in the world, and the least worthy of attention." 8

This appeal was published in 1724, and it was probably the means of calling the attention of Christians in England to the state of this distant church for we have just seen, that in the following year, the committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge suggested to the missionaries in India, to inquire into the state of the Syrians, chiefly with a view to associate their priests with themselves in the great work of evangelizing the heathen, if found competent. There was much in this church to interest the Christian mind. As a monument of ecclesiastical antiquity, she had stood from the earliest period of the Christian era, an isolated column in the midst of pagan temples. Further, it could not "but be matter of admiration, that, at the very time when our own confessors and martyrs were struggling for a purer faith and more spiritual ritual, the prelates of this ancient church, were sealing with their blood, in the Inquisitions of Portugal or Goa, a faith which, in essentials, agreed with our own." Their recent emancipation from Romish tyranny, would naturally awaken the sympathies of a church that could not forget her own deliverance from similar oppression. This solitary circumstance appeared to promise a bond of union: but their doctrines were then unknown in Europe; and it is only necessary to read the services of their church1 to be satis

8 La Croze, p. 423.

9 Professor Lee's Brief History,

1 A translation of the Syrian Liturgy and other services, will be found in the Appendix to this Volume, D. What proportion of the original Syriac services escaped the fires of Menezes, and the popish alterations of Francisco Roz, it is

A. D.

1750.

CHAP.
II.

fied that the missionaries were right in their
conclusion, that it was neither desirable, nor
practicable, to coalesce with them in their
present state.
The Syrians also were of the
same opinion. Their prejudices of caste seem
to have been as inveterate as those of the hea-

then; and the protestants' rejection of prac-
tices which they considered of primary impor-
tance, formed, in their eyes, an insurmountable
barrier between them. The missionaries soon
found, that, although the Syrians had escaped
from the oppression of Rome, they had not left
her superstitions behind: and unless these were
renounced, they could not have employed them
without danger to the cause of Christianity.
Nevertheless, though, under present circum-
stances, no hope could be entertained of uniting
with them for the purpose contemplated; yet
were they interesting objects for special en-
deavour and prayer, that they might discover
and reform their errors, receive the truth in
love, and offer unto God the spiritual worship
of the believing heart.2

impossible to ascertain; but those now published seem to be a compound of the Nestorian, Roman, and Jacobite rituals; and all this "rust and contamination, she appears to have contracted from the persecution of her enemies, or the want of vital religion within her own bosom." Ibid.

It were premature here to enter upon the exertions that have been made for this purpose, during the present century. Suffice it to say, that the poor Syrians have not cried in vain, Come over and help us. "Blessed be God, we are now listening to their call, and labouring to rekindle the flame that has for ages been diminishing on their altars." Ibid.

CHAPTER III.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN

INDIA.

A. D. 1600.

1. THE Commencement of the British commerce with India has been briefly noticed in a former chapter. During the course of events sub- East India Company's sequently recorded, the interests of Great first charter, Britain in the East continued to advance with and their prosperity slow, but steady progress. The first objects of under it. the merchants who embarked in this enterprise, was to obtain a royal charter, which Queen Elizabeth, after some demur, was induced to grant. The East India Company was incorporated December 13th, 1600, under the title of, "The Governors and Company of Merchants of London trading to the East Indies.' Their joint stock at the commencement amounted to £72,000, a small sum to be invested in such an undertaking.

The first fleet sent out consisted of four ships and a pinnace, which were placed under the command of captain James Lancaster, who acted also as supercargo. He sailed on the 2nd May, 1601, for the Eastern Islands, and returned in Sept. 1603, richly laden with spices and other

1 Book ii. chap. viii. sect. 1.

A. D. 1603.

CHAP.

III.

A. D. 1609.

Their 2nd

first settle

ment in India.

A. D. 1612.

productions of those countries. The success of this first adventure encouraged the Company to follow it up with considerable spirit, several fleets being sent out in rapid succession, and nearly the whole proving equally successful. Indeed, almost the only important check to the general prosperity of the Company under their first charter, was the loss of one of their fleets.

2. In the year 1609, a new charter was granted, giving perpetuity to the privileges charter, and already possessed. They now began to turn their attention to the continent of Hindoostan, where they had to encounter strenuous opposition from the Portuguese, who, by virtue of their discovery of that country, had long considered themselves entitled to monopolize its commerce. For some time the English found it hard to bear up against the superior force of this power, and still harder to counteract their intrigues and misrepresentations at the native courts. At length, however, in 1612, two English vessels, under command of capt. Best, in a smart action in the Swally roads, maintained their ground with so much gallantry against the very unequal force of the Portuguese, that the natives no longer looked upon them with the contempt or suspicion with which they had been persuaded hitherto to regard them. Availing themselves of this impression in their favour, they applied to several native powers for permission to participate in the commerce of the country; and in January of the following year, 1613, they obtained a firman, or license, to build several factories on the Western coast and in Guzerat. The stations chosen were, Surat, Ahmedabad, Cambaya, and Gogo. These factories may be regarded as forming the first English presidency in India, which managed

A. D. 1613.

the greater part of the commerce carried on
between that country, and Persia and Arabia.
3. Finding their strength increase, both in
arms and in the confidence of the native princes,
the English boldly pushed forward their in-
terests, and gained repeated advantages over
the Portuguese. In 1622 they fitted out a
squadron of nine sail at Surat, and sent it
against Ormus, an island at the entrance of the
Persian Gulf. The Portuguese took possession
of this island in 1507, and had now held it
more than a century. At this time it was one
of the greatest marts in the East, being visited
by shipping from India, Africa, Egypt and
Arabia; as well as by the caravans which
carried on a regular trade across the country,
and brought with them immense quantities of
the richest and most valuable commodities. It
was also the key of the Persian gulf, which had
enabled the Portuguese to monopolize the com-
merce of those parts. The English regarded it,
therefore, as an object of great importance to
dislodge them; and as the Persians had long
been heartily tired of their exactions, they were
glad to join the British squadron against them.
Their united forces soon succeeded in capturing
the place, when the houses were demolished,
the island deserted, and the trade transferred
to Gambron, a sea-port on the Persian coast
about nine miles from Ormus.

4. The English were no less adventurous in the eastern seas, where the Dutch proved more formidable rivals than the Portuguese in the West, and for a time defeated all their efforts to maintain an independent footing in the islands. At length they established themselves sufficiently at Bantam, in Java, to form a presidency, whose jurisdiction extended from the