land celebrated the end of the War of Independence, which had lasted for eighty years.  Thus, in spite of the solemn engagement made with France, a separate peace was concluded with Spain and in the interests of the United Provinces.  Their course of action was beyond doubt politically wise and defensible, but, as might be expected, it left behind it a feeling of soreness, for the French naturally regarded it as a breach of faith.  The treaty of Muenster consisted of 79 articles, the most important of which were:  the King of Spain recognised the United Provinces as free and independent lands; the States-General kept all their conquests in Brabant, Limburg and Flanders, the so-called Generality lands; also their conquests in Brazil and the East Indies made at the expense of Portugal; freedom of trading both in the East and West Indies was conceded; the Scheldt was declared closed, thus shutting out Antwerp from access to the sea; to the House of Orange all its confiscated property was restored; and lastly a treaty of trade and navigation with Spain was negotiated.  On all points the Dutch obtained all and more than all they could have hoped for.

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CHAPTER XI

THE EAST AND WEST INDIA COMPANIES.  COMMERCIAL AND ECONOMIC EXPANSION

An account of the foundation, constitution and early efforts of the Dutch East India Company has been already given.  The date of its charter (March 20, 1602) was later than that of its English rival (Dec. 31, 1600), but in reality the Dutch were the first in the field, as there were several small companies in existence and competing with one another in the decade previous to the granting of the charter, which without extinguishing these companies incorporated them by the name of chambers under a common management, the Council of Seventeen.  The four chambers however—­Amsterdam, Zeeland, the Maas (Rotterdam and Delft) and the North Quarter (Enkhuizen and Hoorn)—­though separately administered and with different spheres, became gradually more and more unified by the growing power of control exercised by the Seventeen.  This was partly due to the dominating position of the single Chamber of Amsterdam, which held half the shares and appointed eight members of the council.  The erection of such a company, with its monopoly of trade and its great privileges including the right of maintaining fleets and armed forces, of concluding treaties and of erecting forts, was nothing less than the creation of an imperium in imperio; and it may be said to have furnished the model on which all the great chartered companies of later times have been formed.  The English East India Company was, by the side of its Dutch contemporary, almost insignificant; with its invested capital of L30,000 it was in no position to struggle successfully against a competitor which started with subscribed funds amounting to L540,000.