n afterwards, to invest[a] Dunkirk. That fortress was on the point of
capitulating when a French flotilla of seven sail, carrying from twenty to
thirty guns each, and laden with stores and provisions, was descried[b]
stealing along the shore to its relief. Blake, who had received secret
orders from the council, gave chase; the whole squadron was captured, and
the next day[c] Dunkirk opened its gates.[2] By the French court this
action was pronounced an unprovoked and unjustifiable injury; but Mazarin
coolly calculated the probable consequences of a war, and, after some time,
sent[d] over Bordeaux, under the pretence of claiming the captured ships,
but in reality to oppose the intrigues of the agents of Spain, of the
prince of Conde, and of the city of Bordeaux, who laboured to obtain the
support of the commonwealth in opposition to the French court.[3]

Bordeaux had been appointed[e] ambassador to the parliament; after the
inauguration of Cromwell, it became necessary to appoint him ambassador to
his

[Footnote 1: Here Louis XIV., to whom we are indebted for this anecdote
observes; that it was the cardinal's maxim de pourvoir, a quelque prix
qu'il fut, aux affaires presentes, persuade que les maux a venir,
trouveroient leur remede dans l'avenir meme.--Oeuvres de Louis XIV. i.
170.]

[Footnote 2: Ibid. 168-170. See also Heath, 325; Thurloe, i. 214;
Whitelock, 543.]

[Footnote 3: Journals, 14 Dec. 1652. Clar. Pap. iii. 105, 123, 132.
Thurloe, i. 436.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1652. May 8.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1652. Sept. 5.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1652. Sept. 6.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1652. Dec. 10.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1653. Feb. 21.]

highness the protector. But in what style was Louis to address the usurper
by letter? "Mon cousin" was offered and refused; "mon frere," which
Cromwell sought, was offensive to the pride of the monarch; and, as a
temperament between the two, "monsieur le protecteur" was given
and accepted. Bordeaux proposed a treaty of amity, by which all
letters-of-marque should be recalled, and the damages suffered by the
merchants of the two nations be referred to foreign arbitrators. To thwart
the efforts of his rival, Don Alonzo, abandoning his former project,
brought forward the proposal of a new commercial treaty between England and
Spain. Cromwell was in no haste to conclude with either. He was aware that
the war between them was the true cause of these applications; that he held
the balance in his hand, and