Chapter VIII: CHARLES I.--continued. THE NAVY

The second ship-money fleet--Placed under the Earl of
Northumberland--What was to be done with it?--Opinion of
Admiralty as to convoying foreign merchant vessels and preventing
foreigners from fishing without license--The instructions
to Northumberland--The proceedings of the fleet--Cruise in
Channel--Royal proclamation forbidding foreigners from fishing
without license in British seas--Northumberland goes in quest of
Dutch herring-busses--Licenses forced upon them--English men-of-war
left to “guard” them--Anxiety in the United Provinces--Mission of
van Beveren--States of Holland resolve to equip a fleet to protect
their fishermen from molestation--Mission of Joachimi--Intervention
of Queen of Bohemia--Northumberland’s fleet goes to the Yarmouth
fishing--Licenses again forced on the Dutch fishermen--The amount
of the “acknowledgment money” received--Misrepresentations on the
subject--Renewed excitement in Holland--Proceedings of Admiral Van
Dorp--Another change in the king’s policy--Arundel’s mission to
Vienna--Negotiations with the Prince of Orange--Terms of a proposed
treaty--Charles tries to get his licenses secretly accepted in
Holland--Third ship-money fleet--Tortuous action of Charles--Captain
Fielding sent in a merchant vessel to offer licenses to Dutch
fishermen--Dutch men-of-war interfere and prevent licenses being
taken--The story leaks out, and is to be “cried down” and another
story told--National discontent and domestic troubles--The “Sovereign
of the Seas”--The question of the salute--Increasing strength and
boldness of Dutch fleet--Arrest and search of English ships--Tromp
and Pennington--The battle in the Downs--Action of English
fleet--Humiliation of Charles--The Dutch the real masters of the seas 286