6oo Charles II. Naval Expeditions ><Scc. of the 'Engliih, Book
1672. Overyjfell was in the Hands of the E-lector of Cologne, and the Bishop ofMunfter And Friejland and Groningenwere actually attacked. The Provinceof Holland was obliged to open theSluices, and lay the Country under Wa-ter, to stop the rapid Progress of theFrench. This raised a general Discon-tent in the Populace, which ripened, atLength, into open Sedition, and thePensioner De Wit was charged withhaving been the Cause of all these Ca-lamities which broke in like a Torrentupon their Country. In this Perplexity,the States of Holland, very much a-gainst their Will, were obliged to ad-mit the Prince of Orange to the Dignityof Stadtholder; And soon after, thetwo Brothers, Cornelius and John deWit, were massacred, by the commonPeople, at the Hague, (kl)
The Dutch Nothing considerable happened atEipingfpoil- Sea, (at least, not in Europe,') duringSpragge. Remainder of this Year; Excepting
that Sir Edward Spragge, being left witha Squadron to keep the Seas, went tothe Northward, where he ruined theDutch Filhing-Trade, taking severalof their Busies and Doggers, and threeHundred and fifty Prisoners: But greatPreparations were carried on for fittingout a considerable Fleet against thenext Spring.
Three several Engagements, between theEnglish, under the Chief Command ofPrince Rupert, and the Dutch, underthe Chief Command of De Ruyter.
The French In the Beginning of May, the Fleetjoys Prince put to Sea, under the Command ofRupert off Prince Rupert, the Duke of York hav-tf Rye. - n g resigned his Office of Lord Admi-ral, upon the Pasting of the Fes-Acl.
The French Fleet, under the Count 1672*dlEfirees, joining the Prince’s Fleet offof Rye, they failed in Quest of'theEnemy, to the Coasts of Holland. DeRuyter who had been first at Sea, witha Fleet of two and forty Men of War,and sixteen other Vessels, upon secretIntelligence, that the Eng lifts Fleet te f
would not be ready so soon, had a De-sign of sinking them in the Fhames. (/) /jtempo-He came into the Mouth of the River,on the second of May, where he foundhe had been misinformed, and that fiveand forty large Ships were in Readinessto attack him. Fie, likewise, failed ina Design of intercepting our Canary,Bourdeaux, and Newcafle-Bloeti, intheir Passage into the River; And,therefore, was returned to Shonevelt , ^0
on the Coast of Zealand, where the an $ pi-en^Confederate Fleet fell in with him, on fall i#the twenty-second of May. They foundthem so advantageously posted between shonevd t-the Banks and Shelves, that they couldnot, with any Safety, be attacked.However, the EngUJh, having taken .the Advantage of a Mist, to found theDepth round about, resolved, in aCouncil of War, to attack them, a-midst all these Disadvantages. Yet,being hindered, first by a Calm, andafterwards by a Storm, they could notengage ’till the eight and twentieth.^) ,
The French Admiral carried the Co^pWhite Flag, as he had done before, as and FofVice-Admiral; (But now, to prevent ^ ^ 'his leaving us, as he had done in theformer Fight, his Ships were intermix-ed with the Englijhf) And Sir EdwardSpragge commanded the Blue Squadron,as Rear-Admiral. Their united Forceconsisted of about a Hundred and tenShips; Of which the French were abouta Third, and, on the other Side, theEnemy were near a Hundred, (n) com- -And off
manded
{k) During these Distractions, the States sentAmbaffadours to England, to sue for a Peace; Buttheir Proposals being rejected, they soon return-ed. The Demands in listed on by the Englip were,The Honour of the Flag, not only by single Ships,but by whole Fleets ; A Million Sterling for Re-paration of Damages, and the Charges of theWar ; Ten Thousand Pound a Year for the Li-berty of Fishing on the Britip Coast: The Of-fices of perpetual Stadt-holder, Captain- and Ad-iniral-General, for the Prince of Orange , and hisMale-Iffue ; A Share of the whole Eaft-India -Trade ; The Possession of the City of Slays, inFlanders ; And the Islands of Cadzant , JValche-ren , Goeree and Voorn.
{I) His Design was likewise to sink certaingreat Hulks, silled with a very heavy Ballast, in
* js‘ st $
the Channel of the River shames, at the Mouth L a * , jsof it, to render it unnavigable; Which Project, Misbe-having been communicated to, and approved of Ruy tef ‘by the Prince of Orange , De Ruyter had Instruc-tions sent him to that End.
{m) Mr. Secretary Burchett , without mention- Burch etfcing any of these Circumstances, fays, when theEnglip fell in with the Dutch, they soon began asharp Engagement.
(») According to Raping the combined Fleetswereone Hundred and forty Sail, of all Sizes, ofwhich that of France furnished thirty large Ships.
The Dutch Fleet (fays he) had only a Hundredand nine Sail in all, that is, four and fifty largeShips, fourteen Frigats, four and twenty Fire-ships, eleven Advice-boats, and six Galliots: Butwhen his favourite Dutch are in the Question, I