to get clear of the rip-raps before engagement; the enemy sailing fair by
us. About the pitch of the Nesse, the headmost of our fleet met and en-
gaged the enemy's fleet, consisting of ninety-five sail, most of them great
ships; three admirals, two vice-admirals, and two rear-admirals. They
passed many broadsides upon us very near, and yet we had but six men
slain, and ten wounded. About the same time, the Victory, was engaged
with divers of the enemy, but was relieved by the Vanguard and some
others. The Garland sped not so well: but being boarded by two of their
flags, and others, and seconded only by Capt. Hoxton, was, after a hot fight
board and board, carried by them, and his second with him. It was late
before I took notice of it, whereupon I gave order to bear up to them;
but immediately our fore-topmast was shot away, our main-stay being shot
off before, and our rigging much torn, so that we could not work our ship
to go to their relief. And by occasion thereof, and night coming on, we
were saved ourselves, who were then left almost alone. As soon as it was
night, we made sail towards Dover-road, and came to anchor.
This morn-
ing, the weather growing thick, and fearing a south wind, we stood away
for the Downs, where (by God's providence) we now are.

In this account, I am bound to let your honours to know in general, that there was much baseness of spirit, not among the merchant-men only, but many of the State's ships; and, therefore, I make it my earnest request, that your honours would be pleased to send down some gentlemen to take an impartial and strict examination of the deportment of several commanders, that you may know who are to be confided in, and who are not. It will then be time to take into consideration the grounds of some other errors and defects, especially the discouragement and want of seamen. I shall hold at present to name one, not the least, which is the great number of private men-of-war, especially out of the river of Thames. And I hope it will not be unseasonable for me, in behalf of myself, to desire your honours, that you would think of giving me, your unworthy servant, a charge from this employment, so far too great for me; especially since your honours have added two such able gentlemen for the undertaking of that charge that so I might spend the remainder of my days in private retirement, and in prayers to the Lord for a blessing upon you and the nation.

:

"Just now came the Merlin frigate in, from Portsmouth, who, about break of day this morning, came in amongst the Dutch fleet riding off the Nesse, with a merchant-man from Pharo, which they took. So that I think it will be necessary to hasten your commands to our frigates at Portsmouth, and in the west, to secure themselves until the enemy be drawn off; or this fleet reinforced, which I desire may be done with all possible expedition, especially by recruits of seamen, to fight them again. "I have no more at present, but to beg your honours' favourable opinion of me, until you shall be informed of the truth of the whole; and then to judge, as you shall find cause. At the close of this, I received your honours' of the 30th of November, together with your commission, which I shall endeavour to put into execution with all the power and faithfulness I can, until it shall please your honours to receive it back again, which I trust will be very speedily; that so I may be freed from that trouble of spirit which lies upon me, arising from the sense of my own insufficiency, and the usual effects thereof, reproach and contempt

of men, and disservice of the commonwealth, which may be the consequent of both.

"Into what capacity or condition soever it shall please the Lord to cast me, I shall labour still to approve myself a faithful patriot, and "Your honours' most humble servant,

ROBERT BLAKE.' Triumph, in the Downs, the 1st December, 1652.'”—pp. 458-460. A committee of inquiry was immediately appointed and sent down to the fleet. The royalists joined heartily in the congratulations which the Dutch bestowed upon each other for this signal victory. Clarendon, who was then in Paris, stated in his correspondence, that nothing ever gave him more delight than to hear that the Hollanders had so thoroughly banged the rebels, considering it to be such an overthrow of those devilish rebels as would at once open the people's eyes.

But great as the joy of the Hollanders was, it was not allowed to continue long, for in a little time the British fleet had other engagements with the Dutch; and in the battle of Portland gained a most signal victory. Upon this occasion the English had seventy ships of war, and the Dutch as many; the latter were convoying two hundred merchantmen, richly laden. The two fleets met in sight of Portland. Van Tromp divided his fleet into three squadrons, and attacked the English with great spirit and resolution. An action of the most sanguinary description ensued-many ships were sunk, burned, or disabled in some other way, and the darkness of the night only separated the combatants, each, however, being determined to resume the struggle when the returning light would enable them to do so. A reinforcement of eighteen ships next morning gave the English a decided superiority, and Van Tromp being aware of this, made the very best dispositions which it was possible to have recourse to under the circumstances. He succeeded in securing the merchantmen from the hands of the English, which was regarded as a memorable triumph so far. It was whilst this war was carrying on, that the notorious rump parliament was dispersed by Cromwell. The occasion was not neglected by the navy-and a declaration, in which the commanders all joined, was sent up to the government, expressing in the firmest manner, the solemn determination of the navy service not to allow any hindrance whatever to prevent them from prosecuting the defence of the country against her enemies at sea: "and we have thought good," say the officers, "to signify the same unto you, desiring you will take the effectualest course you can for the strengthening and encouraging one another in this work; and doubt not but the Lord, who hath done great and wonderful things for His people that have trusted in Him, will also be found among us, His poor unworthy servants, if we continue firm and constant in our duties, walking before Him in faith, humility, and dependence; not seek

ing ourselves, but his glory; which that we may all do, is the desire and prayer of your affectionate friends and brethren. From on board the Resolution, at the Spithead, April 22, 1653."

The public feeling was strongly in support of the determination of the navy, and it was expressed in the usual way. The Laughing Mercury, one of those rudimentary implements by which knowledge was diffused, which have since been perfected into newspapers, made the Dutch a subject of ridicule. The following is a specimen of the sort of commodity which, in the middle of the 17th century, passed for newspaper wit :

Avant, ye sponges, sowes in ruffes,

Amboyna we'll revenge!

When we have made the sea your tomb,

We'll squeeze out your Orènge."—pp. 467.

It is scarcely necessary for us to describe the events which filled up the brief interval to the termination of the Dutch war. The battles of the 3d and 4th June, 1653, in which Van Tromp and Penn alternately boarded cach other's ships, was regarded as the greatest triumph hitherto achieved, until the battle of the Texel, which was signalized by the death of Van Tromp. This great battle decided the fate of Holland-it terminated the war at once, and satisfied the Dutch that they were in future to subdue their ambition, so far as to lose all hope of getting beyond the second place in the scale of those countries which possessed any dominion on the sea. It took just one year and eleven months to chastise the Dutch into a proper sense of their inferiority: during that interval the English captured no less than 1,700 prizes, valued by the Dutch themselves at a sum nearly equal to six millions sterling of our money; whilst the value of the prizes taken by the Dutch from the English did not equal a fourth of that amount. In five pitched actions which took place in the above period, the English won the victory; whilst the Dutch cannot be said to have really gained or

except in two cases, where the superiority of the Dutch was produced in consequence of the absence of a part of the regular force of the English.

Nothing could add to the glory of such a triumphant career as that of the English navy during the Dutch war, but the circumstance of its being altogether the result of the policy, the skill, and the valour of the navy men themselves. They had staked existence on the resolution to secure protection to their country, and, without turning to the right or the left in order to please this government or the other, they succeeded, at some cost and at incredible pains, in scattering for ever the elements of that hostile power which had at any time been the source of danger to their native land.

One of the most curious of the cotemporary facts which are to be contemplated in association with the exploits of the naval force during the period of the Commonwealth, is the absurd devotion which the government paid to the execution of a plan for overruling the Dutch metaphysicians on the exquisite distinctions which rose out of the consideration of the mare clausum and the mare liberum. "Mare liberum," said Coke, with that penetrating power of forecast which he possessed-" mare liberum must be answered with a defence of mare clausum, not so much by discourse as by the louder language of a powerful navy." Coke was right, for the two hundred copies of the translation of Selden's book were completely rendered useless, just at the moment when they were about to go forth as engines of conviction on the human mind; and they were accordingly awarded in the most significant manner to the Council of State for their own use.

The battle of the Texel, by the result of which so many important questions were decided, has been briefly but powerfully described by a Frenchman, on whose impartiality we can rely:

First Battle of the Texel.

"A French gentleman, who embarked on board a sloop of war to be an eye-witness of the battle, reports it nearly in the following manner :

"The 7th of August (N.S.) I discovered Admiral Tromp's fleet, consisting of more than a hundred ships of war. It was drawn up in three squadrons, and was bearing down, with the wind right astern, to fall upon the English, whom it met with on the same day, nearly equal in number, and drawn up in a line extending above four leagues N.N.E. and S.S.W. The 8th and 9th were passed in skirmishes; but on the 10th they came to a decisive battle. The English had endeavoured to gain the wind; but Admiral Tromp having always kept that advantage, and having drawn up his own fleet in a line parallel to that of the English, bore down upon them, and began the battle with so much fury, that many ships were very soon seen dismasted, others sunk, and others on fire. The two fleets were afterwards enveloped in a cloud of smoke so dense, that it was impossible to form a judgment of the fierceness of the battle otherwise than by the horrible noise of the cannon with which the air resounded, and by mountains

of fire which every now and the were seen rising out of the smoke, with a crash that gave sufficient notice that whole ships were blowing up. In fact, many ships were blown up; and in particular, it is said, that Admiral Tromp, having perceived three English ships which had run foul of each other, immediately sent a fire-ship, which arrived so precisely in time, that they all took fire at the same instant, and blew up with a report capable of striking terror into the breast of the most intrepid. Nevertheless, the English sustained, with incredible valour, all the efforts of the Dutch, and were seen to perish rather than to give way; which grieved Admiral Tromp, and made him resolve to attack the English admiral: and the two ships were on the point of grappling, when Admiral Tromp was killed by a musket-shot. This disaster damped the courage of the Dutch, who began to bear to windard, and to engage only in retreating. The action was no longer so violent; and the smoke dispersing, the two fleets were seen in a condition which showed the horrible fury of the conflict. The whole sea was covered with dead bodies, with fragments, and with hulls of ships still smoking or burning. Throughout the remainder of the two fleets were seen only dismasted vessels, and sails perforated throughout by cannon balls. Nearly thirty ships perished between the two parties; and the English, having pursued the enemy as far as the Texel, had the honour of the victory, which cost them as dear as it did the vanquished."—pp. 510, 511.

The concession to England of the honour of the flag by the States of Holland, was formally made in the treaty which was concluded at Westminster on the 5th April, 1654. It was the first time that England made such a demand, or that ever such a concession was made. In two succeeding treaties between Holland and England the same words relative to the submission of the flag were employed. Time, however, the great innovator as well as reformer, has purged away from England that haughty spirit which delighted in the humiliation of other nations: the claim to the honour of the flag is no longer insisted on, and now there exists an universally received law which affords to every maritime nation the right of a free passage by sea to its own coasts.

The account of Penn's expedition to the West Indies with a fleet, occupies a considerable portion of the second volume. The result only deserves to be particularly noticed, for it involved Penn in a serious charge, on which, as soon as he returned from the expedition, he was sent as a state prisoner to the Tower by Cromwell. It became necessary, however, to the Protector's policy, that Penn should be released; he was accordingly set at liberty, and being disqualified from serving in the navy, he retired to his estate in Ireland.

Before quitting the western continent, we may as well mention that William, the eldest son of the naval officer, was the celebrated Quaker who gave his name to Pennsylvania.

In Ireland Penn secretly assisted the cause of young Charles, and was rewarded after the Restoration by being promoted to the office of commissioner of the navy. The honourable character which the navy had now so long sustained, led to the resolution of