Note 7 — COMMERCE OF THE PHILIPPINES WITH NUEVA ESPAÑA

“The settlements, commerce, and conquests of the English in the East Indies” are related by Raynal in his Établissemens et commerce des Europeens, i, pp. 261–398. The English East India Company was founded in 1600, and made a promising beginning in the Oriental trade; but the opposition of the Dutch and Portuguese, already intrenched therein, was so great and persistent that the English company—which was compelled to encounter also, in turn, competition from other English traders, hindrances arising from the duplicity and avarice of Charles II of England, losses arising from the civil war in that country, hostilities (originating from the greed and treachery of one of the company’s own directors) with the Mogul emperor Aurungzebe, and the capture of many English trading vessels by French privateers—was several times almost ruined, and all English commercial prestige in the East was greatly injured. Finally, in 1702, the two rival East India companies in England united their funds and enterprises, and thereafter the affairs of the new organization prospered, in the main; and in 1763 the French were driven out of Asia, leaving the English masters of both political and commercial interests in India. In 1774 the latter drove out the Mahrattas from Salsette Island, and founded Bombay, which, although at first an insalubrious locality, on account of its fine harbor soon became the emporium of English commerce and center of that nation’s power. ↑