Page "Dutch East India Company" Paragraph 69

Of the Heeren XVII, eight delegates were from the Chamber of Amsterdam ( one short of a majority on its own ), four from the Chamber of Zeeland, and one from each of the smaller Chambers, while the seventeenth seat was alternatively from the Chamber of Zeeland or rotated among the five small Chambers.

Amsterdam had thereby the decisive voice.

The Zeelanders in particular had misgivings about this arrangement at the beginning.

The fear was not unfounded, because in practice it meant Amsterdam stipulated what happened.