1561, 1562, 1569-1576, 1587, 1588, and 1600. Since 1555 the claim that Englishmen had a right to visit such parts of the Indies as were not actually held by Spain had been maintained. It may have been due to Robert Cecil's characteristic subtlety that in 1604 an ambiguous article was finally agreed on, which, according to England, admitted Englishmen to the Indies; according to Spain, excluded them. On account of this difference in interpretation, the status of Englishmen beyond the line was the same as that of the French-- right made might in those distant regions.
In the negotiations, for a peace or truce, conducted between the United Provinces of the Netherlands and Spain in the years 1607-1609, no question was debated with greater vehemence than that of Dutch participation in the Indian trade. In fact, the Dutch were already profiting by their trade in the East Indies. Spain ardently desired to keep them out of the West Indies, at least, but she was finally obliged to make the great concession, for a limited time. In the twelve years' truce concluded on April 9, 1609, an obscurely worded article permitted the Dutch to trade in both Indies, during the period of the truce, in places not actually held by Spain (Doc. 28). Furthermore, it was certified by the French and English ambassadors at the Hague that it had been agreed that Spaniards should refrain from traffic in places held by the Dutch in the Indies. France and England also guaranteed that, during the truce, Spain would not molest the Dutch in the Indian trade (Doc. 29).
In 1621 the twelve years' truce expired, and Spain declared war on the United Netherlands. Within the period from 1621 to 1625 the Dutch were conducting various negotiations with Denmark, France, and England, as well as with other powers, for the purpose of securing their alliance against Spain. The States General were very desirous that Danes, French, and English should co-operate with the Dutch West India Company, chartered in 1621 for the purpose of attacking Spain's American possessions and treasure-fleets, as well as for trade. The Danes and French, on the other hand, desired rather to share in the profitable East India commerce. In 1621 the Dutch and Danish commissioners signed an agreement that in their journeys, trade, and navigation in the East and West Indies, Africa, and Terra Australis, subjects of either party should befriend subjects of the other (Docs. 30, 31). The Dutch treaty with France in 1624 merely stipulated that the question of traffic to the East and West Indies should be treated later by the French ambassador (Doc. 32). The defensive alliance formed with England in 1624 did not refer to the Indies; but the offensive alliance of the following year (Doc. 33) enjoined attacks by both parties on Spain's dominions on both sides of the line, and especially on the treasure-fleets. One of the results of this treaty was the opening of trade between the Dutch and the English colonists in North America.
