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 ENGLISH AND DUTCH METHODS COMPARED 211 which the English, by the favour of the Moghul sov- ereign, enjoyed. In a letter from Surat to the governor- general at Batavia, April 30, 1634, they wrote: " We have no real power in these countries," they lament, " while the (Moghul) governors can always revenge any real or pretended affront, by laying an embargo on the Company's property.' ' The truth is that the Dutch governors-general at Batavia, domineering over their petty island chiefs, had the very worst training for the direction of distant factories under the irre- sistible Moghul emperors. " The English get daily a firmer footing in India," " we should act in concert with the English," " a good understanding with the English is the best guarantee of our commerce in India " — the Dutch factors at Surat reiterated in vain. From their height of prosperity the handful of Eng- lish at Surat were suddenly cast down. In 1636 ar- rived Captain Weddell of Courten's Association, with a letter from King Charles to our president, intimating that under his Majesty's authority six ships " had been sent on a voyage of discovery to the South Seas," and that " the king himself had a particular interest " in the expedition. Presently came news that two of these ships " to the South Seas " had turned pirates in the Red Sea and plundered an Indian vessel. The Moghul governor at once seized our factory at Surat, threw the president and Council into prison for two months, and only released them on payment of 170,000 rupees, or about £18,000, and on their solemn oath (in spite of