The Cabal, however, had the guilt and disgrace of commencing the second Dutch war ; although Charles concealed from them the secret of his bribe from France, for fear they should demand a share of it. The meal of sir NV. Temple from the Hague, and the appoint ment of Downing, who was odious to the Dutch, an nounced the unalterable intention of England to quarrel. The grounds of the quarrel on the side of England were, that a whole Dutch fleet had refused, upon their own coasts, to strike their sails to a small English unarmed yacht. But the public of England did not participate in this crime of their government; it was even neces sary to prorogue parliament, lest the general opinion should be expressed. Such was the public feeling, that when the Dutch deputies were sent to beg peace from Charles, the people of England followed their coaches with tears, and the court was obliged to remove them to Hampton, from the eyes of the public ; a device which only increased the general pity.
A variety of events gave notice to the English, that the war against Holland was but a part of Charles's scheme for the destruction of the Protestant faith and liberty. When he wanted more money, and dreaded to apply to parliament, he seized the issues of the exche quer ; a measure which filled the mercantile world with bankruptcy and distress.
The duke of York, already deeming himself inde pendent of public opinion, had openly declared his con version to popery ; and Charles, for the sake of the pro fessors of that religion, issued a declaration of indul gence of conscience, and asserting a dispensing power in the crown No pretence of toleration could reconcile the English to this usurpation ; for it was justly said, that if the king could dispense with one law, he might dispense with all ; and the pretence of general tolera tion was known, besides, to be a false one. In the mean time, the Dutch, attacked by Louis by land, and by the navies of England and France by sea, and de serted by Sweden, seemed on the point of being sacri ficed. Louis's declaration of war had at least a bold and open, although a shameless effrontery ; Charles's de claration was not issued till he had attempted to pilfer their Smyrna fleet from the unfortunate republic, and after he had been disgraced and disappointed in the at tempt. War was declared with Holland on the 17th of March 1672; and in May, the combined fleets of France and England were attacked by De Ruyter, when a dread ful but indecisive battle ensued, in which the loss, though nearly equal, was rather heavier on the side of the English. At night the Dutch retired, and were not followed by their opponents. On that day perished the
gallant admiral Sandwich, on board his own ship, which took fire : though warned of her state, he preferred death to surviving an unmerited reflection on his cou rage, which the duke of York had basely and unde servedly thrown out. Three other engagements were fought in the course of this war, during the succeeding year 1673 ; two off the sands of Schonvelt, and another at the mouth of the Texel. In this last combat, the famous De Ruyter and Tromp were opposed to the English admirals prince Rupert and Sprague ; and Sprague was drowned in the action by a shot which stink his boat, as he was passing to hoist his flag on board a third ship, after two in which he fought had been torn to pieces. But the engagement was, like all those of the second Dutch war, bloody but indecisive.
The Dutch had, during these events, appealed in vain to the remorseless hearts of Charles and Louis for pity and peace. The terms offered by Louis would have utterly annihilated their independence : those offered by Charles were, if possible, more insulting. After this refusal, despair and popular fury drove them to per petrate the sacrifice of the Dc Wits, a tragedy which is at once the foulest blot in their history, and yet the pre lude to its most glorious events. The prince of Orange, on whom the sovereignty of his country and its forlorn hopes were fixed, replied, with just elevation of soul, to Charles and Louis, when they told him that he should live to sec his country undone, " .Vo I I shall die in the last ditch," The English, as well as Dutch, were indebted for the speedy assertion of their liberties, to the spirit of the English parliament during 1673. They plainly told Charles, that he had no right to the dispensing power which he had claimed in his declaration of indulgence ; and when he gave an ambiguous answer, they insisted on a more explicit one. They prepared to attack his ministers. The famous test act against popery was passed, which struck the staff of lord high treasurer from the hand of Clifford, and that of lord admiral from the king's brother. Charles declined a conflict with his parliament, and revoked his dispensing claim. But when his ministers found that he intended to expose them to the vengeance of parliament, the cabal made the same turn with their master. Shaftesbury, saying aloud, that the prince who forsook himself deserved to be forsaken, put himself at the head of the opposition, and urged the repeal of those unconstitutional acts in which he had so deeply participated.