sentences:  On his departure from England (October 1623) the East India Company invited him to act as one of their commissioners at Amsterdam to negotiate a private treaty with the Dutch; he had probably been employed by the Merchant Adventurers' Company in 1616 in a similar capacity.His fellow-commissioner was Robert Barlow, East India merchant.The negotiations, however, were fruitless, and the report of the Amboyna massacre made progress difficult.