They had now replaced the Spanish
trading vessels by an equal number of English craft; and at the
suggestion of Juan Mendez himself his name now stood second to that
of Geoffrey, for the prejudice against foreigners was still strong
in England.
CHAPTER XXII
OLD FRIENDS
The succession of blows that had been given to the power and commerce
of Spain had immensely benefited the trade of England and Holland.
France, devastated by civil war, had been in no position to take
advantage of the falling off in Spanish commerce, and had indeed
herself suffered enormously by the emigration of tens of thousands
of the most intelligent of her population owing to her persecution
of the Protestants. Her traders and manufacturers largely belonged
to the new religion, and these had carried their industry and knowledge
to England and Holland. Thus the religious bigotry of the kings of
Spain and France had resulted in enormous loss to the trade and
commerce of those countries, and in corresponding advantage to
their Protestant rivals.
Geoffrey Vickars and his partner reaped the full benefit of the
change, and the extensive acquaintance of the Spanish trader with
merchants in all the Mediterranean ports enabled him to turn a
large share of the new current of trade into the hands of Geoffrey
and himself. The capital which he transferred from Spain to England
was very much larger than that employed by the majority of English
merchants, whose wealth had been small indeed in comparison to
that of the merchant princes of the great centres of trade such
as Antwerp, Amsterdam, Genoa, and Cadiz, and Geoffrey Vickars soon
came to be looked upon as one of the leading merchants in the city
of London.
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