English Navigation Laws—First Prohibitory Act, 1646—Further Acts, 1650-1651—Their object and effect—War declared between Great Britain and Holland, July 1652—The English capture prizes—Peace of 1654—Alleged complaints against the Navigation Acts of Cromwell—Navigation Act of Charles II.—The Maritime Charter of England—Its main provisions recited—Trade with the Dutch prohibited—The Dutch navigation seriously injured—Fresh war with the Dutch, 1664—Its naval results—Action off Harwich, 1665—Dutch Smyrna fleet—Coalition between French and Dutch, 1666—Battle of June 1 and of July 24, 1666—Renewed negotiations for peace, 1667—Dutch fleet burn ships at Chatham, threaten London, and proceed to Portsmouth—Peace concluded—Its effects—The Colonial system—Partial anomalies—Capital created—Economical theories the prelude to final free trade—Eventual separation from the mother country considered—Views of Sir Josiah Child on the Navigation Laws—Relative value of British and Foreign ships, 1666—British clearances, 1688, and value of exports—War with France—Peace of Ryswick, 1697—Trade of the Colonies—African trade—Newfoundland—Usages at the Fishery—Greenland Fishery—Russian trade—Peter the Great—Effect of legislative union with Scotland, 1707—The maritime Commerce of Scotland—Buccaneers in the West Indies—State of British shipping, temp. George I.—South Sea Company, 1710.
A.D. 1640-1650. Although the English people were jealous of the maritime power of Holland, and had often been annoyed by her arrogance, the two nations were still at peace. England, distracted by civil war, was not then prepared to adopt legislative measures which had for their object the curtailment of the commerce and maritime influence of the Dutch; but her rulers
