The French King gave orders that Hudson be engaged at once on most liberal terms in the service of France, but the Amsterdam directors learned of his decision and without any further delay entered on the 8th of January, 1609, in a contract with Hudson which resulted in the Dutch claim of New Netherlands instead, perhaps, of extended French claims in the New World. This contract has been very sharply commented upon as being very illiberal in the compensation stated for the services and great risk that Hudson was to undergo; that while clear in terms it was not in perfect good faith for as it claimed to be an act of the Dutch East India Company and was signed by _only two of the directors of the Amsterdam chamber who had no authority to bind the company in such a matter and that therefore it was voidable if for any reason the company so desired_. It might have been merely an inexpensive scheme to prevent Hudson from entering any other employ. Then, too, it appeared singular that either the Amsterdam directors or Hudson should want to attempt the _northeastern_ route which so often had resulted in failure before our Hudson’s time and that Hudson himself as a master had signally failed in two expeditions and probably before that while as a mariner in the employ of the Muscovy Company. It seemed as though Hudson who, after commanding two searches for the Muscovy Company wanted greater freedom in the pursuit and so asked of that company. The belief on the part of some was that there was a secret agreement or understanding between the contracting parties that Hudson might, or was really, to ignore the contract which was given to the public as a blind. While subsequent events gave color, plausibility to these thoughts, they were merely conjectures, for it is most remarkable that there has so little documentary evidence been found about a man whose name appears so often and so prominently in North America. Hudson’s last voyage was for three wealthy Englishmen, viz.: Sir Thomas Smythe, Sir Dudley Digges and John Wolstenholme. Doubtless very much of Hudson’s writings were not made public—probably publication at that time was forbidden, fearing that rival navigators would thereby gain some information to their advantage and to the detriment of Hudson’s employers. Then, too, it has been thought and said that if Hudson’s writings had been published in full some things would have been revealed that at least some of the contracting parties were anxious to conceal. Although nearly 300 years have passed and the public has not been fully enlightened on this subject there still remains the belief that Hudson’s writings about his contracts for searching for an all-water and shorter route to India will yet be discovered and published. To engage in any great and hazardous undertaking there must be some adequate motive. Considering the high demands and promises made to bold and skillful navigators (perhaps in