Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

studied not to give offense to England. A new and
hitherto untried device was fallen upon. In August,
1671, the Dutch fleet was cruising in the North
Sea, in fulfillment of their treaty engagements: a
"sorry" yacht carrying the English flag suddenly
sailed into the fleet, and singling out the admiral's
ship, twice fired into her. The Dutch commander,
having regard to the amity existing between the
two nations, paid a visit to the captain of the yacht,
and inquired his reason for acting as he had done.
The admiral was told that he had insulted England
by failing to make his whole fleet strike to his little
craft. The Dutch commander civilly excused the
omission, and the yacht returned to England,
bearing as her freight the quarrel she had been sent
to open.[3] This, with a few other equally frivolous
incidents, furnished the English Court with a
pretext for declaring war against Holland.
The Dutch could not believe that England was
in earnest. They were conscious of no offense, and
pursued their commerce in our seas without
suspicion. A rich fleet of merchantmen, on their
voyage from Smyrna, were passing through the
423