Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/464

 4*20 DUTCH HISXaRY with the Sovereign of Mataram, which had for their object the acquisition of territorial power, but, above all, the plunder of his subjects, by restricting their commercial enterprise, and exacting the produce of their land and industry at inadequate prices. The ruin and impoverishment of their subjects and allies were, by a strange perversion, considered in these engagements as paramount to their own en- richment and aggrandizement. It was the evil genius of monopoly which also dictated the proceedings of the Dutch in the war of Bantam, which almost immediately after ensued* The circumstances of this contest, so important to the other commercial nations of Europe, are as follow. The reigning Sultan of Bantam, at the age of sixty-three, resigned his crown to his eldest son ; but, dissatisfied with his successor, began, from his retirement, to intrigue in order to place the crown on the head of a son from whom he expected more gratitude. The chiefs and people of the country generally rose in behalf of the ex-monarch, — an un- equivocal testimony of the goodness of his cause, — and the English and Danish merchants at Bantam had the imprudence to take a share in the contest, and join him. The old Sultan, with fifty thou- sand men, besieged Bantam. The young Sul- tan claimed, and readily received, the aid of the Dutch, anxious only for an opportunity of extend- ing their friendly protection on sueh an emergency*