_ 162 _ In fact, the ideological aims of expansion are not expressed in Fragment 19, or at most they are alluded to so vaguely that they are unresolved, unstressed, and the voyage to India is first and foremost a business affair. In Document III, on the contrary, what stands out clearly is the statement of the ideal aims of the voyage, the declaration that it is in accordance with a state ethic, which does not exclude the commercial aspect but places the whole enterprise on a higher plane, with a much stronger moral legitimacy. So, the plain truth lies in Fragment 19, which does not exclude the religious factor, and the raison d' etat features in Document III, which in turn does not exclude the economic interest. It is an attempt to invest the enterprise with moral refinement, and on the part of the Crown, to clothe it in a spiritual dignity in which the higher aims of the State are evident. For this to have happened, as it did, the higher agencies of the State must have come together in the presence of the King, that is, an influential current of opinion with actual power capable of intervening and making its point of view heard with significant effect. It is a pity that we have no further direct proof of the dialogue of shipowners, expressing the different currents of opinion, a dialogue which was never to be absent from
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