602 



BRITAIN. 



Britain. 



1672. 



Naval en- 



with the 

 Dutch. 



The Dutch 

 me in vain 

 lor peace. 



declared with Holland on the 17th of March 1672 ; 

 and in May, the combined fleets of France and Eng- 

 i and W ere attacked by De Ruyter, when a dreadful 

 but indecisive battle ensued, in which the loss, though 

 nearly equal, was rather heavier on the side of the 

 English. At night the Dutch retired, and were not 

 followed by their opponents. On that day perished 

 the gallant Admiral Sandwich, on board his own 

 ship, which took fire : though warned of her state, 

 he preferred death to surviving an unmerited reflection 

 on his courage, which the Duke of York had basely 

 and undeservedly thrown out. Three other engage- 

 ments were fought in the course of this war, during 

 the succeeding year 1673 ; two off the sands of 

 Schonvelt, and another at the mouth of the Ttxel. 

 In this last combat, the famous De Ruyter and 

 Troinp were opposed to the English Admirals Prince 

 Rupert and Sprague ; and Sprague was drowned in 

 the action by a shot which sunk his boat, as he was 

 passing to hoist his flag on board a third ship, after 

 two in which he fought had been torn to pieces. 

 But the engagement was, like all those of the second 

 Dutch war, bloody but indecisive. 



The Dutch had, during these events, appealed in 

 vain to the remorseless hearts of Charles and Louis 

 for pity and peace. The terms offered by Louis 

 would have utterly annihilated their independence : 

 those offered by Charles were, if possible, more in- 

 sulting. After this refusal, despair and popular fury 

 drove them to perpetrate the sacrifice of the De Wits, 

 a tragedy which is at once the foulest blot in their 

 history, and yet the prelude to its most glorious events. 

 The Prince of Orange, on whom the sovereignty of 

 his country and its forlorn hopes were fixed, replied, 

 with just elevation of soul, to Charles and Louis, 

 when they told him that he should live to see his 

 country u.idyne, " ,Yo .' I shall die in (lie last ditch." 

 The English, as well as Dutch, were indebted for 

 the speedy assertion of their liberties, to the spirit of 

 the English parliament during 1673. They plainly 

 Theparh'a- told Charles, that he had no right to the dispensing 

 ment bold- power which he had claimed in his declaration of in- 

 P" 50 diligence ; and when he gave an ambiguous answer, 

 they insisted on a more explicit one. They prepared 

 to attack his ministers. The famous test act against 

 popery was passed, which struck the staff of lord 

 high treasurer from the hand of Clifford, and that of 

 lord admiral from the king's brother. Charles de- 

 clined a conflict with his parliament, and revoked his 

 dispensing claim. But when his ministers found that 

 he intended to expose them to the vengeance of parlia- 

 ment, the cabal made the same turn with their master. 

 Shaftesbury, saying aloud, that the prince who for- 

 sook himself deserved to be forsaken, put himself at 

 the head of the opposition, and urged the repeal of 

 those unconstitutional acts in which he had so deeply 

 participated. 



The parliament, which had adjourned in the spring 

 ' of 1673, met again in October. Hitherto they had 

 resisted the king in fome material points, but their 

 opposition, and even impeachment of ministers, was 

 not conducted with that indignation at the Dutch 

 war, which it is certain was felt throughout the na- 

 tion. In the session which commenced in October, 

 a more decided spirit appeared. They remonstrated 



167S. 



Parliament 



lober 1673. 



with anger at the proposed marriage, which was now Bntai 

 negotiating between the Duke of York and a Princess ' v 

 of Modena. They voted the standing army a grie- ( 

 vance, and declared that they would grant no more u " : 

 supply, unless it appeared -that the Dutch were un- 

 reasonable in their terms. To cut short these dis- 

 agreeable altercations, the king resolved to prorogue p a j- 

 the parliament, and with that intention went unex- protog 

 pectedly to the House of Peers, from whence he sent 

 the usher of the black rod for the commons to attend. 

 It happened that the usher and the speaker met 

 nearly at the door of the house, but the speaker be- 

 ing within, some of the members suddenly shut the 

 door and cried to the chair ; on which the following 

 motions were tumultuously made : that the alliance 

 with France was a grievance, that the evil counsellors 

 of the king were a grievance, that the Earl of Lau- 

 dcrdale was a grievance ; but as the usher knocked 

 violently at the door, and the speaker leapt from the 

 chair, the house rose in great confusion. 



Parliament had been prorogued to give the Duke Partial* 

 of York time to finish his marriage, but the king's rcxbsen 

 necessities obliged him to call them again. By their blej- 

 unaltered sentiments, the king saw that he had no 

 more hopes of supplies for to odious a war. He there- 

 fore affected to be guided by the wishes of his parlia- 

 ment, and by their advice concluded a peace with the 

 Dutch. All possessions were restored to the same 

 condition as before the war ; the honour of the flag 

 was ceded by the states, who agreed also to pay , : "j! 

 nearly L. 300,000 to the king. A body of English 

 troops still remained in the employment of France, 

 which Charles said he was preventtd by treaty from 

 recalling ; but he secretly promised the Dutch that 

 they should not be recruited, a promise which he was 

 not honest enough to keep. 



The interval from the separate peace between Eng- Condn 

 land and the United Provinces, to the peace of Ni- aild v 

 meguen, was chiefly employed by Charles in attempts of the 

 to obtain money from France ; in which he was some- 

 times more, sometimes less successful, and in various 

 false professions, promises, and other devices to de- 

 ceive his parliament and his people, in which he uni- 

 formly failed. Though neither the nature and extent 

 of his connection with France, nor his design of in- 

 troducing Popery into England, were known at that 

 time, as they now are, yet there were not wanting 

 many indications of the king's disposition, and of the 

 general tendency of his designs. Reasonable persons 

 apprehended, that the supplies asked were intended 

 to be used, not tor maintaining the balance of Europe, 

 but for subduing the parliament and people who 

 should give them ; and the great antipathy of the bulk 

 of the nation to Popery, caused many to be more 

 clear-sighted in discovering, and more resolute in re- 

 sisting, the designs of the court, than they probably 

 w r ould have shewn themselves if civil liberty alone 

 had been concerned. 



In the interval already mentioned, the commons Procee 

 twice addressed the king against the marriage of the in g s f 

 Duke of York with the Duchess of Modena, al- comm9 

 though it was already celebrated by proxy. They 

 drew up votes and addresses against standing armies. 

 Nor were the efforts of parliament confined to the 

 army alone; they addressed against national grie.- 



