178 Naval progress.-Dutch and English jealousies [1660-88

the political classes in sea-power, expressing itself at first in parliamentary enquiry into corrupt administration, and then in parliamentary grants appropriated to shipbuilding and other naval expenditure. But something must be ascribed to the knowledge and interest in these matters displayed both by Charles II and James II, and to the fact that in this department of affairs the Crown was always on the side of intelligent policy and vigorous administration. And in Samuel Pepys, "the right hand of the navy," the last two Stewart Kings had found a great public servant, who exhibited just those qualities which the navy required for its regeneration - a sound judgment, orderly business methods, administrative energy and capacity, shrewdness and tact in dealing with men, and above all a standard of public duty, which, in spite of his earlier lapses, derived its character from the period of Puritan supremacy.

(2) THE WARS (1664-74)

Indisputable as had been the English victory in the First Dutch War (1652-4), it had not been sufficiently decisive to preclude a renewal of the struggle, nor had the peace removed its principal causes. While the naval strength of Holland was weakened but not annihilated, commercial jealousy was embittered by the memories of the conflict. The Dutch, conscious that their international importance rested above all on their commerce, were not ready to leave unchallenged England's hardly won naval supremacy. Nor had the restoration of the Stewarts improved the chances of peace. Charles II, while following the Protector in upholding the commercial interests of England, did not share the zeal for Protestantism which had made Cromwell so anxious to end the strife with the sister Republic. Moreover, the existing Government of the United Provinces had expelled him from Holland at Cromwell's bidding, and was identified with the exclusion from power of his relatives of the House of Orange. Thus it was not on the side of peace that the influence of the English Court was likely to be exerted, and the King's connexion with the mercantile bodies which felt Dutch competition most keenly, the East India and Royal African Companies, greatly strengthened the advocates of the use of force against commercial rivals. Almost from the beginning of the reign strained relations prevailed between England and the United Provinces. The Dutch viewed with so bitter a jealousy the English occupation of Tangier (January, 1662), that at one time it seemed likely that Spain and her former provinces might combine to oppose the establishment of an English naval station at this important strategic point. That crisis passed away; but the ill-will implied by the presence of de Ruyter's squadron in the Straits

1662-5]

Collisions between Dutch and English

179

remained. It was in vain that in September, 1662, a treaty was negotiated in which the Provinces showed every disposition to be conciliatory, recognising the English "right of the flag," and promising to give up the island of Pularoon. This last concession was never carried out, and the treaty became a dead letter. Collisions between Dutch and English traders in the East Indies and West Africa continued to occur-collisions which, seeing how little control the home governments could exercise over their representatives in those distant quarters, it would have been hard enough to prevent, even if the English Government had genuinely wished to keep the peace. On both sides complaints were frequent. In April, 1664, the Royal African Company protested that "the Dutch leave no stone unturned to discourage and ruin" their trade; and in the same month claims against the Dutch were reported to the House of Lords for damages amounting to £800,000, of which the East India Company demanded £230,000 and the "traders to Africa" £330,000. But before this Charles II had taken a step which made war inevitable. In October, 1663, he dispatched to the Guinea Coast a small squadron of men-of-war under Major (afterwards Sir) Robert Holmes, to protect the Royal African Company against the encroachments of the Dutch. Holmes had instructions to avoid hostilities, if possible; but, according to his own narrative of his proceedings, he met with a most unconciliatory reception from the Dutch authorities, who fired upon him when he attempted to negotiate and stirred up the natives to take part against him. Thus provided with the excuse he wanted, Holmes retaliated forcibly, capturing most of the Dutch possessions and vessels on the

coast.

Such proceedings, amounting as they did to acts of war, not unnaturally provoked vigorous protests from the Dutch, and, at the request of their ambassador, Holmes was thrown into the Tower on his return to England and subjected to an examination before the Secretaries of State. However, the Dutch did not confine themselves to seeking redress by diplomatic means, but paid Charles back in his own coin. They had at that moment in the Mediterranean a squadron under de Ruyter, ostensibly protecting Dutch trade against the Barbary corsairs; and, when the English Government threatened to treat as a declaration of war the dispatch of Dutch reinforcements to West Africa, de Witt, while apparently giving way, was able to steal a march on England by using de Ruyter's ships for the purpose. Appearing on the Guinea Coast in January, 1665, de Ruyter surprised several English vessels at Goree, recovered that post and others which Holmes had seized, and captured several of the English settlements. Thence he crossed to the West Indies, only to be repulsed from Barbados (April, 1665), after which he coasted along the American sea-board to Newfoundland, making many prizes but failing to recover the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, known as New Amsterdam. These had been captured in the previous

180

The outbreak of hostilities

[1664-5 autumn by an expedition under the command of Governor Nicholls of Massachusetts who had renamed them New York, in honour of the Lord High Admiral, James, Duke of York. Not till June, 1665, did he turn homewards; and long before that date open war had taken the place of those irregular hostilities which both sides endeavoured to justify under the name of "reprisals." During the winter of 1664-5 these had been extended from colonial to European waters by Sir Thomas Allen's attack on the homeward-bound Dutch Smyrna fleet in the Straits of Gibraltar (December, 1664). The next step was the seizure of the Dutch ships in English harbours and the confiscation of their cargoes. In February a proclamation was issued warning merchant-ships in foreign parts not to sail home alone for fear of the Dutch, but to wait for other vessels or for proper convoy. Letters of reprisal were freely issued, and preparations for war were generally pushed forward. The Dutch for their part spared no effort to fit out as large a fleet as possible, levying heavy additional taxes, and raising loans. Their application to Louis XIV for the assistance due from France under the treaty of April, 1662, proved unsuccessful, as Louis sought to use the opportunity to obtain from them a recognition of his claims on the Spanish Netherlands, a concession to which they would not agree. Meanwhile the Commons had voted £2,500,000, for the navy (February, 1665), and on March 4 Charles published his declaration of war.

That the struggle on which England and Holland thus entered would be of a purely naval character was made sufficiently certain by their common military weakness. Neither combatant could hope to achieve anything on land beyond mere raids on exposed points; systematic military operations, such as an invasion, were quite out of the question. Hence the command of the sea was sought, not in order that naval preponderance might open up a field for the operations of armies, but to obtain security for the combatant's own commerce, and to inflict as much injury as possible on the commerce and shipping of the enemy. In the war of 1652-4 neither side had suspended its commerce, and the operations had largely consisted of the attack and defence of great convoys. Now the States-General, recognising the impossibility of success in the double task of contesting the command of the sea and protecting their own commerce, issued a proclamation prohibiting all their subjects from stirring out of any of their ports, in the hope that, if thus relieved of the duty of protecting merchant-ships, they might concentrate all their energy and strength on gaining command of the sea by victory over the enemy's fleet. Fully aware of the great advantages of being the first to get to sea, each side made every effort to anticipate its enemy; but, while Charles had committed a serious imprudence in declaring war when he was not in a position to strike at once, the defects in the Dutch administration made their mobilisation even more backward, and, despite all de Witt's efforts, the Zeeland squadron had not yet managed to join

1665]

Battle of Lowestoft

181

the main fleet in the Texel, when on April 23 the Duke of York appeared off their coast at the head of over 100 sail. During more than a fortnight he cruised off the Dutch harbours, capturing their homewardbound merchantmen, vainly challenging their fleet to battle. But Obdam, to whom in de Ruyter's absence the command had been given, would not come out when a third of his fleet was separated from him and the enemy held the interior position, and he remained quiet till heavy weather combined with shortness of provisions to drive the English home (May 15). Then, having rallied the Zeelanders, Obdam crossed to the English coast, hoping from reports of their unreadiness to catch his enemy at a disadvantage.

However, when on June 1 he appeared off Southwold Bay, to which the English had moved from the Gunfleet two days before, he found them ready and eager to engage. The English at once stood out to sea, and spent all that day and the next in working out to the eastward, Obdam, who had the wind (S.E.) of them, keeping away and avoiding action. At daybreak next morning (June 3) the wind shifted to the S.S.W., thereby giving the English the weather-gage and enabling them to force on an action. Twice the fleets passed each other on opposite tacks, exchanging a heavy fire, the English retaining the wind despite an effort of the Dutch to weather Prince Rupert's squadron, which led the fleet at the second "pass." Then, by promptly tacking, the fleet came on to the same course as the Dutch, and bore down to closer quarters to force the fighting. For some time the battle was very evenly contested; and, though the English appear to have throughout manoeuvred with more skill than the Dutch, they could not altogether avoid some confusion. Thus James himself seems to have changed places with Sandwich in order to prevent the Dutch van from stretching ahead and gaining the wind of the Earl's squadron, which on the port tack was leading the English fleet. The decisive moment came when Obdam, endeavouring to close with the Duke's flag-ship, perished in an explosion which wrecked his ship and was the signal for the rout of the Dutch. Night and a slackening of the pursuit, due probably to the unauthorized intervention of one of the Duke's suite, nervous for his master's safety, prevented the Dutch defeat from becoming a disaster, and enabled them to find shelter among their shoals. The English had suffered too severely in spars and rigging (for it was the Dutch practice to fire high so as to cripple their opponents) to be able to establish a blockade of the Dutch ports; but nevertheless the English victory was incontestable. With the loss of one old ship and about a thousand casualties, they had sunk and destroyed over a dozen vessels, taken as many more, and inflicted on the enemy a loss of about 5000 men. The old fault of indiscipline and insubordination still marred the efficiency of the Dutch, and the English fleet was in much better order and far smarter and more skilful in manoeuvring.

182 Sandwich's cruise. The intervention of France [1665–6

The war had thus opened well for the English; but the subsequent course of the campaign proved disappointing. The shortcomings of the victualling department seriously impaired the efficiency of the fleet, and despite a "hot press" and the embarcation of an unusual number of landsmen, want of hands proved a great source of trouble. Moreover, later in the year, the ravages of the Plague greatly increased the difficulties of the Government and the disorders in the administration. Nor was Sandwich, who had replaced James in the command, conspicuously successful when at last he did get to sea (July 5). An attempt on some Dutch East Indiamen in the neutral port of Bergen (August 2) was repulsed with heavy loss; but more serious than the repulse was the fact that, while Sandwich was thus out of the way, de Ruyter had reached home in safety, so that the Dutch secured not only a valuable convoy and many prizes, but also a commander-in-chief capable of reviving their drooping courage. He was at once sent off to Bergen to bring home the Indiamen in refuge there, a task he accomplished successfully despite the efforts of Sandwich to intercept him. A storm which dispersed the Dutch (September 3) allowed Sandwich to capture four men-of-war and some valuable merchantmen; but they proved a source of more trouble than profit, as Sandwich seems to have allowed a premature distribution of the cargoes, a step which gave a handle to his numerous enemies, and mainly accounted for his supersession. Towards the end of October, after the English fleet had taken up its winter station at the Nore, the Dutch made an ineffectual demonstration off the Thames; the English, hard hit by the ravages of the Plague, were too short of men to accept the challenge, and, before long, bad weather drove the Dutch home.

Meanwhile (June, 1665) Charles, as has been more fully narrated in a previous chapter, had secured the aid of Münster's warlike prelate, the restless and energetic Bernhard von Galen, who was the more ready to lead his troops against the ill-guarded eastern frontier of the United Provinces (September), since on several occasions the Republic had thwarted his schemes. For war by land the Dutch were but ill-prepared, and their eastern provinces were speedily overrun; but here the Bishop's successes came to an end. Charles could send his ally no troops, and the Dutch could now claim French help against an undeniable aggression. Louis, anxious lest the recent death of Philip IV of Spain (September 17, N.S.) might induce England and the Dutch to sink their differences in order to check his designs on the Spanish Netherlands, was determined to prolong the war; and accordingly he dispatched 6000 men to support the Dutch and gave orders to his admiral, the Duc de Beaufort, to make ready to bring the Toulon squadron round to the Atlantic for the campaign of 1666.

The importance of the intervention of France is not to be measured by the fact that de Beaufort never joined de Ruyter or fired a shot in action. His squadron was nevertheless the principal cause of the