82 THE STRUGGLE FOR THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO duties to the other at those ports, while both should join against the common enemy— Spain and Portugal. The governor of the English Company held a confer- ence with the Dutch ambassador in London for " a loving and friendly trade both defensive and offensive/' by the two corporations: we to throw open the Cam- bay coast to the Dutch, and they to admit us to the Spice Islands. The growing animosities in the East rendered this arrangement a dead-letter, and in January, 1615, nego- tiations were renewed at The Hague. Sir Henry Wot- ton, our ambassador in Holland, together with certain commissioners to represent the East India Company, received a favourable audience from Barneveldt, who would gladly have seen the two Companies join " to beat the Spaniard out of the East Indies." King James himself put pressure on the English Company to come to terms, but forbade any open breach with Spain. This last condition rendered a real agreement impossible for Holland. The English commissioners demanded free trade by the law of nations. The Dutch replied that any trade at all in the Eastern seas could be secured only by great armaments and garrisons against Spain, and that if the English refused to share in the cost, they could not fairly claim to share in the profits. Finally Barneveldt offered three alternatives. First, for the English to retire from the trade; second, for the English to unite in a joint East India Company with the Dutch; third, for the English to maintain their position by a vigorous war. He declared that the
