The East India trade was likewise settled so as to prevent subsequent debates, and not leave either party at liberty to encroach upon the other. Places taken on both sides were by this treaty to be restored; and the states-general were to pay His Majesty eight hundred thousand patacoons at four payments; the first, immediately after the ratification of this treaty, and the other three by annual payments.
Thus ended the third of our Dutch wars; which, though made against the interest and will of the people, terminated to their advantage; whereas the former war, begun at the instance of the nation, ended but indifferently; so little correspondence is there between the grounds and issues of things.
[THE BATTLE OF BEACHY HEAD.]
There was little to record to the honour of the navy in the reign of James II. As Duke of York he had held the office of Lord High-admiral for years, and he doubtless knew as much about the navy as any man of his time. This knowledge he is said to have employed as soon as he came into power to bring the navy into a state of efficiency, and yet, when in November 1688 the Prince of Orange sailed for England, he was able to effect his passage and land his army at Torbay without any opposition from the fleet.
During the first year of the reign of William and Mary the navy did some service in Ireland, Admiral Herbert engaging the French in Bantry Bay without much success, and Commodore Rooke effecting the relief of Londonderry. The former engagement was virtually a defeat for the English, as the French effected their purpose by landing their supplies and making good their retreat. William III., however, willing to put the best possible construction upon the event, and desirous of conciliating the navy, created Admiral Herbert Earl of Torrington, and knighted Captains John Ashby and Cloudesley Shovel.
As to the remaining naval transactions of this year, they were neither many nor great, but they included the taking of two celebrated sea-officers of the French service, the Chevalier Fourbin and John du Bart. These gentlemen commanded two small frigates, and had under their convoy six rich merchantmen, homeward-bound. Near the Isle of Wight they were chased by two of our fifty-gun ships, which they engaged very bravely, though they saw that it was impossible for them to avoid being taken. All they aimed at was to give their merchantmen time to escape, and in this they succeeded; for, while they fought desperately, the vessels under their convoy got safely into Rochelle. As for the Chevalier Fourbin and Captain Bart, they were carried prisoners into Plymouth, from whence not long after they found means to escape, and got safely over to Calais. For this gallant and generous action the French king rewarded each of them with the command of a man-of-war.
In 1690, however, the fleet was called upon to face a far more formidable encounter. The French, who had for years been paying increased attention to naval affairs, and who had made use of the recent Dutch wars, first on one side and then on the other, to obtain knowledge and experience of maritime affairs, now despatched their fleet with a considerable body of troops to make a descent upon England in the interests of James II., while the Jacobins in London made active preparations for a simultaneous rising.
On June 12th the French fleet put to sea in three squadrons, each squadron being divided into three divisions. Of these the white and blue squadrons, commanded by Count d'Estrees, on board the Le Grand, a ship of eighty-six guns, formed the vanguard, consisting of twenty-six men-of-war. The main body was composed of the white squadron, which consisted likewise of twenty-six sail, commanded by the Admiral Count Tourville in the Royal Sun, a ship of one hundred guns; while the blue squadron, commanded by M. d'Amfreville in the Magnificent, a ship of eighty guns, comprised twenty-five sail and formed the rear-guard. In all there were seventy-eight men-of-war and twenty-two fire-ships, and the whole fleet carried upwards of four thousand seven hundred pieces of cannon. On June the 13th they steered for the English coast, and on the 20th arrived off the Lizard. The next day the admiral took some English fishing-boats; and, after having paid the people who were on board for their fish, set them at liberty again. These men were the first to bring the news of the arrival of the French fleet on our coast, while our own fleet was lying idle in the Downs.