pieces and spiked them had killed about sixty might have easily killed many more as the Officers gave in their Report had they not been called off upon this occasion viz. towards the Evening of that day the fight began came a Gentleman from the Dutch Factory of the quality of a Second well known to the Agent he addrest himself in Portugueez and the Agent and he carryed on the discourse in Portugueez and Dutch which this Deponent not being acquainted with desired the Agent to tell it him in English which he did to this Effect This Gentleman says the Agent comes from Dutch Commissary to congratulate the English for the good success they have had against their Enemies And says that they themselves had begun but now the English have taken that honour out of their hands Withal he told the Agent that many of the Natives and I think the Phousdar a great Officer in that place entreated the Commissary to interceed with the English Agent for Mercy for that there were divers houses then on fire that unless the English Soldiers were stayed they would burn down the Town and kill all the People And that the Agent would be entreated to forbear till they the Natives could write to the Nabob at Decca for Orders to satisfie the English Demands The Agent on this the Dutch Intercession stayed the Souldiers from further killing or plunder that night though he caused two or three of the English Vessels to ply the Town with shooting to prevent new recruits in the night and to awe the place There was great care taken by the Agent that in this broyl the Dutch should not suffer in their persons or affairs but should be used with respect and the Dutch desiring it an Order was given that no Merchant Banyan or other Native being in the Dutch service should be molested and where their Servants the Natives goods were seized upon assurance from the Dutch that they did belong to their service they were presently restored And whereas the English kept a Guard upon the River to command it yet all such Boats and Vessels which did belong to the Dutch or did wear their colours did freely pass without stop or interruption though the Rowers and such who sailed them were Natives and at that time Enemies to the English And this Deponent saith that in all that fight and conflict with the Natives the English lost but one man and no more Thomas Ley. Septimo die Martii 1687. Jurat coram me John Shorter Major The Pages of the aforesaid Treatise beginning again about the middle of the Book which is of two parts the Reader will observe that the lower number of Pages we are now at are in the second part of the Amsterdam Copy Where in Page the 14 and 15. They say and what concerns Bencoolen it is true the English some years past came with their Forces and possessed themselves thereof under pretext that the old King of Bantam had during the Civil Wars in which he was taken prisoner granted to them free Trading and Habitation at Syllabar but being driven out of the last place by the forces of the King that now reigneth in Bantam they retired to Bencoolen and built a Fortress there where they yet keep their abode and from thence did transport and Wrest out of our hands a very considerable part of Pepper We say Wrested Forasmuch as it was by Contract with Bantam made over to us whereby although they have intruded into what belonged unto us to our great detriment yet we will pass that by as not being ignorant that such manner of Contracts and Obligations made with Princes in Those Countreys where we have only Lodges or Factories do give us no full Right actually to hinder other Nations for to buy and transport their Commodities but must leave it to the disposal of him that is Lord and Master of those Countries This Confession comes near to the truth but is not the whole Truth as has been before and will hereafter be further demonstrated and yet by this confession they must own not only our Right at Bencoolen but themselves in the wrong intirely at Indrapoura where they had neither Factory Lodge nor Dutchman and where the English had settled and fortified themselves not only with the consent but to the great joy of seven Soveraign Kings And this confession will by consequence convict them of doing injury and unjustly seating themselves at Pryaman and more especially at Batan Capass after those Kings had surrendred their Countrey to His Majesty and came in person to avow their doing it to the Dutch-Men themselves and the Dutch Chief then present did not so much as urge for his excuse any previous Contract with those Kings or any defect of Title those Kings had so to Convey their Countrey unto His Majesty His Heirs and Successors for the use of His Majesty's East-India-Company which doubtless he would have done if he had known of any such Right or pretences which have been since invented to excuse that villanous act Besides supposing the pretences to excuse that act which are now made in the aforesaid Treatise were not inventions but realities such real grounds or pretences of Contracts can never justifie the Dutch for using force and arms against the English in a time of peace for matters which it s confessed ought by the Treaty of 1674-75 to have been amicably determined by Commissioners on both sides in Europe And it is very well known to the Kings Majesty now reigning and all the Honourable Lords then of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council that when the English Company had been at the cost of about One Hundred Thousand pounds for fitting out a Fleet of three and twenty Sail of great Ships with about one thousand Land Souldiers and some of the said Fleet were departed and others advanced on their Voyage as far as the Downs The Dutch Embassadors prevailed with his late Majesty and the Lords then Ministers to command the English Company to forbear recovering Bantam by Arms upon this very ground That by Treaty aforesaid of 1674-75 such matters and differences in India ought not to be determined by Arms but by Commissioners as aforesaid and the distinction which the Dutch would make between the Maliayans and their own people in doing that mischief at Batan Capass every one knowes is a distinction without a difference those Mallayans being their hyred Servants as appears by the Protest and Affidavit aforesaid relating to that business For if the Dutch should be accountable onely for what they do by Native Dutchmen there would be found very few of them in India to be accompted with besides Merchants Nine Tenth parts of their force in India such as it is being by Computation of Forreigners or a mixture of all European Nations as well as Natives Macassars Buggesses Ballees Turnatteens Javans Mallayans Madagascar Slaves Topasses or black Portugueez which will serve any Nation for Money Page 26. Of
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
Witnesses as was told the Factors by the very Persons that they endeavoured to corrupt and that a Dutch Lieutenant with a File of Soldiers sealed up a Warehouse in the Factory and not only their Horses and other Goods on shoar forcibly taken from them but their Powder also from on board their Ships commanded to shoar as was done out of the Ship Return on the 3 d April They loaded what Goods and Effects they could in that hurry get together in the Companies Boats in order to put them on board the English Ships then in Bantam Road. Whilest this was doing they met with no hindrance from the young King's Subjects or Soldiers but when they came up to the Dutch Guards at the Mouth of the River they were stopt and told that the Guards were ordered not to suffer any Goods to be brought from the shoar to the English Ships and that if the English Men in the said Boats did attempt further to get on Board their Ships they would fire upon them Upon which the English and their Boats returned to the Factory Gate 5. Of this the English made their complaint to the Dutch Commissioners who told them all was by Order of the King though none of the Natives or the King's Soldiers appeared to the knowledge of the English in these violences all being executed by Dutch Soldiers And this is the more notorious in that the young King himself told the French Chief as the said Chief acquainted the English Factors that in the presence of the Dutch Commissioners when the said Chief addressed to him to have some Chests of Treasure restored that had been taken from him That he the said King knew nothing of the Cause of his Complaint and that he neither had nor would prejudice him nor the English nor the Danes nor any other Strangers that were Trading in his Country Therefore if he the said Chief 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 of Batavia for Reparation 6. On the 11 th April the Dutch Soldiers entred and ransackt all the Chambers of the young men in the Factory but the Javaes that is the Natives did not deal so with them they permitting the Factors to seal the Companies Warehouses and promising to secure them Sworn the 16th Sept. 1685. before Sir John Moore Signed Ni Waite The Relation and Deposition of Ambrose Moody who lived in Bantam five years and was there a Prisoner Seven Months by the Dutch. SOme few dayes after the Dutch landed in Bantam in the Month of April 1682. several Dutch Soldiers came into the English Factory and stole out several things and Twelve of them broke open the Chamber Door of the aforesaid Ambrose Moody and carried away all that was therein viz. Three Pecul of Aggula-wood Sixty Musquets One Chest of fine Tea-Pots One Barrel of Mum and Fifteen dozen of Pottle Bottles and Two dozen of Wine and several Cloths Books and Bedding and one Canister of China-Tobacco c. The English being all ordered to leave Bantam the said Moody went to Batavia with the Agent c. where he spent above Four Months time and being inform'd that one Nynahassin a Moor-man and others who were indebted to the said Moody was gone to Terrytyassa the Palace of the old King of Bantam he having an opportunity went thither to demand his Debts And upon his arrival he requested the favour of the King that the said Nynahassin might be summoned to Court to give an accompt why he did not pay the said Moody But when he came he told the King that in the time of the Wars of Bantam he had delivered to the said Moody and Mr. William Hodges to the value of 7000 Rs. 8 / 8 in Goods upon which the old King advised the said Moody to write to the Council of the English East-India Company in Batavia and desire them to send word to the Sultan what was the real value of the said Goods They being in their possession were able to give an accompt of their true value and if they would not satisfie the said Nynahassins Debt then he would give him order to seize upon all his Concerns So the said Moody wrote to Batavia and waited in Terrytyassy about two Months for an Answer But it being troublesome times could get none So he resolved to return to Batavia himself but the King advised him not to go directly for Batavia for fear of being cut off but to go to Cherringyen and stay till arrival of an English Ship which he did but could meet with none until the latter end of December the Surrat Merchant bring in sight the said Moody could not procure a Boat to go on board it being ordered by the Java's that none should go on board of an English Ship. So he resolved to go to Bantam in a Java Prow to take his passage for Batavia But upon his arrival at the Boome in Bantam the Dutch ordered him to come ashoar and immediately stopt him as Prisoner and the next day put about Twenty Five pound weight of Iron upon his legs the said Moody demanded the reason of their unjust Action and had for Answer that he must confess that he was sent by the Agent and Council of the English Nation to assist the old King of Bantam against them and then he should be discharged but not before He replyed that if he should confess that it would be false and would rather dye in Prison than confess it In the time of the said Moody's Imprisonment in Bantam one David Oorly and William Harmenson with one Christian Inson and Phillip Aldes and several other Dutch Soldiers did declare they met with but little plunder in Bantam except what they had out of the English Factory which by their own confession was considerable Some part of the said Plunder the aforesaid Moody did see in the hands of the Dutch viz. Pepper and small Arms and Armourers Tools some of the Chirurgeons Instruments and Medicines and Bottles which they said had been full of Wine and part of the Mallay Library and Books of Accompts and other Writings of the English East-India Company which supplyed the Dutch Soldiers for six Months time for Cartridges The aforesaid Dutch Soldiers at the Boome did declare that some of them had played away to the value of One Thousand Rs. 8 / 8 a Man in a days time of those Goods which were plundred out of the English Factory The said Moody being in the old King's Palace the 5 th of November 1682. did hear him say that he had nothing in his Territories but what he had received from the English and to them he would give it again with the possession of all his Forces upon the arrival of the first English Ships and Pengran Probaya the General of all his Forces did likewise declare that he would surrender up his Charge The
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
all They ground their opinions upon ill grounded jealousies and say that at the audience which the King of Bantam had granted to them immediately after his Victory they could not remark his resentment or indignation and that between him and Mounsieur St. Martin Commander of the Dutch Forces there was a very warm conversation But how do they prove these things of this importance Can we trust to the looks of a Man who hides his animosity Is there any one that heard Mounsieur St. Martin inspire the King with the design of driving away the English Has there been any proofs produced of it No certainly Mounsieur St. Martin does not he wipe away all suspition which the most jealous of men could have of him In protesting as he is a Man of Honour that the Discourse which he had with the King was designed only to disswade him from his design of Massacring all the English But it may be the Hollanders are suspected because the impossibility of guessing at the reason of the Kings displeasure gave occasion to the conjectures But how can it be said after that the King had complained to all the world that the English had assisted his Enemies and after a cloud of Witnesses had confirmed the same thing that the English themselves will not be able to deny if they will be pleased to give any heed to what one of their own people has written in a Book Printed here in London where giving an account of all that happened at Bantam in the time of the War and whereof he had himself been an Eye-witness who sayes he believed that the greatest part of the Cannon shot which were shot against the English at Bantam were shot by the Hollanders But in this he was very much mistaken for the Hollanders had posted themselves then before the Town only to wait for an Answer from the Old King to the offer of the Mediation of the Government of Batavia and not in the least to hurt any one because they knew that those of the English Nation those are the very words had furnished the King with almost all his Ammunition of War and that they had animated the Javans against them viz. against the Hollanders from whence it is easie adds he to conclude that we cannot much reckon upon their Friendship if they land This is a sincere Confession of what is so much denyed at present The fourth Article of the said Mr. Sweetings Deposition contains two things First That there was taken from the English their Horses and other Goods and that they were forced to unlade their Powder and to carry it on shoar Secondly That the Hollanders which kept guard on the Port hindred them from going out As to the first since it is not said much less proved that the Hollanders took away the Horses and other Goods from the English nor that they had forced them to land their Powder the Subscribers will spare themselves the pains of making remarks upon what does not concern them and of which the Hollanders are discharged by the Memorial annexed to the Demand which Memorial charges with this expresly the Young King of Bantams Chief Officers Only in relation to the Powder they say that if it be true that the English were forced by the Kings Order to dispose of it it was not because the King had need of it but because he feared they would have furnished his Enemies with Ammunition As to the second viz. That the Hollanders hindred the English from going out of Bantam There is no likely hood that the Hollanders should have hindered the going out of the English since they were invited there with their Ships to transport their Persons and Goods from Bantam to Batavia Let it be added that the English made their complaint to the Dutch Major and that he had answered mocking them as it is said in the fifth Article of the aforesaid Deposition that all this was done by the Kings Order and it signifies nothing For although the said Major we not granting he did should answer not to mock them but seriously that however they must require satisfaction from the King though his Orders should be put in Execution by Dutch Soldiers but this he has alwayes firmly deny'd and whereof there are no proofs All this however makes nothing against the Hollanders who let the Case be how it would were not responsible for the King's Orders That which is added in the same Article viz. That the French Chief demanding of the King the Restitution of two Chests of Silver which had been taken from him The King answered that he knew nothing of that of which they complained And that afterwards he sent him to those of Batavia to have Reparation makes nothing against those of the Government of Batavia since the King did thus it may be to rid himself of the trouble of the French Agent 's Complaints who notwithstanding knew very well himself as it appears by the Relation of Commander Tack and by the Letter which is inserted in it That it was one of the King's Officers which had seized upon his Chests The 6 th Article containing that the 11 th April 1682 the Dutch Soldiers came into the English Companyes Godongs plundering and carrying away all that they found in it has no appearance of truth not only because it is far from any likelyhood That the English having carryed away and laden all their Goods even to the smallest trifles upon their Ships to transport them to Batavia the day before their departure for they departed the 12 th April as they say themselves there should be any thing found in their House of the least value but also because during their stay at Batavia which was long enough they never made any Complaint nor ever delivered any note of what the Dutch soldiers had robb'd them of at Bantam Wherefore we ought to conclude it is a story made at pleasure or that they left nothing in their House but Raggs and the Refuse of their Houshold Stuff As to the Seventh and last Article of the said Mr. Sweeting's Deposition speaking of the English Colours the Subscribers to spare your Excellencies the trouble of hearing Repetitions will have recourse with your permission to the remarks which they have made upon Mr. John Fisher's Deposition marked N. 4. The Testimony of Mr. Waite marked N. 6. containing nothing in substance but what has been sworn by Mr. Sweeting does not deserve any new Observations excepting the Fourth Article of which it is necessary to discover the Malignity and the Artifice When the English saith Mr. Waite saw themselves in so great a danger especially when they knew that some of the Dutch Officers endeavoured to suborn Witnesses as it was related to the Agent by those whom they endeavoured to corrupt and when they saw that a Dutch Lieutenant came with Soldiers to seal up the Warehouses in their Factory and that they did not only take from them their Horses and Goods
Polloway and Pollaroone Nutmeg Islands and depriving them of the Trade of Banda Seram and others of the Banda Islands as also of the Trades of the Moluccas or Clove Islands not to revive the History of that unparallel'd inhumanity at Amboyna and in latter times by their depriving them of the Pepper Trades of Japarra Andragera Lampoon Pollinbam and Jambee in the South-Seas and Porcat upon the Coast of Mallabar besides those Things and Places lately complained of by His Majesties Envoy at the Hague And if any English Gentleman would be further satisfied as to those past injuries we need only referr them to Mr. Purchas's Pilgrims the first part toward the latter end of that Book Thirdly Ask any plain hearted Bewinthebber or any honest Dutch Skipper that knows India whether the Dutch have not been contriving these Twenty years to turn the English out of the Trade of Pepper and whether their General Matsuker at Batavia had not a Warrant dormant and since him their late General Van Goens to enterprize that business of Bantam when ever they could effect it Fourthly Ask any sober minded man whether the encroaching restless covetous humour of the Dutch Company hath not imbroyled the two Nations in great Wars and Blood-shed within the space of one age and whether it be Wisdom to try that hazardous experiment again with such a load of guilt upon them Whether it were not more prudent since they have the noble places of Trade in India already to sit down quietly and let their Neighbours peaceably imploy their industry to gain a penny by their leavings Whether that encroaching Game be not played far enough already and it were not Wisdom now to set bounds to their Dominion in India as their wiser States-men seem to have set bounds to the encrease of their Territory at home least indignation provoke the great Kings of Europe to visit those remote Regions w th their Royal Navies at their proper charge and thereby discover a secret yet unobserved by the Kings of Europe viz. That Sampsons strength lies in his locks more than in his Brains or his robust body and bones and that the dutch Company is no less hated in India by all Nations by reason of their Tyranny and Oppression than their State in Europe is loved by their best Friends and Confederates Whether their own people in India which are a mixture of all fugitive Europeans do not think themselves under great Slavery by reason of their Companies severity and whether their very countenances as well as their discourses do not discover their discontents as the very Clothes or rather want of Clothes of their common Sea-men proclaims their excessive penury Whereas on the contrary the Dutch Sea-men in Europe may be distinguisht from other Nations by the neatness wholeness cleanliness and sufficiency of their garments And whether if they be pressed hard in India now they have stretched their Arms so wide and grasp't so much they will not be found much weaker then they were Fifty years past when they had not half so many Forts and their own Servants and the Natives necks were not so gaul'd by their Iron Yokes which have since been straitned upon them Verbum sapienti sufficit To wave long and tedious discourses the short case is whether a Contract for the sole Commerce with any Countrey or a small Fort upon a Coast of a vast Extent or the pretence of War with any of the Native Princes shall deprive any Europe Nation being in Friendship with the Dutch from Trading to such Countrey in India where such Contract hath been made or such Fort built or such pretence of War begun we say none of these can or ought to hinder a Nation in friendship with the Dutch from Trading with the Natives of that Countrey or People without making War in India every moment of time that any Nation hath peace with the Dutch in Europe Before we proceed to the argument we own that where-ever the Dutch have the sole Occupancy or the exercise of the sole Dominion of any place or Countrey they may without breach of Peace prohibit any Friend-Nation from Trading to that place and this concession overthrowes all the arguments they draw from the English Laws of preserving or confining the sole Trade of Barbadoes Virginia c. to the Kings subjects only To give some instances of the Case or Proposition before asserted which will open the Readers understanding We shall begin at the North of India viz. It is famously known that the Emperour of Persia owes the English Company a vast sum of money for the Arrears of their half Custom of Gombroon due to them for the expence of their Blood and Treasure in helping the Persian to take Ormus from the Portugueez Now if the English should at any time think fit to War on this indubitably just occasion upon the King of Persia and his Subjects for the Recovery of their known just Debt suppose the Dutch should come at the same time to Trade with their Ships in goods not Contraband at Gombroon and the English should hinder them from Trading or from the Natives Lighters or Boats to Land their goods and Ballast their Ships Would not the Dutch cry out loudly and justly This is against natural Right and a breach of the peace And would it be any diminution of the unjustice to say the English would lend them Boats Might not they reply what is lent is not of Right but of Courtesie and may be taken again when the lender pleaseth Besides that it would be a scorn and contempt put upon the Dutch Nation in sight of the Persians to tell them you shall have no Boats but what we please But this hath never been the English practice whose it is the Reader will see hereafter by Transcripts of the following Papers Translated from the Latin Originals viz. A Letter sent by Rehnier Casembroot as Admiral of the Dutch Ships then in Gombroone Road and his Councel To Daniel Edwards Agent and the rest of the Councel for the English Nation in Persia dated the 2d of May 1685. To Mr. Edwards Resident in the Kingdom of Persia For the Illustrious English Company FOrasmuch as at this time there is such difference between us and the Persians that lately in an Hostile manner they prohibited us their Countrey we would not seem to be careless in that matter but by this our very Friendly Letter do intimate manifest request and heartily advise you That according to the Marine Treaty between His Majesty of England and the High and Mighty States of the Vnited Provinces ye would defer for some time the un-loading the Ship called the Bengal Merchant lying in this Road. In so doing you will oblige us in like manner to requite you for the future Your Friends ready to serve you in all Affection and Duty R. Casembroot W. Lycochthon Jacob Van Ackersdycke Wr. V. Bullestraete From the Ship Blew Hulke 12th of May 1685. Daniel Edwards
the Honourable English Company Sirs WE received last Night your Protestation by which we understand to our great Admiration the Complaints which you were pleased to produce for the siezing of a certain Persian Boat rowing amongst our Ships which you pretend to have hired for the unlading of your Ship the Bengall Merchant as also accusing us for detaining the Goods for some time which were carried in her In answer to which ye cannot be ignorant how that this Port and Persian Bay hath been blockt up with Eight or Nine Ships for almost a whole year And although our Agents be attending the Persian Court to compose those differences Nevertheless our Men were Hostilely driven from the Coasts our Flagg thrown down and that according to report the Inhabitants of the City of Gombrone threatned us that we should be overwhelmed here in this Port with the Persian Sea Forces which things Nature it self teacheth us to prevent And forasmuch as it seems good to us to destroy all the Persian Ships yet it never came into our thoughts you should incur any Damage by it as you your selves very well know it was not done in the unlading or lading of the Ship Williamson who came and went although loaden with Persian Goods But on the contrary we offered Yesterday to your Interpreter David when the aforesaid Persian Boat was seized on sailing amongst our Fleet our Long-boats for your Service to unlade your Ship and for that very reason we were no hindrance at all in the least to your Affairs And that our Ships might be rendred secure from the imminent dangers of our roving Enemies who affirmed they sailed under your Name and by your Order But you seem to incline rather to accuse us very unjustly that we had seized on your Goods being two Chests of Rose-water rather than to accept of our kindness in offering our Long-boats The aforesaid Interpreter David took along with him those two little Chests with the same Boat which brought him from the Shoar whilest that sloop was carryed down to our Ship. And seeing the Case is thus you seem to darken the truth of things by patcht-up Fictions and forged Tales This your so ill-grounded and strange Accusations does not at all concern us seeing that even from the beginning of this Expedition we have patiently borne all those Calumnies by which we have been aspersed for some time by some of your Nation amongst the Persians And loseing Ground here in our Affairs especially by your promises to them That you with Six Ships will drive us from this Port and Castle of Kisim Concerning the which we can produce sufficient proofs and withal manifest we gave you not the least Cause But all things were carryed on with such apparent loss to our Company And moreover you did intend also to force us to suffer the Boats of our Enemies to pass and repass us safely Therefore we protest in the Name of the Dutch East-India Company That we will be Innocent of all such Damages Wounds Slaughters Losses and other Inconveniences which may arise from one Cause or other Dated from the Ship Blew Hulke at the Siege of the Port of the City of Gombroon 17 th May S. N. 1685. Your Most Affectionate Friends We the underwritten do affirm that the foregoing Protestation was Delivered Rehnier Casembroot W. Lycochthon Jacob Van Askerdyck Wr. V. Bullestraete Claas Meynderw S. Visnigh The Protest of Captain John Goldsborough against the Dutch Admiral Dated June the 1st 1685. WHereas there is a Treaty Marine between our Most Gracious Sovereign Lord the Most Serene and Mighty Prince CHARLES the Second by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. and the High and Mighty Lords the States General of the Vnited Netherlands to be observed through all and every the Countreys and parts of the World by Sea and Land concluded at London the First day of December 1674. In which Treaty there is Liberty for the Subjects of the King of England to trade freely to any Ports and Places in the World without hindrance or molestation although the said High and Mighty Lords the States General or any of their Subjects be in actual Hostility and War with such Ports and Places Now these presents shew that the Ship Bengall Merchant John Goldsborough Commander in the Service of the Honourable the Governour and Company of Merchants in London trading to the East-Indies arrived in Gombroone Road in the Gulph of Persia and in the Dominions of that King the First day of May 1685 where were Six Ships belonging to the Dutch Vnited Netherlands East-India Company riding before the Town of Gombroone Commanded in chief by Rehnier Casembroot as Admiral who pretended to be at Wars with the Persians and victoriously then rode in Triumph in the midst of a few Trankeys or Persian Boats which he had seized On Sunday the Third of May the said Admiral sent me word aboard our Ship Bengall Merchant and the same in Writing he sent ashoar unto the Honourable English East-India Companyes Factors in Gombrone That they being now at Wars with the Persians would not suffer any of the Persian Boats to help unlade our Ship To which I answered That the next Morning Boats were appointed to come off to begin to unlade us and that in each of them there would be an English Man whereby the Admiral or his People might know that they were Boats imployed in the English Service and I desired they would give us no hindrance or molestation in our business Our Factors from the Shoar sent off one to the said Admiral and his Council whom he found resolved to stop all Persian Boats from coming off to us On the Fourth of May Six Boats were provided by our Factors for the unlading our Ship of the Honourable English East-India Companyes Goods and in each of the Boats an English Man The First Boat that came off the Dutch sent their Boat from the Admiral 's Ship and seized and carryed her aboard of the Admiral with one of our Men named Thomas Morley in her and several Goods in her ordered by our Companies Factors to be put on board of our Ship. The rest of the Six Boats seeing the First Boat taken returned ashoar and those of them that were not put from shoar remained there and so we could get none off This Action of the Admiral and his Council was committed by them whilest Senior David was aboard with them he being Linguist unto the Honourable English East-India Companies Factors in this place and sent by them with a Letter to inform the Admiral and his Councel That these Boats whereof he had taken one were imployed in the English Service and by the Treaty Marine ought not to be hindred The Goods that were Laden in the Persian Boat for our Ship the Dutch took out and put into our Boat by force she being there waiting upon the Linguist Seniour David who seeing the
Countreys of that vast Extent that all which the Netherlandish Company doth possess in East-India is not to be compared thereunto To which we Reply First It 's confessed by all Nations That all Soveraigns within their own Dominions where they have Subjects and Exercise Soveraign Rights may make what Laws they please Secondly It is acknowledged before in this Answer and must be confessed by all Nations that whatever is just between Nations in Amity in Europe is equally just in both Indies and whatever is unjust in Europe is equally unjust in India But it is confessed the King of England hath a Multitude of His Native Subjects in Carolina Virginia New-England Jamaica Barbadoes Mevis and other Islands in the West-Indies in all which His Majesty justly exercises plenary Soveraign Power and therefore may make what Laws he thinks fit for the Government of those places and so may the Dutch do likewise in Batavia Malacca Cochin and in other places but in those and so far only as they have the full Exercise of Soveraign Power not the pretence of a Right to the Soveraign Power where they have neither Habitation nor Subjects but peradventure a piece of Paper signed by some body that calls himself an Orankay or a Raja a dozen or more of which may be had from abundance of those poor Men for a small Reward with what words the Purchaser pleaseth to put into those Writings Thirdly We say that by the Laws of Nations and Natural Right and consent of Nations no Fort upon a Pass or upon part of an Island where some part of the said Island remains under the Soveraignty of the same Prince can hinder any Nation in Amity with the Soveraign of that part of the Island where the Fort is built from Trading with the People on the other part of the Island or with the Subjects of another Prince on the same Island For Instance St. Christopher's Island in the West-Indies is possest partly by the English and partly by the French each in subjection to their Respective Sovereigns Now we say while His Majesty and the French King are engaged in League of Amity if His Majesty pleaseth to admit the Dutch or any other Foreign Nation in Amity with His Majesty to Trade to His part of the Island of St. Christophers the French King cannot by Jus Gentium hinder the Dutch from Trading with his Subjects and the like vice versa By which Rule it will evidently appear the English Settlements were justly made according to unexceptionable Natural Right and the Laws of all Nations at Bencoolen and Indrapoura and if the Dutch Company do or cause to be done any hurt or dammage to the English in those places it will be an Injurious and Hostile Action as is likewise the Dutch Companies hindring the English Ships from watering and refreshing at Bantam which they have done ever since the surprize thereof Notwithstanding they have ever since pretended that place is none of theirs but belongs to the Young King of Bantam Page 31. They say They suffered us to refresh our Seamen at Batavia and to repair our Ships which is very true and the English Company will alwayes acknowledge their Justice in that respect and as they never did so they never will fail to requite them with the same kindness where ever the English Company have to do But that which follows in the same Page is as extreamly unkind as we believe it is untrue viz. That in Case the Subjects of that State should come to request such a thing in the Caribees Barbadoes Virginia or Jamaica they should not be admitted but rather seized and confiscated Towards the Conclusion of their Treatise they mention some little disorders committed in Batavia by the Herbert's Sailers and the Master of a free English Ship called the Madrass at Cochin and of Captain Andrews his searching a Moore 's Ship in that Road of which we never heard a Word before we saw it in print in the said Treatise nor give any Credit to until we hear from the said Captain Andrews who is a discreet sober experienced Man and whom we have reason to believe neither did or would do any thing but what did consist with Justice or his Duty to His Majesty whose Commission he had to take all Moore 's Ships though it seems by the Relation they give of it themselves he was so civil at their perswasion to leave that Ship behind him We have now concluded our Reply and Animadversions upon the said Treatise and we think made it appear beyond Contradiction that the Dutch have done many and great Hostile Injuries to the English Company especially since the time that with Interloping the Rebellion of Bombay broke forth which they thought a proper season being expert in that kind of Wisdom of knowing the times and seasons But they ought to remember there is a double Accompt to be given for Injuries and Oppression of the Innocent The one to God by Repentance the other to Men by Restitution without which they may not improbably bring a greater Judgment upon themselves than we wish or their sagacity can foresee Until they do which and abandon those false Notions of Right which their unbounded Avarice hath framed to themselves and which we have proved contrary to Natural Right and the Laws of all Nations They may for ever impunè Rob Kill and Destroy the English notwithstanding the Peace between the Two Nations by the Treaty in force which we think are as equal and just as can possibly be made or provided if they were duly observed and obeyed by the Dutch Company as we affirm they have ever most exactly been by the English Company SVPPLEMENT THough we have owned before as we can never disown what is just in it self that it is lawful for any Nation in India to make Exclusive Contracts with any Prince or People there and to secure the performance of those Contracts by settling Factories or Forts in such Contracting Indian Princes Dominions Yet so Just and Generous are the English East-India Company that they do not only allow Refreshments of all kinds to the French Dutch Danes Portugueez and all Nations in Amity with our Soveraign Lord the King as well Natives as Europeans But also do allow them free liberty of all manner of Trade and Commerce and in all kind of Commodities from and to any Port or Place in India whatsoever as freely as the Companies own Servants or any English Free-man can or may And also to reside at Bombay or Fort St. George and to Rent or Purchase Houses or Lands there and in all Respects to have the same Liberty and Freedom for Landing or Shipping of Goods and selling or disposing of them to whom they please as the English themselves have and to be in the like Capacity of being Aldermen or Burgesses of the Corporation at Fort St. George and Bombay whatever Faith or Religion they are or may be of as the Native English of those places are And this we have Authority from the said Company to publish and avow in their Names to the whole World To the intent that Merchants of all Nations may know with what Liberty Security and Freedom they may resort to both or either of those places FINIS