NAVAL HISTORY DURING THE COMMONWEALTH-THE PROTECTORATE -WARS WITH THE DUTCH-WAR WITH SPAIN-ADMIRAL BLAKE -THE RESTORATION-CHARLES II.-STRUGGLE WITH THE DUTCH FOR THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEAS-JAMES II.-DUKE OF ALBEMARLE EARL OF SANDWICH PRINCE RUPERT LAWSON KEMPTHORNE-SPRAGGE-AND OTHERS.

Ar the very commencement of their struggles with the king, the parliament saw the importance of securing the fleet in their interests, and succeeded in doing so. In the spring of the year 1641, they directed the Earl of Northumberland to fit out a fleet for the nation's security by sea, and placed supplies at his disposal for that purpose. On Northumberland's falling into bad health, the command was transferred to the Earl of Warwick; and Sir John Pennington and others, who were suspected of a favourable disposition towards the king, were removed.

Captain Cartwright having refused the post of ViceAdmiral, without the king's permission, that office was given to Batten, who was one of the most disaffected towards Charles. The parliament, as they had shown care in securing the fleet, so they showed wisdom in managing it; the ships being kept in good repair, and the sailors regularly paid.

The king, however, did not sit down tamely under this loss, but made various attempts, by persuasion and by force, to regain his power at sea-and this led to frequent battles, with varied success; but we gladly pass over these contests of Englishmen against Englishmen. The parliament ultimately quite destroyed the royal power at sea, although the strife was perseveringly prolonged by Prince Rupert, who, with such ships as adhered to the king's interest, did much damage to the English commerce. The English Admirals were, first, Warwick, and upon his removal, Deane, Popham, and chiefly Blake, who was now rising into the highest reputation. After the dispersion of Prince Rupert's fleet, Admiral Blake, on his return to England, was received with great favour by the parliament, had the thanks of the house voted him, and in conjunction with Deane and Popham, was made Admiral-commanding-in-chief for 1651. The islands of Scilly, and various places in the West Indies and America, which still held out for the king, were reduced by the parliamentary commanders, who soon, however, found a nobler employment for their bravery and enterprise in a war with the Dutch.

The causes of the Dutch war are differently related. The truth seems to be, that the old commonwealth grew jealous of the new one, and began to apprehend that whatever the rest of the world might be, Holland was like to be no gainer by this change of government in England. The parliament on the other side was jealous of its sovereignty, and expected, therefore, extraordinary marks of regard from all the powers with which it corresponded. The murder of Dorislaus, whom they had sent with a public character to the States, incensed them exceedingly; nor were they better satisfied with the reception that St. John and the rest of their ambassadors met with; and therefore had little regard to the expostulation of the Dutch about their act of navigation, which was certainly a well-contrived measure, both for preserving and for extending the trade of this nation. The Dutch, on the other hand, were extremely alarmed when they found the English commonwealth insisting on the sovereignty of the sea, the right of fishing, and licensing to fish; disposed to carry the point of saluting by the flag to the utmost height; and behaving so in all respects, that the States were convinced they would act upon King Charles's plan, with this great advantage of raising money in much larger sums, and yet with far less trouble than he did.

It was in the spring of the year 1652, that things came to extremities; but it was warmly disputed then, and is not fully settled at this day, who were the aggressors. The first blood that was drawn in this quarrel, was occasioned by Commodore Young's firing upon a Dutch manof-war, for the captain's refusing him the honour of the flag. This was on the 14th of May 1652. Commodore Young acted with great caution, and gave the Dutch all the opportunity of avoiding a dispute they could desire. He sent his boat on board the Dutchman, to persuade him to strike: but the captain answered, that the States had threatened to take off his head if he struck: and the fight began, in which the enemy was so roughly handled, as to be obliged to strike.

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Admiral Van Tromp was at sea with a fleet of upwards of forty sail, to protect, as was given out, the Dutch trade. This fleet coming into the Downs, met with a small squadron under the command of Major Bourne, to whom Van Tromp sent word, that he was forced in by stress of weather Bourne answered, that the truth of this would best appear by the shortness of his stay, and immediately sent notice to his Admiral. The next day Van Tromp, with his fleet, bore down upon Blake in Dover road, and on his coming near him, Blake fired thrice at his flag; upon which the Dutch Admiral returned a broadside. For nearly four hours Blake was engaged almost alone, but by degrees the weather permitted his fleet to come in, and then they behaved bravely. Towards the close of the engagement, which lasted from four in the afternoon till nine at night, Bourne joined him with his eight ships, upon which the enemy bore away.

In this battle the victory was clearly on the side of the English, as the Dutch writers themselves confess, there being two Dutch ships taken and one disabled; whereas the English lost none: and yet the inequality in force was very great. The Dutch fleet consisted at first of forty-two ships, and Blake's only of fifteen; and even at the end of the fight, he had no more than twenty-three. The Admirals wrote each of them an account of this affair to their masters, wherein they contradict each other: but with this difference, that there is no disproving any one fact mentioned in Blake's letter; whereas there are several mistakes in Tromp's; such as, that Bourne's squadron consisted of twelve large ships, which could not be true. Besides, he owns that his flag was out all the time. The States themselves were sensible

of being in the wrong, and at the same time so mortified that their fleet, notwithstanding its superiority, had been beaten, that they apologised, and sent over another ambassador, the Heer Adrian Paauw, to proceed on a treaty. But the demands of the parliament were, in their opinion, too high, and so all thoughts of peace were dismissed on both sides, and war was proclaimed.

The English, in the meantime, in virtue of the act of navigation, and by way of reprisal for the late hostilities from the States-General, took many Dutch ships. On June, 1652, Blake brought in eleven merchant ships, with their convoy, coming from Nantes. Captains Taylor and Peacock, in two English frigates, engaged two Dutch men-of-war, on the coast of Flanders, for refusing to strike; of which one was taken and the other stranded; and, on the 13th of the same month, Blake took twenty-six merchant ships, with their convoys. Vice-Admiral Ayscue, who, in his return from the reduction of Barbadoes, had taken ten merchant ships, and four men-of-war, attacked the St. Ubes fleet of about forty sail, of which nearly thirty were taken, burnt or stranded.

After this, while the States, with the utmost diligence, were getting ready a fleet of seventy men-of-war, under the command of Admiral Van Tromp, Blake, with about sixty vessels, received orders to sail to the north to disturb the Dutch fishery. Sir George Ayscue, who had taken five Dutch merchant ships, was left with the remainder of the English fleet, consisting of no more than seven men-ofwar in the Downs. While Blake triumphed in the north, Tromp with his fleet came into the mouth of the Thames, in hopes of either surprising Ayscue or insulting the coast. Failing of this, he sailed northward to intercept Blake; but his ships being dispersed by a storm, he was disappointed in that scheme also.

The people in Holland were dissatisfied with the conduct of Van Tromp, which is the case in all free countries when a commander-in-chief is unsuccessful. He acted upon this occasion like a wise man, who had a nice sense of honour, first by justifying himself to the States, and then in laying down his commission to gratify the people. The main objection against him was his being no great seaman; and this engaged the States to cast their eyes upon De Ruyter, the ablest man amongst them in his profession. He accepted the command, but accepted it unwillingly; for he saw that

as things then stood the English were superior. The parliament, in the meantime, took care to strengthen Sir George Ayscue's fleet, so that it was increased to thirty-eight sail; of which only two were large ships and the rest frigates and fire-ships. With these he put to sea in search of the Dutch, took many rich prizes, and at last met with De Ruyter, who, with a fleet equal to his own, was convoying home between fifty and sixty merchantmen. This was on the 16th of August, 1652, and as our Admiral was cruizing off Plymouth. It was about one in the afternoon when the fleets came in sight. De Ruyter took twenty of the merchant ships into his line of battle, and was then ready to engage. The fight began about four, when the English Admiral, with nine others, charged through the Dutch fleet; and having thus got the weather-gage, attacked them again very bravely, and so they continued fighting till night, which parted them; the rest of Sir George's fleet having very little to do in the action. Most of the captains who did their duty were wounded, and a fire-ship was lost. On the other side, the Dutch were miserably shattered, so that many of their best ships were scarcely able to keep the sea. Sir George Ayscue followed them for some time the next day, and then returned into Plymouth Sound to refresh his men and repair his ships.

The war was not long confined to the coasts of Britain, but spread itself into many seas. Every wind brought the news of fresh destruction and slaughter. About the latter end of the same month, the Dutch Admiral, Van Galen, with eleven men-of-war, met and attacked the English commodore, Richard Bodley, with three men-of-war, a fire-ship, and three or four merchant ships, homeward bound from Scanderoon and Smyrna. The first day's fight began in the afternoon, off the island of Elba, on the coast of Tuscany, and lasted till night, with little advantage to either party. The Dutch historians agree that three of their men-of-war being separated in the night, and afterwards becalmed, could not come up so as to have a share in the second engagement. On the other side, the English parted from their merchant ships, which, being heavy and richly laden, were ordered to make the best of their way to the nearest harbour.

The next morning the four English being attacked by the eight Hollanders, the fight was renewed. Van Galen began a close engagement with the English commodore; but being disabled in his rigging, and having received three shots under