HOLLAND DOCUMENTS: L 29

Resolution of the States General respecting the papers of the West India Company.

[ From the Register of EesoIution» of the Slates General, in the Eoyal Archives at the Hague.]

Tuesday, the 29'^ November, 1622. Granted, that the papers of the West India Company remaining in the office •west^indir^com- P""''- of the General Assembly, shall be inventoried and handed to the Directors of said Company, on their receipt and promise of restitution.

Secret Resolution of the States General on a proposed Union of the West India Companies.

[ From the Register of Secret Eesolutions of the States General, in the Eoyal Archires at the Hague. ]

Friday, the 22""J March, 1624. Folio 63. jjjg Excellency appearing in the Assembly, in his presence are read the points England. of the further instruction for the Ambassadors to England, left open on the 19"" February last, viz': the fourth, ?" and S"" points of said instruction; and, upon consideration, and vi^ith the advice of his illustrious Excellency, it is resolved and concluded ; first, on the Mutual cooperation fourth poiut, regarding the West India Company and the letter of the Lords of West India Com- c i . • . , panics. Langeracq, of the 1" mstant, lately received, mentioning a West India Company begun to be formed in France, that copy and extract shall be sent to Mess" their High Mightinesses' deputies at present attending the meeting of the XIX of the West India Company at Amsterdam, to submit to the meeting, as matters are in such a condition in France and England at present, that probably a West India Company vpill be formed in one and the other kingdom, or else some expedition be undertaken, whether they vcill not embrace this occasion and consider if it would not be prudent to confer on a combination of the Companies, or of some other equipment to be sent, on both sides, to the West Indies, reflecting that this Company will not, of itself, be strong enough, without assistance and the aid and cooperation of others, to resist alone such a powerful force as is put to sea at present by Spain, to the number of fifty ships, for the purpose of crushing the Company in its infancy ; that it will also be useful to agree respecting the present and the future ; as the French and the English will not omit, when this Company shall have sustained the heaviest of the burthen, to frequent the places which may be incorporated by God's gracious help, and from which they cannot be excluded without falling into the same difficulty as the East India Company had with them, which can now be easier obviated, either by a combination of the companies or by some mutual equipment to be executed hereafter.