V r ; : - ? V 
Chap. I. Commodore R 
dition that, in doing this, they had fpent a great deal of 
Time, confumed the belt Part, if not all, of their Provi- 
fions, and had endured incredible Hardfhips ; which had 
induced them, or rather obliged them, to think of return- 
ing Home by the Way of the Eaft Indies •, that they had 
no Defign, and, in fad, were in no Condition, to carry 
on any fort of Trade in thofe Parts *, but fought merely to 
meet with feme Refrefhments, and to obtain fuch Affiift- 
ance amongft their Countrymen, as, in Quality of Subjeds 
of the States of Holland , they had a Right to demand ; 
that, immediately on their Arrival at Batavia , without 
any Hearing, their Ships and Cargoes were condemned and 
fold, and the few Men that had Survived the Hard flips 
they had endured, not in the Company’s Service only* 
but that of the Public, had been fen t Home as Criminals, 
Prifoners, in the Eaft India Company’s Ships, notwith- 
ftanding that the Governor-General, and his Council, were 
well apprifed of the Nature and Circumftances of the 
Cafe : That fuch a manner of Proceeding is extremely dan- 
gerous, not only to th tWeft India Company, but to the 
State, and to the Public, Since it plainly difeourages In- 
duftry, new Difcoveries, and the Extenfion of Commerce. 
Therefore it is absolutely requifite, their High Mighti- 
neffes fhould interpofe in the prefent Cafe, as well for the 
fettling this important Point, with regard to Futurity, as 
for the fake of redreffing the Weft India Company, the 
Officers, and Seamen, that have been thus injured, and 
giving that Satisfaction to Seafaring People in general, 
which was fo apparently neceffary to free them from the 
Apprehenfions of being punifhed by a Company Abroad, 
for performing what was looked upon to be their Duty at 
Home. 
The States General immediately directed the Eaft India 
Company to put in an Anfwer to this Memorial, that they 
might in the firft place fee, whether they would avow the 
FaCt ; and next, whether any Reafons could be alleged to 
juftify it : The Eaft India Company did not at all hefitate 
in declaring her Approbation of what has been done by the 
Governor-General, and his Council, in the Indies. In 
their Memorial, which contained an Anfwer to what had 
been alleged againft them, they pleaded, that the Eaft 
India Company, in Holland , was originally ereCted for Se- 
curing the Commerce inthatPartof theWorldto theSubjeCts 
of the States General, trading under the Limitations of 
their Charters ; that this End had been moft effectually an- 
fwered through the prudent Management of the Company, 
to the Envy of all Europe •, that it had been impoffible to 
do this, or to maintain the Power of the Company in that 
Part of the World, but by the ftridl Execution of the ex- 
clufive Claufes in their Charter : That the Ships of the 
Weft India Company were no more privileged than any 
other Ships in this refpeCt and that, if the Eaft India 
Company had invaded the Bounds granted to the Company 
that now complains, they would have taken the very fame 
Courfe that the Eaft India Company has lately done for the 
Maintenance of their Rights, with equal Reafon: That the 
Difcoveries their Ships were intended to make, were within 
the Bounds affigned the Weft India Company ; and their 
Officers directed, by their InftruCtions, to proceed no far- 
ther than a certain Latitude, and to return through the 
Streights of Magellan with which InftruCtions if they 
had complied, this Event could not have fallen out, and 
consequently there could have been no Occafion given for 
this Complaint : That the Officers of the Eaft India Com- 
pany, in the Indies , could not aCt in any other manner, than 
as the InftruCtions, grounded on the Company’s Charter, 
direct ; and consequently could not, in the prefent Cafe, 
have done otherwife than they have, without being want- 
ing in their Duty to the Company ; That, to have pre- 
vented any thing in this nature, if the Weft India Com- 
pany had forefeen the Neceffity of their Ships returning by 
the Eaft Indies , they ought to have applied to the Com- 
pany for their Licence, and for InftruCtions, in their Be- 
half, to the Governor-General and Council in the Indies ■, 
that, for want of taking thefe Precautions, the Ships of the 
W ft India Company, when in the Eaft Indies, could not 
be known or confidered in any manner different from other 
Ships •, but, upon committing any Offence, were liable to 
the fame Punifhment that would have been inflicted upon 
OGGEWEXN. 3 I f 
private Traders;: That the very Setting forth of this to be 
an extraordinary Cafe exculpates the Officers of the Eaft 
India Company, who have no Power of taking notice of 
any extraordinary Cafes, but muff adl in all according to 
the ordinary Rules preferibed by their Inftrudlions ; that if 
they fhould either have Power allowed, or fhould affume 
to themfelves a Power, of atfting otherwife, it would be at- 
tended with very dangerous Con Sequences, rather more 
than lefs prejudicial to the public Welfare, than what has 
happened in the prefent Cafe ; that, in reality, there is no- 
thing very prejudicial, much lefs iniquitous, in the Fadt 
now under Consideration, Since the Seizure is of no great 
Value to the Weft India Company, and, with refpedt to the 
Public, will be fo far from preventing Difcoveries, that 
it muff prove a Means of promoting them, by obliging 
fuch Officers, as may be hereafter Sent upon Defigns of this 
Nature, to purfue their Inftrudlions clofe, without framing 
Expedients to themfelves, from a Prefumption, that to 
a Cafe which they think extraordinary, the fettled Laws of 
their Country muftgiVeway: That, upon the Whole, they 
Submit it to their High Mighfmeffes, whether the Charter 
of the Eaft India Company, being an Adi of State, ought 
not, as fuch, to be confidered as a Law to their Subjedts ; 
and whether, if it be not fo confidered, the Charter can 
be of any Ufe to the Company at all j whether, if the 
Rules of the Charter be confidered as a Law by the Offi- 
cers of the Company in the Indies , they have, in this Cafe, 
done any more than was their Duty ; and whether, if ei- 
ther they, or the Company, fhould be punifhed for doing 
their Duty, it would not be, in Effedl, doing the very.* 
Thing that is here complained of as an Hardfhip. It muft 
be allowed, that this Defence of the Eaft India Company 
was very plaufible, and carried in it a great Shew of 
Reafon. 
But, according to the Cuftom of Holland , thefe Memo- 
rials, after having been confidered, were remitted into the 
Hands of the proper Officer, who was appointed to draw 
up, not only the Judgment given in this Cafe, but the 
Reafons upon which that Judgment was given, which were 
in Subftance thefe : The Eaft India Company was eredled 
at a time when the Maritime Power of the State was in 
its Infancy, and that of their Enemies the Spaniards very 
great in thofe Parts ; and that, consequently, what might 
be very right, and very requifite, in fuch a Situation, ceafes 
fo to be, when the Circumftances of Things are abfblutely 
altered, as at this Day : That it is not a Thing to be taken 
for granted, that the great Power, and extenfive Dominion, 
of the Company in the Indies is equivalent to the Power 
and Dominion of the States, themfelves, with refpedl to the 
general Good of their Subjedls becaufe this is a Fadl which 
has been doubted by many, and absolutely contradicted by 
Some of the greateft Statefmen in Holland; That, as to 
the Right of the Weft hdia Company, to do the fame 
Thing in the fame Cafe, it proves nothing ; becaufe it is a 
Maxim, from which the States will never depart, that nei- 
ther of thefe Companies have acquired, by their Charters, 
a Privilege of doing Wrong. That the Inftrudlions of the 
Weft India Company to their Officers, to proceed to a cer- 
tain Latitude, and return to the Streights of Magellan , is a 
clear Proof, that they had not the leaft Intent of breaking 
in upon the Privileges of the Eaft India Company, or of 
fending Ships into their Limits j and if the Officers did not 
obey thefe Inftrudlions, it cannot be imputed as a Fault to 
the Company, who gave them, or as a Crime to the Offi- 
cers, who would have obeyed them, if they could, but 
were compelled, by that Neceffity which fuperfedes all 
Laws, to return as they did : That the Governor-General 
and Council of the Indies might very eafily diftinguifh 
between Ships coming to trade, and Ships that fought a 
Paffage Home ; efpecially, fince it was apparent, by the 
Condition they were in at their Arrival in the Eaft Indies , 
that they really were in no Circumftances of Trading-, that 
their Neceffi ties, were fuch as they fet them out to be *, and 
that they were willing to fubmit to whatever Regulation the 
Officers of the Eaft India Company thought fit to preferibe, 
for preventing any Inconvenience from their remaining in 
thofe Seas. The Officers of the Eaft India Company are ftiil 
Subjedls of the States of Holland , and are not at all bound 
to execute the Inftrudlions of the Company to the Prejudice 
of 
