THE ENGLISH IN WESTERN -INDIA, PRINTED AT THE BOMBAY GAZETTE" PRESS. THE ENGLISH IN WESTERN INDIA; BEING THE EARLY HISTORY OP THE FACTORY AT SURAT, OF BOMBAY, AND THE SUBORDINATE FACTORIES ON THE WESTERN COAST. FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD UNTIL THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Draton from Shitfjenttc n at Burhainpiir and Ajmfr ; his presents ; revel- ries ; jealousy of the Factors Hoe's subsequent history Treaty with the Zamorin Factory established at Calicot Sea fight : Portuguese gallantry Sketch of the Portuguese Establishment of a Dutch Factory ; their economy ; Vail den Broeck English Shipping. - 1 CHAPTER II. % 16161630. ARRANGEMENTS of tho Factory President Kerridge ; his character Joseph Salbank ; his complaint Presidents Rastell and Wyld Busi- ness of the Factors ; their private trade and inadequate salaries ; their social position ; aims solely mercantile Domestic Economy of the Factory Dress of the period adopted in India Society ; a wedding banquet ; no English ladies ; history of a Portuguese damsel ; intemperance Legal powers to restrain offenders ; escape of a Dutch murderer Religion ; the Clergy ; the Rev. Henry Lord ; his oriental researches ; Lescke and John Hall : Terry ; his history ; his sermon before the Company ; Copeland ; Dr. John Wood's good opinion of the Company Conversion of the natives ; Salbank's pious letter Native opinions of English Christianity ; the Knight of the Golden Rapier's opinion ; account of this personage Three portraits ; Tom Coryat; his travels and eccentricities ; death and burial ; the reckless sou of an Eng- lish Baron ; a rollicking cook Delia Valle's visit to Surat ; his romantic history Sir Thomas Herbert's visit ; his history Two speculators ; scheme 1'or navigating the Indus Piracies by the Company's Captains Reflections oil English character - - - - - 1 9 vili CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. 16301662. PAGE A DARK AGE Oldest despatch extant iu India Surat becomes the Company's chief place of trade Description of Surat ; it? population and trade The use and exportation of tea ; orders from England lor tea Swally ; description of the port and roads English accounts of the state of the country ; the Emperor's wealth ; inventory of his jewels; various opinions ; oppression ; unsettled state of the provinces ; dangers of travelling ; thuggism ; highway robbers ; a bloody nach ; the markets : awkward posi- tion of foreigners Presidents Methwold, Fremlen, Breton, Blackmail, Rcvington, Wyche, and Andrews Speculation in a Diamond Weddel and Mouutney, agents of a new Company Pusillanimity of the President and Factors Expedients of the new Company; piracy Sufferings of the Factors Union of the two Companies Interlopers Question of monopoly stated and considered Failure and triumph of monopoly First collision with Sivaji Factories at Uajapur, Carwar, Cochin, and Ponaui Improve- ment in the social position of the Factors; their mal-practices Private trade Surgeon Boughton's adventures Davidge's mission Internal eco- nomy of the Factory ; regularity of prayers ; religious tone ; Sunday sports ; refreshments Dutch hostility - - - - 34 CHAPTER IV. 16621685. BOMBAY : origin of the name ; its importance ; at first little appre- ciatedDescriptionThe Company desire to obtain it ; their plans and proposal Ceded to England .Arrival of an English fleet The Portu- guese refuse to evacuate English fleet sails with the troops to Swally ; thence to Anjideva Bombay resigned to the English under Cook ; his ab- surd treaty Appearance of the new possession Sir Gervase Lucas suc- ceeds Cook as Governor ; his history and death Captain Gary ; his cha- racter ; his claim to the Governorship disputed Bombay transferred to the Company Commission sent from Surat Bombay governed by Commis- sioners Deputy Governors Gray, Gyfford and Henry Oxeudeu Court re- solves to improve Bombay Military arrangements ; the Militia ; the re- gular Troops ; first European Regiment Fortifications, and other De- i'ences Threatened attack from a Dutch fleet Development of the Re- sources of Bombay Natives invited to settle Trasie_ncpjiraged A Mint Courts of Judicature The first Judge Unhealthiuess of the climate ; Cholera ; its cure ; causes of unhealthiness : intemperance of sick Soldiers ; an Hospital built A Church proposed ; the rise of Christianity ; a Bi- shop at Kalyau ; Martyrs at Thaiia ; description of Christian worship ; the Portuguese ; English place of worship ; general anxiety to build a Church Improved condition of the Island : the Revenues ; Increase^ of ^trude New View of Bombay and its neighbourhood Expenses of the Works ou the Island Measures to increase the Revenue. - - -50 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER V. SAME PERIOD. PAGE GENERAL AND MERCANTILE AFFAIRS Presidents Sir George Oxenden, Gerald Aungier, and Sir John Child The Company's investment ^n.l djehts Factory at Amoy Articles of trade; indigo, pepper, &e. ; Cotton ; the first Cotton Screw ; English Horses ; slaves for labour ; slaves for the fancy Hindrances to trade ; bankers driven away ; suspension of trade ; vexatious at the Custom-House, and meddling propensities of the officials Troubles of the Factors Question of keeping- up Factories Sivaji plunders Surat ; gallant conduct of the English Second assault of Sivaji ; base con- duct of the French Losses at Canvar and Hiibli English interchange civilities with Sivaji ; Ustick's mission, and its results; Nichol's mission Henry Oxeudeu and two Factors at Sivaji's installation ; settlement of a treaty ; the butchers' friends The Company's Navy Sivaji's Navy The Siddi of Jiujfra The Siddi enters the harbour of Bombay ; awkward pre- dicament Frequent visits of the Siddi ; cause disturbances Contests for the possession of Haneri and Khaneri The Court protests against war Native opinion of English courage The Court's crooked pulicy Naval fight be- tween the Marathas and Siddfs Native Pirates ; their contest with Eu- ropeans ; cruel murder of an Englishman ; fight at Vengurla ; hazards of the coasting trade The Portuguese ; their futile threats ; their priests ex- pelled from Bombay ; they murder an English Serjeant ; vexatious inter- ference ; migrations from Bandora to Bombay The Dutch ; their war and intrigues The French ; their Factory ; its failure Capuchins at Surat ; Father Ambrose Prosecution of interlopers Proposal for a new Com- pany James the Second proclaimed - - 70 CHAPTER VI. SAME PERIOD. HOME AND PERSONAL AFFAIRS Swally, and the ride to Surat The Fac- tory Rank and pay of the Factors ; the rest of the Establishment ; idleness The President's style Sepulchral monuments The Court re- monstrates Characters Fryer ; his history ; his Travels into the interior, ascent of the Ghats and other adventures Sir George Oxendeu ; his fami- ly ; character ; descendants Gerald Aungier ; his religion ; death Religi- ous phrases in ordinary use Contrast in the immorality of the times Go- vernors Cook and Gary Deputy Governor Young ; his outrageous conduct A Naval ensign A Drunkard's broadside A Military quill-driver Gentleman Jones the Serjeant A Corporal's freak Official peculation Bombay punch and its effects ; duelling and gambling ; dive's opinion of the Military The Court's opinion of their servants A cargo of Ladies ; bad investment ; their cruel treatment Children of mixed marriages Mu- tinies at Bombay ; causes ; spirit of the times ; retrenchment ; first mutiny ; Shaxton sent home ; the Court disgusts all classes ; Keigwin raises the stan- dard of revolt; Statesmanlike conduct The President fails to establish or- der Officers sent from England Sir Thomas Grantham arrives, and gains possession of Bombay Treatment of the rebels Factories at Dharamgam, Houawar, Carwar, Rattera aud Brinjau Anecdotes of the Factors - S9 3C CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. 16851697. PAGE SIR JOSIAH CHILD ; his character and influence with the Company ; new designs of the Court Sir John Child ; his early history ; be- comes General ; his character discussed Sir John Wyburn, Deputy <^over- nor ; his career and death The Court prepares for war ; recruit their forces ; secrecy Preliminary steps to war Child's disinterestedness The Com- pany's policy discussed Child begins to capture native ships The Cuurt's approval Auraugzfb's anger Factors imprisoned Child insults the Siddi ; his first misgivings Desertion of the militia and of Europeans The Siddi invades Bombay ; his success Child negotiates ; his abject submission The Siddi withdraws Review of Child's proceedings Child prosecutes Petit and Bourchier His death Bartholomew Harris, President Yaux, Deputy Governor ; his History : suspension and death Hard times for interlopers Seizure of three interloping- vessels Successful resistance and escape of others European pirates; their settlements at Bab-el-maudel and Mada- gascar Sawbridge's cruel fate Captain Avory plunders native vessels Fury of the mob at Surat The Company's ships, the Mocha and Josi 20 and himself supplied the student with all the information which his position enahled him to obtain.* Joseph Salbank, a man of observation, though somewhat illiterate, whose testimony we shall have occasion to cite hereafter, was in 1617 a Factor at Surat. He wrote to England a grievous complaint of the way in which he had been treated by " proud Captain Keeling," who as General of the Fleet appears to have had a controlling power over the Company's servants on shore. Poor Joseph maintained that he had carri- ed himself " very genteelly" towards Keeling, and indeed had shown an excess of humility, but yet suffered the indignity of being placed under " punies and younglings," for whose grandfather he might have passed, so much was he their senior. f Thomas Rastell seems to have succeeded Kerridge in the Presidency, in 1G23, and he w r as succeeded by Wyld. The narratives of two visitors will presently introduce us to the acquaintance of these individuals. To house for exportation the calicoes and produce of the country was the business in which the community engaged on their principal's account. These goods were paid for in money, or else by the exchange of spices and the manufactures of England and China. J With this business of the Company, the Factors combined a profitable trade on their own account, and, as might be expected, considered their own interests, w'thout paying too exclusive an attention to those of their employers. Indeed, unless they had had this recourse, they could scarcely have hoped to obtain a bare subsistence, so beggarly were the salaries whicli they received, much less could they have amassed fortunes. By the bad policy of the East India Company their servants' were thus driven to consult more for themselves than the public good. That judicious observer, and their true friend, Sir Thomas Roe, foresaw this consequence. He therefore strongly urged the Directors to increase their Factors' salaries, and then to prohibt them, under severe penalties, from engaging in private trade. He also justly remarked, that if they complied with his recommendation, they must select persons of respectability for their service, such as would only be induced by the offer of liberal payment to come to India ; but when once there would regard high w r ages as a compensation for the loss of other profits, and would honestly devote their time and ingenuity to fulfil their employers' intentions. This advice was not followed, and after a very few years4he servants of the Company were obscure individuals, whose characters were either unknown, or only known to their disadvantage. Gentlemen they did not pretend to be ; for even their masters did not aspire to such a title. It was an age when the occupation of a merchant was still looked upon as # A discovery of two forreigue sects in the East Indies, by Henry Lord Churchill's Voyages. Bruce's Annals. f Letter from Joseph Salbank to the Company, quoted in Kaye's " Administration of the East India Company." J Mokreb Khan complained to Sir Thomas Roe that the English brought ' too much cloth and bad swords." lie recommended that they should import rarities from .Japan or China, and from England the richest silks and cloth of gold. Sir Thynas Roe's Journal. $ Letter to the East India Company. 21 decidedly vulgar.* The persons who formed the Company were known by the name of " adventurers," and so far from seeking for men of rank, they regan'el gentle blood and noble race as disqualifications for their service. When the crown proposed that they should employ Sir Edward Michilbourne, they looked upon the prefix to his name with suspicion and bw-minded jealousy. It was their resolution, they declared, " not to employ any gentleman in any place of charge," and they requested that they might " be allowed to sort theire business with men of their own qualitye, lest the suspicion of the employment of gentlemen being taken hold upon by the generalise, do dryve a great number of the adventurers to withdraw their contributions."f So that the first English Factors were above, or, perhaps we should, say below, all suspicion of being^ gentlemen. But what the Directors most dreaded was, that their servants might be animated with a martial spirit. They repeatedly warned them against any appeal to arms, even for their own defence. They declared that war and traffic were incompatible, and in this instance at least attended to Sir Thomas Roe's counsel, who, when recommending the Company to confine their attention to trade, had referred to the examples of the Portuguese and Dutch. " The Portugueses," he wrote, " notwithstanding their many rich residences, are beggared by keeping of soldiers ; and yet their garrisons are but mean. They never made advantage of the Indies, since they defended them. Observe this w ell. It has also 'been the error of the Dutch, who seek plantations here by the sword. They turn a wonderful stock ; they prole in all places ; they possess some of the best ,* yet their dead pays consume all the gain." With even more prudence, the ambassador points out the uselessness of expensive Embassies. He himself had obtained solid advantages for the Factory ; but he thought that in future they should be content with employing a native agent at Court on a low salary. J The wisdom of this opinion was subsequently proved, when Norris frittered away large sums of money, and only brought contempt upon himself and his countrymen. Books and records enable us to catch but few glimpses of English man- ners at this early period. We may represent the Factory as a mercantile house of agency, in which the President or Chief was head partner. He and his junior partners, who were called Factors, lived under the same roof, each having his own private apartments ; but all assembling for meals at a public table, maintained by the Company. They were also expected to meet at a certain hour every day for prayers. Such carriages and cattle as they possessed, were part of the ommon stock. Horses were expensive luxuries, used only by the Chief and some of his friends. Bullock Carts were in ordinary use. For space and furniture the English and Dutch houses excelled all others in the city. The President affected some style. When he went into the streets, he was followed by a long * The word " merchant" is frequently used in Shakespeare as a term of contempt. Thus in the first part of Kin? Henry the ixth. \ct II Sc 3, the * ountess of Auvergne when perplexed by Talbot calls him * a riddling merchant ;" and in Komeo and Juliet, Act II. Sc. 4, the nurse calls Mercutio " a saucy merchant," f Mill's History, Book I. Chapter 2. i Roe's Journal and Letters. 22 train of persons, including some natives, armed with bows, arrows, swords, and shields. A banner or streamer was borne, and a saddle-horse led be- fore him. His retainers were nume.rous ; and as each only received three rupees per mensem for wages, the whole cost but little. There were also many slaves, whose clothing was white calico, and food rice with a little fish.* The English had not yet properly adapted their mode of dress to the climate. The costume of the seventeenth century must have been found peculiarly cumbersome and oppressive in a tropical climate. Old prints represent Europeans in India with large hose, long waisted, " peasecod- bellied" doublets, and short cloaks or mantles with standing collars. Then there were ruffs, which Stubbs says were " of twelve, yea sixteen lengths- a piece, set three or four times double" ; and he adds that the ladies had a " liquid matter, which they call starch, wherein the devil hath learned them to wash and dive their ruffs, which being dry will then stand stiff and inflexible about their necks." Breeches, too, were worn by gentlemen preposterously large, and their conical-crowned hats were of velvet, taffata, or sarcenet, ornamented with great bunches of feathers, f Probably, how- ever, this dress approved itself to Native taste better than ours. At least Fryer, when at Junar, flattered himself that Nizam Beg, the Governor of the Fort, admired both the splendour and novelty of his costume. J Sir Thomas Ptoe and his suite, as we are informed, were all clothed in English dresses, only made as light and cool as possible. His attendants wore liveries of " red taffata cloaks, guarded with green taffata," and the Chaplain always appeared in a long black cassock. Society was of the free and jovial kind. There were no English ladies, and if the Factors wished to enjoy the conversation of the gentler sex, they must resort to the Dutch Factory. We have an account of a wedding party there. The bride was an Armenian ; the bridegroom a Dutchman. All the Europeans of the place were invited, and every lady came ; so there were present one Portuguese and one Dutch matron, a young Maro- nite girl, and a native woman who was engaged to marry a Dutchman. The circumstances under which the Portuguese lady was brought there are so characteristic of the times, that they should be narrated. The King of Portugal was in the habit of giving a dowry every year to a few poor but well-born orphan girls, whom he sent to assist in colonizing the settle- ments of India. A ship which was conveying three of these maidens had been intercepted and seized by the Dutch, who immediately carried their prizes to Surat. A supply of ladies was naturally received with avidity in that time of dearth, and the most eminent of the merchants became candidates for their hands. Two were taken, we know not where ; but Donna Lucia, the third, married a rich Dutchman, and was a guest at the wedding banquet. She seems to have been contented with her lot. The affection of her Protestant husband led him to tolerate her religion in * The Travels of Signer Pietro della Valle, Letter I. Sir Thomas Herbert's Travels, page 43. f See the History of British Costume in the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, t Fryer, Letter iii. Chap. 5. 1 Roe's Journal. 23 private, although she was compelled to observe in public the forms of the Dutch Reformed Church. The reason why there were ladies in the Dutch, and not in the English Factory, was, that the Government of Holland encouraged the matrimo- nial desires of their Company's servants. At Java such as had wives and families could claim peculiar privileges ; and on that account many came to Surat, merely that they might marry native women and take them to Batavia.** Sir Thomas Roe remarked with disgust the prevalence of intemperance amongst Europeans at Surat, and wondered that it was tolerated by the native Government. Drunkenness, he writes, and " other exorbitances proceeding from it were so great in that place, that it was rather wonderful they were suffered to live." The mariners of the young men in the Factory were extremely dissolute, and on that account they were con- tinually involved in quarrels with the natives. Even the President, after passing the night on board the ship which brought Delia Valle, no sooner rose in the morning than he began drinking " burnt wine." This was a hot mixture flavoured with cinnamon, cloves, and other spices, and, we are told, was " drank frequently in the morning to comfort the stomack, sipping it by little and little for fear of scalding."^* Where intemperance prevailed to such an extant, there must also have been a considerable amount of crime ; but it is difficult to determine what were the legal powers with which the Company were invested for the punishment of criminals. In 1616 a formal trial was held, and sentence of death passed against one Gregory Lellington, who was charged with murdering Henry Barton in Surat. The Court assembled on board the ship Charles at Swally. The prisoner having confessed his guilt, was sentenced to be taken ashore the next day, and there shot to death by the musketeers of the guard. J This appears to have been a Court Martial ; but in 1622 James the First authorized the Company to chas- tise and correct all English persons residing in India, who should com- mit misdemeanours. Yet the Company could not have considered that they had authority to visit with severe punishment any who were con- victed of grave offences, as in 1624 they petitioned for the establishment of martial and municipal laws, which at a still later period were sanct : oned by Parliament.! It is probable that in some instances the Factors adopted summary measures, without troubling themselves about the slow process- es of law. When one of Van den Broeck's seamen had killed an English gunner, the enraged countrymen of the latter insisted upon having the Dutchman executed at once. In vain did Broeck beg that the forms of justice might be employed. Nothing would do but immediate execution, until the crafty Dutchman devised a plan which shewed that he relied upon English generosity. He declared that the sailor had been con- demned to be drowned. No sooner had the Factors heard this, than their * Delia Valle, Letter I. t Hoe's Journal. Terry's Voyage. Delia Valle, Letter I. i Consultation held on board the ship Charles. Extracted by Mr. Kaye from the Records of Government Morley'a Digest of Indian Cases, Vol. L Mill's History, Book 1. Ctap 2. 24 thirst for blood was allayed. Believing that there was really an intention of putting the man to death, they relented, interceded for his life, and he was pardoned. * Where the execution of human laws was so vague and uncertain, the milder influences of Religion were the more required. And indeed the inmates of the Factory regularly engaged in devotional services, and forms at least were scrupulously observed. In the first Charters no ecclesiastical establishments were provided ; but, when possible, the good offices of a clergyman were always obtained. Every Portuguese, Dutch or English vessel of large size had its minister on board. The French only, Laval remarked, were without the fear of God, and never cared to have divine service performed in their ships, On b ard an Fast Indiaman, belonging to the English Company, a clergyman was usually to be met with, and if, when such an one arrived at Surat, there happened to be a vacancy in the Factory, he was easily induced to become a resident pastor. This was the case in 1616 with Henry Lord, who tells us that he had left one of the English ships for a charge of souls upon shore. He was both a studious and practical man, and his researches have been the means of preserving his name for posterity. Kerridge urged him to redeem the omissions of his predecessors, and make himself thoroughly acquainted with the religions of the Banyas and Parsis. Lord's curiosity had been excited so soon as he set his foot upon Indian soil ; he therefore readily undertook the task. The commencement of his work gives us some idea of -the impression made upon an Englishman at his first arrival. " According to the busie observance of travailers, inquiring what noveltie the place might produce, a people presented themselves to mine eyes, loathed in linnen garments, somewhat low descending, of a gesture and garbe, as I may say, maydenly and well nigh effeminate ; of a coun- tenance shy and somewhat estranged, yet smiling out a glosed and bashful familiarity, whose use in the companies affaires occasioned their presence there. Truth to say, mine eyes unacquainted with such objects, took up their wonder and gazed, and this admiration, the badge of a fresh tra- vailer, bred in mee the importunity of a questioner. I asked what manner of people those were, so strangely notable, and notably strange ? Reply was made, They were Banians." After the worthy preacher had stared sufficiently at these effeminate and smirking dealers in cloth, he set to work with his book ; and as he remained in the Factory several years, during which he diligently inquired into native customs, the book proved to be very valuable. As was to be expected, he could not clearly distinguish the difference between the numerous sects of Hinduism, but his knowledge of their literature, mythology, and cosmogony was extensive. To him Sir Thomas Herbert was indebted for the information which his work contains regarding the Parsis ; and half a century later, Bernier acknowledged with gra- titude his obligations to " Monsieur Henri Lor."f In the same year there was also a Chaplain named Lescke at Surat. The Ambassador, too, brought with him the Reverend John Hall,* Voyage de Van den Broeck. t 'Lord's Discovery of two forreignc Sects. Bernier's letter to M. Cliapclain, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, who soon fell a victim to the climate. His place was immediately supplied from an English ship then at Svvally, and Terry was installed into the Chaplaincy of the Embassy. He also recorded what he saw, and hasUeft us a work which proves the soundness of his principles, and accuracy of his judgment. He was afterwards Hector of Great Greenford in England, and in 1649 preached at the Church of St. Andrew Undershaft before the East India Company after the safe return of seven ships. His discourse, whch is still to be met with in print, was earnest and impressive. After exhorting his hearers to shew their gratitude for the Divine mercies which had been vouchsafed to them, the preacher impresses upon the Company that it is their duty to employ only such Presidents, Ministers of the Word, Factors, and other servants as may " take special care to keep God in their families," and not " play the heathens," when professing themselves Christians.* When Lord and Terry must have both been in the country, a clergyman named Copeland came to Surat in the Royal James East Indiaman. It was the custom before the Company's ships left England for some minister of the Church to preach a farewell Sermon on board. When Copeland was leaving in 1618, Dr. John Wood intended to have dis- charged this office, as he " had divers times before," but being prevented on this occasion, he published his sermon in the form of a pamphlet, en- titled " The true honour of navigation and navigators ; or holy meditations for seamen." In this he declares that he has been an eye-witness of the care which the Company had taken to provide all things necessary for the bodies and souls of those who sailed in their fleets. In 1622 we find Copeland preaching at Bow Church, before the Virginia Council, and we are told that he was constituted Member of the Council of State in Virginia, and Rector of a College established for the conversion of American Indians. f In these early days, much more than at a later date, the conversion of the natives was regarded by some pious Christians with interest and hopefulness. Amongst the Company's records for the year 1617 is a curious letter recounting the conversion of " a Mogul atheist." On this subject, too, Joseph Salbank wrote to the Directors with an earnestness and urgency which we are surprised to find in a commercial adventurer. He implored them to send " preachers and ministers," who might " break unto the Factors the blessed manna of the Heavenly Gospel." In the first place, he said, let us have " sufficient and solid divines, that may be able to encounter with the arch-enemies of our religion, if occasion should so require, those main supporters of the hierarchy of the Church of Rome ; I mean the Jesuits, or rather (as I may truly term them) Jebusites, whereof some are mingled here in several places in the King's dominions amongst us." In the next place he asked for " godly, zealous, and devout persons, such as may, by their piety and purity of life, give good example to those with whom they live, whereby they will no less instruct and feed their little flock committed unto them, no less by the sincerity of the doctrine they teach them."J * A history of the Church of England in the Colonies and foreign dependencies of the British Empire. By the Rev. James S. M. Anderson, Voi. ii. Chap, xv. t Anderson's Colonial Church, Vol. i. Chap, x., :m