ns.
They received an answer,[b] which, assuming it as proved that the States
intended to usurp the rights of England on the sea, and to

[Footnote 1: The great argument of the parliament in their declaration is
the following: Tromp came out of his way to meet the English fleet, and
fired on Blake without provocation; the States did not punish him, but
retained him in the command; therefore he acted by their orders, and the
war was begun by them. Each of these assertions was denied on the other
side. Tromp showed the reasons which led him into the track of the English
fleet; and the States asserted, from the evidence before them, that Tromp
had ordered his sails to be lowered, and was employed in getting ready
his boat to compliment the English admiral at the time when he received a
broadside from the impatience of Blake.--Dumont, vi. p. ii. 33. Le Clerc,
i. 315, 317. Basnage, i. 254. Heath, 315-320.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1652. May 24, 27, June 3.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1652. June 5.]

destroy the navy, the bulwark of those rights, declared that it was the
duty of parliament to seek reparation for the past, and security for the
future.[1]

Soon afterwards Pauw, the grand pensionary, arrived.[a] He repeated with
the most solemn asseverations from his own knowledge the statement of the
ambassadors;[b] proposed that a court of inquiry, consisting of an equal
number of commissioners from each nation, should be appointed, and
exemplary punishment inflicted on the officer who should be found to have
provoked the engagement; and demanded that hostilities should cease, and
the negotiation be resumed. Receiving no other answer than had been already
given to his colleagues, he asked[c] what was meant by "reparation and
security;" and was told by order of parliament, that the English government
expected full compensation for all the charges to which it had been put
by the preparations and attempts of the States, and hoped to meet with
security for the future in an alliance which should render the interests
of both nations consistent with each other. These, it was evident, were
conditions to which the pride of the States would refuse to stoop; Pauw
demanded[d] an audience of leave of the parliament; and all hope of
reconciliation vanished.[2]

If the Dutch had hitherto solicited peace, it was not that they feared the
result of war. The sea was their native element; and the fact of their
maritime superiority had long been openly or ta