We must not overlook the immense historical importance of the fact that the two first wars of robbery and destruction waged by England were directed against Spain and Holland: against the former, on account of her position at the junction of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; against the latter, on account of her position on the shores of the North Sea and the Channel. Both these parts of the European Continent have ever since had the greatest strategical and commercial importance for England.
The first step towards the establishment of British supremacy in the Mediterranean was taken by Admiral Blake in the middle of the seventeenth century. Alleged acts of piracy committed on the coasts of Tunis, Algeria, and Tripoli furnished the necessary motive. Blake came to an agreement with the Bey of Tunis, to the effect that no English ship should in future be held up. The ships of other nations were left out of consideration as being without any importance. This event is in itself insignificant, yet it marks the opening of a new epoch in history. From that time onwards has England’s supremacy in the Mediterranean, although neither recognised nor absolute, none the less been a problem of worldwide interest. The same Admiral Blake then went with his fleet into the Atlantic, where he joined Admiral Montagu’s squadron, and waited for the Spanish treasure-ships from South America and the West Indies. They soon captured rich booty, with which Montagu returned home. But Blake waited for the rest of the Spanish treasure-ships till the spring of 1657. After more than two years, as English historians boastfully tell us, his patience was rewarded, and he attacked the treasure-ships in the harbor of Teneriffe. The Spaniards—who were criminal enough to defend their property—were massacred, their ships and port destroyed. We have recounted this little episode, because it shows us so clearly how the pious and puritan English, with their eyes lifted up to Heaven, prepared the way for the Kingdom of God on earth.
In the middle of her war against Holland, the opportunity presented itself for England to temporarily make peace with her adversary; whereupon she promptly concluded an alliance with Holland and Sweden against Louis XIV. of France. We likewise only mention this little episode in order to furnish a fresh proof of the ease with which England has always changed her alliances and her enemies according as the occasion required it. In order to facilitate such changes, it is customary to periodically shift the men in power. Four years after the feat accomplished by Blake, an English squadron under Admiral Holmes attacked a large Dutch trading fleet coming from the Levant, at the moment when it was entering the Channel. English arrogance has, be it observed, long since added to the word “Channel” the prefix “English.” Holmes’ exploit served as introduction to the last and decisive period of the war. England and France were united. In 1674 Holland recognised, by the Treaty of Westminster, the British supremacy on the seas. England’s rival had disappeared from the scene.
Henceforth Holland became England’s ally and protégé; the English nation and its rulers guarded henceforth jealously the “liberty” of the Dutch, and showed themselves to be passionate defenders of the rights of the weak, of the sacredness of treaties, and of the balance of power. In the course of time the balance of power has not only become a dogma of British policy; but it has become a practical criterion, according to which this policy has been systematically applied in every concrete case. England is in the habit of addressing the world in the following terms: “Our policy aims at securing a balance of power on the Continent, in order that peace may reign there, and that no European State may develop at the expense of another.” In the course of many centuries of struggle for justice and liberty, Great Britain has acquired the privilege of styling herself the legitimate protectress of these ideals, common to the whole of humanity. Such is the English contention! In reality the English policy of the balance of power means simply the stirring up of as many European Powers as possible against the nation which Great Britain, at any given time, considers as her most dangerous competitor. This nation is, of course, always the one which, thanks to its strength and prosperity, threatens to destroy the commercial monopoly of the Chosen People.
As a result of the war with Holland, after which the two countries were bound by dynastic links, and as a result, likewise, of the further dynastic connection with Hanover, England established herself once more on the Continent. The circumstances were far more favorable for her now than in previous centuries, when she endeavored to conquer France by force of arms. The new method was cheaper and less risky. Holland and Hanover became the outposts of Great Britain in Europe; a part of the coasts of the North Sea and the Channel became de facto British. Such outposts possessed vast importance for England’s continental trade, and were also admirable political trump-cards. As for the participation of England in the continental wars, it was a fundamental principle of British policy not to allow the precious blood of Albion’s sons to be shed. But the British Government was consequently all the more generous with the blood of its continental mercenaries. The latter were allowed the honor of having their bones broken for the English idea of the balance of power in Europe. It is evident that the influence on European politics alike of the English dynasty and of the English Government, was immensely increased by these new continental connections.
A large part of the Spanish and Dutch colonies fell into English hands, and the maritime power of Holland was broken during the long war, during which Dutch trading vessels were captured and destroyed en masse. The neutral countries were obliged to submit to their ships being held up and searched by English cruisers, during every war which it pleased the English Government to wage. Such neutral ships generally disappeared then for good into English harbors. As soon as the Prize Court, with its usual solemnity and impartiality, had pronounced a ship and its freight to be lawful booty, both were promptly transferred into English hands, and the English trading fleet was increased by so much.
This method proved most lucrative. Its steady application paved the way for England’s future trade monopoly. Foreign flags disappeared progressively from the high seas, and were replaced by English ones. In this simple manner did England obtain possession of the thriving Dutch trade in the Far East.
CHAPTER III
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE “ENEMY OF PEACE”
ERA OF LOUIS XIV
England now turned her attention to the third European Power, whose expansion and prosperity caused ever-growing anxiety to the Chosen People: namely France. Under her Kings the latter country had developed into a homogeneous, centralised state. By means of a clever and unscrupulous foreign policy, in conjunction with the energy of an essentially progressive population, France had been able to profit immensely by the weakness and lack of unity of the German Empire. The German wars of religion, and especially the Thirty Years’ War, afforded France the most magnificent opportunities for expansion. By far the strongest European Power, France was also a maritime and colonial Power of the first rank. The great statesman Colbert succeeded, by his wise and far-sighted administration, in raising trade and industry to an unprecedented height of prosperity. A bold and skilful colonial policy was pursued in India, North and South America. In Canada and in the southern States of the Union, the travels of intrepid French explorers had opened up for their country immense regions, the possession of which made France the foremost nation in America, even as she was the foremost in the East Indies. Recognised as the leading European Power, France was in a fair way to becoming the leading World-Power. Her strength, and consequently the validity of her claims, resided in the fact of her possessing this pre-eminent continental situation, as also in the facts of her political homogeneity and of the wonderful productivity of her inhabitants. During the second half of the seventeenth century, the people of England became aware of the existence of a dangerous rival; and an English historian tells us that the learned men at his side of the Channel at once enunciated the theory of Louis XIV being the enemy of European peace and consequently of England. For the moment, however, political circumstances in England did not permit of the latter carrying out her designs. She needed the “enemy of peace” to help her first of all in her war of robbery and destruction against Holland. Louis XIV, allied with England, waged war against the Dutch on land and sea. His chief desire was to destroy the Dutch trade; but when peace had been concluded between Holland and England, and Louis XIV found himself alone at war with the Dutch, the whole of the carrying trade, which the French had succeeded in wresting from the former, passed necessarily into the hands of neutral England. The war brought no advantage to French trade, and Louis recognised too late that he had labored solely for England. Not only had this labor been in vain, as far as France was concerned; but the maritime trade of the latter country was, as a consequence of the war, taken over to a large extent by Albion’s merchants.
Nature had destined France to be a maritime and commercial Power of the highest rank. She has three magnificent coasts. Her geographical position seemed to make her the heir of Spain—and not only the heir, but also the conqueror, in which case she must have extended her dominions as far as the Pillars of Hercules. It was inevitable that France should, in the North, turn her eyes towards the Spanish Netherlands (i. e. Belgium), and, further still, towards Holland. In this way, the two countries at the expense of which England had risen to power, appeared destined to become simple dependencies of France. The War of the Spanish Succession arose about the question of the future relations between Paris and Madrid. Louis XIV claimed the Spanish throne for his grandson, after the death of its actual occupant. Had this claim been successful, France would not only have seen her continental power immensely increased by the possession of the entire sea-coast from Dunkerque to Gibraltar, and from Gibraltar to Toulon—but all the Spanish colonies would have been henceforth incorporated in the already large French colonial empire. Last, but not least, France would have taken over the whole of the trade with these new colonies. The last-mentioned point was precisely the most important of all. At that time, every colonial Power claimed for itself the right of a monopoly of trade with its colonies. Spain and Portugal still possessed, despite all that had been stolen from them by England, large and wealthy colonies. Had these been annexed to the French colonial empire, an essentially French character would have been given to the whole of the oversea colonial world.