THE SECOND DUTCH WAR 



463 



the Thames and the Dutch were supreme at sea, the States 

 of Holland withdrew the embargo on the Great Fishery, and 

 when peace was proclaimed the schuyts again took part in 

 the autumn fishing at Yarmouth. 1 



It has been already mentioned that France, which had bound 

 itself by the recent treaty to aid the United Provinces, declared 

 war against England in January 1666, but Louis showed great 

 reluctance to begin actual hostilities ; and one of the diplomatic 

 obstacles which served to delay the junction of the French 

 and Dutch fleets referred to the striking of the flag. A French 

 squadron of thirty sail had been equipped under the Duke 

 de Beaufort, and Louis required that the Dutch admiral should 

 salute not only the Admiral of France, but the vice- and rear- 

 admirals; and further, that the French admiral should not 

 be required to lower his flag in returning the salute of the 

 Dutch. The States -General were willing that their admiral 

 should strike to De Beaufort first, but they demanded that 

 the latter should return the salute in a similar manner. The 

 French, who were apparently anxious to be placed in the 

 same position as England with respect to this ceremony, argued 

 that the English did not re-salute the Dutch fleet by striking 

 the flag, but only returned the guns, citing the treaty of 1662 

 and the actual practice ; and they proudly boasted that the flag 

 of the Admiral of France had never at any time been lowered 

 to that of any nation. To this De Witt replied that they were 

 willing to give the same respect to the French as they did to 

 the English; that the re-salute was not expressly mentioned 

 in the treaty because it was a well-understood custom on their 

 own coast; and that in point of fact the English did return 

 the salute, as had been done by Admiral Montague (the Earl of 

 Sandwich) in 1661 and by Vice- Admiral Lawson on meeting 

 De Ruyter. If on some occasions it was omitted by the Eng- 

 lish, it was on the seas they called "British," and was to be 

 attributed to the claim they pretended to the dominion of 

 the seas a claim which France and the Republic had solemnly 

 agreed by treaty to resist. If a similar claim was now ad- 

 vanced by France, it would argue a like pretension to maritime 

 sovereignty by a nation which had engaged itself to preserve 

 the liberty of the sea. Moreover, the salute at sea between 



1 Resol. Hott., ?* June 1667, p. 210. State Papers, Dom., ccxvi. 143 ; ccxvii. 77. 



