Civil discord in the United Provinces. The embassy of 1618 to England. Its powers limited to the Greenland and East Indian questions. The herring fishery and cloth disputes not to be discussed. James demands peremptory settlement of fishery question. Reply of the States' envoys. Difficulties insuperable. James grants a brief delay. Long discussions upon the Greenland and East Indian differences. No agreement arrived at. Outbreak of the Thirty Years' War. Disasters of the Elector Palatine in Bohemia. Confronted by a common danger, English and Dutch negotiators become more amenable. Temporary _modus vivendi_ agreed upon. James's Spanish proclivities feared in Holland. Dutch embassy of 1621. Presses for an alliance for mutual defence and recovery of the Palatinate. James's difficulties with his Parliament and financial straits. Strong influence of Gondomar with the King. James demands settlement of disputes as the preliminary to an alliance. Embassy returns without result. The Merchant Adventurers set up their Court and Staple at Delft. Another Dutch embassy in 1622. Francis Aerssen van Sommelsdijk at its head. Its instructions. Conferences in London. Testiness and ill-humour of the King. An East Indian accord. After fourteen months in England the embassy returns, leaving all other points of dispute unsettled PAGES 58-81.
Prince Charles and Buckingham at Madrid. The English and Scottish regiments in the Dutch service. The Dutch West India Company. Conciliatory policy of the States General. Effect of the failure of the Spanish Marriage project. James's hand forced. Interview of Carleton with Maurice of Nassau. Mission of Aerssen and Joachimi, February, 1627. Defensive alliance concluded, June 15. English levies for the Netherlands. Negotiations interrupted. Death of Caron, December 12; James I, March 27; Maurice of Nassau, April 25. Albert Joachimi succeeds Noel Caron as Dutch resident minister in England. Francis van Aerssen and Rienck van Burmania, with Joachimi, sent (June, 1625) on special embassy to Charles I on his accession. Treaty of Southampton (an offensive and defensive alliance) signed September 17. A Dutch squadron takes part in the ill-fated expedition to Cadiz. The old differences between the two countries revive. States-General refuse to give the English Resident a seat on the Council of State. Complaints of the Merchant Adventurers. Right of search for contraband. Jacob Cats goes to London, 1627. The massacre of Amboina, and fishery questions. Dutch policy of delay. No settlement reached. Comment of Aitzema on the Cats' mission. Difficulties of Charles I. The disastrous expedition to La Rochelle. Lord Carleton sent as envoy extraordinary to the Hague. His secret instructions and attempts at negotiation. Another Dutch embassy dispatched to England, January, 1628. Lord Carlisle sent to join Carleton at the Hague with further instructions (May). Small results of so much diplomacy. Assassination of Buckingham. Final breach of Charles with his Parliament. Dutch mediation brings about peace with France, April 24, 1629 PAGES 82-104.