CHAPTER III. ASIATIC DEPENDENCIES. BRITISH INDIA-CEYLON-HONG-KONG, AND LABUAN. THE BRITISH INDIA. HE British Empire in India may be divided politically into three classes of territories, distinguishable by the degree of British influence and authority exercised over each. I. The territories directly governed through the East India Company, either by the supreme or any of the four subordinate Governments. II. The territories of native princes with whom we have subsidiary or protective relations, and who are under the political supremacy of the East India Company. III. The territories of States which have undertaken to accept British mediation, or are under British influence, but are not ruled directly by Great Britain. The insular territories of the East India Company are included politically within the first of the above classes; they have been, since 1853, constituted a distinct subordinate Government, called the "Straits Settlements." * British India, continental and insular, may thus be said to comprise altogether an area of more than a million square miles. The triangle of Hindostan (of which Hyderabad, Chittagong, and Cape Comorin, are the three points) forms the most important portion of this empire. Hindostan was, for 1800 years, alternately the seat of Greek, Tartar, Mahommedan, and Mogul rule; and was, in the latter part of the 15th century, first colonized by the Portuguese, and afterwards, in the 17th, by the Dutch, French, and English. The Government of British India, unlike those systems of polity which have gradually expanded with The Prince of Wales Island, now the seat of Government, is situate in the Straits of Malacca, on the west coast of the Malay peninsula, and comprises an area of about 160 square miles. Singapore, a settlement comprising one island and about fifty islets off the south point of the Malay peninsula, comprising an area of about 275 square miles, was formerly the site of a Malay kingdom. In 1252, Singapore was captured by a King of Java, and afterwards abandoned. In 1819, it was first occupied by Great Britain; and, in 1824, purchased in fee-simple, from the Sultan of Johore, for the sum of 60,000 Spanish dollars, and an annuity of 24,000 Spanish dollars for the natural lives of the Proprietors. Malacca, a settlement comprising an area of about 1000 square miles, on the west coast of the Malay peninsula, between the parallels of 2 and 3o north latitude, and the meridians of 102° and 103° east longitude. The chief town was founded (as is said) in 1252; occupied by the Portuguese in 1511, by the Dutch in 1641, and by the English in 1795; again held by the Dutch from 1818 to 1825, when it was exchanged with the British for Bencoolen, in Sumatra. the advancing civilisation of other countries, has consisted, for more than two centuries, of a sort of temporary machinery, contrived and modified from time to time to meet the necessities of successive conquests. Political powers, delegated, in the first instance, to a trading corporation for the limited purposes of their own commerce, were of course wholly insufficient for the government of a vast empire. Each succeeding change in the Administration of British India has been thus only the natural result of each succeeding conquest, which necessitated some fresh contrivance for strengthening the hands of the ruling power over the constantly-increasing area of the Imperial domain. Each successive change in the constitution of British India will be found, on a review of those events in the order of their occurrence, to have been ordinarily preceded by an advance, not so much in the power and resources of the country, as in its territorial boundaries. sketch. The first British East India Company was formed Historical in London in 1599, and received its Charter in 1600. Its first factory was established at Bantam in 1602. The Charter was renewed in 1609; and in 1612 the joint-stock system of trade was adopted; and in the same year a second factory at Surat established; a third at Fort St. George on the Coromandel Coast, in 1640; and a fourth on the Hoogley, in 1656. In 1658, the Charter was renewed by Cromwell; and in 1661, by Charles II. In 1662, the island of Bombay was ceded as dower to Charles II. on his marriage with the Infanta Catherine; and in 1687, the Presidency of Surat was transferred thither, but the revenue not covering the expenses, it was, in 1688, made over to the Company, and has since been the centre of their dominions in Western India. In 1689, after a three years' war with the Mogul, it was laid down as a fixed policy, that dominion was to be acquired in India, and that the Company were to become a nation. Land was purchased and settled. In 1693, the Charter was again renewed; and in 1698, Fort William was erected, and the district round Calcutta purchased. In the same year, by statute 9 and 10. Will. III. cap. 44, in consideration of certain Customs' duties to be levied on imports from the East Indies, the Company were guaranteed for three years the privileges of trade to all countries between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan. On September 5, in the same year, a second Company, called the English East India Company, received its Charter. By an indenture tripartite, under the Great Seal, dated July 22, 1702, to which the two Companies and the Crown were parties, the Companies were first designated as the "United Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies." In 1707, by statute 6 Anne, cap. 17, provision was made for legally amalgamating the two Companies; all differences to be submitted to Lord Godolphin as arbitrator, and his award to be binding. In 1711, by statute 10 Anne, cap. 28, the corporate capacity of the United East India Company was recognised, and their privileges of trade continued. In 1720, the Company were established at |