* King James, in his Memoirs, gives an account of
this affair different from what we meet with in any
historian. He says, that, while he was asleep, Brounker
brought orders to Sir John Harman, captain of the ship, to
slacken sail. Sir John remonstrated, but obeyed. After some
time, finding that his falling back was likely to produce
confusion in the fleet, he hoisted the sail as before; so
that the prince, coming soon after on the quarter deck, and
finding all things as he left them, knew nothing of what had
passed during his repose. Nobody gave him the least
intimation of it. It was long after that he heard of it, by
a kind of accident; and he intended to have punished
Brounker by martial law; but just about that time, the house
of commons took up the question, and impeached him, which
made it impossible for the duke to punish him otherwise than
by dismissing him his service. Brounker, before the house,
never pretended that he had received any orders from the
duke.
This disaster threw the Dutch into consternation, and determined De Wit,
who was the soul of their councils, to exert his military capacity, in
order to support the declining courage of his countrymen.
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