le of chief agent and with a salary of
one hundred pounds per year.[159] After the Dutch captured Kormentine
in 1665, Cape Corse became the chief English factory, under the
direction of Gilbert Beavis, who was replaced by Thomas Pearson in
1667. At the end of the Anglo-Dutch war the company's affairs on the
African coast were at a low ebb, and the uncertainties of the Guinea
trade were at once demonstrated when the former agent, Beavis, in
conjunction with the natives, assaulted Cape Corse, carrying off
Pearson and much of the company's goods. With the assistance of one of
the Royal Company's ships the factors recovered the fort and replaced
Pearson in charge of affairs, where he remained to the year 1671.[160]

In addition to these difficulties there was also a repetition of the
petty quarrels between the agents of the Royal Company and those of
the West India Company, which had so characterized the years previous
to the war. When the English began to build lodges at Komenda and
Agga, the Dutch general, Dirck Wilree, at once objected, claiming that
the possession of the adjacent fort of Kormentine gave them exclusive
rights to those places.[161] The English denied this claim[162] and
sent home for more supplies to fortify Komenda. At the same time they
advised the company that the licensed private traders who had appeared
on the coast had very greatly injured the trade of the company's
factories, because they sold their goods very much cheaper than the
company's agents could afford to.[163] The renewal of the trouble
between the two companies moved the general court on June 30, 1668, to
ask for the king's assistance.[164] The information lately received
from the company's agents was read in the Privy Council and referred
to the committee for trade.[165] This committee recommended the
appointment of some persons to treat with the Dutch regarding the
possession of the disputed places, and Secretary Morice was therefore
instructed to sound the Dutch ambassadors in London about the matter.
Instructions of a similar nature were to be given to Sir William
Temple, who was about to depart for the United Netherlands as the
English ambassador.[166]At this point the matter seems to have been
dropped without further discussion, and Komenda remained a subject of
possible contention between the English and the Dutch for many years
to come.

During the latter years of the history of the Company of Royal
Adventurers the factories in