490 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



the age, poured into the Provinces. Town after town, fortress 

 after fortress, surrendered to the invaders, and the Prince of 

 Orange, with the remnant of his small army, retired into 

 Holland. It seemed inevitable that the Republic, contending 

 with the two most powerful states in Europe and bereft of 

 allies, for Sweden as well as England had been detached from 

 the triple league, would soon be subjugated. The States- 

 General, in despair, sued for peace. Two ambassadors were 

 sent to Louis and two to Charles. Louis offered them impos- 

 sible terms, and allowed ten days for acceptance or rejection. 

 Charles refused to see them at all, but sent them to Hampton 

 Court along with Boreel, who had not yet left England; and 

 there they remained for some weeks carrying on a sort of 

 backstairs negotiation. Then the king, fearing they might 

 intrigue with his own subjects, who were in sympathy with 

 them, dismissed them early in August. But becoming appre- 

 hensive at the unexpected rapidity of the French conquests, 

 he despatched the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Arlington, 

 and soon also Viscount Halifax, to negotiate anew with Louis, 

 and to inform him of the overtures for peace from the States- 

 General. On their way they passed through Holland, where 

 they had several interviews with the Dutch Government and 

 the Prince of Orange. After renewing the league with Louis 

 at Utrecht, and agreeing that neither king should conclude 

 peace except with the consent of the other, the conditions on 

 which Charles was willing to make peace were formulated. 

 The States were asked to undertake, on demand, to banish per- 

 petually any person guilty of treason against the king, or of 

 writing seditious libels ; to pay 1,000,000 sterling towards the 

 cost of the war ; to invest the Prince of Orange with the sover- 

 eignty of the United Provinces, or at least to confer upon him 

 the highest offices; and to surrender as security to the king 

 Walcheren, the city and castle of Sluys, as well as the isles of 

 Cadsand, Goeree, and Voorne. With regard to the sovereignty 

 of the sea, they were to yield the honour of the flag without 

 the least reserve or hesitation, so that whole fleets were to lower 

 their top-sails and strike their flags to a single English ship 

 carrying the king's flag, in any part of the British sea up to 

 the coasts of the United Provinces. The States-General were, 

 moreover, to agree to pay to the King of England, for ever, the 



