Early voyages and travels in the Levant

Front matter

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Contents

P0RTRx\iT OF Dr. Covel, photographed from the painting at Christ's College, Cambridge, by kind permission of Vice- Chancellor J. Peile .... frontispiece

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Introduction . . . . . i

Introduction

§ I. — Of the Formation of the Levant Company OF Turkey Merchants.

HE two manuscript diaries which are published in this volume give us the experiences of men who resided in Constantinople during the earlier days of the Levant Company. When Master Thomas Dallam went with the present of a marvellous orgran from Oueen Elizabeth to the Sultan Mahomed III in 1599, our Company of Turkey Merchants had scarcely organised themselves. When Dr. Covel went as chaplain to the embassy In 1670, the Company was still struggling to gain for itself those rights — or capitulations, as they are called — which formed the basis of the prosperity of the Company during the ensuing century and a half Consequently, I think, a succinct account of the rise of this Company will form a suitable introduction to the perusal of the diaries themselves.

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11 INTRODUCTION.

In the development of our system of commerce the Company of Turkey Merchants played a most important part, second perhaps only to the great East India Company, and its history is the history of one of those pillars on which British prosperity has been constructed. It was a marked feature of the sixteenth century, when all those Companies — the African Company, the Muscovy Company, the East India Company — all had their rise, and by them was laid the foundation of our subsequent mercantile successes. The Levant Company lived an active life of 244 years ; and, besides the amount of wealth it accumulated for this country, it did infinite service in the development of art and research, geography and travel, the suppression of slavery, and the spread of civilisation in countries which would still have been unapproachable had not the continued efforts of the 244 years been towards civilisation and humanity.

The history of the capitulations or treaties with which foreign nations sought to establish themselves in the greatest centre of commercial enterprise before the opening out of other routes to India is a very interesting one, and dates back to remote ages, when commercial bodies were formed in the city of Constantine, at the time when the power of the Greek emperors was on the wane. As far back as the ninth and tenth centuries of our era, the emperors of the East granted to the Warings or Varangians from Scandinavia capitulations or rights of exterritoriality, which gave them permission to own wharves, carry on trade, and govern themm

INTRODUCTION. Ill

selves In the Eastern capital : these rights established numerous ijnperia in imperio during the succeeding centuries In Constantinople. The Venetians obtained them early In the eleventh century ; the Amalfians In 1056, the Genoese In 1098, and the PIsans In mo, and henceforward they became so general, that the Greeks of the later empire complained that there were no wharves for themselves, and that they could not compete with these Indefatigable foreign traders ; much as we hear complaints now amongst our own artisans of the Influx of German and Belgian workmen Into England.

When the Turks took Constantinople they did little to Interfere with the existing order of things : the Genoese and Venetians got their capitulations renewed ; the right to have disputes with their fellow-countrymen decided by their own authorities ; the right to have questions between them and Ottoman subjects decided only In presence of a Venetian Interpreter ; exemption from the tax Imposed on Christians In lieu of military service ; and the right to appoint their own magistrates In Constantinople. Being a nomadic race, the Ottoman Turks cared little for commerce : their ships were the caiques of the Greeks ; their emperors wrote their decrees In red Ink, as their Greek predecessors had done ; and to the foreign traders who flocked to Constantinople they gave the same privileges that the Greek emperors had done, and, as far as they were concerned, the status quo was maintained.

Meanwhile trade was passing westwards ; the time

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IV INTRODUCTION.

was come when the Portuguese, the French, and finally the EngHsh were to succeed the ItaHan repubHcs as the commercial nations of the world.

In 1536 Sieur Foret arranged a capitulation for the French between Sultan Solyman I and Francis I, and the essential articles of this treaty have been often redrawn and embodied in many treaties with the different European Powers, and still remain as the foundation of the many treaties under which foreigners now live in Constantinople : matters of dispute between Frenchmen were to be decided only by their own authorities ; questions between Frenchmen and Turks were to be decided only in the presence of the French dragoman ; they could appoint their own magistrates, and were exempt from the harach. This was the first of what we may call the modern capitulations, by which the Western nations have obtained their footing in Constantinople ; they are by no means an invention of the Turks, but a distinct inheritance from the old Byzantine days, which they were compelled to adopt, and which has turned out to be as great a boon to the Mussulman as to the foreigner who obtained it.

In proportion to the exigencies of the Turk and his want of money, the system of capitulations has increased in strength. Encroachments have occurred ; fresh clauses have had to be introduced to meet the subtleties of the Turk ; the so-called avanias, of which we shall hear more in Dr. Covel's diary, had to be combated ; but, nevertheless, the progress has been continuous, and no Company has contributed

INTRODUCTION. V

more to the success of the foreigner on Turkish soil than the *' Turkey Merchants" of England.

During the reign of Elizabeth, our Infantile commercial adventures were beginning to make themselves felt. Early In the sixteenth century there had been a few Isolated cases of voyages to the Levant In search of wealth. From 1511 to 1534 we hear of certain "tall ships belonging to London, Southampton, and Bristol, which made voyages to the East, trading with Sicily, Crete, Chios, and sometimes Cyprus, Tripoli, and Beyrout In Syria"; but there appears to have been no systematic commerce carried on In English bottoms In those days, most of the trade between the Levant and England being conducted by the Venetians. So far back as 1 5 13 we had a consul established at Chios, and In 1534 (Hakluyt, vol. II, p. 98) we read of an exciting voyage made by The Holy Cross and The Matthew Gonso7t to Crete and Chios, both ships coming back much the worse for wear. In 1550 Captain Bodenham, with "the great Barke Aucher\ went to Chios, and three years later Anthony Jenklnson went to Aleppo, and got trading privileges " on a footing with the most favoured nations". This was the actual foundation of our future capitulations, and the first commencement of our Levant Company.

Up to this time the carrying trade between England and the Levant had been carried on, on ships called argosies, by the Venetians. Sir Paul Ricaut, son of a London merchant, who was born in 1620, was secretary to Lord WInchilsea, and consul at

VI INTRODUCTION.

Smyrna for eleven years ; he wrote, by the direction of Charles II, a work entitled The Present State of the Greek and Armenian Churches. He also wrote a book entitled The Present State of the Turkish Empire, a very interesting work, the first edition of which, Pepys tells us, was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. In this work he tells us that the ships known as argosies were so called because they were built at Ragusa for the Venetian merchants. ''These vast carracks called argosies, which are so famed for the vastness of their burthen and bulk, were corruptly so denominated from Ragosies, ships of Ragusa." The Ragusans, as merchants, were much to the fore in those days, prior to the great earthquake, and had, as we see from Dr. Covel's diary, an ambassador of their own at Constantinople.

" Your mind is tossing on the ocean ; There, where your argosies, with portly sail, — Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood, Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea, — Do over-peer the petty traffickers, That curt'sy to them, do them reverence. As they fly by them with their woven wings."

(Shakes., Merchant of Venice, Act i. Scene i.)

One of these argosies was wrecked off the Isle of Wight about 1575, and it is said that the Venetians refused to bring merchandise into such dangerous seas after this catastrophe. Perhaps this argosy may be the very one which suggested to Shakespeare the shipwreck of the Venetian merchantman. At any rate, this fact obliged individual action on

INTRODUCTION. vll

the part of the EngHsh merchants of the day, and at once necessitated the formation of a distinct Company, if the trade with the Levant was to be continued.

Another point also contributed to the starting of an independent trade with the Levant, namely, a quarrel with Venice concerning the duties on currants (State Papers, Domestic, nth April, 1606). In 1575 Venice had granted a patent to one Acerbo Velutelli, a native of Lucca, which gave him the sole right of importing to England currants and oil from Venetian dominions. Velutelli contrived to get these articles conveyed to England on English ships, and, by exacting an export duty for his own benefit, enriched himself and impoverished the Venetian traders. Venice then imposed a fine of 55-. 6d. on currants and oil conveyed to England in other than Venetian bottoms. Elizabeth retaliated by a similar fine on their importation, and for a time trade in these commodities was at a standstill.

Yet another, and that a political, cause promoted our intercourse with Turkey. Queen Elizabeth was just entering into her vital contest with Philip 1 1 of Spain, and to secure the alliance and co-operation of the Sultan was one of her favourite schemes at this critical juncture. Until the reign of Amurath III the English had been altogether strangers to Turkey ; but in 1579 three merchants were sent to Constantinople — William Harebone, Edward Ellis, and Richard Staple — to spy out the land, as it were, and, if possible, obtain for English merchants the

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

same social and commercial privileges that other nations enjoyed. Two years later Queen Elizabeth formed a treaty charter with Amurath III for five years, In which he styles himself " the most sacred Mussulman-like Emperor", and she also granted letters patent to a small Company entitled " The Company of Merchants of the Levant", consisting of Sir E. Osborne, Thomas Smith, Stephen and William Garret — " because they had found out and opened a trade In Turkey, not known in the memory of any man now living to be frequented by our progenitors."

The first of the Company's ships to trade with the Levant was sent out In 1582. It was called The Great Susan, and William Harebone, the first ambassador from England to the Ottoman Porte, was carried out by her. He established factories at Constantinople, obtained capitulations from the Porte, and regularly inaugurated our trade there. Harebone was considerably assisted by the great Vizier Sokolli and the Sultan's tutor, the learned historian Seadedin, in his negotiations. (Von Hammer. )

At the same time It is evident that commercial objects were not paramount In Queen Elizabeth's mind, but a desire to obtain the Sultan as an ally against her formidable enemy. In her letters to the Sultan she takes advantage of the well-known horror the Mahommedans have of image-worship, and styles herself, ''the unconquered and most puissant defender of the true faith against the idolaters who falsely profess the name of Christ".

INTRODUCTION. IX

In 1587 her agent in Constantinople presented a petition to Sultan Amurath III, for assistance against the Spanish Armada, imploring him to send help ** against that idolater, the King of Spain, who, relying on the help of the Pope and all idolatrous princes, designs to crush the Queen of England, and then to turn his whole power to the destruction of the Sultan, and make himself universal monarch."

Christendom, luckily for the reputation of Elizabeth, never saw an alliance between the Crescent and the Cross of so peculiar a nature brought to any ultimate result. The Sultan promised, but did nothing. Turkey was already on the decline, and her internal troubles occupied her sufficiently. Ranke, vol. I, p. 433, speaks of "the advances made by the English Government to the Turks in the time of Elizabeth", and this factor had no doubt as much to do with the formation of the Levant Company as anything else.

In 1586 a charter was granted to fifty-three individuals, with power to trade in the Levant ; and though, of course, the ambassador resided at Constantinople, in those days the principal mart of English trade* was Aleppo, where Michael Locke was at that time consul, whose account of the condition of affairs In that city is quaint and interesting. He also speaks of the trade of Chios being great some years before, and alludes to it as ''the great store of sundry commodities", and further states that in 1593 tin was the principal article of export from England. He founded a factory at Aleppo which was one

X INTRODUCTION.

of the most flourishing In the Levant for 1 50 years. The outlet of this commerce was Scanderoon, and we find all the vessels which traded to the East, including the ship Hector, which took Master Dallam out, going to Scanderoon before Constantinople.

Sir Edward Barton was the first resident ambassador at Constantinople. Harebone had evidently been only sent out as a plenipotentiary extraordinary to inaugurate the intercourse with the Levant. Hakluyt (vol. II) gives us an account of the present which Sir Edward Barton took out on the ship Ascension In 1593 for the Sultan Amurath III: "12 goodly pieces of plate, 36 garments of cloth of all colours, 20 garments of cloth of gold, 10 garments of satin, 6 pieces of fine Holland, and certain other things of good value." To his powerful wife, the Sultana Safiye, Queen Elizabeth sent a "jewel of her Majesty's picture set with rubies and diamonds; 3 pieces of gilt plate ; 10 garments of cloth of gold ; a very fine case of glasse bottles, silver and gilt ; and 2 pieces of fine Holland." With Mahomed HI, who succeeded his father, Amurath HI, in 1595, Sir E. Barton seems to have been on most intimate terms, carrying on the traditional alliance, and hopes of possible hope of support which had been started in his father's reign.

Mahomed HI was the eldest son of Amurath, one of his 103 children. He was a son of his Venetian wife and favourite, the Sultana Safiye, a lady of the House of Baffo, who had been captured by a Turkish corsair in her youth. Mahomed HI

INTRODUCTION. XI

put nineteen of his brothers to death on his accession, the grossest instance of fratricide even in Turkish annals. He was at the outset of his reign chiefly engaged in wars in Hungary, and in these Sir Edward Barton accompanied him. They ended in the victory of Cerestes, and, on his return to Constantinople, Sir E. Barton, worn out by the rigours of the campaign, died. In Sultan Mahomed Hi's letter to Queen Elizabeth, in 1 596, he thus alludes to Sir E. Barton: ''As to your highnesse's wellbeloved Ambassador at our blessed Porte, Edward Barton, one of the nation of the Messiah, he having been enjoined by us to follow our imperial camp without having been enabled previously to obtain your highness's permission to go with my imperial Staff, we have reason to be satisfied, and to hope that also your highness will know how to appreciate the services he has thus rendered to us in our imperial camp."

Mustapha, the first Turkish envoy to England in 1607, ^Iso alludes to Sir E. Barton : '' Mr. Barton was in the army .... when Raab, alias Severin, was won from the Christians."

Sir E. Barton came of a Yorkshire family, and was sent out to Constantinople as ambassador in 1593, with the title of "Agent for her Majesty with the Grand Seignior". Subsequently, however, he received his stipend from the Levant Company. He died at Chalki, one of the Prince's Islands, in 1597, and was buried at the monastery there. His tombstone (which Dr. Covel saw, vide p. 281) was

Xll INTRODUCTION.

displaced and put over the door of the monastery wrong way up, until Lord Strangford had it put in its present position, and the following inscription is still legible : —

Mr. Henry Lello was appointed to succeed Sir E. Barton. From the Venetian Daily's report we learn about his reception by the Sultan. He calls him Sir Henry Billoe (Von Hammer), but this is an obvious mistake. Sir Henry Lello wrote regularly to England an account of affairs as they progressed at Constantinople. His term of office is chiefly marked by a prolonged quarrel with the French ambassador, to which Dallam refers in his MS. (vide p. 8i), to settle which the Baily of Venice, one of the Capello family, was chosen arbiter.

Sir Henry Lello's correspondence is now in the Record Office, and from one of his letters we learn officially how the Sultan received the present which Dallam took out. I herewith transcribe a considerable portion of it as bearing very good testimony to the accuracy of Master Thomas Dallam's MS. : —

"5. P. Foreign^ Turkey^ No. 4. ''Henry Lello to S'' Rolf Cecil, 21 Oct. 1599.

" Right Honorable, — I omitted the last curier, for that I could not then, nor yet cannott, advize yo"" honno^ of that good succes of my ymployment heere w*'^ the G"" Signior, as I expected, by

INTRODUCTION. Xlll

the meanes of the french Ambassador, who, with his great bribes (receyvinge now the Pope's pay), sparethe nothinge to hinder all my desingnes in mallice, seinge the reputation of Her Majesty is so great in this port, and cheefly for the consulledge of forrestiers, W^^ the Grand Signior lyttle after the arrivall of the shipp graunted should come under Her Majesty's banner, nothwithstandinge the same was formerly graunted by his father and him sealfe, proffering all other reasonable demaunds w'^^ her Majesty should desire, countinge hir frindshipp before that of any other Christian Prince, rejoysinge greatly to see the shipp to come into port, and more hir princely presents, espetially the instrument and plate, whereof hee made gre^t accompt, and at the tyme apoynted mee to come present the same ; he made demonstration therof by spekinge himsealf to me w^^ hath not ever bin used (as is reported) to any Cristian prince's ambassador, the manner whereof in breefe I doe hereby advize yo"" honnor.

" Althoughe he kept his court out of the Cittie, yett cam hee home of purpose for mee to delliver her Majestie's letter and present, and to kisse his hand, at w^^ tyme I apoynted to attend upon me xii gentlemen on horsebacke, vested in cloth of gould and silver, a gentlem usher, ii pages in white damaske, 20 menn in livery gownes, xii merchaunts, desently apparelled merchauntlike in blacke, and my sealf attired as richly as I might.

"The captains of the Chowses and Spahees(Chiauses and Spahis) were sent to accompany and entertayne mee to the G^ Signior his pallace, where first in open court before the G"^ Signior, his Pashas, or Counsellors, I declared to them her Ma*^y^'s pleasure, salutations, and requests.

" Conferring about divers late accidents, espetially of her Majestie's forces against Spaine, and of the peace made betweene him and the French Kinge, w^^ thay all seemed to dislike, we spent a smale tyme untill the banquett ordayned for mee was provided ; which being furnished, only I, Halul Pasha, the Cheefe Vizier, and a first Pasha, late general of Scelestia (Silistria), sate at one Table, the other Pashas satt apart by them sealves ; at another, a lyttle distant from us, satt the ii Cadiliskers, or cheefe Judges of all this empire, and apart from them ii of the high Tresorors ; by them satt alone the highe chaunsellors, every one served accordinge to his degree, but our Table furnished w*^ the allowance and dayenties as are usually served to the G"" S*", in great

XIV INTRODUCTION.

variety and abundance ; w^^ finished, order was sent by the G"" S*" that before our entrance unto him bothe I and my gentlemenn should be clothed in vests out of his Tresorie, w<=^ were there scarcely found, yet had I ii, and ten for my gentlemenn ; and so, in company of the Vizeires, I entered into the presence chamber, where the Grand Sigio": satt uppon a cushion of red sattin most richly ymbrodred w'^ pearls, and all his chamber floored with Eedd sattin Ritchly ymbrodered w*^ gould; and, omyttinge the sumptuousnes of the sight, coming to deliver my Ambassadge unto him, I first salluted him in her Highnes' name ; secondly, declared to him the good intelligence betweene her Highnes and his father,^ and of the bennefitt therof to both their domnions and subieckts ; thirdly, I ymformed him of Her Majesty's pleasure for my Confirmation in former charge of Ambassador, requiringe therein not only his Highnes' consent, but princely favour in all future occations ; and, lastly, recoiriended unto him the affayres of her merchaunts traffickinge in his domnions, wher unto hee him sealf answered as afore, sainge he did much reioyce at Her Majesty's frindshipp, and prayed God that shee might allwayes have the victory over her enemyes as hether unto. Lastly, he tould me I should receyve sattisfaction of all I desiered, Licensinge me to departe. I was accompanied with Chiauses and other his officers to my house, having binn both outward and homward Salluted w^'^ divers tiers of artillery from the Shipp, for w^^ and the favour of the Grand Signo'' shewed me that day ministred many dayes after occation to speak of my Entertainment.

" But this while thinkinge my sealf sure of all things, the French ambassador, with his bribe of 6,000 chickins,^ did not only over throughe our former graunt of counsolledge of forresteeres, but all other demandes I made, besides the confirmation of our ould Capittulations, the Vizeer denienge me audience to shew reason for my just demands."

[Then follows a long account of his difficulties owing to the interference of the French ambassador, and certain details concerning the war in Hungary ; and the letter closes as follows : — ]

1 Queen Elizabeth and Amurath III. ^ Sequins.

INTRODUCTION. XV

" I comitt yo'' honno'' to Gode's most mercifull protection this 2 1*^ of October 1599.

" Yo'' honno''^ most dewtifuU

" Ever to comand,

"Henry Lello."

Addressed —

"To the right Hon^i« Sir Robert Cecill, knight, principal secr"« to the Queen's most Ex* Mag^^« and Her Highnes' honorable privie Counseill."

§ 2. — Of the Dallam Family.

Such was the state of affairs in Constantinople when Master Thomas Dallam, whose diary we here produce, went to present a complicated organ, which he had made, as a gift from Queen Elizabeth to Sultan Mahomed III. His MS. diary was written just after the publication of Richard Hakluyt's volumes of travels, or else it would in all probability have been Included In them. From the foregoing remarks it will easily be seen why so handsome a gift was sent out with so much trouble ; the Queen was anxious for the Sultan's friendship and allegiance against her Catholic enemies. To further the interests of the Infantile Levant Company such a present would be exceedingly useful, and, In choosing Dallam as the bearer of this present, Queen Elizabeth evidently selected, as subsequent events showed, the most skilled man In his craft that she could.

Some interesting notes with regard to this present may be gathered from the State Papers, Jan. 1596. For some time there had been a discussion about sending a present to the new Sultan of Turkey.

XVI INTRODUCTION.

The Levant merchants apparently thought it would imperil their own safety and their factories in Constantinople if Sir E. Barton's papers were not made out by the Queen, and if the present did not come from her Majesty herself. Hence, out of compliance with their wishes, Sir E. Barton, though the Company's nominee, was accredited as ambassador from Queen Elizabeth, and the present, which the Levant merchants no doubt paid for, purported to be from the Queen of England to the Sultan.

In the State Papers, January 31st, 1599, just a month before Dallam set out on his voyage, the following entry is made : "A great and curious present is going to the Grand Turk, which will scandalise other nations, especially the Germans." This great and curious present was the organ which Dallam had built, and which he was about to take out in person.

Of the previous history of Thomas Dallam we know little. From the tombstone of his son in New College, Oxford, we gather that he came from the village of Dallam, in Lancashire, not far from Warrington. From the papers of the Blacksmiths' Company we learn that he came up to London, and was apprenticed to that Company, and admitted as a liveryman of the same. In those days the Blacksmiths' Company had supervision over many Companies, including the organ-builders, and in this branch of the craft Thomas Dallam was employed.

From Dr. Rimbault we learn many details concerning this celebrated family of organ-builders and

INTRODUCTION. XVll

the instruments they constructed. Of this particular one, which Dallam made, and which was set up in Whitehall for Queen Elizabeth's approval prior to its being shipped off to Constantinople, there appears to be no other record ; but, immediately on his return from the East, Thomas Dallam seems to have worked hard at his trade, and he and his sons constructed most of the principal organs of the seventeenth century.

In 1605-6 Dallam was engaged for fifty-eight weeks in constructing the organ of King's College, Cambridge, for which purpose he closed his workshop in London, and for this work he received the sum of ;^37i 17^. \d. This organ was destroyed in the civil wars, but the case still remains. In 1607 he got ^ I 1 5^-. for tuning the same organ, and a like sum for the sale of surplus tin, and his name frequently occurs in the College records till 1641. In 161 3 Dallam made "new double organs" for Worcester Cathedral, and got ^211. This organ was likewise destroyed in the rebellion.

On 29th of September 1626, Thomas Dallam was made a steward of the annual feast of the Blacksmiths' Company, but did not put in an appearance, and was fined ^10 for neglect of duty. In the following year he petitioned in court to be let off his stewardship, and his petition was granted him on payment of certain small fines.

Almost immediately after his return from Constantinople Thomas Dallam must have married, for his eldest son, Robert, was born in 1602, and was

XVlll INTRODUCTION.

broug-ht up by his father In the organ-building trade under the auspices of the Blacksmiths' Company. Together, between 1624 and 1627, they put up an organ In Durham Cathedral, which was eventually sold to the Church of St. MIchael-le-Belfry, York, where It remained till 1885, and was finally disposed of to Mr. Bell, organ-builder, York, for the sum of four pounds.

Robert Dallam also built an organ for Jesus College, Cambridge, for ;^200, and several others. Finally, we hear of him as engaged to build an organ for New College, Oxford; and he died at Oxford, May 31st, 1665, and, from his tomb In that College we learn certain particulars about the family, the concluding lines of which would seem rather to refer to his father than himself, for we have no record of his having travelled In distant lands. It runs as follows : —

die Maii ultimo

Ralph Dallam, another son of Thomas, also an organ-builder, constructed the organ which was put up in St. George's Chapel after the Restoration, and also built organs In Rugby, Hackney, and Lynn

INTRODUCTION. XIX

Regis, and died whilst making the organ in Greenwich Chapel in 1672.

George Dallam, another son, lived in Purple Lane in 1672, and in 1686 added a '' chaire organ" to Harris's instrument in Hereford Cathedral.

Thus it will be seen that Thomas Dallam, the writer of the diary, was the progenitor of a distinguished family of organ-builders, whose work was in great request in the seventeenth century. We have also to thank him for the graphic account of the Imperial Court at Constantinople during the reign of Mahomed HI, and incidents in seafaring life at that period, which add considerably to our knowledge of the state of nautical affairs as they existed in the days of Raleigh and Drake.

§ 3. — Of the further Progress of the Levant

Company.

It was understood from the first that the Levant Company should pay and appoint the consuls, ambassadors, and other officials of their Company, though difficulties arose on this point between the Government and the Company concerning the salary of Sir Edward Barton. Affairs seem to have gone on smoothly till 1 600, when the monopoly was removed, and the Company had to struggle on as best it could against competition which proved almost fatal to it at the very outset of its career.

Accordingly, in 1605, we find petitions from the Company to James I, complaining that they could