Page 6 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

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1 , • !• PREFACE
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manner of men they were, how they struggled and fought
and how in many cases they died for their country in
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furtherance of aims which on their full fruition in subse­
quent years were to lead to the dominance of the British
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race in India. Their splendid part in the building of the
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Empire has been obscured by the more dazzling achieve­
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ments of the men of a later generation who on an ampler
stage and with more impressive accessories carried forward
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i the story of British ascendency from crisis to crisis to its
magnificent denouement in the unchallenged supremacy
of Britain under the segis of the Crown. Few of those
who read this work, however, will be prepared to deny
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that many of these humble adventurers of the seven­
teenth century are fully worthy of a place in the illustrious
roll of men who made the Empire.
It should be stated that the work is mainly based on
the splendid series of records preserved at the India Office,
which supply a full history of the early life of the English
in the East. In the prosecution, of his researches the
author received the most complete facilities from the cour­
teous officials at the India Office Library, and lie desires
to avail himself of this opportunity of making due acknow­
ledgment of their kindness. As far as the earliest years
of the period dealt with are concerned he has to express
his indebtedness to the useful series of transcripts edited
by Mr. Wm. Foster under the authority of the Indian
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Government. These volumes, reproducing as they do *
in faithful detail the text of the older documents, many of
. which are illegible to any but an expert archivist, are of :
immense value to the writer who is dealing with any i .•
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