the King his Master did thereby break off all further Treaty between him and them and to be a Minister of the first second or third ranck makes no difference as to this they are alike sent to the State and to deliver their Papers in the first place to them and they theirs reciprocally to the said Ministers and when this Correspondence is broken off it ceaseth to be any further a Negotiation or Treating and becomes a declaring against each other and an appeal to others thereupon And so is this Case Page the 6 th and 7 th In answer to what he had said of his Majesties having as a perpetual mark of his kindness towards this Country suffered many antient pretences of his Subjects to be blotted out the Deputies are pleased to say Vpon which there is to be considered that if this abolition of all antient pretences be a mark of affection the pretences of the Subjects of this State and of the State it self were much greater in number and quality then those of the English as appears by the LISTS exchanged on both sides they desired that all the Piratories done by Portugal Commissions should have been forgotten and de facto your Lordships have testified so much more affection then the King of England for that you have yielded more of your Right then he for that which ought to be principally considered here is that it will not be found that even before the conclusion of the said Treaty any one English Ship hath been taken by the Inhabitants of these Provinces or their Armes which the English could reclaim as belonging really to them Whereas the said LISTS of dammages did not consist of or intermedle with or contain in them any thing that was blotted out by the said Treaty but onely such matters as were reserved by the same And as to any thing pretended to be done by Portugal Commissions those were also all matters that had happened since the year 1654. and so also not mortified but reserved by the said Treaty And how then do the Deputies bring these two instances as Arguments that this State had forgiven more than his Majesty And as to their third Argument which they call their main one viz. That it will not be found that even before the conclusion of the said Treaty any one English Ship hath been taken by the Inhabitants of these Provinces or their Armes which the English could reclaim as belonging really to them and which is again repeated page 11 th and 12 th For that the English cannot complain that since that time to wit the time of the General abolition and before the conclusion of the said Treaty the Inhabitants of these Provinces have taken any one Ship Effectually belonging to English What may not be said by them that will publish to the World deliver to foreign Ministers here and cause to be delivered by their Ministers abroad to Kings and Princes a Paper with such an Affirmation as this What not one Ship taken before the Treaty that the English could reclaim as belonging Effectually to them Was not the Ship Experience built in England and belonging wholly to English Sailed wholly by English taken Anno 1660. upon the Coast of Portugal with her lading worth between four and five Tun of Gold by one Quaerts and others of Zealand Was not the Ship Charles belonging to Captain Spragg and others his Majesties Subjects and whereof he was Commander taken as she was peaceably at an Anchor in the Road of St Martins in France under the protection of the Castle in the Month of July 1660 by three Men of War of this State and then in their Service Commanded by one Captain Enno doedeson Starre and the men barbarously treated And so all that great Roll of Ships specified and set down in the LIST of the Dammages of the English delivered by him unto them and all taken since the General Abolition and before the conclusion of the late Treaty and the Times and Places and by whom there particularly specified And is this as is said pag. 3. To inform duly the Kings their Allies of the true Estate of Affairs between the King His Master and them And have they not great Reason to expect That upon such Informations they should break with the King his Master to joyn with them Nor is it to be wondred since their Papers contain in them such Informations as these that they pass by the King His Master and Him His Minister and give them no Copies of them and are so angry that they take any notice of them For what is further said pag. 7 8. concerning the Lists of Damages That the Lists were exchanged in time convenient that he the saidEnvoyée had so much less Reason to complain upon this accompt for that their Lordships were sooner ready than he As to the first The Treaty was concluded upon the 4 th of September 1662. St. Vet. and the Lists of Damages were not exchanged till the 23 d of August 1664. St. Vet. which was near two years after and was that a convenient time to be spent meerly for the giving in of what they had to demand or did it look like a desire of hastning to a Conclusion and determining those Matters that had been the Cause of so much rancour between the Nations As to the Second viz. their being ready sooner than Him having several times by word of Mouth earnestly sollicited the Exchange of those LISTS upon the 11th of September 1663. Old St. he gave a Memorial to the States General wherein he declared That he was then ready on his part to exchange the said LISTS aud did from time to time after press the Exchange thereof giving in also some other Memorials to that End and yet it was near a year after e're he could obtain the same And when about fourteen dayes before the Exchange thereof the Agent de Heyde came to him to speak to him about the exchanging of them Which was the first Summons that ever he had about that Matter He returned for Answer that it had been so long since he had been ready that his Papers were neer musty with lying by that he would look them out and attend at the day should be appointed for the Exchange of them And when within a few dayes after viz. upon the 16th day of August he came to a conference with the Deputies theirs was not yet ready for that they had it only in Dutch whereas it hath been a constant Custom between them as with other Ministers also to deliver all Matters in some common Language or at least a Copy And so that meeting lost and the Exchange not made till the 23 d as above-said Pag. 8 9. The Deputies say To pursue from step to step the Text of the Treaty immediatly after the Exchange of the LISTS and before the speaking of any accommodement or decision of the Matters therein two things were to be examined First Whether the Pretensions set
Purchase And whereas they say page 26 That they had bought that Fort from the Danes It is very well known That the Ministers of Denmark do say and maintain that the West-India-Company of this Country did nevery buy them out but onely that during the late Siege of Copenhagen and in the time of the low estate of that Kingdom that the Governour-General for the Dutch West-India-Company called Van Huysen did debauch and corrupt one Samuel Smith who then commanded the said place for the King of Denmark to put the same into his hands for a Bribe of seven or eight thousand Gilders And that this was without the knowledge permission or order of the said King And this is their Title to this place about which they make so much ado Nor did they content themselves with the said Fort but as in all other places having once got footing they fell immediately to the utter expelling of the English from all share or interest there And whereas they had re-built themselves a House or Factory there some belonging to the Dutch West-India-Company and in their Service did on the first of May 1659. attacque the same and burn it with all the Moveables and Merchandizes And it being afterwards re-built by the English they hired others to set upon it and burnt it again with all the Merchandizes therein nor would so much as permit them to come and trade there with their Shipping And the said Deputies Rule is page 7 That one may retake by Arms that which hath been gained by Arms. But this Case had been otherwise for the Dutch having got into the said Fort in manner abovesaid were a little after droven out by one Jan Claes who was General for the Natives and the said Claes having driven them out and knowing well that the undoubted Right of that place did belong to the English made a tender to their Agent in those parts to restore the same to them but he was neither provided at that time with men nor other necessaries for the receiving thereof and before they came to him from England the said Jan Claes died Afterwards and while the Dutch were still out of the possession thereof the Government of that Country sent a publike Minister to Cormantine to treat with the English Agent there about putting of the said place again into their hands and a Treaty was perfected and compleated between the Governour of Fetu and Commissioners sent thither by the said Agent and a sum of money paid in hand according to the said Conditions Nor was there so much as any certain knowledge in England that the Dutch had re-possessed themselves thereof at the time when Holmes his Orders and Instructions were made nor other News thereof then a report which came about that time out of this Country And supposing it to be true yet that could not alter such a Treaty made while out of their hands and that Case being thus if his Majestie had given him such Orders what could they have to say against the same And whereas it had been said by him in his Memorial that his Majestie had been so much the more justifiable in letting his Subjects take possession thereof because of the little effect that the Instances made here in his Name in other matters had had The Deputies are pleased to mis-recite the clause in his Memorial and then descant thereupon after their fashion The Clause as recited by them is For seeing that his Majestie hath not been able by all endeavours and instances to get out of their hands one Ship or the value of a peny of Goods since his return to his Kingdom what hope was there that such a place should have been restored And they are pleased to comment thereupon This is a strange confidence of the said Envoy to put in writing and to publish among forraign Princes and Ministers and to present to your Assembly a thing of the contrary whereof he hath been so convinced by the Deduction which ye made the 9th of October last upon the King of Great Britain ' s Answer in Writing where your Lordships have made clearly appear by the restitution of the Ship Handmaid and of the Shaloup taken by Captain Banckert and by several other particularities That what the said Envoy saith here is not true so that he might have spared the giving occasion to have himself contradicted here Whereas the words of his Memorial are And in truth if his Majestie hath not been able by all his endeavours and instances to get out of their hands any one Ship or the value of a peny of Goods since his return to his Kingdoms which had been taken by violence from his Subjects concerning which he the said Envoy had made complaint heretofore what hopes that such a place would have been restored But their Lordships leave out all the middle thereof viz. Which had been taken by violence from his Subjects concerning which he the said Envoy had made complaint heretofore whereby the sense is quite changed and then apply instances thereto which would no wayes sute therewith taking the intire sentence together For as to the Ship Hand maid it is true that that business did pass his hands but that Ship had not been taken by violence from the Subjects of His Majesty The Turks had taken her from the English and the Dutch only rescued her from the Turks And as to the Shaloup taken by Banckert 't was not a matter whereof the said Envoy had made complaint for that it was a business managed at London by His Majesties Ministers there though there was scarce another instance of that kinde that passed not his hands and he doth here again affirm the truth of the said Clause in his said Memorial Whereas in the Letter of the States of the 26 of January 1664. to the King his Master their words are That His Majesty had very often caused justice to be done upon their complaints since the conclusion of the Treaty between him and this State But as to the second Did not the Agent Selwyn in his letter above-mentioned to Valckenburgh of the 14 of June 1663. remonstrate the right of the English to that place and protest against the detaining the same from them And did not he the said Envoy Extraordinary in a conference held with the Deputies of this State upon the 12 of Feb. 1663. Old stile deduce and make out the right of the English African-Company to that place and it was not taken by Holmes till the 9 of May following as is here confessed Page the 24. And how is it then that they say here That the English did not claim it till they had got the possession of it And whereas Page the 25 they say He himself did interpose in the said difference between the West-India Company of this Country and the African Company of Denmark concerning this place as he hath often intermedled with several matters wherein neither He nor the King his Master had
1660. And it is to be remarked that the Deputies in reciting page 27 the clause of his Memorial concerning Polerone wholly omit that part thereof relating to these Orders Concerning the Treaty of 1662. they say 'T was he himself that delivered to this State a Letter from the King his Master of the 22 of January 1663. in which His Majesty saith expresly That he was intirely satisfied with their procedure in this matter By the fifteenth Article of the said Treaty it was agreed That immediately after the Ratification thereof Orders should be given by the States General and the Dutch East-India-Company for the delivery of the Island of Polerone to the English East-India-Company whereupon after the Ratification thereof His Majesty wrote to the States General demanding the said Orders which being accordingly sent hence for London as His Majesty had demanded the same by Letter so He was pleased by another Letter to acknowledge the receipt thereof and that with very civil and obliging expressions well hoping that for the future all things would have gone after another manner then before the conclusion of the said Treaty And this is the Letter here mentioned nor doth it contain any more in relation to this business nor indeed could it being written not above fourteen weeks after the conclusion of the said Treaty being dated Whitehall the 22 of January 1662. Whereas the Deputies say in this their Book That it was dated the 22 of January 1663. which is above fifteen months after the conclusion of the Treaty whereby they would have it thought that this Letter had been written upon some further procedure in relation to this business and upon some advice out of the Indies concerning the same Nor will the excuse of New stile or Old stile serve the turn for if they had meant New Stile then it must have been dated the first of February 1663. and not the 22 of January 1663. And the King his Master doth by no means understand this manner of proceeding with him And now I pray doth this Letter contradict or interfere in the least with what had been said by him in his Memorial Had he therein said That they had not given Orders for the delivery thereof or more then that Yet we do not know to this day that the said place is restored And was not that then true And what ground or occasion given for them to say Page the 28 The said Envoy doth hereby make appear the wrong he doth in forming Complaints upon a matter concerning which the King himself had thanked the State Had he complained that this State had not given Orders for the restoring that place or said more then as above-said That we did not yet know that that place was restored and can any of them say yet to this day that it is restored But if he had thought he should have been taken up so short he would have added as he then could that the said Orders together with His Majesties Commission under his Great Seal of England had been actually â—endred and delivered to the Dutch Governour-General at Batavia and that he had made sport therewith as with the Orders of the year 1660. asking how he could know that piece of Wax from another piece of wax and how he could know the King's Picture and image thereupon from another with many vaunting and insolent expressions though he did acknowledge that he knew of the conclusion of the said Treaty and that thereby the said Island was to be restored and that the Orders by them presented as from the Estates General and East-India-Company were really their Orders and that they who tendred them were the Factors and Servants of the English East-India-Company and so that there could be no question but that it ought to be delivered to them And so what though His Majesties Commission should not have been kept so perfectly clean that could raise no question but it 's a signe how exact the Deputies informations concerning this matter are and what credit is to be given thereunto for that they call it a Paper Page the 28. Presenting to them a Paper that was so foul whereas it is very well known that the Broad-Seal of England is never put to Paper but to Parchment only nor do themselves alleadge that the Orders of the Estates General or Dutch East-India-Company were sullied or those of the English East-India-Company And when they had spent much time in descanting upon the Commission and Orders then the said General would have them to give an Acquittance wherein should be inserted such a Clause as was directly repugnant to the Treaty and no way in their power to signe and wherein they must in writing give thanks for the restoring of the said Island to them as if of grace and not a thing agreed by Treaty to be done and of due and which had so many years been unjustly kept from them and now to be delivered with the trees again utterly wasted and destroyed whereas at the time of its taking it was well planted and what other or further Devices may afterwards be made either there or by the Governour and Council of the Banda-Islands Time must shew we have cause to fear the worst and if it be not delivered it will appear to have been caused upon such account and not as is here suggested upon the want of Shipping or other necessaries on the side of the English for the receiving thereof though they had no great encouragement to be over-forward in providing them considering what the like Orders had cost them in the year 1660 and to what effect And whereas they say That the aforesaid Letter of the 22th of January was delivered to this State by him the said Envoy The Deputies have very much forgot themselves the said Letter was not delivered by him nor could be for that he was at that time in England nor had been in Holland some months before nor returned thither till several months after Page the 29 and 30 concerning the business of New Netherlands they argue First from the signification of the word Octroy which say they Is onely an Advantage accorded to some particular Subjects to the general exclusion of all other Subjects of the same Soveraign but which doth not at all oblige the Subjects of other Princes and States Secondly And though the Octroy or Patent which the King of England had given to his Subjects did comprehend New Netherland yet that could not give the English any Right to the Places and Lands which the Subjects of this State had possessed peaceably for fourty or fifty years and which they had occupied whilst it was deserted and uninhabited Thirdly As to what was alleadged of their endeavouring to usurp still more upon the English and to impose their Laws and Customs upon them and to raise Contributions from them They say We judge that this is a production of his Imagination and dare say that there is nothing of truth therein Fourthly That
if his Majestie had thought that his Subjects had any pretence to this place would not his Majesties Commissioners during the whole time that the Ambassadours of this State were inEngland have spoken one word concerning this matter however since they have not done it it ought to be put among the number of those that are mortified by the said Treaty As to the first He doth reply That he did not argue in his Memorial from the Grammatical signification of the word Octroy but from the matter and substance of the Octroys Patents or Charters granted by his Majesties Royal Ancestours concerning those parts The Deputies suppose that they must be after the Model of the Octroys of the Dutch East-India and West-India-Companies which do not give the Soveraignty of all the Lands within the limits thereof to the said Companies but onely certain Priviledges therein to the exclusion of the rest of the Subjects of this State And some such there are in England also as of the English East-India Turky African Moscovian Companies c. but these are quite of another nature they do grant the Soveraignty of the Lands within their Limits to the Grantees under a certain Model and Form of Government and under certain Powers and Jurisdictions therein set down and prescribed And as to the second the Deputies doe not deny that this Land called New Netherlands is within the Patents granted by his Majesty to his Subjects and he the said Envoy doth affirme that it is And let those of the West-India Company produce an antienter Patent for the same but he doth not believe they can produce any at all other then that generall Octroy which as abovesaid grants not the Soveraignty of all Lands within the Limits thereof And as to the point of Possession there is nothing more cleare and certaine then that the English did take possession of and inhabit the Lands within the Limits of the said patents long before any Dutch were there 'T is not to say nor is it requisite that it should be said that they did inhabite every Individuall Spot within the Limits of them It is enough that their patent is the first and that in pursuance thereof they had taken possession and did inhabite and dwell within the same and made considerable Towns Forts and Plantations therein before the Dutch came to dwell there Is it to be imagined that the Dutch East-India-Company have fully Peopled and cultivated the Island of Ceylon and other their great Colonies in the East Indies and yet if the English should upon such pretence endeavour to settle there without their consent Would they approve thereof or suffer the same or accompt their Title there to be good or other then Precarious and the setling of the Dutch in New Netherlands so called was upon permission graunted them by the English for their Shipping to take in Wood and Water there and other Provisions for their reliefe when they should come into those Parts but the English did never grant unto them the Soveraignty thereof but that the said Company as they doe elsewhere did upon this precarious admission and connivance incroach from time to time upon the English But whereas they say Page 29. The said Envoy saith that the Dutch ought every year to demand the confirmation of their possessions and descant thereupon But we have above observed that there is very little to be built upon what he saith that it ought not to be believed but upon very good proofe It is very hard measure that the Deputies still take to themselves the Liberty of misreciting the Words and Clauses of his Memorial and make it speak what it never did and yet withall fall upon him with reproachfull and disdainfull Language for having said and Written that which is no where that he knows of to be found but in this Book The clause in his Memorial was That those Hollanders which were there did dwell there simply by permission and not by any Right that they could pretend to that place and that that had been declared to them from time to time and from year to year And is not there a great difference between That it had been declared to them from year to year that they had no right to dwell there and That they ought every year to demand the confirmation of their possessions And are not the very next words of his Memorial But so as that the English were content to have suffered them to dwell there provided they would have demeaned themselves Peaceably So far from having said that the English did expect that they should every year demand a confirmation of their possessions as that on the contrary what he said was that though their possession was but procarious yet that the English were contented to let them live there and enjoy the same upon condition of their demeaning themselves quietly And was it not so that about the year 1654 the English were about granting them certain Limits and the same had taken Effect and been ratified if their continued New Insolencies had not diverted the same yet it shall be far from him to retort any such unhandsome Expressions And as to the Argument whereby they would prove that they were more then few in Number for that It is not probable that a few Hollanders should have so fallen upon many English That they were but few in comparison of the English is a fact too known to need proving but the argument may be thus well Retorted How great was their presumption to have attempted those Insolencies which they did from time to time attempt being so few in Number and how great the patience of the English who are so Numerous and strong in those parts being able to bring many scores of thousands of able fighting men into the field that they should yet so long have suffered the same And this lead's me to the third particular It would have been a boldness and a presumption indeed in him the said Envoy to have fained these Allegations endeavoured to have imposed them upon their Lordships and the world that they had from time to time injur'd the English and usurped upon them in those parts if it had not been so But I pray was not One How sent by His late Majesty of Blessed Memory into those parts about twenty five years agone and did not the Dutch there seize him and his Company and keep them Prisoners and were not great complaints thereof brought to the Court of England and which were highly resented And did not the Dutch about twenty years agone come to an English Town called Stanford where none but English lived and summoned them to come under their obedience and pay them contribution and set up the Dutch Armes there and all along the late times of disorders in England were there not continually high complaints brought over against them did they not send armed Men to an English Town called Greenwitch and force the English there to come under
of the West-India Company of this Country before the Treaty and saith that it is not strange that they had endeavoured to retake by force that which had been by force unjustly taken from them The Estates General had written a long Letter to the King his Master dated the 26 of January 1664. N. S. making a very long complaint to him concerning the taking of a certain Dutch ship belonging to the West-India Company of this Country called the Arms of Amsterdam Moreover they had communicated the said Complaint to him the said Envoy Extraordinary with a large deduction concerning the same making a huge noise about it which he the said Envoy Extraordinary examining narrowly and looking into the business found out that the said Ship called the Arms of Amsterdam was in truth an English ship belonging wholly to English Merchants of London and that her true Name was the Merchants Delight and that having sailed from Dover in the year 1660. upon a trading Voyage to the Coast of Guiny under the command of one C. Bonner an Englishman she had been there seized in an hostile manner by a certain ship belonging to the said Company called the Amsterdam whereof one Aaron Cousens was Commander in or about the Month of Aug. 1661. and carried by her to Jasper van Huysen then General for the said Company at Castle Delmina And although the said Bonner did declare to the said Van Huysen that himself and Company were English and that the ship with her lading belonged to one John Young and other Merchants of London and verified the same by authentick Writings and Papers yet that he kept the said ship and lading evilly treated the men altered and new named the ship calling her the Arms of Amsterdam that thereby she might be the less subject to be known wherever she should be met by the English and that he had order long before from the King his Master in Council to complain to the States General concerning the taking of that very ship from his Subjects and for which yet no satisfaction had been made Hereupon he took the liberty to inform them of the truth of the matter in his said Memorial and to tell them that the Case was not so strange and ill as they put it viz. That the English had taken a Dutch ship but only that they had by force retaken an English ship that had been by force taken from them thereby to excuse à tanto And what can now be said for the justification and defence of the sending Van Campen and De Ruyter for Guiny Was not the business of Cabo Verde and what else complained of matters hapned since the conclusion of the late Treaty and so directly within the compass of that Article And was not the resolution for the sending of Van Campen as is said in his Memorial taken within about 6 or 7 weeks after complaint made by this State to his Majesty concerning the taking of Cabo Verde and the actual sending De Ruyter within a little after and doth it not appear by the express words of Van Campen's Instructions that his being sent thither was not only upon the defensive to perserve the places and shipping of this Country in those parts but in direct and down-right terms to fall upon his Majesties Subjects and attacque them revenging themselves by force against such whom they pretended to have done them hurt Nor is it therein said that they might fall upon Holmes only who was the only person complained of but the words are general and dubious viz That those to whom the Command of the said Fleet was given in case that upon the said Coast they should find or rencounter any ships or Subjects of his Majesties that they should take care not to endammage them or to trouble or incommodate them in their Traffique provided they had not already or did not then do any dammage to this State or its good Inhabitants Whereby it is left in their construction and discretion whom they are to fall upon viz. whomever they should judge to have done or to be doing any hurt to this State or any of their Subjects And this Resolution is put into his Majesties hands by the Ambassadouâ—â— this Country and not only so but given to several other Kings of Europe his Friends and Allies And it s withall declared that this Fleet shall pass the Channel before his Ports and that under the Convoy of a numerous Fleet of Capital ships of War under the Command of the Lieutenant Admiral of this State And was it possible for his Majesty longer to sit still and to remain without doing any thing Hitherto the dispute had been only between the Subjects and Inhabitants of both sides but now this State had hereby engaged it self whereby the Dispute was come to be immediately between the King his Master and them and though while this State intermeddled not neither did the King his Master upon the other hand interpose but with patience expected justice to be done by them to his Subjects according to the terms of the Treaty but they on the other hand upon the first complaint of any injury done in those very parts to their Subjects breaking through the Rules and Bonds of the Treaty what now remained but the opposing of force to force And whereas the Deputies would have it thought no indignity or affront to his Majesty for that Fleet to have passed for that say they The Sea is open to all the World It may not be amiss to mark that however they plead so much for the the Seas being free in these parts yet that the contrary is practised where the people of this Country have the power witness the late Declaration of the Dutch East-India Company not yet disavowed by this State wherein they claim a whole great Sea to themselves And witness the usage of the West-India Company at Cape Blaneo upon the Coast of Africa where they will not suffer any Nation to fish in the open Sea without their permission and paying them the tenth fish and the Governour there within these few years seized and confiscated an English ship called the Leopard for having fished there but here in this Case there was no question about their Liberty of passing the Sea but about their passing with such a Resolution and to such an End And could a greater affront be done to a King then when he had done what was possible for the satisfaction of this State and more then requisite that notwithstanding thereof he shall be told by them that they are resolved to fall upon his Subjects and not naming whom whereby not any of them were in surety especially considering they questioned our trading even at our own Factories in those parts as hath been afore shewn and call it a hurting them Moreover it is to be considered that at the very time when this resolution was put into his Majesties hands there were just Reasons to surmise and believe that De
Ruyter was actually already gon or upon the point of going to Guiny and so that all this declaring of their intent of sending Van Campen was but a meer Grimasse whereby to colour the preparing so considerable a Fleet as they were then gathering together under the Notion of Van Campen's going to Guiny and the convoying of him but that in truth the real intent and meaning was to make use thereof nearer home for it had been said and written by this State to his Majesty That De Ruyters imployment was to be against the Pirates of Algiers and those parts and not a word of the sending him to Guiny and the Deputies say pag. 36. That it had been very rediculous to have made known his Order From whence it must necessarily follow that it was never intended to send Van Campen thither upon the same ground because this State did declare and give out that he was to go thither And yet it is not to be imagined that this State would have been at the charge of preparing such a Fleet as this for nothing or without some proportionable design and so his Majesty had just reason of jealousie that as they had sent De Ruyter to fall upon him in Guiny that in truth this Fleet was designed to have fallen upon him in these parts as was done in the beginning of the late War with England if he had not in time provided for his own safety and defence which was no sooner done but the noise of Campen's going to Guiny was immediately out of doors and the great Fleet which they had so long kept together separated And let the words of the instruction to Van Campen aforementioned be considered and it will appear that the same did reach as well to these parts as the Coast of Africa the words being In case that upon the said Coast or in their way thither they should find or rencounter any ships or subjects of his Majesties that had already done or were then doing any hurt to this State or its subjects So that the said instruction reached to his whole way viz. from the Maes to Guiny and so was no other then a declaring of War against His Majesty as well in Europe as upon the Coast of Africa And as to the reproach cast upon this State upon the accompt of their sending De Ruyter to Guiny viz. that they had invited His Majesty to send a Fleet to act with theirs against the Pirates of Algiers and those parts c. They say pag. the 35th He supposeth as if there should have been some kind of Treaty or Promise to act conjoyntly against the Pirates of Barbary but it will not be found that there was any Treaty to that effect nor yet any Negotiation conducing thereunto Is not this Clause in their Letter of January 1664. N. S. wherein they invite His Majesty to send his Fleet to act with theirs viz. That their Fleet should stay in the Mediterranean Sea and thereabouts until it had cleared the same of all those Pirates that ruined the Negotiation and the Trade there And doth it not follow in the said Letter We are intirely resolved so to do and not to recal our Fleet until we have reduced them to reason And did not His Majesty by word of mouth and He his Envoy Extraordinary after by his Order declare unto them in his Memorial of the 3d. of February 1663. O. S. his acceptance of that their invitation and his sending Sir John Lawson with a Fleet against those Barbarians and that it should act with all good correspondence with theirs and did they not do it accordingly until the time of De Ruyters quitting those parts and yet the Deputies would have it thought as if there had been nothing of a promise on the part of this State to continue De Ruyter against those Pirates and that there had been nothing of any Negotiation or Espece of Treaty or Promise concerniug that matter And had they so much upon any accompt to say against the King his Master as he hath to say against the Estates General in this as well upon the accompt of the unhandsomness as of the unwarrantableness of the action what an Out-cry would they make and what accompt is hereafter to be made of any of their Declarations as to the imployments of their Fleets And whereas it follows pag. the 35th That the English have made two different Treaties with those Pirates without giving notice to this State The first Treaty was made long before the writing of that Letter yea the said Letter refers thereunto And for the second Treaty it was not made till long after De Ruyter had abandoned that work and was gon for Guiny and how then could His Majesties Fleet communicate with him and as to any other Princes of Christendom His Majesty was under no engagement concerning that matter with any of them They say further pag. 35. It would seem that it was the intention of the English to imploy the Forces of this State alone against those Pirates while they carried their Armes upon the Coast of Africa there to ruine the Commerce of the Inhabitants thereof Whereas as appears by the fore-said Letter His Majesty did not put this State upon sending against the said Pirates but they put him upon it so that if there were any designs it must be in them by vertue of that their solemn Letter and Engagement to put his Majesty out of all manner of jealousies or suspicion of their diverting that Fleet that so it might the more securely steal away for Guiny Nor is it altogether unworthy the remarking that there were laid up before hand in readiness about Cadix all manner of Provisions and Necessaries for such a Voyage And I pray whereas it is said in the Resolution of the Estates General of the 20th of September last That the reason of the communicating to him their intention of sending Van Campen was That His Majesty may be intirely assured of the sincerity of their intention for the conservation of peace and of all good understanding with him Yet when at the same time His Majesty prest to know whether De Ruyter was gone who was in truth the person design'd thither nothing would be made known to him or confessed concerning the same Yea the Deputies say as aforesaid It would have been a ridiculous action to have let the same to be made known and that the Ambassador of this State himself had no knowledge thereof And when they had as aforesaid sent out a considerable number of Ships of War to his Majesties Coasts presently after the Estates General write to him to keep in his Fleet and they would keep in theirs and press vehemently by their Ambassador an immediate answer and if His Majesty had yielded thereto he had been their catcht also They say further pag. 36. concerning the instruction of De Ruyter That he is sent onely to punish the Authors of these Violencies and Hostilities whereby
small matter Yet this is not the main but the consequence hereof which was no less then the utter overthrow of the whole English Trade in those parts For if the said Companies might upon such pretences as these are defeat such Ships as were sent thither of their Voyages without making good and just satisfaction who would adventure any more or to what purpose And what might then France expect of their new East India West India Companies but that their Ships return as these with their Empty Holds Provision spent Tackle worn out Mens wages to pay over and above and yet the most Christian King must be importun'd by this State even to break with his Majesty because of his opposing these mischievous practises And as to what they say that satisfaction was offer'd 't is true that after many Memorials long and tedious Conferences and many Months delaies seeing His Majesty and His Parliament netled and alarm'd in the highest degree with these and orher the Insolencies of the Subjects of this State they do in their Resolutions of the 5 th of June last New Stile promise that they would so direct matters as that satisfaction should be made but nothing followed thereupon And whereas they would impute the cause thereof to the want of some Body to pursue it on the behalf of the persons interessed did not he the said Envoy from day to day with all vehemence and earnestness continue to press them in their Name and on their behalf and yet what doth their Resolution of the 25 th of September say more then their former And whereas the 14 th Article of the late Treaty requires expresly that satisfaction be made within 12 months for all matters on this side the Cape de Bonesperance that should have happen'd after the conclusion of the said Treaty the said 12 Months did expire and nothing done Complaint having been made by Memorial concerning the Ships Charles and James on the 17th of September 1663. Old Stile concerning the Ships Hope-well and Leopard on November 7. following and concerning the Ship Mary on February 16. of the year 1663. Old St. and yet to this day no satisfaction given whereby the Treaty broke and in the mean while daily new Complaints the Hope-well hindred in a second Voyage to Porca the Samson Hopefull-Adventure Speed-well and Captain Bartwick's Ship and in a word every English Ship that went to trade upon the Coast of Africa that they could master in like manner defeated in their Voyage as the Charles James and Mary and not so much as Satisfaction promised for any of those and which is above all to be remarked That whereas we had been so long held in Expectation of our mony now at last instead thereof it is added in the afore-said Resolution That the Case is disputable so that we were now further off our payment then in the beginning of the Summer or if it had been given Us which it is not yet being done in this manner that is to say not as of Justice and due but only as out of particular Courtesie and Complaisance to His Majesty for that time What would it have avail'd us The Dutch East-India Company did in the year 1659. make satisfaction for the Postilion Frederick Francis and John as above-said taken upon the accompt of their having traded to Bantam then block't up by Sea by them and there was added in the Treaty concerning those Matters That the two Nations should for the future rencounter one another with all peaceableness and perfect friendship as well within the East-Indies as elsewhere Yet so great is the advantage that the said Companies have made by practices of this kind as notwithstanding the said satisfaction and promise of the State they have continued ever since to do the like as appears by the many Complaints of this kind of the English East-India Company specified in the Englist LIST of Damages for that by hindring other Nations from trading they inforce the Natives to compact with them for the whole Product of their Countries and so though they do make satisfaction for the particular Ships stopped yet they thereby become infinite Gainers and then not suffering any Nation to Trade there because they say they have agreed for the whole Nor hath their present Grandeur arisen so much from their Mesnage or any thing of that kind as from these violent and indirect Means And if these things were practised by the said Companies while disowned and discouraged by the State and promise made that the like should not be done for the future What was now to be expected from them when it was said by the State that it was disputable whether they might not do so yea in the Dutch List of Damages as above-mentioned satisfaction demanded from the English for having traded in Places block'd up by them by Sea as they call it And thus whereas this Dispute had hitherto been only between the Companies of each side it was now become a Dispute immediatly between his Majesty and this State they patrocinating and maintaining what the said Companies had done And do not the Deputies say in this Book pag. the 11 th That These Pretensions are not so clear but that they may be disputed And pag. 18. they say We do avow and We do maintain that it might be done And thereby all hopes of any quiet Trade or good Understanding in those Parts for the future utterly cut off and not only so but what Security nearer home Do not the Deputies say in pag. 17. That which is just in the Indies cannot be unjust in Europe And is not that a fair Warning to all the Kings of Christendom to let them know what they are in time to expect in these Parts also that is to say to be handled by those of this Country as their said Companies now handle the Kings of the Indies to be told that unless they will sell them the whole product of their Countries they shall sell them to no body and to have Fleets plac'd upon their Coasts for the effecting thereof And as to what is said of their having proffered a Reglement for the future he refers to what is said by him concerning this matter in his Reply to pag. 17. And as to what is said pag. 11. concerning the Parliament of England the said Envoyée Extraordinary could wish that with what ever Language the Deputies had pleased to treat him that they had been more sparing as to them They say there That the Proposition which the Parliament made to His Majesty was That He ought to attacque this State and to make War upon them The two Houses of Parliament as is known to all that understand the Government of that Kingdom are they to whom the People thereof do ordinarily in great greivances address themselves and it is their Natural way for relief and the said Houses upon such Complaints cannot transact or treat with any Forraign Prince or State that being the Prerogative
State and what if it should be Retorted Hereby may one Judge of the Candour and Sincerity of the Hollanders c. Page the Fourteenth Fifteenth and Sixteen Concerning the Ship St. Jacob Laden at Gottenburgh and bound for England the Deputies are pleased to say First The said Envoy hath the Impudence to say that This State are the Aggressors in Europe for that they Stopped in their Ports a Certain Ship which came from Sweden Laden with Masts That which he saith is so Extravagant and the Reason wherewith he backs it so Impertinent that none but Sir George Downing would have affirmed the one or made use of the other Secondly Seeing the Ship concerning the stopping whereof he complains was of Gottenburgh What had he the said Envoy to do to Intermeddle therein Thirdly This State had Defended the Transporting out of the Country of all sorts of Commodities serving for the Equipping of Ships after the Publication of these Defences this Pretended Ship of Gottenburgh hapning to be in one of the Havens of this Country it was necessary that She had a Particular Permission from the States to go out Fourthly That Liberty was granted Her to go out and it depended onely upon them to be gone Fifthly That during the being of this Ship in this Country News came that the English Took and Stopped in their Havens all Ships belonging to the Inhabitants of these Provinces As to the First with your Favour He is not the onely Person or the First that Affirmed them to be the First Aggressors in Europe and that among other Reasons upon the Accompt of the Stopping of this Ship the King His Master had said the same in His Narrative given to His Parliament in the Month of November and therein among other Arguments alleadged the business of this Ship So that 't is His Majesty upon whom these Incivil and Opprobrious Terms of Impudence c. are Cast and do Abutt nor was the said Narrative unknown here at the time of the Writing of this Book As to the Second The said Ship was Laden upon the Accompt of one Sir William Warren an English man and Merchant of London and Bound for England and those of the said Ship with whom the said Lading was Intrusted did apply themselves to him the said Envoy upon her stop for his assistance for the obtaining of her Releasment as well as to the Minister of Sweaden upon the accompt that she came from Gottenburgh and the Master a Burger of that Town And can it then be doubted whether he the said Envoy Extraordinary had to do with the Business or not or did he need Procuration from Sweaden or was it Intermedling with the Interests of another Crown to demand the Releasement of a Ship Laden upon the Accompt of His Majesties Subjects and Bound for England Concerning the Third Their Defence was against the Transporting of such kind of Goods if Laden and taken in this Country but this Case was quite otherwise for that this was a Ship which was driven in by much foul weather that she had met withall at Sea and so not in the least within the Compass or Question of the said defence nor lyable by the Treaty between His Majesty and this State to any molestation or search There are many sorts of Commodities that are prohibited by the Laws of England to be imported into that Kingdome or exported out of the same by the People of this Country yet such ships as are onely driven in thither by storme or other necessity and do not break Bulk are not nor cannot be questioned thereupon and that is this Case and so that the Defence aforesaid cannot in the least justifie the stopping and detaining this ship As to the Fourth The Master and Others intrusted with the Lading of the said ship were here solliciting at the time of the granting the Order for her Releasement and went immediately away therewith but coming to their ship and preparing to set sayle they were not suffered so to do but threatned to be shot at and so were forced to return back to the Hague again As to the Fifth It is not here confessed that while that Ship was in this Country they had Advise of the Stopping and Taking of their Ships in England and so there needs no more then this their own Confession to prove who first began to stop Ships in Europe And what though she were afterwards set at Liberty The Rupture was begun and then there were other things also to be Remedied as well as that And as to what is said Page the Sixteenth concerning the Confiscating of their Ships There was no Ship Confiscated or Condemned in England till the first of February Old Stile which was long after the Newes was Arrived at London of De Ruyters having Seized all the English Merchants Ships that he had met withall to a considerable Number and Value and having actually broken Bulk and taken out their Ladings and Appropriated them to the Dutch West-India Company Concerning the Reglement for the future the Deputies say Page Seventeen The said Envoy knows that they were alwayes ready to go about the making of a Generall Reglement and Treaty Marine but that he did alwayes excuse it and alwayes Declare when he was Summoned to Confer about this Matter that he had no Order concerning the same but onely to stick to the Termes of his Project To this he doth Reply that the Discourse concerning this Matter arose in Conferences with the Deputies of this State about several Injuries done to the English East-India and African Companies by the East and West-India Companies of this Country that thereupon for Prevention of the like for the Future His Majesty did Command him to tender to this State a Concept of a Reglement which accordingly he did Nor are there wanting instances of particular Transactions of that kind before between England and this Country and many things are proper for those Remote Parts which are not applicable nearer Home That he did daily presse the State for their Answer thereupon both by Word of Mouth and in severall Memorialls given in by him from time to time to that Effect But as to what they say that he was Summoned to Conferre about the same he doth utterly deny it much more that he should have refused the coming to Conference about those Matters nor did he ever Declare that his Orders were to abide onely by the Terms of the said Conceipt nor ever any such thing Imagined or Intended but onely that the said Concept should be a Ground-Work to work upon and that they might make their Exceptions thereunto and that there should be added thereto or taken there-from as should appear reasonable and fitting upon debate but that he could never make the least-advance therein nor ever had as is said in his Memorial one word of Answer from them concerning this matter As to the near Twenty Ships that he had affirmed in his Memoriall to have been taken in
which have been committed against them had been easily justified If then by this Reply it shall appear as it will that nothing was complained of by him but what was upon good and real ground it follows by the Deputies own confession that his Majesty is justified in what hath been done against the people of this Country and that he hath had sufficient ground and reason for the doing thereof Page the 19 Concerning the Remonstrance or Declaration of Valckenburgh they say The 14 ofAugust last the said Envoy presented a Memorial concerning the same subject upon which this State made a very considerable answer the 8 of October following so that he is in the wrong to say that satisfaction hath not been given him It is therein said that Valckenburgh Director General for the West-India Company upon the coast of Guiny doth not conclude in his Declaration to cause all other Nations to be gone out of all those Quarters ' T was not said by him in his Memorial that they had given him no answer but That a Remonstrance or Declaration had been published as well in the name of theStates General as of the said Company wherein was deduced their claim and pretended right to all that whole coast to the exclusion of all other Nations And that The said Declaration was not yet disavowed nor satisfaction given thereupon And hath not such a Declaration been published And did not he the said Envoy give this State a Copy thereof at their desire And can they say that in the forementioned answer it is disavowed And could it be call'd giving us satisfaction that when we complain that a Remonstrance is issued out by a Governour-General and that not only in the name of the West-India Company but in the name and on the behalf of the Estates General themselves claiming a whole Country wherein we have considerable Forts Lodges and Factories and a considerable Trade and which Remonstrance had been formerly sent and notified by the said Valckenburgh to the chief Agent of the English African-Company at their principal Fort to tell us that he doth not therein conclude to bid the English be gone What though he had not therein bid us be gone out of any place is not such a claim and the notifying thereof a great injury and which His Majesty had just reason to complain on and to expect should be disavowed by the State whereby his Subjects might be put out of apprehension of being disturbed in their quiet and peaceable possessions and Trade But he doth in the said Remonstrance not only claim the whole but therein actually commands the English to be immediately gone out of Tacorari and Cabo Corso two places in which they had not only a constant Trade but setled Factories at the very time of the issuing out the said Remonstrance as is therein confessed and acknowledged by him the said Valckenburgh and not only commanded them out of them but upon those very grounds and arguments upon which he therein claimed the whole And the Deputies will have it thought that the State hath given them satisfaction when they say in their deduction aforesaid That it doth not conclude to cause all other Nations to be gone out of all those Quarters So far from disavowing their pretended right to the whole or the commanding the English immediately out of those two Factories and places as that they will have it to be judged abundant satisfaction to them that they have time given them to dislodge by degrees first out of those places and not at once commanded to be gone out of all those Quarters And it is to be remarked that the said Remonstrance was issued out the 7 of June 1663. and so long after the conclusion of the late Treaty whereby it appears that since the conclusion thereof His Majesties Subjects were not onely disturb'd at Sea by the Shipping of the West-India-Company under the Command and by the Orders of the said Valckenburgh their General but also the whole Country claimed from them and actually commanded to quit immediately two of their setled and principal Factories And for what they say that Captain Holmes should have sent to one Henry Williamson Cop That Captain Holmes had sent three persons of condition to one Henry Williamson Cop that commanded at Cape Verd for the West-India-Company who said to him from Holmes that he had express Order from the King his Master to let all know that the right of Trading upon the coast of Africa from Cape Verd to the Cape of Bona Esperanza belonged to him onely to the exclusion of all other Nations We shew this State a formal Writing and not discourses which may fall and which may possibly not be well remembred or mistaken or stretched beyond the intent and meaning of them that said them And so was this Case yet what a mighty business did this State make hereof writing a Letter immediately to his Majestie expresly about it and causing their Ambassadour to complain highly thereof in an Audience demanded for that effect If we should make such ado about all the high words and threats in those parts and in the East-Indies and elsewhere of those employed by the East and West-India-Companies we should be able to do little else Besides those discourses are here acknowledged to have been upon the 12 of March 1661. and so long before the conclusion of the late Treaty and so upon which the Deputies cannot justifie any thing done by them since whereas this Remonstrance of Valâ—kenburgh was as abovesaid long after the conclusion of the said Treaty and so a new Breach and above all it is to be remarked that the Deputies do here confess That whatever it was that should have been said by Holmes or his order that it was immediately upon complaint as aforesaid disavowed by his Majestie as is here acknowledged page the 20. which their Lordships having represented to the King of Great Britain as well by their Letter of the 28 of July 1662 as by word of Mouth by their Ambassadours Extraordinary which were then at London His Majestie disavowed that Action of Holmes in his Answer of the 24 of August of the same year And so suppose such words had been spoken and that since the last Treaty yet they would have been so far from being to be imputed to his Majestie or to be made use of for the justifying of any Hostilities against his Subjects as that on the contrary this State had all the reason in the world to be highly satisfied with his Majesties generous and frank proceeding therein and themselves thereby so much the more condemned that when such a Remonstrance published in their Name and which a fresh breach being since the conclusion of the late Treaty and having been pressed so often and for so long time together concerning the same that yet to this day it is not disavowed by them on the contrary we are told that we ought to take it for satisfaction that
what is therein declared was not executed at once yea the Deputies will not admit that there was therein so much as an offensive word And for what is said of Selwyn's Paper page the 21. that could not have caused Valckenburgh's Remonstrance for that it was written after and in answer thereunto putting him in minde also of many outragious hostile actions done by him against the English desiring they might quietly continue in their Trade and Factories and telling him that they had more reason to bid him quit places he possessed then he them for that he did at that very time possess several places which did of Right belong to the English mentioning the same and particularly Cabo Corso and so that if they must come to dislodging that the English had more reason to expect that the Dutch should dislodge then they the English Page the 21 22 23 24. concerning the business of the King of Fantine they say first That he the said Envoy hath never produced any proofs Secondly That he doth not adde any particularities or circumstances that can give the least colour or appearance of truth thereto What he gave them was out of an Original Examination taken in the high Court of Admiralty at London and sent him by special Order of the King his Master with command to acquaint the State therewith and how is it them they are pleased to say that he hath given them no proofs or out of a meer loose Paper Nor was what he gave them as they are pleas'd to call it pag. 23. The saying of one person onely but attested also by one Dobson a principal person in those parts and what ground then or occasion for all these most injurious and reproachful terms which they are pleased upon this occasion to lavish out withal and spend a couple of leaves of paper upon such as no man would give to his Foot-man and might they not be retorted in the highest manner if one took pleasure in sullying his Mouth or Pen And as to the Second Had there indeed been no circumstances to make good the intention of such a Designe it might have passed like the Stories written to them by their Officers in the East-Indies of the designes of the English to besiege Batavia which are ridiculous in the very imagination of them But could there be more pregnant circumstances then those suggested viz. First That the Dutch did actually pay down to the Natives a sum of money for their encouragement Secondly That they did furnish them with store of Muskets and Powder from Aga which the English having notice of sent Souldiers to a certain Village thereby who de facto did surprise a part of them and bring them to Cormantine Thirdly That the West-India-Company were to block it up by Sea while attacqued by the Natives by Land and that accordingly two of their Ships were actually upon their way and come as far as Cabo Corso in order thereunto but that hearing of the failer of the designe of the Fantiners they immediately returned Page the 24 25 26 27. concerning the business of Cabo Corso they say First That it was attacqued and taken not by any rencounter that happened in those parts and which might have provoked Captain Holmes to those violences but by express Order of the King of Great Britain according to his own Confession and Declaration Secondly That the English have not pretended that Cabo Corso did belong unto them but since that they had carried their Arms thither and since that they have taken it Concerning the first he hath express and positive Orders from the King his Master to declare That his Majestie did never avow or say that he had given Orders to Holmes for the taking of that place That in his Answer of the 5th of August last given in writing to the Ambassadour of this State there is this following Clause Concerning Captain Holmes We have with great sincerity assured the said Ambassadour that he had no Commission to take Cape Verd nor any other place belonging to the Dutch or to do any act of Hostility upon any of the Subjects of the United Provinces that was not for the defence of Our Subjects and their Trade in those parts That all he ever said to the said Ambassadour concerning Cabo Corso was that he looked upon the Case as to that place to be very much differing from that of Cabo Verd and so much as that if he had given Order for the taking thereof very much might have been said for the justification thereof And to the like effect doth he the said Envoy Extraordinary speak in his Memorial That suppose his Majestie hath permitted his Subjects to endeavour to recover the possession thereof it could not be thought strange not could this State have had any just cause of Complaint or Grievance threat for the English had not onely a bare liberty of Trading or of having a Factory at that place as at several others upon that Coast but one Thomas Crispe chief Agent for the English Guiny-Company at the earnest invitation of the King of Fetu whose Land that was went thither about the end of the year 1649. and purchased the same of the said King and paid for it And after all things were concluded the Kings Officers summon'd all the Natives thereof by the beat of Drum both men women and children to a very great number and when they were all come together publike and solemn Proclamation was then and there made That the King of Fetu with the consent of his Officers and Great Men had sold the Land of Cabo Corso to him the said Crispe Whereupon the people gave several great shouts throwing the dust up into the air and cryed that that was Crispe's Land And the said Crispe is yet alive and now at London and hath by special Order of the King his Master sent to him the said Envoy the Contents hereof under his own Hand with the Testimony of others that were then in those parts and know the same to be true And some time after a party of the Natives of that Country falling upon the English House there and robbing and plundering the same and so the English retiring for the present the Swedes came thither demolished what had been there built by them and built a Fort upon the ground which the English had purchased Afterwards the Danes drove out the Swedes during the late War between those Crowns and then the Dutch got the place from the Danes And so the Dutch deriving from the Danes can have no better Title then the Danes and the Danes deriving from the Swedes can have no better Title then that of the Swedes which was onely Possession and having built upon the Land of another without their consent and so the Question is singly Whether the Land should follow the Fort or House or the House the Land and whether a Possession of so late a date can create a Title against a clear and undoubted
this matter with France he did not mention that business as intermedling betwen the French and them but if at this time they have sent a Minister into France to decry the King his Master and his Affairs and to stirre up that Crown against him and particularly upon the account of his having as they pretended given Orders for the taking Cabo Corso and New Netherlands to which His Majesties Subjects have so clear and undoubted a Title Was it from the purpose for him to say that suppose His Majesty hath given such Orders can any Prince think it strange or be surprised thereat much lesse the most Christian King as the words of his Memorial seeing it hath pleased the same King that very year to Order or suffer his Subjects to repossesse themselves in the same manner by Armes and force of a certain place called Guiana which they pretend to have been unjustly possessed and detained from them by the said West-India-Company And if that were a Digression the Deputies must give him leave to make another of the like kind and to put them in mind of the late Edict whereby all the Shipping of this Country in the Havens of that Kingdom were arrested and seized upon the single account of the having seized in this Conntry two Ships belonging to the French East-India-Company and though the said Ships were built here and but newly bought and that the pretence of seizing them was the Service of the State and payment proffered and that the dispute about them had been but of a few weeks standing Pag. 32 33. concerning the business of Cabe verd and the Ships of the West-India-Company taken by Captain Holmes on the Coast of Guiny Whereas he the said Envoy had said thereto First that His Majesty had not only disavowed his having given him any Order for the doing thereof but also disowned the Acts themselves Secondly that by the 14 th Article of the late Treaty 12 Months time is given for the doing of Justice upon what should happen either by Sea or Land upon that Coast since the conclusion of the late Treaty To the First the Deputies say that His Majesty had in like manner before disavowed the taking the Fort S t Andre by the said Holmes but yet that nothing followed thereupon This is fully answered before and thereby made appear that it is to themselves and not His Majesty to whom it is to be imputed that no further Progress had been made in that matter Yet it may not be amiss since the Deputies do so often make mention of this business and make so great Outcry concerning the same to add how little the Concern of this State is therein or in what had been done concerning it For that that Fort did not belong to the West-India Company of this Country but to the Duke of Courland and that they had but lately shufled themselves into it as they do into the Possessions of every one under one pretence or other Nor were they in it upon their own account but His and under pretence to keep it for him and so that the cause of complaint was not properly by them but the said Duke and though all possible Endeavours have been since used by them to draw him to their Party they have not been able to prevail therein but the said Duke hath applyed himself to the King his Master and His Majesty and He are come to an Agreement concerning the same and the said Agreement concluded and sealed and so neither the West-India Company nor the State have any thing to do therein And whereas they say that His Majesties answer was onely in Generall Terms but that he doth not positively promise restitution and reparation could more be said by him upon the first complaint yea as is said in his Memoriall could any further answer have been expected from the meanest of their own Courts of Justice in any Case that should come before them And were it not injustice to condemne the most criminall person before he were heard or at least a competent time given for his appearance and did not His Majesty say withall that Holmes had order to return and was expected very speedily in these parts and that so soon as he should be returned he would cause the matter to be examined Justice done and the Offendors punished And however the Deputies would insinuare as if that had been but an Elusion yet did he not return accordingly and upon his arrivall was he not immediately by his Majesties speciall Order carrito the Tower of London a place where none are put for any private disputes or for any Offences but wherein the King Himselfe is concern'd in order to his examination about these Matters But whereas the Deputies would have it be believed that the said Holmes is so Monstrous a Person and that all he had done had been without any provocation It may not be amiss to give here a touch of what he doth alleadge for his own justification And First as to the Fort S t Andre he saith that comming in the year 1661 into the River of Gambia to trade there as formerly the English had done that those of the said Fort fired at him and would not permit him to pass up the said River Whereupon he fell upon them As to the business of Cabo Verde he saith that comming again upon the Coast of Africa and going to the River of Gambia near Cabo Verde he was informed that a little before his arrivall there one that was Commander of the Ship Black Eagle and an Agent for the Dutch West-India Company in those parts had stirred up and engaged the King of Barra to make War against the English and had actually joyned himself and Ship with the said Kings Forces for the compleating of his designs and this was confessed to the said Holmes by the said King of Barra as he hath to shew under the Hands of many credible Witnesses who heard the same Moreover that the said Agent had endeavoured by summes of Mony and other Rewards to corrupt the Officers of the Royall Company to deliver into his Hands for the use of the Dutch West-Indiae Company the Places and Factories then in the possession of the English in those Parts and that hath been since made good by the Oath of some of the said Officers lately taken before the Lord Mayor of London Moreover that at a certain place called Ventam he had told Captain Manuel Vasse de Fraiula Commander in Chief for the King of Portugall in the River of Gambia and Manuel Alves de Britto and divers other Portugall Merchants that they were resolved to beat out the English That hereupon he went to Cabo Verde not with design to attaque the same or commit the least Hostility against it but onely to speake with the Governour of that place and to endeavour to compose matters for the present and untill finall Order should be taken concerning the same here in Europe but comming
the said Article In case the offendors against this Treaty do not appear and submit themselves to Judgment and give satisfaction within the time above expressed that then their Estates Goods and Revenues whatsoever shall be confiscated for the injuries and wrongs by them offered and be lyable to further personall punishment so that the said twelve Months is given not for sending Fleetes and Armies to Fight against them but for their appearance and submitting to Judgement and for the giving of satisfaction not the taking of it by force and then if it be not thus given and not before their Estates Goods and Revenues in generall liable to be seized but not by the Arbitrary and Violent proceedings of Vice Admirals but by a lawfull sentence by way of confiscation the words being Their Estates Goods and Revenues whatsover shall be confiscated for due and full satisfaction of the injuries and wrongs by them offred And if there be a failer herein and that Justice is either denyed or delayed then and not till then is the door open for wayes of Force against them And whereas they say Pag. the 34 th That it is not easie to make pass for the injuries of particular persons such Hostilities as have been done with the Armes and under the Pavilion of the Soveraign It is true that the 14 th Article doth reach only to such matters as should be done by the Subjects and inhabitants of either side and not to such things as should be done by His Majesty on the one side or this State on the other but suppose an offence be committed under the Flagg of either side that alone is not a sufficient argument to make it to be an act of the Government of either side for example Enno Doedestarre took the Charles aforesaid in the year 1660 in the Road of Martins in France with three Men of War of this State and under their Flagg And Captain Banckert of Zeland did since take in the Channell with one of their Men of War under their Flagg His Majesties Shaloup aforementioned then in his service And the East and West-India-Companies of this Country do proceed and act in the Name of the States General and Valckenburg's Declaration was in their Name yet hath the King his Master charged any of these actions upon the State as done by them meerly because done under their Flagg or be their Authority in generall No more can Holmes his actions by upon that account imputed to His Majesty that were done without His Order And whereas they say pag. 33. that then The same Article would authorize these violences which is pretends to hinder Is there no medium between authorising of them and the forbidding the having recourse to force for a certain time Is the submitting them for a certain time to a course of Justice an authorising of them And when entail'd with so severe a punishment in the issue as the Confiscation of their whole Estate declaring their persons to be enemies and further personal punishment and an Obligation upon him whose subject he is for the taking care that Justice be accordingly done for that otherwise the 23 Article of the same Treaty gives them liberty of having recourse to force And for what is said Pag. 34. It is not enough to disavow an action and to protect him that hath done it Is insisting that the person offending be proceeded against according as it is set down in the Treaty a protecting of him By the same Rule the maintaining of any Courts of Justice or form of proceeding against Criminals and the not suffering them to be taken in a violent manner out of their hands and tumultuarily fallen upon may be called a Protecting them His Majesty was alwayes farr from protecting of Holmes on the contrary he alwayes declared that so soon as he returned He would have him punished in case it should appear he had done amiss and if they would have had the patience to have expected the fruits of Hâ—s Majesties Justice but that it ought to be done according to the way in the Treaty that is to say that he ought to have a time to appear and submit himself to Justice and not a Fleet sent immediately to fall upon him Right or Wrong And if it shall be Objected That great inconveniencies might follow if this rule should be kept to With their favour it is reciprocal and so as much danger to the one as the other and yet the King his Master hath kept up himself Religiously thereto He did not upon the complaints made by his Subjects to him concerning the injuries done to them in those parts or the East-Indies since the late Treaty send a Fleet to those Coasts to fall upon the Subjects of this State and yet the Argument Of fear of other Violences and Pirateries to follow without end was much more strong on his side then it could be on theirs considering how his Subjects have been from time to time treated in those parts but made and continued his complaints here and expected their doing him Justice according to the said Article And suppose such an Article had not been made would not the inconveniences and dangers have been greater on the other hand the Government on both sides being then lyable to be engaged upon every complaint and suggestion to the sending of Fleets and Forces to the attacquing and falling upon the ships and Subjects and Possessions of each other and so it would be impossible at any time to continue six Months in Peace with one another Or though it should be true that the inconveniencies might be greater with this Article then without yet the Treaty being now ratified there is no place to object the same But under favour this Objection lies not at all against the said Article nor doth at all reach the case in dispute for the Article doth not hinder the providing against future Violencies and Robberies It doth not forbid the sending Force to protect and defend for the time to come as was also declared by his Majesty to the Ambassadour of this State and that such and such only were his Orders to Holmes all it forbids is that if any injuries have been actually done that force cannot immediately nor till the expiration of 12 Months be sent for the revenge thereof or for procuring Right thereupon of which nature were the Orders of this State to Van Campen and De Ruyter Whereas they say Pag. 33 34. If Sir George Downing would take the pains to look over his Memorial and to hearken to reason he would not have the boldness to give here an Explanation directly contrary to the Maxime which himself avowed in his Memorial of the 13 of Febr. 1664. Wherein he endeavours to justifie the action of Five English men of Warr that had taken since the conclusion of the late Treaty a Dutch Ship called the Arms of Amsterdam which he pretended to be an English Ship and to have been taken by those
it is also avowed concerning him as well as Van Campen that his sending to Guiny was not upon the defensive but also to fall upon His Majesties Subjects But whereas the words are That he should fall upon onely the Authors of these violencies And Monsieur Van Benningen in his late Paper published here in Print intituled The substance of what Monsieur Van Benningen Envoye from the States General to the most Christian King had represented to him in his Audience of September 1664. saith That the States had sent a Fleet to Guiny not to attacque reciprocally the Forts Ships and Goods of the Subjects of England but to re-take that which had been unjustly taken from them Whereas no sooner was De Ruyter come into those parts but finding there 8 Merchants ships that had not been arrived there above 7 or 8 dayes before and had no hand nor share in any thing done against the People of this Countrey yet he immediately seized them broke bulk unlading them and appropriating their Cargoes to the use of the West-India Company And in stead of declaring That they would punish De Ruyter for the doing thereof he is since the coming of that News advanced from being Vice-Admiral of Amsterdam to be one of the Lieutenant Admirals of Holland And the Deputies say here We judge that there is no body that will not praise and commend the prudent conduct of this State and that excellent design that they had to cause De Ruyter to go from the Streights to Guiny Nor is there any thing said for his being designed for the Coast of Guiny onely and so he may be designed for the attacquing of His Majesties Subjects in other parts of the World as well as there And now what occasion was there for the inserting of all those calumnies and reviling expressions in the Deputies Remarks much less for the State to have owned them and stamped their Authority upon them Is there so much as one incivil or indecent word challenged in any part thereof to have been in his Memorial and doth it not now appear that there was also nothing therein but what was according to truth And can it now be doubted by any who hath been the Aggressor and the Cause of all the present Disorders between the Nations First as to what before the Treaty to say nothing of the Bonne Esperanza and Bonne Adventure and how His Majesty hath been dealt withal in relation to them that having been already Printed and Published at large As to the Lists of Damages 't was as appears near 24 moneths after the Signing of the late Treaty ere he the said Envoye could obtain the Exchange thereof and then coming to the Examination of them according to the 15 Article Whereas the English List was so soberly Penn'd that but one Exception was made thereunto The Dutch List on the other hand was so composed as that scarce an Article thereof but liable to exception And that they had excepted against in the English List was at the next Conference expunged and so the said List agreed and ready to be proceeded upon On the contrary as to the Exceptions made against theirs to this day no answer returned whereby it remains at their doors that no farther procedure hath been for the adjusting and determining those matters And as to what hath hapned since the Treaty the Hope-well Leopard Charles and James c. had not only been stopped and defeated in their Voyages before any thing attempted by Holmes but the news thereof was come into England before he went thence nor was any thing done by him upon the Coast of Africa till it plainly appeared by the stopping of every other English Ship that came upon these Coasts that what was done was not done by accidental rencounters but out of design nor till Valkenburgh had actually commanded the English out of Cabo Corso and Tacorary two of their principal Factories under a penalty of a great sum of money for every moneth that they should remain there after the said notification and this done in a Declaration wherein he deduced the Right of this State to the rest also and so that the English could not but believe that the next News must be the commanding them to quit intirely the whole Coast Yet as he saith for himself he did not go about to take upon him the revenging thereof nor had done what he did but upon immediate Attacques and Provocations upon the respective places occasioning the same and suppose it had been otherwise yet upon complaint made by this State can they say that His Majesty did by them as they did by him in the business of De Ruyter viz. give them no answer at all or such a one as they gave him in the business of the stopping the said Ships and of the said Declaration yea did he not immediately disavow what had been done by the said Holmes and declare that he had no Orders from him for the doing thereof and that so soon as possible matters could be examined he would do therein according to Justice and Reason yet contrary to the Express Letter of the 14 Article which gives a twelve Moneths time upon complaints in those parts this State within 6 or 7 weeks after complaint resolve to send a Fleet of Men of War of their own thither and within about as many weeks more put a Resolution into his Majesties hands whereby it appears that their Orders were not to be upon the Defensive only and to convoy and protect their Subjects and shipping from further injuries but to attacque and fall upon his Majesties Subjects and not some one or more of them by Name but under such general words as from the reach whereof none of them were secure and that not upon the Coast of Africa only but even here in Europe in the Channel before his own Ports And what though there had been no other Provocation but this very Resolution was not this alone enough to have warranted his Majesty to have fallen upon them both in Europe and elsewhere If any King or State send a Declaration to another King or State letting them know that they have prepared a Fleet and have actually given orders to the Commanders thereof to fall upon their Subjects and that it appears that nothing but wind and weather hinders the execution thereof suppose the said King or State to whom such intimation hath been given shall thereupon and while God Almighty by his Providence hinders the execution of the said Orders attempt something against them or their Subjects Shall not yet the other that gave the said Denunciation be looked upon as the Aggressor Yet his Majesty remained still only upon the defensive doing nothing against them yea whereas 12 Months were now expired since the Complaints made by his Majesty concerning the Charles and James c. and nothing of satisfaction given whereby the said Article upon that account was also expresly broken by them and his
A REPLY OF Sir GEORGE DOWNING Knight and Baronet Envoy Extraordinary from His Majesty of Great-Britain c. TO THE REMARKS OF THE Deputies of the Estates-General UPON HIS MEMORIAL Of December 20. 1664. Old Stile LONDON Printed Anno Dom. 1665. A REPLY of Sir George Downing Knight and Baronet Envoy Extraordinary from His Majesty of Great Britain c. To the Remarks of the Deputies of the Estates General upon his Memorial of the 20 th of December 1664. Old Stile THE under-written Envoyée Extraordinary of His most Sacred Majesty of Great Britain c. having sent to the King His Master a certain Book printed at the Hague and Entituled Succinct Remarks and Deductions made by the Deputies of the Estates General of the United Provinces upon his last Memorial and approved by the said Estates and ordered by them to be delivered by their Agent de Heyde to the Ministers of several Kings residing here and to be sent to their Ministers abroad with this Direction and Instruction pag. 3. To the End that they continue duly to inform those Kings of the foundation of the Alliance which this State hath with them and of the true State of Affairs and to the End that they do cause Their Majesties to comprehend the sincerity of their Intentions and Procedure And His Majesty having also been informed That the said Book hath accordingly been sent and delivered hath commanded him His Minister to say thereupon by way of Reply as followeth And first as to the bitter Invectives Reproaches and foul and railing Language wherewith the said Book is stuffed from the beginning to the End It is to be remarked that it is an usual thing here however strange it may seem elsewhere to revenge themselves in this kind upon any with whom they have Disputes How many Resolutions hath he seen of the Estates General wherein the Subjects of other Princes having addressed themselves to the Kings their Masters upon their just Complaints against the People of this Country and the said Complaints thereupon brought to them in their Name and by their Order they have not contented themselves with the not doing them Justice but fallen upon their Persons with railing Language treating them with the Title of Impudent c. And having had lately a Dispute with the Bishop of Munster a Prince of the Empire they thought it not enough to take the Sconce or Place in Question but in their Letter to the Emperor of the 10 th of June 1664. and which was printed and sold publickly here at the Hague they treated the said Bishop with the Titles and Characters of Vnjust Vsurper great Impudence and that his humour rendred him incompatible if not to His own Subjects yet at least to all His Neighbours But certainly 't is a practice very little to the reputation or advantage of any that use it Such as have a good Cause in hand to plead will not spoil it by railing Language which renders suspect whatever is said as proceeding from Passion and not from Reason but such as have an ill one when they cannot answer ad Argumentum they turn themselves ad Hominem And as to himself he is not here as a particular Person but as the Minister of the King his Master And he is commanded to say that there was not one word in his said Memorial that passed the bounds and limits either of his Orders or of Civility and good Manners And as whatever Evil Treatment by Word or Deed is done to any publick Minister residing in any Court in the Execution of his Office and Instructions is done to his Master That His Majesty takes them all as said against his own Royal Person Crown and Dignity and looks upon it as a piece of Turcism and of the way of those of Algiers where when any Dispute arises between them and any other Prince or State that hath a Minister residing there they sometimes revenge themselves upon the Minister first with reviling Words and then with blows and the one is as lawful as the other Nor is the King Himself His Parliament and the whole Nation in General better treated therein than he and is this the way to accommodate matters or is this a proper preparatory and Introduction to that Extraordinary Embassy from France to England for that End And as to the matter of the said Book page 5 th 6 th The Deputies endeavour to justifie the Procedure of the Estates General in not communicating to him their Resolution to which his last Memorial was an Answer upon this double ground First That if he the said Envoy Extraordinary would have had it or any Copy of it that he ought to have sent to their Secretary for it Secondly That it was not their intention to answer to his Memorial and that he had nothing to do with that Resolution As to the first Every Court hath its Customs and he doth declare That to his best remembrance in the many years he hath resided here he never received any one Resolution of the Estates but what was sent to him by their Agent de Heyde or some other Officer of theirs and that having once for hast sent to their Secretary for the Copy of a Paper that did concern him answer was made That they could give none till they had order and that when they had such order it should be sent As to the Second Was not the said Resolution Entituled Extract out of the Register of the Resolutions of the Estates General upon the Memorial of Sir George Downing And doth it not begin Having deliberated by way of Resumption upon the Memorial of Sir George Downing c. And was not the whole Body thereof To make appear the contrary of what had been by him alleadged in his said Memorial And how is it then That he had nothing to do with it Was he not here upon the accompt of the King his Master to do his business to maintain his Cause upon the accompt of the Disputes between him and this State And shall such a Resolution be Printed and published and given to other Ministers by them and can it be said that he had nothing to do with it Whereas in truth he was the principal and concerned in the first place and other Ministers only Secondarily and that their Communicating the same to them and not to him lookt rather like a Surprisal of them and their Master then otherwise For what is further said page 6th of his having distributed his Memorial 't was not he but the King his Master that sent it to other King and Princes All he did was to give it to some other Ministers And what is more ordinarily and constantly practis'd here and in other Courts then for publick Ministers upon occasion to give one another Copies of their Memorials and Papers But this was not done till it had been first given to the Estates General and they in printing and publishing their Answers without delivering them to him or
of the Crown and so humbly applyed to His Majesty That he would be pleased to interpose for the obtaining satisfaction in those numerous and great Complaints but as to the attacquing of this State or making War with them that there is not a word of any such matter in the said Proposition but it hereby appears what is in the Deputies sense attacquing of this State viz. Let never so many Injuries be done by the People of this Country to others if after never so many years patience and utmost Endeavours for obtaining satisfaction in an amicable way serious and real Consideration be at last had for obtaining the same This is attacquing them and becoming an Aggressour and they are pleased to add as to the Reason and Ground thereof It must necessarily be believed that this Proposition proceeded from an insatiable appetite that they had to ravish the Goods of others and from a depraved Gusto that they found in the Taking Robbing and Depraedation of the Inhabitants of these Provinces A very uncharitable construction and such a one as none but the Deputies of this State would ever have made Suppose never so much to be taken from the People of this Country What Advantage could the Parliament of England have thereby or what could they expect by a War as to their own particular Accounts but only to be Contributors largely with the rest of the Kingdome out of their own Fortunes towards the maintenance thereof as if one would take the Liberty of Retorting might it not be said and with much more Reason that the East and West-India Companies of this Country durst not presume to do as they do but because so great a part at least of the Governours thereof are concerned in them and that it ariseth from the same ground that it is so difficult and almost an impossible thing to obtaine Justice and Satisfaction for any Injury done by them be the Case never so Clear and Evident For what is further said in page 11. The said Envoy Declares possitively that he hath Order from the King His Master to assure this State that His Majesty will not permit that His Subjects do Attaque or Surprize as Sea the Ships of the Inhabitants of these Provinces And that the King would do them no hurt till he had Advertised them by a Formal and Preallable Declaration of War To this he doth Reply that he cannot but wonder that the Deputies do Affirm that he doth Declare thus much the words of his Memorial being as followeth That the King his Master did the last Spring to take away from them all Umbrage which might cause any Extraordinary Equipping at that time give him Order to Assure them as he then did in a Publique Conference with their Deputies That His Majesty would not trouble or hinder their Fleets which they then expected out of the Streights and theEast-Indies nor those then at the Fisheries upon His Coasts And was not all that made good to them to a puncto and is it not a very ill requital for so franck and seasonable a Declaration as that was at that time and which the King His Master was no way obliged to make to them and which was made good thus to misrecite his Words For the Justification of the Extraordinary Equipage in these Parts the last Summer the Deputies say page 11 and 12. They Take they stop in the Havens of England and Confiscate with their Merchandizes the Ships of this Country by Express Order of the King and yet cry out against their Equipage though but small and such as had been heretofore made So that it was impossible that the said Equipage could give any Umbrage to the King of Great Brittain Especially after they had assured His Majesty by their Letter of the Twenty fourth of July that their Reall Intention and Constant Resolution was to do no hurt to His Subjects and that it would be fitting not to suffer that the said Fleets should go off their Respective Coasts and Havens and that the King said to the Ambassadour of this State in the Audience He had about this Matter That His Majesty would let Him know His Mind concerning this Matter in Three Dayes in Writing which yet he hath not done to this day It is to be Remarked that they here Alledge the Taking Stopping and Confiscating of the Ships and Goods of this Country in these Parts for a ground to Justifie the late Extraordinary Equipage Whereas that Equipage was Ordered and Equipped in the beginning of the Summer and the Taking and Stopping of the said Ships was not till November following nor any Confiscated till February after And as to what they say that that Equipage was but very small and that they had formerly made the like Did they not resolve in the beginning of Summer to Equippe Thirty of their Capital Ships over and above their Fleet under De Ruyter and such as were fitted out for the Convoy of their East-India Ships and what for Guiny And was this a small Equipage And were not hundreds of Carpenters sent on a suddaine to work thereupon sparing as is said in his Memorial neither Holy Day nor Work a Day Moon-light nor Sun-light as if it had been upon the most Pressing and Urgent Necessity that could have fallen out and this in a time when they had no Dispute with any other Nation that could give any imaginable Occasion or Pretense for the same Nor had the King His Master at that time above Seven or Eight Men of Warr in these Seas nor any further Equipage in hand And he had Declared in His Answer to His Parliament which was well known here that He would yet Endeavour the Accommodating of Matters with this State in an Amicable way and give Orders to him His Minister to that Effect And how can it then be here said That it was impossible that this Equipage could give any Umbrage to His Majesty On the contrary how was it possible but that it should give him the utmost Umbrage it being very well known that their Lordships are too good Mesnagers to put themselves to such an Extraordinary Expence in a Frolick and without some proportionable Design and to be sure such Design could not be with Reflection upon any other then himself And as to the Letter to His Majesty above mentioned they do here Confesse page 12 and 13. as was Alledged by him in his said Memoriall That they had one Fleet Actually out and gone to His Majesties Coasts at the time of the Writing of that Letter and so would have been out of that Engagement and it was as Numerous as that of His Majesties for the keeping whereof within Doors they were so Solicitous And whereas they say That this State had no other Fleet at Sea that was Capable to Act for that those that they had at Sea were onely Destinated for the Convoy accustomed to be sent every Year for their Fleet out of the East-Indies It is not
usual to send every year such a Fleet as that for the convoying home of their East-India men and there is not one Word in the said Letter concerning that Fleet much less to assure him of the design and intention thereof and why they umbraged as His Majesties having Sixteen or Seventeen Men of War together in the Downs His own Port and where he is wont ordinarily even in times of the greatest Quiet to have as many for the Honour and Grandent of His Kingdom and he in the mean while not umbraged at their sending as many upon His Coasts when they had also at the same time another Considerable Fleet in Readiness at Home And suppose they had assured His Majesty in their said Letter to Him with all the Fine Words Imaginable that this Fleet had been onely Destinated for the Convoy of their East-India Ships had they not in like manner assured Him when they sent De Ruster into the Streights that he was Destinated only against the Pirates of Algiers and those Parts and yet it was after found that he was capable to Act elswhere and upon other accompts And if it be considered about what time those Orders must have been sent to him It will appear that his going to Guiny must have been in Design and Agitation about the very time of the delivery of this Letter to His Majesty for that He received them about the beginning of September New Stile And at the same time they had also in Agitation the Preparing of another Fleet under the Notion of sending thither which also was out of the Engagement in the said Letter and yet the Deputies would have it thought that the States had Proceeded with such Incomparable and Indisputable Candour and Franknesse towards His Majesty in Relation to these Matters Whereas in Truth all their Overtures to Him concerning the Dispositions of Fleets had Designs and Catches with them And on the Contrary His Majesty to shew His Reall Peaceable Intentions had from the beginning of the Reports about these Equipages Earnestly pressed that the same might not be and that no Extraordinary Equipage upon either side should be made for that then to be sure there could not be any thing of ill Ren-counter Surprize or Jealousie And as to what they say Page the Thirteenth That they did pay them off so soon as their East-India Fleet was Arrived Was not Tromp Commander of that Fleet and others of them after the Arrival of their East-India Ships Re-victualled and sent to joyn with their Lievtenant Admiral Obdam before the Maâ—s and continued with him a long time after And as to what is said or His Majesties having promised to give them His Answer in Writing in Three Days It appears hereby how Exact their Lordships are in taking notice of and Expecting the Fulfilling of whatsoever is said to them even to the least Circumstance and Puncto and to take Advantage thereupon It were well if such Ministers as Reside here could obtain in many Months that which often times is promised to be given them in a few days but if they Please to Examine first the Memorial of the Ambassadour of This State to His Majesty of the 11 31 th of July last They will find it therein said that His Majesty had even then by Word of Mouth given him His Answer as to this point the VVords being That his Majesty had been Pleased to Answer upon the First Point Touching the Keeping of the Fleet from going to Sea that the Numbers which were Fitted and Prepared on His Majesties Side were no way Extraordinary but onely for Common and Customary Use and without Designe of bringing any Dammage and Inconvenience upon the Inhabitants of the United Provinces and that though they did goe out that He would give such Order to the Chief Commander thereof that this State should have no cause to apprehend any Sinister Encounters from the same And upon the Fifth day of August following His Majesty gave the said Ambassadour an Answer in VVriting to the like Effect And how is it then here affirmed That His Majesty hath not to this day made known to their Ambassadour in Writing His intention concerning this Matter And may it not Justly be said that he that was the Penner of this Book was either very little acquainted with hath passed between His Majesty and this State or very ill inclined For VVhat follows Page the Thirteenth Hereby may be Judged the Candour and Sincerity of the English for that before the time of this Equiping which they would have to be thought the Immediate Cause of the Violences they have done the King of England had already given Order to Attacque and take by Force the Places and Forts belonging to this State so that in serving themselves of this Pretext for the Covering of their manifest Violences they give themselves insensibly into a Ridiculous Contradiction producing for an Effect that which had its being a long time before its Cause As to how farr His Majesty is from being lyable to be Charged or Blamed upon the Accompt of any of these Matters appears by what follows where they are Treated of at Large but as to the Purpose for which they are here Produced viz. As if they had been made a Foundation for what had been done afterwards by His Majesty here in Europe If it had been so it had indeed been very Ridiculous but all the use that is made by Him in His Memorial of that Extraordinary Equippage was to shew that they did thereby inforce His Majesty to Arme also the Words being Page the Fifth Seeing himself Menaced with these Equipages which could not be but with regard to the KING Himself was at last constrained though very contrary to His Inclinations to Arme Also So they might also have saved the Labour of saying afterward Page the Thirteenth and Fourteenth It cannot be said these Orders were given because of the Equipage made in this Country or because of the Voyage of De Ruyter to the Coast of Africa seeing they were Executed before the said Equippage was made here and long before the Voyage of De Ruyter He was not so Ridiculous as to make that which had hapned after to be the Cause of what had been done several Months before and when and where and by such Persons as could have no manner of Imagination thereof Nor was ever the said Equipage or De Ruyter's going to Guiny produced for the Justifying of what was done by the English there and therefore one would think some more Grounded Occasion at least should have been found out if they had had a minde to take to themselves the Liberty of falling upon the whole English Nation with such Reproachful and Disdainful Language and which it may be is not elswhere to be found no not upon the Reallest of Occasions to have been given by any State to a Nation in General And to say no more the English have deserved better from this Country and
them And was not one Deyer sent in Cromwell's time to stop their Insolencies and who did Free the English of them in severall places Moreover did not the last Governour of New-Amsterdam so called lately come with Armed men to a certain English Town called West-Chester within the bounds of the English Colonies and where they had bought the Land of the Natives as is their Custome not to settle any where in those parts without first contracting with them and by force compelled them to come under their obedience and to pay them contributions or else to quit their dwellings in two Month's time and Named the place Oostdorp And about three years ago upon fresh complaints of their Usurpations by Land and moreover that they did stop and hinder the English Shipping from their Trade in those parts Was not one Scot sent to warn them to live quietly and not to injure the English or otherwise that some other Course should be taken with them and yet the Deputies would have it thought that there hath been nothing of this kind and that what hath of late been done to the Dutch in those parts should have been a surprize without any thing of provocation or occasion given And as to the fourth Particular more needs not be said then what is in his Memorial viz. That the English had by their Charter Jura Belli in those parts without appealing first into Europe but if it can be made good that they have done any injury to the People of this Country His Majesty will be alwayes ready to see that right be done But whereas their Lordships doe in severall places of this Book say that His Majesty should have confessed that the taking of New Netherland so called should be done by his order He is commanded to say that his Majesty never said more concerning this then concerning Cape Corse and that he did never say to the Ambassador of this State that he had given any such Order Nor did he give it nor was the said place taken by any Order of his And if the Deputies had pleased to have minded the Answer of the States General of the ninth of October last given to His Majesty by their Ambassador They would therein have found that the said Estates doe not impute the taking of New Netherland to His Majesty but to his Subjects in those parts the words being That their Lordships have made complaint that His Majesties Subjects in New Netherland had with Violence driven the Subjects of this State out of their Possession And this was after De Ruyter was actually gone for Guiny nor was so much as any thing known in Europe concerning the taking of Cabo Corso till about the same time And how then these matters and His Majesty having said that they were done by his Order throughout this Book produced to justify the sending him thither Pag. 30 and 31. Concerning what had been said by him the said Envoy Extraordinary that the 15 th Article doth onely Mortify matters of Piracy and the like and not of Rights and Inheritances of Lands They say It is hard to say whether the said Envoy doe faign the ignorant or be so in Effect And for the disproving of what had been said by him they produce the instance of the Island of Polerone concerning which they say That it being stipulated by the said Articles that the said place should be restored that consequently all other matters of that kind must be thereby mortified for that Exceptio firmat Regulam And add this harsh expression A strange blindness if it be not willfull Whereas that clause of the Treaty run's that by the restitution of the said Island all actions and pretensions for losses injuries and offences committed upon each other in India and known in these parts the 10 â—0 of January 1658 9 should cease be extinguished and annulled Moreover the Deputies offer no answer to the instance given by him in his Memoriall concerning the case of Sir William Lower which was a Case depending in their own Courts of Justice concerning an Inheritance of Land long before the years 1654 or 1659 which are the respective times of the generall abolition in the said Article and yet since the conclusion of the late Treaty that case hath not been abolished but still proceeded in and continued as before And how many other cases and actions are there of the like nature upon disputes concerning the Inheritances of Land depending in the Courts of both sides as also concerning Morgages and other reall Engagements and concerning Wills and Testaments Bonds Obligations and Merchnts accompts of antienter Date then the tearms prescribed in that Article Let but the Deduction of the States Generall of the ninth of November last be looked upon and they will find therein enough of this kind and how strange and monstrous an Article would that have been that should have abolished all Men's actions of these kinds And further to shew that it was the meaning of those that made the Treaty at the time when they Penn'd it that that Article should not have so vast an extent but only to reach to matters of Piracy and the like The Deputies might have remembred that during the Negotiation thereof this very Objection was made by the Ambassadours of this State upon the debate of this matter viz. that it might be of too large and generall extent and his Majesties Commissioners did returne to them for answer as followeth Their Excellencies have already seen a Catalogue of the complaint of divers of His Majesties Subjects for injuries done to them by the Dutch so that if they please to call the same to mind there can be no such incertitude in the Article concerning Commissioners as their Papers would seem to intimate Moreover it will appeare that this Article of Commissioners is not desired for businesses of Lands and Houses but for matters of Pirateries and Merchandizes taken by force which we desire should be so Examined and determined for the avoiding the charge and delay of Juridicall Proceedings And upon this account His Majestey did not nor needed not make mention of this businesse during the Negotiation of that Treaty and upon the same account His Majesty did not think fit to insert in the List of Dammages this pretence of His Subjects thereto nor to the Fort of Cabo Corso though as to the spoile and burning of their Goods there he did cause that to be put into it Besides as hath been shewen above there were very many and great provocations done in those parts call'd New Netherlands to the English since the conclusion of the late Treaty and so though the Treaty were to be construed as they would have it yet it doth not help them concerning the businesse of Guiana They say Pag. the 31. The Digression which the said Envoy makes as to the business of Guiana is from the purpose for that say they he hath nothing to doe to trouble himself how this State will make off
Majesty at liberty to have righted himself yet notwithstanding he did not do it and that though they on the other hand had as aforesaid in relation to their pretences broken in upon the said Article indeavouring to right themselves by force within the time limited contrary thereunto Nor did his Majesty intermeddle or give order for the offering the least offence to their Subjects till he certainly knew that De Ruyter had quitted that Coast and work he was sent hence about and that his Majesty had again again demanded of the Ambassadour of this State residing in his Court to be satisfied whether he was gone and upon what design which he had reason to demand and expect to be satisfied in First because the work was not then done with those of Algiers and that this State had as is above shewn engaged to his Majesty that that Fleet should continue there till an issue thereof And secondly because that being in such a manner gone away 't was not to be imagined in that conjuncture of Affairs that it could be upon any other account then to go to Guiny to fall upon his Subjects there Nor is it an answer to say That their Ambassadour did not know it He was their Ambassadour and his Majesty did demand it of him and if they did not think fit either by him or otherwise to satisfie his Majesty concerning the same and considering their Resolution that they had put into his hands concerning Van Campen and yet in which they make such Protestations to his Majesty of proceeding so frankly with him what could he then conclude but that while they were here amusing him under the notion of Van Campens going to Guiny that De Ruyter was gone thither to execute what was threatned to be done by Van Campen Moreover that themselves had actually begun the stopping of ships in those parts stopping the ship from Gottenburg bound for London and now and not till now did the King his Master intermeddle by way of Force and yet only stopping and seizing their ships and that only till such time as he should come to be satisfied concerning the designes and acting of De Ruyter as was several times declared by him to the Ambassadour of this State Nor was any disposition made of any of the said ships or their ladings or any of them declared Prize until the first of February O. S. which was long after his Majesty had certain News that De Ruyter was arrived in Guiny and had taken a whole Fleet of Merchants ships of his Subjects unladen the Goods and which were ships that had not done any thing against this Countrey and the said ships were seized upon the 13 October O. S. and upon the 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 of the same Moneth he did unlade the same into his own ships whereas his Majesties order for the seizing of the ships of this Country was not till the 9 of November following of the same stile nor any ships stopped or seized thereupon till a day or two after so that De Ruyter had actually seized and unladen a whole Fleet of English ships long before his Majesty had so much as given order for the intermedling with any ships of this Countrey or doing any thing against them Nor were any Letter of Mart granted by his Majesty till long after they had been granted by this State against his Subjects nor Trade prohibited between both Nations by him till the like first done here And whereas the Deputies do so often in this Book charge his Majesty with having done what he did without any preceeding Denunciation or Declaration he did not denounce before hand to them the doing of what was done by Holmes nor what was done in New Netherlands nor could he these being actions done without his Order but as to what was done by his Order viz. the taking and seizing of their ships in these parts to say that this was done without any preceeding Denunciation is like the rest of the Calumnies in this their Book Not to mention what passed between his Majesty and the Ambassadour of this State upon this account was not the Memorial of him the said Envoye to the States General of the 27 of July last as followeth His most Sacred Majesty of Great Britain c. being desirous to omit nothing that may in any wise contribute on his part for the prevention of any misunderstanding or breach between Him and this State hath by His last Post expresly commanded him His Envoye Extraordinary to declare to their Lordships the Estates General of the United Provinces that His Majesty hath given order to examine the Complaints that have been made unto him in their Name against one certain Captain Holmes for matters alledged to be done by him on the Coast of Guiny and will upon full information and hearing of both parties do according to Reason and Justice But if their Lordships shall not think fit to expect the doing thereof but contrary to the stile and practice of all Nations and particularly of his Majesty towards them whom yet to say no more He hath not found over-quick in the dispatch of Justice towards his Subjects and expresly against the letter of the Fourteenth Article of the late Treaty with Him having made their complaint shall think fit immediately to have recourse to Force for remedy they might as well have spared the labour of making their Complaint and the King his Master will hold himself obliged to oppose Force to Force Given at the Hague this 7th of April 1665. O. S. G. Downing FINIS