THE THIRD DDTCH WAR 



483 



Afraid to summon Parliament again, or to levy taxes under the 

 prerogative as Charles I. had levied the ship-money, he had 

 recourse to the daring expedient of closing the Exchequer, by 

 which he robbed the public creditors of some 1,200,000, caus- 

 ing widespread ruin and commercial panic. A little later, on 

 21st January 1672, the first quarterly instalment of the sub- 

 sidy of three million livres from Louis was landed at Rye, and 

 escorted to the Tower by forty men of the Guards and a trum- 

 peter. Now in possession of ample supplies, Charles hastened 

 to throw aside the mask. Downing played his arrogant part 

 at The Hague, refusing to allow any debate as to the justice of 

 his demands. When he suddenly called for his passports, the 

 States-General began to awaken to a truer sense of their posi- 

 tion, menaced as they also were by imminent peril from France. 

 Adopting the advice of the deluded Boreel, that by yielding on 

 the question of the flag they would remove any inclination the 

 English people had for war with them, since England really 

 cherished enmity against France, the States-General agreed to 

 comply with the claims of Charles respecting the salute. The 

 concession was still joined with the offensive proviso that they 

 gave it only as a mark of respect to a powerful monarch : it 

 was, moreover, to be conditional on the maintenance of the 

 Triple Alliance. Downing told them the offer came too late, and 

 slunk away home, reaching London on 6th February, where 

 the king, displeased with his management of the affair, sent 

 him to the Tower "for not having obeyed the orders sent 

 him." 



The flight of Downing threw the States-General into con- 

 sternation. Meerman, previously their ambassador at the 

 English Court, was despatched in haste to London to renew 

 the offer about the flag, to agree to the dismissal of Van 

 Ghent, and to tender large subsidies for the king's privy 

 purse. At the audience with Meerman and Boreel, Charles 

 skilfully evaded their proposals and expressed surprise that 

 they had not submitted a formal signed paper. This they 

 made haste to do, and they were then informed that it was 

 ambiguous and obscure, but in what particulars they could 

 not learn. They next submitted a draft to Arlington and 

 Lauderdale, the English commissioners appointed to treat with 

 them, with the request that they might amend it as they 



