Page 210 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

210 EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN THE
EAST
of an arrangement, celebrated a sort of lovefeast in which
congratulations were exchanged over copious libations
and mutual pledges were given of the introduction of an
era of good fellowship and general contentment. But
it was a case of “ Peace, peace, when there is no peace.,,
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The diplomats had devised cunningly, but they had not
reckoned with the one element which was all important—
human nature. On each side the Treaty was accepted
with reservations, which doomed it to failure at the outset.
The Dutch, represented by the implacable Coen, kept in
the back of their mind their old resolve to monopolize the
trade; the English entered upon the new era with all
their ancient determination to carve out for themselves
an independent position in the Eastern seas. Nothing,
in fact, had really been altered but in the world of make-
believe which diplomacy has marked out as her special
province.
Almost before the smoke of the salutes which greeted
the signing of the Treaty had died away dissensions had
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arisen between the English and the Dutch representatives
at Batavia over the interpretation of the clauses of the
Treaty. There were no doubt faults on both sides. The
Dutch were exacting; the English were laggard in meet­
ing their responsibilities ; each sought to drive to the t
fullest limit the conditions which seemed in its favour
without reference to the balancing requirements of the
instrument. Coen’s influence, too, counted for much in
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the darkening of counsel. His spirit is well illustrated
in the instructions he left to General Carpentier, his suc­ I
cessor, when he handed over the reins of government in
1623. He told Carpentier to “ maintain carefully the
sovereignty and highest jurisdiction ” of the Dutch in the

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