York accidentally meeting St. John, who refused to give way to
him, snatched the ambassador's hat off his head and threw it in his face,
saying, "Learn, parricide, to respect the brother of your king." "I scorn,"
he replied, "to acknowledge either, you race of vagabonds." The duke
drew his sword, but mischief was prevented by the interference of the
spectators,--New Parl. Hist. iii. 1, 364.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1651. March 10.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1651. April 17.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1651. May 10.]

of either by sea and land, and a renewal of the whole treaty of 1495, with
such modifications as might adapt it to existing times and circumstances.
The States, having demanded in vain an explanation of the proposed
confederacy,[a] presented a counter project;[b] but while the different
articles remained under discussion, the period prefixed by the parliament
expired, and the ambassadors departed. To whom the failure of the
negotiation was owing became a subject of controversy. The Hollanders
blamed the abrupt and supercilious carriage of St. John and his colleague;
the ambassadors charged the States with having purposely created delay,
that they might not commit themselves by a treaty with the commonwealth,
before they had seen the issue of the contest between the king of Scotland
and Oliver Cromwell.[1]

In a short time that contest was decided in the battle of Worcester,
and the States condescended to become petitioners in their turn. Their
ambassadors arrived in England with the intention of resuming the
negotiation where it had been interrupted by the departure of St. John and
his colleague. But circumstances were now changed; success had enlarged
the pretensions of the parliament; and the British, instead of shunning,
courted a trial of strength with the Belgic lion. First, the Dutch
merchantmen were visited under the pretext of searching for munitions of
war, which they were carrying to the enemy; and then, at the representation
of certain merchants, who conceived themselves to have been injured by the
Dutch navy, letters of marque were granted to several individuals, and more
than eighty prizes brought into

[Footnote 1: Thurloe, i. 179, 183, 188-195. Heath, 285-287. Carte's
Letters, i. 464. Leicester's Journal, 107. Parl. History, xx. 496.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1651. June 14.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1651. June 20.]

the English ports.[1] In addition, the navigation act had been passed and
carried into execution,[a] by w