CHAP. second marriage. The consort of Louis was the XIV. 1665. daughter of Philip by his first wife; Charles, the inheritor of the throne, was his son by the second; and on such grounds these provinces were claimed by Louis. Both Louis and his queen had separately renounced this claim; but it was contended by the high-minded Louis that his contract was void, because Spain had not paid the marriage portion; and that his queen's renunciation was not binding, because it was made while she was yet a minor! It was discovered, that the fulfilment of his engagements with the Dutch (engagements which he had long endeavoured to evade) might now be rendered instrumental to the furtherance of this design; that by aiding the Dutch in their war with England, he might obtain their co-operation in his attempt upon Flanders; and that he might assemble troops in the vicinity of Flanders, under the pretence of preventing the descent of the English on the coast of France. * A change of conduct towards England was immediately adopted. Measures were taken injurious to English trade † ; and, before the end of October, our ambassador at Paris confidently stated that France would not be long our friend. ‡ In November, the French ambassadors were ordered to return from London; and the Dutch were assured, that "as soon as they and the "Dutch ambassador shall have quitted England, he * Euvres de Louis XIV., ii. 5—11. 25, 26. 66 "will declare war against that country, in conformity with the treaty of 1662."* Before the French ambassadors returned, they were instructed to try the effect of threatening England with a war with France; and this threat they coupled with complaints, which, it is to be feared, were too well founded, of the intolerable aggressions of the English privateers, and the denial of redress for the damage inflicted. 66 66 It was evident that France could not longer be diverted from co-operation with Holland; and a secret council was called together "to consult what "should be the final answer his Majesty should give to the French ambassadors at parting. There was no person present," says Lord Clarendon, "who had not a deep impression of the extensive damage and danger that must fall upon the King's "affairs if, in this conjuncture, France should de"clare a war against England." The extensive naval preparations of the enemy, the probable influence upon the conduct of the Bishop of Munster, and of the kings of Denmark and Sweden, and the encouragement of insurrection within the realm †, 66 * D'Estrades, iii. 469. Louis notes encouragement to malcontents among the proposed means of attack. "Dans le même temps qu'on travailleroit à prendre "toutes ces mesures pour le dehors de l'Angleterre, il faudroit aussi "travailler à troubler le Roi d'Angleterre au dedans de ces états. "Pour cet effet, s'informer de toutes parts, soit par la Hollande, soit 66 par le moyen des marchands François, de l'état des affaires d'Ecosse "et d'Irlande." "Examiner tous les Irlandois Catholiques qui sont " à Paris, en Bretagne, et autres endroits du royaume, pour connoître "s'il y en auroit quelqu'un dont on se pût servir. S'informer de l'état "des Puritains Presbitériens, et des amis de Cromwel." (D'Estrades, CHAP. XIV. 1665. CHAP. 1665. October 21. October 26. were ample grounds for such a feeling. To these circumstances, calculated to dissuade from a continuance of war, might be added the dreadful pestilence, which, after raging in Holland in the preceding year*, had, in the summer and autumn of 1665, desolated London; and, during one week in September, when the violence of the Plague had reached its height, carried off more than 10,000 victims. But the parliament, before whom, on the 11th of October, the Lord Chancellor delivered a full statement of the events of the war, and the supplies still required for its effectual prosecution, proved that the war was still popular, by their willingness to contribute to its support. The commons, promptly and unanimously, passed a bill granting the king 1,250,000l. for his present supply, and 120,000l. for the Duke of York. Encouraged by such zeal in the representatives of the people, the government did not quail, even at the alarming prospect of France being added to the number of their assailants. The French ambassadors were dismissed, "without any other answer than what "should contain complaints of the French King's * Downing, in his letter to Lord Clarendon, mentions some of the weekly returns of death, by the Plague, at Amsterdam. The following show its severity and increase:-The deaths for one week, in May, 1664, were 362; in the beginning of July, 739; in the beginning of August, 933; in the beginning of September, 1041. Above 20,000 persons must probably have died at Amsterdam in the course of that year. An account of the Plague in 1665, which may fairly compete with the most masterly descriptions of similar events, will be found in Dr. Lingard's History of England, vol. xii. p. 125–134. Hume dismisses the event with a single sentence; and some other historians treat it less fully than its importance deserves. 66 XIV. 1665. "want of kindness, which his Majesty had cul- CHAP. "tivated by all the offices he could perform since "his restoration, which did not receive an equal return, by the preferring the friendship of the "Dutch before that of his Majesty. In December Hollis had his last audience, and in January January the French king declared war. *Life of Clarendon, ii. 440. * 16. CHAP. XV. THE DUTCH EAST INDIA AND SMYRNA FLEETS TAKE REFUGE 1665-1667. CHAP. 1665. THE principal duties which devolved on Lord Sandwich (who, in July, 1665, became commander of the fleet), were to watch the Dutch armament, then lying in the Texel, and to capture the Dutch East India and Smyrna fleets, then expected on their voyage homewards round the north of Scotland. About the 20th of July, it was ascertained, that these rich fleets, valued at twenty-five millions of livres, had taken refuge in the neutral port of Bergen, in Norway, belonging to the King of Denmark; and the important fact was promptly communicated to Lord Sandwich by our minister at Copenhagen. In the mean time, a disgrace |