has lately brought upon the two Nations with this Clause As soon as your Majesty shall be invited to so holy a Work by reasonable Condâ—tâ—ons We therefore doubt not of the sincerity of the so often repeated Protestations newly made signifying your Inclination for a Peace But we are not ignorant likewise that you are perswaded there will be no Advance made towards Peace so long as you shall make no Overture of the particular Conditions upon which you judge it might be concluded However we on our side have given all imaginable clear Explications of our sense thereupon by our Ambassâ—doâ—r whom we ordered to stay in the Court of England expresly upon that account tho' your Majesty had already recalled yours Mr. Van Beuningen our Minister extraordinary at the French Court renewed them in the last Place in presence of the Queen your Majesty's Mother to Mr. Hollis your Embassador without receiving any positive Answer thereto from your Majesty We could not with Justice according to what is practised in such Negotiations have ordered our Minister in the Conference held at Paris with the said Hollis to sollicit him to make the Overture of the Conditions upon which your Majesty pretended to make Peace as we had done or at least to have agreed beforehand that your Majesty should give a final Answer sincere and without Reserve to the Advances we had made and that in a prefixed Time But however to give Proofs at the very first of the ardent Passion that induces us to labour to bring about so Christian a Work we have passed over all those Formalities making it our Glory to make the first Advances and to go as far with them on our side as is possible hoping that your Majesty acting in the same manner the so much desired Peace might be concluded without delay and that by that means the effusion of so much Christian Blood as was shed in the ensuing Battles might have been prevented And since by the Letter of the 11th of December last Year and afterwards in the Conference held at Paris it was proposed to your Majesty's Choice to treat of Peace either under condition That both Parties should mutually restore all that each of them had taken from the other before or after the War and thence to pass to the Examination of the Pretensions that were in question before the War or that each Party should keep the Conquests they had made before or after the Rupture with respect to the Time when the said Offer was signified to the Parties and that in consequence of that all the Pretensions concerning any Losses or Damages suffered should be forgotten and held for Null on both sides It seems to us That the Clause specified in the abovesaid Letter of your Majesty is already fully executed and that thereby your Majesty has been several times invited to the Conclusion of so pious a Work For we cannot persuade our selves that as to what concerns the Offer of the abovesaid Conditions there can be any proposed more advantageous if Regard be had to Reason and to the Justice of the Cause considering that all we possess or that we have taken from your Majesty or your Subjects is adjudged to be good Prize and ought to be preserved according to the Laws of a just War since we took up Arms only for our own Defence whereas on the contrary all that has been taken from the Vnited Provinces or their Subjects which amounts to above 100 Ships with their Merchandises and Effects as likewise the Fort of S. Andrew the Isle of Boavista New Holland and Cabo Corso all that was taken by Surprize unjustly and without any Declaration of War And yet your Majesty slighting so advantageous a Proposition never considered to explain your self openly nor to determine upon the Choice either the one or the other of the proposed Conditions or so much as to relate the Reasons you had to reject them or at least to make us a clear and sincere Overture of what other Conditions might have induced you to a Peace to which we have often solicited you On the contrary your Majesty broke off the foresaid Conference which was the greatest Hopes of those that ardently desire Peace and which was happily begun in the presence of the Queen your Majesty's Mother you broke it off we say by the sudden recalling of your Ambassador without shewing any manner of way your Approbation of it Things being thus we leave your Majesty to judge what all those general Protestations of Affection and Passion of Peace can tend to so long as they shall not be followed by particular Conditions which are to be the Foundation of it And because Experience teaches us That the Mediation of Foreign Power is not unprofitable but may contribute much to the Conclusion of so holy a Work that Consideration induced us to determine to accept of the Mediation of the King of Swedeland in the Confidence we have that that Prince being equitable will have regard to the just and Advantageous Propositions we make tho' that Prince having been put by your Majesty into the Number of your Allies it seems obvious that we might look upon him as suspicious and a Party adverse to us and consequently as one interested in the Treaty Besides that your Majesty has declared You could not enter into Negotiation without his Consent The Kings of France and Denmark who are in War as well as we against your Majesty have in like manner accepted the said Mediation of Swedeland We made no Difficulty at the very first Offer made to us of it to give our Consent to it in Writing that it might be presented to your Majesty but yet hitherto whatever Instances have been made it has been impossible for us to induce the Minister of the Crown of Swedeland residing here to make us the same Declaration from your Majesty namely Whether you would please to accept of the said Mediation of Swedeland or no as well in regard of our selves as of the Kings of France and Denmark our Allies which being once granted we protest again once more not only in general Terms that we continue still in the violent Passion that incites us to the Conclusion of a solid Peace but we make all the particular Advances besides that Right and Justice can exact of us And because a general Declaration that comprehends no real express and reasonable Condition either on the one side or the other is more capable to produce new Umbrages and leave the Mind in suspense than to promote a Treaty of Peace we declare consequently That we stand to the Propositions that were made on our part in the Conference held at the Court of France in the presence of the Queen your Majesty's Mother as has been already related In fine we pray your Majesty to confirm the general Profession and Protestation you have made That you desire nothing more than Peace and to be pleased to joyn to it a particular Declaration
news that most part of the Ships of his Fleet wanted Ammunition by which they were disabled to stand a second Battle It must be confessed that if Tromp had been seconded as he ought to have been the day before by some Captains in his Fleet that failed in their duty and were false to the fidelity they had sworn to their Country the English had been so well reduced to reason that they would hardly have had any mind to begin a new Battle the next day Vice-Admiral de Wit had so small a Quantity of Powder and Bullets left that it would hardly serve him three hours firing and de Ruiter had less than he And besides a great many other Ships were much weakened by the great Numbers of Men they had killed and sick Notwithstanding all these disadvantages Tromp was in the mind to venture a second Battle as thinking if he were worsted to retreat toward Wielingen to take in necessary Provisions and Ammunition But before the second Fight begun Tromp Writ to the States the following Letter High and Mighty Lords Martin Tromp's Letter to the States THe 12th Instant we perceived the Enemies hovering about Newport Our Forces consisted of 98 men of War and 6 Fire-Ships and those of the English of between 95 and 100 sail amongst which were reckoned 77 or 80 large Men of War or Frigats well manned and provided The two Fleets engaged in Fight about 11 a Clock before noon and ended not till night which separated the two Parties who both stood off to Sea about 9 a Clock We lost that day Captain Joost Bulter whose Ship was sunk with part of her Men the other being saved by our people Captain Velzen's Ship was blown up there being but 5 of her men saved This day all the General and Subalternate Officers of the Fleet came on board the Admiral and were informed that the most part of them had so little Ammunition left that 't is impossible for us to be able to stand a second Fight Among others Vice-Admiral de Wit has not for above three hours spending and de Ruiter has less than he However we have resolved to attack the Enemies this day and to retire to Wielingen and fight our way thither retreating if the English â—â—esist to Fight so long In fine we pray your High and Mightinesses that we may be Reinâ—â—â—ted and may receive the Ammunition necessary and that it may please you to send Deputies into Zealand to remedy all things c. Lieutenant Admiral Tromp had done all he could from the first appearance of the morning A second Battle fought the 13th of June to tack to the South-East to be able to get the Weather gage which the English had that so he might the more successfully force his way into the middle of their Fleet. About 8 a Clock the Van-guards of the two Fleets began to fire at one another at a distance but Tromp pursuing his design had already about 10 a Clock got Dunkirk at the South-South Eastward of him and was in hopes to get up to the main body of the English Fleet and to intercept a good part of their Ships But they were no sooner engaged but their hapned a Calm which was the cause that the Hollanders found themselves to the lee-ward and the English had the Weathergage which opportunity they improving came Thundering about 11 a Clock upon the Dutch Fleet with so much the greater advantage because Blake had reinforced them in the night with a Squadron of 28 great men of War which he had brought from Portsmouth Tromp thereby found himself obliged to close up the Rear of his Fleet to endeavour as well as 't was possible to sustain the shock of the Enemies Tromp De Wit De Ruiter and some others fought with an unparallel'd bravery But unhapily from the very beginning of the fight a disorder having hapned in the Dutch Fleet for want of Experience in the Officers they began to give way and at length were part of them taken and part sunk nay the Confusion was so great among them that some of them quitted their Fire-Ships after having set fire to them themselves who endeavoured to palliate their infamous Cowardice by pretending they had received several shot between Wind and Water However tho' the valiant Tromp saw himself thus deserted by his Rear-guard yet he lost not his courage for that but possessing still the same presence of mind and being animated by Reflections upon his past glory and by the hopes and unextinguishable passion he had still to maintain it to the last grapled Vice-Admiral Pen boarded him and power-d so many men into his Enemies Ship that he had already made himself Master of her when 13 English Frigats tacking about upon him so cruelly handled him that they forced him to let go his hold The Enemies likewise in their turn grapling afterwards Admiral Tromp powred in so great a Number of Sea men on board him that his men were forced to flie all under Deck Upon which Tromp seeing himself over powr'd with Numbers thought there was no other Remedy but to set fire to some barrels of Powder which he did so effectually that in an Instant as by a clap of Thunder the Enemies were blown up Pell Mell into the Air and their bodies were seen to flie about half burnt and rent to pieces Yet this blow did not so much discourage the English but they came on and charged him afresh and he had certainly been lost had not de Wit and de Ruiter espying the great danger he was in come up without losing time and disengaged him about 7 a Clock in the Evening Captain Schellinger's Ship being much battered and deserted by most of her Sea men fell into the English Fleet and was soon after burnt to Ashes The Ship Westergoo being surrounded by three English men of War that furiously battered her on all sides was forced to yield just when she was ready to sink a little before that Captain Verburg's Ship having had her Helm shot away fell into the Enemies hands and after a vigorous resistance was at last constrained also to yield Tromp and the other General Officers fought till within night when the English made off to Sea steering North-ward but the Hollanders made for Ostend where they arrived about midnight and cast Anchor The next morning the English appear'd again But because there were many Ships in the Dutch Fleet very much shattered and that wanted both Provision and Ammunition Tromp with the advice of the other General Officers thought it best to retreat with the whole Fleet towards Wielingen where being arrived he writ the following Letter to the States General High and Mighty Lords YEsterday at 11 a Clock before noon Martin Tromp's Letter to the States concerning the last Battle I writ my last Letter just when I was using all my endeavours to gain the weather-gage in order to fall into the middle of the Enemies Fleet
with a Squadron of 18 Men of War was ready to set out for Guiney whither he was going to favour the depredations the English were making in those parts The States in regard of the Good Services they had received from the West-India Company in several occasions were resolved to employ their Forces to protect them And for that end gave order to Captain Kampen with a Squadron of 10 Men of War to Convoy to Guiney the 4 Ships bound thither belonging to that Company But because they doubted not but that the King of Great Britain would construe that Resolution for a new attempt on their side towards the Breach of a Peace they sent orders to their Ambassador at London to present his Majesty the following Memorial thereupon The Memorial presented to King Charles II. by the States Ambassador's Concerning the Squadron of men of War sent to Guiney THE States General of the United Provinces having had advice from their Ambassador at London by their last Letters from him That the King of Great Britain the Duke of York and his Majesties chief Ministers of State had testified some discontent at their arming out some Ships of War designed for the Coast of Guiney have thought fit for the taking away of all sort of Umbrage to declare the Reasons that moved them to that extraordinary Arming Which are That the States of the United Provinces having heard with much regret That some Nation among which were some Subjects of his Majesty contrary to his approbation and his repeated Protestations that he had given no order for it had some time since by some hostilities attempted upon the Liberty of the Good Subjects of the State and especially those in their Countries in Africk belonging to the West India Company and principally upon the Coasts of Guiney in seizing upon their Ships and Effects and attacking in the bosome of Peace this State by taking of the Forts and Places it possesses The United Provinces judging it their Duty to Protect their Good Subjects in those Countries as far as it should be in their Power and to secure them for the future from the like attempts had resolved to send thither a Squadron of 10 Men of War and so much the rather because the West India Company is about sending thither four Merchant Ships richly laden which it was not thought fit to expose without a Convoy to the danger the others have incurred knowing â—hat the Enemies they have in that Country by means of a Re-inforcement they have lately received have sufficient Forces to make themselves Masters of the said four Merchant Ships at their arrival there as they have done of the others And that his Majesty may be fully assured of the sincere intention of their High and Mightinesses principally in what concerns their maintaining of the Peace and preserving of a perfect good understanding between England and the United Provinces the States were willing by this Memorial to let his Majesty know That their Resolution is to give Order to him that shall have the Command of the said 10 Men of War that in case he comes to meet on the Coasts of Guiney or any where else in his way with any of his Majesties Ships or with those of any other Ally of this State he shall not do them any offence against their liberty tending to the interruption of their Commerce provided they have the same regards for the Subjects of the United Provinces upon which his Majesty may entirely rely And forasmuch as their High and Mightinessâ—s expect from the Justice of his Majesty that his Subjects who without his orders and approbation have committed all sorts of Hostility out of his Kingdom shall not be protected or supported in their enterprises and that it will please him to give his orders to that purpose to the Admiral of his Fleet that has been already sent into those Countries or to others that shall hereafter be sent thither In that confidence their High and Mightinesses are assured there will not happen on their part any mischievous Rencounter between his Majesties Ships and the States 10 Men of War that will be capable to disturb the Union and good Correspondence of the two Nations On the other side may it please his Majesty in order to the taking away all cause of complaint and jealousie by a Generous and equitable Resolution to assure their High and Mightinesses of the Restitution of the Ships and Forts that cause so great damage to the Subjects of this State and to their West-India Company which is what their High and Mightinesses expect from the Friendship and Generosity of his Majesty The States being glad to use all imaginable precautions to prevent any attempts of the English against those Ships because they knew well enough from good hands that the English-Fleet was ready to put to Sea gave order to Lieutenant Admiral Opdam who was then at Goree with a part of the States Fleet to Convoy them the length of the Channel That Fleet that had been equipt with all diligence was composed of 39 Men of War But it seems afterwards the Guiney Expedition was countermanded both by the English and the Dutch For Prince Robert received other Orders and the Ships of the Company as well as their intended Convoy were detained by contrary Winds In the mean while news came to the Dutch That the English had appeared with some Men of War before New Amsterdam situated in New Holland in the West Indies and had taken it and forced all the Colony to submit to their Obedience with so much the greater Facility because the Hollanders had no relief to hope for and the English were ten to one The Capitulation was signed the 8th of September under the following Conditions Articles of the Surrender of New Holland to the English 1. WE consent that the States General or their West India Company shall keep and possess peaceably all the Buildings and Houses except those which shall be found within the Fort And that they shall be permitted to transport within the space of 6 months all the Arms and Ammunition belonging to them or else they shall be paid for them 2. All the Publick Houses shall be employ'd to the same use as at present 3 Every Private Man shall remain a free Burgher and shall retain his Lands Houses Goods and Ships in what part of the Country soever they be to dispose of them as he shall think Good 4. That if any of the Inhabitants have a mind to retire elsewhere they shall have a year and six weeks time granted them for transporting their Wives Servants and Effects and disposing of their Lands 5. That if any of the Publick Ministers there shall resolve to retire into England they shall be transported thither in his Majesties Frigats without paying any thing for their Passage 6. It is likewise freely granted to any person to come freely from Holland into this Country to make Plantations here and Dutch Ships may
were expected back from Norway in order to convoy them safe home and at the same time to have an Eye upon the English Merchant-Ships coming out of the Sound or from Hamborough towards the Thames or that should come out of the Thames to go towards the North commanding him to give them Chace and to do all he could to burn them sink them c. The same Day viz. the 1st of November afternoon the Fleet set sail and tackt about and stood to the Eastward Lieutenant Admiral Cornelius Evertsz led the Right Wing Lieutenant Admiral de Vries the left and the Squadrons of de Ruiter and Tromp composed the Main Battle The next Day de Ruiter put up a White Flag upon his Mizzen Mast and fired 3 Guns for a Signal to the Squadrons to separate The Lieutenant Admirals Tromp Evertsz and de Vries answered the Admiral according to the Order settled for that effect each of them with 7 Guns Each Vice-Admiral with 5 and each Rear-Admiral with 3. And then Admiral de Ruiter replied to all those Admirals again at once with 9 Guns and so the several Squadrons of the Fleet quitted one another about Mid-way towards home Tromp made towards Goree and the Meuse the Zealand Squadron towards Wâ—elingen and de Ruiter sailed towards the Texel and the Vlie whither also went Lieutenant Admiral Hiddes de Vries with the Friesland Ships The Lords Deputies of the States having quitted de Ruiter landed on the 4th of November in a Galliot at the Helder and thence went to the Hague where they made their Report to the States General of what had passed in that Expedition for which they received the Thanks of their High and Mightinesses as appears by the following Writing Mr. Huigens Mr. Pensionary de Wit and Mr. John Boreel Deputies Plenipotentiaries of their High and Mightinesses in the States Fleet have made a Summary Report of the things that passed in the last Expedition upon which the States having deliberated and taken into Consideration the Care and Pains the said Plenipotentiaries have therein taken as well as the Vigilance and good Conduct they have shewn by the tender Affection they have exprest for their Country by acting Night an Day as far as God and the State of Affairs would permit them with an indefatigable Zeal for the Good of the State their High and Mightinesses have consequently thankt them for it and hereby declare themselves perfectly well satisfied with their Adminâ—stratâ—on The Dutch Fleet then did nothing that Expedition but cause some Alarms upon the Coast of England and all the Honour they gained by it was only that of having offered Battle to the English Fleet whilst they kept themselves within their Harbours as being debarred by a raging and pestilent Distemper from accepting it and having interrupted the Commerce of the English Merchants by keeping the Mouth of the Thames blockt up for about 16 Days together In the mean while the Negotiation for a Peace was broke off for the French King who had offered his Mediation finding that the English had more Inclination to continue the War than to treat with the Dutch and having some By-ends of his own upon the Hollanders taking a Pretence of Dissatisfaction against the English because their Ships daily appeared near S. Malo's and the Coasts of Normandy firing upon his Subjects and committing several Attempts against them contrary to the Treaties of Alliance and Confederacy he had with the King of England recalled the Duke of Vernueil the Count de Conings and Mr. Courtin his Ambassadors from that Court after having commanded them publickly to declare to the King of England which they accordingly did on the 15th of October at Oxford That the King of France their Master seeing all the Propositions that had been made to procure an Accommodation between the 2 contending Nations of England and Holland were rejected by the English his Majesty was resolved to assist the Hollanders according to the Treaty of Alliance he was engaged in with them To which the King of England answered coldly enough That the French King knew his own Interest and so did the King of England know his too So that the French Ambassadours having demanded their Audience of Leave on the 10th of December embarkt on the 23d of the same Month at Dover and arrived the next Day at S. Valery Hollis likewise the English Ambassadour in France was also recalled and having had his Audience of Leave he made shew as if he would depart but yet took the Liberty to stay 6 Months after in the Kingdom out of Paris under Pretence of his Lady's being sick The French King having notified to the States the recalling of his Ambassadours out of England they sent Order to the Sieur de Goch their Ambassadour at the Court of England to retire likewise immediately For tho' Sir George Downing Ambassadour to them from the King of England were gone from Holland ever since the Month of August yet the States of the Vnited Provinces in hopes to be able to pacifie in an amicable manner the Troubles that had newly kindled a War between the 2 Nations had thitherto deferred the Departure of the Sieur de Goch but at last he took his Audience of Leave at Oxford and delivered at the same time to the King the following Declaration of the States by which they represented to his Majesty the ardent Passion they had for Peace and the means that had been proposed to procure it The Sieur de Goch then departed on the 26th of December towards Dover where he embark'd upon one of the King's Ships and on the 29th of the same Month he arrived at Flushing from whence he speeded away to the Hague to make his Report to their High and Mightinesses of all that had past in his Negotiation The Letter or Declaration from the States left by him with the King of England was in these Terms SIR The States Remonstrance to the King of England concerning the rupture of the Peace THat we might give evident Proofs of our Desire and Inclination for Peace we were willing after the Rupture to defer even till this Day to recal our Ambassadour from the Court of England And tho' we had already by just and reasonable Offers satisfied all the Complaints put up to us by Sir George Downing in a Time when we could hardly believe that Matters would ever have come to an Extremity yet we have done still more by leaving our Ambassadour in England after the taking from us not only several Places but some whole Provinces belonging to the States in both Worlds and the stopping the Ships of their Subjects in the Face of all Christendom and that without any previous Declaration of War By an effect also of an over-great Confidence neither did we recal our Ambassadour presently after your Majesty had recalled yours in hopes you would at last be pleased to make some Reflection upon the Mischiefs a War would bring upon the two