tions
to India. They were successful; and in 1602 the various speculators
were, by the government, formed into a company, upon the same
principles and arrangement as those which had been chartered in
England.

At the time, therefore, to which we are reverting, the English and
Dutch had been trading in the Indian seas for more than fifty years;
and the Portuguese had lost nearly all their power, from the alliances
and friendships which their rivals had formed with the potentates of
the East, who had suffered from the Portuguese avarice and cruelty.

Whatever may have been the sum of obligation which the Dutch owed to
the English for the assistance they received from them during their
struggle for independence, it does not appear that their gratitude
extended beyond the Cape; for, on the other side of it, the
Portuguese, English, and Dutch fought and captured each other's
vessels without ceremony; and there was no law but that of main force.
The mother countries were occasionally called upon to interfere, but
the interference up to the above time had produced nothing more than a
paper war; it being very evident that all parties were in the wrong.

In 1650, Cromwell usurped the throne of England, and the year
afterwards, having, among other points, vainly demanded of the Dutch
satisfaction for the murder of his regicide ambassador, which took
place in this year, and some compensation for the cruelties exercised
on the English at Amboyne some thirty years before he declared war
with Holland. To prove that he was in earnest, he seized more than two
hundred Dutch vessels, and the Dutch then (very unwillingly) prepared
for war. Blake and Van Tromp met, and the naval combats were most
obstinate. In the "History of England" the victory is almost
invariably given to the English, but in that of Holland to the Dutch.
By all accounts, these engagements were so obstinate, that in each
case they were both well beaten. However, in 1654, peace was signed;
the Dutchman promising "to take his hat off" whenever he should meet
an Englishman on the high seas--a mere act of politeness which Mynheer
did not object to, as it _cost nothing_. And now, having detailed
the state of things up to the time of Philip's embarkation, we shall
proceed with our story.

As soon as Philip was clear of his own threshold, he hastened away as
though he were attempting to escape from his own painful thoughts.
In two days he arrived at Amsterdam, where his f