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 264 APPENDIX I he brooked no private diplomacy such as the Company had carried on during the late reign with the Dutch and Portuguese. In the moment of granting his charter of 1657, the Protector called it sharply to task for at- tempting to negotiate on its own account with Holland. The directors had sought redress from the Dutch ambas- sador in London for a fresh infringement of their rights in the East. His Excellency, like most foreign repre- sentatives under Cromwell's rule, proved gracious. But the Protector intimated his displeasure at the Company's approaching a foreign minister without his knowledge, and commanded it to submit all grievances to himself. While Cromwell thus both strengthened and con- trolled the Company in regard to its foreign enemies, he intervened with reluctance between it and domestic rivals. For several years after the death of King Charles the task of constructing a government in Eng- land, and of defending it by arms, left him no leisure for trade wrangles. The Council of State, which mean- while carried on the civil administration, found itself besieged by three sets of applicants for the Eastern traffic. Foremost among them was the Company, founding its monopoly on a royal charter, but on a royal charter so tampered with by royalty itself as to have lost much of its value. Next came Courten's As- sociation, which also based its claims on a royal grant. In the background the great merchants of London and Bristol, belonging to neither of these societies, clam- oured for an open trade in the joint interests of them-