Page:History of India Vol 8.djvu/121

NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE COMPANIES 87 delegated agents of their respective nations in the com- petition for commerce and territory throughout the whole non-Christian world, and from this point of view A WATER SCENE NEAR GARRETT, JAVA. the importance of a good colonial policy can hardly be overestimated. The French West Indian Company was an association of the type invented by Richelieu, with authority to conquer and convert the heathen; but