Oliver Cromwell could put more coercive weight behind English policy than any single Dutch institution because he held army support and a strong personal power base. The Rump Parliament proposed a closer alliance or confederation of the two commonwealths, effectively a political union, but the Dutch rejected it. The States General then hired and armed 150 merchant ships to escort convoys. England reasserted a rule that foreign fleets in the North Sea or Channel lower their flags in salute. Tromp's fleet did not respond quickly enough, and Robert Blake opened fire in the encounter remembered as the Battle of Dover.
Chapter · 10:26-12:33
From a proposed union to the Battle of Dover
A rejected political union, Dutch convoy expansion, and a disputed flag salute carried Anglo-Dutch diplomacy into gunfire in 1652.