English Company could pretend to the Restitution of that which they never possessed unto which it had never had any real pretence founded upon the propriety Dominium which not only according to the Civil Law but also according to that of Nature ought to be the Ground of a Real Action What do they reply to all this Nothing at all The underwritten after having given in their Answer to your Excellencies a true Idea of the Affair of Bantam did afterwards conjure the Gentlemen of the English Company to devest themselves of their Prepossession and to make serious Reflection upon the following Considerations First That the King of Bantam having resigned his Empire to his Eldest Son the last by this Resignation became lawful King and was acknowledged as such by the late King of Great Brittain of Glorious Memory and by those of the English Company Secondly That being a lawful King his Subjects taking Arms to Dethrone him were Rebels Thirdly That according to the Law of Nature and That of Nations it is not only lawful to assist a King oppressed by his Rebellious Subjects but that it also ought to be reputed an Act of Charity Fourthly That it is contrary to the same Law to impute the unhappy consequences of a lawful and just Action to the Person who was Author of the Action but not of the Consequences Fifthly And that by consequence there was nothing more contrary to reason than to impute in their Reply the Expulsion of the English out of Bantam to the Regency of Batavia and to their Auxiliary Arms. What do they say to all these decisive points Nothing at all From which silence although it might be concluded that the ground of the Answer of the Dutch Company remaining still firmand unshaken the pains of refuting the English Companies Reply which can contain nothing Essential in it the underwritten notwithstanding have thought fit to read it over from one end to the other and to make upon it the Remarks which are necessary And passing over the three first Articles of the Reply in the first of which they speak although very improperly and by way of Reproach of Sums which the Dutch Company paid a long time ago to the English East-India Company with the prospect only of buying Peace They will begin their Remarks with the Considerations upon the Fourth Article of the Reply Coming to the Question of Cui Bono of the Dutch Deputies say the English Commissioners in the said Fourth Article that is to say what Advantage the Dutch should have had in exciting the Young King of Bantam to make a Quarrel with his Father and what may be the Consequences of it We answer add they that we wonder such knowing and experienced Gentlemen should make so pitiful a Question to so wise a Tribunal as that of your Excellencies to which the meanest Sailer English or Dutch which ever had been in India could answer ex tempore Bantam was a Port to which all European Nations and the greater part of the Indian Nations traded with Ships richly laden to the Number of more than Forty every Year and what follows to the end of the same Article The underwritten Deputies do not doubt but that your Excellencies after so pitiful a Rhapsody or Gallimatias will be pleased to allow them to complain of the little heed which the English Deputies give to what has been said in the Answer and of their terming a convincing Argument ridiculous There is only common sence required without being either wonderful Learned or Experienced to perceive that the English Deputies have not more comprehended the Arguments drawn from the end which every rational Man proposes to himself in his Actions than if it had been writ in Arabick The underwritten desired in their Answer not your Excellencies but the Commissioners of the English Company to explain to them cui bono and with what prospect those at Batavia should give themselves the trouble of making a Quarrel between the Father and the Son and to animate one against the other of what Use that would have been to them and what Advantage they would have drawn from it For since the Son had ascended the Throne and that he had signified by his Embassadors to the Regency of Batavia that he was willing to live in a good Correspondency with them and to use them more favourably than his Father had done during his Reign As also indeed those at Batavia had no reason to complain of his Behaviour in relation to them and why then should they be willing to engage him in a War against his Father and his own Subjects and of seeing his Father re-ascend the Throne or his younger Brother set up in his stead What do the English Deputies reply to this They say that Bantam was a Port to which all the European Nations trading to the Indies and greatest part of the Indian Nations traded with Ships richly laden to the Number of above Forty every Year that is to say as it ought to be Explained in the sence of these Gentle-Men that Bantam is a Port which would fit the Hollanders very well Oh the fine Reply The Question is not here Whether the Town of Bantam be an Advantagious Port we agree it is but the matter is only to know what Advantage 't would be to those of Batavia to excite and foment a War between the Old and the Young King of Bantam And what was the Advantage which they could rationally hope to reap from it The underwritten desire the English Deputyes to tell them what Connexion there would be in the Mind of a Rational Man between stirring up a War between the Old and the Young King and the seizing upon Bantam upon the success of this War How those of the Regency of Batavia Were they Diviners and Prophets and could they by a Spirit of Prophecy penetrate into the secrets of futurity Did they know so long before that the War would end to the Sons Advantage That the English would concern themselves in it And that he would drive them from Bantam Those at Batavia had they not rather cause to fear that the Young Prince would be overcome in this War And that his Father would reascend the Throne As really we saw the Young King within two â—ngers of his Ruine and upon the brink of the Precipice writing to those of Batavia Letters filled with marks of despair Why did those of Batavia if they had designed to kindle a War between the Father and the Son give themselves the trouble to reconcile and pacify them Suffering all this while the Young Prince to sigh after their Assistance From whence we ought conclude whatsoever the English Gentlemen say of it have not comprehended the strength of this Argument that it cannot be supposed that those at Batavia should concern themselves with making a War between the Father and the Son without making things desperate or without destroying probabilities which ought even to be kept in a
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
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
being settled he made the English go from Bantam being satisfyed as he was that they had assisted his Enemies This is the true History of the last War of Bantam and of what passed there from the beginning of it to the end in which the government of Batavia had no other share then the bare assisting of a Prince against his Rebellious subjects wherewith the Gentlemen of the English Company cannot be dis-satisfied if they are pleased to devest themselves of their proposition and to make a serious reflection upon the following considerations I. That the Old King of Bantam having resigned his Empire to his Eldest son he by this concession became lawful King and that he was acknowledged as such by the late King of Great Brittain of glorious Memory and by those of the English Company as it may be proved as well by His said Majesties Letter to the Young King of Bantam as by those of the English Company to the said King. II. That he being lawful King His subjects taking up arms to dethrone him are Rebels III. That according to the Law of Nature and that of Nations it is not only lawful to assist a King oppressed by his subjects but that this assistance ought also to be looked upon as a work of Charity IV. That it is also contrary to the same Law to impute the unhappy consequences of an allowed and just occasion to the person who is Author of the action and not of the consequences V. And by consequence that there is nothing more contrary to Reason then to charge the Government of Batavia and their Auxiliary Arms with their expelling the English from Bantam since it is evident that the sending away the English from Bantam was not a necessary consequence of it but only a consequence by accident the Indian Prince having sent them away not because he was victorious for he had suffered them to enjoy their Habitation peaceably from his coming to the crown until the War that is to say almost two years together but only because he was perswaded that they had assisted His Enemies The under-signed Deputies of the Dutch Company having by what they have urged hitherto cleared the way to a true understanding of the controversie which is now under consideration between the two Companies do not at all doubt but that the Gentlemen of the English Company themselves comparing the state of the question and that which they ought to prove will perceive the weakness of their own proofs which in effect do either prove nothing at all or at least that which is in dispute and from which can be inferred that which they inferre from it The subscribers therefore now passing to the Examination of the proofs of the English Company which is the second point of this discussion will separate the Facts of importance from those that are not so and which signifie nothing or which are of no other use at most but to blacken and encrease Distrust Jealousie and Suspition The Important Facts are these viz. That those of Batavia have made and fomented the quarrels between the Old and Young Kings of Bantam And that having beguiled the Young King into their power to appropriate to themselves the entire Trade of that place exclusive from all others compelled him to force the English out of his Dominions These are the Facts which the Commissioners of the English Company set down in their Memorial and in their demand after having represented two years ago to the late King of great Brittain of glorious Memory what can be immagined of blackest that the Sieur St. Martin Commander in Chief of the forces and Ships which the Goverment of Batavia had sent to the King of Bantam had used and committed great violences upon the Factors servants and effects of the English Company at Bantam to the having deposed and forced them from their antient residence The under-written after having given themselves the trouble of Reading over and over examining and studying with great application all the proofs of the English Company do protest sincerely that they can't find in them any thing which is capable of directly or indirectly by consequences to make good the enormity of the said Facts and although that by consequence they might excuse themselves from saying any more of it they not being any way obliged to prove a Negative which is not always possible and can never be done but indirectly since it is against reason to prove in a direct manner that which is not But yet to make appear the innocency of the Goverment of Batavia in the affair of Bantam and place them in a right light they will shew the moral impossibility of the said Facts viz. That the government of Batavia compelled the Young King to force the English from Bantam As to the first Fact it is certain that every rational man that doth not do any thing hand over head proposes to himself naturally always some end in his actions at least in those which are important or may have considerable consequences from hence comes it that in an inquisition when a man is accused of any crime for Example of Murther the author of which being undiscovered though he be really guilty it is always inquired cui bono that is why he should have done it and when the reason of it can't be discovered the Judges are naturally enclined to believe that the accusation is void of all likelihood of Truth especially if the accused person can make it appear that it was his interest to preserve the Life of the person Murthered The under-written to apply this maxime to the government of Batavia which they accuse for having made and fomented the quarrel between the Old and the Young King of Bantam desire the Commissioners of the English Company to explain to them cui bono and with what design those of Batavia should give themselves the trouble to put the Father at odds with the Son and to animate the one against the other What good could this do to them and what advantage could they reap from it The Son had by his Ambassadors to the government of Batavia which he sent so soon as he was ascended on the Throne signified to them that he desired to live well with them and desired to keep a good correspondence with them and to use them more favourably then his Father had done in his Reign and in Effect those of Batavia had no reason to complain of His behaviour towards them And why should they then be willing to engage him in a War against his Father and his own subjects and expose him to the danger and hazard of losing his Crown and of seeing his Father re-ascend the Throne or his Younger Brother made King and although the War should end to his advantage what could he hope from it he who was already upon the Throne and who could not become greater and what likelyhood was there that a man in his right senses should give ear
to an advice so extravagant and so dangerous An advice that no body could relish unless he were a man fit to be shut up From whence we must conclude That there were some people which not being able to endure the government of the Young King who did not suffer himself to be nosed by his subjects as his Father who was too soft and too indulgent did without doubt make the subjects rise and rebel against their Prince to throw off the yoke and to set up another in his place which might be more to their minds and who would easily suffer an Anarchy as they did effectually afterwards take up Arms against the King to execute the criminal design which they had brought to the point that the King had like to lose his Crown and his Life But it may be it was the government of Batavia which enflamed the Father and the subjects of the Young King against their Prince and that afterwards perswaded them to take Arms and to throw off the Yoke But why and with what design may it be asked Only with the prospect of making an advantage by the War For as those of the said government were Divines and Prophets and that by a spirit of prophesie they were able to penetrate into the secrets of futurity they knew that the Warr would be determining to the advantage of the Son that the English would take part in it and that they would assist the Young Kings Enemies or at least they would be perswaded they did and that upon this score he would turn the English out of his Kingdom Thus far must we carry the Vision and the extravagance to make the Gentlemen of the government of Batavia pass for head strong Mad people fit to be put into an Hospital for mad Men To which also it must yet be added that those of Batavia for in fine we must believe every thing though never so far from any likelihood of Truth had the Old King in their power and possessed the subjects of the Young Prince But although the arguments by which the adverse parties are reduced to absurdities that they would never confess themselves but which are natural and necessary consequences to be drawn from their positions are it may be strong enough to convince them of the falsity of what they advance in matters of Fact. The under-written will notwithstanding give themselves the trouble to demonstrate not only the little likelihood which there is in the said accusations but also the moral impossibility of that which the government of Batavia is charged with in this matter The Young King being besieged in His Fort gave notice of it to those of Batavia and desired their assistance representing to them his miserable condition and reiterating the said requests divers times this is proved by the Letters marked D. The government of Batavia inquired into the condition of his affairs and after having understood the Truth of his complaints would not however determine any thing in favour of him before they had offered their mediation both to him and his Father as it appears as well by the Letters that they sent to each quoted E and F. as by the relation of Mr. Saint Martin markt G. and having in vain used all peaceable ways for ten whole dayes as it appears by the said relation they resolved at last to send succours which if they had defferred to do but one day longer it had come too late and after the destruction of the Young King who was then upon the point of yeilding The under-written desire the Gentlemen of the English Company to devest themselves for a moment of all their prejudices and then to tell them sincerely if they can possibly imagine that if the government of Batavia had made and fomented the War between the Father and the Son they would have suffered the Young King to languish in his Fort sighing after the succours which he had requested so often and so vehemently if before the arrival of the Dutch Forces the Old King and the Rebels had made themselves Masters of the Fort and that they had killed the Young King would not the succours have come too late and those of Batavia could they have been able to hinder the Old King or save others from seizing upon the whole Kingdom From whence it must be concluded that it is morally impossible that those of Batavia should have concerned themselves to make a quarrel between the Old and the Young King and to raise and foment a War. As to the Second of the said Facts Viz. That the Hollanders of Batavia having beguiled the Young King into their power had compelled him to force the English out of Bantam It must be confessed it is a very bold thing to urge Facts of this nature without justifying them with the least proofs there is not so much as one witness of all those which the English Commissioners have produced who hath spoken the least word of it Or that speaks of any snares into which those of Batavia led the Young King Or of the Yoke under which they had perfidiously brought him There is only Mr. Waite whose deposition is marked number 6 who speaking of the driving away of the English from Bantam by the Kings Order adds that the English Agent and Servants were assured that such an Order was not voluntarily given by the King because the day before the Agent and Councel waiting upon the King to represent to him that they had been Neuters between the Father and the Son and that they had given him no manner of Reason to be displeased with them they could not perceive in him either by his Words or Actions any thing which shew'd an intention of banishing the English from his Countrey and it is certain there was a dispute between the Young King and the Dutch Major before the said Order could be obtained from him but he being himself wholly under the power of the Dutch was forced to grant it Upon which it is to be observed in the first place that it is not a Testimony founded upon the Witnesses own knowledge but only a Deposition grounded upon what he believes to be true and which he heard related by several credible Persons as he says himself at the end of his Depositions having only made Oath of the two first Articles of his Depositions whereof the first speaks of the landing of the Dutch Commander at Bantam and the second of the Galleries of the English House which the Resident and the Dutch Soldiers caus'd to be thrown down and of the Windows of the said House which they ordered to be dammed up of which more hereafter All which was true to his own knowledge and he believed the rest to be true relying upon the credit of credible Persons But supposing that the English Agent and Council being to wait upon the King to perswade him of their neutrality could not discover his Animosity against them nor the design which he had
considered of the affairs of the Young King of Bantam offered themselves to mediate between the Old Sultan Agan and his Son writing to this effect two Letters in obliging and civil terms by which they shewed not only the trouble which it gave them to see the dissension between the Father and the son but also the design which they had to endeavour to make a friendly end of their differences and with this prospect they sent to Bantam Plenipotentiaries with their Letters to the two Kings convoyed only but by one Vessel three others having been sent thither before But these Plenipotentiaries going to a place where all were in Arms and that they did not know whether they should meet Friends or Enemies they thought it was necessary for their safety to put themselves in a posture of defence and to arm themselves sufficiently to be able to resist those who forgetting the Law of Nations and the respect due to publick persons should undertake to attacque them And this is that Fleet of Ships and of Boats which is pretended was sent to Bantam there to Land their Forces The Hollanders having waited some dayes for the answer of Sultan Agan without receiving it and not knowing well enough what were the inclinations of the Javans towards them they re-tacked some Commanders with a Party to inform themselves more exactly of the posture of affairs But after having advanc'd a little they met with some Europeans who asked them by the mouth of an English Man why they intermedled with the differences between the two Kings To which having answered that they came in the quality of Friends to procure Peace between a divided Father and Son they were not long without perceiving the design which was formed against them since the Javans drew together in those parts a body of Forces and sending out some fire Ships and some men of Warr they made as if they would attacque the Hollanders who were of too small a number of having any thoughts to undertake any thing against an Enemy so powerful as that that threatned them The Javans proceeded from Threats to Effects fired upon the Hollanders and the Canon of which the English had the management having very much gauled the Dutch Ships they were sensible that they were resolved not only not to accept of their mediation but that they look't upon them also as Enemies which afterwards determined the government of Batavia to free the Young King from his misery by force of Arms which notwithstanding was not done until the 28the of March. As to the Dutch Colours which they say the Hollanders set up after the Victory upon the Fort and every where else in the Town of which the Subscribers are notwithstanding really ignorant deserves no answer since it is certain that the Hollanders never having pretended any right to the Town of Bantam the Colours could be of no other use than the service of the Dutch Forces which after the siege of the Dutch Forces was raised were posted in all the principal places of the Town the Dutch Colours having been set up by the Kings Order in honour to the Auxiliary Armes of the Government of Batavia but they did alwayes fly underneath the Kings Colours The second Article of the said Sweetings Deposition though there hath been a great deal of noise made of it is notwithstanding to take it rightly the innocentest thing in the World. Mr. Sweeting swears that the Dutch Resident Caeffe came with a Company of Souldiers and several Carpenters into the English Companies back Court commanding the English Agent to cause his Galleries to be beat down and to dam that is to say nail up the Windows to which an Hollander who was in the Company added threatning him that if he did not do it immediately he would do it himself and that he did cause it to be done immediately In reading this Article in the Terms wherein it is couched one would imagine without doubt that there was a great outrage committed by the Hollanders but those who have any knowledge of this afair will judge quite otherwise of it this being the true Relation of it The Hollanders not being willing to cause any inconvenience to any person in Bantam chose their own House to keep their Magazine of Ammunition and Victuals but the Wall of their House touching in a little place the English Habitation and that heretofore there came no light but through the Lettice where sometime after the English by the Old Kings Permission who sought all occasions to trouble the Hollanders had made great and large open Windowes and which was made a Gallery or Balcony which leaning 4 or 5 foot over the Dutch House which is raised but 12 or 13 gave them opportunity of hearing and seeing all that ever past in the Dutch Residents House The Young King seeing that the Dutch House was like to be in time of a War the great Magazine in the Garrison foresaw the dangerous consequences of such Inlets into a place where was Powder and other Ammunitions of War Wherefore knowing that the English would not cause his Windowes to be shut up nor take away the Balcony He himself sent thither his people with a Dutch Renegado who is here called barely a Hollander who having lived several years amongst the Javans had gained the favour of the Prince and had been raised by him to the Dignity of a Pengran As to what is said that their Resident Caeff was present there that might very well be because this happened at his door and his duty was to take care of the Magazine This is the true History of this affair which contains nothing in it of ill and which besides was done by the Kings Authority as it was proved by the fifth Abstract of Mounsieur St. Martins Considerations marked G. As to the first Article of the said Depositions which Mr. Sweeting believes to be true upon the credit of credible persons which is much to be wondred at It contains but two things First the intimation which the Kings Officer gave to those of the English house containing a peremptory order from his Master to make us leave Bantam and this is confessed Secondly That the English Agent and Council were assured that such an Order was not voluntarily given by the King of whose opinion of them although we have before examined the Reasons we ought here to convince the English of the wrong which they do the Hollanders in accusing them of having been the cause of their expulsion from Bantam It is confessed by both sides that there was command given by the King to the English to go out of Bantam but the dispute is whether the King gave it of himself or at the instigation of the Hollanders The Hollanders protest that they do them great injustice to believe them capable of an action of the nature of this Are not the English obliged to prove so uncharitable a fact But have they any proofs of it Surely none at
but that they did also make them by force bring and deliver out of their Ships the Powder belonging to them they put on Board what they could gather up of Goods and Effects in this confusion First Of what use would the Witnesses have been which the Dutch Officers would have suborned probably to prove that the English had assisted the young King's Rebels But did not the young King know it himself And had not he been a Spectator of it Was it necessary to suborn Witnesses to prove a truth manifest And things which have been acted in the sight of all the World But yet those Persons themselves whom they had endeavoured to corrupt had related it to the English Agent This is a new method of proving that which is urged with so much boldness Such a one has related such a thing to such a one without nameing either the one or the other by this way one may easily dispatch an Affair without the least trouble That which he sayes afterwards of the Dutch Lieutenant which sealed up the Companyes Warehouses is a mistake of which it has been formerly spoken where we shewed that James De Roy was never a Dutch Lieutenant but that he was in the service of the young King of Bantam in the time of the War having some time before fled from Batavia to Bantam to shelter himself from his Creditors That which he adds concerning the Horses and other Goods which were taken away from the English without naming the Authors of it shows cunning and discovers the design of suspecting the Hollanders under ambiguous Expressions for things of which they knew them not to be guilty For the English Companies Deputies say themselves in the Memorial which they have annexed to their Demand and which make one part of it That it was Pengran Deepa Panerat one of the young King 's Chief Ministers who caused all the English Companies Horses to be delivered to him and divers other things which he carryed away with him as it has been observed before The last Affidavit marked N. 7 is that of Ambrose Moody wherein there is neither Rhime nor Reason a perfect Rhapsody of all sorts of Facts heaped one upon another and that which is yet more admirable is the credulity of the good man who makes Oath That all and every of the Articles contained in his Depositions are true and who notwithstanding confesses that there are some of them which he affirms only upon the Relations he has had from Eye-witnesses without making any distinction between those he says he has seen himself and those he believes upon the Credit of credible Persons And although the Subscribers might dispense themselves from making any reflection upon a Deposition of this Nature yet they will give themselves the trouble of running it over and making the Observations upon it which they think are proper That which he sayes in the beginning concerning the Dutch Soldiers which came to the English Factory and their taking away several things deserves no particular mark to be made upon it since the same Complaints have been answered before to which we refer with the permission of your Excellencies and he being singular and to be reproached for what he adds concerning the Twelve Soldiers and of what they robb'd him of one should be very ill advised to give credit to what he swears in his own Case That the Hollanders kept him a Prisoner at Bantam is very unlikely but that having rendred himself suspicious to the young King by his stay at the old Sultan's Court in so nice and ticklish a conjuncture he might be clapt up by Authority from the young King is not incredible That which he sayes of the Plunder which the Hollanders had in the English Factory is not likely the English never having complained of it at Batavia What the old Sultan might say at Tartiassa although we believe nothing of it and what the said Moody sayes of a Treaty between the Old and the Young King of which we never heard does not in the least concern the Dutch Company That which he sayes of the Mastery of the Hollanders at Bantam are made stories it being very remote from any likelyhood of Truth That the Hollanders should have there made Laws and raised Taxes But this man having no discernment and that besides he appears very much incensed against the Hollanders he was desirous to imbitter things That the Hollanders seized upon the Bantam Embassadors Letters can never be proved But it may on the contrary be proved that sometimes the Dutch Companies Letters had been opened As to what he sayes of the Articles which the King of Bantam was not willing to sign we cannot understand what he means since there is a Treaty between the King of Bantam and the Government of Batavia signed by both Parties That the Hollanders should have put into the King's Head the design of forcing out of his Country all Europeans Indians Mahometans what a folly is this the King himself being a Mahometan Gentues and Chineses are gross Calumnies as it is also one that the young King at the instigation of the Hollanders keeps his Father in the narrowest Prison giving him his food through an hole which served instead of a Window since it is evident that the Old King sees sometimes Company and even Strangers and that he receives respects from them The Subscribers after having made their Remarks upon the Proofs of the English Company whereof the greatest part contain nothing of Essential or which deserves pausing upon desire at present the Gentlemen of the said Company to consider since the Succours given to a lawful Prince oppressed by his Subjects was very just and that it can never be proved that the Government of Batavia made the Quarrel between the Father and the Son nor perswaded the last either directly or indirectly to drive the English out of his Country how unjust it is and not becoming their Generosity to urge against the Dutch Company either invented Stories or Trifles which conclude nothing and which are not strong enough to uphold a Demand of the importance of that which the English Company makes But the Subscribers having made it their business hitherto only to examine the Nature of the Pretensions of the English Company and to make Observations upon all their Proofes There remains only to run over all the Paragraphs or Articles of the Demand upon which there has yet been no Reflection made for although these Paragraphs contain only Facts which are inserted in the Demand rather in form of a Narrative than with the design of making Depositions of them which they would be obliged to prove The Subscribers cannot however dispense themselves from making this Remark upon them because passing them under silence they would increase the impressions which the said Articles may have made upon the Minds of your Excellencies The Commissioners of the English Company say in the first Paragraph of their Demand That the Hollanders since
Artifices of that Company to hide or confound the truth by a multitude of eloquent but vain words as Your Lordships may have observed in the Records of all former Transactions and Complaints of the same Nature as this is now of Bantam in most whereof they have been judged formerly to pay great sums of Money to the East-India-Company which they did pay accordingly But we could never hear or read that the Dutch Company restored to the English any place of Trade that ever they deprived them of by fraud or violence 2. We affirm to Your Lordships that we never gave any Order or Liberty to Sir John Chardin before or at his late being in Holland but enjoyned him always to keep strictly to the Demands of His late Majesty of glorious memory in his said Majesties letter memorial For the proof of which assertion we here will present Your Lordships Copies of all our Letters and Orders to him And if Sir John entered upon any discourse or Articles other then what was contained in His Majesties said Memorial and Letter through the perswasion of the Dutch Bewinthebers or otherwise he is now here and must make his own justification we being perfectly unconcerned in any thing he did contrary to His late Majesties or our own instructions 3dly For the Negotiation that was afterward concerning this affair with the late Lord Ambassador Monsieur Van Citters we referre our selves to the said Ambassadors Long Memorial and our Answer herewith presented Your Lordships by which the truth Regularity and Justice of His Majesties East-India-Company will appear to Your Lordships above all contradiction 4thly To the Dutch Deputies question cui bono what profit the Dutch could make by exciting the Young King to quarrel with his Father and the consequences that might happen thereupon We say we cannot but think it very strange that such experienced learned Gentlemen should propound so slight a question to such a wise Tribunal as Your Lordships which the simplest Sailer either English or Dutch that ever was in India can resolve Extempore Bantam was a Port to which all European Nations Trading in India and most of the Natives did resort with Ships richly loaden to the number of above forty yearly And the Batavians by causing that poor simple man they yet call King whom they will not trust with a Knife to expell all those Nations from his Port have thereby engrossed to themselves in effect the whole Trade of the South-Seas and had thereby fair hopes of Engrossing the whole Trade of Pepper as their people in India have often boasted they would And it is most apparent they designed it by the hostilities they have since perpetrated against the English and other Nations of India upon the Coast of Mallabar which Engrossement if they accomplish as by like arts they have the other Spices Cloves Mace Cinamon and Nutmegs they might gain sufficient by that sole Commodity to maintain constantly a Navy in Europe strong enough to fight any Royal Navy Fifthly Their next question How it can be imagined the Young King of Bantam should be so simple as to enslave himself and his posterity We shall resolve when they tell us by what slights the Batavians with pitiful inconsiderable Forces have enslaved and held in slavery above Fifty such Kings within Eighty years past in those Eastern parts of the World. It will be enough at present to tell Your Lordships The Princes and people of those parts are a naked people unused to fire-Arms that live in the innocent primitive estate of Nature without understanding the guiles of the Dutch East-India-Company until they have built a Fort and then the Princes themselves as well as their subjects must immediately become down-right Slaves to the Dutch and it s too late to repent without the hazard of being all cut off Man Woman and Child which was lately the Fate of one of the Javan Princes in the Eastern parts of that Island and of his people wherein an English Fugitive Captain Cooper was said to be employed by them in the execution Sixthly We herewith present Your Lordships the Articles Printed at Batavia made at Macassar for the Exclusion of the English and other Nations from the Trade of that place for which never any satisfaction was made the English Company Our end therein is not to make the breach wider between the two Nations of which they seem groundlesly to accuse us but to shew Your Lordships the same Tragedy that was acted at Bantam with little alteration except changing the Scene wherein such an Ocean of humane blood was spilt and in such a manner with a little fighting and after submission as we are not willing to mention and is not to be parallel'd in any History we have Read of which there are living Witnesses that were present at the action which we can produce to Your Lordships but that we are not willing to irritate or trouble Your Lordships with what is not pertinent to the present case of Bantam Yet this use we must beg Your Lordships leave to make of that instance of Macassar that since no satisfaction has been made to the English for that important place Your Lordships would be pleased to take and keep a strong hold of our just claim to Bantam that we may not be totally deprived of a place of rest and security in the South-Seas where the Dutch have above Thirty Forts to the irreparable shame and reproach of our Nation Seventhly The proofs we have exhibited to your Lordships are so express to the matter of our complaint that most of them do prove in terminis the things complained of and the Witnesses are not only fide digni but Men of good Fortunes and approved exemplary Veracity and we do not only believe what all of them have sworn and particularly Mr. Moody but much more which they have told us concerning the many years contrivances and horrible wicked methods that were used by the Batavians to create those unnatural quarrels between the Father and the Son which we have omitted to trouble your Lordships with because they could not attest them upon their own knowledge as we have likewise omitted for the same reason some Letters of the Old King of Bantam wherein he wrote to his late Majesty long before the surprize of Bantam that the Dutch were contriving to enslave him and his Country as they had done all his Neighbour Princes but that he would be slave to none but to his late Majesty of Glorious Memory Eighthly What the said Dutch Deputies say in extenuation of the Hostilities committed by their people upon the Coast of Malabarr is so wide from any excuse of that crime and breach of the peace between the two Nations that it seems to us to be a plain confession of what they have been so often and so justly accused of viz. that they design not only by their old arts of setting Indian Princes at War and making themselves partakers in the
well known methods of managing their Affairs in India If likewise the said Gentlemen after so full an answer as we gave though brief and pertinent to their voluminous papers do yet tell Your Lordships we have said nothing to several weighty points as they do in a late paper presented Your Lordships We hope we shall obtain your Lordships pardon for this Rejoynder which shall be as short as the nature of their paper and of their practices in India will admit First As to the Restitution of Bantam we say All the late King of glorious Memory demanded was the withdrawing of the Dutch Forces from Bantam and satisfaction for our dammages and we ask no more now But that the Fort built with the English Money may be left undemolished that we may be able to defend our Factors and Servants and preserve the Trade we design there which as the present Affairs of Bantam are can be no otherwise secured to us And it is certain that the Lords States General consented to the withdrawing their Forces as aforesaid by their answer to Sir John Chardins Memorial Whether we speak truly in this or not we are in Your Lordships Judgment upon view of the authentick Copies of the said Memorial and Reply lodged with Sir John Chardin and with your Lordships Secretary And for the Gentlemen to say the Lords States Concessions then to Sir John Chardin are not to be urged now because they have since made Articles with that poor Young King which the Batavians have so much abused and enslaved and who is so ignorant and so miserable that he would set his Chop or Mark to a Hundred blanks if they would have him And we appeal not only to your Lordships Wisdom but to all Men of common sense whether any thing since done with such a poor Creature now and then in durance can make any new Case since the transactions at the Hague Secondly The Gentlemen say they affirmed we had only a Factory and a Residence in the Capital City of Bantam and can found no dominion upon that and that we have replyed nothing thereunto wherein we humbly conceive your Lordships will find the Gentlemen under a great mistake For though our Factory and the Fort Built with our Money were more worth than all the rest of the Buildings in Bantam which they call the Capital City We claim no Territory by vertue thereof but we say the Old King of Bantam was King of Right and his Son only Probationary with his Fathers leave to see how he would behave himself and as such a King and the Son of a Father alwayes Obsequious to His late Majesty of Glorious Memory His Embassadours were here received with Respect And that the Old King his Father before the Articles the Dutch Gentlemen pretend to have made with his Son gave that City and Territory to His said late Majesty And if the Dutch Deputies will yet contend That the Young King was King not only Probationary but de jure and that the Father was subject to the Son which was not so of Right by the Laws of that Country nor can ever be proved but the contrary most certainly if it were worth the contesting Then we say that Young King hath violated his publick Faith by his Assassinating our Agent and other publick Persons Resident as Chiefs of the English Nation by Commission from His late Majesty of Glorious Memory And if it be true as the Dutch Deputies themselves have constantly affirmed That it was not the Batavians but that Young King of Bantam that rifled our Houses tore our King's Colours drove us from our Ancient Great and Costly Habitations and Trade while at the same time his own Embassadors were treated here by His Majesty and His Majesties East-India Company with the greatest Kindness and Respect If this be the Case do not the Dutch Deputies themselves in Effect confess That that Young King deserves no longer to be corresponded with by them And that it is most reasonable for us that are and desire to be their Friends to request them to depart thence and leave us the Fort which our Money paid for which is all we ask of them with respect to the pretended Restitution of that place and we may say to the Restitution of the Majesty and Honour of our English Name and Nation which hath been intolerably affronted and abused at that place of Bantam in sight of many Eastern Nations 3. As to that weak Question cui bono we cannot but wonder the Gentlemen should expose themselves again to the censure not only of your Lordships but of all Mankind that have the least knowledge of India They argue thus They had favour at Bantam a Factory there their Friend King why should they adventure a War if compassion to their Ally had not moved them when they could not better their Condition Our Answer was full to this before but in regard the Gentlemen will have more of it Your Lordships we hope will pardon our telling them that their Factory at Bantam was used mostly for buying Rice Hens and Provisions and it may be to inspect the English Proceedings for where the English are Trade runs generally at so low profit that the Dutch care not for medling with it in such places But if by the Artifices they have used they can keep the English French Danes Portugueez Moores Gentues and Mallayes and all other Nations from bringing Callicoes to Bantam which Callicoes are the principal Clothing of the Javans and many Nations thereabout to the Eastward they may then sell one piece of Callico for the price that two would sell for when the Trade of Bantam was open and buy two Baharrs of Pepper for the price they paid for one formerly which may alter the Dutch Companies Affairs for the better Two or Three Hundred Thousand Pounds per annum besides the much greater Advantage they would make by having the whole Trade of Pepper in Europe if they can keep Bantam as now it is by any means right or wrong Besides the design which it is manifest they have in prospect of obstructing all other Europeans from the China and Japan Trade having by preventing all Nations from the Trade of Bantam secured as they think the two great Passages viz. the Streights of Sunda and the Streights of Malacca If this be not a full Answer to their cui bono let the World judge as we doubt not but your Lordships will uprightly although the Gentlemen with as little reason as they did before should call the most clear Truth and undenyable Arguments by the same insignificant Term Gallimatias The next Question they discourse of viz. How it can be imagined that the Young King should be so simple c. We dare not say any more to it now lest your Lordships should apprehend it to be an abuse of your Lordships Patience after we have so fully and clearly answered that before We must own our selves obliged to the Gentlemen for
enjoying the protection of a Crowned Head and of a Monarch for whom the Dutch Company doth protest they have the utmost Veneration be elevated above a Company who can boast of a Protection only of a Republick yet their said Company cannot make such ill use of their quality as to oppress and trample on the Company of Holland in that manner as will be so far from pleasing his Majesty that it will doubtless bring upon them his Royal Indignation As to the Answer of the Lords the States General to the Memorial of Sir John Chardin since that instead of producing the same it hath pleased the English Deputies to refer themselves only thereunto The subscribed will also refer to the same being assured that your Honours will not find there what is alledged by the English Deputies but on the contrary will see what the Subscribed have said thereof in their Answer So that there needs only the pains of reading of it to be undeceived As to what the Subscribed said in their Answer That it was a very strange thing that the English Company who had only their Residence and Factory at Bantam should now pretend to the City and Fort of Bantam The English do by their third Paper say That the Factory and Fort built with their Money were worth all the rest of the Buildings on that place As if the price and value of their Factory and the Money which they may have lent the King which is not believed no more than the value of their Factory which was only an old building could give them any right of Propriety and Lordship over the City and Fort of Bantam which is contrary to all Laws Natural and Civil which the English Gentlemen being also well aware of They add that they do not ground their pretensions thereupon but do say that the Old King of Bantam was a Lawful King and his Son only Conditional and at the will of his Father This is a new method of acting and a strange way of proceeding after the Subscribed have given themselves the pains to prove in their Answer by solemn and authentick proofs that the Old Sultan of Bantam did assign over his Kingdom to his eldest Son without reserving to himself any thing even not so much as Tartiassa the place of his retreat And that his Son having by vertue of this Assignment ascended the Throne did send his Embassadors every where and that he was acknowledged as a Lawful King not only by the Deceased King of Great Brittain of Glorious Memory but also by those of the English Company Now they come and say that the Young King was only a Conditional King and at the will of His Father without refuting the proofs of the Dutch Company and without proving such condition and dependance as is now alledged The inveighing against the Young King of Bantam is a mark of animosity as to which the Subscribed having already declared their sentiment in their Answer they will forbear to make any further mention thereof at present As to the question of cui bono the Subscribed having endeavoured in vain to cause the English Deputies to apprehend the force of their Argument They do not see cui bono and to what ends they should break their heads any further about it since it is evident by their triplique or third Paper that they apprehend no more of it than if the Subscribed had proposed Riddles to them As to what follows about the pretended Cruelties of the Hollanders their sanguinary humour and of the mild temper of the English It is a sign of animosity and self-love which seldom hearkens to Reason As to what is so much insisted on that the Subscribed should propose as to the exclusive Contracts that the Dutch Company could sufficiently prove in time and place what they have so often alledged and do still alledge as to the right of the said Contracts this is without any reason or ground and certainly if it were their business to prove that Right now the Subscribed would make it appear that there is nothing better grounded the same being all duly explained and limited The Subscribed will finish this their fourth Paper adding only that Mounsieur Van Dam is in no wise satisfied with the proceedings of the English Gentlemen as to his particular and that he could have wished as he mentions in his last Letters that instead of putting his name in the triplique or third Paper in so odious a manner they would have produced the Letter therein mentioned by which it would have appeared that all that Mr. Van Dam wrote about the conduct of the Governour Spellman in the affairs of Bantam was grounded only upon a supposition of things which he had heard and time having discovered them to be false it would not be at all generous to alledge or insist on such a Letter at present Dated at Westminster 3 Decemb. 1685. Signed G. Hooft Iacob Van Hoorne S. V. Blocquery A. Paets The next day being the 4th of December the Lords Commissioners Decisors made some Propositions verbally to the English Deputies to be considered of which Sir Josia Child c. desired their Lordships they might have in writing which was accordingly given them under Mr. Francis Gwyns hand their Lordships Secretary in the following words December the 4th 1685. At the Lord Treasurers Lodgings Present Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal Earl Sunderland Earl Middleton It was proposed by their Lordships to Sir Josia Child and the rest of the East-India Company to be considered of First That the Dutch should withdraw their Forces from Bantam and demolish the Fort and leave all things there in the same condition they were before the War between the Father and the Son And that it shall be Lawful for the English to build a Fort without interruption from the Dutch. Secondly That there shall be an agreement that for the future there shall be no Treaty made with the Natives to exclude either Nation from Trading to the places they now Trade in Signed Francis Gwyn The said Proposals were duely considered by the Committee of the East-India Company who made the following Answer unto them the 9th of the said December To the Right Honourable the Lord High Treasure of England Lord Privy Seal the Earl of Sunderland and the Earl of Middleton Lords Commissioners appointed by the Kings most Excellent Majesty for determining the differences between the English and Dutch East-India Companies according to the Treaty of 1674-75 May it Please your Lordships THe Court of Committees for the East-India Company have this day seriously considered the two Propositions made to us by your Lordships the fourth instant at my Lord Treasurers Lodgings And as to the first it is our humble opinion that the Dutch have no sincere meaning that we should live in security at Bantam in Neighbourly Peace and Friendship with them unless they do consent to deliver the Fort undemolished First Because since they do agree to withdraw
within a quarter of an hour after came to our Factory Pengran Nata Negana who acquainted us the Kings pleasure was that without delay all English and other Servants belonging to the Honourable Company should this day depart and go aboard but had liberty to seal up all their Godongs wherein any Goods were housed and when they had Shipping might Export them And within half an hour after this message we had notice of the Sultan's coming from the Pavian and passing through Chinarow to the Danes Garden who making some short stay there returned and came in at the back Gate of our Factory where Mr. Nicholas Wait and Mr. George Gosfright with sundry others of the Companies Servants met him and the said Mr. Nicholas Waite and Mr. George Gosfright desired His Majesties permission to reside upon the place till they had Shipping to Export our Honourable Masters Estate and although moved twice yet responded nothing to that point saying only That he had Ordered Pengran Natta Negana to Live in the Factory and so marched out without admitting any further Reply And within an hour after the said Pengran's people and the said Pengran came into the Factory and took possession of all the Chambers except onely wherein Mr. Nicholas Waite and Mr. George Gosfright resided who some time after went to Monsieur Martin and Mr. Tack the Dutch Commissioners in the Fort and in their absence entred our Factory sundry Dutch and other Soldiers belonging to them and plundered most of the Chambers The Truth whereof we are ready to confirm by Oath when required Witness our Hands in Bantam this 11th day of April 1682. Signed George Gosnal Richard Knipe John Burdet The Deposition of Captain John Fisher I Hada house in Bantam which had been in possession of several English Men for about 13 years In which House I kept Servants and several Goods for the most part Liquors which I bought and sold The day after the Dutch Landed in Bantam being the 29th of March. 1682. I stood on a Platform in our Factory and saw the Soldiers under the Command of De Roy the Lieutenant of the Majors Company pull down a silk Flagg commonly called St. George's Flagg which I had by permission and Order of the Council put upon my House seeing which I went with speed towards my House near the entrance whereof I saw the abovesaid De Roy with part of the Flagg in his hand which he had torn and given to his soldiers for Scarfs who espying me ordered his soldiers to stand upon their Guard and keep me out of my house two whereof knocked me down with the but-end of their Musquets telling me I now had nothing to do with the house nor any thing therein and so took out my Goods being Houshold Goods four chests of Claret four barrels of Mum c. and broke open some of the chests and took out the heads of some of the barrels and drank out part the remainder by Jacob's Order was carried away First having put some Batavia Blacks in possession of my house After which seeing no remedy I returned back to the Factory The nearest value of my Goods besides house was about 600 Dollers At our Exclusion and departure from Bantam the Council Ordered the Halyardes of our Flag being St. George 's to be cut off close to the foot of the flag and nailed to the Flag-staff and leave the Flag flying and one English Man by name Daniel Quickâ— to remain upon the place to acquaint the Commanders of our Ships which might arrive from Europe c. of departure of the Companies servants to Batavia for which Port they were to proceed with their ships About five days after our departure from Bantam the Dutch soldiers went into our Factory and Ordered their black servants to go up our Flag-staff and pull down the Flag This information we had from some of the eminentest China Merchants in Bantam particularly Concho Chooancho Sankee and Abdool Hallim the last whereof was a Chinese turned Javee Signed Iohn Fisher Dated the 4th of April 1683. Memorial of the late Transactions at Bantam Extracted from the Companies General Letters Received by the Emoy Merchant Dated from Batavia the 23th of September 1682. And from Mr. Charles Sweeting's of the 17th ditto with the said Sweeting's Deposition thereupon 1. THat upon a difference depending and a War broken out between the old Sultan of Bantam and the Young Sultan his Son the Dutch Government at Batavia pretending to assist the Young King came with a Fleet of Ships and Prows and attempted to Land at Bantam on the 14th of March 1681-82 but were beaten off by the Old Kings Forces and forced to retreat with their Fleet to a greater distance from the Town till further recruits might be had from Batavia which arriving the 23th of the same month of March The Dutch General the sieur Martin Landed his Men at Bantam the 28th who forced their way through the Old Kings Guards which were placed between the Castle in which the Young King was besieged by His Father and the shoar and were immediately let in by the Young King into the Castle where they set up their Dutch colours and so they did upon all other principal parts of the Town 2. The next day being the 29th the sieur Caeffe the Dutch Resident with a File of Soldiers and several Carpenters came into the back yard of the English Factory and commanded the English Agent to pull down the Balconies and to nail up all the windows a Dutchman in his Company adding by way of threat that if the Factory did not cause it immediately to be done he would himself do it and he accordingly did cause it immediately to be done 3. The next day but one being the last day of the month of March 1682. One of the Young Kings chief Officers called Pengran Deepa Paneratt came to the English Factory with a Paper Writ in the Mallay Language and said to be sent from the King being an Order to the English with all possible speed to get their Goods and Effects on Board their ships and depart his Countrey The said Pengran urged the English Agent and Factors to comply speedily with the said Order as they tendred the said Kings displeasure But the English Agent and Factors are assured that no such Order was given voluntarily by the King the Agent and Council when they were the day before to attend the King to represent to him how they had been perfectly Neuters in the differences between him and the King His Father and had given him no cause at all to be offended with them having perceived nothing by his words or actions towards them of any intent in him to drive the English out of his Countrey And it is certain there was a great dispute between the Young King and the Dutch Major before he could be brought to give any such Order but being himself under the power of the Dutch he was forced to
do it 4. When the English saw themselves in such danger and not only their Houses and other Goods on shoer forcibly taken from them but their Powder also from on Board their ships commanded to shore as was done out of the ship Return on the 3d. of April they Laded what Goods and Effects they could in that hurry get together in the Countrey Boats in Order to put them on Board the English ships then near at hand Whilst this was doing they met with no hindrance from the Young Kings subjects or souldiers that were on shoar but when they came up to the Dutch Guards at Sea they were stopped and told that they the Guards were ordered not to suffer any Goods to be brought from the shoar to the English ships and that if the English did attempt further to get on Board their ships they would fire upon them upon which the English and their Boats were forced to return back 5. Of this the English made their complaint to the Dutch Major who in a smiling manner told them all was by Order of the Young King though none of the Natives or the Kings soldiers had any hand in these violences all being directed by Dutch Officers and executed by Dutch soldiers And this is the more notorious in that the Young King himself told the French Chief in the presence of the Dutch Commissioners when the said Chief addressed himself to him to have four chests of Treasure that had been taken from him restored That he the said King knew nothing of the cause of his complaint for that he neither had nor would prejudice him nor the English nor the Danes nor any other Strangers that were Trading in His Countrey Therefore if he the French Cheif had any wrong done him since the Landing of the Dutch at Bantam the King told him he must apply himself to the said Dutch Commissioners or to the General at Batavia for Reparation 6. On the 11th of April the Dutch souldiers entred and ran-sackt all the Chambers in the English Factory carrying away whatsoever they found there but the Java's that is the Natives did not deal so unjustly with them permitting the Factors to seal the Companies Warehouses and promising to secure them 7. On the 12th of April the English left Bantam and to save themselves and what they could of their Masters Goods and Effects imbarqued upon their ships leaving the English Flag commonly called St. George's Flag flying upon the Factory where it had stood for so many years before but this Flag was soon taken down by the Dutch and their Flag set up in the stead of it and so had another Flag of St. George's set up upon another House in Bantam being pulled down by One Jacob de Roy Leiutenant of the aforesaid Majors Company on the 29th of March that was the very next day after the Dutch Landed there And the said Flag being taken down was by the said de Roy with his own hands torn in pieces and given among the souldiers to wear for Scarffs Charles Sweeting Merchant late Factor and one of the Council for the English East-India Company at Bantam and afterwards residing with the rest of the said Council at Batavia maketh Oath That the matters contained in the two first Paragraphs of the Memorial aforegoing is certainly true to this Deponents own knowledge And that the other five following Paragraphs he beleives to be True having heard the same from divers credible Witnesses in that Countrey And that four of the five last Paragraphs of the Memorial are truly Extracted from the English East-India Companies Letters from their Agent and Council at Batavia dated the 17th and 23th of September 1682. The last Paragraph is proved by Captain Fisher's Affidavit to which he refers and verily beleives the same to be true as therein set down Signed Charles Sweeting Sworn the 31th of May 1683. before Sir Will. Beversham Master in Chancery The Deposition of Mr. Nicholas Waite NIcholas Waite late of Bantam in the East-Indies Merchant maketh Oath as followeth 1. That upon a difference depending and a Warr broken out between the Old Sultan of Bantam and the young Sultan his Son The Dutch Government at Batavia pretending to assist the young King came with a Fleet of Ships and Prowes and attempted to land at Bantam on the 14 th March 1681-82 but were obliged to retreat at some distance from the Town till further Recruits might be had from Batavia which arriving the 23. of the same Month of March the Dutch General Sieur Martin landed his Men at Bantam the 28 th who forced their way through the old King's Guards which were placed between the Castle in which the young King was besieged by his Father and the shoar and were immediately let in by the young King into the Castle where they set up their Dutch Colours and so they did upon all other principal parts of the Town 2. The next day being the 29 th the Seignior Caeffe the Dutch Resident with a File of Soldiers and several Workmen came on the back side of the English Factory and commanded the English Agent to pull down the Balconyes and to nail up all the Windows looking that way An Officer in his Company adding by way of Threat that if the Factory did not cause it immediately to be done he would himself do it and it was caused immediately to be done 3. The next day but one the last day of the Month of March 1682. One of the young Kings Chief Officers called Pengran Deepa Panneratt came to the English Factory with a Paper writ in the Mallay Language and said to be sent from the King being an Order to the English with all possible speed to be gone with their Effects aboard their Ships the said Pengran urged the English Agent and Factors to comply speedily with the said Order as they tendred their own Lives and the King's Displeasure But the English Factors are assured that the King used to put his Seal to all Orders sent to them and to that said Paper was neither Hand nor Seal And the Agent and Council when they were the day before to attend the King to represent to him how they had been perfectly Neuters in the difference between him and the King his Father and had given him no cause at all to be offended with them Having perceived nothing by his Words or Actions towards them of any intent in him to drive the English out of his Country but on the contrary declared in presence of several Dutch Officers that he alwayes did and would still believe that the English were his Friends And it is certain that after the said Paper was brought to the English Factory that the Council could have no admittance to the King though several times they went into the Castle and desired leave of the Dutch Commissioners 4. When the English saw themselves in much danger especially when some of their Officers made it their business to suborn
and Order for the sending away of the English from Bantam were irrevocable and the Prince was inexorable as to that point it not appearing that the Hollanders contributed any thing to it The Affidavit of Captain John Fisher markt No. 4. contains three things 1 THat the next day after the Landing of the Hollanders he saw Soldiers under the Command of James De Roy throw down a Taffaty Flagg called by the name of St. Georges Flagg which he had upon his House by Permission and Order of the Council and that running immediately to his House he found the said De Roy with part of the said Colours in his Hand of which he had torn the rest and given pieces of it to his souldiers to make Scarfs of it 2. That the said souldiers drank part of his Liquors and that they carried away the rest with his Goods abusing him and putting Blacks into his house 3. That five days after the departure of the English from Bantam the Dutch souldiers went to the house of the English Company and that they sent some of their Blacks to throw down the Flag which was upon their House This is a terrible Action and with which they have made so much clutter that it was thought fit two years ago to insert it into a Memorial which was presented to the Lords the States General upon the subject of Bantam But was there ever in Truth any thing more weak and pitiful For in the first place suppose the History were true and that the Deposition of one man alone might be credited and that also in his own case the authour of the action however was a man in the Kings service and by consequence the Soldiers were Bantamites Secondly The first Flag for two are mentioned though it were St. Georges Flag could not raise the House of a particular above those of other Inhabitants nor give him any Right to respects which were capable of freeing him from the disorders of War more then any other And as to the Flagg and the use that was made of it according to the deposition of the said Captain is there any reason to wonder that a Captain and Soldiers belonging to the King should have taken off from the House of a private man the English Colours after that the King had lookt upon the whole Nation as Enemies to his person and State As to the second part viz. That the Soldiers had drank up part of his Wines and Liquors and that they had carryed away the rest with his Goods and that they had thereby caused him a considerable loss which he makes amount to 600 Crownes if he sayes the Truth he is certainly to be pityed very much but he can accuse no body but the Kings Servants and the disorders of War for it As to the last point of the said Deposition viz. That five days after the departure of the English from Bantam the Dutch souldiers went into the English Companies House and that they had sent some of their black servants to throw down their Colours As all this is justified but by the Relation and Advices of some Chineses who it is not said whether they were present or not it may be lookt upon as a story or a Tale invented to blacken the Hollanders for in fine how could these Chineses know that these Blacks were servants to the Dutch souldiers and not to the King Of which there was much more likelihood since it is very rare for common souldiers to have servants But after all suppose the Dutch souldiers had executed the Kings Orders to whom the right of taking down the English Flagg can't be disputed after having banished the whole Nation from Bantam and could they blame him for it Not at all But though the souldiers should have done it without the Kings Order which can't be believed it was only at most but a Military affront which ought to be pardoned in the disorders of War wherein the Laws of Modesty and Decency are little to be regarded and however it can't be imputed to those who represented the Government of Batavia in the time of the War which have never failed in the respect which they owe to Crown'd heads Mr. Sweetings deposition marked No. 5. contains seven Articles whereof he swears only the two first the five others being only grounded upon the relation of credible persons as he says himself at the end of his deposition But to what purpose is it to have recourse to conjectures after that the deposition Markt K Which tells us that it was the Young King who caused the colours which was upon the English house to be taken away In the first Article it is said that upon the differences arising between the Old Sultan and the Young Sultan his Son the Warr being declared between them those of the Dutch Government of Batavia upon pretence of assisting the Young King came with a Fleet of Ships and Boats and that endeavouring to Land the 14th of March 1681-82 they were beaten back by the Old Kings Forces and forced to retreat with their Fleet to a greater distance from the Town expecting reinforcement from Batavia which being arrived the 23th Monsieur St. Martin General of the Hollanders landed his Men the 28th and beating the Old Kings Guards which were posted between the Sea-side and the Fort where the Young King was besieged by his Father was there immediately received by the Young King and set up their Dutch Colours doing the same upon the other principal places of the Town He sets out at first with somewhat a malitious suspition saying That those of the Dutch government of Batavia upon pretence of assisting the Young King came with a Fleet of Ships and Boats and he afterwards mistakes when he adds that it was the 14th of March when the Dutch Fleet came thither to put this design in Execution What meaneth this word of pretence Would he insinuate thereby that the Hollanders came thither upon any other pretence but to assist the Young King he has reason if he means the 19th of March for they had then no other design but that of pacification but if he speaks of the 28th when they Landed he wrongs those of the government of Batavia to suspect them for having assisted the King with any other prospect then that of delivering him from the oppression of his Rebellious subjects which without the highest injustice can't be said of those who did not offer themselves to do this service of the King but who on the contrary granted their succours only to the importunity and earnestness of his requests after having endeavoured in vain an Accommodation But as Mr. Sweeting mistook when he believed that the design which the Dutch had the 19th of March was the same which they put in execution the 28th of the same month 't is necessary to undeceive him and the Gentlemen of the English Company to take the thing a little higher The government of Batavia after having well
Romance that is to say in a feigned story made to divert the World. In the Fifth Article of the Reply the English Deputies say That the underwritten Deputies ask them how it could be imagined that the Young King of Bantam should be so simple as to put the Fetters on himself and his Posterity But it is pleasant that the English Gentlemen should represent the under-written as making Demands and Questions of which they have not had the least thought It is true that the under-written Demand in their Answer what likelyhood there was that a Man of common sence should give ear to an advice so Extravagant and so Dangerous as that by which they would have perswaded the Young King of Bantam to a War against his Father and against his own Subjects But they have been pleased to invent this Question that they might answer it as they have done with a Torrent of Injuries and Abuses with which they tear the Dutch Company in the most unjust and outraging manner But the underwritten having been able to foresee long since that they would have opportunity of exercising their Patience in rendring good for evil they would pray to God that for the good of both the Companyes he would be pleased to encline the Gentlemen of the English Company to return into the Paths of Moderation and of Mildness And as to the injuries they would say only these two things First If the Gentlemen of the English Company ever take a fancy to write the History of the Dutch Company in the East-Indies from its beginning to which these Gentlemen have recourse to this time it will be made appear that either this History will belye all that is said in the Reply concerning the enslaving of fifty Indian Kings and of the encroachments upon the English Or if it confirms all that it will be proved that it will be but a terrible Romance grounded upon supposed facts not to divert the World which is the design of all the Authors of Romances but to blacken the Dutch Company and to render them execrable to the whole Universe But as it hath pleased the English Deputies to set the Town of Bantam in parallel with the other places of the Usurpation of which they complain and to say in the Tenth Article of their Reply in formal terms that the Dutch had done as much to them at Bantam as in the other places they have usurped It is evident that all their injurious Complaints must vanish into smoak so soon as by the reading of the Answer and the proofs of the Dutch Company it will appear that the Regency of Batavia has done nothing at Bantam neither towards the King nor the English Company which was not very just and equitable For although since the difference between the Companies concerning the affairs of Bantam the English Gentlemen have been pleased to rally although very ungratefully the King of Bantam and to call him a poor and pitiful Slave and a Prisoner to Batavia notwithstanding the honour which was done to his Embassadors here in London in the year 1682. 'T is notwithstanding true that those of the Regency of Batavia have used this Indian Prince in so charitable and at the same time in so generous a manner that very far from having ever complained of their proceedings towards him he has on the contrary highly commended them Thus therefore there is a great deal of trouble saved to the English Gentlemen and to those of the Dutch which may at present dispense themselves from it The first from justifying the bloody reproaches which they make against the Dutch Company and the others from defending themselves from them in this replication which would become a second Volume if they would make it swell with a new Apology which is nothing of common with the affair of Bantam And as the English Deputies themselves after having suffered themselves to be carryed away by the first torrent of their Passions have upon better thoughts thought fit not to grieve the hearts of your Excellencies as they speak with things which signifie nothing to the present Case of Bantam although in truth they say nothing which comes to the said point The underwritten will keep themselves within the bounds of the present Controversie without going out of it but by an indispensable necessity As to the Complaints which the English Deputies have so 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 has alwayes maintained and which it does still maintain concerning the right of the said Contracts The proofs which the English Gentlemen have exposed to your Excellencies view as they say in the seventh Paragraph of their Reply very far from being as they call them so express upon the point of their Complaints and that the greatest part of them prove in terminis every one of their grievances It is on the contrary true that not one of their proofs makes so much as mention of them The underwritten desire these Gentlemen to tell them by which of their Depositions they can prove that the Regency of Batavia did ever stir up and foment a War between the Old and the Young King of Bantam and that the Dutch expelled as they call it the English from Bantam for as for having raised the War there is not one Witness so much as speaks of it far from attesting it And as to their expulsion from Bantam there is not one Witness which swears to have seen himself or to have heard others say that they had seen it with their Eyes or that they had heard others say that they had seen it with theirs there being only two or three Witnesses who endeavour to ground it upon Arguments and Conjectures contrary to the Characters of true Witnesses who can depose nothing but upon the Testimony of their own Senses The Dutch Deputies have not extenuated the Hostilities upon the Coast of Mallabar for which those of Batavia were accused but have absolutely denyed them whatsoever the English Gentlemen may say in the eighth Paragraph of their Reply in which they endeavour to make an express Negative pass for a Confession That which followes in the same Paragraph concerning a Letter from Mounsieur Van Dam deserves a particular reflection not only in consideration of the matter of this Letter but also for the person of Mounsieur Van Dam who is a Man thoroughly honest prudent and has applyed himself to the affairs of the Dutch Company being careful and indefatigable in that labour having served the Company as Advocate for above thirty years with the approbation of his Masters and the applause of all those who know his desert After which the underwritten do not at all doubt but that your Excellencies will willingly pardon the little Credit to what is said of Mounsieur Van Dam in the said Reply Not that they can believe that
all their Forces from that place and that we shall build a Fort there without interruption from them c. If they mean sincerely it is better for them to save themselves the trouble and charges of pulling that down and to us the charge of building a new one and the rather because we are willing to accept of the said Fort as part of our dammages Secondly Since it is proposed that they should leave all things at Bantam in the same condition they were before the War between the Father and the Son and this Fort was built with our Money and in being before the War why should not they leave the Fort standing and all the Companies buildings as well as withdraw all their Forces from the place Thirdly Because the Dutch did never comply with any agreement they made with us we do sincerely believe by all their carriage in this Treaty and by the Hostilities used on the Coast of Malabar since the surprize of Bantam that they never intend we should reside at Bantam secured by a Fortification and an English Garrison no more than they do intend to give us Batavia And therefore what ever they pretend we conclude they will so under hand furnish our Enemy the Young King of Bantam with Money and black Soldiers of all Nations that our People at Bantam shall be murthered whilest they are at work and never be permitted to erect any considerable Fortification Or else they will pretend they have bought the Customes of the King of Bantam and innumerable other shifts whereby they will disappoint the intended settlement of the English in that place or else they will forbid any of the Natives to work upon our Fortifications well knowing that the English Soldiers will not labour at such work in those hot Countries Or one way or other they will certainly as they have ever done notwithstanding all agreements to the contrary prevent our settlement until our Men are dead or disabled by the Diseases of that Country of which practice of theirs we have had great experience formerly Fourthly Such an attempt of building a Fort failing will not onely make us about One Hundred Thousand Pounds worse then now we are but many brave English Mens lives will be thrown away to no effect Our Gracious Sovereign will be infinitely dishonoured and the English name and Nation become a reproach and contemptible in the Eyes of those Eastern Nations and the Dutch wisdom power and policy will be extolled to such a degree as that an English Man will be ashamed to shew his face in those parts of the World Whereas on the contrary if it be still insisted upon to have Fort delivered to us undemolished it will be granted or denyed If it be denyed we are in a much better condition than ever we can be by the Proposition aforesaid for by such denyal no vast summe of Money can be lost no Mens lives will be cast away no shame and reproach can befal our Nation and our demand will be just and good against the Dutch hereafter And in the mean time we shall go on to strengthen Priaman and as near as we can make it impregnable against all the power of the Dutch in India which is much better then to throw away charge and mens lives where we are sure they will be lost with shame and dishonour Fifthly If the Dutch should agree to deliver us the Castle undemolished they will perform their agreement or they will not If they do perform it we will with Gods assistance soon make our selves so strong as not to fear what they can do against us If they do not perform it it would be a plain violation of their Contract with His Majesty the proof whereof will be plain and easie and the guilt thereof they can no way evade But according to the proposition we are discoursing of they will easily contrive means totally to prevent our settlement and yet pretend to justifie themselves that they did what they promised and throw the blame upon us by a multitude of fallacies untruths and false Witnesses which they never want Sixthly We humbly conceive we have clearly demonstrated to your Lordships in our larger Papers in Answer to the Dutch Deputies that the Dutch Company design nothing less than the engrossment of the whole Trade of the East-Indies and that their ways have been always by force or fraud to surprize one place and then be quiet for ten or twelve years till the noise of that injury is over in Europe and then to deprive us of some other place So that while we are demanding our Right at Bantam and the noise of that injury is unallayed it hath formerly been some kind of security against other attempts for a season and may prove so at this time although in the latter part of His late Majesties Reign they have been more presumptuous than they were formerly by forcing us from Macassar and before they had allayed or paid for that they did the same thing again at Bantam and attempted the like at Malabarr of which we believe our next Ships may bring us some further account Seventhly Whoever concludes the Dutch will now obstinately refuse to deliver us the Castle must at the same time believe they will with the same obstinacy and with more ease to themselves prevent us from building one at Bantam And therefore we are humbly of opinion it is much better nothing be done at this time than that which is propounded which is worse than nothing because besides the forecited dammages and disparagements that would accrue thereby in India Such an error in a Treaty may be of ill consequence for that undoubtedly the Dutch when such a Treaty is concluded would be as forward to make the World sensible of their own advantage in it as they are now to suppress the Sight of it Eighthly As to your Lordships second proposition we humbly conceive that as it is worded it would make our Condition much worse than now it is by the Treaty of Peace and Commerce in force between the two Nations By the plain words whereof we humbly conceive the English have a right indubitably of Trading to every part and place in India which we hope they shall ever have without leave of the Dutch And we think that matter is so well settled by the said Treaty in force that any thing to be added thereunto would make our case worse and not better and therefore we have never complained of any defect in the said Treaty but of the Dutch for violating thereof at Macassar and at Bantam in one and the same manner whatever difference or distinction they pretend to make in either Case All which we humbly submit to your Lordships Signed by Order of the said Court. Rob. Blackborn Secretary East-India-House the 9th of December 1685. After the perusal of the foregoing answer of the Court of Committees their Lordships were pleased to send for the Governour and the whole Committee and