Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/233

 EUROPEAN NATIONS. 217 sold dearer than before the discovery of the new route. The industry of Europe received no new impulse, for no new market was created for her commodities. Europe had advanced a whole century in civiliza- tion when the Dutch and English embarked in the commerce of the Indies. Commerce and navig-a- tion had, at this time, made considerable advances among both, but particularly among the first. It was with the wealth of individuals, therefore, and not with the revenue of the state, as with the Portuguese, that they engaged in it. Grant- ing monopolies to particular branches of dis- tant commerce, with the view of promoting them, was the favourite policy of the age, perhaps, in- deed, the natural result of such rude times, when there existed little disposable capital, and when men must have been induced to enter upon such remote adventures as the commerce of the Indies, rather from a spirit of gambling than with views of fair trade. This opinion of the nature of the early adventures to India is sufficiently certified by the list of the subscribers to some of the early voyages. In the first English voyage the whole subscribers were 237, of whom 212 were for sums under L.SOO. In the second joint- stock company of the English, the whole subscribers amounted to 954, of whom 338 only were merchants. The rest were mere gamblers, entering upon a lottery.