HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

U9

' That their High Mightinesses, at the desire of the King, in pursuance of thetreaty of 1678, readily granted 6000 men and 20 ships of war ; and by that hadgiven proof of their good faith.

That they made no hesitation, by their resolution of the 24th O&ober last, topromise the King the continuation of the said succours of twenty ships, and wishthey could acquit themselves according to their desire; but if they must continuetheir ships, die above-mentioned circumstances of affairs make it impossible forthem to give their own subjects the least protection, though indispeasibly neces-sary.

That they hope, therefore, his Majesty will not exact die said succours fromthem, but rather consider it is impossible to furnish diem.

That he cannot reasonably desire their High Mightinesses to continue theirallies ships of war, however great their wishes are to live in perfect union withthem, and to act for their preservation, when it puts it out of their power to protecttheir own subjects.

Nor is it the King’s interest to have the ships of the allies taken, and the enemyenriched, and their power increased by their loss, or that the Republic should berendered, by the loss of what they subsist by, incapable even of their own defence;and much less of assisting his Majesty and their other allies, and continue theireffort toward maintaining the common cause.

In short, that those twenty ships can do no service to his Majesty com-parable to the utility the Republic will draw from them.

The force which, according to treaty, they in the first instance caused to beequipped, amounted to twenty sail. Of these, nine only appear to have beenever engaged in any service whatever; the llacrlem, of 70 guns ; the Dordrechtand Damiata, of G4 ; the Lccwenhorst, Edam, Asscndelft, and Delft, ot 54 - gunseach; with two frigates. The whole service in which they were occupied, was aninoffensive voyage to Lisbon, and from thence back again to England ; in which,meeting with no enemy, they consequently experienced no discomfiture. Therest of the maritime history of those states, remains as it were a perfect blank. In-considerable, however, as the state marine of the United Provinces certainly was,and inattentive as they appeared in respect to it, they acquired a prodigious acqui-sition of wealth, amidst the conflicts which distracted the nations that surroundedthem, and in which they were themselves involved on the land side ; but the