THE SECOND DUTCH WAR 449 



the later meetings were often futile from the want of a 

 quorum. "A sad thing it is to see," says Pepys, "so great 

 a work so ill followed, for at this pace it can come to 

 nothing but disgrace to us all." 1 



The failure of the attempt to establish a great national 

 fishery to expel the foreigner from the British seas, after five 

 years' endeavour, was very agreeable to the Dutch, who had 

 watched the proceedings with close attention, and had tried, 

 openly and secretly, to hinder success whenever they had an 

 opportunity. Immediately after the Restoration, the States- 

 General, anxious to come to a good understanding with Charles, 

 sent special ambassadors to London to arrange a treaty of 

 friendship and alliance, and to renew previous treaties. 2 The 

 negotiations which ensued dealt, among other things, with the 

 fisheries, the flag, and the sovereignty of the sea. The object 

 of De Witt, the great Dutch Minister, was the usual one of 

 his countrymen on similar occasions viz., to secure as far as 

 possible the commercial and other privileges which had been 

 granted by the Intercursus Magnus. Charles, on the other 

 hand, wished at the very least to retain all the concessions 

 that Cromwell had secured by the treaty of 1654. 3 



When the Dutch ambassadors arrived, or at all events when 

 they began negotiations in London, the House of Commons 

 had already taken up the question of the fisheries. Action of 

 this kind always occasioned the Dutch anxiety. They knew 

 it was directed against their predominance in a vital industry, 

 and that it was usually followed by troublesome claims to 

 the sovereignty of the sea and to an exclusive fishing on 

 the British coasts. Here were all those questions raised in 

 threatening fashion in the Bill passed by the Commons and 



1 Diary, vol. iv. 177, 192, 233, 263, &c. 



2 The ambassadors were Van Beverwaert (Louis of Nassau), Simon van Hoorn, 

 the burgomaster of Amsterdam, Michael van Gogh, and Joachim Ripperda. Pon- 

 talis, John de Witt, i. 263. Brieven, geschreven ende ge^visselt tusschen de Heer 

 Johan de Witt, Raedt-Pensionaris en Oroot-Segelbewaerder van Hottandt en West- 

 Vriedandt, ende de Gevolmaghtigden van den Staedt der Vereenigde Nederlanden, 

 &c., iv. 1, 46. 



3 De Witt's Brieven, iv. 109, 119. Clarendon's Memoirs, iii. 434. There are 

 numerous papers referring to these negotiations and the subsequent treaty, includ- 

 ing "the articles which the States' Ambassadors Extraordinary are to procure 

 from his Majesty of Great Britain," among State Papers, Foreign Treaty Papers 

 (Holland), 1651-1665, Bdl. 46. 



2 F 



