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enterprise was to attack the Oriental possessions of their enemies, which they did successfully at Malacca, the Spice Islands, and other places, but unsuccessfully at Manila. No discrimination was made by these invaders between Spanish and Portuguese colonies, as Portugal then formed an integral part of the Spanish realm. It would have been too much to expect that in the seventeenth century the Dutch should pause to inquire into the nature of Portugal's tenure of Macao. A Portuguese colony had established itself there, and that was enough for the Dutch. They assailed the place with seventeen ships, and being repulsed with heavy loss, passed over to the Pescadores, which they occupied, building a fort there and forcing the Chinese inhabitants to labour for them. There was no quarrel between China and Holland. The two countries were complete strangers to each other. Thus their acquaintance opened first with an armed essay on the part of the Dutch to drive the Portuguese from a place in China which the latter had leased to them, and secondly with the forceful seizure of another place in China's territory, though no state of war existed nor even any cause of quarrel. In short, the Dutch introduced themselves to the Chinese in the guise of international freebooters. Under such circumstances Chinese, Spaniards, and Portuguese alike were interested in preventing trade between the new-comers and the Middle Kingdom. Then as now, shrewd, brave, tenacious of