have been given a tactical book and a code of signals;
or, at the least, written instructions, extensive and precise,
to serve instead of such a code. We feel that each admiral now
has his squadron in hand, and that even the commander-in-chief
disposes at his will, during the fight, of the various
subdivisions of his fleet. Compare this action with those of
1652, and one plain fact stares you in the face,--that between
the two dates naval tactics have undergone a revolution.

"Such were the changes that distinguish the war of 1665 from
that of 1652. As in the latter epoch, the admiral still thinks
the weather-gage an advantage for his fleet; but it is no
longer, from the tactical point of view, the principal, we might
almost say the sole, preoccupation. Now he wishes above all to
keep his fleet in good order and compact as long as possible, so
as to keep the power of _combining_, during the action, the
movements of the different squadrons. Look at Ruyter, at the end
of the Four Days' Fight; with great difficulty he has kept to
windward of the English fleet, yet he does not hesitate to
sacrifice this advantage in order to unite the two parts of his
fleet, which are separated by the enemy. If at the later fight
off the North Foreland great intervals exist between the Dutch
squadrons, if the rear afterward continues to withdraw from the
centre, Ruyter deplores such a fault as the chief cause of his
defeat. He so deplores it in his official report; he even
accuses Tromp [who was his personal enemy] of treason or
cowardice,--an unjust accusation, but which none the less shows
the enormous importance thenceforth attached, during action, to
the reunion of the fleet into a whole strictly and regularly
maintained."[37]

This commentary is justified in so far as it points out general aims
and tendencies; but the results were not as complete as might be
inferred from it.

The English, notwithstanding their heavy loss in the Four Days'
Battle, were at sea again within two months, much to the surprise of
the Dutch; and on the 4th of August another severe fight was fought
off the North Foreland, ending in the complete defeat of the latter,
who retired to their own coasts. The English followed, and effected an
entrance into one of the Dutch harbors, where they destroyed a large
fleet of merchantmen as well as a town of s