This measure displeased the other States. In 1665, the
office of Commander in Chief becoming vacant, the opposite party
endeavoured to procure it for one of the Orange family; this attempt
also proved abortive. In 1661 a war broke out between England,--which
was then governed by Charles II., and the United States; these displayed
in it, chiefly under the command of De Ruyter, prodigies of valour and
naval skill; the year 1667 was famous in their annals, by their fleet's
sailing up the river Thames, and burning the English fleet at Chatham.
The peace of Breda immediately followed.
[Sidenote: XIV. 1. William III.]
Still, the civil discord continued. The States of Holland renewed the
_Edict of Exclusion_, with the addition of a clause, that, whenever a
person should be invested, with the office of Captain, or Admiral
General, he should swear never to aspire to the office of Stadtholder,
and to refuse it, if it should be offered to him.
[Sidenote: CHAP. XIV 1650--1702.]
The year 1671 is remarkable for the league entered into by Louis XIV.
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