Page:A Brief History of the Indian Peoples.djvu/177

Rh The English Company embarks on Territorial Sway.—It was about this same time (1689) that the Company determined to build up its power in India by acquiring territorial possessions, so as to enable it to resist the oppression of the Mughals and Marathas. With that view they passed the following resolution for the guidance of their servants in India:—'The increase of our revenue is the subject of our care, as much as our trade; 'tis that must maintain our force when twenty accidents may interrupt our trade; 'tis that must make us a nation in India.' With the same view, Sir John Child was appointed ' Governor-General and Admiral of India,' with full power to make peace or war, and to arrange for the safety of the Company's possessions.

Other 'East India Companies.'—The Portuguese at no time attempted to found a large mercantile company, but kept their Eastern trade as a royal monopoly. The first private company was the English, established in 1600. It was quickly followed by the Dutch, in 1602. The Dutch conquests, however, were made in the name of the State, and ranked as national colonies, not as private possessions. Next came the French, whose first East India Company was founded in 1604; the second, in 1611; the third, in 1615; the fourth (Richelieu's), in 1642; the fifth (Colbert's), in 1644. The sixth was formed by the union of the French East and West India, Senegal, and China Companies, under the name of 'The Company of the Indies,' in 1719. The exclusive privileges of this Company were, by the French King's decree, suspended in 1769 ; and the Company was abolished by the National Assembly in 1790. The first Danish East India Company was formed in 1612, and the second in 1670. The Danish settlements of Tranquebar and Serampur were both founded in 1616, and acquired by the English by purchase from Denmark in 1845. Other Danish settlements on the mainland of India were Porto Novo, with Eddova and Holcheri, on the Malabar coast. The Company started by the Scotch in 1695 may be regarded as having been still-born. The 'Royal Company of the Philippine Islands,' incorporated by the King of Spain in 1733, had little to do with the Indian continent. Of more importance was 'The Ostend