EUROPEAN NATIONS. 233 ing, that, if the governor of Madras would fill her palace with gold, she could not permit him to build with brick either fort or house. To have a factory of timber and plank was the utmost indul- gence that could be allowed ; and on that footing, the return of the English, who had not traded there for many years, should be welcomed with great friendship." * The queen of Achin appears to have been not only a better politician, but bet- ter skilled in the true interests of commerce, than the East India Company and their governor. All European merchants, w^ho laid claim to no political authority, were welcome in her country. Dam- pier, who was there, expressly tells us, " the English merchants are welcome here, and I have heard that they do not pay so much custom as other nations. The J^utchfree-inen may trade hi- ther, but the Company's servants are denied that privilege." t As the Dutch had most power, they pursued the phantom of commercial monopoly in regard to the native states to the greatest length, and be- came, of course, the most signal victims of the de- lusion. There was hardly a state in the Archipe- lago, or its neighbourhood, that escaped their ex- periments. The artifices pursued by them to
- Historij of Sumatra, p. 14-9.
t Danipicr's Voyngcs^ Vol. II. p. 135.
