COMING OF ENGLISH AND DUTCH 211 



Their fleets were training schools for the English marine. 

 They counterpoised " the Hollanders' swelling greatness 

 by trade," and kept them " from being absolute lords of 

 the sea." English gentlemen were enabled to export 

 more wool, and to raise more rent. True, Indian goods 

 were bought by English gold ; but much of the goods 

 was re-sold to foreigners at a profit. Englishmen got 

 their spices cheap, and their gold also increased, as 

 farmers gain by sowing and reaping. There was much 

 interesting argument ; but the Company, betrayed by the 

 King, and ill-supported by the nation, made slow way. 1 



But it was at least strong enough to break through the yet is 

 Portuguese fence. Their agents travelled through India, ^^5^ to 

 won the favour of the Great Moghul at Delhi, obtained break the 

 permission to establish a factory at Surat, and even to 

 act as maritime patrol for the Moghul Empire, with 

 duty to clear the sea of Portuguese, and to keep open 

 the pilgrim path to Mecca. They broke the sea-power 

 of Portugal in famous battles. They won supremacy 

 in the Persian Gulf. They passed Eastward through 

 the Straits of Malacca. " A native festival," we are told, 

 " still annually commemorates the first Englishman 

 who lived and died in Japan." 2 And they found by far 

 their most valuable market in the Spiceries, where, so they 

 claimed, Drake's Treaty gave them right to monopoly. 

 They had factories in Sumatra, Amboyna, and Java. 

 It was clear that neither Spaniards nor Portuguese could 

 fight them. Had these been the only rivals, England 

 would have become as supreme in the islands as in India. 

 There would, perchance, have risen a Jamestown or a 

 Charlestown in Java ; and, sailing thence, English 

 merchantmen would have discovered Australia. But 



1 See admirable discussion in Hunter's History of British India. 



2 See interesting account of William Adams in Hunter, vol. i. pp. 298-9. 

 He was sailing-master on a Dutch ship, which came to Japan in 1600. 

 It was seized, and the crew were detained. Adams's Letters are 

 printed in Memorials of the Empire of Japan, ed. Rundall (Hakluyt 

 Society). The first English ship came to Japan in 1613. See The 

 Voyage of Captain John Saris to Japan, 1613, ed. Satour (Hakluyt 

 Society) . 



