JAMES I. : DISPUTES WITH THE DCTCH 173 



he did not believe : but the captains pretended they had a 

 commission for what they did, and produced certain letters 

 patent containing, as they said, an express commission from 

 their masters. The ambassador concluded by requiring instant 

 reparation and satisfaction. 1 



Meanwhile Brown himself had, perhaps, little cause for 

 regret. He spent two days on board the Dutch man-of-war, 

 and was then landed at Enkhuisen. The authorities of the 

 town at once perceived the rashness of the step that had been 

 taken by Captain Albertsz. Brown was immediately liberated, 

 treated with the greatest courtesy, and conducted by one of 

 the chief magistrates, with profuse apologies, to the British 

 ambassador at The Hague. All his expenses were defrayed ; 

 he was presented with seventy "double Jacobus pieces" as a 

 personal gift, and he left for home on 13th September. Count 

 Maurice and Barnevelt promptly disavowed the act of Albertsz, 

 and when the matter was brought before the States-General 

 by Carleton, it fell to the lot of Grotius, in the absence of 

 Barnevelt, to express the regret of the assembly for the " acci- 

 dent," and to request the British ambassador to put the case 

 in writing for inquiry. In their reply later, the States-General 

 threw the whole blame on the captains, Albertsz and Tlieff, 

 who had, they said, acted without authority, and would be 

 punished on their return from the fishing. They renewed 

 their regrets, said that Brown had been immediately released, 

 and begged that the Dutch merchant captains who had been 

 thrown into prison in England and Scotland might be set free, 

 and their "ancient accustomed liberty of fishing maintained." 

 In preferring this request the States relied on their treaty with 

 James in 1594, and the gracious answer he had given to their 

 ambassadors in 1610 concerning the proclamation of the year 

 before. 2 



If the States-General thought they were to get so easily out 

 of the awkward position in which the precipitate action of their 

 officers had placed them, they were disappointed. James not 



q 



1 Carleton, Lrttert, lf>6. Caron to the States-General, ^ Aug. 1617 ; Carleton 



to the States-General, ^^J[' Brit. Mut. Add. MSS., 17,677, J, fol. 210, 213. 

 State Papers, Dain. Collection, Charles II., vol. 339. 



2 Carleton, Letters, 168, 169, 172, 176, 186. Muller, op. cit., 111. 



