_ 427 _ from the dominions of the Turk. With this united fleet they will be able to carry on a long war and cause so much trouble and strife that it may be justly feared that they can put India in great danger. So, Your Highness's strength and power must also be on the sea, and everything be based on this, and not seek to defend it with fortresses, because he who is lord of the sea is also lord of the land. How to achieve this, what number of vessels and fighting men and how and when and where to prepare Your Highness's fleet and what effect it would have been complicated subjects, are questions for which a mind untroubled by the sending of briefs is required. It is enough to say that now the Turks are settled in Basra, war in India will take another and very different form from what it used to. Leaving aside the other expenses on land, whoever has the greatest strength at sea will have little to fear and to guard. He will have war and peace at his disposal, and he will give the laws and impose the tributes he likes. Many other advantages will follow from this. Perhaps those opposed to my opinion will find many contrary arguments, but if the Turks are disposed, as is certain, to carry out this undertaking with a firm determination, then it will be seen that what I say is a true prognosis of that danger. The
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy