93© A fuccinfti Hi ft or y of the Rife , Prog refs, and Book I. 
thefe Commilfions, becaufe they could not well do their 
Bufmefs without them. 
Two Things efpecially contributed to their Grandeur, 
and to their quiet enjoying a Power of fuch extravagant 
Extent. The firft was the Factions affd Divifions that 
reigned at that Time in Holland , which fo occupied the 
Cares of the Government, that they were the lefs able to 
look abroad \ for it was at this Juncture that thofe Trou- 
bles happened, which coft Barneveldt his Life, and the 
famous Gtotius and other worthy Members of the 4 State, 
a tedious Imprifonment. The fecond Caufe was, the vaft 
Riches which flowed in from the Eaft-India Trade, and 
which were evidently of fuch prodigious Benefit to the 
Hutch Nation in general, as rendered it very improper to 
take any Meafures capable of leflening the Intereft: or Au- 
thority of that Company, by which the Trade was ma- 
naged, from which fuch mighty Profits accrued. Befides, 
it is not at all improbable, that both Parties had their 
Views upon this Company, and were in hopes of turning 
that Indulgence which was fhewn it to their own Advantage, 
more efpecially becaufe the Term granted by their Char- 
ter was drawing towards a Clofe, when it might have been 
practicable to have given it |^§|W Term, and to have re- 
medied all thofe lnconvenimcies, which, for particular 
Reafons, and perhaps from private and very different 
Views, had been hitherto paffed by and over-looked : 
But, as we fhall fee hereafter both Parties in the Dutch 
Government were miftaken in their Conjectures, and the 
Company, inftead of lofmg, or abating any Part of her 
Powers or Privileges, acquired (till greater, and more ex- 
tenfive, by the new Charter which fhe obtained, as is 
ufually the Cafe in Countries where Oppofitions prevail ; 
and the Government, whatever its Form may be, is not 
at Liberty to purfue fuch Meafures as are moft confident 
with her Intereft. 
But to return from thefe Reflections to the Thread of our 
Hiftory, as it is taken from the Dutch Writers. The vaft 
Succefs which attended this Company in all its Undertak- 
ings, fo raifed the Spirits, and exalted the Hopes of the 
States, that they at length began to think of doubling thefe 
Advantages, by ereCting a new Company, with the fame 
Power of trading to the Weft-Indies , which this Company 
enjoyed in trading to the Eaft. But though this was a Pro- 
ject both reafonable in itfelf, and which had all the Coun- 
tenance the Governour could give it, yet being fecretly op- 
pofed by the Eaft-India Company, it went on but heavily, 
and they were forced to make feveral Alterations in the 
Charter, before the Capital of this new Company, which 
confided of 7,200,000 Livres, could be made up •, and 
the State likewife prefented the new Company with three 
large fine Ships, equally fit for Trade and War. 
But while fo much Care was taking of the younger 
Child of the Republick, the elder was very well able to 
go alone ; and there wanted not Pome who were for hur- 
rying at too great a pace, and fending fuch Numbers of 
Ships to the Indies , as if the Dutch had not fought the 
Commerce but the Conqueft of Afta, in which however 
they were checked, and all Things kept within due 
Bounds ; which however it might difpleafe arbitrary Spi- 
rits, was certainly right in the main. 
About this Time theAbufes and unwarrantable Practices 
relating to the Sale of the Actions or Stock of the Company, 
began to revive •, upon which the States found themfelves 
obliged to renew the Placard of 1610, with a few Amend- 
ments fuitablc to the Circumftances of the Time. In the 
Year 1621, the Ship called Goede Vreede , arrived in Zea- 
land, having on board five Children of Kings or Princes, 
in order to their Education, in the Provinces, and Inftruc- 
tion in the Chriftian Religion, purfuant to the Tenor of the 
Letters that were written to the Prince upon that SubjeCt. 
In February 1622, two Ships more came home with rich 
Cargoes •, they brought Advice that the Indian Trade flou- 
rilhed ftill, that they continued to wage war with the Peo- 
ple of Bantam in Java, and with the Spaniards in the Mo- 
lucca and Manila Iflands, and that they had already pof- 
feflfed themfelves of the Ifland of Banda. Soon after there 
arrived three more, with Advice that the laft Ships that 
went out had ( arrived fafe in the' Indies in four Months 
and three Days Sailing. 
10. The Company’s Patent expired this very Year, viz. 
1622, and a Difference arofe between the Directors and 
Subfcribers, that might have extended to a great Height, 
if the States had not interpofed. Thefe wife Mediators 
appeafed all by their Prudence. The Directors Accounts 
were called for, and purfuant to the Meafures of Equity 
and Reafon, a Dividend of 25 per Cent, was allotted to the 
Subfcribers, and paid them in Cloves. After that the 
Company obtained a new Patent for twenty-one Years, 
commencing from 1623. By Virtue of the Renewal of 
the Patent, the Company had the Satisfaction to fee four 
Ships richly laden, return in October. The Diffe- 
rence between the Englifh and Dutch that had lain fo 
long in Sufpence, was then accommodated upon the Pay- 
ment of 800,000 Livres by the Dutch to the Englifh. 
The infinite Advantages that redounded to the Coun- 
try by the ereCting of this Company, could not diffuade 
the Envious from thwarting it to a flaming Degree : To 
remedy this, and prevent the other Inconveniencies that 
might happen, the States thought fit on March 13, 1623, 
to add new Claufes to their new Patent, sifter the Difco- 
very of a new Paffage to the Pacific Sea , made by James 
le Maire. Their High Mightinefles, in Conjunction with 
the Company, came to a Refolution to fend another ftrong 
Squadron that Way to the Indies, in order to ruin their 
Enemies. This Fleet fet fail in April , under the Com- 
mand of James ft Hermit e -, but, before their Departure, 
two Ships and a Yatch fet out for the Indies by the com- 
mon Courfe. The next May two Ships came home, and 
found a very good Market. The Abufes in the Sale of 
Actions obliged the States to revive a third Time their 
Placard upon that Head. 
In September John Peter Coen arrived at Goeree with 
four Ships on the Company’s Account, and a fifth, which 
had ftraggled from them by the Way, arrived the next 
November. At that time a Handful of Merchants bought 
up, at one Sale, all 'the Company’s Pepper, the Quantity 
of which amounted to 19,000 Bales, and the Sum which 
they paid for it amounted to 4,500,000 Livres, which 
was certainly a very remarkable Thing. In May 1624, 
the Ilaes Yatch returned, having failed to Batavia and 
home again in the Space of nine Months and feven Days. 
Their Intelligence imported, that all things went welfin 
that Country, excepting that the Engliflo had raifed fome 
Commotions at Amboyna, but the Dutch ufed their utmoft 
Efforts to hinder the Spaniards to trade in China , and 
hoped for Succefs ; that three or four Ships were taking in 
their Lading in order to come home ; accordingly three 
homeward-bound Ships arrived the next September ; and 
in May 1625, another, called the Heufden, arrived from 
Surat, which gave Advice that their Affairs were in a 
pretty good Pofture at Ormuz, and in the neighbouring 
Countries, from whence three Ships more returned the 
next Spring. The Schoonhoven, an outward-bound Ship 
for the Indies , met with a violent Storm on the Coaft of 
Spain , and was call away off St. Jago, where twenty- fix 
of the Men were faved, and carried to Spain. 
This Afflidion was alleviated by the Arrival of two 
Ships from Surat in February 16.26, and two more foon 
after, having on board an Embaflfador from the King of 
Perfta. They brought the News of the Vidory obtained 
over the Portugueze, and of the great Commotion in Surat, 
occafioned by the King’s Son taking up Arms againft his 
Father, infomuch that both Armies were in the Field 
when the Ships came off. Upon this Intelligence they 
fitted out a Squadron of nine Ships, bound for that Coun- 
try, under the Command of Wybrandt, who fought fo 
bravely at Sera Leoni with Campaen the Pirate. In June 
two Ships of James ft Hermits' $ Squadron came home, 
and before the Year was out, a Ship returned from Coro- 
mandel. It was in this Fleet, that the famous Mariner., 
William Yjbrantz Bontehoc returned fafe to his native Coun- 
try, whole Adventures, though related by himfelf with 
all the Plainnefs and Simplicity becoming his Condition, 
yet were long held abfolucely beyond the Power of Belief, 
till, by a careful and ftrid Enquiry, every Circumftance 
was verified. 
It is true, that a Thing of this Nature does not feem to 
fall fo immediately under the prefenc Sedioii, but, undoubt- 
edly. 
