nothing was done. Carlisle, in a huff, determined to go away, and,
somewhat to the distress of his followers, refused to accept the costly
sables sent by the Tzar, not only to the ambassador, Lady Carlisle, and
Lord Morpeth, but to the secretaries and others. The Tzar thereupon
returned the plate which our king had sent him, which plate Lord
Carlisle seems to have appropriated, no doubt with diplomatic
correctness, as his perquisite in lieu of the sables; but the suite got
nothing.

The embassy left Moscow on the 24th of June for Novgorod and Riga, and
after visiting Stockholm and Copenhagen, Lord Carlisle and Marvell
reached London on the 30th of January 1665.

During Marvell's absence war had been declared with the Dutch. It was
never difficult to go to war with the Dutch. The king was always in want
of money, and as no proper check existed over war supplies, he took what
he wanted out of them. The merchants on 'Change desired war, saying that
the trade of the world was too little for both England and Holland, and
that one or the other "must down." The English manufacturers, who felt
the sting of their Dutch competitors, were always in favour of war. Then
the growing insolence of the Dutch in the Indies was not to be borne.
Stories were circulated how the Hollanders had proclaimed themselves
"Lords of the Southern Seas," and meant to deny English ships the right
of entry in that quarter of the globe. A baronet called on Pepys and
pulled out of his pocket letters from the East Indies, full of sad tales
of Englishmen having been actually thrashed inside their own factory at
Surat by swaggering Dutchmen, who had insulted the flag of St. George,
and swore they were going to be the masters "out there." Pepys, who
knew a little about the state of the royal navy, listened sorrowfully
and was content to hope that the war would not come until "we are more
ready for it."

In the House of Commons the prudent men were against the war, and were
at once accused of being in the pay of the Dutch. The king's friends
were all for the war, and nobody doubted that some of the money voted
for it would find its way into their pockets, or at all events that
pensions would reward their fidelity. A third group who favoured the war
were supposed to do so because their disloyalty and fanaticism always
disposed them to trouble the waters in which they wished to fish.

The war began in November 1664, and on the 24th of that month the king
op