Page:England-a Destroyer of Nations.pdf/9

 expressed so exquisitely in the paintings of the great contemporaneous was this very for masters of the Dutch School.—It was this very fortunate state of affairs, that the envy and rapacity of England could not endure. And so it intrigued to cut off the source of Dutch prosperity: its trade. The Navigation Act, issued in 1651, was the first blow at Holland. This law prohibited the import of all foreign merchandise into England and her colonies in ships not flying the English flag, or the flag of the country from which they were exported.

This utterly crushed Holland's commerce as far as England and her colonies were concerned. All efforts of Holland to bring about an amelioration of conditions peacefully availed naught. On the contrary, Holland was soon driven to defend her commerce by force of arms. Three extraordinarily bitter beginning in naval wars were fought, of which the first—beginning in 1652,—though it remained indecisive, inflicted heavy losses on Holland's commerce. In less than fifteen months she lost over sixteen hundred merchant ships. The commerce with the Baltic countries was almost destroyed, and the herring fishery and whaling was interrupted. In Amsterdam all business came to a standstill. More than three thousand houses were vacant. This enormous loss was caused largely by English privateers who were little better than pirates.

A second naval war began in 1665, a year after four English frigates—without any previous declaration of war—sneaked into the harbor of Niew Amsterdam and, by directing their sixty heavy guns upon the small settlement, had forced the surrender of this weakly defended post. "We need a greater part of the Dutch trade; it is immaterial what we employ to force war!" Thus the English Government had declared and had acted accordingly.

The bitter war was renewed, resulting in victories for the great Dutch Admirals Van Tromp and De Ruyter. The latter, in the battle of New Foreland, defeated the English fleet so completely that she was compelled to flee up the Thames River. Even after England had secured the assistance of France, De Ruyter beat the united fleets of the Allies on July 7, 1672, at Southwell, and convoyed a fleet of Dutch merchant-men safely to their home-harbors.

But the incessant and ravishing wars which little Holland had to carry on against her mighty neighbors, England and France, consumed her strength. Exhausted, she had to enter into peace negotiations, in which she lost, beside her colony Niew Netherland, her settlements in South Africa, beautiful Ceylon, and her trading stations in Hindostan. Thus