were in any case unnecessary, for a despatch recalling Towerson was on its way to Amboina.  It was a barbarous and cruel act; and when the news of the “massacre of Amboina,” as it was called, reached England, there was loud indignation and demands for redress.  But the quarrel with Spain over the marriage of the Prince of Wales had driven James I at the very end of his life, and Charles I on his accession, to seek the support of the United Provinces.  By the treaty of Southampton, September 17, 1625, an offensive and defensive alliance was concluded with the States-General; and Charles contented himself with a demand that the States should within eighteen months bring to justice those who were responsible “for the bloody butchery on our subjects.”  However, Carleton again pressed for the punishment of the perpetrators of “the foule and bloody act” of Amboina.  The Dutch replied with evasive promises, which they never attempted to carry out; and Charles’ disastrous war with France and his breach with his parliament effectually prevented him from taking steps to exact reparation.  But Amboina was not forgotten; the sore rankled and was one of the causes that moved Cromwell to war in 1654.

The activity of the Dutch in eastern waters was, however, by no means confined to Java, their seat of government, or to the Moluccas and Banda islands with their precious spices.  Many trading posts were erected on the large islands of Sumatra and Borneo.  Trading relations were opened with Siam from 1613 onwards.  In 1623 a force under Willem Bontekoe was sent by Koen to Formosa.  The island was conquered and a governor appointed with his residence at Fort Zelandia.  Already under the first governor-general, Pieter Both, permission was obtained from the Shogun for the Dutch, under close restrictions, to trade with Japan, a permission which was still continued, after the expulsion of the Portuguese and the bloody persecution of the Christian converts (1637-42), though under somewhat humiliating conditions.  But, with the Dutch, trade was trade, and under the able conduct of Francis Caron it became of thriving proportions.  During the next century no other Europeans had any access to the Japanese market except the agents of the Dutch East India Company.

Among the governors-general of this early period the name of Antony van Diemen (1636-45) deserves special recognition.  If Koen laid the firm foundations of Dutch rule in the East, Van Diemen built wisely and ably on the work of Koen.  Carpentier’s rule had been noteworthy for several voyages of discovery along the coasts of New Guinea and of the adjoining shore of Australia, but the spirit of exploration reached its height in the days of Van Diemen.  The north and north-west of Australia being to some extent already known, Abel Tasman was despatched by Van Diemen to find out, if possible, how far southward the land extended.  Sailing in October, 1642, from Mauritius, he skirted portions of the coast of what is now Victoria and