CHAP. III - ADMINISTRATION

Summary

Civil. Navy Office

The restored Stuarts had every reason for having a due regard for the Navy and its importance. During their exile Cromwell's effective naval policy both in home waters and in the Mediterranean, and the prestige it had gained for the English Navy, pointed a moral of the truth of which they had had practical experience before their restoration, when they found how necessary for them was some sound naval support. The effectiveness of that support once gained gave added point to the moral. Fortunately for the Navy, however, inclination and interest, as well as strategy and diplomacy, were present to encourage the Stuarts to a practical care for Naval affairs; not only was there Prince Rupert, the enterprising leader of the forlorn royalist squadron of 1649–50, but James, Duke of York, the King's brother and now Lord High Admiral, had been destined for that post from boyhood, and if ever personal interest and administrative skill could compensate for lack of practical experience, they did so in his case.

It was no easy task that James took up when he became head of the Navy. The Commonwealth and the Protectorate had bequeathed two things to him: a policy, and a debt. The policy was, briefly, that of a large and effective fleet both for political and commercial purposes; and herein lay the sting of it for the new rulers; it was a compulsory policy. Had James been inclined to neglect or reduce the fleet public opinion, or rather commercial opinion, would soon have made itself effectively felt through Parliament.