334 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



(although he affected to believe the Spaniards had begun the 

 combat) he " chased and shot at the Hollanders " until they 

 were all beyond the South Foreland ; but the Hollanders took 

 no notice of him. On the morning of the battle Tromp sent 

 a letter to Pennington which was more than tinged with irony. 

 Since the Spaniards, he said, had infringed the conditions 

 fixed by firing at him first, the English Admiral should assist 

 him in fighting them, "according to his Majesty's orders." At 

 all events he Tromp was resolved, by instructions from his 

 masters, to fall upon his enemies, and to defend themselves 

 "against those that shall resist them." The Dutch would 

 rather die as soldiers, he said, "with his Majesty's leave in 

 clearing his Majesty's Road," than fail to carry out their 

 orders; and he hoped that this would be "acceptable to his 

 Majesty, but if his Majesty should take any distaste we hope 

 he will graciously forgive us." 



After pursuing the remnant of the Spanish fleet to Dunkirk, 

 the Dutch Admiral returned triumphant to the Downs, and 

 saluted the English squadron by striking his flag and firing 

 nineteen guns, " as a token," says an ironical observer, " that 

 his Majesty was Sovereign of these his seas ! " l Tromp indeed, 

 in those years, was most punctiliously respectful to this symbol 

 of the king's sovereignty. Even during the height of the 

 battle, when he was violating not merely the sovereignty 

 claimed by Charles but the well-understood Law of Nations, 

 he kept his flag down until he was a good way off from the 

 Downs, a circumstance which Pennington reported with satis- 

 faction. Had the Dutch Admiral shown the same willingness 

 to strike to the flag of the Commonwealth when he en- 

 countered Blake thirteen years later, the war that followed 

 might, perhaps, have been averted, or at least postponed. 



Charles was very naturally highly incensed at this open 

 flouting of his authority. It was an ugly blot on the lustre 

 of his ancient prerogative, and a painful proof of the contempt 

 in which his much-vaunted naval power was held by the 



1 Northumberland to Pennington, 8th Oct., State Papers, Dom., ccccxxx. 47; 

 Same to Windebank. 9th Oct., ibid., ccccxxx. 55; Pennington to Northumberland, 

 llth Oct., ibid., 77 ; Suffolk to Windebank, llth Oct., ibid., 66, 68 ; Pennington's. 



20 

 report, llth Oct., ibid., 74 ; Hopton to Windebank, 5- Nov., Col. Clar. State Papers, 



i. 1323 ; Tromp to Pennington, 5- Oct., State Papers, Dom., ibid., 80 (translation 

 in Windebank's writing) ; ibid., ccccxxxL 4. 



