Page 257 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

THE ENGLISH SECURE A FOOTHOLD IN INDIA 257

should maintain a fleet for joint operations in furtherance
of the interests of the two companies. In its earliest stage,
the combination was directed against the Portuguese and
Spanish settlements in the Far East, but later the venue of
the struggle was changed to the Indian Ocean, where suc­
cessive attempts were made by the Dutch, at first with
English assistance, and later unaided, to strike a blow at
the heart of the Portuguese Indian Empire.
No two powers could have been more unhappily mated
than were the English and the Dutch at this juncture.
Incompatibility of temper was visible from the very outset
of their association, and with the progress of time the tragic
events which occurred at Amboina and elsewhere served
to widen the inevitable divisions. In both the English and
the Dutch records there is vivacious evidence of the burn­
ing animosities which were engendered on these voyages
between the commanders of the two fleets. Charges of
cowardice were bandied about; reams of paper were
covered with polemics over tactics and sea manners, and
the atmosphere was thick with protests and counter pro­
tests, written in the strain of hot indignation which was
appropriate to so profound a quarrel. “ All in all,” wrote
1
the Dutch Governor-General Carpentier, in summing up a
series of these controversies, “ a disagreeable wife is be­
stowed on us, and we do not know how it is possible to keep
!
you out of disputes and quarrels, if we at least shall pro­
perly maintain your rights.” This observation not in­
accurately reflects the position at the period. It was a
manage dc convenanee, and like most such unions it lacked
the spirit of harmony absolutely indispensable to success.
Still, stem necessity kept these strange bed-fellows to­
gether for a time, The Portuguese power, though sorely
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