to the statesmanlike prescience which thus early marked out the lines which British commercial and political influence in the East was ultimately to follow.
In an estimate of the causes which led the Company to occupy this ample stage at the very outset of its career a prominent place must be given to the character of those whom it entrusted with positions of responsibility. The early commanders were almost without an exception a splendid class, not only excellent seamen and born leaders of men, but individuals in whom a high sense of duty mingled with a strong patriotism. Their first aim, no doubt, was profit, but it was profit with honour, and there were occasions, as we shall see, when considerations of honour outweighed the purely material interests.
Of the best type of commander was Henry Middleton, who took up Lancaster's dropped mantle and piloted to the East the second expedition, which, as already mentioned, left England early in 1604. Middleton had shown his mettle in the earlier voyage, when he had held a responsible but subordinate position. He was one of a family of seamen who have left their mark on the early annals of the East India Company. His selection for the supreme command was no doubt due to the recommendation of Lancaster, whose initial success had elevated him to a position of considerable influence in the Company and, indeed, in the public life of London—a position made more eminent by the knighthood which James had conferred upon him.
Middleton justified the trust reposed in him by bringing the expedition to a brilliantly successful close. With the same ships which had formed Lancaster's fleet he made a good voyage to Bantam, loaded two of his vessels there
