Angria

“ With a fleet of armed vessels carrying thirty and forty guns apiece, with Kennery island in his possession within sight of Bombay harbour, Angria and his successors continued to be a menace to the existence of Bombay, while the Angrian territory became the Alsatia of the Indian seas, where desperadoes of all nationalities were made welcome.
The next few years saw an enormous increase of piracy in the Indian seas. Angria was practically secure in his fastnesses along the coast, and plundered every ship not strong enough to defend itself. ”

“ As soon as we had passed through the ranks of the pirates, whom Mr. Clive ordered to be disarmed and handed over to their Morattoe countrymen, we came into the inner court of the place, where we found Angria himself, surrounded by his chief men. He was a tall, handsome Indian, with a fierce, threatening countenance, surmounted by a crimson turban, which blazed with rich gems. His whole treasure lay beside him, and amounted, when it came to be reckoned up, to £120,000, which was divided among the fleet and army, I getting £6 for [Pg 94] my own share. ”

“ There was not a creek, bay, harbour, or mouth of a river along the coast of his dominions, in which he had not erected fortifications and marine receptacles, to serve both as a station of discovery, and as a place of refuge to his vessels; hence it was as difficult to avoid the encounter of them, as to take them.
"Eight or ten grabs, vessels from 150 to 300 tons burthen, and forty or fifty gallivats, or large row-boats, crowded with men, generally composed Angria's principal fleet destined to attack ships of force or burden. ”

“ Diggle was smiling, Angria's eyes were gleaming, his mobile lips working as with impatience, if not anxiety.
The Pirate spoke quickly, imperiously.
"You have learnt our tongue, Firangi [#] boy?" he said.
[#] Originally applied by the natives to the Portuguese, then to any European.
"I have done my best, huzur," replied Desmond in Urdu.
"That is well. Now hearken to what I say. You have pleased me; my jamadar [#] speaks well of you; but you are my slave, and, if I will it, you will always be my slave. You would earn your freedom?" ”

“ The pirates still continued formidable. Angria had built some larger vessels, and boasted that he would be master of the Indian seas. The Mahrattas, equally with the company, felt him as a scourge, and in March 1755 a joint expedition against Severndroog was determined on, James being ordered to blockade, while the actual assault was given by the Mahrattas. James, however, soon found that his allies were either lukewarm or were overawed by Angria's prestige. ”

“ Alibagh fort, unsuccessfully assaulted by the English and Portuguese; taken by Sumbhajee Angria. Anglesea the, man-of-war. Anglesea the, French man-of-war, attacks the Anson; Angria, Conajee (Kanhojee) , pirate, rise of the power of; succeeds to the command of the Mahratta navy; styled Darya-S ranga; destroys the Bombay frigate; fortifies Kennery; attacks the Godolphin; concludes a treaty with the Mahrattas; becomes an independent chief; captures the Anne ketch; his ships attack the Somers and Grantham; captures a Portuguese 'armado,'; opens negotiations with the English ”

“ In 1707 his ships attacked the Bombay frigate, which was blown up after a brief engagement, and for the next half-century Angrian piracy was a scourge to the European trade of the West coast. In 1710 Conajee Angria seized and fortified Kennery, and his ships fought the Godolphin for two days, within sight of Bombay, but were finally beaten off. He had now grown so powerful that, in 1711, the Directors were told he could take any ship except the largest Europe ones; "along the coast from Surat to Dabul he takes all private merchant vessels he meets." ”

“ See ANGRIA, CONAJEE. Davis, Thomas, besieged in Anjengo; dies at Anjengo. Deccanees, tin coins, value of. Defence, the (formerly the Mocha frigate, q.v.) , becomes a pirate; renamed the Resolution. Defiance grab, the, present at the attacks on Kennery; present at Gheriah; engages the Victory, pirate ship. Defiance, the, frigate, attacked by Angria's ships. Derby, the, Company's ship, taken by Toolajee Angria. Deoghur (or Tamana) , granted to Conajee Angria by treaty; Angria's southernmost stronghold; attack on, abandoned. Derby, the, East Indiaman, taken by Sumbhajee Angria's ships. ”

“ English and Portuguese make an unsuccessful attack on; appropriated by Sakhajee Angria; taken by Mannajee Angria; attacked by Sumbhajee Angria; engagement between Angrian ships and Bombay gallivats off. Conajee Angria. See ANGRIA, CONAJEE. Concan, the coast of, harried by Sivajee's fleet; the Peishwa becomes master of. Conden (Congdon, Condent) , pirate, his headquarters, Madagascar; commands the Flying Dragon. Cong, plundered by pirates. Cooke, Catherine, daughter of Captain Cooke, gunner; marries John Harvey. See also s.v. CHOWN, CATHERINE; GYFFORD, CATHERINE ”

“ The Commodore then flung out the signal for a general chase; but as little regard was paid to this as to his former intention; for although the vessels of the Morattoes had hitherto sailed better than the English, such was their terror of Angria's fleet, that they all kept behind, and suffered the Protector to proceed alone almost out of their sight. The enemy, on the other hand, exerted themselves with uncommon industry, flinging overboard all their lumber to lighten their vessels ”

“ Angers figures with importance in early English history: it was the capital city of the Plantagenet race, home of that Geoffrey of Anjou who married, as second husband, the Empress Maud, daughter of Henry I. and competitor of Stephen, and became father of Henry II., first of the Plantagenet kings, born, as we have seen, at Le Mans. The facts create a natural presumption that Angers will look historic ”

“ Whatever he touches—history, archæology, geography, natural science, politics, the social life and thought of the day, the physical peculiarities of Ireland and the manners and customs of its people, the picturesque scenery and traditions of his own native land, the scandals of the court and of the cloister, the petty struggle for the primacy of Wales and the great tragedy of the fall of the Angevin empire—is all alike dealt with in the bold, dashing, offhand style of a modern newspaper or magazine-article. ”

“ The county of Anjou or “Angevin march,” the border-land of Neustria and Aquitaine, was for all practical purposes the border-land also of Neustria and of Britanny. Angers, with its Roman citadel and its Roman walls, perched on the crest of its black slate-rock, at once guarding and guarded by the two rivers which flowed round its foot, was a far mightier fortress than Nantes; Angers, rather than Nantes, was the true key of the Loire valley, and the stronghold of the Neustrian border against all attacks from the west, whether by land or by sea. ”

“ ANGRA, or Angra do Heroismo (“Bay of Heroism,” a name given it in 1829, to commemorate its successful defence against the Miguelist party) , the former capital of the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, and chief town of an administrative district, comprising the islands of Terceira, St George and Graciosa. Pop. (1900) 10,788. Angra is built on the south coast of Terceira in 38° 38′ N. and in 27° 13′ W. It is the headquarters of a military command, and the residence of a Roman Catholic bishop; its principal buildings are the cathedral, military college, arsenal and observatory. ”

“ ANGORA III.—THE MARVELLOUS ATMOSPHERE OF A GREAT BIRTH In all my wanderings, East and West, over Europe and America, I have nowhere been so much thrilled by a dominating sense of “real effort” as at Angora. Against a background of prehistoric civilisations, the human bees swarm in and out of their Parliament, buzzing away night and day, a free and independent Turkey.
What will their “delegation” accomplish at Lausanne? Is the war only postponed, or will there be peace? “At one moment our spirits rise to the most daring hopes; we see ourselves marching into Constantinople. ”

“ Hardly a building in his realm preserves the memory of Henry II.; Richard is a mere visitor to English shores; Beaulieu alone and the graven tomb at Worcester enable us to realize John. But along the Loire these Angevin rulers meet us in river-bank and castle and bridge and town. Their names are familiar words still through the length and breadth of the land. At Angers men show you the vast hospital of Henry II., while the suburb around it is the creation of his son. And not only do the men come vividly before us, but they come before us in another and a fresher light. ”

“ Hear me out, my darling! Hi! look at that rise of blue necks! If Anglesea were only here with his gun and dogs! He is a famous shot, my dear! Where was I? Oh! I say, as for myself, I am quite satisfied to receive 71 Anglesea as my son-in-law. He is of noble race—there is a marquisate in the family, though too far removed to do him much good, except in the honor of the connection. He is of moderate fortune, very moderate; but wealth should not be the first consideration, you know! He is a fine, noble, generous, chivalrous fellow, and I like and admire him. ”

“ All laughed loudly at this, for the "right divine" was never valued much in the Lowlands of Scotland; but Angus, who presided, struck his mailed hand like thunder on the table, and sternly imposed silence.
"Your king is not a tyrant, my lords," continued the aged marshal, warming as he spoke; "nay, we all know that no lady in the land was ever more good or gentle. And his errors, if he hath any, are the result of youth and evil counsellors——"
At this remark, a storm of angry mutterings pervaded the cuirassed and helmeted assembly. ”

“ His responsibilities are heavy indeed. With the terrible heritage of “ugly debts” incurred in the name of England, of which he will personally be held guilty for 290years to come! For him, the right way is not the easy way.
The British officials of Constantinople have been most kind to me; as the only Englishwoman who knows the story of Angora, and has been near to the “heart” of the Turks; they hope I shall go to Lausanne.
But who will listen? From the beginning of time, has an Englishman ever asked a woman for her opinion, or listened to her if she expressed one, even after being consulted! ”

“ The Archbishop of St Andrew's, James Beton, was devoted to France; Angus was true to England; while in spite of a superficial reconciliation, a blood- feud, deep and ineffaceable, divided the Douglases and the Hamiltons. For centuries the law in Scotland had been too weak to reach the heads of powerful clans or families. The great nobles avenged their own injuries by their own swords; and, where justice could only be executed by crime, each act of violence provoked fresh retaliation. A plot was laid by the Earl of Arran, supported by Beton, to seize Angus in Edinburgh. ”

“ It must be admitted, however, that whatever the origin of the words Angle and Saxon may be, they expressed, from the time of the invasions downwards, a difference that was, if not radical and of long continuance, at least real and obvious. The Angles were a strong and vigorous people, and not only founded three kingdoms in England, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia (which all, and especially the first, exercised a great influence on our early history) , but also spread through a large part of the Lowlands of Scotland. ”

“ Such a threat implied a far more serious danger in the south than in the north. The Aquitanian border was guarded by no such chain of strongly-fortified, stoutly-manned ducal castles as girt in the Norman duchy from Gisors to Tillières; and Henry’s hold over his wife’s dominions was very different from his grasp of the heritage of his mother. Twenty years of Angevin rule, which for political purposes had well-nigh bridged over the channel that parted England from Gaul, seem to have done nothing towards bridging over the gulf that parted Aquitaine from France and Anjou. ”

“ Not only ordinary English tourists, but English historical scholars have been led astray in the topography of early Angers by an obstinate local tradition which long persisted in asserting that the counts and the bishops of Angers had at some time or other made an exchange of dwellings; that the old ruined hall within the castle enclosure was a piece of Roman work, and had served, before this exchange, as the synodal hall of the bishops. ”

“ Warned by the authorities that West Angra was not a port of entry, and that we must move to East Angra.
Thursday, August 21st.—Clear fine weather. I am charmed with the appearance of Terceira. Every square foot of the island seems to be under the most elaborate cultivation; the little fields divided by hedgerows of what appeared to be sugar-cane. The white one-storied houses are dotted thickly among all this cultivation, giving evidence of great populousness in this primitive paradise—so far removed away from the world, and so little resorted to by commerce. ”

“ When we enter the earldom of Angus, which forms the southern and larger part of this province, we find that the thanages lie more apart, and bear a less proportion in extent to the whole land of the earldom. This arises from its greater importance, from its situation, its size, and the character of the land as a part of the territory in the heart of the kingdom, and the greater extent to which the land had been granted to foreign barons as feudal holdings. ”