A Peace concluded under such circumstances was naturally but a short
one. When the war was renewed, three years later, the French were in
alliance with us, and, after several more desperate battles, in which
no great advantages were gained on either side, the Dutch were so
exhausted and impoverished by the loss of trade, that a final Peace
was arranged on terms far more advantageous to us than those secured
by the Treaty of 1667. The De Wittes, the authors of the previous
wars, had both been killed in a popular tumult. The Prince of Orange
was at the head of the State, and the fact that France and Spain were
both hostile to Holland had reawakened the feeling of England in
favour of the Protestant Republic, and the friendship between the two
nations has never since been broken.
Cyril took no part in the last war against the Dutch. He, like the
majority of the nation, was opposed to it, and, although willing to
give his life in defence of his country when attacked, felt it by no
means his duty to do so when we were aiding the designs of France in
crushing a brave enemy. Such was in fact the result of the war; for
although peace was made on even terms, the wars of Holland with
England and the ruin caused to her trade thereby, inflicted a blow
upon the Republic from which she never recovered. From being the
great rival of England, both on the sea and in her foreign commerce,
her prosperity and power dwindled until she ceased altogether to be a
factor in European affairs.
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