of the States of Zealand which they did who therewith advised the States General at the Hague they consulting with Sir Ralph Winwood Embassador for His Majesty there who was a favourable Instrument to them in this Business sent Instructions to the Lord Caroon then their Ambassador in England to acquaint the Lord Treasurer herewith And in case of no satisfaction from him to make his Adresses to the King which he did His Majesty being much incensed that His Subjects and Souldiers should starve for want of their Pay in foreign parts sent for the Lord Treasurer who drawing His Majesty aside and telling Him how empty His Exchequer was His Majesty told their Ambassador that if his Masters would pay Him His Money they owed Him He would deliver up those Towns The next day their Ambassadour waiting upon the King to know whether His Majesty persisted in the same Resolution His Majesty answered That He knew the States of Holland to be His good Friends and Confederates bot in point of Religion and Policy therefore He apprehended not the least fear of any difference that should fall out between them In contemplation whereof if they would have their Towns again He would willingy surrender them The States hereupon made up the money presently and sent it to the King And so Anno 1616. the cautionary Towns were delivered unto them The King such was his Royal Bounty unto them remitted the Interest and five pounds for every Gentleman and Officer which died in their service Which Sum certainly would have amounted unto treble the Principal The King of Spain having spent in those Wars one hundred and fifty millions of Crowns and wasted 600000 men and was plung'd so deeply in debt notwithstanding his Mines of Mexico and Peru that having taken up money in all the chief Banks of Christendom He was forced to publish a Diploma wherein he dispenc'd with himself as the Holland Stories report from payment alledging that he had imployed these monies for the publick Peace of Christendom What Sum the King received of them it is not comporting with the duty of a Subject to question or dispute Yet we may observe the treacherous and unhandsom practice of the States to suggest such notoriour untruths to His Majesty when they themselves by Agrement with the Queen were to pay the Souldiers in those Towns however they had been ungrateful to suffer such persons who had so highly merited of them to want when the States were built by the English valour and by their bloud united and cemented But having gotten the possession of their Towns which were the Lock and Key of their Provinces and having compounded for those exceeding great sums of money which they owed His Majesty which sober men did think they never had been able to pay if rightly stated they presently from Poor distressed People are swell'd up to those spreading and magnificent Titles of High and Mighty States Insolent Boggs They might rather have said unto Sedition Thou art my Father and unto Rebellion Thou art my Mother Now they make their Naval Expeditions into America and other parts of the World And by the leave and licence of King James paying some small Tribute they fall to their Fishing Trade upon the British Seas Wherein they did so exceedingly thrive that towards the latter end of King James His Reign they imployed yearly eight thousand four hundred Vessels of all sorts for their Trade of Fishing upon the British Seas which number since is vastly increased whereby they have a Seminary of Mariners ready for publick Service or Navigation And upon Computation it appeared that they made in one year of the Herrings oâ—ly caught upon the British Seas the sum of five millions of our pounds the Custom and Tenth of Fish advancing to the Publick Treasury no less than eight hundred thousand pounds besides the Cod Ling Hakes Pilehard and other Fish compated to amount unto near three millions more By reason of those maltitude of Ships and Mariners they have extended their Trade to all parts of the World exporting for the most part in all their Voyages our Herrings and Fish in exchange whereof they return the several Commodities of other Countries and sell the same at their own prices Great part of their Fish they sell for ready money which commonly they export of the finest Gold and Silver and coming home Re-coin it of a baser Alloy under their own stamp which advance a great profit to them The returns which they make for their Fish in other Commodities amounts to a vast sum And all this Wealth Riches and Grandeur is derived unto them from the Indulgency and Bounty of the Kings of Great Britain The Hollanders now beginning to be considerable in the World by reason of the many Royal Favours wherewith they are inriched by the Crown of England The English and they having several Factories and Places in the Isles of Molluccaes Banda Amboyna and elsewhere in the East Indies the English being some years there setled before the Hollanders had made any discovery of those Islands Anno 1619. there was a Solemn League and Agreement by King James and the States of the United Provinces in a strict Alliance and social Confederacy of the English East-India Company and that of the United Provinces for the better advancing and carrying on of the Trade and Commerce in those Islands and elsewhere in the East-Indies Here are so many marks of Kindness such ample Demonstrations of Favour as no People could have greater Obligations if any Principles of Honour or Justice could oblige them to make returns of Gratitude and give the greatest instances of their Sincerity and Faithfulness to the Kings of Great Britain and the English Nation But with them Favours past are not accounted they love no Bounty but what is meerly future At Amboyna one of the Scyndae or Setibe Islands lying near Seran and hath many lesser Islands depending upon it it 's of the Circuit of 60 Leagues an Island which bears Cloves plentifully for gathering and buying whereof the English Company had placed five several Factories The head of all at the Town of Amboyna so called from the Island the chief Town in it two at Hitto and Larico in the same Island and two others at Latro and Cambello in the Island of Seran But the Hollanders observing the English to be better beloved by the Natives than themselves and that they began highly to improve and gain by their Trade and Traffick hating that any should thrive but themselves Anno 1622. upon pretence of a Plot between the English and the Japonesses to betray their Fortress in the Town of Amboyna which was built at the charge of the English and for the safety of Trade and Commerce the Hollanders having about two hundred Souldiers there to the end they might ingross the whole Trade and Traffick of the said Islands to themselves most treacherously murthered and with Fire and Water
Sec Thurloe Sr Thes Gentlemen have a Petition for you to deliuer to the Council of State Hugh Peters Paulus Van der Parre The Humble Petition of the States Generall of the United Provinces Allard Peter Iongstall William Nieuport Hieronymus van Beverningk A Sherwin The DVTCH Vsurpation OR A Brief Vievv of the Behaviour OF THE STATES-GENERAL Of the United Provinces Towards the Kings of Great Britain With some of their CRUELTIES and INJUSTICES Exercised upon the Subjects of the English Nation AS ALSO A Discovery of what Arts they have used to Arrive at their late Grandeur c. By WILLIAM de BRITAINE Et genus humanum Mortalia temnitis arma At sperate Deos. Virg. LONDON Printed for Jonathan Edwin at the Three Roses in Ludgate-street MDCLXXII To His Royal Highness THE Duke of YORK SIR COuld I but use my Pen as You Your Sword I 'd Write in Blood and kill at every Word The Hogans then my Muse's Pow'r should feel And find my Verse as fatal as Your Steel But sure Great Prince none can presume to Write With such Success as You know how to Fight Who carry in Your Looks th' Events of War Design'd like Caesar for a Conquerour The World of Your Atchievements is afraid While Neptune's Watry Kingdoms You Invade And that much-courted Mistress th' Ocean 's now Not by th' Venetian-Duke Espous'd but You. And now Great Prince may You Victorious be Your Fame and Arms o'er-spreading Land and Sea May You our haughty Neighbours overcome And bring Rich Spoils and Peaceful Laurels Home Whilst They Their Ruine or Your Pardon meet Sink by Your Side or fall before Your Feet THE Dutch Usurpation THe Dominion of the Belgick Provinces being devolv'd to Philip the second King of Spain who designing to Himself the Western Monarchy and the best medium to that end was to reduce those Provinces to a Kingdom But they being fortified with great priviledges and many of them inconsistent with Monarchy 't was adjudg'd by sober persons ' twoud prove a work of great difficulty and that He would never effect that he aim'd at Besides the reformation of Religion which then began to grow to some strength mov'd the King to reduce them back to the Church of Rome by the power and terrour of the Inquisition Which when the people violently oppos'd the King then resolv'd to bring them by Spanish Rhetorick that is by Sword and Cannon to obedience To that end King Philip sends the Duke of Alva an old and expert Captain with a puissant Army to be his Vice-Roy amongst them No sooner was he settled in his new Government but he establish'd the Bloet-rod as they term it a Council of Bloud made up most of Spaniards Anno 1567. He took off the Heads of the Counts of Horn Egmont and of divers other persons of quality Citadels were erected and Taxes impos'd upon the people to support them The Political Government of the Countrey in many things altered and the people spoyl'd not of their priviledges only but of their liberties Amongst the reform'd he brought in the Inquisition and therein behav'd himself very tyrannically This powred Oyl on the fire formerly kindled and put all into a combustion about five thousand Families quitted their Countrey some flying into Germany others into France and most into England where they were received with all kindness and civility Churches were appointed them they being of the reform'd Religion and many Noble and great priviledges were bestowed upon them During those Troubles the Prince of Orange and Count Lodowick his Brother were very active and gave Duke Alva imployment All Holland except Amsterdam follow'd the Fortune and side of the Prince together with all the Towns of Zealand except Middle-burg Anno 1573. Duke Alva was recall'd afterwards Don Lewis of Requisens was appointed Governour After him the Prince of Parma who brought the Hollander into worse case then ever Yet Anno 1581. they declare that Philip of Spain was fallen from His Government they renounce and abjure Him for their Sovereign they break his Seals change the Oath of Allegiance and took a new Oath of the people never to return to the Spanish Obedience This done the States for so they call'd themselves ever after chose Francis Duke of Anjou to be their Prince during whose unfortunate Government the Duke of Parma prevailed in all places especially after the death of William Prince of Orange who was traiterously slain Anno 1584. Now were the Hollanders truely miserable desperate of pardon from their inraged Prince and having no person of courage to head them none of power to protect them but such as were likely to regard their own profit more than their Interest England was the only Sanctuary they had now left to which they sue offering the Queen the Soveraignty of their Provinces But that Heroick Queen not intending to Her self any thing saving the honour of relieving Her distressed Neighbours Anno 1585. took them into her protection and concluded amongst others of these Articles That the Queen should send them five thousand Foot and a thousand Horse into the Netherlands to fight for them That they should pay Her Ten Pounds per Cent. for all sums of money She should lend them or disburse for them And Interest upon Interest And likewise five pounds for every English Gentleman or Officer which should dye in their service All which sums of money were to be paid unto the Queen at the end of the War And that for the reimbursing of the said monies the Briel Flushing and Castle of Ramekins were to be delivered unto the Queen as Caution and Pledges The Queen in performance of Her Agreement sent them 5000 Foot 1000 Horse Money and a Governour The Earl of Leicester and had the Cautionary Towns delivered unto Her The renowned Sir Philip Sidney was the first Government of Flushing who died in their service Casimir also the Elector Palatines Son drew down to the assistance of the States an Army of fifteen thousand Horse and Foot at the instance and great charges of the Queen When the Earl of Leicester came to wait upon the Queen at his going over to be their Governour She strictly commanded the Earl that he should have a regard of the English Souldiers and that they served God and demean d themselves religiously Which they did with such exemplary zeal that a sober man might have thought that the United Provinces then stood in Christendom And that pious Queen did therein well for the Christian Religion was first planted in Holland Zealand and Friesland by Willibroad an English man the first Bishop of Vtretcht whence by degrees it gain'd on the rest of the Countries But since by the ill practices of some amongst them they are much fallen from the purity of it The Queen now resolveth to set all the Royal Signatures of Her favour upon the United Provinces and give them the most eminent demonstrations
owed Her And advised them for the future that they should not seek a remedy against growing danger from old acounts by compulsion but rather merit new favours by their gratitude and thanks for the former At these expressions of Her Majesty the poor distressed States thought themselves confounded both for their former and future charges Yet considering the name of Alliance with England was of exceeding advantage unto them they resolv'd to submit as they could not avoid it to such Conditions as Her Majesty should lay upon them The Queen again press'd them for the payment of Her Mony and for Peace but She could not incline them to peace being never disposed to pay Her Money which must be at the end of the War Yet in complyance with Her Majesty the Account was stated And the principal Debt besides Interest upon Interest and the loss of Her Subjects in their Wars did amount unto 8000000 Crowns and they did agree to pay Her Majesty during the War 100000 Pounds yearly and the remainder when peace was concluded and the Cautionary Towns surrendred and that in the mean time 1500 English Souldiers should remain in the Garrisons and that the States should pay them The Queen having Her Debts stated began to be more friendly to them and wished them to follow their Trade of fishing upon the British Seas which She gave them leave to do that they might be the better able to pay Her and support the charges of their War which they did effectually But I could never find that they ever paid unto Her Majesty any of the money they owed Her For it 's not to be conceived that those persons whom Her Majesty for so many years could not bring to an account would at the last pay Her any thing But Her Majesty being grown into years and those vigorous and great parts She formerly had somewhat declining they that the Queen might not exact of them the payment of Her money according to Agreement with Her continually by Emissaries which they had about Her Majesty and their Pensioners did infuse Jealousies into Her Head and what Plots and secret designs the Cing of Spain had against Her Majesty and Her Dominions which did so amuse Her that I do not observe Her Majesty ever pressed them after for the payment of any money But from time to time She supplied them with men as they desired and ever made good to them her own Motto Semper eadem And as Her assistance to them was the first so it continued to the last that is until April 3. 1603. at which time She died having lost not fewer than 100000 of Her Subjects in that War And having spent in Naval expeditions for their sakes against the King of Spain in America and elsewhere above a Million of money besides the Debt which the States owed Her King James being proclaimed King and the undoubted Heir and Successor to the Queen The States sent their Ambassadors to the King and after some Complements to Him they signifie to His Majesty That they had lost Her whose Goodness and Benefits to them were not to be expressed in words But they had found His Majesty as the Heir of Her Kingdom so the Imitator of Her Vertues and persuaded Him to a War with Spain and begged supplies of Him But King James being a wise Prince and not to be taken with their arts and cunning told them that He had no difference with the Spaniard and also that King Philip had voluntarily offer'd Him His assistance if any dispute should have arisen concerning His Kingdoms And for the Arch-Duke he made War with the Queen not with the Realm This highly discompos'd the States But King James treated withe Spaniards and concluded a League with them And the States such kindness had His Majesty for them were offered by King James to be comprehended in the Articles of the Treaty but they refus'd yet by the mediation of King James a Peace was propounded to the States from the King of Spain But they signified unto His Majesty that they would not treat with the King of Spain till they were declared by him Free States abstracted from all right and title unto any of the Provinces or Places by them possessed which He might pretend unto All which by the great endeavours of King James were granted unto them by the King of Spain And so Anno 1609. a Peace was concluded between the King of Spain and them The Provinces in the possession of the States at the time of the conclusion of the Peace were Holland Zealand West-Friesland Overyssell Groningland Vtrecht Zutphen three parts of Gelderland and so some frontier Towns and Place of contribution in Brabant and Flanders All which Provinces with their frontier Towns in Brabant and Flanders are not so big as York-shire one of our Counties in England And there may be a greater number of stout and gallant men for War raised out of that one County than they can raise out of all their Provinces Being now declared Free States and Peace concluded with the King of Spain yet for their own security they were enforced to maintain an Army in their Country The charge whereof could not amount to less than six hundred thousand Pounds yearly besides other vast expences as the preservation of their Dikes c. All or the greatest part thereof they raised out of the Fishing of the British Sear or on the people by Excise and taxes upon every Acre of Ground Which is such that the whole Country returns into their hands every third year and by other Impositions so insupportable in themselves and amongst men which would be thought to live in a Free State that should any Prince in Christendom lay but half so much upon their Subjects it would occasion a Revolt So that whereas one of the first causes of their falling off from their Prince was to free themselves from Taxes and Impositions illegally as they â—aid enforced upon them they have drawn upon themselves more arbitrary and illegal Payments than any Nation in the world So true it is that a Rebellion once suppressed the King is more King and the Subjects more subject But if it thrives and happen to be prosperum seelus and to advance it self to a Free State as they call it Tyranny and Oppression are the two Pillars which must support it The States being now absolute and having obtain'd a Sovereign Dommion only the Cautionary Towns stook in their Stomachs and might prove a curb to them But being unwilling to move the King concerning them by the great sums of money they then owed Him and being not well able to pay Him they would by some projection or other endeavour to gain them Thereupon they resolv'd as the best expedient not to pay the English Soldiers in the Cautionary Towns who being thereby put to distress and want would be enforced to borrow some monies for their present support
there the Ship and Goods were confiscated valued at one hundred thousand pounds The Dragon and Katherine two English Ships of Sir William Curâ—een valued at three hundred thousand pounds besides their Commanders and others who had very great Estates therein anno 1636. were set upon by seven Dutch Men of War as they past the Streights of Mallaca from China and by them taken The men tyed back to back and slung over bord the Goods being taken out of the said Ships were seised to the use of the States there and the Ships sunk that it might not be known who committed that cruel fact In Aru and Manueado in Sumatia an Oriental Island the English had several Factories there by the consent of the King and Natives but by the practise of the Hollanders anno 1625. they were all enforced to leave their Factories and the places In Pachane the chief City of Pachane one of the Kingdoms of Siain in India the English had several Factories there but by the unjust practices of the Hollanders they were compelled to quit the Country and their Factories to an unexpressable loss to the English Pachane being a great Country for Gold Silver Pearls Precious Stones and many other rich Commodities The Hollanders anno 1636. made War against the King of Bantam one of the Kings of Java major for that he had a great kindness for the English And for that he permitted them to have several Factories in Sunda and Jambe for Pepper And by this art would have driven the English from thence and their chief Pepper Trade And so would have shut them out both of the Streights of Sunda and Mallaca Which from these men we may learn That those which study to be great by any means must by all means forget to be good they must dismiss that puny thing Conscience for there is no such Remora to Grandeur as a coy and squemish Conscience And it's observ d by a learned Gentleman had Alexander boggled at invading other mens Kingdoms he had never wept for the scarcity of Worlds The oppressions and injuries of these men in India not only to the English but to the Subjects of many of the Kings and Princes in Europe are not to be express d and indeed they are fitter for our wouder than our words It were to be desired that they would set forth a Manifesto to the world of the particular losses they and their Subjects have sustained by the Insolencies and Usurpations of these men And then they would be as much scorned by every good man in Europe as they are now hated by the Indians in America For the Indians though they have no kindness for the Spaniard yet they look upon him as a Gentleman but the Hollanders they abhor for their sordid acts and unjust practises As they have made themselves Masters of the South Seas so having Anno 1662. taken Cochen from the Portuguez and other Ports upon the coast of Mallabar they have the sole command upon the North Seas from Mallabar to India Persia Arabia Red Sea Mosambique all along to Cabo de Bon Esperanza so they will in a short time restrain all the Kings and Princes in Europe and their Subjects to have a Trade or Commerce in those parts And whether it may not by the help of a little Logick be concluded out of their stile consider The States General of the United Provinces of Battavia Amboyna Tewan c Commanders of all the Seas of the world Protectors of all the Kings and Princes in Europe and Supreme Moderators of all the affairs of Christendom For so they stile and write themselves in the East Indies Now they are High and Mighty States indeed Ambition is never so high but she thinks still to mount that station which lately seem'd the top is but a step to her now and what before was great in desiring seem little being once in power The Method and Arts which the States have used in India to Inlarge their Dominions and to exclude others from Trade or Commerce there 1. THey are in a perpetual state of Hostility ever Warring upon some Prince or other and thereby gain either Tribute or Dominion 2. When they have to do with any King or Prince they order their Affairs so that he must perform first and when he hath done they are States and so are free 3. They encourage the Natives upon every small occasion of discontent to Arm against their Prince premising them their assistance which they exactly perform When they have Conquered the King and taken his Castles and Ports which they first secure making themselves Masters of the Seas and great Rivers then they subdue the Natives and so Vest in themselves Sovereign Dominion and make both King and Natives their Vassals 4. If the Natives take up Arms against their Prince as many times they do then they encourage him against his Rebellious Subjects and give him their assistance When the Natives are subdued then they conquer the King himself or else demand so much for their assistance that he is not able to pay and so he must submit himself and his Dominions to their boundless ambition 5. If there be any Wars between Prince and Prince they will be sure to fall in with one of them and give him their Aid and so make War in the other Princes Dominion When that Prince is subdued and themselves setled in his Dominions then they reduce the other Prince to their Obedience having some Castles or Ports in his Dominions which do command the whole 6. If they have any places of concern and the Subjects of any Prince in Europe have any Factories there which they cannot fairly dismiss then they lay such great Taxes and Impositions upon the Natives that they are enforced to Arms. When they are subdued then they charge the Subjects of that Prince as Conspirators and Abetters of the Natives and so seize upon all their Goods Factories and enforce them to quit the Country or else send them into some of their Islands to be Slaves 7. If any Prince in Europe make any Treaty or League with the States concerning any Affairs in India they send to the States of Battavia private Instructions contrary to their publick Agreement So that all Treaties and Leagues as to the Affairs of India are ineffectual 8. Where they have footing in any Island or Dominion they claim by Conquest and so lay what Taxes they please upon the Natives And being in by Conquest they are Proprietaries and so exclude the Subjects of any King or Prince from Trade there 9. If the Subjects of any King or Prince in Europe have Factories in the Dominions of any Prince there if they begin to be considerable they take some occasion to War against that Prince and upon Treaty charge those Subjects to be the cause of the War so if the Prince will have Peace he must seize their Factories and Goods and banish them his Country 10. They
not made greater distempers and confusions and caused more effusion of blood aud expence of Treasure in Europe than the Great Turk hath done for these 500 years And as they are more powerful by Sea so they are much more dangerous in their practise For the Turk is a Prince who with all Potentates doth exactly observe his Leagues and keeps his Faith But it 's an Apophthegm in their State that its for Kings and Merchants to keep their word and Faith But for States no longer then it's subservient to their Interest And how exactly they make this good in their actions I appeal to all the Kings and Princes of Europe if ever they kept one Article or their Faith in any thing where it was their interest to break it Certainly these men live as if great Sins would merit Heaven by an Antiperistasis And it s very well becoming the gravest Judgements to consider if these men may not prove in a short time a greater Terror and Plague to Christendom than the Turk Himself Insomuch as his Arms are at a great distance and only Land-forces but these men are seated in the Centre of Europe and being so Potent at Sea and rich in Treasure may cast an Army and with that blood and confusion into any Princes Dominion whom they please to disquiet especially being first reduced to poverty which they labour to effect in all their Territories by obstructing of Trade And they can more speedily and powerfully offend any Kingdom by Sea in one month than the most puissant Army is able to to march through in a year Well It 's time to reduce these men to Justice and Reason Prudence teacheth us to set limits to that Power which deservedly may be suspected For as they grow in Puissance and strength so the more formidable they will render themselves to all Kings and Princes From one great King they have taken so much blood that he is fallen into a deep Consumption And it 's adjudged by some wise Physicians of State that he will hardly recover Did they not lately break the heart of one Potent King and almost the back of another Do they not privately engage Prince against Prince and by that means bring misery and calamity to them both and out of their ruine create riches and plenty themselves Do they not undermine the Trade of all Europe and send nothing but poverty misery and complaints into all Princes Dominions How dangerous and fatal their Greatness will in few years prove to all the Kings and Princes of Europe and to their Subjects if not timely prevented a weak Statist 〈…〉 without the help of Galileo s Prospective-glass may easily see Yet there are a People in the World which contribute their assistance to them but let them be assured that if these States by their Arts shall extricate themselves from the destruction and calamity which now threaten them they must for all their friendly assistance expect nothing but Polyphemus courtesie to be the last that shall be swallowed up This is too evident by their Ingratitude and Insolencies to the Kings of Great Britain and to the English Nation Nothing can give a check to their growing Power but the Naval Forces of the King of Great Britain whose Situation Ports Strength of Shipping Courage of People and Experince in Sea-Fights have always made him very formidable And that Henry the eighth understood so well that he assumed to himself that Motto Cui adhaereo Praeest This Naval Power of the King of Great Britain is the security and safety of Europe For if that were broken they would look upon all the other as inconsiderable because they are so far separate that they might be destroyed before they could unite and in case they did the issue would be very doubtful Then they would sacrifice one Prince after another and bring nothing but confusion poverty and misery to Prince and People And whether this be not more than conjectural look into their practices in the East-Indies Observe their Arts and Methods by which they have reduced so many great Kings with their Subjects Vassals and Slaves to their vast Ambition I have done Yet I cannot but drop a few Tears for some honest People amongst them who must be inwrapt in the Punishment though innocent as to the Guilt Now the most formidable and Potent Kings in Christendom are drawing their Forces against them All their Trade is gone by Sea nothing but horror and confusion in their Land none of their Allyes durst appear for them A mournful Tragedy Methinks like wise Patriots they should seise upon their States whom they may thank for all their calamities and miseries and yield them up to Justice set up their Prince whose Ancestors have spent so much Blood and Treasure to Vindicate their Rights and Liberties and not to serve their ends of him as all wise men think the States do at this juncture of affairs for its an Adage amongst them that Leo vinciri liber pernegat And the States do as certainly hate a Prince as a Prince doth a Free-State Discite Justitium moniti c. FINIS The Belgick Provinces Duke Alva is sent into the Belgick Provinces The Bloet-rod setled in the Provinces The Government of the Provinces alter'd Five thousand Families leave the Provinces Holland and Zeland for the Prince of Orange They declare Philip of Spain to be fallen from his Government The Duke of Parma provails much Queen Elizabeth takes the Hollanders into her protection Articles concluded between Queen Elizabeth and the States Queen Elizabeth sendsover to the States 5000 Foot and 1000 Horse The Christian Religion was first planted in Holland Zealand and Friesland by an Englishman The Staple of English Cloth removed to Delf Queen Elizabeth gives leave to the Hollanders to fish in our British Seas The King of Denmark seizes 7 0 Ships of the Hollanders Now they triumph giving out their Meddals with this inscription What we are we are by Gods Grace and Queen Elizabeth Ostend defended by the English 3 years 3 months The Spaniards lost 100000 men before Ostend Breda recovered by the English Queen Elizabeth maintained 40000 horse and foot for the Hollanders Q Eliz. infests the King of Spain in America The distressed States petition the Queen not to desert them The States send Ambassadors to Q Elizabeth The Queen di pleas'd with the S ates Alliance with Q Elizabeth was of great advantage to the States Q. Elizabeth councelled and inclined the States to peace The States owed Q. Elizab two millions of pounds Q Eliz. died April 3. 1603. She lost 100000 men in the States service King James proclaimed King King James refuses to assist the States A League concluded between King James and the Spaniard The States refuse to treat with the Spaniard except they be declared by him Free-States Peace concluded between the Spaniard and the States The Provinces of the States The Charges the States are at to maintain their Coâ—tries The projection of the States to get the Cautionary Towns from King James Cautionary Towns delivered to the States The Treasure and men which the Spaniard spent in the Wars The States declare themselves High Mighty States The States paying a Tribute Fish in the British Sas. The number of ships the States imploy in the Fishing Trade The riches the States gain by their fishing upon the British Seas A League between King James and the States for advance of Trade in America The Massacre of the English at Amboyna The States seise the Factories of the English at Amboyna A Prophesie of King James The States seise upon all the Islands and Plantations of the English in America The States drain 400000l. yearly for Spices out of the Kings Dominion The riches the States gain'd by seising of the English Factories The stock of the East India Company of England lost Poloroon delivered by the Natives to King James Poloroon seised by the States from the English The cruelty of States against the Natives in Polloroon The States 〈…〉 themselves the sale Trade and Dominion of the East Indies And to speak freely prosperous villanies are Cardinal Virtues in the States Ethicks The States suffer no ships to pass the Streights of Mallaca Two ships of the English seised and confiscated by the States Bon Esperanza a s ip of the English seised by the States The Dragon and Katherine two English ships seised by the States and confiscated Anno 162â— The Factories of the English in Sumatia seised by the States The Factories of the English in Siain seised by the States The States make War against the King of Bantam for his love to the English The States have the sole command of the North Seas The stile of the States in the Indies The States exclude the Subjects of the Princes of Europe to Trade in the East-Indies The great losâ—es which the King of England and his Subjects have sustained in India by the Vsuâ—pation of the States The Inâ—â—lencies of the States to the King of England in Europe The States fight the Spanish Armado upon the British Seas against the King of Englands Command Difference betwixt the King of England and his Parliament and how advanced by the States The States afford no kindness to his now Majest 〈…〉 being in their Provinces The States make Addresses to the King of Great Britain for Peace The States burn his Majesties Ships The Sovereignty of the British Seas in the King and the Fishing Licenses granted to Neighbour Princes for their Subjects to fish paying tribute The Subjects of other Princes pay for their liberty of fishing All passing upon the â—ritish Seas ought to strike sail Licences of safe Conduct granted by the King of Great Britain The Soveraignty of the Sea ought to be preserved The Hollanders supplant Trade The States have scandalized His Majesty by Libels The States make addresses to some of the Scotish Nation to rebel The States have made more disturbance in Europe than the Turk these 50â— years The States will prove a greater plague to Christendom than the Turk King of Spain King of Sweden King of Denmark The Naval power of England is the security of Europe
of Her Bounty and Kindness The Staple of English Cloth that was formerly at Antwerp She settl d at Delf in great quantities by reason of the great concourse of people which that Trade brought with it the Town became rich well built and beautified with spatious Streets Flushing before the English came thither was a very poor Town but by the Countenace of the Queen the English Garrison there and the Trade which the English brought thither it flourish'd in a high measure and by their means so did all their great Towns and Cities there She incouraged them in their Trades protected them in their Navigation gave them Licences to fish upon the British Seas which before was not permitted unto them and the English did couragiously fight for them to vindicate their rights whilst they were imploy'd in Fishing and in their Manufactures by which they increased in Wealth But one infelicity happen'd unto them that the King of Denmark having taken some displeasure against them laid an Imbargo upon seven hundred of their Ships which were passing backward and forward upon the Sound for Corn by reason whereof the people there were now more distressed with fear of a Famine than with the Sword of the enemy But the potent Queen presently gave them relief For She supplied them with great quantities of Corn. And by Her Interest with the disbursment of some monies the Ships were discharg'd and came home to their several Ports in the United Provinces Now was the Queen look'd upon as their only Patroness and the English the best sinews of their Wars and the Atchievers of the greatest Exploits amongst them Near Newport was fought that memorable Battel 'twixt the Arch-Duke Albert and the State The Victory next under God was gain'd for the States by the valour of the English and the excellent conduct of those Noble and Gallant persons Sir Francis and Sir Horatio Vere Ostend not wall'd till the Low Countrey Wars and then with a Mud-wall only and that not finish'd till the Arch-Duke set down before it In so much as the Arch-Dutchess Isabella is said to have sworn That She should not shift her Smock till the Town was taken Who had She kept her rash Oath had been very For the Town being Garrison'd by the English and under Sir Horatio Vere who was Governour thereof held out against the Arch-Duke a Siege of 3 years and so many months The Spaniard at this Siege lost one hundred thousand men Breda a Town well fortified and the Barony of the Prince of Orange from whom being taken by the Spaniards in the beginning of the Wars 't was again recover'd by seventy valorous English Soldiers who hiding themselves in a Boat cover'd with Turf were convey'd into the Castle which they easily master'd and made the Prince Lord again of all his Dominions and Territories there The speech of one of the Souldiers there upon that occasion deserves never to be forgotton who fearing lest by his violent noise in coughing though he did repress it he should together with himself betray his Companions Kill me saith he fellow-souldiers lest we be kill'd The particular Actions Gallantry and noble Attempts of the English here would deserve a just volume of themselves By their valour and courage most of the Spanish Souldiers were so wasted and consumed that the King of Spain was enforc'd to give a stop to their Conquests to send fifty thousand veteran Souldiers out of Spain and Italy into Flanders And the Queen did supply the States with answerable numbers of men and money insomuch as She maintain'd for them forty thousand Horse and Foot in their service She made many Naval expeditions into America and there did much infest the King of Spain sinking his Ships burning his Towns battering down his Forts and Castles interrupting all his Trade and Commerce there and all this to bring that King to Reason and Justice as to the United Provinces The King of Spain hereat exceedingly incens'd Anno 1588. sends his Invincible Armado against England raised a Rebellion in Ireland against the Queen sent many Spanish Souldiers to Kingsale to the assistance of the Rebels there committed many depredations in Cornwall here many sanguinary and desperate persons were incourag'd to poison murder and destroy Her who made many attempts upon Her Royal person So this excellent Queen being incircl'd with so many infelicities and troubles and beset with so many calamities and being wearied with the Wars in the Netherlands because they did so exhaust Her Treasure and destroy Her brave people and finding the States to grow insolent and to perform no Agreements and withall observing their Subjects to grow rich by the War of which they made a Trade and Merchandise and Her Kingdoms to be thereby impoverish'd She resolved to make peace with the Spaniard being assured the Belgick War was never to be ended by conquest and to that purpose She signified Her Royal pleasure unto the States But finding her Majesty to be in earnest as She had great reason for 't they were much perplex'd For if She had deserted them they had lost their chief and only support they sent over their Ambassadors into England and in the most humble manner that could be petitioned Her Majesty that She would not cast off the Cause of God and man and leave sixty Towns with a poor distressed people a prey to the malice and avarice of the barbarous Spaniard But She earnestly press'd them for the payment of Her money adding withall threats That if She was not obey'd therein She would take such courses as Her lenity was not us'd to be acquainted with and so dismissed them Hereat the States were much disturbed and thereupon Anno 1598. the distressed States sent the Lord Warmond and others their humble suppliants unto Her Majesty who in the lowest posture of humility did acknowledg themselves oblig'd unto Her for infinite benefits But herein Her Majesty excelled the glory of Her Ancestors that by how much She exceeded others in power by so much Her Majesty excelled them in acts of Mercy and Piety by whose means and aid the French have gain'd many Victories and they more As for the Money which the States owed Her they beseeched Her Majesty to consider the dangers dayly growing upon them their poverty and disability to pay and that by original Agreement with Her Majesty no monies were to be paid till the Wars were ended The Queen understanding their unjust practices and ill dealings with Her told them that She had been often deluded by their deceitful supplications ungrateful actions unhandsom cavillings and pretences of poverty when their rich Cities confuted them and She hoped God would not suffer Her to be a pattern to other Princes to help such a people who bear no reverence to Superiours nor take care for the advantage reputation or safety of any but themselves And required them to pay Her the money they
pretend great kindness to their Neighbour Princes and enter into a League Offensive and Defensive with them And by that means get the favour of those Princes to have some Ports or strong Castles for Defence of their Trade as they pretend in their Territories When that is done they either make Wars themselves and so those Princes must aid them or else perswade the Princes his Allies to make War upon another Prince which they do and so fight one Prince against another and when they are sufficiently enweakned they Conquer them all 11. If they have any difference with any potent King or Prince they get time if it be for their advantage they give good words but part with no money That done they make their Addresses to some Favorite of that Prince which do all in the Court of the Indian Kings and so with small charges they effect great matters By these steps they have clim'd up to those immense Pyramids of Dominion and Power in the Indies that they are become formidable to the greatest Emperours and Princes there ever making good in their practice that Lemma of Loyola the Apostle of their State Cavete vobis Principes They have excluded the Subjects of all Kings and Princes in Europe from Traffick and Commerce where they have any Territories or Power And by reason of the Dominion they have in the South Seas and the Conquests and Fortifications they make upon the North Seas all their Subjects will finally be debarred from any Traffick or Trade there Of what dangerous consequence this will prove it 's very well beseeming the Wisdom of the greatest Kings and Princes to consider For there are a Generation which are born to be the Plague Disquiet and Scourge of Europe and they gladly sacrifice the Publick Peace of Christendom to their own private Interest If we consider how many brave and large Dominions in the East-Indies were under the Sovereignty of the Kings of Great Britain what flourishing Factories their Subjects had there how great Kings they might have been in Treasure and Dominion how rich their Subjects it cannot but discompose an English Spirit that his King should be ousted of all those Dominions and his Subjects devested of their Riches and Hopes by a People who had nothing but the Favour of the King of Great Britain to support them nor no Fortress to defend them but that of Ambâ—yna and that built by the Monies of the English Company Well we may see what Treachery and Perfidiousness can do being accompanied with Ambition and Industry But they will ere long find that slippery are those Foundations of Might and Greatness which are not laid upon the Principles of Justice and regulated by the Maxims of Christian Piety And as America was the Theatre where they Acted these Tragedies and unparallel'd Insolencies so they have not spared to manifest their Ingratitude Affronts and highest Injuries against the Kings of Great Britain and the English Nation here in Europe Anno 1639. when his Catholick Majesty sent his Armado with some Souldiers into Flanders to strengthen his Garisons there but by cross Winds were driven upon the English Coasts the States Equipped out a great Fleet of Men of War charged the Spanish Armado ravished his Ships out of the Harbours of his late Majesty at Dover and destroyed most of that Fleet though in his Majesties Protection and Dominions and against his Majestles express Command thereby Usurping Sovereignty to themselves and giving Laws to his Majesty in his own Dominions A bold Affront And certainly they could not think but his Majesty did highly resent it But to keep him busied at home and that his Majesty might have no opportunity to bring them to Justice for their Insolency there being Anno 1639. some Distempers in Scotland they did greatly promote them and contributed their assistance to them in all manner of Military Provisions Monarchy and with that the Glory of the English Nation was now departed the People model themselves into a Commonwealth they take a full prospect of the Usurpations Injuries and Oppressions of the States which had such a horrid complexion of Injustice upon them that the new Commonwealth denounce War against the old States they obtain many signal Victories and had much disabled their Naval Forces Now the States being not well able to contest with the English Valour they project how they might deliver themselves from the fury of these men At last they having by their Emissaries first disseminated Sedition amongst the People whereby the Commonwealth became a burthen to the Nation and wise men began to be troubled at the ill face of affairs they adjudged the best expedient was to set up a single Person the States being now sensible of their former errour in not supporting the English Monarchy as their best safety and greatest Protection O. as the fittest person for such a Bold-fac'd Treason by their underhand practise and paying to him some hundred thousand of pounds is prevailed with to take upon him the Government of the Nation The War is continued against them with great success yet by their Interest they obtain a Treaty And thereupon paying a Million of Pounds to O. a Peace is concluded but the most dishonourable and unjust that ever was to this Nation But such as it was it continued till his Majesties blessed Restauration Anno 1641. there happening some difference betwixt his late Majesty and his Parliament they sent over their Rabbies of Sedition here into England and infus'd their Antimonarchical Principles and dangerous Doctrines into some giddy heads of the English Nation who thereby became so intoxicated that they were never at rest till like men infected with the Plague they infected others and thereby a great part of the people became disobservant to the Laws of the Nation and Rebels to their King An Army of these men were raised they having their chief Officers and Commanders and all Warlike Provisions out of the United Provinces to bring Destruction to the King and Desolation to the Kingdom Thereby that Great King being reduced to streights notwithwithstanding the many Obligations of the States to his Majesty they could never be induced to contribute any Aid or Assistance to redeem that Excellent Prince from so great Abyss of Misery or to preserve the Kingdom from Ruine and Confusion which with their Assistance might have been easily prevented But the States were so far from any Act of Charity or Piety that Amsterdam was made the great Emporium or Market for the Rebels to sell those rich and costly Goods which they had plundered from his Majesties best Subjects in England whereas no King or Prince in Christendom would suffer them to make use of any of their Ports to that purpose and the best Furniture that some of the States have in their Houses at this very day are many of those stollen Goods And by this means they brought Poverty and Misery to this Nation Riches and Plenty
to themselves This unfortunate Nation being thus in Combustion and all befry'd the Hogan Mogans with joy as an ingenious man observed did warm their hands at those unhappy flames which they themselves had kindled tuning their merry Harps when others were weeping over a Kingdoms Funeral In England there being nothing but Confusion and Ruine nothing to be seen but the Convulsions of a dying State His now Sacred Majesty for his own safety and security withdrew Himself out of England and resolved to live for some time in his Solitudes in the Belgick Provinces But the States were so far from affording Him any comfort as a distressed Prince or yielding Him any kindness as their best Friend and greatest Patron that if his Majesty had not had timely notice of it it is credibly said that he had been delivered up in their Territories as a Sacrifice to the fury of his cruellest Enemy His Majesty Anno 1660. being restored to his Kingdoms forgetting all their former Unkindnesses and Ingratitudes his care was to conclude a strict League with the said States But no sooner was it concluded but they return to their usual practise of breaking of Articles who expect an exact observance of them from others but perform none themselves Thereupon his Majesty 1664. was stirred up by the Complaints of his people and the Unanimous Votes of both Houses of Parliament to defend the Rights of his Crown and the Liberties of his People which the States had most notoriously invaded yet his Majesty to prevent the effusion of bloud as Tyrants shed bloud for pleasure Kings for necessity spent the whole Summer in Negotiations to bring them to reason but all his endeavours proved ineffectual Thereupon Anno 1665 ensued the War and continued to the year 1667. Wherein his Majesty obtained so many signal Victories that by their humble Supplications and Addresses to his Majesty for Peace he was induced to a Treaty And his Majesty having the Garranty of the most Christian King and of the said States that no Act of Hostility during the said Treaty should be attempted by them against his Majesty or any of his Dominions thereupon his Majesty did forbear to Equip his Fleet. Yet the said States contrary to their Faith during the said Treaty with their Fleet though not half mann'd or Victuall'd for any time most treacherously invaded his Majesties Dominions burnt and committed Destruction upon several Ships of his Majesties Navy Royal in his own Ports and Harbour Whereas if his Majesty had set forth his Fleet they had not been able to have put to Sea that year for want of Mariners and other discouragements upon them having received so many memorable defeats by the Valour and Courage of his subjects No sooner was there a Peace concluded but every Article was broken by them And no wonder for it 's a Maxime of their State That all Alliance as to them is inconsiderable the foundation of their Greatness and Safety consists in their own Power and Strength Therefore to keep any Article is of no consideration to them Now they invade his Majesties Fishing upon the British Seas without his Royal License they refuse to strike Sail and dispute his Sovereignty of the British Seas Affronts so high and Indignities so transcendent that no King or Potentate except these men did ever so much as question any of them It doth appear by the Records in the Tower and the Municipal Laws of this Nation that the Kings of England have had ever from the time of the Romans an absolute and uninterrupted Right and exclusive Property in the Sovereignty of the British Seas in the Passages and Fishing thereof and hath power to make Laws and exercise Supreme Jurisdiction over all Persons and in all cases within or upon the said Seas as 't was agreed 26 E. 1. by the Agents and Embassadors of Genoa Catoloigna Spain Almaine Zealand Holland Friesland Denmark Norway and divers other places in the Empire And by all the States and Princes of Europe in a case then in question between the King of England and his most Christian Majesty concerning Rayner Grimbold his Admiral exercising some Jurisdiction upon the British Seas See the Records in the Tower 26 E. 1. de Superioritate Maris Anglici The Laws of Olleron which after the Rhodian Laws were antiquated have now near five hundred years been received by all the Christian World for regulating Sea-Affairs and deciding of Maritine Controversies were first declared by King R. 1. at his return from the Holy Land and by him caused to be published in the Isle of Olleron as belonging to the Dutchy of Aquitane If the Subjects of any King or Prince have a Right to Fish in the British Seas I do desire to be satisfied What should be the reason that all Neighbour Princes have by Treaty obtained license from the Kings of England for their Subjects to Fish in those Seas and have paid Tribute as it doth appear by the Licences granted by H. 4. unto the French By H. 6. unto the Dutchess of Burgundy To those of Brabant and Flanders by E. 4. To Francis Duke of Britain for his Subjects Philip II. King of Spain in the first year of Queen Mary obtained a Licence for his Subjects to fish upon the North Coasts of Ireland for the term of one and twenty years paying yearly for the same 1000 l. which was accordingly paid into the Exchequer of Ireland And the Presidents in R. 1. King John E. 3. and other Kings are almost infinite And if any King or Prince could pretend to any right certainly His Most Christian Majestic hath as good a pretence as any But that King by the special Licence of the Kings of England and not otherwise hath fish'd upon the British Coasts with a set and limited number of Boats And that for his own Family and being likewise to observe the Laws and Orders of his own Fishermen For breach whereof divers of his Subjects have been taken and imprisoned in Dover Castle and elswhere as doth appear by many presidents in time of E. 3. H. 4. H. 7. c. in the Tower Neither is this singular in the King of England only for in Russia many Leagues from the Main Fishermen do pay for their fishing great Taxes to the Emperor of Russia And in most places other Nations are prohibited to fish The King of Denmark doth the like and taketh great Tribute both at Wardhouse and the Sound And the like he doth now for Norway All the bordering Princes of Italy do the like within the Mediterranean Seas The States do take an Imposition upon fish which is taken upon the British Seas and within the Streams and Dominions of other Princes The Hollanders do allow the tenth Fish both in Russia Lappia and other places or pay a Composition for the same And do also pay a Tribute in the Sound for passage to fetch the said Fish But I shall not give my self