England under Charles II. from the Restoration to the Treaty of Nimeguen, 1660-1678: English History from Contemporary Writers
Taylor, W. F.
1889
Clarendon's excuse for the first Dutch war.
Clarendon's Hist. of the Reign of Charles II., 4to, , vol. i., P. 477. | |
De Ruyter had been sent into the Mediterranean against the pirates of Algiers . . . the ambassador had desired the king that his Majesty's fleet, that was then in those parts, might upon all occasions join with De Ruyter when opportunity should be offered thereby to infest the Turks, which the king consented to, and sent orders accordingly; but the Dutch had no such purpose; his business was to ransom the captives with money, and not to exact the delivery of them by force, and to make an accommodation for the time to come as well as he could, and when the English fleet was at any time in pursuit of the Algerines and expected that the Dutch, by whom they must pass, would have given a little stop to their flight, which they easily might have done, they rather assisted than obstructed their escape, and having made a very dishonourable peace with the pirates, he made haste . . . for the coast of Guinea. As soon as the king knew of the impudent affront and that De Ruyter was, in truth, | |
6 | gone out of the Mediterranean, he though he might justly seize upon any ships of theirs to satisfy the damage that he could not but sustain by De Ruyter in Guinea. |