I Do hereby License this Book to be Printed and Published White-Hall March 6th 1687-88 SVNDERLAND Pr. An Impartial VINDICATION OF THE English East-India-Company FROM THE Unjust and Slanderous IMPUTATIONS Cast upon Them in a TREATISE INTITULED A Justification of the Directors of the Netherlands East-India-Company As it was delivered over unto the High and Mighty Lords the States General of the United Provinces Translated out of Dutch and Feigned to be Printed at London in the Year 1687. But Supposed to be Printed at Amsterdam as well in English as in French and Dutch. LONDON Printed by J. Richardson for Samuel Tidmarsh at the King 's Head in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange MDCLXXXVIII THE whole Treatise is such a tedious Rhapsody of Fictitious Fallacious Inferences and Arguments confusedly mixt with some distorted Truths spun out to an unnecessary prodigious length that it would be tiresome to the Reader to trace all the Prevarications Mis-Recitals and Sophistry contained in it By which the design of the Author seems to be not onely to impose a false belief upon the vulgar-well-meaning Subjects of those Provinces but even upon the Lords States General Themselves if it were possible Whether we have truly characterized the said Treatise we shall leave to the Judgment of the unbiassed Reader and have therefore caused it to be Reprinted after the Amsterdam Copy and Annexed hereunto And that we may not be guilty of framing a long Story without Coherence Verity or Proof of which we accuse the Author we shall in the first place expose to publick View and Censure true Copies of those Original Papers which passed between the Commissioners of both Companies at London Anno 1685. which will give sufficient Light and Confutation unto the Authors prolix and Erroneous History of those Transactions concerning the Affairs of Bantam And shall then proceed to detect his willful mistakes in other matters and his ill-grounded Arguments by which he endeavours to Honest many Injurious and Insolent Violations of Right done by the Dutch towards the English in India directly contrary to the Articles of Peace In all which we do profess the most Religious sincerity and to write nothing but what we know to be really true or believe in our Consciences so to be upon very sufficient Evidence without using that common Liberty which Advocates think they may innocently do viz. To put the best face they can upon their Clients Cause how bad soever it be which plea we shall be content may be admitted for the Authors Indempnity To omit Credentials and Speeches of Ceremony it was agreed that the Treaty should be managed in French and Sir John Chardin was the Interpreter The Lords Commissioners Decisors for His Majesty were For the States General of the United Provinces The Earl of Sunderland Lord Anth. Heinsius Councellor and Pensionary of the City of Delf Earl of Clarendon John Goes Lord of Absmade Consul of the City of Leyden Earl of Rochester Isaac Vanden Heuvell Councellor Earl of Middleton Adryan de Borssele Vander Hoge Senator of the Supream Court of Holland The Commissioners Instructors for the English-East-India-Company were The Commissioners Instructors for the Dutch East-India-Company Sir Joseph Ashe Baronet Governour The Heer Gerrard Hooft of the Council of Amster Sir Josia Child Baronet Deputy-Governour Jacob Van Hoorn of the Council of Flushing Sir Benj. Bathurst and Sir Jeremy Sambrook Kts Solom Van de Blocquerii and Adrian Paets of the Council of Rotterdam The First Paper of Business which the aforesaid English Commissioners Received from the said Dutch Commissioners Instructors which was Translated into English in the following words Viz. To the Honourable Seigniours Sir Joseph Ashe Barronet Governour of the English East-India Company Sir Josia Child Baronet Deputy-Governour Sir Benjamin Bathurst and Sir Jeremy Sambrooke Knights all Deputies of the said Company for Bantam Affairs WHereas the Directors of the Dutch East-India-Company do desire nothing more earnestly than a good Intelligence between them and the Royal East-India-Company of this Kingdom They also desire nothing more earnestly than to see an end of the differences which would trouble that Intelligence in case it was not from both sides endeavoured with all imaginable care to suppress in the very beginning the seeds of a quarrel of which the progress though short should be able to produce an Evil which after having taken root it would not be easie to dissipate Now forasmuch as the Late King of Great Britain of Glorious Memory and my Lords the States General of the Vnited Provinces being desirous to provide the differences that should arise between both Companies should have no bad consequences have thought fit to Order the Remedy contained in the Treaty of the Year 1674-75 Upon which ground the under-written Deputies of the said East-India-Company of the said Provinces desiring that the differences about Bantam should be determined They do desire your Lordships to concurr with them and proceed upon that Foundation and to deliver to them a Copy of all the pretensions of the English Company touching the Bantam Affairs and also of the justificative Proofs and Deeds upon which they pretend to ground their said pretensions The under-written Deputies being resolved to pursue all the Forms required by Equity and natural Right And because they have been informed that in the Conference of Munday last there were some mistakes they have thought fit to express their mind by Writing and to desire your Honours to give Answer in the same manner Dated at Westminster 27 May 1685. Signed G. Hooft Jacob Van Hoorne S. V. Blocquery A. Paets The English Commissioners Instructors their Answer in haec Verba To the Honourable Seigniours Gerard Hooft Jacob van Hoorn Solomon vande Blocquery and Adriaen Paets Commissioners Deputed by the Netherlands East-India-Company touching the Affairs of Bantam IN Answer to your Honours Memorial of the 27th of May it is impossible for the Commissioners of the Netherland East-India-Company to desire a more speedy end of the Affair of Bantam than the English East-India-Company who hath layen under the Oppression of the want of their Residence and Trade there now for above three years besides the great Loss and Spoil sustained at the surprize thereof And the said English Company by us their Commissioners have humbly besought the Lords Commissioners Decisors appointed by His Majesty Our Soveraign Lord the King that the matter of the Restitution of Bantam to His Majesties Subjects may be first Discoursed and Adjusted It having been already consented to by the High and Mighty Lords the States General and the Netherlands East-India-Company that Restitution should be made thereof as appears by the Answer to the Memorial presented by Sir John Chardin at the Hague the 21th of May Anno 1683. And the only difference then remaining upon that subject was the manner of the Restitution So that to enter into proof or any long Debate concerning the manner of the surprize of that Place and of His Majesties Subjects Expulsion
Dutch being landed at Tancoratt the Javans all left Terrytyassy except the Sultan two Pengrans and two English men which were employed as Gunners at sight whereof the King being troubled set fire to the Palace himself and fled up the Hills and about a Month after the young King sent to his Father and promised him his Freedom and Liberty if he would come and live with him in the Fort who consented to it upon the following terms viz. as he was informed That the English French and Danes might have the same liberty that they had formerly and that the Dutch Renegado should be turned out of the Fort and that when he came in no Dutch-man should stir from his Quarters which was consented to But three dayes after he was in the Castle the Dutch desired the Son to demand his Father's Treasure who told him that he had given it all to his Son Pengran Probaya who is gone up the Hills with Four Thousand Macassars and Mallayans The 18 th July 1683 all the English being going from Batavia for Surrat the Dutch Council in Bantam sent for the aforesaid Ambrose Moody and after Examination discharged him and ordered him to take his passage to Batavia in a Dutch Ship. When the two English Men which had been with the old King came down the Hills the Javans carryed them before the Chief of the Dutch who ordered them to go before the young King who when he saw them gave them their liberty to go where they pleased But three dayes after the Dutch sent to the Pengran who lives in the English Factory and ordered him to keep the English Gunners close Prisoners All which was told and affirmed to him by the Brother of the said Pengran The 22th of August 1683. The Agent and Council of the English Nation set sail from Batavia for Surat at which time the Dutch had Wars with the King of Jambee and the King of Jehore and on the West Coast of Sumatra and with Rogia Pelatta the King of Macassar who formerly served the Dutch but is now fled from them with his Forces and dayly Mallayans and Macassars go from Batavia and Bantam to his assistance The Dutch at Ambonia sent this year as he hath heard several of them confess Fifty Dutchmen to Batavia in Irons because they began to Revolt Sometime before the English left Batavia the Dutch had been a fitting of nine ships and a Fleet of Prowes to go against Macassar but finding they had not men sufficient to man them were forced to forbear till next year Now they suffer no Java to wear either Launce or Crease or any other Weapon and the best Java that is in Bantam must pull off his Cap to any Dutchman Although the Dutch have not above Three or Four Hundred Men in Bantam yet the Young King hath not power to act any Thing and all Javans pay to the Dutch at their Marriage Ten Rs. 8 / 8 and Two Rs. 8 / 8 per month for each Fishing Prow and Two Ditto a year Head-money and several other Taxes which makes the Javans daily run from Bantam to Pengran Probaya So that now he hath about Ten Thousand Men in the Field and is in expectation that the English will send to His assistance The Dutch Received the Letters which were sent by the Ambassadors and interpreted them as they pleased And would not suffer the Ambassadors nor no Java to speak to the Young King but by their Linguester The Young King with his own Hands did crease his Uncle Pengran Coloone and keeps his Brothers which came in fast in irons Pengran Keedull did come in with the Old King but finding how severe the Young King was made his escape with several other great Men. The Dutch could not perswade the Young King to sign to their Articles at which they are much troubled The Dutch have perswaded the Young King to turn out of Bantam all Europeans the Moors Banyans and the Chineses In January 168 2 / 3 Ambrose Moody did see in Bantam the Two great brass Guns which came from Tonqueen which he thinks the Company have not charged to accompt The Young King of Bantam must pay to the Dutch for every White Man that they lose in the Wars or by sickness Thirty Rs. 8 / 8 and Twenty for each Black. They have lost already by their own confession Fifteen Hundred Europeans by sickness and by the Warrs since the 18th of July 1683. the Chief of the Dutch was poisoned in Bantam and very oft as the soldiers go to Market they are killed with Clubs The Young King by instigation of the Dutch keeps His Father close prisoner and suffers onely one slave-Woman to bring him Victuals which she puts in at a Window and keeps Centinel always at the door In the time of the aforesaid Moody's imprisonment there was sent to him in Bantam from Mr. Gurney which did belong to the Kempthorne a Letter by the Hands of Nicholas Dios which he did ask leave of the Dutch to deliver and had consent but within two days after the Dutch put the said Dios in prison and would not discharge him before the English came from Batavia which was about five months time after his first imprisonment Signed Ambrose Moody I Ambrose Moody above-named do own the foregoing Relation or Narrative to which my name is subscribed to be drawn by my self and of my own Hand-Writing And I do make Oath that all and every particular therein is true according to what I have heard from very credible persons or been my self an Eye-witness of as the same is exprest by me in the said Narrative Sworn the 25th of June 1684. before Sir John Moore Signed Ambrose Moody The Dutch Commissioners Instructors their First Paper presented to the Lords Commissioners Decisors To the most Honourable Lords my Lords the Commissioners appointed by the King of Great Brittain and the Gentlemen appointed Commissioners by the Lords the States General of the United Provinces for the Decision of Differences arisen between the East-India-Company of England and that of the said Provinces upon the Subject-matter of Bantam Most Honourable Lords AS the Directors of the East-India-Company of the United Provinces have been very sensibly moved to see that the differences of Bantam have been able to cause a difference between the two Companies whose interest is so much never to be dis-united so they have been very glad to understand that it hath pleased his Majesty to name four Lords as Illustrious by the Qualities of their minds as of their birth and office to labour jointly with the Deputies of the Lords the States General of the United Provinces in the decision of the said differences and to prevent by the wayes of Justice and Equity this coldness from ever being capable of sowing seeds of bitterness which might be able to destroy the remainder of this brotherly love which ought to be the Bond of Union and good Intelligence between the two Companies The under-written
the English Commissioners would have reason if the Affair concerning the Restitution of Bantam were determined by their High and Mightinesses and the Company of Holland not to ingage themselves in a long Suit being able to make an end of the Affair without breaking their Heads with so many Disputes but as these Gentlemen have been mistaken in writing of a few Lines as it appears by their Answer of 27 th July to the Memorial of us the underwritten of the 19 th of the same Month where the word of Decisors at which they are so angry is not to be found but that of Negotiators is used 't is not much to be wondred at that they should be mistaken in the Explication of the Answer of the States General to the Memorial of Sir John Chardin to which they refer in their Demand Their High and Mightinesses love justice too much to have been willing to dispose of a Town that did not belong to them and to which they had no right It is true that they offered not only not to hinder the resettlement of the English in Bantam from being obstructed either by the Dutch Company or any of their Subjects but also to further it themselves and to make the said Company to assist them in it which is far from that which the Deputies of the English Company say in their Demands But it being important to prove here that the English Company cannot at this time take hold of the Answer of their High and Mightinesses no more than of the advances which the Company of Holland made in the year 1683 towards the accommodating the Differences which the War of Bantam had made to arise between the two Companies who must have recourse to what passed between Sir John Chardin and the Deputies of the Dutch Company on the subject of the said Differences It is certain that at that time it was not known in what condition the Affairs of Bantam were Whether the War between the King of Bantam yet lasted or whether it was ended and if it were determined whether it were done by a treaty or by force of Arms if by Arms which of the two the Father or the Son remained Conqueror and Master of the Kingdom It being also less known whether the Son in case that by the Auxiliary Arms he was resettled in his Throne had not granted to the Company of Holland in recompence of their Assistance some right in Bantam by virtue of which they might have been able to dispose of the reestablishment of the English in their former Residence Besides that the Dutch Company might reasonably promise themselves that the King of Bantam who owed his Deliverance from the Oppression in which he was to the Auxiliary Arms of the Company would not be displeased that to be assured that the English would never assist his Father against him they had engaged to cause the English to be resettled in their former Habitation which Consideration would not have place any more after that the Father was reduced under the Power of his Son. In these uncertainties the Dutch Company made some Advances and Sir John Chardin drew up a project of Accommodation between the two Companyes wherein it is spoken of the withdrawing the Dutch Forces from Bantam and of what each of the Companyes should be obliged to do in the Cases therein specifyed But it having pleased Mr. Chudleigh and Sir John Chardin to break up somewhat abruptly the Negotiation which was already very far advanced and that it pleased the English Company to refuse all the Offers as well of the States General as those which the Embassador Citters made here in London in the Name and on the behalf of the Company of the United Provinces after the return of the said Sir John Chardin the last Company did not think it proper to follow the Negotiation with which my Lord Embassador Citters was charged upon the foot of those offers which had been despised and by which they were by consequence no more tyed especially when in the latter end of the year 1683 they understood by Letters from India that the War of Bantam was ended with advantage to the Son who remained in possession of the Kingdom of Bantam the Father being made Prisoner and the Rebels Power overcome without however having granted to the Dutch Company any Right by virtue of which they might be able to settle the English again in Bantam To what purpose is it then to alledge at this time the Answer of the States General to the Memorial of Sir John Chardin after that they have publickly refused their offers and proposed new Conditions which appeared to their High and Mightinesses so much out of all reason that they would not so much as allow them to give so much as an Ear to them as it appears by the Resolution of their High and Mightinesses quoted B. How can the English Company then imagine that excepting at present the offers which they refused two years ago the Dutch Company should think themselves obliged to it after the change of Affairs which hath happened at Bantam Have not they declared that after the said change the Treaty could not continue any longer upon the foot of the Offers which they had rejected with so much disdain And although they had not declared it was it not a thing visible and evident of it self to conclude a project which supposing a perfect uncertainty of the Affairs of Bantam contain causes which at present cannot happen Besides it is not to be conceived how the English Company after having chosen themselves the way of decision in pursuance of the year 1674 and 1675 and prest for this Effect the Nomination of the deciding Commissioners can at present make use of the offers and projects of Accommodation which they themselves caused to be broken off and which besides has nothing of Common with a judicial discussion in which the two Companyes are at present engag'd and from which they can't dismiss themselves to return to the Treaty but by a Common Consent the underwritten Deputies of the Company of Holland having proved at present that neither from the offers of their High and Mightinesses nor those of the said Company of Holland the English Company can infer any thing which is capable of making good their Demands we will now pass to the second point which is that of the justice of the Complaints of the English Company and will Examine in them first their Nature and in what they consist and will consider in the second place the strength of the proofes which have been delivered to the underwritten to make them good As to the first point the English Company had represented to the King of Great Brittain of Glorious Memory as it appears by the Letter his Majesty wrote to the aforesaid Lords the States General dated the 23th April 1683 that the Sieur St. Martin Commander in Chief of the Dutch Forces and Ships which the Government of Battavia
be compleatly finished This my Lords is our Case and must be our Fortune if we must see our selves destroyed the noblest Navigation of England ruined and consequently our King and Country dishonoured with our hands tyed behind us so as not to be permitted to right our selves without being unjustly charged as the Lyon did the Lamb in the Fable as if we were Men affecting Wars and promoting Dissension between the two Nations An imputation that we disown and abhor having been in all times more averse to Armes than did consist with our Interest and Duty out of the too great inclination we had to Peace and Quietness Eleventhly And whereas the Gentlemen are pleased to insinuate that though the pretended young King of Bantam be never so mean their Faith ought to be kept with him as much as if he were the greatest King upon Earth which we deny not but say they had first plighted their Faith to our Deceased Sovereign of Glorious Memory in the last Treaty of Peace which they have violated by those injurious Articles they have made with the enslaved King of Bantam Twelfthly If the Batavians have kept their terms with that enslaved Prince of Bantam which we have reason not to believe they have it is the first time that ever we heard they have kept their Faith with any of those poor ignorant Natives Thirteenthly If they have made any Articles with that poor King they were made while he was a Prisouer within the Fort in a most abject Thraldom to the Dutch in which condition the poor man would as readily set his hand to any thing the Batavians would have him as our servants subscribed the Letter before mentioned And such is certainly his condition that the poor Creature if Bantam be delivered to the English will be so far from upbraiding the Batavians with breach of Faith for that cause that he will look upon it as the only good turn that ever they did him in his life for then he may be sure of his Liberty and hope to be a little King upon the Hills or in the Woods and at worst see his Subjects flourish under the mild Government of the English whereas in his present condition with the total loss of his little Dominion he must live in durance under the anxiety of seeing his Country ruinated and depopulated Fourteenthly For the justification of our Demands of Dammages or to lessen or invalidate what is demanded of us by the Gentlemen Subscribers we shall trouble your Lordships with no Discourse at present because we desire not to enter upon that Argument till Bantam be restored to us neither shall we trouble your Lordships with any Paraphrase upon the Dutch Papers offered for Evidence upon the Netherlands East-India Companies part because few of them are upon Oath and none of them as we apprehend to any purpose Fifteenthly There are some few particulars in the said Deputies answer that we have not replyed unto being in our judgments to use their own phrase meer trifles but if your Lordships shall think any thing of moment unanswered upon your Lordships command we shall make a farther and particular answer thereunto Sixteenthly What the Gentlemen mean by their triumphant conclusion that they have overthrown our pretensions and justified that wicked act of Bantam we understand not except it be a form of concluding litigious Papers in Holland Our Conclusion shall be no more but to assure your Lordships that we have a perfect confidence in your Lordships Justice and therefore we cannot doubt but our present Sovereigns most auspicious Reign shall be signaliz'd by having one place of importance in India that his Subjects were unjustly deprived of restored again to them in his time which never was done in the time of any of his Noble Progenitors We are Dated at the East-India-House 22th Octob. 1685. My Lords Your Lordships most Dutiful and most Obedient Servants Joseph Ashe Governour Josia Child Deputy Jeremy Sambrook Benj. Bathurst The Rejoynder of the Dutch Commissioners Instructors to the foregoing Reply being the second Paper presented by the said Commissioners to the Lords Commissioners Decisors Viz. To the Most Honourable Lords my Lords the Commissioners appointed by the King of Great Brittain and the Gentlemen appointed Commissioners by the Lords the States General of the Vnited Provinces for the decision of Differences arisen between the East-India Company of England and that of the said Provinces upon the subject matter of Bantam Most Honourable Lords THe underwritten Deputies of the Dutch East-India Company being desirous not to engage in a fight of Calumnies from which the Conquerour can reap nothing but shame and confusion instead of returning the like to the Gentlemen of the English Company will apply themselves solely to demonstrate in this replication that the Reply far from having undermined the foundation of the Answer has not so much as touched it The English Commissioners having highly maintained in their demand that on the behalf of the High and Mighty Lords the States General and of that of the Dutch Company It was agreed that restitution as they call it of Bantam should be made into His Majesties hands The underwritten before they entered into the discussion of the principal cause in relation of this preliminary point quaestio pre judicialis had proved two things I. That touching the Restitution of Bantam there was nothing concluded nor setled between the two Companies and that their High and Mightinesses were far from disposing of Towns that did not belong to them and to which they had no manner of Right II. And in the second place That the English Company after the change which happened at Bantam could not take hold of the Answer return'd by their High and Mightinesses to Sir John Chardin's Memorial no more than of the Advances which the Dutch Company made in the Year 1683 towards the Accommodating the Differences which the War at Bantam had been the cause of between the two Companies What do the Gentlemen of the English Company reply to this Nothing at all but only bring Sir John Chardin upon the Stage very improperly The question not being what Sir John Chardin acted at the Hague upon the matter of Bantam but only whether the two Companies with the consent of the States did agree to the Restitution of Bantam into the Hands of His Majesty which the underwritten have expresly denyed which was enough to prove that there was nothing concluded between the said Companies Wherefore it may be inferred since the Gentlemen of the English Company pass all this under silence speaking there only of Sir John Chardin that these Gentletlemen do indirectly detract from what they advanced in their Demand touching the Conclusion of the Restitution of Bantam The English Company having had in the Capital City only a Factory and their residence without having made any pretence there to the least Right of Territory it was demanded of the English Deputies with what appearance of Justice the
the good Advice they give us in their former Paper to subdue our passions which are too apt to stir in the Minds of injured Men and for their Prayers in this that God would incline us into the paths of Moderation and Mildness and in requital thereof we shall not only pray to God to forgive them for the Ocean of Innocent Blood they have shed in India but that at length they may repent and forsake those ill Methods by which their People at Batavia have designed to engross the whole Trade of the East-Indies which in truth is much to be feared if timely Remedy be not applyed And as to the English Proceedings in India though the English Company was settled there before the Dutch and our Trade is not yet much inferiour to theirs bating only the Spice and Japan Trades which they have engrossed by such wayes as we have justly accused them of We dare appeal to the Gentlemen themselves and to all People that know any thing of India whether the Dutch Company in the progress of their too well known Methods have not killed Thousands of Indians for one that ever dyed by the English hands upon any Cause or Quarrel whatsoever From whence we may reasonably infer that through God's Mercy we have hitherto been Men of Meekness and great if not too great Moderation considering the manifold provocations we have had Mr. Van Dam we have good thoughts of and the better because he did so frankly condemn those ill Practices of Spellman's and we do not remember nor believe there was any Conditional Words expressed or implyed in his Letter fore-quoted We observe the distinction of time which the Gentlemen now make in which they have been told the English Slaves robbed their Dutch House at Bantam but we believe not one word thereof neither is there any probability of it There is nothing more that we can observe in the Gentlemen's last Paper that deserves the troubling of your Lordships with one Line in Answer thereunto but one short Paragraph which is indeed very material and therefore we shall beg your Lordships leave to repeat it verbatim The say As to the Complaints which the English Deputies have made throughout their whole Reply in Relation to the Dutch exclusive Contracts with Indian Princes the Dutch Company will be very well able to justifie in time and place that which it hath alwayes maintain'd and which it does still maintain concerning the Right of the said Contracts In answer whereunto we say First This is plain dealing throwing the Gantlet to all Nations and amounts to a Confession of that design they have of engrossing the whole Trade of India and that they will and may easily do it is as plain except some speedy Course be taken to defend that Remainder of Ports and Places that are left us in India to trade unto For it is certainly known that any European Nation that is considerable in Naval Power in India may by their Shipping take some Advantage upon the greatest Native Prince of India and it is as certain that any Prince being surpriz'd or his Subjects Estates to a very considerable value will for a present Redemption of his Subjects from the Ruine of such a surprizal grant to the Surprizer any Conditions of Trade exclusive to any other Nation or People residing unarmed in his Country and by Consequence such unarmed People expelled from the Trade of any such Native Prince his Dominions must remain for ever deprived thereof or by force of Arms compel the Restitution which can never be without using force For after such Contract they will make themselves Parties as now they do with the Young King of Bantam and tell us in plain terms as they do your Lordships that they must defend their Allyes and maintain their Contracts or Articles Secondly We say This Assertion makes it evident what the Design of their Fleet now or late in the Gulph of Persia was where if they had prospered in their shutting up all that Great Emperours Ports which in probability they had done if the English Ships there had not undertook the Navigation between India and Persia and if they had not been as by chance they were too many and too strong to be obstructed by the Dutch at that time Your Lordships may easily conceive what Articles that Great Emperour of Persia must have entred into to perswade the Dutch to open his Ports again Thirdly Hereby your Lordships may see by what Title the Dutch hold the whole Trade of the Spice Islands although there be very many of them that have not one Dutchman resident upon them Notwithstanding which we have forborne many Years visiting those Islands because we would shun all occasions that might make any misunderstanding between the two Nations Fourthly We must deny under favour of these Gentlemen that the Dutch have alwayes or at any time maintained or could maintain their pretended Right of such exclusive Contracts which will be manifest to your Lordships not only by the last Articles of Peace and Commerce made with the Dutch but by the large Arguments on both sides which remain upon Record and were managed more closely and to the purpose as to this point than any thing we have seen from these Gentlemen On the part of the Dutch by Mounsieur Van Benninghen and others and on the part of the English by Mr. Secretary Trevor Sir Will. Temple and Sir George Downing The Result of all which long and close Argumentation was as your Lordships may observe it settled in the Treaty That the English might trade to all places and even to places blockard or besieged with any Commodities except contraband Goods Dated in London Decemb. 2. 1685. We are My Lords Your Lordships most Obedient and Humble Servants Josia Child Deputy-Govern Benjamin Bathurst Jeremy Sambrooke The Answer of the Dutch Commissioners Instructors to the Paper last beforegoing Viz. To the Right Honourable the Lords the Commissioners appointed by the King of Great Brittain and the Commissioners nominated by the Lords the States General of the United Provinces for the Decision of the differences arisen between the East-India Companies of England and of the said Provinces about Bantam May it please Your Honours THE Deputies of the Company of Holland having read and considered the Triplique or Third Paper of the Deputies of the English Company They have observed to their great Admiration that those Gentlemen far from acknowledging the Reproaches and Invectives which run through their whole Reply or second Answer do seem to pretend That it ought to be owned as an Obligation that the Dutch Company which is thereby handled and rent in the most outragious manner in the World is treated therein with Mildness and Moderation and that the said Company comes off at so easie a Rate The subscribed instead of rendering injury for injury and making use of the Law of Retaliation do earnestly desire the English Gentlemen to consider That although their Company by
therefrom instead of making a short end of that difference would but retard it Which being once determined to mutual satisfaction we are ready immediately to produce to your Honours a List of our dammages incurred by reason of those Violences offered to our Trade Estate and Servants at Bantam with our Proofs to justifie our said Demands Dated at London first of June 1685. Signed Joseph Ashe Governour Josia Child Deputy Benj. Bathurst Jer. Sambrooke The Second Paper received from the Dutch Commissioners Instructors To the Honourable Sir Joseph Ashe Governour of the English East-India Company Sir Josia Child Deputie-Governour Sir Benjamin Bathurst and Sir Jeremy Sambrook Knights Deputies of the said Company for Bantam Affairs THE underwritten Deputies of the Dutch East-India Company having observed in the Answer of your Honours to their Memorial of the 27 th of the last Month that your Honours do persist in the same Opinion you did maintain in the Conference about the discussion of the business of Bantam having only altered the ground of the said Opinion They the said Deputies cannot but conjure your Honours to call seriously in to your minds all that hath been done as well in Holland as here about the said Affair they being sure that in case your Honours do reflect upon it advisedly and considering that in all the Affair nothing is concluded nor settled your Honours will agree that all the Articles debated and questioned about which Sir John Chardin did demand two Years ago in Holland in the Name of the English Company though without any ground Justice and Satisfaction ought now without any difference or distinction to be judged and determined by the Lords Commissioners Decisors according to the Treaty of the Year 1674-75 which in this present Affair is a Rule and a Law to both Companies Dated at Westminster 5th June 1685. Signed G. Hooft Jacob Van Hoorne S. V. Blocquery A. Paets The English Commissioners Instructors their Answer to the Paper last beforegoing To the Honourable Seigniours Gerard Hooft Jacob Van Hoorne Solomon Van Blocquery and Adriaen Paets Deputies for the Honourable Netherlands East-India Company in the Affair of Bantam THE underwritten Deputies for the English East-India Company having well considered your Honours Replication of the 5 th Instant to their Answer of the 27 th May last say That they cannot now require less of your Honours than what was upon very good and justifiable grounds demanded by Sir John Chardin two Years since at the Hague in the Name of our Soveraign Lord the King then Reigning as well as in the Name of His Majesties East-India Company and which was then consented to by the High and Mighty Lords the States General of the Vnited Netherlands viz. The entire withdrawing of all the Dutch Forces from all the Ports and Territories of both or either of the late Kings of Bantam and Restitution of that Place unto His Maiesty it â—eing of more important concern to His Majesty and His Kingdoms in General than it is to His Majesties East-India Company We have lately and for a long time past humbly supplicated His Deceased Majesty of Glorious Memory and Our Soveraign the King now Reigning that the withdrawing the Dutch Forces and Restitution of Bantam as aforesaid may be first finally adjusted before any Treaty be entred into concerning the English East-India Company 's Dammages which we shall alwayes insist upon And in regard the Netherlands East-India Companies Commissaries and Servants in India not satiated with the late Violences they did at Bantam and formerly at Macassar are at this time by the very same injurious Methods as they deprived us of our Factories and Trade of Macassar and Bantam endeavouring to deprive us of the Trade of all places on the Coast of Malabarr to engross to the Netherland's East-India Company the sole and entire Trade of Pepper which would be intolerable to the interested Great Kings of Europe We must therefore further demand of your Honours That the Fort of Bantam which was built with the English East-India Companies Money may be surrendred to His Majesty undemolished The recent Injuries and Hostilities of the Netherland's East-India Companies Commissaries and Servants upon the Coast of Malabar having created to His Majesty an absolute necessity of securing part of the Pepper Trade to his Subjects which we apprehend cannot be done without a strong English Garrison in the South Seas and at no place so well as at Bantam aforesaid Signed Joseph Ashe Governour Josia Child Deputy Benjamin Bathurst Jer. Sambrooke Dated at London June 10th 1685. The Third Paper received from the Dutch Commissioners Instructors To the Honourable Sir Joseph Ashe Governour of the English East-India Company Sir Josia Child Deputy-Governour Sir Benjamin Bathurst and Sir Jeremy Sambrooke Knights Deputies of the said Company for Bantam Affairs WHereas the underwritten Deputies from the Dutch East-India Company in all that hath passed between them and your Honours about the Bantam business since their arrival in London have had no other Scope but to agree with your Honours in the Method of discussing the said Affair They did expect that in regard of sparing time and saving to the Lords Commissioners Decisors the trouble and tediousness of hearing Debates about the Method of proceeding abovesaid your Honours would have consented to it without any further mention of the Affair in it self But since your Honours proceeding and chiefly your last Paper does give to the said Deputies a just Subject to fear it should be the design to treat the said Affair as Negotiators rather than Instructors of a Cause though the last Quality be the only proper to both and that only conform to their Commission They the underwritten must declare to your Honours That since their Power is only to bring the Differences to an Issue by the Method of the Treaty of the Year 1674-75 they likewise will not go from that way in any manner whatsoever as they will more fully expose it in the presence of the Lords Commissioners Decisors Signed G. Hooft Jacob Van Hoorne S. V. Blockquery A. Paets Dated at Westminster June 11th 1685. The English Commissioners Instructors their Answer to the foregoing To the Honourable Gerard Hooft Jacob Van Hoorne Solomon Van Blocquery and Adriaen Paets Commissioners deputed by the Netherland East-India Company touching the Affairs of Bantam THE underwritten Deputies of the English East-India Company understand not what ground your Honours can find in their last Memorial or otherwise to suspect they design to avoid the Method of the Treaty of the Year 1673-75 or that they pretend to be Commissioners Decisors which the said Deputies do not but only to be Advisers in this great Affair professing to pursue with all sincerity the Method of that Treaty desiring nothing more than to be the happy Instruments of procuring a right Understanding between the two Companies although considering the constant Inclination and late Proceedings of the Netherland East-India Companyes Commissaries and Servants in India to
had sent to the assistance of the King of Bantam had committed great violences upon the Factors Servants and Effects of the English Company at Bantam even to the dispossessing them of and driving them from their antient residence and Mr. Chudleigh then Envoy from his said Majesty to the States General says in the Memorial which he presented to them in the Month of May of the said Year 1683 that the King of Great Brittain his Master having understood by the complaints of his Company of Merchants Trading into the East-Indies in what an extraordinary manner those of Battavia had affronted and drove away from Bantam all those of the English Nation which had been setled there for so many years his Majesty could not avoid being sensible of such a proceeding without the Companies ever troubling themselves with verifying so black an accusation with which they have filled all Europe to prepossess it to the disadvantage of the Company of the United Provinces Sir John Chardin who in the year 1683 was deputed in the behalf of the English Company into Holland for the Affair of Bantam endeavouring to risco the said Company from the plunge into which the want of proofes had cast them thought of changeing the Byafs and instead of accusing the Government of Batavia for having drove the English from Bantam contented himself with imputing their going out of the Town to the suggestion and advice of the said Sieur St. Martin who 't is said had inclined the King of Bantam to turn the English out of his Country making use for proof of an Affirmative so ill founded but on a bare conjecture grounded only upon want of Charity which we shall prove upon the Examination of the principal cause it being enough to observe here by the by that the Circumstances upon which Sir John Chardin grounded his suspition are so little considerable that there is reason to wonder a Man of Parts should pretend to make use of them in a publick manner The Deputies of the English Company holding at present the same Language say in their Memorial which they have annexed to their demand that the Hollanders at Batavia have made and fomented the quarrels between the Old and the Young King of Bantam and in their demand that those of Batavia having made the young King fall into their Snares and drawn him perfidiously under their Yoke to compass to themselves the entire Trade of that Place exclusive to all others compell'd him to put the English out of his Dominions These Complaints are very terrible and at the same time very just if they are true but they are very black Calumnies and very unjust reproaches if they are false as they will be proved to be in the sequel of this Answer 'T is not that the Subscribers think that the Directors of the English Company are the Inventers of it God forbid but that they have only too easily suffered themselves to be led away by Reports ill grounded and sown every where with a design to blacken the Dutch Company and to render it odious But these Reports although they have no other Grounds but Lyes and Scandals have insinuated themselves into the minds of several Persons and especially of the Parties concerned by the means of Credulity Jealousie and Mistrust The Subscribers although they might intrench themselves in a bare Negative and keep solely upon the Defensive without advancing of any Affirmative which may oblige them to Justification and Proofes have notwithstanding proposed to themselves before the discussion of the Justificative Papers of the English Company be entred into to give your Excellencies a true Idea of the Affair of Bantam but not intending to leave their hold which is the Negative but only with a prospect of making their Defence the stronger as it will appear supported by the truth of Facts which are indisputable and which destroy and overthrow from top to bottom all that the Commissioners of the English Company have advanced Sultan Agan King of Bantam and Father to the present King finding himself too weak by reason of his great Age to continue to bear the weight of the Government yielded up the Kingdom of Bantam to his Eldest Son retiring to Turchaser a charming and delightful place about six Leagues from the Town of Bantam and about a League from the Sea to enjoy there an agreeable Repose and to finish there the remainder of his Life in quiet and out of the troubles of the Affairs of the Kingdom The Son having ascended the Throne sent Embassadors to those of Batavia as to his nearest Neighbours to signifie to them his accession to the Empire as he also dispatched others afterwards to the late King of Great Brittain of Glorious Memory who acknowledging their Character gave them such a Reception that the Gentlemen of the English Company themselves exaggerating the Honours which were turned to the said Embassadors here at London saying in the Letter which they wrot to the King of Bantam in the Month of June in the Year 1682 and by consequence two years after his coming to the Crown that they had treated his Embassadors in as magnificent a manner as if they had come from the greatest Prince of the Earth adding in the same Letter that they had heard that God with the consent of his Father had established and settled him on the Throne of the Kingdom of Surosoan that is to say Bantam But the People being accustomed under the Reign of the old King to a looser Government then that of the young King who kept them in subjection they began to murmur and at length took up Arms to throw off the Yoke having engaged in their Party by evil Impressions and Importunities the old King of Bantam whom they had taken out of his Retirement and prevailed with him to make himself Master of the Town and afterwards to besiege the Fort into which the young King had retired to save his Life who seeing himself upon the brink of the Precipice and within two fingers breadth of his Ruine dispatched Letters and Servants to those of the Government of Batavia to represent to them the sad Condition of his Affairs and to pray their Succours But the Gentlemen of the Government of Batavia being too prudent and too circumspect to embarque themselves in an Affair of this importance they thought it fit before they resolved upon any thing upon the sollicitations and instances of the Indian Prince to inform themselves of the Condition of his Affairs and even after having found that they were very bad and almost desperate would not resolve upon any thing notwithstanding in his Favour until they had interposed their good Offices for Peace which being despised by the Father who made no Answer to them they at length took up their Resolution of assisting the Son against the Rebels and to deliver him from the Oppression wherein he was which they had the happiness to Effect and to Re-establish him upon his Throne whereon
c. Their Answer to the Dutch Admirals Letter viz. To the Honourable Rehnier Casembroot and the rest of the Gentlemen of his Council Sirs YOU have been pleased to require us for some time not to unload our Ship the Bengal Merchant now in the Road of the Honourable Companies goods aboard her Should we consent to that How long must our Ship continue here without making an end of her business We have perused and looked over the Marine Treaty between His Majesty of Great Brittain and the States of Holland and we cannot find any Article whereon you can ground or whereby you can justifie the stopping or impeding the unlading the said Ship Bengal Merchant of our said Companies concerns If there is any we trust you will make it known to us if there is none then we desire you to withdraw your intentions of stopping the Boats we have imployed in that Service It is not to be supposed when any of our Ships Arrive to any place where you shall have Wars that our Ships must lye still till you conclude a peace If so what enjoyment have we by the Treaty Boats are to be understood necessaries without which Ships when they come into Harbour cannot do their business Therefore we suppose not mentioned in the Articles of Peace 'T is late of the year and the Ship has but a small time of stay here having more important business in another place Therefore if you bear any Friendship to us as we have no reason to question but you do you will rather assist than hinder us In doing of which you will oblige us to continue what we desire always to be Gombroone the 4th of May 1685. Sirs Your very affectionate Friends Daniel Edwards Francis Snape Another Letter from the Dutch Admiral to the Agent and Council for the English Nation in Persia Dated the 4 / 14th of May 1685. To the very Worthy and Prudent Mr. Daniel Edwards and Francis Snape Our Honoured Friends WE Received this day your most courteous Answer to our request by your Interpreter David by which we understood your demand That we would suffer the Persian Boats and Lighters to unload your Ship and that according to your sense it will by no means be convenient for us to hinder the Boats which come from the shoar to your Ship To which we respectfully Answer that we have no other Thonght nor design than to continue in all friendship with your Nation being ready to serve you in all things as we do heartily wish we could do at this juncture without prejudice to our own honour But seeing we are basely and maliciously trampled upon in this place we don't in the least doubt relying on your goodness that you will take it ill if we should hinder the free passage of our Enemies Boats whilest we besiege this Port as we have determined to do Being heartily sorry that we are forced for the Honour of our Nation to this necessity so that we cannot consent to your demands though in any other occasion we shall heartily demonstrate our selves to be Your most obedient Servants Rehnier Casembroote William Lycochthon Jacob Van Ackersdyck Wr. Van Bullesstraete From the Ship Blew Hulk 14th of May S. N. 1685. Daniel Edwards c. Their Second Letter to the Dutch Admiral dated the 6th of May 1685. with their Protest of the same Date To the Honourable Rehnier Casembroot and rest of the Honoured Gentlemen of his Council Sirs YOur behaviour towards us in impeding our business has been such that we are forced to draw up against you in the behalf of the Right Honourable English East-India-Company the Protest and Declaration now sent you by our Linguist Senior David Your urging your aim and design to be to continue with our Nation in all Amity and Friendship is very improper while you persist against all Law and Reason to obstruct us in our Affairs We are very sorry to be the subject of your Scorn and Contempt for no other reason but because you are compelled to keep up the Honour of your own Nation against the Persians You have forced us to buy and make our selves Masters of Boats for our service which we give you to understand that you may not plead ignorance when met withal by you Sure you must think us to have little regard to our own concerns to let things pass so We trust there may be a means found to remedy these irregular proceedings We are really Gombroone the 6th of May 1685. Your Affectionate Friends Daniel Edwards Francis Snape The PROTEST WHEREAS the Bengal Merchant Captain John Goldsburrough Commander in the service of the Right Honourable English East-India-Company and laden with their Goods arrived this Road the first of May 1685. The 4th ditto we went according to the Course of our Duties to unlade the Ship the Bengal Merchant the Marine Treaty between his most Serene Majesty of Great Britain and the High and Mighty Lords the States General of the Vnited Netherlands nothing hindring but altogether allowing In Order to which we sent off two of the Countrey Boats which we had hired and taken into our service for the same purpose with Orders to go on board the said Ship to bring on shoar what of the said Companies goods should be put on board them In their way the first Boat was stopt and carried away by order and appointment of Rehnier Casembroot Commissary for affairs of the Illustrious Company of Holland which the second Boat perceiving returned again to the shoar notwithstanding they had goods on board them of the said right Honourable English East-India-Companies ordered and appointed to be delivered on board the said Ship the Bengal Merchant which they likewise carried away in the first boat detaining some time and afterwards returning them on shoar to us All which appears to us to be utterly against the sense and meaning of the first Article of the said Marine Treaty and therefore a manifest breach of the Peace We therefore in the name and behalf of the said Right Honourable English East-India-Company do protest and declare against the said Rehnier Casembroot Commissary for the said Illustrious Company of Holland for and lay to his charge to answer at such times and places as the same shall be demanded according to the Rules of Justice and Equity and in conformity to what is provided for in such cases in the said Marine Treaty all dammages that may arise to the Right Honourable English East-India-Company by these their Actions and also for all other dammages that may ensue to any of the Servants of the said Company either in Life Body goods or Estate Dated in Gombroone the 6th of May 1685. Signed and Delivered in the Presence of Daniel Edwards Francis Snape John Gorbold David Shaameir Armenian The Dutch Admiral 's Counter-Protest Dated 7 / 17 May 1685. Viz. A Counter Protestation against the unjust Complaints of Daniel Edwards and Francis Snape both Resident in Persia in the Service of
the Honourable English Company Sirs WE received last Night your Protestation by which we understand to our great Admiration the Complaints which you were pleased to produce for the siezing of a certain Persian Boat rowing amongst our Ships which you pretend to have hired for the unlading of your Ship the Bengall Merchant as also accusing us for detaining the Goods for some time which were carried in her In answer to which ye cannot be ignorant how that this Port and Persian Bay hath been blockt up with Eight or Nine Ships for almost a whole year And although our Agents be attending the Persian Court to compose those differences Nevertheless our Men were Hostilely driven from the Coasts our Flagg thrown down and that according to report the Inhabitants of the City of Gombrone threatned us that we should be overwhelmed here in this Port with the Persian Sea Forces which things Nature it self teacheth us to prevent And forasmuch as it seems good to us to destroy all the Persian Ships yet it never came into our thoughts you should incur any Damage by it as you your selves very well know it was not done in the unlading or lading of the Ship Williamson who came and went although loaden with Persian Goods But on the contrary we offered Yesterday to your Interpreter David when the aforesaid Persian Boat was seized on sailing amongst our Fleet our Long-boats for your Service to unlade your Ship and for that very reason we were no hindrance at all in the least to your Affairs And that our Ships might be rendred secure from the imminent dangers of our roving Enemies who affirmed they sailed under your Name and by your Order But you seem to incline rather to accuse us very unjustly that we had seized on your Goods being two Chests of Rose-water rather than to accept of our kindness in offering our Long-boats The aforesaid Interpreter David took along with him those two little Chests with the same Boat which brought him from the Shoar whilest that sloop was carryed down to our Ship. And seeing the Case is thus you seem to darken the truth of things by patcht-up Fictions and forged Tales This your so ill-grounded and strange Accusations does not at all concern us seeing that even from the beginning of this Expedition we have patiently borne all those Calumnies by which we have been aspersed for some time by some of your Nation amongst the Persians And loseing Ground here in our Affairs especially by your promises to them That you with Six Ships will drive us from this Port and Castle of Kisim Concerning the which we can produce sufficient proofs and withal manifest we gave you not the least Cause But all things were carryed on with such apparent loss to our Company And moreover you did intend also to force us to suffer the Boats of our Enemies to pass and repass us safely Therefore we protest in the Name of the Dutch East-India Company That we will be Innocent of all such Damages Wounds Slaughters Losses and other Inconveniences which may arise from one Cause or other Dated from the Ship Blew Hulke at the Siege of the Port of the City of Gombroon 17 th May S. N. 1685. Your Most Affectionate Friends We the underwritten do affirm that the foregoing Protestation was Delivered Rehnier Casembroot W. Lycochthon Jacob Van Askerdyck Wr. V. Bullestraete Claas Meynderw S. Visnigh The Protest of Captain John Goldsborough against the Dutch Admiral Dated June the 1st 1685. WHereas there is a Treaty Marine between our Most Gracious Sovereign Lord the Most Serene and Mighty Prince CHARLES the Second by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. and the High and Mighty Lords the States General of the Vnited Netherlands to be observed through all and every the Countreys and parts of the World by Sea and Land concluded at London the First day of December 1674. In which Treaty there is Liberty for the Subjects of the King of England to trade freely to any Ports and Places in the World without hindrance or molestation although the said High and Mighty Lords the States General or any of their Subjects be in actual Hostility and War with such Ports and Places Now these presents shew that the Ship Bengall Merchant John Goldsborough Commander in the Service of the Honourable the Governour and Company of Merchants in London trading to the East-Indies arrived in Gombroone Road in the Gulph of Persia and in the Dominions of that King the First day of May 1685 where were Six Ships belonging to the Dutch Vnited Netherlands East-India Company riding before the Town of Gombroone Commanded in chief by Rehnier Casembroot as Admiral who pretended to be at Wars with the Persians and victoriously then rode in Triumph in the midst of a few Trankeys or Persian Boats which he had seized On Sunday the Third of May the said Admiral sent me word aboard our Ship Bengall Merchant and the same in Writing he sent ashoar unto the Honourable English East-India Companyes Factors in Gombrone That they being now at Wars with the Persians would not suffer any of the Persian Boats to help unlade our Ship To which I answered That the next Morning Boats were appointed to come off to begin to unlade us and that in each of them there would be an English Man whereby the Admiral or his People might know that they were Boats imployed in the English Service and I desired they would give us no hindrance or molestation in our business Our Factors from the Shoar sent off one to the said Admiral and his Council whom he found resolved to stop all Persian Boats from coming off to us On the Fourth of May Six Boats were provided by our Factors for the unlading our Ship of the Honourable English East-India Companyes Goods and in each of the Boats an English Man The First Boat that came off the Dutch sent their Boat from the Admiral 's Ship and seized and carryed her aboard of the Admiral with one of our Men named Thomas Morley in her and several Goods in her ordered by our Companies Factors to be put on board of our Ship. The rest of the Six Boats seeing the First Boat taken returned ashoar and those of them that were not put from shoar remained there and so we could get none off This Action of the Admiral and his Council was committed by them whilest Senior David was aboard with them he being Linguist unto the Honourable English East-India Companies Factors in this place and sent by them with a Letter to inform the Admiral and his Councel That these Boats whereof he had taken one were imployed in the English Service and by the Treaty Marine ought not to be hindred The Goods that were Laden in the Persian Boat for our Ship the Dutch took out and put into our Boat by force she being there waiting upon the Linguist Seniour David who seeing the
Polloway and Pollaroone Nutmeg Islands and depriving them of the Trade of Banda Seram and others of the Banda Islands as also of the Trades of the Moluccas or Clove Islands not to revive the History of that unparallel'd inhumanity at Amboyna and in latter times by their depriving them of the Pepper Trades of Japarra Andragera Lampoon Pollinbam and Jambee in the South-Seas and Porcat upon the Coast of Mallabar besides those Things and Places lately complained of by His Majesties Envoy at the Hague And if any English Gentleman would be further satisfied as to those past injuries we need only referr them to Mr. Purchas's Pilgrims the first part toward the latter end of that Book Thirdly Ask any plain hearted Bewinthebber or any honest Dutch Skipper that knows India whether the Dutch have not been contriving these Twenty years to turn the English out of the Trade of Pepper and whether their General Matsuker at Batavia had not a Warrant dormant and since him their late General Van Goens to enterprize that business of Bantam when ever they could effect it Fourthly Ask any sober minded man whether the encroaching restless covetous humour of the Dutch Company hath not imbroyled the two Nations in great Wars and Blood-shed within the space of one age and whether it be Wisdom to try that hazardous experiment again with such a load of guilt upon them Whether it were not more prudent since they have the noble places of Trade in India already to sit down quietly and let their Neighbours peaceably imploy their industry to gain a penny by their leavings Whether that encroaching Game be not played far enough already and it were not Wisdom now to set bounds to their Dominion in India as their wiser States-men seem to have set bounds to the encrease of their Territory at home least indignation provoke the great Kings of Europe to visit those remote Regions w th their Royal Navies at their proper charge and thereby discover a secret yet unobserved by the Kings of Europe viz. That Sampsons strength lies in his locks more than in his Brains or his robust body and bones and that the dutch Company is no less hated in India by all Nations by reason of their Tyranny and Oppression than their State in Europe is loved by their best Friends and Confederates Whether their own people in India which are a mixture of all fugitive Europeans do not think themselves under great Slavery by reason of their Companies severity and whether their very countenances as well as their discourses do not discover their discontents as the very Clothes or rather want of Clothes of their common Sea-men proclaims their excessive penury Whereas on the contrary the Dutch Sea-men in Europe may be distinguisht from other Nations by the neatness wholeness cleanliness and sufficiency of their garments And whether if they be pressed hard in India now they have stretched their Arms so wide and grasp't so much they will not be found much weaker then they were Fifty years past when they had not half so many Forts and their own Servants and the Natives necks were not so gaul'd by their Iron Yokes which have since been straitned upon them Verbum sapienti sufficit To wave long and tedious discourses the short case is whether a Contract for the sole Commerce with any Countrey or a small Fort upon a Coast of a vast Extent or the pretence of War with any of the Native Princes shall deprive any Europe Nation being in Friendship with the Dutch from Trading to such Countrey in India where such Contract hath been made or such Fort built or such pretence of War begun we say none of these can or ought to hinder a Nation in friendship with the Dutch from Trading with the Natives of that Countrey or People without making War in India every moment of time that any Nation hath peace with the Dutch in Europe Before we proceed to the argument we own that where-ever the Dutch have the sole Occupancy or the exercise of the sole Dominion of any place or Countrey they may without breach of Peace prohibit any Friend-Nation from Trading to that place and this concession overthrowes all the arguments they draw from the English Laws of preserving or confining the sole Trade of Barbadoes Virginia c. to the Kings subjects only To give some instances of the Case or Proposition before asserted which will open the Readers understanding We shall begin at the North of India viz. It is famously known that the Emperour of Persia owes the English Company a vast sum of money for the Arrears of their half Custom of Gombroon due to them for the expence of their Blood and Treasure in helping the Persian to take Ormus from the Portugueez Now if the English should at any time think fit to War on this indubitably just occasion upon the King of Persia and his Subjects for the Recovery of their known just Debt suppose the Dutch should come at the same time to Trade with their Ships in goods not Contraband at Gombroon and the English should hinder them from Trading or from the Natives Lighters or Boats to Land their goods and Ballast their Ships Would not the Dutch cry out loudly and justly This is against natural Right and a breach of the peace And would it be any diminution of the unjustice to say the English would lend them Boats Might not they reply what is lent is not of Right but of Courtesie and may be taken again when the lender pleaseth Besides that it would be a scorn and contempt put upon the Dutch Nation in sight of the Persians to tell them you shall have no Boats but what we please But this hath never been the English practice whose it is the Reader will see hereafter by Transcripts of the following Papers Translated from the Latin Originals viz. A Letter sent by Rehnier Casembroot as Admiral of the Dutch Ships then in Gombroone Road and his Councel To Daniel Edwards Agent and the rest of the Councel for the English Nation in Persia dated the 2d of May 1685. To Mr. Edwards Resident in the Kingdom of Persia For the Illustrious English Company FOrasmuch as at this time there is such difference between us and the Persians that lately in an Hostile manner they prohibited us their Countrey we would not seem to be careless in that matter but by this our very Friendly Letter do intimate manifest request and heartily advise you That according to the Marine Treaty between His Majesty of England and the High and Mighty States of the Vnited Provinces ye would defer for some time the un-loading the Ship called the Bengal Merchant lying in this Road. In so doing you will oblige us in like manner to requite you for the future Your Friends ready to serve you in all Affection and Duty R. Casembroot W. Lycochthon Jacob Van Ackersdycke Wr. V. Bullestraete From the Ship Blew Hulke 12th of May 1685. Daniel Edwards
Governour and Council of Palliacatt To the English Governour and Council of Fort St. George bearing Date the â—…th of August 1686. To the Honourable William Gyfford President Governour of the Honourable English East-India-Company Residing in the Castle of St. George at Madrasse as also the Council Honourable Sir and good Friends IT cannot be unknown to your Honours how our Honourable Netherlands East-India-Company for some years on this Coast of Choromandel by the great Ministers of State and other lesser Governours and Servants of the Gulcondah Crown Bearer as well in the Low Lands of the North from Orixa to Metchlepatam as also in the Lands of Carnatica are Abused and Affronted in many unspeakable manners which we principally regard the often unjust besieging the City of Pollicatt by the Seeur Lascar Lingapah the stopping of the Cloth Trade in Carnatica the shameful Robberies committed at Sadrassapatam in the said Kings Territories also in Pondeand and Barwa in the Dominion of Orixa and especially a year last past the greatest Force on the Companies onely great Merchant Sermin Codenda committed by Pandiet Akkana who hath unjustly seized the said Merchant and put him in prison Whereupon our President with the aforesaid Akkana as also the great Pandiet Madana his Brother have used all means even with Protest to get the said Merchants out of their hands because the said Merchants are indebted to the Company above One Hundred Sixty Eight Thousand Pagodaes which was not only insignificant but also of so little consideration that the said Pandiet Akkana thereupon in the sight of the King hath forbidden the whole Trade of the Companies Northern Factories with charges to his under Governours to deprive the Honourable Companies Servants in all places and all Factories of any manner of Livelyhood and that all Weavers and other Workmen should be commanded not to deliver what they had in their hands of our Merchants All which proceedings with other of less import as the stopping the Baligatts by the lesser Governour to force the Honourable Companies presents from them as also their threatnings on several occasions which because we would not be too tedious we will pass by All which is unsufferable and against the Law of Nations and the Honourable Companies dear bought and against the Kings own Phirmaunds by which the Honourable Company besides the aforesaid Robberies Force and Affronts have suffered by the aforesaid Merchants Chodenda who is Bankrupt the loss of One Hundred Fifty Nine Thousand Pagodaes not reckoning the dammage in the stopping of Trade whereupon the Right Honourable Governour General and the Honourable Council of India cannot swallow such unreasonable overgrown injuries and have been forced to resolve the better to come by our right in recompence of our great loss for the injuries and affronts done us to take in possession by the forces now sent us the City Metchlepatam and by this means to bring the King and his Counsellors the sooner to make due satisfaction But before this undertaking the High Honourable the honourable Governour General and the Honourable Council of India have sent their chosen Governour and Honourable Commissioner Lawrence Pitts to the King of Gulcondah to make known in all Friendship the Companies just demands who notwithstanding all Remonstrances and endeavours could get no satisfaction but after the loss of much time hath been forced to go away without effecting any thing Which resolution aforesaid of the High Honourable to take in possession the City of Metchlapatam is put in execution and by Gods blessing and the Companies Arms so effected that we now for our Company this 26th of July are Masters of the aforesaid City of Metchlepatam wherein according to our Orders and to the maintaining our Friendships we shall not incommode or hinder your Honours to imbarque in your Ship from your Factory at Metchlepatam what goods you have ready by you as you have occasion and to disimbarque all your Provisions and Merchandize which are brought by your Ships to Metchlepatam and lay them up in your Factory but not to carry them without the City to dispose of them to any Merchants or Subjects of the King of Gulcondah so long as our Company hath not satisfaction from the King and keep possession of the Town which is done the sooner to bring the King to due Complyance as we have said more at large and therefore 't is thought convenient by the High Honourable the Honourable Governour General and Council of India that your Honours may suffer no dammage by these proceedings that what goods you have bargained for and are yet in the Countrey should be brought to your Factory at Metchlepatam within Six or at the utmost Eight Weeks from the time of our taking possession of the Town In which time what your Honours have to be brought in it is convenient to acquaint us with that we may give Orders accordingly The Bearer hereof is the Keeper of our Chamber from whom be pleased to receive it taking notice that 't is for the interest of you Honourable Company and is represented with all Friendship from them who after Friendly Salutations remain Your Honours Ready Friends and Servants John Pitts Joannes Huysman Rehnier Jacobson Tall â—… August 1686. The English Governour and Council at Fort St. George Their answer to the foregoing Letter To the Honourable Jacob Jorreson Pitts Commissary and Governour of Palliacat c. Council for the Affairs of the Right Honourable Netherlands East-India Company Honourable Sirs c. WE have Received a large Declaration from your Honours Dated the 3 / 13th of August 1686. of the State and pretended grounds of the quarrel between His Majesty the King of Gulcondah and the Right Honourable Netherlands East-India-Company and you have also acquainted us that you have taken into your possession his Port of Metchlepatam And because we are strangers to the particular Causes of this Warr we can say nothing to it but must in part believe your Honours report yet we are not ignorant of your farther design therein and we wish it may not be one of your designs to overthrow our Right Honoura-Companies Trade there as hath been practised already too much particularly at Bantam and since at Sumatra for which you are still accomptable for we have ever observed that in all your Contracts with the Kings and Princes of these Countries after a forced Compliance you endeavour to exclude us Trade in their Ports which general design your Honours may be well assured is now discovered and much resented in Europe and thanks be to God we have a King that will not put up such dishonours and injuries to our Nation and we must tell you that 't is too great for you to appoint us what we have to do inreference to our Trade at Metchlepatam though you have possession thereof and to restrain us therein for we know of no obligation to observe such directions the house and ground of our Factory being our Right Honourable
pre-admonish you not to be any ways instrumental or confederate with them in the same having just reason to suspect you by your bad Neighbourhood at Aja Rajee from whence came several Mallayes by Night surpriz'd our people by Night on board Sloop William then Riding off the Qualla at Indrapoura Road where they most barbarously and treacherously murthered several Englishmen and black Servants also carryed with them very considerable quantities of the Right Honourable Companies Bale goods c. Some of them afterwards being taken and examined declared your people to be the encouragers and authors thereof with other actions of bad circumstance which are too notorious at present to nominate Therefore in the Name of his Royal Majesty of England and Right Honourable English East-India-Company Protest against you and your Imployers that you are lyable to make intire satisfaction for whatever dammage or dammages they have already sustained or hereafter shall accrew to them by your indirect means Also in His Majesties Name require and command your speedy departure from hence and not to violate the Articles concluded between his Serene Majesty of Great Britain and the United States of Holland by obstructing and molesting us in our lawful Trade and Commerce on this West-Coast of Sumatra or infringing upon the Rights of His Royal Majesty of England and priviledges of the Right Honourable Company by any Hostility or ill usage either to their Servants or Confederates in what nature soever Signed Samuel Potts Dated at Batan Capass the 31th July 1686. But the Dutch say in their Printed Treatise they came thither three dayes before us To which we answer briefly First If they did it was purposely to hinder us because they had Pepper enough at their own places and more then they know what to do with Secondly If they came first they came wrongfully because they came with Arms to Erect a Fortress upon the King of Englands ground Thirdly If they had any pretence of Right on that side of the River they were on they might have stayed there peaceably the English did not molest them notwithstanding they had no right to be there Fourthly It s manifest they had no pretence of Right because they did not produce any to the Emperors two Sons while they were present upon the place Fifthly If they had had the justest Title in the World they ought not to have used Hostility That being a direct breach of the Treaty Marine Anno 1674-75 by which all dammages done by either Company are to be adjusted by Commissioners in Europe But this going to Batan Capass of the Dutch is but an old practise of theirs to hinder other Nations in Amity with them For so when the French Fleet Arrived in India before the War begun the Batavians by Consultation of the 30th of April 1672. Sent presently to the Island of Banca to set up the Dutch Flag there hoping thereby as they say in that Consultation that the French might alter their enterprize though they had no Flag there before and if the Dutch had done no more at Batan Capass we should have had the less cause to complain except of their insatiable Avarice but to proceed to Hostility as they did at Batan Capass is abominable Now to turn the Tables and shew how directly contrary the English treated the Dutch at Pryaman the real truth of that case is this The English Company being expelled from Bantam by the Dutch practises before-mentioned thought it their bounden duty to His Majesty not tamely to forego all the Pepper Trade for fear of a little charge as their Ancestors did the other Spice Trade after the Dutch had forced them from Banda Amboyna c. did send an Embassy to the Queen of Atcheen to settle a Trade with her Subjects for Pepper and built a Fort in her Countrey But while the said Embassadors were at Atcheen on that occasion some of the Orran Kays or Princes of Pryaman and Teco came thither on their own accords unsent for and applyed themselves to the said English Embassadors or Envoys and acquainted them that their Countreys as the truth is afforded more Pepper than the Queen of Atcheen's and the English should not onely be wellcome to Trade with them but to build a Fort in any part of their Countrey Upon which the English Envoys told the Oran Kays of Pryaman and Teco That if they would go to Fort St. George or send thither some persons sufficiently authorized they might better make their Contract with the English President and Council there then with them who were but Servants to the said President and Council and accordingly some of the said Oran Kays authorized by the rest did go over to Fort St. George in an equipage suitable to the occasion with very many attandants and did there make an absolute Agreement and conveyed unto His Majesty for the use of His East-India-Company the Soveraignty of Pryaman and as much of the ground thereunto adjoining as might be contained within the Ramble of a Shot from a piece of Ordnance Whereupon Two or Three Ships and Three or Four Sloops were immediately prepared and furnished with Souldiers and all materials necessary for a Fortified Settlement But a day before the said Ships and Vessels should have sailed for Pryaman the President and Council at Fort St. George Received advice from the King of Bencoolen that he was willing and extreamly desirous the English would settle and Fortifie in His Countrey Upon which after all the Orders were perfected for Pryaman The President and Council by Postscript ordered the Fleet and Soldiers c. designed thither to proceed first to Bencoolen being supposed the windmost Port and settle that place All this preparation wherein so many were concerned could not be so secretly carryed but that the Dutch had notice of it and thereupon sent Eight or Ten Soldiers and Twenty or Thirty pitiful black Fellows to take possession of Pryaman who built there a small Booth or Cajan-house landed Five or Six small Guns and inclosed some Ground with a slight Pallisadoe After which one of the smaller of the Companies Ships coming to Pryaman upon a Presumption that the English were setled there found those few Dutch in the posture before-mentioned Notwithstanding with Forty or Fifty of the English under the Command of James Jenifer second Mate and Purser of the said Ship marched into the said Dutch inclosure as far as their Booth with their Arms fixed and could have taken possession of the said Inclosure with as much ease as Ten Men could beat One not only because they were much stronger and were within the Dutch Guns But also because the Dutch Soldiers themselves such as they were being most Blacks came to them and told them they had no Shot in their Guns or small Arms And that if they came to take the place desired them they would shoot no Bullets as they were resolved not to do themselves but to submit to the English Notwithstanding