superior force of Spanish vessels close to
Dover, and defeated them with considerable loss. But the victory
was sullied by an act of great barbarity. All the soldiers found
on board the captured ships were tied two and two and mercilessly
flung into the sea. Some contrived to extricate themselves, and
gained the shore by swimming; others were picked up by the English
boats, whose crews witnessed the scene and hastened to their
relief. The generous British seamen could not remain neuter in
such a moment, nor repress their indignation against those whom
they had hitherto so long considered as friends. The Dutch vessels
pursuing those of Spain which fled into Dover harbor, were fired
on by the cannon of the castle and forced to give up the chase.
The English loudly complained that the Dutch had on this occasion
violated their territory; and this transaction laid the foundation
of the quarrel which subsequently broke out between England and
the republic, and which the jealousies of rival merchants in
either state unceasingly fomented. In this year also the Dutch
succeeded in capturing the chief of the Dunkirk privateers, which
had so long annoyed their trade; and they cruelly ordered sixty
of the prisoners to be put to death. But the people, more humane
than the authorities, rescued them from the executioners and
set them free.

But these domestic instances of success and inhumanity were trifling
in comparison with the splendid train of distant events, accompanied
by a course of wholesale benevolence, that redeemed the traits
of petty guilt. The maritime enterprises of Holland, forced by
the imprudent policy of Spain to seek a wider career than in the
narrow seas of Europe, were day by day extended in the Indies.
To ruin if possible their increasing trade, Philip III. sent
out the admiral Hurtado, with a fleet of eight galleons and
thirty-two galleys. The Dutch squadron of five vessels, commanded
by Wolfert Hermanszoon, attacked them off the coast of Malabar,
and his temerity was crowned with great success. He took two
of their vessels, and completely drove the remainder from the
Indian seas. He then concluded a treaty with the natives of the
isle of Banda, by which he promised to support them against the
Spaniards and Portuguese, on condition that they were to give his
fellow-countrymen the exclusive privilege of purchasing the spices
of the island. This treaty was the foundation of the influence
which the Dutch so soo