The embassy of 1622 returned to the Netherlands early in February,
1623. A few weeks later Prince Charles, accompanied by the Duke
of Buckingham, was on his way to Madrid to woo in person his
prospective Spanish bride. No more conclusive proof could have been
shown of the lack of success of Aerssen in obtaining any assurance
of armed support from King James for the States in their renewed war
with Spain or for the recovery of the Palatinate.
Yet, strangely enough, at this very time of increasing political
alienation, four English and two Scottish regiments formed (as
indeed was the case throughout the remainder of the eighty years'
war) the very kernel of the States army, and campaign after campaign
bore the brunt of the fighting. When the Spaniards laid siege to
Bergen-op-Zoom in July, 1622, Maurice had reinforced the garrison
by fourteen English and Scottish companies. The gallant defence of
the town first by Colonel Henderson, then, after this officer fell
mortally wounded, by Sir Charles Morgan, excited general admiration
in Europe. In October, Spinola, after making repeated and desperate
efforts to capture the place, was compelled to raise the siege.
These troops were recruited by royal permission in England and
Scotland, remained British subjects, and were distinguished by
their national uniforms and colours, by the beat of the drum and
the march. They were, however, in Dutch pay, and took an oath of
allegiance to the States-General, from whom the officers received
their commissions.[34]
[34] See special note F.
This same period saw also the beginnings of rivalry in the West as
well as in the East. In 1621 a Charter was granted to the Dutch
West India Company. This Charter was framed on the model of that
of the East India Company, and it was hoped that the new venture
might be attended by the same good fortune and phenomenal success as
had followed Dutch enterprise in Java and the Malayan Archipelago.
Far from being a mere commercial undertaking, it was intended from
the first that the West India Company should be required to equip
considerable armed forces, naval and military, wherewith to strike
a blow at the Spanish power in America, and cut off those sources
of revenue which supplied King Philip with the sinews of war. In
carrying out such projects of aggression in the Spanish main there
was less risk of disputes arising between the Dutch and English than
had been the case in the East Indies. Nevertheless, the colonists
and traders of the two nationalities were in America also rivals and
competitors in the same localities. Netherlanders and Englishmen had
already for some years before 1621 been carrying on traffic with the
natives and setting up trading posts side by side in the estuary
of the Amazon, and in the various river mouths along the coast of
Guiana. In 1609, by letters patent, a grant was made by James I to
Robert Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, in the county of Oxford, for
the planting and inhabiting of the whole coast of Guiana between the
rivers Amazon and Essequibo, and this grant was renewed to Roger
North in 1619, and again by Charles I to the Duke of Buckingham
in 1626. Yet within the limits of these grants the Dutch in 1616
established themselves permanently on the river Essequibo, and in
1627 on the river Berbice, while a number of abortive attempts were
made to set up trading posts and colonies at other points of this
coast. More important than any of these, a settlement had been
made in 1614 on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson
river, a grant having been given at that date by the States-General
to a body of Amsterdam merchants of all unoccupied land between
Chesapeake Bay and Newfoundland. This settlement and those in Guiana
were in 1622 taken over by the newly erected West India Company.
Thus in North America the Dutch took possession of the best harbour
on the coast, and their colony of New Netherland with its capital
New Amsterdam (afterwards New York) was thrust in like a wedge
between the English colonies of Virginia and New England. In the
West Indian islands and on the Gold Coast of West Africa the keen
traders of the two nations also found themselves side by side, with
the result in almost all cases, as has been well said, that the
Dutch extracted the marrow, leaving the English the bone.[35] It
will at once be seen therefore that the activities of the Dutch West
India Company, though it came into being primarily for the purpose
of 'bearding the King of Spain in his treasure house', were certain,
sooner or later, to come into conflict with English enterprise and
to enlarge the area within which their respective interests and
claims were divergent.
[35] _Cambridge Modern History_, iv. 758.
But to return to my immediate subject. The ill-success of the
embassy of 1622 in effecting any settlement except the accord
relating to the East Indies, an accord which was not regarded in
Holland with much favour and which was speedily to prove a failure,
caused considerable disquietude to the States. It was resolved
therefore to make another real effort to accommodate the old
grievances of the English in regard to the acts of violence charged
against the Dutch fishermen both on the coast of Scotland and off
Spitzbergen. It was hoped that by so doing, any further raising
of the question of fishing rights might be avoided. The news of
the journey of Prince Charles to Madrid changed disquietude into
genuine alarm, lest James, irritated as he was by a succession
of fruitless negotiations and long-protracted disputes, might be
tempted to cement the Spanish marriage by an alliance with the
hereditary foe, and to seek redress against the United Provinces by
force of arms. Steps were accordingly taken to enforce strictly the
placards by which the skippers of the herring-busses were forbidden
under heavy pains and penalties to interfere with or to disturb the
Scottish fisherfolk in their industry (April 20, 27, May 6, 1623),
and they were also warned not to approach too near to the coast.
Caron was requested to inform the English Council of these measures
of precaution. The States-General were likewise anxious in their
desire to arrive at a friendly understanding that the claims for
damages against the Greenland (Northern) Company should be paid.
But the old difficulties supervened. The directors of the Greenland
Company reminded them of the counterclaim for damages suffered at
the hands of the English. To pay therefore the English claim before
demanding from the Muscovy Company a simultaneous settlement of
Dutch grievances would be, they pointed out, playing into King
James's hands. It would be regarded as an admission of his exclusive
and particular rights in the Spitzbergen fishery, rights which
the Greenland Company and the States had repeatedly refused to
acknowledge. So, despite pressure both from Carleton and Caron, the
matter dragged on. At last, December 14, a letter was sent to Caron,
denying that any promise had been given by the embassy of 1618-9
of a one-sided payment of damages, as stated by the English, but
expressing the willingness of the Dutch to make a mutual settlement.
As, however, so often before in these negotiations, delay had served
its purpose.
When this letter reached Caron, a dramatic change in the English
policy had taken place to the advantage of the Netherlands. The
negotiations with Spain for the restitution of the Palatinate had
broken down. Philip IV and Olivares had never intended to purchase
the friendship of England at such a price, and the marriage
prospect, on which for so many years his heart had been set, had to
be reluctantly abandoned by King James. 'I like not', he said, 'to
marry my son with a portion of my daughter's tears.'
The return of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Buckingham,
October 5, angry at the treatment accorded to them at Madrid, led
to the overthrow of the party at Court which had favoured a Spanish
alliance. Parliament was summoned, and Buckingham in advocating an
anti-Spanish policy found himself for once a popular favourite.
Pressed by his son, by Buckingham, by Parliament, and by public
opinion, the aged King with a heavy heart saw himself compelled
to abandon his cherished scheme of recovering the Palatinate by
peaceful negotiations, and to take steps for armed intervention. The
States-General, on seeing the turn that events were taking, wisely
determined to send another embassy to London to take advantage
of the opportunity for concluding the wished-for offensive and
defensive alliance between England and the United Provinces. There
was this time no delay in drawing up the instructions, and Aerssen
and Joachimi, the two best men they could have chosen, departed on
their mission February 24.
There can be little question that the moving cause for the sending
of this embassy with such unusual dispatch is to be found in an
interview between Sir Dudley Carleton and Prince Maurice, which the
former records in a letter to the Duke of Buckingham dated December
9, 1623.
'I have thought fit', wrote the ambassador, 'to set down at
large (whilst it is fresh in my memory) an opportunity as
properly given unto me this day by the Prince of Orange (who is
the only person of power and confidence we have here to treat
withal) as I hope your Grace will think it seasonably taken.'
Some business at the Council of State, at which both were present,
having been got through more quickly than was expected, Maurice, so
Carleton informed his correspondent,
'gave me a long hour's leisure afterwards in his garden, which
he himself desired of me ... he asked me bluntly (after his
manner) _Qui at'il de vostre mariage?_[36] I told him it was
now at a stay upon this point, that the restitution of the
Palatinate must be first concluded. And that the Queen of
Bohemia was not only well comforted with this assurance, but
pleased herself with a further conceit that the opportunity
was never fairer for this State to regain the King her father's
favour, and return to the ancient support of his Crowns, which
by way of gratitude for her good usage, since she had her refuge
into these parts, she could not but admonish his Excellency of
and advise him not to let it slip. Here I took occasion to play
my own part, and to remember unto him how things had passed
within the compass of my experience from the beginning, letting
him know what friendship his Majesty had shewed this State in
making their truce; what sincerity in rendering their cautionary
towns according to contract when they were demanded; what
affection in supporting their affairs during their late domestic
disputes; what care in settling our East-Indian differences;
finally, what patience in conniving at all the misdemeanours and
insolences of their seamen without seeking revenge.'
[36] The orthography of the original.
Carleton then proceeds to defend the King's attitude to the Dutch,
'whose ill course, pursued through some years' continuance, bred a
deserved distaste in his Majesty'; and his listening on the part
of Spain to 'fair overtures of friendship, being continually made
and confirmed by the tender of a match.... But (he is careful to
add) now the cause is removed, the effect may possibly cease in
like manner.' The reply of Maurice was 'that nothing could be more
certain than the affection of this State to a Prince embracing their
cause of opposition to Spain. And if his Majesty could take that
resolution, he might dispose of these their lives and fortunes.'
A further discussion led finally to the Prince's declaration,
'When the King would be to this State as Queen Elizabeth was, this
State would be to him as it was to Queen Elizabeth.' The advice of
Carleton to the Duke is to seize the chance of effecting a good
understanding with the Netherlands. 'The present opportunity [to
quote the actual words] of the Prince of Orange's good affection,
and strength of these provinces both by sea and land as it yet
stands, but not possible so long to continue, being seasonably laid
hold of, his Majesty may have with this State a firm and fruitful
alliance.'
The embassy then, which reached England on February 26, 1624,
had a comparatively easy task before it. It was received by the
populace with acclamations, and by the King, now completely under
the influence of Buckingham, with friendliness and distinction. Even
the news of the (so-called) massacre of Amboina in the far East,
which was to arouse in England for many years a bitter feeling of
resentment against the Dutch, did not now lead to any delay in the
negotiations, which proceeded smoothly from the first. Aerssen and
Joachimi had English public opinion with them, and a treaty for a
defensive alliance between the two countries was signed on June
15. By this treaty James allowed an additional force of 6,000 men
to be raised in England, the pay to be at his charges, the States
undertaking to refund the amount advanced on the conclusion of a
peace or truce. So quickly was the enlistment carried out, that
four regiments of 1,500 men each, commanded by the Earls of Oxford,
Essex, and Southampton and Lord Willoughby de Eresby, landed in
Holland ready for service on July 23. The contingent arrived at an
opportune moment, as Spinola had just invaded Dutch Brabant at the
head of an army of 24,000 foot and 3,000 horse, and had laid siege
to Breda.
This treaty of alliance of June 15, 1624, was followed as a matter
of course, by negotiations for a settlement of the long-standing
disputes about the Greenland fisheries indemnity and other
questions, but despite the efforts of the States-General and the
two residents Carleton and Caron, but little progress was made.
The directors of the Greenland (Northern) Company had the powerful
influence of Amsterdam behind them, and they raised, with the same
obstinacy as on previous occasions, strong opposition to making
any payment for damages, unless the English agreed to satisfy
their counter-claim for losses sustained in 1613 and 1617. Matters
were still further delayed by the illness and death of Noel Caron,
December 11, 1624. Caron was a real loss at this moment, for he
had during fourteen difficult and anxious years filled the post
of ambassador of the United Provinces in London with conspicuous
industry, ability, and tact. The selection of Albert Joachimi, Lord
of Ostend, as his successor was probably the best that could have
been made, and met with general approval. He was a man of proved
experience, and had been recently in England with Aerssen with the
mission that so successfully concluded the treaty. It was intended
that he should at once enter upon his duties and take with him
to England instructions for a prompt settlement of the Greenland
indemnity, if possible by a friendly agreement; if not, in any
case 'decisively and authoritatively', and in their turn the other
pending disputes and complaints.
Events, however, occurred which effected so complete a change in
the political situation that his departure was perforce delayed.
On March 27, 1625, James I died. A month later, Maurice, Prince
of Orange, breathed his last, April 25, 1625. Charles I ascended
the throne of England, and it was hoped this would mean a more
decisive intervention of England in foreign politics. The new King
was embittered against Spain, and it was known that the Duke of
Buckingham, who at this time professed friendship for Holland, and
through private pique was even more hostile to the Spaniards than
his master, held an influence over him greater even than that which
he had exercised over his father. It was largely through his efforts
that, after the rupture of the Spanish match, a marriage had been
arranged between the Prince of Wales and the sister of Louis XIII.
The accomplishment of this union was one of the very first acts of
the new reign. Charles and Henrietta Maria were married at Paris by
proxy, May 11, and at Canterbury, June 12, with Anglican rites.
Richelieu was now firmly established in power, and in his hands
Henry IV's policy of hostility to the ascendancy in Europe of the
house of Habsburg was revived. Charles was therefore not without
hopes of obtaining armed assistance from France in that war with
Spain for the recovery of the Palatinate on which his heart was
set. In the United Provinces, Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange,
succeeded to all the posts and to more than the influence of his
brother. He was, as a general, the equal of Maurice, and was far
superior to him as a statesman. During his Stadholderate, strong
in the support and affection of all parties and classes, Frederick
Henry was able for many years, despite the cumbersome and intricate
machinery of government in the Dutch Republic, to exercise a
control over the conduct of foreign affairs that was practically
undisputed. He, as the son of Louise de Coligny, had throughout
his life strong French leanings, and the aim of his diplomacy was
from the first to secure the goodwill of Richelieu and the help of
French troops and subsidies for the Netherlands. To send Joachimi
at such a juncture to London to discuss the settlement of a fishery
indemnity was clearly inadequate. It was resolved accordingly that
with the newly appointed resident ambassador a special embassy
should go to England to congratulate the King upon his accession
and his marriage, and, in view of the strained relations between
Charles and Spain, to negotiate a treaty between the two countries
on the basis of an offensive and defensive alliance. Francis van
Aerssen and Rienck van Burmania were chosen as envoys extraordinary
for this mission. They set sail, accompanied by Joachimi, on June
16. All the circumstances were favourable to the success of their
mission, no difficulties supervened, and on September 17 the treaty
of Southampton was signed. By this time a great expedition was being
prepared in England for the destruction of the port of Cadiz and
the capture of the Plate fleet. Already, efforts had been made by
Buckingham to persuade the States to allow 2,000 seasoned English
troops in their pay to serve on the great fleet he was equipping, in
exchange for 2,000 recruits. But although the 2,000 recruits were
sent over (June 19) to Rotterdam, the States-General would not part
with their veterans, whose services they sorely needed. Sickness
carried off numbers of the raw levies, who were not allowed to land,
and the remains had to return in miserable plight to Plymouth at
the end of August. Being without pay, these unhappy men had lived
during the interval at the personal charges of Sir Dudley Carleton.
In a letter to Sir F. Nethersole, secretary to the Queen of Bohemia,
dated August 30, the ambassador wrote:
'I have had no small trouble with 2,000 soldiers sent hither
out of the North of England to be exchanged with the States for
so many old musquettiers, which the weakness of the States'
army, especially in the English nation, could not admit, and,
having understood his Majesty's intention to use these 2,000
in the service of the fleet, I caused them three weeks since
to be embarqued at Rotterdam, where they have layn ever since,
attending the wind, but I hope they will now get away.'
Charles, having already quarrelled with his first Parliament, which
was dissolved August 12, had failed to obtain the subsidies he
required for carrying out his ambitious foreign policy. The States,
however, consented to allow General Sir Edward Cecil and several
other officers of experience in their service to absent themselves
for three months and take part in the expedition against Spain,
provided that they took none of their soldiers with them. Cecil,
although a land soldier without any naval experience, was induced
by Buckingham to take command of the great armada, a post for which
he was quite unfitted. The fleet, after many delays, at last set
sail October 5, badly equipped, with victuals only for six weeks,
foredoomed to failure. In accordance with the terms of the treaty,
a squadron of twenty Dutch ships under William of Nassau, a natural
son of Maurice, took part in the expedition. There is no need to
follow its fortunes further here. 'One by one,' says Dr. Gardiner,
'all through the winter months the shattered remains of the once
powerful fleet came staggering home, to seek refuge in whatever port
the winds and waves would allow.'
Such an ignominious issue to this great enterprise was of evil
omen to the new reign. It was wounding to English pride and roused
public indignation against Buckingham to a high pitch. In these
circumstances it is not to be wondered at that the alliance between
Great Britain and the United Provinces did not prevent a fresh crop
of differences arising between them. The massacre of Amboina rankled
in the mind of Charles, and it had not been forgotten or forgiven
by his people. The right of the English ambassador at the Hague to
a seat on the Council of State had strictly ceased when the treaty
which granted it came to an end with the close of the truce in 1621.
But Dudley Carleton had continued without gainsaying, so long as
Maurice lived, to enjoy his former privileges. By a resolution of
the States, June 5, 1626, however, he was informed that henceforth
he was permitted to take part in the deliberations of the Council
not as a right, but simply by courtesy. Carleton attempted to obtain
a withdrawal of the resolution, but in vain. As the most important
affairs were at this time no longer transacted in the Council of
State but in the States-General, the loss of influence was not
really great, nevertheless the mere passing of such a resolution
when the treaty of Southampton was not yet a year old was resented
by the English as a slight. Difficulties had also arisen over
the restrictions placed and the duties levied upon the Merchant
Adventurers, who had the staple of the English cloth trade at Delft.
Worse than all, a number of Dutch merchant vessels had been seized
and searched on the ground that they were carrying contraband and
trading with the Spanish enemy. The Hollanders throughout the
War of Independence had always insisted on the right to freedom
of commerce even with their foes, and by supplying the Spaniards
not only with food but with arms and munitions, had made immense
profits, which helped largely to fill the rebel war-chest. It was
the attempt of Leicester to stop this commerce, which chiefly caused
his unpopularity in the Netherlands. The treaty of Southampton
(arts. 20-23) had forbidden all such traffic, but the keen traders
of Amsterdam could not be restrained from the secret evasion of a
restriction, to which they had so long refused to submit. Hence
acts of reprisal on the part of the English Government, and bitter
complaints on both sides.
Once again it was necessary to send a special envoy to London. The
chosen ambassador this time was Jacob Cats, better known as the
People's Poet of the Netherlands than as a statesman, though he was
far from being undistinguished in the latter capacity, seeing that
he was to fill for a number of years the important post of Grand
Pensionary of Holland. He departed upon his mission March 9, 1627.
His object was to negotiate a Navigation Treaty (_traité de Marine_)
dealing with the various thorny questions regarding contraband
of war and right of search at sea which had been causing so much
trouble. But no sooner had the conferences with the Privy Council
begun than the Dutch envoy was confronted with complaints that the
old outstanding disputes, the indemnities claimed in reparation
for the Amboina massacre, and for the acts of violence committed
by the herring fishers off the coast of Scotland, and by the whale
fishers at Spitzbergen, had never been settled. Cats had to plead
that these matters were not included in his instructions, and after
some controversy he succeeded in securing the postponement of these
obtrusive and troublesome matters. They were at the first suitable
opportunity to be discussed with the resident ambassador, Joachimi,
who would be furnished with special instructions from the States.
The policy of delay, which had proved so successful in the past,
once more gained for the Netherlanders all that they required.
The fisheries went on, under protest indeed, but undisturbed. The
indemnities continued to be claimed, but remained unpaid. The main
purpose of Cats's mission was, however, not achieved. No agreement
about contraband and right of search and seizure was reached. The
comment of Aitzema upon the negotiations is worth reproducing; it is
scarcely possible to describe what took place more pithily or with
greater acuteness:
'With these and such-like proposals, with plaints and
counterplaints, was the time spent, without either the one or
the other being made any the wiser. Each one thinks that he is
most in the right; everybody looks outwards, nobody homewards,
and for much of the time each was taxing the other with offences
in which they themselves were the more guilty. The big fishes
eat the small ones. He who has the might uses it; every one
speaks merely of uprightness, of sincerity, of affection, and
there is nothing but deception and hypocrisy on all sides. The
English thought also (as was quite true) that they had done much
for the common cause and for the Reformed Religion: and that
it behoved this State likewise to suffer some inconvenience
in their commerce; because otherwise all business which was
in England, would find its way to the United Provinces, if
these with too great and undisturbed freedom should use the
sea, and not the English. Thus the Ministers of this State
did not accomplish much. To Heer Cats, however, an honourable
farewell was accorded with the usual present, and the dignity of
Knighthood. He returned to the Hague August 30.'
The spring of 1627 had found the Government of Charles I involved
in so many difficulties that it is not surprising that the King
should not have found it possible to take any decisive line in his
negotiations with the Dutch. He had quarrelled with his Parliament,
and knew not where to turn to raise the money to meet the heavy
liabilities in which he had involved himself. The attack on Cadiz
had utterly miscarried, and had failed to give any help to the cause
of the Palatinate. At this moment of sore disappointment he had seen
with misgiving that the new Stadholder, Frederick Henry, and his
minister Aerssen, had turned to France with friendly overtures, and
had found Richelieu willing to receive them. France had promised
to the States a yearly subsidy, and a loan of troops on condition
that the Dutch would send a squadron to assist in the blockade of La
Rochelle, and would undertake not to conclude a peace or truce with
Spain without the knowledge and consent of the French King. Charles
felt that his strenuous efforts to increase his fleet and render
it more efficient, with the aim of making the English navy supreme
in the Channel and the North Sea, were directly threatened by such
an alliance. It was known that it was the policy of Richelieu to
strengthen the position of France as a maritime power, and the
traditional English jealousy of French aggrandizement was increased
rather than diminished by the close bond which united the royal
families. The French marriage had always been unpopular in England,
great resentment being felt at the concessions that had been made
with regard to the public performance of Roman Catholic rites.
Charles himself found the position of things at Court so difficult
that he was obliged finally to take the strong step of sending back
the French attendants of the young Queen. This gave great offence
at Paris, and the soreness between the two countries was aggravated
by the high-handed action of the English on the sea during the
Spanish war. French ships had been searched and seized, and in
reprisals an embargo had been laid upon English vessels and goods at
La Rochelle and other places. Finally, the countries drifted into
war. Charles hoped that he might secure the friendly neutrality of
Spain, but his efforts failed, and Spain allied herself with France.
In June a great expedition sailed under the command of Buckingham
to relieve La Rochelle. To meet its cost without the help of his
Parliament, Charles had been compelled to have recourse to forced
loans and other unpopular expedients, and the issue was to be
a disaster even more humiliating than that of Cadiz. In these
circumstances, while this fleet in the spring of 1627 was being
prepared, but its destiny still unknown, it was necessary for the
King to keep on good terms with the United Provinces, and to pursue
a temporizing policy with regard to the grievances that he had
against them. While therefore Jacob Cats, as special ambassador
from the States, was busily engaged in negotiations with the
English Government in London, Charles sent on his part an envoy
extraordinary to the Hague, nominally for the presentation of the
Order of the Garter to the Prince of Orange, in reality to sound the
disposition of the Dutch Statesmen and to make proposals to them.
The man selected to carry out this commission was the former
ambassador at the Hague, Sir Dudley (now Lord) Carleton, who had
returned to London in the previous year. In his secret instructions
(dated May, 1627) are several interesting passages.[37] The
document opens thus:--
'The mayne scope of your imployment consisting of two points;
the one to prevent the practices of the French, who seeke by
presentation of new treatyes, and profers of summes of money,
to make, as it were, a purchase of the affection of that
State, and to gaine it from us; the other, to provide that no
misunderstanding growe upon such overtures of pacification as
are made unto us by the Spanyard; we may well consider that in
cases of this nature, with people so composed as they are, there
is required a very cautious proceeding.... We would have you
begin with declaration of our purpose constantly to continue
our preparations against Spayne, as against a common enemie,
in conformity to the league, offensive and defensive, betwixt
us and that State, and to make the same more manifest, you
shall have a list of the Shipping now sett out under our High
Admiral, the Duke of Buckingham, with such as we are now further
preparing for the security of these seas; and hereupon you are
to require them to arme, in like manner extraordinarely to sea,
according to treaty....'
[37] Sir Dudley Carleton's _State Letters_, 1627, pp. 5-15.
Thus was Carleton to attempt to blind the Dutch statesmen as to the
overtures that had been made to Spain and as to the purpose of the
fleet gathered at Portsmouth. With regard to the second point, the
instructions proceed:--
'We would have you take knowledge of such griefs and
discontentments, as their resident Ambassador Joachimi, and
Catz their extraordinary deputy, have complained of against
our seamen, and thereupon make knowen the charge (wherewith
you are well acquainted) we have given certaine select persons
of our Council to treate with them, of all due and reasonable
satisfaction for what is past, and a reglement for the future;
but with all you are to remember unto them, that, as we are to
have a care of their contentments, so we are not to neglect the
protection we owe to our own subjects.'
And then follows a setting out of the old grievances, the Amboina
affair and the differences between the East India Companies
generally, and the exactions upon the Merchant Adventurers now
having their Court in the staple town of Delft under the title of
tare. There is no mention here of the fisheries. As regards the
choice of friendship with France or with England, the instruction,
after a recitation of all that the Republic has owed to English
goodwill in the past, thus presents the alternative:--
'Therefore, as things may growe to greate extremity betwixt us
and the French King, in case you find no disposition in the
States to joyne with us in assistance, as their enemys do with
France, we like well you should persuade them to hold themselves
neutrall, whereby to reserve to themselves the liberty of
mediation of attonement, to which we shall be at all times ready
to lend a willing ear to them, as common friends. And as they
may apprehend danger to their State, by want of such pecuniary
ayde as is verbally presented to them by the French King as the
price of their affections; or may be prest to the renewing of
the triennial treaty of Compiegne, let them in their wisdomes,
waigh what is the less of evils, in forbearing for a while the
acceptation of the weak and faltering friendship of France,
which, being in warre with England, cannot have meanes to
assist them, though never so willing and constant; or provoking
England to the necessity of conjoyning with their enemies,
for which they cannot but know the doore is allways open to
us; and then consider that when the flame betwixt France and
us hath no such fewell from this country as is ministered to
the French from Spayne, it will be the sooner extinguished and
these crownes may be quickly reunited, not only to their ayde as
formerly, but likewise to the support and restitution of such
friends in Germany, in whose welfare they, with us, have common
interest....'
Finally, Carleton is requested to remonstrate with the States for
the difficulties they had raised to the admission of his successor
at the Hague--a nephew, named Dudley Carleton like himself--to a
seat in the Council of State, which had always hitherto been granted
to all English ambassadors and agents since 1585.
Carleton had his first audience in the assembly of the
States-General, June 14/24, and a second five days later. In the
first he read an address setting forth the various objects of his
diplomatic mission; in the second he asked permission of the States
for the Prince of Orange to accept the Garter. In a letter dated
June 27 (o.s.), to Lord Killultagh, the ambassador gives an account
of a conference that he had with a deputation of the States-General,
consisting of one member representing each province. 'He laid open
to them', he writes, 'all that had passed from the beginning to
the end', and tried to persuade them of the advantage of clinging
to the English in preference to the French alliance. He found it,
however, a difficult task to remove the apprehensions that were
felt that Charles's quarrel with France meant a drawing nearer to
Spain. Carleton, at the same time, does not scruple to point out
that the fact that he has gone to Holland without any money to pay
even interest on the expenses that had been incurred by the States
for the maintenance of Mansfeld's English levies in 1625, or for the
creditors of the Queen of Bohemia, or for preventing the forfeiture
of 'His Majesty's Jewells, which are in pawn at Amsterdam', would be
ruinous to his mission, and begs for the necessary cash to be sent.
The money, it is needless to say, was not forthcoming, and such was
the suspicion against England that, despite Carleton's efforts to
secure for the English resident ambassador a seat on the Council
of State, the proposal was rejected by the vote of every province
separately. Nevertheless there was genuine alarm in the Netherlands
that the continuance of the war between France and England would
be injurious to their interests by forcing one of the combatants
to seek the alliance of Spain. The missions of Cats to England and
of Carleton to the Hague, though they failed in bringing about any
real settlement of the differences between the two powers, at least
effected an understanding that, for a time at any rate, grievances
were not to be pressed. The interests of Dutch trade rendered the
undisturbed passage of the Channel, free from interference by
hostile fleets or cruisers, a consideration of the very utmost
importance.
It was resolved, therefore, to send yet another special embassy to
England to offer the mediation of the States between the belligerent
powers, and to negotiate for the release of the many Dutch ships
which had been seized on the high seas and kept in English harbours.
The lord of Randwijk and Adrian Pauw, pensionary of Amsterdam,
were accordingly sent. They arrived in London, January 25, 1628,
and stayed in England some fourteen months. Carleton meantime
remained at the Hague. In May of this same year the Earl of Carlisle
joined him, bringing further instructions from the King. By these
instructions he was bidden to assist Carleton in pressing upon the
States the advantages of friendship with England in preference
to France, and the necessity, if they wished to obtain it, of
forbidding the construction of French war-vessels in the Dutch
ports, and of punishing adequately the perpetrators of 'the foule
and bloody fact' of Amboina. It will thus be seen that diplomacy
during these years 1627 and 1628 was indeed busy, so busy that it
is by no means easy to see light clearly amidst such a tangled web
of negotiations. This is certain, that they had small result. The
Prince of Orange, and his chief adviser Francis van Aerssen, had
made the French alliance the sheet-anchor of their policy. They
wished to be on friendly terms with England, and to bring the war,
which was so injurious to Dutch interests, to a speedy conclusion,
but they distrusted the intentions of Charles I, and knew that the
breach with his Parliament in any case must deprive him of the
resources for carrying out any bold and active intervention in the
German war. They suspected, moreover, that it was not unlikely
that Charles might follow in his father's footsteps and strive to
help his relatives in the Palatinate by means of negotiations with
Spain rather than by hostilities against that power. The efforts
of Carleton and Carlisle met therefore with little or no success.
The influence of Amsterdam in the States of Holland was too strong
for any steps to be taken to punish those who had been concerned in
the Amboina tragedy, and the English demands were met by evasion
and delay. But though Carleton was unsuccessful, the envoys in
London, in carrying out their task as mediators between England and
France, were helped by the pressure upon Charles of the financial
difficulties in which, after the assassination of Buckingham (August
23, 1628), he was becoming more and more involved. The dissolution
of March, 1629, was a final breach with his Parliament. The King had
therefore little or no alternative but to bring his war with France
to a speedy conclusion. The Dutch envoys, on their part, did their
best to remove the obstacles to an Anglo-French understanding, and
peace was signed April 24, 1629.