Page:VCH Cornwall 1.djvu/606

 A HISTORY OF CORNWALL that the islands were useless while the Parliament commanded the sea. 1 Tresco was taken on the 1 8th, after some fighting, and batteries were thrown up to command Broad Sbund ; then followed some weeks of desultory fighting and negotiation until Grenville surrendered, 23 May, on condition that his soldiers should be sent back to Ireland and that the inhabitants should suffer no punishment. 2 Taught by experience, the Council of State was now careful in the selection of a governor for St. Mary's, as it ' has been several times very costly both in reducing it and the mischief done by it.' The Dutch war of 1652 was sufficiently popular among the seamen, but after the volunteers had joined, and the press system came into operation, there were the usual difficulties. Each maritime district had its press master appointed who claimed the aid of the local officials, but often the constables, instead of pressing men, aided them to escape. Moreover many of the local authorities were engaged in maritime trade, and it was not to their interest to have their particular towns swept bare of men ; also the spirit of freedom was in the air and the legality of the press disputed, ' the power by which we act is questioned, and whether there be any such power.' Richard Mills, press master for the western counties, was ordered not to take more than one or two men from the crew of each fishing boat, and at Fowey he had ' to fetch them out of the cliffs and rocks ' with soldiers. 3 The government was compelled to be tender with commercial interests, and dared not act with the high hand of an old-established monarchy. Thus while Mills was hunting in the caves, 1,500 seamen sailed in west-country ships for Newfoundland in March, and instead of them there came two months later from the western counties, to man the men-of-war, labourers and artisans who had never seen salt water. 4 A few years earlier an embargo would have prevented all employment until the royal fleets were manned, but, except in a tentative and limited form, the expedient was too heroic for a government on its probation. In 1652 sixpence a day was allowed for the maintenance of Dutch prisoners at Falmouth, following Ayscue's action of 16 August ; but the presence of strong English fleets in the Channel did not prevent Dutch privateers plying their trade, and in January, 1653, one took the packet that ran between Penzance and Scilly. Although several battles were fought not far from the Cornish coast the county was not expressly affected, except for a short time in 1667, by any of the three Dutch wars, other than by the drain of men and the check to commerce ; although the enemy's privateers were more numerous in the eastern channel and on the east coast than in the west. But if other industries were checked that of wrecking still flourished, and in 1652 the Council declared, on the details of a Cornish wreck being brought before it, the horror with which was viewed ' the cruelty and inhumanity of the people inhabiting the maritime coasts.' 8 Rounded regrets are not a remedy, and a few years later the circumstances attending the wreck of the Aleppo Merchant at Padstow drew angry comments on ' the dishonest and savage practices of the common people.' 6 In 1667 a Spanish vessel was lost on the Scillies, and a passenger of rank complained of the cruelty of the Scillonians in leaving him for a day or two on a rock before taking him off, ' valuing the saving of the goods more than his life,' 7 but in this case it is well to remember that it is not always possible, in the angry seas round the Scillies, to approach a rock upon which a lucky, but naturally impatient, survivor has scrambled or been washed up. Whatever the former maritime importance of Cornwall it seems to have been long falling back in comparison with other counties. In 1664 a list of men available for the navy assesses it at 200, as against 150 for Somerset and 700 for Devon. 8 Under the press system, as ridiculous as iniquitous, the expense of catching the hunted men was enormous. Every one who helped to trap them had a claim to reward, and in one instance the cost to the crown of laying hold of twenty-seven men at Falmouth and getting them to Plymouth was 6j io*. 9 Towards the end of 1666 Charles, desirous of using, towards the formation of a standing army, the money voted by Parliament for the navy, and trusting to the peace negotiations opened at Breda, decided to put most of the men-of-war out of commission and to rely on the coast fortifications and militia to repel attack. The Dutch were eager for peace, but thought that the best way to procure it was to stimulate the plenipotentiaries by acts of war, and when news came to London that the Dutch fleet was going to sea a circular letter of warning was sent round the counties. In June came the attacks in the Thames and Medway. Early in July the Dutch fleet was divided, one division remained to blockade the Thames, the other, of some thirty ships under Ruyter, was ordered to sail down Channel and terrorize the south coast. Being informed that the merchant fleet from the Mediterranean was 1 Egerton MSS. 2534, ff. 82, 86. S. P. Dom. Interreg. xv, 80. ' Ibid. 19 May, 3 June, 1653. 4 Ibid. 14 March, I June, 1653. Ibid. 13 Feb. 1652. 6 Ibid. I Jan. 1658-9. 7 Ibid. Chas. II, ccxxv, 131. 8 Add. MS. 9,316, f. 79. The numbers cannot represent the totals of each county, but only the quotas to be raised at the time ; no doubt the proportions remain the same. 8 Navy Board Letters, xlvi. 502