twice, and but for the brave manner in which he was supported by the Vanguard and the Sapphire, he would have fallen into the hands of the enemy. Beside the two ships taken, another was run ashore, and the entire fleet was so shattered, that had not night favoured their retreat, the consequences might have been still more disastrous. As it was, they were enabled to reach the Thames, and thereby defeated the intention of Van Tromp to assail them the next day with fire-ships, and complete their destruction. One of the Dutch flag-ships was blown up; and those both of Van Tromp and his vice-admiral, De Ruyter, were so damaged, as to require immediate laying up. This unequal contest lasted from eight in the morning of the 29th November, 1652, to six o'clock in the evening*.

The Dutch admiral, puffed up with this momentary advantage, was so vainglorious as to sail through the channel with a broom at his mast-head, to signify that he had swept away the English from that sea; and the populace of the United Provinces equally elated, with the usual presumption of success, talked of capturing the whole of the English West India islands+.

The emptiness of the bravado of Van Tromp, and the futility of the expectations of his countrymen, were soon made apparent; for in about two months Blake, with whom, at his own request, Monk and Deane had been joined in commission, was enabled to repair and fit out a fleet of eighty sail of ships of war. With these they quickly sought and again encountered Van Tromp, who, with a fleet of seventy sail of vessels of war, and no less than three hundred merchant ships under his convoy, was returning up the Channel from the Isle of Rhé. Blake commenced the action off Portland with twelve ships, led by himself in the Triumph; and so warm was the conflict, that his own ship received no fewer than seven hundred shots in her hull, and might have been sunk but for the timely relief afforded by Captain Lawson in the Fairfax. In this action, which took place on the 18th February, 1653, Blake lost his own captain, a distinguished veteran named Ball, his secretary Mr. Sparrow, and received himself a grievous wound in the thigh. As usual, the fight lasted until night, when the Dutch, who had six men-of

Lives English and Foreign, vol. ii. p. 104.
Heath's Chronicle, p. 381.,

war sunk and taken, retired. Blake, after sending ashore his sick and wounded men, pursued the enemy; and for the two following days occasional encounters took place, in which both sides fought with extraordinary fury. At length the Dutch fleet reached the sands of Calais, where they anchored, and, favoured by the light draft of water of their shipping, they were enabled safely to tide it home. In these engagements the Dutch lost eleven ships and thirty merchantmen; and, according to their own accounts, full 1,500 seamen. The English lost only one ship; but the number of seamen killed and wounded was equal to that of the enemy. It is recorded, that being short of hands, Blake had em barked some regiments of soldiers on this occasion, who contributed greatly to the victory, and most probably their evident utility led to the establishment of regular corps of marines.

Towards the end of the following April, Blake and his former colleagues, with a fleet amounting to a hundred ships of war, attacked a Dutch fleet of seventy sail on their own coast; and, after capturing fifty doggers, drove them into the Texel. They then sailed northwards in search of Van Tromp, who with a rich fleet of merchantmen under convoy, having deemed it hazardous to enter the Channel, had steered round the north of Scotland. With great dexterity that able seaman contrived to escape the three English admirals, and to lead his merchantmen safely into port; a very beneficial service, but almost ludicrously contrasted with his former "top gallant humour," as one of the writers of the period has called it, of sweeping the British shipping from its own seas.

At length. convinced of the absolute necessity of again bestirring themselves with energy, the States enabled Van Tromp to put to sea, with a fleet of one hundred and twenty ships; and on the third of June he came into contact, off the North Foreland, with the English squadrons under Monk and Deane. Almost in the beginning of this engagement, Deane, a commander of distinguished reputation, was carried off by a cannon ball; and although, after a conflict of six hours, the Dutch retired, the success was but equivocal. The arrival of Blake on the fourth, with eighteen fresh ships, turned a partial advantage into a complete victory. Of the Dutch fleet six were sunk and eleven captured, and the number of prisoners amounted

to 1350, of whom six were captains. The English, on the contrary, lost not a single ship, while the number of killed and wounded fell short of 260. In this battle Van Tromp boarded the English viceadmiral Penn, but was not only beaten off, but himself boarded in return, and he would have been taken but for the timely assistance of his colleagues, De Witt and De Ruyter. It was, in fact, only by retiring once more among the flats and shallows of the Dutch coast, that Van Tromp was enabled to save the greater part of his fleet.*

The discontent of the people of the United Provinces during these successive defeats and mortifications was extreme; and the alternate despondency and presumption which they displayed, afford a very instructive lesson to those politicians who work on the popular feeling, and lightly employ the ignorance, the prejudices, and the inconstant passions of the multitude. What beyond a candid and patriotic appeal to the actual interests of the people can the honest statesman require? Upon any real emergency would such appeal be less forcible or the motives to exertion less earnest? Who in the long and vague annals of history, abounding as they do with the crimes and errors of the human race, but must perceive the readiness with which men usually answer the calls for sacrifices, when absolutely and evidently necessary? Where is the country whose records do not contain many more examples of brave and patriotic devotion in cases of urgent need, than of shameless and pusillanimous self-abandonment? It is however fair to remark, that rulers often participate in the errors which they propagate; and many a ruinous course of policy has been pursued with a firm conviction that it was just and necessary. Knowledge, then, on both sides is the only corrective: on that of the ruler, that it may not err with good intentions; and on that of the people, that they may discountenance every injurious appeal, whether the motives in which it originate be insidious or sincere.

While these contests were taking place at sea, an important change was effecting in the government at home. In the month of April, 1653, Cromwell turned out the remnant, or, as it has been usually termed, the Rump of the Long Parliament, and took measures for the

• Blake and Monk's Despatch.

The

assumption of supreme power. States and the Royalists looked forward with great anxiety to the manner in which the fleet and its commanders would receive this bold act of usurpation. Whatever hopes they might have formed were quickly terminated by the publication of a formal declaration from Blake, Deane, Monk, and the rest of the sea officers, that notwithstanding the recent changes, they felt that their duty, and the national trust reposed in them, required a continuance of their exertions against the foreign foes of the Commonwealth. Blake, on this occasion, emphatically expressed his often quoted opinion, that it was not their business to mind state affairs, but to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of our domestic disputes. “Remember, "said he, "that we are Englishmen, and that our foes are foreigners."* The unsophisticated good sense of Blake perceived that a maintenance of the British ascendancy at sea, was equally necessary under every sort of sway; and that it was not for foreigners to profit by our dissensions, however they might originate, or to whatever they might conduce. At the same time, he had the less temptation to act otherwise, as the Parliament had, by this time, become exceedingly unpopular with the nation, in consequence of a design to perpetuate themselves being strongly suspected by all parties. The same jealousy, whether well founded or not, had been manifested by the Parliament towards the officers of the navy as to those of the army, which rendered them indifferent to a change, whatever they might think of the character of that which took place. As to Blake himself, he was probably too sincere a Republican to approve cordially of the approaching exaltation of Cromwell; for although on his return home in ill health, immediately after his last victory, he was appointed a commissioner for Somersetshire, in the Mock or Little Parliament, and was otherwise much consulted, it was so exclusively in relation to naval affairs, or foreign warfare, that his name stands perfectly clear of every shadow of imputation of cabal, or intrigue. On this account, as already intimated, he was regarded with respect by the most opposite parties; all of whom beheld in him a spirited and dis

Fasti. Oxon. vol. i. Coll. 201. Lives English and Foreign, vol. ii. p. 199.

an honour to the English name.

Before the health of the admiral was sufficiently recovered to go to sea again, the fleet commanded by Monk fought the famous battle with that of the United Provinces, which terminated in the death of Admiral Van Tromp, and in a bloody and dear bought victory by the English. Although not present at this engagement, which took place on the 29th, 30th, and 31st of July, 1653, Blake had assisted so much in getting the force equipped, and by his counsel generally, that parliament decreed him a gold chain in common with the other admirals; and in the following October, when he came to London and took his seat in the House of Commons, he was solemnly thanked for his many and important services.*

The formal assumption of the Protectorate by Oliver Cromwell distinguished the close of the year 1653, in which arrangement Admiral Blake appears rather to have acquiesced than assisted. This event was followed by a peace with the United Provinces, with whom negociations had commenced soon after the battle in which Van Tromp lost his life. The terms of this treaty, which was signed in April, 1654, were highly honourable to England : the Dutch gave up every thing they had professed to fight for, although, in the

exaction of some of our claims, there is reason to believe that, satisfied with the honour of maintaining them, Cromwell was not very rigid in their precise fulfilment.

Such was the result of the first of those struggles with the Dutch for naval dominion, which were so uselessly renewed after the Restoration, and which, as far as that direct species of rivalry was concerned, terminated at the Revolution of 1688. To the naval superiority obtained by the English, since that remarkable period in the annals of both, it is scarcely necessary to allude, except, perhaps, for the sake of remarking that while struggles for mere glory are unprofitable at best, they are still more unadvisable, where fluctuating sources of prosperity are called into a contest with great physical superiority, and higher natural advantages. Such was the case with the United Provinces, as compared with Great Britain; to say nothing of the strong motives to a friendly union between them, as regarded the more for

Lives, English and Foreign, vol. ii. p. 109. Winstanley's English Worthies, p. 555.

have since been frequently at war; but on which ever side the provocation has originated, the result has always been most injurious to the States. It must not be presumed, for a moment, that the foregoing argument is advanced with a view of deprecating those glorious contests with powerful tyranny and oppression, like that which released the United Provinces from the yoke of Spain, or in objection to such exhibitions of national spirit and just jealousy for the honour of the country, which are essential to its independence. Here danger may be nobly incurred, and sacrifices justly as well as wisely called for; but how few are the wars of this description, compared with the number of unnecessary conflicts produced by illiberal jealousy, venal intrigue, and personal ambition! However visionary those ideas of perpetual peace may be, which ardent and benevolent minds persuade themselves may be realized, we surely may cherish the hope that the unholy and indefensible warfare, to which we are alluding, will necessarily decrease, in proportion to the diffusion of information among the great mass of mankind.

CHAPTER IV.

Expedition to the Mediterranean Respect paid to Blake by the Officers of France, Spain, and Holland· Negotiation with the Dey of Algiers -Chastisement of the Bey of TunisRedress exacted for injuries and insults to the English in the Mediterranean-Respect paid to the Protector by the Italian States - War with Spain-Expedition to Cadiz--Illness of Blake-Exploit at Santa CruzBehaviour of the Admiral in respect to Captain Blake-Sails for England-Death-Funeral Honours -Treatment of his Remains at the Restoration-Character.

a war with Spain, he was soon called again into active service. The known attachment of the admiral to republicanism has been alleged on this occasion also, as the cause of his appointment to the command of a fleet; but surely, having determined upon hostilities, the selection of the most eminent seaman in the country seems only to have been a matter of course.

In the first instance, however, Blake was despatched in November, 1654, with a formidable fleet into the Mediterranean, to support the honour of the English flag, and to procure satisfaction from the Barbary Powers, for their many acts of piracy against British merchantmen. This expedition was sent out before war was declared against Spain; so that in the ensuing December his fleet entered the port of Cadiz, where he was received with all imaginable respect. This, no doubt, was partly owing to the anxiety of the Spaniards to keep well with the Protector; but no small portion of homage was excited by the known talents and high achieve ments of the gallant commander himself. Aware of former consequences, a Dutch admiral would not hoist his flag while Blake remained at Cadiz; and a French squadron having stopped one of his tenders, which had been separated from him in a storm, the commander, as soon as he knew to whom he belonged, sent for the captain on board the flagship and drank Blake's health in his presence, under a discharge of five guns. The Algerines were likewise so daunted by the terror of his name, and so apprehensive of his designs, that, of their own accord, they stopped the Sallee Rovers and made them give up what English prisoners they had on board, which they sent freely to the admiral without ransom. These concessions, however, did not prevent him from sail ing to Algiers, where he appeared on the 10th March, 1655, and sent an officer on shore to demand the release of all English captives, and ample satisfaction for the piracies committed on the British trade. The Dey, who seems to have known the best manner of soothing a temper like that of Blake, pleaded his inability to release ships and captives

of that power, would prove nationally injurious. The

arrogant spirit of encroachment, displayed by Louis XIV. in the succeeding half century, rendered this

impolicy very conspicuous. But a Spanish war was more popular, and, looking to immediate cousequences, more profitable than a French one.

Lives, English and Foreign, vol. ii. p. 114.

which had become private property, without producing a mutiny; but the latter he agreed to give up on a moderate ransom per head, and offered to make such a peace with England as should prevent all future hostilities. He accompanied this answer with a large supply of provisions, and for the present, Blake appeared satisfied. It is not unworthy of remark in this place, that these maritime plunderers have continued, in a similar manner, the objects of alternate chastisement and negociation to this hour, when a leading European nation has a fleet before Algiers, on an errand precisely of the same nature as that of Blake's, upwards of one hundred and seventy years ago. It is melancholy to reflect, that a fine and extensive coast like that of the north of Africa, once, too, the seat of great comparative civilization, should have been allowed to remain in the possession of successive hordes of incurable pirates, insolent and rapacious by turns to all Christendom. If endured, because dangerous plans of national aggrandisement might follow their destruction-what a satire upon the moderation of the great Christian powers! If acquiesced in by some nations because a greater injury is inflicted upon others- how discreditable such motives to religion and humanity! Under every view of the case, the long toleration of this nuisance is a disgrace to civilized Europe.

From Algiers, the admiral sailed to Tunis, the Bey of which, relying upon the strength of his fortresses, returned an insolent answer to the message of Blake, and even refused to allow him to supply himself with fresh water. "Here," said the barbarian, "are our castles of Goletto and Porto Ferino; do your worst: do you think that we fear your fleet!" On receiving this hasty reply, the Admiral immediately bore away into Porto Ferino, with his first and second rate ships. He reserved his fire until they had approached within a musket shot of the castle and line of fortifications, when he opened his guns so effectually upon both, that in two hours the castle was rendered defenceless, and the guns on the works along the shore were nearly all dismounted, although no less than sixty had played on the English fleet at one time. Nine ships were lying in the harbour, and Blake ordered every captain,