CHAPTER VIII.

CHARLES I.--_continued_. THE NAVY.

The second ship-money fleet--Placed under the Earl of Northumberland--What was to be done with it?--Opinion of Admiralty as to convoying foreign merchant vessels and preventing foreigners from fishing without license--The instructions to Northumberland--The proceedings of the fleet--Cruise in Channel--Royal proclamation forbidding foreigners from fishing without license in British seas--Northumberland goes in quest of Dutch herring-busses--Licenses forced upon them--English men-of-war left to “guard” them--Anxiety in the United Provinces--Mission of van Beveren--States of Holland resolve to equip a fleet to protect their fishermen from molestation--Mission of Joachimi--Intervention of Queen of Bohemia--Northumberland’s fleet goes to the Yarmouth fishing--Licenses again forced on the Dutch fishermen--The amount of the “acknowledgment money” received--Misrepresentations on the subject--Renewed excitement in Holland--Proceedings of Admiral Van Dorp--Another change in the king’s policy--Arundel’s mission to Vienna--Negotiations with the Prince of Orange--Terms of a proposed treaty--Charles tries to get his licenses secretly accepted in Holland--Third ship-money fleet--Tortuous action of Charles--Captain Fielding sent in a merchant vessel to offer licenses to Dutch fishermen--Dutch men-of-war interfere and prevent licenses being taken--The story leaks out, and is to be “cried down” and another story told--National discontent and domestic troubles--The “Sovereign of the Seas”--The question of the salute--Increasing strength and boldness of Dutch fleet--Arrest and search of English ships--Tromp and Pennington--The battle in the Downs--Action of English fleet--Humiliation of Charles--The Dutch the real masters of the seas 286