If We May Trust The Controversial Pamphlets On The East India Company Which
Were Published In 1615, It Appears That Up To This Year They Had Employed
Only Twenty-Four Ships; Four Of Which Had Been Lost; The Largest Was 1293
Tons, And The Smallest 150.
Their principal imports were still pepper,
cloves, mace, and nutmegs, of which 615,000 lbs.
Were consumed in England,
and the value of 218,000_l_. exported: the saving in the home consumption
of these articles was estimated at 70,000_l_. The other imports were
indigo, calicoes, China silks, benzoin, aloes, &c. Porcelain was first
imported this year from Bantam. The exports consisted of bays, kersies, and
broad cloths, dyed and dressed, to the value of 14,000_l_.; lead, iron, and
foreign merchandize, to the value of 10,000_l_.; and coin and bullion, to
the value of 12,000_l_.; the outfit, provisions, &c. of their ships cost
64,000_l_.
The Dutch, who were very jealous of the successful interference of the
English in their eastern trade, attacked them in every part of India; and
though a treaty was concluded between the English and the Dutch East India
Company, yet the treachery and cruelty of the Dutch, especially at Amboyna,
and the civil wars into which England was plunged, so injured the affairs
of the English East India Company, that at the death of Charles I. its
trade was almost annihilated. One beneficial consequence, however, resulted
from the hostility of the Dutch; the English, driven from their old
factories, established new ones at Madras and in Bengal.
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