600 



BRITAIN. 





M*in. 



CkAKLHlI. 



J668. 



1664, 



War pro- 

 claimed 

 against the 

 Dutch. 



Defeat of 

 the Dutch 

 fleet. 

 1665. 



Naval en- 



the Duke of York, to take an active and leading ma- 

 nagement in public affairs^ James, who thus possess- 

 ed the first influence at court, was a bigotted papist ; 

 and his faith was sufficient to make him the enemy 

 of Clarendon. The chancellor was also obnoxious 

 to the mistresses of Charles ; for he had disdained to 

 pay his court to them. An impeachment against 

 him, conducted by the personal hatred of Lord Bris- 

 tol, terminated, however, in the disgrace of the ac- 

 cuser, and the minister lingered a while in power after 

 his fall had been decreed. 



The first Dutch war under Charles commenced 

 during the administration of Clarendon and South- 

 ampton ; but it is easy to believe what is said of 

 those ministers, that they were averse to it. It was, 

 however, a war' of the people's, or at least of the 

 parliament's wishes, as much as the king's ; for we 

 find the commons, during that memorable session, in 

 which they repeated the triennial act, breathing in- 

 dignation at the Dutch, and promising aid to the 

 king if he should go to war with them. Charles, 

 and still more the Duke of York, who ruled. him, 

 hated the Dutch for their manners, religion, and free 

 government. James had a turbulent activity, which 

 required employment ; and Charles not only longed to 

 rival the naval glories of Cromwell, but to have that 

 command of money, which the supplies for a war 

 could afford. On the pretence of two merchant ships 

 captured by the Dutch, for which the English own- 

 ers were about to accept a compensation, and of 

 some other causes still less important, war was 

 commenced. The Dutch were expelled, even be- 

 fore a declaration of war, from their territories in 

 Africa, and New-York was seized by the English. 

 De Ruyter recovered to his country her possessions 

 on the coast of Guinea, but failed in his attempt on 

 Long Island and Barbadoes. A battle between the 

 grand fleets of the two nations, the Duke of York 

 commanding the English, and Opdam the Dutch, 

 was fought on the 6th of June 1665, in which the 

 latter, who were vanquished, lost nineteen ships. 

 This victory excited so much jealousy of the Eng- 

 lish, that France and Denmark resolved to protect 

 the republic. The rumour of a French fleet, under 

 Beaufort, approaching from Toulon to join De Ruy- 

 ter, occasioned the Earl of Albemarle, (lately Monk) 

 who now commanded the English, to weaken them, 



gagements, by detaching Prince Rupert with a fleet to watch 



June 1, 2, th' a t o f the French. The remainder of the English 

 3> ** set sail to give battle to the Dutch. In a combat, 



which lasted, with some intermissions, for four days, 

 the English were worsted, and pursued upon the se- 

 cond day ; and on the third were only saved by the 

 arrival of Prince Rupert with sixteen fresh ships ; 

 on the fourth the combatants were parted by a mist. 

 July 25. A second and equally bloody engagement took place 

 soon after, in which the Dutch were vanquished ; but 

 they were soon in a condition to face their enemies, 

 by the junction of Beaufort, the French admiral. 

 The Dutch The Dutch fleet appeared in the Thames, conducted 

 fleet ap- by their illustrious De Ruyter. The English were 

 pears in the thrown into the utmost consternation; a chain had 

 Thames. been drawn along the river Medway, and some forti- 

 fications had been added to the forts along the bank. 

 But these were unequal to the invading force : the 



Dutch broke the chain, and, destroying the shipping 

 in their passage, advanced to Upnurc Castle, and re- 

 turned, after terrifying a:id insulting the coast, being 

 only prevented, by the French failing to join them, 

 from laying London itself in ashes. During these 

 truiL-actions, a plague had broken out in the metro- 

 polis, which carried off about 9'^000 of the inhabi- 

 tants ; and a fire, which it is to be hoped, from the 

 disuse of wooden buildings and narrow streets, will 

 long be called the last great fire in London, consu- 

 med the greater part of the city. By a stretch of 

 the regal power, which waa entirely illegal, the city 

 was ordered to be rebuilt on a new and more commo- 

 dious plan ; but when it is considered, that London, 

 in consequence of that arbitrary order, rose, like a 

 phoenix, more beautiful from her ashes, and that the 

 plague, which before had been seldom, if ever, total- 

 ly banished from her unwholesome and narrow alleys, 

 was extirpated by this accident, we can scarcely la- 

 ment the passing misfortune, still less blame the ex- 

 ertion of prerogative for a purpose so beneficent. 

 The fire of London was, from the violence and cre- 

 dulity of popular prejudice, ascribed to the Papists ; 

 and Charles was obliged, by the parliament them- 

 selves countenancing this falsehood, to issue a pro. 

 clamation against the priests and Jesuits, which, like 

 all other proclamations of the kind, wtre meant more 

 to pacify the fears of Protestants, than to operate 

 against the professors of the Romish faith. The ill 

 humour which the parliament displayed at the bad 

 execution of this edict, was felt by Charles in dimi- 

 nishing his resources for the war ; and a treaty for 

 peace had been begun with the States, before the 

 last-mentioned triumph of the Dutch arms. By the 

 signing of the treaty of Breda, (10th July 1667,) 

 the English were left with no other acquisition than 

 New York, while the pretended objects of the quar- 

 rel were, in fact, ceded to the combined enemy. The 

 public mind, however, soured by disasters, and in- 

 flamed by the late disgrace, seemed to require some 

 important sacrifice ; and as Clarendon, the prime mi- 

 nister, was unpopular with trie country, obnoxious 

 to parliament, and disagreeable from his very virtues 

 to Charles, there was a combination for his ruin 

 among all parties. When he was impeached by par- 

 liament, Charles basely gave him up : he retired into 

 France, where he lived in a private manner till his 

 death. 



To this war with Holland, a triple alliance be- 

 tween the three great Protestant powers, England, 

 Holland, and Sweden, soon succeeded ; but it was 

 founded on principles of too much utility to be sin- 

 cerely cherished by Charles. By this league, which 

 was signed by the wise and exalted Sir W. Temple 

 on the part of England, by Van Beuninghen for 

 Holland, and by D'Ohna for Sweden, the Netherlands 

 were protected from France ; and by the treaty of 

 Aix la Chapelle, (which the triple alliance produced,) 

 all Europe seemed to be promised repose under that 

 Protestant confederacy ; yet, amidst the rejoicings for 

 the event, Sir Thomas Clifford, who possessed more 

 of Charles's confidence than any of his ministers, be- 

 trayed, by an unguarded expression, the secret perfi- 

 dy of his master. Notwithstanding all this joy, sai4 

 he, we must itill have another Dutch war. 



Britain 



CHABLIS 

 1655. 



Plague i 

 London, 



Thegr* 



fire. 

 166$ 



Treat 



Breda 



16 



Inipea 



ment 



CUren 



Thet 



alliau 

 16 



