A HISTORY of BRITISH
INDIA. <...> TO THE UNION OF THE OLD AND NEW
COMPANIES
UNDER THE EARL OF GODOLPHIN'S AWARD
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY
1900. <...> When Sir William Hunter, on January 24, 1900,
penned the last words of Chapter VIII. in the present volume it
was little realised, either by himself or his friends, that the
shadow of death had already fallen across his path. <...> Moreover, a 'Life' is in preparation, which has been entrusted to
the capable hands of Mr. F. H. Skrine, late of the Bengal Civil
Service, and it would therefore be at once premature and
unnecessary to anticipate the task he has undertaken. <...> As
the darkest period of the Company's history, that of the
seventeenth century, was reconstructed and illuminated from
the manuscript records of the India Office, Sir William Hunter
determined that the results were of sufficient interest and
importance to justify a narrative on a more extended scale. <...> At first it was decided to publish the volume
as it stood, without the addition of a single word; but Sir
William Hunter had left a rough outline sketch of what the next
chapter was to be, together with abundant material, either
collected by himself or amassed under his immediate direction,
2
A HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA
INTRODUCTION
and eventually it was resolved to use that material so far as to
carry on the history to a convenient terminal date. <...> But there would have been no political
ascendency for us at all, had not the humbler task been well and
thoroughly performed. <...> We have too long fostered the notion that our Indian
Empire was an unconscious lapse into greatness. <...> The historian
who attempts to work from primary sources has frequently to
combat generalisations, more brilliant than sound, which have
3
A HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA
INTRODUCTION
crystallised into hard-and-fast traditions. <...> Nothing great that has ever been done by Englishmen was done
so unintentionally, so accidentally as the conquest of India.' It
seems an invidious task to breathe even a word of criticism
against a writer <...>
A_history_of_British_India_To_the_union_of_the_old_and_new_companies_under_the_Earl_of_Godolphin's_award._Vol._2.pdf
A HISTORY of BRITISH
INDIA. By Sir William Wilson
Hunter, K.C.S.I., M.A., LL.D, a VicePresident
of the Royal Asiatic Society
VOLUME II.
TO THE UNION OF THE OLD AND NEW
COMPANIES
UNDER THE EARL OF GODOLPHIN'S AWARD
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY
1900.
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION. .................................................................... 2
CHAPTER I. THE COMPANY AND THE KING.
1623-1649....................................................... 12
CHAPTER II. OUR FIRST SETTLEMENTS ON THE
BOMBAY COAST.1607 — 1658.................. 37
CHAPTER III. OUR FIRST SETTLEMENTS ON THE
MADRAS COAST. 1611-1658...................... 57
CHAPTER IV. OUR FIRST SETTLEMENTS ON THE
BENGAL COAST. 1633 — 1658 .................. 71
CHAPTER V. THE COMPANY AND THE
COMMONWEALTH. 1649-1660.................. 85
CHAPTER VI. THE COMPANY'S SERVANTS AND
TRADE TO 1660......................................... 130
CHAPTER VII. THE COMPANY UNDER THE
RESTORATION. 1660 — 1688.................. 156
CHAPTER VIII. THE COMPANY AND PARLIAMENT.
1688-1698.................................................... 234
CHAPTER IX. STRIFE AND UNION OF THE
COMPANIES. 1698-1708........................... 276
1
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INTRODUCTION.
There is something pathetic in the publication of a
posthumous work. The pathos is deepened in the case of a
writer suddenly called away in the midst of apparent health and
vigour, as he stands on the threshold of a great literary
undertaking. When Sir William Hunter, on January 24, 1900,
penned the last words of Chapter VIII. in the present volume it
was little realised, either by himself or his friends,
that the
shadow of death had already fallen across his path. Yet so it
was. A fortnight later he was lying dead — his end so sudden,
so calm, and so mercifully wrapped
in
the sleep of
unconsciousness that he had no time to give more than a bare
hint of his wishes as to the book he had left incomplete.
Of the man himself and his work this is not the place to
speak. Innumerable tributes to his memory, both in the English
and Indian Press, are still fresh in the public recollection.
Moreover, a 'Life' is in preparation, which has been entrusted to
the capable hands of Mr. F. H. Skrine, late of the Bengal Civil
Service, and it would therefore be at once premature and
unnecessary to anticipate the task he has undertaken.
It remains to say something as to the publication of this
volume. In the original scheme of the work it was to end with
the battle of Plassey; but gradually this plan was modified. As
the darkest period of
the Company's
history, that of the
seventeenth century, was reconstructed and illuminated from
the manuscript records of the India Office, Sir William Hunter
determined that
importance to justify a narrative on a more extended scale. The
exact date for the conclusion of the volume had not been finally
fixed when death stayed the hand of the writer. Chapters I. to
VII. were already set up in proof, while Chapter VIII. existed in
manuscript only. At first it was decided to publish the volume
as it stood, without the addition of a single word; but Sir
William Hunter had left a rough outline sketch of what the next
chapter was to be,
together with abundant material, either
collected by himself or amassed under his immediate direction,
2
the results were of sufficient interest and
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A HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA
INTRODUCTION
and eventually it was resolved to use that material so far as to
carry on the history to a convenient terminal date. Such a date
was obviously afforded by the union of the two Companies
under the provisions of the Earl of Godolphin's Award in 1708,
and Chapter IX. has therefore been added to round off the
volume. For the form and arrangement of that concluding
portion Sir William Hunter is in no way responsible, and any
imperfections of style or matter that may be found (of which
there are probably only too many) are not to be attributed to his
pen.
Though he unhappily only lived to carry out a fragment
of his original design, yet it may be said that Hunter has left a
complete account of one great section of our history in India —
the struggle for and attainment of commercial supremacy in the
seventeenth
century.
Speaking
generally, this was
the
achievement of the old London Company. The work of the
great United Company, founded in 1708, was to establish our
political ascendency. But there would have been no political
ascendency for us at all, had not the humbler task been well and
thoroughly performed. Nor must we attempt to draw too
dogmatically the line of demarcation between the periods thus
roughly characterised. The one shades into the other by almost
imperceptible gradations, and we shall find that, even in the
early period covered by this volume, the English in India were
not without occasional premonitions of the great destiny
awaiting them.
The once firmly-rooted conviction that our real history
in India began about 1746 is dying hard. It was due partly to an
accidental cause. The events of that time were related with
marvellous accuracy of detail and unique charm of style by a
consummate military historian. But the bright light focussed by
the genius of Orme on the Anglo-French struggle in India of the
eighteenth century has not only somewhat lifted that period out
of its proper perspective, but has deepened by contrast the
shadow on the years that went before.
We have too long fostered the notion that our Indian
Empire was an unconscious lapse into greatness. The historian
who attempts to work from primary sources has frequently to
combat generalisations, more brilliant than sound, which have
3
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A HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA
INTRODUCTION
crystallised into hard-and-fast traditions. Thus the late Professor
Seeley writes: 'Our acquisition of India was made blindly.
Nothing great that has ever been done by Englishmen was done
so unintentionally, so accidentally as the conquest of India.' It
seems an invidious task to breathe even a word of criticism
against a writer from whom we have all learnt so much. But
fallacy must inevitably lurk in the attempt to sum up in a single
sentence the motives and tendencies of a century and a half. To
prove how seriously this statement needs qualification, we have
only to point to the fact
that as early as 1687 the Court of
Directors hoped, in their own words, to lay the foundation of a
'large, well-grounded sure English dominion in India for all
time to come.' Of course they by no means always wrote or
acted up to the full height of this conception. They aimed, as
Seeley truly points out, at a commercial rather than a political
ascendency; but in no sense did the Company act 'blindly.' It set
itself from the first most consciously and deliberately to acquire
the bulk of the Indo-European trade.
The
truth is better expressed in Captain Mahan's
description of the English and Dutch colonial and mercantile
policy as a whole. Both peoples, he says, 'in their native country
and abroad, whether settled in the ports of civilised nations or
of barbarous Eastern
rulers or in colonies of their own
foundation . . . everywhere strove to draw out all the resources
of the land, to develope and increase them.' This is eminently
true of our work in India; we strove to draw out all the
resources of the land. But the political and economic condition
of the Mughal Empire was such that a domination over the
Indo-European trade inevitably brought with it a large measure
of political and territorial power. It would have been madness to
grasp the sceptre too soon. That was the fatal rock on which the
French Companies were lured to destruction. Though a trading
company might acquire an empire, we may be sure it could
only do so by trading, i.e. by a vigorous and unimpeded
exercise of its own proper function. Militarism is a dangerous
weapon in the hands of a Chartered Company — at least, in the
early stages of its history.
In the main therefore the Directors, that much-abused
body of men, were moved by a sound instinct in their
4
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