433
were granted to the Company; and in 1646, the Governor ofBengal , who had also been medically attended by Boughton,made concessions which placed the factories at Balasor andHugh' on a more favourable footing. In 1647, Courten’sAssociation established its colony at Assada, in Madagascar . Mada-In 1652, Cromwell declared war against the Dutch on account fg^, ar ’of their accumulated injuries against the English Company .
In 1653, the English factory at Lucknow was withdrawn.
No record has been found of its establishment. In 1658, theCompany established a factory at Kasimbazar (spelt ‘ CastleBazaar ’ in the records), and the English establishments inBengal were made subordinate to Fort St. George, or Madras ,instead of to Bantam . *-
In 1661, Bombay was ceded to the British Crown as part of Bombay the dower of Catharine of Braganza, but was not delivered upuntil 1665. King Charles n. transferred it to the East India Company , for an annual payment of ^10, in 1668. The seatof the Western Presidency was removed to it from Surat in1684-87. The Company’s establishments in the East Indies Our fac-thus consisted in 1665 of the Presidency of Bantam in Java ,with its dependencies of Jambi, Macassar, and minor agencies Bantam -in the Indian Archipelago; Fort St. George and its dependentfactories on the Coromandel coast and Bengal ; Surat , with Madras ;its affiliated dependency of Bombay ; and factories at Broach, Bombay ;Ahmadabad , and other places in Western India; also atGombroon (Bandar Abbas ) and Bussorah in the Persian Gulf Persianand Euphrates valley. In 1661, the factory at Biliapatam was ^ ulf;founded. In 1663, the English factories established at Patna ,
Balasor, and Kasimbazar were ordered to be discontinued, and Bengal ,purchases to be made only at Hugli. In 1664, Surat waspillaged by the Maratha Sivaji, but Sir George Oxendenbravely defended the English factory; and the Mughal Emperor , in admiration of his conduct, granted the Companyan exemption from customs for one year.
In 1681, Bengal was separated from Madras , and Mr. Bengal (afterwards Sir William) Hedges arrived at Hugh', the chief ^^ ratedBengal factory, in July 1682, as the newly-appointed ‘ agent Madras ,and governor’ of the Company’s affairs ‘in the Bay of Bengal, l68l ‘and of the factories subordinate to it, at Kasimbazar, Patna ,
Balasor, Maldah, and Dacca . A corporal of approved fidelity,with 20 soldiers, to be a guard to the agent’s person at thefactory of Hugh, and to act against interlopers.’ Mr. Hedges’
Diary, from the signing of his commission in November 1681,to his return to England in April 1687, has been edited, with