x x x y ii i i n t r o d u c t i o n
These Commissioners seemed" tó' entertain no very favourable idea&Sof;. thé
benefits which would arise to private trade from the license it already enjoyed.
As a measure much more beneficial to the genèr-al trade of -Europe
and to the Company, they proposed, in lieu of it,- to throw open to individuals,
under certain restrictions, the trade and navigation from Europe to
Bëngal and Coromandel.
;Thus we see these. Commissioners sent out with the view'of introducing
something like free trade on Java, coming to a resolution to take away from
it even the little private trade which it had previously been allowed ten
eijpy.
The Company’s trade with continental India had already been 'sö^muen
encroached upon by foreigners, that it was judged expedient noUohger'-
to exclude the Dutch free trader from his share in the spoil; bütjït was
hoped, by increased strictness, to preserve entire-Jo-the Company the
clusive trade in spices, Javan coffee, pepper as far as it was" the'- ;pr.0auce' of
her own possessions, Japan copper, the opium which was consumed in Java
and in the; Moluccas, and Javan sugar*
: The trade of the Dutch Company has thus been brought .totlfe’'. period?r-
whfen its monopoly wasi pToöosëdto be almost exclusively^confinéd to Java
and the Eastern Islands, including Japan. *- The causes which operated to
destroy the Dutch influence oh the continent .of Jindia,, are too well known
to'require any .particular description. : *
The:jDuteh had long maintained5 a decjsiyei süperiority, as welfe 4n^ t^e.
cohtin^at of Asia, as among the Indian -islands,- until the active éxertïons ’off-
their competitors -in tfode succeeded-in undermining iand; overturning their
monopoly; and as it wasma.tutal‘their- weak, side, should suffer,first, it was
on the continent where''their establishments ..were far removed, from the
chief seat of government/arid-where'-tbey.had- not been able to insure to
themselves those exclusive privileges from the princes of the country which
they had exacted from the weaker princes of .the Eastern Islands, that ^
' other
l i p r RO Dr XXXIX
6ther nations, chiefly the.!Erench and (English, first .endeavoured to introi
ducejfcheras'elges,, •_>,
AfteriecibfacahjfealPusies hadffor some ^me:,prevented' both nations from
making any considerableiprogressY a-succe$ffehwaf;.aUlast turned the scale I
entirely^ fayour (o^the '.English, whoS^fl^-ce^/from 'that' phridd, has
been -paramount- in ‘'continental India, ahd(tife DuteMfcfit India-Company
was nodnnger a lW e ^ f c e iistsyst&m-ofrexelusivb 4
'.■^Without inquiring.iinto the|pracfebffity>pfi 'realising-the.flattc^ 3
mitexcma-d^Wut% 4te-'lEndiah CofflrhisskmWs,»ffie^bfiEyEWhitffifflefeted
ong^poteftemaifadialthough , h t a N t e d J
hjatto M M H m | ^ A
fommeroud lakaaliob M H H I H
mar M in ^ .a u tjfe to d i-a ffd K m f f l g g i g
B-enal. altSjaimi.-: 1, ^ * 6, aoquiaitioa i r t s d W t e « * ,
h Bt,v - n t ,^ b o n , i d al* l ^ toria,.T0SSeisiocg; M H M M i8hna
»«Mai- '.! /
o?iTo„usfeithe-wqadss-of o n a ^h em n o st enlightened men) W n b w 'adorns
his country; add | pneparedhtd giw/en%> to '-a%etteidkatfe -tffethiiigs^ 1
B f c ^ i t o n a i - a c q u i s ^ ^ b e c a m e the Company a'sSnree of new
“ In v -eo n seq u ^ e» thfen, mew rights-wbre acquired and oblig
a t i o n s ^ofrb novel kind .were contracted, - as-well witfrofegard to the
■ ^4'eTriipries-thfemS^es,as-the* population upon;thehi.-The*HhtQre of these
t‘ mg^Iand'duties might have' been .'deemed! worth- imjifiry^and as all
M 111686 -acquisitions-' were made h? a»d'e%ated=K&ufehdrity derived
" -from *Be ’goVernment'-atf'home, -it- was. further worth^inVestigation
" ,ho-w far-the lgOvernmerit|it^lftWas-entitl'ed-to Udife'et share to-the acquisi-
tions^tnade/and how for -ifr-Was bound' to 1 controul, and superintend the
exercise_pf those duties-which-were newly ^contracted. A consideration of 1
these points would : have; led'-rto the' , important question, how far, on a
1 . “ renewal
Mr. Muntinghe.