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 272

HISTORY OF INDIA.

[Book II.

A.D. Ifill.

Purchase of Company's pepper by the king.

Factory erected at Balasore.

England and Portugal were drawn clo.scr; and tiie Dutch, Laving no longer any pretext for continuing hostilities against the latter, were obhged Uj with- draw the blockades, which, though nominally directed only again.st Portuguese ports, had inflicted serious injuries on the English Ea.st India trade.

Such were the leading events which at this time were favouraLle to the Company. They were, however, more than counterbalanced by the unfavour- able state of affairs both at home and abroad, and more especially by a heavj- pecuniary loss inflicted on them by the king, who, in order tcj relieve hit necessities in 1641, fell upon the singular device of buying all the pepjjer in the Company's stores on credit, and selling it for ready money. The quantity of pepper was 607,252 bags, and the price agi'eed to be paid, at the rate of 2s. Id. per lb., amounted to £63,283, lis. Id.; but the sales, made at the rate of Is. 8d. per lb., realized only £50,626. The king thus sustained an apparent loss of above £12,000 by the speculation, but ultimately the Company were the sole sufferers. The bonds which they had received from the fanners of the customs remained unpaid; and the only sum which they appear to have received was £13,000, which they retained out of the ciistoms due by them. Even this sum they were not allowed to retain without question, as parliament, now at open hostilities with the king^ did not admit that the bonds which had been granted in payment of the pepper constituted an effectual burden on the public revenue.

During the Civil war the transactions of the Company remain almost a perfect blank. The collection of money for investments could not be openly announced without endangering their confiscation by one or other of the con- tending parties ; and the vessels were fitted out and despatched with as much secrecy as if they had been engaged in an illicit traffic. Among the few facts of importance which may be gleaned from the history of this period, are the erection of a factory at Balasore, situated within the Mogul territories a little to the west of Piply, which had not realized the hopes at one time entertained of it ; and a considerable extension of the trade of Madras, which, though stiU subordinate to Bantam, was rapidly outstripping it, and had already supei'seded Masulipatam as the principal factory of the Company on the Coromandel coast. For this prosperity Madras was mainly indebted to its fortifications, which not only gave security to the servants of the factory, but induced many of the native merchants and artisans to settle in the town and the adjoining district, where they could always be sure of finding protection in times of commotion. All these advantages had been obtained at a very trifling cost, for in 16-i5 the whole sum expended on Fort St. George was £2294, and the estimate was, that not more than an additional £2000 would be necessary to render it impregnable to any attack by native forces.

Courten's association, of which the Company had long complained as the worst thorn in their sides, after a short course of prosperity had rapidly