58 The West India Company and the Walloons. 



larger towns, and became the theology of the civic aristocracy; the 

 opinions of Gomarus were tenaciously supported by most of the clergy, 

 the peasantry, the army and navy. Barneveldt stood at the head of 

 the Arminian party, contending that each province should be free to 

 adopt the form which it preferred; Maurice as the chief of the other 

 party, was determined to have the Gomarian views established as the 

 state religion, and that no other system should be tolerated. This state 

 of affairs causing disturbance, Maurice assumed supreme power, and all 

 attempts at reconciliation between him and Barneveldt were of no avail. 

 Barneveldt was arrested and imprisoned, and shortly after the assem- 

 bling of the famous Synod of Dort, his trial began before a special com- 

 mission. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, although the 

 proceedings against him were illegal and the charges against him were 

 disproved. The synod decided the theological controversy in favor of 

 Maurice, which enabled the prince, for his own political purposes, to 

 crush the autocratic party in the person of its head; and five days after 

 the closing of the synod this venerable statesman and incorruptible 

 patriot was beheaded at The Hague. The death of Barneveldt was the 

 removal of the greatest source of opposition to the formation of the 

 West India Company, and in a year or two thereafter its charter was 

 granted. 



I have said that the chief object of the West India Company was 

 to prey upon the Spanish treasure at sea, and to cripple the commerce 

 of Spain; and this I believe to be the opinion of the later historiai 

 who have carefully examined the history of the times by the light 

 the more recent documentary discoveries. 



In his work on the history, or yearly account, of the proceedings 

 the West India Company, Johannes de Laet frankly admits that the 

 object of the company was war on Spain; and he congratulates the 

 country on the success they have obtained. De Laet was in the best 

 possible position to know the truth of his statement; for he was a 

 director of the West India Company, and also a co-patroon of Kens- 

 selaerwyck; while his acknowledged painstaking and carefulness as a 

 historian would prevent him from making an unwarrantable state- 

 ment* And the war as it was prosecuted was a successful one for the 

 company. Wealth poured into its treasury; and in one single year 

 the directors were enabled to declare dividends to the amount of fifty 

 per cent. One of the Dutch captains came across the Spanish silver fleet 

 and succeeded in capturing nineteen of the vessels, and brought all but 

 two of them to Holland. The spoil was simply immense; for there was 

 *" Narrative and Critical History of America," vol. IV, p. 418. 



