or
the excellent service rendered was a position in the Council of
State, in which capacity he did much toward the bettering of the
condition of the sailors, which was one of the striking reforms
of the Commonwealth. His test, however, came in the first Dutch
War, in which he was pitted against Martin Tromp, then the leading
naval figure of Europe.

In the wars with Spain, English and Dutch had been allies, but
the shift of circumstances brought the two Protestant nations into
a series of fierce conflicts lasting throughout the latter half
of the 17th century. The outcome of these was that England won
the scepter of the sea which she has ever since held. The main
cause of the war was the rivalry of the two nations on the sea.
There were various other specific reasons for bad feeling on both
sides, as for instance a massacre by the Dutch of English traders
at Amboyna in the East Indies, during the reign of James I, which
still rankled because it had never been avenged. The English on
their side insisted on a salute to their men of war from every
ship that passed through the Channel, and claimed the rights to
a tribute, of all herrings taken within 30 miles off the English
coast.

Cromwell formulated the English demands in the Navigation Act of
1651. The chief of these required that none but English ships should
bring cargoes to England, save vessels of the country whence the
cargoes came. This was frankly a direct blow at the Dutch carrying
trade, one to which the Dutch could not yield without a struggle.

For this struggle the Netherlanders were ill prepared. The Dutch
Republic was a federation of seven sovereign states, lacking a strong
executive and torn by rival factions. Moreover, her geographical
position was most vulnerable. Pressed by enemies on her land frontiers,
she was compelled to maintain an army of 57,000 men in addition to
her navy. As the resources of the country were wholly inadequate
to support the population, her very life depended on the sea. For
the Holland of the 17th century, as for the England of the 20th, the
fleets of merchantmen were the life blood of the nation. Unfortunately
for the Dutch, this life blood had to course either through the
Channel or else round the north of Scotland. Either way was open
to attacks by the British, who held the interior position. Further,
the shallows of the coasts and bays made necessary a flat bottomed
ship of war, lighter built than the English and less