Establishment of the Madras Presidency. 17

Though the two East India Companies, the older one chartered by James I. and the new company by Charles I., continued to struggle from 1635 to 1646, the establishment of the former in Bengal gave it considerable advantages over its rival, and in the last-named year a new factory was established at Chenna Putnum, i.e., "little city," where the modern Madras now stands, by permission of the Rajah of Chundergiri, who constructed a fortress which mounted twelve guns for the protection of the English traders, and which was named by them Fort St. George, after England's patron saint, the hero of the medieval myth commonly known as St. George and the Dragon. Although at first the success of the new company was considerable, it was not continued. Its proceedings were more dilatory than the old, and by the establishment of a mint which issued a debased coinage, it obtained an evil reputation. The war which Charles was then waging against Parliament necessarily affected the prosperity of the two companies, when they both petitioned the Legislature to interfere-the old for the abolition of the new, the new for the freedom of trade; when the House of Commons resolved in the beginning of the year 1650 that one company only was to be permitted to carry on the trade; though, on the principle of what is everybody's business is nobody's business, the House abstained from deciding either how the two companies were to be united, or which was to be the rightful owner of the trade with India. The consequence of this parliamentary neglect was that for five years, from 1652 to 1657, the trade with India was thrown open to every English merchant

who chose to embark in it. The master mind of Cromwell soon detected the impolicy of such a proceeding, so at the end of that period he performed a simple act of justice by renewing the privileges and confirming the charter of the old company which James I. had granted half a century before.

About this period we meet with the first mention in history of arbitration, or calling in a third party to settle national disputes in order to avoid the final issue of war, and which has been revived with some slight effect in our own day. It appears that the Dutch had obtained on one occasion some important advantages over the English traders to India. Three ships had been captured in the Persian Gulf, and the trade at Surat had been seriously checked. After the conclusion of the peace with Holland in 1654, the long-pending claims of the East India Company were submitted with those of the Dutch to the arbitration of the Swiss cantons. They decided in favour of the English; but of the large sum of £2,000,000 claimed, the final award only gave the moderate compensation of £88,600. After a friendly settlement of the accounts between the two companies, and Cromwell's renewal of James's charter to the old East India Company, Surat was maintained as a presidency with control over the Persian Gulf and the factories on the western coast of India, while on the eastern coast Madras became a second presidency, with authority over the factories at Peeply, Hooghly, and Balasore, which eventually belonged to the presidency of Bengal.

CHAPTER IV.

FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESIDENCY OF MADRAS TO THE ERECTION OF THE CITY OF CALCUTTA.

ΤΗ

A.D. 1657-1707.

HE year after the restoration of the Stuarts, the East India Company had little difficulty in obtaining from the needy Charles II. a confirmation of their charter, with many additional privileges. The Company was vested with the right of exercising civil jurisdiction and military authority, as well as the power of making peace and war with "the infidels of India," the State reserving to itself only such prerogatives with regard to any Christian or European governments. Under these provisions the East India Company became more respected in India, and their position was considerably improved. Two years later Charles obtained as a part of the dower of his Portuguese bride, Catherine of Braganza, the island of Bombay; but soon finding this dotation more expensive than profitable, he speedily ceded it for a consideration to the East India Company in the year 1668, when they transferred from Surat to Bombay the presidency over all their settlements on the western coast, and from that time the city began to spread on every side.

Trade was now carried on with the greatest part of Hindostan by means of the Company's factories and establishments on both sides of India, though they were frequently exposed to the hostilities of the natives, urged on by the jealousy of both the Portuguese and the Dutch. But the frequent wars among the natives encouraged the English to abandon the defensive and to adopt the offensive instead. As the Company had the power of making war and peace with "the infidels of India," they sent Captain Nicholson, with ten armed vessels and six companies of soldiers, to levy war against the Great Mogul and the Nabob of Bengal. The object of the expedition was to seize the city of Chittagong, a few miles east of Calcutta. After a variety of successes and defeats, during which the English burnt Balasore, together with forty sail of the Mogul fleet, in return for which the Nabob of Bengal plundered the English factories at Patna and Cossimbazar, the campaign ended in a way not very honourable to the British name. The Court of Directors ordered Sir John Child, the Governor of Bombay, to take the command, and to recover the factories which had been lost. While the Company's servants were carrying on pacific negotiations with the natives, Captain Heath arrived from England in a ship of war, and without troubling himself with the formality of declaring war, at once commenced hostilities. After plundering one or two native towns, he proceeded to Chittagong, where he suffered a defeat, as Nicholson had done before him. Heath then, taking with him all the Company's servants and goods, set sail for Madras; and Bengal, on which the English had already spent large sums,

Aurungzebe's Reign.

21

was for a time abandoned, and submitted again to the power of the Great Mogul.

At that period the throne was occupied by the Emperor Aurungzebe, the most powerful and illustrious sovereign of the Mogul dynasty. He had dethroned his father, Shah Jehán, under whose mild rule the empire seemed falling to pieces, and had triumphed over his brothers, who contested the throne with him. He had taken Hyderabad and other cities in the Deccan, and had extended his conquests to the limits of the Carnatic.

Aurungzebe, who had previously been well disposed towards the English, was indignant at their last proceedings against Chittagong without a formal declaration of war, so he issued orders for expelling them everywhere from his dominions. The factory at Surat was seized, the island of Bombay was surrounded by a fleet, and the English governor shut up in the castle. Another factory which the English possessed at Vizagapatam was taken, and there several of the Company's servants were put to death. But Aurungzebc soon felt the want of the copious streams which flowed into his treasury through the English factories; and so flattering himself into the belief that the East India Company would never be strong enough to be dangerous, he showed a readiiness to forget the past, while listening to proposals made by the English in a most humble and submissive way.

After some delay the East India Company, on the payment of £15,000, obtained the restoration of Bombay, and also the factory at Surat. But while this was taking place, the most powerful of all the enemies