without any hesitation, he fell upon the Portuguese fleet, then returning from Brasil, of which he took seventeen ships, and burnt three. It was to no purpose that the King of Portugal, alarmed at so unexpected a destruction, ordered Prince Rupert to attack him, and retake the Brasil ships, Blake carried hone his prizes without molestation, the Prince not having force enough to pursue him, and well pleased with the opportunity of quitting a port where he could no longer be protected.

during the commotions of England, had arrived to that height of naval power, and that affluence of wealth, that, with the arrogance which a long continued prosperity naturally produces, they began to invent new claims, and to treat other nations with insolence, which nothing can defend but superiority of force. They had for some time made uncommon preparations at a vast expense, and had equipped a large fleet, without any apparent danger threatening them, or any avowed design of attacking their neighbours. This Blake soon supplied his fleet with provisions, unusual armament was not beheld by the English and received orders to make reprisals upon the without some jealousy, and care was taken to French who had suffered their privateers to mo- fit out such a fleet as might secure the trade from lest the English trade; an injury which, in those interruption, and the coast from insults; of this days, was always immediately resented, and if Blake was constituted admiral for nine months. not repaired certainly punished. Sailing with In this situation the two nations remained, keep this commission, he took in his way a French ing a watchful eye upon each other, without actman of war valued at a million. How this ship ing hostilities on either side, till the 18th of May, happened to be so rich, we are not informed; but 1652, when Van Trump appeared in the Downs as it was a cruiser, it is probable the rich lading with a fleet of forty-five men of war. Blake, was the accumulated plunder of many prizes. who had then but twenty ships, upon the ap Then following the unfortunate Rupert, whose proach of the Dutch admiral saluted him with fleet by storms and battles was now reduced to three single shots, to require that he should, by five ships, into Carthagena, he demanded leave striking his flag, show that respect to the English of the Spanish governor to attack him in the which is due to every nation in their own domiharbour, but received the same answer which had nions; to which the Dutchman answered with a been returned before by the Portuguese: "That broadside; and Blake, perceiving that he intendthey had a right to protect all ships that came ed to dispute the point of honour, advanced with into their dominions; that if the admiral were his own ship before the rest of his fleet, that, if it forced in thither, he should find the same security; were possible, a general battle might be preventand that he required him not to violate the peace ed. But the Dutch, instead of admitting him to of a neutral port." Blake withdrew upon this treat, fired upon him from their whole fleet, withanswer into the Mediterranean; and Rupert out any regard to the customs of war, or the law then leaving Carthagena entered the port of of nations. Blake for some time stood alone Malaga, where he burnt and sunk several English against their whole force, till the rest of his squadmerchant ships. Blake judging this to be an in- ron coming up, the fight was continued from befringement of the neutrality professed by the tween four and five in the afternoon till nine at Spaniards, now made no scruple to fall upon Ru- night, when the Dutch retired with the loss of pert's fleet in the harbour of Malaga, and having two ships, having not destroyed a single vessel, destroyed three of his ships, obliged him to quit nor more than fifteen men, most of which were the sea, and take sanctuary at the Spanish court. on board the Admiral, who, as he wrote to the In February, 1650-1, Blake still continuing to parliament, was himself engaged for four hours cruise in the Mediterranean, met a French ship with the main body of the Dutch fleet, beof considerable force, and commanded the cap-ing the mark at which they aimed; and as Whit tain to come on board, there being no war declared between the two nations. The captain, when he came, was asked by him, whether "he was willing to lay down his sword, and yield?" which he gallantly refused, though in his enemy's power. Blake, scorning to take advantage of an artifice, and detesting the appearance of treachery, told him, "that he was at liberty to go back to his ship, and defend it as long as he could." The captain willingly accepted his offer, and after a fight of two hours, confessed himself conquered, kissed his sword, and surrendered it.

In 1652, broke out the memorable war between the two commonwealths of England and Holland; a war in which the greatest admirals that perhaps any age has produced, were engaged on each side, in which nothing less was contested than the dominion of the sea, and which was carried on with vigour, animosity, and resolution, proportioned to the importance of the dispute. The chief commanders of the Dutch fleets were Van Trump, De Ruyter, and De Witt, the most celebrated names of their own nation, and who had been perhaps more renowned, had they been opposed by any other enemies. The States of Holland, having carried on their trade without opposition, and almost without competition, not only during the inactive reign of James I. but

lock relates, received above a thousand shot, Blake, in his letter, acknowledges the particular blessing and preservation of God, and ascribes his success to the justice of the cause, the Dutch having first attacked him upon the English coast. It is indeed little less than miraculous, that a thousand great shot should not do more execution; and those who will not admit the interposition of providence, may draw at least this inference from it, that the bravest man is not always in the greatest danger.

In July, he met the Dutch fishery fleet with a convoy of twelve men of war, all which he took, with 100 of their herring-busses. And in September, being stationed in the Downs, with about sixty sail, he discovered the Dutch admirals De Witt and De Ruyter with near the same number and advanced towards them; but the Dutch being obliged, by the nature of their coast, and shallowness of their rivers, to build their ships in such a manner that they require less depth of water than the English vessels, took advantage of the form of their shipping, and sheltered themselves behind a flat, called Kentish Knock; so that the English, finding some of their ships aground, were obliged to alter their course; but perceiving early the next morning that the Hollanders had forsaken their station, they pur

sued them with all the speed that the wind, which | periority of his enemies, put out to encounter was weak and uncertain, allowed, but found themselves unable to reach them with the bulk of their fleet, and therefore detached some of the lightest frigates to chase them. These came so near as to fire upon them about three in the afternoon; but the Dutch, instead of tacking about, hoisted their sails, and steered toward their own coast, and finding themselves the next day followed by the whole English fleet, retired into Goree. The sailors were eager to attack them in their own harbours; but a council of war being convened it was judged imprudent to hazard the fleet upon the shoals, or to engage in any important enterprise without a fresh supply of pro

visions.

That in this engagement the victory belonged to the English is beyond dispute, since, without the loss of one ship, and with no more than forty men killed, they drove the enemy into their own ports, took the rear-admiral and another vessel, and so discouraged the Dutch admirals, who had not agreed in their measures, that De Ruyter, who had declared against hazarding a battle, desired to resign his commission, and De Witt, who had insisted upon fighting, fell sick, as it was supposed, with vexation. But how great the loss of the Dutch was is not certainly known that two ships were taken they are too wise to deny, but affirm that those two were all that were destroyed. The English, on the other side, affirm that three of their vessels were disabled at the first encounter, that their numbers on the second day were visibly diminished, and that on the last day they saw three or four ships sink in their flight.

them, though his fleet was so weakly manned, that half of his ships were obliged to lie idle with out engaging, for want of sailors. The force of the whole Dutch fleet was therefore sustained by about twenty-two ships. Two of the English frigates, named the Vanguard and the Victory, after having for a long time stood engaged amidst the whole Dutch fleet, broke through without much injury, nor did the English lose any ships till the evening, when the Garland, carrying forty guns, was boarded at once by two great ships, which were opposed by the English till they bad scarcely any men left to defend the decks; then retiring into the lower part of the vessel, they blew up their decks, which were now possessed by the enemy, and at length were overpowered and taken. The Bonaventure, a stout well-built merchant ship, going to relieve the Garland, was attacked by a man of war, and after a stout re sistance, in which the captain, who defended her with the utmost bravery, was killed, was likewise carried off by the Dutch. Blake, in the Triumph, seeing the Garland in distress, pressed forward to relieve her, but in his way had his foremast shattered, and was himself boarded; but beating off the enemies, he disengaged himself, and retired into the Thames with the loss only of two ships of force, and four small frigates, but with his whole fleet much shattered. Nor was the vic tory gained at a cheap rate, notwithstanding the unusual disproportion of strength; for of the Dutch flag-ships one was blown up, and the other two disabled; a proof of the English bravery, which should have induced Van Trump to have De Witt being now discharged by the Holland- spared the insolence of carrying a broom at his ers as unfortunate, and the chief command restor-top-mast in his triumphant passage through the ed to Van Trump, great preparations were made Channel, which he intended as a declaration that for retrieving their reputation, and repairing their he would sweep the seas of the English shipping; losses. Their endeavours were assisted by the this, which he had little reason to think of accom English themselves, now made factious by suc-plishing, he soon after perished in attempting. cess; the men who were entrusted with the civil administration being jealous of those whose military commands had procured so much honour, lest they who raised them should be eclipsed by them. Such is the general revolution of affairs in every state; danger and distress produce unanimity and bravery, virtues which are seldom unattended with success; but success is the parent of pride, and pride of jealousy and faction; faction makes way for calamity, and happy is that nation whose calamities renew their unanimity. Such is the rotation of interests, that equally tend to hinder the total destruction of a people, and to obstruct an exorbitant increase of power.

Blake had weakened his fleet by many detachments, and lay with no more than forty sail in the Downs, very ill provided both with men and ammunition, and expecting new supplies from those whose animosity hindered them from providing them, and who chose rather to see the trade of their country distressed, than the sea-officers exalted by a new acquisition of honour and influence.

Van Trump, desirous of distinguishing himself at the resumption of his command by some remarkable action, had assembled eighty ships of war, and ten fire-ships, and steered towards the Downs, where Blake, with whose condition and strength he was probably acquainted, was then stationed. Blake, not able to restrain his natural ardour, or perhaps not fully informed of the su

There are sometimes observations and inqui ries, which all historians seem to decline by agreement, of which this action may afford us an ex ample: nothing appears at the first view more to demand our curiosity, or afford matter for exami nation, than this wild encounter of twenty-two ships with a force, according to their accounts who favour the Dutch, three times superior. Nothing can justify a commander in fighting under such disadvantages, but the impossibility of retreating. But what hindered Blake from re tiring as well before the fight as after it? To say he was ignorant of the strength of the Dutch fleet, is to impute to him a very criminal degree of negligence; and, at least, it must be confessed that, from the time he saw them, he could not but know that they were too powerful to be opposed by him, and even then there was time for retreat. To urge the ardour of his sailors, is to divest him of the authority of a commander, and to charge him with the most reproachful weakness that can enter into the character of a general. To men. tion the impetuosity of his own courage, is to make the blame of his temerity equal to the praise of his valour; which seems indeed to be the most gentle censure that the truth of history will allow, We must then admit, amidst our eulogies and applauses, that the great, the wise, and the valiant Blake was once betrayed to an inconsiderate and desperate enterprize, by the resistless ardour of his own spirit, and a noble jealousy of the honour of his country.

Monk and Dean stationed themselves again at the mouth of the Texel, and blocked up the Dutch in their own ports with eighty sail; but hearing that Van Trump was at Goree with 120 men of war, they ordered all ships of force in the river and ports to repair to them.

On June 3d, the two fleets came to an engagement, in the beginning of which Dean was carried off by a cannon-ball; yet the fight continued from about twelve to six in the afternoon, when the Dutch gave way, and retreated fighting. On the 4th in the afternoon, Blake came up with eighteen fresh ships, and procured the English a complete victory; nor could the Dutch any otherwise preserve their ships than by retiring once more into the flats and shallows, where the largest of the English vessels could not approach. In this battle Van Trump boarded vice-admiral Pen; but was beaten off, and himself boarded, and reduced to blow up his decks, of which the English had gotten possession. He was then entered at once by Pen and another; nor could possibly have escaped, had not De Ruyter and De Witt arrived at that instant and rescued him.

It was not long before he had an opportunity | into their harbour; then, knowing that Blake of revenging his loss, and restraining the inso- was still in the North, came before Dover, and lence of the Dutch. On the 18th of February, fired upon that town, but was driven off by the 1652-3, Blake being at the head of eighty sail, castle. and assisted, at his own request, by Colonels Monk and Dean, espied Van Trump with a fleet of above 100 men of war, as Clarendon relates, of 70 by their own public accounts, and 300 merchant ships under his convoy. The English, with their usual intrepidity, advanced towards them; and Blake in the Triumph, in which he always led his fleet, with twelve ships more, came to an engagement with the main body of the Dutch fleet, and by the disparity of their force was reduced to the last extremity, having received in his hull no fewer than 700 shots, when Lawson in the Fairfax came to his assistance. The rest of the English fleet now came in, and the fight was continued with the utmost degree of vigour and resolution, till the night gave the Dutch an opportunity of retiring, with the loss of one flag-ship, and six other men of war. The English had many vessels damaged, but none lost. On board Lawson's ship were killed 100 men, and as many on board Blake's, who lost his captain and secretary, and himself received a wound in the thigh. Blake, having set ashore his wounded men, sailed in pursuit of Van Trump, who sent his convoy before, and himself retired fighting towards Bulloign. Blake ordered his light frigates to follow the merchants, still continued to harass Van Trump, and on the third day, the 20th of February, the two fleets came to another battle, in which Van Trump once more retired before the English, and making use of the peculiar form of his shipping, secured himself in the shoals. The accounts of this fight, as of all the others, are various; but the Dutch writers themselves confess that they lost eight men of war, and more than twenty merchant ships; and it is probable that they suffered much more than they are willing to allow, for these repeated defeats provoked the common people to riots and insurrections, and obliged the States to ask, though ineffectually,

for peace.

In April following, the form of government in England was changed, and the supreme authority assumed by Cromwell; upon which occasion Blake, with his associates, declared that, notwithstanding the change in the administration, they should still be ready to discharge their trust, and to defend the nation from insults, injuries, and encroachments. "It is not," says Blake, "the business of a seaman to mind state affairs, but to hinder foreigners from fooling us." This was the principle from which he never deviated, and which he always endeavoured to inculcate in the fleet, as the surest foundation of unanimity and steadiness. "Disturb not one another with domestic disputes, but remember that we are English, and our enemies are foreigners. Enemies! which, let what party soever prevail, it is equally the interest of our country to humble and restrain."

However the Dutch may endeavour to extenuate their loss in this battle, by admitting no more than eight ships to have been taken or destroyed, it is evident that they must have received much greater damages, not only by the accounts of more impartial historians, but by the remon strances and exclamations of their admirals themselves; Van Trump declaring before the States, that "without a numerous reinforcement of large men of war, he could serve them no more ;" and De Witt crying out before them, with the natural warmth of his character, "Why should I be silent before my lords and masters? The English are our masters, and by consequence masters of the sea."

In November, 1654, Blake was sent by Cromwell into the Mediterranean with a powerful fleet, and may be said to have received the homage of all that part of the world, being equally courted by the haughty Spaniards, the surly Dutch, and the lawless Algerines.

In March, 1656, having forced Algiers to submission, he entered the harbour of Tunis, and demanded reparation for the robberies practised upon the English by the pirates of that place, and insisted that the captives of his nation should be set at liberty. The governor having planted batteries along the shore, and drawn up his ships under the castles, sent Blake a haughty and insolent answer: "There are our castles of Goletta, and Porto Ferino," said he, "upon which you may do your worst;" adding other menaces and insults, and mentioning in terms of ridicule the inequality of a fight between ships and castles. Blake had likewise demanded leave to take in After the 30th of April, 1653, Blake, Monk, water, which was refused him. Fired with this and Dean, sailed out of the English harbours with inhuman and insolent treatment, he curled his 100 men of war, and finding the Dutch with 70 whiskers, as was his custom when he was angry, sail on their own coasts, drove them to the Texel, and, entering Porto Ferino with his great ships, and took fifty doggers. Then they sailed north- discharged his shot so fast upon the batteries and ward in pursuit of Van Trump, who, having a castles, that in two hours the guns were dismountfleet of merchants under his convoy, durst noted, and the works forsaken, though he was at enter the Channel, but steered towards the Sound, and, by great dexterity and address, escaped the three English admirals, and brought all his ships

first exposed to the fire of sixty cannon. He then ordered his officers to send out their long boats well manned to seize nine of the piratical ships

lying in the road, himself continuing to fire upon | the gallcons, which, after a gallant resistance, were the castle. This was so bravely executed, that with the loss of only twenty-five men killed, and forty-eight wounded, all the ships were fired in the sight of Tunis. Thence sailing to Tripoli, he concluded a peace with that nation; then re turning to Tunis, he found nothing but submission. And such indeed was his reputation, that he met with no farther opposition, but collected a kind of tribute from the princes of those countries, his business being to demand reparation for all the injuries offered to the English during the civil wars. He exacted from the Duke of Tuscany 60,000, and, as it is said, sent home sixteen ships laden with the effects which he had received from several states.

at length abandoned by the Spaniards, though the least of them was bigger than the biggest of Blake's ships. The forts and smaller vessels being now shattered and forsaken, the whole fleet was set on fire, the galleons by Blake, and the smaller vessels by Stayner, the English vessels being too much shattered in the fight to bring them away. Thus was the whole plate-fleet destroyed, "and the Spaniards," according to Rapin's remark, "sustained a great loss of ships, money, men, and merchandise, while the English gained nothing but glory." As if he that increases the military reputation of a people did not increase their power, and he that weakens his enemy in effect strengthens himself.

"The whole action," says Clarendon, "was so incredible, that all men, who knew the place, wondered that any sober man, with what courage soever endowed, would ever have undertaken it, and they could hardly persuade themselves to believe what they had done: while the Spaniards comforted themselves with the belief, that they were devils and not men who had destroyed them in such a manner, So much a strong resolution of bold and courageous men can bring to pass, that no resistance or advantage of ground can disappoint them; and it can hardly be imagined how small a loss the English sustained in this unparalleled action, not one ship being left behind, and the killed and wounded not exceeding 200 men; when the slaughter on board the Spanish ships and on shore was incredible." The general cruized for some time afterwards with his victorious fleet at the mouth of Cales, to intercept the Spanish shipping; but finding his constitution broken by the fatigue of the last three years, determined to return home, and died before he came to land.

The respect with which he obliged all foreigners to treat his countrymen, appears from a story related by Bishop Burnet. When he lay before Malaga, in a time of peace with Spain, some of his sailors went ashore, and meeting a procession of the host, not only refused to pay any respect to it, but laughed at those that did. The people, being put by one of the priests upon resenting this indignity, fell upon them and beat them severely. When they returned to their ship, they complained of their ill-treatment; upon which Blake sent to demand the priest who had procured it. The viceroy answered that, having no authority over the priests, he could not send him to which Blake replied, "that he did not inquire into the extent of the viceroy's authority, but that if the priest were not sent within three hours, he would burn the town." The viceroy then sent the priest to him, who pleaded the provocation given by the seamen. Blake bravely and rationally answered, that if he had complained to him, he would have punished them severely, for he would not have his men affront the established re- His body was embalmed, and having lain some ligion of any place; but that he was angry that time in state at Greenwich-house, was buried in the Spaniards should assume that power, for he Henry VII.'s chapel, with all the funeral solemnity would have all the world know "that an English- due to the remains of a man so famed for his bra man was only to be punished by an Englishman." very, and so spotless in his integrity; nor is it So having used the priest civilly, he sent him back, without regret that I am obliged to relate the being satisfied that he was in his power. This treatment his body met a year after the Restoraconduct so much pleased Cromwell, that he read tion, when it was taken up by express command, the letter in council with great satisfaction, and and buried in a pit in St. Margaret's churchyard. said, "he hoped to make the name of an English-Had he been guilty of the murder of Charles I. to man as great as ever that of a Roman had been." In 1656, the Protector, having declared war against Spain, despatched Blake with twenty-five men of war to infest their coasts, and intercept their shipping. In pursuance of these orders he cruised all winter about the Straits, and then lay at the mouth of the harbour of Cales, where he received intelligence that the Spanish plate-fleet lay at anchor in the bay of Santa-Cruz, in the isle of Tenerife. On the 13th of April, 1657, he departed from Cales, and on the 20th arrived at Santa-Cruz, where he found sixteen Spanish vessels. The bay was defended on the north side by a castle well mounted with cannon, and in other parts by seven forts with cannon proportioned to the bigness, all united by a line of communication manned with musqueteers. The Spanish admiral drew up his small ships under the cannon of the castle, and stationed six great galleons with their broadsides to the sea; an advantageous and prudent disposition, but of little effect against the English commander; who determining to attack them, ordered Stayner to enter the bay with his squadron; then posting some of his larger ships to play upon the fortifications, himself attacked

insult his body had been a mean revenge; but as he was innocent, it was, at least, inhumanity, and, perhaps, ingratitude. "Let no man," says the oriental proverb, "pull a dead lion by the beard."

But that regard which was denied his body has been paid to his better remains, his name and his memory. Nor has any writer dared to deny him the praise of intrepidity, honesty, contempt of wealth, and love of his country. "He was the first man," says Clarendon, "that declined the old track, and made it apparent that the sciences might be attained in less time than was imagined. He was the first man that brought ships to con temn castles on shore, which had ever been thought very formidable, but were discovered by him to make a noise only, and to fright those who could rarely be hurt by them. He was the first that infused that proportion of courage into seamen, by making them see, by experience, what mighty things they could do if they were resolved, and taught them to fight in fire, as well as upon the water; and though he has been very well imitated and followed, was the first that gave the example of that kind of naval courage, and bold and resolute achievements,"

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.*