reared cities larger and fairer than Saragossa or Toledo, and buildings more beautiful and costly than the cathedral of Seville. They could show bankers richer than the richest firms of Barcelona or Cadiz, viceroys whose splendour surpassed that of Ferdinand the Catholic, myriads of cavalry and long trains of artillery which would have astonished the great captain."

Two centuries since, a few inconsiderable stations of an incipient trading-company, whose tenure of existence was dependent upon the favour of capricious monarchs, and the good-will of native princes, were the meagre representative of British enterprise in India; and now her influence is felt and her behests respected throughout the length and breadth of the land-from the Soliman and Hala Mountains to the Irrawady, and from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, and far beyond it over the spicebearing plains of Ceylon!

The earliest settlement of the English upon the Indian coast was at Surat, at the mouth of the Tapty. For a first real footing in the peninsula, our countrymen are indebted to the liberality of the Shah Jehangier, the son and successor of the great Akbar; who, upon the defeat of a Portuguese squadron by the English under Captain Best, concluded a treaty with the victors (1613) whereby he bound himself to protect the British traders at that settlement, and agreed to receive an English ambassador at his court. Towards the middle of the century, this settlement became a presidency, having control over the establishments in the Persian Gulf and the western coast of India.

The establishment of a trading station at Surat, was shortly followed by the opening of other factories in various parts at Madraspatam, Nagapatam, Fort St. David, Masulipatam, and other places on the Coromandel coast; and at Cossimbazzar, Patna, and Hooghleywhich latter lay not far from the spot on which Calcutta now stands-farther northward.

Madras, under the name of Fort St. George, was established in 1646 by the permission of the Rajah of

Chundergiri, who undertook to protect the interests of the British traders, and even constructed a fortress for their defence.

Like Surat, it eventually became a presidency (1746), having authority over the settlements in Bengal. It grew in time to be a large city and was strongly fortified. Once this important station-and now the capital of the vast presidency that takes its name-passed out of English bands, when in 1746, or exactly a century after its foundation, it yielded to the attacks of the French commander Labourdonnais. The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) restored it to its former owners; and, excepting when, in 1769, the unpardonable carelessness of the authorities permitted our great enemy, Hyder Ally, to steal a march of our countrymen, and to dictate peace within the bounds of its fortifications, our position there has never been seriously threatened.

In 1668, the East India Company received an accession of territory in the island and town of Bombay, which Charles the Second received as part of the dowry of his

Spanish bride. The cession had been made so early as 1661; but, difficulties having arisen concerning the territorial boundaries, the English did not obtain possession of it until 1664, and the Company till four years later. The claim of the English to this station has never been seriously questioned; and it is now the head of one of the presidencies into which India is divided. For this dignity it is indebted as much to the outbreak of a formidable insurrection, which occurred in 1683, as to the superiority of its position, and the rapid growth of its population; for the occurrence referred to revealed the advantage which would arise from a transfer of the seat of government thither; and Surat was accordingly deposed from the honourable position it had so long held in connection with the British settlements on the western coast.

About twenty years after the acquisition of Bombay by the Company (1698), the English factory there was removed from Hooghley to a place twenty miles lower down the river, bearing the name of Govindpore, but to which the English appellation of Fort William was subsequently given. This newly chosen station was destined in time to become the principal commercial emporium of the peninsula; and, under the name of Calcutta, its capital and chief seat of government. In the year 1751 the importance of the place was such, that it was found necessary to strengthen its defences; and, accordingly, the settlement was surrounded by a rampart and ditch, the latter of which received, and still retains, the name of the Mahratta ditch. This precaution, however, was not sufficient to check the advance of an enemy; for, in 1756, or only five years after, Suraj-ud-Dowlah, nabob of Bengal, captured the place, and incarcerated a portion of its garrison in a shameful prison. Next year it was retaken by Clive and Sir Eyre Coote; and, in 1759, its area was extended by the grant of a district to the south of it, denominated the Pergunnahs, to Clive. Since the above untoward occurrence-though oftentimes in danger-the English have never been disturbed in their possession of this, the capital city of the empire.

Hitherto the operations of the English in India, it will be seen, had been strictly confined to the acquisition of commercial establishments; and it is extremely doubtful whether ambition would have tempted them beyond this moderate and praiseworthy field, had not the feuds of the native princes, and the operations of their French neighbours, succeeded in drawing them into the vortex of Indian politics. The ambitious cravings of the French governor, Dupleix, led him to despise mere commercial intercourse and to contemplate the establishment of imperial dominion in this eastern land. He took great care to encourage the overtures made to him by belligerent princes, because they seemed to offer the opportunity he desired; and the English in sheer self-preservation were constrained to enter the arena likewise.

The

The success of the French at the outset of the struggle was marked; and Dupleix, as a reward for the services he had rendered his protegé, the soubadah of the Deccan, was invested with the viceroyalty of the Carnatic. masterly genius of Clive subsequently reversed this state of things; and the English, having given a nabob to this province, became the virtual rulers of it. The province long laboured under the disadvantage of a dual government; and, during the wars with Hyder Ally and his son Tippoo, it suffered severely from the ravages of these warlike princes. In the year 1801, Lord Wellesley, the then governor-general, put an end to this anomaly by bringing it within the jurisdiction of the Presidency of Madras. The Carnatic then cannot, till a later date, be regarded in the light of a territorial acquisition. The province, however, holds a prominent place, as being the earliest theatre of that action which ultimately established British domination throughout the Indian peninsula.

About the same time the virtual possession of an extensive tract of country in Northern India fell to the Company in the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. Long before, the influence of the English in this quarter, owing to the number and importance of its factories, had been considerable; and now the inimical

proceedings of its nabob served to give them the privilege of imperial sway. For, having made an unprovoked attack upon the English establishment at Calcutta, in 1756, he drew upon himself the retribution his conduct merited. The victory gained over him at Plassey so completely broke the power of the nabob, that from henceforth the Company may be said to have had sovereign power in this province. Five years after the defeat of Suraj-ud-Dowlah, the dewany or financial management of Bengal was granted by the emperor Shah Allum to the English; but it was not till the year 1765 that the honour with its accompaniments was accepted. The process withdrew all real power from the hands of Mejumud-Dowlah, its nabob, who, with a pension of fifty lacs, or nearly half a million sterling, now held a mere puppet state in his capital Moorshedabad. Since this transaction, the English have retained imperial sway in these three important provinces.

The next acquisition of the Company was that of the Northern Circars-a maritime district lying between Bengal and the Carnatic-which was annexed in 1768. The cession of this territory had been obtained by Clive from the emperor in 1765, contemporaneously with the grant of the Bengal dewany; but, inasmuch as it was at that time in the hands of the nizam, the present was a merely nominal one. In 1768, however, his sanction was obtained by force of arms; and the territory then passed by treaty into British hands. In 1816, the province was overrun and plundered by the Pindarees. It has, however, remained an integral portion of the English possessions to this day.

In 1797, the fortress of Allahabad, situated at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna, and commanding an extensive district to the south of Oude, was given up to the English by the vizier of that province. This important stronghold had owned many masters. In 1758, it was seized by the vizier; but, upon his defeat at Corah in 1765 by General Carnac, it was, together with the district of Corah, restored to the emperor. Seven years