Page 54 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

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54 EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN THE EAST

Financially the enterprise had been a magnificent success.
The fleet brought with it 1,030,000 poimds of pepper, on
which there was an enormous profit. Besides this element
of gain there were other items which ran the total returns
up to a very large sum. But over and above the immediate
material benefit which the venture secured was the ex­
tremely valuable experience which it afforded of the Eastern
trade. The best course for ships had been discovered, the
leading spice markets had been located and tested, know­
ledge had been gained of the customs of the native
traders and, what was perhaps most important, advertise­
ment had been given in a striking form of the fact that
! England was a competitor in the race for commercial
supremacy in Eastern seas. It was natural in such circum­
stances that Lancaster’s homecoming should have partaken
somewhat of the character of the triumphant return of a
victorious general, that the populace should have acclaimed
him, that the City should have feted him, and that as a
coping stone to the pyramid of honour the sovereign should
have knigbted him. He was completely deserving of these
tributes not only because he discharged a difficult enterprise i
with conscientious thoroughness, but for the reason that
he gave an example in leadership and a lesson in patriotism
which were followed by those who immediately succeeded
him, to the great enhancement of the reputation of his
countrymen and to the ultimate glory of the Indian Empire
of Britain, which was built on the foundations which he so
well and truly laid.
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