Dutch company became rapidly the dominant power in the eastern seas, where their trade and influence overshadowed those of their European competitors.  The most enterprising of those competitors were the English.  Disputes quickly arose between the rival companies as to trading rights in the Moluccas, the Banda group and Amboina; and some islands, where the English had made treaties with the natives, were occupied by the Dutch, and the English expelled.

Another grievance was the refusal of the States-General in 1616 to admit English dyed cloths into the United Provinces.  This had caused especial irritation to King James.  The manufacture of woollen cloth and the exportation of wool had for long been the chief of English industries; and the monopoly of the trade was, when James ascended the throne, in the hands of the oldest of English chartered companies, the Fellowship of Merchant Adventurers.  The Adventurers held since 1598 their Court and Staple at Middelburg in Zeeland.  The English had not learnt the art of finishing and dyeing the cloth that they wove; it was imported in its unfinished state, and was then dyed and prepared for commerce by the Dutch.  Some thousands of skilled hands found employment in Holland in this work.  James, always impecunious, determined in 1608, on the proposal of a certain Alderman Cockayne, to grant Cockayne a patent for the creation of a home-dyeing industry, reserving to the crown a monopoly for the sale of the goods.  The Adventurers complained of this as a breach of their charter; and, after much bickering, the king in 1615 settled the dispute by withdrawing the charter.  Cockayne now hoped that the company he had formed would be a profitable concern, but he and the king were doomed to disappointment.  The Estates of Holland refused to admit the English dyed cloths, and their example was followed by the other provinces and by the States-General.  Cockayne became bankrupt, and in 1617 the king had to renew the charter of the Adventurers.  James was naturally very sore at this rebuff, and he resolved upon reprisals by enforcing the proclamation of 1609 and exacting a toll from all foreign vessels fishing in British waters.  Great was the indignation in Holland, and the fishing fleet in 1617 set sail with an armed convoy.  A Scottish official named Browne, who came to collect the toll, was seized and carried as a prisoner to Holland.  James at once laid hands on two Dutch skippers in the Thames, as hostages, and demanded satisfaction for the outrage upon his officer.  Neither side would at first give way, and it was not until after some months that an accommodation was patched up.  The general question of the fishery privileges remained however just as far from settlement as ever, for the States stood firm upon their treaty rights.  At length it was resolved by the States to send a special mission to England to discuss with the king the four burning questions embittering the relations between the two countries.  The envoys