This article studies the strategies and effects of early modern publicdiplomacy. It does so by analysing how two English ambassadorsstationed in the Dutch Republic during the Truce period (1609–1621),Ralph Winwood and Dudley Carleton, used print in their diplomaticnegotiations. Focusing on the Vorstius affair (1611–1613) and theaffair of the Balance (1617–1619), the article shows how Dutch poli-tico-religious controversies became entangled with foreign policy.Winwood and Carleton, it argues, had a clear public diplomacystrategy in which print played a prominent part. Their public inter-ventions contributed to the escalation of the Dutch conflict, andseverely damaged both the domestic and international reputationof Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. Thus, English public diplomacy helpedto bring about the fall of this leading statesman.