Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/308

 274

HISTORY OF INDIA.

[Book II.

Petition to parliament

ag linst tlie Dutch.

A.D. 1652. future management of the joint trade, a share of at least £500 should be neces- sary to give a vote. It was of importance to obtain legislative sanction to this arrangement, and a petition to that effect was immediately j>resented to the House of Commons. It wa,s taken into consideration on the 31st January, 1650; but though the Company appear to have hoped for a di.stinct confirma- tion of their exclusive privileges, the utmost they could obtain was the cautiously worded resolution, " That the trade to the East Indies should be carried on by one company, and with one joint stock, the management thereof to be under such regulations as the parliament should think fit ; and that the East India Company should proceed upon the articles of agreement made between them and the Assada merchants on the 21st November, 1649, till further orders from the parliament."

Whatever may have been the political predilections of individual membei-s of the Company, they appear, as a body, to have been easily reconciled to the constitutional changes which followed the execution of the king ; and, on the 14th of November, 1650, presented a petition, addressed, in the language and spirit of the times, to " the supreme authority of the nation, the high court of the Parliament of England." The gi-eat burden of the petition was the old complaint of ill usage from the Dutch, from whom redress, though hitherto asked in vain " from the late king and his coimcil, was now confidently antici- pated." At this time the new government was evidently preparing for a rupture with the Dutch ; and hence, as the petition was opportune, it met with such a favoiirable reception, that on the very day on which it was presented parliament adopted a resolution referring it to the consideration of the council of state. That the impression already made might not be permitted to die away, the Company endeavoured to keep their case before the x-iew of the council by a series of memorials. In the first of these, dated 9th May, 1651, after referring to their petition, they renewed their grounds of complaint against the Dutch, and drew up a list of their losses, which they estimated at £1,681,996, 15s. This was exclusive of interest, which it was alleged would amount to a larger sum than the principal. In a second memorial, presented in June, when the probability of a Dutch war was stronger than ever, they expressed their apprehensions for the safety of their homeward bound fleet, consisting of five ships laden with valuable cargoes, and particularly with saltpetre for the use of government; and prayed that ships of war might be stationed off the Land's End for the purpose of conducting theii" fleet in safety into the Downs. In a third memorial, foUomng close upon the other, they took the bolder step of praying that powers might be given, imder the great seal of England, to their presidents and councils in India, to enforce obedience on all Englishmen within their jm'isdiction, and to punish offenders conformably to the laws of England. On the 29th of January, 1652, they again imi)ortuned the council on the subject of their claims, because, knowing that ambassadors

Second memorial

presented

Third memorial.