In the Annals of the East India Company,[314] the English are said on this occasion to have received a proportion of the plunder acquired at Ormus, and a grant of the moiety of the customs at Gambroon, which place, in the sequel, became the principal station of their trade with Persia and other places in the Persian gulf. The treaty made in 1615 by Mr Connock was also renewed, and an additional phirmaund granted by the Sophi, allowing them to purchase whatever quantity of Persian silks they might think proper, in any part of his dominions, with the privilege of bringing their goods from Gambroon to Ispahan free of duties.
[Footnote 314: Vol. I. p. 236. The historiographer makes, however, a small mistake, naming Ruy Frere de Andrada as chief commander of the Portuguese at Ormus, who only commanded in a subordinate fortress at Kismis.--E.]
In consequence of the war of Ormus, a claim was set up in 1624 by the crown and the Duke of Buckingham, as lord high admiral of England, by which the Company was demanded to pay a proportion of the prize-money, which their ships were supposed to have obtained in the seas bordering on the countries within the limits of their exclusive charter. In order to substantiate these claims, Captains Weddell, Blithe, Clevenger, Beversham, and other officers of the Company's ships were examined, and particularly those who had been employed against Ormus. According to their statements, it appeared that the amount of this prize-money was calculated at £100,000 and 240,000 rials of eight, but without taking into view the charges and losses incurred by the Company on this occasion, and by their ships being called off from commercial engagements, to act as ships of war for the protection of their trade against the Portuguese, and in the assistance of the government of Persia, by which they had been compelled, either to engage in this war, or to relinquish a trade in which they had expended large sums, together with the loss of all their goods then in Persia. At last the Company was obliged to compound, by payment of £10,000 to the Duke of Buckingham in discharge of his claim, and received an order from the secretary of state, Sir Edward Conway, to pay a similar sum also to the crown.--E.
SECTION XIV.
ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE OF AMBOINA, IN 1623.[315]
In the preceding sections of this chapter, the early commercial voyages of the English East India Company have been detailed; and it is now proposed to conclude this part of our arrangement, by a brief narrative of the unjustifiable conduct of the Dutch at Amboina, in cruelly torturing and executing several Englishmen and others on false pretences of a conspiracy, but the real purpose of which was to appropriate to themselves the entire trade of the spice islands, Amboina, Banda, and the Moluccas. They effectually succeeded in this nefarious attempt, and preserved that rich, but ill-got source of wealth, for almost two hundred years; till recently expelled from thence, and from every other commercial or colonial possession in Asia, Africa, and America. A just retribution for submitting to, or seconding rather, the revolutionary phrenzy of French democracy; for which they now deservedly suffer, under the iron sceptre of the modern Atilla.
[Footnote 315: Purch. Pilgr. II. 1853. Harris, I. 877.]
In giving a short narrative of this infamous transaction, besides the original account of Purchas, abridged from a more extended relation published at the time by the East India Company, advantage has been taken of the account given by Harris of the same event, which is fuller and better connected than that of Purchas, who most negligently garbled this story, under pretence of abbreviation. Harris appears evidently to have used the authorised narrative published by the Company, in drawing up his account of the event. There are other documents, relative to this tragical event, both in the Pilgrims of Purchas and the Collection by Harris, particularly the Dutch justificatory memorial, in which they endeavour to vindicate their conduct, and to shew that the English merited the lingering tortures and capital punishments to which they were condemned; to which is added a reply or refutation, published by order of the English Company. But the abridged narrative contained in this section seems quite sufficient on so disgusting a subject, especially so long after the events which it records.--E.
After the fruitless issue of two several treaties, for arranging the differences that had taken place in eastern India, between the English and Hollanders respecting the trade of the spice islands, the first at London in 1613, and the second at the Hague in 1616, a third negociation was entered into at London in 1619, by which a solemn compact was concluded upon for settling these disputes, and full and fair arrangement made for the future proceedings of the servants of both Companies in the Indies, as well in regard to their trade and commerce, as to other matters. Among other points, it was agreed, in consideration of the great losses the Dutch pretended to have sustained, both in men and expence, in conquering the trade of the isles, namely, the Moluccas, Banda, and Amboina, from the Spaniards and Portuguese, and in the erection of forts for securing the same, that the Hollanders were to enjoy two-third parts of that trade, and the English one-third; the expences of the forts and garrisons to be maintained by taxes and impositions, to be levied ratably on the merchandize. In consequence of this agreement, the English East India Company established certain factories, for managing their share of this trade, some at the Moluccas, some at Banda, and others at Amboina.