Page 37 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

HOW LANCASTER INITIATED EASTERN TRADE 37

and this stuffy little alley will always be a hallowed spot
to all Britons who find inspiration in the memories of the
past.
The beginnings of this enterprise had a strangely modern
character. Just as to-day when some great national
effort is to be made the initial step is a meeting of person­
ages of influence presided over by the Lord Mayor,
so on a late September day in 1599 a gathering of leading
merchants and men of light and leading in Court circles
assembled in Founder’s Hall, with the chief magistrate of
the year—Sir Stephen Soame—in the chair, to give public
sanction to the project for establishing trade relations
with the East. Zeal for the undertaking must have run
high, for the subscription list which emanated from the
meeting reached a total of £30,000—a very large sum for
those none too affluent times. Subsequently the amount
was raised to £72,000.
With this solid backing the adventurers approached
Elizabeth with a formal application for a charter of in­
corporation. George, Earl of Cumberland, headed the
signatories to the petition, who were 215 in number and
included, in addition to many influential merchants, a
substantial body of noblemen and personages of distinction
in the public life of the coimtry. The Queeu, whose spirit
of adventure was still active in spite of advancing years
and infirmities, had no difficulty in acceding to a request
so thoroughly in harmony with the traditions of her reign.
On January 24, 1600, letters patent were issued to “ the
Governor and Company of the Merchants of London trad­
ing to the East Indies ” authorizing them to carry on
their operations, and approving their choice of James
Lancaster to act as their “ Governor and General ” in the