304 



THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



the fishermen by extending to them the protection of Englan 

 against the Dunkirk privateers, from whom they had suffer 

 so much in the previous year. The payment of a small 

 knowledgment would in reality, he said, be very profitable 

 them. Van Beveren had accordingly to content himself 

 well as he could with these assurances. He received the con 

 dolences of the French ambassador, with whom he had frequen 

 interviews, and who pointed out to him that the circumstanc 

 of the time were such that the wisest course would be to de- 

 prive the king of every pretext for open hostility. If the 

 matter could only be prolonged under the pretence of negotia- 

 tions until peace was concluded with Spain, then indeed France 

 ay, and even Spain too, he added would join with the 

 States in bringing the King of England speedily to reaso: 

 When Northumberland actually departed for the north, V; 

 Beveren immediately informed the States-General of the im 

 portant fact; but it was not long until the king was able 

 tell him that the fishermen had accepted the licenses and pai 

 the acknowledgment " with good contentment." 1 



The ambassador's reports, and still more the accounts w 

 soon poured in from the busses and the convoys of their trea 

 ment by the English fleet, raised a storm of indignation in th< 

 United Provinces. Captain Ruyter sent on, for visual inspe 

 tion, the safe-conduct or passport which the Earl of Northmn 

 berland had forced upon him ; and Joost Bouwensz, and som 

 of the other skippers who had taken the licenses, were loud ii 

 their complaints. The unheard-of proceeding was discussed ii 

 every seaport town. 



The ordinary ambassador, Joachimi, then in Holland, wai 

 hurried back to England at such a pace, indeed, that two 

 the horses in his carriage dropped dead in one day from ex 

 haustion as he sped Londonwards. He was to express to th 

 king the regret of their High Mightinesses that he should sem 

 his powerful " armada " among the poor herring fishermen, who 

 had been so much scared and frightened that many had with- 

 drawn from the fishing altogether and returned home ; and the 

 king was to be urged to suspend further action until the matter 



15 



Van Beveren to the States-General, ^ Aug. MSS. Add., 17,677, P, fol. 88. 

 In his letter he says the tax on each ton was " twee sixpenningen," or an 

 English shilling. Others placed it at two shillings a last. 





