304 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



the fishermen by extending to them the protection of England 

 against the Dunkirk privateers, from whom they had suffered 

 so much in the previous year. The payment of a small ac- 

 knowledgment would in reality, he said, be very profitable to 

 them. Van Beveren had accordingly to content himself as 

 well as he could with these assurances. He received the con- 

 dolences of the French ambassador, with whom he had frequent 

 interviews, and who pointed out to him that the circumstances 

 of the time were such that the wisest course would be to de- 

 prive the king of every pretext for open hostility. If the 

 matter could only be prolonged under the pretence of negotia- 

 tions until peace was concluded with Spain, then indeed France 

 ay, and even Spain too, he added would join with the 

 States in bringing the King of England speedily to reason. 

 When Northumberland actually departed for the north, Van 

 Beveren immediately informed the States-General of the im- 

 portant fact; but it was not long until the king was able to 

 tell him that the fishermen had accepted the licenses and paid 

 the acknowledgment " with good contentment." - 1 



The ambassador's reports, and still more the accounts which 

 soon poured in from the busses and the convoys of their treat- 

 ment by the English fleet, raised a storm of indignation in the 

 United Provinces. Captain Ruyter sent on, for visual inspec- 

 tion, the safe-conduct or passport which the Earl of Northum- 

 berland had forced upon him; and Joost Bouwensz, and some 

 of the other skippers who had taken the licenses, were loud in 

 their complaints. The unheard-of proceeding was discussed in 

 every seaport town. 



The ordinary ambassador, Joachimi, then in Holland, was 

 hurried back to England at such a pace, indeed, that two of 

 the horses in his carriage dropped dead in one day from ex- 

 haustion as he sped Londonwards. He was to express to the 

 king the regret of their High Mightinesses that he should send 

 his powerful " armada " among the poor herring fishermen, who 

 had been so much scared and frightened that many had with- 

 drawn from the fishing altogether and returned home ; and the 

 king was to be urged to suspend further action until the matter 



1 Van Beveren to the States-General, |j Aug. MSS. Add., 17,677, P, fol. 88. 



In his letter he says the tax on each ton was ' ' twee sixpenningen," or an 

 English shilling. Others placed it at two shillings a last. 



