Page 114 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

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114 EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN THE EAST
!
The Trade's Increase, of which such great expectations
had been entertained, whilst careened at Bantam, was set f
on fire by a renegade Spaniard, who appears to have had
some grudge against the Company. What was left of her
was sold for 1,050 reals.
Overwhelmed by the destruction of all his hopes, and
enfeebled by his hardships, Middleton died at Bantam on
May 24, 1613. He was a brave soul, who deserved better
things than this obscure end in an unfriendly land. His
voyage was an uninterrupted series of misfortunes and
difficulties, and of personal hardships of an uncommon
kind. Yet who shall say that he suffered in vain ? Sir
Dudley Digges, nearly three centuries ago, described him
as “ the thrice worthy general who laid the true foundation
of our long-desired Cambaya trade.” It was not an
exaggerated tribute paid by a contemporary in the fulness
of a generous sympathy, but the settled conviction of a
discriminating judge, and its justice has been completely
vindicated by time. The more we know of the period in
which Middleton filled the stage of adventure in the East, i
the greater is the figure he and his fine old colleague, the
rugged Downton, present upon it. His courageous asser­
tion of the rights of Englishmen trampled under foot by a
mean and despicable tool of a leading Oriental power
won respect for the English name not only in the immediate
scene of his operations, but in a wide sphere outside, to
which the news in due course penetrated. But the
qualities which most fired the Oriental imagination and pro­ i
duced the greatest moral effect were the justice and moder­
; ation he showed when the fortunes of war had placed him in .
a position to be cruel and exacting. His uniformly gener­
;
ous treatment of the Indian ships which he captured or

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