Chapter X

THE PARLIAMENT, THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE PROTECTORATE.

THE FIRST DUTCH WAR.

Claim to the sovereignty of the sea and the salute
continued--Instructions to naval officers essentially the
same--Encounter with Swedish squadron--Action approved by Admiralty
committee--Council of State instruct Blake to preserve the dominion
of the seas--The Dutch strike willingly--Strained relations between
the Parliament and the United Provinces--Political revolution in
Holland--Mission of St John and Strickland to The Hague--Propositions
for fusion and alliance--The _Intercursus Magnus_ taken as basis for
treaty--St John’s seven Articles--The thirty-six Articles of the
Dutch--Failure of negotiations--Feeling in England--English letters
of reprisal--Embassy of Cats, Schaep, and Van de Perre--Dutch fleet
increased--Discussion of thirty-six Articles--Fresh instructions
from Holland--The negotiations suddenly interrupted--Blake’s
encounter with Tromp in the Straits of Dover regarding the striking
of the flag--Its antecedents--Tromp’s defective instructions as
to striking--Account of the fight--Indignation in London--Embassy
of the Grand Pensionary, Adrian Pauw--First Dutch war--Blake and
the herring-busses--Tromp’s broom--The Parliament asserts the
right of the Commonwealth to the sovereignty of the seas and the
fishery--Selden’s _Mare Clausum_ translated and published by order of
the Council of State--Controversy between Selden and Graswinckel 378