England and Holland, Nieuport, the Dutch ambassador, pressed hard for this concession from Cromwell's Government, but, as might be expected, signally failed.
The way they eventually succeeded with England was this:—Louis XIV. had entered on his career of ambition, which it became the great object of policy on the part of England to curb. With this object it was important to detach Holland from the alliance with France, and Sir William Temple was commissioned in 1668 to effect this. He could scarcely succeed without making the same concessions to Holland which France had already made; indeed; from the importance that the Dutch statesmen attached to this particular concession, it was his chief weapon to employ, and accordingly in the treaty of commerce of the Hague; 1668, renewed in the treaty of commerce 1674, the 10th article conceded the principle of the neutral flag. Four years after the latter treaty, viz., in
