Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/384

 3.:0 HISTORY 0T<^ TXHTA. [Book II.

A.D. 16(18. Company o})tained a new charter from the crown. Before considering its taniiH,

it will be proper to glance at the state of affairs in India. state of the As already mentioned, the Company sent out only three ships from England

Compaiiy'8

trade. in the season 1689-90. In the following season the same number only was sent, and not so much for the purpose of carrying on trade at the great marts, which they enjoyed before their unhappy hostilities with the Mogul, as of picking uj> any remains of traffic which might be found in localities not affected by these hostilities. Thus one of the vessels was sent to Bencoolen in Sumatra, where, as a substitute for Bantam, which was no longer accessible, a factory had been established and foitified ; the second vessel, destined for Fort St. George, was to load with coast goods, including those which it might be possible to collect from Bengal ; and the third, proceeding direct to Bombay, was to endeavour to obtain a cargo by touching at the different stations on the Malabar coast. In 1692-93 trade took a new start, and the number of ships despatched amounted to eleven. The main cause of the increase was the re-establishment of trade within the Mogul territories, on terms which, though humiliating, the Company were too glad to accept ; but something also may have been due to the better prospect which they now had of obtaining a confirmation of their privileges from the king. The latter cause must have operated still more powerfully in the ensuing season, and accordingly the number of ships sent out amounted to thirteen, which sailed as two successive fleets in January and March. Progresi5 of During the hostilities with the Mogul, the Dutch and French had turned

and French, the blunders of the Company to good account, and, in a manner, monopolized the Indian market. The advantages thus acquired by the Dutch were not eventually of serious consequence, because the strict alliance into which they were brought with England prevented them from using these advantages, at least openly, for the purpose of injuring the Company. The case was different with the French. While the Company were sacrificing all the substantial advantage which it had cost them the better part of a century to secure, the French had not only established factories at Surat on the Malabar coast, and in the mouth of the Ganges, but had acquired a commanding settlement on the Coromandel coast at Pondicherry, eighty-five miles south-south-west of Madras. Even when France and England were allies, the Company could not refrain from expressing the jealousy and fear which they felt at the rising prosperity of the French ; and now that the alliance had been broken up, and the two nations were once more open enemies, one of the first instructions sent out to the presi- dency of Surat was to endeavour to secure the safetj' of their settlements and trade by wresting Pondicherry from the French. Tliis was far more than the presidency could ventiu-e to attempt with the feeble means at their disposal, and the struggle which was finally to decide the ascendency between the rival estab- lishments was necessarily reserved to a future period. Indeed, at this time, so far were the Company from being in a condition to undertake the siege of Pon-