Part 33 (2/2)
Nevertheless he delayed his departure so long that De Ruyter came out before he had reached his own s.h.i.+p, and the whole of the Blue Squadron had to await his return.[73] The Red and White Squadrons weighed anchor very quickly; Rupert, in his impatience cut his cable, and some others followed his example.
But this second battle was as indecisive as the first. D'Estrees permitted the Dutch Admiral Banckert to hold him in check, and gave no effective aid. Rupert engaged with De Ruyter and ”performed wonders,”
though his s.h.i.+p took in so much water that he was unable to use his lower tier of guns. Spragge opposed himself to Tromp. The loss of men was about equal on both sides, and no s.h.i.+ps were lost at all. The allies pursued the Dutch from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.; but they had gained no serious advantage, and were obliged to turn home to refit.[74]
Rupert came home in an exceedingly bad temper. ”There goes a story about town that the Prince, at his first coming, when the Commissioners of the Navy came to wait upon him, fell into such a pa.s.sion against them that he had like to have made use of his cane upon some of them.
Certain it is that he is very angry with them for not having taken care to supply the fleet with {326} necessaries,”[75] says one letter.
Another, dated June 13, shows that the King too came in for a share of his cousin's indignation: ”The Prince, they say, storms exceedingly at the want of provision they had, and declares he shall never thrive at sea till some are hanged at land. The King said merrily, the day before he went to see him, that he must expect a chiding, but he had sweetened him by letter all he could.”[76] Rupert, however, refused absolutely to return to the fleet, unless he were given a new Commission, freed from all vexatious restrictions. This was accordingly done, and July 9th, he was made General on sea and land, with power to make truce and grant articles; and he held the post of First Lord of the Admiralty from this date till May 1679.
It was now proposed to throw a land force into Holland, and the command of the army was given to Schomberg, a German soldier of fortune.
Unluckily, while the s.h.i.+ps were refitting at Portsmouth, Schomberg irrevocably offended his chief, by ordering the ”Greyhound” frigate to carry a flag on her main-top. This order he gave that she might be the more easily distinguishable, but she had in reality no right to carry any such colours, and Rupert, when he beheld her coming through the fleet, was transfixed with amazement. His peremptory orders for the hauling down of the flag being disregarded, he fired on it; whereupon it was taken down, and the Captain came on board the Admiral to explain that he had acted by Schomberg's direction. Rupert arrested him for insolent language, but soon pardoned and released him. Schomberg he would not forgive, and in revenge, as that General declared, he ordered him and his forces to Yarmouth, where they lay idle all the summer.
The feud raged for some {327} time, and Schomberg sent on a challenge to Rupert, but the duel was prevented by the King.[77]
A quarrel was also reported to have occurred between Rupert and the Duke of York, in which swords had been drawn, the Duke calling the Prince ”Coward,” and the Prince retorting with the epithet of ”Traitor.”[78] Another rumour, probably better grounded, was that D'Estrees would not sail with Rupert, and had refused to furl his flag[79] when the Prince came on board him. This was mere gossip, but it had a foundation, for the two Admirals were on very bad terms--a fact which increased Rupert's popularity at home, for the French were detested of the people, and the Prince was now ”the only hero in their thoughts.”[80]
At the beginning of August the allies put to sea, and on the 11th they met the Dutch off the Texel. The French were in the van, Rupert commanded the centre, Spragge the rear. The three squadrons engaged, as before, with Banckert, De Ruyter, and Tromp respectively. Rupert drew off, trying to lead De Ruyter from the coast. Spragge deliberately waited for Tromp, whom he had promised the King to take dead or alive, and, in the fierce personal contest that followed, lost his own life. D'Estrees simply allowed Banckert to run right through his squadron, and held off from the fight. Banckert was thus left free to join De Ruyter against Rupert, who, completely deserted by his van and rear, had to contend against fearful odds.[81]
”Does your Highness see the French yonder?” asked Captain Howard, standing at his side.
”Ay--Zounds, do I!” cried Rupert pa.s.sionately.[82] The Dutch also noted D'Estrees' treacherous conduct. ”The {328} French have hired the English to fight for them, and have come to see them earn their wages,”[83] was the saying pa.s.sed amongst them. But one gallant Frenchman, at least, blushed for his countrymen. The Vice-Admiral, De Martel, putting himself into Rupert's squadron, fought valiantly at his side; on which, it was said, in bitter jest, that D'Estrees threatened to hang him ”for venturing the King's s.h.i.+p.”[84] Finally Rupert extricated himself and ran down to the rear, De Ruyter withdrawing about 7 p.m. The result of the battle was a victory for the Dutch, who thus opened their blockaded ports, and saved their coast from a second a.s.sault.
Possibly the French doubted the good faith of the English, and therefore acted thus strangely; but, be the motive for their conduct what it may, feeling ran high against them. Rupert, with difficulty prevented his own sailors from insulting D'Estrees when he came on board his s.h.i.+p,[85] and in England men spoke only of the French traitors.
Rupert's return was eagerly desired, and it was reported that he came back ”very angry and raging and to do some extraordinary thing.” He was in the zenith of his popularity, and was received ”with the greatest dearness possible,” both by King and people.[86] But it was no part of the King's policy to quarrel with the French, and he tried to smooth over the affair, saying that it was not foul play, but ”a great miscarriage.”[87] Rupert, however, would not hold his tongue, and wherever he went, he fiercely blamed D'Estrees, even stating plainly to the French Amba.s.sador, his opinion of his countryman's conduct.[88] At the same time he was so scrupulously exact in his {329} a.s.sertions that he would not publish his narrative of the battle, until he could find out what had been the exact way of the wind when he was off Camperdown.[89]
D'Estrees retorted with the declaration that Rupert, owing to his aversion to the war, had not pushed the first battle so far as he could have done.[90] But, said a contemporary, ”it is as impossible to make any Englishman suspect the Prince's courage, as to persuade him that the French have any, at sea.”[91] De Martel boldly seconded Rupert, and wrote to his own government: ”If Count D'Estrees would have fallen with a fair wind upon De Ruyter and Banckert at their first engaging, when in numbers they much exceeded the Prince, they must, of necessity have been enclosed between His Highness and Count D'Estrees; and so the enemy would have been entirely defeated.”[92] For this unwelcome candour he was sent to the Bastille, upon which Rupert swore furiously that Charles ought to defend him, by force of arms if necessary.[93]
And the more the Prince raged and stormed, so much the more was he adored by the people, who admired him ”to such a degree,” said a cynical observer, ”that it would be impossible for him to do anything amiss, so long as he opposes the French, or as they think he does.”[94]
Ever since the Restoration he had been exceedingly popular, and as early as 1666 there had been rumours of an abortive plot to place him on the throne. The statement of the witness who revealed it, is as follows: ”William Hopkins doth depose that he heard Edward Dolphin of Camphill, near Birmingham, say these words, or to that purpose, viz.: 'The Papists should be uppermost for a time...' {330} and said he could tell me more, for he cared not if he were hanged so he could serve the country. Then, speaking low, he said, (as I suppose,) 'The King and the Duke of York are Papists, and the King hath been at Ma.s.s underground within this week or fortnight, and I can prove it.' And when I contradicted him, he said the King's wife was a Papist, and that a royal G. should rule over us. And when I demanded if he meant not George Monck, he replied it was Prince Rupert he meant. Then I said he was no G., so he answered G. stood for a German, and Prince Rupert was a German Prince, and declared he meant Prince Rupert should be above the King, and said all should be willing to it, and venture lives and fortunes to vindicate the cause of the said Prince Rupert.”[95] The whole plot probably existed only in the ravings of a lunatic, but insignificant though it is in itself, it is an indication of the country's feeling.
That Rupert would have listened for a moment to any disloyal scheme is, of course, incredible. Indeed the only time, after the Restoration, that he played any part in politics was in this year of 1673, when he was forced into the position of popular leader, and carried away by his wrath against the French. Feeling against ”Popery” was, just then, keen, the nation having been stirred by the Duke of York's open adhesion to the Roman Church, and his marriage with a Roman bride, believed by the ignorant, to be the Pope's own granddaughter. ”What will the Prince say?” was the popular cry, on all occasions;[96] and the position contrasts oddly with the att.i.tude of the populace towards Rupert in the Civil War. Then he was ”atheistical, popish, heathenish, tyrannical, bloodthirsty;” now the country turned to him as a true patriot, the staunch upholder of the Anglican Church, the defender of the rights of Parliament.
Shaftesbury, the prime mover of all the agitation against {331} James, hastened to ally himself with the Prince, and together they formed an anti-French party, which stirred up the Commons against the French alliance. ”Prince Rupert and he are observed to converse much together, and are very great, and indeed I see His Highness's coach often at the door. They are looked to be the great Parliament men and for the interests of old England.”[97]
The result of all this was, naturally, a coolness between Rupert and the King, but it was not of long duration. The Prince was really too loyal to suffer his connection with the country party to carry him to any great lengths, and it soon ceased altogether.[98] In the iniquitous Popish Plot he had no share, nor would he countenance the attempts to exclude James from the succession in favour of Monmouth.
True he lent Monmouth his house at Rhenen, when that unsuccessful schemer had been forced to retire abroad, but the loan was entirely a private matter, and quite apart from politics.[99] Rupert had no liking for intrigues, and he held himself equally aloof from those of Shaftesbury, and those of the Cabal. To the members of the Cabal he was always hostile, which, says Campbell, was no wonder, seeing that they were ”persons of the utmost art,” and the Prince was ”one of the plainest men that could be.”[100] Yet, in spite of his objections to the King's ministers, Rupert always retained the King's friends.h.i.+p, steering his way amongst factions and intrigues so tactfully, and yet so honestly, that he was beloved and respected by all parties.[101]
[1] Campbell's Admirals, II. p. 242.
[2] Pepys Diary, 4 June, 1664.
[3] Pepys Diary, Sept. 3, 1664.
[4] Ibid. Sept. 5, 1664.
[5] D. S. P. Sept. 13, 1664.
[6] Dom. State Papers, Sept. 23, 1664.
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