DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY; DUTCH WEST INDIA COMPANY).
Financial and other help came from England and France, the lat ter in exchange for the grant of naval assistance to Cardinal Richelieu for the subjugation of the Huguenots in La Rochelle. This was withdrawn, but the old dreams of international religious solidarity were ending. In 1626 Oldenzaal was recovered, and in 1627 Grol. In 1629 Frederick Henry captured the virgin fortress of Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-duc), and the seizure of Wesel inter rupted the enemy's communications by the Rhine. Two years later, there came the defeat of an invading fleet in the Slaak, and in 1632 the taking of Maastricht, a crossing of the Meuse. After this there were negotiations for peace, which in spite of the growth of a peace-party in Holland, led to nothing. A treaty of alliance with France in 1635 opened the prospect of a partition of the southern Netherlands between the French and Dutch, but the dissensions of the allies and the good generalship of their new opponent, the Cardinal Infant Ferdinand, prevents d any notable success until 1637, when Breda was retaken. The grudging grants of supply from the province of Holland were insufficient for am bitious plans in the next two years, and a dash on Antwerp was frustrated; but Spanish sea-power received a smashing blow when on Oct. 21, 1639, a great fleet of warships and transports under Oquendo was engaged in the Downs by Martin Tromp. Inciden tally this gave umbrage to Charles I. of England, a squadron of whose navy had watched this battle in waters where he claimed a sovereignty. He and his father had already, in connection with the herring fishery and other matters, tried to assert this claim of maritime sovereignty against the Dutch. Commercial jealousy of the Dutch was becoming strong in England, and there was a growing tale of grievances against their East India Company, of which the "massacre of Amboyna" of 1623 was the most sensa tional. But Charles, far from being able to press these home, was in need of help against the opposition which was soon to break out in civil war. He therefore consented to the marriage of his daughter Mary, the princess royal, to Frederick Henry's 14-year old son William, who had been recognized as his father's successor in all his offices. This was the first of three marriages of princes of Orange with English princesses, a social promotion which was to bring the republic into the cross-currents of dynastic interests. It had no influence on the course of war. Two great changes now brought the possibility of a satisfactory peace in sight. Portugal, subject to Spain since 158o, broke away again in 1640, and the Spaniards, besides being weakened in Europe, had no longer much reason for maintaining the colonial quarrel with the Dutch, since it was in the Portuguese spice-islands and Brazil, now lost to Spain, that the Dutch had established themselves. The other great change was the rise of France as a military power. At Rocroy, in 1643, the Spaniards were thoroughly beaten by the French. The danger opened out was that the southern Netherlands might pass from decadent Spain to the rising power of France. Negotiations were begun in that year which ultimately led to a settlement. While they were in progress, Frederick Henry won his last victories. In 1644 he captured Sas van Ghent, in 1645 Hulst, thus gaining a foothold on the southern bank of the Scheldt. The frontier-line to which he had pushed forward his armies remained almost unaltered until the end of the republic. He died on March 14, 1647, less than a year before the Treaty of Munster (part of the Peace of Westphalia), in which this frontier was confirmed. The Scheldt was closed to trade, as it had been, in fact, since 1572. Dutch independence was finally recognized, and with it all that had been gained in the East and West. The "eighty years' war" was over.