The
battle lasted at intervals through the night; it was renewed with greater
vigour near Boulogne in the morning;[c] till Van Tromp, availing himself of
the shallowness of the coast, pursued his course homeward unmolested by the
pursuit of the enemy. The victory was decidedly with the English; the loss
in men might be equal on both sides; but the Dutch themselves acknowledged
that nine of their men-of-war and twenty-four of the merchant vessels had
been either sunk or captured.[1]
This was the last naval victory achieved under the auspices of the
parliament, which, though it wielded the powers of government with an
energy that surprised
[Footnote 1: Heath, 335. Whitelock, 551. Leicester's Journal, 138. Le
Clerc, i. 328. Basnage, i. 298-301. By the English admirals the loss of the
Dutch was estimated at eleven men-of-war and thirty merchantmen.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1653. Feb. 18.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1653. Feb. 19.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1653. Feb. 20.]
the several nations of Europe, was doomed to bend before the superior
genius or ascendancy of Cromwell. When that adventurer first formed the
design of seizing the supreme authority, is uncertain; it was not till
after the victory at Worcester that he began gradually and cautiously to
unfold his object.
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