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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 53

totally lost. These losses were heightened b}' the necessary
cessation of the trade between Persia and Surat, owing to the
Dutch fleet, having, by their vast preponderance, the command
of the seas. After the conclusion of peace a commission was
appointed, consisting of four representatives of the English and
Dutch Companies, to regulate the compensation of damages
which each asserted they had sustained between the years Ifill
and the 18th of May, 1(352 ; but the claims being nearly equal,
after long deliberations, the commission awarded that there
should be oblivion of the past by both parties ; that the Island
of Polaroon should be restored to the English Company, who
should also receive from their rivals ^£85,000,* and a further sum
* Cromwell requested the loan of this sum, and the Company, afraid to dis-
oblige so powerful a personage, lent him £50,000 for eighteen months In this
year, 1655, the Protector invaded their privileges and permitted the " Merchant
Adventurers" to fit out ships and trade to the countries within their limits. In
the following year the Company prayed for a renewal of their charter, which
request was referred to a commission, among whose names there appears that of
Sir Charles Wolseley, an ancestor of the successful leader of the Ashantee Expe-
dition. The application resulted in the confirmation of the Company's rights
and privileges by Cromwell and the Council of State, which were renewed by
Charles 11. on the 3rd of AjirU, 1661.
In the old India Oliice in Leadenhall Street, among records of interest there
was a letter from Oliver Cromwell, in reply to a petition addressed to him by the
Company of Merchants in connection with the East India trade. Tlie original
petition, a copy of whicli was enclosed with the reply in a glass frame in the old
Museum, was addressed to " His Highness Oliver, Lord Protector of England
and Scotland," and it asks for a convoy of ships of war for some vessels which
are expected to arrive with merchandise from the East. The siiiuatures to the
petition of the Indian merchants are almost all of them in clear, bold, and legible
writing, and speak very highly for the art of penmanship among tlie merchant
classes of the country, at a time when royal and aristocratic autographs were the
most wretched of scrawls or cypliers. The following is the copy of the Lord
: —
Protector's reply " Oliver, Protector. We recommend the answerynge of this
peteon to the Commyssioners of our Admiraltye desiringe them to doe herein
what they may for the encom-agement of the East India trade. Given at White-
hall this fith of November, 1657." Another document of great interest, a letter
written by Lord Nelson with his left hand, might be seen framed near this short
letter of the Protector. Immediately on receipt of the news of the battle of tlie
Nile, the Directors convened a Court for the purpose of expressing tlieir opinion
of the important service rendered by his lordship to the Company ; and it was
resolved unanimously—the original resolution being in the same frame as the
—
letter of the gallant Nelson " That in further testimony of tlie high sense the
Court entertains of the very great and important benefits arising to the East
India Company, from his Lordship's magnanimous conduct upon that glorious
occasion, this Court requests his Lordsliip's acceptance of tlie sum of £10,000."
This resolution havuig been conveyed to Nelson, he re]ilicd in the following
—
terms: "Foudrojant, Bay of Naples, July lird, 17U9. Sir, I am tins day
honoured by your letter of May 3rd, conveying to me the resohition of the Hon.
East India Company. It is true. Sir, that I am incapable of finding words to
convey my feeling for the unprecedented honour done me by the Comi)any.
Having in my younger days served in the East Indies, I am no stranger to the
munificence of the Honourable Company ; but this generous act of their's to me
so much surpasses all calculations of my gratitude that I liave only the power of
saying that I receive it with resjiect. Give me leave. Sir, to tliank you for your
eloquent and fiattering letter, and I am, with continued respect, your obliged and
obedient servant. Nelson.—Sir Stephen Lushington, Bart., Chairman of the
Court of Directors of the Hon. East India Company."