The war between the two sea States was wholly maritime, and had the
general characteristics of all such wars. Three great battles were
fought,--the first off Lowestoft, on the Norfolk coast, June 13,
1665; the second, known as the Four Days' Battle in the Straits of
Dover, often spoken of by French writers as that of the Pas de Calais,
lasting from the 11th to the 14th of June, 1666; and the third, off
the North Foreland, August 4 of the same year. In the first and last
of these the English had a decided success; in the second the
advantage remained with the Dutch. This one only will be described at
length, because of it alone has been found such a full, coherent
account as will allow a clear and accurate tactical narrative to be
given. There are in these fights points of interest more generally
applicable to the present day than are the details of somewhat
obsolete tactical movements.

In the first battle off Lowestoft, it appears that the Dutch
commander, Opdam, who was not a seaman but a cavalry officer, had very
positive orders to fight; the discretion proper to a
commander-in-chief on the spot was not intrusted to him. To interfere
thus with the commander in the field or afloat is one of the most
common temptations to the government in the cabinet, and is generally
disastrous. Tourville, the greatest of Louis XIV.'s admirals, was
forced thus to risk the whole French navy against his own judgment;
and a century later a great French fleet escaped from the English
admiral Keith, through his obedience to imperative orders from his
immediate superior, who was sick in port.

In the Lowestoft fight the Dutch van gave way; and a little later one
of the junior admirals of the centre, Opdam's own squadron, being
killed, the crew was seized with a panic, took the command of the ship