jealously on these efforts of Englishmen and Dutchmen to exploit the
East to their own advantage. In 1609 we learn that the subjects of Henry
IV, "who had long aspired to make themselves strong by sea," took the
opportunity of a treaty made between James I and the French King to "set
on foot this invention, a society to trade into the East Indies," with a
capital of four million crowns. Becher, the English ambassador at Paris,
wrote in 1609 to Lord Salisbury that Dutch seamen were being "engaged at
great pay and many of their ships bought." The States-General strongly
remonstrated against this proceeding, and threatened to "board the
French ships wherever they found them, and hang all Flemings found in
them." This threat appears to have been effectual, and the project was
abandoned. A little later, in 1614, the French again projected taking
part in the East India trade, and accounts were current in London
concerning ships and patents from King Louis, but this, too, ended
lamely and nothing practical was effected for full half a century.
The company always had before it the danger of attack by Spanish or
Portuguese, and its captains and agents were put perpetually on their
guard. But it never seems to have occurred to the court of committees
that there was any danger to be apprehended from the Dutch, so that they
were all the more astonished and chagrined at the failure to establish
trade with the Moluccas, where the natives were so friendly to the
English and offered them every facility, but, owing to Dutch oppression,
in vain.
In the first voyage James Lancaster had established factories at Achin
and Bantam. In the second voyage Sir Henry Middleton was instructed to
endeavor to found a factory on the island of Banda. He carried on some
trade, but neither he nor his successor in the third voyage, Captain
Keeling, was able to override the opposition of the Dutch and secure a
foothold. In the instructions issued to the last-named he was requested
to establish, if possible, a factory at Aden, from whence he was to
proceed to the Gulf of Cambay, seeking a good harbor there "for the
maintenance of a trade in those parts hereafter in safety from the
danger of the Portuguese, or other enemies, endeavoring also to learn
whether the King of Cambay or Surat, or any of his havens, be in
subjection to the Portuguese--and what havens of his are not?--together
with the dangers and depths of the water, there for passage, that by
this certain notice and diligent inquiry--which we wish to be set down
in writing for the company's better information--whereby we may
hereafter attempt further trade there, or otherwise desist."
In no fighting mood, therefore, was the company--whatever their
servants' views--but prudently inclined to keep out of the way of the
once terrible and still dreaded Portuguese. In vain, as we have seen,
did Captain Hawkins exert himself to obtain concessions from the Grand
Mogul which would survive the displeasure of his European rivals, who
had by their ships, arms, and intrigues completely terrified the
governors and petty rajahs of the coast.
In 1611 Anthony Hippon, in the Globe, sailed for the Coromandel (or
Madras) coast with the object of setting a factory, if possible, at
Pulicat, and sharing in the port-to-port trade which the Dutch had
lately built up there. The idea seems to have originated with a couple
of Dutchmen, named Floris and Antheunis, formerly in the Dutch service,
who were charged with the management of the business. So far as Pulicat
was concerned, the scheme failed, but the captain of the Globe, resolved
to land his factory somewhere, lit upon Pettapoli, farther up the coast,
where he arrived on August 18, 1611. This was the company's first
settlement in the Bay of Bengal. But although the reception from the
local governor and the King of Golconda was friendly, yet the place
proved to be a deadly swamp and the trade was small.
When the landing of certain factors and merchandise had thus taken place
at Pettapoli, Captain Hippon set sail farther northward to the ancient
port of Masulipatam, which, forming "a coveted roadstead on the open
coast line of Madras," was destined to be the theatre of much truculent
rivalry between the European traders on the Coromandel coast. Here, on
the last day of August, Hippon and Floris landed, and a factory was set
up. A cargo of calicoes was duly obtained, whereupon the Globe departed
for Bantam and the Far East to seek spices and pepper in exchange. Such
were the beginnings of English trade on the east of the Indian
peninsula. Two years later the company's servants received from the
Hindu King of Vitayanagar a firman to build a fort, written on a leaf of
gold--a document which was preserved at Madras until its capture by the
French in the next century.
Following hard upon their summary dismissal from Surat, Middleton,
Hawkins, and the rest, disinclined for their masters' sake to come to
close quarters with the Dutch in the Spice Islands, directed their views
to the establishment of a factory at Dabul. In this likewise they
failed. In despair at not procuring a cargo, they went in for piracy and
fierce retaliation upon the Turkish authorities for their treatment of
them in the Red Sea. A couple of vessels hailing from Cochin were
captured, and some cloves, cinnamon, wax, bales of china silk, and rice
were taken out of them and removed to the ship Trade's Increase.
In the midst of a lively blockade of the Red Sea ports they were joined
by Captain John Saris, with four ships, belonging to the company's
eighth voyage, who agreed to lend his forces for whatever the combined
fleets undertook, if granted a third of the profits for the benefit of
his particular set of subscribers. All this anomalous confusion between
the various interests within the same body corporate could have but one
issue. The rival commanders took to quarrelling over the disposition of
the hundred thousand pieces-of-eight which Middleton hoped to squeeze
out of the Governor of Mocha for outrages upon the English fleet. Strife
ran high between them, and in the end Saris in the Clove and Towerson in
the Hector sailed away from the Red Sea, leaving Middleton and Downton
to settle matters on their own account.
Powerless to obtain compensation from the Governor of Mocha, Middleton
proceeded to make unceremonious levy on all the shipping he could lay
his hands upon. On August 16th the Trade's Increase set sail, in company
with the Peppercorn, for Tiku, where two others of the company's ships
were anchored. Middleton very soon discovered that the Trade's Increase
was in a leaky condition; he had hardly got her out of Tiku when she ran
aground--for the second time in her brief history. She was floated and
brought opposite Pulo Panzang, in Bantam Bay, where the cargo was taken
out and stored on shore. The ship, which King James had christened and
in which Sir Henry Middleton took such pride, was careened on the beach
for repairs. During the process a renegade Spaniard formed a plot to
burn her to the water's edge, and one night carried it successfully
into execution--a catastrophe which is said to have so affected the
doughty old commander, Sir Henry Middleton, that he sickened and died at
Bantam, May 24, 1613.
The many exploits of Middleton, the _doyen_ of the company's servants in
the East, well deserve to be read: the hardships he had suffered, the
difficulties he had to contend with, the jealous cabals of which he had
been the victim. Among the many insubordinates that prevailed, Captain
Nicholas Downton, one of the ablest commanders in the service, was not
to be persuaded, despite the plots and schemes occasionally undertaken
for that purpose, to abandon the respect and loyalty he owed the old
sea-dog. Once, when in the Red Sea, Middleton wrote sharply to Downton
for an alleged fault; the latter was filled "with admiration and grief."
"Sir," he replied, "I can write nothing so plain, nor with that
sincerity, but malicious men, when they list, may make injurious
construction; but evil come to me if I meant ill to Sir Henry Middleton
or any part of the business. God be judge between him and me, if ever I
deserved the least evil thought from him. I desire that he were so much
himself that he would neither be led nor carried by any injurious person
to abuse an inseparable friend."
Wholly ignorant of the fate reserved for Middleton and the "mightie
merchantman," the Trade's Increase, Downton resumed command of the
Peppercorn and returned direct to England with a full cargo. Many times
her timbers sprang aleak on the voyage--for she was but a jerry-built
craft at best--but she finally got into the harbor of Waterford,
September 13, 1613. Here the rudest of rude welcomes awaited Downton. He
was visited by the sheriff and arrested on a warrant from the Earl of
Ormond, charged with committing piracy. But, for the present, the plots
of his and Middleton's enemies miscarried; their victim was released,
and in a few weeks' time was back in the Thames. Downton's proved zeal
and endurance won him the applause and favor of the merchant
adventurers, and the command of the first voyage under the joint-stock
system in the following year.
Meanwhile, each year the company had been sending out a small fleet of
ships to the East; it was now beginning also to receive communications
from its agents and factors, who, as we have seen, were being slowly
distributed at various points east of Aden. Irregular as the receipt of
these advices was, and incomplete and belated in themselves, they yet
were a useful guide to the company in equipping its new ventures.
"We are in great hope to get good and peaceful trade at Cambay and
Surat," writes Anthony Marlowe to the company from Socotra, "where our
ship, by God's grace, is to ride. Our cloth and lead, we hear, will sell
well there; our iron not so well as at Aden; that indigo we shall have
good store at reasonable rates; and also calicoes and musk, and at Dabul
good pepper; so as I hope in God the Hector shall make her voyage at
those places and establish a trade there, to the benefit of your
worships and the good of our country."
For Captain Keeling, Marlowe has many words of praise. "His wisdom,
language, and carriage are such as I fear we shall have great want of at
Surat in the first settling of our trade." Of some of the other servants
of the company Marlowe is not so enthusiastic, and he does not spare his
opinion of their characters. In a subsequent letter we are brought right
face to face with a very pretty quarrel between Hippon, the master of
the Dragon, and his mate, William Tavernour, in which Hawkins tries to
act as peacemaker, but is foiled by the bloodthirsty Matthew Mullinux,
master of the Hector, who had himself a private grudge against the said
Tavernour, or, as is written here, "a poniard in pickle for the space of
six months."
"And not contented with this (he) afterward came up upon the deck and
there before the boatswain and certain of us did most unchristianlike
speak these words: that if he might but live to have the opportunity to
kill the said Tavernour he would think it to be the happiest day that
ever he saw in his life, an it were but with a knife."
There seems to have been a surfeit of these internecine brawls for some
time to come, and, indeed, stories of dissensions among the servants of
the company in the East are plentifully sprinkled throughout its
history, both in this century and the next. Of hints for trade the
company's agents are profuse in this growing correspondence.
"There is an excellent linen," writes one of them, "made at Cape
Comorin, and may be brought hither from Cochin in great abundance if the
Portugals would be quiet men. It is about two yards broad or better and
very strong cloth, and is called _cachade Comoree_. It would certainly
sell well in England for sheeting." Here we see the genesis of the
calico trade.
The company is informed that "if Moorish girdles, Turks, and cloaks will
yield any profit, I pray give advice. They are here in abundance and the
great chief merchandise. There is also a market for cloth of all kinds
of light and pleasing colors, pleasing to the eye, as Venice reds,
stamels, some few scarlets for presents, and also to sell to great men,
popinjay greens of the brightest dye, cinnamon colors, light dove
colors, peach colors, silver colors, light yellows with others like, but
no dark or sad colors, for here they are not vendible. Those of the last
voyage are yet upon our hands and will not be sold for the monies that
they cost in England." Thenceforward, it is to be supposed, the company
bought no more of the "suitings of the Puritans," then growing to be the
vogue at home.
"Of new drinking-glasses, trenchers for sweetmeats, but especially
looking-glasses of all sorts and different prices--but not small
baubles--some reasonable quantity would be sold to good profit, and I
verily suppose that some fair large looking-glass would be highly
accepted of this King, for he affects not the value in anything, but
rarity in everything, insomuch that some pretty new-fangled toys would
give him high content, though their value were small, for he wants no
worldly wealth or riches, possessing an inestimable treasury, and is, it
is thought, herein far exceeding the Great Turk."
Throughout all their reports and epistles the captains and factors
appear above all anxious to establish themselves on the mainland, and
express much indignation at the conduct of Macarab Khan, the Mogul's
vizier, at his juggling with their hopes.
"If it please God we attain Surat," sighs one of the factors, "how
comfortable it will be to those there, beneficial to the trade, and
commodious to your worship." Jostled aside, tormented by the Dutch in
the eastern archipelago and by the Turks in the Red Sea, what wonder
that the company and its servants now longed to displace the Portuguese
in India itself?
At home the company had despatched, in 1612, as its tenth expedition,
three vessels. They comprised the stout old Dragon, commanded by Captain
Thomas Best; the Solomon, alias the James, and the Hoseander. Was the
new effort of Best and Kerridge, one of his supercargoes, to establish a
factory at Surat to be more successful than that of Middleton in 1610?
While the Solomon was forthwith ordered elsewhere in search of trade,
Best, with the other two vessels, reached Swally, near the mouth of the
Surat River, early in the month of September, 1612. Here Kerridge,
disembarking with several companions, was well received by the native
merchants and inhabitants, although gaining the disapprobation of the
Portuguese. He obtained permission to land some broadcloths, lead, iron,
and quicksilver, procuring in exchange for these such Surat merchandise
as the company had recommended him to acquire as suitable for the
purchase of pepper and spices at Achin and Bantam.
In the midst of these agreeable transactions the Portuguese swept down
upon the company's men, with four ships, mounting one hundred
twenty-four guns, besides a large flotilla of small native galleys. As
they advanced, thinking to cut him off and board him, Captain Best
perceived, with the intuition of the trained mariner, the weakness of
their formation. He called out to Captain Pettie, of the Hoseander, to
follow him, and, singling out the two largest of the Portuguese vessels,
prepared to dash straight for them, his gunners, half naked, standing
ready and alert for the word of command which should begin the fray.
But to Best's confusion the Hoseander budged not a rod, being gripped
fast by her anchors. In this predicament there was nothing for it. Best
must close with the enemy single-handed. Placing his Red Dragon between
the Portuguese admiral and vice-admiral, the company's commander gave
orders to the gunners, and the battle commenced by the firing of a
double broadside, which "well peppered" the enemy, who responded by
splintering the Englishman's mainmast and sinking his long-boat.
"Having exchanged some forty great shot of each side," reports an
eye-witness of the battle to the company, "the night being come they
anchored in sight of each other, and the next morning our ships weighed
again and began their fight again, which continued some three hours, in
which time they drove three of their galleons on the sands. And so our
ships came to anchor, and in the afternoon weighed anchor, in which time
the flood being come the galleons, with the help of the frigates, were
afloat again."
Yet there was to be more and fiercer fighting against even greater odds
before the Portuguese had had their fill of the English off Swally.
After an attempt on their part to set fire to the Hoseander by means of
a fire-ship, which utterly failed, and cost the Portuguese a hundred
lives, the company's ships sailed away on December 1st, thinking to draw
the enemy after them. But not succeeding in this, Best anchored at Moha
to await their pleasure. It was not until December 22d that the enemy
bore up, having been strengthened by ships and men from Diu. The shores
were lined with spectators to see Best gallantly front them with his two
ships' colors flying.
This time it seemed as if Best and his men were doomed, yet to the
astonishment, not merely of the natives and Portuguese, but of the
company's servants themselves, they were victorious in this engagement.
On the following day, at the close of another battle, the enemy, dazed
and staggering from so much fighting and bloodshed, abruptly turned and
fled, trailing their wrecked flotilla behind them. Nothing can convey a
better idea of the overwhelming superiority of the company gunners and
ordnance, as well as of the matchless audacity of their onslaught, than
the fact of their having lost but three slain, while the Portuguese list
of killed was upward of three hundred. Not only this, but Best's two
ships were still in good condition.
On December 27th the Dragon and the Hoseander returned triumphantly to
Surat, where a number of the company's factors and supercargoes were, as
may be imagined, anxiously awaiting them. It was felt by most, on
hearing the good news, that the promised firman of the Great Mogul would
not be long delayed; but Best, worn out with fighting, was by no means
so sanguine, and ordered Aldworth and the other factors to repair on
board the fleet at once, with such merchandise as they had. But
Aldworth, even after most of the others had given in to the "General's"
views, insisted that Best's victory over the Portuguese had removed the
opposition of the Mogul, who would surely despatch his firman. This was
corroborated by Kerridge, who had gone to Agra to deliver a letter from
King James to the Mogul. But Best had no relish for Aldworth's
stubbornness, as he called it, and summoned a council "and so required
the said Thomas Aldworth to come on board, which he again refused to do,
for that he heard certainly the firman was coming."
Aldworth's confidence was rewarded, for just as Best was about to
depart, Jehangir's decree, granting the company a factory at Surat and
at three other places about the Gulf of Cambay, arrived bearing joy to
the bosoms of the English traders.
At Agra, it appeared from Kerridge's account, he had been admitted to
the monarch's chamber, where Jehangir "sat on his bed, newly risen from
sleep." In his first letters Kerridge complains of a chilly reception
and attributes it to his coming empty-handed. "No other treatment," he
says, "is to be expected without continual gifts both to the King and
others."
The character of Jehangir was described by Kerridge as "extremely proud
and covetous," taking himself "to be the greatest monarch in the world,"
yet a "drunkard" and "given over to vice." The Mogul, however, was very
fond of music, and revelled in Robert Trulley's cornet, though virginals
were not esteemed, "perhaps because the player was not sufficiently
expert," and "it is thought Lawes died with conceit at the King's
indifference." Nevertheless, on the whole, Jehangir behaved civilly to
the company's envoy, whose success in obtaining an audience was quickly
followed up by Aldworth in sending William Edwards, who took with him
from Surat "great presents," including portraits of King James and his
Queen, and "one that will content the Mogul above all, the picture of
Tamberlane, from whence he derives himself." At last, then, the coveted
firman "for kind usage of the English, free trade, and so forth," was
gained, Edwards remaining in Agra as "lieger" or ambassador, "which will
be needful among this inconstant people."
By the terms of the firman a duty on imports of 3-1/2 per cent. was to
be exacted; but on the other hand no damages were to be claimed for Sir
Henry Middleton's piratical exploits, and the company's factories were
to be protected by law in event of any calamity overtaking its
servants.
To Aldworth undoubtedly belongs the credit of having negotiated this
concession, but it is doubtful if it would ever have received the
imperial sanction had it not been for Best's victory. Even when he had
the document in his hands the conqueror was diffident, and could hardly
believe the good news. He was "doubtful whether it was the King's firman
or not, and, being resolved, would not receive it until some of the
chiefs of the city should bring it down unto him to Swally, which in
fine they did. And the very day following the receipt of it, being the
4th, the galleons were again in sight, but came not near to proffer
fight. Notwithstanding, the general resolved not to make any longer stay
there, but took in such goods as were ready, and landed the rest of the
cloth, quicksilver, and vermilion, all the elephants' teeth, and some
twelve hundred bars of lead, carrying the rest along with him, as also
all the pieces-of-eight and iron, and so, the 18th present, departed."
In such manner did the company gain at last a certain foothold in the
Mogul empire. The factors stationed at the new post reported that Surat
was the best situation in India to vend English goods, particularly
broadcloths, kerseys, quicksilver, lead, and vermilion, to be exchanged
for indigo, calicoes, cotton yarn, and drugs, and added a list of such
goods as might annually be disposed of there. They requested the
merchant adventurers in London to send them some four thousand pieces of
broadcloth, sword-blades, knives, and looking-glasses. They hinted that
toys and English bull-dogs should be sent as presents. But the new
trade, they were careful to explain, could only be protected by
stationing five or six ships in the river at Surat to defend the factory
and its occupants against the Portuguese.
On his return home Best was summoned to Philport lane to give a detailed
account of his exploits, and was considered by the court to have
"deserved extraordinarily well." Yet his "great private trade," whereby
he had enriched himself, caused some dissatisfaction, and the governor,
Sir Thomas Smythe, while admitting that no one could be a fitter
commander than Best, thought that "Captain Keeling was far before him
for merchandise, and so should command at Surat." But this did not
satisfy the victor of Swally. Unless he were allowed private trade he
refused to make another voyage for the company, and finally insisted on
an investigation into his conduct. The upshot was that the company was
"content to remit all that is past and let these things die, which
should not have been ripped up had he not called them in question
himself."
The various inconveniences to the company from the separate classes of
adventurers being enabled to fit out equipments on their own particular
portions of stock, finally evoked a change in the constitution of the
company. In 1612 it was resolved that in future the trade should be
carried on by means of a joint stock only, and on the basis of this
resolution the then prodigious sum of four hundred twenty-nine thousand
pounds was subscribed. Although portions of this capital were applied to
the fitting out of four voyages, the general instructions to the
commanders were given in the name and by the authority of the governor,
deputy governor, and committees of the Company of Merchants of London
trading to the East Indies.