Civil discord in the United Provinces. The embassy of 1618 to
England. Its powers limited to the Greenland and East Indian
questions. The herring fishery and cloth disputes not to be
discussed. James demands peremptory settlement of fishery question.
Reply of the States' envoys. Difficulties insuperable. James grants
a brief delay. Long discussions upon the Greenland and East Indian
differences. No agreement arrived at. Outbreak of the Thirty Years'
War. Disasters of the Elector Palatine in Bohemia. Confronted
by a common danger, English and Dutch negotiators become more
amenable. Temporary _modus vivendi_ agreed upon. James's Spanish
proclivities feared in Holland. Dutch embassy of 1621. Presses for
an alliance for mutual defence and recovery of the Palatinate.
James's difficulties with his Parliament and financial straits.
Strong influence of Gondomar with the King. James demands settlement
of disputes as the preliminary to an alliance. Embassy returns
without result. The Merchant Adventurers set up their Court and
Staple at Delft. Another Dutch embassy in 1622. Francis Aerssen van
Sommelsdijk at its head. Its instructions. Conferences in London.
Testiness and ill-humour of the King. An East Indian accord. After
fourteen months in England the embassy returns, leaving all other
points of dispute unsettled PAGES 58-81.