Page:History of India Vol 7.djvu/111

 WRANGLES BETWEEN DUTCH AND ENGLISH 81 assistance and mediation to the States." They based their claim to trade in the Archipelago on the prior dis- coveries of Drake, Cavendish, and Lancaster; and on Drake's compact with the King of Ternate (the suze- rain of the Moluccas) long before the Dutch were heard of in those seas. The argument had its inconveniences, for it would have told still more strongly in favour of the Portuguese prior rights which the English Company were about to scatter to the winds. But it sufficed to bring the question within the range of European diplomacy, and to open out new op- portunities to James in his favourite role of the peacemaking monarch. From this period the relations of the Dutch and English Companies divide into two distinct branches: continuous negotiation in Europe, and continuous con- tests in the East. After preliminary action by our ambassador in Holland, the States-General, in 1613, sent commissioners accompanied by Grotius, then pen- sionary of Rotterdam and the foremost international jurist of the age, to treat with English commissioners in London. Much wrangling resulted in a vague agree- ment in 1614 that each nation should enjoy such places as it had conquered or discovered, and pay customs THOMA8 CAVENDISH.