28 EARLY COMPETITION FOE INDIAN COMMERCE

territory. But the inevitable consequence of uncon- trolled self-reliant competition among the European nations was to convert all their East Indian Companies into armed associations. How these armed associations were subsequently converted into political powers will be seen hereafter. In the meantime, as the strength and stability of THE OLD EAST INDIA HOUSE (1726-1796). the Dutch Republic increased in Europe from the begin- ning of this century, their enterprise in Asia became bolder and more high-handed. During the Thirty Years' War, Holland was supported on the Continent by the Protestant States of Germany and by France against Austria and Spain, the two countries that men- aced all Europe. Such an alliance, being peculiarly