492 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



courage of the Prince of Orange and the growing alarm at 

 the designs of France at last brought allies to the States. 

 Spain and both branches of the house of Austria espoused 

 their cause, and German troops came marching to the Rhine. 



But the ally on which the Dutch most relied was the Parlia- 

 ment of England. It had now been prorogued for nearly 

 two years, and Charles was at last forced to summon it by 

 his need of money to carry on the war. When it met, the 

 members were told by the king that he had been forced into 

 a war which was just and necessary both for the honour 

 and the interest of the nation, and he referred them to his 

 declaration, in which the reasons were given. He also defended 

 the Declaration of Indulgence to dissenters, which had been 

 designed to favour the Roman Catholics, and about which 

 the country was greatly agitated. The Earl of Shaftesbury, 

 as Chancellor, enlarged on the same themes. Against the 

 Dutch he levelled such charges as were contained in the 

 declaration of war. They had broken treaties about the 

 East Indies and Surinam, "and at last," he exclaimed, "they 

 came to that height of insolence, as to deny the honour and 

 right of the flag, though an undoubted jewel of this crown, 

 never to be parted with; and by them particularly owned 

 in the late treaty of Breda and never contested in any age." 

 He accused them of disputing the king's title to it in all 

 the Courts of Christendom, and of having made great offers 

 to the King of France if he would stand by them against 

 England. They were branded as the common enemy to all 

 monarchies, and especially to that of England, "their only 

 competitor for trade and power at sea," who alone stood in 

 their way to a universal empire as great as Rome. They 

 had, he said, slighted all negotiations and refused all cessation 

 of hostilities; and the king, he claimed, in entering on the 

 war had only carried out the maxims of the Parliament which 

 had advised the last war, and had then judged it necessary 

 to extirpate the Dutch, laying it down as an eternal maxim, 

 "delenda est Carthago, that government is to be brought 

 down." The Parliament was then asked to vote further 

 supplies. 



At first, while avoiding the least approbation of the war, 

 Parliament passed a resolution that they would grant eighteen 



