owed a degree of skill combined with vigor which did not appear upon
the sea, after his death, until the days of Suffren and Nelson. His
battles of the war of 1672 were no "affairs of circumspection," though
they were fought circumspectly; his aim was no less than the enemy's
total overthrow, by joining good combinations to fury of attack. At
Solebay he was somewhat, though not greatly, inferior to his enemies;
afterward much more so.

The substantial results of Solebay fight were wholly favorable to the
Dutch. The allied fleets were to have assisted the operations of the
French army by making a descent upon the coast of Zealand. Ruyter's
attack had inflicted an amount of damage, and caused an expenditure of
ammunition, which postponed the sailing of the fleet for a month; it
was a diversion, not only important, but vital in the nearly desperate
condition to which the United Provinces were reduced ashore. It may be
added, as an instructive comment on the theory of commerce-destroying,
that after this staggering check to the enemy's superior forces,
Ruyter met and convoyed safely to port a fleet of Dutch merchantmen.

The progress of the land campaign must now be briefly described.[49]
Early in May the French army in several corps moved forward, passing
through the outskirts of the Spanish Netherlands, and directing their
attack upon Holland from the south and east. The republican party
which was in power in Holland had neglected the army, and now made the
mistake of scattering the force they had among many fortified towns,
trusting that each would do something toward delaying the French.
Louis, however, under the advice of Turenne, simply observed the more
important places, while the second-rate towns surrendered nearly as
fast as they were summoned; the army of the Provinces, as well as
their territory, thus passing rapidly, by fractions, into the power of
the enemy. Within a month the French were in the heart of the country,
having carried all before them, and with no organized force remaining
in their front sufficient of itself to stop them. In the fortnight
following the battle of Solebay, terror and disorganization spread
throughout the republic. On the 15th of June the Grand Pensionary
obtained permission of the States-General to send a deputation to
Louis XIV., begging him to name the terms on which he would grant them
peace; any humiliation to the foreigner was better in the eyes of the
politician than to see t