Page:History of India Vol 7.djvu/128

 94 THE STRUGGLE FOR THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO was to furnish ten ships of war to be kept in the East for purposes of common defence, and not to be em- ployed on home voyages, but only in the port-to-port trade. All forts should remain in the hands of their present possessors— which practically meant of the Dutch, as we had then so few— and certain proposed fortifications of the English were to be postponed for two or three years, until both Companies could agree upon them. The treaty was to be binding for twenty years. Its execution was to be supervised by a joint Council of Defence in the Indies, composed of four members from each Company, with an appeal in case of dispute to the States-General and the King of England. So much eventually turned on this Council of Defence clause that I give it in full. 1 Its functions were defined as the direction of the common defence by sea, the distri- bution of the ships of war, and the regulation of dues or imposts for maintaining the forts and garrisons. 1 Rymer's Fcedera (ed. 1704-1735), vol. xvii, pp. 172-173 : " Pour avec ordre establir & mieux administer ceste Defense, il sera erige un conseil de Defense compose de huict Personnes des premiers & principaux officiers, estans par dela ; les quelles seront prises & eslues en nombre egal tant de Tune que de l'autre compagnie, & presideront par tour. " Ce Conseil ordonnera de ce qui concernera le faict de la Defense commune par Mer, & distribuera les Navires de Guerre en telz endroits qu'il trouvera necessaire. Comme aussy il reiglera les Daces & Impositions qui seront neces- saires pour le entretennement des dits Forts & garnisons d'iceux, & sera authorise de faire rendre compte aux Recepueurs des dites Impositions. . . " Ce Traicte sera pour le temps de vingt ans ; & sy, pendant ce temps la, arrive quelques Disputes qui ne puissent estre terminees par le dit conseil en ces Quartiers la, ny par deca par les deux compagnies, le Different en sera remis au Roy de la Grande Bretagne & aus dits seigneurs Estats Generaux, qui daigneront preindre la Peine de l'accomoder au contentement des uns & des autres."