The First Dutch War

Abstract

The war had come, in spite of a powerful Dutch attachment—for obvious reasons—to peace, and in spite also of a peace party in England which included the greatest figure of all. Cromwell, in whose mind a great plan for a Protestant federation was always turning, disliked the idea of strife between the enemies of Popery. But temporarily the opposing forces were too strong. A powerful element in the new government was materialist and anti-Dutch, and the parliamentary party could not ignore the demands of its supporters amongst the London merchants. It well knew, from the experience of the Civil War, the value of sea-power, and its enthusiasm for a great Navy sprang partly from its desire to use it as an instrument of a new imperialist policy and partly from its distrust of the motives and ideals of the Army. Its enthusiasm for a war at sea was quickened by the belief that in any conflict England would be placed at great advantage by her position and her resources. A later writer quotes a conversation between a Plymouth sea captain and the skipper of a Dutch ship which he had captured off the Dogger Bank en route from Amsterdam to Stockholm.