Neither the libraries nor the archives of the empire seem capable of furnishing more definite information respecting this interesting undertaking. However, on the other hand, through the kind offices of H.I.H. the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian with the Government of H.M. the King of the Belgians, there have been found in the Royal Archives at Brussels several highly important documents, bearing upon this expedition, of which M. Gachard, keeper of the State Archives in that country, had the kindness to furnish us with copies; and while we propose in the following remarks to avail ourselves of the most interesting data, the more particular consideration of this circumstance, so interesting in the history of the development of our trade, will be deferred till
the appearance of the commercial section of the Novara publications.
A Dutchman, named William Bolts, formerly in the service of the British East India Company, in the year 1774 made to Count Belgiojoso, at that period Ambassador in London of the Empress Maria Theresa, proposals for direct commercial intercourse between the Netherlands and Trieste and Persia, the East Indies, China, and Africa, with the object of supplying the harbours of the Austrian dominions with the products of India and China, without the costly intervention of other countries. This proposition having been brought under the notice of the Imperial Chancellor, Prince Kaunitz, at Vienna, was so cordially received by that minister, that Bolts received an invitation to present himself at the Empress's palace, in order to develope his plans more fully in person in that august presence. Bolts arrived in Vienna in April, 1775, and very shortly afterwards was invested by the Empress with all the requisite privileges for facilitating the prosecution of his great project. The imperial officials at Trieste were entrusted with the equipment and arming of the vessel, the supreme military council were required to provide the necessary pay for the soldiers and subaltern officers, and Bolts by special commission was formally empowered in the name of the Empress Queen, as also in that of her successors upon the throne, to take possession of all the territories which he might succeed in getting ceded by the princes of India, for
the behoof of such of Her Imperial Majesty's subjects as should purpose trading with the Indies.
It was the wish of the Government that the first expedition should take its departure from Trieste; Bolts however opposed this, for the reason that his vessel must take part of its lading from London, but declared himself prepared to make the most strenuous efforts to found a mercantile house in Trieste, and to take such precautions as should result in the second and all future expeditions being dispatched from Trieste.
Bolts hereupon first proceeded to Amsterdam with his newly acquired privileges, and thence to London, as yet without being more fortunate in his attempt to set on foot the proposed association in the one locality than in the other. At last, at Antwerp in the Netherlands, he succeeded in interesting in his project a certain Baron von Proli, and two merchants, by the name of Borrekens and Nägeles, and with these three persons he entered into a contract of association, on 20th Sept. 1775. At the same time a fund of £90,000 was raised for the armament of a second trading vessel to the East Indies and China, and out of the same amount to establish a mercantile house in Trieste.
In possession of £25,000 sterling, which he had procured from his associates, Bolts proceeded to London, where he purchased a vessel, which he named the Joseph and Theresa, put a portion of her cargo on board, and on 14th
March, 1776, set sail thence for Leghorn. Here certain articles were to be taken on board, which the Government had promised to have ready, and which consisted of copper, iron, steel, and tools. Before Bolts left harbour on his voyage to the Indies he was invested by the Empress with the grade of Lieutenant-Colonel in their service, and for the better prosecution of his objects was provided by the State Chancery with comprehensive powers,[3] and a pass for barbarous countries, called a "Scontrino."[4] The Empress at the same time provided the daring adventurer with letters of introduction under her own hand to the Emperor of China, the "King" of Persia, and the Indian satraps whose dominions he was to visit.
Baron Proli, one of the chief partners, went first of all to Vienna, and thence to Leghorn, and concluded an agreement with Bolts to dispatch a ship to the Indies in each of the years 1777, 1778, 1779, the cargoes of which should be worth at least £30,000 each, while Bolts, on his part, engaged to remain in the Indies three and a half years from the day of his departure, there to found factories, and to lay
out to the best advantage the money realized by the sale of the merchandise consigned to him. The Empress Maria Theresa rewarded Proli for services already rendered, as also for those which he undertook to perform in the establishment of trading-exchanges in Trieste and Bruges, for the support of the oversea commerce of the Austrian and Belgian provinces, by raising him to the dignity of Count.