d, well be appalled. The first easterly wind would bring
a hostile armament to the shores of his realm. All Europe, one single
power alone excepted, was impatiently waiting for the news of his
downfall. The help of that single power he had madly rejected. Nay,
he had requited with insult the friendly intervention which might have
saved him. The French armies which, but for his own folly, might
have been employed in overawing the States General, were besieging
Philipsburg or garrisoning Mentz. In a few days he might have to fight,
on English ground, for his crown and for the birthright of his infant
son. His means were indeed in appearance great. The navy was in a
much more efficient state than at the time of his accession: and the
improvement is partly to be attributed to his own exertions. He had
appointed no Lord High Admiral or Board of Admiralty, but had kept
the chief direction of maritime affairs in his own hands, and had been
strenuously assisted by Pepys. It is a proverb that the eye of a
master is more to be trusted than that of a deputy: and, in an age of
corruption and peculation, a department on which a sovereign, even of
very slender capacity, bestows close personal attention is likely to be
comparatively free from abuses. It would have been easy to find an abler
minister of marine than James; but it would not have been easy to find,
among the public men of that age, any minister of marine, except James,
who would not have embezzled stores, taken bribes from contractors, and
charged the crown with the cost of repairs which had never been made.
The King was, in truth, almost the only person who could be trusted not
to rob the King. There had therefore been, during the last three years,
much less waste and pilfering in the dockyards than formerly. Ships
had been built which were fit to go to sea. An excellent order had
been issued increasing the allowances of Captains, and at the same time
strictly forbidding them to carry merchandise from port to port
without the royal permission. The effect of these reforms was already
perceptible; and James found no difficulty in fitting out, at short
notice, a considerable fleet. Thirty ships of the line, all third rates
and fourth rates, were collected in the Thames, under the command of
Lord Dartmouth. The loyalty of Dartmouth was above suspicion; and he was
thought to have as much professional skill and knowledge as any of the
patrician sailors who, in that age, rose to