Page:Early English adventurers in the East (1917).djvu/10

6 manner of men they were, how they struggled and fought and how in many cases they died for their country in furtherance of aims which on their full fruition in subsequent years were to lead to the dominance of the British race in India. Their splendid part in the building of the Empire has been obscured by the more dazzling achievements of the men of a later generation who on an ampler stage and with more impressive accessories carried forward the story of British ascendency from crisis to crisis to its magnificent dénouement in the unchallenged supremacy of Britain under the æegis of the Crown. Few of those who read this work, however, will be prepared to deny that many of these humble adventurers of the seventeenth 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 courteous officials at the India Office Library, and he desires to avail himself of this opportunity of making due acknowledgment 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 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