History of the United Netherlands, 1605-07 | Page 8

his hands. The chances of his own defeat were small, its probable
consequences, should it occur, insignificant. It is hardly conceivable
that he could have been so completely overthrown as to allow the
Catholic commander to do in November what he had tried all summer
in vain to accomplish, cross the Yssel and the Waal, with the dregs of
his army, and invade Holland and Zeeland in midwinter, over the
prostrate bodies of Maurice and all his forces. On the other hand, that
the stadholder would have sent the enemy reeling back to his bogs,
with hardly the semblance of an army at his heels, was almost certain:

The effect of such a blow upon impending negotiations, and especially
upon the impressible imagination of Henry and the pedantic
shrewdness of James, would have been very valuable. It was not
surprising that the successful soldier who sat on the French throne, and
who had been ever ready to wager life and crown on the results of a
stricken field, should be loud in his expressions of disapprobation and
disgust. Yet no man knew better than the sagacious Gascon that
fighting to win a crown, and to save a republic, were two essentially
different things.
In the early summer of this year Admiral Haultain, whom we lately saw
occupied with tossing Sarmiento's Spanish legion into the sea off the
harbour of Dover, had been despatched to the Spanish coast on a still
more important errand. The outward bound Portuguese merchantmen
and the home returning fleets from America, which had been absent
nearly two years, might be fallen in with at any moment, in the latitude
of 36-38 deg. The admiral, having received orders, therefore, to cruise
carefully in those regions, sailed for the shores of Portugal with a
squadron of twenty-four war-ships. His expedition was not very
successful. He picked up a prize or two here and there, and his presence
on the coast prevented the merchant-fleet from sailing out of Lisbon for
the East Indies, the merchandise already on board being disembarked
and the voyage postponed to a more favourable opportunity.
He saw nothing, however, of the long-expected ships from the golden
West Indies--as Mexico, Peru, and Brazil were then indiscriminately
called-- and after parting company with six of his own ships, which
were dispersed and damaged in a gale, and himself suffering from a
dearth of provisions, he was forced to return without much gain or
glory.
In the month of September he was once more despatched on the same
service. He had nineteen war-galleots of the first class, and two yachts,
well equipped and manned. Vice-admiral of the fleet was Regnier
Klaaszoon (or Nicholson), of Amsterdam, a name which should always
be held fresh in remembrance, not only by mariners and Netherlanders,
but by all men whose pulses can beat in sympathy with practical
heroism.
The admiral coasted deliberately along the shores of Spain and Portugal.
It seemed impossible that the golden fleets, which, as it was ascertained,

had not yet arrived, could now escape the vigilance of the Dutch
cruisers. An occasional merchant-ship or small war-galley was met
from time to time and chased into the harbours. A landing was here and
there effected and a few villages burned. But these were not the prizes
nor the trophies sought. On the 19th September a storm off the
Portuguese coast scattered the fleet; six of the best and largest ships
being permanently lost sight of and separated from the rest. With the
other thirteen Haultain now cruised off Cape St. Vincent directly across
the ordinary path of the homeward-bound treasure ships.
On the 6th October many sails were descried in the distance, and the
longing eyes of the Hollanders were at last gratified with what was
supposed to be the great West India commercial squadrons. The
delusion was brief. Instead of innocent and richly Freighted
merchantmen, the new comers soon proved to be the war-ships of
Admiral Dan Luis de Fazardo, eighteen great galleons and eight galleys
strong, besides lesser vessels --the most formidable fleet that for years
had floated in those waters. There had been time for Admiral Haultain
to hold but a very brief consultation with his chief officers. As it was
manifest that the Hollanders were enormously over-matched, it was
decided to manoeuvre as well as possible for the weather-gage, and
then to fight or to effect an escape, as might seem most expedient after
fairly testing the strength of the enemy. It was blowing a fresh gale, and
the Netherland fleet had as much as they could stagger with under
close-reefed topsails. The war- galleys, fit only for fair weather, were
soon forced to take refuge under the lee of the land, but the eighteen
galleons, the most powerful vessels then known to naval architecture,
were bearing