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
therefrom instead of making a short end of that difference would but retard it Which being once determined to mutual satisfaction we are ready immediately to produce to your Honours a List of our dammages incurred by reason of those Violences offered to our Trade Estate and Servants at Bantam with our Proofs to justifie our said Demands Dated at London first of June 1685. Signed Joseph Ashe Governour Josia Child Deputy Benj. Bathurst Jer. Sambrooke The Second Paper received from the Dutch Commissioners Instructors To the Honourable Sir Joseph Ashe Governour of the English East-India Company Sir Josia Child Deputie-Governour Sir Benjamin Bathurst and Sir Jeremy Sambrook Knights Deputies of the said Company for Bantam Affairs THE underwritten Deputies of the Dutch East-India Company having observed in the Answer of your Honours to their Memorial of the 27 th of the last Month that your Honours do persist in the same Opinion you did maintain in the Conference about the discussion of the business of Bantam having only altered the ground of the said Opinion They the said Deputies cannot but conjure your Honours to call seriously in to your minds all that hath been done as well in Holland as here about the said Affair they being sure that in case your Honours do reflect upon it advisedly and considering that in all the Affair nothing is concluded nor settled your Honours will agree that all the Articles debated and questioned about which Sir John Chardin did demand two Years ago in Holland in the Name of the English Company though without any ground Justice and Satisfaction ought now without any difference or distinction to be judged and determined by the Lords Commissioners Decisors according to the Treaty of the Year 1674-75 which in this present Affair is a Rule and a Law to both Companies Dated at Westminster 5th June 1685. Signed G. Hooft Jacob Van Hoorne S. V. Blocquery A. Paets The English Commissioners Instructors their Answer to the Paper last beforegoing To the Honourable Seigniours Gerard Hooft Jacob Van Hoorne Solomon Van Blocquery and Adriaen Paets Deputies for the Honourable Netherlands East-India Company in the Affair of Bantam THE underwritten Deputies for the English East-India Company having well considered your Honours Replication of the 5 th Instant to their Answer of the 27 th May last say That they cannot now require less of your Honours than what was upon very good and justifiable grounds demanded by Sir John Chardin two Years since at the Hague in the Name of our Soveraign Lord the King then Reigning as well as in the Name of His Majesties East-India Company and which was then consented to by the High and Mighty Lords the States General of the Vnited Netherlands viz. The entire withdrawing of all the Dutch Forces from all the Ports and Territories of both or either of the late Kings of Bantam and Restitution of that Place unto His Maiesty it â—eing of more important concern to His Majesty and His Kingdoms in General than it is to His Majesties East-India Company We have lately and for a long time past humbly supplicated His Deceased Majesty of Glorious Memory and Our Soveraign the King now Reigning that the withdrawing the Dutch Forces and Restitution of Bantam as aforesaid may be first finally adjusted before any Treaty be entred into concerning the English East-India Company 's Dammages which we shall alwayes insist upon And in regard the Netherlands East-India Companies Commissaries and Servants in India not satiated with the late Violences they did at Bantam and formerly at Macassar are at this time by the very same injurious Methods as they deprived us of our Factories and Trade of Macassar and Bantam endeavouring to deprive us of the Trade of all places on the Coast of Malabarr to engross to the Netherland's East-India Company the sole and entire Trade of Pepper which would be intolerable to the interested Great Kings of Europe We must therefore further demand of your Honours That the Fort of Bantam which was built with the English East-India Companies Money may be surrendred to His Majesty undemolished The recent Injuries and Hostilities of the Netherland's East-India Companies Commissaries and Servants upon the Coast of Malabar having created to His Majesty an absolute necessity of securing part of the Pepper Trade to his Subjects which we apprehend cannot be done without a strong English Garrison in the South Seas and at no place so well as at Bantam aforesaid Signed Joseph Ashe Governour Josia Child Deputy Benjamin Bathurst Jer. Sambrooke Dated at London June 10th 1685. The Third Paper received from the Dutch Commissioners Instructors To the Honourable Sir Joseph Ashe Governour of the English East-India Company Sir Josia Child Deputy-Governour Sir Benjamin Bathurst and Sir Jeremy Sambrooke Knights Deputies of the said Company for Bantam Affairs WHereas the underwritten Deputies from the Dutch East-India Company in all that hath passed between them and your Honours about the Bantam business since their arrival in London have had no other Scope but to agree with your Honours in the Method of discussing the said Affair They did expect that in regard of sparing time and saving to the Lords Commissioners Decisors the trouble and tediousness of hearing Debates about the Method of proceeding abovesaid your Honours would have consented to it without any further mention of the Affair in it self But since your Honours proceeding and chiefly your last Paper does give to the said Deputies a just Subject to fear it should be the design to treat the said Affair as Negotiators rather than Instructors of a Cause though the last Quality be the only proper to both and that only conform to their Commission They the underwritten must declare to your Honours That since their Power is only to bring the Differences to an Issue by the Method of the Treaty of the Year 1674-75 they likewise will not go from that way in any manner whatsoever as they will more fully expose it in the presence of the Lords Commissioners Decisors Signed G. Hooft Jacob Van Hoorne S. V. Blockquery A. Paets Dated at Westminster June 11th 1685. The English Commissioners Instructors their Answer to the foregoing To the Honourable Gerard Hooft Jacob Van Hoorne Solomon Van Blocquery and Adriaen Paets Commissioners deputed by the Netherland East-India Company touching the Affairs of Bantam THE underwritten Deputies of the English East-India Company understand not what ground your Honours can find in their last Memorial or otherwise to suspect they design to avoid the Method of the Treaty of the Year 1673-75 or that they pretend to be Commissioners Decisors which the said Deputies do not but only to be Advisers in this great Affair professing to pursue with all sincerity the Method of that Treaty desiring nothing more than to be the happy Instruments of procuring a right Understanding between the two Companies although considering the constant Inclination and late Proceedings of the Netherland East-India Companyes Commissaries and Servants in India to
Answer That that is so false a suggestion that we cannot think the Dutch themselves believe it And that it is as manifest as the Sun at noon day That the Dutch having beguiled the young King into their power to compass to themselves the entire Trade of that place compelled him to force the English out of his Dominions Otherwise why did he at the same time force away the French Danes Portuguez Moguls Gentues and other Nations against whom no such pretence was or could be made On the whole matter and out of a true and real sence of our bounden Duty and Allegiance to His Majesty and the vast Concernment Bantam is not to us but to His Majesties Honour and Interest We humbly propose that this Affair of the Restitution may be fully adjusted before any Treaty be entred upon concerning the Dammages sustained by His Majesties East-India Company of which notwithstanding we herewith present your Lordships the best Accompt we can until we receive Copies of those Batavia Books which were lost in the Ship Surrat Merchant Signed Josia Child Deputy Govern. Benjamin Bathurst Jeremy Sambrook Dated 24th June 1685. The English East-India Companies Demands from and upon the Dutch East-India Company for Damages sustained by them by reason of the surprize of Bantam 1 THE English East-India Company have thereby lost their Factory and all the buildings thereon depending which they value at l. 25000. 2 They have lost all their Priviledges purchased by many great Presents given to the Kings and the Great Men which they value at l. 20000.  l. 45000 3 The Trade of that place is invaluable to the King and Kingdom though we estimate it here for the Five Years we have been out of possession but at 80000. 4 For Loss upon the Sale of several Ships used and appropriated to the Trade of Bantam VIZ. Pieces of Eight On the Return 8000 Formosa 4000 Tywan 2600 Bantam Pink 3000 Pieces of Eight 17600 at 5s 4400. 5 For Losses on our Slaves being forced to give away several of them their Diet at Batavia their Passage to and Dyet at Surrat Pieces of Eight 1500 375. 6 For our Factors Charge at Batavia after they were forced from Bantam when they could not manage the Companyes Trade Pieces of Eight 16000 4000. 7 For several Goods lost in our Removal from Bantam to Batavia and loss on several sent from thence We estimate at 10000. 8 For several Debts owing to us by both the Kings and other Grat Men the Principal 50000.  l. 193775 9 For Demorage of several Ships kept at Batavia as the Emoy Merchant Kempthorne Return Formosa and Tywan which otherwise would have been loaden from Bantam 10000. 10 The Loss of the Ship Surrat Merchant being detained so long at Batavia that she was forced to go to Sillebar for Pepper being kept so long in the Country that she was never heard of 40000. 11 The Charge of our Removal from Bantam to Batavia and thence to Surrat and Loss of Goods of which we have no Accompt for want of our Books not yet received we cannot be exact in but estimate at 12000. The Loss of Bantam for the Pepper Trade there for England and the China and South Seas Trade driven from thence is to the King and Kingdom invaluable  The Charge of a Fleet of 23 Sail of great Ships prepared for the Recovery of Bantam and after they were ready to Sail were diverted by His late Majesties Command upon the Dutch Embassadors sollicitation to the Company 's Damage at least 100000.  Total 355775. When the Company shall return to the Possession of Bantam it will cost them in Ships Soldiers Ammunition and Fortifications before they are fully settled above 100000 Pounds Signed Josia Child Deputy Govern. Benjamin Bathurst Jeremy Sambrook Dated 24th June 1685. Another Paper presented in French by the English Commissioners Instructers to the Lords Commissioners Decisors with the Copies of the several Vouchers making good our Demands To the Most Honourable the Lords Commissioners appointed by the King 's Most Excellent Majestie 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 Deputies for the Netherlands East-India-Company having on the 10 th of this Instant September requested before your Lordships to have Copies of what the English East-India Company do complain against them and sight of the Proofs The said East-India Company do herewith humbly present your Lordships with the Companies just complaints and the Proofs thereof put into French by Sir John Chardin which most of the Witnesses are in Town ready to confirm The said Company do insist upon that Memorial that was first presented to His Majesty of which the Copy is hereunto annexed and that with His Majesties leave the matter of the Restitution of Bantam to His Majesties Subjects may be first discussed and adjusted It having been already consented to by the High and Mighty Lords the States General and the Netherlands East-India Company that Restitution should be made thereof as appears by their Answer to the Memorial presented by Sir John Chardin at the Hague the 21. May 1683. And although His late Majesty upon the humble Petition of His Majesties East-India Company did formerly only demand from the Dutch the withdrawing of all their Forces from Bantam and the Territories thereunto belonging or which did belong to both or either of the late Kings of Bantam on the 14 th day of March 1681-82 And the satisfying the East-India Company for the Damages sustained by reason of the unjust surprizal thereof Our later advices from India have given us sufficient reason to justify our further demand of surrendring the Fort of Bantam undemolished before any Treaty be entred upon concerning the particular Damages sustained by the Company For which increase of our Demands we humbly offer to your Lordships the following Reasons Eight of these Reasons were the same as in the foregoing Paper of the 24 th of June with this Addition 9ly We are well assured and hope to produce convincing proofs to your Lordships that the Dutch of Batavia since they betrayed the young King of Bantam into their Power have compelled him to sign Articles in prejudice of the English Nation and agreeable to those in print which they made with the King of Macassar the business of Bantam being but exactly the same Game played over again iutirely which they formerly acted at Macassar and may do as many times more as they please And we have reason to believe will till they are possessed of all the East-India Trade exclusive to the other European Nations if they be not forced by his Majesty out of that Plea by compelling them to make a just Restitution of Bantam And although we humbly conceive the notoriety of the Fact at Bantam is sufficient to convince all indifferent Judges of the Justice of our Complaint and Demands and that to add any further proofs to
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
the Invasion of Bantam have not only Obstructed but Hostilely Invaded our Trade and shot at our Servants with Bullets on the Coast of Malabar to deterr and beat them off from that little Remainder we had there of the Pepper Trade To which the Subscribers Answer That the Dutch Company having taken from the Portugals when they had War with them the Towns and Forts which they possest on the Coast of Malabar It was not unjust for the said Company to enjoy the Advantages of their Victory with excluding of all those who without having shared with them in the Charges and Dangers of the War pretend to a share in their Conquest although they have the Trade of all the North part of Malabar free and open where is a great deal of Pepper and where the Dutch Company hath very little or no Trade and which produce much greater profit to the English Company without being at any Charge of keeping Towns and Forts That the Hollanders assaulted the English fireing upon them as it is said in this Article The Subscribers protest they knew nothing of it and that they do not even believe any thing of it since the Letters from Batavia make no mention of it The second Article speaking of the Money which the English Company had lent to the Young King of Bantam and with which the Fort was built is a thing does not in the least concern the Dutch Company and of which they know nothing Besides That when they make up their Accompts with the King of Bantam he will discharge himself of his Debts by a just Compensation The third Paragraph making mention of an Assassination which the Dutch Company abhors shews a great inclination to Suspition and Jealousie which ought to be banisht from the Mind to re-establish a good Understanding between the two Companyes The fourth Article is a Dilemma couched in these Terms Because if the Old King of Bantam had a Right to Bantam and to the Territories thereof they are now His Majesties by his Donation of them to the late King of ever blessed Memory If the Right thereof lyes as the Dutch say in the Young King He hath been so inhumane and ungrateful and bloody an Enemy to His Majesties Subjects confessedly without the least Cause or Provocation on their Parts that we humbly conceive His Majesties Honour cannot be repaired without invading his City and Country and the rather because though he be called a King he is in Truth none but a perfect Slave to the Batavians and an Executioner of their Will and Pleasure As to the first fork of this Argument because it is evident that the Old King of Bantam having resigned His Kingdom to his eldest Son could not give it afterwards to any other so that the inference which ought to be made from it is against the English Company As for the second part of the Dilemma viz. If this Right belongs to the Young King and that it be true that he hath been so inhumane ingrateful and bloody an Enemy to His Majesties Subjects without the least provocation One may indeed inferr a great deal from it but nothing which can support the demand of the English Company from That of Holland As there can be nothing inferred from it against the Young King of Bantam if for good Reason as he maintains he has he shewed his resentment against the English But it must be observed here by the by that when they are to reproach the Young King they say he has been an inhumane ungrateful and bloody Enemy to His Majesties Subjects without the least cause or provocation But when the Hollanders are to be charged and to make them pass for the Authors of the expulsion of the English from Bantam the language is changed and it is said that there could not be observed either in the Kings looks or words the least thing which shewed any resentment against or that he had any design of turning them out of his Countrey The Fifth Sixth and Ninth Articles have been examined before Of the Seventh The Gentlemen of the Dutch Company never knew nor believe any thing To the Eighth it is answered That the Young King was perswaded as it appears by Tack's Relation marked O. and that of Heinsius marked N. that all those which he had drove out of his Countrey had assisted his Enemies Thus is the Apology of the Dutch Company finished and the English Companies Demands destroyed There remains now nothing more but to relate in a word the Demands of the Dutch Company for the Hire of their Ships of which the Gentlemen of the English Company at Bantam promising to pay the Freight made use of to Transport their persons and Effects from thence to Batavia and which afterwards were made use of instead of Magazines to the great dammage of the Dutch Company who had desired them to be returned to them to carry their own Merchandize The Ships which the Gentlemen of the English Company used are these following The Europe of 1200 Tuns which was at the disposal of the English from the 16th of April 1682. until the 13th of August of the same year and by consequence four Months each Month at 1000 l. Sterling for four Months l. 4000 New Middleburgh of 1000 Tuns was delivered to the English the 22th of April 1682. and was not unladen and discharged until the 22th of November of the same Year and therefore seven Months each Month at 900 l. Sterling 6300 Â l. 10300 T. Wont of Burthen 200 Tuns was used from the first of May until the first of July being two months each at 200 l. sterling amounts to for the two Months 400 Delfshaven Burthen 900 Tons was from the 13th of April until the 13th of August that is to say four Months each Month at 800 l. sterling amounts for the four Months to 3200 The whole Freight of the Ships together amounts to l. 13900 And the Subscribers relying entirely upon the Justice and Right of the Dutch Company as well in Relation to their Defence as to their Re-convention they hope your Excellencies will acquit them from the English Companies Demands and that you will condemn the English Company to pay to the Dutch Company for the Freights of the said Ships the said sum of 13900 l. sterling besides Dammages and Interest Signed G. Hooft Jacob Van Hoorne S. V. Bloquery A. Paets Dated at Westminster 13th Octob. 1685. The Reply of the English Commissioners Instructors to the last foregoing Paper humbly presented to the Lords Commissioners Decisors To the Most Honourable the Lords Commissioners appointed by the Kings Most Excellent Majesty for determinig the differences between the English and Dutch East India-Companies according to the Treaty of 1674-75 Right Honourable 1. WE should admire at the Voluminousness of the Deputies for the Dutch East-India-Companies Answer especially considering how valuable Your Lordships time is But that looking back for many years past we find it is one of the Old
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