ich they were fighting; but they did not use their shoals as a
mere shelter,--the warfare they waged was the defensive-offensive.
When the wind was fair for the allies to attack, de Ruyter kept
under cover of his islands, or at least on ground where the enemy
dared not follow; but when the wind served so that he might attack
in his own way he turned and fell upon them."[1] That is, instead of
accepting the tame role of a "fleet in being" and hiding in a safe
harbor, de Ruyter took and held the sea, always on the aggressive,
always alert to catch his enemy in a position of divided forces
or exposed flank and strike hard. His master, Martin Tromp, is
regarded as the father of the line ahead formation for battle, but
he undoubtedly taught de Ruyter its limitations as well as its
advantages, and there is no trace of the stupid formalism of the
Duke of York's regulations in de Ruyter's brilliant work.

[Footnote 1: INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY, p. 144.]

At this time he had no worthy opponent. As Monk was dead, the Duke of
York had again assumed active command with Rupert as his lieutenant.
Although the Duke was honestly devoted to the navy he was dull-witted,
and in spite of the advantage of numbers and the dogged courage of
officers and men which so often in English history has made up for
stupid leadership, he was wholly unable to cope with de Ruyter's
genius. As for the French navy, their ships were superb, the best
in Europe, but their officers had no experience and apparently
small desire for close fighting. At all events, despite the odds
against him, de Ruyter defeated the allies in all four battles,
prevented their landing an army of invasion, and broke up their
attempt to blockade the coast.

The war was unpopular in England and as it met with ill success
it became more so. After the battle of the Texel, in 1673, active
operations died down to practically nothing, and at the beginning
of the year England made peace. By this time Holland had managed
to find other allies on the Continent--Spain and certain German
states--and while she had to continue her struggle against Louis
XIV by land she was relieved of the menace of her great enemy on
the sea. Fifteen years later, by a curious freak of history, a
Dutch prince became King William III of England, and the two old
enemies became united in alliance. But the Netherlands had exhausted
themselves by their protracted struggle. They had saved their
independenc