142 THE END OF THE STRUGGLE release was due to an " extraordinary matter of State." The directors of the Dutch Company gave out as far back as March, 1628, that they had arranged for the release of the ships on the condition of their re- deeming his Majesty's jewels. The Company now knew that, if they had little to expect from the Dutch tribunal, they had nothing to hope from the king. The Dutch also knew it. In November, 1628, his Majesty feebly suggested, in reply to the repeated demands of the Dutch for the English witnesses to go over to Holland, that the Dutch judges should come to England under a safe-conduct— a pro- posal which merely furnished a good ground for fur- ther delay. A year later, having sunk into still deeper difficul- ties with the Parliament and the nation, Charles yielded to the demands of the foreigner and sent over the wit- nesses. But he tried to save his royal honour by ex- plaining that he had never submitted to the jurisdiction of the Dutch judges, although he would prefer to re- ceive reparation at their hands than by any other means. The English ambassador must be present in the Dutch court; the English witnesses must not be questioned on other articles than those on which they had already been examined in his Majesty's Court of Admiralty; the Dutch judges, when ready to deliver sentence, must inform the king of it, so that he might weigh and consider its import. The Dutch tribunal naturally refused to concede these points. The king had put not only himself but also the English nation
