The dissensions between the two nations arose from this event: The King of the English maintained these five or six years past, a contest with the people of America, (a word that signifies a New World), on account of the Company’s concerns. By the The cause of the war with the Hol­landers assigned on the broils hap­pened between the English and the people of Yenghi-dunia alias America. word Company is understood an assembly of thirty or forty of the richest or most creditable men of the country of Inghilter, who joining their funds together obtain the privilege to trade into which climate soever they may choose out of the seven. Such a body, if even consisting of so few as thirty or forty of such creditable men, is called a Company; but there may be three or four hundred of such men in the Company we mean, which hold a rank and pre-eminence amongst all the merchants of that land. Nor does the King order anything about their concerns without consulting them first; for whatever he intends to do, he consults the Omrahs or Lords of his Court; and when the matter has been agreed amongst them, it is then proposed to the Council of the nation, which is composed of the principal merchants above, and of a number of other creditable and sensi­ble men chosen, two by two, by each of the principal towns, cities, and countries of Inghilter. All these men have their charges borne by the senders, and from that moment they become their Deputies and Attorneys. All these assemble in London (which is the name of the Capital of the English Empire), and there they examine such proposals as are made them by the King and the Lords, whether about raising taxes, or about any other object of public concern. Such proposals are consented to by those Attorneys above, if after a thorough examination, they find them advantageous and convenient to those that have sent them; for it is in their power to reject them, and if they do reject them once, they are rejected by the whole nation likewise. Sometimes the Attorneys examine a scheme amongst themselves, and if they find it proper and profitable to all the inhabitants of that land, they desire the concurrence of the King and of his Lords, request the proposal to be signed, and they become his associates in promoting its views; for from that moment it becomes obligatory on all the inhabitants of that land, and on all the dependants of that kingdom. Sometimes they dis­approve of a proposal, and upon examination, they reject it, as disadvantageous to the nation, or as pregnant with mischief; and in that case, it falls into as much neglect, as if no such proposal had ever been made; nor dares the King pretend to go forwards with it, or to carry it in execution, when once it has been disapproved and rejected by them.

As to the men of America, the country designed both by the words of a Newfoundland, and also by those of Yenghi-Dunia*, that is New World, they are themselves of English extraction and of English blood: they are the sons and children of the English. It must be observed that the astronomers and geographers of that nation, after many researches and observa­tions, have found out a great number of differences between their remarks and the opinions of the ancients. Amongst these differences, the principal one is this, that the circumference and figure of the land and water in our globe are not as they were thought heretofore. They say that the latter seems to encompass the former as a girdle, and they add, that in the same manner as a portion of ground has emerged out of the waters on our side, and is become dry and habitable in seven several climates; in like manner another portion has risen opposite to it, and is become habitable by mankind. Whence it might happen, that the feet of the inhabitants of the two portions would meet sole to sole, were the earth to be withdrawn from between, whilst their heads would continue to look towards heaven. To con­clude, it may be said that the two portions or hemispheres seem inclined towards each other; and although the extent of the other hemisphere has not been totally explored, yet it is conjectured that should the whole earth be divided into five parts, three parts of it would fall to the lot of the old hemisphere, already divided into seven climates, and the two others, with a fraction, would constitute the other, or new hemisphere. This new hemisphere is humid and cold, and also humid and hot; but the whole of it has not been yet explored and examined. They bring from thence a variety of medicinal drugs, and a variety of fine woods, fit for chests and furniture; and they say that most parts of its soil produce mines of gold and silver. The discovery of so great a part of our globe is intirely owing to the following chance:—

About four hundred years ago, a ship, beaten by a storm, was thrown upon those coasts, and by chance discovered that land. It was in the year when the Portuguese ships (so called from Portugal, their kingdom) came by chance into India. Those strangers having seen the country and taken a liking to it, formed settlements in that region, and in process of time they became so powerful that they could not be expelled but in the victorious reign of Shah-Djehan, when they lost all their possessions in India; nor have their descendants in that region recovered from that overthrow. Those of them that have remained in H8ghly and Mandradj (Mandrast), as well as elsewhere, have so far degenerated as to have their skins quite black, or at least very swarthy; whilst some of them that retain still an appearance of whiteness, employ themselves in handicrafts. To-day we see that most of them addict themselves to writing, and are employed as writers by the English, but without being made any account of by the latter, who reckon them to be no better than so many Indians. But it is not so in their own country in Europe. There they are considered as a Power, and have armies and fleets, and a King of their own. To return then to our account of America. As soon as the storm-beaten ship had recovered its harbour, after having just had a peep at the new land, it was found that several of her men had learned the way of repairing thither; and a very sensible Chief amongst them, having obtained access to a woman of the Royal race, he, by her assistance, fitted three or four ships, and having attached to his undertaking some of the ablest men amongst those that had seen the new land, he made a voyage thither and stayed a long time in it, on purpose to examine its productions, and even to gain some of its inhabitants, with whom he contracted a friendship first, by signs, and then, by acquiring some knowledge of their language. He even ventured, under their guidance, to advance some miles from the shore. In his stay in that country, he took the latitude and longitude of those shores, as well as their situation with regard to the elevation of the pole, so as to form something like a chart. He also examined the passes and defiles, and likewise the rising and setting of the sun. After providing himself with all this stock of knowledge, he returned home. The next year he came back with a number of ships full of warlike stores, and all the necessaries for making a settlement; and he made one accordingly, in which he settled himself with a small number of the principal men he had brought with him. The year follow­ing, another swarm of men, hearing of his successes, came and settled in his neighbourhood. It was sometime after, that the English, who hearing of this discovery, and being an enterpris­ing nation, conceived the design of visiting that new land; and they repaired thither in crowds. There they cultivated the ground, raised buildings, built towns and cities, and made them their homes from thenceforward for ever; rearing their children in that land, and accustoming themselves so much to their new habitations, that most of them renounced their original country, and refused to return thither. But all this, however, was without departing from their submission to their King, and without ceas­ing to be obedient to his commands, and to such of his servants, as had remained in Inghilter and in London, their original land. They paid such tributes as had been established after the English pattern, and matters remained on that footing, until the Yenghi-d8nians (Americans) having increased so greatly in population, that their numbers were now reckoned by lacs and lacs, the King, by the advice of his Ministers and principal men, imposed upon them a new sum of money, over and above that which they had been accustomed to pay. This happened about six or seven years ago. The Yenghi-d8nians displeased with the new imposi­tion, refused to obey the King’s commands; and the latter having ordered his Governors and officers, then in that land, to enforce obedience to his edicts, the inhabitants joined together in oppos­ing those officers; and having seized most of them, they revolted from their authority, and set up for themselves, spreading full open the standard of rebellion and defiance, and preparing every thing for a vigorous defence. As these people are of the same blood with the English, and, of course, equal to them in military talents, in courage, and in every thing that pertains to war; and they were as much skilled as themselves in the art of managing The Ameri­cans revolt and beat the English. their flint-locks and their artillery; and as over and above those advantages they had had plenty of necessaries, they made no difficulty of encountering the King’s troops and Generals, to which they gave several defeats, so as at last to destroy or ruin his army. The king sent other Generals and other forces, fur­nished with an immense quantity of stores and necessaries; nor did the Americans decline the contest; and they came into the field with what warlike stores they had at hand. But as these They are assisted by the French. began to run short, they applied to the Fransisians (or French), for a supply of necessary stores, and for some other succours. The latter who have an enmity of some hundred years’ standing against the English of Europe, and were glad of a dissension that weakened their hereditary foes, did not fail to assist their new allies with every thing they wanted; but as they had a treaty of peace with the English, the term of which was not yet expired, they were obliged meanwhile to act secretly in the assistance they gave the Americans, which however proved so effectual, as to consist of every succour that could be wished for. The English apprised of this artifice, concluded that an open war was better than a deceitful peace, and accordingly they attacked the French likewise; so that it is now the second or third year since they waged war with them. But, meanwhile, the inhabitants of the new land having stretched their nerves, and made mighty efforts, gave at last a total defeat to the fresh troops and Generals that had been sent against them by the King. Such an unprosperous war, which had cost already more than thirty or forty thousand men, and above twenty corores of rupees*, struck the King’s Ministers with fear and amaze­ment; the more so, as over and above the war with their own kinsmen, the men of the new land, and that with the French, which now raged with fury, they had to oppose also a new enemy; and this was the Espan-yols, who are a different nation from those already mentioned, and have a King and a kingdom The Span­iards join the French. of their own. These Espan-yols are a very western nation, always at war with the Roman Emperors*, since the latter took from them the city of Ashtanbol about five hundred years ago, in which time they have not ceased to wage war with the R8mees (Romans): this nation also got up to assist the French and Americans, and to assault the English. In short, the Hol­landers likewise came to be involved in this war against the English, whose prevalent power they feared, and whose con­quests in Hindostan they had beheld with the utmost jealousy. As these people are addicted to a pacific system, they abstain from dissensions and disputes with other nations; and both on that account, and on account of the benefits of the trade they drove with the combatants above, they were averse from engag­ing in a war with any of them; but as they traded in every article whatever, and of course imported into America immense quantities of musquets, cannon, balls, and all kinds of warlike stores, and they seemed warmly engaged in that business, the English displeased with this artificious behaviour, thought it better to come to an open war with them. Time alone will point out what may be the final intention of Providence in this diversity of concerns and interests; and time alone will discover what it has ultimately predestined on those obstruse points; for God Almighty is the disposar of all events!* But it is now time to take our leave of this subject, and to return to Hindo­stan; The Author quits the American war to launch into the latter part of the Emperor Aoreng-zib’s history. for as we have set out with this history by mentioning the Emperor Aoreng-zib’s demise, and we are now going to close our last volume, the curious will not be displeased with hearing, at the end of our history, some singular and interesting accounts of that very long reign.