WAVERING ATTITUDE OF KING CHARLES 141 required to leave their country and prosecute before a foreign court beyond the seas. The feeling both in England and Holland was that, while the States-Gen- eral would gladly have seen the matter settled, the directors of the Dutch Company were so intermingled with the Dutch Government that no justice would be done. English protests against the re-appointment of Coen passed unheeded, and in August, 1627, Carleton despaired of redress from a government controlled by the votes of the interested parties, among whom " one oar which holds back, stops more than ten can row forward." In September, however, a tribunal of seven Dutch judges was constituted, three from the high and four from the provincial council. Meanwhile Charles, with the rising tide in Parlia- ment and in the nation against him, was anxious to keep the London Company his friends. In a moment of vigour, he stayed three Dutch ships off Cowes (Sep- tember, 1627) and held them fast for eleven months, although threatened with a. Dutch fleet to bring them away. The English Company declared that, if his Maj- esty let the Dutch ships go, it were better for the Com- pany to abandon the trade. But the fit of royal resolu- tion passed, and the king, in sore straits for money, suddenly released the Dutch ships in August, 1628: it was rumoured, for a gratification of £30,000. In vain his Majesty tried to soften the blow by the unprece- dented compliment of sending the lords of the Council to a court meeting of the Company to explain that the
