THere was of late two Currants published , bearing date , the one , the 8. of February , the other , the 28. In these two Currants sundry , both incredible and intollerable wrongs and grieuances were made knowne , which the Hollanders of the East-Indies had inflicted and enforced vpon the English company of the East-Indies . Sithence the printing of these two Currants , the Hollanders haue published a Pamphlet entituled , A declaration of the affaires of the East-Indies . This declaration was published ( as by the discourse may appeare ) in answer of the two Currants aboue mentioned , for the whole scope of the declaration tendeth to no other end , but to iustifie their owne right in the East-Indies , and thereupon to charge the English with wrongs done to them , that thereby the world might be made beleeue that whatsoeuer extremities or hard measures they offered to the English , they were vrged and prouoked thereunto by the vniust dealing of the English , and the wrongs first offered by them : How soeuer the English prouoked the Hollanders in India , the Hollanders by this declaration doe vrge and prouoke the English to defend themselues against so false and fabulous slanders imposed vpon them . Is it not too much that the Hollanders most vniustly oppressed vs in India , but that they must proceede further to slander vs in England . They spoyled vs of our goods in forraigne parts , and now they practice to depriue vs from all hope of reliefe in our owne Countrey ? What reliefe & remedy can we expect , if by our own desert and prouocation wee drew and vrged the Hollanders to practice what they did vpon vs . Where punishment is deserued the offenders are condemned and their complaints contemned : It is an old Prouerbe , Giue losers leaue to speake ; Our losses are without compare , to lose our liues and liberty , to lose our goods , to lose our trade and trafficke , and now lastly in our owne Countrey to lose the honest reputation of men , of Englishmen , of English Merchants , of the English company of East-India . This is a losse irrecouerable , as an Heathen Historian writeth ; Maiora sunt fame & fidei damna , quam que sarciri possunt : The losse of a good name , the losse of trust and credit are losses irrecouerable . But thanks bee to Almightie God who doth alwayes protect the innocent : This Declaration of the Hollanders entended and published for our vtter vn doing and disgrace , offereth vnto vs in two respects both hope and helpe , so that wee may say to the Hollanders as the primatiue Christians said of Iulian the Apostata ; Voluntatem nocendi habes , potestatem auiem non habes Iuliani : We vnderstand your intents O Hollanders , to ouerthrow vs , but you want power , wee doe not meane your Sea power ( which is too potent ) but we meane of your malice , which is by the iudgement of God vtterly confounded : if in this Declaration of yours , your will and malice had ioyned in equall power , wee the oppressed English might haue for borne to haue complained of our wrongs , with shame & confusion ; of whom or what should we complaine , if our selues vrged , prouoked and deserued our owne misfortunes . But as wee haue said , thanks bee to Almighty God , who hath conuerted Hamon his Gallowes entended against Mordocheus , to his owne confusion , like as he hath suffered you to publish a Declaration to cut your owne throats : what could you deuise to write and publish more opposite to what you intended , more to disgrace your selues in conuincing you of falshood , more to honor , acquite and cleere the English then this Declaration ? All which shall manifestly appeare in the examination of your declaration , which followeth .

To begin with the very first lines and page , you affirme , that all the Ilands of Banda from the tenth of August 1609. were by a speciall Treaty and agreement made with the Orange Cayus the Magistrates of the Ilands , put vnder the protection of the States of Netherlands : how vntrue this is , let all men iudge , when as you confesse in the latter end of the first page , and in the beginning of the second , were afterward broken and violated ; And that the Ilanders withheld their fruits and spices , that they enforced & robbed their Ware-houses , murthered at sundry times and places diuers of the principall Officers , committies , and seruants of the Netherlands company , taking away their ships & prouision , what could the Hollanders say lesse then to pretend an agreement ? and what or how could alledge & proue more directly to conuince them selues of vntruth then so plainly & largely confesse the recited hostilities , practised by the Bandineses against them : what an agreement could this bee where there was so great an auersion of the Ilanders mindes , declared by the hostile deeds which they practised against the Hollanders , they might perhaps say , there was a Treatie ; but such hostile practices manifestly proue there could bee no agreement .

The Hollanders proceede further , from the yeer 1609. to the yeere 1616. where they speake of another agreement concluded in May , by one of the Netherlanders Commanders called Lam. And another agreement made by their Gouernour Generall called Reall , in the yeere 1617. which they confesse were both shortly after broken by the Bandineses , but how ? Here commeth in the maine matter , the Bandineses rebelled through the animating of the English , who did openly ayd and assist them with victuals , munition , great Ordinance , men , and ships .

In this second Page here are strange wrongs offered to the Hollanders by the Bandineses and the English , nay , to God himselfe , of which wee must first speake .

The Bandineses enforced Christians to turne Moores againe . First , let vs aske you who conuerted these turne-coate Christians , did you ? Admit you did . Next let vs aske you to what kinde of Christianity did you conuert them , if to that kinde of Christianity to which one Chircke , the Master of a Ship called the Sampson , which you wrongfully tooke from the English , the offence of the Bandineses was the lesse , if they compelled the inhabitants to forsake such Christianity , for your owne Countrey men in the East-Indies doe and did openly & iestingly confesse that Chircke was a Cuckold before he was a Christian , for being married in Holland , hee left his wife with his familiar friends , who did out of their familiar loue encrease the family in the Husbands absence ; It was two or three yeers after that Chircke was christned . Such Christians may quickly turne Moores who delay Baptizing till thirty fiue . But to returne to the heauy burden with which the English are charged ; namely , to animate , to aide and assist the Bandineses , it were necessary that the Hollanders should set downe the causes which moued the English to ioyne so sarre with the Bandineses , for the causes doe either lesson or agrauate the charge imposed vpon the English : they must either say the English ayded the Bandineses directly against the Hollanders without further respect , which they cannot proue , or they must alleadge , which themselues in their Declaration , doe proue that the English did endeauour to defend them with whom they had free trade and trafficke , who louingly and with free consent sold to the English their spices , &c. who put themselues vnder the protection of the English , who yeelded the Ilands of Polawaye , Polerone and Lantore , vnder the obeysance of the King of England , which if they would they cannot deny , for they confesse that the English had mounted ordinance vpon all these Ilands : why should the English plant their ordinance vpon these Ilands but to defend their right . How could the English plant their Ordinance vpon the Ilands but with free consent of the Bandinesses , at what time did the English plant their Ordinance in these Ilands of Banda ? The Hollanders confesse before they came to the Ilands ; for they found them in the Ilands : now where is the wrong that the English haue done the Hollanders ? and in what because the English did hinder the agreements so often made betwixt the Hollanders and the Bandinesses , why for eleuen yeares the Hollanders confesse there was neuer any , as in the third page they say : In this wilfulnesse did the Bandinesses continue till in Iune 1620. Thus hitherto it is plainely acknowledged the Hollanders neuer had any landing , any Castle or Fort , any trading in the Ilands of Banda , but what was gotten by force and absolute constraint : If the Hollanders could proue so much for themselues as they doe for the English ; the English then might haue blushed for shame . In all this time that the Hollanders maintained hostility with the Bandinesses there is no mention made that the Bandinesses euer offered any opposition against the English , or once denied them their Spices , but that they had trade and trafficke with them freely and friendly , now if consent and prescription of time be the best claime the Hollanders would haue for the Ilands of Banda , why the Englishmen go farre beyond them , the Bandinesses did neuer violate any agreement made with the English , they neuer kept any pretended agreement made with the Hollanders , the Englishmen in eleuen yeeres were neuer expelled , the Hollanders in all that time were neuer entertained , but in all hostile manner : The English men had offer at all times of Nutmegs and Mace , so had the Hollanders neuer at any time , but what they got by violence and compulsion ; all which is acknowledged in the third Page , and the beginning of the fourth . We passe ouer many acknowledgements and confessions of the Hollanders , because they all tend but to two ends , to iustifie themselues , and condemne the English ; and because there is sufficient obseruation giuen , that in iustifying themselues , they disgrace themselues , and in practising to disgrace the English , they doe them great honor . But to deale plainely and truely , not to abuse the world with vntruths , nor to wrong the Hollanders without cause , we doe confesse ; The Bandineses made one famous agreement with the Hollanders , which wee well remember , euen in that yeere in which they report they had made agreement with the Bandineses . In Iune 1609. after they had by force taken from them a Towne called Noara , and making them flye to the backeside of the coast , to a place which they called Nassaw . Van Hofe the generall made shew of loue & friendship with the Bandineses , which they perceiuing and desirous to reuenge the wrongs and cruelties offered vnto them by the Hollanders , did dissemble their intents , entertaining Van Hoofe with vaine hopes , promising him to come to some agreement , by which meanes they drew Van Hoofe with three score or more of his Commanders and Souldiers vnto a place in which the Bandineses had aduantage . Now insteed of agreement , in warlike manner they set vpon Van Hoofe and slew him and almost his company . This is the best agreement that wee euer knew or heard the Bandineses euer made with the Hollanders during a leauen or twelue yeeres . Presently after this , in Iuly after , Captaine Bitter who among all the Commanders escaped , when Van Hoofe was slaine , attempted to supprize another Towne caled Slamma ; hee was sought withall by the Bandineses , and wounded in the thigh , of which wound he shortly dyed .

Now it appeareth manifestly without denyall vpon this former examination of the Hollanders declaration that the right to the Hands of Banda was principally yeelded by free consent of the Ilanders , confirmed by many yeeres trade and trafficke without any opposition in any hostile manner , but with mutuall enter course of all loue and amity .

This the Hollanders doe confesse , and what proofe can be more pregnant then the testimony of an aduersary : Where is now any wrong which the English hath done the Hollanders , except it bee a wrong to maintaine them , who with free and generall consent put themselues vnder the protection of the King of England ? or a wrong to defend them who willingly trafficke and trade with the English , or a wrong to maintaine that right which the Hollanders acknowledge the English had in the Iland of Banda : These be all the wrongs which the Hollanders doe or can charge the English withall .

But now on the other side , what extreame wrongs doe the English charge vpon the Hollanders ? In two Currants printed the eight of February , and the twenty eight 1629. the Hollanders are charged with most barbarous and inhumane wrongs done to the English , all which they passe ouer in their Declaration without any answere at all , whereby in silence they cannot but pleade guilty : to confesse them they are a shamed , and to deny them they cannot , but in their accustomed pollicy they seeke to auoyd them by way of infinuation , that the English deserued them in ayding and assisting the Bandineses against them .

There were two Orators of Athens very great and inward friends , before the Iudges the one did accuse , the other defend a Magistrate of Athens , whereupon the one Orator did challenge the other that he had dealt very vnkindly with him to defend his mortall enemy , and thou as vnkindly with me , quoth the other , to accuse my dearest friend .

This is iust the like challenge betwixt the Hollanders and the English : Why doe you say the Hollanders defend our greatest enemies ? And why doe you say the English oppose against our dearest friends ? Yet in this challenge there is a difference , for the English haue more cause to defend their friends , then the Hollanders haue cause to oppose against their enemies , English men haue a right by consent , Hollanders haue nothing but by constraint .

Iust defence is more honest and honourable then vniust opposition is , either by Lawes of God or man warrantable .

To proceede on with the cruell , and inhumane wrongs done by the Hollanders , to the English , by so much more barbarous and inhumane , by how much the English of all Nations in the world , did least deserue it . What ? deserue any hard measures from the Hollanders ? To what Nation vnder the Coape of Heauen , are they so much bound as to the English , who hath fostered and nursed them vp to this greatnesse , but the English ? what Nation hath shed so much blood , lost the the liues of so many gallant Captaines , Commanders , and Souldiers , to ayde and defende them as the English ?

What Nation hath lent them , and spent vpon them so much money and treasure , as the English haue done , when they were in their extreemest weaknesse , and pouerty ? when and where did the English euer fayle them . If for these causes , the English haue deserued at the Hollanders , hands , to haue their shippes taken , and made prize , their goods confiscate , and conuerted to their owne vses , their Captaines , Souldiers , Factors , & Mariners , taken prisoners , held in miserable seruitude , clogged with yorns , kept in stockes , bound hand and foote , tied to stakes , haling , and pulling them with ropes about their neckes , spurning them like dogges , throwing them headlong downe rockes and clifts , killing , murthering , staruing , and pining them to death , enforcing them to carry lime , and stone for their buildings . Landing them amongst the Pagan people , without all prouision whatsoeuer , exposing them to the mercy of miscreants of whom notwithstanding they sound better vsage then of the Hollanders . When as the Hollanders robbed , and spoyled other Nations vnder the English coulers , pretending to disgrace the English , that they were English men , counterfeiting the coyne of other nations , charging the English with the same . Laying the English , whom they held as prisoners aboue hatches , where the Sunne scorched them in the day , and where their ordutes and pisle fell vpon them in the night , till they grew more loathsome and filthie then Leapers , barring the English , as much as in them lay , from all commerse and trade in the Indies . As all these perticulars are directly to be proued by men yet liuing , who either endured , or their eyes saw , what is heare reported , and will be ready vpon all occasions either with their liues or oathes to iustifie for truth , what they haue endured , and what they haue seene with their eyes .

Let all the world iudge whether English men haue deserued these vsages , at the Hollanders hands : Where as some people either affected to the Hollanders , or thinking it to strange , and monsterous , that Christians should domineare ouer Christians , with such inhumane and barbarous cruelty , rather tyranoy , except the English had prouoked them heauily thereunto .

Let all such who harbour any such conceits , reade and consider what is before answered to such obiections : the Hollanders in their declaration being charged in the two first Currants , with may of these extreame wrongs inflicted vpon the English , they make no deniall of them : make a chalenge that the English did ayde and assist the Bandineses against them ; it hath formerly bene alleaged , and sufficiently proued , by their owne confession , that the English did not maintaine the Ileanders , by way of opposing against the Hollanders , but they did as much as in them lay , to defend the right of the King of England , they did defend that right which they had by consent , they did defend that people , who did so freely , and friendly trade and trafficke with them , other causes then their so honest , so iust agreeing with the Lawes of God , of nature , and Nations , they neither do or can alleadge any : some other inconsiderat people , who enuy the prosperity of the East-Indian Merchants will further say , to cloase with the Hollanders , that these extremities were offered in India , onely and no where else to the English , for proffe of the contrary , wee of the East-Indian Company do chalenge all the Merchants which trauaile or trafficke East , West , North , or South , to deliuer their knowledge what indignities they haue endured from the Hollanders in Turkey , in the Straights , in Moscony , in Groynland , at Neusoundland ; and where not so that not onely the East-Indian Company hath onely cause to complaine : yea , they wrong Englishmen in their owne seas , at home , as is generally knowne : Now because Hollanders may say , that they are charged with generalities , without perticular instances . Generall speaches beeing a common cause to aggrauate causes , and be auoyded except the Generall bee proued by perticulars , because they shall find that wee cannot want of particulers our of infinite , there shal bee heare following deliuered some by men yet liuing , who haue both seene them , and endured them .

In the Roade of Patanye in the East-Indies the 17. of Iuly 1619. the two ships called the Sampson and the Hound , riding there at Anchour , three ships of the Netherlands set vpon them with might and maine , after fiue howers fight , eleuen of the men in the Sampson were slaine out-right , and fiue and thirty men of the same ship were wounded , maymed and dismembred , at this time Captaine Iorden was Captaine of the Sampson , and did hang vp a flagge of Truce , and withall sent Thomas Hackwell , Maister of the Sampson , to the Netherlanders to parlee about a peacc .