Part 33 (1/2)

The English had won a brilliant victory with very little loss--only one s.h.i.+p and two or three fire-s.h.i.+ps at most. Of the Dutch fleet at least twenty s.h.i.+ps had perished, and it was quite unable to renew the fight.

The coast of Holland was now exposed to a triumphant enemy, and a renegade Dutchman, Laurens van Heemskerk, offered to guide the English to the islands of Vlieland and Ter Sch.e.l.ling, where lay many merchant vessels and all kinds of stores. The enterprise was entrusted to Robert Holmes, with orders to destroy all that he found, and to carry away no booty. In the harbour he discovered 170 merchant-men and two men-of-war, and he did his work so thoroughly that the affair was called in England, ”Sir Robert Holmes, his Bonfire.[45]

Van Heemskerk afterwards fell into great poverty in England, and was evicted from his house for non-payment of rent; upon which he pet.i.tioned the King for some reward for his services, stating that, but for the great goodness of Prince Rupert, his wife and children must inevitably have starved.[46]

During August the fleet lingered about Sole Bay, hoping that wrath for the burning of their harbour would bring the Dutch out again. But Rupert laid Albemarle a bet of ”five pieces” that they would not come, and won his money.[47] The sailors, inspired by their late success, were anxious for further action, and would fain have attacked {317} the East India fleet at Bergen; but want of provisions held the commanders back. Rupert wrote furiously to the King that his men were all sick for want of food; the beer was bad, each barrel was short of the proper quant.i.ty, and all his remonstrances only produced from Pepys accounts of things already sent.[48] Fearing the weather, he came into the Downs, and there took a French vessel. The French Vice-Admiral on board at once demanded to be taken to Rupert, whom he knew. The Prince treated him ”as a gallant person ought to be,” and restored to him all his personal possessions.[49] On board the same vessel was found the engineer, La Roche, with whom Arthur Trevor had battled in earlier days at Oxford. Rupert had, however, pardoned, or forgotten, his contumacy, and released him in consideration of the services he had formerly rendered in England.[50] Finally, on October 2nd, the fleet anch.o.r.ed in the Thames, and immediately afterwards burst the storm which Pepys had long expected.

It is indisputable, even on Pepys' own showing, that peculation, bribery, and corruption were the causes of the neglect from which the fleet had suffered. The Naval Commissioners, in order to make their own profit, cheated and starved the sailors; they falsified the quant.i.ties of food that they sent, and what they delivered was bad.

Rupert had just cause for his wrath, and he did not hesitate to express it. Five days after the return of the fleet, Pepys and his colleagues were called upon to answer for their conduct. They endeavoured very ingeniously to defend themselves by transferring the blame to the Prince. Thus Pepys describes the interview. ”Anon we were called into the green room, where were the King, Duke of York, Prince Rupert, Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, Duke of Albemarle, {318} and Sirs G.

Carteret, W. Coventry, Morrice. n.o.body beginning, I did, and made, as I thought, a good speech, laying open the ill state of the Navy, by the greatness of the debt, greatness of the work to do against next year, the time and materials it would take, and our own incapacity through a total want of money. I had no sooner done, but Prince Rupert rose up in a great heat, and told the King that, whatever the gentleman said, he had brought home his fleet in as good a condition as ever any fleet was brought home; that twenty boats would be as many as the fleet would want, and that all the anchors and cables left in the storm might be taken up again... I therefore did only answer that I was sorry for His Highness's offence, but what I said was the report I had received. He muttered and repeated what he had said, and, after a long silence, no one, not so much as the Duke of Albemarle, seconding the Prince, we withdrew. I was not a little troubled at this pa.s.sage, and the more, when speaking with Jack Fenn about it, he told me that the Prince will now be asking who this Pepys is, and will find him to be a creature of My lord Sandwich, and that this was therefore done only to disparage him.”[51]

In consequence of this dispute, Batten was sent down to view the fleet.

He had been Rupert's enemy of old, and he now made a very unfavourable report, which he intended to present to the Duke of York. To this end he obtained an audience, but great was his dismay when he found Rupert in the company of his cousin. ”It was pretty to see,” says Pepys, with malicious glee, ”how, when he found the Prince there, he did not speak out one word, though the meeting was of his asking, and for nothing else. And when I asked him, he told me that he knew the Prince too well to anger him, and that he was afraid to do it.”[52]

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But the King showed himself apathetic in this matter; it was doubtless true that the Commissioners lacked funds, and the charges against them were not, just then, further pressed. Probably the plague and the great fire of London threw all other affairs temporarily into the shade. The Prince was with the fleet when informed of the great fire, and is said to have merely remarked that, ”Now s.h.i.+pton's prophecy was out,”[53]--the burning of London having been one of the events foretold by the reputed prophetess, Mother s.h.i.+pton. Evidently Rupert had ceased to be surprised, whatever might happen.

In January 1667 he was again very ill. The old wound in his head broke out afresh, and his life was despaired of; but in February he consented to an operation, which gave him some relief and enabled him to sleep.

A second operation brought him fairly to convalescence, and after this he ”diverted himself in his workhouse,” where, amongst other curious things, he made instruments with which the surgeons were able to dress his wound quickly and easily.[54] Owing partly to this illness and partly to the King's poverty and home policy, the fleet was neglected throughout the whole year--only two small squadrons were fitted out; and in May, the Dutch took an ample revenge by entering the Medway, and burning the country near Felixstowe.

Rupert had, before this, urged the fortification of Harwich and Sheerness; and the King, now roused from his nonchalance, sent him to superintend the fortification of these and other places, which would secure the Medway from invasion,--and the Prince also had command of all the troops quartered in these places.[55] With his usual care for his subordinates, he demanded the deferred pay of his captains, and attended a Council meeting in order to press the {320} matter.[56] The empty condition of the treasury occasioned a quarrel with Arlington, and the report ran that Rupert had, in Council, dealt Arlington a box on the ear, which had knocked off his hat and wig.[57] This was an exaggeration, but Rupert was always on bad terms with the cabal of which Arlington was a member. The known integrity of the Prince made him very popular with the nation at large, and he was requested by Parliament to draw up a report on the causes of the late naval disasters. Few things could have pleased him better than such an opportunity of airing his grievances. He drew up a long narrative, beginning with the separation of the fleet in June 1666, and going on to the ”horrible neglects” of the overseers, workmen, and above all, the victuallers of the navy. ”The next miscarriage I shall mention was the intolerable neglect in supplying provisions during the whole summer expedition, notwithstanding the extraordinary and frequent importunity of our letters... I remember also we did then complain that great quant.i.ties of wood-bound casks were staved, and much of the provisions proved defective; also that the gauge of the beer barrels was 20 gallons in a b.u.t.t short of what it ought to be, and the bills of credit came with the pursers of the fleet, instead of provisions. This want of provisions did manifestly tend to the extraordinary prejudice of his Majesty's service in that whole summer, but most especially after the victory obtained in July fight, when we had carried the fleet on the enemy's coast, and lay there, before the Vlie Island, in the way of all their merchant s.h.i.+ps. We were enforced, merely for want of provisions, to quit out to Sole Bay.”[58] The Parliament, upon receipt of this report, appointed a committee to inquire into the neglect mentioned, and voted thanks to Rupert and Albemarle for their conduct of the war.

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The manning of the fleet caused nearly as much discussion as did the victualling, and about this period Rupert and James of York were by no means of one mind concerning it. Rupert dismissed James's men as cowards, and James rejected Rupert's ”stout men” as drunkards. ”If they will turn out every man that will be drunk, they must turn out all the commanders in the fleet,” cried the exasperated Prince. ”What is the matter if a man be drunk, so, when he comes to fight, he do his work?”[59] But the dispute ran high; James declared he ”knew not how”

Colonel Legge's son had been made a captain after a single voyage, and, though he liked Colonel Legge well, he insisted that the boy must serve a longer apprentices.h.i.+p. ”I will ask the King to let me be that I am--Admiral!” he declared wrathfully, when Rupert combated his decisions.[60] The King listened to all these disputes with his usual lazy good nature. ”If you intend to man the fleet without being cheated by the captains and pursers, you may go to bed and never have it manned at all,” he said.[61] But James had his way in so far that Sir William Penn was appointed to command the summer fleet, in spite of Rupert's aversion to him. ”I do pity Sir William Penn,” quoth Pepys, naively.[62]

Owing to the representations of Rupert ”and other mad, silly people,”

as Pepys phrased it,[63] no large fleet was fitted out in 1668; and, so far as the navy was concerned, no events occurred until 1672, when the second Dutch war broke out.

This war was as unpopular as the first had been popular. In the interval between them Charles II had made the secret Treaty of Dover with Louis XIV, and he now {322} entered into this war solely to a.s.sist Louis' ambition. Therefore instead of the English opposing the Dutch and French, as formerly, the French and English were now allied against the Dutch. Rupert and Ormonde vigorously opposed the declaration of war, and perhaps it was on account of his dislike to the whole business that the Prince remained at home, while the Duke of York took command of the fleet. Nevertheless Rupert was put in command of all naval affairs on sh.o.r.e, and he resolved that the fleet should not suffer as it had before done, for the want of all necessary supplies.

His first act in his new capacity was to summon Pepys, and his colleagues to give an exact list of the fleet, the station and condition of each s.h.i.+p, and an account, ”particular, not general,” of all their stores, great and small.[64] He diligently superintended the fortification of the coast, inspected the regiments there stationed, and kept a watchful eye on the necessities of the fleet. But, in spite of this efficient a.s.sistance on sh.o.r.e, James accomplished nothing of moment, and the battle of Southwold Bay, fought May 28, left the honours to the Dutch, though both sides claimed the victory.

Before the next campaign, the Test Act had been pa.s.sed, by which Roman Catholics were prevented from holding any office under the Crown. This forced the Duke of York to resign his command of the fleet, and Rupert was appointed to take his place.

Rupert's position was a difficult one. He detested the secret policy of Charles, and consequently the French, who were his allies. With the Cabal, as the home Ministry was then called, he was also at enmity.

The Ministers, therefore, in order to make him as inefficient as possible, manned the fleet with adherents of the Duke of York, who were told--though falsely--that detracting from the Prince {323} would please the Duke. Therefore ”they crossed him in all that they could, and complained of all that he did.” In short, Rupert had to contend with intrigues at home, limitation of his proper powers, want of men, ammunition and provisions, the deceit of the Naval Commissioners, insubordination among his officers, and defection of his allies.[65]

As his second in command, he begged to have Holmes, with whom his connection had been so long and intimate. Thanks to the favour of both Rupert and the Duke of York, Holmes had risen high in the navy, and was now an Admiral, and Governor of Sandown Castle, in the Isle of Wight.

His promotion seems to have excited some jealousy, and Marvell described him bitterly, as ”First an Irish livery boy, then a highwayman, (a pirate would be nearer the mark,) now Bashaw of the Isle of Wight, the cursed beginner of the two Dutch wars.”[66] The last sentence alludes to Holmes's exploits in Africa in 1664, and his attack on the Smyrna fleet in 1672, which were the immediate causes of the wars of 1665 and 1672 respectively. But in both cases Holmes only obeyed orders for which he was not responsible. Pepys hinted darkly, concerning him, that ”a cat will be a cat still,”[67] but then Pepys had private reasons for disliking him. He was a good soldier, and an experienced sailor, and the Cabal Ministry had no better reason for refusing to let him go with Rupert than the fact that he was the Prince's friend. Instead of Holmes they forced Rupert to take Sir Edward Spragge, with whom he was not, then, on good terms.[68]

The long delay in setting out the fleet tempted the Dutch to repeat their descent upon the Medway, and this {324} they would undoubtedly have done, but for the personal energy of the Prince. Collecting together a few s.h.i.+ps, he ”made a demonstration”, and sailed through the Channel, to the great surprise of the Dutch, who immediately retired.[69]

By May 20th the English fleet was ready to sail, and it was at once joined by the French, under Admiral D'Estrees. About a week later they fell in with the Dutch off Schoneveldt. Rupert sent a few vessels forward to draw out the enemy from their harbour, but De Ruyter came upon them so unexpectedly that they crowded back in confusion, each falling to the squadron nearest to her. The place was narrow, the wind for the Dutch, and some of the officers advised retreat. ”But,” said the English proudly,” our Admiral never knew what it was to go back,”[70] and Rupert insisted on fighting then and there. When De Ruyter attacked, the line of the allies was not ready, and the result was an indecisive battle, attended with great loss of life.[71] In his official report, the Prince acknowledged that all had done their best:--”All the officers and seamen generally behaved themselves very well, of which I shall send the particulars when I am better informed; in my squadron, more especially Captain Legge, Sir John Holmes, Captain Welw.a.n.g, Sir Roger Strickland and Sir William Reeves. Sir Edward Spragge also, on his side, maintained the fight with so much courage and resolution, and their whole body gave way to such a degree, that, had it not been for fear of the shoals, we had driven them into their harbours. The case being thus, I judged it fit to stand off a little, and anchor where now I ride. I hope his Majesty will be satisfied, that, considering the place we engaged in, and the shoals, there was as much done as could be expected; and thus I leave it to His Majesty's {325} favourable construction, to whom I wish many happy years to come, this being his birthday.”[72]

The Dutch were at home, and it was easy for them to refit, but the situation of the allies was more critical. Rupert made what preparations he could, and sat up the whole night of June 3rd, expecting an attack. But the carelessness of Spragge nullified this vigilance. Early on the morning of July 4th, Spragge came on board the Admiral. Rupert ”said little”, but told him to prepare for battle.