They had steadily opposed the truce, and it was but too evident that the establishment of such a company, as originally contemplated, was altogether incompatible with it. Yet, in one of the many pamphlets that were published while the negotiations were pending, Usselinx had urged that only in the case of a peace or truce could a scheme of colonization proposed by him as a part of the object to be attained by the West India Company be put into execution. The ideas on this topic, contained in the publication referred to, have deservedly drawn expressions of admiration from a modern Dutch historian, who points out that they were over two hundred years in advance of the boasted colonial policy of the English of to-day. It would seem, therefore, as if the politic Usselinx had prepared himself for either emergency. Had the charter been granted in 1607 or 1608, he may have been of the mind to make the Company's prominent work the colonizing of such territories on the Atlantic borders, east or west, as could not be claimed by Spain, and whose exact location for that purpose he carefully defines. Thus he would have been in a condition to commend his project to adherents of the war-party or of the peace-party, as equally useful or desirable whichever side should gain its ends. Nevertheless the real purport of the measure, as it was proposed to the legislature of Holland, was unequivocally and preeminently warlike. It may be safely concluded that the contemplated truce would have been impossible if the West India Company had been established and had begun its operations; while the truce effected was the death-blow to its establishment. Hence the greater part of the publications that may be traced to its advocates scouted all idea of peace or truce. Later pamphlets written by Usselinx take decided ground for the continuance of war, with arguments both legitimate and otherwise. He had doubtless perceived by this time that truce or peace was inevitable, and on further reflection concluded that it was either worse for the country or worse for his company, to have that than war.2

In 1614 there was a brief revival of the agitation of the question of the establishment of the Company. It was the result of the awakening of Holland to the importance of the regions discovered for the Republic by Hudson. Several exploring and trading voyages had been made in the interval, and it was feared that the erection of various weak and rival associations would be as detrimental to western trade as it had been in the case of the East Indies. This had necessitated the erection of the "General East India Company," whose

1 Van Kampen, Nederl. b. Eur., 1: 172, 173. 2 So entirely different are the argument and purpose of these later pamphlets that Van Kampen, whose knowledge of them is evidently derived from Van Meteren's summaries, in beginning the

consideration of the latter says: "Een ander,” i. e., "Another" person or "another" writer. A more careful reading would have shown him that Van Meteren correctly attributes all to Usselinx (Nederl. b. Eur., 1:173).

incredible prosperity had proved the wisdom of the measure. A number of merchants, therefore, appealed to the Provincial States of Holland, in July, 1614, to charter "a general company," that is, a national association of capitalists, on the plan of the East India Company; and this for the purpose of trading "on some coasts of Africa and America." The appeal was successful in so far that the scheme received the indorsement of the legislature, in the form of a reference of it to the States-General, which coming from such a source amounted to a recommendation in the estimation of the national parliament. But even before this reference the subject had already been introduced, and there must have been a general and intense interest awakened by it throughout the United Netherlands. In every direction men were presenting measures for establishing commercial relations with the New World. On June 21, a body of "divers traders," from more than one province of the Union, had laid before the States-General a petition "for the formation and erection in this country of a general company for the West Indies." The memorial from the States of Holland, the dominant Province, where men, money, and merchants especially abounded, in a proportion that far outstripped that of the six other members of the Confederacy, could not fail to give immense weight to the discussion.

Accordingly, on August 25, 1614, the States-General passed a resolution bearing evidence to the fact that the subject on hand was deemed to be of the very gravest moment. It was, namely, "Resolved, That the business of forming a General West India Company shall be undertaken to-morrow morning; moreover, that to this meeting may come those deputed from the Provinces, those who will request to promote this work, those who act on orders, as well as those who appear and have seats in the Assembly and at extraordinary meetings of other chambers, and at the meeting of their High Mightinesses." On the committee to arrange for this special order of business were placed two men, one by the name of Nicasius Kien; the other, William Usselinx.1 It is a source of regret that some eye-witness of this gathering of Tuesday, August 26, 1614, has not left an account of what he saw and heard. It must have been held either in the great "Truce Chamber," or in the solemn Gothic Hall of the Knights, hung with the trophies of Republican victories. All that is known of the proceedings is that they led to no action, for exactly one week later, on Tuesday, September 2d, a resolution was passed at a morning session of the States-General to make the question of the West India Com

1 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 1: 7. The name is here spelled Eusselinex. Prof. J. Franklin Jameson, in his monograph on "Willem Usselinx,” in Papers of the Amer. Hist. Ass. (2: 149-382), mentions on p. 162, note, thirty-five different ways in

which this name is spelled in contemporary documents or later histories. We may add one more to the list, as a spelling furnished by a reputable writer. This is "Ysselius," found in Van Kampen's Nederl. b. Eur., 1: 171.

pany a special order again that same afternoon. But no action was arrived at then. There for the present the matter was allowed to rest. The country was not yet ripe for the enterprise involved in the erection of an association by the side of the East India Company and to invest the same large capital. And the Truce was a serious obstacle in the way. The artful "exception " inserted in the article on Indian Trade could not be made to apply to the coasts of America and Africa, where there were no semi-civilized states with whom to make independent treaties, and where Spain was already in possession and must be left in peace. The States of Holland, on September 27th, were again in deliberation in the endeavor to remove the difficulties, or palliate the obstacles, on the ground of the Truce, suggested by the States-General. But it was of no avail, and some years were suffered to elapse ere it was deemed expedient to resume the subject.' While the discussions bearing on the West India Company were an element in the strife that was tearing the Republic asunder during the Twelve Years' Truce, they were not the main issue. Nor must it be thought for a moment that his opposition to the formation of that Company alone brought Barneveld to the block. It is using language altogether too strong and unadvised to say in respect to the promoters of the enterprise that, "after many years of ardent antagonism, they had to pass over his body to execute their plans."" Such a statement needlessly exaggerates the situation. Barneveld had stood in the way of the West India Company only in the interest of peace or a truce, which he deemed essential, and that in 1608, before the truce was effected. This great patriot might have been as anxious to establish it as Usselinx himself when the twelve years were over, and war should appear as expedient then as truce had seemed at the beginning. Still some countenance is given to this extravagant theory by the fact that immediately after the arrest of Barneveld on August 29, 1618, the States of Holland resumed the discussion of the West India Charter (September 18th), and in November we find it before the States-General. It was resolved then to allow it to be referred to the various provincial legislatures. As has been intimated before, but which it is now necessary to understand clearly, the members of

1 We have gathered these facts from a simple perusal of the copies of the acts and resolutions on this subject in the Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 1: 6-9. The circumstance noted in the text - namely, the final effort of the States of Holland on September 27, 1614, to save the scheme of a West India Company-is somewhat at variance with Asher's assertions in his Bibl. and Hist. Essay, made on the strength of Usselinx's pamphlets, that of all the opponents of the West India Company, the States of Holland, where Barneveld was all powerful, were the most determined.

2 Asher, Bibl. and Hist. Essay, Introd., p. xv.
3 Van Rees, Staathuishoudkunde, 2: 108; Wa-

genaar, Vaderl. Hist., 10: 306. Prof. Van Rees, on p. 107 of the work cited, in a foot-note, gives Usselinx's account of an interview with Prince Maurice, at which he advised the latter to cut the Gordian knot of his difficulties with the Advocate and his party by violent measures. This then would look like "passing over his body" to the accomplishment of Usselinx's designs. But in the first place, this had reference more particularly to changing the complexion of the municipalities; and further, we have this story simply on Usselinx's own authority. Prof. Van Rees prudently introduces it by saying, "If we may believe Usselinx."

the States-General of the United Netherlands were not really legislators. They were rather plenipotentiaries or ambassadors from the several provinces met in conclave to act out the definitely ascertained wishes of their superiors

the particular subject with their provincial States, whose unsurrendered individual sovereignty was in this way continually asserted. The charter for a West India Company had now reached this third and last stage of public action; it was thought of sufficient importance or expediency to consult in regard to it with the several States. But ere these seven legislative bodies could be ready

to instruct their deputies in the States-General they must in their turn each severally return to their municipal governments, whose ambassadors they were. And in every direction unanimity was imperative before action or adoption. Necessarily, therefore, the matter moved slowly, and it is not surprising to find that not till two years and a half after November, 1618, did the charter come again before the States-General. Barneveld had then been dead more than two years, the truce was over, and everything was ready for the most warlike undertakings that were contemplated by the West India Company. Accordingly its great charter was granted, and the document duly signed and sealed on June 3, 1621.

By the provisions of this paper their High Mightinesses the States

General of the United Netherlands authorized the formation of a national society of merchants. To enable them to carry out the purposes of their association it was stipulated that a sum of not less than seven millions of florins ($2,800,000) be subscribed as capital. Fourninths of this capital were to be held in shares by persons residing in or about Amsterdam, who should have the privilege of electing twenty managers or directors to constitute the Chamber of Amsterdam. But this chamber and its shareholders included also persons residing in some of the other cities of Holland, and even in those of the provinces of Utrecht, Overyssel, and Gelderland, not having separate chambers of their own. On this same principle, but more strictly defined as to locality, two-ninths of the capital with twelve directors constituted the Chamber of Zeeland; one-ninth of the capital and fourteen directors, the Chamber of the Meuse, embracing the cities of Dordrecht, Rotterdam, and Delft; one-ninth of the capital and fourteen directors, the Chamber of the North Quarter, embracing Hoorn, Enkhuysen, and other cities of North Holland; and one-ninth of the capital with fourteen directors, finally, the Chamber of Friesland Province. The latter was known also as the Chamber of "Stad en Landen," i. e., of Town and Country, because in this province prevailed the peculiarity that country districts as well as towns were represented in their legislature, and not municipalities exclusively as in the other provinces, and this same privilege was to be extended to representation in the chamber. In order to be entitled to election as director in the chambers of the Company, a certain amount of shares must be held; for the Amsterdam Chamber this amount was fixed at six thousand florins ($2400); in the other chambers, at four thousand florins ($1600). While each of these five bodies met independently within the city or province or section by which it was designated, the management of the whole company was intrusted to a general executive board of nineteen members, consisting of eight from the Chamber of Amsterdam, four from that of Zeeland, and two each from the three remaining chambers; while the nineteenth was to be appointed by the States-General and to represent this body at its sessions. The official title of this executive board came to be the "Assembly of the XIX"; it was to meet for the first six years consecutively in the City of Amsterdam; for two years after that within the Province of Zeeland; thus alternating its sessions between these two localities, and during such terms respectively thereafter, as long as its charter should be in force.

The Company having been thus organized for effective operation, what was it empowered to do? For the space of twenty-four years after July 1, 1621, it was to have the privilege, to the exclusion of all other inhabitants or associations of merchants within the bounds of