy of the Arzee or Petition f prefentcd to him by the Dutch Deputies, and of his Anfwer, which we fhall fubjoin. The Government of Calcutta, knowing that the Reafon afligned for the Dutch Ships flaying longer was falfe, as the Seafon favoured an immediate Departure, did not give more Credit to the Promife than it deferred. No fooner was the Nizam gone than the Dutch Council pretended they had carried their Point with him, had his Confent to bring up their Ships, and even expected his Afiiftance if the Englifli oppofed them j and their Deputies abufed his Civility, by wearing and appealing to their Keilants, as a Confirmation of what they afferted. This had its Effect in creating Mifunder landings and Jealoufiei, in encouraging fuch of their own People as were before unwilling to concur in their defperate Projects, and in- timidating the Inhabitants of the Country, but it did not deceive the Government of Ca'cutta. They judged however from all this, that the Government of Chinfura were determined to perfift in their Scheme, which was confirmed by Intelligence, that they were enlifting Troops in all Parts of the Country, and not content with thele, had actually negotiated, " even while the Nabob was among thorn, with Monlieur Courtin, who had the Direction of what remained of the French, after the Reduction of their Settlements, defiring their Afliftance againft their common f Vide Appendix, No. t Enemy yGoogle ( '7) Enemy the Englifh : and he accordingly compelled his People, by witholding their Subfiftance Money, to enlift with the Dutch, for which Purpofe he fent them down to Chinfura in fmall Parties, to prevent Sufpicion. While this was doing in the Inland Parts of the Country, fome of the Council of Chinfura were employed in drawing and peftering the Government of Calcutta with long and unintelligible Remonftrances, intending perhaps to embarrafs them and divert their Attention, from the Danger that threatened their Lives, as well as the Setdements under their Care, to an ill timed Defence of their Conduct. The Prcfident and Council of Calcutta did not think this a Seafon for Altercations of that fort ; well knowing, that other Members of the Council of Chinfura were at the very Time employed in gaining Intelligence of the State of our Works, and the Difpofi tion of our Troops, fending Spies into our Fortrefles, debauching our Soldiers, and tempting them to defert, and forming Plans of Attack on the Intelligence thus procured. A very full Report of this Kind was made to the Directors in a Letter of the 5th of November from Mr. Schevichaven, one of the Council of Chinfura (and with Mr. Vernet, the principal Authors of this Enterprize) which he prefaces by faying he left Chinfura for thefe Purpofes, on the firft of that Month, lays down a Plan for a Storm, and concludes with an Offer of his Perfcn to be further employed in the intended Expedition. Of this Letter we (hall fubjoin * a Copy, as alfo of a Plan for the Attack of Calcutta, and of the Refoluttons of a Council of War held onboard the Uiiflingen the 17th, fettling the Method of attacking our Ships, clearing the Shore, and difembarking the Troops, affigning to each Ship its Station and Em- ployment, and providing againft every Incident that could be forefeen as likely to happen in fuch an Enterprize. These Papers (the Originals of which were found in a Pocket-Book belonging to Colonel Roufiel, the Commanding Officer, on the Field of Battle) afford full Proof that the Hoftilities afterwards committed were not accidental or involuntary, hut the Confequence of previous Rcfolution 1 and the firft proves further, that this Refolution was formed much earlier, and Rites the Imputation of an hoflile Intention, at lead as far back as the ift of November ; that the Seizure of our Ships there- fore, on the 14th, was not the Confequence of any fuch Refolution, as is ftated of the 10th, or even of the Paper of the ;th, which in the Report is called a Protcft, though (as well from its Contents as from its being communicated, as mentioned in the Report, to all the other Europeans fettled in Bengal) it feems rather a Decla- ration of War j but that, whatever Refolutions or Declarations of that fort there were, they, as well as the actual Hoftilites which enfued, all proceeded from a fettled Intention of a much earlier Date. It appears then that the Hoftilities intended and • fUt Appendix, No. 10. F committed yGoogle ( '8) committed by the Dutch were fuch as could not be juftified by the prior Afts of the Englifh, even foppofing thofe Afts themfelves unjultifiable. On the contrary, if the Englifh, either in (topping or fearching their Veffeis, or in fending back the Bugguefe, found on board, or in any other Part of their Conduct, had afted improperly, the ▼cry Treaties they now ftrangely appeal to point out their proper Remedy, and exprefly condemn and prohibit that to which they thought fit to refort. The Article of the 8th of March, 1675, which they cite largely and feem to rely on, exprefly provides that, " In cafe any Difference (ball arife, or any Injury or Violence ** be committed, or be pretended to be committed, on either fide, it fhall ** not be lawful for the Company fo injured to commit any Aft of Hoftility in " Revenge for the fame -, but the Dutch Eaft-India Company, being the Party ** injured, (hall complain to the King, and the Englifh Eaft-India Company, in the "* like Cafe, fhall apply to the States General." We could not but be furprifed to find this Treaty cited in the Report, it having been fo flagrantly violated by thofe very Afts, which the Report was intended to juftify. Having thus (hewn that the Afts complained of and infixed on by the Gentle* men Directors of the Dutch Company, as juftifying the Conduft of their Servants, are inefficient for that Purpofr, even fuppofing thofe Afts unjuftifiable ; we will now proceed to (hew, that, far from any Aggreflion on our Part, or any Thing that could juflly provoke Hoftilrties, the Afts wherein the fuppofed Aggreflion confifts, did not afford a juft Ground even of Complaint, We apprehend nothing is more indubitable than that, during a War between the Englifh and French Nations, the former had a Right to (top and fearch the • Veffeis of the Dutch, or any other neutral State, as well in this River as elfewhere \ and how the Plea of its being a neutral River, which it certainly is, as between the Eng'ifh and Dutch, applies, we do not comprehend, fince it furely is not more neuira! than the High Sear, where this Right is exercifed every Day without Dif- pute. Nothing was more likely to happen at this Time than a Vifit from the French ; the Evercifeof this Right therefore was, on that Account, a prudent and neceffary Precaution. This however we fay, rather bec2ufe the Right is claimed m the Letter and denied in the Report, than from any Opinion that it is material in the prefent Cafe, fince our Servants never pretended to extend it, as the Report alledges, to the treating the Ships as they thought proper, or even tojuflify the taking out and fending back the Bugguefe in the Dutch Service ; nor did they claim, in their own Right, any Authority to oppofe the Introduction of Dutch Troops, fuppofing there was no Res- Ton to fufpeft they came as Enemies to them. All this was done in a Character which, yGoogle ( 19 ) which equally juflifies the flopping, fearching, and every other Meafure necefliry or proper to prevent the Introduction of thole Troops -, that of Friends and Allies to the Mogul, and to the Subah Jaffeir Aly Khan. This brings us to the Queftions of Right, which are, firft, Whether the Butch had a Right to introduce the/e Troops ; and fecondly, if not, whether the Englijh mighty at the Nabob's Requeft, ajift to hinder them, without infringing the Treaties which fubfift between Great-Britain and the Republick, Firft, Then, the Dutch claim an unlimited Right of fending Troops to Bengal ; and they make it out thus : The Mogul, fay they, is the Sovereign of the Country, and we derive from him, under repeated Phirmaunds, a Right to " a free Navi- " gation of the Ganges to bring in Troops and Effects to our Factories, and to carry " them from thence to other Places, 1 * and this Right we cannot be deprived of without infringing the Phirmaunds of the Great Mogul, which the Nabob, -who is only Governor of a Province^ is not authorized to do. As this Claim refti wholly upon Phirmaunds from the Mogul, it is obvious that the Gentlemen Directors Ihould have annexed to their Report authentic Copies of fuch Phirmaunds, as fome Evidence of their Exigence. Not to rely on the Impro- bability of the Mogul's granting an unreftrained Right of bringing Foreign Troops into his Empire, a Right fo apparently tending to fubvert it, or even any Troops by which his own Authority or that of his Viceroy, which is in Effect his own, might be difputcdj we who know fomething of the Phirmaunds granted to Eu- ropeans, the general Object of which is a Right to trade in the Mogul's Dominions in common with his own Subjects, and even that under fome Reftrictions, take upon us to deny, that any fuch Phirmaunds as fuppofed, authorizing the Introduc- tion of Troops, and taking from himfdf and the Governor of the Province (as the Gentlemen are pleated to call the Nabob) the Right of allowing or prohibiting fuch a Meafure, does or ever did cxift : And if this Affertion be difputed, we call upon them to produce it. The Gentlemen Directors, in hopes to obtain a Colour for this Claim by the Anfwer, aflc by what Right we brought the Troops into Bengal, which we had there before the breaking out of the Troubles. We do not clearly underftand, whether they mean to fpeak of the Troubles occafioned by the Tyranny of Souraja Doula, or thofe which were the Confequence of their Armament. If the former, we anfwer, that we, as well as the Dutch Compiny, have generally had a fmall Military Force there for the Protection of our Settlements and Servants agatnft the Robberies and Riots fo frequent in that ill-ruled Empire -, and neither the Mogul y Google nor the Nabob, the Expediency of fuch a Meafure being notorious, have ever oppofed or difapproved of it. For that Reafon it was, that, in the Treaty between the Nabob and the Dutch, of the 5th of December, 1759, tnev arc ^" allowed a Force of 125 Soldiers, which is certainly a competent Force for the Purpofe. But we pofitively deny, that, before the Time referred to, we ever introduced or attempted to introduce a fingle Soldier againft the Nabob's Prohibition. Had we conceived, we had a R ight to do fo, we mould never have fuffered our Settlements to be ex- pofed to the Violences and Barbariiies with which they were treated by the Tyrant Souraja Doula. That we had then a Force, from which he met fo little Refinance, was among the Confequences of our Unwillingnefs toexercife a Right, however de- ferable, to which we knew we had no juft Title, But if they mean to enquire, by what Right we brought thofe Troops to Ben- gal, by which the Holtilities of their Servants were, as we have feen, repelled, we Ihaft fl ill anfwer without referve : and our Anfwer is, that they were fent thither, not to difturb or endanger the Tranquillity of the Country in Time of Peace, but to profecute a War, the J u ft ice of which, on our Part, is admitted. The Event of that War, and the Treaties which have fucceeded it, have not only made it expedient, but have given us a Right to continue thofe Troops, and to fend more in whatever Numbers we think proper. Our Arms conquered large Tracts of Territories, fome Parts of which have, fince the Times we are fpeaking of, been ceded and confirmed to us by Treaties. By thefe Means, from having a Factory of Traders, without any Territory or territorial Right, refiding in the Dominions and under the Pro- tection of the Subah of Bengal, we have acquired a Territory, to which we have a Right to convey Troops, and to defend which it is abfolutely neceffary to do fo. A Military Syftem, though long in Uie with the Dutch Company in other Parts of India, wjs never before adopted by us. The Change here, whether to our Ad- vantage or not, Time only can evince, was brought about without the lead Violation of the Rights of any other Nation, and the Meafures producing it were rather of Necelfity than Choice. The Rights we derive from it are accidental Advantages, if they are Advantage?, of a fuccefsful War, the Occafion of which we wifhed to have been fparcd. Hid not our old Rights been trampled on, and our Houfes and Effects plundered and deftroyed ■, had we not been driven to take up Arms, to recover Satisfaction for the one and re-eftablifli the other, as well as to revenge on the Tyrant the Lofs of fo iruny of our Servant?, whom he had coolly and wan- tonly murdered, our Settlements in Bengal would have continued to be, as they always had been, and as the Dutch Settlements there (till are. Factories or Places of Rcfidence forTradeis, having an indifputable Right to trade there, but no Pre- tence to claim an Independency of the Subah, or a Right to ufe or bring any Military Force, without his Permiffion. Ir yGoogle (.1 ) U then the Dutch Company had not rhe Right they pretend, of introducing Troops into the Province ot Bengal, independently of the Nabob, it follow?, that he, whether confidered « Sovereign of the Country (a Character he certainly afTumet, and in which the Government of Chinfura appear by the Letters fubjoined to re- cognize him) or, as the Dutch Directors call him, Governor of the Province, had an undoubted Right to oppofe their Entrance, with this Difference, perhaps, thac in the firft Character he might allow or refute it \ in the latter, refute, but not allow without consulting his Mafter. In whatever Character he bad this Right, we believe he will not be generally thought to have judged amils in derating it, to keep out fo confiderable an Armament, whether he regarded hU own Safety or the Tranquil- lity of the Country. The Legality and Validity of his Prohibition is indeed Suffi- ciently acknowledged by the Government of Chinfura : Grit by tbtir ConiuS in foliating his PermifTion, promiting Obedience to his Perwannas, labouring to excufe the firft Inftance of Difobedience, as accidental and involuntary, and afterwards re- peatedly intreating him to withdraw it % as alio in rxprt/s Ttrari in their Petition and Letters fubjoined.* The next Queftion then, which is, Wbithet tb* Englijh might at the Nabob's Requett, if the Dutch had not this Right, ajfifi to binder tbem, without Infraction of Treaties, Teems to be already anfwered : for if the Dutch Direfloreand Council* who guided this Armament, had fo far forgot their Duty as to perfift in an At- tempt, which, if not in itfelf illegal, was clearly fo after an exprefs Prohibition from a Perfon, who (whether Sovereign, Viceroy, or even an inferior Magiftrate, authorized to preferve the Peace of the Country) had competent Authority to pro- hibit it, is there any Pretence to confider the Englilh, helping to carry the Laws of the Country into Execution, and alBfting the Magiftrate, at his Rcqueft, to enforce Obedience where it is due, as Violators of the Treaties of Amity between the Crown of Great-Britain and the States General ? Independent of all Treaties with the Mo- gul or the Nabob, Obedience to juft and lawful Orders is a Duty anting from that local Allegiance, which every Man owes to the Sovereign of the Country where he reticles. Would not the Englifti at Calcutta have been more jurtly liable to the Imputation of a Violation of Treaties, had they affronted the Juftice and Dignity of their High Mightinefles, by fuppofing that an Attempt fo circumftanced, could have their Countenance at the Time, or their Approbation afterwards? Before we quit this Head we detire to obferve, that though, by the ancient Constitution of the Mogul Empire, of which the Provinces of Bengal, Bahar and Orixa are a Part, the Nabob or Subah of ihofe Provinces was nothing more than • Fidt Appendix, No. 8 »nd 6. G > the , Google ( 22 ) the Mogul's Viceroy, yet, for many Years paft, as the Strength ofthatConftitutiotj has been gradually declining, the Subahs of thefe and other Provinces have been, in Jike Gradation, affuming an Independence of the Court of Delly ; and the Shock which the Empire rectived, or rather the Subverfion of it, for it has never recovered, nor probably ever will, from the Irruption of the Perfians under Nadir Shah, has fo far confirmed that Independence, that the Relation between the Nabob and the Mogul is at prefent little more than nominal. The Nabob makes War or Peace without the Privity of the Mogul, and though there appear ftill Tome Remains of the old Conftitution in the Succeflion to the Nabobfhip, yet, in Fact, that Sue- ceffion is never regulated by the Mogul's Appointment, though the Pcrfon in Poflefflon is generally defirous of fortifying adifputedTitle by the Mogul's Confirms- tion, which the Court of Delly, confeious of its Inability to interpofe more fubft antially, and defifogs of retaining an Appearance of Superiority, readily grants. The Nabob of Bengal therefore is de faflo, whatever he may be de jure, a Sovereign Prince, or at worft not a Viceroy, but a Tributary to the Mogul, there being fome kind of Tribute ftill confidered as due from thofe Provinces to the Mogul, though it rarely,, if ever, finds its Way to Delly. It appears by the Dircttorc's Letters that the Dutch as well as we confider him in this Light, It may not be improper to obferve, that the Qucftion we are now upon would have been a very different one, had this Armament arrived at Bengal avowedly for the Purpofe of making War again It the Nabob, which the Gentlemen Directors do not (late to have been their Defign, but, on the contrary, difavow any Intention of making War. It cannot be neiejfary for us to confider how the Queftion would have flood bad this been their Intention, fince it was net ;. but, as many of their Ar- guments apply to that Cafe, and not to the Cafe tbej make, and as we wifh to (hew the Condutft of our Servants blamelcfs, in refpect of the Dutch Company, in every Light in which it can be confidered, we will fuppofe the Cafe thus varied, though. we might very well excufe ourfelves purfiiing this Queftion further : defiring how- ever it may be remembered, that whatever Opinion it may be proper to form of the Queftion, fo varied, is immaterial to the Argument betwetn us and the Dutch. Company,- being founded on a Cafe which, does nor exift. In the Cafe vre are now fuppofing, they might,, if they thought neceffary, call on us to diftinguifh, in order to make out our Right to afflft the Nabob Jaffeir Aly. Khan againft their Armament, confidently with our Denial, of any Right in. them to aflift the Nabob Souraja Doula againjl the Armament under Admiral Watfon and. Colonel Give; but, taking the Object of their Armament to be as they date it in the Report, we apprehend the Cafes we are defired to diftinguifh have nothing yGoogle (*3 ) in common i unlefs the taking part as Auxiliaries in a War can be compared to the affifting the Magiftrate to prevent an apprehended Danger in Time of Peace. The Neutrality Admiral Watfon called upon them to obferve, as between the Englifh and French, which they likewife mention, can ftill lefs help their Argu- gument, flnce in this he only defired them to conform to the Intentions and Ex- ample of their High. Mightincffes their Sovereigns. But, had a War on the Nabob been their avowed Object, could the Englifh Company have affifted him without Infraction of the Treaties fubfifting between Great-Britain and the United Provinces ? To anfwer this Queltion, we do not think it material to examine thofe Treaties more particularly, acknowledging, as we do r that whilft our Sovereigns are at Peace, (he Subjects of either State are retrained by Treaties, as well as by the Law of Nations, from committing Holtilities againft each other j nor do we think it neceffary to fcan the Treaty, under which the Nabob claimed our Alfiflance •, but our Point is to examine and afcertain ibe Motives and Grounds ef fucb a War, and thefe we mufl look for in the Complaints alledged in the Report againft the Nabob Jaffcir Aly Khan. That his PredeceQbr, Souraja Doula, was a Tyrant, whofe (hort Reign was diftinguilhed by frequent and almolt conftant Acts of Injuftice, Violence and Op- predion, not only againft the Englifh, but the Ditch, and all the other Europeans fettled in thofe Provinces, as well as his own Subjects, is a Truth which we believe will not be difputed : And yet it is obfervable that the Dutch Company brought no Armament to refill bim, but fubmitted quietly. That not content with ruining our Trade, he actually, in the Month of June 1 756* deftroyed our Settlements, and put to death, with Circumftances of Barbarity and Cruelty, great Part of their Inhabitants,, is notorious. The Dutch and other Europeans, all of whom we believe were called upon by the Tyraot to affift him in this unjuft War, if fuch an unprovoked Attack on a handful of Traders, incapable of refifting him, merits that Name, having them- fclves fo often fmarted under his O^prcflion«, know joo well that the immediate. Caufe he affigned for his Refentment was one of thofe Pretences which fuch a Princs will never want, and therefore declined giving him the Afliftance he required, n:it from any Regard to Treaties between their refpective Sovereigns and his late Ma- j.cfty, which the Gentlemen Directors would now have us understand to- have been the Motive with the Dutch, but becaufe they had all a reafonable Ground to appre- hend it would be their own Cafe in turn ; nay, he had actually a Quarrel with the Dutch and French at that very Time, on Account of their having, as he faitt,, tnlarged their Works round their refpective Factories without his Leave, The Caufe. of. the Englifh. againft Souraja Doula the Oppreflbr, was the common Caufe of yGoogle («4) of all the Opprellrtl, at leafl, of all the Europeans fettled in his Territories \ and the giving him Affirtance in his Defign to extirpate the Englilh would not have been more contrary to Treaty, good Faith and Humanity, than to found Policy and common Senfe. Indeed their common Intercft, as well as their Alliance with us, required of them all not merely to forbear affifling him, and quietly fee him perpe- trating a Mifchief, to which their Affiftance was not wanted, but to lay afide an ill- ' timed Attention to little Quarrels among ihemlelvcs, and unite to refill their corn- men Enemy. Had they done thi*, the Deftruftion which befell the Englifh would have *>een prevented, and the D;itch and French Companies would have faved thofe Sums which the Tyrant, who immediately turned his Arms againft them, compelled them to pay him under the Name <.f a Fine \ whether, as they fay, for refufing to aflirt him, or, as he himfelf afterwards reprefented it to our Servants, for enlarging their Works without his Leave. The Gentlemen Directors do indeed alledge, that their Servants gave ours all the Succour in their Power on that Occafion, not dt ft ir*gui filing, whether thry mean to fpeak of their Treatment of Individuals, or of their Attemicn to the Settlement, fteming iherefore defirous of being underftood to fyeak of both. That, after the Ruin of our Settlements, fevera] of our Servants, who had efcaped the Nabob's Fury, were, during the Interval between that Time and the Approach of our Fleet under Admiral Watfon, treated with Friendfhip and Humanity by feveral Gentlemen of the Dutch Factory, is a Fa£t of which we are welt informed : and Juil ice to thofe Gentlemen, to whofe good Offices thofe Servants of mirs were fo much indebted, requires from us all due Acknowledgments. This kind of Succour we hope our Servants in India always have, and we truft they always will, on evefy Occafion, afford to the Dutch and all who want it. Inhumanity never has been among the Character! (tick 5 of the Englifh Company in India, any more than of the Englifh Nation in any Part of the Globe. But that the Dutch at Ben- gal gave the lead Affiftance towards the Defence of our Settlements there we deny. On the contrary, in Anfwer to Applications from Calcutta for Men and Ammuni- tion, the Direcfore and Council of Chinfura declared, that they were ordered to be neutral in all Difpures with the Government, and even afterwards, when thofe who efcaped to the Ships requetled a Supply of Provifions from Chinfura, they were firft protnifed, but afterwards, in Auguft, told the Nabob had forbid it. To re-eflablifh our Settlements and punifh the Author of the complicated Mif- chiefs we have mentioned, and not merely, as the Report reprelents, to aflert our Phirmaund Privilege, was the Defign with which rhe Englifh Armament under Admiral Watfon entered the Ganges in the Month of December. Ju (lice and every other Principle, that either ought to influence or commonly does influence the Conduct of Men, was fo apparently favourable to this Enterpriie, that had the Di- refloie and Council of Chinfura complied with the Demand of Affiftance the Nabob yGoogle Us) Nabob then repeated, Admiral Watfon would have been well Warranted to treat thofe as Enemies, who could be capable of aftfng a Part lb unnatural sod unjuft irt itfelf, and fo equally contrary to the Interefts of both Companies, and of their refpeflive Sovereigns. The Succefs of the Englilh Forces and the Treaty it pro. dueed certainly fecured to the Dutch, as well as ihe Englilh, perfonal Safety, and Freedom from-thofe Enactions by which both Companies had frequently fufFered, and which the Nabob, however difpofed, was no longer in a Condition to lupporr, Inftead of acknowledging this Benefit, the Gentlemen Directors affect: to complain, of the Government of Fort William, for not procuring them, by their Interpofition, a Reimburfement of the Money which had been extorted from them. In ihe Treaty of Peace, the Stipulations were of courfe confined to the Complaints of the Parties at War j and fo treacherous and averfe to the Performance of what he had flipulated was this Tyrant, that, far from liftening to Interceffions from the Englilh on Behalf of others, they had at laft no other way of obtaining Satisfaction for their own Demands, or indeed of fecuring themfelves againft a fecond Attack, as unpro- voked and as unwarrantable as the Brit, for which he was actually preparing, than by aflifting the People of the Country, whom he had equally oppreffed, to depofe him. In this likewife the Dutch took no Part, and therefore could have no Claim on the Succeflbr for more than Juftice. Let us examine then, whether they have any real Reafon to complain, that tbat was denied them. Sometime after the Acceffion of the new Subah, Governor Clive was detired by the Dutch Council to employ his Intcreft to procure them a Reftitution of the Money extorted by Souraja Doula, which the Governor did very fertoufly labour to do ; but received for Anfwer, that the Nabob did not confider himfelf as refponfible for the Acts of his Predeceflbrs, and further, were he fo difpofed, he was for the prefent unable for want of Money. If it mould be admitted, that the Nabob for the Time being is, in drift Juftice, bound to repair all the Violences, Extortions and OpprelDons, of all his Predeceflbrs, we believe the Revenues of his Country, were they all appropriated to this Ufe, would prove a very incompetent Fund ; but that a Compliance with the Demand in Queftion, as matter of Favour, though not of Right, was earneftly preffed, by Governor Clive, is mod certain. That this Requeft was not continued, will not be wondered at, when we have added, what .was foon known at Calcutta, that whilft the Governor was thus employing his good Offices in favour of the Dutch, the latter, by their Vaqueel or Agent at Muxadavad, were preding the fame Point, and with it foliciting an exclufive Grant of the Trade of Ophium and Saltpetre, and, further Gill, H Leave yCxQOgle (*6 ) Leave to build a Factory at Banquabuzar, and to fortify it, to prevent Oppreflions, which they pretended to have received, and to apprehend from the Englifli.* Such however were the Advices received at Calcutta in Auguft 1757. The Nabob having before, as he conceived, great Caufe of Difpleafure againft the Dutch, much refented thefe Demands of theirs. The Caufe of that Dif- pleafure was this. Every body converfant with Indian Affairs knows with how much Refocct the Subahs of thefe and other Provinces, and indeed the Eaftern Princes in general, have been accuftomed to be treated by the European Traders fettled in their Territories ; that they expect frequent Prefents ; and exact, on all Occafions, a Submiflion which the grcatefl Princes in -more civilized Countries neither expect nor would receive. The Dutch Factory, on the Acceflion of Jaffeir Aly Khan, and even after he was confirmed Subah by the Court of Delly, were fo wanting in the common Civilities every where cuftomary on thefe Occafions, that they forgot to congratulate him j nay, though he palled by Chinfura, they neither Cent out any Sort of Compliment, nor even fired a Gun to falute him. This Neglect fo long continued, the Nabob confidered, and, judging by Rules formed on the Manners of his Country, rightly confidered, as a grofs Affront : And it being followed by Demands ioftead of Apo- logies, he cfprcfTed his Refentment in the ufual Way, by giving Orders to flop their ' Trade every where ; which was accordingly done for a very fhort Time, till they fent Ambafladors to acknowledge his Title and make him the ufual Compliments, when he inftantly took off the Reftrietion ; and, that, according to our Advices* without extorting from them a fingle Rupee. This was the only Interruption of their Trade, on the Part of the Nabob, which our Servants at Calcutta ever heard of, from his Acceflion till the Approach of the Armament from Batavia ; unlefs his Grant of the Saltpetre Trade to us, which we ' will examine hereafter, can be fo confidered. Nor have we the lead Reafoa to be- lieve, that till then any Sort of Violence was offered them, or that the Dutch Fac- tory had, or pretended to have, any ether Ground of Complaint againft the Nabob, on any Account whatfoever. There being then, in Truth, no real Injury fuftaised by the Dutch Company from the Nabob, nor of courfe any juft Ground for a War againft him, why are not the Engfifh Company at liberty to defend an Ally anjttftly attach^ the teal Motive • Vidt Appendix, No, 1 1. , Google (*7> to which muft be his apprehended Preference of them, in confluence of his fup- pofed Gratitude, in the Distribution of his Favours ? Can it be pretended ilia the Laws of Nations in this Inllance prohibit what the Laws of Nature pofitively com- mand ? We admit we could not, under Colour of a Treaty with him, juftify a Con- duit inconfiftent with the Treaties fubfiiling between your Majefty and the States General : But is a Treaty, entitling him to our Affiftmce, in a Cafe fo circumftan- ced, any way inconfiftcnt with thofe Treaties? or, after having truly ftated the, Fafts, and the Motives and Objects of all Parties, k it imputable, as an Inconfif- tency to us, that we defend the Nabob Jaffeir Aly Khan againfl an unjuft Attack from the Dutch Company, after having infifted, as Admiral Watfon undoubtedly did, that they ought to lend no Afliftance to the Nabob Soucaja Douia againft our Attack on him, which they allow to have beenjuft? It is remarkable, that in the Letter they cite of Admiral Watfbn, after telling the Government of Chinfura, what was the Object of the Armament be conducted, he infills on (be Juftict of tbt Defign, as the Reafon why be perfuades hitnfelf he has no Oppofition to apprehend from them or any other European Nation. It may be likewife worth obferving, that we do not even now pretend to trace the Defign of the Dutch Armament further than to the Dutch Company's Gorernment of Batavia; whereas in the Cafe of the Englifh Armament, conducted by the King's Officers, and compofed of the King's as well as Company's Troops, the Government of Chinfura had clear Proof of its being a national Meafure. Does it follow then, that becaufe an Afliftance in the Cafe laft mentioned would have been, as it certainly would, a Breach of the Treaties be- tween the Republick and the Crown of Great-Britain, it muft be fo in the other Cafe, under Circumftances fo totally different ? We prefume to think the contrary follows, and that the fame Regard iff Treaties and to Juilice, which forbad the Dutch Company to aflift Souraja Doula, required from us the Afliftance we lent to Jaffeir Aly Khan ; not that we bad really concluded a Treaty, " intitling him to " expect Succours from us againft thofe who had undertaken or mould undertake " any Hostilities againft him, and even againft all oihets who, on what Account ** fbever, mould refufe what he required of them, how unjuft, ill grounded, or " even tyrannical the Demand might be," which in the Report is afferted to be the Subftance of the Treaty as explained by Colonel Clive. That fuch a Treaty fhould have been concluded, or that Colonel Clive fhould i'a reprefent it, are equally incredible; and fpeaking from our Advices as to the former, and having his Authority for the latter, we prefume 10 'fay, that both Parts of the Affertion are abfolutely falfc : On the contrary, we rely on the Injuftice of the appre- hended Attack) as the Ground on which he claimed and had Reafon to expect our Affiftance. Mav yGoogle ' ( *8 ) May our'Servants then in the Cafe of an unjuft Attack defend one Ally againft another without Infraction of the Treaties with either ? Had the Ally to be defend- ed been an European, and this a Queflion between our Sovereigns, there would have been no Doubt of it.-]- But the Gentlemen fcem to fuppofe his being an Indian varies the Cafe, they fpeak of the Natives of the Country throughout, as if they were hardly Creatures of the fame Species and actually feem to doubt whether a • Treaty, with what they call a Country Power, is any way obligatory on Europeans, in Cafes by which other Europeans may be affected. After declaring our Aflent to the Maxim, that no fuch Treaty will juftify the Servants of either Company io any offenfive hoftilc Act, in Violation of the Treaties between our Sovereigns, not becaufe Treaties with Indians are not to be executed with good Faith and to their full Extent, but becaufe Treaties, requiring any Thing incompatible wirh thofeof our Sovereigns are fuch as, under the Powers delegated to us by our refpective Charters, we are not warranted to make, and therefore if inadvertently made are really void, for want of Authority in the contracting Parties, we beg leave to add, that we always + To affift others whom we fee onjuftly attacked, as far as we can do it with Safety, is a Precept of the Law of Nature, which all Writers on the Law of Nations admit to be likewifc a Precept of that Law ; whether with Grotius the Law of Nation* is confidered as diflinct from the Law of Nature, or with Hoboes and Puftendorf as the fame Law receiving this or that Name from its Application to the Cafe of Individuals or Communities. Where the Injured are our Friends or Allies, this is a Duty of Hill higher Obligation. Qui #»« rtptltit injuriam afotio,fipottft, tarn tfi im -vitia quam Hit quifaeii, fays St, Anibrofe as cited by Grotius ; andin the Opinion of that great Lawyer, a Treaty of Alliance with a Prince from whom an unjuA Attack proceed*, though it even contains an Engagement to affift him, will not excufe the nor performance of this Duty, much Ms itititle him to Affiilance in fuch Attacks: foSitnn untax talis cd Bella qtibm jufia Can/a nan fulfil porrigi baud puff* dtximui alibi — Drfcudeidm aulcm ferius tjl rtiatx centra alium itidtttfardcratum mfi priori fadtrt aliquidffetialtiti cowvtmtrit. GkoT. hjuri B.&P.l .2. f.aj. frc .4. — To the famePurpofe another eminent Dutch Lawyer of our o wn Times, By nkn-ihoek, in hi* Quxftiotui Jurit Public/, fays, Si Juo mbifardiratifi invitim aggrtdiantur tx fadtrt fatiifariam ti qui juftam cau/am habit, for, fays he, a Treaty requiring Afliftance in War fuppofes, though it does not exprels, the War, on the Part of the Ally who claims the Benefit of the Treaty, not to have arifen tjm culpa ami ixjnria. Quamvh auiim pa lata tttti imprimatur ftmptr tamttt inttlligitur bar tacita PecttrumExttftU, quam tt Orttimi frabottit utt file rfft qui dijintiaut. Bynjc. /. 1. e. 9. It may be obrerved, that Grotius qualifies his Pofition with the Words wifi priert fadtrt aliqwid fpttialiui twmentrii \ which Bynkerfhoek very jadiciouily omits : for it is not to be fuppofed that any Princes would be fo profligate as to contract in Terms to withold Afliftance from whomsoever either of the con trading Parties Ihould caufelefs-ly and unjuftly attack j and, on the fame Principle on which a Treaty requiring generally Affiftance in War is to be confined with an Exception of thofe Wars wherein it would be unjult to affift, a Treaty requiring a general For- bearance of Afliftance is to be undcrtlood as if thofe Cafes in which [hat Forbearance would be unjuft had been exprefsK/ excepted. Although therefore there Ihould be found among fuch of the many Treaties between Great Britain and the United Provinces as extend to India {for feme of them, and particularly that of Bred*., to which they now appeal, they have formerly contended do not) loofe Expreffioru, importing that the Subjects of either State were not to counfel or aid the Enemies of the other, this could not redraw the Company's Servants from aflilling, or engaging to affift, the Nabob againft an unjuft Attack. That the Dutch Company either do not think themfelves retrained in this Article, or if they do, dif- rcgard the Reftraint, appears moll evidently in the general Tenor of their Conduct : a ftriking Initance of which, to go no further, may be found in what is herein after mentioned of their Alliance with the King of Bantam, and its Confequences. have yGoogle (»9) baveconGdered the Treaties we are authorized to make (and we hive never know- ingly ratified any other) in common with all our other Contracts, as equally obliga- tory on us, whether, the Parties we contract with, or thofe with whom we may have to do, in coafequenee of our Contracts, are Europeans or Afiaticks; apprehending, as we do, that the Principles of Jufticc, requiring a due Observance of Treaties and .a due Performance of Contracts, have better Foundations than in any Circumftances of Time or Place. The Gentlemen Directors of the Dutch Company, whofe Opinions feem to vary with their Interefli, appear on this Occafion to infift, that regarding the Ties of Peace and Friendfhip fubfifting between the Crown of Great- Britain and the Re- pubiick, the Subjects of either could in no Cafe affitt the Nabob agiinft thofe uf the other, but that every fuch AQiftance, independent of all Circumftances, and without Regard to thcQueftion, whether the Attack on him were right or wrong, is neccfiarily a Breach of thofe Ties) forgetting perhaps, or fuppofing us to have for- gotten, that the very reveife of this Propofition has been on other Occafions main- tained by them. The Difference is fo ftriking, that having taken notice of what the Sentiments of the Dutch Company now are, we hope to be excufed a fhort Di- greffion to fliew what they have been. Whim the Englifh Company complained, not that an Attack of theirs had been repelled by the Servants of the Dutch Company, but that they had, without any Provocation, taken Poffcflion of our Settlements, and actually expelled our Servants from the Dominions of the King of Bantam, the Anfwer was, that they did this in, the Character of Auxiliaries to the Sovereign of the Country. It was a Matter in difputc between the two Companies, whether the Son who made good his Pre- tentions by their Affiftance, or the Father, whofe Claim (at leaft the Son was made to believe fo) had been favoured by the Englilh, was the Sovereign. The Fate of Arms deciding this Q^eftion in favour ot the Son, it was alledged, that the Servants of ihe Dutch Company thinking this a good Opportunity to promote their Schemes, with a View to which they had, as was faid, raifed the Quarrel be- tween the Father and Son, borrow'd the Name of the latter, as a Colour, to extir- pate, which they actually did, a rival Settlement, fn vain did the Englifh Company remonftrate, that this was an Abufe of whatever Treaty of Alliance there might be between the Prince of Bantam and the Dutch Company, which could never au- thorise an Act fo apparently unwarrantable between two Nations at Peace. In vain did they folicit even a Reftitution of that impoiunt Settlement, which has never been reftored to this Day. They anfwered, and we cite it from a Paper prefemed by the Dutch, Inftructors on behalf of that Company to the Comraiflioners to I whom yGoogle ( 30) whom the Difpute was referred,* a Copy of which is now before us, " That tho " Government of Batavia was obliged to maintain and protect the King of Bantam " againft all his Enemies, having really and effectually engaged fo 10 do, that they " could not break their Word and falfify their Faith to accommodate the Englilh *■ Company in Bantam, that this would be unjuft and by confequence morally im- " poflible, as all Things are which cannot be compafled with Juftice and publiclc " Faith, which there is as much Obligation to keep with a Indian Prince, as there " is with the moft confiderable and moll potent. King of the whole Earth.'* t Agaih, in anfwer to a Remark, which their Opinion X>f the Conductofthe Dutch in that Inftance drew from the.Englilh Company, that nothing was more cafy than to mike War between any other Princes and their Neighbours, or their Sons or Brothers, and then take a Side on Condition to exclude the Englilh and all other Europeans : they fay, " That no Man in his Senfes can doubt but that, ac- " cording to the Law of Nations, it is lawful for any Europeans to make Treaties •• and Alliances with Indian Princes, which make a very confiderable Part of Man- " kind, and that the Abufe which may be made of this is no more able to take " away the Liberty than the evil Ule which European Princes may make, and do *' very often, of their Alliances, can deprive them of the Right of making them "when they think fit." 4- And throughout, in juftifying the Conduct of their Servants in the various Stages of that Buiinefs, they confider it as fufficient to lhew, that what they did was xobat their Alliance required of than. They infer in one Inftance, from the Prefence of one of the Prince's Servants, when the Dutch Sol- diers fhut up an Englilh Warehoufe, " that the Act was done by publick Authority* " that is to fay, by that of the Prince." § In another, where they are charged with pulling down the Galleries and damming up the Windows of the Englilh Fac- tory, " that it was done by the King's Authority." || And in another Place they lay exprefsly, " that, tho' the King's Orders were put in execution by Dutch Soldiers, it " makes nothing againft the Hollanders, who, let the Cafe be bow it would, were not " refponfible for the King's Orders." \ There remains but one Objection more to the Order under which our Servants, acted in oppofing the Entrance of the Dutch Armament, or to their acting in obe- dience to it, which is, that they dictated U. This is afferted in the Report with- out a Shadow of Proof, and it has been obferved, that the Direclore's Letter, in which this Sufpicion • was firft broached, fixes a Time, a Month or two after the Order had iffued. The conftant Accefs to the Nabob which the Dutch had, not • The Papers relative to this Tranfaflion were collected and publifhed under the Title of An Impartial Yi«ditati»n o/lkt Englijh Soft India Company, &c. printed in London, 1688. i VMhalun, P.gcs 44, 45. + Ibid. 45. j Ibid. 67. I Hid. 75. % Ibid. 79. only yGoogle ( 3' ) only by the Permiffion, but in one Inftance, as we have feen, by the Procurement of the Englffti, gave them Opportunities of knowing, as well from his Difcourfe as from his Refcntment, that this Sufpicion was groundlefs. How different in this In- ftance, as well as the former, was the Conduct of our Servants from that of the Dutch in the Affair of Bantam, when the Englifh Company urged that the King of Bantam was dependent on the Dutch, and that the pretended Orders from him, under which they attempted to Oielter the Violences they had committed, were dictated by themfelves, and urged as Circumftances to evidence this, that the King had never expreffed any Difpleafbre againfr. the Englifh, but on the contrary, even at the Time, defired ro calk with an Englifh Officer, which the Dutch would noc allow him. They admit the Fait, and deny it fumifbes any Inference of his De- pendence, " for though, fay they, the Dutch Chief Ihould have diffuaded the King ** of Bantam from his Defign of feeing an unknown Perfon, for fear that in the Con- " dition wherein he was, encom pafted by his Enemies, there Ihould be Snares laid for " him into which he might fall, could this (hew the lead Slavery ? The moft power- **■ ful Princes fometimw fuffer themfefves to be governed by the wholefome Counfela " of their Minifters, and with much more Reafon ought thofe of their Allies to be a " wholefome Conftraint upon them."* We however, as we cannot adopt the Doctrine, truft we (hall never be milled by the Example, to countenance much lefs employ our Servants to injligate or even ajftft an Indian Ally in any unjuft or oppreffive Undertaking, whatever Advantage might refu! t to the Company from the Succefs of fuch Undertakings, afTcnting thoroughly to the Obfervation we have cited, that " whatever is not to be compafled with *' Tuft ice and publick Faith, is morally impoflible." Thus have we endeavoured to fbew, and we hope to your Majefty*s Satisfaction, that thofe Acts of our Servants, which the Dutch Company urge as Aggreflions on our Part, in Juftification of the Hoftilities committed on theirs, can in no Light be fo confidered; but on the contrary were merely defenfivc Precautions, which, had they been unneceffiry or unjuftifiable, would not have juftified thofe Hoftilities, but were however in Truth both jjftifiable and neceffary. We will now enquire whether the Dutch Company's Complaints of the Conduct of our Servants, after they were driven to the unhappy Neceffity of returning the Hoftilities they were treated with, are better founded than their Imputation of thofe Hoftilities to our Aggrcffion, • Vindtielien, Page 66. , Google <3»> After the violent Counfds at Chinfura, followed by the hoflile Seizure of our Ships on the 14th of November, it was natural for the Government of Calcutta to conclude as they did, that the Report of a Rupture between his Majefty and their High Mightineffcs the States General in Europe was true, or the Dutch in India would not have proceeded to fuch Length*. This Report, though thus confirmed fince it happily proved falfe, would have been, as u obferved, of no Weight to juftify a Commentemtnt of Hoftilities -, but we apprehend it has Weight, if it were wanted, to juftify the Government of Calcutta, in avowing, as they did, that in Con- fequence of thefe Proceedings tnd the Belief (hey produced of a War in Europe, (hey would from that Day a& as Principal*. This however, without recurring to Reports which did not prove true, is abundantly jultified by the Hoftilities actually committed agiinft them, and the (till further Attacks, with which they were then threatened, and which we hive before proved to have been really intended. Thus conftrained tn tiuft their Safety to the Fortune of their Arms, the Abilities of our Officers, feconded by the Spirit and Relolution of our Troops, encouraged And favour'd by the Juftice of their Caufe, procured them a compleat Naval Victory, followed by two others on Shore, the laft decifive j Events which the Ine- quality of Numbers, had it not been com pen fated by other Confederations, afforded very little Rcafun to hope. This Superiority the Gentlemen Directors affect to difput*. We ai a Company, aflbciated for Purpofes of Trade, are very little am- bitious of Military Wreaths : On the contrary, we have Reafon to be forty that our Servants have ever had Opportunities to gather them. But the Juftice we owe to their Merit of this Kind, which difcovered itfelf on that Occafion, will excufe from us a (ingle Obfervation, in Anfwer to what the Dutch Company alledge on that Head, and this is, that the Number of Prifoners, in the Cafe of the Naval Engage- ment, nearly doubled thar, which the Gentlemen reprefent as the whole Number at the Beginning of the Action. In Confequence of thefe fignal Succeffes, the Government of Calcutta obtained for themfelves and the Country that Safety, which, through I tie whole CouHe of thefe TraofJction% had been their ftngle Oojeft. Chinfura, which muft have fur- rendered on the firft Summons, misfit, and, had theie been the icaft of a vindictive Spirit in the Victors, would, no* have felt, what they had fo much Ueafon to believe, Calcutta was drfttned to lee I. If the Englilb had any -Defigns, to the Pie - jticUcr of the Dutch Trade, they had now an Opportunity of ciufliirg it for ever. The ro(al Dcflruction of their Settlements in Bengal might have been added to the Mifchieft, which the Authors of thofe ra!h and hoflile Counfels have to anfwer for to iheir Principals. The unwarrantable Attacks, which the Englifh had fuccefsfully fuftained and repelled, L*d fo naturally to this Return, that no other was expected. That yGoogle (33) That this would have been the Fate of the Englifh, had the Arms of the Dutch Company prevailed, was the general Opinion throughout India, founded on what had been done on other Occafions, and on repeated Declarations of what was intended to be done on this. In fo doing, the Government of Calcutta might have pleaded the Example fet them, in the Treatment of their Countrymen at Bantam, Micafiar, and many other Parts of India, where the Dutch Company's Troops had, in Come Inftances, under their own Colours, and in others, in the Character of Auxiliaries t« the Sovereign! of the Country, effectually and for ever banifhed the Englifli Settlers, Evitr this was not neeeffary. Nothing more was requifite on the Part of the Bnglifh, than to look on and fee the Bufinefi done by others, who were ready and dcGrous to do it, and even not without great Difficulty retrained. The Nabob before the Engagement, on our Complaints of his double Dealing, founded on the Reprcfentations of the Government of Chtnfura of what had palled between him and them, irritated or appearing to be fo, by their determined Refolu- tion, which could now be concealed no longer, to bring up their Troops in defiance of his repeated Orders, and their own repeated and folemn Protnifes of Obedience i and (till more at their AfTertion that thofe Troops had been fent for with his Con- tent, to aflift him againft the Englifh, which he constantly denied, refumed his Intention to drive them out of the Country, and declared to the Englifh Agent at his Court his Refolution fo to do, as will appear by a Letter we (hall fubjoin.* For this Purpofe an Army was actually approaching under the Command of the Cbuta Nabob his Son, whole DifpoGtion towards the Dutch Factory was ftill lefa favourable, as may be collected from a Letter of his we (hall likewife fubjoin. + Unoer theft Circumftanees the Englifh, equally intrepid in the Purfuit of Victory, and moderate in the Ufe of it, left all Refentment and Atiimofity in the Field of Battle, forgot all Provocations to a different Conduct, difregarded all Examples ancient and modem, by which fuch a Conduct might have been defended, and inftandy rraflumed the Character of Friends and Protectors of thofe who had To recently and caufelefsly fought their Deftruction. Their Object now was fuch a Plan of Pacification as was moll likely to reftore Things, as far as might be, to the State they were in before the Commencement of thofe Disturbances, and fo to continue them. With this View they required nothing more for themfelves than an Acknowledgment of the Aggreflkm, and a Fromife of Compenfation for the Damage, nothing being more • Ftdi Appendix, No. is, A. + No- la. B. K obvioufly yGoogle (34) ©bviouffy juft, than that fhis ihoutd fell oh tftofe who 1 Rid ottaTidne'd if. Th*fe Points obtained, they agreed on a reciprocal fciftotatton- of the ShifiS and Kffcfta, Wtd left to the Dutch Company the full and peaceable EnjoymCrit oF thtfr Trad*, and every Privilege they could juftly claim, Without ihfiftihg on any Advantage to ul or themfelves, though they juftly might, in return for the Dangers to whfeft crtit Settlements and Servants had been expoftd, and the Interrupt ions of Our Trad* irt Gonfequence of thefe Commotions. With reiptfft tti the Nab6b, they were ltd fooher defired to interpofe to foften his Refentme'nt than they undertook to do foj and irt order to do it effectually. Governor Clive (who had once before diverted hwtl front his Defign of expelling them) came purpofely from Calcutta to the French Garden?, tochrck ihelmpe.uofity of the young Nabob by his Prefehce, arid to employ his Influence in their Favour. Under that Influence' a Treaty was agreed Oft between them, by which the Dutch promiled to feiid back the Troops they had introduced, not tto- make War or any hoft ile Preparations in Bengal for t he future, nor to entertain more than raj European Soldiers irt their Factories irt that Country, to carry oh theif Trade peaceably and on the fame footing as formerly, and in cafe of Hindrance to apply to theSubah forthencceflafy ftedrefs. Thefe Regulations being fettled arid igVefci to, the Prifoners were alt repeated, the youhg Nabob drgtt ofF hi* FbfcfcS, the Peaci of the Country, lopreferve which the EnglilH had taken up Arfhs, being fe-enttblilh^ thfy lay them down again, content without any Other fruit of their Victory, arid alt 'J lungs went on in their old Channel. We do hbt think it material to examine whether the Pftiideitt fthd Council of Calcutta were right or wrong, in confidering the Dutch Prifoners, not as their Pri- fpners, but as Prifoners of the Waboh, flnce they" #ere hot detained a Moment otu that Account, their Treaty with the Nabob being figrWd before the other was ratified* immediately on which they were rfleafed. It is to be ©bffer'ved however, that* oil- becoming Principals, the Government of Calcutta did not neceffarily ceafe to be hkewife Auxiliaries, ana", that in the decifive Action oh the Plains of fitdwrav the Phoufdar of Houghly was pittfcht, tfith a finall Party of the Nabob's Cavalry undwt his Command. The Gentlemen Director* of the Dutch Company ho* complain of thefe Trea- ties as injurious to them, and as extorted from them. If by extorted, they mean the Terms are filth as they would not, had the Fate of Arms been different, hive fub* mitted to, we do indeed believe It. But if they would b% underflow! to metn, that the requiring their Alfent to fuch a Treaty was, on tn* Part of the VtagTS, an unjuffi Advantage of their Viflory •, this we db not only deny, but infill on the Humanity*, lenity and Moderation, which appear in both thofe Treaties, as an irrefragable Proof,, if there were no other, that nothing hofttfe or injurious to the Ttade or Privileges of tht yGoogle (35) iho Duttb Ctfm|rtfiy was et*r intended or defired by the Government of Calcutta, AnCe if toy Thing of th« Tort hid t«r been propofod, it it not within the Compafs #f Accidents io prefem them with a fairer Opportunity to accomplilh it. So fat from pro filing by this Opportunity* their own Treaty with the Dutch was confined to the Termination of this particular Difpute, and in that between the Dutch and the Naoob (with which the Government of Calcutta had nothing to do but as Mediators, and earneftly requefted by the Dutch to be fo) there is not an Article which his any Other Tendency than to reAore and eflablifli the Peace of the Country, and that juft Subordination and Subraiflion to the Government of it, which is due from all who live under its Protection, without the leaft Violation or Diminution of any one Right or Privilege, Ths only Article that can for a Moment be queftioned is, that which limits the Number of European Troops. Now, if we are not millaken in the Pofition we maintain, that the Dutch had ho Right to bring atr? Troops into Bengal, without the Fermifllon, or againft the Will of the Sovereign of the Country, then this, inftead •f a Reftriftion, is abfolutely a Grant of a ftanding Permiflion to bring fo many. But if it is to be confidered as a ReftricYion, it is (till no Hardlhip, Once they are only reftrairted to that which was underlined to be, and we believe was in Fad, about thFir ufunl Numbcr k or, whether fo or nor, is fully equal to all the Porpofes which the Dutch Company, who acknowledge that they have no other Right than what ikey hold from the Sovereign of the Country, and do not claim to be independent ef him, cad decently avow. I* this Treaty, juft and mild as thft Terms of it are, was to be eluded, merely tWcauleit was brought about, by the Defeat of an Attempt to perpetrate the very Mifthiefs, which it is intended to prevent in future, we fear few Treaties of Peace would bifid ; fince we believe it wilt not be eafy to find many, which both Parties would have acquiefced in before the War, or without a Reft rift ion of iome Claim, or A Provifion again ft (btne Attempt, that had been, or was likely to be made by one of the Parties or both. Such is the Cale of the prefent Treaty, wherein the Nabob's Right to govern, and the Right of the Dutch Company to trade, are *eciprocjl!y recognised, and all Pretences to difturb cither arc given up on both fides, with prudent Pravifions to prevent a Breach of it. Wfi will now conRder the Complaints which the Dutch Company, after conclu- ding what they had to fay on the Subject of the Charge again!! their Servants, in the Memorial cf the 14th of Auguft, 1 -60, have thought tit to fuperadd and make a Part of their Report. The Object of theft Complaints is Reparation of fuppofed Injuries occafpined by us, or ouf Servants, to the Dutch Company, and to private Iftrtbns dependent on it. Under yGoogle (3« ) Under the firit Head they introduce the Farm, which the Nabob Jaffeir My Khan, in April, 1758, thought good to grant to us, of an exclufive Trade in the Article of Saltpetre, under an annual Rent of 45000 Rupees, and a Delivery of 30000 Mauods of Petre at prime Colt. The Acceptance of this Grant by our Ser- vants they complain of at injurious to them, and as inconfiftent with that free Trade, to which they claim a Right under the Mogul's Phirmaunds. In fupport of this Meafure we might obferve, that thofe Phirmaunds, general at they are, are not to be conitrued univerfal, but to be understood with this Limita- tion, that they do not operate to the Piejudiceof any fubfifting Right or Ufage, much lefs of fuch Rights as could not be abolilhed without a confiderable Diminu- tion of the Publick Revenues. Whatever Article of Trade therefore has been or- dinarily monopolized and granted in farm, it might be contended, may (till be fo enjoyed and granted without Infringement of thofe Phirmaunds: The Delign of which was to admit European Traders to the fame Freedom of trading with the Mogul's own Subjects, and furely not to a better. Now it is molt certain, that this Trade of Saltpetre, though we do not find it was ever before granted in farm to Europeans, has been commonly fo granted to Merchants of the Country, and particularly by Soiuaja Doula and his Succeflor, to the Merchant they name, and whom we have before had occafion to mention, Coja Wazeed, under the fame Rent. The Difcontinuanceof the Grant to this Man in our Favour, difpofed him to act the Part we have mentioned, and was the Source of that Enmity, which, had his Endeavours fucceeded, mutt have been fatal to us.— -From him our Servants, and thofe of the Dutch Company likewife, were accuftomed to purchafe the Saltpetre they fent to Europe, and this, though the Dutch Company now reprefent it as an Act of Oppreflion, was then fubmitted to, for any Thing our Advices mention to the contrary, without Complaint. Is it materia! then to them, if this Trade is farmed, whether we or a Merchant of the Country are the Farmer? furely nor j unlefs our Servants had made a more prejudicial Ufe of it, which is fo far from being the Cafe, that we learn from our Advices the Demands of the Servants of the Dutch Company have been conftantly and regularly fupplied, as far as the Quantity pro- duced, with a reafonable Attention to our own Occafions, would enable us to fupply them, and this at a much lefs Price than the Servants of the Dutch Compir.y had been accuftomed to charge their Principals before the Farm was in our Hands. ■ Wi might further fupport this Meafure by the Example of the Dutch Company, who, under colour of Grants of this Sort, exclude us at this Hour, and have long done fo, from many valuable Articles of Commerce in various Parts of India, and have formerly driven our Sfrvants from Settlements we were once in pofleflion of, the Contiguity of which led, them to apprehend a Trade contrary to the Tenor of thofe yGoogle <*7) thofe Grants, and now actually difputc our Right of navigating Sen of an immcnfe Extent, for no other Reafon than that they adjoin to Countries in which (though foe the moft part to themfelves imperfectly known, or rather altogether unexplored) they pretend to have acquired the fole and exdufive Right of trading. Wi might likewife avail ourfelves of the Arguments by which the Dutch Com> pany have, at different Times, endeavoured to defend themfelves in making fuch Contracts, and might urge from the fecond Paper prefented by the Dutch Inftruftor* to the Commifiionejs in the Difpute before- mentioned, the Anfwer then made te the Complaints of the Englifh Company on this Subject : " As to the Complains, •* fay they, which the Englifh Deputies have made throughout their whole Reply, •' in relation to the Dutch exclofive Contracts with Indian Princes, the Dutch Com- ** pany will be very well able to juftify in Time and Place that which it has always ** maintained, and which it does (till maintain concerning the Right of the faid ■■ Contracts." * Nay, we might go much further Mill, and infill on that Right in the Nabob t9 grant, which the Servants of the Dutch Company admitted, when they defired him to exercife it, and on that Right in us to accept, which they likewife admitted, unlefs the Cafe of the Englifh and Dutch Companies in this Inftance can be diftinguilhed; when they defired him to grant it to them. We fhould not do this Argument Juftice, if we only flated, that the Dutch defired of him a Grant of the Saltpetre Trade, which had, as we have feen, been before enjoyed in farm. The Fact is, that they actually extended their Reqiieft to the Trade of Ophium, which had never been fo granted or enjoyed. A Grant of thofe two Articles of Trade they foliated, not only from Souraja Doula, of which we knew nothing till difclofed by their Attempt to explain it away in the Report -, but, in the Month of Auguft, 1 757, from Jaffeir Aly Khan. The Truth of this the Dutch Directors indeed difpute, and fay, " that their Servants have fhewn it to be falle, by producing the Requeft itfelf, " which tended only to reprcfent to the Nabob the Prejudice which his Grant to 11 Coja Wazeed occafioned to the Privileges of the (Dutch) Company, to obtain ** the Liberty of purchafing Saltpetre at the firfl hand, according to ancient Cuf- " torn, and to prevent this Farm from falling into the Hands of the Moors only, *' and deprive them of the Power of putting what Price they pleafed on - this Com> " modiry to the European Nations, without a Tingle Word in the faid Requefh, " from whence it could be inferred, that the Dutch Servants fought to appropriate " to themfelves the Saltpetre Trade in exclufion of the Englifh." The Gentlemen Have thought fit to give this Account of the Contents of their Petition: We will ,* Viaduatitm, Page io3. i- fubjoin Digitized by CiOOQ Ie (3« ) fubjoin a Tranflarion of it as tranfmttted by our Servants;* from, thence it will appear, that though the Dutch did not in Terms defire an cxclufive Grant, they ckfired a Preference in the Purebafe of thcfe Commodities, averring that they were before inritlcd to a Preference, which was abfolutely falfe. As between the Dutch Company and the Nabob, a Preference in the Purchafe would have been more bene- ficial for them than the fole Right of purchaling, fince the former would not have been fubjeft to the Rent which the Nabob referred on his Grant of the latter. As between them and us, whether they had an exclufive Right of purchafmg, or ■whether their Demands were to be fupplied before we could begin to purchafe, fcems to be a Diftinftion without a Difference ; fince under either Title, they might, whenever they thought fit, engrofs the whole Produce of the Country. The Nabob then naturally imagined there could be no Injuftice in refpeet of the Dutch in grant* ing this Privilege to the Englifh Company, to whom. he was greatly obliged, rather than to the Dutch Company, who had no fuch Claim to bis Favour. Such however was the Moderation of our Servants, that they accepted only his Grant of the Salt- petre Trade, knowing that a Grant of Ophium would have diftreffed the Dutch Trade, and perhaps have totally ruined it ; a Confederation which, as the Confc- quences to the Englifh Company of a Grant to the Dutch would have been equally fatal, mould have reftrained the Servants of the Dutch Company from foliciting it, The Saltpetre Grant, the Circum (lances we have hinted at led our Servants to think they might juftifiably accept : and, as the Quantity made in the Country was, in confequence of the frequent Interruptions of the public Peace, diminifhed ; as the Occafion for this Commodity in their Mother Country, by. the extenfive Wars *he was engaged in, was exceedingly increafed •, and, as we by- the Terms of our Charter are bound to fuppty the Demands of Government by an annual Importa- tion of Five Hundred Tons, a Quantity they found it not eafy, under the then Ci r- cumlt ances of the Country, to procure -, the Nabob's Favour in this Inftance was on. all thcfe Accounts very acceptable. We however, who aim at being confident, and who have alway* upon juft and 1 /olid Grounds, as we apprehend, difputed the Dutch Claim of Right to- make exclu- Jfive Contracts, and who had rather fet a good Example than follow a bad one, hoping that the Peace of that Country is now thoroughly fettled, and that in confequence there will be as ufual enough of this Commodity to fupply the De- mands of both Companies, confent Indies, on his Oath voluntarily depofeth, that in his Return from China in the Year 1759, he touched at Batavia in the Month of Auguft of that Year, but did not go on Shore % that he learnt from thofe who came on board to him that a Fleet had (ailed from thence fome Time before' with foitr hundred European Soldiers and fix hundred Buggucfe, which were to bt reinforced by the way (and, as it was laid, at Ceylon) with five hundred Europeans more, and proceed to Bengal : and that his fecond Mate Mi 1 . Jeffetyjackfon (no* in the EafV Indies) Having occafion to go on Shore, told this Deponent at hit Return that he heard it publickly talked of in Batavia, that the faid Armament was intended agaittft the Englifb Company** Settlements in Bengal s that from the Strength of it they did not doubt of Succefs, and that they fimttd mt leave me Engiifhman alive there. • • London, tbbzoili January, 1761. WlLLIAM WlLSOM. Sworn before m«, JOSEPH HAWKEY. A true Copy *f tht Original now depoftttd in the Eaft- India- Houft, London. Robert James, Secretary. ExtraS of a Letter from Roger Carter, Efo\\ Governor of Bencoolen, to Laurence Sulrvan", Efc dated' Fort! Marlborough, 17/i September, 1759. C THERE is one Circumftance of. our India Affairs that gives me fome Uneafiners, arid' that 1 is', the- Dutch fendrng a* large Force to Bengal, confiding of .1000 Europeans and 1500 Bugguefes \ and they make no fcruple to give our, that, if they fucceed, they will cut every EngHJbman's Throat there. J faithful ExtraS from tht faid Letter, now in the Hands of Mr. Sulivan, Chairman of the Baft- India Company. RoiERT James, Secretary. y Google (54) No. 6. A Tranflal'ton of tbrtt Letters from M. Bifdom, Dire3ore of Chinfura, to the Nabob JaffeirAly Khan. LETTER I. QUR Settlement was eflabliflied here long before the Englifli and other Nations entered this Kingdom, of which we were Eye Witncffcs. - Our Power was then greater, as *ell as our Trade, but now we perceive that both our Power, Intereft and Wealth, are loft, whilft that of other Nations daily increafe.' In this cafe what Recourfe hare we left ? our Difhonour and Shame is almoft inevitable. For this Reafon, and for the Security of our Pofleflions, as well as for the Ser- vice of your Excellency, 1 have fent for Troops into this Country. You are our Mafier end Sovereign, and therefore hope for your Protection, and wait your Orders to bring, our Troops to this Place, God grant that your Riches may daily increafe. LETTER H. AS our Nation has always been encouraged by the Favour of your Excellency* and more particularly from that Time, when having a favourable Regard to our Company's Bufmefs you repeatedly allured our Chief of Cofiimbuzar of your Attachment. Confidering thefe Circumftances I was extremely furprized that your Excellency, during your Refidence at Calcutta, entered into an Agreement that you would ftrengthen the Fort of Mukwa Tanna, in order to prevent the Dutch Troops from coming this way, and alfo gave a Note to the Englilh, directing them tooppofe the coming up of our Army. — All thefe Things confidercd, it feems plain to us that your Excellency did not enter into the Agreement or give this Order from any ill Opinion of us, but it is all to be imputed, to the over-bearing Spirit of the Englifli. But if anyone enters into an Agreement through Force or Diftrefs, and afterwards does not abide by it, he will ftand juftified by the Laws of God and Man ; particu- larly the Governor of a Kingdom, who wiwes for nothing cite but the Good of his Country, and the Profperity of his People. ■ I am therefore In hopes, through your Juftice and Favour, that you will recede from your Agreement and Order : And that we (hall obtain an Order from your Excellency yGoogle (5S) Excellency for the bringing up of our Army ; and alfo that a poficive Order may be given to the Englifh on no Account to molell them, for we Jenifer the faid Army ro this Country in Confcquence of your Dire8ions, The King's Revenues are greatly detrimented and the Country atmofl ruined, and of all this you can only look upon the Englifli as the Cole Caufe. Our Nation formerly brought confiderable Sums' of Money into this Kingdom, and did not carry out any ; and now the Englifh are fo powerful that no Trade can be carried on by u«, for which Reafon no Money now arrives, and the Englifh yearly remit corifiderable Sums: By this means the Revenues of the Country are greatly decreafed, and therefore how will you be able, without great Difficulty, to maintain your Forces ? And when your Enemies come upon you, you will not then be capable of oppofing them.— This time if you will favour the Company they will ever be at your Com- maud, and your prefent Anxiety and Uneafinefs may be removed. — Your Excellency cannot take a better Step ; and I hope you will take this into your favourable and ferious Cunfideration, and return me a proper Anfwer. LETTER III. THE wrathful Letter you wrote to me I have received, and it has given me inexpreffible Uneafinefs. — The Troops were not called here at my own Defire, nor did I imagine they would ever have come to Action, and fully intended to have returned them by the Ships when they failed for Europe. — They were brought here for the Security of the Ships j this I acquainted your Excellency of feveral times : During their Stay in Cimp they molelled no Man, nor had any Difturbances with the Country People; this alfo you are well allured of.— It was never my Intention they Jhould fight, but the Englifh hoiiled Moors Colours and immediately came down upon them, and a Battle enfued. — Your Excellency Is the Magiftrate of Juflice, and therefore I defire you will interfere. — I was defirous that feme Advantage fliould arife to the Riots * from the Sale of the Goods, when they were brought up; and intended to have laden on board the Ships the Saltpetre and other Goods that were bought, and with the People that came here difpatched them to Europe \ but the Englifh would not permit the Boats to pjfs. — I am willing to alf up to our Agreement* and I hope your Excellency will adhere to it alfo ; In this we entirely depend on your Favour. The Company have for a long Time carried on Trade here, and therefore earneftly defire you will continue to them your Favour and Protection, as we are not able of ourfelves to rout out our Enemies. A trui Copy tf a Tranflatton of thi fald Letters tranfmittid frtm Bengal, end now dtpofited in the Eaft- India- Haufty London, Robert James, Secretary.- • Fanners or Under-Tenants of the Country. , Google ordre tot voort* Fort Makwatanna, op- komen, Welgeleegen Zig boovcn de Noord Punt van dat fort pofteeren, de Elifabeth Dorothea vlak voor de Cour- tine, en Uliffengeneven benede de Zuyd Punt, wclke Scheepen dc Baiteryen vant* fort Sullen befchieten, en is het mogelyk dezelve vernielen, terwy] de Scheepen Bleyfwyk en d* Princes van Orange de benede Wal met hun Cannon Zullen fchoon houden, en de Wereld in de bogt gepoftcert blyven, alles volgens t' plan hier van gemaakc, en hen tcr hand te Stellen benccvens een Extract dezer Refolutie. Gt-ExtrabetrdJccordtert. Data ut Supra. J. M. Bos j. D. f. D. Bary, Scbriba. up in the faid Order before the Fort Mackwatanna, the Welgeleegen porting herfelf above the North Point of the faid Fort, the Elizabeth Dorothea direct be- fore the Curtain, and the Uliffengcn juft below the South Point, which Ship fliall cannonade the Batteries of the Fort, and if poffible demolifli the fame, whilft the Ships Blcyfwick and Princefs of Orange, with their Cannon, (hall keep clear the Shore below, and the World remain polled in the fame Place ; all according to the Plan made hereof, which together with an Extract hereof ftull be delivered. The ExlraB agrees. Dated at abevt. J. M. Boss, D. f. D. Bary, Scribm. A trut Cipj tftht Original ww dtptjitti in the Ea/I-Jnilia-Hnfi f Ltndan. K0BIKT Jamij, Stcrrterf. yGooglc (68 ) No, 1 1. ARTICLES prtfenttd to the Nabob by the Dutch Company's Vaquuk I. "13 Y our Phirmaund we ore entitled to a Preference in buying all Sorts of Goods from the Merchants : We dtfire we may have the Preference in buying StU- peire and Opbiutn of the Merchants, and that the Saltpetre may not be eogroQcd by any one. That we may not meet with any Obftruction from your Excellency io the buying of Ophium, or any other Affairs; and that there may not be more ex- acted from us than formerly : And that Order* be feot to the Subaha, Naibs and other Officers of the Government, not to exact any thing from us on the Trade of Ophium, or any other Bufinofe, on Pretence of Naazarranna, or any other Pretext whatever, as has been praftifed this Year, by taking from us 15000 Rupees on thai Account. II. Wt beg you will grant us a Sunnud, eftablifhing the Privilege of our Phirmaund. III. That what is yearly takes from us as a Piibnfli it Patna be pardoned. IV. That you will order that, the Silver of the Dutch Company may be coined into Siccas at Chinchura, or that they may have a feparate Mint at Muxadavad for coin- ing only the Company's Silver, and that no one elfe have Power to coin there, or exaft any thing from us. V. That you will order the Tankfaul People to pay us the 4000 Rupees they owe us. VI. That the King's Denn and other Officers (hall not obftruct our fending Bullion to P«mi at ufual, that we may continue to trade there on the footing of the Phir- maund, and in the fame Manner as in the Time of former Subahs, and that nothing be taken from us on any Account whatever. y Google (*9> VII. That the PhoufHm, Zemindars, Jannadars, &V, (hall not moled us it the Chowkey Gates, nor by Injuries and Oppreffions extort our Goods from us, as at preient j and that we have free Paffagc for our Goods, going or coming, by Land or by Water, on our .paying the cuftomary Meer Burry Duties, VIII. That if any great Affairs happen, the Directore or Captain of Coffimbuzar Fac- tory may bare Liberty to petition themfelvcs in the Prefence, that Vtqueels and •then, the Mifchief-makers of the Durbar, may not have an Opportunity of mifre- prefenting our Affairs. IX. Ir you will grant us an Order we will fortify our Factory, that io future no one may oppress us, as the Englrfh have at this Time done. Go d forbid it, and that we may be able to defend ourfelves when attacked. As Chinchura is a very final! Place, and inefficient for building a new Factory, we bcXeech you to grant us Banqua Buzar, formerly belonging to the Alemans. XI. Thb five Laaks that were taken from us laft Tear, for the Expence of the Troops and Durbar Charges, we beg you will return. Ir your Excellency will vouchfafc to grant our Petition, and free us from the Oppreffions on our Trade, our Matters will cany on their Commerce with Satif- fadwn and Confidence. A tnt* Ctfi »f a C*pf mtrml mmg .ib* BtKgal Cmjuliativu, tranfmttti frm thtntt, and' Mtw depfita in tin Eafl* India-Hnft, Undtn. RoaxaT James, Sttrttary, T y Google (70) No. 12, A Extraft of Mr. Haftinga'j Letter* Chief of Colli mbuzar, to Colonel Clive, dated ioti November, 1759. THE Intelligence of the Dutch Ships and Forces moving up being laid before the Nabob, he excufed himfelf by faying that he was not to blame if the Dutch after their folemn Declaration had deceived him; the Nabob further faid, it was a Maxim by which he always regulated bis Conduct in Concerns of this Nature, never to make ufe of forcible Meafures till he had tried (he Effect of Moderation, as fuch a Caution left him an unanfwerable Flea to act as he thought proper if the latter Means proved ineffectual ; that in this particular Inftance he had hearkened patiently to the Dutch Demands, and had readily complied with them to their Satisfaction, only demanding in return the Difmiflion of the Ships and Forces which they had brought into the Country againft him, which they promifed on their Parts to perform, and that now mould he carry his Purpofe into execution to drive them out of the Country (which fince they had reduced him to fuch Extremities he would do) the whole Blame lay on the Chinfura Direction, nor could their Conftituents have the lead Argument to find fault with htm. A trut Ctff if a Paper tranfmittedfrm Bengal, at ttmg an Extract frm thtfaid Lttter f and now depofmd in the Eajt-India-Ibuft, Lsndon. Robert Jamzi, Secretary. B Ai ExtraO of* Letter from the Chuta Nabob to the Prejident > dated *$d andreeehed zdtb November, 1759. QN the firft of Rabbra al Sanme my Forces crofied the River at Anjerdiepe ; they cannot proceed to Chitpore ; I am come down to punifh the Dutch, that you may be convinced how much I am your Friend, and by the Blcffing of God I will foon deftroy Chinfura, I know not how to treat ; I have wrote them that my Forces will foon be with them, and that they will very foon be deftroyed, which .by jhe Blelling of God (halt foon happen. The Nabob and you are Perfons who know how to treat : for me I understand nothingbui fighting. I have wrote you very often for fome Cannon, and now defire again you will fend them fpeedily, if not, I will attack them with what I brought with me, and fend thofe Chinfura Cowards to Hell immediately, and then I will pay you a Vifit. A faithful Cap afthc faid Extrail tranfmitttd from Bengal, and now dtfufittd in tin E aft- India- Heuft, London. Robikt Jaubs, Secretary. yGooglc (7i) No. i j. THIS is to certify, that I have carefully perufed the annexed Memorial oF the Engiith Eaft-India Company to his Majcfty, and do folemnly declare, that fuch of the Facts therein mentioned as I was any way concerned in, are truly dated, and that I verily believe the reft to be fo. Clive. TbtDepofition of Thomas Boddam, Efy late a Member of the Engli(h Cornell at Calcutta ; who on bis Oatb depofeth, THAT before the, Dutch Armament arrived in the Ganges in the Year 1759, this Deponent, being then of the faid Council, met the Dutch Fifcal of Chinfura, M. Schevichaven, at feveral different Times, and frequently heard him fay that tbey expect" cd Forces there from Batavia ; that, about the Time of the arrival of the Ship Vifioler, this Deponent faw and held a Converfation with the faid M. Schevichaven in Calcutta, when, in the warmth of his Difcourfe, on the Subject of an Incident which had difgufted him, he cjtprefled himfelf to this Effect, that it would not be long before be Jbould be able to do bimfelf jujtice, for that an Armament mas cowing from Batavia of confiderable Force \ that this Gentleman talked publickly in the fame ftrain on his ViGts at Calcutta 1 and that this Deponent was at the fame Time well informed it was commonly talked of at Chinfura, long before their Ships or Troops arrived, that the Dutch amid foe* take Satisfaclion for the Injuries they had received, having endured too long the Infults of the Moors and Englifh -, and that the firft Intimation at Calcutta of a Dutch Armament was *> this Deponent believes, about five Months before the Dutch Armament arrived in Bengal River, from an Englifh Gentleman then at Bengal, one Captain Roach, who (as this Depo- nent was informed and believes) making a Vifit to Chinfura, and mentioning there his Intention of returning to Europe, was told by a Member of the Dutch Council, Mynheer Ifmck, that lie would leave Bengal very feafauably, for that they (the Dutch Council; bad applied for a Reinforcement from Batavia, on the arrival of which he hoped the Face of Affairs would be greatly changed in their Favour, London, the »;th February. 176*. THOMAS BODDAM. Sworn before me, MJTTHEir BLJK1STON. A true Crpj ef tit Original Affidavit ww dtpojited in tbt Ea/t- India- Haufi, Landen. Robjert Jambs, Sicntery, yGoogle , Google A FRESH COMPLAINT O F The Dutch Eaft India Company AGAINST The Englijb Eaft India Company. [ Price Ohi Shilling.] , Google Digitized by V^iOOQIC Frefh Complaint Lately exhibited to the States of Holland and West-Friezland, BY THE Dutch EAST INDIA Company ; Againil the Servants or the Eriglifh EAST INDIA Company In BENGAL. TRANSLATED From the original Dutch, printed by Authority. LONDON: Printed for T.Beckxt and P. A. De Hohot, in the Strand. MDCCLHL Digitized by (jOOQ Digitized by CjOOQlC ■A ■ ■> FRESH COMPLAINT OF The Dutch Eajt India Company % AGAINST The EngUjb Eaft India Cou&panyv High «nl MSjthy Lords, THE Directors of the Eaft India Company, of this Country, had the Honour on the 5th of March* of this current Year 1761, to exhibit to your High Mightineflcs, their moft precife and final Reprefentation concerning the Memorial of the Honourable Mr Torke^ Mi- niftcr Plenipotentiary from hrs 'Britannie Majefty, (brae Time before pre- fented to your High Mightincfiet, and containing Complaints of very extraordi- nary Mis of HoftiUty* committed by the Servants of the Eaft India Company of this Country^ upon the SubjeSs of Ms Britannic Majtfty in Bengal. I n that Renrelentation, the Directors hope they have not only thews, that the Complaints, contained in the faid Memorial, were groundlefs , but at the fame time proved, that the Servants of the Dutch Eaft India Company were not the Aggreuors, in beginning Acts of Hoftility againft tha Subjects of his Britannic Majcfly j but that, on the contrary, the Servants of the EngUjb Eaft India B Com- yGoogle f * ] Company had in a hoftile Manner attired, and Outrageoufly treated the Sub- ject of your High Mightiness. It was further (hewn in that Reprefentation, that the Company of this Country, and their Servants, were in various Refpefts highly injured and wronged by the Servants of the Englijh Company. "The aforefaid Direftors then took theJLibcrty of Jaying before your High Mightinefles, 'with the utmoft Refpecl, the Confequences to be apprehended from the violent Conduit of the Englijh Company's Servants in Bengal ; as on the Precautions to be taken agatnlt it, depended entirely either the Prcfer- vation or total Ruin of fcverai important Settlements belonging to the Dutch C^offipany, inS^ of their C6aj\m?rce, in many Parts of India. And moreover, the Directors, founded on that Proof, and on the further Confequences to be appre- hended from the Conduct of the Englijh Company's Servants, to the Detriment of the Dutch Company, did, in their aforefaid Reprefentation, with all Humility, yet in as ftrong a Manner aa the Importance of the Matter required, im- plore your High Migbtinejfes* particular ProteBion and effeSuoi Agijtance, in order to caufe poft Injuries to he redreffed according to Right and Equity, and to feurt the Cotnp&ny*! Settlements in Bengal and elfewhere, from farther and total Ruht. Y o u r High Mightinefles were pleated, in yourRefotution of the aforefaid 5th of March, to commit that Reprefentation, and in that of the 7th of April following, to fend a Copy of the fame to M. Hop, your High Mightinefles' Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Great Britain, and at the fame time to write to him, to exhibit the faid Reprefentation, when, and in what Manner he fliould judge moft for the Service of the Eafi India Company, and alfo to fecond, in all proper Ways, the Requcfts contained in the faid Repre- fentation. T h t faid Envoy, M. Hop, hath executed this Resolution and Order of -your High Mightinefles. But the aforefeid Reprefentation having been, after feme y Google fomc time, fetufned to his Excellency, it was afterwards tranflated into French, and again put into the Hands of the Minifters of His Britannic Majefty, without any Anfwer being,, fo far as the Directors know, hitherto made thereto. T h i n o s continued thus, at Home, in the fame State ; but in India, they pro- ceeded, meanwhile, from bad toworfe : For, in Bengal, the Company was obliged to pay, Once and again, very confiderable Sums of Money to the Moors, who, depending on the Aid and Alfiftancc of their Friends and Allies, the Servants of the EngUJb Eaft India Company, and apprized of our Inability to maintain our Rights and Privileges, and to fecure the Company's Settlements, rapaci- oufly availed themfelves of thefeCircumftances, in order, as well from their own natural Temper, as atthe Inftigation of others, to extort, from Time to Time,, large Sums of Money, from the Dutch Company. T h i Director and Council at Hughley had flattered themfelves, that after the Convention, which they were conftrained to enter into, on the 3d of De- cember >759< with the Servants of the EngUJb Company, and on the 5th. Ditto, with the then Nabob, the Butch Company ihould have enjoyed in full Quiet, their Settlements in Bengal, and been able to carry on their Commerce undifturbed, without being ejtpofed to new Extortions, or violent Exactions. But it joon appeared) That the two extorted' Conventions were not yet fufficient to anfwer the dejired Intention. For thefe Reafons therefore it was refolved ftilli more to crufh the Dutch Company, and deprive theni entirely of their yet .re- maining, though feeble, Means of Security. For that Furpofe, Kafim Cham, one of the Nabobs Commanders, appeared as early as the 1 ith of February after, with a great Army, before the Company's Fort Gufiavus ; inverted it,, and cut off all Proviflons from the Company's Servants. The Pretext for thefe A&s of Violence was, That the Nabob had difcovered by an intercepted Letter, faid to be fumimed him by the Englijb, that the Company's Servants; had tendered and promifed their Afliftance to the Mogul Prince, who was in full March againft the faid Nabob. Kafim Cham afterwards gave Orders, that all the Outworks of the Fort mould be razed, threatening, if they were not, to order his own Men to do it j and at the fame Time demanded, by Way of a Penalty, y Google [ .» ] Penaltyor Fine, tod to indemnify him for the Trouble la had been at, icon- ' fiderable Sum of Money. The Pretext was a mere Fiction, void of all Appearance of Truth. The Company's Servants therefore (hewed Kajm Cham the Falfhood of the Charge, and made him fenfible of the Injufticc of his Demand : But all to no Pur- pofe. They were obliged to raze the Out-works of the Fort, and to buy off" further Ads of Violence by paying him 50*000 Florins. Bui' this was only a Fore-runner of what the Company had farther to ap- prehend : For in the Month of April thereafter, the Company's Servants were accufed of levying men by the Nabob, who fent for .the Head Man, or Chief, at Caffembazar -, but he being unable thro' Indifpofition to go to Court, de Wilde, the fecond, repaired thither. The Nabob y on admitting him into his Pretence, repeated the above-mentioned AccuJation, adding that the Com- pany's Servants held a Correfpondence and confpired with his Enemies ; and on this Account demanded of the Company, by way of Contribution, an im- menfe Sum of fifty Laks of Rupees*, or two and twenty Tons and a half of Golds threatening, if this Sum was not immediately paid, to level with the Ground the Company's Settlements. The one as well as the other Accufation was falfe, and only devifed to fupply the Nabobs Want Of Money at the Expence of the Company. De Wilde therefore did not neglect fhewing the FaKhood of thefe Charges : He proved that the few Seapeys, who were in the Compa- ny's Service, were taken into pay, in order to fecure the Company's Effects againtt the threatened inroads of the Marat/as ; and that, had it not been for this unexpected Invcftment of the Company's Factory, the Natives in their Pay would have been ere then difcharged* arid the reft fent back to Hugbley. lie, moreover, employed every Argument poffible, to convince the Nabob of the Injufticc of his Conduct, and to divert him from his unreafonable De- mand : But he was fcarce favoured with a Hearing, and was himfclf put un- der Arreft. The Nabob thereupon caufed ibe Company's Factory wCafftmba- zar to be inverted by his Troops ; planted eleven Pieces of Cannon before it : * Between ja.- ,000 /. sod tieojooo /» Every y Google [[ 9 1 -J^e^ imaginable. Preparation was made for executing the threatened Deftrue- .11911 of the Company's Factory j and the actual Execution thereof could not he warded off, but with the Payment of full feven and a half Tons of Gold*, and «rider the Promife of difcharging the above-mentioned Seafoys, and fending back the other Troops to Uugbley. On this Foot the Agreement was conclu- ded, and. the Nabob proroifed to retire with his Troops. The Company's Servants fatisfied (o. the full the Contract on their Part, but the. Nabob did not .perform his Engagements. The Factory remained ftill inverted by his troops -, .-and. when the Corapanf *-s .Servants infilled on their withdrawing, this high Sen- tence was at length pronounced, fiat' it was not iff the Prince's Breaft, but in •that of the Englifh. The Englifh then were queftioned, about the Keafon of fuch a Conduit, as nothing had happened between them and the Dutch, which 'could give any Rife or FJandle thereto. The. Anfwer was, That they were in- formed the Company's Servants held a Cerrefpndence with their Enemies : That Jhet'r. Deftgn was tt make head agqinji them and the Prince ; and that therefore it was natural, that they, the Englifh, Jhould prevent them therein. The Compa- ny's Servants being confeious of the Falthood of this Accusation, endeavour- ed alfo to convince the Englifh thereof, and to allure them, that the Director and Council at IhigMey had not the leaft Intention, either to undertake ox exe- cute any Hoftilities againft them : But all to no Purpofe ; the Englijb continued inflexible, and. the withdrawing the Moerijb Troops could not be brought about, •but under the Promife, that Commiflioners mould be fent to Calcutta, in or- der to terminate the ftanding Differences with the Englifh. Dur i'n'g thefe Tranfactions with the Moors, the Director Bifdom received a Letter from the thai pro tempore Prefident at Calcutta,' Jonathan Zepbaniel Holwell, dated' the 15th of May, 1760; in Which, -under the Semblance of Friendship, he advifed the Company's Servants, to fatisfy in full the Nabob's Demands, and fubmit to whatever he jhould in future require of them, as they were not in a Condition to oppofe the Nabob : Adding, moreover, that it was umeceffary to point out to him, the pire&or, the difagreeable Part, that they, the Englifh, wouU be obliged thro* Neceffityto take in our Differences with the Moors, and how ■ • About 200,000 /. Stirling. C ardently yGoogle [ 10 1 ardently they wijhtd rather to a8 the Part of Mediators between us and the Suba. He added thereto fome Propofitions for an Accommodation, dreflbd up in the fame Tafte, which as welt as the reft of the Letter, were anfwered in a proper Manner. The Company's fervants at Cajembazar could not, as wis above laid, procure the withdrawing the Moorijh Troops, but under the Promife of fending. Commiflioners to Calcutta. Two Commiffibners therefore were fent thither on the 29th of May ; who, after the Space of fome Months, were conftrain- ed, as it were, under the Guaranty of the Prtfident and Council at Fort Wil- liam, to enter into a more precife Convention with the Nabob, dated the 23d" of Augujf, 1760: Or which,, among other hard Conditions, that were violently forced upon them, the fixth Article contains, That the Direffor- and Council of the Dutch Company jball, now and at all Times, whenever the Nabob may require U, permit ant of his Officers* accompanied by one- of the Englifh", to mufter a- viftt their Troops and military Stores at Chintfunt and their other Faffories : Or if any other Means can Be agreed on between the Governor and Council of Fort William, and the THreblor and Council of Chihtfura, whereby the Governor and Council of Fort WilUam may, to their Sdtisfa£Iion x be affured of the Number of their Troops, and the Quantity of their military Stores ; and be, as Umpires, empowered to gfoc a fatisfaSory Anfwer to the Nabob, as to the Security of bis Country ; that then, and in that Cafe, the Nabob would no farther injP on a Mufter. The. whole of the Convention is hereto annexed ; and the faid fixth Ar- ticle only adduced, as from thence It appears what may be expected from the Mediation and Guaranty of the Governor and Council of Foci Wittiam. Your, High Mightinefies however, from the above- mentioned' two Cafes,, may fee to what Extortions and Exactions the Company is at prelent expofed in Bengal, and what Confequences are to be thence apprehended in future, now that the Dutch Company, by the Alliance of the Knglijh with the Moors, and the open Acts of Hoftility flowing thence, againft them, are incapacitated, and ftiU yGoogle I " ] (Gil to t hit Day reftrained from protecting and fccuring their Servants and Pof- feflio.ij from fuch Aets of Violence. L e t it only be confidered, that the Englifb Eojt India Company pays no Toll : That they, or at leaft their Servants, draw moreover for themfclyes a Share, as well of the Toll which other Nations pay, as of the other Incomes of the Country. That hereby the refpeflive Governors, great Men, Natives of the Country, and other Servants, are in Part deprived of their ufual Subfift- ence ; and hence it is eafy to judge, that theft People muft contrive Ways to fupply that Defect of Subfiftencc by fome other Means. And therefore it is no Wonder, that the Moors, depending on the Affiftanee of their Allies, turn the Inability of the Dutch Company to their own Advantage, in order from Time to Ti me to fqueezeconfiderablcSums of Money from them. sTu t while on the one Hand the Company is neceflarily expofcd to Extor- tions i lb on the other Hand they are every where obftructed in the carrying- on their Trade i nay totally fa. The Saltpetre Trade continues ftillexclufively in the Hands ol.thcEhgRJh ; and it is almoft quite impoffible for the Company's Servants to procure any Cotton Cloths. The Weavers, under fevere Threats, are forbid, and actually hin- dered from working any Cloths for the Dutch Company: And if, notwith- ftanding, fome are inclined to work for the Dutch Company, yet the Factors of the EngUfh forcibly cut the Pieces out of the Loom ; and what Complaints foever the Company's Servants have made on that Head to the Governor and Council of the EngHJb Company, no Rcdrefs could ever be obtained. . B u t ttu* extravagant Conduct of the Servants of the En&IiJb Eaft India Company is not confined to the Commerce in Bengals The porate Etigltfb Traders and Smugglers have, for fome Time paft, laid it down as a Rule foa their Conduct} that they may lawfully fail te, andjrade at. all Slates* where it has f leafed God that Water fbould. run.. Founded on that pretended Right, iky mi. y Google ■kvenlof theft private Traders have, otice wd again ■vetrturtcl (o fapp^ nha Da/tri Company even in their moft appropriated Spice-Trade; The Honour- .able Government of India has not omitted Co hinder as much as poffible this unlawful Navigation and Trade:. And this gave Occafioa to the Commander ■*f his- SPttamic Mejcfty's Squadron in the Eaft Indi*s, without Scrupkj te threaten ma Letter, that if the Honourable Government Ibould Under or ob* ■ftruetany Englijb Ships in their Navigation and Trade, be would in that Cafe with bis Ships af Wat pay 4 Vifit to Batavia, which would he of the mqfl affixing Conftquences It tbe DaKh Company. . We hold ourfel ves, . High and Mighty Lords, fully affured, that his Brir Unnic Majefty will. on no Account approve fuch Condu6t of his Officers and other Subjects : Nay, we cannot imagine, that even the Directors tiiemfclves of the India. Company at London, will juftify the above-mentioned Conduct of ' their Servants in Bengal: And we are readier far to hope from the Juftice of his said Majefty, that when he is informed of the Injuries done . to the Jlutcit Company by his Subjects, his Majefty will on that Account caufe due Satisfac- tion and Reparation to be made the Company. But in the mean Time the Company's Settlements in Bengal are expofed to the utmoft Danger : And as long as the Servants, of the Englijb Eafi India] Company fliall afiume to themfclves, by virtue of the Treaty entered into, in the Year 1757, by the Governor and Council of Fort William with the then Nabob Mer Jajfer Cham, as. Allies pf the Moors, in a hoftile Manner to fall upon the Hutch Company, and deprive them of the Means of defending them-. felves againft the Violences of the Moors, the Amendment of the Company's Condition in Bengal will be far to feek. Th e cancelling that Treaty, fo far as the EngUfit Servants maintain, 5T-M w this Account tbty have a Right, as Allies of th* Moors, to ail in. a hefiUe Man- iter agarnfi tie Dutch Company, is therefore, under refpectfal Correction, the fira y Google [ '3 ] fiift and capital Point, of which the Redrefs ought to be procured as foan as poffible. A 5 in the above-mentioned Reprefentation of the Directors, it has been un- detiiab'y proved. That the faid Treaty of the Servants of the Englijh Eaft India Company with the Moors, directly clashes with the Treaties fobfiHing between your High Mightinefles and his Britannic Majefty } efpedally, with that fepa- ■fate Article of the Sth of March i6y$ ; and that, moreover, both the Servants vf the Englijh Eaft Indim Company, and the Commanders of his Majefty's fuc- 'ccOive Squadrons in the Eaft Indies, have, before the Date of that pretended Treaty, at fundry Times, and on feveral Occafions, maintained, That it was not lawful for the Dutch Company, confiftently.wUb the Treaties fubfifting, to give any Aid or Affiance to the Nabob or Moors : So the Directors truft, that, fliould it plcafe your High MightinelTes to write to your Miniftcrs at the Court of England, in the ftrongeft Manner,, to inGftwith his Britannic Majefty on the cancelling the above-mentioned Treaty, and the farther Confequences thereof,, his faid Majefty would not fcruple to make the Dutch Company enjoy the Ef- fect of the Treaties entered into and concluded with your High Mightinefles, and at the fame Time charge the Commanders of his Majefty's Squadrons, as alio the Directors of the Eaft India Company at London, exactly to behave ac- cordiogto the Tenor of the above-mentioned Treaties \ with fpecial Injunctions to the laft mentioned, to expedite, without any Delay, the neceffary and full Or- ders to the Indies % to the End, they may forbid, and actually hinder their Ser- vants in Bengal, and eUewhere in the Indies, where it may be neceffary, either . as pretended Allies of the Nabob- of Bengal, or under any other Colour or Pre- text, to undertake any Act of Violence ot HoftiUty againft the Dutch Compa- ny, or to injure them in their Commerce. The other Articles of Complaint and Grievance, contained in the aforefaid Reprefentation, being no Ids fully juftirJed and proved, the Directors can ex- pect no Jefs from the Equity of his Britannic, Majefty, than that his Majefty, .as to thefe alfo, will caufe the proper Satisfaction and Reparation to be made the Dutch Company. '0 The Digitized by CiOOQ le .[ >4 ]] T h aiSuccefs of this. Expectation, how well-grounded foerer it may be, yet entirely depends on'thc Support which your High Mightinefles (hall pleafe to grant the Company for that Purpofe : And the Directors take the Liberty, moreover, irc the moffc humble Manner, to requeft your. High Mightinefles to woommendtoyour MitiraersattheCouTtof^EJi^Ai*^ to iofift in the ftrongeft Manner, on- a proper Satisfaction for the Injuries fuflrained, as alfo on the ac- tual- Reparation of the Damage and Detriment undergone} and at the fame Time to write to the (aid Mini Hers, above all to infill with his Britannic Ma- jefty, that in the mean Time, the neeeflary Orders may, an the firft proper Opportunity, be expedited to the Indies -, in which, both the Commanders of "his Majefty "3 Squadrons there, and the Servants of the KngUjb Company in '"Bengal, and elfewhere in the Indies, where it may be neeeflary, (hall be exprefly forbid, in virtue of the Treaty or Convention, entered -into in the Year 1757* with 'the then Nabob of Bengal, as Allies of the Nabob, or under any other Pre- text, directly or indirectly, to commit any Acts of HoftHky or Violence againft the Dutch Company, their "Settlements or Dependents j and in which they, on the 'Contrary, fhall be charged to behave in -regard to the Company of this Country,- according to the Tenor of the Treaties fubfifttng between his Britan- nic Majedy arid your High Mightinefles s and moreover, eo fuffer the Com- merce of the faid Company to be carried on unmokfted, and without giving 'them the leift Impediment or Lett therein. 'The Heinbufnefs of thofe Injuries, the Importance of the Damage and Detriment which the Company hasthereby fuffered, the eflential Intereft the Company has to obtain, on that Account, the defired" Satisfaction, and ureal Reparation, as foon as poflible ; " but above all, the critical Circum dances, wherein the Company at prefent finds itlelf, and the highly urgent Neceffity thence, arifipg, for obtaining from your High Mightinefles your particular Fro- " teftion for the fame, and your effectual, but above all, fpeedy Aid and Sup*- port. :. All thefeConfiderations, which are- of the utmoft Confequence, have, High and Mighty Lords, put the Directors under the indifpenfable Obligation, to prefena fecond Time, their refpectful"Repref«nUtions on this Head to your High Mightinefles, with this humble Requeft, 2 That yGooglc [ >5 J That your High Mightinefles will once more be pleated to take into your fcrious Confide radon the prefent State of the Eafi India Company of this Country ; which in Bengal is expofed to the Extortions and Vexations of the Moors ; wbofe Commerce is there greatly cramped and injured : which, above all that, is, in more than one Place in India, involved in Tumults and Sedi- tions* the Iflue of which cannot be forefeen, and which feem to be as it were in Motion, in order, by a Concourfe of Misfortunes, to overwhelm the Com- pany at once-, and which betides, at this Time, more than ever deferves the peculiar Attention of your High Mightineflcs with the farther Requeft, Th a t your High Mighrinefles, after weighing the State of the Company, may be pleafed to take fuch Resolutions, on the repeated Application of the Directors, as your High Mightineflcs fhall in your high Wifilom judge to be Serviceable and neceHary. May the Almighty God blefs the Deliberations of your High Mightinefles on this and all other weighty Matters : And may he preferve your Perfons and Families from all Harms. This is the hearty Wifh and Prayer of thofe, who have the Houour to be, fc?r. Underneath flood. Tow high MigbHneffes me ft bumble and obedient Servants, The DireSm of the General Dutch Eaft-India Company. Lower flood, And figne& 'by their Order; AujTIRDA W, the *d of Dtctm- Ur ■ 7 Si, C. VANDER HOOP. Digitized by CiOOQ le Digitized by VjOOQ le [• >f 1 AtiT 1C L ES approved by the underwritten Deputies-, drawn up by the Di- rector and Council of the Dutch Eaft India Company in Bengal, in order to be executed in favour of the faid Company i as ajfo Conditions, in Confequence of tboft Articles, granted by the Nabob Jaffier Aly Chan, Souja Ulmoek Bhadur : The Execution of the aforefaid Articles and Conditions is, at the Re- queft of lbs two contracting Parties, guarrantted by the refpeclivt under-written Prefiient md Council of Fort William. Article T. THE Director and Council of Cblnfura Iball immediately fend away from Hugbley, anJ their other Factories here, all the Troops which exceed the Number of 125 Men, allowed them by former Treaties ; to conti- nue on board one of their Ships lying at Culpi or Foltba, till an Opportunity fhall offer of carrying them to Batavia. II. T h a t if they have raifed any new Works, or if they have deepened, en- larged or widened, their Ditches, from the Day of executing their laft Treaty concluded with the* Nabob> they fhall immediately reftore them to thsir former Condition. * III. T h a t, in Cafe they fcave encreafed the Number of their Artillery, and the Quantity of their warlike Stores, befides what they have ordinarily Occafien for, E in ^Google [ .8 ]• in their Pofleffions or Factories, they fiiall, in the fame Manner, as was men- tioned Article 1. in regard to the Troops, fend away the Overplus. IV. That they (hall never fuffer above one European Ship at once to come up higher than Culpi, feltba > or Majapur, without previoufly obtaining of the Nabob an exprefs Permifllon. V. The aforefaid Commiflioners, in Behalf of the Director and Council at Chin- fura, do by thefc Prefents renew, confirm, and ratify al! the Conditions, ac- cepted by them, in the Treaty concluded between the Englijh Commifliries, together with the Nabob on one Side, and the Director and Council at Hugbly on the other, on the 3d of December 1759; and in particular, that Part which limits the military Force in Btngal to 125 Europeans. VI. The aforefaid Director and Council fhall now, and at all Times, whenever, the Nabob may require it, fuffer one of his Officers, accompanied by one of the Englljby to muftcr their Troops, and vifit their military Stores at Chinfura t and their other Factories : Or, if the Governor and Council at Fun William, and the Director and Council at Cbinfura, can agree on any other Means where- by the Governor and Council at Fort William may, to their Satisfaction, be af^' fured of the Number of their Troops, and the Quantity of their Military. Stores, and be, as Umpires, empowered to give the Nabob a fatisfactory An- fwer, as to the Security of his Country, that then, and in that Cafe, the Na- bob fhall no farther infill on a Mufler. 8 . VII. The y Google [ 19 3 VII, The Nabob's Duatf, Ray Rayan Ametd Raay, folemnly binds and engages himfelf, in Behalf of the Nabob, to the aforenamed Director and Council, that as foon as they have fubmitted to the afore-named Conditions* they (hall be fup- ported in all their Rights, Privileges, and Prerogatives, granted them by Fir- mans of the Great Mogul. . VHI. That in future they (hall not be aggrieved with any new or unufuat Ex- tortions of Money, under what Pretence foeverj and efpecially, that they (hall be freed from paying a Sum, demanded of them for fomc Years pad by the Souba of Patna, for the Privilege of the Saltpetre-Trade, under the Name of Peejkes ; as it would be unjuft, the Director and Council lhould continue to pay for a Privilege, which they now no longer enjoy, IX. . ., That for their Ships and VetTcls they (hall have a free and uninterrupted Paffage, yet with the Excepti&n, mentioned Article fourth ; as alfo over Land for their Oxen and Carriages, their Foot and Cajed$> going to their ufual ap- pointed Places, yet furnifhed with the Company's Seal, and that of the Di- rector, the Chiefs, or other Servants properly qualified for that Purpofe, with- out being fubjeft to any Imports by Faufdars, Jagierdars, Cbokiedars, Derro- gas, or other Officers of the Government. X. That in Confequence of feveral Firmans obtained by them, the Trade of the Dutch Eaji India Company in Bengal, Seliar, and Or'txa, (hall be carried-on free and unmolefted inall Points whatever, except the Salt-petre Trade j which Privilege the Nabob hath exclufively granted »o the Englijb. XI. That y Google [ to J XI. That the Nabob lhall give Orders to adjuft the Account of their Coinage in the Mint at Cariemabab, and iuue out or difcharge the Balance which lhall appear to be ftiil due to them : Further, that in future their Bufinels in the Mint lhall be continued to be carricd-on, without the Ieall Molcftation or Ob- ftru&ion j and that moreover, the neat Produce lhall, without the lcaft Stop- page, Referve, or Deduction, for the Time to come be paid down. Underneath flood, Given at Fort WUIiim, the 23d of Jvgaflt 1760, A. J. de Wilde; And J0I1. Bacherachfc RATI: , Google r « ] IB. A T. I'F IC. A TIC N. ' Adrian Bisdom DiretJor* in behalf of tbt Honourable Dutch Eaft India Company in Bengal, Behar, and Orixa, and the Council^ make known to all and fundry, whom it does t or may in any refpetl concern. .'..'. :! .w. ' ■"/ Seeing we have found it expedient and advifeable to enter into a Con- vention with his Excellency, Jaffer Aly Cham, Souja Ulmoek Bbadur, Nabob of the Provinces of Bengal, Bebar, and Orixa, &c. Be. whereby "all D'fferences, arifen for forne Time paft, may finally be amicably adjufted > and we again made to Feel the Fruits and Emoluments of a free, unmolefted, and uninterrupted Trade in thefe Parts of the World, fo far in particular as it is poflible, and the Circumftances of the. Times will admit : Moreover, this Convention ha* been concluded, underwritten and figned by Deputies on both Sides, provi- ded with ampifr Powers, on the Day -and'Vear, as mentioned therein ; and the above Articles, and Conditions, under the Mediation and Guaranty of the ho- nourable Prefident and Council at Fort JViltiam. Ano Srfregarfpthe Tenor of th£ afcove-fatd Inflrument directs, that the Acts of Ratification of the one arid the other Side mall be exchanged in due and proper Form, within the" Space of twenty Days, reckoning from the Day of figning: So we, in order. to give convincing Proofs of our Uprigbtnels, and to fulfil what our Commiflioners have promifed in our Name, have agreed to and ratified the aforefaid Convention in all its Heads, Articles, and Condi- tions, in general fo far as in our Power -, yet under Approbation of our Lords and Matters, and a Saving to their Property in their true Rights, Privileges, and PofleiHons obtained here ; as by thefe Prefents we agree to and ratify the fame ; engaging in good Faith and Sincerity, that we ihall in every Point perfipirm and obferve, and caufe to be obferved by all our Dependents with- out Exception, what was therein agreed on, concluded, and now has been by us ratified, without acting againft it directly or indirectly, in what Way or Manner foeyeric may be. y Google Foe confirming tnd ratifyiag tU which, we hire figud thefc Prefenta with our own Hud, and caufcd our great Seal to be put thereto. Underneath flood, Given at Fort Gujtirciu, at our principal Facto- ry Hugbkj in Btngal, this aift Day of Sip- ttnbtr, 1760, Signed, A. Bifflom, R. H. Armenauk, L. ZujJiand, M. luck, J. L. v. Schcvichaven, S. de Hoog, J.C. Kift, O, W. Falk. With the Com. pany'e Great . Seal in red Wax. Lower flood, estate*, and Signed Jfcob Elbncnt, ftrit fworn Clerk. Digitized by (jOOQ Ie Jufi puhUJbed, and fold by T. Becket, in the Strand, I, AN Authentic Account of the Proceedings of their High Mightineflb ■**■ the States of Holland and JPtft-Ftjeztend> on the Complaint laid be* fore them by his Excellency Sir Jofepb Torke, his Britannic Majefty's Ambaf- fador at the Hague, concerning Hostilities committed in the River of Bengal. To which is added. An Appendix, containing the Original Letters of Colo- nel Give, (now Lord Give) Admiral Pocock, Admiral ffatfon, with other' Vouchers. Translated from the original Dutch, printed by Authority.- 4/0, Price 3 tj 6 d. II. A Defence of the United Company of Merchants of England, trading to the Eafi Indies, and their Servants, (particularly thofc at Bengal) againft the Complaints of the Dutch Eafi India Company : Being a Memorial from the EngHJb Company to his Majefty on that Subject. 4/0. Price H. 6d. y Google igitized by GoOgle