Page 184 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

184 EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN TITE
EAST
Coen met the Englishman’s hot protests against the exclu­
sion of his ship from the trade of the islands by a torrent
of objurgation. “ In cholleric manner he (Coen) upbraided
him for lingering in the countries that were under their
protection as itt were in despite of them, affirming that
whosoever bought any cloves in these countries without
their consent so much stole from them and, therefore,
they would prevent it if by any means they might.” Jour-
dain retorted in kind, reaffirming in the strongest language
that the trade of the islands was as free to the English as
it was to the Dutch and that they would not be driven
from the region by Dutch threatenings. The conference
closed with a display of angry feeling which boded ill for
the future relations of the two races.
l
At a later period in the day Jourdain attended a gather­
ing of the leading natives, who having been told the upshot
of the interview, protested in vehement terms their desire
for commercial relations with the English. As Coen had
denied that the islanders were willing to trade with any
outsiders, the Dutch officials were summoned to hear from
their own lips the truth. The Hollanders attended with
reluctance and listened in silence to the declarations of the
chiefs in favour of free trade. But the next day a letter,
which was virtually an ultimatum, was sent to the Eng­
lish Commander directing him to depart. The missive was
returned by Jourdain on the ground that he could not
understand Dutch. A day or two later another communi­
cation was forthcoming, written in Portuguese and direct­
ing the English Commander in even more peremptory
terms to depart the country or take the consequences. By
this time all trade with the natives had ceased and it had
become clear that the earlier relations could not be restored