In the meantime, the French and English fleets, being perfectly refitted, and the latter having taken on board a large body of land forces, sailed again for the Dutch coasts, with a design to make a descent on Zealand, the only province into which the French had not carried their arms by land. Here they found the Dutch fleet; but, not thinking proper to attack them among the sands, they deferred the execution of their design, and blocked up the Maese and Texel; which De Ruyter, having strict orders to avoid battle, saw with concern, yet wanted power to prevent. The Duke of York now resolved to disembark his troops on the Isle of Texel. The occasion was favourable in all respects; the French and the Bishop of Munster were in the heart of the Dutch territories, so that no great force could be drawn together to resist the English on shore, and the coast was so low and flat that it looked as if nothing could secure the Dutch from invasion. It was upon July 3rd this resolution was taken; and it was intended that the forces should have landed the next flood. But at this critical juncture wind and wave interposed in favour of a free people, and saved them from a yoke which seemed already to press upon their necks. The ebb continued much longer than usual, and this defeated the intended descent for that time; and the storm, that rose the night following, forced the fleet out to sea, where they struggled for some time with very foul weather, and then returned to the English shore. The Dutch clergy magnified this circumstance into a miracle; and certainly it was a good stroke of policy at such a time to persuade the nation, struggling against superior enemies, that they were particularly favoured by Heaven. After this disappointment, there was no other action thought of at sea for this year, except the sending Sir Edward Spragge, with a squadron, to disturb the Dutch herring-fishery; which he performed with a degree of moderation that became so great a man; contenting himself with taking one of their vessels, when he saw that was sufficient to disperse the rest. All this time affairs in England were getting into very strained conditions. The parliament had never owned the Dutch war, and though they voted liberal supplies to the king, did so without naming the object to which they were to be applied further than to designate them "the king's extraordinary occasions." At this time, too, the Test Act was passed, an Act, which, putting it out of the power of the papists to continue in public offices, compelled Lord Clifford to quit the treasury and the Duke of York to give up the fleet. Early in the year 1673 it was resolved that Prince Rupert should succeed the Duke of York at the head of the fleet, and by the middle of May he was ready for sea.