and vigor of that republic
appear in a more conspicuous light. In a few weeks, they had repaired and
manned their fleet; and they equipped some Ships of a larger size than
any which they had hitherto sent to sea. Tromp issued out, determined
again to fight the victors, and to die rather than to yield the contest.
He met with the enemy, commanded by Monk; and both sides immediately
rushed into the combat. Tromp, gallantly animating his men, with his
sword drawn, was shot through the heart with a musket ball. This event
alone decided the battle in favor of the English. Though near thirty
ships of the Dutch were sunk and taken, they little regarded this loss
compared with that of their brave admiral.

Meanwhile the negotiations of peace were continually advancing. The
states, overwhelmed with the expense of the war, terrified by their
losses, and mortified by their defeats, were extremely desirous of an
accommodation with an enemy whom they found by experience too powerful
for them. The king having shown an inclination to serve on board their
fleet, though they expressed their sense of the honor intended them,
they declined an offer which might inflame the quarrel with the English
commonwealth. The great obstacle to the peace was found, not to be any
animosity on the part of the English, but, on the contrary, a desire too
earnest of union and confederacy. Cromwell had revived the chimerical
scheme of a coalition with the United Provinces; a total conjunction of
government, privileges, interests, and councils.

{1654.} This project
appeared so wild to the states, that they wondered any man of sense
could ever entertain it; and they refused to enter into conferences with
regard to a proposal which could serve only to delay any practicable
scheme of accommodation. The peace was at last signed by Cromwell now
invested with the dignity of protector, and it proves sufficiently, that
the war had been impolitic, since, after the most signal victories, no
terms more advantageous could be obtained. A defensive league was made
between the two republics. They agreed, each of them, to banish the
enemies of the other: those who had been concerned in the massacre of
Amboyna were to be punished, if any remained alive; the honor of the
flag was yielded to the English: eighty-five thousand pounds were
stipulated to be paid by the Dutch East India Company for losses which
the English Company had sustained; and the Island of Polerone, in the