land their goods peaceably, and be protected from all moleftation; that they fhould have liberty, after paying cuftom for their goods, to fell them at their own price; that they fhould be allowed to tranfport their goods to any part of the empire, free from any additional duty; and laftly, that the private property of English fubjects fhouid, upon their death, be fecured from einbezzlement, and delivered to the English factors by the officers of police. Having thus accomplished the principal purpofe of his embaffy, Roe took leave of the Mogul court, after receiving from the emperor fome very valuable prefents of precious ftones, together with fhawls, and mullins, of the finest fabric. From Ajmere he went direct to Surat, where, having arranged and regulated the affairs of the different factories, and waited till the new treaty was put in execution, he proceeded by fea to Buf. forah, and from thence to the court of Shah Abbas, king of Perfia. The treatment he met with from that diftinguished monarch was no lefs flattering, and more cordial, than that which he had received from the emperor of Hinduftan: and in a fhort time he concluded a treaty of alliance between England and Perfia, by which the Company were permitted to trade to all parts of the dominions of Shah Abbas, on condition of their fending a fleet to co-operate with his army, in expelling the Portugueze from the fettlements they had formed at the bottom of the Perfian gulph. Upon this good fortune, which completed the attainment of thofe objects which the Company had in view, Roe returned to England, after an absence of nearly four years. On his arrival he was received by the king with the 3 warmeft congratulations, and rewarded by the Company with a pecuniary recompence, proportioned to the high value which they placed on his fervices. During the time that Sir Thomas Roe was employed on those important miffions, the Company were no lefs affiduous than fuccefsful in cultivating the friendship of the Malay tribes, amongft whom they had greatly extended their influence as well as their trade. By means of this influence, and of the benefits which it held out, they ob. tained from the chiefs of Banda and Lantore a formal ceffion of these valuable iflands. A factory had befides been established on the island of Macaffar; and those at Bantam and Acheen were still retained. A commercial intercourfe was opened with Siam, and three agents of the Company were allowed to refide in that country for the purpofe of carrying it on. At Calicut, on the coaft of Malabar, the zamorin had allowed the Company's factors who refided there, to build a fmall house for their perfonal accommodation; but for the erection of warehouses, which conftitute what is called a factory, that prince had not yet given his confent. The Company had likewife began to trade on the coaft of Coromandel, principally to Maffulipatam, which was at that period a confiderable mart. Such was the progrefs which England had made in her connection with India in a period of twenty years. The Company's commerce had increafed with prodigious rapidity, and had hitherto met with few impediments, and no material check, By the numerous factories they had eftablished, and by the upright conduct of their agents in their dealings with the natives, the English name had become equally known known and respected throughout the Eaft and the treaty which had been concluded with the emperor of Hinduftan gave the English a decided advantage in that country. over the Portugueze and the Dutch; an advantage at which both thefe nations were extremely difconcerted, but of which the former, now in the decline of their power, poffeffed no means to counteract. The Dutch, however, maintained a great afcendancy in the Spice iflands, where they had erected fortifications, and formed military establishments; and they refolved to compenfate for the advantage obtained over them in Hinduf an, by feizing the first pretext of a quarrel to expel the English from the Moluccas. The means which were adopted to put this defign into xecution, and the national controvery to which the conduct of the Dutch factors gave rife; the general principles on which the Dutch Eaft-India Company uni formly acted, and the infatiable avidity by which they were characterifed, are matters that, in our next chapter, we fhall fully unfold and illustrate. MAY 1800. CHRONICLE. CALCUTTA, May 9, 1800. In commemoration of the capture of Seringapatam, a royal falute was fired from the ramparts of Fort William on Sunday laft; and yefterday morning, agreeably to pub. lic notification, the principal gentlemen and ladies of the fettlement breakfafted with the right hon. the Governor-general at the Theatre, where that lively fatisfaction was obfervable, which the occafion of the meeting was fo fully calculated to infpire. BOMBAY, May 9. Sunday laft, the 4th inftant, being the anniversary of the ftorming the capital of the late Sultaun, that glorious event was commemorated by fuch of the officers now at the prefidency who were prefent on the occafion of that brilliant achievement. They affembled at Maclean's hotel, attended by a numerous party of their friends, where an elegant entertainment was ferved up, and the evening paffed in the higheft conviviality and harmony. On Saturday evening, the 24th inft. the body guard difmounted was infpected by the right hon. the Governor-general on the efplanade, preparatory to the review of the corps, which took place on Monday morning to the fouthward of the fort. His lordship was received on the ground at fun-rife, under a falute of feventeen guns from the gallopers; after which the corps went through a variety of evolutions, with a celerity and precifion not to VOL. 3. be furpaffed; and the review con. cluded by his lordship prefenting the colours to Capt. Montgomery, the commandant, accompanied with an addrefs, expreffive of his lordfhip's approbation of the excellent appearance and correct difcipline of his corps. The Mermaid, in her late paffage from Madras to Rangoon, having occafion to touch at Vizagapatam, received from that port fix China. men, the remainder of a fmall prow's crew which had efcaped from the Andamans. The account these men gave of themfelves was, that in en. deavouring to make Baffeen river, they were blown off the coast, and reached the Andamans, where they went on fhore to wood and water, but were, foon furrounded by the natives, and four of their companions knocked on the head, and eat before their faces: thofe that efcaped had been tied up, and they conjectured a fimilar fate awaited them next morning; but during the night they fortunately seleafed themfelves from confinement, got on board their boat, and made the coaft of Coromandel, after a long voyage, many days of which they were with out either victuals or drink. A very curious tree, not hitherto defcribed, grows on the island of St. Helena; it is from 15 to 20 feet high, perfectly straight in the body, and divefted of branches; on the top is a cabbage, fimilar to the red kind, and is often eat by the natives, What renders this tree extraordinary is, that its production is ever green, appearing always the fame in fummer and winter. + A Deftruction Letters received from the Cape confirm the intelligence of the deftruction of the French frigate La Preneufe by his Majefty's fhips Tremendous and Adamant, of which the following are the particulars: At fix a. m. of the 11th December, the Tremendous being then off the Ifle of France, faw a ftrange fail in the S. S. W. quarter, to which fhe gave chafe, and at feven made the chafe to be a frigate under French colours. At noon the chafe bore S. by W. diftance three miles; the Adamant fcen at the fame time bearing weft. At half paft noon on the 12th, the chafe ran on fhore on the weft fide of the river Toorbeau. At one o'clock the fired feveral hot at the Tremendous, as did the batteries on fhore, which was returned. From that time till 3 o'clock the Tremendous drifted off with variable winds near five miles. At half paft four the Adamant joined, and at that time the frigate cut away her mafts. From half past five to half paft fix the Tremendous and Adamant fired on her, and received her fire in return, as well as all the neighbouring batteries, from which many fhells alfo were thrown, but went over the fhips without damage. At half paft fix the two ships hove to, and at feven fent the boats in to deftroy the frigate, the fhips working in thore, and all the batteries, as well as many guns along fhore, keeping up an inceffant fire on them as they approached. At half paft nine the frigate blew up. At ten the boats returned with a report that they had fet her on fire, after having taken out the captain and all the officers, the crew having previously landed." Extract of Regulations by His Excellency Sir George Yonge, K. B. &c. &c. relative to the difpofal of Prize Goods at the Cape of Good Hope, being the Growth, Produce or Manufacture of Countries to the Eastward thereof. Dated Cape of Good Hope, 3d February 1800. And it is hereby further declared, that in refpect to fuch goods, wares and merchandizes, as before de. fcribed, and which fhall be of the growth, produce or manufacture of countries to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, and which fhall be condemned or adjudged to be fold by the Court of Vice Admiralty as aforefaid, that it shall and may be lawful, until further orders, to fell and difpofe of all fuch goods, wares or merchandize, free of all duties of import whatsoever. Provided always, that fuch goods, wares and merchandize fhall be fold by public auction, and under the exprefs condition of the fame being exported to Great Britain; and that good and fufficient fecurity fhall be given by the buyers thereof to the collector and comptroller of his Majefty's cuftoms, that the fame fhall be fo exported. And provided always, that a duty of export of 5 per cent.. be paid to his Majefty's customs by the exporters of fuch goods; fuch duty to be calculated upon the price or prices fuch goods fhall have been fold for, by public auction as aforesaid. Provided always, and it is hereby further declared, that if any fuch goods, wares or merchandize, the growth, produce or manufacture of countries to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, fo condemned or adjudged to be fold as aforefaid, fhalt be in a perifhing ftate, or lia ble |