'i i
I
Banda, and even this ifland, to the Moluccas, for the fake o f the;
cloves.' This trade, he refolved to fupprefs; fitted out his fleet
and'by his admiral defeated that o f the Indians; landed, and
forced the natives to fubmit to his will: and in the year 1564 the
fovereignty o f Amboina-vios veiled in-thePortu-guefe by the king
of the ifland. Stephen de ¿’« built a fort there in the fame year;
and his countrymen kept poffeffion till about 1607, when the
Dutch made themfelves mailers o f Amboina<, and.of all the Spicy
Iflands-. The- Englijb laid in their clame for a fhare of the commerce,
and after many difputes, in 1619 a treaty was ligned between
the two nations, itipulating that the Moluccas, Amboina,
and the Banda ifies ihould be common to both : that the Engli/h
ihould have one third o f the produce, and th& Dutch two,, at a
fixed price, and that each Ihould contribute to the defence of the
iflands in proportion- to the benefit received. The inquifitive
reader may find the whole of this curious treaty in Rymer'b.
Fcedera *. It has often been remarked, that after a treaty fo well
calculated to efiablilh lading peace and harmony between the
two companies, nothing could interrupt thofe bleflings. The-
reverfe took place. The Dutch, actuated by their infatiable
avarice, determined, by the moil diabolical means, to free them-
MAESAeRE OF felves from all competitors. They forged a plot o f the Englijh
t h e E n g l i s h . againft their lives and liberties; but fuch a plot that none but
idiots could have been fuppofed to have projected. The charge
was, that ten fabtors, and eleven foreign foldiers, were to feize
on the caftle, garrifoned by two hundred men. A fooliih question
alked by an Indian foldier, as. to the ftrength o f the place,,
* Yol..xvii. p. 1.70*.
waswas
the foundation o f the tragedy. He was feized, and put
to the moil exquifite tortures that hell itfelf could invent;
and in his agonies anfwered the artful interrogatories in the
manner the Fifcal could wilh. Our countrymen, and the eleven
foreign foldiers underwent the fame horrid torments, which
were continued at intervals during eight days. The means
are too dreadful for the humane pen to recite, or the humane
ear to bear. The conitancy o f the poor fuflerers was often,
overcome ; they made fuch anfwers as they thought would
fooneft free them from the rack, and which they recanted as
foon as the torture ceafed. They were then recalled to their
torments. At length the record o f examination was read, and
the greater part were relieved by a fpeedy execution : thofe who
were reprieved could drag but a miferable life, with mangled
bodies or diilocated limbs. The fuflerers, before death, were
confronted with each other, Englijh \v\l\i Indiansa both be-
yvailed their infirmity, for accufing the other under the preflure
o f torture, and mutually exchanged forgivenefs. A full account
is; given o f this horrid tranfadlion by the ingenious Campbel *,
in his collection of travels ; we could well excufe his fpeaking
to our eyes by a moll horrible print. The foreign foldiers t,
from good authority, he fuppofes to have been Koreans, an
adventurous naval people even in that early time.
T h e name of the caitle, after this cruel deed, was changed to
ViSloria. Dampler was fhewn the place into.which the bodies o f
bur unhappy countrymen were thrown, for the favage Dutch did
not think them worthy of the rites of burial. The natives who
* Vol. i. p.. 877. f Vol.' ii. p. 1007.
Y o l . IV. Z live
V i c t o r i a
C a s t l e .