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 Chap VIII.] DEATH OF ALMEIDA. 181

extraordinary powers, enabled him to act with effect as a mediator. The result a d. isio. was, that Almeida abandoned all idea of resistance, and, resigning the insignia of office, took his departure for Em'ope. Before leaving, a native conjuror had told him that he was not destined to pass the Cape of Good Hope. He had pa.ssed it, however, and had begun to make merry with the prediction, when an event took place which terminated his career somewhat ignobly. The three ships he had with him anchored in Saldanha Bay, a little north of the Cape, and sent ashore a watering- party. One of the ex-viceroy's servants insulted one of the natives, and wa.s roughly handled by them in return. Almeida, Death of contrary to his wish and better judgment, was induced to take part in this petty stpiabble, and having gone ashore, was returning with the cattle carried oft in a foray, when the natives, wlio had been lying in ambuscade, rushed out upon him. They were armed only with pointed stakes, but tiiese they used so efiectujdly, that tifty of the Portuguese soon lay dead at their feet. Among them was the ex-viceroy himself, morttdly wounded by a thrust which ])ierced liis throat.

Albuquerque, now fully installed as viceroy, was bent on following out his Aii,u<iuer-

que's attack

career of con(iuest, and sailed for Calicut, before which he appeared on the 2d on caikm of January, 1510, with thirty vessels and 1800 men, together with a number of natives who followed in boats, allured by the hope of plunder. Coutinho iiad airived from Europe with an earnest longing for Eastern renown ; and now that the opportunity offered, he had set iiis heart on signalizing himself as the captor of the royal palace. Albuquerque indulged him by giving him the command of 800 men, after administering all tiie cautions which his superior talents and expe- rience suggested. Unfortunately Coutinho thought only of his prize, and rushed forward as if he had been running a race rather than fighting a battle. Never looking behind him, he forced his way to the palace, and set about installing liimself in it, for the purpose of celebratmg his triumph. His infatuation was soon perceived by the native troops, who took advantage of it so silently and effectually, that Coutinho did not awake to a sense of his peril, till he found himself hemmed in by thousands of natives, and dei^rived of every outlet, """""'ow

•^ escape

Albuquerque, in exerting himself for his relief, was so severely wounded in the head by a stone, and in the throat by a dart, that lie was borne senseless to the shore. Coutinho, and several young nobles from Lisbon, fell in the palace fighting desperately ; ami the whole detachment would have perished to a man, had not a hirge body of reserve arrived and obHged the enemy to retire. Notwith- standing tills disastrous retreat, the inhabitants suffered much more severely than the Portuguese, and saw the greater part of their city laid in ruins.

Ormuz was the next place to which Albuquerque turned his attention. He had there been baffled by the supineness or treachery of his officers, particularly Lope de Soarez and Juan de Nueva, and obliged, in consecpxence, to leave one of the main avenues of Mahomet<iii trade still open. He accordingly began to


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 >82 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book I.

AD. 1510. make such preparations for a new attack upon it a.s inu.st have proved Hucce.s.sfuJ, when his attention was attracted to another quarter, and he resolved t^> Mi.iiiuoi- employ his armament against Goa. This town which, from having afterwards lilies to become the seat of Portuguese government in the East, makes some figure in history, was finely situated on an island at the mouth of an estuary, forming one of the very few good harbours which occur on the western coast of the Indian peninsula, At this time (1510; it was included in the territ<jries of one of the kings of tlie Deccan, who had his capital at Bejapoor, and is asually called by Portuguese writers Sabay or Savay, though his proper name or title wa.s Yasuf Adil Shah. He had recently wrested it from the Rajah of Onore. The grounds of Albuquerque's quarrel with Yusuf are not very apparent ; and it is probable that he did not deem it neces.sary either to allege or invent any. His only object was to extend the Portuguese rule ; and if he could succeed, he regarded it as scarcely worth wliile to inquire whether the means which he employed could be justified. One inducement may have been, that, as a new conquest, Yusuf s possession of Goa must have been somewhat insecure. Another induce- ment was, that the Rajah of Onore, the legitimate ov/ner, was ready to assist to the utmost in recapturing it. He foimd a third auxiliary capable of rendering still more effectual assistance in Timoja, who figures sometimes as Rajah of Canara, a district which was bounded by Goa on the north, and .sometimes simply as a privateer, roaming the seas with a powerful fleet, and lising b- plunder. Ciipture Thus assisted, Albuquerque made his appearance ofi' the coa.st in the begin-

ning of 1510. At first anticipating a valiant resistance, he sent his nephew along with Timoja to take soundings. They discovered a fort which was weU provided ^vith guns, and defended by 400 men, and not only had the hardihood to attack, but the good fortune to capture it. This seemed a most auspicious commencement, and proved only the first of a series of fortunate events which followed rapidly, and put Albuquerqiie in possession of this most important locality, before he was required to strike a blow. According to the Portuguese accounts, some conjuror or fakir, whose predictions were implicitly believed, had announced that Goa was destined shortly to become subject to foreigners. On the faith of this prediction, the inhabitants thought it a stroke of good policy, instead of enduring the miseries of a siege which must ultimately be successful, to make a voluntary surrender. Accordingly, to the gi'eat but most agi'eeable Reception surprise of Albuquerque, he was received ashore by the population as if he had ciuerque. becu their native prince, conducted in state to the gate, when he received the keys, and thereafter put in posses.sion of the palace. The Mahometan account says nothing of the conjuror ; and with far greater probability represents the capture as the necessary result of a surprise. The fort captured by Timoja and Albuquerque's nephew may have given them complete command of the city, and thus rendered defence impossible.

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 Chap. VIII] GOA CAPTURED. 183

At this time, however, it v;i.s lo.st almost as easily a« it had been gained, ad. 1511. Yusnf Adil Shall having died, was succeeded by his son Ismael Adil JShah, who, abont four months after the hasty surrender of Goa, collected an army estimated ^oa takeu

nnd le-

at 60,000. Kumal Khan, the general to whom this army was intrusted, sud- taken. denly made his appearance, and conducted the siege with so iruich ability, that Albu(i[uerque, after twenty days, finding his communication with the fleet seriously threatened, was glad to evacuate the place. But he had no idea of finally abandoning so valuable a prize. In the course of the same year, having collected all his forces, including several additional ships which had arrived from Portugal, he set .sail from Cananore with a fleet of twenty-three ships, and 1500 righting men. After landing at Onore, to assist at the celebration of Timoja s marriage with the daughter of a native ([ueen, he h.ustened off to Goa, and, anchoring before it a second time, immediately prepared for the .issault. It took place before daybreak, and with such success, that the Portuguese entered the city along with those of the defenders who had been .stationed outside. For a time every inch of gi'ound within the city was disputed, and more especially at the palace the fight was furiously renewed, till the defenders, fearing that their retreat to the mainland might be cut off, ([uitted the place in the utmost confusion. The enemy lost 6000 ; the Portuguese only fifty. Not one Moor was left alive ; but the natives were ti eated with great moderation. Besides recovering theu' property, they had the satisfaction of being placed under the government of their countryman Timoja, who ruled more equitably than might have been anticipated from his predatory habits. Before departing, Albuquerque dechired his intention to make Goa the capital of Portuguese India.

The remaining exploits of Albuquerque, though they had not India for their Aibuqner- theatre, are so intimately connected with its history, that a short account of tion iigainst them is here subjoined. After returning to Cochin he began to prepare another ^^'^ armament, and gave out that it was destined to act against Aden, which was then, as it is now, the key to the navigation of the Red Sea. The importance of the object was sufficient to justify all the preparations which he was making; but while preteiuling to l(K)k to the west, his eye was fixed in an opposite direc- tion. The city of Malacca, situated on the peninsula of the same name, had long been the most important emporium of the rich countries lying further east than India. The Moors were still carrying on a lucrative traffic in that quarter ;
 * ind by means of it were almo.st able to compensate themselves for all the losses

which they had sustjiined from the Portuguese. This consideration was of itself , sufficient to determine Albuquercpie to undertake the important expedition wiiich he was now meditating, though the direct benefits which his own country might expect to derive from it were of themselves a sufficient inducement.

On the 2d of May, 1511, Albuquerque set sail from Cochin with nineteen capture of ships and 1400 fighting men, Of these, however, 600 were natives of India. Malacca was at this time under the rrovemment of a king of the name of


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 IcSl HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book I.

A D. 1513. Miihomcd, whu liad trcacherou.sly iiiij)risoii(il a number of" Portugues*.', commanded by an officer called Diego Lo[)ez de Siqueira. To avenge tliis outrage was the ('ai>tureof osteiisible object of Albu({uer(jue's expedition. It waH one of tlie boldest he had ever undertaken, as the city itself is said to have contained 100,000 inhabi- tants, and was now defended by 30,000 soldiers, and 8000 cannon. With all these means of defence, Mahomed, aware of the kind of enemy he had t^> deal with, did not feel secure, and sent a messenger to the viceroy to intimate that, if he came for merchandise, it was ready at his command Albuquerque replied that the merchandise he required was some Portuguese left there by Siqueira, and that on the delivery of them he would be prepared to say what more lie wanted. After some parleying, the captives were delivered, and Albuquerque sent his ultimatum. It demanded compensation for the outrage, and for the expenses incurred in obtaining redress, and a site for the erection of a Portu- guese fort. This last proposal the king refused to entertain, and Albuquerque immediately prepared to compel him. The Malays are said to have fought well, but it is difficult to believe it ; for with all the aid which they could derive from artillery, poisoned aiTows, poisoned thorns, and mines of gunpowder laid in the streets, their tens of thousands gave way before a mere handful of Portuguese, and the viceroy took triumphant possession of the city. While here he both received and sent several embassies ; among the latter, one to Siam, and another to Pegu. He also sent out several navigators on exploring expeditions. One of these is said to have been commanded by Magalhaens, to whom it suggested the idea of his subsequent celebrated circmnnavigation.

•i'"i- ^ On the voyage home, Albuquerque lost his finest ship, which was nearl}' cut

iieroisraaud across the kccl on a sharp rock otf the coast of Sumatra. In this perilous position he was obliged to pass the night ; and when the morning dawned, was seen peiforming an act of humanity and heroism, by sheltering with his arms a young girl whom he had saved in the midst of the confusion. When he arrived in India, he found that advantage had been taken of his absence. Adel Khan had resumed the siege of Goa with an army of 20,000 men, and the zamorin was again in arms. Goa was easily relieved ; and the zamorin, despairing of success, retired from the contest. The subversion of the Mameluke djTiasty in Egypt had deprived him of any fui-ther assistance from Ameer Hoossein, and on looking round he saw no quarter to which he could appeal for new aid. According to Ferishta, tiiis humbling conviction so completely overwhelmed him, that his health gave way, and he died of a broken heart.

Hisexpedi fhe attack on Aden, which Albuquerque meditated, had been postponed to

tion against ^ ,

Aden. that of Malacca, but by no means abandoned. Accordingly, on the 18th of February, 1513, he appeared before it with a fleet of twenty sail, having on board 1 700 Portuguese, and 800 natives of India. He lost no time in landing, and hastened forward, in the hope that, by applying scaling-ladders to the w^alls, he might gain possession of the place. He had underrated its strength, and the


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 Chap. VIII.

ORMUZ CAPTURED.

18;")

Aden. — Bruii et Hogenburg, 1574.

valour of its defenders, and was obliged to retire with a loss too severe to leave a.d isu. him any inclination to renew the attempt. He compensated himself in some degree by entering the Red Sea, which then, for the first time, saw an European vessel on its bosom, and made several valuable prizes. After re- maining; for some time at the island „ of Kamaran, he returned and again looked in upon Aden, but found that in the interval its fortifica- tions had been so much improved that it would have been madness to attack it. He therefore passed on, and continued his voyage to India. On reaching Gujerat he made an ineffectual application for permission to build a fort at Diu, but did not attempt to enforce it, as he was intent on ^^^^ °^ another project, on which his heart had long been set, and all the more ear- nestly that his attempts to accomplish it had hitherto been frustrated. This project was the command of the Persian Gulf by the capture of Ormuz. His third attempt upon it was made in March, 1514. The circumstances were opportune; and when he demanded permission to complete the fort, the gover- nor, though disposed to resist, felt he had not the means, and was obhged to comply. The name of Albuquerque was now famous all over the East; and even Ismael, the I'ounder of the famous Persian dynasty of Sophi, sent him an ambassador with valuable presents, and concluded a treaty with him. Before leaving Ormuz, Albuquerque not only finished his fort, but succeeded in inducing or forcing the king to lodge all his cannon within it. In this way Portuguese supremacy was completely established.

Under Albuquerque the Portuguese ])ower extended more widely, and was Porttieuese more firmly seated, tiian before or since. It cannot, however, be with any pro- tha kuh. [)riety styled an empire, as it was not composed of contiguous teiTitories, but rather consisted of a vast niunber of isolated forts, scattered over an immense extent of coast, and situated at wide distances from each other. The sites were for the most part admirably chosen, and gave a complete control over all the gi-eat maritime thoroughfares from the East Indies to Eurojie. In some respects this mode of rule lias its advantages over territorial possession. It is more easily acquired, and admits of being maintained at a cheaper rate; but its stability is very precarious. The moment the command at sea is lost, it is necessarily extinguished. This, however, was an event of which, during Albu- (juerque's regency, there were no s^Tn})tonis; and the fact that they began to be manifested not long after he disappeared from the scene, serves to impress us with a higher idea of the wisdom and vigour of his government. When his countrymen hailed him as " Great." all impartial observers of his exploits were

Vol. I.

24


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 Chap. VIIL] DIEGO LOPEZ DE SEQUEIRA. 187

had received at Lisbon, on an expedition to the Red Sea, with the view of ad. 1521.

encountering a large fleet which the Sultan of Egypt was said to be fitting out

at Suez. On arriving ott" Aden, he found a large breach in the fortificsitions, in

consequence of a siege which it had lately sustained ; and so conscious Wis the

(Tovemor of its defenceless condition, that he actually made Soarez an ofter of

the keys. The compliments with which they were offered were so soothing to

his vanity, that he returned the keys thas tendered, and desired the governor ineffectual

. atteiii))t

to keep them for him till his return, as he was at present on an expedition uiion .<ien which admitted of no delay. He accordingly entered the Red Sea, and, after cruizing about to no purpose, retraced his .steps to Aden, and was very much astonished when, on announcing his arrival to the complimentary governor, he received, insteatl of the keys, a proud defiance to come and take them. The explanation was soon given. The walls, which were defenceless on his former visit, had, in the interval, been thoroughly repaired. A bold stroke might yet have put him in pos.session of the place, but Soarez was not the man to make it; and he moved off to attempt some petty captiu-e. Even this was not per- mitted him, for nearly a third of liis fleet was destroyed in a storm, and he liastened back to Goa with the remainder.

The native princes, who had been overawed by Albuquerque, were not .slow rortupiew

/.|. Ill (••T->i/^ build a fort

to duscover the character of his .successor, and take advantage of it. Both Goa at Colombo and Malacca were seriously threatened, though as much of ancient discipline still remained to ward ott' the danger. The only occuiTences to compen.sate for these disasters were the submission of the King of Ceylon, who, in 1517, agreed to become tributary to Portugal, and allow a fort to be built at Colombo ; and the successful voyage of Fernando Perez de Andrada, who, in the same year, penetrated to Canton, and laid the foundation of a lucrative trade.

Diego Lopez de Se(iueira, who succeeded Soarez, was a man of a similar temper, and instead of doing anything to retrieve the honour of the Portuguese arms, tarnishetl them still further by a dastardly retreat from Diu, after appearing before it with one of the largest armaments which had ever sailed under Portuguese colours in the Indian Ocean. He had in all forty .ships, manned by 3000 Portuguese, and 800 natives. On his arrival, on the 9th of Febniary, 1521, he sent a mes.senger to MuUik Eiaz, with the old re([uest for permission to build a fort, and a menace, that if it were refused, he would force Diego Lopez it. The Gujerat admiral told him to do his worst ; and must have been as from uin much pleased as sur]irised when, instead of being attacked in the style of which Almeiila and Albuipierque had given examples, he saw the Portuguese fleet weigh anchor, and gradually disappear from the coast. The fortiflcations, it seems, had been strengthened ; and Lopez, after endeavouring to .shelter himself by calling a council of war, which sanctioned his cowardice, decided that the attack was too hazardous to be attempted.

This disgraceful retreat was not lost upon the native princes, and in the


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 Chap. VIII. J BAHADUR SHAH. 180

to retire. According to the Portuguese accounts, tlie strength of the place was ad. 1534 the sole cau.se of failui-e ; but the Mahometan historians add that the immediate cause of raising the siege was the approach of Bahadm- Shah, then ruler of Gujerat, at the head of a formidable army. This so frightened the Portuguese, that they made a precipitate retreat, leaving their gmis behind them. One of tiiese is said to have been " the largest ever before seen in India, and recjuired a machine to be constructed for conveying it to Champanere." The Portuguese, ti) avenge themselves for their defeat, bm-ned a great number of towns upon the coast and committed fearful devastation

Notwithstanding their discomfiture, the Portuguese had not abandoned the naiu-uiur,

k" f

liope of being yet able to make themselves masters of Diu. If direct force Gujemt failed, policy might yet succeed. Chand Khan, a brother of Bahadur, was at first set up as a competitor for the throne, and when this failed, a league was formed with Hoomayoon, King of Delhi, who, regarding Bahadur as a revolted vassal, had invaded Gujerat. Bahadur, thus pressed on all sides, was obliged to make his choice between submission to the King of Delhi, and submission to the Portuguese. He preferred the latter; and accordingly, in 1534, concluded a treaty by which he ceded Bassein, which was thenceforth to be the only port at which vessels sailing from India were to pay duties and take out clearances. He further engaged not to assist the Turkish fleets in the Indian seas.

This treaty gave him only a very partial relief It made the Portuguese ^ir aiii.an.-e

. . . . vrith thu

his friends, but made him more obnoxious than ever to the King of Delhi, who, portugtieso following up the advantages which he had gained, obliged him to take refuge in Diu. Here, as the assistance of the Portuguese was indispensable to him, he was obliged to purchase it by giving them permission to build a fortified factory. As the work proceeded Bahadur became more and more uneasy, and besides entering into communication with the Turks, is said to have formed a plot for the destruction of his Portuguese allies. The stjxtements on the subject by the Portuguese and the Mahometans vary so much, that it is difficult to pronoimce between them. The probability is, that both parties were anxious to be quit of each other, and that thus there were plots and counter-plots. All that can now be considered certain is, tlmt a frav commenced, and that Bahadur, who was on a visit to the Portuguese admiral, having fallen or leaped into the sea, a Portuguese sailor threw a boarding-pike at him, which pierced his skull, and hu death killed him on the spot. Were the question to be decided on the principle of ciii bono, the decision would necessarily be given against the Portuguese; for wlille Bahadur lost his life, they gained the island of Diu.

They had not been long in possession when an attem])t was made to wrest it from them. It has been mentioned that when Bahadur repented of his cimcession to the Portuguese, he applied for aid to the Turks. Solyman the Magnificent was then upon the throne of Constantinople. The application therefore could not have been made under more favourable circumstances.


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 190

HISTORY OF INDIA.

[Book I.

AD. 1537. Solyinan was a great and a successful warrior, and his irnajrination fired at tlie

idea of estahlisliing an additional emj)ire in the Eant Before any 8tep.s were

Turkisii ox- taken, the news of Bahadur's death arrived, but tliis only confirmed the deter-

peditioii to ''

Gujerat. inination to fit out an armament on such a .scale as would insure the conquest of Diu. For this pur[)ose instructions were given to Solyman, the Egyptian

Portuguese besieged in Diu.

Heroic defence.

P^=9^-_

General View of Diu. — Brun et Hogenburg, 1574.

pacha, to commence preparations immediately in the port of Suez. There a fleet of seventy-six galleys, having 7000 Turkish soldiers on board, was forthwith equipped; and, sailing under the command of the pacha, arrived off Diu in the beginning of September, 1537.

Thouo'li the dano-er had been foreseen, the Portucjuese councils were at this time so dilatory and distracted, that no adequate preparations were made to meet it.' The government of India had just been conferred on Garcia de Noronha, and the time which ought to have been devoted to the supply of Diu with everything necessary to its defence was spent in petty squabbles between the old governor and the new. The consequence was, that when the Turki.sh fleet arrived, the garrison consisted only of about 600 men, many of them sickly. Nor was this the worst. Both ammunition and provisions were so deficient, that nothing could save the place from capture if the siege was persisted in or relief did not arrive. Nor was the Tm-kish the only armament which the Portuguese had to fear. A Gujerat army, estimated at 20,000 men, was in the vicinity, ready to co-operate with the besiegers.

Such was the apparently desperate state of matters when the governor, Antonio de Silveira, unable to maintain a footing in the town, shut himself up in the fort. In himself, however, he was equal to a host, possessing not only military talents of the highest order, but also the rare gilt of infusing his own lieroic spirit into all who were under his command. Not only was every soldier within the garrison prepared to do his duty, but the women, forgetting the feebleness of their sex, fearlessly encountered every danger, and worked with their own hands in repairing the walls as they crumbled beneath the jwwerful

♦


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 Chap. VIII] SIEGE OF DIU. 191

Turkish artillery. It is told of one lady, Anna Fernandez, wife of a physician, a.d. 1545. that by night she viewed all the posts, and during the assaults stood by encouraofino- the soldiers. She even saw lier own son struck down by a cannon- ball, but, instead of giving way to the agony she must have felt, drew his body jiside, retin-ned to lier post, and only after the assault had been repulsed went to bury him.

It was imi)ossible, however, that the defence could last much longer. The siege ot

. ° Diu raised

Every new assault thinned the numbers of the garrison, and scarcely as many remained as could make even a show of resistance, when a breach was nuide. The governor saw nothinij befoie him but death or surrender, and was ffivino- way to the gloomiest forebodings, when, to his uns])eakable delight, the siege was raised. The Turkish commander, when dispirited by the failure of one of his greatest efforts, received the startling intelligence that a powerful Portuguese fleet was at hand ; and, without staying to ascertain its accuracy, made ofi' with the utmost precipitation. It turned out to be a false rumour, invented and circulated, strange to say, by Khojah Zofar, a renegade Turk, of Italian origin, who commanded the Gujerat forces. His pride had been repeatedly offended by the arrogance of Solyman Pacha; and he had, moreover, ascertained that the Turks were determined, if they gained the place, to retain it as a permanent ])ossession. There was thus only a choice of mastere ; and as the Portuguese seemed the more tolerable of the two, Zotar had given them the preference.

After Khojaii Zofar had rid himself of his Turkish allies by this stratagem, Attcinptto

^ I'Oisoii the

he entered into friendly communications with the Portuguese, but at the same gmrisou. time took several steps which convinced them that enmity was rankling at his heart He was in the highest possible favour with the King of Gujerat; and feeling satisfied that that sovereign's complete ascendency in the peninsula wouUl best secure his own aggrandizement, was prepared to adopt any means, however unscrupulous, that promised to expel the Portuguese. His first attempt was an infamous plot, in which he endeavoured to poison the water of an immense cistern which supplied the garrison, and to set fire to the magazine. When this plot failed, he attempted to build a wall which would have comj)letely isolated the fort from the town The Portuguese objected ; and the foundation foi- a quarrel being thus laid, he had no sooner completed his preparations, in 1545, than he made an open declaration of war.

Mascarenhas, the commander of Diu, made the best aiTanorements iios-sible R<^'»»'^' »«■ m the cn-cumstances ; but his means being inadecpiate, he lost no time in acquainting Juan de Castro of his danger. Zofar, at the same time, aware of his advantage, resolved to assault the place before succour could an-ive. With this view he prepared an immense floating battery, and, filling it with heavy artil- lery, caused it to be steered opposite to the .sea-bastion, in the hope of making such a breach in it as would give him access into the fort. It proved a very clumsy device, for before he could bring it to bear the garrison made a night


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 192 HISTORY OF INDIA. [B mount it with cannon, which

Zofar's kept up an incessant and crushinf; fire on the fort. One of the nieces of ordnance

efforts to * "^ '

takb uia was of extraordinary size, and bein^ managed by an expert French renegade, did con.siderable damage. Every shot from it is said Uj have shook the island, and made pieces of the fort to fly. Happily for the besieged, one of their shot killed the Frenchman, and the gunner who succeeded him managed so awk wardly that his great gun did more harm to his own party than to the Portu- guese. While the siege was thus proceeding, the King of Gujerat arrived. It seems that Zofar had become so confident of success, that he hafl invited him to come and witness it. It proved hotter work than he had anticipated ; and the I)usillanimous prince was so terrified by a chance ball which lighted on his tent and killed one of his attendants, that he fled, and never looked behind him till lie was far on the way back to his capital. A still more fortunate shot killed

neiskiiie.i Zofar himself This gave the exhausted garrison some respite; but it was of short duration, for Roumi Khan, Zofar's .son, succeeded him, and, not satisfied with the slow process which had hitherto been pursued, made a general assault. It failed, but scarcely a day passed without some new attempt to force an entrance into the place.

The siege had now lasted several months, while the preparations at Goa proved so dilatory, that the only relief sent to the garrison consisted of two insignificant detachments, the one commanded by Fernando de Castro, the

progiess of govcmors son, and the other by Don Alvaro. The latter consisted of 400 men,

the siege

and brought supplies of ammunition and provision, when they were just on the point of being exhausted. The Portuguese were so elated that they disdained to be cooped up any longer in the fort, and almost compelled Mascarenhas against his better judgment to lead them out. They paid dearly for their rash- ness, and retreated with such precipitation, that they had the greatest difficulty in preventing the enemy fi'om entering the fort along with them. Among the slain was the governor's own son.

This domestic misfortune seems to have had the effect of hastenincr De Castro's departvu-e from Goa. What the cause of delay was is not exjDlained ; but it gives a poor idea of his energy and resources to learn, that at the end of eight months, while one of the most important stations which the Portuguese possessed in the East, and the acquisition of which had cost them more than any other, was in the most imminent danger, Ms prepai-ations were for the Dill finally first time considered to be complete. His fleet, which consisted of ninet}'

relieved l)y _ _ ^ ..

De L'astro tlirce Sail, lost some time in committing barbarities at various localities on the coast, but at last, in loio, was observed from Diu. The result was not long doul)tful. After relieving the garrison, De Castro marched out at the head of his troops and gained a signal victory. The fall of the town followed of course, and the Portuguese acted, as they almost invariably did on such occa-


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sions, by indulging in horrid atrocities. "The women escaped not the fate of the men, and children were slain at their mothers' breasts."

The victory which De Castro had gained was not very remarkable. His troops bore a considerable proportion to those of the enemy, and with the superiority of discipline which they possessed, it would have been disgraceful to him not to have succeeded. But the Portuguese, in consequence of the decline of their power, had for several years before enjoyed few opportunities of celebrating a victory, and therefore entered readily into the feelings of the governor, who thought himself entitled to be received at Goa with all the magnificence of a Roman triumph. The gates and streets were hung with silk, all places resounded with music and salvos of cannon, and vessels gaily adorned covered the harbour. The governor on arriving at the gate, under a rich canopy, was presented with a crown of laurel, with which he encircled his head, and a branch of it which he carried in his hand; in front walked one Friar Anthony, with a crucifix, as he had borne it in the fight, and beside him an officer bearing the royal standard; behind was Jazar Khan, a Moorish chief, followed by 600 captives in chains. The governor walked on leaves of gold and silver, and rich silks, the ladies from the windows throwing flowers upon him, and sprinkling him with sweet water. On reading the account of this pompous procession, Catherine, Queen of Portugal, shrewdly remarked, that "De Castro had overcome like a Christian and triumphed like a heathen." He did not long .survive his triumph; and was on his death-bed when the honours sent out from Portugal to reward his victory were announced to him at Goa. He must have been a vain man, but this failing was compensated by many good qualities. He was so zealous for the public service, that grief for the miserable condition into which it had fallen is said to have broken his heart; and he gave the best proof of his honesty by dying in extreme poverty. One of his last acts was to make a formal protest, which he desired to be recorded, to the effect that "he had never made use of the king's nor any other man's money, nor driven any trade to increase his own stock." The practices of which he thus solemnly declared his innocence, undoubtedly prevailed to a great extent among the Portuguese officials, and go far to account for the rapidity with which Portugal fell from the high place which she once held in the East. From time to time, however, she seemed to resume her ancient spirit, and showed how much she might still have been able to accomplish, had men of spirit and integrity. instead of mere court intriguers, been placed at the helm of affairs.

In 1570, when Luis de Ataida was 'iceroy, one of the most formiidable combinations into which the native princes had ever entered, was triumphantly defeated. It was headed by the Deccan Kings of Ahmednuggur and Bejapoor, and a new zamorin, who, undeterred by the fate of his predecessor, was bent on recovering all that had been wrested from him. Their common object was to expel the Portuguese from the country, but each had his own separate griev-


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 194

HISTOKVr OF INDIA.

[?K,f,K I.

A.D li70.

l')niii(lable attack on (ioa by Ally Adil Shah.

It is repulsed

Causes of Portuguese decline.

ance; and hence, thovigli the attack was .siiiiultaiieons, it was mafle at thret important stations — V)y the King of Ahniednuggnr, at Choul — by the zarnorin, at Cliale, where a fort had been erected which overawed his capital at Calicut — and by the King of Bejapoor, at Goa. The last, as in every respect the most memorable, is the only one to which it is necessary liere to advert.

Ally Adil Shah, who wfis then sovereign of Bejapoor, having assembled an army of 100,000 foot and 35,000 horse, 2140 elephants and 350 pieces of cannon, suddenly descended from one of the passes of the Western Ghauts intfj the Concan, and then, turning south, marched without of)position upon Goa. No preparations had been made for this formidable attack ; and the governor, on mustering his European troops, found that they did not exceed 700. Besides these he had about 1 300 monks, whose zeal and fanaticism compen.sated in some degree for their want of discipline, and a considerable number of natives, on whom no great confidence could be placed. His great security was in his insular position, which, so long as he held the command at sea, made it impo.ssible for the enemy to attempt an approach on any side but the one which lay nearest to the mainland. Against this side, accordingly, Ally Adil Shah directed all his efforts, and with such overpowering numbers and perseverance, that 5000 men succeeded in passing over into the island. It was only a temporary succeas ; for the Portuguese, aware that if they made good their footing the place must sur- render, mustered all their strength, and by one great effort, in which the most heroic valour was displayed, cut their assailants to pieces, or drove them into the sea. Ally Adil Shah had no heart to renew the combat ; and, after lingeiing for a short time, took his final departure. More than 12,000 of his troops had perished. The attacks on Choul and Chale were equally unsuccessful. New lustre was thus added to the Portuguese arms ; and many who looked only at the surface imagined that their power had never been established on a firmer basis. Those who looked deeper could not but see that the whole fabric wac undermined and tlireatening ruin.

It would be out of place here to examine in detail the various causes to which the overthrow of Portuguese supremacy in the East is attributable. A few, however, may be briefly mentioned. One of the most obvious is the com- parative indifference of the Portuguese themselves. When they first doubled the Cape of Good Hope, India was the great goal for which they were stiiving, and all the exertions of which they were capable were exclusively devoted to it. By the discovery of Brazil a new interest was created, and gradually became the more absorbing because the more lucrative of the two. A smaU state like Portugal was unable to superintend the affairs of two mighty empires, situated at the opposite extremities of the globe ; and experience seems to have proved that in giving the preference to the American continent she made the wiser choice. Both empires, indeed, are now lost to her ; but in that of the West her own race of kings still sits enthroned.


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 Chap. TX] PORTUGUESE DECLINE. 195

Another caase of Portuguese decline in the East may be found in the state of a.d. isso

Eui'opean politics. In 1580, after the short and inglorious reign of Henry the Cardinal, Portugal lost her national independence, and became subject to the bigoted and t^Taimical rule of Philip II. of Spain. She was thus obliged to Causes of follow in the wake of lier more powerful neighbour, and see all her interests decline sacrificed in the prosecution of objects from which she could not possibly reap any advantage. While her domestic interests were sacrificed, it is not to be supposed that those of her colonies were duly attended to. In connection with the degrading bondage to which Portugal was thus reduced, we see a third cause of rapid decay in the hostility which Pliilip's an'ogance provoked in other European states. The United Provinces of Holland, after throwing off his yoke, continued at open war with him, and saw no quarter in which they could so effectually resent the wrongs, and indemnify themselves for the losses they had suffered, as in the East. To the same quarter the eyes of the English had long been turned ; and after they had triumplied gloriously over the Armada, which was to have en.slaved them by a double yoke of the most intolerable description — the yoke of Spain and the yoke of Rome, all the friendly or prudential con- siderations which had prevented them from claiming a share in the Portuguese Indian monopoly ceased to have any weight, and their determination to establish an independent traffic in the East was openly avowed. Thus, at the very moment when Portugal Wfis scarcely able to maintain her position, even had she been left alone to deal with native powers after her own fashion, she saw herself brought face to face with two most formidable competitors. To these we now tmn.

CHAPTEll IX.

Attempts to roach India by other routes than that of the Cape —Their failure by the north-west and north-east — The south-west passage practicable but circuitous — Superiority "of the passage by the Cape generally recognized — First voyages of the English and Dutch by that route.

ENRY VII. of Enghind had the reputation of being one of Maritime

1 ii'i 1 1 /■!• i-i- enter|)ri»e

the most enlightened monarchs of lus age, and ni lum, inKngiaui. accordingly. Columbus hoped to find a patron at once able to appreciate his grand scheme of discovery, and disposed to ad- vance the fvmds necessary for carrying it into effect. Unfor- tunately Henry, with all his talents, was of a penurious, avaricious temper, and remained so long in suspense between the advantages to be gained by the enterprise if it should succeed, and the pecuniary loss to which it would subject


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 196

HISTORY OF JNDIA.

(BrjOK I.

A I) 1408.

(^harter granted by Henry VII.

Newfoviiul- land (liscov ered.

Sebastian Cnbot.

him if it should prove a failure, that he lost the opportunity, and only Kignified his intention to accef)t the services of the great Genoese navigator when it was no longer possiVjle for him to obtain them. Before Bartolommeo ColumljUK wjul'l return to announce the success of his mission to England, the discovery of the New World had ah-eady been achieved, and his illustrious Vjrother was prose- cuting a second voyage.

The disappointrn.:;nt which Henry felt appears in the readiness with which he entered into a rival scheme of maritime discovery. A Venetian of the name of John Cabot, or Giovanni Caboto, had been settled for some time at Bristol, and to him and his three sons, Ludovico, Sebastiano, and Sanzio, the English monarch, on the 5th of March, 1496, granted a charter, empowering them, in the most unlimited terms, to make voyages of discovery in his name. There was no great liberality in the grant, for it cost him nothing ; and while he refu.se<l to bear any part of the expense, he was niggardly enough to stipulate for a fifth of the whole profit. Simply for the privilege of sailing under the Englisli flag, and becoming governors under the English crown of any lands which might be discovered, they were to bear the whole loss, and in the event of profit allow another to share it with them It gives a high idea of the spirit of maritime enterprise in England at this period, that even when subjected to such rigorous terms, a Venetian stranger, and his three sons, were able to fit out five vessels for an experimental voyage to the West.

As a mercantile specvilation the voyage entirely failed ; but by the discovery of Newfoundland and of the west coast of North America, a foundation was laid for the series of colonies or plantations which, under the united influences of

freedom and commerce, have made the language and not a few of the most valued institutions of England triumphant in the western world. The accounts of the early proceedings of the Cabots are so indistinct, that it is difiicult to say whether one or two voyages were made. If, as seems most probable, there were two, the latter, which took place in 1498, w^as commanded by Sebastian, whose fame as a navigator ultimately thi'ew that of his father and brothers into the shade. At this time, however, the encouragement he received was so small, that he quitted the service of England for that of Spain, which showed the high sense entertained of his merits by giving him a seat in the coimcil of the Indies.

Sebastian Cabot — Syer's History of Bristol.


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 Chap. IX.] CASPAR CORTEREAL. 197

About the same time when EughuiJ wa.s attempting, though with slow ad i.mh. and faltering steps, to follow Columbus in liis career of discovery, Portugal was not so entirely absorbed in the prosecution of discoveries in the direction of Africa

•^ rortugiese

as to be insensible to the vast changes which might be anticipated from the dis- attempts to

^, , , discover the

covery of a western world. If, according to the idea then generally entertained north-west by geographers, the northern extremity of America formed a rocky headland, ^"^^® with an open sea beyond it, then all the efforts which Portugal had made to iliscover a passage to India by the south-east must prove in a great measure abortive, because a much nearer passage would enable the maritime nations of Western Europe to secure sill the advantages for which she had been striving. This was a danger too obvious and imminent to be overlooked ; and therefore the Portuguese no sooner were acquainted with the discovery of the New World, than they determined on an exploratory voyage to the north-west, for the purpose of ascertaining whether such a practicable passage existed, and if it did, of securing a monopoly of it on the grovunl of priority of discovery.

The only Portuguese navigators wliose names figure in the voyages under- Caspar

•ii'- /> 11 1 ^ • I'll- C'ortereal.

taken with this view, were a father and three sons, belonging to the illustrious house of Cortereal. Of the ftither, Jolin Vaz Cortereal, scarcely anything is known, and hence, probalily because fiction has been employed as a substitute for fact, it has been confidently maintained that he reached the shores of New- foundland even before Columbus made his first voyage. The proceedings of his son Caspar are better authenticated. In 1500, having been furnished by King Emanuel with two ships, he touched, first at Terceira, one of the Azores, and then sailed north-west, in the ho]ie of finding an open ocean, by which he could penetrate directly to India. Having reached land in tlie ^jarallel of 50°, he pursued his course northwards along the coast. Both fi-om its po.sition, and the description given of it, it must have formed part of Labrador, which, accord- ingly, in the earliest maps, bears not this name, but that of Corterealis. He advanced to latitude 60°, but being deterred b}' the rigour of the climate an<l fioating mountains of ice from proceeding farther, he seized fifty-seven of the natives, and canned them off to Portugal, whei*e, to his disgrace and that of his sovereign, they appear to have been employed as slaves. He arrived at Li-sbon on the 8th of October, 1501, and immediately resolved on another voyage. Early in spring, having completed his preparations, he again set sail with his two vessels, and steered directly for the most northerly point he had previously reached. So far the voyage was prosperous; but immediately after, a 'iolent storm, in a sea covei'ed with icebergs, obliged the vessels to separate. That in which Ga.spar sailed Wivs never heard of

As .soon as tidings of tlie disaster reached Lisbon, a younger brother, of the Miguel name of Miguel, hastily fitted out three vessels, and set sail, with the double object of searching for the missing ship, and following up the course of discovery which Gaspar had began On arriving at that arm of the Atlantic which


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 ^■^^ lll.STOJJV OF INDIA. [Book I.

A.D. 1517. ]>iaiiches off" between the coasts of Greenland and Labrador, the vessels parted comi)any, in order that each mi<^ht explore a separate entrance. The expe- dient seemed judicioas, ])ut the result jjioved disa.stroas. Only two of the vessels returned 'to Portugal: in the third Miguel appears to liave met the same fate as Gasj)ar. A third h)rother, Vasco Eanes, inspired by the heroic spirit of his family, volunteered to head a new expedition ; but the king, tiiinking that enough had already been sacrificed in enteq)ri.ses the .succe.ss of which seemed now more than problematical, refased liis consent, and the Portuguese desisted from any further attempt to discover a north- we.st [)assage to India. British Shoi'tly after the accession of Henry VIII. to the throne of England an

to the attempt was made to revive the spirit ot maritime enterpnse, which his father during the latter years of his life had allowed to langui.sh, but other occupa- tions more congenial to his taste, though less conducive to his honour, soon began to engross Henry's attention, and during his long reign English maritime discovery presents an almost continuous blank. The only important exception is an expedition to the north-west in 1517. Sebastian Cabot had probably expected that Spain, to which he had transferred his services, would employ them in an endeavour to ascertain the practicability of a north-west passage. If this was his hope, it was disappointed ; for the magnificent territories which Spain was ac(][uiring in the more genial latitude of Mexico, and the immen.se wealth which had in consequence began to flow into her treasury, left her little inclination to prosecute a hazardous and doubtful enterprise in the frozen regions of the North. Cabot, however, having gained his earliest laurels in this field, was determined not to abandon it, and returned to England, where he had the satisfaction to learn that liis services, again volunteered, were accepted. He was confident of success ; and after entering Hudson's Bay, considered him- self on the fair way to Cataia, or China, to which, according to his own strong expression, he "both could and would have gone," when the opposition of Sir Thomas Peart, under whom, as Vice-admiral of England, he held only a sub- ordinate command, and a failure of courage on the part of liis crew, obliged him to retui-n. Robert The failure of this expedition seemed to justify Henry in the a^^athy he

memorial to had prcviously manifested, and ten additional years had passed away, when his attention was once more called to the subject by an English merchant of the name of Robert Thome, who, after a long residence at SeTlle, had finally settled in London. This gentleman, while in Spain, had formed a close con- nection with Sebastian Cabot, and become thoroughly imbued with his ideas a.s to the practicability of reaching the East Indies by some northern outlet from the Atlantic. Seeing how completely the subject had fallen into abeyance, he presented a memorial to the king, in which, after adverting to the natural desire which all princes have to extend their dominions, and which Hemy himself had evinced by his recent expedition to France, he thus proceeds: —


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 Chap. TX] THORNE'S MEMORIAL TO HENRY VIIL 199

" Now I, considering tliis your noble courage and desire, and also per- ^ d 1527. ceiving that yoiu' grace may, at your pleasiu-e, to your greater glory, by a " godly raeane, with little cost, perill, or labour to your grace, or any of your subjects, amplifie and inrich this youi* sayd realme, I know it is my bounden Thorne«

•/>!• i'ii-i T memorial to

duety to mamfest this secret unto your grace, which hitherto, as I suppose, Henry vi 11. hath beene hid; which is, that with a small number of ships there may be discovered divers new lands and kingdomes, in which without doubt your grace shall winne perj3etual glory, and your subjects infinite profite.".

The so-called " secret," thus announced rather more pompously than the com- paratively trite ideas composing it seem to justify, was simply the possibility of reaching the East by a voyage northwards. The memorial accordingly thus continues: — "There is left one way to discover, which is into the Northe; for' that of the foure partes of the worlde, three partes are discovered by other princes. For out of Spaine they have discovered all the Indies and Seas Occidental!, and out of Portingall all the Indies and Seas Orientall; so that by this part of the Orient and Occident they have encompassed the worlde."

Tiie North being thus the only field of maritime discovery not foreclosed, the memorial, after adducing several pithy reasons why Henry sliould imme- diately occupy it, enters into an explanation of the different courses which vessels fitted out for discovery might take, and the results that might be anti- cipated. The first object, of course, is to pass the pole ; but of this, though really the crowning difficulty, Mr. Thome makes light, and then proceeds: —

"If they will go toward the Orient, they shall injoy the region of all the ins views as

, to a iiorth-

Tartarians that extend toward the mid - day, and from thence they may em passage goe and proceede to the land of the Chinas, and from tlience to the land of Cathaio Orientall, which is of all the maine land most Orientall that can be reckoned from our habitation. And if from thence they doe continue their navigation, following the coasts that retume toward the Occident, they shall fsill in with Malaca, and so with all the Indies which we call Orientall, and fol- lowing tiie way may retume hither by the Cape of Buona Speransa ; and thus they shall compass the whole worlde. And if they will take their course after they be past the Pole toward the Occident, they shall goe to the backe side of the New found land, which of late was discovered by your grace's subjects, untill they come to the backe side and South Seas of the Indies Occidentall. And so continuing their voyage, they may retume through the Streight of Magellan to this countrey ; and so they compass also the world by tliis way. And if they goe the thirde way, and after they be past the Pole, goe right toward the Pole Antartique, and then decline toward the lands and islands situated between the Tropikes and under the Equinoctiall, without doubt they shall find there the riciiest lands and islands of the world, of golde, precious stones, balmes, spices, and other thinges that we here esteeme most ; which come out of strange countries, and may returne the same way." The conclusion is: —


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 *> r.' .'»

200

HISTOIIV OF INDIA.

[liOOK I

Tlioriio'a memorial.

Maritime enterprise uiuier Ed- w.ird VI.

A.D. 1547. "By this it appeareth, your grace liatli not onely a great advantage of tin; riches, but also your subjects shall not travell half of the way that <jther doe which go round about as aforesayd." Etrectsof This memorial, though containing little that is new and mucli that Is

eiToneous, seemed worthy of quotation, both becaase it gives a good account of the views entertained by the best geographers of the period, and because it appears to have had the effect of bestin-ing Henry to make a final effort of maritime discovery. As it led to no important results, and the accounts of it are scanty in the extreme, it is unnecessary to notice it further. In similar silence lies buried another expedition, undertaken, a few years after, at the expense, not of the crown, but of a wealthy inliabitant of London, who gave it an appearance so attractive that the youths of family and fortune were induced to embark along with him. Neither he nor his associates were well qualified for the task which they had undertaken; and disa.ster followed di.saster till famine reduced them to the dire necessity of cannibalism. They were preparing to cast lots for the next victim, when the capture of a French ve&sel furnished a small remnant with provisions and the means of regaining their native land.

On the accession of Edward VI., in 1547. an era more favourable to mari- time enterprise was anticipated, and would doubtless have been realized had his life been prolonged. Sebastian Cabot, as ardent and sanguine as ever, had arrived ; and the youthful monarch, smitten with kindred enthusiasm, had ap- pointed him grand-pilot of England, with a liberal .salary. Under the stimulus thus applied, a new scheme of discovery was soon arranged and zealoasly sup- ported by London merchants, "men of great wisdom and graxity." Robert Thorne, in the memorial above quoted, had pointed out three different du*ections in which experimental voyages might be made. Hitherto only one of them had been tried, but the results were most discouraging ; and it was therefore resolved that the next voyage should change the direction, and endeavour to discover a passage to the Indies by the north-east.

The requisite funds, amoimting to £6000, were raised in shares of £25 each, apportioned among the members of a kind of joint-stock companj' formed for the purpose. With this sum three vessels were built, and fitted up in a style with which Sebastian Cabot, who was governor of the company, and undertook the management of its nautical afFau's, was so well pleased as to declare that " the like was never in any realm seen used or known." The chief command was given to Sir Hugh Willoughby, who sailed in the principal vessel Under him, wiiioughby. ^^^ .^^ command of the second vessel, was Richard Chancellor. Besides a series of instructions drawn up by Cabot for the guidance of the officere and crew, the expedition was furnished by King Edward with a letter addressed to all "kings, princes, rulers, judges, and governors of the earth," requesting them "to permit unto these om- servants free passage by your regions and dominions, for they shall not touch anything of yours unwilling unto you," and promising " by the

Sir Hugli


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 Chap. IX.] EXPEDITION OF Sill n. WlLLoriJHBV. 201

God of all things that are contained in heaven, earth, and the sea, and by the ad. 1553. life and tranquillity of oiu- kingdoms, that we will with like humanity accept }'Our servants if at any time they shall come to om- kingdoms." On the 10th ]Iay, 1553, the three vessels dropped down to Greenwich, where the court and

Greenwich, in 1662. — Cruden's History of Gravesend.

a vast {Assemblage from all (juarters witnessed their dejjarture amid salvos of artillery and the shouting of the mariners, " in such sort that the sky rang with the noise thereof"

After leaving the river, the vessels were detained on the Essex coast till tlie Departure 23d, when, the winds becoming favourable, they began their coui'se across the aition German Ocean. On the 1-tth of July they had reached lat. 68°, among the islands of the Norway coast, and not long after came within sight of the North Cape. Their intention was to remain together ; but in the event of their being obliged to part company, Wardhuys. in Finmark, was appointed as the port ol" rendezvous. The contingency thus provided for happened sooner than any had anticipated, and with very fatal results. Shortly after passing the cape, the weather becair-v, so stormy that the vessels were forced out to sea, and driven at the mercy of the winds. Willoughby, whose skill and caution seem not to have been equal to his courage, carried so much sail that Chancellor was unable to keep up with him, and never saw him more. His fate remained unkno^^^l till some Ru.ssian sailors discovered two tall vessels frozen in on the coast of Lap- land. On entering them, they found the lifeless bodies of Willoughby and his Fate of companions. Along with the journal of the voyage was a note, showing, by its date, that the crews were alive in January, 1554. They had reached the coast of Nova Zembla without being able to land upon it, and then penetrated still deeper into the abysses of the Arctic Oceaa Convinced at last of their mistake, they retraced their steps, and in returning westward unfortunately missed the opening of the White Sea, within which they might have found a sheltered anchorage. On reaching the coast beyond, they had resolved to make it their winter- quarters, intending to prosecute their voyage in the ensuing spring

Before it arrived the intense cold had frozen them to death.

Vol. I. 26


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 202 HISTORY OF INDIA. [IVk>k I.

AD, 1568. Chancellor was more fortunate. By keeping near the coa«t lie had reached

^ Wardhuys without much difficulty; and after waiting seven days in the hope

Chancellor tluit tlic othcr vesscls might arrive, continued his course " till he came at hi.st to the place where he found no night at all, but a continued light and hright- ness of the sun, shining clearly upon the great and mighty sea." Ultimately lie was carried into the White Sea, and anchored in the harbour of Arcliangel. On learning that it formed part of the vast dominions of the Czar of Muscovy, he determined on visiting his capital of Moscow ; and by means of the letter which he carried from his sovereign, and his own address, obtained such a favourable reception from the reigning sovereign, Ivan Vasilovitsch, as enabled him to lay

The Russian the foundation of the Muscovy or Ru.ssian Company on very advantajreoas

Company. _ •' l J J ts

terms. The important traffic secured by this company withdrew attention, for a time, from the north-east passage; and many were even so sanguine as to imagine that by this company alone it might be possible to establish an inter- course with India, by which the necessity of any other passage would be in a great measure superseded. Attempts to fhe plan was to make Archangel the starting point, and then, strikincj the

reach India ^ » & 1 > > o

through Volga where it first becomes navigable, sail down into the Caspian, and thus

Russia. . . ., -

form a commumcation with the ancient overland routes from the East. Jom-- neys, with a view to the establishment of this communication, were actually luidertaken, and several of the travellers employed penetrated far into the in- terior of Asia. The whole scheme, however, was a delusion. The Venetians, when in complete command of the overland traffic by much shorter and more convenient routes, had been driven from all the leading markets of Europe by the Portuguese. How, then, could the Russian Company hope to compete with them, when, in addition to the carriage paid by the Venetians, they were biu-- dened with at least 2000 miles of expensive transport, part of it over an ocean always dangerous, and during half the year rendered inaccessible by mountains of ice ?

These considerations soon opened men's eyes to the hopelessness of estabhsh- ing a profitable traffic with India by the way of the White Sea, and the explora- tion of the north-east and north-west passages was resmned more ardently than ever. The latter passage, indeed, continued to be explored long after the impos- sibility of using it as an ocean thoroughfare to the East was universally recog- nized; and even in our own times, in the formidable task of exploring this passage, some of our most distinguished British navigators have earned their best laurels, and some of them, too, have unhappily perished. The north-east passage, which at one time seemed the more hopeful of the two, was sooner aban- doned, but not before the utmost skill and hardihood both of British and Dutch seamen had been expended upon it in vain. Some of their attempts, considered as preliminary steps in the process which eventually brought them into direct collision with the Portuguese, are here entitled to at least a passing notice.

North west passage.


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 Chap TX.j NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. 203

About the time when the Muscovy- ludiau scheme proved abortive, some ad isso. accui'ate knowledge was obtained of the great Asiatic rivei-s, the Obe and Yenisei ; and Gerard Mercator, the celebrated cosmographer, when consulted cerani

Mercator.

on the subject, gave it as his opinion that at no great distance beyond the point which navigators had already reached, a great headland, then supposed to form the north-east extremity of Asia, would be found. This headland once passed, nothing more was necessary than to turn south, and steer directly for Japan and China. This was an enormoas blunder, for it cut off, at one sweep, more than a foLU-th of the whole circumference of the globe ; but it is only fair to Mercator to observe, that it was not so much his blunder as the common blunder of the time, for all his contemporaries shared it with him.

In accordance with Mercator's opinion, the great problem of a north-east pas- Noiti. ea«t sage to India now seemed on the eve of receiving a favourable solution. In 1 580, again at- two English vessels, under the command of Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman, sailed for Wardhuys, which they reached on the 23d of June. A few days after, they continued their voyage eastwai-d, and on approaching Nova Zembla nar- rowly escaped being embedded in a field of ice. After disentangling themselves by taking a very circuitous route, they proceeded along an open passage, and had the mortification to discover that it formed a kind of cul de sac, from which they had no possible outlet except by retracing their steps. This accomplished, they had a most favourable wind, but found it impossible to avail themselves of it in consequence of enormous icebergs which blocked up the course, lea'ing no space between, and along which they could not steer without risking almost certain destruction. Thus obstructed, and obliged, as they piously express it, to wait with patience, "abiding tiie Lords leisure," they did not arrive at Vaigatz Straits till the middle of August. It was consequently too late to advance further eastward, and the expedition returned without having added one particle to the inlbrmation previoasly possessed. The English, having found more necessary and hopeful emplojnnent in another quarter, desisted for many years from idl further attempts to discover a north-east passage. The task, however, instead of being abandoned, was only transferred to new hands.

The United Provinces, after a long, arduous, and noble struggle, had achieved Att^-mpts ..f

tilts Dutch

their independence, and rid them.selves for ever of the galling yoke of Spain. Even while groaning under tiiat yoke, the untiring industry of the population, and the narrow scope for exercising it in a country hemmed in on all sides, and constantly threatened by the sea, hail turned their attention chiefly to com- merce. On the broad expanse of tiie ocean they found their true thoroughfare, and gradually ro.se to a foremost place among the maritime nations of Europe. Their own consumption was not great, but their vessels were found in all seas acting as common carriers for other nations. In this way they had obtained a large share in the Indian trade, which had its emporium at Lisbon, to which the
 * ^oods were brought from the East b- the Portuguese, and from which they were


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 sot HISTOItY OF INDIA. [Pkjok [.

AD iMo. afterwards diffused over Europe. At the very time when the Dutch s<^cur(d, the Portuguese were deprived of their independence, Philip II. of Spain having usur[)ed the crown of Portugal, and incorporated its dominioas with Ids own. Lisbon having, in consequence, fallen into the hands of their vindictive enemy, the Dutch were, in 1 oSi, completely excluded from it. The injury thus inflicted on their trade was at first severely felt, but the only effect was to in-syjire them with a determination not to rest till they had .succeeded in e.stablishing a direct com- munication with the East. The route by the Cape of Good Hope was now well known; and as all the Portugue.se po.ssessions had fallen under the power of their declared enemy, they covdd have no .scruple in attacking them. In the first instance, however, they imitated the example of the English, and endeavoured to discover an independent route by the north-east. William The first expedition, undertaken by a private company, with the sanction but

without any direct assistance from the States, consisted of four vessels, under the command of William Barentz. They sailed from the Texel on the 5th of June, 1594, and on approaching Nova Zembla separated, two of the vessels taking the old route toward Vaigatz Straits, while the other two, under the command of Barentz, adopted the bolder course of sailing northwards, with the view of Iceeping clear of the masses of ice which clustered round the island Barentz does not seem to have justified his high reputation as a seaman. By the 1st of August he had not advanced beyond the north extremity of Nova Zembla, in lat. 77°, and then, deterred by the violence of the wind and the large ma&ses of floating ice, prematurely determined to return. The other detachment was more persevering. After working their way through Vaigatz Straits, and suc- ceeding, with much difficulty, in sailing round some immense icebergs which had threatened to bar their future progress, the two vessels arrived at a blue open sea, and saw the coast trending rapidly southwards. It was only the Gulf of Obe ; but, led astray by Mercator's blunder, they believed that they had doiibled the north extremity of Asia, and consequently discovered the passage of which they were in search. It might have been expected, that instead of resting satis- fied with this, conviction they would have endeavoured to make assurance doubly .sure, and prevented the possibility of mistake by advancing some himdred leagues into the sea, which, if their opinion had been correct, would have carried them directly to Japan. Instead of this they immediately retraced their steps, and having again joined Barentz on the coast of Russian Lapland, arrived in the Texel on the 10th of September.

False hopes. The tidiugs which they brought diffused universal joy; and the States- general, no longer satisfied with giving a bare sanction, took the lead, in 1595, in fitting out a new expedition on a more extensive scale. It consisted of six vessels, intended not merely to explore, but to commence the traffic which, according to the general belief, was about to be permanently established, and pour the wealth of the East into the ports of Holland. Such being the expecta-


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 Chap. IX. ] EXPEDITION UNDER BARENTZ AND RYP. 205

tion, the arrangements were adapted to it; and the vessels, instead of being a d. i-we. constructed as before to bear the rude shocks of the polar ice, were framed in the manner best adapted for the rich cargoes of merciiandise with which they were laden. The very idea of such an expedition had originated in a gi*oss error ; but, as if this had not been sufficient, the period of saihng was protracted to the 2d of June, when nearly two months of the season most favourable for a northern voyage were already past. The vessels never got farther than the eastern entrance of the Straits of Vaigatz. When they reached it, they were met by immense bodies of floating ice, against which they struggled manfully till the end of September. Then at last the conviction forced itself upon them that they were labouring in vain, and that nothing more remained than to turn their face homewards.

Not one of the results so confidently anticii)ated had been oVjtained. In Disarpoi"t-

/» 1 • 11- /» • "lent.

proportion to the extravagance of the expectation was the bitterness of the dis- appointment. The States-general at once disconnected themselves with tiie project, and deemed it sufficient to hold out a pecuniary reward to any indivi- dual or association who .should first succeed in eflfecting the pa.s.sage which they had themselves attempted in vain. The town of Amsterdam at once took up the gauntlet which the government had thus in a manner thrown down ; ami wisely, in the meantime, renouncing all idea of traffic, fitted out two vessels solely for exploration. The command of the one was given to William Barentz, whose previous voyage has already been mentioned; and of the other to John Corneliz Ryj). As some security against that longing for home, under the influ- ence of which the previous expeditions were supposed to have returned prema- turely, all the individuals belonging to the expedition were unman-ied.

The vessels sailed on the 10th of May, 1596; and, in order to avoid the K.i..-.iitioii dangers of the coast, sailed nearly due noi'th. Currents and easterly winds alui Ryp. carried them so far west that they came in sight of the Shetland Isles on the 22d. Here the commanders, who appear to have had equal powers, differed in opinion. Barentz wished to tack about, and steer due ea.st; while Ryp, who argued that in this way they would only become entangled, like previous expedi- tions, among the fioating icebergs of the Vaigatz Straits, insisted on .sailing N.N.E. His oi)inion prevailed. They were soon in the depths of the Arctic Ocean, and after a dangerous and dreary navigation, constantly obstructed by fields of ice, reached the coast of Spitzbergen, in lat. 80°. They now changed their coui-se, and, sailing south, arrived at Bear Island, which they had ]>re- viously passed. Here the captains again (littered in opinion ; and, as on this occasion neither would yield, the vessels parted company. Ryp proceeded north, with the view of following the east coast of Spitzbergen, and was ultimately obliged to retrace his steps without doing anything which his contemporaries deemed worthy of being recorded. Barentz sailed E.S.E., and met with a series of adventures which, though they form a most interesting narrative.


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 2(i

JIISTOllY OF INDIA.

[Book I.

A.I) 1.0(17

Henry Hudson

South-west passage.

would here be out of place, as they throw no new hght on the attempted north- east passage to India. Suffice it to say, that, after wintering on the shore of Nova Zembla, he was obhged, in the June of the following year, to leave his ship embedded in the ice, and set out, with the survivors of his crew, to make the voyage homewards in two small boats. Anxiety, fatigue, and the severities of the climate had destroyed liis health, and he died by the way. His companioiLS, after enduring almost unparalleled hardships, reached Kola, where, to their astonishment and delight, they found the other vessel from which they had Vjeen so long parted, and proceeded in it to Amsterdam.

The existence of a north-east passage was now virtually disproved; and though subsequent explorations took place, particularly by the celebrated navi- gator, Henry Hudson, who was employed for this purpose on one occasion by the English, and on another by the Dutch, it is unnecessary to trace them. All reasonable men were now satisfied that no north-east passage to India, prac- tically available for the ordinary purposes of commerce, existed ; and the only choice now remaining was between the old beaten track of the Portuguese by the Cape of Good Hope, and a south-west passage by the southern extremity of the American continent. Of the latter passage a brief account must now be

given.

The practicability of a south-west passage to the East was proved at a com- paratively early period. Fex'nando de Magellan, or more properly MagalhaeiLS,

a native of Portugal, after serving five years in the East under Albuquerque, and distinguishing himself at the taking of Malacca, being dissatisfied with the nig- gardly maim^er in which his services had been rewarded, made an ofi'er of them to the Emperor Charles V. They were accepted; and he immediately presented the project of a voyage, by which he pro- posed to reach the East Indies by sailing south-west. The great object of attraction in that quarter was the Moluccas, which grew the finest spices. These were then in such high and general request, that there was no branch of the Portuguese trade of which a share was more eagerly coveted. There was one great obstacle in the way. The pope had divided the world into two halves. How could Charles, as a professed cham- pion of the church, appropriate any portion of the half which his holiness had given to the Portuguese? The true way of loosing the knot was to cut it, and

Ferdinand Magellan.— From a portrait by F. Selma.'

In Relaeion del ultimo Viage al estrecho de Magellanes, Madrid, 1787.


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 Chap. IX.] MAGALHAENS' VOYAGE ROUND THE GLOBE. 207

to maintain that, in this instance, as in many others, the pope had ignorantly ad. lass. and arrogantly made free with a property which did not belong to him. The time for such a solution of the difficulty was rai>idly approaching, but it had not yet arrived ; and Magalhaens undertook to rid Charles of his scruples by proving that the Moluccas were not in the Portuguese but in the Spanish half He was wronir in fact, but correct according to the idea then entertained of the dimensions of the globe. It is probable, however, that the emperor was not difficult to .satisfy, as he afterwards showed, on many occjisions, how easily he could dispose of Papal claims when they interfered with any of his favourite political objects. Be this as it may, Magalhaens obtained his wish.

On the 20th of September, 1.519, he sailed from Sanlucar in command of Maguiiiaeiw'

^ circumiiavi-

five ships and 236 men. On the 12tli of January, 1520, he reached the mouth gationof

. ^'1*6 globe.

of the La Plata, where he was detained for some time by a mutiny of his men, who deemed it degradation to obey one whom they stigmatized as a renegade Poituguese. By ])ru<lence and resolution he regained his ascendency; and towards the end of October began to enter the strait which has since borne his name. On the 27th of November he obtained his first view of the Pacific, and, steering directly across it, missed all the islands by which it is studded, and again saw land for the first time on the 6th of March, 1521, when he came in view of the islands which, from the thievish practices of the inhabitants, were named the Ladrones. Continuing onwards, he arrived at the archipelago of St. Lazarus, afterwards called the Philippines, in honour of Philip IL While here, he induced the chief of the island of Zebu to make a i)rofe.ssion of Christianity, and become tributary to the King of Spain, on condition of being assisted in his war with the chief of the island of Matan. In fulfilling this condition, Magal- liaens unfortunately lost his life on the 26th of April, 1521. The circumnaviga- tion which he had so ftir successfully accomplished, was completed by Sebastian del Cano, who succeeded him in the command, and arrived at Saiducar on the 22d of September, 1522, by doubling the Cape of Good Hope from the eastward.

Magalhaens' voyage gave proof of two important facts — first, that there was its resnita. no physical impo.ssibility of reaching the East Indies by sailing we.st; and, secondly, that, mider ordinary circumstances, this route never could become the ocean thoroughfare from Europe. It might be used for special purposes, but being far more circuitous, was also necessarily both more tedioas and more expensive. Further notice of it would hence l>e unneces.sary, were it not that an adventitious interest has been given to it as the route which first led the British to the East, and fm-nished the information which determined them not to rest satisfied till they had obtained a direct share in its traffic. Two of the voyages are, on this account, well entitled to special mention — the one by Sir Francis Drake, and the other by Mr. Tliomas Cavendish.

After the acces.sion of Queen Elizabeth, in 1 558, and the decided refusal of her hand when impertinently Jisked by Philip II, the frientlly relations between


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 208

IlISTOilY OF INDIA.

[liOOK I.

Sir Fraxcis Drake.

After a picture in the CoUection of the Blarquis of Lothian.

A 0. 1679 Eii;;flaiid and Spain ware entirely at an end; and though howtilities were not oi)enly declared, it was perfectly understood that, at least on the part of Spain,

they were only delayed in order that the preparations for carrying them on with effect might be rendered more complete. It is not surfmsing that, under these circumstances, fre- ([uent rencounters took place ; and the natives of either country, when- ever favourable opportunities occur- red, made no scruples of treating those of the other as open enemies. In this kind of irregidar, predator}- warfare, Francis Drake, who, origin- ally of obscure parentage from the vicinity of Tavistock, in Devonshire, had won a high name for valour and seamanship, particularly distinguished liimself. He had made two successful cruises against the Spaniards, and acquired so much wealth that he was able, in 1577, to fit out a fleet of five small vessels, with an aggi'egate crew of 164 men. The largest vessel, commanded by himself, did not exceed 100 tons; the smallest was only 1 5 tons. With these he set sail from PhTnouth on the 1 3th of December, 1577, and steered directh' across the Atlantic. On the 20th of August, 1578, he arrived in the Straits of Magalhaens, passed them, and then continued his course northwards alongf the west coast of. America till he had reached 48° N. latitude. He had probably proceeded thus far in the hope of dis- covering some opening by which he might again pass into the Atlantic. Disappointed in this ex- pectation, he retraced his steps for about 10°, and then, with the only vessel now remaining of his original five, shot boldly across the Pacific. On the 29th of September, 1579, he came in sight of the Moluccas. On the 4th of November he cast anchor at Ternate, He afterwards wound his way westward among the islands of the Indian Archipelago, doubled the Cape of Good Hope.

tSir P'rancii Draki

sails round the globe.

Drake's A.stkolabe.i

From origiD&l in Greenwich Hospital.

' Among the many relics of England's naval heroes the astrolabe, or instrument for taking the altitude

enshrined in that appropriate repository, Greenwich of the sun or stars — once belonging to the famous

Hospital, few are more interesting, few attract more Drake, which was constructed for him prior to las

attention, than the subject of the above engraving — first expedition to the West Indies in 1570.


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 Chap. IX.]

VOYAGES OF DRAKE AND CAVENDISH.

209

Jewel presented to Drake

HV <l KKN Elizabbtii. ^ Front oriRinal in Nulwel. Couit

and, on the 26th of September, 1580, cast anchor again in the harboui" of ad isss.

Plymouth.

It is presmned, that when Drake set out he had an understanding with the

government, but it was not deemed poUtic to acknowledge it. His proceedings,

as WtU- had not been declared, were certainly of a piratical

character; and when the Spanish court complained of

them, it was easier to disavow his authority than to

apologize for his conduct. The nation, however, was so

much elated by his achievements, and the determination

to profit by the information which he had brought home

was so unanimous, that Queen Elizabeth, after standing- aloof for some time, threw aside all reserve, publicly

visited him on boai'd his ship at Deptfoi-d, and attested

her approbation of his conduct by confemng upon him

the honour of knighthood. A few yeai"s later, Sir Francis

Drake again awakened the public mind to the importance

of the trade with India by the capture of a Portuguese

carrack, whose cargo of almost fabulous value inflamed

the imagination, while its papers and journals furnished

most important information as to the means by which a direct trade with India

might be most easily established, and most successfully carried on.

In 1586, about two years before Drake had made this capture, Mr. Thom.us Thomas

Cavendish commenced the other voyage by the Straits of Magalhaens above

refeired to. His fleet of three ships, fitted out at his own expense, was manned by 1 26 officers and sailors, seve- ral of whom had accompanied Drake wiien he circumnavifjated the globe. The expedition sailed on the 21st of July ; and, following the coiu'se which sails for "" Drake had taken, proceeded through the Straits of Magalhaens, skirted the west coast of America, making many rich captm-es, and committing much unjus- tifiable devastation ; and then steered across the Pacific for the Ladrones, which were reached on the 3d of January, 1 587. The future coui-se of the voyage is thus summed up by Cavendish him- self In a letter to Lord Hunsdon, lord -chamberlain, dated 9th September,

1588, he says, —

"I am humbly to desire yovu* honour to make kuowen unto her majesty the desire T have Vol. I. 27

Pacific.

Thomas Cavendish. — From a print by Pa<.-<


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 210 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Hook I.

A.D. 1588. liud to doe her majesty service in the performance of tliis voyage. And hh it hath pleased (iod to give lier the victory over part of her enemies, ho I trust yer long to see her overthrowe them all. For the places of their wealth, whereby they have maintained and made their warres, are now perfectly' discovered ; and if it please her majesty, with a very smal ix)wer she may take the s[ioile of them all. It liath pleased the Almighty to suffer me to circompasse the whole globe of the worlde, entering in at the Streight of Magellan, and returning ]>y the Cape of Biiena Cavendish's Esperan9a. In which voyage I have either discovered or brought certain intelligence of all the rich places of the world that ever were knowen or discovered by any Christian. I navi-

1118 voyage.

gated alongst the coast of Chili, Peru, and Nueva Espanna, where I made great spoiles ; I burnt and sunk nineteen sailes of ships, small and great. All the villages and townes that ever I landed at I burnt and spoiled ; and had I not bene discovered upon the coast I had taken great qiuxntitie of treasure. The matter of most profit unto me was a great ship of the king's which I took at California, which ship came from the Philippina.s, being one of the richest of merchandise that ever passed those seas, as the king's register and merchants' accounts did

shew; for it did amount in value to in Mexico to be solde. Which goods (for that my

ships were not able to conteine the least part of them) I was inforced to set on fire. From the Cape of California, being the uttermost part of all Nueva Espanna, I navigated to the islands of the Philippinas, hard upon the coast of China ; of which country I have brought such intelligence as hath not been heard of in these parts. The statelinesse and riches of which countrey I feare to make report of, least I should not be credited : for if I had not knowen sufficiently the incomparable wealth of that countrey, I should have bene as in- credulous thei'eof as others will be that have not had the like experience. I sailed along the islands of the Malucos, where among some of the heathen people I was well intreated, where our countrey men may have trade as freely as the Portugals if they will themselves. From thence I passed by the Cape of Buena Esperan9a, and found out by the way homeward the island of St. Helena, where the Portugals use to relieve themselves; and from that island God hath suffered me to return into England. All which services, with myself, I humbly prostrate at her majestie's feet, desiring the Almighty long to continue her reigue among us; for at this day she is the most famous and victorious prince that liveth in the world."

In returning homewards, the Cape of Good Hope was doubled on the 1 6th of March, 1588; and Plymouth harbour was reached, after a prosperous voyage, on the 9th of September. Establish- While the information thas flowing in from successful na-igators was pavinfj

mentofthe ^ _ * _. .

Levant the way for the establishment of direct trafiic with the East Indies, other inci- dents were contiibuting powerfully to the same end. Notice has been repeatedly taken of the important Indian trade which had been carried on, almost from time immemorial, by the way of the Levant. For many centiiries the English had been contented to receive then- suppHes of Indian produce at second hand from some one or other of the Italian maritime cities ; but latterly, particularly after the accession of Queen EHzabeth, they had agents of their own in the different ports of the Levant, and thus procured the means of carrjdng on an active and lucrative trade in their own vessels. When this trade had acquired such extent and consistency as to entitle it to be regarded as a national interest, the queen entered into a commercial treaty with Tm-key, seciu-ing for her sub- jects all the advantages which other nations enjoyed; and immediately there- after, in 1581, granted a charter of exclusive pridleges to a mercantile associa- tion which assumed the name of the Levant Company. This company, not satisfied with confining its connections to the ports of the Levant, extended


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 Chap. IX.] ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LEVANT COMPANY. 211

them far into the interior, and sent out many agents, whose journals and ad issi.

travels furnished, from time to time, valuable inforaiation with regard to Indian traffic.

It has sometimes been alleged that the immediate occasion of the formation Venetian

argosy lost

of the Levant Company, was the lo.ss of a vessel laden witii Indian })roduce on on ti.e the Goodwin Sands. The argosy which is referred to, and is thought to have >,^„|i^ derived the name, common to all vessels of its class, from the tovvTi of Ragusa, in Dalmatia, belonged to the Venetians, and sufficed to carr}', at a single voyage, as much Indian produce as supplied the demand of the kingdom of England for a whole year. The wreck of this vessel proved so disastrous, that the Venetians ceased thenceforth to pay their annual visit. The. English, thus cut off from the supply on whicii they had been accustomed to depend, had no alteraative but to send for the goods which they could not otherwise obtain ; and hence the forma- tion of the Levant Company. Such is the theory propounded ; and, in accor- dance with it, it is added that the same circumstance which led to the formation of the Levant Company, suggested to Shakspeare the idea of the "Merchant of Venice."

The lo.ss of an argosy on the Goodwin Sands, about ten years before the date usually assigned to the first representation of Shakspeare's immortal play, is a well-authenticated fact ; and he speaks with all the tnith of history when he says (act ii. scene 8) : —

" I reasoned with a Freuehiuan yesterday, Who told me, iu the narrow seas that part The French and English, there miscarried A vessel of our country, richly fraught."

And again (act iii. scene 1) : —

"The Goodwins, I think they call the place ; a very dangerous flat."

Unfortunately, however, for the theory, it is impossible to connect the loss of -xnachron- the argosy with the foundation of the Levant Company without committing a [)alpable anachronism. The chai-ter of the company was granted in 1581 ; the argo.sy was not lost till 1587. If the Venetians sent no more argosies after this date, the fact was prol^abl}' owing, not to any hon-or of "the naiTOw seas that part the French and English," for they were well inured to brave far greater dangei-s, but to their inability to derive any profit fi-om a traffic which could never have been very lucrative after the Portuguese had fairly entered the European market, and in which they had recently been brought into competi- tion with a native company powerful iu itself, and enjoying the special favour of the crown. The retirement of the Venetians was only one of the signs from which a sagacious merchant might have inferred that tlie Indian trade had deserted its ancient channels, and that England had become too well acquainted with its nature, and too much alive to its impoi-tance, to allow it to be an}- longer monopolized by Spaniards and Portuguese claiming the monopoly on


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 212

HISTORY OF INDIA.

[Book I.

A.U. 1582.

Queen Rlizabeth's eiiliglitened views.

Fenton's direct voyage to

the East.

Instructions for the voyage.

the ground, not so much of priority of di.scovery, as of a brutum fuLritea issued by the execrable pope, Alexander VI.

Queen Elizabeth had early struck at the root of all claims to monopolize the navigation of the ocean by declaring, in answer to tlie complaints of the Spanish ambassador against the En<?li.sh for navigatinfj the Indian seas, " that the ocean was free to all, fora.smuch as neither nature nor regard of public use do permit the exclusive possession thereof;" and again, " that as to Drake sailing on the Indian seas, it was as lawful for her subjects to do so as for the Spaniards ; since the sea and air are common to all men." This latter declaration was made in 1580; and evidence was soon given that, instead of being maintained merely as an abstract principle, the justice of which could not be disputed, it was hence- forth to be carried into practical operation. In the third volume of Hackluyt, pp. 754-757, there is a paper dated 9th Apiil, 1582, and entitled, "Instructions given by the right honourable the Lordes of the Counsell to Mr. Edward Fenton, Esquire, for the order to be observed in the voyage recommended to him for the East Indies and Cathay."

It appears from these "Instructions," which are twenty-four in number, that the direct, and, indeed, the exclusive route, intended for this voyage to "the East Indies and Cathay," was by the Cape of Good Hope. The ninth Instruc- tion is as follows : — " You shall use all diligence possible to depart from South- ampton with your sayd ships and vessels before the last of this present moneth of Aprill, and so goe on your course by Cape de Buena Esperan9a, not passing by the Streight of Magellan either going or returning, except upon great occasion incident that shall bee thought otherwise good to you, by the advise and consent of your sayd assistants, or foure of them at the least." The tenth Instruction, following out the same route, says, " You shall not passe to the northeastward of the 40 degree of latitude at the most, but shall take your right course to the isles of the JIulucos, for the better discovery of the north-west pas- sage, if without hinderance of your trade ; and within the same degree you can get any knowledge touching that passage, whereof you shall do wel to be inqui- sitive, as occasion in this sort may serve."

It does not exactly appear to what extent government had furnished the means of this voyage, but the language employed clearly implies that the lords of council possessed the entire control over it. Thus, at the very outset, they say (Instructions 1, 2, 3) : —

"First, you shall enter as captaine-generall iuto the charge and government of these shippes, the Beare gallion, the Edward Bonaventure, the barke Francis, and the small frigate, or pinnesse. Item, you shall appoint, for the furnishing of the vessels, in the -w hole to the number of 200 able persons, accompting in that number the gentlemen and their men, the ministers, cliirurgiaus, factors, &c., which sayd number is no way to be exceeded, whereof as many as may be to be sea-men ; and shall distribute them into every vessels, as by advise here before your going shall be thought meete. Item, for the more and better circumspect execu- tion, and determination in any waightie causes incident in this voyage, we will that you shall take unto you for assistants, Captaine Hawkins, (Viptaiue Ward," and six other per.^oii.s