214 THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



the Orange Tree reported that the Southern continent 

 had been seen in 50, and again in 41. Some of these 

 ships got to the Philippines, and had fierce fight with 

 De Morga, who captured one of them, and executed his 

 prisoners as pirates with the garotte. But Drake's 

 way was long and hazardous. Most Dutch ships, with 

 Lindschoten's guide-book in hand, went, after 1595, by 

 (3) round the Portugal route round the Cape. And they went 

 the Cape. j n ver y g rea t numbers fifteen fleets, with sixty-five 

 ships, between 1595 and 1601. "The Dutch," complains 

 De Morga from the Philippines, " come in squadrons, 

 and, supported by them, the Muslims revolt against the 

 Spaniards. Their interests in the trade for cloves and 

 other spices are very great, and they expect by this trade 

 to subjugate the East. If a fundamental remedy be not 

 applied in good time, the trouble will soon grow so great 

 that it will never be ended. In the Javas they get such 

 big profits that it will be hard to drive them from the East, 

 where they have done such great injuries in spiritual 

 and temporal matters." 

 The Dutch But the Dutch were not content. Like the English, 



East India they found that " separate " voyages were instruments 



Company, J 



1602. inadequate for the foundation of a commercial Empire 



at the ends of the earth ; and, unlike the English, they 

 made the essential change at once. In 1602 the separate 

 syndicates of merchants were united into one joint stock 

 association, with the title of the United East India Company. 

 The Dutch merchants were to put their whole strength 

 into great national ventures. The Government of the 

 Company was to be in the hands of seventeen Directors, 

 chosen by the Chambers of the various States in proportion 

 to their contributions. They were to act as commercial 

 Council for the Republic. They had support both from 

 the Dutch Government and from the Dutch people ; 

 and the Dutch Company, far more truly than the English, 

 became, in Burke's words, " a delegation of the whole 

 power and sovereignty of the State sent in the East." 

 And thus the Company became strong with the strength 

 that had made the Republic. " It was," writes Sir William 



