then that
the idea occurred to DeWitt to retaliate in kind on the English and to
keep his plans a profound secret.

In 1661 the Dutch had sent a fleet under Admiral DeRuyter to the
Mediterranean Sea in conjunction with an English squadron commanded by
Sir John Lawson, for the purpose of punishing the Algerian and other
pirates who had been infesting Dutch and English commerce. DeRuyter
and Lawson had succeeded in making a number of favorable treaties with
the pirates, though the task of quelling them was by no means
complete. DeWitt realized that a fleet could scarcely be dispatched to
Guinea from Holland without being discovered. Therefore, he together
with six of his councillors decided to send secret orders to DeRuyter
to sail at once for the coast of Guinea. On account of a peculiarity
of the Dutch government, however, it was impossible to dispatch these
orders without first securing a resolution of the States General.
DeWitt was well aware that somehow these resolutions of the States
General usually became known to Downing and the English. He therefore
determined that, while the States General should pass the order, he
would arrange the matter so that no one would know of it, except those
who were already in the plan. On August 11, 1664, the secretary of the
States General read the resolution very quickly, during which time
DeWitt and his six cohorts raised so much disturbance by loud
conversation that no one in the room heard what was being read.[108]
The trick succeeded admirably. DeWitt was now in possession of the
necessary authority, and orders were dispatched at once to DeRuyter to
leave his post in the Mediterranean and to sail for the west coast of
Africa without revealing his destination to Lawson, the English
commander. He was instructed to recover for the West India Company
those places which Holmes had seized and to deliver to Valckenburg,
the Dutch general on the Gold Coast, all the effects of the English
which were not necessary for the different factories of the
company.[109]

In order not to arouse Downing's suspicions by apparent apathy, the
Dutch began to prepare several ships ostensibly for Africa. For the
purpose of misleading Downing still further the Dutch agreed to accept
an offer made by the French for mediation of the difficulties. DeWitt
still insisted, however, that a written promise be given him that the
forts and factories which Holmes had seized on the African coast would
be restor