Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 1933 WHEN ENGLAND WAS DEFIED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 19 August 1933, Page 6

Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 1933 WHEN ENGLAND WAS DEFIED

WHEN recently an attempt was made, in this column, to describe briefly the cxtraordinarly success with which, during more than three centuries, Great Britain was able to maintain her independence in the face of imperialistic nations of Europe—Spain, France, and Germany—which successively had tried to establish their supremacy over the Continent, nothing was said of her desperate struggle with the Dutch for the preservation of her sea-power and trade. In 1651 the English Parliament passed the Navigation Act, for the purposo of restricting trade with the Colonies to English or Colonial vessels carrying a British captain and crew. This measure was directed principally against the Dutch, whose maritime and mercantile greatness threatened to extinguish British sea-borne trade. Dutch ports were the successful rivals of London, and Holland’s trade with France, Spain, the Mediterranean, America, and the East and West Indies, threatened the eclipse of England as a mercantile country. But the English claimed the sovereignty of the narrow seas between their country and the Continent. For centuries they had successfully demanded that foreign vessels, using those seas, should acknowledge that sovereignty by saluting the English flag in those waters. This was not merely an arrogant demand, but was based on the English right to have the freest possible access to Normandy which for centuries was an integral part of the English kings’ domain, and on the freest possible right of England to trade with the Continent. But the Dutch had grown proud with their mercantile prosperity, and, in the middle of the 17th century, determined to challenge both England’s sovereignty of the narnow seas and her right to commercial expansion. But they had to deal witli Oliver Cromwell who, the virtual king of England, had no hesitation in accepting the Dutchmen’s challenge. When Van Tromp put to sea with a bioom at his mast-head, and refused to follow the time-honoured custom of dipping the flag to English ships in the Channel, the protector immediately determined upon war. The first, engagement took place off Dover, where Blake, with a greatly inferior force, encountered the Dutch admiral, who refused to dip his flag. The battle raged till nightfall, when Van Tromp and bis fleet retreated towards tlio Dutch coast, leaving two of his ships as prizes in the hands of tlio Englishmen. That was in the summer of 1652. and, with intervals of peace, the war raged till 1674, when peace was definitely signed, on 9th February, the Dutch agreeing to salute the English flag in the narrow seas, as well as to pa.y substantia] compensation for expenses and losses incurred by the English Government during th ; war.

Roughly, the struggle may ho divided into two parts; that which took place during the Protectorship of Cromwell, which was perhaps the fiercer part of the fiercest naval war waged by England, and that part which took place while Charles II reigned. Cromwell, with his usual foresight, had kept the English fiect in a high state of efficiency, but when ho sent it to fight tho Dutch, ho did a strange thing: ho placed in the chief naval commands Colonels who had fought manfully under him on land, and made them “Generals at sea.” Such were tho groat Blake, and Monk, who was almost as great, and Deane, and, subsequently, Penn. But tho Dutch, on their side, had admirals almost as great —Van Tromp, Do Ruyter, Do Witt, Evertzcn. and others almost as famous. The extraordinary feature, indicative of the wealth and power of tho two nations, was the great size of the fleets engaged — seldom less than a hundred sail on each side, and sometimes many more, their sizo averaging perhaps three or four hundred lons though some were much bigger, and seme less. Thus we read that in 1653 Monk put to sea with a fleet of 120 ships, carrying 4000 guns and 17,000 men. The fact was that botli nations knew that they were fighting for their very existence as maritime Powers, and that their trade end prosperity depended on the result. The Dutch fought bravely indeed, and with a doggedness which commanded admiration—so bravely, in fact, that the records of the fighting create a regret that two such gallant and determined nations should have come to grips. There was fighting in the Channel, off the North Foreland, off the South Foreland, in the Downs, off Solebay, off tho Texel, almost everywhere in the narrow seas between tho Dutch coast and England, and everywhere the English sailors displayed superlative bravery, only equalled by that of the Dutch. There was only this difference between the combatants: that the English seemed to take their punishment in better heart, and that factor in the end decided Hie \ssue. Both nations excelled in seamanship, they were both nations of great wealth, and able to sustain a long war, but the English were tho better “stayers,” the better able to accopt blows while giving a little better than they received. Pepy’s diary shows that. Never does he record in so much as a line any idea that his countrymen would accept final defeat. Defeated they were on more Gian one occasion, but never would they accept such defeat as decisive. Let us quote from one authority who gives an unvarnished account of this most strenuous of naval wars, who thus concludes his account of tho battle off tho Texel:

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 tho remainder of the two fleets were seen only dismasted vessels, ancl sails perforated throughout with cannon-balls. Nearly thirty ships perished between the two parties, and the English, having pursued tho enemy as far as tho Texel, had the honour of the victory. . . . Tho victors had lost seven captains and 500 men killed, and five captains and 800 men wounded, besides three ships lost. The Dutch casualties were as follows: Slain 1,200 (some authorities ray £000) among whom were many officers of distinction besides Van Tromp; drowned 1500; wounded 2500; prisoner’s 1000. Twenty Dutch men-of-war were burnt or sunk, hut there is an ominous silenco as to any having

been captured. Tho fact was that Monk had issued an order that no prizes were to bo taken, and such an order shows tho ferocity of tho struggle. The Dutch had no notion of capturing England, or the English of taking Holland. It was purely a naval war, fought for supremacy at sea. If the English had lost, there would have beeir no such British Empire as exists to-day, if any British Empire at ail. If they had been victorious, the Dutch would have swept English trade from every ocean, they would have seized the American Colonies, and the probability is that the history of North America would have been very different from what it lias been. But tho courage and splendid seamanship of the English decided otherwise. The Dutch were positively hammered into submission, and the English flag was honoured wherever it was flown.

From the Dutch war dates the greatness of England and of the British Isles. There were to be many maritime wars to uphold that greatness, but it was never in doubt that the British flag should be honoured wherever it was met on the high seas. Thus was cx-eated that security at sea which was a condition precedent to the full development of international trade. As a result of the Dutch

war London eclipsed all European cities and became the premier trading city. The merchandise of all the world was free to come to England. There was never again any attempt to question her right to develop her far-flung Empire. The war had been desperate and bitter, but it was decisive. But England did not seek to destroy Holland’s colonial expansion, and to-day , when the Dutch are somewhat apprehensive as to the future security of their immensely rich East Indian colonies (Java, Sumatra, Borneo, etc.) they look to tho British for that protection which, will maintain the status quo in the East Indian avchipja go. Thus in gallant races does the hand of Time obliterate ancient antagonisms, ancl forgetfulness heal tho wounds inflicted in wars between civilised nations. The strange lact is that when James II vacated the English throne in William of Orange occupied it, and lie snared it with his wife Mary, the daughter of James; and so a Dutchman, held in lioimur by English and Dutch alike, presided for thirteen years over the affairs of a nation which had been Holland's victorious antagonist.