5^4 



A. D. 1672. 



dize ufually fent tliither, viz. oil, wine, fugar, fruits, &.c. And thai the 

 Dutch (wlio have no Eaftlaud company) had then ten times the trade 

 thither that we had. And alfo toRuffia and Greenland, where we have 

 companies, and they have none, they have forty tinges the trade that 

 we have. Laflly, to Italy, Spain, and Portugal, where we have no com- 

 panies, we have yet left full as much, if not more, trade than the 

 Dutch. 



This year King Charles declared war againft the Dutch, purfuant to 

 his fecret agreeiiient with France, for which his minifters were greatly 

 puzzled to find any jull pretext whatfoever. The author of Colbert's 

 life alleges, ' that by that lecret treaty the United Netherlands were to 



* be divided between thoie iwo kings ; but that Charles withdrew from 



* the league, growing at length jealous of Louis's vaft fuccels, who in 

 ' 40 days time conquered four of the feven provinces, and took 40 ci- 



* tieb.' buch was Louis's mfolence, and fo much was he alio at a lofs 

 for any iufl reafon tor invading the Dutch, that in his declaration of 

 war he oaly faid, ' thac he could not, wichout the dimunition of his 



* glory, any longer difPemble his indignation againft the flates-general !' 

 without alleging fo much as one fingle fact for the ground of his invar 

 Con. The bare-faced violence and injuftice of both thofe kings are 

 however foreign to our purpofe to enlarge on. It is enough to remark, 

 that D'Etrees, with 40 French fliips of war, joined the Englifh fleet at 

 Po.tfmouth, and entertained our king on board his admiral-fhip ; for, 

 by this time, Colbert had confiderably augmented the number and 

 goodnels of the French royal navy, though it was not brought to its ut- 

 mcft perfection till fix years later. King Charles alfo, to fecond the ra- 

 pid conqi.efls of Louis, fent over the duke of Monmouth with 6000 

 Englifli troops to join the French in the Netherlands. In this fame fum- 

 raer De Ruyter, with above 100 Dutch fhips of war, attacked the com- 

 bined fleets of England and France, commanded by the duke of York, 

 on the coafl of Suifolk, and, after a moft terrible flaughier of galiant 

 men, irom morning till night, and the defirudion of feveral great fliips, 

 the Dutch retired to their own coafl:. In this horrible conflict the 

 Dutch admiral Van Ghent and the French rear-admiral De laRobiniere 

 \\i.re flain. Our admiral, the earl of Sandwich, dildaining to quit his 

 flup when on fire, was blown up in her. What pity lb gallant a man 

 did not die in a better caufe I In the midfl of thele diflrefles, the Orange 

 party in Holland prevailed fo far as to get Prince William * declared 

 lladtholder, and the two brothers De Witts were deitroyed. 



1 he earl of Sandwich was fucceeded, as prefident of the council of 

 trade, by the earl of Shaftefljury, lord chancellor. The preamble to this 

 new comuiilfion, which has never yet been in print that we know of, it 



* Afterwards king of Great Britain, 



