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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #54977 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54977)
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-Project Gutenberg's The Sovereignty of the Sea, by Thomas Wemyss Fulton
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: The Sovereignty of the Sea
- An Historical Account of the Claims of England to the
- Dominion of the British Seas, and of the Evolution of the
- Territorial Waters
-
-Author: Thomas Wemyss Fulton
-
-Release Date: June 24, 2017 [EBook #54977]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by MWS, Wayne Hammond and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The Sovereignty of the Sea
-
-[Illustration: _The “British Seas,” according to Selden._]
-
-
-
-
- The Sovereignty of the Sea
-
- An Historical Account of the
- Claims of England to the Dominion of
- the British Seas, and of the Evolution
- of the Territorial Waters: with special
- reference to the Rights of Fishing
- and the Naval Salute
-
- BY
-
- THOMAS WEMYSS FULTON
-
- LECTURER ON THE
- SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF FISHERY PROBLEMS, THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
-
- _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_
-
- [Illustration]
-
- William Blackwood and Sons
- Edinburgh and London
- 1911
-
- _ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_
-
-
-
-
- _I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO
- MY WIFE_
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE.
-
-
-In this book I have endeavoured to bring together from all available
-sources such information as exists as to the ̉claims formerly made
-to the sovereignty of the British Seas, and to trace the evolution
-of the territorial waters in recent times. The work was originally
-undertaken with the intention of dealing only with these subjects so
-far as they related to the sea fisheries, but it soon became apparent
-that to restrict the scope in this way would involve considerable
-disadvantages, and would enable only a partial picture to be presented.
-For though during a large part of the period with which the book
-is concerned, the question of the fishery was the main question in
-determining the claim to sea sovereignty, and is the one of the
-greatest frequency at the present day with respect to the territorial
-waters, it was by no means the only one. The freedom of ̉commerce to
-regions more or less remote; the jurisdiction of a State in the sea
-which washed its shores or which it claimed as belonging to it; the
-naval salute or homage to the flag, and various other matters, were
-commonly bound up with the question of the fisheries. It was therefore
-deemed more satisfactory to treat the subject as a whole, even though
-this necessarily involved much additional labour.
-
-The book is divided into two sections, the first comprising an
-historical account of the pretensions to the dominion of the sea; the
-second dealing with the relic of such pretensions, the territorial
-waters, more particularly in the aspect which they present under the
-Law of Nations and in relation to the rights of fishing. With some
-doubtful exceptions, the claim to a special sovereignty or dominion
-over the so-called British Seas was a doctrine of the Stuarts,
-introduced from Scotland to England with that dynasty, and terminating
-with it. It was aimed in particular against the Dutch, whose commerce,
-shipping, wealth, and power were believed to be derived from the
-fisheries which they carried on along the coasts of this country.
-Hence a very considerable part of the work refers to the dealings and
-negotiations with that people as to the liberty of fishing and the
-homage to the flag. Such pretensions to extensive maritime sovereignty
-gradually decayed and disappeared, but the troubles and disputes as
-to the rightful jurisdiction of a State in the waters adjacent to
-its coasts have continued to the present day, and are dealt with in
-the second section of the book. Scarcely a year passes that does not
-witness one or more international differences of this kind, notably
-with respect to fisheries, and in various quarters of the globe--it
-may be now on the coasts of Portugal and Spain, or in the Pacific and
-South America, or again at the White Sea, each case giving rise to
-international negotiations and discussions as to the common usage and
-the Law of Nations.
-
-One great group of such questions, which for long formed a troublesome
-heritage of the British Foreign Office, concerns the fisheries on the
-coasts of British North America. Under various treaties, some of them
-old, France and the United States possess special rights in these
-fisheries, the true nature of which has occasioned numerous disputes.
-It is a happy circumstance of recent years that those differences
-have now been composed. The agreement with France in 1905 settled the
-question of the fishery rights of that Power at Newfoundland, and the
-Award of the Permanent Court of International Arbitration at The Hague
-in the North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Arbitration, which was made
-last autumn while this work was passing through the press, has in a
-manner equally satisfactory settled the difficulties with the United
-States,--a fortunate result due in great part to the exceedingly able,
-lucid, and temperate presentation of the British case by Sir Robert
-Finlay, but chiefly, it cannot be doubted, to the growing feeling of
-goodwill between the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race. It
-is to be hoped that similar differences now pending and to come, as
-to the fisheries on other coasts, may be adjusted in a corresponding
-spirit of amity and compromise. The fish in the sea, as Dr Nansen has
-said, are not the property of any particular nation. They are, if the
-word may be used, international, and it would therefore be as just
-as it would be auspicious if all such questions were dealt with in a
-spirit of international brotherhood, with due regard to the interests
-of the coast population on the one hand, and the legitimate rights of
-the enterprising fishermen from other nations on the other. To this end
-the joint fishery investigations at present being conducted under the
-guidance of a Council of representatives of the western and northern
-Powers of Europe may be expected to contribute, if only by providing
-that full and precise information, without which an effective and
-equitable arrangement is difficult.
-
-As far as possible, I have gone to original sources for my information;
-the State Papers in the Record Office, the MSS. in the British Museum,
-and those preserved at Hatfield--access to which was courteously
-granted by the late Marquess of Salisbury--have been laid under
-contribution. References to the various authorities are given for
-practically all the statements in the book; and in the Appendix are
-printed, either entire or in part, some of the more important documents
-which are cited.
-
-Among foreign friends and colleagues to whom my thanks are due for
-information kindly given during the progress of the work, I must
-mention four, who, alas! are no longer with us: Professor A. F. Marion,
-Marseilles; Professor Enrico H. Giglioli, of Florence, for long the
-esteemed President of the Commissione consultiva per la pesca, Rome;
-Secretary of State M. Vladimir I. Weschniakow, President of the
-Société Impériale Russe de pisciculture et de pêche, St Petersburg;
-and Dr Rudolf Lundberg, Stockholm, all very willingly complied with
-my requests for information. Among others who have aided me from time
-to time are Dr Georges Roché, Paris; Dr Eugène Canu, Boulogne-sur-mer;
-Señor Rafael Gutierrez Vela, Madrid; Dr Cav. Enrico Giacobini, of the
-Ministry of Agriculture, Rome; Dr F. Heincke, Heligoland; Dr Johan
-Hjort, Bergen; and Captain C. F. Drechsel, Copenhagen. My thanks are
-also due to Dr Fridtjof Nansen, formerly the Norwegian Minister in
-London; to M. J. Irgens, his successor; and to Dr T. Baty, Honorary
-Secretary to the International Law Association, London, for copies
-of documents and laws relative to the Scandinavian limits of the
-territorial sea; and likewise to Mr R. M. Bartleman, the American
-Consul-General at Buenos Aires, for papers referring to the extensive
-claims recently advanced by the Argentine Republic for the regulation
-of the fisheries in the adjacent seas.
-
-Very specially have I to thank my friend, Dr P. P. C. Hoek, the
-Scientific Adviser for the Fisheries of the Netherlands, and the
-Commissioner appointed by The Hague Tribunal in the North Atlantic
-Fisheries Arbitration, for his valued assistance and advice. Dr Hoek
-was good enough to read over the proofs of the book, and I am indebted
-to him for a number of emendations and improvements which his knowledge
-of Dutch fisheries and history enabled him to suggest.
-
-In transcribing records and preparing the index, and in some other
-ways, I have been assisted by my wife.
-
-I feel that an acknowledgment is due to my publishers for the patience
-and consideration they have shown in the delay which, for several
-reasons, has occurred in the completion of the book.
-
-It is right to add that I alone am responsible for all the opinions
-expressed, unless when otherwise stated.
-
- T. WEMYSS FULTON.
-
- 41 QUEEN’S ROAD, ABERDEEN,
- _January 1911_.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
- INTRODUCTION.
-
- PAGE
-
- Prominence of maritime affairs in English history--The meaning
- of the term Sovereignty of the Seas--Early appropriation
- of seas--Venice--Genoa--Denmark, Sweden, Poland--Spain and
- Portugal--Reasons for appropriation--Insecurity of sea in middle
- ages--Merchants associations--Origin of the English claims--Their
- nature--Became important under the Stuarts--James I.--Charles I.--The
- Commonwealth--Charles II.--Decay of the English pretension to the
- dominion of the seas--Extent of the “Sea of England” and of the
- “British Seas”--The “Narrow Seas”--The “Four Seas”--Selden on the
- British Seas--The territorial waters 1
-
-
- SECTION I.--THE HISTORY OF THE CLAIMS TO
- THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA.
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
- EARLY HISTORY.
-
- Alleged sea sovereignty exercised by ancient Britons, Romans, and
- Anglo-Saxons--King Edgar--Canute--Norman, Angevin, and
- Plantagenet kings--The Channel or Narrow Sea--The safeguarding
- of the sea--Admiralty jurisdiction--Impressment of ships--Liberty
- of navigation and fishing--The question of tribute--English
- kings as lords of the sea--King John’s ordinance as to
- lowering sail to a royal ship--The sovereign lordship in the so-called
- Sea of England--The roll _De Superioritate Maris Angliæ_--Complaint
- against Reyner Grimbald--Nature of jurisdiction
- exercised in Sea of England 25
-
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
- THE FISHERIES.
-
- Importance of fisheries in middle ages--Ecclesiastical fasts--A great
- herring fishery--Foreign fishermen frequent British coasts--The
- question of freedom of fishing--Licenses to French to fish in the
- Channel--Treaties guaranteeing liberty for foreigners to fish on
- the British coasts--The “Burgundy” treaties--The _Intercursus
- Magnus_--Practice in Scotland differed from that in England--Waters
- reserved for natives, and foreigners excluded--Treaties with the
- Netherlands--Acts of the Parliament of Scotland 57
-
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
- UNDER THE TUDORS.
-
- Decay of English fisheries--Influence of Reformation--Rise of
- Dutch fisheries--The “Political Lent”--Cecil’s inquiries and
- proceedings--Legislation to protect the English fisheries and
- encourage the consumption of fish--First complaints against foreign
- fishermen on English coast--Hitchcock’s “Pollitique Platt”--His
- scheme of a national fishery association to compete with the
- Dutch--Proposals of Dr John Dee to tax foreigners fishing on British
- coasts--Claim advanced to the sovereignty of the sea--Supposed
- limits of British seas--Queen Elizabeth opposes all claims to _Mare
- Clausum_--Spanish and Portuguese pretensions to dominion on the
- great oceans--Negotiations with Denmark as to trading and fishing at
- Iceland and Norway--Queen Elizabeth’s exposition of the principles
- of the freedom of the seas--Further legislation to promote the
- fisheries--Failure of the policy of fish-days--The striking of the
- flag 86
-
-
- CHAPTER IV.
-
- UNDER THE STUARTS. JAMES I. A NEW POLICY.
-
- Change of policy as to freedom of fishery--The “King’s
- Chambers” defined and described--Limited to questions of
- neutrality--Beginning of struggle with Dutch for commercial
- and maritime supremacy--Expansion of Dutch fisheries--English
- accounts of their extent--John Keymer--Sir Walter Raleigh--Tobias
- Gentleman--The Dutch great herring fishery along British
- coast--Its value and importance--English fishery trifling in
- comparison--English envy and jealousy of Dutch--Rival fishery
- schemes proposed--Plan of London merchants--Proposals to tax foreign
- fishermen--Complaints of encroachments of Hollanders in England
- and Scotland--Petition from Cinque Ports for protection--Privy
- Council consider unlicensed fishing by foreigners--Recommend
- proclamation restraining foreigners from fishing on British coasts
- without license from the king--Proclamation issued--Aimed against
- Dutch--Protest of States-General--Proclamation suspended--The
- “assize-herring”--Discussions with the Dutch ambassador--Dutch
- embassy of 1610--Fishery question postponed--Other fishery
- schemes--The queen’s proposals--Records to be searched to establish
- king’s jurisdiction at sea and right to the fishings 118
-
-
- CHAPTER V.
-
- JAMES I.--_continued_. DISPUTES WITH THE DUTCH.
-
- Grant of “assize-herrings” in Scotland to Duke of Lennox--Considered
- by Scottish Council--James instructs that the tax be levied from
- foreign fishermen--Mr John Brown collects them in 1616 from
- Dutch--Protest by Dutch ambassador--Dutch naval commanders ordered
- to prevent further payments--Brown again sent in 1617--Seized
- and carried to Holland by Dutch man-of-war--Repudiation of
- act by States-General--Further complaints in Scotland against
- Dutch--Representations by British ambassador at Hague--“Land-kenning”
- or range of vision claimed as limit--Scottish Council asked to
- prevent Hollanders from fishing within sight of land--Dutch edict of
- 1618--Assize-herrings again demanded by the _Restore--Mare Clausum_
- in the Arctic Seas--Spitzbergen whaling disputes--Dutch embassy of
- 1618--Evasion of fishery question--James’s displeasure--Threats
- to use force--Fishery treaty again postponed--A limit of fourteen
- miles requested--Dutch concession--Proposals regarding whaling at
- Spitzbergen--Assize-herrings again demanded by the _Charles_--The
- Dutch strengthen their convoying squadrons--Dutch embassies of 1619
- and 1621--Fishery question still evaded--Edict of 1618 renewed--Fresh
- complaints against Hollanders--Fishery societies proposed--The
- striking of the flag--Incident with French in 1603--Monson’s action
- against Dutch--Spanish complaint--The custom as to striking the flag 165
-
-
- CHAPTER VI.
-
- CHARLES I. FISHERIES AND RESERVED WATERS.
-
- Extravagant pretensions to the sovereignty of the sea--The ship-money
- writs and the old records--Charles proposes a great fishery society
- to compete with the Dutch--Coke prepares a scheme--Difficulties
- with Scottish burghs--Charles requests Scottish Privy Council to
- further the scheme--Strenuous opposition in Scotland--Claim of
- “reserved waters” advanced--Commissioners on behalf of England and
- Scotland appointed--Prolonged negotiations--Extent of reserved waters
- defined--Modifications proposed--Burghs petition Charles to prevent
- the Hollanders from fishing in Scottish waters--Fisheries declared
- to be under the royal prerogative--Charles attends the conferences
- of the commissioners--Scheme finally agreed to--The “Royal Fishery
- of Great Britain and Ireland” established--Operations at the
- Lewes--Misfortunes and eventual failure of the society 209
-
-
- CHAPTER VII.
-
- CHARLES I.--_continued._ THE NAVY.
-
- Need of a strong navy--Insecurity of seas from pirates--Violations of
- King’s Chambers and ports by Dutch and Dunkirkers--Proclamation
- concerning same and claiming sovereignty of sea--Charles’s
- private policy to recover the Palatinate--Negotiations for alliance
- with Spain against the Dutch--Pretexts for creating a fleet--The
- ship-money writs--Feeling in Holland--Coke’s despatch on the
- dominion of England in the seas--The first ship-money fleet,
- under the Earl of Lindsey--His instructions--All hostilities in
- narrow seas to be prevented--Previous instructions to Pennington
- compared--The king’s private instructions--Their object--Lindsey’s
- queries--Proceedings of the fleet--Rumours in London--Friction
- with the admiral--Fails to meet the French fleet--Richelieu’s
- strategy, and proposals as to salute--Licenses for Dutch
- herring-busses--Lindsey quits the fleet--Discontent at his failure--The
- question of the salute becomes very prominent--Doubts
- and queries as to the custom in enforcing it--Practice on foreign
- coasts--Between ships and forts--Arrogance of English captains--Usual
- compliance of the Dutch--British merchantmen the
- worst offenders 246
-
-
- CHAPTER VIII.
-
- CHARLES I.--_continued_. THE NAVY.
-
- The second ship-money fleet--Placed under the Earl of
- Northumberland--What was to be done with it?--Opinion of
- Admiralty as to convoying foreign merchant vessels and preventing
- foreigners from fishing without license--The instructions
- to Northumberland--The proceedings of the fleet--Cruise in
- Channel--Royal proclamation forbidding foreigners from fishing
- without license in British seas--Northumberland goes in quest of
- Dutch herring-busses--Licenses forced upon them--English men-of-war
- left to “guard” them--Anxiety in the United Provinces--Mission of
- van Beveren--States of Holland resolve to equip a fleet to protect
- their fishermen from molestation--Mission of Joachimi--Intervention
- of Queen of Bohemia--Northumberland’s fleet goes to the Yarmouth
- fishing--Licenses again forced on the Dutch fishermen--The amount
- of the “acknowledgment money” received--Misrepresentations on the
- subject--Renewed excitement in Holland--Proceedings of Admiral Van
- Dorp--Another change in the king’s policy--Arundel’s mission to
- Vienna--Negotiations with the Prince of Orange--Terms of a proposed
- treaty--Charles tries to get his licenses secretly accepted in
- Holland--Third ship-money fleet--Tortuous action of Charles--Captain
- Fielding sent in a merchant vessel to offer licenses to Dutch
- fishermen--Dutch men-of-war interfere and prevent licenses being
- taken--The story leaks out, and is to be “cried down” and another
- story told--National discontent and domestic troubles--The “Sovereign
- of the Seas”--The question of the salute--Increasing strength and
- boldness of Dutch fleet--Arrest and search of English ships--Tromp
- and Pennington--The battle in the Downs--Action of English
- fleet--Humiliation of Charles--The Dutch the real masters of the seas 286
-
-
- CHAPTER IX.
-
- CHARLES I.--_continued._ THE JURIDICAL CONTROVERSIES.
-
- _Mare Liberum_ and _Mare Clausum_--Dawn of international
- law--Claims to maritime dominion conflict with commercial
- expansion of period--Opinions of publicists previous to
- Grotius--De Castro--Vasquius--The _Mare Liberum_ of Grotius--Its
- origin and object--Arguments of Grotius against appropriation
- of seas--His later work and opinions--Opponents of _Mare
- Liberum_--De Freiras--Pacius--Welwood--His _Abridgment of All
- Sea Lawes_ and _De Dominio Maris_--Arguments for appropriation
- of sea fisheries--Grotius’ _Defensio_ in reply to Welwood--Other
- authorities--Thomas Craig--Gerard Malynes--Alberico Gentilis--The
- 100-mile limit--The rights of the Crown in the foreshores and bed of
- the sea--Thomas Digges--Sergeant Callis--Chief Justice Coke--Charles
- desires to establish his rights to the dominion of the seas by “some
- public writing”--Records searched--Sir John Boroughs’ _Soveraignty
- of the British Seas_--Its contents and reasoning--Selden’s _Mare
- Clausum_--Begun at desire of King James--Published in 1635 by
- the king’s commands--Its importance immediately recognised--The
- king’s eulogy--The character of _Mare Clausum_--Its facts and
- arguments--Absolute sovereignty claimed for English crown--Anxiety in
- Holland--States-General resolve on an official refutation of _Mare
- Clausum_--Graswinckel’s treatise--Pontanus 338
-
-
- CHAPTER X.
-
- THE PARLIAMENT, THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE PROTECTORATE.
-
- THE FIRST DUTCH WAR.
-
- Claim to the sovereignty of the sea and the salute
- continued--Instructions to naval officers essentially the
- same--Encounter with Swedish squadron--Action approved by Admiralty
- committee--Council of State instruct Blake to preserve the dominion
- of the seas--The Dutch strike willingly--Strained relations between
- the Parliament and the United Provinces--Political revolution in
- Holland--Mission of St John and Strickland to The Hague--Propositions
- for fusion and alliance--The _Intercursus Magnus_ taken as basis for
- treaty--St John’s seven Articles--The thirty-six Articles of the
- Dutch--Failure of negotiations--Feeling in England--English letters
- of reprisal--Embassy of Cats, Schaep, and Van de Perre--Dutch fleet
- increased--Discussion of thirty-six Articles--Fresh instructions
- from Holland--The negotiations suddenly interrupted--Blake’s
- encounter with Tromp in the Straits of Dover regarding the striking
- of the flag--Its antecedents--Tromp’s defective instructions as
- to striking--Account of the fight--Indignation in London--Embassy
- of the Grand Pensionary, Adrian Pauw--First Dutch war--Blake and
- the herring-busses--Tromp’s broom--The Parliament asserts the
- right of the Commonwealth to the sovereignty of the seas and the
- fishery--Selden’s _Mare Clausum_ translated and published by order of
- the Council of State--Controversy between Selden and Graswinckel 378
-
-
- CHAPTER XI.
-
- THE PARLIAMENT, THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE PROTECTORATE--_continued._
-
- THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.
-
- The negotiations for peace--Mission of Beverning, Nieuport, Van de
- Perre, and Jongestal--The attitude of Cromwell--Proposals for
- fusion abandoned--Cromwell’s twelve Articles--The sovereignty
- of the sea and the fishery put in the foreground--The twenty-seven
- Articles proposed by the Council of State--Claim to the
- fishery, the salute, the right of search, the exclusive guard of the
- British seas, &c.--The strong objections of the Dutch--Cromwell
- acts as spokesman of the Council--Discussion on the flag and the
- herring fishery--The negotiations come to a standstill--The Dutch
- ambassadors ask for their passports--Cromwell becomes Lord
- Protector--Negotiations continued--Dutch proposals regarding
- the salute--Cromwell withdraws the fishery article and the
- declaration respecting the sovereignty of the sea--The terms
- British Seas and Narrow Seas--Dutch propose to strike the flag all
- over the world--The ambassadors return to Holland--They come
- back again--Cromwell suddenly reopens the question as to the
- British seas--Conclusion of treaty of peace--Diplomatic success
- of the Dutch regarding the claim to the sovereignty of the sea--The
- article on the striking of the flag--Enforcing the salute--Complaints
- of English fishermen 414
-
-
- CHAPTER XII.
-
- CHARLES II.
-
- THE SECOND DUTCH WAR.
-
- Pretension to sovereignty of sea maintained--Efforts to revive
- the fisheries--Legislation--Bill against foreigners fishing
- on British coasts--Act of Scottish Parliament--Council of the
- Royal Fishery of Great Britain and Ireland appointed--The
- scheme receives little public support--Slovenly management of
- the Society’s affairs--Negotiations with Dutch regarding the
- sovereignty of the sea, the flag, and the fishery--Attitude of
- De Witt--His negotiations with France--Treaty concluded with
- Louis XIV. guaranteeing mutual protection to fishermen--Downing
- and De Witt--Treaty of London--Article on flag--Ignorance at
- Admiralty as to practice in striking--Second Dutch war--Causes
- of--De Ruyter in the Thames--Licenses for fishing offered to
- Dutch and refused--Grant of fishing rights to Bruges--Effect of
- the war on the fisheries--Dispute between Dutch and French as to
- salute--Peace conference at Breda--Claim to fishery withdrawn by
- Charles--Treaty article on flag--The term British Seas restricted
- to the Channel--Ambiguities regarding the practice of striking--De
- Witt’s proposals to Temple for a “Regulation”--The Dutch ambassadors
- discuss the matter with Charles--Their declaration about striking
- to a frigate or ketch--Practice of striking described--Denmark also
- proposes a “Regulation”--De Witt’s intrigues at Paris regarding the
- salute disclosed to Charles--Arrangement between France and England
- as to striking--Admiralty give close attention to the rules--Foreign
- disputes about the salute--General order by the States of Holland 441
-
-
- CHAPTER XIII.
-
- CHARLES II.--_continued._
-
- THE THIRD DUTCH WAR.
-
- Policy of Louis XIV.--The Triple Alliance--Secret compact of
- Charles and Louis against the Dutch--Parliament deceived--Pretexts
- for a fleet--Ill-feeling against Dutch fomented--Inquiries
- by Sir Leoline Jenkins as to striking and extent of British seas--The
- king’s yacht, _Merlin_, sent to pick a quarrel about the flag--The
- scheme miscarries--Downing’s mission to The Hague--Capture
- of Dutch shipping--Attack on Smyrna fleet--Declaration
- of war--The dominion of the seas flouted--The English to
- salute the French--The war and the fisheries--The Dutch sue
- for peace--The terms offered--Tribute for fishing asked--Meeting
- of Parliament--Shaftesbury on the sovereignty of the sea--The
- war most unpopular--Attempts to arouse public feeling as to
- dominion of the sea--Prynne--Smith--Roger Coke--Henry
- Stubbe--Charles forced to negotiate for peace--The Congress
- at Cologne--Prolonged discussions about the flag, the fisheries,
- and the sovereignty of the seas--Charles requires the salute
- between Cape Finisterre and the North Cape--Dutch assume
- a firmer attitude--Refuse to ask for liberty to fish--Offer to
- strike in all seas--Congress breaks up--Strong attitude of
- Parliament in favour of the Dutch--Separate peace made in
- London--Sir William Temple--The claim to the fishery dropped--Article
- regarding the salute--A diplomatic triumph for the
- Dutch--Disputes at sea about striking--The incidents of the
- _Cleveland_, the _Charles_, the _Cambridge_--English commander condemned
- to death for striking to the Spaniards--Masters of foreign
- merchantmen prosecuted in Admiralty Court for refusing to strike--Works
- on the sovereignty of the sea--Evelyn--Molloy--Further
- schemes to promote the fisheries 474
-
-
- CHAPTER XIV.
-
- JAMES II. AND AFTER.
-
- Gradual decline of the pretension to the sovereignty of the
- sea--England and the United Provinces allied against France--Louis’
- ordinance regarding the salute--William III. claims the
- sovereignty of the narrow seas--The question of striking becomes
- of little international importance--The Admiralty instructions
- concerning--Disputes about it less common--Encounter with a Swedish
- man-of-war--The case of the _Gironde_--The naval historians
- on the sovereignty of the sea--Articles regarding striking
- in later treaties--The ceremony abandoned after the battle of
- Trafalgar--General claims to maritime dominion give place to
- international arrangements--Sir Philip Meadows--His treatise against
- the dominion of the seas--Definite boundaries begin to be fixed
- for fisheries--Fishery disputes between Denmark and the United
- Provinces--Great Britain sides with the Dutch in opposing claims to
- _Mare Clausum_--The North American fishery treaties of the eighteenth
- century--The claim to the sovereignty of the seas dies out--Decay of
- the Dutch fisheries and rise of the British 517
-
-
- SECTION II.--THE TERRITORIAL WATERS.
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
- THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE TERRITORIAL SEA.
-
- Various limits proposed or adopted--The old English
- lawyers, Glanville, Bracton, Britton, “Fleta”--Early
- Italian jurists--Bartolus, Baldus--Limits of 100 and of 60
- miles--Bodin--Gentilis--No general common usage--The mid-line
- or Thalweg--The “Mirror of Justice”--Plowden--Chief Justice
- Hales--Jurisdiction of Cinque Ports in Channel--The range of
- vision or “land-kenning”--Lord Stair--Sarpi’s proposal--Bays,
- straits, and arms of the sea--The King’s Chambers--Range of
- guns from shore--Proposed by Dutch in 1610--Not adopted in
- seventeenth century--Selden, Pontanus, Burgus, &c.--Influence of
- Loccenius and Puffendorf--Opinion of publicists at end seventeenth
- century--Usage in seventeenth century--Decisions of High Court of
- Admiralty regarding King’s Chambers--Gradual change of opinion
- and practice--Publicists in eighteenth century--The teaching
- of Bynkershoek--Dominion extends as far as projectiles can be
- thrown from the shore--Connection with salute and visit and
- search--Bynkershoek’s principle only slowly accepted--Opinions of
- Casaregi, Abreu, Wolff, Vattel, Hübner, Valin, Moser, Lampredi,
- Galiani, Von Martens--Three miles as equivalent to the utmost
- range of guns proposed by Galiani (1782), C. F. von Martens
- (1789), and Azuni (1795)--Summary of opinions--Usage in eighteenth
- century--Tendency to fix definite boundaries--Venice--Great
- Britain--Denmark--Sweden--Norway--Spain--Range of guns adopted by
- Tuscany, the Pope, Genoa, Venice, and in various international
- treaties--Three-mile limit first adopted by the United States of
- America in 1793--Exception of bays--Various limits claimed by the
- United States 537
-
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
- GENERAL ADOPTION OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT.
-
- Cannon-range and three-mile limit as its equivalent introduced into
- English Jurisprudence in 1800, 1801--Lord Stowell’s decisions
- regarding the _Twee Gebroeders_ and the _Anna_ in British High
- Court of Admiralty--Restricted to questions of neutrality--The
- practice of Great Britain and the United States leads to
- general adoption of three-mile limit--First applied to fisheries (of
- North America) by Great Britain--Treaty of 1818--Negotiations
- concerning Behring Sea--Russian claim of 100 miles--Adoption of
- gunshot or three miles--Judicial decisions as to extent of territorial
- sea--The Bristol Channel--Conception Bay--Statutes relative
- to territorial waters--Foreign Enlistment Act--Territorial
- Waters Jurisdiction Act--The _Franconia_ case--Three-mile
- limit restricted to the open coast for certain purposes only--Bays
- excluded--The Hovering Acts--Customs’ jurisdiction--Quarantine
- Acts--Opinions of publicists of earlier part of nineteenth
- century--Rayneval, Chitty, Schmalz, Klüber, Wheaton, Kent,
- Manning, Heffter, Reddie, Ortolan, Hautefeuille, Pistoye and
- Duverdy, Massé--Summary--Most accept cannon-range--Few
- accept the three-mile limit 576
-
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
- THE FISHERY CONVENTIONS.
-
- In nineteenth century the boundaries of territorial sea concerned
- chiefly with fisheries--Encroachment of foreign fishermen--Dutch
- decrees of 1824 and 1829 fixing a limit of two leagues on British
- coast--Disputes with French fishermen--Inquiry by select committee
- of House of Commons, 1833--Their recommendations--Opinion as to
- bays--Renewed encroachments and disputes--Convention with France,
- 1839--Three-mile limit and ten miles for bays adopted--Granville
- Bay reserved for French--Regulations regarding trawling--Disputes
- with Belgian and Dutch fishermen--Belgians claim special rights
- under Bruges Charter--Convention of 1852 with Belgium--Dispute
- about Fame Islands--Second Convention with France, 1867--Not
- ratified--Question of Irish oyster-beds beyond three-mile
- limit--Fishery disputes in British North America--The definition
- of bays and creeks--British cruisers seize American vessels--The
- British Government relax the rule as to Bay of Fundy--Decision of
- referee as to this bay--Reciprocity Treaty, 1854--Terminated by
- United States, 1866--Concessions by British Government--Licenses
- to American vessels--A six-mile limit for bays conceded--Treaty
- of Washington, 1871--Terminated by United States, 1885--Treaty
- of Washington, 1888--Precise delimitation of bays--Treaty not
- ratified by United States--_Modus vivendi_ conceded and still in
- force--Discussion as to bays--Renewed disputes in North Sea--The
- Belgian “Devil”--The Higgin’s Inquiry--Conference at Hague,
- 1881--Views of British Government as to territorial limit--Question
- of dependent banks--Trawling and preservation of fish--North Sea
- Convention, 1882--Sweden and Norway refuse to join--Discussion
- of its terms--Views of British Government as to inclusion of
- banks--Question of the Eddystone, the Bell Rock, the Seven-Stones
- Rocks--Discussion as to limit under the Conventions and under the Law
- of Nations--Anglo-Danish Convention, 1901, respecting the Faröes and
- Iceland 604
-
-
- CHAPTER IV.
-
- THE MODERN PRACTICE OF STATES AND THE OPINIONS
- OF RECENT PUBLICISTS.
-
- Apparent discrepancy between general practice and
- the opinions of publicists--No state has formally
- defined the extent of its territorial sea--Practice in
- Germany--Denmark--Two limits enforced--Russia--The White
- Sea--France--Belgium--Netherlands--Austria-Hungary--Italy--Greece--British
- Colonies--Japan--United States of
- America--Chile--Argentina--Uruguay--Three-mile limit
- generally adopted for fisheries--Exceptions in four European
- states--Spain and Portugal claim six miles--Repudiated by
- British Government--Discontent in Spain and Portugal--Norway
- and Sweden--Special Scandinavian limits--Fjords
- reserved--Vestfjord--Varangerfjord--Discussion of Norwegian
- limit--Rejection of three-mile boundary--Recent Norwegian laws--The
- three-mile limit is an Anglo-American doctrine--Opinions of modern
- publicists--Calvo, Bluntschli, Phillimore, Halleck, Lawrence, Bishop,
- Woolsey, Dana, Twiss, Fiore, Pradiere-Fodéré, Perels, Ferguson,
- Desjardins, Kleen, Aschehoug, de Martens, Hall, Oppenheim--The
- limit under the Law of Nations is the range of guns--Declarations
- of the International Law Association and the Institut de Droit
- International--Three miles insufficient--Six miles proposed for
- fisheries, &c--The zone or line of respect for neutrality to be
- declared by each state 650
-
-
- CHAPTER V.
-
- THE INADEQUACY OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT FOR
- FISHERY REGULATIONS.
-
- Three miles insufficient for the regulation of the fisheries--Seal
- fisheries--Behring Sea arbitration--Oyster, pearl-oyster, and coral
- fisheries--Regulations for “floating” fish--Relation of trawl-fishing
- to three-mile limit--Recent great extension of trawling--The effect
- on the fishing-grounds--Official inquiries--English trawlers desire
- an increased limit in North Sea--International conference at
- London, 1890--Inquiry by select committee of House of Commons--They
- recommend international extension of present limit for fishery
- purposes--Immature Fish Bill--Its object--Parliamentary inquiry,
- 1900--They urge international arrangement for North Sea--Bill again
- introduced--Inquiry by committee of House of Lords, 1904--They
- recommend international agreement for North Sea--The impoverishment
- of the fishing-grounds in the North Sea--Trawlers flock to foreign
- coasts--Feeling among foreign fishermen--Legislation in various
- countries regulating trawling beyond the three-mile limit--Norway,
- Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria--Ireland--Not restricted to
- bays--Scotland--Fishery Acts--Firth of Clyde--Moray Firth--Act
- of 1895 empowering a thirteen-mile limit--Intrusion of foreign
- and pseudo-Norwegian trawlers into Moray Firth--Prosecutions and
- convictions--Case of Peters _versus_ Olsen--Case of Mortensen
- _versus_ Peters--Decision of the Scottish High Court of
- Justiciary--Opinions of the judges--Intervention of Norwegian
- Government--Release of offenders--Foreign Office decline to open
- negotiations with foreign Powers--Debates in Parliament--Lord
- Fitzmaurice on territorial limit and bays--Opinions of Lord
- Halsbury, Lord Herschell, Lord Salisbury, Lord Chancellor
- Loreburn--Declarations of Sir Edward Grey, Minister for Foreign
- Affairs--Views of British Government--Previous action of Great
- Britain in connection with extra-territorial fisheries--Recent
- proceedings with foreign Powers regarding the three-mile limit--The
- international fishery investigations--Need of an international
- arrangement 693
-
-
- APPENDIX.
-
- _A._ The Libel regarding Reyner Grimbald. De Superioritate Maris
- Angliæ et Jure officii Admirallatus in eodem 741
-
- _B._ Abstract of Proceedings before the Auditors regarding the same
- 744
-
- _C._ License for Fishing at the “Zowe” Bank in the Channel, 1615 749
-
- _D._ Proclamation of James I. relative to the King’s Chambers, 1st
- March 1604/1605 750
-
- _E._ Declaration of the Jury of the Trinity House as to the Limits of
- the King’s Chambers, 4th March 1604/1605 753
-
- _F._ Proclamation of James I. for the Restraint of Foreigners fishing
- on the British Coasts, 6th May 1609 755
-
- _G._ Instructions by the Privy Council of Scotland for the Levying of
- the “Assize-herrings” from Foreign Fishermen 757
-
- _H._ Proclamation of Charles I. as to preventing Abuses in the Narrow
- Seas and Ports, and claiming Sovereignty of the Sea 759
-
- _I._ Report of the Admiralty to Charles I. as to the Employment
- of the Ship-money Fleet in wafting and securing Foreign Merchants
- passing through His Majesty’s Seas, and in protecting Foreign
- Fishermen who accept the King’s License, 5th February 1635/1636 762
-
- _K._ Abstract of the Thirty-six Articles proposed by the Dutch to St
- John at The Hague, 1650, 1651 764
-
- _L._ Tromp’s Memorandum to the States of Holland as to the Custom of
- Striking the Flag to the English, 27th February/9th March 1651 770
-
- _M._ Copy of Originals of Letters between Tromp and Blake, after the
- encounter in the Straits of Dover, 1652 771
-
- _N._ Concession to Bruges to fish in the British Seas, 1666 772
-
- _O._ Articles adopted by the Institut de Droit International at
- Paris, and by the International Law Association at London, with
- reference to the Territorial Waters 774
-
-
- INDEX 777
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
-
-
- FIG. PAGE
-
- THE “BRITISH SEAS,” ACCORDING TO SELDEN _Frontispiece_
-
- 1. EDWARD’S NOBLE 37
-
- 2. HITCHCOCK’S REPRESENTATION OF THE ENGLISH AND FLEMISH
- FISHERIES 99
-
- 3. CHART PREPARED BY THE TRINITY HOUSE, SHOWING THE
- BEARINGS OF THE KING’S CHAMBERS. FROM SELDEN 121
-
- 4. SHOWING THE KING’S CHAMBERS ON THE COAST OF ENGLAND 123
-
- 5. FACSIMILE OF KEYMER’s SIGNATURE TO HIS ‘BOOK OF OBSERVATIONS’ 127
-
- 6. FACSIMILE OF THE CONCLUDING PART OF THE DRAFT OF
- COMMITTEE’S REPORT TO PRIVY COUNCIL REGARDING THE
- RESTRAINT OF FOREIGNERS FISHING ON THE BRITISH
- COASTS 149
-
- 7. FACSIMILE OF MINUTE OF THE DECLARATION OF THE DUTCH
- ENVOYS AS TO THE RANGE OF GUNS 156
-
- 8. DUTCH WHALERS AT SPITZBERGEN. AFTER VAN DER MEULEN 182
-
- 9. SHOWING THE LIMITS OF THE “RESERVED WATERS” CLAIMED
- BY SCOTLAND 231
-
- 10. DUTCH HERRING-BUSSES UNDER SAIL. AFTER VAN DER
- MEULEN 297
-
- 11. DUTCH HERRING-BUSSES HAULING THEIR NETS, WITH CONVOYING
- SHIP-OF-WAR. AFTER VAN DER MEULEN 299
-
- 12. FACSIMILE OF THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF THE MONIES RECEIVED
- FROM THE DUTCH HERRING FISHERMEN FOR THE
- KING’S LICENSES 310
-
- 13. THE “SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS.” AFTER VANDEVELDE 324
-
- 14. FACSIMILE OF PART OF THE CHART, SHOWING WHERE THE
- “TWEE GEBROEDERS” WERE TAKEN. FROM ROBINSON,
- ADMIRALTY REPORTS 578
-
- 15. THE BRISTOL CHANNEL 587
-
- 16. SHOWING THE LIMITS RESERVED FOR FRENCH FISHERMEN IN
- GRANVILLE BAY 613
-
- 17. BAY OF FUNDY 623
-
- 18. BAY DES CHALEURS 625
-
- 19. SHOWING THE SANDBANKS AT THE MOUTH OF THE EMS 635
-
- 20. SHOWING THE LIMITS FOR THE ANGLO-DANISH FISHERY CONVENTION
- OF 1901 648
-
- 21. SHOWING THE TWO LIMITS IN DANISH WATERS. FROM
- ‘DANSK-FISKERITIDENDE’ 654
-
- 22. THE WHITE SEA, SHOWING THE LINE BETWEEN CAPE KANIN
- AND CAPE SVIATOI 656
-
- 23. SHOWING THE LIMIT AT ROMSDAL AMT, NORWAY 670
-
- 24. THE VESTFJORD, LOFOTEN ISLANDS 673
-
- 25. THE VARANGERFJORD 675
-
- 26. SHOWING THE THREE-MILE LIMIT AND A THIRTEEN-MILE
- LIMIT IN THE NORTH SEA 703
-
- 27. SHOWING THE AREA OF THE SMALL-FISH GROUNDS, WHICH
- THE ENGLISH TRAWLERS DESIRED TO HAVE CLOSED FOR
- THE PRESERVATION OF IMMATURE FISH 705
-
- 28. CHART SHOWING THE FISHING-GROUNDS FREQUENTED BY
- BRITISH TRAWLERS. FROM REPORT OF THE BOARD OF
- AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES FOR 1906 712
-
- 29. THE FIRTH OF CLYDE, SHOWING THE LINE OF CLOSURE AND
- THE ORDINARY THREE-MILE LIMIT 719
-
- 30. THE MORAY FIRTH, SHOWING THE LINE OF CLOSURE 723
-
-
-
-
-THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA.
-
-INTRODUCTION.
-
-
-One of the most prominent and characteristic features in English
-history relates to the sea and maritime affairs, and the reason is not
-far to seek. The geographical situation of the country--everywhere
-surrounded by the waves, separated on the one side from the Continent
-by a narrow strait and open on the other to the great ocean--made it
-almost inevitable. And to the advantage of insularity was added the
-potent influence of race. A great part, if not the larger part, of our
-blood has come from the old Scandinavian peoples,--the sea-wolves, as
-the Roman poet said, whose school was the sea and who lived on the
-pillage of the world; and it is to this circumstance even more perhaps
-than to the accident of position that we owe our maritime and naval
-supremacy and the vast empire scattered around the globe. Running
-through the web of English history one perceives the connecting thread
-of maritime interest and occupation interwoven with the national life,
-and at all times affecting the national policy. First and foremost
-was the necessity of securing the land from invasion; then came the
-duty of safeguarding shipping and commerce; and with regard to those
-fundamental interests, the language used by our rulers centuries ago
-was the same as that which is used by our statesmen to-day. The sea
-must be “kept.” That has been the maxim and watchword of national
-policy throughout the ages, and the recognition of its truth was
-by no means confined to rulers and statesmen. The people at large
-have always been as convinced and as resolved that the supremacy or
-dominion on the sea should be maintained as were those in whose hands
-was placed the guidance of the affairs of the state. Again and again,
-when owing to mismanagement of the national resources, the poverty
-of the exchequer, or from some other cause, the supremacy at sea was
-endangered or temporarily lost, one will find the people clamouring for
-steps to be taken to maintain it. On the other hand, such was the deep
-and abiding sentiment with respect to the sovereignty of the sea, when
-this king or that wished to embark upon a policy or engage in a war for
-an object that was secret or unpopular, there was no better method of
-deceiving the people than by declaring that the dominion of the sea was
-in danger. Thrice in the compass of a single generation the nation was
-plunged into war with the object of maintaining it.
-
-One thus finds in English history a great deal which refers to the
-sovereignty of the sea, although the words were not always used to
-signify the same thing. Most commonly perhaps they meant a mastery
-or supremacy by force of arms,--what is now so much spoken of as
-sea-power. In times of peace, the strength of the navy should be such
-as to safeguard the commerce that came to the realm and went from
-it, thus enabling merchants and traders to carry on their traffic
-in security. In time of war, the fleets should be strong enough to
-sweep the seas, so that, as it has been described, the bounds of the
-empire should then be the coasts of the enemy. But, more strictly, the
-sovereignty of the sea was a political sovereignty that existed as a
-matter of right, and was duly recognised as such, apart from an actual
-predominance of naval power at the time, just as the sovereignty of a
-state exists on land, though in both cases its maintenance may depend
-upon the sword. In this sense, the sovereignty of the sea signified
-the same sole power of jurisdiction and rule as obtained on land, and
-also, in its extreme form, an exclusive property in the sea as part
-of the territory of the realm,--very much indeed like the rights that
-are now admitted by the law of nations to appertain to the so-called
-territorial waters of a state. Many things and many interests were
-thus embraced in the term besides the question of naval ascendency.
-There were jurisdictions of various kinds and for various purposes.
-There was the important subject of the fisheries in the waters adjacent
-to the coasts, or, it might be, in distant regions. There was the still
-more important question of the freedom or restriction of commerce and
-navigation from one European country to another, or to the remote
-countries in the east or west which had been opened up to commercial
-enterprise by the discoveries of the early navigators. There was,
-moreover, another subject which was specially characteristic of the
-English pretensions to the dominion of the seas, and which gave rise to
-more trouble than all the others combined, and that was the demand that
-foreign vessels on meeting with a ship of the king’s should lower their
-top-sails and strike their flag as a token and acknowledgment of that
-dominion.
-
-Although according to the Roman law the sea was common and free to
-all, in the middle ages many seas had become more or less effectively
-appropriated, and Civilian writers began to assign to maritime states,
-as a principle of law, a certain jurisdiction in the waters adjacent to
-their coasts. The distance to which such jurisdiction was allowed by
-those writers was variously stated. Very commonly it extended to sixty
-or one hundred miles from the land, and thus included all the bordering
-sea within which navigation was practically confined. Sometimes
-the principle governing the ownership of rivers was transferred in
-theory to the sea, the possession of the opposite shores by the same
-state being held to entitle that state to the sovereignty over the
-intervening water; or, if it possessed only one shore, to the same
-right as far as the mid-line. In most cases, however, the appropriation
-of the sea was effected by force and legalised afterwards, if legalised
-at all, and the disputes on the subject between different nations not
-infrequently led to sanguinary wars.
-
-The most notable instances are to be found among the early Italian
-Republics. Long before the end of the thirteenth century Venice,
-eminent for her commerce, wealth, and maritime power, assumed the
-sovereignty over the whole of the Adriatic, though she was not in
-possession of both the shores, and after repeated appeals to the sword
-she was able to enforce the right to levy tribute on the ships of
-other peoples which navigated the Gulf, or to prohibit their passage
-altogether. The neighbouring cities and commonwealths were soon
-compelled to agree to her claim, which was eventually recognised by
-the other Powers of Europe and by the Pope. The right of Venice to the
-dominion of the Adriatic, arising in this way by force, became firmly
-established by custom and treaty; and even after she had fallen from
-her greatness and was hardly able to sustain her claim by the sword,
-it was still for a time admitted by other nations, who looked upon the
-Republic as forming a useful barrier to the farther extension of the
-Turk in Europe and as a scourge to the Saracen pirates.[1] On the other
-side of the Italian peninsula, the Republic of Genoa advanced a similar
-claim to the dominion of the Ligurian Sea, and some of the other
-Mediterranean states followed the example in the waters with which they
-were most immediately concerned.
-
-Then in the north of Europe, Denmark and Sweden, and later Poland,
-contended for or shared in the dominion of the Baltic. The Sound and
-the Belts fell into the possession of Denmark, the Bothnian Gulf
-passed under the rule of Sweden; and all the northern seas between
-Norway on the one hand, and the Shetland Isles, Iceland, Greenland,
-and Spitzbergen on the other, were claimed by Norway and later by
-Denmark, on the principle referred to above, that possession was held
-of the opposite shores. The Scandinavian claims to maritime dominion
-are probably indeed the most important in history. They led to several
-wars; they were the cause of many international treaties and of
-innumerable disputes about fishery, trading, and navigation; they were
-the last to be abandoned. Until about half a century ago Denmark still
-exacted a toll from ships passing through the Sound,--a tribute which
-at one time was a heavy burden on the trade to and from the Baltic.
-
-Still more extensive were the claims put forward by Spain and Portugal.
-In the sixteenth century these Powers, in virtue of Bulls of the
-Pope and the Treaty of Tordesillas, divided the great oceans between
-them. Spain claimed the exclusive right of navigation in the western
-portion of the Atlantic, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Pacific.
-Portugal assumed a similar right in the Atlantic south of Morocco and
-in the Indian Ocean. It was those preposterous pretensions to the
-dominion of the immense waters of the globe that caused the great
-juridical controversies regarding _mare clausum_ and _mare liberum_,
-from which modern international law took its rise. The task of Grotius
-in demolishing them by argument was, however, materially facilitated
-by the exploits of Drake, Hawkins, and Cavendish on the part of the
-English, and of Jakob van Heemskerk on the part of the Dutch; and, as
-we shall show, the credit on having first asserted the freedom of the
-seas in the sense now universally recognised, belongs rather to our own
-Queen Elizabeth than to the Dutch publicist.
-
-In thus appropriating the seas adjacent to their territories, or which
-formed the means of communication with them, the various nations
-were doubtless impelled by consideration of their own immediate
-interests. Sometimes it helped to secure the safety of their coasts or
-commerce; in other cases it enabled them to levy tribute on foreign
-shipping traversing the appropriated waters, and thus to increase
-their revenues; or it allowed them to preserve the fisheries for the
-exclusive use of their own subjects. In most instances, however, the
-principal object appears to have been to maintain a monopoly of trade
-and commerce as far as possible in their own hands, in accordance with
-the commercial spirit of the times.
-
-But when the matter is more carefully examined in its historical
-aspects, a less selfish explanation may be found of the tendency to
-appropriate seas in the middle ages. In the state of wild anarchy which
-prevailed after the break-up of the Roman empire, pirates swarmed along
-every coast where booty might be had. Scandinavian rovers infested the
-Baltic, the North Sea, and the Channel; Saracens and Greeks preyed upon
-the commerce of the Mediterranean; everywhere the navigation of trading
-vessels was exposed to constant peril from the attacks of freebooters.
-The sea was then common only in the sense of being universally open to
-depredation.[2] The lawlessness and insecurity that reigned on the
-sea led merchants, in the absence of effective sovereign authority,
-to form associations among themselves for mutual protection, and to
-maintain by force the security of navigation in the common interest.
-Independent princes at first made use of the armed fleets of those
-voluntary associations, and later, as their power grew stronger and
-better organised, they took over the duty of policing the neighbouring
-seas under an admiralty jurisdiction of their own, which enforced the
-maritime laws and customs, such as the Laws of Oleron, that had been
-gradually developed among the merchant associations. In the thirteenth
-century this duty of exercising supreme admiralty jurisdiction on the
-neighbouring sea came to be regarded as a prerogative of sovereign
-power,[3] and it was only a short step further to the assertion of an
-exclusive dominion. It was natural that this assumption of sovereignty
-on the sea should first be made by the great trading cities of
-Italy, who then controlled the important traffic between the east
-and the west, and whose shipping was to be found in all the ports of
-Christendom. It was also natural that the Italian jurists should be
-the first to attempt to give it a legal sanction, by assigning a large
-part of the bordering sea for the exercise of those sovereign functions
-which were originally confined to the maintenance of order and the
-punishment of delinquents. There is little doubt that the assumption of
-sovereign jurisdiction in this way was advantageous to navigation and
-commerce in those times, though later, with the extension of commercial
-intercourse and the increased security of the sea, it became burdensome
-and unnecessary.
-
-There are good reasons for the belief that the English claims to the
-sovereignty of the sea originated in this humble way--by the exercise
-of jurisdiction in the interests of peaceful commerce--some time
-after the Norman Conquest, and in all probability first of all in the
-Channel or the Straits of Dover. The earliest indication of it is to
-be found in the much-discussed ordinance which King John issued in
-1201. By that ordinance any ships or vessels, “laden or empty,” which
-refused “at sea” to lower their sails when ordered to do so by the
-king’s lieutenant or admiral in any voyage appointed by the Council,
-and resisted the demand, were to be reputed as enemies, and the ships,
-vessels, and goods were to be seized and forfeited and the crews
-punished. This is the first evidence of the custom of lowering the
-top-sails and striking the flag which afterwards became so notorious as
-a supposed acknowledgment of the English sovereignty of the sea; and it
-is to be noted that, in later times at least, the vessel had not only
-to strike, but had also to “lie by the lee.” Considering the prevalence
-of piracy and the jurisdiction exercised by the state for its
-suppression, as above described, and in view likewise of the special
-measures taken by John to encourage and safeguard foreign commerce, the
-most reasonable explanation of the origin of the custom is that the
-demand for the sail to be lowered--and the largest vessels then had but
-one mast and a single sail--was to enable the king’s officers, who were
-there to maintain the security of navigation, to ascertain the true
-nature of the vessel which they challenged, whether it was a peaceful
-trader or a pirate. In all ages piratical vessels have been generally
-swift, and, if we judge from later times, the ships used in the navy
-were generally slow: the command to a vessel to lower its sails was
-thus made in order to deprive it of the power of escaping until the
-king’s officers had satisfied themselves as to its _bona fides_, and
-was equivalent to the gun that was fired in later times in connection
-with “visit and search.” Shortly before the ordinance was issued,
-John sent writs to the Mayor and Commonalty of London and to all the
-Sheriffs of England instructing that all merchants, of what nation
-soever, should have safe conduct to pass into and repass from England,
-and to enjoy peace and security.[4] It is noteworthy that in the first
-record relating to the seizure of a vessel for not lowering its sail (a
-Flemish herring smack, in 1402) it was pled on its behalf that it was
-not armed, and that the sail had been dropped at the first command. It
-is also noteworthy that the ordinance of John was placed in the _Black
-Book of the Admiralty_ immediately after the mercantile marine laws.
-
-Further evidence as to this sort of jurisdiction in the so-called “Sea
-of England” is to be found in the reign of Edward I., at the end of
-the thirteenth century and the beginning of the next, in the reign
-of Edward III., and later, more particularly in the famous rolls,
-“On the Supremacy of the Sea of England and the Right of the Office
-of Admiralty in the same,” as well as in the _Black Book_. The rolls
-referred to show that England had the sovereign jurisdiction in regard
-to the maintenance of peace and security in the Sea of England, but
-there is no evidence to indicate that that Sea extended far from the
-coast, or that the rights exercised differed from those put in force by
-other maritime states in the waters adjoining their territory. A great
-deal was made later of these rolls and of the ordinance of John, as
-proving that the Angevin or Plantagenet kings possessed the sovereignty
-of the sea; but beyond the jurisdiction in question, which doubtless
-was exercised in the Straits of Dover and perhaps in the Channel when
-the coasts on each side were in the possession of the crown, there is a
-lack of evidence to prove that any claim of the kind was made. In those
-times the kings of England were not infrequently styled Lords of the
-Sea, but this appears to have been either because of the existence of
-this “sovereign lordship” in the neighbouring waters, or, more usually,
-because they held at the time the actual command and mastery of the
-seas in a military sense. There were long periods when nothing was
-heard of any pretension by England to a special sovereignty of the sea,
-and, in point of fact, the characteristic features of appropriation
-were always absent. No tribute was levied on foreign shipping passing
-through the Channel or the narrow seas, even when both coasts were
-held by the king, as was done by Denmark at the Sound and by Venice in
-the Adriatic. After the battle of Agincourt, when Henry V. had been
-recognised by the Treaty of Troyes as the future king of France and the
-power of England was predominant, the proposal of Parliament that such
-tribute should be levied was set aside. Foreign ships of war freely
-navigated the adjacent seas without asking or receiving permission to
-do so. The sea fisheries, moreover, were not appropriated. All people
-were at liberty to come and share in them, and this freedom to fish
-on the English coast was expressly provided for in a long series of
-treaties with foreign Powers. The so-called sovereignty of the seas
-exercised by England thus differed from the actual sovereignty enjoyed
-by Venice and the northern states of Europe, whose rights were,
-moreover, recognised in numerous treaties with other nations.
-
-Until the accession of the Stuarts indeed, any pretension of England
-to a sovereignty in the sea had but little international importance.
-The custom of lowering the sail by vessels encountering a king’s ship,
-which probably, as above described, originated in a practical way,
-had grown into a ceremony in which the top-sails were dropped and
-the flag hauled down; but it is evident that this was done, even in
-Tudor times, rather as a matter of “honour” and respect than as an
-acknowledgment of maritime sovereignty. But after the Stuarts came to
-the throne the claim of England to the sovereignty of the sea became
-prominent in international affairs. The doctrine may be said to have
-been introduced by this dynasty and to have expired with it. One of
-the first acts of James I. was to cause to be laid down on charts the
-precise limits of the bays or “chambers” along the English coast,
-within which all hostile actions of belligerents were prohibited. This
-sensible proceeding, which had reference to the continuance of the war
-between the United Provinces and Spain (from which James had himself
-withdrawn), is not to be regarded as in any sense an assertion of
-maritime sovereignty or jurisdiction beyond what was customary; and
-it does not appear that any other prince or state contested the right
-of the king to treat these bays and arms of the sea as territorial in
-respect of neutrality. The limits of the “King’s Chambers” were fixed
-by a jury of thirteen skilled men, appointed by the Trinity House,
-according to their knowledge of what had been the custom in the past;
-and there is little doubt that the limits they adopted merely defined
-in an exact way what was previously held to be the waters under the
-special jurisdiction of the crown, or, in other words, the “Sea of
-England,” though the latter doubtless included, at times at least, the
-Straits of Dover and perhaps the Channel as well.
-
-But James went further than this. In 1609 he issued a proclamation
-in which he laid claim to the fisheries along the British and Irish
-coasts, and prohibited all foreigners from fishing on those coasts
-until they had demanded and obtained licenses from him or his
-commissioners. This policy of exclusive fishing, though in complete
-agreement with the views held in Scotland as to the waters “reserved”
-for the sole use of the inhabitants, was a reversal of the long-settled
-practice in England, where fishing in the sea was free. It is from
-this time that one may date the beginning of the English pretension
-to the sovereignty of the sea. The proclamation and the policy were
-aimed against the Dutch, the great commercial people of those times.
-Their ever-increasing herring fishery along the British coast was one
-of the principal sources of their wealth and power; by means of it
-indeed, according to their own accounts, they were able to maintain
-their vast commerce and shipping. The action of James may be looked
-upon as the first blow in the great contest between the English and
-the Dutch for maritime and commercial supremacy, which was prolonged
-throughout the seventeenth century; and the ready acceptance of the new
-policy by the English people was owing to the fact that the conditions
-had been gradually preparing for it in the preceding reign, while the
-two nations were still bound together in alliance against Catholic
-Spain. With the new development of commercial enterprise the English
-found the Dutch their competitors in trade in all parts of the globe to
-which they ventured. The feeling of jealousy that was thus engendered
-was embittered by the belief that they were often circumvented by the
-Dutch by unfair means, and this feeling deepened with every year as
-the century advanced. It was thus against the Dutch that the English
-pretension to the sovereignty of the sea was specially directed, and it
-eventually culminated in war. From various circumstances, and not least
-perhaps from the timid character of James when force was necessary, the
-policy of preventing the Dutch from fishing on the British coasts was
-not carried into effect in his lifetime. But with the tenacity that
-was a curious feature in his nature, his claim to the fisheries was
-kept alive and formed the subject of mutually irritating negotiations
-throughout the whole of his reign.
-
-Under Charles I. the English pretension rapidly developed and
-reached its greatest height, in connection more particularly with
-the ship-money fleets. The need of an efficient navy for the most
-elementary duty of safeguarding the sea had been made fully manifest
-by the frequent and flagrant violations of the king’s sovereignty in
-his “chambers,” and even in the ports and harbours, both by the Dutch
-and Dunkirkers. And some of the reasons which were used to justify the
-formation of a powerful fleet, far beyond the requirements necessary to
-enforce the ordinary jurisdiction, were sound enough. Without it, it
-was said, the kingdom could not be made safe, whereas if the king had
-the command of the seas he would be able to cause his neighbours “to
-stand upon their guard” whenever he thought fit; and it could not be
-doubted that those who would encroach upon him by sea would do it by
-land also when they saw their time. But the pretensions of Charles went
-far beyond this. He had caused the records in the Tower to be searched
-for evidence of the ancient supremacy exercised by the crown in the
-Sea of England, and when they were found they were interpreted in the
-widest possible sense. Charles assumed the rôle of the Plantagenets
-with a good deal added. The bounds of the Sea of England were extended
-to the coasts of the Continent, and over all the intervening water
-the king was to enforce an absolute sovereignty. No foreign fleets or
-men-of-war were to be allowed to “keep any guard” in them, to offer any
-violence, or to take prize or booty. All passing through them were to
-be “in pace Domini Regis,” in the peace and under the protection of the
-King of England, who was Lord of the Seas, ruling over them as part of
-his territory, and he would take care that there was no interruption of
-lawful intercourse. And as an acknowledgment of this sovereignty, all
-foreign ships or vessels meeting with a king’s ship in “those his seas”
-were to lower their top-sails and strike their flag as they passed by.
-Charles even proposed to levy tribute on the foreign ships that passed
-through “his seas,” but by the advice of the Admiralty this was to be
-only voluntary, in payment for waftage or convoy.
-
-These extraordinary pretensions Selden attempted to justify in his
-book, _Mare Clausum_, but Charles was unable to carry them into effect.
-It is pitiful to read of the proceedings of the great ship-money
-fleets, created under circumstances so memorable in English history,
-roaming about the Channel in their vain attempts to compel the French
-men-of-war to strike their flags, and in the North Sea forcing the
-king’s licenses on the poor Dutch herring fishermen. The Earl of
-Northumberland succeeded in the latter mission, against which the
-Dutch Government strongly protested, and there is no doubt that if
-the policy had been persisted in, the first Dutch war would have been
-antedated by some fifteen years.
-
-At this period and during nearly all the remainder of the century the
-greatest prominence was given to the striking of the flag, which had
-continued to be a matter of small importance in the reign of James. It
-was now claimed as a token and acknowledgment of England’s sovereignty
-of the sea, and it was insisted on with the utmost arrogance. The
-“honour of the flag” burned like a fever in the veins of the English
-naval commanders, who vied with one another in enforcing the ceremony,
-not merely in the Channel or near the English coast, but in the roads
-and off the ports on the Continent; and the records relating to their
-achievements in this respect were treasured up in the archives of the
-Admiralty, to be used again and again in later diplomatic negotiations
-as to the rights of England to the sovereignty of the sea. Dutch
-ships, and in particular the men-of-war, made little scruple about
-performing the “homage.” The Government of the United Provinces were
-keenly concerned about their commerce and fisheries, and so long as the
-English pretension did not menace these substantial interests they were
-willing to show “respect” to the English flag--never, however, as an
-acknowledgment of any supposed sovereignty of the sea.
-
-While Charles was on the throne no serious international consequences
-resulted from the enforcement of the salute. The Dutch, as has been
-said, readily rendered it, and by the prudent policy of Richelieu the
-French ships were kept out of the way; and not very long thereafter
-Charles was stripped of his sovereignty on land as well as on the sea.
-But a little later it had noteworthy results. It was the reluctance of
-Lieutenant-Admiral Tromp to lower his flag to Blake in their historic
-meeting in the Straits of Dover in 1652 that precipitated the first
-Dutch war. By this time the States-General of the United Provinces,
-and the State of Holland in particular, had considerably abated their
-readiness to render the “homage of the flag,” even as a mark of
-respect, thinking that it might be construed as an acknowledgment
-on their part that the Republic of the Netherlands was inferior to
-the Republic of England. They had dallied with the subject when it
-was brought before them in connection with the instructions to their
-fleets, and had refrained deliberately from giving precise orders about
-it. The Commonwealth, on the other hand, assigned as much importance
-to the striking of the flag as Charles had ever done, considering that
-it touched their dignity as well as their sovereignty in the seas, and
-the instructions they issued to the naval commanders were practically
-the same as those that had been given to the ship-money fleets. Even
-the godly Barebones’ Parliament of 1653, which looked upon the Dutch
-as a carnal and worldly people, held it necessary that the seas should
-be secured and preserved as peaceable as the land, as a preparation
-for the coming of Christ and the personal reign. The traditional
-sentiment of the English nation respecting supremacy at sea had never
-been stronger; their jealousy of the commercial pre-eminence of the
-Dutch was never keener. In the prolonged negotiations that preceded the
-conclusion of peace, Cromwell, who, until he became Lord Protector,
-acted as spokesman for the Council, put the questions relating to the
-dominion of the sea in the foreground. The draft articles which he
-submitted to the Dutch for their acceptance, while permitting their
-merchant vessels to navigate the British seas (a provision offensive in
-itself), proposed to limit the number of their men-of-war that might
-be allowed to pass through those seas, and if occasion arose for a
-larger number, the Dutch Government were to give three months’ notice
-to the Commonwealth and obtain consent before they put them forth.
-Their men-of-war, as well as their merchant vessels, were to submit to
-be visited and searched. The Dutch were to have liberty to fish upon
-the British coasts on payment of an annual sum for the privilege. They
-were to render the honour of the flag to any ship of the Parliament. Of
-all these demands the only one that was conceded was the last, and it
-was a small triumph for Cromwell that he was able, for the first time,
-to bind another nation to this ceremony by the formal stipulation of a
-treaty. The Dutch, however, were able to eliminate from the article the
-words representing that the striking of the flag was an acknowledgment
-of England’s sovereignty of the sea; and it was pointed out in Holland
-that they had undertaken to do nothing more than they had previously
-done.
-
-After the Restoration the pretension to the sovereignty of the sea
-was continued with almost as much zeal as before. Charles II. did not
-indeed lay claim to an absolute dominion over the British seas, such
-as his father had done in the earlier part of his reign. But on all
-occasions when the opportunity offered, he held to his alleged right
-to levy tribute for the liberty of fishing on the British coasts, but
-without the least success. And as for the right to the “honour of
-the flag,” if it was not exacted with the same arrogance as it had
-been earlier in the century, it came now to be more than ever before
-a subject of importance in international relations, especially with
-the United Provinces. De Witt, the able Minister who directed Dutch
-affairs, was very desirous to arrive at a definite understanding about
-it, for he saw that to leave in ambiguity a matter which England
-regarded as touching her national honour would be to imperil the
-peaceful relations between the two countries. His object was to have a
-well-considered regulation prepared and agreed to, so that the points
-in ambiguity might be made clear, and also to provide that if the
-Dutch saluted first the English should then return the salute; and he
-stipulated that the striking of the flag or any agreement about it
-must not be looked upon as an acknowledgment of England’s so-called
-sovereignty of the sea; the Dutch, he said, “would rather die” than
-admit it. One of the points which was in obscurity was whether a whole
-fleet or squadron of the States was to strike to any single ship of the
-king’s, even if it was a frigate or a ketch, which did not customarily
-carry the royal flag in the main-top, or only to an admiral’s ship or
-one carrying the royal flag. De Witt let it be known in the clearest
-manner that in his opinion it was intolerable that an English frigate
-or ketch could claim to force a whole Dutch fleet to strike to it.
-A few years later, when Charles wished to give effect to his secret
-compact with Louis XIV. by waging war against the United Provinces, it
-was necessary to hoodwink the English people as to this flagrant breach
-of treaty obligations. He therefore contrived, as the means of picking
-a quarrel with the Dutch, a dispute about the honour of the flag, and
-he sent, not a frigate, but his yacht, the _Merlin_, to force the whole
-Dutch fleet to strike to it, and thus to raise a clamour in England,
-as he hoped, about the sovereignty of the sea being flouted and
-endangered. In the third Dutch war which followed, the United Provinces
-maintained the contest at sea with credit and success against both the
-English and the French. For domestic reasons Charles was forced to make
-a separate peace, and in the long negotiations with that object the
-question of the sovereignty of the sea was brought prominently forward.
-An attempt was made again to induce the Dutch to agree to pay an annual
-sum of £12,000 for the privilege of fishing on the British coasts, but
-the only concession obtained from them related to the striking of the
-flag. The article in the treaty of peace which dealt with this differed
-from the corresponding article in previous treaties. The term “the
-British Seas” was omitted, and it was agreed that even squadrons of the
-Dutch should strike to any single ship of the king’s in “any of the
-seas” from Cape Finisterre to Van Staten in Norway; but it was to be
-done as an “honour” to the king’s flag, and not as an acknowledgment
-of his alleged sovereignty of the sea. The Dutch, indeed, offered to
-strike in the same way all the world over.
-
-After this time the English claim to the sovereignty of the sea began
-to lose its importance. In subsequent treaties with the Dutch Republic,
-even as late as 1784, a clause was inserted providing for the salute,
-but it had become merely a matter of form and precedent. The ceremony,
-in truth, had grown to be a political encumbrance, and after the battle
-of Trafalgar, when British supremacy at sea was unquestioned, the
-clause relating to the enforcement of the salute was quietly dropped
-out of the Admiralty instructions.
-
-It is remarkable that throughout the whole of the long period in which
-England claimed sovereignty in some form or other over the so-called
-“Sea of England,” or the “British Seas,” no authoritative definition
-was ever given of the extent of sea included in the term. In the case
-of the Adriatic there was no difficulty in understanding the limits
-within which Venice assumed maritime dominion, for the Adriatic is
-a narrow landlocked gulf whose boundaries were obvious. It was much
-the same with the claims put forward by Denmark. Both shores of the
-Sound were in her possession, and both coasts of the northern or
-Norwegian Sea. But with our island, washed everywhere by the waves, no
-such natural boundaries existed. Except when the crown possessed the
-opposite coast of France, England was isolated; and the Sea of England,
-so frequently referred to from the thirteenth to the seventeenth
-century, like the British Seas later, remained only a political
-expression, not officially described or represented on charts. Reasons
-have been given above for supposing that the Sea of England prior to
-the accession of the Stuarts included the waters of the King’s Chambers
-as defined by James, and perhaps also at times the Straits of Dover
-and it may be the Channel, though precise evidence is lacking. In the
-seventeenth century, when the term the British Seas was commonly used,
-it is clear that the boundaries assigned to them were as vague and
-fluctuating as the sovereignty exercised over them. They expanded and
-contracted according to the naval power at the time and the condition
-of international affairs. Sometimes the whole sea up to the continental
-coasts was claimed as British; at other times the claim was restricted
-to the Channel or the Straits of Dover, and to a more or less narrow
-but undefined belt along the coast; not unfrequently it seemed to
-vanish altogether, at least as a thing to be regarded in international
-affairs. In the earlier records in which the sea is referred to in
-connection with English law or jurisdiction, it is evident that a
-certain part was held to appertain to the crown. In an article in the
-_Black Book of the Admiralty_ which is ascribed to the reign of Henry
-I. (A.D. 1100-1135), reference is made to “the sea belonging to the
-king of England”; in John’s ordinance of 1201 the term was simply “the
-sea” (_la mer_), but very commonly it was “our sea,” or the “sea of
-England,” or “the sea under the dominion or jurisdiction of the king”;
-while the declaration is often made that the kings of England are lords
-of the sea or of the English sea.[5] Similar phrases were used in
-later times. Thus Queen Elizabeth spoke of “our seas of England and
-Ireland,” and James of “his seas” and “streams,” as did also Charles
-I.; and such terms as “the adjacent sea,” the “environing seas,”
-the “ambient seas,” and “the seas flowing about the isle,” were not
-uncommonly used.[6] Still more common and scarcely more definite was
-the term the “Four Seas of England,” or simply the “Four Seas,” which
-was employed as early as the thirteenth century in law books, statutes,
-and official documents, as indicating the boundaries of the realm in
-connection with legal proceedings. Within the four seas (_infra_ or
-_intra quatuor maria_; dedeinz les quaters meers) was to be within the
-realm; and without the four seas (_extra quatuor maria_, oultre les
-quaters meers) was to be without the realm.[7]
-
-In the seventeenth century, when the English pretension to the
-sovereignty of the sea was at its height, Coke, Selden, Prynne, and
-others maintained that to be on the four seas, as well as within them,
-was to be within the realm, under the jurisdiction of the Admiralty,
-and this doctrine was held, at least formally, as late as 1830.[8]
-Rarely the “Three Seas” are mentioned,[9] and less rarely the “Two
-Seas,” by which was meant the two arms of the sea passing respectively
-between England and France, and England and Flanders, and corresponding
-to one of the meanings of the Narrow Sea.
-
-The term, the Narrow Sea or the Narrow Seas, was applied at different
-times or by different writers to very various areas. In its original
-and more restricted sense it denoted the Straits of Dover; sometimes it
-signified only the southern sea or the Channel proper; at other times
-it included also the sea south of the Wash and the Texel; and yet again
-it was synonymous with the whole of the British seas in which dominion
-was claimed. In the political poem, _The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye_,
-which was written about 1436 with the object of rousing the nation to
-the paramount duty of “keeping the sea,” the narrow sea is spoken of
-as lying between Dover and Calais,[10] as it is also in the records of
-the Privy Council for 1545, which mention the appointment of ships to
-“kepe the passage of the Narrow Seas.”[11] Later in the same century,
-and very generally in the seventeenth century, it was used to include
-the Channel, as when the Earl of Salisbury in 1609 referred to “his
-Majesties narrow seas between England and France,”[12] and likewise
-the sea off the Dutch coast; and at this period the Admiralty usually
-distinguished between the guard of the Narrow Seas and that of the
-North Sea.
-
-But in other cases, and very commonly in the seventeenth century, the
-Narrow Sea was equivalent to the marginal sea along the whole coast or
-to the “British Seas.” Thus in one of James’s proclamations in 1604 for
-preventing abuses in and about “the narrow seas,” they are referred to
-as being commonly called the four English Seas, and this was repeated
-in a proclamation of Charles I. in 1633. So also Lord Chief Justice
-Hale in his treatise, _De Jure Maris_, describes the narrow sea,
-adjoining to the coast of England, as part of the waste and demesnes
-and dominions of the King of England; and in another work he speaks of
-the narrow sea lying between us and France and the Netherlands.
-
-After the union of the Crowns the “British Seas” were very often
-referred to, and there was equal want of definition of their limits as
-in the case of the Sea of England. The advocates of the English claims
-to the sovereignty of the sea assigned them a wide but vague extent,
-while the Dutch argued that the British Sea was the Channel, the Mare
-Britannicum of Ptolemy and others, the North Sea being distinct and
-known as Oceanus Germanicus. In many of the diplomatic negotiations
-that took place on the subject there were heated discussions as to
-the meaning of the term the “British Seas,” and in point of fact the
-British representatives, like the Admiralty itself, were unable to
-define them. The only serious attempt which was made to define the
-Sea of England or the British Seas in relation to the claim to its
-sovereignty was made by Selden in 1635. It did not fail on the side
-of modesty, for according to him the Sea of England was “that which
-flows between England and the opposite shores and ports.”[13] More
-particularly in the opening chapter of his second book he describes
-the British Sea (Oceanus Britannicus) as being divided into four parts
-according to the four quarters of the world. On the west lay the
-Vergivian Sea, also called the Deucaledonian Sea where it washes the
-coasts of Scotland, and in which Ireland is placed; on the east is the
-German Ocean, so called by Ptolemy because it lies opposite the German
-shore; on the south, between England and France, is the sea especially
-noted by Ptolemy as the British Sea, the Mare Britannicum; but in
-reality all the sea extending along the shores of France through the
-Bay of Aquitaine (Bay of Biscay) as far as the northern coast of Spain
-was British. Since the northern and western ocean stretches to a great
-distance, to America, Iceland, and Greenland, and to parts unknown,
-it could not “all be called British,” but inasmuch as the King of
-Great Britain had very large rights in those seas, beyond the extent
-of the British name, it was not wholly to be left out of account. The
-indefiniteness of these boundaries to the north and west is obvious,
-but in a chart which he furnished, and which is reproduced in the
-frontispiece of this book, he presumably represented what he regarded
-as the British seas proper; and in several places in his work he
-expressly declared that the English sea and the English sovereignty of
-the sea extended to the opposite shores of the Continent.
-
-Throughout almost the whole of the remainder of the century after
-the appearance of _Mare Clausum_, Selden’s authority was paramount
-on all questions relating to the sovereignty of the sea, and his
-description of the extent of the British seas was very generally
-adopted, both by writers and by the Government, at least in theory.
-But it not infrequently happened on particular occasions when a
-precise definition of their extent was required, that only a vague
-declaration was forthcoming. Again and again one finds English admirals
-and naval commanders imploring the Admiralty to tell them the bounds
-of the British seas, so that needless broils about the salute might
-be avoided. As a rule, no reply was given to their inquiries; and
-when it was, it was usually so oracular as to be of little practical
-advantage. Thus the Earl of Lindsey, when placed in command of the
-first ship-money fleet, put the question to Secretary Coke, and was
-told that his Majesty’s seas “are all about his dominions, and to the
-largest extent of those seas,” and similar explanations were given on
-other occasions. There is evidence that neither the Admiralty nor the
-law officers of the crown were able to state what the boundaries of the
-British seas were, and sometimes the Trinity House was appealed to,
-with but little better result. In truth, it was part of the national
-policy to leave their boundaries undetermined. The free navigation
-of the North Sea and the Channel was of vital importance for many of
-the states of Europe, and three of them at least--the Netherlands,
-France, and Spain--had large interests in the fisheries on the British
-and Irish coasts. If this country had by a formal act of state
-assigned definite and wide boundaries to the British seas within which
-sovereignty was claimed, it would have led to frequent and hopeless
-wars or to constant humiliation. By leaving them vague and ambiguous
-the pretension to maritime sovereignty could be put forward and used
-as a political instrument when the navy was strong and occasion
-offered, and when the navy was weak the pretension might fall into
-the background without the national honour being unduly tarnished. But
-on the whole, the claim to the sovereignty of the so-called British
-seas became an anachronism and was allowed to die out from practical
-affairs, surviving only in the pages of historians, naval writers, and
-pamphleteers. During the almost constant naval wars in the eighteenth
-century a new principle came into being for the delimitation of the
-neutral waters of a state, the extent of the adjacent open sea that
-might be appropriated being determined by the range of guns from the
-shore. All the water within reach of cannon-shot could be protected
-and commanded by artillery on the land, and thus made susceptible
-of exclusive and permanent dominion. This principle was accepted
-very generally by the various maritime Powers as offering a just and
-equitable means of fixing the limits of their territorial waters,
-within which the bordering state had exclusive sovereign jurisdiction.
-It has also been accepted by the great majority of modern publicists,
-and the phrase of Bynkershoek, “terræ dominium finitur ubi finitur
-armorum vis,” has become enshrined in the Law of Nations.
-
-Later, and mainly through the action and practice of the United States
-of America and Great Britain since the end of the eighteenth century,
-the distance of three miles from shore was more or less formally
-adopted by most maritime states as equivalent to the range of guns, and
-as more definitely fixing the limits of their jurisdiction and rights
-for various purposes, and, in particular, for exclusive fishery. At
-the time the three-mile limit was introduced, that distance did indeed
-represent the farthest range of artillery, so that the boundary was the
-same in each case; and it was sufficient to secure to neutrals that
-their coasts should not be violated by the operations of belligerents
-carried on beyond three miles from the shore, while at the same time
-it furnished a practical measure of the extent of the protection that
-neutral Powers were bound to afford to the vessels of one belligerent
-from attacks by the other. But all this is changed. Guns are now able
-to throw shells to a distance of fifteen miles and more, and the
-three-mile limit has become quite inadequate to secure the coasts
-of a neutral from damage from the guns of belligerents engaged in
-hostilities in the waters near their shores. The argument is not
-uncommonly used that inasmuch as Great Britain is the predominant
-maritime Power, it is to her advantage that the territorial waters of
-all countries should be as narrow as possible. The wider the theatre
-the better chance for our navy, either in engaging the battle fleets
-of the enemy or in capturing his shipping. The importance of the
-change in the conditions referred to above is overlooked. There has
-been no great maritime war in Europe since the three-mile limit was
-adopted as the equivalent of the range of guns. If and when another
-maritime war unfortunately breaks out, it would be absurd to suppose
-that the neutral Powers within the sphere of possible operations would
-be content with a three-mile limit to safeguard the security of their
-coasts. As provided for in the rules drawn up by the Institute of
-International Law, their duty would be to prohibit all hostilities
-within such distance of their coasts as would render them secure, and
-this in turn would involve the immunity from capture within the same
-space of the merchant vessels of one of the belligerents by the vessels
-of the other. And thus if this country were engaged in a great maritime
-war, such as occurred a century or so ago, a very considerable belt of
-sea on neutral coasts would be closed to the operations of the fleet,
-and the conditions of naval warfare would be profoundly changed.
-
-With regard to the other questions of sovereignty or exclusive rights
-in the seas washing the coasts of a country, it is becoming more and
-more recognised that there is no reason in nature why the boundary
-for one purpose should be the boundary for all purposes. Just as
-the three-mile limit is now obsolete in respect to belligerents and
-neutrals in time of war, so is it inadequate in all cases with regard
-to the protection and preservation of the sea fisheries. In the
-concluding chapters of this book it is shown that all recent inquiries
-by Parliament into the condition of the fisheries, especially of the
-North Sea, have resulted in proving the inadequacy of the present limit
-for fishery regulations, and in recommendations that the subject should
-be dealt with internationally by the various countries concerned.
-
-
-SECTION I.
-
- THE HISTORY OF THE CLAIMS TO THE
- SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-EARLY HISTORY.
-
-
-When the claim of the English crown to the sovereignty of the British
-seas became a question of international importance in the early part of
-the seventeenth century, the records of history and the treasures of
-ancient learning were searched for evidence to establish its antiquity.
-Some of the greatest lawyers and scholars of the time took part in the
-task, and they were not always content with the endeavour to prove that
-the claim was in conformity with the laws of England as an old heritage
-of the crown, but they tried to trace it back to a remote past. Selden,
-who was incomparably the ablest and most illustrious champion of the
-English pretension, as well as Boroughs and Prynne and other writers
-of lesser note, laboured with more or less erudition and ingenuity
-to show that the British dominion in the adjoining seas was anterior
-to the Roman occupation. From the ancient Britons it was supposed to
-have passed to the Roman conquerors as part and parcel of the British
-empire, and to have been exercised by them during their possession of
-the island.[14] It is unnecessary to discuss the evidence and arguments
-for these contentions. They are for the most part drawn from scattered
-passages or even phrases in the writings of classical authors, to which
-a strained and improbable significance was assigned. An example may
-be given from Selden, who, in referring to the well-known passage in
-Solinus[15] in which Irish warriors are described as decking the hilts
-of their swords with the tusks of sea-beasts (walrus), first tries to
-show that the passage applied also to the Britons, and then argues that
-there must have been a great fishing and a large number of fishermen
-to provide sufficient material, the conclusion being that the British
-seas were “occupied” by navigation and fishing. In reality the walrus
-tusks came by barter from the north, and there is little or no evidence
-to show that the ancient Britons fished for anything except salmon. At
-the utmost it may be said that the Romans were masters of the British
-seas, or parts of them, in a military sense. During their occupation of
-Britain they were also in possession of Gaul, and thus held both coasts
-of the narrow sea, and no doubt exercised authority over it, as the
-Norman and Angevin kings under similar circumstances did later.
-
-Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period of English history evidence of
-the existence of a sovereignty over the adjoining sea, or even of a
-pretension to it, is almost as unsatisfactory. Here again the authors
-who championed _mare clausum_ professed to find in very ordinary
-events arguments in favour of their case. The seafaring habits of the
-Teutonic invaders and their daring and valour--they were described by
-the Roman poet as sea-wolves, fierce and cunning, with the sea as their
-school of war and the storm their friend--were regarded as proof that
-they possessed maritime sovereignty after their conquest of Britain.
-The Danegeld, a tax which was originally levied as a means of buying
-off the Danes, or of providing a fleet to resist their attacks, was
-thought by Selden to show the same thing.[16] So also with the fleets
-collected by Alfred, Edgar, Ethelred, and other English kings to oppose
-the invasions of the Northmen,--they were believed to have secured
-and maintained dominion over the sea. Even the beautiful lesson in
-humility which Cnut desired to convey to his courtiers when, seated in
-regal pomp on the seashore, he vainly commanded the inflowing tide to
-stay its course at his behest, was seized on for the same end. “Thou,
-O sea,” said the great king, “art under my dominion, like the land
-on which I sit; nor is there any one who dares resist my commands. I
-therefore enjoin thee not to come up on my land, nor to presume to wet
-the feet or garments of thy lord.” In these words Selden professed to
-find clear proof that Cnut claimed the British seas as part of his
-dominions.[17]
-
-There appears to be only one instance before the Norman Conquest in
-regard to which _prima facie_ evidence was produced that an English
-king expressly claimed the sovereignty of the sea, and as it is
-constantly quoted by later writers it may be worth while examining it.
-The chronicles agree that the naval power of England was specially
-manifested by King Edgar (A.D. 959-975), who is said to have possessed
-a fleet of several thousand vessels, with which he cruised every
-year along the English coasts. In the words of the Saxon Chronicle,
-“no fleet was so daring, nor army so strong, that mid the English
-nation took from him aught, the while that the noble king ruled on
-his throne.”[18] According to William of Malmesbury, who wrote in the
-twelfth century, Edgar usually styled himself the sovereign lord of all
-Albion and of the maritime or insular kings dwelling round about,[19]
-the assumption being that he also exercised sovereignty over the
-intervening and surrounding seas. In a charter by which Edgar, in 964,
-granted large revenues to the Cathedral Church at Worcester, the claim
-to the ocean around Britain is more definite, and it is this version
-that is usually quoted by the writers maintaining the antiquity of the
-English rights.[20] The title thus said to have been used by Edgar is
-expressive enough, but an important difference in the wording of this
-part of the charter is to be found in the transcript printed by Coke in
-the Epistle to the Fourth Book of Reports, by Spelman,[21] Wilkins,[22]
-and by the more recent authorities on Anglo-Saxon charters, Kemble,[23]
-Thorpe,[24] and Birch,[25] from which it appears that Edgar claimed
-to be, not lord of the sea, but of the islands in the sea.[26] This
-is the version given by Sir John Boroughs in his _Sovereignty of the
-British Seas_, and it is also mentioned by Selden. But, after all, the
-authenticity of the preamble of this charter is not well established.
-Kemble marks it as doubtful, a view supported by intrinsic evidence
-as to an imaginary conquest of Ireland. Thorpe is of opinion that
-the preamble was fabricated about 1155, when Henry II., in concert
-with Pope Adrian IV., was meditating the conquest of that island. It
-may therefore be concluded that King Edgar’s assumption of maritime
-sovereignty had its source in a monkish fable, although he may have
-possessed the actual command of the sea in his time. Later on, the
-supposed _rôle_ of Edgar among the Anglo-Saxon kings was a common
-argument for the English claims. He was looked upon as a sort of patron
-saint of the doctrine that the kings of England were lords of the sea.
-Charles I. put his effigy on the beak of his great ship, the _Sovereign
-of the Sea_, and inscribed his name in a motto on her guns. Oliver
-Cromwell, too, quoted his exploits to the Dutch ambassador in the
-course of the negotiations after the first war with Holland.
-
-It is not to the Anglo-Saxon period of our history that we must look
-for the origin of the claims of England to the sovereignty of the
-sea, even in a purely military sense. At that time, for at least
-three centuries before the Norman Conquest, the Northmen and not the
-English were the real lords and masters of the sea. They offered an
-example of what is now so much spoken of as the influence of sea-power
-on history that is unsurpassed in later annals. Their leaders were
-styled sea-kings for the best of reasons. Their fleets darkened every
-coast from within the Arctic circle to the furthermost bounds of the
-Mediterranean. Through their command of the sea they took permanent
-possession of the larger part of England; they penetrated almost every
-great river in Europe--the Elbe, the Schelde, the Rhine, the Seine;
-they formed settlements from Friesland to Bordeaux; they discovered
-and planted colonies in Iceland (A.D. 861), Greenland (A.D. 985),
-and North America (A.D. 861); and they founded kingdoms or dynasties
-not only in England, but in France, Sicily, Ireland, and Russia.[27]
-In the presence of such irrepressible energy in maritime and warlike
-enterprises the English were not able to hold their own on the sea, far
-less to acquire dominion over it.
-
-It is not until a considerable time after the Norman Conquest that
-valid evidence is to be found of the English claim to the sovereignty
-of the sea. Although obscurity surrounds the precise time and mode
-in which the pretension took its rise, there is little doubt that it
-originated in the period following the Conquest. The shores on both
-sides of the Channel were then brought under the same dominion. In the
-reign of Henry I. almost the whole of the Atlantic coast of France from
-Flanders to the Pyrenees was in the possession of the English crown,
-and for about four and a half centuries, until the loss of Calais in
-1558, England held more or less territory in France. The Channel thus
-became in effect an English sea--the narrow sea--intervening between
-the continental and insular territories of the king, and it acquired
-high importance as the passage from one part of the realm to the other.
-It was in this connection and for the guarding of the coasts that
-the organisation of the Cinque Ports was developed by the Norman and
-Angevin kings.[28] Even after the loss of the French provinces, the
-continued possession of the Channel Islands and the usual possession
-of Calais kept alive the English claim to the narrow sea. The Conquest
-was, moreover, followed by a great increase in the stream of traffic
-between the two countries,[29] while fishermen from Normandy and
-Picardy, as well as from Flanders, came in large and increasing numbers
-to take part in the great herring fishery along the east coast of
-Scotland and England.
-
-During the frequent wars with France from the commencement of the
-twelfth century onwards, the Channel acquired special significance
-from a military point of view, and it was from this time that the
-importance of “keeping the narrow seas” began to be recognised in
-English policy. The command of the Channel was not only of value in
-safeguarding the coast. The Channel formed the great avenue of commerce
-between the north and south of Europe. The merchant vessels from
-Venice, Genoa, and the Mediterranean, from Spain and France, passed
-northwards through it on their way to Flanders and the Baltic, and
-those from the Hanseatic towns and northern parts had in like manner
-to traverse it in their southern voyages. The Channel was thus crowded
-with shipping in summer, and the nation which commanded it had the
-power of interrupting the commerce of other nations, and consequently
-retained a potent political weapon in its hands. It is this aspect of
-“keeping the narrow sea” which forms the burden of the remarkable old
-poem, _The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye_.
-
-Moreover, in the period following the Norman Conquest another condition
-came into existence in connection with the security of the commerce
-passing through the Channel, which throws light on the origin of the
-English claim to sovereignty over it. As already mentioned, owing to
-the lawlessness that prevailed on the sea after the break-up of the
-Roman empire, when pirates and freebooters infested every coast, it
-became customary for merchants to associate themselves together for
-mutual protection. Their vessels sailed forth in fleets under the
-charge of an elected chief, called the “admiral,” and armed vessels
-were frequently fitted out by them for the express purpose of purging
-the sea of pirates. In the course of time this duty of maintaining the
-police of the seas was taken over by sovereign princes, who exercised
-their jurisdiction through an admiralty, and put in force the old
-“laws of the sea” which had gradually grown up among the merchant
-associations.[30] In the thirteenth century this supreme admiralty
-jurisdiction came to be regarded among the principal states of Europe
-as a prerogative of sovereign power, and it is about this time and in
-this connection that we first find certain evidence of the claim of
-England to the sovereignty of the adjacent sea. The Plantagenet kings,
-or at all events some of them, asserted the right of “maintaining the
-ancient supremacy of the Crown over the Sea of England” by exercising
-jurisdiction according to the old maritime laws, for the maintenance
-of “peace and justice amongst the people of every nation passing
-through the said sea.”[31] It was the production of the old rolls
-concerning these claims by Sir John Boroughs, the Keeper of the Records
-in the reign of Charles I., which furnished that king with the material
-on which to base his pretension to the sovereignty of the sea.
-
-The English writers of the seventeenth century who strove to prove
-that the kings of England anciently exercised an exclusive sovereign
-jurisdiction over the so-called Sea of England, as if it were a
-“territory or province of the realm,” quoted largely from the old
-Admiralty records. Selden sought to show that they had perpetually
-enjoyed the dominion of the surrounding sea from the coming of the
-Normans from the fact that they had maintained a guard upon it.[32]
-The evidence adduced, however, merely proves that measures were
-taken for guarding the seas, defending the coasts, and suppressing
-piracy,--duties which were discharged, even in the same seas, by the
-Admiralty of other countries, as that of France. Such phrases as “to
-guard the seas,” “to guard the sea and sea-coasts,” are common enough
-in the early records of the Admiralty,[33] but they do not imply
-exclusive dominion. It was a duty common to neighbouring nations. In
-England, from the time of Henry I., at the beginning of the twelfth
-century, orders were given for the seas to be guarded as occasion
-required; and officers were appointed by Henry III. and other kings as
-Wardens, Keepers, and Guardians of the sea and sea-coasts, and also
-as Governors and Captains of the Navy, whose title was subsequently
-changed to Admiral in the latter part of the thirteenth century,
-following the practice of the merchant associations, as above
-mentioned. Much was made by the English writers of the appointment of
-admirals by the kings of England for safeguarding the sea. The first
-appears to have been appointed in 1297 with the title of Admiral of
-the Sea of the King of England,[34] but before this time the King of
-Castile and Leon had appointed an admiral with similar duties, and an
-Admiral of all France was appointed about the year 1280.[35] So too
-with the equipment of fleets. Edward I. divided the ships charged with
-the guarding of the seas into three squadrons, each with an admiral,--a
-measure which, it was argued, showed his resolution to maintain his
-dominion of the sea. But the practice in France was similar. From an
-early period French fleets were equipped under “governors or custodians
-of the sea” (_præfectus maris_), “lieutenants-general of the sea and
-the shores thereof,” and “admirals,” and their maritime jurisdiction
-was regulated from at least the early part of the fourteenth
-century.[36] Selden laboured to show that the office of admiral and the
-admiralty jurisdiction had a different significance in France from what
-they had in England,[37] but on quite inadequate grounds.
-
-Another class of evidence adduced by the English authors refers to the
-impressment of ships for the defence of the realm or the transport of
-troops on occasions of emergency. These duties were at first performed
-by the vessels of the Cinque Ports, in accordance with their charters;
-but as early at least as the reign of Richard I., ordinances were
-issued (at Grimsby) regulating the mode of arresting vessels and
-men for the service of the king,[38] and it became an established
-and common practice. Numerous instances occur which show that on
-such occasions foreign vessels were not exempt from arrest, though
-compensation was at least sometimes made to their owners.[39] The
-argument of the English writers that these arbitrary proceedings were
-evidence of the dominion exercised by the kings of England on their sea
-is rebutted by the practice in France. Froissart[40] tells us that the
-French adopted similar measures in 1386 when they were preparing for an
-invasion of England, and the practice was doubtless common enough, and
-justified by the emergency which occasioned it.
-
-With regard to the most important attribute of maritime
-sovereignty--the right to exclude others from an equal use of a
-particular sea by prohibiting navigation, at least of vessels of
-war, and from fishing in it, or by imposing dues and conditions for
-the liberty--there is scarcely a scrap of evidence to show that any
-authority of the kind was exercised by England in the adjacent seas.
-The circumstance is noteworthy, inasmuch as other countries which then
-enjoyed undoubted maritime sovereignty, did not permit unrestricted
-navigation or fishing in the seas specially under their control, as
-Venice in the Adriatic, and Denmark in the northern seas and in the
-Baltic. The evidence concerning the liberty of fishing in the sea
-along our coasts is dealt with in another chapter, but it may be
-said here that this liberty was provided for in a series of treaties
-with other Powers. As for liberty of navigation, it was asserted, or
-rather implied, by Selden, in guarded language, that the kings of
-England anciently possessed the power of refusing it;[41] but the
-evidence relates for the most part to passports and safe-conducts “by
-land and sea,” and to the impressment of vessels, referred to above.
-There appears to be not a single fact to prove that the liberty of
-innocent navigation in the English seas was ever interfered with by
-the king. The Parliament of Ireland, it is true, passed an Act in
-1465 prohibiting all foreign vessels “from going to fish at Ireland
-among the king’s enemies” without first obtaining a license, on pain
-of forfeiture of the vessel. But it is clear from the preamble that
-the Act was passed because foreign vessels frequenting the Irish coast
-for fishing were supplying the king’s enemies with money, arms, and
-provisions.
-
-Nor is there any valid evidence that tribute was ever imposed on
-foreigners for liberty of navigation in the sea of England. A case
-frequently quoted to the contrary was the imposition of a duty by
-Richard II., in 1379, on merchant vessels and fishing smacks, to
-provide means for the defence of the eastern coast and the security of
-navigation and fishing. At that time the English navy had almost ceased
-to exist, through the mistaken policy of Edward III. in the latter part
-of his reign. In 1377 a French and Spanish fleet had not only scoured
-the seas, but plundered and burned Rye, Folkestone, Hastings, Plymouth,
-and other towns on the southern coast, which they ravaged. In the
-following year they continued their depredations on the English coast,
-and held such complete command of the sea that “no victualler, fishing
-boat, or any other, could pass or return without being taken.”[42] In
-1379, as the enemy still held the sea and the coast, Parliament, after
-consultation with the merchants, decreed that certain duties should
-be levied to provide means to secure the safeguarding of the sea, and
-among these was one on vessels laden with goods belonging to merchants
-of Prussia, Norway, or Scania. Selden says this ordinance applied to
-foreign as well as English vessels, which had therefore to pay for
-passage through the sea “just as one may exact payment for passage over
-one’s field.”[43] But there is no evidence that the tax was levied
-on other than English vessels; and in any case it is clear from the
-preamble that it was a voluntary arrangement, and probably made at
-the request of the merchants themselves, who had been petitioning the
-king and Parliament for protection.[44] It is noteworthy also that the
-keepers of the northern sea were not to convoy the vessels to or from
-Flanders and Calais unless they were paid for doing so.
-
-An incident which occurred early in the next century shows the temper
-in which the Parliament regarded the sovereignty of the narrow sea,
-as well as the caution of the king. By that time the English navy had
-recovered its strength and France lay prostrate at the feet of Henry
-V., and the Parliament petitioned the king to levy an impost on all
-foreign ships passing through the Channel, in emulation, no doubt, of
-the practice of the Danish kings at the Sound. It was a few years after
-the battle of Agincourt, and the Treaty of Troyes, by which Henry was
-recognised as the future king of France, had just been concluded. “The
-Commons pray,” ran the petition, “that seeing our Sovereign Lord the
-King and his noble progenitors have ever been Lords of the Sea, and now
-by the grace of God it has come to pass that our said Lord the King is
-Lord of the shores on both sides of the sea, such tribute should be
-imposed on all strangers passing through the said sea, as may appear
-reasonable to the King for safeguarding the said sea.”[45] The answer
-of the king was that he would consider it (_soit avise par le Roy_),
-the usual formula of refusal. In the following year Henry was again
-involved in war with France, and he died in 1422 and nothing more was
-heard of the proposal. But it is extremely doubtful if he or any other
-English king would have ventured to adopt the policy recommended by
-the Commons. The shipping that passed through the Channel was far more
-voluminous and important than that passing through the Sound, and the
-waterway could not be so easily commanded, as by guns from the shore.
-Any measure of the kind would doubtless have led to a combination of
-other maritime Powers against England, which would have been fatal to
-the attempt. It may be noted that the Parliament based their proposal
-on the king’s possession of both shores; and this, in accordance with
-the opinions of the Italian lawyers of the preceding century, whose
-authority was great, carried with it the right of sovereignty over the
-intervening sea.
-
-The statement in the petition that the kings of England had ever
-been lords of the sea is true at least to the extent that on several
-occasions previously the title was applied to them, and this was
-usually at times when they possessed actual supremacy and mastery
-over the seas in a special manner, though it may also have implied
-the idea of sovereign jurisdiction. Nearly a century earlier than
-the above petition we find the same title used by Edward III., who
-is peculiarly identified with the naval glory of England, and he too
-refers to his progenitors as having been lords of the sea. In a mandate
-to his admirals in 1336, the king, after stating that twenty-six
-galleys of the enemy were reported to be on the coasts of Brittany and
-Normandy, said: “We, calling to mind that our progenitors, the Kings
-of England, were Lords of the English sea on every side, and also
-defenders against the invasions of enemies before these times; and it
-would greatly grieve us if our royal honour in such defence should be
-lost or in any way diminished in our time, which God forbid, and being
-desirous with the help of God to obviate such dangers and to provide
-for the safety and defence of our realm and people, and to restrain the
-malice of our enemies: We strictly require and charge you” to proceed
-against the galleys, &c.[46] Later in the same year, in a commission to
-certain nobles, prelates, and the Warden of the Cinque Ports respecting
-measures to be taken against the Scottish fleet, which was attacking
-merchant and other ships, and had ravaged Guernsey and Jersey, the king
-desired it to be remembered that his progenitors the kings of England,
-in similar disturbances between them and other lords of foreign lands,
-were in all bygone times “lords of the sea and of the passage across
-the sea,” and he would be much afflicted if his royal honour should be
-in his time impaired.[47] These declarations, made in the first half of
-the fourteenth century, indicate clearly enough at least the pretension
-to special interest and jurisdiction in the narrow sea and the Straits
-of Dover on the part of the earlier kings. No English king deserved
-the title of Lord of the Sea better than Edward III. Only a few years
-after the above missives were written he gained the memorable victory
-over the French in the battle of Sluys, and in 1350 the equally great
-victory over the Spaniards off Winchelsea (“Les Espagnols sur Mer”),
-commanding the fleet in person on each occasion.[48]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 1.--_Edward’s Noble._]
-
-It appears to have been in connection with the former victory that
-Edward coined his famous gold noble, in which the obverse bears the
-effigy of the king, crowned, standing in a ship with a sword in one
-hand and a shield in the other, while the reverse bears the legend from
-St Luke, _Jesus autem transiens per medium eorum ibat_, “but Jesus,
-passing through the midst of them, went his way,” which Nicolas thinks
-was meant to indicate the action of the king in passing through the
-French fleet at the battle of Sluys. The impress on the obverse has
-been usually regarded as symbolic of Edward’s power and sovereignty
-on the sea. The unknown author of _The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye_,
-written some ninety years later, makes frequent reference to Edward’s
-noble,--
-
- “Ffor iiii thynges our noble sheueth to me,
- Kyng, shype, and swerde, and pouer of the see,”[49]--
-
-and it is always mentioned by the English writers on the sovereignty of
-the sea as evidence that Edward exercised that sovereignty. A recent
-author[50] doubts whether there was any connection between Edward’s
-noble and the battle of Sluys or the claim to the sovereignty of the
-sea; but at all events in the next century, in the reign of Henry
-VI., when the naval power of England had again sunk to a low point,
-the noble was made an object of jest and derision among foreigners,
-especially the Flemish and French. They told the English to take away
-the ship from their noble and put a sheep on it instead--an allusion,
-no doubt, to the growth of sheep-farming in England.[51]
-
-If Edward intended to symbolise his naval power and sea sovereignty
-by the device on the gold noble in the early part of his reign, it
-was certainly inappropriate towards the end of it. The navy had been
-starved for the sake of the army, and when the Spaniards defeated the
-English fleet and were masters of the sea, complaints became rife
-as to the insecurity of the country. The king had then to listen to
-language from his Parliament to which he was unaccustomed, and which
-must have galled him. There are many instances in our history where
-the Commons have shown their spirit and temper when they thought the
-navy was inadequate for its duties, and on the occasion in question, in
-1372, after granting a naval subsidy, they called the king’s attention
-to the fact that while twenty years previously, and always before,
-the navy was so noble and so numerous in all the ports, coast towns,
-and rivers that the whole country deemed and called him King of the
-Sea,[52] and he and all his country were the more dreaded by sea and by
-land by reason of the said navy, it was then so decreased and weakened
-from various causes that there was scarcely sufficient to defend the
-country, if need were, against royal power, by which there was great
-peril to all the realm.[53] From this complaint of the Parliament it
-would appear that the title of king or Lord of the Sea was applied in
-a popular sense, to signify the great sea-warrior who had overcome his
-enemies and made himself master of the sea.
-
-There was another symbol or supposed symbol of the sovereignty of the
-sea, which later became exceedingly prominent--viz., the striking of
-the flag or the lowering of the top-sails to a king’s ship, about
-which there is little to be found in the records of those times. It
-is nevertheless with this that the earliest of the records relating
-to the subject is concerned, and it is a very interesting one. The
-famous ordinance of King John which compelled the lowering of the
-sails has given rise to much controversy. It was first brought
-prominently to notice by Selden in 1635,[54] but it is also contained
-in the little work of Boroughs on the _Sovereignty of the British
-Seas_, which was written in 1633, although not published till 1651,
-and that author transcribed it from a manuscript in the possession of
-Sir Henry Marten, the Judge of the Court of Admiralty. Selden gave
-as his authority for it, “MS. Commentarius de Rebus Admiralitatis,”
-without further specification, and its authenticity was questioned by
-contemporary critics. Prynne, who, like Boroughs, was Keeper of the
-Records, printed it in 1669 from the _Black Book of the Admiralty_,[55]
-and from the fact that the _Black Book_ was lost until quite lately,
-and the existence of Selden’s manuscript in the Bodleian Library was
-overlooked, and that used by Boroughs unknown, some recent authors have
-regarded the ordinance with suspicion.[56] The most elaborate account
-of the various manuscripts containing the ordinance of John is given
-by Sir Travers Twiss in the Introduction to the _Black Book of the
-Admiralty_; and through his efforts the original _Black Book_, lost
-for more than half a century, was found at the bottom of a chest in
-1873.[57] Twiss gives the following free translation of the ordinance,
-made by the Registrar of the Admiralty Court in the reign of James
-II.:--
-
- ITEM, it was ordained at Hastynges for lawe and custome of the sea
- in the tyme of Kyng John, in the second yeare of his raigne, by the
- advice of his temporall lordes, that if the lieutenant of the king or
- the admirall of the king or his lieutenant in any voyage appointed
- by Common Counsell of the Kyngdom did at sea meet with any shyps or
- vessells laden or empty which would not stryke and lower their sailes
- at the command of the kyng’s lieutenant, or the kyng’s admirall,
- or his lieutenant, but makeing resistaunce against those of the
- ffleet, that if they can be taken that they be reputed as enemies,
- and their shyps, vessells, and goodes, taken and forfeited as goodes
- of enemies, albeit that the maysters or possessors thereof should
- afterwards come and alleadge the same ships, vessells, and goodes to
- be the goodes of friends of our lorde the kyng, and that the company
- therein be chastized by imprisonment of their bodies for their
- rebellion at discretion.[58]
-
-This ordinance is the last of a series of articles in the third
-part of the _Black Book_, which contains Admiralty regulations, the
-Laws of Oleron, and other three ordinances of King John, as well as
-ordinances which purport to have been made in the reigns of Henry
-I., Richard I., and Edward I. The facts ascertained by Sir Travers
-Twiss show that of the six or seven extant manuscripts which contain
-the ordinance, the oldest was written before 1422 and probably about
-1420,[59] and appears to have been drawn up for the use of Sir Thomas
-Beaufort, the Lord High Admiral. The manuscript used by Selden was
-probably written between 1430 and 1440; that of the _Black Book_ itself
-a little later, but still in the reign of Henry VI.[60] The others
-are not older than the seventeenth century. None of the manuscripts
-is therefore contemporaneous with the reign of John, but it is clear
-that the ordinance existed and was ascribed to John in the reign of
-Henry V., before 1422. Moreover, from intrinsic evidence it is proved
-that part of the _Black Book_ originated in 1375, in the reign of
-Edward III., and that the compilation of other parts of it is still
-earlier. Pardessus,[61] the great authority on ancient marine laws,
-is of opinion that the part of the _Black Book_ which includes the
-ordinance of John contains the results of the consultations with the
-judges in 1338 on the subject of the maritime laws, which were recorded
-in the roll, still preserved, of 12 Edward III., _De Superioritate
-Maris_--which also, as we shall see, claimed supremacy for the king
-in the sea of England. Twiss, however, thinks it was more probably
-compiled between 1360 and 1369. He is of opinion that the ordinance is
-authentic, and was in reality, as it purports, made by John at Hastings
-on 30th March 1201, and that it was transcribed into the compilation of
-the _Black Book_ with the earlier ordinances of Henry I. and Richard I.
-
-The arguments against the authenticity of the ordinance are mainly
-that it is written in the French language instead of in Latin, as
-was customary at the time; that there is no other evidence that John
-was ever at Hastings; and that the terms “king’s admiral” or “king’s
-lieutenant” are not to be found in contemporary documents. Twiss
-has shown that John and his Queen were at Canterbury on Easter Day
-1201, and it is not an improbable conjecture that the king passed
-from Canterbury to Hastings, and thence to London--a supposition that
-Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy, the author of the _Itinerary of King John_,
-regards as quite possible. Twiss also explains in an elaborate argument
-that the circumstance of the ordinance being written in French offers
-no difficulty, if the compilation of the third part of the _Black Book_
-is assigned, as above stated, to the reign of Edward III.; but there
-might be some difficulty in deciding whether the ordinances attributed
-to Henry I., Richard I., Edward I., and John were originally written
-in French as they now appear in the _Black Book_, or were at first
-drawn up in Latin and translated into French by the compilers.[62]
-
-The best authority is therefore in favour of the authenticity of the
-ordinance; but whether it be held as genuine or apocryphal there is
-no doubt that in the reign of Henry V. it was incorporated among the
-official regulations of the Admiralty, and it is almost as certain, as
-Twiss and Pardessus believe, that it was contained in the Admiralty
-regulations in the reign of Edward III. The question whether it should
-be antedated one hundred and fifty years, or thereabout, and placed
-in the reign of John, or ascribed to the time of Edward III., when so
-much consideration was given to naval affairs, is perhaps of minor
-importance.
-
-The language of the ordinance is worthy of close attention with regard
-to the claim to sovereignty in the narrow sea. Selden says that the
-ordinance shows it was held to be treason for any ship whatever not
-to acknowledge the dominion of the king of England in his own seas by
-lowering sails, and that the king prescribed penalties for infraction
-of the rule, just as if a crime were committed in some part of his
-territory on land.[63] In 1201 John still possessed both shores of
-the Channel, a circumstance which, according to the ideas of the
-time, conferred on him special rights in regard to it; and though the
-ordinance contains no qualification of the general term “at sea,”
-it is probable that it applied in particular, and at first perhaps
-exclusively, to the waters between the two shores. There is nothing
-to show whether the ordinance applied to or was enforced against the
-war vessels of other princes navigating the narrow sea, which was the
-principal feature of the rule in later times. From the terms used it is
-probable that it applied only to merchant vessels,--a supposition that
-agrees with its place in the _Black Book_ at the end of the articles
-entitled the Laws of Oleron, or the laws of the mercantile marine; and
-it was to be enforced only in voyages appointed by the Council. As
-already mentioned, it is reasonable to suppose that the lowering of the
-sail at the demand of a king’s ship was to enable a suspected vessel to
-be overhauled, and the king’s officers to be satisfied whether it was
-engaged in piracy or in lawful trade.
-
-Until the sixteenth century there is scarcely any evidence to show
-that the “right of the flag,” as it came to be called, was enforced
-even in the Channel. The record of one such incident, however,
-exists, which occurred in 1402, in the reign of Henry IV.,--and
-thus, it is interesting to note, before the oldest extant manuscript
-containing John’s ordinance was written,--and, curiously, the place
-where the lowering of the sails was demanded was not the Channel but
-the North Sea. In the year mentioned, the town of Bruges complained
-to the king and Council that a poor fisherman of Ostend, named John
-Willes, along with another from Briel, while fishing for herrings
-in the North Sea, had been captured by an English vessel and taken
-into Hull, notwithstanding that they were unarmed--a remark which is
-significant--and had lowered their sails at the moment the English had
-called to them.[64] It is singular that the earliest record of the
-“ceremony” refers to the humble herring-boats of Flanders. Later on we
-shall see that the lowering of top-sails and the striking of the flag
-became a burning question in international politics.
-
-Of greater interest and importance than this question of the lowering
-of the sail or the ordinance of John is the claim put forward by the
-Plantagenet kings to sovereign lordship and jurisdiction in the “sea of
-England,” for the maintenance of peaceful navigation and commerce,--a
-claim which may still be read in some of the rolls of Edward I. and
-Edward III. The great importance of these documents for the English
-pretension to dominion of the sea in the seventeenth century was shown
-by the fact that Boroughs, Selden, Coke, and Prynne all quote freely
-from them, Selden especially turning to them again and again for fresh
-quotation and argument. They are the more interesting since the claim
-to the sovereignty of the narrow sea in the reign of Edward I. could
-not, as Boroughs points out, be based on possession of both shores; the
-king was not then _Dominus utriusque ripæ_, as when Normandy belonged
-to the English crown. The rolls in question are still preserved in
-the Record Office, and the earlier parchments appear to have been
-collected together in the reign of Edward III., in connection with
-the consultations that the judges held in 1338 on the subject of the
-maritime laws.[65]
-
-The documents were first brought into prominence by Lord Coke[66] and
-Selden,[67] both of whom published parts of them. The handwriting
-belongs to the beginning of the fourteenth century, and its contents
-show that it must have been drawn up after 1304 and before 1307, in
-which year Edward I. died.
-
-The events that preceded may be summarised as follows. During the
-war between Edward I. and Philip the Fair of France it was concluded
-between them in the year 1297 that notwithstanding the war there should
-be freedom of commerce on both sides, or a truce for merchants, known
-as sufferance of war, and in the following year certain persons were
-appointed by both kings to take cognisance of things done contrary
-to this truce, and to pass their judgments according to the law of
-merchants and the tenor of the sufferance referred to.[68] On 20th May
-1303 a treaty of peace and alliance was signed at Paris,[69] the first
-article of which embodied a declaration of amity and mutual defence
-of all their respective rights, and the third that each would abstain
-from assisting or succouring the enemies of the other. A little later
-in the same year four agents or commissioners were appointed by Edward
-and four by Philip to hear complaints and decide upon them, and the
-English members were instructed to inquire into the “encroachments,
-injuries, and offences committed on either side during the truce or
-sufferance between us and the said King of France, on the coasts of the
-sea of England and other neighbouring coasts, and also towards Normandy
-and other coasts of the sea more remote.”[70] To these commissioners
-the following joint complaint or libel bears to have been submitted on
-behalf of England and certain mariners of other nations, charging one
-Reyner Grimbald or Grimaldi, a Genoese who is known to have been at the
-time in command of ships in the service of France operating against the
-Flemings, with seizing their merchants and merchandise contrary to the
-treaty at Paris:[71]--
-
-
-CONCERNING THE SUPREMACY OF THE SEA OF ENGLAND AND THE RIGHT OF THE
-OFFICE OF ADMIRALTY IN THE SAME.[72]
-
-To you the Lords Auditors deputed by the Kings of England and of France
-to redress the wrongs done to the people of their kingdoms and of other
-lands subject to their dominions by sea and by land in time of peace
-and of truce The proctors of the prelates and nobles and of the admiral
-of the sea of England[73] and of the commonalties of cities and towns
-and of the merchants mariners messengers and pilgrims and of all others
-of the said realm of England and of other lands subject to the dominion
-of the said King of England and elsewhere, as of the coast of Genoa,
-Catalonia, Spain, Almaigne, Zeeland, Holland, Friesland, Denmark, and
-Norway, and of several other places of the Empire do declare, That
-whereas the Kings of England by right of the said kingdom, from a time
-whereof there is no memorial to the contrary, had been in peaceable
-possession of the sovereign lordship of the sea of England and of
-the isles within the same, by ordinance and establishment of laws,
-statutes, and prohibitions of arms, and of ships otherwise furnished
-than merchant vessels, and to take surety and afford safeguard in
-all cases where need shall be, and by ordinance of all other actions
-necessary for the maintaining of peace, right, and equity among all
-manner of people as well of any other dominion as of their own passing
-thereby, and by sovereign guard and all manner of cognizance and
-justice high and low, concerning the said laws, statutes, ordinances,
-and prohibitions, and by all other actions that may appertain to
-the exercise of sovereign lordship in the places aforesaid. And A.
-de B.[74] deputed Admiral of the said sea by the King of England,
-and all other Admirals [appointed] by that same King of England and
-his ancestors heretofore Kings of England, had been in peaceable
-possession of the said sovereign guard with the cognizance and justice
-and all other the aforesaid appurtenances, except in case of appeal
-and complaint made of them to their sovereigns the Kings of England
-of default of right or of wrong judgment, and especially by putting
-hindrance (making prohibitions) and doing justice, taking surety of the
-peace of all manner of people using arms in the said sea, or carrying
-ships otherwise provided or furnished than appertained to a merchant
-ship, and in all other points wherein a man may have reasonable cause
-of suspicion towards them of robbery or other misdemeanours. And
-whereas the masters of the ships of the said kingdom of England in the
-absence of the said admirals had been in peaceable possession to take
-cognizance and to judge of all actions in the said sea between all
-manner of people according to the laws, statutes, and prohibitions,
-franchises and customs. And whereas in the first article of the
-alliance formerly made between the said Kings, in the treaties upon the
-last peace of Paris are comprised the words which follow in a schedule
-annexed to these presents.
-
- First, it is concluded and accorded between us and the messengers
- and proctors aforesaid in the name of the said Kings that the said
- Kings shall from this time forward be good, true, and loyal friends,
- and be aiding to one another against all men saving the Church of
- Rome in such manner that if any one or more, whosoever they be,
- will disturb, hinder, or molest the said Kings in the franchises,
- liberties, privileges, rights, dues, or customs of them and their
- kingdoms, they shall be good and loyal friends and allies against
- every man living, and ready to die to defend, keep, and maintain
- the franchises, liberties, privileges, rights, dues and customs
- aforesaid; Except (on the part of) the said King of England, Monsieur
- John, Duke of Brabant, in Brabant, and his heirs descended from him
- and the daughter of the King of England, and except (on behalf of)
- our said lord the King of France, the excellent Prince, Monsieur
- Albert, King of Almaigne [and] his heirs Kings of Almaigne, and
- Monsieur John, Count of Hainault in Hainault. And that the one shall
- not be of counsel nor aiding where the other may lose life, member,
- temporal estate, or honour.[75]
-
-Monsieur Reymer Grymbaltz, Master of the navy of the said King of
-France, who calls himself admiral of the said sea, deputed by his
-lord aforesaid for his war against the Flemings did after the said
-alliance made and confirmed, and against the form and force of the
-same alliance and the intent of them that made it, by commission of
-the King of France wrongfully usurp the office of admiralty in the
-said sea of England and did exercise it for a year and more taking
-the people and merchants of the kingdom of England and elsewhere
-passing through the said sea with their goods, and committed the
-people so taken to the prison of his said lord the King of France,
-and by his judgment and award caused their goods and merchandises
-to be delivered to the receivers of the said King of France deputed
-for this purpose in the ports of his said kingdom, as to him forfeit
-and acquired. And the taking and detaining of the said people with
-their said goods and merchandises, and his said judgment and award
-concerning the forfeiture and acquest of them, he has justified before
-you, Lords Auditors, in writing, according to the authority of the
-said commission of the admiralty aforesaid by him thus usurped, and
-during a prohibition commonly made by the King of England by his power,
-according to the tenor of the third article (_sic_) of the alliance
-aforesaid, which contains the words below [above] written, requiring
-that he may thereupon be quit and absolved, to the great damage and
-prejudice of the said King of England and of the prelates and nobles
-and others above named, Wherefore the said proctors in the names of
-their said lords do pray [you Lords] Auditors aforesaid that you would
-cause due and speedy deliverance of the said people with their goods
-and merchandises thus taken and detained, to be made to the Admiral
-of the said King of England, to whom the cognizance thereof of right
-belongs, as above is said, so that, without disturbance from you or
-any other, he may take cognizance hereof and do that which belongs to
-his office aforesaid, and that the said Monsieur Reyner be condemned
-and constrained to make due satisfaction to all the persons wronged
-as aforesaid as, etc. [so far as he is able to do, and in his default
-his said lord the King of France, by whom he was deputed to the said
-office, and that after due satisfaction made for the said damages, the
-said Monsieur Reyner may be so duly punished for the violation of the
-said alliance that his punishment may be an example to others in times
-to come.[76]] Item, the said proctors require that whereas according
-to the ancient laws, franchises and customs of the realm of England,
-to the keeping whereof your said lord the King and his ancestors Kings
-of England were wont to be bound by their oaths. Their admirals of the
-sea of England with the masters and mariners of ships of ports of the
-coast of England, being in the armies of the said admirals, needed
-not to answer before any justices of the Kings aforesaid concerning
-actions in the sea abovesaid during their wars against their enemies.
-And the said admiral of your said lord the King and many of the masters
-and mariners of the ports aforesaid now being in his army against the
-[their] enemies of Scotland and their helpers and allies, by express
-commandment of your said lord the King, are accused before you by
-people of Normandy and Brittany and elsewhere concerning some actions
-in the said sea in time of truce and since the peace confirmed between
-the said Kings of England and France, and before the war begun between
-them as is said. It may please you to surcease the process already
-commenced against them and to forbear to commence a new one during the
-war abovesaid, that they may have no cause to complain to your said
-lord and to the prelates and nobles of his said realm, bound by their
-oath to keep and maintain the said laws, franchises, and customs.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Selden alludes to this document as proving that the right of dominion
-over the sea, and that ancient and confirmed by long prescription,
-was in express terms here acknowledged by almost all the neighbouring
-nations to belong to England.[77] This is, however, not quite
-justified, because there is no record at all to show any decision, or
-even whether the matter was ever brought to proof, and no mention
-is made of the proceedings by any English or French historian. There
-seems to be no doubt of the authenticity of the record. It is in the
-handwriting of the time, is preserved among the public records, and
-agrees with other circumstances elsewhere recorded. On the other hand,
-even the most complete copy[78] is only a draft, as Selden states,
-without date or seals; the admiral’s initials only are given, and
-the citation of the first article of the treaty at Paris is not on a
-separate schedule as the text states, but is part of the text. Selden
-gives it as his opinion that it was a matter “of such moment” that it
-was thought better to make an end of it by agreement than to bring it
-to a trial.
-
-Light is thrown on the above record by another of the proceedings
-before the Auditors deputed by the kings of England and France for the
-redress of the grievances between the subjects of the two countries,
-27-33 Edward I.[79] It consists of a series of libels or complaints,
-which, as Mr Salisbury of the Record Office has been good enough to
-inform me, are in the handwriting of the time of Edward I., and are
-doubtless those, or part of those, on which the _De Superioritate_ roll
-is based.[80] The complaints are sixteen in number, and they refer
-to the seizure of a number of ships and the removal of goods from
-them, between May 1298 and September 1303, at various places,--the
-foreland of Thanet, the mouth of the Thames, off Blakeney, off Kirkele,
-Scarborough, Dover, and Orfordness,--the goods, and sometimes the
-vessel, being taken to Calais. Most of the vessels were freighted
-from London to Brabant, or from the latter place to London, one from
-Winchelsea to Dieppe, another from Antwerp to London, a third from
-Berwick to London, a fourth from Scotland to Brabant, a fifth from Lynn
-to Scotland, a sixth from Antwerp to England, and another from Yarmouth
-to London; in two cases the crews were killed, and the ships as well as
-the goods disposed of. In most cases the complaints are laid against
-Johan Pederogh or John de Pederogue (see p. 45), Michel de Navare, and
-others, who appear to have been under Grimbald, but in some instances
-they are against the latter. The first is by Richard Bush against
-“Reyner Grymaus,” complaining of goods having been taken from a ship
-going from Winchelsea to Dieppe, in August 1301, by Michel de Navare
-and others of Calais, who took the goods thither and disposed of them.
-The “chevalier” denied this, and asserted he was “not in that country”
-at the time specified nor for nearly a year afterwards, and in the
-“rejoinder” note was taken of the answer “that he was not admiral till
-some time after the events specified.” The eighth complaint refers to
-the seizure of goods from a ship going from Berwick to London in August
-1303, off Blakeney, “by men from Calais.” In reply John (Pederogh) says
-the demand concerns “mi sire Reniers de Grimaus” only, for he was then
-admiral, and said John was on shore at the date specified, and was only
-in the company of Reniers in Zealand and Holland. The twelfth complaint
-declares that the ship _Michele de Arwe_, from London to Brabant, with
-a cargo valued at £556, was seized “on the high seas” by Sire Reyner
-Grimbaud, admiral, in September 1303, taken to Normandy, and the crew
-sent to Calais and imprisoned. In reply the “chivaler” confesses he
-took such a ship, and seized it rightfully, as it was consorting with
-the enemies of France; and in response to the demand of one of the crew
-still in prison at Calais, he says he is there as a malefactor against
-the King of France, and that the commission of the deputies does not
-extend to such cases. The fourteenth complaint is by John de Chelchethe
-against Reyner de Grymaus, and John Pedrogh replies “as he did to
-William Servat,” the latter name not occurring elsewhere in the record,
-a circumstance which points to these libels being only part of those
-brought before the commissioners.
-
-It is to be noted that, with the exception of the _Michele de Arwe_
-above mentioned, which was taken “on the high seas,”--an elastic
-term,--all the ships were attacked near the English coast, and well
-within what may be called the sea of England, or the waters included
-in the King’s Chambers in 1604, where the jurisdiction of the English
-Admiralty undoubtedly extended. In all cases, moreover, the goods
-seized belonged to Englishmen, though some of the ships were foreign.
-
-Too much importance appears to have been attached to the roll _De
-Superioritate_. It furnishes no proof, or even reasonable probability,
-that any other Power acquiesced in an English claim to a specific
-sovereignty of the sea beyond what appears to have been customary among
-maritime states at the time. The point of the libel is that Grimbald
-seized shipping after the alliance was made and took people and goods
-to France, and was thus said to have usurped the sovereign lordship or
-jurisdiction of the English king or admiral in “the sea of England.”
-
-An important light is thrown on the nature of the jurisdiction
-exercised by the English admiral by the memorandum of 12 Edward III.,
-in the same roll, the documents in which were collected together at
-the time it was written, in connection with the consultation of the
-judges to which it refers.[81] It recites that, among a number of
-other things, the King’s Justiciaries were to be consulted as to the
-appropriate method of revising and continuing the form of proceedings
-instituted and ordained by Edward I. and his Council for maintaining
-and preserving the ancient supremacy of the crown in the sea of
-England and the right of the admiral’s office over it, with the view
-of correcting, interpreting, declaring, and upholding the laws and
-statutes made formerly by his ancestors, the kings of England, for
-the maintenance of peace and justice among the people of all nations
-whatsoever passing through the sea of England, and to take cognisance
-of all attempts to the contrary in the same, and to punish delinquents
-and afford redress to the injured; which laws and statutes, the
-memorandum states, were by Richard I., on his return from the Holy
-Land, corrected, interpreted, and declared, and were published in the
-Island of Oleron and named in the French language _La Loy Oleroun_.[82]
-
-This memorandum furnishes an important clue as to the nature of the
-jurisdiction exercised in the so-called sea of England. It is evident
-from the concluding part that the laws and statutes referred to are the
-mercantile marine laws, which were best known in this country as the
-Laws of Oleron, and are included in the _Black Book of the Admiralty_
-together with other articles peculiar to the English Admiralty.[83]
-They appear to have been published by Richard I. at the end of the
-twelfth century, at a time when the old customs of the sea began to be
-committed to writing, as rules proper to be observed by the admirals
-of his fleet for the punishment of delinquencies and the redress of
-wrongs committed on the sea. They were continued among the Admiralty
-regulations in subsequent reigns, and it was part of the duties of the
-admiral to see that they were duly observed in the seas within his
-jurisdiction. The powers of the admiral were extensive, as may be seen
-from the memorandum of the fourteenth century defining his office and
-duties, which has been published by Nicolas,[84] by those given by
-Twiss in the _Black Book_,[85] and later by Godolphin.[86]
-
-At the time with which we are dealing the utmost lawlessness reigned on
-the sea, the depredations of undisguised freebooters being scarcely a
-greater evil than the constant acts of reprisal between the traders of
-different nations. It was a common practice for the seamen of different
-countries or cities to carry on hostilities with one another, and to
-enter into treaties of peace or truce without the sovereign on either
-side being concerned in their quarrels, except as mediators or umpires.
-In 1317, although there was peace between England and Flanders, the
-mutual reprisals of the seamen and merchants reached such a height
-that commercial intercourse was entirely suspended, and Edward II.
-and the Earl of Flanders had to actively interpose in order to bring
-about “peace” between their subjects.[87] A marked feature in the
-policy of Edward III. was the promotion and encouragement of foreign
-commerce, and quite a number of statutes were passed in his reign with
-that object, and to facilitate the entrance of foreign merchants into
-the realm. One of these, made six years after the consultation of the
-judges on the maritime laws, was specially passed to declare the sea
-open to all merchants.[88]
-
-With these circumstances in view, it can be readily understood how
-desirable it was to have the maritime laws for the security of
-commerce and shipping carefully considered and put in force; and a
-consideration of the whole case shows that the roll _De Superioritate
-Maris_ deals with the maritime laws, the interpretation of the
-documents having been strained by the later advocates for the English
-claim to the sovereignty of the seas. It is interesting no doubt to
-learn that the King of England and his admiral exercised jurisdiction
-of the kind in the neighbouring sea at the early time referred to, but
-there is nothing in the case of Grimbald or in the other documents
-associated with it to indicate any claim to a sovereignty such as was
-enjoyed by Venice and Denmark. There was no attempt made to interfere
-with the innocent use of the so-called sea of England, or to exact
-dues for navigation or fishery. The jurisdiction extended only to the
-keeping of the peace and the security of the sea--duties exercised
-by other princes and states in like manner, and indeed now exercised
-by all countries within the waters under their control. This view is
-supported by the interpretation of Callis, who stated that the king
-ruled on the sea “by the laws imperial, as by the roll of Oleron
-and others,” in all matters relating to shipping and merchants and
-mariners.[89] It would no doubt be of great interest if there were
-distinct evidence as to how far from the coast “the sea of England”
-extended. The records cited show that the vessels were seized close
-to the English coast, within the waters covered by the proclamations
-concerning the King’s Chambers in the seventeenth century, and even
-within the narrow limits of the territorial waters as now usually
-defined. It is to be noted with reference to the vessel taken “on the
-high seas” that in the Court of Admiralty in the seventeenth century
-this phrase covered seizures made a few miles from the coast.
-
-There is, however, one case which occurred in the fourteenth century
-which has been referred to as showing that the sea of England and
-the jurisdiction of the king extended far from the English coast,
-over indeed to the coast of Brittany. In the mutual aggressions
-of Flemish and English sailors, the robberies by the men of Rye
-of Flemish ships off “Craudon” and Orwell became so flagrant that
-commissioners on both sides were appointed in 1311, further proceedings
-were instituted in 1314, and finally, in 1320, envoys from Flanders
-arrived in London during the sitting of Parliament, and a treaty was
-concluded. In this it is stated that divers merchants of Flanders,
-while “proceeding on the sea of England near Craudon,”[90] were
-robbed of their wines and merchandise by evil-doers of England, and
-that the goods had been brought to England. The Flemish envoys prayed
-the king, “of his lordship and royal power to cause right to be done
-and punishment awarded, since he is lord of the sea, and the said
-robbery was committed in the sea under his power.”[91] The account
-goes on to state that the king and his council in Parliament, with the
-assent of the peers, agreed to appoint justices to inquire into the
-matter, and that those who were concerned in the robbery should be
-promptly punished.[92] Accordingly, in December 1320, the Keeper of
-the Cinque Ports and others were instructed to make inquiry regarding
-the pillaging of a Flemish ship, laden with wines and merchandise,
-said to have been committed by Englishmen on the sea of England, off
-Craudon, so that the malefactors might be brought to justice.[93]
-Selden, who gives the document in which the previous proceedings
-are also recited,[94] does not attempt to locate Craudon, which in
-other records in the rolls of Parliament in 1315 was also called
-“Carondon,” “Crasdon,” and “Grasdon”; but Nicolas states that there
-was no place of that name on the sea coast of England, nor in any part
-of the territories of Edward II., and he identified it with a small
-seaport, since called “Crowdon,” in Brittany, lying on the extreme part
-of the Point du Raz, about eight leagues west of Quimper, where he
-shows that the fleets returning to England with wines frequently took
-shelter.[95] If this explanation be correct, it would extend the “sea
-of England” more than 120 miles south of the Lizard, which, however,
-is still well within the limits which were claimed for it by Selden
-(see p. 19). Although, according to the English record, the Flemish
-envoys themselves described the sea off Craudon as part of the sea of
-England and under the jurisdiction of the king, it is evident that this
-admission would facilitate redress from England, and standing alone
-it is not of much weight. The whole value of the admission, moreover,
-depends on the position of the “Craudon” of the record; and it is
-remarkable, if it was really the Crowdon referred to by Nicolas, that
-that fact was unknown to Selden, to whom it would have furnished a very
-strong argument for his case.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE FISHERIES.
-
-
-It was with respect to the right of fishery on the British coasts
-that the claim to maritime sovereignty was revived in the seventeenth
-century, and with which it was chiefly concerned. The “honour of
-the flag,” however gratifying to national pride or important in the
-international relations of England, was unprofitable, and served at
-best to stimulate and maintain the spirit of the nation for power and
-adventure on the sea. But the question of free or licensed fishing
-touched the profit as well as the “honour” of the king and the
-prosperity of the people, and hence the monarchs of the Stuart line,
-the Commonwealth, and the Protector strove to impose tribute on foreign
-fishermen for the liberty to fish in the British seas. This policy was
-in direct opposition to that which had long prevailed in England. It
-is shown below that the freedom of fishing on the English coast had
-been guaranteed to foreign fishermen by a series of treaties extending
-over some centuries, and that in point of fact the fishermen of various
-nations had immemorially frequented the British seas in large numbers,
-and there peacefully pursued their business of catching fish without
-molestation or interruption by the English Government. In some respects
-this liberty enjoyed was remarkable, when one considers the practice in
-many other countries and the value of the fisheries.
-
-In the early and middle ages the sea fisheries were indeed much more
-important relatively than they are now. There was a greater demand for
-fish, and fishermen from various countries--from France, Flanders,
-Spain, and England--made long and distant voyages, extending to Iceland
-and even beyond the North Cape, in quest of fish. One reason for
-the great demand was the numerous fast-days enjoined by the Church;
-for although fish were eschewed by the ascetic monks of early times
-as dangerous to purity of soul, the fashion changed, and they were
-later consumed plentifully on the days of fast both by clergy and
-laity.[96] The fasts were strictly observed throughout Catholic
-Europe, and a large variety of sea and fresh-water fishes, as well
-as seals and cetaceans, were consumed on such occasions. Some of the
-large monastic establishments had their own staff of fishermen, and
-their fish-houses at seaports for the salting and curing of herring.
-Another reason for the extensive consumption of fish was the want of
-winter-roots and the scantiness of fodder in winter, so that it was
-impracticable to keep cattle and sheep for slaughtering throughout the
-winter. It was customary to kill them and salt the flesh in autumn;
-and thus fish, fresh, dried, smoked, or salted, formed a valued
-article of food in place of salted beef and mutton. Fish were also
-used to an extraordinary extent in victualling the army and navy, and
-in provisioning castles, the expense on this item of the commissariat
-generally equalling or exceeding that for beef, mutton, or pork.[97]
-The distribution even of fresh fish was also much better than might
-have been expected. Barges and boats carried them up the rivers, and
-pack-horses and waggons transported them throughout the country, so
-that even in inland counties the harvesters in the fields were supplied
-with herrings for their dinner.[98] In mediæval times, moreover,
-fishermen and fishing vessels constituted a considerable part of the
-naval force available for the defence of the kingdom, for offensive
-operations and the transport of soldiers. The fishermen of the Cinque
-Ports, who had the government of the great herring fair at Yarmouth,
-had also to provide vessels for the king’s service under their
-charters. Later, when a permanent navy existed, the fisheries were
-looked upon as a very important “nursery” of seamen to man the fleets.
-
-The herring fishery was by far the most important of all the sea
-fisheries, and as this fish was found in greatest abundance on the
-British coasts, foreign fishermen were attracted hither in great
-numbers. It was with reference to the herring fishery that exclusive
-claims were raised by England in the seventeenth century, and it is
-desirable at the outset to understand the policy which was pursued
-previously in regard to it both in England and Scotland. At what
-period foreign fishermen first began to frequent the British coasts is
-uncertain; but we know that within fifty or sixty years of the Norman
-Conquest fishermen from Flanders and Normandy--and doubtless from other
-countries--visited our shores and carried on a fishery for herrings by
-means of drift-nets. An important fishery was established at the mouth
-of the Firth of Forth, on the east coast of Scotland, in the early part
-of the twelfth century, and it was shared by fishermen from England,
-Flanders, and France, who paid tithes to the monks of the priory on the
-Isle of May. This monastery was founded by King David I. before the
-middle of the twelfth century, and was endowed by him with the manor of
-Pittenweem in Fife, and by Cospatrick, the great Earl of Dunbar, with a
-house and “toft” at the village of Dunbar, both grants being of value
-in connection with the fishery. King William the Lion (A.D. 1165-1214)
-confirmed these grants, and addressed missives to “all his good
-subjects and the fishermen who fish round the Isle of May” commanding
-them to pay their tithes to the monks as they were paid in the time
-of his grandfather, King David (A.D. 1124-1153); and he prohibited
-them from fishing in their waters or using the island without license
-from the monks.[99] This very early claim to the right of exclusive
-fishing in the sea is characteristic of the policy of all the Scottish
-kings. It was repeated on several occasions, the royal mandate being
-sometimes addressed solely “to all fishermen who fish around the Isle
-of May”; and that some of them were foreigners appears to be shown not
-only by the statement above given, on the authority of contemporary
-monks, but by the size of the vessels, some of which had four hawsers,
-and paid much higher dues at the neighbouring harbours than the local
-fishing-boats. We know also from contemporary Flemish records that as
-early as the first half of the twelfth century fishermen from Nieuport
-and other places in Flanders fished from large vessels for herrings
-with drift-nets in August and September in the northern parts of the
-North Sea.
-
-The men from France and Flanders alluded to, no doubt continued to
-fish each season down the east coast of England to the mouth of the
-Thames, as they did later and do still. About the period mentioned,
-Yarmouth was a great fishing centre, and was frequented by foreign
-merchants--Flemings, French, Swedes, and Frieslanders--who purchased
-and cured herrings; but the earliest notice of foreign fishermen on the
-English coast is in the year 1274, shortly after Edward I. came to the
-throne. Complaint was then made that during a time of truce the English
-fishermen had been attacked by the Flemish disguised as fishermen and
-twelve hundred of them killed.[100] On the other hand, the Countess
-of Flanders complained that twenty-two of her subjects who had been
-fishing on the coast of England and Scotland, and had gone ashore at
-Berwick to rest themselves and get provisions, had been seized, with
-their nets, at Norham and thrown into the castle there.[101] About
-twenty years later, Edward I. issued a mandate to John de Botetourt,
-the Warden of the coast of Yarmouth, and to the bailiffs of that
-town, saying that he understood that many men from Holland, Zealand,
-and Friesland would shortly come “to fish in our sea off Yarmouth,”
-and commanding them to make public proclamation once or twice a-week
-forbidding any molestation or injury to be done to them, but that they
-should rather be helped to pursue their fishing to advantage.[102] The
-number of English fishermen stated to have been killed by the Flemings
-in the encounter mentioned above, indicates how extensive the fishery
-then was. This also appears a few years later, when the Flemings
-resorted to a similar device; for in July 1296 above a thousand men of
-Flanders, and others of France, disguised as fishermen, were preparing
-to attack and burn Yarmouth and neighbouring places, and the bailiffs
-and men of the port were ordered to collect their ships to oppose them.
-These proceedings show the lawless state of the sea in those times. In
-the thirteenth century an extensive herring fishing was also carried
-on by the Scots on the east coast, especially in the Firth of Forth
-and the Moray Firth, and particularly by the men of Fife, and cargoes
-of herrings, cod, and haddocks, as well as salmon, were exported to
-England and chiefly to London, but also to Bordeaux, Rouen, Dieppe, and
-other ports in France.
-
-From the foregoing it is clear that centuries before the question of
-_mare clausum_ was raised, important fisheries were established along
-the east coast of England and Scotland, and that foreign fishermen took
-part in them. The number of French and Flemish fishermen attending the
-fishery must have been always great, because they had to furnish a
-large part of Catholic Europe with fish. But the number was increased
-after the fourteenth century, and especially in the fifteenth, from
-two causes. One was the decline of the great herring fishery at
-Scania, in the Baltic, upon which the Hanseatic League had risen to
-power and opulence, and which provided perhaps the greater part of
-continental Europe with salted and smoked herrings--Germany, Poland,
-Russia, part of France, and even to some extent Flanders and England.
-The Scanian herrings were esteemed the best, and the Hanse controlled
-the trade.[103] The other circumstance was the invention in the latter
-part of the fourteenth century by Beuckelsz, a native of Biervliet, in
-Zealand, of a greatly improved mode of curing herrings,--an invention
-which most materially aided the Dutch in taking the place of the
-Hansards in the herring industry, and in the commerce which it brought
-in its train. Some of the towns in the Low Countries early belonged to
-the Hanseatic League, and their fishermen were in the habit of going to
-the Scanian fishery;[104] but from the fifteenth century at least the
-herring fishery on the British coasts became by far the most important
-in Europe. It attracted foreign fishermen in increasing numbers, and
-gradually the Dutch came to take the leading part in it, displacing
-the Flemings and the men from Normandy and Picardy, and even to a
-large extent the English themselves. In 1512 we find Margaret of Savoy
-appealing to Henry VIII. to protect the fishermen of Holland, Zealand,
-and Friesland in their herring fishery, in which they were menaced by
-the Hanseatic towns, which were fitting out vessels to interrupt them;
-and in her letter she describes the herring fishery as the principal
-support of these states.[105] Towards the end of the century, when the
-Dutch had begun to call their herring fishery on the British coast
-their “great gold mine,” another event occurred which tended still
-further to strengthen their hold on it by opening fresh markets on
-the Continent. This was the failure of the great Bohuslän fishery in
-Sweden, which continued barren for about seventy years.[106] They were
-also enabled to prosper in their fishery by the beneficent policy of
-the English sovereigns towards them up to the reign of James I., when
-the claim to the exclusive fishing in the British seas was put forward
-on behalf of the crown.
-
-When this claim was advanced in the seventeenth century, it was argued
-that the sea fisheries had always belonged to the crown. Selden
-declared that “license had usually been granted to foreigners by the
-Kings of England to fish in the sea; and that the protection which the
-kings gave to fishermen, as in their own territory, was an ancient and
-manifest evidence of their maritime dominion.”[107] The cases adduced
-in support of that contention are singularly few and unconvincing. One
-is the tax imposed by Richard II. in 1379 on fishing vessels, among
-others, in the admiralty of the north, but which, if it was imposed on
-foreign vessels at all, must have been done with their consent (see
-p. 33). Another relates to the arrangements which were occasionally
-made for “wafting” or guarding the fishermen at the Yarmouth fishing,
-and for which the fishermen thus protected had to pay,--an arrangement
-which was also adopted in the reign of Charles I. Thus, in 1482,
-Edward IV. invested certain persons, called Guardians, Conductors,
-and Wafters, with naval powers, to protect the fishermen “of whatever
-country they be, who shall desire to fish under the protection” of
-the said wardens on the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk; and all those
-who took advantage of such protection had to pay an equal share of
-the cost of it; any other persons pretending to have power to protect
-the fishermen were to be apprehended. This arrangement was repeated
-in the reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII.[108] It is evident that
-the payment was only exigible from such foreign fishermen as took
-advantage of the protection offered to them; those who desired to fish
-without protection of the wardens were at liberty to do so. A more
-pertinent case is the Act of the Irish Parliament in 1465--also during
-the reign of Edward IV.--which has been previously alluded to.[109] It
-was passed to prevent aid being given to the king’s enemies by foreign
-vessels that went to fish at Ireland. All foreign fishing vessels were
-prohibited from fishing on the Irish coast (except the north part of
-Wicklow) without first obtaining a license from the Lieutenant, his
-deputy, a “justice of the land,” or other person authorised to grant
-it, upon pain of forfeiture of ship and goods. All foreign vessels
-allowed to fish, which were of twelve tons burthen “or less,” and had a
-“drover” or boat, were to pay thirteen shillings and fourpence yearly
-for the maintenance of the king’s wars in Ireland; smaller vessels,
-as “scarfes” or boats not having “drover nor lighter,” and within the
-burthen of twelve tons, were to pay two shillings. This was obviously
-a temporary measure, designed for a special purpose, though clearly
-imposing a tax on foreign vessels; but there is not evidence to show
-whether it was enforced.
-
-Other two instances referring to later times were adduced in support
-of the contention that the sea fisheries belonged to England, and
-they may be mentioned here. One was the statement made by Camden
-about 1586,[110] and by Hitchcock some years earlier,[111] that the
-Hollanders and Zealanders before they began to fish for herrings off
-the east coast of England, first, “by ancient custom, asked leave of
-Scarborough Castle”; “for,” adds Camden, “the English have always given
-them leave to fish, reserving the honour to themselves, and resigning,
-as if from slothfulness, the benefit to strangers.” Neither Hitchcock
-nor Camden quotes any authority for the statement. Scarborough Castle
-was in early times an important stronghold on the north-east coast,
-and it is not unlikely that foreign fishermen, who were frequently at
-the port, found it to their interest to maintain friendly relations
-with the governor, and gave notice of their arrival, or perhaps asked
-leave to dry their nets and paid for the privilege. It was the practice
-for the governor to levy dues, in kind, on fish brought ashore, for
-Edward III., in 1347, ordered writs of attachment to lie against
-those who during the fishing season sold their fish at sea instead of
-bringing them to the town, thus defrauding the Castle of its dues.
-Another instance, which was frequently made use of in negotiations
-later with the Dutch on the question of the fishery, was an alleged
-lease for twenty-one years granted by Queen Mary to her husband Philip
-II. of Spain, by which his subjects received licenses to fish on the
-Irish coasts. The first trace of this story is found in a memorandum
-addressed to Lord Salisbury in 1609 by one Richard Rainsford, an agent
-for a fishery company,[112] in which it is said that £1000 per annum
-had been paid into the Irish Exchequer by Philip for the privilege,
-and that Sir Henry Fitton, the son of the treasurer at the time, could
-substantiate the statement “on oath if need is.” No year is mentioned
-by any of those who put forward this story,[113] and no record of it is
-referred to. If not entirely apocryphal, and invented as an argument
-against the Dutch, who were subjects of Philip in the early part of his
-reign, it was probably constructed on a very slender basis.
-
-There is, however, one interesting case, or series of cases, in which
-licenses to fish in the Channel were frequently granted by the Lord
-Warden of the Cinque Ports to a limited number of French fishermen,
-chiefly of Dieppe and Treport, for the ostensible purpose of supplying
-the king of France’s table with fresh fish, and especially soles. It
-is stated that the French kings “time out of mind” had applied for
-such licenses,[114] and they were certainly granted under Elizabeth,
-the Stuart kings, and Oliver Cromwell. It is doubtful when the custom
-originated, but since the liberty of fishing was granted for a
-definite area or bank, called the Zowe or Sowe, off Rye and well out
-in the Channel, it was probably of considerable antiquity, and may
-have survived from the Norman or Angevin reigns. James also furnished
-similar licenses for the use of certain high personages, such as the
-Duchess of Guise and the French ex-ambassador; but the liberty was
-greatly abused, and was the cause of much friction and trouble with the
-English fishermen later.[115] The fact that such licenses were asked
-for by the French court on behalf of fishermen of Dieppe, Treport,
-Calais, and other ports on the coast of France, may indicate that the
-fisheries out in the Channel were at one time claimed by England. But
-it is possible it was only the survival of a custom adopted during the
-times when great lawlessness reigned on the seas, and when the men of
-the Cinque Ports were a terror to their neighbours. A license from the
-Lord Warden would be then a safeguard and protection.
-
-Such are the cases which were adduced to prove the rights of the
-English crown to exclusive fishing in the British seas. On the other
-side there is an overwhelming body of testimony to show that the
-fishery was free. It may be noted in the first place that Bracton
-and the other early English lawyers, unlike those of the seventeenth
-century, made no claim for an exclusive fishery. They merely propounded
-the Roman law that the sea and the shores of the sea were common to
-all; that the right of fishing in rivers and ports was likewise free
-to all; and that animals, _feræ naturæ_, including fish, belonged to
-no person. The law laid down by Bracton and the others was not, of
-course, international; but if it had been in agreement with English
-jurisprudence in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (as it was
-made to be in the seventeenth) to consider the sea fisheries as the
-property of the crown, that would have been declared, because Bracton
-was embodying the customary law of England, and adopted Roman law only
-when that failed him. He is careful to state that wreck of the sea and
-“great fish,” such as sturgeons and whales, “belong to the lord the
-king himself by reason of his privilege” or prerogative, precisely
-on the ground that Callis, Coke, Selden, and Hale claimed the sea
-fisheries generally for the crown in the seventeenth century. Had any
-such right existed or been thought of in the reign of Henry III.,
-Bracton could not have failed to incorporate it, since the king placed
-the archives and everything necessary at his disposal to enable him to
-embody the common law of England.[116] So also there is nothing in the
-rolls of Edward I. and Edward III., which deal with the sovereignty of
-the sea, to indicate any claim to the fisheries; nor is there in the
-Admiralty ordinances and regulations in the _Black Book_, although it
-was part of the duties of the admirals to supervise the sea fisheries
-and to enforce the laws relating to them.
-
-But the assertion that the fisheries were free in those early times
-does not depend upon negative testimony. Liberty of fishing was
-guaranteed in various treaties concluded with foreign nations from
-the middle of the fourteenth century until the end of the sixteenth.
-The first of these was made in the reign of Edward III., and it was
-in keeping with the liberal policy of that monarch in regard to the
-promotion of foreign commerce. It was almost a necessity, for English
-fishermen were by themselves unable to meet the home demand for fish.
-Fish caught by foreigners were regularly imported into England, and
-such importation was encouraged by the crown and by Parliament until
-after the Reformation. Foreign fishermen were also encouraged, as is
-shown by the mandates of Edward I. and Edward II. above alluded to, and
-by many others.
-
-The first of the formal treaties providing for liberty of fishing
-was concluded in 1351 between Edward III. and the king of Castile
-and towns on the coast of Castile and Biscay. Edward had signally
-defeated the Spanish fleet in the year before in the battle known
-as “L’Espagnols sur Mer,” and in the truce for twenty years which
-followed, it was stipulated that there should be mutual freedom of
-commerce and navigation, and that the fishermen from Castile and Biscay
-should be at liberty to come freely and safely to fish in the ports of
-England and Brittany, and in all other places and ports, paying the
-dues and customs to the lords of the country.[117] Spanish fishermen
-do not appear to have taken part in the great herring fishing on the
-east coast,--Spaniards, indeed, have never cared for pickled or cured
-herrings, differing in this respect from the Teutonic races, but have
-preferred the mackerel, the pilchard, and the cod. The liberty of
-fishing conferred by the treaty was no doubt chiefly valuable to them
-with respect to their fishery off the Irish coast, the south-west coast
-of England, and along the coasts of Aquitaine and Brittany for sardines
-and mackerel. Two years later a similar treaty was concluded between
-Edward and the towns of Portugal and Algarve, in which liberty of
-fishing was stipulated in precisely the same terms,[118] and no doubt
-related to the same waters.
-
-Early in the next century we find what seems to be the first of the
-numerous agreements as to the liberty of fishing for herrings in the
-narrow seas, quite a number of which were made in the comparatively
-short and troubled reign of Henry IV. In a truce concluded in 1403
-between Henry and the King of France, it was provided that merchants,
-mariners, and fishermen should be free to pass to and through either
-kingdom without requiring letters of safe-conduct. Henry, therefore,
-issued a mandate to his admirals and other officers concerned,
-enjoining that during the current herring season the fishermen of both
-countries should freely fish for herrings and all other fish, from
-Gravelines and the Isle of Thanet down to the mouth of the Seine and
-Southampton, without hindrance or molestation, and that if they were
-chased by pirates or met with contrary winds they were to be allowed
-to take refuge in the ports within the area defined, and were to be
-well treated.[119] As the king’s missive is dated 26th October, it
-appears that there was then, as there is now, a considerable winter
-herring fishing in the Channel. Three years later, on 5th October
-1406, Henry took all the fishermen of France, Flanders, and Brittany,
-with their ships and boats, under his protection until 2nd February
-in the following year,--that is to say, during the winter herring
-fishery,--for which time they were to be allowed to fish freely and
-without molestation, and to carry away their fish, provided they did
-nothing to prejudice him or his kingdom.[120] Considering the weak
-condition of the English navy at the time--the security of the sea had
-been committed to the merchants on the east coast, a system which in
-this month of October was known to have failed--and the prevalence of
-pirates, it is unlikely that the protection of the king was of much
-avail.
-
-In November of the same year, with reference to his treaty with France,
-Henry published another proclamation stating that, on the supplication
-of the burgesses and people of Flanders, it had been agreed that the
-fishermen of England and Flanders, and generally of all the realm of
-France, should, during the continuance of the treaty, go in safety to
-fish in the sea. To the end that the fishermen who travelled on the sea
-at great peril to gain their living might fish in greater security, and
-obtain sea fish for the sustenance of the people, it was ordained that
-for a year from the publication of the proclamation all the fishermen
-of England, of Calais, and of other towns and places belonging to
-the King of England, as well as the fishermen of Flanders, Picardy,
-Normandy, and Brittany, and other parts of France, might go in peace
-over the whole sea to fish and gain their living, without any restraint
-or hindrance; provided no fraud was committed, and that English
-fishermen had the same privileges from Flanders, Picardy, Normandy,
-Brittany, and other parts of France. If the fishermen were driven into
-port by the violence of the wind, or other cause, they were to be
-received freely and treated reasonably, paying the dues and customs
-as of old, and be at liberty to return to their own ports. The king,
-therefore, commanded his admirals, captains, bailiffs, the commanders
-of castles and ports, and others concerned, to see that the provisions
-of the treaty were carried out.[121]
-
-In the following year was concluded the first of the great series
-of Burgundy treaties, about which so much was to be heard in the
-diplomatic negotiations with the Dutch in the seventeenth century.
-Flanders was then part of the dominions of the Duke of Burgundy, who
-held it as a fief of France, and freedom of commerce and fishery was of
-the highest importance to his Flemish subjects. A treaty or convention
-was therefore drawn up between Henry’s ambassadors and the Duke of
-Burgundy, dealing chiefly with commercial intercourse, in which the
-above-mentioned provisions for mutual liberty of fishing were embodied,
-in practically the same language, and comprising likewise the whole of
-France.[122] In 1408 the mutual freedom of fishing in the sea was twice
-confirmed,--in the prorogation of the truce with the Duke of Burgundy,
-and in the ratification by the King of France of the treaty between
-Henry and the Duke;[123] and it was again confirmed at Amiens by John,
-Duke of Burgundy, in 1417, in the reign of Henry V.[124]
-
-The various fishery truces and conventions of Henry IV., which
-were made at a time when great insecurity prevailed on the sea and
-depredations were committed on all hands, reflect credit on that able
-monarch, and notwithstanding the naval weakness in the early part of
-his reign, they must have had a favourable influence in fostering the
-sea fisheries. The sort of treatment that fishermen in those times had
-frequently to undergo is indicated in a complaint made to the king in
-1410 that, notwithstanding the fishery truce with France, the men of
-Harfleur had seized an English fishing vessel of twenty-four tons, _Le
-Cogge Johan de Briggewauter_, and had thrown the master and fourteen of
-the crew into prison, without food and water, and held them to ransom
-for a hundred pounds.[125] Such occurrences were by no means uncommon,
-and it was customary for fishing vessels to go to sea armed,[126]--a
-provision which also enabled them on occasion to do a little piracy on
-their own account. It was sometimes difficult for the authorities to
-decide whether a vessel provided with fishing-lines and armed, as some
-were, with “minions, falcons, and falconettes,” and having a good store
-of powder and bullets, had been equipped to catch fish or prey upon
-other vessels.
-
-It does not appear that any treaty concerning liberty of fishing was
-made in the warlike reign of Henry V. (1413-1422); but, as stated
-above, this king confirmed the Burgundy treaty in 1417. In the
-succeeding reign of Henry VI., in 1439, a treaty was concluded for
-three years with Isabel of Portugal, as representing her husband,
-Philip, Duke of Burgundy, which provided for liberty in fishing in
-much the same language as in the treaty of Henry IV. It was stipulated
-that all the fishermen of England, Ireland, or Calais, as well as
-of Brabant and Flanders, should be free to go all over the sea for
-fishing, without any hindrance or molestation on either side, and that
-they should have free access to the ports of either, under the usual
-conditions. Although the Duke of Burgundy was also Count of Holland
-and Zealand, these states were not specifically included in this
-treaty, which was renewed in 1442 for other five years, and again, at
-Calais, in 1446, for a term of twelve years, in precisely the same
-terms, and the commonalties of Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, and of the French
-dominions promised to observe it.[127] In the renewal of the treaty
-of intercourse at Brussels, in 1468, by Edward IV. and the Duchess of
-Burgundy on behalf of her husband, Duke Charles, in addition to the
-mention of Brabant, Flanders, and Mechlin, words were added[128] which
-brought Holland and Zealand into the treaty, and thus formally gave
-them that liberty of fishing on the British, or at least the English,
-coast which they struggled so hard and so successfully to retain in
-the seventeenth century. The article on the fishery also declared that
-the fishermen should be at liberty to fish without being required to
-obtain any license, permission, or safe-conduct,[129] which appears to
-indicate that the practice of obtaining such letters for their security
-had been previously in vogue. In 1468, in the treaty of peace, at
-Péronne, between Louis XI. of France and Charles, Duke of Burgundy, a
-similar clause was inserted providing for the freedom of the herring
-fishery;[130] and in the ten years’ truce agreed upon in 1471 between
-Edward IV. and the King of France mutual liberty of commerce and
-fishing was stipulated during the continuance of the truce.[131] The
-treaty of 1467, above referred to, which included Holland and Zealand,
-was to last for thirty years, but by the death of Charles the Bold,
-and the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian of Austria, it was
-deemed necessary to renew it with the new Duke; and this was done, and
-the compact declared to be perpetual, in 1478, the clause providing for
-the liberty of fishing remaining unaltered.[132]
-
-It is thus clear from those numerous treaties that in the fifteenth
-century the liberty of fishing in the sea was so generally recognised
-by England that the principle might be regarded as having become a part
-of her international policy and custom. Towards the end of the century
-the Burgundy treaties were superseded by the great treaty of peace and
-commercial intercourse which was concluded in 1496 between Henry VII.,
-the first of the Tudor sovereigns, and Philip, Archduke of Austria
-and Duke of Burgundy. This treaty, which became so well known later
-as the Great Intercourse (Intercursus Magnus, le Traité d’Entrecours,
-’t Groot Commercie-Tractaat), was the sheet-anchor of Dutch policy in
-relation to England in the seventeenth century, and was constantly
-appealed to by them in their diplomatic struggles with the Stuarts and
-with Cromwell. It was the price paid by Henry for the expulsion of
-Perkin Warbeck from Flanders, the provisions in regard to whom, when
-slightly modified by St John in 1651 to apply to the “rebels” of the
-Commonwealth, so startled the Dutch Government (see p. 387). The treaty
-was to be perpetual, and it actually endured for a century and a half.
-The article dealing with the liberty of fishing was couched in almost
-the same language as in the preceding treaties. The fishermen of both
-nations were to be at liberty to go in security to fish anywhere on
-the sea, without requiring any license or safe-conduct, and to have
-free use of one another’s ports under stress of misfortune, weather
-or enemies, on paying the ordinary dues.[133] As conservators for
-this treaty of peace and commerce, which was received with much
-rejoicing in the Low Countries, Henry appointed, among others, the
-mayors and aldermen of London and of a large number of towns, including
-Southampton, Sandwich, Dover, Winchelsea, Boston, Yarmouth, and
-Berwick; and the Archduke, on his side, appointed the burgomasters of
-Ghent, Bruges, Dunkirk, Antwerp, Dort, Delft, Leyden, Amsterdam, Briel,
-and others.
-
-Several supplementary treaties dealing with commercial subjects were
-concluded between Henry VII. and Henry VIII. on the one side, and the
-Archduke of Burgundy on the other--viz., in 1499, 1506, 1515, and
-1520.[134] While they confirmed in general terms the previous treaty,
-the clause referring to the freedom of fishery was not specifically
-mentioned, a circumstance which, considering the nature of the matters
-dealt with--the staple at Calais, the cloth trade, the Zealand
-tolls,--was not surprising. Nevertheless, the fact that treaties
-of commerce had been made with the Low Countries subsequent to the
-Intercursus Magnus, without containing a clause expressly renewing the
-liberty of fishing, was used later by English statesmen, as by Lord
-Bacon, as an argument that the provision of that treaty had thereby
-been rendered inoperative. But the policy of Henry VIII., and indeed
-of all the Tudor sovereigns, proved the contrary; liberty of fishing
-on the English coast was not called in question till James came to the
-throne.
-
-We have already seen that Margaret of Savoy appealed to Henry VIII. in
-1512 to protect the herring fishermen of the Low Countries from the
-attacks of the Hanseatic towns, and apparently with success. The same
-regard for the herring fishery was shown in a marked manner in 1521
-in the negotiations between the Emperor Charles V. and King Francis
-I. of France. Cardinal Wolsey, who was the “mediator” between them,
-strongly urged the need of allowing the herring fishery to be free,
-safe, and unmolested. He made this stipulation one of the chief points
-of the proposed treaty. It is stated in a despatch which was sent
-to Charles V. by his ambassadors at Calais, where the negotiations
-were being conducted, that the Cardinal declared his intention to
-propose, among other things, security for the fishermen and cessation
-of hostility on the sea between England and Flanders, and that either
-party should be free from attack by the other in English ports. There
-was no difficulty about the fisheries, the ambassadors said, as they
-knew the Emperor wished it, and that his subjects would more willingly
-go to sea in that event than they then did under the protection of
-ships charged to defend them.[135] The French ambassadors also informed
-Francis that Wolsey pressed the point on them, and that they had
-ultimately agreed in order “to conciliate him, considering it can be
-revoked at pleasure, and will be profitable to those living on the
-coast of Normandy and Picardy, and without it they will not be able
-to pay their taxes.”[136] It is clear from the political events that
-followed, that the great Cardinal, in stipulating for the security of
-the fishermen, had principally in view the interests of the Emperor,
-to whom the Netherlands belonged; but it was in perfect accord with
-established English policy. The agreement for the security of the
-herring fishery was embodied as a leading article in the formal treaty
-concluded between the two potentates in October of the same year, it
-being provided that until the end of the following January, even though
-the war should continue between the two countries, the fishermen of
-both parties should be allowed to fish unmolested and to go home in
-safety.[137] In the war which ensued, the French admirals did not push
-the advantage they had on the sea to extremes, but sold safe-conducts
-to the fishermen of the Netherlands, and allowed them to pursue their
-fishing. In several treaties and truces made in the next few years
-between the Powers named, it was provided that the herring fishery
-should be carried on freely and in security on both sides, even during
-the existence of hostilities. One of these, to last for eight months,
-was concluded in 1528 between Charles V., Francis I., Henry VIII., and
-Margaret of Austria, who represented Holland, Zealand, and Friesland,
-as well as Flanders.[138] It may perhaps be surmised that in the common
-concern about the winter herring fishery the influence of the Church
-was not without effect, so that the fish for Lent might not be wanting.
-
-From the foregoing it is apparent that the kings of England, so far
-from claiming an exclusive right to the sea fisheries along the English
-coast, entered into a series of treaties with their neighbours,
-extending over a period of nearly two hundred years, by which freedom
-of fishing was mutually recognised and guaranteed. Throughout the
-reigns of the Plantagenet and Lancastrian kings, as well as under
-the Yorkists and Tudors, foreign fishermen were at liberty to fish
-freely in the English seas without requiring any license or paying
-any tribute. Not only so, but up to the middle of the sixteenth
-century, and especially in the time of the Plantagenet kings, they were
-encouraged to take part in the fisheries off our coasts, and to bring
-into the realm and freely trade in fish, both fresh and cured; and, in
-point of fact, a large proportion of the fish consumed in England was
-caught and sold by foreigners. It was not until after the Reformation,
-when the English fisheries began to decay, that protective measures
-were adopted in favour of the native fishermen; and it was not until
-the reign of James I. that any attempt was made to place restrictions
-on the liberty of fishing immemorially enjoyed by foreigners along the
-English coasts.
-
-But when we turn to Scotland we find there was not only in that country
-an absence of the toleration which was extended in England to foreign
-fishermen, but that restrictive measures were in force from an early
-period. The claim made by the Scottish kings in the twelfth century
-for the exclusive fishing in the sea around the Isle of May on behalf
-of the monks of the priory there, strikes the keynote of their policy
-in later times. This difference between the policy in England and
-Scotland might to some extent be due to the nature of the fishings. In
-the northern kingdom the herring fishery was confined almost entirely
-to the firths and lochs “within land”: the native fishermen did not
-compete with the foreign vessels which carried on the fishery at a
-greater or lesser distance from the coast from the neighbourhood of the
-Shetlands to the Thames. The encroachments of the foreign fishermen,
-which sometimes occurred from the vagaries of the shoals, were thus
-resented. On the English coast the native fishery was carried on
-for the most part alongside the foreign fishermen, and the English
-fishermen were thus accustomed to the presence of the foreigners. In
-Scotland, moreover, the sea fisheries, and in particular the herring
-fishery, were of greater relative importance to the people than was
-the case in England, which possessed rich pastures and was essentially
-agricultural. Fishing was much more of a national pursuit, and besides
-supplying what was required for home consumption, Scotland was able
-to export large quantities of fish to other lands: in the fifteenth
-century the title “Piscinata Scotia” was referred to as an “old
-proverb.” The fisheries, besides forming a not unimportant source of
-revenue to the crown, supplied a chief staple of the trade and commerce
-of the “royal burghs,” which were always extremely jealous of their
-rights and privileges, and possessed great power. Hence the Acts of
-the Scottish Parliaments which dealt with sea fisheries--and they are
-numerous--breathe a much more exclusive spirit than those of England.
-Hence also the treaties and conventions between Scotland and the
-Netherlands did not extend to foreign fishermen the generous treatment
-which was so evident in the south. The earliest of those commercial
-agreements seems to have been made in 1291; others were concluded in
-1321 and 1323, in the reign of Robert the Bruce, by which free ingress
-and egress were given to merchants to pass with their merchandise to
-any parts of the kingdom, “with their ships and goods”; and similar
-freedom of commercial intercourse was stipulated in 1371, 1401, 1407,
-1412, 1416, and on numerous occasions subsequently.[139] These early
-agreements contain no provision about the fisheries, and nothing to
-indicate a desire on the part of the Scottish king or people to allow
-fishermen from the Low Countries to fish in the adjacent waters. The
-feeling of the coast population towards the foreigners was usually
-jealous and aggressive; attacks by the one and reprisal by the other
-were of frequent occurrence, especially in the fifteenth and sixteenth
-centuries. The Earl of Holland complained in 1410 that the Scots had
-attacked the fishermen of that province “when they went to sea to
-catch herrings in their fishing vessels and to gain their living like
-honest men”; and by way of reprisal he gave permission to the people of
-Brouershaven to attack and injure their “enemies,” the Scots, wherever
-they could find them, on sea or land.[140] There is much testimony to
-show that in those times the Scottish fishermen were of a fierce and
-forceful disposition, and little inclined to tolerate the intrusion
-of foreign fishermen within what they claimed as their “reserved
-waters,”--that is, the firths and bays and a distance along the coast
-described as “a land kenning,” which extended to fourteen miles or to
-twenty-eight miles from the shore. An indication of their treatment of
-those who intruded is afforded by a story told in one of the English
-State Papers on the authority “of the old Bishop of Ross, who came in
-with King James to England.” He said that in the time of King James V.
-(A.D. 1513-1542) the Hollanders, who had only a verbal license to fish
-at twenty-eight miles off, came near the shore within the mouth of the
-Firth of Forth, “and there fished in despite of the king’s command.”
-James thereupon set out men-of-war and took so many of them that “he
-sent a baril ful of their heads into Holland, with their names fixed
-to their foreheads on cards,” as a warning to their fellows.[141] This
-tale of savagery, probably apocryphal, no doubt originated in the
-conflicts and reprisals between the Dutch and the Scots which are known
-to have occurred in the reign of James V., and led to the treaty of
-1541, in which, for the first time, there is a stipulation concerning
-the fisheries. For some years previously the relations of the Emperor
-Charles V. (in whose dominions the Low Countries were included) and the
-King of Scotland had been strained, owing to the renewal of the old
-alliance between Scotland and France. A number of armed vessels, under
-the command of Robert Foggo of Leith, cruised about and captured many
-Dutch herring-busses, especially those belonging to Schiedam and Briel.
-The States of Holland retaliated by seizing Scottish goods in Holland,
-and then James V. threatened that he would put an entire stop to their
-herring fishing on the coast of Scotland.[142] Owing to the war with
-France and the depredations of privateers, the Netherlands at that time
-had much difficulty in protecting their herring-busses, and the threat
-of the Scottish king speedily brought about negotiations. The States
-of Holland petitioned the Emperor to interfere,[143] alleging that
-the prohibition of their herring fishing by the King of Scotland was
-inconsistent with the freedom of navigation, and even with the treaties
-subsisting between them--which, however, as has been said, did not
-include the question of fishing. In the treaty which followed between
-James V. and the Emperor,[144] it was, amongst other things, agreed
-that means should be devised for reparation of the damages done on
-both sides “to merchants, fishers, and other traders or subjects,” or
-to their ships and goods, in time of peace; and that mutual protection
-should be afforded to the fishermen against pirates. It contained no
-fishery clause like those in the English treaties, and not a word about
-the liberty of fishing. It can scarcely be doubted that the omission
-was deliberate, and that those conducting the negotiations on behalf
-of the Dutch wished to have a guarantee of the kind. We learn from
-the treaty that the last article in the instructions of the Scots
-ambassador contained some proposal about the fishery. Its nature
-does not appear; but from the fact that it was not agreed to, and was
-reserved for further consideration on the part of the Emperor, it is
-not unlikely that it referred to the fixing of a limit within which the
-Dutch were not to fish.[145] The Scottish lawyer, Welwood, early in the
-next century referred to the “notorious covenant” which had been made
-with the Dutch, that they should not fish within eighty miles of the
-coast of Scotland, a statement that may have been a reminiscence of
-this proposal.
-
-The peace was not of long duration. The Scots again attacked the Dutch
-fishermen on the coast of Scotland; the goods of Scotch merchants were
-in turn seized in the Netherlands, and their ships and seamen arrested,
-and arrangements were made by the Dutch to convoy their herring-busses
-with many ships of war.[146] On the representations of Rotterdam and
-Schiedam--towns which had a great stake in the herring fishery on the
-Scottish coast--a request was made to the Emperor, in the name of the
-States of Holland, asking him to arrange in his negotiations with the
-Scots for the restitution of the goods taken by them from the Hollander
-fishermen; and early in 1545 he was petitioned to conclude a truce
-with them on account of the herring and dogger (cod) fishing.[147]
-It was not until 1550 that another treaty was signed between the
-two countries,--also at Binche, on 15th December, on behalf of the
-Emperor Charles V. and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. It confirmed
-all previous treaties, and contained provisions for mutual freedom
-of commerce and navigation without the need of any safe-conduct or
-license, general or special, and with liberty to make use of one
-another’s ports, and also mutually to protect one another’s subjects,
-including fishermen, from the attacks of pirates. The part referring
-to the fishery did not, however, differ from that in the previous
-treaty, which it merely confirmed. “With regard to the fishery and
-the free use of the sea,” it said, “that which was made, concluded,
-and agreed upon by the foresaid treaty made at Binche on the 19th
-February 1541, between the Most Serene Queen Mary (of Hungary and
-Bohemia) and the aforesaid ambassador of the King of Scotland, shall
-be truly and sincerely observed.”[148] This treaty, which was called
-in the Netherlands “celebre fœdus,” may be regarded as the Scottish
-counterpart of the Intercursus Magnus, concluded with England in 1496.
-The older Dutch writers, as Wagenaar and Plegher, professed to regard
-it as having guaranteed freedom of fishery on the coasts of Scotland
-in the same way; and it was cited by the Dutch ambassadors in the
-negotiations concerning the fishery in the seventeenth century in this
-sense. But in the English treaty freedom of fishing all over the sea
-was expressly covenanted in the most plain and explicit language, while
-the treaty with Scotland in 1550 merely confirmed a previous treaty
-which certainly did not confer liberty of fishing, though the phrase
-“the free use of the sea,” now introduced in the preamble, might at
-first sight imply the contrary. Nothing more appears to have been heard
-of the proposal of the Scottish ambassador in 1541, which had been
-deferred for further deliberation.[149]
-
-A treaty which took a still more important place in the subsequent
-disputes and negotiations respecting _mare clausum_ and unlicensed
-fishing, and upon which the Dutch relied even more, at least in the
-reign of James, than they did on the Intercursus Magnus, was concluded
-with King James VI. in 1594, fifteen years before he issued, as king
-of England as well as of Scotland, his famous proclamation forbidding
-promiscuous and unlicensed fishing. On the occasion of the baptism of
-his son, Prince Henry, which took place at Stirling on 30th August
-1594, the States-General despatched two ambassadors, Walraven van
-Brederode and Jacob Valck, laden with costly gifts, to take part in
-the ceremony, and also to do a little business with the king. The
-two previous treaties between Scotland and the Netherlands had been
-concluded at a time when the whole of that country had been under the
-rule of Charles V. In the interval it had passed into the possession of
-Philip of Spain, and then the northern provinces had revolted, thrown
-off the Spanish yoke, and formed the famous federal commonwealth of
-the seven United Provinces of Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Gelderland,
-Over-Yssel, Friesland, and Groningen. It was thought to be desirable
-by the prudent Dutchmen to renew if possible on their own behalf the
-treaties with Scotland, especially as it was then recognised that James
-would succeed to the English throne. The ambassadors therefore brought
-with them a long draft treaty, in which the previous treaty of 1541
-was recited and that of 1550 was given in full. James agreed to the
-confirmation of the previous treaties, and the ratification was signed
-at Edinburgh on 14th September 1594. In his declaration he stated that
-he had “seen, read, and examined” the treaty of peace and alliance
-made at Binche in 1550 between Charles V., Emperor of the Romans,
-in the capacity of sovereign of the Low Countries, and Queen Mary,
-“his honoured dame and mother,” and having found it very desirable,
-good, and beneficial for him and his country, it was to be observed
-inviolably for the good of the traffic and commerce of the subjects of
-the two nations; and he sincerely promised to observe the treaty and
-every clause and article in it. Then the easy-going monarch appears
-to have forgotten all about it. The document itself was lost, and
-when it was urgently wanted for the negotiations in the next century
-it could not be found, and nobody in this country seemed to know what
-it contained; it was even regarded by some--as the English ambassador
-at The Hague--as apocryphal. Although the Dutch relied much on this
-treaty, it contained no stipulation regarding liberty of fishing. The
-treaty of 1550 was confirmed, by which it was provided that commerce
-and navigation were to be free; merchants were to be at liberty to
-pass safely and freely with their goods by land and sea, and to buy
-and sell; pirates were to be chased from the sea, and the subjects
-of either state, including fishermen, were to be mutually protected
-from their attacks; but the fishery clause was precisely the same as
-before.[150]
-
-It is thus evident that there was a great difference between the
-English and the Scottish treaties with the Netherlands respecting the
-right of fishery. The former contained a separate clause, conceived
-in a broad and liberal spirit and again and again renewed, providing
-for mutual freedom of fishing everywhere on the seas, while no such
-agreement or anything like it was made on the part of Scotland. The
-Dutch fishing on the coast of Scotland was more important to them than
-their fishing on the English coast, and there is no doubt they strove
-to obtain the same privileges for it as they received in England.
-The omission of a corresponding clause in the Scottish treaties was
-in accordance with the long-settled policy of the Scottish kings and
-Parliaments, and it was that policy that James carried with him to
-England when he attempted to reverse the established practice with
-regard to the fisheries, and opened up the claims to _mare clausum_.
-
-There is, unfortunately, little contemporary evidence as to the precise
-extent of the claim to the fisheries which was anciently put forward in
-Scotland. The Acts of the Scottish Parliaments do not help us very far,
-although they reveal the jealous and conservative spirit previously
-referred to. Many statutes were made prohibiting strangers from buying
-fish except such as were salted and barrelled, and then only at free
-burghs; concerning the “assize-herring,” of which so much was to be
-heard; and the payment of customs by foreigners exporting fish. The
-language of some of the Acts implied a certain control over foreign
-fishermen on the sea,[151] and all that we know of the practice and
-customs in Scotland makes it highly probable that these enactments were
-in point of fact enforced against foreign fishermen as far as they
-could be. The Scots were always particularly jealous about the fishings
-in the firths and lochs “within land.” An important herring fishery of
-this kind was carried on in the lochs on the west coast, especially in
-Loch Broom and Loch Fyne, in autumn and winter, by fishermen from the
-Clyde, the Ayrshire coast, and Fifeshire, who built timber houses on
-shore where they cured the herrings; and this fishing was attended by
-Frenchmen, “Flemings,” and English, who purchased the cured herrings
-or bought the fish and cured them themselves.[152] Wishing to catch
-the herrings for themselves, these “divers strangers” most earnestly
-petitioned Queen Mary in 1566 for “license to fish in the said lochs.”
-But the Council, to whom the petition was referred, after consultation
-with the burghs, refused the request, and ordained that “no stranger
-of whatever nation they be come in the said lochs, nor use the
-commodity of the said fishing in any time to come, but the same to be
-reserved for the born subjects and natives of the realm,” under pain
-of confiscation of ships and goods.[153] Some of the old Scots Acts,
-of the reign of James III. (1460-1488) and later, refer to previous
-statutes, which seem to be lost, respecting the herring fishery in
-the western seas; and they indicate that “letters” had sometimes been
-granted by the king favouring foreigners in some way, but whether by
-allowing them to fish there is unknown.
-
-On the east coast, where the Dutch carried on their great
-herring-fishing from busses, there is evidence that a limit was early
-fixed within which they were not allowed to fish, but no contemporary
-records relating to it appear to have been preserved. It is probable
-that an arrangement was come to between them and the Scottish
-fishermen, possibly in the reign of James V. or even earlier, by which
-they were not to fish within sight of land. At the beginning of the
-seventeenth century, when the question of unrestricted fishing was
-raised in an acute form, there was a remarkable unanimity of opinion
-in Scotland that the ancient and established custom was that foreigners
-were not allowed to carry on their operations within a “land-kenning”
-of the coast,--that is, not nearer than where they could discern the
-land from the top of their masts. This distance was usually placed at
-fourteen miles, but sometimes a double land-kenning, of twenty-eight
-miles, was claimed; and we shall see that the former distance was
-embodied in the Draft Treaty of Union with England in 1604, as well
-as proposed to the States-General as a provisional limit in 1619 (see
-p. 192), and declared by Parliament and the Privy Council of Scotland
-to be the bounds of the “reserved waters” belonging to Scotland.
-Welwood, a Scottish lawyer who wrote at the end of the sixteenth and
-the beginning of the seventeenth centuries, states that before his
-time, after “bloody quarrels” about sea affairs between the Scots and
-the Hollanders, the disputes were arranged on the understanding that
-in future the Hollanders were to keep at least eighty miles from the
-coast of Scotland, which, he says, they did for a long time. If they
-were driven nearer by stress of weather they paid a tax or tribute
-at the port of Aberdeen, where a castle was built for this and other
-reasons. This tax, he adds, was paid until by frequent dissensions at
-home and the audacity of the Hollanders the right was lost.[154] There
-is no very satisfactory evidence to show in how far the statements of
-Welwood were in accordance with the facts. In the records of the Privy
-Council a case is mentioned which might be interpreted in another
-way. In 1587 two English ships belonging to Shields, coming from the
-“easter seas” laden with fresh fish and bound for England, were seized
-and brought into port by one Thomas Davidson of Crail, apparently on
-the plea that they had been fishing too near the shore. The owners
-contended that the fish had been caught “upon the main sea, outwith his
-Majesty’s dominions, where not only they but the subjects of all other
-princes had had a continual trade and fishing in all times bygone past
-the memory of man.” But even, it was argued on their behalf, if the
-fish had been caught within his Majesty’s waters, still, in respect of
-the “continual trade” which strangers had had there in all time past,
-“there being no inhibition made or published to the contrary as yet,”
-no such treatment should have been meted out to them.[155] This was in
-the reign of James VI.; and the most likely explanation, in the absence
-of information as to the decision taken by the Council, is that while
-no official proclamation forbidding fishing by foreigners had been
-promulgated, and no recent measures carried out to prevent them from
-doing so, it was believed that a certain part of the sea was reserved
-for the use of the Scottish fishermen, apart from the waters of firths
-and lochs.
-
-The difference in the national policy of England and Scotland
-concerning foreigners fishing along our coasts prevailed until
-the Union of the crowns, when James introduced the Scottish ideas
-into England and soon endeavoured to transform them into practice.
-Meanwhile, under the Tudors, certain changes were slowly and silently
-taking place which paved the way for the new policy, and that too
-although, very shortly before, the freedom of the seas had been
-proclaimed and vindicated by Queen Elizabeth.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-UNDER THE TUDORS.
-
-
-The policy of freedom of commercial intercourse, navigation, and
-fishery which was enunciated in the Intercursus Magnus and the treaties
-which preceded it, was faithfully observed throughout the sixteenth
-century. No attempt was made by any of the Tudor sovereigns to
-interfere with the liberty which foreigners enjoyed of fishing on the
-English coast; nor was any claim put forward by them to the dominion
-or lordship of the surrounding seas. On the contrary, throughout the
-greater part of the century, facilities were given for the peaceful
-exercise and encouragement of sea-fishing, even in time of war; while
-on several occasions the last and greatest of the monarchs of the
-Tudor line actively contested the old pretensions of Denmark to the
-sovereignty of the northern seas, and the more recent claims of Spain
-and Portugal to the exclusive right of navigating the great oceans.
-It was nevertheless during this century that changes occurred which
-made it easy for James early in the next to initiate a new policy
-of _mare clausum_, and to repudiate the provisions of the so-called
-Burgundy treaties. The most important of these changes was perhaps the
-decay which overtook the sea fisheries. Apart from their commercial
-and economic value, the fisheries were looked upon as indispensable
-for the maintenance of maritime power, and probably at no previous
-time had greater efforts been made to foster maritime power than
-under the Tudors. The hardy fishermen who navigated their barks to
-distant seas--to Iceland, to Wardhouse, round the North Cape, and
-now to Newfoundland--were trained in a school of seamanship which
-fitted them admirably to take their place for the naval defence of the
-country. Even the herring-smacks and the dogger-boats that fished in
-the North Sea and the Channel turned out mariners by no means to be
-despised,--men acquainted with the coasts and the tides, able to manage
-sails and educated to the sea. It was this aspect of the fisheries
-which was mostly regarded by the statesmen of those times, and for
-which the “political lent” and the protective legislation were designed.
-
-The causes which led to the decay in the English fisheries were no
-doubt various, but perhaps the chief one, and the one on which most
-stress was laid in the latter part of the century, was the Reformation.
-The very large consumption of fish due to the observance of Lent
-and the numerous days of fasting, or fish-days, has been referred
-to (see p. 58). The suppression of the monasteries (1536-1539) and
-the dispersal of the inmates and dependants must alone have had
-considerable influence, but the relaxation of ecclesiastical rule among
-the laity which followed was much more detrimental to the fisheries.
-The decay of the sea-coast towns, so frequently spoken of in the reign
-of Elizabeth, was mainly attributed to this cause. Another influence
-which operated in the same direction, most markedly towards the end
-of the century, was the great growth of the fisheries and commerce of
-the Dutch. After the assertion of their independence of Spain (1581),
-commonly called the “abjuration of Philip,” their fisheries developed
-with great rapidity. One of the first acts of the new Republic (1582)
-was the codification of the fishery statutes; and about this time
-they applied to the deep-sea herring fishery the name of Great or
-Grand Fishery (_Groote Visscherye_), as being “the chief industry of
-the country and principal gold-mine to its inhabitants,” in contrast
-to the real gold-mines of Spain. They furnished the greater part of
-Europe with cured herrings and other fish, and the fish supply of
-England, and more particularly of London, fell to a large extent into
-their hands. Their herring fishery was carried on along our east
-coast, and the spectacle of great fleets of foreign fishing vessels
-frequenting our waters, while the native fisheries were falling to
-decay, roused envious and jealous feelings in the breasts of patriotic
-Englishmen.[156]
-
-Under the Tudors the efforts made to foster the sea fisheries did
-not, as has been said, take the form of interfering with the foreign
-fishermen. They were rather directed, on the one hand, to increase
-the consumption of fish by restoring the strict observance of Lent
-and fish-days, and, on the other hand, to check the importation
-of fish caught by foreigners. In this way it was hoped that the
-native fisheries would be stimulated to supply at least the home
-markets. As early as 1541--a year or two after the suppression of the
-monasteries--an Act was passed which apparently indicates that the
-decline in the fisheries had already set in, and that it was customary
-for the English people to purchase fish from foreigners rather than
-catch them for themselves. Heavy penalties were imposed on any person
-who should bring into the realm for sale fresh fish (except sturgeon,
-porpoise, and seal, which were then included in the term) which they
-had purchased from strangers in Flanders, Zealand, Picardy, France, or
-elsewhere beyond the sea, “or upon the sea between shore and shore”;
-but the buying of fish at Iceland, Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, Ireland,
-or Newfoundland--to all which places English vessels went--was not
-prohibited.[157] This statute was re-enacted four years later, and
-again by Edward VI. and Queen Mary.[158] In the reign of Elizabeth a
-number of similar statutes were made, with the object of favouring the
-native fishermen in their competition with foreigners.
-
-About the same time as the first Act of Henry was passed we begin
-to get evidence of laxity in the observance of Lent and of measures
-taken to deal with it. Many persons, including noblemen, were brought
-before the Privy Council charged with having eaten flesh in Lent, and
-were committed to the Fleet. The mayor and aldermen of London were
-commanded to make inquisition throughout all the wards of the city as
-to the households in which flesh was used in Lent, and the butchers
-were required to furnish information as to the quantity of flesh sold
-by them, and to whom, in the same period.[159] This activity of the
-Privy Council foreshadowed the new policy of the “political lent”
-which was inaugurated a few years later in the reign of Edward VI.,
-and with which the name of Cecil was associated. By this time it was
-clearly recognised that the religious changes that had taken place were
-prejudicial to the fisheries by lessening the consumption of fish, and
-in 1548 an “Act for Abstinence from Flesh” was passed, by which fines
-were imposed on those who did not observe the usual fast-days. The
-object of the measure was clearly explained. “One day or one kind of
-meat of itself,” it said, “is not more holy, more pure, or more clean
-than another, for that all days and all meats be of their nature of one
-equal purity, cleanness, and holiness;” but “considering that due and
-godly abstinence is a mean to virtue, and to subdue men’s bodies to
-their soul and spirit, and considering also especially that Fishers,
-and men using the trade of living by fishing in the sea, may thereby
-the rather be set on work,” it was enacted that no person should eat
-flesh meat on Fridays, Saturdays, Ember-days, Lent, or on any other day
-which was accustomed a fish-day, under a penalty of ten shillings fine
-and ten days’ imprisonment without flesh food.[160]
-
-By this statute the political lent was established, and the policy of
-compelling the people to eat fish for the good of the fisheries and
-the navy was continued with more or less vigour for a century and a
-half. Sir William Cecil was especially active in its favour. He caused
-careful inquiries to be made into the condition of the decayed havens
-and sea-coast towns and the state of the fisheries. He was informed by
-the London fishmongers, to whom he had submitted a series of questions,
-that there was not so much fish then consumed “by a great quantity”
-as used to be the case, and that the number of vessels engaged in the
-fisheries had greatly decreased. On the latter point they referred to a
-return made about the twentieth year of the reign of Henry VIII., which
-showed that seven-score and odd ships then went to the Iceland fishery,
-about 80 crayers to Shetland, and about 220 crayers from Scarborough
-and other towns to the North Seas fishing, making a total of about 440
-fishing vessels; while at the time they wrote--in the reign of Edward
-VI., and probably in 1552 or 1553--the number had fallen to about 133,
-of which 43 went to Iceland, 10 crayers to Shetland, and 80 to “the
-North Seas,” showing a decrease in the twenty-four or twenty-five
-years of about 307 “ships and crayers.”[161] A similar story of the
-decay of the fisheries came from the east-coast towns. At Lynn, which
-was maintained chiefly by the Iceland and the herring fisheries, and
-which twenty or thirty years before sent out about thirty vessels
-to those fisheries, there were then only two Iceland barks, and no
-herring-smacks at all. It used to be able to furnish 300 mariners for
-the king’s service, while now it could not supply more than twenty
-or thirty. And so at Burnham (where the fishing-boats had decreased
-from 26 to _nil_), Wells, Clee, Cromer, Yarmouth, and other Norfolk
-ports--all had greatly decayed. The fisheries and the shipping had
-fallen off, the “men of substance” had lost their money or left, the
-population had diminished, and even the houses were falling down.
-To a statesman like Cecil, who knew the value of the mariners bred
-at the fishing ports for manning the navy if need arose, and how a
-flourishing fishery multiplied shipping, such information must have
-been disquieting. He calculated that while within twenty years back
-there had been 150 ships for Iceland, 220 for the north seas, and 78
-for “Shotland” (Shetland), the numbers had fallen when he wrote to 43
-for Iceland, 75 for the north seas, and 9 for Shetland; and that the
-number of fishing vessels had decreased from 448 to 127.[162]
-
-In replying to Cecil’s second question as to the cause of the decay
-in the fisheries, the fishmongers said it was first of all due to the
-diminished consumption of fish, since the fish-days were not “duly
-observed as heretofore,” which “took away such hope of gain as in time
-past they have had” in carrying on the fisheries. A second reason they
-gave was the greater love “for ease and pleasure” than in former times,
-people now preferring to buy their fish from strangers rather than to
-“travail and venture for it themselves,”--a very common charge against
-Englishmen then and for a long time afterwards. As a third reason, they
-said the price of fish was regulated in various towns by the mayors
-and other officers in such a way that they were often forced to sell
-without sufficient profit, while Government purveyors made them part
-with their fish at nominal prices. It is to be noted that they made no
-complaint against foreign fishermen or the importation of foreign fish.
-
-During the brief reign of Mary (1553-1558) Cecil was in the shade, but
-shortly after the accession of Elizabeth he again devoted attention to
-the decay of the fisheries and tried to apply fitting remedies. Among
-the State Papers of the year 1563 is a long and elaborate document,
-copiously revised by Cecil himself, which deals with the condition of
-shipping and fisheries, and obviously formed the basis and argument for
-the great Act made in the same year.[163] In this paper the decay of
-the navy both in ships and mariners was traced by Cecil to a variety
-of causes: the piracies of Turks and Moors on the Levant trade, the
-transference of the spice trade from the Venetians to the Portuguese
-and Spaniards, the Spanish law of bottomry, the augmentation by the
-King of Denmark of the tolls at the Sound and his recovery of Iceland,
-and the decay of the English fisheries. Herrings and other sea fish,
-he said, were now taken upon our coast by strangers, who brought them
-into the realm and sold them “to the very inhabitants of the parts
-that were used to be fishermen,” while Englishmen had themselves been
-prohibited from exporting fish.[164] The remedies which Cecil proposed
-were that the importation of wines and woad should be allowed only in
-English ships; that Englishmen should be prohibited from purchasing
-fresh herrings which had been caught by strangers; that they should be
-free to export and sell sea fish out of the realm; and, principally,
-that Wednesday should be made an additional fish-day. The decay of the
-fisheries, he said, was manifest on all the sea coast in the decay of
-the port towns, which soon would be “remedeless,” and it was caused
-by diminished consumption of fish at home and the want of foreign
-markets.[165] On the other hand, Scotland, Norway, Denmark, Friesland,
-Zealand, Holland, and Flanders caught not only sufficient fish for
-themselves, but exported it to other countries, including England;
-while Spain provided herself by her fisheries on the south coast of
-Ireland, and France “aboundeth with fishermen” from her great fisheries
-at Newfoundland and Iceland.[166] Cecil’s conclusion was that there was
-no likelihood for a long time of developing a flourishing export trade
-in fish, and that it would be necessary to institute another fish-day
-to increase the demand at home. On this part of his proposals he
-entered into a long argument, showing that in 1536 the 500 monasteries
-which paid tithes to the king, with a minimum number of 25,000 inmates,
-must have required a great supply of fish, as fish was then eaten on at
-least seventy-six days a year more than at the time when he wrote.[167]
-
-By the great Act passed in 1563, “Touching certain Politic
-Constitutions made for the Maintenance of the Navy,” Wednesday was
-added to the two fish-days previously enjoined by the statute of Edward
-VI., but only after long debate and opposition on the part of the
-“puritans.”[168] The Act also contained provisions to restrain foreign
-importation of fish, to encourage the export of English-caught fish by
-subjects, and to remove the complaints as to the action of purveyors
-and burdensome impositions--points on which the fishmongers had laid
-some stress. Herrings and other sea fish taken by Englishmen in English
-ships were to be freely exported without paying custom; no tax, toll,
-or restraint was to be imposed on fish taken and landed by subjects; it
-was made illegal to buy from strangers any herrings unless they were
-“sufficiently salted, packed, and casked”; only English vessels were to
-be allowed to carry coastwise any fish, victuals, or other goods; the
-cultivation of flax for fishing-nets was to be encouraged; and on the
-plea that there was “much deceitful packing” of cod and ling brought
-into the realm by aliens, the importation of these fish was forbidden,
-except only “loose, in bulk and by tale.” Most of these provisions
-and prohibitions would operate against the Dutch, who had not only a
-large part of the trade in herrings with England, but practically the
-monopoly in supplying barrelled cod and ling.[169]
-
-From this time forward the policy of protecting the native fisheries
-by checking the competition of foreigners went hand in hand with the
-encouragement of the consumption of fish by the compulsory observance
-of fish-days. Interfering as it did with established practice and
-conflicting trade interests, the Act aroused opposition in various
-quarters, especially on the part of those who were interested in the
-important commerce in cured cod-fish. In the year after it passed,
-the Queen’s purveyors were unable to obtain in England sufficient
-supplies of fish for the navy and the royal service, and they were
-licensed to import cod-fish, lings, and green-cod, in barrels or casks,
-notwithstanding the prohibition in the Act,[170]--a privilege which
-had to be extended to all English subjects a few years later with
-respect to fish caught in their own vessels “with cross-sails.”[171] On
-the other hand, it was claimed that the Act had done good. The coast
-people of Norfolk and Suffolk informed the Council in 1568 that it had
-increased the trade in fish in these counties; and as the Act had been
-passed for four years only and continued at the Queen’s pleasure, they
-petitioned that it should be renewed, and that provision should be
-made to put a stop to the importation by strangers of cod and ling in
-bulk, which were dried and sold under the name of Iceland fish, to the
-detriment of those engaged in the Iceland fishery, and also to ensure
-that fish-days should be better observed.[172] In the same year the
-Council instructed the magistrates of London, Hull, and Southampton,
-and the justices of various shires, to commit to jail any persons
-fraudulently dealing with foreign imported cod and ling as Iceland
-fish;[173] and three years later another Act was passed, giving effect
-to the wishes of the fishermen, and continuing the former Act for other
-six years.[174] It contained a new provision showing that complaints
-had been made about the vessels, some of them foreign, which came
-“pretending” to buy fresh herrings on the coast of Norfolk. To avoid
-“lewd outrages” by these “catches, mongers, and Picardes,” in cutting
-and damaging the drift-nets of the fishermen, they were prohibited from
-anchoring between sunset and sunrise during the fishing season in the
-places where the boats were accustomed to fish.
-
-Up to about this time no complaint seems to have been made against
-the foreign fishermen either by English fishermen or by statesmen or
-writers. The men from the Low Countries appear to have pursued their
-occupation in peace side by side with the Englishmen. But in 1570
-the first note was heard of what became later almost a continuous
-lamentation. A petition was presented to the Privy Council asking
-that “letters” should be sent to Zealand and Holland, or ships of
-war despatched to protect the English fishermen from the evil doings
-of the Low Countrymen. “Otherwise,” the petitioners said, “both wee
-and all others that entend fysshing in all partes of this realme
-shall be utterly undone, for that the fishermen Flemynges this yeire
-have so spoyled and mysused all the coaste men, that it hath so
-discomforted them” that they feared “the whole avoyadaunce of fysshing
-both for herring and other fysshing upon all the north coast of this
-realme.”[175] Whether or not this complaint referred to the outrages
-described in the Act quoted above is uncertain, but probably it did
-not, as the Hollanders and Zealanders fished for themselves, and they
-were now becoming rather numerous. It does not appear that any special
-action was taken regarding the petition. It was Cecil’s aim to increase
-the use of fish within the realm and to foster the native fisheries,
-but he had no desire to interfere with the liberty of fishing enjoyed
-by the Hollanders. Such action would have been contrary not only to the
-treaties but to the international policy of England at that time. On
-political and religious grounds the aid of the Dutch was needful in the
-struggle against the common enemy, Spain.
-
-That the English people had become interested in the condition of
-the fisheries and somewhat jealous of the fleets of foreign vessels
-which fished along their coast may be inferred from the appearance
-at this time of two works--one by Captain Robert Hitchcock, and the
-other by the learned and unfortunate Dr John Dee. It is a curious
-circumstance that those authors, who wrote at the same period, should
-each have advocated one of the two lines of policy adopted in the next
-century. Hitchcock was all for freedom of fishing, for strangers and
-natives alike. His remedy was the creation of a great English fishery
-organisation to oust the Dutch from our seas. Dee, on the other hand,
-was emphatic in claiming _mare clausum_ and an exclusive fishing for
-Englishmen, and in urging heavy taxation of foreigners who fished in
-the British seas.
-
-Hitchcock was a gentleman and a soldier who, in 1553, as he himself
-tells us, while serving the Emperor Charles V. in his wars in the Low
-Countries, had observed with astonishment that the wealth and shipping
-of Zealand and Holland were due to their sea fisheries. Pondering on
-his discovery, he thought out a plan some years later by which a great
-national fishery might be established in England to supplant the
-Dutch, so that the wealth acquired by them in the British seas might
-go to profit his own countrymen. It was the first of the innumerable
-schemes of the kind which are to be found scattered over the economic
-literature of the next two centuries. Having reduced his plan to
-writing, he submitted it about the year 1573 to the Earl of Leicester,
-in 1575 to Queen Elizabeth, and in the following year he distributed
-copies to men of influence, in the hope “that God would stir up some
-good man to set out this work.” It appears even to have been brought to
-the notice of Parliament by Sir Leonard Digges, but its consideration
-was deferred “for want of time.”[176] The copy presented to the Queen
-is preserved among the Burghley Papers in the British Museum,[177] and
-the completed work, somewhat enlarged,--now very rare,--was published
-(in black-letter) on 1st January 1580 as “A New Year’s Gift to
-England.”[178]
-
-The plan of Hitchcock was to borrow £80,000 for three years, when the
-whole amount would be repaid from the proceeds of the fish sold. The
-shires were to be arranged in eight groups, each group providing with
-its £10,000 fifty fishing vessels of not less than 70 tons burthen, or
-400 altogether. These were to be built after the manner of “Flemysche
-Busses” and distributed at eighty ports around the coast; and at
-eight of the chief ports (London, Yarmouth, Hull, Newcastle, Chester,
-Bristol, Exeter, and Southampton) two “honest and substantial men of
-credit” were to be appointed chief officers, to act as treasurers,
-purveyors, and directors. Hitchcock estimated that each ship when
-ready for fishing would cost £200; the crews were to consist of a
-skilled master, twelve mariners or fishermen, and twelve “strong
-lustie beggers or poore men taken upp through the land.”[179] The
-scheme proposed that the busses should first fish for herrings on the
-coast of England and Ireland during the fourteen or fifteen weeks
-this fishing lasted, the herrings being cured and branded after the
-“Flemish” fashion. The busses were also to visit Newfoundland for cod
-and ling; or some were to go to Iceland, “Wardhouse,”[180] the north
-seas of England and Scotland, or to Ireland. It was intended to employ
-some of them in winter in exporting the surplus of cured fish to
-France, “or elsewhere.” As for the all-important question of earnings,
-it was calculated that each buss would catch at least 50 lasts, or 600
-barrels, of herrings, worth £10 a last; altogether £200,000 from this
-item,[181] and if two voyages were made, the amount would be doubled.
-It was supposed that each buss would bring back from Newfoundland
-20,000 of the best “wet” fish and 10,000 dried--together worth £500;
-the same value was placed upon the 15,000 cod and 10,000 ling to be
-procured at Iceland, Wardhouse, or the north seas; and besides the
-fish, each ship was estimated to return with £50-£60 worth of cod-liver
-oil. Then with regard to the “vent” or sale of the fish, it was assumed
-that about half of the herrings, or 120,000 barrels, would be required
-for home consumption--not an exaggerated idea, for from other accounts
-it appears that London and the parts around it consumed about this time
-60,000 barrels. Markets for the surplus herrings, it was believed,
-would be found at Normandy, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Rochelle. The profits
-were to be divided into shares, and besides paying off the borrowed
-capital and the interest (at 10 per cent), a stock of £8000 was to be
-formed at the eight chief ports, and £400 at the “225 decayed towns”
-in England and Wales for the philanthropic purpose of giving work to
-the poor. Nay, there was more. At the chief ports the surplus earnings
-were to provide a salary for “an honest, virtuous and learned man,” who
-was to travel constantly about the coasts preaching to the people, “as
-the Apostles did.” Among the indirect benefits to the nation Hitchcock
-included the transformation of idle vagabonds, of whom there were
-plenty, “daily increasing,” into good subjects--some of the Members
-of Parliament thought this part of the scheme alone entitled it to
-national support,--the addition of 9000 mariners for manning the navy,
-the saving of coin spent on foreign fish, the increase of the Queen’s
-customs, of commerce and navigation, and the repair of the decayed
-towns.
-
-Such was the dream of this enthusiastic but thoroughly sincere old
-soldier: to expel the Hollanders from our seas by means of a national
-fishery organisation and to win back for England the wealth they
-gathered from her waters. At the time when he wrote, foreign fishermen
-were not nearly so numerous on our coasts as they became later. The
-herring-busses from the Low Countries which fished on the east coast
-numbered, he says, between 400 and 500, and the Englishmen “for feare
-of them,” and of tempests, fished in small vessels near the shore, as
-he shows in a “similitude,” here reproduced (fig. 2). Besides these,
-between 300 and 400 ships and barks from Biscay, Galicia, and Portugal
-fished off the south-west coast of Ireland from April to July, “near
-to Mackertymors country”; and also on the west and north-west coasts
-of Ireland for cod and ling from about Christmas to March. Hitchcock
-makes no complaint against the foreign fishermen for fishing in “her
-Majesty’s seas.” With a fine catholic generosity he indeed expressly
-says that all men of what country soever should be free to do so; that
-there was enough fish in the northern seas for all, even if there were
-1000 sail more than there was. He believed that the English, by being
-so much nearer the fishing grounds, ought to be able to undersell the
-foreigner and get the markets and the trade.[182]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 2.--_Hitchcock’s representation of the English and
-Flemish fisheries._]
-
-The scheme of Dr John Dee was very different from that of Hitchcock.
-A mathematician, an astrologer, a reputed magician, and, above all,
-an accomplished scholar, he looked at the subject from another point
-of view. Well acquainted with the writings of the Italian jurists
-and the practice of the Italian states, he expounded the view that
-the fisheries and the sovereignty in the British seas pertained to
-the crown of England, and that foreigners should be compelled to pay
-tribute for the liberty of fishing within them. It is the philosopher
-of Mortlake, indeed, who must be recognised as the literary pioneer
-of the claims to the sovereignty of the sea which were put forward
-by England in the seventeenth century. In 1577 he published a book
-entitled _General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte
-of Navigation_,[183] in which he dealt with the fisheries and the
-boundaries of the British seas, and recommended that the tribute to
-be exacted from foreign fishermen should be expended in maintaining a
-navy to be called “The Petty Navy Royall,” for keeping the seas and
-supervising the fisheries. “Should not forreyne fishermen,” he asks,
-“(overboldly now and to to injuriously abusing oure riche fishings
-about England, Wales and Ireland), by the presence, oversight, power
-and industry of this Petty Navy Royal be made content; and judge
-themselves well apaid to enjoy, by our leave, some great portion of
-revenue to enrich themselves and their countries by, with fishing
-within the seas appertayning to oure ancient bounds and limits? Where
-now, to oure great shame and reproache, some of them do come in a
-manner home to our doors; and among them all, deprive us yearly of
-many hundred thousand pounds, whiche by our fishermen using the said
-fishings as chief, we might enjoy; and at length, by little and little,
-bring them (if we would deal so rigorously with them) to have as little
-portion of our peculiar commodity (to our Islandish Monarchy, by God
-and Nature assigned) as now they force our fishermen to be contented
-with; and yearly notwithstanding, doo at their fishing openly and
-ragingly use suche words of reproche toward our Prince and realm, as no
-true subject’s hart can quietly digest; and besides that, offer such
-shamefull wrongs to the good laboursom people of this land, as is not
-(by any reason) to be born withall, or endured any longer: destroying
-their nets, cutting their cables to the los of their anchors; yea, and
-often-tymes of Barkes, men and all.”[184] Here is the first note of
-a plaint which will become very common. He also accused the foreign
-fishermen, under colour of fishing, of making secret soundings of the
-channels and banks along our coast, to the great danger of the realm.
-
-As for their fishing on the English coast, he says, erroneously, that
-the men from the Low Countries had frequented the herring fishing off
-Yarmouth for only thirty years (since 1540), since when their numbers
-had greatly increased. They had now become “very rich, strong, proud,
-and violent,” so that the ships of Norfolk and Suffolk, next to the
-fishing places, were reduced in numbers by 140 sail, besides crayers
-and other craft. The number of Flemish herring-busses that came to
-our coast he placed at over 500, while there were about 100 French;
-and 300 or 400 “Flemings” fished for cod in the north seas, “within
-the English limits.” Other foreigners, moreover, caught herrings on
-the Lancashire and Welsh coasts, and about 300 sail of Spaniards,
-besides Frenchmen, fished off Cape Clear and Blackrock in Ireland. All
-these fishings, said Dee, were “enjoyed as securely and freely from
-us by strangers, as if they were within their own King’s peculiar sea
-limits; nay, rather as if those coasts, seas and bays were of their
-private and several purchases: to our unspeakable loss, discredit and
-discomfort, and to no small further danger in these peculiar times of
-most subtle treacheries and fickle fidelity.” While admitting that the
-British seas were free for navigation, Dee held that the fisheries
-pertained to the crown of England, and that no foreigner had a right
-to cast a net in our sea without first obtaining leave from the Queen.
-To her belonged “the tenth” of all foreign fishings “within the royal
-limits and jurisdiction” in the British and Irish seas, and it was “a
-most reasonable and friendly request” that foreigners should pay that
-tenth in acknowledgment of the liberty to fish,--a tribute which he
-calculated would amount to £100,000 a-year, and which he urged should
-be devoted to the maintenance of the “Petty Navy Royal.”
-
-Dee was not only the first English writer who claimed the sovereignty
-of the sea and the fisheries for England; he was also the first who
-attempted to define their boundaries in detail. At the time when he
-wrote, it appears indeed to have been held in theory by some lawyers
-that the limit of the English seas extended to the mid-line between
-England and foreign coasts, except in the case of the Channel, where
-the water right up to the opposite shore was believed to be under the
-sovereignty of England. The doctrine, no doubt, was evolved from the
-opinions of the Italian jurists, whose authority was then very high
-(see p. 539), and from the political relations with France then and in
-former times. Two years before Dee published his book, Plowden, an
-eminent lawyer, acting as counsel in a case concerning the rights on a
-manor to wreck of the sea, argued for the defendant that “the bounds of
-England” extended to the middle of the adjoining sea which surrounded
-the realm, but that the Queen had the exclusive jurisdiction on the
-sea between England and France by reason of her title to France, and
-so also with Ireland; whereas in other places, as towards Spain, she
-had only the moiety. It was the same, said Plowden, with the sea as
-with great rivers. But while Plowden allowed the “jurisdiction and
-governance of all things” to the Queen on the sea within the limits
-stated, he denied to her the right of property in it or in the land
-under it; it was common to all men, and she could not prohibit any
-one from fishing in it; the water and the land under it were things
-of no value, and “the fish are always removable from one place to
-another.”[185]
-
-Dee adopted the same opinion as to the limits, but held, as we have
-seen, that the fisheries were appropriated. The boundaries of the
-Queen’s “peculiar seas,” he said, were “in all places to be accounted
-directly to the myddle seas over betweene the sea-shores of her own
-kingdom (and of all petty Isles to the same kingdom appertayning) and
-the opposite sea-shores of all forrein princes: and in all seas lying
-immediately betweene any two of her own coasts or sea-shores, the whole
-breadth of the seas over (in such places) is, by all reason of justice,
-appropriate to her peculiar jurisdiction and sea royalty,” even if
-the distance in such cases were 1000 miles or more.[186] On the other
-hand, according to Dee, neighbouring countries were to be allowed the
-same rights and interests in the moiety of the sea appropriate to their
-coasts.
-
-The limits of the British seas, and the sovereignty pertaining to
-them, were more fully described by Dr Dee some years later in a long
-unpublished letter or treatise addressed to Sir Edward Dyer,[187]
-who had apparently asked him for a fuller statement of his views on
-the subject. In his book Dee said little about the boundaries in the
-Channel, where the principle of the mid-line was complicated by two
-circumstances--the claim of Elizabeth to the French crown, and the
-possession by England of the Channel Islands. In his later treatise he
-says that presupposing “for doctrine’s sake” that Calais was in the
-hands of Spain, and the northern coasts of Picardy and Normandy were
-appropriated by France (which was the case), then the boundary must
-be drawn in the very middle of the Channel between Dover and Calais,
-and then westwards in the middle line between the opposite coasts of
-England and of Picardy and Normandy, until it touched the middle of a
-straight line drawn between Portland and the island of Alderney. In
-this region, west of the line, inasmuch as the coasts of the Channel
-Islands and the opposite coast of England belonged to the Queen, her
-Majesty had “absolute, peculiar, and appropriate Sea Sovereignty and
-Jurisdiction Royall.” The western boundary of this area of absolute
-sovereignty in the narrow seas coincided with a line drawn from Start
-Point to an “island” that Dee calls “Rocktow,” which is unrepresented
-on charts, but which is probably a phonetic synonym for “Roches
-Douvres,” a group of islets off the north coast of Brittany.[188] From
-the middle of this line the boundary passed westwards, again midway
-between the coasts of England and Brittany, until it touched the middle
-of a third straight line drawn from the north-west part of Ushant
-to about the Lizard. These were the limits on the supposition above
-referred to; but, “speaking more boldly in her Majesty’s right,” Dee
-declared that the whole sea between the south coast of England and
-the north coast of France--Picardy, Normandy, and Brittany--was under
-the Queen’s “sea-jurisdiction and sovereignty absolute,” inasmuch
-as she was a real monarch of France by direct inheritance and prior
-conquest, and therefore had right to the French coasts; and this
-“absolute sovereignty” served to “enlarge and warrant” the Queen’s
-“Jurisdiction Respective” in the ocean to the west of France. So also
-the jurisdiction of the crown of England extended into the main ocean
-to the west of England and Ireland by reason of the possession of the
-shores; while the ocean around Scotland, inasmuch as that country was
-(he said) in olden times tributary to the English kings, yielded to
-her Majesty “a mightie portion of Sea Sovereignty,” as it stretched
-away westwards to “that famous and very ancient Platonicall or
-Solonicall Atlantis.” For the same reasons Dee claimed prerogative and
-jurisdiction for the Queen in the northern ocean, and between Scotland
-and the opposite coasts of Norway and Denmark, “at least to the
-mid-sea,” and so to the southwards “half seas over” between the east
-coast of England and the coasts of Denmark, Friesland, and Holland, to
-the Straits of Dover.
-
-Within the British seas as thus defined, Dee claimed that the crown
-of England had first of all sovereign jurisdiction, over foreigners
-as well as over subjects,[189] and part of the duty of the Petty
-Navy Royal--which, as stated, was to be maintained by taxing foreign
-fishermen--was to guard and protect foreign ships passing through our
-seas. This doctrine he based upon the law as laid down by the Italian
-jurists. Nor did he forget the purely naval side. Quoting the old
-proverb, “A sword keepeth peace,” he argued that the presence of a
-fleet such as he suggested would cause other nations to respect us more
-than they did, and enable us to enjoy the royalty and sovereignty of
-the narrow seas and of our other seas better than the possession of
-Calais and Boulogne could do.
-
-Dee’s work was premature. His proposals that Elizabeth should tax
-foreigners for fishing in the British seas and exercise jurisdiction
-over foreign vessels passing through them remained as much a dream
-as the scheme of Hitchcock.[190] It need not be supposed that such
-measures as Dee proposed were intrinsically distasteful either to
-the Queen or to Cecil. If a navy could have been acquired so easily,
-or a much less sum than £100,000 gathered from foreign fishermen in
-a “friendly” way, as Dee supposed, neither the sovereign nor the
-statesman was likely to let the chance go by. But they knew better than
-the philosopher, or than the Stuarts in the next century, that a policy
-of the kind would involve them in difficulties with other Powers,--with
-France and Spain as well as with the Protestant Netherlands.
-
-So far from adopting any policy of this nature or making any claim
-to a special sovereignty in the surrounding seas, Elizabeth steadily
-opposed all claims which other nations put forward to _mare clausum_.
-Long before Grotius, she was the champion of the free sea, although
-it must be admitted that the action of the English Queen was no more
-based on considerations of the general good of mankind than were the
-efforts of the Dutch publicist: both had in view the interests of
-their native land. Elizabeth’s motive was to secure liberty of trade
-and fishery for her subjects, which was threatened by the pretensions
-of Spain and Portugal on the one hand and by Denmark on the other.
-The Portuguese pretension was of long standing. When that nation in
-the latter half of the fifteenth century had pushed her way down the
-west coast of Africa and ultimately round the Cape of Good Hope to the
-East Indies, she obtained from the Pope various bulls securing her
-in her possessions, and granting sovereign authority to the crown of
-Portugal in all the lands it might discover in the Atlantic from Cape
-Bojador to the Indies. By an inhuman doctrine established during the
-Crusades, Christian princes were supposed to have the right to invade,
-ravage, and acquire the territories of infidel nations on the plea of
-extending the sway of the Christian Church; and the Pope, from his
-supreme authority over all temporal things, disposed of these heathen
-lands to such princes as might bring them under the dominion of the
-Church and propagate the true faith among the inhabitants. Immediately
-on the return of Columbus from his first voyage in 1493, the Spanish
-monarchs accordingly obtained a bull from Pope Alexander VI. confirming
-them in the newly-discovered regions; and in order to prevent disputes
-with Portugal as to the extent of their respective claims, another bull
-was issued, on 4th May 1493, containing the famous line of demarcation
-between their territories. This was an ideal straight line drawn from
-the North Pole to the South Pole, passing 100 leagues to the west of
-the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. All islands or lands discovered
-to the west of this line by the Spaniards, and which had not been in
-the possession of any Christian Power before the preceding Christmas,
-were to belong to the Spanish crown; and all territory discovered to
-the east of it was to belong to Portugal. The Pope, moreover, granted
-a monopoly of commerce within those immense regions to the respective
-crowns, so that other nations could not trade thither without license
-from the Spanish or Portuguese sovereigns.[191] Spaniards even were not
-allowed to go to the New World either to trade or form establishments
-without royal license and authority. Disputes arose between Spain and
-Portugal as to the equity of the Pope’s line of demarcation, and by the
-Treaty of Tordesillas, 7th June 1494, they agreed that the inter-polar
-line should pass 370 leagues to the west of Cape Verde Islands.[192]
-The exclusive rights conferred by the Pope were rigorously enforced
-by Spain and Portugal. Navigation to their new possessions, or the
-carrying on of any trade or commerce with them, without royal license
-was made punishable by death and confiscation of goods.[193]
-
-Early in her reign Elizabeth had occasion to protest against the
-claims of Portugal, and had a heated dispute with King Sebastian about
-them.[194] Later, the daring exploits of Drake on the Spanish seas were
-more than a flagrant violation of Philip’s pretension to _mare clausum_
-in the western Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans--a claim which Elizabeth
-refused to recognise. When Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador, complained
-to her in 1580 of Drake’s depredations, and that English ships
-presumed to trade in the “Indian” seas, he was told in effect that the
-Spaniards, contrary to the Law of Nations, had prohibited the English
-from carrying on commerce in those regions, and had consequently drawn
-the mischief upon themselves. She was unable to understand, she said,
-why her subjects and those of other princes should be barred from the
-“Indies.” She could not recognise the prerogative of the Bishop of
-Rome “that he should bind princes who owe him no obedience,” and her
-subjects would continue to navigate “that vast ocean,” since “the use
-of the sea and air is common to all; neither can any title to the ocean
-belong to any people or private man, forasmuch as neither nature nor
-regard of the public use permitteth any possession thereof.”[195]
-
-About the time when Drake left England, the question of the right of
-Spain to forbid the English to trade to the Indies had been considered.
-It was argued that the Pope’s bull was void, for several reasons. The
-consent of the Pope had been conditional for the conversion of the
-natives, while the “usage of the Spaniards hath been otherwise.” The
-bull could have no force in tending to the prejudice of a third party,
-because all princes by the Law of Nations had the right of navigation
-in the sea and the right of traffic, and the Pope could not deprive
-them of these rights. Besides, there had been agreements between Spain
-and England since the date of the bull that the subjects of each state
-might freely traffic in the dominions of the other; and the Spanish
-lawyers had come to the conclusion that the Venetians could not legally
-inhibit others from trading in the Adriatic, and therefore, by the
-same reasoning, neither could the Spaniards or Portuguese prohibit
-orderly and lawful traffic to their Indies.[196] Elizabeth has been
-charged with inconsistency on the ground that at the time when she was
-asserting the freedom of the seas against the claims of Spain she was
-claiming for herself, “with very great energy,” a similar dominion in
-the British seas.[197] The charge is quite unfounded. No claim was put
-forward by her to the sovereignty of the British seas. On the contrary,
-they were declared to be free for the navigation and fishery of all
-nations.
-
-The policy of Elizabeth as to the freedom of the sea is revealed still
-more clearly in the negotiations with the King of Denmark as to the
-right of fishery at Iceland and in the northern seas. Denmark claimed
-not only the Sound and the Belts and the maritime dominion of the
-Baltic, with the right of controlling the navigation through them, but
-also the seas intervening between the coasts of Norway on the one hand
-and Iceland and Greenland on the other. A similar claim was made to the
-sea between Norway and the Orkney and Shetland Isles, at all events
-prior to 1468, when they were acquired by Scotland. Putting aside
-altogether the differences that arose with regard to the dues exacted
-at the Sound and in connection with the Baltic, a great many disputes
-had occurred between England and Norway and Denmark as to the right of
-Englishmen to trade and fish at Iceland and along the Norwegian coast,
-and many treaties were made between the two Powers regulating that
-right. From an early period numerous barks from Lynn, Yarmouth, Hull,
-Scarborough, and other east coast ports, and from Bristol, frequented
-the northern seas for fishing and buying fish, and for traffic,
-visiting not only Iceland, but Helgeland, Nordland, and Finmark, and
-going at least as far east as Wardhouse or Vardö. In 1415 Henry V., at
-the request of King Eric, and notwithstanding an earnest petition of
-the Commons to the contrary,[198] prohibited his subjects from going to
-Iceland or other islands belonging to Norway or Denmark;[199] in 1429
-the King of Denmark prohibited English merchants from purchasing fish
-at Finmark, or elsewhere in his dominions than at Bergen, against which
-the English petitioned Henry VI.;[200] and in 1490 an important treaty
-was concluded between Henry VII. and King John II. of Denmark and
-Norway, by which English subjects were granted liberty to sail freely
-to Iceland for fishing or trading on paying the usual customs, provided
-that they obtained a renewal of their license to do so every seven
-years.[201] This treaty was renewed in 1523 between Henry VIII. and
-Christian II.,[202] but disputes frequently arose later, and several
-embassies were charged with composing the differences.
-
-Apparently the English fishermen did not always conduct themselves
-with propriety. They were accused of committing various wrongs and
-injuries on the inhabitants, and in 1585, on the complaint of the King
-of Denmark, Queen Elizabeth issued an Order in Council reproving them
-for their excesses, and intimating that if they were continued the King
-of Denmark would interdict their fishing, and “punish such as shall
-without his license repair thither, and confiscate their ships and
-goods.” The king, she said, had promised that if the English fishermen
-abstained from committing outrages and behaved themselves, and paid the
-customary duties, he would allow them to enjoy the liberties they had
-formerly possessed; and she commanded the principal officers at her
-ports to take bonds from all those going to Iceland or Wardhouse for
-their good behaviour.[203] But the disputes and difficulties continued.
-The English fishermen omitted to renew their licenses septenially,--in
-1592 it was said they had not been obtained for twelve years, and the
-stipulation had been forgotten by those in authority,[204]--and the
-Danes began about 1593 to interrupt them in their fishing at Westmoney
-and in the sea off Iceland, and to seize their vessels. On complaint
-being made to the King of Denmark, he declared his willingness to allow
-the Englishmen to fish at Iceland under license, except at Westmoney
-(small islands on the south coast), where the fishing was reserved for
-his court.[205] At the close of the century the Danes used stronger
-measures. In 1599 several English vessels were seized or molested. Five
-ships of Kingston-upon-Hull, while at Wardhouse for fish, as had been
-their custom for years, were met there by a small Danish fleet with
-the King of Denmark himself on board, who caused them to be seized as
-prize, took all the goods and effects of the Englishmen, beat some of
-the crew and put them in irons, and finally carried off four of the
-ships.[206] Other English vessels were driven away from their fishing
-on the high seas around Iceland, although far from the coast.
-
-Elizabeth complained strongly of these acts of injustice as being
-contrary to the Law of Nations.[207] A Danish ambassador who came to
-England at this time tried to justify the prohibitions by reference
-to the treaty of 1583, by which permission had been given to English
-vessels to navigate the northern seas to Russia, but which did not
-grant any authority for fishing; and he requested the Queen to publish
-an edict inhibiting her subjects from fishing at Iceland or Wardhouse
-without the license of the King of Denmark, declaring that many English
-vessels persisted in carrying on the fishery without any license,
-contrary to the treaties. Reliance was also placed on an old treaty
-made in 1468 between Edward IV. and Christian I., in which it was
-stipulated that English vessels should not go farther north on the
-coast of Norway than Hagaland.[208] In the following year ambassadors
-were dispatched from England to negotiate an arrangement concerning
-the tolls levied at the Sound and the freedom of the northern seas for
-English fishermen,[209] and in a paper of 1602 conveying instructions
-to the ambassadors at Bremen we find an admirable exposition of the
-principles of the freedom of the seas.
-
-After claiming that the treaties of 1490 and 1523 had given liberty of
-fishing to the English, the ambassadors were to declare that the Law
-of Nations allowed fishing in the sea everywhere, as well as the use of
-the ports and coasts of princes in amity for traffic and the avoiding
-of the dangers from tempests; so that if the English were debarred
-from the enjoyment of those common rights, it could only be in virtue
-of an agreement. But there was no such contract or agreement. On the
-contrary, by denying English subjects the right of fishing in the sea
-and despoiling them for so doing, the King of Denmark had injured them
-against the Law of Nations and the terms of the treaty. Moreover, with
-respect to the licenses the Queen declared that if her predecessors
-had “yielded” to take them, “it was more than by the Law of Nations
-was due”; they might have yielded for some special consideration; and
-in any case it could not be concluded that the right of fishing, “due
-by the Law of Nations,” failed because licenses were omitted. As to
-the claim to the sea between Iceland and Norway on the ground that the
-King of Denmark possessed both coasts--the argument used by Dee and
-Plowden for the dominion of the English crown in the Channel--Elizabeth
-was emphatic. If it was supposed thereby “that for the property of
-a whole sea it is sufficient to have the banks on both sides, as in
-rivers,” the ambassadors were to declare “that though property of sea,
-in some small distance from the coast, may yield some oversight and
-jurisdiction, yet use not princes to forbid passage or fishing, as is
-well seen in our Seas of England and Ireland, and in the Adriatic Sea
-of the Venetians, where we in ours and they in theirs, have property of
-command; and yet neither we in ours nor they in theirs, offer to forbid
-fishing, much less passage to ships of merchandise; the which by Law
-of Nations cannot be forbidden ordinarily; neither is it to be allowed
-that property of sea in whatsoever distance is consequent to the banks,
-as it happeneth in small rivers. For then, by like reason, the half
-of every sea should be appropriated to the next bank, as it happeneth
-in small rivers, where the banks are proper to divers men; whereby it
-would follow that no sea were common, the banks on every side being
-in the property of one or other; wherefore there remaineth no colour
-that Denmark may claim any property in those seas, to forbid passage or
-fishing therein.”
-
-The ambassadors were to declare that the Queen could not agree that
-her subjects should be absolutely forbidden the seas, ports, or coasts
-in question for the use of fishing, “negotiation,” and safety; she had
-never yielded any such right to Spain and Portugal for the Indian seas
-and havens. Nevertheless, if the King of Denmark for special reasons
-desired that she should “yield to some renewing of license,” or that
-“some special place upon some special occasion” should be reserved for
-his own use, they were in their discretion and for the sake of amity
-to agree; but the manner of obtaining the license was to be defined in
-such a way that it would not be prejudicial to her subjects, nor “to
-the effect of some sufficient fishing,” and the licenses were to be
-issued in the subject’s name rather than in hers or the king’s.[210]
-Denmark continued to insist upon her right to the trade with Iceland,
-and to the fisheries in the northern seas,[211] which became of greater
-importance early in the next century when the whale-fishing was
-established at Spitzbergen. The Danish claim to a very wide zone of
-territorial sea around Iceland was enforced until quite recent times.
-
-The dispute between Elizabeth and the King of Denmark as to the rights
-of fishing in the North Atlantic bears a strong resemblance to that
-between James I. and the Dutch, which began a few years later, when the
-positions, however, were reversed, James insisting on his right to the
-fishery on the British coasts, while the Dutch used the arguments of
-Elizabeth in favour of the complete freedom of the seas. One difference
-in the two cases may be pointed out. England by agreeing to take
-licenses from the King of Denmark, in the treaties of 1490 and 1523,
-acknowledged the sovereignty of Denmark in northern waters, whereas
-the Netherlands never acknowledged the sovereignty of England in the
-British seas, within which the liberty of fishing had been expressly
-granted to them by the Burgundy treaties.
-
-Meantime the condition of the English fisheries had not much improved,
-either under the restrictive legislation respecting imports and
-exports of fish or by the measures taken to enforce the political
-lent. The liberty given by the Act of 1571 for the importation of
-cod-fish was opposed to the interests of the Iceland trade, and gave
-rise to abuses. Great quantities of inferior fish were “engrossed”
-by English merchants abroad and brought into the realm, which was
-thus “furnished with foreign fish and herrings,” while the Iceland
-fishery declined and the number of mariners available for the navy
-diminished. The importation of foreign salted fish or salted herrings
-by Englishmen or denizens was therefore prohibited; such fish were
-allowed to be brought by aliens alone, who were to pay additional
-customs, but fish from Iceland, Shetland, Newfoundland, and from the
-Scottish seas were still to be admitted.[212] But the attempt to keep
-out foreign fish failed in its object, the restrictions were found to
-be otherwise injurious, and they were repealed in 1597. “It had been
-hoped and expected,” it was said in the preamble of the repealing
-Act,[213] “that the fishermen of this realm would in such sort have
-employed themselves to fishing, and to the building and preparing of
-such store of boats and shipping for that purpose, as that they should
-long ere this time have been able sufficiently to have victualled this
-realm with salted fish and herrings of their own taking, without any
-supply of aliens and strangers, to the great increase of mariners and
-maintenance of the navigation within this realm. Notwithstanding it
-is since found by experience that the navigation of this land is no
-whit bettered by means of that Act, nor any mariners increased, nor
-like to be increased by it; but contrary wise, the natural subjects of
-this realm being not able to furnish the tenth part of the same with
-salted fish of their own taking, the chief provision and victualling
-thereof with fish and herrings hath ever since the making of the same
-Statute been in the power and disposition of aliens and strangers,
-who thereby have much enriched themselves, greatly increased their
-navigation, and (taking advantage of the time) have extremely enhanced
-the prices of that victual[214] to the great hurt and impoverishing of
-the native subjects of this realm, and yet do serve the markets here in
-very evil sort,” housing their fish till the price was raised to their
-liking. Thus the merchants in England were hindered in their trade,
-the navigation of the realm “which was intended to be augmented, hath
-been rather impaired than increased,” and the price of fish had been
-greatly raised, to the general prejudice of the people. After this very
-thorough condemnation of its previous Act,[215] Parliament declared
-that as strangers and subjects were at liberty to export English-caught
-fish and herrings, it was only right to allow subjects as well as
-foreigners to bring in fish to provision their own country, and the
-previous Act was wholly repealed. Thus the condition reverted to what
-it had been before this course of legislation began.
-
-It is equally doubtful whether the compulsory fish-days or political
-lent had much influence in fostering the fisheries. At first, if
-a return from the Trinity House can be trusted, the number of
-fishing-boats increased. They reported in January 1581 that since
-the previous Parliament there had been an increase along the coast
-from Newcastle to Portsmouth of 114 sail of fishing-boats, of between
-fifteen and forty tons, which was equal to the maintenance of a
-thousand additional seamen for the navy.[216] It is not improbable that
-an increase of the herring-boats occurred on the east coast at this
-time, but it was temporary, and more likely due to other provisions of
-the Act of 1563. Cecil’s Wednesday, for which he had fought so hard,
-was abolished in 1584, while certain penalties for eating flesh in
-Lent, on Fridays, Saturdays, or other fish-days, were at the same time
-augmented;[217] but in 1593 all the penalties were greatly reduced.[218]
-
-The policy of the political lent did not fail from want of efforts to
-enforce it. In London especially precautions were taken to have the law
-carried out, and the fishmongers were naturally active in their own
-interests. Taverns and inns were often raided; those who had flesh in
-their houses during Lent were often put in the pillory, and those who
-partook of it in the stocks; and butchers were frequently prosecuted
-for selling flesh on forbidden days. Those who were licensed to provide
-flesh in Lent for the sick were put under bond, and had to keep an
-account of every joint they sold; watchmen guarded the city gates lest
-any beef should be smuggled in. Similar measures were taken throughout
-the country. The sheriffs and justices of the peace were ordered by the
-Council to see that the Act was duly enforced, and innkeepers had to
-enter into recognisance to observe it.
-
-But there is abundant testimony that the observance of the fish-days
-was evaded on all sides. The policy was against the temper of the
-people. So long as it had been a matter of religion and ecclesiastical
-rule they were faithfully observed. The motive was now too remote; and
-although the people were exhorted on grounds of “conscience” to eat
-fish on 153 days in the year in order to maintain the navy, and “great
-numbers” at first obeyed, the “universal multitude” always abstained,
-and their example was followed by the better classes. Many considered
-abstinence from flesh on fish-days to be “papistical”; others objected
-on economic grounds, saying they could maintain their families better
-and cheaper on flesh than on fish; and great numbers took advantage of
-the clauses in the Act granting license of exemption. The Lord Mayor
-was pestered by such applications, very commonly from noblemen and
-persons about the Court, even receiving them from the Queen herself,
-and in 1595 he begged that the Act might be repealed altogether.[219]
-Thus “Cecil’s fasts,” as the unpopular fish-days were vulgarly
-called, designed by the great statesman to increase the fisheries and
-strengthen the navy, became the butt of the popular dramatist, and
-served little purpose except, in the words of Ben Jonson, to “keep
-a man devoutly hungry all day, and at night to send him supperless
-to bed.”[220] There is little doubt that the policy of the political
-lent, if it had been feasible, would have succeeded in its object.
-Edward Jennings at the end of the century calculated that shipping
-had diminished in the proportion of two to five since the time when
-fish-days were observed, and that the fisheries were reduced in the
-proportion of four-fifths in the same period; while the number of idle
-persons in England who had previously engaged in fishing in the sea
-was estimated at 10,000. Even if those figures were exaggerated, they
-indicate, as Parliament admitted, that the measures hitherto taken
-to revive the fisheries had failed. It remained for King James to
-try another plan, that of exercising an effective sovereignty on the
-British seas by prohibiting foreign fishermen from fishing within them
-without taking license and paying tribute.
-
-Before passing to the reign of James something must be said about one
-symbol of this sovereignty, as it was now regarded--the striking of
-the flag and top-sails. From the beginning of the fifteenth century,
-when the Flemish herring-boats, and no doubt others, lowered their
-sails to English ships (see p. 43), there appears to be no record of
-the ceremony until the middle of the next. In the reign of Henry VIII.,
-although he was sometimes called “Lord of these seas,”[221] and ships
-were appointed to “keep the passage of the narrow sea,” the honour of
-the flag was probably only occasionally enforced. But under Edward
-VI., during the Protectorate of Northumberland, we find it stated in
-the King’s Journal that in April 1549 “the Flemings’ men-of-war would
-have passed our ships without vailing bonnet, which they seeing shot at
-them, and drave them at length to vail bonnet and so depart”; and again
-in July of the following year, at Dieppe, the Flemish ships lowered
-their sails to an English man-of-war.[222] This appears to be the first
-recorded instance of foreign men-of-war saluting the ships of the
-King of England, and it is noteworthy that in the latter case it was
-performed in a French port by Flemish vessels.
-
-That it was not always demanded in the absolute manner of later times
-is shown by orders issued by the Privy Council in 1552. The Baron de la
-Garde was in command of a French fleet of twelve men-of-war, and Sir
-Henry Dudley, whose force was weaker, asked how he should act “touching
-the preeminence of honnour to be gyven” when he met the Baron. The
-Council replied that “in respect of thamitie and that the sayd Baron
-is stronger then he uppon the sees sume tymes yelde and sume tymes
-receyve thonnour”; and he was told to use the Baron courteously, “and
-with such discression that the same yelding of the preeminence may
-be interpreted to be of curtesy rather then to the derogacion of the
-Kinges honnour.”[223] It was the French who consistently and constantly
-opposed the English claim, and there is evidence that the salute was
-a point of rivalry between the two countries even at this time. An
-ordinance issued by Henry II. of France in 1555 (repeated by Henry III.
-in 1584) required all vessels to strike their sails to ships of the
-French navy whenever they met them at sea, and some Hamburgers were
-seized because they did not do so.[224] The honour appears to have been
-generally accorded by the Dutch in the reign of Elizabeth,[225] and
-compelled from the Spaniards. In 1554, in the reign of Mary, when the
-Spanish fleet was coming up Channel in all its bravery, with the royal
-flag flying on the Admiral’s ship, and bringing Philip of Spain to
-marry the Queen of England, the English Admiral, Lord William Howard,
-fired a broadside into the Spaniard and forced him to lower his colours
-while in his presence.[226] And later, when Anne of Austria was on
-her way to Spain to marry Philip, the Spanish ships were fired on by
-Admiral Hawkins at Plymouth and forced to strike the flag and lower
-top-sails in like manner.[227] But it was not till the reign of Charles
-I. that this punctilio became of great international importance.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-UNDER THE STUARTS. JAMES I. A NEW POLICY.
-
-
-Shortly after the accession of James to the throne of England, the
-liberal policy of his predecessors as to the freedom of the sea
-suffered a marked change. In the previous century, under the Tudors,
-little was heard of the pretension to the sovereignty of the sea,
-with the exception of the striking of the flag to the royal ships
-in the narrow seas--a ceremony that was not peculiar to England.
-Foreigners then, as always before, enjoyed complete liberty of fishing
-on the coasts of England and Ireland, and no attempts had been made
-to exact tribute from them on the Scottish coasts. Queen Elizabeth,
-as has been shown, not only refrained from putting forward claims to
-the sovereignty of the sea, but on several occasions and in the most
-positive manner asserted the freedom of the seas for both navigation
-and fishing against the exclusive policy of Denmark and Spain. At
-the end of the Tudor period England was the great champion of _mare
-liberum_--long before the Dutch Republic had challenged the monopolies
-of the Portuguese either by the pen of Grotius or the guns of Jakob van
-Heemskerk.
-
-But under James the old doctrine was revived, and something new was
-added in a claim to the fisheries along the British coasts. Before
-he had been a year in England he took measures, with the laudable
-object of defining the bays, or “King’s Chambers,” within which the
-hostile actions of belligerents were prohibited. In its essence this
-act was opposed to extensive claims to maritime sovereignty, because
-it restricted a most important attribute of such sovereignty to
-comparatively a narrow space in the adjacent sea, though a space much
-greater than that now comprised in the so-called territorial waters.
-In point of fact, throughout his reign no assertion was made to such
-a maritime sovereignty as was claimed by Charles I.[228] The measures
-referred to were in relation to neutrality in the war which continued
-between the United Provinces and Spain, James having promptly concluded
-peace with the latter Power. He issued a number of proclamations
-referring to privateering and depredations at sea, most of them being
-conceived in the interests of Spain; and in one of these, for the
-recall of British mariners in foreign service, dated 1st March 1604,
-the king forbad hostilities within his ports, havens, roads, creeks, or
-other places of his dominions, or so near to any of his ports or havens
-as might be reasonably construed to be within that title, limit, or
-precinct, as well as the hovering of men-of-war in the neighbourhood
-of such places; and he caused “plats” of the limits of his ports
-and jurisdiction to be prepared for the instruction of his officers
-concerned.[229]
-
-Long before the time of James the harbours, roadsteads, and at all
-events some of the bays of a country were recognised as belonging to
-it, in the sense at least that hostilities of belligerent men-of-war
-or the capture of prizes were forbidden within them; they were
-“sanctuaries” under the jurisdiction and protection of the adjoining
-territory. With regard to the English Chambers, we find that in the
-treaty which Cardinal Wolsey drew up in 1521, when acting as mediator
-between the Emperor Charles V. and King Francis I. of France, it was
-stipulated that during the war between these two sovereigns, the
-ships, whether armed or unarmed, as well as the mariners, of either
-side should be secure from attack by the other Power in the harbours,
-bays, rivers, mouths of rivers, roads or stations for shipping, and
-especially in the Downs or other maritime place under the jurisdiction
-of the King of England.[230] There is little doubt that this article
-only embodied in a formal manner what had long been the practice of
-nations, the Downs being specially mentioned as the most important
-anchorage in the kingdom.
-
-When James decided to mark out distinctly on a chart the boundaries of
-his neutral waters on the coast of England, the matter was submitted
-to the Trinity House, and a jury of thirteen men, specially skilled
-in maritime affairs, was appointed to prepare tables and charts
-showing the position and limits of the King’s Chambers and ports and
-the sailing directions for the same, according to their knowledge
-of what had been the custom in the past. The charts and schedules
-were presented to Sir Julius Cæsar, the Judge of the High Court of
-Admiralty, on 4th March 1604, together with a sworn declaration that
-they represented the true boundaries.[231] The chambers formed were
-nominally twenty-six in number, the points or headlands selected by the
-surveyors being as follows, beginning at the northern extremity of the
-east coast and ending at the Isle of Man--Holy Island, Souter Point,
-Whitby, Flamborough Head, Spurn Point, Cromer, Winterton Ness, Caster
-Ness, Lowestoft, East Ness, Orfordness, the North Foreland, the South
-Foreland, Dungeness, Beachy Head, “Dunenoze” (Isle of Wight), Portland
-Bill, Start Point, Rame Head, Dodman Point, the Lizard, the Land’s End,
-Milford, St David’s Head, Bardsey Island, Holyhead, the Isle of Man.
-The extent of the “chambers” varies in different places; and while this
-is obviously due on some parts of the coast to the contour, it is due
-on other parts to a selection of headlands, no doubt according to the
-custom which had grown up and was recognised among the officers and
-others concerned. Thus the great bay between Cornwall and Devon would
-have formed a natural “chamber” by a line, not so long as some of the
-others, between Start Point, or Prawl Point, and the Lizard, and which
-would have formed part of the girdle around the coast; whereas three
-chambers are formed along its shores. On the east coast the “chambers”
-are as a rule small,[232] the largest embracing the mouths of the
-Humber and the Thames; they are generally large on the south coast,
-and largest of all on the west coast, where the whole of the Bristol
-Channel was enclosed by the line from Land’s End to Milford, a distance
-of nearly 100 nautical miles, the whole area containing about 3400
-square nautical miles. This chamber, as well as those to the north of
-it, must have been of importance on account of the volume of shipping
-which passed through it.[233]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 3.--_Chart prepared by the Trinity House showing
-the bearings of the King’s Chambers._ From Selden.]
-
-It is to be noted that the King’s Chambers were confined to the coast
-of England, and, further, that they had no reference to the claim
-of James to property in his seas, so far at least as fisheries were
-concerned. They were strictly limited to questions of neutrality and
-jurisdiction, in view of the war then existing between Spain and the
-United Provinces and the frequent depredations of privateers. The
-chambers on the east coast, where the Dutch carried on their great
-herring fishery, were much too small to have any relation to the
-subject of unlicensed fishing; and at no time during the prolonged
-discussions on the fishery were the limits of the King’s Chambers made
-use of in argument. Neutral protection, moreover, was strictly limited
-to the waters defined. It was in vain that Gentilis, the Spanish
-advocate in the Admiralty Prize Court, argued that the jurisdiction of
-England extended far beyond the limits of the “chambers,” and ought
-therefore to be lawfully and justly applied in protecting Spanish
-vessels from the talons of the Dutch on the high seas. The judgment
-of the Court of Admiralty, so far as concerned the place of capture,
-was always based upon the consideration whether that place lay within
-or without the limits of a “chamber.”
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 4.--_Showing the King’s Chambers on the Coast of
-England._]
-
-The campaign against foreigners fishing on the British coast, which
-opened up the claims of England in the seventeenth century to the
-sovereignty of the sea and introduced a new principle into English
-international policy, originated in another set of ideas, which
-James brought with him from Scotland. The Scottish people had been
-always very jealous of foreigners sharing in their fisheries, and, as
-we have seen, never consented to give them the liberty to fish, so
-freely accorded by England. Moreover, a tax or tribute, called the
-“assize-herring,” was imposed upon the native fishermen in Scotland,
-and formed a part of the revenues of the crown. Although its value
-was not great, James conceived the idea of levying it also from the
-foreign fishermen, who frequented the British seas in large numbers,
-and before he formally demanded it in 1609, some curious negotiations
-took place with a syndicate of London merchants who proposed to form
-a fishery association based on the taxation of foreign fishermen, and
-in return they promised a handsome revenue to the king. The desire
-for an increased revenue may therefore have had something to do with
-the proposal to restrain unlicensed fishing on the British coasts.
-But neither this consideration, the practice in Scotland, nor the
-king’s passion for his prerogative, fully accounts for the reversal of
-the long-settled policy of England, which was accomplished with the
-concurrence of the Privy Council, and, so far as may be judged, with
-the full approval of the people.
-
-In truth, a great change had taken place in the national sentiment.
-England had now entered upon the long struggle for commercial and
-maritime supremacy, with the aim of increasing the power of the nation
-against all rivals.[234] It was obvious to every one that the great
-rival and competitor was the Dutch Republic, whose rapid rise to the
-first commercial state in Europe deeply impressed the minds of English
-statesmen and writers. In the reign of Elizabeth, the common interest
-of the two countries in opposing Spain prevented measures being taken
-to curb the growing power of the Dutch. But early in the seventeenth
-century this motive had lost its force. James had promptly concluded
-peace with Spain, and even spoke of the Dutch as rebels.[235] Thus,
-during his reign arose that bitter rivalry and keen emulation of the
-Dutch which continued throughout nearly the whole century, and of which
-the English claim to the sovereignty of the sea may be looked upon as
-an important phase. It was against the United Provinces that the claim
-was directed, and as the Dutch themselves openly boasted that the sea
-fisheries were the foundation of their shipping, wealth, and power, it
-was to the sea fisheries that England first turned in her efforts to
-cripple them.
-
-Those fisheries had greatly increased towards the end of the sixteenth
-and in the early part of the seventeenth century. An official account
-of the fisheries of Holland, Zealand, and Flanders in 1562 estimated
-the number of busses and fishing-boats at 700, of which Holland had
-400, most of them being “great” busses of about 46 lasts burden.[236]
-Guiccardini, who visited the Low Countries about the same time, placed
-the fleet of busses at 700, each of which made three voyages, bringing
-back on an average 70 lasts of herrings, or a total of 588,000 barrels,
-valued at £441,000 sterling.[237] Another author of the period gave a
-list of towns whose prosperity and even existence depended upon the
-fishery;[238] and a little later Hitchcock, and, following him, Dee,
-stated that 400 or 500 busses came every year from the Low Countries
-to fish for herrings on the east coast of this country.[239] Those
-figures referred to the fisheries of the Netherlands as a whole,
-including Flanders, but during the war of independence, after the
-United Provinces threw off the yoke of Spain and secured command of the
-sea, the Flemish fisheries withered away. At Dunkirk, for example,
-which sent 500 busses to the herring-fishing in 1532 and 400 in 1550,
-the fishermen at the beginning of the next century were scarcely able
-to supply the town with herrings.[240] The industry passed into the
-hands of the Dutch. At the end of Elizabeth’s reign, so greatly had it
-prospered that 1500 busses went to the herring-fishing in 1601 from
-Holland and Zealand alone.[241]
-
-From this time much attention was given by English writers to the
-Dutch fisheries, and on the whole they exaggerated their extent and
-the number of boats and vessels engaged in them. One of them, John
-Keymer, who was afterwards much quoted, professedly based his account
-upon his personal observations in the Netherlands about the year 1601.
-His statement appears to have been submitted to King James in 1605 or
-1606, but it was not published until 1664. He said that the fishing
-fleet of the Hollanders numbered more than 4100 vessels, of which 100
-were dogger-boats, 700 pinks and well-boats, 700 “strand-boats,” 400
-“euers,” and 400 “galliotts, drivers, and tod-boats,” and 1200 busses,
-afterwards increased to 2000. The pinks and well-boats, each from 60 to
-100 tons burden, fished on the coasts of England and Scotland for cod
-and ling, while the busses, ranging from 60 to 200 tons burden, pursued
-the herring fishery along our east coast. There were also, according
-to this author, 400 Dutch vessels, called “Gaynes” and “Euers,” which
-fished for herrings off Yarmouth; 1000 vessels, of from 50 to 100 tons,
-that caught cod and ling in his Majesty’s seas; as well as 600 ships
-engaged in carrying cod and ling to London. Keymer also says that
-he had seen near 3000 sail of English, Scotch, French, Hollanders,
-Embdeners, Breemeners, and Hamburgers fishing _at one time_ upon the
-coast of Scotland, Shetland, Orkney, Gattney (Caithness?), North
-Farrel, and Fowl (Fair) Isle, and divers other places.[242] In a later
-treatise which Keymer wrote in 1620 and submitted to King James, it
-is also said that the Hollanders employed about 3000 ships and 50,000
-people in fishing on the coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
-This tract has usually been attributed to Sir Walter Raleigh and is
-published among his works, and it obtained celebrity in consequence,
-both in this country and on the Continent, but it was without doubt
-written by Keymer.[243] A more moderate statement was made by another
-writer, Tobias Gentleman, who published the best work on the subject,
-in 1614, and was evidently well versed in the fisheries both of Holland
-and England. He states that 1000 sail of Hollanders came every year
-to fish for herrings in “his Majesty’s streams”; that more than 600 of
-them were “great busses,” some of 120 tons, most of about 100 tons;
-that the crews numbered from 16 to 24 men, so that there could not be
-less than 20,000 mariners altogether. In addition to the great fleet
-of busses, the Hollanders had “a huge number” of smaller vessels of
-from 20 to 50 tons burden, with crews of from 8 to 12 men, which were
-called “sword-pinks,” “flat-bottoms,” “Holland-toads,” “Crabskuits,”
-and “Yeuars,” and fished for herrings along with the busses on the
-east coast from Shetland southwards, carrying home their catches or
-selling them at Yarmouth. Gentleman says there had been seen at one
-time, “and numbered,” at Brassey Sound, in Shetland, where the busses
-rendezvoused, either going to sea or at sea within view, 2000 sail of
-busses and schuits, besides those that were out of sight. All these
-fished for herrings during the season “in his Majesty’s seas.” Then the
-pinks and well-boats, which caught cod and ling all the year round,
-numbered between 500 and 600; they were from 30 to 40 tons burden,
-and had crews of about 12 men each. There were also more than 200
-“fly-boats” which fished with lines to the north-east of Shetland all
-the year round for ling, which were split and salted in bulk and were
-known as “Holland-lings,” although, says Gentleman, they were really
-Shetland lings before they took them from his Majesty’s seas. This
-author placed the total number of Dutch fishermen who fished off the
-British coasts at not less than 37,000, of whom 32,000 were engaged in
-the herring fishery, and 5000 in fishing for cod and ling.[244]
-
-It would thus appear from the evidently honest account of Gentleman,
-that early in the reign of James fully 2000 Hollander busses and
-fishing vessels frequented the British seas. But the Dutch were not
-the only foreigners who reaped the harvest of fishes along our coasts.
-Fishermen likewise came from France, Spain, and Portugal, from Hamburg,
-Emden, and Bremen. The French herring-boats, from Normandy and Picardy,
-generally numbered about 100; sometimes there were only 40, and they
-did not go so far north as the Hollanders.[245] Spanish, Portuguese,
-and French vessels fished for mackerel on the Irish coast and to the
-south-west of England, as well as for cod in the North Sea. Those from
-Hamburg, Bremen, and Emden took part in the herring fishery on the east
-coast, but they appear to have mostly confined their operations to the
-northern parts of Scotland. French and Flemish vessels also visited
-the western lochs of Scotland, both for fishing and for the purchase
-of fish.[246] The total number of foreign vessels thus fishing in the
-British seas at the time in question must have been large. In both of
-Keymer’s treatises it is stated that there were 20,000, with 400,000
-people. This estimate is obviously greatly exaggerated; but making
-all due allowances, it is certain that the fleets of foreign fishing
-vessels frequenting our coasts in the reign of James were of formidable
-extent. The great herring-busses, while fishing along the east coast
-of Scotland, were described in 1608 as occupying an area of the sea of
-at least 45 miles in length by 22 miles in breadth, within which space
-they allowed no others to shoot a net.[247]
-
-The herring fishery of the Dutch along the British coast was known as
-the “great fishery” (_Groote Visscherye_), to distinguish it from the
-“small” or fresh-herring fishery which was pursued locally, and it
-was subjected to minute regulations. The busses collected at Bressay
-Sound in Shetland in the early part of June, but the fishing was not
-allowed to begin until St John’s Day, on the 24th of the month, when
-the vessels departed in fleets for the fishing-grounds under the charge
-of “commodores” and guarded by men-of-war. As the season advanced
-the fishing was carried on farther and farther to the south. Until
-St James’ Day (25th July) it was prosecuted in the neighbourhood of
-Shetland, Fair Isle, and as far south as Buchan Ness; from then until
-Elevation Day (14th September) it was from Buchan Ness to the coast of
-Northumberland; then southwards to the deep water off Yarmouth till St
-Catherine’s Day (25th September); and so to the mouth of the Thames,
-the fishing usually coming to an end at the beginning of December.
-The “fleet” or train of nets was more than a mile in length, which
-necessitated the busses keeping some distance apart to prevent fouling;
-they were shot in the evening and hauled in the morning, when the crew
-began to salt and pack the herrings into barrels, which were then taken
-to Holland in “yagers,” or carriers, repacked, branded, and exported to
-various countries. The smaller vessels which took part in the “fresh”
-herring fishery were employed especially off Yarmouth in the autumn,
-and they sold their herrings for ready money to the fish-curers with
-whom they were “hosted.” On some occasions as many as 200 of those
-smaller Dutch vessels lay in Yarmouth harbour at a time. The boats that
-went for cod, ling, and haddock fished throughout the North Sea,--the
-smaller ones at the Dogger Bank as a rule, the larger on the Scottish
-coast and at Shetland. Hand-lines, baited with herring or lamprey, were
-used, the cod being either pickled, dried, or brought to land alive in
-wells, and these vessels furnished the larger part of the supply to
-London.
-
-The quantity and value of the fish caught by the Dutch off the British
-coasts were variously stated. Keymer, in his first tract, estimated
-the quantity of herrings taken by the 2000 busses in the twenty-six
-weeks of their fishing at about 300,000 lasts (or 3,600,000 barrels)
-annually, and the value, at first hand, at £3,600,000 sterling.
-But the merchants who exported the pickled herrings--and by far the
-greater quantity were exported[248]--are said to have charged from
-£16 to £36 a last, the eventual value as merchandise being estimated
-at not less than £5,000,000 sterling. In his later treatise the
-value of the herrings exported by the Dutch is placed lower, at
-about £1,768,000, the quantity being stated at from about 89,500 to
-100,500 lasts, or from 1,074,000 to 1,206,000 barrels. Gentleman,
-whose work seems to have been the most trustworthy, estimated the
-quantity of herrings taken by the Dutch in the British seas at over
-100,000 lasts or 1,200,000 barrels, the original value at £1,000,000
-sterling and the gross value at twice that amount; “while we,” he
-says, “take no more than to bait our hooks.” Gentleman’s estimate
-of the quantity may be taken as approximately correct, because in
-the present day the least effective of the vessels taking part in
-the Dutch herring fishery--namely, the old-fashioned flat-bottomed
-boats (_bommen_)--catch and cure on an average in a season about 660
-barrels each, so that the quantity taken by a fleet of 2000 of such
-vessels would be about 1,320,000 barrels. But the old busses were
-of a superior type, keeled vessels (_hoekers, sloepen_), and the
-average catch of their modern representatives in a season is about
-1060 barrels, which for a fleet of the same number would give a total
-yield of about 2,120,000 barrels, or over 176,000 lasts. Monson placed
-the value of the herrings exported from Holland to the Baltic at
-£800,000, and of those sent to other countries at £1,000,000,[249]
-while Sir Nicholas Hales in 1609 estimated the value of the exported
-herrings at £4,000,000, but raised it later, in 1634, to £6,000,000,
-owing to information received from Amsterdam.[250] Sir John Borough’s
-estimate was still higher. He said that if account was taken of all
-the herrings, cod, ling, and other fish caught in the British seas by
-foreigners, the gross value would exceed £10,000,000 a year.
-
-The larger figures above cited are unquestionably exaggerated, but
-even the lowest shows how very valuable the sea fisheries were to the
-Dutch at the beginning of the seventeenth century, for the total value
-of all the commodities exported from England in 1613 was placed at
-£2,487,435, and the value of the imports at £2,141,151.[251]
-
-The English fisheries, which Cecil had laboured to revive, presented
-a striking contrast to the prosperous fishery of the foreigners. As
-in the days of Hitchcock, our fishermen shot their nets for herrings
-from small vessels near the shore, and on the east coast, at least,
-only in the period from September to November, with the exception of
-an occasional “summer” fishing.[252] They had very “sorry” nets and
-poor frail boats, and most of those going to the Yarmouth fishing
-from Yorkshire and Durham were only “five-men” cobles.[253] “The
-Hollander busses,” it was said, “are greate and strong and able to
-brooke foul weather, whereas our cobles, crayers, and boats, being
-small and thin-sided, are easily swallowed by rough seas, not daringe
-to adventure far in fair weather by reason of their weaknesse for
-feare of stormes.” The largest of the crayers were of 20 tons burden,
-their catch of herrings for a night being generally from one to three,
-and rarely as much as seven, lasts.[254] One can only guess at the
-number of fishing boats and vessels belonging to east coast ports
-at this time. Gentleman stated that the number of “North Sea boats”
-which fished for cod, and probably also for herrings, in autumn, was
-from 224 to 237 along the stretch of coast between the Thames and the
-Humber, the crews employed in them being between 1500 and 1600. The
-Iceland barks numbered about 125 in 1614; 20 of them, as well as 150
-of the North Sea boats, belonged to Yarmouth. The town-clerk of that
-port, writing about the same time, said that they sent annually to
-Iceland and the north seas for cod and ling about 120 sail, while all
-the “ships, crayers, and fisher-boats” belonging to Yarmouth numbered
-220; the able-bodied mariners and fishermen amounted to 1000.[255] The
-only other fisheries on the east coast were a small one for mackerel,
-which employed 40 boats at Yarmouth in the spring; a sprat fishery with
-bag-nets; while some small trawlers worked in the bays and estuaries.
-On the east coast of Scotland there was no native herring fishery
-except in the firths.
-
-Compared with the great trade of the Dutch, the exports of fish from
-this country were insignificant and trifling in view of the quantity
-imported: in London alone no less than £12,000 was paid to the
-Hollanders for barrelled fish and Holland lings between the Christmas
-of 1613 and 18th February 1614. Scotland still sent tolerably large
-quantities of salmon, herrings, and salt fish to France, Spain, and
-elsewhere; but the exports from England were almost quite confined to
-red-herrings from Yarmouth and pilchards from Cornwall,--both sent to
-the Mediterranean, and very commonly in Dutch bottoms.[256] The English
-had no share whatever in the trade in pickled herrings or in pickled
-cod; they were indeed ignorant of the method of curing the latter.
-
-From the foregoing it is not difficult to realise the feeling of
-irritation against the Dutch which began to gather in the breasts of
-the English people. They witnessed with envy the great fleets of alien
-fishing vessels which darkened their coasts every season and reaped a
-rich harvest in waters which they regarded as their own. “No king upon
-the earth,” said Gentleman, “did yet ever see such a Fleet of his own
-subjects at any time, and yet this Fleet is there and then yearly to
-be seen. A most worthy sight it were, if they were my own countrymen!”
-Statesmen and economists saw in the extension of the Dutch fisheries a
-menace to the power and wealth of the nation. The fisheries formed a
-valuable nursery of seamen to man the mercantile marine and the royal
-navy; it was chiefly from this point of view that the political lent
-and the fishery Acts of the previous reign were designed. Another
-consideration began to excite even more attention. The trade in fish
-was looked upon as forming the basis of commerce and national wealth.
-The Dutch boasted that the herring fishery was their “gold-mine”; that
-“the herring keeps Dutch trade going, and Dutch trade sets the world’s
-afloat”;[257] and the argument that national power and wealth depended
-on the sea fisheries became a commonplace in the seventeenth century,
-and was urged as a reason why the English people should secure for
-themselves the fisheries in their own seas. This, it was said, would
-do more good to the kingdom than all the mines and the whole trade in
-cloth and wool; the fisheries would be more valuable to us than the
-Indies were to Spain, or than was the commerce with the West Indies;
-they were the “very goal and prize of trade and of the dominion of
-the sea.”[258] Had not Holland, which was “not so big as one of his
-Majesty’s shires,” and where nothing “grew” save “a few hops, madder,
-and cheese,” become a rich and powerful state, full of goodly towns,
-and the great mart of Europe, owing to the fish drawn from the British
-seas? Did not Dutch ships, in return for the fish they exported, come
-back laden with the riches of other lands,--with oil and wine, honey
-and wool, from France and Spain; with velvets, silks, and spices from
-the Mediterranean; with corn and wax, hemp, iron, and timber, from the
-Baltic? And all this great commerce was founded on their fisheries in
-his Majesty’s seas.
-
-Two other arguments were very commonly put forward,--that the
-development of the fisheries would directly increase shipping, and
-also give birth to many other industries. Ingenious and detailed
-calculations were made to show that if 20 busses were built at a
-seaport they would cause other 80 ships to be constructed, increase the
-number of mariners by 1000, and give employment to nearly 8000 people
-by sea and land. “It is the fish taken upon his Majesty’s coasts,” said
-Sir William Monson, the Admiral of the Narrow Sea, “that is the only
-cause of the increase of shipping in Europe; and he that hath the trade
-of fishing becomes mightier than all the world besides in number of
-ships.”[259] Dutch ships crowded our ports; they carried away English
-commodities at lower freights than English vessels could afford to
-do, and thus we were “eaten out of all trade and the bread taken out
-of our mouths in our own seas, and the great customs carried from his
-Majesty’s coffers to foreign princes and states.” The Hollanders were
-accused of trying “to get the whole trade of Christendom into their
-own hands, as well for transportation as otherwise for the command and
-mastery of the seas.” Yet the king was “Lord Paramount of those seas”
-in which the foreigners caught the fish that made them so rich and
-powerful: surely “he would not, without question, allow strangers to
-eat up the food that was provided for his children!”[260]
-
-Such was the national spirit and sentiment that had been developing
-during the closing years of Elizabeth’s reign and the early part of
-the reign of James, and was well expressed by Sir Walter Raleigh when
-he said that “whosoever commands the sea commands the trade; whosoever
-commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and
-consequently the world itself.”[261] England was to become powerful
-and rich by shipping and maritime commerce, and the first step in the
-struggle was to secure the fisheries for herself. Opinions varied as to
-how this was to be accomplished. Some recommended the establishing of a
-national fishery on the plan recommended by Hitchcock in the preceding
-generation and tried by Charles I. in the next. Others suggested the
-institution of a commission of “State Merchant,” which would have trade
-and commerce as well as fisheries under its charge. A few spoke, more
-faintly, of the potency of fish-days and the strict observance of Lent.
-But all or almost all agreed that foreigners, and in particular the
-Hollanders, should be either prohibited from fishing in the British
-seas or allowed to do so only under license and regulations and the
-payment of a tribute to the crown.
-
-The proposal most commonly mooted was to build a fleet of
-herring-busses for ourselves, and, in short, to imitate the Dutch
-system in all particulars. The natural advantages we possessed
-were made the most of. The fishing-grounds were at our doors, while
-the Dutch had to sail long distances. We had numerous harbours and
-sheltered beaches for the wintering of the busses. We had all the
-materials for building and equipping the busses except pitch and tar,
-whereas the Dutch had to import everything save hemp; and abundance of
-men to man the vessels could be got from the “decayed towns.” It was on
-the other hand admitted that we laboured under one disadvantage. The
-Dutch fishermen were more frugal, more industrious and painstaking,
-than the English. They were content with plain fare--with bread and
-butter, cheese, a little pork, and fish,--while the English required
-beef and beer, and much of both.[262] And while the Dutch worked hard,
-“labouring merrily together,” the English fishermen “sat day and night
-drinking in the ale-houses.”[263]
-
-But any scheme for establishing a great national fishery had little
-chance of financial support from the public unless it could be shown to
-be profitable, and there was no lack of calculations and computations
-to prove the great profits that might be made. Gentleman estimated that
-the clear gain from one buss, allowing for wear and tear, would amount
-to £565 in four months, and from a pink for cod-fishing to £158 in
-two months. The author of _Britaines Buss_ calculated that the yearly
-profit from one herring-fishing and one cod-fishing of a single buss
-would amount to £897, after all expenses had been paid. This writer
-proposed that a corporation should be formed, consisting of noblemen,
-gentry, and citizens “of ability,” each of whom should provide one
-buss; that the corporation should receive from the king certain
-powers, privileges, and immunities; and that a joint-stock should be
-raised like that of the East India Company, the annual profit on which
-was estimated at 75 per cent.
-
-Those schemes resembled the one put forward by Hitchcock in the
-previous reign and frequently advocated since. Sir Walter Cope
-indeed told King James, in 1612, that “this royal work,” within his
-own knowledge, had been in project for thirty years, but that in
-Queen Elizabeth’s time it had been “ever silenced” in favour of the
-Netherlands, who then maintained war against a common enemy.[264]
-
-Within two or three years of the accession of James, the project took
-more definite form, and was brought before the Privy Council, and it
-was carefully considered in 1607. An integral part of the proposal was
-that strangers fishing in the British seas should pay tribute to the
-king, while the native fishery remained untaxed, and that the tribute
-should be farmed out to patentees, as was done with the assize-herrings
-in Scotland, who would then establish a national buss fishery and pay
-a rent to the crown.[265] There were several schemes of the kind,
-but the one which received most attention was put forward by a Mr
-Richard Rainsford, acting on behalf of a number of London merchants,
-who aimed at forming an association to be called the Society of
-Fishing Merchants. In 1608 the proposals were referred to the Earl of
-Northampton, Lord Privy Seal, and the Earl of Devonshire, who commended
-them as being for the public good, and early next year a formal and
-detailed scheme was prepared.[266] In the preamble stress was laid on
-the fact that the Hollanders and other nations had their principal
-fishing on his Majesty’s coasts and seas, “whose soveraignty ought
-therein to be acknowledged, not only to procure thereby payment of
-his Majesty’s duties of fishing, but also to have his kingdom provided
-with fish at such reasonable rates and prices as other nations have
-maintained thereby navigation and mariners; and setting of an infinite
-number of subjects on work within the realm of England and Scotland
-to strengthen his Majesty’s dominion by sea and land, as the chief
-point of a most commendable Union,” that is to say, a union of England
-and Scotland, the idea of which was still in the mind of James. The
-justification for imposing a tribute on foreign fishermen, which was
-to be in kind, was the king’s right to the tithe, “grounded by ancient
-customs and records of his Majesty’s predecessors demanding the tenth
-fish; whereunto three things were required: (1) how his Majesty’s tithe
-and right can be evidently proved; (2) precedents, that other kings
-and princes have and do the like in their seas; (3) that it shall
-give no cause of offence to other princes or states to move war.” The
-second part of the project was to build a “competent number” of ships
-or busses yearly, and so to re-establish the fishing trade which,
-it was said, one Violet Stephens and other discontented fishmongers
-from England had transferred to Enkhuisen and other places in Holland
-some ninety years earlier, teaching the Dutch to come and fish in the
-British seas--a false tale current in England in the reign of James.
-
-As an alternative plan, to be put into immediate execution in
-connection with the truce just concluded between Spain and the United
-Provinces,[267] it was proposed that, his Majesty’s right and tithe
-having been made plain as above described, the Hollanders themselves
-should be invited to join on reasonable terms with the English
-projectors in the fishing trade for one-third part, or even a half, of
-the fishery. This course, it was believed, would prevent any cause of
-offence, being, it was said, in agreement with “the known precedents of
-other princes.” It was also thought that it would be agreeable to the
-Hollanders, since they would see that the Society of Fishing Merchants,
-being free from license or tribute, could afford to have busses built
-in Denmark for themselves should that be necessary. If the Hollanders
-could be induced to associate themselves with the Society, then,
-it was argued, when the time came to interfere with their “general
-fishery,” the risk of war would be removed, and the king’s tithe
-and right might be acknowledged and established by proclamation or
-otherwise.[268]
-
-The acknowledgment of the king’s “sovereignty or title annexed to the
-dignity of the Crown” required the contribution of the tenth or the
-twentieth fish, more or less, to be delivered at sea for the general
-good of the Society, so that they might be able to tide over bad
-years and maintain the fishermen. In this way, by heavily taxing the
-Hollanders, it was believed that “no man should be discouraged by bad
-successe, but might depend upon God’s blessing with a quiete minde
-to follow his vocacion avoydinge Idlenes by ye survey of others.” On
-the other hand, the Society would undertake to pay the king so much
-upon every last of fish as might be thought convenient, provided that
-letters patent were granted under which the Hollanders and other
-strangers would be “limited and ruled.”
-
-In this scheme of the London merchants it was proposed to acquire in
-the first year fifty fishing vessels, partly by buying them beyond the
-seas, and partly by building them in Denmark, Scotland, and the north
-of England. The busses were not to exceed fifty, or the dogger-boats
-thirty tons, since the Dutch in recent years had found the smaller
-vessels more profitable than the larger ones. It was stated that some
-families in Holland, the “east countries,” and Hamburg, with vessels
-of their own, were desirous of joining the London Society,--several
-of them had indeed arrived in England,--and it was proposed to admit
-them for a few years only, in order to lay the foundations of the
-business, and to educate English lads in the curing of herrings, and,
-what was “not the least point,” to make the English as industrious
-as themselves. When the fishery was thoroughly established, it would
-be easy to erect “staple towns and magazines” for the commodities of
-other countries; the ships of the Society would bring back merchandise
-for the fish exported, and a great commerce would be created. In all
-this prosperity “the King’s Majesty might be made a partaker, as a
-Royal Merchant,” while the stock required would easily be found among
-the merchants. On the other hand, if the king confined his action
-to the issuing of licenses to foreigners, without giving means for
-establishing a society of merchants for the fishing, then his subjects
-would be entirely dependent for their fish on these foreign fishermen,
-who would charge higher prices to recoup themselves for the cost of
-the licenses. The country, moreover, would suffer from the loss of the
-commerce that sprung from the trade in fish; the transportation of
-money and bullion for fish and other commodities brought into the realm
-would continue unchecked; and the king would lose the great strength of
-shipping and mariners that otherwise would be available for the defence
-of the kingdom.
-
-Objections were raised to the project on the ground that it was
-unlikely that the Society, even with the advantages which they desired,
-would be able to compete with the Hollanders. The Hamburgers and other
-peoples who had previously made the attempt had failed, for the Dutch
-were very industrious and frugal, their fish always brought the highest
-price, often 25 per cent above that of other nations, because they were
-thoroughly skilled and experienced in the industry. The freights of the
-Hollanders were, moreover, far lower than in English ships, as they
-took barrelled herrings for ballast, or even for “drink money.”
-
-A more serious difficulty was the principle that lay at the root of
-the scheme--the taxation of the Dutch fishermen for the benefit of
-the Society. It was evidently admitted that the project would fail,
-even if the busses were manned by Dutchmen and the herrings cured and
-exported by them, unless some form of subsidy was provided. But on the
-threshold lay the question of the king’s right to impose a tribute
-on foreign fishermen. Rainsford endeavoured to help the solution by
-submitting a memorandum, “Touching his Majesty’s Tythe.”[269] It has
-some interest from the circumstance that it was the first attempt made
-in the reign of James to furnish historical and legal precedents for
-interfering with the liberty of fishing. In substance it is little more
-than a collection of the stories current at the time concerning the
-sovereignty of the sea, such as those about King Edgar, Queen Mary and
-Philip, and Camden’s statement about Scarborough.[270] It was also
-said that fishermen were compelled to pay taxes for liberty to fish
-in Russia, at the “Shoffland” islands and other islands belonging to
-the King of Sweden, in Denmark, and in Spain, where the Duke of Medina
-Sidonia derived a large revenue from the taxes on the tunny fishery.
-Rainsford reiterated the advantages of the scheme to the nation and
-the navy, and promised an annual revenue of £20,000 to the king, after
-the lapse of seven years, so long as he granted to the patentees the
-tribute on foreign fishermen.
-
-About this time, whether by arrangement with the London merchants
-or independently, some influential persons addressed the king in
-denunciation of the Dutch. Sir Nicholas Hales in 1608, and again in
-1609, strongly advised the king to take action against them. Their
-fisheries in his Majesty’s seas, he said, were worth more than the
-mines of gold and silver in the Indies; in one year they had sold
-fish in England alone to the value of £1,200,000; by their means they
-maintained 100,000 men with their wives and families. Then their
-immense shipping was a menace to the security of the realm. They
-came into our roads and harbours with their guns and ordnance on
-board: sometimes three or four hundred sail of Hollanders sheltered
-in St George’s Channel, where our fleet, if need were, could always
-strike them. The whole trade of Christendom appeared to be going
-into their hands. Sir Nicholas was afraid they might join with the
-“Turks” against us; there was even risk of invasion unless measures
-were taken to curb their growing power. The measures he proposed
-were the delivery of Flushing and Brill as pledges of security, and
-the payment of £4,000,000 for the king’s license to carry on their
-fishery for twenty-one years on the British coasts. Otherwise they
-should be compelled to pay a tithe of the twentieth herring or be
-forbidden altogether.[271] Sir William Monson--who was a Roman
-Catholic, had been Admiral of the Narrow Sea, and was accused by the
-Dutch of antipathy to them--wrote several papers in the same strain.
-He dwelt upon the danger to England of their increase in shipping
-commerce and power, all derived from the fisheries in the British
-seas. They had already got the Irish and Russian trade, as well as
-that to the Mediterranean, so that while twelve years before there
-were twelve English ships to one Hollander in that sea, there were now
-ten Hollanders to one English; they even transported the red-herrings
-from Yarmouth and the pilchards from Cornwall and Ireland, which was
-previously done by English vessels. Monson’s remedy was to obtain
-possession of the fisheries and build a fleet of English busses.[272]
-
-There is no doubt James was inclined to listen with a favourable ear to
-the proposals to establish a native herring fishery at the expense of
-the Dutch. A year or two earlier he had, indeed, induced the Parliament
-of Scotland to pass an Act providing, among other things, that the
-royal burghs should equip busses for the herring fishery,--a suggestion
-frequently made and never well received. When the burghs were called
-upon to state the number of busses they were prepared to set forth,
-they declared that some of the coast towns already had vessels engaged
-in this fishery, especially in summer, “att the back of the Isles
-besyid the Flemeingis”; that on the coast there was more shipping for
-fishing than “substance” to furnish them with or mariners to serve in
-them; and that the most profitable and “easy” fishing was at the Isles
-and lochs on the west coast, though they were hindered there by the
-barbarous conduct of the natives. It was therefore, they said, “in
-vain” to ask them to fish “in the mayne sea” when they could get this
-easy and profitable fishing at the lochs and near the shore at all
-seasons, in great abundance, both summer and winter.[273]
-
-At the time the fishery scheme was under consideration some events
-occurred which favoured the plans, if not of the London merchants, at
-least of those who were preaching hostility to the Dutch. A chorus of
-complaints came from Scotland and England as to the encroachments of
-the Hollanders near the shore on the east coast, not only interfering
-with the operations of the native fishermen, but breaking up and
-scattering the shoals of herrings. Whereas they had been prescribed “in
-ancient times” in Scotland from fishing nearer the land than they might
-see the shore from the main-tops of their vessels, they now came as
-near as they pleased, and would not sutler any others, whether subjects
-or strangers, to fish within the bounds of their fleet, which, it was
-said, extended over a space “at least forty Scottish miles in length
-and twenty broad,” thus “breaking and killing” the shoals before they
-could reach the mainland. They were also accused of drawing “the great
-fish” (by which was meant cod, saithe, &c.) from the grounds along the
-shore, by casting into the sea the guts of the herrings they cured
-on board their busses. By reason of all this the Scottish fishermen,
-who used to get abundant supplies at “yair awn dooris” to supply the
-whole country, were now scarcely able, with great pains, to supply
-their own families, and there was in consequence a general clamour in
-the country, the people affirming that “the Hollanderis fishes the
-meait out of thir mouthis.” The evil was felt all the more by the
-Scottish fishermen because they paid three “assizes” every year for
-their several fishings, each consisting of 1000 herrings, while the
-Hollanders paid nothing.[274]
-
-Early in 1609 the fishermen of the Cinque Ports, who frequented the
-Yarmouth fishing in large numbers, sent a petition to the king, in
-which they recited their grievances. They alleged that the laws
-prohibiting the purchase from foreigners of fish unless sufficiently
-salted and casked (laws which, they pointed out, had done great good in
-the past, and had increased shipping and mariners) were not properly
-enforced. This complaint was aimed against the Dutch, who sold large
-quantities of fresh herrings at Yarmouth, and supplied London and other
-towns with fresh cod. They also complained that fishermen from the
-Low Countries, with a few from France, came before the fishing season
-and “preoccupied and environed” the best places with their shipping,
-enclosing, as in a circle, the shoals of herrings, and preventing the
-native fishermen from fishing among them. They were thus deprived of
-one of the best commodities of the land, and the herrings which they
-were prevented from catching were taken by the Hollanders and sold
-fresh on the English coast in contravention of the statutes. They said
-they were threatened with utter decay and impoverishment, and were
-discouraged from building barks for the Iceland fishing, which had in
-the past produced numbers of good mariners, to the great honour and
-defence of the realm. They pointed to the “ingenious dexterity of the
-Netherlanders, who in the care and pollicy of their State, and for
-the maintenance of their navigation and fishing,” had imposed a tax
-of fifteen shillings on every last of herrings imported by foreigners
-into their country; and they begged the king, by the justice of _lex
-talionis_, to do likewise, and thus to save the poor fishermen from
-the multitude of foreigners who oppressed them.[275] About this time
-complaints began to be made of cruel and harsh treatment of the native
-fishermen by the Dutch, but they appear to have rested on very slender
-grounds.[276]
-
-The complaints against the Hollanders gave James his opportunity.
-The policy of issuing a proclamation to forbid unlicensed fishing by
-foreigners on the British coasts was discussed by the Privy Council
-early in the year. Doubts, however, were expressed whether such
-action would be in conformity with the provisions of the “Burgundy”
-treaties, which granted liberty of fishing to the Low Countries. In
-the “qualification” of Rainsford’s fishery scheme the question as to
-how the king’s title and rights could be proved had been answered in
-a lofty spirit--“By prerogative royall, without any accompt to be
-rendered to other nations; yet others to declare the reasons thereof.”
-But the Privy Council had to consider the matter more carefully. They
-remitted the draft proclamation to a committee consisting of Sir John
-Herbert, the second Secretary, Sir Julius Cæsar, now Chancellor of the
-Exchequer, Sir Daniel Dunn, Sir Thomas Crompton, and Sir Christopher
-Perkins, instructing them, after perusing all the Burgundy treaties, to
-report as to the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the proposed action.[277]
-
-A fortnight later the report of the committee was sent to the Council.
-They had, they said, considered of the liberty taken by the subjects
-of foreign princes and states to fish upon the coasts of the King’s
-Majesty, by which not only the English fishermen received wrong in
-their fishing, but the very coast towns were decayed; they had also
-considered the proclamation for the restraint of fishing, and had
-perused the Burgundy treaties as required, and they were “of opinion
-that the King’s Majesty may without breach of any treaty now in force,
-or of the law, upon the reasons specified in the proclamation sent
-unto us, restrain all strangers from fishing upon his coasts without
-license, in such moderation and after such convenient notice given
-thereof by public proclamation, as his Majesty shall think fit.”[278]
-
-It was on this extremely important deliverance that the new policy
-of interfering with the liberty of foreigners fishing on the British
-coasts was based. The cautious language of the Privy Council indicates
-that they were conscious of the strength of the case against them from
-the existence of the Burgundy treaties; but the committee professed to
-find that those treaties were no longer in force,--an argument which
-was made the most of in the subsequent negotiations with the Dutch
-Republic. The report was submitted to the Council in February; in
-March Grotius published his _Mare Liberum_, in which he branded as
-“insanely cupid” any one who attempted to interfere with the common
-liberty of fishing in the sea; and within a week or two thereafter the
-Truce of Antwerp was signed by Spain and the States-General, by which
-the long war between those Powers was brought to a close, and James was
-free to begin his policy against the Dutch fishermen. On 12th April
-1609 a memorandum was drawn up for the Council, in which it was stated
-(1) that a conference having been held with the fishermen concerning
-the seasons of all the fishings on the coast, it was thought fit that
-the proclamation should take effect from 1st August ensuing; (2) that
-from that day forward it should be unlawful for any stranger to fish
-“upon those his Majesty’s coasts and seas of Great Britain and Ireland
-and the Isles adjacent,” where the fishing was usually carried on,
-until they had obtained license for the same from the king; (3) that
-commissioners should be appointed by the king, at London, for England
-and Ireland, and for Scotland at such place as the king should select,
-to give out licenses on such conditions as he might think fit; and (4)
-that the licenses should be apportionable to the number and tonnage of
-the ships.[279]
-
-These provisions were embodied in the proclamation, which was issued
-on 6th May 1609.[280] “Whereas,” said James, in his wordy style,
-“we have been contented since our coming to the crown, to tolerate
-an indifferent and promiscuous kind of liberty to all our friends
-whatsoever, to fish within our streams, and upon any of our coasts of
-Great Britain, Ireland, and other adjacent islands, so far forth as
-the permission or use thereof might not redound to the impeachment
-of our prerogative royal, nor to the hurt and damage of our loving
-subjects, whose preservation and flourishing estate we hold ourself
-principally bound to advance before all worldly respects: so finding
-that our connivance therein hath not only given occasion to over
-great encroachments upon our regalities, or rather questioning for
-our right,[281] but hath been a means of much daily wrongs to our
-own people that exercise the trade of fishing, as (either by the
-multitude of strangers, which do preoccupy those places, or by the
-injuries which they receive most commonly at their hands) our subjects
-are constrained to abandon their fishing, or at the least are become
-so discouraged in the same, as they hold it better for them to betake
-themselves to some other course of living, whereby not only divers of
-our coast-towns are much decayed, but the number of mariners daily
-diminished, which is a matter of great consequence to our estate,
-considering how much the strength thereof consisteth in the power
-of shipping and use of navigation.” It was therefore both just and
-necessary, the king continued, to take lawful means to put an end to
-these inconveniences, although he had no intention, as he desired
-the world to take notice, to deny his neighbours “those fruits and
-benefits of peace and friendship” which might justly be expected at
-his hands in honour and reason. He therefore gave notice to all the
-world, that after 1st August 1609, “no person of what nation or quality
-soever, being not our natural born subject, be permitted to fish upon
-any of our coasts and seas,” “until they have orderly demanded and
-obtained licenses from us,” or the commissioners appointed at London
-and Edinburgh. The licenses were to be renewed yearly, “upon pain of
-such chastisement as shall be fit to be inflicted upon such wilful
-offenders.”[282]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 6.--_Facsimile of the concluding part of the Draft
-of Committee’s Report to Privy Council regarding the restraint of
-foreigners fishing on the British coasts._]
-
-The prohibition of unlicensed fishing in the British or Irish seas was
-general in its character, and applied to all foreigners indifferently.
-But it was well understood to be aimed at the Dutch. There is no
-evidence to show that any steps were taken to induce the hundred or
-so of French boats that took part in the herring-fishing on the east
-coast to obtain licenses; and though the Earl of Salisbury wrote a long
-letter to the English ambassador at Madrid, explaining the reasons that
-had induced the king to issue the proclamation, it does not appear that
-the numerous Spanish fishermen who caught mackerel off the coast of
-Ireland and the south-west coast of England were ever interfered with,
-or asked to apply for licenses.[283]
-
-In the United Provinces the important step taken by the King of
-England was regarded with much concern. Early in June the proclamation
-was discussed by the States of Holland, and it was resolved that as the
-interference with the liberty of fishing was contrary to the treaties
-between England and the Netherlands, the States-General should maintain
-their right to fish off the British and Irish coasts.[284] This
-resolution was confirmed on the same day by the States-General, and it
-was decided to make representations against putting the proclamation
-into force. The herring-fishing, as previously described, began in June
-at Shetland, and was prosecuted down the east coast to Yarmouth, where
-the busses were usually to be found in September. There was therefore
-not much time to lose. Sir Noel Caron, the Dutch ambassador in London,
-had several interviews on the subject with the Earl of Salisbury and
-with James himself. Lord Salisbury, who was believed by Caron to be
-the real author of the scheme, held out little hope of an amicable
-settlement. But the good-natured king, who loved peace even more than
-he loved his prerogative, was more conciliatory. He explained to Sir
-Noel that the proclamation was for the purpose of introducing better
-order into the fishery, and to make manifest to the world the authority
-and power which he had on the sea,[285] and was not meant in any way
-to wrong the States, either by hostile force or otherwise. The French
-Government had in the meantime moved in the matter. At first nothing
-was said to our ambassador at Paris about the proclamation, and he
-thought it “no wisdom” to speak about it to them unless they raised
-the question. This they did later, either on account of the French
-fishermen or at the instigation of the Dutch, and a year’s respite
-was granted.[286] Caron learned the welcome intelligence from the
-French ambassador in London, that a promise had been made to him that
-the project would proceed no further until after mutual negotiations,
-which would occupy the whole of that year.[287] Sir Ralph Winwood, who
-was appointed English ambassador at The Hague in August 1609, also had
-conferences about the proclamation with Barnevelt, whose authority
-in Holland was then supreme. He was told that the States would send
-special ambassadors to the king, “to acknowledge those many royal
-favours they had received from him,” and to treat of the liberty of
-fishing. Meantime their ambassador in London had been instructed to
-beseech the king to have patience with their people “trading” on his
-coasts, and that “without impeachment they might use their accustomed
-liberty and ancient privileges.”[288]
-
-Sir Noel Caron had also discussions in London with respect to the
-legality of imposing any tax on Dutch fishermen, the principle of which
-he could not well understand. As previously mentioned, one of the
-precedents upon which James founded his claim to impose tribute was
-the payment by Scottish fishermen of the so-called “assize-herrings.”
-This was an ancient tax or custom of a thousand herrings levied from
-each fishing-boat employed at the herring fishery, and they belonged
-to the king as part of the crown revenues.[289] From the extent of
-the Dutch herring fishery it is evident that a similar tax imposed on
-it would have brought in a goodly sum annually to the king’s coffers.
-A few years later, when James did attempt to collect the tax from
-the Dutch fishermen, each buss was to be charged an “assize duty” of
-10,000 herrings, or £66, 13s. 4d. Scots, which was equal to about £5,
-11s. 1d. sterling; so that if the duty had been exacted from the 2000
-herring-boats fishing on the coast the crown would have benefited to
-the extent of about £11,000 a year, and the Hollanders would have been
-all that the poorer.
-
-When the principle of the assize-herring was explained to the Dutch
-ambassador, he appears to have devoted some attention to it. He argued
-that although the Scots Acts showed that the assize-herrings had been
-exacted from the Scottish fishermen in the firths on the east and west
-coasts, the tax had never been imposed in the north seas and at the
-Isles (Shetlands) where the Hollander busses fished; it would therefore
-be an “innovation” to enforce the payment there now. He further averred
-that treaties between King James and the United Provinces existed by
-which Dutch fishermen were freed from any payment to the king for
-fishing on his coasts and seas. Moreover, he declared the sea was
-free to all, _mare est liberum_, and consequently there was no king
-nor lord to be acknowledged upon the sea, “but every stranger may
-fish over all the seas where he pleases, without asking license, or
-paying any toll or duty whatsoever.” It was moreover apparent, apart
-from considerations of principle as to the freedom of the sea, that no
-certainty existed that the king, or a successor, would not raise the
-tax, if once imposed, as the King of Denmark had done with the dues at
-the Sound, until they became a heavy burden.
-
-A Scottish lawyer, probably in the service of the crown, in reply to
-the objections of Sir Noel Caron, argued that it could not be called
-an “innovation” to exact the tribute, if the herrings swam from the
-ancient places of their resort and appeared in new places in his
-Majesty’s seas, where the tax was not previously levied, or because
-there was an “oversight” in levying it in olden times when, he said,
-there was little fishing in the north seas and about the Isles, and
-the cost of collecting it would have been great. As for treaties, it
-was most improbable that any stranger would ask or king grant that
-strangers should be more free to fish “within the seas of the king’s
-dominions” than the native subjects of the kingdom. But even if such
-grant had been made, it could not stand good in law, because it was
-“repugnant to reason.” By negligence, he said, the Hollanders had
-been allowed two advantages. In ancient times they were “appointed”
-to fish no nearer the land than they could see the shore from their
-main-tops; but now they fished as near as they pleased, excluding the
-natives and breaking up the shoals. Then, while the natives had to pay
-three assizes yearly, the Dutch were “as yet” asked to pay only one,
-though many of the busses made three voyages in a year. And if the sea
-was free to all, why had the Netherlanders entered into treaties for
-freedom of fishing? By making covenants with the kings of Scotland,
-“and taking liberty of them to fish within the Scottish seas,” they
-had “disclaimed _mare liberum_ and acknowledged the Kings of Scotland
-to be Lords of these Seas.” Why should the Dutch alone object, if
-the natives, the French, and all other foreigners willingly pay the
-assize-herring?[290] It was, however, untrue to say that the tax was
-paid by the French or other foreign fishermen. Even Scottish fishermen
-who fished at the North Isles were exempt; and when an attempt was made
-some years later to force them to pay, the burghs obtained a decree of
-_absolvitor_ from the court and the Privy Council, on the ground that
-the tax could only be levied on “green” or fresh fish landed, and not
-on herrings cured on board (see p. 166).
-
-In the spring of 1610 James’s proclamation was again taken into
-consideration by the States of Holland and the States-General, and it
-was resolved to send an embassy to London, primarily to thank the king
-for his friendly offices in connection with the conclusion of the truce
-with Spain, but in reality to deal with the fishery question and some
-other matters. One of the ambassadors was Joachimi, who afterwards
-represented the States at the English Court for over twenty-five
-years. Another was Elias van Oldenbarnevelt, a brother of the great
-statesman who was then at the head of affairs in the Netherlands,
-and to him the business of the fishing was specially committed. They
-arrived in England on 14th April, and had an audience with the king a
-few days later and another with the Privy Council. They asked for an
-assurance that the king’s proclamation was not meant to extend to the
-United Provinces, since he was in alliance with them, and treaties
-existed between the two countries. But the Earl of Salisbury plainly
-told them that the principal motive of the proclamation arose from the
-multitude and disorder of their fishermen, “who had wholly drawn the
-fishing to themselves, to the destruction of his Majesty’s people and
-coast-towns”; and they were invited to further conference.[291]
-
-On the 6th May, exactly a year after the publication of the
-proclamation, the ambassadors had a formal conference with Sir Julius
-Cæsar, Sir Thomas Parry, Sir Daniel Dunn, Sir Christopher Perkins,
-Dr Henry Marten (Advocate-General), and Levinus Muncke, a Fleming,
-and “clerk to his Majesty’s Signet.” The English commissioners
-began the discussion by justifying the proclamation on the grounds
-previously indicated. The Dutch contended for complete freedom of
-fishing, resting their case on arguments drawn from the civil law, on
-immemorial possession, on the existence of treaties, and on political
-considerations. They said the United Provinces had always been in
-peaceful possession of free fishing, and that from time immemorial
-they had enjoyed complete liberty to fish over the whole sea, both
-as a matter of usage and of right. To disturb them by force in the
-enjoyment of that right would be unjust. Besides, by the Law of Nations
-the boundless and rolling sea was as common to all people as the
-air, “which no prince could prohibit.” No prince, they said, could
-“challenge further into the sea than he can command with a cannon,
-except gulfs within their land from one point to another,”--the first
-occasion on which this principle for delimiting territorial waters,
-afterwards so celebrated, appears to have been advanced.[292]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 7.--_Facsimile of Minute of the Declaration of the
-Dutch Envoys as to the range of guns._]
-
-Besides these more or less abstract arguments, the ambassadors made a
-strong case by reason of the treaties in which liberty of fishing was
-stipulated. It is noteworthy that they referred to only one of the
-treaties with England, the Intercursus Magnus of 1496, while they laid
-stress on the treaties with Scotland in 1541, 1550, and especially in
-1594, when James himself was on the throne of the northern kingdom
-(see p. 81). They further declared that there were reasons of state
-which forbade the United Provinces from allowing the free use of the
-sea to be disputed. More than 20,000 mariners were maintained by the
-herring fishery alone, besides other 40,000 people who gained their
-livelihood by making nets, packing the fish, and in other industries
-depending upon the fishery. The power and security of the country and
-much of its commerce rested on the fishery. As for the complaint that
-the decay of English coast-towns was caused by their fishing off the
-coast, it was explained that they only fished there for herrings which
-were cured on board, and that this industry had been discovered by
-themselves, which gave them a prior claim to it. The English were free
-to carry on the herring fishery themselves, though, they dexterously
-added, it was a business that required much experience, and it would be
-a long time before they succeeded, especially as heavy losses sometimes
-occurred, which the Dutch were able to bear, since they lived cheaply
-and each of the 60,000 people mentioned were “adventurers,” the losses
-being thus spread over a great number. They suggested that the English
-had given up the fishery because they had found a more comfortable
-livelihood in other ways.[293]
-
-On the other side, the English commissioners argued that by the custom
-of nations the king had a right to the whole of the seas around his
-coasts; and this right was exercised by other countries, as Spain,
-France, Denmark, Sweden, Venice, Genoa, and Russia, and generally by
-all maritime states; and it was not opposed to the Roman law or the
-teachings of the Civilians. They admitted that the sea was free for
-navigation, but denied that it was free for fishing. All the kings of
-England since Edgar had the adjoining seas under their jurisdiction,
-and had always received “consideration” for the fishing within them.
-The commissioners evidently felt that the treaties offered the greatest
-difficulty to the policy of James, and they contended that all the
-Burgundy treaties had become obsolete for a variety of reasons. The
-great treaty of 1496 had lost its effect, inasmuch as a later treaty in
-1520 (which, however, dealt with quite other things) did not confirm
-it. The treaties, moreover, had been made with the House of Burgundy,
-and concerned only the subjects of that house; but there were now no
-subjects of the Duke of Burgundy; and the Dutch at least could not
-found upon those treaties, because they had themselves broken and
-transgressed them. Even if those old treaties could be supposed to be
-in force and provided liberty of fishing without license, that could
-not mean without the payment of the usual dues, customs, and taxes.
-Besides, when the treaties were made the circumstances were different.
-The fishing of the Netherlanders was not then so disagreeable to this
-country as it was now; then about 100 vessels came to fish, while now
-they sent 2000. The king was therefore not bound to tolerate them any
-longer.
-
-The negotiations between the English and Dutch commissioners went
-on for a short time, the arguments on either side being elaborated
-without much hope of agreement, when an event occurred that brought
-them to a sudden end. This was the assassination of King Henry IV. of
-France, the head of the Protestant League, which made James anxious
-to retain the goodwill and alliance of the Dutch Republic, in view of
-his relations with Spain. On 14th May the ambassadors were told by the
-Earl of Salisbury that while the king held his right to forbid the
-Netherlanders to fish on his coasts to be indubitable, he, “out of his
-great love to the Low Countries, would forbear to proceed according to
-the proclamation.”[294] At the farewell audience James used very kind
-expressions. He made the remarkable but characteristic statement to
-the ambassadors that he had issued the proclamation owing to the just
-complaints of his subjects, not from the solicitation of courtesans
-or courtiers.[295] He assured them of his affection towards them and
-the preservation of their state, “which next unto his own he held most
-dear above all other respects in the world.” As for the business of the
-fishing, he thought it was not fit now to spend more time on it, but to
-refer it to some better season, and in the meantime, he said, things
-would remain as they were.[296] This termination to the negotiations
-was naturally gratifying to the Dutch. Barnevelt and the States-General
-had become somewhat anxious as to the issue, and the ambassadors had
-been instructed to try to get the matter shelved for a little. Although
-James had suspended the operation of the proclamation, however, he
-had not withdrawn it. The question was merely postponed to a more
-convenient season.
-
-The failure to carry out the policy of exacting tribute from the Dutch
-fishermen was fatal to the scheme of the London merchants to form a
-Society of Fishing Merchants. Rainsford wrote to Lord Salisbury in
-October 1609 expressing his fears that the Earl disapproved of the
-project to raise a great revenue to the king for the fishing in his
-seas;[297] and in 1611 he again addressed a memorandum to the Earl,
-answering various objections that had been raised to the scheme, and
-renewing the offer for farming the tribute.
-
-The plans to form a national herring fishery founded on taxation of
-the Dutch having failed, others were brought forward on the basis
-of receiving special privileges and immunities from the crown.
-One proceeded so far towards realisation, that in December 1611 a
-corporation was formed, consisting of a governor, deputy-governor, a
-treasurer, twenty-four “consuls,” with “searchers” (cure-masters),
-gaugers, and other officials, in imitation of the Dutch system. The
-administration was to be general “for matter of order, and particular
-for matter of adventure,” leaving every town at liberty to venture for
-itself; and laws and ordinances were drawn up for the central body in
-London and the affiliated societies throughout the country. Since the
-money necessary was to be found by private individuals, a number of
-privileges were asked from the Government. One of these, which made it
-lawful for the corporation to carry their fish abroad and to bring back
-commodities in exchange, “from all parts wheresoever, notwithstanding
-any former privileges to the contrary,” was strenuously opposed by all
-the trading companies, and in particular by the Merchant Adventurers,
-who objected that it would be most injurious to their great trade in
-cloth.[298] This opposition killed the “business of the busses,” as the
-fishing project was popularly called. Writing ten years later, Gerard
-Malynes, a London merchant and author, who appears to have been one of
-the promoters and to have spent both time and money on it, deplored
-the failure of this society, which he said was due to the opposition
-of the Merchant Adventurers, the Russia Company, and the Eastland
-Merchants.[299]
-
-Within a year or two another project came from an unexpected quarter.
-No less a personage than the queen became a suppliant for a royal
-patent empowering her to compound with strangers for licenses to
-fish on the British coasts. The arguments adduced from the point of
-view of benefit to the nation were of the usual kind; but others of
-a more or less domestic nature were added, which must have appealed
-to the heart of her consort. “It is desired by the Queene,” proceeds
-the petition, “that the King’s Majesty will be pleased to graunt unto
-her a Pattent of theis fishings under his Majesty’s great Seales of
-England and Scotland, whereby her Majesty may have power to graunt
-lycense and to compound with these strangers for an yearly revenue to
-be paid unto her Majestie for theis fishings.” By this means a great
-revenue would be drawn into the country, which would be sufficient to
-support and maintain her estate, “and so his Majesty’s coffers will
-be spared.” She promised besides that she would give him a full fifth
-of the amount she obtained; and another advantage would be that the
-king would be “royally invested in possession of his undoubted right,
-which,” she naïvely added, “hath never ben yet obtayned by anie of his
-royall progenitors.” The petition was brought before the Privy Council,
-who decided that the proposal was not feasible, as it depended upon “so
-many points of question and circumstance between us and the House of
-Burgundy in former times, and the States of the Low Countries and us
-for the present.”[300]
-
-In her petition the queen referred to the proposal to build a number of
-busses. While explaining that her project would not prevent the king
-or any of his subjects from building busses if they so desired, she
-questioned whether that plan would be successful. Some men, indeed, of
-great judgment, she said, were of opinion that the king would reap no
-benefit at all in that way, for 1000 busses was “the least number that
-could be thought to doe any good upon this fishing,” and each would
-cost £1000 at least, while £100 a-year would be required for repairs,
-and 20,000 men would be needed to man them.
-
-About this time several works were published giving details as to the
-cost and equipment of herring-busses,[301] but little was accomplished.
-The net result in 1614 was that one Richard Godsdue, Esquire, of
-Bucknam Ferry, in Norfolk, had five busses on the stocks at Yarmouth,
-and Sir William Harvey had built a large one at Limehouse. But all the
-efforts made in the reign of James, and indeed throughout the whole
-century, to form a great national fishery on the model of the Dutch
-completely failed. It required nearly two centuries of experience, and
-the squandering of vast sums of money, to teach the people that a great
-industry could not be suddenly created in this way by servile imitation
-of a system not suited to the natural circumstances of the case. It was
-chiefly by the gradual evolution of the Scottish herring-boat, and not
-by the building of busses, that the herring industry was wrested from
-the Dutch.
-
-James was doubtless privy to the queen’s petition before it was
-officially considered,[302] and he appears not to have been satisfied
-with the decision of the Council. At all events, the question of the
-fisheries was still kept alive. In the spring of 1614 we find Wotton
-writing from The Hague to Secretary Winwood, saying that he still had
-his Majesty’s commission regarding the fishings, and that it was, as
-Winwood said, “a tender and dainty piece,” adding that though he had
-seen Mr Barnevelt on several occasions he had not mentioned the matter
-to him, and was waiting for a suitable time to speak of this “dainty
-and delicate business.”[303] Later in the year, the Keeper of the State
-Papers was requested by the Lord Chancellor and the Archbishop of
-Canterbury to search the records in his custody relating to the king’s
-jurisdiction on the sea and his right to the fishing. “Whereas,” they
-said, “there is occasion for his Majesty’s special service to look out
-such precedents and records as concern his Majesty’s power, right, and
-sovereign jurisdiction of the seas and fishing upon the coast; and
-that we are informed there are many of that kind among the records in
-your custody, we do hereby require you to make your personal repair
-hither to seek out all such precedents and papers as are remaining
-there and do any way concern that business,” and to hold them ready for
-inspection.[304]
-
-This search was doubtless in connection with the subject of the
-assize-herrings mentioned in the next chapter, but that the queen’s
-scheme had been revived is evident from the action of Sir Noel Caron.
-As soon as he got wind of it, he wrote hurriedly to the States-General
-stating that the king had assigned to the queen for twenty-one years
-the revenue to be derived from taxing the herring-busses, and that
-no one would be allowed to fish on the coasts of England or Scotland
-without her consent.[305] This letter was at once considered by the
-Dutch Government. A committee was appointed to look into the treaties
-bearing on the question and the instructions which had been given to
-the ambassadors in 1610, and to report as to what action should be
-taken; but it was finally resolved to await further developments in
-England before interfering, and at the beginning of November Caron was
-able to announce that the danger had passed.[306]
-
-At this period there were other disputes with England that caused
-apprehension in Holland. One referred to the trade in cloth, and in a
-proclamation which prohibited the export of wool[307] James took the
-opportunity to extol the commanding situation of the British Isles for
-navigation and trade, and to draw a parallel between the commodities of
-wool on land and fish in the sea, “which,” he said, “are the Adamants
-that draw and govern all other Trade and Merchandizing”--language
-which led the Dutch to think the proclamation anent unlicensed fishing
-was about to be renewed. Another referred to the whale fishery at
-Spitzbergen, which was claimed both by the Dutch and the British, and
-was regarded by James as being within his maritime dominion. It led,
-as shall be seen, to an interesting contest for _mare clausum_ in the
-Arctic Seas.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-JAMES I.--_continued_. DISPUTES WITH THE DUTCH.
-
-
-It would probably be too flattering to James to suppose that he had
-any well-considered plan for extending his authority over the foreign
-fishermen frequenting his coasts, or for extracting from them a tribute
-for their liberty of fishing. But the existence of the tax of the
-assize-herrings in Scotland clearly offered the best means for bringing
-that about if it was to be brought about at all. It has been explained
-that in the negotiations which followed the issue of the proclamation
-of 1609, Sir Noel Caron laid his finger on a weak spot in the English
-case, by pointing out that the assize-herring had never been levied on
-the native fishermen who fished where the Dutch fished at the North
-Isles. The special ambassadors in 1610 also mentioned that their
-fishermen had never been asked to pay it, though they naturally did not
-lay stress on the point. James resolved that those omissions should be
-remedied. In 1610 he granted the assize-herrings to Captain John Mason,
-who was employed with two ships of war in that and in the following
-year on the coast of Scotland. Mason accordingly made strenuous efforts
-to collect the tribute. The fishermen of Fifeshire, who carried on a
-herring fishery at Orkney and Shetland, resisted the unaccustomed tax,
-and in 1612 raised an action of _absolvitor_ before the Lords of the
-Privy Council and gained their case.[308] The Lords of the Council
-decided that the “adventure” of the fishermen at the Northern Isles
-was of the nature of a merchant voyage, and that the fishermen had
-no right to pay any such assize, which had never been craved of them
-before.[309]
-
-Notwithstanding this decision of the Privy Council of Scotland, James
-in 1614 again granted the assize-herrings of the North Isles, on this
-occasion to the Duke of Lennox, who was his Admiral in Scotland and
-one of the chief noblemen of the time. In ordinary course the grant
-came before the Privy Council for confirmation, and the Council at once
-informed the Convention of Burghs, requesting them to make it known to
-the burghs that the Duke of Lennox had obtained a gift from the king of
-“ane excyse to be tayne of all heyring to be tayne be north of Buqhan
-Nes” (Buchan Ness, Aberdeenshire), so that they might lodge their
-defences. The commissioners for Dundee, St Andrews, Dunbar, and the
-burghs on the coast of Fife, were accordingly appointed to proceed to
-Edinburgh to give reasons to the Council against the “gift.”[310] After
-hearing the representatives of the burghs and the agents of the Duke
-(one of whom was “Maister Johnne Browne,” the central figure in the
-dramatic episode in 1617, referred to later), the Lords of the Council
-indited a long letter to the king. They cited the decision in Mason’s
-case two years before, and the reasons for it. They expatiated on the
-great decay which had occurred in all trades and commerce in Scotland,
-and stated that the fishings would also decay if the duty was levied.
-In plain words they told the king that the fisheries should rather be
-encouraged--for the general welfare of the country, the increase of
-customs, the inbringing of bullion, and providing work for the poor. In
-face of the decree in Mason’s case, the Duke’s agents had to admit that
-they could not levy the tax from the burghs, but they craved leave to
-exact them from the native fishermen of Orkney and Shetland, and from
-the foreign fishermen who fished there. On the former point the opinion
-of the Council was clear. They upheld the contention of the burghs that
-the native fishermen were only their servants, since they paid wages to
-them for their labour, and that the herrings, being cured and barrelled
-on the sea, were exempt from assize duty, which could be exacted only
-on herrings brought fresh and “green” to land.[311] The Council evaded
-giving an opinion on the point of chief importance, the proposal to
-levy the tax on the foreign fishermen, all of whom cured their fish on
-board their vessels. There were, they said, according to information
-supplied by the burghs, “some strangers, especially of Holland,” who
-claimed the liberty and privilege of fishing “by his Majesty’s patent
-granted in their favour to fish in his Majesty’s waters”; but the
-tenour of this patent was obscure and not known to them, and they had
-no record of it. They suggested that the king should ask his ambassador
-at The Hague to procure an authentic copy of it, to be sent to Scotland
-for inspection and consideration.[312]
-
-Evidently the Council in Scotland were at this time as cautious as the
-Council in England in doing anything contrary to the treaties with the
-Netherlands. Had they sanctioned offhand the request of the Duke to
-exact the assize-herrings from the Hollanders, they would have taken
-the responsibility, without direct authority from the king, of an act
-which they knew might have serious consequences. They had no sympathy
-with the foreign fishermen, for complaints regarding them from the
-burghs were frequent. In 1611 the city of Edinburgh represented to them
-the “inconvenience” which was sustained by the whole realm and by the
-merchants in particular through the non-observance of the Act of 1581,
-“anent the comming of schippis to burrowis in the west and north Isles
-be Flemings and uther nations”; and in the following year the “mater
-of the fischeing of the Flemins in the West and North Isles” was again
-brought up, and it was remitted to the burghs of Edinburgh and Dundee
-to draw up a supplication to the Privy Council to have the fishing by
-the Flemings in those places repressed.[313]
-
-In view of the decision of the Privy Council, the Duke of Lennox did
-not at this time attempt to collect the tribute from the foreign
-fishermen at the North Isles. But two years later the political
-relations between this country and the Netherlands having become
-strained, the opportunity was seized to raise once more the question of
-the fishery and the exaction of the assize-herrings. Serious disputes
-involving retaliatory measures had broken out respecting the trade in
-cloth. In England strong resentment was aroused by an edict of the
-States prohibiting the importation of English dyed cloth. Winwood, now
-Secretary of State, wrote to Sir Dudley Carleton, who had taken his
-place at The Hague, that it was the opinion of “every true-hearted
-Englishman” that the king “ought to forbid all manner of intercourse
-between the Kingdoms and the United Provinces, and forbid the
-Hollanders, by a fresh reviving of former proclamations, to continue
-their yearly fishing upon our coasts.”[314] The influence of this
-feeling was soon apparent. The Duke of Lennox was now instructed by the
-king to levy the assize-herrings from foreigners fishing at the North
-Isles, the grant, under the great seal of Scotland, being dated in June
-1616; and to render his task more easy he obtained from Sir Noel Caron
-in the same month a letter of recommendation (“aanbevelingsbrief”) to
-the captains of the Dutch convoying-ships. This letter was innocently
-given by Caron in the belief that it concerned the payment of dues on
-land at Shetland, which the busses had been accustomed to pay, and
-which were then payable to the Duke,[315] but it was made use of by the
-Duke’s agent to cover the collection of the assize-herrings. The duty
-of collecting the tax was assigned to Mr John Brown, one of the Duke’s
-deputies. The detailed instructions he received in 1616 do not appear
-to have been preserved, but they were probably similar to those issued
-a year or two later (see Appendix G). He was to proceed to the North
-Isles in one of the king’s pinnaces and there to demand the assize duty
-from the foreign fishermen.
-
-At the end of July 1616 Brown, in one of the king’s vessels, appeared
-among the Dutch busses at work off the Scottish coast, and began to
-carry out his instructions, offering a “quittance or receipt” for the
-tax claimed. Probably to his surprise, it was peaceably paid by the
-busses, amounting for each to one angel or a barrel of herrings and
-twelve cod-fish. The fishermen were told that if they did not pay it
-the amount would be doubled in the following year; and that the king
-had a right to levy this tax for a distance of 100 miles from the coast
-in virtue of the agreement made with the States at the baptism of
-Prince Henry.[316] Although the toll was paid by most of the busses, it
-was without the consent of the captains of the convoying men-of-war.
-They came to Brown and demanded to see his commission; and it is said
-that he showed them the letter which the Duke of Lennox had obtained
-from Sir Noel Caron. Since no force had been used in collecting the
-tax, the States’ officers contented themselves with forbidding any
-further proceedings, and Brown then departed.[317]
-
-The success of the mission was gratifying to James, and the payment
-willingly made on this occasion by the Dutch fishermen was often
-afterwards cited as an argument that they had acknowledged the king’s
-rights in the fishery. In the United Provinces the matter was naturally
-viewed in another light. The Dutch officers promptly reported the
-occurrence to the directors of the Enkhuisen branch of the fishery; the
-authorities of the town complained to Barnevelt in energetic terms,
-and the matter was brought before a meeting of the States-General, who
-characterised the proceeding of Brown as an “unheard of and intolerable
-innovation, contrary to the existing treaties,” and instructed their
-ambassador in London to make a strong protest against it. Orders were,
-moreover, issued to the commanders of the convoying ships of war to
-put a stop to any further payments, and even to refuse to give their
-names. Caron, who was indignant at the use to which his friendly letter
-had been put, complained to the king and to the Duke of Lennox. James
-explained that it was merely a small tribute or tax which was levied
-in Scotland on all foreign fishermen, and even on his own subjects,
-and had been leased to the Duke of Lennox, who paid an annual rent for
-it into the Exchequer. He had, he said, arranged that one of his ships
-of war should be stationed on the fishing-ground for the security of
-the fishermen and to protect them from pirates. Caron declared that
-their High Mightinesses were exempt from all imposts or taxes for their
-fishery, both by the treaties “and otherwise,” and he begged the king
-to give other instructions, as the matter had occasioned great disquiet
-and alarm in Holland. Lennox also tried to minimise the importance of
-the measure. It was, he said, a small matter; a mere “acknowledgment”
-of a barrel of herrings or ten shillings from each buss, which had to
-be paid thrice a year by all the king’s subjects who fished at the
-North Isles, and was willingly paid by the English, French, German,
-and all other foreign fishermen. The ambassador says he was shown a
-printed book in which it was stated that the Scottish Parliament had
-decreed that the assize-herrings should be paid not only by the native
-fishermen but by foreigners who came to fish on their coasts.[318] The
-latter were furthermore prohibited from approaching the coast nearer
-than they could see the land from the top of their masts, whereas of
-late they came within ten, eight, six, and even four miles of the
-shore, which had caused much murmuring in the country, particularly as
-in that year between 1500 and 1000 of their busses were there in June.
-Sir Noel Caron, however, continued to protest against what he said was
-an unjust innovation, and he closed the interview with the important
-declaration that, be the consequences what they might, the States
-would not allow a single herring to be paid in future, as it might be
-regarded as a precedent for further demands.[319]
-
-Notwithstanding this strong protest from the Dutch ambassador, and a
-request he made to the king to forbear the right he claimed pending
-the appointment of a special embassy to treat of the matter, Brown was
-again sent to the North Isles in the next year to collect the king’s
-dues from the herring fishers. This he attempted to do as quietly
-and inoffensively as possible, but his mission had an abrupt and
-dramatic termination. Immediately on his arrival among the busses,
-Captain Andrees Tlieff, the commander of one of the convoying ships
-from Rotterdam, formally refused the payment in the name of all the
-Netherland fishermen, handing to Brown a declaration to that effect
-in writing. Brown professed himself satisfied, and was about to leave
-Tlieff’s vessel to proceed, as he said, among the fishermen of other
-countries, when the captain of the convoyer from Enkhuisen, Jan
-Albertsz by name, who had spoken to Brown in the previous year, came on
-board. He asked Brown if he was the person who had levied the tax in
-the year before, and on receiving a reply in the affirmative he at once
-arrested him, saying he had orders to that effect; and notwithstanding
-Brown’s warning as to the consequences, and the exhibition of his
-commission, he was made prisoner by the irate Dutchman and carried off
-to Holland. Whether the king’s pinnace had on this occasion, as two
-years later, more than “two small guns and ten muscattis” to represent
-the power and majesty of the British navy, does not appear. But Brown,
-meek and peaceful, was seemingly quite contented with his position. He
-wrote from the Dutch ship to Captain Murray, in charge of the king’s
-pinnace, telling him of his arrest and advising him to make no attempt
-at rescue, but to return to Scotland and report the matter to the
-king.[320]
-
-James received the news of the capture of Brown at Dumfries while on a
-visit to Scotland. He felt that the arrest of an officer of the state,
-discharging business of the state and with his Admiral’s commission in
-his pocket, was an “insolent” personal affront to himself. The members
-of the Privy Council who were with him--and the Duke of Lennox was
-one of them--immediately wrote to the Council in London requesting
-them in the name of the king to arrest the masters of two or three
-Dutch ships in the Thames by way of reprisal, and to retain them as
-hostages; to inform Sir Noel Caron that reparation must be made by the
-States; and to instruct the British ambassador at The Hague to “demand
-satisfaction from them for this insolence offered to his Majesty.”
-Winwood at once sent for Caron, and informed him of the “disgraceful
-affront” which had been put upon the king while his Majesty himself was
-in Scotland. The king, he said, was very sensible of their “injurious
-and scornful carriage,” and immediate satisfaction and redress were
-demanded. Sir Dudley Carleton used even stronger language in addressing
-the States-General at The Hague. What, he asked, would the world say
-when they knew that a public officer and Minister of the King of
-England had been seized by them in Scotland, in sight of the ships of
-other nations and while the king himself was in that country? That the
-outrage was committed by the orders of the States he did not believe;
-but the captains pretended they had a commission for what they did, and
-produced certain letters patent containing, as they said, an express
-commission from their masters. The ambassador concluded by requiring
-instant reparation and satisfaction.[321]
-
-Meanwhile Brown himself had, perhaps, little cause for regret. He
-spent two days on board the Dutch man-of-war, and was then landed
-at Enkhuisen. The authorities of the town at once perceived the
-rashness of the step that had been taken by Captain Albertsz. Brown
-was immediately liberated, treated with the greatest courtesy, and
-conducted by one of the chief magistrates, with profuse apologies, to
-the British ambassador at The Hague. All his expenses were defrayed; he
-was presented with seventy “double Jacobus pieces” as a personal gift,
-and he left for home on 13th September. Count Maurice and Barnevelt
-promptly disavowed the act of Albertsz, and when the matter was brought
-before the States-General by Carleton, it fell to the lot of Grotius,
-in the absence of Barnevelt, to express the regret of the assembly for
-the “accident,” and to request the British ambassador to put the case
-in writing for inquiry. In their reply later, the States-General threw
-the whole blame on the captains, Albertsz and Tlieff, who had, they
-said, acted without authority, and would be punished on their return
-from the fishing. They renewed their regrets, said that Brown had been
-immediately released, and begged that the Dutch merchant captains
-who had been thrown into prison in England and Scotland might be set
-free, and their “ancient accustomed liberty of fishing maintained.” In
-preferring this request the States relied on their treaty with James in
-1594, and the gracious answer he had given to their ambassadors in 1610
-concerning the proclamation of the year before.[322]
-
-If the States-General thought they were to get so easily out of the
-awkward position in which the precipitate action of their officers had
-placed them, they were disappointed. James not only refused to release
-the Dutch ships, but said their masters would be detained in prison
-until the offending commanders had been sent as prisoners to England,
-there to receive such justice as their case merited. This request was
-most unpalatable to the States, and they raised various objections to
-it, founded both on law and privilege; and although they were assured
-by Carleton that the only punishment the offenders would receive would
-be “the crossing and re-crossing the seas,” they begged that some
-other means might be found of settling the matter. James, however, who
-had submitted the case to counsel as to the legality of his demand,
-remained obdurate.[323] Finally, after much negotiation and debate, the
-States, in February 1618, resolved to send over the two captains to
-receive the personal rebuke of the king. Albertsz, the chief offender,
-fell ill and died, but Tlieff did actually come to England in April.
-Notwithstanding letters of recommendation from the States-General, Sir
-Noel Caron, and Sir Dudley Carleton (with whom Grotius had interceded),
-he was “very wrathfully” received by James, who scolded and rebuked
-him severely for the enormity of his offence, and then dismissed
-him without further punishment.[324] Thus ended an incident in the
-claims to _mare clausum_ which almost led to a rupture between the two
-countries.
-
-It would appear that James, though thus foiled in his attempt to
-levy the assize-herrings from the Hollander fishermen in 1617,
-did not intend to let the matter rest in the following season,
-and circumstances occurred which brought up the question of the
-“land-kenning” in another quarter. Early in 1618 the King of Denmark
-complained to him that Scottish fishermen were in the habit of fishing
-“within the waters of Faeröe,” which was part of the dominions of
-Denmark, and that the native fishermen had been so much injured by
-their encroachments that they were unable to pay their dues and taxes.
-Here was a complaint against Scottish fishermen like that which they
-so commonly made against the Dutch. The complaint was brought before
-the Privy Council of Scotland, who summoned the burghs concerned[325]
-to appear and explain their conduct. They admitted that for some
-years they had gone to the Faeröe Isles to fish, but they said that
-they had been “driven thereto upon necessity, and by the violence
-and oppression of the Hollanders, who came yearly with two thousand
-sail and above within his Majesty’s waters, and within a mile of the
-‘continent’ of Orkney and Shetland, and not contented with the benefit
-that the liberty of their fishing within the said bounds affords
-yearly unto them, they do very heavily oppress his Majesty’s poor
-subjects and fishers.” They said that the Hollanders “stoppis thame,
-houndis and chaisis thame frome thair fischeing, cuttis thair nettis,
-threatnis thair lyveis, and thairby compellis thame, who ar a nomber
-of poore people haveing no other trade quhairby to manteene thair
-families, to seeke thair fischeing elsquhair and far frome thair awne
-coist, with grite tormoyll, travell, trouble, and chargeis.”[326] The
-Lords of the Council, however, held that the oppression committed
-by the Hollanders on them was no warrant for their oppressing the
-subjects of other princes, and “that they ought not to have fished in
-the said waters without some license and oversight.” A proclamation
-was thereupon issued by the king and Council forbidding Scottish
-fishermen “to fish within sight of the land of the Isle of Faeröe,
-but to reserve the [fishings there[327]] to the inhabitants of the
-said Isle, and to other” subjects of the King of Denmark, “conform
-to the law of nations,” under a penalty of confiscation of the
-ships, vessels, and goods of the persons offending. At the same time
-the Council wrote to the king acquainting him with the oppressions
-committed by the Hollanders on the Scottish fishermen, and suggesting
-that his ambassador at The Hague should demand reparation and “instant
-prohibition” by the States to their people, “that they fish not within
-sight of his Majesty’s land, but reserve these bounds to his Majesty’s
-own subjects, conform to the law of nations.”[328]
-
-Sir Dudley Carleton accordingly made a strong representation to the
-States-General on the subject in April. They asked for particulars as
-to the persons who were alleged to have been ill-treated in Scotland,
-and the nature of the wrongs done to them; while with respect to the
-limit proposed to be set them in their fishery--namely, not to come
-within sight of land--they said they had never heard of any such
-custom, and did not understand how it could be put into practice.[329]
-On reporting this home, Carleton was told by the king to raise the
-question of the fishing again before he came away, and he explained to
-him that the custom of the land-kenning was that no stranger should
-fish either within the creeks of the land or within a kenning of the
-land, “as seamen do take a kenning.” He asked Carleton to ascertain
-whether the Dutch claimed to fish wherever they liked, or were willing
-to accept reasonable bounds, adding that the resolution that might be
-taken on the subject would depend largely on this.[330] A few months
-before this Carleton had brought similar complaints to the notice of
-the States-General, declaring that the Hollanders were daily guilty of
-“great outrages and insolencies on the Scottish fishermen.” It was even
-said to be the opinion in London that the prosecution of the herring
-fishery by the Dutch under the protection of ships of war was a direct
-challenge to and defiance of the king.[331]
-
-The authorities in Scotland lost no time in preparing statements
-recounting in detail the outrages and insolences committed by the
-Dutch fishermen; but an impartial perusal of the complaints leaves
-little doubt that they were greatly exaggerated. The Dutch fishermen
-were accused of going ashore in large numbers and chasing, taking, and
-slaying sheep; they “intromitted” with growing timber, trod down all
-the corn they could find, induced the best and ablest of the native
-fishermen to join them, or even took them by force; entered the kirks,
-where they broke down the seats and polluted the pulpits; carved their
-names on the green pastures; took uninvited rides on the horses in
-the fields, “to the great hurt of the owners”; and made free with the
-eggs and young of seafowl on the uninhabited isles, to the hurt of
-the proprietors. In the long catalogue of their supposed outrages on
-land, two were more important. It was alleged that they gave refuge to
-thieves and malefactors, so that justice could not reach them; and that
-some years before they seized an honest young woman who was selling
-stockings among them and held her head-downwards on an eminence in
-sight of the whole fleet, owing to which she died later. Among their
-offences at sea they were charged with shooting at native fishermen,
-“catching of their small netts and lynes within those huge long netts”
-that they used, and which they laid hard by the shore, “whereas before
-they approached not nearer the coasts than fourty (_sic_) myles.”
-By fishing near the shore they had impoverished the whole trade of
-fishing; before they began to do so the herrings came close in, so that
-the poorest fisherman could enrich himself, while the shoals were now
-broken up and dispersed. So near did the busses come in stormy weather
-that they fished “hard by gentlemen’s doors,” where the fishing was
-“appropriate to the owners of the land nearest adjacent for their own
-fishing in the time of storms when they could not go to sea for the
-entertaining of their houses.”[332]
-
-Since the States-General appeared to be tardy in admitting the offences
-with which their fishermen were charged, the king wished strong
-measures to be taken by the Council in Scotland, and he instructed
-Lord Binning, his Secretary there, to take steps “for interrupting and
-staying the Hollanders to fish in his seas within sight of the land.”
-The Council, however, pointed out in a very humble tone that inasmuch
-as it was a matter which concerned not only “thir Hollanders, who ar
-your Maiesties confederatis, pretending thair awne interes thairin,
-ather be right or lang possessioun,” but also the whole of the kingdom,
-it would be better if the king’s proposals were first imparted to the
-Privy Council in England. They requested, further, that the ambassador
-in Holland should again expostulate with the States as to the injuries
-caused to the king’s subjects by their “unjust usurpation to fish
-within sight of his Majesty’s land,” and to urge them to issue a
-proclamation to prohibit, under heavy penalties, their people from all
-further fishing within his Majesty’s seas, which, they said, ought by
-the Law of Nations to be exclusively reserved for his own subjects.
-They advised the king to make the States clearly understand that if
-they continued any longer in their “oppression,” he would so provide
-for the maintenance of his right and the freeing of his people as his
-honour and justice required; and if the answer was not satisfactory he
-might then resolve upon the “next expedient,” and the Council would be
-ready to obey whatever he should command.[333]
-
-The States-General, while they did not go so far as the Council
-desired in prohibiting their fishermen from approaching near to the
-land, did all that they reasonably could do to prevent injuries being
-committed on the Scottish people. After an inquiry was made among those
-taking part in the great herring fishery, without any evidence being
-forthcoming in support of the Scottish complaints, they published
-an edict forbidding their subjects, under pain of severe punishment
-“as pirates and malefactors,” from interfering with the Scottish
-fishermen, with whom they were enjoined to maintain “true friendship,
-neighbourliness, and good correspondence.”[334] In forwarding a copy
-of this proclamation to the king, the States said that they had issued
-it for his satisfaction, and had given strict orders to their captains
-to apprehend any one who acted contrary to it. But they expressed the
-hope that he would not permit the fishermen of the United Provinces to
-be disturbed or troubled in the liberty and freedom of taking herrings
-throughout the whole sea, of which liberty they were in immemorial
-possession, and it had been confirmed to them by several treaties, in
-particular by that made in 1551 between the king’s predecessor and
-Charles V. The prosperity of their country, it was added, depended on
-navigation, traffic, and fisheries, and the freedom of these had been
-provided for in treaties.[335] James, however, was far from satisfied.
-He sent on the missive to the Privy Council in Scotland, with the
-request that the rolls and registers should be searched to see if any
-record existed of any such treaty, whether “with the said Emperor or
-any other potentate of the Low Countries.” The States, he said, had
-promised to send a copy of it, but they had not done so, and in the
-meantime he would cause the rolls in London to be searched.[336]
-
-The negotiations with the States-General dragged on throughout the
-summer without much result, and in August James took the sudden
-resolution again to demand from the Dutch fishermen the payment of the
-assize-herrings. This was doubtless caused by the receipt of a letter
-from Sir Dudley Carleton, informing him that the herring-fishers had
-gone that year to the coast of Scotland with extraordinary convoy, the
-number of their men-of-war having been doubled, and expressing the
-hope that notwithstanding this the king would send some one to make
-the usual demand in a peaceable manner; otherwise, said Carleton, the
-Hollanders “will think his Majesty has laid aside his pretension.”[337]
-James accordingly wrote hurriedly to the Council at Edinburgh, saying
-it was necessary to make requisition of his duties from the Hollanders
-fishing on the coasts of Orkney and Shetland, in order both to keep
-possession of the fishing and to foil any plea from the States-General
-that no such duties had been demanded of them. He had intended, he
-said, to send a ship of war, but those which were ready were otherwise
-engaged, and there would not be time to equip a vessel in England
-before the Hollanders returned from the fishing. The Council were
-therefore instructed to fit out with all expedition either his own
-pinnace or any other ship which could conveniently be procured, and to
-send it to the North Isles with such person as the deputy of the Duke
-of Lennox should choose, who was to be instructed “in fair tearmes and
-calme and peciable maner to crave oure said dewties, and accept of any
-suche answer as they sall gif him, without making any furder questioun
-or dispute in the mater.”[338] Here was another Brown mission over
-again; but James forgot, if indeed he ever knew, that at that time of
-year the Dutch herring fishermen would be very far from the North
-Isles, and fishing along the English coast.[339] The fact was well
-known at Edinburgh, but, for whatever reason, it was not pointed out
-to the king; and the Council, urged to use “exceeding great haste,”
-chartered a Leith vessel, the _Restore_, put Mr Patrick Bruce on board
-to demand the tax from the Hollanders, along with a notary “to give
-instruments thereupon,” and despatched it on its bootless errand to the
-Shetlands. No Hollanders could be discovered, and the _Restore_ came
-back to Leith.
-
-The reason of the king’s action, as well as of Carleton’s advice, is
-doubtless to be sought in the desire to strengthen the case against
-the Dutch in view of an expected special embassy from The Hague, whose
-appointment was now mooted, and which was designed to settle various
-differences between the two countries that had become acute. Besides
-the herring fishery, which was a never-failing subject of dispute,
-there was the trade in cloth, the East Indies, and the “Greenland”
-whale fishery, about which it is necessary to say something here.
-
-Allusion has already been made to this phase of the controversy
-respecting _mare clausum_ which sprang up in the Arctic seas, and was
-now mixed up with the question of the liberty of fishing on the British
-coasts. Towards the end of the previous century English whalers,
-for the most part in the service of the Russia or Muscovy Company,
-frequented the coasts of Greenland, and the northern seas which had
-been opened up to English enterprise by the voyages of Willoughby and
-Chancellor;[340] and early in the next century they also began to catch
-whales at Spitzbergen, where they were found in enormous numbers.[341]
-The whalers of other nations followed in their wake, and in 1612 two
-Dutch vessels arrived at Spitzbergen to take part in the fishery, and
-although from their ignorance of the methods they failed of success
-that year, a company (_Noordsche Compagnie_) was formed at Amsterdam
-to continue the venture under better conditions.[342] The Muscovy
-Company, whose whalers in 1612 got within nine degrees of the North
-Pole, sighting 700 whales and bringing back 17,[343] became jealous
-of competitors. In 1613 they procured from King James a charter by
-which they were entitled to exclude all others, foreigners as well as
-subjects, from sailing to Spitzbergen; and in that year they dispatched
-thither a fleet of seven armed vessels to defend their rights by force
-as well as to catch whales.[344] In the seas at Spitzbergen they
-found a number of other whalers from Spain and France, as well as two
-Dutch ships which had returned to the fishery. The English vessels
-immediately attacked them, and drove most of the intruders away.[345]
-The Englishmen then set up a cross on the shore with the king’s arms on
-it, and they called the land “King James’s Newland.” It is noteworthy
-as indicating the attitude and practice towards France throughout
-almost the whole of the disputes about _mare clausum_, that the French
-whalers were allowed to continue their operations, subject, however, to
-the payment of a tribute of whales or train-oil, while the two Dutch
-ships were despoiled of their catches and fishing-gear and were sent
-home empty. On their arrival at Amsterdam the ill-treatment to which
-they had been subjected was naturally resented, and representations
-to King James were made through the ordinary channels, but without
-success. The Dutch founded their case partly on the general principle
-“that according to the practice of all times and peoples, navigation,
-fishery, and the use of the shore were free and common to all,” and
-partly on the claim of prior discovery. Spitzbergen, they said, was
-discovered by Jakob van Heemskerk, a Dutchman, in 1596; they had
-therefore at least as good a right as the English or any other nation
-to the fisheries there. On the other hand, the powerful Muscovy
-Company argued that Spitzbergen was discovered by Willoughby in 1553,
-and accordingly belonged to England; and the king adopted this view,
-notwithstanding the elaborate case drawn up by the famous cosmographer,
-Plancius, on the other side, which was submitted to him.[346] The seas
-around Spitzbergen were held to pertain to the British seas, and to
-be under the maritime dominion of the King of England,--a claim which
-Selden attempted to vindicate later.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 8.--_Dutch Whalers at Spitzbergen_. After Van der
-Meulen.]
-
-Having failed by diplomacy to obtain recognition of what they believed
-to be their plain rights, the States resolved to oppose force by
-force. Early in 1614 a new Dutch company was formed, and exclusive
-privileges were conferred on it “to navigate, trade, and fish, from the
-Netherlands on or to the coasts of the lands between Nova Zembla and
-Davis’ Straits,” including therefore Greenland and Spitzbergen.[347]
-A tax of “last-money” was established, and in the same year eighteen
-Dutch whalers, armed, and convoyed by three States’ men-of-war, left
-Holland for the Arctic seas, prepared to maintain their right to
-freedom of fishery by fighting for it if necessary. The English whalers
-did not venture to attack so powerful a squadron, and as the Hollanders
-came in 1615 and 1616 in even greater force, they were for these three
-years enabled to carry on their whale-fishing without molestation.
-In 1617, however, their convoyers having been reduced in numbers,
-they were again assailed by the English; one of the Dutch vessels was
-despoiled, and their “cookeries,” or the buildings on shore in which
-the oil was made, were destroyed. Then in 1618 the Dutch reappeared,
-and in strength sufficient not only to maintain the right they claimed,
-but to make reprisals. They attacked, despoiled, and drove off thirteen
-English ships, most of which returned to England empty, and the Muscovy
-Company were loud in their complaints to the king. They put their loss
-at £66,436, 15s., besides the spoiling of the ships and the killing of
-the men.[348]
-
-At this time, as we have seen, James was pressing more than ever for
-the recognition of his claims to the herring fishery in the British
-seas, and it may be easily imagined how he was moved by the news of
-this fresh “outrage” at Spitzbergen. At a meeting of the States-General
-in October, the British ambassador used strong language in
-animadverting on these “violencies, robberies, and murders” committed
-by the Dutch on the king’s subjects in the Arctic seas, on the injuries
-inflicted on the English in the East Indies, and on other matters in
-dispute; and he demanded that the embassy so repeatedly promised by
-the States should be sent to England without any further delay. The
-embassy in question had been originally proposed by the Dutch with the
-view of arranging the differences as to the trade in cloth and the
-herring fishery. Their diplomacy through the ordinary channels had,
-however, been so successful in preserving their freedom of fishing,
-notwithstanding the harassing efforts of the king, whom they invariably
-foiled, that they preferred to procrastinate, and the proposed embassy
-had from time to time been put off. But now the minatory demands of
-Sir Dudley Carleton were reinforced by the insistence of the Dutch
-East India Company, for it had been proposed in England to arrest the
-vessels of that company in the Channel in reprisal for the wrongs done
-to the English in the East Indies, and one of their ships had just
-narrowly escaped capture.[349]
-
-The Dutch ambassadors arrived in England on 27th November;[350]
-but notwithstanding the earnest exhortations of Carleton, their
-instructions were confined to the “Greenland” (Spitzbergen) and East
-Indian questions, and did not contain what the king most desired--full
-powers to treat on the herring fishery.
-
-James had been looking forward to this embassy as providing an
-opportunity for the final settlement of the fishery dispute. Sir
-Dudley Carleton had informed the States-General that the king wished
-to go into the matter of the treaties on which their claim to liberty
-of fishing was in great measure based, adding jesuitically that it
-was probably with the view of confirming them. The king in reality
-felt that owing to the dissensions in the Low Countries and the
-general political state of Europe, the time was specially opportune
-for negotiating a treaty in his favour.[351] He had accordingly made
-considerable preparations to meet their arguments both with reference
-to the treaties and the Law of Nations. Early in November he wrote
-to the Council at Edinburgh, saying that the wrongs suffered by his
-Scottish subjects from the fishing of the Hollanders in the seas of
-Scotland had caused him to bring the matter before the States, and
-to acquaint them of his “resolution to have them duly repaired.” The
-States had signified their desire to have their rights and the actions
-of their subjects “orderly tried and determined,” and they were
-therefore about to send over commissioners “sufficiently authorised”
-for that purpose. As commissioners to meet them, he had chosen the
-Duke of Lennox, the Marquis of Hamilton, Lord Binning (Secretary),
-and Sir George Hay (Clerk of Register), and he asked the Council to
-expedite the issue of their commission under the great seal. He also
-desired them to send him, in writing, the most perfect information
-they could procure as to his right to exclude the States from their
-pretended right or alleged possession of the herring-fishing, with
-full particulars of the wrongs committed by the Dutch on the Scottish
-people, either by scattering the shoals of herrings or by “usurpation
-of farder libertie to themselves nor hes bene formerlie granted or
-tolerated be us or our prediceesoris to them.”[352]
-
-The commissioners named were accordingly authorised to treat with
-the Dutch commissioners “anent the trial and verification of the
-rights, immunities, and privileges alleged to have been granted by
-his Majesty or any of his most noble progenitors, Kings of Scotland,
-to the said States-General of the United Provinces, or any others
-from whom they deduce and derive their claim to fish in the seas of
-the said kingdom of Scotland, or any part or place thereof.” They
-were further instructed to treat as to the redress required for the
-injuries committed by the Dutch fishermen, and for preventing in
-future any unlawful proceeding by the States, “either by fishing in
-his Majesty’s Scottish seas” or by doing wrong to the inhabitants.
-They were, moreover, “to concur” with the English commissioners to be
-appointed as to the “friendly behaviour” of British subjects and the
-subjects of the United Provinces in all other seas, fishings, voyages,
-and other foreign intercourse, necessary for the continuance of peace
-and amity.[353] The business of the herring fishery was thus placed in
-charge of the Scottish commissioners, while the English had specially
-to deal with the other subjects in dispute--the East Indian trade, the
-whale fishery, the coinage, and the trade in cloth. Towards the end of
-November Lord Binning informed the king that the Council had sent off
-the commission, together with a statement of the injury sustained by
-the whole kingdom by the daily increase of the Dutch usurpation in his
-seas.[354]
-
-With regard to the other matter about which James had desired “the most
-perfect information,”--his right to exclude foreigners from fishing on
-his coasts,--the Council had the greatest difficulty in discovering
-anything whatever pertaining to it. It was the most important part of
-the question to come before the commissioners, because the States had
-already issued a strongly-worded edict forbidding their people from
-committing any wrongs upon the Scottish people (p. 179), and the king
-could scarcely make out a just case for prohibiting the Hollanders from
-fishing on this ground alone. He desired to show, what he no doubt
-fully believed, that his claims were supported by historical precedents
-and the laws of Scotland, and that none of the treaties on which the
-Dutch always relied in such negotiations were contrary to his claims.
-In his letter to the Council he therefore repeated the request that the
-public records should be searched, and desired that Lords Lauderdale
-and Balmerino, the Laird of Lundy, and others into whose hands
-such documents might have come, “from their ancestors, Chancellors,
-secretaries, clerks of register, ambassadors, or councillors of state,”
-should try to find any which bore upon the matter, and to have them
-forwarded to him without delay. The terms of the king’s letter show
-plainly enough the confusion and imperfection of the Scottish state
-records at that time; and the Lords of the Council sought high and
-low to discover copies of the treaties or any other official papers
-relating to the subject, but for a long time without any success.
-Copies of some of the treaties were afterwards found, but nothing
-to establish the king’s right to exclude the Hollanders from the
-fishery. In these circumstances the Council advised the commissioners
-“to proceed warily,” and to make the Dutch ambassadors produce what
-they had to show for their claim to the fishing, and then to answer
-that.[355]
-
-But as things turned out, it was of no immediate importance whether
-or not the Scottish commissioners were armed with documentary proofs
-of the king’s claims to the fishery. The Dutch ambassadors, as has
-been said, came without any powers to treat on that subject. In their
-private instructions, indeed, they were enjoined to avoid carefully any
-discussion about the herring fishery. If it was forced upon them, they
-were to point out that the States had already issued a proclamation
-to prevent wrongs being done to Scottish fishermen, which would be
-strictly enforced. If this was not sufficient, they were to fall back
-on general arguments as to the natural freedom of the sea, their
-immemorial possession of the fishery and its paramount importance to
-their country, and to plead for delay on account of the confusion and
-difficulties of their home affairs.
-
-On their arrival in London they were met by two high Scottish
-personages, who had been awaiting their coming for some weeks. They
-took this for a bad sign, concluding from it that the king was resolved
-to raise the fishery question. They had several interviews with the
-Council and the king. On finding that their instructions limited
-them to the discussion of the two points on which there was least
-anxiety in England, the East India business and the whale-fishing, the
-Council received them coldly, Bacon indeed rating them soundly for
-coming without adequate powers. James himself was very angry, and made
-no effort to conceal his disappointment. He expressed astonishment
-that after all the complaints that had been made, and after all the
-negotiations that had gone on through the ambassadors at London and The
-Hague, they had ventured to come unprepared to deal with the principal
-matter in dispute. “The fishing,” he told them, “on the coasts of
-England, Scotland, and Ireland, as a regality and point of sovereignty,
-was possessed by him alone, to the exclusion of all others.” Spain,
-he said, had asked leave to negotiate about freedom of fishing, while
-France enjoyed the privilege only under great limitations, a few small
-vessels being allowed to fish for the use of the Court and the king’s
-family.[356] How little becoming was it therefore, continued James
-with heat, that a Republic which had only been recognised for a few
-years should be the first to contest his sovereign rights! It was
-useless for them to plead unprofitable years and immemorial possession.
-He was king of the greatest islands in the world, and he knew very
-well the rights he had on the coasts of his three kingdoms.[357] He
-further informed them that he was bound by oath at his coronation to
-maintain the rights, liberties, and privileges of his crown, and that
-he would rather lose all that he had than give up his right to the
-fishings.[358] Declarations equally strong were expressed in despatches
-to the British ambassador at The Hague. The king, it was said, would
-not be taught the laws of nations “by them nor their Grotius.”[2] It
-would be to their advantage to ask the king’s leave for the fishing
-and to acknowledge his right as other princes had done, or it might
-well come to pass “that they that will needs bear all the world before
-them with their _Mare Liberum_, may soon come to have neither _Terram
-et solum_ nor _Rempublicam Liberam_,”--phrases which lead one to think
-that James penned the missive himself.[359] The Council intimated to
-the ambassadors that the king declined to discuss only the two points
-mentioned in their instructions, and that they must get powers from the
-States-General to deal with the question of the herring fishery.
-
-Language of this kind from the king and Council disturbed and perplexed
-the envoys. They were anxious that the friendly relations between the
-two countries should be strengthened, and yet it appeared not unlikely
-that they would have to return home without having been heard on any
-of the matters in dispute. They began to think that after all it would
-be better if the fishery question were taken up and settled, and they
-advised the States-General in that sense. The British ambassador at The
-Hague was using pressure with the same object. But the Prince of Orange
-told him that in his opinion the States of Holland would refuse to
-give authority for the fishery question to be opened, “for fear of the
-people,” because the livelihood of 50,000 of the inhabitants of that
-province depended on the herring-fishing, and they feared that the same
-thing would happen with the tribute the king claimed as had happened
-with the dues at the Sound, which had been gradually raised until they
-had become an intolerable burden. He threw out the suggestion at the
-same time that perhaps the freedom of fishing might be purchased by a
-lump sum. A little later Carleton proposed to the States-General that
-the three subjects omitted from the ambassadors’ instructions should
-also be brought into the negotiations--viz., the trade in cloth, the
-coinage, and especially the herring fishery. In a minatory speech he
-declared that the king, who had “a legitimate title and the exclusive
-sovereign right and propriety to the fishery on the coasts of his
-three kingdoms,” would not any longer permit the subjects of the
-United Provinces to encroach on his rights, which were recognised by
-all other princes and states. The condition of affairs, he said, had
-been brought to extremities by the extravagant discourses of one of
-their politicians and the violent conduct of the commanders of their
-ships.[360] Sweeping aside the treaties and the claim to immemorial
-possession, and using much the same language as the king had done as
-to the hardihood of a young republic flouting the sovereign rights of
-princes, he ended a long harangue by declaring that if there was any
-further delay in dealing with the fishery question, England would take
-measures to provide for her rights by force of arms, “for such,” he
-said, “was the demand of the people, the advice of the Council, and the
-resolution of the king.”
-
-But all those strong speeches and brave words came to nothing. The
-leaders in the States knew the character and difficulties of James,
-and felt that the warlike threats of a monarch whose greatest desire
-was that he should be known as _Rex pacificus_[361] were not likely to
-be carried to the extremity of the sword. A little more delay brought
-about a change in the English attitude. In the Privy Council there were
-signs of wavering and evident hesitation to recommend extreme measures
-against an allied and Protestant state. In the political condition
-of Europe--troubles in Bohemia, the King of Spain threatening the
-overthrow of Venice, &c.--it was urged that harsh measures might drive
-the Dutch to have recourse to France, which supported Barnevelt, the
-king’s enemy. Above all, it was feared that the Protestants throughout
-the world would be unable to understand how the king could attack the
-Dutch at that critical time over so small a matter. On the whole, “for
-the sake of the peace of Christendom,” it might be better to “continue”
-the question to another time, and thus avoid an immediate rupture. The
-faltering in the Council coincided with a humbler tone on the part of
-the Dutch ambassadors. They strove to convince James that it was by
-no means the desire of the States to refuse to treat of the fishery,
-or absolutely to deny his right to regulate it on his own coasts. All
-they asked was that the matter might be delayed a little owing to the
-religious troubles which were raging in the Netherlands, and because
-as all the provinces were concerned and the records and treaties would
-have to be searched, it would take some time before they would be in a
-position to deal with it in an equitable way. The States-General used
-language equally conciliatory to Sir Dudley Carleton, and promised to
-send other ambassadors later, fully empowered to treat of the herring
-fishery and the trade in cloth. James was appeased and agreed to the
-delay, but he told the ambassadors that unless the States gave an
-undertaking in writing to send commissioners sufficiently authorised
-to settle the matter before a year had expired, he would take it as “a
-plain and perpetual declining of the treaty.”[362]
-
-Thus James was again baffled in his endeavour to force the United
-Provinces to acknowledge his rights in the fishery. But scarcely
-had the arrangement been completed when he brought forward another
-proposal. Pending the conclusion of the final treaty, he wished the
-States to issue a provisional edict forbidding their fishermen from
-approaching within fourteen miles of the British coasts, to which
-they had been coming closer and closer in recent years, a proceeding
-which was the principal cause of the complaints from Scotland.[363]
-The distance mentioned was that embodied in the Draft Treaty of Union
-in 1604, and was supposed to be equivalent to a “land-kenning.”[364]
-Carleton, however, thought the States would not immediately agree
-to this,--their cumbersome system of government would alone cause
-great delay,--and he counselled the king “to begin with the fishers
-themselves,” by publishing a proclamation fixing the distance at which
-they would be permitted to fish.[365] But the States were disposed to
-go so far to meet the wishes of the king. They objected, indeed, that
-fourteen miles was a greater distance than that at which a person could
-see the coast from the sea, and thus exceeded a “land-kenning” or the
-range of vision, but they promised to issue orders to their fishermen
-to keep so far from the land as to be out of sight of people on the
-shore, and to strongly prohibit them from going nearer.[366]
-
-The business of the herring fishery having thus been shelved, the
-negotiators took up the other matters in dispute. The East Indian
-question was settled by a treaty,[367] but the differences as to the
-whale fishery were not so easily adjusted. The English case was founded
-on the contention that Spitzbergen belonged to King James, on their
-prior fishing in those seas, and on the depredations committed by the
-Dutch in 1618 on English vessels. The Dutch claimed a right to the
-fishery from their discovery of the island, and they proposed three
-alternatives: (1) that both nations should fish at Spitzbergen with an
-equal number of ships, the bays to be divided by drawing lots;[368]
-(2) that fishing should be carried on by both parties everywhere with
-an equal number of ships of equal size, disputes to be settled by
-regulations; (3) that the island should be divided by an imaginary line
-into two equal parts, the Dutch to have one part and the English the
-other. The English declined all these proposals, and James informed
-the ambassadors that even if the island had been discovered by their
-nation the English had the right to the fishery because they were
-the first to practise it,--an argument which, it may be remarked, if
-applied to the herring fishery, would have been unfortunate for the
-king’s claim to it. But while maintaining his abstract right to the sea
-at Spitzbergen, James gave way on the immediately practical point,
-consenting that the Dutch should continue their fishery at the island
-for three years longer.[369]
-
-We have mentioned that late in 1618 James caused the Scottish Council
-to send a vessel (the _Restore_) to the Shetlands to demand the
-assize-herrings from the Dutchmen, and that it arrived on the scene
-too late. Next year he resolved to be in time, and while the Dutch
-ambassadors were still in London he wrote to the Council saying it was
-necessary “for divers imperative reasons” that the duties should still
-be craved, and requesting them to send a ship that summer with some
-discreet person on board, “who in fair terms may require our duties
-of the said Hollanders and report their answer”; and the Council were
-desired to take special care that the business should not fail through
-negligence.[370] At a meeting of the Council at Holyrood House on
-29th June, arrangements were made to carry out the king’s wishes. Mr
-John Fenton was appointed “his Majesty’s commissioner” for “craving
-his Majesty’s rent of assize and teind from the Hollanders and other
-strangers fishing in his Majesty’s seas,” and a Mr James Brown was
-instructed to accompany him as notary.[371] Fenton’s commission, under
-the great seal, commanded him to repair to the north seas, and there
-“in his Majesty’s name to ask, crave, receive, intromit with, and
-uplift from those of Holland, Zealand, Hamburg, Embden, and Rostock,
-and from all other strangers following the trade of fishing in his
-Majesty’s said seas this present year, his Majesty’s rent of assize
-and teind of the whole fishes taken, or to be taken by them in his
-Majesty’s said seas and waters this present year.” The tribute levied
-by John Brown, in 1616, on behalf of the Duke of Lennox, amounted to
-only one angel (about ten shillings) or a barrel of herrings from
-each buss, or twelve cod from a line-boat. But that claimed by the
-king was now considerably greater. The “assize” was to be computed at
-ten thousand herrings (which would be fully ten barrels) for every
-buss that fished for herrings, and a last of white fish for every
-buss that fished for white fish, that is to say, cod and ling; or,
-if the fishermen preferred to pay in money, they were to pay at the
-rate of £6, 13s. 4d. Scots for every thousand of the assize-herrings,
-and at the rate of £50 Scots for every last of the assize white fish;
-and the same equivalents were to be asked for each thousand “teind
-herrings,” and for each last of “teind white fish,”--a new duty now
-first mentioned, “teinds” being the Scottish term for ecclesiastical
-tithes. The value of the assize-herrings to be levied from each buss
-was thus about £5, 11s. 1d. sterling, and the value of the assize white
-fish from each dogger about £4, 3s. 4d. On the basis of two thousand
-Dutch herring vessels the total duty would amount to the respectable
-sum of about £11,000, while the dogger-boats would yield some £1500
-additional. On receiving payment Fenton was to give an “aquittance
-and discharge,” which would be as valid and sufficient as if given
-by his Majesty’s comptrollers or ordinary receivers of his Majesty’s
-rents.[372]
-
-In the particular instructions given to Fenton,[373] and which, there
-are reasons for thinking, were essentially the same as those previously
-given to Brown, he was enjoined to proceed to the north seas in H.M.S.
-_Charles_, under the command of Captain David Murray, and in the first
-place to inquire the names of the admirals and vice-admirals of the
-Dutch fleet, the names of their ships, to what towns and provinces they
-belonged, and also the number of the convoys and busses sent out to
-the fishing by every town, province, and state. This having been done,
-he was “in fair and gentle terms and with modesty and discretion” to
-demand from the admirals or vice-admirals, and from two or three of the
-convoyers and busses of each state, “his Majesty’s rent of assize and
-teind” as specified. He was not to dispute with them as to the amount
-of the duty. If they offered a smaller amount, “although it were only
-an angel for every buss,” he was to accept it, but not less; so also if
-he were offered fish instead of money. It was left to his discretion to
-make a differential duty according to the size of the busses, if that
-point was raised, and also to compound with the admiral for the whole
-of the busses of a town, state, or province. If payment of the duties
-were refused, Fenton was merely “to take instruments upon the said
-refusal without further contestation,” and to report the result. He was
-also to inform the Dutch of the oppressions made by those landing from
-the fleet at Shetland, and to demand redress and a promise that such
-conduct would not be repeated.[374]
-
-A short time before this the Council, for the sake of economy, had
-ordered the _Charles_ to be disfurnished, but now, in view of her
-important mission, they judged it to be “no ways meet or expedient”
-that she should be made altogether empty of her furniture and munitions
-of war, so that she might be able to resist any sudden or secret
-onslaught by the Hollanders or others. They therefore instructed that
-there should be left on board “twa of the smallest pecceis of hir
-ordinance and ten muscattis, with some few bullets ansuerable thairto,
-and a litill quantitie of poulder, yf ony be within the schip.”[375]
-Orders were given for the manning of the vessel, which was to be
-ready to sail before 1st July. It was with this scrimp and penurious
-armament, and in this attorney-like manner, that James prepared to
-obtain an acknowledgment from the Dutch of his rights in his seas,
-whereas Charles I., as we shall see, employed his great ship-money
-fleet for the same purpose. But apparently the king would be almost
-as satisfied with a refusal as with the payment of the tribute,
-either of which he would be able to make use of in the negotiations
-for the “final treaty” on which he had set his heart. It is therefore
-unfortunate that we can discover no further information as to the
-expedition of Fenton. That the _Charles_ left on its mission we
-know,[376] but the records are silent as to the result. It may perhaps
-be inferred from this circumstance alone that the Charles was no more
-successful than the _Restore_ in the year before.
-
-Early in 1620 the States, which had taken no steps to redeem their
-promise to send another embassy to deal with the question of the
-herring fishery, were reminded of it, and Carleton urged this course as
-a point both of policy and honour. But they were as reluctant as ever
-to handle the matter. The increased duty which Fenton was commanded
-to ask--of which very probably they had heard--was not likely to make
-them more willing, and they continued to procrastinate, alleging the
-unsettled state of their affairs at home and the troubles in Bohemia
-and Germany as reasons for further delay. Some prominent men in Holland
-indeed began now to assume a firmer tone. Hints were thrown out to the
-British ambassador that there was really little difference between
-forcing on the matter and declaring war, since freedom of fishing was
-of fundamental importance to the people of the United Provinces. The
-Prince of Orange gave it as his opinion that the seaport towns of
-Holland would never be brought to consent to “any innovation” in the
-herring fishery, even if it were urged at the cannon’s mouth. Still
-more significant was the action of the States in now voting large
-additional sums for the equipment of a greater number of men-of-war to
-guard the herring-busses from molestation.[377]
-
-To all appearance, therefore, the Dutch had now stiffened their
-backs and were prepared to fight for their liberty to fish on the
-British coasts, as they had done at Spitzbergen, instead of sending
-commissioners to London to haggle over it. But their uncompromising
-attitude was soon modified owing to certain political events, which
-taught them the need of caution in flouting the wishes of the King of
-England. In the autumn of 1619, Frederick, the Elector Palatine, who
-had married Elizabeth, the daughter of James, was offered and accepted
-the crown of Bohemia under circumstances pregnant with troubles. In
-consequence of this, Spain, in alliance with the Emperor, attacked and
-took possession of the Palatinate. The strengthening of the Spanish
-power in Germany was by itself inimical to the United Provinces,
-and the sense of danger was intensified when it was found that the
-occupation of the Lower Palatinate was part of a plan for marching the
-Catholic troops overland from Lombardy to the Spanish Netherlands.
-In view of an impending conflict with their hereditary enemies, it
-became a matter of grave anxiety to the States to retain the goodwill
-of England. Accordingly, after many discussions, the States-General
-at the end of 1620 appointed another embassy to go to London; but it
-was rather with the view of meeting the political dangers with which
-they were threatened than of dealing effectually with the subjects
-in dispute. The ambassadors’ official instructions, which were most
-carefully considered, referred in general terms to the affairs of
-Germany and the approaching expiry of the truce with Spain, and more
-particularly to the cloth trade, the coinage, and the East Indies.
-On the all-important subject of the herring fishery they were mute.
-In their private instructions the envoys were enjoined to avoid all
-discussion about it; if pressed, they were to assure the king that the
-States would be glad to consider it “later”; and in any discussion
-that did arise, they were to bear in mind that they always had been
-in undisturbed possession of it, and that the profit they derived
-from it had been greatly exaggerated and was far less than the king
-supposed--so little indeed that they would be quite unable to carry it
-on if any “innovation” were made.[378]
-
-The embassy of six persons arrived in London towards the end of January
-1621. At their first audience with the king they spoke only of the
-affairs in Germany and the seizure of the Palatinate, desiring it to
-be understood that this was the principal matter to be considered;
-and when they met the Council they raised the question of a warlike
-alliance between the two countries against Spain. But the herring
-fishery had not been forgotten by the English, and when the subject was
-mooted the Dutch begged that it might be allowed to rest for a time,
-pleading in particular that the expiry of the truce with Spain would
-leave them face to face with a powerful foe. The Council reminded them
-of the promise given, and James bluntly expressed the hope that they
-had come on this occasion fully empowered to treat of the business of
-the fishery, which had been suspended at the conferences two years
-before. While disclaiming any wish to diminish their legitimate profits
-from the fishery, he warned them that the question touched his honour
-and sovereignty so closely that it could not be always left undecided
-and in dispute; and that he would only agree to further delay when
-he was informed at what time it would suit the States to conclude an
-agreement both about the fishing on the coasts of Great Britain and at
-“Greenland.”[379] After many conferences and much negotiation it was
-arranged that another embassy should be sent by the States before the
-lapse of a year, and the Dutch commissioners quitted London on 16th
-April.
-
-In accordance with this understanding, still another embassy came
-to London, in November 1621. On this occasion the ambassadors were
-provided with full powers to settle the East Indian disputes, and with
-less ample authority to deal with the Spitzbergen fishery question.
-But, astonishing as it appears, they were again sent without any power
-to negotiate any treaty about the herring fishery. That the States,
-after so many delays and evasions, in the face of so many protests
-from the king, should again break their promise, shows both the great
-importance they attached to the matter and their belief that James
-would not force on a quarrel about it. In their secret instructions
-the old injunctions were repeated. They were to beg that as a year
-had not yet elapsed a little further delay might be granted; laying
-stress on the danger to the Protestant cause, in view of the relations
-with Spain, if anything were done to lessen the sea-power of the
-Netherlands, which depended so much on their fisheries. At this time
-the East Indian question had become important and pressing in England,
-and the early conferences were confined to it. But later the king
-broached the subject of the herring-fishing; and after listening to
-the ambassadors for a while, he peevishly asked them to make an end
-of their long harangue, called them leeches and blood-suckers, who
-sucked the blood from his subjects and tried to ruin him,[380] and then
-treated them to the same sort of disquisition as on former occasions.
-To the king’s railing and reproaches the ambassadors made such answer
-as they could, and the upshot was that they were allowed to go on with
-the conferences on the East Indian question. This embassy, at the head
-of which was François Van Aerssen, Lord of Sommelsdijck, remained
-in England until the spring of 1623, engaged in negotiations, often
-interrupted, on political affairs, and on the East Indian and Greenland
-fishery questions. James did not harass them further about the herring
-fishery. At the farewell audience he spoke of it in a good-natured
-way. He must, he said, resume his old song, _veterem cantilenam_, but
-not at that time. But whenever the condition of the Netherlands was
-favourable, he would, he said, be glad to resume the negotiations.[381]
-
-During their long stay in England the ambassadors had an opportunity of
-learning what was thought about the fishery question. On their return
-to the Netherlands they earnestly counselled the States-General to
-come to some agreement with England both on the herring fishery on the
-British coasts and the whale-fishing at Spitzbergen. These matters,
-they said, were close to the king’s heart, and many people whom they
-had met had shown much irritation in speaking of them, and had even
-advised forcible measures against the Dutch. By this time the Republic
-was again at war with Spain, while Prince Charles and Buckingham had
-gone to Madrid to woo the Infanta: it would be prudent to do all that
-could reasonably be done to cultivate good relations with England.
-The States therefore wrote to Sir Noel Caron telling him they had
-resolved to take the fishery matter into serious consideration, and
-their efforts were directed to the removal of all cause of complaint in
-Scotland. Two edicts had already been issued--one, in 1618, prohibiting
-any wrong from being committed on Scottish subjects; the other, in
-1620, ordering their fishermen to refrain from taking herrings within
-the rocks and reefs of Shetland, Ireland, and Norway, on the ground
-that such herrings were inferior in quality and unfit for curing.[382]
-The technical reason given in the latter for keeping away from the
-coast had some foundation, but the real motive was probably to redeem
-the pledge which the States had given in the year before (see p.
-193). What the States now did was to renew the edict of 1618, and,
-after a conference between the ambassadors who had returned from
-England and the College or Board of Fisheries, to issue orders that
-the herring-busses were not to go too near the coast of Scotland,
-which had, indeed, been agreed upon some years earlier, so as to avoid
-causing inconvenience to the native fishermen.[383]
-
-There is evidence that the warning which the ambassadors gave to the
-States-General as to the feeling in England was well founded, and
-there occurred at this time, both in England and Scotland, a revival
-of proposals aimed against the Hollanders. The Scottish burghs
-complained of the “heavie hurt” they sustained owing to the English
-and the “Fleymings,” who had lately taken up the “trade of fishing”
-in the North and West Isles, by which was probably meant the curing
-of herrings and other fish. The Council accordingly ordained that the
-Islesmen should “suffer no strangers to come within their bounds to
-the fishing,” and that none of the country people should sell fish
-to them; and they issued a proclamation forbidding “all and sundry
-strangers” to “slay or take any fish within the Isles, lochs and bays
-of the kingdom, and that they buy no fish but salted and barrelled, and
-at free burghs.”[384]
-
-In England fresh attempts were made to establish a great national
-herring fishery which might rival that of the Dutch. Within a month
-of the departure of the ambassadors, Lord George Carew, Master of the
-Ordnance, was busy with a project. Along with Lord Hervey and Sir
-William Monson--who was perhaps the prime mover in the matter--he had
-several conferences with “skilful fishermen,” and then he sent for the
-city merchants to consider how the scheme might be floated. To them he
-proposed that six busses and four doggers should be bought or built
-at a cost not exceeding £10,000, explaining, after the usual manner,
-how the return from the first year’s fishing would repay the whole of
-that sum and encourage “all men” to adventure. The city merchants, one
-of whom was Sir William Cockaine, were loud in their praises of the
-scheme,--“it was the best work for the public and the most profitable
-that the wit of man could imagine,”--but as for the money required,
-they were afraid that it could not be raised. Then the promoters asked
-the Lord Mayor to propound the plan to the Court of Aldermen. But the
-Lord Mayor curtly replied that the Aldermen were engaged in other
-adventures, and were “utterly unwilling” to enter into the project of
-building busses, while the Merchant Companies were too much in debt to
-undertake it. On a second appeal being made to him, he said the Court
-of Aldermen “absolutely declined” to entertain either the general
-project for fishing-busses or the lesser scheme of building six busses
-and four doggers. They would have nothing to do with it;[385] and this
-scheme was therefore nipped in the bud.
-
-Fresh proposals were now brought forward by others, based on
-Government support, and a plan was propounded similar to the old one
-of Hitchcock and Dee in the reign of Elizabeth, but to be carried out
-under an Act of Parliament. Each city, county, and seaport town was to
-be encouraged to equip fishing-busses at their common charge and for
-their common benefit, with power to employ their idle inhabitants in
-manning them. For the security of the fishing fleet the king was to
-provide twenty ships of war, five of which were to belong to the royal
-navy, and they were to continue at sea from the beginning of April till
-the end of September. To meet the cost of this guard the king was to
-receive the tenth fish taken both by English and foreign fishermen, the
-promoters thinking that the latter would be quite willing to be taxed
-when the tax was demanded by an “Act of the King and Kingdom,” and when
-they knew they would be protected by a squadron of men-of-war.[386] It
-was a pretty scheme, well-intentioned, but innocent of information as
-to the actual state of affairs.
-
-Scarcely anything more was heard about the herring fishery or the
-taxation of Dutch fishermen during the brief remainder of James’s
-reign. Another embassy came from the Netherlands in 1624, but it was
-to conclude a defensive alliance against Spain, and in the shadow of
-this new alliance the Dutch fishermen quietly reaped the harvest of
-the sea without fear of English interference. James’s policy of the
-assize-herring had thus completely failed. All his efforts to induce
-or to force the Netherlands’ fishermen to acknowledge his right were
-baffled by the superior diplomacy of the States,--their “artificial
-delays, pretences, shifts, dilatory addresses, and evasive answers.”
-The only immediately practical result of the king’s policy was that the
-herring-busses kept for a time farther from the coast of Scotland. But
-a new weapon had been forged for the contest with the United Provinces
-for supremacy at sea, and one which was to be used by his successors
-with much more skill, if with little greater ultimate success.
-
-Of one symbol of this sovereignty of the sea comparatively little
-was heard during James’s reign--namely, the salute or homage to his
-flag. This traditional custom of the narrow seas, while maintained on
-important occasions, was not enforced with the vigour and arrogance
-which characterised it later, perhaps less rigorously than under the
-Great Queen. “I myself remember,” said Raleigh a few years before
-his execution, “when one ship of her Majesty’s would have made forty
-Hollanders strike sail and come to anchor. They did not then dispute
-_de mari libero_, but readily acknowledged the English to be _domini
-mavis Britannici_.”[387] Sir William Monson, too, who was Admiral of
-the Narrow Seas in the earlier part of James’s reign, tells us that
-the Hollanders were very “stubborn” about striking their top-sails and
-performing the duty due to the king’s prerogative, and that he earned
-their lasting ill-will by compelling them to do it.[388]
-
-But the English commanders were punctilious in enforcing the salute
-in the narrow seas on state occasions. A notable instance occurred
-in 1603, when King Henry IV. of France sent over the famous Sieur
-de Rosny, afterwards Duke of Sully, to congratulate James on his
-accession to the throne of England. With a numerous retinue he went on
-board an English man-of-war at Calais, which then made sail for Dover
-accompanied by a French warship under the command of M. de Vic, the
-Vice-Admiral of France. The English captain observed with displeasure
-that the French vessel bore the arms of France at his top, “contrary
-to the custom of the narrow seas”; but on account of the important
-personage on board and the nature of his mission, he restrained himself
-from challenging the “indignity” until they approached Dover Road.
-Unable to brook the affront any longer, he fired at the French ship,
-and so “constrained her to strike her flag.” The shot did no harm,
-but M. de Vic at once turned round his vessel and went back to France
-in high dudgeon. Cecil thought it necessary to send a despatch to the
-English ambassador at Paris explaining the circumstances, and while
-saying that the English captain “rashly discharged” his gun, he thought
-that if the matter was “well looked into, and the former customs
-observed, there would be reason found for us to stand upon.”[389]
-
-A somewhat similar incident happened two years later, when Sir William
-Monson was bringing over an ambassador of the Emperor from Calais to
-Dover. In Dover Road he found a number of States’ men-of-war, and
-their admiral, as Monson drew near, struck his flag thrice, but then
-“advanced” it again and kept it flying in the presence of the king’s
-ship. Monson believed the Dutch admiral had come in on purpose to put
-this “affront” on him, so that the ambassador, as well as the Spaniards
-then at Dover, might “spread it abroad throughout all Europe” that the
-Dutch, “by their wearing their flags, might be imputed kings of the
-sea as well as his Majesty,” and so lessen the esteem of the king’s
-prerogative in the narrow seas. Instead of firing upon the Dutch ship,
-he sent to invite the admiral to dinner, and to tell him that he must
-take in his flag. To this request the admiral demurred, saying that
-he had struck it thrice, and that no former admirals of the narrow
-seas had required more at his hands. Monson rejoined that “times were
-altered”; that when the mere striking of the flag as he had done was
-sufficient, England and Holland were both at war with Spain and it
-was tolerated; but now, since the war was ended so far as England
-was concerned, his Majesty required “such rights and duties as have
-formerly belonged to his progenitors.” On the Dutch admiral still
-refusing, Monson threatened to weigh anchor and come near him, and that
-the force of their ships should determine the question; “for,” said the
-English admiral, “rather than I would suffer his flag to be worn in
-view of so many nations as were to behold it, I resolved to bury myself
-in the sea.” The flag was then struck, and the Dutch ships stood out to
-sea. Monson tells us that he was congratulated by a Spanish general who
-had been watching the proceedings, who said that if the Hollanders had
-worn their flag times had been strangely altered in England, since his
-old master King Philip II. was shot at by the Lord Admiral of England
-for wearing his flag in the narrow seas when he came to marry Queen
-Mary.[390]
-
-Sometimes, however, the zeal of the naval officers led them too far
-in their resolution to compel the salute. Thus in 1613, when the
-Count of Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, was returning to England
-accompanied by two galleons, an English man-of-war forced the Spanish
-ships to take in their flags off Stokes Bay. The ambassador complained
-to the Lord Admiral (the Earl of Nottingham), who decided that the
-captain had exceeded his authority, for the Spaniards were not bound
-to strike their flag unless to the admiral of the narrow seas, and
-the captain was neither admiral of the narrow seas nor employed under
-his commission. The rules or etiquette regarding this ceremony were
-indeed somewhat complicated, occasionally changed, and not always
-well understood, and as a good deal will be heard of the striking of
-the flag in the following chapters, it may be well to say something
-here about the practice. It appears that it was customary from a
-remote period for merchant vessels to lower their sails on meeting
-a ship of war in seas under the dominion of the state to which the
-latter belonged,[391] but the ceremony only attained to international
-notoriety in connection with the claims of England to the sovereignty
-of the narrow seas. The practice varied at different times. Generally
-speaking, by the custom of the narrow seas as interpreted in this
-country, any foreign man-of-war meeting with an English man-of-war in
-those seas had to take in her flag and strike her top-sails as soon
-as she came within sight or within range of the English guns, and she
-had to keep in the flag until she had passed out of range. A merchant
-vessel had to strike in the same way. Further, no vessel in the narrow
-seas was to pass to windward of an English ship of war, but must “come
-by the lee”; the inferior had to make way for the superior.[392] In
-an English port or road no foreign ship or English merchant vessel
-could wear her flag in the presence of a king’s ship. This custom was
-also sometimes enforced in foreign ports and roads, but usually only
-when out of range of forts on shore. If a foreign vessel, whether
-man-of-war or merchant ship, did not thus “do her duty” or “perform
-the homage of the sea,” the English ship of war might hail her or send
-a boat to command her to strike. Or they might at once, without any
-parley, fire a shot across her bows, and after an interval another,
-also across her bows or over her poop, and if this was ineffective,
-then a third between her masts or at her flag. If the foreigner still
-refused to strike, a broadside was usually poured in, and the vessel
-might be carried into port and the offender punished. In the reign of
-Charles II., Spaniards, Dunkirkers, Frenchmen, and other foreigners,
-were not infrequently brought before the courts and fined for refusing
-to strike. If a merchant vessel refused to strike until she was shot
-at, she was compelled to pay to the king’s ship twice the value of the
-gunpowder and shot expended.
-
-In England the custom, no doubt, originated in the Channel, probably
-in the time of the early Angevin kings, when the opposite coasts were
-under the same rule; and it is most probable, as formerly said, that it
-arose in connection with the exercise of jurisdiction over pirates and
-for securing peaceful commerce. In early times the utmost lawlessness
-prevailed on the sea: it would be a common duty of the king’s ships to
-satisfy themselves as to the character of the vessels they encountered,
-and the lowering of the sails and the coming under the lee, for “visit
-and search,” might well be a relic of a duty enforced for that purpose.
-With regard to ships of war, the ceremony appears to have been first
-confined to the Channel, and was held to be peculiarly a privilege
-of the admiral of the narrow seas. Thus, when Captain Plumleigh was
-appointed admiral of a squadron for service in Ireland in 1632, he was
-ordered by the Admiralty if he met “in any part of the narrow seas with
-the _Convertive_, in which Captain Pennington commands as admiral of
-those seas,” to take in his flag, and to “continue it furled whilst in
-sight of that ship, it being an ancient honour and privilege belonging
-only to that admiral to carry the flag in the maintop in those
-seas.”[393] Monson also tells us, in referring to the decision of the
-Lord High Admiral in Gondomar’s case, above alluded to, that every ship
-of the king’s serving under an admiral could not demand the striking of
-the flag when out of sight of the admiral; but the foreign ship, “be
-he admiral or no, is to strike his top-sail and hoist it again, to any
-one ship of the king’s that shall meet him.” He further states that
-any foreign ship or fleet arriving in an English port, or passing by a
-fort or castle, had to take in their flag three times, and advance it
-again, unless the English admiral’s ship was in the same harbour, in
-which case they were to keep it in so long as the admiral was present;
-“but if any other ship of his Majesty’s be there but the admiral’s,
-they are not bound to keep in their flag, but only to strike it thrice
-as aforesaid.” Monson added that he wished, in these later times
-(the reign of Charles I.), “that his Majesty’s ships would take more
-authority upon them than is due,” in order to curb the insolence of the
-French and the Hollander--a wish which, as we shall see, must have been
-fully gratified. It was against the Dutch that the striking of the flag
-was most thoroughly enforced, and one cannot but admire the patience
-and restraint they exhibited under great provocation. The French and
-Swedes avoided giving the salute as much as they could. As the century
-wore on, the English exaction on this point grew more outrageous.
-Foreign ships of war were forced to strike on their own coast even to
-our royal yachts, and the Hollanders were asked to strike not merely
-in the British seas, but wherever they were encountered. To the old
-sea-dogs all seas were “British” where their fleets were strongest.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-CHARLES I. FISHERIES AND RESERVED WATERS.
-
-
-It was during the reign of Charles, into whose hands the sceptre passed
-in the spring of 1625, that the English pretensions to the sovereignty
-of the sea attained their most extravagant proportions,--a circumstance
-which was owing in great measure to the condition of domestic affairs
-and the king’s assumption of personal government. James had been
-content to limit his assertion of sovereignty to the question of
-the rights of fishing and the preservation of the “King’s Chambers”
-from the hostile acts of belligerents. But Charles, while vigorously
-pursuing this policy so long as he was able, combined with it the most
-extreme claims to dominion on the neighbouring seas that had ever been
-put forward by an English king. The sovereign rights of jurisdiction
-over the “Sea of England” which were supposed to have been exercised by
-the early Plantagenets, were now roused from the slumber of centuries
-and revived in their most aggressive form. The King of England was to
-be lord of the surrounding seas, and to rule over them as a part of
-his territory. A beneficent and universal peace was to reign over the
-waters of the German Ocean and the Channel, unbroken by the sound of an
-angry shot. No other fleets or men-of-war--be they Spanish, or Dutch,
-or French--were to be allowed “to keep any guard” there, to offer any
-violence, to take prize or booty, or to search the merchant vessels of
-other nations. The blockade of the opposite coasts of the Continent by
-an enemy’s fleet, as that of Flanders by the Dutch or French, was to be
-interdicted, because those coasts were washed by the British seas and
-blockading was a warlike operation. On the other hand the king was to
-protect the commerce and navigation of his friends and allies. Foreign
-merchantmen might go on their way in security, undisturbed by fears
-of pirates or enemies, for “all men trading or sailing within those
-his Majesty’s seas do justly take themselves to be _in pace Domini
-Regis_,”--under the peace of our Lord the King. And as an external
-symbol and acknowledgment of this absolute dominion, foreign vessels
-were “to perform their duty and homage” on meeting his Majesty’s ships
-by striking their flag and lowering their top-sails. If they refused
-to do so, they were to be attacked and taken or sunk; the vessel was
-liable to forfeiture as “good prize,” and the offenders carried into
-port to be tried for their high contempt. Moreover--and it looks but a
-small thing by comparison,--no foreigners were to be permitted to fish
-in British waters without first receiving the king’s license so to do,
-and paying to him a tax in acknowledgment of the permission. In this
-way Charles hoped to restore the sovereignty of the King of England in
-the British seas--that “fairest flower of the imperial crown,” as he
-described it--to “its ancient style and lustre.”
-
-That a scheme so preposterous was seriously entertained and for a time
-attempted to be realised showed the inherent incapacity of the king
-for rational government. He was no more able to gauge his strength in
-relation to foreign Powers than he was to foresee that the contest he
-had entered into with his own subjects would end in rebellion and the
-scaffold. It was ridiculous to suppose that other nations would tamely
-surrender their sovereign rights in the seas off their own coasts and
-ports, abandon the protection of their commerce and shipping and their
-rights as belligerents, simply because the King of England wished
-to be lord of the sea. Had Charles been able to give effect to his
-selfish and ambitious scheme, he would soon have been confronted with
-an overwhelming coalition of maritime Powers, to whom the free use of
-the sea was as necessary as it was to England. As it happened, war was
-averted by the dexterity of Richelieu and the prudence and patience of
-the Dutch; and also, it must be added, by the vacillation of Charles
-himself, who was always trying to arrange some new combination with
-Continental Governments to carry out the only policy to which he was
-true--the recovery of the Palatinate for his nephew.
-
-It may be supposed that the splendour of the _rôle_ attributed to the
-early kings of England as lords of the sea, would by itself appeal to
-the narrow imagination of one so deeply imbued as Charles was with a
-belief in the divine prerogative of kings; and the dominion of the
-seas was claimed as peculiarly a prerogative of the crown. But there
-were other more practical and less exalted inducements. The assumption
-of the _rôle_ of the Plantagenet kings was intimately related to the
-state of home affairs and the means taken for the equipment of a
-fleet. Parliament having refused supply and been dissolved, recourse
-was ultimately had to the famous ship-money writs, by which it was
-possible to obtain the necessary ships independently of Parliament, as
-had been done by the early kings. To declare that these measures were
-indispensable for the maintenance of the sovereignty of the sea in its
-ancient style and lustre was well adapted to lessen their unpopularity,
-if anything could. It was a declaration “exactly calculated for the
-meridian of England,”[394] for the English people in all ages have been
-prone to maritime glory and willing and anxious to make sacrifices for
-the sake of the navy, upon which their national safety depends.
-
-It was in connection with the policy of the ship-money writs that the
-old doctrine of the Plantagenets came again into being. In the writs
-themselves the very words were copied that Edward III. had used in
-1336 in his mandate to the admirals; but some years before they were
-issued one may trace the growth of the idea. In the period from 1631 to
-1633 there was much searching of records with the view of establishing
-the king’s rights in his seas. Negotiations had been proceeding with
-Scotland, described below, with reference to a great fishery scheme,
-and the Scots had been very troublesome and persistent about their
-“reserved waters,” which the scheme threatened, the “land-kenning,”
-and the encroachments of the Dutch. They only agreed to give up their
-exclusive claim to the “reserved waters” for the benefit of the fishery
-association, provided that Charles would free the Scottish seas of
-the Hollander busses. In the long series of papers respecting the
-fishery project, mostly prepared by the indefatigable Secretary Coke,
-the change referred to may be perceived. In those of 1629 and 1630
-there is no suggestion of the sovereignty of the seas, but in 1631
-instances become numerous. Coke claims the sea fishings as belonging
-to the crown; he begins to speak of the king’s “undoubted right of
-sovereignty in all the seas of his dominions,” and plainly says it will
-be necessary to exclude foreign fishermen from the British seas once
-the fishing society is a success. In the next year he goes further. He
-begins a long and formal document--also on fisheries--in the following
-words: “The greatnesse and glorie of this Kingdom of Great Britaine
-consisteth not so much in the extent of his Majesty’s territories by
-land, as in the souerantie and command of the seas. This command is
-in peace over trade and fishing: and for warre in the power of his
-Majesty’s Navie to incounter the sea-forces of anie foren prince.”
-And he goes on to say that while Spain alone used to oppose it, it
-was now opposed by France and the Low Countries.[395] Still more to
-the point were the words of Charles himself. A few months after the
-fishery negotiations with Scotland were concluded, he wrote to the
-Clerk-Register in Edinburgh saying that, as the fishing business was
-now completed, he was desirous that it should be known abroad by his
-neighbours through some “public writing,” and asking him to search the
-records of the kingdom for authentic evidence to show his rights to the
-fishings, and to send such evidence to him.[396]
-
-At this time also the English records were being subjected to search
-and scrutiny with the same object, but for other reasons. The “homage”
-of the flag was being hotly enforced in the Channel and disputed by
-France. Pennington, the Admiral of the Narrow Seas, reported cases in
-which the French demanded the salute from English merchant vessels, and
-rumours that it was the intention of the French admirals to wrest the
-regality of those seas from England on the ground that the Pope had
-given it to France.[397] This news caused Viscount Dorchester--the Sir
-Dudley Carleton who had represented King James at The Hague, now a peer
-and Secretary of State--to write to Boswell, Clerk of the Privy Council
-(soon also to be ambassador at The Hague) for some information, however
-little, concerning the King’s admiralty in the narrow seas. Boswell
-sent a few brief notes of little relevancy about the jurisdiction
-of the admiral and the Cinque Ports; but he added the interesting
-information that he believed Sir John Boroughs, the Keeper of the
-Records in the Tower, was able to produce an “original” concerning
-the first institution of “La Rool d’Oleron” by Edward I., in which
-the sovereignty of the kings of England in those seas appeared. This,
-said Boswell, was therefore before the kings of France could pretend
-to any sovereignty there, having “neither right nor possession of any
-part, or part of Britany, Normandy, or Aquitaine.”[398] This, then,
-was the famous roll of 26 Edward I. now brought to light, or at least
-into use in the sphere of practical affairs. The discovery of Boroughs
-led Nicholas, the Secretary of the Admiralty, to draw up a note about
-the roll, “by which,” he said, “it is apparent that in those tymes ye
-soueraignty of those (Narrow) Seas was acknowledged by those princes
-(of Denmark, Sweden, &c., as mentioned in the roll): and justly, though
-no man can be said to have ye property of the sea, because a man
-cannot say this water is myne which runs, yet it is manifest that ye
-Kings of England have and had ye soueraignty and jurisdiction of those
-seas; that is, power to give laws and redresse injuries done on the
-same.”[399]
-
-The germ of the new pretension of Charles to play the part of
-Plantagenet on the adjoining seas appears to have been this disclosing
-by Boroughs of the ancient roll. All the later writers on the English
-side of the controversy about _mare clausum_ and _mare liberum_, as
-Selden, Coke, Prynne, as well as Boroughs himself, laid great stress on
-it.
-
-It was, however, as we have already hinted, in connection with the
-fisheries that Charles’s first actions were concerned. He earnestly
-believed in the common opinion of the age that sea fisheries formed a
-principal means of developing commerce and navigation and maintaining a
-powerful navy, and early in his reign, before the new idea of maritime
-sovereignty dawned upon his mind, he did what he could to promote
-and foster them. The old laws for the preservation of the spawn and
-brood of fish, which had fallen into disuse, were put into force;
-proclamations appeared prohibiting wasteful fishing; a vigorous effort
-was made to suppress the use of injurious appliances; the strict
-observance of Lent was repeatedly enjoined. But what proved most
-attractive was the notion which had haunted men’s minds since the time
-of the Great Queen, and had always eluded realisation. Charles became
-convinced that the formation of a grand national fishery association
-would wrest from the Dutch their predominance in the fisheries, drive
-their busses from our seas, and transfer to the English people the
-herring-fishing, with all the blessings which flowed from it--commerce,
-wealth, and maritime power. The last attempt which had been made in
-this direction, in 1623, had, as we saw, signally failed, the Lord
-Mayor and the opulent aldermen of London “absolutely refusing” to have
-anything to do with it. The scheme was now, however, to be launched
-by the king himself, who undertook to favour it with important
-privileges and immunities, and intended at a suitable time to aid it by
-prohibiting foreigners from fishing on the British coasts.
-
-Shortly after Charles began to reign, the old proposals to tax the
-Dutch were renewed. In 1626 a petition was presented to the House of
-Commons praying that a duty of 10 per cent might be laid upon all
-Dutch or foreign ships fishing in the narrow seas; with what result
-the records are silent. Two years later the proposal got a step
-further, for in 1628 a Bill was drafted to empower the king to levy
-two shillings in the pound on all herrings or fish exported in foreign
-vessels, and the tenth of the fish taken by foreigners in the British
-seas, the revenue so obtained to be employed for the king’s use. The
-latter suggestion looks almost satirical in view of the failure of
-the many attempts of James to get revenue from that source, and in
-the midst, too, of the squabbles then occurring between Charles and
-the Parliament, which refused supplies and was abruptly prorogued;
-especially as the House “humbly beseeched” him, “in recompense of the
-great sums which your Commons have thus cheerfully granted,” “yearly
-to provide and maintain a strong fleet of able ships upon the Narrow
-Seas.”[400]
-
-The original plan of the new fishery association was drawn up by
-Secretary Coke and was submitted to a meeting held at Suffolk House on
-29th November 1629. The two main points for consideration were: how
-they should obtain command of the fishery and be able to supply both
-themselves and foreign people, and how to find a “vent” for the fish
-taken and encourage merchants to purchase and export them. With regard
-to the first point, Coke said that to command and govern the whole
-fishing so as to make it a foundation of wealth to the kingdom, “equal
-to the Indies,” as it was then to the Hollanders, would require not
-fewer than 1000 busses, the cost of which would exceed £800,000. This,
-he admitted, would be a work of time, and he proposed, for a beginning,
-that timber should be felled in England, Scotland, and Ireland so as
-to be seasoned for the construction of 200 busses in the following
-year--40 in Scotland, 40 in Ireland, and 120 in England. Meanwhile,
-for the year beginning in January 1630, he recommended that ten or
-twelve busses should be bought in Holland, six Dutchmen to serve in
-each for the year; and that the necessary salt and timber for casks
-for curing the herrings should be got at Dunkirk from the prizes taken
-from the Dutch. As the cost of ten new busses built in England, fully
-equipped, would amount to £8390, including the cost of maintenance for
-four months, the plan suggested would be the best, and it was proposed
-to raise the money required by the “contributions of such adventurers
-as may be persuaded upon hope of the gains and by privileges from
-his Majesty.” It was intended that the busses should fish along with
-the Dutch on the east coast, beginning like them at Bressay Sound,
-Shetland, on 23rd June, and the herrings were to be put ashore to be
-repacked, after the Dutch method, at Aberdeen, Tynemouth, and Yarmouth.
-Supplementary to the busses, it was proposed to have six “doggers” to
-fish for cod and ling at Orkney and Shetland in the spring.
-
-With respect to the second head, the prospect of obtaining markets for
-the produce, Coke said that English fishermen did not catch above 2000
-lasts of herrings in a year, of which not more than 1000 lasts were
-consumed in England;[401] and he calculated that the ten busses would
-catch another thousand lasts, which he thought might be mostly exported
-to Prussia and along the German coast. The first step in carrying out
-the scheme was to form a company to raise a capital of about £11,000 or
-£12,000, and a committee was appointed for the purpose.[402]
-
-Coke’s scheme, which, like all the others, was based upon a close
-imitation of the Dutch system, met with great favour from the king
-and the court. Further consideration, moreover, led the promoters
-to believe that the success of the enterprise would be increased if
-operations were also undertaken at the Lewes instead of being confined
-to the east coast, and various schemes were propounded with this end in
-view. The suggestion appears to have emanated from Captain John Mason,
-and it was made at a time when the island was a bone of contention
-between the royal burghs of Scotland and the Earl of Seaforth, who had
-obtained from the king a charter to “erect” Stornoway into a royal
-burgh.[403] The burghs strenuously resisted the confirmation of this
-charter and refused to give effect to it, all the more since Seaforth
-had settled at Stornoway a number of Dutch people who were engaged
-in the fisheries there. From an interesting report by a Captain John
-Dymes, who visited Lewis in 1630 at the request of certain members
-of the Privy Council, and apparently in the interest of the proposed
-fishery society, we learn that the Dutch had been fishing there with
-great success. Their four busses, each with twenty-five nets and a crew
-of sixteen men, caught 300 lasts of herrings in three months, which
-were sold at Dantzic for 400 guilders or about £38 a last, which Dymes
-calculated would total £11,400, showing, after charges had been met,
-a gain for the three months’ work of £7500.[404] The Scottish burghs
-protested against the introduction of the Hollanders, which they said
-would ruin the whole trade and navigation of the kingdom and completely
-destroy the native fisheries. They petitioned the Privy Council to
-restrain strangers from resorting to the North and West Isles, pointing
-out that from the numbers of the Hollanders, their numerous ships
-and great commerce, they would draw the whole trade of the country
-into their hands, as they had done everywhere they had gone; and in
-a petition to the king they accused them of “great oppressions” in
-the Isles and on the coasts of the kingdom, and declared that by a
-“pretendit libertie obtenit of his father” they were “the over-throwes
-of the haill fischeing of this cuntry.”[405]
-
-Mr John Hay, the Town-Clerk of Edinburgh, was despatched to London to
-the king, to ask that the country might be freed of the objectionable
-Hollanders and the Seaforth charter withdrawn; and to declare that the
-Scottish burghs would themselves undertake the whole of the fishings
-at the Lewes and erect a burgh there. Secretary Coke, full of the
-fishery scheme, took advantage of Hay’s presence to obtain from him a
-detailed account of Lewis and its fisheries, and of the Dutch fishings
-on the coast of Scotland, which, it was said, sometimes employed a
-fleet of 3000 busses; and from the information acquired an “estimate
-of the charge of a fishing to be established in the island of Lewes
-in Scotland” was prepared. This document showed that ten Scottish
-fisher-boats, of from twenty-five to thirty tons each, might be bought
-for £1200, and other ten boats, of twelve to fourteen tons, for a
-proportionately smaller sum. Each of the large boats was to be equipped
-with 120 nets of twenty yards in length, and the smaller boats with
-forty nets of the same dimensions; and it was calculated that with a
-stock of £6743, 6s. 8d. a clear profit of £18,270 might be earned in
-one year.
-
-This alluring prospect was no doubt encouraging to Coke and his
-friends; but he learned from Hay some further information which must
-have been disquieting. He was told that the Scottish people would not
-permit any foreigners to fish within twenty-eight miles of their coast,
-or within the lochs, the fishings there being reserved for the natives;
-that by the laws of Scotland any stranger found fishing within these
-limits was liable to confiscation of goods and loss of life, citing
-as an example the story of the barbarous treatment by James V. of the
-Dutch fishermen who had transgressed the “reserved waters” by fishing
-in the Firth of Forth.[406] This point about the reserved waters was
-indeed the main difficulty which soon confronted the fishery scheme.
-To be successful, the fishing must be carried on along the Scottish
-coast and at the Isles, for it was there the great shoals of herrings
-resorted, but the objections of the Scottish Parliament, Council, and
-burghs had first to be overcome.[407]
-
-The first important step was a declaration by the king of his
-intentions. On 12th July he wrote to the Privy Council of Scotland,
-laying before them his scheme for a great fishery association. With
-the advice of his Privy Council in England, he said, he had maturely
-considered that “als weill in thankfulnesse to Almighty God as for the
-benefite of all our loving subjects we ought no longer to neglect that
-great blessing offered unto us in the great abundance of fishe upon all
-the coasts of these Yllands. To the end we may at lenth injoy with more
-honnour these rights whiche properlie belong to our imperiall crowne
-and ar vsurped by strangers, We have considered of a way whiche in
-tyme by God’s favour may produce this good effect and also increasse
-our navigatioun and trade. And becaus this worke concerneth equallie
-all our three Kingdomes and must thairfoir be vndertakin and ordered
-by commoun counsell and assistance,” he had taken the opportunity of a
-meeting of the Scottish Parliament to send his “instructions” on the
-subject by his Secretary for Scotland, Sir William Alexander.[408]
-
-In his instructions the king, after a preamble reciting the abundance
-of fish on our coasts, the benefit which was reaped by strangers, “to
-the great disparagement and prejudice” of his loving subjects, declared
-his “firm resolution” to set up a “commoun fishing to be a nurserie
-of seamen and to increase the shipping and trade in all parts of his
-dominions,” and added--what must have been unwelcome news to the
-Scottish burghs and people--that as it was to be a “common benefit” to
-all the three kingdoms, so it could not be “dividedly enjoyed” by any
-one nation in particular. The Council were enjoined to take the matter
-into serious consideration, and to give their advice and assistance in
-bringing it to a successful issue; and as it was necessary to raise a
-“great stock” from adventurers, who would not be drawn into the scheme
-except by hope of great and immediate gains, an estimate of the outlays
-and profits was submitted to the Council, showing that 200 busses would
-earn a clear profit of £165,414 in a single year, after paying all
-costs.[409]
-
-Sir William Alexander was also requested to ascertain how many busses
-and how much money might be contributed in Scotland, and he was to urge
-the Council to confer on the subject with the nobility and gentry,
-and especially with the burghs. Moreover, as it was not thought to
-be feasible to manage the whole project by one common joint-stock,
-the king advised that subsidiary companies should be formed in the
-principal town or burgh of each province, to be related to one central
-body or corporation. No foreigners were to be admitted as members of
-the company, although they might be employed as servants. All the
-adventurers, whether English, Irish, or Scottish, were to be allowed to
-fish freely “in all places and at all times”; and the king signified
-that as the Lewes was “the most proper seate for a continuall fishing
-along the westerne coasts,” it was his resolve to take it from the Earl
-of Seaforth into his own hands, as “adherent” to the crown, and to
-erect one or more free burghs in the Isles. If difficulties arose in
-the acceptance of the scheme, the Lords of Council were to be asked to
-appoint commissioners to treat with those he would nominate to act on
-behalf of England and Ireland.
-
-The king’s proposals were brought before the Scottish Parliament on
-29th July 1630, and remitted to a large committee to report upon
-them.[410] They were ill-received in Scotland. The free burghs in
-particular opposed the scheme with great energy. They had brought about
-the withdrawal of the charter obtained by the Earl of Seaforth, and
-were negotiating among themselves for the formation of a company to
-carry on the fishing at the Lewes and establish a free burgh there.
-But the charter of the Highland Earl was a small thing to the scheme
-of the king. They saw in it an invasion of their special rights and
-privileges in trading and fish-curing, which had been conferred on
-them and confirmed by many Acts of Parliament, not merely at the Lewes
-but throughout the country. The “reserved waters,” moreover, sacredly
-preserved for the industry and sustenance of their own people, were to
-be thrown open to Englishmen and Irish, whereby the nation would suffer
-greatly.[411]
-
-On 9th August a statement was drawn up by the Convention and circulated
-to all the burghs, in which their opinion was asked as to whether any
-association with England in the fishings was expedient; whether the
-English should be suffered to “plant” or settle in any part of the
-Isles; whether, if the burghs undertook the fishing themselves, they
-should allow the nobility and gentry to “stock” with them, and if so
-on what conditions; and if not, whether the burghs should undertake
-it themselves by a company or by burgesses, and what sums might be
-subscribed for an exclusive company. On the following day it was
-complained in the Convention that, though the king had cancelled the
-patent to the Earl of Seaforth, the “Flemings” still remained in the
-Lewes; and the burghs thereupon decided that as the Privy Council had
-appointed commissioners from each of the Estates of Parliament to treat
-on the king’s proposals, their own commissioner, Mr John Hay, should be
-empowered to deal with the king in order to have the “Flemings” removed
-and the fishing “devolvit in thair hands”; to “stay” the proposed
-association with the English, or the plantation of strangers at any
-part of the kingdom where fishing was carried on; and to cause the
-“Flemings” to forbear from fishing on the Scottish coasts, “or not to
-cum neirer to the schoire of anie pairt of this kingdome than ane land
-kenning of the said schoire.”
-
-Meantime a smaller committee which had been appointed by Parliament,
-no doubt under the inspiration of the opposition of the burghs,
-reported against the association with England in the fishings. Such
-a course, they said, would be “verie inconvenient to the estait; and
-tuiching the land fishing, whilk consists in fishing within loches and
-yles and twenty aucht myles frome the land, and whilk is proper to the
-natives, and whairof they have been in continuall possessioun and neuer
-interrupted thairin be the Hollanders,”--a statement inconsistent with
-the frequent complaints made by the burghs in the reign of James. The
-burghs, they said, were able and content to undertake the “said land
-fishing” by themselves, without “communicating” therein with any other
-nation; and as for the buss-fishing, to which the king’s proposals
-specially referred, they stated that the season for it that year was
-passed, and that as it was a matter of great importance, it required
-time for consideration. The burghs reported to Parliament in the same
-sense.[412]
-
-Thus Charles, in endeavouring to carry out his laudable desire to
-create a great national fishery to oust the Hollander from his seas,
-had suddenly raised against him a Scottish claim of _mare clausum_,
-which he found very provoking. Not only did the Scottish Parliament
-declare that a great extent of the sea around Scotland pertained
-exclusively to the natives so far as concerned fishing, but they
-coupled this with the request that the king should exclude foreigners
-from fishing within that area. It must be said that, apart altogether
-from the unwritten law as to the “reserved” waters pertaining to
-Scotland, the Scottish people had some ground of complaint against
-the king for his sudden proposal to open up the whole of their seas
-and lochs to the English; for it was well known that in the Draft
-Treaty of Union which James had caused to be prepared in 1604, and
-which would also have conferred important privileges on Scotland in
-matters of trade, words had been inserted reserving to each nation the
-fishings within all lochs, firths, and bays within land and up to a
-distance of fourteen miles from the coast. This treaty was drawn up by
-commissioners appointed by the respective Parliaments, the most active
-of whom were Secretary Lord Cecil (afterwards Earl of Salisbury) and
-the illustrious Sir Francis (afterwards Lord) Bacon on the English
-side, and Lord President Fyvie and Sir Thomas Hamilton (later Earls of
-Dunfermline and Haddington) on the part of the Scots. It was signed by
-thirty-nine of the forty-four English and by twenty-eight of the thirty
-Scottish commissioners; it was approved by the king and adopted by the
-Scottish Parliament, and it was thus an instrument of high authority
-with respect to the delimitation of the waters of exclusive fishing.
-The clause in the treaty dealing with freedom of commerce contained
-the reservation referred to, which was as follows: “Exceptand also and
-reserveand to Scottishmen thair trade of fisheing within thair loches,
-ffirthis, and bayis within land, and in the seas within fourtene mylis
-of the costis of the realme of Scotland, wheir nather Englishmen nor
-ony stranger or forinaris haue use to fishe, and soe reciprocally in
-the point of fisheing on the behalfe of England.”
-
-Unfortunately, the treaty was never ratified by the English Parliament,
-and therefore did not come into force. But the objection of the English
-members was not in the least degree founded upon the reservation of
-fishing rights, but upon the nationalisation clauses, which caused them
-to dread the influx of an army of “hungry Scots” into England, Scotsmen
-being at the time very unpopular in London.[413]
-
-The stipulation in the treaty of 1604 was now brought to mind in the
-negotiations on Charles’s fishing scheme. These negotiations, which
-were carried on for more than two years, were conducted on the part of
-Scotland with an ingenuity and refinement of procrastination scarcely
-surpassed by the Dutch in the previous reign.
-
-After the report above mentioned, a large committee was appointed to
-discuss the business with the English authorities, and to report to
-the meeting of Parliament in November. Accordingly, on 3rd November
-the committee submitted the report of their proceedings with the
-English commissioners, which was signed by the Earl of Monteith, the
-President of the Council. They understood, they said, that the general
-fishing proposed by the king referred only to those fishings of which
-the benefit was exclusively reaped by strangers (that is to say, to
-deep-sea buss-fishing), and did not in any way touch the fishings which
-were enjoyed by the natives of any of the three kingdoms, so that the
-laws and freedom of every kingdom might be preserved, as indeed was
-“contained in the said instructions.” It was therefore necessary, they
-said, in the first place, that such fishings “in everie kingdom whiche
-ar onely injoyed be the natives be made known,” and that it should be
-clearly determined what those fishings were which were called “common
-benefits” that could not be “dividedly enjoyed.” With their eyes
-probably on the fate of the nationalisation clauses in the Draft Treaty
-of 1604, they declared it to be desirable that Scottish adventurers in
-the proposed association should be naturalised in England; and with
-reference to the commodities brought back for exported fish, they said
-it was necessary to inquire how the return for the fishes exported
-out of each kingdom should be made to the kingdom in which they were
-actually taken. As to founding a burgh in the Lewes, that, they said,
-would be an infraction of the rights of the existing burghs.
-
-The reply of the English commissioners was somewhat vague and general.
-It was, however, made clear that the king’s intention was that every
-member, or “brother,” of the company should be free to fish “in places
-near and remote, where common fishing is, or may be, used by any of his
-people,” this “mutual participation being the bond of union and sole
-means to recover his Majesty’s right and power at sea, and to enrich
-all his subjects, and those chiefly where the greatest fishings are.”
-On the other points they said, in effect, that the king would do what
-was best.
-
-A letter from the king to the Parliament was also read, expressing his
-desire that the business should be advanced, as it would be “a worke
-of great consequence for the generall good of our whole kingdome, and
-more particularlie for the benefite of that our ancient kingdome” by
-the improvement of its trade and shipping. So anxious was Charles for
-the success of his enterprise, that he added a postscript in his own
-hand, in which he said: “This is a worke of so great good to both my
-kingdomes that I have thought good by these few lynes of my owne hand
-seriouslie to recommend it unto yow. The furthering or hindering of
-whiche will ather oblige me or disoblige me more then anie one business
-that hes happened in my tyme.” He also sent a letter to the burghs to
-mollify them, saying that it was in no ways intended that they should
-be wronged in their ancient privileges or benefits; and he requested
-Parliament to appoint commissioners charged with absolute powers to
-settle the matter with the English commissioners, so that there should
-not be undue delay.[414]
-
-The Parliament thereupon appointed commissioners, on 11th November
-1630, to treat with those of England.[415] Nominally they were given
-full powers to treat, but their instructions, dated 23rd December,
-were so detailed and remarkable that it must have been obvious to
-every one that rapid progress was not intended. Nothing was to be
-done prejudicial or derogatory to the liberties and privileges of the
-kingdom, the crown, or the laws of Scotland; special care was to be
-taken that the natives of Scotland were to be preferred in the choice
-of the best places for establishing “magazines” for the fishery, and
-that the places appointed for the English should be such as would not
-prejudice the “land fishing” of the Scotch; the Scottish members of the
-association were to have the same privileges and immunities, with power
-to erect magazines, in England and Ireland; English members who settled
-in Scotland were to be debarred from fishing in the reserved waters, or
-from buying fish from the natives, except for their own sustenance, as
-well as from any trade or commerce, unless for the same purpose; they
-were to be prohibited from importing or exporting commodities except
-fishes taken by their own vessels, and they were to pay customs and
-other duties for the fish they cured in Scotland and exported--and many
-other conditions were laid down which showed how little the Parliament
-had been moved by the personal appeal of the king.[416]
-
-With respect to the fundamental question, the limits of the territorial
-seas pertaining to Scotland, the demands of the Parliament went much
-further than any previous claim. The old principle of division by the
-mid-line, which was held by some lawyers in the reign of Elizabeth,
-was now put forward. The commissioners were instructed to take care
-that a clause was inserted in the treaty to make it clear, “that the
-seas foreanent the coasts of this kingdome and about the Yles thairof
-and all that is interjected betuix thame and that mid-lyne in the seas
-whilk is equallie distant and divyding frome the opposite land, ar the
-Scotish Seas properlie belonging to the crowne of Scotland, and that
-the English hes no right nor libertie to fishe thairin, nor in no part
-thairof, bot be vertew of the association and not otherwayes.” But
-while these were the Scottish seas ideally regarded, English members
-of the association were to be permitted to fish in them, except in
-the waters which were reserved to the Scottish people in the Draft
-Treaty of Union of 1604--namely, bays, firths, and lochs within land,
-and a belt of fourteen miles along the coast. These waters were to be
-strictly preserved for the native fishermen.[417]
-
-The instructions which the burghs gave to their representative, Mr John
-Hay, although less ample, were equally to the point. He was to agree
-to the proposal for the establishment of an English settlement at the
-Lewes, provided they did not fish in the reserved waters, and had no
-magazines or settlements in any of the other West or North Isles, or
-north of Buchan Ness or Cromarty, and not at Aberdeen if they wished
-any south of Buchan Ness; and the burghs were also to have the right
-to establish colonies at the Lewes. In “retribution,” as they said,
-for these privileges to be granted to the English in Scotland, they
-required the “liberty” of the pilchard-fishing in England and Ireland,
-with equal privileges regarding it. The king was also to remove the
-“Flemings” from the Isles, and to prohibit them and all other strangers
-from fishing within a “land-kenning” (that is, within a distance at
-which the land was visible from the sea), and power was to be conferred
-upon the burghs, with the assistance of the Sheriffs and other officers
-to prevent their fishing nearer. “Hamburgers, Bremeners,” and all
-other strangers, were also to be removed furth of Shetland, Orkney,
-Caithness, and other places.[418]
-
-A week or two before the Scottish commissioners were selected, Charles
-issued a commission appointing Lord Weston (High Treasurer of England),
-the Earl of Arundel and Surrey (Earl Marshal), the Earl of Pembroke
-(Lord Chamberlain), the Earl of Suffolk (Lord Warden of the Cinque
-Ports), and eight others as commissioners on behalf of England and
-Ireland.[419] His object, he said, was to establish a “common” fishing,
-both to be a nursery of seamen and for the increase of navigation,
-and “to make the store of fish of all kinds, being a necessary food
-for the people on fish-days, to be had at reasonable prices, and the
-overplus thereof to be a principal addition to the staple commodities
-of our kingdom for the increase of trade.” In order that this common
-fishing might be extended and freely exercised in “all places by his
-subjects of each of the three kingdoms,” he appointed them “with full
-power and authority to confer severally and jointly, and to consider,
-treat, propose, determine and conclude what they concurrently found fit
-and expedient for the ordering, establishing, and advancing of the said
-common fishing.” Power was also given to them to call for any of the
-records in the Tower or elsewhere which might bear upon their labours.
-
-The commissioners from both countries met early in 1631. In March
-the Privy Council of Scotland received a report from the Scottish
-commissioners in London, stating that several meetings with the English
-commissioners had been held, and that the extent of the waters proposed
-to be reserved “was thought too much,” unless it could be shown that
-“the intention was only to reserve so much without which the natives
-could not subsist, and not to hinder the good public work,” and they
-craved full and particular instructions on this point. The Privy
-Council at once summoned the Lord Provost and Bailies of Edinburgh
-before them to furnish the information required, but they replied that
-it was a subject which concerned all the burghs, and that time must be
-given to consult them. After some further delay the burghs submitted
-an elaborate and interesting report to the Council on 21st April, in
-which, after citing the clause in the Draft Treaty of Union, they
-proceeded to define the bounds of the waters “without the whiche the
-countrie can not subsist,” and “whiche trewlie is the bounds whairupon
-if anie stranger sall resort this countrie sall suffer utter ruine.”
-These bounds were as follows:--
-
- “Vpon the east side of Scotland, frome Sanct Tabsheid [St Abb’s Head]
-in the shiredom of Beruick directlie north to the Reidhead in Angus
-whiche comprehends the coast of the Merce, Lothiane, the Firth, Fyfe
-and ane part of the coast of Angus, and 14 myles without the course
-frome the said Sanct Tabsheid to the Reidhead. Frome the Reidhead
-north north-east alongs the coast of Angus, Mernes, Mar and Buchan
-to Buchannesse, northwards and be north to Dungisbeyheid [Duncansby
-Head] in Caithnes, comprehending thairin the coast of Bamf and Murrey
-upon the south side, Murrey firth and the coast of Rosse, Sutherland
-and ane part of Caithnes vpon the north, and fourtene myles without
-the course frome the said Buchannesse to the said Dungisbiehead,
-and frome the same Dungsbie in Caithnes west alongs the coast of
-Caithnes and Strathnauer to Farrayheid in Stranauer [Cape Wrath],
-and fourteine myles aff the said coast, with fourtene myles round
-about the yles of Orkney and Yetland. Frome the Farrayheid alongs the
-coast of Stranauer to the head of Stoir of Assint [Stoir Head] and
-14 myles aff the said coast, and frome the said heid of Stoir Assint
-directlie west north-west to the eastmost point of the yle of the
-Lewes, comprehending thairin the haill seas interjected betuixt the
-said heid of Stoir of Assint and eastmost point of the said yle of
-the Lewes, with all the yles and loches within the same, and 14 myles
-without the course frome the said heid of the Stoir of Assint to the
-said east point of the Lewes; frome the said eastmost point of the
-Lewes south about the haill yles of the Lewes to the westmost part of
-Barra, and 14 myles without the samine; frome the said westmost part
-of Barra n-west, south, south-east to southmost part of the yle of Yla
-[Islay], frome the said southmost part of yla south-east to the mull
-of Kintyre, frome the said mull of Kintyre n-west, south-east, to the
-mull of Gallouay: Whiche bounds frome the said heid of Stoir Assint
-west north-west to the eastmost point of the Lewes and frome thence
-south to Bara be Yla, and mull of Kintyre to the mull of Gallouay,
-comprehends the haill west yles and loches within the samine with the
-loches vpon the mayne of Stranauer, Tarbet, Lochaber, Kintyre, Argyle,
-Renfrew, Cuninghame, Kyle, Carrick, Gallouay, Quhithorne; alongs the
-coast of Gallouay eastward to Solloway [Solway] sands and 14 myles
-aff the said coast. Quhilk bounds above designed being so necessar
-both for the haill lieges living vpon the saids coasts and yles, as if
-these sould be exhausted be strangers of fishes, they sould be depryved
-of all benefite of living and so be tyme bring ane vtter desolatioun
-vpon the land, as lykeways so necessar for ws of the borrowes [burghs]
-as without the said fishing the most part of our inhabitants sould
-be brought to extreem miserie. Quhairfoir we of the burrowes doe
-humbelie beseeke your Lordships to recommend the bounds abone designed
-to the saids commissioners in suche maner as they give not way that
-strangers be permitted to fishe within the saids bounds vpon anie
-conditioune.”[420]
-
- * * * * *
-
-A glance at the accompanying chart, indicating the boundary of the
-“reserved” waters as claimed by the burghs, will show how large an
-extent of the neighbouring seas was considered to be necessary for the
-subsistence of the people. Not only were all the great firths included,
-and the waters of the Minch and within the Isles, but it will be
-observed that the fourteen-mile limit around a very great part of the
-coast was drawn, not from the shore, but from an ideal straight line
-uniting the headlands.
-
-When this report from the burghs was submitted to the Privy Council,
-they professed to find it “to be of too large an extent”; and they
-therefore, as they said, “out of their desire to his Majesty’s
-contentment and for the advancement of the great work,” proceeded to
-“retrench and restrict the universality of the exceptions” made by
-the burghs. The true spirit of the Council was, however, shown by the
-fact that their alternative scheme was practically the same. They
-rearranged the description of the lines at the Orkneys and Shetlands
-without diminishing the extent of the enclosed sea, and they carried
-the boundary down the east instead of the west side of the Hebrides,
-and so on to Islay. They thus reduced the area of the waters proposed
-to be reserved by omitting only the strip of fourteen miles to the west
-of the Hebrides. The Council declared that they had reserved an area
-of fourteen miles off such coasts as were well peopled, and where the
-inhabitants lived mostly by fishing, and could not possibly subsist
-and pay their rents and duties without it. They also stated that if a
-buss-fishing had been established in Scotland,[421] the fishing would
-have been reserved for the use and benefit of the country people,
-“seeing it cannot be qualified that ever any Hollanders or other
-strangers fished in these waters.”
-
-In transmitting the two schemes to the commissioners in London, on
-31st April 1631, the Council observed that at first the burghs had
-“stood very punctually” on the instructions at first issued to the
-commissioners, saying there was no need to particularise the reserved
-waters, since they had been included in the Act of Union, but that
-they had been persuaded to abandon this attitude and condescend to
-particulars. If this was not a stroke of Scotch humour, it would
-indicate that the measurement of the fourteen miles mentioned in the
-Draft Treaty was to be understood as expressed in the report of the
-burghs.[422]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 9.--_Showing the limits of the “Reserved Waters”
-claimed by Scotland._]
-
-This kind of zeal for the “great work” on the part of the Scottish
-Council and burghs was naturally displeasing to the king and the
-English commissioners. Coke fumed at the obstacles raised by the
-Scottish commissioners against the realisation of his pet scheme. They
-disclaim not the name of association, he said, but they decline the
-only way of establishing it; we propound a government, and they say
-their laws are against it; we desire freedom to fish in all places
-where, by his Majesty’s license, it may be lawfully granted to us, and
-they reply by the “reserved waters” which “would leave no more scope
-to the company than strangers now enjoy.” Nay, they even propound a
-further limitation, and request that bounds may now be set to the
-seas of England and Scotland; “which debates,” he adds, “tending to
-division, we labour to avoid.” At this time the minds of English
-statesmen had not yet become saturated with lofty ideas of the king’s
-sovereign prerogative in his seas, and Coke did not then, as he did a
-little later, make use of high arguments of that kind. But he believed
-that the opposition of Scotland would be prejudicial to the scheme,
-and that further negotiations would be vain; and he proposed that an
-English company should be formed without waiting for the concurrence
-of Scotland.[423] But Charles was more patient. In June he again sent
-Sir William Alexander, the Secretary for Scotland, to Edinburgh, and
-despatched a letter to the burghs assuring them that he would be
-careful to preserve their privileges and liberties, and another to the
-Privy Council in which he expressed his astonishment that they had
-reserved so many places, and likewise “fyftene myles [_sic_] within
-the sea distant frome everie shoarr, where it would seeme expedient
-that these of the association for this generall fishing, as they have
-libertie to land in any place, paying the ordinarie dewteis, sould
-lykewayes be free to fish where ever they ar to passe.” He plainly told
-the Council that while he was willing to reserve for the natives all
-such fishings without which they could not well subsist, and which they
-of themselves “have and doe fullie fishe,” he would not allow anything
-to be reserved which might hinder the general work which was so
-important for all the kingdoms; and he enjoined them to give their best
-attention to everything that would conduce to the accomplishment of
-his desire. In a later letter to the President of the Council, Charles
-expressed his fears that if the places proposed were reserved the
-great business of the fishing would be put in hazard.[424] On receipt
-of the king’s letter, the Council, on 28th July, summoned before them
-the representatives of the burghs, who on being asked if they were
-yet resolved on their answer, said they were not; they were thereupon
-requested to consider the matter and to report at the meeting on 21st
-September.
-
-The resolute attitude of the king was not without its effect. The
-burghs now modified their demands, but they still declared that it was
-necessary to reserve the “Firth of Lothian” within a line between St
-Abb’s Head and Red Head; the Moray Firth within a line between Buchan
-Ness and Duncansby Head; the Firth of Clyde between the Mulls of
-Galloway and Cantyre, and also the waters within fourteen miles along
-the coast between Red Head and Buchan Ness. They further desired that a
-space of fourteen miles outside the boundary lines of the Firths should
-be reserved, but on this point they stated their willingness to submit
-themselves to the king.[425]
-
-The modified proposals of the burghs were submitted to the Privy
-Council on 22nd September by certain noblemen, gentry, and
-commissioners of the burghs, and an additional reason for reserving
-the fourteen miles along the coast between Red Head and Buchan Ness
-was now brought forward. If this space were opened to buss-fishing, it
-would, they said, ruin the salmon-fishings of the Dee, Don, Ythan,
-and the two Esks, “to the great prejudice of the whole kingdom.” The
-question of the reserved waters at the Isles and on the west coast
-had not been dealt with by the burghs, and the Council asked them to
-report on these. The burghs thereupon modified their original demands,
-specifying certain places that should be reserved, where the fishings
-had been continually carried on by Scottish fishermen and merchants,
-who were able, they said, to undertake and fish the same “to the full,”
-and within which no stranger had ever been admitted to fish. These
-places were as follows: (1) all lochs on the mainland between Farryhead
-(Cape Wrath) and the Kyle, together with Loch Hourn on the south side
-of Kyle; (2) the east side of Lewes, Uist, Barra, and “Muggersland” (?
-Mull), and the lochs of the same, together with the Broad Loch and the
-“Bybleheid” on the north-east part of the Lewes; (3) “Lochusherd” (?
-Loch Eishort) in Skye; (4) between the islands and the mainland, from
-“Farayhead” to the north-east point of Lewis, and for fourteen miles
-without the line between them it was “absolutely necessary,” for the
-good of the fishings in the lochs above mentioned, that no buss-fishing
-should be permitted. All the salmon-fishings were to be wholly reserved
-for the natives, and the burghs expressed the wish that fourteen miles
-around the Orkneys and Shetlands should also be reserved, but they
-referred this to the king. The question of the remaining lochs on the
-mainland between the Kyle and the Mull of Cantyre, and of the waters
-on the “backside” of Lewis, Uist, Barra, “Muggersland,” and Skye,
-except those previously mentioned, was to be “remitted” to the king’s
-consideration.[426]
-
-The Council forwarded these propositions to London, and the burghs
-instructed their own commissioner in a like sense, but with an
-important qualification as to the Hollanders fishing on the coast
-of Scotland. The king was to be informed of the great oppressions
-and wrongs suffered by his subjects from the encroachment of the
-Dutch on the seas and coasts of the kingdom, at Shetland and Orkney,
-and lately at the Lewes. If these encroachments were allowed to
-continue, the burghs declared that the rich fishings would be made
-quite unprofitable, and they appealed to the king “to free the seas
-of Scotland and the Isles of the busses of the said Northlands
-(Netherlands),” and of other strangers, from Hamburg and Bremen,
-resorting to Orkney and Shetland. At the very least, they said, he
-ought to free the seas of the Dutch busses or fishing-boats “for the
-space of twenty-eight or fourteen miles, and to discharge them to have
-any fishing near the coasts of the said mainland or isles.” If the
-king would do this, the burghs promised to further to the utmost of
-their power “his Majesty’s most royal work of fishing,” to supply the
-proportional number of busses that might fall to their part, and to
-consent that liberty should be granted to Englishmen and Irishmen to
-fish in all the waters around Scotland, except the Firths of Lothian,
-Moray, and Clyde, and those reserved for salmon-fishing; but they would
-only agree to this on the condition stated and not otherwise. They
-also asked that the buss-fishing should not be allowed at the Lewes,
-that it should begin on the east coast on 24th June and the fishing at
-the Isles on 1st September, and that they should receive equal liberty
-to fish in the seas of England and Ireland for pilchards and white
-fish.[427]
-
-In the debates between the Scottish and English commissioners in
-London, at most of which the king was present,[428] Coke exerted
-himself to reconcile the differences that existed. He adroitly
-pointed out that, as the complaints from Scotland showed, strangers
-now possessed their fishings, and said they would be able to oust
-them only by degrees and by making the most of the natural advantages
-on the sea which both nations had. And while claiming that all the
-fisheries in the British seas (and even in America) belonged to the
-crown, and that there could not therefore be, strictly considered, any
-right to “reserve” certain of them, still the king, by the undoubted
-right of sovereignty he had in all his seas, had power to give license
-of fishing within them, either to subjects or foreigners as he might
-think fit, and by his royal prerogative alone he could establish the
-proposed company “whereby all his subjects which are brethren thereof
-may enjoy that fishing by right which strangers have by usurpation in
-our seas.”[429] By this time the Scottish commissioners were becoming
-reconciled to the proposal of forming the society on very much the
-original plan, and their opposition, perhaps partly from the presence
-of Charles at the conferences, was beginning to give way. They had been
-told, too, in answer to some of their objections, that while it was
-the king’s intention to maintain existing rights, all their liberties
-depended wholly upon the king’s grace, and he had expressed his purpose
-that his Council in both kingdoms should advise them in anything that
-required further consideration. It was much to be desired, they were
-told, that his Majesty’s clear intentions should prevail with them as
-they had done with the English commissioners, not to question, but to
-advance and settle so needful a work.[430]
-
-Charles himself came forward to help them with an alternative plan
-to that of the “reserved waters.” The ground upon which the claim
-to the latter was based had gradually shifted. The initial argument
-that the surrounding seas pertained to Scotland as an independent
-kingdom--that they were the “seas of Scotland”--had been disposed of
-by the declaration that the right to the sea and to its fisheries was
-a prerogative of the crown; and it could not be denied that though
-no union of the kingdoms had taken place, there certainly had been
-union of the crowns. The question of the prerogative was a thorny one,
-which the Scottish commissioners had to avoid; and the claim to the
-reserved waters was now made solely on behalf of the poor inhabitants
-of certain parts of the coast, who subsisted mainly by their fishing in
-the sea, and would, it was said, be reduced to poverty and indigence
-unless these waters were reserved for their exclusive use. To meet
-this objection, Coke proposed a resolution at one of the meetings that
-the king should be asked to lay down a regulation to guard against
-interference with the poor fishermen at the places where the fishing
-of the company would be carried on, and at the next meeting a draft in
-the king’s handwriting, perhaps laid on the table by Charles himself,
-was read as follows: “The English commissioners desire to take away
-all showes of wordes that may show diffidence between the two nations,
-and hauing heard that the Scots commissioners are to desire some
-places to be reserved from the company or association, it is conceived
-this to be the fitter way:--That instead of those reservations, that
-the association should appoint the same fishermen that now fishe in
-them, [so that they] may continue as particular company of the said
-association, and to be subject [to] the law of the same, and are
-willing that no others should fish in those places, [unless] it be
-found upon examination that those places may admit more fishermen than
-those that now fish in them, and in that case the great committee
-of the association shall add such to them as they shall think fit,
-desiring them always to remember that the said committee is compounded
-equally of both nations.”[431] The king’s proposition was in keeping
-with the intention of Coke, “to bring all private fishing vessels under
-the company,” and though it was obviously impracticable, it furnished a
-plausible argument against the claim to reserved waters.
-
-After further conferences a number of articles were agreed to: That
-an association should be established, with no joint-stock except that
-received from those who voluntarily joined the undertaking; that a
-standing committee of the two nations in equal numbers should be
-formed, some of whom were to be appointed, also equally from both
-nations, to judge of controversies amongst the busses according to
-regulations to be made, with the right of appeal to the standing
-committee. Two hundred busses were “propounded” for the first year;
-“whereof,” said the Scots commissioners, “wee gott to advise what
-number we would undertake, but our answer was never yet sought; always
-we intend, God willing, to sett out 100 busses.” The main point, in
-regard to the reserved waters or fishing-places, was left for the
-king’s consideration. Finally, the king was to be asked to give order
-for drawing up the charter of association.[432]
-
-In July 1632 Charles was able to announce that the difficulties were
-overcome and the negotiations completed, to his “great contentment,”
-and with the mutual consent of both parties. Desirous of removing as
-soon as possible the causes of the complaints which had been made
-by the burghs, he wrote to the Privy Council at Edinburgh about the
-great wrongs done by the Dutch inhabiting the Lewes and fishing
-there “against the laws of that our kingdom,” instructing them to put
-in force a decree which had been previously issued at the request
-of the burghs, to prevent all strangers from trading or fishing
-there or at Shetland.[433] He also requested the Council to prohibit
-unseasonable fishing for herrings at Ballantrae Bank near the mouth
-of the Clyde, which, he had been informed, was very injurious to the
-herring fisheries on the west coast of Scotland, the Isles, and the
-neighbouring coast of Ireland, by destroying the fry of herrings at
-unseasonable times, which, he was informed, if they were spared, might
-produce such plenty in all these coasts as might very much advance
-the intended work of fishing. At the same time he declared that it
-was necessary to establish settlements for the fishings at the Isles,
-and the Council were asked to take sureties from the landlords of
-the Isles, and of the lochs of the mainland, against violations or
-oppressions on those of the association engaged in fishing there, and
-from exacting any duties or impositions from them. The Council was also
-invited to take into serious consideration the Act of the Scottish
-Parliament “of 4 James IV.” respecting the building of busses by the
-noblemen, and to use their best means to put it into execution.[434]
-The nobility and gentry of Scotland were apparently expected to build
-forty busses for fishing on both coasts, at an estimated cost of
-£10,960; and in addition to equip them with nets, salt, casks, and
-victuals.[435]
-
-On the all-important question of the reserved waters the king did not
-grant the “irreducible minimum” of the burghs. The condition which
-the burghs attached to their surrender of everything except the three
-great Firths, that is, the exclusion of the Hollanders from fishing
-on the coasts of Scotland, was in the meantime nominally met by the
-instructions to the Council mentioned above. In two or three years, as
-we shall see, when his naval power was greater, he would attempt to
-carry out their desire in quite a forcible and dramatic way. Charles
-would not concede the Moray Firth as an exclusive preserve for the
-Scottish fishermen, but he gave up to them the Firth of Lothian within
-a straight line from St Abb’s Head to Red Head in Forfarshire, and also
-the Firth of Clyde within a line drawn between the Mulls of Galloway
-and Cantyre; because, as he said, the inhabitants of the coasts of
-these parts were chiefly maintained by the fishing within them and
-could not well subsist otherwise. These waters were therefore to be
-reserved to Scottish fishermen, “according to ancient custom.”[436]
-
-Everything having been arranged to the king’s satisfaction, he issued a
-commission providing for the establishment of a Fishery Society under
-the great seal of both kingdoms, which was approved by the Scottish
-Parliament on 7th September 1632.[437] The Society was to consist of
-twelve councillors appointed by the king, six of them to be English or
-Irish and six to be Scots,[438] and also a “commonalty” composed of
-a large number of noblemen and other persons. They were empowered to
-appoint officers, to make laws, and to punish transgressions. In every
-“province” of the kingdom and in the towns most convenient, “judges”
-were to be elected by the resident members to settle disputes and make
-regulations. The members, their servants and fishermen, were favoured
-by certain immunities and privileges; they and their vessels were
-exempt from impressment for the king’s service and relieved of certain
-civil obligations. They were to be free to fish for sea-fish wherever
-they pleased “within his Majesty’s seas” and dominions, and at the
-isles pertaining thereto, as well as in the “lochs, creeks, bays and
-estuaries” wherever herrings or sea-fish were or might be taken, except
-in such creeks or firths as might be reserved in a proclamation of the
-king. On the trading side of the enterprise, they were to be at liberty
-to carry the fish to any place within the kingdom, “as well within free
-burghs as without them,” to salt, dry, and barrel them, to erect the
-necessary buildings and magazines, and to dispose of the fish as they
-thought best, within the realm, or to export them either in their own
-vessels or in others. Other clauses prohibited any person not a member
-of the Society from exporting, or causing to be exported, abroad any
-sea-fish taken within, or brought within, his Majesty’s dominions.
-Charles and his advisers aimed at no less a thing than to bring the
-whole of the sea fisheries and fish-curing industries of the country,
-as well as the foreign exports, under the control of the Council of the
-Society. The whole business was then to be organised and developed in
-such a manner that the Dutch fishermen would be driven from the British
-seas, and the nation to which they belonged deprived of the commanding
-position which, it was believed, their fisheries had been the chief
-means of conferring.
-
-But the patience and perseverance of Charles in wearing out the
-opposition of Scotland to his scheme, and in giving it the semblance
-of a national design, were most inadequately rewarded. Like almost
-everything to which he put his hand, the fishery association failed
-miserably. The Scottish burghs promised to equip sixty busses for
-the fishing in the following year, but in point of fact the Scottish
-people took scarcely any part in the operations of the Society. The
-London merchants, canvassed personally by Sir Thomas Roe and appealed
-to by Pembroke, also held aloof. They gave “fair answers,” but kept
-their money. The subscriptions, or stock, came almost exclusively
-from persons about the Court, from naval officers and others desirous
-of preferment. The first meeting of the Council was called for 24th
-January, but so few members attended that the meeting had to be
-adjourned until 19th February, when it took place in the Star Chamber.
-Oaths were administered, two silver seals were ordered (and never
-paid for) at a cost of £12, and Captain John Mason was made “Admiral
-of their fleet” of busses. Differences of opinion soon arose in the
-Council, and the Society split up into two branches or associations,
-one under Weston (now Earl of Portland),--that “man of big looks and
-of a mean and abject spirit,” as Clarendon describes him,--and after
-his death, under the Earl of Arundel; the other branch under the Earl
-of Pembroke, the Lord Chamberlain, who appears to have been almost
-the only one, besides the king and Coke, who took a sincere personal
-interest in the Society. Portland’s society had its headquarters at
-Lewis, while Pembroke’s was more particularly designed to carry on
-operations at Shetland and the east coast, but also had a station in
-the Lewes. The total amount of the subscriptions to the Society up to
-3rd February 1636 was £22,682, 10s., of which only £9914, 10s. was
-paid up, and the company had been forced to borrow £3550 at interest
-to set the scheme afloat. The stock of Portland’s association amounted
-altogether to £16,975 up to and including the year 1637, while the
-losses in the same period reached £21,071, 5s. 7d.
-
-Ground was acquired and houses and magazines for salt and casks erected
-at the Lewes,[439] and several busses were purchased in Holland by
-both associations, ready for fishing and manned entirely by Dutchmen.
-Agents despatched to Shetland and Lewis sent favourable reports of
-the prospects. “We hope,” said the one at Lewis, “to furnish London
-with some plenty against the hard times of winter”; yet the total
-quantity of herrings cured at the island in that the first year of the
-Society’s fishing was only 386 lasts, and the price obtained for them
-was so low that the loss amounted to £4261. This, according to the
-agents, was due to want of proper means of curing them (salt, casks,
-hoops, &c.), otherwise they said they might have obtained 1000 lasts
-or more. A great effort was therefore put forth in the following
-year. Preparations were made to deal with 1500 lasts, and vessels were
-chartered to carry them from Stornoway to various Continental markets.
-But less than 443 lasts were cured in the second year; some were sent
-to Dantzic and fetched “mean prices,” the rest reached London “when
-Lent was wellnigh over,” and were sent on to Dunkirk and Dantzic, the
-vessels coming back in ballast, and the loss in this year was £8163,
-19s. 4d.[440] In this way the operations of the Society went on. The
-herrings then failed to come into the lochs, and the Society turned
-its attention to the salting and exportation of beef, salmon, cod, and
-coal-fish,--a course fraught with less disastrous financial results,
-but not well calculated to carry out the objects for which it was
-founded.
-
-Ill-fortune was encountered in other directions. Both the islanders and
-the Scots from the east coast treated the English adventurers badly.
-The Bishop of the Isles and the heritors insisted on their tithes
-and dues in spite of the king’s charter. The busses were attacked
-by bands of Highlanders, armed with “swords and bows and arrows and
-other warlike weapons,” who took various articles from them in lieu
-of dues. The Lowlanders, under the leadership of “one Thomas Lindsay,
-a fisherman of Crail,” who pretended to be the deputy to the deputy
-of the Vice-Admiral of Scotland, were still less considerate. Lindsay
-“villified” their certificates, declared that King Charles had nothing
-to do with the Lewes, and vowed that “he would be the death of every
-Englishman on the island.” He forcibly seized one of the vessels laden
-with herrings which had gone ashore, on the ground that it was wreck,
-and wreck belonged to the Admiral of Scotland, and committed other
-hostile actions. The grievances of the Society became so acute, and
-redress from the Privy Council and the Admiralty Court so tardy and
-imperfect, that Charles in May 1635 appointed a commission, consisting
-of Archbishop Laud, the Earl of Pembroke, Sir Thomas Edmonds, and
-Secretaries Coke and Windebank, as judges, according to the charter, to
-deal with cases as they thought fit.
-
-Disasters at sea were even more injurious to the Society than the
-troubles ashore. Again and again the busses were taken by Dunkirk
-privateers, who threw the crews into prison and held them for ransom.
-When those freebooters came across a Dutch-built buss, with a Dutch
-crew on board, they did not quite see why they should relinquish it
-because they were told it belonged to an English society; and the
-letters of “denization” which were provided by the king did not avail
-them much.[441] Notwithstanding strong protests, prolonged negotiations
-with the Cardinal Infanta, and reprisals made by English men-of-war on
-Dunkirk shipping, the Society suffered great loss in this way.
-
-The misfortunes of the Society caused many of those who had promised
-subscriptions to withhold them. Then followed drastic measures:
-summonses before the Star Chamber, warrants for apprehension, threats
-of imprisonment, and most of the subscriptions were squeezed from the
-unwilling adventurers. On the other hand, creditors sued the Society
-for goods supplied and money lent; seamen sued it for wages; even the
-clerks had to petition the king for theirs, appropriately suggesting
-that they might be paid from the license-money that Northumberland’s
-fleet had extorted from the Dutch herring-busses.[442] As Charles’s
-domestic troubles thickened and his power on the sea began to wane,
-Pembroke and his associates became more and more importunate for help.
-Petitions were conveyed to him, and then “remonstrances.” He was
-pointedly reminded that he was the originator and “Protector” of the
-Society; unless he “really” helped them the work must stop. But Charles
-was then unable either to compel the restitution of the captured
-busses or to induce his subjects to subscribe to the Society’s funds.
-He did what he could. Pennington and the Warden of the Cinque Ports
-were ordered to seize Dunkirk ships to be sold for the benefit of the
-Society; he granted them a standing lottery, and issued a proclamation
-enjoining the strict observance of Lent, which might possibly help them
-by increasing the consumption of fish, and could at least do them no
-harm. Almost his last act in connection with the fishery association
-was to issue an Order in Council in which, somewhat irritably, he
-blamed the Dutch for the failure, and remitted to an influential
-committee to consider some means by which the fishery in the north
-seas might be “advanced and settled,” and particularly whether the
-Dutch should not be deprived of English lampreys for bait, which were
-necessary for their cod-fishing.[443] It was a great fall for Charles
-as Lord of the Seas, with a policy as sketched at the beginning of this
-chapter, to use the lampreys of the Thames as a weapon against the
-Dutch rather than a powerful armada. But by this time his power at sea
-had vanished. The Dutch lorded it in the Channel.
-
-When the Order in Council was penned, Tromp had hemmed in the Spanish
-fleet in the Downs and was ready to pounce on it the moment it quitted
-English waters, or to destroy it there if he only could get a plausible
-excuse. Charles and his Council were trembling with fear lest the best
-known of all the “King’s Chambers” should be flagrantly violated by
-the impatient Dutchman, with all the world looking on. And twelve days
-after the Council meeting this is just what Tromp did, and Charles’s
-sovereignty of the seas vanished for ever. And the fishery scheme, “the
-Royal Fishery of Great Britain and Ireland,” set agoing after so much
-patient labour, heralded by so many promises of profit and success,
-designed to be a great instrument for the development of naval power
-and commerce, was extinguished in the following year, with no tangible
-result save that those who had given their money to it were left “great
-losers.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-CHARLES I.--_continued_. THE NAVY.
-
-
-Since Charles had resolved to assert his claims to the sovereignty
-of the sea by force if necessary, it was obviously essential that he
-should have a strong and capable fleet. During the peaceful reign of
-James the navy had greatly deteriorated from what it had been under
-Queen Elizabeth.[444] The expedition to Cadiz in 1625, and that to Rhé
-two years later, revealed startling inefficiency and disorganisation,
-and efforts were soon made to bring it into a better state. When he
-assumed the crown, his fleet consisted of thirty ships; in 1633 it
-numbered fifty, including the ten small vessels called the “Lion’s
-Whelps”; and when the Civil War broke out there were forty-two, the
-difference being due to the shedding of the smaller ones.[445]
-
-There were many reasons why a strong fleet should be provided, apart
-from any question of enforcing a new political sovereignty over
-the North Sea and the Channel. The maritime strength of the United
-Provinces was growing quickly, and France, under the wise and energetic
-guidance of Richelieu, was rapidly becoming a formidable naval power.
-Within the space of about five years before 1631, as Charles knew, the
-Cardinal had created a fleet of thirty-nine ships, of which eighteen
-were of 500 tons or over, and no less than twenty-seven had been built
-in French ports.[446] These two states were drawing closer together,
-and while it was known that their alliance, which was then mooted and
-was soon realised, would be chiefly directed against Spain, it was
-nevertheless a danger to England unless she was strong enough to defend
-her rights on the sea.
-
-Other reasons were the insecurity of the seas from the prevalence
-of piracy, and the violation of the “King’s Chambers,” and even of
-English ports, by the Dunkirkers and the Dutch. Moorish pirates swarmed
-in the Channel and made havoc amongst English shipping. So bold and
-successful were they, that in 1631 they seized and sacked Baltimore,
-on the coast of Munster, and carried off over 200 English subjects
-into slavery. Within a space of ten days they captured twenty-seven
-ships and 200 men.[447] The Dunkirkers played a corresponding _rôle_
-in the North Sea. In a petition to the king in 1627, the ship-owners
-of Ipswich complained that within a year the Dunkirkers had captured
-five of their ships, valued with their cargoes at £5000, and carried
-the crews to Dunkirk. No ship, they said, could go to sea, and the
-livelihood of seafaring men was taken from them, and the king’s service
-would thus suffer. The Mayor and burgesses of King’s Lynn put the
-losses of the town at twenty-five ships, worth £9000, and complained
-that they were unable to carry on the Iceland fishery. The Cinque Ports
-also complained that the Dunkirkers had taken their goods, imprisoned
-their mariners, and rifled and sunk their ships on the English shore;
-and they asked for a guard to enable them to go to the fishing in the
-north and at Scarborough and Yarmouth. The alarm was general all along
-the coast. In February 1629 the bailiffs of Yarmouth reported that the
-sea was overrun with Dunkirkers, who had even rifled and fired one of
-their ships close under the cliffs at Mundesley, notwithstanding the
-efforts of the sheriff and posse of the county; they said 250 fishing
-vessels were ready to go to the northern fishing and awaited convoy.
-In the next year they and other towns of Norfolk and Suffolk stated
-their intention of sending out two fishing fleets of “ships, barks, and
-crayers,”--one of 160 sail to Iceland and Westmony, and the other of
-230 sail for the north seas,--and they begged for ships of war to guard
-them, as the livelihood or “utter ruin” of 10,000 people and their
-families depended on these fleets. Two years later they repeated their
-request to the Admiralty, saying they usually sent out a fleet of
-about 300 sail, with 5000 persons, to the fishings mentioned, but the
-fishermen were now so terrified by the Dunkirkers that they refused to
-go. The Mayor of Newcastle also informed the Council that they had been
-despoiled to the extent of £7000; he said there were 300 sail in port
-which dared not venture out; and the Council were asked to take means
-to secure safe passage on the sea. At this time there were said to be
-forty Dunkirk privateers scouring the North Sea, many of them with
-English sailors on board.[448] We have already seen how successfully
-these freebooters preyed upon the busses of the Fishery Society.
-
-Here then was a clear case for a navy, when an effective navy did
-not exist. The Council and the Admiralty took such isolated measures
-as they could; but the Dunkirkers were almost always too nimble to
-be caught. “They take ships,” wrote the commander of a man-of-war
-convoying the Iceland fishing fleet, “and we in sight and cannot come
-up to help it.” The duty and expense of providing convoys to protect
-the fishermen were thrown on the fishing ports and the counties. In
-1627 the Council ordered four Newcastle ships to be taken up for eight
-months, to convoy the Iceland fleet, at a cost of £1768, to be paid
-out of the “loans” in Suffolk. The estimate in the following year for
-a guard of four merchant ships, of 400 tons each, with 120 men for
-one month in harbour and 240 men for six months at sea, was £4399;
-and the Council in authorising the Admiralty to “press, victual, arm,
-and man” the ships, instructed that if Yarmouth and the other towns
-wanted convoy in future they should first consult together as to some
-mode of levying monies for it, either upon the coast towns or upon the
-counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. This was done, in part at least, by
-levying a contribution of twenty shillings from each fisherman; and
-fishermen also protected themselves by insuring their vessels in London
-against the risks of capture by the Dunkirk privateers. The owners and
-masters of the merchant ships thus pressed to act as guards to the
-fishing fleets were usually most unwilling to serve, and sometimes
-“utterly refused,” and the Admiralty had to get an Order in Council
-to compel them.[449] Provision of a guard for the east coast generally
-was attempted by levying a duty of two and five shillings a ton on all
-coal laden at Newcastle or Sunderland for English and foreign ports
-respectively.[450]
-
-Equally impressive evidence of the lawlessness that then reigned on the
-sea, and of the inability to deal with it effectively, was furnished by
-the flagrant violation of English ports and roadsteads, by the Dutch
-as well as the Dunkirkers, who waged incessant war with one another.
-The herring-busses and merchant vessels of the former were frequently
-captured, rifled, and burned by the privateers, and when the commander
-of a Dutch man-of-war had a chance of destroying one of the pests, he
-was not always deterred from vengeance by the Dunkirker taking refuge
-in English waters; and in like manner the privateer did not scruple to
-pursue his prey into English ports and anchorages. Sometimes, indeed,
-the warfare was continued on English soil and the lives of the king’s
-lieges endangered. In 1634, for example, a Dunkirker chased a Hollander
-vessel into Yarmouth harbour and robbed her, and a lively fusillade
-went on between the Dutchmen, who had taken refuge on the pier, and
-the crew of the privateer, and one of the former was killed. As the
-Dunkirkers refused to stop their “furious assault,” the bailiffs
-ordered two of the town’s guns to be fired at them, “which they only
-scoffed at”; and when the marshal called upon them in the king’s name
-to desist and begone, they only “answered with unseemly gestures and
-scorn,” and they did not make off until a company of musketeers went
-down to them. But next day as the privateer was hovering off the coast,
-two States’ men-of-war bore down upon her and she ran for shelter to
-the beach near Lowestoft; but the Dutch followed, seized her, and
-carried her off, the crew escaping to shore, where they were promptly
-arrested and lodged in Yarmouth jail.
-
-A still more outrageous transgression of the neutrality of an English
-port took place in the following year, at the very time that Lindsey’s
-fleet was cruising in the Channel. A Dunkirker brought a Hollander buss
-into Scarborough harbour, and she was followed by a States’ man-of-war,
-which opened fire, and a fight both with cannon and muskets took
-place. The bullets, flying into the town, hit several of the citizens,
-and some strangers on the sands were also hurt, “to the amazement
-and discouragement of the whole town.” Twelve Dunkirkers were slain,
-and the rest only saved themselves by swimming ashore, while the
-man-of-war went off with both the privateer and the buss. A fortnight
-later another privateer was chased into the harbour by a Hollander
-man-of-war, which landed three or four score of men, armed with muskets
-and pikes, to set upon the Dunkirkers when the ship lay dry; and the
-Dutch captain only consented to re-embark them, on condition that the
-bailiffs of the town would themselves place a guard of fifty men to
-watch the privateer, so as to prevent any of the crew escaping.[451]
-
-This glaring outrage on English soil caused the Council to arrest a
-Dutch man-of-war, to be held until the one that had committed the
-misdeed should be delivered up; for, said Windebank, it was a matter
-that concerned the king himself in point of honour and the safety of
-the kingdom, as an act of hostility, “little less than an invasion,”
-had been committed in landing armed men on his Majesty’s territories,
-“violating his imperial chamber and threatening his subjects.”
-Nevertheless, in the next month a like offence was committed at Blyth,
-when a Dutch man-of-war not only attacked a Dunkirk privateer lying
-in the harbour, but landed fifty men armed with muskets, who marched
-in military order nearly half a mile, “to the great terror of the
-inhabitants,” and by seizing the fishing-boats, captured the Dunkirker
-and took her away. Not only so, but thirty of the Hollanders, armed,
-and with trumpets, pursued the crew of the privateer on land for
-a distance of two miles.[452] There was a natural excuse for the
-violence of the Hollanders in these proceedings. They were exasperated
-by the immense havoc which the privateers had just committed on their
-herring-busses, by sinking or burning over 100 of them, the remainder
-of the fishing fleet escaping into Scottish and English harbours.[453]
-
-This insecurity of the sea and the open and daring violation of English
-ports remind one of the conditions that too frequently prevailed in
-earlier centuries. The misdeeds must have been galling to Charles,
-for only a short time before he had issued a public proclamation with
-the object of putting a stop to them. In February 1633 Sir H. Marten,
-Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, along with the Attorney-General,
-had been instructed, in view of the war between Spain and the United
-Provinces, to draw up a regulation whereby “his Majesty’s ancient
-rights, honours, and sovereignty in the narrow seas and in the chambers
-and ports may be preserved, and the trade of the kingdom of England
-and Ireland secured.”[454] In this regulation (which is printed in
-Appendix H) a claim to absolute dominion over the Four Seas was made.
-The king spoke of “that sovereignty and especial and peculiar interest
-and property which he and his predecessors, time out of mind, have
-had and enjoyed in the said seas, and so approved not only by the
-fundamental laws of this his kingdom, but by the acknowledgment and
-assent of the bordering princes and nations, as appeareth by undoubted
-records”--language which seems like an echo of Selden’s _Mare Clausum_.
-Moreover, in referring to the limits of the “King’s Chambers,” he
-continued: “Albeit his Majesty doth justly challenge sovereignty and
-property in all those his seas, far beyond the limits hereafter to be
-described, and might with like justice require from all persons using
-those his seas a forbearance from injuries and all hostile actions, yet
-(in and through all the same) suddenly to tie the hands of his friends
-and allies in open hostility each with other, is not for some reasons
-held convenient at this time,” and therefore he would cause the bounds
-to be laid down within which he would yield peace and security to his
-friends and neighbours.[455]
-
-Clearly, however, something more than a proclamation was required to
-ensure the security of the seas and the neutrality of the chambers
-and ports. As early as 1627 official proposals had been made to build
-thirty ships of a small class to guard the narrow seas, which might
-compete in swiftness with the privateers and freebooters infesting
-them,--a plan that was partly carried out by the building of the ten
-“Lion’s Whelps,” which, however, proved complete failures. An estimate
-was also procured for building eighteen ships and two pinnaces, at a
-cost of about £43,000, the estimated expense of the crews being £6100
-per month.[456] Various other schemes were considered, including one
-to form a fleet of forty armed Newcastle colliers, to be employed
-primarily in convoying the coal ships, but capable of being called
-off at any time for the king’s service. The want of money was the
-great obstacle to the formation of a strong fleet. The wages of the
-seamen and others employed were always in arrear,--at the end of 1627
-the arrears amounted to £251,361,--and the victualling and furnishing
-of the ships afloat were of the worst possible description.[457] The
-necessity of a fleet to maintain the dominion of the sea and defend the
-coasts was being constantly urged upon the king. The Attorney-General,
-Heath, in 1632, called attention to the truism that our strength and
-safety lay “in our walls, which is our shipping,” and he strongly
-recommended that a powerful fleet should be maintained because of
-the boldness of the Hollanders, and in order to preserve the king’s
-prerogative in the fisheries in the British seas, as well as to secure
-the mastery of the narrow seas.[458]
-
-Charles required no spur in a matter the importance of which he
-thoroughly understood, and he had private and personal reasons for
-wishing that a strong force should be placed on the sea. It was the
-family policy as to the restoration of the Palatinate that chiefly
-guided him. At the end of 1633 he entered into negotiations with
-Spain for an alliance against the Dutch, and in the following year a
-secret treaty was drafted and sent to Madrid (four days before the
-issue of the first ship-money writs) in which Charles undertook to
-provide a fleet, partly at the charge of the King of Spain, who was to
-advance a sum of £50,000 and help to recover the Palatinate for his
-nephew.[459] It was intended that the fleet should co-operate with
-the Spaniards against the United Provinces; the ports of Flanders
-were to be freed from the blockade maintained by the Dutch, and
-Spanish vessels carrying soldiers and money for Dunkirk were to be
-protected by English ships; the mastery of the Dutch at sea was to be
-destroyed, the Republic was to be attacked and overthrown, and the
-country divided between the allies. The open avowal of such a policy
-would have been equivalent to making it almost impossible, for an
-alliance with Catholic Spain against the Protestant Republic was in
-the highest degree unpopular in England, and the fleet, moreover,
-was to be created by means of the ship-money writs. The negotiations
-had been carried on with the greatest secrecy; only three members of
-the Council (Portland, Cottington, and Windebank) were in the king’s
-confidence, the others remaining in ignorance. It was thus necessary
-to deceive them as well as the nation as to the object of equipping a
-fleet. The insecurity of the seas from the prevalence of piracy and the
-violations of English waters, referred to above, were put forward among
-the ostensible reasons to justify it. “The pretext of this arming,”
-it was distinctly stated in 1634, “shall be to secure the coasts of
-Great Britain and Ireland, and to free them from pirates and others
-that commit hostilities and insolencies there.”[460] To deceive the
-people by fears of invasion, owing to the “great preparations both by
-sea and land of the neighbouring princes,” orders were given to have
-the beacons along the coast examined; to muster and make ready the
-trained bands to join their colours at an hour’s warning; to enrol all
-untrained men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, so that levies of
-them might be made “on any sudden occasion.”[461]
-
-Another reason put prominently forward to cloak the nefarious scheme
-was the need of maintaining the ancient sovereignty of the sea. While
-the Spanish negotiations were proceeding, Boroughs, as we shall see,
-had finished his treatise on the rights of the crown in the adjoining
-seas, and Selden was busy with his _Mare Clausum_. The language of the
-ship-money writs, sent out in October 1634, and the charge of Lord
-Coventry to the Judges, breathed the same spirit as these treatises.
-In the writs, which were founded upon extracts made by Boroughs from
-records of the times of Edward I., II., and III.,[462] the king
-described how “thieves, pirates, and robbers of the sea” were “taking
-by force and spoiling the ships and goods and merchandises, not only
-of our subjects, but also of the subjects of our friends in the sea
-which hath been accustomed anciently to be defended by the English
-nation,” delivering the men into miserable captivity. The pirates, he
-said, were daily preparing all manner of shipping further to molest the
-merchants, unless a remedy was applied, and that in view also of the
-dangers menacing the realm “in these times of war,” it was necessary
-to hasten the defence of the sea and kingdom. Therefore, he continued,
-“We willing by the help of God chiefly to provide for the defence of
-the kingdom, safeguard of the sea, security of our subjects, safe
-conduct of ships and merchandises to our kingdom of England coming,
-and from the same kingdom to foreign parts passing; forasmuch as we
-and our progenitors, Kings of England, have been always heretofore
-masters of the aforesaid sea, and it would be very irksome unto us
-if that princely honour in our time should be lost or in anything
-diminished,” it was necessary for the sea-coast towns to furnish ships
-or an equivalent in money.[463] In similar language Coventry told the
-Judges in 1635 that the dominion of the sea, “as it was an ancient and
-undoubted right of the crown of England,” so was it the best security
-of the land, which was impregnable so long as the sea was well guarded;
-and that those subjects “whose minds are most fixed upon the honour of
-the king and country” would not endure that it should be either lost
-or diminished. The safety of the realm, he said, required the dominion
-of the sea to be kept and the sea guarded: “The wooden-walls are the
-best walls of the kingdom; and if the riches and wealth of the kingdom
-be respected, for that cause the dominion of the sea ought to be
-respected; for else what would become of our wool, lead, and the like,
-the price whereof would fall to nothing if others should be masters of
-the sea?” If the dominion of the sea was lost, trade and commerce would
-be lost by being placed at the mercy of the neighbouring nations, and
-the whole kingdom would suffer.[464]
-
-In carrying out his Spanish policy, Charles’s first task was to deceive
-his Council.[465] For this purpose no better agent could have been
-chosen than Coke, who, as we have seen, was by this time enthusiastic
-about the sovereignty of the seas, and was known to be hostile to
-Spain. He was accordingly directed to prepare a report for the king on
-the unsatisfactory relations between England and foreign countries,
-and the need of providing a fleet. In the long statement he drew up,
-Coke described how the credit of the country had been lowered abroad,
-and innumerable wrongs and insolences suffered in various parts of
-the world, because of the want of a sufficient navy to make our name
-respected. “All free trade,” he wrote, “is interrupted”; within the
-king’s own chambers squadrons of men-of-war from Biscay and Flanders
-took not only Hollanders, but Frenchmen, Hamburgers, and his Majesty’s
-subjects. From the Hollanders “we suffered most by their intrusion on
-our fishings and pretence of _Mare Liberum_,” and they pursued and
-took prizes in our ports and rivers. But our trade and rights were
-injured everywhere,--from Constantinople and Morocco to Denmark and
-Sweden,--and Coke recommended that the navy should be reinforced in
-order that the king might obtain justice and “recover his undoubted
-right of sovereignty in all his seas.”[466] Coke read his report to
-the Council in June 1634; the ship-money writs were issued in October;
-and in May next year the first of the “ship-money fleets” was ready
-and was placed under the command of the Earl of Lindsey, with special
-instructions to maintain the king’s sovereignty of the sea.
-
-On the Continent the naval preparations of England were followed with
-close attention. As early as 1633, Joachimi, the States’ ambassador in
-London, informed his Government that the English were putting forth
-pretensions to be sole lords and masters of the narrow seas, and he
-earnestly advised the States to avoid everything which might give the
-English offence in their excitable condition, on a matter which they
-had so much at heart.[467] An indication of the feeling prevailing in
-England was observed by the ambassador early in the year, for when he
-complained that Dutch vessels had been fired on from Portland Castle
-and then detained, he was told they had presumed to put up their flags
-in the face of the king’s colours flying on the walls.[468] Next year
-the repeated complaints from England as to the violation of the King’s
-Chambers by Dutch vessels of war, and the seizure of one of them by the
-English in consequence of the attack at Scarborough, did not lessen
-the apprehensions that began to be entertained in Holland. Rumours
-circulated that the English fleet was being prepared for the purpose of
-waging war against the Republic, and the answer given by the English
-ambassador at The Hague to inquiries as to the object of the fleet
-was not calculated to allay anxiety. In the spring of 1635, a little
-before the Earl of Lindsey hoisted his colours on the _Merhonour_, Coke
-wrote a long and resounding despatch to Boswell, the English ambassador
-at The Hague, explaining the reasons for the naval preparations.
-“First,” he said, “we hold it a principle not to be denied, that the
-King of Great Britain is a monarch at land and sea to the full extent
-of his dominions, and that it concerneth him as much to maintain his
-sovereignty in all the British seas as within his three kingdoms;
-because without that these cannot be kept safe, nor he preserve his
-honour and due respect with other nations. But, commanding the seas, he
-may cause his neighbours and all countries to stand upon their guard
-whensoever he thinks fit. And this cannot be doubted, that whosoever
-will encroach upon him by sea, will do it by land also when they see
-their time. To such presumption,” he added, “_Mare Liberum_ gave the
-first warning-piece, which must be answered with a defence of _Mare
-Clausum_: not so much by discourses, as by the louder language of a
-powerful navy, to be better understood when overstrained patience seeth
-no hope of preserving her right by other means.” The innuendo against
-the United Provinces was still further developed. They had impeached
-the king’s dominion in his seas for a long course of years. They had
-been permitted to gather wealth and strength in our ports and on our
-coasts by trade and fishery, for which they had “sued to King James
-for license,” granted under the great seal of Scotland; and when they
-had possessed themselves of our fishings “by leave or by connivance,”
-and obtained a great trade by our staple, they so increased their
-shipping and naval power that now they would not endure to be kept
-at any distance. “Nay,” exclaimed Coke, “to such confidence are they
-grown, that they keep guard upon our seas,” and prohibit us free
-commerce within them; they take our ships and goods unless we conform
-to their placards. Besides all which, “what insolencies and cruelties”
-they have committed against us in the past, in Ireland, in Greenland,
-in the Indies, as known to all the world; care would be taken to
-refresh their memories on these wrongs “as there should be cause.”
-After a preamble of this sort one might expect a declaration of war
-to follow. But the fleet, Coke continued, was neither for revenge nor
-for the execution of justice for past wrongs. It was primarily to put
-a stop to the “violent current of the presumption” of men-of-war and
-freebooters, who had abused the freedom allowed by the king to friends
-and allies to make use of his seas and ports, by assaulting one another
-within his Majesty’s chambers and in his rivers, “to the scorn and
-contempt of his dominion and power.” The king intended no rupture with
-any prince or state; he was “resolved to continue and maintain that
-happy peace wherewith God hath blessed his kingdom, and to which all
-his actions and negotiations have hitherto tended.” But that peace
-must be maintained by the arm of power, “which only keeps down war by
-keeping up dominion.” Therefore the king found it necessary, even for
-his own defence and safety, “to re-assume and keep his ancient and
-undoubted right in the dominion of these seas, and to suffer no other
-prince or state to encroach upon him, thereby assuming to themselves
-or their Admirals any sovereign command; but to force them to perform
-due homage to his Admirals and ships, and to pay them acknowledgments,
-as in former times they did. He would also set open and protect the
-free trade both of his subjects and allies, and give them such safe
-conduct and convoy as they shall reasonably require. He will suffer no
-other fleets or men-of-war to keep any guard upon these seas, or there
-to offer violence, or take prizes or booties, or to give interruption
-to any lawful intercourse. In a word,” Coke concluded, “his Majesty is
-resolved, as to do no wrong, so to do justice, both to his subjects and
-friends within the limits of his seas.”[469]
-
-The substance of this bombastic despatch, in which Charles was fully
-displayed in his new figure as a Plantagenet, was communicated by
-Boswell in a memoir to the States-General, and their High Mightinesses
-must have rubbed their eyes as they read it.[470] But it at least
-removed their fears of immediate war. Explanations of similar tenour,
-but couched in more moderate language, were made to other Courts. The
-intentions of the king were declared to be quite peaceful, and stress
-was laid on the violations of the King’s Chambers, “to the great
-derogation of that dominion at sea which has always of right belonged
-to the Imperial crown of this kingdom”; the fleet was to free his
-coasts and seas from such disturbances, to secure free trade to his
-subjects and allies, and “to reduce his dominion upon the British seas
-to the ancient style and lustre.”[471]
-
-Let us now turn to the fleet which was to carry out this grand
-programme and see what it actually accomplished. The ships began to
-assemble in the Downs in May, the Earl of Lindsey being appointed
-“Admiral, Custos Maris, Captain-General and Governor” of the fleet,
-with the veteran Sir William Monson as Vice-Admiral, and Sir John
-Pennington as Rear-Admiral. It consisted of nineteen of the king’s
-ships and five armed merchant vessels, making twenty-four in all;[472]
-and though other ten royal ships which were being prepared to reinforce
-it were ultimately discharged, it was said by the common people that
-“never before had such a fleet been set out by England.” In the
-king’s commission appointing the Earl of Lindsey it was stated that
-he had thought fit, by the advice of his Council, to set forth to
-sea a navy as well for the defence and safety of his own territories
-and dominions as for the guard and safe-keeping of his seas, and of
-the persons, ships, and goods of his own subjects and of his friends
-and allies “trading by sea to and fro our dominions for commerce and
-trade, and other their just and necessary occasions, from those spoyles
-and depredations committed at sea ... and for sundry reasons and
-considerations of state best known to ourselves.”[473]
-
-In the official instructions from the Lords of the Admiralty, issued
-on the day after the secret agreement with Spain had been drawn up,
-the Earl was ordered principally to guard the narrow seas and the
-king’s subjects and allies trading through them, and so to dispose his
-ships that “all parts of the seas, as well from the Start westward as
-the rest of the Sleeve from the Start to the Downs, and from thence
-northward, might be secured from men-of-war, pirates and sea-rovers and
-of picaroons that interrupt the trade and commerce of his Majesty’s
-dominions.” It was to be his principal care to preserve the king’s
-honour, coasts, jurisdiction, territories, and subjects within the
-extent of his employment, “that no nation or people whatsoever intrude
-thereon or injure any of them.” If he met “in his Majesty’s seas” any
-fleet or ships belonging to any foreign prince or state, he was to
-expect that the admiral or chief of them, in acknowledgment of his
-Majesty’s sovereignty there, should perform “their duty and homage in
-passing by”; if they refused and offered to resist, he was “to force
-them thereunto, and to bring them in to answer this their high contempt
-and presumption according to law.” He was to suffer no dishonour to be
-done to the king or derogation to his power or sovereignty in those
-seas. If English ships so far forgot their duty as not to strike their
-top-sails in passing, the commanders were either to be punished on the
-spot or reported to the Admiralty, who would punish them exemplarily.
-When he met with foreign men-of-war or merchant vessels, either at sea
-or in any road “or other place,” he was to send to them to discover if
-any English subjects were serving on board; and if so he was “to cause
-them to be taken forth and committed,” to answer their contempt of the
-king’s proclamation forbidding such service, and also to caution the
-commander of the vessel in which they were found not to receive English
-subjects again; but the Earl was expressly forbidden to send any of his
-men on board the foreign vessels to search for English subjects.
-
-The most remarkable part of the instructions issued to the first
-ship-money fleet referred to the hostilities between the ships of
-other nations, not merely in the King’s Chambers, but throughout the
-narrow seas. “In this your Lordship’s employment,” wrote the Lords
-of the Admiralty, “you are not to permit or suffer any men-of-war to
-fight with each other, or men-of-war with merchant, or merchant with
-merchant, in the presence of his Majesty’s ships in any part of the
-Narrow Seas. But you are to do your best to keep peace in those seas
-for the freer and better maintenance of trade and commerce through the
-same, so that all men trading or sailing within those his Majesty’s
-seas do justly take themselves to be _in pace Domini Regis_. And
-therefore his Majesty in honour and justice is to protect them from
-injury and violence.”[474]
-
-It is interesting to compare these instructions to Lindsey with those
-given earlier to Pennington as admiral of the fleet for the guard
-of the narrow seas. His private instructions from the Lords of the
-Admiralty in 1631 contained a clause regarding the homage of foreign
-vessels on meeting the king’s ships. He was to expect the admiral or
-chief, in acknowledgment of the king’s sovereignty in the narrow seas,
-“to strike their toppe sayles in passing by,” and if they refused he
-was to force them to do so; and in no wise suffer any dishonour to be
-done to his Majesty, or derogation to his sovereign power in those
-seas. At that time the efforts of Richelieu to create a French navy
-had caused some disquiet in England, and Pennington was also ordered
-to do his utmost, by spies and otherwise, to discover whether any
-considerable preparations were being made abroad.[475] The instructions
-in 1631 appear to have represented the English pretensions so far as
-they were understood at the time. There was nothing about forbidding
-the hostilities of belligerents, as in Lindsey’s instructions. On
-the contrary, Pennington was told that if he saw any Hollanders and
-Dunkirkers in fight at sea he was to take no part with either, “but to
-pass by and leave them to their fortunes”; and he issued orders to his
-subordinates to that effect.[476] In his instructions in 1633 this
-clause was repeated, but in other respects they resembled those of
-Lindsey.[477] The same duties were allotted to him in 1634, and he was
-specially charged to free the narrow seas of pirates and sea-rovers,
-and to prevent hostilities in the King’s Chambers. “If,” he was told,
-“any man-of-war, or other, _in any of his Majesty’s roads, harbours,
-or coasts_, shall offer any violence by unduly taking out any ships,
-vessels, goods or merchandise, of what nation soever, or commit any
-other insolency, you shall do your best to recover the same again from
-them, and reform the abuses, either by due admonition, or (if that will
-not serve) by bringing the offender to answer to justice, preserving
-by all means the honour of his Majesty from such insolencies (as much
-as in you lieth), having always a due regard to the amity between his
-Majesty, his friends and allies.”[478]
-
-But a change took place, as we have seen, in the following year. Among
-the suggestions made by Pennington to the king, and repeated to the
-Admiralty, was one that any foreign ship attacked by another foreigner
-in the narrow seas might put herself under the protection of any of the
-king’s ships by coming under its lee, “in the same manner as under a
-castle on shore.”[479] It was certainly a proposal as bold as it was
-brilliant. Ships of war have long been regarded by certain writers on
-international law as being essentially an extension of the territory of
-the state to which they belong; but no writer ever suggested that the
-water around them on the high sea should be looked upon as partaking
-of the same character. The sea round a king’s ship, within range of
-the guns on board, was to be a sanctuary like the waters of the King’s
-Chambers,--a sort of territorial girdle which it carried about with
-it like an aureole round the head of a saint. Pennington’s suggestion
-was considered by the Admiralty early in April 1634, and Nicholas,
-the Secretary, was instructed to confer with Sir Henry Marten, the
-Judge of the Admiralty Court, with regard to it. Nicholas summed up
-his own views oracularly in the sentence, “If a merchant fly from
-men-of-war, it concerns the king’s ships to preserve trade.” Sir Henry
-Marten gave a clear opinion. “It is not fit,” he said, “nor honourable
-for the king’s ships appointed to guard the Narrow Seas to suffer any
-men-of-war to fight with each other, or men-of-war with merchants, or
-merchant with merchant, in the presence of the king’s ships within the
-Narrow Seas, for that the king’s ships are set forth to keep peace in
-those seas for the freer and better maintenance of trade and commerce
-through the same: and all men trading or sailing within the king’s seas
-do justly take themselves to be _in pace Domini Regis_; and since such
-are _in pace Domini Regis_, it doth concern the king in honour and
-justice to protect them from injury and violence.” The language of the
-first part of this statement is the same as in the regulation prepared
-a little before with respect to hostilities within the King’s Chambers
-(p. 251); but its purport went much further than the recommendation
-of Pennington, and in effect extended the protection afforded by the
-King’s Chambers, and the regulation applying to them, to the whole of
-the narrow seas.
-
-The Admiralty approved of the opinion of Sir Henry Marten, and Nicholas
-was directed to embody it in Pennington’s instructions. Before doing
-so, however, it was deemed desirable to get the king’s own opinion, and
-he was asked by Windebank, at the instance of the Admiralty, whether
-Pennington should be instructed not to permit any man-of-war to fight
-in the narrow seas in the sight of his Majesty’s ships, while he
-commanded there as Admiral. Pennington had then only two ships and two
-“Whelps” under his command,--a force quite inadequate to enforce an
-innovation so revolutionary,--and Charles apparently did not think the
-time or circumstances fitting for it, for the Admiral’s instructions in
-1634 were virtually the same as in 1633, except that the clause about
-passing by Dutch and Dunkirkers in fight and leaving them to their
-fortunes was omitted at the special request of Lord Cottington.[480]
-But next year, when the imposing ship-money fleet was ready, Sir H.
-Marten’s memorandum was inserted, almost verbatim, in the Earl of
-Lindsey’s official instructions.
-
-In addition to the official instructions, the Earl received private
-commands from the king. In these the new doctrine as to the sovereignty
-of the seas received a new gloss, corresponding to the tenour of
-Coke’s despatch to Boswell, and they were clearly intended to embroil
-us with the Dutch Republic, as well as with France, and thus enable
-Charles to carry out his clandestine agreement with Spain. He was
-not to permit the warships of other states to keep guard, or commit
-acts of hostility, or take spoil or booty, “within his Majesty’s
-seas”; and it was also resolved that the fleet should be employed
-in forcing the Dutch herring-busses to take the king’s licenses for
-permission to fish, or in interrupting them in their fishing. It was
-a common practice for orders of this kind given to naval officers to
-be expressed in general or indefinite language, leaving to them the
-responsibility of applying them to specific cases according to their
-judgment and discretion. Both Pennington in the previous year, and the
-Earl of Northumberland in the following year, had to ask for further
-and more precise directions. So also did Lindsey now. He wrote to
-Charles on receipt of the royal commands, asking a number of questions.
-In the first place, he asked that the “bounds of his Majesty’s seas
-might be expressed”--a reasonable request, and one frequently made by
-naval officers. He was loftily told by Coke, who replied, that “his
-Majesty’s seas are all about his dominions, and to the largest extent
-of those seas,”--an answer not very illuminating, and of little use
-to the Admiral.[481] His second question was whether the ships of the
-King of France, or the Archduke, or the Dutch States, might not “lie
-to and again” upon their own coasts, as they have anciently done? To
-this the reply was that they might stay in their harbours or roads, or
-pass “to and again for trade,” but not otherwise. Then he asked whether
-the Dutch men-of-war might not lie before Dunkirk, “as they have been
-accustomed to do”? (in blockading the port, which belonged to Spain).
-For answer, he was curtly referred to his instructions. Then there was
-another disturbing suggestion: If no men-of-war were to be permitted
-“to lie in the King’s seas,” notice, he said, should be given of the
-fact by proclamation or otherwise. He was told that this was already
-done--the remark having reference, no doubt, to the despatches sent
-to foreign Governments. Finally, he inquired what he should “do with
-the herring fishers.” But the patience of Coke appears to have been
-exhausted, and no answer at all was given.[482]
-
-It was obviously the intention of Charles to force a quarrel with
-France and the Dutch Republic on a point or points connected with the
-sovereignty of the sea, which might rouse popular enthusiasm in England
-and enable him to attempt to recover the Palatinate for his nephew,
-while ostensibly defending the national honour. But the punctilios and
-hesitation of Lindsey about the duties before him must have raised
-misgivings at Court as to whether the right man had been chosen for the
-job. It was not long before this feeling deepened into mortification
-and disgust.
-
-The fleet was ready at the beginning of June. Before its setting off
-one or two incidents happened which might have seemed ominous to the
-superstitious. A shot fired from the Admiral’s ship, in answer to the
-salutation of the rest of the fleet as he sailed into the Downs, hit a
-poor woman on shore and broke her leg; the same day, during musketry
-exercise, a seaman nearly killed a master of the navy,--and these, as
-it turned out, were the sole effective warlike operations of the fleet.
-On the very day of departure a couple of Dunkirk privateers “were so
-insolent” as to set upon a Dutch merchantman in Dover Road, under the
-Admiral’s nose and in sight of the fleet, battering the ship, slaying
-the gunner, and wounding the men. As an offset, the fleet captured a
-small prize from a Dunkirker, which was to be sold for the benefit
-of the Fishery Society. Then the Earl himself had been snubbed by
-the Admiralty, and left with a flea in his ear. He wanted a vessel
-to serve as a “kitchen” to accompany the fleet, and a salary for a
-secretary; but there being no precedents, the requests were refused.
-Then he complained that he had not enough flags, and above all that he
-lacked a standard, which made him “not a little wonder, considering
-his commission gave him as much power as a Lord Admiral of England--or
-rather more by being General, who is always a representative person of
-his prince”; he said he was “a little maimed” without it.[483]
-
-The fleet weighed anchor early on the morning of the 7th June, and
-steered down Channel on its mission. At that time a combined Dutch and
-French squadron blockaded Dunkirk--France, which in January had entered
-into a treaty with the States for an invasion and partition of the
-Spanish Netherlands, having declared war against Spain a month before
-Lindsey left the Downs. There was thus every prospect of a collision
-if the English Admiral carried out the king’s wishes, and both the
-Court and the capital were on the tiptoe of expectation of stirring
-news. The fleet had scarcely quitted its anchorage when London was full
-of rumours. The _Swallow_ got credit for having sent to the bottom a
-Dutch man-of-war before she had even left Deptford. A few days later
-it was reported that a fight had taken place in the Channel, a violent
-cannonade having been heard on the English coast, whereat Charles
-looked anxious and moody.[484] But it was only a peaceful salutation
-between the English fleet and a Danish man-of-war, “who did their duty”
-in passing by. On 12th June “certain news” arrived by express from
-Dungeness that a great battle had been fought off Calais, in which the
-Hollanders were totally defeated. Authentic despatches from the fleet
-soon put an end to such rumours. Very bad weather had been experienced,
-which forced them to take shelter at the Isle of Wight; thereafter
-they sailed for Portland, having received intelligence that a French
-squadron of fourteen sail and a Dutch one of the same number were
-there, each flying its national flag.
-
-At a council held on board the Admiral’s ship, it was resolved that
-if the Dutch struck when they came up with them and the French did
-not, a message was to be sent to the Dutch Admiral “that we did not
-expect to see the friends of the king our master in company of them
-that do affront him, therefore we desire them, like friends, to stand
-by and see the sport.” But there was no “sport,” for when the English
-fleet got to Portland on 20th June, the allies had gone; “the same
-wind,” wrote Lindsey, “which brought me thither carried them out to
-sea” the day before. Learning from the Mayor of Dartmouth that a fleet
-of fifty-six sail had been seen off Falmouth on the 19th, the fleet
-went off westwards, calling at Plymouth, where it stayed for a few
-days. On one occasion they thought they had come up with their quarry.
-They espied a great number of ships at a distance, dimly visible in
-the morning mist, which made them “provide their guns” and get ready
-for action. But they turned out to be only peaceful salt-ships from
-Rochelle. Despatches were sent to the Court from Plymouth on 23rd June,
-in which Lindsey stated he was going on to Land’s End, “and so to make
-a short return from thence.” He also defended himself from complaints
-that seem to have been made against him from Dunkirk, apparently owing
-to his seizure of the prize for the Fishery Society. He told Windebank
-that two or three more Dunkirk men had been brought to him who had
-taken prizes from the French, but that he had dismissed them without
-meddling with their prizes. And then he added--what must have been
-unpleasant reading to Charles--that the king’s instructions had bound
-him to carry an equal hand between the subjects of his allies, and from
-that “compass” he would not vary. He would perform as friendly offices
-to the Dunkirkers as to either the French or the Hollander.
-
-Neither the impartial sentiments of the Admiral nor his proceedings
-were approved at Court, where the king was getting impatient. The
-summer was passing, and the opportunity of forcing a conflict was
-passing with it. He soon learned how his conduct was regarded from
-despatches from Coke. Since the Earl went to sea, wrote the bustling
-Secretary, the account he had been able to give the king out of his
-despatches had been only of a fall from his coach, and of the stay his
-fleet had made in the Downs, then near St Helens, and thence of his
-plying along the coast to Plymouth, where the Mayor had advised him he
-was on Sunday, five days earlier. All this, he said, gave his Majesty
-little satisfaction, who expected to hear the fame of his acts in
-the open sea, whereof he had committed the custody to his trust. And
-though the civil answer sent by the French Vice-Admiral to the Mayor of
-Weymouth[485] had been well taken, yet it would have been more for the
-king’s honour and the Earl’s also if this office had been done with due
-homage to the Earl. And this all the more because there was a common
-report that the French had forced some English merchant vessels to
-strike sail to them, and that the French and Dutch had visited English
-ships,--an act, said Coke, of direct pretence to equal rights in our
-seas which the Earl must not suffer; he must not allow English ships to
-be visited by the men-of-war of any nation whatsoever, and he must be
-careful to protect them from all wrongs. In particular--and the request
-should have opened his eyes,--if any English merchant ships came from
-the Straits, Spain, or Portugal, with Spanish coin or other commodities
-(for Dunkirk), he must take care that no man go on board or interrupt
-them. He should convoy English ships in the same way, and for the
-honourable execution of his employment he should “strive to keep the
-open sea.” Coke concluded by telling him that he “thus freely enlarged
-himself” chiefly by the direction of the king, out of his own honour
-and interest. In another letter to Viscount Conway, who was on board
-the Admiral’s ship and had written a note to Coke of their proceedings,
-he used similar language. He did not want to hear of “misinformations,”
-but of “noble effects”; he had written to the Admiral whereby he would
-“perceive that neither spending time in harbour, nor at anchor, nor
-coasting along our shore, would answer the expectation they had of
-the fleet.” “You must command the seas or be commanded,” said Coke in
-his pompous vein. “Wisdom seeks not danger when with honour it may be
-shunned; but where honour and dominion lie at stake, brave men will set
-up their rests.”[486]
-
-All which, when he came to know of it, very naturally nettled the
-Admiral. He had obtained the information about the allied fleet on 9th
-June, three days after he left the Downs, and he had gone in pursuit
-as speedily as the weather and the heavy-sailing English vessels would
-allow. He was now away at the Scilly Isles, but he failed to see any
-French ships, and was duly honoured in the matter of the flag by the
-few Dutch men-of-war encountered. He sent further despatches from off
-the Lizard on 28th June, explaining his movements, stating that his
-ship was leaking, grumbling again about the want of a standard,--“his
-commission making him equal to a Lord High Admiral of England,” &c.,
-&c.,--and complaining that his letters were not answered. Coke’s letter
-awaited him at Plymouth, and in reply to it he said, on 5th July, that
-he neither deserved his scorn for a fall in a coach nor his blame for
-negligence. Was it his fault that the French sought to avoid him? They
-had left the English seas, and they could have done no more if he had
-fought with them; but if they came again he should meet and fight
-them, time enough. Sir Henry Vane had also written to Conway of the
-discontent about the fleet. It was not well taken, he said, that they
-did not put over to the coasts of Flanders, Holland, and France,--not
-indeed that they should go into the harbours and force them to salute
-and strike, but to keep at sea upon these coasts and act according to
-their instructions.
-
-Lindsey then stood to sea and plied about in the middle of the
-Channel, off the coast between the Lizard and Plymouth, and sometimes
-standing over to the coast of France, until the beginning of August,
-without finding any trace of the French and Dutch fleet, which was
-supposed--and rightly--to be to the southward on the Biscay coast. No
-glimpse of the lilies of France could be obtained; not even a pirate
-was seen, the presence of the fleet no doubt having scared them from
-their haunts in the Channel. On 3rd August Lindsey’s fleet returned
-to the Downs for revictualling, what remained of the victuals on board
-being very bad,--“the beef is so extremely tainted,” he had written on
-21st July, “that when the shifter stirs it, the scent over all the ship
-is enough to breed a contagion.” No sooner was he in the Downs than
-news came that the French squadron had come back to the English coast,
-twenty-six sail of them having been seen about the Lizard. “They haunt
-us like a shadow,” murmured the Admiral from his anchorage, “flying
-when we pursue, and following when we retreat.”
-
-Lindsey was not far wrong on this occasion, for the withdrawal of the
-French ships from the narrow seas on the approach of the English fleet
-was due to the sagacious plan of Richelieu. He appears to have been
-well aware of the pretext and design of Charles, and endeavoured to
-outwit him. At war with Spain, he desired to avert an open rupture
-with England. At the same time, it was not fitting that he should
-break the tradition of France, or check the maritime ambitions which
-aimed at rivalling England on the seas, by lowering the French flag to
-the English Admiral. While the Earl was still at the Isle of Wight,
-Richelieu ordered the French Admiral to retire with three of his
-smallest vessels round Cape Finisterre to Belle Isle, off the coast of
-Brittany and well out of the Channel, and to put the rest of the French
-squadron under the command of the Dutch Admiral. The French ships
-left in the narrow seas were to carry no flags at all, and therefore
-could not strike them; and if the combined fleet met the English,
-the Admiral of the States would, in his accustomed manner, strike,
-without the dignity of France being compromised or Charles being given
-the rebuff for which he was seeking.[487] When on the following day
-Richelieu learned that the Spanish transports for the relief of Dunkirk
-had entered that port, he ordered the combined fleet to withdraw
-altogether from the Channel, as their further presence there was
-useless and might give occasion for a conflict.[488] Thus it was that
-Lindsey could not find them. While Richelieu’s strategy succeeded, the
-course adopted was somewhat pusillanimous and not calculated to add
-to the laurels of France. He therefore took advantage of an incident
-to raise the question of the flag diplomatically with England, in the
-hope of having the respective rights of the two nations settled, and
-no doubt for other reasons. He complained to Charles that the Earl of
-Lindsey--who denied the story--told a Dutch captain of whom he inquired
-the whereabouts of the French fleet, that he was “going to make them
-lower their colours”;[489] he inquired as to the intentions of the
-king, and he proposed that in future the French should salute the
-English on the coast of England, and, reciprocally, that the English
-should salute the French on the coast of France; while if the fleets
-were in the middle of the sea they should either pass one another
-without saluting, or the weaker fleet should first salute the stronger.
-If Charles did not like these proposals, he was invited to suggest
-others.[490] It appears indeed that instructions of a similar tenour
-had been actually given to the French Admiral, except that they might
-strike to the English when out of sight of the French coast.[491]
-
-Richelieu’s proposals for equality and reciprocity in the narrow seas
-were instantly rejected. Coke, in a despatch to the English agents
-at Paris, the draft of which was revised by the king, expressed
-astonishment that the French ambassador, instead of the negotiation
-of a treaty for a confederation between England, France, and the
-States-General for the restitution of the Elector Palatine, should
-raise “impertinent questions” about the king’s dominion at sea. The
-king could enter into no such debate with the French ambassador. But
-Coke had assured that personage that the instructions given to the Earl
-of Lindsey were no other than had been given in effect in all former
-times, and “for near forty years within his own knowledge,”--that the
-Admiral should defend and maintain the ancient known rights of the
-crown; guard the seas, secure freedom of commerce, suppress pirates,
-and oppose hostile acts in prejudice thereof; assist his Majesty’s
-friends and allies, attempt no innovation, nor do anything contrary
-to his treaties,--and so he presumed that no one would do anything to
-impeach his Majesty’s ancient and undoubted rights. But instead of
-being satisfied with this “fair answer,” the French ambassador put
-into Coke’s hands a regulation he had drawn up, prescribing to both
-kings “when and where the one shall vail his bonnet to the other.”
-Coke informed the agents that it was hoped this proceeding would be
-disavowed; and he instructed them, pending the arrival of the new
-English ambassador (Lord Scudamore), to refrain from all discussion
-with the French king or his Ministers as to the king’s right to the
-dominion of the sea, or about the extent thereof, and to say nothing
-further as to the designs of the fleet.[492] Richelieu, who had quite
-enough to concern him in the failure of his attack on the Spanish
-Netherlands, was content to leave alone the dispute about the flag,
-and the French ambassador was requested to say as little as possible
-concerning it.[493]
-
-The Earl of Lindsey, failing to find the French fleet and coming to
-revictual in the Downs, now bethought himself of the other part of the
-king’s private instructions, about the Dutch herring-busses. If he had
-been baffled in the attempt to lower the lilies of France, might he
-not yet force the herring-boats to take his Majesty’s license before
-they cast their nets in his Majesty’s seas? But here, too, obstacles
-arose. He wrote to Charles on 2nd August that he had consulted the
-ablest men in the fleet, the captains and masters, and they were of
-opinion that “his Majesty’s great ships would run much hazard” upon
-the northern coasts. Moreover, if the fleet went north, would it not
-encourage the French to quit their retreat and “embolden them perhaps
-to do that which now standing in awe they forbear to do?” Still, he was
-willing to do whatever the king thought best. The king agreed that it
-might be better to stay, especially as he thought that before the Earl
-could apply himself to that service the fishing season would be past.
-Besides, said Coke, who penned the despatch, the fleets his Lordship
-had left behind him--“pressing after him,” as he said--were of more
-consideration. The king therefore ordered that when the victualling was
-completed the fleet should again keep the sea to the westward.[494]
-
-This decision probably saved the Earl of Lindsey, as well as the
-king, from further humiliation and disappointment. Even had he at
-once sailed to the north, he would have found no Dutch herring-busses
-to deal with, any more than he had found the French fleet. For the
-Dunkirk privateers, swiftly taking advantage of Richelieu’s withdrawal
-of the blockading squadron from their port, had made a bold dash
-into the North Sea and overwhelmed the Hollanders off the coast of
-Northumberland. More than 100 busses had been sunk or burnt, and 1000
-fishermen carried prisoners to Flanders; the rest were in full flight
-homewards or pent up in British ports, and the herring-fishing was
-ruined for that year.[495]
-
-The calamity soon brought over the Dutch fleet to protect the remaining
-busses. Van Dorp, with fourteen French and Dutch men-of-war, arrived in
-Calais Road about the middle of August and sailed thence northwards,
-thirsting for vengeance on the freebooters. Lindsey detached some
-of the ships from his fleet, which lay victualling in the Downs,
-for convoys, as well as to punish the “contempt” of the Dutch at
-Scarborough (see p. 250), and a few of the smaller vessels were engaged
-in looking for “picaroons” in the Straits of Dover. For during the
-absence of the fleet, the post-boat between Dover and Dunkirk had been
-attacked and pillaged five times within seven weeks, and the packages
-containing the king’s letters opened.[496] A French man-of-war, too,
-had taken an English ship off Harwich and carried her off to Boulogne.
-Such occurrences, and the presence of Van Dorp in the north, delayed
-Lindsey’s departure. But on 4th September he again left the Downs with
-most of his ships, stood over to Calais and ranged the French coast for
-some distance southwards, and then out to sea. Heavy weather coming on,
-he had to run for shelter to the Isle of Wight, where the fleet lay
-weather-bound, and with much sickness on board, from the 12th till the
-29th September. The Admiral then made for the Downs, where he arrived
-on 4th October, and on the 8th he struck his flag.[497]
-
-Pennington was left with seven ships for the winter guard of the narrow
-seas; and with “private” instructions from the Earl not to suffer any
-breach of the peace to be done to any of his Majesty’s allies, nor
-to permit his sovereignty to be infringed upon; to give convoys to
-merchants when they wished it; to clear his Majesty’s seas of pirates,
-and to compel the “due homage of the sea.” Finally, he was to assist
-the farmers of the customs, particularly in preventing the smuggling of
-tobacco.
-
-It was a fitting close to the first ship-money fleet. The great armada
-by which Charles expected to recover the Palatinate, and restore his
-sovereignty of the seas to its ancient style and lustre, upon which
-the eyes of Europe had been fixed, accomplished practically nothing.
-It had snatched a petty prize from a Dunkirk privateer and seized a
-Dutch man-of-war in reparation for the “contempt” at Scarborough;
-it had convoyed a few vessels, English and Spanish, to Dunkirk, and
-as its greatest achievement had caused the blockade of that port to
-be raised. No wonder that that tough sea-dog, Sir John Pennington,
-when he heard that a still stronger fleet was preparing for the next
-year, should exclaim, “God grant they may do more than the present
-fleet has done, or the money were as well saved as spent.”[498] No
-doubt the fleet had a moral value, if that term can be used about
-it, the naval demonstration being an intimation to France and to the
-Dutch Republic that Charles was resolved to assert command of the
-sea. Whether England could have proved herself mistress of the seas
-in 1635, had Lindsey’s fleet been opposed, is problematical. But, at
-all events, Charles attained none of his special objects. The sudden
-and successful uprising of the Spanish Netherlands against the armies
-of France dispelled the fears of Spain, and that power having no
-further immediate need of England, the nearly completed alliance came
-to naught, and the recovery of the Palatinate was further off than
-ever.[499] On the other hand, the Dutch were much irritated. Charles
-had denied their right to blockade the Flemish ports against free
-commerce,[500] and it was through his action that the privateers had
-been able to work such havoc and destruction among the herring-busses.
-
-Something more must be said about one of the duties imposed on
-Lindsey, in regard to which it was expected the English fleet would
-shine--namely, the homage of the flag. Apart from forcing a number
-of merchant vessels, English and foreign, to lower their top-sails,
-and some Dutch men-of-war and Dunkirkers, and even one or two of the
-French (on the English coast) to strike their flag to the king’s ships,
-nothing was accomplished. The politic arrangement of Richelieu foiled
-Lindsey and Charles alike, and the great spectacle of the Admiral of
-France lowering his flag to the Admiral of England, or giving battle
-and refusal, was not witnessed. The disappointment at the English
-Court was all the more keen, inasmuch as France, in the treaty of
-confederation with the States-General in the beginning of the year, had
-stipulated that the Dutch men-of-war should salute the French flag in
-the same way as they saluted the flag of England, thus “challenging a
-dominion,” as Sir Thomas Roe said, “where anciently they durst not fish
-for gurnets without license.”[501]
-
-By this time the question of the striking of the flag had been forced
-into great prominence: even the “footpads” of the Channel, the humble
-picaroons and shallops, hailed the English ketches which they pillaged
-with the cry of “Strike, you English dogs!” It has been shown in a
-previous chapter that though the ceremony was enforced in the narrow
-seas in the reign of James, it did not then become a burning political
-question, and the same is true of the early part of the reign of
-Charles. The English commanders were then satisfied with a moderate
-acknowledgment of the “honour,” and the Dutch at least rarely ever
-contested it. That it was enforced in 1627 appears from the narrative
-of the Earl of Warwick’s voyage in that year, when a French man-of-war
-was compelled off Falmouth “to come up by the lee,” though nothing is
-said about the flag itself.[502] But when France openly aspired to
-become a great naval Power, England began to force the salute with
-a high hand. It is from the year 1631 that we may date the marked
-development of this symbol, as it was claimed to be, of the sovereignty
-of the sea. We have already seen Pennington’s instructions in that
-year, which, however, only mention the striking of the top-sail; and
-although the omission of the flag may have been only verbal, there are
-reasons for thinking that the custom and etiquette of the ceremony were
-not well understood at the Admiralty. Thus on Pennington reporting
-that French men-of-war were trying to force English merchant vessels
-to strike to the French flag,[503] he was ordered by the Admiralty “to
-see that no one presumes to carry the flag in the Narrow Seas”; all
-the more since “some” pretended to have an interest in the sovereignty
-of these seas.[504] When Pennington pointed out that this “was more
-than ever was done, for our own merchants’ ships and all other nations
-ever have and do wear their flags, till they come within shot of the
-king’s ships: if they take them in and keep them in till they are out
-of shot again, it is as much as has ever been expected,”--when he
-told the Admiralty this, he was informed that the “Lords would not
-expect impossibilities”--the main business he was to take care of was
-to see that no foreigner carried the flag where his Majesty’s ships
-were present in the Narrow Seas.[505] Then Captain Plumleigh in the
-_Antelope_ reported that on meeting two States’ men-of-war guarding
-the herring-fishers off Orfordness, the Admiral had “stood” with the
-_Antelope_ with his flag aloft, and did not take it in till several
-shots had been fired at him; and when requested to come on board
-and explain his conduct, he refused. How, asked Plumleigh, was he
-to comport himself in such cases? The matter was brought before the
-Admiralty, but no answer appears to have been then given.[506] Two
-or three years later Pennington put the same and other queries to the
-king. He had been appointed in April 1633 Admiral of the Narrow Seas,
-with general instructions already quoted (see p. 262), to preserve the
-king’s honour, coasts, and jurisdiction, and to compel homage to the
-flag. Pennington asked whether, when a stranger refused to take in
-his flag till forced, he should not be “brought in as a delinquent”;
-whether, if he met a foreign fleet of far greater strength than his
-own, and they refused to take in their flags, he should fight with
-them about it “upon so great disadvantage,” or make “a fair retreat”;
-whether on going into Calais, Dunkirk, or the Briel--that is to say,
-ports in France, Flanders, and Holland--and finding strangers riding
-there with their flags aloft, he should force them to take them
-in?[507] He also wrote to the Admiralty in 1634 substantially repeating
-these inquiries, and asking for a positive or negative expression in
-regard to them in his instructions. The Admiralty remitted Pennington’s
-letter to Nicholas and Sir Henry Marten to frame answers. The final
-opinion on the first point was that by the law of the Admiralty both in
-England and France, the ships were forfeited--that is to say, the same
-penalty applied as was prescribed in King John’s ordinance. It was,
-however, rarely, if ever, carried into effect. The instructions on this
-matter usually ran that punishment was to be inflicted at the place,
-or the commander brought in to answer his contempt. When the Earl
-of Northumberland asked a similar question in 1636, he was told the
-offender should be “punished on the place.”[508] In Nicholas’ opinion
-much more than the forfeiture of the ship was required; the offender,
-he thought, should be brought in as a delinquent, and if he resisted
-he should be tried as a pirate; but this absurd interpretation was
-overruled.
-
-On the other points it is not quite clear what the final official
-answers were. Nicholas thought that when a superior fleet was
-encountered, the English Admiral ought not to engage rashly about
-the flag; but if he once commanded the foreigners to strike, then
-“the ships were better to be lost than his (the king’s) honour and
-sovereignty yielded.” The opinion he gave with regard to forcing
-foreign vessels to strike in foreign ports was in these words: “For
-ye French roades,” he said, “ye king of England’s ships should suffer
-none to wear ye flag but themselves: but in other roades after salutes
-both may weare ye flag without dishonour.” The exceptional treatment
-proposed for ships in French roads may have been in part owing to the
-political circumstances of the time, but probably chiefly had reference
-to ancient custom and the old claims of England to the soil of France.
-Charles still styled himself King of France; and later Selden argued
-that though English dominion had been lost in France itself, it
-nevertheless extended over the sea up to the very shores. It became the
-common practice to enforce the homage on the coast of the Continent,
-but not within harbours, ports, rivers, or within buoys, or at any
-place under the command of the guns of forts or castles.[509] The Earl
-of Northumberland, on repeating Pennington’s question in 1636 as to
-Calais, Dunkirk, and the Briel, was told that the homage was to be
-exacted “in the roads out of command of any forts.”[510]
-
-There was always some doubt as to the etiquette of the salutation
-between ships and forts or castles. Dutch vessels were fired on and
-detained at Portland Castle in 1633 for putting up their flags in the
-presence of the king’s colours, which were flying on the walls; and
-the act was justified to the States’ ambassador when he complained
-about it. In the year before, the commanders of the Castles at Deal and
-Walmer fired upon a French man-of-war that came in with his flag in
-the main-top, because after taking it down when requested, he hoisted
-it again on going away. “I gave him five shots,” said the Captain
-of Deal, “without hitting him,” and he added that the Council on a
-previous occasion approved of a like action against the Dutch, who had
-never since offended, but he had never heard of the French attempting
-it before. The Admiralty asked Pennington’s opinion as to the proper
-course, and he said he thought that all the ships of his Majesty’s
-subjects and of foreigners and strangers should strike their flags and
-top-sails as they passed by any of his Majesty’s castles; such, he
-said, was the custom in all parts of Christendom, “which, being done,
-they may ride under the castles with their colours flying abroad if
-there be none of the king’s own ships present.” The king’s castles had
-thus not so high a status as the king’s ship; but the military officers
-were not less zealous than those of the navy. Pennington himself
-had an amusing illustration of their zeal, for in 1631 Sir William
-Killigrew, the Captain of Pendennis Castle, persisted in “spending
-the king’s powder” in shooting at the _Bonaventure_, Pennington’s
-ship, for not striking its flag to the castle,--“a thing,” said the
-Admiral, “never used by a king’s ship, nor would he be the beginner of
-it.” Fortunately, the gunnery of the time was wild; but Killigrew had
-to be summoned before the Admiralty, rebuked, and, “upon submission,
-discharged with strict command never more to offend in that kind,”
-before the practice ceased. The Admiralty also issued an order to the
-notorious Sir James Bagg, the Governor of Plymouth and the Vice-Admiral
-for South Devon, strictly forbidding that any castle or fort under his
-command should fire upon the king’s ship, even if passing near with
-their flags on the top of any of their masts, “for,” he was told, “they
-are as absolutely his Majesty’s castles or forts, though floating, as
-that under your command.”[511]
-
-As was to be expected from the attempted maritime rivalry openly
-displayed by France, and from English policy at the time, our naval
-officers vied with one another in compelling homage to the flag. The
-Dutch, both merchant vessels and men-of-war, more particularly the
-latter, usually struck at once to the English ships. If they showed
-reluctance, or hoisted their flag again too soon, they were fired at.
-The English captains insisted on the right off Continental ports. Thus
-Captain Richard Plumleigh, having gone to Calais in 1632 to bring over
-the corpse of Sir Richard Walker, late British ambassador, in his
-ship--well named the _Assurance_,--“bestowed some powder on the French
-flags,” and caused all the French shipping in Calais Road to take in
-their colours, “at which,” he said, “they repined heavily.” Some of
-the States’ men-of-war also riding in the Road took the side of the
-French, and sent to Plumleigh to say that they knew no reason why he
-should demand superiority on that side of the sea, and “threatening”
-to wear their flags there as well as he. But Plumleigh boldly returned
-a message--what he called “a cooling card”--to their Admiral, saying
-that if he showed a Dutch flag there, he “would sink him or be sunk by
-him,” which caused him to keep his colours close.[512] In the following
-year, Captain Ketelby, of the _Bonaventure_, was sent to Boulogne to
-bring over another ambassador (Lord Weston), and finding the Admiral
-of Amsterdam in the Road with his flag up, he “gave her a shot,” when
-she struck it and presently hoisted it again. Ketelby then sent his
-lieutenant to command him to take in his flag or prepare to defend it.
-The Dutch Admiral argued, and kept it up till Ketelby was preparing to
-shoot again, when he took it in. Two days later another Dutch admiral,
-this time the Admiral of Holland, came into the Road with ten or twelve
-ships of war; within a reasonable distance he struck his flag twice
-and saluted with seven pieces, and then he also hoisted it again.
-Ketelby “conceived this homage not sufficient,” and notwithstanding
-the disparity of force, sent him a command to take in his flag, which
-he did, and kept it in till the _Bonaventure_ departed. Such incidents
-show both the domineering conduct of the English captains and the
-forbearance and good sense of the Dutch, who acted in obedience to
-the strict orders they had received to strike to the English ships.
-But nearer home Ketelby had not so much glory. On returning with the
-ambassador he met ten sail of Hollanders on the English coast between
-Dover and Folkestone, one, a States’ man-of-war, bearing his flag on
-the main-top, while a merchant vessel had his top-sails “a-trip.” Both
-were obdurate as to rendering the accustomed homage, and in spite of
-the fact that Ketelby sent twenty shot “in and through” the sides of
-the merchantman, she would not lower her sails in the least.[513]
-
-In many instances peaceful merchant vessels suffered greatly over this
-question of striking. During the cruise of Lindsey’s fleet, Dutch
-men-of-war, and also a Danish warship, struck without hesitation, even
-at Calais. So also as a rule did the merchant vessels; but sometimes
-they transgressed the rule, it might be from ignorance, and then
-they were exposed to harsh treatment. Thus, three great ships of
-Amsterdam bound for Pernambuco, on meeting the _Constant Reformation_
-off Plymouth, did everything required of them; but hoisting their
-sails before they got clear of the _Vanguard_, the latter gave them
-six pieces of ordnance, twice sending a cannon-ball through the hull
-of one of them. Then for a similar reason, too great an alacrity in
-re-hoisting her flag, another Hollander was shot through with five
-pieces by the _Rainbow_. So anxious were the English officers to compel
-the homage that they sometimes demanded it at night. The _Freeman_,
-returning from convoying merchant-ships to Dunkirk, met in the
-night-time a fleet of Dutch merchantmen with one convoy accompanying
-them, and shot to make them strike. In the darkness the traders took
-the English ship for a Dunkirk privateer and made what haste they could
-away. The States’ man-of-war, coming up to the rescue, approached
-so near the _Freeman_ before she discovered what she was (and then
-immediately struck) that a collision occurred, the bowsprit of the
-English ship being broken, while her anchor carried away the Dutchman’s
-chains and stays. The Dutch captain then came on board, humbly asked
-pardon for what had happened, excused himself by the night and the
-mistake, offered to go before the Lord Admiral, and paid for the
-bowsprit and the shot.[514]
-
-While the Dutch were thus forbearing, the Dunkirkers, the _protégés_
-of Spain, for whom Charles was supposed to be making sacrifices, were
-refractory. They refused to strike to the _Vanguard_ lying at anchor
-off Gravelines, although it fired many times at them: before the anchor
-could be got up they were off, and it was useless to follow. They
-sent a message that they did not care for the English now, and would
-not strike. On the other hand, just as Lindsey reached the Downs at
-the beginning of October, Captain Stradling in the _Swallow_ met the
-French Admiral, for whom the Earl had been searching all summer, off
-Falmouth with two ships. He immediately shot at him, and he struck his
-top-sails and saluted. But this was on the English coast, and was not
-contrary to Richelieu’s instructions. The French, on their part, a week
-or two afterwards forced an English merchant vessel to strike “for the
-king of France.”[515]
-
-Perhaps the worst offenders of all were the British merchantmen.
-Again and again the naval commanders complained to the Admiralty of
-their remissness or neglect to strike, which they said set a very bad
-example to foreigners. Pennington reported to the king that they passed
-his ships in the narrow seas, not only without speaking, but even
-“presumptuously wearing their flag at the topmast head” until forced
-to take it in; and he recommended the king to issue a proclamation
-commanding all ships to speak with the king’s ships and give an account
-of themselves, or be subject to fine and punishment. Pennington asked
-what he was to do if any of the king’s subjects were so stubborn as not
-to strike their flag and top-sails in due time: “I meane,” he said,
-“soe soone as they come within distance of our ordynaunce.” On this
-Sir Henry Marten recommended that when an English ship did not strike
-in time, the naval captain should complain to his Admiral or to the
-Admiralty. He was strongly of opinion that too much discretion should
-not be left to the naval officers in this matter. It was, he said,
-too much to hazard an English ship being sunk or English lives lost
-on a point on which a mistake might easily be made.[516] The official
-instruction given to the officers was either to punish the offenders
-themselves or to report them to the Admiral or to the Admiralty.
-Neglectful merchant vessels were sometimes severely punished. In April
-1632, when Lady Strange and a large party of Lords, with a great
-retinue, went on board Pennington’s ship, the _Convertive_, lying in
-Tilbury Hope, a merchant ship, the _Matthew_ of London, passed up the
-river “in an insolent manner,” not striking his flag until he had come
-up with the _Convertive_, and soon hoisting it again notwithstanding
-the shots Pennington fired at him. For this the master was lodged in
-jail, and was only released on expressing his contrition to the Lords
-of the Admiralty. The Earl of Lindsey took a sharper course in a
-similar case. On returning to the Downs, no doubt irritated from his
-failure and smarting under Coke’s gibes, he pounced upon two English
-merchantmen who had presumed to wear their flags within full view of
-the fleet, “almost within command of shot,” and in the presence of
-nearly 200 sail of British and foreign ships. The masters were at once
-seized, brought on board and put in custody, and a day or two later, a
-council of war having been called and Sir H. Marten consulted, one of
-them, William Bushell of Limehouse, captain of the _Neptune_, was fined
-£500, and the other, Thomas Scott of Ratcliffe, was fined £100, for so
-gross a misdemeanour.[517]
-
-From the foregoing it is evident that in those days peaceful merchant
-vessels traversing the narrow seas had not a very happy time. It must
-often have been irksome in the extreme to the masters, probably not
-always understanding the minutiæ of the rules,--which, indeed, the
-naval captains themselves sometimes failed fully to comprehend,--to
-render due and proper homage to the English flag. To compel foreign
-men-of-war to salute the king’s ships was a different matter. It
-flattered the national vanity and kept alive the national aspiration
-for power on the sea, and it did not interfere with the duties of the
-men-of-war which gave the salute. But to the merchantman anxious for
-his voyage, often undermanned and contending with turbulent seas, it
-must have been vexatious to be called upon every now and again to lower
-his top-sails to a king’s ship, or take the risk of a shot through his
-sides or a heavy fine. The inconvenience led later to a modification in
-the practice, so far as concerned English vessels, it being insisted
-on only “when it could be done without loss of the voyage”;[518]
-but it may be said here that the regulation with regard to merchant
-vessels striking to a man-of-war was always afterwards embodied in the
-Admiralty instructions, offenders being reported to the Admiralty, and
-proceedings often taken against them in the Admiralty Court.[519]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-CHARLES I. NAVY--_continued_.
-
-
-Considering the failure of his foreign policy and the inglorious fiasco
-of the first ship-money fleet, it might be supposed that Charles would
-pause in the unusual method he had adopted of wringing money from
-the country for empty displays. While the Earl of Lindsey was still
-cruising at sea, and before the issue of the second ship-money writs,
-he knew that his schemes had miscarried. He was left drifting about
-without any definite policy, but still clinging to the plan of the
-restoration of his nephew to the Palatinate as the one thing before
-him. He was equally ready to ally himself with France against Spain, or
-with Spain against France, whichever would be most likely to aid him in
-realising that object;[520] and as he had neither money nor troops to
-attract a Continental alliance, his only pawn lay in the navy. In the
-summer of 1635, while Selden was busy in the Temple at his book, it was
-resolved to equip a fleet far more formidable than Lindsey’s for the
-following year. Coventry made his speech to the Judges in June, and in
-August the second writs for ship-money were sent out. In this case, as
-is well known, they were addressed not only to the coast towns but to
-the whole of England, with consequences notorious in English history.
-The number of ships it was at first intended to set out was forty-five,
-totalling 21,850 tons, and with 8650 men, the estimated cost being
-£218,000.[521] At the beginning of December the Admiralty considered
-what number should be set out in the spring; and by an Order of the
-King in Council on December 27th, it was decreed that twenty-four
-should be prepared “for guarding the narrow seas,” while ten other
-ships should be got ready as a second fleet to reinforce the first, or
-to take its place later.[522]
-
-The second ship-money fleet was placed under the command of the Earl
-of Northumberland, an able, accomplished, and high-spirited young
-nobleman, much better fitted than Lindsey was for the office of
-Admiral. This fleet is usually said to have been the most powerful ever
-set out by England up to that time.[523] According to Northumberland’s
-Journal, it consisted of twenty-seven vessels, all of which were
-king’s ships, except three which had been fitted out by London. Sir
-John Pennington was appointed Vice-Admiral and Sir Henry Mervin,
-Rear-Admiral.[524]
-
-But what was to be done with the fleet? That was a question put by
-Windebank in the autumn of the previous year. The king had remitted
-to the Foreign Committee two inquiries: what answer he should make to
-the French ambassador concerning “a nearer conjunction” with France;
-and whether he should declare his neutrality. Windebank argued against
-either a French alliance or a declaration of neutrality. Against the
-former proposition he urged four reasons, one being that the French
-“had challenged a joint sovereignty on the sea with his Majesty”;
-and against the latter that the French and Hollanders would besiege
-Dunkirk or some part of Flanders, and the king would have to sit still
-and suffer it to be lost, or break his neutrality. “Besides,” said
-Windebank, clinching his arguments, “what was to be done with the
-fleet next year if his Majesty declared his neutrality? it must lie
-still and do nothing.”[525] Apparently the problem of what was to be
-done with the fleet was not quite solved until the February following,
-though there had been several tolerably clear indications that one part
-of its duty at least would be the suppression of unlicensed fishing on
-the British coasts. Selden’s _Mare Clausum_ was issued from the press
-in December 1635, and it was with great satisfaction that Charles
-welcomed it (see p. 368). The idea of playing the more distinguished
-_rôle_ of Lord of the Sea was not therefore likely to be abandoned
-because Lindsey’s fleet had been able to do nothing.
-
-At the same time Charles thought he might get some money as well as
-honour by means of his fleet, and he submitted two propositions to the
-Lords of the Admiralty for their consideration in employing the fleet
-“for his honour and profit”: first, in “wafting and securing” foreign
-merchant vessels passing through his seas; second, in protecting all
-such fishermen as should fish under his license upon his seas and
-coasts. With reference to the latter suggestion, Sir Henry Marten
-delivered an elaborate opinion to the Admiralty. He recited how King
-James, after long and mature deliberation, had satisfied himself
-and resolved that the fishing “in his seas and upon the coasts of
-his dominions, did justly appertain unto him as a right incident to
-his crowns,” and had issued a proclamation declaring his title and
-forbidding unlicensed fishing by foreigners. He also explained that the
-United Provinces had then sent over commissioners who alleged continued
-custom and present possession of the fishings, “mentioning withall
-some treaties that had been heretofore between the Kings of England
-and the Dukes of Burgundy” in favour of their liberty of fishing.
-After hearing Sir Henry, the Admiralty expressed a unanimous opinion
-that “the right and royalty of that fishing upon your Majesty’s coasts
-doth undoubtedly belong unto your Majesty by inheritance, so as you
-may justly prohibit or license all strangers at your royal will and
-pleasure.” They further declared that by reason of his strength at sea,
-the time was then most fitting to put his claim into execution; and
-they recommended that the States’ ambassador should be informed that
-the king had not relinquished his right to the “royal fishing,” but
-was “resolved to defend it as the hereditary right and possession of
-any other of his dominions.” This intimation was to be wrapped up in
-sophistries, lest the Dutch should think the king challenged it at a
-time when they had most need of his favour and grace. James had offered
-them a bare license for liberty to fish; Charles was to offer them
-safety and security as well, and the depredations which the Dunkirk
-privateers had committed on the herring-busses were to be used as an
-impressive argument to convince them of the benefits they would receive
-from his protection. The privateers had driven them from the fishing,
-even in sight of English harbours, by which the king was prejudiced
-both in honour and interest; but if they accepted his licenses he might
-feel justified in drawing his sword in their defence, in spite of any
-league or treaty. If, however, the Hollanders should be so wanting in
-discretion as to refuse the royal licenses, the Lords of the Admiralty
-were “all clear of opinion that his Majesty should renew and publish
-the like proclamation to that of the King his father, and prosecute
-the settling of that his right as a thing so highly concerning him in
-honour, dominion and profit.”
-
-As to the second proposition, the convoying of foreign merchant
-vessels, the Admiralty were more guarded in their opinion. They all
-agreed that the king was entitled to have profit by it, but not by
-way of a general imposition on all ships passing through his seas,
-as Charles, fresh from the perusal of _Mare Clausum_, apparently had
-proposed. That, they said, would doubtless “draw a just complaint and
-clamour” from the neighbouring princes and their subjects. The best
-course, they thought, was for a tribute to be taken from such vessels
-as desired convoy, in proportion to the value of the ship and the
-length of the waftage. The King of England was thus to hire out his
-ships of war when any foreign vessels were willing to pay for their
-employment.[526]
-
-The instructions to the Earl of Northumberland were issued by the
-Admiralty on 7th April, and they were substantially the same as those
-given to Lindsey in the previous year. In the clause referring to
-hostilities in the presence of the king’s ships, the phrase, “in any
-part of the Narrow Seas,” in Lindsey’s instructions, was replaced by
-the words “in any part of his Majesty’s seas,”--an alteration of some
-importance in view of Coke’s description of the extent of them; and the
-same change was made in the title of his instructions.[527] The king
-also gave the Earl private and verbal commands, particularly as to the
-operations to be conducted against the Dutch herring-busses.
-
-The fleet mustered in the Downs, the Earl embarking in the _Triumph_
-on 14th May. Leaving some of the ships to convoy merchant vessels and
-guard the Straits of Dover, he hoisted sails on the 20th, and stood
-away westwards in search of the French fleet. It was known that a large
-number of ships had been equipped by France and lay at Rochelle; and
-Pennington had reported at the end of February that twenty-four States’
-men-of-war were at Amsterdam, ready to come out and join the French,
-and that they were to wear French colours. It was believed that the
-intention of the allies was to lay siege to and blockade Dunkirk, and
-Northumberland was ordered to keep a watch on them and to force them
-to strike. On leaving the Downs he passed over to the French coast,
-sailing along it within sight of Calais, Boulogne, and Dieppe, and
-then stood over for the English coast. On 26th May he was at Portland;
-thence he passed westwards to the Lizard, and cruised between it and
-Ushant and within sight of the French coast till 11th June, when the
-fleet put into Plymouth. During all this time they got no glimpse of
-the fleet for which they were seeking, but they had frequent reports
-from passing vessels that it was at the Isle de Rhé, and numbered
-between forty and fifty sail, most of which were small and unprepared
-to put to sea. Within ten days of leaving the Downs, Northumberland had
-apparently satisfied himself that they would see nothing of the French
-that summer; he thereupon reminded the Admiralty that the fishing
-season was approaching, and requested to know the king’s pleasure as to
-whether he should go northwards. On the 14th, the Admiralty informed
-him that as the season for fishing began about the 20th June, he was
-to repair to the northwards as soon as his other business would permit.
-Northumberland received this letter at Plymouth on the 22nd, together
-with other information that the French fleet had passed towards
-Dunkirk. He thereupon hurried eastwards, arriving at the Downs on 24th
-June, and finding that the report as to the movement of the French
-fleet was false, prepared for the campaign against the Dutch fishermen.
-
-The Channel cruise of Northumberland’s fleet was thus as barren of
-result as had been Lindsey’s in the year before. He fell in with a
-few Dunkirk privateers, far too nimble to be caught up by the “great
-unwieldy” English ships. When in Portland Road, a glimpse was got
-of eight large ships at a great distance, which were thought to be
-States’ men-of-war. Northumberland stood towards them, but as soon as
-they perceived the movement they tacked about and were speedily out
-of sight. “They are so well built and fitted for sailing,” remarked
-the Earl, “that I can never come near when they have a mind to avoid,
-unless by chance.” It has indeed been well said that whether Charles
-was sovereign of the seas or not, he could not build ships that would
-sail.[528] For the same reason the English vessels were unable to find
-the “Turkish” pirates, which, when the Earl put into Plymouth, came
-out of the Irish seas, and carried off about thirty English fishermen
-into captivity. During Northumberland’s cruise, Captain Carteret with
-six ships was busily employed in convoying such trading vessels “as
-desired it” from the English coast to Dunkirk or Ostend, “taking an
-acknowledgment in money of strangers.”[529]
-
-But if Northumberland was foiled by the Fabian tactics of Richelieu, as
-they had foiled Lindsey, with regard to the striking of the flag, he
-succeeded in forcing the Dutch fishermen to take the king’s license,
-a policy which Charles had contemplated long before even the first
-ship-money fleet was equipped. We have already seen how the Scottish
-burghs in the course of the negotiations about the Fishery Society,
-repeatedly insisted that the unwelcome Hollander should be driven
-from their seas (see pp. 227, 234). As early indeed as 1630 rumours
-were rife in Paris that a fleet of fifteen English ships, under the
-command of Sir Kenelm Digby, was to be equipped for this purpose;[530]
-and there were signs from other quarters of what was impending. In
-1634 Sir Nicholas Halse addressed a treatise to the king on Dutch
-trade and fisheries, like those so profusely bestowed on James, in
-which he drew a lively picture of the ills which arose from their
-predominance. The yearly profit derived by the Hollanders from their
-fishing in the British seas he placed at £6,000,000 sterling, which
-enabled them to maintain their wars; and yet they were so ungrateful
-as to say that England would never be well governed until they had
-the governing of it. He recommended that the Hollanders should be
-licensed to enjoy half the fishings, a course which he said would make
-Charles the most powerful sovereign in Christendom,--superlatives
-and hyperbole never being stinted in such forecastings.[531] Then
-a very influential body, the Merchant Adventurers, exasperated by
-certain measures taken by Holland and the States-General with respect
-to their staple at Amsterdam, petitioned the Council to retaliate,
-and among their retributory suggestions was the prohibition of the
-Hollanders from fishing on the British coasts or drying their nets on
-the English shore.[532] It would appear indeed that originally one of
-the principal ostensible objects of the fleet of 1635 was to force
-licenses on the Dutch. Thus Nicholas, the Secretary to the Admiralty,
-who was not in the secret of the Spanish negotiations, in a memorandum
-drawn up in that year, suggested that the duties of the fleet should
-be the suppression of piracy about the mouth of the Straits, and the
-establishment of the king’s rights to the fishings in the eastern and
-northern seas.[533]
-
-The course upon which Charles had now embarked in reference to
-foreign fishermen was a revival of the policy of the “assize-herring”
-of James. No foreigner was to be allowed to fish in the British seas
-without obtaining, and paying for, a license from the king. James,
-as we have seen, demanded his right in a pettifogging way, sending a
-scarcely-armed and half-dismantled pinnace among the busses, with a
-lawyer on board, to ask the tribute in fair and gentle words, and if
-refused “to take out instruments upon the said refusal.” Charles sent
-his Admiral with a powerful fleet, and with instructions to force the
-fishermen to take the licenses in spite of all opposition. The first
-step was to issue a formal proclamation like that issued by James in
-1609, forbidding unlicensed fishing by foreigners. The opinion of the
-Lords of the Admiralty and their legal adviser (to whom appertained
-the jurisdiction of the fisheries) being emphatically in favour of the
-king’s claims, the draft proclamation was drawn up and submitted to
-them on 3rd May.[534] It was approved, and published to the world on
-May 10th, four days before Northumberland joined the fleet.
-
-In this proclamation Charles recited the provisions contained in
-the earlier one of 1609, “since which time,” he said, “neither Our
-said father nor Our Self have made any considerable execution of the
-said Proclamation, but have with much patience expected a voluntary
-conformity of our neighbours and allies to so just and reasonable
-prohibitions and directions as are contained in the same.” But finding
-by experience that all the inconveniences which occasioned the previous
-proclamation had rather increased than abated, being “very sensible
-of the premises, and well knowing how far we are obliged in honour
-and conscience to maintain the rights of our Crown, especially of so
-great consequence,” he thought it necessary, by the advice of his
-Privy Council, “to renew the aforesaid restraint of fishing upon our
-aforesaid coasts and seas, without license first obtained from Us, and
-by these presents to make public declaration that Our resolution is (at
-times convenient) to keep such a competent strength of shipping upon
-Our Seas, as may (by God’s blessing) be sufficient, both to hinder such
-further encroachments upon Our regalities, and assist and protect those
-our good friends and allies, who shall henceforth, by virtue of our
-license (to be first obtained) endeavour to take the benefit of fishing
-upon our coasts and seas, in the places accustomed.”[535]
-
-In connection with the proclamation several hundred licenses were
-prepared, the precise form of which appears to have occasioned some
-trouble.[536] The duty of drawing them up had been remitted in April
-to Nicholas and Sir Henry Marten, and on June 14th a hundred of
-them were sent to Deal Castle for the Earl of Northumberland, with
-instructions from the Lords of the Admiralty. The king, they said, had
-told them he had already verbally given the Earl directions to charge
-the busses which took the licenses at the rate of twelvepence a ton;
-with respect to such as might refuse to accept the license, he was “to
-take order that they may not fish in the said seas; and in case they
-shall fish without license, he is to send their vessels and fish into
-some of his Majesty’s ports till further order.” The Admiralty left
-to his own discretion what ships he should take with him, but they
-said he would require the bigger ships to repel such force as he might
-encounter, and the smaller ships to apprehend the fisher-boats.
-
-The fleet remained at the Downs, victualling, taking in stores, and
-waiting for pilots acquainted with the northern coasts, from 24th June
-to 19th July. The masters of the ships were unwilling to risk the
-large vessels among “the sands and flats” of the east coast, or where
-there were no good harbours; and they were all of opinion that if they
-went at all, they ought to leave before 12th July, in order to fall in
-with the herring fleet north of Buchan Ness. In any case they declined
-to go unless pilots were provided, and these had to be obtained from
-the Cinque Ports and Yarmouth. There was obviously much reluctance in
-the fleet to go on this expedition. The objections and difficulties
-were brought to the notice of the king, but Charles stood firm, and
-expressed his “pleasure” that the northern voyage should be undertaken;
-and Northumberland before leaving wrote to Windebank to assure him
-that the fleet would decide the business they had in hand, for either
-the Dutch would take the licenses and pay the acknowledgment, or else
-the fleet “would put an end to that work.” There could be no doubt of
-success, because the men, he assured Windebank, were full of resolution
-to do the king’s service and gain credit to themselves. At the same
-time, he asked for further instructions with regard to his stay among
-the busses--those he had received, he said, being like oracles.[537]
-
-On July 19 the English fleet weighed anchor and shaped its course
-northwards in its expedition against the Dutch herring-boats. It
-consisted of sixteen ships, one Whelp, and a frigate; and both
-Vice-Admiral Sir John Pennington and Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Mervin
-accompanied the Earl. Contrary winds compelled them to come again to
-anchor, but on the 22nd a fair breeze carried them to the north of
-Cromer, on the Norfolk coast. On Sunday, 24th, when at Tynemouth,
-the Admiral called all his captains together and gave them precise
-instructions in the event of their meeting with any considerable
-opposition from the States’ men-of-war guarding the busses. On the
-25th, 26th, and 27th, foul and misty weather caused them to ride at
-anchor ten leagues off the coast. About noon on the 28th they descried
-sixteen sail of herring-busses accompanied by one man-of-war; and
-immediately the Dutch skippers observed the English fleet they made
-off “with all the sails they could pack on.” Northumberland’s unwieldy
-ships started in pursuit--“but in vain,” wrote the Earl, “for none
-of our ships could come near them.” The States’ man-of-war was less
-fortunate or more courageous. It was from the first far astern of the
-busses, and it was soon overtaken by the _Swan_--which, it may be
-noted, was a Dunkirk privateer that had been captured and converted
-into an English warship. Northumberland kept the Dutch captain on
-board his own ship, the _Triumph_, all night, expecting, as he said,
-that the busses would not go far without him--for of course they were
-liable to be swooped upon by the privateers. But the fishermen now
-feared the Dunkirkers less than they feared the English fleet, and
-the Earl’s ruse failed. After dark he sent off four ships to try to
-surprise them at their nets, but “they plied away all night without
-making any stop.”[538] They were well aware of the mission of the
-fleet, but they had no mind either for the license or the protection of
-the King of England. Next day Northumberland, finding that the busses
-“trusted only to their good sailing” and did not return, and that the
-convoying men-of-war were not likely to be able to oppose him,--two
-or three “very meane ships only able to defend them from the Dunkirk
-frigates” accompanying each fleet of busses,--and hearing, moreover,
-that the principal fishing was past and most of the busses gone home,
-resolved to divide his fleet into three squadrons, the better to meet
-in with those which remained. Sir John Pennington was sent to the north
-as far as Buchan Ness, and Sir H. Mervin to the south as low down as
-Flamborough Head, each with instructions to use his best endeavours to
-get the Dutchmen to take the king’s licenses, while the Earl himself
-plied “to and again” between them. Next day--Saturday, 30th July--being
-misty and calm, Northumberland’s squadron lay at anchor. About noon
-they espied four or five sail at a distance, and as there was not a
-breath of wind, the boats were ordered to take the frigate in tow and
-go towards them; but a breeze soon springing up, all the ships weighed
-anchor and stood after them. On getting up to them they proved to be a
-Hollander man-of-war and a few busses; but the fog was so great that
-they were unable that night to get more than three of the busses,
-the skippers of which, as well as the commander of the man-of-war,
-were brought on board the _Triumph_. On Sunday four other busses were
-captured, and having been manned with English sailors and threats made
-that their nets would be taken from them, they at last consented to
-receive licenses and pay the acknowledgment, and Northumberland sent
-them away “very well satisfied.”[539]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 10.--_Dutch Herring-busses under sail._ After Van
-der Meulen.]
-
-On August 1 the Admiral stood into the Firth of Forth and despatched
-to Edinburgh a missive for the Court, telling the good news. Then
-the squadron from the 2nd to the 8th of August beat off and on the
-coast, going as far north as Aberdeen (5th August) and reaching twenty
-to thirty leagues off without seeing any busses. It then turned
-southwards, and on the 9th gave chase to two men-of-war guarding a
-fleet of busses, the latter, as before, making all haste away. The
-Dutch men-of-war coming up to the English squadron, no doubt to inquire
-and protest, were promptly manned with English sailors and sent in
-hot haste after the busses that had fled. “Yet,” said the Earl, “with
-all the wayes we could use, we gott not above 20 of them, though wee
-spent divers shott to make them come in.”[540] On the same afternoon
-Pennington’s squadron came up from the northwards, where they had
-succeeded in distributing only three licenses; and on this day three of
-the ships were sent back to port by reason of “divers desertes,” which
-made them unfit to keep the sea longer.[541]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 11.--_Dutch Herring-busses hauling their nets, with
-convoying ship-of-war._ After Van der Meulen.]
-
-Passing to the southward of the Firth of Forth on 10th August, the
-English squadron, before the day broke on the 11th, had the good
-luck to sail into a great fleet of about two hundred busses, which
-were guarded by five States’ men-of-war. To thirty-five of these
-fishing-boats Rear-Admiral Mervin, whose squadron was found here, had
-given licenses on the previous day, and Northumberland now distributed
-about a hundred more amongst them, and left the _Convertive_, the
-_Bonaventure_, and the _Fifth Whelp_ to act as a guard to them on
-behalf of the King of England, with spare licenses for any other busses
-that might require them. Next day Northumberland disposed of a few
-more licenses and came to anchor, lest the ships should damage the
-long drifting-nets of the fishermen. But a heavy gale coming on and
-threatening to increase, the Admiral fired a warning gun and weighed
-at break of day on the 13th: so furious was the wind and sea that two
-of the vessels broke loose, and others had the greatest difficulty in
-getting up their anchors, and the English fleet was dispersed. The
-_Triumph_ made for Scarborough, where it was joined during the next few
-days by the rest of the fleet, and then they all left for the Downs.
-On the morning of the 20th they descried twenty sail of good ships,
-and on filling sails and standing to them they found they were Dutch
-men-of-war, under Van Dorp, who, as we shall see, had been sent by the
-States-General to protect the busses and prevent the acceptance of
-the English licenses. The Dutch ships, as the Earl carefully recorded
-in his Journal, “tooke in all their flaggs, strucke their topsails,
-and every ship one after another saluted us with their guns, which
-we answered.” Van Dorp went on board the _Triumph_ to explain to the
-English Admiral the reason of the presence there of the Hollander
-squadron, and when they departed they again saluted. On 22nd August the
-English fleet cast anchor in the Downs, and Van Dorp, having arrived
-too late to carry out the instructions of his Government, returned to
-the Flemish coast.[542]
-
-From the foregoing narrative it is clear that the Dutch fishermen
-evaded as much as they could the acceptance of the king’s licenses.
-They endeavoured to escape when escape was possible, and only
-yielded when they were threatened with the loss of their nets and
-the interruption of their fishing; and it would have shown little
-wisdom for the few small men-of-war guarding them to have attempted
-resistance to a force so superior. Northumberland, however, in his
-report, while explaining that from the lateness of the season they had
-encountered fewer busses than they expected, said that “those we could
-come to speak with, when they were made to understand the business,
-have been very willing to take licenses, and are most desirous of the
-King’s protection.” About two hundred licenses, he stated, had been
-distributed among the busses, and others were left with the ships he
-had appointed as their guard.[543]
-
-As was to be expected, the revival in England of the policy of James as
-to unlicensed fishing by foreigners on the British coasts occasioned
-serious concern in the United Provinces. Since Charles came to the
-throne the Dutch had been careful to repress as much as they could
-any cause of further complaints from Scotland. In 1628, when they
-were informed of the continued “insolencies” of their fishermen, the
-States-General renewed their previous edict (see p. 179), and gave
-instructions that extracts from it should be sent to the Chancellor
-of Scotland; and they issued peremptory orders to the captains of the
-convoying ships and the masters of the busses and others to obey it
-strictly.[544] When the Fishery Society was instituted, the States were
-kept advised by their ambassador in London of its progress and of the
-measures proposed to be taken at the Hebrides and on the east coast;
-and although they soon perceived that they had very little to fear from
-it in the sphere of commercial competition, they rightly suspected
-that the project foreshadowed the revival of exclusive claims to the
-fishery, such as had given them so much trouble under James.[545] We
-have noted also how anxiety was aroused in Holland over the equipment
-of Lindsey’s fleet, and that Joachimi, their ambassador, had got wind
-of the intention to send some of the ships northwards among the busses.
-But the proclamation of 10th May as to “restraint of fishing” removed
-any lingering doubts they had of the king’s intentions, especially as
-it appeared so soon after the publication of _Mare Clausum_. At that
-time the policy of the Dutch was earnestly directed towards detaching
-England from the side of Spain and bringing her into line with France
-and the Republic, and a special ambassador, Van Beveren, was sent
-over to the English Court to help Joachimi in bringing this about.
-He arrived in London in March 1636, and in April Coke and Windebank
-explained to him that the intention of the king in setting forth the
-fleet was to preserve and maintain his sovereignty and hereditary
-right over the sea, as well as to furnish convoys for the protection
-of traffic; and further, that no one could be allowed to fish in the
-British seas without express license from the king, and the rendering
-of a proper acknowledgment for the liberty. They told him that the
-Dutch fishermen would find the king’s protection against the Dunkirk
-privateers both advantageous and profitable. On asking for a statement
-in writing of the king’s claims, the Dutch ambassadors were coldly
-referred to Selden’s _Mare Clausum_.
-
-In notifying the States-General of this conversation, Van Beveren
-asked for prompt and precise instructions how to deal with what he
-described as an important, dangerous, and far-reaching business. He
-was told by De Seneterre, the French ambassador, that he had received
-a similar notification, and that he had expressed the opinion that
-it was inopportune to raise at that time a prickly question that had
-been sleeping for five-and-twenty years, and which was equivalent to a
-tacit declaration of war against the United Provinces. At an interview
-which Van Beveren had with Charles on April 25th, he explained that the
-main object of his coming was to arrange for open and combined action
-against Spain and help to the young Elector to recover the Palatinate;
-but the king in a few words put the proposed alliance aside, and began
-to speak of the herring fishery. The States-General, always anxious
-to burk discussion of this matter, had postponed giving Van Beveren
-definite instructions about it, in the hope and expectation that it
-would be submerged in the more important business of the alliance.[546]
-There were other circumstances which led them to think the king would
-not press his claim to the fishery. One was that the publication of the
-proclamation for restraint of fishing had been delayed, and even its
-promulgation denied. It seems, indeed, that the opinions of Charles as
-to his policy on this question were constantly fluctuating, and that
-he could scarcely make up his mind as to what it were best for him to
-do. Both the young Elector, his nephew, whom Van Beveren had gained
-over to his views, and his sister, the Elector’s mother and Queen of
-Bohemia, were against any interference with the Dutch fishermen at that
-time. It was doubtless with some knowledge of the state of affairs,
-that the Earl of Northumberland inquired in May if the king was still
-desirous that he should go north against the busses. But in June all
-scruples had vanished: the instructions were sent to Northumberland
-and the proclamation was widely disseminated. In the States of Holland
-the king’s edict was discussed at the beginning of June, and it was
-remitted to a committee, with Joachimi (then in Holland) and the Prince
-of Orange, for consideration, and to report as to what measures should
-be taken to protect the interests of the fishermen. The States finally
-resolved to do two things--first, to endeavour by all diplomatic means
-to get the proposed action of the king delayed, and second, to equip a
-strong fleet to protect the fishermen by force lest diplomacy failed.
-
-In these anxious days Van Beveren kept a tireless eye on the English
-fleet lying in the Downs, and reported to the States-General from time
-to time anything he learned of its movements or the rumours he heard
-concerning it.[547] Twelve days before it sailed for the north, he
-informed them that the general opinion was that it would return to the
-westwards to look for the French fleet. A few days later he discovered
-its real destination, and at once demanded an audience of the king.
-Charles received him very courteously at Windsor on the 17th July;
-assured him that he would treat the Dutch “as friends”; and explained
-that the measures to be taken by the fleet were of a peaceful nature,
-and were intended to benefit the fishermen by extending to them the
-protection of England against the Dunkirk privateers, from whom they
-had suffered so much in the previous year. The payment of a small
-acknowledgment would in reality, he said, be very profitable to them.
-Van Beveren had accordingly to content himself as well as he could with
-these assurances. He received the condolences of the French ambassador,
-with whom he had frequent interviews, and who pointed out to him that
-the circumstances of the time were such that the wisest course would
-be to deprive the king of every pretext for open hostility. If the
-matter could only be prolonged under the pretence of negotiations
-until peace was concluded with Spain, then indeed France--ay, and even
-Spain too, he added--would join with the States in bringing the King
-of England speedily to reason. When Northumberland actually departed
-for the north, Van Beveren immediately informed the States-General of
-the important fact; but it was not long until the king was able to
-tell him that the fishermen had accepted the licenses and paid the
-acknowledgment “with good contentment.”[548]
-
-The ambassador’s reports, and still more the accounts which soon poured
-in from the busses and the convoys of their treatment by the English
-fleet, raised a storm of indignation in the United Provinces. Captain
-Ruyter sent on, for visual inspection, the safe-conduct or passport
-which the Earl of Northumberland had forced upon him; and Joost
-Bouwensz, and some of the other skippers who had taken the licenses,
-were loud in their complaints. The unheard-of proceeding was discussed
-in every seaport town.
-
-The ordinary ambassador, Joachimi, then in Holland, was hurried back to
-England--at such a pace, indeed, that two of the horses in his carriage
-dropped dead in one day from exhaustion as he sped Londonwards. He was
-to express to the king the regret of their High Mightinesses that he
-should send his powerful “armada” among the poor herring fishermen, who
-had been so much scared and frightened that many had withdrawn from
-the fishing altogether and returned home; and the king was to be urged
-to suspend further action until the matter had been considered by
-commissioners to be appointed by both sides.[549] In his audience with
-Charles, Joachimi avoided the long juridical arguments which used to
-tire the patience of King James. He laid stress on the close connection
-of the fishery question, so dear to the United Provinces, and the
-restoration of the Palatinate, in which the States might be able to
-afford valuable aid; expatiated on the long and close friendship that
-had existed between England and the Netherlands; and depicted in moving
-terms the poverty and hard life of the poor fishermen. But it was all
-in vain. Charles declared that to ask him to abdicate his sovereignty
-of the sea was as absurd as if Spain should ask him to give up Ireland;
-and he added--probably with the knowledge that the States-General
-had commissioned Graswinckel to answer Selden (see p. 375)--that the
-publication of books in France, Spain, and the Netherlands, contesting
-his rights, made it necessary for him to vindicate his sovereignty with
-all the more strength. The same attitude was maintained in a formal
-paper handed to Joachimi a little later, in reply to his proposals
-and representations. In this Charles announced his firm intention to
-control the fisheries in his own seas. He would only permit foreigners
-to fish there if they accepted his license and “acknowledged” his
-right, that is, paid tribute. The request for a conference of
-commissioners to consider the question was rejected. The king could
-not with honour, it was said, listen to such a proposal. His right
-had already been publicly confirmed before the whole world, and was
-sustained and recognised by all the great kings in performing homage
-to the fleet at sea, as well as by the Dutch themselves, who were very
-glad of the protection afforded to them.[550] Joachimi had to return to
-The Hague without having accomplished anything.
-
-By another channel influence was brought to bear on the king to induce
-him to suspend the campaign against the Dutch fishermen. Elizabeth,
-the widowed Queen of Bohemia and the sister of Charles, resided at The
-Hague, patiently waiting for some lucky turn in the wheel of fortune
-which might replace her son in possession of the Palatinate. She
-was led to believe that the States would aid in this project, and in
-her correspondence with Sir Thomas Roe and Archbishop Laud she often
-murmured gently against her brother’s policy. When Joachimi was hustled
-back to London, she wrote to Roe that the Dutch were in great alarm
-about the herring-busses, and she breathed the wish that “all might
-be laid aside at that time” when they had so much need of the States;
-“the king,” she said, “might do it upon that consideration, and keep
-his claim still good, to take it up again when he would.”[551] Roe
-argued on the other side. He thought it would show wisdom on the
-part of Holland, and be greatly to her advantage, if, avoiding an
-open breach with England, she acknowledged the right of the king and
-accepted his protection for her fishermen. In this way the States
-would reap all the advantages they already had, and be relieved of
-the expense of maintaining a fleet to protect the busses. The king,
-he felt sure, could not now recede “without weakening or blemishing
-his right, or his power, to all posterity”; he was prepared to guard
-the Dutch fishermen and to fight for them as his own subjects; and
-as for the “acknowledgment,” that would be really only a small thing
-and would not burden the fishing--which would never be thought of. “I
-doe confidently affirme to your Majesty,” continued Roe, “that this
-affair of ye king is a safetye, an honour, an happines, and utilitye
-to them, and will, if they know how to use it as a medicine, heale all
-ulcerations and discontents that have beene bred, or aggravated, by
-enemies of our mutuall and necessarye amitye.... Therefore I beseech
-your Majestie to inform the Prince of Orange clearely, there is noe
-other way, if they desire to reconcile, and to oblige the king at once;
-and if our amity be to them of any value, lett them beginn to doe right
-and honour to his Majestie,”--and they would get more than they hoped
-for in other things. At all events, he said, Joachimi had failed to get
-any satisfaction of his request to have the “execution” on the second
-fishing suspended, for a new command had been sent to the Admiral to
-visit the busses again.[552]
-
-This was indeed the case. Northumberland’s success had gratified the
-king, and yet it was felt it had fallen short of what it might have
-been if they only had got among the busses in time. It was therefore
-resolved to send the fleet among the Dutch fishermen who came to the
-Yarmouth fishing in September and October, and to continue the process
-of forcing licenses upon them. The Earl of Northumberland left the
-Downs for Yarmouth on 16th September, taking with him eight ships and
-a pinnace; another ship was to follow later. He felt that his task at
-Yarmouth would be more difficult than his first had been. Then, the
-only advantage the busses had was their good sailing; now they would
-have others owing to the season and the place--shoal waters; and if
-they avoided the king’s ships, he said, as they did in the north, it
-would be impossible to bring any numbers of them into “conformity.” He
-also requested fresh licenses, because some words in those he had would
-require to be blotted out, which “would not be so handsome to be seen
-abroad.”[553]
-
-The weather being stormy, they had to anchor one night off the
-North Foreland and the next off Lowestoft, reaching Yarmouth Roads
-on the 18th, where they lay for a few days getting pilots and
-gathering information about the Dutch fishermen. Hearing that some
-Holland men-of-war were cruising outside, the Earl guessed that the
-herring-boats would not be far off, and the wind being fair, the
-fleet weighed anchor on the morning of the 22nd and stood out to sea.
-When clear of the sands they again anchored, and the ketch was sent
-out during the night to discover the whereabouts of the busses, but
-without success. Next day the fleet stood off farther to sea, but
-failed to see or to hear anything of the Hollanders, and being joined
-by a ninth ship, the _Swallow_, the fleet lay at anchor in “blowing
-weather” about ten leagues from the coast until Monday, September 26.
-Two of the ships, the _James_ and the _Nonsuch_, had been driven out
-of sight by the gale; two, the pinnace and the _Fortune_ pinck, had
-to run nearer shore for fear of foundering; and the Admiral sent the
-two London ships, the _Jonas_ and the _Neptune_, into port, because
-they were insufficiently victualled. On this day news was brought from
-Yarmouth, received from a Scottish ship which had arrived from Zealand,
-that the Dutch had forbidden any more busses to go to the fishing that
-year, and the Earl advised Windebank to this effect.[554] The rumour,
-however, was false, for on the 28th a fleet of fifty sail of busses and
-two or three men-of-war was descried to windward, but Northumberland
-was able to speak to only three of them that “wanted licenses.” On the
-next day, as they were following the busses that “would not come near
-them,” they caught sight of another fleet of about sixty sail, with
-three men-of-war, and the English ships went amongst them and cast
-anchor, and made the convoyers anchor also; “then,” said the Earl, “all
-the busses of both fleets came about us; most of them had formerly
-taken licenses, and such as were unprovided were then furnished by us.”
-Next day, finding no more of the herring-boats “that wanted licenses,”
-the English squadron weighed anchor and shortly afterwards perceived
-a third large fleet of busses, guarded this time by ten men-of-war.
-To this fleet they gave chase, plying up to windward all night, and
-on October 1, as the wind prevented the boats being sent out, they
-anchored in sight of them. All Sunday it also “overblew,” but as the
-weather grew calmer at night the squadron again got under way, and by
-daybreak was among the busses, which were, no doubt, busily engaged in
-hauling their nets. Northumberland stayed amongst them until October
-5, the ships’ boats being kept occupied each day in distributing the
-licenses; but they “found it a very troublesome business,” as the
-busses dispersed, and it became difficult to distinguish those that
-had taken licenses from those that had not. The weather growing misty
-and unsettled, and the Admiral being “out of all hope to give out any
-more licenses,” the squadron quitted the herring fleet and made for
-Yarmouth, where the Earl landed on October 9 and journeyed to the
-Court. Altogether, at the Yarmouth fishing, more than 200 licenses
-were distributed among over 400 busses which were present, and no
-opposition was offered by any of the fifteen men-of-war which were
-guarding them. “The unwillingnesse of the busses to come neere us,”
-wrote Northumberland to the Admiralty, “hath found us intertainement
-for 8 dayes together in following them, but now we have left verie few
-of them unprovided of his Majesty’s licenses.”[555]
-
-Thus ended the campaign against the Dutch herring-boats, from which, as
-we have seen, Charles desired to reap profit as well as honour. So far
-as the profit went, it did not amount to much. Appended to the official
-journal of the voyage of the fleet is a statement of the sums received
-for convoying shipping,--which, in accordance with the advice of the
-Admiralty, was voluntary,--and also of the “acknowledgment money”
-taken from the fishing-busses. The former amounted to £999, nearly
-all of which was earned by the convoying of merchantmen and small
-traders to Dunkirk and Ostend.[556] Small as the amount was, it greatly
-exceeded what was exacted from the Dutch busses for king’s license and
-protection, the total being £501, 15s. 2d., collected in a variety of
-coins.[557] The detailed schedule is as follows:--
-
- “In Rix Dollo^{rs} 878 163 10 08
- In halfe Crownes 145 018 02 06
- In pieces of 3^s 40 006 00 00
- In Kunnings Dollo^{rs} 100 025 00 00
- In Ryalls of 8 134½ 029 02 10
- English money 018 12 08
- English Gold 119 13 00
- Dutch and Scotch Angells 015 15 00
- Hungare Duckats 7 002 09 00
- Dutch and French money 001 05 00
- Dutch shillings 066 00 00
- Double Stivers 030 00 06
- Single Stivers 005 06 00
- In Silver 000 18 00
- ------------
- 501 15 02”
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 12.--_Facsimile of the official account of the
-monies received from the Dutch herring fishermen for the king’s
-licenses._]
-
-There is probably no circumstance connected with the English claims
-to the sovereignty of the seas that has been more frequently
-misrepresented by historians, pamphleteers, and writers on
-international law than the operations of Northumberland’s fleet, and
-in particular the amount paid by the Dutch herring fishermen for the
-king’s licenses; and so far as appears, the account given here is the
-first that is authentic and correct. Although Northumberland’s Journal
-is preserved among the national records, only one author seems to have
-quoted from it, namely, Evelyn, and he deliberately misrepresented it.
-Under the hands of various authors the sum of money gradually became
-swelled to £30,000, or even to £100,000, and it was represented as a
-rent paid by the Dutch for permission to fish, and played an important
-part in all later controversies and negotiations.[558]
-
-The doings of Northumberland’s fleet at the Yarmouth fishing caused
-increased excitement in Holland. Van Beveren knowing, as he said, that
-the English ships had not gone northwards “to catch flies,” immediately
-sent intelligence of its departure to Admiral Van Dorp, so that he
-might extend his protection to the Dutch fishermen. Early in August the
-Admiral had been expressly instructed to guard the fishermen “from the
-Spanish and all others inclined to molest them”; and he had a fleet
-of fifty-seven sail under his command for this purpose.[559] But Van
-Dorp was too late. As we have seen, he met the Earl of Northumberland
-on the 20th August returning triumphantly to the Downs. On asking the
-English Admiral why he was among the busses, he was politely told
-“to protect the fishermen,” and when Northumberland asked the reason
-of the presence of the Dutch fleet, he received the same answer, “to
-protect the fishermen.” It was a perplexing position for Van Dorp.
-His instructions were to guard the busses from molestation, but they
-contained no article which covered the case as it now presented itself,
-and to attack the English squadron under the circumstances would have
-been foolish. He therefore sailed back to the coast of Flanders to
-watch the Spanish ships. He returned to the English coast in September,
-and on the very day that Northumberland left the Downs for Yarmouth the
-Dutch fleet was actually lying at that port. Van Dorp again missed both
-the English squadron and the herring-busses, and resumed “plying to
-and again” between Dover and Calais.[560] The States-General were much
-incensed at this failure of their Admiral to prevent the distribution
-of the licenses. As they well knew, it furnished Charles with a
-precedent, and with the argument that the Dutch fishermen desired his
-protection and were willing to accept and pay for his licenses. When a
-suitable opportunity occurred in the following year, they forced Van
-Dorp to resign his office.[561]
-
-As the herring-fishing was now over for the year, the States had time
-to consider what they ought to do in the following season if Charles
-persisted in his attempts. On two occasions it was resolved to issue
-an edict forbidding the fishermen to accept licenses from any foreign
-prince;[562] and this would certainly have been done had Charles
-adhered to his policy. But the States naturally hesitated, until it
-should be absolutely necessary, to take a step which would at once have
-placed them in direct antagonism to England in the eyes of the whole
-world, and the publication of the edict was from time to time delayed.
-This cautious conduct served their purpose much better, for before
-the fishing season of 1637 arrived, the kaleidoscope of Charles’s
-foreign relations had taken another turn, and he was anxious to avoid
-further trouble with the Dutch. The Earl of Arundel, who had been
-sent to Vienna on one of the king’s wild-goose missions, to negotiate
-a treaty with the Emperor for the restoration of the Palatinate,
-returned unsuccessful to England at the close of the year. He came back
-full of bitterness at the perfidy of Spain, and persistently urged a
-French alliance, even if it should lead to war with the former Power.
-The strenuous arguments of Arundel, as well as the treatment of his
-mission, caused Charles to turn again to France, the ally of the Dutch
-Republic; and Richelieu promptly proposed an alliance against Spain and
-the Emperor, one result of which would have been to range England and
-the States on the same side in a maritime war.[563]
-
-At such a conjuncture the promulgation of the edict of the
-States-General would have been unfortunate, and Arundel requested
-George Goring, who had gone to The Hague, to see the Prince of Orange
-in order to get it suppressed. But the Prince of Orange, while anxious
-enough to avoid further trouble with England, desired, before he
-consented, to receive an assurance that the king would cease from
-molesting the Dutch fishermen in the ensuing season. The Queen of
-Bohemia urged the same course. She “humbly besought” her royal brother
-to suspend further execution of his right, which, she said, he might
-take up again when he would, without any prejudice, “as the king,
-our father, did.” Charles was loth to give an assurance so wounding
-to his vanity, and so opposed to what he conceived to be a chief
-prerogative of his crown. In the autumn Sir Thomas Roe had declared
-that the difficulty in the way for the benefit of the Prince Elector
-arose from the fishery dispute, and that upon nothing was the will
-of the king more firmly bent: if the Dutch did not yield, he feared
-“another procedure” next season. Even in February, Archbishop Laud told
-Elizabeth that the king was “so set to maintain the dominion of the
-sea” that he durst not speak to him any more about it. At the same time
-he gave a broad hint that nothing further would be attempted against
-the Dutch fishermen in the approaching season. He much wondered,
-he said, that the Prince of Orange and the States should trouble
-themselves to gain an overt concession from his Majesty to leave their
-fishing that year, since it was “more than manifest” there would
-be so much other work for his navy that the business of the fishing
-must needs fall asleep of itself. He would advise a silence on all
-hands in regard to it, and not to interrupt “business with moving a
-question about that which would necessarily do itself (_sic_) without
-questioning.” Sir Thomas Roe also sent the queen assurances in the same
-sense. The king, he said, would never retract his declaration of the
-dominion of the sea, but “only for this year, and at the request of
-the Prince (her son) and in contemplation of concurrence expected with
-him, he will not trouble their fishing.” These assurances seemed so far
-satisfactory to the States that the edicts were suppressed. They would
-be well content, they informed Elizabeth, if the king “forgot it and
-spoke no more of it,” which she told them she was confident he would
-not, having things of greater importance on hand.[564]
-
-The young Elector, Prince Charles Louis, took a considerable part
-in the conversion of the king; or rather, he was made use of by the
-Dutch ambassador for this purpose. When Van Beveren first arrived in
-London, he let it be known that the States were desirous of doing
-something for the Prince; but his hint was not then taken up, since
-hopes were entertained that Arundel’s mission to Vienna would make
-other aid unnecessary.[565] Arundel was recalled in September; it was
-known that his mission had failed, and early in October Van Beveren saw
-his opportunity. Through a trustworthy friend[566] the suggestion was
-made to the Elector that if some arrangement could be come to about
-the fishery question, negotiations might be begun for a treaty between
-the States and England relating to the recovery of the Palatinate.
-The ambassador learned that the Prince had already taken steps in the
-same direction. Through the intermediary of Laud, the proposal had
-been made to Charles that the Dutch, instead of paying license-money
-for liberty to fish in the British seas, should place at the disposal
-of the Elector some ships and soldiers, the king’s proclamation for
-restraint of fishing being meanwhile suspended. Charles would not
-agree to this. The ambassador, he said, had offered assistance when he
-arrived without any hope of an equivalent on his part, and he could
-not give up his claim to an acknowledgment of his rights. Van Beveren,
-on the other hand, informed his confidant that it was a question of
-principle with the States, and that it would be better to break off all
-negotiations if the “acknowledgment” was insisted on. Nevertheless,
-these private negotiations continued, and finally a draft treaty was
-prepared embodying two proposals. The first agreed well enough with
-Van Beveren’s instructions. It was to the effect that a fleet should
-be equipped to which England should contribute thirty ships and 8000
-men, and the States fifteen ships and 4000 men; and France was to be
-asked to furnish the same force as England. The combined fleet was to
-attack Spain by sea and effect a landing. The second proposal related
-to the fishery, and it provided that while these operations were going
-on, the Dutch herring fishermen would be allowed to fish freely and
-in security, as they had always done from the time of Queen Elizabeth
-and King James, approaching the coasts near enough to carry on their
-fishing profitably, and to dry their nets on shore, without the king
-interfering with them in any way.[567]
-
-This proposition, at first sight apparently favourable to the States,
-was rejected by Van Beveren. Although it got rid of the difficulty for
-the time, the question was sure to be raised at a later period when the
-naval and military operations were concluded; its acceptance would,
-moreover, be equivalent to a tacit acknowledgment that the king had the
-right to exclude them from the fishery. The ambassador was afraid of a
-precedent which bargained as a _quid pro quo_ for what was claimed as a
-right; and the negotiations went no further.
-
-But Charles, although unwilling to risk the success of the treaty with
-France, from which great things were expected, by openly insisting
-upon the acceptance of his licenses by the Dutch fishermen, was
-reluctant to abandon his policy. From the readiness with which the
-fishermen had taken the licenses after they “understood” them (as
-Northumberland reported), he was apparently led to believe that they
-really desired his protection, and that the only obstacle in his way
-was the opposition of the States’ Government. He therefore decided that
-instead of trying--or at least before trying--to enforce the licenses
-by means of the fleet in the ensuing summer, the attempt might be made
-secretly to induce the fishermen to accept them in Holland before they
-left for the fishing. Boswell, the English ambassador at The Hague,
-was instructed to try what could be done in this way, and so anxious
-was Charles for such acknowledgment of his sovereignty of the sea as
-acceptance of the licenses implied, that the ambassador was authorised
-to reinforce his persuasion by bribing those who were most influential
-among the fishermen. The fishermen, according to Boswell, were not
-averse to the proposal, but they very naturally wished to know, first
-of all, how the licenses of the King of England would protect them
-from the Dunkirk privateers. If the Government at Brussels would
-acknowledge the validity of the licenses, or if the Cardinal Infant
-agreed to back them with passports of his own, the offer, they said,
-would be worth considering; but they could scarcely depend on the
-protection of the English fleet alone. As a sign that they were in
-earnest, they offered to place £2000 at Boswell’s disposal if he could
-get the matter settled in this way. This sum, with the king’s approval,
-was forwarded to the English representative at Brussels, to be used in
-gaining over the Spanish authorities.[568] The Dutch fishermen were a
-practical race of men. They cared little for abstract questions about
-the sovereignty of the sea. But they suffered much from the Dunkirk
-privateers, and the burden of maintaining convoys was a heavy one.
-Any reasonable scheme which promised to free them from the attacks of
-their relentless enemy at small cost was bound to be attractive. That
-the proposal was seriously considered was also shown by a spontaneous
-application made to the Secretary of the English Admiralty on behalf
-of the fishermen of Schiedam. The agent in London, Mr Brames, who
-supplied them with lampreys for bait, wrote to Nicholas for a copy
-of the license granted in the previous year, with a statement of the
-rates charged. If the fishermen were pleased with the license and
-the price, they would, he said, come themselves for them. Charles
-instructed Nicholas to give the information wanted, but only “as from
-himself.”[569]
-
-An unexpected obstacle intervened to prevent the plan being carried
-out. Gerbier, the British agent at Brussels, chiefly by bribing
-the mistress of the Cardinal Infant, had secured a promise that
-the passports would be granted; but the Spanish Admiral absolutely
-refused to be bound by them. He declared he would not spare a single
-herring-boat, even if the Cardinal went down on his knees to him.
-He would pay attention to no passport that did not come direct from
-Madrid.[570] Thereupon the Dutch fishermen refused to have anything to
-do with the licenses which had been sent to Boswell “under the King’s
-hand and signet.”[571]
-
-Still, the peculiar resources of Charles were not exhausted. He might
-yet, he thought, be able to distribute the licenses among the fishermen
-when they came to fish off the British coast, without employing his
-fleet for the purpose, or running the risk of war with the Republic.
-The third ship-money fleet had assembled in the Downs in April and
-May; it consisted of twenty-eight ships, of which nine were merchant
-vessels, and the Earl of Northumberland was again appointed Admiral,
-his instructions, dated 15th April, being identical with those of
-the previous year.[572] The state of the negotiations with France,
-and other causes, prevented the king from renewing his enterprise
-against either the French for the honour of the flag or the Dutch in
-connection with the fishery. The fleet, therefore, to the wonder and
-discontentment of the officers, was kept for the most part lying at
-anchor, ships being occasionally detached for special purposes.
-
-On 3rd July, Windebank wrote to the Earl of Northumberland telling
-him of the failure of the secret treaty with the Cardinal Infant, and
-saying that it was the intention of the Hollanders, who had refused
-the king’s licenses sent to Boswell, to fish in his Majesty’s seas as
-heretofore, many of the busses having already left Holland under strong
-convoys. By the king’s commands he sent him about 200 licenses, “and
-withal his pleasure is,” said Windebank, “that you dispatch immediately
-one of the merchant ships under your charge (being not willing to
-employ any of his own until it appear what the success will be) toward
-the north with these licenses, with order to make offer of them to
-the fishers, and if they accept them to distribute them at the same
-rates they were taken the last year. And if such as take them,” he
-continued, “desire to be safe-conducted in their return, your Lordship
-is to assure them his Majesty will take them into his protection, and
-cause some of his fleet to accompany them homewards for their defence.”
-But if the fishermen refused to take the licenses, then the Earl was
-to notify the fact to the king, who would “take further resolution.”
-Sir William Boswell, added the Secretary, had been informed of the
-king’s intentions, and told to assure the fishermen willing to take
-the licenses of his Majesty’s protection. The Cardinal Infant and
-the Spanish Ministers had also been informed, and did not well relish
-it.[573]
-
-This despatch, sent by express messenger, appears to have somewhat
-surprised the Earl. His clear intelligence must have told him that a
-tortuous and fatuous proceeding of this kind could only end by making
-the king ridiculous. He apparently wished Charles to reconsider the
-matter, and asked for further directions. Ignoring part of Windebank’s
-letter, he inquired how Captain Fielding, whom he intended to send,
-should behave himself if the fishermen proved obstinate and refused the
-licenses; and he pointed out that if they accepted them and the king
-resolved they should be convoyed home, it would need a large number of
-ships, as the busses returned in small fleets.[574] Windebank two days
-later repeated the instruction that, if they refused, the fact was to
-be immediately notified, when the king would take further resolution.
-“The truth is,” he said, “his Majesty in this present conjuncture is
-not willing to proceed so roundly with them as he hath done heretofore,
-and therefore thinks fit to hold this way of inviting them fairly to
-acknowledge his right without sending his whole fleet, which would be a
-manifest engagement and obligation to him in honour to perfect the work
-upon any conditions, and notwithstanding any opposition whatsoever,
-and might be of dangerous consequence, and destructive to the present
-condition of his affairs. And therefore he chooses rather to attempt it
-with as little noise as may be, that if the business take not in this
-way it may receive the less blow, and in case of their refusal he may
-have time deliberately to consider what resolution to settle.”[575]
-
-At this time Charles was very anxious to be on good terms with the
-States. Van Beveren, the special Dutch ambassador, who was returning
-home, was very cordially received by him on taking his leave on 16th
-July. The king then insisted on the States entering the alliance, and
-he expressed his pleasure at the courtesies which had been shown to
-the Prince Elector. Besides the usual gifts on such occasions, Van
-Beveren tells us he sent him a few days later a handsome diamond
-ring.[576] But even if Charles had been moved by no special desire
-to conciliate the Republic, the preparations which were being made
-in Holland to guard the fishermen from molestation might have given
-pause to the attempt to repeat the operations of the year before. The
-Dutch Government were perfectly aware of Boswell’s intrigues about
-the licenses, and they put little faith in the assurances received
-through the Queen of Bohemia. They resolved to err on the safe side by
-equipping a powerful fleet to protect the busses. In April and May,
-Pennington reported to the Admiralty that Van Dorp (not yet cashiered)
-was cruising between the Downs and Dunkirk with twenty sail of stout
-men-of-war, and that he heard that six French warships were bound for
-the north to aid in guarding the fishermen.[577]
-
-Fielding departed on his mission in the _Unicorn_, one of the ships
-furnished by London, and on the morning of 18th July he came among the
-busses fishing off Buchan Ness, Aberdeenshire. They numbered between
-six and seven hundred, and were convoyed by twenty-three men-of-war.
-Fielding, according to his account, “found the busses very willing” to
-take the licenses, and two did so. Then one of the Dutch warships came
-up and lay by him, and the captain asked him to speak to his Admiral
-before sending for the busses; “but it blew hard that day and the next,
-so that no boat could pass.” On the 20th he spoke with the Admiral of
-South Holland and the Commander of North Holland, and explained his
-mission; but they would not then give their answer. On the following
-day all the commanders of North and South Holland and of Zealand, with
-three other captains, told him “that they durst not let his boat pass
-among the busses to give out his Majesty’s licenses before they had
-orders from their Masters.” This was their answer, but they declined to
-give it in writing. The _Unicorn_ then made sail for England to report
-the rebuff.[578]
-
-The result of his manœuvre was mortifying to the king. Fielding,
-sailor-like, did not conceal the outcome of his mission in diplomatic
-reserve. The story soon spread throughout the fleet, and occasioned
-both hilarity and indignation. When Fielding left, Pennington expressed
-the opinion to his friend Nicholas that the attempt would fail and
-would bring greater inconveniences in its train. On his return,
-Northumberland said it would have been much better if the king had
-absolutely forborne his request to the Dutch than have demanded it
-in the manner he did. After the successful campaign of the year
-before, Charles was now practically warned off his own seas, “as he
-is pleased,” said Pennington, “to call them.”[579] It was a pitiful
-position for the Sovereign of the Seas, with a great armada lying idle
-at the Downs and his bombastic declarations still echoing in the ears
-of Europe.
-
-As soon as it was known at Court that the story had got out, Windebank
-was commanded to take such measures as he could to contradict it. To
-duplicity was added mendacity. Fielding in his report had described an
-occurrence he witnessed on returning along the coast to Scarborough.
-Thirteen Dunkirkers had attacked a Dutch man-of-war, and as the
-_Unicorn_ came upon the scene the latter sank, and the English captain
-unsuccessfully endeavoured to save the drowning men. Windebank seized
-upon this incident. He wrote to Captain Fogg, who was in command of
-the ships in the Downs in the absence of the Admiral, that the report
-spread about that the Hollanders had refused his Majesty’s licenses to
-fish in his seas was “utterly mistaken.” Fielding had not been sent
-to offer licenses to the busses, but to tender the king’s protection.
-His Majesty, hearing “that the Dunkirkers had prepared a great
-strength to intercept them in their return from the fishing,” had sent
-Fielding, “in love to them,” to give them notice of it, and to offer
-them safe-conduct. “This,” said Windebank, “you are publicly to advow
-whensoever there shall be occasion, and to cry down the other discourse
-as scandalous and derogatory to his Majesty’s honour.”[580] Similar
-directions were sent to the Earl of Northumberland.
-
-At the beginning of August 1637, Charles, conscious of the ridicule
-that would ensue if the third ship-money fleet lay at anchor all the
-year, and yet having nothing for it to do, sent it to the west--“to
-make one turn in an honourable procession, to continue the boundaries
-of our master’s dominion in the sea,” as Roe, with gentle sarcasm,
-described it. It got as far as the Land’s End, and returned to the
-Downs on 5th September, having “scarce seen a ship stirring on the sea,
-except the poor fishers that dwell upon the shore.”[581] Windebank
-told Northumberland that the king was “very sensible” of the story
-which was being told about the licenses, and that he had been specially
-commanded to give the refutation of it in charge of the Earl, “and
-that you should do it in the same way that I have directed him (Fogg),
-namely, that his being sent to the busses was to give them notice
-of the forces prepared by the Dunkirkers to intercept them in their
-return, and to offer them his Majesty’s protection, but no licenses;
-that of the licenses to be cried down and the other to be advowed
-and reported through the whole fleet.” Fielding was to be admonished
-to be more reserved in future “in such great services,” and in the
-meantime to “make reparation by divulging this and suppressing the
-former report.”[582] Captain Fogg readily agreed to suppress “the false
-report,” as he called it; but what Northumberland’s answer was does not
-appear. He seems to have received the king’s commands only on returning
-to the Downs, and he left the _Triumph_ a few days thereafter. What he
-thought is not doubtful: he was getting disgusted at his employment.
-“No man,” he wrote to Roe, “was ever more desirous of a charge than I
-am to be quit of mine, being in a condition where I see I can neither
-do service nor gain credit.”[583]
-
-There is clear evidence indeed that by this time the naval officers, as
-well as the people generally, were becoming tired of the king’s great
-pretensions and small performance. Even Pennington, a simple, loyal,
-unimaginative man, always ready to obey orders, had begun to joke, as
-we have seen, at the king’s seas, “as he is pleased to call them.”
-Throughout the country discontent was deepening. The opposition to the
-collection of ship-money was growing formidable, and the declaration
-of the Judges in favour of the king’s right to levy it only postponed
-the inevitable for a little.[584] In his letter to the Judges, Charles
-based his case on the necessity of maintaining his sovereignty of the
-sea. The honour and safety of the realm of England, he said, “was
-and is now more neerely concerned then in late former tymes, as well
-by divers councells and attempts to take from Us the dominion of the
-seas (of which we are sole Lord, and rightfull owner and proprietour,
-and the losse whereof would bee of greatest danger and perill to this
-kingdome and other our Domynions) as many other waies.”[585]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 13.--_The “Sovereign of the Seas.”_ After
-Vandevelde.]
-
-The king’s dominion on the sea was rapidly waning. Fielding’s ignoble
-mission was the last attempt that fate permitted Charles to make in
-actively asserting it. The shadow of the coming revolution was already
-upon him. The trial of Hampden for refusing to pay the ship-money
-focussed the attention of England, and it was followed by complaints
-of other grievances arising from the personal government of the king.
-The popular tumult in Edinburgh in the summer about the new Liturgy
-had as a sequence the National Covenant and insurrection. Charles
-found another use for his fleet than the enforcement of his sovereignty
-of the sea in the expedition to Scotland to subdue his rebellious
-subjects; and the British seas, even the King’s Chambers, were soon
-again the scenes of flagrant acts in violation of his authority. By a
-strange irony it was at this time that the king’s “Great Ship,” the
-famous _Sovereign of the Seas_, whose praises were sung by Thomas
-Heywood, the dramatist, was launched at Woolwich. Its construction had
-been under consideration for several years; it was begun in January
-1636 and launched early in October 1637. Charles took a keen personal
-interest in his great ship, and supervised its details. He selected a
-scutcheon and motto to be engraved on each of its 102 brass guns--the
-rose and crown, sceptre and trident, and anchor and cable, with the
-inscription, _Carolus Edgari sceptrum stabilivit aquarum_--Charles
-established the dominion of Edgar over the seas; and on the “beak-head”
-sat the effigy of King Edgar, trampling on seven kings.[586] As its
-name implied, it was meant to be a symbol as well as an instrument of
-the king’s sovereignty of the seas; and it was symbolical of it in
-a sense undreamt of by Charles. It was costly, highly decorated and
-begilt, but useless until it was cut down and made serviceable under
-the Commonwealth. He inserted it in the list of ships to serve in the
-fleet that assembled in the Downs in 1638, but it was not ready to
-join.
-
-This fleet consisted of twenty-four king’s ships and seven merchant
-vessels, and, owing to the illness of the Earl of Northumberland, it
-was placed under the command of Sir John Pennington.[587] It did still
-less than the fleet of the previous year. Two ships were sent to the
-westwards on an alarm that “Turkish” pirates were in the Channel; it
-convoyed two vessels laden with gunpowder into Dunkirk, notwithstanding
-the blockade by the Dutch, and returned to the Downs; and two ships
-were despatched to the north to intercept supplies of arms and
-munitions of war from Rotterdam and Bremen to the Scots. There was not
-even the “one turn in an honourable procession” to the westwards as in
-the previous year, and the fleet rode idly at its anchorage.
-
-The question of the “homage of the flag” had by this time also fallen
-somewhat into the background. In the two preceding years it had been
-enforced with much zeal. In 1636, when Northumberland’s fleet was
-among the herring-busses, Captain Carteret, in the _Happy Entrance_,
-forced a Spanish fleet of twenty-six sail to strike to him off Calais,
-though they tried their best to avoid it. A Dunkirker was also made
-to strike and “lie by the lee” off Nieuport by Captain Slingsby. But
-the French still refused to lower their flag when on the other side
-of the Narrow Sea. Sir Henry Mervin, on meeting two French men-of-war
-off Gravelines with their colours in the main-top, fired some twenty
-shots at them without causing them to strike. In the Mediterranean the
-French retaliated. An English vessel on the coast of Barbary was forced
-to lower its flag to French ships of war, and because the captain
-refused to go on board them when requested, the ship was attacked and
-captured. In the following year Captain Straddling of the _Dreadnought_
-used drastic measures against some Hollander merchant-ships. Falling
-in with four of them off the Lizard, homeward bound from Brazil, with
-their flags abroad, he commanded them to strike. One refused till many
-shots were fired, excusing himself afterwards by saying he thought the
-English ships were Dunkirkers. Straddling took him into custody, and
-lodged him in Plymouth fort “to answer his insolence and contempt of
-his Majesty’s regality in these seas,” and he remained a prisoner there
-for a fortnight before he was released by order of the Admiralty.[588]
-But in 1638 there were few incidents of this kind, probably because of
-the fleet lying at anchor so long, though it may be supposed that the
-general condition of public affairs did not whet the zeal of the naval
-officers.
-
-It was not long before advantage was taken abroad of Charles’s troubles
-in Scotland. In the early part of 1638 Pennington reported that there
-were many Hollander, French, and Dunkirk ships at sea, and that they
-were pillaging English vessels;[589] but the king was unable to protect
-even the herring-busses of the Fishery Society that he had taken under
-his peculiar care. The Dunkirkers, emboldened by immunity, took four
-of them in 1639, and then daringly anchored in the Downs. The Dutch
-men-of-war became bold, and then insolent. They began by protecting a
-Calais vessel that had rifled an English ship, their Admiral refusing
-to surrender her. Soon their fleets visited the English coasts in
-menacing strength, and although they “performed their duty” in the
-matter of the flag, they insisted on their right to stop and search
-English vessels, even in the King’s Chambers. “The Hollanders’ ships,”
-wrote Northumberland’s secretary to Pennington in June 1639, “begin
-to be very bold in our seas, and lie about Portland with fifty sail,
-examining and searching all English ships and others which pass
-by them, so that in effect they command where the King challenges
-sovereignty.” The English merchants, he said, made great complaint that
-their trade was likely to be destroyed; they were “much perplexed, and
-called to mind tonnage and poundage, for which his Majesty was pleased
-to promise thirty sail of his ships to secure trade in the Narrow
-Sea.”[590]
-
-The truth was that English ships had been engaged in transporting
-Spanish troops and bullion to Dunkirk, and that the Dutch were merely
-exercising their rights as belligerents. Their action was nevertheless
-a plain flouting of the high pretensions of the king, and it was
-the more disagreeable because Charles had now again veered round to
-the side of Spain. He was much moved at the “insolencies” of the
-Hollanders, which “concerned his honour” and “put his sovereignty in
-hazard”; and the Earl of Northumberland, who had been created Lord High
-Admiral in the preceding year, also expressed himself as much afflicted
-that such affronts were put on the nation in his time. It was, said
-Windebank, a very high disorder that any of the king’s neighbours
-should presume to lie with a fleet in his Majesty’s Channel, near his
-ports, and where he justly claimed sovereignty, and arrest and search
-English ships, taking out of them “such persons, being passengers, as
-they please”; “especially”--and this no doubt was a potent reason of
-the king’s displeasure--“since the merchants and others took occasion
-by such pretences of interruption of their trade to make difficulty to
-pay their ship-money, which his Majesty is resolved to maintain.” The
-king therefore commanded Pennington to put a stop to these affronts and
-to preserve the sovereignty of the narrow seas, so “that trade may be
-free and open, as well to his Majesty’s subjects as to others in league
-and amity with his Majesty, and that peace be kept and the merchants
-secured according to his Majesty’s proclamations and declarations
-published heretofore to that effect.”[591]
-
-It was one thing to indite imperious commands in London as to the
-necessity of maintaining the king’s sovereignty of the seas; it was
-quite another thing to carry them out in the Channel in the presence of
-a powerful Dutch fleet under the new Admiral, Maarten Harpentz Tromp.
-Pennington, conscious of his impotency, tried at first to justify, or
-at least to extenuate, the action of the Dutch men-of-war. They only
-took out of the English ships the Spanish soldiers, he said, who were
-being carried to Flanders; they were most civil and courteous while
-doing so; in reality, it was the English captains who had committed the
-greater insolency. At all events, before attempting any reparation, it
-would be only prudent to have an overmastering force, lest greater loss
-and dishonour should happen, because, he said, the Dutch were in great
-strength, and it was reported that the French fleet was about to put
-to sea. Pennington was nevertheless ordered to prevent the affronts
-as best he could. He then said he would do his best; but he had only
-four ships available, and he asked for express orders how far he should
-proceed if he were resisted with overmastering strength.[592]
-
-But the question of the right of search was for the moment relegated
-to diplomatic channels, and before anything could be done, either by
-peaceful agreement or by Pennington’s ships, another event put an end
-to it, and dissipated the king’s dreams of the dominion of the seas.
-The battle of the Downs was fought between the Dutch and the Spaniards
-on 11th October 1639, in spite of Charles’s express prohibition, and
-in spite of his helpless fleet. So glaring a violation of one of the
-King’s Chambers within three years of the appearance of Selden’s
-_Mare Clausum_--an injury which he was as unable to prevent as to
-redress--proclaimed to Europe that he was no longer sovereign over the
-sea that was incontestably his own.
-
-At the end of August a large Spanish fleet, consisting of some thirty
-great galleons and thirty-six transports with troops for Flanders, set
-sail from Corunna. On 6th September it was attacked in the Channel
-by a Dutch squadron of seventeen ships, and a running fight was kept
-up, the Spaniards passing eastwards off the English coast. Tromp,
-engaged in blockading Dunkirk, heard the cannonading, and on the 8th
-he joined the Dutch squadron with fifteen sail, when a fierce battle
-took place in the Straits of Dover.[593] The Spanish Admiral, Don
-Antonio de Oquendo, having expended all his powder, took refuge with
-his shattered galleons in the Downs on 9th September, whither Tromp
-followed him. Great anxiety was felt in London, first of all lest the
-powerful foreign fleets should refuse to strike to the small English
-squadron under Sir John Pennington, and then lest they should begin
-hostilities in the King’s Chamber. On the former point doubts were soon
-set at rest. Tromp at once took in his flag in the presence of the
-English ships, a “civility” with which Charles was pleased. So also
-did the proud Spaniard, but only after preliminary refusal and demur;
-and Pennington’s insistence that the standard of Spain should be
-lowered was made a subject of complaint at Madrid.[594] Anxiety on the
-second point was protracted, and it was not diminished by the reports
-that were received that the French fleet was coming to reinforce
-their allies the Dutch. Pennington, in the most emphatic manner, had
-forbidden hostilities within the King’s Chambers, and he assigned the
-northern part of the anchorage to the Spaniards and the southern part
-to the Dutch. For several weeks the belligerent squadrons remained in
-the Downs facing one another. The Spanish Admiral, a few days after his
-arrival, succeeded under cover of night in despatching to Dunkirk some
-of his smaller vessels laden with soldiers. Tromp and Oquendo appealed
-to Charles through their respective ambassadors, “and then ensued an
-auction, the strangest in the annals of diplomacy, in which Charles’s
-protection was offered as a prize to the highest bidder.”[595] On the
-one hand, he demanded £150,000 from Spain, and better treatment in the
-business of the Palatinate, as the price of securing the safety of the
-Spanish fleet.[596] On the other hand, he declared himself ready to
-abandon the Spaniards to Tromp, if France would come under a binding
-promise to place Charles Louis at the head of the army which had been
-commanded by Bernard of Weimar--as a means, of course, to recover the
-Palatinate.[597]
-
-While waiting the highest bid from one or the other, the king’s
-commands regarding the fleet were puzzling and contradictory.
-Smith, Northumberland’s secretary, who carried on a confidential
-correspondence with Pennington, wrote to him that the king, when the
-difficult situation of the English fleet was explained to him and he
-was asked for explicit instructions as to how the Admiral should act,
-“would not give any express declaration.” “I earnestly pressed his
-Lordship [the Earl of Northumberland] to prevail with his Majesty,”
-he said, “that you might have some justifiable instructions how you
-should demean yourself.... To all this he told me that he had often
-pressed his Majesty to declare his resolution, but never could get
-any.” Smith privately advised Pennington to make a show of assisting
-the Spaniards if there was a fight, but not to run himself or the
-king’s ships into danger where there was no hope of victory and “the
-only expectation was hard blows and hazard.”[598]
-
-Desperate efforts were hurriedly made to strengthen the English fleet.
-Ten additional ships were being got ready, and Northumberland intended
-to take command himself as soon as they reached the Downs, but of the
-3000 men which the Admiralty were “labouring” to procure for them,
-only 300 could be obtained; they did not join Pennington till some
-days after the battle. Pennington had been ordered to press into his
-service all English ships he could lay his hands on, and to employ them
-“in any warlike manner against any that shall presume to affront his
-Majesty, or derogate from his sovereignty in these parts.”[599] Ten
-vessels were thus pressed; but it was impossible to find seamen to man
-them properly, and by command of the king some of them were dispensed
-with. In presence of the powerful States’ fleet, to say nothing of the
-Spaniards, Pennington’s instructions to the masters of the merchantmen
-must have sounded somewhat ironical. If either of the “great fleets,”
-he said, should presume to attempt anything in the King’s Chambers
-“contrary to the laws and customs of nations and to the dishonour of
-our king and kingdom, you are to fall upon the assailants, and to do
-your best to take, sink, or destroy them.” Moreover, if any ships of
-the hostile fleets assembled, “or any others that may come,” should
-put out a flag, they were to cause them to be taken in; if refused,
-they were to do their best to sink the offending ship.[600] The “any
-others” meant the French, who were expected daily in the Downs, and
-whose arrival there was regarded with apprehension. The general opinion
-was that they would refuse to strike when they came, and, in that
-event, what would happen? “That,” said Smith, “will set us all in
-combustion, for then we must _strike_ them, although peradventure to
-our own prejudice. But this punctilio of honour,” added the secretary
-to the Lord High Admiral, with prophetic instinct, “will one day cause
-more blood to be drawn than ere it will bring profit or honour to our
-king.”[601]
-
-Meanwhile Tromp and his resolute men were getting impatient. Since they
-had cooped up the hated Spaniard in the English roadstead, they had
-been reinforced from Holland, so that the Dutch fleet was soon in the
-overwhelming strength of a hundred sail. Tromp also knew that Charles
-had arranged (for a substantial consideration) to supply the Spanish
-Admiral with gunpowder, of which he stood in dire need, and that thirty
-Dunkirk sloops had succeeded in joining Oquendo. Above all, he had in
-his pocket the express orders, just issued by the States-General, “to
-destroy the Spanish fleet, without paying any regard to the harbours,
-roads, or bays of the kingdom where it might be found.”[602] He
-promptly seized an opportunity to carry out his orders. Information
-reached London on 8th and 9th October that the Dutch were preparing to
-attack. Commands were at once sent to warn them to desist, and they
-were informed that the king was going to fix a short period for the
-departure of both fleets; and this message was conveyed to the Dutch
-Admiral. On the evening of the 10th, the gunpowder for the Spanish
-fleet came alongside, and the accidental discharge of a gun on one
-of the Spanish ships killed a Dutch sailor. This was enough. Before
-the fog lifted next morning Tromp’s fleet was under sail; the roar of
-cannon announced that the attack had begun; and within a few hours the
-Spanish galleons were driven ashore, burnt, sunk, or in flight for
-Flanders, with Tromp in hot pursuit. The English Admiral acted on the
-prudent advice which had been given to him by Smith. He made a show
-of resenting the violation of the King’s Chambers by firing at the
-Dutch. In Madrid it was afterwards said he had fired his guns into
-the air, but Pennington himself tells us that (although he affected
-to believe the Spaniards had begun the combat) he “chased and shot at
-the Hollanders” until they were all beyond the South Foreland; but the
-Hollanders took no notice of him. On the morning of the battle Tromp
-sent a letter to Pennington which was more than tinged with irony.
-Since the Spaniards, he said, had infringed the conditions fixed by
-firing at him first, the English Admiral should assist him in fighting
-them, “according to his Majesty’s orders.” At all events he--Tromp--was
-resolved, by instructions from his masters, to fall upon his enemies,
-and to defend themselves “against those that shall resist them.” The
-Dutch would rather die as soldiers, he said, “with his Majesty’s leave
-in clearing his Majesty’s Road,” than fail to carry out their orders;
-and he hoped that this would be “acceptable to his Majesty, but if his
-Majesty should take any distaste we hope he will graciously forgive us.”
-
-After pursuing the remnant of the Spanish fleet to Dunkirk, the Dutch
-Admiral returned triumphant to the Downs, and saluted the English
-squadron by striking his flag and firing nineteen guns,--“as a token,”
-says an ironical observer, “that his Majesty was Sovereign of these
-his seas!”[603] Tromp indeed, in those years, was most punctiliously
-respectful to this symbol of the king’s sovereignty. Even during the
-height of the battle, when he was violating not merely the sovereignty
-claimed by Charles but the well-understood Law of Nations, he kept his
-flag down until he was a good way off from the Downs,--a circumstance
-which Pennington reported with satisfaction. Had the Dutch Admiral
-shown the same willingness to strike to the flag of the Commonwealth
-when he encountered Blake thirteen years later, the war that followed
-might, perhaps, have been averted, or at least postponed.
-
-Charles was very naturally highly incensed at this open flouting
-of his authority. It was an ugly blot on the lustre of his ancient
-prerogative, and a painful proof of the contempt in which his
-much-vaunted naval power was held by the Dutch Republic, and--what
-perhaps he felt quite as much at the time--it robbed him of all chance
-of blackmailing Spain. When that Power was asked to pay the great
-sum above mentioned, the Cardinal Infant put the proposal aside,
-considering that it was the king’s own interest to protect the Spanish
-fleet; and when Tromp’s precipitation broke in on the negotiations,
-it was decided to withhold any payment at all until it was seen how
-Charles would resent the injury done to Spain.[604] At first he
-resolved to punish the affront. Pennington was ordered to cause the
-Dutch fleet, which had returned to the Downs, and was suspected of
-meditating further “insolency” by falling upon the stranded galleons,
-to immediately quit the road. The king, he was told, had made up his
-mind not to allow them the liberty of his ports or roads “until he
-shall have received satisfaction for the insolency already committed.”
-If they refused to leave, Pennington, immediately the other ten ships
-had reinforced him, was to drive them out with all his power and
-strength, or answer the contrary at his uttermost peril. Before these
-orders could be executed, Tromp voluntarily departed.[605] Copies of
-the letter to Pennington were sent to Brussels and Madrid to show
-the Spaniards that the king was full of resolution. They were told
-he was very sensible of the affront and insolence of the Hollanders,
-and “would make such demonstration of it, and demand and expect such
-reparation as in honour he is obliged.” But he was quite unable to
-carry out his good intention. It was in vain that he was urged from
-Madrid to take strong measures against the Dutch; to seize their
-property; even to invade Normandy as a punishment to their ally.[606]
-He had no fleet and no money to enable him to cope with the Dutch
-Republic, even if the condition of home affairs had permitted the
-attempt. On the contrary, to such a level had he fallen by his stubborn
-ineptitude that the English Minister at The Hague was ordered to avoid
-even a remonstrance about Tromp’s high-handed action in the Downs. If
-the States-General mentioned the matter to him, he was to say that he
-had received no instructions, “and so to refuse any conference on that
-particular.”[607]
-
-The Dutch Government had expected that Charles would raise loud
-complaints, and they decided to take a bold attitude. On the day that
-they received news of Tromp’s victory the proposal was made to send
-over an ambassador, and Aerssen Van Sommelsdijck, who was chosen for
-the mission, reached London early in November. There was to be no
-attempt made on this occasion to appease the king with soft phrases and
-show of submission. Aerssen was to complain of the action which England
-had for a long time taken in favouring the Spaniards. The violation
-of the King’s Chamber was to be passed over, and the battle in the
-Downs represented as having been merely a continuation of the first
-fight in the Channel, which forced the Spaniards to take refuge in
-the English roadstead. But the pains taken by the States-General were
-hardly necessary. Charles in his perplexity did not know to which side
-to lean. He received the Dutch ambassador in a very friendly way, and
-began to speak again of an alliance with the Republic.[608] In another
-direction he was flouted by the Dutch. On the 1st October, while the
-belligerent fleets were at anchor in the Downs, his representative at
-the conference at Hamburg proposed that if the Republic joined the
-projected alliance with France, Charles would grant them liberty to
-carry on their herring fishery in the narrow seas. At the very time
-that Tromp was battering the Spanish galleons in the King’s Chamber,
-the States-General were engaged in passing the resolution “that they
-did not intend to ask for the right of fishing in the North Sea from
-any one.”[609]
-
-A year later, the Long Parliament began its sittings at Westminster,
-and Charles was rapidly stripped of sovereign power within his own
-kingdom. The Dutch, conscious that they and not the King of England
-were the real masters of the sea, became overbearing in their conduct.
-More than ever their fishermen indulged in the bad treatment of British
-subjects, which this country was unable to prevent. But their triumph
-was short-lived. A decade later they were smitten by the heavy hand
-of Cromwell, who resumed the sovereignty of the sea. It is to the
-period beginning about this time that the Dutch trace the decadence
-which set in in their great fisheries as well as the decline of their
-trade. It is, however, a satisfaction to think that the part played
-by this country in causing the misfortunes of Holland--a country to
-which civilisation is indebted for immense advances, both material
-and intellectual--was comparatively small. From about the middle of
-the seventeenth century to the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, the Dutch
-Republic was involved in almost constant wars with its Continental
-neighbours, and the herring-fishery and the trade in general suffered
-severely, and never afterwards regained the prosperity they formerly
-enjoyed.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-THE JURIDICAL CONTROVERSIES.
-
-
-The great juridical controversies respecting _mare liberum_ and
-_mare clausum_--the sea open to all, or that under the dominion of
-a particular Power--which enlivened the international politics of
-the seventeenth century, reached their highest pitch in the reign of
-Charles I., and may be conveniently considered here. The writers who
-touched upon the question in the previous century took it for granted
-that the seas were capable of appropriation, and that they were almost
-wholly under the dominion of one Power or another. It is true that
-now and again a slender voice was raised in protest, on abstract
-legal grounds, against the exclusive maritime sovereignty arrogated
-by Venice, Portugal, or Spain. Queen Elizabeth too, as we have seen,
-not only protested against these claims in certain cases, but actively
-opposed them. Her action, however, pertained rather to the sphere of
-diplomacy and politics than to legal controversy; and the protests of
-the few jurists alluded to were too feeble to have practical effect on
-the course of events or on the prevalent opinion.
-
-It is noteworthy that the birth of modern international law was
-associated with the origin of these juridical controversies as to
-the freedom of the sea.[610] It was the appearance of _Mare Liberum_
-in 1609 that heralded the dawn of the new epoch. The little book of
-Grotius was at once a reasoned appeal for the freedom of the seas
-in the general interest of mankind, and the source from which the
-principles of the Law of Nations have come. The main reasons why
-the controversy broke out at that time and the pleas of Grotius
-had so much success are not difficult to discover. The period was
-characterised by a great expansion of commercial enterprise. The
-Western Powers of Europe, and above all the United Provinces, were
-pushing into every sea for the sake of traffic and gain. In some
-directions the trading adventurers found their way barred by claims to
-_mare clausum_ and monopoly of trade; in other directions it was open
-to them only under heavy burdens and aggravating restrictions. The
-northern seas, in theory at least, were closed to the whaling vessels
-engaged in what was then a most valuable business; and commerce and
-fishing within them were permitted only under irksome conditions. The
-passage through the Sound into the Baltic was subjected to high dues
-by Denmark; Venice claimed dominion in the Adriatic and levied imposts
-for the right of navigation there, and Genoa followed her example in
-the Ligurian Sea. But it was not so much the claim of Denmark to the
-sovereignty of the northern seas, or the rights asserted by Venice
-in the Adriatic, that led to the outburst for the freedom of the sea
-and of commercial intercourse at the beginning of the seventeenth
-century. Except with regard to English traffic with Iceland and
-Norway and the fishing there, more or less regulated by treaties, the
-Scandinavian claim at this time was not of great practical importance;
-and the dominion of Venice over the Adriatic was generally regarded
-as beneficial on the whole, by interposing a powerful barrier to the
-further extension of the Turkish empire in Europe, and by facilitating
-the suppression of pirates and Saracens.[611] It was the extravagant
-pretensions of Spain and Portugal to a monopoly of navigation and
-commerce with the New World and the East Indies that constituted the
-great obstacle to the new spirit of commercial enterprise. Founding
-their title on the Bulls of the Pope, and the right of discovery,
-conquest, and prior occupation, they arrogated to themselves the
-exclusive sovereignty of the great oceans which were the pathways to
-these immense regions,--the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, and parts of
-the Pacific. Thus, as Grotius remarked, the whole Ocean except a little
-was to remain under the control of two nations, and all the other
-nations of the earth were to content themselves with the remnant.
-
-The commerce with the East Indies was of special value and importance.
-The discovery of the Cape route by Vasco di Gama, in 1497, led to the
-great stream of traffic between Europe and the East being diverted in
-the next century from its old channel in the Mediterranean and Levant
-to the Atlantic. The lucrative trade with the Indies was transferred
-from the Venetians and the Italian Republics to the Portuguese, who
-then became for a time the chief trading people of the world,[612] and
-strove to keep it entirely in their own hands. It was particularly with
-reference to this monopoly that the disputes about the freedom of the
-sea began. The _Mare Liberum_ of Grotius was specially directed against
-the prohibition by the Portuguese for any other nation to navigate
-round the Cape of Good Hope or to trade with the Indies. It has been
-well said by Calvo that the historical antecedents of the controversy
-about _mare clausum_ are to be found in the voyages of Columbus and
-Vasco di Gama.[613]
-
-Very soon, however, the claims of other Powers to maritime
-sovereignty--of Denmark, Venice, England--were similarly assailed, and
-the controversy became general. It may be noted that those who took
-part in it on the one side or the other, including some of the most
-learned men of their age, were in large measure inspired by patriotic
-motives. National interests as much as lofty ethics or legal principles
-were at its root. Even Grotius, notwithstanding his impassioned
-appeal to the conscience of the world for the liberty of the sea and
-the freedom of commerce, was not exempt from this weakness. It was
-his happy fortune that the cause he publicly advocated was equally
-in conformity with the growing spirit of liberty and the immediate
-interests of the United Provinces. Only four years later, when the
-Dutch had obtained a footing in the East Indies in spite of the
-Portuguese, they in turn wished to exclude the English from any share
-in the trade with that opulent region: they did not want any freedom of
-commerce that might tell against themselves. And then we find Grotius
-arguing, in London, against his own declarations in _Mare Liberum_, and
-in favour of commercial monopoly for his native land--a task, which,
-we are told, he performed “with uncommon ability.”
-
-This charge cannot be made against the two authors whose voices were
-raised in opposition to the prevailing opinions as to the appropriation
-of the sea before the work of Grotius appeared, and of whose writings
-he made considerable use. One of these was a Spanish monk, Francis
-Alphonso de Castro, who wrote about the middle of the sixteenth
-century, protesting against the Genoese and Venetians prohibiting
-other peoples from freely navigating the Ligurian and Adriatic Seas,
-as being contrary to the imperial law, the primitive right of mankind,
-and the law of nature; and also against the Spanish and Portuguese
-claims for exclusive rights to the navigation to the East and West
-Indies.[614] The other author, also a Spaniard, was Ferdinand Vasquez
-or Vasquius, who expressed the same opinions as de Castro, and for
-the same reasons. He held that the sea could not be appropriated, but
-had remained common to mankind since the beginning of the world; that
-the claim of the Portuguese to forbid to others the navigation to the
-East Indies, and that of the Spaniards to a similar prohibition to
-sail through “the spacious and immense sea” to the West Indies, were
-no less vain and foolish (_non minus insanæ_) than the pretensions of
-the Venetians and Genoese. The law of prescription, he said, was purely
-civil, and could have no force in controversies between princes and
-peoples who acknowledged no superior, because the peculiar civil laws
-of any country were of no more value with respect to foreign nations
-than as if they did not exist; to decide such controversies recourse
-must be had to the law of nations, primitive or secondary, which it
-was evident could never admit of such a usurpation of a title to the
-sea. With regard to the right of fishery, Vasquius drew a distinction
-between fishing in the sea and in rivers or lakes. He held that the sea
-had been from the first, and still remained, by the primitive right
-of mankind, free both for navigation and fishing, and that its use
-could not be exhausted by fishing, while lakes and rivers may be so
-exhausted.[615]
-
-From the foregoing, it will be seen that Grotius had ready to his hand
-many of the legal arguments of which he made so much use; but the
-strength of his work lay rather in its appeal to the sense of justice
-and the conscience of the free peoples of Christendom, to whom it was
-dedicated. The Spanish authors, moreover, were not in a position to
-assail the validity of the Papal Bulls, upon which the Spanish and
-Portuguese claims were partly founded, whereas it was against them that
-the Protestant writer levelled some of his most powerful philippics.
-
-The _Mare Liberum_ of Grotius was published anonymously at Leyden,
-Holland, in March 1609.[616] As the title declares, the author’s object
-was to assert the right of the Dutch to trade with the Indies, and to
-combat the pretensions of the Portuguese to a monopoly of navigation
-and commerce in those regions; but the genesis of the book has only
-been recently made known. At the end of the sixteenth century, when
-the commerce of the United Provinces was expanding in all directions,
-the Dutch merchants resolved to share in the lucrative trade with
-the far east. Having failed to open up a passage to the Indies by the
-north-east, they boldly sailed thither by the Cape of Good Hope, in
-1595, through the seas and to the regions which Portugal claimed for
-herself. Encouraged by success, other trading voyages by the same
-route were undertaken almost every year. A United Dutch East India
-Company was formed in 1602, and the States-General decided to maintain
-their rights to the trade by force. The disputes and conflicts with
-the Portuguese which followed were soon brought to a head by the
-action of the redoubtable Jacob van Heemskerk in attacking and seizing
-Portuguese ships.[617] The valuable booty taken from the Portuguese
-was brought to Holland in 1604 and 1605, and caused much searching
-of heart among the shareholders of the company. Many were gratified
-by the spoil, but others of much influence, moved by conscientious
-scruples or good policy, refused to share in it, and they threatened
-to separate themselves from the company and form a rival association
-to carry on peaceful trade under the protection of the King of France.
-It was about this time that Grotius, incited by the condition of
-affairs, began to write a treatise with the object of encouraging his
-countrymen to resist the claims of the Portuguese by force. In a tract
-written about 1614 to vindicate _Mare Liberum_ against the attack of
-the Scotch lawyer, Welwood--which was not published, and the existence
-of which was unknown till about forty years ago--he says that some
-years earlier, perceiving the great importance of the East Indian
-trade for the Netherlands, and that it could only be made secure by
-armed resistance to the Portuguese, he had written a book in which he
-explained the law of war and spoil; and in order to rouse the popular
-mind he gave an account of the ill-treatment of the Dutch in the East
-Indies at the hands of the Portuguese.[618] Grotius was then only a
-little over twenty years of age, and it enhances our sense of the
-precocity and fertility of his genius to learn that _Mare Liberum_ was
-only one chapter (the twelfth) of this treatise. The treatise itself
-was not published by Grotius; but in 1608, during the negotiations with
-Spain which ended in the truce of Antwerp, on (March 30)/(April 9),
-1609, the Spaniards demanded that the Dutch should relinquish the trade
-with the West Indies and also with the East Indies (Portugal being then
-united to Spain), and, probably at the request of the directors of the
-East India Company, Grotius then detached the part of his work which
-dealt with the freedom of commerce and navigation and published it in
-March 1609, under the title of _Mare Liberum_.
-
-In dealing with his theme Grotius attacked in succession all the
-arguments put forward by the Portuguese to justify their claim. Their
-titles from prior discovery of the Cape route, under Papal Bulls, by
-the right of war or conquest, or from occupancy and prescription,
-were all, he maintained, invalid; by the Law of Nations navigation
-and commerce were free to all mankind. The action of the Portuguese
-in attempting to restrain the trade with India furnished a just cause
-of war; and the Dutch were resolved to assert their rights by force.
-But _Mare Liberum_ was much more than a pleading in a particular case.
-An earnest and powerful appeal was made to the civilised world for
-complete freedom of the high seas for the innocent use and mutual
-benefit of all. Grotius spoke in the name of humanity as against the
-selfish interests of a few; and while he made full use of arguments
-founded on Roman law, on the law of nature and of nations, it was
-principally the lofty moral ideas which inspired his work that gave
-it its reputation and charm. He entered into a subtle and learned
-disquisition as to the origin of the idea of property from the
-primitive times when all things were held in common; the conditions
-under which private property is possible or lawful, and the distinction
-between what is private, what is public, and what is common. Much of
-the argument appears to us now to be of the nature of hair-splitting
-and word-play; but inasmuch as it was made use of subsequently in the
-numerous controversies regarding the freedom or the sovereignty of
-the sea, as well as in diplomatic negotiations, it is necessary to
-summarise it here. All property, he says, is based upon possession or
-occupation (_occupatio_), which requires that all movable things shall
-be seized and all immovable things enclosed; things that can neither be
-seized nor enclosed cannot become property: they are common to all, and
-their use pertains not to any particular people but to the whole human
-race. The distinction is also made between things which are exhausted
-by promiscuous use and those which are not: the latter are common, and
-their free use belongs to all men. Thus the air is common, because it
-cannot be occupied and because it cannot be exhausted by promiscuous
-use; it therefore belongs to all mankind. And in the same way the sea
-is common to all; it is clearly so infinite that it is not capable of
-being possessed, and is fitted for the use of all both for navigation
-and fishing.[619] It is also among those things which cannot be bought
-and sold--that is, which cannot be lawfully acquired; whence it is,
-strictly speaking, impossible to look upon any part of it as belonging
-to the territory of a people. The sea is under no one’s dominion except
-God’s; it cannot by its very nature be appropriated; it is common to
-all, and its use, by the general consent of mankind, is common, and
-what belongs to all cannot be appropriated by one; nor can prescription
-or custom justify any claim of the kind, because no one has power to
-grant a privilege adverse to mankind in general.
-
-Grotius places navigation and fishing in the sea on the same footing,
-or rather he looked upon interference with the freedom of fishing as
-a greater offence than interference with navigation. With regard to
-imposing tribute on fishermen, he said that such as are reckoned among
-the Regalia are imposed not on the thing, that is the sea and the
-fishing, but on the person; and while it may be levied by a prince on
-his own subjects, it is not to be levied on foreigners, for the right
-of fishing everywhere should be free to foreigners, lest a servitude be
-imposed on the sea which it cannot bear. An action of this kind would
-be worse than the prohibition of navigation; it would be barbarous and
-inhuman. If any one, says Grotius, claimed jurisdiction and sovereignty
-on the great seas for himself alone against promiscuous use, he would
-be looked upon as one who was aiming at extravagant dominion; if any
-one was to keep others from fishing, he would not escape the brand of
-insane cupidity.[620]
-
-It is hardly possible to escape the suspicion, which was apparently
-shared by King James, as it was by many others, that Grotius in these
-sentences was aiming obliquely at England. Such strength of language
-about the right of free fishing in the sea was scarcely pertinent to
-his theme, for neither the Portuguese nor the Spaniards contested that
-right, and the Dutch did not fish in waters under their control. It
-would, on the other hand, be explicable if Grotius had got a hint of
-James’s intention with regard to the “assize-herring” (see p. 152), and
-we know that as early as the beginning of 1606 proposals were made for
-the formation of an English fishery society, with taxation of foreign
-fishermen, and that in the beginning of 1608 negotiations were on foot
-between the English Government and the Dutch Ambassador as to the
-“assize-herring.”[621]
-
-It is important to note--what many of his followers too often
-forgot--that Grotius restricts the application of his general argument
-for _mare liberum_ to the open sea. He does not, he says, deal with
-an inland sea (_mare interiore_) which, surrounded on all sides by
-land, did not exceed the breadth of a river; the question concerned
-the ocean, which the ancients called immense, infinite, the parent
-of things, co-terminous with the air. The controversy, he continues,
-was not about a bay or a strait in this ocean, _nor concerning so
-much of it as might be seen from the shore_: the Portuguese claim for
-themselves whatever lies between the two worlds.[622] Again, referring
-to the Italian publicists, he says their opinion cannot be applied to
-the matter in question, for they speak of the Mediterranean, he of the
-ocean; they of bays or gulfs, he of the vast sea, which differ very
-much in respect of occupation.[623]
-
-The opinions and reasonings of Grotius in _Mare Liberum_ as to the
-free use of the sea were repeated more concisely and with some
-modification in his greatest work, _The Rights of War and Peace_, which
-was published in 1625.[624] No one, he affirmed, can have property in
-the sea, either as to the whole or its principal parts; and as some
-people admit this in respect to private persons but not in regard to
-countries or states, he proceeds to prove its truth by both a “moral
-reason and a natural reason.” The moral reason is the vast extent and
-inexhaustibility of the sea, whether for navigation or fishing; the
-natural reason is that it cannot be occupied or possessed because
-of its fluidity, since liquids having no bounds of their own cannot
-be possessed unless enclosed by something else, as a river by its
-banks; but the sea is not contained in the earth, as it is equal to
-it or even greater.[625] Grotius, however, admits that his argument
-that rivers and lakes may be appropriated because their banks could
-be appropriated, may be logically applied also to certain parts of
-the sea. From the example of rivers he says, “It appears that the
-sea may be occupied by him who is in possession of the lands on both
-sides, although it be open either above, as a bay or gulf, or both
-above and below, as a strait, provided that it be not so great a part
-of the sea that when compared with the lands on each side it cannot
-be supposed to be some part of them”; and what is lawful to one king
-or people may be also lawful to two or three, if they have a mind to
-take possession of the sea thus enclosed within their land.[626] He
-also admits by another train of reasoning--concerning property in the
-marine vivaria of the Romans--that if it is not repugnant to the law
-of nature for a private person to appropriate a small enclosed part
-of the sea, one or more nations possessing the shores might in like
-manner appropriate a part of the sea, if it be small compared with the
-land; and that might happen although the sea was not enclosed on all
-sides. But this admission that the law of nature does not preclude
-appropriation of a relatively small part of the sea by the neighbouring
-state, he qualifies in a general way by saying that there are many
-things tolerated by the law of nature which the law of nations, by
-common consent, might prohibit; and where this law of nations was in
-force and is not repealed by common consent, the most inconsiderable
-part of the sea, although almost enclosed by the shores, can never be
-the property of a particular people. And in places where the law of
-nations was not received, or was afterwards abolished, it does not
-follow that the people merely because they possess the lands also
-possess the sea enclosed by them; the taking possession must be made
-by an overt act, and signified and made known. And if the possession
-thus gained by the right of prior occupation is afterwards abandoned,
-the sea returns to its original nature--namely, to the common use of
-mankind. Further, he who possesses any part of the sea cannot lawfully
-hinder unarmed ships, giving no room to apprehend danger, from sailing
-there, in the same way that he cannot justly prohibit innocent passage
-through his lands. Grotius goes on to explain that it is more easy to
-take possession of the jurisdiction (_imperium_) alone over part of
-the sea than of the right of property, and that it is not contradicted
-by the law of nations; and he points to a number of instances among
-the ancients.[627] He admits that sovereignty or jurisdiction may
-be acquired on the sea either in regard to persons or in regard to
-territory (_ratione personarum et ratione territorii_),--in regard
-to persons, as when a fleet, which is a maritime army, is maintained
-in any part of the sea; in regard to territory, as when those who
-sail along the coasts may be compelled from the land, as if they were
-actually on the land.[628]
-
-The latter statement of Grotius contains the germ of the idea
-subsequently adopted by almost all the writers on international law,
-that the extent of the adjoining sea over which the neighbouring state
-is entitled to exercise dominion is limited by the range of guns from
-the land. Grotius does not mention the means by which compulsion was to
-be made effective, but there is little or no doubt of what was in his
-mind.[629] It remained for Bynkershoek, at the beginning of the next
-century, to give the doctrine precise expression.
-
-It is obvious from the foregoing that the opinions expressed by
-Grotius as to the appropriation of the sea were not always consistent,
-and were sometimes self-destructive. If the fluidity and physical
-nature of the sea made it impossible to occupy or appropriate it, the
-objection applied as much to one part of it as to another, since it is
-everywhere fluid; and the admissions in his later book stultify many
-of the statements in the earlier one. It seems to be indisputable that
-Grotius was to some extent influenced by his environment, and expanded
-or contracted his argument to meet the conditions at the time--that he
-was, in short, like all the others, more or less of an advocate. When
-he published his greater work he was in the service of the Queen of
-Sweden, who claimed a somewhat extensive maritime sovereignty in the
-Baltic, and it is not unlikely that this influenced him in making the
-admissions referred to.
-
-The immediate object for which _Mare Liberum_ was published--the
-recognition of the right of the Dutch to sail to the East Indies and
-to trade there--was achieved by the treaty of Antwerp in the month
-following its appearance,[630] and no reply from the Portuguese or
-Spaniards to the arguments of Grotius was published till sixteen years
-later. Grotius tells us that a work in refutation of _Mare Liberum_
-had been prepared by a scholar of Salamanca, but it was suppressed
-by Philip III.;[631] but in 1625, when Philip IV. was on the throne,
-an elaborate defence of the rights of Portugal in the Indies and a
-reply to Grotius was published by Franciscus Seraphinus de Freiras,
-a Spaniard, who dedicated his book to the king.[632] The Venetians
-also, whose power had by this time declined, began to defend with the
-pen their rights in the Adriatic. These rights had been indirectly
-assailed by the general argument of _Mare Liberum_, and directly in
-the writings of de Castro and Vasquius, from which Grotius had quoted
-liberally; and now at the beginning of the seventeenth century they
-were actively contested by other Powers, and in particular by Spain.
-Hence quite a number of works defending the claims of Venice appeared
-at this period, the best of which was that of Pacius, who relied on
-the opinions of numerous early jurists, as Bartolus, Baldus, and
-Angelus; on immemorial possession and prescription, and stated that the
-rights of the Venetians consisted in jurisdiction, the imposition of
-taxes, the prohibition or regulation of navigation, the protection of
-subjects, and the suppression of pirates.[633]
-
-But it is probable that _Mare Liberum_ received as much attention
-in England as it did in any other country. Grotius, as we have
-seen, condemned any interference with the liberty of fishing or the
-imposition of taxes on foreign fishermen in very severe language, and
-his book appeared just at the time when King James had resolved on
-both these courses, and within less than two months of the issue of
-the famous proclamation forbidding unlicensed fishing by foreigners on
-the British coasts. To be by implication branded as “insanely cupid”
-by an anonymous Dutch writer, because he had decided to levy the
-“assize-herring” from Dutch fishermen, must have irritated James; and
-the irritation would not be lessened when he found the envoys from the
-Netherlands in the following year vindicating their right to liberty
-of fishing by just such arguments as were contained in _Mare Liberum_.
-James, indeed, showed a somewhat bitter feeling towards the great
-Dutch publicist when the authorship was revealed and the author lay in
-prison; and Carleton, the English ambassador at The Hague, in a speech
-to the States-General, held him up to opprobrium and stated that the
-disgrace into which he had fallen should deter others from adopting his
-opinions.
-
-The task of replying to Grotius was taken up by a Scottish lawyer,
-William Welwod or Welwood, a professor of the civil law. Welwood was
-Professor of Mathematics at St Andrews University, but exchanged the
-Mathematical for the Juridical Chair about the year 1587; at the royal
-visitation in 1597 he was deprived of his office, on the ground that
-the profession of the law was in no wise necessary at that time in
-the University, but probably because his profession as a teacher of
-jurisprudence was obnoxious in the eyes of James.[634] In 1590 he had
-published at Edinburgh a treatise on the Sea Laws of Scotland, which
-is believed to be the earliest regular work on maritime jurisprudence
-printed in Britain, and which was dedicated to James;[635] but
-it contains nothing bearing on the question of the fishery or
-“assize-herring.” In 1613 he published at London a new and enlarged
-edition of his early work, and in one of the chapters on “The Community
-and Proprietie of the Seas,” he endeavoured to refute the arguments
-advanced in _Mare Liberum_, which he seems to have looked upon as
-a reply to James’s proclamation of 1609.[636] This work was also
-dedicated to the king, and in a prefatory address to the three High
-Admirals--the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Northampton, and the Earl of
-Nottingham--he impressed upon them the importance of the “conservacie”
-of the sea, especially for the fisheries, and urged that strangers
-should be stayed from scattering and breaking the shoals of fish on the
-coast of Scotland, a duty on which some of his Majesty’s ships might
-well be employed.
-
-Welwood was scarcely fitted either by knowledge or capacity to be
-a formidable antagonist to a giant like Grotius; and although his
-writings contain quite a number of arguments which were later used
-and expanded by Selden, it can hardly be said that they had a great
-influence on the controversy. He looked upon _Mare Liberum_ as an
-attack on the rights of King James and his subjects to the fisheries
-“on this side the seas,” veiled under the pretext of asserting the
-liberty to sail to the Indies. As befitted his nationality and his
-time, many of his arguments were drawn from Holy Writ, and he had no
-difficulty in placing Providence on the side of James and in opposition
-to the Dutch. Others were more pertinent. He urged that the injunctions
-of the Roman law applied only to the subjects of Rome, and not
-internationally as between state and state,--an opinion also pressed,
-as we have seen, by Vasquius; that the fluidity of the sea was no bar
-to its occupation, and that it could be, and had been in certain cases,
-divided up into marches and boundaries, by the ordinary methods used
-by navigators, “so farre as is expedient for the certain reach and
-bounds of seas, properlie pertaining to any prince or people,”--what
-these bounds are or should be he does not say, though he quotes the
-Italian limit of 100 miles with approval. He held that the liberty of
-navigation was beyond all controversy, and agreed to the principle
-of the complete freedom of the sea so far as concerned the “main
-Sea or great Ocean,” which was “farre removed from the just and due
-bounds above mentioned properlie perteyning to the neerest Lands of
-euerie Nation.” To Grotius’ statement that it was worse to prohibit
-promiscuous fishing than to forbid navigation, Welwood justly replied
-that if the free use of the sea is interfered with for any purpose, it
-ought to be chiefly for the sake of the fishings, if the fishes become
-exhausted and scarce, as he says was the condition at that time on the
-east coast of Scotland, from the “neere and dailie approaching of the
-busse fishers” scattering and breaking the shoals, so that no fish
-“worthy of anie paines and travels” could now be found.
-
-Two years later Welwood returned to the theme, and published a formal
-little book on the dominion of the seas.[637] It was dedicated to
-Queen Anne, who had just been endeavouring to set up a fishery society
-with power to tax foreign fishermen (p. 161), and, as explained in
-the dedication, the book was specially directed against the freedom
-unlawfully usurped by foreigners of fishing in the British seas. It may
-be regarded as an amplification of his chapter in the _Abridgement_,
-but is much superior and more logically arranged; and being written
-in Latin, it attained, if not a reputation, at least considerable
-recognition on the Continent. He urges strongly that the sea as well
-as the land is capable of distinction and dominion, both by human and
-by divine law, and explains the contrary opinion of many publicists,
-poets, and orators (so copiously quoted by Grotius) by saying they
-were ignorant of the true law of nature, and had infected the minds of
-later generations with “a preposterous notion concerning some universal
-community of things.” The adjacent sea is claimed for the neighbouring
-state, because it is as necessary there as it is on land that some one
-should have jurisdiction, and this jurisdiction ought to be exercised
-by the neighbouring prince, so that both the land and the sea should
-be under the same sovereignty. The part of the sea next the land is,
-moreover, so joined to and, as it were, incorporated with it, that the
-ruler of the land is not permitted to alienate either a part of it, or
-the use of it, or to let it out (_locare_) any more than his kingdom or
-the patrimony of his kingdom. He held that it was incontestable that
-the vast and boundless waters beyond the _mare proximum_ were open
-to all nations indifferently for all uses, but that in the adjacent
-sea the neighbouring prince had in particular two primary rights
-besides jurisdiction--namely, the right of navigation and the right
-of fishing, with the power to impose taxes for either. He maintained
-that fishing in the sea was for the most part appropriated, and for a
-clear reason. God had appointed the fishes (herrings) to swarm along
-the coasts of Britain and the surrounding isles at seasons and places
-which He had pre-arranged, and for the benefit of the inhabitants: why,
-then, should the people be hindered from possessing as their own this
-benefit which God had granted them? He would be unwilling to deny the
-communication of this natural advantage to other nations, “but only by
-the same law by which they possess their own, that is by a just price.”
-Yet, notwithstanding this special blessing which had been granted
-to the British people, they were despoiled of it and of their just
-rights, owing to their seas being taken possession of, as it were, by
-a continual inundation of foreign fishermen, so that the shoals were
-scattered and the fishery exhausted. Welwood then refers to the alleged
-old agreement between the Scotch and the Dutch, whereby the latter were
-not to fish within eighty miles of the coast of Scotland (p. 84), but
-which they of late totally disregarded, fishing close to the shore,
-in front of the houses. And while they were permitted to carry away
-their fish from our seas without paying any tribute, the poor Scottish
-fishermen had to pay tithes to the Church and the assize-herring to the
-crown, as well as having their livelihood damaged by the action of the
-foreigners.
-
-The treatises of Welwood were composed to support the claim of James
-to the assize-herring, and the project of the queen to monopolise the
-fishings, as much as to demonstrate the law as to the dominion of the
-sea. On one account if on no other his works deserve to be remembered.
-He was the first author who clearly enunciated, and insisted on, the
-principle that the inhabitants of a country had a primary and exclusive
-right to the fisheries along their coasts--that the usufruct of the
-adjacent sea belonged to them; and that one of the main reasons why
-that portion of the sea should pertain to the neighbouring state was
-the risk of the exhaustion of its fisheries from promiscuous use.
-
-But they will be remembered in the history of international law for
-another reason. The first of them called forth from Grotius the only
-reply he ever vouchsafed to the numerous writers who attacked _Mare
-Liberum_. In the year in which the work was published, he was in London
-as one of the Dutch ambassadors, engaged in the somewhat ironical
-task of defending a Dutch _mare clausum_ in the East Indies, and
-probably the book then fell into his hands. In his _Defensio_ (see
-p. 344) Grotius reaffirmed the position he took in _Mare Liberum_,
-with the old arguments, and with some new ones to meet the criticism
-of Welwood, and not without some of the customary logic-chopping and
-wire-drawn reasoning. He held that the Roman law as to the sea being
-common applied not merely among the citizens of one state, but among
-mankind in general, because _communis_ was a different thing from
-_publicus_.[638] While admitting the possibility of marking out the
-sea by imaginary lines, he said this was not relevant to the question
-of appropriation, since appropriation could not take place without
-possession, and possession cannot be established merely by the mind
-or intellect, but requires a corporeal act; otherwise the astronomer
-might lay claim to the heavens or the geometrician to the earth.
-Concerning the rights of fishery, with which the _Defensio_ largely
-deals, he asserts that as the use of the sea is common to all, no one
-can prohibit fishing in it or justly impose taxes on it. With respect
-to the right of the Dutch to fish on the British coasts, he cites the
-Burgundy treaties and uses the same arguments as the Dutch ambassadors
-did in 1610 (p. 155). They had the right by treaties, immemorial usage,
-prescription, and the Law of Nations. It is noteworthy that in the
-_Defensio_, Grotius, no doubt owing to the polemical spirit inciting
-him above all to refute the arguments of Welwood concerning the _mare
-proximum_, as well as to demolish the claims of King James, denies the
-existence of sovereignty or property in any part of the sea, whereas
-it appears to be allowed by implication in _Mare Liberum_, and is
-expressly admitted in his later and larger work. Here he says, and
-more logically, that whatever applies to the whole sea applies to
-all its parts, even to a diverticulum, and he allows no exception for
-the sea washing a coast: a conclusion, however, at variance with the
-general practice of the time. This tract, as already stated, was not
-published by the author, probably because it was likely to excite still
-more the ire of James at finding his “rights” again “questioned.”[639]
-
-In contrast with the writings of Welwood may be cited the opinions of
-another and more eminent Scottish lawyer, Sir Thomas Craig, who touched
-upon the subject of maritime jurisdiction in a non-controversial work
-published before the juridical controversy had arisen.[640] He states
-that the sea is common to all for navigation, but that property and
-jurisdiction in the adjacent sea pertains to the neighbouring territory
-according to the current opinion--the sea washing the coast of France,
-England, Scotland, Ireland, &c., to the respective countries. No limits
-or bounds are laid down by Craig as to the partitioning of the sea in
-this way, but when dealing with the theoretical question of islands
-arising in the sea, he follows Bartolus in assigning a space of 100
-miles from the coast. He admits that certain seas may be prescribed, as
-the Adriatic, which Venice, though not possessing the shores, claimed
-by prescription. With respect to fisheries, the Scottish author, as
-might have been expected, holds that those in the adjoining sea belong
-to the bordering state: they are prescribed, and fishing there may be
-permitted or prohibited according to custom; and he says that it was
-not without great injury to us that the Dutch carry on their fishery
-around our islands.[641]
-
-In the period that elapsed between the appearance of the works of
-Grotius and Welwood and the publication of Selden’s _Mare Clausum_,
-a number of other books were issued which dealt with the question
-of the freedom of the seas and the extent to which they might be
-appropriated. Gerard Malynes, in treatises on commerce which had a wide
-circulation, re-echoed the opinions of Welwood, and of Gentleman and
-Keymer. The “main great seas,” he said, were common to all nations for
-navigation and fishing, but the bordering sea was under the dominion
-of the prince of the adjoining country, and foreigners could only fish
-in it by obtaining permission and paying for the privilege; within
-this sea navigation was free unless it interfered with the fishings.
-Malynes said that this was the practice in Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and
-Italy; and he ascribed the decay of English fisheries and trade to the
-admission of foreigners to fish in “his Majesty’s streames” without
-paying for the liberty.[642] Two other authors, each celebrated in
-his respective sphere, touched upon the king’s dominion in the seas,
-and they may be regarded as representing two different aspects of the
-subject, both of which became of great importance--namely, the limits
-of neutral waters, and the rights of the crown by the Common Law of
-England to the propriety of the sea and its bed. One was Alberico
-Gentilis and the other Serjeant Callis.
-
-Gentili, or Gentilis, who was a forerunner of Grotius in shaping
-the Law of Nations,[643] was an Italian of the school of Perugia,
-domiciled in England, where he held the Regius Professorship of Civil
-Law at Oxford. In 1605, after the conclusion of peace with Spain,
-he was appointed advocate for the Spanish embassy in London, and
-was frequently employed in the Admiralty Court in cases where the
-legality of the capture of Spanish vessels by the Dutch had to be
-determined. His pleadings and the decisions in these and similar cases
-were collected and published in 1613, after his death, and they form,
-according to Wheaton, the earliest reports of judicial decisions on
-maritime law published in Europe.[644]
-
-In discharging his duties in the English Prize Courts, it often fell
-to the lot of Gentilis to deal with the jurisdiction of England in
-the seas, for while he held office war existed between Spain and the
-United Provinces, and Spanish ships were frequently taken by the
-Dutch in the neighbourhood of the British coasts. Of course, captures
-made in the King’s Chambers after the proclamation of 1604 (see p.
-119) were not good prize, and were restored.[645] But when a Spanish
-vessel was seized clearly outside the limits of the King’s Chambers,
-Gentilis argued that it was not good prize, because, first, the treaty
-of peace[646] between Spain and England provided that the subjects of
-either were to be protected in all places throughout the dominions of
-the other; and, second, the dominion of the King of England extended
-far into the neighbouring seas. He seemed to stretch the joint
-sovereignty of Spain and England as far as America, pointing out that
-the southern coasts of Ireland were opposite to Spain, and the western
-coasts were bounded by the Indies belonging to Spain, while the
-northern coasts of Britain, having no countries lying against them,
-were washed by an immense and open sea. He held that the proclamation
-of 1604, fixing the limits of the chambers in connection with acts of
-hostilities between the Spaniards and the Hollanders, ought not to
-prevail against the provisions of the treaty, for the proclamation
-was subsequent to the treaty, and it would be unjust to allow it
-to lessen the extent of the territory (sea) over which protection
-was to be afforded by the terms of the contract. It was not a valid
-argument, Gentilis continued, to say that the boundaries expressed in
-the proclamation--that is, the King’s Chambers--had been observed long
-before by common usage in relation to similar cases.[647]
-
-There is no doubt, however, that although Gentilis as an advocate took
-this line of pleading, the boundaries of the King’s Chambers from
-headland to headland, as defined by James in his “plat,” were received
-as settled law in regard to neutrality both in the English courts and
-on the Continent.[648] Gentilis further urged that the limit fixed by
-the Italian jurists for the extent of jurisdiction--viz., 100 miles
-from the coast, unless the proximity of another state interfered with
-its application--also was in force off the British coasts, a view which
-the court declined to accept.
-
-Yet, although this principle of extending and limiting the territorial
-jurisdiction to 100 miles was not accepted in the English Courts, we
-find it made use of in the diplomatic correspondence of the time. The
-Earl of Salisbury in a letter to Cornwallis, the English ambassador
-at Madrid, explanatory of James’s proclamation in 1609 forbidding
-unlicensed fishing, did not seek to defend the action of the king by
-reason of any intrinsic right of the crown of England to sovereignty
-in the neighbouring sea, but rather upon what he alleged was the
-practice of the civil law. A sovereign prince or state, he said, was
-_Mundi Dominus, Lex Maris_, both because of the protection afforded to
-navigation in the adjacent sea and from prescription: the adjoining
-sea, as Baldus said, pertained to the territory of the neighbouring
-state, and thus the Venetians, as lords of the Adriatic, could impose
-taxes and penalties on navigation. “In respect of both which titles,”
-continued the Earl, “the Kings and Princes in general fronting upon the
-seas, as Spayne, France, Denmark, &c., have upon occasion offered, not
-only made ordinances and published edicts for the ruling and better
-ordering of the seas, but also have put them in execution; as well
-civilly for deciding of contracts, as criminally for transgressions;
-and have raised taxes and gabells in the seas as on the land to their
-best benefit, as part of their regalities properly belonging unto
-them, in sign of their sovereignty.” As to the distance to which this
-sovereignty extended, he said it was “generally received to be about
-one hundred miles at the least into the seas,” unless in narrow seas
-only, in which case the limits are divided by the channel, “except the
-princes of the one shore have prescribed the whole, as it falleth out
-in his Majesty’s narrow seas between England and France, where the
-whole appertayneth to him in right, and so hath been possessed tyme out
-of mind by his progenitors.”
-
-By another channel we may trace the course of the ideas which
-converged and culminated in the claims of Charles to the dominion of
-the surrounding seas--viz., in connection with the development of
-the law relating to the rights of property in the foreshore and the
-bed of the sea. Cases frequently occurred in which those rights were
-contested between private individuals and the crown; and in the course
-of litigation, or in writings dealing with the subject, the rights in
-the sea which were alleged to belong to the crown were explained. We
-have already seen that Plowden, in a case of the kind, argued that
-Queen Elizabeth possessed jurisdiction as far as the middle line in
-the surrounding seas,--a doctrine which the queen expressly repudiated
-in 1602,--but denied to her any right of property in either the sea or
-its bed. The claims of the crown to the ownership of the foreshores
-originated in the reign of Elizabeth; under James and Charles I. they
-were systematically pursued by the “title-hunters”; and while the legal
-decisions in contested cases were for a long time adverse to the crown,
-they began in the reign of James to be in its favour, and gradually
-the idea was imported into and became a part of English law that the
-ownership of the foreshore was _prima facie_ vested in the crown in
-virtue of the royal prerogative.[649]
-
-Along with the development of this idea came another, which was
-ultimately likewise engrafted on English law--that the crown had the
-exclusive right of property in the sea and in the soil beneath it.
-The origin of the idea is to be found in a treatise written in 1569
-by Thomas Digges.[650] He argued that as many things--as wrecks,
-treasure-trove, waifs and strays, which were originally common by the
-law of nature--now belonged to the Prince, so also should the sea,
-which was the chief of all waters, and could not by the civil law
-become the property of a subject. He held that just as the owners of
-the soil had the property in a river and its banks, the king had the
-interest and property in the “great salt river” environing the island,
-and in its shores and bottom; and he speaks of the sea as the “King’s
-river,” the “King’s streme,” and the “King’s water,” in which he had
-also jurisdiction. Digges also claimed that the fishings in the sea
-belonged to the crown, for “although the Kings of England have benne
-content to suffer fishermen _Jure gentium_ to enjoy to theire owen use
-such fishe as by theire charges travill and adventure they can in the
-Englishe Seas take, Yet haue the Kings of England for remembrance of
-this theire favoure that the memorie of theire propertie in the Seas
-shoulde not be extinguished, alwaie reserved to them selves the cheif
-fishe as Sturgeon, Whale, &c.”[651]
-
-The contention that the crown had the right of property in the sea
-and its bed, denied by Plowden, received in the reign of James much
-fuller amplification at the hands of Serjeant Callis, whose well-known
-lectures on the Statute of Sewers were delivered in 1622.[652] Callis
-argued that in “our _Mare Anglicanum_” the king had, by the common
-law of England, four “powers and properties”: sovereignty (_imperium
-regale_), legal jurisdiction for the administration of justice,
-property in the soil under the sea and in the water, and possession
-and profits both real and personal. He cites in proof a number of
-authorities, legal and historical, such as were cited later by Selden.
-The statement in a case decided in the reign of Richard II. (1377-99),
-that “the sea is within the legiance of the king as of his crown of
-England”; the charter of the Admiral giving him power in maritime cases
-throughout the realm of England; the phrases in certain statutes; the
-right to wreck and royal fishes, and so forth, “proved the King full
-Lord and owner of the seas, and that the seas be within the realm of
-England.” The king rules on the sea, he held, “by the laws imperial”
-as by the Roole d’Oleron and others, but only in the case of shipping
-and for merchants and mariners; his rights of property in the bed and
-waters of the sea, and the personal profits (wreck, flotsam, &c.)
-accruing, were his by the common law. Callis did not deal with fishing,
-nor attempt to define the bounds of “the seas of England” in which the
-king had property and jurisdiction.
-
-The interpretation of the law as to the rights of the crown in the
-seas, as propounded by Callis, was followed by Selden and Hale, and
-generally by the lawyers who came after him. Lord Chief-Justice Coke,
-in his _First Institute_, which was published in 1628, explains the old
-phrase “within the four seas” (_infra quatuor maria_) as meaning within
-the kingdom and dominions of England; for if a man be upon the sea
-of England he is “within the kingdom or realm of England, and within
-the ligeance of the king of England, as of his crown of England.” In
-his _Fourth Institute_, which was not published, however, till 1644,
-ten years after his death, when treating of the Admiralty Court, Coke
-entered more fully into the question of the rights of the crown in the
-seas of England; and, as already mentioned, he looked upon the roll
-of Edward I., _De Superioritate Maris_, as proving that the king’s
-right of dominion over the sea had been expressly acknowledged by
-neighbouring nations.
-
-But none of the works on the rights of England in the adjoining
-seas, which had appeared when the new policy of Charles began to be
-fashioned, was sufficiently profound or authoritative to furnish
-reasonable justification for that policy in the eyes of the world. The
-king in 1632, as we have seen, desired to demonstrate his rights by
-means of “some public writing,” founded upon the historical records
-of the realm,--a demonstration which was to precede the revival of
-the English pretension to the dominion of the seas in what Secretary
-Coke called its ancient style and lustre. As a result of the search
-made amongst the records in the Tower and elsewhere for evidence and
-precedents to establish the claim, several treatises and collections
-were compiled. Most of these were of little account,[653] but one of
-them attained an authority and celebrity only second to the great work
-of Selden. Before Charles wrote to the Clerk-Register in Edinburgh
-for Scottish documents to substantiate his claims (p. 212), it seems
-that Sir John Boroughs, the Keeper of his Majesty’s Records in the
-Tower, had been commissioned by the king to prepare the “public
-writing” to which he referred. We have already seen that in 1631
-Boroughs brought forward the important roll of Edward I.; he tells us
-in his preface that his work was composed at the request of “a great
-person”; it was written in Latin, the language which fitted it for
-foreign Courts; and it deals very largely with the Dutch and English
-fisheries, even recommending the construction of 250 busses for the
-fishery association. Boroughs’ treatise, entitled “The Soveraignty of
-the British Seas, proved by Records, History and the Municipall Lawes
-of this Kingdome,” was completed in 1633, but it was not published
-until 1651, when the question of maritime rights had been again raised
-between England and the United Provinces.[654] It is probable that
-the king discarded it for _Mare Clausum_, the incomparably superior
-treatise by Selden, of the existence of which he was probably made
-aware as early at least as 1634.
-
-Nevertheless, Boroughs’ work was the first successful attempt to bring
-together a great array of historical facts in favour of the English
-claims to the dominion of the seas. Like Selden, he begins with the
-Roman occupation of Britain in order to show that from the first the
-“British nation had the supreme power of command of their own seas”;
-and, moreover, he gives all the more important documents to be found
-in _Mare Clausum_,--the ordinance of John, the rolls of Edward I. and
-Edward III., the charter of Edgar, the Laws of Oleron, commissions to
-the admirals, safe-conducts, and extracts from the Burgundy treaties.
-He is very emphatic as to the king’s right to the dominion of the seas
-and the fisheries. “That princes,” he says, “may have an exclusive
-property in the soveraigntie of the severall parts of the sea, and in
-the navigation, fishing and shores thereof, is so evidently true by
-way of fact, as no man that is not desperately impudent can deny it”;
-and--no doubt for the benefit of the Dutch--he adds that “if any nation
-usurp our rights, the king has a good sword to defend them.” He asserts
-that the kings of England in succession had the “sovereign guard” of
-the seas; had imposed taxes and tributes upon all ships navigating or
-fishing in them; and had closed and opened the passage through them
-to strangers, as they saw cause. The sovereignty of the sea he calls
-“the most precious jewel of his Majesty’s crown, next (after God) the
-principal means of our wealth and safety.” A considerable part of the
-treatise is taken up with the fisheries, the information being almost
-wholly derived from previous writers; the usual comparisons are drawn
-of the flourishing state of the fisheries of Holland and the poor
-condition of those of England, and the usual statements made as to
-the benefits that would accrue to the kingdom if the fisheries were
-developed.
-
-Boroughs’ treatise, however interesting from the historical documents
-it contained, had serious defects when considered as a formal
-justification to Europe of the policy of Charles. The facts were not
-skilfully marshalled; the deductions were bald and crude; and above
-all, it was destitute of arguments and reasoning founded on law.
-Grotius was then the Swedish ambassador at Paris, his works were well
-known and esteemed throughout Europe, and it would have been indiscreet
-to attempt to answer his elaborate arguments against such claims to
-_mare clausum_ by saying that these claims were self-evident and that
-only an impudent person would deny them.
-
-Fortunately for Charles, Selden now came upon the scene to vindicate
-and glorify his prerogative in the surrounding seas. The distinguished
-author tells us that his great work, _Mare Clausum_, was begun long
-before at the desire of King James, and had been lying in an incomplete
-and imperfect form for fully sixteen years.[655] It was presented to
-James in 1618, but several reasons prevented its publication, one
-of the chief being that the king was afraid that some passages it
-contained might give offence to the King of Denmark, from whom he was
-then endeavouring to obtain a loan of money.[656] At the request of
-Charles, Selden now recast his treatise, added to it, and completed it.
-It was dedicated to the king and published by his “express commands,”
-as he explained a little later, “for the manifesting of the right and
-Dominion of Us and our Royal Progenitors in the seas which encompass
-these our Realms and Dominions of Great Britain and Ireland.”[657]
-
-Selden, as is well known, had taken a prominent part in the Parliament
-of 1629, in the majority which resisted the king’s wishes, and was
-for a time imprisoned in consequence of his share in the historic
-disturbances with which it had ended, when the Speaker was held
-down in the chair. He was released on bail under sureties for good
-behaviour, and he was bound to present himself, on the motion of the
-Attorney-General, in the Court of King’s Bench, on the first day of
-each term, as a person under surveillance.[658] Selden was not of the
-stuff of which martyrs are made. After his release, we find him among
-the lawyers of the Inns of Court arranging for the masque which was
-performed before the Court, at Whitehall in February 1634, as a token
-of the detestation in which they held Prynne’s innuendo concerning the
-queen in his _Histriomastix_.[659] Towards the end of the same year, in
-a humble petition to the king (“prostrating myself at the feet of your
-sacred Majesty”), he begged that the royal displeasure might be removed
-and the bail discharged, assuring Charles of his readiness to serve him
-with gladness and affection. In February 1635 the king forwarded to
-the Judges of the Court of King’s Bench a mandate, the draft of which
-had been prepared by Selden himself, instructing them to discharge him
-of their recognisances;[660] in August we find the Dutch ambassador
-writing to The Hague that the book was being printed;[661] and in
-December of that year it was given to the world.[662] There is little
-doubt that Selden’s petition to the king and its favourable reception
-covered the negotiations concerning the completion and publication of
-_Mare Clausum_, which were carried on under the auspices of certain
-eminent personages at Court, and probably of Laud.[663] He tells us
-that the early work was very imperfect, and required to be completely
-reconstructed, and that he was able to devote some months of leisure to
-the task. But even Selden’s extraordinary erudition and great industry
-could not have produced such a book without prolonged labour; and it
-may be guessed that, observing the trend of the king’s policy and
-becoming desirous of royal favour, he began to reconstruct his treatise
-very soon after leaving prison.
-
-The political significance of Selden’s work was instantly recognised
-both at home and abroad. It appeared at the time when the pretensions
-of Charles to the dominion of the sea were astonishing Europe. While
-the printers were still busy with it, the Earl of Lindsey’s fleet was
-scouring the Channel to force the elusive squadrons of France to strike
-to the king’s flag. The longing to compel homage to the flag burned
-like a fever in the breasts of naval officers; and despatches poured in
-from them announcing that Dutch, Danish, and even occasionally French,
-ships had been forced to strike, sometimes in their own waters. The
-supposed policy of the Plantagenets had been expounded in high-sounding
-despatches to foreign Courts, and formulated in Admiralty instructions.
-The Dutch fisheries had been threatened; and it was known everywhere
-that the King of England was preparing a formidable fleet to sweep the
-seas in the following year.
-
-Charles did what he could to emphasise the importance of the book.
-When a pirated edition appeared within a few months at Amsterdam,
-bearing the name of the king’s printers and the word London in
-imitation of the original edition, and with a print of the great
-Burgundy treaty, the Intercursus Magnus, and a tract appended by way
-of antidote, he complained to the Dutch ambassador, and issued a
-proclamation declaring that _Mare Clausum_ had been published by his
-express commands, denouncing those who had produced the pirated copy,
-and banning it from the realm.[664] On 26th March, as the following
-record shows, he brought it before the Privy Council with high eulogy,
-and for a definite purpose: “His Majesty this day in Council took
-into consideration a book lately published by John Selden, Esquire,
-intituled _Mare Clausum, seu de Dominio Maris_, written by the king’s
-command, which he had done with great industry, learning and judgment,
-and hath asserted the right of the Crown of England to the Dominion of
-the British seas. The King requires one of the said books to be kept in
-the Council-Chest, another in the Court of Exchequer, and a third in
-the Court of Admiralty, as faithful and strong evidence of the Dominion
-of the British seas.”[665]
-
-There was good reason for the king’s eulogy of Selden’s treatise. From
-the point of view of his policy nothing that the pen can do could have
-been better done. It is an elaborate and masterly exposition of the
-case for the sovereignty of the crown of England in the British seas,
-which throws into the shade all the other numerous works which were
-written on that side of the question. One of the most eminent lawyers
-of his time, a scholar, an antiquary, an historian, the author brought
-to his task a keen intellect, an immense erudition, and the ability
-of disposing his material and arguments to the best advantage. In
-learning at least he far surpassed Grotius, and he was not inferior to
-his illustrious contemporary in ingenuity of reasoning. It was Selden’s
-misfortune that the cause he championed was moribund, and opposed
-to the growing spirit of freedom throughout the world. At the same
-time it must be said that, apart from its extreme doctrines as to the
-sovereignty of England in the seas, it more correctly represented what
-are now the admitted principles as to the appropriation of the adjacent
-sea than did most of the works written on the other side, not excepting
-even those of Grotius.
-
-But in relation to the cause for which it was written, the merit of
-_Mare Clausum_ lay not merely in the enunciation of the theoretical and
-legal aspects of the claim to maritime sovereignty, but also in the
-imposing array of historical facts and arguments by which the right
-of England was sought to be established. The defects of the work are
-scarcely less apparent. There is no ground to suppose that Selden was
-guilty of the offence attributed to him by some of his foreign critics,
-of inventing part of the evidence he cites. But the interpretation he
-placed upon much of it was strained or erroneous. Great conclusions
-were drawn from things which had in reality no connection with his
-case; laws and events which referred solely to English subjects were
-improperly extended to include foreigners; the bearing of many records
-was misrepresented, others were passed over in silence, or, as with
-the “Burgundy” treaties, referred to in such a way as to distort their
-plain meaning.
-
-In the first book the author endeavours to prove that the sea is not
-everywhere common, but is capable of appropriation, and has been in
-fact in numerous cases appropriated. The objections to that opinion
-are classified in three groups: first, that it is contrary to the
-law of nature and the law of nations to forbid free commerce and
-navigation; second, that the physical nature of the sea, its fluidity
-and fluxion, renders it incapable of occupation; third, the opinions
-of certain learned men. He argued that the ancient law as to the
-community of things had become modified in certain particulars, and
-that the received practice and custom of many nations, ancient and
-modern, showed that the sea was capable of private dominion, and that
-such dominion or appropriation was therefore not contrary either to
-the law of nature or the law of nations. In support of his argument
-Selden drew freely upon the vast stores of his erudition. He began,
-like Welwood, by quoting Scriptures to show that the divine law (_jus
-divinum_) allowed private dominion in the sea, and that according to
-the opinion of those learned in the Jewish law, a great part of the
-sea washing the west coast of the Holy Land had been annexed to the
-land of Israel by the appointment of God. Among almost all the nations
-of antiquity, he said, it was the custom to admit private dominion in
-the sea, and many of them exercised maritime sovereignty.[666] Among
-modern nations, sovereignty was exercised by the Venetians in the
-Adriatic, by the Genoese in the Ligurian Sea, by the Tuscans and Pisans
-in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and by the Pope over a part of the sea called
-_Mare Ecclesiæ_. Then the sovereignty claimed by the Spaniards and
-Portuguese, and the maritime dominion of the Danes and Norwegians, were
-notorious. Even the Poles and the Turks possessed sovereignty in the
-Baltic and the Black Sea respectively.
-
-How then could it be denied, with all these examples, ancient and
-modern, that the sea could not be appropriated? Selden indeed agreed
-with Grotius in repudiating the sovereignty claimed by Spain and
-Portugal in the great oceans,--not, however, because it was opposed
-to reason and nature, but because it was founded on no legitimate
-title, and these nations had not a sufficient naval force to assert and
-maintain it.[667]
-
-As to the free use of the sea, Selden admits that to prohibit innocent
-navigation would be contrary to the dictates of humanity;[668] but he
-held that the permitting of such innocent navigation does not derogate
-from the dominion of the sea--it is comparable to the free passage
-on a road across another’s land--and it cannot always be claimed as a
-right. With respect to the argument that the sea cannot be appropriated
-because of its physical properties, he points to the example of
-rivers and springs, which even by Roman law may be appropriated, as
-well as of lakes. It is not true that the sea has no banks or limits:
-it is clearly bounded by the shores; some seas, as the Caspian, are
-completely enclosed, and the Mediterranean is so everywhere except
-at the Straits of Gibraltar. Elsewhere there are islands, rocks,
-promontories, by which boundaries may be determined; and limits may be
-set in the open sea by nautical science, as in the fixing of latitude
-and longitude; and that was shown by the Bull of Pope Alexander VI.,
-and the hundred-mile limit of the Italians. Selden denies that the
-sea is inexhaustible from promiscuous use. On the contrary he says a
-sea may be made worse for him that owns it by reason of other men’s
-fishing, navigation, and commerce, and less profit accrue from it, as
-where pearls, corals, and other things of that kind are produced. In
-such cases the abundance may be diminished by promiscuous use just as
-readily as in the case of metals and suchlike on land; and the same
-argument applies to all kinds of fishing.[669]
-
-It was, however, the second book of _Mare Clausum_ which gave it its
-chief political importance. It was appropriate and necessary that
-the claims of Charles should be justified in the domain of law and
-custom; it was still more necessary that they should be supported by
-weighty precedents existing in the history of England--that some of
-his predecessors had been styled Lords of the Sea, and had exercised
-sovereign jurisdiction over foreigners even on their own coasts. After
-partially defining the British seas (see p. 19), Selden, as mentioned
-in a former chapter, labours to show that maritime sovereignty had
-been continuously exercised within them by the ancient Britons, the
-Romans, and the Anglo-Saxons in succession, and then by the Norman
-and later kings. He strove to prove by a multitude of citations from
-records that the kings of England had perpetually enjoyed exclusive
-dominion and jurisdiction in the surrounding seas as part of their
-territory, and were hence styled Lords of the Sea; that they had always
-preserved the right to forbid fishing and even navigation by foreigners
-within the British seas, or to exact tribute for that liberty; that
-the rights of the crown in the seas, asserted both by kings and
-Parliaments, were in conformity with the common law of England, and
-had been in several important respects acknowledged by other nations.
-A great deal of the evidence adduced is, as has been said, irrelevant.
-The long recital of facts connected with the guarding of the sea, the
-disposition of fleets, the office and jurisdiction of the admirals,
-the raising of special taxes--as the Danegeld--for defensive purposes
-or the equipment of ships of war, might have been paralleled in the
-records of other maritime states, as France or Flanders.
-
-The maritime sovereignty claimed by Selden for the kings of England
-was of the most absolute kind. Speaking particularly of the eastern
-and southern parts of the English sea, lying between England and
-the shores of France and Germany,--in which Charles was especially
-interested,--he declared that the powers exercised by the kings of
-England from the time of the Norman Conquest were as follows: (1)
-the custody, government, and admiralty, as if it were a territory or
-province of the king; (2) leave of passage granted to foreigners at
-their request; (3) liberty of fishing in them conceded to foreigners,
-and protection afforded to their fishermen; (4) the prescribing of
-laws and limits to foreigners in hostility with one another as to the
-taking of prizes.[670] It is to be noted that Selden in expounding his
-case expressly rejected the principle of the mid-line, the limits laid
-down by the Italian writers, and those prescribed by King James in
-defining the King’s Chambers; and he disclaimed the arguments used by
-the English commissioners at the Bremen Conference in 1602, as to the
-freedom of the seas, as being contrary to English rights. He concludes
-his famous book in the following words: “It is certainly true,
-according to the mass of evidence set forth above, that the very shores
-or ports of the neighbouring sovereigns on the other side of the sea
-are the bounds of the maritime dominion of Britain, to the southwards
-and eastwards; but in the open and vast ocean to the north and west
-they are to be placed at the farthest extent of the most spacious seas
-which are possessed by the English, Scots, and Irish.”
-
-It may be added that _Mare Clausum_ became in a sense a law-book, an
-authoritative work to which eminent lawyers, as Lord Chief-Justice Hale
-and Hargrave, appealed as proving the existence and the legality of the
-rights of the crown of England to the dominion of the British seas.
-Even as late as the year 1830 this doctrine held its place in certain
-recognised treatises on the law of England, together with Selden’s
-definition of the extent of those seas. (See p. 580.)
-
-As was natural, the appearance of Selden’s book created anxiety
-in Holland. Its very title was a challenge to the much-cherished
-principles in _Mare Liberum_, and the circumstances connected with its
-birth heightened its political importance. It was felt to be almost
-equivalent to a declaration of the king himself. The simultaneous
-measures for the formation of an English fleet of unexampled strength
-made the Dutch fear for even more than their herring fishery. Their
-interest in the book was shown by the fact that within a year of
-its publication no less than three editions were brought out in
-Holland.[671] It was promptly brought before the States of Holland, on
-11th December 1635, and remitted to one Professor Petrus Cunæus for
-examination and report.[672] His report was read on 31st March 1636,
-and the States of Holland, after hearing it, resolved to look upon
-_Mare Clausum_ merely as the work of a private person, which did not
-require any special procedure on their part.[673] The States-General,
-however, took another view of the book, and decided that it should
-be formally refuted, since they had learned that King Charles would
-attempt to establish his pretended rights over the so-called four seas
-by arguments borrowed from _Mare Clausum_. No doubt at this juncture
-the thoughts of men in Holland were turned towards Grotius, the one
-above all others most worthy of the task of refuting Selden. But
-Grotius was then the Swedish ambassador in France, and did not wish to
-offend his royal mistress by publicly opposing claims not dissimilar
-to those she herself made in the Baltic.[674] If we can trust Sir
-Kenelm Digby, Grotius was even pleased to see his works refuted. In a
-letter from Paris about Selden’s book, which was “much esteemed” there,
-Digby said Selden was not to expect a reply from Grotius, “who wrote,
-he says, as a Hollander, and is exceeding glad to see the contrary
-proved.”[675]
-
-The official refutation of _Mare Clausum_ was, by a resolution of the
-States-General on 28th April 1636, entrusted to a lawyer of Delft,
-called Dirck Graswinckel, who does not appear to have been very well
-fitted for so onerous a duty. His treatise in reply to Selden was not
-submitted to the States-General until 13th April in the following
-year, and by that time much had happened to alter the political
-complexion of affairs. The States-General had then reason to believe
-that the campaign which Charles had been carrying on against the Dutch
-herring-busses would be suspended (p. 315), and probably never resumed;
-and after remitting Graswinckel’s work to a committee, it was finally
-set aside and was never published, while the author was soothed by the
-substantial pension of 500 gulden a-year for his pains.[676]
-
-But another Dutchman in this year assumed the task which Graswinckel
-had fruitlessly essayed. This was Pontanus, Professor of Philosophy and
-History in the College of Harderwyck in Guelderland, who also occupied
-the office of Historiographer to the King of Denmark. He had thus,
-like Grotius, to be cautious in his refutation of Selden’s general
-arguments upon the appropriation and dominion of seas, because the
-claims of Denmark to such property and dominion were notorious. But he
-was free to contest the particular rights of England, which he did with
-zest. He subjected Selden’s chapters, almost _seriatim_, to a rigorous
-criticism, beginning with the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. He made the
-most of the declarations of Elizabeth as to the freedom of the seas for
-navigation and fishing, and of her State Paper of 1602 (see p. 110);
-and he dealt specially with the sovereignty over the northern seas--the
-_Mare Caledonium_ and those flowing between the Scandinavian countries
-and Iceland and Greenland--which he asserted were not, and never had
-been, under the dominion of England, but always appertained to the
-Scandinavian nations. Pontanus entered very fully into the negotiations
-which had taken place between England and Scotland on the one hand, and
-Norway and Denmark on the other, concerning those seas and the rights
-of navigating and fishing at Iceland and Greenland--subjects on which,
-from his official position, he had special knowledge.[677] In the same
-year another author, and he a Frenchman, entered the field in defence
-of the appropriation and dominion of seas,[678] while a somewhat
-virulent controversy broke out between Poland and Denmark as to the
-sovereignty of the Baltic Sea, which was claimed by each, as it had
-been shortly before by Sweden, and formed, indeed, one of the causes of
-the war by Gustavus Adolphus against Germany.[679]
-
-The juridical controversies respecting the appropriation and dominion
-of the seas continued throughout the whole of the seventeenth century
-and well on into the next, and so far as this country was concerned,
-they were particularly vehement during the first and the third Dutch
-wars.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-THE PARLIAMENT, THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE PROTECTORATE.
-
-THE FIRST DUTCH WAR.
-
-
-On the 3rd November 1640 the Long Parliament commenced its sittings
-at Westminster, and within two years thereafter--on 22nd August
-1642--Charles raised the royal standard at Nottingham, and initiated
-the great Civil War. During the period of strife little was heard
-of the claim to the sovereignty of the sea, although the Parliament
-continued to issue the usual instructions to the naval commanders to
-compel homage to the flag. But under the Commonwealth and Protectorate
-the English pretensions were carried to as high a pitch as ever they
-were under the Stuarts. The stern men who then guided the destinies
-of England were as jealous of the symbols of the nation’s greatness
-as had been the vacillating king they destroyed. In particular, the
-salutation of the flag was enforced with great vigour. A dispute on the
-point between Tromp and Blake occasioned the first Dutch war, and the
-result proved to the world that after all England possessed the actual
-dominion of the sea by reason of her naval power. In the negotiations
-with the Dutch which preceded the treaty of peace, we shall find that
-Cromwell put in the forefront of his conditions the recognition of
-England’s right to the herring fishery, and to the striking of the flag
-within the British seas.
-
-At first, as might have been expected from the actions of the king
-with regard to the ship-money collections, little sympathy was shown
-by the Parliament for the claim to the sovereignty of the sea. The
-necessity of maintaining that sovereignty had always been put forward
-as a principal argument for levying the money, and on that ground it
-was objectionable to many of those opposed to the king. In a work said
-to have been presented to the Parliament at its first meeting, forcible
-opinions were expressed against the pretension. It was doubtful, it
-was said, whether the sea really belonged to the crown, as the king
-claimed. Even if it did, it was not apparent that the fate of the
-land depended upon the dominion of the sea. That dominion might be
-considered as a right, an honour, or a profit. As a right it was a
-theme “fitter for scholars to fret their wits upon than for Christians
-to fight and spill blood about”; as an honour, by making others strike
-sails to our ships as they passed, it was “a glory fitter for women
-and children to wonder at than for statesmen to contend about”; as a
-matter of profit, to fence and enclose the sea, it was of moment, but
-not more to us than to other nations: by too insolent contentions about
-it we might provoke God and dishonour ourselves, and rather incense our
-friends than quell our enemies.[680] If such sentiments reflected the
-feeling of the Parliament at the beginning of their labours, they were
-not of long duration. Within a few years a change was wrought, which
-was probably in large measure due to the part taken by the fleet in the
-struggle with the king, as well as to the abiding spirit of the people
-for predominant power on the sea.
-
-From an early stage in the conflict the control of the fleet passed
-into the hands of the Parliament. In the summer of 1642, when the Earl
-of Northumberland, the Lord High Admiral, was laid aside by illness,
-the Parliament succeeded, with his connivance and assistance, in
-placing the Earl of Warwick in actual command; Sir John Pennington, the
-nominee of Charles, having to stand aside.[681] Under the management
-of its new masters the navy rapidly became a powerful and efficient
-instrument for the defence of the realm, as was shown at the opening
-of the Dutch war. The general instructions given by the Parliament
-to its naval officers respecting the honour of the flag and the
-sovereignty of the sea were almost identical with those which had been
-issued to the Earls of Lindsey and Northumberland, but the phraseology
-was sometimes a little varied. On 5th April 1643 the Parliament, in
-view of the attempt organised by Queen Henrietta Maria to smuggle into
-England military supplies from the Netherlands for the use of the
-royalists, ordered the Earl of Warwick, if he met with “any foreign
-forces, ships, or vessels, as Spaniards, French, Danes, Dunkirkers, or
-any other whatsoever, making towards the coasts of England, Ireland, or
-any other of his Majesty’s dominions,” to command them, “according to
-the usual manner, to strike their flags or top-sails,” and cause them
-to be examined and searched for soldiers or munitions of war. If they
-refused to strike, he was “to compel them thereunto by force of arms
-and surprise, and to take all such ships and vessels, or otherwise to
-burn, sink, or destroy them.”[682] In the following year the Committee
-for the Admiralty instructed Vice-Admiral Batten, who was in command of
-the fleet, “upon all occasions, as you shall be able, to maintain _the
-Kingdom’s_ sovereignty and regality in the seas.”[683]
-
-In the spring of 1647, the Committee of the Admiralty, for some reason
-or other, appears to have devoted special attention to the question of
-the flag and the sovereignty of the sea. Collections were made from the
-Admiralty archives of precedents showing that all ships refusing to
-strike in English waters were to be reputed enemies, and were liable
-to forfeiture,--the examples beginning with the Ordinance of King
-John and ending with the instructions issued by Charles.[684] These
-collections were probably made in connection with the instructions
-which the Committee drew up at this time for the guidance of the
-captains and officers of the navy, and which were essentially similar
-to those given by Charles to his ship-money fleets. “It must be your
-principal care,” they ran, “to preserve the honour of this kingdom, and
-the coasts, jurisdictions, territories, and subjects thereof, being in
-amity with the Parliament, and within the extent of your employment,
-as much as in you lieth; that no nation or people whatsoever intrude
-thereon or injure any of them. And if you chance to meet in any of the
-seas that are under the jurisdiction of England, Scotland, and Ireland,
-with any ships or fleets belonging to any foreign prince or state, you
-must expect that they, in acknowledgment of this kingdom’s sovereignty
-there, shall perform their duty and homage in passing by, in striking
-their top-sails and taking in their flags.” If they refused they were
-to be forced to do so in the usual way. It will be noticed that the
-region within which foreigners were to be compelled to strike was
-greatly extended by the Parliament. Up to and including the reign of
-James the “acknowledgment” was confined to the narrow seas, in which
-it had been exacted for centuries; Charles in 1635 ordered Lindsey to
-compel it “in his Majesty’s seas,” and now the Parliament extended
-it specifically to all the seas under the jurisdiction of England,
-Scotland, and Ireland. From a clause in the instructions it is clear
-that the seas over which the Parliament claimed sovereignty reached
-to the coasts of the Continent; but a territorial limit was excepted
-on foreign coasts. The clause in question enjoined the naval officers
-“to be very careful not to meddle with any ships within the harbours,
-or ports, or under the command of any of the castles of any foreign
-prince or state, or within any buoys (Buoyes) or rivers, that they may
-have no just cause of offence.” Another feature of these instructions
-is of interest. The clause which was inserted in the instructions to
-Lindsey and Northumberland in 1635, 1636, and 1637, commanding them
-to prevent all hostilities between men-of-war or merchant vessels in
-the presence of the king’s ships, was repeated.[685] The Parliament
-clearly intended to abate no jot of the pretensions which had been put
-forward by the king.
-
-An opportunity soon came for putting the instructions regarding the
-flag into force. In May of the same year a Swedish fleet of fifteen
-sail, consisting of ten merchantmen bound for the Mediterranean and
-five ships of war convoying them, was met by Captain Owen in the
-_Henrietta Maria_ off the Isle of Wight. On being called upon to
-strike, the Swedes refused, declaring that they had been commanded by
-the Queen of Sweden “not to strike to any whatsoever.” Owen, reinforced
-by Batten, thereupon attacked them, the fight continuing till night.
-The Swedes suffered much loss; the colours of their vice-admiral
-and rear-admiral were shot away, a “great breach” was made in the
-vice-admiral’s ship, and their vessels were captured and taken into
-Portsmouth. They were afterwards released, but the Admiralty Committee
-expressed the opinion that the proceedings of their officers “in
-order to the maintenance of the kingdom’s sovereignty at sea” were
-to be commended, and this resolution was reported to both Houses of
-Parliament.[686] The question of the salute between ships of war of
-different nations had been brought to the front in most other maritime
-countries by the forcible measures taken by Charles in 1633 and later.
-Two years before the encounter with the Swedes in the Channel, Denmark
-and Sweden had regulated the ceremony, as affecting their own ships of
-war, in the treaty of peace then concluded between them.[687]
-
-From this time until shortly before the war with the Dutch there
-is little to record about the claims to the dominion of the sea.
-In 1649, the instructions issued to Popham, Blake, and Dean, the
-commanders of the fleet, included the guarding of the North Sea and
-the mackerel-fishing, as well as the maintenance “of the sovereignty
-of the Commonwealth in the sea,” all in the prescribed form.[688] In
-the following year the Council of State issued express commands to
-Blake on the subject when he was ordered to proceed against Prince
-Rupert and the revolted ships at Lisbon. The dominion of “these seas,”
-they said, had anciently and time out of mind belonged to the English
-nation, and the ships of all other nations in acknowledgment of that
-dominion had been accustomed to take down their flags “upon sight” of
-the Admiral of England, and not to bear them in his presence. Blake was
-therefore, to the best of his powers, and “as he found himself and the
-fleet of strength and ability,” to do his utmost endeavours to preserve
-the dominion of the sea, and to cause the ships of all other nations
-to strike their flags and keep them in in his presence, and to compel
-such as were refractory, by seizing their ships and sending them into
-port, to be punished according to the “laws of the sea,” unless they,
-submitted and made such reparation as he required. At the same time,
-although the dominion of the sea was so ancient and indubitable, and it
-concerned the honour and reputation of the nation to uphold it, Blake
-was not to imperil his fleet over it in the expedition on which he was
-employed. If he was opposed in the question of the flag by a force so
-considerable as to prove dangerous, he was not to press it, but to note
-who they were that refused, so that they might be forced to strike at
-some better opportunity.[689]
-
-Such were the instructions of the Government to the English naval
-commanders, and they were soon to bear bitter fruit. At this period
-the Dutch men-of-war apparently did not show unwillingness to salute
-the English flag, even sometimes in distant seas. Penn notes in his
-journal, on 13th September 1651, that on meeting with the Dutch Admiral
-with his vice- and rear-admirals between Cape Trafalgar and Cape Sprat,
-they struck their flags to him and saluted; but they then hoisted
-them, which would have been contrary to the custom in the narrow sea,
-and Penn thereupon called his captains together for advice, but they
-said the Dutch “had done enough.” A little later he records that young
-Tromp, convoying thirteen merchantmen, came into Gibraltar Road, where
-Penn was lying, with his flag in the main-top. The English Admiral,
-however, did nothing, since Tromp was in a port of the King of Spain.
-Shortly afterwards in the same place eight sail of Hollanders, four of
-which were men-of-war, all struck their flags and saluted the English
-fleet.[690]
-
-The claims of England to the sovereignty of the seas were now about
-to enter on a new phase, which culminated in the first Dutch war. So
-long as the ambitious and energetic Prince William II. of Orange was
-alive, the relations between the United Provinces and the Parliament
-were strained and menacing. The States-General, under Orange influence,
-refused to enter into diplomatic communication with the English
-Government, or to admit their ambassador, Strickland, to audience. The
-execution of Charles I. had raised strong feelings of reprobation and
-horror in the Netherlands, even amongst the Hollanders and Zealanders,
-who sympathised with the Puritans; and it was believed in England
-that the Prince of Orange was contemplating war against them for the
-restoration of his brother-in-law, Charles II., to the throne. The
-death of the Prince, on 27th October 1650, produced a great change. It
-was followed by a political revolution in the United Provinces, the
-chief outcome of which was the predominance of the States of Holland
-and of the party opposed to the Orange faction, and most favourably
-inclined to maintain good relations with the English Commonwealth.[691]
-It was therefore agreed at The Hague to send back Joachimi, who had
-been dismissed by the Parliament in the previous year, with credentials
-as ambassador from the States-General to the Parliament.
-
-In London the accession to power of the republican party in the
-Netherlands had been watched with keen interest. The time, it was
-believed, was come for a close alliance between the two great
-Protestant Republics for safeguarding their religious and political
-liberties; perhaps, it was thought by some, for even a closer union
-than was implied in the strictest alliance known to diplomacy. The
-Parliament accordingly lost no time in opening negotiations with the
-States-General. On 17th March, 1651, Lord Chief-Justice St John and
-Walter Strickland entered The Hague with great pomp and splendour as
-ambassadors from the Commonwealth, attended by an imposing retinue
-of 246 persons. They were greeted in the street with insulting cries
-from Orange partisans and royalist refugees. On the following days
-their suite only ventured abroad in parties, and with their rapiers in
-their hands. The ambassadors themselves were openly jeered at, and
-threatened by Prince Edward, son of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia; and
-though the States-General received them with ostentatious courtesy, and
-prompt measures were taken to suppress the disorders and insults, the
-conditions of their surroundings produced irritation and impatience in
-their minds, with important results in the sequel.[692] The principal
-object of the Parliament was to make use of the Dutch Republic to help
-them to maintain the Commonwealth, and to resist any attempt to place
-Charles II. on the throne. In return they were willing to aid the
-Republic against the House of Orange or any other inclined to disturb
-it.
-
-St John had with him two series of propositions,--one relating to
-a strict alliance and union; the other, private and never fully
-disclosed, included a novel scheme for the coalescence and fusion of
-the two states and peoples, on the lines propounded by the Council
-of State in the following year. He brought out his propositions one
-by one, requiring categorical acceptance of each before dealing with
-the next, the design being to lead step by step to the proposals for
-coalescence and fusion. His first proposition was in substance for
-“a more strict and intimate alliance and union” than any before, by
-which there might be “a more intrinsical and mutual interest of each
-in other” for the good of both.[693] After some fencing and much
-hesitation and delay--the Dutch proferring a qualified acceptance,
-which the ambassadors rejected--a guarded assent was given. St John,
-though not satisfied, thinking the “manner of penning the answer was
-dark and doubtful,” “determined to proceed into some further thing
-which might come nearer to make a discovery of their temper and
-inclination in point of their neutrality, than stay any longer upon
-general terms,” and he accordingly at the same meeting submitted
-another proposition requiring the confederation of the two states
-for the defence and preservation of the freedom and liberty of the
-people of each against all that might attempt to disturb them, or that
-were declared to be enemies to the freedom and liberty of the people
-living under either Government.[694] The Dutch commissioners, however,
-declared that this was a general proposition, and they insisted on
-a request they had made from the first, to be furnished with the
-“particulars”--they wanted the particulars, _simul et semel_, that were
-intended to be insisted upon.
-
-The negotiations had been protracted. By this time a month had elapsed
-since the ambassadors arrived, and St John, now conscious that his
-mission for coalescence would fail, and irritated by the indignities
-to which he had been subjected, obtained an order from the Parliament
-for his recall. At the urgent entreaty of the States of Holland
-the Parliament allowed their ambassadors to stay for other forty
-days, and also gave them authority to treat on the basis of the old
-Intercursus Magnus of 1496, which the Dutch had suddenly proposed. The
-States, in truth, had totally different aims from the Commonwealth.
-They were thinking about their commerce, their navigation, and their
-fisheries, rather than about the repression of “rebels”; and they
-desired that their alliance with England should confirm and extend the
-benefits conferred upon them in these respects by the old treaty. The
-Intercursus Magnus had for generations been the sheet-anchor of Dutch
-policy towards England. It gave them the utmost freedom of commercial
-intercourse, and complete liberty of fishing on the English coasts.
-But it contained other clauses appropriate in spirit to the political
-conditions of 1651. The treaty had been concluded by Henry VII. in
-the year in which apprehensions were entertained that Perkin Warbeck
-would effect a landing in England; it provided for mutual military aid
-against the enemies of either country, and the expulsion of rebels
-and fugitives from the territories of the other. St John naturally
-took the clauses embodying these stipulations as the basis of his
-new draft articles, which he submitted to the Dutch commissioners
-on 10th May. They were seven in number. The first required that the
-proposition made on 17th April for mutual defence of the freedom and
-liberty of each people should be an article of the treaty. The second
-provided that neither party should afford any aid or favour to any
-one whomsoever to the injury or prejudice of the other, but should
-expressly oppose “and really hinder all whomsoever,” abiding in either
-commonwealth or under its power, that should do or attempt anything
-against the other; and the remaining articles were of similar tenour,
-relating to “rebels” and enemies. They were, in short, political
-articles of the most comprehensive scope, aimed against the royalists;
-so comprehensive and thorough that the English Commonwealth might, by
-declaring the Prince of Orange himself its enemy, demand his expulsion
-from the Provinces.[695] St John’s articles were by no means to the
-liking of the Dutch; and though he pointed out that they were “but a
-translation of the old treaty, only enlarged for the better assurance
-of performance,”--the treaty which they themselves had proposed as
-the basis for the new one,--they insisted on sending the articles to
-the various Provinces for their opinion. For a full month the English
-ambassadors waited without an answer to their articles--a delay which
-they believed was meant “to spin out the treaty until the Scotch mist
-was over” and the result of the struggle in Scotland apparent. But the
-Dutch, though slow, had not been idle. On 14th June, when only four of
-the forty days allotted by the Parliament remained, the Dutch produced
-counter-proposals in the form of draft articles, thirty-six in number,
-which were paraphrased from the Intercursus Magnus, the treaty with
-King James VI. of Scotland in 1594, the treaty of Southampton with
-Charles in 1625, and the marine treaty with Spain in 1650.
-
-These articles had been submitted by Holland to the convocation of the
-States-General on 15th May, and were under the consideration of the
-provincial states for nearly a month. They provided for a “perpetual
-friendship, unity, correspondence, and a further and nearer alliance,
-confederation, and union” against all who should attempt anything
-derogatory to the liberties of the two peoples, their commerce, and
-common interests; mutual defence and mutual assistance with men and
-ships against “notorious or known” enemies of the other, and the
-prohibition of assisting rebels. But there was no article under which
-the royalists could be expelled from the United Provinces, or which
-prevented the House of Orange from aiding or harbouring declared
-rebels of England; and it was expressly stipulated that the States
-should in no way be drawn into the disputes and war between Scotland
-and the Parliament. Having thus whittled down the proposals of the
-Parliament for a close alliance directed against the royalists, the
-Dutch propounded a whole series of articles providing for the freest
-commercial intercourse between the two countries, for freedom of
-navigation and of fishing. The trade to Virginia and the Caribbean
-Islands, which had been closed by the Parliament, was to be thrown
-open to both nations; ships were to be free to anchor without seizure
-of goods; the subjects of one state were not to be taxed higher in
-the territories of the other than the natives, and they were to be
-free to carry on their business or profession with the same liberty.
-A number of articles dealt with questions relative to the sovereignty
-of the seas, in such a way as to show clearly that the design of the
-Dutch was to render harmless a pretension which had caused them so much
-trouble. They had not forgotten the declarations of Charles sixteen
-years before, or the forceful operations of Northumberland against
-their herring-busses. With regard to fishing, they wished the subjects
-of either state to be at liberty to go to any part of the sea to fish
-for herrings and all other kinds of fish, great or small, without any
-license or pass being required. If the fishermen were forced by storms,
-pirates, enemies, or any other cause, to go to land, they desired that
-they should be courteously received and well treated in the ports of
-either country, and permitted to depart with their ships and cargoes,
-and if they had not broken their cargoes, without paying any customs
-or dues.[696] These stipulations paraphrased corresponding provisions
-in the Intercursus Magnus, and rather more favourably to the Dutch. If
-they had been accepted, they would have destroyed the English policy
-which had been pursued, though fitfully, from 1609 to the outbreak of
-the Civil War, of requiring foreigners to pay tribute and take out
-licenses for fishing on the British coasts.
-
-Some of the other articles proposed by the Dutch were directed against
-the claims put forward in Selden’s _Mare Clausum_, and by Charles
-himself, to a special dominion and jurisdiction of England in the
-surrounding seas. If the freedom of commerce and navigation was to
-be assured, it would be necessary, it was said, for both countries
-to equip fleets to secure the safety and liberty of the subjects of
-both, to purge the sea of pirates and sea-rovers, and to preserve
-the security of commerce and of fishing. The proposition was that
-each state should set forth a fleet yearly, its strength to be fixed
-by mutual agreement, and the ocean as well as the North Sea and the
-Mediterranean, with their straits and channels, were to be patrolled
-by the two fleets, each under its own admiral and flag. This was in
-effect asking the Commonwealth not only for equality of sovereignty on
-the sea, but for the assistance of England in protecting the immense
-commerce and shipping of the United Provinces. They desired that each
-nation should shield and defend the merchant vessels of the other, and
-help to recover them if taken by an enemy.
-
-Among other proposals were that men-of-war, but only in small
-numbers, should be allowed freely into the ports and havens of the
-other, and were not to be subjected to visitation and search, the
-showing of the commission to be sufficient; and that no sea-rovers
-were to be tolerated in harbours, and no ships with letters of
-marque allowed to leave without first providing security that they
-would not exceed their commissions. One of the provisions went much
-further, and seems to smack of Dutch humour, when we think of the
-action of James and Charles. For the sake of liberty, both peoples
-were to use their fleets, not only against pirates, but against all
-and sundry, whomsoever they might be, who should attempt to molest,
-hinder, or--“against the right of all peoples”--impose exactions on
-their commerce, navigation, or their fishery. In such an event, if
-amicable remonstrances failed, the whole sea forces of each nation were
-to attack the depredators and wage war against them until complete
-satisfaction had been obtained.[697]
-
-So resolved were the Dutch to have a general clearing-up with England
-on all points concerning the sovereignty of the sea, that they at
-first proposed to insert among their draft articles one relating to
-the striking of the flag and similar ceremonies, which frequently gave
-rise to differences. The States-General, however, considered the matter
-“too delicate” to be raised at that time, and the article was not
-inserted.[698] Two or three months before this, as elsewhere mentioned
-(p. 398), the question of striking the flag to the English had been
-raised and debated in the States-General in connection with Tromp’s
-expedition to the Scilly Islands.
-
-With the foregoing proposals before him, it is not to be wondered at
-that St John was dissatisfied, and longed more than ever to get away
-from The Hague. The Commonwealth had asked for a strict and close
-alliance at the very least, for the security of religious and political
-liberty and the common interests of both Republics, but in reality
-and above all for aid against the royalists. The Dutch also desired
-security for liberty, but it was chiefly for the liberty of commerce,
-navigation, and fishing; and they were anxious, if they could, to get
-rid of the troublesome English pretension to a sovereignty of the sea.
-The proposals of the two sides were incompatible, and St John left
-The Hague a few days later with the unuttered plan for the fusion
-of the nations in his pocket and with bitterness in his heart. His
-disappointment was to cost the Dutch dear. Within a few months of his
-return the Navigation Act was passed, mainly by his impulse, and it
-dealt a serious blow to the commerce of the United Provinces.[699] It
-was the retort of the English Commonwealth to the rebuff of the States.
-If the Dutch put their commerce and fisheries above everything else,
-the Parliament would show them how they could injure them and at the
-same time foster English shipping and fisheries.
-
-But much more than the Navigation Act, some other proceedings of the
-Parliament increased the tension between the two countries. In November
-they renewed certain letters of reprisal against the Dutch, under
-which a few of their vessels were captured. More serious were the
-actions of English men-of-war and of some privateers who held letters
-of reprisal against the French. An informal maritime war with France
-began in 1649 and continued till 1655, and though there was nominally
-peace, the English captured French vessels, and _vice versâ_. They then
-began to seize Dutch ships, suspected of having French goods on board,
-and brought them into English ports for trial in the Admiralty Court.
-This was an interference with freedom of commerce which the States
-could not tolerate, and an embassy to England, which had been decided
-upon after St John left The Hague, was despatched thither.[700] The
-three ambassadors, Cats, Schaep, and van de Perre, arrived in London
-on 15th December 1651. They were instructed to renew negotiations
-for a treaty on the basis of the thirty-six articles, to endeavour to
-get the Navigation Act repealed, the captured vessels released, and
-the letters of reprisal withdrawn, with compensation for the losses
-suffered by reason of them. The question of adding another article to
-their instructions, about the striking of the flag, which had been
-omitted from the thirty-six articles, had again been considered. But,
-for the same reason as before, it was withheld. “The carrying or
-striking of the flags by the one side or the other” was judged to be
-“very delicate”; and it was decided (on 10th November 1651) that the
-States-General should deliberate further on the matter, and send later
-to the ambassadors such instructions “as should be found suitable for
-the removal of misunderstandings and hostilities.”[701] We thus see
-that in 1651 the Government of the United Provinces was fully alive to
-the risks and difficulties about the flag. But from their proceedings
-at this time it would seem that they were unwilling to acknowledge
-unreservedly the claim of the Commonwealth to the salute, which was
-looked upon as a symbol of England’s sovereignty of the sea. The
-question was only rendered “delicate” because of certain qualifications
-and conditions of reciprocity which they desired to attach to it, and
-for which they struggled hard with Cromwell during the subsequent
-negotiations for peace.
-
-The ambassadors had an audience with the Parliament on 19th
-December,--Cats treating the members to a long and flowery oration
-in Latin,--and with the Council of State on 1st January 1652; but it
-was not until the 16th that commissioners were appointed to deal with
-them. The English commissioners[702] showed no anxiety to facilitate
-the negotiations. The spirit with which they were animated was evident
-from their eagerness to bring forward all imaginable reasons for
-dispute,--the interest taken by the Dutch in the fate of Charles I.;
-the partiality of some of their ambassadors at foreign Courts; their
-refusal to receive Strickland; and so forth. In the end, the Dutch
-ambassadors failed to get what they wanted. The English refused to
-cancel or modify the Navigation Act, to release the captured ships
-before the cases had been tried in the Admiralty Court, or to make
-reparation. They suspended the letters of direct reprisal against the
-Dutch, but not those against the French, which were by far the more
-important.
-
-It was felt in Holland that such interference with their trade could
-not be endured. There were loud complaints about the seizure of the
-ships, and the opinion was growing in the Netherlands that it was
-the intention of the Commonwealth to force a war upon them. As a
-precautionary measure the States-General decided on 22nd February to
-add 150 ships to the existing fleet, “for the security of the sea and
-the preservation of the shipping and commerce of the United Provinces”;
-and the ambassadors were requested to inform the English Council of
-their intention, which was done on 5th March, with the explanation that
-it was not with the object of doing the slightest harm to any nation,
-and least of all to England, that the increase in the fleet was to be
-made, but only to preserve their freedom of navigation.[703] As this
-extraordinary addition to the navy of the Dutch Republic would raise
-it to the formidable number of 226 ships, it is not surprising that
-the proceeding was viewed in England as a preparation for war. The
-Council, on their part, put forward a series of more or less provoking
-claims. They demanded reparation for wrongs and losses suffered by the
-English at the hands of the Dutch at “Greenland” in 1618, in the East
-Indies since 1619, and at Brazil; and they complained of various other
-wrongs and affronts they had suffered. But pending an answer from the
-States-General to their complaints and requests, they agreed, on 3rd
-May, to discuss with the ambassadors the thirty-six articles.
-
-These articles had been previously considered by the Council of State,
-which had prepared a commentary on them; and now both documents were
-taken up together. On the proposals concerning the sovereignty of the
-sea many differences arose. With regard to the right of the English
-to visit and search vessels, men-of-war as well as merchantmen, the
-ambassadors referred to the edicts of the States forbidding warships to
-take merchandise on board, and to the certificates of their Admiralty
-to the same effect; but it was argued on the other side that these
-measures had not stopped the abuse, and that the visitation was
-not prejudicial; and no agreement on this clause was reached. The
-commentary of the Council on the fishery article (see p. 388) was
-that, saving and asserting the right of the Commonwealth, they would
-be willing to proceed to such an agreement as should be found fit
-and reasonable; while the Dutch took their stand on the provision in
-the Intercursus Magnus, and urged that it would be unjust to deviate
-from an agreement which had endured for a century and a half. It was
-admitted by the English commissioners that the treaty gave liberty of
-fishing, but they asserted that long before the time of Henry VII.
-the right to the fisheries and to the sovereignty of the sea belonged
-to England. It had, moreover, been impeached by succeeding kings and
-especially by James, to whom, as King of Scotland, the right to the
-fishery pertained; while after the union of the crowns he pursued the
-same policy as King of England, and now that Scotland had been brought
-under the dominion of the English Republic, it was thought that the
-best course was to make a new treaty about the fisheries.[704] The
-ambassadors could obtain no definite information as to the nature
-of the treaty proposed, but it would not be difficult for them to
-comprehend its general tenour, for they had to listen to the recital
-of the “evidences” that England had constantly made use of her rights
-in the fishery, and of the care she had always exercised as to the
-sovereignty of the sea. The Dutch endeavoured to avoid mixing up these
-two questions, pleading that the fishery concerned the lives of a
-multitude of poor fishermen; but the commissioners retorted that it was
-a very valuable industry, the right to which belonged to England, and
-this, they said, had been acknowledged by neighbouring nations paying
-taxes for liberty to fish in their seas, adding that all peoples had
-been accustomed to recognise in them the masters of the sea by striking
-the flag to them, and that the Dutch themselves had earlier instructed
-their naval officers to salute English ships “_cum debita reverentia_,”
-and it was also expressly ordered in the commissions issued by Prince
-William and Maurice. From the language of the English commissioners,
-it appears probable that they were acquainted with the proceedings of
-the States-General as to the proposed article on the striking of the
-flag, and with the debates in the previous year concerning Tromp’s
-instructions (see p. 398). The negotiations on the fishery question
-were not carried further at this stage.
-
-With regard to the article relating to the equipment of a fleet by each
-nation for the protection of commerce, the commentary of the Council
-of State was that “the Commonwealth of England shall take such care
-for the guard of their seas and defence of the freedom of trade and
-commerce therein as shall be fit”; and with respect to the next, which
-stipulated that both countries should protect commerce and fisheries
-from molestation or impositions, the reply was equally uncompromising.
-“If any person,” it was said, “shall, within those seas, trouble,
-hinder, or unlawfully burthen any in the exercise of that freedom of
-trade which belongs of right unto them, this Commonwealth will use all
-means just and honourable to restore and preserve freedom to all lawful
-commerce in those seas as aforesaid.”[705] The meaning of this language
-was unmistakable. The Commonwealth intended to adhere to the old claim
-to the dominion of the seas, which had been revived by Charles. And
-this exclusive sovereign jurisdiction, it was explained, would be of
-advantage to the Dutch, since they would bear no part of the cost; they
-must be content with freedom of navigation and commerce, and leave
-to the English the duty of maintaining the security of “their seas.”
-On inquiring what means the Commonwealth proposed to take for this
-purpose, the ambassadors were told that the intention of the Council
-was “to defend the sea in their own right,” and that any further
-explanation would be given by the Council if they applied to it.
-
-At this stage of the proceedings William Nieuport, a member of the
-States-General, came to London with fresh instructions for the
-ambassadors. That body had been considering the English demands for
-reparation, above alluded to, and also the commentary of the Council
-on the thirty-six articles; but the refusal to liberate the captured
-ships, or to stop the operations of privateers against Dutch vessels,
-made them obdurate. The ambassadors were now told to insist on the
-articles relating to visitation and search as an essential part of
-the treaty. No Dutch vessel was to be visited, whether it was on the
-sea, in harbour, or in a roadstead. The principle of “free ship, free
-goods,” was to be strictly enforced, and no investigation of the cargo
-of a merchant vessel was to be permitted; still less should they agree
-to the visitation of a man-of-war. The ambassadors were specially
-requested to avoid discussion as to any claim on the part of England
-to exclusive right in any portion of the sea; in any case, they were
-not to admit that such right existed, but were to treat only about the
-liberty and security of the fishery on both sides.[706] If the English
-protested that they would not allow themselves to be prejudiced in any
-of their “pretended rights,” the ambassadors were then to make a formal
-declaration that they, on their part, could not allow the freedom of
-navigation and of fishery, or the free use of the sea, to be called
-in question, nor could they recognise the special claims of any one
-over the sea which might prejudice those rights. In order to avoid, if
-possible, directly raising the question of the dominion of the sea,
-they were requested when dealing with the crucial articles to speak
-only of commerce and fishery, and not of the “purging” of the sea of
-pirates; and they were also to abandon the proposal for a division of
-the sea into districts.[707]
-
-So passed, peacefully enough, the early weeks of May at the conferences
-in London. The States’ ambassadors, on the one hand, demanding freedom
-of navigation and fishery; above all, that the visitation and seizure
-of their vessels should cease. The English commissioners, on their
-part, putting forward incompatible claims to the sovereignty of the
-British seas: the right of exclusive jurisdiction, of guardianship,
-the right to the fishery. Whether the negotiations would have reached
-a happy conclusion, as the ambassadors, and apparently also the
-States-General, believed they would, may only be conjectured. For an
-event of momentous importance now occurred which swept their labours
-away and embroiled the two nations in war. On the 19th May, at the very
-moment when the Dutch ambassadors were conveying their new instructions
-to the English commissioners, Tromp and Blake were engaged in furious
-battle in the Straits of Dover about that very matter which the
-States-General had found to be “so delicate”--the striking of the flag.
-The long-impending struggle engendered by years of mutual jealousy and
-commercial rivalry had now come suddenly. The claim of England to the
-sovereignty of the sea was to be decided, in the words of Sir Philip
-Meadows, by a longer weapon than a pen.
-
-Tromp had put to sea early in May, 1652, with a fleet of forty-two
-sail, and bearing instructions to prevent the searching of Dutch
-merchantmen, to protect them against any who interfered with them, and
-to free them, by force if necessary, if they were captured. He was
-further told to refrain as far as possible from going on the English
-coast.[708] On one important point his instructions were defective.
-He received no definite orders as to how he should act if the fleet
-of the Commonwealth called upon him to strike his flag. The subject
-of the salute had been much discussed in the Netherlands, and an
-opinion was widely held that while their ships would suffer no loss
-of dignity in striking to a fleet belonging to a crowned head, it was
-doubtful whether the same homage should be rendered to the ships of a
-republic like themselves. The question had been definitely raised and
-fully discussed early in the previous year in connection with Tromp’s
-expedition to the Scilly Isles, in view of the likelihood of his
-falling in with the English fleet,--its consideration, indeed, delayed
-his departure,--but the Government hesitated in coming to a decision,
-and a general wish was expressed to hear Tromp’s own opinion first. He
-accordingly prepared a memorandum describing what the States’ ships
-had done in the past. He said that whenever their men-of-war met at
-sea a ship of the King of England carrying the flag of an admiral,
-vice-admiral, or rear-admiral, they struck their admiral’s flag,
-lowered top-sails, and fired nine, seven, or five guns, the English
-answering with a like number, and the States’ flag remained struck
-until the ships separated, when three or one adieu-shots were fired,
-and the flag was then hoisted. On meeting a single king’s ship, he
-said, they did not strike their flag, but only exchanged guns; but
-it sometimes happened that an English ship of little power tried to
-compel them to strike, out of pride (“uyt hooghmoet”), but when they
-fired back and showed their teeth, and the English ship found it had
-not power to force them, it went on its way with derision; in such
-cases striking was a matter of discretion. When they entered a harbour
-or came before a castle they fired a salute, which was returned; the
-flag was taken in and a pennant run up in its place, and kept flying so
-long as they were there, particularly if a king’s ship, carrying the
-king’s flag, was present. If no king’s ship was present, the governor
-sometimes gave his permission, out of courtesy, for the admiral to wear
-his flag until his departure, when it was again struck and a salute
-exchanged.[709]
-
-The substance of Tromp’s report was communicated to the States of
-Holland by De Witt on 1st/11th March 1651, stress apparently being laid
-on the point that it had been the custom in earlier times for the
-States’ ships, “particularly when they were weakest,”[710] to salute
-with guns and strike their flag on meeting the English fleet.[711] The
-Government, however, thought that the conditions had changed; but they
-failed to give the admiral definite directions one way or the other
-as to how he should act if he met the fleet of the Parliament. He was
-merely told in general terms that he must so manage matters, if he met
-with the English fleet, that the state should suffer no affront (“geen
-cleynicheyt”),--a decision which left everything to his own discretion.
-There was the more risk in this course as the English at this time were
-said to be jealous of Tromp, owing to his reluctance to strike his flag
-to them.[712]
-
-Later in the same year, the question was again raised by Vice-Admiral
-Jan Evertsen, who was placed in command of a squadron to cruise
-between Cape Ortegal, the Scillies, and Ushant. Before his departure
-he endeavoured to obtain precise orders as to how he should comport
-himself if called upon to strike, so that no “inconvenience” might
-be caused. The States thereupon merely renewed the instructions they
-had given to Tromp in March, and they ordered that copies of Tromp’s
-memorandum should be distributed to the other commanders.[713]
-
-No further directions on the matter were given to Tromp when he took
-command of the fleet in 1652, though it ought to have been evident
-to the States that in the delicate position of affairs with England,
-and from the nature of the duties they had laid upon their admiral,
-the risk of misunderstanding and collision with the English fleet was
-great and imminent. They hesitated to give decided orders to strike,
-apparently lest such action might be construed into an acknowledgment
-of the inferiority of the Dutch Republic to the English Commonwealth,
-especially at a time when they believed themselves to be superior to it
-in naval power;[714] and though alive to the importance of the matter,
-they were very reluctant to have it discussed in the negotiations in
-London. But if the Dutch had no clear idea as to what they were to do
-about the flag on meeting the English fleet, the English commanders
-had no doubt about their own line of action. Their instructions were
-explicit. They were, by force if necessary, to compel the ships of all
-nations to this acknowledgment of England’s sovereignty of the sea.
-
-Tromp proceeded to his cruising station off the coast of Flanders,
-between Dunkirk and Nieuport, and while riding at anchor there a
-strong north-east gale set in, which damaged some of his vessels, and
-on the evening of the 18th May he crossed over to the English coast
-for shelter and repairs. At this time Bourne was lying in the Downs
-with eight Parliamentary ships, and Tromp sent two of his captains
-to him to explain the accidental cause of his coming, the ships
-conveying them saluting Bourne’s flag. One of the officers, according
-to Bourne’s account, said that Tromp himself would have gone into the
-Downs “but that he was not willing to breed any difference about his
-flag, forasmuch as he had not orders to take it down”; to which Bourne
-replied that he “presumed there would be no new thing required of them,
-and neither more nor less would be expected from them but what they
-knew to be the ancient right of this nation”; and he added that the
-reality of the explanation given for their presence “would best appear
-by their speedy drawing off from this place.”[715] According to Tromp’s
-account of the interview, Bourne merely thanked him courteously for the
-message.[716]
-
-At all events, the Dutch fleet passed along the English coast in all
-its bravery, the admiral’s ship with his flag on the main-top-mast
-head, the rest with “jacks and ancients” flying, and about seven in the
-evening they cast anchor off Dover, within little more than gunshot of
-the castle. Here they remained till the following afternoon with all
-their flags displayed, and without saluting. Three times a gun was
-fired from Dover Castle, according to the usual practice, warning the
-Dutch admiral to strike his flag; but Tromp--strictly within his right
-if beyond gunshot--took no heed. He had probably purposely selected
-an anchorage beyond the range of cannon in order to avoid striking to
-the English flag. Not only did he not strike, but he exercised his
-raw musketeers in discharging volleys of small-shot for many hours
-together, in a way that must have been provoking to the English. On
-the afternoon of the 19th, Blake, who had been lying at anchor in Rye
-Bay a little to the westward, and who had received intimation from
-Bourne of the presence of the Dutch fleet, came upon the scene with
-fifteen ships. As he approached Tromp weighed anchor and stood off
-to sea towards Calais,--a movement which Blake thought to be due to
-a desire to avoid “the dispute of the flag.”[717] So far Tromp had
-carried out his instructions. He had indeed, through stress of weather,
-gone upon the English coast, which he had been requested to avoid as
-far as possible. But he had preserved the States from suffering any
-“indignity” about the flag. Obviously there was great tension between
-the fleets as to the question of striking. Not unnaturally, Tromp’s
-proceedings were regarded by the English as an attempt to brave them
-upon their own coast; and the English admirals, who were vigilantly
-watching, would not be slow to challenge any infraction of the custom
-of the narrow seas. They too had to take care that their country
-suffered no dishonour, as they understood it.
-
-When Tromp was on his way to Calais, and about half seas over, a
-small Dutch vessel fired a gun and came up to him, and communicated
-the intelligence that a week earlier a Dutch convoy had been attacked
-by the English for not striking their flags; and, above all, that
-the seven homeward-bound merchant vessels which had been under their
-charge, with valuable cargoes on board, were at that moment lying at
-anchor off the English coast, and, it was believed, in danger from the
-English fleet.[718] The occurrence referred to took place on 12th May.
-Captain Young, in the _President_, while off the Start, accompanied
-by two other English men-of-war, fell in with seven Dutch merchantmen
-from Genoa and Leghorn, convoyed by three men-of-war, with their
-flags displayed. Young sent a boat to their admiral to request him to
-strike his flag “before any blood was shed in the controversy,” which
-he did. But the vice-admiral, contrary to the custom in the narrow
-sea, came to the windward of Young, and refused to strike, telling
-him to come on board and strike the flag himself. The _President_
-then poured a broadside into the Dutch ship, together with a volley
-of small-shot, and several broadsides were exchanged before the
-vice-admiral struck, and then the rear-admiral did the same. On Young
-demanding the vice-admiral or his ship to carry into port to make good
-the damage done, he was told by the admiral that he himself had not
-interfered so long as it was only a question of striking the flag, but
-if he attempted to seize the ship he would resist him; and the matter
-was carried no further. “I do believe,” said Young, “I gave him his
-bellyful of it, for he sent me word he had order from the State that if
-he struck he should lose his head.”[719] It is probable that the Dutch
-vessels encountered the north-east gale that forced Tromp from his
-anchorage; at all events, they were brought by their convoyers along
-the English coast to Fairlight,[720] between Hastings and Winchelsea,
-where they cast anchor; then the Dutch captain who had been attacked,
-Joris van der Saen, went in search of Tromp to tell him of their plight.
-
-On hearing his story, Tromp instantly turned about and made straight
-for the English coast, which he had left only a few hours before.
-In this case, at all events, his instructions were explicit. He had
-been ordered to prevent Dutch vessels from being visited or searched,
-and to recover them if captured. Blake, on seeing the Dutch fleet
-returning, stood off to meet it. He did not know the real reason that
-had made Tromp alter his course: he had passed the merchant-ships a few
-days after their meeting with Young, and had done nothing to them. He
-believed that Tromp was seeking an occasion of quarrel, and watching
-for an advantage to brave them on their own coast. The Dutch admiral
-came on with his flag at the main-top, and when he was well within
-range, Blake fired a gun across his bows to make him strike, and after
-an interval a second, and yet again a third at his flag; the ball going
-through the main-sail and killing a man on deck. Tromp then, still
-with the States’ colours aloft, fired a single gun at Blake’s flag,
-ran up a red flag,--the prearranged signal for battle,--and poured a
-broadside into Blake’s ship, and the two fleets entered into a fierce
-encounter.[721] The fight lasted from four or five o’clock until nine,
-Blake being assisted by Bourne, who came from the Downs with his small
-squadron and assailed Tromp in the rear. The Dutch fleet, with the loss
-of two ships, gradually drew off towards the French coast, and Blake
-kept his position all night and anchored some leagues off Dungeness.
-
-This was the first great fight over the striking of the flag, and it
-occasioned immediate war between the two countries. Encounters on a
-small scale had been not infrequent before, but no foreign fleet had
-hitherto ventured to challenge an English fleet in this way off the
-English coast. Tromp himself, thirteen years before, when he possessed
-an overwhelming force, readily struck his flag to Pennington’s small
-squadron in the Downs. After the battle attempts were made to justify
-Tromp’s action, but not at all on the ground that the demand for him
-to strike his flag to the English admiral was unjust or contrary to
-custom. Blake was accused of having precipitated the battle. Tromp, it
-was said, had men aloft ready to strike the top-sails, or had already
-done so; he had sent a man up to strike his flag; he was preparing to
-send his boat to Blake after the second gun was fired to ask him the
-reason of his firing, and so forth. But the Dutch admiral well knew the
-custom of the narrow sea, and had no need to ask Blake the reason of
-his firing across his bows.[722] When the nature of his instructions
-with reference to saluting is considered, along with his memorandum
-and the discussions connected with it, his action before Dover Castle
-on the day before, and the variation in his own subsequent accounts of
-his intentions and proceedings, the inference is strong that he had
-resolved not to strike to the weaker fleet of the Commonwealth.
-
-In London the news of the battle aroused intense indignation. It was
-everywhere believed that Tromp had deliberately attacked the English
-fleet,--an opinion confirmed by the commissioners, of whom Cromwell was
-one, sent to Dover to inquire into the facts. The meeting of Joris van
-der Saen with Tromp, which had been seen from the English fleet, was
-viewed in a sinister light. The little Dutch ship was thought to have
-carried instructions from the States for Tromp to make the attack. The
-Parliament thought so also: “They found too much cause,” they said,
-“to believe that the Lords the States-General of the United Provinces
-have an intention by force to usurp the known rights of England in
-the seas, to destroy the fleets that are, under God, their walls and
-bulwarks, and thereby expose this Commonwealth to invasion at their
-pleasure.”[723] It was in vain that the States disowned responsibility
-for Tromp’s action and sent over a copy of their instructions to
-him, showing that he had been commanded to avoid the English coast.
-The ambassadors appealed to the Council to hold their hand until the
-States-General had made an inquiry. Tromp was cautioned to use the
-greatest circumspection, so that while preserving the reputation
-of his country, nothing further should be done to widen the breach
-with England. And now, when too late, the Dutch Government came to a
-definite decision as to the striking of the flag. Tromp was expressly
-ordered to strike his flag on meeting the English fleet, according to
-the manner that had been customary when England was under its kings;
-and not to attack them, but only to defend himself if assailed.[724]
-
-The States also sent over a special ambassador, Adrian Pauw, the Grand
-Pensionary of Holland, and the most venerable and influential personage
-in the Republic, to assure the Parliament of their pacific intentions,
-and to strive to maintain peace. He urged that the encounter of the
-fleets should be looked upon as an “accident,” and that a joint inquiry
-should be made and the admiral found to have been in fault duly
-punished. He proposed, further, that regulations should be drawn up for
-the fleets, so that in future such disputes might be avoided,--not,
-he said, that it was the wish of the States to dispute the honour and
-the dignity of the English Republic, which they esteemed the first
-and greatest in Europe.[725] But the Parliament insisted that the
-States should first pay them the costs and compensate them for the
-injuries they had sustained by the Dutch naval preparations and Tromp’s
-attack, and give security for an alliance between the two countries.
-Meanwhile, the Parliament had been seizing Dutch vessels and preparing
-for war, while in the United Provinces feeling was rising steadily and
-angrily against England. The ambassadors were recalled and the naval
-preparations on both sides pushed on with energy.
-
-It was well understood that the most vulnerable part of the States lay
-in their shipping and fishery. A day or two after the news of Blake’s
-encounter with Tromp reached London, the Council issued instructions
-to Major-General Dean, who commanded the troops in Scotland, that in
-view of the fishery carried on every year by the Dutch about Orkney and
-Shetland, the forces there should be increased.[726] A month later,
-on 26th June, before the ambassadors had left London, Blake himself
-sailed northwards with a fleet of about sixty ships, with a double
-object of putting a stop to the Dutch herring fishery and intercepting
-their homeward-bound East-Indiamen, which were expected to return to
-Holland by way of the Shetlands.[727] On 12th July he sent forward in
-advance eight frigates to discover the Dutch convoying men-of-war,
-which they soon fell in with, guarding the herring-busses, to the
-north of Buchan Ness. They were twelve in number, and after a stubborn
-fight of over three hours’ duration, towards the end of which the
-English frigates were reinforced by other five, they were all taken,
-before the main fleet came up. The English wounded were sent in three
-of the captured ships to Inverness; other three ships were so much
-shattered that they were sunk. While the fight went on, most of the
-herring-busses escaped and made their way homewards with all speed,
-but about thirty were taken by the English. Blake dealt with them very
-leniently. He took from them “a taste and toll” of herrings, and then
-sent them home with this “lesson,” that they “fish no more in those
-seas without leave from the Republick of England.”[728] For this humane
-action Blake was subsequently blamed, on the ground that the busses
-might have been made use of in establishing a native fishery, while the
-detention of their crews would have helped to cripple the resources of
-the Dutch in manning their fleets.[729] The same generous spirit was
-shown towards the French boats that fished in the Channel, which were
-excepted from the general seizure of French shipping, unless they acted
-improperly.[730] In the course of the war, however, it became the rule
-for both the Dutch and the English vessels to bring into port all the
-fishing-boats captured from the enemy.
-
-After Blake dispersed the Dutch busses, the States of Holland at
-first thought of calling home the rest of the herring fleet (only
-about 600 or 700 had returned), and for that year to put a stop to
-the fishing, which had just begun; but it was finally decided to
-continue it with twenty-four armed busses and six men-of-war as a
-guard,--a conclusion, no doubt, helped by the gentle way in which the
-English admiral had dealt with the busses that fell into his hands.
-When English herring-boats were seized and taken to the Netherlands,
-Holland, which had the greatest stake in the fishery, tried to induce
-the States-General to release them, and to issue orders that British
-fishermen were not to be molested, in the hope that such forbearance
-would be imitated in England. But the policy failed, and orders were
-given to do the English fishermen all harm possible. In the following
-year the States-General forbade the whaling-ships sailing for
-Greenland, but they did not prohibit the herring fishery, though the
-greater number of the busses were kept at home by the prudence of their
-owners. Many were captured by English cruisers. More than fifty were
-taken by the English fleet on the Dutch coast in May 1653, most of them
-being brought into Aberdeen and there sold. Some of those seized in
-the course of the war were handed over by the Council of State to the
-London Corporation for the Poor, to be used in fishing on the English
-coast. On the other hand, the English fishermen suffered greatly. The
-Iceland and North Sea fishing came almost to a stop, and men-of-war had
-to guard the herring and mackerel boats. In September 1653 the Council
-sent a force of men and three “fit and nimble” ships to the Shetlands
-to ply about the islands, to intercept the enemy’s trade of fishing,
-with what results do not appear.[731]
-
-But the operations against the enemy’s fisheries played only a
-small part in the war. The struggle for the command of the sea was
-concentrated in many fierce battles between the contending fleets in
-1652 and 1653. The exploits of Blake, Dean, Monk, and Penn on the one
-side, and of Tromp, De Ruyter, Evertsen, and De With on the other,
-are famous in the naval history of the two countries; and although
-victory finally rested with England, there were times when the actual
-control of the British seas was in the hands of the Dutch. It was on
-one of those occasions that the Dutch admiral was said to have hoisted
-a broom at his mainmast-top as a sign that he would sweep the seas of
-all Englishmen. Tromp unexpectedly appeared in force in the Channel
-in the winter of 1652, and on 30th November he defeated Blake off
-Dungeness. From that date till the end of February in the following
-year no English fleet was able to oppose him. The Dutch were “lords
-and masters” of the sea, and English commerce suffered severely. But
-the popular story about the broom seems to have uncertain foundation.
-It was first set afloat in two English newspapers, published on 9th
-March 1653, after the decisive “three days’ battle.” In one it was said
-that Tromp had set forth “a flag (or standard) of Broom; and being
-demanded what he meant by it, reply’d, That he was once more going to
-sweep the Narrow Seas of all Englishmen.” The other paper gave a letter
-from the _Nonsuch_ frigate at Portsmouth, stating that the Hollanders
-had probably gone home after the battle, and that “their gallant Mr
-Trump when he was in France (we understand) wore a flagg of Broom,
-and being demanded what he meant by it, replied that he was going to
-sweep the narrow seas of all English men.” The story is not mentioned
-by Dutch authorities, and is now generally discredited, but in an
-earlier century the broom had been used in this way by a Dutch admiral
-to signalise a victory in the Baltic;[732] and it is said that after
-the two days’ battle in the following summer, when the Dutch had been
-driven from the sea, the English fleet rode triumphant off the Texel
-with a broom displayed at their mast-heads, perhaps in ironical parody
-of Tromp.
-
-While the fleets were contending for actual dominion over the sea, the
-Parliament took care to keep alive the historic claims to maritime
-sovereignty and to place them well before the people. As early as 25th
-June 1652--the day before Blake sailed away to the north in quest of
-the herring-busses--they passed a resolution: “That it be referred to
-the Council of State to prepare a declaration to assert the right of
-this Commonwealth to the Sovereignty of the Seas, and to the fishery;
-to be made use of when the Parliament shall see cause.”[733] No time
-was lost, for on the same day the Council remitted the instruction
-of the Parliament to the Committee for Law and Examinations, with
-the request that they should bring the declaration to the Council
-with all speed, and Bradshaw was desired to see that this was
-done.[734] Apparently, for the use of the Committee in drawing up this
-declaration, Mr William Ryley, the Keeper of the Records in the Tower,
-made transcripts of several of the records in his charge referring to
-the sovereignty of the sea, as the ordinance of King John, Edgar’s
-charter, the mandate of Edward I. to the Bailiffs of Yarmouth, the
-rolls of the same king concerning Grimbald, and of Edward III. on the
-laws of the sea, and some others.[735]
-
-It was soon apparent to the Council that the task of again attempting
-formally to vindicate the claims of England to the sovereignty of the
-seas, while Selden’s _Mare Clausum_ was at their disposal, would be
-like painting the lily. They therefore instructed the Committee for
-Foreign Affairs “to take order for printing the book called _Mare
-Clausum_ and Mr Dugard to print it.”[736] But simply to reprint
-Selden’s work, with its fulsome dedication to Charles II., and in the
-Latin tongue, would not have served the purpose in view, and it was
-then resolved to translate it. This task was assigned to Marchamont
-Needham, who had deserted the royalist cause and placed his pen at the
-service of the Commonwealth, writing the _Mercurius Politicus_, in
-which he had latterly the assistance of Milton.[737] The translation
-was rapidly made, and the work was published later in the year.[738]
-And just as the original had been dedicated to the king, so now the
-translation was dedicated to “the Supreme Authority of the Nation,
-the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England”; and so pleased were
-the Council of State with it that they, on 8th November, ordered
-two hundred copies for their own use, and paid Needham £200 for his
-labours, as the book, they said, “learnedly asserted the rights and
-interests of the Commonwealth in the adjacent seas, and would be of
-good use for these and future times.”[739]
-
-The “additional evidences” brought forward by Needham comprised the
-proclamation of James in 1609, and of Charles in 1636, forbidding
-unlicensed fishing; some of the letters that passed between the English
-Government and their ambassadors at The Hague; extracts from Sir John
-Boroughs’ _Sovereignty of the British Seas_, which was first published
-in the previous year; and a few other papers of little importance. The
-purpose of the book was better served by Needham’s bitter if rather
-frothy invective against the Dutch, and by his ranting appeals to
-English patriotism to conquer the foe and establish our interests on
-the sea beyond the possibility of future question.[740]
-
-Selden was still alive, and the translation was doubtless made with
-his concurrence, whatever he may have thought of it. He was himself
-soon drawn into the controversy which the book evoked. Graswinckel,
-the Dutch lawyer who had been chosen by the States-General in 1636 to
-reply to Selden’s _Mare Clausum_, and whose neglected treatise had
-ever since being lying in the secret archives at The Hague, again
-entered the lists. His shaft was ostensibly directed against a certain
-Italian writer, P. B. Burgus, who had published a work eleven years
-before in support of the right of Genoa to the dominion of the Ligurian
-Sea.[741] There was no apparent reason why the Dutch lawyer should
-be at the pains to attempt to refute a claim so remote and after so
-long an interval; but Burgus quoted largely from _Mare Clausum_, and
-Graswinckel seized upon the opportunity to attack Selden, and to
-gratify his feelings by making use of his early abortive treatise,
-under the guise of replying to the Italian author. And his attack
-on Selden was very bitter.[742] On the main question, the familiar
-arguments were adduced against the appropriation of seas, with the
-usual seasoning of Scriptural and classical quotations; the historical
-claims of England to the sovereignty of the sea were treated in a
-sarcastic and bantering spirit, and the authenticity of some of the
-records cited by Selden was questioned; while he said that in many
-respects the Hollanders were the real lords of the British seas. But
-he made a personal attack on Selden, accusing him of having written
-_Mare Clausum_ in order to get out of prison.[743] Selden made a strong
-reply, explaining the circumstances under which his treatise was
-written, and entering into a minute description of the documents which
-Graswinckel suggested he had invented; but on the controversy as to the
-dominion of the seas he contributed nothing new.[744]
-
-Stimulated by the war and the dispute which had precipitated it, a
-number of works were now published in Holland in defence of the freedom
-of the seas and the liberty of fishing, and opposing the claims of
-England to any special maritime jurisdiction. Among them was another
-dissertation by Graswinckel, published before he was aware of Selden’s
-reply to his attack, and apparently containing further extracts from
-his stillborn treatise. This time the earlier Scottish lawyer, Welwood,
-was assailed, and his book, _De Dominio Maris_, was republished
-in Holland in order to serve, apparently, as a theme and target.
-Graswinckel was especially severe against any claim to interfere with
-the herring fishery or to impose tribute on the fishermen.[745] The
-controversy continued to rage on both sides of the North Sea, but
-in England it fell for the most part into the incompetent hands of
-ignorant pamphleteers, who vilified the Dutch in pious but intemperate
-language without shedding much light upon the question.
-
-But if there was a dearth of competent pens in England able to carry
-on a juridical controversy about the sovereignty of the sea, it was
-not for lack of belief in the importance of the matter. At no previous
-time in English history had popular feeling been more aroused or was
-the general resolution stronger to maintain the rights of the country
-in the seas. The traditional sentiment of the nation, which Charles had
-in large measure alienated by his ship-money exactions and his bungling
-and fruitless attempts to maintain those rights, was revived in full
-force, and it was greatly strengthened by other considerations relating
-to commerce and trade. Though English commerce and shipping had greatly
-developed since the earlier part of the century, by far the larger part
-of oversea traffic was still in the hands of the Dutch. It was against
-this predominance that the Navigation Act was aimed. The pre-eminence
-of the Dutch excited the emulation of the nation to outvie and outdo
-them, and success in this policy was believed to be closely bound
-up with the assertion of the sovereignty of the sea. Before the war
-began, the authors of works on commerce and navigation had urged the
-Parliament to enforce these claims, even in the Mediterranean against
-France, and for the same reasons that were formerly used by Sir Walter
-Raleigh.[746] To the national sentiment and commercial ambitions was
-added the zeal of religious fanaticism. The godly Barebones Parliament
-of 1653, who looked askance at the Dutch as carnal and worldly
-politicians, held it necessary that the seas should be secured and
-preserved as peaceable as the land, in order to prepare for the coming
-of Christ and the personal reign.[747]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-THE PARLIAMENT, THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE PROTECTORATE--_continued_.
-
-THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.
-
-
-The importance of the questions connected with the claim to the
-sovereignty of the sea was revealed in the long negotiations with the
-Dutch which preceded the conclusion of peace. These were begun at a
-very early stage of the contest. From the first the war had been as
-distasteful to Cromwell as it was to John de Witt and the leading
-men in the States of Holland, and so soon as the beginning of August
-1652, within three months of Tromp’s encounter with Blake, clandestine
-negotiations were set on foot, with the approval of Cromwell, Vane,
-Whitelock, and other leaders in England, with the object of bringing
-about peace; and though nothing came of them at the time, they
-were resumed early in 1653. The Speaker informed the Parliament on
-22nd March that he had received a formal letter from the States of
-Holland desiring that the negotiations might be resumed, and on 1st
-April the Parliament replied favourably, offering to take up the
-negotiations at the point at which they had been broken off when the
-special ambassador, Pauw, quitted London in the previous year.[748]
-This implied payment to the Parliament of the expense incurred in
-consequence of the Dutch naval preparations and of Tromp’s fight with
-Blake, and “security” for a close alliance,--conditions unacceptable by
-the ruling oligarchy at The Hague.
-
-In order to find some more satisfactory basis for the negotiations, the
-States-General in June 1653, immediately after the two days’ battle,
-and when the English fleet was blockading the Dutch ports, sent four
-deputies to London. One of them, Hieronymus van Beverning, a trusty
-friend of De Witt’s and a representative of the States of Holland, came
-on in advance, reaching London on June 17; the others, Nieuport, van
-de Perre, and Jongestal, following a few days later.[749] The deputies
-arrived at a time when Cromwell, having dissolved the Long Parliament
-and the old Council of State, was dictator, and the new Council was
-composed of his own nominees; and Cromwell, as is well known, had
-been against the war and was favourable to peace.[750] Nevertheless,
-a stiff attitude was adopted towards the envoys. To their request
-that negotiations might be resumed on the basis of the thirty-six
-articles the Council turned a deaf ear, putting forward the demands for
-reparation and security, and refusing to proceed with the negotiations
-until they had received a satisfactory answer.[751] Cromwell, however,
-sent a private message to Nieuport, on 30th June, that the Council
-would not insist on satisfaction and security. He suggested that
-Tromp should be suspended for a few months; that a binding treaty
-and alliance should be concluded; and that for security two or three
-Englishmen should sit in the States-General or Council of State in the
-Netherlands, and the same number of Dutchmen in the English Council. If
-these conditions were agreed to, little difficulty would be made about
-the thirty-six articles, the Dutch would be allowed to carry on their
-herring fishery in the British seas, and a truce probably granted.[752]
-But by the next day Cromwell, after discussion with the Council, had
-changed his mind, and the debate went on about reparation and security.
-The deputies were told that the Council did not ask for a great sum,
-but that the “security” meant “uniting both states together in such
-manner as they may become one people and Commonwealth, for the good of
-both,”[753]--a scheme apparently much the same as St John had taken
-with him to The Hague.
-
-This extraordinary proposal for a union, closer even than that which
-existed among the seven United Provinces themselves, astonished the
-envoys of the many-headed Government. They pretended at first not to
-understand it, and went on talking of “alliance” and the Intercursus
-Magnus; but the Council pointedly declared that what they meant was
-not the mere “establishing of a league and union between two sovereign
-states and neighbours, but the making of two sovereign states one,”
-under a joint Government, all the subjects to possess equal privileges
-and freedom in either country “in respect of habitations, possessions,
-trade, ports, fishing, and all other advantages whatsoever.”[754] The
-deputies considered such a scheme “absurd,”--nothing of the kind had
-ever been heard of in history; it was opposed to the constitution of
-the United Provinces and was impossible; and they hinted that if the
-proposal was pressed they would have to return home. They thought it
-was far better to take as a basis for the negotiations the treaty of
-1496, which was a perfect, true, and sincere alliance, league, and
-confederation by land and sea. To this the Council replied that they
-had desired a coalescence of the two countries as the best security
-for the future of both, and especially of the United Provinces; and
-that the deputies offered nothing more than they did at first, by which
-they demanded free trade to the English colonies and the suspension of
-the Navigation Act; “nay,” the Council continued, “they do in effect
-demand to share with this state in the sovereignty of the narrow seas,
-and in their right of fishing,” whereas these advantages could only be
-obtained by such a coalescence as had been proposed.[755]
-
-The negotiations had now come to such a pass that the Dutch
-commissioners judged it to be necessary to report verbally to the
-States, and Nieuport and Jongestal left for home with this object on
-3rd August. They did not return until the end of October; and while the
-official conferences with the Council were suspended in the interval,
-the two deputies who remained in London carried on important private
-negotiations with Cromwell, mostly through an intermediary. At first
-Cromwell descanted on the advantages to the United Provinces of the
-proposed coalescence, including the complete liberty they would have of
-fishing on the British coasts. Later he put forward the extraordinary
-schemes which remind one of the dreams of Napoleon--a confederation
-of the Protestant states of Europe for the propagation of the Gospel;
-the partition of the rest of the world, Asia to fall to the share of
-the Dutch and America to England; a war of conquest against Spain and
-Portugal, and then there would be complete freedom of commerce and of
-fishery in all seas, without molestation or disturbance.[756] A less
-extravagant alternative offered was an alliance of the Protestant
-states, without the partition of the globe or the war of conquest;
-but this smaller scheme was not to carry with it either freedom of
-commerce or liberty of fishing. And now, for the first time since the
-negotiations began, a formal stipulation was asked that all ships of
-war of the Dutch Republic, on meeting “on the sea” with the ships of
-war of the Commonwealth, should show them the same respect and do them
-the same honour as had been practised in any former time.[757]
-
-The two deputies in London could do nothing with these proposals until
-the States-General had decided about the original project of coalition,
-with reference to which Nieuport and Jongestal had gone to The Hague.
-But they expressed their own opinion on the twelve articles which had
-been submitted to them; and with regard to the striking of the flag,
-they thought the word “respect” conveyed the impression of too great
-a sovereignty on one side and of submission on the other, but they
-agreed that another word might be chosen and a “good regulation” made.
-The objection was curious, because during the negotiations of 1673
-the envoys of the States--and the same able Beverning was the chief
-of them--themselves proposed that the striking of the flag should be
-done “by way of respect”; and when that word, respect, was inserted in
-the treaty of 1674, it was said in England that the Dutch had scored a
-great diplomatic victory, since to show respect was not to acknowledge
-sovereignty.
-
-When the two absent deputies returned to London they brought back with
-them the old instructions for a “close alliance and strict union,”
-nothing being said about the proposal to fuse the two nations into one.
-Their memorandum was submitted to the new Council of State, on which
-Cromwell had a working majority; the only coalition suggested was a
-“coalition of interests,” and a “brotherhood” of the peoples. Cromwell
-at once called it a mutilated coalition, and some of the Council are
-said to have expressed strong opinions as to the “contumelious” tactics
-of the Dutch. If they refused real coalition, it was our duty, they
-said, to make them and keep them our inferiors, so that they might
-never attempt this nation again; they must pay for liberty to fish
-on our coasts; render the usual submission at sea; give up their own
-wafters and pay us for convoys, since we were the proper guardians
-of the British sea; they must not equip many great ships, without
-explaining their intentions and asking leave to pass through our
-seas; and they must pay the costs of the war. Such were the opinions
-attributed to the Council by a well-informed author who wrote a little
-later,[758] and they indicate tolerably well the demands which were
-subsequently made. The Council then prepared draft articles for a
-treaty on the lines the Dutch desired, and Cromwell informed them
-that since they were averse to a coalition which would have made the
-privileges of both countries equal, it would be necessary first of all
-to define clearly their respective rights, so that disputes might be
-avoided in future. And in the first place, he said, they must settle
-their right and dominion in the narrow sea and the question of the
-fishery, remarking that if these points were adjusted the work in hand
-would be much facilitated.[759]
-
-In putting the question of the sovereignty of the sea and the fishery
-in the foreground of the negotiations, Cromwell placed the envoys
-in a difficulty. In conformity with their traditional policy on
-like occasions, the States-General had expressly instructed their
-representatives to avoid discussion on these thorny subjects,--a
-circumstance no doubt well known to Cromwell. They therefore fenced
-with them. With regard to the “honour of the sea,” they had never
-desired to dispute with the Parliament of the Republic of England any
-honour or dignity which had been rendered to former Governments, and
-they declared their willingness to pay the same “honour and respect”
-to the English flag as had been previously shown to it. They thought
-it would be better to defer consideration of the fishery question
-until the articles of a “strict union” had been adjusted, when the
-whole business of commerce, fishery, and the immunities on both sides
-might be dealt with. But Cromwell was not to be turned from his
-purpose. On the following day, after a long and remarkable speech on
-the advantages of coalition--which the Dutch once more put aside,--he
-again declared that the matter of the sea and the fishery must be
-first of all settled; and he ended the discussion by handing to the
-deputies the draft articles which the Council had prepared.[760] The
-articles were twenty-seven in number. Some of them provided for a
-defensive alliance and arranged details of peace. Freedom of trade was
-to be allowed, provided the laws in force--the Navigation Act--were
-observed; the rebels of the one were not to be assisted by the other,
-and so forth. But the Dutch were to pay a sum to be agreed upon, by
-way of reparation, and there were several articles dealing with the
-sovereignty of the sea and the fisheries.
-
-The article[761] on the fishery was framed on the model of the
-proclamations of James and Charles relating to unlicensed fishing.
-It was as follows: “The people and inhabitants of the said United
-Provinces, of what condition or quality soever they be, shall with
-their busses and other vessels fitted to that purpose, have liberty
-from time to time, for the term of one and twenty years, next coming,
-to sail and fish as well for herrings, as all other sort of fish, great
-and small, upon any of the coasts or seas of Great Britain and Ireland
-and the rest of the Isles adjacent, where and in such manner as they
-have been formerly permitted to fish. In consideration whereof, the
-States-General of the United Provinces shall during that term pay into
-the public treasury of this Commonwealth at the City of London the sum
-of ... at two equal payments upon every 24 day of June and 24 day of
-December; the first payment to begin on the 24 day of June next.” When
-it is remembered that the Dutch in the reign of James, and again in the
-reign of Charles, were prepared to go to war with England rather than
-surrender their liberty of fishing, the objectionable nature of this
-article is apparent. No glimpse is obtained throughout the negotiations
-of the sum that was to be asked for the liberty of fishing, possibly
-because it was never definitely fixed by the Council. It is, however,
-stated by Stubbe, who had special sources of information, that it was
-the intention of the Council to demand £100,000, as well as payment
-for constant wafters or convoys,[762]--a statement which is credible
-only on the supposition that it was desired utterly to ruin the Dutch
-herring fishery.
-
-Some of the other articles were equally or even more objectionable.
-That concerning the striking of the flag,[763] though not feasible in
-its original form, was capable of adjustment. It provided “that the
-ships and vessels of the said United Provinces, as well men-of-war as
-others, be they single ships or in fleets, meeting at sea with any of
-the ships of war of the State of England, or in their service, and
-wearing their flag, shall strike their flag and lower their top-sail,
-until they be passed by, and shall likewise submit themselves to
-be visited, if thereto required, and perform all other respects
-due to the said Commonwealth of England, to whom the dominion and
-sovereignty of the British sea belong.” By this article the whole
-of the Dutch fleet would be bound to strike to a single ship in the
-English service anywhere on the sea, and, what was a far more serious
-matter, to submit to be visited and searched. A stipulation of that
-kind was unacceptable. Tromp’s fleet had been fitted out before the war
-expressly to prevent the visitation and search of merchant vessels;
-if no conflict had occurred with Blake about the flag, it would
-almost certainly have happened on this other point.[764] And now the
-States were asked to confirm in a formal treaty the right claimed by
-England; and above all to make it applicable to their ships of war.
-Another article with reference to the measures to be taken against
-pirates embodied the old doctrine attributed to the Plantagenets. The
-Commonwealth of England, it stated, had declared their resolution
-“to put upon these seas a convenient number of armed ships, for the
-defence and safeguard thereof, and to maintain and preserve all
-lawful navigation, trade, and commerce therein, against pirates and
-sea-rovers.”[765] Another article which raised the strongest objections
-provided that the Dutch fleet passing through the British seas should
-be limited to a certain number, to be agreed upon in the treaty, and
-that if the States had occasion for a larger number to pass than that
-agreed to, they should first give the Commonwealth three months’ notice
-and obtain their consent. The article also provided that Dutch merchant
-vessels should be allowed freely to navigate the British seas, as if
-the right of permitting or forbidding navigation there belonged to
-England.[766]
-
-Such conditions could only have been imposed on a nation hopelessly
-vanquished. They were conditions, the ambassadors declared, which would
-not be demanded from rebels or slaves. On the English side there was a
-strong feeling that since coalition had been rejected, the “security”
-for the future ought to be rigorous and complete. It was still firmly
-believed by the mass of men, and doubtless by many in the Council, that
-Tromp had attacked Blake in overwhelming force in order to destroy the
-English fleet; and that too by the implicit or express orders of the
-States. There was doubtless also a desire to cripple Dutch commerce
-and power as far as was possible. Commercial jealousy had long been
-simmering, and now that the English thought they had the power they
-were resolved to use it to their own advantage.[767]
-
-The Dutch deputies were astonished and indignant at the English
-demands, which, as they sarcastically noted in their journal, they
-could scarcely reconcile with the professions of friendship and
-the pious words of Cromwell. Had they communicated them to the
-States-General all thoughts of peace would have been at an end, for it
-had required the most adroit diplomacy of John de Witt to induce that
-body to allow the negotiations to be set agoing. They therefore sent
-home only an imperfect official account of them, pleading that Cromwell
-had tied them down to the utmost secrecy,[768] and then proceeded
-to consider the articles themselves. Those dealing with reparation,
-the Prince of Orange, the visitation of ships, and the fishery, they
-decided absolutely to reject as inadmissible, for reasons to be given
-later. The one which proposed to limit their naval power in the
-adjacent seas they resolved indignantly to refuse, and to break off
-the negotiations rather than to agree even to discuss it, believing
-that it was a matter in which all Christian princes in Europe were
-also interested, who would condemn the English Government for their
-extravagant claims to special maritime rights and to the fishery.
-Their conclusions were embodied in a paper which was submitted to the
-Council of State on 22nd November. In this they said that the visiting
-and searching of merchant vessels and ships of war was contrary to the
-practice of the United Provinces, was subject to innumerable disorders
-and disputes, and was injurious in point of sovereignty, since it was
-not reciprocal. As to the fishery, they declared that they had been in
-immemorial possession of complete liberty of fishing. They denounced
-the article concerning the limitation of the number of their ships of
-war, which they said they could hardly persuade themselves had been put
-forward seriously, since it struck at the root of their existence as an
-independent sovereign state, and they declined to discuss it.[769]
-
-Cromwell throughout the whole negotiations, until he became Lord
-Protector, acted as spokesman for the Council at the conferences; and
-he now stated that the visitation of Dutch ships was an undoubted right
-of sovereignty possessed by the English Commonwealth. The limitation
-of their ships of war passing through the British seas was also a
-consequence of the same right of dominion; and the English had now
-more than ever reason to maintain it, both on account of their ancient
-prerogative and the recent injuries committed by the Dutch. The right
-to the fishery was of the same nature. No other nation in Europe had
-attempted to carry it on without the consent of England; the Dutch
-were the only people, he said, who sought a separate interest in it--a
-statement which was quite inaccurate. But the deputies took their stand
-on the obnoxious article which proposed to clip their naval power and
-interfere with their liberty of navigation, and threatened to return
-home unless it was withdrawn. After standing firm for a time Cromwell
-withdrew the article, asserting at the same time that England had
-jurisdiction on both sides of the sea, and that it was perilous to
-allow a fleet of sixty or eighty men-of-war to come into our rivers
-or ports without our knowledge or consent,--a reference, no doubt, to
-Tromp’s action before the war.
-
-This concession facilitated the negotiations. Frequent conferences were
-held in the following week, Cromwell and his Council strongly asserting
-the right of the Commonwealth to the fisheries and the dominion of the
-sea. At this period there were four subjects chiefly in dispute--the
-arrangements relating to the striking of the flag, the visitation of
-ships of war, the preliminary part of the sixteenth article as to the
-guarding of the seas, and the fishery. On none of these was Cromwell
-inclined as yet to give way. The deputies repeated their offer as to
-the flag, and requested that a joint commission of old and experienced
-naval officers should be appointed to draw up regulations for the
-guidance of both sides in future. To this Cromwell replied that such
-a commission was unnecessary, their rights and the custom being well
-understood and clearly expressed in the article. There was, however,
-uncertainty as to the places where the right could be claimed, and
-the Dutch deputies said they wished to make it clear in what seas
-and on what coasts the flag ought to be struck, urging that it was
-better to be guided by a regulation than to compel it by force. But
-Cromwell was inflexible. To yield would be to admit that the claim
-was doubtful in point of right or mode, and it would stultify their
-whole action; he may also have thought it would open a door for some
-form of reciprocity. The article was therefore postponed, as was also
-the sixteenth article, the deputies insisting on the deletion of the
-introductory sentence as to a fleet to be put forth to guard the sea,
-which Cromwell refused to do.[770]
-
-The keenest dispute at this time was about the herring fishery. There
-were two principles in the article, Cromwell said, which required
-attention: first, the recognition of England’s right to the fishery;
-secondly, compensation for allowing the use of it. Unable to avoid
-the discussion, the envoys pleaded their immemorial possession and
-their treaties, and said that their liberty of fishing had never
-been disputed; besides, they asked, was it a friendly thing to make
-a proposal of the kind when they were about to conclude a strict and
-close alliance between the two countries? Cromwell, who had obviously
-been well posted up in the arguments in _Mare Clausum_, then entered
-upon a lengthy disquisition on the subject. He said the English could
-prove by authentic documents that they had had possession of the
-fishery from all time, and that other nations sought their permission
-to fish; that the clause in the treaty of 1496 (the Intercursus Magnus)
-upon which the Dutch relied, was omitted in later treaties; and that
-the treaties had expired owing to the subsequent wars between Queen
-Elizabeth and Spain, and had never been since renewed; they were not
-the same people with whom the treaties had been made, since they were
-now alienated from the House of Burgundy. And they could not establish
-their right by prescription, for by the civil law it required a hundred
-years for a just prescription, and the States had not existed so long
-as an independent nation. Moreover, long before the treaty of 1496,
-licenses for fishing had been sought and granted. Even King Philip II.
-in Queen Mary’s time had asked permission to fish for twenty-one years,
-and had paid £1000 a-year for the privilege. King James, too, had
-issued a proclamation in 1610 (_sic_) forbidding unlicensed fishing,
-while King Charles had demanded and received through the Earl of
-Northumberland an acknowledgment from their herring-busses.
-
-To this long argument the deputies replied with arguments as long. With
-respect to the treaties, they said that the treaty of 1496 was not
-between prince and prince, but between states and towns, as specified
-in it; and that the article which provided for mutual liberty of
-fishing had been confirmed in later treaties, notably in the treaty
-of Binche, in 1541, between the Emperor Charles and the King of
-Scotland; in that of 1550 with Queen Mary of Scotland; and in that
-between the United Provinces and King James of Scotland in 1594.[771]
-Moreover, in the treaty between England and Spain in 1630, there were
-certain words which confirmed the ancient treaties of intercourse and
-commerce.[772] They expressed the opinion that Cromwell had not been
-well informed in saying that licenses for fishing had been granted
-before the Intercursus Magnus was concluded, because it was doubtful
-if the invention of the salting and casking of herrings was much
-before that date.[773] As to the alleged lease of the fishings by King
-Philip, there was nothing to compel him to take such a lease, and
-they saw no reason why he should have done so; while the proclamation
-of James, so far from being an argument against them, was entirely
-in their favour, because, as they could prove from papers in their
-hands, it was never put into execution, but was suspended on the
-representations of the States. The action of the Earl of Northumberland
-they described as simple extortion, since he had compelled a few
-defenceless fishermen, without the knowledge of the States, to pay
-him some money. The deputies concluded their arguments by saying they
-had no further instructions on the matter, and that if the Council
-pressed the article, they would require to return and report to their
-Government: there was, they said, a high and mighty Lord in heaven who
-knew the hearts and rights of all, and He would judge. Cromwell assured
-them that the article had not been inserted in the draft treaty with
-the object of breaking off the negotiations, but only that they might
-maintain their just rights. Why, he asked, should the States object to
-acknowledge the right of the Commonwealth to the fisheries, when other
-Powers like France and Sweden, who had as much claim to liberty as
-they, had not scrupled to acknowledge it?[774]
-
-As Cromwell was immovable, and the deputies equally obdurate, the
-negotiations came to a stop, and the latter on 5th December formally
-requested their passports to return to The Hague. In the interval
-they asked the French ambassador if France had requested permission
-from England to fish in the sea, as Cromwell averred. He told them
-nothing had been said to him on the matter since he came to England,
-but that his papers showed that the Duke of Guise had formerly asked
-that certain fishermen of Treport should not be molested in their
-fishing.[775] They also learned that the Swedish ambassador had sought
-to obtain from England free commerce in general, free fishery, and
-freedom of trading to the Barbadoes. It was indeed the case that
-Sweden had made such proposals. In the negotiations for a treaty with
-the Commonwealth, the queen expressed her desire to obtain liberty
-for her subjects to fish for herrings in the British seas,[776] and
-in the preceding August the Council of State, at the request of her
-ambassador, had actually issued a license to four Swedish vessels to
-fish in the narrow seas and upon the British coasts.[777] In a treaty
-concluded in 1656 between the King of Sweden and the Lord Protector,
-the privilege, it may be said, was carried much further. The treaty
-provided that Swedish subjects should be free to fish for herrings
-and other fish in the seas and on the coasts under the dominion of
-the Republic, provided the number of ships so employed did not exceed
-a thousand; and no charges (such as the assize-herring) were to be
-demanded of the Swedish fishermen, who were to be treated courteously
-and amicably, allowed to dry their nets on the shore, and to purchase
-necessaries at a fair price.[778]
-
-It may be noted as remarkable that, throughout the long discussions
-with Cromwell about the fishery, the Dutch deputies never made use
-of the argument, so frequently employed by their predecessors at the
-Court of James, that the English claims were opposed to the law of
-nations. They probably shrank from using an argument of that kind to
-the great dictator who had ruthlessly trampled on the laws of England;
-perhaps they were deterred by the abrupt intimation made earlier,
-that the Council had not come to listen to scholastic subtleties,
-but to consider the real legal rights of England. The obstinacy of
-Cromwell in refusing at this stage to modify the fishery article is
-also noteworthy. No doubt he was moved by a sincere desire to benefit
-England. The belief was still prevalent that the herring fishery which
-the Dutch carried on along the British coasts was the foundation
-of their commerce, wealth, and naval power. It, moreover, provided
-them with a great “seminary of seamen” to recruit their fleets--a
-consideration which must have had a special force at a time when we
-had only the ships in the coal trade between Newcastle and London to
-draw upon for ours, and when the most rigorous system of pressing
-failed to provide sufficient men for the navy.[779] But Cromwell had
-other reasons for insisting on the English claims, even to the point
-of rupture of the negotiations. It was by this time obvious that the
-Barebones or nominated Parliament had only a short life before it, and
-it was desirable that its dissolution should be free from violence
-and as far as possible voluntary. The majority of the members were
-strongly opposed to the Dutch, and to the conclusion of peace except
-on humiliating terms to the enemy; and it is probable that Cromwell’s
-insistence was partly due to his desire to conciliate them. He was now
-about to put on the mantle of the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of
-England.
-
-When the Dutch envoys wrote to the Council for their passports, they
-received no answer. On repeating their request two days later, they got
-a hint of what was impending,--that the Parliament which was against
-them would soon be dissolved, and the management of affairs placed in
-the hands of a council of ten or twelve.[780] Then on the 9th December
-they were asked by Viscount Lisle, in the name of the Council, to delay
-their departure, as commissioners would soon be appointed to treat
-with them and conclude the treaty. Cromwell took the oath as Lord
-Protector on the 16th; the new Council of State met on the 19th; and
-the conferences on the treaty were resumed four days later.[781]
-
-Cromwell did not now attend the conferences, the negotiations being
-entrusted to four members of the Council--Viscount Lisle, Sir Charles
-Wolseley, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, and Walter Strickland, who had
-accompanied St John to The Hague in 1651. The discussions on the
-questions affecting the claim to the sovereignty of the sea were
-continued: the striking of the flag, the visitation of ships, and the
-declaration that the dominion of the sea belonged to England. The
-former arguments on both sides were repeated, and the Dutch proposed
-the following article with reference to the flag: “That the ships and
-vessels of the United Provinces, as well men-of-war as others, meeting
-with any of the ships of war of the State of England shall honour and
-dignify them with the striking of the flag and lowering the top-sail,
-in such a manner as ever under any form of government in times past
-they have been honoured and dignified; and to prevent all quarrels for
-the future the particulars thereof shall be regulated by the advice of
-the generals and commanders.”[782] The English commissioners reiterated
-the objections previously made, but now stated that they had been
-referring only to the narrow seas;[783] and it was agreed to refer the
-points in dispute to the Lord Protector.
-
-Another difficulty arose on the third article, which fixed the dates
-on which the peace should take effect on the sea, after which dates
-the capture of prizes would be illegal. The part was as follows:
-“Excepting such depredations as shall be committed in the British Seas
-(_Maria Britannica_) after the space of twelve days, and betwixt the
-British Seas and the Line after the space of ten weeks,” &c. At the
-first, the phrase “British Seas” had caught the eye of the envoys; but,
-thinking it was merely an ordinary appellation such as might appear on
-a chart, and that no deep design lurked beneath it, they decided that
-it would not be desirable to raise “the business of the sea” on such a
-point.[784] They now took exception to these words, and suggested that
-it would be better to begin, “in the narrow sea, which was called the
-British Sea” after twelve days, from there to Cape St Vincent after
-six weeks, &c. This matter also was referred to the Protector.
-
-Cromwell, who was now settled in his new dignity, gave close attention
-to the peace negotiations. On 26th December the deputies were handed
-a paper in his name, in which he gave up the demand for a money
-payment in reparation for the war; agreed to the stipulation about
-the exclusion of the Prince of Orange--which was the corner-stone
-of the treaty--being put in a secret article; agreed to some new
-articles which the Dutch had proposed, after slight modifications;
-and at the same time introduced a new element of trouble and debate
-by formulating three additional articles requiring justice to be done
-for the “murder” of the English at Amboyna in 1623, and concerning
-the settlement of disputes and wrongs committed in the East Indies,
-Brazil, and Greenland. Important concessions were at the same time
-made on the maritime question. The article respecting the fishery was
-dropped. “Concerning the fishing,” wrote the Protector, “the Lords
-Deputies having by their former papers desired that freedom of fishing
-in these seas might be declared in this treaty, the 17 article was
-thereupon propounded, whereby license is granted to the people of the
-United Provinces to fish freely in these seas upon the terms therein
-expressed, notwithstanding as in their Lordships’ power either to
-accept or refuse, but it cannot be admitted that anything should be
-inserted in this treaty that may prejudice the right of this state in
-their fishery.”[785] The Dutch thus again scored a diplomatic victory
-and preserved their liberty of fishing on the British coasts, just as
-they had done in the reigns of James and Charles. They did not succeed
-in getting the clause in the Intercursus Magnus inserted or confirmed,
-as they desired, but it still remained in force. Later writers
-accused Cromwell of having surrendered the rights to the fishery,
-and much else, as a _quid pro quo_ for the stipulation regarding the
-exclusion of the Orange family in the Netherlands, which was his main
-object;[786] but there is no doubt at all that the States-General
-would never have agreed to the English proposal.
-
-Concessions were also made as to the striking of the flag. “The 15
-article,” said Cromwell, “to be as following: that the ships and
-vessels of the United Provinces, as well men-of-war as others, meeting
-at sea with any of the ships of war of the State of England, shall
-strike their flag and lower their top-sail, and perform the other
-respects due to this State until they be passed by”; but the request
-that a naval commission should draw up a “regulation” on the subject
-was not acceded to. On the other hand, the clauses which stipulated
-for a right of visitation of Dutch ships at sea, and the declaration
-that the dominion and sovereignty of the sea belonged to England,
-were entirely withdrawn; but the Protector would not yet part with
-the clause which provided for an English fleet to guard the seas and
-protect commerce. Surely, he said in effect, since the article limiting
-the number of warships has been withdrawn, you will not contest our
-dominion of the sea in this?--and at this stage it was retained, with
-the remark, “this article is insisted on.” One of the new clauses
-provided that not more than eight men-of-war at a time were to enter
-any port of the other Power, unless constrained by force of tempest,
-without having obtained consent to do so; and when compelled to enter
-by danger of the sea, they were immediately to signify to the chief
-magistrate the cause of their coming, and to leave when he required
-them to depart.[787]
-
-On the subject of striking the flag, the deputies were not yet
-satisfied. They still continued to urge that a “regulation” should be
-prepared; and they now raised a new point. Cromwell had always used
-the words “at sea,” which might mean any sea or any part of the sea.
-They now desired that the ceremony should be restricted to the narrow
-seas, “which,” they said, “are called the British seas.”[788] To this
-proposal Cromwell assented in so far that the words “in the British
-seas” were inserted later. It is curious to notice how the meaning of
-the term “British Sea” thus became confused even within the compass
-of a single treaty. In reference to this article, the Protector made
-the important admission that the narrow seas and the British seas
-were synonymous.[789] In the third article, as we have seen, the same
-term was used, and it was natural for the Dutch to suppose that it
-there had the same significance and meant the narrow seas or Channel.
-Since the clause dealt with a matter of great practical importance,
-namely, the restitution of vessels that might be captured after a
-specified date, and the term “British seas” appeared to be restricted
-to the Channel, they wished specifically to include in it the North
-Sea and the East Sea (or Baltic), both regions of great traffic. The
-envoys were accordingly instructed later by the States-General to have
-these words added, so that the clause would read, “excepting such
-depredations as shall be committed in the British Sea, the East Sea,
-and the North Sea.”[790] By this addition, moreover, the objectionable
-phrase “the British seas” would be formally restricted to the narrow
-seas or Channel, with the consent of England. The proposed change was
-instantly rejected. When Beverning brought it forward, Thurloe resisted
-it with great warmth,[791] and the qualifying words confining the term
-British seas to the narrow seas, which the Dutch had inserted, were
-also deleted.[792] When it was verbally agreed that the striking of
-the flag should be restricted to the narrow sea,[793] the deputies
-made a new proposal. It was to the effect that Dutch ships, without
-any distinction, not only in the narrow seas but throughout the whole
-world, on meeting English men-of-war should give them the first salute
-by striking the flag and top-sails and firing guns, provided that the
-English ships immediately returned the salute in precisely the same
-manner. This, doubtless, was the proposition which lurked behind the
-reiterated suggestion for a “regulation”; but the English commissioners
-would not agree to any form of reciprocity. The Dutch again raised
-objections to the part of the sixteenth clause concerning pirates,
-on the ground that it contained an implication of the claim to the
-dominion of the seas, which they had constantly opposed, and they
-cited the treaties with Elizabeth in 1585, and with Charles in 1625,
-as having assigned to them the protection of the sea off the Flemish
-coast and neighbouring coasts. They declared they would prefer it to be
-dropped altogether unless it was amended or made reciprocal.[794]
-
-The differences as to the sovereignty of the sea or the phraseology of
-the maritime articles were now, however, of little actual importance.
-The progress of the negotiations, secret and otherwise, had narrowed
-the real ground of contention to two crucial points--the exclusion
-of the Prince of Orange from office, and the inclusion of Denmark in
-the treaty. The former had been secretly agreed upon by Cromwell and
-Beverning, the latter acting in conjunction with De Witt;[795] but the
-Protector was obdurate as to the inclusion of Denmark, and the deputies
-decided to return home to report the state of the negotiations. They
-left London on 3rd (13th) January, and though a message from Cromwell
-overtook them at Gravesend conceding the point in dispute as to
-Denmark, they thought it better to continue their homeward journey. The
-treaty, so far as it had been officially arranged and made known, was
-received with approbation in Holland, the vital stipulation respecting
-the exclusion of the Prince of Orange being concealed. Beverning
-came back to London on 25th January, but was refused audience by the
-Protector until he had obtained proper credentials recognising the new
-Government. He was joined by Nieuport and Jongestal a month later, but
-it was not till 15th March that the conferences were resumed.[796]
-
-By this time the Protector had in substance conceded almost everything
-concerning the dominion of the seas that the Dutch had asked for, and
-the ambassadors--they had returned with the title of extraordinary
-ambassadors--were anxious to avoid any more discussion about it.
-For this reason Beverning disapproved of the resolution of the
-States-General, above referred to, for the amendment of the third
-article by specifying the North Sea and Baltic, and after his first
-interview with Cromwell he wrote to them expressing his opinion that
-it would occasion new disputes about the fisheries and the sovereignty
-of the sea. We have seen how it was received by Thurloe; and from
-what followed it would appear that Cromwell had either heard of the
-rumours going about that he had sacrificed the rights of England to the
-sovereignty of the seas in order to gain the exclusion of the Orange
-family, or that he was determined to keep the matter open until the
-secret arrangement for that exclusion had been officially accepted in
-the United Provinces--a task in which De Witt was struggling against
-enormous difficulties. At all events, after the treaty had been
-signed by the negotiators and ratified by the States-General, and
-when Cromwell was on the point of ratifying it, he suddenly reopened
-the question as to the extent of the British seas. Thurloe began by
-asking the ambassadors what was meant by the distinction drawn in
-the third article between the British seas and Cape St Vincent. Such
-a distinction seemed to prejudice the limits of the British seas,
-and might besides give rise to disputes later as to the seizure of
-vessels. He then treated the ambassadors to a discourse on the extent
-of the British seas, the particulars of which are, unfortunately, not
-recorded. They were, however, told that they extended to and along the
-coast of France, “Xaintonge” (Saintonge, an old French province) and
-round about there. It had not been thought, he said, to limit or define
-any seas in stating the districts, and he asked them for a declaration
-on the subject. They suspected that the design was to extract from
-them an explicit statement as to the southward limit of the British
-seas, and they said they had now no power either to alter the article
-or even to interpret it. The treaty had been signed on both sides and
-ratified by the States-General, and their instructions and commission
-were at an end. The proposal to alter it, they now alleged, came from
-themselves alone, without instructions from the States-General, and
-they had willingly and immediately withdrawn it when objection was
-made. Cromwell then asked if it had ever been their intention to define
-in any way the limits of the seas by that article. They replied that
-they believed not, and added that they had never thought of yielding
-anything with regard to right or jurisdiction or limits of the seas;
-and they failed to see what prejudice his Highness could suffer from
-the extension of the article, unless it was to be maintained that
-the whole of the French and Portuguese coasts to Cape St Vincent
-were within the narrow seas, as they had defined in the fourteenth
-article, which was withdrawn.[797] Cromwell then angrily told them that
-he would not exchange the ratification of the treaty unless he got
-the explanation and interpretation requested.[798] It was only, the
-ambassadors reported home, by their earnest insistence to the Protector
-that the articles had been signed with perfect knowledge on both sides
-of their contents, that he passed from the point. Whatever the object
-may have been in thus raising a discussion at the last moment as to the
-extent of the British seas, there is little doubt that the circumstance
-would prove useful to De Witt in his difficult and manifold manœuvres
-to get the Act of exclusion of the House of Orange adopted.
-
-The treaty of peace, which had been signed by the plenipotentiaries on
-5th April, was ratified by the Protector on 19th April, and proclaimed
-with due solemnity on the 26th May. It was received with rejoicing both
-in this country and the Netherlands.[799]
-
-Comparison of the treaty as completed[800] with the original draft
-shows how thoroughly the Dutch plenipotentiaries had eviscerated the
-parts dealing with the sovereignty of the sea, and stripped it of
-almost all the phraseology which might imply such sovereignty. The
-articles imposing tribute for the liberty of fishing; stipulating for
-the visitation and search of vessels; restricting the number of their
-men-of-war in the British seas; the Plantagenet claim for the guarding
-of the sea; the declaration that the dominion of the British seas
-belonged to England,--all had been wiped out. Cromwell indeed succeeded
-in retaining the term “British seas” in its original ambiguity; but
-both he and his commissioners admitted (verbally) that it meant, in
-reference to the salute, only the narrow sea--a statement which was in
-contradiction to the instructions issued to the naval officers, and to
-the practice both before and afterwards. The clause providing for the
-striking of the flag was saved, but only in a mutilated form. It ran
-as follows: “That the ships and vessels of the said United Provinces,
-as well those of war as others which shall meet any of the men-of-war
-of this Commonwealth in the British Seas, shall strike their flag and
-lower the top-sail, in such manner as the same has ever been observed
-at any time heretofore under any other form of government.”[801]
-
-This, as the States-General took care to point out to their
-fellow-countrymen, was no more than they had voluntarily agreed to do,
-and had instructed Tromp to perform, previous to the declaration of
-war. It was, however, the first time the custom had been recognised in
-a treaty.
-
-After the conclusion of peace, the English naval commanders took
-pleasure in vigorously enforcing their right to the “honour of the
-flag,” and, as above stated, notwithstanding the verbal limitation made
-by Cromwell and Thurloe, they did not confine the demand to the narrow
-sea. Within a few weeks of the proclamation of the treaty, and before
-its details were known to the fleet, Vice-Admiral Lawson encountered
-the “bellicose” De With off the north coast of Scotland. The Dutch
-admiral with three men-of-war was convoying seventy sail bound for
-Greenland, and he at once struck his flag and fired a salute, which the
-English returned. He also “submitted to a search,” though stating that
-it was not customary for men-of-war to do so. “De With,” wrote Lawson,
-“begins to know his duty, being very submissive, acknowledging the
-sovereignty of England in the seas, and yielding as much as could have
-been required of any merchant ships.”[802]
-
-In the south the Dutch were not always so compliant, and disputes with
-the English officers sometimes arose as to whether the place where the
-striking of the flag was demanded was or was not within the British
-seas. Thus, Captain Cockraine, in the _Old Warwick_, met a fleet of
-Holland merchantmen under convoy of a man-of-war between the Lizard and
-Ushant. The merchant vessels struck their top-sails, but the man-of-war
-refused to strike, on the ground that he was not in the British but
-in the Spanish seas. Cockraine refrained from firing, as the ship was
-surrounded by others and there was “much wind.” Instead, he wrote to
-the Admiralty. “I want to know,” he said, “how far is intended by the
-British Seas, and how far our power reaches, so that we may make no
-unnecessary broils.” There is nothing to show what answer he got; but a
-week later he encountered twenty-six Dutch merchant vessels bound for
-the Mediterranean, who refused to strike, and he had to fire thirty
-guns among them before they submitted.[803] About the same time, a
-States’ man-of-war convoying a fleet of Hollander merchantmen met
-Captain Heaton, in the _Sapphire_, and did not strike until a shot was
-fired. Heaton sent a message to the commander saying that he had not
-fulfilled the articles of peace, and that the keeping of his flag and
-top-sail aloft when within shot of one of the ships of the State of
-England was a great abuse, and a gross affront by the States of Holland
-to the Commonwealth. To which the Dutch captain replied that if he
-had shot back at the _Sapphire_ he would have been quite justified,
-as, being on his own coast, he was not bound to strike, and had done
-so not out of duty, but from “brotherly love,” and he then re-hoisted
-his top-sails and flag. Heaton deliberated whether or not he should
-fight the Dutchman for doing this, but refrained. He, too, wrote to the
-Admiralty asking how he should act in similar cases in future.[804]
-
-The authorities at the Admiralty were always sparing in advice on such
-matters. They showed the same reticence as the Government in defining
-the extent of the British seas, and for the same reason--that they did
-not know themselves. This reluctance was shown, and a partial glimpse
-afforded, in a letter to General Montague (afterwards Earl of Sandwich)
-which Richard, Cromwell’s son, wrote during his brief tenure of the
-Protectorate. Telling him to demand “the flag” of such foreign ships
-of war as he might encounter in the British seas, he remarked that
-there had been “some doubt” as to how far the British seas extend. Not
-unnaturally, “Tumble-down Dick” shrank from plunging into a matter
-which had puzzled the great Oliver and every one else. “Not being
-willing,” he said, “to determine that in our instructions, we rather
-put in general terms the ‘British Seas’ only. We judge there is no
-question of all the sea on this side the Shagenriffe;[805] on the other
-side [the Baltic] you have need be tender, and to avoid all disputes
-of this nature, if it be possible, because war and peace depend on
-it.”[806]
-
-Disputes about the flag were not the only differences that arose on
-the sea. At the end of September 1654 complaints came from Yarmouth
-that the English fishermen were being molested by the Dutch in the
-herring fishery there. They had come, it was alleged, with a multitude
-of busses, “far above a thousand sail,” and, contrary to the custom
-before the war, “and against the laws of this nation,” shot their nets
-so close to the sands that the English were crowded out and hindered
-in their usual fishing. The Dutch busses occupied a space of more than
-forty miles adjacent to the coast, and the English fishermen were
-afraid to use their nets lest they lost them. When they remonstrated
-with the foreigners for coming so near the shore, they were vilified,
-and muskets and “great guns” were shot at them.[807] By the direction
-of Cromwell and the Council, the complaints were transmitted to
-the ambassadors, who were still in London, and they requested the
-States-General and the commanders of the ships guarding the busses to
-make every effort to avoid giving cause for complaint. In the inquiry
-which followed, the Dutch fishermen denied the charges against them,
-and in turn accused some of the Englishmen of shooting at them, cutting
-their ropes, and calling them dogs, rogues, and devils. They stated
-that they had carried on the fishing in the old accustomed way, the
-English usually fishing peacefully along with them.[808]
-
-Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate very little was heard of
-schemes for establishing fishery societies, such as appeared and
-disappeared so frequently in the preceding reigns and afterwards.
-That the Puritan spirit was not antagonistic to projects of the kind
-was shown by proposals made in 1649. One of these contemplated the
-employment of Dutchmen to establish “a fishing trade” in England. It
-was referred by the Council of State to Sir Henry Vane and Alderman
-Wilson, with what result does not appear. Another, briefly described,
-was to set up a fishing trade for the English nation;[809] and about
-this time the attention of some writers on commercial matters was
-directed to the same end. The only thing apparently effected was the
-gift to the Corporation of the Poor in London of some of the Dutch
-busses captured in the war, to be used in fishing on the English coast.
-During this period of our history the Government had other things to
-think about than the launching of fishery schemes. Cromwell, however,
-at the conclusion of the war, renewed the licenses to the fishermen of
-Dieppe and Calais to fish in the seas between England and France, at
-the usual times and places.[810]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-CHARLES II.
-
-THE SECOND DUTCH WAR.
-
-
-The Restoration, in 1660, made no change either in the national
-sentiment or the national policy of England concerning the sovereignty
-of the sea. Charles II. encouraged the pretension with as much zeal
-as had been shown by his father, or by the Commonwealth and the Lord
-Protector; and he was more astute than any of his predecessors in
-taking advantage of the national feeling with regard to it in order to
-carry out his own selfish policy. Under the pretence of maintaining
-the dominion of the sea, a base and treacherous war was waged against
-the United Provinces in circumstances which will for ever sully the
-reputation of the king. The measures at first taken were, however, of
-a peaceful kind. Commercial jealousy of the Dutch was still a strong
-factor in England. As firmly as ever the opinion was held that the
-primary source of their great trade, shipping, and wealth lay in their
-fisheries, which also formed a great “nursery” of seamen for the navy.
-
-As in the reign of Charles I., it was therefore towards the development
-of British fisheries that efforts were first directed. The means taken
-with this view were twofold: the taxation of imported fish which
-had been caught by foreigners, and the creation of great fishery
-associations like those which had been established earlier in the
-century. The Navigation Act, which was passed a few months after the
-Restoration, while more oppressive to Dutch commerce and shipping than
-the Act of 1651, was less stringent in this particular. The measure
-of the Rump Parliament prohibited the importation or exportation of
-fish, or its carriage coastways, unless such fish had been caught
-by subjects. This prohibition was ineffective,[811] and it was now
-replaced by the imposition of double customs on all kinds of dried
-or salted fish imported, if caught or brought by vessels other than
-English.[812] Three years later, the importation of fresh herrings,
-cod, haddocks, and coal-fish was absolutely prohibited unless they
-had been taken and imported in vessels certified to be English.[813]
-With the view of still further promoting the fisheries, the same
-prohibition was afterwards extended to cured fish and certain other
-fresh fish,[814] which practically restored the provision of the first
-Act of 1651. To a large extent these variations were due to the trade
-rivalries that existed in England, the party which was uppermost at the
-time forcing the measures that were most in its interest.
-
-Besides protective duties and monopolies, more direct means of
-encouraging the fisheries were tried. The always attractive idea was
-revived of establishing a great national fishery society, which, on
-the one hand, would enrich those who supported it with their purse,
-and on the other hand would increase the prosperity and the power of
-the country. Simon Smith, who had been the agent of the Royal Fishery
-Society in the reign of Charles I., lost no time in presenting to the
-king his two books on the subject, along with a petition in which he
-dwelt upon the advantages that would accrue to the nation from the
-labours of such an association.[815] Smith recommended that all the
-corporations and county towns in the kingdom should conjointly raise
-a stock to buy hemp and other materials to equip busses, which were
-to be built at the seaports nearest to them and sent to the fishing
-at Shetland; and he calculated, after the usual fashion, that each
-buss would maintain twenty families in work, “breed country youths to
-be mariners,” and cause many ships to be employed in exporting the
-herrings and bringing back commodities.
-
-Charles was apparently impressed by Smith’s arguments. Within two
-months of the Restoration he caused a letter to be written to the Lord
-Mayor of London, referring to the good done by the Society formed in
-1632, “as by the book called the Royal Herring Busse Fishing (_sic_)
-presented to him, plainly appeared”; requesting particulars to be
-obtained of all the poor inhabitants within each ward who were in want
-of employment; requesting that the Lord Mayor and Aldermen should
-raise a stock by a free subscription to fit out a buss or fishing
-vessel for each ward; and that storehouses should be built in suitable
-places about the river Thames, provided with nets, casks, salt, and
-all things in readiness. The busses were to attend the fishing at
-Shetland, according to the “prescribed orders in the aforesaid book,”
-and the king declared he would recommend the same course to all the
-cities and towns throughout the kingdom, so as to make it a national
-employment.[816]
-
-The assistance of Parliament was also called in. On 8th November 1660
-the House of Commons remitted “the consideration of the fisheries” to
-the Committee for Trade and Navigation, who were asked to inform the
-House “what they thought necessary for the regulation and advancement
-of that trade.”[817] The Committee’s report does not appear to have
-been preserved, but on 8th December a “Bill for Encouraging the
-Fisheries of this Kingdom” was introduced. It was remitted to a large
-committee, including the members for the seaport towns, and being
-read a third time on 27th December, was sent up to the Lords.[818] It
-was, to a large extent, directed against fishing by foreigners on the
-British coasts and the use of destructive methods of fishing. One of
-its clauses prohibited trawling, whether by subjects or foreigners,
-within eight miles of certain parts of the coast. The fate of this
-important measure was unfortunate. The Parliament was dissolved two
-days after it reached the Lords, and nothing further was heard of
-it.[819]
-
-In the following year a measure dealing with the fisheries was passed
-by the Scottish Parliament.[820] The preamble contained the common
-declarations as to the value of the fisheries to shipping and commerce,
-to the navy, in the employment of the poor, and as furnishing the
-materials for a great native export. The Act provided for the formation
-of societies and companies of free-born Scotsmen, each member to supply
-at least 500 merks Scots as stock, and they were to receive various
-privileges and immunities, including power to erect houses for the
-fishing trade wherever it was most convenient, a “limited allowance”
-to be paid for the ground. An absolute monopoly of the export of
-fish, fresh or cured, was granted to the companies; foreigners were
-prohibited from curing herrings or white fish on land, or erecting
-booths for the purpose,--a provision aimed against the German merchants
-at Shetland,--but encouragement was given to foreign fishermen
-to settle and become naturalised in Scotland, and even to become
-burgesses, and they were to be exempt from taxation for seven years.
-The importation of everything required for the fishery, including
-“Holland nets,” was to be free of custom dues; the exports were to be
-similarly exempted, and the “teind” and “assize” herrings were to be
-remitted for nine years.
-
-The provisions of this Act differed essentially from the scheme
-proposed by Charles I. in 1630, which aroused so much opposition,
-inasmuch as the companies were to be composed solely of Scotsmen. The
-question of the territorial or “reserved” waters belonging to Scotland
-was thus avoided. It appears, indeed, that the Act was due to the
-representations of the Royal Burghs, for in the preceding autumn they
-expressed a desire for the “erection of the fishing trade in Scotland,”
-and resolved to bring the subject before the next Parliament.[821]
-Little was done in Scotland under this Act. A company was formed,
-which, however, seemed more desirous of misusing its privileges than
-of fostering the fisheries, if we may judge from a petition of the
-burghs to the Lords of the Exchequer, praying that the company might
-be restricted to import nothing but what was necessary for the fishing
-trade. The town of Musselburgh also was empowered to equip busses, and
-various towns in Fife applied for and received permission to fish in
-the northern seas. The Scottish society became an incubus, and in 1690,
-when its function seems to have shrunk to the mechanical exaction of a
-tax of £6 Scots per last of herrings exported from Scotland, the Act
-under which it had been formed was repealed.[822]
-
-In England the efforts to establish a fishery association met with
-but little more success, although the king showed an active interest
-in its promotion. On 22nd August he issued a commission under the
-great seal, appointing his brother, the Duke of York, and twenty-nine
-noblemen, including all the great officers of the Court, with six
-others, as the “Council of the Royal Fishery of Great Britain and
-Ireland,” to which he assigned various privileges and monopolies. To
-encourage the building of busses, the king “requested” that wharfs,
-docks, and storehouses should be built on the Thames and in all the
-ports of the kingdom for their accommodation and use; all the “returns”
-or commodities brought back from foreign lands for the fish exported
-were exempted from customs for seven years; all victuallers, inns,
-alehouses, taverns, coffee-houses, and the like, were to be bound to
-take from one to four, or more, barrels of herrings from the society
-yearly at thirty shillings a-barrel, “until foreign vent be attained to
-perfection”; each barrel of pickled herrings or cod-fish brought into
-the realm by the Flemings, or others, was to be taxed half-a-crown,
-the tax to be paid into the coffers of the society, and the protection
-of the State was to be given to their fishing vessels and the vessels
-employed in exporting fish. It was further provided that the money
-necessary for the scheme should be obtained by a lottery, to be set up
-for three years, and by a collection in every parish in the kingdom.
-
-A few days later, Charles issued letters-patent saying that he had
-requested a bountiful subscription from London to fit out fishing
-vessels, which should belong to the wards, and recommending the
-same to the whole country, as the Hollanders had so engrossed the
-fisheries that the fishing towns were greatly decayed; the local
-officers were to see to the collections being made, the monies to be
-paid to the high-sheriff and by him remitted to the Earl of Pembroke,
-who was appointed treasurer. Those who subscribed to the stock were
-to pay their money in three instalments to Mr Thomas King, a London
-merchant and member of Parliament, who became the moving spirit in the
-project; and the adventurers were to have the option of withdrawing
-after three years, on giving six months’ notice.[823] Literary puffs
-were not neglected. A highly-coloured account of the value of the
-Dutch fisheries (founded mainly on the Raleigh tract) and of the
-rosy prospects of the society was published “by command.” The cost
-of a buss, equipped and provisioned for four months, was set down
-at £835; the herrings caught in that time were calculated to fetch
-a round £1000, giving an immediate profit of £165 after meeting all
-expenses.[824]
-
-Notwithstanding the active support of the Court and the energy of
-many agents, subscriptions to the fishery society filtered in but
-slowly. The sum collected for it in the London churches in the year
-1661 amounted to the paltry total of £818, 6s. 4½d.--scarcely enough
-to set forth one buss,--and in the autumn of 1664 it was reported that
-the amount collected throughout England and Ireland was only £1076.
-The lottery, too, from which a great deal was hoped, gave rise to much
-corruption, confusion, and dispute, without notably enriching the
-society.[825] In these depressing circumstances recourse was again
-had to Parliament. On 5th March 1662 a “Bill to confirm his Majesty’s
-letters patent concerning the fishing trade” was introduced into the
-House of Commons and remitted to a committee; but it ultimately became
-transformed into a mere local Act dealing with pilchard-fishing.[826]
-The king was not yet discouraged. The Masters of the Trinity House
-were consulted in July as to the cost of ten busses he had resolved
-to build, and the amount required--£9000--was actually handed over to
-Mr Thomas King. Charles further offered to pay £200 to every person
-who had a new English-built fishing-buss ready for the fishing before
-the middle of the following year.[827] To facilitate the success of
-the society on the foreign markets, an Act was passed in 1663, after
-considerable discussion, to make the use of the Dutch system of curing
-and packing herrings compulsory, so as to avoid abuses, and bring the
-English-cured herrings into repute.[828]
-
-At a meeting of the Privy Council a few months later, Sir William
-Batten, Sir Richard Chaterton, and Sir William Ryder were appointed to
-formulate proposals for the organisation of the Royal Herring Fishery,
-and, after consultation with Simon Smith and Mr Thomas King, it was
-resolved to adopt the Dutch system and regulations and to go on with
-the scheme.[829] The next step was the issue by the king in the spring
-of 1664 of another commission under the great seal, by which the Duke
-of York and thirty-six assistants were incorporated as Governors
-and Company of the Royal Fishery of Great Britain and Ireland; the
-Lord Mayor and the Chamberlain of the City of London were appointed
-treasurers.[830]
-
-In spite of all efforts, such as they were, extremely little was
-done by the society before the outbreak of the second Dutch war. The
-slovenly way in which the business was managed and the corruption in
-regard to the finances were notorious. Pepys, who was a member of the
-council of the society, and had grave misgivings as to the issue of
-their labours, gives amusing glimpses of the proceedings in his Diary.
-He examined the accounts, and declared that “the loose and base manner
-that monies so collected are disposed of in, would make a man never
-part with a penny in that manner.” The Duke of York and the members did
-not even meet to read the king’s commission until July, and the later
-meetings were often futile from the want of a quorum. “A sad thing it
-is to see,” says Pepys, “so great a work so ill followed, for at this
-pace it can come to nothing but disgrace to us all.”[831]
-
-The failure of the attempt to establish a great national fishery to
-expel the foreigner from the British seas, after five years’ endeavour,
-was very agreeable to the Dutch, who had watched the proceedings with
-close attention, and had tried, openly and secretly, to hinder success
-whenever they had an opportunity. Immediately after the Restoration,
-the States-General, anxious to come to a good understanding with
-Charles, sent special ambassadors to London to arrange a treaty
-of friendship and alliance, and to renew previous treaties.[832]
-The negotiations which ensued dealt, among other things, with the
-fisheries, the flag, and the sovereignty of the sea. The object of De
-Witt, the great Dutch Minister, was the usual one of his countrymen on
-similar occasions--viz., to secure as far as possible the commercial
-and other privileges which had been granted by the Intercursus Magnus.
-Charles, on the other hand, wished at the very least to retain all the
-concessions that Cromwell had secured by the treaty of 1654.[833]
-
-When the Dutch ambassadors arrived, or at all events when they began
-negotiations in London, the House of Commons had already taken up the
-question of the fisheries. Action of this kind always occasioned the
-Dutch anxiety. They knew it was directed against their predominance
-in a vital industry, and that it was usually followed by troublesome
-claims to the sovereignty of the sea and to an exclusive fishing on the
-British coasts. Here were all those questions raised in threatening
-fashion in the Bill passed by the Commons and sent up to the Lords.
-Moreover, English privateers, sailing under Swedish colours, had lately
-been seizing Dutch herring-busses, and though protests were made by the
-ambassadors, no redress was obtained.[834] The debates and proceedings
-in the House of Commons attracted immediate attention in Holland.[835]
-De Witt at once took up a firm attitude. He declared that the new
-pretension of England to the dominion of the seas and for the ruin of
-the Great Fishery would meet with the most determined resistance of the
-Republic; and, while consoling himself with the thought that reason
-had always prevailed against it in the past, he urged the ambassadors
-to use every means in their power with the Peers and the king in order
-to frustrate it. The Marquis of Ormonde, who was an intimate friend
-of Beverwaert’s and one of Charles’s Ministers, was bribed to use his
-influence to the same end. This nobleman informed the ambassador that
-when he was asked to favour the fishery project, he had answered that
-while he desired the advantage of the nation as much as any man, it
-would be first necessary to prepare for war, as it was in reality an
-affair of state; and he took credit with his Dutch friend for having
-induced many members of Parliament to oppose the Bill.[836] Whether
-these intrigues had any influence in causing the fishery question to be
-so frequently “laid aside” in Parliament can only be surmised.
-
-So much concerned were the States-General about the provisions of the
-Bill, that they despatched a special letter to be presented to the
-king, in the hope, as De Witt said, that the resolution of the Commons
-might be suspended and its execution prevented.[837] But when it became
-known in Holland that the Bill had been shelved by the dissolution of
-Parliament, and that Charles was unlikely to summon another Parliament
-for a long time, the ambassadors were told to withhold it, but at
-the same time to make its substance known to the Ministers, so that
-the king might learn of it indirectly. They were also warned to say
-nothing, in the negotiations for the treaty on which they were engaged,
-that might allow it to be supposed that the right of the Dutch to fish
-in the seas around the coast of England was derived from any treaty
-or compact, or from any concession on the part of England. On the
-contrary, it arose _jure proprio_ from the law of nature and the law of
-nations, the stipulation in the treaty of 1495 merely expressing this
-mutual right of free fishery with the view of preventing violence on
-either side.
-
-The negotiations dragged on slowly. The English commissioners showed
-no anxiety to discuss the questions of the fishery, commerce, or
-navigation, about which the Dutch were most concerned. Taking their
-stand on the Navigation Act, which Parliament had recently passed, they
-declined to listen to any proposal for free fishing on the English
-coast. The Dutch ambassadors grew hopeless of being able to conclude a
-treaty satisfactory to the States, and this feeling was strengthened
-by the jealousy and resentment which the English began to manifest
-concerning the simultaneous negotiations that were going on between
-Paris and The Hague.[838] Foreseeing the difficulties likely to arise
-with England over the fishery question, De Witt had made a dexterous
-move. In the negotiations with France for a treaty between the two
-countries, he proposed that an article should be inserted reciprocally
-guaranteeing the right of free fishing in the sea to the subjects of
-each nation against any that might endeavour to interfere with it. A
-similar proposal had been made to France in 1653, but was rejected
-owing to the desire of the French Government to avoid irritating
-Cromwell.[839] Even now, when international conditions were more
-favourable for its acceptance, the French looked askance at it, and
-asked the States to define precisely their position as to the right of
-fishery. They said in reply that they claimed the right of fishing in
-the open sea by the law of nations; that it was a right independent of
-any treaties, which merely illustrated and explained it, and was like
-the liberty of commerce and navigation--free and open to all. The two
-countries should therefore, it was urged, agree mutually to support
-one another in the free exercise of this common right. In substance
-this was clearly a demand that France should combine with them to
-resist the English pretension to the sovereignty of the sea, on the
-point in which it chiefly affected the United Provinces--namely, the
-fishery. The French met it by suggesting that, as a _quid pro quo_, the
-States should guarantee them in the same way against the claim of the
-English to make French ships lower their flag to them in the narrow
-seas. France, as we have seen, was not troubled by England about the
-fishery, although many French vessels fished off the English coast.
-On the other hand, the Dutch had formally agreed to strike to English
-ships by the treaty of 1654,--a ceremony that France declined to
-render, and avoided as far as possible. De Witt saw that if the States
-gave the guarantee desired, it would place in the hands of the French
-the power to compel them to take up arms against England at any time
-they chose, and he instructed the Dutch ambassadors, if they could not
-evade the proposal altogether, to request a declaration, in writing,
-of the precise claims concerning the striking of the flag which the
-King of France put forward as against the King of England. He said the
-obligation of the States to strike was indisputable; but it was not
-a recognition of England’s pretended dominion of the sea, but merely
-a formal deference that republics had always shown to monarchies. De
-Witt privately expressed the opinion that the French would hesitate to
-formulate in writing any claim of that kind, and the result proved his
-foresight. The French ambassador in London made certain overtures to
-Charles without receiving a satisfactory reply, and the French proposal
-for a guarantee about the flag was dropped.
-
-A diplomatic tussle then took place as to whether the word “fishery”
-should appear in the treaty. The French were anxious to keep it out,
-and the Dutch as desirous that it should be expressly included. Later,
-De Witt seemed disposed to concede the point, provided other words
-could be found which would “clearly stipulate, in express terms, that
-if their subjects were molested in their fishery the French would carry
-out against those who molested them the guarantee promised.” At this
-stage, however,--March 1662,--the Dutch towns insisted on the fishery
-guarantee being absolutely explicit. The states most concerned--Holland
-and West Friesland--unanimously passed a resolution that if France
-refused to agree to the word “fishery” being inserted, the negotiations
-should be broken off and the ambassadors recalled. Louis XIV. then gave
-way. “I must admit,” he wrote to his ambassador in London, “that I have
-the same interest in this guarantee as the Dutch, since the right of
-fishing may just as well be refused by England to my subjects as to
-those of the States-General.”[840] The treaty was signed on 27th April
-1662, and in the fourth article the two contracting Powers mutually
-agreed to assist one another in protecting their fishermen from those
-who might molest them.[841]
-
-The stipulation in the treaty with France was a notable triumph for
-De Witt. For the first time in their history the Dutch had succeeded
-in formally binding another Power to help them in resisting the
-English claims to the sovereignty of the sea, so far as concerned the
-liberty of fishing. Should Charles II. wish to emulate the exploits
-of his father by sending a fleet to force licenses on the Dutch
-herring-busses, he would now have to reckon on the combined opposition
-of France and the United Provinces. The triumph was, however, a barren
-one, and the treaty had no practical effect. Within a few years the
-Dutch Republic was in the throes of war, first with England, and then
-with England and France, and other treaties took its place. It had,
-however, an immediate influence upon the policy of Charles, who feared
-an alliance of the two Continental Powers against England. When he
-heard of the negotiations about the fishery guarantee he tried, both
-at Paris and at The Hague, to prevent an agreement being reached, and
-the obstacles which he interposed delayed the conclusion of the treaty.
-Sir George Downing, the English ambassador in Holland, who had taken
-a prominent part in the debates in the Commons on the Fishery Bill,
-and whose hostile sentiments to the Dutch were notorious, took up an
-unusual attitude. He assured De Witt that since the United Provinces
-were a republic and did not seek to encroach on England, they might
-freely continue their fishery without fearing the least trouble; but
-England could never allow that France, a monarchy, and a bold and
-enterprising nation, should have unrestricted liberty of fishing
-on the English coasts. It was feared, he said, that by its fishery
-the abundance of mariners and the increase in shipping which would
-follow would make it formidable to England, and this the English, in
-accordance with their political maxims, would prevent. The French had
-frequently requested and received licenses for a limited number of
-vessels to fish in English waters, sometimes for the king’s table. If,
-therefore, he continued, the proposed guarantee were agreed to, the
-Republic as well as France would be _de facto_ at war with England,
-because England would never leave the French fishermen at peace.
-The same language was used by Downing to many of the deputies of
-the States-General, in the hope of frightening them, but it made no
-impression. “I have declared to Downing,” wrote De Witt, “that sooner
-than acknowledge this imaginary sovereignty over the seas, or even
-receive from the English, as a concession, that freedom of navigation
-and fishing which belongs to us by natural right and the law of
-nations, we would shed our last drop of blood.”[842]
-
-The inflexible attitude of De Witt, and the actual conclusion of the
-treaty with France, extinguished for a time the hope of compelling the
-Dutch to acknowledge the right of England to the exclusive fishing
-along her coasts, and the proposal was not pressed upon the ambassadors
-in London during the dilatory negotiations for the Anglo-Dutch
-treaty. With regard to the striking of the flag, Charles received
-more satisfaction. The tenth article of the treaty, which was signed
-at Whitehall on 4/14 September 1662, stipulated that Dutch ships,
-whether men-of-war or others, should strike their flag and lower their
-top-sails on meeting an English man-of-war on the British seas. It was
-indeed precisely the same clause as that contained in Cromwell’s treaty
-of 1654, except that certain verbal alterations were made in accordance
-with the change in the form of the English government.[843]
-
-In the earlier years of the reign of Charles II., comparatively little
-was heard of disputes about the flag, which afterwards became so
-frequent and important. One instance occurred in 1662, when a Dutch
-vessel that was in Yarmouth Roads without a commission was taken to the
-Downs for refusing to lower her sails to a king’s ship.[844] A case
-of much greater interest happened in the previous year, when Captain
-R. Holmes, in command of the _Royal Charles_, allowed the ship of the
-Swedish ambassador to pass him on the Thames without compelling it to
-strike. As the English Admiralty were always punctilious in enforcing
-the salute on state occasions, as when a foreign ambassador was
-concerned, Holmes for his remissness was deprived of his command.[845]
-The case of Holmes had some interesting consequences. It revealed
-once more the want of precise knowledge at the Admiralty as to the
-rules which should be followed in making foreign ships strike their
-flag. The Duke of York, who was the Lord High Admiral, was himself
-ignorant on the point, and he asked the principal officials about
-it--Sir George Carteret, the treasurer; Coventry, his own secretary;
-Sir William Batten and Sir William Penn, commissioners of the navy and
-experienced naval officers; and lastly Mr Pepys, who was the clerk to
-the navy. It appears, however, that though they all “did do as much as
-they could,” the information they possessed was of the scantiest kind.
-Pepys tells us that he knew nothing about it himself, and was forced
-“to study a lie” by fathering an improbable story on Selden, on the
-spur of the moment; but on the same evening the genial diarist bought
-a copy of Selden’s _Mare Clausum_ and sat up at nights diligently
-studying it, with the view of writing a treatise “about the business
-of striking sail” to present to the Duke. After nearly six weeks’
-inquiry and cogitation the Admiralty officials “agreed upon some things
-to answer to the Duke about the practice of striking of the flags,”
-which encouraged Pepys to persevere with his treatise, but it was never
-completed.[846]
-
-A case of greater international importance occurred in the
-Mediterranean in the following year. Vice-Admiral Sir John Lawson was
-co-operating with De Ruyter against the Algerine pirates, and when the
-fleets met, the Dutch admiral saluted the English flag with guns and by
-lowering his own flag. Lawson returned the guns, but he did not strike
-his flag, as was the custom in distant seas, and De Ruyter, indignant
-at the slight, resolved not to strike his flag in future either, on
-the ground that he was not in British waters, and that he had verbal
-orders which authorised him in refusing. When De Witt heard of his
-intentions, he immediately sent instructions in the name of the States
-of Holland strictly to observe the treaty, and declaring that the
-lowering of the flag must not be confined to British waters, since that
-might be interpreted into subjection to English dominion of the seas.
-If the English admiral again declined to lower his flag in return, De
-Ruyter was merely to report the fact to the States.[847] The action of
-De Witt was not designed simply to avoid a quarrel. As will be seen
-later, it expressed his settled conviction and the fixed policy of the
-Republic on this thorny subject.
-
-All such questions as to the flag and the fisheries were soon submerged
-in the second Dutch war. The causes which brought it about were at
-root the same as those which had led up to the first. Commercial
-jealousy was always a smouldering flame, ready to burst into a great
-conflagration. The English believed that the Dutch had juggled them out
-of their trade and trading rights in several quarters of the globe, and
-with some reason. But probably the real motive was succinctly stated
-by Monk, now Duke of Albemarle, when he said that the essential cause
-of the quarrels between the two nations was that the English wanted a
-larger share of the trade of the Dutch. Charles himself, like his great
-Minister, the Chancellor Clarendon, seems to have been disinclined to
-the war, which, however, was advocated strongly by the Duke of York,
-who supported the contention of the merchants that it would benefit
-English commerce. Accusations were levelled against the Dutch of having
-by fraud and stratagem driven English trade almost entirely from the
-East and West Indies, and greatly reduced it in the Mediterranean and
-in Africa. These complaints were echoed in Parliament, and in April
-1664 a resolution was passed by the two Houses declaring that the
-wrongs and outrages committed by the Dutch on our merchants in India,
-Africa, and elsewhere were “the greatest obstruction of our foreign
-trade,” and that the king should be asked to “take some speedy course
-for redress.” John de Witt fruitlessly endeavoured by all honourable
-means to avert hostilities. The warlike and marauding expedition of
-Holmes (now restored to favour) against the Dutch settlements on the
-west coast of Africa and in America was followed, as it was bound to
-be, by the retaliatory expedition of De Ruyter, which gave the English
-the pretext for declaring war in the spring of 1665.[848]
-
-The war was exceedingly popular in England, and large sums were
-willingly voted by the House of Commons. Pepys tells us that the Court
-were “mad” for it, and another contemporary writer says it was the
-universal wish of the people.[849] Thus no appeal to the national
-passion of Englishmen about the sovereignty of the sea was required
-on this occasion, and such references as were made to the subject
-were of a formal kind. One of the accusations which the Parliament
-flung at the Dutch was that they had “proclaimed themselves Lords of
-the South Sea; and, in contempt, shot at and use other indignities
-to our royall flag, thereby affronting his Majesty and this nation.”
-Then, in the preamble of the Act granting money for the equipment of
-a fleet, it was declared to be “for the preservation of his Majesty’s
-ancient and undoubted sovereignty and dominion in the seas”;[850] and
-in his instructions to the Duke of York as Lord High Admiral, the king
-said the great fleet he had prepared was “to assert his right to the
-dominion of the Narrow Seas,” and for the mastery of the sea and the
-security of navigation.[851] But these phrases were to be expected. For
-the same reason, popular literature on England’s dominion of the seas
-was on this occasion scanty, though some attempts were made to excite
-national animosity by the familiar arguments.[852]
-
-The general course of the war, in which France, and then Denmark,
-combined with the United Provinces against England, does not concern
-us here.[853] It did not add fresh laurels to the brow of Charles
-II. as Sovereign of the Sea. Three great sea-fights took place--off
-Lowestoft, on 13th June 1665; in the Straits of Dover, from 11th to
-14th June 1666 (the Four Days’ Battle); and off the North Foreland,
-on 4th August in the same year. In the first and last the English
-were successful; in the Four Days’ Battle the advantage lay with the
-Dutch; but the war ended in naval disaster and national humiliation for
-England. In June 1667, when the plenipotentiaries were quietly sitting
-at Breda leisurely engaged in arranging terms of peace, De Ruyter,
-with Cornelius the brother of John de Witt, suddenly appeared in the
-mouth of the Thames, and sent up a squadron which seized Sheerness
-and Chatham, and might have gone to London Bridge for all the king
-could have done to prevent it. They burned the best ships of the great
-fleet which was to have “asserted England’s dominion of the sea”;
-London was paralysed with consternation and amazement,--Pepys locked
-his father and wife in a bedroom to save them from the perils of a
-sack,--and while Monk, the one stout heart among them, posted down to
-Gravesend “in his shirt,” the libertine monarch was engaged with his
-mistresses in pursuing “a poor moth” about the supper-room! For many
-weeks afterwards, until the peace of Breda, De Ruyter rode triumphant
-in the narrow seas, and England was in terror of a French invasion, not
-knowing of the ignoble intrigue in which Louis and Charles were now
-engaged.
-
-Passing from these notorious blots on English history, and before
-considering the relevant business in the negotiations for peace, a
-word or two must be said of some of the minor events and consequences
-of the war. During its continuance the fisheries of England, and still
-more those of the United Provinces, suffered severely. In January 1665,
-before war was declared, but when it was obvious it might break out
-at any moment, the States-General laid an embargo on the fisheries
-and on all shipping,--a measure which, it was reported in England,
-furnished them with 30,000 men for their navy. The stoppage of the
-fishing was a heavy blow to those dependent on it, and advantage was
-taken of the fact by the English, who tempted the Dutch fishermen by
-offering licenses, for a nominal payment, which would enable them
-to fish notwithstanding the war. The States of Holland, however,
-forbade the acceptance of the obnoxious licenses, “considering that
-it might be of very dangerous consequence, as making the inhabitants
-of these countries indirectly tributary to the King of England”; and
-the treasurer of the herring fishery at Maassluis, who had purchased
-some of them, was severely censured and forbidden to make use of them.
-Notwithstanding this patriotic resolution, it appears that private
-cupidity in some cases prevailed, and a few licenses were accepted
-in the following year. One of these, dated 21st November 1666, was
-granted on the petition of one, Gisbert Petersen, of “Scheveling”
-(Scheveningen), the captain of the “sailing waggons” of the Prince of
-Orange, who “wafted” the king on board his fleet at the Restoration.
-It gave him authority, in his vessel, the _Young Prince of Orange_,
-“to fish in any part of our seas, not being within ... leagues of
-land,” and to carry the fish which were caught to Holland; and in
-certain circumstances he was to have the freedom of English ports. The
-Scandinavian name of the recipient, and the circumstances recited,
-throw doubt on the genuineness of the case. The license was renewed on
-7th June 1667.[854]
-
-A much more interesting concession for fishing in all parts of the
-British seas, irrespective of distance from shore, was granted by
-Charles in the same year, though not to subjects of the United
-Provinces. The citizens of Bruges, in Flanders, where the king had
-received friendly treatment when in exile, petitioned him to allow
-all the sworn burgers and citizens of that city to fish “freely and
-frankly” at all times, to the number of fifty busses or other vessels
-fit for fishing, on the seas and coasts of his kingdoms; to enter the
-ports and rivers to buy necessaries, for shelter, and to dry their
-nets, and to depart without molestation, on giving security not to
-sell fish to his enemies.[855] Charles granted them a charter under
-the great seals of England and Scotland, giving them liberty to fish
-with fifty vessels at a time for herrings or any kind of fish in the
-British seas, up to the coasts or shores, with the privilege of drying
-their nets on land, and using English or Scottish ports in security.
-The Duke of Lennox and Richmond, the High Admiral of Scotland, and
-others concerned were commanded to treat the vessels of Bruges with
-friendship, “in whatever part of the sea, whether near the shores, in
-rivers, or ports” they might be.[856] The fishermen of Bruges continued
-to fish near our shores, in terms of this charter, and even from our
-harbours, until 1850, and the charter was regarded by the English
-authorities as spurious.[857]
-
-By granting this charter, it is not unlikely that Charles also hoped
-to strike a blow at the fisheries of the Dutch Republic. While
-refusing to allow their subjects to accept any compromising English
-license or concession for fishing, the States-General tried to bring
-about a mutual and equitable arrangement. Early in 1665 they issued
-instructions that English fishermen should not be attacked till further
-orders; and in October of the same year--that is, when, in peaceful
-times, Dutch fishermen would have been taking part in the profitable
-fishing at Yarmouth--one of their naval officers delivered an official
-letter to the Bailiffs of that town, intimating that orders had been
-given to all their admirals, commanders, and captains at sea that no
-English fisherman was to be molested, and expressing a hope that a
-similar Christian forbearance (_medelijdentheyt_) might be shown to
-Dutch fishermen on the part of England. No answer was returned, but
-an emphatic response was made a week or two later when the _Sapphire_
-seized several Dutch fishing vessels and brought them into port,--a
-circumstance which also shows that the embargo had not been strictly
-observed.[858] In the following year the embargo was officially
-continued, the “small” or fresh-herring fishery carried on along the
-coast being excepted;[859] but after the defeat of the English fleet
-in the beginning of June, the deep-sea fishing appears to have been
-partially resumed. Early in August reports reached London from Yarmouth
-and Whitby that the Holland busses and doggers were fishing off the
-land, and had been seen by our fishermen. They were said to number 400
-and to be guarded by eight convoyers, and it was rumoured the English
-fleet had gone in pursuit and sunk eighty busses; and a few doggers
-were in reality brought in. It was again reported later that a fleet
-of busses was fishing off the coast of Suffolk, attended by seventeen
-ships of war.[860] If the retaliation of the Dutch was less effective,
-it was because the English fishermen carried on their industry close
-to their own ports; to which, moreover, they were often confined by
-fear of the Dutch privateers, which boldly hovered about the coast, and
-the sight of a sail was enough to frighten them back.[861] After Van
-Ghent had burned the English ships in the Thames and the Dutch were
-supreme at sea, the States of Holland withdrew the embargo on the Great
-Fishery, and when peace was proclaimed the _schuyts_ again took part in
-the autumn fishing at Yarmouth.[862]
-
-It has been already mentioned that France, which had bound itself by
-the recent treaty to aid the United Provinces, declared war against
-England in January 1666, but Louis showed great reluctance to begin
-actual hostilities; and one of the diplomatic obstacles which served
-to delay the junction of the French and Dutch fleets referred to
-the striking of the flag. A French squadron of thirty sail had been
-equipped under the Duke de Beaufort, and Louis required that the Dutch
-admiral should salute not only the Admiral of France, but the vice-
-and rear-admirals; and further, that the French admiral should not be
-required to lower his flag in returning the salute of the Dutch. The
-States-General were willing that their admiral should strike to De
-Beaufort first, but they demanded that the latter should return the
-salute in a similar manner. The French, who were apparently anxious
-to be placed in the same position as England with respect to this
-ceremony, argued that the English did not re-salute the Dutch fleet by
-striking the flag, but only returned the guns, citing the treaty of
-1662 and the actual practice; and they proudly boasted that the flag
-of the Admiral of France had never at any time been lowered to that
-of any nation. To this De Witt replied that they were willing to give
-the same respect to the French as they did to the English; that the
-re-salute was not expressly mentioned in the treaty because it was a
-well-understood custom on their own coast; and that in point of fact
-the English did return the salute, as had been done by Admiral Montague
-(the Earl of Sandwich) in 1661 and by Vice-Admiral Lawson on meeting
-De Ruyter. If on some occasions it was omitted by the English, it was
-on the seas they called “British,” and was to be attributed to the
-claim they pretended to the dominion of the seas--a claim which France
-and the Republic had solemnly agreed by treaty to resist. If a similar
-claim was now advanced by France, it would argue a like pretension to
-maritime sovereignty by a nation which had engaged itself to preserve
-the liberty of the sea. Moreover, the salute at sea between the fleets
-of two sovereign states was not an act of submission of an inferior
-to a superior, but one of civility, honour, and respect, and should
-therefore be mutual and equal. They, as a republic, offered to strike
-first, and to keep their flag lowered until the French admiral had
-struck and re-hoisted his flag. This discussion about the re-salute was
-prolonged, extending from June 1666 to July 1667, for De Witt was not a
-man lightly to agree to diminish the dignity of his country; and after
-the peace conference met at Breda, and De Ruyter was master of the sea,
-the Dutch roundly declared they would not strike to the French admiral
-at all, unless he agreed to return the salute by dipping his flag, but
-would only salute him with guns.[863]
-
-At the conferences at Breda Charles had little right to expect that he
-would gain much, in view of the inglorious events at the end of the
-war. He retained New Amsterdam (re-named New York), which Holmes had
-taken in 1664, but he lost Poleroon and Surinam, and relinquished the
-claims which had been put forward to justify the war. An important
-concession was made to the Dutch by a modification of the Navigation
-Act, for a repeal of which they pressed, by a stipulation, in separate
-articles, that they might import into England in Dutch vessels all
-commodities produced or manufactured in Germany or Flanders, for which,
-it was claimed, the United Provinces were the natural outlet to the
-sea; and all the essential articles of the commercial treaty of 1662
-were confirmed.[864] All pretensions to exclusive fishing off the
-British coasts were withdrawn; the old stipulations of the Burgundy
-treaties were not, however, renewed.
-
-With regard to the “honour of the flag,” De Witt, in the preliminary
-negotiations, strove to come to an arrangement with France and Denmark,
-who were also parties to the treaty, to compel England to relinquish
-her claim to pre-eminence in this matter, especially by insisting
-that English vessels should return the salute by lowering their
-flag.[865] Charles was saved from this humiliation by the good offices
-of Louis, and the article in the treaty of 1662 was simply repeated in
-precisely the same words.[866] Another of the maritime articles gave
-less contentment in England. We have already seen how persistently
-the Dutch had struggled in deliberating on the terms of the treaty
-of 1654 to restrict the application of the term “British Sea” to the
-Channel. What they were then unable to accomplish was now conceded to
-them. In the usual article about the cessation of hostilities on the
-sea, it was specified that restitution of prizes should not be made
-if they were taken “in the Channel or British Sea within the space of
-twelve days, and the same in the North Sea; and within the space of six
-weeks from the mouth of the Channel unto the Cape of St Vincent.”[867]
-In the treaty with France, signed at Breda on the same day, the
-French plenipotentiaries took care that the terms English Channel or
-British Sea in the corresponding clause were omitted, the neutral if
-indefinite phrase “the neighbouring seas” (_maria proxima_) being
-substituted.[868] In the similar treaty with Denmark, the phraseology
-was even less tender to English susceptibilities--namely, “in the
-Northern Ocean and in the Baltic Sea and the Channel, &c.”[869]
-However trifling such points may appear to us now, they had a real
-importance in the seventeenth century, and the phraseology cited caused
-some heart-burning in England as being derogatory to our rights to the
-dominion of the British seas.[870]
-
-For some years after the conclusion of peace at Breda, and indeed up
-to the opening of the third Dutch war, the question of the salute was
-a frequent subject of international discussion. Dutch statesmen had
-always wished to come to a definite arrangement with England about it,
-for they saw that to leave it in ambiguity while the English looked
-upon it as touching their national honour, was fraught with danger. A
-whole series of points was in doubt, any one of which might furnish
-occasion for war unless clearly defined and mutually understood. Was
-a whole fleet or squadron of the States to strike to a single English
-ship of war? Were they to strike to a frigate, or to a still smaller
-ship, such as a ketch, or only to ships carrying the flag of an
-admiral, vice-admiral, or rear-admiral? Was the salute to be returned
-by the English in the same way, by dipping the flag and lowering the
-top-sails as well as by guns? Within what parts of the sea was the
-salute to be enforced, or differentiated, or the re-salute given?
-English statesmen purposely left many of these points undefined, in
-order to gain as wide a recognition of the ceremony as was possible,
-and when disputes did arise with other Powers, to enable them to avoid
-war or to make war as circumstances and policy might determine. They
-held that England, and England alone, was the rightful interpreter of
-what was due to her flag by ancient custom. On the other hand, the
-Dutch Republic looked upon the whole business as a troublesome affair;
-and as the greatest commercial nation of the time, whose chief interest
-was peace, they naturally desired that the dubious points about the
-salute should be permanently settled.
-
-Immediately after the conclusion of the Triple Alliance against France,
-at the beginning of 1668,[871] De Witt, taking advantage of the good
-feeling existing between England and the Netherlands, and especially
-of the presence of Sir William Temple as English ambassador at The
-Hague, proposed that a formal settlement should be made of the doubtful
-points concerning the striking of the flag. Temple, who was a staunch
-friend of the Dutch and was on intimate terms with De Witt, shared
-this opinion. He thought that by a slight concession, or by a definite
-agreement, England might count with some confidence on the support of
-the States-General in any future quarrel with other nations about the
-flag. The subject was formally raised by De Witt on a proposal for
-a union of the Dutch and English fleets, in certain contingencies,
-against France. He offered to give the same honour to the king’s ships
-at sea as their ambassadors gave to his Majesty’s person, “to uncover
-first and cover last”; but stipulated that any agreement about the
-flag must not be regarded as an acknowledgment of England’s pretension
-to the sovereignty of the sea, which the Dutch would “die rather than
-do.” Knowing that it was a “delicate” subject to broach with the
-King of England, he thought the negotiations might be opened by the
-States-General sending a polite letter to Charles, laying stress on the
-good relations between the two nations, and intimating that in order to
-prevent sinister encounters which any new sourness might occasion, they
-had issued orders to all their naval officers to strike their flag with
-every mark of civility on meeting with the royal flag of England. The
-king was then (according to the scheme) to inform the States-General
-that he had received this mark of deference to his royal dignity with
-singular satisfaction, and that he on his part would order his admirals
-and commanders to re-salute the States’ flag. Temple thought the matter
-was so “ticklish,” that it ought to be first broached verbally at a
-fitting opportunity; and De Witt, in advising the Dutch ambassadors in
-London to this effect, reminded them that the salute was merely a mark
-of honour and respect, and that if anything was put into writing this
-should be expressed. He added that he had never been able to understand
-how it could be conceived that the free element of the sea, or dominion
-over it, could belong to England or to any nation, and that in Holland
-the common right of sovereignty of all nations over it was held to be
-incontestable.
-
-When, about a month afterwards, the ambassadors spoke to the king, he
-said he did not see how the question could be ambiguous, since it was
-provided for in the treaty. They pointed out that the re-salute was
-not mentioned, and then used the arguments which De Witt had put into
-their mouths about its being a ceremony of respect which it would be
-only reasonable and courteous to return, just as his Majesty would
-do, sitting on his throne, in response to the salutations of the
-ambassadors of the Republic; and they adduced one or two instances in
-which the English ships had returned the salute. Charles told them they
-were possibly thinking of the custom in the Mediterranean, which was
-different from all the other seas (meaning the British seas), and said
-he claimed nothing but the old practice; but he promised to look into
-the matter. The ambassadors did not press the subject further, and the
-important declaration they had been charged to make, that in future the
-States’ ships would refuse to strike unless the salute was returned in
-the same way, remained unspoken. Shortly afterwards, when the States
-were asked to send some of their warships to strengthen the squadron
-of Sir Thomas Allin, who was ordered to enforce the restitution of
-some English vessels seized by the French, they refused, unless the
-difficulties about the flag were first settled, and the discussion
-continued throughout the summer.
-
-It is interesting to note, in view of the antecedents of the next war,
-that the ambassadors were instructed to say that the States’ fleet
-would not strike, even in the Channel, to a frigate or ketch, which
-did not customarily carry the royal flag in the main-top, but only to
-an admiral’s ship, or one carrying the royal flag. This contention
-was promptly set aside by the Duke of York and Lord Arlington (the
-Secretary for State); but De Witt, still clinging to the hope that a
-“regulation” might be arranged, asked the ambassadors to find out the
-instructions which were actually issued to the English captains serving
-in the Downs, the Channel, the North Sea, the Mediterranean, and the
-Ocean, as it was generally believed in Holland that outside the Channel
-neither side should strike the flag or lower the sails to the other,
-but that the States’ ships should first salute with guns alone, and the
-English answer with guns also. In any case, if the principal fleets of
-the two countries were combined for any purpose, or jointly brought
-into action, it was to be first arranged that they should salute one
-another with guns only, or at all events in an equal and reciprocal
-manner, the Dutch always giving the salute first; and the ambassadors
-were to insist earnestly and finally for a settlement.
-
-The ambassadors informed De Witt that, as was shown in the copy of
-the instructions found on board the _Charity_, an English man-of-war
-taken by the Dutch in the battle of Lowestoft, in 1665, and which
-was published by Aitzema, the commander of an English man-of-war was
-to compel every foreign ship, or ships, to strike their flag in the
-British seas, and that in these seas no English king’s ship was to
-strike to any foreign ship. In all other seas the English ship was
-never to strike to a foreigner unless the latter struck first or at the
-same time. According to this, they said, a single English man-of-war
-could compel a whole fleet to strike their flags and lower their
-top-sails in the so-called British seas, and it was forbidden for it
-to strike in return. In all other seas, if the foreign ship did not
-strike, the English would not strike, and no salute would be exchanged.
-They said this was well known to be the regular formula in England,
-and no distinction was drawn between the Channel and other “pretended
-English seas.” The “British seas,” they said, according to the
-Admiralty instructions, extended to Cape Finisterre, in Galicia, and
-westwards, according to Selden, to America. It would be an excellent
-thing, they thought, if they could succeed in drawing a distinction
-between the Channel and the other seas, since their fisheries, the main
-object of solicitude, were carried on, not in the Channel, but in the
-North Sea. But as the whole subject was very delicate, they advised
-De Witt to pass from it for the time and to allow things to remain
-on their old footing; and to show the spirit in which the matter was
-regarded in England, they sent him specimens of the coin issued by
-Charles a few years before, which bore the king’s effigy on one side
-with the inscription _Carolus a Carolo_, and on the obverse the figure
-of Britannia, with the proud words, _Quatuor Maria Vindico_.[872] De
-Witt, who had just arranged with Temple that the matter should be
-brought to the notice of the king, acquiesced, but with reluctance.
-He expressed satisfaction that they now at least knew more about the
-English pretension, so that fresh hostility and war could be avoided on
-that point; but that an English frigate or ketch should claim to compel
-a whole fleet to strike was, he said, intolerable. And it was this very
-thing that Charles selected to force war upon the United Provinces a
-few years later.[873]
-
-It was not only with the Dutch that discussions arose at this time as
-to the rights of the English to demand the salute. The astute Dutch
-statesman, as was his wont, began to pull diplomatic wires at other
-Courts in order to have the subject raised by them. The King of Denmark
-in the following year proposed to Charles that new regulations should
-be arranged with respect to the “salutes and civilities” at sea between
-the men-of-war of the two nations. Charles declined the invitation.
-He did not think it fit, he said, to make any new regulation on the
-salutes at sea, “since there has never been any question made of the
-constant practice in that matter, which we shall always observe.”[874]
-
-A renewed attempt to convince the French that it was to their interest
-to curtail the English claim to the sovereignty of the sea had
-consequences little dreamt of by De Witt. The Dutch Minister, clinging
-to his principle, urged at Paris that Charles, who wished to be the
-supreme ruler of the sea, ought to be forced to modify his pretension
-and to give the salute in return. It had indeed been rumoured in London
-that the French king had decided to forbid his naval commanders to
-strike to the English, and even to compel both English and Dutch to
-strike to his own flag.[875] Louis certainly raised the question at the
-Court of St James’s, but in a different way. Colbert, his ambassador
-there, secretly revealed to Charles the confidential negotiations which
-the States-General had opened at Paris, in the hope that this mark of
-confidence would make more easy his policy of detaching the King of
-England from the Triple Alliance.[876] By this time Charles and Louis
-were drawing closer together, and in order to prevent chance disputes
-about the flag, a verbal arrangement was made through Colbert, in the
-summer of 1669, that no salutes should be exchanged between English
-and French men-of-war in the Mediterranean, nor should the ship of one
-be expected to go to leeward of the other. Instructions of this tenour
-were given to Sir Thomas Allin, who was on the point of leaving with a
-squadron to chastise the Barbary pirates.[877]
-
-About this time the Duke of York and the officials of the navy began
-to devote close attention to the rules regulating the salute and
-the striking of the flag, and a number of memoranda were prepared
-which described recent precedents, and dealt with other points. With
-reference to recent practice, it was stated that the Earl of Sandwich
-had struck in return to De Ruyter in 1661 or 1662; that Sir John Lawson
-declared he would strike to none, and kept his flag aloft in Toulon
-harbour; while Sir William Berkeley, serving under Lawson, refused even
-to fire a gun on meeting De Beaufort, the Admiral of France, until he
-was assured that the report attributed to him that he would force the
-English to strike was unfounded. A statement was compiled of the number
-of guns fired in salute to English vessels arriving in various foreign
-ports, and rules were formulated with respect to the salutation of
-forts and on other points. The general custom was that “the sea should
-salute the land”--that is, the vessel first saluted the forts, except
-on extraordinary occasions, as when a prince or an important foreign
-embassy arrived. No foreign man-of-war was to be allowed to pass above
-the ports at Gravesend and Sheerness, or at any other harbour, without
-special permission from the Lord High Admiral or the governor of the
-fort; all vessels were to keep in their flag as long as they were
-in sight of the fort, and if they refused they were to be forced to
-comply; salutes of foreign flagships were to be answered gun for gun,
-and of other foreign ships with two guns less. As for the striking of
-the flag, the Earl of Sandwich and other naval authorities who were
-consulted intimated that the matter was too important for them to
-decide upon, and should be left to the king--a plain acknowledgment
-of its political character. The Duke of York, however, the Lord High
-Admiral, stated that the rule was that English ships were everywhere to
-be saluted first, and were not to strike in return, but only to answer
-with guns; but if a single English ship met a foreign fleet out of the
-British seas, it was to salute first with guns, but neither was to
-strike the flag.[878]
-
-This activity at the English Admiralty may not have been wholly
-unconnected with the circumstances which ushered in the next war, but
-it was more probably due to the general revival of punctiliousness
-regarding the salute and similar naval ceremonies which took place at
-this time throughout Europe. Even the petty states in the Mediterranean
-became infected with the spirit of their powerful neighbours, and
-followed their example. At Genoa and Leghorn frequent disputes, and
-sometimes sanguinary encounters, occurred between the authorities and
-Dutch and English men-of-war as to the number of guns that should
-be fired, or the striking of the flag. French and Dutch men-of-war
-lying in the Tagus were only prevented by the governor of the castle
-from putting to the arbitrament of force the question whether the
-latter should strike to the former. At Civita Vecchia, at Glückstadt,
-at Dover, at Dieppe, at Kronberg, similar incidents took place. The
-Earl of Essex, going on a special embassy to the King of Denmark,
-and on board the king’s yacht, had a sharp dispute with the Governor
-of Kronberg, in the Sound, as to lowering his flag, which the Danish
-officer requested him to do. But Essex was well primed with precedents
-before he left England, and was able to maintain his refusal.[879]
-Though Dutch men-of-war engaged with spirit in such quarrels about
-the salute in foreign ports, their action was not countenanced by the
-policy of the States-General. On 16th May 1670 they instructed that
-the fort of Kronberg should be saluted by Dutch vessels in such manner
-as the King of Denmark might require; and on 3rd February next year
-the States of Holland issued a general order that their men-of-war
-should salute those of other sovereigns on their coasts, within the
-reach of the guns of batteries or forts, in the precise manner that
-the Government of the country might demand, leaving it entirely to the
-discretion of that Government to return the salute or not, just as they
-pleased. Every foreign Government, they added, was sovereign within its
-own jurisdiction, and every foreigner was a subject there.[880]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-
-CHARLES II.--_continued_.
-
-THE THIRD DUTCH WAR.
-
-
-The “honour of the flag” and the sovereignty of the sea were now
-about to gain a shameful notoriety in connection with the third Dutch
-war, which Charles, from the basest personal motives and in the most
-treacherous manner, suddenly sprang upon the Republic. At that time,
-and for long afterwards, European policy turned upon the ambitious
-designs of Louis XIV. Laying claim to the Spanish dominions, he overran
-the Low Countries in 1667 with an army of 40,000 men. The rapidity of
-the conquest and the display of formidable military power filled Europe
-with alarm; and the United Provinces, which lay nearest the scene
-of danger, were thrown into apprehension as to their own safety. In
-England popular feeling was very hostile to France, and Charles, after
-some hesitation, despatched Sir William Temple to The Hague to conclude
-an alliance against France, which he succeeded in accomplishing in
-a few days--in January 1668,--and it was adhered to by Sweden. The
-Triple Alliance thus formed was hailed with enthusiasm in England,
-and it abruptly and effectually checked Louis in the execution of his
-plans. Deeply mortified, the French king bent his energies and talents
-to detach Charles from the League, in order to wreak his vengeance on
-the Dutch Republic, and he succeeded even better than he expected.
-Charles was deeply in debt, and the expenses of his Court were heavy.
-His relations with the Parliament were becoming strained and difficult.
-Mistrust was growing up between him and his subjects, and, mindful of
-the fate of his father, he thought it prudent to secure in secret a
-wealthy and powerful ally lest rebellion again broke out in England.
-Within a year of the signing of the Triple Alliance Charles was gained
-over by France, and the compact was sealed in the disgraceful secret
-treaty of Dover in May 1670. Under the treaty Charles was to receive a
-large yearly pension from Louis, and aid in case of insurrection; he
-was to avow and re-establish the Roman Catholic religion in England
-when it could be done with safety; and he was to begin hostilities
-against the Dutch Republic when Louis required him by furnishing 4000
-men and fifty ships of war, for which he was to receive a subsidy of
-£120,000, and to gain as his share of the spoils of conquest Walcheren,
-Sluys, and Cadsand. Louis crowned the dishonourable compact with the
-appropriate gift of a new mistress to his royal ally--Mademoiselle de
-Kerouaille, afterwards the Duchess of Portsmouth, who well served the
-interests of France.[881]
-
-In order to carry out his part of the iniquitous bargain, it was
-necessary for Charles, as the vassal of France, to deceive his subjects
-and his Parliament as well as his public ally, the Dutch Republic. He
-had first to get money for the armaments, for which the subsidy from
-France was insufficient, and he had then to discover some pretext
-for the war which would make it least objectionable to the English
-people. For the former purpose he resorted to a bold subterfuge. The
-sentiment of both the Parliament and the people was hostile to France,
-and advantage was taken of this circumstance to obtain a subsidy under
-false pretences. When Parliament met in October 1670 the Lord Keeper,
-by the king’s commands, made a speech on the state of public affairs,
-in which he enlarged on the king’s need of supply; pointed to the
-great strengthening of the French navy and the decay of our own; urged
-the necessity of fitting out in the ensuing year a fleet of fifty
-sail; and dwelt upon the obligations placed upon the king by several
-treaties to exert himself for the good of Christendom, mentioning among
-others the Triple Alliance and the League with the United Provinces.
-The trick succeeded. Parliament, uneasy at the recent journey of
-Louis to Flanders and the naval preparations in France, voted a sum of
-£800,000.[882]
-
-It was also indispensable to foment ill-feeling against the Dutch,
-and to devise disputes with them so as to prepare the way for a
-rupture. Some time before this, at Genoa, a Dutch commander, Captain
-Braeckel, who had led the attack on the English ships at Chatham in
-1667, had hoisted under the Dutch colours some English flags which he
-had taken on that occasion, in derision of the English in the port.
-Charles demanded reparation and the punishment of Braeckel; and the
-States-General ultimately ordered the trophies to be given up, and sent
-them to London.[883] Later, the king complained that the States-General
-had allowed him and the English people to be insulted by lampoons,
-medals, &c., commemorating the exploits of the Dutch fleet in the
-Thames in 1667, the king suing for peace at Breda, and so forth. The
-States-General, when the king continued to press these complaints,
-seized all copies of certain lampoons and destroyed the dies of several
-of the medals. Charles then boldly accused the Grand Pensionary De Witt
-of having carried on a confidential correspondence with France with
-the object of inducing that Power to take up arms against England.
-The accusation was meant to prejudice the Dutch in the eyes of the
-Parliament; and the States, to prove their sincerity, sent fresh
-proposals for an alliance, to which Charles replied that they should
-first have offered him subsidies. The apprehension of the States that
-the king was inclined to force a quarrel on them was not lessened by
-intelligence they received that he had abandoned the Triple Alliance,
-and especially by the recall of Sir William Temple from The Hague in
-1670,--a step that followed the seizure of Lorraine by Louis.
-
-Affairs were ripening to the wished-for crisis, and Charles now
-sought for a decisive pretext, which, while making war inevitable,
-would lessen its unpopularity in England. Such a pretext was to be
-found in the “honour of the flag.” No cry was more likely to rouse
-resentment in the people than that the flag had been insulted and the
-sovereignty of the sea threatened. To insult the flag was to insult
-the nation. The king was well aware from the repeated declarations
-of the States-General that they would never willingly acknowledge
-England’s sovereignty of the sea: they had said they would “rather die
-first.” He was also doubtless fully acquainted with the fixed opinion
-of the Grand Pensionary that to claim that the whole Dutch fleet should
-strike to a single frigate or a ketch was “intolerable.” He contrived
-his measures accordingly, and decided to send one of his yachts to pass
-through the States’ fleet, on their own coast, and to fire upon them if
-they did not strike their flags in the accustomed manner. The matter
-was deliberately considered. The clause in the treaty of Breda was not
-very clear as to whether a yacht, or even a man-of-war, could compel
-the whole Dutch fleet to strike, and on the Dutch coast. Just about
-the time Temple returned from The Hague, Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge of
-the High Court of Admiralty, wrote a confidential letter to Sir Thomas
-Allin, the commander of the Blue, asking him to find out secretly,
-“as if for his own satisfaction,” whether there were any “ancient
-seamen” at Trinity House or elsewhere who were on board the _Happy
-Entrance_ when it carried the Earl of Arundel to Holland in 1636, and
-if so, whether they remembered that on entering the road of Goeree,
-in Holland, Admiral Tromp, who was at anchor there, struck his flag
-to it; and similar information was asked in regard to other cases of
-like import in 1637 and later. The question was also put to Sir Thomas,
-“How far the British Sea, or British Ocean, does in common reputation
-extend itself; and whether all that which washes the coasts of the Low
-Countries, as well as that which runs upon the French coast, has been
-anciently deemed and reputed to be British Sea?” Jenkins explained that
-he had been desired by the king to obtain proof of the striking of the
-flag as secretly as possible; and the two chief points were, (1) “Had
-not the French and the Dutch always struck to the king’s flag even on
-their own coasts? and (2) that a single ship of ours, if commissioned
-for war, though never so inconsiderable in its strength, did make
-whole squadrons and fleets of the neighbouring nations to strike,
-and particularly the Spaniards near the Spanish Netherlands and the
-subjects of the United Provinces near their coasts?”[884]
-
-The reference to the French and Spaniards was no doubt meant to conceal
-the real significance of the inquiry. The reply of the admiral seems
-not to have been preserved, but a later memorandum of Jenkins answers
-the questions as to the striking of the flag at Goeree, and in the
-other cases, in the affirmative. The Trinity House, whose opinion was
-also asked, said that it had been commonly received by them from their
-predecessors that the British seas “extend to Cape Finisterre, or the
-North Cape” (_sic_), and that the sea which washes the coast of the Low
-Countries and France had been always reputed part of the British seas.
-“To know how far it does extend northwards,” they ingenuously added,
-“we desire you will please to consult those authors who have treated
-on that subject, it not being known to a certain by us.”[885] They had
-been unable to meet with any persons who knew about the alleged cases
-of striking, so that Jenkins must have obtained the information about
-them from other sources.
-
-There can be no doubt that Charles was advised by the authorities he
-consulted on the ambiguous points in the article of Breda that (1) any
-king’s ship, however small, commissioned for war, was a “man-of-war”
-in the sense of the treaty, and could call upon the whole Dutch fleet
-to strike; (2) that the British seas included those washing the coasts
-of the United Provinces; and (3) with respect to the previous custom
-referred to in the treaty, that the Dutch had struck on their own
-coasts.
-
-Thus fortified in law and precedent, the way was clear for Charles to
-pick a quarrel with the States about the striking of the flag, and
-he despatched, not a man-of-war, nor even a frigate, but his yacht,
-the _Merlin_, for the purpose. Ostensibly it was sent to bring over
-Lady Temple, who had, by his wish, remained in Holland since her
-husband’s departure, but with orders to pass through the Dutch fleet
-then cruising in the Channel, and to fire at them until they struck
-their flags or fired back at the _Merlin_. As the French ambassador,
-who was in the secret, tersely put it to his Court, “the captain is
-to use all his powder, so as to give good cause for a quarrel.” The
-_Merlin_ on her way to Holland passed through the Dutch fleet, but
-owing to a heavy gale she could not get near enough to execute the
-king’s commands. She appears, however, to have met two Dutch men-of-war
-convoying the herring-busses, who exchanged guns with her but did
-not strike their flag.[886] But in returning, early in August, with
-Lady Temple on board, the _Merlin_, with the royal standard flying,
-came upon the States’ fleet lying at anchor beyond the Goodwins, six
-leagues from the coast of Zealand and sixteen leagues from England. The
-little yacht, while still at a distance, began to fire at the Dutch
-flagship. De Ruyter did not reply at once, but the Lieutenant-Admiral,
-Van Ghent, thinking that it was merely a question of the salute,
-returned the guns in the usual manner, and was not a little surprised
-to receive for his pains a discharge of cannon-balls. He sent an
-officer on board the yacht for an explanation, and Captain Crow, the
-commander of the _Merlin_, informed him that he had been sent to bring
-the English ambassadress with her family from Holland, and had orders
-to make the Dutch fleet lower their colours wherever he met with it.
-On hearing this, Van Ghent, on the pretext of paying a compliment to
-Lady Temple, whom he had frequently met at The Hague, went himself on
-board the _Merlin_. He told Captain Crow that the point he had raised
-was one on which he had received no orders from the States, and that
-he could not concede the claim without express commands. He declared
-his willingness to pay due respect to the English flag according to the
-former practice, but he thought it could scarcely be contended that
-the admiral and the whole fleet should strike on their own coast to a
-single vessel, and that vessel a yacht, which was only a pleasure-boat,
-or at least served only for a passage, and could not pass for a
-man-of-war. It was at all events, he said, a question which should
-first be submitted to inquiry by the two Governments.
-
-Captain Crow was puzzled and perplexed, and on Van Ghent’s departure he
-appealed to Lady Temple as to what he should do. She, seeing he did not
-relish his job and would be glad to get out of it by her help, shrewdly
-told him that he knew his orders best and what he ought to do, and
-begged him not to mind her or her children. After firing another gun,
-the _Merlin_ continued her voyage to England, leaving the Dutch fleet
-with their flags displayed, and without having fired a single angry
-shot in reply. Very naturally, Charles was irritated at the miscarriage
-of his plan. He had hoped for a sharp and unequal contest about the
-flag, the news of which would have rung from end to end of England and
-enabled him to drag the country into war to resent the affront. Crow
-was thrown into the Tower, “for refusing to do his duty towards the
-Dutch men-of-war who refused to strike to the king’s flag.” The Privy
-Council debated whether a frigate, the other class of vessel to whose
-status De Witt had objected, should not be hastily despatched to the
-Dutch fleet to draw the spark which the _Merlin_ had failed to elicit,
-by firing on every ship that refused to take in her flag. Probably
-the device was deemed to be too transparent; but it was rumoured that
-the captain of the _Reserve_, which left Deal a few days later for
-Portsmouth, had received instructions to fight the Dutch fleet if he
-met them and they did not strike,--a rumour which, it was reported,
-“deads the hearts of people lest we should have war with Holland.”
-
-Meanwhile, Sir Leoline Jenkins was requested to inquire into the
-case of the _Merlin_, presumably to see what could be made of it. He
-examined Lady Temple and others, and drew up a memorandum embodying
-the information he had received as to the extent of the British
-seas and the precedents of striking to the English flag off foreign
-coasts.[887] After citing the precedents at Goeree and elsewhere, he
-expressed an opinion against calling witnesses in such cases “for fear
-of chicane,” declaring that we had “a constant uninterrupted possession
-of the prerogative, with the highest notoriety that public immemorial
-reputation can give, in the British seas, and that the onus of making
-proof as to the non-use and enjoyment of it in some certain places or
-rencounters, as for instance the Dutch coast, or when a small sail of
-ours met a fleet of theirs, was cast by the law and by reason upon
-our opposers.”[888] The English Government did not make any immediate
-protest to the States-General about Van Ghent’s refusal to strike to
-the yacht, possibly lest they might proffer satisfaction and dispose
-of the episode; but Charles boldly told the Dutch ambassadors that he
-thought the conduct of their admiral had been premeditated.
-
-Up to this time the Dutch had failed to discern the danger which was
-approaching. After the _Merlin_ incident indeed, as Temple tells us,
-the Dutch ambassadors in London, “with as ill noses as they have,
-began to smell the powder after the Captain’s shooting.” But relying
-on the well-known animosity of the English people and Parliament to
-France, and their aversion to a rupture of the Triple Alliance, they
-fondly clung to the belief that the incident was one of the temporary
-misunderstandings about the flag which would be readily cleared up. The
-States-General were equally undiscerning, and perhaps a little more
-obtuse. They adopted a course which, however proper it might have been
-under other circumstances, now served only to play into the hands of
-Charles. A manifesto was prepared declaring that by the terms of the
-treaties with England the salute was to be regulated according to the
-custom in the past; that it could not be claimed except in British
-waters, where--as their High Mightinesses thought it well to remind the
-king--it was offered only as a mark of courtesy, and not in recognition
-of England’s pretension to the sovereignty of the sea. And in order
-that their intention might be perfectly clear, they instructed De
-Ruyter to draw up a set of rules prescribing the salute to be given
-in future by the Dutch fleet to English or French men-of-war on the
-Dutch coast, which was to be confined to the exchange of guns without
-striking the flag at all.
-
-Thus, by their own maladroitness as it happened, the States were drawn
-into precisely the dispute that Charles had been longing for--a dispute
-about the flag and the sovereignty of the sea. He replied by sending
-Downing to The Hague, in December 1671, as ambassador extraordinary,
-with a sheaf of peremptory and intolerable demands. The choice of the
-ambassador was in itself significant of much, for Downing was known to
-be repugnant to the States-General, partly from his overbearing and
-quarrelsome disposition, still more because of his unconcealed enmity
-to the Dutch people. He was to demand free trade for the English in
-the Dutch plantations in the Indies; redress and satisfaction for
-the pamphlets and medals insulting to the king; above all, he was to
-present to the States-General a memorial requiring that they should
-“solemnly and clearly acknowledge, in writing, the king’s right to the
-dominion of these seas, and that they neither do nor will dispute it,
-but expressly engage themselves that all ships or fleets of theirs,
-however numerous, shall, upon warning given by any ship or ships of
-war, carrying English colours, of what rate or bigness soever, strike
-their top-sails and lower their flags, as has been ever practised.”
-As a pendicle to this, he was to demand that Van Ghent should be
-“exemplarily punished for the insolent affront done by him to a small
-English man-of-war [the _Merlin_] in refusing to strike.” If within a
-fortnight no answer was received to this “memorial,” Downing was to
-present a sharp and peremptory note demanding an immediate reply, and
-if he did not get it within another week, he was instantly to quit The
-Hague, without giving any notice of his intention to go.
-
-While Downing was away on his explosive mission, Boreel, the Dutch
-ambassador in London, was beguiled with smooth words in order to lull
-the States-General into a feeling of security. On the eve of his
-departure, Downing told him he was going to The Hague with the object
-of strengthening the good understanding between the two countries, and
-Charles treated the ambassador with the most friendly courtesy. The
-ease with which the Dutch were being hoodwinked caused much amusement
-in Paris. But Charles was not yet quite ready. He needed a great deal
-more money than what was left of the £800,000 which the House of
-Commons had voted. Afraid to summon Parliament again, or to levy taxes
-under the prerogative as Charles I. had levied the ship-money, he had
-recourse to the daring expedient of closing the Exchequer, by which
-he robbed the public creditors of some £1,200,000, causing widespread
-ruin and commercial panic. A little later, on 21st January 1672, the
-first quarterly instalment of the subsidy of three million livres from
-Louis was landed at Rye, and escorted to the Tower by forty men of the
-Guards and a trumpeter. Now in possession of ample supplies, Charles
-hastened to throw aside the mask. Downing played his arrogant part
-at The Hague, refusing to allow any debate as to the justice of his
-demands. When he suddenly called for his passports, the States-General
-began to awaken to a truer sense of their position, menaced as they
-also were by imminent peril from France. Adopting the advice of the
-deluded Boreel, that by yielding on the question of the flag they would
-remove any inclination the English people had for war with them, since
-England really cherished enmity against France, the States-General
-agreed to comply with the claims of Charles respecting the salute. The
-concession was still joined with the offensive proviso that they gave
-it only as a mark of respect to a powerful monarch: it was, moreover,
-to be conditional on the maintenance of the Triple Alliance. Downing
-told them the offer came too late, and slunk away home, reaching London
-on 6th February, where the king, displeased with his management of the
-affair, sent him to the Tower “for not having obeyed the orders sent
-him.”
-
-The flight of Downing threw the States-General into consternation.
-Meerman, previously their ambassador at the English Court, was
-despatched in haste to London to renew the offer about the flag, to
-agree to the dismissal of Van Ghent, and to tender large subsidies
-for the king’s privy purse. At the audience with Meerman and Boreel,
-Charles skilfully evaded their proposals and expressed surprise that
-they had not submitted a formal signed paper. This they made haste to
-do, and they were then informed that it was ambiguous and obscure,
-but in what particulars they could not learn. They next submitted a
-draft to Arlington and Lauderdale, the English commissioners appointed
-to treat with them, with the request that they might amend it as
-they thought fit, but they were haughtily told that it was none of
-their business to draw up papers for the Dutch. Finally, they signed
-a written engagement to give satisfaction about the flag, but at the
-conference appointed for its reception the English refused to consider
-it, saying the time for negotiations was now past.[889]
-
-The time was now obviously ripe for a declaration of war; but Charles
-before taking this step had resolved on an audacious and treacherous
-stroke, by which he hoped to gain much plunder for himself while
-diminishing the resources of the Dutch. In spite of the solemn
-obligations of treaties for the temporary security of their shipping
-even if war broke out, it was decided to attack and capture Dutch
-merchant vessels in time of peace. Here also a ready excuse might
-be found by contriving disputes about the striking of the flag. As
-early as 26th January, Sir Robert Holmes sent an express to Arlington
-recommending the seizure of a Dutch fleet laden with salt and wine,
-which lay wind-bound at the Isle of Wight, under the convoy of three
-or four States’ men-of-war. He said that in Holland there was a great
-scarcity of salt, and that without it they could not carry on their
-fishery or provide for their garrisons; the capture of the salt fleet
-would thus overwhelm them in ruin even greater than would the loss of
-their East Indian fleet. But ships were apparently not ready for this
-venture--and, besides, it was not salt that Charles wanted. On 18th
-February orders were sent to the Mediterranean to take and sell, or to
-destroy, all Dutch shipping. On 5th March Charles wrote to the Duke
-of York commanding that, as he had received many indignities from the
-States-General, and his demand for reparation against one of their
-subjects who refused to strike his flag remained unanswered, such
-men-of-war as were ready at Portsmouth should immediately put to sea
-and seize and bring into port, with their cargoes intact, any Dutch
-vessels they met with, and destroy those that resisted. Another royal
-command on the following day included Hamburg vessels in the piratical
-order, since Dutch ships often sailed under that flag; and in this
-missive, as a sort of moral salve, the king announced that he had
-resolved to make war on the States-General.
-
-The first capture was made on 8th March, and when Boreel demanded
-restitution, he was told, boldly but incautiously, that the Dutch ships
-would be seized everywhere. The Cadiz fleet returning to the United
-Provinces had a very narrow escape, having passed up Channel on the day
-Holmes received his instructions. On the next day, 13th March, off the
-Isle of Wight, he fell in with the Smyrna fleet of fifty-six merchant
-vessels returning home from the Mediterranean with rich cargoes of
-silks, plate, cochineal, gums, &c., estimated to be worth over a
-million pounds. It was upon this fleet that Charles had been counting.
-Eleven States’ men-of-war acted as convoy to the merchantmen, many of
-which were also heavily armed as fighting ships. To deal with this
-formidable force Holmes at first had only five ships, having failed to
-effect a junction with Spragge’s squadron, from the selfish design,
-it was alleged, of keeping the prize-money among as few as possible.
-The Dutch fleet, which had been warned of their danger by Boreel, were
-on the alert. On the approach of the English the armed vessels moved
-into line to protect the defenceless merchantmen. Lord Ossory, in the
-_Resolution_, bore up to the Dutch vice-admiral and gave him a “warning
-piece” to strike his flag, and as he took no notice of it, Ossory
-gave him another and “placed it in him.” Sir Robert Holmes, in the _St
-Michael_, treated Captain Adrian de Haas, who commanded the convoy, in
-the same way, and when the latter sent his lieutenant on board the _St
-Michael_ to ascertain the cause of shooting, he was promptly clapped
-into the hold, “having, it seems,” as the English official account
-says, “given some saucy language to Sir Robert.”[890] The _St Michael_
-then poured in a broadside and the fight began. It continued until
-night, and was resumed on the following day, when Holmes was reinforced
-by three other ships, and on the day after that, as the Dutch fleet
-made its way up the Channel, defending itself with the greatest valour.
-The English were hopelessly outnumbered. They sank one Dutch man-of-war
-and captured another, with four or five of the merchant vessels, but
-all the others safely reached port. The English ships which were beaten
-off were so terribly battered and cut up that they could scarcely make
-their way back to the Downs. On the _St Michael_ alone thirty-four men
-were killed and fifty-six wounded, as well as “a great many” missing.
-
-Charles was deeply disappointed at losing the booty on which he
-had calculated. He was further annoyed when he found he could not
-confiscate the whole of the cargoes actually taken, and which Holmes
-with vainglorious exaggeration boasted “would give him credit for
-£200,000 at least.” When the question came to be decided whether the
-captured ships were lawfully good prize, Holmes and his officers
-showed the greatest reluctance to be examined. Included in the cargoes
-were goods belonging to Spaniards and subjects of other nations, but
-notwithstanding this the Council wished to confiscate everything.
-Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, opposed
-this design with great energy. The confiscation of Dutch ships and
-property in time of peace might be colourably made under the pretence
-that the owners refused to strike their flag and were the aggressors.
-But to condemn neutral goods on board as lawful prize would be, Sir
-Leoline said, to introduce “a new law of war, not so honourable for
-us to endure from others when his Majesty shall be at peace and his
-neighbours at war.” He declared that no hostile act of the Dutch,
-supposing them the aggressors, could involve a stranger not party to
-it, before a public declaration of war; and as he threatened to resign
-his office if the course was persisted in, the Council gave way, and
-restitution was made of the property of neutrals.[891]
-
-The iniquity of this shameful and deliberate attack on Dutch shipping
-in time of peace was not extenuated or obscured by the plea of the
-English Ministry that it had been caused by the obstinacy of the Dutch
-in refusing to strike the flag. The opinion of Europe was expressed in
-the remark of a French diplomatist at one of the German Courts, that
-“when the king, his master, made war on the States-General, he would
-not do so like a pirate.” An immediate result of the onslaught on the
-Smyrna fleet was to convince not only the States-General, but the
-French Court, that Charles was in earnest, and the formal declaration
-of war could not be longer delayed. On 17th March 1672, the day after
-Churchill brought the tidings to London, an Order in Council was issued
-to print and publish the declaration of war against the States-General.
-In this long, verbose, and rhetorical document of eight pages Charles
-tried hard to justify his flagrant violation of treaties. The real
-reason of the war could not be avowed, but every complaint that had
-at any time been levelled against the Dutch was now dragged forth,
-accusation being piled on accusation. The accumulated charges connected
-with the East Indies, the West Indies, and Surinam were revived and
-aggravated; the safety of trade, upon which the wealth and prosperity
-of the English people depended, was in danger; the king and nation were
-declared to have been insulted by lampoons and caricatures. But, as
-was to be expected from the antecedents, a principal ground of rupture
-was found in the flouting by the Dutch of the right of England to the
-honour of the flag and the sovereignty of the sea. “The right of the
-flag,” the king declared, “is so ancient that it was one of the first
-prerogatives of our royal predecessors, and ought to be the last from
-which this kingdom should ever depart. It was never questioned, and
-it was expressly acknowledged in the treaty of Breda; and yet this
-last summer it was not only violated by their commanders at sea, and
-that violation afterwards justified at The Hague, but it was also
-represented by them in most Courts of Christendom as ridiculous for us
-to demand. An ungrateful insolence! That they should contend with us
-about the dominion of these seas, who, even in the reign of our royal
-father, thought it an obligation to be permitted to fish in them,
-by taking of licenses and for a tribute.” Notwithstanding all these
-provocations, the king continued, he had patiently waited expecting
-satisfaction. To the memorials sent to them they had at last replied to
-this effect: “That in this conjuncture they would condescend to strike
-to us, if we would assist them against the French; but upon condition
-that it should never be taken for a precedent hereafter to their
-prejudice.” The concluding negotiations were mendaciously summarised by
-saying that after the return of Downing the States-General sent over an
-extraordinary ambassador, who declared he could give no satisfaction
-till he had consulted his masters. “Wherefore,” said the king,
-“despairing now of any good effect of further treaty, we are compelled
-to take up arms in defence of an ancient prerogative of our crown, and
-the glory and safety of our kingdoms.”
-
-Louis’ declaration of war, of fewer words and greater dignity,
-followed; arrangements were completed for the union of the English and
-French fleets, and no difficulty was made about the salute. Charles,
-while taking so high and imperial a tone in the declaration of war
-about the ancient and sacred rights of the English flag, immediately
-relinquished them to his royal ally and paymaster. For the first time
-in history the French fleet was put on an equality with the English
-in the British seas. Orders were issued that if an English squadron
-under a vice-admiral was sent to the Mediterranean to be commanded by a
-French admiral, the latter was to be saluted in the same manner as he
-was saluted by French vice-admirals. When an English frigate was sent
-to Brest with a despatch for the Comte d’Estrées, the Vice-Admiral of
-France, it was ordered if it met the French squadron appointed to join
-the English fleet to salute them as if they were English ships, and
-to treat the French Vice-Admiral as if he were English. Charles sent
-similar commands to the Governors of Portsmouth, Dartmouth, Dover,
-and other places--that the French ships were to be saluted as if they
-were English. Thus not only in the Mediterranean, but in the Channel
-and in English ports, the English flag was to be lowered to that of
-France--a proposition that might have made the old sea-dogs turn in
-their graves.[892]
-
-The junction of the allied fleets was followed, on 28th May, by the
-fierce and sanguinary battle of Solebay. The victory was indecisive,
-but the advantage lay rather with the Dutch. De Ruyter withdrew to his
-own coast, and the English were too much crippled to follow.[893] No
-other great sea-fight took place in 1672, but in September Sir Edward
-Spragge employed his squadron against the Dutch fishermen. Just before
-the declaration of war the States-General laid an embargo on their
-fishing vessels; but they removed it in September,[894] and towards the
-end of the month it was reported that a hundred Dutch busses, convoyed
-by twenty frigates, were fishing off the Norfolk coast. On the 22nd
-Spragge’s squadron, showing no colours, appeared off Yarmouth, and
-greatly frightened the English herring fishermen, who thought the Dutch
-fleet was upon them. By noon on the 24th he had captured eleven Dutch
-doggers and 117 prisoners; two of the doggers had licenses from the
-English Government, and were released later. By the end of the month
-the prizes numbered about thirty doggers, one buss, and a privateer,
-with over 300 prisoners,--not a very large haul,--while about 200
-others had been chased home, and many nets, which the fishermen had
-cut and left in the water, were destroyed. Spragge having thus, as he
-reported, “cleared these seas of fishermen except our own,” returned to
-the Thames.[895]
-
-While the Dutch maintained the contest at sea with honour and success,
-they were overwhelmed on land. A great French army, under Turenne,
-Condé, and other celebrated generals of the age, poured into the
-Provinces. Town after town, fortress after fortress, surrendered to
-the invaders, and the Prince of Orange, with the remnant of his small
-army, retired into Holland. It seemed inevitable that the Republic,
-contending with the two most powerful states in Europe and bereft of
-allies,--for Sweden as well as England had been detached from the
-triple league,--would soon be subjugated. The States-General, in
-despair, sued for peace. Two ambassadors were sent to Louis and two
-to Charles. Louis offered them impossible terms, and allowed ten days
-for acceptance or rejection. Charles refused to see them at all, but
-sent them to Hampton Court along with Boreel, who had not yet left
-England; and there they remained for some weeks carrying on a sort of
-backstairs negotiation. Then the king, fearing they might intrigue
-with his own subjects, who were in sympathy with them, dismissed them
-early in August. But becoming apprehensive at the unexpected rapidity
-of the French conquests, he despatched the Duke of Buckingham and
-Lord Arlington, and soon also Viscount Halifax, to negotiate anew
-with Louis, and to inform him of the overtures for peace from the
-States-General. On their way they passed through Holland, where they
-had several interviews with the Dutch Government and the Prince of
-Orange. After renewing the league with Louis at Utrecht, and agreeing
-that neither king should conclude peace except with the consent of
-the other, the conditions on which Charles was willing to make peace
-were formulated. The States were asked to undertake, on demand, to
-banish perpetually any person guilty of treason against the king, or of
-writing seditious libels; to pay £1,000,000 sterling towards the cost
-of the war; to invest the Prince of Orange with the sovereignty of the
-United Provinces, or at least to confer upon him the highest offices;
-and to surrender as security to the king Walcheren, the city and castle
-of Sluys, as well as the isles of Cadsand, Goeree, and Voorne. With
-regard to the sovereignty of the sea, they were to yield the honour
-of the flag without the least reserve or hesitation, so that whole
-fleets were to lower their top-sails and strike their flags to a single
-English ship carrying the king’s flag, in any part of the British sea
-up to the coasts of the United Provinces. The States-General were,
-moreover, to agree to pay to the King of England, for ever, the sum of
-£10,000 a-year for permission which the king would grant them to fish
-for herrings on the coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland.[896]
-
-The demands of Louis were even more oppressive to the Dutch, and
-threatened them in what they held most dear--their religious liberty,
-for the sake of which they had formerly fought so long and so
-heroically against the tyranny of Spain.
-
-In this crisis of their history despair and fury seized upon the
-people. The Ministers were blamed for the misfortunes of the country;
-a popular tumult burst forth in favour of the Prince of Orange; and
-John de Witt, the clear-eyed statesman who had so long held the helm
-and steered the Republic through so many dangers and difficulties, was
-foully murdered in circumstances of great brutality--a fate which his
-brother shared. The young Prince infused his own invincible spirit into
-the people. The terms of peace were rejected, and a supreme effort was
-made to save the country by the method which had been adopted against
-Alva and Requesens just a century before: the dykes were opened and the
-land laid under water, causing the enemy to retreat. The steadfast
-courage of the Prince of Orange and the growing alarm at the designs of
-France at last brought allies to the States. Spain and both branches
-of the house of Austria espoused their cause, and German troops came
-marching to the Rhine.
-
-But the ally on which the Dutch most relied was the Parliament of
-England. It had now been prorogued for nearly two years, and Charles
-was at last forced to summon it by his need of money to carry on the
-war. When it met, the members were told by the king that he had been
-forced into a war which was just and necessary both for the honour and
-the interest of the nation, and he referred them to his declaration,
-in which the reasons were given. He also defended the Declaration of
-Indulgence to dissenters, which had been designed to favour the Roman
-Catholics, and about which the country was greatly agitated. The Earl
-of Shaftesbury, as Chancellor, enlarged on the same themes. Against the
-Dutch he levelled such charges as were contained in the declaration
-of war. They had broken treaties about the East Indies and Surinam,
-“and at last,” he exclaimed, “they came to that height of insolence,
-as to deny the honour and right of the flag, though an undoubted jewel
-of this crown, never to be parted with; and by them particularly
-owned in the late treaty of Breda and never contested in any age.” He
-accused them of disputing the king’s title to it in all the Courts of
-Christendom, and of having made great offers to the King of France if
-he would stand by them against England. They were branded as the common
-enemy to all monarchies, and especially to that of England, “their only
-competitor for trade and power at sea,” who alone stood in their way to
-a universal empire as great as Rome. They had, he said, slighted all
-negotiations and refused all cessation of hostilities; and the king,
-he claimed, in entering on the war had only carried out the maxims of
-the Parliament which had advised the last war, and had then judged it
-necessary to extirpate the Dutch, laying it down as an eternal maxim,
-“_delenda est Carthago_, that government is to be brought down.” The
-Parliament was then asked to vote further supplies.
-
-At first, while avoiding the least approbation of the war,
-Parliament passed a resolution that they would grant eighteen
-months’ assessments, at the rate of £70,000 a-month, for the king’s
-“extraordinary occasions”; but this was designed merely to allow them
-time to deal with the Declaration of Indulgence before Charles could
-afford to dismiss them. The contest with the king on this question
-ended in victory for the Parliament, which then passed the Test Act,
-disqualifying Catholics for all offices under the crown. The king was
-still resolved to pursue the war. The money voted by Parliament served
-to equip a fleet; and as the Duke of York was made ineligible owing to
-the Test Act, Prince Rupert took his place as admiral. In May 1673 the
-combined naval forces of France and England sought out De Ruyter on his
-own coast, and three battles were fought in the summer,--on 28th May,
-4th June, and 11th August,--both sides claiming victory; but the Dutch
-prevented the projected landing of English troops, and compelled the
-allies to retire to their own coasts.[897]
-
-By this time, however, the king saw he could not with safety continue
-to carry on the war much longer. Spain, which had already declared
-war against France, threatened to do the same against England unless
-peace was made, and this would destroy the lucrative English trade
-with that country. The war was intensely unpopular in England, and the
-seamen fought without heart. The timid conduct of the French squadrons
-in the various battles excited deep and widespread resentment. It was
-on all sides rumoured that Charles had sold his country in order to
-carry out the selfish designs of Louis. The subsidies, moreover, were
-soon exhausted, and it would be necessary to ask Parliament again for
-more money. It was clear that the appeal which Charles had made to
-the spirit or vanity of the nation with respect to the honour of the
-flag and the sovereignty of the sea had thoroughly failed, although
-inspired and mercenary pens did what they could to arouse enthusiasm.
-These efforts were indeed a measure of the unpopularity of the third
-Dutch war. Before it broke out certain authors had handled the theme.
-The learned Prynne, who lost his ears for opposing Charles I., became
-a subservient supporter of his son; and, as Keeper of the Records
-in the Tower, he published an erudite, but confused, book in which
-the absolute right of the King of England to the dominion of the
-surrounding seas was maintained.[898] In a very different kind of book,
-one Captain John Smith repeated current arguments and misstatements on
-the same topic, especially with reference to the fisheries, for he had
-been one of the agents of the Fishery Society of Charles I. He makes a
-statement that must have caused the king, if he saw it, some surprise
-at his modesty in asking only £10,000 or £12,000 from the Dutch. He
-had heard, he says, that the “composition” of the Hollanders for leave
-to fish on our coasts was an annual rent of £100,000 and £100,000
-“in hand”; and as none of it had been paid into the Exchequer, he
-computed the arrears then to be over £2,500,000, a sum which, he very
-truly remarked,--and it is the sole truth in the statement,--“would
-come very happily for the present occasions of his Majesty.” Like
-many others before him and after him, he advocated the building of a
-fleet of busses and the prohibition of the Hollanders from fishing in
-the British seas.[899] Still other writers laid stress on the close
-connection between the sovereignty of the sea and trade, commerce, and
-navigation;[900] and after the war broke out more pointed attacks were
-made against the Dutch. They were accused of invading our fisheries
-without license from the king, refusing to strike sail, disputing our
-dominion of the seas, and by artifice supplanting us in trade and
-commerce.[901]
-
-None of those works was of much account, and the Ministry felt the need
-of obtaining the services of an able writer to stimulate ill-feeling
-against the Dutch, and in particular to answer a well-reasoned pamphlet
-which the Dutch had widely circulated in refutation of the reasons for
-the war given in the king’s declaration. The States-General did not
-reply to that document, but Wicquefort did so in the pamphlet referred
-to, which was entitled “Considerations on the Present State of the
-United Netherlands.” The tone of his reply was extremely temperate.
-The writer insisted on the difference between the striking of the flag
-and the sovereignty of the sea; the former was merely a ceremony of
-respect which all republics paid to monarchies, and not in the least
-a sign of subjection or an acknowledgment of sovereignty, and as such
-it had been regulated in the treaty of Breda. The States had always
-resisted the claim that a whole fleet of theirs should strike to a
-single English ship. In 1654 Cromwell had abandoned a similar claim
-on their objecting; and as the article in the treaty of Breda was the
-same as the one agreed to in 1654, it was unjust to construe it now in
-the sense of the article which Cromwell had withdrawn. On that ground
-alone, therefore, it could not be maintained that Van Ghent and the
-whole Dutch fleet were bound to strike to the king’s yacht. Moreover,
-the article applied only to the British seas, and the writer argued
-that that meant the Channel and not the North Sea, citing the seventh
-article of the treaty of Breda as to the cessation of hostilities.
-Since the Dutch fleet were lying at anchor off their own coast when
-the king’s yacht passed, they were not obliged to strike, because
-they were in the North Sea, and not in the British seas at all. The
-conclusion was drawn, and as we have seen justly, that the king had
-sent his yacht for the deliberate purpose of getting a ground of
-quarrel. As for the sovereignty of the sea, the States attributed to
-God alone such dominion as the king usurped to himself. They therefore
-refused Downing’s demands, which had been put forward to give the king
-a pretext for war. To admit them would ruin the United Provinces, which
-lived by commerce and the liberty of the sea. As for the fisheries,
-they had never asked for permission to fish from the King of England;
-and though in 1636 licenses were forced upon some of their defenceless
-fishermen by English men-of-war, that was an act of violence from which
-no right or title could be derived, and the attempt was relinquished at
-the demand of the States-General, and had not been repeated.
-
-The cogent arguments of the Dutch writer were well fitted to
-confirm the general opinion in England as to the cause of the war,
-and the Court promptly secured the services of Henry Stubbe, a
-clever, versatile, and prolific writer, to refute them. His answer
-to Wicquefort was considered by the private committee on 15th
-May 1672,[902] and it was published anonymously in the following
-month.[903] The spirit in which Stubbe entered into his task is
-revealed in a letter he wrote to Secretary Williamson. “The rule I go
-by,” he said, “is this: that no nation is more zealous for their honour
-than the English; that if they are put into a great passion they forget
-their particular interests and animosities.”[904] He therefore tried as
-much as he could to inflame the public mind.
-
-The _Justification_, though rabid in tone, is in many respects an able
-book. It differs from many of the controversial works of the day in
-that the author, however oblique may be his inferences from them, does
-not, so far as we have observed, pervert and misquote the documents
-he cites. It is unnecessary to particularise his arguments on the
-sovereignty of the sea. They were drawn mainly from Selden, Welwood,
-and other authors, and partly from certain State Papers which the
-Ministry placed at his disposal. The striking of the flag by foreigners
-was, of course, declared to be a regality, and “paramount to all
-treaties”; it was a “fundamental of the crown and dignity of the King
-of England.” The attack on the Smyrna fleet, which Wicquefort denounced
-and made the most of, was justified by their refusal to strike their
-flags, the instructions issued to the admirals of England for four
-hundred years compelling them to seize all ships which refused. The
-universal dominion which the king possessed over the British seas was
-thus formulated: (1) the regality of fishing for pearl, coral, amber
-(!), &c., and the “direction and disposal” of all fishes “as they
-shall seem to deserve the regards of the public”--a somewhat cryptic
-claim; (2) the prescribing of the laws of navigation to foreigners as
-well as to the king’s own subjects; (3) the power of imposing customs
-and taxes upon those navigating or fishing in them; (4) jurisdiction
-in regard to maritime delinquencies; (5) the duty of foreign ships to
-strike their flags and lower their top-sails to the king’s “floating
-castles,” the ships of war, by which “submission they are put in
-remembrance that they have come into a territory wherein they are
-to own a sovereign power and jurisdiction, and receive protection
-from it.” It was admitted that the sea was free for commerce and
-innocent passage; but both might be refused if there was suspicion of
-danger, and that the imposition of tribute for fishing, convoy, or
-the maintenance of lights and beacons did not infringe the liberty of
-commerce.
-
-The work appears to have pleased his employers, for immediately after
-its publication Stubbe began the composition of another on the same
-lines--to vindicate the “honour” of his Majesty and the kingdom. In
-this he wished very much to deal with the lampoons and “scandalous
-pictures” circulated in Holland, “thereby to raise a due passion and
-resentment in the English,” especially one which represented the
-English ambassadors at Breda kneeling in supplication to their High
-Mightinesses the States-General; and Sir Joseph Williamson, who was
-then in Holland with Buckingham and Arlington, was asked to bring over
-specimens of these. He told Williamson that in his new work, which he
-proposed to entitle “An Apology for the King’s Majesty’s Declaration,
-By an Old Commonwealth Man,” he would represent to the English people
-his Majesty’s “generous concern for his subjects’ welfare and trade,”
-and his admirable prudence in the noble conduct of affairs; he would
-excuse his stop of the Exchequer and the Declaration of Indulgence,
-and descant upon the growth of the Dutch by contumelies to the king
-and nation. Stubbe was also anxious to obtain, besides the pictures
-and medals, a manuscript book which he had seen, containing an account
-of the transactions between the Dutch and the Commonwealth. This was
-in the possession of Thurloe, who had been Secretary under Cromwell,
-and he refused to produce it, until a warrant issued by Lord Clifford
-compelled him to give it up.[905]
-
-The second work was published in 1673, and Stubbe did all that
-he promised to do, copiously illustrating it with figures of the
-objectionable medals and pictures, and greatly abusing the Dutch.[906]
-
-But all such efforts to stir up animosity against the Dutch and
-to convince the public and Parliament of the justness of the war
-completely failed, and Charles was forced to enter into negotiations
-for peace. Immediately after the battle of the Texel, in August
-1673, a congress of the Powers which had assembled at Cologne began
-its deliberations to arrange terms of peace, under the mediation of
-Sweden. The English plenipotentiaries were Sir Leoline Jenkins and
-Sir Joseph Williamson, and the instructions given to them by Charles
-included the following:--“The principal points we shall insist upon,”
-said the king, “beyond the particular ones relating to general amity,
-commerce, &c., are these following: _First_, To have the honour for
-the future paid to the flagg of England, which hath been practised and
-acknowledged by them in all former times. _Secondly_, A million of
-pounds sterling to reimburse us in some part the expenses we have been
-at in making the war. _Thirdly_, Ten thousand pounds per annum as an
-honorary acknowledgment for the great benefit that Republic reaps for
-the fishing on our coasts, and two thousand pounds more for the like
-liberty they enjoy upon the coast of our kingdom of Scotland.”[907]
-
-The terms of peace now offered, it will be observed, were much less
-exacting than those demanded in the previous year, and the request for
-an express acknowledgment of the king’s sovereignty of the sea was
-dropped. The Dutch plenipotentiaries at the outset of the proceedings
-said little difficulty would be raised about the question of the
-flag, but they demurred to the demand to pay tribute for liberty of
-fishing.[908] This thorny subject was threshed out on either side
-with all the old arguments which were used in the times of James and
-Cromwell. The Dutch pled possession, prescription, treaties; the
-English replied that the treaties had expired in subsequent wars, and
-were abrogated by the separation of the Provinces from the House of
-Burgundy, with whom the treaties were made. A new point was raised to
-show that no right could now be claimed under the Burgundy treaties.
-If they were still in force, why had the citizens of Bruges in the
-Spanish Netherlands, subjects of the King of Spain, who was the
-successor and descendant of the Dukes of Burgundy, and the very people
-in whose favour the Magnus Intercursus was made, petitioned the King of
-England as lately as 1666 for a license to fish in the British seas,
-a privilege which had been granted to them?[909] To this the Dutch
-replied that the right to the fishery did not spring from the treaty
-of 1495, which had been made merely to avoid contests that previously
-occurred. As the result of conferences with the Dutch representatives,
-the Swedish mediators informed Jenkins and Williamson that the
-States-General would not consent to an annual payment for the right
-of fishery, but they suggested, as the Prince of Orange had done once
-before, that the matter might be compromised by the payment of a lump
-sum. Charles declined this proposal, but he reduced the amount of the
-yearly payment he asked by half--to £5000 for the English fishery and
-£1000 for the Scottish. The conference was at the same time informed
-that it was then, and always would be, the “passion” both of king and
-subject in England to assert and preserve the great royalty of the
-fishery.
-
-Since the Dutch would not agree to the payment of an annual tribute for
-the liberty to fish, and Charles would not agree to a lump sum, the
-mediator suggested that the Dutch might be asked for a small yearly
-payment for the privilege of drying their nets on shore. This ingenious
-device roused the suspicions of the English delegates, who feared the
-tabling of a clause which would represent the tribute as for the use
-of the land and not for the liberty of fishing. Charles agreed with
-them in refusing the compromise, telling them that the article about
-the fishing was “to be barely and solely for the liberty of fishing on
-his Majesty’s coasts,” and was not to be mixed up with any question of
-drying nets. They were also told to make it clear that his license was
-to be a “successive permission” only, from his Majesty to the Dutch,
-for liberty to fish, and to take care, not to part wholly with his
-right in the fishery to them. By an arrangement of this nature Charles
-and his successors would have been free to follow the example of the
-kings of Denmark in dealing with the dues at the Sound--that is, in
-gradually raising the amount.[910]
-
-Passing from this subject to the question of the flag, it was soon
-apparent that the Dutch had been too sanguine in thinking there would
-be little difficulty in dealing with it. The mediators, in drawing up
-a protocol of the English demands, had modified the article put in
-concerning the flag. The English had confined themselves to the bare
-words “the right of the flag” (“le droit du pavillon”), to which the
-Swedes added, “in the manner your Excellencies (the Dutch ambassadors)
-projected.” The Dutch, in short, had expanded the meaning of the
-nineteenth article of the treaty of Breda so as to omit the troublesome
-and objectionable words “the British seas,” their proposed article
-being “that ships of the United Provinces meeting British ships _at
-sea_ should lower the top-sail and the flag, in such manner as the same
-had ever been previously observed.” Jenkins and Williamson strongly
-opposed the omission of the phrase “the British seas.” They declared
-that the King of England had a special right and immemorial prerogative
-in those particular seas, but if he grasped at the same honour in
-all places, not only the Dutch but all the world besides would have
-reason to dispute it with him. They said further that the king wished
-that yachts, by name, and all vessels whatsoever in his service and
-carrying his colours, flag, or jack, should have the same honour paid
-to them. They also objected to the clause “in such manner as,” &c., as
-being vague and open to misunderstanding, and insisted that it should
-be set down clearly what the Dutch were to do and how they were to
-do it in the future. They wished, in short, to bind the Dutch by an
-express stipulation to the view that the meaning of the clause in the
-previous treaties was that whole fleets should strike to any single
-vessel in the king’s service in the British seas, while leaving “the
-British seas” undetermined; and they tabled an article to that effect.
-Both the Dutch and the mediators objected to this clause as asserting
-positively that to have been the custom in former times, and saying
-that to admit it would be to condemn themselves in what they had done
-in regard to the _Merlin_. They were quite willing, they said, to do
-the thing for the future, but it was unreasonable to ask them to avow
-so openly that they had been in the wrong in not doing it hitherto. To
-this the English replied that it was most certainly and notoriously an
-ancient right of the crown of England, of which they had proofs in all
-ages, and that to omit the words would be to accept of the ceremony as
-a courtesy and not as a right.
-
-At this stage, however, the king sent them a new article about the
-flag, defining in part the limits within which the Dutch were to be
-asked to strike, and these were from Cape Finisterre to the North Cape
-in Norway. These surprising boundaries had been suggested a year or two
-before as the limits of the British seas by the Masters of the Trinity
-House (p. 478), and no doubt Charles meant them to be so considered.
-They were derived primarily from Selden’s _Mare Clausum_, and the
-southern limit, Cape Finisterre, had been for some time incorporated
-in the Admiralty instructions.[911] The Dutch were thus to be asked to
-strike to English ships along almost the whole extent of the western
-coasts of Europe, a distance exceeding two thousand miles.
-
-The English plenipotentiaries did not like this article. They informed
-Lord Arlington that when they were preparing the one they had already
-submitted, they had wished there had been means to ascertain the bounds
-of our seas as well as there was for clearing up the point regarding
-whole fleets striking to a single ship; but they had concluded that
-the king and the Lords of the Committee (for foreign affairs) looked
-upon it as a thing so invidious and difficult as not to be attempted
-at that juncture. They explained that they would receive no assistance
-from the French ambassador or the mediators, all of whom, they clearly
-perceived, had difficulty in containing themselves from disputing
-the right of striking at all. As long as they confined the claim to
-the British seas they were not afraid of opposition, since they had
-overwhelming evidence as to the usage. But if they insisted on the
-limits of Cape Finisterre and the North Cape, and supported their
-contention with arguments from geography or tradition, or if they were
-asked to produce proofs or instances as to “the matter of fact” near
-those limits, they foresaw that objections would be raised which they
-were not sufficiently instructed to answer. No doubt, they continued,
-it might be advantageous to fix some limits in order to lessen the
-chance of disputes, but even if mathematical lines could be laid down
-and agreed upon, it would not remove all ground of quarrel. Besides, to
-fix definite bounds would place upon themselves a burden which properly
-lay upon their adversaries; for when the king’s right of the flag was
-established as incontrovertible within the British seas, if any one who
-was called upon to strike declared he was not in the British seas, he
-would have to prove it. This long disquisition failed to convince the
-king. He insisted that the previous article, in which the term “British
-seas” alone occurred, should be withdrawn and the new article with the
-specified limits substituted.[912]
-
-The influence of certain important changes in political affairs which
-had taken place since the congress met now made itself strongly felt
-at the deliberations. The position and the prospects of the United
-Provinces had greatly improved. The States-General had succeeded in
-entering into alliances with the Emperor, the King of Spain, and
-the Dukes of Brandenburg and Lunenburg. In the field the movements
-of the Prince of Orange and his allies caused Louis to abandon his
-conquests with even greater rapidity than he had made them. The English
-Parliament, too, from which the Dutch had reason to hope for much,
-was about to assemble. It was thus natural that the Dutch ambassadors
-and the representatives of their allies at the congress should take a
-higher tone in dealing with the peace proposals. Some of the conditions
-which had been put forward by France and England were now declared
-to mean “utter ruin” to the Dutch, or their “eternal servitude”; and
-among them was the demand of Charles for a payment for liberty of
-fishing, which it was asserted would make them tributary to England.
-The English plenipotentiaries employed all the arguments they could
-discover in Selden’s _Mare Clausum_ and other similar works, and in
-the volume of State Papers with which they were provided, to convince
-the congress that fisheries might be “appropriated” on the high seas
-as well as in rivers and lakes, and that the King of England had the
-exclusive right to the fisheries off his own coasts. They cited the
-example of Genoa with the tunny fishery, the treaties between England
-and Denmark concerning the fisheries on the Norwegian coast and at
-Iceland, the licenses of the kings of Denmark, the English licenses
-to French fishermen and the grant to Bruges, the Act of Richard II.,
-and the licenses forced by the Earl of Northumberland on the Hollander
-busses in 1636. They even displayed the original documents showing
-King James’s expostulations with the Dutch in 1618, and the charter
-granted to Bruges. It was all in vain. The times had changed. The
-Dutch ambassadors could now afford to pass the matter off with a
-raillery. They told Jenkins and Williamson that they “would bait the
-herrings, as men do carps, to come and feed upon their coasts, and
-then they would be in possession of a liberty to fish”; adding that
-they would then allow the English to fish upon the Dutch coast without
-fear of molestation. More seriously, they said that since no similar
-stipulation had been allowed in any previous treaty, the States-General
-trusted to the goodness of the king to pass over the article on that
-occasion; and Beverning, who was one of the Dutch representatives,
-recalled how he had discussed the whole matter with Cromwell in 1653,
-who had withdrawn the claim to the fishery.
-
-No one, neither the mediators nor even the French, the allies of
-Charles, gave the English ambassadors any encouragement to insist on
-the fishery article; and finally De Groot informed them, in language
-more forcible than elegant, that his countrymen would rather “burst”
-than submit to any acknowledgment in that matter, and that he believed
-the States would sooner forbid their subjects to fish at all than to
-ask leave to do so of the crown of England.
-
-The English ambassadors were forced to tell the king that they had no
-hope of obtaining consent to the article about the fishery, unless
-indeed the Parliament (which had by this time strongly and boldly
-shown its sympathy with Holland) “should happen to stand vigorously
-by his Majesty in this demand which he is pleased to make.” They
-suggested--almost, one may think, with a touch of irony--that the Dutch
-might be offered, as an alternative, “a Bill,” like the proclamation
-of James in 1609, or the Act of 2 Richard II. that laid an impost of
-sixpence a ton on our own fishing vessels, “wherein,” they added, “if
-strangers be not intended (as we humbly conceive they are), they may be
-more expressly taken in.”[913]
-
-Although it was on the fishery article that the negotiations stuck
-most, difficulties also continued to arise about the one on the flag.
-The Dutch said they were willing to do anything that had been done in
-former times by way of respect to the crown of England; they could not
-do it as a right, nor could they do anything that might be construed
-to be an acknowledgment of the king’s claim to the dominion of the
-British seas. They were unable to admit, without proof, that it was
-the former practice for a whole fleet of theirs to strike to a single
-English ship; and while again affirming their willingness for this
-to be done in future, they declined to make any express recognition
-of it as a right in the treaty, saying that it would be “abundant
-courtesy” if they admitted the words _Maria Britannica_, as in all
-their other treaties; it was a term, moreover, which the French could
-not be brought to admit into their treaty of Breda, insisting on the
-term _maria proxima_ instead. The English representatives would not
-condescend to adduce proofs as to the past usage. The king, they
-said, would not allow an observance so ancient and notorious to be
-questioned as a matter of fact, any more than that England was an
-ancient monarchy; and they did not ask for a fuller stipulation than
-in the article proposed by Cromwell. On the other side, it was pointed
-out that Cromwell had given up all the points raised, especially the
-striking of a whole fleet; and, moreover, they could not allow that
-all the tract of sea between the North Cape and Cape Finisterre was
-the British Ocean, and they hinted they were willing to strike all the
-world over without any limitation of places. The English ambassadors
-wrote to Arlington that although they had not been instructed to claim
-as British the sea between the limits named, yet, if these limits were
-adhered to, the Dutch would not fail to alarm the Dane and the Swede,
-the French and the Spaniard. They were justly suspicious of the too
-generous offer of the Dutch to strike in all seas. They saw in it the
-design to make the special right possessed in the British seas, in
-virtue of the king’s sovereignty there, less certain and evident in
-future ages, and to transform it into a mere mark of civility. Charles
-gave way to a slight degree. In February 1674 he sent on another
-article, in which the northern limit was brought down from the North
-Cape to the middle point of the Land-van-Staten in Norway.[914]
-
-By this time, however, negotiations for a separate peace between
-England and the United Provinces had been begun in London, and the
-sluggish congress at Cologne, slowly evolving a general peace, broke up
-and dispersed. Charles was driven to negotiate separately by the action
-of the Parliament, which financial necessities had forced him to summon
-in October, and which lost little time in showing its ill-humour with
-his policy. In his opening speech he stated that he had hoped to be
-able to announce the conclusion of an honourable peace, but the Dutch,
-he said, had treated his ambassadors at Cologne “with the contempt
-of conquerors,” and had other thoughts than peace; and he asked for
-supplies. Shaftesbury, as usual, filled in the picture. The king, he
-said, had expected to meet them with the olive-branch of peace, but
-the obstinacy of the Dutch had foiled the negotiations, although his
-Majesty’s concessions had been so great. “He could not,” he continued,
-“be King of Great Britain without securing the dominion and property
-of his own seas: the first, by an article clear, and not elusory, of
-the flag; the other, by an article that preserved the right of the
-fishing, but gave the Dutch permission, as tenants, under a small
-rent, to enjoy and continue that gainful trade upon his coasts.” But
-the Dutch, he said, would not agree to any article on the flag that
-was clear or plain, and they refused any article about the fishery
-except such a one as might convey to them the right of inheritance for
-an inconsiderable sum of money, “though it be a Royalty so inherent
-in the crown of England, that I may say (with his Majesty’s pardon
-for the expression) he cannot sell it.” “There is not,” continued the
-Chancellor, “so lawful or commendable a jealousy in the world, as an
-Englishman’s of the growing greatness of any Prince at sea. If you
-permit the sea, our British wife, to be ravished, an eternal mark of
-infamy will stick upon us.” It was therefore the duty of Parliament to
-provide the king with more money.[915]
-
-Parliament was not to be cozened by fair words or beguiled by the
-oratorical tropes of Shaftesbury. The Commons boldly affirmed they
-would vote no more money unless it appeared that the Dutch were so
-obstinate as to refuse all reasonable conditions of peace; and with
-regard to other matters they showed a bellicose spirit. The king
-resolved to prorogue them suddenly, and went unexpectedly to the House
-of Peers and sent for the Commons. When Black Rod approached to summon
-them the door was hastily closed, the Speaker was hurried into the
-chair, and the following motions were instantly put: that the alliance
-with France was a grievance; that the evil counsellors about the king
-were a grievance; that the Duke of Lauderdale was a grievance and not
-fit to be trusted or employed. Before the motions could be passed,
-Black Rod, knocking loudly in the king’s name, was admitted, and the
-House rose in confusion. A scene so reminiscent of the days of his
-father could hardly be lost on Charles. It was clear that it would be
-impossible to continue the Dutch war if its continuance depended on
-Parliament voting money for it.
-
-Shortly afterwards the king found it necessary to summon Parliament
-again, and, changing his attitude, he condescended to submit to
-them, for their opinion, certain propositions for peace which the
-States-General had communicated through the Spanish ambassador. At the
-same time he sent privately for John Evelyn, who had been for some
-time engaged on a history of the second Dutch war, and asked him to
-write something “against the Hollanders about the duty of the flag and
-fishery,” no doubt with the intention and object of influencing the
-opinion of Parliament.[916] Parliament acted with promptitude. They
-passed a resolution, on 27th January 1674, recommending the king to
-make a speedy peace. Louis, who saw how things were tending with the
-Parliament, having advised the same course, Sir William Temple was
-summoned from his orchards a few days later and requested to proceed
-to The Hague to conclude the treaty. On the eve of his departure,
-the Marquis de Frezno, the Spanish ambassador, announced that he had
-received full powers from the States to treat and conclude a peace. The
-negotiations were thereupon conducted in London between Sir William
-Temple and the Marquis, and they went on so smoothly and speedily that
-the treaty was signed at Westminster on 9th February. The two points
-that caused the greatest difficulty were the flag and the recalling of
-the English troops from the French service: the claim for tribute for
-liberty to fish was dropped altogether.[917]
-
-The article relating to the flag differed from the corresponding
-articles in the previous treaties. It was as follows:--
-
-“The said States-General of the United Provinces, duly acknowledging,
-on their part, the right of the above-mentioned most serene prince,
-the King of Great Britain, to have honour paid to his flag in the seas
-to be hereafter named, will and do declare and agree, that all and
-singular the ships and vessels belonging to the said United Provinces,
-whether ships of war or others, whether single ships or in squadrons,
-which shall meet with any ships or vessels whatsoever belonging to the
-most serene prince, the King of Great Britain, whether one or more,
-carrying his Britannic Majesty’s ensign, or flag called the _Jack_,
-in any of the seas from the Cape called _Finisterre_, to the middle
-point of the land called _van Staten_, in Norway, the foresaid ships or
-vessels of the United Provinces shall strike their flag and lower their
-topsail, in the same manner and with the like testimony of respect, as
-hath been customary in any time or place heretofore, by any ships of
-the States-General or their predecessors to any ships of his Britannic
-Majesty or his predecessors.”[918]
-
- * * * * *
-
-Most writers who have dealt with the subject have followed Temple in
-thinking that this article was a great triumph for English diplomacy.
-“The point of the flag,” said Temple, “was carried to all the height
-his Majesty could wish; and thereby a claim of the crown, the
-acknowledgment of its dominion in the narrow seas, allowed by treaty
-from the most powerful of our neighbours at sea, which had never yet
-been yielded to by the weakest of them, that I can remember, in the
-whole course of our pretence; and had served hitherto but for an
-occasion of quarrel, whenever we or they had a mind to it, upon other
-reasons or conjectures.”[919]
-
-Temple’s eulogy of his own diplomacy was hardly justified. The Dutch
-had offered a similar article at Cologne; the striking of the flag had
-been provided for in previous treaties, and it was not in the least,
-as Temple should have known well (for De Witt often told him), and as
-the wording of the article shows, an acknowledgment of the dominion
-of England in the narrow seas. There is nothing in the article of the
-Westminster treaty that the Dutch were not perfectly willing to concede
-at Cologne. It was an improvement on the arrangement in previous
-treaties, inasmuch as the northern and southern limits of the seas in
-which the Dutch were to strike were defined, and it was made clear that
-the Dutch were to strike to a single English ship.
-
-But in truth the real diplomatic victory lay with the Dutch. The
-striking of the flag is expressly described in the article as a
-ceremony of “honour” and a “testimony of respect,”-- a qualification
-and attenuation not to be found in the previous treaties. By the
-introduction of these words the Dutch gained a point they had long
-contended for. Equally pertinent was the omission of the term “British
-seas,” which is found in all the earlier treaties,--an omission for
-which Charles was in part responsible. The ceremony “of respect”
-was to be paid “in any of the seas” between Cape Finisterre and Van
-Staten; and while the Dutch refused to consider those seas British, the
-English plenipotentiaries at Cologne were unable to contend that they
-were British. The limits fixed were therefore, as Sir Philip Meadows
-observed, “too wide for dominion and too narrow for respect”;[920] for
-we never claimed dominion in the Sea of Norway or the Bay of Biscay,
-and the Dutch offered to strike to the king’s flag all over the world.
-There is little doubt that the part of the article in which Charles
-was most interested was that relating to the striking of a squadron to
-a single ship of his, as it furnished a sort of justification for the
-action of the _Merlin_ before the war. Temple himself was most anxious
-that the “former custom” referred to in all the previous treaties
-should be clearly defined; and Charles was entirely satisfied with the
-article.[921]
-
-Notwithstanding Temple’s satisfaction as to the article on the flag,
-it did not end disputes on the subject. In the year in which the
-treaty was concluded, and in the year following, several episodes
-occurred. One of them concerned personages no less eminent than the
-English ambassadors who had been at Cologne, and it formed a practical
-commentary on the fruitless negotiations in which they had been
-engaged. Sir Leoline Jenkins and Sir Joseph Williamson did not return
-until after the conclusion of peace, and when the king’s yacht, the
-_Cleveland_, which had been sent to bring them over, was lying at
-anchor off the Briel, with Sir Leoline on board, a yacht of the States
-passed between it and the shore without striking its flag or firing any
-guns. When a message was sent from the _Cleveland_ to the commander of
-the yacht, who was ashore, telling him he should have struck his flag,
-he only shrugged his shoulders and said he had the States’ ambassadors
-bound for England aboard. The _Cleveland_ then weighed anchor and went
-about a league seawards, where the Dutch yacht and a man-of-war were
-lying. Again no flag was lowered to the king’s yacht, and the English
-captain asked Jenkins what he should do. Jenkins adduced the case of
-Tromp’s striking to the Earl of Arundel in Goeree Road, and also of
-Prince Maurice’s yacht, which a few days before had struck “to the
-kitchen-yacht in the canal of Delf-Haven, between the houses.” The
-captain then remembered that the Dutch had struck to him in that very
-place as he passed up to Rotterdam, and he proceeded to take vigorous
-measures to compel the “duty.” A shot was fired “under the forefoot”
-of the States’ man-of-war, and after a “convenient” interval another
-over his poop, and then a third between his masts. This brought a boat
-from the man-of-war to say that the States’ ambassadors were “much
-astonished” at the shots being fired, and that they would not strike,
-as they were within their own ports. But when Sir Leoline Jenkins
-sent a formal request to Van Beuningen, one of the Dutch ambassadors,
-the man-of-war took in its flag, and the incident ended.[922] In the
-following year Sir Leoline Jenkins was again a passenger on board one
-of the royal yachts, the _Charles_; on reaching the Maes a Holland
-man-of-war saluted with five guns, but kept its pennant flying, and
-only took it in and repeated the guns after two shots had been fired
-at it by the _Charles_; the men-of-war at the Briel also saluted with
-their pennants struck.[923]
-
-In the spring of the same year Captain Herbert in the _Cambridge_
-encountered six French ships off Dungeness which refused to strike, and
-returned the fire, their admiral saying it was the King of France’s
-ship, and did not strike. They outsailed the _Cambridge_, said Herbert,
-which was no match for them. A few weeks later a French privateer in
-the same locality refused to strike to the _Garland_; and the tables
-were turned on the English by a Dutch privateer, which fired on a
-Whitby merchant vessel for not striking quick enough, and fined the
-master six shillings and eightpence for each shot expended, as well as
-beating and abusing him.[924] A case of quite a different kind, unique
-indeed, as it appears, occurred at the end of 1675. On the return of
-the _Quaker_ ketch to England the officers charged the commander,
-Captain Joseph Harris, with having lowered his top-sails to a Spanish
-man-of-war, supposed to be an Ostend privateer, in the Bay of Biscay,
-to the great dishonour of the king. He was tried by a court-martial,
-found guilty, and condemned to be shot to death at such time and place
-as the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty should appoint.[925] He
-was, however, reprieved and then pardoned.[926]
-
-Difficulties not infrequently occurred with merchant vessels, and even
-with fishing-boats, over this matter of the flag. We find Pepys writing
-to Captain Binning of the _Swan_, at Yarmouth, telling him that while
-he should take care that the Dutch “do their parts of civility towards
-his Majesty’s flag,” he ought not to impose upon them any “innovation,”
-the reference being to the taking of twelve barrels of herrings from
-each of the offenders in lieu of carrying them into port.[927] Foreign
-merchant vessels, especially Spanish and French, were sometimes
-brought into port and their masters tried before the High Court of
-Admiralty for refusing to strike to English men-of-war. By the strict
-law of the Admiralty such vessels might have been forfeited, but
-this extreme course was apparently rarely or never taken, the usual
-punishment inflicted being fine and imprisonment. Cases of this kind
-were naturally apt to raise unpleasant questions with foreign Powers,
-and they had to be dealt with cautiously. In 1675, when two Frenchmen
-were brought before the court for this offence, the judge, Sir Thomas
-Exton, appealed for advice to Sir Leoline Jenkins, then at the Congress
-of Nimeguen, and was warned by him to be very careful how he dealt
-with the case. He advised him to meddle as little as possible with the
-French edicts of 1555 and 1584 (see p. 117), under which the French
-Admiralty claimed similar rights, and to “stick to the terms of the
-indictment of the Spanish Captain at the Old Bailey,” adding that
-although much might be said plausibly on the subject of striking, that
-indictment had never been attacked; and he argued against the seizure
-and forfeiture of the ship.[928]
-
-After the third Dutch war several works appeared in which the claims
-of England to the salute and to the sovereignty of the sea were
-maintained. It has been already mentioned that at the beginning of
-1674, when the Dutch offers of peace were received in London, the
-king asked Evelyn to write something against the Dutch about the
-flag and fishery. As the occasion was pressing, Evelyn extracted the
-introductory part of his work on the second Dutch war (a work which
-was never completed), and after submitting it to the king, published
-it under a rather misleading title.[929] Notwithstanding the haste
-shown, the book appeared too late. Peace had been concluded, and the
-Dutch ambassador complained about it to the king. Charles ordered it to
-be recalled, but with characteristic artifice he instructed that the
-copies which were seized publicly to pacify the ambassador should be
-immediately restored to the printer, by which means the sales at least
-were much increased.[930] About the book itself little need be said. It
-is an ill-digested and unveracious account of England’s claim to the
-sovereignty of the sea and the fishery, founded on Selden, Boroughs,
-and less reputable writers. The author computed the arrears of “rent”
-due by the Dutch, and which he said they had engaged to pay for
-liberty of fishing, at over £500,000; and he falsified the amount of
-“license-money” received by Northumberland in 1636, although the Earl’s
-journals, and many other documents, were placed at his disposal. The
-most severe criticism of the work was made by the author himself, in a
-long and remarkable letter which he sent to Pepys a few years later, in
-which he repudiated, _seriatim_, all the “evidences” he had adduced in
-favour of the English pretension.[931]
-
-Another book of more influence than Evelyn’s, because it was for a long
-time considered the standard work on the maritime law of England, and
-went through many editions, was published by Molloy two years later;
-and in it the English pretension received perhaps its most arrogant
-expression.[932] Notwithstanding the terms of the treaty of 1674, the
-author declared that the striking of the flag was not a mere ceremony
-of respect, but an absolute acknowledgment of England’s sovereignty
-of the seas, the king granting foreigners a general license to pass
-through his seas, “paying that obeisance and duty, like the services
-when Lords grant out estates, reserving a rose or peppercorn, the value
-of which is not regarded, but the remembrance and acknowledging their
-benefactor’s right and dominion.” Molloy held that by the treaty of
-1674 the dominion of the British seas was “ascertained” to extend from
-Cape Finisterre to Van Staten, in Norway, and similar opinions on this
-and on the subject generally were expressed by other writers on naval
-matters, as by Godolphin[933] and Zouch,[934] and by most writers on
-Admiralty affairs during the remainder of the century and well into the
-next.
-
-With respect to the fisheries, the failure of the previous attempt
-to establish a great fishery society did not deter others from being
-proposed. Efforts were indeed made throughout nearly the whole of the
-reign of Charles to keep the subject alive. An elaborate report was
-prepared by Dr Benjamin Worsley, who was Secretary to the Council for
-Trade and Plantations, on the Dutch fisheries and the best means by
-which a fishery could be established in this country with good hope of
-success. He stated that the least valuation generally placed on the
-Dutch herring fishery was £3,000,000, and that it was said to employ
-1600 busses. Detailed reasons were given for the belief that success
-would not attend any attempt to establish a great fishery in England,
-unless it received the active support of the king and Parliament, and
-unless we were able to undersell the Dutch in the markets, which he
-thought by a change of methods we might be able to do.
-
-Various efforts were made, openly and surreptitiously, to induce
-Dutchmen to settle at Yarmouth and Dover; the king even issued a
-declaration to encourage this in June 1672. But the schemes failed,
-and Sir Arnold Braems suggested that £3000 of the amount expected to
-be paid by the Dutch for the liberty of fishing should be devoted to
-bringing over busses and men.[935] Early in 1675 a detailed scheme
-was laid before Charles for the setting up of a fishery company with
-forty busses and a capital of £40,000, the estimated profit in the
-first year being placed at £31,463.[936] Among the objections urged to
-the setting up of the fishery by the king were the want of seamen and
-experienced curers; the acquaintance of the Dutch with the markets and
-their spare living, which would enable them to undersell us; and the
-laziness of English seamen. These objections were apparently answered
-satisfactorily,[937] and in 1677 Charles issued a commission to the
-Duke of York, the Earl of Danby, and others for a new society, to
-be called “The Company of the Royal Fishery of England,” granting a
-number of privileges and £20 per annum from the customs of the port
-of London for each buss or dogger. Stock was subscribed to the amount
-of about £12,500, which was spent in purchasing busses; but as they
-were Dutch-built and manned by Dutchmen, the French, then at war with
-the United Provinces, seized six of the seven belonging to the company
-and brought the work to a stop. Although the company was reconstructed
-later, and an attempt to raise £60,000 to carry it on made with some
-success, the death of the king and the troubles which followed caused
-the enterprise to be suspended. Thus the endeavours of Charles II. to
-create a great national fishery in England were no more successful than
-those of Charles I.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-JAMES II. AND AFTER.
-
-
-In the short and troubled reign of James II. little was heard of the
-claims of England to the sovereignty of the sea. Bad king as James
-was, he rescued the navy from the deplorable condition into which it
-had sunk in the later years of Charles,--of which Pepys has left so
-graphic a picture,[938]--and the naval officers continued to enforce
-the routine duty of the flag; but the domestic troubles with which
-he was surrounded prevented him from turning it to account against
-any of his neighbours, even if he had been so inclined. And with the
-Revolution of 1688 the whole aspect of the question was changed. The
-English pretension, as we have seen, had been specially directed
-against the United Provinces, but when the Prince of Orange was called
-to the English throne as William III., and was thus the ruler in both
-countries, it was not to be expected that he would show much zeal in
-continuing the policy of the Stuarts against his own countrymen.
-
-It is true that in the treaty which was concluded between England and
-the Dutch Republic in 1689, the article on the flag in the treaty
-of Westminster was repeated and confirmed. This, however, was very
-much a matter of routine and formality, though it must be said the
-Dutch ambassadors in London complained that William was as obstinate
-and punctilious about the question of the flag as any purely English
-sovereign could have been.[939] But from this time until well on in the
-next century England and the United Provinces were united as allies
-in the great wars with France. There was thus little room for serious
-disputes with them about the flag, the right to the herring fishery,
-or the sovereignty of the sea, even if the desire had existed. Against
-France, however, William made use of the customary language as to the
-English sovereignty of the sea. In the spring of 1689, after William
-had been proclaimed King of England, Louis XIV. foresaw the formidable
-coalition that would be formed against him, and he boldly issued what
-was virtually a challenge to England on the subject. He published an
-ordinance on 15th April in which he not only prohibited his officers
-from giving the first salute to ships of other nations carrying flags
-of equal rank to their own, but ordered them to demand the salute from
-foreign vessels on whatever seas or coasts they might encounter them,
-and to compel them by force if they refused.[940] That this challenge
-of Louis to dispute the sovereignty of the sea was not too presumptuous
-was shown in the following year, when the combined fleets of England
-and Holland were defeated by the French off Beachy Head. In the
-declaration of war against France, in May 1689, the ordinance of Louis
-was made one of the reasons for hostilities. “The right of the flag,”
-said William, “inherent in the crown of England, has been disputed by
-his orders, in violation of our sovereignty of the Narrow Seas, which
-in all ages has been asserted by our predecessors, and which we are
-resolved to maintain, for the honour of our crown and of the English
-nation.”[941] They were strange words to come from the mouth of one who
-was Prince of Orange as well as King of England, but the times were
-changing and such phrases were soon to become merely empty forms.
-
-With respect to this ceremony of the flag, which the English professed
-to regard as an acknowledgment of their sovereignty on the sea, it
-may be said that from this time on it ceased to have much importance
-in international affairs. The instructions issued by the Admiralty to
-the naval officers continued to be explicit enough, and they indeed
-suffered but little change for another century. The commander of one
-of his Majesty’s ships, on meeting with any ship or ships belonging
-to any foreign prince or state within his Majesty’s seas (which, it
-was explained, extended to Cape Finisterre, Van Staten not being
-mentioned), was to “expect” such ship or ships to strike their top-sail
-and take in their flag, “in acknowledgment of his Majesty’s sovereignty
-of those seas,” and if they refused or offered to resist, they were
-to be compelled to do so. Within his Majesty’s seas his Majesty’s
-ships were in no wise to strike to any; and in other parts only if the
-foreign ship struck first or at the same time, except in a foreign
-harbour or in a road within gunshot of a fort or castle, in which
-case a salute with guns was to be given if the commander of the fort
-agreed to answer gun for gun. If any British ship was so far forgetful
-of its duty as not to salute the king’s ship by striking the top-sail
-as it passed by, when it might be done without loss of the voyage,
-they were to be “brought to the Flag” to answer their contempt, or
-reported to the Admiralty for proceedings to be taken.[942] Similar
-instructions were issued in succeeding reigns, the injunction to compel
-by force those who refused to strike being limited to flag officers and
-commanders.[943]
-
-Disputes as to striking appear to have been much less common in the
-latter part of the seventeenth and in the eighteenth century than they
-were previously, but they sometimes occurred; and the ceremony seems
-to have been enforced on Dutch ships, though they were allied with the
-English fleet at the time. At all events, the Lords of the Admiralty
-in 1694 wrote to the Duke of Shrewsbury saying that the instructions
-required the respect of the flag from all nations whatsoever, without
-any distinction, and that Sir Cloudesley Shovel had been advised to
-that effect.[944] At this period, as indeed always, the Danes were
-very punctilious as to Kronberg Castle on the Sound being saluted with
-proper respect by foreign ships, and in 1694 Shrewsbury advised the
-Admiralty that the king had signified his pleasure that all ships of
-war sent to the Sound should salute Kronberg with three guns only, upon
-assurance that their salute would be returned by the castle with a like
-number of guns.[945]
-
-Early in the reign of Anne, in 1704, a sanguinary encounter took place
-with reference to the striking of the flag that equalled if it did not
-surpass in brutality any case that happened under Charles. An English
-squadron under the command of Admiral Whestone fell in with a Swedish
-man-of-war convoying some merchant vessels. The Swedish commander
-refused to strike to the English admiral, on the ground that he had
-received strict injunctions not to do so to any flag whatever, even
-in the Channel, and thereupon the English proceeded to compel him by
-force. After about 150 Swedes had been killed or wounded, as well as
-many English, the unlucky man-of-war, with all the merchantmen, was
-brought into Yarmouth Roads.[946] Another case of a different kind
-happened in 1728, early in the reign of George II. A French man-of-war,
-the _Gironde_, under the command of Mons. de Joyeux, on going into
-Plymouth Sound on 23rd November, was hailed by an English frigate,
-which demanded that he should salute the fortress and the frigate.
-The Frenchman replied that the bad weather had prevented his sending
-an officer to the governor to agree about a salute, but that he owed
-none to the frigate, which carried a pennant only, it being usual to
-salute none but flags; and he passed quickly into the port, where the
-captain of another frigate sent to ask him if he would not salute
-the commodore, who carried a bare pendant, and he returned the same
-answer. On coming out again on the 29th the frigate called upon him to
-strike his pennant, and on his refusal threatened to fire upon him. M.
-de Joyeux, feeling that it was by no means proper to hazard his ship
-under the cannon of the castle and the batteries, then complied, and
-also saluted the fort with eleven guns, as previously arranged. This
-“insult” was made the subject of complaint by France, and when all the
-papers had been submitted to the king he instructed that the officer
-responsible, Lieutenant Thomas Smith of the _Gosport_, should be
-forthwith dismissed the service as having in this particular exceeded
-his instructions.[947]
-
-In the writings of the naval historians of last century one may find
-expressed the views which were then prevalent in naval circles as to
-the striking of the flag and the sovereignty of the sea generally. They
-claimed for the crown of England an exclusive propriety and dominion
-in the British seas, both as to the right of passage and the right
-of fishing, and the widest limits were assigned to those seas. Thus
-Burchett, who was Secretary to the Admiralty, defined them as follows
-in 1720: On the east they extended to the shores of Norway, Denmark,
-Germany, and the Netherlands, so as to include the North Sea; on the
-south they were bounded by the shores of France and Spain to Cape
-Finisterre, and by a line from that Cape westwards to meet the western
-boundary, thus comprising the Channel, the Bay of Biscay, and part of
-the Atlantic Ocean; on the west they extended to an imaginary line in
-the Atlantic in longitude 23 degrees west from London, passing from
-the southern boundary to latitude 63 degrees north; and on the north
-they were bounded by this parallel to the middle point of Van Staten.
-These were declared to be the British seas proper, in which the crown
-had the most absolute dominion and the right to the honour of the flag
-from all other nations; but in addition, it was stated that on the
-north and west as far as America and Greenland the crown had also “most
-ample rights” in virtue of first discovery and occupation.[948]
-
-No doubt much of the claim put forward by these writers on behalf of
-the maritime dominion of England was stereotyped, and had more form
-than substance. Entick, indeed, in 1757, although asserting the right
-of Great Britain to an absolute sovereignty of the sea, and to the
-striking of the flag as an acknowledgment of it, himself described
-this duty as “but an indifferent honorary ceremony.” The changed
-point of view in which the matter was regarded was shown also in the
-declaration of war by Great Britain against the United Provinces in
-1780, because they had joined the Armed Neutrality. It contained
-nothing referring either to the flag or to the sovereignty of the sea;
-and it was doubtless as a mere matter of form and precedent that a
-brief article relating to the striking of the flag was inserted among
-the preliminary articles of peace, drawn up at Paris in 1783, and in
-the definitive treaty of peace concluded with the United Provinces in
-the next year.[949] The time was approaching when this ceremony was
-to pass away altogether as a symbol of our maritime sovereignty, even
-in the eyes of Englishmen. There was little need of claiming it as
-an acknowledgment of our actual naval supremacy during the greater
-part of the eighteenth century, for it was obvious to all the world
-that British sea-power was supreme. From the reign of Anne onwards the
-naval force of Great Britain was overwhelming, and formed a determining
-factor in the history of Europe. This country was undisputed mistress
-of the seas,--or tyrant of the seas, as our enemies preferred to put
-it,--and our old rival, the Netherlands, was left far behind in the
-race for naval power as well as in commerce.[950] Nor was it longer
-necessary to insist on the honour of the flag in order to stimulate the
-valour of our seamen, to keep alive the spirit of maritime glory in
-the nation, or to evoke the reverence of foreign peoples. The forcing
-of all foreign ships to strike in the British seas became a political
-encumbrance unsuited to the times. It was allowed to fall into disuse
-when its inconvenience had long outgrown any utility it had possessed,
-and the battle of Trafalgar, in 1805, gave the opportunity of departing
-from the ancient claim. The naval power of France and Spain having been
-humbled, it was thought a convenient time spontaneously to abandon a
-pretension which “could not probably have been maintained much longer
-except at the cannon’s mouth.”[951] The Admiralty, with the approbation
-of the Government, accordingly omitted the arbitrary article from their
-instructions for the fleet.[952]
-
-In the closing years of the seventeenth century and the earlier part of
-the next there were many signs that the era of claiming an exclusive
-sovereignty over extensive regions of the sea was passing away; and
-that, on the other hand, the policy of fixing exact boundaries for
-special purposes, either by international treaties or national laws,
-was taking its place. Such signs may be observed in the writings of
-public men, as in the letter of recantation which Evelyn indited
-to Pepys in 1682 (see p. 514), which included a long reasoned
-argument against the English pretensions. Still more to the point was
-the appearance of an extremely able work by Sir Philip Meadows in
-1689, immediately after the Revolution, in which these pretensions
-were subjected to the most destructive criticism.[953] Meadows had
-considerable experience of public affairs. As Latin Secretary to
-Cromwell’s Council--an office to which he was appointed in 1653 in
-order to relieve the poet Milton, whose blindness interfered with his
-duties--he was conversant with the negotiations then proceeding with
-the Dutch; and later, as ambassador to Denmark and then to Sweden, he
-had opportunities of acquainting himself with the claims to maritime
-sovereignty put forward by those countries. The keynote of Meadows’
-work was, that as the dominion of the seas was apt to become a specious
-pretence to a war between England and Holland, while the real causes
-of such a war were hidden and remote, nothing would conduce more
-effectually to preserve a lasting peace than a true knowledge and right
-understanding of the matter. If the claim of England as expounded by
-Selden was to be considered the proper standard of right and wrong
-between us and other nations, “if what was well written must be fought
-for too, not being to be gained but by a longer tool than a pen,”
-then the King of England would be cast upon this hard dilemma--either
-of being involved in endless and dangerous quarrels with all his
-neighbours abroad, or of having his honour and reputation prostituted
-at home, as tamely suffering “the best jewel of his crown to be
-ravished from it.” The English pretension, he pointed out, differed
-from that of Venice, inasmuch as it related not to a bay or gulf, but
-to a sea open on both sides which formed the passage of communication
-for the northern and southern nations of Europe. Persistence in the
-pretension would therefore result in war between the island and the
-Continent, as to whether the island should have the sea to herself, or
-whether the Continent should have a share of it with her. No nation
-had ever acknowledged the claim of England, which, moreover, was not
-enforced, because if one foreigner did violence to another, outside
-the King’s Chambers, but in the Channel or any part of the so-called
-British sea, he did not come under the jurisdiction of the King of
-England but under that of his own state.
-
-While strenuously opposing the pretensions to the sovereignty of the
-sea, Meadows agreed with all other authors in holding that every
-country had an exclusive right to certain parts of the sea adjoining
-its coasts: the difficulty was to fix the bounds. “If there is no
-certain standard in nature,” he says, “whereby to ascertain the precise
-boundaries of that peculiar Marine Territory I am now speaking to,
-which belongs to every prince in right of his land, yet, by treaty and
-agreement, they may easily be reduced to certainty. For, as to the
-judgment and opinion of private persons, we cannot fetch from thence
-any true measure; for though they all agree unanimously that there is
-something due of right, yet they vary in the _quantum_, or how much.
-Therefore the surest way is to prescribe the limits of fishing betwixt
-neighbouring nations by contract, and not by the less certain measure
-of territory. For, if no bounds be fixed, how many inconveniencies,
-and what a licentious extravagance, may such a liberty run into?”
-The Dutch, he said, unless boundaries were fixed, might dredge for
-oysters on the coast of Essex, as they did formerly; or fish within
-the mouth of the Thames, or in our creeks, havens, and rivers; and
-it was unreasonable not to draw a distinction as to fishing between
-natives and aliens. Meadows therefore, foreshadowing modern practice,
-urged that the boundaries of exclusive fishing should be determined by
-treaty, and he prepared a draft article for the consideration of those
-concerned.[954] In a later unpublished treatise he advocated much
-the same method of mutual agreement with France, with respect to the
-striking of the flag, as had been formerly proposed by Richelieu--that
-in our half of the Channel they should strike to us, and that in the
-half next France we should strike to them.[955]
-
-Whether or not the writings of Meadows had any influence upon the
-practice, or, what is more likely, merely reflected the change in
-opinion that had begun, it is from about this time that we find
-instances of definite boundaries being fixed, usually in connection
-with the rights of fishery, instead of the vague claims that commonly
-prevailed. The first case of the kind happened indeed a few years
-earlier. In a treaty between James II. and Louis XIV., which was
-concluded in 1686, concerning the rights of trading and fishing in
-the British and French possessions in America, it was agreed that
-the subjects of each were to abstain from fishing or trading “in the
-havens, bays, creeks, roads, shoals or places” belonging to the other,
-and the liberty of innocent navigation was not to be disturbed.[956]
-Though no definite limit was laid down in this treaty, the meaning of
-the terms used was well understood; they were practically the same
-as those used in the proclamations as to neutral waters in 1668 and
-1683. They are interesting as being the first definitions of the kind
-which apply to the coasts of America, and they do not materially differ
-from the terms used in the treaty of 1818, the interpretation of which
-has given rise to so much dispute. Another example for a different
-purpose is to be found in a convention between France and Algeria in
-1689, which established a limit of ten leagues along the Mediterranean
-coasts of France in connection with the operations of the Barbary
-corsairs.[957]
-
-In the treaty above referred to, between Great Britain and France, the
-rights of trading and fishing went together. This was a very common
-thing in those times, particularly in remote seas, where the two
-pursuits were often combined, and it was especially the case in the
-northern seas which were supposed to be under the sway of the King of
-Denmark. The disputes which occurred between Denmark and the United
-Provinces of the Netherlands are of interest in this regard, since
-they reveal the methods and the stages by which a defined boundary
-was eventually substituted for a general claim to maritime dominion.
-They show, moreover, that at the end of the disputes Great Britain
-stood by the side of Holland in opposing the Danish pretension to
-_mare clausum_, and was altogether in favour of the free sea. It was
-apparently the assertion of James I. to a monopoly of the whale-fishing
-at Spitzbergen (see p. 181) that induced Denmark to put forward a
-similar pretension with regard to Greenland. As early as 1615 a Danish
-man-of-war demanded a contribution from Dutch whalers for liberty to
-fish there, and the King of Denmark complained to the States-General
-that their subjects were carrying on the fishery without his license
-and contrary to his rights. The Dutch opposed this claim and sent armed
-ships to the scene, which kept the Danes from active interference. A
-little later, in 1623, Denmark raised fresh complaints in connection
-with the fishing at Jan Mayen, an island discovered by the Dutch, and
-which, therefore, according to the charter of the Dutch Arctic Company,
-belonged to them. In 1639 Danish men-of-war again interfered with Dutch
-whalers, this time at Spitzbergen, in virtue of a decree prohibiting
-fishing without a license from the King of Denmark; but the firm
-attitude of the States-General, whose fleets were then all-powerful,
-cooled the ardour of the Danes. Denmark also raised difficulties
-in connection with the cod-fishing in the northern seas. In 1616
-foreigners were prohibited from fishing either at Færöe, Iceland,
-or on the coast of Norway, an injunction renewed in 1636 and 1639,
-and various limits were assigned with respect to the cod-fishing at
-Iceland. In 1636 the Norwegian Government declared that the exclusive
-right of fishing pertained to subjects within a distance of four to six
-Scandinavian leagues from the coast, which is equal to from sixteen to
-twenty-four geographical miles. The Danish claim to _mare clausum_ also
-included a monopoly of trade in those remote regions, and the Hanseatic
-towns as well as the Dutch were forbidden to carry on traffic with the
-natives. But the efforts of Denmark to preserve a monopoly of fishing
-and trading in the Arctic seas were intermittent and ineffectual. The
-great Dutch Arctic Company (_Noordsche Compagnie_), by their charter
-granted in 1614, were entitled not only to the exclusive right, so far
-as concerned Dutchmen, “to trade and fish from the United Provinces on
-or to the coasts of the lands between Nova Zembla and Davis’ Strait,”
-including Spitzbergen, Barent’s Island, and Greenland, but also to the
-possession and fishery of any islands they might discover in those
-seas. The rights granted to this powerful company were thus directly
-opposed to the Danish claim to _mare clausum_, and owing to the
-preponderating naval force of the United Provinces, which was behind
-them, they eventually prevailed. In February 1691, after the defeat
-by the French of the allied British and Dutch fleets off Beachy Head
-and the suspension of the Dutch whale-fishing by reason of the war,
-King Christian V. issued another decree prohibiting whale-fishing at
-Greenland to all but Danish subjects; and in the following year Hamburg
-was forced to conclude a treaty with Denmark to enable her citizens to
-carry on fishing and navigation in Davis’ Strait.
-
-It was at this time, nevertheless, that Denmark substituted a fixed
-limit at other parts of her dominions for her previous vague and
-general claim to maritime sovereignty. By a decree of 26th June
-1691, the sea between the south coast of Norway and the coast of
-Jutland, within a straight line drawn from Cape Lindesnæs to Harboore
-in Rinkjobing, a distance of over a hundred geographical miles, was
-declared to belong to Denmark; and it was further ordained that in
-places where the king possessed only one of the coasts, the sea was
-under his dominion up to the distance at which the land was lost sight
-of--_i.e._, within the range of vision. At the end of the following
-year (3rd December 1692) another edict was issued declaring that no
-one without royal authority would be allowed to carry on whale-fishing
-within ten Norwegian leagues, or forty geographical miles, of the
-coast.[958] This tendency of Denmark to formulate defined boundaries in
-the seas along her coasts was carried further, as we shall see, in the
-eighteenth century.
-
-Within the areas above mentioned, Denmark enforced her authority with
-considerable vigour. In 1698 a Dutch ship was seized and confiscated
-for fishing at the Færöes; and in the period 1738-1740 great energy was
-displayed in repressing violations of the Danish decrees. Several Dutch
-ships were fired on by Danish men-of-war for trading at Greenland;
-the crews were turned adrift in open boats, and the vessels taken to
-Copenhagen, where they were condemned as prize in the Admiralty Court.
-In retaliation, a Danish ship was seized at Amsterdam, and then Danish
-men-of-war fell upon the Dutch doggers fishing around Iceland, about a
-hundred in number, captured four, and dispersed the others without, it
-was alleged, offering to molest the British and French smacks fishing
-along with them. While bringing the captured doggers to Denmark, one of
-them managed to escape, and carried off to Holland the prize crew on
-board, consisting of a Danish midshipman and three seamen--an episode
-that recalls John Brown’s experience in 1617. These occurrences were
-naturally followed by diplomatic controversies. Denmark at first based
-her action in seizing the doggers on a decree of 1733, reserving to her
-own subjects the exclusive right of fishing and navigating within four
-leagues of the coast of all Danish possessions in the Arctic seas; and
-the Dutch were accused of carrying on an extensive illicit trade at
-Iceland, under cover of fishing. The States-General used the familiar
-arguments about the freedom of the seas for fishing and navigation,
-urged long-continued possession, and cited an old treaty of 1447 which
-gave the Dutch the right to navigate “usque ad Boreæ oras.” Then
-Denmark placed her case on its ancient basis, declaring that the kings
-of Denmark and Norway had enjoyed from time immemorial the dominion of
-the northern seas, and were therefore entitled, even according to the
-teaching of Grotius, to the exclusive fishing. They denied that the
-Dutch had ever possessed the right of fishery in these seas, alleging
-that clandestine acts, punished as soon as discovered, could not be
-construed into possession. This revival of _dominium maris_ called
-forth an energetic protest from the States-General, and affairs took a
-bellicose turn. Denmark sent a squadron north to maintain her claims,
-and Holland provided an armed convoy for her whalers and Iceland
-cod-smacks, “to defend themselves against the pretensions of the
-Danes.” Hostilities were averted by the intercession of Sweden, and of
-the British and French Ministers at Copenhagen, in favour of the Dutch
-Republic and the freedom of the seas.
-
-Occasional disputes of the same kind occurred between Denmark and
-the United Provinces later in the century. In 1757 a Dutch ship was
-arrested--it was said in the open sea--on the ground that it had been
-trading in Davis’ Strait, and the matter was adjusted a few years later
-by an undertaking that the Dutch vessels would refrain from trading
-within the precincts of the Danish possessions. The States-General in
-1762 issued a placard to this effect, and they also sent a ship of war
-to enforce it. In 1776 an English brigantine and two Dutch vessels
-were seized for trading at Greenland, and condemned by the Danish
-Admiralty Court, and although on the protests of the British and Dutch
-Governments the vessels were released, compensation for detention was
-refused.[959]
-
-Other and later examples of the tendency alluded to, of fixing definite
-limits for the rights of the state in the seas washing its territories,
-may be found in the international treaties, which were concluded during
-the eighteenth century, concerning the rights of fishery on the coasts
-and islands of the British possessions in North America, a region of
-the world which has furnished numerous examples of agreements of the
-kind. One of these, in 1686, has been already mentioned. By the great
-treaty of Utrecht in 1713, following Marlborough’s successful campaigns
-on the Continent, France ceded Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Great
-Britain; but certain concessions were made to French fishermen, who,
-of course, previously enjoyed the right of fishing there, which
-subsequently for a long period formed a fertile source of trouble and
-dispute. In addition to certain privileges as to landing and drying
-fish, French subjects were to be free to fish in the seas, bays, and
-other places to thirty leagues from the south-east coast of Nova
-Scotia.[960] Half a century later, by the treaty of Paris in 1763,
-at the conclusion of the seven years’ war, Canada was ceded to Great
-Britain, and the concessions to French fishermen at Newfoundland were
-confirmed, with some modifications. Liberty of fishing was also granted
-to them in the Gulf of St Lawrence, subject to the condition that they
-did “not exercise the said fishery, except at a distance of three
-leagues from all the coasts belonging to Great Britain, as well those
-of the continent as those of the islands situated in the said Gulf of
-St Lawrence.” On the coasts of the island of Cape Breton, outwith the
-Gulf, they were not to fish within fifteen leagues of the shore.[961]
-These provisions concerning the fishery in the Gulf of St Lawrence and
-at Cape Breton were confirmed twenty years later by the treaty of
-Versailles in 1783, the article regarding Newfoundland being at the
-same time modified.[962]
-
-In these various treaties the fisheries were dealt with in a special
-and exceptional manner, in connection with the cession of the adjacent
-territories by France to Great Britain. The French fishermen had always
-enjoyed the right of fishing in these seas in virtue of the ownership
-of the land; and though full sovereignty over the latter was acquired
-by Great Britain, the liberty of fishing, under certain restrictions,
-was continued notwithstanding the transference of territory. The
-fisheries of Newfoundland and Canada were of great importance. They
-were highly valued by France as forming nurseries of seamen for her
-navy, and for this reason the preliminary treaty of 1762 was severely
-criticised by the Opposition in the British Parliament, and especially
-by Pitt, who perceived that the concessions with respect to the
-fisheries would enable France to revive her naval power.[963]
-
-A concession still more extensive, on the same principle, was granted
-by Great Britain to the newly-established United States of America
-in the treaty of 1783, by which their independence was recognised.
-The question of the rights of fishery was very fully discussed in the
-negotiations which preceded the treaty; and though Great Britain did
-not deny the right of American citizens to fish on the Great Banks
-of Newfoundland, or in the Gulf of St Lawrence, or elsewhere in the
-open sea, she denied their right to fish in British waters, or to
-land on British territory for the purpose of drying or curing their
-fish. A compromise was arrived at, and the treaty provided that the
-people of the United States should continue to enjoy, unmolested, the
-right to take fish of all kinds on the Newfoundland Banks, in the
-Gulf of St Lawrence, and at “all other places in the sea where the
-inhabitants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish”;
-also on such parts of the coast of Newfoundland as British fishermen
-should use, and “on the coasts, bays, and creeks” of all other parts
-of the British-American dominions. They were further permitted to dry
-and cure their fish on unsettled parts of the coast of Nova Scotia,
-the Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, so long as these parts remained
-unsettled.[964] It will be observed that by this treaty the liberty of
-fishing in the territorial waters of the British possessions in America
-was conceded to the citizens of the United States, who had exercised
-the fishery before their independence was declared. They continued to
-enjoy the right which they had had as British subjects after they had
-ceased to be British subjects, and they did so until the war of 1812.
-
-With regard to the fisheries at home, in whose interest James I. had
-originally raised the question of the sovereignty of the sea, the
-clamour against the Dutch gradually died out, or was only heard at
-intervals and received but scant attention. Pamphleteers continued to
-denounce the liberty allowed to foreigners to fish along the British
-coasts, and drew the usual picture of the great national advantage that
-would flow from the creation of native fisheries to rival those of the
-Dutch.[965] Under James II., William, Anne, and the Georges, the policy
-of fostering the fisheries by protective legislation and by means of
-organised societies or associations was continued, with but little
-good result. The most serious attempt was made in the middle of the
-eighteenth century, when an Act was passed[966] for the incorporation
-of “The Society of the Free British Fishery,” giving power to raise
-a stock of £500,000, and guaranteeing 3 per cent interest on the sum
-raised within eighteen months,--which amounted to £104,509,--as well
-as conferring various privileges and immunities, including a tonnage
-bounty to encourage the equipment of busses. This society, which
-was incorporated in the autumn of 1750, with the Prince of Wales as
-Governor, had a chequered career. Its headquarters were pitched at
-Southwold, Suffolk, where docks were built and buildings erected. In
-1756 it possessed thirty busses and six “yagers” to carry the pickled
-herrings to Hamburg and Bremen, the masters of the busses being Dutch
-or Danish, and the crews chiefly from Orkney, the fishing being carried
-on at the Shetlands and down the coast to Yarmouth. Financial and
-other difficulties were encountered, some of the vessels being taken
-by French privateers, and all the remaining busses and effects were
-sold in 1772 for £6391. Half a century later, the relics of some of the
-discarded busses were dug out of the mud at Southwold.
-
-The Act above referred to was the parent of many others designed to
-encourage the fisheries, chiefly by providing bounties; but probably
-more effective than such measures in stimulating the native industry
-was the decay which overtook the fisheries of the Dutch. This decay
-was no doubt due to several causes, but among the chief must be
-reckoned the frequent maritime wars of the eighteenth century in which
-the United Provinces were engaged. Their herring-busses were often
-captured or destroyed, sometimes in large numbers at a time, as in
-1703, when a French squadron fell upon them at Shetland and burned many
-of them--variously stated at from 150 to 400.[967] Not infrequently
-their herring fishery was entirely suspended, it might be for a series
-of years, owing to the inability of the States-General to protect the
-fishing vessels from the French or the British cruisers; and such
-interruptions told seriously upon a business which depended so largely
-on the export trade of the cured herrings. From these repeated blows
-the Dutch fisheries never recovered, and the fleets of busses gradually
-dwindled. In 1703, 500 of them fished at the Shetlands and southwards
-along the coast; half a century afterwards there were but little over
-200; and in the later years of the century the number sank as low as
-120, which scarcely exceeded the vessels from Denmark, Prussia (Emden),
-and Belgium. Thus the part of the pretension to the sovereignty of
-the sea which related to the fisheries along the British coasts was
-gradually solved, the British fisheries, now the greatest in the world,
-rising on the ruins of the Dutch.
-
-
-
-
-SECTION II.
-
-THE TERRITORIAL WATERS
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE TERRITORIAL SEA.
-
-
-From what has been said in previous chapters, it is apparent that
-the extensive claims which were formerly made to the dominion of the
-English or British seas were practically abandoned in the eighteenth
-century, and the pretensions of other states to a similar and more
-effective dominion in particular seas long ago shared the same fate.
-It is now settled as indisputable, both by the usage of nations and
-the principles of international law, that the open ocean cannot be
-appropriated by any one Power. But it is also as firmly established
-that all states possess sovereign rights in those parts of the sea
-which wash their shores, although there is not, and has never been,
-universal agreement as to the precise nature of those rights, or as to
-the extent of the sea that may be thus appropriated. While the general
-movement of opinion and practice in modern times has thus been from
-the _mare clausum_ to the _mare liberum_--from the sea held to be
-appropriated by particular nations to the sea under no sovereignty, but
-free and open to all for all purposes,--there has been another movement
-in the opposite direction, by which the exclusive rights of maritime
-states in the waters immediately adjoining their coasts have come to be
-more clearly recognised and definitely incorporated in international
-law. To this extent all maritime countries now possess a sovereignty of
-the sea.
-
-It is desirable to trace the evolution of this limited sovereignty over
-what is now known as the territorial waters or territorial sea (also
-named the neighbouring, proximal, adjacent, or littoral sea--_mare
-proximum_, _mare vicinum_, _mer territoriale_, _nächstangrenzendes
-Meer_), and to consider in particular the two main aspects it
-presents,--first, the actual practice of nations on the one hand, and,
-second, the opinions of the accredited writers on international law.
-
-The sovereignty over the so-called territorial sea has sometimes been
-regarded as the direct remnant of a sovereignty which was previously
-asserted by particular nations over whole seas or large parts of
-them.[968] This is true in a general sense, but in tracing the
-historical evolution of the territorial waters it is found that the
-steps by which the transference was effected varied in different cases.
-The pretensions of Denmark, for example, to a wide dominion over the
-Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic, were slowly curtailed by gradual
-concessions to the opposition of other Powers, so that the extensive
-territorial waters at present pertaining to Norway may be looked
-upon as the residuum of the ancient claim. The exclusive rights have
-persisted, while the area over which they are exercised has dwindled.
-In like manner, the equally extensive territorial waters of Sweden
-may be regarded as an abridgment of her old claims in the Baltic. The
-same process may have operated in the case of Spain and Portugal, both
-of which Powers now claim maritime sovereignty to a distance of six
-miles from their coasts; but here the successive stages of contraction
-are not obvious. The territorial sea now held to pertain to Great
-Britain, so far as it has been defined, did not originate in this way,
-by direct descent from the old claim to the dominion of the British
-seas. That claim simply died out and vanished in the lapse of time,
-without apparently leaving a single juridical or international right
-behind it. The British territorial waters, as usually defined, are of
-modern origin, and were derived from the international jurisprudence of
-the Continent, and especially from the doctrine of Bynkershoek, to be
-referred to later.
-
-Even during the time when some nations were asserting a wide maritime
-dominion, and other nations were opposing such pretensions, there
-was a general recognition that every maritime state was entitled to
-exercise jurisdiction over some extent of the neighbouring sea. This
-was admitted by the most thoroughgoing advocates of the _mare liberum_,
-as by Grotius himself, and it was acknowledged by the common usage of
-nations. The rights exercised by the crown of England, for instance,
-in the so-called King’s Chambers in the seventeenth century were
-apparently not challenged by foreign Powers. But while the sovereign
-rights of a state over a part of the adjacent sea were recognised by
-the usage of nations and the opinions of publicists, there was no
-agreement as to the extent which might be appropriated, and various
-limits or boundaries have from time to time been proposed or adopted,
-by which the sea pertaining to a state might be divided off from that
-which was open and free to all. From an early date attempts were made
-by jurists to discover some general principle or to lay down rules
-which might be applied in all such cases. Some of these rules were of
-such a nature as to assign to states an extent of sea almost as great
-as any comprised under the widest claims to maritime sovereignty, and
-none of them received a general assent. The early English lawyers of
-the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Glanville, Bracton, Britton, and
-“Fleta,” merely followed the Roman law with regard to the sea--that is
-to say, they held that it is by its nature common, like the air, and
-they did not suggest any limit within which the prince of the adjoining
-state had exclusive jurisdiction or dominion (see p. 66).
-
-It is in the writings of the early Italian jurists, who lived after
-the time when Venice by force of arms had established her sovereignty
-over the Adriatic, that we first meet with proposals to assign legal
-limits to the maritime jurisdiction of the neighbouring state. Bartolus
-of Saxo-Ferrato, a great Perugian jurist who died in 1357, and whose
-authority in the middle ages was very great, declared the law to be
-that jurisdiction extended to a distance of one hundred miles from the
-coast, or less than two days’ journey from it. Within this space the
-ruler had power to apprehend and punish delinquents just as he had on
-land.[969] Baldus Ubaldus, another eminent Italian jurist, who was a
-pupil of Bartolus and died in 1400, also allotted a wide limit to
-the maritime rights of the prince of the adjoining territory; but he
-reduced the space from one hundred to sixty miles, a distance which
-was supposed to be equal to one day’s journey from the coast.[970] The
-boundaries assigned by these jurists, or sometimes the equivalent of
-one or two days’ voyage from the coast, were very generally accepted
-by civilians later, although frequently with qualification, more
-particularly as to the nature of the rights to be exercised.[971]
-Bartolus confined the rights of the prince to jurisdiction and the
-appropriation of islands, and since the distance prescribed included
-the space within which navigation in those times was almost entirely
-restricted, it is probable that the primary idea was the maintenance of
-order and the suppression of piracy. The underlying principle was the
-range of navigation from the coast or from a port, just as later it was
-the range of guns.
-
-Baldus seems to have gone a step further than Bartolus by including
-sovereignty (_potestas_) as well as jurisdiction (_jurisdictio_)
-among the rights of the neighbouring prince, and he declared that
-the proximal sea pertained to the territory of the adjoining state,
-which, as in the case of Venice, had power to impose taxes for the use
-of it.[972] Much the same opinion was expressed by Bodin, a French
-lawyer who wrote about the middle of the sixteenth century. When
-speaking of the taxes or tolls that might be imposed by a state, he
-said that though the sea was incapable of appropriation, it was in a
-measure accepted that for a distance of sixty miles from the shore
-the prince of the adjoining country could impose law on those who
-approached the coast, and that it had been so adjudged in the case of
-the Duke of Savoy.[973] Gentilis, writing at the beginning of the next
-century, stated that it was laid down by the civilians that not only
-jurisdiction, but dominion, pertained to the neighbouring state as
-far as one hundred miles from the coast, and even further unless the
-proximity of another state interfered.[974]
-
-It is thus clear that long before the beginning of the seventeenth
-century, the original simplicity of the Roman law regarding the
-appropriation of the sea had undergone a change at the hands of its
-commentators, and that the doctrine of sovereignty or dominion over a
-very considerable maritime zone was widely held by jurists. But there
-is no evidence that either of the boundaries prescribed by Bartolus
-or Baldus was sanctioned by the general usage of nations. They do not
-appear ever to have been adopted by any state of northern or western
-Europe as the limits of its territorial sea or maritime sovereignty;
-although they were occasionally used in arguments in State Papers,
-as when the Earl of Salisbury justified to the Spanish Court King
-James’s proclamation of 1609 against unlicensed fishing, on the ground
-that maritime jurisdiction was “generally received to be about one
-hundred miles at the least into the seas.” The actual application of
-these large boundaries appears to have been confined to parts of the
-Mediterranean, where the doctrine took its rise, and where it survived
-till the eighteenth century.[975] A more recent and a curious survival
-of the old boundary of Bartolus is to be found in the abortive Russian
-Ukase of 1821, by which foreigners were prohibited from navigating in
-Behring Sea within one hundred Italian miles of the coast, a claim
-which was revived by the United States as late as 1891.[976]
-
-Another general principle for the demarcation of the seas belonging
-to a state had even wider currency than the above. It consisted in
-the transference to the sea of the principle of the mid-channel, or
-_thalweg_, as applied to rivers in apportioning the waters pertaining
-to either bank,--a doctrine laid down in Roman law and in vogue among
-the Anglo-Saxons as early at least as the seventh century.[977] The
-_thalweg_ or mid-channel was not infrequently a boundary between
-contiguous states, and it was not a great step to transfer its
-application in theory from wide rivers and estuaries to intervening
-seas. In this way the mid-line in the sea lying between the coasts of
-two states was held to be the boundary of their respective maritime
-jurisdiction or sovereignty. The whole extent of a sea stretching
-between territories belonging to the same state, however far apart
-these territories might be, was looked upon as being under the
-sovereignty of that state. This principle, therefore, covered most
-extensive claims to maritime dominion, since it left hardly any part
-of the sea unappropriated. The mid-line as an international boundary
-was in the case of narrow seas logically derived from the tenets of
-the Italian lawyers, but there are grounds for believing that it may
-have been much older. An ancient example of its use in a limited way
-is to be found in King Cnut’s charter, in 1023, granting the port of
-Sandwich, in Kent, to the Church at Canterbury, by which certain rights
-of wreck up to the middle of the sea were conferred on the monks. After
-mentioning “the great sea without the port,” it provided that half of
-whatever was found “on this side of the middle of the sea,” and brought
-to Sandwich, should belong to the monks and half to the finder.[978]
-Cnut’s charter cannot be taken as expressing any direct claim to
-jurisdiction to the middle line, but as wreck was a prerogative of the
-crown--and this is the first grant of it--the limit assigned seems to
-imply a differentiation of authority. More pertinent is the statement
-in the _Mirror of Justice_, a law-book written about the end of the
-thirteenth century, and attributed to Andrew Horn, who was Chamberlain
-of London in the reign of Edward II., that the king’s sovereign
-jurisdiction extended as far as the middle line of the sea surrounding
-the land.[979] Plowden, the Elizabethan lawyer, believed that this
-work contained the law as it existed before the Norman Conquest, but it
-is now declared to contain much that is spurious. Whether that be so or
-not, there is no doubt that this principle of maritime delimitation was
-adopted by many of the lawyers and scholars of Elizabeth’s time, as Dee
-and Plowden.[980] Even well on in the next century no less a personage
-than Lord Chief-Justice Hale, in an early unpublished treatise on the
-law of the customs and seaports, maintained that the king had “right of
-jurisdiction or dominion of so much at lest of the sea as adjoines to
-the British coast nearer then to any forren coast.”[981] From internal
-evidence this tract appears to have been written about 1636, and the
-influence of Selden’s _Mare Clausum_, which was published at this
-time, and in which the mid-line was repudiated as a boundary of the
-British seas, was shown in Hale’s later treatise. In it the mid-line
-was abandoned, and the “narrow sea, adjoining to the coast of England,”
-was declared to be “part of the waste and demesnes and dominions of
-the King of England,” who had in it the double right of jurisdiction
-and property or ownership, “Master Selden” being referred to as
-authority.[982]
-
-There is no evidence that the principle of the mid-channel as applied
-to the sea was ever homologated by an English sovereign or Government.
-Notwithstanding its currency in the reign of Elizabeth, we know
-that it was explicitly disavowed by the queen herself in diplomatic
-controversy with the King of Denmark, who, in virtue of it, claimed
-the whole of the sea between Norway and Iceland. Still earlier the
-English Parliament vainly petitioned the victorious Henry V., fresh
-from his conquests in France, to impose tribute on vessels passing
-through the Channel, on the ground that he possessed both shores, and
-therefore had a legal title to the intervening sea.[983] But although
-the mid-line appears never to have been clearly adopted, there are
-two circumstances, both referring like Cnut’s charter to the Channel,
-which may point to its ancient usage there. One is that an important
-fishing-bank, the Zowe or Sow, extending about one-third across the
-Channel between Rye and Dieppe, was recognised by France as within the
-English jurisdiction, and French fishermen for a very long period were
-in the habit of procuring licenses from the Warden of the Cinque Ports
-for permission to fish there (see p. 65). The other is that when the
-question was raised as to how far the jurisdiction of the Cinque Ports
-extended into the sea--in connection apparently with complaints against
-French fishermen towards the end of the reign of Charles II.--the
-Trinity House, while avowing their own ignorance, stated that the
-Sergeant of the Admiralty within the Cinque Ports claimed to exercise
-his authority “half seas over or further.”[984]
-
-The methods of delimitation hitherto mentioned consisted in drawing
-imaginary lines in the sea, usually at a considerable distance from the
-coast. Another principle, which probably originated among seafaring
-men and was capable of being made use of in a rough-and-ready fashion,
-depended on the range of vision on a fair day, seawards from the
-shore, or usually from the sea to the land. The space of sea between
-the coast and the horizon, or _vice versâ_, was regarded as belonging
-to the adjoining state. This was the principle adopted in Scotland,
-but it was not confined to that country. It was employed in olden
-times in England to determine whether a bay or arm of the sea was
-within the body of a county, _inter fauces terræ_, and therefore
-under common law, or part of the high sea and under the jurisdiction
-of the Admiral.[985] An early instance of its adoption as a boundary
-of international jurisdiction is to be found in the nautical laws
-prescribed for the Netherlands in 1563 by Philip II. of Spain, by which
-it was forbidden, on pain of death, for any violence to be done by
-reason of war, or for any other cause, to his subjects or allies, or
-to foreigners, on the sea within sight of the land.[986] Grotius also
-referred to the range of vision as a boundary, when he said that the
-controversy respecting the freedom of the sea was not about bays or
-straits, or “so much of the sea as might be seen from the shore.”[987]
-We have already seen that in Scotland the fisheries within sight of
-the coast, or a “land-kenning,” were claimed as belonging exclusively
-to the Scottish people. In this case the range of vision was from the
-sea to the land, and it was to be determined from the main-top of the
-fishing smack.[988] The extent of a land-kenning was stated to be
-fourteen miles, and this was the distance expressed in the Draft Treaty
-of Union in 1604, and pressed upon the Dutch by King James in 1618;
-but sometimes twenty-eight miles, or two land-kennings, was claimed;
-and it is to be noted that in the case of bays and firths the distance
-was measured from a base-line drawn between headland and headland.
-The range of vision, or land-kenning, as the boundary of the reserved
-fishing waters, was embodied in Scottish law as well as claimed against
-other nations by the Privy Council, the Parliament, and the king.[989]
-
-It was also conceded to Denmark, for in 1618 the Privy Council
-prohibited Scottish fishermen from fishing within sight of land at
-the Færöe Isles. The King of Denmark, indeed, assigned the same limit
-in a decree of 1691 with regard to places where he did not possess
-the opposite coasts.[990] Although the principle was not formally
-acknowledged by the Dutch in determining their fishing on the British
-coasts, they agreed to adhere to it (see p. 193); and there is evidence
-to show that the British cruisers caused them to respect this limit, at
-all events in connection with the herring-fishing at Yarmouth.[991] A
-later example of the adoption of this limit is to be found in a treaty
-concluded in 1740 between the Porte and the King of Naples, by which it
-was stipulated that neither party would permit vessels to be pursued or
-molested on their coasts within a distance at which ships could discern
-the land.[992]
-
-The method of determining the extent of the territorial sea by the
-range of vision was vague and open to obvious objections, even though
-it was ascertained only on a fair day. The distance, as Bynkershoek
-pointed out, would vary according to the position of the observer, the
-keenness of his vision, the climate, and many other circumstances,
-and it was inapplicable to narrow seas, such as the Channel, where
-the opposite coasts belonged to different states. It is, however,
-questionable whether, under proper rules, it would have furnished a
-zone much less definite than that of the range of guns. It has been
-proposed by some modern publicists, as Rayneval, Azuni, Heffter,
-and Godey, as a boundary of territorial waters; and if it had been
-generally adopted as a principle of delimitation, there is no doubt
-that the equivalent distance of fourteen miles as used in Scotland
-would have proved more satisfactory in several respects than the
-ordinary limit of three miles, which was supposed to represent the
-range of guns.
-
-Still less definite was another principle, if such it can be called,
-which was proposed as a guide in allotting the space of sea within
-which exclusive rights of fishing should belong to the adjacent state.
-Welwood, Selden, and many others, held, in opposition to Grotius and
-his school, that the fisheries along a coast might be exhausted or
-injured by promiscuous fishing, and that the inhabitants of the coast
-had a primary right to the _fructus_ of the adjacent sea, as against
-the intrusion of foreigners--a principle which lay at the root of the
-Scottish claims to the “reserved waters.” Sarpi, an Italian author of
-the early part of the seventeenth century, in a work defending the
-claims of Venice, formulated the opinion that the extent of territorial
-sea should not be fixed everywhere in an absolute manner, but should
-be made proportionate to the requirements of the adjoining state,
-without violating the just rights of other peoples. Thus a country
-or city which possessed large and fertile territories that provided
-adequate subsistence for the inhabitants, would have little need of the
-fisheries in the neighbouring sea, while one with small territories
-that drew a large part of its subsistence from the sea ought to have a
-much greater extent of sea for its exclusive use.[993] This doctrine,
-though obviously difficult of application internationally, has much
-to recommend it on grounds of reason and justice. It is one of the
-fundamental principles on which Norway claims at the present day an
-unusually large extent of territorial sea.
-
-With regard to bays, straits, and arms of the sea, the general usage
-from the earliest times has included them within the jurisdiction of
-the neighbouring state. They have been always regarded as differing
-from the sea on an open coast, the only disputes about them referring
-to the size of such areas that might justly be looked upon as
-territorial. By the old common law of England, which Hale dates as far
-back at least as the reign of Edward II. (1307-1327), bays, gulfs, or
-estuaries, of which one shore could be “reasonably discerned” from the
-other shore, were regarded as _inter fauces terræ_, and within the body
-of the adjacent county or counties, so that offences committed there
-were triable at common law. But along the coast, on the open sea, the
-jurisdiction of the common law extended no farther than to low-water
-mark; beyond that it was high sea, or _altum mare_, and under the
-jurisdiction of the Admiral.[994] Here we see a sharp distinction
-drawn between bays and the open coast, the former being included
-within the realm as part of the territory. It seems reasonable on many
-grounds that the waters lying in view between two parts of the same
-continuous territory should have been regarded as pertaining to that
-territory, and it may be noted that in early times the navigation of a
-vessel along a coast was conducted from headland to headland, and thus
-a distinction was likely to arise between the open sea lying outside a
-line joining the headlands, as a waterway common to all, and the sea
-inside the headlands as an access to the territory. The distinction was
-maintained from an early period with regard to international relations.
-Reference has already been made to the treaty arranged by Cardinal
-Wolsey in 1521, in which it was stipulated that English harbours,
-bays, rivers, and roads should be exempt from hostilities between
-belligerents, and to the proclamations of King James in 1604, and of
-succeeding sovereigns, defining the extent of the King’s Chambers, or
-bays, according to ancient custom, for purposes of neutrality.[995]
-It is interesting to note that the rights exercised within the King’s
-Chambers, or bays, on the coasts of England referred only to neutrality
-and had nothing to do with fishing, while in Scotland it was exactly
-the opposite. The large bays and firths on the Scottish coast were
-reserved for fishing, without any specific reference to the rights
-or obligations of neutrals. The differentiation of bays and arms
-of the sea from the territorial belt on open coasts has persisted
-to the present day, both in the writings of publicists and in the
-practice of nations, although the introduction of another principle
-of delimitation has tended to keep the claims to bays within moderate
-bounds.
-
-The various methods of determining the territorial waters of a state
-referred to above were more or less arbitrary, and did not rest upon a
-natural basis capable of universal application. During the seventeenth
-and eighteenth centuries another principle was gradually evolved, and
-was ultimately accepted as furnishing such a natural basis, so that it
-may now be regarded as an established part of international law. It
-was, that the maritime dominion of a state ended where its power of
-asserting continuous possession ended. The belt of sea along the coast
-which could be commanded and controlled by artillery on shore thus
-came to be regarded as the territorial sea belonging to the contiguous
-state. Beyond the range of guns on shore the sea was common.
-
-This principle was of slow growth. It did not even receive definite
-expression among jurists until the beginning of the eighteenth
-century; but as previously stated (see p. 156), the Dutch ambassadors
-who came to London in 1610, to endeavour to induce King James to
-withdraw his proclamation against unlicensed fishing, made use of it
-in their conferences with the English Ministers, not improbably at the
-instigation of Grotius. But whether or not Grotius was the person who
-enunciated the principle in 1610, it is in his writings that we first
-meet with it, although in a veiled form. It is not mentioned in _Mare
-Liberum_, but in his greater work, the Law of War and Peace, which
-was published in 1625, he said that a state might acquire sovereignty
-over parts of the sea, in regard to persons by an armed fleet, and “in
-regard to territory, as when those who sail on the coasts of a country
-may be compelled from the land, just as if they were on the land.”[996]
-The principle of compulsion from the land is clearly enough expressed,
-and though Grotius did not define the nature of the compulsion to be
-exercised, modern writers have generally held that what he meant was
-compulsion by artillery. If Grotius was the author of the dictum of
-1610, he must have had reasons for expressing it in a less definite
-form in 1625,--perhaps owing to his employment at that time by the
-Queen of Sweden, to whom the naked doctrine would have been no more
-attractive than to James.
-
-For a long time, however, the doctrine was equally neglected by
-publicists and statesmen. This may have been partly due to the somewhat
-obscure and incidental way in which it was advanced, but probably
-mainly to the fact that the time was not ripe for its acceptance. It
-represented much too stringent a limitation of the territorial sea to
-receive general assent. Selden does not refer to it, and it was passed
-over by the authors, such as Pontanus,[997] Burgus,[998] Shookius,[999]
-Conringius,[1000] and Strauchius,[1001] who favoured more or less
-extensive claims to maritime dominion, while even writers who opposed
-such claims, as Stypmannus[1002] and Graswinckel,[1003] do not adopt it.
-
-The opinions of Grotius with respect to the appropriation of the sea
-had, indeed, comparatively little influence among jurists in the
-seventeenth century. The views which prevailed in the latter part of
-the period are rather represented in the works of two of the writers
-whose reputation was greatest, Loccenius and Puffendorf. Loccenius, a
-Swedish author who wrote about the middle of the century and is still
-quoted as an authority, declared that while a nation could not acquire
-a universal dominion over the sea, it might possess sovereignty in a
-particular sea as far as it was under its power or dominion, subject to
-the rights of innocent passage and navigation by others; and he cited
-as examples Sweden and Denmark, which exercised sovereignty in the
-Baltic.[1004] As a general rule, however, Loccenius held that states
-had jurisdiction only in the waters adjacent to their coasts, for the
-preservation of peaceful navigation; but no attempt is made by him to
-lay down any fixed rule or limit as to the extent of such jurisdiction.
-He merely contrasts the opinions of those, as Baldus and Bodin, who
-contended for a wide limit of sixty miles, or two days’ journey, with
-those who argue for a narrow but undefined space in the neighbouring
-sea.
-
-The celebrated Puffendorf, whose authority later was only second
-to that of Grotius, dealt with the question in his great work on
-the Law of Nature and Nations, and with even less precision than
-Loccenius.[1005] On the general question of the appropriation of the
-sea he discarded the objection that its fluidity rendered it incapable
-of possession, but held that it would be morally impossible for one
-nation to possess the ocean. He also set aside the moral objection in
-the absolute form in which it was put forward by Grotius, that the use
-of the sea was inexhaustible. On the contrary, he held with Selden and
-Welwood that fisheries in the sea might be exhausted by promiscuous
-use. “If all nations,” he said, “should desire such a right and liberty
-(of fishing) near the coasts of any particular country, that country
-must be very much prejudiced in this respect; especially since it is
-very usual that some particular kind of fish, or perhaps some more
-precious commodity, as pearls, coral, amber, or the like, are to be
-found only in one part of the sea, and that of no considerable extent.
-In this case there is no reason why the bordering people should not
-rather challenge to themselves this happiness of a wealthy shore or
-sea, than those who are situated at a distance from it.”[1006] On this
-ground, the right of exclusive fishing, and also for the security and
-defence of the state, a nation was justified in claiming dominion in
-the neighbouring sea. The extent of this territorial sea, he says,
-cannot in general be accurately determined; but it is clear that he
-thought it might be very considerable. We had the power to abridge
-others of the use of the sea by forts on shore, in narrow creeks
-and straits, or by armed fleets; but it would, he thought, show
-unreasonable jealousy to claim “some hundreds of leagues.” The true
-bounds could only be discovered either from “the right of possession”
-of a state, or from its treaties with its neighbours. Gulfs, channels,
-or arms of the sea, on the other hand, were “according to the regular
-course” supposed to belong to the state which had possession of the
-shores. If the shores belonged to several peoples, the sovereignty was
-distributed to the middle line, unless treaties directed otherwise,
-or one people had obtained the exclusive sovereignty by convention,
-conquest, or prescription.
-
-We thus perceive that the opinion of jurists at the end of the
-seventeenth century with regard to the appropriation of the sea was
-very much what it was at the beginning. With the exception of the
-clear and terse declaration of the Dutch ambassadors in 1610, and the
-somewhat dubious dictum of Grotius in 1625, the principle that the
-maritime sovereignty of a state was limited by the range of guns from
-the shore does not appear to have been advanced throughout the century.
-
-Nor does an examination of the usage of nations during the period
-show that the opinions of publicists were at variance with the
-actual practice. All maritime countries enforced an unquestionable
-jurisdiction, more or less extensive, in the neighbouring seas,
-and several of them exercised dominion over particular regions.
-The extravagant pretensions of Spain and Portugal had long since
-vanished; but Venice, while sadly fallen from her former greatness,
-still asserted her sovereignty over the Adriatic. Sweden and Denmark
-possessed a joint sway over the Baltic; and Denmark maintained her
-claim to the northern seas between Iceland, Greenland, and the coast of
-Europe. Moreover, the pretensions of England to the sovereignty of the
-so-called British seas, although in abeyance, had not been withdrawn.
-The striking of the flag was still enforced by English men-of-war, and
-there was nothing to prove that the other phases of the pretension
-might not be revived at any time.
-
-With regard to the extent of neutral waters, it would appear that
-the boundaries were as a rule vague, and that general considerations
-determined jurisdiction in particular cases. In connection with the
-declaration of war by the United Provinces against France in 1689,
-a placard was issued by the States-General in which both Dutch and
-foreign vessels were exhorted to keep out on the high seas; and it
-was declared that any vessels suspected of having contraband goods
-on board and found “on the coast of France, or of other countries,
-islands, and places under the dominion of the King of France, and
-particularly in the bays and gulfs on the coast of the said kingdom,”
-would be seized and brought to trial.[1007] On the English coast the
-limits of jurisdiction were better defined, but still, in many cases,
-without precision. Within the King’s Chambers, as specified by James
-I. in 1604, “or other places of our dominion, or so near to any of our
-said ports, or havens, as may be reasonably construed to be within
-that title, limit, or precinct,” the hostile acts of belligerents,
-captures of the enemy’s vessels, and the hovering of foreign ships of
-war were forbidden. The injunction with respect to the neutral waters
-was renewed in 1633, 1668, and 1683, and it was in no case confined
-strictly to the “chambers.” In the proclamations of 1668 and 1683,
-which were drawn up by Sir Leoline Jenkins, the definition was merely
-“within our ports, havens, roads, and creeks, as also in every other
-place or tract at sea that may be reasonably construed to be within
-any of these denominations, limits, or precincts.”[1008] These limits
-were upheld by the decisions of the High Court of Admiralty during the
-greater part of the century. Sir Leoline Jenkins, it may be noted,
-although in questions of international policy advocating the most
-extreme pretensions of the English crown to the sovereignty of the
-seas, was careful in his judicial decisions to restrict jurisdiction
-within the terms of the royal proclamations. If a capture was made in
-one of the chambers or beyond them by a foreign privateer which had
-issued from an English port and had been hovering in the neighbourhood,
-the vessel was ordered to be restored. So also if the prize was
-taken, in any case, outside a chamber, but near enough the coast to
-be “reasonably construed” to be within the king’s jurisdiction. This
-usually happened on the east coast, where the chambers were small. In
-one such case the vessel was taken between half a league and one league
-off Orfordness (the headland of a chamber); in another instance the
-vessel was seized eight leagues at sea off Harwich, and presumably four
-leagues from the boundary of the nearest chamber.[1009]
-
-At the end of the seventeenth century, while the old pretensions of
-various nations to the appropriation of particular seas had not been
-withdrawn, they had in many cases become by the force of circumstances
-to a large extent nominal or were in abeyance. There was moreover a
-tendency, as we have seen (p. 526), to substitute fixed boundaries
-in place of a wide and vague sovereignty, and to arrange by treaty
-defined limits for special purposes. In the historical retrospect we
-can now perceive the main influences which led to the modification of
-the claims and practice in the century that followed. The juridical
-controversies on the subject between the writers of various nations
-were doubtless not without effect. The repeated decisions of the High
-Court of Admiralty in this country, going counter to the English
-pretension even in the Channel, and fixing limits for neutrality,
-must also have had an important influence. But the chief causes were
-probably twofold. One was the moral and material victory of the Dutch
-Republic in its long and persistent struggle against the exorbitant
-claims to maritime dominion, first, of Spain and Portugal, and then of
-England and Denmark. The other was the great extension of commerce and
-navigation, in which England secured an ever-increasing share, so that
-in the next century we find her taking the part of Holland in opposing
-the Danish claims to _mare clausum_. As maritime commerce extended
-and the security of the sea became established, it was felt more and
-more that claims to a hampering sovereignty and jurisdiction were
-incompatible with the general welfare of nations; and as the states
-interested in this commerce had the greatest power, the assertion of a
-wide dominion was gradually abandoned, surviving only in remote regions
-or in enclosed seas, like the Baltic.
-
-At the beginning of the eighteenth century the question of the
-appropriation of the sea was placed on another footing. The principle
-of delimiting the territorial sea which is now generally accepted was
-first expounded in 1703 by a distinguished publicist, Cornelius van
-Bynkershoek, who, like Grotius, was a Dutchman, and held the office
-of Judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal of Holland, Zealand, and West
-Friesland. In his early work on the dominion of the sea,[1010] and in a
-later treatise published in 1737,[1011] he dealt with the subject with
-much acumen. With respect to the general question as to the capability
-of appropriation, he agreed with Puffendorf rather than with Grotius.
-While holding that the open ocean could not be wholly brought under
-dominion, he admitted, with Selden, not only that large parts of the
-sea are susceptible of appropriation, but that various nations had at
-different times enjoyed such dominion: the fluidity of the sea was not
-a bar to its occupation, and by taking possession of it the same right
-was acquired as by taking possession of the land. But he declared there
-was no instance at the time he wrote of any ruler possessing maritime
-dominion of that kind, unless when the surrounding territory belonged
-to him, and that the general freedom of the seas for navigation had
-been established both by usage and by various treaties. He denied that
-England had the dominion of the so-called British seas, mainly on the
-ground of the want of uninterrupted possession, pointing out that all
-the neighbouring nations freely navigated them without paying any
-tribute or requiring any permission.
-
-It was, however, with regard to the delimitation of the territorial sea
-immediately adjacent to the coast that Bynkershoek’s teaching had its
-chief results. He showed how uncertain and unsatisfactory were the
-limits previously proposed, and, following Grotius, he laid down the
-principle that the dominion of a state extended over the neighbouring
-sea as far, and only as far, as it was able to command and control it
-from the land. But he went further and showed how the principle was
-to be carried into practice. The dominion of the territory extended
-as far as projectiles could be thrown from the shore by artillery, so
-that exclusive possession might be taken of the part so commanded: “the
-dominion of the land ends where the power of arms terminates.”[1012]
-Thus Bynkershoek assigned the dominion of the adjacent sea (_mare
-proximum_) to the neighbouring state, within the range of a cannon-shot
-from the shore. Besides the general reasoning on which the limit was
-based, he cited in support of it an Act of state. He was apparently
-unaware of the clear declaration made by the Dutch ambassadors a
-century earlier; but he referred to an edict of the States-General in
-1671, which enjoined that the commanders of their ships should give the
-salute on the coasts of a foreign Power when they were within the range
-of the guns of a town or fort, in such manner as the Government of the
-country should require, leaving to its discretion the return of the
-salute, and adding that every Government was sovereign within its own
-jurisdiction and every foreigner a subject there.[1013]
-
-This decree could not, of course, as Bynkershoek admitted, bind other
-Powers to the same opinion. Nevertheless it may be said that the
-almost universal practice which had grown up, regulating the salute
-of a vessel coming within range of a battery on a foreign coast,
-had prepared the way for the acceptance of the doctrine. It was a
-recognition that the vessel had passed within the sphere of territorial
-authority of the particular state. It was the rule, in England at
-least, that “the sea should salute the land,” and the range of guns
-determined the limit within which the salute ought to be rendered.
-Beyond the reach of cannon no salute was expected; within it usage,
-international courtesy, or the law, required it. No foreign ship with
-its flag aloft could come within range of an English fort or castle
-without exposing itself to the risk of a shot. It is indeed a curious
-circumstance, that it was largely through the action of England with
-regard to the salute that the acceptance of the cannon-range limit
-was facilitated. The relation of the ceremony to the sovereignty of
-a state was forced by her prominently into international politics.
-Before the time of Selden and Charles I. jurists paid little attention
-to the matter, but afterwards they dealt with it as a department of
-international law: Loccenius and Bynkershoek, for example, each devotes
-a chapter to it. Even when the English were most actively asserting
-“the honour of the flag,” they recognised the rights of foreign states
-within the actual range of guns on their shore. In 1636 the Earl of
-Northumberland was instructed by the Admiralty not to enforce the
-salute within the command of the guns of forts on foreign coasts,--an
-order which was repeated by the Parliament in 1647,[1014] and became
-the rule in the service. Molloy, a vehement supporter of the most
-extreme claims of England to the sovereignty of the seas, stated in
-1676 that English men-of-war entering a foreign harbour, or “the road
-within shot of cannon of some fort or castle,” were to pay such respect
-as was usually there expected.[1015]
-
-The gunshot limit had been long established in connection with
-another international relationship--namely, the right of visitation
-of neutral vessels in the open sea. Many treaties had been made which
-stipulated that the visiting ship was not to approach nearer than
-within cannon-shot, and was then to send one of its boats with a few
-men to conduct the examination necessary. It is, moreover, extremely
-probable that with respect to what was in those times the principal
-attribute of the territorial waters--viz., the rights and obligations
-of neutrals--the gunshot limit, at the least, was recognised where guns
-were actually in position. In view of the general practice, as shown
-for instance in the decisions of the English Admiralty Court, and the
-usage in connection with the salute, it can scarcely be supposed that
-a capture made under the guns of a neutral fortress would be held as
-good prize; at all events, it was not so held in the Admiralty Court in
-1760. But the merit of Bynkershoek’s doctrine was, that it transferred
-in theory to all parts of a coast this decisive property of compulsion
-and dominion which, strictly speaking, only existed where forts or
-batteries were placed. The doctrine, justly enough, has been called
-fictitious, because there are various coasts and districts where it
-would be impracticable to maintain dominion over the territorial sea
-by means of artillery on shore; and because in point of fact such
-dominion, unless in the neighbourhood of forts, is actually maintained
-by other means, as by coastguards and naval vessels. Nevertheless the
-principle, though resting largely on hypothesis, had much to recommend
-it, and it gradually became incorporated into international law as the
-rule for fixing the boundary of the territorial waters. Apart from its
-intrinsic merits, its acceptance was perhaps not a little facilitated
-by the felicity with which it was expressed. Bynkershoek gave it the
-form almost of an aphorism, and the phrase, _terræ dominium finitur ubi
-finitur armorum vis_, has been quoted by almost all later writers.
-
-But although the doctrine of Bynkershoek was attractive, and was
-eventually accepted almost everywhere, it did not command immediate
-assent. The publicists who came after Bynkershoek in the eighteenth
-century, while usually referring to the cannon-range limit, or adopting
-it with respect to questions of prize, did not as a rule adhere to it
-as the sole principle for delimiting the territorial belt. The earliest
-notice of it after the _Quæstiones_ appeared seems to have been by
-Casaregi, an Italian writer of authority, who was judge in the Court
-of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in a work which appeared in 1740, and
-referred more especially to the practice in the Mediterranean.[1016]
-Foreign ships, he said, were under the protection of the prince
-whose seas they sail through, when they are in his ports, or in the
-sea so near as to be within the range of guns on shore; if seized
-by the enemy there, they require to be restored.[1017] This was
-the ordinary rule in regard to neutrality; but with regard to the
-question of sovereignty in the neighbouring sea, Casaregi followed
-preceding Italian jurists in assigning a space of one hundred miles
-from the coast for civil and criminal jurisdiction, with the power of
-levying tolls and dues from passing ships, and even of prohibiting or
-permitting navigation.
-
-A little later a Spanish writer, Abreu y Bertodano, in a work on the
-law of maritime prize,[1018] held that it was unlawful for cruisers
-to attack the enemy’s vessels in the seas adjacent to the coast of a
-neutral within a distance of two leagues from the shore, or within
-the reach of a cannon-shot from it. He stated that no European Power
-had asserted the dominion of the sea with more heat and boldness than
-Great Britain, and yet by Act of Parliament the visitation of ships
-by the coastguard was restricted to two leagues from the coast, which
-was as much as could reasonably be claimed.[1019] But this author also
-followed the Italian rule that jurisdiction, including the levying
-of tolls, &c., was not limited to the coast waters, but extended for
-at least a hundred miles from the shore, and said that this was in
-agreement with the teaching of the lawyers of all nations.[1020]
-
-Wolff, who wrote on the law of nations about the same time, appears
-rather to have followed the opinions of Puffendorf. He argued that the
-use of the sea next the shore, for fishing and the collection of things
-that grow on it, was not inexhaustible, nor its use for navigation
-always innocuous; and since it served as a protection for the adjoining
-state, it was reasonable that it should be under the dominion of that
-state. The inhabitants of the shores had therefore the right to occupy
-it “so far as they can maintain their dominion over it”; and the same
-was true of straits and bays.[1021]
-
-Some ten years later Vattel, the pupil and follower of Wolff, published
-a work on the law of nations, which is still of authority, and in
-which much the same opinions as those of Puffendorf and Wolff are
-expressed.[1022] On the general question of the appropriation of the
-sea the usual statement was made; but Vattel held that a nation might
-acquire exclusive rights of navigation and fishery in the open sea by
-treaties, but not by prescription, unless in virtue of the consent
-or tacit agreement of other nations. Thus “when a nation that is in
-possession of the navigation and fishery in certain tracts of the sea
-claims an exclusive right of them, and forbids all participation on
-the part of other nations, if the others obey that prohibition with
-sufficient marks of acquiescence, they tacitly renounce their own
-right in favour of that nation, and establish for her a new right,
-which she may afterwards lawfully maintain against them, especially
-when it is confirmed by long use.” On the other hand, Vattel states
-that the uses of the sea near the coast render it very susceptible of
-appropriation: it supplies fish, shells, pearls, and other things, and
-with respect to all these its use is not inexhaustible. A maritime
-people may therefore appropriate and convert to their own profit “an
-advantage which nature has placed within their reach as to enable
-them conveniently to take possession of it, in the same manner as
-they possessed themselves of the dominion of the land they inhabit.”
-Vattel does not state his opinion as to the distance from the coast
-within which the fisheries may be appropriated, but from the examples
-he cites it is evident that the space might extend considerably beyond
-the range of guns. “Who can doubt,” he asks, “that the pearl fisheries
-of Bahrem and Ceylon may lawfully become property?” And the same
-principle may be applied to floating fish, which appear less liable to
-be exhausted. If a people, he says, have on their coast a particular
-and profitable fishery of which they can become masters, shall they
-not be permitted to appropriate that bounteous gift of nature as an
-appendage to the country they possess, and to reserve to themselves
-the great advantages which their commerce may thence derive, if there
-is sufficient abundance of fish to furnish neighbouring nations? Thus,
-Vattel states, the herring fishery on the British coasts might have
-been appropriated by the English if they had originally taken exclusive
-possession of it, instead of allowing other nations to take part in
-it. Another reason for the extension of territorial dominion over the
-adjoining sea, “as far as a nation is able to protect its right,” is
-the security and welfare of the state; but the author says it is not
-easy to fix upon any precise distance. Between nation and nation, “all
-that can reasonably be said is that, in general, the dominion of the
-state over the neighbouring sea extends as far as her safety renders it
-necessary and her power is able to assert it.” At the time he wrote,
-“the whole extent of the sea which is within cannon-shot of the coast
-is considered as forming part of the territory; and for that reason a
-vessel taken under the cannon of a neutral fortress is not a lawful
-prize.” The principle that applied to the adjacent sea applied with
-much greater force to roads, bays, and straits, since they were more
-capable of being possessed, and were of greater importance to the
-safety of the country. But such areas must be “of small extent,” and
-not great tracts of sea--as Hudson’s Bay and the Straits of Magellan: a
-bay “whose entrance can be defended” might clearly be appropriated.
-
-The opinions of Vattel do not, therefore, materially differ from those
-of Puffendorf in the previous century, though the tendency of the
-earlier writer to allow a wide dominion is modified. Bynkershoek’s
-principle of cannon range is adopted in a somewhat cautious manner,
-and shown to apply especially to captures under the guns of a neutral
-fortress. But the general argument in regard to fisheries, the security
-of the state, and the exercise of territorial jurisdiction--as in the
-King’s Chambers on the English coast, which Vattel cites as an example
-of the practice--implies that a nation might lawfully extend its
-sovereignty much beyond the range of guns.
-
-In the writings of other international jurists later in the century,
-the tendency to narrow the extent of the territorial sea in accordance
-with Bynkershoek’s teaching becomes more manifest, particularly in
-those which treat specially of the rights of neutrals. Hübner, who was
-assessor in the Consistorial Court at Copenhagen, treating of this
-subject, said with reference to Bynkershoek’s doctrine that it was
-evident the parts of the adjacent sea belonged to the master of the
-country, as accessory to the land,--first, “because it is in his power
-to take possession and to maintain it by means of forts and batteries
-which he is able to erect on the shore”; and, secondly, because the
-waters serve as a rampart to the land.[1023]
-
-Valin, a French writer of authority, introduced another principle in
-combination with that of the range of guns. In his commentary on the
-marine ordinance of Louis XIV., first published in 1760, he stated
-that the rule that the adjacent sea within the reach of guns from the
-coast is under the dominion of the neighbouring state was universally
-recognised, the alternative distance which he gave being two
-leagues--the same as given by Abreu. But he thought that the depth of
-the water ought also to be taken into account, and that the sea up to
-the point at which the bottom ceased to be reached by a sounding-line
-pertained to the adjoining coast--an idea vague and impracticable.[1024]
-
-In 1778, Moser, a councillor of state in Denmark, adopted Bynkershoek’s
-doctrine, declaring that the sea adjacent to the coast of a country
-was, according to the law of nations, indisputably under the
-sovereignty of the neighbouring territory, as far as a cannon-ball
-could reach.[1025] On the other hand, Lampredi, Professor of Public Law
-in the University of Pisa, writing at the same time, while allowing to
-a state the right of property in the adjacent sea, makes the limit of
-its dominion depend, not on cannon range, but upon considerations of
-general convenience.[1026] Another contemporary Italian, Galiani, who
-was Sicilian Secretary of Legation at Paris, and was employed by his
-master, the King of the Two Sicilies, to write a book in defence of his
-adhesion to the Russian League of Armed Neutrality, expressed somewhat
-varying opinions as to the limits of the territorial sea.[1027]
-Admitting as a received doctrine that the belt of sea washing the
-coasts of a country belonged to it as a part of its territory, he at
-first seems to extend it, in accordance with the Italian principles,
-as far as the authorities can cause their jurisdiction to be enforced.
-Later, he advances the gunshot limit for certain purposes, as the
-imposition of tolls and the regulation of navigation; and finally, with
-regard to the observance of neutrality he considers the boundary should
-be two leagues, or twice the distance of cannon range, and he appears
-to have been the first to fix upon three miles as equivalent to the
-range of guns.[1028]
-
-G. F. von Martens, one of the greatest authorities on international
-law, writing a little later, more definitely adopted the principle
-of the range of guns; but he gave the equivalent distance as “three
-leagues,” and moreover admitted that a nation might acquire maritime
-dominion beyond that limit.[1029] The principle of appropriation,
-he says, which applies to lakes and rivers also applies to straits,
-which are in general not wider than great rivers and lakes, so that
-the middle may be reached by a cannon-ball fired from the shore; and
-those parts of the sea which border the land may also be regarded as
-the property and under the dominion of the nation possessing the coast.
-By a custom generally acknowledged, he continues, the authority of the
-possessor of the coast extends as far as the range of guns from the
-shore--that is to say, to a distance of three leagues;[1030] and he
-adds that this distance is the least that a nation ought to claim as
-the extent of its dominion in the sea. But he also says that a nation
-may occupy and extend its dominion beyond that distance, and maintain
-it, if the security of the nation require it, by a fleet of armed
-vessels; and, further, that its sovereignty may extend as far as it
-has been acknowledged to reach by the consent of other nations, and
-beyond the boundary of its property--Von Martens, like many others,
-drawing a distinction between property in the sea and sovereignty
-over it. As examples of such cases, he definitely states, as well
-established at the time he wrote, that St George’s Channel was under
-the sovereignty of Great Britain and the Gulf of Bothnia under that of
-Sweden, while the straits between Sweden and Denmark were considered to
-be the property of Denmark. On the other hand, the Bay of Biscay, the
-Mediterranean, the Straits of Gibraltar, the White Sea, and the North
-Sea were acknowledged to be free.
-
-Towards the close of the century, an Italian author, Azuni, who was
-judge in the commercial court at Nice, published a work on maritime
-law, in which he dealt with the territorial sea; and adopting the
-range of guns as the principle of delimitation, he declared that the
-equivalent distance ought to be fixed at three miles, which, he said,
-was “without doubt” the farthest a cannon-shot could ever be made to
-reach.[1031] In this Azuni followed Galiani, making the statement
-more definite, and thus we see the three-mile limit put forward by
-publicists, as the alternative to the range of guns, before the century
-closed. In point of fact, however, it had actually been applied in the
-United States a year or two before Azuni wrote;[1032] and it is clear
-from what he says that no general agreement then existed as to the
-extent of the territorial sea, for he complained that the limit was
-still undecided,--a statement repeated in his enlarged work, published
-in 1805,--and he contended that it ought to be fixed by a solemn
-treaty between the maritime Powers, as Meadows had suggested a century
-before.[1033] Although Azuni adopted the principle of cannon range,
-and, like Galiani, declared that three miles was the farthest that a
-ball or bomb could be thrown,[1034] he was of opinion that for purposes
-of neutrality, as an asylum against hostilities, the territorial waters
-should be extended to two leagues from either shore in the case of bays
-and gulfs, which, he says, even when their centre was at a greater
-distance than three miles from either shore, were admitted to be
-territorial. He even strongly recommended the adoption of the range of
-vision as the boundary of neutral waters in time of war.
-
-From the above review of the opinions of publicists in the latter half
-of the eighteenth century, it is evident that there was a general
-agreement that the sea, at least as far as the range of guns from the
-coast, was accessory to the land: no one doubted that this space at
-all events was included within the territorial sea of the neighbouring
-country. Almost all the writers went further, and held that the
-sovereignty of a state was not confined to gunshot range, but could be
-extended to a greater distance from the coast, either for the security
-of the state or for jurisdiction, but there was not agreement as to
-how far this could be carried. We see, moreover, the growing tendency
-to assign a fixed distance as an alternative to cannon range or as a
-boundary to neutral waters. Abreu, Valin, and Galiani placed it at two
-leagues from the coast, and the same distance is given by the writer of
-the article “Mer” in a great French work published in 1777[1035]--that
-is, twice the distance of cannon range, which was said to be one marine
-league, or three miles.
-
-Turning from the opinions of international jurists in the eighteenth
-century to the practice and usage of nations in the same period, we
-may note certain features of prominence: (1) the continued decadence
-of claims to sovereignty over extensive areas; (2) the growing custom
-of fixing definite boundaries for special purposes by international
-treaties or by municipal laws; (3) legal decisions by which the limit
-of cannon range was recognised in certain cases. In the eighteenth
-century claims to the sovereignty of seas became greatly restricted
-and lost their previous importance. The feebleness of Venice prevented
-her from asserting in practice the rights which were hers by law and
-ancient prescription. Both Vattel and Azuni, while admitting that
-she possessed a limited sovereignty, questioned whether any other
-Power would recognise her claim to the whole of the Adriatic. “Such
-pretensions to empire,” says the former author, “are respected so
-long as the nation that makes them is able to assert them by force,
-but they vanish, of course, on the decline of her power.” In 1779,
-indeed, before Azuni wrote, the Republic issued a decree respecting
-her neutrality, in which the limit of cannon range was fixed as the
-boundary of her waters for that purpose.[1036] Her ancient dominion
-over the Adriatic was soon finally extinguished. When Napoleon
-conquered Venice in 1795 and transferred her like a chattel to Austria,
-her maritime sovereignty came to an end, and the picturesque and
-symbolic ceremony of “espousing” the Adriatic, which had been performed
-by the Doge every year for many centuries, terminated with it.[1037]
-
-The similar pretension of England to sovereignty of the sea, as
-previously mentioned, did not survive till this century, except on
-the point of the flag; and this ceremony fell into desuetude, and
-was abandoned finally in 1805. Great Britain now appeared rather as
-a champion of the freedom of the sea than as an advocate of _mare
-clausum_. This was particularly shown in connection with the rights
-claimed by Denmark in the northern sea, especially at Iceland and the
-Danish portion of Greenland. As already stated, Denmark tried in the
-preceding century to keep alive her ancient rights to the fisheries
-and trade in these remote regions, and having failed in her efforts,
-introduced a fixed limit of forty geographical miles from the coast,
-within which whale-fishing by foreigners was forbidden (see p. 529).
-
-While Denmark was unsuccessfully endeavouring to assert exclusive
-rights to the fisheries within a wide extent of water in the northern
-seas, she was at the same time claiming a much less extensive space
-along her coasts for purposes of neutrality. Moreover, it may be added
-that just as in most European countries the cannon-range limit and
-then the three-mile belt--which likewise originated in connection with
-neutral rights--came to be applied as the boundary of the territorial
-seas for all purposes, so the Danish limit for neutral waters, which
-was a different one, was also adopted later as the general boundary of
-the territorial seas by the Scandinavian states. The decree in regard
-to neutrality was issued in 1745 by the King of Denmark and Norway,
-and communicated to the foreign consuls, and it forbade all foreign
-privateers to capture any vessel of the enemy within a distance of
-one league, of fifteen to a degree of latitude, from the coast or its
-outlying banks or rocks.[1038] This ordinance in regard to neutral
-waters was renewed in 1756, 1759, and 1779,--that of 1759 expressly
-declaring that the league was the marine league of fifteen to a
-degree.[1039] It may be added here that early in the next century, in
-view of the war with Great Britain, decrees were published prohibiting
-either Danish or Norwegian privateers from capturing the enemy’s
-vessels within the territorial sea of any foreign state which was
-friendly or neutral; and such sea, it was said, was usually supposed to
-extend for one marine league from the coast.[1040] The same distance
-of four geographical miles was assigned by Sweden, in a decree of 12th
-April 1808, which prohibited the seizure of vessels nearer the coast of
-neutrals than the limit named.[1041]
-
-The various ordinances cited referred solely to the limit of the
-territorial sea in relation to neutrality. But as early as 1747 the
-same boundary was applied to a limited part of the Norwegian coast
-in connection with fisheries. In that year a royal decree prohibited
-Russian fishermen at Finmarken from fishing within one league of the
-land,--a measure which was not opposed by the Russian Government,
-and which was renewed by a Norwegian law in 1830.[1042] In 1812, as
-we shall see (p. 653), the territorial waters of Denmark and Norway
-were declared to extend to four miles from the coast or its outlying
-isles,--that is to say, the limit which was adopted for neutrality was
-applied in regard to fisheries and other purposes.
-
-Another example of the decadence of wide claims to maritime
-sovereignty is to be found in the case of Spain, which, like the
-Scandinavian countries, adopted a fixed limit in the eighteenth century
-as the boundary of her territorial waters, and, as with them also,
-it was placed at a greater distance than the range of guns from the
-coast. An eminent Spanish publicist, Abreu, as we have seen, declared
-in 1746 that the boundary of neutral waters should be at least two
-leagues from the coast, and by a royal decree of 17th December 1760
-this distance was assigned, the territorial sea of Spain being declared
-to extend to six miles from the land. This boundary was again given in
-1775 and in 1830, and it is still retained by Spain--and also, until
-last year, by Portugal--as the maritime frontier for customs, fishery,
-neutrality, and jurisdiction.[1043] At various times Spain has entered
-into treaties with her neighbours, France and Portugal, concerning
-the rights of fishery within the six-mile zone, either for reciprocal
-liberty to fish in the whole extent of the territorial sea, or in the
-outer belt of three miles. A treaty of this kind was concluded with
-France in 1768.[1044]
-
-The uprising in America in 1775, which resulted in the independence
-of the United States, brought in its train a widespread maritime war,
-Great Britain having to meet the naval forces of France, Holland, and
-Spain, and at this time and throughout the remainder of the century we
-meet with numerous decrees and treaties bearing upon the delimitation
-of territorial waters, particularly in connection with the rights of
-neutrals. One of the first of these was a circular which the American
-Commissioners at the Court of Paris addressed to the commanders of
-American armed vessels in 1777, instructing them to abstain from
-capturing the enemy’s vessels, or vessels of neutrals, when they were
-“under the protection of a port, river, or coast of a neutral country.”
-To do so, it was said, would be contrary to the usage and customs of
-nations; and the proclamation issued by the American Government in
-the following year on the same subject is couched in equally general
-terms.[1045]
-
-We find the same want of definition in an edict of the King of the Two
-Sicilies in the same year, which speaks only of the accustomed rules
-being observed in his “ports, coasts, and adjacent seas.”[1046] But
-in corresponding proclamations issued at the same time by the Grand
-Duke of Tuscany, the Republic of Genoa, the Republic of Venice, and
-the Pope, the range of guns is expressly mentioned as determining the
-boundary of their territorial waters in respect to neutrality. The
-Grand Duke prohibited all acts of hostility in the ports or coasts of
-Leghorn, within certain places specified, and in the seas adjacent
-to all his other ports, castles, or coasts within gunshot of the
-shore.[1047] With respect to Civita Vecchia, Ancona, and his other
-territories, the Pope prohibited, “according to the common usage of
-nations,” all acts of hostility or superiority between belligerents
-there or in the adjacent seas, “or generally within the range of guns
-from the shore”;[1048] while the Genoese edict forbade all acts of
-hostility between belligerents “in the ports, gulfs, and coasts, within
-range of guns,”[1049] and contained particular rules for carrying the
-prohibition into effect. Thus, if such an act of hostility should
-be committed within range of cannon, a shot was first to be fired
-into the air, or to a distance from the vessel or vessels violating
-the neutrality, unless there was risk of damage to other vessels, in
-which case a blank shot was to be fired. If this did not put a stop
-to the transgression, the offenders were to be assailed with shot and
-musketry. In places where cannon were not available, the same course
-was to be followed with muskets, and, it was said, the rules had to be
-carried out precisely as they had been ordained in a decree of 1756,
-when, no doubt, the gunshot limit was equally in force. The Venetian
-decree is couched in similar terms, and the size of the cannon whose
-range was to determine the limit is mentioned. All acts of force or
-authority between belligerents were prohibited “in the ports, roads,
-and coasts of our dominion, and in all the adjacent sea, at least to
-the distance within range of a large cannon of battery.”[1050] In
-several of the edicts, as in the two last referred to, the range of
-vision was also used as a limit within which no belligerent vessel
-was to be allowed to station itself, or cruise about waiting for the
-enemy’s vessels: such action was prohibited within view of the ports or
-roads.
-
-It will be noticed that all these edicts regarding neutral waters in
-which the limit of cannon range was prescribed, emanated from the
-small Mediterranean states; but in many of the international treaties
-which followed the Armed Neutrality of 1780 the gunshot limit for
-neutral waters was also adopted. This league, which was directed
-against Great Britain, had its source in a declaration by the Empress
-Catherine II. of Russia regarding the rights of neutrals; especially
-that neutral vessels should be free to carry on trade on the coasts
-of belligerents, and that the property of belligerents in neutral
-vessels, except arms, equipment, and munitions of war, should be free
-from capture. The seizure of enemy’s goods in neutral ships by English
-cruisers bore hardly on the commerce of neutral countries; and for
-this reason, and, according to English views, because it was perceived
-by the other Powers that they could not directly contend against the
-naval force of Great Britain, a new code of international law was
-introduced which would have the effect of sapping it.[1051] In some of
-the treaties referred to, the limits of neutral waters were defined
-in vague or general terms, as in that of 1782 between the United
-States and the United Provinces.[1052] The gunshot limit, however, was
-specified in a treaty between the United States and Morocco in 1785,
-which stipulated that if a vessel of either state was engaged with
-that of another Christian Power within the range of guns of a castle
-of the other state, it was to be protected and defended;[1053] in a
-treaty of navigation and commerce between Great Britain and France in
-1786;[1054] and in a treaty between France and Russia in 1787. In the
-latter it was stipulated that in agreement with the principles laid
-down in the Russian declaration regarding the navigation of neutrals,
-either Power, if at war, should abstain from attacking the enemy’s
-vessels within cannon range of the coasts of the other Power, or in the
-ports, harbours, gulfs, and “other waters comprised under the name of
-closed waters.”[1055] Russian activity in the direction indicated was
-shown by the conclusion of a similar treaty in the same terms with the
-Two Sicilies a few days later.[1056] A little later, in 1803, the range
-of guns was adopted by Austria as determining the extent of neutral
-waters, as in the treaties above referred to.[1057]
-
-In contrast to the gunshot limit in connection with neutrality, was
-another which Spain incorporated in a treaty with Tripoli in 1784,
-by which it was agreed that Tripolitan vessels of war or privateers
-should not capture ships of their enemy within ten leagues of the
-coasts of the Spanish dominions[1058]--that is to say, within the
-same extent of sea as was expressed in the treaty between France and
-Algeria a century earlier.[1059] A few years later the same limit of
-ten leagues was agreed to in a treaty between Great Britain and Spain
-concerning fisheries and navigation in certain parts of the Pacific.
-Disputes had arisen with Spain concerning proceedings at Nootka Sound,
-Vancouver; and in a convention between the two Powers, signed in 1790,
-it was agreed, _inter alia_, that British subjects should not navigate
-or carry on their fishery within a distance of ten sea leagues from
-any part of the coast already occupied by Spain, the object being to
-prevent illegal trading with the Spanish settlements.[1060]
-
-We thus perceive that towards the end of the eighteenth century various
-maritime boundaries were assigned in particular places for particular
-purposes, and that many states looked upon the limit of gunshot from
-an open coast as fixing the extent of their neutral waters. But
-hitherto, with the exception of the league limit prescribed by Denmark
-and Norway, which had no avowed reference to the range of guns, and
-was in reality equivalent to much more than three miles, no Power had
-yet adopted one marine league as the equivalent of gunshot from the
-shore. It appears that this step was first taken by the United States
-of America, and it is of interest to note that the three-mile limit was
-put forward tentatively, and, in a manner, as a temporary expedient.
-When the war between Great Britain and France broke out in 1793, the
-United States found it necessary to define the extent of the line of
-territorial protection which they claimed on their coast, in order to
-give effect to their neutral rights and duties. Washington, who was
-then President, instructed the executive officers to consider the line
-restrained, for the time being, to the distance of one sea league, or
-three geographical miles, from the shores, a distance which was said to
-be not more extensive than was claimed by any other Power. This limit
-was adopted tentatively, since the Government “did not propose, at
-that time, and without amicable communication with the foreign Powers
-interested in the navigation of the coast, to fix on the distance to
-which they might ultimately insist on the right of protection.” It was
-stated that the greatest distance to which any “respectable assent”
-among nations had ever been given was the range of vision, which was
-estimated at upwards of twenty miles, and the smallest distance claimed
-by any nation was “the utmost range of a cannon-ball, usually stated at
-one sea league.”[1061] Besides the extent of sea referred to, the bays
-and rivers were held by usage and the law of nations to be territorial,
-with immunity from belligerent operations. This was well shown in the
-same year, when the United States claimed that the whole of Delaware
-Bay and New Jersey, an arm of the sea about fifty English miles in
-length and a little over eleven miles wide at the entrance, was under
-their territorial jurisdiction, and ordered the restitution of a
-British vessel, the _Grange_, which had been captured there by a French
-frigate, _L’Ambuscade_; and this was done notwithstanding the protest
-of the French Minister that Delaware Bay was open sea and not under the
-exclusive jurisdiction of the United States. The American Government
-rested its action on the law of nations, and declared that they were
-entitled to attach to their coasts an extent of sea beyond the reach
-of cannon-shot--a claim which showed that the three-mile limit had not
-been adopted as an inflexible rule.[1062]
-
-Next year the United States Congress passed a law authorising the
-district courts to take cognisance of all captures made within one
-marine league of the American shores;[1063] but in the treaty concluded
-between Great Britain and the United States in the same year, it is
-interesting to observe that the less precise limit of gunshot was
-adopted, in the same words as in the treaty of 1786 between Great
-Britain and France. The twenty-fifth article of this treaty provided
-that neither Government should permit the ships or goods belonging to
-the citizens or subjects of the other “to be taken within cannon-shot
-of the coast, nor in any of the bays, ports, or rivers of their
-territories, by ships of war, or others, having commissions from any
-prince, republic, or state whatever.”[1064]
-
-It may be mentioned here that the claims which have been put forward
-by the United States as to the extent of their territorial or
-jurisdictional waters have varied greatly on different occasions.
-The above declaration to M. Genet was, for instance, repudiated by
-President Jefferson as establishing a fixed limit; and it was claimed
-that the limit of neutrality should extend “to the Gulf Stream, which
-was a natural boundary (!), and within which we ought not to suffer any
-hostility to be committed.”[1065] On another occasion, in a controversy
-about the right of jurisdiction, they claimed that the extent of
-neutral immunity off the American coast ought at least to correspond
-with the claims maintained by Great Britain around her own territory,
-and that no belligerent rights should be exercised within “the chambers
-formed by headlands, or anywhere at sea within the distance of four
-leagues, or from a right line from one headland to another.”[1066] The
-American Government endeavoured to obtain from England in the same year
-the recognition of a territorial belt six miles in breadth, and in the
-draft treaty proposed in 1807 a distance of five miles was in reality
-specified.[1067]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-GENERAL ADOPTION OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT.
-
-
-It is evident from the foregoing that, notwithstanding the variation
-in the extent of water claimed in certain cases, the principle of
-determining the general boundary of the territorial sea by the range
-of guns from the coast had become tolerably firmly established in the
-practice of nations before the end of the eighteenth century, with
-reference in particular to the rights of neutrals. Shortly before
-the century closed, moreover, we have seen that one of the important
-maritime Powers, the United States of America, had adopted a fixed
-distance of three miles or one marine league as equivalent to the
-utmost range of the cannon of those days. The range of guns naturally
-varied according to their size and power, and though it was specified
-in some of the Continental ordinances that the distance was to be
-determined by a large gun of battery, there was no certainty that it
-would be everywhere the same. It was thus clearly an advantage to have
-a fixed distance, which could be marked on charts, substituted for the
-less definite cannon range, so long as it really represented it. By
-the progress of the military art, however, most notably perhaps after
-about the middle of last century, the range of guns became enormously
-increased, so that long ago the three-mile limit ceased to represent it.
-
-The new boundary of one marine league, as equivalent to the range of
-guns, was soon introduced into English law and practice, in the first
-place through the decisions of the High Court of Admiralty in questions
-affecting the extent of neutral waters. It is noteworthy that nothing
-was heard at this period about the principle of the King’s Chambers
-in such cases. It is very doubtful whether, as the American Government
-implied in 1806, the boundaries of the King’s Chambers had retained
-their validity at the beginning of last century. There seems to be no
-evidence that they were enforced during the eighteenth century, or even
-in the closing years of the seventeenth, possibly because occasions to
-test the point had become rare. But it is perhaps more probable that
-the claim to the King’s Chambers was allowed gradually to die out, and
-that the deliberate omission of any reference to them in the later
-proclamations of Charles II. (see p. 554) foreshadowed this change in
-practice. It is clear at all events that long before the end of the
-eighteenth century it was well established that a vessel captured by
-one belligerent from another belligerent in a port of a neutral state
-or within the actual reach of cannon was not good prize.[1068] The next
-step was to give effect to the same principle, whether the place was
-actually within the range of a fort or not.
-
-The decisions which introduced the three-mile limit into English
-jurisprudence were those of Sir William Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell)
-at the beginning of last century. In 1800 and 1801 this great authority
-adopted both the gunshot limit and the distance of three miles as
-its equivalent for the boundary of neutral waters, in deciding the
-well-known cases of the _Twee Gebroeders_. It was these decisions of
-Lord Stowell’s which introduced the three-mile limit into English
-jurisprudence. The cases arose from the capture of certain vessels in
-1799, by the boats of a British man-of-war, in the Groningen-Watt,
-between East Friesland and the island of Borkum, in the belief that
-they were bound from Hamburg to Amsterdam, which was then blockaded
-by the British; and it was claimed by the King of Prussia that the
-capture was made within the territory of that state. In deciding the
-first case,[1069] Lord Stowell found that the _capturing_ vessel was
-“lying within the limits to which neutral immunity is usually conceded.
-She was lying in the eastern branch of the Eems, within what may, I
-think, be considered as a distance of three miles, at most, from East
-Friesland. An exact measurement cannot easily be obtained; but in a
-case of this nature, in which the Court would not willingly act with an
-unfavourable minuteness towards a neutral state, it will be disposed
-to calculate the distance very liberally; and more especially, as the
-spot in question is a sand covered with water only on the flow of the
-tide, but immediately connected with the land of East Friesland, and
-when dry, may be considered as making part of it. I am of opinion, that
-the ship was lying within those limits in which all direct hostile
-operations are by the law of nations forbidden to be exercised.”[1070]
-In this decision the three-mile limit is assumed to be, “by the law of
-nations,” the boundary of the neutral waters. It is also to be observed
-that the distance was reckoned, not from low-water mark, but apparently
-from the land; while according to the rule apparently governing such
-cases now, the sand-bank itself would be a part of the territory, and
-the distance of three miles would be measured from its outer margin at
-low water (see fig. 19, p. 635).
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 14.--_Facsimile of part of the chart, showing where
-the “Twee Gebroeders” were taken._ From Robinson, Admiralty Reports.]
-
-In deciding the second case, in which the circumstances were much the
-same, Lord Stowell said that “in the sea, out of the reach of cannon
-shot universal use is presumed”; but he made no reference to three
-miles as an equivalent distance.[1071] A few years later, in 1805, in
-deciding the case of the _Anna_, which was captured at the mouth of
-the Mississippi by a British privateer, and in which the question of
-the violation of American waters had to be considered, the same judge,
-quoting Bynkershoek, said: “We all know that the rule of law on this
-subject is _terræ dominium finitur, ubi finitur armorum vis_; and
-since the introduction of fire-arms, that distance has usually been
-recognised to be about three miles from shore.”[1072]
-
-It is, as above stated, in these decisions of the High Court of
-Admiralty that the three-mile limit originated in England. They
-furnished the legal precedents which regulated subsequent practice. The
-gunshot limit was a doctrine borrowed from Continental publicists, and
-three miles as its equivalent from recent American practice. Both were
-previously unknown to English law.[1073]
-
-Moreover, although, as we shall see, the writers on international
-law had in only a few instances accepted the three-mile limit as an
-alternative to the range of guns from the shore, and scarcely any of
-the Continental publicists of repute, the actual practice of Great
-Britain and the United States, together with the legal decisions in
-the British and American courts, and the dicta of the judges, tended
-steadily to bring about its adoption. At first the boundary of one
-marine league as equivalent to the range of cannon had reference solely
-to questions of neutrality, as the capture of prizes, in the maritime
-wars that prevailed. But very soon it was applied to other purposes,
-and first of all by the British Government in connection with the
-rights of fishery. During the peace negotiations with the United States
-at Ghent, after the war of 1812-14, the British Government intimated
-that they did not intend to grant to the United States gratuitously
-the privileges formerly given by the treaty of 1783 “of fishing within
-the limits of British territory, or of using the shores of the British
-territories for purposes connected with the fisheries.” The treaty of
-Ghent contained no stipulation on the subject, but shortly afterwards
-the British Government expressed its intention to exclude, and gave
-instructions to exclude, fishing vessels of the United States from
-fishing within the harbours, bays, rivers, and creeks, and within one
-marine league of the shores of the British territories in America, and
-from drying and curing their fish on shore. Several American vessels
-were seized for trespassing within British waters, and the prolonged
-diplomatic discussion which followed resulted in the convention of
-1818, by which the fishermen of the United States were allowed the
-same rights as British fishermen on certain parts of the coast, but at
-all other parts they were forbidden to fish within a distance of three
-miles of the “coasts, bays, creeks, or harbours.”[1074] This was the
-first of the treaties in which the three-mile limit was specified, and
-it naturally formed a precedent for those which followed.
-
-That the principle of adopting the distance in question as the proper
-boundary of the territorial sea had not yet become firmly incorporated
-in British policy in all cases was, however, shown a few years later
-in the negotiations with Russia concerning Behring Sea. In 1821 the
-Emperor of Russia issued a ukase or decree, in which he declared
-that the pursuit of commerce, whaling, and fishery, and of all other
-industry, on all islands, ports, and gulfs, including the whole of
-the north-west coast of America, beginning from Behring Straits to
-the 51st of northern latitude, and in other parts specified, had been
-exclusively granted to Russian subjects; and therefore prohibiting
-“all foreign vessels not only to land on the coasts and islands
-belonging to Russia, as stated above, but also to approach them
-within less than 100 Italian miles,” the penalty for doing so being
-the confiscation of the transgressing vessel and the cargo.[1075] The
-Russian Government claimed that the extent of sea of which the Russian
-possessions formed the limits “comprehended all the conditions which
-are ordinarily attached to closed seas (_mers fermées_), and it might
-consequently judge itself authorised to exercise upon this sea the
-right of sovereignty, and especially that of entirely interdicting the
-entrance of foreigners; but it preferred only asserting its essential
-rights without taking any advantage of localities.” This, it will be
-perceived, was a revival in the nineteenth century of pretensions
-similar to those which Denmark had advanced in the seventeenth and
-eighteenth; and the claim was opposed by Great Britain and the United
-States, whose interests were threatened by it. The British Government
-declared that it was contrary to the law of nations, and that it could
-not admit the right of any Power possessing the sovereignty of a
-country to exclude the vessels of others from the seas on its coasts to
-a distance of 100 Italian miles. In its justification Russia cited, not
-the Italian publicists or the earlier practice in the Mediterranean,
-but an article in the treaty of Utrecht, which assigned thirty leagues
-as the distance of prohibition (see p. 531),--an argument which was
-sufficiently answered by the statement that the distance mentioned
-was a particular stipulation in a treaty to which the other party had
-given its deliberate consent. At an early period in the discussion the
-Russian Government suspended the execution of the ukase, and instructed
-the commanders of their ships of war to confine their surveillance as
-nearly as possible “to the mainland, _i.e._, over an extent of sea
-within the range of cannon-shot from the shore.”
-
-An article in the draft convention subsequently arranged between Great
-Britain and Russia provided for an exclusive fishery, not within three
-miles, but within two leagues or six miles, from the coasts of their
-respective possessions in the regions referred to; but when the British
-Government discovered that in the corresponding convention concluded
-a little earlier between Russia and the United States no limit at all
-had been specified, they withdrew this article. Mr George Canning, in
-a despatch to Mr Stratford Canning, the British plenipotentiary at St
-Petersburg, withdrawing the article, said that its omission was, in
-truth, immaterial, since “the law of nations assigns the exclusive
-sovereignty of one league to each Power on its own coasts, without any
-specific stipulation.” The Russian Government raised no objection to
-the new article, and the distance from the coast at which the fishing
-was to be exercised in common passed without specification, “and
-consequently,” added Stratford Canning, “it rests on the law of nations
-as generally received.” A little later, before the convention was
-ratified, the British plenipotentiary, thinking it might be desirable
-to have the law of nations declared therein, jointly with the Court
-of Russia, in some ostensible shape, broached the subject anew and
-suggested that notes should be exchanged in London “declaratory of the
-law as fixing the distance at one marine league from the shore.” The
-Russian Minister, however, expressed disinclination to do anything
-that might retard the immediate ratification of the convention; and
-he assured Canning that the Russian Government would be content in
-executing the convention to abide by the recognised law of nations, and
-that if any question should afterwards be raised upon the subject, he
-would not refuse to join in making the suggested declaration, “on being
-satisfied that the general rule under the law of nations was such as
-the English Government supposed.”[1076]
-
-It is evident from these despatches that the British Government at
-that time held the opinion that the territorial waters of a state on
-an open coast extended, “by the law of nations,” for one marine league
-from the shore. But it would not have been easy for them to adduce
-convincing testimony in support of that opinion from the accredited
-writers on the law of nations whose works were then available, or from
-the general usage of nations apart from Anglo-American practice. The
-Russian Government were obviously not satisfied on the point, and their
-instruction to their naval commanders to enforce the limit of cannon
-range, though that was a less definite boundary, was more in consonance
-with the law of nations as generally understood. It was natural that
-the British Government should give weight to the decisions of Lord
-Stowell in the Admiralty Court.
-
-The Government of the United States, in discussing the Russian
-pretension, did not apparently lay the same stress on the principle of
-the three-mile limit as they did on some other occasions. The claim
-that the Northern Pacific might strictly be regarded as a closed
-sea was met by the simple statement that the opposite coasts on the
-parallel of 51 degrees were 4000 miles apart. The right of American
-subjects to navigate and fish within the prescribed distance of 100
-miles from the coast was rested on continuous exercise from the
-earliest times. Universal usage, it was declared, which had obtained
-the force of law, had established for all coasts “an accessory limit
-of a _moderate distance_” which was sufficient for the security of the
-country and for the convenience of its inhabitants, but which laid no
-restraint upon the universal right of nations, nor upon the freedom of
-commerce and of navigation.[1077]
-
-In the conventions which followed, it was provided that the subjects
-of the contracting Powers should not be molested either in navigating
-or in fishing in any part of the Pacific Ocean, and they were to be
-at liberty for ten years to frequent without hindrance all the inland
-seas, gulfs, havens, and creeks, on the coasts mentioned, for the
-purpose of fishing and of trading with the natives, subject to certain
-conditions to prevent illicit commerce.[1078]
-
-It may be here stated that some years later, when American and British
-whalers had greatly increased in numbers in Behring Sea, the Russian
-officials on several occasions urged their Government to preserve the
-sea as a _mare clausum_,[1079] or to prohibit foreign whalers from
-approaching the coast within a distance of forty Italian miles.[1080]
-The Russian Government pointed out in reply that to fix such a limit
-would be contrary to the conventions, and might lead to protests from
-other Powers, “since no clear and uniform agreement has yet been
-arrived at among nations in regard to the limit of jurisdiction at
-sea.” In 1847 the Government repeated the objections, and expressed
-the opinion that “the limit of a cannon-shot, that is, about three
-Italian miles, would alone give rise to no dispute”; and they further
-observed that no Power had yet succeeded in limiting the freedom of
-fishing in open seas, other Powers never recognising such pretensions.
-Subsequently, in 1853, in consequence of continued complaints as to
-foreigners fishing in the sea of Okhotsk, the Russian Government were
-pressed by the influential Russian-American Company either to close
-that great stretch of waters, as an inland sea, or to prohibit whalers
-from approaching close to the shores and whaling in the bays and among
-the islands. Instructions were thereupon issued to the commanders of
-the Russian cruisers to prevent foreign whalers from entering bays or
-gulfs, or from coming “within three Italian miles of the shores” of
-Russian America (north of 54° 41´ lat.), the peninsula of Kamtchatka,
-Siberia, the Kadjak Archipelago, the Aleutin Islands, the Pribyloff and
-Commander Islands, and the others in Behring Sea, as well as Sakhalin
-and others; and at the same time it was declared that while the Sea
-of Okhotsk, from its geographical position, was a Russian inland sea,
-foreigners were to be allowed to take whales there.[1081] Thus the
-Russian Government adopted at first the principle of the range of guns,
-then spoke of this or three Italian miles, and eventually accepted
-and enforced, on the great extent of coast referred to above, the
-three-mile limit.
-
-Reference must now be made to some decisions in the courts of law and
-to certain provisions in particular Acts of Parliament which bear upon
-the question of the extent of the territorial waters. Owing to the
-long-continued peace on the sea since the decisions of Lord Stowell at
-the beginning of last century, few occasions have occurred for the
-question of the boundary of neutral waters to be raised. In a number of
-civil cases tried in our courts the three-mile limit has, however, been
-referred to, either as a ground for the decision, or more usually as a
-dictum of the judges, as the proper boundary of the territorial sea;
-but this has been frequently coupled with the qualification that it is
-the assumed distance of the range of guns, or the smallest extent that
-has been claimed by publicists or states.[1082] Some of these cases
-dealt with the vexed question of bays.[1083] One of the most important
-was tried in 1859, and it referred to the Bristol Channel. An offence
-was committed on an American vessel within one mile of the coast in
-Penarth Roads, but where the width from shore to shore is less than
-ten miles, and Chief Justice Cockburn, in delivering judgment, said,
-“We are of opinion that, looking at the local situation of this sea,
-it must be taken to belong to the counties respectively by the shores
-of which it is bounded; and the fact of the Holms,[1084] between which
-and the shore of the county of Glamorgan, the place in question, is
-situated, having always been treated as part of the parish of Cardiff,
-and as part of the county of Glamorgan, is a strong illustration of
-the principle on which we proceed, namely, that the whole of this
-inland sea, between the counties of Somerset and Glamorgan, is to be
-considered as within the counties by the shores of which its several
-parts are respectively bounded.” A good deal of discussion has taken
-place as to the precise meaning of these words. It is to be noted that
-much farther seawards than the place in question the width of the
-Channel is less than ten geographical miles. On the usual rule for bays
-(as laid down in the fishery conventions), the ten-mile base-line would
-pass between Nash Point in Glamorgan and Hurtstone Point, the headland
-east of Porlock in Somerset, and the closing line would be three
-miles west of this, or about twenty geographical miles from Penarth
-Roads. The six-mile limit, from land to land, is, however, about
-twenty-seven miles farther east, between the coast near Goldcliff,
-in Monmouth, and that near Walton Castle, Somerset. But about midway
-between these two limits (and seawards of Penarth Roads) there is a
-part where the three-mile zone around the island, Steepholm, joins
-that of the coast on either side, and though eastwards of this there
-are small areas beyond the distance of three miles from shore, the
-fact that the territorial waters are continuous from side to side at
-this place probably confers territoriality on all the waters inside,
-though that is a point which has not apparently been decided. A line
-drawn from the western boundary of Somerset (and in that case not
-from a headland) to Worms Head, the most western part of Glamorgan,
-measures about thirty geographical miles, and it is a markedly oblique
-line. What is true of one county ought to be true of another, and a
-much more natural line would be one of about twenty-three geographical
-miles between Morte Point in Devon and Worms Head in Glamorgan; or one
-still farther seawards between Hartland Point in Devon and St Goven’s
-Head in Pembroke, which are about thirty-eight geographical miles
-apart; but under common law the range of vision has to be taken into
-account. It may be added that the whole of the Bristol Channel within a
-line from Land’s End to Milford was one of the “King’s Chambers” (see
-p. 122), the closing line being nearly one hundred miles long; and
-that Continental publicists have referred to it, probably from this
-circumstance, as being within British jurisdiction.[1085]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 15.--_The Bristol Channel._]
-
-Another case of the kind decided in a British court concerned
-Conception Bay in Newfoundland, which is rather more than twenty miles
-wide between the headlands and from forty to fifty miles in length.
-It was decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in
-1877 that it was a British bay and part of the territorial waters of
-Newfoundland. The decision was based partly on the configuration of the
-bay, but mainly on the evidence that the British Government had for a
-long time exercised dominion over it, which had been acquiesced in by
-other nations, and the Legislature had by Acts of Parliament declared
-it to be British territory.[1086] Lord Blackburn, in delivering
-judgment, said that there was a universal agreement among writers
-on international jurisprudence that harbours, estuaries, and bays,
-landlocked, belong to the territory of the nation which possesses the
-shores round them, but no agreement existed as to what is the rule
-to determine what is a “bay” for this purpose. “It seems generally
-agreed,” he continued, “that where the configuration and dimensions of
-the bay are such as to show that the nation occupying the adjoining
-coasts also occupies the bay, it is part of the territory,” most of
-the writers referring to defensibility from the shore as the test of
-occupation. But the judgment was founded on the principle above stated.
-
-With regard to jurisdiction over foreigners in the waters along our
-coasts, it is surprising that until quite recently there was no
-statutory enactment or international agreement defining the extent of
-that jurisdiction. Even in certain statutes in which the territorial
-waters are specially mentioned their boundaries are not defined,
-Thus, the provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870,[1087]
-which was passed for purposes of neutrality in the war between France
-and Germany, were declared by the second section to extend “to all
-the dominions of Her Majesty, including the adjacent territorial
-waters”; and the fourteenth section provided that any ship captured
-during the war between other nations when Great Britain was neutral,
-“within the territorial jurisdiction of Her Majesty, in violation of
-the neutrality of this realm,” &c., would be illegal; yet, in the
-interpretation clause no definition is given of the meaning or extent
-of “the adjacent territorial waters.” A similar reluctance apparently
-to fix a definite boundary to the territorial seas for all purposes has
-been shown by the British Government on several occasions in recent
-years--as, for example, in the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act,
-and in the negotiations preceding the North Sea fishery convention of
-1882.[1088]
-
-The statute just referred to was the outcome of a very important case
-which was decided in the English courts in 1876, and raised indirectly
-the whole question of the extent of the territorial sea (apart from
-bays) and the nature of the jurisdiction over it. A German ship, the
-_Franconia_, bound from Hamburg to the West Indies, ran into a British
-ship, the _Strathclyde_, off Dover and within two and a half miles
-from the English coast, whereby the _Strathclyde_ was sunk and a
-passenger drowned. The master, a German named Keyn, was convicted of
-manslaughter in the Central Criminal Court, according to English law,
-and the case was carried to the Criminal Court of Appeal. The defence
-was that as the defendant was a foreigner, in a foreign vessel, on a
-foreign voyage, sailing upon the high seas, he was not subject to the
-jurisdiction of any court in this country, while it was contended for
-the crown that inasmuch as at the time of the collision he was within
-three miles of the English shore, the offence was committed within the
-realm of England and was triable by the English court.[1089] It was
-held by seven of the thirteen judges that in the absence of statutory
-enactment the Central Criminal Court had no power to try such an
-offence, inasmuch as the original jurisdiction of the admiral, which
-had been transferred to that court, did not enable him to try offences
-by foreigners on board foreign ships; the other six judges held the
-opposite, on the ground that the sea within three miles of the coast of
-England is part of the territory of England; that the English criminal
-law extends over those limits; and the admiral formerly had, and the
-Central Criminal Court now has, jurisdiction to try offences there
-committed although on board foreign ships. In referring to the limits
-of the territorial waters under the law of nations, the three-mile
-distance or the range of guns from the shore was very generally
-quoted, and not infrequently the two were confused and spoken of as
-if they were one and the same thing. This was particularly the case
-with Sir Alexander Cockburn, who referred to various treaties and
-edicts (see p. 570) in which the range of guns alone was mentioned,
-as having fixed a three-mile limit for purposes of neutrality. He
-even gives Bynkershoek the credit of having propounded the three-mile
-theory.[1090] His conclusion was cautiously expressed as follows:
-“Possibly, after these precedents and all that has been written on this
-subject, it may not be too much to say that, independently of treaties,
-the three-mile belt of sea might at this day be taken as belonging, for
-these purposes [in connection with fisheries and neutrality], to the
-local State.”
-
-It was, as we have said, in sequence to the above case of the
-_Franconia_ that the important statute, the Territorial Waters
-Jurisdiction Act, was passed by the British Parliament in 1878.[1091]
-This Act is sometimes loosely referred to as having settled the extent
-of the territorial waters at three miles from the shore. This is far
-from being the case. In the preamble it is stated that “whereas the
-rightful jurisdiction of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, extends
-and has always extended over the _open seas_ adjacent to the coasts of
-the United Kingdom and of all other parts of Her Majesty’s dominions to
-such a distance as is necessary for the defence and security of such
-dominions. And whereas it is expedient that all offences committed
-on the _open sea_ within a certain distance of the coasts of the
-United Kingdom and of all other parts of Her Majesty’s dominions, by
-whomsoever committed, should be dealt with according to law,” it was
-enacted that an offence committed by a person, whether or not a British
-subject, within the territorial waters of Her Majesty’s dominions was
-an offence within the jurisdiction of the admiral, although committed
-on board, or by means of, a foreign ship, and the person who committed
-the offence might be arrested, tried, and punished accordingly. The
-legal advisers of the Government were, however, careful to guard
-against the limitation of the general rights of the crown in the
-adjacent seas to the distance to which criminal jurisdiction was
-declared to extend. In the interpretation clause it is stated: “‘The
-territorial waters of Her Majesty’s dominions,’ in reference to the
-sea, means such part of the sea adjacent to the coast of the United
-Kingdom, or the coast of some other part of Her Majesty’s dominions, as
-is deemed by international law to be within the territorial sovereignty
-of Her Majesty: and for the purpose of any offence declared by this
-Act to be within the jurisdiction of the admiral, any part of the open
-sea within one marine league of the coast measured from low-water
-mark shall be deemed to be _open sea_ within the territorial waters
-of Her Majesty’s dominions.” The reservation is made explicit in the
-fifth section, which says that “nothing in this Act contained shall
-be construed to be in derogation of any rightful jurisdiction of Her
-Majesty, her heirs or successors, under the law of nations, or to
-affect or prejudice any jurisdiction conferred by Act of Parliament
-or now by law existing in relation to foreign ships or in relation to
-persons on board such ships.”
-
-In the debate that took place in the House of Lords in 1895 in
-connection with the Sea Fisheries Regulation (Scotland) Act,[1092]
-by which power was conferred on the Fishery Board for Scotland of
-regulating trawling, under certain conditions, up to thirteen miles
-from the coast (see p. 720), it was stated by Lord Halsbury, who had
-charge of the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act in 1878, that “in
-that Act they took care specially to avoid any measurements. The
-distance was left at such limit as was necessary for the defence of
-the Realm; then the exact limit was given for the particular purpose
-in view.” Equally clear was the statement of the late Lord Salisbury
-in the same debate, that “Great care had been taken not to name three
-miles as the territorial limit. The limit depended on the distance to
-which a cannon-shot could go.”[1093]
-
-It is evident from the foregoing that the territorial sea that may be
-claimed as belonging to this country is not restricted to a distance
-of three miles from the shore on an open coast, though a certain
-jurisdiction and certain rights may be confined to that distance by
-municipal law or international agreement. The determination of the
-extent is left to the law of nations, and there is but little doubt
-that by the law of nations the true principle of delimitation is the
-actual range of guns from the coast, where the coast is washed by the
-open sea. It is to be noted that in the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction
-Act nothing is said about bays: criminal jurisdiction is confined to
-“the open sea” within one marine league of the coast. Offences such as
-come under the Act may obviously be committed as well in territorial
-bays and arms of the sea as within the three-mile limit on the open
-coast; and the omission to include bays was no doubt deliberate, bays
-in England being left under the common law on the principle previously
-explained, the range of vision, and in Scotland presumably under Scots
-law--_i.e._, “within land” (see pp. 545, 547).
-
-Other Acts of Parliament which fix limits of jurisdiction beyond three
-miles from the shore include those relating to smuggling, the public
-health, and slave-ships. In 1736, and later, statutes were made by
-Parliament, known as the Hovering Acts, by which vessels with certain
-cargoes on board, destined for British ports, might be seized within
-four leagues of the British coast; and foreign vessels so taken have
-been brought for adjudication before British courts and forfeited for
-illicit trade.[1094] By later Acts concerning the customs, differential
-limits were fixed with respect to jurisdiction over vessels having
-dutiable goods on board. Those belonging wholly or in part to British
-subjects, or having half the persons on board British subjects, found
-or discovered to have been within four leagues of the coast between
-the North Foreland and Beachy Head, or within eight leagues of any
-other part of the coast; or any foreign ship with one or more British
-subjects on board, found or discovered to have been within three
-leagues of the coast, or any foreign ship irrespective of British
-subjects within one league, might under certain specified conditions be
-forfeited; and power was conferred on the commander of a ship of the
-royal navy to fire on such vessel if it refused to bring to after a
-warning gun had been given.[1095]
-
-Other nations have also assigned boundaries for customs jurisdiction,
-which in nearly all cases exceed the ordinary limits of territorial
-waters. The United States in 1799 extended its jurisdiction for such
-purposes to four leagues from the coast, and in 1807, in an Act
-against the importation of slaves, the seizure of vessels laden with
-certain cargoes within that distance was also authorised.[1096] In
-Spain the customs limit is six miles, and therefore corresponds to
-the territorial zone which is claimed;[1097] in Sweden it is also six
-miles, but measured on the Scandinavian system from the outermost
-rocks; in Norway it is four miles, measured on the same principle, but
-a treaty between Norway and Mexico, concluded in 1886, places it as
-between these countries at three leagues from low-water mark.[1098]
-In Italy the boundary is ten kilometres; in France two myriametres,
-or about four leagues; in Austria it is also four leagues; while in
-Canada it is three leagues.[1099] Wide limits for jurisdiction have
-also been fixed by certain quarantine Acts. By the British Act of 1753,
-all vessels coming from places whence the plague might be brought were
-required to make signals on meeting other ships within four leagues
-of the coast, a distance which was reduced to two leagues by a later
-Act.[1100]
-
-Such extension of jurisdiction as is indicated for customs or
-quarantine purposes over foreign ships approaching the ports of a
-country, has only been sanctioned in a few cases by international
-treaties. It is now generally held to rest upon another basis than the
-absolute rights possessed by a state in its territorial waters proper;
-although it is quite in agreement with the principles laid down by
-the older publicists, as Puffendorf, Vattel, and Von Martens, and by
-several recent writers, as Latour,[1101] that a nation is justified in
-exercising jurisdiction in the sea as far as its security or interests
-render it necessary. The current opinion is that such rights can only
-be enforced against foreigners under the comity of nations or by their
-tacit assent, as a matter of mutual convenience, and in practice
-they are acquiesced in by other Powers.[1102] But it is important to
-observe that, as will be more apparent when we come to deal with the
-exclusive right of fishing, maritime nations find it necessary for the
-protection of their just interests to extend their jurisdiction beyond
-the somewhat narrow boundary at present ordinarily assigned.
-
-The statement made above, that the true principle for determining the
-extent of the territorial sea on an open coast is the range of guns
-from the shore, is borne out by an examination of the writings of the
-accredited authorities on the law of nations. A review of the opinions
-of the leading publicists of the earlier part of last century shows
-that while the majority accepted Bynkershoek’s principle of cannon
-range, comparatively few restricted it to the distance of three miles,
-and many logically insisted that the extent must necessarily vary with
-the improvements in artillery. Works of a purely polemical nature may
-be passed over, such as those of the worthless Barrère[1103] and of
-Champagne.[1104] They were inspired by hatred of Great Britain and the
-desire of flattering Napoleon rather than by love of the truth, and
-were written in order to show that the British were the tyrants of
-the sea. Another contemporary French author, of much superior merit,
-who dealt with the question was Rayneval, although his views were
-also somewhat coloured by national prejudice. In 1803 he published a
-treatise on international law,[1105] and in 1811 another on the liberty
-of the sea.[1106] The latter for the most part consists, like the work
-of Champagne, of an examination of the writings of Grotius and Selden
-regarding the _mare liberum_ and the _mare clausum_, and also of the
-trenchant little book of Jenkinson (Lord Liverpool) on the conduct of
-the British Government in relation to neutrals. But in the earlier
-treatise, which is still cited as an authority, Rayneval expounded the
-law of nations respecting the territorial sea with marked impartiality.
-On the general question of the freedom of the sea and the appropriation
-of straits and bays the usual opinions were expressed. He held that the
-sea bathing the coasts of a country makes part of it; that the security
-and tranquillity of the state require that it should be held as a
-rampart against hostile surprise or violence and illicit trading; and
-that the fisheries form a natural appendage to this zone. With regard
-to the extent of sea that may be appropriated, Rayneval stated that it
-had not been determined by any uniform rule. Some, he said, carried it
-to a hundred miles, or to sixty miles, from the coast, others only to
-three miles, and others placed it at the distance of gunshot from the
-shore. On the southern coast of France it had been fixed by agreement
-at ten leagues with respect to the Barbary privateers. Like Meadows and
-several preceding writers, he held it to be desirable in the interests
-of the peace of nations that a general rule, or at least particular
-rules clearly determined, should be adopted on a matter so important
-and exposed to such uncertainties and disputes. Authors, he said, had
-usually fixed the distance at the range of cannon, but their opinion
-was not founded on a general regulation nor on uniform practice; and
-the most equitable limit according to some was the range of vision from
-the coast or the apparent horizon. Rayneval was of opinion that within
-the territorial seas the neighbouring state had the right to forbid
-navigation, except in cases of stress and necessity--a claim generally
-discarded, though still made by Norway. Any liberty to foreigners to
-fish along the coasts or in the bays of a country, he thought, was a
-matter of tolerance, founded principally on the supposed abundance of
-fish; and he held the opinion, which is at variance with that of most
-other writers,--unless when confined to the territorial zone,--that a
-state does not lose the right to forbid foreigners from fishing in the
-waters along its coasts because it at one time allowed them to do so.
-
-Much more definite and restricted was the opinion of a contemporary
-English lawyer, Chitty, who published a work on the law of nations
-in 1812.[1107] Quoting Vattel, that the whole extent of the sea
-within cannon-shot of the coast is considered as making part of the
-territory, and that a vessel taken under the guns of a neutral fortress
-is not lawful prize, he says that the same doctrine is enforced by
-Von Martens; and he refers to the decisions in the English Court of
-Admiralty in the cases of the _Twee Gebroeders_ and the _Anna_, which
-established the principle in English law. Chitty, however, makes no
-allusion to the three-mile limit as an alternative to the range of guns.
-
-Bynkershoek’s principle, and also a fixed distance in place of it,
-were likewise accepted by Schmalz, Professor of Law in the University
-of Berlin. Writing in 1817,[1108] he declared that the adjacent sea
-pertained to the neighbouring land as far as it could be defended by
-cannon from the shore; that this principle had been systematically
-adopted; and that the distance had been fixed arbitrarily at three
-marine leagues,[1109]--an erroneous statement, no doubt derived from
-G. F. von Martens, which has been previously referred to,[1110] and
-was copied from one book into another. Two years later another and a
-greater German authority, Klüber, also adopted the principle of the
-range of guns, without, however, proposing an equivalent distance
-in miles.[1111] He allowed to the state the waters susceptible of
-exclusive possession, over which it had acquired, by occupation or
-convention, and maintained, its sovereignty. Among the parts so
-comprised are (1) the sea adjoining the continental territory of a
-state--at all events, “according to the generally received opinion,” to
-the extent to which it can be reached by cannon-shot from the shore;
-(2) parts extending into the land, as bays and gulfs, which can be
-commanded by guns on shore; (3) straits which are equally commanded by
-guns; (4) gulfs, straits, and seas adjoining the continental territory
-of a state, which, though not entirely under the range of guns on
-shore, are recognised by other Powers as closed seas--that is, under
-one dominion, and inaccessible to foreign vessels without permission.
-
-Wheaton, an eminent American jurist, whose first work was published
-about this time, likewise accepted the principle of cannon range, or,
-as an alternative, a distance of three miles from the shore.[1112]
-The territorial jurisdiction of a neutral Power, he says, “extends to
-the ports, harbours, bays, and chambers formed by headlands of the
-neutral Power. The usual addition allowed to this is a distance of
-three English miles, or a marine league, or as far as a cannon-shot
-will carry from the coasts or shore.” His statement is based on the
-decisions in the English Admiralty Court, and on the writings of
-Vattel, Bynkershoek, Von Martens, and Azuni. In his great treatise on
-the law of nations, first published in 1836,[1113] the same views are
-expressed, it being stated that the general usage of nations superadds
-“to bays, ports, &c., a distance of a marine league, or as far as
-a cannon shot will reach, along all the coasts of the state”; and,
-incorporating into his text Lord Stowell’s observation, he says, “The
-rule of law on this subject is _terræ dominium finitur, ubi finitur
-armorum vis_, and since the introduction of fire-arms, that distance
-has usually been recognised to be about three miles from the shore.”
-Wheaton also states that the exclusive territorial jurisdiction of
-the British crown over the enclosed parts of the sea along the coasts
-of Great Britain has immemorially extended to those bays called the
-“King’s Chambers,”[1114] and that a similar jurisdiction is also
-asserted by the United States over Delaware Bay, and other bays and
-estuaries forming portions of their territory, and that a state had the
-exclusive right of fishing within its territorial waters.
-
-Chancellor Kent, who was another high American authority, expressed
-somewhat different opinions from those of Wheaton, in a treatise
-published in 1826, and seemed inclined to extend territorial
-jurisdiction much farther into the sea than the latter writer.[1115]
-The extent of such jurisdiction over the neighbouring sea is, he
-says, often a question of difficulty and of dubious right, but as far
-as a nation can conveniently occupy, and that occupancy is acquired
-by prior possession or treaty, the jurisdiction is exclusive. It
-is difficult, he states elsewhere, to draw any precise conclusion,
-amidst the variety of opinion, as to the distance to which a state
-may lawfully extend its exclusive dominion over the sea adjoining its
-territories, and beyond harbours, gulfs, bays, and estuaries, where
-its jurisdiction unquestionably extends. “All that can reasonably be
-asserted is, that the dominion of the sovereign of the shore over
-the contiguous sea extends as far as is requisite for his safety,
-and for some lawful end. A more extended dominion must rest entirely
-upon force and maritime supremacy. According to the current of modern
-authority,” he continues, “the general territorial jurisdiction extends
-into the sea as far as cannon-shot will reach, and no farther; and
-this is generally calculated to be a marine league.” These opinions
-do not differ materially from those of Puffendorf and Vattel, and the
-tendency of this writer to allow an extended maritime jurisdiction
-is shown by his statement regarding bays. He holds that the American
-Government have the right to claim for fiscal and defensive regulations
-an extensive jurisdiction, and that it would not be unreasonable to
-assume, “for domestic purposes connected with our safety and welfare,”
-the control of the waters within lines stretching from quite distant
-headlands, as from Cape Ann to Cape Cod, and from Nantucket to Montauk
-Point, and from that point to the capes of the Delaware, and from the
-south cape of Florida to the Mississippi; that is to say, within areas
-in comparison with which the “King’s Chambers” are insignificant,
-since a straight line from the south cape of Florida to the Mississippi
-measures about 500 miles, and encloses a tract of sea as much as 180
-miles in breath. Kent adds that the Government of the United States
-would certainly view with uneasiness, in the case of war between other
-maritime Powers, the use of the waters of the American coast, far
-beyond the reach of cannon-shot, as cruising ground for belligerent
-purposes.
-
-Manning, an English publicist, writing a little later,[1116] adopts the
-usual opinion, stating that the distance to which the special right
-of jurisdiction or the qualified dominion of a state extends on the
-adjacent sea has been variously measured, the most prevalent distances
-being those of a cannon-shot or of a marine league from the shore.
-Heffter, a publicist of high authority, asserting as incontestable
-the right of all maritime nations, both for defence and for the
-protection of their commercial and revenue interests, to establish an
-active surveillance on the neighbouring sea, declares that for these
-purposes a state has the power of fixing, according to the particular
-conditions of its coasts and waters, the distance to which its rights
-shall extend. A common usage, he says, has established the limit at
-the range of guns, a principle sanctioned by the laws and regulations
-of many nations. But he maintains with Vattel that the dominion of
-the state in the adjacent sea extends as far as it is necessary for
-its security, and it can enforce it,--qualifying this declaration,
-however, by adopting Rayneval’s suggestion that the horizon should be
-the extreme boundary of the territorial sea. In his opinion the range
-of guns, although the principle commonly adopted, affords no invariable
-basis, and the distance may be fixed, at all events provisionally, by
-the laws of each state: formerly, he adds, it included two leagues, and
-now usually three marine miles.[1117]
-
-A much more restricted view of the extent of the territorial sea was
-taken by Reddie, an English writer whose work appeared in the same
-year.[1118] He adopted Bynkershoek’s doctrine of the range of guns,
-but makes no mention of the three-mile limit or any other alternative
-distance. A certain breadth of the adjacent open sea is, he says,
-necessary for defence and security, and it is that portion within reach
-of cannon-shot, capable of being protected and commanded by artillery
-from the land, and thus susceptible of exclusive and permanent
-dominion, if not of appropriation. Beyond the range of artillery
-the sea is common; within that range each nation has the right of
-sovereignty, legislative, judicial, and executive, and the exclusive
-fishery. This part of the sea cannot be used by nations generally,
-without diminishing the use or enjoyment of others, and its produce is
-by no means inexhaustible.
-
-Ortolan, a French publicist of eminence, writing about the same
-time, not only adopted the principle of Bynkershoek, but affirmed
-in a positive manner that the extent of the territorial sea should
-correspond to the actual range of artillery at the time.[1119] Although
-the gunshot limit was the one recognised, there was nothing, he says,
-to hinder two or more states from fixing between themselves, by treaty,
-another limit, but such would be binding only on those who were parties
-to the agreement. Bays and arms of the sea whose shores belong to the
-same state are also territorial, provided that their width does not
-exceed twice the actual range of guns, or that the entrance can be
-commanded by artillery, or is naturally protected by islands, banks,
-or rocks. Within the territorial sea as thus defined the state has the
-power of making laws and regulations for its safety, prosperity, and
-interests, but it has not the right of property,--Ortolan, like so many
-other writers, drawing a distinction between property and jurisdiction.
-The opinion that the real range of guns is the true principle for the
-determination of the extent of the territorial sea was also affirmed
-by Hautefeuille, another French writer of authority.[1120] According
-to him, it extends to the distance a ball can be actually thrown from
-the shore and no farther. Within the space thus commanded the rights of
-the state are absolute, both in regard to jurisdiction and property,
-and even to the prohibition of navigation. The right of fishery is
-exclusive, since the products of the sea are not inexhaustible, and
-the pursuit of them requires to be kept under proper regulation. On
-this view, therefore, the fisheries of right belong to the neighbouring
-state up to the limit of gunshot from the coast.
-
-Other French writers of authority have maintained the same opinion
-as to the principle for the delimitation of the territorial waters.
-Thus, Pistoye and Duverdy[1121] state that each Power is able, in a
-given zone, measured by the range of cannon, to impose its laws and
-enforce obedience to them. It cannot take bodily possession of the
-waves, but it can maintain over them direct and constant domination.
-While there has been much discussion, they say, as to the extent of
-the territorial sea, the principle upon which its appropriation rests
-serves also to determine its bounds, “and it must be acknowledged
-that the range of cannon from the shore is the only real and true
-boundary of the sea in question.”[1122] No measure, they add, has been
-generally agreed upon between different nations as to the distance
-which the range of guns may be supposed to cover; but they think the
-eyes of experienced officers on the coast may be trusted to judge how
-far a given spot is within the distance. Still another French author
-of repute expressed the same view as to the extent of the territorial
-sea. Massé, in his elaborate work on commercial law in relation to the
-law of nations,[1123] pointed to the fact that the arbitrary opinions
-of the older writers had been rejected, and stated that the real basis
-of delimitation was the range of guns--a distance which he places at
-“about three miles”; but he says that this rule is not always followed
-in practice. Bays and gulfs are declared to be undoubtedly part of
-the territorial sea, even when they are not capable of being defended
-from the shore. The reasons for this opinion are the same as those
-advanced by Hubner--namely, that such areas form natural harbours and
-anchorages, sheltering vessels from tempests: the vessels are thus
-under the protection of the coasts, and consequently of the sovereign
-of the coasts. The true boundary in such cases Massé regards as the
-line joining the headlands, or passing between the islands that may lie
-off the mouth, even if the distance be greater than the range of guns,
-or than what has been fixed by convention for an open coast.
-
-It is obvious from the above review of the opinions of publicists in
-the first half of last century that no complete agreement had been
-reached in theory or principle respecting the extent of the territorial
-sea. Many of the writers held to the opinions expressed by Puffendorf,
-Wolff, and Vattel, which allowed a more or less wide and vague
-jurisdiction in the neighbouring sea for the security of the state;
-and most of them refer to the cannon-range limit as the one usually
-adopted. Few, however, accept the three-mile boundary as an alternative
-to the range of guns: most of the authors indeed do not even mention
-it, and those who do, appear to have been guided in the main by Lord
-Stowell’s decisions. On the other hand, the later of the French writers
-affirm that the boundary of the territorial waters is determined by
-the actual range of artillery from the shore at the time, which is a
-virtual repudiation of the three-mile limitation. Their view is summed
-up by Pistoye and Duverdy when they say that the principle on which the
-appropriation of the bordering sea rests serves also to determine its
-bounds--_i.e._, control and command from the shore.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-THE FISHERY CONVENTIONS.
-
-
-Compared with the eighteenth century and the earlier part of the
-nineteenth, the period which has elapsed since the close of the
-Napoleonic wars has been singularly free from occurrences raising
-the question of the extent of the territorial sea in connection with
-the rights of belligerents and neutrals. There has been no great
-maritime war in Europe since the enormous advance in the power of
-artillery rendered the three-mile limit untenable for the security
-of a neutral state against the operations of belligerents in the sea
-off its coasts, though some questions involving the inadequacy of
-that limit came to the front during the civil war in America. The
-chief questions affecting the boundary of the territorial waters were
-concerned with sea fisheries, and several conventions were made between
-European nations in which limits were fixed for exclusive fishing.
-They originated in the perennial disputes between British and foreign
-fishermen.
-
-In previous chapters it has been shown that the intermittent efforts of
-the British Government to establish an exclusive right to the fisheries
-along the coasts of this country were without definite result, except
-that it came to be tacitly understood by the Dutch fishermen that
-they should keep out of sight of the shore. At various times during
-the eighteenth century complaints were made to the Government of the
-encroachments of Dutch, French, and Danish fishermen along our coasts
-and in the Channel, and representations were in several instances made
-to the foreign Government concerned. An examination of these complaints
-shows that in many cases the foreigners were alleged to fish within
-the bays and close to the shore, destroying the spawn and brood of
-fish. In other cases they were accused of fishing in British waters
-when they were between three and four, or even between six and seven,
-miles from the coast,--the real ground of complaint being that they
-occupied the localities where the fish were most abundant, and where
-the native fishermen mostly carried on their industry.[1124] From
-causes previously described, the number of Dutch fishermen frequenting
-the British coasts diminished very much during the eighteenth century,
-while at the same time French fishermen, and on the coast of Scotland
-also Danes and Prussians, as well as fishermen from the Austrian
-Netherlands, came in increasing numbers. During the war with France
-and Holland the fishermen of these nations were unable to pursue their
-fishing on the British coasts. But shortly after the restoration of
-peace they returned, and complaints of their encroachments, especially
-on the coast of Scotland and the south coast of England, soon became
-prevalent. In 1819 the Board of British White Herring Fishery
-received numerous complaints of foreign, and more particularly Dutch,
-herring-busses shooting their nets too near the coasts, and committing
-depredations on the lines and nets of the native fishermen. The Board
-were urged to prevent foreigners from fishing “within a certain
-distance” of the shore; but they considered they had no power to do so,
-and forwarded copies of the petitions to the Lords of the Treasury. The
-clamour continued, and in 1821, and again in 1822, the Board strongly
-recommended the Government to take action. In the latter year the
-Government made representations on the subject to the Government of the
-Netherlands; and as a result a royal decree was issued in 1824 by the
-King of the Netherlands prohibiting Dutch fishermen from fishing on the
-main coast of Scotland, or even, in the absence of urgent necessity,
-from approaching it within a distance of two leagues, twenty making a
-degree, or twice the limit of three miles.[1125] In 1827--and thus
-only twelve years before the Anglo-French convention fixed a three-mile
-limit--this Dutch ordinance was renewed, and from that time few
-complaints were made of the encroachments of Dutch herring-busses on
-the Scottish coast. They continued to conduct their herring fishery,
-for the most part, at distances ranging from twelve or fourteen to
-forty or fifty miles, as they still do at the present day.
-
-As the disputes with the Dutch fishermen were thus amicably arranged
-by the recognition of a six-mile zone of reserved water, similar
-contentions sprang up, and continued for a long period, with fishermen
-from France. In 1824, some years after the peace, they began to
-frequent the coast of Scotland, and they came in great numbers in
-each succeeding year, fishing at the Shetlands, Orkneys, and along
-the north and east coasts from Cape Wrath to Berwick, and down the
-English coast as far as Flamborough Head.[1126] Several circumstances
-connected with the French fishery tended to provoke disputes. While the
-Dutch fished from their busses at a distance from the coast, where the
-largest and best herrings were caught, and were forbidden under heavy
-penalties from buying or selling herrings while at sea, or even from
-entering any foreign port except by reason of urgent necessity, the
-French fished, as a rule, near the shore from small boats, which they
-even hired for the season, not uncommonly from Scotch fishermen. They
-frequented the Scottish ports; they bought herrings in large quantities
-surreptitiously from native boats engaged to local fish-curers, for
-money, brandy, tobacco, biscuits, and other articles; and they were
-allowed to dry their nets, and even sometimes to salt their herrings,
-on shore for a small payment.[1127] They were thus intimately
-associated with the native fishermen along the coast, and they carried
-on their fishery near the shore in the waters which were mostly used by
-the natives.
-
-In the English Channel disputes between British and French fishermen
-were still more frequent and acrimonious. British naval supremacy
-during the long war had given a monopoly of the fisheries to the people
-of the English coast, but after peace was concluded French fishermen
-swarmed in the Channel, and began to fish along the English shores.
-Complaints became rife of the decadence of the English fisheries, owing
-to the alleged encroachments of the French and a general diminution
-in the abundance of fish. In 1833 a Select Committee of the House of
-Commons was appointed to inquire into the state of the British Channel
-fisheries and the laws affecting the fishing trade of England, with a
-view to their amendment. After taking evidence, the Committee reported
-that they found those fisheries, and the interests connected with
-them, to be in a very depressed and declining state; that the decline
-had begun with the peace in 1815; that the number of fishermen and
-boats had diminished; and that the fishermen and their families were
-indigent.[1128]
-
-The principal causes of the depression were found to be the extensive
-interference and aggressions of the French fishermen on the coasts of
-Kent and Sussex, the large quantity of foreign-caught fish illegally
-imported, and the great decrease and comparative scarcity of fish
-in the Channel. Large fleets of French fishing vessels from Calais,
-Boulogne, Dieppe, and other ports were in the habit of fishing along
-the English coasts, frequently within half a league of the shore, and
-occasionally nearer, as well as in the bays and shallow waters, “in
-which,” said the Committee, “it is particularly necessary for the
-preservation of the brood of fish, that such as frequent those waters
-during the breeding season should not be disturbed, or their young
-destroyed before they have attained maturity.” The French fishing
-vessels were more numerous and larger than the English boats,--between
-two and three hundred coming from Boulogne alone,--and they had caused
-great injury to the nets and gear of the English fishermen, especially
-in the herring and mackerel seasons. At other times of the year it was
-proved that they were in the habit of coming in great numbers every
-morning into English bays, and dragging there for bait in the shallow
-waters close upon the shore, taking and destroying an immense quantity
-of young and unsizeable fish, at periods when they were prevented by
-French laws from conducting similar operations in their own bays.[1129]
-These laws, the Committee reported, were understood to be enforced also
-against English fishermen within three leagues of the coast of France;
-on approaching nearer they were warned off by French cruisers, and told
-that they would not be allowed to fish within that distance.
-
-The Committee considered it to be proved that the scarcity of fish in
-the Channel (with the exception of herrings and mackerel) had been
-occasioned by the great destruction of the spawn and brood of fish in
-the shallow waters. They recommended as remedies for the evil “that
-foreign fishermen should be prevented at all seasons of the year from
-fishing within one league, or such other distance of the English coast,
-as by the law or usage of nations is considered to belong exclusively
-to this country,” and that they should also be required to observe,
-during the spawning or breeding season of fish, all such laws or
-regulations as might be imposed upon English fishermen for the better
-preservation of the spawn and brood of fish in the bays and shallow
-waters on the coast.[1130] In order to accomplish these objects, they
-recommended that customs and revenue officers and the commanders
-of cruisers should be instructed to prevent foreign fishermen from
-fishing “within such prohibited distance of the shore,” to enforce the
-observance by foreigners as well as by subjects of our fishery laws and
-regulations, and to protect the English fishermen from aggression at
-sea.
-
-The Committee had considerable difficulty in arriving at their
-conclusion respecting the limit which should be fixed for exclusive
-fishing on the English coast. They were influenced partly by what they
-understood to be the usage, that the sea for one marine league from
-the shore was considered to be the territory of the adjoining country,
-partly by the practice of the Customs’ authorities in connection with
-the prevention of smuggling, and partly by considerations affecting
-the preservation of the fry and brood of fish. Under the Customs’
-regulations, vessels and boats of certain descriptions, including
-fishing-boats, required a license, and the Commissioners of Customs
-had discretionary power[1131] to prescribe within what distance of the
-English coast they might be employed. In some cases fishing-boats were
-restricted to a distance of four leagues, in other instances they were
-allowed to fish to within one league of a foreign coast, one league
-of sea being regarded by the Customs’ authorities as belonging to the
-territory of the adjacent country. With regard to the right of fishing,
-however, it was generally understood among the English fishermen that
-the limit on the French coast reserved for French fishermen was three
-leagues; and they desired that the same limit should be applied on
-the English coast. The Committee laid great stress on the fixing of a
-limit of exclusive fishing in order to preserve the spawn and brood of
-fish. It was universally believed, and stated by all the witnesses,
-including Mr James Cornish, an ichthyologist of repute, that the fish
-spawned in the shallow water near the shore,--an erroneous opinion
-that has prevailed almost to the present day, but which was shown
-to be incorrect by the observations made by the Fishery Board for
-Scotland[1132] and others.
-
-It was deemed to be of great importance that the breeding fish, and
-the eggs which they were supposed to deposit near the shore, should be
-protected from alleged injurious modes of fishing; and the Committee
-recommended statutory enactments to establish close-times, and to
-prohibit the use of trawl or drag nets within a league from the shore
-or in water less than ten fathoms in depth. They inquired carefully
-as to the limit which would be sufficient for this purpose. Most of
-the fishermen were of opinion that the distance of one league would
-be sufficient to include the “breeding-grounds,” and bring them under
-the protection of the law; but they held that the distance should be
-measured not from the shore, following its sinuosities, but from a
-straight line drawn from one headland to another,--an opinion with
-which the Committee concurred.
-
-No immediate action was taken by the Government to establish a
-definite boundary for exclusive fishing, and petitions and memorials
-continued to pour in from various parts of the coast complaining of
-the depredations of French fishermen. They were accused of interfering
-with British fishermen engaged in dredging for oysters fifteen miles
-from the shores of France; of fishing for herrings and mackerel within
-less than a mile of the British coasts, compelling the native fishermen
-to shoot their nets to the seawards of them; of maliciously destroying
-fishing gear, and of recklessly extirpating the spawn and brood of fish
-in the shallow waters along the English coast. The Government were
-urged to give effect to the recommendations of the Committee of 1833,
-and they were asked by the Commissioners for the Herring Fishery to
-issue instructions to the naval superintendent in Scotland to prevent
-the encroachments complained of.[1133]
-
-From a perusal of these petitions it is evident that much doubt
-existed at the time, not only in the minds of fishermen but among many
-in authority, as to what was the precise limit of exclusive fishery
-that might be claimed or enforced. As a general rule, it was believed
-to extend much farther than a league from the shore. Many fishermen
-maintained that the boundary was three leagues, an opinion strongly
-held in Scotland as late as 1862. The fishermen of Eyemouth, probably
-influenced by traditions of the extent of the “reserved waters” in
-earlier times, asked that foreigners should be “kept without the
-limits prescribed by law, and that limits (_sic_) be seven leagues,”
-declaring that they went that distance themselves, and were annoyed and
-endangered by foreign vessels taking up the ground.
-
-On the part of French fishermen there were also numerous complaints
-against the English, the most bitter referring to the dredging for
-oysters off the French coast. In 1837 a mixed commission was appointed
-by the British and French Governments in connection with these
-complaints, and especially to ascertain and define the limits within
-which the subjects of the two countries respectively should be at
-liberty to fish for oysters between Jersey and the neighbouring coast
-of France. The opportunity was taken at the same time “to define and
-regulate the limits within which the general right of fishery on all
-parts of the coasts of the two countries shall be exclusively reserved
-to the subjects of Great Britain and of France respectively,” and a
-convention was concluded at Paris in 1839 defining these rights.[1134]
-By its articles a very considerable stretch of water containing
-oyster-beds, in the Bay of Granville on the French coast, between
-Cape Carteret and Point Meinga, south-east of Jersey, and extending
-far beyond the three-mile limit, was reserved exclusively for French
-fishermen, the boundaries being minutely defined and laid down on a
-chart annexed to the convention; and British fishermen were prohibited
-from carrying on any kind of fishing, even for floating fish, within
-this area. The bay thus appropriated is over seventeen miles in
-breadth, and the closing line passes in some places about fourteen
-miles from the shore.[1135] This concession to France was a recognition
-of the principle that fisheries of this nature--that is, for objects
-which are attached to or stationary on the bottom--require special
-treatment.
-
-The article defining the general fishery limit on the coasts of the two
-countries was as follows:--
-
-“ARTICLE IX. The subjects of Her Britannic Majesty shall enjoy the
-exclusive right of fishery within the distance of three miles from
-low-water mark, along the whole extent of the coasts of the British
-Islands; and the subjects of the King of the French shall enjoy the
-exclusive right of fishery within the distance of three miles from
-low-water mark, along the whole extent of the coasts of France; it
-being understood that upon that part of the coast of France which lies
-between Cape Carteret and Point Meinga, French subjects shall enjoy the
-exclusive right of all kinds of fishery within the limits assigned in
-Article I. of this Convention, for the French oyster fishery.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 16.--_Showing the Limits reserved for French
-Fishermen in Granville Bay._]
-
-It is equally agreed, that the distance of three miles fixed as the
-general limit for the exclusive right of fishery upon the coasts of the
-two countries shall, with respect to bays, the mouths of which do not
-exceed ten miles in width, be measured from a straight line drawn from
-headland to headland.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-The next article defined the miles to be geographical miles, of which
-sixty make a degree of latitude; and it was also provided that with a
-view to prevent the collisions which from time to time took place “on
-the seas lying between the coasts of Great Britain and of France,”
-between the trawlers and the line and long-net fishermen of the two
-countries, a mixed commission should be appointed to prepare a set
-of regulations for the guidance of the fishermen in the seas above
-mentioned. The code of regulations so arranged was confirmed by the
-respective Governments in June 1843, and was in this country embodied
-in an Act of Parliament. They embraced a large number of subjects,
-many of them beyond what was contemplated in the convention. Besides
-what may be termed police regulations, such as the numbering and
-lettering of fishing-boats, there were others defining and restricting
-the fishing apparatus to be employed;[1136] and all this machinery of
-regulation was to be applied to British and French fishermen pursuing
-their industry in the extra-territorial waters.
-
-This convention was the first to establish by an international
-agreement the three-mile limit as the boundary of exclusive fishing
-on the British coasts, so far as French fishermen were concerned.
-In view of the numerous conflicts and disputes, it was clearly of
-importance that some limit should be precisely fixed, but the
-selection of so narrow a strip of the adjacent sea was in some respects
-unfortunate, and has probably acted injuriously on the interests of
-the sea fisheries. It was imposed, no doubt, partly because it was
-the limit already recognised in England and America as bounding the
-territorial seas for the purposes of neutrality, and because it was
-deemed sufficient to afford protection to the breeding fishes and
-fish-spawn, one of the objects the Parliamentary Committee had in view
-in recommending it.
-
-The disputes between the fishermen of the two nations were not set at
-rest by the convention. Numerous infringements of the new boundary of
-exclusive fishing occurred, and the difficulty of causing it to be
-respected was for many years considerable.[1137] As many as twenty-one
-French vessels were seized and taken into Berwick at one time for
-transgressing the limit, and the convention was naturally not looked
-upon with favour in certain French seaports.[1138] Nor was it generally
-regarded among the fishery classes in this country as a triumph of
-diplomacy. In Scotland it was thought that the British Government had
-made a very bad bargain in parting with the exclusive right to fish for
-herrings beyond a limit of only three miles instead of three leagues,
-the boundary maintained to be the “legal” and just distance, for the
-sake of obtaining, as it was supposed, some fancied advantage for the
-English oyster fishermen.[1139]
-
-The convention, moreover, was binding only on French and British
-subjects. It left unsettled the limit in relation to other nations,
-and the inconvenience of this was shown by the action of Belgian
-fishermen. While the French were excluded from the three-mile zone, the
-Belgians not only fished within it, but in many cases they anchored
-their vessels in the Scottish harbours and bays and fished in the
-neighbouring waters from their small boats. In 1848 the commissioners
-for the British fisheries brought the question before the Board of
-Trade, and they were advised to enforce the boundary laid down in the
-Anglo-French convention with respect to Belgian and all other foreign
-boats also.[1140] Against this procedure strong remonstrances were made
-by the Belgian fishermen, and these were followed by representations
-from the Belgian Government. The Fishery Commissioners, who were
-anxious that the law in regard to foreigners fishing on our coasts
-should be made clear, continued to press the matter. The Belgian
-fishermen then produced to the naval superintendent a copy of the
-charter that had been granted by King Charles II., in 1666, to the
-citizens of Bruges,[1141] under which they claimed equal privileges
-with British subjects. That charter appears to have been generally
-regarded as fictitious; but, acting on the advice of the Queen’s
-Advocate, the Board of Trade directed that for the ensuing season of
-1851 Belgians should be allowed to fish on the same system as before,
-but that afterwards this liberty should cease, except in the case of
-such as had been able to prove special privileges under the asserted
-charter in the English courts of law. The dispute was settled by
-a convention between Great Britain and Belgium in 1852, in which,
-without mention of any specified limit, it was stipulated that Belgian
-fishermen should enjoy the same rights of fishing on the coasts of
-the United Kingdom as the most favoured foreign nation, and, in like
-manner, that British subjects should enjoy corresponding rights on
-the coast of Belgium.[1142] This convention was more beneficial to
-Belgium than to us, as the Fishery Commissioners pointed out, owing to
-the extent of the respective coasts conceded for fishing, but it was
-thought to be satisfactory, inasmuch as defined rights were substituted
-for vague and disputed privileges. Nevertheless, as the Belgian
-Minister remonstrated that sufficient time had not been afforded for
-trying in the British courts the validity of the charter “alleged” to
-have been granted to the fishing vessels of Bruges, the vessels of that
-port were allowed for one season more (namely, 1852) the privilege of
-using the Scottish harbours for their fishing vessels and of fishing
-from them with small boats.[1143] When the authorities attempted in
-1852 to enforce the convention against Belgian vessels other than those
-of Bruges, by excluding them from our harbours, so much dissatisfaction
-was caused that the Belgian Minister again appealed to the British
-Government, and the restriction was relaxed for another year for all
-Belgian boats, so that the enforcement of the three-mile limit against
-them did not come into operation till 1853.
-
-The violations of the boundary by French vessels, above referred to,
-continued for many years, and the disputes were sometimes so frequent
-and serious as to occasion the employment of seven or eight gunboats
-on the east coast of Scotland to maintain the law. Yet the three-mile
-limit, as the Commissioners declared, was but “a slender privilege”
-to retain for the native fishermen. “The extent of it,” they truly
-said, “when looked at from the sea appears small indeed, seeming but
-a narrow slip lying close under the high cliffs of the land, and when
-it is taken into account that the whole sea outside is free to every
-comer, whether British or foreign, the slight boundary within shore
-ought to be strictly kept.” Sometimes, however, the French were accused
-of infringing the limit from a common misconception on the part of our
-fishermen that the boundary was the traditional one of three leagues
-or nine miles, instead of only three miles. Upon explanation, they
-admitted their misapprehension, “but,” said the Commissioners, “with a
-significant expression of their wish that it had been leagues instead
-of miles.”
-
-The French herring vessels swarmed chiefly about Berwick and the coast
-of Northumberland, and in 1853 a question of the limit at the Farne
-Isles was raised by the French commodore. He interpreted the words of
-the convention (which did not specify islands) as meaning that the
-three miles was to be measured from low-water mark on the mainland,
-which would have allowed the French to fish close to the islands. The
-British naval superintendent, on the other hand, held that the limit
-extended to three miles from low-water mark on the islands as well,
-but, pending a legal opinion, he released two French vessels he had
-seized for fishing within that distance from them. The Queen’s Advocate
-decided in favour of the latter interpretation, and the point does
-not appear to have been again raised.[1144] The infringement of the
-boundary by the French gradually became less frequent, and in 1867 it
-was reported that they had begun to fish at a greater distance from the
-coast than formerly, and even out of sight of land.
-
-At this time it was found to be desirable to conclude another fishery
-convention with France. Nearly all the elaborate regulations under the
-convention of 1839 had turned out to be unworkable or were disregarded,
-and much difference of opinion existed as to what actually were “the
-seas lying between the British Islands and France” to which they
-applied.[1145] In this second convention, in 1867, the exclusive
-fishery limits of the two countries were defined as in the convention
-of 1839, and the boundaries of the large area in the Bay of Granville
-or Cancale, reserved for French fishermen, were precisely the same as
-before.[1146] The international “extra-territorial” regulations under
-this convention were much less detailed than in the previous one.
-Fishing beyond the reserved limits was to be entirely free, with the
-exception that a close-time for oysters was established for the English
-Channel. The police regulations were to apply to “the seas surrounding
-and adjoining Great Britain and Ireland,” and adjoining the Atlantic
-coast of France, between the frontiers of Belgium and Spain. The
-conditions under which the fishing-boats of one nation might enter the
-exclusive fishery limits of the other, such as by stress of weather,
-were carefully specified; and each boat while there was to hoist a blue
-flag, and was again to leave as soon as the exceptional circumstances
-had ceased. The convention was to continue in force for ten years, and
-afterwards from year to year, terminable on twelve months’ notice. But,
-although confirmed by an Act of the British Parliament, in 1868,[1147]
-it was not ratified by France, and its provisions never came into
-practical operation, except with regard to the close-time for oysters,
-owing to certain objections raised by the French Government.[1148]
-Certain of its provisions, including, amongst others, the article in
-the convention defining the exclusive fishery limits, were repealed by
-the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883.[1149]
-
-Both conventions, as we have seen, dealt with oyster fisheries in a
-special manner, and on the coast of France a large area, extending
-much beyond the three-mile limit, was reserved to French fishermen on
-account of the valuable oyster-grounds it contained. An interesting
-point was raised by the Irish authorities. It happened that Ireland
-also possessed productive and extensive oyster-beds on the coast of
-Wexford, stretching for many miles beyond the exclusive fishery limits
-laid down in the convention, and the Irish authorities claimed the
-right of control over the whole of them. They had enforced regulations
-there before the first convention with France, in 1889, had been
-entered into, and at that time they protested against its application
-to Ireland. Accordingly, in the Act of 1843 giving effect to the
-convention, a clause was inserted empowering the Board of Trade, with
-the sanction of the Privy Council, to suspend the operation of the
-convention in Ireland or any part thereof, so long as the fisheries
-there should be carried on exclusively by British subjects, and also to
-make bye-laws for enforcing the Act as soon as French boats frequented
-Irish waters for the purpose of fishing.[1150] On the day following the
-passing of the Act an Order in Council was issued directing “that the
-said Act and articles of regulation shall be suspended with respect to
-the fisheries of the whole coasts of Ireland, so long as such fisheries
-shall be carried on exclusively by the subjects of Her Majesty.”
-
-The matter was again raised in connection with the convention of 1867,
-and it was associated with a recent act of jurisdiction by the Irish
-authorities beyond the three-mile limit. Some Welsh boats which had
-been dredging for oysters on the coast of Wexford, at a distance, it
-was said, of four or five miles from the shore, were arrested, taken to
-Wexford, the fishermen fined, and the oysters forfeited. The Board of
-Trade thereupon asked the Irish Department, with reference to an Act
-that had been passed in 1842 to regulate the Irish fisheries,[1151] to
-state what were “the limits of the Act to regulate Irish fisheries” in
-pursuance of the provisions of which they presumed they had acted, and
-“whether the oysters in question were captured within those limits.”
-The reply was that the oysters were taken two and a half miles from
-the shore, but that the most extensive and valuable oyster-beds on
-the east coast of Ireland lay at a distance of from five to ten miles
-from and parallel to the shore, and so far as they, or any other beds,
-were “within the reach of ordinary shore boats, and were habitually
-frequented by and afforded the means of living to a shore population,
-the Commissioners conceive they are justly entitled to be considered
-Irish beds, and to come within their control.”[1152]
-
-The Irish Members of Parliament strenuously supported this contention,
-and they succeeded in getting a clause inserted in the Convention
-Act of 1868 enabling the Irish Commissioners, with the approval of
-the Queen in Council, to regulate the dredging for oysters on any
-oyster-beds situated within the distance of twenty miles seawards from
-a straight line between Lambay Island and Carnsore Point--an area
-of nearly 1300 square (geographical) miles, outside the three-mile
-limit, including the Arklow and Wexford banks, and stretching from
-twelve and a half to nineteen miles beyond the ordinary limit. All
-such regulations were to “apply equally to all boats and persons on
-whom they might be binding,” and they were binding “on all British
-sea-fishing boats, and on any other sea-fishing boats in that behalf
-specified in the Order, and on the crews of such boats.”[1153] By an
-Order in Council, dated 29th April 1869, regulations were made under
-this section of the Act appointing a close-time; but no other boats
-than British boats were therein specified.[1154]
-
-In the interval between the two conventions with France, referred to
-above, there were some other treaties that dealt with territorial
-waters to which allusion may be made. The provisions of the treaty
-of 1818 with the United States respecting the fishery rights on the
-coasts of the British dominions in America (see p. 581) had given rise
-to disputes, and in particular the words “within three marine miles of
-any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbours.” This was interpreted by
-the British and Colonial Governments as meaning that the boundary of
-three miles was to be drawn, not everywhere along the coast following
-all its sinuosities, but, where bays or creeks existed, from a straight
-line passing from one headland to another across their mouth or
-entrance--that is, according to the principle now known as the headland
-doctrine. The United States, on the other hand, generally contended
-that the words meant that the three-mile limit was to be measured
-everywhere along the coast from the line of the shore, following it in
-all its curves and indents, thus eliminating altogether any special
-treatment for inlets or bays, and dealing with all parts of the coast
-as if it were an open coast. There is little doubt that the British
-interpretation was the correct one. This is evident from the previous
-usage with regard to bays as shown by the rules relating to the King’s
-Chambers and the practice of the Admiralty Court in England, and the
-reserved firths in Scotland, and by the claim advanced by the United
-States with respect to neutral rights in 1806. It is also evident from
-the language of previous treaties. That of 1686 between France and
-Great Britain referred to “havens, bays, creeks, roads, shoals, or
-places”; in that of 1783 between Great Britain and the United States,
-“coasts, bays, and creeks” are spoken of; and in that between the same
-Powers in 1794, with respect to neutral rights, it was agreed that
-ships should not be taken “within cannon-shot of the coast, nor in
-any of the bays, ports, or rivers of their territories.” It is clear
-that a distinction was drawn between coasts and bays--a distinction
-which is now and always has been recognised in international law,
-which is made in the North Sea and other fishery conventions of recent
-times, and is claimed by the United States with regard to their own
-coasts.[1155] If no such distinction between coast and bays was meant
-in the clause of the treaty of 1818, then the words “bays, creeks, and
-harbours” are without meaning and superfluous, a construction which
-is contrary to the rule which requires that effect be given to every
-word in a contract or treaty. That the British construction was correct
-was virtually admitted by Mr Webster, the American Secretary of State,
-when he said in a State paper, 6th July 1852, that “it was undoubtedly
-an oversight in the convention of 1818 to make so large a concession
-to England, since the United States had usually considered that those
-vast inlets, or recesses of the ocean, ought to be open to American
-fishermen as freely as the sea itself, to within three miles of the
-shore.” He admitted, moreover, that the word bay applied equally to
-small and large tracts of water situated between capes or headlands.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 17.--_Bay of Fundy._ A, _United States territory_.]
-
-In 1824, and again in 1838 and 1839, British cruisers seized American
-vessels for fishing within the Bay of Fundy, the Bay of Chaleurs, and
-elsewhere in contravention of the treaty of 1818; and in 1843 the
-schooner _Washington_ was arrested for fishing in the Bay of Fundy at a
-distance of ten miles from shore, taken to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and
-sold. In the diplomatic correspondence which followed these seizures,
-the two Governments took up the position as to the interpretation of
-the treaty which is referred to above; but eventually, in March 1845,
-Lord Aberdeen intimated that the British Government, while adhering
-to their interpretation, would as a matter of courtesy relax the
-rule with regard to the Bay of Fundy, and allow “the United States
-fishermen to pursue their avocations in any part of it, provided they
-should not approach, except in cases specified in the treaty of 1818,
-within three miles of the entrance of any bay on the coast of Nova
-Scotia or New Brunswick.” The Bay of Fundy (fig. 17) is a very large
-but typically landlocked inlet of the sea, passing between Nova Scotia
-and New Brunswick for a distance of about 140 miles from its mouth.
-As with many other bays, there is more than one cape or projection of
-land that might be taken as its headlands, but one of them is clearly
-in the United States; and the distance from it to the opposite coast is
-from forty to fifty-five nautical miles, while the bay itself at sixty
-or seventy miles from the entrance is over twenty-five miles in width.
-Chaleur Bay, between New Brunswick and Quebec, is a little over sixteen
-miles in width and over sixty miles long (fig. 18).
-
-The United States declined to receive the above-mentioned privilege
-as a favour, and the colonists made a strong representation to London
-as to the injurious results that would ensue if the proposed policy
-were adopted; and in 1849 the British law officers of the Crown gave
-their opinion on the provisions of the treaty, “that the prescribed
-distance of three miles is to be measured from the headlands or extreme
-points of land next the sea of the coasts, or of the entrance of the
-bays, and not from the interior of such bays or inlets of the coast;
-and consequently that no right exists on the part of American citizens
-to enter the bays of Nova Scotia, there to take fish, although the
-fishing, being within the bay, may be at a greater distance than three
-miles from the shore of the bay.”
-
-In terms of the convention of February 8, 1853, the case of the
-_Washington_, above described, came before referees in London, and
-on their disagreement it was decided by the umpire, Mr Joshua Bates,
-in favour of the United States. His conclusion was that the Bay of
-Fundy was not a British bay, nor a bay within the meaning of the word
-as used in the treaties of 1783 and 1818, but belonged rather to the
-class which comprised such bays as the Bay of Bengal and the Bay of
-Biscay, over which no nation can have the right to assume sovereignty.
-He also pointed out that one of its headlands was in the United States;
-and he thought that the doctrine of the headlands had “received a
-proper limit” in the Anglo-French convention of 1839, where a ten-mile
-base-line was adopted.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 18.--_Bay des Chaleurs._]
-
-A few years before this, negotiations had been opened between the
-Governments with the view of establishing reciprocal free-trade between
-Canada and the United States, and in June 1854 a treaty was signed at
-Washington, commonly known as the Reciprocity Treaty, by which certain
-articles of produce of the British colonies and of the United States
-were admitted to each country respectively free of duty, and reciprocal
-rights of fishery were granted. The subjects of either state were to be
-free to fish along the coasts and in the bays, harbours, and creeks
-of the other, without any restriction as to distance from the shore,
-in Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward’s Island, and
-on the eastern coast of the United States north of the 36th degree
-of north latitude. On each side salmon and shad fisheries, and the
-fisheries in rivers and the mouths of rivers, were reserved.[1156]
-This treaty was to endure for ten years, and it was terminated by
-the United States and came to an end on 17th March 1866, when, in
-consequence, the provisions of the treaty of 1818 again came into
-force. The British Government, however, being very desirous to prevent,
-as far as possible, the loss to the citizens of the United States by a
-sudden withdrawal of the privileges which they had enjoyed for twelve
-years, decided to allow American fishermen to continue to fish in all
-provincial waters upon the payment of a small fee.[1157] From the
-neglect of American fishermen to obtain the licenses, the fee for which
-had been raised from fifty cents to two dollars per ton, the system
-was discontinued in 1870, and orders were given to British cruisers
-to exclude American vessels from fishing in territorial waters, and
-several of them were seized and forfeited. The Canadian Minister of
-Marine and Fisheries issued instructions, in May 1870, for the same
-limits as are contained in the Anglo-French convention of 1839 to be
-put in force against American fishermen; but, on representations from
-London, these were withdrawn and other instructions issued to the
-commanders of the cruisers, in which bays of six miles or less in width
-at the mouth were alone reserved.[1158]
-
-Further negotiations between the Governments ended in the treaty
-of Washington in 1871, in which reciprocal rights of fishing were
-re-established in much the same way as in the treaty of 1854, but
-the liberty to British subjects to fish on the coast of the United
-States was restricted to the part north of the 39th degree of north
-latitude.[1159] Under this treaty it was agreed to appoint joint
-commissioners to determine the amount of compensation, if any, which
-should be paid by the United States for the greater privileges granted
-to American citizens by the treaty; and this commission met at Halifax
-in 1877, the sum of 5,500,000 dollars being so awarded. The award was
-not received with favour in the United States, and notice was given at
-the end of the stipulated ten years for the abrogation of the treaty,
-and the articles referring to the fisheries were so terminated on July
-1, 1885, the provisions of the convention of 1818 again, for the third
-time, coming into force. Further troubles and disputes occurred, not so
-much in relation to fishing within territorial waters, as to American
-vessels frequenting colonial ports for the purchase of bait, salt, &c.,
-a liberty which was not granted by the treaty of 1818, and several
-of them having been seized, retaliatory measures were threatened by
-the United States. After negotiations between the two Governments
-another treaty was signed at Washington, on February 15, 1888, the
-principal British plenipotentiary being Mr Joseph Chamberlain. This
-treaty provided for the appointment of a mixed commission to delimit
-“the British waters, bays, creeks, and harbours of the coasts of Canada
-and of Newfoundland, as to which the United States, by Article I. of
-the Convention of 20th October 1818, between Great Britain and the
-United States, renounced for ever any liberty to take, dry, or cure
-fish.” The delimitation was to be marked upon charts by a series of
-lines regularly numbered and described, the three marine miles being
-measured from low-water mark, “but at every bay, creek, or harbour,
-not otherwise specially provided for in this treaty, such three marine
-miles shall be measured seaward from a straight line drawn across the
-bay, creek, or harbour, in the part nearest the entrance at the first
-point where the width does not exceed ten marine miles.” A large number
-of bays were specially dealt with by lines specified, that of Chaleurs
-being closed, or by other special lines from which the three miles
-was to be measured; and other articles in the treaty regulated the
-entry of American fishing vessels into colonial ports. It was further
-provided that whenever the United States removed the duties on fish and
-fish-oils from Canada and Newfoundland, United States’ vessels would
-be licensed, free of charge, to enter the colonial ports and harbours
-to purchase provisions, bait, ice, seines, and all other supplies and
-outfits, to tranship their catch, or for the shipping of crews.
-
-But, inasmuch as the above treaty could not possibly be ratified
-before the commencement of the next fishing season, the British
-plenipotentiaries, in order to avoid a recrudescence of the usual
-friction and irritation, and to afford evidence of their anxious desire
-to promote good feeling, agreed, in a protocol of the same date, to a
-“temporary arrangement for a period not exceeding two years, in order
-to afford a _modus vivendi_ pending the ratification of the Treaty.”
-This arrangement granted the privilege to American fishing vessels of
-entering the bays and harbours, on payment for an annual license of a
-fee at the rate of one and a half dollars per ton, in order to purchase
-bait, ice, and all other supplies and outfits, to tranship their catch
-and ship crews, and gave them some other privileges, declaring also
-that forfeiture was to be exacted only for the offence of fishing or
-preparing to fish in territorial waters.[1160]
-
-Unfortunately, this treaty failed to pass the Senate of the United
-States and was never ratified, and the system temporarily adopted as
-a _modus vivendi_ has been regularly renewed since, and is still in
-force.[1161]
-
-It is to be noted that the arrangement in the treaty, both as to
-drawing lines on charts to separate the common from the exclusive
-fishing waters and for the adoption of a ten-mile base-line for bays,
-was proposed, not by the British Government, but by that of the United
-States. The British Government, indeed, strongly objected to a ten-mile
-line as involving “a surrender of fishing rights” and making “common
-fishing-grounds of the territorial waters which, by the law of nations,
-have been invariably regarded, both in Great Britain and the United
-States, as belonging to the adjacent country,” and they cited the Bay
-of Chaleurs as an example. They argued that in the convention with
-France in 1839, and in other similar conventions, the boundary-lines
-selected were due to special configuration of the coast, and could not
-be well settled “by reference to the law of nations”; and attention was
-called to the claims of the United States to Delaware Bay and other
-bays on their coasts. In reply to these observations of the British
-Government, the United States said they had proposed the width of ten
-miles not only because it had been adopted in fishery conventions,
-but also because it was deemed reasonable and just in the case in
-question; “while they might have claimed a width of six miles as a
-basis of settlement, fishing within bays and harbours only slightly
-wider would be confined to areas so narrow as to render it practically
-valueless, and almost certainly expose the fishermen to constant danger
-of carrying their operations into forbidden waters; a width of more
-than ten miles[1162] would give room for safe fishing more than three
-miles from either shore, and thus prevent the constant disputes which
-this Government’s proposal, following the conventions above noticed,
-was designed to avert.”[1163]
-
-Nevertheless, notwithstanding this proposal by the United States’
-Government, the limit now enforced for bays on the coasts of British
-North America is that of six miles, with the exception of the Bay of
-Chaleurs.[1164] It was apparently found that the attitude adopted
-by the British Government in 1870, then stated to be temporary and
-exceptional, of allowing the United States’ fishermen to fish “except
-within three miles of land, or in bays which are less than six miles
-broad at the mouth,” ought to be adhered to, during the existence of
-the _modus vivendi_ and pending the ratification of the treaty of 1888.
-If a recent statement of the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, made
-in the House of Lords, represents the policy of the British Government
-at the present day, this six-mile limit for bays is to be regarded as
-established not alone for British North America, but for every part of
-the British dominions unless specially provided for otherwise. (See p.
-730.)
-
-From the foregoing summary of the disputes, negotiations, and treaties,
-concerning the rights of Americans to fish on the coasts of the British
-possessions in North America, it is evident that the British Government
-has gradually given way to the pressure exerted by the United States.
-In allowing a six-mile line for bays they have, indeed, as just shown,
-gone further than was demanded, and have departed from the terms of the
-fishery conventions which they have concluded with European Powers.
-The basis of the delimitation adopted in the treaty of 1888 was, as Mr
-Chamberlain intimated to Lord Salisbury, derived from the North Sea
-Convention of 1882, to which important treaty we must now turn our
-attention.
-
-It has been already said that the fishery convention with France in
-1867 was not ratified by that country, and never came into operation
-in the general police regulation of the fisheries in extra-territorial
-waters. The desirability of international regulations to preserve
-the peace between the fishermen of various countries frequenting
-the neighbouring seas, and particularly the North Sea, soon became
-apparent. Complaints of malicious interference with one another
-increased in number. The Belgians and French were accused of cutting
-and stealing the lines of Scottish fishermen, and the Dutch of taking
-their derelict nets, and the Fishery Board for Scotland accordingly
-pressed upon the Government, as early as 1876, the advantage of
-negotiating a fishery convention with Holland.[1165] A little later
-the free use by foreign trawlers of a destructive implement known as
-“the devil,” or “the Belgian devil,” aroused a strong feeling among
-British drift-net fishermen. The instrument consisted of a shank and
-sharpened flukes, which was hung overboard and was designed for the
-sole purpose of cutting fishing-nets in the sea which might impede
-the movement of the boat making use of it. It was a product of the
-disputes and difficulties that occurred in carrying on trawling and
-drift-net fishing in the same localities at the same time. The British
-Government in January 1880 appointed Mr W. H. Higgin, Q.C., to make
-an inquiry on the subject. His report[1166] showed that the state of
-things with regard to fishing operations in the North Sea by British,
-Belgian, French, and Dutch boats was unsatisfactory. He found that
-grievous injury and damage had been done to the drift-nets and tackle
-of English fishermen in the North Sea by trawlers belonging to France,
-Belgium, and Holland;[1167] that there was no international law or
-convention between England and France, England and Belgium, or England
-and Holland, affecting the fisheries in the North Sea,--the convention
-with France in 1867 never having been ratified, while that of 1839
-was, he said, confined to the English Channel and referred only to
-French fishermen; and he stated that some international law of the
-kind was urgently required, as it would be impossible otherwise to put
-a stop to the outrages described. In consequence of this report the
-Government invited the co-operation of France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden
-and Norway, and Denmark in devising a remedy, suggesting that separate
-agreements might be made for the purpose. At the instance of Holland,
-it was agreed to have one joint convention, and a conference of the
-North Sea Powers was convened at The Hague, in 1881, to negotiate it,
-Germany, at her own request, being included.[1168]
-
-In the proceedings at the conference the question that caused
-the greatest difficulty and discussion was the definition of the
-territorial waters or exclusive fishery limits. The British Government,
-in curious contrast to their action earlier in the century, desired
-to avoid any definition at all. The memorandum prepared by them as
-the basis of the deliberations, stipulated that the convention should
-“apply to the high seas generally outside the fishery limits of the
-countries joining in the convention.” This somewhat vague, not to
-say illogical, phraseology did not meet with the approval of the
-other Governments. It was objected to by France in particular. That
-Power had accepted the invitation to the conference on condition
-that the regulation to be agreed upon should be restricted to police
-rules intended to prevent conflicts between fishermen of different
-nationalities, “and to secure to them the free practice of their
-calling in the common waters of the North Sea.” In making a special
-convention dealing with the open sea which was common to all, it seemed
-to it impossible to do otherwise than begin by defining the limits
-within which it was intended to operate.[1169] The French delegates at
-the conference therefore proposed that the extent of the territorial
-waters should, for fishery purposes, be defined in precise terms,
-and they endeavoured further to get the limit made as contracted as
-possible. They urged that the boundary should be fixed everywhere at
-three geographical miles from low-water mark, whatever might be the
-configuration of the coast. As to fixing a larger measurement for bays,
-as in the Anglo-French convention of 1867, they argued that the rules
-laid down on this subject in the convention in question ought not to
-apply to the North Sea; in many instances these rules had reference
-only to the interests of oyster fisheries, which, they said, did not
-exist in the North Sea. The French contention regarding bays was thus
-similar to that of the United States in the negotiations concerning the
-treaty of 1818; and it was of course to the interest of France, whose
-own coast would be but little affected, and whose fisheries along the
-British coast in the North Sea were of great importance, to have the
-exclusive fishery limit made as narrow as possible.
-
-The proposal that the territorial waters for fishery purposes ought to
-be precisely defined, and that the limit on the open coast should be
-fixed at three geographical miles from low-water mark, was generally
-accepted, Belgium alone supporting the British view that it was better
-not to define them in the convention. But as regards bays, objection
-was taken to the French scheme on the part of Germany, with special
-reference to the mouth of the Elbe, which was declared to be a part of
-the sea belonging exclusively to Germany; and on the part of Norway,
-on the ground that that country could not agree to fix the limit at
-three miles, particularly with respect to bays. The rights which
-particular states might have acquired, it was urged, ought not to be
-prejudiced, and “bays should continue to belong to the State to which
-they at present belonged.” The French delegates then formulated their
-proposition in the following terms: “In the North Sea the limit of
-the part known as territorial waters (_mer territoriale_) is fixed,
-whatever may be the configuration of the country, at three miles from
-low-water mark, along the whole length of the shores of ... It is,
-however, understood that this shall not be taken to modify in any way
-the rights acquired on certain parts of their coasts by the different
-Powers to whom the shore belongs;” or else, “It is, however, understood
-that the present convention shall not be taken to modify in any way the
-rights which any Government may possess outside the three-mile limit in
-bays.”
-
-As the British and French delegates could not agree on this subject,
-further discussion was postponed until the former had consulted their
-Government. When this was done, they announced that their instructions
-did not permit them to adopt the French proposals; and they continued
-to press the draft article for acceptance, declaring that the question
-of defining the limits of the maritime jurisdiction of the various
-countries did not fall within the province of the convention. The
-other delegates, however, did not share this view, and when a complete
-definition was insisted on, the British representatives ultimately
-agreed to accept the terms employed in the first article of the
-Anglo-French convention of 1867, and they submitted the following
-article: “The fishermen of each country shall enjoy the exclusive right
-of fishery within the distance of three miles from low-water mark
-along the whole extent of the coasts of their respective countries. As
-regards bays, the entrances of which do not exceed ten miles in width,
-the distance of three miles shall be measured from a straight line
-drawn from headland to headland.” The counter-proposal on the part of
-France did not materially differ from this, except by the inclusion of
-islands, by the better definition regarding bays, and by the insertion
-of a clause providing for the right of free navigation and anchorage
-in territorial waters.[1170] The German delegate, anxious about the
-waters at the mouths of German rivers, urged that flats or banks
-uncovered at low water should also be included, as well as islands.
-This proposal had been agreed to by the British Government in 1868,
-after correspondence between the Foreign Office and the German Embassy
-in London, and though apparently not now desired by Great Britain, it
-was formally adopted.[1171]
-
-The article as finally agreed upon was as follows: “The fishermen
-of each country shall enjoy the exclusive right of fishery within
-the distance of three miles from low-water mark along the whole
-extent of the coasts of their respective countries, as well as of the
-dependent islands and banks. As regards bays, the distance of three
-miles shall be measured from a straight line drawn across the bay,
-in the part nearest the entrance, at the first point where the width
-does not exceed ten miles. The present Article shall not in any way
-prejudice the freedom of navigation and anchorage in territorial waters
-accorded to fishing-boats, provided they conform to the special police
-regulations enacted by the Powers to whom the shore belongs.”
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 19.--_Showing the Sandbanks at the mouth of the
-Ems._]
-
-It is interesting to note that, at the instance of the Dutch president,
-the conference agreed that the provisions of the convention would
-not be applicable to the Zuiderzee; and that in deliberating on the
-boundaries of the North Sea within which they would apply, it was
-agreed to exclude the Skagerrack, the fisheries of which, it was
-stated by the president, were not international, but were “essentially
-within the jurisdiction of the States to which the shores belong.” The
-greater part of the Zuiderzee, however, would have been excluded by
-the definition of bays in the convention, and the rest of it by the
-inclusion of “banks”; but the Skagerrack, on the other hand, is nowhere
-less than sixty geographical miles from shore to shore. Neither Norway
-nor Denmark has asserted since the convention exclusive jurisdiction in
-its moiety of these waters, where, in point of fact, both English and
-German vessels now carry on an extensive fishing.[1172]
-
-Some other points of interest were raised during the deliberations of
-this important conference. It was asked by the president: What would
-be the fate of the convention during war, in which one or two of the
-Governments joining in it should be belligerents? Would the fishery
-cruisers of the Powers concerned merely retire from the North Sea
-and leave fishermen of their nationality without protection or help?
-He recommended that the conference should adopt the principle that
-fishing-boats, _bonâ fide_ engaged in fishing, should be declared
-neutral. This was to revive a subject that had earlier, especially
-during the time of Napoleon I., caused much discussion, and which was
-remote from the object of the convention; and the proposal, though
-sympathetically received by the French delegates, was not supported
-by any of the Governments. A proposal of another kind was made by
-the German delegate. He thought it was necessary that restrictive
-measures should be enforced to prevent the destruction of the fry of
-fish and the taking of small fish; for example, by forbidding trawling
-within a certain distance of the shore, so as to provide a shelter for
-the free development of fish, and by regulating the construction of
-trawl-nets. The British and French delegates were opposed to any system
-of restriction, relying on the results of the inquiry which had been
-then recently made by Messrs Buckland and Walpole,[1173] and on the
-part of France the following draft clause was formulated for insertion
-in the convention: “In the extra-territorial part of the North Sea,
-fishery shall be free at all seasons, and with all kinds of implements,
-without any sort of distinction.” The clause was not adopted, and it
-was generally agreed that the question was not ripe for decision by
-that conference, which was moreover concerned with the police of the
-fisheries, and not with the reproduction of fish, in the North Sea.
-
-The North Sea Convention was concluded in 1882, the signatory Powers
-being Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark, and the
-Netherlands.[1174] Although the delegates of the United Kingdom of
-Sweden and Norway signed the protocol and were present at the final
-deliberations, those Powers did not join in the convention, objections
-being raised as to the definition of the territorial waters and on some
-other points.[1175] An additional article was inserted providing that
-the King of Sweden and Norway might adhere later, for both or either
-country; but this has not been done, though the coast of Norway forms
-a not inconsiderable part of the boundary of the North Sea as defined
-in the convention. The reasons which induced these countries to abstain
-from joining in a friendly agreement with the neighbouring Powers of
-western Europe, after having accepted the invitation to the conference
-and taken part in its deliberations, must have appeared to them strong;
-and from the delay that occurred in coming to a decision it is evident
-that the matter received full consideration. They believed, however,
-that to agree to so restricted a boundary for their territorial waters
-in respect to fishery would be disadvantageous to them: it is probable,
-moreover, that the raising of the question was not foreseen, since the
-object of the conference was to consider the police of the fisheries in
-extra-territorial waters in the North Sea. It is curious, indeed, that
-the limits for exclusive fishery, both in the convention with France in
-1839 and with the other North Sea Powers in 1882, were fixed as it were
-incidentally.
-
-The duration of the convention was to be for five years from the
-date at which it came into operation, unless one year’s notice to
-terminate it were given by any of the contracting Powers; and it was
-to continue in force from year to year subject to similar notice. That
-none of the signatory Powers have withdrawn from the convention is the
-best proof of its general utility. From the number and influential
-position of these states, and from the character of the sea to which
-it applies,--one of the most productive in the world,--this convention
-is an international document of high importance to the sea fisheries,
-and deserves careful consideration. The first article declares that the
-provisions shall apply to the subjects of the high-contracting parties,
-the object being “to regulate the police of the fisheries in the North
-Sea outside territorial waters”; and the limits of the North Sea were
-carefully defined.[1176] The provisions of the convention relate to
-the registration, lettering, and numbering of boats, the operations
-of fishermen pursuing different methods of fishing at the same place
-at the same time, the malicious use of instruments for cutting nets,
-the salvage of derelict fishing-gear, and the superintendence by
-cruisers. It was put in force in this country in 1883 by an Act of
-Parliament,[1177] which also extended its application, so far as
-British sea-fishing boats were concerned, to the whole of the seas
-around the British Islands, whether within or without the exclusive
-fishery limits. In this Act the stipulation in the second article
-of the convention, as to the freedom of navigation and anchorage in
-territorial waters on the part of foreign fishing-boats, received
-a limiting definition. The clause in question was inserted in the
-convention at the instance of France, and was accepted with some
-reluctance by the British delegates, who agreed to it in general terms
-only, without the recognition of a right.[1178] By the Act foreign
-fishing-boats were prohibited from entering the exclusive fishery
-limits of the British Islands except for purposes recognised by
-international law, or by any treaty or arrangement in force between
-this country and any foreign state, or for any lawful purpose. If a
-foreign boat did enter, it was to return outside the limits as soon
-as the purpose for which it entered had been answered, and fishing or
-attempting to fish within the limits was, of course, forbidden under
-penalties.
-
-The definition of the exclusive fishery limits in the North Sea
-Convention differed in two respects from that contained in the previous
-conventions with France. The rule for the measurement of bays was
-modified, and the dependent islands and banks were expressly included
-as part of the coast from which the limit should be measured. In the
-Anglo-French conventions of 1839 and 1867 bays which did not exceed
-ten miles in width at the mouths were comprised in the reserved
-waters, and the three-mile limit was measured from the line joining
-the “headlands.” Thus some bays whose width at the mouth, or between
-their headlands, exceeded ten miles were deprived of the benefit of
-the principle applied to bays and came under the three-mile rule,
-even although at a small distance within the entrance the width might
-not exceed ten miles. Since all bays have not headlands, the French
-proposal at The Hague conference to substitute “the two extreme points
-of the bay” for that term was an improvement. Still better was the
-definition finally adopted, to place the base-line at the first point
-nearest the entrance where the width did not exceed ten miles. The
-specific inclusion of islands removed such difficulties as were raised
-in 1853 by a French commodore at the Farne Islands (see p. 618), though
-it had long been established in connection with the rights of neutrals
-that islands carried with them, no less than the mainland, the belt
-of territorial sea. The inclusion of banks was, however, novel, and
-was not received with favour by the British Government. It was feared
-that it would lead to difficulties and complications in future if such
-banks as the Goodwin Sands, which were situated beyond the three-mile
-limit, and the similar banks on the German and Dutch coasts, were
-held to be territorial dependencies of the coast; and so strong was
-the objection of the British Government to their inclusion, that they
-instructed their ambassadors abroad, if an objection was raised by any
-Power, to have this definition reconsidered.[1179] The objection is
-theoretically well founded. Sand-banks of this character may be not
-permanent, and usually vary in extent, configuration, and position
-with lapse of time and even after a single tempest; and the extent of
-sea appendent will vary likewise. It would thus be difficult to fix a
-precise and permanent limit in connection with them. Moreover, since
-the banks may be covered by the sea except at low-water without losing
-their territorial value, it would sometimes require more than ordinary
-care on the part of foreign fishing-boats to avoid infringing the
-limit around them. On the other hand, for the purpose of regulations
-designed to protect fish life, such as are referred to in the sequel,
-banks of this nature are of especial value; and, in point of fact,
-few difficulties in practice appear to have arisen on this score in
-carrying out the convention.[1180]
-
-On one or two points, however, the definitions in the convention
-might have been improved. Nothing is said as to the tides at which
-low-water mark is to be taken for measurements, though on certain
-coasts the extent of territorial water will vary much according to
-whether it is a neap or a high spring tide; and the question whether
-certain banks are or are not territorial and entitled to the limit
-may vary in the same way. It is to be presumed that the tide is an
-ordinary neap tide, as in English law. More important is the fact
-that “rocks” are not included along with islands. Quite recently the
-omission has given rise to difficulties in regard to three places on
-our coast--viz., the Eddystone, the Bell Rock, and the Seven Stones
-Rocks, off the Scilly Islands. The Seven Stones Rocks are a reef near
-the south-west extremity of Cornwall, about seven miles from Land’s
-End, and about a mile in length, and with a lightship at it; but it
-does not appear that any portion is above the sea-level at low-water
-of neap tides. Complaints were made to the Government by the Cornwall
-Sea Fisheries Committee that French fishing-boats fished within three
-miles from the rocks, and close to them; but it was stated by the
-Admiralty, and also by the Foreign Office, that these rocks could
-not be claimed as being within British territorial waters.[1181] In
-this case, presumably, the decision might rest on the fact that the
-rocks do not appear at low-water of ordinary tides. The Eddystone is
-somewhat different. The rock or reef on which the lighthouse is placed
-lies about fourteen miles south-west of Plymouth, and while covered
-by the sea at high tide, is exposed to the extent of an area of about
-500 yards at low-water of neaps. French fishermen also fish around
-it and close to it, a practice which caused the Devon Sea Fisheries
-Committee to complain. The gunboat _Circe_, in August 1905, seized
-and took into Plymouth two French “crabbers” for fishing within three
-miles from the Eddystone, but after communicating with the Board of
-Trade, instructions were sent to release the boats; and the Board
-of Agriculture and Fisheries, while saying that they were not in a
-position to express an authoritative opinion on the matter, called
-attention to the decision in 1902 regarding the somewhat similar case
-at the Seven Stones. Here, no doubt, the decision rested on the absence
-of the specific inclusion of “rocks,” as distinguished from islands, in
-the conventions, and one can understand the expression of surprise by
-the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee that a rock which was recognised as
-British, and was inhabited by lighthouse-keepers, was not considered as
-within the territorial limit for fishing purposes.
-
-Similar complaints have been made concerning the Bell Rock, which lies
-about ten miles east-south-east of Arbroath, Forfarshire, and has a
-lighthouse upon it. It is entirely covered at high-water; at the ebb
-of spring tides it is uncovered to a depth of four feet, while at
-low-water of neap tides the top of the rock is just visible, and would
-then probably acquire validity for the measurement of three miles
-from it and around it, if rocks had been included in the conventions,
-as they are now included in the recent convention between this country
-and Denmark concerning Iceland and the Faroës (p. 647). The case
-of the Seven Stones and the Eddystone is, however, on a different
-footing; for while the limit of exclusive fishery along the coasts of
-the North Sea, with the exception of the part formed by Norway, was
-settled by the convention of 1882 (so far as concerns the fishermen
-of the signatory Powers), there appears to be some obscurity as to
-how far the three-mile limit operates on the coasts that lie outwith
-the boundaries of the North Sea,--such, for example, as the west
-coasts of England and Scotland and the coasts of Ireland. The second
-article of the convention declares, without qualification, that the
-three-mile limit shall apply “along the _whole extent_ of the coasts”
-of the respective countries,--it does not say merely to the North Sea
-coasts,--and the view that this stipulation operates on all the coasts
-appears to be widely prevalent, and is expressed, for example, in the
-Belgian law which put the convention in force in that country.[1182]
-It is, however, held by legal authorities that since the special
-object of the convention was “for the purpose of regulating the police
-of the fisheries in the North Sea outside territorial waters,” and
-as the boundaries of the North Sea are defined “for the purpose of
-applying the provisions of the present Convention,” the definition of
-the exclusive fishery limits applies only within the area specified,
-and not to the other coasts of the signatory Powers.[1183] In the
-Convention Act, as in the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, we
-accordingly find a distinction drawn between the exclusive fishery
-limits under international law and those under specific treaties or
-conventions. In the definition clause, the expression “British Islands”
-is explained to mean the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
-the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and their dependencies, and it is
-declared that “the expression ‘exclusive fishery limits of the British
-Islands’ means that portion of the seas surrounding the British Islands
-within which Her Majesty’s subjects have, by international law, the
-exclusive right of fishing, and where such portion is defined by the
-terms of any convention, treaty, or arrangement for the time being in
-force between Her Majesty and any Foreign State, includes, as regards
-the sea-fishing boats and officers and subjects of that State, the
-portion so defined.”[1184]
-
-From all this it would appear that, notwithstanding the ambiguity
-introduced by the unqualified phrase “the whole extent of the coasts of
-their respective countries,” the definition of the exclusive fishery
-limits in the convention of 1882 applies only to the coasts of the
-North Sea. In the convention of 1839 with France, on the other hand,
-there seems no reason to doubt that the three-mile limit was applied
-to all parts of the coasts of Great Britain and France respectively.
-By Article ix. it was declared that the exclusive right of fishing was
-reserved for subjects within that distance “along the whole extent of
-the coasts” of each country; and the British Act of Parliament to carry
-into effect this convention, and the international regulations agreed
-upon under it, so far from expressing any qualification or reservation
-as in the Act of 1883, made it clear that the limit applied generally.
-In the preamble it is stated that “Whereas a Convention was concluded
-between Her Majesty and the King of the French ... defining the limits
-of the oyster fishery between the island of Jersey and the neighbouring
-coast of France, and also defining the limits of the exclusive right
-of fishery on all other parts of the coasts of the British Islands
-and France”; and Article 85 of the regulations enacted that the
-fishing-boats of the one country, except under certain circumstances,
-“shall not approach nearer to any part of the coasts of the other
-country than the limit of three miles specified in Article ix. of the
-convention.”[1185]
-
-In the convention of 1852 between Great Britain and Belgium, which
-was simply entitled “relative to fishery,” without any particular
-purpose, seas, or regions being specified, it was stipulated that
-“Belgian subjects shall enjoy, in regard to fishery along the coast
-of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the treatment of
-the most favoured foreign nation.” The most favoured foreign nation at
-that time was France, and although no distance was fixed in the Belgian
-treaty, there is no doubt the three-mile limit applied, and was indeed,
-as stated above, enforced, on the east coast of Scotland against the
-Belgians as well as against the French.
-
-In the convention of 1867 the same limit was assigned “along the whole
-extent of the coasts” of the two countries; and the provisions of the
-convention were expressly stated to apply beyond the exclusive fishery
-limits, in the one case “to the seas surrounding and adjoining Great
-Britain and Ireland,” and in the case of France to the seas adjoining
-the coast of that country between the frontiers of Belgium and Spain;
-and the object of the convention was “relative to fisheries in the seas
-between Great Britain and France.” As already stated, this treaty, with
-an unimportant exception, did not come into effect, and the convention
-of 1839 remained in force.[1186]
-
-As no other treaties exist defining the exclusive fishery limits
-along our coasts than those referred to, the position in relation
-to conventional law appears to be as follows. With respect to France
-and Belgium, the three-mile limit, with the ten-mile line for bays,
-seems to be in force along the whole extent of the British and Irish
-coasts. With respect to the other Powers which were parties to the
-North Sea Convention of 1882,--namely, Germany, Denmark, and the
-Netherlands,--this limit is in force only on the eastern, or North
-Sea, coasts of England and Scotland. On the north and west coasts of
-Scotland, the south and west coasts of England, and the whole of the
-coast of Ireland, the limits of exclusive fishery as regards these
-countries, and as regards all countries except France and Belgium,
-fall to be determined by the principles of international law. With
-respect to all other nations, as, for example, the Norwegians, Swedes,
-and Spaniards, the limits on all parts of our coasts also fall to be
-determined under international law. The principles of international
-law, as expounded by the accredited writers, do not, as will be shown
-later, and as is implied in the quotations from the Acts above cited,
-support the view that the right of exclusive fishing, apart from
-treaty, must necessarily be restricted to the three-mile limit. The
-preponderance of opinion is that the boundary of the territorial sea,
-including, therefore, the exclusive right of fishery, coincides with
-the range of guns from the shore; and it is evident that as against
-such nations as claim for themselves a greater extent than three miles
-on their own coasts--viz., Norway, Sweden, and Spain--a larger limit
-than that contained in the conventions could be rightfully enforced on
-the British coasts.
-
-There are many things to show that the unsatisfactory state of
-affairs, not to say confusion, with respect to the limits of exclusive
-fishing to which we are entitled on various parts of our coast, has
-been brought about partly by a widespread belief that the boundary
-under international law is three miles, partly also by what must be
-characterised as a want of knowledge and care on the part of those
-dealing with the question. Mr T. H. Farrer, the permanent Secretary
-of the Board of Trade, told a Committee of the House of Commons in
-1876 that the convention and regulations with France were “hastily
-and recklessly” made,[1187] and the record of the proceedings at the
-conference at The Hague in 1881 shows that it would not have been a
-difficult matter to clear up some of the obscurity that exists. One
-point of importance is that, notwithstanding the absence of any treaty
-or agreement defining the extent of the limits of exclusive fishery
-with certain nations, the three-mile limit alone has been enforced
-against the vessels of such nations fishing on our coasts. This has
-been the case, except for a brief period, with respect to Norwegian and
-Swedish trawlers in the Moray Firth in Scotland, which is “closed” to
-British trawlers, and the vessels of these two nations are thus put on
-the same footing as those of other countries with which a convention
-has been made. It is also the case on the west coast of Scotland,
-where the limit of three miles is enforced against foreign trawlers,
-apparently irrespective of nationality, and certainly against Dutch and
-German vessels as well as against Belgians in the Clyde, from which
-British trawlers are excluded.[1188] How far this undoubted usage may
-modify the position under international law it would be of importance
-to determine.
-
-A more recent convention must be referred to, which, however, does
-not relate to the coasts of this country, but to those of the Danish
-islands, the Faröes, and Iceland, where British trawling vessels carry
-on extensive operations. The Icelanders, who depend so much upon their
-fisheries, were desirous of having a considerable extent of the waters
-around their coasts reserved to themselves, and wished to have a limit
-of seven miles to protect the grounds from the action of foreign
-fishing-boats.[1189] As a result of negotiations, however, with Great
-Britain, Denmark agreed to the usual limit of three miles. The treaty
-was signed at London on 24th June 1901, and after ratification was
-brought into force on 31st March 1903 by an Order in Council of the
-12th of that month. Its main object, apparently, was to regulate the
-fisheries of the subjects of the two countries outside territorial
-waters in a large part of the ocean surrounding the Faröe Isles and
-Iceland, in a small part of which extensive fisheries are now carried
-on by foreigners, especially by English and German trawlers; but its
-immediate effect was to impose the three-mile limit on the coasts in
-question. The article defining the territorial waters is the same as in
-the North Sea Convention, except that islets and rocks are included,
-which thus gets rid of some possible difficulties in interpretation,
-such as have arisen in connection with the Eddystone and Bell
-Rock.[1190]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 20.--_Showing the Limits for the Anglo-Danish
-Fishery Convention of 1901._]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-THE MODERN PRACTICE OF STATES AND THE OPINIONS OF RECENT PUBLICISTS.
-
-
-We may now pass to the consideration of the modern practice of states
-with respect to the extent of territorial sea which is claimed or
-allowed by them, and of the opinions of the later writers on the
-law of nations as to the extent that may be rightfully conceded
-or appropriated. It will be found that there is apparently a very
-considerable discrepancy between the one and the other. For while
-the opinions of publicists have on the whole become more decided
-and definite as to Bynkershoek’s principle being the true principle
-for the delimitation of territorial waters, and the inadequacy of
-the three-mile limit has been formally declared, the general usage
-of states is indicated by the common adoption of the latter limit
-for several purposes. As elsewhere stated, this general use of the
-one marine league is in large measure owing to the example, or the
-pressure, of Great Britain and the United States of America, and
-perhaps chiefly, if indirectly, to the influence of the latter.
-Although the United States more than any other Power has varied her
-principles and claims as to the extent of territorial waters, according
-to her policy at the time--now claiming the vague and wandering
-“boundary” of the Gulf Stream or the whole of Behring Sea, and now the
-liberty to fish right up to the shores of the Falkland Islands,--she
-has been consistent in this, that she has steadily and constantly
-pressed for the narrowest limit she could get in favour of her own
-fishermen on the coasts of the British North American Colonies. The
-unhappy heritage of the British Foreign Office that came from the
-abnegation of territorial dominion over large parts of the waters
-in question by Great Britain in former times, has been as fruitful
-of trouble as Lear’s renunciation of his sovereignty. The numerous
-negotiations as to the rights of fishing on the coasts of British North
-America have always resulted in concessions to the United States, and
-appear to have been conducted, as they were almost bound to be, rather
-in the light of the general political relationship of the two Powers
-than on the intrinsic merits of the particular question at issue; and
-thus in Canada and Newfoundland British diplomacy on this subject
-has often been criticised. Obviously, when British policy takes this
-course in regard to North America, one must expect for the sake of
-consistency, if on no other ground, that it will tend to take the same
-course elsewhere. An example of this was quite recently shown, when
-a concession of the kind referred to, as to the rule for bays, which
-was granted during a _modus vivendi_ as a temporary act of grace,
-was spoken of as if it were now definitely incorporated in British
-international policy (see p. 730).
-
-The discrepancy alluded to between the authorities on the law of
-nations and the common usage is perhaps more apparent than real. The
-international treaties and municipal laws in which a limit is fixed
-refer to a few subjects, and in particular to fisheries, and they
-relate to times of peace. The most vital attributes of the territorial
-sea relate to the security, the obligations, and the rights of neutral
-states in time of war; and there has happily been no great maritime war
-in Europe for a long time to put the principles to the test. But when
-such a war does come, there is little doubt that during hostilities the
-three-mile limit will be set aside by the neutral states concerned, and
-another and greater limit fixed for security, in closer correspondence
-with the actual range of guns. It is to be further noted, that
-notwithstanding the numerous municipal enactments and the international
-conventions in which the three-mile limit is fixed for certain
-purposes, no state seems to have formally and deliberately defined the
-absolute extent of the neighbouring sea which it claims as pertaining
-to it under all circumstances. Many states--and Great Britain is one of
-them--have taken pains to make it clear that in adopting a three-mile
-limit for particular purposes they do not abrogate their right to the
-farther extent of sea that may be necessary for other purposes.
-
-Though Germany has not defined the extent of her territorial waters
-by municipal law,[1191] she has entered into agreements with various
-Powers respecting the limits of exclusive fishery. The first of these
-was made with Great Britain in 1868, and the rules for the guidance
-of British fishermen, issued by the Board of Trade in accordance with
-it, stated that,--“The exclusive fishery limits of North Germany are
-designated by the North German Government as follows: that tract of the
-sea which extends to a distance of three sea-miles from the extremest
-limit which the ebb leaves dry of the German North Sea coast, of the
-German Islands or Flats lying before it, as well as those bays and
-incurvations of the coast which are ten sea-miles or less in breadth,
-reckoned from the extremest points of the land and the flats, must be
-considered as under the territorial sovereignty of the North German
-Confederation;” and it is further said that the exclusive rights of
-fishery in the above spaces are reserved to Germans, and English
-fishermen are not at liberty to enter these limits except under
-certain specified circumstances, as of wind and weather.[1192] These
-limits were again formally recognised by Great Britain in July 1880,
-and, according to Perels, were further confirmed by the North Sea
-Convention of 1882. It is obvious that “the extremest limit which the
-ebb leaves dry,” both for the open coast and for bays, will differ
-considerably on such a coast as that of Germany from the low-water mark
-of ordinary tides, and that the space included in the measurement will
-be correspondingly enlarged. Germany also agreed with Denmark, in 1880,
-to the three-mile limit for the adjacent coasts of the two countries
-in the Baltic, with a ten-mile base-line for bays, the mid-line or
-_thalweg_ applying where the waters between the respective coasts were
-less than six miles in width. More recently, an agreement has been
-concluded precisely defining on charts the exclusive fishing waters of
-the two countries in the Little Belt.[1193]
-
-Denmark is one of the Scandinavian countries which, as previously
-mentioned, claimed a wide extent of territorial sea. In 1812 the
-limits, both for Norway and Denmark, were defined as follows in a
-royal ordinance: “We will that it be established as a rule in all
-cases where it is a question of determining the maritime boundary of
-our territory, that that territory shall be reckoned to the ordinary
-distance of one marine league from the outermost islands or islets
-which are not overflowed by the sea.”[1194] The league in these
-Scandinavian ordinances, as previously mentioned, is one-fifteenth of
-a degree, or four geographical miles, and therefore one mile more than
-the ordinary three-mile limit. But, in point of fact, owing to the
-method of measurement adopted, the space of sea included as territorial
-is much greater. Instead of computing the four miles from low-water
-mark on the shore, which is the base usually taken, it is measured
-from an imaginary straight line connecting the outermost points of the
-permanently visible isles or rocks lying farthest from the coast. In
-some places the extent of water thus cut off as territorial is very
-considerable. Though the other Scandinavian countries, Norway and
-Sweden, have maintained this limit to the present day, it has been
-in practice abandoned by Denmark, which has adopted the three-mile
-limit in certain agreements with Germany, in the North Sea Convention
-of 1882, and in the recent treaty with Great Britain with respect to
-Iceland and the Faröes. In the Skagerrack and Cattegat she concedes the
-three-mile limit to German and British fishermen, and no doubt also
-to the fishermen of the other nations which were parties to the North
-Sea Convention; and it is of interest to note, with reference to the
-discussion on a former page as to the extent of coast really comprised
-in the North Sea Convention, that it is in virtue of this convention
-that the old boundary of four miles has been abandoned there.[1195] But
-while Denmark has taken up this attitude with reference to English
-and German fishermen, it is claimed on her behalf by an eminent
-Danish authority that it is within her right still to maintain the
-old geographical league as the boundary of her territorial sea,[1196]
-and this has indeed been recently done in a fishery convention with
-Sweden, which claims the same limit with regard to the fisheries in the
-Cattegat, the Sound, the Baltic along the Swedish coast from Falsterbo
-to Simbrishamn, and around the islands Bornholm and Kristiansö.[1197]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 21.--_Showing the two Limits in Danish Waters; the
-dotted line shows the Scandinavian Limit._ From ‘Dansk-Fiskeritidende.’]
-
-It is to be noted that the terms used in this treaty in defining the
-limit differ from those in the ordinance of 1812. The ordinance speaks
-of islands and islets which are not submerged or overflowed by the sea,
-while the treaty mentions the outermost islets or rocks which are not
-_constantly_ submerged or overflowed by the sea,--a distinction which
-might make a very considerable difference in the extent of the waters
-reserved.
-
-We thus see that Denmark enforces two limits in connection with
-fishery--one of four miles, measured according to the Scandinavian
-method, in the Baltic, &c., as against Sweden (and doubtless also
-against Norway); and the ordinary one of three miles in the Baltic,
-&c., as against Great Britain and Germany at least, and also in the
-North Sea and at the Faröes and Iceland. The various limits are shown
-in the accompanying figure, which is a reproduction of the official
-chart. It also shows how complicated the three-mile limit is among the
-islands.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 22.--_The White Sea, showing the line between Cape
-Kanin and Cape Sviatoi._]
-
-The views of Russia with respect to the limits of territorial waters,
-as expressed during the negotiations with Great Britain in the
-earlier part of last century, have been referred to (p. 581), and
-it appears from the Russian Code of Prize Law, 1869 (Art. 21), that
-the jurisdictional waters, the extent of which had been fixed in her
-treaties at the end of the eighteenth century at the range of guns,
-are limited to three miles (about 5647 metres) from the shore. The
-same distance was assigned for customs purposes; and as no general
-boundary has been prescribed for the exclusive right of fishing, it
-may be presumed that that right is restricted to the same space.[1198]
-It appears that Russia also claims the White Sea as a _mare clausum_,
-or _mer fermée_, within a line between Cape Kanin (Kanin Nos) and Cape
-Sviatoi (Sviatoi Nos), where it is about eighty geographical miles in
-width.[1199] If this claim is now made by Russia, it would probably be
-difficult for her to make it good before an international tribunal, did
-such exist. For not only is the mouth of the width stated, but the area
-included is nearly 30,000 square geographical miles, only about twenty
-per cent of which is within the ordinary three-mile limit. Until lately
-the only foreigners who fished in the neighbourhood of the White Sea
-were Norwegians, but in each summer since 1905 both English and German
-steam-trawlers have carried on an important fishery in the vicinity of
-Cape Kanin, but not within the White Sea itself, where the rocky nature
-of the bottom is said to prevent this method of fishing.[1200]
-
-In France, fishing in the sea beyond three miles from low-water mark
-was declared by a decree of 10th May 1862 to be free all the year
-round, except for oysters; but certain fisheries were allowed to be
-temporarily suspended beyond the three-mile limit, if it was found
-necessary for the preservation of the bed of the sea, or of a fishery
-composed of migratory fishes.[1201] The first Article of the law of 1st
-March 1888, which originated in the North Sea Convention, states that
-“fishing by foreign vessels is prohibited in the territorial waters of
-France and Algeria within a limit which is fixed at three marine miles
-seawards from low-water mark,” with the same arrangement for bays as
-in the North Sea Convention. The distance stated does not, however,
-necessarily represent the bounds of the territorial sea, properly
-so called, the extent of which has never been precisely defined by
-France.[1202] No doubt France, like other countries, reserves her right
-to a wider limit should occasion arise to make that necessary.
-
-It appears that as early as 1832 the three-mile limit was declared by
-Belgium to be the boundary of her territorial waters,[1203] and by a
-law promulgated in 1891, and based upon the North Sea Convention, “all
-foreign boats” were prohibited from fishing within three miles of the
-Belgian coast.[1204]
-
-In the Netherlands also, in connection with the North Sea Convention,
-the boundary of exclusive fishing has been declared to be at the
-distance of three miles from low-water mark, and this applies to all
-foreign fishermen. No distinction has been formally made between the
-fishery limit and the limit of the territorial sea for political
-purposes.[1205]
-
-In Austria-Hungary, whose coast is confined to the eastern shore of the
-Adriatic, the three-mile limit has been adopted, subject to certain
-qualifications respecting the right of fishery under treaties with
-Italy. The regulations concerning foreign vessels of war authorise a
-shot to be fired from the nearest battery at any such vessel which
-does not show its flag on coming within range of the guns, and within
-the same distance of a fortified port they are prohibited from taking
-soundings, practising with firearms, &c.; other regulations forbid
-vessels laden with goods which form the object of a monopoly of the
-state from approaching within gunshot. By a decree of 23rd August
-1846, and a circular of 28th April 1849, it was declared that the
-expression “range of guns” in these ordinances was equivalent to three
-marine miles of sixty to a degree. The customs regulations operate
-within the same limit, but the manifest can be demanded within a
-farther distance of four marine miles.[1206] With respect to the right
-of fishing, the regulations are somewhat complex. The boundary of
-exclusive fishing is fixed at three miles,[1207] but inasmuch as the
-fisheries in the Adriatic are carried on almost only by Austrian and
-Italian subjects, it was found convenient to arrange by treaty for the
-fishermen of either country to fish within the territorial waters of
-the other, except within a distance of one marine mile from the shore,
-and subject to certain restrictions regarding the fisheries for corals
-and sponges, and the observance of the local regulations.[1208] This
-mutual arrangement with regard to the right of fishery was renewed and
-continued in a later treaty of 11th February 1906.
-
-The fishings within one marine mile of the shore are reserved to
-the inhabitants of the commune to which the coast appertains; but
-in certain specified circumstances fishermen from other places may
-be allowed to fish within this communal zone. The use of drag-nets
-and trawl-nets is prohibited in all places where the depth is under
-eight metres; within the first maritime or communal zone at certain
-seasons, irrespective of depth, and altogether within five miles of the
-coast when employed from steamers. Owing to the absence of tides, the
-shoreward limit is not measured from a low-water mark, but from a line,
-fixed by local authorities, where the water ceases to be constantly
-brackish.[1209]
-
-It is doubtful how far the three-mile limit has been adopted in Italy.
-In a Bill of 1872 a distinction was proposed between the territorial
-waters and the exclusive fishing waters, but this distinction was not
-made in the law of 1877.[1210] The question was taken up later by the
-Commission for Fisheries, and the opinions elicited from the local
-authorities at various parts of the coast, who were consulted, varied,
-the recommendations for the boundary of the territorial waters (_mare
-territoriale_) ranging from one and a half miles to ten kilometres,
-and very commonly the limit suggested was four geographical miles.
-The boundary recommended for the exclusive fishing waters (_mare
-pescatorio_) also varied, but in this case the depth of the water
-rather than the distance from shore was held to be the more important
-factor in deciding on a limit, an opinion with which the Commission
-agreed so far as concerned steam trawling. In view of the fishery
-conventions of the western Powers, the Commission recommended a limit
-of three miles and ten miles for bays, as in those conventions,[1211]
-but the proposal was not accepted by the Italian Government. The
-subject was again considered by the Commission in 1904 and 1906,
-with particular reference to steam trawling and dredging, but no
-proposition to determine the boundary of the territorial waters for
-fishing purposes was adopted. A decree of 4th September 1908, however,
-introduced a limit of three miles, but only with reference to the use
-of dredges in some districts of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
-
-With respect to the extent of the territorial sea for political
-purposes, no definition has been given in Italian laws; it depends
-therefore upon the general principles of international jurisprudence.
-It is interesting to note that in some comparatively recent decrees the
-boundary is stated to depend on the range of guns. Thus, instructions
-issued by the Minister of Marine in June 1866 commanded the officers of
-the navy to refrain from all hostile acts in the ports and territorial
-waters of neutral Powers, and reminded them that the limit of the
-territorial waters was the range of cannon from the shore; and in a
-circular from the same Ministry in March 1862 it was stated that the
-extent of the territorial sea varied in different countries and in
-the opinion of different publicists, but that the general opinion was
-that the range of guns was the sole rule on the matter.[1212] It may be
-added that by the customs law of 1896, the manifest of vessels may be
-demanded within ten kilometres of the coast.[1213]
-
-In Greece, another of the Mediterranean states, the three-mile limit
-was adopted in 1869, when a circular of the Minister of Marine
-prohibited foreigners from fishing within that distance of the shore.
-Previously, in virtue of a royal decree issued in 1834, foreign boats
-were allowed to fish for sardines in the Gulf of Corinth, but this
-concession was withdrawn.[1214]
-
-As already mentioned, the three-mile limit is the one in force in
-all the British colonies, in Japan,[1215] in the United States of
-America, and in some at least of the South American states. The Chilian
-Government, for example, has defined the extent of the territorial
-sea belonging to it as one marine league from low-water mark, within
-which distance the right of fishing is reserved to Chilian citizens
-or domiciled foreigners. At the same time it is stated that “police
-administration for the purposes of the security of the State or the
-carrying out of fiscal regulations extends to a distance of four marine
-leagues, measured in the same manner.”[1216]
-
-Quite lately, however, one of the chief states of South America has
-advanced a claim to a very wide extent of sea along its coasts--so far,
-at least, as the right of fishery is concerned. In September 1907 the
-Minister of Agriculture for the Argentine Republic issued a series of
-ordinances for the regulation of the fisheries,[1217] in which it is
-declared that, with respect to the fisheries, a zone of water up to
-a distance of ten miles (18,520 metres, or about 10¼ nautical miles)
-from high-water mark on the land is under the control of the state.
-The great gulfs and bays are, moreover, included, such as the Gulf of
-San Matias, the Gulf of St George, and the Gulf of Nuevo, the closing
-line in some cases considerably exceeding one hundred nautical miles
-from point to point, and extending for more than seventy miles beyond
-a three-mile limit. All living animals in the sea are considered as
-objects of sea-fishing, with the exception of those which reproduce
-on the land, as birds, seals (_lobos_), and fish-otters. Within the
-declared limits the exercise of sea-fishing is free, provided that the
-regulations are adhered to. The one referring to trawling prohibits
-that method of fishing by sailing-boats within three miles of the
-shore, but allows such boats to trawl outside that distance if the
-meshes of the nets have an aperture not less than 16 centimetres (6¼
-inches); steam trawling, on the other hand, is prohibited within five
-miles of the shore. Commercial fishing is forbidden within the great
-extent of water referred to unless by vessels entered on the official
-list (_matricula nacional_), and foreigners are thus excluded. A
-novel feature, but one in complete harmony with the results of modern
-fishery investigations, is the reservation of the right to close
-any area within the limit claimed, so that such area or areas may
-act as reserves to replenish neighbouring grounds and increase the
-multiplication of the fish. The right to establish close-times is also
-reserved, and the sale of undersized fish is prohibited unless for
-certain specified purposes.
-
-Special regulations are made for sealing. Concessions for this purpose
-will be granted for a term of five years on various parts of the coast
-under certain conditions, and it is enacted that for a distance of
-twenty miles from the coast in such places the right of taking seals is
-confined to those who have obtained the concession. Penalties for the
-infraction of the laws are provided, fines varying from five to five
-hundred pesetas, and offenders may be imprisoned for a period of from
-one to sixty days.
-
-Later regulations issued by the Minister of Agriculture, applying
-to that part of the coast between the Rio de la Plata and the Rio
-Negro, provide that all those engaged or who desire to engage in sea
-fishing there, must first receive official permission to do so. Within
-a zone of twelve miles from low-water mark, trawling by steamers is
-prohibited, but trawling by sailing-boats, and fishing with various
-kinds of lines and with drift-nets, are allowed; and all vessels
-employed must fly the national flag, and have their crews partly
-national, in accordance with the laws.[1218] It may be noted that
-these regulations are declared to be for the purpose of preventing the
-extermination of certain species of fish, and that the grantees must,
-when requested, allow officials to be on board for scientific study.
-
-The adjoining state of Uruguay also lays claim to jurisdiction, with
-regard to fisheries at least, beyond the ordinary three-mile limit
-in the extensive inlet of the Rio de la Plata, which lies between
-Uruguay and Argentina, and is nearly sixty miles wide at its mouth,
-with an estimated area of about 5000 square miles. In 1905 a Canadian
-sealer, the _Agnes G. Donohoe_, was arrested for the contravention
-of a presidential decree which prohibits sealing within these
-Uruguayan waters, but it was subsequently released. The British
-Government formally protested against this claim to jurisdiction
-outside the three-mile boundary, which, however, is strongly supported
-by the Argentine Government, which is equally concerned in its
-maintenance.[1219]
-
-It is evident from the foregoing that most maritime states, and all the
-great ones, either by treaty or in their municipal laws and decrees,
-have adopted the three-mile limit, at least for fishery purposes. It
-is quite appropriate, therefore, to refer to it as the “ordinary”
-limit, as was done by the Tribunal of Arbitration on the rights of
-seal-fishing in the Behring Sea, though the tribunal did not affirm,
-and could not affirm, that it found the three-mile limit to be, as
-a matter of fact, universally accepted.[1220] But though it is the
-ordinary limit, it is not the only one enforced, and it is erroneous
-to declare, as some of the less instructed writers on international
-law have stated, that territorial jurisdiction cannot be carried
-further.[1221]
-
-In point of fact, no fewer than four of the maritime states of Europe
-reject the three-mile limit, while a fifth has in part deviated from
-it. Norway, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal, all claim to enforce a wider
-boundary, and Denmark has adopted the old Scandinavian limit in her
-recent treaty with Sweden (see p. 655). Thus, along nearly 4000
-miles of the coasts of Europe, or for about one-third of their whole
-extent, the three-mile limit is not accepted by the bordering state.
-The right claimed by these countries to a wider extent of territorial
-sea has been embodied in treaties between some of them, and has been
-successfully maintained in specific instances against the opposition
-of other Powers. It is to be noted, moreover, as is shown later, that
-their claims to the wider space have been quite lately fully justified
-and homologated by the most authoritative exponents of international
-law, the French Institute and the British Association on the Law of
-Nations, as well as by various international congresses of fishery
-experts dealing with the subject from a fishery point of view.
-
-We have already stated that Spain in the eighteenth century declared
-that her territorial sea extended to a distance of six miles from the
-coast (see p. 569). At that time such a limit must have been regarded
-as moderate, but during last century, after the principle of cannon
-range had been commonly translated into one marine league, the right
-to a zone of double that extent was called in question both by the
-United States and Great Britain. During the civil war in America the
-question came to the front, more particularly with reference to the
-waters around Cuba. In 1862 the American Government intimated that they
-were not prepared to admit that Spain, without a formal concurrence of
-other nations, could exercise exclusive sovereignty upon the open sea
-beyond a line of three miles from the coast; while Spain, relying on
-the legal principle governing the extent of the territorial sea, argued
-that the improvement of modern artillery made the three-mile limit
-ineffective. Two years later a discussion on the subject took place
-between the British and American Governments, the former desiring that
-during the existence of hostilities the limit of neutral waters should
-be greatly extended, so that shots from belligerents might be prevented
-from falling, not only on land, but within the neutral waters, and
-limits of ten, eight, and five miles were mentioned.[1222] In 1874 the
-British Government had itself occasion to object to the claim of Spain;
-and on communication with the Government of the United States, they
-were informed that that Government had always protested against it,
-and on the same grounds, that by the law of nations jurisdiction could
-only extend to one marine league from the coast.[1223] Notwithstanding
-the opposition of the two chief maritime Powers, Spain did not abandon
-its claim, for by a royal order of 16th May 1881, passed with special
-reference to the jurisdiction over American vessels in Cuban waters,
-it was declared that full jurisdiction extended to a distance of six
-miles from the coast. This limit was also fixed for customs purposes in
-Spanish waters by royal decrees in 1830 and 1852, and in the general
-ordinances of the customs in 1884, the six miles being stated to be
-equivalent to eleven kilometres.[1224]
-
-With regard to fisheries, Spain has entered into various treaties
-with Portugal as to the right of fishing along their respective
-coasts. By a convention in 1878, reciprocity was established in the
-territorial waters of the two countries, subject to the observance of
-local regulations and certain specified conditions, as the prohibition
-of the use of drag or trawl nets (“_artes de Bou ou parelhas, chalut,
-muletas_”) within twelve miles from the coast.[1225] In another treaty
-concluded between these Powers on 2nd October 1885, and slightly
-amended in 1888, two fishery zones were established, the first
-extending to three miles from the coast, which was exclusively reserved
-for nationals, and the second, from three to six miles, in which the
-fishermen of both countries were at liberty to fish. In a later treaty
-of commerce and navigation, which came into force in October 1893,
-the zone of exclusive fishing was extended to six geographical miles
-from the coast of either country--that is, to the extreme boundary
-of the jurisdictional waters, measured from low-water mark of spring
-tides (“de la línea de bajamar de las mayores mareas”), and a ten-mile
-base-line for bays was adopted. Within this space the fishery and its
-regulation were reserved by each state; but in the frontier rivers, the
-Miño and Guadiana, the fishery was specially dealt with, as in previous
-treaties. Each Government also agreed to prohibit certain injurious
-modes of fishing (_parejas_, _muletas_, &c.) within twelve miles of
-their coasts, and a series of regulations, like those of the North Sea
-Convention of 1882, were included with respect to the entry of the
-fishing-boats of one of the countries within the territorial waters of
-the other, and the police supervision of the fishing-boats of either
-country beyond the six-mile limit.[1226] In Spain the reservation
-of six miles was regarded as unjust, since the water off the coast
-of Portugal was much deeper than off the Spanish coast, and in the
-following year the Portuguese Government allowed Spanish fishermen to
-fish, under certain conditions, to within three miles of the coast of
-Algarbe.[1227]
-
-While it is evident that Spain and Portugal claim jurisdiction to
-the extent of six miles from the coast, it appears that an exclusive
-fishery to that distance is not enforced against all other nations.
-It seems that on the Mediterranean coast, the three-mile, and not the
-six-mile, limit is applied against French fishermen,[1228] and the
-British Government, in the interests of British trawlers, recently
-intimated that they did not recognise any claims of the Spanish or
-Portuguese Governments to exercise jurisdiction over British vessels
-beyond the three-mile limit; and, in point of fact, British and German
-trawlers now fish off the Portuguese and Spanish coasts up to three
-miles from the shore.[1229] They have developed an important and
-extensive trawl-fishery there during the last few years; and although
-the local fishermen strongly object to their presence within waters
-where they are themselves prohibited to trawl, and it is stated that
-negotiations on the matter have taken place between the London and
-Lisbon Governments, they have not been ordered out of them, and still
-continue their trawling. Both in Spain and Portugal meetings have been
-held with reference to the territorial waters, at which resolutions
-were passed calling for an international arrangement for the extension
-of the limits to ten or twelve miles; and some unpleasant encounters
-have occurred between the local and foreign fishermen. On these coasts,
-however, a limit so extensive would largely prevent foreigners from
-fishing, owing to the great depth of the water at such distances from
-the shore. On the other hand, it is argued that as the available
-fishing-ground is so narrow and small, there is all the more reason
-why it should be protected from the destructive methods of fishing
-pursued by the foreign vessels, and preserved as far as possible for
-the inhabitants of the coast.[1230] Quite recently, it appears, the
-Portuguese Government have regularised their position with regard to
-foreign trawlers and foreign fishermen generally, by passing a law
-forbidding them to fish, under severe penalties, within a zone of three
-sea miles from the shore. They have thus accepted the inevitable, in
-view of the pressure applied by at least one of the great maritime
-Powers. With regard to bays, however, the limit specified in the
-fishery conventions is not adopted. The zone of three miles in respect
-to bays has to be reckoned according to the principles of international
-law.[1231]
-
-Spain, it may be added, after the victorious campaign of 1859-60,
-concluded a treaty with Morocco, by which Spanish subjects are allowed
-to fish on the coast of that country up to the shores, for corals,
-sponges, and other marine products, as well as for fish.[1232]
-
-The extent of the territorial waters claimed by Norway and Sweden is
-even greater than that claimed by Spain and Portugal, owing to the
-method of measurement, the distance of four geographical miles being
-measured either from the coast or from the outermost part of the
-outermost isle or rock which is not submerged by the sea at high tide.
-Such isles and rocks are numerous on the Scandinavian coasts, so that
-the fishermen distinguish the waters “within the rocks” (_inom skärs_)
-from those “without the rocks” (_utom skärs_) or at sea, and in many
-places the extent of water reserved by the rule is very considerable.
-There appears, however, to be a difference in Sweden and Norway as
-to the precise method of measurement. In Norway such isles and rocks
-are appropriate for the base-line, if they are not farther from the
-mainland than eight geographical miles of sixty to a degree; and it
-seems to follow from the rule that the measurement from the coast or
-shore must be made at high-water, but this is not expressly said.[1233]
-In Sweden the isle or rock is spoken of as within one geographical
-league of the coast, and it may be such as is not _continuously_
-submerged, but is periodically uncovered, which implies a base of
-low-water.[1234] On some parts of the Norwegian coast the territorial
-sea may thus extend to twelve miles from the mainland. Bays and fjords
-are, moreover, included in the territorial waters irrespective of
-whether their width at the mouth is or is not greater than ten miles;
-and in including these, as much importance is attached to the islands
-which may lie at their entrance as to the distance between headlands.
-With regard to large open ways or stretches of sea partly enclosed, no
-fixed rule has been laid down, but Norway reserves the right in certain
-cases to exceed the limit derived from the general principle as above
-explained. On some parts of the coast special laws regulate the extent
-of the sea in which the exclusive right of fishing is reserved to
-subjects. The rich cod-banks on the coast of Söndmöre, Romsdal, and
-Nordmöre are thus included within the territorial waters, the base-line
-being drawn between various islands, in the manner described above.
-The first of these was a royal decree of 16th October 1869, which
-prescribed that a straight line drawn at a distance of one geographical
-mile (of fifteen to a degree) from and parallel to a straight line
-drawn between Storholmen and Svinö, shall be taken as the boundary of
-the waters off the coast of the Söndmöre district, in which the fishing
-is entirely reserved for the inhabitants of the country. Another
-royal decree of 9th September 1889 continued this boundary farther to
-the north-east. It ordained that a line drawn at a distance of one
-geographical mile from and parallel to a line from Storholmen through
-Skraapen (outside of Harö), Gravskjær (outside of Ona), and Kalven
-(the last of the Orskjærens), to the last of the Jevleholme, outside
-of Grip, was the boundary of the waters off the coast of the Romsdal
-district, in which fishing is entirely reserved for the inhabitants of
-the country.[1235]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 23.--_Showing the Limit at Romsdal Amt, Norway._
-
-A, The base-line; B, the line of closure; C, the three-mile limit.]
-
-This special line from Svinö (which lies about eight miles north of
-Stadtland, or Van Staten) to Jevleholm stretches for about eighty-five
-geographical miles along the coast,[1236] the distance between the
-islets through which the base-line passes being respectively 28, 14½,
-7, 23½, and 12 geographical miles, and some of them are over seven
-miles distant from the mainland or the nearest large island. The extent
-of water reserved is thus large, the area between the base-line and
-the boundary-line being alone about 340 square miles; but the extent
-of sea included which would be outside the ordinary three-mile limit
-is much less than might be expected, owing to the great number of
-isles and islets along the coast. In the accompanying figure (fig.
-23),the part of the coast embraced by the law of 1889 is represented,
-the base-line, the boundary of the reserved waters, and the ordinary
-three-mile limit being shown. The area of water between the latter
-and the Norwegian limit amounts, approximately, to 140 square miles.
-The figure also shows how complicated a three-mile boundary based on
-the provisions of the North Sea Convention would be on such a coast.
-It is to be noted further, that within the limits prescribed by the
-royal decrees a series of stringent regulations have been made for the
-orderly prosecution of the fishery.[1237]
-
-Of much greater international importance is the claim made by the
-Norwegians to the exclusive right of fishing in the Vestfjord, an arm
-of the sea which extends between the coast of Nordland and the Lofoten
-Islands, where from time immemorial the greatest cod-fishing in Europe
-has been carried on.[1238] It is, strictly speaking, a strait, as
-indicated in the accompanying figure (fig. 24), bounded on one side
-by a chain of islands and on the other by the mainland, opening to
-the northwards by several narrow channels, and to the south by a wide
-mouth about forty-five geographical miles in breadth. The waters of
-the Vestfjord have for centuries been considered as territorial, and
-the fisheries within them as reserved for the Norwegian people; but
-no decree or law has as yet been promulgated respecting the boundary
-between the reserved waters and the open sea.[1239] Locally, however,
-as at Bodö, it is supposed that the line of closure runs from
-Moskenæs on the west to Stot on the east, which are about forty-five
-miles apart, and the length of the fjord from this line is about
-sixty-five miles. As stated below, however, it appears from a letter
-of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in 1868, that the line may be
-drawn from the southern part of Röst, a group of isles situated nearly
-fifty miles from the mainland and about 110 miles from the extreme
-head of the fjord. The total area within a line drawn from the south
-end of Moskenæsö (Lofoten Point) to Möst Fjord is over 2000 square
-(geographical) miles, about 900 square miles of this lying outside the
-ordinary three-mile limit. Within a line from Röst to Kunna the total
-area is nearly 3900 miles, about half being beyond the ordinary limit.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 24.--_The Vestfjord, Lofoten Islands._]
-
-Another large expanse of sea, the Varangerfjord, in East Finmarken
-(fig. 25), has been closed, with special regard to whaling, for a
-distance up to one geographical mile (of fifteen to a degree) outside
-a line drawn from Kibergnæs on the north to Jacobs River on the south;
-and it is stated by the Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs that
-the boundary mentioned has always been considered as indicating the
-true limit of the territorial waters in the Varangerfjord. This arm
-of the sea, claimed as territorial, is thirty-two miles wide at the
-entrance and about fifty miles in length. The total area of the fjord
-is about 630 square (geographical) miles, of which approximately 225
-square miles are beyond the ordinary three-mile limit. Various laws
-have been made by the Norwegian Government affecting whaling in this
-quarter.[1240]
-
-A Swedish decree of 5th May 1871 concerning the fisheries, defined the
-extent of the territorial waters from the Norwegian frontier along the
-coast to Kullen, at the entrance to the Sound, as one Swedish league
-(equal to four geographical miles of 60 to a degree), reckoned from
-the coast, or the farthest out island or rock which is not constantly
-overflowed by the sea;[1241] and by the treaty with Denmark in 1899,
-already referred to, the same limit is carried on from Kullen to
-Falsterbo and up to Simrishamn in Christianstad. There does not appear
-to be any corresponding decree for the eastern coast of Sweden.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 25.--_The Varanger fjord._]
-
-Within the territorial waters as described above, Norway claims the
-exclusive right to the fisheries and all the sovereign rights that
-are usually exercised in territorial seas, as well as one that is not
-as a rule included--namely, the right to control all navigation. All
-vessels within the territorial waters are likewise subject to the
-control of the customs authorities, while in Sweden the Customs Law of
-1877 extends jurisdiction to a distance of one Swedish league from the
-base-line. The Government does not rest its claim to so large an extent
-of the bordering sea merely on the principle which is usually held to
-determine its bounds--the range of cannon fire,--though it is pointed
-out that the Norwegian boundary is in reality more in conformity with
-the range of modern artillery than is the three-mile limit. They argue,
-very truly, that the zone of one marine league, although adopted in
-conventions between several Powers, has not been definitely established
-in international law, and they have themselves always refused to agree
-to a limit so narrow. But the principal reasons advanced are those of
-necessity and utility. The Norwegian coast is peculiarly irregular.
-It is engirdled by a multitude of islands, reefs, and rocks, and is
-broken up by numerous fjords which penetrate deeply into the land.
-A three-mile limit applied to such a coast on the principle adopted
-in the North Sea Convention would be intricate, confusing, and
-impracticable. The boundary would be exceedingly irregular, and patches
-and strips of extra-territorial water of the most diverse size and form
-would be intermingled with the territorial water; and in practice it
-would be extremely difficult or impossible for foreign fishermen to
-observe the complicated boundary, or for the authorities to enforce it.
-Constant disputes would result.
-
-Another reason put forward is a moral one. The country is comparatively
-sterile; the climate is rigorous; the people are poor, and the
-fisheries are of the utmost importance for their maintenance. A large
-proportion of the population derive, and have always derived, their
-livelihood from the sea, “with which they wage a desperate war in
-the darkness and tempests of winter and spring to gain their daily
-bread.”[1242] It is therefore only just that this natural source of
-food along their coasts should be conserved as much as possible, so
-long as the manifest rights of other nations are not violated, and that
-the poor native fishermen, pursuing a hard and laborious calling, which
-necessity has imposed on them, should be protected from the intrusion
-of foreign vessels, better equipped and with more capital at their
-disposal. It is further urged that the Norwegian fishermen have enjoyed
-the wider area for many centuries. From immemorial times the right of
-fishing has been regarded as pertaining to the land. This principle
-was enunciated in the old provincial laws (_landskapslagar_) of Sweden
-in the middle ages, and was continued in the laws of the kingdom since
-the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.[1243] It is also declared that
-a smaller extent of territorial sea would interfere with the efficacy
-of the regulations enforced for the preservation of the fisheries.
-A lesser boundary would intersect the more important fishing-banks,
-“making it impossible,” to quote the words of the Minister of the
-Interior, “for the state to regulate the fisheries on the whole
-bank, and it would be fatal to those fisheries which are necessary
-for the subsistence of the coast population.” This consideration,
-it is pointed out, is likely to have still more weight in future,
-owing to the increase of the population and the impoverishment of the
-fishing-grounds along the coast.
-
-The claim of Norway to the wider extent of territorial sea has been
-as a rule respected by foreigners, probably owing in the main to the
-fact that its coasts are but little visited by foreign fishermen,
-but it has not remained without challenge. The French Government on
-one occasion complained that a French vessel had been prevented from
-fishing in the Vestfjord; but the prohibition was justified by Norway
-on the grounds that by the law of nations the Lofoten fisheries, and
-especially those in the Vestfjord, which was “part of the territorial
-sea,” belonged exclusively to the inhabitants, and that for centuries
-no foreign vessels had attempted to take part in them.[1244] In
-communicating the decision to the French Government, the Minister for
-Foreign Affairs declared that the prohibition applied equally to
-the adjacent sea and to the entrance to the fjord up to the distance
-of a marine league (of four miles), measured from the most southerly
-point of the isles called “Röst”--a group which lies about twenty-six
-geographical miles west and south of Moskenæs, and about sixty
-geographical miles from the mainland.[1245] In 1870 another foreign
-Government raised objection to the limits defined off Romsdal by the
-royal decree of 16th October 1869, on the ground that the base-line
-drawn between the islands Svinö and Storholmen exceeded eight ordinary
-marine miles in length, which was the maximum distance according to
-the Norwegian principle, already referred to, for the inclusion of the
-“outermost” island. The Norwegian Government, however, declared that
-by the law of nations it was competent to include a bay or a gulf of
-“not too large an extent” by drawing the line from one advanced point
-to another, and that it was necessary to consider local circumstances
-and what was natural, convenient, and just. The line that had been
-drawn, they said, coincided with a natural depression in the bottom of
-the sea which separated the inshore from the offshore fishing-banks,
-and it formed a natural boundary which could be readily ascertained
-by the use of a sounding-lead. To adhere strictly to the four-mile
-line in this case would make the limit intricate and impossible to
-be observed, and it would pass across the inshore banks. It was also
-argued that till lately foreign fishermen had never attempted to fish
-in the neighbourhood, even within a space far more extensive than that
-comprised in the decree.[1246]
-
-Since the period referred to, the limit claimed by Norway is said to
-have been respected by foreign states and by foreign fishermen; and the
-Scandinavian Government has officially declared on several occasions,
-and notably in December 1874 to the British Government, that it would
-never adhere to any international convention which established a
-maritime zone of less than four marine miles. It declined to become a
-party to the North Sea Convention of 1882 for this reason, and because
-the line for the closure of bays was in its opinion much too small. The
-only treaties with foreign countries in which a limit has been fixed
-are the one between Sweden and Denmark, previously mentioned, in which
-the Scandinavian boundary is maintained, and one with Mexico, in 1886,
-for customs purposes, which stipulates for three marine leagues from
-low-water mark.[1247]
-
-It is evident that Sweden and Norway, besides claiming a greater extent
-of territorial water than other countries, also claim in particular
-cases to depart from the principles which in general govern their own
-system of delimitation, in order to include other waters lying off
-their coasts, when they deem it necessary to reserve the fisheries
-there for their own subjects. In such cases it is said to be impossible
-to be guided by geographical rules of an absolute kind, and it is
-urged that any general international rules on the question should be
-sufficiently elastic to allow of similar exceptions elsewhere.[1248]
-There is little doubt that the wider area claimed by the Scandinavian
-states is, from the point of view of sea fisheries, preferable to the
-narrower zone adopted in the North Sea Convention. It will appear
-later, that both the authorities on sea fisheries in various countries
-and the authorities on international law agree as to the inadequacy of
-the three-mile limit for fishery purposes: and it is hardly probable
-that the Government of any other country will now seriously contest
-the right of Sweden and Norway to the larger area they claim, unless
-under exceptional circumstances. Norway has been fortunate in this
-respect, that her coasts are rarely visited by foreign fishing vessels;
-but this immunity is not likely to continue. During the last few years
-the great feature of the sea fisheries both in Great Britain and also
-on the Continent has been the enormous development of steam-fishing,
-particularly trawling (see p. 698). Confined for a time to the North
-Sea and the neighbourhood of their own coasts, steam fishing-vessels
-now regularly visit distant quarters in large numbers, and trawlers
-from England and Germany make the long voyage to the grounds off the
-White Sea, traversing the whole coast of Norway, in quest of fish. The
-absence of foreign competition in the fisheries of the Norwegian coast
-is due largely to the generally rough and rocky nature of the bottom
-and the great depth of the water, which make trawling difficult or
-impossible; but there are, no doubt, within the territorial limits,
-more or less restricted areas where trawling could be carried on with
-success, and if these be discovered by foreign vessels, and they are
-outside the ordinary three-mile boundary to which they are accustomed,
-there is little doubt the question of the Norwegian claim will be
-raised again. Line-fishing by steamers is now, moreover, greatly
-developed, and this method of fishing can be pursued, and is now
-pursued by the Norwegians, in deeper water and on rocky bottom, as
-in the Vestfjord and off Romsdal. In the summer of 1907, indeed, one
-or two British trawlers were seized by the Norwegian authorities for
-fishing within their territorial waters at Finmarken, but were released
-later.[1249]
-
-From the account which has been given above of the recent practice of
-civilised states it is apparent that the majority of them have adopted
-the three-mile limit, with a ten-mile base-line for bays, for fishery
-purposes. There is a tendency, moreover, for this process to be
-continued and extended, as is shown by the recent treaty between Great
-Britain and Denmark concerning the ocean around Iceland and the Faröes,
-and the action of the British Government respecting the six-mile limit
-on the coasts of Spain and Portugal. It is possible, and indeed likely,
-that the Spanish and Portuguese Governments have protested against the
-infringement of what they regard as their just rights; but if they are
-unable or unwilling to maintain them, and the three-mile limit comes
-to be the only one observed on their coasts, the usage will settle
-the matter in the course of time. Up to the present, however, Norway
-and Sweden have very justly resisted all attempts to impose on them
-the ordinary limit and bring them into line with other Powers, and
-they have successfully caused their wider bounds to be respected. The
-diversity in practice between the Iberian and Scandinavian states and
-the other states of Europe may be traced to the modes by which the
-limits were evolved. In the former case, the boundaries were fixed in
-the middle of the eighteenth century, without special reference to the
-range of the guns of the time. The three-mile zone, on the other hand,
-was developed early in last century from the doctrine of Bynkershoek,
-three miles being then looked upon as approximately the range of cannon.
-
-The general adoption of this limit, as previously said, was due in
-great measure to the preponderating influence of Great Britain and
-America in maritime affairs, the lesser states following their example,
-willingly or with reluctance. It is not too much to say, indeed,
-that the three-mile boundary in its origin and development is an
-Anglo-American doctrine, its authors being Washington and Lord Stowell.
-It is thus of interest to consider the opinions of modern writers on
-international law on the question, and to see how far they agree with
-or differ from their predecessors, whose opinions have been previously
-passed under review. It will be found that, considering the extent to
-which the three-mile limit has been actually applied in practice, the
-writers who accept it as the established rule in international law
-are singularly few, and are for the most part English or American. It
-will be also noticed how extremely loose some writers, even of high
-authority, are in their use of the terms “three miles _or_ the range
-of guns,” as if they were now synonymous, which they are not. Such
-looseness of phrase is not absent from some judicial decisions on the
-question, as in that of Lord Cockburn in the case of Regina _v._ Keyn,
-previously referred to (p. 591).
-
-Another statement that one not uncommonly finds in the text-books,
-and to which currency was given by Lord Stowell, is that _since_ the
-invention of firearms the distance at which the power of the state,
-and therefore the territorial waters, terminated, has usually been
-recognised as about three miles from the shore. Calvo, a writer of much
-authority, also makes this statement, affirming at the same time the
-doctrine of Bynkershoek as the principle of delimitation.[1250] In view
-of the range of modern artillery, he, however, considers this space too
-small, and is of opinion that it ought justly, on grounds of logic and
-reason, to be extended; but until this extension has been sanctioned
-by a majority of states he looks upon the three-mile limit as the
-established rule of international law. Much the same view is expressed
-by Bluntschli.[1251] He defines the territorial sea according to the
-range of guns, and says that international treaties or the laws of
-states may fix more precise limits, such as one marine league from the
-coast at low-water; but, considering the increased range of artillery,
-he is disposed to think the three-mile limit insufficient. Phillimore,
-one of the greatest English authorities, agrees with Calvo.[1252] He
-states that the rule of law may now be considered as fairly established
-that absolute property and jurisdiction in the adjacent open sea “does
-not extend, unless by the specific provisions of a treaty, or an
-unquestioned usage, beyond a marine league (being three miles) or the
-distance of a cannon-shot from the shore at low tide.” The limit, he
-says, was fixed at a marine league because that was supposed to be the
-utmost distance to which a cannon-shot from the shore could reach;
-and he adds that the great improvements recently effected in artillery
-seem to make it desirable that this distance should be increased, but
-he holds that this can be done only by the general consent of nations,
-or by specific treaty with particular states. Phillimore, like most
-of the other writers, was apparently ignorant of the fact that the
-Scandinavian and the Iberian Powers claimed a limit much farther than
-three miles.
-
-Halleck follows Wheaton in saying that the general usage of nations
-superadds to bays, &c., an exclusive territorial jurisdiction over
-the sea for the distance of one marine league, or the range of a
-cannon-shot, along all the shores or coasts of the state, and that the
-maxim of law on the subject is _terræ dominium finitur ubi finitur
-armorum vis_, “which is generally recognised to be about three miles
-from the shore.”[1253] On the other hand, Lawrence, in his edition
-of Wheaton (p. 321), says very definitely that all the space through
-which projectiles thrown from the shore pass, being protected and
-defended by these warlike instruments, is territorial and subject to
-the dominion of the Power that controls the shore: “The greatest reach
-of a ball fired from a cannon on the land is, then, really the limit of
-the territorial sea.” Bishop, also accepting Bynkershoek’s principle,
-says that a cannon-shot is estimated for the purpose of delimiting
-the territorial seas at a marine league, but, like so many others, he
-argues from the improvement of artillery that, “in reason, the distance
-would now seem to require extension.”[1254] Woolsey, likewise adopting
-the three-mile limit “or” cannon range, is of opinion that, “as the
-range of cannon is increasing, and their aim becoming more perfect, it
-might be thought that the sea-line of territory ought to be wider,”
-though this author does not think the point likely to become of great
-importance.[1255] Dana expresses the usual vague opinion of the English
-and American writers in regarding it as “settled that the limit of the
-territorial waters is, in the absence of treaty, the marine league,
-_or_ the cannon-shot.”[1256] Sir Travers Twiss also speaks of the
-range of guns, which, he says, with the common lack of information
-respecting some other countries, “by consent is now taken to be a
-maritime league seawards along the coasts of a nation.”[1257]
-
-Rather different opinions are expressed by Fiore, an Italian writer
-of eminence. While pointing out that publicists are not agreed as to
-the extent of the territorial sea, he thinks it should be determined
-by the necessity of the case and the nature of the particular rights
-claimed, as fishing, dues connected with navigation, and defence: for
-the latter purpose he is of opinion that the zone should increase with
-the improvement of artillery. With regard to the rights to certain
-fisheries, he says that the fishing for coral,--an important industry
-in Italy,--for example, belongs to the people of the neighbouring coast
-where it is found.[1258] Pradier-Fodéré holds strongly to the doctrine
-of cannon range. The extent of the territorial sea, he says, depends
-upon the power of artillery from shore; the farthest distance a shot
-can be thrown, according to the progress of military art, is the limit
-of the territorial sea, and he adds that this is the principle almost
-universally adopted, although, “since the invention of firearms,” this
-distance has usually been considered as three miles.[1259] Perels, a
-German writer of eminence, accepts the doctrine of Bynkershoek that the
-sovereign jurisdiction of a state extends in the sea to the distance
-of a cannon-shot from the coast, and he says the extension of the
-boundary-line depends upon the range of cannon-shot at the particular
-period, but is the same at any period for all coasts. British and
-American publicists, he adds, have generally adopted three miles as
-an equivalent, but this has not usually been done by Continental
-authorities.[1260] Another writer, Ferguson, gives a novel explanation
-of the reason why three miles is generally adopted in practice. He
-says the distance referred to is presumed to be the range of the coast
-defences, but on the maxim that _terræ dominium finitur ubi finitur
-armorum vis_, it should be stated to extend to any point on the sea
-to which the cannon of actual coast defences on shore can carry a
-projectile. Since, however, the carrying power of any given cannon is
-such a vague measure, the three-mile radius is generally adopted.[1261]
-
-In the opinion of Desjardins, the expression territorial sea must be
-taken in the precise sense given to it by international law. Maritime
-territory, he says, is only made effectively inviolable at the real
-range of cannon from the coast, and the laws of police or customs
-usually applied in time of peace cannot prevail against a principle
-founded on the nature of things. In his opinion a prize taken beyond
-three miles from the coast, but within the range of guns, would be
-illegitimate, while it would be legitimate within the particular limits
-fixed by a neutral state if beyond the range of guns.[1262] Latour,
-another recent French writer, also argues that the three-mile limit is
-not necessarily the true one, but that it depends on the actual range
-of guns from the shore.[1263] On the other hand, Professor Kleen, in
-his work on the laws of neutrality, considers the Scandinavian method
-of delimiting the territorial sea the proper one, since the extent
-depends not only on the mainland but on the “adjacent isles.” Admitting
-that the distance from the coast at which the external limit is fixed
-is, according to the positive international law of to-day determined
-by the range of cannon, he thinks this measure is so susceptible of
-change and controversy that it is desirable to replace it by a fixed
-one, which ought not to be less than four marine miles. The range of
-guns is much greater than four miles; and there are some coasts where
-the geographical configuration requires that a larger area should be
-subject to the territorial state, in order to avoid collision with
-foreigners as well as encroachments on the natural rights of the
-inhabitants. He is of opinion that Bynkershoek’s doctrine was wrong in
-certain respects: it reposed on a basis of brute force; the range of
-guns differs in different countries and at different times; and the
-range of the most powerful modern gun is too much to allow a state
-the exclusive possession of the sea up to that distance from the
-shore. The range of guns, he says, is admissible in respect of war and
-neutrality, but in all other respects the distance ought to be fixed
-and mathematically determined independent of military force, and
-should be the same everywhere.[1264]
-
-Another Scandinavian publicist, Professor Aschehoug, also argues for a
-wide extent of territorial sea under international law, according to
-the principles previously described. He thinks that it is impossible
-to exclude from the territorial sea of a people that space which is
-commanded by their guns on shore; and _vice versa_, this space is
-necessary to preserve the shores from the projectiles of belligerents.
-The state has all the rights of sovereignty in this area, as those
-connected with neutrality, police, inspection, jurisdiction, and the
-exclusive right of fishery and other usufructs, except the right of
-forbidding navigation.[1265]
-
-The eminent Russian authority, Professor de Martens, expresses a
-strong opinion that the three-mile limit is now quite inadequate,
-and that a state has the power to extend it. The only true boundary
-of the territorial sea is, he says, the range of guns from the
-coast, Bynkershoek’s aphorism--_terræ dominium finitur ubi finitur
-armorum vis_--forming the only legal and rational foundation for the
-delimitation. Within the zone so determined the bordering state has
-exclusive sovereignty and dominion, and the exclusive right of fishing.
-The limit of the territorial waters ought therefore to change with the
-modifications in the range of cannon. If at one time the reach of guns
-was three miles, then the extent of the territorial sea at that time
-was only three miles. If at the present day, he says, cannon carry
-to twelve, or even fifteen, miles, the territorial waters extend to
-the same distance. De Martens, however, thinks that an international
-agreement with regard to such limits is necessary to ensure the success
-of the measures of protection established in the open sea for the
-preservation of the legitimate interests of each nation, especially
-with regard to fisheries. But he holds that until such an international
-arrangement has been accomplished, each state has the incontestable
-right to declare as its territorial sea the waters which are dominated
-by batteries on its coasts. In view of the necessity of precisely
-defining the range of cannon, and the exigencies of international
-commerce, the bordering state, he says, may limit this distance to a
-number of miles fixed by law; and he himself advocates a limit of ten
-miles, instead of three miles, as being more in conformity with the
-actual range of guns, and better fitted to protect the interests of the
-coast population who subsist by sea fisheries.[1266]
-
-The latest English writer of authority on international law, Mr
-W. E. Hall, who has given a lucid and philosophical account of
-the territorial sea, is also of opinion that the three-mile limit
-is inadequate. The boundary, he says, is generally fixed at three
-miles, but this distance was defined by the supposed range of guns
-of position, and the effect of the recent increase in the power
-of artillery has not yet been taken into consideration, either as
-supplying a new measure of the space over which control may be
-efficiently exercised, or as enlarging that within which acts of
-violence may be dangerous to persons and property on shore. “It may be
-doubted,” he continues, “in view of the very diverse opinions which
-have been held until lately as to the extent to which marginal seas
-may be appropriated, of the lateness of the time at which much more
-extensive claims have been fully abandoned, and of the absence of
-cases in which the breadth of the territorial waters has come into
-international questions, whether the three-mile limit has ever been
-unequivocally settled; but in any case, as it has been determined,
-if determined at all, upon an assumption which has ceased to hold
-good, it would be pedantry to adhere to the rule in its present form;
-and perhaps it may be said without impropriety that a state has the
-right to extend its territorial waters from time to time at its will
-with the increased range of guns; though it would undoubtedly be more
-satisfactory that an arrangement upon the subject should be come to
-by common agreement.” In a later edition of his work, which appeared
-after the results of the international conferences of publicists, to
-be presently referred to, were known, he says that it is felt and
-growingly felt, not only that the width of three miles is insufficient
-for the safety of the territory, but that it is desirable for a state
-to have control over a larger space of water for the purpose of
-regulating and preserving the fishery in it, the productiveness of sea
-fisheries being seriously threatened by the destructive methods of
-fishing which are commonly employed, and in many places by the greatly
-increased number of fishing vessels frequenting the grounds.[1267]
-A still later writer, Oppenheim, has apparently much the same
-opinion, for he says that although many states in municipal laws and
-international treaties still adhere to a breadth of one marine league,
-the time will come when by common agreement of the states concerned
-such breadth will be very much extended.[1268]
-
-While there is thus some diversity of opinion among modern writers on
-the law of nations, both as to the actual extent of territorial sea
-belonging to a state and in respect to the principles which should
-govern its delimitation in certain cases, there is all but universal
-acceptance of the rule that in general the limit is determined by the
-range of guns. Practically all authorities are agreed that this is the
-historical basis of the demarcation, and the majority of publicists, as
-Schmalz, Klüber, Reddie, Ortolan, Hautefeuille, Pistoye and Duverdy,
-Massé, Bluntschli, Pradier-Fodéré, Lawrence, Perels, Desjardins, De
-Martens, and Aschehoug, adhere to it as the only true principle.
-This adherence to Bynkershoek’s doctrine logically implies that the
-range of artillery at any particular period governs the extent of the
-territorial sea at that period, and several authorities, as Ortolan,
-Lawrence, Perels, Desjardins, and De Martens, accept this view in its
-bare and absolute form, while others, though willing to agree to it as
-proper and reasonable, think that a mutual arrangement on the subject
-is first of all desirable or necessary, or that it applies specially to
-questions of neutrality. There are very few writers, on the other hand,
-who are of opinion that the three-mile limit has become established
-in international jurisprudence as the legal limit, notwithstanding
-that it is the limit commonly adopted. Calvo and Phillimore are the
-most important authorities who take this view, but both think the
-extent is too small and ought logically to be increased owing to the
-greater range of artillery,--an opinion which is shared by Bishop,
-Woolsey, Fiore, and Hall. Nearly all those who mention three miles
-as the boundary of the territorial seas--and they are almost wholly
-English or American--couple with it the alternative, “_or_ the range of
-cannon,” as Wheaton, Manning, Halleck, Phillimore, Bishop, Dana, Twiss,
-Ferguson, and Woolsey. In this they merely adopt the language used by
-Lord Stowell at the beginning of last century, and which was quite
-appropriate at the time. But for more than half a century the range
-of guns has exceeded three miles, and to use the terms now as if they
-were synonymous tends only to confusion. Some modern publicists, it may
-be added, as Kent, Heffter, and Fiore, follow Wolff and Vattel in the
-opinion that the limit of territorial waters may be extended in certain
-cases beyond the range of guns.
-
-Moreover, quite lately the subject of the territorial sea has been
-jointly and exhaustively inquired into by the leading publicists of
-Europe, and with important results. In 1887 the International Law
-Association appointed a committee to consider the definition and
-_régime_ of the territorial waters, and two years afterwards the
-Institut de Droit International followed the same course.[1269] A
-long series of questions was circulated among the members to elicit
-their opinions on the various points connected with the subject;
-the whole matter was discussed and considered at various subsequent
-annual meetings; and the rules as finally adopted and approved by
-the Institute and the Association may therefore be fairly taken as
-representing the latest views of European publicists.
-
-With regard to the question of the limits of the territorial sea. it
-was very generally held that a distinction should be drawn between
-various sovereign rights, as the right of fishery and the rights of
-neutrals during war. The two limits commonly recognised--namely, cannon
-range and three miles from low-water mark--were no longer identical.
-Three miles was now too small a distance for safeguarding the coasts
-of a neutral from the projectiles of belligerents, and the range of
-modern artillery fluctuated, and was besides considered to be too great
-a distance for the exercise of exclusive rights of sovereignty. Sir
-Thomas Barclay’s proposal was therefore to reaffirm the limit of cannon
-range as the public law of Europe, but to confine its application
-to the right of the neutral as founded in reason, and to establish
-another and a lesser boundary for the exercise of the exclusive
-sovereign rights of the neighbouring state. The former limit was a
-“zone of respect”; the latter bounded the true territorial sea. There
-was general agreement that the neutral line or zone of respect should
-coincide with the actual range of guns; but some were of opinion that
-the range should be considered not from the coast, on the principle of
-Bynkershoek, but from the sea, and others that the neutral zone should
-be measured from the boundary of the true territorial sea, in order to
-prevent violation of the latter by the bullets of belligerents. Since
-the range of guns, however, is uncertain and variable, and the line
-of respect must necessarily vary with it, it was decided finally not
-to adopt a fixed distance, but to recommend that in case of war the
-neutral state, taking the range of guns as the basis, should itself fix
-and declare the extent of its neutral waters beyond the limit of the
-territorial sea.
-
-There was not the same agreement as to the limit which should be
-recommended as the boundary of the territorial sea, within which the
-rights of the state are much more complex, and of which the extent
-should be precisely fixed. The historical principle of demarcation--the
-range of cannon--having been transferred to the line of respect, the
-only other limit in common use was the three-mile limit, and this was
-the distance at first proposed by Sir Thomas Barclay in the draft
-rules, mainly because it was the one which was usually recognised by
-international usage. But the preponderating opinion of Continental
-publicists favoured a more extended boundary, in view more particularly
-of the right of fishery, the distances proposed varying from five
-to ten miles from low-water mark;[1270] and Professor Auber, of
-Christiania, advocated the extension of jurisdiction with respect to
-fisheries beyond the limit fixed for the territorial sea, to apply
-equally to subjects and foreigners, each state assigning boundaries
-for such jurisdiction, either itself or by convention between the
-Powers interested, and a similar proposal was made by the Canadian
-representative, who suggested that the jurisdictional zone should
-extend to nine miles. Owing to these opinions, and also to the report
-of the Sea Fisheries Committee of the House of Commons in 1893,
-presided over by Mr Marjoribanks (the late Lord Tweedmouth), which
-proposed an extension of the territorial waters in the interests of the
-fisheries,[1271] the three-mile limit was abandoned, and one of six
-miles from low-water mark recommended instead. This particular distance
-was selected in order to secure a limit which would correspond to that
-of Spain and the Scandinavian Powers, and thus make the practice in all
-European countries more uniform.
-
-With regard to bays, the draft proposal was at first to adopt a
-base-line of six miles from headland to headland, and afterwards one of
-ten miles, as in the fishery conventions, was proposed. The Institut
-finally adopted a base-line of twelve miles--_i.e._, double the width
-of the territorial zone,--but the International Law Association
-preferred the old limit of ten miles. The Scandinavian publicists were
-of opinion that these limits were too small, and that instead of having
-a fixed and rigid rule for the delimitation of bays, each state should
-be permitted to fix the boundaries according to the local configuration
-of the coast and the local requirements. While this suggestion was
-not accepted, it was admitted that certain bays whose width exceeded
-ten miles were necessarily, by their situation, placed under the
-sovereignty of the neighbouring state, as the Bay of Cancale, the Bay
-of Chaleur, and the Scottish Firths.[1272]
-
-The various rules concerning sovereignty and jurisdiction were applied
-to straits whose width does not exceed twelve miles, with the following
-modifications: (1) straits of which the coasts belong to different
-states form part of the territorial sea of the bordering states, which
-exercise their sovereignty there up to the middle line; (2) straits
-whose coasts belong to the same state, and which are indispensable
-for maritime communication between two or several states other than
-the bordering state, always form part of the territorial sea of the
-bordering state, and they cannot be closed; (3) in straits whose
-coasts belong to the same state, the sea is territorial even though
-the distance between the coasts is greater than twelve miles, if at
-each entrance of the strait this distance is not exceeded; (4) straits
-which serve as a passage from one free sea to another free sea can
-never be closed. The rules were adopted by the Institut in 1894, and
-by the International Law Association, with slight amendments, in the
-following year, when Sir Richard Webster (now Lord Alverstone, the Lord
-Chief Justice of England) was in the chair.[1273] The rules as finally
-adopted in London are given in Appendix O.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-THE INADEQUACY OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT FOR FISHERY REGULATIONS.
-
-
-The recommendation of the International Law Association and of the
-French Institute that the territorial waters should be extended to
-six miles from the shore, or double the width usually enforced, was
-avowedly made, as we have seen, chiefly in the interests of the sea
-fisheries; and it may be presumed from the opinions of the majority
-of accredited writers on the law of nations, as reviewed in these
-pages, that it is open to any Power so to extend its territorial sea,
-except in so far as such extension may be opposed to the provisions
-of treaties with any other Power or Powers. It is undoubtedly the
-case that in by far the greater number of instances in which the
-limits of territorial waters, or the rights of the bordering state in
-the adjacent sea, have been disputed, or have come under discussion,
-between one nation and another, it was the right of fishery that was at
-issue. From the reign of James I. this has been the case, and it has
-been exhibited on all coasts, and in almost all countries. How replete
-our history is with such disputes may be gathered from foregoing
-chapters, while nearly all recent international treaties in which
-limits in the neighbouring sea are dealt with have been concerned with
-fishery questions. The numerous treaties and agreements with the United
-States and France respecting the vexed rights of fishing on the coasts
-of British North America, the North Sea conventions in Europe, and the
-various other agreements between European Powers, as between Spain and
-Portugal, Austria and Italy, Denmark and Sweden, Denmark and Germany,
-Great Britain and France, Belgium and Germany, and with Denmark
-concerning Iceland, are instances in point. The fishery interest is
-thus the determining interest, and the one which has made these various
-conventions desirable.
-
-There appears to be little doubt that, in many cases at least, the
-three-mile boundary which has been commonly fixed in the fishery
-conventions is inadequate from the point of view of the fisheries,
-and this is the opinion of most of the experts and authorities, as is
-explained below. It must not be forgotten that the three-mile limit
-was selected, not on any grounds special to fisheries, but because it
-had been already recognised and put into force in connection with the
-rights of neutrals and belligerents in time of war, as representing
-the approximate range of guns at the time. It is in reality a product
-of the maritime wars in the latter part of the eighteenth and the
-beginning of the nineteenth century, and its application to the
-right of fishing is accidental and arbitrary. The boundaries which
-were formerly proposed as limiting the right to exclusive fishery,
-independently of any question of the rights of neutrals or the range
-of cannon, were invariably greater than three miles. The range of
-vision was employed in Scotland and on the English coast later; its
-equivalent of fourteen miles was embodied in the Draft Treaty of Union
-between England and Scotland in 1604, and was proposed again in 1618;
-and Sir Philip Meadows, the most able opponent of extravagant claims to
-maritime sovereignty, favoured a similar distance in 1689. Limits of
-eight miles and ten miles to be enforced against foreigners were fixed
-in the Fishery Bill passed by the House of Commons in 1660, while as
-late as 1824 and 1827 the Dutch Government decreed a limit of six miles
-for their fishermen on the British coasts. We have seen, too, that the
-wider extent of sea in which rights of exclusive fishery are claimed
-by the Scandinavian and Iberian states exists in great measure because
-those Powers established their limit without reference to Bynkershoek’s
-doctrine, and before indeed it became prevalent.
-
-The same need of a wider limit is shown in the municipal legislation
-of many countries, which was specially designed with the object
-of preserving sea fisheries, as well as in certain international
-agreements. There are two classes of sea fisheries which have received
-special treatment beyond the ordinary limits of territorial waters,
-and both on the same principle--viz., that the action of man, if
-unrestrained, would lead to their destruction and economic extinction.
-They are those for marine mammals, as seals and cetaceans, and for
-certain shell-fishes and coral. A considerable number of countries have
-legislated for the preservation of seals, and some of the enactments
-at least apply beyond the ordinary limits. Examples may be found in
-the Canadian statute of 1886,[1274] which refers also to whales and
-porpoises; the Russian law dealing with the sealing industry in the
-White Sea; the Norwegian law fixing a close-time for whales in the
-Varangerfjord; and the concurrent international legislation of Great
-Britain, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Germany, and Holland concerning the
-Jan Mayen seal fishery in the Atlantic east of Greenland.[1275] A
-recent instance is afforded by the regulations which were prescribed
-for British and American citizens and subjects by the Tribunal of
-Arbitration for the purpose of protecting and preserving the fur-seal
-in Behring Sea. By these regulations the killing, capture, or pursuit
-of this animal was forbidden within a zone of sixty geographical miles
-around the Pribilov Islands, comprising about 15,000 square miles of
-sea; a close-time was fixed between 1st May and 31st July on the high
-sea within an immense area--viz., north of 35 degrees North latitude
-and eastwards of 180 degrees West longitude; only specially licensed
-sailing vessels, with canoes or undecked boats propelled by paddles,
-oars, or sails, were at liberty to carry on fur-sealing operations
-where and when the fishing was allowed; the use of nets, firearms, and
-explosives was forbidden, except shot-guns outside of Behring Sea, and
-some minor conditions were laid down.[1276]
-
-Another instance is the agreements entered into between Russia on the
-one hand and Great Britain and the United States on the other, by
-which a zone of ten marine miles on all the Russian coasts of Behring
-Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, and a zone of thirty marine miles
-round the Commander Islands and Robben Island, were closed to sealing
-for the fur-seal.[1277]
-
-The other class of fisheries referred to, for sedentary animals
-connected with the bottom, such as oysters, pearl-oysters, and coral,
-which are found in shallow water, as a rule, and usually near the
-coast, have always been considered as on a different footing from
-fisheries for floating fish. They may be very valuable, are generally
-restricted in extent, and are admittedly capable of being exhausted or
-destroyed; and they are looked upon rather as belonging to the soil or
-bed of the sea than to the sea itself. This is recognised in municipal
-law, and international law also recognises in certain cases a claim to
-such fisheries when they extend along the soil under the sea beyond
-the ordinary territorial limit. Cases in point are the pearl-fisheries
-on the banks in the Gulf of Manar, Ceylon, which extend from six to
-twenty-one miles from the coast, and are subject to a colonial Act of
-1811, which authorises the seizure and condemnation of any boat found
-within the limits of the pearl-banks, or hovering near them: boats
-or vessels navigating the inner passage are prohibited from hovering
-or anchoring in water deeper than four fathoms, and those navigating
-the outer passage from hovering or anchoring within twelve fathoms.
-These pearl-fisheries are very valuable, and have been treated from
-time immemorial by the successive rulers of the island as subjects
-of property and jurisdiction; and the laws referred to apply also
-to foreigners. Another case is the pearl-fisheries in Australia. In
-Western Australia certain Acts are applied far beyond the three-mile
-limit, though apparently only against British subjects,[1278] and a
-similar Act, of 1888, applied in Queensland to extra-territorial waters
-west of Torres Strait. The pearl-fisheries of Mexico and Columbia
-are also subject to regulation beyond the ordinary three-mile limit.
-Examples of extra-territorial jurisdiction over beds of the common
-edible oyster are to be found in the British conventions with France
-in 1839 and 1867, by which the Bay of Granville was reserved to France
-(see p. 612), and in the last of these conventions (Article ix.) a
-close-time was provided in the English Channel; and likewise in the
-proceedings concerning the Arklow and Wexford banks, off the Irish
-coast (see p. 621). Coral-beds in the Mediterranean, off the coasts
-of Algeria, Sardinia, and Sicily, are in a similar way regulated by
-Italian and French laws beyond the ordinary three-mile limit.
-
-Even in regard to the class of fisheries for what is termed “floating”
-fish--that is to say, the ordinary fisheries for sea fishes, carried on
-usually by nets and lines--there are a number of enactments conferring
-jurisdiction, or which have conferred jurisdiction, beyond the distance
-of three miles from shore. Old English and British Acts, previously
-referred to (p. 608), fixed limits of four-and-a-half and five miles
-from the coast, within which distance the use of certain apparatus,
-as drag-nets and trawls, was prohibited. In the Herring Fishery Act
-of 1808, which provided for the appointment of commissioners for the
-herring fishery, and for the regulation of the fishery and the curing
-of herrings, jurisdiction was extended over “all persons” engaged in
-catching, curing, and dealing in fish in all the lochs, bays, and arms
-of the sea, and also within ten miles of the coasts.[1279] At the Isle
-of Man an Act of Tynwald prohibited herring-fishing at a certain season
-within nine miles of the shore,[1280] and other instances might be
-given where municipal Acts extended jurisdiction beyond the ordinary
-three-mile limit for similar purposes.
-
-It is, however, in connection with the great development of
-trawl-fishing from steamers in recent years, that the question of the
-inadequacy of the ordinary three-mile limit for the preservation and
-regulation of fisheries has been brought to the front, and it is around
-this method of fishing that most of the controversies affecting the
-territorial waters, at least in Europe, have gathered.[1281] It is
-therefore necessary to understand something about it, and how it is
-that it has given rise to demands for the extension of the ordinary
-limits and for the closure of large areas beyond these limits. It is
-the most effective and at the same time the most destructive method of
-fishing ever made use of. It differs from hook-and-line fishing, in
-which only a few kinds of fish are taken at the same time, according
-to the size of the hook and the kind of bait, and from gill-net or
-drift-net fishing, which is adapted, according to the dimensions of the
-mesh, to capture a particular fish, as herring or mackerel. Trawling
-consists essentially in dragging along the bottom of the sea a great
-bag of netting, which captures a large variety of fishes, big and
-little; and it may involve, at certain places and in certain seasons,
-the destruction of immense quantities of edible fishes too small to be
-marketable, and which are thrown back, dead, into the sea.[1282] It
-is a very old method, but until about a century ago it was confined
-on the British coast to the mouth of the Thames and neighbourhood and
-to certain localities in the Channel, its headquarters being Barking
-and Brixham. Trawling was then restricted to shallow water; the boats
-were small and the trawls were such as a man could carry on his
-shoulders. At the close of the French war, Brixham trawlers began to
-migrate eastwards, prospecting for new grounds, fixing their temporary
-headquarters first at Dover, then at Ramsgate in 1818, and at Harwich
-in 1828. Continuing their explorations, the Dutch coast was visited
-about 1830 and the southern part of the Dogger Bank a few years later,
-and in 1837 a great impetus was given to trawling by the discovery of
-enormous quantities of soles in the Great Silver Pit, south of the
-Dogger. Trawlers flocked thither from all quarters; the Brixham men
-fixed upon Hull, first as their temporary, and then as their permanent
-home, and from this time North Sea trawling was firmly established. It
-was not until 1858, little more than half a century ago, that trawlers
-began to be employed from Grimsby, which is now by far the greatest
-fishing-port in the world. Gradually the enlarging fleets of trawlers
-pushed northwards and eastwards as new grounds were discovered. By 1860
-the whole of the Dutch coast and the coast of Schleswig was frequented;
-ten years later the Danish coast was included, and, for the first time,
-the whole of the Dogger Bank, as well as large areas north and west of
-it, off the coast of England and Scotland. About 1875 the Great Fisher
-Bank, which lies about 200 miles east of the Scottish coast, began
-to be visited, and in 1891 the English trawlers boldly pushed on to
-Iceland, where enormous catches of fish were obtained.
-
-During this period, while the fishing-grounds were being vastly
-extended, great improvements were made in the means of catching the
-fish and bringing them to market. The trawling vessels gradually
-increased in numbers, size, speed, and storage capacity; the trawl-net
-grew larger and more efficient; the use of ice for the preservation
-of the fish enabled distant grounds to be visited, and the deeper
-waters of the north necessitated the substitution of steam-power for
-hand-labour in hauling the nets on board; the “fleeting” system, by
-which steam-carriers collected the fish each morning and brought them
-rapidly to market, allowed the fleets of sailing smacks to remain on
-the grounds constantly fishing for many weeks at a time. Then the
-industry was revolutionised by the substitution of steam vessels for
-the sailing smacks, a change which began about 1878; and trawling,
-which was at first a summer occupation owing to the frailty of the
-boats, and then a winter pursuit, as plenty of wind was required to
-drag the heavier nets, became independent of the season, and almost
-of the weather. A further improvement was the introduction in 1895 of
-the otter-trawl instead of the unwieldy beam-trawl, the mouth of the
-net being kept open by the divergence of two boards, one at each side,
-on the principle of the kite. This allowed the net to be made very
-much larger, and also to be used in much deeper water, and commercial
-trawling is now carried on in depths down to about 200 fathoms.
-
-There has thus occurred during the last generation or so an enormous
-development in the extent and efficiency of trawl-fishing. The
-British fleet since about 1885 has grown from some 200 small vessels,
-of twenty to twenty-four tons, and using trawls of from twenty to
-thirty feet beam, to an aggregate of 3170 vessels in 1907, of which
-1609 were steamers and 918 deep-sea sailing smacks.[1283] These
-figures, however, convey but little impression of the real increase
-in the catching power. It has been computed, both by practical men
-and by scientific experts, that the modern steam otter-trawler is
-approximately eight times more effective in catching fish than was
-one of the large sailing smacks of a generation ago,[1284] and thus
-the British deep-sea trawling fleet in 1907 was equal to about 13,790
-of the older sailing smacks. But in addition to these there are the
-foreign steam-trawlers which fish on the same grounds, for many other
-countries have followed the English example in developing deep-sea
-trawling. The aggregate number of such vessels at the end of 1907 was
-about 634, of which 224 were French, 239 German, and 81 Dutch;[1285]
-and they would represent 5072 sailing smacks, so that the total
-trawling fleet of Western Europe was then equal to about 18,862 of the
-sailing trawlers of twenty or thirty years ago, the sailing trawlers in
-use on the Continent being left out of account. It has been calculated
-that the area of the sea-bottom which is swept each day by the nets of
-this great fleet is equal to about 2000 square miles.
-
-Now, this extraordinary extension of trawl-fishing in recent times
-bears upon the question of territorial waters in two ways. One relates
-to the impoverishment of the older fishing-grounds near the coast and
-in the North Sea. The other relates to the incursion of steam-trawlers
-on foreign coasts as affecting the fishing of the inhabitants of such
-coasts.
-
-With regard to the first, there have been many inquiries made by
-Royal Commissions and Parliamentary Committees, as well as by fishery
-departments and experts, which show that the excessive fishing has
-depleted the older banks. In the first of these inquiries, which began
-in 1863, when there were only from 650 to 700 smacks trawling in the
-North Sea (and then only in a part of it), the reporters expressed
-their belief that this method of fishing “in the open sea” was not
-wastefully destructive, and required no legislative interference,
-for if any ground were over-fished, the fishing there would become
-unprofitable, and the trawlers would go elsewhere.[1286] The next
-Commission, in 1878, by which time trawling had greatly developed, came
-to much the same general conclusions; but they found that a decrease
-of soles had occurred, and also a decrease of plaice and flounders in
-some localities, and they recommended that power should be given to the
-Secretary of State to forbid trawling “in any of the territorial seas,”
-which power was conferred in 1881.[1287] This inquiry was noteworthy
-as first revealing complaints by the trawlers themselves of the
-diminution of certain fish and the impoverishment of inshore grounds,
-and for the advocacy by Grimsby smack-owners of the prohibition of
-trawling at localities where small fish abound, as the inlets on the
-Dutch and German coast, the Wash, and off Yarmouth, and even within
-a nine-mile limit all round the shores of the North Sea. At the next
-Commission of inquiry, in 1883, the complaints of the trawlers were
-stronger, and the remedies they proposed more drastic. Those of Hull
-and Grimsby stated that the numbers of flat fishes, particularly soles,
-had much diminished; that the nearer grounds were impoverished, and
-that they had to go much greater distances for their supplies of fish.
-They expressed the belief that most damage was being done by trawling
-along the coasts, especially on the Continental side of the North
-Sea, and that the most effectual remedy would be to prohibit trawling
-within a ten-mile limit around the whole of the North Sea coasts. The
-conclusions reached by the Commission were that soles had decreased,
-and also flat fishes and haddocks in many parts of the territorial
-waters between Grimsby and the Moray Firth, and they recommended that
-the Scottish Fishery Board should receive powers to regulate or suspend
-trawling within territorial waters.[1288]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 26.--_Showing the three-mile limit and a
-thirteen-mile limit in the North Sea._]
-
-From this time onwards the demand of the trawlers for some legislative
-restrictions on trawl-fishing increased to a clamour. At a conference
-of practical fishermen held in 1883, in connection with the
-International Fisheries Exhibition at London, statements were made by
-trawlers as to the enormous destruction of under-sized fish and the
-depletion of the grounds, and a resolution was passed calling upon the
-Government to bring about an international conference to consider the
-desirability of recommending legislation.[1289] At another conference,
-in 1888, they declared that a large and distressing diminution of
-flat-fishes had occurred in the North Sea; that they viewed the future
-with alarm unless some steps were immediately taken to protect immature
-fishes; and they called upon the Government to try to arrange for an
-international law for the purpose.[1290] As no result followed from the
-representations to the Government, the trawl-owners on the East Coast
-took independent action in 1890, and formally agreed, as a preliminary
-step, to prevent their trawlers from fishing in the summer within a
-very large area of extra-territorial water off the German and Danish
-coasts, where immature fish were generally caught in great abundance.
-The line of closure of this area extended along the coast for 130
-miles, passing, to the west of Heligoland, at a distance varying from
-twenty to over fifty miles from the shore, and embracing no less
-than about 3600 square (geographical) miles of water lying outside the
-three-mile limit as defined by the North Sea Convention. The Conference
-also pressed for legislation of a national and international character
-to prevent the sale and purchase of immature fish, and they defined
-what they meant by that term.[1291] For some time at least the vessels
-of the great trawling companies abstained from fishing within the large
-area above referred to, but the voluntary arrangement fell through
-owing to the action of independent “single-boaters,” and the grounds
-were never effectually closed. The Government went so far to meet
-the wishes of the trawlers as to issue, through the Foreign Office,
-invitations from the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association
-to various Continental Governments to send delegates to a conference
-in 1890, and representatives from Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany,
-the Netherlands, and Spain attended a meeting at Fishmongers’ Hall in
-that year, but no representative of this country was present in an
-official capacity. Statements of the usual kind were made as to the
-impoverishment of the fishing-grounds and the necessity of remedial
-measures in order to keep up the fish supply, and it was resolved, in
-view of an official international conference being called, to circulate
-a set of questions regarding the scientific and statistical aspect of
-the subject.[1292]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 27.--_Showing the area of the Small-fish Grounds,
-which the English trawlers desired to have closed for the preservation
-of immature fish._]
-
-The complaints continuing as to the deterioration of the fisheries, the
-Government in 1893 appointed a Select Committee of the House of Commons
-to inquire into their condition and to report as to what remedies
-might be required. The trawlers again gave strong evidence as to the
-impoverishment of the grounds in the North Sea from over-fishing,
-the banks having been “fished out” in succession as they were
-discovered, so that they were compelled to go to distant regions, as
-Iceland and the Bay of Biscay, to keep up the supplies. Some of them
-still pressed for an extension beyond the three-mile limit and the
-prohibition of trawling within ten miles from the shore, especially
-on the foreign coasts on the eastern side of the North Sea, and in
-particular that large areas in the extra-territorial waters should
-be closed by international agreement. The prohibition of the sale of
-immature flat fishes was also strongly advocated as an indirect means
-of closing these grounds. The Committee reported that the evidence of
-all classes of witnesses, “whether trawlers or linesmen, smack-owners
-or fishermen, scientific experts or statisticians,” showed that a
-considerable diminution had occurred among the more valuable classes
-of flat-fishes in the North Sea, which was to be attributed to
-over-fishing by trawlers in certain localities; and they recommended
-that the sale of undersized flat-fishes should be forbidden, and that
-the three-mile limit should be extended for fishery purposes alone,
-provided it could be effected on an international basis.[1293]
-
-It does not appear that any action was taken by the British Government
-in consequence of this report; and as the trawlers had failed to get
-the large area of the German and Danish coasts closed to them directly,
-they got a Bill introduced into Parliament to prohibit the sale of
-undersized flat-fishes, in the belief that an enactment of that kind
-would result in closing the grounds indirectly. The reasoning on
-which they proceeded was this. Trawling, to be remunerative, depends
-upon the capture of a variety of fishes, and it is not possible by an
-enlargement of the mesh of the net to allow of undersized flat-fishes
-escaping, without also and at the same time permitting the escape of
-numerous large marketable round-fishes, as haddocks, as well as of
-many marketable soles, and fishing under such conditions would be
-unprofitable. It was also known that it would be futile to return to
-the sea the undersized fishes after they had been brought on board,
-because in commercial trawling they are dead or moribund, and might as
-well be taken ashore as thrown back into the water. It was admitted
-that the only effective way to protect the immature fish was to
-prevent the trawl from being used on the grounds; and if this could
-not be done by direct closure of the area, it might be accomplished
-by prohibiting the sale of undersized flat-fishes generally; for on
-these particular “small fish” grounds, or “nurseries,” large fishes are
-so scarce that trawling is remunerative only by reason of the great
-quantity of small fishes taken. If the sale of these were forbidden,
-then trawling in such localities would cease. For an enactment of this
-kind to succeed, it was obviously necessary that it should apply to
-the whole kingdom, and it was opposed by fishermen on other parts of
-the coast; and as it was felt to be extremely problematical whether
-it would secure the cessation of trawling on the small-fish grounds
-without at the same time injuriously affecting the fisheries on our own
-coast and raising the price of fish, the Bill was abandoned. Several
-subsequent Bills of the same kind shared the same fate, usually after
-a more or less exhaustive inquiry by a Parliamentary Committee. One
-of those Committees, consisting of thirteen members of the House
-of Commons, took evidence in 1900 from the representatives of the
-trawlers and others, of the character previously described, advocates
-of the Bill admitting that in their view it was a tentative measure,
-and that the direct closure of the grounds would be preferable. The
-Committee thought that it was proved beyond all doubt that there was a
-serious diminution of flat-fishes, particularly in the North Sea; that
-the ancient fishing-grounds were much depleted; that the evil was a
-growing one, and that in default of a remedy the consequences would be
-disastrous to the industry.[1294] One of the causes of the diminution
-was found to be the vast destruction of immature fish, the direct
-remedy for which, the Committee said, was either the prohibition of the
-taking and killing of such fish, or the prohibition of fishing within
-areas where small fish abound. They were of opinion that the former
-was practically impossible without prohibiting trawling altogether,
-while the areas where the small fish congregate could only be closed
-by a joint international arrangement. The indirect remedy was that
-proposed by the Bill, and, for reasons such as are stated above, they
-felt it would not be expedient to pass the Bill into law without
-further inquiry and investigation. The Committee were of opinion that
-the subject of the diminution of the fish supply was a very pressing
-one, and that the situation was going from bad to worse, and they
-recommended that no effort should be spared, first, to arrange for
-international treatment of the subject generally, and especially for
-regulation of the North Sea area; and second, to provide for the
-adequate equipment of the Government Departments in charge of the
-subject.[1295]
-
-The trawlers still pressed for legislation to deal with the wasteful
-destruction of undersized fish, and continued to pass resolutions
-on the subject;[1296] and another and somewhat modified Bill was
-introduced into the House of Lords in 1904 by the Department of
-Agriculture and Fisheries, and remitted to a Select Committee of
-that House. The Committee, after taking much evidence of the usual
-kind, stated their opinion that the ideal manner of protecting the
-fishing-grounds in the North Sea where young fish abound would be by
-an international agreement between all the Powers concerned, and they
-expressed the hope that the Government would not relax its efforts
-to secure such a convention. It was thought that, as the first step
-towards attaining this result, the Bill ought to be passed into law;
-but the opposition to it was too strong, and it shared the fate of its
-numerous predecessors.[1297]
-
-The statements of the trawlers that the older fishing-grounds are
-impoverished, particularly those in the North Sea, are borne out by
-the results of statistical and scientific inquiries. It was calculated
-by Professor W. Garstang that the average catch of bottom fishes, per
-fishing unit, decreased in the North Sea in the ten years 1889 to
-1898 from 60·6 to 32·3; or, in other words, that while the average
-take of each trawling smack in 1889 was sixty tons, it was only about
-thirty-two tons in 1898.[1298] The official statistics published
-annually by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries show that the
-quantity of bottom fishes taken from the North Sea is declining, while
-on the other hand the quantity landed in this country from distant
-waters is greatly increasing.[1299]
-
-This brings us to the second point, in which the immense development
-of trawling touches upon the question of territorial waters--namely,
-the flocking of the trawlers to new grounds on foreign coasts. As the
-North Sea became, comparatively speaking, more and more exhausted,
-the vessels were compelled to go farther and farther away in order to
-maintain the supply.[1300] The grounds at Iceland, now so important
-not only to the British trawlers but to the Germans and the French,
-were first visited in 1891, and those in the neighbourhood of the Faröe
-Islands a little later. The operations of the trawlers were at first
-limited to the south-east coast, but the catches were so enormous,
-and the enterprise so profitable, that large and seaworthy vessels
-were specially built for this fishing, which became one of the most
-important for the English markets.[1301] Then the grounds in the Bay
-of Biscay and those on the coasts of Spain and Portugal began to be
-frequented, mostly from about the year 1902; and in the next year the
-operations of the trawlers were extended farther south to the coast
-of Morocco, as far at least as Agadir (20 deg. N. latitude), and even
-in some cases to the coast of Mauritania in French West Africa. The
-vessels fishing in these southern regions, many of them being fitted
-with refrigerating rooms, land a considerable proportion of their
-fish in Portugal and elsewhere. A year or two later, in 1905, the
-enterprising English trawlers opened up new grounds far away to the
-north-east in Barents Sea, at the very borders of the perpetual ice
-of the Arctic regions, and increasing numbers make the long double
-voyage of some 3500 miles thither every summer, and bring back from the
-neighbourhood of Cape Kanin great quantities of plaice for the English
-markets.
-
-Thus the great enterprise and energy of British trawlers, supported
-by large capital, have enabled them to exploit the available grounds
-from far beyond the Arctic circle almost to the tropics, and it is
-from those distant regions that an increasing proportion of the fish
-supply is being drawn.[1302] The influx of alien vessels, the most
-powerful and efficient fishing machines in existence, along these
-foreign coasts is not, as was naturally to be expected, viewed with
-satisfaction by the native fishermen. They see the fishing-grounds
-which they had so long been accustomed to consider as their own--in
-many cases lying within the territorial waters preserved to them by
-the laws of their own country, though possibly outside “the ordinary
-three-mile limit”--invaded and exploited by foreigners, and their own
-livelihood threatened. They fear that what has occurred in the North
-Sea will happen along their own coasts; that the fishing-grounds, often
-of limited extent, will be impoverished and exhausted for the sole
-benefit of the foreigners, and their efforts to maintain themselves
-and their families rendered difficult or impossible. They observe from
-their boats the immense hauls of fish made by the huge trawl-nets,
-and the great waste that is often involved.[1303] One cannot be
-surprised that the fishermen, and those who sympathise with them,
-feel indignation at the invasion of their waters by foreign trawlers,
-and that great meetings have been held, as in Spain and Portugal, to
-demand redress, and that at least the same limit as applies to natives
-pursuing similar methods should be enforced on the foreigners, or an
-international conference called to arrange for an equitable limit, or
-equitable treatment, which would have regard for the rights of all
-concerned.[1304]
-
-From the foregoing description of the problems associated with the
-modern development of trawling, it will not be difficult to understand
-the scope and nature of the legislation which has been devised in
-various countries to preserve the native fisheries for the inhabitants
-of the coast. It may be said that in practically all of them,
-trawl-fishing is either entirely prohibited within territorial waters
-or is subjected to various regulations, for the most part with the
-view of allowing minor forms of trawling, as that for shrimps, to be
-carried on. In those countries which have a zone of territorial water
-extending beyond the ordinary three-mile limit, it is prohibited within
-that zone, as in Norway, Spain, and Portugal, and even up to twelve
-miles from the shore; while in some others in which three miles is in
-use as the ordinary limit for exclusive fishing, trawling is forbidden
-at distances beyond that limit. In Italy and Austria steam-trawling is
-not allowed within five miles of the coast. In Scotland and Ireland it
-is prohibited in certain specified waters, which extend much beyond a
-three-mile boundary. As recent legislation, or byelaws made with the
-authority of Parliament, bearing upon these prohibitions have given
-rise to much controversy, it is desirable to consider them with a
-little care.
-
-In England, where the administration of the local fisheries around the
-coast is in the hands of various Sea Fisheries District Committees,
-numerous byelaws have been made and are in force, with the sanction
-of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, prohibiting or regulating
-trawling of one kind or another in the waters under the control of the
-Committees. None of the byelaws appear to apply to parts of the sea
-beyond the ordinary three-mile zone, though it is open to question
-whether the wording of the Act, by which the Committees were created,
-does not give power in that direction.[1305]
-
-The Irish Fishery Department have made a very large number of byelaws,
-at various times and under various Acts, for the regulation or
-prohibition of trawling. Of these some forty-four are at present in
-force, twenty-two applying to all trawling and twenty-two to steam
-trawling alone, and one or two of them date from the years 1842 and
-1851.[1306] Under these byelaws trawling in one form or another is
-prohibited entirely or under certain conditions at most parts of the
-coast of Ireland; and on certain parts of the coast not inconsiderable
-stretches of the sea, beyond the three-mile limit and the limit for
-bays as defined in the fishery conventions, are closed against this
-method of fishing. The lines around the coast within which trawling is
-prohibited, in many instances pass between headlands which may be as
-much as twenty-six, and even forty-three, miles apart; not infrequently
-they are drawn, not between headlands, but from one light-ship to
-another, and these light-ships may be four or five miles from land and
-twenty miles apart. Sometimes the closing line is placed three miles to
-the seawards of such base-lines; and they may pass from about two to
-seven or eight miles outside the limit as defined in the conventions,
-and in some instances up to ten or eleven miles from low-water mark on
-the shore.
-
-It is obvious that the principle upon which these lines have been drawn
-has been one of convenience. They differ entirely from the lines of
-closure in the two Scottish Firths referred to below, which are _inter
-fauces terræ_ with the lines passing from headland to headland. But all
-the lines on the Irish coast are well within the range of guns from
-the shore, and are thus, according to the Law of Nations, within the
-territorial sea. The aggregate area beyond the ordinary limits of the
-conventions amounts to a little over 400 square (geographical) miles.
-
-It does not appear that foreign trawlers have been found contravening
-the Irish byelaws to any great extent. Between June 1904 and September
-1905 seven steam-trawlers and one sailing-trawler were captured fishing
-within the limits, one of the former being registered in a foreign
-country, and, with regard to it, the official report says “it was
-found impossible to enforce the order made by the magistrates against
-the owner and skipper.” It is added that “it is thought, however,
-that means have been found within the existing law of compelling
-foreign trawlers to observe the byelaws affecting Irish territorial
-waters.”[1307]
-
-It is, however, with reference to the legislation for Scotland,
-under which certain areas are closed against trawling, that the main
-controversies have been raised. Several statutes gave power to the
-Fishery Board for Scotland to regulate trawling. The first was an
-Act of 1881,[1308] which empowered the Board of Trade to restrict or
-prohibit this method of fishing “in any area being part of the sea
-adjoining the United Kingdom, and within the territorial waters of
-Her Majesty’s dominions, within the meaning of the Territorial Waters
-Jurisdiction Act, 1878” (see p. 591); which power was transferred to
-the Scottish Board by subsequent Acts.[1309] Then the Sea Fisheries
-(Scotland) Amendment Act, of 1885,[1310] empowered the Board to make
-byelaws for restricting or prohibiting, either entirely or subject to
-such regulations as might be provided, any method of fishing “in any
-part of the sea adjoining Scotland, and within the exclusive fishery
-limits of the British Islands,” when they were satisfied that such
-mode of fishing was injurious to any kind of sea fishing within that
-part, or in order to make experiments and observations to ascertain
-this, or for fish-culture: and such byelaw was not to be valid until
-it had been confirmed by the Secretary for Scotland. Several byelaws
-under this Act were made, prohibiting trawling within certain areas on
-the coast of Scotland within the ordinary limits.[1311] It may well be
-questioned, in view of the definition of the “territorial waters of
-Her Majesty’s dominions” in the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act,
-and of the “exclusive fishery limits of the British Islands” in the
-Sea Fisheries Act, 1883,[1312] whether these powers were restricted to
-the three-mile limit and to bays whose width was not greater than ten
-miles; but it is noteworthy that a byelaw with reference to the Firth
-of Clyde was not confirmed by the Secretary for Scotland, presumably
-because it was considered at the time to be _ultra vires_.[1313]
-
-In 1889, however, an Act was passed which directly prohibited trawling
-“within three miles of low-water mark of any part of the coast of
-Scotland” (except the Solway and Pentland Firths), and within the
-waters specified in a schedule annexed, except in such parts as might
-from time to time be permitted by byelaws of the Fishery Board; and the
-Board was further empowered to forbid trawling within any area or areas
-in the Moray Firth between Duncansby Head and Rattray Point, which
-may be regarded as its headlands.[1314] The waters specified in the
-schedule included the areas closed under the then existing byelaws, as
-well as a number of bays, lochs, and areas, the most important of which
-was “the waters inside a line drawn from Corsewall Point, in the County
-of Wigton, to the Mull of Cantyre, in the County of Argyll”--that
-is to say, the Firth of Clyde. In this Act, it will be noted, nothing
-is said about bays, save in this schedule, and an examination of the
-charts shows that the waters specified in the schedule, twenty-five
-in number, would all, with a single exception, be included in the
-limits of exclusive fishing as defined in the North Sea Convention.
-Presumably the bays on the coast of Scotland which are not mentioned
-in the schedule do not come under the provisions of this Act beyond
-the distance of three miles from low-water mark on their shores. The
-exception referred to is the Firth of Clyde (fig. 29), where the line
-of closure is about twenty-eight miles in length, within which trawling
-was directly prohibited by the Act. The area of water outside the
-ordinary limits of the conventions which is thus embraced amounts to
-about 380 square (geographical) miles.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 29.--_The Firth of Clyde, showing the line of
-closure and the ordinary three-mile limit._]
-
-Under the section referring to the Moray Firth, a byelaw was passed
-in 1890 giving effect to its provisions within a straight line drawn
-from the Ord of Caithness to Craighead near Buckie, the extent of
-water enclosed, beyond the ordinary limits, being about 310 square
-miles. This was replaced by another byelaw in 1892, in which the
-line of closure to trawling was from Duncansby Head to Rattray Head,
-a distance of about 73 geographical miles, the area of sea enclosed
-between it and the ordinary limits amounting to approximately 1480
-square (geographical) miles (fig. 30). It is this byelaw that has of
-late given rise to discussion in relation to the operations of foreign
-trawlers within the Moray Firth, as is explained below.
-
-In 1895 another Bill was introduced into the House of Lords by the Lord
-Privy Seal (Lord Tweedmouth), with the object, among other things, of
-extending a similar jurisdiction over the waters washing the east coast
-of Scotland. The line at first chosen in this case was a very long one,
-running along the open coast from Rattray Head to the Farne Islands,
-a distance of about 120 miles, and passing a little over thirty miles
-east of Fife Ness.[1315] It was proposed later to give power to
-prohibit trawling in any area or areas within eighteen miles of the
-coast.[1316] In the Act as passed the distance was reduced to thirteen
-miles from the coast in areas under the jurisdiction of the Crown, and
-no area was to be so regarded unless the powers conferred had been
-accepted as binding upon their own subjects with respect to such area
-by all the states who were parties to the North Sea Convention.[1317]
-This section of the Act has remained inoperative, and no byelaws have
-been made under it; and there appears to be no evidence as to whether
-the views of other Powers have been obtained.
-
-In the Moray Firth, closed to trawling by the byelaw above referred
-to, foreign trawlers began to make their appearance first of all in
-1895, when a Danish vessel came. Two years later it returned, and a
-German trawler also, which was prevented from landing its fish at
-Aberdeen,--an act of the Crown, which was tested by a case in the Court
-of Session and upheld by it. In 1898 foreign trawlers appeared in the
-Firth in considerable numbers, and, it was reported, carried on their
-operations in such a reckless manner as to involve a great deal of
-damage to the gear of the net and line fishermen.[1318] These vessels
-appear to have been mainly Danish, but there were a few Belgian, Dutch,
-and German, and they came for the most part intermittently and for
-brief periods, some of them appearing only once or twice in a year.
-Soon, however, the Firth was invaded by a fleet of trawlers flying the
-Norwegian flag, although it was known that Norway possessed no steam
-trawlers,[1319] and these vessels fished regularly in the Moray Firth,
-carrying their fish to Grimsby, where they were landed and sold. It
-was soon discovered, and admitted, that these trawlers were in reality
-English, so far as capital, management, and crew were concerned, but
-they were registered in Norway in order to evade the British statute,
-and they soon obtained a practical monopoly of trawling in the Moray
-Firth. In 1901 there were fourteen or fifteen of them, but by 1905 they
-had increased to twenty-nine or thirty; while the visits of trawlers of
-other nationalities had diminished to nine in 1903, to six in 1904, and
-to two in each of the three following years. In 1903 and 1904 thirteen
-convictions were recorded against foreign trawlers, eight in connection
-with the Moray Firth and five in connection with the Clyde; in 1905
-the number rose to fifteen for the Moray Firth and six for the Clyde.
-In all these cases the charge was for trawling within the ordinary
-three-mile limit. In 1905 a case was brought against Martin Olsen, the
-Norwegian “flag-master” of one of the trawlers registered in Norway,
-the _Catalonia_, for trawling within the Dornoch Firth in contravention
-of the Act of 1889, and byelaw No. 2, made under the Act of 1885. The
-place where the offence was committed was beyond the distance of three
-miles from the shore, but it was within three miles of the ten-mile
-base-line across the Dornoch Firth, and therefore within the exclusive
-fishery limit as defined in the conventions, and within one of the
-areas scheduled in the Act of 1889. The Sheriff-Substitute at Dornoch
-sustained Olsen’s plea of no jurisdiction, on the ground that the
-_Catalonia_ was registered in Norway, and Norway was not one of the
-Powers signatory to the North Sea Convention. On appeal to the High
-Court of Justiciary the decision was reversed, the judges holding that
-the prohibition in the Act of 1889, being quite general in terms, was
-applicable to foreigners as well as to British subjects, and that
-it was not for them to draw a distinction which had not been made by
-Parliament.[1320]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 30.--_The Moray Firth, showing the line of
-closure._]
-
-This decision was the means of raising the question whether the byelaw
-did not apply to foreigners equally with British subjects in the
-whole extent of the Firth, and a series of cases were brought before
-the Sheriff to test the point. Three prosecutions were instituted,
-one against Emmanuel Mortensen, a Dane, master of the _Niobe_, of
-Sandefjord, Norway, for trawling at a point about five miles off
-Lossiemouth; another against Thomas Robinson, a British subject, master
-of the _Verbena_ of Stavanger, Norway, for trawling at a point five
-miles S.S.E. of Garty Point, Sutherlandshire; and the third against
-Arthur Lambert, a British subject, fishing-master of the _Pinewold_,
-registered at Sandefjord, Norway, for trawling at a distance of seven
-miles from Tarbetness. Convictions were obtained in all cases in the
-Sheriff Court of Dornoch, mainly on the same ground as in the above
-case, that the statute was general and applied to all persons, but
-Sheriff (now Lord) Guthrie also held that the Moray Firth was within
-the territorial waters of Scotland.[1321]
-
-The case in regard to Mortensen was appealed and was heard by the
-full bench of twelve judges of the High Court of Justiciary, who
-unanimously upheld the conviction and dismissed the appeal. The
-leading opinion was delivered by the Lord Justice-General (Lord
-Dunedin), who treated the question as one of construction, and of
-construction only, since the court had nothing to do with whether
-an Act of the Legislature was _ultra vires_ or in contravention of
-international law; they had only to give effect to it. The terms of
-the Act, applying to “every person” committing the offence within an
-area which was precisely defined, made the inference strong that it
-was meant to apply to all persons whatsoever; and this inference was
-further strengthened by the consideration that the clear object of
-the Act was to stop trawling, and that object would be defeated or
-rendered less effective if the prohibition applied only to British
-subjects, while leaving those of other nations free. With regard to
-the territorial or non-territorial character of the place where the
-_Niobe_ had been trawling, Lord Dunedin said that while it might be
-assumed that within the three-mile limit the territorial sovereignty
-would be sufficient to cover such legislation, that was not a proof of
-the counter proposition, that outside the three miles no such result
-could be looked for. There were at least three points which went far
-to show that the _locus_ was _intra fauces terræ_: (1) the dicta of
-the Scottish Institutional Writers, as Stair and Bell;[1322] (2) the
-fact that the same statute puts forward claims to analogous places, as,
-_e.g._, the Firth of Clyde; (3) there were many instances in decided
-cases where the right of a nation to legislate for waters more or less
-landlocked, though beyond the three-mile limit, had been admitted.
-“It seems to me, therefore,” continued Lord Dunedin, “without laying
-down the proposition that the Moray Firth is for every purpose within
-the territorial sovereignty, it can at least be clearly said that the
-appellant cannot make out his proposition that it is inconceivable
-that the British Legislature should attempt for fishery regulation to
-legislate against all and sundry in such a place. And if that is so,
-then I revert to the considerations already stated, which, as a matter
-of construction, make me think that it did so legislate.” He did not
-think any argument could be drawn from the definition of “exclusive
-fishery limit” in the North Sea Convention, inasmuch as the Convention,
-as a whole, did not deal with what was here in question--viz., mode
-of fishing; and the Act treated subjects and foreigners alike in the
-matter.
-
-Lord Kyllachy also held that, on the point of construction, the
-intention of the Act was that in no part of the area should trawling be
-practised by anybody; the terms were definite and applied to a quite
-definite area; it would be easier to suppose that the Legislature
-had reached even an erroneous conclusion as to the extent of its
-jurisdiction, than that it had resolved deliberately to impose a
-futile restriction upon its own countrymen and at the same time to
-create a hurtful monopoly in favour of foreigners. With regard to
-the territorial or non-territorial character of the Moray Firth, it
-seemed vain to suggest that according to international law there was
-any part of it which was simply an area of the open sea, and thus in
-the same position as if it were situated, say, in the middle of the
-German Ocean. The whole Firth was _prima facie_ a “bay,” with two
-well-marked headlands, and stretching inwards for many miles into the
-heart of the country. All that could be said against this was that at
-its outer end the Firth was very wide, and of a size, if not also of
-a configuration, somewhat beyond what is usually characteristic of
-bays and estuaries; but that might or might not be so, and the cases
-of the Bristol Channel, the Firth of Clyde, and the Firth of Forth
-would have to be considered before the proposition could be affirmed.
-There was no established rule on the subject in international law, and
-in particular no rule “so arbitrary and artificial as that of the
-ten-mile limit measure,” for which the appellant contended. Perhaps the
-most interesting part of Lord Kyllachy’s opinion concerned the bearing
-of the North Sea Convention on the case. If the question had been one
-of _exclusive fishing privileges_, the bearing of the Convention might
-have been important. “But exclusive fishing privileges--or, at all
-events, exclusive fishing privileges as defined by convention--are
-one thing; territorial jurisdiction, proprietary or protective, is
-a different thing.... There is certainly nothing in the Convention,
-at least nothing was brought under our notice, which in the least
-conflicts with the right of the several contracting nations to
-impose each of them within its territorial limits (whatever these
-are) restrictions universally applicable against injurious practices
-or modes of fishing such as are by this statute and byelaw imposed
-here. In other words, there is nothing in the statute and byelaw in
-question which at all interferes with the exclusive fishing privileges
-of the several nations.” He could not consent to the argument that
-the Convention had introduced a new chapter into international law
-establishing, with respect to the definition of bays and estuaries, new
-and artificial rules. The other judges who gave their reasoned opinions
-expressed similar views, both as to the construction of the Act, the
-possibility or probability that the Moray Firth was a territorial bay
-by the law of nations, and as to the distinction between the limits of
-exclusive fishing as defined in the Convention and the right of the
-bordering state to regulate the fishery beyond that limit and within
-its territorial waters, provided the regulations applied equally to
-all.[1323]
-
-It is to be noted that although the question was strictly one of the
-construction of the Act, the judges had necessarily, in reaching
-its true meaning, to consider certain aspects of international law
-in relation to the territorial sea. From the above summary of their
-opinions, it is evident that the most eminent Scottish lawyers are in
-agreement with the modern publicists whose views have been referred
-to in a previous chapter, both in rejecting the three-mile limit
-as the farthest boundary of territorial sovereignty and as to the
-ten-mile rule (to say nothing of the six-mile theory) for bays. It
-may, however, be questioned as to how far the doctrine of independent
-territorial regulation of fisheries beyond the limit of exclusive
-fishing, as defined in the Conventions, will be accepted as applied
-to the signatories of the Conventions. It is not expressly stated in
-the Conventions that the waters outside the exclusive fishery limits
-shall be free and common to all; but that is implied even in the title
-of the last of them,[1324] and the Convention, in point of fact, lays
-down such regulations for the conduct of the fishery, outside the
-exclusive fishery limits, as appeared to the signatories at the time
-sufficient for the equitable enjoyment of the common right. It would
-be easy to conceive of general regulations being applied independently
-at particular places by one state, which would have the effect of
-abridging the common right of the other states, without affecting the
-interests of its own subjects--on the principle of the invitations
-which the fox and the stork issued to one another in the fable. That
-the intention was to leave the fisheries outside the limits mentioned
-free, except in so far as the regulations agreed upon affected them, is
-clear from the proceedings at the conference at The Hague. As regards
-other states, however, such as Norway, which were not signatories of
-the Conventions, it is equally clear that, up to the utmost bounds of
-the territorial waters, regulations may not only be imposed on their
-subjects, but they may be excluded from the fisheries altogether.
-
-The effect of the decision of the High Court of Justiciary was
-apparently to keep the foreign trawlers out of the Moray Firth for
-a short time. But very soon a number of them came back again from
-Grimsby, with express instructions from the owners to fish in the Moray
-Firth. On 31st January 1907 six masters, all foreigners, of trawlers
-registered in Norway, were charged at Elgin Sheriff Court with thirteen
-separate contraventions of the byelaw, committed between 23rd November
-and 22nd December 1906, at various distances from about five to twelve
-miles from the coast; on conviction, penalties of £100 or sixty days’
-imprisonment were imposed, and five of the men went to prison. On 4th
-February other two masters of foreign trawlers were convicted of a
-corresponding offence at Wick Sheriff Court. At the trial at Elgin, the
-Norwegian Vice-Consul at Aberdeen read a protest, at the instance of
-the Foreign Minister of Norway, against the conviction of the masters
-of three of the Norwegian vessels which he named, provided the trawling
-with which they were charged had taken place “outside the territorial
-limits.”[1325]
-
-Representations were also made to the British Foreign Secretary by
-the Norwegian Minister in London (Dr F. Nansen), and the men were
-released on 9th February,[1326] the decision of the Scottish High
-Court being thus in effect set aside. It was subsequently explained
-that in taking this action Norway was merely making a formal stand
-for the rights of her flag, since the trawlers had been registered
-in Norway in a legal way, Norwegian subjects were concerned, and no
-claim had been put forward on behalf of the British Government to the
-Moray Firth as being territorial in character. In point of fact, the
-Norwegian Government was in full sympathy with the policy of keeping
-the pseudo-Norwegian vessels out of the Moray Firth,[1327] and they
-immediately, after the formal protest referred to, issued orders
-warning all owners of Norwegian trawlers fishing in the Moray Firth to
-cease from doing so, and not to expect the support of their Government
-in case of proceedings being taken against them in Scotland.[1328]
-It does not appear that any advantage was taken of this proceeding
-for further prosecutions of Norwegians contravening the law; but it
-was decided to proceed against British subjects who might be found on
-the foreign vessels which were violating it, and who were undoubtedly
-under the jurisdiction of British courts. On March 20th twelve cases
-were brought before the Elgin Sheriff Court, the men charged being
-the “fishing-masters” of the foreign trawlers,[1329] and the only one
-who appeared was fined fifty pounds for each of three offences, or
-fifteen days’ imprisonment. A little later, on 17th April, fifteen
-fishing-masters of foreign trawlers, one of which was Swedish, all
-British subjects belonging to Grimsby, were charged in the same court
-for trawling within the Moray Firth outside the ordinary limits, and
-on conviction small fines were imposed. Similar cases were brought
-against eleven men in July, who were charged with twenty-eight offences
-committed between 2nd March and 24th June, and still smaller penalties
-were imposed.[1330]
-
-Considerable discussion was evoked by the various occurrences above
-referred to. Resolutions were passed at various meetings of fishermen
-in Scotland in favour of the byelaw being strictly enforced, and asking
-that an international arrangement should be come to if necessary to
-enable that to be done. At meetings of trawl-owners, on the other
-hand, held at Grimsby and elsewhere, resolutions to the opposite
-effect were agreed to, and the Government were requested to maintain
-the “three-mile international territorial limits as now defined.”
-In the Houses of Parliament also numerous questions were put to
-Ministers on the subject, and there were several debates of a more or
-less formal kind. It appears that the Foreign Office had come to the
-conclusion that the Act of Parliament as interpreted by the High Court
-of Justiciary was in conflict with international law;[1331] and that
-view having been taken, it was obvious that it would be necessary,
-if the statute was to have equal effect on foreigners, that some
-international arrangement, such as had been previously recommended
-by the Select Committees of the House of Commons and the House of
-Lords,[1332] should be reached. It appears that there would have been
-no difficulty in arranging such an agreement with Norway, which was
-desirous of entering into negotiations for the purpose; but it was
-felt by the Foreign Office that, while an arrangement of the kind
-would not bind other Powers, questions of reciprocity might be raised,
-and British trawlers might be excluded from similar areas on foreign
-coasts. They therefore declined to enter upon negotiations with foreign
-Powers until the whole policy had been carefully considered.[1333]
-One point of view which was taken was indicated in a speech of the
-Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Lord Fitzmaurice) in the course
-of a debate in February 1907, which had been initiated by Lord Balfour
-of Burleigh. He stated that according to the views hitherto accepted
-by the chief departments of the Government--the Foreign Office, the
-Admiralty, the Colonial Office, the Board of Trade, and the Board of
-Agriculture and Fisheries--and apart from the provisions of special
-treaties, territorial waters were: “First, the waters which extend
-from the coast-line of any part of the territory of a State to
-three miles from the low-water mark of such coast-line; secondly,
-the waters of bays the entrance to which is not more than six miles
-in width, and of which the entire land boundary forms part of the
-territory of a State. By custom, however, and by treaty and in special
-convention, the six-mile limit has frequently been extended to more
-than six miles.”[1334] The Lord Chancellor, it may be said, was absent
-through illness; and the declaration quoted, though it represents
-what has been the general, but by no means the invariable, attitude
-of the British Foreign Office in dealing with territorial waters,
-is not in accordance with the law of nations, as is shown in the
-foregoing chapters. Nor does it agree with the opinions expressed in
-a former debate by the late Lord Salisbury, so long the distinguished
-Foreign Minister of this country, by Lord Halsbury, the former Lord
-Chancellor, and by Lord Herschell, the then Lord Chancellor (see p.
-592), in which Lord Salisbury said “great care had been taken not to
-name three miles as the territorial limit.” Nor is it in agreement
-with the carefully considered and most explicit reservations made in
-the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, both in regard to the extent
-of the territorial waters and the rightful jurisdiction of the Crown
-beyond three miles from the shore under the law of nations, conferred
-by Act of Parliament, or by law existing, and the similar reservations
-in certain other Acts previously referred to. Even more singular is the
-novel statement as to what constitutes a territorial bay. A six-mile
-limit of the kind will obviously confer in the great majority of cases
-no greater extent of sea than the three-mile limit on an open coast,
-and it is thus opposed to one of the best-recognised principles of
-international law relating to the subject. The only part of the world
-where it appears to be in force is in British North America, with
-reference to subjects of the United States. The history of how it came
-to be applied at all is told in a previous chapter, in which it is also
-shown that the British Government as late as 1887 rejected even the
-ten-mile limit for bays, as involving a surrender of fishing rights,
-and as being contrary to the law of nations (p. 629), and they have
-made declarations equally emphatic on other occasions.[1335]
-
-But in a subsequent debate Lord Fitzmaurice appears to have qualified
-his statement, and quoted the observation of Lord Salisbury that where
-the coast was “folded and doubled,” as where bays exist, it was an
-unsettled question in international law how far territorial waters
-extend in such cases.[1336]
-
-Rather a different view was taken by the Lord Chancellor, a few weeks
-later, in the course of another debate about the Moray Firth. Lord
-Loreburn confined himself to saying that the obvious contention of
-other nations, and one very difficult to encounter, if we tried to
-make byelaws under our own law in regard to waters within a line
-from headland to headland eighty-five miles apart, would be that
-we might be trying to legislate for the high seas.[1337] And in a
-debate in July 1908, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Sir Edward
-Grey) put the matter in an exceedingly lucid manner. Parliament had
-recognised the contention, he said, that there ought to be special
-regulations, especially in regard to the Moray Firth, going far beyond
-the three-mile limit; and, like other members of the Government, he
-condemned the action of British subjects who, knowing perfectly well
-the law, made use of a foreign flag to evade the regulations of the
-Moray Firth, which it was obviously the desire of Parliament should
-be enforced. But when they came to the question of enforcing the law
-on foreign subjects, they were placed in a very difficult position.
-The national policy of this country hitherto “had been to uphold the
-three-mile limit, but to protest against and to resist by every means
-in our power the pretension of any foreign country to enforce its own
-jurisdiction on the sea beyond the three-mile limit.” We had contended
-before international tribunals, as in the Behring Sea Arbitration, that
-the three-mile limit is the only one we can recognise as the limit of
-foreign jurisdiction over British vessels; and suppose we attempted to
-enforce a doctrine going far beyond the three-mile limit on foreign
-ships, how could we contend before an international tribunal for a
-doctrine precisely the reverse of that which we have always upheld on
-previous occasions? It followed from this that “if there was to be
-a modification of the rules relating to trawling in the North Sea,
-it must be by agreement with foreign Powers”--that was really the
-practical point upon which the matter turned. But in an important
-question affecting the interests of the country at large, it was
-impossible for the Foreign Office to approach other Powers with the
-view of reaching an agreement until it was quite clear that it was in
-the interest of a policy which had been adopted, affirmed, and declared
-by the Government to be a policy which was in the general national
-interest of the United Kingdom. Judging from the very great force with
-which the case in such regions as the Moray Firth had been presented,
-and the strong feeling that existed and which was not confined to the
-Moray Firth, it had always seemed to him that there was a case for
-grave consideration as to whether any new regulations were required for
-the preservation of the fishing industry in the North Sea at large.
-Trawling was a perfectly legitimate industry in which large capital was
-invested, and if further restrictions were to be imposed on it, it must
-be because a really important national interest required it; it would
-not be right to adopt in the interests of particular localities any
-special restrictions which might result in diminishing the supply and
-raising the price of fish. But, having laid down these two principles,
-Sir Edward Grey thought it was equally true that if the supply of fish
-from the North Sea is being affected by want of further regulations,
-then the interests of any particular industry must be subordinated
-to the general interest, which in the long-run was also the interest
-of the industry itself. “If it be the case,” he proceeded, “that in
-areas like the Moray Firth, which are important breeding-grounds, the
-supply of fish is being seriously interfered with by the prosecution
-of trawling in narrow waters, then it becomes a matter of national
-interest that we should, as soon as possible, come to some agreement
-with foreign Powers under which we should be able to make the
-arrangements which prove to be necessary in the national interest at
-large.” The subject was one requiring the deliberate investigation of
-the Government, and the investigation was proceeding; and they should
-know in the course of a reasonable time whether or not the Government
-thought they had a case for approaching other Powers, and if so what
-were the grounds and propositions they should ask those Powers to agree
-to. With regard to bays, the Foreign Secretary said it had generally
-been understood that the qualification of the three-mile limit applied
-to bays ten miles wide, and they must be very careful as to how far
-they pressed the doctrine as to the width of a bay, or laid down an
-international doctrine on any particular bay. They must think of what
-the application of it might be in other parts of the world.[1338]
-
-In this statesmanlike speech the case was put temperately and fairly.
-Whether the Moray Firth is or is not a territorial bay, it has been the
-general practice of the British Government to contend for the ordinary
-three-mile limit, at least on open coasts, in relation to fishery
-questions. If there are clear reasons for the extension of this limit
-at any part of the coast, or in the North Sea generally, in the common
-interests of the fisheries, as recommended by the Select Committee
-of the House of Commons in 1893; or for the prohibition of trawling
-within a great area on the Continental coast, as urged by the English
-trawlers, and recommended by the Parliamentary Committees of 1900 and
-1904; or if it is believed to be necessary to regulate the fisheries in
-any way beyond the ordinary limit, then obviously the best method is to
-endeavour to come to an arrangement with the other Powers concerned.
-There are precedents for this course in British policy. By treaties
-with France, the British Government agreed to bind British subjects not
-to fish for oysters or any kind of fish within Granville Bay in waters
-beyond the ordinary limit. In the interests of the preservation of the
-fur-seal, in which the United States was mainly concerned, they agreed
-to prohibit British subjects from taking them within a limit of sixty
-miles around the Pribilov Islands, and to compel them to observe a
-close-time on the high seas, and to use only the primitive spear. They
-have also by treaty agreed to respect various other limits beyond the
-ordinary three miles in the interest of the preservation of other kinds
-of seals. The case of the North Sea, or of that inlet of it known as
-the Moray Firth, is on the same footing as these. The question is not
-one of the extension of territorial sea _qua_ territorial sea, but of
-special regulations independent of it, and exclusively relating to the
-fisheries.
-
-From what has been said in foregoing pages as to the impoverishment of
-the fishing-grounds in the North Sea, and the various remedies that
-have been at one time or another proposed by the English trawlers and
-by Parliamentary Committees with the view of maintaining the fish
-supply, it might appear that a very good case already existed for
-approaching foreign Powers with the object of arranging for general
-regulations beyond the ordinary limit, and one far weightier than that
-which brought about the conference at The Hague and the North Sea
-Convention in 1882 (see p. 631).
-
-Two probable reasons may be advanced for the delay in giving effect
-to the recommendations of the various Committees of Parliament. The
-first is that a very important international investigation of the North
-Sea and adjacent waters has been in progress for a number of years
-and is still going on. On the invitation of the Swedish Government,
-representatives of Great Britain, Germany, Russia, the Netherlands,
-Denmark, Sweden, and Norway met at Stockholm in June 1899, and again
-at Christiania in May 1901, to discuss and arrange an organisation
-and a programme for an international scientific investigation of the
-North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Baltic, in the interests of
-the fisheries; and in July 1902, the first meeting of the body so
-constituted, the International Council for the Exploration of the
-Sea, was held at Copenhagen. Since then all the maritime countries of
-Western Europe, with the exception of France, have engaged in these
-researches.[1339] This country entered into the arrangement with
-special reference to the fisheries in the North Sea, and with a very
-practical end in view--namely, to secure a careful inquiry into the
-effect of the methods of fishing in the North Sea, and to promote a
-scheme for determining whether protection against overfishing was
-required; and, if so, where, when, and how such protection should be
-given.[1340] Much strong criticism has been passed as to the origin,
-the methods, and the programme of these investigations,[1341] and while
-they have naturally resulted in large additions to our knowledge of the
-physical and biological conditions of the sea, of the life-history of
-fishes, and of certain fishery questions, no report has yet appeared
-dealing with the fundamental problem as to overfishing and any remedies
-which may be required to safeguard the fish-supply; and it is doubtless
-such information that is referred to by the Foreign Secretary as
-essential before Foreign Powers can be approached. An opinion was,
-however, early expressed as to the particular question of the Moray
-Firth. The Conference held at Christiania in 1901, at which all the
-Powers signatory to the North Sea Convention (with the exception of
-France) were represented, passed a resolution to the effect that “in
-distinct areas of the sea, as for example the Moray Firth, in which
-any Government has undertaken scientific experiments in the interest
-of the fisheries, and in which the success of the experiments is being
-hindered by the operations of trawlers, it is to be desired that
-measures be adopted for the removal of such hindrances.”[1342]
-
-The second probable reason that nothing has yet been done to arrive at
-an international understanding appears to be that the representatives
-of the great trawling industry have changed their minds within
-the last few years. Since foreign coasts have been exploited with
-immediate financial success to the trawling companies, their interest
-in the North Sea has diminished. They fear that if the question of
-fishery regulations beyond the ordinary three-mile limit is opened
-up with foreign Powers in the interest of the North Sea fisheries,
-proposals may be made, as a _quid pro quo_, by some of the other
-Powers for similar regulations on their coasts; and it is evident
-from the statements made in Parliament that this view has hitherto
-prevailed.[1343] One would have thought that a _quid pro quo_ which
-closed to trawling the great area off the Continental coast, which
-English trawlers for more than fifteen years have been vainly asking to
-be closed by international arrangement, would be satisfactory to them.
-Or that a fishery limit of nine or ten miles on the other side of the
-North Sea, or all around it, which they thought some years ago to be
-the best remedy for the depletion of the fishing-banks, would meet
-with their approval. These areas, compared with the whole of the North
-Sea, are comparatively of small extent (see fig. 26). The area of the
-North Sea between the three-mile line and a nine-mile limit amounts to
-about 12,000 square miles, or 7·4 per cent of the whole area beyond
-three miles from the shore; and the area between the three-mile line
-and a thirteen-mile limit amounts to about 20,000 square miles, or 12·3
-per cent.
-
-Meanwhile, the condition of the fishing-grounds in the North Sea is
-described as serious by those who ought to know most about it--the
-trawlers who are daily working there; and if no remedy is timeously
-applied, the measures which will eventually be necessary will transcend
-those which are now proposed.[1344]
-
-But if it be imprudent to postpone indefinitely the seeking of an
-international remedy for the depleted fisheries of the North Sea,
-because the trawling industry fears that retaliatory measures may be
-proposed against British trawlers on some foreign coasts, it may be
-questioned, on the other hand, whether the action taken to obviate
-such measures has always been well-judged or in accordance with the
-true comity of nations. On strictly selfish grounds, and for immediate
-profit, it is doubtless justifiable to make every fishing-bank,
-wherever it is situated, available for the enterprise of British
-capital, irrespective of the interests of the inhabitants of the
-adjoining coast, if that can be managed. If, indeed, the resources of
-the sea were inexhaustible,--if it was impossible for the operations
-of man to diminish the abundance of fish,--then no limit of exclusive
-fishing would be necessary: only such regulations would be required
-as would enable fishing operations to be conducted in an orderly
-manner. But the condition of the North Sea alone proves the opposite.
-It shows also, what is well enough understood, that unrestrained
-trawling on any banks will, in course of time, materially reduce
-their productiveness; and the rapidity of the impoverishment will
-very largely depend upon the intensity of the fishing and the extent
-of the grounds. That being so, it may well be said that a measure of
-protection on the banks which are still productive along foreign coasts
-would be in the permanent interest of the English trawling industry
-itself, as well as in the interest of the coast population.[1345]
-
-On some of those coasts the local population are dependent on the fish
-they catch on the neighbouring grounds, which are often of limited
-extent, and it is reasonable and just that they should endeavour to
-preserve this supply for their own use and advantage. At Iceland, for
-example, the area of the possible fishing-grounds between the ordinary
-three-mile limit and a depth of 200 metres (or 109 fathoms), including
-places where trawling is not practicable, amounts to about 36,600
-square miles, compared with nearly 312,000 square miles between the
-same limits off the British Isles.[1346] It was recently stated in the
-House of Lords, by Lord Heneage, that the Icelanders, with the view of
-preserving their fishing-grounds, a few years ago brought forward a law
-in the _Althing_, or local Parliament, to extend the limit of exclusive
-fishing to seven miles around their coast. It was also said that in
-1901 they passed laws for enclosing extra-territorial waters. As soon
-as these proceedings came to the knowledge of the English trawl-owners,
-the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association made a representation
-on the subject to the Foreign Office, and in consequence of this the
-Danish Government took action, and the law was prevented from coming
-into operation.[1347] And any such action in the future was effectually
-prevented by the immediate negotiation of an international convention
-in which a three-mile limit was fixed for Iceland and Faröe (see p.
-647) so far as concerned British fishermen. Then with respect to the
-coasts of Spain and Portugal, where the available grounds are narrow,
-amounting altogether between the three-mile limit and the 200-metre
-line to 15,460 square miles (see fig. 28), intimation has been made
-by the British Foreign Office, at the instance of the National Sea
-Fisheries Protection Association, that jurisdiction will not be
-recognised over British vessels beyond three miles from the shore,
-and the national regulations in regard to trawling are thus rendered
-comparatively ineffective. With regard to Norway, moreover, where the
-area between the three-mile limit and the 200-metre line exceeds 30,000
-square miles, it appears that soon after her separation from Sweden,
-in 1905, the British Foreign Office made the proposal that she should
-join in the North Sea Convention (which, along with Sweden, she refused
-to do in 1882), so that the ordinary three-mile limit might be imposed
-along the Norwegian coast; but the proposal was rejected.[1348]
-
-In view of the evidence that has been adduced, the recommendations
-of the various Committees of Parliament that have inquired into the
-subject, and the statements made in the House of Commons, it may be
-assumed that an international conference of the Powers bordering the
-North Sea will be convened, to consider how fishery regulations may be
-made more effective, whether by extension of the limits of exclusive
-fishery or otherwise, as soon as the results of the international
-fishery investigations justify that course.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX A.
-
-(P. 45.)
-
-THE LIBEL REGARDING REYNER GRIMBALD.
-
-DE SUPERIORITATE MARIS ANGLIÆ ET JURE OFFICII ADMIRALLATUS IN EODEM.
-
-(Chancery Rolls, Miscellaneous. Treaties and Diplomatic. Bundle 14, No.
-15, Mem. 12.)
-
-
-A vous Seignurs Auditours Deputez par les Roys Dengleterre et de
-Fraunce a redresser les damages faitz as gentz de lour Roialmes et
-des autres terres subgiz a lour seignuries par meer et par terre en
-temps de pees et de Trewes monstrent les Procureurs[1349] des Prelatz
-et Nobles et del Admiral de la meer Dengleterre et des Comunaltes
-des Citees et des Villes et des Marchanz Mariners Messagers et
-Pillerins et de tous autres[1350] du dit Roialme Dengleterre et
-des autres terres subgies a la seignurie du dit Roy Dengleterre et
-daillours sicome de la Marine de Genne Cateloigne Espaigne Alemaigne
-Selaunde Heylande Frese Denemarch et Norweye et de pluseurs autres
-leux del empyre qe come les Roys Dengleterre par raisoun du dit
-Roialme du temps dount il na[1351] memoyre du contraire eussent
-este[1352] en paisible possession de la souereigne seignurie de la
-meer Dengleterre et des Isles esteans en ycele[1353] par ordinance et
-establicement des lois estatuz et deffenses darmes et des vesseaux
-autrement garniz qe vesseaux de Marchandise et de seurte prendre
-et sauuegarde doner en tous cas qe mestier serra et par ordinance
-de tous autres faitz necessaires a la garde des pees droiture et
-equite entre toute[1354] manere des genz taunt dautri seignurie
-come leur propre[1355] par illeqes passanz et[1356] par souereigne
-garde et[1357] tote manere de conisance et Justice haute et basse
-sur les dites loys estatuz ordinances et deffenses et par tous
-autres faitz queux a le gouernement[1358] de souereigne seignurie
-appartenir purront es leux auantdiz. Et A. de B. Admiral de la dite
-meer deputez par le Roy[1359] Dengleterre et tous les autres Admirals
-par meisme celui Roy Dengleterre[1360] et ses Ancestres iadiz Roys
-Dengleterre eussent este[1361] en paisible possession de la dite
-souereigne garde[1362] oue la conisance et Justice et tous les autres
-appurtenances auantdites horspris[1363] en cas dappel et de querele
-faite de eux a lour souereignes Roys Dengleterre de deffalte de droit
-ou de mauueis iuggement et especialment par empeschement mettre et
-Justice faire[1364] seurte prendre de la pees de tote manere des genz
-vsanz armes en la dite meer ou menanz Nefs autrement apparaillees ou
-garnies qe nappartenoit au[1365] Neef Marchande et en tous autres
-pointz en queux homme poet auoir resonable cause de suspecion vers
-eux de roberie ou des autres mesfaitz.[1366] Et come les Meistres des
-Neefs du dit Roialme Dengleterre en absence des diz Admirals eussent
-este en paisible possession de conustre et juggier de tous faitz en la
-dite meer entre tote manere des gentz solonc les loys estatus et les
-deffenses franchises et Coustumes.[1367] Et come en le primer article
-de lalliaunce nadguers faite entre les diz Roys en les traitiz sur la
-darraine pees de Paris soient comprises les paroles qe sensuient en
-vne cedule anexe ayceste.[1368] Primerement il est traite et acorde
-entre nous et les messages et les procureurs desurdiz en nonn des diz
-Roys qe yceux Roys serrount lun a lautre desores en auant bons verays
-et loiaux amys et eydanz countre tout homme sauue lesglise de Rome en
-tiele manere que si ascun ou pluseurs quicunques ils fuissent voloient
-deponticer [_sic_] empescher ou troubler les diz Roys es franchises es
-libertez priuileges es droiz es droitures ou es custumes de eux et de
-lour Roialmes qils serront bons et loiaux amys et aydanz countre tout
-homme qi puisse viure et morir a defendre gardir et mainterer[1369]
-les franchises les libertez les priuileges les droiz les droitures et
-les coustumes desusdites Excepte[1370] le dit Roy Dengleterre Monsieur
-Johan Duc de Braban en Brabant et ses heirs dessenduz de lui et de la
-fille le Roy[1371] Dengleterre et excepte pur le dit nostre seigneur
-le Roy de Fraunce excellent Prince Monsieur Aubert Roy Dalemaigne
-[et] ses heirs Roys Dalemaigne et Monsieur Johan Counte de Henau en
-Henau. Et que lun ne serra en consail ne en ayde ou lautre perde vie
-membre estat ne honur temporel [Mem. 12_d_] Monsieur Reymer Grymbaltz
-Meistre de la Nauie du dit Roy de Fraunce qi se dit estre Admiral de
-la dite Meer deputez per soun seignur auantdit pur sa guerre countre
-les Flamaings apres la dite alliaunce faite et affirmee et[1372] contre
-la fourme et la fource de meisme lalliance et lentencion de ceux qi
-la firent loffice deladmiralte en la dite Meer Dengleterre[1373] par
-commission du Roy[1374] de France torsenousement enprist et usa un an
-et plus en parnant les gentz et[1375] marchantz du Roialme Dengleterre
-et daillours par la dite meer passanz euesque leur biens[1376] et
-les gentz ansi prises liuera a la prison de soun dit Seignur le Roy
-de Fraunce et lour biens et[1377] Marchandises a les Receiuours par
-meisme celui Roy de Fraunce[1378] a ce[1379] deputez en les Portz de
-soun dit Roialme come a lui forfaites et acquises fist amener par
-soun iuggement et agard[1380] et la prise et detenue des dites gentz
-oue[1381] lour diz biens et marchandises et soun dit iuggement et
-agard sur la forfaiture de eaux et acqueste[1382] ait Justice deuant
-vous Seignurs Auditours en escript par my lautorite de la[1383] dite
-commission sur ladmiralte auantdite par lui ansi vsurpee et par my
-vne deffense communement faite par le Roy[1384] Dengleterre par my
-soun poer solonc la forme du[1385] tiers article de lalliaunce auant
-dite qi contient les paroles desouzescriptes en requerant que de ce
-il en fuisse quitz et assouz en grant damage et preiudice du dit Roy
-Dengleterre et des Prelatz et Nobles et autres desusnomez par quoy
-les diz procureurs en les nouns de lour diz Seignurs[1386] Auditours
-auantdiz prient que deliuerance dewe et hastiue des dites gentz ouesqe
-leur biens et marchandises ansi prises et detenues facez estre faite
-al Admiral du dit Roy Dengleterre a qi la conisance de ce appartient
-de droit sicome desus est dit ansi qe[1387] sans destorbance de vous
-et dautri[1388] puisse de ce conustre et faire ce qe appartient a
-soun office auant dit et qe le dit Monsieur Reyner soit condampne et
-destreint affaire dewe satisfaction a tous les diz damagez si auant
-come etc.[1389] Item vous requirent les diz procureurs que come solone
-les anxnienes[1390] loys franchises et coustumes du Roialme Dengleterre
-a la garde des queles vostre dit seignur le Roy et ses auncestres Roys
-Dengleterre soloient estre liez par lour sermentz Lour Admirals de la
-Meer Dengleterre oue[1391] les Maistres et Mariners nefs[1392] des
-Portz de la Marine Dengleterre esteans en les[1393] armees des diz
-Admirals ne deuoient[1394] respondre deuant nuls Justices des Roys
-auantdiz[1395] sur fais en la Meer susdite durans lours[1396] guerres
-countre lour enemis et le dit Admiral vostre dit seignur le Roy et
-plusours des Maistres et Mariners des Portz auantdiz ore esteans en sa
-Armee countre les[1397] enemis Descoce et lour aydans et alliez par
-expres mandement de vostre dit seignur le Roy soiient accusez deuant
-vous par gentz de Normandie et de Bretaigne et daillours sur ascuns
-faitz en la dite Meer en temps de trewes et puis la pees afferme entre
-les diz Roys Dengleterre et de Fraunce et auant la guerre comencee
-entre eaux a ce qest dit. Vous plaise surseer es proces countre eux ia
-comencee et deporter de comencer nouel durant la guerre susdite ansi
-qils naient mestier de se[1398] complaindre a vostre dit seignur et as
-Prelatz et Nobles de soun dit Roialme par leur serment liez a les dites
-loys franchises et coustumes garder et maintenir.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX B.
-
-(P. 49.)
-
- PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE AUDITORS DEPUTED BY THE KINGS OF ENGLAND AND
- FRANCE FOR THE REDRESS OF THE GRIEVANCES BETWEEN THE SUBJECTS OF THE
- TWO COUNTRIES. 27-33, Edw. I.
-
-(Abstract of Chancery Miscellaneous Roll. Bdle. 5, No. 6.)
-
-
-RICHARD BUSH _against_ REYNER GR MAUS.
-
-LIBEL (_Libellus_).
-
-Richard Bush of London complains that a ship called “la Blacog̃” of
-London, going from Winchelsea to Dieppe in August 1301, containing
-goods to the value of £157, was attacked by Michel de Navere and
-others of Calais, and his said goods taken thither and there disposed
-of by said Michel and Henry de Ganewe. Said Richard demands restoration
-of goods and £20 damages.
-
-
-DENIAL (_Contestatio negativa_).
-
-The said “Cheual̃” asserts that he was not in that country at the time
-specified, nor for nearly a year afterwards.
-
-
-REJOINDER (_Repplicatio_).
-
-To the answer of the “chevalier” that he was not admiral till some time
-after the events specified, the attorneys of said Richard reply that
-they will advise with their master as to the truth.
-
-William Bush of London loaded a ship called “la Mariote de Seland” at
-Antwerp for London with goods to the value of £175, 17s. 8d. Michel de
-Nauere and others of Calais came with three galleys to the foreland of
-Thanet at the mouth of the Thames in May 1298; took said ship to Calais
-and there disposed of the goods by the aid of Henri de Ganewe. Said
-William demands restoration and £20 damages.
-
-To the demand of William Bush the said John[1399] replies “en la
-maniere q̃ il fait a la demande Cecile,”[1400] that it does not concern
-him, but “mos̃ Henri et Michel de Nauare.”
-
-Said William further complains that he loaded a ship called “la Blithe”
-of London in Brabant for London with goods, value £40. John Pederogh
-seized them at the mouth of the Thames in July 1303, took them to
-Calais, and there disposed of them by the aid of Edward de Mabusshon.
-William demands restoration and £8 damages.[1401]
-
-Said John replies that at the time specified he was not on the sea at
-all but in Paris or on the road to Calais.
-
-
-THOMAS CROS _against_ JOHN PAYDRO.
-
-
-LIBEL.
-
-Thomas Cros of London, executor of the will of Thos. Cros his father,
-who was executor of Henry Box of London, complains that said Henry
-loaded the ships William le fiz Henri, Godefroi de Duffle, Michel de
-Middelborgh, Johan Athelard, Johan le Chaundeler in London, to go to
-Brabant (which ships were of Brabant) with goods value £672; Michel de
-Nauuere and others of Calais with three galleys seized said ships off
-the foreland of Thanet in May 1298, took the goods aforesaid from said
-ships and in their galleys to Calais, and there disposed of them by the
-aid of Henry de Genewe. Said Thomas Cros demands restoration and £100
-damages.
-
-
-EXCEPTION REQUIRING DELAY (_Excepc̃o dilatoria_).
-
-The said John says it is not for him to reply, as the complaint
-concerns not him but mos̃ Henri de Genes and Michel de Nauare, who are
-abroad where they cannot be had.
-
-“Watier le Hert de Mallins” and Rose de Salisbery of London loaded at
-London a ship called the Johan Azelard de Mallins with goods value
-£28, 19s. 2d. Michel de Nauare and others of Calais with three galleys
-seized said goods out of said ship, then anchored off the foreland of
-Thanet (May 1298), took them in their galleys to Calais, and disposed
-of them by the aid of mons̃. Henri de Genewe. Said Watier and Rose
-demand restoration and £6 damages.
-
-Cecile atte More of London loaded at London for Brabant the ships
-William Petersone of Seland, William Henriessone of Seland, Johan le
-Chandeler, with goods value £158, 19s. Michel de Nauere and others of
-Calais in May 1298 seized said goods out of said ships (then anchored
-off Thanet) and disposed of them at Calais by the aid of Henri de
-Genewe. Cecile claims restoration and £20 damages.
-
-Cecile atte More complains that in July 1303 Johan Pederogh and others
-seized goods of the said Cecile at the mouth of the Thames out of a
-ship called “la Blithe de Londres” coming from Brabant, and disposed
-of them at Calais by the aid of mos̃ Edward de Mabusshon: value £10.
-Cecile prays restoration and 40s. damages.
-
-Said John replies that at the date specified he was at Paris or on the
-road to Calais, and not on the sea at all.
-
-Thomas atte Hurst of London loaded at Berwick the “Distaf de Haneford”
-for London, with goods to the value of £11, 18s. 8d. They were seized
-by men from Calais off Blakeney on the Tuesday after Saint Bartholomew
-1303,[1402] and disposed of at Calais. Thomas prays restoration and
-damages.
-
-The said John [_sic_] says that the above demand concerns “mi sire
-Reniers de Grimaus” only, for he was then admiral, and said John was on
-shore at the date specified. Said John was only in the company of said
-Reniers “en Sellande et en Horlande.”
-
-To the demand of Thos. atte Hurst touching goods seized from the
-“Distaf de Haneforde” by Johan Peidroge, Clay Clinkhamer, Piers Hues,
-and others in 1302 [_sic_], the said “Oudart” [_sic_] replies as he did
-to the claim of Alayn de Thorndon. [_See below._]
-
-Aleyn de Thornden, burgess of “Lenn,” loaded a ship in Scotland
-belonging to Nichol de Caith̃ with goods value £133 for Brabant,--mons̃
-Odard de Maubusshon, Johan Peidrgroge, Johan de la B..ge.lour, “soen
-frere Lani yacop” Gusse Odin, Johan le parker, vaaseur le Mariner,
-Hirnolet le Man and Petre le Puttere, in August 1304 seized the ship
-off Kirkele, killed the crew, and disposed of ship and goods at Calais.
-Aleyn demands restoration and damages, value in all £143.
-
-The said John replies that he and others named in above plaint at the
-date specified were in Holland and Zeeland. “Car le iour de la Seint
-Laurence[1403] il se combatieront en Selande as Flamens as Baion̄ois et
-as Engleis qi estoient en lour aide.”
-
-William Quineberge, burgess of Lynn, loaded his own ship, the
-“Nicholas,” at Lynn for Scotland with goods, value £35, 15s. 8d.--Odard
-de Maubusshon, Johan Perdroge, Johan Huard, Gusse Odin, Simond Danyn,
-Johan Allestein, Clay Clinchamer, Vaaseur le Mariner, Johan Paye, and
-Petre le Pottere in August 1303 plundered the ship off Scarborough,
-killed a mariner, and disposed of the goods at Calais. William demands
-restoration and £10 damages.
-
-Adam Honson of Gloucester loaded the ship of “Williame de Douere” at
-Antwerp for England with goods, value £220. Odard de Maubusshon and
-Johan Peidroge of Calais, in September 1303, plundered said ship in
-sight of Dover, “et illoeques la Nief deliuereront al auant dit William
-de Douere” [_sic_]. Adam demands restoration and £60 damages.
-
-Johan de Hetheye, William le Scherman, Rich. le Goldsmith, Johan le
-Blunt, Will. de Nesse, Johan Gode, and Wauter Top loaded the ship of
-William Gare called “Michele de Arwe” in London with goods, value £556,
-3s. 8d., for Brabant.
-
-Sire Reyner Grimbaud, admiral, on the high seas, the Sunday after
-Michaelmas 1303,[1404] seized said ship and goods and took them “a Roem
-en Normandie”; sent the crew to Calais, where some were put in prison,
-and one still remains. Plaintiffs demand restoration and £100 damages.
-
-To the complaint touching “la Michele de Arwe,” seized on the Sunday
-after Michaelmas 1304 [_sic_], the “chiualer” confesses he took such a
-ship in that year but not of the value named: “ains fu prise la dite
-Nief a la Suyne a la pointe du Jour oue poer des enemys as Ancres.”
-He seized it rightfully, the said ship consorting with the enemies of
-France. The crew were taken, without force, and letters were found in
-the ship to those of Bruges concerning money to be received in that
-town; those put in prison all escaped except Johan de Masworth, who is
-still there. The “chiualer” deems both persons and goods forfeit to the
-King of France.
-
-To the demand of John de Masworth for restoration of goods and liberty,
-the “chiualer” says he is in prison as a malefactor against the King of
-France, and that the commission of the deputies does not extend to such
-cases.
-
-
-ADAM DE FULHAM _against_ JOHN PAYDROGE.
-
-
-LIBEL.
-
-Adam de Fulham of London complains that in the year 1302 men of Calais
-attacked the “Margarete de Jernemuth” off Orfordenessh going to London,
-killed the crew, and took the ship and goods to the value of £20 to
-Calais and there disposed of them. Demands restoration and damages.
-
-DENIAL.
-
-To the demand made by Adam de Fulham against said John and others
-touching violence done to him between “le Seint Martin et le
-Chaundeler” in 1302, said John replies as he did to Johan de Chelchethe.
-
-
-EXEMPTION REQUIRING DELAY.
-
-To another demand of said Adam, said John replies as he did to William
-Seruat.
-
-
-JOHN DE CHELCHETE _against_ REYNER DE GRYMAUS.
-
-
-LIBEL.
-
-John de Chelchethe of London complains that in 1302 John Padrogh
-and others of Calais attacked the “Margarete de Jernemuth” off
-Orfordenessh, killed the crew, and took ship and goods to Calais.
-Demands restoration and damages, value in all £39, 5s. 8d.
-
-EXEMPTION REQUIRING DELAY.
-
-Said John Padrogh replies as he did to William Seruat.
-
-
-EDMUND LAMBY ... _against_ JOHN PAYDROGE.
-
-LIBEL.
-
-Said Edmund complains as others have done concerning the “Margaret of
-Yarmouth.” His goods therein were of the value of £12.
-
-
-GILBERT DE ASSHENDON _against_ JOHN PAYDROGE.
-
-
-LIBEL.
-
-Said Gilbert de Asshendon of London complains that the “Distaf de
-Haneford” loaded at Berwick for London was taken off Blakeney in 1303
-(Tuesday after St Bartholomew). Demands restoration and damages, value
-in all £8, 10s. 4d.
-
-
-DENIAL.
-
-Said John replies that at the date specified he was on dry land at
-Calais.
-
-To this demand against Johan Peidroge, Clay Clinkhanner, Piers Hues,
-Stace Swares, and Johan Huares, Oudart replies as he did to Alein de
-Thornden.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX C.
-
-(P. 65.)
-
-LICENSE FOR FISHING AT THE “ZOWE” BANK IN THE CHANNEL.
-
-(State Papers, Domestic. James I., Vol. 81, No. 3. 1615.)
-
-
-Robert, Baron of Brancepeth, Viscount Rochester, Earle of Somersett,
-Lord Chamberlaine of his Ma^{te} householde, knyght of the most noble
-order of the Garter, and one of his Ma^{te} most honorable privie
-Counsell, provisionally deputed for the government of the Cinque
-Portes. To all to whom theis presentes shall come, Greeting, Knowe
-ye that I, according to the auntient ordinances and rules hertofore
-established and lately revived for the preservacon of the fishing
-betwixt the subiectes of the Easterne coast of the kingdome of great
-Britayne and the frenche Fishermen accoastinge those partes, Haue by
-theis presentes licensed and authorised Reynold Howgatt of the Towne
-of Treporte, Fisherman, M^r of one Fisherboate called the Don de Dieu
-of about fourteen tonnes, with all her Company and servants of the
-same Boate, To Fishe at the place called the Sowe upon the English
-coast and elsewhere upon that coast, in the same sorte as any one of
-those five boates heertofore tollerated and privileged out of respect
-for the service of the Frenche king his excellent Ma^{tie}, for all
-sortes of Fishe without restrainte of season, soe the same be done and
-performed with nettes and engines lawfull and accustomed by the English
-subiectes of that coast. Requiring you and every of you whom it shall
-concerne not onely to permit and suffer him and his sayd servantes soe
-to doe without any your unnecessary lett or impeachement. But alsoe to
-yeilde him and his company all lawfull favor and assistance therein as
-they shall have occasion, bearinge themselves orderly and peaceably
-and observing the rules and ordinances sett downe and established for
-that coast fishing as aforesaid under the penalties therein expressed
-and conteyned. This license is to endure but untill the first daie of
-August w^{ch} shalbe in the yeare of our Lord God 1616.
-
-Geven under the Seale of Office at Douer Castle the sixt daie of July
-in the thirteenth yeare of the reigne of our Souereigne Lord, James,
-by the grace of God of Great Britaine, Frannce, and Ireland, king,
-Defender of the fayth, &c.
-
- (Sd.) R. SOMERSET.
-
- A la nominac̃on du Mouns^r Villares Houden gouern^r du Chatiau et
- ville de Diep et suit du Roy de Fraunce.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX D.
-
-(P. 119.)
-
-PROCLAMATION FOR REUOCATION OF MARINERS FROM FORREINE SERUICES.
-
- (A Booke of Proclamations, published since the beginning of his
- Majesties most happy Reigne ouer England, &c., Vntill this present
- Moneth of Febr. 3, Anno Dom. 1609 [1602-1612].)
-
-
-Whereas within this short time since the Peace concluded betweene vs
-and the King of Spaine and the Archdukes our good brothers, it hath
-appeared unto vs that many Mariners and Seafearing men of this Realme
-hauing gotten a custome and habite in the time of the Warre to make
-profite by Spoile, doe leaue their ordinary and honest vocation and
-Trading in Merchantly Voyages, whereby they might both reape conuenient
-maintenance, and be seruiceable to their Countrey, And doe betake
-themselues to the seruice of diuers forreine States, vnder the title of
-men of Warre, to haue thereby occasion to continue their vnlawful and
-vngodly course of liuing by spoile vsing the seruice of those Princes
-but for colour and pretext, but in effect making themselues commonly no
-better then Pirats to robbe both our owne Subiects their Countreymen,
-and the subiects of other Princes our neighbours, going in their honest
-Trade of Merchandize: By which courses they doe impeach the quiet
-traffique of Nations one with other, leaue our Realme vnfurnished of
-men of their sort, if we should haue cause to vse them, and inure
-themselues to an impious disposition of liuing by rapine and euill
-meanes, although by reason of the Uniuersall peace wherein wee are at
-this present with all Christian Princes and States, they may haue a
-more plentifull employment in an orderly and lawfull Nauigation, then
-at any time of late yeeres they could haue had: We haue thought it
-necessary in time to preuent the spreading of such a corruption amongst
-our Subiects of that sort and calling, whereby our Nation will be so
-much slandered, and our Realme so greatly disaduantaged. Wherefore
-we doe will and command all Masters of ships, Pilots, Mariners, and
-all other sort of Seafearing men, who now are in the Martiall seruice
-of any forreine States, that they doe presently returne home into
-their owne Countrey, and leaue all such forreine Seruices, and betake
-themselues to their vocation in the lawfull course of Merchandize,
-and other orderly Nauigation, upon such paines and punishments as by
-the Lawes of our Realme may be inflicted upon them, if after this
-declaration of our pleasure, they shall not obey. And we doe also vpon
-the same paines straitly charge and command al our Subiects of that
-profession, that none of them shall from hencefoorth take Letters of
-Marke or Reprisall, nor serue vnder any that hath such Letters of
-Marke or Reprisall from any forreine Prince or State whatsoeuer, Nor
-otherwise employ themselues in any warlike Seruices of any forraine
-State vpon the Sea, without speciall License obtained from our selfe,
-or from our high Admirall, as they will answer the contrary at their
-perils.
-
-And forasmuch as although we are in Peace with all Christian Princes
-and States, yet during the continuance of the Warre betweene the King
-of Spain and the Archdukes on the one side, and the vnited Prouinces
-of the Low-Countreys on the other side, many chances may happen, as
-some already haue happened, of difficult interpretation to our Officers
-and Subiects how to behaue themselues in such cases, vnlesse they be
-explained vnto them: We haue thought it conuenient to make an open
-declaration how our said Officers and Subiects shall demeane themselues
-towards the Subiects aswell of the King of Spaine and Archdukes, as
-also of the States vnited in the cases following.
-
-First our pleasure is, That within our Portes, Hauens, Rodes, Creekes,
-or other places of our Dominion, or so neere to any of our sayd Ports
-or Hauens, as may be reasonably construed to bee within that Title,
-Limit, or Precinct, there shall be no force, violence, surprise, or
-offence suffered to be done either from Man of warre to Man of warre,
-or Man of warre to Merchant, or Merchant to Merchant of either party,
-but that all of what Nation soeuer, so long as they shall bee within
-those our Ports and places of our Jurisdiction, or where our Officers
-may prohibite violence, shall bee vnderstood to be under our protection
-to bee ordered by course of Justice, and be at peace each with other.
-
-And whereas some of the Men of warre of ech side haue vsed of late,
-and it is like will vse in time to come, though not to come within
-our Ports, because there they know wee can restraine violence, yet to
-houer and hang about the skirts of our Ports, somewhat to Seaboard, but
-yet so neere our coastes and the entrie of our Harbours, as in reason
-is to be construed to be within the extent of the same, and there to
-await the Merchant of the aduerse part, and doe seaze and take them at
-their going out of our Ports, which is all one in a manner, as if they
-tooke them within our Port, and will bee no lesse hinderance to the
-trade of Merchants: Our pleasure therefore and commaundement is to all
-our Officers and Subiects by Sea and Land, That they shall prohibite,
-as much as in them lyeth, all such houering of Men of warre of either
-side, so neere the entrie of any of our Hauens or our Coastes, And that
-they shall rescue and succour all Merchants, and others that shall fall
-within the danger of any such as shall await our Coastes in so neere
-places to the hinderance of Trade and Traffique outward and homeward
-from and to our Kingdomes. And for the better instructions of our
-Officers in the execution of these two Articles, Wee haue caused to be
-sent to them plats of those Limits, within which we are resolued that
-these Orders shalbe obserued.
-
-And where it hath happened, and is like to doe often, that a Ship of
-warre of the one side may come into some of our Ports, where there
-shall bee a Merchant of the other side: In such case, for the benefit
-and preseruation of the lawfull Trade of Merchants, Our pleasure is,
-That all Merchants Ships, if they will require it, shall bee suffered
-to depart out of the sayd Port, two or three tydes before the Man of
-warre, to the intent that the Merchant may bee free from the pursuite
-of his aduersary. And if it so happen, that any Ship or Ships of warre
-of the one side, doe finde any Ship or Ships of warre of the other side
-in any our Ports or Roades aforesayd; Like as our pleasure is that
-during their abode there, all violence be forborne: So doe wee likewise
-commaunde our sayd Officers and Subiects both on Sea and Land, That the
-Ship of warre which came in first, bee suffered to depart a Tyde or two
-before the other which came in last, And that for so long time they
-shall stay and detaine any Ship of warre, that would offer to pursue
-another out of any our Ports immediately.
-
-And where [_sic_] wee are infourmed, that notwithstanding the seueritie
-of our Lawes against receiuers of Pirats goods, many of our Officers
-of our Ports and other inhabitants within and neere vnto them, doe
-receiue dayly Goods brought in from Sea by such as are indeed Pirats,
-if they, and the getting of their Goods were well examined: We doe
-hereby admonish them all, to auoyd the receiuing or buying of any Goods
-from Sea, coming not into the Realme by lawfull course of Merchandise,
-for that they shall finde, wee are resolued so to preuent all occasion
-and encouragement of Pirats to bee vsed by any our Subiects as wee will
-cause our Lawes to bee fully executed according to their true meaning,
-both against the Pirats, and all Receuiers and Abetters of them, and
-their Goods.
-
- Giuen at Thetford the first day of March, in the
- second yeere of our Reigne of Great Britaine,
- France and Ireland.
-
- Anno Dom. 1604.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX E.
-
-(P. 120.)
-
-DECLARATION OF JURY OF THE TRINITY HOUSE AS TO THE LIMITS OF THE KING’S
-CHAMBERS.
-
-(State Papers, Domestic. James I., Vol. 13, No. 11. 1605.)
-
- A note of y^e Headlandes of England as they beare one from another
- agreeing with the plott of y^e Description of y^e Countrye as
- followeth.
-
-
-From Holy Iland to the Sowter is South South east. From the Sowter to
-Whitby is Southeast. From Whitby to Flamborough head is Southeast,
-and half a point Southerly. From Flamborough head to the Sporne is
-Southeast easterlie. From the Sporne to Cromar is Southeast, and by
-East. From Cromar to Wynterton nes is Southeast and by South. From
-Wynterton nes to Caster nes is South South east. From Casternes to
-Layestof is South. From Layestof to East nes is South, and half a point
-to the Westward. From Eastness to Orforthnes is South and by West.
-From Orforth nes to the North foreland is South, and one third of a
-point to the Westward. From the Northforland to the Southforeland is
-South. From the Southforeland to Dungnes is Southwest and one fourth
-part of a point to y^e Southwards. From Dungnes to Beache is West
-Southwest, and one fourth part of a poynt to the Southwards. From
-Beache to Dune noze is West Southwest, and three quarters of a point
-to the Westwards. From Dune noze to Portland is West and by South
-Southerly. From Portland to the Start is West Southwest and one fifth
-part of a point to the Westwards. From the Start to the Ramme is West,
-and one fourth part of a point to the Northwards. From the Ramme to
-the Dudman is West Southwest, and one sixt part of a point to the
-Westwards. From the Dudman to the Lizard is West Southwest, and one
-third part of a point to the Southwards. From the Lizard to Lands end
-is West Northwest Northerly. From Lands end to Milford is North and
-two third parts of a point to the Eastwards. From Milford to S. Dauids
-head is North and half a point to the Westwards. From S. Dauids head to
-Beardsie, is North and by East, and one eight part of a point to the
-Eastwards. From Beardsie to Holly head is North, and one sixt part of a
-poynt to the Westwards. From Holly head to the Ile of Man is North and
-by East, and one fifth part of a point to the Northwards.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Wee whose names are heerevnder written being called before the right
-worshipfull Sir Julius Cesar, Knight, Judge of the Kings Majesties
-Highe Court of Admiraltie, and there impanelled, and sworne vpon
-a Jurie to sett downe the bounds, and lymits, howfarre the Kings
-Chambers, Hauens, or Ports on the Sea coasts doe extend; Do heereby
-certifie, and sett downe (according to our best knowledge, and
-vnderstanding) that his Highnes said chambers, Hauens, or Ports are all
-the Seacoasts within a straight lyne drawne from one head land to the
-next head land throughout this realme of England. And for the better
-vnderstanding thereof haue made a plott of the same, and haue therevnto
-prefixed this our Schedule, shewing how euerie head-land doth beare
-vpon a right lyne the one from the other according to the said Plott.
-Dated the 4. of March A^o. D^i. 1604 [1604/5] And in the second yeare
-of the reigne of our Souueraigne Lord King James, &c.
-
- (Signed) Thomas Milton.
- William Bygate.
- John Burrell.
- William Jones.
- Peter Hilles.
- Michael Edmondes.
- James Woodcolt.
- Thomas Beast.
- William Juye.
- John Skynner.
- John Wyldes.
- Henry Hauken.
- William Cace.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX F.
-
-(P. 148.)
-
-PROCLAMATION OF JAMES I. FOR THE RESTRAINT OF FOREIGNERS FISHING ON THE
-BRITISH COASTS.
-
-(A Booke of Proclamations, &c. 1609 [1602-1612].)
-
-
-James by the Grace of God King of Great Britaine, France and Ireland,
-Defender of the Faith, &c. To all and singular persons to whom it
-may appertaine, Greeting. Although we doe sufficiently know by our
-experience in the Office of Regall dignitie (in which by the fauour
-of Almighty God, we haue bene placed and exercised these many yeres)
-as also by the obseruation which wee haue made of other Christian
-Princes exemplary Actions, how farre the absolutenesse of Soueraigne
-power extendeth it selfe, And that in regard thereof we need not yeeld
-accompt to any person under God, for any action of ours, which is
-lawfully grounded upon that iust prerogatiue: Yet such hath euer bene,
-and shalbe our care and desire to give satisfaction to our neighbour
-Princes, and friends, in any Action which may haue the least relation
-to their Subiects and Estates, as we haue thought good (by way of
-friendly premonition) to declare unto them all, and to whom soeuer it
-may appertaine, as followeth.
-
-Whereas wee haue bene contented since our comming to the Crowne, to
-tolerate an indifferent and promiscuous kinde of libertie to all our
-friends whatsoeuer, to fish within our streames, and vpon any of our
-coasts of Great Britaine, Ireland, and other adiacent Islands, so
-farre foorth as the permission or vse thereof might not redound to the
-empeachment of our Prerogatiue Royall, nor to the hurt and damage of
-our louing Subiects, whose preseruation and flourishing estate we hold
-our selfe principally bound to aduance before all worldly respects:
-So finding that our conniuence therein, hath not onely giuen occasion
-of ouer great encrochments vpon our Regalities, or rather questioning
-for our Right, but hath bene a meanes of much dayly wrongs to our owne
-people that exercise the trade of Fishing as (either by the multitude
-of Strangers, which doe preoccupy those places, or by the iniuries
-which they receiue most cõmonly at their hands) our Subiects are
-constrained to abandon their Fishing, or at the least are become so
-discouraged in the same, as they hold it better for them, to betake
-themselues to some other course of liuing, whereby not onely diuers of
-our Coast-townes are much decayed, but the number of Mariners dayly
-diminished, which is a matter of great consequence to our Estate,
-considering how much the strength thereof consisteth in the power
-of Shipping, and vse of Nauigation: We haue thought it now both iust
-and necessary (in respect that wee are now by Gods fauour lineally
-and lawfully possessed, aswell of the Island of Great Britaine, as
-of Ireland, and the rest of the Isles adiacent) to bethinke our
-selues of good lawfull meanes to preuent those inconueniences, and
-many others depending vpon the same. In the consideration whereof,
-as we are desirous that the world may take notice, that we haue no
-intention to deny our neighbors and Allies, those fruits and benefits
-of Peace and friendship, which may be iustly expected at our hands
-in honour and reason, or are affoorded by other Princes mutually in
-the point of Commerce, and exchange of those things which may not
-prooue preiudiciall to them: So because some such conuenient order may
-be taken in this matter, as may sufficiently prouide for all these
-important considerations which doe depend thereupon; Wee haue resolued
-first to give notice to all the world, That our expresse pleasure
-is, that from the beginning of the Moneth of August next comming, no
-person of what Nation or qualitie soeuer, being not our naturall borne
-Subiect, be permitted to fish vpon any of our Coasts and Seas of Great
-Britaine, Ireland, and the rest of the Isles adiacent, where most
-usually heretofore any fishing hath bene, untill they haue orderly
-demanded and obtained licenses from vs, or such our Commissioners, as
-we haue authorised in that behalfe, viz. at London for our Realmes of
-England and Ireland, and at Edenborough for our Realme of Scotland:
-Which Licenses, our intention is, shall be yeerely demanded, for so
-many Vessels and ships, and the Tonnage thereof, as shall intend to
-fish for that whole yeere, or any part thereof, vpon any of our Coastes
-and Seas as aforesaid, vpon paine of such chastisement, as shalbe fit
-to bee inflicted vpon such wilfull offendors.
-
- Giuen at our Palace of Westminster, the 6. day
- of May, in the 7. Yeere of our Reigne of
- Great Britaine, &c.
-
- Anno Dom. 1609.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX G.
-
-(Pp. 169, 196.)
-
- INSTRUCTIONS BY THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF SCOTLAND FOR THE LEVYING OF THE
- “ASSIZE-HERRINGS” FROM FOREIGN FISHERMEN.
-
-(Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. xi. p. 592.)
-
-
-Instructionis givin be the Lordis of Secreit Counsall to Mr Johnne
-Fentoun, his Majesteis commissionar, who is directit to demand his
-Majesteis rent of assyse and teynd frome these of Holland, Zeland,
-Hambruch, Ambden, Rustock, and all utheris strangeris haunting the
-trade of fisching in his Majesteis seas during this present yeir.
-
-In the first, yow sall prepair your selff and mak you reddie in goode
-and comelie ordour and equippage and with all possibill haist to go
-in his Majesteis schip callit _The Charles_, quhairof David Murray
-is capitane and commander, towardis the North Seas of this Kingdome,
-quhair the Hollanderis and utheris strangeris hes thair fisching: And
-at your arryveall thair yow salbe cairfull to inquyre and informe
-yourselff of the names of the admirallis and vice-admirallis attending
-the flott, and of the names of thair schippis, of quhat townes and
-provinceis they ar, and quhat nomber of wauchteris and buscheis is sent
-oute be every towne, province and estate to attend thair fischeing.
-
-Yow sall be vertew of your commissioun, and attending to the tennour
-thairof, demand frome the saidis admirallis, and, incaice of thair
-absence, frome the vice-admirallis, and frome tua or thrie of the
-waughteris and busches of every estate, his Majesteis rent of assyse
-and teynd specifeit and contenit in your commissioun for the haill
-fischeis tane and slayne be thame in his Majesteis watteris and seas
-this yeir. And yow sall use this requisitoun and demand in fair and
-gentill termes and with modestie and discretioun.
-
-Yf thay contravert with yow anent the quantitie of this dewytie, yow
-sall not dispute that poynt with thame, bot, if they mak offer of
-ane smaller dewytie, althoght it wer bot ane angell for every busche
-overhead, yow sall accept of thair offer.
-
-Yf thay sall mak offer of the fische outher for the teynd or assyse,
-yow sall accept of thame, and, gif yow find ony countrey vessellis or
-boittis thair, yow sall send for thame and putt the fische in thame.
-
-Yf they gif unto yow a delaying answer and crave tyme and laiser to
-send to thair superiouris to be advyseit with thame, yow sall accompt
-of thair delay as ane refuisall, and accordinglie accept sua of it.
-
-Yf it be objectit unto yow that all the busches ar not of a lyke
-burdeyne, and that consequentlie they aucht not to pay a lyke dewytie
-for assise and teynd, yow sall in this caise gif defalcatioun to the
-smaller busches according to your discretioun and be the aduyse of the
-admirallis, gif thay will concur with yow in that erand; provydeing
-alwayes that the smallest dewytie to be taine be yow for every busche
-be not within ane angell.
-
-Yf the admirallis or vice-admirallis for every toun, estate, or
-province will aggrie with yow for the haill busches under thair charge,
-yow sall aggrie with thame and gif unto them acquittanceis in name of
-the haill that thay tak burdeyne for; bot, yf thay remitt yow to deale
-with every busche apairt, yow sall do the same and gif acquettanceis
-accordinglie.
-
-Yf refuisall salbe maid unto yow of his Majesties rent and dewytie,
-yow sall tak instrumentis upoun the said refuisall without forder
-contestatioun; and, gif obedience be givin and payment accordinglie
-maid, yow sall lykwayse take instrumentis thairupoun.
-
-Yow sall informe the saidis admirallis, and, incaice of thair absence,
-the saidis vice-admirallis, of the complaint maid to his Majesteis
-Counsall be his Majesteis subjectis of Zetland anent the greit
-oppressioun committit upoun thame be divers personis of the floitt who
-comes aschoir upoun thair illis of Halff Grunay, Wedderholme, South
-Grunay, and Lungya, and upoun divers utheris pairtis of the countrey,
-quhair thay not only enter in kirkis, dimolischeis and brekis doun the
-daskis and seattis within the same and schamefullie abuses the same,
-to the offence and dishonour of God, bot with that thay spoyle the
-countrey people of thair scheip, geis, hennis, eggs, and suche uther
-commoditeyis as they find upoun the ground, and sumtymes invaidis and
-persewis thame of thair lyveis; and thairfoir yow sall crave redres and
-reparatioun to be made for thir wrangis and that the lyke be forborne
-in all tyme coming.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX H.
-
-(P. 251.)
-
-REGLEMENT FOR PREVENTING ABUSES IN AND ABOUT THE NARROW SEAS AND PORTS.
-
-(State Papers, Domestic. “James I., Vol. 11, No. 40. 1604.” Charles I.,
-Vol. 279, No. 18. 1634.)
-
-
-His most Excellent Ma^{ty} taking into his Royall Consideration, upon
-the frequent Complaints, as well of his own Subjects, as the Subjects
-of other Princes and States in Peace and Amitie with his Ma^{ty}. That
-his Seas (commonly called the four English Seas) are more infested now
-a days then heretofore, by men of Warre and such others, who living by
-spoile haunt those Seas, with ships and vessels of strength warlikely
-appointed to gett prey and booties, whereby not only his Ma^{tye’s}
-own Subjects and the Subjects of his friends suffer manifold losses,
-violences and Injuryes in their persons, ships and goods, but also
-divers strange Insolencyes indignityes and contempts are committed,
-tending indirectly and by consequence to the denyall and impeachment
-of that Soveraignety and especiall and peculiar Interest and property,
-w^{ch} his Ma^{ty} and his Predecessors time out of mind have had and
-enjoyed in the said Seas, and soe approved not only by the fundamentall
-Lawes of this his Kingdome, but by the acknowledgement and assent of
-the bordering Princes and Nations, as appeareth by undoubted Records.
-His Ma^{ty} out of his Princely wisedome and providence (with the
-Advice of his Privy Councell) hath thought it most necessary, as well
-for vindicating his own honour and right in the said Seas, as in point
-of Justice for securing the passage of his Subjects and friends to
-and frõ his harbours and Ports, and all other Ports [? parts] of his
-Dominions, to make this open declaration ensuing.
-
-1. That notwithstanding the continuance of y^e war between the K. of
-Spaine on the one side, and the United Provinces of the Low Countryes
-on the other side, his Ma^{ty} doth streightly prohibite any force,
-violence, surprize, or offense to be done or attempted either frõ Man
-of Warre to man of Warre, or man of Warre to Merchant, or Merchant to
-Merchant of either Party within the limits w^{ch} his Ma^{ty} will
-cause to be described in a Plott for that purpose, but that all of
-what Nation soever soe long as they shall be upon those places or Seas
-aforesaid, especially within such limits, shall be understood to be
-under his Ma^{tyes} Protection, and obliged to be at Peace each with
-other.
-
-2. Because it appeareth that an especiall occasion of the mutuall
-spoiles and acts of hostility executed by the said men of Warre each
-upon other and sometimes upon his Ma^{tyes} own Subjects, or the
-Subjects of other Nations w^{ch} are in Amity with the Soveraignes
-of the Spoilers, ariseth from the opportunity w^{ch} the said Men
-of Warre have by continuing and abiding in havens, Sea-shoares or
-Sea-Roades and other harbours of his Ma^{tyes} Kingdomes, whence they
-gett intelligence of ships and vessels outward and hitherward bound,
-and accordingly assayle them, where it is most for their advantage, to
-the great hindrance and interruption of free Commerce and Entercourse,
-His Ma^{tyes} Will and Pleasure is, That, for the reasons aforesaid,
-noe shipps of Warre, belonging either to the K. of Spaine, or any his
-Subjects, or to the said United Provinces, or any of their Subjects
-shall be permitted or allowed to come, enter, repaire, or arrive in or
-to any of his Ma^{tyes} Towns, Citties, Sea-Shores, Havens, Harbours,
-or Sea roades, whatsoever, or there to abide and continue, except they
-happen to be constrained either by force of Tempest, or buying of
-Victualls, or other things, or for repairing of shipping, so that they
-doe no hostile act in the said Places, but demeane themselves honestly
-and quietly as it becometh Confederates and friends, and so as they
-stay and remaine not in and about the said Ports any longer then shall
-be needfull for reparation, and Provision of necessaryes.
-
-3. Albeit his Ma^{ty} doth justly challenge Soveraignety and property
-in all those his Seas farre beyond the limits hereafter to be described
-and might with like Justice require from all persons using those his
-seas a forbearance frõ Injuryes and all hostile actions, yet (in and
-through all the same) sodenly to tye the hands of his friends and
-Allyes in open hostility each with other is not for some reasons held
-convenient at this time. And therefore to avoyde all difficultyes and
-Colour of Controversies that may be stirred concerning the bounds and
-extent wherein his Ma^{ty} now professeth to yeild Peace and Security
-to his friends and neighbours, desiring the same, his Ma^{ty} purposeth
-to send Plotts of those limits to be affixed in the most publique
-places of his chiefest Sea-Towns and harbours.
-
-4. Because it is very like, that during the continuance of the Warre
-betweene the K. of Spaine, and the United Provinces as is aforesaid,
-each Party may gaine and acquire frõ other in places out of the
-aforesaid Limitts, ships, and goods, His Ma^{ty} doth declare, That
-as he will afford to the conquering Partyes, free passage through his
-Seas for themselves, their ships and prizes, and like free accesse and
-repaire to all his Ports and harbours, and safe aboad and continuance
-in the same during their occasions, so his Ma^{ty} shall not understand
-it to be any breach of his Peace, or violation of that Security w^{ch}
-he intendeth to mainteine, if the enemyes of the conquering Party
-shall reconquer or regaine the said Prizes, before the conquering
-Party shall have brought his said Prizes within any of his Ma^{tyes}
-harbours, or when after they shall have departed with the said Prizes
-homewards, or elsewhere from the said harbours, the right of Warre and
-Law of Nations giving like allowance to either of the said hostile
-actions, Provided always, that his Ma^{ty} doth not mean hereby to
-derogate from the Jurisdiction of his Court of Admiralty, but if
-any action (in forme of Law) shall be lawfully instituted and duly
-presented in the Admirall Court ag^t the said Prizes and the Takers
-thereof, his Ma^{ty} will cause Justice to be administred in that
-behalfe with all possible expedition.
-
-5. Whereas mention is often made in the premisses of his Ma^{tyes}
-Protection within the aforesaid bounds and limits, his Ma^{ty} is now
-pleased further to expresse his Intention and meaning to that effect,
-viz. That he shall readyly give his Letters of Safe Conduct under the
-Great Seale of his Admiralty to any the Subjects of the Princes or
-States in league and Amity with his Ma^{ty} desiring the same from the
-Lords Commiss^{rs} of the Admiralty, to whom his Ma^{ty} will referre
-the Consideration and allowance of such Petitions, the said Letters of
-Safe Conduct to be conceived in the best forme. And if any man of Warre
-or other Person whatsoever shall assault or use any violence to any
-ship or vessell, or the persons therein, within the limits aforesaid
-his Ma^{ty} will hold such offender being lawfully convicted thereof
-for a Pirate, and will cause his Officers to inflict such punishment
-thereupon, as in Cases of Piracy is usuall, if the said offenders can
-be apprehended within any his Ma^{tyes} Countrey or Dominions, or
-any other, or any other ships or goods belonging to them, To w^{ch}
-purpose his Ma^{ty} will cause notice to be given from the Court of his
-Admiralty to all his Officers in Ports and Vice-Admiralls and Captaines
-of his Forts and ships, But if all this notwithstanding, the said
-offenders cannot be attached or apprehended, then the Party wronged,
-upon sufficient testimonyes to be recorded in the Court of Admiralty
-may take out of the said Court Processe, conteining a Monition for the
-said pretended offenders, to appeare in the Court of Admiralty within
-4 moneths next after the date of the said Processe, there to answer
-for the pretended wrong or violence, the said Processes to be affixed
-openly in some eminent place of the Royall Exchange, London. And if
-the said offenders shall not render their bodyes to Justice, then upon
-faith made, that the said Processe was duly taken out, and the next
-day after the date thereof was publiquely affixed as is aforesaid, his
-Ma^{ty} will by his Letters of Request under his Privy Seale to the
-Soveraignes of the said offenders, or otherwise, pursue such further
-proceedings ag^t the said offenders, as is agreeable to the Custome
-amongst Sovereigne States and Princes and the Law of Nations in like
-Cases.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX I.
-
-(P. 289.)
-
- REPORT OF THE ADMIRALTY TO CHARLES I. AS TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE
- SHIP-MONEY FLEET IN WAFTING AND SECURING FOREIGN MERCHANTS PASSING
- THROUGH HIS MAJESTY’S SEAS, AND IN PROTECTING FOREIGN FISHERMEN WHO
- ACCEPT THE KING’S LICENSE.
-
-(State Papers, Domestic. Charles I., Vol. 313, No. 24.)
-
-
- It may Please your Ma^{ty},
-
-According to your Majesty’s commandment, wee, your Commissioners for
-ye Admiralty have mett and consulted on those two pointes which you
-were pleased to recommend to our consideration, touching the imploying
-of your fleete for yo^r Honor and Proffit. The one for the wafting and
-securing of Merchants that pass through yo^r Majesty’s seas. The other
-for protecting all such fishermen in generall as shall exercise that
-trade by your Majesty’s license upon yo^r seas and coastes.
-
-The first of these that fell into debate was that concerning the
-fishing, and by S^r Henry Martin it was made evident vnto vs that y^r
-Ma^{ts} father of blessed memory in ... yeere of his Raigne, was,
-vpon long and mature deliberacion, satisfied and resolved, that the
-fishing in his Seas, and upon the coasts of his Dominions, did justly
-appertain unto him as a right incident to his Crownes, and that in
-pursuance thereof, he did then sett out his Royall Proclamation,
-thereby declaring his title, as allso his pleasure, that no stranger of
-what quality soever should presume to fish there without his expresse
-license, and so was graciously pleased in the said Proclamation to
-appoint, that for the Coastes of England and Ireland licenses should be
-given in London, and for those of Scotland in Edenborough.
-
-And howsoever S^r Henry Martin did allso make it appear unto us that
-the States of the Vnited Provinces did at that time sende Commissioners
-into England who presented to his Majesty a paper contayning
-allegations by w^{ch} they did entend to prove continued custom and a
-present possession of that fishing, mentioning w^{t}all som treaties
-that had bene heretofore betwene the Kinges of Englande and the Dukes
-of Burgundy in fauor of that their fishing, yet upon the whole matter,
-and after due deliberation, wee were all of opinion and are so still,
-that the Right and Royallty of that fishing upon yo^r Ma^{ts} Coastes
-doth undoubtedly belong unto yo^r Majesty by inheritance, so you may
-iustly prohibit or license all strangers at yo^r Royall will and
-pleasure.
-
-This being laid for the ground, wee proceeded (according to your
-Majesty’s directions) to the consideration of what was now fitting
-to be advised unto yo^r Majesty vpon this present occasion of yo^r
-strength at sea, and are all of opinion, that this season is most
-propper again not only to set on foote, but to putt in execucion that
-yo^r Majesty’s so iust clayme, so as then there only remayned our
-consultation _de modo_.
-
-In this wee are now much guided by that which yo^r Majesty yo^r selfe
-was pleased to declare unto us concerning the protecting of all such
-fishers as shall take yo^r license. For it is most certain that the
-Hollanders will by no meanes be so much induced (be the right what
-it will) as by consideracions of their owne proffitt and safety. Wee
-therefore thought itt (and do most humbly offer it to yo^r Majesty as
-our opinion) that vnto the Minister or Ministers of the States residing
-here, it may be intimated and declared, that yo^r Majesty doth no way
-relinquish that iust right and clayme of inheritance to the Royall
-fishings, so divolved unto you from yo^r Royall Predecessors, but are
-resolved to defende it as the hereditary right and possession of any
-other yo^r Dominions. Yet least they should think you do now challenge
-it in a tyme that they have most neede of yo^r favor and grace, it may
-be tolde them, that it is farr otherwise, for whereas yo^r Majesty’s
-father did barely offer them licenses, you do now offer them safety and
-protection w^{t}all, and that w^{ch} further moved you to do it, in
-this season, is, that by a third Prince, they are of late interrupted
-and beaten from that fishing even in sight of yo^r Majesty’s harbours;
-wherein yo^r Majesty is prejudiced in honor and Interest, and they in
-Proffit.
-
-That it is not vnknown to the States how much their enemies are
-resolved to interrupt that their fishing, as holding it a most certain
-way and meanes both to weaken and impoverish them.
-
-That by taking licenses from yo^r Majesty you may justify the drawing
-yo^r sword in their defence, and likewise for the maintenance of
-the said licenses against any notwithstanding any league or treaty
-whatsoever, w^{ch} without that obligation might seeme a breach of that
-neutrality w^{ch} hitherto yo^r Ma^{ty} hath preserved in yo^r selfe.
-
-And lastly wee tooke into consideration that in case the Hollanders
-shall willfully refuse to take those licenses upon so gracious and
-fauorable conditions from yo^r Majesty then we were all cleere of
-opinion, that yo^r M. should renew and publish the like proclamation
-to that of the King yo^r father, and prosecute the settling of that
-yo^r right as a thing so highly concerning you in honor, dominion and
-profit. And so we do humbly conclude this point, with advice, that all
-such licenses as shalbe granted, be rated according to the tonne or
-burden of the vessells, so to be licensed.
-
-Touching that of the Wafting of Merchants strangers shippes that shall
-passe through yo^r Majesty’s seas, we are cleere of opinion that yo^r
-M. ought to have a profit by it, seeing that they are thereby preserved
-from oppression and ruine. But we are not of opinion that this profit
-should arise by way of a generall Imposition vpon all that passe: for
-that wold, doubtlesse, draw a iust complaint and clamor from yo^r
-neighbour Princes and their subjects. But that it should be taken of
-such as shall desire waftage, w^{ch} yo^r M. may direct not to be
-denyed to any of what Christian nacion soever that shall demande it,
-not being men-of-warre.
-
-And because it wilbe a difficult matter to expresse in any Commission
-or Instructions a certain somme or duety to be taken of every ship so
-wafted, for that som shippes are rich, others of lesse value; som will
-require a short waftage, others a longer. Therefore we are of opinion,
-that for the value, much is to be left to the discretion of yo^r
-Majesty’s Generall and commanders, and that som honest hable men may
-be employed to keepe bookes, and to receave the moneyes of all those
-waftings w^{ch} shall occurr, and be accomptable and answerable for the
-same. [5 Feb. 1635/1636 Copy by Windebank.]
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX K.
-
-(P. 389.)
-
-ABSTRACT OF THE THIRTY-SIX ARTICLES PROPOSED BY: THE DUTCH TO ST JOHN
-AT THE HAGUE, 1651.
-
-State Papers. Foreign. Treaty Papers (Holland), No. 46. 1651.
-
- A Briefe Narrative of the Treatie at the Hague betweene the hono^{ble}
- Oliver S^t John, Lord Chiefe Justice of the Court of Com̃on Pleas, and
- Walter Strickland Esq. Embassado^{rs} extraordinary of the Parliament
- of the Com̃onwealth of England, to the great Assembly of the States
- Generall of the United Provinces begun upon the 20th of March 1650
- [1651] and continued vntill the 20th of June 1651 and then broke of re
- infecta.
-
-
-A Drafte of the Treatie which is to be made and entred into with the
-extraordinary Ambassado^{rs} of the Republique of England.
-
-
-2.
-
-[Sidenote: Confederated ffr^{ds} for defence &c. & against
-Dystourb^{rs} &c.]
-
-That they shalbe, and remayne confederated friends, vnited, and allyed
-for the defence, and preservation of the Libertye and freedomes of each
-others people, and mutuall Com̃erce Navigacion,and Com̃on Interests
-against all those that shall endeavour to disturbe either of the States
-in the same by water or land in manner as is herevnder declared and
-expressed.
-
-
-17.
-
-[Sidenote: Libertie to dwell in each oth^{rs} lands & to enjoy equall
-p^{r}ivil^{ges} w^{th} the Natiues &c.]
-
-The subiects, and Inhabitants on both sydes may com̃e, and dwell in
-each others lands reciprocallye, and take their setled residence there,
-have their owne houses there to dwell in, and their Warehouses for to
-bring their goods, wares, and Merchandizes thither, and also vse their
-trade, and com̃erce there in all securitye, and without hinderance of
-any one as well at sea, other waters, as at land, enioyeing there, and
-every where else, the same, privilidges, Libertie, and freedome, as
-the Inhabitants, and each others subiects doe respectively enioy there
-in their own Country, and in case any hinderances happen they shall
-really, and speedilye be removed.
-
-
-18.
-
-[Sidenote: Free libertie of Fishing &c.]
-
-The subiects, and Inhabitants of either, of what qualitie, or condition
-soever they be, may sayle, and fish every where at sea freely,
-without any disturbance Licence, Patent, or Passe port, as well
-herring, as all other sorte of fish, great and small, and the sayd
-Fishermen being driven out of the sea by storme, Rovers, Enemyes, or
-any other accident, and coming in, or to any of the other Havens, or
-Jurisdictions shalbe well, and freindly receaved, and entreated, and
-may depart thence againe with their ships, fish, furniture for fishing,
-and other laedings, (in such case, and not haveing broak bulke there,)
-freely without payeing custome, or any the least duty.
-
-
-19.
-
-[Sidenote: No harboring of Pyrates &c.]
-
-[Sidenote: Rouers & Coceal^{rs} to be punish^d & y^e ships & goods
-restored &c.]
-
-For to make the free Navigation, and com̃erce, on the seas, Rivers, and
-every where more certeyne, the said Republicke, and Vnited Provinces,
-shall not receave, nor suffer, or permitt that any Pyrats, or Searovers,
-be receaved, kept, or harboured by their subiects, in their respective
-Havens, Lands, Cittyes, or Townes but shall cause as well the said
-cencealo^{rs}, as Rovers, to be persequuted, apprehended, and punished,
-for terrou^r to others as is fitt, and the roved ships, goods,
-Merchandises yet in Esse, and in being, yea though they were there
-sould, shalbe restored, or made good to the right owners, or to such as
-have their Assignm^{ts}, or Lett^{rs} of Attorney, who doe sue for, and
-reclayme the said roved ships, and goods, vpon a iuratory affirmation
-of the reclaymer till better proofe.
-
-
-20.
-
-[Sidenote: Sufficient securitie by those who goe out vpon particul^r
-com̃issions.]
-
-All perticuler persons on either syde, that goe out upon perticular
-Com̄issions, shalbe bound before they may goe to sea, to put in
-sufficient securitie before the Judge of the place from whence he setts
-saile.
-
-
-21.
-
-[Sidenote: Both to set out Fleets for scouring the Seas &c.]
-
-And to cleare the seas from all Pyrats, and Rovers, of what nation
-soever they bee, and to defend, and free the Libertie, and freedome
-of both the Nations Com̃erce, Navigation, and Freefishing as well in
-the North sea, Ocean, as Mediterranean sea, and all channells, and
-Streights ruñing betweene ’em; the sayd Republicke of England and the
-Vnited Netherlands shall provide and añually set out to sea a strong
-fleete at least of ... [_sic_] Vessells, and the like proportion
-of men, munition of warr, Victualls, and all necessary furniture,
-wherewith each vnder his owne Admirall, and flagg, shall crosse, and
-scoure the said seas, to witt those of England from ... vntill ... and
-those of the Lowe countryes from ... till ... beginning the first of
-... and stayeing till the last of ... and shalbe bound to seaze on, and
-master all Pyrats that they shall meete with, the ships of either of
-the nations by them taken to restore to the true owners, and if it be
-needfull, and requisite to helpe, and seacond each other, each to keepe
-his taken bootye, or prises for himselfe, and so to cleare, and free
-the said seas, and channell, or straights from all Pyrats and searovers.
-
-
-22.
-
-[Sidenote: Each parties Fleetes to force to Reparacion hinders of y^e
-Com̄erce navigcion Fish^g &c.]
-
-And for the further defence and advancem^t of the freedome, and
-Libertie of both the said Nations Com̃erce, Navigation, and
-freefishinge in the sayd seas, the sayd fleets and alsoe other men
-of warr, and com̃ission bearers on either syde, shall not only doe
-against Pyrats in manner aforesayd, but alsoe against all, and singuler
-persons, whatsoever they be that shall chance to trouble, molest, hinder,
-exacte, or against the Lawe of all nations burthen, or charge them,
-or either of them in the sayd freedome, Com̃erce, Navigation, and
-fishing. It is intended neverthelesse that the dampnifyed partie shall
-first, and aforehand complayne of the same to the undampnifyed partie,
-and endeavo^r together by all freindly waies, and intercession, that
-they who molested them doe make reparation to content, But if it be not
-so done, that then they shall seaze, take, and surprize in the said
-seas, not onlie with the said Fleete, but alsoe with all the strength
-of shipping which they can bring to sea the ships, and goods of the
-Cittie, and of her inhabitants, who have done the said trouble and
-so continewe vntill that the dampnifyed partye shall have gott full
-satisfaction, and every thing be putt agayne in full Freedome, that all
-dam̃age may be recovered, in case they chance to goe beyond or exceed
-their com̃ission, and charge.
-
-
-23.
-
-[Sidenote: Men of warr to protect y^e Merh^{ts} ships of each party or of
-y^e Allies &c.]
-
-The men of warr of either partye meeting or overtakeing any Marchant
-shipp, or ships at sea, of the other partie, or of the others subiects,
-or of the Allyes (alsoe comprehended in this Treatye) and haveing both
-one course, or goeing both one way shalbe bound so longe as they keepe
-one course togeather to take them vnder their protection, and to defend
-them against all, and everyone.
-
-
-24.
-
-[Sidenote: Retaking of ships taken in one anoth^{rs} Havens.]
-
-In case any shipp, or ships of eithers subiects, or of a Newter chance
-to be taken in the Havens, or Libertyes of the one or the other by a
-third partie, being no subiects of either partie, they in or out of
-whose Havens, or Libertyes the said ship, or ships shall be taken,
-shalbe bound to help with the other party, to endeavo^r that the sayd
-taken ship, or ships may be followed, brought back, and restored to the
-Owners, but all at the charges of the said Owners, or interessed.
-
-
-25.
-
-[Sidenote: Ships forced into Haven through any Misfortune may depart
-againe freely w^{th}out paying any Dutie &c.]
-
-In case any Marchants ships of the subiects of either partye chance
-to com̃e to harbour in the Land of one or the other by tempest, or
-by pursuite of Searovers, or through any other necessitye, force, or
-misfortune, they may sayle out agayne from thence freely at their
-pleasure, without that they shall therefore be bound to goe on shoare,
-vnlade, or sell their Merchandizes there, nor to paye for the same any
-duties, or customes, it shall in such cases be enough if they shew
-their Maritine lett^{rs} and Passe ports without being subiect to any
-other search.
-
-
-26.
-
-[Sidenote: None to come into each oth^{rs} Havens w^{th} men of warr to
-a Number w^{ch} might cause suspition &c. w^{th}out Leaue &c.]
-
-They may not come to, or in, nor stay in the Havens of each others
-Country with men of warr, and souldiers, to a number which might cause
-apparent suspition, or ill thoughts, without consent, or leave of those
-vnder whome the said Havens are, vnlesse they be driven by tempest, or
-forced to doe soe through necessitye, and to avoyd any dangers of the
-sea.
-
-
-27.
-
-[Sidenote: Oth^r men of warre to come & goe freely &c.]
-
-For the men of warr of either syde, not being in soe great a number to
-cause any suspition, the Havens, rivers, and roades of either party,
-shall be alwayes open and free for to come in, there lye at Ancher, and
-sayle out agayne without any hinderance, or trouble; the sayd men of
-warr regulating themselves neverthelesse according to the lawes, and
-customes of the respective places.
-
-
-28.
-
-[Sidenote: Men of warre not to be searcht onely com̄ing into Hauens to
-shew their Com̄iss^{ns}.]
-
-Provided neverthelesse that none of the men of Warr, or such as have
-Com̃ission on either syde, shalbe subiect to any search, or visitation
-there, or on the respective coasts, or alsoe in the full sea, further
-then only to shew each others Com̄issions, com̄eing into their
-respective Havens, and not otherwise.
-
-
-29.
-
-[Sidenote: Like libertie touch^g Prizes &c.]
-
-All perticular Com̄ission bearers on either side, shall likewise enioy
-the same freedome, in respect of their owne ships, as alsoe of the
-prises which they shall have taken from their particular on the com̄on
-Enemy, for to bring the said prises to the place where they are bound
-according to their Com̄ission, which they shalbe bound to informe, or
-make knowne to the Officers of the place, or to paie any dutye vnto
-them, or any else there, they shalbe neverthelesse bound to shew their
-respective Com̄issions to the sayd Officers.
-
-
-30.
-
-[Sidenote: Goods of eith^r p^{ty} found in Enemies ships to be prize as
-well as y^e ships.]
-
-The goods, wares, and merchandizes of the subiects, and inhabitants of
-either partie, laeden, and found in Enemyes ships shalbe vnfree, and
-prise as well as y^e ships.
-
-
-31.
-
-[Sidenote: No Assistance to Enem^s or Rebels by Cōtrab^{da} wares &c.]
-
-[Sidenote: What serues for victuall or mainten^{a}nce of Life to be
-free &c.]
-
-It is alsoe expressly agreed, that the parties Contracto^{rs} shall
-not give, nor suffer that out of their respective Countries, by their
-subiects, or other Newters any assistance be done to their respective
-enemies, or rebells, of any Contrabanda wares, or Marchandises, as are
-all manner of fyreworks, and what else belongs therevnto, as Cannon,
-Musketts, Morterpieces Petards, Guns, Granadoes, Sawsiges, ..., [?,]
-Rests, Bandeliers, Powder Match, Saltpeter, Bullets; all sortes of
-armes, as Pykes, swordes, Headpieces, Cuirasses, Holberds, and such
-lyke; as also souldiers Horses, horse furniture, Pistoll cases,
-Rapiers, Belts, and all furniture, fashioned, and made for vse of warr,
-with expresse meaning that vnder the name of Contraband, or forbidden
-goods, there shall not be comprehended wheat, Corne, and other grayne,
-Pease, Beanes, Wheat [_sic_: Meat?], Salt, Wyne, Oyle, nor generally
-all that serves for food, and maintenance of lyfe, but shalbe free,
-as other goods above mentioned, And any of the said Contraband goods,
-being found in each others ships, they may be confiscated after
-knowledge of the case before a competent Judge, without troubling any
-other Wares, or goods.
-
-
-32.
-
-[Sidenote: No carying of anie Portug^{ll} goods &c. vpon Penaltie of
-Losse of y^e ships &c.]
-
-It is further bespoake, that the subiects, and inhabitants of either
-side, may not transporte, or carry any Portingall goods, wares, or
-Merchandises out of America, Asia, or Affrica, or into, or out of
-Europe, or one parte thereof to another, nor vice versâ from Europe to
-America, Asia, or Affrica, nor from one part of them to another, upon
-penaltye of losse of the same ships.
-
-
-33.
-
-[Sidenote: Ships cast away If claym^d w^{th}in a yeare & a Day to be
-w^{th} y^e goods restored to the Own^{er}s w^{th}out suite.]
-
-If any ships either for warr, or marchandise, or other of either
-partye by storme, or any other misfortune, chance to be stranded, or
-cast away on the coast of either country, the said ships with their
-Apparell, and all therein may be reclaymed, and brought back againe
-within the space of a yeare, and a day, by the right owners or there
-Assignes, or deputies, and shalbe restored againe to them without any
-forme of suite onlye payeing for the charges done about ’em, and a
-reasonable gratuitye or salvage money, and in case upon such, and the
-like accidents, subiects of either side chance to fall to question, the
-officers of the respective places shall be bound to doe good, and right
-Justice betweene the partyes, without deteyning them by any formalitye
-of processe.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX L.
-
-(P. 398.)
-
- TROMP’S MEMORANDUM TO THE STATES OF HOLLAND AS TO THE CUSTOM OF
- STRIKING THE FLAG TO THE ENGLISH. 27th FEBRUARY/9th MARCH 1651.
-
-(Aitzema, _Saken van Staet en Oorlogh, in, ende omtrent de Vereenigde
-Nederlanden_, Vol. iii. p. 731.)
-
-
-Wanneer deses Staets Schepen van Oorloge in Zee quamen te ontmoeten
-een Engelsch Koninghs Schip, op-hebbende de Vlagge als Admirael,
-Vice-Admirael ofte Schout bij nacht; dat deses Staets-Schepen hare
-Admiraels Vlagge ende Mars-zeylen streecken en schoten negen, seven
-of vijf Eer-schoten (daer op de Engelsche antwoordede met gelijcke
-Eer-schoten) en lieten de Vlagge gestreken hangen tot sij van
-malkanderen scheyden, met het schieten van drie of een Adieu-schoot;
-en weynigh van den anderen zijnde, setten de Staetsche de Vlagge
-wederom op. Doch voor particuliere Konings Schepen streken geen
-Vlagge, alleen salueerden malkanderen met eenige Eer-schooten. Maer
-is verscheyden-malen geschiet, dat particuliere Schepen van weynigh
-geweldt zijnde, oock naer de Vlagge van Staetsche hebben geschoten,
-uyt hooghmoet, willende hebben dat men soude strijcken: daer meesten
-tijdt op is gevolgt, dat de Staetsche wederom na haer hebben geschoten
-en haer tanden laten sien, en geen macht hebbende de Staetsche daer
-toe te dwingen, moesten met uytlacchen haer Kours gaen; doch is bij
-haer en die van desen Staet veel tijdts gesien op de meeste macht, en
-dan discretie gebruyckt. Binnen haer Havenen ende Casteelen komende,
-salueerden de Casteelen met Eer-schoten (die oock wederom antwoorden)
-en namen de Vlagge in, en lieten in plaets een Wimpel waijen, soo lange
-die van desen Staet binnen haer Havenen lagen, in sonderheydt wanneer
-eenige Konings Schepen daer waren die de Konings Vlagge lieten waeijen.
-Doch geen Konings Schepen zijnde, is ’t verscheyde-malen gebeurt, dat
-de Gouverneurs van de Casteelen een Expressen aen boort stuyrden uyt
-courtosie, en gaven consent, dat de Staetsche haer Admiraels Vlagge
-souden opsetten en laten waijen: mits wederom uyt-zeylende ende de
-Casteelen passerende, de Vlagge streecken en lieten hanghen, totdat men
-met Eer-schooten haer hadde gesalueert, en sij gheantwoordt; dan wierde
-wederom de Staetsche Vlagge op geset.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX M.
-
-(P. 404.)
-
-CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN TROMP AND BLAKE.
-
- (De Zee Betwist. Geschiedenis der Onderhandelingen over de
- Zeeheerschappij tusschen de Engelsche Republiek en de Vereenigde
- Provinciën vóór den eersten Zee-Oorlog. Dr M. C. Tideman.)
-
-
- MONS^R,
-
- Le 19/29 du Mois passé nous entrerencontrans en mer mon invention
- [_sic_: intention?] estoit de vous saluer, mais me voyant attacquée
- de la sorte, et n’ayant peu scavoir la vostre puisque devant ny apres
- ladite rencontre je n’ay parlé a personne des vostres ne doubtant
- toutesfois nullemant (selon que m’a tesmoigné Mons^r. le Commandeur
- Born, par les responses qu’il a faictes et données a celuy que je luy
- envoyois pour luy communiquer mon ordre et sincere Intention) que ne
- soions amis et bons alliez, fus contraint, comme un homme d’honneur,
- tant seulement de me defendere, mais d’autant que aujourdhuy, estant a
- lancre devant Calais on ma rapporté, qu’un de nos Navires le Capiteyne
- Tuynemans de Middelbourg auroit este emmené a vostre Rade aux d’unes,
- lequel je croiois estre coulé en fond, comme celuy seul qu’il nous
- defailloit. C’est pourquoi je vous supplie en toute amitie que ce
- soit votre plasir, que ledit navire nous soit rendu et mis en main du
- porteur de ceste, en forme qu’il a este prins, et me promets, que la
- bonne alliance et union entre Messeigneurs les Estats de Vostre et de
- nostre Republycque, nostre Religion et mutuelle amitié fera, que ne
- voudres le refuser, Sur quoy me tiendray obligé de demeurer, comme
- veritablement je suis,
-
- Monsieur,
-
- Vostre Tres humble Serviteur,
- (Signé) M. HARP^{TS}. TROMP.
-
- En notre navire _Le Brederode_ le 2^e Junij
- 1652 a la Rade de Calais.
-
-The superscription was:--
-
- A Monsieur,
-
- Monsieur N. N. Blake, Collonel et Admirael au Service de Messeigneurs
- les Estats de la Republicque d’Angleterre, ou en son absence au
- Commandant a present aux d’unes.
-
-Gardiner (Letters and Papers, 257) gives Blake’s reply “retranslated
-from the Dutch translation.” The original, which was appended to
-Tromp’s letter to the States-General, is given by Tideman, as follows,
-from _Lias Admiraliteit_: Bijvoegsel bij Tromps brief aan H. Ho. Mo.
-uit Ostende d. d. 10 Juni 1652.
-
- S^r,
-
- Y^r Letter of the second of June 1652 stilo novo, brought by yo^r
- Messenger, was read by mee not without much wonder that you stiling
- yo^r selfe a person off honor should insert therin toe great mistakes
- after yo^r seeking out the ffleet of the Parliament of the Comonwealth
- of England instead of performing those usuall respects which off
- right belong unto them and which yo^r selve have often done, you
- were pleased to beginn acts off hostility which you call yo^r owne
- defence against the commonwealth, without the least provocation on
- the part of their servants thus assaulted by you, and at a time when
- yo^r Superiours, and their Ambassadors with the Parlyament were in
- a Treaty and desire of friendshipp with the Comonwealth of England,
- but that God in whome wee trust, having defeated your purposes of our
- destruction and some off yo^r ships taken, you thincke fitt to demaund
- the same off us as if yo^r former accord had been as you call it but a
- salutation and when that fayled, you would second yo^r high affronts
- by yo^r paper to which I doe not thincke fitt to returne any other
- Answere, But that I presume you will find the Parlyament sensible of
- these greate Iniuries and of the Losse off the innocent bloud of their
- Countrymen, And you will find likewise ready to obey their comandts,
-
- Yo^r humble Servant,
- ROB: BLAKE.
-
- DOWNES, _29th May 1652_.
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX N.
-
-(P. 461.)
-
-CONCESSION TO BRUGES TO FISH IN THE BRITISH SEAS.[1405]
-
-(State Papers--King’s Letter Book, 1664-1670. Foreign Entry Book. Vol.
-174, p. 119.)
-
-
-Carolvs &c. Omnibus ad quos præsentes literæ pervenerint vel ullo
-modo spectaverint salutem. Cum in virtutum albo longè Princeps
-audiat liberalitas, quippe quæ non tantùm beneficia sed ipsam etiam
-benevolentiam et humanitatem secum comites trahat, Hinc est, quod
-Nobilissimæ et antiquissimæ civitatis Brugensis summis erga Nos
-meritis coacti quodammodo, animique Nostri ductum secuti [sicuti],
-tum maximè accepti hospitij memores, in hoc unum ferimur [feremur]
-ut priorum prementes Vestigia grati in eam animi non leve argumentum
-posteris quoquo modo traderemus; Et sanè affectu tam [tum] singulari
-non tantùm Sacerdotum, Consulum, Senatorum, et summus ille Nobilium
-ordo, sed universa passim Urbs et Nos et fratres Nostros iniquitate
-rerum hospites olim factos fovit semper et propensior indies accepit,
-ut animo Nostro altius infixa recens adhuc amoris tantó hæreat memoria,
-eaque jure quodam hæreditario ad Successores Nostros deferenda, ne
-posteris Nostris tantæ benignitatis ingrata tandem obrepat oblivio,
-Regnis utique [utque] Nostris ejecti benigniori hospitio in tantum
-recreari cœpimus, ut iniquam [inquam] fortunæ invidiam æquiori animo
-tulisse videremur, eo saltem nomine non passuri [possum] unquam ut
-ad priorem statum reduces ingratorum notâ laboremus. Vellemus quidem
-eâdem alacritate quâ prædicta Civitas Brugensis (Celeberrimum quondam
-Emporium tum magnificentiâ, amplitudine et fulgore præ cæteris clarum)
-benevolentiæ et benignitatis fidem coluit, gratum animum testari, &
-Civitati de Nobis tam bene meritæ pristinam gloriam et splendorem
-illæsum prorsus, et [est] integrum præstare. Quâ de causâ à Viro
-Nobis præcipuè dilecto Marco Alberto Dognati Equite [d’Ognati Equiti]
-Aurato, Regisque Catholici ad renovandam Belgij Dignitatem Commissario,
-rebusque Nostris singulari curâ intento à charissimo consanguineo
-Nostro (et) Illustrissimo Marchione [Marchioni] de Castel-Rodrigo
-Belgij et Burgundiæ Gubernatore de Commercij libertate hoc tempore
-faciendâ misso [misse] tum literas, tum Monochroma Novi Opificij,
-Portus, usque ad Oceanum Ductus [ductos] nuper elaborati et in capacem
-Navigationis formam redacti, grato animo accepimus; Lætique benignitate
-pristinâ, Regiam aliquam prærogativam quæ non [non non] ingrate
-spondeat, in predictam civitatem Brugensem conferre meditamur, plenâ
-potestate & authoritate Nostrâ Regiâ plenè, liberè sponte, ac motu
-proprio dantes & concedentes sicuti [sicut] per præsentes pro Nobis,
-Hæredibus et Successoribus Nostris damus et concedimus, ut prædicta
-civitas Brugensis quocunque demum impedimento obstante Quinquaginta
-Naves piscatorias in Mare Nostrum in futurum possit deducere, nec non
-juxta Regnorum Nostrorum Oras et Littora liberè ac secure piscaturam
-exercere, tum etiam Haleces [Halices] piscesque alios quoscunque
-captare. Licebit porrò prædictæ Urbis Civibus ad Portus Nostros Littora
-et flumina cum prædictis Navibus appellere, retia siccanda [seccanda]
-et resarcienda in terram exponere, periculis hostium tempestatumque
-sese subducere, necessaria tum ad victum tum ad alia quæcunque in
-oppidis alijsque locis Regnorum Nostrorum justo pretio coemere,
-nullâque aliâ ad hoc speciali facultate aut salvi [salvus] conductûs
-literis habitis aut petitis inde redire liberèque [libere] recedere ita
-tamen ut dictæ Civitatis Brugensis Magistratûs literis, præsentium
-vigore sub sigillo ejus exhibendis, instructi veniant; caveant interim
-prædictarum Navium piscatoriarum proprietarij, fide prius datâ apud
-dictum Magistratum per sponsores idoneos, ne per ipsos piscatores,
-Nautas, aliosvè ad pisces derehendos substitutos, ad loca Nobis et
-Regnis Nostris inimica hujusmodi onus subrehi sinant [hujusmodi oras
-sinant et] aut permittant. Volumus igitur et per præsentes decernimus,
-ut prædicta piscandi libertas juxta numerum Navium supramemoratarum
-præfatis Urbis Brugensis Civibus solva [sola] semper et integra maneat,
-et in perpetuum per Nos ac Hæredes et Successores Nostros stabilita
-continuetur. Nèque quisquam subditorum Nostrorum, cujuscunque statûs,
-authoritatis, gradûs seu conditionis, huic [hujus] Nostræ liberæ et
-spontaneæ concessioni [concessionis] gratiæ, favori et privilegio,
-quoquo modo contravenito. Mandamus igitur et injungimus Fratri Nostro
-Charissimo Ducé Eboracensi Magno Nostro Angliæ Admiralio [Admirallo]
-Nec non omnibus et singulis Regnorum Nostrorum Thalassiarchis,
-Navium Bellicarum capitaneis et Ductoribus Provinciarum, Urbium,
-Arciumque maritimarum Præfectis et eorum Vicem gerentibus, Judicibus,
-Officialibus, et alijs quibuscunque Ministris Nostris et juris
-Administratoribus, &c., ut prædictis piscatoribus in quācunque maris
-parte vel juxta littora, flumina, Portusve Nostros obviam facti, non
-modo illis injuriam non inferant, sed eós etiam amicè et benevolè
-excipiant, ac ubi opus fuerit, ijs opem ferant ijsdemque liberum
-accessum et recessum reditumque in patriam unà cum Navibus, piscibus,
-cæterisque bonis suis, nullo facto impedimento seu contradictione
-quâcunque præstent et permittant. In quorum omnium majorem fidem [fidem
-majorem] præsentibus hisce manu Nostrâ Regiâ signatis [signatas] Magnum
-Nostrum Angliæ Sigillum appendi fecimus. Dabantur, &c., Julij 1666
-[_sic_].
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX O.
-
-(P. 692.)
-
-TERRITORIAL WATERS.
-
- The articles adopted by the Institut de Droit International at Paris
- in 1894, and accepted with slight modifications by the International
- Law Association at London in 1895. [_Note._--The additions to and
- alterations of the Rules adopted at Paris, which were made at London,
- are indicated by italic type.]
-
-
- L’INSTITUT,
-
- Considérant qu’il n’y a pas de raison pour confondre en une seule zône
- la distance nécessaire pour l’exercice de la souveraineté et pour la
- protection de la pêche littorale et celle qui l’est pour garantir la
- neutralité des non-belligérants en temps de guerre;
-
- Que la distance la plus ordinairement adoptée de trois milles de la
- laisse de basse marée a été reconnue insuffisante pour la protection
- de la pêche littorale;
-
- Que cette distance ne correspond pas non plus à la portée réelle des
- canons placés sur la côte;
-
- a adopté les dispositions suivantes:
-
- ARTICLE PREMIER.--L’État a un droit de souveraineté sur une zône de la
- mer qui baigne la côte, sauf le droit de passage inoffensif réservé à
- l’article 5.
-
- Cette zône porte le nom de mer territoriale.
-
- ART. 2.--La mer territoriale s’étend à six milles marins (60 au degré
- de latitude) de la laisse de basse marée _ou de la ligne de laquelle
- il est parlé dans l’article 3_, sur toute l’étendue des côtes.
-
- ART. 3.--Pour les baies, la mer territoriale suit les sinuosités de la
- côte, sauf qu’elle est mesurée à partir d’une ligne droite tirée en
- travers de la baie dans la partie la plus rapprochée de l’ouverture
- vers la mer, où l’écart entre les deux côtes de la baie est de _dix_
- milles marins de largeur, à moins qu’un usage continu et séculaire
- n’ait consacré une largeur plus grande.
-
- ART. 4.--En cas de guerre, l’État riverain neutre a le droit de fixer,
- par la déclaration de neutralité ou par notification spéciale, sa zône
- neutre au delà de six milles, jusqu’à portée du canon des côtes.
-
- ART. 5.--Tous les navires sans distinction ont le droit de passage
- inoffensif par la mer territoriale, sauf le droit des belligérants
- de réglementer et, dans un but de défense, de barrer le passage
- dans ladite mer pour tout navire, et sauf le droit des neutres de
- réglementer le passage dans ladite mer pour les navires de guerre
- de toutes nationalités. _Il n’est pas dérogé par cet article aux
- dispositions de l’article 10._
-
- ART. 6.--Les crimes et délits commis à bord de navires étrangers de
- passage dans la mer territoriale par des personnes qui se trouvent à
- bord de ces navires, sur des personnes ou des choses à bord de ces
- mêmes navires, sont, comme tels, en dehors de la juridiction de l’État
- riverain, à moins qu’ils n’impliquent une violation des droits ou
- des intérêts de l’État riverain, ou de ses ressortissants ne faisant
- partie ni de l’équipage ni des passagers.
-
- ART. 7.--Les navires qui traversent les eaux territoriales se
- conformeront aux règlements spéciaux édictés par l’État riverain dans
- l’intérêt et pour la sécurité de la navigation et pour la police
- maritime.
-
- ART. 8.--Les navires de toutes nationalités, par le fait seul qu’ils
- se trouvent dans les eaux territoriales, à moins qu’ils n’y soient
- seulement de passage, sont soumis à la juridiction de l’État riverain.
-
- L’État riverain a le droit de continuer sur la haute mer la poursuite
- commencée dans la mer territoriale, d’arrêter et de juger le navire
- qui aurait commis une infraction _pénale_ dans les limites de ses
- eaux. En cas de capture sur la haute mer, le fait sera, toutefois,
- notifié sans délai à l’État dont le navire porte le pavillon. La
- poursuite est interrompue dès que le navire entre dans la mer
- territoriale de son pays ou d’une tierce puissance. Le droit de
- poursuite cesse dès que le navire sera entré dans un port de son pays
- ou d’une tierce puissance.
-
- ART. 9.--Est réservée la situation particulière des navires de guerre
- et de ceux qui leur sont assimilés.
-
- ART. 10.--Les dispositions des articles précédents s’appliquent
- aux détroits dont l’écart n’excède pas douze milles, sauf les
- modifications et distinctions suivantes:--
-
- 1^o Les détroits dont les côtes appartiennent à des États différents
- font partie de la mer territoriale des États riverains, qui y
- exerceront leur souveraineté jusqu’à la ligne médiane.
-
- 2^o Les détroits dont les côtes appartiennent au même État et qui sont
- indispensables aux communications maritimes entre deux ou plusieurs
- États autres que l’État riverain font toujours partie de la mer
- territoriale du riverain, quel que soit le rapprochement des côtes.
- _Ils ne peuvent jamais être barrés._
-
- 3^o _Dans les détroits dont les côtes appartiennent au même État,
- la mer est territoriale bien que l’écartement des côtes dépasse
- douze milles, si à chaque entrée du détroit cette distance n’est pas
- dépassé._
-
- 4^o Les détroits qui servent de passage d’une mer libre à une autre
- mer libre ne peuvent jamais être _barrés_.
-
-ART. 11.--Le régime des détroits actuellement soumis à des conventions
-ou usages spéciaux demeure réservé.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX.
-
- Aberdeen, 84, 215, 227, 298, 407
-
- Abreu y Bertodano on territorial sea, 559
-
- Admiral, office of, 30, 31, 32, 41, 51, 52, 53, 54, 266, 329, 363,
- 364 n.
-
- Admiralty, 18, 31, 248, 249, 260, 261, 262, 263, 266, 277, 280, 286,
- 288, 293, 318, 328, 520
-
- Admiralty and “striking,” 277, 278, 380-383, 438, 455, 456, 472
-
- Admiralty, High Court of, 54, 120, 122, 124, 243, 244 n., 251, 285,
- 358, 363, 369, 391, 465 n.;
- and striking, 513;
- decisions as to neutral waters, 553;
- decisions as to three-mile limit, 576, 577
-
- Admiralty jurisdiction, origin of, 6, 17, 30, 32
-
- Admiralty, on extent of British Seas, 20, 438
-
- Adriatic, 52 n.;
- sovereignty of, 3, 4, 8, 16, 33, 107, 111, 339, 341, 350, 357, 361,
- 371, 539;
- fisheries of, 659
-
- Aerssen, François van, Dutch ambassador, 200, 336
-
- _Africaine_, case of, 641 n.
-
- Agincourt, 8, 35
-
- _Agnes G. Donohoe_, case of, 663
-
- Albemarle, Duke of. _See_ Monk.
-
- Albertsz, Jan, Captain, 171, 173, 174
-
- Alderney, 103
-
- Alexander, Sir William, Secretary for Scotland, 219, 220, 225 n.,
- 227, 232
-
- Alfred, King, 26
-
- Algarve, fishery treaty with, 67
-
- Algeria, 527;
- territorial sea, 657
-
- Allin, Sir Thomas, 468, 471, 477
-
- Alverstone, Lord, 692
-
- Alward, G. L., 711 n., 739 n.
-
- Amboyna, 430
-
- America, British North, fishery disputes with United States, 580;
- fishery limit, 650;
- ten-mile limit for bays, 626, 627, 628, 629;
- six-mile limit for bays, 627, 629, 630;
- fishery rights, 531, 532, 731, 731 n.;
- Hague Tribunal on, 732 n.;
- Mixed Commission to delimit bays, 628;
- _modus vivendi_ with United States, 626, 628, 629;
- treaties regarding fisheries, _See_ Treaties.
-
- America, fisheries claimed for crown, 235
-
- Amsterdam, 73, 132, 181, 183, 282, 368
-
- Amsterdam Island, 194 n.
-
- Ancient Britons and maritime dominion, 25, 26
-
- Angelus, 351
-
- Angevins, 8, 26, 29, 65, 207
-
- Anglo-Saxons, 26, 27, 28, 541, 542
-
- _Anna_, case of, 579, 641 n.
-
- _Annapolis_, case of, 586 n.
-
- Anne of Austria, 117
-
- Anne, Queen, 161, 354, 520, 523
-
- Anstruther Easter, 165, 175 n.
-
- Antwerp, 49, 73, 148;
- treaty of, 148, 344, 350
-
- Appropriation of sea. _See_ Sea.
-
- Aquitaine, 19, 213;
- fisheries at, 67
-
- Archer, Walter E., 736 n.
-
- Argentine Republic, claim to great bays, 661;
- claim to wide limit of exclusive fishery, 661, 662
-
- Argyle, Earl of, 153 n.
-
- Arlington, Lord, 469, 483, 490, 497, 502
-
- Armed Neutrality, 522, 563, 571, 572
-
- Arundel, Earl of, 227, 239 n., 241, 314, 316, 477
-
- Aschehoug, on territorial sea, 686, 688
-
- Assize-herring, 82, 124, 138, 144, 152-154, 163-171, 180, 194-196,
- 203, 293, 346, 347, 352, 355;
- proposal to levy from foreign fishermen, 124, 167;
- demanded from Dutch, 180;
- how to be levied from Dutch, 195, 196, 757;
- paid by Dutch fishermen, 169;
- value of, 195
-
- Auber, on territorial sea, 691
-
- Australia, pearl fisheries, 697
-
- Austria-Hungary, territorial sea, 572, 658;
- Customs jurisdiction, 594, 659;
- reciprocal rights of fishery with Italy, 659
-
- Ayrshire, fishermen of, 83
-
- Azores, 106
-
- Azuni, on territorial sea, 564, 565;
- on range of vision, 546
-
-
- Bacon, Lord, 73, 163 n., 189, 223
-
- Bagg, Sir James, 280
-
- Baldus, on territorial limit, 351, 360, 539, 540, 541
-
- Balfour of Burleigh, Lord, 730
-
- Ballantrae Bank herring fishery, 238
-
- Balmerino, Lord, 187
-
- Baltic, 61, 409, 432, 434;
- as closed sea, 572 n.;
- sovereignty over, 4, 33, 108, 350, 371, 377, 550, 552, 555;
- territorial limits in, 655
-
- Baltimore, 247
-
- Barbary, 327
-
- Barclay, Sir Thomas, 689 n., 690
-
- Barebones Parliament, 428;
- on sovereignty of sea, 13, 413
-
- Barents Sea, foreign trawlers in, 713
-
- Barking, 699
-
- Barneveldt, Elias van Olden, 155, 157 n.
-
- Barneveldt, J. van Olden, 152, 159, 162, 170, 173, 191
-
- Barrère, on the freedom of the sea, 595
-
- Barrett, Frank, 738 n.
-
- Bartolus, on territorial limit, 351, 539, 541
-
- Bates, Joshua, on bay of Fundy, 625
-
- Batten, Sir William, 380, 382, 448, 456
-
- Battle of the Downs, 330
-
- Baty, Dr Thomas, Hon. Secretary, International Law Association, 673 n.
-
- Bays. _See_ Territorial Sea.
-
- Bayonne, 52 n.
-
- Beaufort, de, Duke, Admiral of France, 463, 472
-
- Beaufort, Henry, 56 n.
-
- Beaufort, Sir Thomas, 40
-
- Behring Sea, fishery disputes, negotiations with Russia, 581-585;
- Russian ukase fixing 100-mile limit, 541;
- gunshot limit accepted by Russia, 582, 585;
- three-mile limit adopted by Russia, 585;
- United States on Russian claim, 584;
- Tribunal of Arbitration, 663, 664, 695, 695 n., 732;
- Japanese sealers in, 696 n.;
- whaling in, 585
-
- Belgium, complaints against fishermen of, 615, 616;
- territorial sea, 658
-
- Bell Rock, territoriality of, 642
-
- Bengal, Bay of, 625
-
- Bergen, 109
-
- Berkeley, Sir William, on striking, 472
-
- Berwick, 49, 60, 73, 219
-
- Beukelsz, invention of herring cure, 61, 426 n.
-
- Beuningen, van, Dutch ambassador, 511
-
- Beveren, van, Dutch ambassador, 302, 303, 304, 312, 315, 316, 317, 320
-
- Beverning, Hieronymus van, Dutch ambassador, 415, 418, 433, 504
-
- Beverwaert, van, Dutch ambassador, 449 n., 450
-
- Binge, Raymond, 109 n.
-
- Binning, Captain, 513
-
- Binning, Lord, 80, 178, 179 n., 186, 187
-
- Birch, 28
-
- Bird, Sir William, 174 n.
-
- Biscay, 255;
- fishermen of, 67, 98;
- whalers at Spitzbergen, 183 n.
-
- Biscay, Bay of, 19, 510, 521;
- fisheries in, 707, 713;
- territoriality of, 625
-
- Bishop of Isles, 242
-
- Bishop of Ross, 77
-
- Bishop, on territorial sea, 683
-
- Black Book of Admiralty, 7,16, 39-42, 52, 53, 66, 410 n.
-
- Blackburn, Lord, on territorial sea, 589
-
- Black Sea, 371
-
- Blackstone, on Sovereignty of Sea, 580 n.
-
- Blake, General Robert, 408, 421, 422;
- instructions to, regarding sovereignty of sea, 382, 383;
- encounter with Tromp, 12, 207 n., 397, 398 n., 401, 403, 404;
- correspondence with Tromp, 404 n., 772;
- captures Dutch herring busses, 311 n., 406, 407
-
- Blakeney, 49, 90 n.
-
- Blockade, 209, 264, 265, 268
-
- Bluntschli, on territorial sea, 682, 688
-
- Blyth, 250
-
- Board of Trade on fishery limit, 616;
- and German territorial limits, 652
-
- Bodin, on territorial limit, 540
-
- Bohemia, 191, 197, 198
-
- Bohemia, Queen of. _See_ Elizabeth.
-
- Bohuslän, herring fishery at, 62
-
- Bordeaux, 28, 61, 97
-
- Boreel, Dutch ambassador, 482, 483, 485, 490
-
- Boroughs, Sir John, Keeper of the Records, on Sovereignty of Sea, 25,
- 28, 39, 43, 64 n., 254, 364, 365, 366, 411;
- discovery of rolls, 31, 213, 254;
- on foreign fishermen, 132
-
- Boston, 73
-
- Boswell, Sir W., British ambassador at The Hague, 212, 213, 257, 258,
- 259 n., 264, 317, 318, 319, 321
-
- Botetourt, Sir John de, 46 n., 60
-
- Bothnia, Gulf of, sovereignty over, 4, 564
-
- Boulogne, 104, 274, 281
-
- Bourne, Rear-Admiral, meets Tromp, 400;
- assists Blake, 403
-
- Bouwensz, Joost, 294 n., 298 n., 304
-
- Brabant, 49, 50, 70, 71
-
- Bracton, 66, 362 n., 539
-
- Bradshaw, 409
-
- Braeckel, Captain, 476
-
- Braems, Sir Arnold, 318, 515
-
- Brazil, 327, 393, 430
-
- Breda, conference at, 459, 464, 476;
- treaty of, 465, 492, 501
-
- Brederode, W. van, 81
-
- Bremen, fishermen and merchants from, 126, 129, 130, 169, 227, 235, 327;
- negotiations at, 110, 373
-
- Bressay Sound, 129, 131, 215
-
- Briel, 43, 73, 78, 142, 278, 511, 512
-
- Bristol, 96, 108
-
- Bristol Channel, territoriality of, 586, 725
-
- British Colonies, territorial sea, 661
-
- British fisheries, foreigners at. _See_ Fisheries.
-
- British Seas. _See_ Sea.
-
- British subjects in foreign service, 260, 359 n.;
- in Dutch navy, 251 n.
-
- Brittany, 36, 48, 54, 56, 67, 68, 69, 103, 213, 270
-
- Britton, 539
-
- Brixham, 699
-
- Brood and spawn of fish, 213
-
- Brouershaven, 77
-
- Brown, James, 194
-
- Brown, John, 166, 191 n., 194 n., 195, 195 n., 196;
- sent to uplift the assize herrings from Dutch fishermen, 169, 170,
- 171;
- seized by Dutch and carried to Holland, 172, 173;
- released, 173;
- Dutch apologise, 173;
- counsel’s opinion on seizure, 174
-
- Bruce, King Robert, 76
-
- Bruce, Patrick, 181
-
- Bruges, 43, 52 n., 71, 73;
- fishing charter from Charles II., 460, 461, 504, 616, 617, 772
-
- Brussels, 71, 318, 335
-
- _Bucentaur_, 4, 567 n.
-
- Buchan Ness, 131, 166, 227, 233, 321, 406
-
- Buckingham, Duke of, 201, 266 n., 490, 497
-
- Buckland, Frank, on inexhaustibility of fisheries, 636
-
- Burchett, on Sovereignty of Sea, 311 n., 521
-
- Burghs, Scottish, 216, 240
-
- Burgundy, Duchess of, 71, 72
-
- Burgundy, Duke of, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 158
-
- Burgundy, House of, 49
-
- Burgundy treaties, 69, 70, 72, 86, 112, 145, 146, 147, 158, 288, 312
- n., 356, 370, 412 n., 425, 500
-
- Burgus, P. B., on dominion of Ligurian Sea, 411, 550
-
- Burnham, 90
-
- Bushell, William, 284
-
- Bynkershoek, Cornelius van, 21, 350, 538, 579, 591, 595, 650, 685, 686;
- on territorial sea, 555, 556;
- on range of vision, 546
-
-
- Cadiz, 246
-
- Cæsar, Sir Julius, 120, 146, 155, 156 n.
-
- Caithness, 126, 227
-
- Calais, 18, 29, 34, 37 n., 45 n., 49, 50, 65, 68, 70, 71, 73, 74, 103,
- 104, 204, 205, 266, 273, 274, 278, 280, 282, 327, 401, 440
-
- Callis, Serjeant, on the appropriation of the sea, 54, 66, 358, 363
-
- Calvo, on territorial sea, 340, 682, 688
-
- Camden, 64, 142
-
- Canada, fishery rights at. _See_ British North America.
-
- Cancale, Bay of. _See_ Granville Bay.
-
- Canning, George, on Behring Sea, 583
-
- Cannon range limit, proposed by Dutch, 156.
- _See_ Territorial Sea.
-
- Canterbury, 41
-
- Cape Bojador, 105
-
- Cape de Verde, 106
-
- Cape Finisterre, 270, 469, 478, 502, 505, 510, 515, 521
-
- Cape of Good Hope, 105, 340, 343, 344
-
- Cape St Vincent, 270, 434, 435, 465, 466 n., 469, 478, 502, 503,
- 508, 510
-
- Cardinal Infant, 243, 318, 319, 335
-
- Carew, Lord George, 202
-
- Carleton, Sir Dudley, 128, 168, 172, 173, 174, 176, 177, 180, 185,
- 190, 192, 193, 197, 212;
- on Grotius, 351
-
- Carlisle, Earl of, 222 n., 227 n.
-
- Caron, Sir Noel, Dutch ambassador, 151-154, 163, 165, 168-174, 201
-
- Carrick, Earl of, 225 n.
-
- Carteret, Captain, 291, 327
-
- Casaregi, on territorial sea, 558
-
- Castile, 32, 67
-
- Castro, Francis Alphonso de, on dominion of sea, 341
-
- Catalonia, 45
-
- Cats, Dutch ambassador, 391
-
- Cattegat, territoriality of, 653
-
- Cavendish, 5
-
- Cecil, Secretary Sir William, 88, 90, 91, 92, 95, 105, 114, 115, 128
- n., 133, 204
-
- Ceva, Cardinal de, 273 n.
-
- Ceylon, pearl fisheries, 560, 697
-
- Chaleurs, Bay of, 623, 624, 625, 627 n., 628, 629, 630, 692
-
- Chamberlain, Joseph, 628
-
- Champagne, on freedom of the sea, 595, 596
-
- Chancellor, 181
-
- Channel, English, 9, 18, 19, 21, 29, 42, 43, 209, 247, 250, 266,
- 269, 270, 276, 327, 407, 465;
- extent of, 432, 465 n. 506 n.;
- great avenue of commerce, 30;
- importance of command of, 30;
- fisheries in, 65 n., 68, 544;
- licenses for fishing in, 65;
- disputes with French fishermen, 607, 608;
- mid-line limit, 542, 544;
- sovereignty over, 6, 8, 16, 35, 36, 101, 103, 207, 208, 246, 432;
- striking in, 117, 212, 469, 470
-
- Channel Islands, 29, 36, 103
-
- Charles the Bold, 72
-
- Charles I., 17, 28, 31, 117, 119, 338;
- asked to free the seas of Hollander busses, 211, 234;
- opinion on importance of fisheries, 213;
- initiates fishery association, 214;
- plan of, 215, 216;
- lays scheme before Council in Scotland, 218, 219, 220;
- ill received in Scotland, 220;
- opposed by Scottish Parliament, 222;
- debates regarding, 224;
- his great anxiety for, 225;
- Scottish Commissioners appointed, 225;
- his letters on, 232, 233;
- Royal Fishery Society established, 239;
- proceedings of, 241;
- misfortunes and failure of Fishery Society, 241-243;
- claim to sovereignty of sea, 10, 11, 119, 209-212, 251, 258;
- proclamation regarding narrow seas and King’s Chambers, 251;
- draft proclamation _re_ Sovereignty of Sea, 759;
- personal policy, 253;
- pretext for equipping a fleet, 253;
- deceives his Council, 255;
- secret agreement with Spain, 253, 255, 260, 264;
- instructions to first ship-money fleet, 259;
- failure of his policy, 275;
- report of Admiralty as to employment of second ship-money fleet,
- 288, 762;
- instructions regarding license money from foreign fishermen, 295;
- proclamation forbidding unlicensed fishing by foreigners, 293, 294;
- licenses to fishermen, 762;
- negotiations with Dutch as to unlicensed fishing, 305, 306;
- tries surreptitiously to induce Dutch to accept licenses, 317, 319,
- 321;
- Dutch despatch a fleet to protect their fishermen, 321;
- general dissatisfaction with his actions, 324;
- his power on sea wanes, 328;
- pretensions to sovereignty of sea flouted by Dutch, 328, 329;
- battle of Downs, 335;
- proceedings regarding Spanish fleet and Tromp, 331, 336
-
- Charles II., his efforts to develop fisheries, 441;
- Bill to encourage fisheries, 443;
- directed against foreigners, 444, 444 n.;
- establishes the Royal Fishery, 446-448;
- failure of, 449;
- Dutch embassy, negotiations concerning fishery question, 449,
- 450, 451, 455;
- tries to prevent Franco-Dutch treaty, 454;
- treaty with the United Provinces, 455;
- disputes about striking, 455;
- second Dutch war, 457, 458;
- very popular, 458;
- course of, 459;
- terms of peace, 464;
- claim to exclusive fishing withdrawn, 464;
- question of striking, 464, 465;
- extent of British seas, 465, 466;
- licenses offered to Dutch fishermen, 460;
- De Witt’s proposals as to striking, 468;
- verbal arrangement with Louis as to striking, 471, 471 n.;
- Triple Alliance, 474;
- secret treaty of Dover, 474;
- obtains a subsidy, 475;
- ill-feeling against Dutch fomented, 476;
- accuses De Witt of secret negotiations with Louis, 476;
- recall of Sir William Temple, 476;
- pretext for war in the “honour of the flag,” 476;
- sends his yacht _Merlin_ to pick a quarrel over the salute,
- 477, 478, 479;
- failure of the _Merlin_, 480;
- dispute with Dutch as to striking, 482;
- Dutch asked to acknowledge his dominion of the seas, 482;
- the Dutch hoodwinked, 482;
- rejects concessions of Dutch, 483, 484;
- orders Dutch shipping to be seized, 484, 485;
- failure of attack on Smyrna fleet, 486, 487;
- declaration of war against States-General, 487;
- declaration on the honour of the flag and sovereignty of the
- sea, 487, 488;
- arranges salute with Louis, 488;
- terms offered the Dutch, 490;
- demands payment for fishery, 491, 491 n.;
- summons Parliament, 492;
- subsidy granted, 493;
- the war intensely unpopular, 493;
- efforts to stir up animosity against Dutch, 494-498;
- congress at Cologne, 498;
- terms of peace offered, 498;
- question of flag and striking, 498, 499, 501-503, 505, 506, 508;
- question of fisheries, 498-500, 503-505, 508;
- negotiations for separate peace, 504-508;
- peace concluded, 508;
- establishes a new fishery company, 516
-
- Charles V., 74, 75, 78, 79, 81
-
- Charteris, A. H., 586 n.
-
- Chaterton, Sir Richard, 448
-
- Chatham, 459, 476
-
- Chelchethe, John de, 50
-
- Chelmsford, Lord, on territorial sea, 586 n.
-
- Chester, 96
-
- Chili, territorial sea, 661
-
- Chitty, on Sovereignty of Sea, 580 n.
-
- Chitty, on territorial sea, 597
-
- Christian V. of Denmark, prohibits fishing at Greenland, 528
-
- Churchill, Lieutenant, 486 n.
-
- Cinque Ports, 29, 32, 36, 55, 244, 247, 295, 381 n.;
- complain about foreign fishermen, 144, 145;
- fishermen of, 58, 90 n., 144;
- jurisdiction on sea, 213, 544, 544 n.;
- licenses to French fishermen, 65
-
- Clarendon, Chancellor, 241, 457
-
- Clee, 90
-
- _Cleveland_ yacht, 511
-
- Clyde, Firth of, foreign trawlers in, 647;
- fisheries of, 83, 221 n., 233, 235, 239;
-
- Cnut, King, and the sea, 26;
- charter regarding Sandwich, 542
-
- Cockaine, Sir William, 202
-
- Cockburn, Lord Chief-Justice, on Bristol Channel, 586, 587, 588;
- on territorial sea, 591, 591 n.
-
- Cockraine, Captain, 437
-
- Cod-fishing, 79, 131, 221 n., 672
-
- Coke, Lord Chief-Justice, 17, 27, 43, 44, 44 n., 46, 66, 213;
- on appropriation of sea, 363
-
- Coke, Secretary, Sir John, 130 n., 227 n., 268, 269;
- on the British seas, 20, 264 n.;
- on the fishery scheme, 215-218, 232, 235-237, 239 n., 241, 243;
- on sovereignty of sea, 20, 211, 212, 255-258, 264, 271, 302
-
- Coke, Roger, 127 n.
-
- Colbert, French ambassador, 471, 471 n.
-
- Cologne, congress at, 264 n., 323 n., 347 n., 491 n., 498, 506, 510
-
- Colomb, Admiral, 311 n.
-
- Columbus, 106, 340
-
- Commerce, 53, 91, 106, 107, 134, 135, 143, 163, 210, 255, 339, 340,
- 342, 390, 391, 395, 408, 413, 457;
- in middle ages, 3, 5, 6, 7, 29, 30, 34 and n., 43, 44, 67, 69, 86;
- monopoly of, 5, 106
-
- Commercial enterprise, expansion of, 6, 339, 340, 342, 533
-
- Commercial jealousy of Dutch, 10, 422, 441, 457
-
- Commonwealth, instructions as to striking, 380, 381;
- relations with United Provinces, 384;
- negotiations for alliance, 384, 385;
- St John’s mission to The Hague, 384-390;
- Navigation Act, 391;
- seizure of Dutch ships, 391;
- letters of reprisal against the Dutch, 391, 392, 393;
- renewed negotiations, 392-396;
- thirty-nine articles considered, 393, 764;
- differences as to sovereignty of sea, 393, 394;
- question of striking, 394, 395;
- question of fishery, 394, 396;
- question of right of visitation and search, 396;
- negotiations interrupted, 397;
- indignation against States-General for attack on Blake, 404;
- terms offered to Pauw, 405;
- Dutch ships seized and preparations for war, 405;
- declaration on sovereignty of sea, 409;
- _Mare Clausum_ to be translated and printed, 410;
- peace negotiations with Dutch, 414-435;
- terms offered, 415;
- Dutch propose the _Intercursus Magnus_ as basis, 416;
- liberty of fishing offered, 417;
- the twenty-seven articles proposed, 419;
- proposal for fusion of English and Dutch, 416, 417, 418, 419;
- question of dominion of the sea, 418, 419, 423, 433, 436;
- of extent of British seas, 429, 431-436;
- of fishing, 417, 418, 419, 420, 422, 423, 424, 425, 427, 430, 436;
- of guarding the sea, 421-424, 431, 436;
- of limitation of Dutch fleet, 421, 422, 423, 436;
- of the Prince of Orange, 422, 430, 433, 435;
- of striking, 417, 419, 420, 424, 429, 431, 432, 436;
- Dutch propose a “regulation” for, 405, 418, 424, 429, 431, 433;
- Dutch propose to strike in all seas, 432;
- of visit and search, 420-424, 431, 436;
- treaty signed, 435
-
- Conception Bay, territoriality of, 588, 589
-
- Conringius, 550
-
- Conway, Viscount, 268, 269, 284 n.
-
- Cook, George M., 728 n.
-
- Cooper, Sir Anthony Ashley, 429.
- _See_ also Lord Shaftesbury.
-
- Cope, Sir Walter, 128 n., 138
-
- Corinth, Gulf of, 661
-
- Cornish, James, on spawning of fish, 610
-
- Cornwall, pilchards, 134, 143
-
- Cornwallis, Lord, 360
-
- Cottingham, Sir Francis, 227 n.
-
- Cottington, Lord, 253, 263
-
- Courcel, Baron de, on three-mile limit, 664 n., 696 n.
-
- Coventry, Lord, 254, 255, 286
-
- Craig, Sir Thomas, 359 n.;
- on the right of fishery, 357
-
- Crail, 84, 175 n., 242
-
- Craudon, 54, 55, 56
-
- Cromarty, 227
-
- Cromer, 90, 296
-
- Crompton, Sir Thomas, 146
-
- Cromwell, Oliver (_see_ also Commonwealth), 13, 28, 65, 72, 337,
- 378, 404, 410 n., 414, 451, 495, 505;
- arguments for exclusive fishery, 425;
- clandestine negotiations with Dutch, 414, 415, 417, 430 n.;
- on sovereignty of sea, 419, 423, 424, 435;
- renews fishing licenses for Zowe, 440
-
- Cromwell, Richard, on extent of British seas, 438
-
- Crow, Captain, 479, 480
-
- Cuba, territorial limit, 665
-
- Cunæus, Professor Petrus, 375
-
- Customs limit. _See_ Territorial sea.
-
- Dana, on territorial sea, 683
-
- Danby, Earl of, 516
-
- Danegeld, 26
-
- Dantzic, 216, 242
-
- Dartmouth, 267
-
- David I., 59
-
- Davidson, Thomas, 84
-
- Davis’ Straits, 184
-
- Deal Castle, 279
-
- Dean, Major-General, 382, 406, 408
-
- Decay of English fisheries. _See_ Fisheries.
-
- Decay of havens and sea-coast towns, 89, 90, 98, 446
-
- Dee, Dr John, 27 n., 95, 111, 125, 203, 214 n., 364 n.;
- on sovereignty of sea, 99, 101
-
- Delaware Bay, claimed by United States, 574, 599, 629
-
- Delfshaven, 294 n., 298 n.
-
- Delft, 73, 397 n.
-
- Demetrius, Emanuel, 156
-
- Denmark, 26, 45, 54, 464, 527;
- claim to cod-fishing at Iceland, 528;
- to whaling at Greenland, 527;
- fisheries of, 92;
- fishermen on British coasts, 605;
- claims to sovereignty of sea, 4, 8, 16, 33, 86, 105, 112, 158,
- 339, 340, 358;
- opposed by Queen Elizabeth, 107, 108, 109, 110;
- on striking, 470, 471, 473;
- territorial sea, 528, 529, 653, 655, 664;
- range of vision claimed, 529, 545;
- inclusion in Cromwell’s treaty with Dutch, 433
-
- Deptford, 266
-
- De Ruyter, 408, 456, 457 n., 458, 459, 463, 472, 479, 481, 489, 493
-
- De Seneterre, 302
-
- Desjardins, on territorial sea, 685, 688
-
- “De Superioritate maris” roll, 8, 31, 41, 43, 44 and n., 45, 49, 50,
- 54, 363, 740, 744
-
- Devonshire, Earl of, 138
-
- De With, 408, 437
-
- De Witt, Cornelius, 459
-
- De Witt, John, 398, 414, 422, 433, 434, 449;
- secret negotiations with Cromwell, 430 n., 434, 435;
- secret negotiations with France regarding fishery and flag, 451-454,
- 471, 476;
- attitude on sovereignty of sea, 450, 451, 454, 468, 470;
- on fishery claim, 450, 451-457;
- on striking, 14, 452, 457, 467, 468, 470, 471;
- on striking to a frigate or ketch, 470, 477, 509;
- on striking to French, 463, 464;
- assassinated, 491
-
- Dieppe, 49, 50, 61, 65, 116, 440, 473
-
- Digby, Sir Kenelm, 292, 375
-
- Digges, Sir Leonard, 96
-
- Digges, Thomas, on foreshore and bed of sea, 362
-
- Dogger Bank, 131, 407 n., 699, 700
-
- Dominion of Sea. _See_ Sovereignty of Sea.
-
- Dorchester, Viscount, 212. _See_ Carleton.
-
- Dorp, van, 273, 274, 300, 312, 313, 321
-
- Dorset, Earl of, 227 n.
-
- Dort, 73
-
- Dover, 49, 73, 103, 145 n., 204, 205, 265, 400;
- straits of, 6, 8, 16, 18, 36, 104, 273, 330, 397, 401, 515
-
- Downing, Sir George, English ambassador at The Hague, 454, 482, 483, 488
-
- Downs, The, 120, 245, 259, 260, 265, 268, 270, 274, 290, 323, 330, 331,
- 332, 334, 335, 336, 400
-
- Drake, Sir F., 5, 107
-
- Drechsel, C. F., Captain, 647 n., 707 n.
-
- Dudley, Sir Henry, 116
-
- Dues levied at Scarborough Castle, 64
-
- Dunbar, 59, 153 n., 166, 221 n.
-
- Dunedin, Lord, Lord Justice-General, on territorial sea, 724
-
- Dunfermline, Earl of, 80, 179 n., 223
-
- Dunkirk, 73, 125, 215, 242, 267, 278, 282, 327;
- blockade of, 253, 265, 266, 268, 270, 273-275, 276, 290, 327, 330, 334
-
- Dunkirk privateers, 11, 243, 247-250, 261, 263, 265, 273, 282, 289,
- 291, 296, 302, 304, 318, 322, 327, 328, 330
-
- Dunn, Sir Daniel, 146, 155
-
- Dunwich, 90 n.
-
- Durham, 133
-
- Dussen, E. van der, Dutch ambassador, 185 n.
-
- Dutch, 5, 69, 77, 79, 81, 143, 217, 243, 253, 255, 261, 263, 275, 289;
- commercial jealousy of, 10, 125, 142, 413;
- encouraged to settle in England, 515;
- growth of fisheries and commerce, 10, 62, 87, 143;
- fisheries, growth and extent of, 125, 126, 127, 128, 130, 142;
- on British coasts, 62, 64, 605;
- on Scottish coast, 82, 83, 187 n., 201;
- statistics of, 125-132, 158, 190, 438, 439 and n., 534;
- strength of fishing fleet, 98, 101, 125, 126, 127, 129, 144, 321;
- value of, 125, 131, 132, 142, 292, 366, 515;
- exports of fish, 87, 135;
- embargo on, 460, 462, 489;
- supply England with fish, 93;
- herring fishery, 10, 61, 78-85, 87, 93, 95, 112, 122, 125, 131,
- 134-137, 143-145, 157, 208, 214, 215, 247, 250, 273, 277, 296,
- 316, 407, 415, 424, 428, 449, 450, 451, 515, 534;
- description of, 131;
- exports of herrings, 132, 134;
- herring fleet attacked by Blake, 406, 407;
- whale fishing, 194 n., 181, 183, 184, 185, 407, 528;
- fishermen, frugality and industry of, 137, 141;
- settled at Stornoway, 216, 221, 237;
- complaints against, 144, 154, 168, 175, 177, 187, 234, 257, 292,
- 301, 438;
- proposal to tax, 141, 214;
- assize herring, 169-171, 197, 198;
- licenses to be forced on, 264, 300;
- proceedings with reference to Northumberland’s fleet, 301-305,
- 312, 313;
- payments for licenses to fish, 309, 310, 311;
- attempt to distribute licenses, 320, 321.
- _See_ also Fisheries and Sovereignty of Sea.
-
- Dutch, first war with England, 405;
- second, 457;
- third, 474
-
- Dutch fleet to protect fishermen, 321
-
- Dutch East India Company, 185, 343, 344
-
- Dutch Republic. _See_ United Provinces.
-
- Dyer, Sir Edward, 103
-
- Dymes, Captain John, 216, 217 n.
-
-
- East India Company, 194
-
- East Indies, 105, 184, 185, 193, 194, 198, 199, 200, 257, 339, 340,
- 343, 350, 393, 430, 457, 482
-
- Eastland Merchants Company, 160
-
- Eddystone, territoriality of, 641, 642, 643
-
- Edgar, King, 26, 27, 28, 141, 158, 326, 365, 409
-
- Edinburgh, 216, 228, 298, 324, 351
-
- Edmonds, Sir Thomas, 243
-
- Edward I., 7, 32, 40, 42, 43, 44, 49, 51, 58 n., 60, 66, 67, 213,
- 214, 363, 365
-
- Edward II., 52 n., 56, 67, 254
-
- Edward III., 7, 33, 36, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, 51, 53, 64, 66, 67,
- 211, 254, 365, 409
-
- Edward IV., 63, 71, 110
-
- Edward VI., 88, 89, 116
-
- Elbe, 28
-
- Elector Palatine, 198, 271, 303, 315, 316, 320
-
- Elizabeth, Queen, 17, 65-85, 86, 87, 88, 91, 96, 102, 104, 115, 117,
- 118, 124, 136, 204, 246, 361, 433;
- asserts freedom of seas, 5, 108-112, 118;
- opposes claims of Denmark in northern seas, 86, 108-112;
- opposes Spanish and Portuguese claims, 86, 107;
- opposes _mare clausum_, 105, 338;
- made no claim to sovereignty of seas, 107, 108;
- policy to foster fisheries, 93;
- fishing declared free, 111;
- fishery disputes with Denmark, 106-112;
- policy regarding territorial waters, 111, 543
-
- Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, 167 n., 198, 303, 305, 314, 315, 316,
- 321, 385
-
- Emden, 129, 130, 195
-
- England, Sea of. _See_ Sea.
-
- English, new spirit of commercial enterprise in, 124, 136;
- irritation against Dutch, 134;
- jealous of their commerce, 413;
- fisheries, yield of, 215;
- condition of, 133;
- decay of, 75, 112, 358;
- description of, 133;
- fishermen, indolence of, 91, 137, 516;
- at Iceland, 108, 109, 110;
- at Norway, 108;
- molested by Dutch, 438
-
- Enkhuisen, 139, 170, 171, 173, 298 n., 397 n., 439 n.
-
- Entick, on Sovereignty of Sea, 311 n., 522
-
- Essex, Earl of, 128 n., 473
-
- Ethelred, King, 26
-
- Evelyn, John, 312 n., 508;
- on Sovereignty of Sea, 514 and n.
-
- Eversley, Lord, 702 n.
-
- Evertsen, Vice-Admiral Jan, 399, 408
-
- Exeter, 96
-
- Exton, Sir Thomas, 513
-
-
- Faeröe Isles, 175, 176, 528, 529, 545, 647, 711
-
- Fair Isle, 126, 131
-
- Fairlea, 65
-
- Fairlight, 65, 402
-
- Fajardo, Don Louis, 206 n.
-
- Falkland Islands, 650
-
- Falmouth, 276
-
- Farne Isles, 618
-
- Farrer, Sir T. H., 646
-
- Fast-days, 58, 87
-
- Fenton, John, 194, 195, 196 and n., 197, 757
-
- Ferguson, on territorial sea, 684
-
- Fielding, Captain, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324
-
- Fife, 59, 166, 175 n., 445;
- fishermen of, 61, 83, 165
-
- Finmark, 108, 109, 568
-
- Fiore, on territorial sea, 684
-
- Fish, abuses in trade in, 112, 113
-
- Fish, commerce in, 61, 82, 88, 112, 134, 141;
- exports, 61, 132 n., 133, 134, 214;
- imports, 67, 113, 145, 442;
- prices regulated, 91
-
- Fish days, 58, 87, 88, 90, 92 and n., 93, 94, 99 n., 114, 115, 136, 444
-
- Fish, demand for, in early times, 58
-
- Fish, destruction of spawn of, 608, 609, 610
-
- Fish for victualling army and navy, 58
-
- Fish, fresh, distribution of, 58
-
- Fish, preservation of brood of, 213, 607, 608, 609, 610
-
- Fish, protection of breeding-grounds of, 610
-
- Fish, royal, 66, 362 n., 363
-
- Fish, spawning of, 610
-
- Fish, taxation of imported, 88, 441, 442, 446
-
- Fish tithes, 59, 101, 141, 142, 203, 214, 242, 355
-
- Fish, undersized, 444 n., 608, 636, 704, 706, 707, 708-710
-
- Fisheries, appropriation of, 102
-
- Fisheries, as nursery for navy, 87, 113, 134, 213
-
- Fisheries, charter to Bruges, 461, 772
-
- Fisheries, claim to wide limit by Argentina, 661, 662
-
- Fisheries, claimed for crown, 57, 62, 288, 289, 292
-
- Fisheries, closure of areas, 662, 720.
- _See_ Territorial Sea, Extra territorial.
-
- Fisheries, cod-fishing at Lofoten Isles, 672 and n.
-
- Fisheries, Conference at Hague, 1881, 632
-
- Fisheries, decay of English, 86, 87, 89, 91, 92, 115;
- of Dutch, 534
-
- Fisheries, disputes in North Sea, 631;
- at Iceland, 110;
- in North America, 621, 622-630
-
- Fisheries, distant voyages, 57
-
- Fisheries, Dutch, 93, 94, 96, 125-130.
- _See_ Dutch.
-
- Fisheries, Dutch regulations on British coast, 605, 606 n.
-
- Fisheries, early English law as to, 66
-
- Fisheries Enquiries--Anglo-French in 1837, 611;
- by Royal Commissions in 1863, 701;
- in 1878, 702;
- in 1883, 702;
- by Select Committee of House of Commons in 1817, 610 n.;
- in 1833, 607-610; in 1893, 691, 707, 714 n.;
- by Select Committee of House of Lords in 1904, 710, 711 n.;
- by Mr Higgin as to disputes in North Sea, 1880, 631
-
- Fisheries, estimated profits of, 137
-
- Fisheries, exclusive limit for, 632, 633
-
- Fisheries, exhaustibility of, 348, 355, 372, 546, 550, 559, 602
-
- Fisheries, for coral, 659, 669, 684, 695;
- sponges, 659, 669;
- oysters, 612, 621, 697;
- pearls, 697
-
- Fisheries, for “floating” fish, 698
-
- Fisheries, freedom of fishing during war, 440, 461, 462, 489, 636
-
- Fisheries, herring, 29, 34 n., 43, 58, 59, 71, 73-75, 90, 97, 130,
- 143, 157, 187, 190, 193, 197-200, 203, 214-218, 221 n., 238, 241,
- 264, 265, 272, 273, 302, 336, 378, 462, 491, 605, 698;
- importance of, 59, 61;
- at Bohuslän, 62;
- at Scania, 61;
- in Channel, 68;
- Dutch, _see_ Dutch;
- French, on British coasts, 606, 607, 608, 618;
- treaties granting liberty for, 67
-
- Fisheries, importance of, 57;
- in Scotland, 76;
- for navy, 58, 86, 87, 200, 219, 428;
- in relation to international territorial limits, 693
-
- Fisheries, impoverishment of grounds, 701, 702, 704, 706-711, 713,
- 714 n., 733, 738, 739 n.
-
- Fisheries, in Channel, 65, 607
-
- Fisheries, in North Sea. _See_ North Sea.
-
- Fisheries, increase of shipping due to, 135
-
- Fisheries, industries dependent on, 135
-
- Fisheries, International Conference, London, 1890, 706
-
- Fisheries, international investigations proposed, 707 n.;
- begun, 735, 736, 740;
- instructions to British delegates, 735, 736 n.;
- criticism of, 736 and n.
-
- Fisheries, international regulations, 614, 618, 619, 630, 631, 636,
- 638, 645 n., 648, 704, 729;
- German proposal to protect fry and small fish, 636
-
- Fisheries, liberty of fishing granted to Sweden, 427
-
- Fisheries, liberty of fishing guaranteed by treaties, 8, 66-74
-
- Fisheries, license for fishing at Zowe, 65, 749
-
- Fisheries, old Scandinavian rights, 677
-
- Fisheries, old Scots Acts regarding, 82, 83
-
- Fisheries, policy of Scottish kings, 59
-
- Fisheries, promoted by Charles I., 213, 214
-
- Fisheries, proposals to develop English, 136, 138
-
- Fisheries, protective legislation and regulation, 88, 91, 92, 93,
- 94, 112, 113, 213, 442, 533, 608 n.
-
- Fisheries, regulations beyond three-mile limit, 614, 618, 619, 621,
- 661, 662, 666, 688, 691, 697, 698, 734, 735;
- of oyster beds, 621
-
- Fisheries, rise of British, 534
-
- Fisheries, Scottish treaties regarding, 75-82
-
- Fisheries, sealing regulations, Argentina, 662;
- Uruguay, 663
-
- Fisheries, small-fish grounds, 705, 708
-
- Fisheries, the “Belgian devil,” 631
-
- Fisheries, trawling, 134;
- methods, 699, 700, 701, 708, 714;
- development of, 680, 698-701, 711, 713, 739 n.;
- enterprise of British trawlers, 713;
- by British vessels on foreign coasts, 680, 711, 712, 713, 730, 735,
- 737;
- in Barents Sea, 657, 713;
- at Faröes, 711;
- at Finmarken, 680;
- French West Africa, 713;
- Iceland, 647, 648, 711;
- Morocco, 713;
- Spain and Portugal, 667 and n., 668 n., 713;
- foreign trawlers on Scottish coast, 647;
- damage by foreign trawlers, 631;
- destruction of undersized fish, 714 n.;
- Board of Trade empowered to restrict, 717;
- German proposals to restrict in North Sea, 636;
- restrictive regulations, 662, 698, 714, 733;
- in England, 715;
- prohibited beyond ordinary limits in Adriatic, 659;
- Argentina, 662;
- Austria-Hungary, 715;
- Italy, 71;
- Ireland, 715, 716;
- Norway, 680, 715;
- Portugal, 666-668;
- Scotland, 716-720;
- Spain, 666-668;
- bill to prohibit within eight miles of coast, 444 and n.;
- German proposal to restrict, 636;
- restrictions desired by English trawlers, 702, 704-710;
- ten-mile limit desired by English trawlers, 707;
- voluntary closure of Continental area, 704, 706;
- international agreement necessary, 732, 734, 735, 738;
- recent views as to extension of limits, 735, 737
-
- Fisheries, tribute from foreigners proposed, 101, 138, 139, 295
-
- Fisheries, truce for fishing during war, 74, 75
-
- Fishermen, early frequent distant seas, 86
-
- Fishermen, foreign--
- On British coasts, 29, 33, 57, 59-62, 65, 69, 76, 83, 91, 92, 98,
- 101, 126, 129, 145-150, 227, 288, 533, 544 n., 605-608, 611,
- 615, 617, 618, 631;
- Belgian, 615-618;
- Dutch, 60, 62, 64, 77-79, 82-85, 94, and _see_ Dutch;
- Flemish, 29, 59-62, 83, 101;
- French, 59-62, 65, 83, 101, 150, 544 n., 606-608, 611, 617,
- 618, 631;
- Portuguese, 129;
- Spanish, 67, 129, 150;
- cause of increase of, 61;
- complaints against, 94, 95, 100, 101, 144, 604, 605, 631;
- against Belgian, 615, 616;
- Dutch, _see_ Dutch;
- French, 29, 544 n., 606-608, 611, 617, 618, 631;
- encouraged in England, 75;
- prohibited to fish, 9, 33, 150, 202, 227, 293, 294;
- licenses for, 62, 65, 150, 294;
- tax on proposed, 101, 138, 139, 214, 295;
- protection of, 63
- On Irish coasts, 33, 92, 98, 101, 150
-
- Fishermen, guardians of, appointed, 63
-
- Fishery Conventions, 604, 693;
- Anglo-Belgian, of 1852, 61;
- Anglo-French, of 1839, 612, 613, 644;
- of 1867, 618, 619, 630, 633, 634, 645;
- North Sea, of 1882, 634, 637-639;
- Norway and Sweden decline to adhere to North Sea Convention, 636
-
- Fishery, reciprocal right of, 626, 627, 658, 659, 665, 666;
- old Scandinavian rights, 677
-
- Fishery, right of, Boroughs on, 364;
- Callis, 363;
- Craig, 357;
- Digges, 362;
- Fiore, 684;
- Graswinckel, 412;
- Grotius, 346, 351, 356;
- Hall, 688;
- Hautefeuille, 601, 602;
- Wicquefort, 495;
- Malynes, 358;
- Meadows, 525;
- Pontanus, 376;
- Puffendorf, 551;
- Rayneval, 596;
- Sarpi, 547;
- Selden, 372, 373;
- Stubbe, 497;
- Vasquius, 341;
- Vattel, 560, 561;
- Welwood, 354, 355;
- Wheaton, 599;
- Wolff, 559
-
- Fishery rights, British North America. _See_ America.
-
- Fishery Societies and Associations, 96, 97, 124, 128 n., 136-140,
- 160-162, 202, 203, 211, 214, 218, 222, 225, 227, 230 n., 232,
- 235-243, 266, 267, 292, 301, 328, 346, 439, 442, 444, 494, 515,
- 516, 533, 534
-
- Fishing boats, 33;
- question of neutrality of, during war, 636
-
- Fishing boats, varieties of, 63, 90, 126, 129
-
- Fishing, old limit on Scottish coast, 79
-
- Fishing, safe-conducts for, 62, 71, 72, 79
-
- Fishing vessels, armed, 34 n., 43, 70
-
- Fitton, Sir Henry, 64
-
- Fitzmaurice, Lord, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, on territorial
- sea, 630, 730, 731
-
- Flag, “honour of.” _See_ Striking.
-
- Flanders, 29, 30, 34, 43, 45, 52 n., 53, 55, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 69,
- 70, 71, 72, 75, 83, 88, 92, 101, 125, 209, 253, 255, 329
-
- Fleta, 539
-
- Fletcher, George, 225 n., 239 n.
-
- Flushing, 142
-
- Fogg, Captain, 322, 323
-
- Foggo, Robert, 78
-
- Folkestone, 33, 145 n.
-
- Foreign Enlistment Act, 589
-
- Foreshore, ownership of, 361-363
-
- Forth, Firth of, 221 n., 273 n., 298;
- herring fishery, 59, 61, 77
-
- Four Seas, 17, 18, 119 n., 251, 363
-
- France, 8, 12, 14, 20, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 44, 50, 57, 60,
- 61, 65, 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 83, 88, 92, 97, 101, 103, 105,
- 117, 127, 129, 134, 151, 158, 189, 212, 246, 264, 265, 269,
- 275, 286, 413, 426, 451, 452, 463;
- Customs jurisdiction, 594;
- differences with United Provinces as to striking, 452, 463;
- regulation of fisheries beyond three miles, 657;
- territorial sea, 657;
- treaty with Dutch regarding fishery question, 451-454
-
- Francis I. of France, 74, 75
-
- _Franconia_, case of, 580 n., 590, 591
-
- Frankland, 311 n.
-
- Freiras, F. S. de, on _Mare Liberum_, 350
-
- French fishermen on British coasts, 101, 129, 130, 150, 605;
- whalers at Spitzbergen, 182, 183 and n.
-
- Frezno, Marquis of, 508
-
- Friesland, 28, 45, 60, 62, 75, 81, 92, 104
-
- Froissart, 32
-
- Fryer, C. E., 619 n.
-
- Fundy, Bay of, 623, 624, 625
-
- Fyvie, Lord President, 223
-
-
- Galiani, on territorial sea, 563;
- first to suggest three miles as equivalent to range of guns, 563
-
- Galicia, 98, 469
-
- Gama, Vasco da, 340
-
- Garde, Baron de la, 116
-
- Gelderland, 81
-
- Genoa, 30, 45, 45 n., 402, 476, 504;
- sovereignty of Ligurian Sea, 4, 158, 339, 341, 371, 411, 473;
- limit of territorial sea, 570
-
- Gentilis, on appropriation of sea, 122, 358, 359
-
- Gentleman, Tobias, 128 and n., 129, 132, 134, 137, 358, 364 n.
-
- Gerbier, 318
-
- German Ocean, 19, 209
-
- Germany, 45, 61, 197, 198, 199, 216, 373, 377;
- territorial waters of, 652, 653
-
- Ghent, 71, 73;
- negotiations at, 581
-
- Ghent, van, 462, 479, 480, 481, 482
-
- Glanville, 539
-
- Glückstadt, 473
-
- Goch, Johan van, 185 n.
-
- Godey, on range of vision, 546
-
- Godolphin, 52 n., 53, 515
-
- Godsdue, Richard, 162
-
- Gondomar, Count of, 206, 208
-
- Goodwin Sands, territoriality of, 640, 640 n.
-
- Gorée, 477, 478, 490, 511
-
- Goring, George, 314
-
- _Grange_, case of, 574
-
- Granville Bay, 612, 619, 697
-
- Graswinckel, Dirck, 305, 354 n., 366 n., 375, 376 n., 411, 412, 550
-
- Gravelines, 68, 282, 327
-
- Greece, territorial sea, 661
-
- Greenland, 4, 28, 108, 181, 184, 199, 257, 376, 393, 407, 430, 437;
- whale fishery at, 200, 527
-
- Grey, Sir Edward, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, on territorial
- sea, 732, 733
-
- Grimaldi, Reyner. _See_ Grimbald.
-
- Grimbald, Reyner, 44 n., 45 and n., 47-51, 54, 409, 740, 744
-
- Grimsby, 32, 699;
- trawlers of, in Moray Firth, 722, 727-729
-
- Groningen, 81
-
- Groningen-Watt, 578
-
- Groot, de, 504
-
- Groot, Cornets de, 344 n.
-
- Groot, Hugo de. _See_ Grotius.
-
- Grotius, 5, 105, 118, 148, 157 n., 158 n., 173, 174, 185 n., 190,
- 191 n., 256 n., 353, 366, 370, 530, 538, 546, 591;
- appearance of, _Mare Liberum_, 338, 342;
- object and genesis of, 342, 343, 344;
- arguments of, 344-350;
- defends a Dutch _mare clausum_, 340, 356;
- ‘Rights of War and Peace,’ 347 ;
- on appropriation of sea, 356;
- on Portuguese and Spanish claims, 339;
- on range of gun limit, 157 n., 158 n., 549;
- on Selden’s _Mare Clausum_, 375;
- on Welwood, 356
-
- Grotius and James I., 346, 347 n., 351, 357
-
- Guard for fishing fleet, 248
-
- Guernsey, 36
-
- Guiccardini, 125
-
- Guise, Duke of, license to fish at Zowe, 65, 426
-
- Gulf of Nuevo, 661
-
- Gulf of St George, 661
-
- Gulf of San Matias, 661
-
- Guns, range of. _See_ Territorial sea.
-
- Guthrie, Lord, on territorial sea, 623
-
-
- Haas, Captain Adrian de, 486
-
- Haddington, Earl of, 179 n.
-
- Hagaland, 110
-
- Hague, The, 81, 152, 172, 176, 212, 256, 305, 314, 335, 351, 367, 384,
- 414, 426, 474, 479, 482, 488;
- Conference at, 1881, 632;
- Tribunal N. American Fisheries Arbitration, 732 n.
-
- Hale, Lord Chief-Justice, 18, 66, 363, 374, 543
-
- Halifax Commission, 627
-
- Halifax, Viscount, 490
-
- Hall, H. van, 605 n.
-
- Hall, on Sovereignty of Sea, 48 n., 312 n., 580 n.;
- on territorial sea, 687
-
- Halleck, on territorial sea, 683
-
- Halsbury, Lord, on territorial sea, 522, 730
-
- Halse, Sir Nicholas, 130, 132, 142, 162 n., 292
-
- Hamburg, 129, 130, 140, 195, 235, 485, 528;
- conference at, 336
-
- Hamburgers, 117, 126, 141, 178 n., 227, 255
-
- Hamilton, Marquis of, 186, 225 n.
-
- Hamilton, Sir Thomas, 179 n., 223
-
- Hampden, 324
-
- Hansards, 30, 61, 62, 73
-
- Hardy, Sir T. Duffus, 41
-
- Harfleur, 70
-
- Hargrave, 374;
- on Sovereignty of Sea, 580 n.
-
- Harris, Captain Joseph, condemned to death for striking to Spaniard, 512
-
- Harvey, Sir William, 162
-
- Harwich, 274, 699
-
- Hastings, 33, 40, 41, 145 n., 544 n.
-
- Hatherly, Lord, on territorial sea, 586 n.
-
- Hautefeuille, on territorial sea, 601
-
- Hawkins, Sir John, 5, 117
-
- Hay, Sir George, 186
-
- Hay, Sir John, 217, 218, 220 n., 221, 225 n., 227, 239 n.
-
- Headland doctrine, 360, 622, 624.
- _See_ Bays.
-
- Heath, Attorney-General, 252
-
- Heaton, Captain, 437
-
- Hebrides, 153 n., 230, 234, 241 n., 301
-
- Heemskerk, Jacob van, 5, 118, 183, 343
-
- Heffter, on territorial sea, 600;
- on range of vision, 546
-
- Helgeland, 108
-
- Heneage, Lord, 728 n., 739
-
- Henrietta Maria, Queen, 380, 382
-
- Henry I., 16, 29, 31, 40, 41
-
- Henry II., 28
-
- Henry II. of France, 117
-
- Henry III., 31, 66
-
- Henry III. of France, 117
-
- Henry IV., 43, 56, 67, 68, 69, 70
-
- Henry IV. of France, 159, 204
-
- Henry V., 8, 34, 41, 42, 43, 70, 108
-
- Henry VI., 38, 70, 109
-
- Henry VII., 63, 72, 73, 109, 387
-
- Henry VIII., 62, 73, 75, 89, 109, 116
-
- Henry, Prince, of Scotland, 81, 169
-
- Herbert, Captain, 512
-
- Herbert, Sir John, 146
-
- Hermetra, 241 n.
-
- Herring busses, 74 n., 162, 447
-
- Herring fishery. _See_ Fisheries, herring.
-
- Herrings, commerce in, 61, 132, 242;
- price of, 97
-
- Herschell, Lord, on territorial sea, 592 n., 731
-
- Hervey, Lord, 202
-
- Heywood, Thomas, 326 and n.
-
- Higgin, W. H., inquiry on North Sea fishery disputes, 631
-
- Highlanders, 216, 242
-
- Hitchcock, Captain Robert, 64, 95, 105, 125, 133, 136, 138, 203, 364 n.
-
- Hoek, Dr P. P. C., 707 n.
-
- Holland, 45, 60, 62, 64, 71, 72, 74 n., 75, 77, 78, 79, 81, 84, 92,
- 94, 95, 104, 125, 129, 132, 135, 139, 144, 151, 171, 172, 175,
- 190, 195, 197, 215, 292, 374, 384, 407, 433, 450, 460
-
- Holland, Earl of, 77
-
- Holland, fishery treaty with, 71, 72
-
- Holland, Prof., 359 n.;
- on territorial sea, 691 n.
-
- Hollanders. _See_ Dutch.
-
- Holmes, Captain Sir Robert, 455, 456 n., 458, 484, 485, 486
-
- Hoorn, Simon van, 449 n.
-
- Horn, Andrew, 542
-
- Hovering Acts, 593
-
- Howard, Lord William, 117
-
- Hübner, on territorial sea, 562
-
- Hull, 43, 94, 96, 108, 194 n., 699
-
- Humber, 133
-
- Hume, 311 n.
-
- Huxley, Professor, 702 n.
-
- Hythe, 145 n.
-
-
- Iceland, 4, 28, 86, 88, 97, 108, 109, 112, 113, 133, 145, 247,
- 248, 339, 376;
- area of fishing-grounds at, 739;
- English fishermen attacked by Danes, 109, 110;
- English traffic with, 339;
- Danish claims at, 528, 529, 567;
- fisheries at, 57, 94;
- English at, 87, 89, 90, 113, 408;
- foreign trawlers at, 700, 707, 711, 714 n.;
- fishery dispute between Denmark and United Provinces, 529;
- fishery limit at, 647, 648;
- seven-mile limit, 739, 740 n.
-
- Idle persons, 98, 115, 116
-
- Impressment of ships, 32
-
- Indies, 107, 135, 215, 257, 341, 360, 457
-
- Insecurity of sea, 247, 248, 249, 253
-
- Institut de Droit International, on territorial sea, 689-692;
- articles on, 774
-
- _Intercursus Magnus_, treaty, 72, 73, 80, 86, 157, 158, 256 n., 368,
- 386, 388, 394, 416, 425, 430, 449, 500
-
- International fishery investigations. _See_ Fisheries.
-
- International Law Association, on territorial sea, 689-692, 774;
- Articles on, 774
-
- Inveraray, 83 n.
-
- Ipswich, 247
-
- Ireland, 29, 70, 88, 97, 98, 143, 201, 226, 257, 359;
- fisheries, 92;
- oyster fisheries, 697;
- foreigners prohibited from fishing at, 33, 63;
- restrictions on trawling beyond three-mile limit, 716;
- Spanish fishings at, 67, 98;
- territoriality of oyster-beds, 620, 621
-
- Irgens, J., Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, 673 n.
-
- Isabel of Portugal, 70
-
- Islay, 230
-
- Isle of Man, fishery regulations, 698
-
- Isle of May, fishing tithes, 59, 76
-
- Italian jurists, 6, 35, 101, 347, 360, 539
-
- Italian Republics, 3, 6, 340
-
- Italy, 358;
- Customs jurisdiction, 594, 661;
- reciprocal rights of fishery with Austria, 659;
- territorial sea, 659
-
-
- James I., 9, 17, 62, 73, 75, 81, 136, 257, 346, 347 n., 351, 353, 357
-
- James I., a new policy, 118;
- antecedents of, 124;
- proclamation forbidding hostilities in King’s Chambers, 9, 119,
- 360, 750;
- concludes peace with Spain, 125;
- proclamation restraining foreigners from fishing on British
- coasts, 9, 145-148, 150, 541, 755;
- remit of Council on, 146;
- deliverance of Committee on, 147;
- attitude of French towards, 151;
- negotiations with Dutch, 151, 155-159, 170, 178-180, 185-194,
- 197, 198;
- proclamation suspended, 159;
- orders records to be searched, 162, 179, 187;
- grants of assize herrings, 165, 166;
- instructs assize herrings to be levied from foreign fishermen,
- 168, 757;
- indignation at capture of Brown, satisfaction demanded, 172, 174;
- forbids Scottish fishermen to fish within a land-kenning at the
- Faroes, 176;
- requests Dutch not to fish within sight of land, 176;
- requests Scottish Council to prevent the Hollanders fishing within
- sight of land, 178;
- again demands assize herrings from Dutch, 180;
- claims seas around Spitzbergen as British, 183;
- appoints commissioners to treat with Dutch envoys, 186;
- Dutch ambassadors without power to treat of herring fishery, 188, 189;
- indignation with Dutch ambassadors, 189;
- again gives way on the herring fishery question, 192;
- requests Dutch to prohibit fishing within fourteen miles, 192;
- negotiations with Dutch as to whale fishery, 193;
- Carleton advises fixing a limit, 193;
- Dutch agree to keep out of sight of shore, 193;
- orders assize herrings to be again collected, 194, 196;
- Dutch embassy appointed, 198;
- Dutch ambassadors without instructions to deal with fishery
- question, 199;
- speech to Dutch ambassadors, 199;
- indignation against Dutch, 200;
- Dutch ambassadors advise States-General to settle fishery
- question, 200;
- failure of policy of assize herring, 203
-
- James II., 517
-
- James III. of Scotland, 83
-
- James V. of Scotland, 77, 78, 83, 218
-
- James VI. of Scotland, treaty with Dutch, 80, 81
-
- Jan Mayen, sealing at, 695;
- whaling at, 527
-
- Japan, territorial sea, 661
-
- Jenkins, Sir Leoline, judge of the High Court of Admiralty, judicial
- decisions regarding neutral waters, 553;
- plenipotentiary at Cologne, 498;
- on case of the _Merlin_, 480;
- on confiscation of Smyrna fleet, 486;
- on sovereignty of sea, 484 n.;
- on striking, 477, 480, 481, 501-503, 511, 512, 513
-
- Jenkinson. _See_ Lord Liverpool.
-
- Jennings, Edward, 115
-
- Jersey, 36
-
- Joachimi, Dutch ambassador, 155, 256, 301, 302, 304, 305, 306, 384
-
- John’s ordinance, 6, 16;
- on striking, 39-43, 278, 365, 409
-
- Johnsen, Hans, on Moray Firth, 728 n.
-
- Jongestal, Dutch ambassador, 415, 417, 433
-
- Jonson, Ben, 115, 196 n.
-
- Juridical controversies about sovereignty of sea, 338-340, 410-413
-
-
- Kanin, Cape, 657, 713
-
- Kemble, 27, 28
-
- Kennet, 311 n.
-
- Kent, on territorial sea, 599
-
- Kerouaille, Mademoiselle de, 475
-
- Ketelby, Captain, 281
-
- Keymer, John, author of the “Raleigh” tract, 126, 127, 128 n., 131, 358
-
- Killigrew, Sir William, 280
-
- King James’s Newland, 183
-
- King John’s ordinance. _See_ John.
-
- King, Thomas, 446, 448
-
- King’s Chambers, 50, 54, 209, 260, 262, 263, 359, 360, 373, 539, 553,
- 598, 622, 723 n.;
- declaration of Trinity House as to limits of, 753;
- description of, 120;
- defined by James I., 9, 118, 120;
- extent of, 122, 251;
- proclamation concerning, 251, 750;
- question of validity of, 576, 577;
- restricted to neutrality, 122, 251, 548;
- violation of, 10, 245, 247, 255, 256, 258, 259, 326, 328, 330-333, 336
-
- Kirkelee, 49
-
- Kishinouye, Dr, 661 n.
-
- Kleen, on territorial sea, 685
-
- Klüber, on territorial sea, 597
-
- Kronberg, striking at, 473, 520
-
- Kyllachy, Lord, on territorial sea, 725
-
-
- Lake, Sir Thomas, 359 n.
-
- Lampredi, on territorial sea, 562
-
- Lampreys, 244
-
- “Land-fishing” in Scotland, 222, 226
-
- Land-kenning in Scotland, 77, 84, 144, 154, 175, 176, 177 n., 178,
- 192, 193, 211, 218, 221, 222 n., 223, 228, 235, 545, 546;
- at Faroes, 175.
- _See_ Territorial Sea, Range of Vision.
-
- Land-van-Staten, 506, 508, 510, 515
-
- Larrey, 311 n.
-
- Latour, on territorial sea, 595, 685
-
- Laud, Archbishop, 243, 306, 314, 316, 368, 376 n.
-
- Lauderdale, Lord, 187, 483, 507
-
- Laughton, Professor, 521 n.
-
- Law, early English, as to fishing, 66
-
- Lawrence on territorial sea, 683, 688
-
- Laws of Oleron, 6, 40, 42, 44 n., 51, 52, 54, 213, 363, 365
-
- Laws of the Sea, old, 30, 52 n.
-
- Lawson, Vice-Admiral Sir John, 437, 456, 457 n., 463, 472
-
- _Leda_, case of, 586 n.
-
- Lediard, 167 n., 311 n.
-
- Lefevre, Mr Shaw. _See_ Lord Eversley.
-
- Leghorn, 402, 473
-
- Leicester, Earl of, 96, 264 n.
-
- Lennox, Duke of, 130 n., 166, 168, 170, 172, 186, 195 and n., 230 n.,
- 353, 461;
- grant of assize herrings to, 166, 168
-
- Lent, 75, 87, 88, 114, 136, 214, 242, 244;
- difficulties in enforcing observance of, 114, 115;
- laxity of observance of, 88, 89;
- measures to enforce observance of, 88, 114.
- _See also_ Political Lent.
-
- Leon, 32
-
- “L’Espagnols sur Mer,” battle of, 37, 67
-
- Levant, 340
-
- Levi, Leoni, on territorial sea, 664 n.
-
- Lewes, 216, 217, 220, 221, 224, 227, 234, 235, 237, 241, 242
-
- Lewis, 216, 217 and n.
-
- Leybourne, Lord William de, 45 n.
-
- Leyden, 73, 342
-
- Libelle of Englyshe Polycye, 18, 30, 37, 38 n.
-
- Licenses for foreign fishermen, 62, 63, 111, 141, 210, 235, 257,
- 264, 288, 292, 294, 425, 426, 430, 453;
- for Dutch, 272, 488, 489;
- distributed to the busses, 300;
- sums received for, 309, 310, 311;
- offered to Dutch, 317;
- to French, 440, 454;
- to Swedes to fish in British seas, 427;
- Danish to fish at Iceland and northern seas, 108-112
-
- Liens, Joachim, Dutch Ambassador, 185 n.
-
- Ligurian Sea, sovereignty of, 4, 339, 341, 371, 411
-
- Lindsay, Thomas, 242
-
- Lindsey, Earl of, 250, 256, 257, 267, 270, 271, 275 n., 282, 284,
- 286, 287, 380;
- appointed Admiral of the first ship-money fleet, 259;
- his instructions from the Admiralty, 260;
- private instructions from Charles I., 264;
- to force licenses on Dutch fishermen, 264;
- punctilios of, as to flags, extent of British Seas, 264, 265,
- 266, 269;
- dissatisfaction of Charles with, 268;
- and the Dutch herring busses, 272;
- proceedings of the fleet, 259-274
-
- Lisle, Viscount, 428, 429
-
- Liverpool, Lord, on neutral rights, 596
-
- Lizard, 103, 122, 269, 437
-
- Loccenius, on territorial sea, 550
-
- Loch Broom, 83
-
- Loch Fyne, 83, 153 n.
-
- Loch Maddy, 241 n.
-
- Lofoten Isles, 672
-
- Logan, Sir Robert, 77 n.
-
- London, 7, 49, 50, 61, 88, 94, 96, 114, 124, 140, 189, 198, 199,
- 214, 223, 241, 266, 299 n., 330, 358, 384, 396, 404, 407, 428,
- 439, 443, 446, 448, 449;
- consumption of fish in, 87, 97;
- fish supply of, 131, 134, 144, 241 n.;
- and Fishery Society, 443;
- fishmongers of, 89
-
- Long Parliament, 336, 414;
- attitude towards Sovereignty of Sea, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382
-
- Lord Mayor, 115, 202, 214, 443, 448
-
- Loreburn, Lord, on territorial sea, 732
-
- “Lords of the Sea,” English kings as, 8, 28, 35, 36, 38 n., 39, 209,
- 210, 211, 244, 373
-
- Lothian, Firth of, 153 n., 233, 235, 239
-
- Lottery for Fishery Society, 244, 446, 447
-
- Louis of Nassau, 449 n.
-
- Louis XIV., 463, 465, 474, 476, 483, 490, 493, 503, 518, 526;
- on fishery question, 453;
- intrigue with Charles, 459;
- reveals to Charles De Witt’s negotiations, 471;
- his policy, 474;
- declares war against States-General, 488;
- on striking, 518
-
- Low Countries, 73, 77, 94;
- fisheries of, 98;
- fishermen of, 94, 100, 144.
- _See also_ Dutch and Netherlands.
-
- Lowestoft, 249, 307, 469
-
- Lucas farthing, 470 n.
-
- Lundy, Laird of, 188
-
- Lushington, Dr, on territorial sea, 586 n.
-
- Lynn, 49, 77 n., 90, 108, 247
-
-
- Mackerel fishery, 134, 150
-
- MacLeod, Sir Reginald, 667 n., 673 n.
-
- Madrid, 150, 201, 253, 318
-
- Mainwaring, Sir H., 65 n.
-
- Malynes, Gerard, 128 n., 130 n., 138 n., 160;
- on the appropriation of the sea, 358
-
- Manning, on territorial sea, 600
-
- Mansel, Sir Robert, 219 n.
-
- _Mare Clausum_, 11, 19, 20, 251, 254, 257, 258 n., 286, 287, 288,
- 289, 302, 315 n., 330, 365, 369, 375.
- _See_ Selden.
-
- _Mare Liberum_, 255, 256 n., 257, 338, 340, 342, 374, 410.
- _See_ Grotius.
-
- Margaret of Savoy, 73
-
- Marine laws, 51, 52, 54
-
- Maritime laws, 41, 42, 44
-
- Marlborough, Duke of, 486 n., 531
-
- Marion, Professor A. F., 667 n.
-
- Marten, Sir Henry, 155, 174, 244 n., 251, 263, 264, 278, 283, 288, 295
-
- Martens, F., 194 n.
-
- Martens, G. F. von, on territorial sea, 563
-
- Martens, Professor de, on territorial sea, 686, 688
-
- Martin, Martin, 241 n.
-
- Martin, Sir Henry, 39, 119 n., 762
-
- Mary, Queen, 64, 88, 91, 117, 141, 206
-
- Mary, Queen, of Hungary and Bohemia, 80 and n.
-
- Mary Stuart, Queen, 79, 81, 83
-
- Mason, Capt. John, 153 n., 167 n., 216, 219 n., 220 n., 241, 364 n.;
- grant of assize herrings to, 165, 166, 167 n.
-
- Massé, on territorial sea, 602
-
- Masson, Professor, 195 n.
-
- Masterman, Captain Walter S., 711 n.
-
- Masterman, Dr A. T., 735 n.
-
- Maurice, Count, 173
-
- Maximilian of Austria, 72
-
- Meadows, Sir Philip, on sovereignty of sea, 397, 428 n., 510, 524, 694;
- proposes a convention for fishery limits, 525
-
- Mechlin, 71
-
- Medina Sidonia, Duke of, 142
-
- Mediterranean, 28, 30, 134, 143, 340, 347, 372, 389, 437, 457, 485;
- striking in, _See_ Striking.
-
- Meerman, Dutch ambassador, 483
-
- Melrose, Earl of, 179 n.
-
- Mendoza, 107
-
- Merchant Adventurers, 160, 292
-
- Merchant Associations to secure the peace of the sea, 6, 30
-
- _Mercurius Politicus_, 410
-
- _Merlin_, the King’s yacht, 15, 477-482, 510;
- encounter with Dutch fleet, 479;
- inquiry by Sir Leoline Jenkins on, 480
-
- Mervin, Sir Henry, 284, 287, 296, 297, 300, 327
-
- Mexico, Customs jurisdiction, 594;
- pearl fisheries, 697;
- treaties with, 679 and n.
-
- Mid-line (_Thalweg_), 3, 101, 102, 111, 226, 361, 373, 541, 542, 652
-
- Miles, Scots, 233 n.
-
- Milton, John, 410, 428 n., 524
-
- Minch, 230
-
- _Mirror of Justice_ and mid-line, 542
-
- Molloy, on sovereignty of sea, 514;
- on striking, 557
-
- Monk, Duke of Albemarle, 408;
- on Dutch commerce, 457, 459
-
- Monson, Sir William, 130 n., 132, 135, 143, 202, 204, 205, 206 n.,
- 208, 216, 219 n., 259
-
- Montague, General. _See_ Earl of Sandwich.
-
- Monteith, Earl of, 224, 225 n., 239 n.
-
- Moore, on sovereignty of sea, 580 n.;
- on territorial sea, 691 n.
-
- Moray Firth, 233, 235, 239;
- prohibition of trawling within, 718, 720;
- foreign trawlers in, 647, 720-728;
- Norwegian-registered trawlers in, 721, 727;
- prosecution and conviction of foreign trawlers, 722, 723, 724, 727;
- case of _Catalonia_, 722;
- of Emmanuel Mortensen, 722, 724-727;
- of Martin Olsen, 722;
- of _Niobe_, 722, 724;
- of _Pinewold_, 723;
- of _Verbena_, 723;
- High Court of Justiciary decides prohibition applies to foreigners,
- 722, 724-727;
- protest by Norway, 727, 728;
- Norway favours a convention, 728, 730;
- and warns Norwegian trawlers to cease fishing in Moray Firth, 728;
- actions against British subjects on foreign trawlers, 728, 729;
- views of Foreign Office, 729, 730;
- proposal of International Council, 737;
- territoriality of, 723-728, 729, 732, 734;
- opinions of Scottish judges as to territoriality of, 724-727
-
- Moray Firth, herring fishery in, 61
-
- Morocco, 5, 256, 668;
- trawling at, 713
-
- Morton, Earl of, 225 n., 239 n.
-
- Moser, on territorial sea, 562
-
- Muncke, Levinus, 155, 156 n.
-
- Mundesley, 247
-
- Murray, Captain David, 172, 195 n., 196
-
- Muscovy Company, 160;
- whale fishery of, 181, 182, 183, 184, 194 n.
-
- Musselburgh, 175 n., 445
-
-
- Nansen, Dr Fridtjof, Norwegian Minister, 673 n., 728
-
- Nantes, 97
-
- Narrow seas, the, 8, 18, 19, 26, 29, 30, 34, 36, 113, 212, 213,
- 214, 253, 256, 260, 261, 270, 274, 287, 324 n., 327, 328, 361,
- 363, 381, 408, 430, 458, 459 n.;
- description of, 18;
- herring fisheries in, 67;
- hostilities prohibited in, 261, 262, 263;
- prizes taken in, 359 n.;
- striking in, 204-206, 270, 402.
- _See_ Channel.
-
- National Sea Fisheries Protection Association, 667 n., 706, 728 n., 740
-
- Naval Salute. _See_ Striking.
-
- Navare, Michel de, 49
-
- Navigation, freedom of, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 20, 33, 34, 35, 43, 67, 86,
- 106, 158, 341, 346, 358, 360, 365, 421, 497, 676
-
- Navigation Act of 1651, 391 and n., 392, 413, 416, 419;
- of 1660, 441, 451, 464
-
- Navy, 2, 5, 10, 11, 22, 26, 27, 31, 32, 34, 58, 68, 91, 92, 113, 117,
- 134, 246, 251, 252, 255, 257, 286, 288, 379, 428, 475, 517, 523;
- under Charles I., 246;
- under Edward III., 33, 36, 38;
- under Henry IV., 68;
- under Henry VI., 38;
- complaint of Commons on, 38
-
- Navy and fisheries, 428
-
- Needham, Marchamont, 410, 411
-
- Netherlands, 21, 74, 76, 78, 79, 81, 82, 93 n., 94, 105, 112, 125,
- 126, 127 n., 138, 144, 168, 185, 200, 203, 312, 380, 397;
- prohibit their fishermen from fishing within two leagues of Scottish
- coast, 605, 606;
- territorial sea, 658.
- _See_ Dutch.
-
- Neutral waters, 22, 119, 120, 359 n., 548, 586, 622, 641 n., 665, 685,
- 775;
- decrees regarding, 569-571;
- limit of, 546;
- proclamations and decisions regarding, 553, 554;
- Scandinavian limit of, 568;
- treaties regarding, 571, 572;
- usage in seventeenth century, 552, 553, 554
-
- Newcastle, 34 n., 96, 114, 248, 249, 252, 273 n., 428
-
- Newfoundland, 86, 88, 92, 97, 113, 219, 589;
- fishery rights at, 531, 532
-
- Nicholas, Secretary of Admiralty, 44 n., 213, 262, 263, 275 n., 278,
- 292, 295, 318, 322
-
- Nicholl, Sir John, on territorial sea, 586 n.
-
- Nicolas, Sir N. H., 37, 45 n., 46 n., 53, 56
-
- Nieuport, 60, 327, 400
-
- Nieuport, William, Dutch ambassador, 395, 415, 417, 433
-
- Nootka Sound, 573
-
- Nordland, 108
-
- Norfolk, 46 n., 63, 90, 94, 101, 162, 248
-
- Norham, 60
-
- Norman Conquest, 6, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 59, 372
-
- Normandy, 29, 36, 43, 48, 50, 59, 62, 69, 74, 97, 103, 129, 213
-
- Northampton, Earl of, 138, 353
-
- North Cape, 58, 86, 478, 502, 503
-
- North-east passage, 343
-
- Northmen, sea power of, 26, 28
-
- North Sea, 21, 22, 43, 246, 247, 382, 432, 434, 465, 466 n.;
- fisheries, 43, 60, 87, 89, 130, 131, 133, 408, 470;
- Conference at Hague on, 1881, 632;
- Fishery Convention, 1882, 634, 637, 638, 639, 644, 721, 722,
- 725, 726, 735, 737;
- defects in definitions, 641;
- question of limit of exclusive fishing on other coasts, 643, 644,
- 645, 646;
- Sweden and Norway decline to join, 636;
- development of trawling in, 699, 700;
- impoverishment of fishing-grounds in, 706-710, 711, 738, 739 n.
-
- Northumberland, Earl of, 131, 243, 264, 266 n., 278, 279, 319, 320,
- 322, 323, 327, 379, 380, 388, 425, 426, 557;
- appointed admiral of second ship-money fleet, 287;
- instructions of Admiralty, 289, 290;
- instructions from Charles, 295;
- proceedings of fleet in Channel, 290, 291;
- proceedings of fleet against Dutch fishermen, 295-300, 307-311;
- forces licenses on Dutch fishermen, 12, 291, 296, 297, 298, 299,
- 300, 301, 308;
- appointed admiral of the third ship-money fleet, 319;
- appointed Lord High Admiral, 329
-
- Norway, 34, 45, 169 n., 339, 527;
- area of fishing-grounds, 738;
- Customs jurisdiction, 594;
- declines three-mile limit, 633, 678;
- declines to adhere to North Sea Convention, 636, 783;
- disputes with England as to fisheries, 108, 110;
- fisheries, 92;
- fisheries in Vestfjord, 672, 677;
- fishery limit early fixed, 528;
- special fishery limits, 671, 672, 678, 679;
- foreign trawlers seized for illegal fishing, 680;
- registered trawlers in Moray Firth, 721, 727, 728;
- sovereignty of sea of, 4;
- territorial sea, 653, 669-681, 685;
- method of computing, 653, 655, 669, 670, 676, 678, 685;
- respected by foreign fishermen, 677, 678
-
- Norwegian Sea, sovereignty over, 4, 16
-
- Nottingham, Earl of, 206, 353
-
- Nova Zembla, 184
-
-
- Okhotsk, Sea of, foreigners fishing in, 585
-
- Oldenbarneveldt. _See_ Barneveldt.
-
- Oldys, 127 n.
-
- Oleron, Laws of. _See_ Laws.
-
- _Onward Ho!_ case of, 657 n.
-
- Oppenheim, on territorial sea, 688
-
- Oquendo, Don Antonio de, 330-334
-
- Orange, Prince of, 190, 197, 303, 306, 314, 315 n., 384, 387, 422,
- 430, 433, 434, 460, 462, 490, 491, 492, 503, 517
-
- Orfordness, 49, 277, 553
-
- Orkney, 88, 108, 126, 165, 169, 180, 201, 215, 221, 227, 230, 234, 406
-
- Orkney, Earl of, 169 n.
-
- Ormonde, Marquis of, 450
-
- Ortolan, on territorial sea, 601
-
- Orwell, 54
-
- Ossory, Lord, 485, 486 n.
-
- Ostend, 43, 309
-
- Ouwers, Egidio, 273 n.
-
- Overbury, Sir Thomas, 127 n.
-
- Over-Yssel, 81
-
- Owen, Captain, 382
-
- Oxford, 358
-
- Oyster fisheries, special treatment of, 657;
- question of territoriality of Irish, 620, 621;
- reserved for French, 612, 619, 620
-
-
- Pacius, on Venetian dominion of sea, 351
-
- Palatinate, 198, 199, 210, 253, 265, 271, 274, 275, 286, 302, 305,
- 306, 314, 315, 316, 331
-
- Papal Bulls, 5, 105, 106, 107, 339, 342, 344, 372
-
- Pardessus, 41, 42
-
- Parliament, 67, 77 n., 116, 211, 214, 367, 409, 414, 443, 449, 457,
- 458, 475, 483, 492, 493, 503, 506, 532;
- on safeguarding the sea, 34;
- petitions for dues on navigation of Channel, 35;
- on navy, 38
-
- Parliament of Ireland, 33, 63
-
- Parliament of Scotland, 82, 218, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225
-
- Parry, Sir Thomas, 155
-
- Pauw, Adrian, Dutch ambassador, 405, 414
-
- Pearl fisheries, 697;
- Vattel on, 560
-
- Pedrogue, John de, 45 n., 49, 50
-
- Pembroke, Earl of, 227, 239 n., 240-244, 446
-
- Pendennis Castle, 280
-
- Penn, Sir William, 383, 408, 456
-
- Pennington, Sir John, 208, 212, 244, 259, 261, 264, 274, 275 n.,
- 287, 290, 296, 297, 321, 322, 324, 327, 328, 379, 403;
- instructions as to striking, 261-263, 276, 277;
- suggestion as to neutral waters round a King’s ship, 262;
- on striking, 277, 278, 279, 280, 283;
- action at Battle of Downs, 329-335
-
- Pepys, Samuel, 312 n., 513, 514;
- on Fishery Society, 447 n., 448, 449;
- on striking, 456;
- on second Dutch war, 458, 459;
- on state of navy, 517
-
- Perels, on territorial sea, 652, 684, 688
-
- Perkins, Sir Christopher, 146, 155
-
- Perre, Van de, Dutch ambassador, 391, 415
-
- Petersen, Gisbert, fishing license to, 460
-
- Philip, Archduke of Austria, 72
-
- Philip the Fair, 44
-
- Philip II., 64, 81, 107, 141, 205, 425, 426, 544
-
- Philip III., 350
-
- Philip IV., 350
-
- Phillimore, 312 n.;
- on territorial sea, 682
-
- Picardy, 29, 62, 74, 88, 103, 130
-
- Picaroons, 273, 276
-
- Pilchard, 134, 143, 227, 235, 447
-
- Piracy, prevalence of, 4, 5, 7, 30, 43
-
- Pirates, 68, 72 n., 78, 79, 82, 91, 247, 253, 254, 260, 269, 274,
- 284 n., 291, 292, 327, 339, 390, 421, 456, 471
-
- Pistoye and Duverdy, on territorial sea, 602
-
- Pitt, on fishery arrangements with France, 532
-
- Pittenweem, 59, 175 n.
-
- Plague, 299 n.
-
- Plancius, 183
-
- Plantagenets, 8, 11, 30, 43, 75, 209, 211, 213, 258, 368, 421
-
- Plegher, 80
-
- Plowden, on sea of England, 102, 111, 361, 543
-
- Plumleigh, Captain, 208, 277, 280
-
- Plymouth, 33, 117, 267, 268, 327
-
- Poland, 61;
- claim to Baltic, 4, 371, 377
-
- Political Lent, the, 87, 88, 89, 112, 114
-
- Pontalis, on fishery question, 453 n.
-
- Pontanus, J. I., on Selden’s _Mare Clausum_, 376, 550
-
- Pope, the, 28, 105, 106, 107, 212, 277 n., 339, 371
-
- Popham, Col. Edward, 382
-
- Porpoise, 88
-
- Portland, 267
-
- Portland Castle, 256, 279
-
- Portland, Earl of, 239 n., 241, 253
-
- Portsmouth, 114, 408
-
- Portsmouth, Duchess of, 475
-
- Portugal, 91, 268;
- area of fishing-grounds, 738;
- fishermen visit British coasts, 129;
- and Irish coast, 98;
- fishery treaty with, 67;
- foreign trawlers at, 713;
- claim to sovereignty of sea, 5, 86, 105-108, 112, 340, 343, 344, 350;
- territorial sea, 569, 664, 668
-
- Pradier-Fodéré, on territorial sea, 684, 688
-
- Prerogative of crown, 236
-
- Pribilov Islands, 695
-
- Privateers, 462
-
- Prize, law of, 359 n.
-
- Prussia, 34, 216;
- fishermen on British coasts, 605
-
- Prynne, Keeper of the Records, 17, 25, 27 n., 39, 43, 44 n., 213,
- 326 n., 352 n., 367 and n.;
- on the sovereignty of the sea, 493
-
- Puffendorf, on territorial sea, 551
-
-
- Quarantine Acts, 594
-
-
- Rainsford, Richard, 64, 138, 141, 142, 145, 159
-
- Raleigh, Sir Walter, 127 and n., 136, 204, 413
-
- Raleigh tract. _See_ Keymer.
-
- Ramsgate, 699
-
- Range of guns, Grotius on, 349;
- range of modern guns, 21;
- range of gun limit, 549;
- range of guns and salute, 473 n.;
- range of vision, 175, 193, 544;
- claimed by Denmark, 529;
- Grotius on, 347;
- old English law, 544;
- prescribed by Philip II., 544
- _See_ Land-kenning and Territorial sea.
-
- Rapin, 167 n., 311 n.
-
- Rayneval, on range of vision, 546;
- on territorial sea, 596
-
- Reddie, on territorial sea, 600
-
- Reformation, 67;
- influence of, on fisheries, 75, 87, 89, 92
-
- Reprisals between Scots and Dutch, 77, 78, 79, 84;
- between traders, 53, 54
-
- Reserved waters. _See_ Scotland.
-
- Restoration, the, 14, 441
-
- Revocation, Act of, 226
-
- Rhé, Isle de, 246, 290
-
- Richard I., 32, 40, 41, 51, 52
-
- Richard II., 33, 62, 363
-
- Richard III., 63, 72 n.
-
- Richelieu, Cardinal, 12, 210, 246, 261, 270, 271, 272, 273, 275,
- 276 n., 283, 291, 314, 526
-
- Right of fishery. _See_ Fishery.
-
- Right of search, 13, 330, 389, 393
-
- Rio de la Plata, territoriality of, 663
-
- Ripperda, Joachim, Dutch ambassador, 449
-
- Rivalry in trade between English and Dutch, 10, 441, 457
-
- Rochelle, 97, 267, 276 n., 290
-
- Roe, Sir Thomas, 240, 276, 303, 306, 314, 315, 316 n., 323, 324
-
- Roman law as to sea, 3, 344, 353, 356, 360, 539;
- as to fishing, 66
-
- Romans and sovereignty of sea, 26
-
- Rool d’Oleron. _See_ Laws of Oleron.
-
- Rose, Richard, 324 n.
-
- Rosny, Sieur de, 204
-
- Rostock, 195
-
- Rotterdam, 79, 171, 327, 397 n., 511
-
- Rouen, 61
-
- Royal fishery, Pepys on, 447 n., 448
-
- Roxburgh, Earl of, 225 n., 239 n.
-
- Rupert, Prince, 382, 493
-
- Russia, 29, 61, 110, 142, 158, 358;
- Behring Sea question, 581, 582;
- Company, _see_ Muscovy Company;
- Customs limit, 656, 657 n.;
- territorial sea, 656
-
- Ruyter, Captain, 298 n., 304
-
- Rye, 33, 54, 65, 145 n., 483
-
- Ryley, William, Keeper of the Records, 409, 410 n.
-
- Ryswick, 466 n.
-
-
- Saen, Joris van der, 402, 404
-
- St Andrews, 352
-
- St George’s Channel, 142
-
- St John, Lord Chief-Justice, 72;
- proceeds to The Hague, 384;
- negotiations with Dutch, 385-390;
- his proposals for alliance and coalescence, 385;
- _Intercursus Magnus_ taken as basis of treaty, 386, 387;
- his seven articles, 387;
- the Dutch thirty-six articles, 388;
- abstract of, 764;
- as to fishing, 388, 389;
- Dutch proposals as to sovereignty of sea, 389;
- for a joint fleet to police the seas, 389, 395;
- Dutch withdraw proposal as to striking, 390;
- failure of negotiations, 390;
- leaves The Hague, 391
-
- St Lo, Captain George, on fishery limit at Yarmouth, 546 n.
-
- Safe-conducts for fishing, 7, 33, 74
-
- Salisbury, Earl, 64, 130 n., 150, 151, 155, 159, 223, 227 n., 359 n., 360;
- on 100-mile limit, 541
-
- Salisbury, Marquis of, on territorial sea, 592, 731
-
- Salisbury, Miss E., 45 n.
-
- Salmon fishing, 26, 233, 234, 235
-
- Salute. _See_ Striking.
-
- Sandwich, 73;
- Knut’s grant of, 542
-
- Sandwich, Earl of, 438, 463, 472
-
- Saracens, 5, 339
-
- Sarpi, on territorial sea, 547
-
- Savage, Viscount, 239 n.
-
- Savoy, Duke of, 540
-
- Scania, 34, 362 n.;
- decline of herring fishery at, 61
-
- Scarborough, 49, 89, 108, 142, 247, 250, 256, 273, 274, 322;
- castle, 64
-
- Scaw, three-mile limit at, varies, 640 n.
-
- Schaep, Dutch ambassador, 391
-
- Schelde, 28
-
- Scheveningen, 460
-
- Schiedam, 78, 79, 318, 397 n.
-
- Schmalz, on territorial sea, 597
-
- Scilly Isles, 269, 390, 398, 399
-
- Scotland, 48, 49, 59, 88;
- Draft Treaty of Union with England, 1604, 84, 192, 223, 227, 228,
- 230, 232, 694;
- fish exported from, 61;
- fisheries of, 93;
- importance of, 76;
- claim to, 76, 82;
- exclusive spirit as to, 76;
- policy towards, 82;
- treaties regarding, 75-82;
- foreigners at West Coast fishings, 83, 130;
- jealousy of foreign fishermen, 77, 124;
- fishing in bays and lochs prohibited, 202;
- attacks on Dutch fishermen, 77;
- complaints against Dutch fishermen, 144, 168, 177, 201, 234, 301;
- complaints against French fishermen, 606, 617;
- Dutch edicts _re_ fishing, 201;
- old fishery limits, 226-229;
- old limit against Dutch, 83, 84;
- herring fishery in, 59, 61, 76, 79, 83, 143, 221 n.;
- extra-territorial jurisdiction in, 698;
- instructions of Privy Council _re_ assize herrings, 757;
- fishery Acts, 76;
- fishery scheme, 225, 227;
- fishery society, 444;
- fishing in lochs claimed, 218;
- “land fishing” described, 222 and n.;
- land-kenning, _see_ Land-kenning;
- limits of territorial sea, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230;
- limit of 14 miles in Draft Treaty of Union, 223;
- limit of two leagues fixed by Dutch, 605, 606;
- reserved waters, 77, 84, 209, 211, 218, 220, 222, 223, 226-230, 234,
- 236-238, 445, 547
-
- Scotland, royal burghs, 76, 216, 217, 220, 221;
- ask that the Dutch be removed within a land-kenning, 221;
- and fishery society, 445;
- oppose assize herrings, 166;
- territoriality of firths, 692;
- trawling restrictions on, 715, 716;
- Fishery Board empowered to restrict, 717;
- Bill to extend prohibition of, 720;
- Act fixing thirteen-mile limit for, 720;
- treaties with the Dutch, 188 n.
-
- Scotland, Sea Fisheries Regulation Act, 1895, 592
-
- Scott, Thomas, 284
-
- Scott, Sir William. _See_ Stowell, Lord.
-
- Scottish Seas, the, 226
-
- Scudamore, Lord, 272
-
- Sea, appropriation of, 537, 539;
- in Middle Ages, 3;
- reasons for, 5;
- Roman law on, 539, 541;
- opinions of Italian jurists, 101, 104;
- opinions of modern jurists on, 552;
- Bynkershoek, 555;
- Callis, 363;
- Lord Chief-Justice Coke on, 363;
- Gentilis on, 358, 359;
- Graswinckel on, 411, 412;
- Loccenius, 550;
- Puffendorf, 550;
- Lord Salisbury on, 361;
- Selden, 370-374;
- Lord Stair, 545 n.;
- Vattel, 560
-
- Sea, exhaustibility of. _See_ Fisheries.
-
- Sea, “High Seas,” 50, 54
-
- Sea, insecurity of, 5, 6, 30, 53, 54, 57, 70, 247-257
-
- Sea, measures for guarding, 31, 32, 33, 34
-
- Sea, sovereignty of. _See_ Sovereignty.
-
- Sea of England, 7, 8, 9, 11, 20, 31, 41, 101, 209;
- extent of, 15, 16, 54, 55, 56;
- seizure of ships in, by Grimbald, 49, 50;
- sovereign lordship of, 43, 46, 51, 54, 55;
- Callis on, 363;
- Plowden on, 102;
- terms applied to, 16, 17;
- the “Two Seas,” 17;
- the “Three Seas,” 17;
- the “Four Seas,” 17, 18, 251
-
- Sea, property in bed of, 362
-
- Seaforth, Earl of, 216, 220, 221, 222 n.
-
- Sealing, 695, 696
-
- Seals, 88
-
- Seas, British, extent of, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 26, 208, 264 and n.,
- 381, 418, 419, 429, 431-437, 459 n., 465, 466 and n., 469, 470,
- 477, 495, 505, 506 and n., 510, 515, 521;
- Admiralty on, 437, 438;
- reluctance of Admiralty to define, 20, 264 and n.;
- boundaries intentionally left undefined, 20;
- Dee on extent of, 101-103;
- dispute as to extent of, 437;
- Richard Cromwell on extent of, 438;
- Thurloe on extent of, 434;
- Trinity House on extent of, 20, 477, 478;
- on striking in, 469, 470, 501-505;
- claim to, gradually died out, 21
-
- Sebastian, King, 107
-
- Secretary for Scotland, 219, 227 n., 232
-
- Seine, 26, 28
-
- Seines, Bill to prohibit, within ten miles, 444 n.
-
- Selden, 11, 17, 20, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 34, 39, 41, 43, 44, 45 n., 48,
- 49, 55, 56, 62, 64 n., 66, 119 n., 183, 186 n., 213, 251, 254,
- 258 n., 279, 286, 305, 352 n., 353, 363, 410 n., 456, 469, 546,
- 550, 551;
- controversy with Graswinckel, 411, 412;
- imprisonment and release of, 367;
- requested by Charles to write _Mare Clausum_, 366;
- on British seas, 19;
- on English sovereignty of sea, 373, 374;
- on exhaustibility of sea, 372;
- _Mare Clausum_, 11, 20, 254, 258 n., 315 n., 330, 389, 425, 456,
- 502, 504, 509 n., 543;
- history of, 365, 366;
- publication of, 288, 367;
- political importance of, 368, 369;
- importance of, in English law, 369, 374;
- satisfaction of Charles with, 368, 369;
- arguments of, 369-374;
- anxiety in Holland about, 374, 375;
- translated, 410
-
- Semeyns, Meynert, 242 n.
-
- Servat, William, 50
-
- Seven Stones Rocks, territoriality of, 642, 643
-
- Shaftesbury, Earl of, 492;
- on the Dutch, 506
-
- Sheerness seized by Dutch, 459
-
- Shetlands, 4, 76, 88, 89, 90 n., 108, 113, 126, 129, 131, 151, 165,
- 169, 180, 201, 215, 221, 227, 230, 234, 238, 241, 406, 443, 534
-
- Shields, 84
-
- Ship-money, 324, 329, 379
-
- Ship-money fleet, first, 256, 259 n.;
- object of, 260, 264, 265;
- proceedings of, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274;
- failure of, 274, 275.
- _See_ Lindsey.
- Second, 286;
- its object, 287, 288;
- opinion of Admiralty on convoying foreign vessels, 288, 289, 762;
- on protecting foreign licensed fishermen, 288, 762;
- proceedings of fleet, 290, 291, 295-301, 307-311;
- failure to meet with French, 290;
- instructions of Charles as to foreign fishermen, 295;
- licenses distributed to Dutch herring busses, 298, 300, 308;
- amount received as convoy and license-money, 309, 310, 311.
- _See_ Northumberland.
- Third, 319, 323.
- Fourth, 327.
-
- Ship-money writs, 36 n., 211, 253, 254, 286
-
- Ships, impressment of, 32
-
- Shookius, 550
-
- Shovel, Sir Cloudesley, 520
-
- Shrewsbury, Duke of, 520
-
- Sicily, 29
-
- Skagerrack, 438 and n.;
- territoriality of, 636, 653
-
- Sleeve, the, 260
-
- Slingsby, Capt., 327
-
- Sluys, battle of, 36, 37, 38
-
- Smeerenburg, 194 n.
-
- Smith, Captain John, 312 n., 494
-
- Smith, Lieut. Thomas, dismissed for forcing French to strike, 521
-
- Smith, Northumberland’s Secretary, 328, 331, 332
-
- Smith, Simon, 242 n., 244 n., 442, 443 n., 448
-
- Smyrna fleet, 485, 486, 487
-
- Society of Fishing Merchants, 138, 159
-
- Solebay, battle of, 489
-
- Solinus, 25
-
- Somerset, Earl of, 56 n.
-
- Sommelsdijck, Lord of. _See_ Aerssen.
-
- Sound, the sovereignty over, 4, 8, 16, 108;
- toll levied at the, 4, 8, 35, 91, 108, 110, 154, 190, 339, 501
-
- South America, territorial sea, 661
-
- Southampton, 68, 73, 94
-
- Southwold, 90 n., 534
-
- “Sovereign of the Seas,” the, 28, 326
-
- Sovereignty of the sea, among ancients, 371 n., 373
-
- Sovereignty of sea, decadence of claim to, 15, 517, 522, 523, 566
-
- Sovereignty of sea, juridical controversies about, 5, 410-413;
- liberty of navigation, 8, 11, 33, 34, 54.
- _See_ Navigation.
-
- Sovereignty of the sea, meaning of, 2;
- striking as a symbol of, 39
-
- Sovereignty of sea, treatises on, 364 n.
-
- Sovereignty of the sea, Barrère on, 595;
- Blackstone, 580 n.;
- Boroughs, 364-366;
- Champagne, 595, 596;
- Chitty, 580 n.;
- Secretary Coke, 272;
- Cromwell, 423, 424;
- Dr Dee, 99, 103;
- De Witt, 454, 468, 470;
- Evelyn, 514;
- English writers, 493, 494, 513;
- Gentilis, 359;
- Hall, 580 n.;
- Hargrave, 580 n.;
- Italian jurists, 6;
- Jenkins, 484 n.;
- Loccenius, 550;
- Molloy, 514;
- Moore, 580 n.;
- naval historians on, 521;
- Selden, 370-374;
- Stubbe, 496-498;
- Wicquefort, 495;
- Baltic, 4, 33, 552;
- Bothnian Gulf, 4
-
- Sovereignty of sea, Denmark, 4, 8, 16, 33, 105, 108, 158, 339, 371,
- 376, 530, 552, 567;
- contested by Elizabeth, 86;
- England, origin of English claims, 6, 29, 30;
- nature of, 8, 30;
- defects of, 33;
- early history of, 25;
- under ancient Britons, 25, 26;
- under Romans, 25, 365;
- under Anglo-Saxons, 26;
- under King Edgar, 27;
- before Norman Conquest, 27;
- after Norman Conquest, 29;
- under Plantagenet Kings, 30, 40, 51, 52;
- rolls concerning, 8, 43, 44, 45, 740, 744;
- not claimed, by Tudors, 86, 111;
- importance of claim under Stuarts, 9, 10, 118;
- claimed as a prerogative of the crown, 211;
- aimed against Dutch, 10, 125;
- extravagant claims under Charles I., 209, 251, 264, 274;
- under the Commonwealth, 378-382, 394, 395, 409, 412;
- under Charles II., 441, 458, 487, 488;
- decadence of claim, 15, 517, 522, 523;
- of France, 287;
- of Genoa, 4, 339, 341, 371;
- of Norway, 4, 16, 530;
- of Pisans, 371;
- Poland, 4, 377;
- Portugal, 5, 105-108, 112, 338, 339, 341, 371, 552;
- Spain, 5, 105-108, 112, 118, 158, 330, 339, 341, 371, 552;
- Sweden, 4, 350, 552;
- Tuscans, 371;
- Venice, 3, 4, 8, 16, 33, 338, 339, 341, 350, 351, 351 n., 371, 552, 566
-
- Sowe. _See_ Zowe.
-
- Spain, 20, 30, 33, 45, 57, 87, 91, 95, 107, 189, 198, 199, 203,
- 205, 212, 245, 247, 253, 255, 264, 266, 268, 275, 286, 304, 493;
- claim to sovereignty of sea, 5, 86, 105-108, 112, 118, 188, 339;
- fisheries, 92;
- area of fishing-grounds, 738;
- foreign trawlers at, 713;
- fishermen of, on British coasts, 67, 129, 150;
- peace with England, 125, 358;
- war with United Provinces, 9, 119, 139, 148, 201, 243 n., 251;
- territorial sea, 644-668;
- limits of, 569, 664;
- Customs limit, 594;
- disputes with Great Britain and United States as to territorial
- sea, 664, 665
-
- Spaniards forced to strike, 117, 206
-
- Spanish Netherlands, 266, 272, 275
-
- Spanish whalers at Spitzbergen, 182, 183 n.
-
- Spelman, 27
-
- Spitzbergen, 4;
- whaling at, 112, 164, 181, 182-185, 193, 194, 194 n., 198, 199,
- 200, 527.
- _See also_ Greenland.
-
- Spragge, Sir Edward, 485, 489
-
- Sprat fishery, 133
-
- Stair, Lord, on territorial limit, 545 n.
-
- Star Chamber, 243
-
- Start, the, 260
-
- State merchant, 136
-
- States-General of the United Provinces, 84, 178, 186, 190, 192, 258,
- 292, 343, 351, 415, 481;
- conclude treaty with James VI., 81;
- conclude peace with Spain, 148;
- consider James’s proclamation on unlicensed fishing, 148, 150;
- decide to maintain freedom of fishing on British coast, 151;
- send embassy to James about, 155;
- arguments used, 155, 159;
- proclamation suspended, 159;
- apologise for the capture of Brown, 173;
- send the Captain responsible to London, 174;
- publish an edict forbidding their fishermen to interfere with
- Scottish fishermen, 179:
- negotiations with James, 189;
- disputes as to whale fishing at Spitzbergen, 181-185;
- send another embassy to London, 185;
- no instructions as to fishery question, 188, 189;
- order their fishermen to keep out of sight of shore, 193;
- send another embassy to James, 199;
- again without instructions as to fishery question, 199, 200;
- renew their edicts and order their fishermen not to go too near
- Scottish coast, 201;
- proceedings regarding licenses of Charles I., 301, 302, 303, 304,
- 305, 312, 313, 314, 315;
- instructions to Evertsen as to striking, 399;
- to Tromp, 399, 402 n., 405;
- send Van Dorp to protect the busses from Northumberland, 300;
- order Van Dorp to prevent acceptance of licenses, 312, 313;
- send Aerssen van Sommelsdijck as ambassador, 336;
- on Selden’s ‘Mare Clausum,’ 375;
- resolve to increase their fleet, 393;
- and question of striking, 390, 392;
- attitude to the Parliament, 381;
- send ambassador to London, 384;
- negotiations with St John, 384-391;
- another embassy to London, 391;
- consider and postpone question of striking, 392, 399;
- resolve to strengthen their fleet, 393;
- negotiations interrupted by Tromp’s encounter with Blake, 397;
- disown Tromp’s action, 405;
- instruct him to strike, 405;
- send the Grand Pensionary to London, 405;
- recall ambassador and prepare for war, 405, 406;
- send four deputies to the Parliament, 415;
- negotiations for peace, 414-435;
- peace concluded, 435
-
- States-General and Charles II., action on fishery Bill, 449, 450, 451;
- embargo on fisheries, 460, 462;
- propose freedom of fishing during war, 461, 462;
- differences with France as to, 463;
- decision as to striking, 469, 481;
- orders to their men-of-war on striking, 473;
- drawn into dispute about striking, 482;
- yield as to striking, 483, 484;
- sue for peace, 490;
- terms offered, 490;
- reject terms, 491;
- negotiations for peace, 498-506;
- peace concluded, 508
-
- States-General. _See_ Dutch, Netherlands, United Provinces.
-
- States of Holland, 151, 155, 190, 303, 375, 384, 398, 407, 414
-
- Stebbing, 127 n.
-
- Stephens, Violet, 139
-
- Stewart, Lord Robert, 169 n.
-
- Stirling, Viscount, 239 n.
-
- Stornoway, 216, 242
-
- Stowell, Lord, decisions respecting territorial limit, 577, 578,
- 641 n., 681, 682;
- on three-mile limit, 641 n.
-
- Straddling, Captain, 207 n., 282, 327
-
- Straits of Dover. _See_ Dover.
-
- Strange, Lady, 283
-
- Stratherne, Earl of, 239 n.
-
- Strauchius, 550
-
- Strickland, Walter, 384, 392, 429
-
- Striking as an acknowledgment of maritime sovereignty, 3, 210;
- origin of, 7, 42, 207;
- first instance of, 43;
- John’s ordinance on, 39-43;
- under Tudors, 116;
- under Henry VIII., 116;
- opposed by French, 117;
- under Elizabeth, 117, 204;
- under James I., 204-208
-
- Striking under Charles I., 11, 12, 210, 212;
- becomes very prominent, 276;
- arrogance of English officers regarding, 280, 281, 282;
- under Commonwealth, 378, 380, 381;
- under Charles II., 496;
- James II. and after, 552;
- decay of claim to, 327, 518, 519, 522;
- abandoned after Trafalgar, 15, 523;
- Admiralty instructions concerning, 260, 261, 277, 278, 380-383, 456,
- 469, 523 n.
-
- Striking, rules and customs of, 206-208, 277, 278, 398, 463, 464, 466,
- 469-472, 481;
- not well understood, 277, 456, 466, 469, 470, 478, 479
-
- Striking at foreign ports and coasts, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 327,
- 381, 473, 477, 557;
- before forts, 256, 279, 280, 472;
- in British seas, 502, 503;
- in Mediterranean, 327, 413, 456, 468, 473, 488;
- in narrow seas, 206, 207 n., 208, 277, 402
-
- Striking by merchant vessels, 206, 207, 282, 513;
- British, 260, 275, 283, 284, 285, 519;
- foreign, 207, 275, 513
-
- Striking by Danes, 266, 282;
- claim to, by Danes, 473, 520;
- by Dunkirkers, 275, 282, 327
-
- Striking by Dutch, 12, 13, 117, 204, 205, 208, 267, 269, 270, 276,
- 277, 279, 280, 281, 300, 327, 328, 330, 334, 383, 390, 392,
- 397, 398, 400-403, 437, 438, 449, 452, 455-457, 466-469, 472,
- 473, 477-481, 485, 486, 490, 491 n., 495, 501, 510-513, 520;
- States-General consider question, 390, 392, 397;
- De Witt’s proposals regarding, 467, 468, 469, 470;
- on striking to a frigate or ketch, 468-470;
- question of whole fleet to single ship, 477, 478, 479, 482;
- terms offered Dutch, 490, 491 n.;
- offer to strike in all seas, 432, 505, 506, 510;
- by Dutch to French, 276 and n.;
- by English to Dutch, 512
-
- Striking by French, 117, 204, 212, 267, 270 and n., 271, 272, 275,
- 276, 279, 280, 283, 291, 313, 327, 332, 333, 471, 477, 488, 512,
- 513, 518, 520, 521;
- French demand salute from English vessels, 212;
- force English merchant vessels to strike, 268, 277, 283, 327;
- by Hamburgers, 117;
- by Spaniards, 205, 327, 330, 477;
- by English to Spaniards, 512;
- by Swedes, 382, 455, 456 n., 520
-
- Striking, Bynkershoek on, 556;
- Jenkins on, 480, 481;
- jurists on, 557;
- Molloy on, 515;
- Wicquefort on, 495;
- Duke of York on, 469
-
- Striking, treaties regarding, 382, 455, 508, 517, 522-572 n.
-
- Striking, arrangement between Charles and Louis, 488
-
- Striking, arrangement between France and the United Provinces proposed, 452
-
- Striking, differences between French and Dutch as to, 452, 463
-
- Striking, French edicts on, 513
-
- Striking, Richelieu’s proposals, 271, 272
-
- Striking, Tromp’s memorandum on, 398, 770
-
- Stuarts, the, 9, 57, 65, 118, 378
-
- Stubbe, Henry, on sovereignty of sea, 496, 497, 498
-
- Sturgeon, 66, 88, 363
-
- Stypmannus, 550
-
- Suffolk, 63, 94, 101, 248, 462
-
- Suffolk, Earl of, 227
-
- Sully, Duke of, 204
-
- Sunderland, 249
-
- Sweden, 60, 62, 142, 158, 358, 474, 490, 498;
- asks for and obtains liberty of fishing in British seas, 427;
- claim to sovereignty of sea, 4, 350, 377;
- and striking, 208, 382;
- territorial sea, 653, 664, 669, 674, 675;
- method of computing, 669;
- Customs limit, 594;
- declines to adhere to North Sea Convention, 636
-
-
- _Taurus_, case of, 640
-
- Taxation of foreign fishermen, 203
-
- Teind fish, 195, 196
-
- Temple, Lady, 478, 479, 480
-
- Temple, Sir William, 470, 481;
- on striking, 467, 468;
- concludes Triple Alliance, 474;
- recalled from The Hague, 476;
- negotiates peace, 508;
- on the article regarding striking, 509, 510
-
- Territorial sea, agreements between Great Britain and Germany, 634, 652;
- Anglo-Danish Convention concerning Iceland and Faroes, 647, 648;
- boundaries begin to be fixed, 554, 573;
- by treaty, 526, 565;
- Gulf Stream as a boundary, 575, 650;
- British Foreign Office on, 665, 667 and n., 730, 731, 732, 738;
- wishes territorial waters in North Sea to remain undefined, 632,
- 633, 634;
- Parliamentary Committee recommend extension of, 707 and n.
-
- Territorial sea, bays, and gulfs, 77, 348, 544, 545, 547, 548, 552,
- 574, 575, 581, 585, 589, 598, 599, 601-603, 610, 614, 619 n.,
- 622-630, 632-634, 639, 649, 652, 666, 668, 670, 678, 718, 723,
- 725, 726, 730;
- of Bengal, 625;
- Biscay, 564, 625;
- Bothnia, Gulf of, 564;
- Cancale, _see_ Granville;
- Chaleurs, 623, 624, 628, 629, 630, 692;
- Conception, 588, 589;
- Delaware, 574, 599, 629;
- Fundy, 623-625;
- Granville, 612, 619, 692;
- Hudson’s, 561;
- of Argentina, 661;
- Norway, 670, 672, 674, 677;
- Scotland, firths, 222, 223, 230, 233, 239, 545, 622, 692;
- Moray Firth, 721.
- _See also_ Fisheries and King’s Chambers.
-
- Territorial sea, British Foreign Office on, 629, 730, 731 and n., 732, 733;
- delimitation of North American, 622, 627-630;
- French Government on, 632;
- Hague Tribunal on, 732;
- Institut de Droit International on, 691, 775;
- International Law Association on, 691, 775;
- _inter fauces terræ_, 544, 547;
- measurement of, 639;
- old English law regarding, 547;
- omitted in Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, 593;
- principles regarding, 548;
- six-mile line for, 627, 629, 630, 632, 730, 731;
- treaty stipulation in 1521, 548;
- usage regarding, 547, 548
-
- Territorial sea, closed seas, 339, 564, 572, 582, 584, 585, 598, 657;
- straits, 547, 561, 564, 586, 692, 776
-
- Territorial sea, Dano-Swedish limit in Baltic, 655;
- decisions of law courts as to extent of, 585-592;
- definitions in Acts, 589, 591, 718;
- in Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, 591, 592
-
- Territorial sea, not absolutely defined by any State, 651, 652, 657, 660
-
- Territorial sea, not defined by Great Britain, 593
-
- Territorial sea, discussion between Spain, Great Britain, and United
- States, 665
-
- Territorial sea, discussion as to limit in North Sea, 632, 633, 634
-
- Territorial sea, distinction between limit under international law and
- in treaties, 644;
- between exclusive fishery limit and territorial limit, 644, 660;
- distinction between “coasts” and “bays,” 622;
- meaning of “coasts,” 641 n.
-
- Territorial sea, historical evolution of, 537
-
- Territorial sea, in peace and war, 636, 651, 665
-
- Territorial sea, in relation to fisheries, 693;
- for “floating” fish, 698;
- for coral, 684, 695, 697;
- oysters, 611, 612, 619, 620, 621, 697;
- pearls, 560, 697;
- seals, 662, 663, 695, 696;
- whales, 674, 695, 696;
- exclusive fishery limit, 639;
- on British and Irish coasts, 646, 647;
- outside the North Sea, 643, 644, 645, 646;
- extra-territorial regulations, 657, 661, 662, 663, 695, 699, 704,
- 707, 708, 716, 720, 725, 726, 727;
- international regulations, 733, 734, 735;
- trawling, 698, 707, 735;
- jurisdiction for Customs, 593-595, 609, 665, 676, 679 n.;
- for public health and slave-ships, 593-595;
- under common law of England, 546;
- over foreigners, 589, 590, 591;
- navigation in, 78, 676
-
- Territorial sea, need of distinguishing different rights in, 690;
- neutral waters, decrees respecting, 569-570;
- proposed limit for, 690, 775
-
- Territorial sea, possession of opposite shores, 35, 43;
- principle of thalweg or mid-line, 541-544
-
- Territorial sea, proposals of International Law Association, 690-692, 774;
- question of banks and flats, 633, 634, 635, 639, 640 and n., 641 n.;
- of consistency of soil, 641 n.;
- of depth, 562;
- of islands, 618, 634, 639, 641 n.;
- of rocks and islets, 641-643, 649;
- of tide-marks, 579, 641, 652, 659, 661, 666, 669 and n.;
- of true boundary of, 539;
- Scottish firths, 692;
- statutes referring to, 589-594
-
- Territorial sea, usage in seventeenth century, 552;
- in eighteenth, 566;
- modern, 650
-
- Territorial sea, modern usage, Algeria, 657;
- Argentine Republic, wide claim by, 661, 662, 663;
- in Rio de la Plata, 663;
- Austria-Hungary, 572, 658;
- in Behring Sea, 585, 695 and n., 696;
- Belgium, 658;
- Chili, 661;
- Cuba, 665;
- Denmark, 528, 529, 530, 538, 567, 568, 653, 655, 664;
- in Cattegat, 653;
- Iceland and Faroes, 647, 648;
- Skagerrack, 636, 653;
- France, 657;
- Germany, 652;
- Great Britain, origin of, 538;
- in Bristol Channel, 586-588;
- at Bell Rock, 642;
- at Eddystone, 641, 642, 643;
- at Seven Stones Rocks, 642, 643;
- British colonies, 661;
- British N. America, 531;
- Greece, 661;
- Italy, 659;
- Japan, 661;
- Netherlands, 658;
- in Zuiderzee, 635, 636;
- Norway, 457, 528, 538, 568, 653, 664, 669-681, 685;
- method of measuring, 669, 670, 685;
- rejects three-mile limit, 633, 636, 678, 681;
- reasons for wide limit, 676, 677;
- in Varangerfjord, 674;
- in Vestfjord, Lofotens, 672-674, 677;
- special limits in, 671, 672, 678, 679;
- Portugal, 538, 569, 664, 668;
- Russia, 656;
- White Sea, 564, 657;
- Scandinavian limit, 528, 567 and n., 653, 655;
- Spain, 538, 569, 664-668;
- South America, 661;
- Sweden, 538, 653, 664, 669, 674, 675;
- method of computing in, 669;
- United States, 661;
- various limits claimed by, 575;
- Uruguay, 663;
- Venice, 571
-
- Territorial sea, opinions of publicists in first part eighteenth
- century on, 565, 566;
- of recent publicists, 603, 605, 681, 688, 689
-
- Territorial sea, opinions of Abreu y Bertodano, 559;
- Aschehoug, 686, 688;
- Auber, 691;
- Azuni, 564, 565;
- on Bays, 565;
- Bishop, 683, 689;
- Bluntschli, 682, 688;
- Bodin, 540;
- Burgus, 550;
- Bynkershoek, 555, 556;
- on range of vision, 546;
- Calvo, 682, 688;
- Casaregi, 558;
- Lord Chelmsford, 586;
- Chitty, 597;
- Conringius, 550;
- Baron de Courcel, 664 n.;
- Craig, 357;
- Dana, 683, 689;
- Desjardins, 685, 688;
- Lord Dunedin, 724;
- Ferguson, 684, 689;
- Fiore, 684, 689;
- Lord Fitzmaurice, 630, 730, 731;
- Galiani, 563;
- Gentilis, 540;
- Graswinckel, 550;
- Sir Edward Grey, 732;
- Grotius, 549;
- on range of vision, 545;
- Lord Guthrie, 723;
- Chief-Justice Hale, 543;
- Hall, 687, 689;
- Halleck, 683, 689;
- Lord Halsbury, 592;
- Lord Hatherly, 586 n.;
- Hautefeuille, 601, 688;
- Heffter, 600, 689;
- Lord Herschell, 692 n.;
- Holland, 691;
- Hübner, 562;
- Kent, 599, 689;
- Kleen, 685;
- Klüber, 597, 688;
- Lord Kyllachy, 725;
- Lampredi, 563;
- Latour, 595, 685;
- Lawrence, 683, 688;
- Leoni Levi, 664 n.;
- Loccenius, 550;
- Lord Loreburn, 732;
- Lushington, 586 n.;
- Manning, 600, 689;
- Massé, 602, 688;
- de Martens, 686, 688;
- G. F. von Martens, 563;
- on bays, 564;
- on straits, 564;
- Moore, 691 n.;
- Moser, 562;
- Sir John Nicholl, 586;
- Oppenheim, 688;
- Ortolan, 600, 688;
- Perels, 684, 688;
- Phillimore, 682, 688, 689;
- Pistoye and Duverdy, 602, 688;
- Pontanus, 550;
- Pradier-Fodéré, 684, 688;
- Puffendorf, 550;
- on bays and gulfs, 551;
- Rayneval, 596;
- Reddie, 600;
- Lord Salisbury, 592;
- Sarpi, 547;
- Schmalz, 597, 688;
- Shookius, 550;
- Lord Stowell, 641 n.;
- Strauchius, 550;
- Sir Travers Twiss, 683, 689, 691 n.;
- Valin, 562;
- Vattel, 560, 689;
- on bays, 561;
- on straits, 561;
- Lord Wensleydale, 586 n.;
- Westlake, 691 n.;
- Wheaton, 598, 689;
- Wolff, 559, 689;
- Woolsey, 683, 689;
- opinions of early English lawyers, 539;
- of early Italian jurists, 539;
- of Institut de Droit International, 689-692, 774;
- of International Law Association, 689-692, 774;
- of judges in _Franconia_ case, 590
-
- Territorial Sea. Various limits proposed or adopted for different purposes:
- _Three-mile limit_, proposed by Galiani, 563;
- by Azuni, 565;
- introduced for neutrality by United States, 573, 574;
- introduced into English jurisprudence, 576, 577;
- originated in neutral rights, 694;
- applied to fisheries, 581;
- confusion of, with range of guns, 591 and n., 598, 682, 683, 689;
- not equivalent to range of guns, 21, 576;
- discussion on, 650-652;
- generally adopted through influence of the United States and Great
- Britain, 21, 681;
- an Anglo-American doctrine, 681, 684;
- not generally accepted by publicists, 580, 680, 681, 688, 775;
- common adoption of, 21, 650;
- in some international fishery conventions, 581, 612, 614, 617, 619,
- 621, 634, 635, 647, 649, 652;
- generally for fisheries, 616, 647, 663, 680;
- inadequacy of, 21, 604, 615, 617, 651, 679, 682, 683, 686, 687,
- 690, 693, 694, 707 and n.;
- in relation to next great maritime war, 22;
- British Government on, 730, 732;
- refuses to recognise jurisdiction beyond three miles, 663, 667 and
- n., 738;
- wishes three-mile limit extended in war, 665;
- rejected by four European States, 664;
- refused by Norway, 633, 636, 678, 681;
- complex on Norwegian coast, 672, 676
- _Four-mile limit_, 653;
- _five miles_, 575, 665, 691, 698, 715;
- _six miles_, 559, 563, 565, 566, 575, 582, 605, 606, 664, 665, 690,
- 691, 694, 775;
- adopted by International Law Association for Fisheries, 690, 775;
- limit for Dutch on Scottish coast, 605, 606;
- _eight miles_, 665, 694;
- _nine miles_, 563, 564 n., 608 and n., 611, 618, 679, 679 n., 691,
- 698, 737;
- on French coast, 608 n., 609;
- recommended by English trawlers for North Sea, 702;
- _ten miles_, 665, 668, 687, 694, 696, 698, 707, 737;
- in Argentina, 661;
- recommended for North Sea by English trawlers, 702;
- _twelve miles_, 575, 593, 594, 662, 665, 668, 715;
- _thirteen miles_, 703, 720, 738;
- for fishery on Scottish coast, 720;
- _fourteen miles_, 77, 84, 192, 193, 545, 694;
- _twenty-eight miles_, 77, 84, 545;
- _thirty miles_, 572, 696;
- _forty miles_, 178, 585;
- _sixty miles_, 3, 540, 696;
- _eighty miles_, 79, 355;
- _100 miles_, 3, 169, 353, 360, 373, 539, 541, 559;
- claimed by Russia in Behring Sea, 582
- _Range of guns_, 21, 349, 549, 552, 593, 646, 658, 660, 676, 681,
- 685-687, 690, 716;
- first proposed by Dutch ambassadors, 156, 549;
- Bynkershoek’s dictum on, 556;
- merits of, 558;
- fixed in treaties and decrees, 570-572;
- generally adopted, 576;
- incorporated in international law, 558;
- generally accepted by publicists, 688;
- the true principle of delimitation, 595, 602, 603;
- and neutral rights, 557, 559, 571, 572;
- and salute, 556, 557;
- as “zone of respect,” 690, 775
- _Range of vision_, 175, 193, 347, 544-546, 571, 574, 596, 602, 694;
- defects of, 546;
- adhered to by Dutch, 546;
- claimed by Denmark, 529, 545;
- proposed by some modern publicists, 546, 565, 600 (_see_ Land-kenning);
- subsistence limit of Sarpi, 547
-
- Territorial waters. _See_ Territorial sea.
-
- Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, 580 n., 590, 591, 592, 717, 718, 731
-
- Teutonic invaders, seafaring habits of, 26
-
- Texel, 18, 409; battle of, 498
-
- Thalweg. _See_ Mid-line.
-
- Thames, 49, 60, 76, 131, 133, 219, 443, 444, 459, 462, 472, 476
-
- Thanet, 49, 68
-
- Thorpe, 27, 28
-
- Three-mile limit. _See_ Territorial sea.
-
- Three seas, 17
-
- Thurloe, 432, 434, 436, 497, 498 n.
-
- Tithes of fish. _See_ Fish.
-
- Tlieff, Captain Andrees, 171, 174, 175
-
- Top-sails, lowering of. _See_ Striking.
-
- Tordesillas, treaty of, 5, 106
-
- Traders, hostilities between, 53, 54
-
- Trafalgar, 15
-
- Trawling. _See_ Fisheries.
-
- Treaties, England and Burgundy, 1405, 1408, 69;
- 1417, 70;
- 1439, 70;
- 1467, 71;
- 1478, 72;
- 1496 (_Intercursus Magnus_), 72;
- 1499, 73;
- 1506, 73;
- 1515, 73;
- 1520, 73;
- and Castile, 1351, 67;
- and Denmark, 1468, 110;
- 1490, 109;
- 1523, 109;
- 1583, 110;
- and Flanders, 1320, 55;
- and France, 1303, 44-46, 49;
- 1403, 67;
- 1471, 72;
- 1528, 75;
- and Portugal, 1353, 67;
- 1439, 70;
- and United Provinces, 1585, 433;
- Scotland and the Emperor, 1541, 78;
- 1550, 79, 179;
- Scotland and the Netherlands, 1291, 1321, 1323, 1371, 1401, 1407,
- 1412, 1416, 76;
- 1531, 1541, 188 n.;
- and United Provinces, 1594, 81, 157, 169, 173, 188 n., 257, 388;
- Great Britain and Belgium, 1852, 617, 645;
- 1882, 637;
- and Denmark, 1882, 637;
- 1901, 647, 740;
- and France, 1686, 526, 622;
- 1786, 572;
- 1839, 612;
- 1867, 619;
- 1882, 637;
- and Germany, 1882, 637;
- and Mexico, 1888, 679 n.;
- and the Netherlands, 1625, 433;
- 1654, 435, 436, 455;
- 1662, 455;
- 1674, 508;
- 1689, 517;
- 1784, 522;
- 1882, 637;
- and Russia, 1825, 583;
- and Spain, 1630, 425;
- 1790, 573;
- and Sweden, 427;
- and United States, 1783, 622;
- 1794, 574, 622;
- 1814, 581;
- 1818, 581, 627;
- 1854, 625;
- 1871, 627;
- 1888, 628;
- Denmark and Sweden, 1780, 572 n.;
- 1899, 655, 675;
- France and Algeria, 1689, 527, 573;
- Burgundy, 1468, 71;
- the Emperor, 1521, 74, 119;
- Russia, 1787, 572;
- and United Provinces, 1635, 276;
- 1662, 453;
- Norway and Mexico, 1886, 594, 679;
- Porte and Naples, 1740, 546;
- Russia, Denmark, and Sweden, 1780, 572 n.;
- and the two Sicilies, 1787, 572;
- and the United Provinces and Prussia, 1781, 572 n.;
- Spain and Morocco, 1861, 668;
- and Portugal, 1494, 106;
- 1878, 1885, 1893, 665, 666;
- and Tripoli, 1784, 572;
- and the United Provinces, 1609, 148, 344, 350 n.;
- United States and Morocco, 1785, 572;
- and Russia, 1824, 583
-
- Treaties concerning fishery, British North America, 526, 531, 532,
- 574, 622, 625, 627, 628
-
- Treaties guaranteeing liberty of fishing on English coasts, 66-74
-
- Treaty of Antwerp, 148, 344, 350 n.;
- of Breda, 464, 465;
- of Dover, 475;
- of Ryswick, 466 n.;
- of Southampton, 388;
- of Tordesillas, 5, 106;
- of Troyes, 8, 35;
- of Union, England and Scotland, 1604, 192, 545;
- of Utrecht, 531
-
- Treport, 65, 426
-
- Trinity House, 114, 120, 447;
- on limits of King’s Chambers, 9, 753;
- on extent of British Seas, 20, 465 n., 477, 478;
- on jurisdiction of Cinque Ports in Channel, 544;
- on striking, 477
-
- Triple Alliance, 467, 471, 474, 476, 481, 483, 490
-
- Tromp, Lieut.-Admiral Martin Harpentz, 329, 390, 395, 408, 411 n.,
- 415, 422, 436, 477, 511;
- attacks Oquendo in the Straits of Dover, 330;
- in the Downs, 245, 331;
- strikes to English, 330, 334;
- his letter to Pennington, 334;
- commands Dutch fleet, 329;
- puts to sea to prevent search of Dutch vessels, 397;
- no instructions as to striking, 397, 399;
- his memorandum on striking, 398, 770;
- reluctance to strike, 400, 401, 403, 404;
- encounter with Blake, 12, 207 n., 397, 403, 404, 421;
- correspondence with Blake, 404 n., 771;
- story of broom, 408, 409
-
- Tudors, 85, 86, 87, 118
-
- Tunny fishery, 142, 504
-
- Tweedmouth, Lord, 691, 720
-
- _Twee Gebroeders_, case of, 576, 577, 641 n.
-
- Twiss, Sir Travers, 39, 40, 41, 42, 52 n., 53, 312 n., 689, 691 n.
-
- Two seas, 17
-
- Tynemouth, 214
-
- Tyrrhenian Sea, sovereignty of, 371
-
-
- United Provinces, 9, 12-14, 81, 119, 125, 126 n., 151, 157, 170,
- 179, 187, 191, 197, 198, 201, 243 n., 246, 251, 253, 257,
- 264, 265, 275, 288, 301, 302, 304, 340, 342, 364, 384, 399,
- 405, 416, 441, 454, 460, 470, 474, 517, 527-529.
- _See_ States-General, Dutch, Netherlands.
-
- United States of America, disputes and negotiations regarding British
- North American fisheries, 532, 581, 621-630, 731 and n.;
- regarding Behring Sea, 541, 583, 584, 695 n.;
- territorial sea, 599, 661;
- fixes three miles for neutrality, 21, 93, 573, 574;
- various limits claimed, 574, 575, 650;
- influence of, in adoption of three-mile limit, 650
-
- Uruguay, territorial sea, 663
-
- Ushant, 103, 290, 399, 437
-
- Utrecht, 81; treaty of, 531, 582
-
-
- Vagabonds, 98
-
- Valck, Jacob, 81
-
- Valin, on territorial sea, 562
-
- Vane, Sir Henry, 269, 414, 422 n., 439
-
- Varangerfjord, 674, 695
-
- Vardö, or Vardöhuus, 86, 97 n., 108, 109, 110
-
- Vasquez. _See_ Vasquius.
-
- Vasquius, Ferdinand, on dominion of sea, 341, 351, 353
-
- Vattel, on territorial sea, 560;
- on appropriation of fisheries, 561
-
- Venice, 30, 91, 186 n., 191;
- sea sovereignty of, 3, 4 and n., 16, 33, 54, 107, 158, 339, 341,
- 350, 351, 361, 371, 540, 547, 552;
- limit of territorial sea, 571
-
- Vestfjord, 672, 677
-
- Vic, M. de, Vice-Admiral of France, 204
-
- Violation of ports, 247, 249, 250
-
- Virginia, 388
-
- Visit and search and gun range, 557
-
- Visitation of English ships, 268
-
-
- Wagenaar, 80, 167 n., 311 n.
-
- Walderswick, 90 n.
-
- Walker, Sir Richard, 280
-
- Walmer Castle, 279
-
- Warbeck, Perkin, 72, 387
-
- Wardhouse. _See_ Vardö.
-
- Warwick, Earl of, 206 n, 276, 379, 380
-
- Wash, the, 18
-
- Washington, George, 573, 681
-
- Wells, 90
-
- Welwood, William, 342 n., 343, 371, 546, 551;
- on appropriation of the sea, 353;
- dominion of the sea, 354;
- exhaustibility of sea, 355;
- on Grotius, 352;
- on limit for Dutch on Scottish coast, 79, 84;
- sea laws of Scotland, 352;
- attack on, by Graswinckel, 412
-
- Wensleydale, Lord, on territorial sea, 586 n.
-
- Wentworth, Viscount, 227 n.
-
- West Friesland, 453
-
- Westlake, Professor, on territorial sea, 691 n.
-
- Westmoney Islands, 109, 247
-
- Weston, Lord, 227, 239 n., 241, 281
-
- Weymouth, 268
-
- Whale-fishing, 187, 189;
- in Behring Sea, 585;
- at Greenland, 407, 527-530;
- at Jan Mayen, 527;
- at Spitzbergen, 112, 164, 181-184, 193, 194 n., 200, 527;
- in Varangerfjord, 674;
- regulations, 695
-
- Whales, right to, 66, 363
-
- Wharton, 312 n.
-
- Wheaton, on territorial sea, 598
-
- Whestone, Admiral, 520
-
- Whitby, 462
-
- Whitelock, 414
-
- White Sea, sealing at, 695;
- territoriality of, 657;
- trawling at, 680
-
- Whitstable Fishery, case of, 586 n.
-
- Wicklow, 63
-
- Wicquefort, on sovereignty of sea, 495
-
- Wilkins, 27
-
- Willes, John, 43
-
- William of Malmesbury, 27
-
- William III. and sovereignty of sea, 517-520
-
- William the Lion, King, 59
-
- Williamson, Sir Joseph, plenipotentiary at Cologne, 496, 497, 498, 511
-
- Willoughby, 181, 183
-
- Wilson, Thomas, 163 n.
-
- Wimbledon, Viscount, 227 n.
-
- Winchelsea, 37, 49, 50, 73
-
- Windebank, 243, 250, 253, 263, 267, 287, 295, 302, 319, 320, 322, 323
-
- Winwood, Sir Ralph, 130 n., 152, 162, 168, 172
-
- Wolff, on territorial sea, 559
-
- Wolseley, Sir Charles, 429
-
- Wolsey, Cardinal, 74, 119, 548
-
- Woolsey, on territorial sea, 683
-
- Worcester, 27
-
- Worcester, Earl of, 56 n.
-
- Worsley, Dr Benjamin, 515
-
- Wotton, 162
-
- Wreck, right to, 66, 362, 363, 542
-
-
- Yarmouth, 34 n., 46 n., 49, 58, 60, 62, 73, 90, 96, 97 n., 100, 108,
- 126, 129, 130 n., 131, 133, 134, 143-145, 151, 162, 214, 247, 248,
- 249, 295, 307, 308, 391 n., 438, 455, 461, 462, 463, 515, 546
-
- York, Duke of, 446, 448, 456, 457, 458, 469, 472, 485, 493, 516
-
- Yorkshire, 133
-
- Young, Captain, 207 n., 401, 402
-
- Ypres, 71
-
-
- Zealand, 45, 60, 62, 64, 71, 72, 73, 74 n., 75, 81, 88, 92, 94, 95, 125, 195
-
- Zierikzee, 45 n.
-
- Zorgdrager, 194 n.
-
- Zouch, 515
-
- Zowe, fishing-bank, 65 and n., 189 n., 276 n., 426 n., 440, 544, 749
-
- Zuiderzee, territoriality of, 635
-
-
-THE END.
-
-PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.
-
-
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-
-[1] The possession by Venice of this maritime sovereignty was
-symbolised each year for many centuries by the picturesque ceremony of
-“espousing” the Adriatic. On Ascension Day the Doge was rowed to the
-strains of music in a magnificent gilded state barge, the _Bucentaur_,
-to the channel of Lido, where he cast a ring into the water, exclaiming
-as he did so, “We espouse thee, O Sea, in sign of a real and perpetual
-dominion” (“Desponsamus te mare in signum veri perpetuique dominii”).
-The Papal nuncio and representatives of other states assisted at the
-ceremony.
-
-[2] Twiss, _The Law of Nations in Time of War_, 142. Maine,
-_International Law_, 76.
-
-[3] Twiss, _op. cit._, 143, 144. Reddie, _Maritime International Law_,
-i. 41.
-
-[4] Nicolas, _Hist. Navy_, i. 157.
-
-[5] “Il sera banny hors dAngleterre et de mer appartenant au roi
-dAngleterre,” Article in _Black Book_, i. 58, ascribed to the reign
-of Henry I. (A.D. 1100-1135); “Ad piscandum in mari nostro, prope
-Jernemuth,” Edward I., A.D. 1295, _Fœdera_, ii. 688; “la meer
-Dengleterre,” A.D. 1306, _Chanc. Rolls, Misc. Treaties_, &c., Bd. 14,
-No. 15; “super mare Anglicanum” (_Rot. Pat._, 14 Edw. II., pt. ii. m.
-26, d.), A.D. 1320, &c., &c.; “partibus maris infra regnum nostrum
-Angliæ,” _A.D._ 1317, Edw. II., _Fœdera_, iii. 469; A.D. 1406, Hen.
-IV., giving freedom of fishing, “ubicumque supra mare, per et infra
-dominia, jurisdictiones, et districtus nostra”; “Seigneur de la mer,”
-A.D. 1320, _Fœdera_, iii. 852; “reges Angliæ domini maris Anglicani
-circumquaque,” A.D. 1336, _Rot. Scot._, i. 442; “domini maris et
-transmarini passagii,” A.D. 1336, _Fœdera_, iv. 721; “le roi de la
-mier,” A.D. 1372, _Rot. Parl._, ii. 311; “seigneurs del meer,” A.D.
-1420, _ibid._, iv. 126, &c., &c.
-
-[6] _Fœdera_, xvi. 395; _State Papers, Dom._ 1604, 11, 40; _Fœdera_,
-xix. 211; _Libelle of Englyshe Polycye_; Dee, _General and Rare
-Memorials_, 6; _State Papers, Dom._ 1662, 66, 50, “It is a fundamental
-Maxime of England, that the sea flowing about the Isle of Great
-Britaine is of the same dominion with the isle”; “the dominion of the
-ambient seas.”
-
-[7] _Rot. Escheat._, 41 Hen. III., A.D. 1259, referred to by Coke,
-1. 107_a_; Bracton, _Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ_, lib. v. c.
-xxx. fol. 437 (A.D. _circa_ 1259); _Statutes of the Realm_, 18 Edw. I.
-Stat. 4 (A.D. 1290); _Rot. Parl._, 13 Ric. II., “deinz les quatre miers
-Dengleterre,” &c.
-
-[8] Hall, _On the Rights of the Crown in the Sea Shores of the Realm_,
-p. 1.
-
-[9] “The guardian of his Majesty’s three seas” (A.D. 1607). _Cæsar
-Papers, MS. Brit. Mus. Lansd._, 142, fol. 373.
-
-[10]
-
- “Thene here I ende of the comoditees
- Ffor whiche nede is well to kepe the sees;
- Este and weste, sowthe and northe they be;
- And chefely kepe the sharpe narowe see,
- Betwene Dover and Caleise.”
-
-
-[11] _Acts of the Privy Council of England_, N.S., i. 232, 242.
-
-[12] Winwood’s _Memorials_, iii. 50.
-
-[13] _Mare Clausum_, ii. c. xiii.
-
-[14] Selden, _Mare Clausum_, lib. i. c. viii., lib. ii. cc. ii.-viii.
-
-[15] _Polyhistor._, c. xxiv.
-
-[16] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xi.
-
-[17] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xii. “Canutus autem Rex suæ ditionis
-esse Oceanum Britannicum verbis expressissimis item est testatus.”
-Prynne uses the same argument. _Animadversions on Coke’s Fourth
-Institute_, 88.
-
-[18] Ed. Petrie, 395.
-
-[19] _Gesta Regum Anglorum_, i. 235; Eng. Hist. Soc. “Ego Edgarus
-totius Albionis Basileus nec non maritimorum seu insulanorum Regum
-circumhabitantium.”
-
-[20] “Ego Edgardus Anglorum Basileus omniumque Regum insularum,
-Oceanique Britanniam circumjacentis cunctarumque nationum quæ infra
-eam includuntur Imperator et Dominus,” &c. Dee, _General and Rare
-Memorials_, 58, 60; Selden, _Mare Clausum_, ii. c. xii. (quoting from
-a charter of Inspeximus, _Rot. Pat._, 1 Edw. IV., m. 23); Prynne, _op.
-cit._, 87.
-
-[21] _Concilia_, i. 432.
-
-[22] _Ibid._, i. 239.
-
-[23] _Codex Diplomaticus_, ii. 404, vi. 237.
-
-[24] _Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici_, 211.
-
-[25] _Cartularium Saxonicum_, iii. 377.
-
-[26] “Insularum oceani quæ Brytanniam circumjacent.”
-
-[27] Worsaae, _An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England,
-Scotland, and Ireland_; Depping, _Histoire des Expéditions maritimes
-des Normands_; Beamish, _The Discovery of America_.
-
-[28] Burrows, _Cinque Ports_, 62, 81.
-
-[29] Cunningham, _The Growth of English Industry and Commerce during
-the Early and Middle Ages_, 173.
-
-[30] Twiss, _The Law of Nations in Time of Peace_, 244; ibid., _In Time
-of War_, 142.
-
-[31] See p. 51.
-
-[32] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xiv.
-
-[33] “Pour garder la mere,” “la garde du meer,” “la sauve garde
-du meer,” “pro custodia maris,” “de custodia maritimæ,” &c. See
-_Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England_; Nicolas,
-_History of the Royal Navy_; Prynne, _Animadversions_.
-
-[34] _Fœdera_, i. 861; Nicolas, _op. cit._, i. 279, 437.
-
-[35] Twiss, _The Law of Nations in Time of Peace_, 245.
-
-[36] _Vide_ Twiss, _Black Book of the Admiralty_, i. 420.
-
-[37] _Op. cit._, lib. ii. c. xviii.
-
-[38] Twiss, _ibid._, i. 64.
-
-[39] Nicolas, _op. cit._, i. 131, 231, ii. 45, 84, 130, 176; _Rot.
-Pat._, 65 (1206); _Fœdera_, i. 96 (1208).
-
-[40] _Chronicles_, ii. 497.
-
-[41] _Op. cit._, lib. ii. cc. xiii., xx.
-
-[42] _Rot. Parl._, iii. 46b; Nicolas, _op. cit._, ii. 260-280;
-Laughton, _Studies in Naval History_, 16-22. The Yarmouth herring
-fishing suffered severely in these years, and the fishermen equipped
-and armed vessels for their own defence,--_Chronicon Angliæ, ab_ A.D.
-1328 _usque ad annum_ 1388, p. 170, Rolls Series.
-
-[43] _Op. cit._, lib. ii. c. xv.
-
-[44] _Rot. Parl._, iii. 63b, 391a; _Fœdera_, vii. 220. “C’este
-l’ordinance et grante par l’advis des Marchaundz de Londres, et des
-autres Marchaundz vers la North, par assent de touz Communes de
-Parlement par devant le Comte de Northumberland et le Meair de Londres,
-pur la garde et tuicion du Mier,” &c. The specified dues throw some
-light on the commerce and fisheries of the period: (1) all vessels or
-crayers navigating the seas within the limits of the admiralty of the
-north were to pay a duty of sixpence a ton-tight, going and returning,
-with the exception of those bringing wines and goods from Flanders to
-London, or carrying wool and skins to Calais; (2) vessels laden with
-goods belonging to merchants of Prussia, Norway, or Scone (Scania)
-were to pay sixpence a last; (3) vessels carrying coals from Newcastle
-were to pay sixpence a ton every three months; (4) sixpence a-week per
-ton was to be paid by all vessels fishing for herrings within the said
-admiralty, and sixpence every three weeks per ton by boats fishing for
-other fish.
-
-[45] A.D. 1420, _Rot. Parl._, iv. 126. “Item, priount les ditz
-Communes, que par l’ou nostre très soverain seignour le Roy et ses
-nobles progenitours de tout temps ount esté seignours del meer, et
-ore par la grace de Dieu est venuz que nostre dit seignour le Roy est
-seignour des costes d’ambeparties del meer d’ordeigner que sur toutz
-estraungers passantz parmye le dit meer tiel imposition à l’oeps nostre
-dit seignour le Roy apprendre qui à luy semblera resonable, pur la
-salve garde del dit meer.”
-
-[46] _Rotuli Scotiæ_, i. 442, “Nos advertentes quod progenitores nostri
-reges Angliæ Domini Maris Anglicani circumquaque et etiam defensores
-contra hostium invasiones ante hæc tempora extiterint,” &c. Part of the
-language of this mandate was copied by Charles I. in his ship-money
-writs. See p. 211.
-
-[47] _Fœdera_, iv. 722. “Consideratio etiam quod progenitores nostri,
-Reges Angliæ, in hujusmodi turbationibus, inter ipsos et alios terrarum
-exterarum dominos motis, domini maris et transmarini passagii, totis
-præteritis temporibus, extiterunt,” &c.
-
-[48] Nicolas, _op. cit._, ii. 49, 106.
-
-[49] _Political Poems_, ii. 157. The author states that it was coined
-after Edward captured Calais, when
-
- “The see was kepte, and thereof he was lorde,
- Thus made he nobles coigned of recorde.”
-
-But Edward did not take Calais till 1347, while the noble was issued in
-July 1344. Nicolas, _loc. cit._
-
-[50] Oppenheim, _A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy_, i.
-7.
-
-[51] Cunningham, _op. cit._, 361. In the _Libelle_ it is asked--
-
- “Wher ben our shippes, wher ben our swerdes become?
- Our enmyes bid for the ship set a sheep”;
-
-and the rubric of an anonymous commentator states that the advice
-quoted was owing to the fact that while in the time of Edward III.
-the English were lords of the sea, they were now in these days mad
-(_vecordes_), vanquished, and for waging war and guarding the sea, like
-sheep. The jest is also alluded to by Capgrave, _Liber de Illustribus
-Henricis_, 135.
-
-[52] “Tous les pays tenoient et appelloient nostre avandit seigneur, le
-Roi de la Mier.”
-
-[53] _Rot. Parl._, ii. 311.
-
-[54] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxvi.
-
-[55] _Animadversions_, 108.
-
-[56] Nicolas, _op. cit._, i. 156, but cf. ii. 481; Hannay, _A Short
-History of the Royal Navy_, 15. Hannay, as well as the writer of the
-naval articles in _Social England_ (i. 138), was not apparently aware
-of the labours of Sir Travers Twiss mentioned in the text.
-
-[57] _The Black Book of the Admiralty_, i. Intro. xiii _et seq._, 129;
-iii. Intro. i, x.
-
-[58] “Item ordonne estoit a Hastynges pour loy et coustumes de mer ou
-temps du roy Johan lan de son regne second par advys de ses seigneurs
-temporelz que se le lieutenant en aucun voyage ordonne par commun
-conseil du royalme encontrent sur la mer aucunes nefz ou vesseaux
-chargees ou voide que ne veullent avaller et abbesser leurs trefs
-ou commandement du lieutenant du roy ou de ladmiral du roy, ou son
-lieutenant, mais combatant encontre iceulx de la flotte que silz
-puent estre pris quilz soient reputez comme ennemys et leurs nefs,
-vesseaulx, et bien pris et forfaitz comme biens des ennemys tout soit
-que les maistres ou possesseurs dicelles vouldroient venir apres et
-alleguer mesmes les nefs, vesseaulx, et biens estre biens des amys du
-roy nostre seigneur, et que le mayne estant en icelles soient chastiez
-par emprisonnement de leur corps pour leur rebellete par discrecion.”
-The above is given by Twiss from the _Whitehall MS._ of the eighteenth
-century; it does not materially differ from the others. The _Cottonian
-MS._, which is stated to be the earliest and purest, reads in both
-places “le lieutenant du roy ou ladmiralle du roy ou soun lieutenant.”
-
-[59] _The Black Book_, Intro. xix, lxxvii. It is _Vespasian MSS._, B.
-xxii.
-
-[60] _The Black Book_, iii. Intro. viii, x. See p. 410.
-
-[61] _Collection des Lois Maritimes_, iv. 199.
-
-[62] _Collection des Lois Maritimes_, i. Intro. pp. li, 129; iii.
-Intro. p. xi.
-
-[63] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxvi.
-
-[64] “Quanquam tamen, ad primam vocem ipsorum Anglicorum, idem Johannes
-Willes velum suum declinavit,” &c., _Fœdera_, viii. 273; “omnes tamen
-inermes, et velum suum, ad primum clamorem Anglicorum declinantes,”
-_ibid._, 277.
-
-[65] _Chancery Rolls, Misc. Treaties and Diplomatic_, Bdle. 14, No.
-15. It is endorsed _De Superioritate Maris Angliæ et Jure Officii
-Admirallatus in eodem_. There are several copies on separate membranes
-in the bundle--viz., 1, 8, 12, 14, 15,--and they differ from one
-another, as indicated in the transcript in Appendix A. Prynne
-(_Animadversions_, 109) says that besides the roll in the Tower from
-which Lord Coke and Selden quoted, he discovered “an ancient copy of
-it in the White Tower Chapple,” and among the Admiralty papers is a
-memorandum by Nicholas, undated, but before 1631, on the records in
-the Tower respecting the Laws of Oleron and the Sovereignty of the
-Seas, in which he says that “in ye little closset there” a record in
-French exists, dated in the time of Edw. I. or II., referring to the
-depredations of Grimbald. There is also a transcript in a collection of
-MSS. in the British Museum (_Harleian_, 4314) and a translation of the
-roll, in a hand of the seventeenth century, in _MS. Otho._ E. ix. fol.
-14.
-
-[66] _Fourth Institute_, cap. 22, p. 142.
-
-[67] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxvii., xxviii., xx., xxiv.
-
-[68] _Rot. Pat._, 26 Edw. I., part 2, memb. 24, _in dorso_.
-
-[69] _Fœdera_, i. 954.
-
-[70] Selden, _op. cit._, lib. ii. c. xxvii., quoting from _Rot. Pat._,
-31 Edw. I., m. 16, which reads as follows: “Des enterprises, mesprises,
-et forfaitz en Treue ou en Sufferance, entre nous et le dit Roi de
-Fraunce, dune part et dautre, es costeres de la mer Dengleterre et
-autres per decea et ausint per deuers Normandie et autres costeres de
-la mer per de la.”
-
-[71] The King of France ordered John de Pedrogue, a celebrated seaman
-of Calais, to collect a fleet there and proceed with it to Holland
-against the Count of Flanders, who had invested Zierikzee. Included in
-the fleet were eleven Genoese galleys, under Reyner de Grimaldi, who
-was given the chief command by Philip, with the title of “Admiral,”
-John de Pedrogue acting under him. Nicolas (_op. cit._, i. 373) gives a
-description of the fight.
-
-[72] The translation, for which I am indebted to Miss E. Salisbury, is
-from membrane 12.
-
-[73] The expression is also used in a document of 1297, when Lord
-William de Leybourne is described as “Admiral of the sea of the said
-King of England.” _Fœdera_, i. 861.
-
-[74] Coke (_op. cit._, 143) states that this refers to “De Botetourt,”
-who, he says, was Admiral “of the sea coasting upon Yarmouth in Norfolk
-(right over against France) and of that station in _anno_ 22 Edw. I.”
-Nicolas (_op. cit._, i. 270, 407) states that Sir John de Botetourt
-was made commander of the northern fleet in 1293, and in the following
-year, when Edward divided his fleet into three squadrons, the ships of
-Yarmouth and the adjacent ports were placed under his charge.
-
-[75] The rest is on the back of the membrane.
-
-[76] The part within brackets is to be found on the membranes 1, 14_d_,
-and 15, but not on 12.
-
-[77] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxvii. Hall, in his excellent
-_Treatise on International Law_ (p. 141), and with reference apparently
-to this roll, says that exclusive dominion over the English seas by the
-English king was acknowledged as early as 1299 (_sic_), at a commission
-in Paris, by the representatives of the merchants and mariners of the
-countries mentioned in the above document.
-
-[78] See Appendix A.
-
-[79] _Chancery Miscel. Rolls_, _France_, Bdl. 5, No. 6.
-
-[80] See translation in Appendix B.
-
-[81] _Chancery Rolls, Misc._, Bdle. 14, n. 15, memb. 4.
-
-[82] “Infrascripti sunt articuli generales super quibus et fines ad
-quos Justiciarii domini nostri Regis sunt consulend’, et dominus noster
-Rex de eorum consilio certificand’ in Cancellar’ sua in scriptis citra
-festum, &c.
-
- “Item ad finem, quod resumatur et continuetur ad subditorum
- prosecucionem forma procedendi quondam ordinata et inchoata per avum
- Domini nostri Regis et ejus consilium ad retinendum et conservandum
- antiquam Superioritatem Maris Angliæ et jus officii Admirallatus
- in eodem, quoad corrigendum, interpretandum, declarandum, et
- conservandum leges et statuta per ejus antecessores Angliæ Reges
- dudum ordinata ad conservandum pacem et Justitiam inter omnes gentes
- nacionis cujuscunque per Mare Angliæ transeuntes, et ad cognoscendum
- super omnibus in contrarium attemptatis in eodem, et ad puniendum
- delinquentes et dampna passis satisfaciendum; quæ quidem leges et
- statuta per Dominum Ricardum quondam Regem Angliæ in reditu suo a
- Terrâ Sancta correcta fuerunt, interpretata, declarata, et in Insula
- Oleron publicata, et nominata in Gallica lingua La loy Olyroun.”
-
-According to Godolphin (_A View of the Admiral Jurisdiction_, 1661),
-the “form of proceedings” refers to the statute of the Writ of
-Consultation, 24 Edw. I., with regard to the proceedings of the Courts.
-The following is on another membrane in the same roll (mem. 2_d_),
-which contains ordinances agreed upon between the masters and mariners
-of England, Bayonne, and Flanders, at Bruges, 8th March 1286. It is in
-the handwriting of the time of Edward III.
-
- “Item a la fin qe veues et considerees les formes des proces et des
- lettres ordeinees per les consaillers le dit aiel nostres seigneur
- le Roi pur eux et la dite nacioun Dengleterre a recouerer et receuer
- les ditz subgitz aidaunz et alliez et a faire redresser a eux toux
- les damages a eux donez en Mier et en terre duraunz les dites trewes
- pees et confederaciouns et countre la forme dycelles par les ditz
- Fraunceys aidaunz et alliez et eschuire clamour de poeple sur la dite
- denatureste, &c., et les damages quiex de tiel clamour purroient
- auenir et especialment a retenir et meintener la souereignete qe
- ses ditz auncestres Rois Dengleterre soleyent auoir en la dite mier
- Dengleterre quant alamendement declaracioun et interpretacioun des
- lois per eux faites a gouerner toutes maneres des gentz passanz
- per la dite mier. Et primerement a son admirail et as meistres et
- mariners des nefs des Sync Portz Dengleterre et des autres terres
- annex a la Corone Dengleterre entendaunt a sa armee en la dite
- mier pur retenir et meyntenir la garde des lois auauntdites et la
- puniscioun de toux faitz al encountre en la mier susdite Semblables
- formes des proces et lettres soient desors tenues od toux les
- amendementz quiex purrount estre ordeinez par le sage Counsail nostre
- Seignur le Roi a profist et honur de lui et des soens.”
-
-
-[83] Twiss (_Black Book of the Admiralty_, ii. xliii; ii. xi), who
-collected the old sea laws of Europe, states that the most ancient
-extant source of modern marine law are the Decisions of the Consuls
-of the Sea of the City of Trani, on the shores of the Adriatic, which
-purport to be of the date A.D. 1063; and that the next most ancient are
-the Judgments of Oleron, of which there are still copies, belonging to
-the reign of Edward II., in the archives of the Guildhall, for use no
-doubt in the City court, which administered the Law Merchant and the
-Law Maritime.
-
-[84] _Op. cit._, i. 484.
-
-[85] _Op. cit._
-
-[86] _Op. cit._ The specification of the duties within the cognisance
-of the Admiralty occupies several pages; they included “all cases of
-seizures and captures made at sea, whether _jure belli publicis_, or
-_jure belli privati_ by way of reprisals, or _jure nullo_ by way of
-piracy ... all causes of spoil and depredations at sea; robberies and
-pyracies,” &c., &c.
-
-[87] M’Pherson, _Annals of Commerce_, i. 475, 485, quoting from
-_Fœdera_.
-
-[88] 18 Edw. III., st. 2, cap. 3. Several articles in the _Black
-Book_ show the same desire to encourage foreign merchants, and severe
-penalties were prescribed for the robbing or wronging of foreign ships,
-or interference with their freedom to trade.
-
-[89] _The Reading of the Famous and Learned Robert Callis, Esqr._,
-_upon the Statute of Sewers_, 23 Hen. VIII., c. 5, &c., 1622; ed. 1824,
-p. 48.
-
-[90] “Sur la mere d’Engleterre, devers les parties de Craudon.”
-
-[91] “Et prierent que le Roi, de sa seignurie et poer real, fait sente
-dreit et punissement del dit fait, de siccome il est seigneur de la
-mer, et la dite roberie fut fait sur la mer dans son poer, sicomme
-dessus est dit.”
-
-[92] Nicolas, who gives the details referred to, says that there is no
-record of these proceedings in the rolls of Parliament. _Op. cit._, i.
-388.
-
-[93] “Et cum dicti nuncii ad tractandum de novo super hujusmodi dampnis
-per dictum dominum nostrum Regem admissi fuissent, ipsi nuncii, prout
-alii nuncii præfati Comitis, in tractatibus supradictis, inter cetera
-quæ requirebant, ante omnia supplicabant, ut dictus dominus Rex ad
-sectam suam de potestate sua Regia inquiri et justitiam faceret de
-quadam deprædatione quibusdam hominibus de Flandria nuper de vinis et
-aliis diversis mercimoniis suis super mare Anglicanum, versus partes
-de Crauden, infra potestatem dicti domini nostri Regis, per homines
-de regno Angliæ. Ut dicebant facta asserentes quod vina et mercimonia
-prædicta eisdem Flandrensibus deprædata adducta, fuerunt infra regnum
-et potestatem dicti domini Regis, et quod ipse est dominus dicti maris,
-et deprædatio prædicta facta fuit supra dictum mare infra potestatem
-suam.” _Rot. Pat._, 14 Edw. II., pt. ii. m. 26, _in dorso_. Selden
-quotes this document (lib. ii. c. xxix.), but his text varies from the
-above, thus: “... potestatem dicti domini Regis, et quod ad ipsum Regem
-pertinuit sic facere pro eo quod ipse est dominus dicti maris.”
-
-[94] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxix. p. 282.
-
-[95] That “Crowdon” was in Brittany appears from a letter, dated
-from Plymouth, 9th December 1402, from Henry Beaufort, Bishop of
-Lincoln, the Earl of Somerset, and the Earl of Worcester, who were
-sent to escort Joan of Navarre, Duchess of Brittany, the second wife
-of Henry IV., to England. “Et par fin force pur un temps nous faut
-demurrer en Bretaigne car la ou nous avoioms envoie au dite nostre
-treshonuree et tresredoutee dame pur venir, noz niefs ne poiont ne
-osent aler en le temps dyver. Et faut qele eit un leisir pur venir
-pardevers nous, dont le havene que nous pensoms aler ove leide de Dieu
-est Crowdon.”--_Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of
-England_, i. 190.
-
-[96] Allard, _Du Poisson, considéré comme Aliment dans les Temps
-anciens et modernes_.
-
-[97] Garrad, _The Arte of War_.
-
-[98] In the itinerary of a journey from England made by a Scottish
-nobleman to join Edward I. in Scotland, it is recorded that herrings
-were purchased nearly every day--at Dunstable, Newport, Northampton,
-Leicester, Nottingham, Sherburn, &c. Sixty fresh herrings at York,
-nearly forty miles from the sea in a straight line, cost eightpence,
-and fresh haddocks and codlings were also bought.
-
-[99] “Prohibeo etiam firmiter ne quis decimas suas eis injuste detineat
-sicut habuerunt in tempore regis Davidis super meum forisfactum et ne
-quis in aquis eorum piscari presumat ... nisi per eorum licentiam.”
-
-[100] _Fœdera_, ii. 23. “Gent de Flaundres estre venuz sur mer, come
-Pescheurs,” &c.
-
-[101] _Ibid._, ii. 37. The Flemish fishermen had probably gone up the
-Tweed after salmon.
-
-[102] _Ibid._, ii. 688, dated 28th September. “Quia intelleximus quod
-multi homines, de partibus Hollandiæ, Zelandiæ et etiam Frislandiæ, qui
-sunt de amicitia nostra, ad piscandum in mari nostro, prope Jernemuth,”
-&c.
-
-[103] Lundberg, _Det Stora sillfisket i Skåne under medeltiden
-oeh nyare tidens början_. Worms, _Hist. commerciale de la Ligue
-Hanséatique_.
-
-[104] Fruin, _Tien Jaren uit den Tachtigjarigen Oorlog_, 181.
-
-[105] _Brit. Mus. MSS. Galba_, B. iii. 16. Henry apparently acceded to
-the request; _vide_ “John Heron’s accompte for waftynge of the herring
-fleete in the parties of Norfolk and Suffolk, _anno quarto_ R. Henrici
-VIII.” _State Papers, Foreign and Domestic_, Hen. VIII., i. 1512.
-
-[106] Ljungman, _Nägra ord om de stora Bohus-länska Sillfiskeri_.
-
-[107] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxi.
-
-[108] _Rot. Pat._, 22 Edw. IV., m. 2; _ibid._, 2 Ric. III., i. m. 3;
-_ibid._, 3 Hen. VII., part ii. _dorso_; _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. xxi.
-
-[109] _The Statutes at Large passed in the Parliaments held in
-Ireland_, i. 30. 5 Edw. IV., c. vi. “An Act that no Ship or other
-Vessel of any Foreign Country shall go to the Fishing in the Irish
-Countries, and for Custom to be paid of the Vessel that cometh from
-Foreign Lands to Fishing.”
-
-[110] _Britannia_, Gough’s edition, ii. 248.
-
-[111] _A Pollitique Platt_, &c.
-
-[112] _State Papers, Dom._, James I., xlviii. 94.
-
-[113] Malines, _Lex Mercatoria_, 189, from whom Selden quotes it, with
-the remark, “There are some also who affirm that the King of Spain,”
-&c. _Mare Clausum_, ii. c. xxx. It is also given by Boroughs and other
-writers.
-
-[114] _State Papers, Dom._, Charles I., clxxx. 96.
-
-[115] One of the licenses, which ran for a year, is printed in Appendix
-C. The Zowe was described in 1630 as “a bank which lies between Rye and
-Dieppe, and the outermost part is nearly one-third over the sea. This
-zowe which they call the small zowe is 3 leagues long and 3 broad, and
-26 and 28 fathoms deep. The French make it 10 leagues, because they
-fish till they bring Beachy Head N., fayre Loo (? Fairlea, Fairlight)
-W.N.W., and fish in 30 fathoms.” Sir H. Mainwaring to Coke, “A Short
-Discourse or Propositions concerning the French fishing uppon the
-Zowe, theyr abusing it, and the Remedy” (_ibid._) It was described as
-the “chief nursery for turbetts, hollibatts, pearles (brill), soules,
-weavers and gurnetts.” In Queen Elizabeth’s time only four licenses
-were granted, but James increased the number to fourteen or fifteen.
-They were carefully entered in the records of Dover Castle and the
-Hundred Book of Rye.
-
-[116] Henrici de Bracton, _Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ_, lib.
-i. c. 12; lib. iii. c. 3. _Rolls Series_, Introd., by Sir Travers
-Twiss, i. ii. Güterbock, _Henricus de Bracton und sein Verhältniss zum
-Römischen Rechte_, 14, 55.
-
-[117] _Fœdera_, v. 719. “Il est convenu, &c., &c. Item, que pessoners
-de la seignurie del roi de Castelle et del counte de Viscay peussent
-venir et pescher fraunchement et sauvement en les portz d’Engleterre et
-de Bretaigne, et en touz autres lieux et portz où ils vorrontz, paiantz
-les droits et les custumes à les seignurs du pais.”
-
-[118] _Ibid._, v. 763.
-
-[119] _Fœdera_, viii. 306, 336. “Q’en ceste presente harenguison les
-pescheurs de l’une part et d’autre puissent pescher plus seurement en
-la mer la harenk et toutz autres poissons, depuis hable de Grauelinguez
-et l’isle de Tanent, jusques a l’entree de la riviere de Saine, et au
-hable de Hautoune.”
-
-[120] _Ibid._, viii. 451.
-
-[121] _Fœdera_, viii. 459. “Pro Piscatoribus, sub Dominio Ducis
-Burgundiæ: ... toutz pescheurs, tant de nostre dit roiaume d’Engleterre
-et de Caleis, et dez autres noz villes et lieux, come dez ditz conte
-et paiis de Flandres, dez paiis de Picardie, de Normandie, et de
-Bretaigne, et generalment de tut le dit roiaume de Fraunce, puissent
-paisiblement aler par tout sur meer, pur peschier et gaigner lour
-vivre, saunz en estre reprins ne empeschiez en ascun manere ... et par
-ainsi que semblablement soit fait et otroie, de lez dites parties de
-Flandres, Picardie, Normandie, Bretaigne, et autres del dit roiaume
-de Fraunce, a la seurte dez ditz pescheours de nostre dit roiaume
-d’Engleterre.”
-
-[122] _Ibid._, viii. 469, 472. Dumont, _Corps Universel Diplomatique du
-Droit des Gens_, &c., II. i. 302. _Proc. and Ordinances of the Privy
-Council of England_, i. 282.
-
-[123] _Ibid._, viii. 530, 548, “Et les pescheurs generalment aler
-pescher sur mer pour gaignier leur vivre paisiblement.”
-
-[124] _Fœdera_, ix. 483.
-
-[125] _Rot. Parl._, iii. 643_b_.
-
-[126] Pikes and bows and arrows were used. Later, in the early part
-of the seventeenth century, a regular part of the equipment of a
-herring-buss was half-pikes and muskets, an estimate for one being--ten
-half-pikes, £1; muskets with bandaleers, rests, and moulds, £6, with 6
-lb. of gunpowder and 6 lb. of leaden bullets.
-
-[127] _Fœdera_, x. 730, 736, 761, 791. The article on the fishery
-was as follows: “Que tous pescheurs, tant d’Engleterre, d’Irlande,
-et de Calais, comme des paiis de Brabant et de Flandres, pourront
-paisiblement aler par tout sur mer, pour peschier et gaignier leur
-vivre, sans empeschement ou destourber de l’une partie ne de l’autre.
-Et avec ce, se fortune ou autre aventure chassoit ou amenoit les diz
-pescheurs de la partie d’Engleterre, en aucun des ports, havres,
-destrois, et daugiers des dites paiis de Brabant ou de Flandres, ou les
-diz pescheurs des dites paiis de Brabant et de Flandres en aucuns des
-dites ports, havres, destrois, ou daugiers du royaume d’Engleterre,
-Yrland, et de Calais, que ilz y soient paisiblement et franchement
-receuz et traictiez raisonnablement d’une coste et d’autre, en paiant
-aux lieux, ou ils arriveront, les toulieux et devoirs accoustumez, et
-d’illec puissent liberalment retourner a tout leurs nefs, applois, et
-biens sans destourbier, arrest, ne empeschement; pourveu que, par les
-diz pescheurs, d’un coste et d’autre, ne soit commise aucune fraude, ou
-fait dommaige.” Intercursus continuandus pro spatio duodecim annorum
-inter Anglos et Flandros, Gandanos, Iperos et civitatis de Brabant.
-_Ibid._, xi. 143.
-
-[128] “Et pur toutz sez autres paiis et seigneuries.”
-
-[129] “Et sans qu’il leur soit bosoigne sur ceo requirer ne opteiner
-ascune license, congie, ou saufconducte.” 5 Jan. 1467/1468. _Ibid._,
-xi. 591, 592, 595, 609. Dumont, _op. cit._, III. i. 592.
-
-[130] Dumont, III. i. 400.
-
-[131] _Fœdera_, xi. 683.
-
-[132] _Ibid._, xii. 67. In 1484 Richard III. issued a commission to
-Thomas Lye, sergeant-at-arms, to make restitution for fishing-boats
-belonging to subjects of Maximilian, Duke of Austria, which had been
-taken, laden with fish, by English pirates. _Ibid._, xii. 227.
-
-[133] “Item, conventum, concordatum et conclusum est quod piscatores
-utriusque partis partium prædictarum (cujuscunque conditionis existant)
-poterunt ubique ire, navigare per mare, secure piscari absque aliquo
-impedimento licentia seu salvo conductu: Et, si contingat aliquos ex
-piscatoribus unius partis per fortunam, tempestatem maris, vim hostium,
-aut alio modo compelli intrare aliquem portum vel districtum alterius
-partis, ibidem pacifice et amicabiliter recipientur et tractabuntur
-(solvendo in locis ubi applicabunt jura et theolonia prædicta) et ab
-illis portubus et locis poterunt libere recedere et redire, cum eorum
-navibus et bonis, sine impedimento vel contradictione quacunque;
-dummodo tamen per ipsos piscatores non committatur fraus neque dolus,
-seu per eos aliis dampnum minime fiat.” 24 Feb. (1495)/(1496).
-_Fœdera_, xii. 583. Dumont, III. ii. 338.
-
-[134] _Fœdera_, xii. 714; xiii. 132, 539, 714.
-
-[135] Ships of war were used to convoy the herring-busses of Holland
-and Zealand at least as early as 1440.
-
-[136] _Cal. State Papers, Foreign and Domestic_, iii. Nos. 1534, 1535.
-
-[137] _Fœdera_, xiii. 752. Dumont, IV. i. 352.
-
-[138] Dumont, IV. i. 515. “Pourront aussi les Sujets des Païs,
-Roiaumes, Terres et Seigneuries dessusdites, librement, et sans
-détourbier, ni empêchement, pêcher à harangs, et autres poissons en
-la mer, où ladite Treve aura lieu, et là où la pêche dudit harang
-s’adonera, comme ils faisoient avant la Guerre, et pourroient et sont
-accoûtumez de faire au tems de Paix.”
-
-[139] _Fœdera_, ii. 529, 545. Mieris, _Groot Charterboek der Graaven
-van Holland_, &c., ii. 268; iii. 257; iv. 223, 378, 692, 816. Kluit,
-_Historiæ Federum Belgii Federati_, 284. Yair, _An Account of the
-Scotch Trade in the Netherlands_, 6, 27, 36.
-
-[140] Mieris, _op. cit._, iv. 146. About this time the Scots also did
-their best to drive away English fishermen from their coasts. In 1400
-they fitted out a small fleet under Sir Robert Logan for this purpose,
-but it was apparently insufficient, and Logan himself was captured by
-the men of Lynn. Walsingham, _Hist. Anglicana_, 364. In 1420 complaint
-was made to the English Parliament that the Scots had at divers times
-attacked and taken English fishing vessels. _Rot. Parl._, iv. 127_a_.
-
-[141] _State Papers, Dom._, Charles I., clii. 63. See p. 218.
-
-[142] “Dat hy voorhadt, de haringvisscherij omtrent zyne kusten te
-beletten.” Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Historie_, v. 209.
-
-[143] _Resol. Staten van Holl._, 5/15 September 1540. Bosgoed, _Bib.
-Pisc._, 319.
-
-[144] Treaty of Binche, 9/19 February 1540/1541. Dumont, _op. cit._,
-IV. ii. 208.
-
-[145] “Et quant au dernier article de la commission du Sr. de Limdy
-[Lundy] ambassadeur, concernant le fait de la pescherie, ladite Dame
-Reine [the Queen Dowager of Hungary and Bohemia] veuille par bonne et
-meure deliberation proceder en telles et semblables affaires, se fera
-informer sur le contenu dudit article, pour après en ordonner comme il
-sera trouvé étre de raison, équité, et justice d’une part et d’autre
-pour la conservation de la paix et amitié mutuelle desdits Sieurs.”
-_Op. cit._, and see footnote next page.
-
-[146] Wagenaar, _op. cit._, 355.
-
-[147] _Res. St. Holl._, (29 Nov.)/(9 Dec.) 1544; (23 Feb.)/(5 Mar.)
-1545, &c. Bosgoed, _op. cit._, 320.
-
-[148] Dumont, IV. iii. 12. “Circa piscationem verò ac liberum usum
-maris, ea quæ per supradictum Tractatum anno 1541, 19 Februarii,
-Binchii inter Serenissimam Reginam Mariam et supra nominatum Oratorem
-Regis Scotiæ; inita, conclusa ac conventa fuerint debite ac sincere
-observari debebunt.”
-
-[149] In 1618, when there was much searching of the records in Scotland
-(where they were kept in a most careless and slovenly manner) to
-establish the claim of James to the fishing in connection with the
-approaching visit of the Dutch ambassadors, the Earl of Dunfermline
-wrote to Lord Binning in London, forwarding a copy, in French, of the
-treaty of 1541, and said, “Albeit ye will perseive by the last article
-of the same annent the propositions of the fishings, the Queen of
-Hungarie and Bohemia, who was for the Emperour Governant of the Low
-Countries--we call her commonly Frow Mary--in that takes her to further
-advysement with her Councill, and no thing resolved if any further
-proceeding; _I pray God ye may find it otherwayes_.” _MSS. Advoc.
-Lib._, 31. 2. 16.
-
-[150] The heads of the treaty and the ratifications are given by
-Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, V. i. 507. The treaty itself is
-published in full by Bor, _Vervolgh Vande Nederlantssche Oorlogen ende
-Geschiedenissen_, iv. fol. 48-52.
-
-[151] _E.g._, in 1573, that “all maner of fischeris that occupyis the
-sey and vtheris persounis quhatsumeuer” that catch herrings or white
-fish “vpon the coist or within the Ilis or outwith the samin within
-the Fyrthis” should bring them to free ports to be sold. _Acta Parl.
-Scot._, iii. c. 7.
-
-[152] Leslie, _De Origine Moribus et Rebus Gestis Scotorum_, 24. A
-point of land near Inveraray in Loch Fyne was long known, and is still
-known, as Frenchman’s Point or French Farl, the tradition being that it
-was to this place that herrings were brought to be sold and cured. _Old
-Statistical Account of Scotland_, v. 291.
-
-[153] _Register Privy Council of Scotland_, i. 482.
-
-[154] _De Dominio Maris_, 16. In another work Welwood says, “And
-for the eastern seas, direct from Scotland, what is more antiently
-notorious than that covenant twixt Scottish men and Hollanders,
-concerning the length of their approaching toward Scotland by way of
-fishing.” _An Abridgement of All Sea Lawes_, c. 26.
-
-[155] _Register Privy Council of Scotland_, iv. 216.
-
-[156] Much information on the fisheries of the Netherlands will be
-found in Professor A. Beaujon’s _History of Dutch Sea Fisheries_, 1884.
-
-[157] 33 Hen. VIII., c. 2.
-
-[158] 37 Hen. VIII., c. 23; 5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 17; 7 Edw. VI., c. 11; 1
-Mary, st. 2, c. 13.
-
-[159] _Acts of the Privy Council of England_, i. 103, 104, 106, 112,
-114, _an._ 1543.
-
-[160] 2 & 3 Edw. VI., c. 19. Certain exceptions, of those licensed,
-ill, or very old, or in prison, were made.
-
-[161] _State Papers, Dom., Addenda_, Edw. VI., iv. 56. The paper, which
-is endorsed by Cecil, “The Answer of the Fishmongers,” is undated, but
-that it belongs to the reign of Edward VI. (1547-1553) is proved by
-the words, “the reign of our late sovereign, Henry VIII.” The return
-of 1528, referred to by the fishmongers, is among the State Papers
-_(Foreign and Domestic Letters and Papers_, Hen. VIII., iv. pt. 2,
-No. 5101). It states that 149 vessels went to the Iceland fishing,
-mostly from Yarmouth, Blakeney, Cromer, Dunwich, Walderswick, and
-Southwold; the herring-fishing in the North Sea employed 222, of which
-110 belonged to the Cinque Ports, while 69 went to Shetland, the total
-being 440. Shetland lings were in those days greatly prized, and
-brought very high prices.
-
-[162] _State Papers, Dom., Addenda_, Edw. VI., iv. 57. “The decaied
-Porte Townes w^{th} nombers of good villages a longe by the sea cost
-of this realm, within these twentie or thirtie years;” undated, but
-belonging to the same period, with Cecil’s calculations written on the
-back.
-
-[163] _State Papers, Dom._, Elizabeth, xxvii. 71, February 1563.
-Endorsed, “Arguments for Increase of the Navy,” and “Arguments to prove
-that it is necessary for the restoring of the navy of England to have
-one Day more in ye weeke ordained to be a fish day, and that to be
-Wensday rather than any other.”
-
-[164] The exportation, without license, of herrings, among other
-things, had been forbidden by 1 & 2 Ph. and Mary, c. 5 (1554); but by
-1 Eliz., c. 17, subjects were permitted to export sea fish taken by
-subjects in English ships free of customs for four years.
-
-[165] “The causes of the decay of fishing must be the lack of the vse
-of fishing, which must be divided into ij partes, small eating of
-fisshe in ye Realme, and not selling of it abroad.”
-
-[166] The number of French vessels engaged in the Newfoundland
-fisheries is placed at 500, with 15,000 men; and over 100, with at
-least 1000 men, fished at Iceland for “herrings,”--but no doubt for cod
-and ling.
-
-[167] There are many other memoranda amongst the State Papers, some in
-Cecil’s handwriting, which deal with fish-days. One gives in detail a
-note of all the fish-days throughout the year, amounting to 186, and in
-addition “a number of sayntes evens were fastyng dayes that now be not
-observed.” _Ibid._, xxxi. 41, 42 (1563).
-
-[168] 5 Eliz. c. 5. The debate on the Wednesday proposal lasted three
-days, the clause being ultimately carried by 179 to 97 (_Commons
-Journals_, i. 68). It was in view of the expected opposition that the
-long paper above referred to was prepared. The Wednesday was not put
-on quite the same footing as the Fridays and Saturdays, since “one
-only usual competent dish of flesh and no more” was allowed, provided
-that at the same table “three full competent usual dishes of sea fish
-of sundry kinds, either fresh or salt,” were served and eaten “without
-fraud or covin.” Another clause explained that the object was “meant
-politically for the increase of fishermen and mariners, and repairing
-of port towns and navigation”, and not for any superstition “regarding
-choice of meats”; any one stating the contrary was to be punished.
-
-[169] Among the imports of fish from the Low Countries at this time
-were “cods-heads, cod-fish, eels, ‘gull-fish,’ haddocks, herrings,
-ling, salmon, salt-fish, sturgeon, and ‘staple-fish.’” Hall, _A History
-of the Customs Revenue in England_, ii. 237.
-
-[170] _State Papers, Dom._, Eliz., xxxv. 36.
-
-[171] 13 Eliz., c. 11.
-
-[172] _State Papers, Dom._, Eliz., xlviii. 83.
-
-[173] _Hatfield MSS._, i. 1177, 27th June 1568.
-
-[174] 13 Eliz., c. 11. In the preamble it is said the former Act “is a
-very good Act, and greatly increased the navy and fishermen.”
-
-[175] _State Papers, Dom._, Eliz., lxxv. 16.
-
-[176] In the same year the author, at a dinner he gave at Westminster
-to the burgesses representing “all the stately port towns of England,”
-explained the substance of his “plat”; several of them suggested that
-a subsidy should be raised on land and goods to set the scheme afloat;
-and the Speaker remarked that “a Parliament had been called for a less
-cause.”
-
-[177] _Burghley Papers_, A.D. 1572, _MSS. Lansd._ 14, No. 30. As the
-catalogue states, the signature is erased, and the paper is entered
-as anonymous; but careful scrutiny shows that it was signed “Rob^{t.}
-Hitchcock.”
-
-[178] _A Pollitique Platt for the honour of the Prince, the greate
-profite of the publique state, relief of the poore, preseruacion of
-the riche, reformation of Roges and Idle persones, and the wealthe of
-thousandes that knowes not howe to liue. Written for an_ Newyeres
-gift _to Englande and the inhabitantes thereof_, by Robert Hitchcok,
-late of Cauersfeelde, in the Countie of Buckyngham, Gentleman. London,
-1st Januarie 1580.
-
-[179] In the early MS. copy presented to the Queen the 400 vessels
-were to be from 100 to 200 tons, costing £400 each, and the crew was
-to consist of a master, nine mariners, and thirty “rogues and lustie
-vagabonds” obtained in the same forcible way.
-
-[180] This place, frequently mentioned in old works and papers
-referring to the fisheries, was Vardö, or Vardöhuus, at the mouth of
-the Varangerfjord, Finmarken, on the north-east coast of Norway, or,
-as it was often described, Lapland. The king of Denmark had a castle
-on the island, and dues had to be paid for liberty to fish. A number
-of English vessels went there in spring, returning towards the end of
-summer.
-
-[181] In France at this time, according to other records, Flemish
-herrings brought £25 per last; Yarmouth, £10; Irish, £18; “coast”
-herrings and Scotch, £11.
-
-[182] The _Pollitique Platt_ is earnest and even religious in tone,
-and it is obvious that the author spent much time in collecting the
-information and elaborating his scheme, which in all sincerity was
-meant for the good of his country. Even after three centuries one
-learns with regret (from his letter preserved at Hatfield) that he had
-to petition the Privy Council, “for his relief and maintenance in these
-his now declining years” (1596), to cause every innkeeper, &c., to
-purchase from him, for sixpence, and put up publicly, a printed table,
-or “breviate,” describing the “benefits that growe to this Realme by
-the Observance of Fish-Daies.”
-
-[183] Better known by its running title, _The Brytish Monarchie_. It is
-a very rare work, only 100 copies having been printed. The author’s own
-copy is in the British Museum.
-
-[184] P.7.
-
-[185] Sir John Constable’s case. Moore, _Hist. Foreshore_, 225, from
-_Hargrave MSS._, 15, fol. 95_d_. In the case for the crown the claim
-to the sea is very briefly put: “Car quant est floud est parcel del
-mere que est solement en le Roign et nemy en ascun subject; car est
-pur passage pur chescun, mes owner de ceo nul si non le Roign.”
-Anderson, _Les Reports du Treserudite_, i. 86. (ed. 1664). In a MS.
-in the Cottonian collection (_Galba_, C. 11, “Acta inter Angliam et
-Belgium, 1564-1567”) it is said the jurisdiction of the Prince in the
-adjoining sea extends for a distance of 100 miles unless (1) in seas
-lying between the territories of two princes which contain less than a
-hundred miles, in which case it extends to the mid-line--usq’ ad mediũ
-eiusdem maris extenditur; (2) where another prince has a right to the
-whole sea. The authorities referred to are Bartolus, Angelus, Paulus de
-Castro, and Joan de Platea.
-
-[186] _Op. cit._, 21.
-
-[187] Two MS. copies exist, one bound up with Dee’s copy of the
-_General and Rare Memorials_ in the British Museum, which was sent
-to Dyer with the MS., the other in _Harleian MSS._ 249, fol. 95. The
-latter, which is a draft, is addressed “To my very honorable frende
-Syr Edward Dyer, Knight,” and a note inscribed on it says, “Written
-by Dr John Dee, out of whose library I bought it after his death A^o
-D^o 1625, S.D.” The title on both MSS. is ΘΑΛΑΤΤΟΚΑΡΤΙΑ ΒΡΕΤΤΑΝΙΚΗ:
-_Miscelanea quædam extemporanea de Imperii Britannici Iurisdictione in
-Mari_; and both are dated 8th September 1597.
-
-[188] Lat. 49° 6´ N., long. 2° 49´ W.
-
-[189] “All those that pass within our sea jurisdiction (either absolute
-or respective) and therein commit any notable offence against us may
-lawfully by our power be taken; and the same offenders may as lawfully
-and justly be punished, as if on our land territory an offence like,
-or of like degree of injury, were by them against us committed.”
-“Absolute” jurisdiction applied to the sea where both coasts belonged
-to England; “respective” where it terminated half seas over.
-
-[190] In 1597 Dee expressed his grief and surprise that so little had
-been done or attempted with regard to the sovereignty of the sea, “and
-so my labours (after a sort) vaynely employed.” MS.
-
-[191] _Bullarium Romanum Novissimum_, i. 346. “Insulæ novi Orbis
-à Ferdinando Hispaniarum Rege, et Elisabeth Regina repertæ, et
-reperiendæ, conceduntur eisdem, propagandæ fidei Christianæ causa ...
-omnes insulas et terras firmas inventas et inveniendas, detectas ad
-detegendas versus Occidentem et Meridiem fabricando, et construendo
-unam lineam à Polo Arctico scilicet Septentrione, ad Polum Antarcticum,
-scilicet Meridiem, sive terræ firmæ, et insulæ inventæ et inveniendæ
-sint versus Indiam aut versus aliam quamcumque partem, quæ linea distet
-à qualibet Insularum, quæ vulgariter nuncupantur de los Azores y cabo
-vierde, centum læucis versus Occidentem et Meridiem,” &c. Art. 8,
-“prohibet aliis accessum ad illas insulas pro mercibus habendis absque
-Regis licentia.”
-
-[192] Harrisse, _The Diplomatic History of America_, 78.
-
-[193] Selden, _Mare Clausum_, i. c. xvii.
-
-[194] Selden, _loc. cit._
-
-[195] Camden, _Annales_, 225 (ed. 1635).
-
-[196] _Hatfield MSS._, ii. 684. “Whether Your Majesty’s Subjects may
-lawfully trade into the Indies.” Undated, but calendered under the year
-1578.
-
-[197] Hautefeuille, _Hist. des Origines, des Progrès, et des
-Variations du Droit maritime international_, 15. Hall, _A Treatise on
-International Law_, 142.
-
-[198] _Rot. Parl._, iv. 79_b_. The petition declared that owing to
-the fish having deserted the coasts where they used to be taken, the
-fishermen had been forced to go to Iceland and other places for six or
-seven years past in order to catch them. English fishermen, however,
-had frequented Iceland long before that time.
-
-[199] _Fœdera_, ix. 322.
-
-[200] _Rot. Parl._, iv. 348, 378. 8 Hen. VI., c. 2.
-
-[201] _Fœdera_, xii. 381.
-
-[202] _Ibid._, xiii. 798.
-
-[203] _State Papers, Dom._, Elizabeth, clxxx. 26, 15th July 1585.
-
-[204] _Ibid._, ccxiii. 92.
-
-[205] _Fœdera_, xvi. 278. A license granted in 1570 to an Englishman,
-one Raymond Binge, for fishing at Iceland for seven years, gave
-permission for his boats to be kept and wintered in the ports there, on
-payment of the customs and abstaining from trading, as well as freedom
-of fishing except where prohibited by royal edicts, reserved for the
-king’s use, or granted to others. _Brit. Mus. Vespasian MSS._, C. xiv.
-fol. 21.
-
-[206] Complaint of the Mayor of Kingston-upon-Hull to Cecil, 2nd July
-1599. _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxi. 68.
-
-[207] _Fœdera_, xvi. 395, 432.
-
-[208] _Brit. Mus. Vespasian MSS._, C. xiv. fol. 22. _Fœdera_, xvi. 431.
-
-[209] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxiv.
-
-[210] _Fœdera_, xvi. 433.
-
-[211] _Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 380.
-
-[212] 23 Eliz., c. 7, 1580-81. _Brit. Mus. Lansd. MSS._, 14.
-
-[213] 39 Eliz., c. 10.
-
-[214] The price of stock-fish had risen from £12 a last in 1584 to £18
-and £20 in 1597, and the price of cured ling in the same time advanced
-from £3 to £5, 5s. per cwt. _State Papers, Dom._, cclxv.
-
-[215] A commission of eleven peers, three bishops, and two law-officers
-had been appointed in 1593 for the repeal of the Act respecting the
-importation of salted fish and herrings. _Ibid._, ccxliv. 84.
-
-[216] _Ibid._, cxlvii. 21, 22.
-
-[217] 27 Eliz., c. 11.
-
-[218] 35 Eliz., c. 7.
-
-[219] Jeninges, _A briefe discouery of the damages that happen to this
-Realme by disordered and vnlawfull diet_, 1593. Hitchcock, _A briefe
-note of the benefits that grow to this Realme by the observation of
-Fish-Daies_, _Hatfield MSS._, 1595. _State Papers, Dom._, cclxv. 25.
-_Remembrancia_, 391 _et seq._
-
-[220] _Every Man in His Humour_, Act 3, sc. 4.
-
-[221] Froude, _Hist. England_, iii. 69.
-
-[222] King Edward’s Journal, in Burnet, _Hist. Reformation_, ii. (v. of
-ed. 1865). Oppenheim, _Hist. Administration Roy. Navy_, 106.
-
-[223] _Acts of the Privy Council of England_, iv. 37. 7th May 1552.
-
-[224] Selden, _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxvi.
-
-[225] Raleigh, _A Discourse of the Invention of Ships_, Collected
-Works, viii. 326. Monson, _Naval Tracts_, in Churchill’s _Collection of
-Voyages and Travels_, iii.
-
-[226] Monson, _op. cit._ Laughton, _Fortnightly Review_, Aug. 1866.
-
-[227] Froude, _op. cit._, viii. 68. Laughton, _loc. cit._
-
-[228] An undated State Paper, calendared under the year 1604, entitled
-“Reglement for Preventing Abuses in and about the Narrow Seas,”
-contains a claim by the king to a most absolute dominion over the Four
-Seas (_State Papers, Dom._, James, xi. 40). It appears, however, to
-be merely a copy of the similar regulation prepared in 1633 by Sir
-Henry Martin (see p. 252). It is not contained in the volume of royal
-proclamations published in 1609, and is not referred to by Selden. It
-has no doubt been wrongly calendared.
-
-[229] It is given in Appendix D, from _A Booke of Proclamations,
-published since the beginning of his Majesties most happy Reigne ouer
-England, &c., Vntill this present Moneth of Febr. 3, Anno. Dom. 1609._
-_Cum Priuilegio_, p. 98.
-
-[230] “Item, conventum et conclusum est, quod, dicto bello durante,
-nullus subditus principum prædictorum, intra portus et sinus maris
-quoscumque, flumina, ostia fluminum, gurgites, aquas dulces, stationes
-navium, et præsertim stationem vulgariter vocatam _les Dunes_, aut
-alia loca maritima quæcumque jurisdictioni dicti Regis Angliæ subjecta
-aliquam navem mercatoriam, onerariam, armatam vel non armatam, onustam
-seu vacuam, cujuscumque quantitatis aut oneris fuerit, de quacumque
-natione eadem navis extiterit, capere, spoliare, diripere, seu merces,
-victualia, aut armamenta quæcumque, ab eisdem navibus, aut earumdem
-nautis auferre, nec eisdem vim, violentiam, aut molestationem aliquam
-inferre possit, aut debeat,” &c. Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, IV. i.
-352.
-
-[231] This interesting document is printed in Appendix E, from _State
-Papers, Dom._, James I., vol. 13 (1605), No. 11; No. 12 is another
-of the same. It is not the original, but a copy, the names being all
-in the same hand as the body of the paper. Diligent search among the
-records has failed to furnish the “plott” referred to, but there
-is no reason to doubt that the reproduction of it by Selden (_Mare
-Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxii.), and shown here on fig. 3, is an accurate
-representation. Selden states that the plott or chart was engraved, and
-copies sent to the officers concerned.
-
-[232] It will be noticed from fig. 4, where the lines between the
-headlands are shown on a modern map, that some of the “chambers” on the
-east coast have entirely disappeared, no doubt owing to the erosion or
-silting up of the coast at those places during the last three hundred
-years.
-
-[233] In stormy weather as many as 300 or 400 sail of Hollanders took
-refuge in St George’s Channel at a time. _State Papers, Dom._, xlv. 23
-(1609).
-
-[234] Cunningham, _The Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, i. 424.
-
-[235] Gardiner, _Hist. England_, i. 103.
-
-[236] Declaratie van de visscherijen in Holland Zeeland en Vlaanderen.
-Fruin, _Tien Jaren uit den Tachtigjarigen Oorlog_, 1588-1598, p. 186.
-
-[237] _Descrittione Di M. Lodovico Gvicciardini Patritio Florentino,
-Di Tvtti i Paesi Bassi, Altrimenti Detti Germania Inferiore_, Antwerp,
-1567, p. 21. The value of the cod caught was placed at £150,000
-sterling per annum.
-
-[238] Hadrianus Junius, _Batavia_, p. 203. The work was written between
-1565 and 1569, and published in 1588.
-
-[239] Hitchcock, _A Pollitique Platt_. The author says that when he was
-at the wars in 1553, more than 400 busses were set forth from twelve
-towns in the Low Countries. Dee, _General and Rare Memorials_.
-
-[240] Faulconnier, _Description Historique de Dunkerque_, i. 47, 53,
-121.
-
-[241] Van Meteren, _Historie der Nederlandscher ende haerder Naburen
-Oorlogen_ (1614), fol. 466. This author says the maritime power of
-the States was shown in the same year, when between 800 and 900 ships
-departed for the Baltic within the space of two or three days’ tides.
-
-[242] John Keymer’s _Observation made upon the Dutch Fishing about
-the year 1601. Demonstrating that there is more Wealth raised out of
-Herrings and other Fish in his Majesties Seas, by the neighbouring
-Nations in one Year, then the King of Spain hath from the Indies in
-Four._ London, Printed from the original Manuscript, for Sir Edward
-Ford, in the year 1664. Keymer states that he found in Holland more
-than 20,000 sail of ships and “hoyes,” more than was possessed by
-England, France, Spain, and other eight countries in Europe. The same
-figure is given by Sir Thomas Overbury, who visited the Netherlands in
-1609 (_Observations in his Travels, upon the State of the Seventeen
-Provinces_, 1626).
-
-[243]
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 5.--_Facsimile of Keymer’s Signature to his ‘Book
-of Observations.’_]
-
-_Observations touching Trade and Commerce with the Hollander, and Other
-Nations; presented to King James, wherein is proved that our Sea and
-Land Commodities serve to enrich and strengthen other Countries against
-our own._ Raleigh’s _Collected Works_, viii. 351. Oldys, in his Life
-of Raleigh, which was published in 1736, says there was some reason
-to doubt whether Sir Walter Raleigh was the author of this treatise:
-it was first printed in 1653, first associated with Raleigh’s name by
-being bound up with his “Remains” in 1656, and first definitely said to
-be Raleigh’s by Roger Coke in his _Detection of Court and State_; and
-he gives reasons for the opinion that it was written by John Keymer and
-not by Raleigh (_Collected Works_, i. 441). But, as Raleigh’s latest
-biographer states, Raleigh still has the credit of it (Stebbing, _Sir
-Walter Raleigh_, 267). I have, however, found the original signed
-manuscript copy among the State Papers for 1620 (_State Papers, Dom._,
-cxviii. 114, December 1620), and an unsigned and slightly altered copy
-among those for 1623 (_State Papers, Dom._, clvii. 45). The original
-is endorsed, _Keymers booke of observac͠ons for your moste excellent
-Ma^{tie} touchinge trade and traffique beyond y^e Seas and in England
-wherein he certaynly findeth y^t your sea and land Commodities doe
-searve to inrich and strengthen other Cuntries agnst your Kingdome;
-w^{ch} were y^e urgent causes why he endeavoured himselfe to take
-extraordynarie paynes for y^e redresse: soe it maie stande w^{th}
-your Ma^{ties} good Likinge_. 1620. It is subscribed, “Your Ma^{ties}
-most loyall and true harted Subject, John Keymer,” and it is the same
-treatise as is published in Raleigh’s _Works_, with a few trifling
-verbal differences, while the concluding sentence is omitted in the
-printed form--viz., “To conclude, England is a great and famous body
-and would be farr greater, richer and stronger, if the ten fingers were
-rightly imployed.” Further proof exists that Keymer was the author of
-this much-discussed treatise. Its object was to show how the trade and
-revenue might be greatly increased, and the author begged the king to
-have a commission appointed to examine witnesses as to his proposals.
-This commission was appointed two years later, as appears from the
-following entry in the Grant Book in 1622: “20 Dec. Com̃ to Charles,
-pr. of Wales, John Bp. of Linc., Ld Keeper of y^e g. seale, Lewis Duke
-of Lennox, Geo. Marquis Buck., &c. to hear the propositions which shall
-be made by John Keymer and to consider whether they will tend to the
-good of y^e King, and commonwealth as is pretended” (_State Papers,
-Dom._, Jas. I. (Grants), vol. 141, p. 352). There does not appear to
-be any further mention of the matter. This John Keymer is supposed
-to be the same as a person of that name who was licensed by Raleigh
-about 1584 to sell wines at Cambridge. Among the MSS. at Hatfield are
-letters from him, dated in 1598, to Cecil and the Earl of Essex, in
-which he speaks of his services, of “his travels and labours to find
-out the practises used beyond the seas to their advantage and our great
-danger and how to prevent the same,” and of his works, one of which
-he said showed how to increase the Queen’s treasure above £100,000 a
-year. He also corresponded with Carleton in 1619. In his address to
-the king, prefixed to the treatise of 1620, he mentions that “about
-fourteen or fifteen years past” he had presented him with “a book of
-such extraordinary importance for the honour and profit” of his Majesty
-and posterity, which was doubtless the earlier tract referred to above,
-and would fix its date about 1605 or 1606. He was also engaged on the
-fishery question about 1612 (doubtless in connection with the proposed
-society), because Tobias Gentleman, whose work was published in the
-spring of 1614, tells us that he was visited “some two yeares past”
-by “Maister John Keymar,” who was collecting information about the
-fisheries, with the view of placing it before the Council (_Englands
-Way to Win Wealth_, 3).
-
-The copy of Keymer’s tract, which is among the State Papers of 1623,
-is unsigned, and is simply calendared as “Tract addressed to the King,
-consisting of observations made by the writer in his travels on the
-coasts,” &c.; but the person who calendared the paper has written
-on it, in pencil, “q. By Sir Walter Cope (_ob._ 1614). See 1612, a
-letter or discourse to the King, to which this was attached,” and has
-added the name “Walter Cope” at the end. The paper referred to (_State
-Papers, Dom._, vol. 71, No. 89) has written on it in the old hand, “Sr
-Walter Cope to K.,” and “Anno Domini 1612. A present for the Kinges
-most excellent Maiestie.” It is only mentioned here because the draft
-of it, which is the next paper in the volume (No. 90) and has several
-corrections on the first page, bears the following note in one of the
-corners, “Nota Mr Chancellor and Malynes wife (?) the ... of Maye,
-Ralegh.” The meaning is obscure, but perhaps it may be surmised from
-the contents that Malynes, who was at that time concerned with the
-fishery society proposals, had submitted it to Sir Walter Raleigh, and
-that ultimately it was presented to the king by Sir Walter Cope, who
-was on intimate terms with him.
-
-[244] _Englands Way to Win Wealth, and to employ Ships and Mariners;
-or, A plaine description what great profite it will bring vnto the
-Commonwealth of England, by the Erecting, Building, and aduenturing
-of Busses, to Sea, a Fishing: With a true Relation of the inestimable
-Wealth that is yearly taken out of his Majesty’s Seas by the
-Hollanders, &c._, by Tobias Gentleman, Fisherman and Mariner, London,
-1614.
-
-[245] _State Papers, Dom._, Jas. I., xlvii. 114.
-
-[246] Keymer, _Observations on Dutch Fishing_; Gentleman, _op. cit._;
-Buchanan, _Rerum Scot. Hist._, lib. i. c. xlix; Leslie, _De Origine
-Moribus et Rebus Gestis Scotorum_, 39; _Register Privy Council of
-Scotland_, ii. 656; _MSS. Advoc. Lib._, 31. 2. 16.
-
-[247] _State Papers, Dom._, xxxii. 31. Other accounts are as follows.
-In 1609 the Earl of Salisbury wrote (erroneously) that while fifty or
-sixty years before only one or two hundred foreign vessels came to
-fish on the east coast, they then numbered two or three thousand sail
-(Winwood, _Memorials_, iii. 50). Sir William Monson in the same year
-placed the number of Hollander busses at 3000 and the number of men
-at over 30,000 (_State Papers, Dom._, xlvii. 112, 114). Sir Nicholas
-Hales also estimated the number of men at 30,000 (_Ibid._, xlv. 23;
-cclxxiv. 67). In the following year the Dutch ambassadors admitted that
-20,000 men were employed in the great herring fishery, as well as other
-40,000 in connection with it on shore (_Ibid._, lxvii. 111). A little
-later, in 1616, the Secretary to the Duke of Lennox told the Dutch
-ambassador that in the previous June, 1500 or 1600 Hollander busses
-were at Shetland (_Add. MSS. Brit. Mus._, 17,677, J, fol. 160). In 1618
-the number fishing on the east coast of Scotland sometimes exceeded
-2000 sail (_MSS. Advoc. Lib._, 31. 2. 16). Malynes in 1622 placed the
-number of busses from Holland and Zealand at 2000 (_Consuetudo vel Lex
-Mercatoria_, 89). Two years later a Spanish agent described them as
-consisting of 2400 vessels, guarded by 40 men-of-war, and scattered
-over an area of 200 leagues (_State Papers, Dom._, dxxi. 30). In 1629
-Secretary Coke, who derived the information from a Scottish source,
-said the Hollander busses sometimes amounted to 3000 sail; three years
-later he put the number in connection with the fishery off Yarmouth
-at “above a thousand”; at this time the French vessels numbered 40
-(_Ibid._, Chas. I., clii. 63; ccxxix. 79). Beaujon (_op. cit._, p. 64)
-expresses the opinion that 2000 busses were the maximum number.
-
-[248] To Pomerania, Poland, “Spruceland,” Denmark, Liefland, Russia,
-Sweden, Germany, Brabant, Flanders, France, “Lukeland,” England,
-Greece, Egypt, Venice, Leghorn, and all over the Mediterranean, and
-even as far as Brazil.
-
-[249] _State Papers, Dom._, xlvii. 112.
-
-[250] To the King’s most excellent Majesty: A Declaration of the
-fishing of Herring, Cod, and Ling, and how much the favour or disfavour
-of Your Royal Majesty concerneth the Hollanders. _Ibid._, xxxii. 30;
-cclxxix. 67.
-
-[251] Misselden, _The Circle of Commerce, or the Balance of Trade_,
-1623, p. 121. It may be said that the aggregate quantity of herrings
-now taken in the North Sea, and mostly by Scottish and English
-fishermen, equals about 3,500,000 barrels in a year.
-
-[252] Manship, _History of Great Yarmouth_, 119, 121.
-
-[253] Gentleman, _op. cit._, 7, 32.
-
-[254] Keymer, _Observations on Dutch Fishing_.
-
-[255] Manship, _op. cit._, 97, 120. The work was written between 1612
-and 1619.
-
-[256] Gentleman, _op. cit._, 36; Swinden, _History of Great Yarmouth_,
-465; _State Papers, Dom._, xlvii. 112, 114.
-
-[257] Meynert Semeyns, _Een corte beschryvinge over de
-Haring-visscherye in Hollandt_.
-
-[258] Keymer, _Observations on Dutch Fishing_; Monson, _Naval
-Tracts_, in Churchill’s _Collection_, iii. 467; H. Robinson, _Briefe
-Considerations concerning the Advancement of Trade_, p. 50; _England’s
-Great Interest by encouraging the setting up of the Royal Fishery_,
-&c., &c.
-
-[259] A Demonstration of the Hollanders increase in Shipping and our
-Decay herein. _State Papers, Dom._, xlvii. 112.
-
-[260] _The Trades Increase._ Keymer, _Observations on Dutch Fishing,
-&c. Observations touching Trade, &c._, Raleigh’s _Works_, viii. 374.
-_State Papers, Dom._, xlviii. 114.
-
-[261] _A Discourse of the Invention of Ships. Works_, viii. 325.
-
-[262] In one of the most elaborate and detailed of the proposals for
-the building of busses, the daily allowance of beer for each man was to
-be a gallon, as in the king’s ships: the buss was to go to sea with 56
-herring barrels full of beer. E. S.--_Britaines Bvsse, or a Computation
-as well of the Charge of a Bvsse or Herring fishing ship as also of the
-Gain and Profit thereby._ London, 1615.
-
-[263] Keymer, _Observations on Dutch Fishing_. The industrious
-Hollander was held up as an example to the English. “If any be so
-weak,” said one writer, “to think this mechanical fisher trade not
-feasible to the English people, to him I may say with Solomon, Go to
-the Pismire! Look upon the Dutch! Thou Sluggard! learn of them! They
-do it daily in the sight of all men at our own doors, upon our own
-coasts.” “Shall we,” said another, “neglect so great blessings? O
-slothful England, and careless Countrymen! Look but on these fellows,
-that we call the plump Hollanders; behold their diligence in fishing
-and our own careless negligence.”
-
-[264] _State Papers, Dom._, James I., lxxi. 89. Malynes, who, as
-already suggested in the note on page 128, may have been the author
-of Cope’s tract, said exactly the same thing in 1622--that there had
-been a continual agitation for over thirty years to make busses and
-fisher-boats. _The Maintenance of Free Trade_, 42.
-
-[265] J. Bowssar to Sir Julius Cæsar, 14th October 1607, _Brit. Mus.
-Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 373.
-
-[266] A Project for to restore unto the King’s Majestie his Dueties of
-Fishing by re-establishing ye Auncient Manner of fishing for herringe,
-Coad, and Ling, for maintenaunce of Navigation and Marryners with
-greatt increase of Traffique, 22nd April 1609, _Brit. Mus. Lansdowne
-MSS._, 142, fol. 371. _State Papers, Dom._, xlviii. 95.
-
-[267] Treaty of Antwerp, 30 March/9 April 1609.
-
-[268] A rubric in the copy at the Record Office says, “By Proclamation
-first, most convenient to all the world.”
-
-[269] _State Papers, Dom._, xlviii. 94. It is written on parchment and
-imperfect, and endorsed, “Mr Rainsford’s Answeares.”
-
-[270] See p. 64.
-
-[271] To the King’s Most excellent Majestie: A Declaration of the
-Fishing of Herring, Codd, and Ling, and how greatly the favour or
-disfavour of Your Royal Majesty concerneth the Hollanders. _State
-Papers, Dom._, xxxii. 32. A Declaration how much the Favour or
-Disfavour of Your Royal Majestie doth concern the Prosperity or
-Adversitie of the Hollanders: and what inconvenience may ensue, and how
-to praevent the same to the honour and safety of your Majesty and the
-tranquillitie of the Netherlanders. _Ibid._, xlv. 23.
-
-[272] A Demonstration of the Hollanders Increase in Shipping and our
-Decay herein. _Ibid._, xlvii. 112. Particulars of the Lawes observed by
-other Nations touching fishing, and the Advantages that would accrue
-from establishing an English Fishing fleet. _Ibid._, 114.
-
-[273] _Records of the Convention of the Royal Burghs of Scotland_, ii.
-203, July 2, 1605.
-
-[274] _State Papers, Dom._, xxxii. 31.
-
-[275] _State Papers, Dom._, xlv. 22. The petition was signed by
-fishermen of Yarmouth, Dover, Hastings, Rye, Hythe, and Folkestone. It
-is said in the petition that they had previously craved both the king
-and the Council for redress, without avail.
-
-[276] The author of _Britaines Buss_ had heard, but did not believe,
-stories of the “very foul and insolent dealing of their bussmen with
-our poor weak fishermen upon our coasts.” Tobias Gentleman, who admired
-the Dutch for their industry, said they scorned us only “for being so
-negligent of our profit, and careless of our fishing; and they do daily
-flout us that be the poor fishermen of England, to our faces at sea,
-calling to us and saying, ‘Ya English, ya zall, or oud scoue dragien,’
-which in English is this: ‘You English, we will make you glad for to
-wear our old shoes.’” _Englands Way to Win Wealth_, p. 44.
-
-[277] _Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 375. A copy of the letter
-of the Lords of the Council, in the handwriting of Sir Julius Cæsar,
-is as follows: After our very hearty recommendations. Whereas his
-Majesty hath of late been moved vpon many consyderations arising from
-the complayntes of his subiects, to take some course of restraynt of
-many inconveniences depending vpon the excesse of libertie, w^{ch} is
-taken by the subiectes of forraigne princes and states to fish vppon
-his coast; By which, not onlie his owne ffishermen receive wrong in
-their fishing, but the verie Coast-Townes themselves are much decayed
-for lack of meanes to sett their people on work. To w^{ch} end hee had
-resolved to set forth a proclamation to th’effect of that w^{ch} is
-hereinclosed:
-
-Fforasmuch as vppon perusall of some Treaties from King Henry 7_{ths}
-tyme till this daye betweene the Crowne of England and the house of
-Burgundy, we fynde certeyne clauses, by which there maye arise some
-question how farre any such Prohibition maye concurre with the practice
-of the same for so much as shall concerne the subiects of that Estate;
-Of w^{ch} particulars it is necessary that some deliberation were
-taken, beefore his Ma^{tie} proceeded to a generall execution of the
-same: We have thought good to requyre yow ioyntly and severally to
-peruse all those Treaties, and to consyder of them, and all other
-thinges, by w^{ch} the lawfullnes or vnlawfulnes maye appeare of this
-proceeding; Which being don wee shall expect some report from you for
-his Ma^{ties} better satisfaction.
-
-Wherein wee doubt not but yow will proceede w^{th} all convenient
-expedition. And so will bid yow hartelie farewell.
-
- Ffrome the Court at Whitehall
- first of Ffebruarie, 1606.
-
- Mr Secretary Herbert.
- Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Sr. Daniel Dun.
- Sr. Thomas Crompton.
- Sr. Christopher Perkins.
-
- Yo^r Verie loving friendes,
- Subscribed by the
-
- 1. L. Chancellor.
- 2. L. Treasour.
- 3. L. Admirall.
- 4. The Earle of Worcester.
- 5. The Earle of Salisbury.
- 6. The Earle of Marr.
- 7. The L. Stanhop.
-
-This copy is dated 1st February 1606, and the copy of the report of
-the Committee is also dated 1606, which would imply that the matter
-had been before the Privy Council in that year. It appears, however,
-from other evidence that Sir Julius Cæsar made a mistake in dating the
-copies.
-
-[278] _Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 377. In Sir Julius Cæsar’s
-handwriting, and endorsed, “A copy of a letter from Mr Secretary
-Herbert, myself, and others to the L^{ds} of the King’s P. Councell,
-touching the prohibition of strangers fishing on the coasts of
-England,” &c. This important paper reads as follow: Our humble duties
-dewe to y^r good LL^{ps}. We have according to y^r commandement,
-considered of the liberty w^{ch} is taken by the Subiectes of forreine
-Princes and States to fish vppon the kings Ma^{ties} coasts by w^{ch}
-not onely the English fishermen receive wrong in their fishing but
-the very coast townes themselves are much decayed for want of meanes
-to set their people on work; and we have considered likewise of the
-proclamation for the restraint of those many inconveniences depending
-vppon the excesse of such strangers fishing: We haue also pervsed the
-treaties frõ Henry the 7th time till this day betweene the Crowne of
-England and the House of Burgundy, and we have considered of them, and
-of all other thinges by w^{ch} (as wee conceave) the lawfulness or
-vnlawfulness may appeare of this proceeding. And are of opinion, that
-the K^s Ma^{ty} may w^{thout} breach of any treatyie nowe in force,
-or of the lawe, vppon the reasons specified in the proclamation sent
-vnto vs, restreine all strangers frõ fishing vppon his coasts w^{thout}
-license, in such moderation and after such convenient notice given
-thereof by publik proclamation, as his Ma^{ty} shall think fit.
-
-And so we most humbly take our leaves. 14 febr. 1606.
-
- Yo^r L^{dships} humbly at commandment,
-
- J. Herbert. Jul. Cæsar. Daniel Dun. Christoph. Parkins. Tho. Crompton.
-
-From the erasures and corrections (see Fig. 6) there seems little doubt
-that the paper is the original draft.
-
-[279] _Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 379. In Cæsar’s
-handwriting.
-
-[280] See Appendix F.
-
-[281] Perhaps an oblique reference to _Mare Liberum_.
-
-[282] _State Papers, Dom._, xlv. 24. _Proc. Coll._, No. 11.
-
-[283] Salisbury to Cornwallis, 8th June 1609. Winwood’s _Memorials of
-Affairs of State in the Reigns of Q. Elizabeth and K. James I._, iii.
-49.
-
-[284] Muller, _Mare Clausum_, _Bijdrage tot de Geschiedenis der
-Rivaliteit van Engeland en Nederland in de Zeventiende Eeuw_, p. 52.
-Bosgoed, _Bib. Pisc._, 347. Resolutiën ... van Vergaderinge van de
-Heeren Staten van Hollandt ende West-Vrieslandt, 2/12 June 1609. “Ter
-Generaliteyt’s lands recht voorstaan ter saake van het Engelsch placaat
-op het visschen op de kusten en zeeën van Groot Brittannien en Yrland.”
-
-[285] “Ende oic Sijne authoriteyt eñ macht die hy in die See heeft
-voir de werelt manifest te maecken.”
-
-[286] Sir George Carew to Salisbury, 20th June 1609. Acknowledges
-his lordship’s letter, “according the request made by the ffr. Amb^r
-for one year’s Respite longer for the ffishers of this nation,” and
-expressing his pleasure that other considerations of state so fell out
-as to give his Majesty cause to grant them that favour, “for it is like
-to increase the amity of the two crowns.”
-
-[287] Caron to the States-General, 13/23 July 1609. _Brit. Mus. Add.
-MSS._, 17, 677.
-
-[288] Winwood to Salisbury, 6th September 1609. _Memorials_, iii. 64.
-
-[289] The assize-herring was thus described by Skene, in _De Verborum
-Significatione_, annexed to the laws of Scotland, printed in 1597.
-“Assisa Halecum. The assise herring signifies ane certain measure and
-quantity of herring, quilk perteinis to the king as ane part of his
-custumes and annexed propriety, _Jac._ 6, p. 15, c. 237, for it is
-manifest that Hee shuld have of everie Boat that passis to the drave,
-and slayis herring, ane thousand herring of ilk tak that halds, viz. of
-Lambmes tak, of the Winter tak, and the Lentrone tak”--that is, of the
-summer, winter, and spring fishings. The assize-herrings appear to have
-been originally a contribution to the king’s kitchen. In 1526 James V.
-granted assize-herrings to Stuart of Ardgowane (_Origines Parochiales
-Scotiæ_, ii. 83). In 1593, in an Act of the Parliament of Scotland,
-entitled “Annexatioun of the Propertie of the Croun that wes nocht
-annext of befoir,” the assize-herrings were included (Jac. VI., 1593,
-c. 32. _Acta_, iv. 28), and an Act of 1597, entitled “Assysis hering
-may nocht be disponit,” ordained that no infeftment or alienation in
-few ferm or otherwise, and all rentals and dispositions whatsoever,
-past or to come, were to be null and void, because they pertained to
-the king as part of his customs and annexed property (_Acta_, iv. 131).
-Later the assize-herring was commuted into a money payment. An Act
-of Charles I. in 1641 (cap. 117), entitled “Act anent the Excise of
-Herring,” on the ground that the collection of the herrings was “very
-hard and difficult,” commuted the thousand herrings in the Firth of
-Lothian into a money payment of £6 Scots. In the eighteenth century,
-when it had been for the most part granted to individuals, or farmed,
-it took the form of a tax ranging from £4 Scots to £10 Scots per boat
-or per net, and was felt as a grievous burden. In the Firth of Forth
-each boat that was “size-worthy” (viz., that caught 3000 herrings
-during the whole season) had to pay ten shillings as “size-duty.” On
-the west coast it amounted to £10 Scots, or sixteen shillings and
-eightpence sterling, whether herrings were caught or not. With regard
-to the gross value of the tax, those of the great Dunbar fishings were
-leased in 1614 for five years for £1000 Scots, and a yearly rent of
-2000 merks (_Reg. Privy Council Scot._, x. 282). In 1613 the value of
-the “duty of the tack of the assize-herrings,” amounting to fourteen
-lasts, which the Earl of Argyle rendered for Lochfyne, was estimated to
-be about £36 or £38 sterling (_Melrose Papers_, i. 124). In 1598 the
-assize-herring from the “east seas” was estimated to amount to 1120
-dry “killing” (cod), which shows it was sometimes paid in other fish;
-in 1656-57 it was equal to £130 sterling (Chalmers, _Caledonia_, ii.
-497); in 1629 Captain Mason claimed no less than £12,489, 7s. sterling
-as the value, with interest, of the assize-herrings of the Hebrides and
-North Isles granted to him by James for the years 1610-11, and not paid
-(_State Papers, Dom._, cliv. 13).
-
-[290] Arguments for Collecting the Assyze herring from all Strangers
-fishing in the North Seas of Scotland, and Answers to some objections
-proponet be Sir Noel Caron. _State Papers, Dom._, xxxii. 31.
-
-[291] Winwood, _Memorials_, iii. 105, 135, 146, 162. Muller, _op.
-cit._, 56.
-
-[292] _State Papers, Dom._, xlvii. 111. “2. For that it is by the Lawe
-of nacions, no prince can Challenge further into the Sea then he can
-Com̃and w^{th} a Cannon except Gulfes w^{thin} their Land from one
-point to an other. 3. For that the boundlesse and rowlinge Seas are as
-Com̃on to all people as the ayre w_{ch} no prince can prohibite.” The
-paper is endorsed “Reasons vsed by the Hollanders for the Continuance
-of Fishing Contrarie to the proclamation made in May 1609 forbidding of
-strangers to fish,” and there is a note, apparently in Cæsar’s writing,
-saying, “This note was sent by Emanuell Demetrius who was present att
-the discourse.” It is misdated “Aug. 1609.” The endorsements appear
-to have been made after 1612, because at the end it is said, “It was
-answered by the _late_ Lord Treasr. Salisburie att a hearing,” &c. A
-list is given of those present at the conference--viz., the Earls of
-Salisbury, Northampton, Nottingham, Suffolk, Shrewsbury, and Worcester,
-Mr Secretary Herbert and Sir Julius Cæsar, the “Standers by” being Sir
-T. Edmondes, Sir Daniel Dunn, Sir Christopher Perkins, Sir William
-Wade, and Mr Levinus Emanuell Demetrius,--probably the Levinus Muncke
-of the Dutch and other records. It is to be noted that the argument
-as to the limitation of the territorial sea by the range of guns was
-not contained in the instructions to the Dutch, as printed by Aitzema
-(_Saken van Staet en Oorlogh_, ii. 406) and Vreede (_Vrijheid van
-Haringvaart_, 6; compare Muller, _Mare Clausum_, 58, 91), and is not
-referred to by them in their Journal, where, however, they say they
-put forward “other reasons” than those they recite (Muller, _Mare
-Clausum_, 59). Van Meteren, whose work was published in 1614 (_Historie
-der Nederlandscher ende haerder Naburen Oorlogen, &c._, fol. 650),
-reports, however, that there was a great dispute as to how far a
-country’s limit might extend into the open sea, and the brief note
-of Levinus seems to be the only record of it. (“Sy seyden mede, dat
-het een groote dispute ware, hoeverre elcx Laudts Custen ofte Limiten
-inde groote wijde Zee Oceane mochte strecken.”) The document is of
-interest not only from the clear enunciation of the doctrine at so
-early a period, but because there are grounds for thinking that the
-idea may have originated in the fertile brain of Grotius. Competent
-Dutch authorities believe that Grotius either himself drew up the
-instructions dealing with the fishery question or was consulted in
-their preparation; and the fact that the argument is not contained in
-the official instructions scarcely weakens the supposition. It was of
-so drastic and novel a character to be urged against the pretensions of
-King James that the Dutch, anxious to conciliate him, may have followed
-a practice not uncommon in diplomacy, and kept it in the background
-only to be made use of if a suitable occasion arose. It is, moreover,
-known that Grotius had a close personal relationship with Elias van
-Oldenbarnevelt, the envoy to whom the fishery negotiations were
-specially entrusted.
-
-[293] Vreede, _Vrijheid van Haringvaart en Visscherij_. _Nota, in den
-Jare 1610, door de Nederlandsche Gezanten aan de Engelsche Regering
-ingediend (Bijdragen voor Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde,
-Derde Deel._ Arnhem, 1842). Muller, _op. cit._, 57; _State Papers,
-Dom._, xlvii. 111; _Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 362. Vreede
-thinks it probable that the instructions were drawn up by Grotius;
-Muller believes that he was at all events consulted on the matter.
-
-[294] _State Papers, Dom._, xlvii. 111. Vreede, _op. cit._ Muller,
-_op. cit. Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 362. “Answers for
-prohibiting of strangers fishing upon the English coastes without the
-King’s license, 5th May 1610”--in the writing of Sir Julius Cæsar.
-
-[295] “Niet door sollicitatiën van eenige courtisanen ofte hovelingen.”
-
-[296] The Lords of the Council to Winwood, _Memorials_, iii. 166.
-
-[297] _State Papers, Dom._, xlviii. 92.
-
-[298] Sir Walter Cope to the king, _State Papers, Dom._, lxxi. 89. See
-note, p. 128.
-
-[299] _The Maintenance of Free Trade_, 42 (1622). He mentions the
-reasons given by the powerful companies for their action, but it was
-caused by their fears for their monopolies.
-
-[300] _State Papers, Dom._, lxxvii. 79. The Earl of Northampton to Sir
-Thomas Lake, 4th July 1613. _Ibid._, lxxiv. 23. The queen, who was
-fond of the banquet and the masque, was often in financial straits.
-Chamberlain wrote to Winwood in 1609 that she had been melancholy about
-her jointure, and that £3000 a-year had been added to it out of the
-customs, with a gift of £20,000 to pay her debts. _Memorials_, iii. 117.
-
-[301] Gentleman, _Englands Way to Win Wealth, &c._; E. S., _Britaines
-Buss; The Trades Increase_.
-
-[302] In 1609 Sir Nicholas Hales told the king that he had been
-informed “the Hollanders were petitioners to the Queen to grant them a
-term of years in the seas for the fishing of herring, cod, and ling.”
-_State Papers, Dom._, xlv. 23.
-
-[303] Wotton to Sec. Winwood, Hague, 20th March 1614.
-
-[304] Archbishop Abbot and Lord Chancellor Ellesmere to Thomas Wilson,
-24th August 1614. _State Papers, Dom._, lxxvii. 80. It is endorsed,
-“The letter to me, 24th Aug. 1614, sending for me from Harford and
-for the transcribing an abstract of all things out of my papers which
-might concern his Majesty’s jurisdiction on the sea, which I did
-and delivered it to Mr Attorney-General, Sir Francis Bacon, by the
-commandment of the Lord Chancellor and the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
-
-[305] Caron to States-General, 27 Aug./6 Sept. 1614. _Brit. Mus. Add.
-MSS._, 17, 677, H.
-
-[306] Muller, _op. cit._, 91, 92.
-
-[307] 26th September 1614.
-
-[308] _Records of the Convention of the Royal Burghs of Scotland_, ii.
-455. Anstruther Easter, one of the Fife villages, asked that the costs
-(£400 Scots) should be reimbursed to them for obtaining the decree
-against Mason “for exacting of thame certane excyse hering and fishes
-at the fishing in Orknay and Zetland.”
-
-[309] _State Papers and Correspondence of Thomas, Earl of Melros_, i.
-130.
-
-[310] _Reg. Privy Council Scot._, x. 231. _Rec. Convent. Roy. Burghs
-Scot._, ii. 540.
-
-[311] The Lords of the Council to the king, 17th May 1614. _Melrose
-Papers_, i. 130. “It wes fundin,” wrote the Lords, “by vniforme
-voices and consent, without ony kynd of contradictioun, that the
-assise dewytie aucht onlie to be payit for the hering brought freshe
-and greene to land, and that the hering whilkis ar maid, saltit, and
-barrellit vpoun the sea, and maid reddye for the transporte, hes nevir
-bene in vse to pay ony dewytie.”
-
-[312] _Loc. cit._ The “patent” was the treaty of 1594. See p. 81.
-It may be mentioned that Mason, in his petition to Charles I. (see
-p. 153 _note_), stated that in 1611 he collected “some part” of the
-assize-herrings, but that upon the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth
-(February 1613) “the States ambassador made suit to the king for the
-remission of the said assize-herrings due by their nation, which
-was granted.” We have discovered no other evidence of this. Loose
-statements were often made on the subject by English writers and
-certain foreign authors, as Rapin (_Hist, d’Anglet._, vii. 58), and
-Wagenaar (_Vaderl. Hist._, ix. 318) following him, that the Dutch
-agreed to pay an annual sum for liberty to fish on the British coasts.
-The error was elaborated by others, as by Lediard in his great work
-(_Naval History of England_, i. 420), who says: “In the year 1608
-(_sic_) King James published a proclamation prohibiting all foreign
-nations to fish on the coast of Great Britain. This prohibition, though
-general, was designed against the Dutch; and it occasioned the Treaty
-the year following whereby they engaged to pay an annual sum for leave
-to fish--an evident acknowledgment of the English Dominion of the Seas.”
-
-[313] _Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs Scot._, ii. 323, 350, 354, 374.
-
-[314] Winwood to Carleton, 14/24 September 1616. _Letters from and to
-Sir Dudley Carleton, Knt., during his Embassy in Holland; from January
-1615/6 to December 1620_, p. 52.
-
-[315] Caron to the States-General, 25 Aug./4 Sept. 1616. _Brit. Mus.
-Add. MSS._, 17,677, J, fol. 152. In an account of the oppressions of
-Lord Robert Stewart in the Orkneys and Shetlands in the sixteenth
-century, it is stated that that nobleman laid heavy tolls upon the
-Dutch fishermen and the Norwegian traders. In 1575 the inhabitants
-complained that he compelled “the dogger boats and other fishers of
-this realm to pay to him great toll and taxis bye auld use and wont,
-to wit, ilk boat ane angel noble, ane hundreth fish, and twa bolls
-salt” (_Oppressions of the Sixteenth Century in the Islands of Orkney
-and Zetland_, xlviii. 4). It appears from a complaint of merchants of
-Bremen, in 1614, that it had been a custom “past memory of man” for
-each ship arriving at the Orkneys to pay six angels and one dollar for
-ground-leave and water-leave (_Reg. Privy Counc. Scot._, x. 247); and
-the Dutch are said to have given to the agent of the Earl of Orkney a
-barrel of salt for his “oversight” of each ship, and to have offered
-the Earl for each ship “an angell and ane barrell of birskate (biscuit)
-bread,” while he demanded “no less than ane double angell or ane Rose
-noble at the least” (_MSS. Advoc. Lib._, 31. 2. 16).
-
-[316] See p. 81. The treaty did not contain any stipulation of the
-kind; and, moreover, the Scottish copy was then amissing.
-
-[317] Muller, _Mare Clausum_, 107. _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, J,
-fol. 153 _et seq. Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 410. _Reg. Privy Counc.
-Scot._, xi. 605, 608.
-
-[318] By the Scots Act, 1 James I., May 1424, regarding the “custome
-of horse, nolt, scheepe, had furth of the realm, and of herring,” it
-was ordained that the following should be paid: “of ilk thousand of
-fresche herring sauld, of the Sellar one penny, and of ilk last of
-herring, tane be Scottis-men barrelled, foure schillinges, of ilk last
-be strangeris taken, sexe schillinges.”
-
-[319] Caron to the States-General, 25 Aug./4 Sept., 12/22 Sept.,
-19/29 Sept. 1616. _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, J, fol. 152-166.
-The statement of Lennox that the tax was a barrel of herrings or ten
-shillings agrees with the statements of the Dutch skippers, who,
-however, added twelve cod-fish (“Een tonne harinck van elcke bu sse oft
-een Angelott daervooren met twelff cabillauwen”).
-
-[320] Carleton, _Letters_, 156, 157. Muller, _op. cit._, 110. _Brit.
-Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, J, fol. 213_b_. _Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol.
-410. _State Papers, Dom._ Collection, Charles II., vol. 339.
-
-[321] Carleton, _Letters_, 156. Caron to the States-General, 3/13 Aug.
-1617; Carleton to the States-General, 27 Aug./6 Sept. _Brit. Mus. Add.
-MSS._, 17,677, J, fol. 210, 213. _State Papers, Dom._ Collection,
-Charles II., vol. 339.
-
-[322] Carleton, _Letters_, 168, 169, 172, 176, 186. Muller, _op. cit._,
-111.
-
-[323] _Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 398, 400. “The State of
-the Case between his Majesty and the States of the United Provinces,
-touching the remanding to his Majesty of a Delinquent,” 19th November
-1617. In Cæsar’s handwriting. It describes the circumstances of Brown’s
-capture. The counsel whose opinion was obtained were “W. Byrde (? Sir
-Wm. Bird, Dean of the Arches), H. Marten, and Hy. Styward.” “Brown,
-his Majesty’s subject of the Kingdom of Scotland, was by authority
-from that State sent in a pinnace of the King to the subjects of the
-United Provinces, who were then fishing for herrings upon the coasts of
-Scotland, to demand a certain acknowledgment claimed by his Majesty,
-as due unto him in the right of that crown;” that “while delivering
-his errand he was arrested and carried prisoner to Holland by the
-Dutch commander, who pretended he had warrant and commission from the
-Lords the States so to do; that his Majesty (having represented this
-indignity by his ambassador there to the Lords the States, the latter
-disavowed the act of the captain) requireth the offender there, to be
-remanded unto himself here to receive as to justice shall appertain.
-_The Question_--Whether this offender ought to be sent herein to
-his Majesty as is required. _Answer_--There are good authorities
-that if a subject of one State commit a heinous crime within the
-territory of another State (though against a private person), the
-subject so offending ought to be remitted to the place where the crime
-was committed, if it be required.” There were also opinions to the
-contrary, but “two very particular circumstances about this offence
-seem necessarily to enforce the remission of the Dutch captain to his
-Majesty (1) taken from the person of Brown, who was a public messenger
-sent by the State of Scotland on the affairs of the Prince, and ought
-to have been inviolable by the Law of Nations, and therefore a wrong
-and abuse done to him was _contra jus gentium_; (2) taken from the
-manner of the wrong done, which was _nomine publico_--viz., by a
-pretended commission from the Lords the States.”
-
-[324] Carleton, _Letters_, 219-263. Muller, _op. cit._, 113.
-
-[325] Crail, Anstruther, and Pittenweem, in Fife, and Musselburgh and
-Fisherrow, on the opposite side of the Firth of Forth.
-
-[326] 12th March 1618. _Reg. Privy Counc. Scot._, xi. 329.
-
-[327] Record imperfect.
-
-[328] _Reg. Privy Counc. Scot._, xi. 328, 330.
-
-[329] Carleton, _Letters_, 259.
-
-[330] King James to Sir D. Carleton, 4th May 1618. “For the other
-part, which is y^e ancient custom alleadged by O^r Subjects that they
-(the Dutch) should not fish within Kenning of Land, of which they
-make shew to be ignorant, and would understand what is meant by it:
-you may say that O^r Subjects do conceave that Custom to be that no
-strangers should fish either within the Creeks of O^r Land or within
-a Kenning of the Land as Seamen do take a kenning, and insisting
-upon this interpretation of O^r Subjects’ meaning, you shall observe
-curiously their reply, and what scope and liberty they do limit to
-themselves in their fishing, and whether they understand that they may
-fish where they list, near or far off, or that they may be confined
-to any reasonable bounds, for thereupon will depend a great part of
-that resolution which may be taken hereafter in a matter of so great
-moment as this is, and the answer you shall receive you may either
-advertise by writing, or bring with you, as you shall find O^r service
-to require.” _State Papers, Dom._ Collections, Chas. II., vol. 339.
-In a later communication to the States-General Carleton described the
-land-kenning thus: “Ce qui est une limite bien entendue par gens de
-Marine, et appellée en ces quartiers là _The Kenning of the Land_, et
-icy _de kennis vant landt_.” Dr P. P. C. Hoek informs me that “het land
-verkennen” is even now the technical Dutch expression when a sailor
-comes near the coast without knowing at what point he approaches it.
-
-[331] Muller, _Mare Clausum_, 114.
-
-[332] “Ane True Relatione of the Greifs and Wrangs qlks the Inhabitants
-of the Isles of Orknay and Schetland and Others his Ma^{ties} Subjects
-Fishars within ye Kingdome of Scotland sustains be the Hollanders
-and Hamburghgers and wha within these few Zears are associat to the
-Hollanders in the Fishing within his Ma^{ties} Seas in Scotland.” _MSS.
-Advoc._, 31. 2. 16. It may be noted that the custom referred to in the
-last paragraph was of Scandinavian origin.
-
-[333] The Council to the king, 4th April 1618. _Melrose Papers_, i.
-306, 307.
-
-[334] 5th June 1618, _Groot Placaet-Boeck, inhoudende de Placaten
-ende Ordonnantien van de H.M. Heeren Staten Generael der Vereenighde
-Nederlanden, &c._, i. 707. In Fraser’s _Memorials of the Earls of
-Haddington_ (ii. 66) there is printed the copy which King James sent to
-Lord Binning. Sir Thomas Hamilton became Lord Binning in 1613, the Earl
-of Melrose in 1619, and the Earl of Haddington in 1627.
-
-[335] Answer by the States-General of the United Provinces to the
-Propositions of the Ambassador of James VI. relative to the Herring
-Fishery on the Coast of Scotland, 5th June 1618. Fraser, _Memorials_,
-ii. 65. _Resol., St.-Gen._, 5th, 6th June. Muller, _op. cit._, 115.
-
-[336] The king to Lord Binning, 11th June 1618. Fraser, _Memorials_,
-ii. 85. Nothing seemed to be known of this treaty. James complained
-that the States were not explicit. “This pointe” about the treaty, he
-wrote, “they leave obscure, seeing they neyther expresse which of our
-predecessouris it was, neyther whether he were our predecessour in
-Scotlande or Englande.”
-
-[337] Carleton to Naunton, 19th August 1618.
-
-[338] The king to the Privy Council, 29th August 1618. _Reg. Privy
-Counc. Scot._, xi. 440.
-
-[339] P. 131.
-
-[340] Hakluyt’s _Voyages_, i. 246.
-
-[341] M’Pherson, _Annals of Commerce_, ii. 213.
-
-[342] Muller, _op. cit._, 118. In a memorandum drawn up by Sir John
-Coke in 1625, the Dutch are said to have first “intruded” in 1613.
-_State Papers, Dom._, Chas. I., dxxii. 136. See also _Brit. Mus.
-Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 387 _et seq._
-
-[343] Earl of Northampton to King James, August 2, 1612. _State Papers,
-Dom._, lxx. 23.
-
-[344] Chamberlain to Carleton, 27th October 1613. _Ibid._, lxxiv. 89.
-M’Pherson, _Annals_, ii. 273.
-
-[345] M’Pherson, _Annals_, ii. 274. Winwood, _Memorials_, iii. 480.
-M’Pherson speaks of fifteen Dutch, French, and Biscay whalers and four
-English “interlopers.” Muller (_Mare Clausum_, 120), quoting from a
-contemporary Dutch account, mentions three Biscayers, three Spaniards,
-two French, one Dunkirker, and two Hollanders. Both the Spanish and
-French Governments protested against the action of the English vessels.
-Digby wrote from Madrid (4th September 1613) that the English merchants
-at St Sebastian were threatened in person and goods on the return of
-the Spanish ships which had been prevented from fishing at “Greenland,”
-and they were forced to remain indoors.
-
-[346] A Trew Declaracion of the Discoverie of the mayne Landes,
-Islandes, Seas, Ports, Havens, and Creekes, lyenge in the North-West,
-North, and North-East partes of the World, _State Papers, Dom._, lxxvi.
-51. Muller, _op. cit._, 121, 123. Carleton, _Letters_, 7.
-
-[347] _Groot Placaet-Boeck_, i. 670. Aitzema, _Saken van Staet en
-Oorlogh_, ii. 336. _State Papers, Dom._, xcix. 36.
-
-[348] _Ibid._, xcix. 36-41. M’Pherson, _Annals_, ii. 287. Muller, _op.
-cit._, 131.
-
-[349] Carleton, _Letters_, 312.
-
-[350] They were Johan van Goch, Ewout van der Dussen for Gelderland and
-Holland, and Joachim Liens for Zealand. Holland had at first intended
-to send Grotius. _Ibid._, 306.
-
-[351] Among the Cæsar papers in the British Museum (_Lansd. MSS._, 142,
-fol. 383) there is one dated 23rd December 1618, containing extracts
-“noted out of a book called _Mare Liberum sive de Jure quod Batavia,
-&c._, Lugd. Bat., 1609,” together with notes from Welwood’s _De Dominio
-Maris_, answering the assertions in that book. It was doubtless a
-memorandum to be used in the conferences with the Dutch ambassadors;
-and on the back of it are scrawled jottings difficult to decipher,
-headed, “The Kinges Speeche touching the Dutchemen’s fishing upon the
-coasts of Great Britain and Ireland,” to the following effect: “1. The
-treaty never so opportune as now when they fearest it most and their
-State least settled; in ill terms with France and Spain. 2. In the East
-Indies we can match them, and so in the north voyage (Greenland ?). The
-French King taketh part with Barnevelt. The King of Spain prepareth
-against Venice. What the King of Denmark, the Princes of the Union,
-the ... and the rest of the Protestants think of any falling out with
-the Low Countries.” It may be noted that this memorandum contains no
-reference to Selden’s _Mare Clausum_, which the author stated was
-submitted to the king this year (see p. 366).
-
-[352] The king to the Council, 7th November 1618. _Reg. Privy Counc.
-Scot._, xi. 631.
-
-[353] _Reg. Privy Counc. Scot._, xi. 462.
-
-[354] Lord Binning to the king, 27th November 1618. _Melrose Papers_,
-ii. 631. The statement was to the same effect as that previously
-referred to. A Mr Bruce of Shetland stated that while of old the
-Hollanders used to carry on the greater part of their fishery forty
-miles and more from the land, yet they came usually within fourteen
-miles before shooting their nets; that in the time of the late Earl of
-Orkney they came still nearer, within six or seven miles; while now
-they came so close that their nets were sometimes torn on the rocks.
-Sir Gideon Murray to Lord Binning, 26th November 1618. _MSS. Advoc._,
-31. 2. 16.
-
-[355] Earl of Dunfermline to Lord Binning, 27th November 1618. _MSS.
-Ibid._ “Concerning the Hollanders fishing in our seas,” he said, “for
-all the search and tryall I have made, whilk has been my uttermost, I
-can wryte or send to you little more nor before, in effect nothing.”
-The Constable of Dundee searched all his records, the records of the
-Admiralty were explored, and all those in Edinburgh Castle and in the
-city archives, as well as many in the keeping of private persons, and
-every one likely to know anything about the matter was communicated
-with; but “nothing to the purpose” was found, “nor no recorde of any
-wryte made for the Hollanders’ use in 1594 or any other time.” The
-“wryte” of 1594, it is to be remembered, was a long treaty made by
-James himself. Copies were ultimately discovered of the treaties of
-1531 and 1541, but nothing to the point. Copies of the treaty and of
-other documents referring to it were obtained, apparently from Holland,
-in 1619, and were ordered to be preserved in his Majesty’s Register
-in Edinburgh Castle (_Reg. Privy Counc. Scot._, xii. 22); but in 1630
-and 1631, when they were again wanted, they could not be found. _State
-Papers, Dom._, Chas. I., ccvi. 46.
-
-[356] This referred to the licenses to certain French boats to fish on
-the Sowe in the Channel. See p. 65.
-
-[357] “Zijne ma^t was een coninck van de grootste insulen van de werelt
-ende seer wel wiste het rechte dat hij hadde opte custen van sijne drij
-coninckrijcken.” Commissioners to States-General, (24 Dec. 1618)/(3
-Jan. 1619). _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, J, fol. 372.
-
-[358] Note of Treatie with the Commissioners of the Estates annent the
-Fishing. Dec. 1618. _MSS. Advoc._, 31. 2. 16.
-
-[359] Naunton to Carleton, 21st December 1618.
-
-[360] In apprehending Brown, p. 171. Grotius was then in prison, and
-known to be the author of _Mare Liberum_.
-
-[361] _State Papers, Dom._, xc. 65.
-
-[362] The Dutch Commissioners to the States-General, (29 Nov.,)/(9
-Dec.,) 17/27 Dec. 1618; (24 Dec. 1618,)/(3 Jan. 1619), 3/13 Jan., (23
-Jan.)/(2 Feb.) 1619. _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, J, fol. 364, 367,
-370, 374, 380. Muller, _op. cit._, 140, 147, 148, 153. Aitzema, _Saken
-van Staet_, ii. 402. Carleton, _Letters_, 326. _MSS. Advoc._, 31. 2.
-16. _State Papers, Dom._ Collection, Chas. II., vol. 339, p. 351, 361,
-369, &c.
-
-[363] The Dutch Commissioners to the States-General, (30 Jan.)/(9 Feb.)
-1619. _Ibid._, 387. Naunton to Carleton, 21st January 1619. Carleton,
-_Letters_. Justice, _A General Treatise of the Dominion and Laws of the
-Sea_, 179. The States were desired “to cause proclamation to be made,
-prohibiting any of their subjects to fish within fourteen miles of
-his Majesty’s coasts this year, or in any time hereafter, until order
-be taken by commissioners to be authorised on both sides, for a final
-settling of the main business.”
-
-[364] P. 223.
-
-[365] Carleton to the king, 6th February 1619.
-
-[366] Muller, _op. cit._, 156. “So verre van ’t Lant souden blijven als
-men met oogen konde afsien.”
-
-[367] 2nd June 1619. Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, V. ii. 333.
-
-[368] The English, who were the first to carry on the whale-fishing at
-Spitzbergen, had taken possession of the best fishing-places: whales
-then abounded in the bays close to the shore, where the “cookeries”
-were erected.
-
-[369] Muller, _op. cit._, 160. _State Papers, Dom._, cv. 9. The Muscovy
-Company, now supported by the East India Company, fitted out nine ships
-and two pinnaces for the Spitzbergen fishery in 1619, but the voyage
-was unfortunate. After carrying on the fishing for a few years longer
-the company abandoned it, though it was carried on on a small scale
-by other English vessels, mostly from Hull. The Dutch, on the other
-hand, prosecuted the fishing with great vigour and success under the
-protection of men-of-war, and they rapidly made it one of the most
-profitable industries of the Low Countries. A full account is given by
-Zorgdrager, an old whaling captain, who wrote in the early part of the
-eighteenth century (_Bloeijende opkomst der aloude en hedendaagsche
-Groenlandsche Visscherij_). The Dutch factory on Amsterdam island grew
-to a village called Smeerenburg or Oil-town, which was fortified in
-1636. In those early years the whales were taken by the ships’ boats,
-which lay moored in the bays; later, as the whales got scarce, they
-were flensed at sea and the blubber carried home. This was the case
-before F. Martens visited the island in 1671.
-
-[370] The king to the Privy Council of Scotland, 16th June 1619. _Reg.
-Privy Counc. Scot._, xi. 607.
-
-[371] Since the records of the Scottish Council are silent as to the
-steps taken to collect the assize-herrings in 1616 and 1617 and the
-capture of John Brown in the latter year, while the Dutch and English
-records are equally mute as to the proceedings in 1618 and 1619, it at
-first appeared that a mistake might have been made in the dates of the
-former, a view that seemed to be supported by the remark in the first
-letter of the king to the Council, “to the intent that the Estaitis
-may not alledge that no suche dewteis had bene demandit”--a curious
-statement in face of the fact that Brown had been carried to Holland
-the year before. But the late Professor Masson, who was the editor
-of the _Register of the Privy Council_, obligingly informed me that
-the documents are the original _Acta_ and not copies; and among the
-English State Papers is a letter dated from Holyrood House, on 10th
-July 1619, in which it is stated that Captain Murray had been sent to
-claim the assize-herrings from the “Flemings” fishing in the northern
-seas, and that he was well equipped to secure his safety if his demands
-were refused (Raith to Abercromby, _State Papers, Dom._, cix. 127).
-The phrase in the king’s letter may be explained by the fact that the
-duty in 1616 and 1617 was demanded by the Duke of Lennox, to whom the
-assize-herrings had been granted.
-
-[372] _Reg. Privy Counc. Scot._, xi. 605, 608.
-
-[373] See Appendix G. Fenton was one of those who were on intimate
-terms with Ben Jonson during the poet’s visit to Scotland. _Reg. Privy
-Counc. Scot._, xi. p. clxvii.
-
-[374] _Op. cit._, 606.
-
-[375] _Op. cit._, 593, 603.
-
-[376] Footnote, p. 195.
-
-[377] Carleton, _Letters_, 437, 447, 448, 451. Bosgoed, _Bib. Pisc._,
-352. The sum voted in 1620 was 22,000 gulden; in the following years it
-varied between 23,000 and 36,000 gulden.
-
-[378] Muller, _op. cit._, 172, 173. Aitzema, _Saken van Staet_, i. 13,
-17.
-
-[379] Muller, _op. cit._, 174, 178.
-
-[380] “Ghy sijt sangsues, bloetsuygers van mijn rijck, ghy treckt het
-bloet van mijne Ondersaeten ende souckt mij te ruineren.”
-
-[381] Muller, _op. cit._, 191, 194, 203. Aitzema, i. 191, 193.
-Journal van de Ambassade van den Heere van Sommelsdyck naer Engelant,
-1621-1623, _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 22,866.
-
-[382] 2/12 May 1620. Verboth van Haringh binnen de Klippen van
-Yerlandt, Hitlandt, oft Noorwegen te vangen. _Groot Placaet-Boeck_, i.
-752.
-
-[383] 2/12 June 1623, _Groot Placaet-Boeck_, i. 708. Muller, _op.
-cit._, 206.
-
-[384] _Rec. Convent. Roy. Burghs_, iii. 142. _Reg. Privy Counc. Scot._,
-xiii. 308, 317.
-
-[385] George Lord Carew to the Secretary of State, Calvert, 8th March
-1623. _State Papers, Dom._, cxxxix. 66. The Lord Mayor to Lords
-Grandison, Carew, and Chichester, 27th March, 3rd April 1623. _Ibid._,
-cxl. 47, cxlii. 21.
-
-[386] A Project for the Encouragement of Fishing by passing an Act of
-Parliament for Building fishing-vessels, to be protected by a Fleet
-Royall of 20 ships, the expense to be defrayed by a Tribute of every
-Tenth Fish. _Ibid._, clvii. 46.
-
-[387] A Discourse of the Invention of Ships. _Collected Works_, viii.
-326.
-
-[388] Naval Tracts, in Churchill’s _Collection of Voyages_, iii. 220,
-224.
-
-[389] Cecil to Parry, 10th June 1603. _Foreign Papers, France_, vol.
-129. It is endorsed “Souverainty of ye Seas, 1603. Monsr. de Vicque
-beares ye armes of france in Dover road.” See also Sully, _Memoires des
-Sages et royales Oeconomics d’Estat_, ii. 173, and Kermaingant, _Le
-Droit des Gens Maritimes_, 3.
-
-[390] Monson’s Naval Tracts, _ibid._, 222. The Spaniards to whom Monson
-refers were no doubt the troops which Don Louis Fajardo had attempted
-to carry to Flanders when he was attacked by the Dutch and took refuge
-in Dover. Monson, it may be said, was in receipt of a secret pension of
-£350 per annum from Spain. Gardiner, _Hist._, i. 215.
-
-[391] Loccenius, _De Jure Maritimo et Navali_, 48.
-
-[392] Thus in the Earl of Warwick’s voyage, in 1627, four vessels
-“stood with their forefoot and very earnestly” tried to weather the
-king’s ships off Falmouth, among them being a French man-of-war. The
-English then shot at the latter, and “soo brought him by ye lee”
-(_State Papers, Dom._, lxxix. 17). In 1637 Captain Straddling explained
-how he compelled Dutch vessels to take in their flags, lower their
-top-sails, and “lie by the lee” (_Ibid._, ccclxi. 41). In the historic
-encounters with the Dutch in 1652 the same rule was shown. When Captain
-Young met the Dutchmen on 12th May (see p. 402), their admiral came
-under his lee and took down his flag, but their vice-admiral, “contrary
-to navigation with us in the narrow seas, came to the windward of us”
-(_French Occurrences, Brit. Mus._, E, 665, 6). So also when Blake met
-Tromp, he “fired two shots thwart Tromp’s forefoot for him to strike
-his flag and bear down to leeward, and he taking no notice of it, the
-general ordered the third shot at Tromp’s flag, which went through his
-main top-sails” (_Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 11,684, fol. 5_b_).
-
-[393] The Lords of the Admiralty to Plumleigh. _State Papers, Dom._,
-clvii. fol. 121.
-
-[394] Meadows, _Observations concerning the Dominion and Sovereignty of
-the Seas_, 2.
-
-[395] _State Papers, Dom._, Chas. I. ccxxix. 79.
-
-[396] 17th October 1632. _The Earl of Stirling’s Register of Royal
-Letters_, ii. 627.
-
-[397] _State Papers, Dom._, cxcix. 51.
-
-[398] _State Papers, Dom._, cc. 5.
-
-[399] _Ibid._, ccviii. 27.
-
-[400] _State Papers, Dom._, dxxiii. 74, dxxix. 73. The proposal to
-utilise the tenth herring for maintaining a navy had been long before
-put forward by Dr Dee. See p. 101.
-
-[401] The other half were exported as red-herrings.
-
-[402] _State Papers, Dom._, 1629, clii. 57.
-
-[403] Mason, who was intimately associated with the fishery scheme,
-proposed that the island should be purchased by a company of
-naturalised Scotsmen, and fishing stations established; and later he
-recommended the purchase of the island by the king, leaving complete
-freedom of fishery to all Scotsmen. Sir William Monson urged that a
-“government” should be established in the island as well as in Orkney
-and Shetland, and also a principal town; and that the children of the
-islanders should be taught English, and “correspondence” between the
-inhabitants and the Highlanders hindered, “considering the danger of
-their too great friendship.” _State Papers, Dom._, 1629, clii. 66, 67,
-68. The subject of the Earl of Seaforth’s lease and the fishings is
-dealt with by Mackenzie, _History of the Outer Hebrides_, 290 _et seq._
-
-[404] _State Papers, Dom._, clii. 63, 71; clxxx. 97. Dymes’ report is
-printed in full by Mackenzie (_op. cit._, 591). The master of one of
-the Dutch busses, who transported Dymes from Lewis to the mainland,
-told him that the herrings were in such great abundance that they were
-sometimes constrained to cast them into the sea again, they having more
-in half their nets than they were able to save, “and he was of opinion
-that if there had bene a thousand Busses more there was fish enough for
-them all.”
-
-[405] _Rec. Convent. Roy. Burghs Scot._, iii. 257, 259, 291. The
-arguments against the Dutch were elaborated in a long document, which
-concluded thus: “Lastly, theis Netherlanders greatnes, strength,
-wealth, arts, and every happines doe originally proceede from their
-fishing in his Majesty’s seas of England, Scotland, and Ireland.”
-
-[406] P. 77.
-
-[407] _State Papers, Dom._, clii. 63; clxv. 201; clxxx. 100. _Rec.
-Conv. Roy. Burghs_, iii. 300 _et seq._
-
-[408] _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 220_b_. Captain John Mason, who was
-afterwards appointed “Admiral” of the busses belonging to the society,
-was apparently originally intended to lay the matter before the
-Council. The draft, in Coke’s handwriting, is entitled, “Instructions
-for Captain John Mason employed by his Majesty to treat with the Lordes
-of the Privie Council of Scotland about the erection of a general
-fishing,” and is among the _State Papers, Dom._, clxxx. 101.
-
-[409] _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 221. This ambitious scheme included the
-building of 200 busses of from 30 to 50 tons each, “for a considerable
-beginning,” besides the employment of the fishing vessels already
-engaged on the coast which were of suitable size. These were computed
-to number about 100 in Scotland and 200 in England (employed at
-Newfoundland and the north seas), while at least 300 “coasters”
-from Berwick to the Thames might also be made available; and it was
-suggested that more might be built by the company “in every town,” or
-bought from the Dutch. It was estimated that the cost of building and
-equipping the 200 busses, including casks, salt, wages, &c., would be
-£222,586, and that the total return the first year would amount to
-£388,000, made up as follows: (1) summer herring fishing, 20,000 lasts
-at £10, equal to £200,000; (2) winter herring fishing, 12,000 lasts at
-£12, equal to £144,000; (3) cod and ling fishing in spring, 1,200,000
-fish at £30 a thousand, and 600 tuns of oil at £13, 6s. 8d., equal to
-£44,000. Several calculations were made about this time as to the cost
-of equipping herring-busses, the profits to be derived from their use,
-and the loss to the realm by the transport of cured fish by the Dutch;
-Monson put the latter loss at £621,750 per annum. _State Papers, Dom._,
-clii. 70, clxxx. 99, ccvi. 52; _MSS. Advoc. Lib._, 31. 2. 16; _Brit.
-Mus. Sloane MSS._, 26. The latter is a “Discourse on the Hollanders’
-Trade of Fishing,” by Sir Robert Mansel, of the usual type.
-
-[410] _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 225. The committee consisted of fifteen
-peers, several bishops, and a large number of commoners. Mason, who
-had accompanied Sir William Alexander to Scotland, reported to Coke
-that the Council gathered in the Lord Chancellor’s chamber, “he lying
-sick of the gout,” to hear the king’s letter read, and that Mr John Hay
-“violently opposed” the scheme and attacked the Earl of Seaforth for
-bringing in the Hollanders. _State Papers, Dom._, clxxii. 19.
-
-[411] At this time the herring-fishing on the west coast of Scotland,
-which began on 1st July and continued till Christmas, employed from
-800 to 1500 fishing-boats of from 5 to 6 tons each, besides about
-200 “cooper” boats of about 12 tons, which carried casks and salt
-and brought back cured herrings to the burghs: about 6000 “seamen”
-were employed in this industry. The herring-fishing on the east coast
-was for the most part carried on at Dunbar--as many as 20,000 people
-sometimes congregating there--and in the deep water where the Dutch
-fished in July, August, and September. There was also an important
-winter fishing for herrings in the Firth of Forth in November, and
-at the North Isles from 1st October till Christmas. The “keeling” or
-cod-fishing at the mouth of the Clyde in February, March, and April
-employed about 120 of the largest boats; on the east coast this method
-of fishing was carried on from 1st April till 24th June.
-
-[412] _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 226. _Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs_, iii. 322,
-323. The Earl of Seaforth, writing to the Earl of Carlisle on August
-17th, said that the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Treasurer had left no
-argument unuttered which might induce their countrymen, and especially
-the burghs, to concur in the king’s desire about the fishing. The
-burghs would not admit any association either with countrymen or
-strangers; “they like not,” he said, “that noblemen or gentry should
-understand matters of industry,” and they would do what they could to
-move the king to delay. _State Papers, Dom._, clxxii. 78. In another
-account of the proceedings of the Convention, it is said the burghs
-claimed as “absolutely theirs” the fishing within bays and lochs, and
-at sea for a distance of “two kennings” from the shore, and stated
-that they would admit no partners, either natives or strangers; that
-buss-fishing was distinguished by them to be “without two kennings from
-the land”; and they would not “on any condition” allow any busses to
-participate in the “land fishing” within two kennings, or to land at
-all, but only to “make” their fish (cure them) on shipboard, as the
-“Flemings” did. It is added that those who would have hazarded some
-means in the project were “absolutely discouraged” by the attitude of
-the burghs. _Ibid._, ccvi. 45.
-
-[413] _Acta Parl. Scot._, iv. 369. _Statutes of the Realm_, 1 Jac. I.,
-c. 2. _Reg. Privy Counc. Scot._, vi. _Nat. MSS. of Scot._, iii. No.
-85. _State Papers, Dom._, 1604, x. No. 1. It is unfortunate that the
-reasonable delimitation of the territorial fishing waters proposed in
-the treaty was not carried out, for there can be little doubt that had
-it been it would have become recognised by other nations, and would
-have continued to the present day.
-
-[414] _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 228, 230. _The Earl of Stirling’s Register
-of Royal Letters_, ii. 478.
-
-[415] The commissioners were the Earl of Morton (Lord High Treasurer),
-the Earl of Monteith (President of the Privy Council), the Marquis of
-Hamilton, the Earls of Roxburgh and Carrick, Sir William Alexander, Mr
-John Hay, and Mr George Fletcher.
-
-[416] Among other things, the commissioners were instructed to
-represent to the king the prejudice which Scotland sustained by the use
-of the name “Great Britain” in the royal patents, writs, and records
-relating to Scotland, for, they reminded him, “there was no union
-as yet with England”; and Charles was to be requested to renew his
-seals under the terms _Carolus Dei gratia Scotiæ, Angliæ, Franciæ, et
-Hiberniæ Rex_. It must be remembered that at this time the Scottish
-aristocracy were smarting under the defeat which the king had recently
-inflicted on them in connection with the Act of Revocation, by which
-most of the church, property in the hands of laymen was re-annexed to
-the crown.
-
-[417] _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 232.
-
-[418] _Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs_, iii. 325. The foreigners from Hamburg
-and Bremen were chiefly engaged in trade and barter.
-
-[419] _Fœdera_, xix. 211. _State Papers, Dom._, clxxxvii. 46. The
-commission was dated 8th December 1630, and the other commissioners
-were the Earls of Salisbury, Dorset, and Carlisle, Viscounts Wimbledon
-and Wentworth, Sir John Coke, Sir Francis Cottingham, and Sir William
-Alexander, who was Secretary for Scotland.
-
-[420] _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 235. _Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs_, iv. 526.
-_State Papers, Dom._, clxxxviii. 72. In the record of the burghs
-the distance from the shore on the east coast, at the Orkneys and
-Shetlands, and on the north coast, is given as forty miles; but as the
-original records of the Convention between 1631 and 1649 were lost, and
-that printed is from an abstract prepared in 1700, it appears that an
-error was made in the transcribing.
-
-[421] The Duke of Lennox had some time before this proposed the
-formation of a fishery society for the purpose.
-
-[422] _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 236. The Act referred to was passed in
-1607 by the Scottish Parliament, but it was to be inoperative until a
-corresponding Act was passed by the Parliament of England, which was
-not done.
-
-[423] _State Papers, Dom._, cxci. 7. Memorandum, dated 11th May 1631,
-by Secretary Coke, on “Matters in difference betwixt the English
-and Scottish Commissioners concerning the fishing.” From this paper
-it appears that the Scottish commissioners made the most of points
-relating to naturalisation; they objected to the natives being employed
-as fishermen by the association, and they would say nothing about the
-proportion of busses that might be set forth in Scotland.
-
-[424] _Stirling Letters_, ii. 538, 544. _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 236.
-Charles, it will be observed, mentions 15 miles. The miles stated in
-the Scottish documents were Scots miles of 5929·5 imperial feet, 10
-Scots miles being equal to nearly 11¼ imperial miles; the extent of the
-reserved waters was therefore very nearly 15¾ imperial miles (15·72).
-
-[425] _Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs_, iv. 534.
-
-[426] _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 238.
-
-[427] _Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs_, iv. 534, 535.
-
-[428] “Whereat we ourselff for the most part were present,”--king to
-Council, 15th July 1632. _Stirling Letters_, ii. 604.
-
-[429] _State Papers, Dom._, ccvi. 46.
-
-[430] _State Papers, Dom._, ccvi. 50.
-
-[431] _State Papers, Dom._, cciii. 53, 54, 19th November 1631. The
-draft appears to have been prepared and altered entirely by the king
-himself.
-
-[432] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxxix. 78, 83, 87, 89.
-
-[433] The king to the Council, 15th July 1632. _Stirling Letters_, ii.
-605, 606, 617. _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 245.
-
-[434] The Act specified by the king was passed in 1491, but he seems
-rather to have been referring to the Act 6 James III., c. 48. “That
-Lordes, Barrones and Burrowes gar make Schippes, Busches, and greate
-Pinck-boates with Nettes,” which was passed in 1471, “for the common
-good of the realm and the great increase of riches,” to be brought from
-other countries in exchange for fish exported. The Act of James IV.,
-“Anent the makeing of Schippes and Busches on the quhilk all Idle Men
-suld Laboure,” was an early attempt to carry out the policy advocated
-by English writers in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
-centuries. It enacted that ships and busses, not under twenty tons
-burden, should be built in all the burghs and towns of Scotland,
-provided with mariners and nets: and power was given to compel “idle
-men” to man them.
-
-[435] _State Papers, Dom._, ccvi. 47. “What is required from the Lords
-and Gentry of Scotland towards the fishing.”
-
-[436] _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 236.
-
-[437] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxxi. 1 ; _Acta Parl. Scot._, v. 239.
-
-[438] The councillors nominated by Charles were, for England and
-Ireland, Lord Weston, the High Treasurer (created Earl of Portland
-in February of the following year), the Earl of Arundel, the Earl
-of Pembroke, Viscount Savage, Lord Cottingham, and Secretary Coke;
-for Scotland, the Earl of Morton, the High Treasurer, the Earl of
-Stratherne and Monteith, President of the Privy Council, the Earl of
-Roxburgh, Viscount Stirling, Mr John Hay, and Mr George Fletcher.
-
-[439] Martin, who visited the Hebrides about the year 1695, saw the
-foundation of a house, which, the natives told him, had been built by
-the Society as a store for salt and casks, on Hermetra, a small island
-in the Sound of Harris; and he saw a similar relic on a small island
-called Vacksay, in Loch Maddy. He was informed by the natives that “in
-the memory of some yet alive,” as many as 400 sail had been loaded
-with herrings in Loch Maddy in one season: at the time of his visit
-the fishing had been abandoned, though herrings were plentiful. _A
-Description of the Westerne Islands of Scotland_, pp. 51, 54, 55.
-
-[440] Simon Smith, who was latterly Secretary to Pembroke’s
-association, afterwards stated that the Society had attained to the
-proper cure of herrings, and was likely to have been ultimately
-successful. This opinion was not shared by Dutch writers. The author of
-_The True Interest and Political Maxims of the Republic of Holland_,
-published under the name of De Witt, says the herrings the Society
-sent to Dantzic in 1637 and 1638, though caught at the same time and
-place as the Hollanders’ herrings, were “esteemed naught to the very
-last barrel”; and a contemporary author, Meynert Semeyns, a skipper of
-Enkhuisen, in a work written in 1639 (_Een corte beschryvinge over de
-Haring-visscherye in Hollandt_), says the same thing. “The Dutch,” he
-boasted, “catch more herrings and prepare them better than any other
-nation ever will; and the Lord has, by means of the herring, made
-Holland an exchange and staple-market for the whole of Europe.” No
-other nation, he added, ever tried the industry but to their loss, and
-the example adduced was the Society’s herrings sent to Dantzic.
-
-[441] In August and September 1633, before the Council had met (busses
-having been purchased on the strength of subscriptions promised),
-two busses were taken by Dutch men-of-war and one by a Dunkirker.
-The former captures were doubtless made because the Dutch fishermen
-were acting contrary to the fishery laws of the United Provinces in
-taking service with aliens, and they were promptly disavowed by the
-States-General and the busses restored. The Dunkirkers made prize of
-some of the busses (there were ten or twelve of them) almost every
-year: one, the _Salisbury_, was taken twice, and in 1639 four were
-captured. Spain was then at war with the United Provinces, and the
-Dutch buss was a natural prey of the Dunkirk privateer.
-
-[442] P. 309.
-
-[443] _State Papers, Dom._, ccccxxix. 48. Order of the King in
-Council, 29th September 1639. “Taking into consideration of what great
-importance it is and may be to the good of this kingdom to plant,
-increase and cherish the fishery in the North seas, and understanding
-that the Dutch, who reap an annual great benefit thereby, have and
-do not only privately underhand, but too manifestly also oppose the
-endeavours of his Majesty’s good subjects, who have of late years
-employed their industry that way,” it was ordered that the Lord
-Treasurer, the Earl Marshal, the Lord Admiral, the Lord Chamberlain,
-the Earl of Dorset, and one of the Secretaries of State, calling to
-their aid Sir Henry Marten (Judge of the Court of Admiralty), should
-forthwith “consult and advise what fitting course may be taken to
-advance and settle the said fishery, and particularly to consider
-whether it may not be fit to debar the exportation of lampreys, without
-which the Dutch cannot well, as is informed, continue their fishing
-for cod and ling, until his Majesty’s subjects be quietly settled
-in the herring fishing.” The Dutch obtained their lampreys for bait
-almost exclusively from England, and chiefly from the Thames. The
-above account of the proceedings of the Fishery Society is summarised
-(for the most part) from numerous State Papers. It was stated by Simon
-Smith, who was latterly Secretary to Pembroke’s association, that
-£10,000 was lost through the Dunkirkers.
-
-[444] Oppenheim, _A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy_,
-i. 215, 217, 221.
-
-[445] _Ibid._; Hannay, _A Short History of the Royal Navy_.
-
-[446] Oppenheim, _op. cit._, 265.
-
-[447] Oppenheim, _op. cit._, 275.
-
-[448] _State Papers, Dom._, lvi. 66; lxi. 81; lxx. 8, 9; liv. 56; xc.
-70, 119; clxii. 82, 45.
-
-[449] _State Papers, Dom._, lix. 79; xci. 30, 45; xcii. 62; xciii. 82;
-xcv. 39; clxiii. 65; clxxx. 94. In 1630 a Yarmouth fisherman, owner
-of one of the Iceland smacks under convoy, petitioned the Council for
-relief from the payment of the twenty shillings, on the grounds that
-before the Order was made he had paid £5 for the assurance of his boat
-during that season to the assurance office in London, and that three
-boats belonging to him had been previously taken by Dunkirkers.
-
-[450] Oppenheim, _op. cit._, 276.
-
-[451] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxviii. 31, 88 ; cclxiv. fol. 20_a_;
-ccxciii. 107; ccxciv. 46.
-
-[452] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxciii. 107; ccxciv. 46; ccxcv. 31, 69,
-71; cclxiv. fol. 164. Many of the crew of the man-of-war were English,
-Scottish, or Irish. It was probably owing in part to the considerable
-numbers of British subjects serving on the Dutch men-of-war that they
-were always favoured by the country people.
-
-[453] _Ibid._, ccxcvi. 5, 14, 30. Joachimi to States-General, (26
-Aug.)/(4 Sept.), _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, O, fol. 380.
-
-[454] _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, fol. 43_b_.
-
-[455] Reglement for Preventing Abuses in and about the Narrow Seas and
-Ports, March 1633. _State Papers, Dom._, cclx. 127, 128; cclxxix. 18.
-_Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, fol. 44 (Pepys’ collections). Copies
-exist in _State Papers, Dom._, vol. 515, Nos. 38, 39 (1647), extracted
-from _Admiralty Book_, Liber E, and in _State Papers, Dom._, Jas. I.,
-vol. 11, No. 40 (1604), wrongly calendered (see p. 119).
-
-[456] _Ibid._, liv. 9, 33.
-
-[457] Oppenheim, _op. cit._
-
-[458] _State Papers, Dom._, lxxxvi. 73, 75; ccxxix. 102.
-
-[459] Gardiner, _Hist._, vii. 349 _et seq._
-
-[460] Gardiner, _op. cit._, 368.
-
-[461] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxxvii. 55; ccxci. 14.
-
-[462] _Ibid._, cclxxvi. 65.
-
-[463] Rushworth, _Collections_, ii. 257. _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxvi.
-64. Compare the language of Edward III. in 1336, p. 36.
-
-[464] Rushworth, ii. 294, 353. Compare Windebank’s notes of the speech,
-_State Papers, Dom._, ccxc. 108: “The Judges at the Assizes to let the
-people know his Majesty’s care to preserve the ancient dominion (of the
-seas).”
-
-[465] Gardiner, _op. cit._
-
-[466] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxix. 51.
-
-[467] _Resol. States-General_, 9/19 Nov. 1633; Muller, _Mare Clausum:
-Bijdrage tot de Geschicdenis der Rivaliteit van Engeland en Nederland
-in de Zeventiende Eeuw_, 229.
-
-[468] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxxxiv. 87; Nicholas’s _Letter Book_, Feb.
-16, fol. 97. Muller thinks it was this revival of feeling about the
-dominion of the sea that caused the edition of Grotius’ _Mare Liberum_
-to be published this year, with the Magnus Intercursus appended.
-
-[469] Coke to Boswell, 16/26 April 1635. Needham, _Additional Evidences
-concerning the Right of Soveraigntie and Dominion of England in the
-Sea_; Justice, _A General Treatise of the Dominion and Laws of the
-Sea_, 181; Entick, _A New Naval History_, xvii. If, as is probable, the
-mention of discourses concerning _Mare Clausum_ referred to Selden’s
-work, it would show that the author was then known to be engaged in
-writing it.
-
-[470] “Dessein de Sa Ma^{te} de la grande Bretagne p̄ sa flotte
-p̅r̅e̅nte,” 15/25 May 1635. Aitzema, _Saken van Staet en Oorlogh_, ii.
-164; Muller, _op. cit._, 230. Boswell suppressed the reference to the
-Dutch fisheries and to the old troubles at Greenland and in the East
-Indies, and he toned down the part prohibiting the warships of other
-nations from keeping guard in the British seas.
-
-[471] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxxvi. 100.
-
-[472] They were as follow: _Merhonour_, admiral, 44 guns; _James_,
-vice-admiral, 48 guns; _Swiftsure_, rear-admiral, 42 guns; _St
-George_, 42 guns; _St Andrew_, 42 guns; _Henrietta Maria_, 42 guns;
-_Vanguard_, 40 guns; _Rainbow_, 40 guns; _Red Lion_, 38 guns; _Constant
-Reformation_, 42 guns; _Antelope_, 34 guns; _Leopard_, 34 guns;
-_Swallow_, 34 guns; _Mary Rose_, 26 guns; _Bonaventure_, 34 guns; and
-the First, Third, Eighth, and Tenth _Lion’s Whelps_, of 14 guns each.
-The merchant ships were the _Sampson_, _Freeman_, _Royal Exchange_,
-_William Thomas_, and _Pleiades_.
-
-[473] The king to the Earl of Lindsey, _State Papers, Dom._,
-cclxxxviii. 84.
-
-[474] Instructions for our very good Lord, the Earle of Lindsey,
-Admirall of his Majesties’ fflete, in his Majesty’s shippe the
-_Merhonour_, prepared for this present Expedic̃on for Guard of the
-Narrow Seas. 2nd May 1635. _State Papers, Dom._, clvii. fol. 135_b et
-seq._
-
-[475] _Ibid._, cxcii. 3, 21st May 1631; clvii. fol. 117_b_. It was
-found that the French had a fleet of thirty-nine men-of-war, and two
-additional ships were building. _Ibid._, cxcviii. 84.
-
-[476] 20th May 1631. _Ibid._, cxci. 80.
-
-[477] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxxxvii. 1.
-
-[478] _Ibid._, clvii. fol. 132, 26th April 1634.
-
-[479] In the memorandum which Pennington submitted to the Admiralty, he
-said: “Sixtly, that if any stranger bee oprest by another stranger y^t
-is stronger than hee, within the jurisdicion of ye Narrow Seas, and y^t
-hee flyes for succor or refuge to any of his Majesty’s shippes imployed
-for the guard of the sayd Seas, and come under his lee, and craves
-protection, whether his Majesty’s ffloatinge ffortes shall not have
-ye same privelege in succoringe and defendinge them as ffortes a Land
-hath.” _Ibid._, cclxv. 23.
-
-[480] Windebank and Cottington were two of the three in the confidence
-of the king as to the secret negotiations with Spain. _State Papers,
-Dom._, cclxv. 23, 25, 26, 41, 49, 78, 89; clvii. fol. 132.
-
-[481] An equally obscure answer of Coke’s is recorded in the collection
-of papers for the ambassadors to Cologne in 1673 (_State Papers, Dom._,
-Chas. II., vol. 339, p. 513). “1636. Ea Leicester (_sic_) Query--What
-answer shall I give if I be asked what I mean by the seas of ye King
-my master, or our seas? The Answer returned by Mr Secretary Coke in
-his own hand: By the King’s or our seas you are not to understand or
-condescend to any restrictive sense but to answer ye Brittish Seas:
-and that the 4 seas mentioned in our laws are thereby meant, which you
-must not otherwise circumscribe or limitt; besides they are the same
-which in all antiquity have been acknowledged to belong unto us, as is
-sufficiently proved by authentic records.”
-
-[482] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxxviii. 84, 85.
-
-[483] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxxviii. 4; cclxxxix. 75. He had “no
-more than two blue and two white flags with six pendants to each of
-them; there are wanting two red flags and six pendants, one blue flag
-and one white.” The office of Lord High Admiral was in commission from
-the death of the Duke of Buckingham in 1628 until the appointment of
-the Earl of Northumberland in 1638.
-
-[484] Gardiner, _Hist._, vii. 385.
-
-[485] The inhabitants of the coast were apprehensive of the French
-fleet, and the Admiral sent a message to the Mayor offering to show his
-orders from the King of France, which bound him to honour and respect
-everything that belonged to his Majesty of Great Britain. _State
-Papers, Dom._, ccxci. 23.
-
-[486] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxci. 58, 59.
-
-[487] Gardiner, _op. cit._, 385; _State Papers, Dom._, ccxcv. 61.
-The English agent in France reported in August that two squadrons
-under French admirals, and bearing the French flag, were to ply, one
-along the coast of France from Belle Isle to Bayonne, the other at
-the mouth of the Channel. The remainder of the fleet, half French and
-half Hollander (which guarded the coast up to Calais and to the north
-of it), bore the States’ colours, and were under the command of the
-Hollander Admiral,--“an expedient to avoid acknowledging his Majesty’s
-right in the Channel, in case this squadron should meet his Majesty’s
-fleet and be constrained to vail the bonnet.”
-
-[488] Gardiner, _loc. cit._
-
-[489] It was from this Hollander, met off Beachy Head on 9th June, that
-Lindsey learned that the French fleet was at Portland.
-
-[490] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxci. 80, 27th June 1635.
-
-[491] _Ibid._, ccxcvi. 14.
-
-[492] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxciii. 12.
-
-[493] Gardiner, _op. cit._, 386.
-
-[494] Lindsey to the king, 2nd August; Coke to Lindsey, 4th August.
-_State Papers, Dom._, ccxcv. 9, 42. The rumour that two of the king’s
-ships were to go north to the busses reached the ears of the States’
-ambassador. _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, O, fol. 376.
-
-[495] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxcvi. 5, 14, 16, 30. _Brit. Mus. Add.
-MSS._, 17,677, O, fol. 380. _Res. Holl._, 7th September, Bosgoed, _op.
-cit._, p. 358. Twelve busses and three of the convoys took refuge at
-Newcastle; others in the Firth of Forth. The skipper of a coasting
-vessel from Scotland to Scarborough saw seven busses in flames; the
-sky was red from the conflagration. The _Leopard_, one of Lindsey’s
-fleet, convoying merchantmen to Dunkirk, met eighteen of the privateers
-returning in triumph. The Dutch busses were the natural prey of the
-Dunkirkers, and the States were put to great expense and pains in
-guarding them. In 1625 a Spanish agent, Egidio Ouwers, submitted to
-Cardinal de Ceva, at Brussels, an elaborate plan for destroying the
-Dutch herring fishery, so as to “spoil their chiefest mine by which
-they maintained their wars.” _State Papers, Dom._, dxxi. 30.
-
-[496] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxcv. 44.
-
-[497] The facts as to the movements, &c., of the fleet are mostly taken
-from the Earl of Lindsey’s Journal, written for the king’s information,
-and preserved in the Record Office. “A Relation of the passages that
-daily happened in this late expedition under my conduct, being by Your
-Majesty’s gratious appointment Admiral and General of your Majesty’s
-ffleet sett forthe for guard of your Narrow Seas, from the time that
-the ships mett all together in the Downes, 28^o May, untill the 8^o of
-October following, I making my first entrance aboard yo^r Royall ship
-the _Merhonor_, 16^o May, in Tilbury Hope.” _Ibid._, ccxcix. 28.
-
-[498] Pennington to Nicholas, 3rd August 1635. _State Papers, Dom._,
-ccxcv. 18. Pennington, it may be said, lost no chance of sneering
-privately at the Earl of Lindsey, especially in his correspondence with
-his friend, Nicholas, the Secretary to the Admiralty. When Lindsey
-finally reached the Downs in October, and Pennington was appointed
-to command the winter fleet, he told Nicholas that he had hoped that
-“they” who had had the “sweet of the summer should have had a little
-of the sour sauce of the winter”; he had spent “twice as much as he,
-and more every way for the king’s honour.” Nicholas shared the feeling.
-On hearing that Lindsey had appointed a French cook on board the
-_Henrietta Maria_ he refused to believe it, “as it was never since his
-time known that any Frenchman was admitted scarce to go aboard, much
-less to be an officer in any of the king’s ships”; and he foretold
-great evils from it. _Ibid._, ccxcix. 19; ccxci. 61.
-
-[499] Gardiner, _op. cit._
-
-[500] _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, O, fol. 364.
-
-[501] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxviii. 3. Roe’s reference was to the
-fishings at the Zowe or Sowe, where great numbers of gurnards were
-caught (see p. 65). The stipulation of Richelieu concerned the allied
-squadrons which were to blockade Dunkirk, as arranged by Article viii.
-of the treaty. Article xii., after providing for the size of the
-squadrons, continues, “Et au cas que lesdites esquadres viennent à
-s’assembler, comme il peut arriver qu’il sera necessaire pour le bien
-commun, l’Admiral desdits Seigneurs les Estats abaissera à l’abord son
-pavillon du grand mast, et le saluëra de son canon, et celui du Roi le
-resaluëre comme de coustume, et comme il en a esté use par le Roi de la
-Grande Bretagne.” Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, 83 (?).
-
-[502] _State Papers, Dom._, lxxix. 17. “Athwart ye opening of Falmouth
-four sailes stood with their forefoot,” and very earnestly tried to
-weather the English ships. Among them was a French man-of-war of
-Rochelle, but they shot four or five pieces of ordnance at him, and
-“soo brought him by ye lee.” See p. 207.
-
-[503] He reported, 16th September 1631, that two English merchantmen
-had met five French men-of-war, bearing the French king’s colours on
-the main-top, and the Malta colours on the poop, who saluted them with,
-“Amain, rogues, for the King of France”; but as the English ships
-refused to strike and prepared to fight, the French sheered off. He
-added that he had learned, through an interview between one of his
-lieutenants and one of the French commanders, that the latter had a
-commission to compel any English ships he could master to take in their
-flags and dowse their top-sails, and that three French admirals had
-been appointed for regaining the regality of the Narrow Seas, because,
-as the French officer said, the Pope had taken it from France and given
-it to England, but now that we had fallen from their religion it had
-been reassigned. _State Papers, Dom._, cxcix. 51.
-
-[504] Nicholas to Pennington, 29th September 1631. _Ibid._, cc. 45.
-
-[505] Pennington to Nicholas, 2nd October (_ibid._, cci. 7).
-Pennington, whose information about the French trying to make the
-English strike had given the Admiralty and the king “good content”
-(_ibid._, cc. 27), had been ordered westwards to retaliate, but “he
-hoped the Lords would not think that his two ships half-manned were
-able to encounter with twenty well manned”. _Ibid._, cci. 29.
-
-[506] 14th October, 12th November 1631. _State Papers, Dom._, cci. 54;
-cciii. 32.
-
-[507] _Ibid._, cclxiii. 75.
-
-[508] _Ibid._, cccxvii. 102.
-
-[509] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxv. 23, 25, 41, 49.
-
-[510] _Ibid._, cccxvii. 102.
-
-[511] _State Papers, Dom._, cci. 59; ccii. 17; ccciii. 71, 79; ccx. 58;
-ccxxxiv. 37; ccxlviii. 81.
-
-[512] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxx. 25, 26.
-
-[513] _Ibid._, ccxxxiv. 5, 32. “The Ambassador and the other Lords
-being at dinner in the great cabin, the gunner sent word that a
-Hollander was passing with his top-sails a-trip, to whom he gave
-order to make a shot. The Lords and gentlemen left the table to see
-the event, but the Hollander, neither for that shot nor two or three
-others, would lower the same one foot; whereupon he gave order to shoot
-him through, which was done, with as much speed as they could bring
-ordnance to bear, so as before she passed she had twenty shot in and
-through her sides, which they heard to crash in the same. They could
-perceive but one piece she had forth; to that fire was given twice. The
-shot came not near, but they might well hear the same. After her came
-the Admiral with his flag on the main-top.” Ketelby cleared for action
-and was giving orders for a broadside; but the ambassador twice desired
-him to give over and stand for Dover, and he submitted. If it had not
-been for his passengers, Ketelby did not doubt he would have brought
-them in to answer the contempt.
-
-[514] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxcv. 13; ccxcvii. 28; ccxcviii. 16. It
-was the usual practice to make the offender pay for the shot.
-
-[515] _State Papers, Dom._, ccc. 43; ccci. 28; ccxcix. 21.
-
-[516] _Ibid._, cclxv. 49.
-
-[517] Ketelby and Viscount Conway explained that it was necessary to
-punish them in a public manner, since imprisonment in the bilboes
-and such corporal punishments were not effective. Conway recommended
-Scott’s fine to be remitted, owing to his worth and poverty, as well as
-from the fact that he had recently been taken captive by the “Turkish”
-pirates, and his ransom was not all paid. Bushell, as we learn from a
-petition “of divers poor men, women, and children, whose kindred are
-now in slavery at Argier and Sallee,” had redeemed and brought home
-thirty of the captives; and it is probable that neither of the fines
-was exacted. It is doubtful if Lindsey’s action was regular, for the
-vessels, according to his statement, had not come within gunshot.
-The _Neptune_ was one of the three ships fitted out by London for
-Northumberland’s fleet. _State Papers, Dom._, ccxv. 28, 65, 67; cclxv.
-50; cclxiii. 75; ccxcvi. 30, 34, 37; ccci. 31.
-
-[518] Molloy, _De Jure Maritimo et Navalis_, 149.
-
-[519] _Regulations and Instructions relating to his Majesty’s Service
-at Sea_, 1734, 1766, 1790, Art. xi.; 1808, Art. xxiv. A case of the
-kind occurred in 1829. Phillimore, _Commentaries upon International
-Law_, ii. 58.
-
-[520] Gardiner, _op. cit._, viii. 84.
-
-[521] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxcvi. 69; cci. 26, 97.
-
-[522] _State Papers, Dom._, ccciii. 74; cccv. 36, 38; cccxi. 1. The
-total number of men in the first fleet, which included five of the
-“Whelps” and two pinnaces then building, was to be 4580; in the second,
-in which were included two “Whelps,” it was to be 1890.
-
-[523] Hume (_Hist. Engl._, ch. lii. an. 1636), following earlier
-writers, places the number at sixty. Thus Frankland (_Annals of King
-James and King Charles the First_, 477 (1681)) speaks of “sixty gallant
-ships.” Baker (_A Chronicle of the Kings of England_, 455 (1679))
-and others, including most of the naval historians of the eighteenth
-century, give the same number.
-
-[524] Northumberland’s Journal, _State Papers, Dom._, cccxliii.
-72. Pennington, on hearing of the appointment of the Earl of
-Northumberland, wrote in February 1636 to the Council expressing his
-satisfaction; verily believed he would carry himself like a general in
-all respects, unless led away, “as the last was, by such as neither
-knew the honour of the place nor the way of managing the service for
-the honour and safety of the kingdom.”
-
-[525] _State Papers, Dom._, ccxcviii. 63.
-
-[526] The Lords of the Admiralty to the king, 24th February 1636.
-_State Papers, Dom._, cccxiii. 24, 25. The documents are in Windebank’s
-writing; the first is endorsed “Fishing. Waftage. An excellent Piece.”
-See Appendix I.
-
-[527] “Instructions for our very good Lord, the Earle of
-Northumberland, Admirall of his Majesty’s fflete in his Majesty’s ship
-the _Triumph_, prepared for this present Expedic̃ion for guard of his
-Majesty’s Seas.” _State Papers, Dom._, clvii. fol. 141.
-
-[528] Gardiner, viii. 157. The English ships were “clogged with
-timber,” which, however, served them well in the first Dutch war when
-they were pitted against the slighter-built ships of the States.
-(Oppenheim, _op. cit._, 254.)
-
-[529] _State Papers, Dom._, clvii. fol. 141_b_; ccxiv. 107. The Earl of
-Northumberland to the Lords of the Admiralty, cccxxi. 44, 45, 65, 78,
-87; cccxxii. 16, 40; cccxxv. 78, 79; cccxxvi. 16, 38; cccxxvii. 42, 73.
-The Lords of the Admiralty to Northumberland, 14th June, cccxxvi. 32.
-
-[530] Rowland Woodward to Francis Windebank, 16th December 1630. _State
-Papers, Dom._, clxxvii. 13. The writer said he “much feared the event
-if it should be put in execution.”
-
-[531] _Ibid._, cclxxix. 67.
-
-[532] Petition of the Governor, Assistants, and Fellowship of the
-Merchant Adventurers of England to the Council. _Ibid._, cclxxxix. 91.
-
-[533] _Ibid._, cclxxxv. 84.
-
-[534] _State Papers, Dom._, cccviii. 48; cccxx. 14.
-
-[535] A Proclamation for Restraint of Fishing upon His Maiesties Seas
-and Coasts without License. _State Papers, Dom._, cccxx. 62. _Fœdera_,
-xx. 15.
-
-[536] The form annexed to the Earl of Northumberland’s instructions,
-sent to him on 14th June from Hampton Court, and which he received at
-Plymouth on the 22nd, is as follows:--
-
-
-“CHARLES R.
-
-“We are gratiously pleased by these Presents to grant Lycense to ... to
-fish with the Men and Company belonging to a Ship or Vessel called the
-... being of the Burthen of ... Tonnes, upon any of Our Coasts or Seas
-of Great Brittaine and Ireland, and the rest of our Islands adjacent,
-where usually heretofore any fishing hath been. And this Our Lycense to
-continue for one whole Year from ye Date hereof: Willing and requiring
-as well all Our subjects as others of what Nation, quality or condition
-soever that they give no Impeachment or molestation to ye said ... or
-his company in the said Vessell in the Execution of this Our Lycense,
-upon such Paines and Punishments, as are to be inflicted upon the
-Violators of Our Royall Protection, and the wilful Breakers of Our
-Peace, in Our aforesaid Dominions and Jurisdictions, further requiring
-and Commanding all Our Admiralls, Vice-Admiralls, Rere-Admiralls and
-Captaines of Our Ships, Castles, and Forts to protect and assist the
-said ... in ye quiet enjoying the benefit of this Our Lycense.”
-
-Another form, dated in July, was as follows:--
-
-“Charles by the Grace of God King of Great Brittaine, France
-and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all his Admiralls,
-Vice-Admiralls, Rere-Admiralls, and Captaines of oure Shippes, Castles
-and fforts, and to all and every other our Officers, Ministers and
-subjects to whome it shall apperteyne, Greeting. Whereas Wee are
-gratiously pleased by these presents to grant License to ... Master of
-a Busse or Vessell called the ... beinge of the burthen of ... Tonnes,
-To fishe with the Men and Company belonging to the said Busse or
-Vessell upon anie of our Coastes and Seas of Great Brittaine, Ireland
-and the rest of our Islands adiacent where usually fishing hath bene,
-from the date hereof, to the last of December next. These are to will
-and require as well Yow our said Officers and Subjects, as others of
-what Nacion, quality, or condition soever That yow not onely give noe
-impeachment or molestacion to the said ... or his Company in the said
-Vessell in the Execucion of this Our License, upon such paynes and
-punishments, as are to be inflicted upon the Violaters of oure Royall
-Protecion and the wilfull Breakers of our Peace in oure aforesaid
-dominions and jurisdictions: But that yow protect and assist the said
-... and his Company in the quiet enioying the benefitt of this oure
-License during the time before limitted: Given ...” _Ibid._, cccxxvi.
-32; cccxxix. 77, 78, 79. It appears from copies without the names and
-particulars filled in, which are preserved at The Hague, that the first
-form was used in July, a certain Joost Bouwensz of Delfshaven having
-accepted one on the 24th (N.S.) of that month.
-
-[537] _State Papers, Dom._, cccxix. 81; cccxxii. 40; cccxxvi. 32;
-cccxvii. 93; cccxxviii. 11, 41, 69.
-
-[538] The herring-busses in ordinary course fished all night in fleets,
-with their drift-nets floating in the water; during the day the crews
-were employed in curing and packing the herrings caught.
-
-[539] “Next day wee fetched in 4 more of them, and having caused their
-busses to be manned with English, and threatened the takeing away
-their nettes, they at last consented to take Licenses, and paying
-the acknowledgment I sent them all away very well satisfied.” These
-busses belonged to the Enkhuisen herring fleet, which was convoyed by
-a warship under Captain Gerrit Claesz. Ruyter, to whom Northumberland,
-after the licenses had been accepted, gave a written certificate and
-safe-conduct for bringing in the busses. Muller, _Mare Clausum_, 269,
-377.
-
-[540] These were the Delfshaven busses, the skipper of one being Joust
-Bouwensz, previously referred to. According to the Dutch accounts,
-money was scarce on the busses, but the English very willingly took
-herrings instead, a barrel of herrings being reckoned at from four to
-four and a-half florins.
-
-[541] These were the _Victory_, _Repulse_, and _Swallow_. From a report
-of the Officers of the Navy to the Admiralty, on 20th August, we learn
-that the _Repulse_ had a great many sick on board--“some three or four
-having died within these two days; some thirty sick were landed at
-Margate and eight are ill on board. The surgeon is dead, as is said
-of the spotted fever, full of spots, and it is much doubted that the
-pestilence is amongst them.” The plague in this and the following year
-made great ravages in London and at the naval ports, partly from the
-want of simple precautions--_e.g._, in this case the sick men were
-to be discharged “for fear of infection (of the ship) and to cease a
-needlesse charge.” _State Papers, Dom._, cccxxx. 61.
-
-[542] The account of the movements of Northumberland’s fleet is
-extracted from his “Journall of oure Summer’s Voyage in the yeare
-1636.” _State Papers, Dom._, cccxliii. 72.
-
-[543] Northumberland to Windebank, 16th August 1636 (from Scarborough).
-_State Papers, Dom._, cccxxx. 41. About 400 licenses in all, each
-signed by the king, had been furnished to the Earl.
-
-[544] 20th Dec. 1628. “Clachten van de insolentien van’t bootsvolk en
-de visschers deser landen in Schotlandt.” Muller, _op. cit._, 232.
-
-[545] The English Company and the king’s relation to it were considered
-by the States in January 1631, 25th Oct. 1632, 19th Nov. 1633, and 15th
-Sept. 1634. (Bosgoed, _Bib. Pisc._, 357. Oprichting eener Engelsche
-compagnie voor de Haring-visscherij, Muller, _op. cit._, 235.)
-
-[546] _Verbaal van Beveren_, 1636-37. Muller, _op. cit._, 246.
-
-[547] _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, P, fol. 67 _et seq._
-
-[548] Van Beveren to the States-General, 15/25 Aug. _MSS. Add._,
-17,677, P, fol. 88. In his letter he says the tax on each ton was
-“twee sixpenningen,” or an English shilling. Others placed it at two
-shillings a last.
-
-[549] Aitzema, _Saken van Staet en Oorlogh_, ii. 409. Muller, _op.
-cit._, 263.
-
-[550] Joachimi to the States-General, (31 Aug.)/(10 Sept.), 9/19 Sept.
-1636. _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, P, fol. 99, 100. _Verbael van
-Joachimi_, 1636. Muller, _op. cit._, 264.
-
-[551] Elizabeth to Sir Thomas Roe, 15/25 Aug. 1636. _State Papers,
-Dom._, cccxxx. 38.
-
-[552] Roe to Elizabeth, 19th Aug., 20th Sept. _Ibid._, cccxxx. 50;
-cccxxxii. 1.
-
-[553] Northumberland to the Admiralty and to Secretary Coke, Sept. 16.
-_State Papers, Dom._, cccxxxi. 55, 56.
-
-[554] _State Papers, Dom._, cccxxxii. 39.
-
-[555] Northumberland’s Journal, _Ibid._, cccxliii. 72; Northumberland
-to Nicholas, 6th October 1636. _Ibid._, cccxxxiii. 26. Dutch accounts
-vary somewhat from that given by the Earl of Northumberland. According
-to them, seven English men-of-war fell in with a hundred busses
-convoyed by five States’ warships, and the busses paid the tax and took
-the licenses. But when thirteen Dutch men-of-war, convoying a great
-herring fleet, arrived on the scene and put themselves in a position
-for battle, the English ships did not interfere any further and soon
-sheered off.
-
-[556] An Accompt of the Convoy money, as it was delivered unto me by
-the Captaines emploied in that Service, vizt.: Captain Carteret, £657,
-Captaine Lindsey, £200, Captain Slingsby, £42, Captain Johnson, £20, Mr
-Skinner, £80.
-
-[557] An Account of the Acknowledgment Money taken of the Holland
-Fishermen. The partiality for English gold is shown by the fact that
-£119, 13s. of the total was thus paid.
-
-[558] The Dutch themselves appear to have acknowledged a payment
-of 20,000 florins (Muller, _Mare Clausum_, 274). Rapin (_Hist.
-d’Angleterre_, vii. 455) and Wagenaar (_Vaderlandsche Historie_, xi.
-260) placed it at 30,000 florins; Larrey (_Hist. d’Angleterre, d’Ecosse
-et d’Irlande_, iv. 126) states that the Dutch concluded a treaty with
-Charles by which they agreed to pay him “dix mille ecus par an,”
-which is equivalent to the same thing; Hume (_Hist. of England_, ch.
-lii. an. 1636) says: “The Dutch were content to pay £30,000 for a
-license during this year.” The error is found in the earlier English
-historical writers. Rushworth (_Collections_, V. ii. 322) also states
-the sum as £30,000, and adds that the Dutch were willing to pay a
-yearly tribute for a like liberty in future. Frankland (_Annals
-of King James and King Charles the First_, 477 (1681)) says that
-Northumberland with his “sixty gallant ships” “commanded the Dutch
-busses to cease fishing until they had obtained permission from the
-King, which they seeming not willing and ready to do, he fired amongst
-them, sunk some and seized others, until they were forced to fly into
-his Majesty’s harbours, and desired the Lord Admiral to mediate to
-his Majesty for his leave for this summer, and they would pay unto
-his Majesty’s treasury therefor the sum of £30,000, which they did
-accordingly, and professed their readiness to become suppliants to his
-Majesty for a grant, under the condition of a yearly payment therefor
-for the future.” This writer seems to have confused Northumberland’s
-operations with those of Blake’s fleet in 1652 (see p. 406) or with
-the onslaught of the Dunkirkers in 1635. Kennet (_A Complete Hist.
-of England_, iii. 85 (1719)) repeats the mistake and puts the sum at
-£30,000, and so with almost all the historians, as well as the naval
-writers. Thus, Burchett (_A Complete Hist. of the Most Remarkable
-Transactions at Sea_, 379 (1720)) and Lediard (_The Naval History of
-England_, 526 (1735)) give the statement of Frankland; Entick (_A New
-Naval History_, 438 (1757)) drops one of the ciphers and makes the
-sum £3000, but otherwise retains the false account. Admiral Colomb,
-in his recent excellent work on _Naval Warfare_ (p. 33), no doubt
-founding on these naval authors, also refers to the “non-payment of the
-£30,000 annually, which had been fixed by Charles as license dues.” The
-writers of minor books embellished the error. In a mendacious treatise
-published in 1664 (_The Dutch drawn to the Life_, 146) it is said that
-Northumberland “scoured the seas of the Dutch busses, seizing some,
-sinking others, and enforcing the rest to flee; so reducing all to the
-precarious condition of entreating the favour of fishing by the King’s
-commission, which he was the readier to indulge them, because he looked
-upon them as the most likely instruments for his nephew’s restauration
-to the Palatinate.” John Smith, writing in 1670 (_England’s Improvement
-Reviv’d_, 257), said that “the composition of the Hollanders (for
-liberty to fish) was an annual rent of £100,000, and £100,000 in hand;
-and never having been paid or brought into the Exchequer, as I could
-hear of, there is an arrearages of above £2,500,000; an acceptable
-sum,” he adds, “and which would come very happily for the present
-occasions of his Majesty”--Charles II. would have been very glad of
-much less; he quite failed to induce the Dutch to pay him £12,000
-a-year for a like liberty. Evelyn in 1674 (_Navigation and Commerce_)
-put the “arrears” at over half a million sterling, and he said that in
-1636 the Hollanders paid £1500, 15s. 2d. for licenses; but this was
-only, as he explained later, “the sophism of a mercenary pen,” since
-he slumped the convoy and the “acknowledgment” money together (having
-had access to Northumberland’s Journal), and eight years later he wrote
-to Pepys his remarkable letter of recantation, in which he stated,
-“Nor did I find that any rent (whereoff in my 108 page I calculate the
-arrears) for permission to fish was ever fixed by both parties” (_Diary
-and Correspondence_, iii.)
-
-The writers on international law have copied the erroneous statements
-from the historians and from one another. Wharton (_Hist. of the Law
-of Nations_, 154) says, “The exclusive rights to the fisheries within
-these seas (the Four Seas) and near the coasts of the British Islands
-had been occasionally acknowledged by the Dutch in the form of annual
-payments and taking out licenses to fish; and was again suspended by
-treaties between the sovereigns of England and the Princes of the House
-of Burgundy.” This statement, which outrages chronology as well as
-fact, is repeated (without acknowledgment) by Phillimore (_Commentaries
-upon International Law_, I., Part ii., c. vi. s. clxxxiv.), and by
-Travers Twiss (_The Law of Nations in Time of Peace_, 254), Hall
-(_Treatise on International Law_, 145), and others. Hall quotes Hume’s
-statement that the Dutch had to pay £30,000 for leave to remain, and a
-more recent author supposes that the great fishing of the Dutch on our
-coasts originated in the reign of Elizabeth, and that, growing strong,
-they refused to pay the “duties levied without question for generations
-within the British Seas” (Walker, _A History of the Law of Nations_, i.
-167). As has been shown in the text, the Dutch herring-boats resisted
-the payment of the “acknowledgment” money as far as they could; the
-States-General equipped a fleet to prevent by force their molestation
-by the English men-of-war, and they dismissed their Admiral because he
-failed in 1636 to protect them.
-
-[559] Aitzema, _op. cit._, ii. 408. “Op de bewaringhe ende
-bescherminghe van de groote ende kleyne Visscherij deser Landen tegen
-de Spaansche ende allen anderen die hun souden willen beschadigen,”
-August 5/15, 1636.
-
-[560] _State Papers, Dom._, cccxxxiii. 13.
-
-[561] Muller, _op. cit._, 273.
-
-[562] _Res. Holl._, 19th September; _Res. St.-Gen._, 8th November 1636;
-Bosgoed, _Bib. Pisc._, 360.
-
-[563] Gardiner, _Hist. England_, viii. 160, 163, 202, 205.
-
-[564] Roe to Ferentz, Oct. 15, 1636. _State Papers, Dom._, cccxxxiv.
-15. Goring to his father, Lord Goring, Feb. 4/14, 1637. _Ibid._,
-cccxlvi. 33. Goffe to Archbishop Laud, Feb. 2. _Ibid._, cccxlvi. 23.
-The Queen of Bohemia to Archbishop Laud, Feb. 4/14. _Ibid._, cccxlvi.
-34. Laud to the Queen, Feb. 28. _Ibid._, cccxlviii. 62. Roe to the
-Queen, Mar. 17. _Ibid._, cccl. 16. The Queen to Laud, (Mar. 25)/(April
-4). _Ibid._, cccli. 1. Goffe’s letter to Laud was as follows: “Your
-Grace will receive intelligence from other hands that certain edicts
-which were ready to be published by the States against paying any
-acknowledgment for leave to fish are now suppressed upon the hopes of
-his Majesty’s relinquishing that business for the present. But the
-Prince of Orange, not willing to content himself with probabilities,
-hath been very pressing with the Queen of Bohemia to have some
-assurance given him that the king would not interrupt their fishing
-this year. And if no other way might be afforded, he is very urgent at
-least that the Elector (the son of Elizabeth) would write to him and
-assure him so much. How much such an assurance would be prejudicial
-to the honour of his sacred Majesty your Grace can best judge. But I
-thought it my duty to add that though their edicts are suppressed,
-yet their book in answer to Mr Selden’s _Mare Clausum_ is ready to
-come forth: and the author is neither so modest nor discreet that the
-Elector should trust him [? the Prince of Orange] with any written
-assurance in that kind. The Prince of Orange hath been so much upon
-this that it hath given others cause to believe that the Elector will
-be moved in it.”
-
-[565] Roe to Ferentz. _State Papers, Dom._, cccxxxiv. 15.
-
-[566] The “confident vrundt” was probably Roe, who was the confidential
-adviser of Elizabeth, and at this time had interviews with the Dutch
-ambassador in the Prince’s interests, which he “feared would come to
-nothing.” _Ibid._
-
-[567] “Que durant le même temps les Pescheurs et preneurs d’hareng,
-subjects de leurs Seigneuries, pescheront librement et franchement,
-com̄e ils out tousiours faict du temps de la Royne Elysabeth et du
-grand Roy Jacques tous deux de très-glorieuse mémoire, s’approchants
-si près des bords de mer, et rivages des royaulmes, terres et ysles de
-sa Ma^{té}, que leur mestier, la course de poisson et hareng, et leur
-proffit portera, voire jusques à seicher leurs filets sur terre, sans
-que sa Ma^{té} directement ou indirectement leur fera ou fera faire
-aucun dommage, destourbier, ou empeschement en cela.” _Verbaal van
-Beveren._ Muller, _op. cit._, 279.
-
-[568] Gardiner, _op. cit._, 218. _State Papers, Holland_, Jan., Feb.
-1637.
-
-[569] March 19, 1637. _State Papers, Dom._, cccl. 34.
-
-[570] Gardiner, _op. cit. State Papers, Holland, Flanders._
-
-[571] Windebank to Northumberland, July 3. _State Papers, Dom._,
-ccclxiii. 21.
-
-[572] _State Papers, Dom._, clvii. 151_b_.
-
-[573] Windebank to the Earl of Northumberland, 3rd July 1637. _State
-Papers, Dom._, ccclxiii. 21.
-
-[574] Northumberland to Windebank, 4th July, _Ibid._, ccclxiii. 28.
-
-[575] Windebank to Northumberland, 6th July. _Ibid._, ccclxiii. 41.
-
-[576] “Diamentenring van tamelijcke groote,” _Verbaal van Beveren_.
-Muller, _op. cit._, 297.
-
-[577] _State Papers, Dom._, cccliv. 16; ccclv. 22.
-
-[578] Report of Fielding, 24th July. _Ibid._, ccclxiv. 45.
-
-[579] Pennington to Nicholas, 10th July, _State Papers, Dom._,
-ccclxiii. 99; Northumberland to Sir Thomas Roe, 6th August, _ibid._,
-ccclxv. 28; Pennington to Northumberland, 20th May, _ibid._, ccclvii.
-15, ii.
-
-[580] Windebank to Fogg, Aug. 10. _Ibid._, ccclxv. 51. With reference
-to this letter of Windebank’s, the following note by Secretary
-Williamson was made on the copy in the volume prepared for the
-ambassadors going to Cologne in 1673 (_State Papers, Dom._, Chas.
-II., 339, p. 519): “This mentioned report appears by other letters
-and passages of that time to have been really the truth, but of that
-disadvantage to his Ma^{tys} right and title, as it was thought fitt
-by all means to stiffle it, and give out Captain Fielding went to ye
-Holland Busses onely w^{th} notice of ye Dunquerq^{rs} preparations to
-intercept them in their return and to offer his Ma^{ties} protection.”
-
-[581] Windebank to Northumberland, 1st Aug., _State Papers, Dom._,
-Chas. I., ccclxv. 5; Roe to Countess of Northumberland, 20th July,
-_ibid._, ccclxiv. 22; Northumberland to Windebank, 1st Sept., _ibid._,
-ccclxviii. 1; Same to Admiralty, 6th Sept., _ibid._, ccclxviii. 43.
-
-[582] Aug. 10. _Ibid._, ccclxv. 53. The king’s real feelings were shown
-in the instructions given to the Earl when he was ordered to the west
-on 1st August. “If any of the fishers of Holland which have refused his
-Majesty’s licenses shall be assaulted by the Dunkirkers, his Majesty
-will in no wise that you protect them.” _Ibid._, ccclxv. 5.
-
-[583] Aug. 6. _State Papers, Dom._, ccclxv. 28.
-
-[584] An example of the feeling is to be found in an incident of this
-summer. One, Richard Rose, a justice of the peace, on hearing that the
-fleet was going forth to maintain the king’s title of being Lord of the
-Narrow Seas, exclaimed: “What a foolery is this; that the country in
-general shall be thus much taxed with great sums to maintain the king’s
-titles and honours! For my part, I am £10 the worse for it already.”
-When information of this remark was laid before the Council, the Lords
-“thought it not fit to question these words.” _Ibid._, ccclxx. 1.
-
-[585] The king to the Twelve Judges, 2nd Feb. 1637. _Ibid._, ccclxvi.
-11.
-
-[586] The _Sovereign of the Seas_ was the largest ship hitherto built
-for the navy; it was 127 feet long in the keel, 46½ feet in breadth
-(inside measurement), and 19 feet 4 inches in depth; the tonnage was
-by the “new rule” 1552 tons, by the “old rule” 1823 tons. She was also
-by far the most expensive. Her cost was £40,833, 8s. 1½d., besides
-her guns, which were estimated to cost, with engraving, £25,059, 8s.
-8d. _State Papers, Dom._, ccclxi. 71; ccclxix. 44; ccclxxiv. 30;
-ccclxxxvii. 87. See also Oppenheim, _Hist. Administration Royal Navy_,
-260. In 1637 a “description” of the ship was published by Thomas
-Heywood, dedicated to the king, and with a frontispiece representation
-of it: “_A True description of his Majestie’s Royall Ship Built this
-yeare 1637 at Wool-witch in Kent. To the great glory of our English
-Nation and not paraleld in the whole Christian World._ Published by
-Authoritie, London, 1637.” The description, apart from the verse,
-occupies a few pages at the end, the work dealing chiefly with the
-ships of the ancients. A second edition was published in 1638: “_A True
-Discription of his Majestie’s royall and most stately ship called the
-Soveraign of the Seas, built at Wol-witch in Kent 1637 with the names
-of all the prime officers in her_,” &c. Prynne (_Brief Animadversions_,
-&c., p. 123) says that Charles claimed and maintained the dominion of
-the seas by increasing the navy, &c., and “by giving the name of the
-_Edgar_ (with this motto engraven on it, _Ego ab Edgaro quatuor maria
-vendico_) and of the _Soveraign of the Sea_ to the Admiral of his
-fleet.”
-
-[587] _State Papers, Dom._, ccclxxx. 61; ccclxxxix. 86; cccxc. 39.
-
-[588] _State Papers, Dom._, cccxxv. 21; cccxxxviii. 15; cccxli. 6;
-ccclxi. 41; cccliii. fol. 34. _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, O, fol.
-364.
-
-[589] _State Papers, Dom._, ccclxxxii. 44; ccclxxxiii. 29.
-
-[590] Smith to Pennington, 8th June 1639. _Ibid._, ccccxxiii. 56.
-
-[591] Windebank to Pennington, 10th, 15th, 16th July, _State Papers,
-Dom._, ccccxxv. 45, 72, 81; Northumberland to Pennington, _ibid._,
-ccccxxv. 76; Windebank to Hopton, 16th August, _Clarendon State
-Papers_, i. 1283.
-
-[592] Pennington to Windebank, 13th July. _State Papers, Dom._,
-ccccxxv. 61, 68.
-
-[593] Gardiner, _Hist._, ix. 69; _State Papers, Dom._, ccccxxviii. 52.
-
-[594] Northumberland to Pennington, 12th September, _State Papers,
-Dom._, ccccxxviii. 92; Windebank to Hopton, 29th September, _Clarendon
-State Papers_, ii. 71; Hopton to Windebank, October 12/22, _Cal. Clar.
-State Papers_, i. 1311.
-
-[595] Gardiner, _op. cit._, 61.
-
-[596] Windebank to Colonel Gage and Count Leslie, (28 Sept.)/(8 Oct.).
-_Cal. Clar. State Papers_, i. 1296.
-
-[597] Gardiner, _op. cit._, 63.
-
-[598] Smith to Pennington, 30th Sept. _State Papers, Dom._, ccccxxix.
-70.
-
-[599] Northumberland to Pennington, 16th September. _Ibid._,
-ccccxxviii. 92.
-
-[600] Pennington to the Master of the _Luke_, of London, 23rd Sept.
-_Ibid._, ccccxxix. 15.
-
-[601] Smith to Pennington, 19th Sept. _State Papers, Dom._, ccccxxviii.
-111.
-
-[602] “De Spaansche Vloot te vernielen sonder eenige aanschouw of
-reguard te nemen op de Havenen, Reeden, of Baayen van de Coningryken,
-waar de zelve zoude zyn te bekomen.” _Resol. Stat.-Gen._, 11/21,
-20/30 Sept. 1639. Aitzema, _Saken van Staet en Oorlogh_. Bynkershoek,
-_Quæstiones Juris Publici_, lib. i.
-
-[603] Northumberland to Pennington, 8th Oct., _State Papers, Dom._,
-ccccxxx. 47; Same to Windebank. 9th Oct., _ibid._, ccccxxx. 55;
-Pennington to Northumberland, 11th Oct., _ibid._, 77; Suffolk to
-Windebank, 11th Oct., _ibid._, 66, 68; Pennington’s report, 11th
-Oct., _ibid._, 74; Hopton to Windebank, 20/30 Nov., _Cal. Clar. State
-Papers_, i. 1323; Tromp to Pennington, 11/21 Oct., _State Papers,
-Dom._, _ibid._, 80 (translation in Windebank’s writing); _ibid._,
-ccccxxxi. 4.
-
-[604] Leslie to Windebank, 11th Oct.; Gage to Windebank, 19/29 Oct.
-_Cal. Clar. State Papers_, i. 1309, 1313.
-
-[605] Northumberland to Pennington, 15th Oct. _State Papers, Dom._,
-ccccxxxi. 18, 30; _Cal. Clar. State Papers_, i. 1324.
-
-[606] Windebank to Gerbier, 18th Oct. _State Papers, Dom._, ccccxxxi.
-35. Gage to Windebank, 9/19 Nov. Paper delivered by Hopton to King of
-Spain, 24th Nov. _Cal. Clar. State Papers_, i. 1321, 1324.
-
-[607] _State Papers, Dom._, dxxxviii. 106. The paper is endorsed
-“Soverainty of the Seas: the Dutch attempt on the Spaniards in the
-Downs.”
-
-[608] _Resol. St.-Gen._, 16/26, 20/30 Oct., (26 Oct.)/(5 Nov.) 1639.
-Instructie van Sommelsdijck, Muller, _Mare Clausum_, 309; Aitzema,
-_Saken van Staet_, ii. 618.
-
-[609] _Secrete Resol. St.-Gen._, 11/21 Oct., “Dat hunne meeninge
-gantsch niet was, het recht van Visscherie in de Noortzee van ijemant
-te stipuleren, versoecken ofte reveleren.” Muller, _op. cit._, 312. In
-the following year Vice-Admiral De With refused to lower his flag to an
-English ship-of-war off Hellevoetsluis.
-
-[610] Maine, _International Law_, 13, 75. Phillimore, _Commentaries
-upon International Law_, I. xxi. Wheaton, _History of the Law of
-Nations_, 54.
-
-[611] Meadows, _Observations_, p. 3. Raleigh, _A Discourse on the
-Invention of Ships_.
-
-[612] Cunningham, _The Growth of English Industry and Commerce during
-the Early and Middle Ages_, p. 418.
-
-[613] _Le Droit International_, i. 20.
-
-[614] _De Potestate Legis Pœnalis_, lib. ii. c. 14. Quoted by Nys,
-_Les Origines du Droit International_, p. 382, and by Grotius, _Mare
-Liberum_, c. vii.
-
-[615] D. Fernandus Vasquius, _Controversiæ Illustres_, Venice, 1564,
-lib. ii. c. lxxxix. s. 30 (p. 356, ed. Frankfurt, 1668).
-
-[616] _Mare Libervm sive de Jvre qvod Batavis competit ad Indicana
-Commercia Dissertatio._ Lugdvni Batauorvm. Ex officinâ Ludovici
-Elzevirij Anno 1609. The name of Grotius did not appear on the
-title-page until the second edition in 1618 (_Hvgonis Groti Mare
-Libervm sive_ ... vltima editio. Lvgdvni Batavorum, anno 1618), the
-year in which he was arrested; and that he was not generally known to
-be the author until this time is shown by Welwood referring to _Mare
-Liberum_ in 1613 as written by “an unknown author,” and by an English
-State Paper, prepared for the negotiations with the Dutch ambassadors
-in 1618, which contains excerpts out of a book called _Mare Liberum_
-(_Brit. Mus. MSS. Lansd._, 142, fol. 383). Grotius was then one of the
-most prominent men in Holland. Another edition was published, also at
-Leyden, in 1633, together with Paul Merula’s _Dissertatio de Maribus_
-and Boxhorn’s _Apologia pro Navigationibus Hollandorum adversus Pontem
-Hevtervm_, under the title, Hugo Grotius, _De Mare Libero_. It was also
-included in Hagemeier’s _De Imperio Maris, variorum Dissertationes_,
-published in 1663. A translation in the vernacular appeared at Haarlem
-in 1636,--no doubt in consequence of the publication of Selden’s _Mare
-Clausum_,--H. Groti, _Vrye Zeevaert, ofte Bewys van het Recht dat
-de Inghesetenen deser gheunieerde Landen toekomt over de Oost ende
-West-Indische Koophandel_. Hugo de Groot was born at Delft in 1583; he
-was appointed Advocate-General before he was twenty-four years of age,
-and settled at Rotterdam in 1613, where he became Pensionary of that
-town; he was sent to England as one of the Dutch envoys in that year.
-In 1618 he was arrested in connection with the Barnevelt troubles,
-and in the following year condemned to perpetual imprisonment; but he
-escaped to Paris, where he lived for eleven years, and then entering
-the service of the Queen of Sweden, he was employed as her ambassador
-at the Court of France. He died at Rostock in 1645. Some of his works
-were translated into almost all European languages, and even into
-Persian, Greek, and Arabic.
-
-[617] Tiele, _Opkomst van het Nederlandsch Gezag in Oost-Indie_; Fruin,
-_Een onuitgegeven werk van Hugo de Groot_, in _De Gids_, Derde ser.
-zesde Jaargang, 1868, vierde del; M’Pherson, _Annals of Commerce_, ii.
-209, 226.
-
-[618] “Ante annos aliquot, cum viderem ingentis esse momenti ad
-patriæ securitatem Indiæ quæ Orientalis dicitur commercium, id vero
-commercium satis appareret obsistentibus per vim atque insidias
-Lusitanis sine armis retineri non posse, operam dedi ut ad tuenda
-fortiter quæ tam feliciter cœpissent nostrorum animos inflammarem,
-proposita ob oculos causæ ipsius iustitia et æquitate, unde nasci το
-ἑυελπι recte a ueteribus traditum existimabam. Igitur et universa belli
-prædæque iura, et historiam eorum quæ Lusitani in nostros sæue atque
-crudeliter perpetrassent, multaque alia ad hoc argumentum pertinentia
-eram persecutus amplo satis commentario, quem edere hactenus
-supersedi.” _Hugonis Grotii Defensio Capitis quinti Maris liberi
-oppugnati a Gulielmo Welwodo Iuris Civilis professore capite XXVII.
-eius libri scripti Anglico sermone cui titulum fecit Compendium legum
-Maritimaram._ This manuscript of Grotius was discovered in 1864, along
-with the work _De Jure Prædæ_, to which he refers, in a collection of
-MSS. brought to auction, which belonged to the family of Cornets de
-Groot of Bergen-op-Zoom, who had descended in a direct line from the
-great publicist (Fruin, _op. cit._) It was printed by Muller in 1872
-(_Mare Clausum_, p. 331). The greater work, edited by Hamaker, was
-published in 1868, _Hugo Grotius de Jure Prædæ Commentarius_.
-
-[619] “Hujus generis est Aër, duplici ratione, tum quia occupari
-non potest, tum quia usum promiscuum hominibus debet. Et eisdem de
-causis commune est omnium Maris Elementum, infinitum scilicet ita, ut
-possideri non queat, et omnium usibus accommodatum: sive navigationem
-respicimus, sive etiam piscaturum.” Cap. v.
-
-[620] Cap. v. “Similiter reditus qui in piscationes maritimas
-constituti Regalium numero censenter, non rem, hoc est mare, aut
-piscationem, sed personas non obligant. Quare subditi, in quos legem
-ferendi potestas Reipublicæ aut Principi ex consensu competit, ad onera
-ista compelli forte poterunt: sed exteris jus piscandi ubique immune
-esse debet, ne servitus imponatur mari quod servire non potest.... Quod
-in aliis difficile videtur, in hac omnino fieri non potest: quod in
-aliis iniquum judicamus, in hac summe barbarum est, atque inhumanum....
-In tanto mari si quis usu promiscuo solum sibi imperium et ditionem
-exciperet, tamen immodicæ dominationis affectator haberetur: si quis
-piscatu arceret alios, insanæ cupiditatis notam non effugeret.”
-
-[621] Not improbably James had _Mare Liberum_ in view in the following
-sentence in his Proclamation of 1609: “Finding that our connivance
-therein hath not only given occasion of over great encroachment
-upon our regalities, or rather questioning for our right.” That it
-was believed in England that Grotius had James in view is shown by
-the following _précis_ contained in the volume of official records
-prepared for the ambassadors to the Congress at Cologne in 1673: “K.
-James coming in, the Dutch put out _Mare Liberum_, made as if aimed
-at mortifying the Spaniards’ usurpation in the W. and E. Indyes, but
-indeed at England. K. James resents it, bids his Amb^r S^r D. Carleton
-complaine of it.” _State Papers, Dom._, cccxxxix. p. 99. Chas. II.,
-1673-75.
-
-[622] Cap. v. p. 29. “In hoc autem Oceano non de sinu aut fretu, nec
-de omni quidem eo quod e littore conspici potest controversia est.
-Vindicant sibi Lusitani quicquid duos Orbes interjacet.”
-
-[623] Cap. vii.
-
-[624] Hvgonis Grotii De Ivre Belli ac Pacis, Libri Tres.
-
-[625] Lib. ii. cap. ii. s. iii. 1, 2.
-
-[626] Lib. ii. cap. iii. s. viii. “Ad hoc exemplum videtur et mare
-occupari potuisse ab eo qui terras ad latus utrumque possideat, etiamsi
-aut supra pateat ut sinus, aut supra et infra ut fretum, dummodo non
-ita magna sit pars maris ut non cum terris comparata portio earum
-videri possit. Et quod uni populo aut Regi licet, idem licere videtur
-et duobus aut tribus, si pariter mare intersitum occupare voluerint,
-nam sic flumina quæ duos populos interluunt ab utroque occupata sunt,
-ac deinde divisa.”
-
-[627] Lib. ii. cap. iii. ss. ix.-xii.
-
-[628] Lib. ii. cap. iii. s. xiii. 2. “Videtur autem imperium in maris
-portionem eadem ratione acquiri qua imperia alia, id est, ut supra
-diximus, ratione personarum et ratione territorii. Ratione personarum,
-ut si classis, qui maritimus est exercitus, aliquo in loco maris
-se habeat: ratione territorii, quatenus ex terra cogi possunt qui
-in proxima maris parte versantur, nec minus quam si in ipsa terra
-reperirentur.”
-
-[629] Calvo, _Le Droit Internat._, i. 348; Ortolan, _Règles
-Internationales et Diplomatie de la Mer_, i. c. v. See p. 156 referring
-to a State Paper of 1610, which seems to be misdated “August 1609.”
-
-[630] Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, vol. V. ii. p. 99. The treaty was
-signed on (30 March)/(9 April) 1609.
-
-[631] _Defensio_, 332 (_circa_ 1614); Letter to his brother, 1st April
-1617. _Epistolæ_, 759.
-
-[632] _De Justo Imperio Lusitanorum Asiatico adversus Grotii Mare
-Liberum._
-
-[633] _Ivlii Pacii De Dominio Maris Hadriatici Disceptatio_, Lvgdvni
-M.D.C.XIX. Other works were Angelus Mattheacius, _De Jure Venetorum et
-Jurisdictione Maris Adriatici_, Venezia, 1617; Cornelio Francipane,
-_Alegazion in Jure, per il Dominio, della Republica Veneta, del suo
-Golfo, contra alcune Scritture di Napolitani_, 1618; Franciscus
-de Ingenuis, _Epistola de Jurisdictione Venetæ Reipublicæ in Mare
-Adriaticum_, 1619; P. Zambono, _Del Dominio del Mare Adriatico overo
-Golfo di Venezia_, Venice, 1620.
-
-[634] M’Crie, _Life of Andrew Melville_, 206, &c. Selden describes him
-as _Jurisconsultus Scotus_; and Prynne “A Scot, Professor of the Civil
-Law” (_Animadversions_, 113).
-
-[635] There is a copy in the Library of the University, Cambridge
-(Aldis, _A List of Books printed in Scotland before 1700_; Dickson and
-Edmond, _Annals of Scottish Printing_, 415), and I have found a MS.
-copy among the State Papers, entitled “The Sea Law of Scotland, shortly
-gathered and plainly dressed for the ready use of all seafaring men.
-Dedicated to James VI. of Scotland by William Welvod. At Edinborough,
-A^o 1590, by Robert Walgrave.” (_State Papers, Dom._, Jas. I., ccviii.
-No. xvi.) It was printed at Edinburgh by Waldegrave in 1590. There
-are fifteen chapters dealing with the freighting of ships, the powers
-and duties of the master, the relations between the master and the
-merchants, &c. In his preface to the _Abridgement_, Welwood refers to
-this earlier work as follows: “It pleased your M. some yeeres past most
-graciously to accept of this birth, in the great weaknes and infancie
-thereof. Therefore it is, that now being strong, and by all warrants
-inarmed, it most thankefully returnes, offring seruice to your M. euen
-for all the coasts of your Highnes dominions, vpon hope to merit your
-former grace.” His last work is dated 1622. It is probable that, like
-so many of his countrymen, he followed King James to London, where all
-his later works were published. He was of an ingenious mind, and, while
-teaching mathematics at St Andrews, obtained a patent for a new mode of
-raising water from wells, &c., on the principle of the syphon. M’Crie,
-_op. cit._
-
-[636] _An Abridgement of all Sea-Lawes, gathered forth of all Writings
-and Monuments, which are to be found among any people or Nation upon
-the coasts of the greate Ocean and Mediterranean Sea: And specially
-ordered and disposed for the use and benefit of all benevolent
-Sea-farers, within his Maiesties Dominions of Great Britanne,
-Ireland, and the adiacent Isles thereof._ London, 1613. Tit. xxvii.
-deals with the “community” of seas. He refers to the work of Grotius as
-“a verie learned, but a subtle Treatise (_incerto authore_) intituled
-_Mare Liberum_.” Welwood’s _Abridgement_ was republished in 1636,
-without alteration; also in the edition of 1686 of Malyne’s _Consuetudo
-vel Lex Mercatoria_, but without his name.
-
-[637] _De Dominio Maris Ivribvsque ad Dominivm praecipve spectantibvs
-Assertio brevis et methodica._ Cosmopoli, 16th January 1615. It was
-republished at The Hague in 1653, and replied to by Graswinckel. See p.
-412.
-
-[638] In Roman law a distinction was made between the sea and rivers
-in regard to propriety. The sea is “_communis omnium naturali jure_,”
-but the rivers are “_publicæ res, quarum proprietas est populi vel
-reipublicæ_.”
-
-[639] Welwood’s _De Dominio Maris_ is not mentioned by Grotius, whose
-tract appears to have been written before it was published.
-
-[640] _Jus Feudale, Tribus Libris Comprehensum_, lib. i., Diegesis 13,
-p. 103. Edinburgh, 1603 and 1655. The treatise was dedicated to King
-James. Craig was born in 1538 and died in 1608.
-
-[641] “Quod ad mare attinet, licet adhuc ita omnium commune sit,
-ut in eo navigari possit. Proprietas tamen ejus ad eos pertinere
-hodie creditur, ad quos proximus continens adeo ut mare Gallicum id
-dicatur quod littus Galliæ alluit, aut ei propius est, quam ulli alii
-continenti. Sic Anglicum, Scoticum, et Hybernicum, quod propius Angliæ,
-Scotiæ, et Hyberniæ est. Ita ut reges inter se, quasi maria omnia
-diviserint, et quasi ex mutua partitione alterius id mare censeatur,
-quod alteri propinquius et commodius est; in quo si delictum aliquod
-commisum fuerit, ejus sit, jurisdictio qui proximum continentem
-possideat. Isque suum illud mare vocat.... Piscationes vero quæ in
-proximo mari fiunt, proculdubio eorum sunt qui proximum continentem
-possident. Itaque non sine summa injuria nostra Belgæ circa nostras
-insulas piscantur. Nam licet piscationes in mari non prohibeantur,
-tamen et hæ præscribuntur, et traduntur permissæ aut prohibitæ secundum
-consuetudinem.”
-
-[642] _The Maintenance of Free Trade_, p. 42 _et seq. Consuetudo
-vel Lex Mercatoria._ The latter contains chapters on Navigation and
-Community of Seas, and The Distinct Dominions of the Seas. Many
-editions were published.
-
-[643] Wheaton, _Hist._, 51, 153; Phillimore, _Commentaries_, I. xxxix.
-
-[644] _Alberici Gentilis Juriscons. Hispanicæ Advocationis_, Libri
-Duo, Hanoviæ, 1613. Gentilis was born in 1551 and died, like Craig,
-in 1608. His most important works were _De Jure Belli_ (1588) and _De
-Legationibus_. Professor Holland has given an account of his life and
-works in _An Inaugural Lecture on Albericus Gentilis_, delivered at All
-Souls College, 1874. See also Alessandro de Giorgi, _Della Vita e delle
-opere di Alberico Gentili_, Parma, 1876.
-
-[645] In a letter from the Earl of Salisbury to Sir Thomas Lake in
-1606, referring to a dispute between the Dutch and Spanish ambassadors
-about prizes taken in the Narrow Sea, it is said that the king, in
-putting in force his proclamation about the recall of subjects in
-foreign service (p. 119), dealt as follows: if a prize had been taken
-and brought into the English limits (chambers), and Englishmen were
-aboard the taker, he dealt with them as having offended against his
-proclamation, and also released the ship as not being good prize.
-Even more, proceeds the Earl, “although there be no English but all
-Flemings, the king takes all from them and restores it [the ship]
-wherein, tho’ in effect it undoes the end of the States warr by sea,
-because they have no way to come home but by the narrow seas, where
-the least wind that can blow them can hardly keepe themself from the
-English coasts, and so a partiall jugement of ½ a mile more or less
-in a wyde sea looseth or winneth their right.” _State Papers, Dom._,
-xviii. 22.
-
-[646] In 1604, between King James and Philip III. and the Archdukes.
-Dumont _Corps Diplomatique_, V. ii. 34.
-
-[647] “Etiam non nocet, quod objicitur et longe antehac longo usu
-servatos in hujusmodi quæstionibus hos esse fines qui expressi nunc
-sunt Edicto,” p. 30.
-
-[648] Gryphiander, _De Insulis Tractatus_, Frankfort, 1623, cap. 14, s.
-46.
-
-[649] Moore, _A History of the Foreshore and the Law relating thereto_,
-1888.
-
-[650] “Arguments prooving the Queenes Ma^{ties} propertye in the Sea
-Landes, and salt shores thereof, and that no subiect cann lawfully
-hould eny parte thereof but by the Kinges especiall graunte.” It is
-printed by Moore (_op. cit._, 185) from _Lansdowne MSS._, No. 100.
-Various copies exist; one in _Lansd. MSS._, No. 105, belonged to Lord
-Burghley, and is endorsed by him “Mr Digges. The Case of Lands left by
-ye Seas.” A copy is in _State Papers, Dom._, cccxxxix. 1.
-
-[651] It may be said that this claim to “royal fish,” made also by
-Bracton, was not peculiar to the English crown. It was made on the
-Continent from an early period, as is shown by the ancient laws of
-Jutland and of Scania, and the practice in many parts of France and
-among the Normans. It may have been introduced into England by William
-the Conqueror, who granted Dengey Marsh to Battle Abbey, with the right
-to wreck and royal fish.
-
-[652] _The Reading of the famous and learned Robert Callis, Esqr., upon
-the Statute of Sewers_, 23 Hen. VIII., c. 5, as it was delivered by him
-at Gray’s Inn in August 1622. 4th ed., 1824.
-
-[653] Such as “A Collection of divers particulars touching the King’s
-Dominion and Soveraignty in the Fishings, as well in Scotland as in
-the British Ocean,” by Captain John Mason. (_State Papers, Dom._,
-1590. _Admiralty_, Eliz., Jac. I., Car. I., No. 37, fol. 131.) A
-superior compilation, dealing with the opinions of the Civilians,
-as well as with the Dutch and native fisheries, and founded largely
-on Dee, Hitchcock, Gentleman, and Keymer, is entitled “The King’s
-Interest in the Sea and the Commodities thereof” (_ibid._, ccv. 92).
-Another treatise, also dealing with the opinions of the Civilians, the
-jurisdiction of the Admiral, and the rights of the crown of England to
-the dominion of the narrow seas, is in _State Papers, Dom._, ccviii.,
-No. x., fol. 402.
-
-[654] The original Latin copy bearing the date 1633 (confirmed by
-internal evidence) is in the British Museum (_Harleian MSS._, 4314). It
-is entitled _Dominium Maris Britannici assertum ex Archiuis Historiis
-et Municipalibus Regni Legibus_, per D. Johannem de Burgo, 1633; it
-is dedicated to the king. Other MS. copies in the British Museum are
-_Harl._, 1323; _Lansdowne_, 806, f. 40; _Sloane_, 1696; and _Harl._,
-4626, the latter being very imperfect. There is also a fine copy in
-English among the State Papers, dated 1637, with this addition to the
-title: “Also a Perticuler Relation concerning the Inastimable Riches
-and Commodities of the British Seas” (_State Papers, Dom._, ccclxxvi.
-68). It was republished in the third edition of Malyne’s _Consuetudo
-vel Lex Mercatoria_, in 1686.
-
-[655] _Mare Clausum_, in dedication to King Charles, “Divi parentis
-tui jussu tentata olim adumbrataque, inter schedas sive neglectas sive
-disjectas per annos amplius sedecim mecum latuit; ut imperfecta nimis
-sic etiam ceu intermortua.”
-
-[656] _Vindiciæ Maris Clausi_, p. 25. This was the explanation
-which Selden gave when, in 1652, he was taunted by a Dutch writer,
-Graswinckel, with having written his work to get out of prison. It is
-surprising that James, who was loquacious and fond of displaying his
-knowledge, never lectured the Dutch ambassadors on the themes in _Mare
-Clausum_--as from the rolls of the Edwards; nor was any use made of its
-facts and arguments throughout the protracted negotiations in his reign.
-
-[657] A Proclamation concerning a book intituled _Mare Clausum_, 15th
-April 1636. _Fœdera_, xx. 12.
-
-[658] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxiii. 30; cclxxvi. 58.
-
-[659] Gardiner, _Hist._, vii. 330. Poor Prynne, who lost both his ears
-on this occasion, and had his books burned under him in the pillory,
-became later an ardent defender of the king’s dominion in the seas in
-the reign of Charles II., when he held the office of Keeper of the
-Records.
-
-[660] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxvi. 58; cclxxxiii. 96-98.
-
-[661] _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 17,677, O, fol. 367. Joachimi to the
-States-General, 5/15 Aug. 1635. “Het boeck Seldeni getituleert, soo ich
-hoore, _mare clausum_, is onder den druck deur ordre van den Coningh.”
-
-[662] Joannis Seldeni Mare Clausum seu de Dominio Maris, Libri Duo.
-_Primo_, Mare, ex _Jure Naturæ seu Gentium_, omnium hominum non esse
-Commune, sed Dominii privata seu Proprietatis capax, pariter ac
-Tellurem, esse demonstratur. _Secundo_, Serenissimum Magnæ Britanniæ
-Regem Maris circumflui, ut individuæ atque perpetuæ Imperii Britannici
-appendicis, Dominum esse, asseritur. Pontus quoque Serviet Illi.
-Londini, excudebat Will. Stanesbeius, pro Richardo Meighen, MDCXXXV.
-The Preface is dated at the Temple, 4th November 1635.
-
-[663] _Vindiciæ_, “proceres apud regem præpollentes.”
-
-[664] Proclamation, 15th April 1636.
-
-[665] Rushworth, _Historical Collections_, ii. 320. Frankland,
-_The Annals of King James and King Charles the First_, 476. In the
-Exchequer Order Book, under date 5th May, the following entry occurs:
-“Whereas S^r William Beecher, K^t, one of the clerks of his Ma^{ts}
-most honorable pryvy councill, did this daye deliver in Court to the
-Lord Treasurer, Chauncillor, and Barons of the Courte, a booke lately
-published by John Selden, Esqr., entituled _Mare Clausum seu de dominio
-maris_, to be kept in this Courte as a faithfull and stronge evidence
-for the undoubted right of the Crowne of England to the Dominion of
-the Bryttishe seas, which saide booke the said Clerke of the Councill
-did deliver according to an order in that behalfe made by the King’s
-most excellent Ma^{tie} and the Lords of His Highness privy councell at
-Whitehall, the third of Aprill last past, a coppie of which said order
-is alsoe delivered with the said booke: It is, therefore, nowe ordered
-by the said Lord Treasurer, Chauncillor, and Barons that the said booke
-bee receaved by his Ma^{ties} Remembrancer of this Courte, and by
-him kypt of record amonge the Records of the Courte as his Ma^{ties}
-evidence. And as well the said order of the third of Aprill before
-mentioned as this present order to bee inrolled upon Record.” _Charles
-I. Decrees and Orders_, Series iii., No. 19, fol. 3_b_.
-
-[666] Besides the Romans and the Carthaginians, he mentions as
-among these the Cretans, Lydians, Thracians, Phœnicians, Egyptians,
-Lacedemonians, and a great many more; but in most cases the evidence
-adduced shows merely that naval power was exercised.
-
-[667] Lib. i. cap. xvii.
-
-[668] Lib. i. cap. xx. “Quod ad genus primum attinet (commerce,
-travelling, navigation); humanitatis quidem officia exigunt, ut
-hospitio excipiantur peregrini etiam ut innoxius non negetur transitus.”
-
-[669] Lib. i. cap. xxii. “Sed vero ex aliorum piscatione, navigatione,
-commerciis ipsum mare deterius Domino cæterisque ejus jure gaudentibus
-fieri non raro videmus. Scilicet minui, quod alias inde percipi posset,
-commodum. Quod manifestius cernitur in marium usu, quorum fructus
-sunt uniones, corallium, id genus cætera. Etiam minuitur in horas
-marium hujusmodi abundantia, non aliter ac sive metalli fodinarum ac
-lapicidinarum, sive hortorum, quando fructus eorum auferuntur.... Et
-similis sane ratio qualiscunque piscationis.”
-
-[670] Lib. ii. cap. xiii.
-
-[671] (1) _Ioannis Seldeni Mare Clavsvm sev de Dominio Maris Libris
-Dvo. Quorum argumentum paginâ versâ._ Juxta exemplar Londinense.
-Will. Stanesbeii pro Richardo Meighen, CIƆ IƆc xxxvi. (12^o); (2) with
-the same title and the following addition: _Accedunt Marci Zverii
-Boxhornii Apologia pro navigationibus Hollandorum adversus Pontvm
-Hevtervm et Tractatvs Mvtvi commercii et navigationis inter Henricvm
-VII. Regem Angliæ et Philippvm Archidvcem Austriæ_. Londini, juxta
-exemplar Will. Stanesbeii pro Richardo Meighen, MDCxxxvi. (8^o); (3)
-with the title as in the original London edition, and Lvgdvni Batavorvm
-apud Joannem et Theodorvm Maire, 1636 (4^o). The original London
-edition was a small folio. In all the Dutch editions the plates are
-badly copied. No. 1 is sometimes referred to by English writers as
-the original edition. No. 2 is the one alluded to by Charles in his
-proclamation of 15th April 1636.
-
-[672] _Resol. Holl._, 11/21 Dec. 1635. Quoted by Arendt, _Algemeene
-Geschiedenis des Vaderlands_, iii., stuck 5, p. 8.
-
-[673] _Resol. Holl._, (31 March)/(10 April) 1636. Muller, _Mare
-Clausum_, 283.
-
-[674] “Ego, cum Suecia,” he wrote to his brother on January 14,
-1636, “multum teneat oræ maritimæ, quid aliud præstare possum quam
-silentium?” Grotii, _Epistolæ_, 864.
-
-[675] Digby to Lord Conway, January 21/31, 1636. _State Papers, Dom._,
-cccxliv. 58.
-
-[676] The treatise was entitled, _Th. Graswinckelii, Jurisc. Delph.
-Maris Liberi Vindiciæ adv. virum clarissimum Johannem Seldenum_.
-Arendt, _loc. cit._; Muller, _loc. cit._ Goffe, writing from Holland to
-Archbishop Laud on 2nd February 1637, stated that the book in answer
-to Selden’s _Mare Clausum_ was “ready to come forth, and the author is
-neither so modest nor discreet that the Elector should trust him with
-any written assurance in that kind,”--that Charles would not interrupt
-the Dutch fishery that year (_State Papers, Dom._, cccxlvi. 23). We
-shall again find Graswinckel in the thick of the controversy during the
-first Dutch war, p. 411.
-
-[677] _Joh. Isacii Pontani Discvssionvm Historicarvm Libri Duo, quibus
-præcipuè quatenus et quodnam mare liberum vel non liberum clausumque
-accipiendum dispicitur expenditurque, &c._, Harderwick, 1637.
-
-[678] _Jacobi Gothofredi De Imperio Maris_, in Hagemeier, _De Imperio
-Maris Variorum Dissertationes_.
-
-[679] _Mare Balticum_ (anon.), 1638; _Ante-Mare Balticum, scilicet, an
-ad Reges Daniæ, an ad Reges Poloniæ, pertineat_ (anon.), 1639; Azuni,
-_Systema dei Principii del Diritto Maritimo_.
-
-[680] The Case of Ship-Money briefly discussed, according to the
-Grounds of Law, Policy, and Conscience. Presented to the Parliament,
-November 3, 1640. Stubbe, _A Further Justification of the Present War
-against the United Netherlands_, 76.
-
-[681] Gardiner, _Hist. Engl._, x. 208. Clarendon, iii. 113.
-
-[682] Rushworth, _Collections_, v. 312.
-
-[683] Penn, _Memorials of the Professional Life and Times of Sir
-William Penn, Knt., from 1640 to 1670_, i. 224.
-
-[684] _State Papers, Dom._, dxv. i. 37, 38, 39. There is also in one of
-the collections a quotation from Selden’s _Mare Clausum_, that it was
-treason not to acknowledge the King of England’s dominion in his own
-seas by striking sails.
-
-[685] Instructions given by the Committee of Lords and Commons for the
-Admiralty and Cinque Ports, to be observed by all captains, officers,
-and common men respectively in this fleet, provided to the glory of
-God, the honour and service of the Parliament, and the safety of the
-three Kingdoms, March 30, 1647. _Ibid._, dxv. 40.
-
-[686] Rushworth’s _Collections_; Penn, _op. cit._, i. 242.
-
-[687] Loccenius, _De Jure Maritimo_, x. s. 10.
-
-[688] _State Papers, Dom._, 27th Feb. 1649.
-
-[689] 17th January 1650. _A Collection of the State Papers of John
-Thurloe_, i. 134.
-
-[690] Penn, _Memorials_, i. 365, 379.
-
-[691] Geddes, _History of the Administration of John de Witt_, i. 102,
-106, 150-157. Gardiner, _History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate_,
-i. 353, 356.
-
-[692] Geddes, _op. cit._, 157, 159, 165. Gardiner, _op. cit._, 359.
-_The Nicholas Papers_, i. 230.
-
-[693] “Wee doe tender the ffriendshipp of the Com̃onwealth of England
-unto the High and Mighty Lords the States Generall of the Vnited
-Provinces, and doe propound that the Amitye, and good Correspondency
-which hath aunciently beene betweene the English Nation and the Vnited
-Provinces, be not only renewed, and preserved inviolably, But that a
-more strict, and intimate Allyance, and Vnion, be entred into by them,
-whereby there may be a more intrinsicall, and mutuall interest of each
-in other then hath hitherto beene for the good of both.” Submitted 25
-March/6 April. “A briefe Narrative of the Treatie at the Hague betweene
-the hono^{ble} Oliver St John, Lord Chiefe Justice of the Court of
-Com̃on Pleas, and Walter Strickland, Esq., Embassado^{rs} extraordinary
-of the Parliament of the Com̃onwealth of England, to the great Assembly
-of the States Generall of the Vnited Provinces begun upon the 20th of
-March 1651 and continued vntill the 20th of June 1651 and then broke of
-_re infectâ_.” _State Papers, Foreign, Treaty Papers (Holland)_, No.
-46, 1651.
-
-[694] “We propound, That the two Com̄onwealths may be confederated
-friends, ioyned, and allyed togeather for the defence and Preservation
-of the Libertyes, and ffredomes of the people of each, against all
-whomsoever that shall attempt the disturbance of either State, by Sea
-or Land, or be declared enemyes to the freedome and Libertie of the
-people liveing under either of the said Governments.” Submitted, 17th
-April. _Ibid._, p. 7.
-
-[695] _Narrative of the Ambassadors_ (ibid.) Geddes, _op. cit._, 157,
-159, 165, 171. Gardiner, _op. cit._, 359, 362, 363. Tideman, _De Zee
-Betwist: Geschiedenis der Onderhandelingen over de Zeeheerschappij
-tusschen de Engelsche Republiek en de Vereenigde Provinciën vóór den
-ersten Zee-Oorlog_, 39-47. Thurloe’s _Collections_, i. 176, 179,
-181-186, 188, 193. Aitzema, _Saken van Staet en Oorlogh_, 657-660.
-
-[696] See Appendix K. _Narrative of the Ambassadors_, p. 23. Aitzema,
-_op. cit._, iii. 698-700. MS. of Duke of Portland in _Hist. MSS. Com.
-Thirteenth Report, App. I._, 605. Tideman, _op. cit._, 47, 48, 49.
-Geddes _op. cit._ 178.
-
-[697] Articles 17-33, _Narrative of the Ambassadors_. These articles
-are given in Appendix K. Tideman, _op. cit._, 50. Aitzema, _op. cit._,
-iii. 695.
-
-[698] “Over het strijken van vlaggen ende andere Ceremonieën daeruyt
-meenichmael differentien in zee coomen te ontstaen.” _Resol. der Groote
-Vergadering_, 15/25 May 1651. Tideman, _op. cit._, 52.
-
-[699] St John and Strickland left The Hague on 20th June, and the
-Act was recommended to the Parliament by the Council of State on 5th
-August, and passed on 9th October (Gardiner, _op. cit._, ii. 82). The
-essence of the Act was to prohibit the importation of extra-European
-commodities into any territory of the Commonwealth except in English
-vessels, or from Europe unless in English vessels or vessels belonging
-to the country in which the commodities were manufactured or produced.
-The importation of salt-fish or fish-oil, and the exportation of salted
-fish, were to be permitted only in English vessels, but the importation
-of fresh fish was not forbidden. Early in the next year two Dutch
-doggers, driven into Yarmouth by contrary winds, exposed their cod and
-haddocks for sale and were seized by the bailiffs; their release was
-ordered by the Council of State.
-
-[700] Geddes, _op. cit._, 192, 193. Tideman, _op. cit._, 89, 96.
-Gardiner, _op. cit._, ii. 108. Gardiner, _Letters and Papers relating
-to the First Dutch War, 1653-1654_, Navy Records Society. In the third
-volume (1906) of this valuable work the papers are brought down to 10th
-February 1653.
-
-[701] Tideman, _op. cit._, 96. Aitzema, _op. cit._, iii. 696.
-
-[702] They were Whitelocke, John Lisle, Bond, Scott, Viscount Lisle,
-and Purefoy.
-
-[703] Cats’ _Verbael_. Tideman, 94-108. Geddes, 198.
-
-[704] The conferences on the articles were on 3rd, 5th, 6th, 10th, and
-13th May. The incorporation and union of Scotland with England was
-proclaimed at Edinburgh on the 21st of the preceding month.
-
-[705] Cats’ _Verbael_, _App._, 21. Tideman, _op. cit._, 117.
-
-[706] “De dispuyte over ’t recht hetwelck de Engelsche pretenderen
-privative over eenigh ghedeelte van de Zee te hebben, ende in allen
-ghevalle aan deselve geen soodanigh recht in eenigher wijse toe te
-staen, ende alleen te handelen over de vryheijdt ende seeckerheijdt van
-wederzijts visscherije.” Tideman, _op. cit._, 119. Aitzema, _op. cit._,
-iii. 708.
-
-[707] Cats’ _Verbael_. Tideman, 118.
-
-[708] Aitzema, iii. 713. Tideman, 124, 130, 132. The draft instructions
-were dated (April 30)/(May 10), and were approved on May 6/16. A
-translation of the 7th Article is as follows :“The superior officers
-and captains either already in command of the aforesaid squadrons
-or hereafter appointed, are to be charged to free the ships of this
-country from all search by any one whatever, and to defend them against
-all who try to do them injury, and to release them to the uttermost of
-their power from every one who may have captured them, and further to
-do whatever their ordinary instructions in their commission requires
-in a sailor-like fashion for the service of the country.” By the 5th
-Article, fifteen men-of-war were to be sent for the protection of the
-“great” (herring) fishery, “which is of so great importance to the
-State,” along with the ordinary national convoy-ships, and the ships
-which the towns of Enkhuizen, Delft, Rotterdam, and Schiedam were
-accustomed to add. Gardiner, _Letters and Papers_, i. 155.
-
-[709] Tromp’s memorandum was dated (28 Feb.)/(9 March), 1651. The
-original is apparently lost (Tideman, _De Zee Betwist_, 68); but an
-account of it is given by his contemporary, Aitzema (iii. 731), and
-is printed in Appendix L. Tromp, in his _Rescript_ of 14/24 October
-1652, justifying and explaining his conduct with regard to the meeting
-with Blake, refers to a memorandum on the subject of the flag which
-he presented to a committee of the States on “Jan. 6/16, 1650/1651,”
-and which they considered in arranging his instructions of “(Feb.
-21)/(March 3), 1650/1651” (Gardiner, _Letters and Papers_, i. 422). The
-dates here are those given by Tideman.
-
-[710] “Sonderlinge de swackste sijnde.”
-
-[711] Tideman, _op. cit._, 68. _Resol. Holl._, 1/11 March 1651.
-
-[712] _Hollantsche Mercurius_, April 1651, p. 49: “Seer jalours, omdat
-hij niet terstond gereedt was voor haar te strijcken.”
-
-[713] _Resol. St. Gen._, 7/17, 12/22 Oct. 1651. Aitzema, iii. 731.
-Tideman, 68, 92.
-
-[714] _Add. MSS. Brit. Mus._, 11,684, fol. 30.
-
-[715] Bourne’s letter in _The Answer of the Parliament of the
-Commonwealth of England to three Papers delivered to the Council of
-State by the Lords Ambassadors Extraordinary of the States-General of
-the United Provinces_: and also a _Narrative of the Late Engagement_,
-&c., _Brit. Mus._, (517, k, 15)/(36), p. 12.
-
-[716] Letter to States-General, May 30. _Hollantsche Mercurius_, May
-1652. _The Answer of the Parliament._ Geddes, 209. Tideman, 130.
-
-[717] Blake’s letter, _The Answer of the Parliament_, p. 8.
-
-[718] Tideman, 128, 129. Geddes, 210, 211.
-
-[719] Young’s despatch, 14th May 1652, in _The Answer of the
-Parliament_, p. 20. Penn’s _Memorials_, i. 419. Tideman, 197. Gardiner,
-_Letters and Papers relating to the First Dutch War_, i. 178. _The
-French Occurrences_, &c., _Brit. Mus._, E, 665, 6. It may be noted that
-Tromp, in his _Rescript_ to the States-General (see note, p. 398),
-mentioned that Huyrluyt and van der Saen had received instructions to
-strike only to royal squadrons.
-
-[720] In the Dutch writings the place was described as “Fairle,”
-“Fayrleigh,” “Virly,” “Vierly,” &c. Its position is shown, as Fairlee,
-in the reproduction of the chart from Selden in this book (Fig. 3, p.
-121).
-
-[721] _The Answer of the Parliament._ Gibson, Collections of Naval
-Affairs, _Add. MSS._, 11,684, fol. 5_b_. Geddes, _op. cit._, 212.
-Gardiner, _op. cit._, ii. 118; _Letters and Papers_, i. 172. Tideman,
-_op. cit._, 135. The Dutch accounts, which vary in certain particulars
-from the English and from one another, are unanimous in saying that the
-first broadside came from Blake’s ship, the _James_, which would have
-been according to custom, since Tromp did not lower his flag after the
-third shot.
-
-[722] See his memorandum, p. 398. Tromp wrote to Blake from Calais
-four days afterwards ((23 May)/(2 June)), saying he had intended to
-salute him, and asking for the restoration of a ship taken. In reply
-Blake accused him of having sought out the English fleet, and “instead
-of performing those usual respects which of right belong unto them,
-and which yourself have often done,” had attacked him. In _The Answer
-of the Parliament_, p. 11, it is said that one of the Dutch captains
-who had been taken prisoner stated that when he struck to some English
-men-of-war at Calais a few weeks before, Tromp asked him “why he did
-strike sail to them,” saying, “Were you not as strong as they? And
-being so, why were you afraid?” As the above-mentioned letter from
-Tromp to Blake is given by Gardiner (_Letters and Papers_, i. 216) only
-as “translated from a Dutch translation of the French original,” an
-authenticated copy of the French original is given in Appendix M, from
-Tideman (_De Zee Betwist_, App. C, p. 202). It is from the archives at
-The Hague (_Lias Engeland_, 1652 (_Copie_), and is endorsed by Job.
-Corñ. Rhees, and again by N. Ruysch, as identical with the authentic
-copy. The original of Blake’s reply is also given. It is printed by
-Gardiner as “retranslated from the Dutch translation” (_ibid._, i.
-257), and differs in some points from the original.
-
-[723] _The Answer of the Parliament_, p. 4.
-
-[724] _Resol. St.-Gen._, (25 May)/(4 June), 3/13 June 1652. Tideman,
-_De Zee Betwist_, 164. Articulen van Vreede ende Confederatie,
-&c. _Brit. Mus._, 8122, ee. 12--“Dat hij aengaeñ het voeren ofte
-strijcken van vlagge in de Rencontre mette Engelsche Vlooten of
-Schepen hem bij provisie respectivelijck sal hebben te gedragen en te
-reguleren in sulcker voegen als bij tijden van voorgaende Coningen van
-Groot-Britaignen is gedaan ende gepractiseert geweest.”
-
-[725] Tideman, 171.
-
-[726] _State Papers, Dom._, xxiv. 15.
-
-[727] Cats, Schaep, and van de Perre to the States-General, 27th June
-1652. _Add. MSS._, 17,677, U, fol. 162. Pauw was officially informed
-by the Council of State that the fleet had put to sea “to execute its
-designs.” Geddes, _op. cit._, 223. Gardiner, _Letters and Papers_, i.
-301. The number of Blake’s fleet was variously stated as 60, 64, 66,
-68, 72 vessels: 60 were counted passing Dunbar.
-
-[728] Letter from Leyden, 4/14 August 1652. _Mercurius Politicus_,
-_Brit. Mus._, E, 673, 1. The accounts vary somewhat. _Severall
-Proceedings in Parliament_, _Brit. Mus._, E, 796, 11. _A Perfect
-Diurnall_, E, 796, 14. _French Occurrences_, E, 669, 6. _Onstelde-Zee_,
-p. 34, (8122, ee. 6)/(11). _Hollantsche Mercurius_, 1652, p. 70.
-Gibson in his narrative (_supra_) says he was on board one of the
-ships (the _Assurance_) that attacked the busses, and that they found
-them “northwards of the Dogger Bank”; but there is no doubt that the
-locality was far north of the Dogger, off Buchan Ness, _Brit. Mus. Add.
-MSS._ 11,684.
-
-[729] _Memoirs of Edward Ludlow_, 420.
-
-[730] _Proc. Council of State_, 20th July 1652.
-
-[731] _Resol. Holl._, 1652, pp. 343, 364, 387. _Hollantsche
-Mercurius_, 1652, p. 86. Beaujon, _Hist. Dutch Fisheries_, 363. _Groot
-Placaet-Boeck_, ii. 506. Aitzema, _Saken van Staet_, iii. 810. Penn’s
-_Memorials_, i. 526, 527. _State Papers, Dom._, xxv. 25; xxxii. 15;
-xxxvi. 15, 29, 55; xxxviii. 116; xxxix. 73; xli.
-
-[732] The Declaration and Speech of the Lord Admiral Vantrump, and
-his setting up a great Standard of Broom for the States of Holland,
-for the Cleering of the Narrow Seas of all Englishmen: New Broom
-sweepes clean, p. 4. _Brit. Mus._, E, 689, 13. A Perfect Account of
-the Daily Intelligencer, _Brit. Mus._, E, 689, 14. Gardiner, _Hist. of
-Commonwealth_, ii. 151. Geddes, _op. cit._, 270, 319.
-
-[733] _Journals of the House of Commons_, vii. 145.
-
-[734] _State Papers, Dom._, _Interregnum_, xxix. 42-47.
-
-[735] This collection is in a treatise in the British Museum (_Harleian
-MSS._, 4314), entitled “The Sovereignty of the English seas vindicated
-and proved by some few Records (amongst many others of that kynd)
-remayning in the Tower of London,” Collected by William Ryley, senior.
-Among the State Papers (_Dom._, xxxv. 35) is a copy of the ordinance
-of John, in Latin, French, and English, endorsed by Bradshaw, “A
-transcript of a record in the time of King John touching the striking
-of sail; brought in by Mr Ryley, Keeper of the Records in the Tower,
-by order of the Council of State.” It contains the following note by
-Ryley, referring, presumably, to the _Black Book of the Admiralty_:
-“The French is in a very ancient and fair MS. book amongst the rest of
-the maritime laws, and undoubtedly was a record of the Admiralty Court,
-then in the possession of the registrar of that Court, the names of the
-Lord Admiral and registrar being written at the beginning of the book,
-which is now remaining with Mr Selden, and is of no less authority than
-antiquity.”
-
-[736] _State Papers, Dom._, _Interregnum_, xxix. 48.
-
-[737] Masson, _Life of Milton_, iv. 149, 226.
-
-[738] _Of the Dominion or Ownership of the Sea, written at first in
-Latin and entituled_ Mare Clausum seu De Dominio Maris _by John Selden,
-Esqr: translated into English and set forth with some Additional
-Evidences and Discourses_ by Marchamont Needham. Published by special
-Command, London, 1652. Another edition, by “J. H. Gent,” was published
-in 1663, “perfected and restored.” It is, however, so far as Selden’s
-text is concerned, merely Needham’s translation, careful inspection
-showing that it was printed from the same type.
-
-[739] _State Papers, Dom._, _Interregnum_, xxxiv. 31-49; vol. 33, No.
-14. The copy belonging to Cromwell, and bearing his autograph, was sold
-in 1908.
-
-[740] In some dedicatory verses Neptune thus addresses the Great
-Commonwealth of England:--
-
- “Go on (great State!) and make it known
- Thou never wilt forsake thine own,
- Nor from thy purpose start:
- But that thou wilt thy power dilate,
- Since Narrow Seas are found too straight
- For thy capacious heart.
- So shall thy rule, and mine, have large extent:
- Yet not so large, as just, and permanent.”
-
-The work appeared when Tromp was lord of the narrow seas; the preface
-is dated 19th November, the day before Blake’s defeat.
-
-[741] _De Dominio Serenissimæ Genvensis Reipublicæ in Mari Ligustico._
-Rome, 1641.
-
-[742] _Maris Liberi vindiciæ adversus Petrum, Baptistam Burgum
-Ligustici Maritimi Dominii Assertorem._ Hagæ Comitum, 1652.
-
-[743] Cap. vi. p. 118. See _supra_, p. 367.
-
-[744] _Joannis Seldeni vindiciæ secundum integritatem existimationis
-suæ, per convitium de Scriptione Maris Clausi, petulantissimum
-mendacissimumque insolentius læsæ in Vindiciis Maris Liberi adversus
-Petrum Baptistam Burgum, Ligustici Maritimi Dominii assertorem. Hagæ
-Comitum jam nunc emissis._ London, 1653.
-
-[745] _Maris Liberi Vindiciæ adversus Gulielmum Welwodum Britannici
-Maritimi Dominii assertorem._ Hagæ Comitum, 1653. Other works were
-Mord. von der Reck, _Disputatio juridica de Piscatione_, 1652; Martin
-Schook, _Imperium Maritimum_, Amsterdam, 1653; Stephen S. Burman, _Mare
-Belli Anglicani injustissimè Belgis illata_, Helena, 1652. The latter
-contains a pretty full account of the old “Burgundy” treaties, and of
-others concluded by England with various countries in the seventeenth
-century, in which, as the author points out, no claim was made to the
-sovereignty of the seas.
-
-[746] For example, Robinson, _Briefe Considerations concerning the
-Advancement of Trade and Navigation_, 1649.
-
-[747] Stubbe, _A Further Justification_, 91.
-
-[748] Geddes, i. 282, 289, 292. Gardiner, ii. 128, 183, 329. Aitzema,
-iii. 804.
-
-[749] Geddes, i. 315. Gardiner, ii. 340. _Verbael gehouden door de
-Heeren H. van Beverningk, W. Nieuport, J. van de Perre, en A. P.
-Jongestal, als Gedeputeerden en Extraordinaris Ambassadeurs van de
-Heeren Staeten Generael der Vereenigde Nederlanden, aen de Republyck
-van Engelandt_, i. 7, 12.
-
-[750] Clarendon, _The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars_, vi.
-607. Gardiner, _op. cit._, ii. 111.
-
-[751] _Verbael of the Ambassadors_, 10, 21, 35.
-
-[752] _Ibid._, 84. Thurloe’s _State Papers_, i. 394.
-
-[753] 21st July 1653. _Verbael_, 53.
-
-[754] 25th July, _Verbael_, 56, 59, 62. Geddes, i. 341. Thurloe, i. 382.
-
-[755] The Deputies to the Council, (27 July)/(6 August); reply of the
-Council, 1/11 August. _Verbael_, 64, 66, 70.
-
-[756] _Verbael_, 75, 142, 143, 150. Thurloe, i. 370, 417, 418. Geddes,
-i. 362. Gardiner, ii. 350,
-
-[757] _Verbael_, 155. “7. Dat alle schepen onder het ressort van
-haer Ho. Mog. t’ huys behoorende, in alle rencontres in de Zee, aen
-Oorloghschepen van de Republyck van Engelandt sullen draegen het
-selvige respect, ende deselve eere doen, als sy ooit voor desen syn
-gewoon geweest te doen.”
-
-[758] Stubbe, _A Further Justification_, 92. Stubbe says he had
-an account of part of the proceedings from one of the English
-commissioners; he had also the use of official manuscripts.
-
-[759] _Verbael_, 189. “Syn Excellencie ... gesyt ... dat sy daerom
-voor af meenden, dat moeste vaststellen haer Reght ende Dominie in de
-naeuwe Zee, ende het stuck van haere Visscherye, ende ... eyndelyck
-besluytende dat die pointen van de Zee ende Visscherye geadjusteert
-synde, het vordere werck seer souden faciliteren.”
-
-[760] _Verbael_, 189, 190, 196, 198, 214.
-
-[761] Art. xviii. _Verbael_, 203.
-
-[762] Stubbe, _A Further Justification_, 62.
-
-[763] Art. xv.
-
-[764] Gardiner, _Letters and Papers_, i. 49, 170.
-
-[765] Art. xvi. _Verbael_, 203.
-
-[766] Art. xiv. “That the inhabitants and subjects of the United
-Provinces may, with their ships and vessels, furnished as merchantmen,
-freely use their navigation, sail, pass and repass in the seas of Great
-Britain and Ireland, and the Isles within the same, (commonly called
-the British Seas) without any wrong or injury to be offered to them, by
-the ships or people of this Commonwealth, but on the contrary shall be
-treated with all love and friendly offices; And may likewise with their
-men of war not exceeding such a number as shall be agreed upon in this
-treaty, sail, pass and repass through the said seas, to and from the
-countries and parts beyond them: but in case the States-General shall
-have occasion to pass the said seas with a greater number of ships of
-war, they shall give three months before notice of their intentions to
-the said Commonwealth, and obtain their consent for the passing of such
-fleet, before they put them forth upon these seas, for preventing all
-jealousies and misunderstandings between the States by means thereof.”
-_Verbael_, 202.
-
-[767] Sir H. Vane, who was the chief director of the war, is reported
-to have said that the interests of the two countries “were as
-irreconcilable as those of rivals, trade being to both nations what a
-mistress is unto lovers; that there never could intervene any durable
-peace, except both nations did unite by coalition, or the English
-subjugate the others and reduce them into a province, or by strict
-conditions and contrivances ensure themselves against the growth and
-future puissance of the Dutch.” Stubbe, _op. cit._, 119.
-
-[768] The Ambassadors to the States-General, 18/28 November. _Verbael_,
-215. Geddes, i. 372.
-
-[769] _Verbael_, 216, 219.
-
-[770] _Verbael_, 229, 230, 236.
-
-[771] See pp. 78-81.
-
-[772] Art. xviii. “Antiqui intercursus et commercii tractatus,
-provisionaliter pristinam vim et auctoritatem obtineant.”
-
-[773] Beukelsz, who invented the modern method of pickling herrings, is
-said by some to have died in 1347, by others in 1397, and by a few in
-1401. Stubbe says the deputies assigned the year 1414 to the discovery,
-but no year is mentioned in their report.
-
-[774] _Verbael_, 237, 238, 240-243. Stubbe, _op. cit._, 64.
-
-[775] The statement referred to the licenses for fishing on the Zowe.
-See p. 65.
-
-[776] Whitelock to Thurloe, 10th March 1654. Thurloe’s _Collection_,
-ii. 158.
-
-[777] Council of State Order Book, 6th Aug. 1653. _State Papers, Dom.,
-Interregnum._
-
-[778] Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, VI. ii. 125. “X. Subditis
-Serenissimi Regis Sueciæ liberum erit, per Maria atque Littora, quæ in
-Ditione hujus Reipublicæ sunt, piscari, atque Haleces, aliosque Pisces
-capere; dummodo mille Navium numerum piscantes non excedant. Neque
-inter piscantes ullum iis impedimentum, aut, molestia asseratur Neque
-à Navibus præsidiariis hujus Reipublicæ, neque ab iis quibus Diplomate
-permissum est, res suas privatim suo marte repetere, nec a piscantibus
-in Boreali plagâ Britanniæ, piscationis nomine onera aliqua exigantur,
-immo omnes humaniter atque amice tractentur, usque retia in Littore
-siccare, quemque opus est commeatum ab eorum Locorum Incolis, justo
-pretio comparare sibi licebit.”
-
-[779] Stubbe, _op. cit._, 68. Robinson, _England’s Safety in Trades
-Encrease_, 1641. Ibid., _Considerations Concerning the Advancement of
-Trade and Navigation_, 1649.
-
-[780] The Deputies to the States-General, 7/17 December 1653.
-_Verbael_, 246.
-
-[781] It may be noted that Philip Meadows now became Latin Secretary
-to the Council in place of Milton. He was afterwards an extremely able
-opponent of the English claims to the sovereignty of the sea, and wrote
-the best book against them. See p. 524.
-
-[782] _Verbael_, 260, 261. MS. Commentary, Stubbe, _op. cit._, 60.
-
-[783] “Ende dat sy alleenlyck spraecken van de naeuwe Zee.”
-
-[784] _Verbael_, 231.
-
-[785] _Verbael_, 272.
-
-[786] Stubbe, _op. cit._ Geddes has shown that Beverning, acting
-secretly with De Witt, had clandestine communications with Cromwell as
-early as 8th December, clearly with reference to the exclusion of the
-Prince of Orange. _Op. cit._, i. 385.
-
-[787] _Verbael_, 273.
-
-[788] Ad. 15. ut ad angustum mare (quod Britannicum vocant) ibique ad
-certas regulas cum distinctione locorum et littorum ita restringatur,
-ut idem ille honor eademque dignitas, quæ vexilli supremi et veli
-dimissione unquam delati aut observati fuerunt, in posterum adhuc
-deferantur, et observentur. _Verbael_, 275.
-
-[789] “Ende met eenen voortgaende tot het 15 Artikel raekende het
-stryken van de Vlagge, &c., syn wederom gerepeteert alle de argumenten
-ende redenen, die in voorige Conferentien syn geallegeert geweest,
-ende wierdt ten uytersten by den Heer Generael daer in gepersisteert,
-alleenlyck, dat hy die explicatie byvoeghde op haere laetste antwoorde,
-daer sonder eenige distinctie van de rencontres in zee gesprooken
-wordt, dat sy dat verstonden van de naeuwe Zeën die de Britannische
-Zeën genoemt worden.” _Verbael_, 278, 27 December 1653/4 January 1654.
-
-[790] _Secrete Resol. St. Generael_, 9/19 Feb. 1654. _Verbael_, 300.
-
-[791] “Met seer scherpe woorden, ende hatelycke illatien tegensprack.”
-_Ibid._, 307.
-
-[792] _Ibid._, 320. “Angustum mare, quod vulgo Britannicum mare
-appellatur.”
-
-[793] “Tot de naeuwe Zee expresselyck gerestringeert.” _Ibid._, 288.
-
-[794] _Verbael_, 283, 285, 289.
-
-[795] Geddes, _op. cit._, i. 380.
-
-[796] _Ibid._, 290, 293, 311, 319. Geddes, i. 378-393. Gardiner, _op.
-cit._, ii. 368, 369.
-
-[797] “Gelyk sy in ’t 14 van de 27 Artikelen haere Brittannische Zën
-selver gedefinieert hadden.” _Verbael_, 396.
-
-[798] “Daer op syne Hoogheyt in colere seyde, dat sonder de versoghte
-elucidatie ende interpretatie, hy de Ratificatie niet konde
-uytwisselen.” _Ibid._, 397.
-
-[799] Next day Cromwell entertained the Dutch ambassadors and their
-wives to a sumptuous banquet, and after dinner he passed them a paper
-with the remark, “We have hitherto exchanged many papers, but in my
-opinion this is the best.” It was the first verse of Psalm cxxxiii.,
-which they all then sang together solemnly--
-
- “Behold, how good a thing it is,
- And how becoming well,
- Together such as brethren are
- In unity to dwell.”
-
-_Verbael_, 419. Aitzema, iii. 927. Geddes, i. 422.
-
-[800] Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, VI. ii. 75. _Verbael of the
-Ambassadors_, 356.
-
-[801] XIII. Item, quod naves et navigia dictarum Fœderatarum
-Provinciarum, tam bellica et ad hostium vim propulsandam instructa,
-quam alia, quæ alicui e navibus bellicis hujus Reipublicæ in maribus
-Britannicis obviam dederint, vexillum suum e mali vertice detrahent,
-et supremum velum demittent, eo modo, quo ullis retro temporibus, sub
-quocunque anteriori regimine, unquam observatam fuit.
-
-[802] Lawson, from the _Fairfax_, at Aberdeen, to the Admiralty
-Committee, 13th May 1654. Same to Blackburn, 13th May. _State Papers,
-Dom._, lxxi. 78, 79.
-
-[803] Cockraine to the Admiralty Committee, 11th Aug. 1654. _Ibid._,
-lxxiv. 39.
-
-[804] Heaton to the Admiralty Committee, 15th Aug. 1654. _State Papers,
-Dom._, lxxiv. 61, 62.
-
-[805] The Skagerreef or Scaw, the north point of Jutland, Denmark.
-The ships were going to the north in connection with the war between
-Denmark and Sweden.
-
-[806] Richard Cromwell, the Protector, to General Montague, 18th March
-1659. Thurloe’s _Collections_, vii. 633.
-
-[807] The Information of William Gunnell, and others, of Great
-Yarmouth, 25th September 1654. _Verbael of the Ambassadors_, 600, 601.
-
-[808] _Ibid._, 612, 614, 646, 689, 711. From the sworn depositions made
-before the Burgomasters of Enkhuisen, it appears that that town had at
-least 246 busses at the Yarmouth fishing in 1654.
-
-[809] _Brit. Mus. MSS. Stowe_, 152, fol. 135.
-
-[810] Proc. Council of State, 9th June 1654. Vice-Admiral Lawson, in
-transmitting to the Admiralty the request from the Governor of Calais,
-said it had been the practice for the French and Spanish men-of-war to
-suffer the fishermen of each nation to fish freely, although the war
-between these Powers had lasted so long. _State Papers, Dom._, xcviii.
-13.
-
-[811] Bills to repeal it were introduced into the Commons in 1656,
-1657, and 1658. _Commons’ Journals_, vii. 451, &c.
-
-[812] _An Act for the Encouraging and Increasing of Shipping and
-Navigation_, 12 Car. II., c. 18, cl. v. 1660.
-
-[813] _An Act for the Encouragement of Trade_, 15 Car. II., c. 7, ss.
-xiii., xiv. 1663.
-
-[814] _An Act against importing Cattle from Ireland and other parts
-beyond the Seas, and Fish taken by Foreigners_, 18 & 19 Car. II., c.
-2, s. ii. Any ling, herring, cod, pilchard, fresh or salted, dried or
-bloated, or any salmon, eels, or conger, taken by aliens and brought
-into the realm, were liable to be seized by any person for his own
-benefit and the benefit of the poor of the parish. The prohibition to
-import stockfish and live eels was withdrawn by 32 Car. II., c. 2, 1680.
-
-[815] “To the High and Mighty Monarch Charles ye Second, &c., the
-humble petition of Simon Smith, late agent for the Royall Fishing,” MS.
-prefixed in a copy of _The Herring-Bvsse Trade_, and _A True Narration
-of the Royall Fishings of Great Brittaine and Ireland_, bound together
-in vellum, elaborately ornamented in gold, and bearing the royal arms
-and the letters C. R. on both sides.
-
-[816] Sir Edward Nicholas to the Lord Mayor, 23rd July 1660.
-_Remembrancia_, p. 143. There is an undated copy among the State Papers
-(_Domestic_) erroneously calendared under September 1662 (vol. lix.
-6: compare vol. xli. 19, under date September 1661). The original is
-in the Guildhall. Simon Smith was employed in the preliminary work
-connected with the Society, and in 1662 rendered an account of his
-disbursements, amounting to £456, including £150 “for setting the poor
-to work so as to breed up teachers for making nets, &c.” _State Papers,
-Dom._, liv. 77.
-
-[817] _Commons’ Journals_, viii. 179. _State Papers, Dom._, Charles
-II., xxi. 27.
-
-[818] _Commons’ Journals_, viii. 203, 215, 222, 228. _Lords’ Journals_,
-xi. 228_b_. According to the Dutch ambassador, the Bill was not passed
-without much debate and opposition (De Witt’s _Brieven_, iv. 68), no
-doubt principally owing to the provisions concerning fish-days. An
-amendment was carried limiting Wednesday to be a fish-day in all inns,
-taverns, and victualling houses.
-
-[819] _Lords’ Journals_, xi. 239. De Witt’s _Brieven_, iv. 66. The
-preamble was of the usual kind: that the honour and greatness of the
-king and the power and wealth of the kingdom depended upon shipping and
-commerce, the fisheries being one of the greatest means thereto; and
-it proceeded to say that the kingdom was specially suited for fishery
-by reason of the number of harbours, and the sea from which foreign
-nations took such great wealth, set their people on work, and made
-their towns populous and prosperous. The foreigners were not content
-with a temperate and moderate exercise of the liberty of fishing on
-our coasts, which was permitted to them by favour of the king, but
-fished with illegal instruments which served to destroy the brood of
-fish in some places, causing the greatest poverty; and in other places
-they came with whole fleets among the nets and boats of subjects, to
-the great damage and hindrance of their lawful business. The king was
-therefore most humbly beseeched to establish completely and vigorously
-and maintain the rights of his crown over the seas, and to give such
-orders and instructions to the admirals and commanders at sea as might
-be necessary to this effect. The first clause prohibited trawling,
-whether by subjects or foreigners, within eight miles of the coast of
-Sussex and the coast to the westwards, and other clauses prohibited the
-use of set-nets or other nets with small meshes on the coast “or within
-half seas over,” or the use of seines by foreigners within ten miles of
-any part of the coast to the hindering of subjects in their fishing.
-Offenders were to be brought in as prize. These provisions were in part
-aimed against the French.
-
-[820] _Act for the Fishings and Erecting of Companies for promoting the
-same_, 12th June 1661. _Acta Parl. Scot._, vii. 259.
-
-[821] _Records Convent. Roy. Burghs_, iii. 523, 15th September 1660.
-The commissioners, taking into consideration how advantageous it would
-be to the increase of trade and the common weal of the whole burghs
-and kingdom “that the fisching tread be erected within the samyn, and
-wnderstanding by thair registeris and wther paperis in thair clarkis
-handis that the said tread hes bein endevoured in former tymes but not
-takin full effect,” instructed that the records be searched, and the
-matter represented to Parliament.
-
-[822] _Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs_, iii. 626. _Acta Parl. Scot._, vii. 64,
-103, 195, &c. _Ibid._, William and Mary, c. 103.
-
-[823] _State Papers, Dom._, xli. 20.
-
-[824] ΙΧΘΨΟΘΗΡΑ, _or the Royal Trade of Fishing, Discovering the
-inestimable Profit the Hollanders have made thereof, with the vast
-Emoluments and Advantages that will redound to his Sacred Majesty and
-his three Kingdoms by the Improvement of it. Now seasonably published
-by Command for the Benefit of the Nation._ London, 1662.
-
-[825] _State Papers, Dom._, 1663, lxxiii. 56; lxxxvi. 104, 105, 106;
-xci. 53; ciii. 130; cix. 2. “But Lord!” says Pepys, “to see how
-superficially things are done in the business of the Lottery, which
-will be the disgrace of the Fishery, and without profit.” _Diary_, iv.
-369 (ed. 1893).
-
-[826] _Commons’ Journals_, viii. 378, 383. 14 Car. II., c. 28.
-
-[827] Lord Southampton to the Masters of the Trinity House, 31st
-July 1662. The Masters to the Lord Treasurer, 23rd August. The Lord
-Treasurer to the king, 2nd Sept. _State Papers, Dom._, lix. 7; _Entry
-Book_, vii. 258. Pepys’ _Diary_, ii. 403, 404.
-
-[828] _Commons’ Journals_, viii. 497, &c. _Lords’ Journals_, xi.
-555, &c. 15 Car. II., c. 16. All herrings, white or red, were to be
-“justly and truly packed, and of one time of taking, salting, saving,
-or drying, and equally well packed in the midst and every part of the
-barrel.” This was to be done by a sworn packer, and the barrel branded
-after the Dutch method.
-
-[829] John Collins, _Salt and Fishery_, 2. 1682.
-
-[830] _State Papers, Dom._, ciii. 130.
-
-[831] _Diary_, vol. iv. 177, 192, 233, 263, &c.
-
-[832] The ambassadors were Van Beverwaert (Louis of Nassau), Simon van
-Hoorn, the burgomaster of Amsterdam, Michael van Gogh, and Joachim
-Ripperda. Pontalis, _John de Witt_, i. 263. _Brieven, geschreven
-ende gewisselt tusschen de Heer Johan de Witt, Raedt-Pensionaris
-en Groot-Segelbewaerder van Hollandt en West-Vrieslandt, ende de
-Gevolmaghtigden van den Staedt der Vereenigde Nederlanden_, &c., iv. 1,
-46.
-
-[833] De Witt’s _Brieven_, iv. 109, 119. Clarendon’s _Memoirs_, iii.
-434. There are numerous papers referring to these negotiations and
-the subsequent treaty, including “the articles which the States’
-Ambassadors Extraordinary are to procure from his Majesty of Great
-Britain,” among _State Papers, Foreign Treaty Papers (Holland)_,
-1651-1665, Bdl. 46.
-
-[834] _Res. Holl._, 13th Sept. 1659, 261. _Ibid._, 1660, p. 749; 1661,
-p. 181.
-
-[835] _Hollantsche Mercurius_, 1661, pp. 9, 10. De Witt’s _Brieven_,
-iv. 48, 61, 68, &c.
-
-[836] De Witt to Van Beuningen, 27 December 1660/6 January 1661; the
-same to Van Beverwaert and Van Hoorn, 4/14 Jan. 1661; Van Beverwaert
-to De Witt, 3/13, 4/14 Jan. 1661. _Brieven_, i. 344; iv. 65, 66, 68.
-Pontalis, _John De Witt_, i. 267.
-
-[837] “Dutch Amb^{rs} Memoriall desiring the Act of Parliament
-about fishing may not pass,” 17th Dec. 1660. Copy in _S. P., Dom._
-Collection, Chas. II., vol. 339, p. 581. It is to the effect that
-the extraordinary ambassadors were informed that a Bill had been
-introduced into the Lower Chamber regarding the herring fishery, in
-which foreigners were to be prohibited from fishing within eight or
-ten “leagues” (“huiet ou dix lieuës”) from the coast, and praying the
-king to prevent the said Bill from becoming an Act of Parliament.
-It contains the usual arguments as to immemorial possession, treaty
-rights, &c.
-
-[838] _Brieven_, i. 344; iv. 66, 69, 81, 87, 89, 105, 109.
-
-[839] Boreel to De Witt, (25 Nov.)/(5 Dec.) 1653. _Ibid._, i. 54.
-
-[840] Letters from Van Beuningen to De Witt, 1/11 Feb. 1661 to (20
-Feb.)/(2 March) 1662; from De Witt to Van Beuningen, 3/13 Oct. 1661 to
-12/22 March 1662. _Brieven_, i. 432-514. _Secreete Resolutiën van de
-Staaten van Holland en West-Vriesland_, ii. 246. Pontalis, _John de
-Witt_, i. 276. Pontalis scarcely grasps the question of the fishery
-when he says: “The free right of fishing still more directly concerned
-the States-General; they could not prevail in England to allow them
-the enjoyment of it, _so long as it had not been accorded to them by
-France_, and they therefore made it a condition of their treaty with
-Louis XIV.”
-
-[841] Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, VI. ii. 412. Aitzema, _Saken
-van Staet en Oorlogh_, x. 305. The article was as follows: “IV.
-L’obligation reciproque de s’entr’aider et deffendre, s’entend aussi
-pour estre Sa Majesté et lesdits Seigneurs Estats Generaux, leurs Pays
-et Sujets, conservez et maintenus en tous leurs Droits, Possessions,
-Immunitez et Libertez, tant de Navigation, que de Commerce et Pêche,
-et autres quelconques par Mer et par Terre, qui se trouveront leur
-appartenir par le Droit commun, ou estre acquis par des Traitez faits
-ou à faire, en la maniere susdite, envers et contre tous Roys, Princes,
-Republiques, ou autres Estats Souverains,” &c.
-
-[842] “Herr Downingh de voorsz. antwoorde begonde te justificeren,
-door de gepretendeerde Souverainiteyt van de Engelschen op de Zee,
-... ende hebbe ick rondt uyt verklaert, dat eer wy die imaginaire
-Souverainiteyt souden erkennen, ofte by maniere van concessie van de
-Engelschen ontfangen, die vryheydt tot het bevaeren ende bevisschen van
-de Zee, die ons van de nature, ende nae ’t Volckeren-reght competeerde,
-wy alle den laetsten druppel bloedt daer by souden laeten.” De Witt to
-Van Beverwaert and Van Hoorn, 14/24 June 1661 (_Brieven_, iv. 144); the
-same to Van Beuningen, 4/14 Dec. 1661 (_ibid._, i. 471).
-
-[843] Dumont, _op. cit._, VI. ii. 424. “X. Item, quod naves et navigia
-dictarum Fœderatarum Provinciarum, tam bellica et ad hostium vim
-propulsandam instructa, quam alia, quæ alicui e navibus bellicis dicti
-Domini Regis Magnæ Britanniæ in maribus Britannicis obviam dederint,
-vexillum suum e mali vertice detrahent, et supremum velum demittent, eo
-modo quo ullis retro temporibus, unquam observatam fuit.”
-
-[844] _State Papers, Dom._, lv. 14.
-
-[845] _State Papers, Dom._, xliv. 64. Pepys’ _Diary_, ii. 135, 151.
-According to Rugge (_Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 10, 116), quoted by Lord
-Braybrooke, Holmes insisted upon the Swede’s lowering his flag, and
-had even fired a shot to enforce the observance; but the ambassador
-sent a message to the English frigate to assure the captain, on the
-word of honour of an ambassador, that the king by a verbal order had
-given him leave and a dispensation, and upon this false representation
-he was allowed to proceed. The Swedes, it may be added, were always
-disinclined to strike to English ships.
-
-[846] Pepys’ _Diary_, ii. 145, 146, 148, &c.
-
-[847] Pontalis, _op. cit._, i. 313. It would appear that on a previous
-occasion Lawson had returned the salute with the flag, for in the
-controversy with France on the striking of the flag a few years later,
-the Dutch stated, as an instance of the custom with England, that
-Lawson had shown this courtesy to De Ruyter off Tangiers. De Witt’s
-_Brieven_, ii. 474.
-
-[848] _Commons’ Journals_, viii. 548, 553; _Lords’ Journals_, xi. 599,
-614; _Parlt. Hist._, iv. 291, 308; Clarendon’s _Memoirs_, ii. 235-237,
-288; Hume, _Hist. of England_, lxiv.; Pepys’ _Diary_, iv. 31, 42, &c.;
-Pontalis, _John de Witt_, i. 309.
-
-[849] _The Dutch Drawn to the Life_, 1664. “Never was anything so
-unanimously applauded by men of all persuasions and interest as a Dutch
-Warre, which is the universal Wish of the people.”
-
-[850] 16 & 17 Car. II.
-
-[851] The king to the Duke of York, 22nd March 1665. _State Papers,
-Dom._, cxv. 76.
-
-[852] The author of _The Dutch Drawn to the Life_ expatiated on
-the inestimable benefit the Dutch derived from the British seas
-by encroaching on our fisheries, and asserted that the only way
-to keep them under was “by commanding the narrow sea, their coast
-and ours,”--the narrow sea, according to this writer’s view, or at
-least the “right and dominion of England,” extending as far as the
-Mediterranean (p. 75).
-
-[853] See Mahan, _The Influence of Sea Power upon History_; Colomb,
-_Naval Warfare_; Pontalis, _op. cit._; Clarendon’s _Memoirs_, ii. 111.
-
-[854] _Groot Placaet-Boeck, inhoudende de Placaten ende Ordonnantien
-van de H. M. Heeren Staten Generael der Vereenighde Nederlanden_, iii.
-291-293. _Resol. Holl._, 1665, 24, 59, 78, 210, 383. _State Papers,
-Dom._, cxiv. 104. _Ibid._, _Warrant Book_, 18, p. 213; 23, pp. 283,
-475. _Ibid._, clxxviii. 172.
-
-[855] _S. P., Dom._ Collection, Chas. II., vol. 339, p. 591. It is a
-copy in English. The petition was from the “Burgomasters, Eschevins,
-Counsellors, and the rest of the body of Citizens.”
-
-[856] “Warrant to ye Lord Chancellor for affixing ye great seale to an
-instrument containing a grant of fishinge in these seas for a certain
-number of boates belonging to ye City of Bruges, yearely,” July 17,
-1666. _State Papers, Warrant Book_, 23, p. 27. “Patent in favour of the
-Citie of Bruges in fflanders for a libertie of fishing in the British
-Seas with 50 saill of ships,” 29th August 1666. _Advoc. MSS._, 25.
-3. 4. The draft or copy of the Royal Letter which followed upon the
-Warrant is given in Appendix N.
-
-[857] See p. 617.
-
-[858] _Resol. Holl._, 11/21 Jan. 1665, p. 54. _Hollantsche Mercurius_,
-15th Oct. 1665, p. 143. _State Papers, Dom._, 4th Nov. 1665, cxxxvi. 35.
-
-[859] _Groot Placaet-Boeck_, iii. 295, 296.
-
-[860] _State Papers, Dom._, clxvi. 8, 46, 77, 100; clxvii. 148; clxxv.
-146; clxxxi. 113.
-
-[861] _Ibid._, clxxi. 30; clxxii. 7, 41. At the Yarmouth fishing this
-year (1666) “the sea was fuller of herrings than was ever known”; no
-sooner were the nets in the water than they were full of fish, and many
-herrings had to be thrown overboard, so that it was locally rhymed,
-“twelve herrings a penny fills many a hungry belly.” The exceptional
-abundance was attributed by the fishermen to the war having practically
-put a stop to the Dutch fishing off our coast, so that the shoals
-came to the inshore grounds in a body and not broken up. The herring
-fishing was also unusually successful during the third Dutch war. In
-1666, however, the herring fishing in Ireland was likewise uncommonly
-productive. _Ibid._, clxxiv. 52, 100, 129, 156; clxxv. 49.
-
-[862] _Resol. Holl._, 21 June/1 July 1667, p. 210. _State Papers,
-Dom._, ccxvi. 143; ccxvii. 77.
-
-[863] De Witt to Van Beuningen, 12/22 July 1666 to 18/28 July 1667;
-Van Beuningen to De Witt, (21 June)/(1 July) 1666 to 12/22 July 1667.
-“Raisons par lesquelles il paroît, que le contre-salut du Pavillon,
-aux rencontres des Flotes de Sa Majesté Très-Chrétienne et des États
-Généraux, est d’une justice toute évident.” De Witt’s _Brieven_, ii.
-473, &c. Pontalis, _op. cit._, i. 353.
-
-[864] _Articles touching Navigation and Commerce, concluded at Breda_,
-21/31 July 1667.
-
-[865] “Dat de scheepen van oorlois (_sic_) van den Coninck van Groot
-Brittannien door die van desen staet met het strijcken van de vlagge
-gesalveert werdende, van haere sijde vervolgens met het strijcken van
-haere vlagge contra salueren sullen.” Extract from _Secret Resolution,
-States-General_, 11th May 1667, Instructions to Ambassadors. _Treaty
-Papers (Breda)_, 1667, Bdl. 73.
-
-[866] Art. xix. See p. 455. Van Beuningen to De Witt, 5/15 April 1667.
-De Witt to Van Beuningen, 18/28 April, 20/30 June, (27 June)/(1 July)
-1667. _Brieven_, ii. 483, 487, 528, 533.
-
-[867] _Treaty of Breda_, Art. vii. It may have been in connection with
-the interpretation of this clause that the High Court of Admiralty
-asked the Trinity House their opinion as to the end of the English
-Channel westwards, and got the following answer: “We shall not
-presume,” said the Masters, on 2nd January 1668, “to determine matters
-that have for some ages past been controverted, and for anything that
-we at present know have not had a full resolution or any precedent
-for deciding questions relating thereunto;” but the opinion of “the
-past and present age,” with which they concurred, was that when
-any commander brought Scilly N.N.W. he had entered “the Channel of
-England.” _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221.
-
-[868] _Treaty of Peace and Alliance between Charles I. and Louis XIV.,
-concluded at Breda_, 21/31 July 1667. Article xvii.
-
-[869] _Treaty of Peace and Alliance between Charles II. and Frederick
-III., concluded at Breda_, 21/31 July 1667. Art. ii.
-
-[870] In the negotiation of subsequent treaties, controversy was
-usually occasioned about the wording of these articles relating to
-the date of cessation of hostilities on the sea, the United Provinces
-or France pointing to the treaty of Breda as a precedent, while the
-English took their stand on Cromwell’s treaty of 1654. In the treaty
-of Ryswick in 1697, between the United Provinces and France, the term
-“British Channel” was employed in conjunction with the Baltic and North
-Sea (Art. ii.); and in the treaty between William III. and Louis,
-signed at Ryswick on the same day, the words were “in the British and
-North Seas, as far as the Cape St Vincent” (Art. x.) In the negotiation
-with France in 1712 for a suspension of hostilities, the French
-insisted on the words, “the seas which surround the British Isles,”
-citing the treaty of Breda, while the British were equally obstinate
-to have the term _in maribus Britannicis_ inserted, as in the treaty
-of 1654, arguing that the “error” of Breda had been rectified in the
-later treaty of Ryswick; the result being that in one article “the
-Channel, the British Sea, and the North Sea” were specified, and in
-another the phrase was “in the Channel and North Sea.” Dumont, _Corps
-Diplomatique_, VIII. i. 306. Burchett, _A Complete History of the Most
-Remarkable Transactions at Sea, &c._, p. 38.
-
-[871] See p. 474.
-
-[872] This was the farthing known later as the “Lucas farthing,” from
-the gibes of Lord Lucas in his attack on the king’s policy made in the
-debate on the Subsidy Bill in the House of Lords in 1670. Speaking
-of the scarcity of money in the kingdom, he said: “What supply is
-preparing for it, my Lords? I hear of none, unless it be of copper
-farthings; and this is the metal that is to indicate, according to the
-inscription on it, ‘The Dominion of the Four Seas.’” _Parl. Hist._, iv.
-473.
-
-[873] “Omtrent het point van de Vlagge, saegen wy alhier seer gaerne
-iets seeckers gedetermineert, ten minsten dat wy moghten weten waer
-mede men buyten nieuwe feytelyckheydt ende Oorloge konde verblyven; dat
-een Fregatje ofte een Kitsje een gantsche Oorloghs-Vloote soude doen
-strycken, is notoirlyck intolerabel.” De Witt to Meerman, 12/22 June
-1668. The same to the same, (29 Feb.)/(9 March), 3/13, 7/17 April, (24
-April)/(4 May), (22 May)/(1 June) 1668. De Witt to Meerman and Boreel,
-17/27 March, (29 May)/(8 June) 1668. Meerman to De Witt, (28 March)/(7
-April), 6/16 June 1668. De Witt’s _Brieven_, iv. Sir William Temple to
-Lord Arlington, 2/12 Feb., 6/16 March 1668; the same to the Lord-Keeper
-Bridgeman, (25 Oct.)/(4 Nov.) 1668. _Works_, iii. 134, 199, 348.
-_State Papers, Dom._, 1668, ccxxxv. 49, 62; _ibid._, 1665, cxxiii. 67.
-Aitzema, _Saken van Staet en Oorlogh_, v. 390.
-
-[874] The king to the Duke of York, 31st Oct. 1669. _State Papers,
-Entry Book_, 31, fol. 37.
-
-[875] Pepys’ _Diary_, 20th Dec. 1668, viii. 184.
-
-[876] Pontalis, _op. cit._, ii. 24.
-
-[877] The king to the Duke of York, 26th June 1669. _State Papers,
-Entry Book_, 31, fol. 29. Instructions by the Duke of York to Sir
-Thomas Allin, 6th July 1669. _Ibid._, cclxii. 120. A marginal
-memorandum on the latter document says, “This rule was adjusted with
-Colbert, the French Ambassador here, _but nothing passed in writing but
-this_.”
-
-[878] _State Papers, Dom._, 1669, cclxi. 82-87.
-
-[879] _State Papers, Dom._, 1668, ccli. 191; 1670, cclxxiv. 157;
-cclxxv. 43; cclxxvi. 206; cclxxxi. 15; 1671, ccxc. 5, &c. Temple’s
-_Memoirs_, iii. 433. Justice, _Dominion and Laws of the Sea_, 298.
-
-[880] Bynkershoek, _De Dominio Maris_, cap. ii. iv. As elsewhere
-explained (p. 557), it was this custom which helped to prepare the way
-for the acceptance of the principle that now determines the extent of
-the territorial sea on an open coast--viz., the range of guns.
-
-[881] Hume, _Hist, of England_, c. lxv. Temple’s _Memoirs and Letters_.
-Pontalis, _John de Witt_. Macaulay, _Hist._, i. c. ii.
-
-[882] _Parl. Hist._, iv. 456. Hume, _op. cit._
-
-[883] De Witt’s _Brieven_, iv. 837. Pontalis, _op. cit._, ii. 122.
-
-[884] Sir Leoline Jenkins to Sir Thomas Allin, Admiral of the Blue
-Flag, 8th Oct. 1670. _Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins_, ii. 699.
-
-[885] _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, ff. 46_b_, 48_b_.
-
-[886] _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, fol. 47_b_. The affidavits of
-three English sailors who witnessed the meeting of the _Merlin_ and
-the two Dutch convoyers off Flamborough. The sailors swore “that they
-exchanged guns but did not strike their flags, but went away with their
-flags abroad.” This evidence was obtained to magnify the offence; the
-position assigned, “off the Flamborough,” makes its value doubtful.
-
-[887] “A Draft made by Sir Leoline Jenkins about the King’s Sovereignty
-in the British Seas.” _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, fol. 46_b_.
-Undated, but probably referring to this case.
-
-[888] Sir William Temple to Sir John Temple, 14th Sept. 1671. _Works_,
-iii. 501. Pontalis, _John de Witt_, 126, 127. Hume, _Hist. of England_,
-cap. lxv. _State Papers, Dom._, 1671, ccxcii. 45, 77, 78, 81, 215.
-Evelyn’s _Diary_ (ed. 1850), ii. 69. _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221.
-
-[889] Pontalis, _op. cit._, ii. 130, 134. Hume, _op. cit._, cap. xlv.
-Sir William Temple to his brother, 23rd May 1672. _Works_, iii. 505.
-Clarendon’s _Memoirs_, ii. 289. _England’s Appeal_, p. 22. _State
-Papers, Entry Book_, 24, fol. 54. _Ibid._, _Dom._, 1671, ccxciv. 127;
-1672, cccii. 55, 112, 233; ccciii. 206. _Entry Book_, 34, f. 147.
-It was in connection with the offers of the Dutch on this occasion
-or a little later in the year that Sir Leoline Jenkins made the
-following pronouncement as to the king’s rights to the dominion of
-the seas. He was asked by Secretary Coventry “what his Majesty, his
-heirs and successors, Kings of England, may reasonably pretend to
-be signified by these words, _en la pleine et entiere joüissance du
-droit de pavillon_”? Jenkins replied (1) that the King of England for
-the time being was Lord of these seas, where he had the right of his
-flag acknowledged, and that these seas were, as much as that watery
-element is capable of being so in its nature, no less a domain of the
-Crown than the Honour of Greenwich or the Manor of Eltham; (2) that
-the _droits souveraines_ of the king in his seas against strangers had
-all the legal requisites of a prescription beyond the memory of man,
-and did not consist in one individual point, as for instance in having
-the flag struck to, or in having the liberty of fishing acknowledged
-by yearly sums of money; but in all the several rights, honours, and
-perquisites that a sovereignty is capable of producing, and have been
-enjoyed by former kings of England, with this difference from all
-_seigneuries_ that move from a _mesne_ Lord, or Lord Paramount, that
-our kings hold this as they do their crown, from God alone, and by
-their sword. _Life_, ii. 697.
-
-[890] The account was brought to Court by Lieutenant Churchill,
-afterwards the great Duke of Marlborough, who was serving under Lord
-Ossory.
-
-[891] Pontalis, _op. cit._, ii. 239. Hume, _loc. cit. State Papers,
-Dom._, _Entry Book_, 24, f. 57; _ibid._, 34, f. 164; cccii. 130;
-ccciii. 26, 72, 211-218; ccciv. 9, 11, 20, 21, 25, 36; cccvii. 169;
-_Foreign Entry Book_, 21, ff. 1, 9.
-
-[892] Hume, _loc. cit._ Pontalis, _loc. cit._ Temple’s _Works_, i. 175;
-iii. 505. _Parl. Hist._, iv. 512. _Hollantsche Mercurius_, 1672, p. 50.
-Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, VII. i. 163. _State Papers, Dom._, cccii.
-210; ccciv. 21, 22; cccvi. 27; _Entry Book_, 31, f. 90. _Ibid._, 34, f.
-157.
-
-[893] Mahan, _op. cit._ Colomb, _op. cit._
-
-[894] 9/19 March, 5/15 Sept. 1672. _Groot Placaet-Boeck_, iii. 292,
-298. The embargo was renewed in the next year.
-
-[895] _State Papers, Dom._, cccxv. 108, &c.; cccxvi. 43.
-
-[896] Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, VII. i. 206. Hume, _op. cit._,
-c. lxv. In _State Papers, Foreign, Treaty Papers_ (_Breda_), 1667,
-Bdl. 73 (as at present arranged), are a number of papers belonging to
-these negotiations and the later ones at Cologne in 1673, consisting
-mostly of draft articles, with copious notes by the plenipotentiaries.
-In one, marked “1st project as framed,” Art. xiv. refers to the flag
-as follows, the words in brackets being inserted here from a second
-copy: “That the ships and vessells of the United Provinces, as well
-men-of-war as others, be they single ships or in Fleets how great
-soever, meeting in any part within ye Brittish seas, with any one of ye
-ships of war (yachts) or other vessells w’soever of ye said K. of Gr.
-Brittain, or in his service and wearing his flagg, colours (or Jack)
-shall strike their flaggs and lower their Topsailes untill they be
-passed by, as a Ancient and undoubted Right belonging to the said K.,
-and which hath been payd and performed to his R^{ll} progenitors in all
-times.” The fishery article (xxiv.) was as follows, the words within
-brackets being taken from another copy, to fill up a blank: “And the
-said States acknowledging his said Maj^{ts} ancient and undoubted Right
-in the Brittish Seas, as they do hereby own and acknowledge ye same,
-Doe further promise and agree, that they and their successors will from
-henceforth pay to his said Maj. his Heirs and successors, for euer,
-at the Receipt of his Exchequer, a yearly sum̄ of ... (10^{mte}--as
-likewise ye yearly summe of 2^{mt} sterling by ye yeare at ye Receipt
-of his Ma^{tys} Treasury of his Kingdom of Scotland) ... sterling by
-the year, in consideration of his Maj^{ts} license and permission to
-them and their subj^{ts} to fish in the said seas and upon his Ma^{tys}
-coasts.” Another article (xxv.) provided for the payment of £1,000,000
-for the charges of the war, £400,000 in the following October, and the
-remainder later.
-
-[897] Hume, _loc. cit._ Temple’s _Memoirs_, i. 166. _State Papers,
-Dom._, cccxi. 75, 82, 206; cccxiii. 233. _Commons’ Journals_, ix. 246.
-Dumont, _op. cit._, VII. i. 206. _Hollantsche Mercurius_, 1672, p. 265.
-
-[898] _Brief Animadversions on, Amendments of, and Additional
-Explanatory Records to the Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Lawes
-of England, concerning the Jurisdiction of Courts, compiled by the late
-famous Lawyer, Sir Edward Coke, Knight, &c._, 1669.
-
-[899] England’s _Improvement Reviv’d: Digested into Six Books_, 1670.
-
-[900] Roger Coke, _A Discourse of Trade_, 1670.
-
-[901] William de Britaine, _The Dutch Usurpation, or a Brief View of
-the Behaviour of the States-General of the United Provinces towards the
-King of England_, 1672.
-
-[902] _State Papers, Dom._, cccviii. 143.
-
-[903] _A Justification of the Present War against the United
-Netherlands, wherein the Declaration of his Majesty is vindicated, and
-the War proved to be Just, Honourable, and Necessary; the Dominion of
-the Sea explained, and his Majesty’s Rights thereunto asserted; the
-Obligations of the Dutch to England, and their continual Ingratitude:
-Illustrated with Sculptures. In Answer to a Dutch Treatise entitled,
-Considerations upon the Present State of the United Netherlands._ By an
-English Man, 1672.
-
-[904] 8th July 1872. _State Papers, Dom._, cccxii. 166.
-
-[905] Benson to Williamson, 28th June, 9th July 1672. Stubbe to
-Williamson, 8th July. _State Papers, Dom._, cccxii. 45, 166, 184. The
-warrant was to Mr Thurloe and Mr Bish of Lincoln’s Inn. Stubbe made
-considerable use of the book, citing it as “MSS. Commentary of the
-Treaty and Articles betwixt the English and the Dutch in 1653.”
-
-[906] _A Further Justification of the Present War against the
-United Netherlands, illustrated with several Sculptures._ By Henry
-Stubbe, a lover of the Honour and Welfare of Old England, &c., 1673.
-Unfortunately for Stubbe, he tried his hand on another line, and was
-arrested and imprisoned in the same year for denouncing, in his “Paris
-Gazette,” the Duke of York’s marriage with Princess Mary of Modena.
-
-[907] _Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins_, i. 3. For the use of the
-plenipotentiaries a volume of transcripts of documents, mostly State
-Papers, and chiefly in the handwriting of Williamson’s clerks, was
-prepared, dealing with the claims to the sovereignty of the sea in its
-various phases. It comprised 613 folio pages, and forms volume 339
-of the Domestic series of Charles II. There is a long memorandum in
-regard to the striking of the flag, consisting for the most part of
-brief paragraphs reciting precedents (and many of them are omitted),
-and arranged under the following heads: (1) Strikeing in Generall; (2)
-Whole Fleets to Single Ships and a Greater Number to a Lesser; (3) Till
-they be passed by to keepe downe their Flag in sight of ye English;
-(4) Within the Brittish Seas, What the Brittish Seas are, &c., where
-done, &c. What Places esteemed according to this Practice to be within
-ye Brittish Seas; (5) This done as a Duty and Right and not only as a
-Civillity. Some of the papers have notes on them, apparently penned by
-the ambassadors at Cologne.
-
-[908] In one of the papers in the volume provided for the use of the
-ambassadors, containing a copy of the fishery article put forward by
-Cromwell in 1653 and afterwards withdrawn, is the following, with
-a sidenote referring to the “king’s instructions to the special
-ambassadors”: “Lastly, that y^e subiects of y^e States generall shall
-for y^e future abstayne from fisheing vpon y^e Countreys and shores of
-any of his Ma^{tyes} Dominions w^{thout} leaue and Passeports first
-obtayned. One thing more I must obserue to you relating to those six
-propositions particularly that of y^e fishery. In his Ma^{tyes} former
-Instructions to you vpon that Point you were bid to consent to y^e
-leauing out that Article in case y^e Dutch should be obstinate vpon
-it. But his Ma^{ty} by progress of tyme finding that his Subiects seem
-fonder thereof, bids me now to direct you to insist vpon that, as vpon
-y^e rest and to frame it as neare as you can according to y^e Words set
-down in y^e Reply.” Then after Cromwell’s article is the following: “Ye
-Art. of the Fishery as contained in y^e Project, 1673.” It is the same
-as that given in the previous year (note, p. 491),--the part referring
-to the contribution of £2000 for Scotland being interpolated,--except
-that it concludes with this sentence, “In w^{ch} fisheing y^e said
-States shall oblidge themselues that their Subiects shall not come
-w^{th}in one league of y^e shoares of England and Scotland,” which is
-the first mention of a three-mile limit that has been discovered. Sir
-Arnold Braems suggested to Arlington, in August 1673, that the king
-should insist in the treaty for an annual payment of £10,000 or £12,000
-for their free fishing on his coasts, and that £3000 of this should
-be devoted to the bringing over of Dutch families and fishing-busses
-to England, a project which was then being tried by more or less
-surreptitious methods. _State Papers, Dom._, vol. 336, No. 295.
-
-[909] See p. 461.
-
-[910] The ambassadors to the Earl of Arlington, 8/18 Aug., (26 Aug.)/(5
-Sept.), 13/23 Sept., (23 Sept.)/(3 Oct.), 3/13 Oct. 1673. _Life of Sir
-Leoline Jenkins_, i. 68, 86, 87, 109, 126, 133.
-
-[911] Penn was in error in supposing that “Finisterre” in the
-subsequent treaty was _finis terræ_, and meant the Land’s End in
-England (Granville Penn, _Memorials of the Professional Life and Times
-of Sir William Penn_, ii. 255). It was described as “Finisterre, in
-Galicia,” by the Dutch ambassadors in 1668. See p. 469.
-
-[912] The ambassadors to Arlington, (29 Aug.)/(8 Sept.), 2/12, 13/23
-Sept., (23 Sept.)/(3 Oct.), 3/13 Oct. 1673. _Life of Sir Leoline
-Jenkins_, i. 91, 95, 109, 117, 120, 125, 133.
-
-[913] The same to the same, (24 Oct.)/(3 Nov.), 11/21, 14/24 Nov. 1673,
-(23 Dec. 1673)/(2 Jan. 1674), 2/12 Jan., 3/13 Feb. 1674. _Ibid._, i.
-151, 170, 171, 223, 235, 237, 279.
-
-[914] The same to the same, 10/20 Oct. 1673 to 3/13 Feb. 1674. _Ibid._,
-i. 139, &c. _State Papers, Foreign, Treaty Papers_ (_Breda_, sic),
-Bdle. 73. There were prolonged discussions as to the extent of the
-British seas both in regard to the article on the flag and that on the
-cessation of hostilities on the sea, as shown by the very numerous
-notes on the draft articles. The ambassadors were of opinion with
-regard to the latter article that St George’s Channel and the sea
-between England, Ireland, and Scotland were comprehended in the term
-“the Channel,” a point which was left for the opinion of the king.
-
-[915] _Commons’ Journals_, ix. 282. _Lords’ Journals_, xii. 588.
-
-[916] P. 513.
-
-[917] Hume, _loc. cit. Commons’ Journals_, ix. 299. Temple’s
-_Memoirs_, i. 167-169. Temple to the Prince of Orange, Feb. 1674. The
-same to the Duke of Florence, 11th Feb. 1674. _Works_, iv. 13, 16.
-
-[918] “Prædicti Ordines Generales Unitarum Provinciarum debite, ex
-parte sua agnoscentes jus supramemorati Serenissimi Domini Magnæ
-Britanniæ Regis, ut vexillo suo in maribus infra nominandis honos
-habeatur, declarabunt et declarant, concordabunt et concordant, quod
-quæcunque naves et navigia ad præfatas Unitas Provincias spectantia,
-sive naves bellicæ, sive aliæ, eæque vel singulæ vel in classibus
-junctæ, in aliis maribus a Promontorio _Finis Terræ_ dicto usque ad
-medium punctum terræ _van Staten_ dictæ in Norwegia, quibuslibet
-navibus aut navigiis ad Serenissimum Dominum Magnæ Britanniæ Regem
-spectantibus, obviam dederint, sive illæ naves singulæ sint, vel in
-numero majori, si majestatis Britannicæ sive aplustrum, sive vexillum
-_Jack_ appelatum gerant, prædictæ Unitarum Provinciarum naves aut
-navigia vexillum suum e mali vertice detrahent et supremum velum
-demittent, eodem modo parique honoris testimonio, quo ullo unquam
-tempore aut in alio loco antehac usitatum fuit, versus ullas Majestatis
-suæ Britannicæ aut antecessorum suorum naves ab ullis Ordinum
-Generalium suorumque antecessorum navibus.” Art. iv. Dumont, _op.
-cit._, VII. i. 253. The land _van Staten_ (which is a Dutch expression)
-is the peninsula of Stadtland in N. Berghus, in 62° 5´ N. latitude. It
-is probable that the English Ministers took the advice of the Trinity
-House (p. 478) to consult the authors who had written on the northern
-boundary of the British seas, and that the substitution of _van Staten_
-for the North Cape, first made at the congress of Cologne (see p. 506),
-was based upon Selden’s plate showing the British seas (_Mare Clausum_,
-lib. ii., cap. i., p. 122), and which is reproduced in the frontispiece
-of this book. Selden’s plate was much less liberal to the British seas
-than was his text. The Dutch appellation may have been extracted from a
-Dutch map.
-
-[919] _Memoirs_, i. 170. Temple added: “Nothing, I confess, had ever
-given me a greater pleasure, in the greatest public affairs I had run
-through, than this success; as having been a point I ever had at heart,
-and in my endeavours to gain, upon my first negotiations in Holland,
-but found Monsieur De Witt ever inflexible, though he agreed with me
-it would be a rock upon which our firmest alliances would be in danger
-to strike, and to split, whenever other circumstances fell in to make
-either of the parties content to alter the measures we had entered into
-upon the triple alliance.”
-
-[920] _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, fol. 59. Some writers on
-international law erroneously describe the boundaries mentioned in the
-article as the boundaries of the British seas.
-
-[921] Temple to the Duke of Ormonde, Oct. 1673. The same to the Duke of
-Florence, 11th Feb. 1674. _Works_, ii. 91; iv. 19.
-
-[922] _Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins_, ii. 697.
-
-[923] _State Papers, Dom._, vol. ccclxxvi. 46.
-
-[924] _State Papers, Dom._, ccclxx. 238, 245, 252.
-
-[925] _State Papers, Dom._, ccclxxvi. 92; ccclxxix. 9. The incident
-occurred on 11th November 1675, between 46 and 47 degrees latitude.
-The Spanish ship “required him to strike for the King of Spaine,
-and the said Cap^n Harris haueing seuerell times refused to doe it,
-and required the said Ostender to strike for his Ma^{ty} of Greate
-Brittain; yet neuerthelesse he, Cap^t Jos. Harris, in the time of their
-convention (_sic_) about this matter, did order the Topsaile of the
-said Ketch to be Lowered, w^{ch} was accordingly done, and is proued
-by the depositions vpon Oath taken in Court,” &c. The court found that
-by lowering his top-sails he struck to a foreigner in his Majesty’s
-seas, “a great derogac͠on from his Ma^{ties} Honour, contrary to the
-32th Article of the General Instrucc͠ons and punishable by the Eleventh
-Article of War.”
-
-[926] _H. O. Warrant Book_, i. 126, 144.
-
-[927] 8th Oct. 1674. Tanner, _Catalogue of Naval MSS. in Pepysian
-Library_, No. 1838.
-
-[928] _Life_, ii. 716. Various other indictments are referred to in
-_Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, fol. 62_b_.
-
-[929] _Navigation and Commerce; their Original and Progress_, 1674.
-
-[930] Evelyn’s _Diary and Correspondence_, ii. 90, 91 (ed. 1850).
-
-[931] Evelyn to Pepys, 19th Sept. 1682. “To speake plaine truth,” he
-says, “when I writ that Treatise, rather as a _philological_ exercise,
-and to gratifie the present circumstances, I could not clearly satisfie
-myself in sundry of those particulars, nor find realy that euer the
-Dutch did pay toll or tooke license to fish in Scotland after the
-contest (with Spain) from any solid proofs.... I think they neuer payd
-a peny for it ... nor did I find that any rent (wheroff in my 108 page
-I calculate the arrears) for permission to fish, was euer fixed by both
-parties.”
-
-[932] _De Jure Maritimo et Navali, or a Treatise of Affaires Maritime
-and of Commerce_, London, 1676. Editions were published in 1682, 1690,
-1744, 1769, &c. It is still quoted by writers on international law.
-Molloy was the author of a work attacking the Dutch during the second
-Dutch war--_Holland’s Ingratitude, or a Serious Expostulation with the
-Dutch, &c._, 1666.
-
-[933] _A View of the Admiral Jurisdiction, &c._, London, 1661; 2nd
-edition, 1685.
-
-[934] _The Jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England Asserted_, London,
-1686.
-
-[935] _England’s Great Interest_, 38. _State Papers, Dom._, cccxi. 86;
-cccxv. 196 ; cccxxxvi. 295.
-
-[936] _State Papers, Dom._, ccclxix. 263. It is endorsed by Williamson,
-“Herring Fishery: Given me by ye King to keepe. Sunday, 24 Ap. 75,”
-and is unsigned. Each buss was to be of 70 tons, with a master, mate,
-pilot, and 12 seamen, to be all paid partly by results. The whole
-charge for the first year was put at £58,537, and the earnings at
-£90,000, on the assumption that each buss would catch 100 lasts of
-herrings, 15,000 cod, and 10,000 ling.
-
-[937] _State Papers, Dom._, _ibid._, 264, 265.
-
-[938] _Memoires relating to the State of the Royal Navy of England for
-Ten Years, determin’d December 1688._ London, 1690.
-
-[939] Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, VII. ii. 236. Wagenaar,
-_Vaderlandsche Historie_, c. lxi.
-
-[940] Valin, _Nouveau Commentaire sur l’Ordonnance de la Marine, &c._,
-ii. 689.
-
-[941] Dumont, _op. cit._, VII. ii. 230.
-
-[942] “Upon your meeting with any ship or ships within his Majestie’s
-Seas, (which for your better guidance herein, you are to take notice
-that they extend to Cape Finisterre) belonging to any foreign Prince or
-State, you are to expect them in their passage by you, to strike their
-topsail and take in their flag, in acknowledgment of his Majestie’s
-Sovereignty in these Seas; and if any shall refuse, or offer to resist,
-you are to use your utmost endeavour to compel them therto, and in no
-wise to suffer any dishonour to be done to his Majesty; and in case any
-of his Majestie’s subjects shall be so far forgetful of their duty,
-as to omit striking their topsail as they pass by you, when it may be
-done without the loss of the voyage, you are to bring them to the Flag
-to answer their contempt, or otherwise to return the name of the ship
-and of the master to the Secretary of the Admiralty, or the Lord High
-Admiral of England, or the Commissioners for executing the office of
-Lord High Admiral for the time being, as also the place whence and the
-port to which he shall be bound. And you are to make the master of
-such ship pay the charge of what shot you shall make at her. And you
-are further to take notice that in his Majestie’s Seas his Majestie’s
-ships are in no wise to strike to any; and that in other parts no ship
-of his Majestie’s is to strike her flag or topsail to any foreigner,
-unless such foreign ship shall have first struck, or at the same time
-strike, her flag or topsail to his Majestie’s ship, except in the
-harbour of some foreign Prince, or in the road within shot of cannon of
-some fort or castle, where you are to send on shore to inform yourself
-what return they will make to your salute. And in case you have good
-assurance you shall be answered gun for gun, you are then to salute
-the port as is usual; but if you shall not be well assured that you
-shall have an equal number of guns returned you, you are in no wise to
-salute that place. And in case the ship in which you now command shall
-at the same time carry his Majestie’s flag, you are, before you salute
-the place, carefully to inform yourself how flags of the same quality
-with that you carry, of other Princes, have been saluted there, and you
-are to insist on it being saluted with as great respect and advantage
-as any flag of the same quality with yours, of any other Prince, hath
-been saluted in that place, from which you are in no wise to depart.”
-Art. xxxv. 1691. _State Papers, Dom._, _H. O. Admiralty_, 1, No. 14.
-Justice, _A General Treatise of the Dominion and Laws of the Sea_, 595.
-
-[943] _Regulations and Instructions relating to His Majesty’s Service
-at Sea. Established by His Majesty in Council._ 2nd edition, 1734, Art.
-xi. _Ibid._, 10th edition, 1766. _Ibid._, 13th edition, 1790.
-
-[944] _State Papers, Dom., H. O. Admiralty_, 5, 1108, October 19.
-
-[945] _State Papers, Dom., Petition Entry Book_, 3, 90.
-
-[946] Justice, _op. cit._, 193.
-
-[947] _State Papers, Dom., Naval_, 1769, 45. Copies of the various
-papers sent from the Admiralty to the Under-Secretary of State.
-Professor Laughton states that Lieutenant Smith was reinstated to a
-higher rank next day. _Fortnightly Review_, Aug. 1866, p. 721.
-
-[948] _A Complete History of the Most Remarkable Transactions at Sea,
-&c._ By Josiah Burchett, Secretary to the Admiralty, 1720. Burchett’s
-account and definitions were adopted by later writers, as Lediard, _The
-Naval History of England_, 1735; Colliber, _Columna Rostrata; or a
-History of the English Sea Affairs_, 1727; Entick, _A New Naval History
-or Compleat View of the British Marine, &c._, 1757; Campbell, _Lives
-of the Admirals and other Eminent British Seamen_, 1742-44. Entick
-claimed for the crown the right to all the fisheries in the British
-seas, the right to impose tribute on all merchant ships navigating
-them, the execution of justice for all crimes committed within them,
-the permitting or denial of free passage through them to foreign ships
-of war, and the striking of the flag.
-
-[949] In both it was as follows: “Art. ii. À l’égard des honneurs
-du pavillon, et du salut en mer, par les vaisseaux de la République
-vis-à-vis de ceux de Sa Maj. Britannique, il en sera usé respectivement
-de la même manière qui a été pratiquée avant le commencement de la
-guerre qui vient de finir.” Martens, _Recueil de Traités_, iii. 514,
-561.
-
-[950] Mahan, _The Influence of Sea Power upon History_, 209, 225, 510,
-&c.
-
-[951] _The Life of Richard, Earl Howe_, 200 (1838).
-
-[952] In the _Regulations and Instructions_ issued in 1808, the article
-is as follows: “XXIV. Within his Majesty’s seas his ships are not on
-any account to strike their topsails, nor take in their flags; nor in
-any way to salute any foreign ship whatever; nor are they, in any other
-seas, to strike their topsails, or take in their flags, to any foreign
-ships, unless such foreign ships shall have first struck, or shall at
-the same time strike, their flags and topsails to his Majesty’s ships.”
-
-[953] _Observations concerning the Dominion and Sovereignty of the
-Seas: being an Abstract of the Marine Affairs of England._ In his
-preface the author says the work was presented in manuscript to Charles
-II., “and well accepted by him.” In a letter from W. Bridgeman to Sir
-J. Williamson, dated from Whitehall, 13th May 1673, there was enclosed
-“a paper drawne up as I remember about the beginning of this Warre by
-S^r Philip Meadowes, which I find amongst other papers, and showing
-it to My Lord he directed mee to send it to you.” The enclosure is
-endorsed, “Soveraignity and Fishery by S^r Phil. Meadowes, 1674,” the
-proper date being probably 1672. It is evidently a draft of the later
-work, essentially the same in substance and tone. (_State Papers,
-Dom._, Chas. II., vol. 335, Part II., No. 168.) Later he sent a copy to
-Pepys, dated January 2, 1686. _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, ff. 13-43.
-
-[954] _Op. cit._, pp. 44-46. The draft article was as follows: “To
-maintain a due distinction betwixt natives and foreigners fishing
-upon the coasts of their respective sovereigns; and to prevent the
-manifold inconveniences which occasionally arise by a promiscuous
-and unlimited fishing; ’Tis mutually covenanted, concluded, and
-agreed, That the people and subjects of the United Netherlands shall
-henceforth abstain from fishing within any the rivers, fryths, havens,
-or bays of Great Britain and Ireland, or within a distance of ...
-leagues from any point of land thereof, or of any the isles thereto
-belonging; under a penalty and forfeiture of all the fish that shall
-be found aboard any vessel doing to the contrary, and of all the nets,
-utensils and other instruments of fishing. The like distances, and
-under the same penalties, to be kept and preserved by the subjects
-of His Majesty of Great Britain and Ireland, from any of the coasts
-belonging to the United Netherlands. But beyond these precincts and
-limits, that the people and subjects on both sides be at freedom to
-use and exercise fishing, where they please, without asking or taking
-licenses or safe-conducts for so doing, and without the let, hindrance,
-or molestation one of another. Saving always the ancient rights of the
-crown of England, and that nothing herein contained be interpreted
-or extended to any diminution or impeachment thereof, But that they
-remain in the same force and vertue, as before this agreement.” Meadows
-does not suggest the number of leagues within which fishing should be
-reserved, but he quotes with approval the proposal of James, in 1618,
-to fix a limit of fourteen miles--that is, one “land-kenning” of the
-Scotch.
-
-[955] “Reflections upon a Passage in S^r William Temple’s Memoirs,
-printed 1692, relating to the Right of Dominion on the British Seas.”
-_Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, fol. 55. It is dated 1693.
-
-[956] _A Treaty of Peace, Good Correspondence and Neutrality in
-America, &c._, 16th November 1686, Art. v. By Article xvi. French
-subjects were to be at liberty to fish for turtles in the islands of
-Cayman.
-
-[957] Rayneval, _Institutions du Droit de la Nature et des Gens_, i. c.
-x.
-
-[958] _Resol. van de Staten-Generael_, April, May, June 1616. _Resol.
-d. Stat. van Holl._, March, April 1616. _Ibid._, 15th Dec. 1623; March,
-May 1635; 19th May 1637; Dec. 1639, _Res. St.-Gen._, 18th June 1639.
-_Res. Holl._, 13th April 1691. Lindemann, _Die Arktische Fischerei der
-Deutschen Seestädte_, p. 8. _Groot Placaet-Boeck_, iv. 235, 237. Auber,
-_Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International_, xi. 144.
-
-[959] _Resol. St.-Gen._, Nov., Dec. 1698, 1740, 1741. _Resol. Holl._,
-July 1699; Jan., March, April, Sept., Dec. 1739; Jan., March, May 1740,
-1741; Oct. 1757; Jan. 1758; Aug. 1761; April 1762. Martens, _Causes
-Célèbres_, i. 359-398; ii. 122-131. Beaujon, _Hist. Dutch Fisheries_,
-479. A full account of the proceedings in 1738-40 is said by Beaujon
-to be contained in the memorials of Mauricius, who was the Dutch
-ambassador at Hamburg at the time, and was closely connected with the
-negotiations; they are contained in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek at The
-Hague.
-
-[960] Art. xii. “D’exercer la pêche dans lesd. mers, bayes, et autres
-endroits à trente lieues près des costes de la nouvelle Ecosse au
-sudest, en commençant depuis l’isle appellée vulgairement de _Sable_,”
-&c. Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, VIII. i. 341.
-
-[961] Treaty of Paris, 10th February 1763, Art. v. Hertslet,
-_Collection_, i. 274. Martens, _Recueil_, i. 109.
-
-[962] Treaty of Versailles, 3rd Sept. 1783, Arts. v., vi., and
-Declaration attached. Hertslet, i. 246. Martens, iii. 522.
-
-[963] _Parl. Hist._, xv. 1063, 1261-1263. In the negotiations for peace
-in 1761, Pitt, who was then in office, most wisely insisted on an
-exclusive fishery.
-
-[964] _Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and the United States
-of America, signed at Paris_, 3rd Sept. 1783, Art. viii. Martens,
-_Recueil_, iii. 556.
-
-[965] Gander, _A Vindication of a National Fishery, wherein is asserted
-that the Glory, Wealth, Strength, Safety, and Happiness of this Kingdom
-... doth depend (under God) upon a National Fishery ... to which is
-added the Sovereignty of the British Seas_, 1699. Puckle, _England’s
-Way to Wealth and Honour_, 1699. _A Discourse concerning the Fishery_,
-1695. _The British Fishery recommended to Parliament_, 1734. _The
-Wealth of Great Britain in the Ocean Exemplified_, 1749, &c., &c.
-
-[966] 23 Geo. II., c. 24, 1750. _An Act for the Encouragement of the
-British White Herring Fishery._
-
-[967] Gifford, _Historical Description of the Zetland Isles_;
-Edmondston, _A View of the Ancient and Present State of the Shetland
-Isles_; _Europische Mercurius_, 1703, ii. 107.
-
-[968] Maine, _International Law_, 77.
-
-[969] _Tyberiadis, D. Bartoli de Saxoferrato, Jurisconsultorum omnium
-facile principis, Tractatus de Fluminibus, &c._, Bononiæ, 1576, p.
-55. “Jurisdictionem habens in territorio mari cohærenti habet etiam
-jurisdictionem in mari usque ad centum milliaria, ... sicut præses
-provinciæ debet purgare provinciam malis hominibus per terram, ita
-etiam per aquam.... Constat autem quòd centum miliaria per mare minus
-est duabus dietis.”
-
-[970] _Commentaria ad Institutiones, Pandectas et Codicem_, iii. 79.
-Venice, 1577.
-
-[971] Bodinus, _De Republica_, lib. i. c. x. § 170, Frankfort, 1591;
-Pacius, _De Dominio Maris Hadriatici Disceptatio_, c. i., Leyden, 1619;
-Welwood, _De Dominio Maris_, c. i. p. 5, 1615; Dee, _General and Rare
-Memorials_, p. 21, 1577; Gryphiander, _De Insulis Tractatus_, c. xiv.,
-1623; Gentilis, _Advocatio Hispanica_, c. viii. de marina territorio
-tuendo, 1613; Gothofredus, _De Imperio Maris_, 1637.
-
-[972] “Mare dicitur esse de territorio illius civitatis cui magis
-appropinquat et ideo Veneti quia domini sunt maris Adriatici possunt
-imponere navigantibus vectigalia, et adversus contra facientus pœnam
-adjicere.”
-
-[973] _Loc. cit._
-
-[974] “Et dicunt doctores, quod domini Veneti, et Genuenses, et alii
-habentes portum, dicuntur habere jurisdictionem, et imperium in toto
-mari sibi propinquo per centum miliaria, vel etiam ultra, si non
-propinquant alteri provinciæ.” _Loc. cit._
-
-[975] Azuni, _Systema Universale dei Principii del Diritto Maritimo
-dell’ Europa_, i. 58, 1798. Jurisdiction was conferred within certain
-boundaries on land, “et intus mare centum milliaria.”
-
-[976] _Parl. Papers, U.S., No. 1._, 1893. _Behring Sea Arbitration,
-British Case_, 37, 133.
-
-[977] In the definitions of the boundaries of lands and fisheries in
-Anglo-Saxon charters such descriptions occur as “up midne streame,”
-“ūt on Temese oð midne streām,” “up midne streame by halfen streame,”
-&c. Birch, _Cartulariurm Saxonicum_.
-
-[978] “Quicquid etiam ex hac parte medietatis maris inventum et dilatum
-ad Sandwic fuerit sive sit vestimentum sive rete arma ferrum aurum
-argentum, medietas monachorum erit, alia pars remanebit inventoribus.”
-Kemble, _Codex Diplomaticus Ævi Saxonici_, iv. 21.
-
-[979] _Le Mirroir des Justices_, c. iii., “la sovereine seignurie de
-tote la terre jeqes el miluieu fil de la meer environ la terre.”
-
-[980] See p. 102.
-
-[981] _Brit. Mus. Hargraves MSS._, No. 98; printed by Moore, _Hist. of
-the Foreshore_, 362.
-
-[982] _A Treatise relating to the Maritime Law of England_, 10.
-
-[983] See p. 35.
-
-[984] _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, fol. 50. The opinion of the
-Trinity House was given in November 1686. In 1677 the Privy Council,
-on a petition of the fishermen of Hastings complaining of the French
-fishing on the coast, sent to the Cinque Ports for an account “of the
-old limitations used to be put upon the French and others in their
-proceedings in that fishing,” and also ordered two ships to be sent “to
-forbid the French to fish on the coast as having no license thereto,
-and to drive them away from thence” (_ibid._) On the other hand,
-Jeakes, in his _Charters of the Cinque Ports_, written in 1678, states
-with reference to the powers “by land and sea” conferred on the Ports
-by various charters, that _per mare_ did not mean _altum mare_, the
-high sea, where the Admiral had jurisdiction, but only the “havens,
-creeks, and arms of the sea, so far as can be judged in a county, where
-the land is on both sides,” p. 69.
-
-[985] See p. 547.
-
-[986] 31st Oct. 1563, tit. i. par. 27, “Ne qua in mari vis fierit vel
-suis subditis, vel sociis, vel peregrinis, sive belli, sive alterius
-rei causa intra conspectum a terra vel portu.” Bynkershoek, _Quæstiones
-Juris Publici_, lib. i. cap. viii. _De Domini Maris_, c. ii.
-
-[987] _Mare Liberum_, c. v. See p. 347.
-
-[988] Foreigners were not to fish “nerer the land nor nor yai mycht see
-the shoir out of yair main toppis.”
-
-[989] Stair, _The Institutions of the Law of Scotland_, bk. ii. tit.
-i. 5 (1681). “The vast ocean is common to all mankind as to navigation
-and fishing, which are the only uses therof, because it is not capable
-of bounds; but where the sea is enclosed, in bays, creeks, or otherwise
-is capable of any bounds or meiths, as within the points of such lands,
-or within the view of such shores, there it may become proper, but with
-the reservation of passage for commerce, as in the land. So fishing
-without these bounds is common to all, and within them also, except as
-to certain kinds of fish, such as herrings, &c.” The qualification and
-the “etcetera” are peculiar.
-
-[990] See p. 528.
-
-[991] Captain George St Lo, _England’s Safety, or a Bridle to the
-French King_, 1693. “During the time I was convoy to our fishing there,
-as aforesaid (1685-6), my business was to see that no foreigner should
-fish in sight of the shore, because the fish draw thither to spawn; the
-best draughts are there.”
-
-[992] Azuni, _Sistema universale dei Principj del Diritto marittimo_,
-i. 78.
-
-[993] _Dominio del Mar’ Adriatico e sue Raggione per il Jus Belli della
-Serenissima Repvblica di Venetia_, Venezia, 1686.
-
-[994] Hale, _A Treatise relating to the Maritime Law of England_, c.
-iv. Coke’s _Fourth Institute_, c. xxii. p. 140 (ed. 1797). Blackstone,
-_Commentaries_, i. 110. Hale, _Pleas of the Crown_, ii. 54. An early
-authority is in Fitzherbert’s _La Grande Abridgment_ (1565), Corone
-et Plees de Corone, fol. 259, placit 399, “Nota p. Stanton justic q̃
-ceo nest pas sa͠nce demere ou hoe puit veier ceo q̃’est fait del ou
-part del ewe et del aut, coe a rier de lun terr tanq̃ a laut q̃ le
-cozon viendr’ en ceo cas et fra son offic auri coe auent a vyent en vu
-brau del mer la ou home puit vier de lun parte tanque a lauter del auer
-que en cel lieu auient puyt paiis auer conisans.” There are some words
-in this passage difficult to translate, but the following has been
-given as its rendering: “Nota per Stanton Justice, that that is not
-sance [which Lord Coke translates ‘part’] of the sea where a man can
-see what is done from one part of the water and the other, so as to see
-from one land to the other; that the coroner shall come in such case
-and perform his office, as well as coming and going in an arm of the
-sea, there where a man can see from one part to the other of the [word
-undeciphered], that in such a place the country can have conusance.”
-
-[995] See p. 119.
-
-[996] Lib. ii. cap. iii. s. xiii. 2, “Ratione territorii, quatenus ex
-terra cogi possunt qui in proxima maris parte versantur, nec minus quam
-si in ipsa terra reperirentur.” See p. 349.
-
-[997] _Discussiones Historicæ de Mari Libero_, 1637.
-
-[998] _De Dominio Seren. Genuensis Reipub. in Mari Ligustico_, 1641.
-
-[999] _Imperium Maritimum_, 1654.
-
-[1000] _Dissertatio de Imperio Maris_, 1676.
-
-[1001] _De Imperio Maris._
-
-[1002] _Jus Maritimum_, 1652.
-
-[1003] _Maris Liberi Vind. adv. P. B. Burgum_, 1652; _Maris Liberi
-Vind. adv. G. Welwodum_, 1633.
-
-[1004] _De Jure Maritime et Navali_, lib. i. c. iv. Ed. 1652.
-
-[1005] _De Jure Naturæ et Gentium_, 1672.
-
-[1006] Lib. iv. c. v. s. vii.
-
-[1007] 7th March, 1689, Art iv.
-
-[1008] _State Papers, Dom._, Chas. II., ccxxxiv. 112, 113, 8th Feb.
-1667/8. _Brit. Mus. Add. MSS._, 30,221, fol. 64, 12th March 1683.
-
-[1009] Wynne, _Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins_, ii. 727, 732, 755, 780,
-783. In reporting to the king in one case, in which he found the
-capture was made in the Channel beyond the limits of a chamber, Jenkins
-says: “However the truth be as to the chamber, ’tis certain the seizure
-was made in your Majesty’s seas: but so it is, that notwithstanding
-your Majesty’s undoubted right of dominion and protection in these
-seas, strangers do hold themselves, if not permitted, yet excused for
-such hostilities, when they are acted at a due distance from your
-Majesty’s ports, harbours, and chambers; grounding themselves upon
-what was done and observed in that long war between Spain and the
-Netherlands.” The preamble of the proclamation of 12th March 1683 was
-as follows: “Whereas the safeguard and protection we owe to such of our
-own subjects, and to all others in league and amity with us, as pass
-and repass the seas belonging to these our kingdoms, has been always
-a principal part of our royal care and concern, and we, finding that
-the freedom and security of our navigation and commerce to and from
-our ports in time of hostility between our neighbouring princes has
-been much disturbed, nay, the reverence due to our ports, harbours, and
-other places under our immediate protection has been violated by the
-partial practices, depredations, and insolencies of private men-of-war
-and others pretending commissions for the present hostilities: We have
-thought fit, by the advice of our Privy Council, after an exact view
-first taken of the rules, ordinances, and provisions made on the like
-occasions by our royal progenitors and ourself, to revive, establish,
-ratify and publish to all the world these rules and ordinances
-following.” The rules are similar to those in the regulations of 1633
-and 1668; but it is noteworthy that the “King’s Chambers” are not
-specifically mentioned, nor is any reference made to a “platt,” and the
-claim to the dominion of the seas, so prominent in 1633, is omitted.
-
-[1010] _De Dominio Maris Dissertatio._ Hagæ-Batavorum, 1703.
-
-[1011] _Quæstiones Juris Publici._ Lugduni-Batavorum, 1737.
-
-[1012] “Unde dominium maris proximi non ultra concedimus, quam e terra
-illi imperari potest, et tamen eo usque; nulla siquidem sit ratio,
-cur mare, quod in alicujus imperio est et potestate, minus ejusdem
-esse dicamus, quam fossam in ejus territorio.... Quare omnino videtur
-rectius, eo potestatem terræ extendi, quousque tormenta exploduntur,
-eatenus quippe cum imperare, tum possidere videmur. Loquor autem de his
-temporibus, quibus illis machinis utimur: alioquin generaliter dicendum
-esset, potestatem terræ finiri, ubi finitur armorum vis; etenim hæc,
-ut diximus, possessionem tuetur.” _De Dom. Maris_, cap. ii. In the
-_Quæstiones_ the phrase is “imperium terræ finitur, ubi finitur armorum
-potestas,” and “terræ dominium finitur ubi finitur armorum vis.”
-
-[1013] _Ibid._, cap. ii.
-
-[1014] See p. 381.
-
-[1015] _De Jure Maritimo_, p. 150.
-
-[1016] _Discursus Legales de Commercio_, Venice, 1740, D, 136. 174,
-211, tom. 2. An earlier edition was published at Florence in 1719.
-
-[1017] “Naves exteræ dicuntur esse sub protectione illius principis,
-cujus mare navigant, quando reperiuntur intra portus illius, aut in
-mari, ita vicino, ut illuc tormenta, bellica adigi possent. Et si
-deprædentur ab inimicis, de jure restituendæ sunt.”
-
-[1018] _Tratado jurídico-politico, sobre pressas de mar, y calidades,
-que deben concurrir para hacerse legitimamente el Corso_, Part I. c. v.
-Cadiz, 1746.
-
-[1019] “No podrá con razon pretender mas extension de sus Costas, que
-las dos leguas.”
-
-[1020] “Y circunda en el espacio á lo menos de cien millas en recto: lo
-qual es una infalible, y conforme tradicion de los Letrados de todas
-las Naciones.”
-
-[1021] _Jus Gentium_, Halæ Magdeburgicæ, 1749, cap. i. ss. 120-132, pp.
-99-107. “Partes maris a gentibus, quæ idem accolunt, occupari possunt,
-quousque dominium in iisdem tueri possunt.”
-
-[1022] _Le Droit des Gens_, Liv. i. c. xxiii. 5, 279-295, 1758.
-
-[1023] _De la Saisie des Bâtimens Neutres_, La Haye, 1759, tom. i. Part
-I. c. iii. s. 5, p. 57.
-
-[1024] _Nouveau Commentaire sur l’Ordonnance de la Marine du mois
-d’Août 1681_, Rochelle, 1766, t. ii. Liv. v. tit. i. pp. 687, 688.
-“Jusqu’à la distance de deux lieues, et avec cette restriction encore,
-la mer est donc du domaine du souverain de la côte voisine; et cela
-que l’on puisse y prendre fond avec la sonde, ou non. Il est juste au
-reste d’user de cette méthode en faveur des États dont les côtes sont
-si escarpées, que dès le bord on ne peut trouver le fond; mais cela
-n’empêche pas que le domaine de la mer, quant à la jurisdiction et à
-la pêche, ne puisse s’étendre au delà; soit en vertu des traités de
-navigation et de commerce, soit par la règle ci-dessus établie qui
-continue le domaine jusq’où la sonde peut prendre fond, ou jusqu’à
-la portée du canon, ce qui est aujourd’hui la règle universellement
-reconnue.” Lawrence, in his annotated edition of Wheaton’s _Elements
-of International Law_, Part II. c. iv. s. 6 (1864), makes a curious
-blunder in regard to the limit proposed by Valin, who, he says,
-“proposed to fix it according to the _sound of a cannon_, or as far as
-the ball would reach.” The authority Valin gives for the statement that
-the rule was universally recognised is _Journal de Commerce_, Mai 1759,
-p. 40.
-
-[1025] _Versuch des Neuesten Europäischen Völkerrechts in Friedens-und
-Kriegs-zeiten_, Bd. v. 486, Frankfort, 1778. “Das an die Küsten
-eines Landes stossende Meer stehet nach dem Völkerrecht unter der
-Oberherrschaft des angränzenden Landes unstreitig, so weit es mit
-Canonen von dem festen Land bestrichen werden kan.”
-
-[1026] _Juris Publici Universalis, sive Juris Naturæ et Gentium,
-Theoremata_, ii. 7, 65. “Nobis visum est singulas gentes eam partem
-circa littus suum occupare posse, cujus usus necessarius, quamque
-tuendis littoribus et territorio necessarium arbitrantur.”
-
-[1027] _De’ Doveri de’ principi neutrali verso i principi
-guerreggianti, e di questi verso i neutrali._ Naples, 1782.
-
-[1028] “Mi parrebbe peraltro ragionevole, che senza attendere a
-vedere se in atto tenga il Sovrano del territorio construtta taluna
-torre o batteria, e di qual calibro di cannoni la tenga montata, si
-determinasse fissamente, e da per tutto la distanza di tre miglia dalla
-terra, come quella, che sicuramente è la maggiore ove colla forza della
-polvere finora conosciuta si possa spingere una palla, o una bomba,” p.
-432.
-
-[1029] _Précis du Droit des Gens moderne de l’Europe, fondé sur les
-Traités et l´Usage_, Göttingen, 1789, Liv. iv. c. iv. In an earlier
-work, _Primæ Lineæ Juris Gentium Europæarum_, published at Göttingen
-in 1785, the three-league limit is omitted. After speaking of ports,
-bays, and straits, he says, “Neque minus in genere eæ maris partes, quæ
-territorio proximæ sunt (mare proximum vocant) et tormentorum in limite
-terræ constitutorum ictui subsunt, censentur esse in dominio gentis
-terræ dominæ, et pro parte territorii habentur.”
-
-[1030] “Sur la mer voisine en général jusqu’à la portée du canon placé
-sur le rivage; c. a. d. jusqu’à trois lieues du rivage,” p. 189. He
-also speaks elsewhere of the range of guns being equivalent to three
-leagues; but it would appear that the terms “miles” and “leagues” were
-sometimes used indifferently and carelessly (see Bluntschli, p. 682),
-and three leagues was far beyond the range of guns in Von Marten’s time.
-
-[1031] _Sistema universale dei Principj del Diritto marittimo dell’
-Europa._ Florence, 1795-96. The work was translated into French
-in 1801--_Système Universel de Principes du Droit Maritime de
-l’Europe_--and revised, enlarged, and republished in 1805.
-
-[1032] See p. 574.
-
-[1033] “Giacchè essa sola è, secondo me, il giusto ed unico mezzo, che
-potrebbe servire di norma per fissare una volta il mare territoriale
-sempre combattuto, e non ancora deciso, o almeno non stabilito come si
-dovrebbe in un pubblico Trattato tra le Potenze marittime,” i. 75.
-
-[1034] “La distanza di tre miglia dalla Terra come quella, che senza
-dubbio è la maggiore, dove colla forza della polvere a fuoco finora
-cognita si possa spingere una palla o una bomba,” p. 76.
-
-[1035] _Répertoire de Jurisprudence._
-
-[1036] See p. 571.
-
-[1037] Daru, _Histoire de la République de Venise_, i. 445; Smedley,
-_Sketches of Venetian History_, i. 72. See p. 4. When Venice was
-conquered, the _Bucentaur_ was stripped of her gilding and finery, and,
-under the name of _Hydra_, became a prosaic guard-ship, stationed at
-the mouth of the Lido until 1824, when she was destroyed.
-
-[1038] _Rescripter, Resolutioner og Collegial-Breve for Kongeriget
-Norge, i Tidsrummet fra 1660-1813_, i. 315, 18th June 1745. “Rescr.
-(til Stiftsbefalingsmændene i Norge) ang. det ikke skal være nogen
-fremmed Caper tilladt at opbringe noget Skib een Miil nœr de Norske
-Kyster og de der udenfor beliggende Grunde og Skjær,” &c. The league in
-the Scandinavian ordinances measures fifteen to one degree of latitude,
-or one German mile, equal to about 7420 metres. The marine league,
-or three-mile limit ordinarily adopted, is of twenty to a degree of
-latitude, or about 5565 metres, or 3.4517 English statute miles.
-
-[1039] _Ibid._, i. 423, 439, 602.
-
-[1040] 14th Sept. 1807, s. 5; 28th March 1810, s. 7. In the last the
-privateers were forbidden to capture ships in the Sound within such
-distance of the Swedish coast as was within the range of guns. Auber,
-_Ann. de l’Institut de Droit Internat._, xi. 145.
-
-[1041] Kleen, _Neutralitetens Lagar_, ii. 865.
-
-[1042] Boeck, _Oversigt over Litteratur, Love, Forordninger Rescripter,
-m.m. vedrørende de Norske Fiskerier_, p. 12.
-
-[1043] Real Cédula, 17th December 1760; Real Órden, 1st May 1775;
-Real Decreto, 3rd May 1830; Real Decreto, 20th June 1852. Riquelme,
-_Elementos de Derecho Público Internacional, con esplicacion de todas
-las reglas que, segun los Tratados, &c., constituyen el Derecho
-Internacional Español_, i. 211, App., 187, 197, 200; Madrid, 1849.
-Negrín, _Tratado de Derecho internacional maritimo_, Madrid, 1883, p.
-66.
-
-[1044] Martens, _Recueil_, i. 479.
-
-[1045] 21st Nov. 1777; 9th May 1778. Martens, _Recueil_, iii. 16, 18.
-In Kent’s _Commentaries on American Law_, i. 118 (ed. 1884), it is said
-(apparently on the authority of Sparks’ _Diplomatic Correspondence_,
-ii. 110) that the Commissioners, in their circular letter of 1777
-to the commanders of American armed vessels, “carried very far the
-extension of neutral protection when they applied it indiscriminately
-to all captures within sight of a neutral coast.” There is nothing of
-this in the document given by Martens.
-
-[1046] 19th Sept. 1778. _Op. cit._, i. 47.
-
-[1047] 1st Aug. 1778. “E ne’ mari adjacenti agli altri porti, scali,
-torri, e spiagge del Gran Ducato non potrà usarsi atto veruno di
-ostilità nella distanza, che potrebbe circoscriversi da un tiro di
-cannone.” _Op. cit._, 24.
-
-[1048] 4th March 1779. “Nè generalmente dentro la distanza di un tiro
-di cannone da terra.” _Op. cit._, i. 52.
-
-[1049] 1st July 1779. “Nei porti, golfi, e spiagge del nostro dominio
-nella distanza, che potrebbe circonscriversi da un tiro di cannone.”
-_Op. cit._, 64.
-
-[1050] 9th Sept. 1779, Arts. viii., ix. “Ed in tutti mari ad essi
-adjacenti, limitati, almeno allo spazio circoscritto dalla portata d’un
-grosso cannone di batteria.” _Op. cit._, i. 78.
-
-[1051] Jenkinson (Lord Liverpool), _A Discussion on the Conduct of the
-Government of Great Britain in respect to Neutral Nations_ (1758), ed.
-1801, Pref. Phillimore, _Commentaries_, iii. 273. Wheaton’s _Elements_
-(ed. 1864), 1024. Martens, _Recueil_, iii. 158, _seq._
-
-[1052] Mutual protection was to be afforded “dans leurs ports ou rades,
-mers internes, passages, rivières, et aussi loin que leur jurisdiction
-s’etend en mer.” 8th Oct. 1782, Art. v. Martens, _op. cit._, 433.
-
-[1053] “À la portée du canon des châteaux de l’autre.” _Vide_ Martens
-and De Cussy, _Rec._, i. 381.
-
-[1054] 26th Sept. 1786, Art. xli. “Leurs dites Majestés ne souffriront
-point que sur les côtes, à la portée du canon, et dans les ports et
-rivières de leur obéissance, des navires et des marchandises des sujets
-de l’autre soient pris par des vaisseaux de guerre, ou par d’autres
-qui seront pourvus de patentes de quelque prince, république, ou ville
-quelconque,” &c. Martens, _Rec._, iv. 178.
-
-[1055] 11th Jan. 1787, Art. xxviii. “... Hors de la portée du canon des
-côtes de son allié ... dans les ports, havres, golfes et autres eaux
-comprises sous le nom d’eaux closes.” By Article xx. the salute was
-abolished. _Ibid._, 207, 210. The mention of closed waters no doubt
-referred to the Baltic, which was declared to be a closed sea (_une
-mer fermée_), into which the armed vessels of belligerents were to
-be refused entry, by a decree of the King of Denmark in 1780, and by
-conventions between Russia and Denmark and Sweden in the same year, and
-between Russia and the United Provinces and Prussia in the following
-year. _Ibid._, iii. 175, 195, 219, 250.
-
-[1056] 17th Jan. 1787, Art. xix. _Ibid._, iv. 237.
-
-[1057] 7th August 1803. Martens, _Recueil_, 2. viii. 105.
-
-[1058] Martens, _Recueil_, iii. 763, 10th Sept. 1784, Art. vi.
-
-[1059] See p. 527.
-
-[1060] Oct. 28, 1790, Art. iv. Martens, _ibid._ iv. 489, 497. Wheaton,
-_Elements_, 307 (ed. 1864).
-
-[1061] Wheaton, _Elements_, 723 ; President’s Proclamation of
-Neutrality, April 22, 1793; Mr Jefferson, Secretary of State, to M.
-Genet, 8th Nov. 1793; Wharton’s _Digest of the International Law of the
-United States_, i. c. 2, s. 32.
-
-[1062] Opinion of Attorney-General, 14th May 1793; Letter of Sec. of
-State to the French Minister, 15th May 1793; Kent’s _Commentaries_,
-i. 30. Delaware Bay, it may be said, has always been, and still is,
-claimed as territorial water by the United States. _Vide_ reply of
-Government of United States to Observations of British Government on
-Draft Treaty, 1887. Correspondence relative to the Fisheries Question,
-1887-1888. _Parl. Papers (Canada)_, 1888, p. 70.
-
-[1063] Act of Congress, 5th June 1794, c. 50. Kent’s _Commentaries_, 30.
-
-[1064] Wheaton, _Elements_, 724.
-
-[1065] Wharton’s _Digest_, i. c. 2.
-
-[1066] Mr Madison to Messrs Monroe and Pinckney, 17th May 1806. Kent,
-_Commentaries_, i. 31.
-
-[1067] Hall, _A Treatise on International Law_, Part II. c. ii. s. 2.
-
-[1068] The High Court of Admiralty, for instance, decided in 1760 that
-a French vessel taken by an English privateer at Hayti was not good
-prize, as it had been attacked while in a port belonging to the King of
-Spain, “within reach of his cannon and under his protection” (Marsden,
-_Report of Cases determined by the High Court of Admiralty_, 175).
-
-[1069] There were two cases of _Twee Gebroeders_--the first (Alberts,
-master) tried on 29th July 1800; the second (Northolt, master) tried on
-27th November 1801.
-
-[1070] Robinson, _Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High
-Court of Admiralty_, iii. 162. London, 1802.
-
-[1071] _Ibid._, 339.
-
-[1072] _Ibid._, v. 373.
-
-[1073] _Vide_ Chief Justice Cockburn, _Law Reports, Excheq. Div._,
-ii. 178. It is a curious circumstance that many English writers on
-municipal law, even after this time, adhering to a different line of
-inquiry, clung tenaciously to the husk of the old claims of England to
-the sovereignty of the sea. Hale, as we have seen, followed Selden, as
-did Hargrave and Blackstone, though with apparent diffidence. Chitty,
-in his _Treatise on the Law of the Prerogative of the Crown_, published
-in 1820, relying on Selden, Hale, and Molloy, declares that “the king
-possesses the sovereign dominion in all the narrow seas, that is, the
-seas which adjoin the coasts of England, and other seas within his
-dominions” (p. 173); and that he “has an undoubted sovereignty and
-jurisdiction, which he has immemorially exercised, through the medium
-of the admiralty courts, over the British seas, that is, the seas which
-encompass the four sides of the British islands; ... the law of nations
-and the constitution of the country have clothed the sovereign with
-this power, that he may defend his people and protect their commercial
-interests” (p. 142). He also assigns the soil under the sea to the
-king. Hall, in his _Essay on the Rights of the Crown and the Privileges
-of the Subject in the Sea Shores of the Realm_, published in 1830,
-states the doctrine even more nakedly. After defining the British seas
-according to Selden, he says, “Over the British Seas, the King of
-England claims an absolute dominion and ownership, as Lord Paramount,
-against all the world. Whatever opinions foreign nations may entertain
-in regard to the validity of such claim, yet the subjects of the King
-of England do, by the common law of the realm, acknowledge and declare
-it to be his ancient and indisputable right.” Hall also assigns the
-bottom or _fundum_ of the British seas to the king, the authorities
-cited being Coke, Callis, Molloy, Hale, and Blackstone. Loveland, the
-editor of the second edition of Hall’s _Essay_, which was published in
-1875, does not attempt to qualify the statements. It was not, indeed,
-till after the decision in the case of the _Franconia_ in 1876, and
-the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act of 1878, that the doctrine was
-abandoned in theory by English lawyers. Even Moore, the editor of the
-third edition of Hall’s _Essay_, which appeared in 1888, while pointing
-out the alteration of the law by the decision in the _Franconia_ case,
-and by the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, thought it undesirable
-to vary Hall’s text, having regard to the diversity of the opinions
-expressed by the judges in the case referred to. _Vide_ p. 590.
-
-[1074] Convention, 1818, Art. i. “... And the United States hereby
-renounce for ever any liberty heretofore enjoyed or claimed by the
-inhabitants thereof to take, dry, or cure fish on or within three
-marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbours of his
-Britannick Majesty’s dominions in America not included within the
-above-mentioned limits.” Wheaton, _Elements_, 324, 463 (ed. 1864).
-_Parl. Papers, North America_, No. 1 (1878). Henderson, _American
-Diplomatic Questions_, 497.
-
-[1075] Martens, _Nouv. Recueil_, V. ii. 358; Behring Sea Arbitration,
-British Case, _Parl. Papers, United States_, No. 1 (1893), p. 38, App.
-I. No. 1.
-
-[1076] The Duke of Wellington to Count Nesselrode, 17th Oct. 1822; G.
-Canning to the Duke of Wellington, 27th Sept. 1822; Count Nesselrode to
-Count Lieven, 26th June 1823; G. Canning to S. Canning, 8th Dec. 1824;
-S. Canning to G. Canning, 3rd April 1825. _Parl. Papers_, _ibid._, 41,
-42, 44, 46, 56, App. II. pt. i. 14, 15, 29, 52, 57.
-
-[1077] _American State Papers, Foreign Relations_, v. 452; _Parl.
-Papers_, _ibid._, App. II. pt. ii. No. 5; Wheaton, _Elements_, 308.
-
-[1078] Treaty between Russia and the United States, April 17th, 1824,
-Art. i. iv.; treaty between Great Britain and Russia, 28th Feb. 1825,
-Art. i. vii. Martens, _Nouv. Recueil_, vi. 684. _Parl. Papers_,
-_ibid._, 52, 53.
-
-[1079] In 1842. _Parl. Papers_, _ibid._, 83.
-
-[1080] In 1846. _Ibid._, 84.
-
-[1081] _Ibid._, 87.
-
-[1082] _E.g._, the case of the _Leda_, in which Dr Lushington claimed
-that the term United Kingdom included the waters to a distance of
-three miles from the shore (Swa., _Adm._, 40); General Iron Screw
-Company, in which Lord Hatherly said that it was “beyond question that
-for certain purposes every country may, by the common law of nations,
-legitimately exercise jurisdiction over that portion of the high seas
-which lies within three miles from its shores,”--whether this limit was
-determined by the range of cannon was not material, since it was clear
-it extended at any rate to that distance (1 J. and H., 180); Whitstable
-Fishery Case, in which it was said that the soil of the seashore to the
-distance of three miles from the beach was vested in the crown, and
-in which Lord Chelmsford observed that “the three-mile limit depends
-upon a rule of international law, by which every independent state is
-considered to have territorial property and jurisdiction in the sea
-which washes their coast within an assumed distance of a cannon-shot
-from the shore” (11 C.B. (N.S.), 387; 2 H.L.C., 192); the _Annapolis_,
-in which Dr Lushington said. “Within British jurisdiction, namely,
-within British territory, and at sea within three miles from the
-coast” (1 Lush., _Adm._, 306); Rex _v._ Forty-nine Casks of Brandy, in
-which Sir John Nicholl said that “as between nation and nation, the
-territorial right may, by a sort of tacit understanding, be extended
-to three miles” (3 Haggard, 257); Gammell _v._ Commissioners Woods
-and Forests and Lord Advocate, in which Lord Wensleydale referred to
-the distance of three miles as belonging, by the acknowledged law of
-nations, to the coast of the country, and “under the dominion of the
-country by being within cannon range, and so capable of being kept in
-perpetual possession” (3 MacQueen, H.L., 419).
-
-[1083] This subject is treated of by Mr A. H. Charteris, Lecturer in
-International Law, University of Glasgow, in a paper read before the
-International Law Association at Berlin in 1906 (_Twenty-third Report_,
-103).
-
-[1084] Two small islands in the Channel.
-
-[1085] Bell, _Crown Cases Reserved_, 72. See Hall, _Internat. Law_, 5th
-edit., p. 156; Westlake, _Internat. Law_, i. 118.
-
-[1086] The Direct United States Cable Company _v._ the Anglo-American
-Telegraph Company, Privy Council, 1877. _Law Reports_, Appeal Cases,
-ii. 394.
-
-[1087] 33 & 34 Vict., c. 90.
-
-[1088] See pp. 592, 632.
-
-[1089] Regina _v._ Keyn, _Law Reports, Excheq. Div._, ii., 1876-7, p.
-63.
-
-[1090] _E.g._, p. 204: “There are several treaties by which nations
-have engaged, in the event of either of them being at war with a third,
-to treat the sea within three miles of each other’s coasts as neutral
-territory,” the treaties being those referred to on p. 572. “After
-the three-mile theory had been propounded by Bynkershoek,” p. 177. Mr
-Justice Amphlett went further, and attributed a similar doctrine to
-Grotius: “All the earlier writers, including Grotius, the vigorous
-advocate of the free navigation of the high seas, and many of the later
-writers, maintained that within the zone of three miles the state had,
-without qualification,” &c., p. 122.
-
-[1091] 41 & 42 Vict., c. 73.
-
-[1092] 58 & 59 Vict., c. 42.
-
-[1093] _Hansard_, xxxiii. 504. The Lord Chancellor (Lord Herschell),
-who followed, said : “He was far from saying that three miles was
-to be the limit of territorial waters for all time. Originally the
-distance was fixed by gunshot, and it was always said that the distance
-a gun could fire to was three miles. How far this principle was to
-be extended, and whether it was to be extended indefinitely, was a
-question for consideration, and it was a question which would not be
-without its difficulty.” Lord Salisbury referred to a gun which was
-fired on Jubilee Day and carried twelve miles, and Lord Herschell to
-one which had a range of thirteen miles.
-
-[1094] 9 Geo. II., c. 35; 24 Geo. III., c. 47; Twiss, _The Law of
-Nations in Time of Peace_, 261; Hall, _A Treatise on the Foreign Powers
-and Jurisdiction of the British Crown_, 244.
-
-[1095] 16 & 17 Vict., c. 107, ss. 212, 218; 39 & 40 Vict., c. 36, s.
-179.
-
-[1096] Kent, _Commentaries_, i. 31; Wheaton, _Elements_, 267, 323.
-
-[1097] Riquelme, _op. cit._ See p. 569.
-
-[1098] _Fifteenth Ann. Rep. Assoc. for Reform and Codification of the
-Law of Nations_,. 18, 22; _Seventeenth_, _ibid._, 302; _Annuaire de
-l’Institut_, xi. 151.
-
-[1099] _Fifteenth Rep._, _ibid._, 84, 121; _Ann. de l’Institut_ for
-1894. Customs Act of Canada, 49 Vict., c. 32, s. 21.
-
-[1100] 26 Geo. II.; 6 Geo. IV., c. 78.
-
-[1101] _Mer Territoriale_, 222; and see pp. 551, 560, 564.
-
-[1102] Twiss, _op. cit._, 261-264; Phillimore, _Commentaries_, i. 236;
-Kent, _loc. cit._; Wheaton, _loc. cit._; Hall, _loc. cit._ The latter
-author states that they “repose on an agreement which, though tacit, is
-universal,” and that “no civilised country encourages offences against
-the laws of a foreign state when it sees that the laws are just and
-necessary.”
-
-[1103] _De la Liberté des Mers, ou le Gouvernement Anglois devoilé_,
-1798.
-
-[1104] _La Mer Libre, La Mer Fermée_, 1803.
-
-[1105] _Institutions du Droit de la Nature et des Gens._
-
-[1106] _De la Liberté des Mers._
-
-[1107] _A Practical Treatise on the Law of Nations relative to the
-Legal Effect of War on the Commerce of Belligerents and Neutrals._
-London, 1812.
-
-[1108] _Das Europäische Völkerrecht_, Berlin, 1817, p. 141.
-
-[1109] “So weit der Schuss des Geschütses vom Ufer es bestreichen möge;
-dies selbst nahm man mit noch ungebundenerer Will-Kühr auf 3 Lieues an.”
-
-[1110] P. 564.
-
-[1111] _Europäisches Völkerrecht_, Stuttgart, 1821, p. 204; _Droit des
-Gens moderne de l’Europe_, 1819, III. ii. 130 (ed. 1831).
-
-[1112] _A Digest of the Law of Maritime Captures or Prizes_, New York,
-1815, c. ii. p. 55.
-
-[1113] _Elements of International Law_, c. iv. ss. 6-10. London, 1836.
-
-[1114] The King’s Chambers were, however, confined to the coast of
-England. See p. 122.
-
-[1115] _Commentaries on American Law_, i. Part I. Lect. iii.
-
-[1116] _Commentaries on the Law of Nations_, p. 119. 1839.
-
-[1117] _Das Europäisches Völkerrecht der Gegenwart_, Berlin, 1844. _Le
-Droit International de l’Europe_, Paris, 1873, s. 75. “La ligne de la
-portée du canon elle-même, bien qu’elle soit regardée comme de droit
-commun, ne présente aucune base invariable et peut-être fixée par les
-lois de chaque État, du moins d’une manière provisoire.”
-
-[1118] _Researches in Maritime International Law_, i. 16. 1844.
-
-[1119] _Règles Internationales et Diplomatie de la Mer_, i. 177.
-
-[1120] _Histoire des Origines, des Progrès, et des Variations du Droit
-Maritime International_, ed. 1858, p. 22.
-
-[1121] _Traité des Prises maritimes_, i. 93. Paris, 1855.
-
-[1122] “La portée du canon, placé à terre, est la seule limite réelle
-et vraie des mers territoriales.”
-
-[1123] _Le Droit commercial, dans ses rapports avec le Droit des Gens
-et le Droit Civil_, Paris, 1844-47, tom. i. Liv. ii. tit. i. c. i. ss.
-103-105.
-
-[1124] _Plans and Proposals transmitted to the Committee on the
-Fishery_, No. 1, &c.
-
-[1125] _Reports by the Commissioners for the British Herring
-Fishery_ for 1819, 1821, 1822; _Staatsblad_, No. 28, 4th April
-1824, for a copy of which I am indebted to Mr H. van Hall, of the
-Universiteits-Bibliotheek, Amsterdam. After a reference to the
-previous decrees prohibiting the taking of herrings “between the
-banks and rocks of Scotland,” as being injurious to the reputation
-of Dutch pickled herrings (see p. 201), it is stated that the Board
-for the Great Fishery is of opinion that, in the interest of this
-branch of national industry, the fishing should be carried on at a
-farther distance from the main coast of Scotland (_Schotsche vaste
-kust_), and it is determined and resolved as follows: “Art. I. Het
-zal aan geenen Nederlandschen visscher geoorloofd zijn, de groote of
-pekelharingvisscherij op eenen naderen afstand der vaste kust van
-Schotland uitteoefenen, dan dien van twee uren hemelsbreedte (20
-zoodanige uren eenen graad uitmakende), noch onder eenig voorwendsel
-hoe ook genaamd (alleen met uitzondering van het geval van dringende
-noodzakelijkheid bij art. 22 der voormelde wet voorzien), gedurende
-den tijd dat hij de vangst van pekelharing bedrijft, de vermelde kust
-op eenen minderen afstand te naderen.” The second article excepted the
-fishing at Shetland (Hitland) and Fair Isle (Fair-hill), the autumn
-fishing on the English coast and off Yarmouth, and the fresh-herring
-fishery; but these exceptions were withdrawn by a royal decree of 5th
-June 1827 (_Staatscourant_, 1827, No. 278). It may be said that in
-1818 the old prohibition of fishing between the sandbanks and rocks of
-Norway, Shetland, and Scotland had been renewed. _Staatsblad_, No. 15,
-12th March 1818.
-
-[1126] _Rapport fait en Exécution des Ordres du Ministre de la Marine_,
-par M. L. de Montaignac, Capitaine de frégate, Commandant la Station de
-la Mer du Nord.
-
-[1127] Montaignac, _op. cit._; _Parl. Papers_, Sess. 1837-38; _Rep.
-Com. Brit. Herring Fishery_, 1834.
-
-[1128] _Report from the Select Committee on British Channel Fisheries,
-Parl. Papers_, Sess. 1833, No. 676.
-
-[1129] An ordinance of the French Marine Department, of 15th January
-1829, prohibited the use of certain nets, as drag and trawl nets,
-within _three leagues_ of the shore from 15th April to 1st September,
-and within two leagues from 1st September to 15th April.
-
-[1130] Some of the English fishery Acts then in force, at least
-nominally, extended jurisdiction beyond the distance of one league with
-regard to the use of certain nets, &c., and the Committee apparently
-desired that, besides a zone of exclusive fishery, foreigners should
-be bound to observe the municipal law for the protection of the spawn
-and brood of fish that might apply beyond such zone. The Acts referred
-to were 3 Jac. I., c. 12 (1605), for the better preservation of sea
-fish, which, _inter alia_, prohibited the use of certain nets within
-five miles of any harbour, haven, or creek; 14 Chas. II., c. 28 (1662),
-regulating the pilchard-fishing in Devon and Cornwall, which prohibited
-the use of any “drift, trammel, or stream net,” between 1st June and
-30th November, within one and a half leagues of the coasts of these
-counties; 1 George I., stat. 2, c. 18 (1714), which prohibited the use
-“at sea upon the coast of England” of certain nets, and the landing or
-sale of undersized fish; the Act 33 Geo. III., c. 27 (1759), prohibited
-the taking or knowingly possessing “any spawn, fry, or brood of fish,
-or any unsizeable fish, or any fish out of season.”
-
-[1131] Under the Act 6 Geo. IV., c. 108, 1825.
-
-[1132] Mr Cornish, quoting from his MS. treatise on zoology, said: “It
-is generally supposed that all sea fish, the cetaceous (_sic_) and
-cartilaginous excepted, deposit their ova in sand-banks, in creeks,
-bays, and shallow water near the shores, because it is imagined that a
-certain, though a small, degree of the sun’s action on the water and
-atmosphere is necessary to bring such ova to maturity. This we know to
-be the case with the salmon species, which always ascend to the shallow
-parts of rivers for that purpose, and never lay their eggs in deep
-water, and therefore we infer that the same influence prevails over the
-sea fish: this cannot, however, be proved, and rests mainly on opinion
-and probable conjecture, founded on such facts as we are acquainted
-with.” It may be said that a Select Committee of the House of Commons,
-appointed in 1817 to inquire into the condition of the fisheries on
-the south coast of Devon, strongly recommended Parliamentary action
-for the protection of the fisheries, founding on the same erroneous
-assumption that the fishes spawned near the shore. A Bill was
-accordingly introduced in the session of 1819, and again in 1822, for
-the appointment of conservators or overseers of the bays, creeks, and
-arms of the sea, to supervise regulations for the preservation of the
-fish coming there to spawn, and of their brood and fry, and applying
-to a distance of one and a half leagues from the shore; but it did not
-pass the Lords. _Rep. Select Com. on the State and Condition of the
-Fisheries on the South Coast of Devon_, 1817; _Parl. Bills_, xxii. 587,
-601. _Eighth Ann. Rep. Fishery Board for Scotland_, Part III., pp. 13,
-258 (1890); _Tenth, ibid._, pp. 19, 235; _Eleventh, ibid._, p. 13.
-
-[1133] Memorials, &c., received by Her Majesty’s Government since
-1st January 1832, complaining of the Aggressions of French fishermen
-on the British Coasts, _Parl. Papers_, Sess. 1837-38; Supplementary
-Papers relative to the Complaints respecting the Aggressions of French
-fishermen on the British Coasts, 1838, _ibid._, 1839; _Reports by the
-Commissioners for the Herring Fishery_, for 1834, 1835, 1839.
-
-[1134] _Convention between Her Majesty and the King of the French,
-defining and regulating the Limits of the Exclusive Right of the Oyster
-and other Fishery on the Coasts of Great Britain and of France._ Signed
-at Paris, August 2, 1839.
-
-[1135] The line of closure, as will be seen from fig. 16, was not a
-single straight line, as usual, but a series of lines determined by
-landmarks. The area between this series and the three-mile limit, from
-which British fishermen were excluded, measures a little over 100
-square (geographical) miles. On the other hand, all of the closing
-line north of 49° 3´ (and thus the greater part of it) is, curiously,
-_within_ the three-mile zone; the area outside this line to the
-three-mile line is about 23 square miles.
-
-[1136] 6 & 7 Vict., cap. 79. “An Act to carry into Effect the
-Convention between Her Majesty and the King of the French concerning
-the Fisheries in the Seas between the British Islands and France,” 22nd
-August 1843. The mesh of trawl-nets, the length of the trawl-beam,
-the weight of the trawl-irons and of the ground-rope, the mesh of
-herring, mackerel, “bratt,” and trammel nets, were in no case to be
-over or under a specified standard. A series of detailed regulations
-for oyster-fishing was also made, including a close-time and a minimum
-size. This Act was repealed by the Sea Fisheries Act, 1868 (the
-Convention Act), 31 & 32 Vict., c. 45, but it was revived by Parliament
-in 1877 (40 & 41 Vict., c. 42), the Convention of 1867 not having been
-ratified by France.
-
-[1137] _Reports of the Commissioners for the Herring Fishery_, 1839,
-1840, 1841.
-
-[1138] It was denounced in the Boulogne Chamber of Commerce as the
-greatest blunder the French Government had ever made, and many
-complaints were received from French fishermen of their boats having
-been captured or pursued by British cruisers. Deseille, _Histoire de la
-Pêche à Boulogne-sur-Mer_, 229. The French cruisers were no less active
-in apprehending British transgressors. _Parl. Papers_, Sess. 1854-5,
-459.
-
-[1139] Mitchell, _The Herring: Its Natural History and National
-Importance_, 243.
-
-[1140] The Board pointed out that the fishermen of other foreign
-countries were not disposed to observe the limits laid down in the
-Anglo-French convention, specifying Dutch as well as Belgians, and
-that the naval superintendents were perplexed from the want of fixed
-instructions on this point. The letter from the Board of Trade was as
-follows (_Report of the Commissioners for the year ended 5th January
-1849_):--
-
- “OFFICE OF COMMITTEE OF PRIVY-COUNCIL FOR TRADE,
-
- “WHITEHALL, _14th September 1848_.
-
- “SIR,--With reference to your letter of 4th ultimo, requesting, on
- the part of the Commissioners of British Fisheries, to know whether
- Foreign Fishermen are permitted to fish within three miles of the
- Shore; I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy-Council
- for Trade, to inform you, that it is the opinion of this Board, that
- no such permission is recognised by the British Government, and
- accordingly, that it is the duty of the Superintendents of British
- Fisheries, to warn Dutch, Belgian, or any other Foreigners, as well as
- French Fishermen, to keep outside of the limits above mentioned.--I
- am, sir, your obedient servant,
-
- (Sd.) DENIS LE MARCHANT.
-
- The Honourable B. F. PRIMROSE, Secretary,
- Board of Fisheries, Edinburgh.”
-
-
-[1141] See p. 461.
-
-[1142] Convention between Her Majesty and the King of the Belgians
-relative to Fishery. Signed at London, March 22, 1852. “Art. I. Belgian
-subjects shall enjoy, in regard to fishery along the coast of the
-United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the treatment of the most
-favoured foreign nation. In like manner, British subjects shall enjoy,
-in regard to fishery along the coast of the Kingdom of Belgium, the
-treatment of the most favoured foreign nation.” The convention was to
-endure for seven years, and it was to remain in force thereafter until
-the expiry of twelve months after either party notified to the other
-its intention of terminating it.
-
-[1143] _Reports by the Commissioners for the British Fisheries_,
-1848-51. _Parl. Papers_, Sess. 1856.
-
-[1144] _Reports of the Commissioners for the British Fisheries_, 1852,
-1853, 1862.
-
-[1145] _Report of the Commissioners appointed to Enquire into the Sea
-Fisheries of the United Kingdom_, I. lxix. (1866).
-
-[1146] _Convention between Her Majesty and the Emperor of the
-French, relative to the Fisheries in the seas between Great Britain
-and France._ Signed at Paris, 11th November 1867. Art. I. “British
-fishermen shall enjoy the exclusive right of fishery within the
-distance of three miles from low-water mark, along the whole extent of
-the coasts of the British Islands; and French fishermen shall enjoy
-the exclusive right of fishery within the distance of three miles from
-low-water mark along the whole extent of the coast of France, the only
-exception to this rule being that part of the coast of France which
-lies between Cape Carteret and Point Meinga. The distance of three
-miles fixed as the general limit for the exclusive right of fishery
-upon the coasts of the two countries shall, with respect to bays, the
-mouths of which do not exceed ten miles in width, be measured from a
-straight line drawn from headland to headland. The miles mentioned in
-the present Convention are geographical miles, whereof sixty make a
-degree of latitude.” In neither of the conventions was it expressly
-said that the ten-mile closing-line for bays was to be measured from
-low-water mark of the headlands, but it was so declared in the Act of
-1843, 6 & 7 Vict., c. 79.
-
-[1147] 31 & 32 Vict., c. 45.
-
-[1148] _London Gazette_, 9th Feb. 1869. C. E. Fryer, _The Relation of
-the State with Fishermen and Fisheries. Parl. Papers, Commerc._, 24
-(1882), p. 1.
-
-[1149] 46 & 47 Vict., c. 22, sec. 30.
-
-[1150] 6 & 7 Vict., c. 79, s. vi.
-
-[1151] 5 & 6 Vict., c. 106.
-
-[1152] _Parl. Papers_, Sess. 1867-68, Fisheries (Ireland), 135.
-
-[1153] 31 & 32 Vict., c. 45, s. 67.
-
-[1154] _Report from the Select Committee on Oyster Fisheries_, 8, 166
-(1876).
-
-[1155] Had the coasts of the United States been visited by British
-fishermen, it is not unlikely that the Government of that country would
-have been more willing to admit the ordinary interpretation with regard
-to bays. British vessels do not, however, fish on the coasts of the
-United States, and the United States fishermen, having exhausted the
-once productive waters of their own coasts of the New England States,
-go to catch a large part of their fish to the waters on the coasts of
-British North America, and hence it is to their interest that the limit
-of exclusive fishing on the latter should be as small as they can get
-it made. The position is very similar to that of the English trawlers
-who, having impoverished the North Sea, now go to foreign coasts, as
-Iceland, to keep up the supplies. See p. 707.
-
-[1156] Treaty between Her Majesty and the United States of America,
-signed at Washington, 1st June 1854, Art. i., ii. I. “It is agreed by
-the high contracting parties that in addition to the liberty secured
-to the United States’ fishermen by the above-mentioned convention of
-October 20, 1818, of taking, curing, and drying fish on certain coasts
-of the British North American Colonies therein defined, the inhabitants
-of the United States shall have, in common with the subjects of Her
-Britannic Majesty, the liberty to take fish of every kind, except
-shell-fish, on the sea coasts and shores, and in the bays, harbours,
-and creeks of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward’s
-Island, and of the several islands thereunto adjacent, without being
-restricted to any distance from the shore, with permission to land
-upon the coasts and shores of those Colonies and the islands thereof,
-and also upon the Magdalen Islands, for the purpose of drying their
-nets and curing their fish; provided that, in so doing, they do
-not interfere with the rights of private property, or with British
-fishermen, in the peaceable use of any part of the said coast in
-their occupancy for the same purpose.” The second article accorded
-to Canadian fishermen similar privileges in the waters of the United
-States, north of 36 degrees N. latitude.
-
-[1157] Before this arrangement was made, the British Government, on
-12th April 1866, instructed the Admiralty “that American fishermen
-should not be interfered with, either by notice or otherwise, unless
-they are found within three miles of a line drawn across the mouth of
-a bay or creek, which is less than ten geographical miles in width, in
-conformity with the arrangement made with France in 1839.”
-
-[1158] 27th June 1870. “The limits within which you will, if necessary,
-exercise the power to exclude United States’ fishermen, or to
-detain American fishing vessels or boats, are for the present to be
-exceptional.... Her Majesty’s Government are clearly of opinion that,
-by the Convention of 1818, the United States have renounced the right
-of fishing, not only within three miles of the Colonial shores, but
-within three miles of a line drawn across the mouth of any British
-bay or creek. It is, however, the wish of Her Majesty’s Government
-neither to concede, nor for the present to enforce, any rights in this
-respect which are in their nature open to any serious question. Until
-further instructed, therefore, you will not interfere with any American
-fishermen, unless found within three miles of the shore, or within
-three miles of a line drawn across the mouth of a bay or creek, which,
-though in parts more than six miles wide, is less than six geographical
-miles in width at its mouth. In the case of any other bay--as Bay des
-Chaleurs, for example--you will not interfere with any United States’
-fishing vessel or boat, or any American fishermen, unless they are
-found within three miles of the shore.”
-
-[1159] Treaty between Her Majesty and the United States of America,
-signed at Washington, 8th May 1871, Art. xviii., xix.
-
-[1160] _Parl. Papers_, No. 1 (1888), (C.--5262).
-
-[1161] The number of American fishing vessels which take the licenses
-for Canadian waters is usually about 100, the fees aggregating 10,000
-or 12,000 dollars per annum. _Ann. Reports, Marine and Fisheries_,
-Ottawa.
-
-[1162] The three-mile limit is measured from the ten-mile arc.
-
-[1163] Mr Phelps to the Marquis of Salisbury, 3rd August 1887,
-enclosing ad interim arrangement proposed by the United States’
-Government, with “Observations” by the British Government and Reply of
-the Government of the United States.
-
-[1164] Gordon, _15th Ann. Rep. Assoc. for Reform of Law of Nations_
-(8). 1893.
-
-[1165] _Report by the Commissioners for the Herring Fishery_, Scotland,
-1869, p. 4; _Report by the Commissioners of the Fishery Board,
-Scotland_, 1876, p. 7.
-
-[1166] Report of W. H. Higgin, Esq., Q.C., on the Outrages committed
-by Foreign upon English Fishermen in the North Sea. _Parl. Papers_
-(C.--2878), 1881.
-
-[1167] After all, however, the damage from the monetary point of view
-was not very great, amounting, according to the detailed information
-collected by Mr Higgin, to £4372, 3s. over the years 1870-1880, or at
-the rate of about £400 per annum.
-
-[1168] Correspondence respecting the Conference at The Hague and the
-Convention of the 6th May 1882, relative to the Police of the Fisheries
-in the North Sea. _Parl. Papers, Commercial_, No. 24, 1882.
-
-[1169] M. Barthélemy St Hilaire to Lord Lyons, 2nd July 1881; M. de
-Freycinet to M. Challemel-Lacour, 2nd March 1882.
-
-[1170] “The fishermen of each country shall enjoy the exclusive right
-of fishery within the distance of three miles from low-water mark
-along the whole extent of the coasts of their respective countries and
-of the dependent islands. As regards bays, the entrances of which do
-not exceed ten miles in width, the distance of three miles shall be
-measured from a straight line joining the two extreme points of the
-bay. The present article shall not in any way prejudice the right of
-free navigation and anchorage in territorial waters accorded to vessels
-of all sizes, provided they conform to the special police regulations
-enacted by the Powers to whom the shore belongs.”
-
-[1171] Messrs Kennedy and Trevor to Mr Farrer, Oct. 31, 1881. In the
-Anglo-French convention of 1867 the British negotiators unsuccessfully
-pressed for the insertion of the words, “the islands ... and their
-dependencies.” M. de Freycinet to M. Challemel-Lacour, 2nd March 1882.
-
-[1172] Vide _Fiskeri-Beretning for Finansaaret_, 1907-1908, p. 178.
-Kjobenhavn, 1908.
-
-[1173] _Report on the Sea Fisheries of England and Wales_, 1879. The
-British delegate laid stress on one of the conclusions reached by Mr
-Buckland, to the effect that “nothing that man has done, and nothing
-that man can do, can affect the supply of herrings in the seas.” Even
-if this were proved for the herring in the absolute form in which it is
-expressed,--and it is clearly illogical and unwarrantable to pledge the
-future in this loose way,--it obviously might not, and in point of fact
-does not, apply to the great bulk of the fishes that would have been
-affected by the German suggestion.
-
-[1174] _International Convention for the Purpose of Regulating the
-Police of the Fisheries in the North Sea outside Territorial Waters._
-Signed at The Hague, 6th May 1882.
-
-[1175] Sir H. Rumbold to Earl Granville, 16th March 1882; H.M.
-Plenipotentiaries to the same, 8th May 1882.
-
-[1176] The boundaries specified are, on the north, the parallel of the
-61st degree of latitude; on the east and south, the coast of Norway
-between the above parallel and Lindesnæs Lighthouse, a straight line
-thence across the Skagerrack to Hantsholm Lighthouse in Denmark, the
-coasts of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, as
-far as Cape Gris Nez Lighthouse; on the west, a straight line from Gris
-Nez Lighthouse to the easternmost lighthouse at the North Foreland in
-Kent, the eastern coasts of England and Scotland, a line from Duncansby
-Head in Caithness to the southern point of South Ronaldsha in the
-Orkneys, the eastern coasts of the Orkney Islands, a straight line
-from North Ronaldsha Lighthouse to Sumburgh Head Lighthouse in the
-Shetland Islands, the eastern coasts of these islands, and the meridian
-of the North Unst Lighthouse as far as the parallel of the 61st degree
-of latitude. The Dutch proposed the 60th degree of latitude as the
-northern limit, and the British the 62nd degree.
-
-[1177] 46 & 47 Vict., c. 22. An Act to carry into effect an
-International Convention concerning the Fisheries in the North Sea, and
-to amend the laws relating to British Sea Fisheries.
-
-[1178] Messrs Kennedy and Trevor to Mr Farrer, 31st Oct. 1881. _Doc.
-cit._
-
-[1179] Dispatch to Hon. E. Ashley, 17th Nov. 1881; Earl Granville to
-Her Majesty’s Representatives at Paris, Brussels, The Hague, Berlin,
-Copenhagen, and Stockholm, 6th December 1881.
-
-[1180] A case occurred in 1908 in which the master of an English
-trawler, the _Taurus_, was convicted in a German court for trawling
-within the three-mile limit on the German coast, and the case was
-appealed on the ground that the place was outside the territorial
-waters, and was so shown on the English fishery charts. It was found,
-however, that the three-mile line on these charts did not take into
-account the dependent banks, whereas the German charts did take them
-into account, the limit running in some cases six or seven miles
-from the coast. It may be mentioned that as considerable parts of
-the Goodwin Sands are visible at low-water of neap tides, such parts
-are entitled to a three-mile limit in the same way as the dependent
-banks on the German coast. Recently, also, it has been found that
-the three-mile limit in the neighbourhood of the Scaw fluctuates
-considerably owing to the shifting of the shoals, and the Danish
-authorities, early in 1907, intimated that any case of alleged
-infraction of the limit by foreign fishing vessels would be judged of
-by the actual position of the line at the time, and not by what may
-be shown on any chart in use. The point in regard to banks was raised
-a century ago in connection with neutral rights in a case in which a
-British privateer captured a French corvette, the _Africaine_, on the
-coast of the United States, six miles from shore. It was argued that
-the capture was unlawful, because the place was within the neutral
-waters of the United States, the extent of which had been defined by
-Congress in 1794 as one marine league from the coast (see p. 574). It
-was contended that “coasts” included all the shoals or banks which,
-in Florida, extended to a distance of twenty miles from the land, and
-were therefore within territorial jurisdiction, and that the distance
-of protection should be reckoned from the outermost shoal. The American
-judge overruled the argument, because, although in a maritime sense
-this interpretation of “coasts” might be correct, it was too vague
-for juridical purposes, since the shoals vary, and there would be
-no fixed rule by which the boundary could be ascertained; and that
-the district courts would have to apply different rules at different
-places, instead of the one marine league everywhere. A somewhat similar
-question was argued in 1805 in the English Admiralty Court in the
-case of an American ship, the _Anna_, captured by a British privateer
-off the mouth of the Mississippi, at a point claimed to be within the
-neutral waters of the United States--viz., 1½ mile from an island, and
-“within view” of a fort, which was, however, five miles distant. A
-question raised was whether certain small mud-islands, formed of earth
-and drifted logs, and covered with reeds, where people occasionally
-went to shoot wild-fowl, was United States territory from which the
-marine league could be measured. It was argued that the islands had
-not sufficient consistency to support the purposes of life, and were
-sometimes scarcely distinguishable, and that since the distance
-of neutral protection “is reckoned according to the efficacy of
-protection, that is, within the range of firearms,” the land from which
-the extension is measured should be a place from which this protection
-could be in reality afforded. Lord Stowell, in deciding that they
-were United States territory, stated that the right of dominion did
-not depend upon the texture of the soil; and he quoted Bynkershoek’s
-formula as the rule of law, saying that the distance “has usually been
-recognised to be about three miles from the shore.” It may be said
-here that in the earlier writings and decisions about the limit of
-territorial waters, low-water mark is not specified, and in the case
-of the _Twee Gebroeders_ (see p. 577) it is clear that sand-banks
-uncovered at low-water were not regarded as entitled to an independent
-zone, the distance being measured from _terra firma_.
-
-[1181] _Fish Trades Gazette_, May 31st, 1902, p. 8; _ibid._, April 4th,
-1903, p. 21.
-
-[1182] “Les articles 2 et 3 de ce contrat stipulent que les pêcheurs
-nationaux jouiront du droit exclusif de pêche dans le rayon de trois
-milles géographiques de 60 au degré de latitude, à partir de la laisse
-de basse mer, le long de toute l’étendue des côtes de leurs pays
-respectifs, ainsi que des îles et des bancs qui en dépendent.” _Loi
-relative à la pêche maritime dans les eaux territoriales. Exposé des
-motifs._ Sess. 1890-91.
-
-[1183] The Marquis of Lothian, Secretary for Scotland, in introducing
-the Bill which became the Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act, 1889, said:
-“With regard to the east coast there is no very great difficulty in
-fixing the limits of territorial waters, because between Her Majesty’s
-Government and what I may call the riparian powers of the North Sea
-there is a Fisheries Convention; but on the west coast there is no
-such convention, and therefore it has been thought desirable to attach
-a schedule to this Bill in order to show exactly what are the waters
-closed against trawlers apart altogether from the general international
-rule as to the three-mile limit.” June 28th, 1889. Hansard, vol. 337,
-p. 975.
-
-[1184] 46 & 47 Vict., c. 22, s. 28.
-
-[1185] 6 & 7 Vict., c. 79 (1843). The international regulations
-agreed upon in virtue of the eleventh article of the convention were
-to apply to “the seas lying between the coasts of Great Britain and
-of France”; and differences of interpretation arose in this country
-as to the extent of the seas coming under this denomination--_e.g._,
-whether those on the west coast of Scotland were included. The power
-given to the crown to suspend the operation of the Act on the Irish
-coasts, and the obvious intention of the Act and articles, seemed to
-the Royal Commissioners of 1863 to warrant the opinion that these
-extra-territorial regulations applied to all the seas around the
-British Isles (_Report, Royal Commission on Sea Fisheries_, i. p.
-lxiii). On the other hand, it was contended that the words quoted
-must be construed strictly, and included only those seas which were
-situated geographically between the two countries. This difference of
-opinion as to the interpretation of the phrase in question does not,
-however, affect the validity of Article ix. of the convention, one of
-the principal objects of which was to determine the limits of exclusive
-fishery.
-
-[1186] _Vide_ 46 & 47 Vict., c. 22, s. 24.
-
-[1187] _Report from the Select Committee on Oyster Fisheries_, p. 1.
-1876.
-
-[1188] 19th, 22nd, and 23rd _Reports Fishery Board for Scotland_, Part
-I. Corresponding particulars are not given in the English or Irish
-fishery reports.
-
-[1189] The preceding laws, however, left the territorial limits
-indefinite, under the law of nations, or subject to any special
-international agreement, as that of 12th February 1872, concerning
-foreign fishermen at Iceland. (“1. Drive fremmede Nationers Fiskere
-nogetsomhelst Fiskeri under Islands Kyster indenfor Søterritoriets
-Grænse, saaledes som denne er bestemt ved den almindelige Folkeret,
-eller ved særlige internationale Overenskomster for Islands Vedkommende
-maatte blive fastsat, straffes de med Bøder fra 10 til 200 Rd.” C. F.
-Drechsel, _Samling af Islandske Love, Forordninger, m.m. gældende for
-Fiskeriet paa Søterritoriet ved Island_, 1892.) Later laws, both for
-the Faröes and Iceland, merely referred to the “territorial sea.”
-
-[1190] Convention between His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom
-of Great Britain and Ireland and His Majesty the King of Denmark
-for regulating the Fisheries of their respective Subjects outside
-Territorial Waters in the Ocean surrounding the Faröe Islands and
-Iceland. Art. ii. “The subjects of His Majesty the King of Denmark
-shall enjoy the exclusive right of fishery within the distance of three
-miles from low-water mark, along the whole extent of the coasts of the
-said islands, as well as of the dependent islets, rocks, and banks.
-
-“As regards bays, the distance of three miles shall be measured
-from a straight line drawn across the bay, in the part nearest the
-entrance, at the first point where the width does not exceed ten
-miles.” The geographical limits for the application of the convention,
-which embodies practically the same regulations as in the North Sea
-Convention, are as follows: on the south, by a line commencing from
-where the meridian of North Unst Lighthouse (Shetland Islands) meets
-the parallel of 61st degree of north latitude to a point where the 9th
-meridian of west longitude meets the parallel of 60° north latitude,
-and from thence westward along that parallel to the meridian of 27°
-west longitude; on the west, by the meridian of 27° west longitude; on
-the north, by the parallel of 67° 30´ of north latitude; on the east,
-by the meridian of the North Unst Lighthouse (which is about 50´ west
-longitude). The area is thus very large, much larger than the North
-Sea. The convention continues in force until the expiration of two
-years from notice by either party for its termination, and a clause
-is inserted providing for the adhesion of any other Government whose
-subjects fish in the ocean surrounding the Faröe Islands and Iceland.
-
-[1191] “Das positive deutsche Recht enthält keinerlei ausdrückliche
-Bestimmung über die Grenze der Küstengewässer landwärts.... Auch
-für die Grenze seewärts hat das deutsche Recht keine ausdrückliche
-Bestimmung, und adoptiert in dieser Richtung lediglich die Regeln des
-Völkerrechts.” Harburger, _Fifteenth Ann. Rep. Internat. Law Assoc._,
-73. 1893.
-
-[1192] Herstlet, _Commercial Treaties_, xiv. 1055. Perels, _Das
-Internationale öffentlichs Seerecht der Gegenwart_, 38.
-
-[1193] _Mittheilungen des deutschen Seefischerei-vereins_, Bd. xiii.
-61. 1897.
-
-[1194] “Vi ville have fastsat som Regel i alle de Tilfælde hvor
-Spørgsmaal er om Bestemmelse af Vor Territorial-Hoiheds Græendse udi
-Søen, at denne skal regnes indtil den sædvanlige Sø-Miils Afstand fra
-den yderste øe eller Holme fra Landet, som ikke overskylles af Søen.”
-_Rescripter Resolutioner_, &c., i. 626, 22 (25), Feb. 1812. A circular
-of the Royal Danish Chancellory of 18th August 1810 made an exception
-for the territorial waters near the fortress of Kronberg, on the Sound,
-and of Glückstadt, on the Elbe, where the distance was to be computed
-only up to the range of the guns of the fortress. Auber, _Annuaire de
-l’Institut de Droit International_, xi. 146 (1894).
-
-[1195] _Svensk Fiskeri Tidskrift 9e_ Årg., 78. Stockholm, 1900.
-“Danmark räknar på grund af konvention samma [with Sweden] fyra mils
-gräns mot oss, men däremot på grund af Nordsjötraktaten blott tre
-mil gentemot de i denna deltagande makterna, t. ex. engelsmän och
-tyskar.” Instruks for det ved Fiskerikontrollen ansatte Personale,
-Landbrugsministeriet, den 20 Marts 1908, _Fiskeri-Beretning for Aaret_
-1908-9.
-
-[1196] Natzen, _Den Danske Statsforfatningsret_, i. 36. 1888.
-
-[1197] Fiskerikonventionen mellem Danmark og Sverig, 14de July 1899.
-_Fiskeri-Beretning for Finansaaret_, 1898-1899, Copenhagen, 1900. “Art.
-I. I de til Kongerigerne Danmark og Sverig grænsende Farvande skal,
-med de i Art. II. nævnte Undtagelser, det Omraade, hvor Fiskeriet
-udelukkende er forbeholdt hvert Lands egne Undersaatter, udgøre en
-Strækning af en geografisk Mil (1/15 Breddegrad) fra Kysten eller
-yderste der udfor liggende Holme og Skær, som ikke til Stadighed
-overskylles af Vandet,” &c. The definition in the Swedish is “en
-geografisk mil (1/15 breddgrad) från kusten eller ytterst därutanför
-liggande holmar och skär, som icke ständigt af vattnet öfversköljas.”
-(_Svensk Fiskeri Tidskrift, 16e_ Årg., Häft 6, p. 189.) Article II.
-makes the fishery in the Sound, including Kioge Bay, common to the
-subjects of each state, except that on either side, _within a depth of
-seven metres_ (four fathoms), subjects of the other country shall be
-allowed to fish for herrings only, with nets; and mutual liberty of
-herring-fishing with drift-nets is conceded in like fashion at certain
-other specified places. Certain amendments were made to this agreement
-in 1907, the chief one being the prohibition of trawling in the
-Sound. _Fiskeri-Beretning for Finansaaret_, 1906-1907, p. 45. _Svensk
-Författningssamling_, No. 79, År., 1907.
-
-[1198] _Sixth Supplement to Section 44 of Customs Orders_, vol. vi.,
-1886; _Ordinance of Home Department for the Regulation of the Fishery
-Supervision on the Murman Coast_, 4th May 1887. See footnote, p. 657.
-
-[1199] _Norsk Fiskeritidende_, 466, 1893: Revue Général de _Droit
-International Public_, 1894, p. 440.
-
-[1200] In July 1910, a British trawler, _Onward Ho_, while engaged
-in fishing off the Kanin Peninsula, at a distance, according to the
-skipper, of 40 miles from Russian Lapland, and admittedly much beyond
-the three-mile limit, was arrested by a Russian cruiser and taken to
-Archangel, on the charge of illegal fishing. The vessel was released
-after representations had been made by the British Government, the
-Russian authorities finding that it had been arrested outside the
-boundary under the protection of the cruiser. The action was doubtless
-taken in connection with a new law of 10th December 1909, establishing
-a limit of 12 miles from the coast for customs purposes,--all vessels,
-Russian or foreign, being held to be subject to the control of the
-Russian authorities when within that distance. _Handelsberichten_, 12th
-May 1910, p. 135.
-
-[1201] “Art. 2. Sur la demande des prud’hommes des pêcheurs, de leurs
-délégués et, à défaut, des syndics des gens de mer, certaines pêches
-peuvent être temporairement interdités sur une étendue de mer au delà
-de 3 milles du littoral, si cette mesure est commandée par l’intérêt
-de la conservation des fonds ou de la pêche de poissons de passage.
-L’arrêté d’interdiction est pris par le Préfet Maritime.”
-
-[1202] M. de Chasseloup Lubat, in _Ann. di Agricoltura_, 50. 1891.
-
-[1203] Law of 7th June 1832. Heffter, _Le Droit International de
-l’Europe_, c. ii. s. 75.
-
-[1204] “Loi relative à la pêche maritime dans les eaux territoriales,”
-19th August 1891. A decree of 5th September 1892 regulated foreign
-fishing-boats when within territorial waters.
-
-[1205] Wet van 15 Juni 1883, _Staatsblad_, No. 73; Koninklijk Besluit
-van 20 March 1884, _Staatsblad_, No. 40, putting in force the North
-Sea Convention: “Art. 1. De bepalingen dezer overeenkomst, welke
-ten doel heeft de politie der visscherij in de Noordzee buiten de
-territoriale wateren te regelen, zijn toepasselijk op allen, die
-tot de nationaliteit der Hooge contracteerende Partijen behooren.
-2. De visschers van elken Staat zullen het uitsluitend recht van
-visscherij genieten binnen een kring van drie mijlen, gerekend van de
-laagwaterlijn, langs de geheele uitgestrektheid der kusten van elken
-Staat en evenzeer langs de eilanden en banken, die daarmede zijn
-verbonden,” &c. Wet van 7th December 1883, _Staatsblad_, No. 202; Wet
-van 26th October 1889, _Staatsblad_, No. 135, “Tot vaststelling van
-bepalingen tegen het visschen door opvarenden van vreemde vaartuigen
-in de territoriale wateren van het Rijk”; the limits, as laid down in
-the convention of 1882, are applied to all foreign fishing vessels.
-There are special agreements with Belgium as to the fishings in the
-Schelde. H. van der Hoeven, _Wetgeving betreffende de Zee- en de
-Zalmvisscherijen_. Leiden, 1897.
-
-[1206] Strisower, _Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International_. 1894.
-
-[1207] Verordnung der Ministerien des Handels und des Ackerbaues, im
-Einvernehmen mit dem Ministerium des Innern, vom 5 December 1884,
-betreffend die Seefischerei, s. 3.
-
-[1208] Handels- und Schiffahrtsvertrag vom 27 Dec. 1878, zwischen
-Oesterreich-Ungarn und Italien. Schlussprotokoll ad Art. xvii., xviii.;
-Marchesetti, _La pesca lungo le coste orientali dell’ Adria_. Trieste,
-1882.
-
-[1209] Vorschriften über die See-Fischerei giltig in Oesterreich-Ungarn
-seit 12 December 1884.
-
-[1210] Legge sulla pesca del 4 marzo 1877, No. 3706 (Serie 2^a).
-
-[1211] _Annali di Agricoltura_, 1891. Atti della commissione consultiva
-per la pesca, pp. 32, 86.
-
-[1212] Definizione del mare territoriale e ordine di vigilare sugli
-armamenti alla pesca. _Ann. del Ministero di Agricoltura, Industria e
-Commercio_, i. parte i. 96. Genoa, 1871.
-
-[1213] Corsi, in _Fifteenth Ann. Rep. Assoc. for the Reform and
-Codification of the Law of Nations_, 83.
-
-[1214] No. 7, 409, 2nd Dec. 1869. Apostolidès, _La Pêche en Grèce_, 86.
-Athens, 1888.
-
-[1215] Dr Kishinouye, _in litt._
-
-[1216] Civil Code, Articles 593, 611.
-
-[1217] Reglamentendo la pesca y caza, _Boletin official_, 20th
-September 1907.
-
-[1218] Reglamento para las concesiones de pesca en el litoral
-oceánico de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, 4th June 1909. “Art. 3^o.
-Los concesionarios solo podrán emplear redes arrastradas por vapores
-en una zona distante no menos de doce (12) millas, contadas desde
-las líneas de las más bajas mareas. Art. 4^o. Dentro de la zona de
-doce millas hasta la línea de las más bajas mareas, podrán usarse
-redes arrastradas por veleros. Se declara libre el uso de las líneas,
-palangres ó espineles, nasas y redes verticales de deriva. Art. 6^o.
-Las personas ó empresas que quisieran usar artes especiales de pesca
-distintos de los indicados, deberán solicitar permiso especial de la
-División de Ganadería y obtener la autorización correspondiente. Art.
-7^o. Las embarcaciones llevarán bandera nacional y sus tripulaciones
-se compondrán de una parte de individuos de nacionalidad argentina,
-de acuerdo con las leyes y reglamentos de cabotaje nacional.” I
-am indebted to the courtesy of Mr R. M. Bartleman, the American
-Consul-General at Buenos Aires, for a copy of these regulations.
-
-[1219] Reuter’s telegrams from Buenos Aires, 21st March, 30th June
-1908. _Scotsman_, 23rd March, 2nd July 1908. _La Prensa_, one of the
-leading journals of Buenos Aires, is quoted as declaring it hard to
-believe that the British Government has decided to raise a question of
-such exceptional gravity, seeing the first effect of such action would
-be to bring about a conflict to which there could be no conciliatory
-or friendly solution, since the immediate reply, which would be final,
-would be absolute rejection of the claim put forward--that is, that the
-waters of the estuary outside the limits of three miles from the coasts
-are non-territorial.
-
-[1220] Award of the Tribunal of Arbitration, p. 23, “outside the
-ordinary three-mile limit.” The President, Baron de Courcel, has since
-explained that the tribunal “s’est borné à constater que les parties
-étaient d’accord pour admettre que l’étendue de trois milles à partir
-de la côte comme formant dans l’espèce qui lui était soumise, la limite
-ordinaire des eaux territoriales.” M. de Courcel to M. Auber, _App.
-Ann. de l’Institut de Droit Internat._ for 1894, p. 282. _Vide_ Hall,
-_A Treatise on International Law_, 4th ed., p. 161.
-
-[1221] For example, Leoni Levi, “No territorial sovereignty exists or
-can be claimed beyond the three miles zone.” _Internat. Law_, 112.
-
-[1222] Mr Seward, Secretary of State, to Mr Tassara, 6th December 1862.
-The same to Mr Burnley, 16th September 1864. Wharton, _A Digest of the
-International Law of the United States_, i. 105. American ships were
-charged with pursuing Confederate vessels into British waters, and
-the balls from the guns they fired had struck objects on shore. The
-facts were used to show that the hostile acts had occurred within our
-territorial jurisdiction. Hansard, vol. 173, p. 509; February 1864.
-
-[1223] Secretary Fish to Sir E. Thornton, 22nd January 1875. “We have
-understood and asserted that, pursuant to public law, no nation can
-rightfully claim jurisdiction at sea beyond a marine league from the
-coast.” _Loc. cit._
-
-[1224] Torres-Campos, in _Fifteenth Ann. Rep. Assoc. for Reform and
-Codification of the Law of Nations_, 93. Negrin, _Tratado de Derecho
-internacional maritimo_, 1883.
-
-[1225] _Negocios Externos. Documentos apresentados ás Cortes na Sessão
-legislativa de 1879 pelo Ministro e Secretario d’Estado dos Negocios
-Estrangeiros. Questão das Pescarias_, p. 258. Lisboa, 1879. The volume
-contains a full discussion of the questions between the two Governments.
-
-[1226] Tratado de navegación y comercio entre España y Portugal,
-firmado en Madrid el dí 27 de Marzo de 1893. Apéndice Sexto. Reglamento
-de policía costera y de pesca. Sec. 1. Disposiciones aplicables á
-las aguas de cada país, “Art. 1^o. La policía costera y de pesca en
-las aguas jurisdiccionales de España y de Portugal, quedará sujeta
-á las disposiciones siguientes. Art. 2^o. Los límites dentro de los
-cuales el derecho general de pesca, queda reservado exclusivamente á
-los pescadores sujetos á las jurisdicciones respectivas de las dos
-naciones, se fijan en seis millas, contadas por fuera de la linea
-de bajamar de las mayores mareas. Para las bahías cuya abertura no
-exceda de diez millas, las seis millas se contáran á partir de una
-linea recta tirada de una punta á la otra. Las millas mencionadas son
-millas geográficas de 60 al grado de latitud. Art. 3°. Cada una de los
-Estados tendrá el derecho de reglamentar el ejercicio de la pesca en
-sus respectivas costas marítimas hasta una distancia de seis millas
-de las mismas, límite dentro del cual solamente será permitido á los
-Pescadores nacionales ejercer esta industria.” F. López y Medina,
-_Colección de Tratados Internacionales, Ordenanzas y Reglamentos de
-Pesca_, pp. 44, 49 (Madrid, 1906). I am indebted to Sir Reginald
-MacLeod, K.C.B., late Under-Secretary for Scotland, for this volume.
-
-[1227] _Revista de Pesca Marítima_, ix. 97 (1893); x. 209 (1894).
-Various regulations have been lately made with respect to trawling
-beyond the six-mile limit at certain parts of the Spanish coast (_vide_
-López y Medina, _Primer Apéndice a la Colección de Tratados, &c._,
-pp. 34-45. Madrid, 1907), and also on the coast of Portugal (_vide
-Collecção de Leis e Disposições diversas com relação á Pesca e Serviço
-maritimo dos Portos_, pp. 28, 54, 276, 535. Lisboa, 1907). In no other
-countries, it may be added, have more regulations been made restricting
-all kinds of trawling than in Spain and Portugal.
-
-[1228] Prof. A. F. Marion, _in litt._
-
-[1229] The National Sea Fisheries Protection Association:
-_Twenty-fourth Ann. Rep. of the Committee of Management_, 1905, p. 7.
-“Spanish and Portuguese Territorial Limits. Communications were made to
-the Foreign Office on the subject of Spanish and Portuguese Territorial
-Limits, and, in reply, the Association was informed that His Majesty’s
-Government did not recognise any claims of the Spanish or Portuguese
-Governments to exercise jurisdiction over British vessels beyond the
-three-mile limit.”
-
-[1230] _Fish Trades Gazette_, 10th Dec. 1904, p. 23. London. _Boletin
-Oficial de la Liga Marítima Española_; _Vida Marítima, Revista de
-Navegación y Comercio, Pesquerias, &c._ Madrid. In 1905 no less than
-forty-five English trawlers, as well as four German trawlers and one
-Spanish, landed fish at Lisbon and Oporto, which had been caught in
-neighbouring waters and as far as Morocco, the value being 332,220
-milreis, or about £74,750. _Estatistica das Pescas Maritimas, Anno de
-1905._ Lisboa, 1907.
-
-[1231] A summary of this new law, which received the sanction of the
-King of Portugal on 26th October 1909, is given in _Mitteilungen
-des Deutschen Seefischerei-Vereins_ for February 1910 (Bd. xxvi.
-No. 2), from _Diario do Governo_, No. 247, viz.: Portugiesisches
-Gesetz betreffend das Verbot für fremde Fahrzeuge zum Fischen
-in den territorialen Gewässern. “Art. 1. In den portugiesischen
-Territorialgewässern innerhalb einer Zone von 3 Seemeilen, von der
-Linie des Niedrigstwasserstandes an gerechnet, ist fremden Fahrzeugen
-das Fischen verboten. In den Buchten ist die Zone von 3 Seemeilen
-gemäss den Grundsätsen des internationalen Rechts zu berechnen.”
-
-[1232] Tratado de comercio con el emperador de Marruecos, 20th November
-1861, _Revista de Pesca Marítima_, xiv. 149, 1898. López y Medina, _op
-cit._, 72.
-
-[1233] This is also the interpretation made by Mr Arctander (_Norsk
-Fiskeritidende_, Tolvte Aargang, 1893, p. 464) of the wording of the
-ordinances, that the line must be drawn through points that lie above
-the water at high tide (_flod_), the rule thus differing from the usual
-one. On the other hand, the Norwegian Department of the Interior, in
-replying to certain queries from the International Law Association,
-stated, with reference to the royal ordinance of 1812 (see p. 653),
-that “it is not expressly said whether the distance is to be reckoned
-at half-tide, high-water, or low-water”; and they did not suggest which
-ought to be adopted. _Rep., Seventeenth Conference_, 1895, p. 301. The
-Danish terms agree with the Swedish. See p. 655.
-
-[1234] Professor Auber thus states the practice in Norway: “Nous avons
-regardé comme tout naturel que, l’île n’étant pas située plus qu’à,
-deux anciens milles marins (deux quinzièmes de degré) de la terre
-ferme, l’étendue de la mer territoriale doive être compter jusqu’à un
-mille au delà de l’île, et ainsi de suite d’île en île” (_Annuaire de
-l’Institut de Droit International_ for 1889, p. 139). M. Kleen, on
-the other hand, speaks of the outermost isle being included “sous la
-condition que cette île ou ce brisant ne soit pas situé plus loin de
-la côte qu’une lieu géographique” (_Fifteenth Ann. Rep., Internat.
-Law Association_, p. 20). The Norwegian law refers to “the island or
-islet farthest from the mainland, and not covered by the sea,” while M.
-Kleen says: “Comme brisant à compter sera alors considéré chacun qui
-n’est pas _continuellement_ submergé par la mer ... pourvu qu’il soit à
-découvert périodiquement et que la mer ne le couvre pas _toujours_.”
-
-[1235] _Kongelig Resolution_ af 16 Oktober 1869: “At en ret linie,
-trukket i en geografisk mils afstand fra og parallelt med en ret linie
-mellem Storholmen og Svinö, bliver at betragte som grændsen for den
-havstrækning udenfor den tilsvarende kyst af Söndmöres fogderi, paa
-hvilken fiskeriet er landets egen befolkning udelukkende forbeholdt.”
-_Kongelig Resolution_ af 9 September 1889: “En linie, trukket i en
-geografisk mils afstand fra og parallelt med en linie fra Storholmen
-over Skraapen (udenfor Harö), Gravskjær (udenfor Ona) og Kalven (det
-yderste af Orskjærene) til yderste Jevleholme udenfor Grip, bliver
-at betragte som grændsen for den havstækning udenfor den tilsvarende
-kyst af Romsdal amt, paa hvilken fiskeriet er landets egen befolkning
-udelukkende forbeholdt.”
-
-[1236] From about 62° 20´ N. lat. and 5° 13´ E. long, to about 63° 13´
-N. lat. and 7° 35´ E. long.
-
-[1237] Provisorisk Anordnung angaaende vaartorskefiskeriet ved
-Söndmöres kyster, 3 Jan. 1870; Lov angaaende vaartorskefiskeriet ved
-Söndmöres kyster, 6 June 1878; Lov om vaartorskefiskeriet ved Romsdals
-amts kyst og fjorde, 1 July 1907.
-
-[1238] It is referred to in A.D. 888. The fishery is prosecuted from
-about the middle of January to the end of April; in 1908 over 20,000
-fishermen, drawn from all the neighbouring parts of the coast, took
-part in it. _Aarsberetning vedkommende Norges Fiskerier for 1908_:
-4^{de} Hefte. _Lofotfiskeriet_, 1908.
-
-[1239] “Le droit exclusif de la pêche dans le golfe du Vestfjord,
-consacré par un usage plusieurs fois seculaire, n’a jusqu’ici été
-l’objet d’aucune disposition legislative.” Letter of the Minister for
-Foreign Affairs, 6th August 1908. “The Vestfjord through centuries
-has been considered as Norwegian territorial waters, but no decree
-or decision as to the special frontier or limit between this fjord
-and the open sea has been issued up to the present.” Letter from his
-Excellency M. J. Irgens, the Norwegian Minister, 13th June 1908. Having
-some difficulty in getting authentic copies of the various Norwegian
-decrees, I applied to Dr Fridtjof Nansen, then Norwegian Minister in
-London, and later received full information from three sources--from
-Mons. J. Irgens, Dr Nansen’s successor, and now the Foreign Minister of
-Norway; by the courtesy of Sir Reginald MacLeod; and through Dr Baty,
-the Secretary to the International Law Association.
-
-[1240] 5th January 1881; 19th June 1880; 14th June 1890; 17th December
-1896; 7th January 1904. In the law of 17th December 1896 the limits
-are mentioned as follows: “Paa Havstrækningen ved Tromsø Amts og
-Finmarkens Amts Kyst i en Afstand af indtil én geografisk Mil fra
-Kysten, regnet fra den yderste Ø eller Holme, som ikke overskylles
-af Havet, skal det indtil videre være forbudt at jage, anskyde eller
-dræbe Hval i Tidsrummet fra 1ste Januar til Udgangen af Mai. For
-Varangerfjordens Vedkommende i Finmarkens Amt bliver Grændsen for den
-fredede Strækning udad mod Havet en ret Linie trukket fra Kibergnæs
-til Grændse, Jakobselv, dog saaledes, at det ogsaa udenfor denne Linie
-skal være forbudt i den ovenanførte Tid at jage, anskyde eller dræbe
-Hval i kortere Afstand fra Kysten ved Kibergnæs end én geografisk Mil.”
-See also Auber, Annuaire, xi. 136, 1892; Kleen, _Fifteenth Ann. Rep.
-Internat. Law Assoc._, 17; Aschehoug, Norges nuvarende Retsforfatning,
-90; Kleen, _Neutralitetens Lagar_, 1889; _Norsk Fiskeritidende_, 1893,
-461.
-
-[1241] “Räknadt från kusten eller längst ut från denna liggande ö
-eller skär, som ej ständigt af hafvet öfversköljes.” _Svensk Fiskeri
-Tidskrift_, 9e Årg., p. 78.
-
-[1242] Auber, _loc. cit._
-
-[1243] Kleen, _op. cit._; Egerström, _Sveriges Landtbruksförvaltning_,
-1896, p. 37. It is the same in Finland,--J. A. Sandman, _Uebersicht
-ueber die Seefischerei Finnlands_, p. 145, 1906.
-
-[1244] Minister of the Interior to Minister of Foreign Affairs, 28th
-October 1868 ... “Cela s’explique: ces pêches, ayant lieu dans un golfe
-considéré comme faisant partie de la mer territoriale de la Norvège,
-out été regardées comme la propriété exclusive du pays. Cela ne peut
-certainement pas cadrer avec les principes du droit international,
-qu’on puisse tout à coup amener des changements dans une situation
-légale qui repose sur une reconnaissance tacite de plusieurs siècles.”
-
-[1245] Letter of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, 7th November 1868.
-“Aussi il est défendu aux sujets étrangers de faire la pêche dans ce
-golfe, et cette défense s’applique également à la mer voisine et à
-l’embouchure jusqu’à une distance d’une lieue marine à partir du point
-le plus méridional du group d’îlots dit ‘Röst.’”
-
-[1246] Minister of the Interior to Minister for Foreign Affairs, 28th
-January 1870.
-
-[1247] 20th August 1886. “Art. 7 ... Les deux parties contractantes
-conviennent de considérer comme limites des mers territoriales de
-leur côtes respectives pour tout ce qui se rapporte à l’application
-des règlements de douane et aux mesures prises pour empêcher la
-contrebande, une distance de trois lieues marines comptées depuis de la
-ligne de marée basse.” A similar customs treaty, it may be mentioned,
-was concluded between Mexico and Great Britain on 27th November 1888,
-in which three marine leagues was stipulated by each country “as a
-limit of their territorial waters on their respective coasts,” strictly
-for customs purposes. “The two Contracting Parties agree to consider,
-as a limit of their territorial waters on their respective coasts, the
-distance of three marine leagues reckoned from the line of low-water
-mark. Nevertheless, this stipulation shall have no effect, excepting in
-what may relate to the observance and application of the Custom-house
-Regulations and the measures for preventing smuggling, and cannot be
-extended to other questions of civil and criminal jurisdiction or of
-international maritime law” (Hertslett, _Treaties_). It is of interest
-to note, however, that the ordinary limit adhered to by the British
-Government so rigorously in connection with fishery rights, may be
-legitimately extended by treaty in order to protect the revenue.
-
-[1248] Auber, _op. cit._, 141.
-
-[1249] Foreigners are forbidden to carry on fishing within the
-territorial waters, the most recent law relative to this subject
-being that of 2nd June 1906. Instructions to the commanders of the
-Norwegian cruisers, dated 22nd December 1906, with reference thereto,
-describe the limit as an “ordinary sea mile” (measured as described),
-the equivalent distance being stated at 7529 metres, which is equal to
-4·065 mean nautical miles, or 4·68 English statute miles. A law of 1908
-prohibits trawl-fishing within the territorial waters.
-
-[1250] _Le Droit International_, i. 349; _Dict. de Droit
-International_, 501. Bluntschli endeavours to place the doctrine on a
-philosophical but absurd basis, by stating that the sovereignty over
-the sea extended originally only to a stone’s-throw from the coast,
-later to an arrow-shot, and then according to the range of firearms.
-
-[1251] _Das Moderne Völkerrecht_, s. 307-9.
-
-[1252] _Commentaries upon International Law_, I. viii. cxcviii.
-
-[1253] _International Law_, 135.
-
-[1254] _Commentaries on Criminal Law_, iv. c. 5, s. 74.
-
-[1255] _Introduction to the Study of International Law_, s. 56.
-
-[1256] Wheaton’s _International Law_, 8th ed., p. 359.
-
-[1257] _The Law of Nations in Time of Peace_, s. 172.
-
-[1258] _Trattato di Diritto Internazionale Pubblico_, ii. c. 3, pp.
-65-67.
-
-[1259] In Fiore, _Nouveau Droit International Public_, note, p. 372.
-
-[1260] _Das Internationale Öffentliche Seerecht der Gegenwart_, p. 21
-_et seq._
-
-[1261] _International Law_, 399.
-
-[1262] _Droit Commercial Maritime_, 10.
-
-[1263] _La Mer Territoriale_, 36.
-
-[1264] _Neutralitetens Lagar_, i. s. 160; _Annuaire de l’Institut de
-Droit International_, xii. 140.
-
-[1265] _Norges Offentlige Ret_, 79-81; _Annuaire_, xi. 141.
-
-[1266] _Revue générale de Droit International Public_, No. 1.
-
-[1267] _A Treatise on International Law_, 4th edition, 1895, p. 160.
-
-[1268] _International Law_, i. 242 (1905).
-
-[1269] The Committee of the Association was composed of ten
-members--viz., Sir Travers Twiss, President; Sir George Baden-Powell;
-Hon. D. Dudley Field, New York; Dr F. Sieveking, President of the
-Hanseatic High Court of Appeal, Hamburg; Mr E. H. Schweigaard,
-Christiania; Rear-Admiral P. H. Colomb; E. Edouard Clunet, Paris; Dr
-E. N. Rahusen, Amsterdam; Mr T. H. Haynes; and Mr (now Sir) Thomas
-Barclay, Paris, who was Secretary. The Committee of the Institut
-comprised twenty-four members, including Sir Travers Twiss; Professor
-Westlake; Professor Lorimer; M. Desjardins, Advocate-General of the
-Court of Cassation; Feraud-Giraud, Judge of the French Court of
-Cassation; Harburger, Judge of the Court of First Instance at Munich;
-Hartmann, Privy Councillor, Hanover; Perels, Director of the German
-Admiralty; Marquis d’Olivart, Ex-Professor of International Law,
-Madrid; Edouard Rolin, Editor of the _Revue de Droit International_;
-&c. M. Renault, the Paris Professor of International Law, was appointed
-“reporter” to the Committee, but this position was soon occupied by Sir
-Thomas Barclay.
-
-[1270] Most of the English members who expressed their opinion, as Sir
-Travers Twiss, Professor Holland, and Mr Moore, preferred to retain the
-limit at three miles; Professor Westlake favoured five miles.
-
-[1271] _Report from the Select Committee on Sea Fisheries_, 1893;
-_Seventeenth Rep., International Law Assoc._, p. 103, 1896; _Annuaire
-de l’Institut de Droit International_, xiii.
-
-[1272] “Il en est ainsi pour les _firths_ écossais.... Toutes ces baies
-sont considérées comme étant sous la domination exclusive de l’État
-riverain.” _Annuaire_, 23.
-
-[1273] _Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International_, x., xi., xii.,
-xiii. _Reports, International Law Association_, xv., xvi., xvii.
-
-[1274] 49 Vict., c. 95.
-
-[1275] 38 Vict., c. 18; Order in Council, 28th November 1876.
-
-[1276] _Award of the Tribunal of Arbitration_, p. 23. Declarations made
-by the Tribunal of Arbitration, 1893. As the Behring Sea case has been
-often referred to in recent controversies about the right of fishing,
-as having affirmed the three-mile limit as the true international
-boundary of the territorial sea, the facts may be briefly recalled.
-In 1867 the United States purchased from Russia the territory of
-Alaska with its dependent islands, &c., and an American company,
-very powerful financially and politically, was formed in 1870, which
-obtained a lease of the Pribilov Islands in order to engage in the
-fur-seal industry. Under the Act of Congress of 1870 which enabled this
-to be done, it was made unlawful to kill any seals upon the islands,
-“or in the waters adjacent thereto,” except during certain specified
-months. Sealing vessels, both from the United States and from British
-Columbia, began to frequent Behring Sea and the waters adjacent to
-the islands; their competition impaired the practical monopoly of
-the Company in the markets for seal-skins; and in 1886 three British
-vessels were seized by American revenue cruisers at distances of 70,
-75, and 115 miles from the land, and the masters and mates were fined
-and imprisoned for illegal sealing. Up to 1890 other eleven British
-sealers were similarly seized and dealt with for fishing at distances
-between 15 and 96 miles from land, and five others were ordered out
-of Behring Sea. In the negotiations which followed, the American
-Government first pled a virtual _mare clausum_ for the whole of Behring
-Sea; then that they had jurisdiction up to 100 miles from land; and
-lastly, that they had special property in and right of protection over
-the fur-seals in Behring Sea and frequenting the islands for breeding
-purposes. The Tribunal of Arbitration decided that they had not this
-right of protection or property “when such seals are found outside the
-ordinary three-mile limit.” Then the Tribunal, in terms of the treaty
-appointing them, prescribed the regulations above referred to, leaving
-to Great Britain the honours of the contest, and to the United States
-the advantage. The true lesson to be derived from this chapter of
-international diplomacy, is not that the high tribunal reaffirmed the
-three-mile limit as the legal boundary of the territorial sea, which
-they did not do (see letter from Baron de Courcel, the President, p.
-664), but that that limit may be set aside and a much wider boundary
-fixed (in this instance 60 miles) if the protection and preservation
-of a marine fishery require it. It may be added that of late years
-pelagic sealing by Japanese has greatly increased in Behring Sea, and
-since the regulations apply only to British and American subjects, the
-Japanese carry on their operations up to the ordinary three-mile limit
-around the Pribilov Islands, and sometimes within it, there having
-been several encounters with the American patrol-boats involving loss
-of life, and heavy fines have been inflicted on offenders. In the
-summer of 1908 a fleet of thirty Japanese schooners, some with sixteen
-boats, were thus engaged, and according to the Government agent, they
-effectually blocked the escape of the seals from the islands. The agent
-says that in the last ten years the seal herds have diminished almost
-three-fourths, and if the slaughter by the Japanese is not put a stop
-to, complete destruction of the industry will follow. Thus, while the
-British are compelled to keep sixty miles off the islands, and can only
-kill the seals with spears, the Japanese operate up to three miles from
-shore, and can use firearms or any other method. It is stated that some
-of the British Columbia sealers are endeavouring to nationalise their
-vessels in Japan, so that they may be able to fish under the Japanese
-flag. In April 1910, when the lease of the Company expired, the United
-States Government did not renew it, but took the seals under their
-own protection, and an Act was passed prohibiting the killing of the
-fur-seal unless authorised by the Secretary of Commerce and Labour.
-
-[1277] _Parl. Papers, Russia_, No. 1 (1895). Correspondence respecting
-the Agreement with Russia relative to the Seal Fishery in the North
-Pacific. Seal Fishery (North Pacific) Act, 1893, 56 Vict., c. 23; Order
-in Council, 4th July 1893.
-
-[1278] The Western Australian Pearl and Bêche-de-mer Fishery
-(Extra-Territorial) Act, 1889.
-
-[1279] An Act for the further Encouragement and better Regulation of
-the British White Herring Fishery, 48 Geo. III., c. 110, s. 60, 46.
-Section 60: “And whereas it may be useful to provide a jurisdiction
-for preserving order and settling disputes among persons carrying on
-the fishery for herrings on the coast and in the lakes of Scotland;
-be it therefore enacted, That the jurisdiction of the sheriffs and
-stewarts depute of Scotland, and their substitutes, shall be extended
-over all persons engaged in catching, curing, and dealing in fish
-in all the lochs, bays, and arms of the sea within their respective
-counties and stewartries, and also within ten miles of the coasts of
-their said counties and stewartries, and that in as full and ample a
-manner as the same is exercised over the inhabitants of these counties
-and stewartries; and if any loch, bay, or arm of the sea shall adjoin
-to two or more counties or stewartries, or any part of the sea shall be
-within ten miles of the coasts of two or more counties or stewartries,
-the sheriffs and stewarts of the said counties shall have and exercise
-a concurrent jurisdiction over such persons as aforesaid, in any such
-loch, bay, or arm of the sea which shall be in or opposite to their
-respective counties and stewartries, or any part of the sea within the
-aforesaid distance of the coast thereof.”
-
-[1280] _Report of Commission on Sea Fisheries_, 1863, p. lxvi.
-
-[1281] Trawling, and, in particular, steam-trawling, is practically
-unknown in America; but in recent years French steam-trawlers have
-begun to frequent the Newfoundland banks.
-
-[1282] _Annual Reports_, Fishery Board for Scotland; _Journal of the
-Marine Biological Association, &c._
-
-[1283] For the earlier periods the statistics are incomplete. In 1863
-the number of sailing trawlers was 955, of which 650 to 700 fished in
-the North Sea, 530 belonging to Ramsgate, Yarmouth, Grimsby, and Hull;
-in 1883 the aggregate was estimated at 3000, some being large vessels
-of ninety tons; in 1889 there were 230 steamers and 2323 smacks; in
-1899 the steamers numbered 1186 and the smacks 1637.
-
-[1284] Garstang, The Impoverishment of the Sea, _Journal Marine Biol.
-Assoc._, vol. vii. p. 47, 1900.
-
-[1285] Return of the Number of Steam Trawlers registered at Ports in
-the States of Western Europe in the Year 1907, _Parl. Papers_, Cd.
-4236, 1908.
-
-[1286] _Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Sea
-Fisheries of the United Kingdom_, vol. i., 1866. The late Professor
-Huxley and Mr Shaw Lefevre (now Lord Eversley) were two of the
-commissioners.
-
-[1287] _Report on the Sea Fisheries of England and Wales_, 1879
-(C.--2449). The commissioners were Mr Frank Buckland and Mr (afterwards
-Sir) Spencer Walpole.
-
-[1288] _Report of the Commissioners on Trawl-Net and Beam-Trawl
-Fishing_, 1885 (C.--4328).
-
-[1289] “That taking into consideration that the question of the
-destruction of immature fish is one of international importance, it
-is, in the opinion of this meeting, imperative in the public interest
-that an International Conference be held to consider the desirability
-of recommending legislation upon the subject; and this meeting of
-practical fishermen further requests of Her Majesty’s Government to
-take immediate steps to bring about such Conference at the earliest
-possible date.” _Fisheries Exhibition Literature_, vol. iv. pp. 346,
-355.
-
-[1290] Conference of Representatives of the Trawl-Fishing Industry,
-held at the Inns of Court Hotel, London, 13th November, 1888. “1.
-That we find a large and distressing diminution in the North Sea
-of soles, turbot, plaice, and all flat fish, and view with alarm
-the future, unless some steps are immediately taken to prohibit the
-catching of immature fish.” 2. “That the Conference petition Her
-Majesty’s Government, urging them to enter into negotiations with all
-Continental Governments to establish an international law to prohibit
-the wilful catching of immature fish, and to make it unlawful to offer
-such immature fish for sale.” 3. “That copies of the resolutions be
-forwarded to the President of the Board of Trade asking for immediate
-action, and to the President of the National Sea Fisheries Protection
-Association, asking that Association to undertake the responsibility of
-a measure for legislation, and to do all they can for the protection
-of immature fish in and around the coasts of the North Sea and other
-coasts of the United Kingdom upon which breeding-grounds exist.”
-
-[1291] Conference of the Trawl-Fishing Industry of the East Coast
-Ports, held at Hull, 30th April 1890. 1. “That this Conference of the
-Trawl-Fishing Industry of the East Coast, consisting of delegates from
-Hull, Grimsby, Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Scarboro’, and Boston, having
-realised the enormous loss which the trade has sustained year by
-year through the wholesale capture and destruction of immature and
-inedible fish, hereby resolves that the time has come when a strong
-and united effort should be made to put a stop to this growing evil;
-and as a preliminary step in this direction, it is agreed by the whole
-of the delegates here assembled, for themselves individually and the
-Companies, Corporations, Fleets, and Associations they represent, to
-abstain during the coming summer from fishing on the grounds where
-immature fish are generally caught in great abundance, such grounds
-being specified in the next Resolution.” 2. “That the Fishing Grounds
-or Nurseries where experience has found immature fish to be most
-prolific, and which are referred to in the foregoing Resolution, shall
-be defined as follows: That part of the North Sea the Eastern Boundary
-of which is the German and Danish Coasts; the Western Boundary,
-Longitude 7 deg. 30 min.; the Northern Boundary, Latitude 56 deg.;
-the Southern Boundary, 53 deg. 50 min.” The third resolution defined
-immature lemon soles, soles, turbot, brill, and plaice; and the fourth
-expressed the opinion that it was “highly necessary for the future
-wellbeing of the trade, and for the preservation of an important
-food-supply, that Parliament should be asked to impose restrictions
-upon the sale and purchase of immature fish”; and the delegates
-were instructed to press for legislative interference, national and
-international.
-
-[1292] International Conference of Representatives of Maritime Powers
-convened under the auspices of the National Sea Fisheries Protection
-Association, to discuss the Question of Remedial Measures necessary to
-be taken for the Preservation and Development of the Fisheries in the
-Extra-territorial Waters of Europe, 1890. _Minutes of Proceedings._
-The Conference passed a resolution that an official international
-conference of European maritime powers should be held with the view
-of concluding a convention for the preservation of undersized fish;
-and another, proposed by Dr P. P. C. Hoek, the delegate for the
-Netherlands, that before such a conference met, “the different nations
-interested in the sea fisheries of European waters should collect,
-with as little delay as possible, sufficient information, scientific
-as well as statistical, with regard to the damage done by the capture
-of undersized fish by their fishermen.” The author, who was present,
-conscious of the advantages of international co-operation, if the
-programme and conditions were appropriate, proposed that Dr Hoek’s
-resolution “should be modified in the way of recommending that a joint
-scheme of investigation might be drawn up by the countries concerned”;
-and on the motion of Captain C. F. Drechsel, the delegate for Denmark,
-who approved of it, the delegates adjourned to consider this proposal.
-The result, however, was merely the tabling of a resolution, which
-was adopted, “That the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association
-be requested to formulate a set of questions with a view to obtaining
-scientific and statistical information in relation to undersized fish,
-and forward it to each delegate, in order that he may submit it to his
-Government for adoption”--with what result does not appear. _Ibid._,
-pp. 21, 34, 36, 37.
-
-[1293] “Your Committee are sensible of the difficulties of making
-international regulations, but are nevertheless of opinion that the
-best method for effectively governing the operations of the various
-classes of fishermen, and, at the same time, for securing, so far as it
-may be found possible, the proper protection of spawning and immature
-fish, would be to throw the responsibility of these duties, so far as
-the waters immediately adjacent to the various countries are concerned,
-on those various countries; that, for the effective realisation of this
-object, the present territorial limit of three miles is insufficient,
-and that, for fishery purposes alone, this limit should be extended,
-provided such extension can be effected upon an international basis,
-and with due regard to the rights and interests of all nations. Your
-Committee would earnestly recommend that a proposition on these lines
-should be submitted to an international conference of the Powers who
-border on the North Sea.” _Report from the Select Committee on Sea
-Fisheries_, 377, 1893. The Chairman of the Committee, which consisted
-of fourteen members, was Mr Marjoribanks (the late Lord Tweedmouth);
-among the others were Sir Albert Rollit, Mr Buchanan, and Mr (now Lord)
-Heneage. The report was presented to the House of Commons and ordered
-to be printed on 17th August 1893.
-
-[1294] _Special Report and Report from the Select Committee on the
-Sea Fisheries Bill_, 1900 (287): “Your Committee think that it is
-proved beyond doubt that there is a very serious diminution of the
-supply of certain kinds of flat-fish, particularly in the North Sea.
-Of late years the total quantity of such fish caught has remained
-nearly stationary. This fact, when taken along with the enormously
-increased catching power and the vastly larger area of sea subjected
-to fishing operations, seems to show that the ancient fishing-grounds
-are much depleted. The whole of the local evidence, differing in many
-other respects, is practically unanimous as to this point. It seems
-clear that the evil is a growing one, and that in default of a remedy
-the consequences to the fishing industry in the diminished supply of
-flat-fish will at no very distant future be disastrous.” The late Mr
-(afterwards Lord) Ritchie, President of the Board of Trade, Mr Graham
-Murray (now Lord Dunedin), and Captain Sinclair, now Lord Pentland,
-Secretary for Scotland, were members of the Committee.
-
-[1295] “Your Committee feel that the subject of the diminution of the
-fish supply is a very pressing one, and that the situation is going
-from bad to worse. In their view, no effort ought to be spared (1st)
-to arrange for international treatment of the subject generally,
-and especially for regulation of the North Sea area; and (2nd) to
-provide for the adequate equipment of the Government Departments in
-charge of the subject, so that they may effectively pursue scientific
-investigation and ascertain with sufficiency and precision what has
-been done, either in the way of scientific research or in the matter of
-practical legislation, by other inquirers and by other countries, with
-the view of determining whether any, and if so what, legislation may be
-desirable to effect the objects of the Bill.” _Ibid._, iv.
-
-[1296] _E.g._, “That this conference regards as conclusive the evidence
-of a widespread diminution of the supply of food fishes in the North
-Sea and adjacent grounds, and is of opinion that the only practicable
-remedy is the prevention of landing and sale of immature and undersized
-fish.” Nat. Sea Fisheries Protection Ass., 1902.
-
-[1297] _Report from, the Select Committee of the House of Lords on
-the Sea Fisheries Bill (H.L.)_, 1904 (36). The Earl of Onslow, Lord
-Tweedmouth, and Lord Heneage were members of this Committee.
-
-[1298] _Op. cit._
-
-[1299] Thus from the year 1903 (when these statistics begin) to 1906
-the number of tons of bottom fishes landed on the East Coast of England
-by first-, second-, and third-class fishing vessels, from the North Sea
-and from beyond the North Sea, was as follows:--
-
- 1903. 1904. 1905. 1906.
-
- From North Sea 260,313 230,975 207,440 217,567
- From beyond the North Sea 67,625 78,216 93,395 129,697
-
-[Illustration:
-
-Fig. 28.--_Chart showing the Fishing-grounds frequented by British
-trawlers. Depths under 100 metres represented in black; those from 100
-to 200 metres in shading._
-
-From Report of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for 1906.]
-
-The particulars for all coasts are only given for 1906, and they show
-that almost half of the total supply of bottom fishes in England and
-Wales come from grounds outwith the North Sea. The figures are: from
-North Sea, 217,571 tons; from beyond the North Sea, 203,863 tons.
-Captain Walter S. Masterman, of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries,
-in a valuable report on his research work in the North Sea, states that
-while the total quantity of bottom fishes taken within the North Sea by
-steam-trawlers and landed on the East Coast of England has decreased
-in the four years, 1903-1906, by 39,650 tons, or nearly 17 per cent,
-the decrease in flat fish has amounted to 23,590 tons, or nearly 42 per
-cent; and that “the decrease has been continuous from year to year,
-especially in the case of plaice.” _Report on the Research Work of the
-Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in relation to the Plaice Fisheries
-of the North Sea_, 1908 (Cd. 4227).
-
-[1300] A leading representative of the trawling industry, Mr G. L.
-Alward, thus described the process to the Committee of the Lords in
-1904. The diminution, he said, was from over-fishing, “first of all
-in our original old fishing-grounds. We denuded those, and found less
-year by year as time went on. We then discovered new grounds, with,
-in process of time, the same result. In going back originally, say to
-about 1830 to about 1890, we found, at ground after ground, after being
-fished for a few years, the same results; the fish became scarcer and
-scarcer.” _Report_, p. 78.
-
-[1301] The quantity brought to England from Iceland and Faröe in 1907
-was nearly 117,000 tons, or nearly 26 per cent of the total quantity of
-bottom fishes landed. _Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Annual Report
-on Sea Fisheries for 1907_. Schmidt, _Fiskeriundersøgelser ved Island
-og Færøerne i Sommeren_, 1903, p. 132.
-
-[1302] A sidelight is thrown upon the risks as well as the enterprise
-of their labours by the fact that in 1908 a trawler’s crew, on the
-one hand, fishing on the coast of Africa, fell into the hands of the
-Moors; while another, whose vessel was wrecked near the White Sea, were
-saved from starvation by the kindness of Russian Laplanders, who killed
-reindeer for their sustenance.
-
-[1303] Trawlers, on discovering new and productive grounds, invariably
-select out the fish that are most remunerative and throw the rest back
-into the sea. “Hundreds of thousands of tons” of immature fish are
-said to have been destroyed in this way in the North Sea, and what has
-happened at Iceland with regard to mature fish is thus described in a
-letter from one trawler to another, which was read by the recipient to
-the Parliamentary Committee in 1893: “Dear Manton, ... At present the
-trawlers who are running Iceland are throwing thousands of tons of good
-mature fish away, which, if some scheme of storage were got up, the
-fish sorted, and bought for food, would supply thousands in the year.
-I have been to Iceland, and we have to throw away hundreds of tons of
-good mature fish, such as haddock, supposed to be too large, and great
-quantities of cod, ling, and other fish. The fact is, the ground, which
-is valuable for fishing, is completely rotten with the refuse from the
-trawlers. We have to haul every two hours, and we have to carry extra
-hands to get rid of the fish and get the bit below we choose to save.
-The ground is fairly poisoned, and the plaice-fishing not so brisk,
-only in odd places; whereas before it was more general where there is
-any trawling ground” (_Report cit._, p. 248). The grounds had only
-been recently opened up when this was written. It is different to-day,
-when 85 per cent of the fish brought back from Iceland are round fish,
-chiefly haddocks and cod (_Ann. Rep. Sea Fisheries for 1906_, App., p.
-15). It used to be the same in the North Sea, only prime fish being
-taken, and haddocks, &c., thrown away.
-
-[1304] _Vida Marítima, Órgano de la Liga Marítima Española_, 1904,
-1905; _Boletin oficial_.
-
-[1305] Sea Fisheries Regulation Act, 1888, 51 & 52 Vict., cap. 54.
-Section 1 is as follows: “1.--(1) The Board of Trade may from time to
-time on the application of a county council or borough council, by
-order, (_a_) create a sea fisheries district comprising _any part of
-the sea within which Her Majesty’s subjects have by international law
-the exclusive right of fishing_, either with or without any part of the
-adjoining coast of England and Wales; and (_b_) define the limits of
-the district,” &c. _Sea Fisheries (England and Wales), Annual Reports
-of the Inspectors_; _Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, Annual Reports
-of Proceedings under Acts relating to Sea Fisheries_. An excellent
-chart, showing the regulations with respect to trawling around the
-English coast, is published in the _Report from the Select Committee of
-the House of Lords on the Sea Fisheries Bill_, 1904.
-
-[1306] _Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for
-Ireland: Report on the Sea and Inland Fisheries for 1907._ Part I.,
-General Report, pp. 56-62.
-
-[1307] _Report on the Sea and Inland Fisheries of Ireland for 1904_, p.
-xxv. _Manual of Fisheries (Ireland) Acts._ Section 3 (subsection 1) of
-the _Steam Trawling (Ireland) Act_, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict., c. 74), gave
-powers to the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries to make, alter, and revoke
-byelaws for prohibiting steam-trawling “within three miles of low-water
-mark of any part of the coast of Ireland, _or within the waters of
-any other defined areas specified in any such byelaw_, and subject to
-any conditions or regulations contained in such byelaw.” Subsection
-2 enacted that “each and every person who uses any trawl-net, or any
-method of fishing in contravention of any byelaw of the Inspectors of
-Irish Fisheries made in pursuance of this section,” shall be subject
-to a fine not exceeding five pounds for a first offence, or twenty
-pounds for a second or subsequent offence, with forfeiture of the
-gear employed. Section 4 made it unlawful for “any person” to land or
-sell in Ireland any fish caught in contravention of any such byelaw.
-Section 1 (subsection 1) of the _Fisheries (Ireland) Act_, 1901 (1 Ed.
-VII., c. 38), makes “every person who uses any trawl-net or any method
-of fishing in contravention of any byelaw” of the department made in
-pursuance of the third section of the Act of 1889, liable on conviction
-under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to a fine not exceeding one hundred
-pounds, with forfeiture of the gear, for the seizure of which any duly
-authorised officer is empowered to “go on board any vessel propelled by
-steam employed in fishing.” The Irish byelaws must be approved by the
-Lord-Lieutenant and Privy Council of Ireland.
-
-[1308] _Sea Fisheries (Clam and Bait Beds) Act_, 44 & 45 Vict., c. 11.
-
-[1309] 48 & 49 Vict., c. 70; 50 & 51 Vict., c. 52.
-
-[1310] 48 & 49 Vict., c. 70.
-
-[1311] 1st Feb. 1886, 18th April 1887, 25th April 1887, &c. _Manual of
-Sea Fisheries (Scotland) Acts and Statutory Bye-laws_, pp. 253-257.
-
-[1312] See pp. 592, 643.
-
-[1313] _Ibid._, p. 255.
-
-[1314] _The Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act_, 1889, 52 & 53 Vict., c.
-23. Section 7.--(1) “The Fishery Board may, by byelaw or byelaws,
-direct that the methods of fishing known as beam trawling and otter
-trawling shall not be used within a line drawn from Duncansby Head, in
-Caithness, to Rattray Point, in Aberdeenshire, in any area or areas to
-be defined in such byelaw, and may from time to time make, alter, and
-revoke byelaws for the purposes of this section, but no such byelaw
-shall be of any validity until it has been confirmed by the Secretary
-for Scotland.” The next section prohibits the landing or sale in
-Scotland of any fish caught in contravention of the Act or byelaws.
-
-[1315] “11.--(1) The Fishery Board may, by byelaw or byelaws,
-direct that the methods of fishing known as beam trawling and otter
-trawling shall not be used within a line drawn from Rattray Point, in
-Aberdeenshire, to the Farne Islands, in Northumberland, in any area or
-areas to be defined in such byelaw, and may from time to time make,
-alter, and revoke byelaws for the purposes of this section.”
-
-[1316] _A Bill [as amended in Committee] intituled An Act for the
-better Regulation of Scottish Sea Fisheries_ (52), s. 10, February 1895.
-
-[1317] _Sea Fisheries Regulation (Scotland) Act_, 1895, 58 & 59 Vict.,
-c. 42. Section 10.--(1) “The Fishery Board may, by byelaw or byelaws,
-direct that the methods of fishing known as beam trawling and otter
-trawling shall not be used in any area or areas under the jurisdiction
-of Her Majesty, within thirteen miles of the Scottish coast, to be
-defined in such byelaw, and may from time to time make, alter, and
-revoke byelaws for the purposes of this section. Provided that the
-powers conferred in this section shall not be exercised in respect to
-any areas under Her Majesty’s jurisdiction lying opposite to any part
-of the coasts of England, Ireland, or the Isle of Man, within thirteen
-miles thereof.” (2) provided for a local inquiry to be held. (3)
-“Provided that no area of sea within the said limit of thirteen miles
-shall be deemed to be under the jurisdiction of Her Majesty for the
-purposes of this section unless the powers conferred thereby shall have
-been accepted as binding upon their own subjects with respect to such
-area by all the States signatories of the North Sea Convention, 1882.”
-
-[1318] _Eighteenth Ann. Rep. Fishery Board for Scotland_, Part I., p.
-xxxii. The information relating to this part of the subject is taken
-mostly either from the _Annual Reports_ of the Scottish Fishery Board
-or from Hansard’s _Parliamentary Debates_.
-
-[1319] See _Norges Officielle Statistik; Norges Fiskerier_, 1906,
-pp. 17, 18. Sixteen steam trawlers were on the list as registered in
-Norway in that year, but “they did not carry on fishing from Norwegian
-ports,” and were not included in the list of _bona fide_ Norwegian
-fishing-vessels.
-
-[1320] _Peters_ v. _Olsen_, 7, _Court of Session Reports_, 5th Series
-(_Justiciary Cases_); 42 _Scottish Law Reporter_, p. 735.
-
-[1321] “In fact, the Moray Firth, within the line from Duncansby
-Head to Rattray Point, is not the high seas, but is a bay or area
-between these headlands _intra fauces terræ_,--between the jaws of the
-land,--which has been called in England one of the King’s Chambers.
-In law, such an area must be dealt with by the Courts of this country
-as part of the territorial limits of Scotland, unless the Legislature
-chooses to enact, in fairness to other countries or for any other
-reason, that the extent of the space involved is too great to come
-within the reasonable definition of a bay.”
-
-[1322] See p. 545.
-
-[1323] _Court of Session Reports_, 8 Fraser, p. 93.
-
-[1324] “For the purpose of regulating the police of the fisheries
-in the North Sea outside territorial waters.” The use of the words
-“territorial waters” and “exclusive fishery limits” indifferently for
-the same thing is common, but improper.
-
-[1325] “I, George Milne Cook, Vice-Consul for Norway for Aberdeenshire
-and the adjacent districts, by instructions of Herr Laveland, Minister
-for Foreign Affairs of Norway, hereby protest, on behalf of the
-Government of Norway, against any conviction of the masters of the
-Norwegian trawling vessels _Stroma_, _Sando_, and _Catalonia_, provided
-the trawling with which they were charged has taken place outside
-the territorial limits, and I further protest against any punishment
-or fines being inflicted in the Sheriff Court at Elgin on the said
-masters.”
-
- (Sd.) GEORGE M. COOK.
-
- ELGIN, _31st January 1908_.
-
-
-[1326] Hansard, vol. 169, pp. 557, 558, 988; vol. 170, pp. 1202, 1206.
-
-[1327] A letter appeared in the _Fish Trades Gazette_, on 14th October
-1905, from Mr Hans Johnsen, the Fisheries Agent for Norway in Great
-Britain, stating that he had resigned his membership of the National
-Sea Fisheries Protection Association owing to the President (Lord
-Heneage) having prevented him from reading at the annual conference of
-the Association at Aberdeen, with reference to a resolution regarding
-the Moray Firth, a letter from the Norwegian fishery authorities. His
-object in endeavouring to speak on the resolution, he said, “was to
-clear the Norwegian flag from having anything to do with the piracy
-practised by Grimsby steam trawl-owners in the Moray Firth, and which
-the Government of Norway and the Norwegian Fishery Board is highly
-indignant at.”
-
-[1328] Hansard, vol. 170, pp. 472, 1206, 1246, 1383.
-
-[1329] In these Norwegian vessels there were a “flag-master” and a
-“fishing-master,” the former, nominally in charge of the vessel,
-being a Norwegian in order to comply with the registration laws, but
-often, or usually, occupying a humble position, such as cook. The
-“fishing-master” had the real control and occupied the master’s rooms
-on board. He, like all or most of the crew, was English, resident at
-Grimsby.
-
-[1330] In April the penalties ranged from £10 to £2, 10s., or two to
-ten days’ imprisonment; in July they ranged from £1 or one day to £45
-or fourteen days; three cases were dismissed, one was found not proven,
-and in five the verdict was not guilty; four cases were appealed to
-the High Court by the Procurator-Fiscal and the appeal sustained.
-_Twenty-Sixth Ann. Rep. Fishery Board for Scot._, Part I., App. L., II.
-
-[1331] Hansard, vol. 170, p. 472.
-
-[1332] See p. 707 _et seq._
-
-[1333] Hansard, vol. 169, pp. 832, 991, 1037; vol. 170, pp. 786, 1246,
-1247; vol. 192, p. 832. &c.
-
-[1334] _Ibid._
-
-[1335] Thus, in the “Reply on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty’s
-Government to the Answer of the United States of America,” submitted to
-the International Fisheries Commission at Halifax in 1877, it was said:
-“It is not understood that the Answer either raises or invites the
-discussion of any rules or doctrines of international law, save such
-as bear upon the question of what are to be considered the territorial
-waters of a maritime State for the purposes of exclusive fishing. The
-contention of the Answer in relation to these doctrines which requires
-special attention, is that which asserts that Great Britain and other
-Powers have traditionally recognised a rule, by which foreigners were
-excluded from fishing in those bays only which are six miles, or less,
-in width at their mouths. It is distinctly asserted on the part of Her
-Majesty’s Government _that this alleged rule is entirely unknown to,
-and unrecognised by, Her Majesty’s Government_, and it is submitted
-that no instance of such recognition is to be found in the Answer or
-the Brief accompanying the same, and that none can be produced.” This
-was approved of by the Earl of Derby, Foreign Secretary (the Earl of
-Derby to Mr Ford, August 31, 1877; the same to the same, Oct. 6, 1877).
-
-[1336] 11th Nov. 1908. Hansard, vol. 196, p. 236. Very important
-declarations as to the territorial character of bays will be found
-in the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague,
-on the North Atlantic Fisheries (7th September 1910, Award No. V.),
-received as these sheets are passing through the press. The application
-of the three-mile limit to bays was rejected, the following rule being
-formulated: “In case of bays the three marine miles are to be measured
-from a straight line drawn across the body of water _at the place where
-it ceases to have the configuration and characteristics of a bay_. At
-all other places the three marine miles are to be measured following
-the sinuosities of the coast.” In its practical application to British
-North America, the Tribunal recommended a ten-mile limit generally,
-except for certain specified bays (including Chaleurs, Miramichi,
-Egmont) where special lines, enclosing much larger areas, are proposed.
-
-[1337] Hansard, vol. 170, p. 1383. The miles referred to are English
-statute miles.
-
-[1338] Hansard, vol. 191, p. 1769.
-
-[1339] Reports of the British Delegates attending the International
-Conferences held at Stockholm, Christiania, and Copenhagen, with
-respect to Fishery and Hydrographical Investigations in the North
-Sea. _Parl. Papers_, Cd. 1313, 1903. Corresponding “Reports” to 1906
-(_Parl. Papers_, Cd. 2966/06, 3033/06, 3165/06). Conseil Permanent
-International pour l’Exploration de la Mer, _Rapports et Procès-Verbaux
-des Réunions_, Copenhague. A summary on the subject, by Dr A. T.
-Masterman, will be found in the Minutes of Evidence, Committee on
-Fishery Investigations (_Parl. Papers_, Cd. 4304, p. 479, 1908).
-
-[1340] “2. The delegates should propose that the scientific
-investigations shall be accompanied by a practical _exposé_ of the
-steps to be taken in order to bring the exercise of sea-fishing more in
-accord with the natural conditions regulating the growth and increase
-of fish in our seas, and thus permanently increase the supply of fish
-in the markets of the countries adjoining the North Sea. 3. In making
-this proposal, which they should do at the outset, the delegates should
-make it clear that the principal object the British Government have in
-directing them to take part in the Conference, is to secure a careful
-inquiry into the effect of present methods of fishing in the North Sea;
-and the delegates should give every assistance in promoting a scheme
-for determining whether protection against overfishing is needed,
-and, if so, where, when, and how such protection should be given. 4.
-The delegates should propose that a thorough scheme for obtaining
-statistical information with regard to the quantity and quality of fish
-caught by the different methods of fishing shall be organised, with a
-view of determining whether protection against overfishing is needed,
-either by the prohibition of trawling in certain selected areas or the
-limitation of fishing during certain selected seasons.”--Instructions
-to the British Delegates for the Meeting at Stockholm, 15th June 1899;
-Reports of the British Delegates, &c., p. 13. _Parl. Papers_, Cd. 1313,
-1903; Committee on Fishery Investigations, Minutes of Evidence, &c., p.
-278, _Parl. Papers_, Cd. 4304, 1908. The instructions of the British
-Government to the Delegates for the Meeting in 1901, at Christiania,
-were of similar tenour:--“His Majesty’s Government fully share in
-the interest shown in the cause of scientific research, but having
-regard to the importance of the evidence which was laid before the
-Select Committee of the House of Commons [see p. 709], and which was
-adopted by them as showing that the supply of fish in the North Sea is
-decreasing, they are of opinion that the consideration of this subject
-will admit of no delay, and you should press on your foreign colleagues
-the importance of entering at once upon the pursuit of investigations
-calculated to lead to an international agreement. You should in no
-way discourage or check any desire which you may find to exist for
-scientific research into problems not so immediately pressing, but his
-Majesty’s Government place in the forefront of their reasons for taking
-part in the forthcoming Committee the desire that no delay should be
-incurred in the adoption, by international agreement, of measures for
-arresting the diminution of the supply of fish in the North Sea, and
-for restoring, as far as possible, that source of supply to its former
-abundance.” _Ibid._, p. 278.
-
-[1341] _Memorandum drawn up by the Expert Members of the Ichthyological
-Research Committee_, Report of the Committee appointed to Inquire and
-Report as to the Best Means by which the State or Local Authorities
-can Assist Scientific Research as applied to Problems affecting the
-Fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland (_Parl. Papers_, Cd. 1312, p.
-xxii, x, 1902). _Evidence of Mr Walter E. Archer, Assistant-Secretary,
-Board of Agriculture and Fisheries_, Minutes of Evidence given before
-the Committee appointed to inquire into the Scientific and Statistical
-Investigations now being carried on in relation to the Fishing Industry
-of the United Kingdom, pp. 277, 288, 346, 359 (_Parl. Papers_, Cd.
-4304, 1908).
-
-[1342] Reports of the British Delegates, &c., _Parl. Papers_, Cd. 1313,
-p. 72, 1903. The countries represented were Great Britain, Germany,
-Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Russia.
-
-[1343] Hansard, vol. 169, pp. 992, 996; vol. 170, p. 786; and 11th Nov.
-1908.
-
-[1344] Mr Frank Barrett, of Grimsby, thus referred to the condition
-of the North Sea at the conference of the National Sea Fisheries
-Protection Association in 1905: “Unless they did something as a
-counterpoise to the continual trawling which was going on, they would
-find themselves powerless as regarded that splendid fishing-ground, the
-North Sea. He did not believe the North Sea, if left to itself, could
-last for ever. He was one of those who thought it could not last very
-long; and he thought they should apply the lessons of science in order
-to rehabilitate the North Sea.” _Fish Trades Gazette_, Oct. 14, 1905.
-
-[1345] Mr G. L. Alward, one of the leading and most experienced
-trawl-owners of Grimsby, who was invited to take part in a discussion
-on sea fisheries in the Zoological Section of the British Association
-in 1906, thus referred to the subject. He said: “There was no doubt
-that the North Sea was deteriorated as a fishing-ground, and in order
-to maintain an adequate supply they had had to explore fresh fields.
-They had shifted the trawling-grounds to the coasts of Faröe, Iceland,
-and Norway, while others had had to go out into the Atlantic, to the
-Bay of Biscay, and to the coast of Morocco. But if they had exhausted
-the 147,000 square miles of the North Sea,--every mile of which had
-been fished,--and they fished out the area between Norway and Faröe and
-Iceland, not more than forty or fifty thousand square miles, with the
-same rapidity, they had to look forward to nothing short of a dearth of
-fish and a rise in value to famine prices.” _Aberdeen Free Press_, 9th
-August 1906.
-
-[1346] According to an interesting table on a chart appended to the
-_Annual Report of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries_ for 1906 (see
-fig. 28), the areas, in square miles, between the three-mile limit
-and the 200-metre line, are as follows: North Sea, 152,473; North of
-Scotland (Orkney and Shetland), 18,096; West of Scotland, 32,099; West
-of Ireland, 9066; Irish Sea, 15,743; Southwards of Ireland, 50,416;
-Bristol Channel, 8613; English Channel, 25,238. The area at Iceland is
-36,608, and at the Faröes, 4949 square miles.
-
-[1347] Hansard, vol. 169, p. 996; vol. 196, p. 217. I have been
-courteously informed by Mr Bjarni Sæmundsson, of Reykjavik, a
-well-known authority on the fisheries of Iceland, that no laws
-proposing to extend the territorial waters were passed, or proposed, by
-the _Althing_.
-
-[1348] Hansard, vol. 170, p. 786.
-
-[1349] On Mem. 1 the words “le dit Roi Dengleterre et” follow
-“Procurors.”
-
-[1350] Mem. 1 and 8, “de touz autres de son Roialme.”
-
-[1351] Mems. 1, 14, and 15, “il ny ad.” Mem. 8, “du temps qil ny ad.”
-
-[1352] Mem. 8, “aueroient este.”
-
-[1353] Mem. 1, “oue touz les Isles et les apportenaunces.”
-
-[1354] Mem. 1, the words are “estatuitz et defenses comunes et priuees”
-and the rest is omitted to “sur toute manere des gentz taunt,” &c. Mem.
-8, “communes et priuees a garder pays et droiture entre tote manere des
-gentz tant,” &c. Mem. 15, “estatuitz et defences pur gouerner en toute
-manere,” &c.
-
-[1355] Mems. 1, 8, 14, 15, “come de lour propre.”
-
-[1356] Mem. 1, “oue.”
-
-[1357] Mems. 1, 8, and 15, “oue.”
-
-[1358] Mem. 1, instead of gouernement, “a la generalte”; Mem. 8, “a la
-garde.”
-
-[1359] Mems. 1, 8, and 15, “le dit Roi.”
-
-[1360] Mem. 1 omits “Dengleterre.”
-
-[1361] Mems. 1 and 8, “Rois Dengleterre deputez eient este.”
-
-[1362] Mem. 8, “de la dite seignurie et garde.”
-
-[1363] Mems. 1, 8, 14, and 15, “forspris.”
-
-[1364] Mems. 1, 8, and 15 insert “et.”
-
-[1365] Mem. 15, “a.”
-
-[1366] Mem. 1, “ou mesfaitz”; Mem. 8, “ou de mesfaitz.”
-
-[1367] The sentence from “Et come” to “Coustumes” is omitted on Mems.
-1, 8, and 15.
-
-[1368] Mems. 1 and 8 omit “en vne cedule anexe ayceste,” and Mems. 1,
-14, and 15 omit the whole of the next paragraph, recommencing “Monsieur
-Reymer Grimbaus.” Mem. 8_d_, paragraph commencing “Primerement.”
-
-[1369] Mem. 8, “et a maintener.”
-
-[1370] Mem. 8, “excepte pur le dit Roy.”
-
-[1371] Mem. 8, “le dit Roy.”
-
-[1372] Mem. 14 omits “et.”
-
-[1373] Mems. 1 and 8 omit “Dengleterre.”
-
-[1374] Mems. 1, 14, and 15, “du dit Roi.”
-
-[1375] Mems. 8 and 15 insert “les.”
-
-[1376] Mems. 1, 8, and 15 insert “et marchandises.”
-
-[1377] Mem. 1 omits “et.”
-
-[1378] Mem. 1 omits “de Fraunce.”
-
-[1379] Mems. 1, 14, and 15 read (here and elsewhere) “ceo.”
-
-[1380] Mem. 8 omits “et la prise,” &c., recommencing, “sur la
-forfaiture,” &c.
-
-[1381] Mem. 14, “ou.”
-
-[1382] Mem. 8 inserts “et.”
-
-[1383] Mems. 1, 14, and 15, “sa.”
-
-[1384] Mems. 1 and 8, “de par le dit Roi.”
-
-[1385] Mem. 1, “de la”; Mems. 8, 14, and 15, “de le.”
-
-[1386] Mems. 1, 8, 14, and 15 insert “a vous Seigneurs.”
-
-[1387] Mems. 8 and 14, “qil.”
-
-[1388] Mem. 8 inserts “il.”
-
-[1389] Mems. 1, 14_d_, and 15 complete the passage as follows: “Come
-il purra suffire et en sa deffaute son dit seignur le Roi de Fraunce
-par qi il estoit deputeez al dit office et qe apres dewe satisfactioun
-faite as ditz damagez le dit Monsieur Reiner soit si duement punitz
-pur le blemissement de la dite alliance qe la punicioun de lui soit as
-autres example [Mem. 8, ‘ensample’] pur temps auenir.” Mem. 15 ends
-here. Mem. 8 transposes the next paragraph and the last.
-
-[1390] Mem. 1, “aunciens”; Mem. 14, “auncienes.”
-
-[1391] Mems. 1, 8, and 14, “ne.”
-
-[1392] Mems. 1, 8, and 14 omit “nefs.”
-
-[1393] Mem. 8, “leurs.”
-
-[1394] Mem. 8, “doiuent.”
-
-[1395] Mem. 8. “deuantdiz.”
-
-[1396] Mems. 1 and 8, “les.”
-
-[1397] Mems. 1 and 8, “ses.”
-
-[1398] Mem. 8, “soy.”
-
-[1399] [_Sic_]: not previously mentioned; probably Johan Paderogh.
-
-[1400] _See_ below.
-
-[1401] Side-note says: “The said goods have been delivered to Will.
-Bush.”
-
-[1402] _24th Aug. 1303, Saturday._
-
-[1403] _St Lawrence_, _Aug. 10_.
-
-[1404] _29th Sept. 1303, Sunday_.
-
-[1405] Differences found in copy, _State Papers, Dom._, Chas. II., Vol.
-339, p. 589, are shown in brackets.
-
-
-[Transcriber's Note:
-
-Manuscript abbreviations on pages 765-767 have been changed to modern
-letters due to the unavailability of suitable characters.
-
-Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]
-
-
-
-
-
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-Project Gutenberg's The Sovereignty of the Sea, by Thomas Wemyss Fulton
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-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
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-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: The Sovereignty of the Sea
- An Historical Account of the Claims of England to the
- Dominion of the British Seas, and of the Evolution of the
- Territorial Waters
-
-Author: Thomas Wemyss Fulton
-
-Release Date: June 24, 2017 [EBook #54977]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA ***
-
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-Produced by MWS, Wayne Hammond and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
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-</pre>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_i">i</span></p>
-
-<h1 id="The_Sovereignty_of_the_Sea">The Sovereignty of the Sea
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ii">ii</span></h1>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="frontispiece" src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption"><i>The “British Seas,” according to Selden.</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">iii</span></p></div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2><span class="xx-large">The Sovereignty of the Sea</span><br />
-
-<span class="medium table">An Historical Account of the
-Claims of England to the Dominion of
-the British Seas, and of the Evolution
-of the Territorial Waters: with special
-reference to the Rights of Fishing
-and the Naval Salute</span>
-
-<small>BY</small><br />
-
-THOMAS WEMYSS FULTON<br />
-
-<span class="x-small table">LECTURER ON THE<br />
-SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF FISHERY PROBLEMS, THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN</span><br />
-
-<small><i>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS</i></small><br />
-
-<img class="figcenter" src="images/colophon.jpg" alt="" /><br />
-
-<span class="medium table">William Blackwood and Sons<br />
-Edinburgh and London<br />
-1911</span><br />
-<span class="copy"><i>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</i></span><br />
-</h2>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iv">iv</span></p>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">v</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p class="caption">
-<i>I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO<br />
-<span class="large">MY WIFE</span></i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">vi</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">vii</span></p>
-
-<h2 id="PREFACE">PREFACE.<br />
-
-<img class="figcenter" src="images/hr.jpg" alt="" /></h2>
-
-<p>In this book I have endeavoured to bring together from all
-available sources such information as exists as to the claims
-formerly made to the sovereignty of the British Seas, and to
-trace the evolution of the territorial waters in recent times.
-The work was originally undertaken with the intention of
-dealing only with these subjects so far as they related to the
-sea fisheries, but it soon became apparent that to restrict the
-scope in this way would involve considerable disadvantages,
-and would enable only a partial picture to be presented. For
-though during a large part of the period with which the book
-is concerned, the question of the fishery was the main question
-in determining the claim to sea sovereignty, and is the one of
-the greatest frequency at the present day with respect to the
-territorial waters, it was by no means the only one. The
-freedom of commerce to regions more or less remote; the
-jurisdiction of a State in the sea which washed its shores or
-which it claimed as belonging to it; the naval salute or
-homage to the flag, and various other matters, were commonly
-bound up with the question of the fisheries. It was therefore
-deemed more satisfactory to treat the subject as a whole, even
-though this necessarily involved much additional labour.</p>
-
-<p>The book is divided into two sections, the first comprising
-an historical account of the pretensions to the dominion of
-the sea; the second dealing with the relic of such pretensions,
-the territorial waters, more particularly in the aspect
-which they present under the Law of Nations and in relation
-to the rights of fishing. With some doubtful exceptions, the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">viii</span>
-claim to a special sovereignty or dominion over the so-called
-British Seas was a doctrine of the Stuarts, introduced from
-Scotland to England with that dynasty, and terminating with
-it. It was aimed in particular against the Dutch, whose
-commerce, shipping, wealth, and power were believed to be
-derived from the fisheries which they carried on along the
-coasts of this country. Hence a very considerable part of the
-work refers to the dealings and negotiations with that people
-as to the liberty of fishing and the homage to the flag. Such
-pretensions to extensive maritime sovereignty gradually decayed
-and disappeared, but the troubles and disputes as to
-the rightful jurisdiction of a State in the waters adjacent to
-its coasts have continued to the present day, and are dealt
-with in the second section of the book. Scarcely a year passes
-that does not witness one or more international differences
-of this kind, notably with respect to fisheries, and in various
-quarters of the globe&mdash;it may be now on the coasts of Portugal
-and Spain, or in the Pacific and South America, or again at
-the White Sea, each case giving rise to international negotiations
-and discussions as to the common usage and the Law
-of Nations.</p>
-
-<p>One great group of such questions, which for long formed
-a troublesome heritage of the British Foreign Office, concerns
-the fisheries on the coasts of British North America. Under
-various treaties, some of them old, France and the United
-States possess special rights in these fisheries, the true nature
-of which has occasioned numerous disputes. It is a happy
-circumstance of recent years that those differences have now
-been composed. The agreement with France in 1905 settled
-the question of the fishery rights of that Power at Newfoundland,
-and the Award of the Permanent Court of International
-Arbitration at The Hague in the North Atlantic Coast Fisheries
-Arbitration, which was made last autumn while this work was
-passing through the press, has in a manner equally satisfactory
-settled the difficulties with the United States,&mdash;a fortunate
-result due in great part to the exceedingly able, lucid, and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">ix</span>
-temperate presentation of the British case by Sir Robert Finlay,
-but chiefly, it cannot be doubted, to the growing feeling of
-goodwill between the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon
-race. It is to be hoped that similar differences now pending
-and to come, as to the fisheries on other coasts, may be adjusted
-in a corresponding spirit of amity and compromise. The fish
-in the sea, as Dr Nansen has said, are not the property of any
-particular nation. They are, if the word may be used, international,
-and it would therefore be as just as it would be
-auspicious if all such questions were dealt with in a spirit
-of international brotherhood, with due regard to the interests
-of the coast population on the one hand, and the legitimate
-rights of the enterprising fishermen from other nations on
-the other. To this end the joint fishery investigations at
-present being conducted under the guidance of a Council of
-representatives of the western and northern Powers of Europe
-may be expected to contribute, if only by providing that full
-and precise information, without which an effective and equitable
-arrangement is difficult.</p>
-
-<p>As far as possible, I have gone to original sources for my
-information; the State Papers in the Record Office, the MSS.
-in the British Museum, and those preserved at Hatfield&mdash;access
-to which was courteously granted by the late Marquess
-of Salisbury&mdash;have been laid under contribution. References
-to the various authorities are given for practically all the
-statements in the book; and in the Appendix are printed,
-either entire or in part, some of the more important documents
-which are cited.</p>
-
-<p>Among foreign friends and colleagues to whom my thanks
-are due for information kindly given during the progress of
-the work, I must mention four, who, alas! are no longer with
-us: Professor A. F. Marion, Marseilles; Professor Enrico H.
-Giglioli, of Florence, for long the esteemed President of the
-Commissione consultiva per la pesca, Rome; Secretary of State
-M. Vladimir I. Weschniakow, President of the Soci&eacute;t&eacute; Imp&eacute;riale
-Russe de pisciculture et de p&ecirc;che, St Petersburg; and Dr
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">x</span>
-Rudolf Lundberg, Stockholm, all very willingly complied with
-my requests for information. Among others who have aided
-me from time to time are Dr Georges Roch&eacute;, Paris; Dr Eug&egrave;ne
-Canu, Boulogne-sur-mer; Se&ntilde;or Rafael Gutierrez Vela, Madrid;
-Dr Cav. Enrico Giacobini, of the Ministry of Agriculture,
-Rome; Dr F. Heincke, Heligoland; Dr Johan Hjort, Bergen;
-and Captain C. F. Drechsel, Copenhagen. My thanks are also
-due to Dr Fridtjof Nansen, formerly the Norwegian Minister
-in London; to M. J. Irgens, his successor; and to Dr T. Baty,
-Honorary Secretary to the International Law Association,
-London, for copies of documents and laws relative to the
-Scandinavian limits of the territorial sea; and likewise to
-Mr R. M. Bartleman, the American Consul-General at Buenos
-Aires, for papers referring to the extensive claims recently
-advanced by the Argentine Republic for the regulation of
-the fisheries in the adjacent seas.</p>
-
-<p>Very specially have I to thank my friend, Dr P. P. C. Hoek,
-the Scientific Adviser for the Fisheries of the Netherlands,
-and the Commissioner appointed by The Hague Tribunal in
-the North Atlantic Fisheries Arbitration, for his valued assistance
-and advice. Dr Hoek was good enough to read over the
-proofs of the book, and I am indebted to him for a number
-of emendations and improvements which his knowledge of
-Dutch fisheries and history enabled him to suggest.</p>
-
-<p>In transcribing records and preparing the index, and in
-some other ways, I have been assisted by my wife.</p>
-
-<p>I feel that an acknowledgment is due to my publishers
-for the patience and consideration they have shown in the
-delay which, for several reasons, has occurred in the completion
-of the book.</p>
-
-<p>It is right to add that I alone am responsible for all the
-opinions expressed, unless when otherwise stated.</p>
-
-<p class="author large">T. WEMYSS FULTON.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">41 Queen’s Road, Aberdeen</span>,<br />
-<i>January 1911</i>.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">xi</span></p>
-
-<h2 id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.<br />
-
-<img class="figcenter" src="images/hr.jpg" alt="" /></h2>
-
-<table class="toc">
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td />
- <td class="small tdr">PAGE</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Prominence of maritime affairs in English history&mdash;The meaning of
- the term Sovereignty of the Seas&mdash;Early appropriation of seas&mdash;Venice&mdash;Genoa&mdash;Denmark,
- Sweden, Poland&mdash;Spain and Portugal&mdash;Reasons
- for appropriation&mdash;Insecurity of sea in middle ages&mdash;Merchants
- associations&mdash;Origin of the English claims&mdash;Their nature&mdash;Became
- important under the Stuarts&mdash;James I.&mdash;Charles I.&mdash;The
- Commonwealth&mdash;Charles II.&mdash;Decay of the English pretension
- to the dominion of the seas&mdash;Extent of the “Sea of England”
- and of the “British Seas”&mdash;The “Narrow Seas”&mdash;The “Four Seas”&mdash;Selden
- on the British Seas&mdash;The territorial waters</td>
- <td class="tdr">1</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th class="large" colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I">SECTION I.&mdash;THE HISTORY OF THE CLAIMS TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>EARLY HISTORY.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Alleged sea sovereignty exercised by ancient Britons, Romans, and
- Anglo-Saxons&mdash;King Edgar&mdash;Canute&mdash;Norman, Angevin, and
- Plantagenet kings&mdash;The Channel or Narrow Sea&mdash;The safeguarding
- of the sea&mdash;Admiralty jurisdiction&mdash;Impressment of ships&mdash;Liberty
- of navigation and fishing&mdash;The question of tribute&mdash;English
- kings as lords of the sea&mdash;King John’s ordinance as to
- lowering sail to a royal ship&mdash;The sovereign lordship in the so-called
- Sea of England&mdash;The roll <i>De Superioritate Maris Angli&aelig;</i>&mdash;Complaint
- against Reyner Grimbald&mdash;Nature of jurisdiction
- exercised in Sea of England</td>
- <td class="tdr">25<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">xii</span></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>THE FISHERIES.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Importance of fisheries in middle ages&mdash;Ecclesiastical fasts&mdash;A great
- herring fishery&mdash;Foreign fishermen frequent British coasts&mdash;The
- question of freedom of fishing&mdash;Licenses to French to fish in the
- Channel&mdash;Treaties guaranteeing liberty for foreigners to fish on the
- British coasts&mdash;The “Burgundy” treaties&mdash;The <i>Intercursus Magnus</i>&mdash;Practice
- in Scotland differed from that in England&mdash;Waters
- reserved for natives, and foreigners excluded&mdash;Treaties with the
- Netherlands&mdash;Acts of the Parliament of Scotland</td>
- <td class="tdr">57</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>UNDER THE TUDORS.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Decay of English fisheries&mdash;Influence of Reformation&mdash;Rise of Dutch
- fisheries&mdash;The “Political Lent”&mdash;Cecil’s inquiries and proceedings&mdash;Legislation
- to protect the English fisheries and encourage the
- consumption of fish&mdash;First complaints against foreign fishermen on
- English coast&mdash;Hitchcock’s “Pollitique Platt”&mdash;His scheme of a
- national fishery association to compete with the Dutch&mdash;Proposals
- of Dr John Dee to tax foreigners fishing on British coasts&mdash;Claim
- advanced to the sovereignty of the sea&mdash;Supposed limits of British
- seas&mdash;Queen Elizabeth opposes all claims to <i>Mare Clausum</i>&mdash;Spanish
- and Portuguese pretensions to dominion on the great
- oceans&mdash;Negotiations with Denmark as to trading and fishing at
- Iceland and Norway&mdash;Queen Elizabeth’s exposition of the principles
- of the freedom of the seas&mdash;Further legislation to promote the
- fisheries&mdash;Failure of the policy of fish-days&mdash;The striking of the
- flag</td>
- <td class="tdr">86</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>UNDER THE STUARTS. JAMES I. A NEW POLICY.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Change of policy as to freedom of fishery&mdash;The “King’s Chambers”
- defined and described&mdash;Limited to questions of neutrality&mdash;Beginning
- of struggle with Dutch for commercial and maritime supremacy&mdash;Expansion
- of Dutch fisheries&mdash;English accounts of their
- extent&mdash;John Keymer&mdash;Sir Walter Raleigh&mdash;Tobias Gentleman&mdash;The
- Dutch great herring fishery along British coast&mdash;Its value
- and importance&mdash;English fishery trifling in comparison&mdash;English
- envy and jealousy of Dutch&mdash;Rival fishery schemes proposed&mdash;Plan
- of London merchants&mdash;Proposals to tax foreign fishermen&mdash;Complaints
- <span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">xiii</span>
- of encroachments of Hollanders in England and Scotland&mdash;Petition
- from Cinque Ports for protection&mdash;Privy Council
- consider unlicensed fishing by foreigners&mdash;Recommend proclamation
- restraining foreigners from fishing on British coasts without
- license from the king&mdash;Proclamation issued&mdash;Aimed against Dutch&mdash;Protest
- of States-General&mdash;Proclamation suspended&mdash;The “assize-herring”&mdash;Discussions
- with the Dutch ambassador&mdash;Dutch embassy
- of 1610&mdash;Fishery question postponed&mdash;Other fishery schemes&mdash;The
- queen’s proposals&mdash;Records to be searched to establish king’s
- jurisdiction at sea and right to the fishings</td>
- <td class="tdr">118</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>JAMES I.</small>&mdash;<i>continued</i>. <small>DISPUTES WITH THE DUTCH.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Grant of “assize-herrings” in Scotland to Duke of Lennox&mdash;Considered
- by Scottish Council&mdash;James instructs that the tax be levied from
- foreign fishermen&mdash;Mr John Brown collects them in 1616 from
- Dutch&mdash;Protest by Dutch ambassador&mdash;Dutch naval commanders
- ordered to prevent further payments&mdash;Brown again sent in 1617&mdash;Seized
- and carried to Holland by Dutch man-of-war&mdash;Repudiation
- of act by States-General&mdash;Further complaints in Scotland against
- Dutch&mdash;Representations by British ambassador at Hague&mdash;“Land-kenning”
- or range of vision claimed as limit&mdash;Scottish Council
- asked to prevent Hollanders from fishing within sight of land&mdash;Dutch
- edict of 1618&mdash;Assize-herrings again demanded by the
- <i>Restore&mdash;Mare Clausum</i> in the Arctic Seas&mdash;Spitzbergen whaling
- disputes&mdash;Dutch embassy of 1618&mdash;Evasion of fishery question&mdash;James’s
- displeasure&mdash;Threats to use force&mdash;Fishery treaty again
- postponed&mdash;A limit of fourteen miles requested&mdash;Dutch concession&mdash;Proposals
- regarding whaling at Spitzbergen&mdash;Assize-herrings
- again demanded by the <i>Charles</i>&mdash;The Dutch strengthen their convoying
- squadrons&mdash;Dutch embassies of 1619 and 1621&mdash;Fishery
- question still evaded&mdash;Edict of 1618 renewed&mdash;Fresh complaints
- against Hollanders&mdash;Fishery societies proposed&mdash;The striking of
- the flag&mdash;Incident with French in 1603&mdash;Monson’s action against
- Dutch&mdash;Spanish complaint&mdash;The custom as to striking the flag</td>
- <td class="tdr">165</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>CHARLES I. FISHERIES AND RESERVED WATERS.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Extravagant pretensions to the sovereignty of the sea&mdash;The ship-money
- writs and the old records&mdash;Charles proposes a great fishery
- society to compete with the Dutch&mdash;Coke prepares a scheme&mdash;Difficulties
- <span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">xiv</span>
- with Scottish burghs&mdash;Charles requests Scottish Privy
- Council to further the scheme&mdash;Strenuous opposition in Scotland&mdash;Claim
- of “reserved waters” advanced&mdash;Commissioners on behalf
- of England and Scotland appointed&mdash;Prolonged negotiations&mdash;Extent
- of reserved waters defined&mdash;Modifications proposed&mdash;Burghs
- petition Charles to prevent the Hollanders from fishing in
- Scottish waters&mdash;Fisheries declared to be under the royal prerogative&mdash;Charles
- attends the conferences of the commissioners&mdash;Scheme
- finally agreed to&mdash;The “Royal Fishery of Great Britain and
- Ireland” established&mdash;Operations at the Lewes&mdash;Misfortunes and
- eventual failure of the society</td>
- <td class="tdr">209</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>CHARLES I.</small>&mdash;<i>continued.</i> <small>THE NAVY.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Need of a strong navy&mdash;Insecurity of seas from pirates&mdash;Violations of
- King’s Chambers and ports by Dutch and Dunkirkers&mdash;Proclamation
- concerning same and claiming sovereignty of sea&mdash;Charles’s
- private policy to recover the Palatinate&mdash;Negotiations for alliance
- with Spain against the Dutch&mdash;Pretexts for creating a fleet&mdash;The
- ship-money writs&mdash;Feeling in Holland&mdash;Coke’s despatch on the
- dominion of England in the seas&mdash;The first ship-money fleet,
- under the Earl of Lindsey&mdash;His instructions&mdash;All hostilities in
- narrow seas to be prevented&mdash;Previous instructions to Pennington
- compared&mdash;The king’s private instructions&mdash;Their object&mdash;Lindsey’s
- queries&mdash;Proceedings of the fleet&mdash;Rumours in London&mdash;Friction
- with the admiral&mdash;Fails to meet the French fleet&mdash;Richelieu’s
- strategy, and proposals as to salute&mdash;Licenses for Dutch
- herring-busses&mdash;Lindsey quits the fleet&mdash;Discontent at his failure&mdash;The
- question of the salute becomes very prominent&mdash;Doubts
- and queries as to the custom in enforcing it&mdash;Practice on foreign
- coasts&mdash;Between ships and forts&mdash;Arrogance of English captains&mdash;Usual
- compliance of the Dutch&mdash;British merchantmen the
- worst offenders</td>
- <td class="tdr">246</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>CHARLES I.</small>&mdash;<i>continued</i>. <small>THE NAVY.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>The second ship-money fleet&mdash;Placed under the Earl of Northumberland&mdash;What
- was to be done with it?&mdash;Opinion of Admiralty as
- to convoying foreign merchant vessels and preventing foreigners
- from fishing without license&mdash;The instructions to Northumberland&mdash;The
- proceedings of the fleet&mdash;Cruise in Channel&mdash;Royal
- <span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">xv</span>
- proclamation forbidding foreigners from fishing without license
- in British seas&mdash;Northumberland goes in quest of Dutch herring-busses&mdash;Licenses
- forced upon them&mdash;English men-of-war left to
- “guard” them&mdash;Anxiety in the United Provinces&mdash;Mission of van
- Beveren&mdash;States of Holland resolve to equip a fleet to protect
- their fishermen from molestation&mdash;Mission of Joachimi&mdash;Intervention
- of Queen of Bohemia&mdash;Northumberland’s fleet goes to the
- Yarmouth fishing&mdash;Licenses again forced on the Dutch fishermen&mdash;The
- amount of the “acknowledgment money” received&mdash;Misrepresentations
- on the subject&mdash;Renewed excitement in Holland&mdash;Proceedings
- of Admiral Van Dorp&mdash;Another change in the king’s
- policy&mdash;Arundel’s mission to Vienna&mdash;Negotiations with the Prince
- of Orange&mdash;Terms of a proposed treaty&mdash;Charles tries to get his
- licenses secretly accepted in Holland&mdash;Third ship-money fleet&mdash;Tortuous
- action of Charles&mdash;Captain Fielding sent in a merchant
- vessel to offer licenses to Dutch fishermen&mdash;Dutch men-of-war
- interfere and prevent licenses being taken&mdash;The story leaks out,
- and is to be “cried down” and another story told&mdash;National discontent
- and domestic troubles&mdash;The “Sovereign of the Seas”&mdash;The
- question of the salute&mdash;Increasing strength and boldness of
- Dutch fleet&mdash;Arrest and search of English ships&mdash;Tromp and Pennington&mdash;The
- battle in the Downs&mdash;Action of English fleet&mdash;Humiliation
- of Charles&mdash;The Dutch the real masters of the seas</td>
- <td class="tdr">286</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>CHARLES I.</small>&mdash;<i>continued.</i> <small>THE JURIDICAL CONTROVERSIES.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>Mare Liberum</i> and <i>Mare Clausum</i>&mdash;Dawn of international law&mdash;Claims
- to maritime dominion conflict with commercial expansion
- of period&mdash;Opinions of publicists previous to Grotius&mdash;De Castro&mdash;Vasquius&mdash;The
- <i>Mare Liberum</i> of Grotius&mdash;Its origin and object&mdash;Arguments
- of Grotius against appropriation of seas&mdash;His later
- work and opinions&mdash;Opponents of <i>Mare Liberum</i>&mdash;De Freiras&mdash;Pacius&mdash;Welwood&mdash;His
- <i>Abridgment of All Sea Lawes</i> and <i>De
- Dominio Maris</i>&mdash;Arguments for appropriation of sea fisheries&mdash;Grotius’
- <i>Defensio</i> in reply to Welwood&mdash;Other authorities&mdash;Thomas
- Craig&mdash;Gerard Malynes&mdash;Alberico Gentilis&mdash;The 100-mile limit&mdash;The
- rights of the Crown in the foreshores and bed of the sea&mdash;Thomas
- Digges&mdash;Sergeant Callis&mdash;Chief Justice Coke&mdash;Charles
- desires to establish his rights to the dominion of the seas by “some
- public writing”&mdash;Records searched&mdash;Sir John Boroughs’ <i>Soveraignty
- of the British Seas</i>&mdash;Its contents and reasoning&mdash;Selden’s
- <i>Mare Clausum</i>&mdash;Begun at desire of King James&mdash;Published in
- 1635 by the king’s commands&mdash;Its importance immediately recognised&mdash;The
- king’s eulogy&mdash;The character of <i>Mare Clausum</i>&mdash;Its
- <span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">xvi</span>
- facts and arguments&mdash;Absolute sovereignty claimed for English
- crown&mdash;Anxiety in Holland&mdash;States-General resolve on an official
- refutation of <i>Mare Clausum</i>&mdash;Graswinckel’s treatise&mdash;Pontanus</td>
- <td class="tdr">338</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>THE PARLIAMENT, THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE PROTECTORATE.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>THE FIRST DUTCH WAR.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Claim to the sovereignty of the sea and the salute continued&mdash;Instructions
- to naval officers essentially the same&mdash;Encounter with
- Swedish squadron&mdash;Action approved by Admiralty committee&mdash;Council
- of State instruct Blake to preserve the dominion of the
- seas&mdash;The Dutch strike willingly&mdash;Strained relations between the
- Parliament and the United Provinces&mdash;Political revolution in
- Holland&mdash;Mission of St John and Strickland to The Hague&mdash;Propositions
- for fusion and alliance&mdash;The <i>Intercursus Magnus</i> taken
- as basis for treaty&mdash;St John’s seven Articles&mdash;The thirty-six
- Articles of the Dutch&mdash;Failure of negotiations&mdash;Feeling in England&mdash;English
- letters of reprisal&mdash;Embassy of Cats, Schaep, and
- Van de Perre&mdash;Dutch fleet increased&mdash;Discussion of thirty-six
- Articles&mdash;Fresh instructions from Holland&mdash;The negotiations
- suddenly interrupted&mdash;Blake’s encounter with Tromp in the
- Straits of Dover regarding the striking of the flag&mdash;Its antecedents&mdash;Tromp’s
- defective instructions as to striking&mdash;Account of the
- fight&mdash;Indignation in London&mdash;Embassy of the Grand Pensionary,
- Adrian Pauw&mdash;First Dutch war&mdash;Blake and the herring-busses&mdash;Tromp’s
- broom&mdash;The Parliament asserts the right of the Commonwealth
- to the sovereignty of the seas and the fishery&mdash;Selden’s
- <i>Mare Clausum</i> translated and published by order of the Council
- of State&mdash;Controversy between Selden and Graswinckel</td>
- <td class="tdr">378</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>THE PARLIAMENT, THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE PROTECTORATE</small>&mdash;<i>continued.</i></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>The negotiations for peace&mdash;Mission of Beverning, Nieuport, Van de
-Perre, and Jongestal&mdash;The attitude of Cromwell&mdash;Proposals for
-fusion abandoned&mdash;Cromwell’s twelve Articles&mdash;The sovereignty
-of the sea and the fishery put in the foreground&mdash;The twenty-seven
-Articles proposed by the Council of State&mdash;Claim to the
-fishery, the salute, the right of search, the exclusive guard of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">xvii</span>
-British seas, &amp;c.&mdash;The strong objections of the Dutch&mdash;Cromwell
-acts as spokesman of the Council&mdash;Discussion on the flag and the
-herring fishery&mdash;The negotiations come to a standstill&mdash;The Dutch
-ambassadors ask for their passports&mdash;Cromwell becomes Lord
-Protector&mdash;Negotiations continued&mdash;Dutch proposals regarding
-the salute&mdash;Cromwell withdraws the fishery article and the
-declaration respecting the sovereignty of the sea&mdash;The terms
-British Seas and Narrow Seas&mdash;Dutch propose to strike the flag all
-over the world&mdash;The ambassadors return to Holland&mdash;They come
-back again&mdash;Cromwell suddenly reopens the question as to the
-British seas&mdash;Conclusion of treaty of peace&mdash;Diplomatic success
-of the Dutch regarding the claim to the sovereignty of the sea&mdash;The
-article on the striking of the flag&mdash;Enforcing the salute&mdash;Complaints
-of English fishermen</td>
- <td class="tdr">414</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>CHARLES II.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>THE SECOND DUTCH WAR.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Pretension to sovereignty of sea maintained&mdash;Efforts to revive the
- fisheries&mdash;Legislation&mdash;Bill against foreigners fishing on British
- coasts&mdash;Act of Scottish Parliament&mdash;Council of the Royal Fishery
- of Great Britain and Ireland appointed&mdash;The scheme receives little
- public support&mdash;Slovenly management of the Society’s affairs&mdash;Negotiations
- with Dutch regarding the sovereignty of the sea, the
- flag, and the fishery&mdash;Attitude of De Witt&mdash;His negotiations with
- France&mdash;Treaty concluded with Louis XIV. guaranteeing mutual
- protection to fishermen&mdash;Downing and De Witt&mdash;Treaty of London&mdash;Article
- on flag&mdash;Ignorance at Admiralty as to practice in striking&mdash;Second
- Dutch war&mdash;Causes of&mdash;De Ruyter in the Thames&mdash;Licenses
- for fishing offered to Dutch and refused&mdash;Grant of fishing
- rights to Bruges&mdash;Effect of the war on the fisheries&mdash;Dispute
- between Dutch and French as to salute&mdash;Peace conference at
- Breda&mdash;Claim to fishery withdrawn by Charles&mdash;Treaty article on
- flag&mdash;The term British Seas restricted to the Channel&mdash;Ambiguities
- regarding the practice of striking&mdash;De Witt’s proposals to Temple
- for a “Regulation”&mdash;The Dutch ambassadors discuss the matter
- with Charles&mdash;Their declaration about striking to a frigate or
- ketch&mdash;Practice of striking described&mdash;Denmark also proposes a
- “Regulation”&mdash;De Witt’s intrigues at Paris regarding the salute
- disclosed to Charles&mdash;Arrangement between France and England
- as to striking&mdash;Admiralty give close attention to the rules&mdash;Foreign
- disputes about the salute&mdash;General order by the States of
- Holland</td>
- <td class="tdr">441<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xviii">xviii</span></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>CHARLES II.</small>&mdash;<i>continued.</i></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>THE THIRD DUTCH WAR.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Policy of Louis XIV.&mdash;The Triple Alliance&mdash;Secret compact of
- Charles and Louis against the Dutch&mdash;Parliament deceived&mdash;Pretexts
- for a fleet&mdash;Ill-feeling against Dutch fomented&mdash;Inquiries
- by Sir Leoline Jenkins as to striking and extent of British seas&mdash;The
- king’s yacht, <i>Merlin</i>, sent to pick a quarrel about the flag&mdash;The
- scheme miscarries&mdash;Downing’s mission to The Hague&mdash;Capture
- of Dutch shipping&mdash;Attack on Smyrna fleet&mdash;Declaration
- of war&mdash;The dominion of the seas flouted&mdash;The English to
- salute the French&mdash;The war and the fisheries&mdash;The Dutch sue
- for peace&mdash;The terms offered&mdash;Tribute for fishing asked&mdash;Meeting
- of Parliament&mdash;Shaftesbury on the sovereignty of the sea&mdash;The
- war most unpopular&mdash;Attempts to arouse public feeling as to
- dominion of the sea&mdash;Prynne&mdash;Smith&mdash;Roger Coke&mdash;Henry
- Stubbe&mdash;Charles forced to negotiate for peace&mdash;The Congress
- at Cologne&mdash;Prolonged discussions about the flag, the fisheries,
- and the sovereignty of the seas&mdash;Charles requires the salute
- between Cape Finisterre and the North Cape&mdash;Dutch assume
- a firmer attitude&mdash;Refuse to ask for liberty to fish&mdash;Offer to
- strike in all seas&mdash;Congress breaks up&mdash;Strong attitude of
- Parliament in favour of the Dutch&mdash;Separate peace made in
- London&mdash;Sir William Temple&mdash;The claim to the fishery dropped&mdash;Article
- regarding the salute&mdash;A diplomatic triumph for the
- Dutch&mdash;Disputes at sea about striking&mdash;The incidents of the
- <i>Cleveland</i>, the <i>Charles</i>, the <i>Cambridge</i>&mdash;English commander condemned
- to death for striking to the Spaniards&mdash;Masters of foreign
- merchantmen prosecuted in Admiralty Court for refusing to strike&mdash;Works
- on the sovereignty of the sea&mdash;Evelyn&mdash;Molloy&mdash;Further
- schemes to promote the fisheries</td>
- <td class="tdr">474</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_I_CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>JAMES II. AND AFTER.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Gradual decline of the pretension to the sovereignty of the sea&mdash;England
- and the United Provinces allied against France&mdash;Louis’
- ordinance regarding the salute&mdash;William III. claims the sovereignty
- of the narrow seas&mdash;The question of striking becomes of little
- international importance&mdash;The Admiralty instructions concerning&mdash;Disputes
- about it less common&mdash;Encounter with a Swedish
- man-of-war&mdash;The case of the <i>Gironde</i>&mdash;The naval historians on
- <span class="pagenum" id="Page_xix">xix</span>
- the sovereignty of the sea&mdash;Articles regarding striking in later
- treaties&mdash;The ceremony abandoned after the battle of Trafalgar&mdash;General
- claims to maritime dominion give place to international
- arrangements&mdash;Sir Philip Meadows&mdash;His treatise against the
- dominion of the seas&mdash;Definite boundaries begin to be fixed for
- fisheries&mdash;Fishery disputes between Denmark and the United
- Provinces&mdash;Great Britain sides with the Dutch in opposing claims
- to <i>Mare Clausum</i>&mdash;The North American fishery treaties of the
- eighteenth century&mdash;The claim to the sovereignty of the seas dies
- out&mdash;Decay of the Dutch fisheries and rise of the British</td>
- <td class="tdr">517</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2" class="large"><a href="#SECTION_II">SECTION II.&mdash;THE TERRITORIAL WATERS.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_II_CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE TERRITORIAL SEA.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Various limits proposed or adopted&mdash;The old English lawyers, Glanville,
- Bracton, Britton, “Fleta”&mdash;Early Italian jurists&mdash;Bartolus,
- Baldus&mdash;Limits of 100 and of 60 miles&mdash;Bodin&mdash;Gentilis&mdash;No
- general common usage&mdash;The mid-line or Thalweg&mdash;The
- “Mirror of Justice”&mdash;Plowden&mdash;Chief Justice Hales&mdash;Jurisdiction
- of Cinque Ports in Channel&mdash;The range of vision or “land-kenning”&mdash;Lord
- Stair&mdash;Sarpi’s proposal&mdash;Bays, straits, and arms
- of the sea&mdash;The King’s Chambers&mdash;Range of guns from shore&mdash;Proposed
- by Dutch in 1610&mdash;Not adopted in seventeenth century&mdash;Selden,
- Pontanus, Burgus, &amp;c.&mdash;Influence of Loccenius and Puffendorf&mdash;Opinion
- of publicists at end seventeenth century&mdash;Usage in
- seventeenth century&mdash;Decisions of High Court of Admiralty regarding
- King’s Chambers&mdash;Gradual change of opinion and practice&mdash;Publicists
- in eighteenth century&mdash;The teaching of Bynkershoek&mdash;Dominion
- extends as far as projectiles can be thrown from the
- shore&mdash;Connection with salute and visit and search&mdash;Bynkershoek’s
- principle only slowly accepted&mdash;Opinions of Casaregi, Abreu, Wolff,
- Vattel, H&uuml;bner, Valin, Moser, Lampredi, Galiani, Von Martens&mdash;Three
- miles as equivalent to the utmost range of guns proposed by
- Galiani (1782), C. F. von Martens (1789), and Azuni (1795)&mdash;Summary
- of opinions&mdash;Usage in eighteenth century&mdash;Tendency to
- fix definite boundaries&mdash;Venice&mdash;Great Britain&mdash;Denmark&mdash;Sweden&mdash;Norway&mdash;Spain&mdash;Range
- of guns adopted by Tuscany,
- the Pope, Genoa, Venice, and in various international treaties&mdash;Three-mile
- limit first adopted by the United States of America
- in 1793&mdash;Exception of bays&mdash;Various limits claimed by the United
- States</td>
- <td class="tdr">537<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xx">xx</span></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_II_CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>GENERAL ADOPTION OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Cannon-range and three-mile limit as its equivalent introduced into
- English Jurisprudence in 1800, 1801&mdash;Lord Stowell’s decisions
- regarding the <i>Twee Gebroeders</i> and the <i>Anna</i> in British High
- Court of Admiralty&mdash;Restricted to questions of neutrality&mdash;The
- practice of Great Britain and the United States leads to
- general adoption of three-mile limit&mdash;First applied to fisheries (of
- North America) by Great Britain&mdash;Treaty of 1818&mdash;Negotiations
- concerning Behring Sea&mdash;Russian claim of 100 miles&mdash;Adoption of
- gunshot or three miles&mdash;Judicial decisions as to extent of territorial
- sea&mdash;The Bristol Channel&mdash;Conception Bay&mdash;Statutes relative
- to territorial waters&mdash;Foreign Enlistment Act&mdash;Territorial
- Waters Jurisdiction Act&mdash;The <i>Franconia</i> case&mdash;Three-mile
- limit restricted to the open coast for certain purposes only&mdash;Bays
- excluded&mdash;The Hovering Acts&mdash;Customs’ jurisdiction&mdash;Quarantine
- Acts&mdash;Opinions of publicists of earlier part of nineteenth
- century&mdash;Rayneval, Chitty, Schmalz, Kl&uuml;ber, Wheaton, Kent,
- Manning, Heffter, Reddie, Ortolan, Hautefeuille, Pistoye and
- Duverdy, Mass&eacute;&mdash;Summary&mdash;Most accept cannon-range&mdash;Few
- accept the three-mile limit</td>
- <td class="tdr">576</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_II_CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>THE FISHERY CONVENTIONS.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>In nineteenth century the boundaries of territorial sea concerned
- chiefly with fisheries&mdash;Encroachment of foreign fishermen&mdash;Dutch
- decrees of 1824 and 1829 fixing a limit of two leagues on
- British coast&mdash;Disputes with French fishermen&mdash;Inquiry by select
- committee of House of Commons, 1833&mdash;Their recommendations&mdash;Opinion
- as to bays&mdash;Renewed encroachments and disputes&mdash;Convention
- with France, 1839&mdash;Three-mile limit and ten miles for
- bays adopted&mdash;Granville Bay reserved for French&mdash;Regulations
- regarding trawling&mdash;Disputes with Belgian and Dutch fishermen&mdash;Belgians
- claim special rights under Bruges Charter&mdash;Convention of
- 1852 with Belgium&mdash;Dispute about Fame Islands&mdash;Second Convention
- with France, 1867&mdash;Not ratified&mdash;Question of Irish oyster-beds
- beyond three-mile limit&mdash;Fishery disputes in British North
- America&mdash;The definition of bays and creeks&mdash;British cruisers seize
- American vessels&mdash;The British Government relax the rule as to
- Bay of Fundy&mdash;Decision of referee as to this bay&mdash;Reciprocity
- Treaty, 1854&mdash;Terminated by United States, 1866&mdash;Concessions
- <span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxi">xxi</span>
- by British Government&mdash;Licenses to American vessels&mdash;A six-mile
- limit for bays conceded&mdash;Treaty of Washington, 1871&mdash;Terminated
- by United States, 1885&mdash;Treaty of Washington, 1888&mdash;Precise
- delimitation of bays&mdash;Treaty not ratified by United States&mdash;<i>Modus
- vivendi</i> conceded and still in force&mdash;Discussion as to bays&mdash;Renewed
- disputes in North Sea&mdash;The Belgian “Devil”&mdash;The
- Higgin’s Inquiry&mdash;Conference at Hague, 1881&mdash;Views of British
- Government as to territorial limit&mdash;Question of dependent banks&mdash;Trawling
- and preservation of fish&mdash;North Sea Convention, 1882&mdash;Sweden
- and Norway refuse to join&mdash;Discussion of its terms&mdash;Views
- of British Government as to inclusion of banks&mdash;Question of
- the Eddystone, the Bell Rock, the Seven-Stones Rocks&mdash;Discussion
- as to limit under the Conventions and under the Law of Nations&mdash;Anglo-Danish
- Convention, 1901, respecting the Far&ouml;es and Iceland</td>
- <td class="tdr">604</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_II_CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><small>THE MODERN PRACTICE OF STATES AND THE OPINIONS
- OF RECENT PUBLICISTS.</small></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Apparent discrepancy between general practice and the opinions of
- publicists&mdash;No state has formally defined the extent of its territorial
- sea&mdash;Practice in Germany&mdash;Denmark&mdash;Two limits enforced&mdash;Russia&mdash;The
- White Sea&mdash;France&mdash;Belgium&mdash;Netherlands&mdash;Austria-Hungary&mdash;Italy&mdash;Greece&mdash;British
- Colonies&mdash;Japan&mdash;United
- States of America&mdash;Chile&mdash;Argentina&mdash;Uruguay&mdash;Three-mile
- limit generally adopted for fisheries&mdash;Exceptions in four
- European states&mdash;Spain and Portugal claim six miles&mdash;Repudiated
- by British Government&mdash;Discontent in Spain and Portugal&mdash;Norway
- and Sweden&mdash;Special Scandinavian limits&mdash;Fjords reserved&mdash;Vestfjord&mdash;Varangerfjord&mdash;Discussion
- of Norwegian limit&mdash;Rejection
- of three-mile boundary&mdash;Recent Norwegian laws&mdash;The
- three-mile limit is an Anglo-American doctrine&mdash;Opinions of
- modern publicists&mdash;Calvo, Bluntschli, Phillimore, Halleck,
- Lawrence, Bishop, Woolsey, Dana, Twiss, Fiore, Pradiere-Fod&eacute;r&eacute;,
- Perels, Ferguson, Desjardins, Kleen, Aschehoug, de Martens, Hall,
- Oppenheim&mdash;The limit under the Law of Nations is the range of
- guns&mdash;Declarations of the International Law Association and the
- Institut de Droit International&mdash;Three miles insufficient&mdash;Six
- miles proposed for fisheries, &amp;c&mdash;The zone or line of respect for
- neutrality to be declared by each state</td>
- <td class="tdr">650<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxii">xxii</span></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2"><a href="#SECTION_II_CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th colspan="2">THE INADEQUACY OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT FOR
- FISHERY REGULATIONS.</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Three miles insufficient for the regulation of the fisheries&mdash;Seal
- fisheries&mdash;Behring Sea arbitration&mdash;Oyster, pearl-oyster, and
- coral fisheries&mdash;Regulations for “floating” fish&mdash;Relation of
- trawl-fishing to three-mile limit&mdash;Recent great extension of
- trawling&mdash;The effect on the fishing-grounds&mdash;Official inquiries&mdash;English
- trawlers desire an increased limit in North Sea&mdash;International
- conference at London, 1890&mdash;Inquiry by select
- committee of House of Commons&mdash;They recommend international
- extension of present limit for fishery purposes&mdash;Immature Fish Bill&mdash;Its
- object&mdash;Parliamentary inquiry, 1900&mdash;They urge international
- arrangement for North Sea&mdash;Bill again introduced&mdash;Inquiry by
- committee of House of Lords, 1904&mdash;They recommend international
- agreement for North Sea&mdash;The impoverishment of the
- fishing-grounds in the North Sea&mdash;Trawlers flock to foreign coasts&mdash;Feeling
- among foreign fishermen&mdash;Legislation in various
- countries regulating trawling beyond the three-mile limit&mdash;Norway,
- Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria&mdash;Ireland&mdash;Not restricted
- to bays&mdash;Scotland&mdash;Fishery Acts&mdash;Firth of Clyde&mdash;Moray Firth&mdash;Act
- of 1895 empowering a thirteen-mile limit&mdash;Intrusion of
- foreign and pseudo-Norwegian trawlers into Moray Firth&mdash;Prosecutions
- and convictions&mdash;Case of Peters <i>versus</i> Olsen&mdash;Case of
- Mortensen <i>versus</i> Peters&mdash;Decision of the Scottish High Court of
- Justiciary&mdash;Opinions of the judges&mdash;Intervention of Norwegian
- Government&mdash;Release of offenders&mdash;Foreign Office decline to open
- negotiations with foreign Powers&mdash;Debates in Parliament&mdash;Lord
- Fitzmaurice on territorial limit and bays&mdash;Opinions of Lord
- Halsbury, Lord Herschell, Lord Salisbury, Lord Chancellor
- Loreburn&mdash;Declarations of Sir Edward Grey, Minister for Foreign
- Affairs&mdash;Views of British Government&mdash;Previous action of Great
- Britain in connection with extra-territorial fisheries&mdash;Recent
- proceedings with foreign Powers regarding the three-mile limit&mdash;The
- international fishery investigations&mdash;Need of an international
- arrangement</td>
- <td class="tdr">693<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiii">xxiii</span></td>
- </tr></table>
-
-<h2>APPENDIX.<br />
-
-<img class="figcenter" src="images/hr.jpg" alt="" /></h2>
-
-<table class="toc">
- <tr>
- <td><i>A.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_A">The Libel regarding Reyner Grimbald. De Superioritate Maris
-Angli&aelig; et Jure officii Admirallatus in eodem</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">741</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>B.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_B">Abstract of Proceedings before the Auditors regarding the same</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">744</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>C.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_C">License for Fishing at the “Zowe” Bank in the Channel, 1615</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">749</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>D.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_D">Proclamation of James I. relative to the King’s Chambers, 1st
-March 1604/1605</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">750</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>E.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_E">Declaration of the Jury of the Trinity House as to the Limits of
-the King’s Chambers, 4th March 1604/1605</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">753</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>F.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_F">Proclamation of James I. for the Restraint of Foreigners fishing on
-the British Coasts, 6th May 1609</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">755</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>G.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_G">Instructions by the Privy Council of Scotland for the Levying of
-the “Assize-herrings” from Foreign Fishermen</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">757</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>H.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_H">Proclamation of Charles I. as to preventing Abuses in the Narrow
-Seas and Ports, and claiming Sovereignty of the Sea</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">759</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>I.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_I">Report of the Admiralty to Charles I. as to the Employment of the
-Ship-money Fleet in wafting and securing Foreign Merchants
-passing through His Majesty’s Seas, and in protecting Foreign
-Fishermen who accept the King’s License, 5th February 1635/1636</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">762</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>K.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_K">Abstract of the Thirty-six Articles proposed by the Dutch to
-St John at The Hague, 1650, 1651</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">764</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>L.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_L">Tromp’s Memorandum to the States of Holland as to the Custom
-of Striking the Flag to the English, 27th February/9th March 1651</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">770</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>M.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_M">Copy of Originals of Letters between Tromp and Blake, after the
-encounter in the Straits of Dover, 1652</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">771</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>N.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_N">Concession to Bruges to fish in the British Seas, 1666</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">772</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><i>O.</i></td>
- <td><a href="#APPENDIX_O">Articles adopted by the Institut de Droit International at Paris,
- and by the International Law Association at London, with
- reference to the Territorial Waters</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">774</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td />
- <td><img class="figcenter" src="images/hr.jpg" alt="" /></td>
- <td />
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td />
- <td><a href="#INDEX"><span class="smcap">Index</span></a></td>
- <td class="tdr">777<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiv">xxiv</span></td>
- </tr></table>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxv">xxv</span></p>
-
-<h2 id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.<br />
-
-<img class="figcenter" src="images/hr.jpg" alt="" /></h2>
-
-<table class="toc">
- <tr>
- <td><small>FIG.</small></td>
- <td />
- <td class="small tdr">PAGE</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td />
- <td><a href="#frontispiece">THE “BRITISH SEAS,” ACCORDING TO SELDEN</a></td>
- <td class="tdr"><i>Frontispiece</i></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td >1.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_1">EDWARD’S NOBLE</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">37</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td >2.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_2">HITCHCOCK’S REPRESENTATION OF THE ENGLISH AND FLEMISH FISHERIES</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">99</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td >3.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_3">CHART PREPARED BY THE TRINITY HOUSE, SHOWING THE
- BEARINGS OF THE KING’S CHAMBERS. FROM SELDEN</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">121</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td >4.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_4">SHOWING THE KING’S CHAMBERS ON THE COAST OF ENGLAND</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">123</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td >5.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_5">FACSIMILE OF KEYMER’s SIGNATURE TO HIS ‘BOOK OF OBSERVATIONS’</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">127</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td >6.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_6">FACSIMILE OF THE CONCLUDING PART OF THE DRAFT OF COMMITTEE’S REPORT TO PRIVY COUNCIL REGARDING THE RESTRAINT OF FOREIGNERS FISHING ON THE BRITISH COASTS</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">149</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td >7.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_7">FACSIMILE OF MINUTE OF THE DECLARATION OF THE DUTCH
- ENVOYS AS TO THE RANGE OF GUNS</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">156</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>8.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_8">DUTCH WHALERS AT SPITZBERGEN. AFTER VAN DER MEULEN</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">182</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>9.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_9">SHOWING THE LIMITS OF THE “RESERVED WATERS” CLAIMED
- BY SCOTLAND</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">231</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>10.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_10">DUTCH HERRING-BUSSES UNDER SAIL. AFTER VAN DER
- MEULEN</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">297</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>11.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_11">DUTCH HERRING-BUSSES HAULING THEIR NETS, WITH CONVOYING
- SHIP-OF-WAR. AFTER VAN DER MEULEN</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">299</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>12.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_12">FACSIMILE OF THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF THE MONIES RECEIVED
- FROM THE DUTCH HERRING FISHERMEN FOR THE
- KING’S LICENSES</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">310</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>13.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_13">THE “SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS.” AFTER VANDEVELDE</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">324<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxvi">xxvi</span></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>14.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_14">FACSIMILE OF PART OF THE CHART, SHOWING WHERE THE
- “TWEE GEBROEDERS” WERE TAKEN. FROM ROBINSON,
- ADMIRALTY REPORTS</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">578</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>15.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_15">THE BRISTOL CHANNEL</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">587</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>16.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_16">SHOWING THE LIMITS RESERVED FOR FRENCH FISHERMEN IN
- GRANVILLE BAY</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">613</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>17.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_17">BAY OF FUNDY</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">623</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>18.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_18">BAY DES CHALEURS</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">625</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>19.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_19">SHOWING THE SANDBANKS AT THE MOUTH OF THE EMS</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">635</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>20.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_20">SHOWING THE LIMITS FOR THE ANGLO-DANISH FISHERY CONVENTION
- OF 1901</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">648</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>21.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_21">SHOWING THE TWO LIMITS IN DANISH WATERS. FROM
- ‘DANSK-FISKERITIDENDE’</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">654</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>22.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_22">THE WHITE SEA, SHOWING THE LINE BETWEEN CAPE KANIN
- AND CAPE SVIATOI</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">656</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>23.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_23">SHOWING THE LIMIT AT ROMSDAL AMT, NORWAY</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">670</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>24.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_24">THE VESTFJORD, LOFOTEN ISLANDS</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">673</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>25.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_25">THE VARANGERFJORD</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">675</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>26.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_26">SHOWING THE THREE-MILE LIMIT AND A THIRTEEN-MILE
- LIMIT IN THE NORTH SEA</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">703</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>27.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_27">SHOWING THE AREA OF THE SMALL-FISH GROUNDS, WHICH
- THE ENGLISH TRAWLERS DESIRED TO HAVE CLOSED FOR
- THE PRESERVATION OF IMMATURE FISH</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">705</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>28.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_28">CHART SHOWING THE FISHING-GROUNDS FREQUENTED BY
- BRITISH TRAWLERS. FROM REPORT OF THE BOARD OF
- AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES FOR 1906</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">712</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>29.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_29">THE FIRTH OF CLYDE, SHOWING THE LINE OF CLOSURE AND
- THE ORDINARY THREE-MILE LIMIT</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">719</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>30.</td>
- <td><a href="#fig_30">THE MORAY FIRTH, SHOWING THE LINE OF CLOSURE</a></td>
- <td class="tdr">723</td>
- </tr></table>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 class="xx-large">THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA.<br />
-
-<img class="figcenter" src="images/hr.jpg" alt="" />
-
-<span class="x-large" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</span></h2>
-
-<p>One of the most prominent and characteristic features in
-English history relates to the sea and maritime affairs, and
-the reason is not far to seek. The geographical situation of
-the country&mdash;everywhere surrounded by the waves, separated
-on the one side from the Continent by a narrow strait and open
-on the other to the great ocean&mdash;made it almost inevitable.
-And to the advantage of insularity was added the potent
-influence of race. A great part, if not the larger part, of our
-blood has come from the old Scandinavian peoples,&mdash;the sea-wolves,
-as the Roman poet said, whose school was the sea and
-who lived on the pillage of the world; and it is to this circumstance
-even more perhaps than to the accident of position that
-we owe our maritime and naval supremacy and the vast
-empire scattered around the globe. Running through the
-web of English history one perceives the connecting thread
-of maritime interest and occupation interwoven with the
-national life, and at all times affecting the national policy.
-First and foremost was the necessity of securing the land from
-invasion; then came the duty of safeguarding shipping and
-commerce; and with regard to those fundamental interests,
-the language used by our rulers centuries ago was the same
-as that which is used by our statesmen to-day. The sea must
-be “kept.” That has been the maxim and watchword of
-national policy throughout the ages, and the recognition of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">2</span>
-its truth was by no means confined to rulers and statesmen.
-The people at large have always been as convinced and as
-resolved that the supremacy or dominion on the sea should be
-maintained as were those in whose hands was placed the
-guidance of the affairs of the state. Again and again, when
-owing to mismanagement of the national resources, the poverty
-of the exchequer, or from some other cause, the supremacy at
-sea was endangered or temporarily lost, one will find the
-people clamouring for steps to be taken to maintain it. On
-the other hand, such was the deep and abiding sentiment with
-respect to the sovereignty of the sea, when this king or that
-wished to embark upon a policy or engage in a war for an object
-that was secret or unpopular, there was no better method of
-deceiving the people than by declaring that the dominion of
-the sea was in danger. Thrice in the compass of a single
-generation the nation was plunged into war with the object of
-maintaining it.</p>
-
-<p>One thus finds in English history a great deal which refers
-to the sovereignty of the sea, although the words were not
-always used to signify the same thing. Most commonly perhaps
-they meant a mastery or supremacy by force of arms,&mdash;what
-is now so much spoken of as sea-power. In times of
-peace, the strength of the navy should be such as to safeguard
-the commerce that came to the realm and went from it, thus
-enabling merchants and traders to carry on their traffic in
-security. In time of war, the fleets should be strong enough
-to sweep the seas, so that, as it has been described, the
-bounds of the empire should then be the coasts of the
-enemy. But, more strictly, the sovereignty of the sea was a
-political sovereignty that existed as a matter of right, and
-was duly recognised as such, apart from an actual predominance
-of naval power at the time, just as the sovereignty of a
-state exists on land, though in both cases its maintenance
-may depend upon the sword. In this sense, the sovereignty
-of the sea signified the same sole power of jurisdiction and
-rule as obtained on land, and also, in its extreme form, an
-exclusive property in the sea as part of the territory of the
-realm,&mdash;very much indeed like the rights that are now admitted
-by the law of nations to appertain to the so-called territorial
-waters of a state. Many things and many interests were thus
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span>
-embraced in the term besides the question of naval ascendency.
-There were jurisdictions of various kinds and for various purposes.
-There was the important subject of the fisheries in
-the waters adjacent to the coasts, or, it might be, in distant
-regions. There was the still more important question of the
-freedom or restriction of commerce and navigation from one
-European country to another, or to the remote countries in the
-east or west which had been opened up to commercial enterprise
-by the discoveries of the early navigators. There was,
-moreover, another subject which was specially characteristic
-of the English pretensions to the dominion of the seas, and
-which gave rise to more trouble than all the others combined,
-and that was the demand that foreign vessels on meeting with
-a ship of the king’s should lower their top-sails and strike their
-flag as a token and acknowledgment of that dominion.</p>
-
-<p>Although according to the Roman law the sea was common
-and free to all, in the middle ages many seas had become more
-or less effectively appropriated, and Civilian writers began to
-assign to maritime states, as a principle of law, a certain jurisdiction
-in the waters adjacent to their coasts. The distance
-to which such jurisdiction was allowed by those writers was
-variously stated. Very commonly it extended to sixty or one
-hundred miles from the land, and thus included all the bordering
-sea within which navigation was practically confined.
-Sometimes the principle governing the ownership of rivers was
-transferred in theory to the sea, the possession of the opposite
-shores by the same state being held to entitle that state to the
-sovereignty over the intervening water; or, if it possessed
-only one shore, to the same right as far as the mid-line. In
-most cases, however, the appropriation of the sea was effected
-by force and legalised afterwards, if legalised at all, and
-the disputes on the subject between different nations not
-infrequently led to sanguinary wars.</p>
-
-<p>The most notable instances are to be found among the early
-Italian Republics. Long before the end of the thirteenth
-century Venice, eminent for her commerce, wealth, and maritime
-power, assumed the sovereignty over the whole of the Adriatic,
-though she was not in possession of both the shores, and after
-repeated appeals to the sword she was able to enforce the right
-to levy tribute on the ships of other peoples which navigated
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span>
-the Gulf, or to prohibit their passage altogether. The neighbouring
-cities and commonwealths were soon compelled to
-agree to her claim, which was eventually recognised by the
-other Powers of Europe and by the Pope. The right of Venice
-to the dominion of the Adriatic, arising in this way by force,
-became firmly established by custom and treaty; and even after
-she had fallen from her greatness and was hardly able to
-sustain her claim by the sword, it was still for a time admitted
-by other nations, who looked upon the Republic as forming a
-useful barrier to the farther extension of the Turk in Europe
-and as a scourge to the Saracen pirates.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> On the other side of the
-Italian peninsula, the Republic of Genoa advanced a similar
-claim to the dominion of the Ligurian Sea, and some of the
-other Mediterranean states followed the example in the waters
-with which they were most immediately concerned.</p>
-
-<p>Then in the north of Europe, Denmark and Sweden, and
-later Poland, contended for or shared in the dominion of the
-Baltic. The Sound and the Belts fell into the possession of
-Denmark, the Bothnian Gulf passed under the rule of Sweden;
-and all the northern seas between Norway on the one hand, and
-the Shetland Isles, Iceland, Greenland, and Spitzbergen on the
-other, were claimed by Norway and later by Denmark, on the
-principle referred to above, that possession was held of the
-opposite shores. The Scandinavian claims to maritime dominion
-are probably indeed the most important in history. They
-led to several wars; they were the cause of many international
-treaties and of innumerable disputes about fishery, trading, and
-navigation; they were the last to be abandoned. Until about
-half a century ago Denmark still exacted a toll from ships
-passing through the Sound,&mdash;a tribute which at one time was
-a heavy burden on the trade to and from the Baltic.</p>
-
-<p>Still more extensive were the claims put forward by Spain
-and Portugal. In the sixteenth century these Powers, in virtue
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span>
-of Bulls of the Pope and the Treaty of Tordesillas, divided the
-great oceans between them. Spain claimed the exclusive right
-of navigation in the western portion of the Atlantic, in the
-Gulf of Mexico, and in the Pacific. Portugal assumed a similar
-right in the Atlantic south of Morocco and in the Indian Ocean.
-It was those preposterous pretensions to the dominion of the
-immense waters of the globe that caused the great juridical
-controversies regarding <i>mare clausum</i> and <i>mare liberum</i>, from
-which modern international law took its rise. The task of
-Grotius in demolishing them by argument was, however, materially
-facilitated by the exploits of Drake, Hawkins, and Cavendish
-on the part of the English, and of Jakob van Heemskerk
-on the part of the Dutch; and, as we shall show, the credit on
-having first asserted the freedom of the seas in the sense
-now universally recognised, belongs rather to our own Queen
-Elizabeth than to the Dutch publicist.</p>
-
-<p>In thus appropriating the seas adjacent to their territories,
-or which formed the means of communication with them, the
-various nations were doubtless impelled by consideration of
-their own immediate interests. Sometimes it helped to secure
-the safety of their coasts or commerce; in other cases it enabled
-them to levy tribute on foreign shipping traversing the appropriated
-waters, and thus to increase their revenues; or it allowed
-them to preserve the fisheries for the exclusive use of their
-own subjects. In most instances, however, the principal object
-appears to have been to maintain a monopoly of trade and
-commerce as far as possible in their own hands, in accordance
-with the commercial spirit of the times.</p>
-
-<p>But when the matter is more carefully examined in its historical
-aspects, a less selfish explanation may be found of the
-tendency to appropriate seas in the middle ages. In the state
-of wild anarchy which prevailed after the break-up of the
-Roman empire, pirates swarmed along every coast where booty
-might be had. Scandinavian rovers infested the Baltic, the
-North Sea, and the Channel; Saracens and Greeks preyed upon
-the commerce of the Mediterranean; everywhere the navigation
-of trading vessels was exposed to constant peril from the
-attacks of freebooters. The sea was then common only in the
-sense of being universally open to depredation.[2] The lawlessness
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span>
-and insecurity that reigned on the sea led merchants, in
-the absence of effective sovereign authority, to form associations
-among themselves for mutual protection, and to maintain by
-force the security of navigation in the common interest. Independent
-princes at first made use of the armed fleets of those
-voluntary associations, and later, as their power grew stronger
-and better organised, they took over the duty of policing the
-neighbouring seas under an admiralty jurisdiction of their own,
-which enforced the maritime laws and customs, such as the
-Laws of Oleron, that had been gradually developed among the
-merchant associations. In the thirteenth century this duty of
-exercising supreme admiralty jurisdiction on the neighbouring
-sea came to be regarded as a prerogative of sovereign power,<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a>
-and it was only a short step further to the assertion of an
-exclusive dominion. It was natural that this assumption of
-sovereignty on the sea should first be made by the great trading
-cities of Italy, who then controlled the important traffic
-between the east and the west, and whose shipping was to be
-found in all the ports of Christendom. It was also natural
-that the Italian jurists should be the first to attempt to give
-it a legal sanction, by assigning a large part of the bordering
-sea for the exercise of those sovereign functions which were
-originally confined to the maintenance of order and the punishment
-of delinquents. There is little doubt that the assumption
-of sovereign jurisdiction in this way was advantageous to
-navigation and commerce in those times, though later, with the
-extension of commercial intercourse and the increased security
-of the sea, it became burdensome and unnecessary.</p>
-
-<p>There are good reasons for the belief that the English claims
-to the sovereignty of the sea originated in this humble way&mdash;by
-the exercise of jurisdiction in the interests of peaceful
-commerce&mdash;some time after the Norman Conquest, and in all
-probability first of all in the Channel or the Straits of Dover.
-The earliest indication of it is to be found in the much-discussed
-ordinance which King John issued in 1201. By that
-ordinance any ships or vessels, “laden or empty,” which
-refused “at sea” to lower their sails when ordered to do so
-by the king’s lieutenant or admiral in any voyage appointed
-by the Council, and resisted the demand, were to be reputed
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span>
-as enemies, and the ships, vessels, and goods were to be seized
-and forfeited and the crews punished. This is the first
-evidence of the custom of lowering the top-sails and striking
-the flag which afterwards became so notorious as a supposed
-acknowledgment of the English sovereignty of the sea; and
-it is to be noted that, in later times at least, the vessel had
-not only to strike, but had also to “lie by the lee.” Considering
-the prevalence of piracy and the jurisdiction exercised by
-the state for its suppression, as above described, and in view
-likewise of the special measures taken by John to encourage
-and safeguard foreign commerce, the most reasonable explanation
-of the origin of the custom is that the demand for the
-sail to be lowered&mdash;and the largest vessels then had but one
-mast and a single sail&mdash;was to enable the king’s officers, who
-were there to maintain the security of navigation, to ascertain
-the true nature of the vessel which they challenged, whether
-it was a peaceful trader or a pirate. In all ages piratical
-vessels have been generally swift, and, if we judge from later
-times, the ships used in the navy were generally slow: the
-command to a vessel to lower its sails was thus made in
-order to deprive it of the power of escaping until the king’s
-officers had satisfied themselves as to its <i>bona fides</i>, and was
-equivalent to the gun that was fired in later times in connection
-with “visit and search.” Shortly before the ordinance
-was issued, John sent writs to the Mayor and Commonalty of
-London and to all the Sheriffs of England instructing that
-all merchants, of what nation soever, should have safe conduct
-to pass into and repass from England, and to enjoy peace and
-security.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> It is noteworthy that in the first record relating
-to the seizure of a vessel for not lowering its sail (a Flemish
-herring smack, in 1402) it was pled on its behalf that it was
-not armed, and that the sail had been dropped at the first
-command. It is also noteworthy that the ordinance of John
-was placed in the <i>Black Book of the Admiralty</i> immediately
-after the mercantile marine laws.</p>
-
-<p>Further evidence as to this sort of jurisdiction in the
-so-called “Sea of England” is to be found in the reign of
-Edward I., at the end of the thirteenth century and the
-beginning of the next, in the reign of Edward III., and later,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span>
-more particularly in the famous rolls, “On the Supremacy of
-the Sea of England and the Right of the Office of Admiralty
-in the same,” as well as in the <i>Black Book</i>. The rolls referred
-to show that England had the sovereign jurisdiction in regard
-to the maintenance of peace and security in the Sea of
-England, but there is no evidence to indicate that that Sea
-extended far from the coast, or that the rights exercised
-differed from those put in force by other maritime states in
-the waters adjoining their territory. A great deal was made
-later of these rolls and of the ordinance of John, as proving
-that the Angevin or Plantagenet kings possessed the sovereignty
-of the sea; but beyond the jurisdiction in question,
-which doubtless was exercised in the Straits of Dover and
-perhaps in the Channel when the coasts on each side were in
-the possession of the crown, there is a lack of evidence to prove
-that any claim of the kind was made. In those times the
-kings of England were not infrequently styled Lords of the
-Sea, but this appears to have been either because of the existence
-of this “sovereign lordship” in the neighbouring
-waters, or, more usually, because they held at the time the
-actual command and mastery of the seas in a military
-sense. There were long periods when nothing was heard of
-any pretension by England to a special sovereignty of the sea,
-and, in point of fact, the characteristic features of appropriation
-were always absent. No tribute was levied on foreign
-shipping passing through the Channel or the narrow seas, even
-when both coasts were held by the king, as was done by
-Denmark at the Sound and by Venice in the Adriatic. After
-the battle of Agincourt, when Henry V. had been recognised
-by the Treaty of Troyes as the future king of France and the
-power of England was predominant, the proposal of Parliament
-that such tribute should be levied was set aside. Foreign
-ships of war freely navigated the adjacent seas without asking
-or receiving permission to do so. The sea fisheries, moreover,
-were not appropriated. All people were at liberty to come
-and share in them, and this freedom to fish on the English
-coast was expressly provided for in a long series of treaties
-with foreign Powers. The so-called sovereignty of the seas
-exercised by England thus differed from the actual sovereignty
-enjoyed by Venice and the northern states of Europe, whose
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span>
-rights were, moreover, recognised in numerous treaties with
-other nations.</p>
-
-<p>Until the accession of the Stuarts indeed, any pretension
-of England to a sovereignty in the sea had but little international
-importance. The custom of lowering the sail by
-vessels encountering a king’s ship, which probably, as above
-described, originated in a practical way, had grown into a
-ceremony in which the top-sails were dropped and the flag
-hauled down; but it is evident that this was done, even in
-Tudor times, rather as a matter of “honour” and respect than
-as an acknowledgment of maritime sovereignty. But after
-the Stuarts came to the throne the claim of England to the
-sovereignty of the sea became prominent in international
-affairs. The doctrine may be said to have been introduced by
-this dynasty and to have expired with it. One of the first
-acts of James I. was to cause to be laid down on charts the
-precise limits of the bays or “chambers” along the English
-coast, within which all hostile actions of belligerents were
-prohibited. This sensible proceeding, which had reference to
-the continuance of the war between the United Provinces and
-Spain (from which James had himself withdrawn), is not to be
-regarded as in any sense an assertion of maritime sovereignty
-or jurisdiction beyond what was customary; and it does not
-appear that any other prince or state contested the right of the
-king to treat these bays and arms of the sea as territorial in
-respect of neutrality. The limits of the “King’s Chambers”
-were fixed by a jury of thirteen skilled men, appointed by the
-Trinity House, according to their knowledge of what had been
-the custom in the past; and there is little doubt that the limits
-they adopted merely defined in an exact way what was previously
-held to be the waters under the special jurisdiction of
-the crown, or, in other words, the “Sea of England,” though
-the latter doubtless included, at times at least, the Straits of
-Dover and perhaps the Channel as well.</p>
-
-<p>But James went further than this. In 1609 he issued a
-proclamation in which he laid claim to the fisheries along the
-British and Irish coasts, and prohibited all foreigners from
-fishing on those coasts until they had demanded and obtained
-licenses from him or his commissioners. This policy of
-exclusive fishing, though in complete agreement with the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span>
-views held in Scotland as to the waters “reserved” for the
-sole use of the inhabitants, was a reversal of the long-settled
-practice in England, where fishing in the sea was free. It is
-from this time that one may date the beginning of the English
-pretension to the sovereignty of the sea. The proclamation
-and the policy were aimed against the Dutch, the great commercial
-people of those times. Their ever-increasing herring
-fishery along the British coast was one of the principal sources
-of their wealth and power; by means of it indeed, according
-to their own accounts, they were able to maintain their vast
-commerce and shipping. The action of James may be looked
-upon as the first blow in the great contest between the
-English and the Dutch for maritime and commercial supremacy,
-which was prolonged throughout the seventeenth century; and
-the ready acceptance of the new policy by the English people
-was owing to the fact that the conditions had been gradually
-preparing for it in the preceding reign, while the two nations
-were still bound together in alliance against Catholic Spain.
-With the new development of commercial enterprise the English
-found the Dutch their competitors in trade in all parts of the
-globe to which they ventured. The feeling of jealousy that
-was thus engendered was embittered by the belief that they
-were often circumvented by the Dutch by unfair means,
-and this feeling deepened with every year as the century
-advanced. It was thus against the Dutch that the
-English pretension to the sovereignty of the sea was specially
-directed, and it eventually culminated in war. From various
-circumstances, and not least perhaps from the timid character
-of James when force was necessary, the policy of preventing
-the Dutch from fishing on the British coasts was not carried
-into effect in his lifetime. But with the tenacity that was
-a curious feature in his nature, his claim to the fisheries was
-kept alive and formed the subject of mutually irritating
-negotiations throughout the whole of his reign.</p>
-
-<p>Under Charles I. the English pretension rapidly developed
-and reached its greatest height, in connection more particularly
-with the ship-money fleets. The need of an efficient
-navy for the most elementary duty of safeguarding the sea
-had been made fully manifest by the frequent and flagrant
-violations of the king’s sovereignty in his “chambers,” and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span>
-even in the ports and harbours, both by the Dutch and
-Dunkirkers. And some of the reasons which were used to
-justify the formation of a powerful fleet, far beyond the
-requirements necessary to enforce the ordinary jurisdiction,
-were sound enough. Without it, it was said, the kingdom
-could not be made safe, whereas if the king had the command
-of the seas he would be able to cause his neighbours “to
-stand upon their guard” whenever he thought fit; and it
-could not be doubted that those who would encroach upon
-him by sea would do it by land also when they saw their
-time. But the pretensions of Charles went far beyond this.
-He had caused the records in the Tower to be searched for
-evidence of the ancient supremacy exercised by the crown
-in the Sea of England, and when they were found they were
-interpreted in the widest possible sense. Charles assumed
-the r&ocirc;le of the Plantagenets with a good deal added. The
-bounds of the Sea of England were extended to the coasts
-of the Continent, and over all the intervening water the king
-was to enforce an absolute sovereignty. No foreign fleets
-or men-of-war were to be allowed to “keep any guard” in
-them, to offer any violence, or to take prize or booty. All
-passing through them were to be “in pace Domini Regis,”
-in the peace and under the protection of the King of England,
-who was Lord of the Seas, ruling over them as part of his
-territory, and he would take care that there was no interruption
-of lawful intercourse. And as an acknowledgment
-of this sovereignty, all foreign ships or vessels meeting with
-a king’s ship in “those his seas” were to lower their top-sails
-and strike their flag as they passed by. Charles even proposed
-to levy tribute on the foreign ships that passed through
-“his seas,” but by the advice of the Admiralty this was to
-be only voluntary, in payment for waftage or convoy.</p>
-
-<p>These extraordinary pretensions Selden attempted to justify
-in his book, <i>Mare Clausum</i>, but Charles was unable to carry
-them into effect. It is pitiful to read of the proceedings of the
-great ship-money fleets, created under circumstances so memorable
-in English history, roaming about the Channel in their
-vain attempts to compel the French men-of-war to strike
-their flags, and in the North Sea forcing the king’s licenses
-on the poor Dutch herring fishermen. The Earl of Northumberland
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span>
-succeeded in the latter mission, against which
-the Dutch Government strongly protested, and there is no
-doubt that if the policy had been persisted in, the first
-Dutch war would have been antedated by some fifteen
-years.</p>
-
-<p>At this period and during nearly all the remainder of the
-century the greatest prominence was given to the striking
-of the flag, which had continued to be a matter of small
-importance in the reign of James. It was now claimed as
-a token and acknowledgment of England’s sovereignty of
-the sea, and it was insisted on with the utmost arrogance.
-The “honour of the flag” burned like a fever in the veins
-of the English naval commanders, who vied with one another
-in enforcing the ceremony, not merely in the Channel or
-near the English coast, but in the roads and off the ports
-on the Continent; and the records relating to their achievements
-in this respect were treasured up in the archives of
-the Admiralty, to be used again and again in later diplomatic
-negotiations as to the rights of England to the sovereignty
-of the sea. Dutch ships, and in particular the men-of-war,
-made little scruple about performing the “homage.” The
-Government of the United Provinces were keenly concerned
-about their commerce and fisheries, and so long as the English
-pretension did not menace these substantial interests they
-were willing to show “respect” to the English flag&mdash;never,
-however, as an acknowledgment of any supposed sovereignty
-of the sea.</p>
-
-<p>While Charles was on the throne no serious international
-consequences resulted from the enforcement of the salute.
-The Dutch, as has been said, readily rendered it, and by
-the prudent policy of Richelieu the French ships were kept
-out of the way; and not very long thereafter Charles was
-stripped of his sovereignty on land as well as on the sea.
-But a little later it had noteworthy results. It was the
-reluctance of Lieutenant-Admiral Tromp to lower his flag
-to Blake in their historic meeting in the Straits of Dover
-in 1652 that precipitated the first Dutch war. By this
-time the States-General of the United Provinces, and the
-State of Holland in particular, had considerably abated their
-readiness to render the “homage of the flag,” even as a mark
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span>
-of respect, thinking that it might be construed as an acknowledgment
-on their part that the Republic of the Netherlands
-was inferior to the Republic of England. They had
-dallied with the subject when it was brought before them
-in connection with the instructions to their fleets, and had
-refrained deliberately from giving precise orders about it.
-The Commonwealth, on the other hand, assigned as much
-importance to the striking of the flag as Charles had ever
-done, considering that it touched their dignity as well as
-their sovereignty in the seas, and the instructions they issued
-to the naval commanders were practically the same as those
-that had been given to the ship-money fleets. Even the godly
-Barebones’ Parliament of 1653, which looked upon the Dutch
-as a carnal and worldly people, held it necessary that the seas
-should be secured and preserved as peaceable as the land, as
-a preparation for the coming of Christ and the personal reign.
-The traditional sentiment of the English nation respecting
-supremacy at sea had never been stronger; their jealousy of
-the commercial pre-eminence of the Dutch was never keener.
-In the prolonged negotiations that preceded the conclusion
-of peace, Cromwell, who, until he became Lord Protector,
-acted as spokesman for the Council, put the questions relating
-to the dominion of the sea in the foreground. The draft
-articles which he submitted to the Dutch for their acceptance,
-while permitting their merchant vessels to navigate the British
-seas (a provision offensive in itself), proposed to limit the
-number of their men-of-war that might be allowed to pass
-through those seas, and if occasion arose for a larger number,
-the Dutch Government were to give three months’ notice to
-the Commonwealth and obtain consent before they put them
-forth. Their men-of-war, as well as their merchant vessels,
-were to submit to be visited and searched. The Dutch were
-to have liberty to fish upon the British coasts on payment
-of an annual sum for the privilege. They were to render
-the honour of the flag to any ship of the Parliament. Of
-all these demands the only one that was conceded was the
-last, and it was a small triumph for Cromwell that he was
-able, for the first time, to bind another nation to this ceremony
-by the formal stipulation of a treaty. The Dutch, however,
-were able to eliminate from the article the words representing
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span>
-that the striking of the flag was an acknowledgment of
-England’s sovereignty of the sea; and it was pointed out in
-Holland that they had undertaken to do nothing more than
-they had previously done.</p>
-
-<p>After the Restoration the pretension to the sovereignty of
-the sea was continued with almost as much zeal as before.
-Charles II. did not indeed lay claim to an absolute dominion
-over the British seas, such as his father had done in the
-earlier part of his reign. But on all occasions when the
-opportunity offered, he held to his alleged right to levy tribute
-for the liberty of fishing on the British coasts, but without
-the least success. And as for the right to the “honour of
-the flag,” if it was not exacted with the same arrogance
-as it had been earlier in the century, it came now to be
-more than ever before a subject of importance in international
-relations, especially with the United Provinces. De Witt, the
-able Minister who directed Dutch affairs, was very desirous
-to arrive at a definite understanding about it, for he saw
-that to leave in ambiguity a matter which England regarded
-as touching her national honour would be to imperil the
-peaceful relations between the two countries. His object
-was to have a well-considered regulation prepared and agreed
-to, so that the points in ambiguity might be made clear,
-and also to provide that if the Dutch saluted first the English
-should then return the salute; and he stipulated that the
-striking of the flag or any agreement about it must not
-be looked upon as an acknowledgment of England’s so-called
-sovereignty of the sea; the Dutch, he said, “would rather die”
-than admit it. One of the points which was in obscurity was
-whether a whole fleet or squadron of the States was to strike
-to any single ship of the king’s, even if it was a frigate
-or a ketch, which did not customarily carry the royal flag
-in the main-top, or only to an admiral’s ship or one carrying
-the royal flag. De Witt let it be known in the clearest
-manner that in his opinion it was intolerable that an English
-frigate or ketch could claim to force a whole Dutch fleet
-to strike to it. A few years later, when Charles wished
-to give effect to his secret compact with Louis XIV. by waging
-war against the United Provinces, it was necessary to hoodwink
-the English people as to this flagrant breach of treaty
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span>
-obligations. He therefore contrived, as the means of picking
-a quarrel with the Dutch, a dispute about the honour of
-the flag, and he sent, not a frigate, but his yacht, the <i>Merlin</i>,
-to force the whole Dutch fleet to strike to it, and thus to
-raise a clamour in England, as he hoped, about the sovereignty
-of the sea being flouted and endangered. In the third Dutch
-war which followed, the United Provinces maintained the
-contest at sea with credit and success against both the English
-and the French. For domestic reasons Charles was forced
-to make a separate peace, and in the long negotiations with
-that object the question of the sovereignty of the sea was
-brought prominently forward. An attempt was made again
-to induce the Dutch to agree to pay an annual sum of &pound;12,000
-for the privilege of fishing on the British coasts, but the
-only concession obtained from them related to the striking
-of the flag. The article in the treaty of peace which dealt
-with this differed from the corresponding article in previous
-treaties. The term “the British Seas” was omitted, and it
-was agreed that even squadrons of the Dutch should strike
-to any single ship of the king’s in “any of the seas” from
-Cape Finisterre to Van Staten in Norway; but it was to
-be done as an “honour” to the king’s flag, and not as an
-acknowledgment of his alleged sovereignty of the sea. The
-Dutch, indeed, offered to strike in the same way all the world
-over.</p>
-
-<p>After this time the English claim to the sovereignty of
-the sea began to lose its importance. In subsequent treaties
-with the Dutch Republic, even as late as 1784, a clause was
-inserted providing for the salute, but it had become merely
-a matter of form and precedent. The ceremony, in truth, had
-grown to be a political encumbrance, and after the battle
-of Trafalgar, when British supremacy at sea was unquestioned,
-the clause relating to the enforcement of the salute was quietly
-dropped out of the Admiralty instructions.</p>
-
-<p>It is remarkable that throughout the whole of the long
-period in which England claimed sovereignty in some form
-or other over the so-called “Sea of England,” or the “British
-Seas,” no authoritative definition was ever given of the extent
-of sea included in the term. In the case of the Adriatic there
-was no difficulty in understanding the limits within which
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span>
-Venice assumed maritime dominion, for the Adriatic is a
-narrow landlocked gulf whose boundaries were obvious. It
-was much the same with the claims put forward by Denmark.
-Both shores of the Sound were in her possession, and both
-coasts of the northern or Norwegian Sea. But with our island,
-washed everywhere by the waves, no such natural boundaries
-existed. Except when the crown possessed the opposite coast
-of France, England was isolated; and the Sea of England, so
-frequently referred to from the thirteenth to the seventeenth
-century, like the British Seas later, remained only a political
-expression, not officially described or represented on charts.
-Reasons have been given above for supposing that the Sea of
-England prior to the accession of the Stuarts included the
-waters of the King’s Chambers as defined by James, and
-perhaps also at times the Straits of Dover and it may be
-the Channel, though precise evidence is lacking. In the
-seventeenth century, when the term the British Seas was
-commonly used, it is clear that the boundaries assigned to
-them were as vague and fluctuating as the sovereignty exercised
-over them. They expanded and contracted according
-to the naval power at the time and the condition of international
-affairs. Sometimes the whole sea up to the continental
-coasts was claimed as British; at other times the
-claim was restricted to the Channel or the Straits of Dover,
-and to a more or less narrow but undefined belt along the
-coast; not unfrequently it seemed to vanish altogether, at
-least as a thing to be regarded in international affairs. In
-the earlier records in which the sea is referred to in connection
-with English law or jurisdiction, it is evident that a certain
-part was held to appertain to the crown. In an article in
-the <i>Black Book of the Admiralty</i> which is ascribed to the
-reign of Henry I. (<small>A.D.</small> 1100-1135), reference is made to “the
-sea belonging to the king of England”; in John’s ordinance
-of 1201 the term was simply “the sea” (<i>la mer</i>), but very
-commonly it was “our sea,” or the “sea of England,” or “the
-sea under the dominion or jurisdiction of the king”; while
-the declaration is often made that the kings of England
-are lords of the sea or of the English sea.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> Similar phrases
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span>
-were used in later times. Thus Queen Elizabeth spoke of
-“our seas of England and Ireland,” and James of “his seas”
-and “streams,” as did also Charles I.; and such terms as
-“the adjacent sea,” the “environing seas,” the “ambient seas,”
-and “the seas flowing about the isle,” were not uncommonly
-used.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> Still more common and scarcely more definite was
-the term the “Four Seas of England,” or simply the “Four Seas,”
-which was employed as early as the thirteenth century in
-law books, statutes, and official documents, as indicating the
-boundaries of the realm in connection with legal proceedings.
-Within the four seas (<i>infra</i> or <i>intra quatuor maria</i>; dedeinz
-les quaters meers) was to be within the realm; and without
-the four seas (<i>extra quatuor maria</i>, oultre les quaters meers)
-was to be without the realm.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a></p>
-
-<p>In the seventeenth century, when the English pretension to
-the sovereignty of the sea was at its height, Coke, Selden,
-Prynne, and others maintained that to be on the four seas,
-as well as within them, was to be within the realm, under
-the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, and this doctrine was held,
-at least formally, as late as 1830.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> Rarely the “Three Seas”
-are mentioned,<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> and less rarely the “Two Seas,” by which was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span>
-meant the two arms of the sea passing respectively between
-England and France, and England and Flanders, and corresponding
-to one of the meanings of the Narrow Sea.</p>
-
-<p>The term, the Narrow Sea or the Narrow Seas, was applied
-at different times or by different writers to very various areas.
-In its original and more restricted sense it denoted the Straits
-of Dover; sometimes it signified only the southern sea or the
-Channel proper; at other times it included also the sea south
-of the Wash and the Texel; and yet again it was synonymous
-with the whole of the British seas in which dominion was
-claimed. In the political poem, <i>The Libelle of Englyshe
-Polycye</i>, which was written about 1436 with the object of
-rousing the nation to the paramount duty of “keeping the
-sea,” the narrow sea is spoken of as lying between Dover
-and Calais,<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> as it is also in the records of the Privy Council
-for 1545, which mention the appointment of ships to “kepe
-the passage of the Narrow Seas.”<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> Later in the same century,
-and very generally in the seventeenth century, it was used
-to include the Channel, as when the Earl of Salisbury in
-1609 referred to “his Majesties narrow seas between England
-and France,”<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> and likewise the sea off the Dutch coast;
-and at this period the Admiralty usually distinguished
-between the guard of the Narrow Seas and that of the
-North Sea.</p>
-
-<p>But in other cases, and very commonly in the seventeenth
-century, the Narrow Sea was equivalent to the marginal sea
-along the whole coast or to the “British Seas.” Thus in one
-of James’s proclamations in 1604 for preventing abuses in and
-about “the narrow seas,” they are referred to as being
-commonly called the four English Seas, and this was repeated
-in a proclamation of Charles I. in 1633. So also Lord
-Chief Justice Hale in his treatise, <i>De Jure Maris</i>, describes
-the narrow sea, adjoining to the coast of England, as part
-of the waste and demesnes and dominions of the King of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span>
-England; and in another work he speaks of the narrow sea
-lying between us and France and the Netherlands.</p>
-
-<p>After the union of the Crowns the “British Seas” were
-very often referred to, and there was equal want of definition
-of their limits as in the case of the Sea of England.
-The advocates of the English claims to the sovereignty of
-the sea assigned them a wide but vague extent, while the
-Dutch argued that the British Sea was the Channel, the
-Mare Britannicum of Ptolemy and others, the North Sea
-being distinct and known as Oceanus Germanicus. In many
-of the diplomatic negotiations that took place on the subject
-there were heated discussions as to the meaning of the term
-the “British Seas,” and in point of fact the British representatives,
-like the Admiralty itself, were unable to define
-them. The only serious attempt which was made to define
-the Sea of England or the British Seas in relation to the
-claim to its sovereignty was made by Selden in 1635. It
-did not fail on the side of modesty, for according to him the
-Sea of England was “that which flows between England and
-the opposite shores and ports.”<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> More particularly in the
-opening chapter of his second book he describes the British
-Sea (Oceanus Britannicus) as being divided into four parts
-according to the four quarters of the world. On the west
-lay the Vergivian Sea, also called the Deucaledonian Sea
-where it washes the coasts of Scotland, and in which Ireland
-is placed; on the east is the German Ocean, so called by
-Ptolemy because it lies opposite the German shore; on the
-south, between England and France, is the sea especially
-noted by Ptolemy as the British Sea, the Mare Britannicum;
-but in reality all the sea extending along the shores of France
-through the Bay of Aquitaine (Bay of Biscay) as far as the
-northern coast of Spain was British. Since the northern and
-western ocean stretches to a great distance, to America, Iceland,
-and Greenland, and to parts unknown, it could not
-“all be called British,” but inasmuch as the King of Great
-Britain had very large rights in those seas, beyond the extent
-of the British name, it was not wholly to be left out
-of account. The indefiniteness of these boundaries to the
-north and west is obvious, but in a chart which he furnished,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span>
-and which is reproduced in the frontispiece of this book, he
-presumably represented what he regarded as the British seas
-proper; and in several places in his work he expressly declared
-that the English sea and the English sovereignty of
-the sea extended to the opposite shores of the Continent.</p>
-
-<p>Throughout almost the whole of the remainder of the
-century after the appearance of <i>Mare Clausum</i>, Selden’s
-authority was paramount on all questions relating to the
-sovereignty of the sea, and his description of the extent of
-the British seas was very generally adopted, both by writers
-and by the Government, at least in theory. But it not infrequently
-happened on particular occasions when a precise
-definition of their extent was required, that only a vague declaration
-was forthcoming. Again and again one finds English
-admirals and naval commanders imploring the Admiralty to
-tell them the bounds of the British seas, so that needless broils
-about the salute might be avoided. As a rule, no reply was
-given to their inquiries; and when it was, it was usually so
-oracular as to be of little practical advantage. Thus the Earl
-of Lindsey, when placed in command of the first ship-money
-fleet, put the question to Secretary Coke, and was told that
-his Majesty’s seas “are all about his dominions, and to the
-largest extent of those seas,” and similar explanations were
-given on other occasions. There is evidence that neither the
-Admiralty nor the law officers of the crown were able to state
-what the boundaries of the British seas were, and sometimes
-the Trinity House was appealed to, with but little better result.
-In truth, it was part of the national policy to leave
-their boundaries undetermined. The free navigation of the
-North Sea and the Channel was of vital importance for many
-of the states of Europe, and three of them at least&mdash;the
-Netherlands, France, and Spain&mdash;had large interests in the
-fisheries on the British and Irish coasts. If this country had
-by a formal act of state assigned definite and wide boundaries
-to the British seas within which sovereignty was claimed, it
-would have led to frequent and hopeless wars or to constant
-humiliation. By leaving them vague and ambiguous the pretension
-to maritime sovereignty could be put forward and used
-as a political instrument when the navy was strong and occasion
-offered, and when the navy was weak the pretension
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span>
-might fall into the background without the national honour
-being unduly tarnished. But on the whole, the claim to the
-sovereignty of the so-called British seas became an anachronism
-and was allowed to die out from practical affairs, surviving
-only in the pages of historians, naval writers, and pamphleteers.
-During the almost constant naval wars in the eighteenth century
-a new principle came into being for the delimitation of
-the neutral waters of a state, the extent of the adjacent open
-sea that might be appropriated being determined by the range
-of guns from the shore. All the water within reach of cannon-shot
-could be protected and commanded by artillery on the
-land, and thus made susceptible of exclusive and permanent
-dominion. This principle was accepted very generally by the
-various maritime Powers as offering a just and equitable
-means of fixing the limits of their territorial waters, within
-which the bordering state had exclusive sovereign jurisdiction.
-It has also been accepted by the great majority of modern
-publicists, and the phrase of Bynkershoek, “terr&aelig; dominium
-finitur ubi finitur armorum vis,” has become enshrined in the
-Law of Nations.</p>
-
-<p>Later, and mainly through the action and practice of the
-United States of America and Great Britain since the end of
-the eighteenth century, the distance of three miles from shore
-was more or less formally adopted by most maritime states
-as equivalent to the range of guns, and as more definitely
-fixing the limits of their jurisdiction and rights for various
-purposes, and, in particular, for exclusive fishery. At the time
-the three-mile limit was introduced, that distance did indeed
-represent the farthest range of artillery, so that the boundary
-was the same in each case; and it was sufficient to secure to
-neutrals that their coasts should not be violated by the operations
-of belligerents carried on beyond three miles from the
-shore, while at the same time it furnished a practical measure
-of the extent of the protection that neutral Powers were bound
-to afford to the vessels of one belligerent from attacks by the
-other. But all this is changed. Guns are now able to throw
-shells to a distance of fifteen miles and more, and the three-mile
-limit has become quite inadequate to secure the coasts of a
-neutral from damage from the guns of belligerents engaged in
-hostilities in the waters near their shores. The argument is
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span>
-not uncommonly used that inasmuch as Great Britain is the
-predominant maritime Power, it is to her advantage that the
-territorial waters of all countries should be as narrow as
-possible. The wider the theatre the better chance for our
-navy, either in engaging the battle fleets of the enemy or in
-capturing his shipping. The importance of the change in the
-conditions referred to above is overlooked. There has been no
-great maritime war in Europe since the three-mile limit was
-adopted as the equivalent of the range of guns. If and when
-another maritime war unfortunately breaks out, it would be
-absurd to suppose that the neutral Powers within the sphere of
-possible operations would be content with a three-mile limit to
-safeguard the security of their coasts. As provided for in the
-rules drawn up by the Institute of International Law, their
-duty would be to prohibit all hostilities within such distance
-of their coasts as would render them secure, and this in turn
-would involve the immunity from capture within the same
-space of the merchant vessels of one of the belligerents by the
-vessels of the other. And thus if this country were engaged in
-a great maritime war, such as occurred a century or so ago, a
-very considerable belt of sea on neutral coasts would be closed
-to the operations of the fleet, and the conditions of naval
-warfare would be profoundly changed.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to the other questions of sovereignty or exclusive
-rights in the seas washing the coasts of a country, it
-is becoming more and more recognised that there is no reason
-in nature why the boundary for one purpose should be the
-boundary for all purposes. Just as the three-mile limit is now
-obsolete in respect to belligerents and neutrals in time of war,
-so is it inadequate in all cases with regard to the protection and
-preservation of the sea fisheries. In the concluding chapters of
-this book it is shown that all recent inquiries by Parliament
-into the condition of the fisheries, especially of the North Sea,
-have resulted in proving the inadequacy of the present limit
-for fishery regulations, and in recommendations that the subject
-should be dealt with internationally by the various countries
-concerned.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span></p>
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I">SECTION I.<br />
-
-<img class="figcenter" src="images/hr.jpg" alt="" />
-
-THE HISTORY OF THE CLAIMS TO THE
-SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA</h2>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span></p>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span></p>
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">EARLY HISTORY.</span></h2>
-
-<p>When the claim of the English crown to the sovereignty of
-the British seas became a question of international importance
-in the early part of the seventeenth century, the records of
-history and the treasures of ancient learning were searched for
-evidence to establish its antiquity. Some of the greatest lawyers
-and scholars of the time took part in the task, and they
-were not always content with the endeavour to prove that the
-claim was in conformity with the laws of England as an old
-heritage of the crown, but they tried to trace it back to a
-remote past. Selden, who was incomparably the ablest and
-most illustrious champion of the English pretension, as well
-as Boroughs and Prynne and other writers of lesser note,
-laboured with more or less erudition and ingenuity to show
-that the British dominion in the adjoining seas was anterior
-to the Roman occupation. From the ancient Britons it was
-supposed to have passed to the Roman conquerors as part
-and parcel of the British empire, and to have been exercised
-by them during their possession of the island.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> It is
-unnecessary to discuss the evidence and arguments for these
-contentions. They are for the most part drawn from scattered
-passages or even phrases in the writings of classical authors,
-to which a strained and improbable significance was assigned.
-An example may be given from Selden, who, in referring to the
-well-known passage in Solinus<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> in which Irish warriors are
-described as decking the hilts of their swords with the tusks
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span>
-of sea-beasts (walrus), first tries to show that the passage
-applied also to the Britons, and then argues that there must
-have been a great fishing and a large number of fishermen
-to provide sufficient material, the conclusion being that the
-British seas were “occupied” by navigation and fishing. In
-reality the walrus tusks came by barter from the north, and
-there is little or no evidence to show that the ancient Britons
-fished for anything except salmon. At the utmost it may be
-said that the Romans were masters of the British seas, or parts
-of them, in a military sense. During their occupation of Britain
-they were also in possession of Gaul, and thus held both coasts
-of the narrow sea, and no doubt exercised authority over it, as
-the Norman and Angevin kings under similar circumstances
-did later.</p>
-
-<p>Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period of English history
-evidence of the existence of a sovereignty over the adjoining
-sea, or even of a pretension to it, is almost as unsatisfactory.
-Here again the authors who championed <i>mare clausum</i> professed
-to find in very ordinary events arguments in favour of
-their case. The seafaring habits of the Teutonic invaders and
-their daring and valour&mdash;they were described by the Roman
-poet as sea-wolves, fierce and cunning, with the sea as their
-school of war and the storm their friend&mdash;were regarded as
-proof that they possessed maritime sovereignty after their
-conquest of Britain. The Danegeld, a tax which was originally
-levied as a means of buying off the Danes, or of providing a
-fleet to resist their attacks, was thought by Selden to show the
-same thing.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> So also with the fleets collected by Alfred, Edgar,
-Ethelred, and other English kings to oppose the invasions of
-the Northmen,&mdash;they were believed to have secured and maintained
-dominion over the sea. Even the beautiful lesson in
-humility which Cnut desired to convey to his courtiers when,
-seated in regal pomp on the seashore, he vainly commanded the
-inflowing tide to stay its course at his behest, was seized on for
-the same end. “Thou, O sea,” said the great king, “art under
-my dominion, like the land on which I sit; nor is there any one
-who dares resist my commands. I therefore enjoin thee not to
-come up on my land, nor to presume to wet the feet or garments
-of thy lord.” In these words Selden professed to find
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span>
-clear proof that Cnut claimed the British seas as part of his
-dominions.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">17</a></p>
-
-<p>There appears to be only one instance before the Norman
-Conquest in regard to which <i>prima facie</i> evidence was produced
-that an English king expressly claimed the sovereignty
-of the sea, and as it is constantly quoted by later writers it
-may be worth while examining it. The chronicles agree that
-the naval power of England was specially manifested by King
-Edgar (<small>A.D.</small> 959-975), who is said to have possessed a fleet of
-several thousand vessels, with which he cruised every year
-along the English coasts. In the words of the Saxon Chronicle,
-“no fleet was so daring, nor army so strong, that mid the English
-nation took from him aught, the while that the noble king
-ruled on his throne.”<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> According to William of Malmesbury,
-who wrote in the twelfth century, Edgar usually styled himself
-the sovereign lord of all Albion and of the maritime or
-insular kings dwelling round about,<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> the assumption being that
-he also exercised sovereignty over the intervening and surrounding
-seas. In a charter by which Edgar, in 964, granted large
-revenues to the Cathedral Church at Worcester, the claim to
-the ocean around Britain is more definite, and it is this version
-that is usually quoted by the writers maintaining the antiquity
-of the English rights.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> The title thus said to have been used
-by Edgar is expressive enough, but an important difference in
-the wording of this part of the charter is to be found in the
-transcript printed by Coke in the Epistle to the Fourth Book
-of Reports, by Spelman,<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> Wilkins,<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> and by the more recent
-authorities on Anglo-Saxon charters, Kemble,<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> Thorpe,<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span>
-Birch,<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> from which it appears that Edgar claimed to be, not lord
-of the sea, but of the islands in the sea.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> This is the version
-given by Sir John Boroughs in his <i>Sovereignty of the British
-Seas</i>, and it is also mentioned by Selden. But, after all, the
-authenticity of the preamble of this charter is not well established.
-Kemble marks it as doubtful, a view supported by
-intrinsic evidence as to an imaginary conquest of Ireland.
-Thorpe is of opinion that the preamble was fabricated about
-1155, when Henry II., in concert with Pope Adrian IV.,
-was meditating the conquest of that island. It may therefore
-be concluded that King Edgar’s assumption of maritime
-sovereignty had its source in a monkish fable, although he
-may have possessed the actual command of the sea in his
-time. Later on, the supposed <i>r&ocirc;le</i> of Edgar among the Anglo-Saxon
-kings was a common argument for the English claims.
-He was looked upon as a sort of patron saint of the doctrine
-that the kings of England were lords of the sea. Charles I.
-put his effigy on the beak of his great ship, the <i>Sovereign
-of the Sea</i>, and inscribed his name in a motto on her guns.
-Oliver Cromwell, too, quoted his exploits to the Dutch ambassador
-in the course of the negotiations after the first war with
-Holland.</p>
-
-<p>It is not to the Anglo-Saxon period of our history that we
-must look for the origin of the claims of England to the
-sovereignty of the sea, even in a purely military sense. At
-that time, for at least three centuries before the Norman
-Conquest, the Northmen and not the English were the real
-lords and masters of the sea. They offered an example of
-what is now so much spoken of as the influence of sea-power
-on history that is unsurpassed in later annals. Their leaders
-were styled sea-kings for the best of reasons. Their fleets
-darkened every coast from within the Arctic circle to the
-furthermost bounds of the Mediterranean. Through their
-command of the sea they took permanent possession of the
-larger part of England; they penetrated almost every great
-river in Europe&mdash;the Elbe, the Schelde, the Rhine, the Seine;
-they formed settlements from Friesland to Bordeaux; they
-discovered and planted colonies in Iceland (<small>A.D.</small> 861), Greenland
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span>
-(<small>A.D.</small> 985), and North America (<small>A.D.</small> 861); and they founded
-kingdoms or dynasties not only in England, but in France,
-Sicily, Ireland, and Russia.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">27</a> In the presence of such irrepressible
-energy in maritime and warlike enterprises the
-English were not able to hold their own on the sea, far less
-to acquire dominion over it.</p>
-
-<p>It is not until a considerable time after the Norman Conquest
-that valid evidence is to be found of the English claim to
-the sovereignty of the sea. Although obscurity surrounds the
-precise time and mode in which the pretension took its rise,
-there is little doubt that it originated in the period following
-the Conquest. The shores on both sides of the Channel
-were then brought under the same dominion. In the reign of
-Henry I. almost the whole of the Atlantic coast of France from
-Flanders to the Pyrenees was in the possession of the English
-crown, and for about four and a half centuries, until the loss of
-Calais in 1558, England held more or less territory in France.
-The Channel thus became in effect an English sea&mdash;the narrow
-sea&mdash;intervening between the continental and insular territories
-of the king, and it acquired high importance as the passage
-from one part of the realm to the other. It was in this connection
-and for the guarding of the coasts that the organisation of
-the Cinque Ports was developed by the Norman and Angevin
-kings.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> Even after the loss of the French provinces, the continued
-possession of the Channel Islands and the usual possession
-of Calais kept alive the English claim to the narrow sea. The
-Conquest was, moreover, followed by a great increase in the
-stream of traffic between the two countries,<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> while fishermen
-from Normandy and Picardy, as well as from Flanders, came in
-large and increasing numbers to take part in the great herring
-fishery along the east coast of Scotland and England.</p>
-
-<p>During the frequent wars with France from the commencement
-of the twelfth century onwards, the Channel acquired
-special significance from a military point of view, and it was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span>
-from this time that the importance of “keeping the narrow
-seas” began to be recognised in English policy. The command
-of the Channel was not only of value in safeguarding the coast.
-The Channel formed the great avenue of commerce between
-the north and south of Europe. The merchant vessels from
-Venice, Genoa, and the Mediterranean, from Spain and France,
-passed northwards through it on their way to Flanders and the
-Baltic, and those from the Hanseatic towns and northern parts
-had in like manner to traverse it in their southern voyages.
-The Channel was thus crowded with shipping in summer, and
-the nation which commanded it had the power of interrupting
-the commerce of other nations, and consequently retained a
-potent political weapon in its hands. It is this aspect of
-“keeping the narrow sea” which forms the burden of the
-remarkable old poem, <i>The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Moreover, in the period following the Norman Conquest
-another condition came into existence in connection with the
-security of the commerce passing through the Channel, which
-throws light on the origin of the English claim to sovereignty
-over it. As already mentioned, owing to the lawlessness that
-prevailed on the sea after the break-up of the Roman empire,
-when pirates and freebooters infested every coast, it became
-customary for merchants to associate themselves together for
-mutual protection. Their vessels sailed forth in fleets under
-the charge of an elected chief, called the “admiral,” and armed
-vessels were frequently fitted out by them for the express
-purpose of purging the sea of pirates. In the course of time
-this duty of maintaining the police of the seas was taken over
-by sovereign princes, who exercised their jurisdiction through
-an admiralty, and put in force the old “laws of the sea” which
-had gradually grown up among the merchant associations.<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">30</a>
-In the thirteenth century this supreme admiralty jurisdiction
-came to be regarded among the principal states of Europe
-as a prerogative of sovereign power, and it is about this time
-and in this connection that we first find certain evidence
-of the claim of England to the sovereignty of the adjacent
-sea. The Plantagenet kings, or at all events some of them,
-asserted the right of “maintaining the ancient supremacy of
-the Crown over the Sea of England” by exercising jurisdiction
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span>
-according to the old maritime laws, for the maintenance of
-“peace and justice amongst the people of every nation passing
-through the said sea.”<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">31</a> It was the production of the old rolls
-concerning these claims by Sir John Boroughs, the Keeper
-of the Records in the reign of Charles I., which furnished
-that king with the material on which to base his pretension
-to the sovereignty of the sea.</p>
-
-<p>The English writers of the seventeenth century who strove
-to prove that the kings of England anciently exercised an
-exclusive sovereign jurisdiction over the so-called Sea of
-England, as if it were a “territory or province of the realm,”
-quoted largely from the old Admiralty records. Selden sought
-to show that they had perpetually enjoyed the dominion of
-the surrounding sea from the coming of the Normans from
-the fact that they had maintained a guard upon it.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">32</a> The
-evidence adduced, however, merely proves that measures were
-taken for guarding the seas, defending the coasts, and suppressing
-piracy,&mdash;duties which were discharged, even in the
-same seas, by the Admiralty of other countries, as that of
-France. Such phrases as “to guard the seas,” “to guard the
-sea and sea-coasts,” are common enough in the early records
-of the Admiralty,<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">33</a> but they do not imply exclusive dominion.
-It was a duty common to neighbouring nations. In England,
-from the time of Henry I., at the beginning of the twelfth
-century, orders were given for the seas to be guarded as
-occasion required; and officers were appointed by Henry III.
-and other kings as Wardens, Keepers, and Guardians of the
-sea and sea-coasts, and also as Governors and Captains of the
-Navy, whose title was subsequently changed to Admiral in
-the latter part of the thirteenth century, following the practice
-of the merchant associations, as above mentioned. Much was
-made by the English writers of the appointment of admirals
-by the kings of England for safeguarding the sea. The first
-appears to have been appointed in 1297 with the title of
-Admiral of the Sea of the King of England,<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">34</a> but before this
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span>
-time the King of Castile and Leon had appointed an admiral
-with similar duties, and an Admiral of all France was appointed
-about the year 1280.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">35</a> So too with the equipment of
-fleets. Edward I. divided the ships charged with the guarding
-of the seas into three squadrons, each with an admiral,&mdash;a
-measure which, it was argued, showed his resolution to maintain
-his dominion of the sea. But the practice in France was
-similar. From an early period French fleets were equipped
-under “governors or custodians of the sea” (<i>pr&aelig;fectus maris</i>),
-“lieutenants-general of the sea and the shores thereof,” and
-“admirals,” and their maritime jurisdiction was regulated
-from at least the early part of the fourteenth century.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> Selden
-laboured to show that the office of admiral and the admiralty
-jurisdiction had a different significance in France from what
-they had in England,<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">37</a> but on quite inadequate grounds.</p>
-
-<p>Another class of evidence adduced by the English authors
-refers to the impressment of ships for the defence of the realm
-or the transport of troops on occasions of emergency. These
-duties were at first performed by the vessels of the Cinque
-Ports, in accordance with their charters; but as early at least
-as the reign of Richard I., ordinances were issued (at Grimsby)
-regulating the mode of arresting vessels and men for the
-service of the king,<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">38</a> and it became an established and common
-practice. Numerous instances occur which show that on such
-occasions foreign vessels were not exempt from arrest, though
-compensation was at least sometimes made to their owners.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">39</a>
-The argument of the English writers that these arbitrary proceedings
-were evidence of the dominion exercised by the kings
-of England on their sea is rebutted by the practice in France.
-Froissart<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">40</a> tells us that the French adopted similar measures
-in 1386 when they were preparing for an invasion of England,
-and the practice was doubtless common enough, and justified
-by the emergency which occasioned it.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to the most important attribute of maritime
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span>
-sovereignty&mdash;the right to exclude others from an equal use of a
-particular sea by prohibiting navigation, at least of vessels of
-war, and from fishing in it, or by imposing dues and conditions
-for the liberty&mdash;there is scarcely a scrap of evidence to show
-that any authority of the kind was exercised by England in
-the adjacent seas. The circumstance is noteworthy, inasmuch
-as other countries which then enjoyed undoubted maritime
-sovereignty, did not permit unrestricted navigation or fishing
-in the seas specially under their control, as Venice in the
-Adriatic, and Denmark in the northern seas and in the Baltic.
-The evidence concerning the liberty of fishing in the sea along
-our coasts is dealt with in another chapter, but it may be said
-here that this liberty was provided for in a series of treaties
-with other Powers. As for liberty of navigation, it was
-asserted, or rather implied, by Selden, in guarded language, that
-the kings of England anciently possessed the power of refusing
-it;<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> but the evidence relates for the most part to passports and
-safe-conducts “by land and sea,” and to the impressment of
-vessels, referred to above. There appears to be not a single fact
-to prove that the liberty of innocent navigation in the English
-seas was ever interfered with by the king. The Parliament of
-Ireland, it is true, passed an Act in 1465 prohibiting all foreign
-vessels “from going to fish at Ireland among the king’s
-enemies” without first obtaining a license, on pain of forfeiture
-of the vessel. But it is clear from the preamble that
-the Act was passed because foreign vessels frequenting the
-Irish coast for fishing were supplying the king’s enemies with
-money, arms, and provisions.</p>
-
-<p>Nor is there any valid evidence that tribute was ever
-imposed on foreigners for liberty of navigation in the sea of
-England. A case frequently quoted to the contrary was the
-imposition of a duty by Richard II., in 1379, on merchant
-vessels and fishing smacks, to provide means for the defence
-of the eastern coast and the security of navigation and fishing.
-At that time the English navy had almost ceased to exist,
-through the mistaken policy of Edward III. in the latter part
-of his reign. In 1377 a French and Spanish fleet had not only
-scoured the seas, but plundered and burned Rye, Folkestone,
-Hastings, Plymouth, and other towns on the southern coast,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span>
-which they ravaged. In the following year they continued
-their depredations on the English coast, and held such complete
-command of the sea that “no victualler, fishing boat, or any
-other, could pass or return without being taken.”<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">42</a> In 1379,
-as the enemy still held the sea and the coast, Parliament, after
-consultation with the merchants, decreed that certain duties
-should be levied to provide means to secure the safeguarding
-of the sea, and among these was one on vessels laden with
-goods belonging to merchants of Prussia, Norway, or Scania.
-Selden says this ordinance applied to foreign as well as English
-vessels, which had therefore to pay for passage through
-the sea “just as one may exact payment for passage over
-one’s field.”<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">43</a> But there is no evidence that the tax was levied
-on other than English vessels; and in any case it is clear from
-the preamble that it was a voluntary arrangement, and probably
-made at the request of the merchants themselves, who
-had been petitioning the king and Parliament for protection.<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">44</a>
-It is noteworthy also that the keepers of the northern sea
-were not to convoy the vessels to or from Flanders and Calais
-unless they were paid for doing so.</p>
-
-<p>An incident which occurred early in the next century shows
-the temper in which the Parliament regarded the sovereignty
-of the narrow sea, as well as the caution of the king. By that
-time the English navy had recovered its strength and France
-lay prostrate at the feet of Henry V., and the Parliament petitioned
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span>
-the king to levy an impost on all foreign ships passing
-through the Channel, in emulation, no doubt, of the practice
-of the Danish kings at the Sound. It was a few years after
-the battle of Agincourt, and the Treaty of Troyes, by which
-Henry was recognised as the future king of France, had just
-been concluded. “The Commons pray,” ran the petition, “that
-seeing our Sovereign Lord the King and his noble progenitors
-have ever been Lords of the Sea, and now by the grace of God
-it has come to pass that our said Lord the King is Lord of the
-shores on both sides of the sea, such tribute should be imposed
-on all strangers passing through the said sea, as may appear
-reasonable to the King for safeguarding the said sea.”<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">45</a> The
-answer of the king was that he would consider it (<i>soit avise
-par le Roy</i>), the usual formula of refusal. In the following
-year Henry was again involved in war with France, and he
-died in 1422 and nothing more was heard of the proposal.
-But it is extremely doubtful if he or any other English king
-would have ventured to adopt the policy recommended by
-the Commons. The shipping that passed through the Channel
-was far more voluminous and important than that passing
-through the Sound, and the waterway could not be so easily
-commanded, as by guns from the shore. Any measure of the
-kind would doubtless have led to a combination of other maritime
-Powers against England, which would have been fatal to
-the attempt. It may be noted that the Parliament based their
-proposal on the king’s possession of both shores; and this, in
-accordance with the opinions of the Italian lawyers of the
-preceding century, whose authority was great, carried with
-it the right of sovereignty over the intervening sea.</p>
-
-<p>The statement in the petition that the kings of England
-had ever been lords of the sea is true at least to the extent
-that on several occasions previously the title was applied
-to them, and this was usually at times when they possessed
-actual supremacy and mastery over the seas in a special manner,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span>
-though it may also have implied the idea of sovereign jurisdiction.
-Nearly a century earlier than the above petition
-we find the same title used by Edward III., who is peculiarly
-identified with the naval glory of England, and he too refers
-to his progenitors as having been lords of the sea. In a
-mandate to his admirals in 1336, the king, after stating
-that twenty-six galleys of the enemy were reported to be
-on the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, said: “We, calling
-to mind that our progenitors, the Kings of England, were
-Lords of the English sea on every side, and also defenders
-against the invasions of enemies before these times; and it
-would greatly grieve us if our royal honour in such defence
-should be lost or in any way diminished in our time, which
-God forbid, and being desirous with the help of God to
-obviate such dangers and to provide for the safety and defence
-of our realm and people, and to restrain the malice of our
-enemies: We strictly require and charge you” to proceed
-against the galleys, &amp;c.<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">46</a> Later in the same year, in a commission
-to certain nobles, prelates, and the Warden of the
-Cinque Ports respecting measures to be taken against the
-Scottish fleet, which was attacking merchant and other ships,
-and had ravaged Guernsey and Jersey, the king desired it to be
-remembered that his progenitors the kings of England, in
-similar disturbances between them and other lords of foreign
-lands, were in all bygone times “lords of the sea and of the
-passage across the sea,” and he would be much afflicted if his
-royal honour should be in his time impaired.<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">47</a> These declarations,
-made in the first half of the fourteenth century, indicate
-clearly enough at least the pretension to special interest and
-jurisdiction in the narrow sea and the Straits of Dover on the
-part of the earlier kings. No English king deserved the title of
-Lord of the Sea better than Edward III. Only a few years after
-the above missives were written he gained the memorable
-victory over the French in the battle of Sluys, and in 1350 the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span>
-equally great victory over the Spaniards off Winchelsea (“Les
-Espagnols sur Mer”), commanding the fleet in person on each
-occasion.<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">48</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_1" src="images/fig_1.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 1.&mdash;<i>Edward’s Noble.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>It appears to have been in connection with the former
-victory that Edward coined his famous gold noble, in which
-the obverse bears the effigy of the king, crowned, standing in a
-ship with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, while
-the reverse bears the legend from St Luke, <i>Jesus autem
-transiens per medium eorum ibat</i>, “but Jesus, passing through
-the midst of them, went his way,” which Nicolas thinks was
-meant to indicate the action of the king in passing through the
-French fleet at the battle of Sluys. The impress on the obverse
-has been usually regarded as symbolic of Edward’s power and
-sovereignty on the sea. The unknown author of <i>The Libelle
-of Englyshe Polycye</i>, written some ninety years later, makes
-frequent reference to Edward’s noble,&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Ffor iiii thynges our noble sheueth to me,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Kyng, shype, and swerde, and pouer of the see,”<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">49</a>&mdash;<br /></span>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>and it is always mentioned by the English writers on the
-sovereignty of the sea as evidence that Edward exercised
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span>
-that sovereignty. A recent author<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">50</a> doubts whether there
-was any connection between Edward’s noble and the battle
-of Sluys or the claim to the sovereignty of the sea; but at
-all events in the next century, in the reign of Henry VI.,
-when the naval power of England had again sunk to a low
-point, the noble was made an object of jest and derision among
-foreigners, especially the Flemish and French. They told the
-English to take away the ship from their noble and put a
-sheep on it instead&mdash;an allusion, no doubt, to the growth of
-sheep-farming in England.<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">51</a></p>
-
-<p>If Edward intended to symbolise his naval power and sea
-sovereignty by the device on the gold noble in the early part of
-his reign, it was certainly inappropriate towards the end of it.
-The navy had been starved for the sake of the army, and when
-the Spaniards defeated the English fleet and were masters of
-the sea, complaints became rife as to the insecurity of the
-country. The king had then to listen to language from
-his Parliament to which he was unaccustomed, and which
-must have galled him. There are many instances in our
-history where the Commons have shown their spirit and temper
-when they thought the navy was inadequate for its duties,
-and on the occasion in question, in 1372, after granting a
-naval subsidy, they called the king’s attention to the fact that
-while twenty years previously, and always before, the navy was
-so noble and so numerous in all the ports, coast towns, and
-rivers that the whole country deemed and called him King of
-the Sea,<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">52</a> and he and all his country were the more dreaded by
-sea and by land by reason of the said navy, it was then so
-decreased and weakened from various causes that there was
-scarcely sufficient to defend the country, if need were, against
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span>
-royal power, by which there was great peril to all the realm.<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">53</a>
-From this complaint of the Parliament it would appear that
-the title of king or Lord of the Sea was applied in a popular
-sense, to signify the great sea-warrior who had overcome his
-enemies and made himself master of the sea.</p>
-
-<p>There was another symbol or supposed symbol of the
-sovereignty of the sea, which later became exceedingly prominent&mdash;viz.,
-the striking of the flag or the lowering of the
-top-sails to a king’s ship, about which there is little to be
-found in the records of those times. It is nevertheless with
-this that the earliest of the records relating to the subject
-is concerned, and it is a very interesting one. The famous
-ordinance of King John which compelled the lowering of
-the sails has given rise to much controversy. It was first
-brought prominently to notice by Selden in 1635,<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">54</a> but it is
-also contained in the little work of Boroughs on the <i>Sovereignty
-of the British Seas</i>, which was written in 1633, although not
-published till 1651, and that author transcribed it from a
-manuscript in the possession of Sir Henry Marten, the Judge of
-the Court of Admiralty. Selden gave as his authority for it,
-“MS. Commentarius de Rebus Admiralitatis,” without further
-specification, and its authenticity was questioned by contemporary
-critics. Prynne, who, like Boroughs, was Keeper of
-the Records, printed it in 1669 from the <i>Black Book of the
-Admiralty</i>,<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">55</a> and from the fact that the <i>Black Book</i> was lost
-until quite lately, and the existence of Selden’s manuscript
-in the Bodleian Library was overlooked, and that used by
-Boroughs unknown, some recent authors have regarded the
-ordinance with suspicion.<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> The most elaborate account of
-the various manuscripts containing the ordinance of John
-is given by Sir Travers Twiss in the Introduction to the
-<i>Black Book of the Admiralty</i>; and through his efforts the
-original <i>Black Book</i>, lost for more than half a century, was
-found at the bottom of a chest in 1873.<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">57</a> Twiss gives the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span>
-following free translation of the ordinance, made by the
-Registrar of the Admiralty Court in the reign of James II.:&mdash;</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Item</span>, it was ordained at Hastynges for lawe and custome of
-the sea in the tyme of Kyng John, in the second yeare of his
-raigne, by the advice of his temporall lordes, that if the lieutenant
-of the king or the admirall of the king or his lieutenant in any
-voyage appointed by Common Counsell of the Kyngdom did at
-sea meet with any shyps or vessells laden or empty which would
-not stryke and lower their sailes at the command of the kyng’s
-lieutenant, or the kyng’s admirall, or his lieutenant, but makeing
-resistaunce against those of the ffleet, that if they can be taken
-that they be reputed as enemies, and their shyps, vessells, and
-goodes, taken and forfeited as goodes of enemies, albeit that the
-maysters or possessors thereof should afterwards come and alleadge
-the same ships, vessells, and goodes to be the goodes of friends of
-our lorde the kyng, and that the company therein be chastized by
-imprisonment of their bodies for their rebellion at discretion.<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">58</a></p></blockquote>
-
-<p>This ordinance is the last of a series of articles in the third
-part of the <i>Black Book</i>, which contains Admiralty regulations,
-the Laws of Oleron, and other three ordinances of King John,
-as well as ordinances which purport to have been made in
-the reigns of Henry I., Richard I., and Edward I. The facts
-ascertained by Sir Travers Twiss show that of the six or
-seven extant manuscripts which contain the ordinance, the
-oldest was written before 1422 and probably about 1420,<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">59</a>
-and appears to have been drawn up for the use of Sir Thomas
-Beaufort, the Lord High Admiral. The manuscript used by
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span>
-Selden was probably written between 1430 and 1440; that
-of the <i>Black Book</i> itself a little later, but still in the reign of
-Henry VI.<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">60</a> The others are not older than the seventeenth
-century. None of the manuscripts is therefore contemporaneous
-with the reign of John, but it is clear that the ordinance
-existed and was ascribed to John in the reign of Henry V.,
-before 1422. Moreover, from intrinsic evidence it is proved
-that part of the <i>Black Book</i> originated in 1375, in the reign of
-Edward III., and that the compilation of other parts of it is still
-earlier. Pardessus,<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">61</a> the great authority on ancient marine
-laws, is of opinion that the part of the <i>Black Book</i> which
-includes the ordinance of John contains the results of the consultations
-with the judges in 1338 on the subject of the maritime
-laws, which were recorded in the roll, still preserved, of
-12 Edward III., <i>De Superioritate Maris</i>&mdash;which also, as we
-shall see, claimed supremacy for the king in the sea of England.
-Twiss, however, thinks it was more probably compiled between
-1360 and 1369. He is of opinion that the ordinance is authentic,
-and was in reality, as it purports, made by John at Hastings
-on 30th March 1201, and that it was transcribed into the
-compilation of the <i>Black Book</i> with the earlier ordinances of
-Henry I. and Richard I.</p>
-
-<p>The arguments against the authenticity of the ordinance are
-mainly that it is written in the French language instead of in
-Latin, as was customary at the time; that there is no other
-evidence that John was ever at Hastings; and that the terms
-“king’s admiral” or “king’s lieutenant” are not to be found in
-contemporary documents. Twiss has shown that John and his
-Queen were at Canterbury on Easter Day 1201, and it is not an
-improbable conjecture that the king passed from Canterbury to
-Hastings, and thence to London&mdash;a supposition that Sir Thomas
-Duffus Hardy, the author of the <i>Itinerary of King John</i>,
-regards as quite possible. Twiss also explains in an elaborate
-argument that the circumstance of the ordinance being written
-in French offers no difficulty, if the compilation of the third
-part of the <i>Black Book</i> is assigned, as above stated, to the reign
-of Edward III.; but there might be some difficulty in deciding
-whether the ordinances attributed to Henry I., Richard I.,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span>
-Edward I., and John were originally written in French as they
-now appear in the <i>Black Book</i>, or were at first drawn up in
-Latin and translated into French by the compilers.<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">62</a></p>
-
-<p>The best authority is therefore in favour of the authenticity
-of the ordinance; but whether it be held as genuine or apocryphal
-there is no doubt that in the reign of Henry V. it was
-incorporated among the official regulations of the Admiralty,
-and it is almost as certain, as Twiss and Pardessus believe, that
-it was contained in the Admiralty regulations in the reign of
-Edward III. The question whether it should be antedated one
-hundred and fifty years, or thereabout, and placed in the reign
-of John, or ascribed to the time of Edward III., when so much
-consideration was given to naval affairs, is perhaps of minor
-importance.</p>
-
-<p>The language of the ordinance is worthy of close attention
-with regard to the claim to sovereignty in the narrow sea.
-Selden says that the ordinance shows it was held to be treason
-for any ship whatever not to acknowledge the dominion of the
-king of England in his own seas by lowering sails, and that the
-king prescribed penalties for infraction of the rule, just as if a
-crime were committed in some part of his territory on land.<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">63</a>
-In 1201 John still possessed both shores of the Channel, a circumstance
-which, according to the ideas of the time, conferred
-on him special rights in regard to it; and though the ordinance
-contains no qualification of the general term “at sea,” it is
-probable that it applied in particular, and at first perhaps
-exclusively, to the waters between the two shores. There is
-nothing to show whether the ordinance applied to or was
-enforced against the war vessels of other princes navigating
-the narrow sea, which was the principal feature of the rule in
-later times. From the terms used it is probable that it applied
-only to merchant vessels,&mdash;a supposition that agrees with its
-place in the <i>Black Book</i> at the end of the articles entitled the
-Laws of Oleron, or the laws of the mercantile marine; and it
-was to be enforced only in voyages appointed by the Council.
-As already mentioned, it is reasonable to suppose that the
-lowering of the sail at the demand of a king’s ship was to
-enable a suspected vessel to be overhauled, and the king’s
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span>
-officers to be satisfied whether it was engaged in piracy or in
-lawful trade.</p>
-
-<p>Until the sixteenth century there is scarcely any evidence
-to show that the “right of the flag,” as it came to be called,
-was enforced even in the Channel. The record of one such
-incident, however, exists, which occurred in 1402, in the reign
-of Henry IV.,&mdash;and thus, it is interesting to note, before the
-oldest extant manuscript containing John’s ordinance was
-written,&mdash;and, curiously, the place where the lowering of
-the sails was demanded was not the Channel but the North
-Sea. In the year mentioned, the town of Bruges complained
-to the king and Council that a poor fisherman of Ostend,
-named John Willes, along with another from Briel, while
-fishing for herrings in the North Sea, had been captured by
-an English vessel and taken into Hull, notwithstanding that
-they were unarmed&mdash;a remark which is significant&mdash;and had
-lowered their sails at the moment the English had called to
-them.<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">64</a> It is singular that the earliest record of the “ceremony”
-refers to the humble herring-boats of Flanders. Later on we
-shall see that the lowering of top-sails and the striking of the
-flag became a burning question in international politics.</p>
-
-<p>Of greater interest and importance than this question of the
-lowering of the sail or the ordinance of John is the claim put
-forward by the Plantagenet kings to sovereign lordship and
-jurisdiction in the “sea of England,” for the maintenance of
-peaceful navigation and commerce,&mdash;a claim which may still be
-read in some of the rolls of Edward I. and Edward III. The
-great importance of these documents for the English pretension
-to dominion of the sea in the seventeenth century was shown
-by the fact that Boroughs, Selden, Coke, and Prynne all quote
-freely from them, Selden especially turning to them again and
-again for fresh quotation and argument. They are the more
-interesting since the claim to the sovereignty of the narrow sea
-in the reign of Edward I. could not, as Boroughs points out, be
-based on possession of both shores; the king was not then
-<i>Dominus utriusque rip&aelig;</i>, as when Normandy belonged to the
-English crown. The rolls in question are still preserved in the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span>
-Record Office, and the earlier parchments appear to have been
-collected together in the reign of Edward III., in connection
-with the consultations that the judges held in 1338 on the
-subject of the maritime laws.<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">65</a></p>
-
-<p>The documents were first brought into prominence by Lord
-Coke<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">66</a> and Selden,<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">67</a> both of whom published parts of them.
-The handwriting belongs to the beginning of the fourteenth
-century, and its contents show that it must have been drawn
-up after 1304 and before 1307, in which year Edward I. died.</p>
-
-<p>The events that preceded may be summarised as follows.
-During the war between Edward I. and Philip the Fair of
-France it was concluded between them in the year 1297 that
-notwithstanding the war there should be freedom of commerce
-on both sides, or a truce for merchants, known as sufferance
-of war, and in the following year certain persons were appointed
-by both kings to take cognisance of things done
-contrary to this truce, and to pass their judgments according
-to the law of merchants and the tenor of the sufferance
-referred to.<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">68</a> On 20th May 1303 a treaty of peace and alliance
-was signed at Paris,<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">69</a> the first article of which embodied a
-declaration of amity and mutual defence of all their respective
-rights, and the third that each would abstain from assisting
-or succouring the enemies of the other. A little later in the
-same year four agents or commissioners were appointed by
-Edward and four by Philip to hear complaints and decide
-upon them, and the English members were instructed to inquire
-into the “encroachments, injuries, and offences committed
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span>
-on either side during the truce or sufferance between us and
-the said King of France, on the coasts of the sea of England
-and other neighbouring coasts, and also towards Normandy
-and other coasts of the sea more remote.”<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">70</a> To these commissioners
-the following joint complaint or libel bears to have
-been submitted on behalf of England and certain mariners of
-other nations, charging one Reyner Grimbald or Grimaldi, a
-Genoese who is known to have been at the time in command
-of ships in the service of France operating against the Flemings,
-with seizing their merchants and merchandise contrary
-to the treaty at Paris:<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">71</a>&mdash;</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Concerning the Supremacy of the Sea of England and the
-Right of the Office of Admiralty in the same.</span><a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">72</a></h4>
-
-<p class="small">To you the Lords Auditors deputed by the Kings of England and
-of France to redress the wrongs done to the people of their kingdoms
-and of other lands subject to their dominions by sea and by land in
-time of peace and of truce The proctors of the prelates and nobles
-and of the admiral of the sea of England<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">73</a> and of the commonalties
-of cities and towns and of the merchants mariners messengers and
-pilgrims and of all others of the said realm of England and of
-other lands subject to the dominion of the said King of England
-and elsewhere, as of the coast of Genoa, Catalonia, Spain, Almaigne,
-Zeeland, Holland, Friesland, Denmark, and Norway, and of several
-other places of the Empire do declare, That whereas the Kings of
-England by right of the said kingdom, from a time whereof there is
-no memorial to the contrary, had been in peaceable possession of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span>
-sovereign lordship of the sea of England and of the isles within the
-same, by ordinance and establishment of laws, statutes, and prohibitions
-of arms, and of ships otherwise furnished than merchant
-vessels, and to take surety and afford safeguard in all cases where need
-shall be, and by ordinance of all other actions necessary for the
-maintaining of peace, right, and equity among all manner of people
-as well of any other dominion as of their own passing thereby,
-and by sovereign guard and all manner of cognizance and justice
-high and low, concerning the said laws, statutes, ordinances, and
-prohibitions, and by all other actions that may appertain to the
-exercise of sovereign lordship in the places aforesaid. And A. de
-B.<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">74</a> deputed Admiral of the said sea by the King of England, and
-all other Admirals [appointed] by that same King of England and
-his ancestors heretofore Kings of England, had been in peaceable
-possession of the said sovereign guard with the cognizance and
-justice and all other the aforesaid appurtenances, except in case
-of appeal and complaint made of them to their sovereigns the
-Kings of England of default of right or of wrong judgment, and
-especially by putting hindrance (making prohibitions) and doing
-justice, taking surety of the peace of all manner of people using
-arms in the said sea, or carrying ships otherwise provided or furnished
-than appertained to a merchant ship, and in all other points wherein a
-man may have reasonable cause of suspicion towards them of robbery
-or other misdemeanours. And whereas the masters of the ships of
-the said kingdom of England in the absence of the said admirals had
-been in peaceable possession to take cognizance and to judge of all
-actions in the said sea between all manner of people according to the
-laws, statutes, and prohibitions, franchises and customs. And whereas
-in the first article of the alliance formerly made between the said Kings,
-in the treaties upon the last peace of Paris are comprised the words
-which follow in a schedule annexed to these presents.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>First, it is concluded and accorded between us and the messengers
-and proctors aforesaid in the name of the said Kings that
-the said Kings shall from this time forward be good, true, and
-loyal friends, and be aiding to one another against all men saving
-the Church of Rome in such manner that if any one or more,
-whosoever they be, will disturb, hinder, or molest the said Kings
-in the franchises, liberties, privileges, rights, dues, or customs of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span>
-them and their kingdoms, they shall be good and loyal friends
-and allies against every man living, and ready to die to defend,
-keep, and maintain the franchises, liberties, privileges, rights,
-dues and customs aforesaid; Except (on the part of) the said
-King of England, Monsieur John, Duke of Brabant, in Brabant,
-and his heirs descended from him and the daughter of the
-King of England, and except (on behalf of) our said lord the
-King of France, the excellent Prince, Monsieur Albert, King
-of Almaigne [and] his heirs Kings of Almaigne, and Monsieur
-John, Count of Hainault in Hainault. And that the one
-shall not be of counsel nor aiding where the other may lose life,
-member, temporal estate, or honour.<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">75</a></p></blockquote>
-
-<p class="small">Monsieur Reymer Grymbaltz, Master of the navy of the said King
-of France, who calls himself admiral of the said sea, deputed by
-his lord aforesaid for his war against the Flemings did after the
-said alliance made and confirmed, and against the form and force
-of the same alliance and the intent of them that made it, by
-commission of the King of France wrongfully usurp the office of
-admiralty in the said sea of England and did exercise it for a
-year and more taking the people and merchants of the kingdom of
-England and elsewhere passing through the said sea with their
-goods, and committed the people so taken to the prison of his
-said lord the King of France, and by his judgment and award
-caused their goods and merchandises to be delivered to the receivers
-of the said King of France deputed for this purpose in
-the ports of his said kingdom, as to him forfeit and acquired.
-And the taking and detaining of the said people with their said
-goods and merchandises, and his said judgment and award concerning
-the forfeiture and acquest of them, he has justified
-before you, Lords Auditors, in writing, according to the authority
-of the said commission of the admiralty aforesaid by him thus
-usurped, and during a prohibition commonly made by the King
-of England by his power, according to the tenor of the third
-article (<i>sic</i>) of the alliance aforesaid, which contains the words below
-[above] written, requiring that he may thereupon be quit and absolved,
-to the great damage and prejudice of the said King of England and of
-the prelates and nobles and others above named, Wherefore the
-said proctors in the names of their said lords do pray [you
-Lords] Auditors aforesaid that you would cause due and speedy
-deliverance of the said people with their goods and merchandises
-thus taken and detained, to be made to the Admiral of the said
-King of England, to whom the cognizance thereof of right belongs,
-as above is said, so that, without disturbance from you or any
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span>
-other, he may take cognizance hereof and do that which belongs to
-his office aforesaid, and that the said Monsieur Reyner be condemned
-and constrained to make due satisfaction to all the persons wronged
-as aforesaid as, etc. [so far as he is able to do, and in his default
-his said lord the King of France, by whom he was deputed to the said
-office, and that after due satisfaction made for the said damages,
-the said Monsieur Reyner may be so duly punished for the violation
-of the said alliance that his punishment may be an example
-to others in times to come.<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">76</a>] Item, the said proctors require that
-whereas according to the ancient laws, franchises and customs of
-the realm of England, to the keeping whereof your said lord the
-King and his ancestors Kings of England were wont to be bound
-by their oaths. Their admirals of the sea of England with the
-masters and mariners of ships of ports of the coast of England,
-being in the armies of the said admirals, needed not to answer
-before any justices of the Kings aforesaid concerning actions in
-the sea abovesaid during their wars against their enemies. And
-the said admiral of your said lord the King and many of the
-masters and mariners of the ports aforesaid now being in his
-army against the [their] enemies of Scotland and their helpers
-and allies, by express commandment of your said lord the King,
-are accused before you by people of Normandy and Brittany and
-elsewhere concerning some actions in the said sea in time of truce
-and since the peace confirmed between the said Kings of England
-and France, and before the war begun between them as is said.
-It may please you to surcease the process already commenced
-against them and to forbear to commence a new one during the
-war abovesaid, that they may have no cause to complain to your
-said lord and to the prelates and nobles of his said realm, bound
-by their oath to keep and maintain the said laws, franchises, and
-customs.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Selden alludes to this document as proving that the right of
-dominion over the sea, and that ancient and confirmed by long
-prescription, was in express terms here acknowledged by almost
-all the neighbouring nations to belong to England.<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">77</a>
-This is, however, not quite justified, because there is no record
-at all to show any decision, or even whether the matter was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span>
-ever brought to proof, and no mention is made of the proceedings
-by any English or French historian. There seems to
-be no doubt of the authenticity of the record. It is in the
-handwriting of the time, is preserved among the public records,
-and agrees with other circumstances elsewhere recorded. On
-the other hand, even the most complete copy<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">78</a> is only a draft,
-as Selden states, without date or seals; the admiral’s initials
-only are given, and the citation of the first article of the
-treaty at Paris is not on a separate schedule as the text states,
-but is part of the text. Selden gives it as his opinion that it
-was a matter “of such moment” that it was thought better
-to make an end of it by agreement than to bring it to a
-trial.</p>
-
-<p>Light is thrown on the above record by another of the
-proceedings before the Auditors deputed by the kings of
-England and France for the redress of the grievances between
-the subjects of the two countries, 27-33 Edward I.<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">79</a> It consists
-of a series of libels or complaints, which, as Mr Salisbury of
-the Record Office has been good enough to inform me, are
-in the handwriting of the time of Edward I., and are doubtless
-those, or part of those, on which the <i>De Superioritate</i>
-roll is based.<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">80</a> The complaints are sixteen in number, and they
-refer to the seizure of a number of ships and the removal of
-goods from them, between May 1298 and September 1303, at
-various places,&mdash;the foreland of Thanet, the mouth of the
-Thames, off Blakeney, off Kirkele, Scarborough, Dover, and
-Orfordness,&mdash;the goods, and sometimes the vessel, being taken
-to Calais. Most of the vessels were freighted from London to
-Brabant, or from the latter place to London, one from Winchelsea
-to Dieppe, another from Antwerp to London, a third
-from Berwick to London, a fourth from Scotland to Brabant,
-a fifth from Lynn to Scotland, a sixth from Antwerp to
-England, and another from Yarmouth to London; in two cases
-the crews were killed, and the ships as well as the goods disposed
-of. In most cases the complaints are laid against Johan
-Pederogh or John de Pederogue (<a href="#Page_45">see p. 45</a>), Michel de Navare,
-and others, who appear to have been under Grimbald, but in
-some instances they are against the latter. The first is by
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span>
-Richard Bush against “Reyner Grymaus,” complaining of
-goods having been taken from a ship going from Winchelsea
-to Dieppe, in August 1301, by Michel de Navare and others of
-Calais, who took the goods thither and disposed of them. The
-“chevalier” denied this, and asserted he was “not in that
-country” at the time specified nor for nearly a year afterwards,
-and in the “rejoinder” note was taken of the answer “that he
-was not admiral till some time after the events specified.” The
-eighth complaint refers to the seizure of goods from a ship
-going from Berwick to London in August 1303, off Blakeney,
-“by men from Calais.” In reply John (Pederogh) says the demand
-concerns “mi sire Reniers de Grimaus” only, for he was
-then admiral, and said John was on shore at the date specified,
-and was only in the company of Reniers in Zealand and
-Holland. The twelfth complaint declares that the ship <i>Michele
-de Arwe</i>, from London to Brabant, with a cargo valued at
-&pound;556, was seized “on the high seas” by Sire Reyner Grimbaud,
-admiral, in September 1303, taken to Normandy, and the crew
-sent to Calais and imprisoned. In reply the “chivaler” confesses
-he took such a ship, and seized it rightfully, as it was
-consorting with the enemies of France; and in response to the
-demand of one of the crew still in prison at Calais, he says he
-is there as a malefactor against the King of France, and that
-the commission of the deputies does not extend to such cases.
-The fourteenth complaint is by John de Chelchethe against
-Reyner de Grymaus, and John Pedrogh replies “as he did to
-William Servat,” the latter name not occurring elsewhere in
-the record, a circumstance which points to these libels being
-only part of those brought before the commissioners.</p>
-
-<p>It is to be noted that, with the exception of the <i>Michele
-de Arwe</i> above mentioned, which was taken “on the high
-seas,”&mdash;an elastic term,&mdash;all the ships were attacked near the
-English coast, and well within what may be called the sea of
-England, or the waters included in the King’s Chambers in
-1604, where the jurisdiction of the English Admiralty undoubtedly
-extended. In all cases, moreover, the goods seized
-belonged to Englishmen, though some of the ships were
-foreign.</p>
-
-<p>Too much importance appears to have been attached to the
-roll <i>De Superioritate</i>. It furnishes no proof, or even reasonable
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span>
-probability, that any other Power acquiesced in an English
-claim to a specific sovereignty of the sea beyond what appears
-to have been customary among maritime states at the time.
-The point of the libel is that Grimbald seized shipping after
-the alliance was made and took people and goods to France,
-and was thus said to have usurped the sovereign lordship or
-jurisdiction of the English king or admiral in “the sea of
-England.”</p>
-
-<p>An important light is thrown on the nature of the jurisdiction
-exercised by the English admiral by the memorandum
-of 12 Edward III., in the same roll, the documents in which
-were collected together at the time it was written, in connection
-with the consultation of the judges to which it refers.<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">81</a> It
-recites that, among a number of other things, the King’s Justiciaries
-were to be consulted as to the appropriate method of
-revising and continuing the form of proceedings instituted
-and ordained by Edward I. and his Council for maintaining
-and preserving the ancient supremacy of the crown in the sea
-of England and the right of the admiral’s office over it, with
-the view of correcting, interpreting, declaring, and upholding
-the laws and statutes made formerly by his ancestors, the
-kings of England, for the maintenance of peace and justice
-among the people of all nations whatsoever passing through
-the sea of England, and to take cognisance of all attempts to
-the contrary in the same, and to punish delinquents and afford
-redress to the injured; which laws and statutes, the memorandum
-states, were by Richard I., on his return from the Holy
-Land, corrected, interpreted, and declared, and were published
-in the Island of Oleron and named in the French language
-<i>La Loy Oleroun</i>.<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">82</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span></p>
-
-<p>This memorandum furnishes an important clue as to the
-nature of the jurisdiction exercised in the so-called sea of
-England. It is evident from the concluding part that the
-laws and statutes referred to are the mercantile marine laws,
-which were best known in this country as the Laws of Oleron,
-and are included in the <i>Black Book of the Admiralty</i> together
-with other articles peculiar to the English Admiralty.<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">83</a> They
-appear to have been published by Richard I. at the end of the
-twelfth century, at a time when the old customs of the sea began
-to be committed to writing, as rules proper to be observed
-by the admirals of his fleet for the punishment of delinquencies
-and the redress of wrongs committed on the sea. They were
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span>
-continued among the Admiralty regulations in subsequent
-reigns, and it was part of the duties of the admiral to see
-that they were duly observed in the seas within his jurisdiction.
-The powers of the admiral were extensive, as may
-be seen from the memorandum of the fourteenth century defining
-his office and duties, which has been published by
-Nicolas,<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">84</a> by those given by Twiss in the <i>Black Book</i>,<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">85</a> and
-later by Godolphin.<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">86</a></p>
-
-<p>At the time with which we are dealing the utmost lawlessness
-reigned on the sea, the depredations of undisguised freebooters
-being scarcely a greater evil than the constant acts
-of reprisal between the traders of different nations. It was a
-common practice for the seamen of different countries or cities
-to carry on hostilities with one another, and to enter into
-treaties of peace or truce without the sovereign on either side
-being concerned in their quarrels, except as mediators or umpires.
-In 1317, although there was peace between England
-and Flanders, the mutual reprisals of the seamen and merchants
-reached such a height that commercial intercourse was
-entirely suspended, and Edward II. and the Earl of Flanders
-had to actively interpose in order to bring about “peace” between
-their subjects.<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">87</a> A marked feature in the policy of
-Edward III. was the promotion and encouragement of foreign
-commerce, and quite a number of statutes were passed in his
-reign with that object, and to facilitate the entrance of foreign
-merchants into the realm. One of these, made six years after
-the consultation of the judges on the maritime laws, was specially
-passed to declare the sea open to all merchants.<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">88</a></p>
-
-<p>With these circumstances in view, it can be readily understood
-how desirable it was to have the maritime laws for the
-security of commerce and shipping carefully considered and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span>
-put in force; and a consideration of the whole case shows that
-the roll <i>De Superioritate Maris</i> deals with the maritime laws,
-the interpretation of the documents having been strained by the
-later advocates for the English claim to the sovereignty of the
-seas. It is interesting no doubt to learn that the King of
-England and his admiral exercised jurisdiction of the kind in
-the neighbouring sea at the early time referred to, but there is
-nothing in the case of Grimbald or in the other documents
-associated with it to indicate any claim to a sovereignty such
-as was enjoyed by Venice and Denmark. There was no
-attempt made to interfere with the innocent use of the so-called
-sea of England, or to exact dues for navigation or
-fishery. The jurisdiction extended only to the keeping of
-the peace and the security of the sea&mdash;duties exercised by other
-princes and states in like manner, and indeed now exercised
-by all countries within the waters under their control. This
-view is supported by the interpretation of Callis, who stated
-that the king ruled on the sea “by the laws imperial, as by
-the roll of Oleron and others,” in all matters relating to
-shipping and merchants and mariners.<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">89</a> It would no doubt be
-of great interest if there were distinct evidence as to how
-far from the coast “the sea of England” extended. The
-records cited show that the vessels were seized close to the
-English coast, within the waters covered by the proclamations
-concerning the King’s Chambers in the seventeenth century,
-and even within the narrow limits of the territorial waters
-as now usually defined. It is to be noted with reference to
-the vessel taken “on the high seas” that in the Court of
-Admiralty in the seventeenth century this phrase covered
-seizures made a few miles from the coast.</p>
-
-<p>There is, however, one case which occurred in the fourteenth
-century which has been referred to as showing that the sea
-of England and the jurisdiction of the king extended far from
-the English coast, over indeed to the coast of Brittany. In the
-mutual aggressions of Flemish and English sailors, the robberies
-by the men of Rye of Flemish ships off “Craudon” and Orwell
-became so flagrant that commissioners on both sides were
-appointed in 1311, further proceedings were instituted in 1314,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span>
-and finally, in 1320, envoys from Flanders arrived in London
-during the sitting of Parliament, and a treaty was concluded.
-In this it is stated that divers merchants of
-Flanders, while “proceeding on the sea of England near
-Craudon,”<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">90</a> were robbed of their wines and merchandise by
-evil-doers of England, and that the goods had been brought
-to England. The Flemish envoys prayed the king, “of his
-lordship and royal power to cause right to be done and punishment
-awarded, since he is lord of the sea, and the said robbery
-was committed in the sea under his power.”<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">91</a> The account
-goes on to state that the king and his council in Parliament,
-with the assent of the peers, agreed to appoint justices to
-inquire into the matter, and that those who were concerned
-in the robbery should be promptly punished.<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">92</a> Accordingly,
-in December 1320, the Keeper of the Cinque Ports and others
-were instructed to make inquiry regarding the pillaging of
-a Flemish ship, laden with wines and merchandise, said to have
-been committed by Englishmen on the sea of England, off
-Craudon, so that the malefactors might be brought to justice.<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">93</a>
-Selden, who gives the document in which the previous proceedings
-are also recited,<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">94</a> does not attempt to locate Craudon,
-which in other records in the rolls of Parliament in 1315 was
-also called “Carondon,” “Crasdon,” and “Grasdon”; but Nicolas
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span>
-states that there was no place of that name on the sea
-coast of England, nor in any part of the territories of Edward II.,
-and he identified it with a small seaport, since called “Crowdon,”
-in Brittany, lying on the extreme part of the Point du
-Raz, about eight leagues west of Quimper, where he shows
-that the fleets returning to England with wines frequently
-took shelter.<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">95</a> If this explanation be correct, it would extend
-the “sea of England” more than 120 miles south of the Lizard,
-which, however, is still well within the limits which were
-claimed for it by Selden (<a href="#Page_19">see p. 19</a>). Although, according to
-the English record, the Flemish envoys themselves described the
-sea off Craudon as part of the sea of England and under the
-jurisdiction of the king, it is evident that this admission would
-facilitate redress from England, and standing alone it is not
-of much weight. The whole value of the admission, moreover,
-depends on the position of the “Craudon” of the record; and
-it is remarkable, if it was really the Crowdon referred to by
-Nicolas, that that fact was unknown to Selden, to whom it
-would have furnished a very strong argument for his case.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span>-</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">THE FISHERIES.</span></h2>
-
-<p>It was with respect to the right of fishery on the British
-coasts that the claim to maritime sovereignty was revived in
-the seventeenth century, and with which it was chiefly concerned.
-The “honour of the flag,” however gratifying to
-national pride or important in the international relations of
-England, was unprofitable, and served at best to stimulate and
-maintain the spirit of the nation for power and adventure on
-the sea. But the question of free or licensed fishing touched
-the profit as well as the “honour” of the king and the prosperity
-of the people, and hence the monarchs of the Stuart line,
-the Commonwealth, and the Protector strove to impose tribute
-on foreign fishermen for the liberty to fish in the British seas.
-This policy was in direct opposition to that which had long
-prevailed in England. It is shown below that the freedom of
-fishing on the English coast had been guaranteed to foreign
-fishermen by a series of treaties extending over some centuries,
-and that in point of fact the fishermen of various nations had
-immemorially frequented the British seas in large numbers,
-and there peacefully pursued their business of catching fish
-without molestation or interruption by the English Government.
-In some respects this liberty enjoyed was remarkable,
-when one considers the practice in many other countries and
-the value of the fisheries.</p>
-
-<p>In the early and middle ages the sea fisheries were indeed
-much more important relatively than they are now. There
-was a greater demand for fish, and fishermen from various
-countries&mdash;from France, Flanders, Spain, and England&mdash;made
-long and distant voyages, extending to Iceland and even beyond
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span>
-the North Cape, in quest of fish. One reason for the great
-demand was the numerous fast-days enjoined by the Church;
-for although fish were eschewed by the ascetic monks of early
-times as dangerous to purity of soul, the fashion changed, and
-they were later consumed plentifully on the days of fast both
-by clergy and laity.<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">96</a> The fasts were strictly observed throughout
-Catholic Europe, and a large variety of sea and fresh-water
-fishes, as well as seals and cetaceans, were consumed on such
-occasions. Some of the large monastic establishments had
-their own staff of fishermen, and their fish-houses at seaports
-for the salting and curing of herring. Another reason for the
-extensive consumption of fish was the want of winter-roots
-and the scantiness of fodder in winter, so that it was impracticable
-to keep cattle and sheep for slaughtering throughout the
-winter. It was customary to kill them and salt the flesh in
-autumn; and thus fish, fresh, dried, smoked, or salted, formed
-a valued article of food in place of salted beef and mutton.
-Fish were also used to an extraordinary extent in victualling
-the army and navy, and in provisioning castles, the expense
-on this item of the commissariat generally equalling or exceeding
-that for beef, mutton, or pork.<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">97</a> The distribution even of
-fresh fish was also much better than might have been expected.
-Barges and boats carried them up the rivers, and pack-horses
-and waggons transported them throughout the country, so
-that even in inland counties the harvesters in the fields were
-supplied with herrings for their dinner.<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">98</a> In medi&aelig;val times,
-moreover, fishermen and fishing vessels constituted a considerable
-part of the naval force available for the defence of the
-kingdom, for offensive operations and the transport of soldiers.
-The fishermen of the Cinque Ports, who had the government
-of the great herring fair at Yarmouth, had also to provide
-vessels for the king’s service under their charters. Later,
-when a permanent navy existed, the fisheries were looked upon
-as a very important “nursery” of seamen to man the fleets.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span></p>
-
-<p>The herring fishery was by far the most important of all the
-sea fisheries, and as this fish was found in greatest abundance
-on the British coasts, foreign fishermen were attracted hither in
-great numbers. It was with reference to the herring fishery
-that exclusive claims were raised by England in the seventeenth
-century, and it is desirable at the outset to understand the
-policy which was pursued previously in regard to it both in
-England and Scotland. At what period foreign fishermen first
-began to frequent the British coasts is uncertain; but we know
-that within fifty or sixty years of the Norman Conquest fishermen
-from Flanders and Normandy&mdash;and doubtless from other
-countries&mdash;visited our shores and carried on a fishery for
-herrings by means of drift-nets. An important fishery was
-established at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, on the east
-coast of Scotland, in the early part of the twelfth century, and
-it was shared by fishermen from England, Flanders, and France,
-who paid tithes to the monks of the priory on the Isle of May.
-This monastery was founded by King David I. before the
-middle of the twelfth century, and was endowed by him with
-the manor of Pittenweem in Fife, and by Cospatrick, the great
-Earl of Dunbar, with a house and “toft” at the village of
-Dunbar, both grants being of value in connection with the
-fishery. King William the Lion (<small>A.D.</small> 1165-1214) confirmed
-these grants, and addressed missives to “all his good subjects
-and the fishermen who fish round the Isle of May” commanding
-them to pay their tithes to the monks as they were paid in
-the time of his grandfather, King David (<small>A.D.</small> 1124-1153); and
-he prohibited them from fishing in their waters or using the
-island without license from the monks.<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">99</a> This very early claim
-to the right of exclusive fishing in the sea is characteristic of
-the policy of all the Scottish kings. It was repeated on several
-occasions, the royal mandate being sometimes addressed solely
-“to all fishermen who fish around the Isle of May”; and that
-some of them were foreigners appears to be shown not only by
-the statement above given, on the authority of contemporary
-monks, but by the size of the vessels, some of which had four
-hawsers, and paid much higher dues at the neighbouring
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span>
-harbours than the local fishing-boats. We know also from
-contemporary Flemish records that as early as the first half
-of the twelfth century fishermen from Nieuport and other
-places in Flanders fished from large vessels for herrings with
-drift-nets in August and September in the northern parts of
-the North Sea.</p>
-
-<p>The men from France and Flanders alluded to, no doubt
-continued to fish each season down the east coast of England
-to the mouth of the Thames, as they did later and do still.
-About the period mentioned, Yarmouth was a great fishing
-centre, and was frequented by foreign merchants&mdash;Flemings,
-French, Swedes, and Frieslanders&mdash;who purchased and cured
-herrings; but the earliest notice of foreign fishermen on the
-English coast is in the year 1274, shortly after Edward I. came
-to the throne. Complaint was then made that during a time
-of truce the English fishermen had been attacked by the Flemish
-disguised as fishermen and twelve hundred of them killed.<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">100</a>
-On the other hand, the Countess of Flanders complained that
-twenty-two of her subjects who had been fishing on the coast of
-England and Scotland, and had gone ashore at Berwick to rest
-themselves and get provisions, had been seized, with their nets,
-at Norham and thrown into the castle there.<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">101</a> About twenty
-years later, Edward I. issued a mandate to John de Botetourt,
-the Warden of the coast of Yarmouth, and to the bailiffs of
-that town, saying that he understood that many men from
-Holland, Zealand, and Friesland would shortly come “to fish
-in our sea off Yarmouth,” and commanding them to make
-public proclamation once or twice a-week forbidding any
-molestation or injury to be done to them, but that they should
-rather be helped to pursue their fishing to advantage.<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">102</a> The
-number of English fishermen stated to have been killed by the
-Flemings in the encounter mentioned above, indicates how
-extensive the fishery then was. This also appears a few years
-later, when the Flemings resorted to a similar device; for in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span>
-July 1296 above a thousand men of Flanders, and others of
-France, disguised as fishermen, were preparing to attack and
-burn Yarmouth and neighbouring places, and the bailiffs and
-men of the port were ordered to collect their ships to oppose
-them. These proceedings show the lawless state of the sea in
-those times. In the thirteenth century an extensive herring
-fishing was also carried on by the Scots on the east coast,
-especially in the Firth of Forth and the Moray Firth, and
-particularly by the men of Fife, and cargoes of herrings, cod,
-and haddocks, as well as salmon, were exported to England and
-chiefly to London, but also to Bordeaux, Rouen, Dieppe, and
-other ports in France.</p>
-
-<p>From the foregoing it is clear that centuries before the
-question of <i>mare clausum</i> was raised, important fisheries were
-established along the east coast of England and Scotland, and
-that foreign fishermen took part in them. The number of
-French and Flemish fishermen attending the fishery must have
-been always great, because they had to furnish a large part of
-Catholic Europe with fish. But the number was increased
-after the fourteenth century, and especially in the fifteenth,
-from two causes. One was the decline of the great herring
-fishery at Scania, in the Baltic, upon which the Hanseatic
-League had risen to power and opulence, and which provided
-perhaps the greater part of continental Europe with salted and
-smoked herrings&mdash;Germany, Poland, Russia, part of France, and
-even to some extent Flanders and England. The Scanian herrings
-were esteemed the best, and the Hanse controlled the trade.<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">103</a>
-The other circumstance was the invention in the latter part of
-the fourteenth century by Beuckelsz, a native of Biervliet, in
-Zealand, of a greatly improved mode of curing herrings,&mdash;an
-invention which most materially aided the Dutch in taking the
-place of the Hansards in the herring industry, and in the
-commerce which it brought in its train. Some of the towns
-in the Low Countries early belonged to the Hanseatic League,
-and their fishermen were in the habit of going to the Scanian
-fishery;<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">104</a> but from the fifteenth century at least the herring
-fishery on the British coasts became by far the most important
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span>
-in Europe. It attracted foreign fishermen in increasing
-numbers, and gradually the Dutch came to take the leading
-part in it, displacing the Flemings and the men from Normandy
-and Picardy, and even to a large extent the English themselves.
-In 1512 we find Margaret of Savoy appealing to Henry VIII.
-to protect the fishermen of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland in
-their herring fishery, in which they were menaced by the
-Hanseatic towns, which were fitting out vessels to interrupt
-them; and in her letter she describes the herring fishery as the
-principal support of these states.<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">105</a> Towards the end of the
-century, when the Dutch had begun to call their herring fishery
-on the British coast their “great gold mine,” another event
-occurred which tended still further to strengthen their hold on
-it by opening fresh markets on the Continent. This was the
-failure of the great Bohusl&auml;n fishery in Sweden, which continued
-barren for about seventy years.<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">106</a> They were also
-enabled to prosper in their fishery by the beneficent policy of
-the English sovereigns towards them up to the reign of James I.,
-when the claim to the exclusive fishing in the British seas was
-put forward on behalf of the crown.</p>
-
-<p>When this claim was advanced in the seventeenth century, it
-was argued that the sea fisheries had always belonged to the
-crown. Selden declared that “license had usually been granted
-to foreigners by the Kings of England to fish in the sea; and
-that the protection which the kings gave to fishermen, as in
-their own territory, was an ancient and manifest evidence of
-their maritime dominion.”<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">107</a> The cases adduced in support of
-that contention are singularly few and unconvincing. One is
-the tax imposed by Richard II. in 1379 on fishing vessels,
-among others, in the admiralty of the north, but which, if it
-was imposed on foreign vessels at all, must have been done
-with their consent (<a href="#Page_33">see p. 33</a>). Another relates to the arrangements
-which were occasionally made for “wafting” or guarding
-the fishermen at the Yarmouth fishing, and for which the
-fishermen thus protected had to pay,&mdash;an arrangement which
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span>
-was also adopted in the reign of Charles I. Thus, in 1482,
-Edward IV. invested certain persons, called Guardians, Conductors,
-and Wafters, with naval powers, to protect the fishermen
-“of whatever country they be, who shall desire to fish
-under the protection” of the said wardens on the coasts of
-Norfolk and Suffolk; and all those who took advantage of such
-protection had to pay an equal share of the cost of it; any
-other persons pretending to have power to protect the fishermen
-were to be apprehended. This arrangement was repeated
-in the reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII.<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">108</a> It is evident
-that the payment was only exigible from such foreign fishermen
-as took advantage of the protection offered to them; those
-who desired to fish without protection of the wardens were at
-liberty to do so. A more pertinent case is the Act of the Irish
-Parliament in 1465&mdash;also during the reign of Edward IV.&mdash;which
-has been previously alluded to.<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">109</a> It was passed to prevent
-aid being given to the king’s enemies by foreign vessels
-that went to fish at Ireland. All foreign fishing vessels were
-prohibited from fishing on the Irish coast (except the north
-part of Wicklow) without first obtaining a license from the
-Lieutenant, his deputy, a “justice of the land,” or other person
-authorised to grant it, upon pain of forfeiture of ship and
-goods. All foreign vessels allowed to fish, which were of
-twelve tons burthen “or less,” and had a “drover” or boat,
-were to pay thirteen shillings and fourpence yearly for the
-maintenance of the king’s wars in Ireland; smaller vessels,
-as “scarfes” or boats not having “drover nor lighter,” and
-within the burthen of twelve tons, were to pay two shillings.
-This was obviously a temporary measure, designed for a special
-purpose, though clearly imposing a tax on foreign vessels; but
-there is not evidence to show whether it was enforced.</p>
-
-<p>Other two instances referring to later times were adduced
-in support of the contention that the sea fisheries belonged to
-England, and they may be mentioned here. One was the statement
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span>
-made by Camden about 1586,<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">110</a> and by Hitchcock some
-years earlier,<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">111</a> that the Hollanders and Zealanders before they
-began to fish for herrings off the east coast of England, first,
-“by ancient custom, asked leave of Scarborough Castle”; “for,”
-adds Camden, “the English have always given them leave to
-fish, reserving the honour to themselves, and resigning, as if
-from slothfulness, the benefit to strangers.” Neither Hitchcock
-nor Camden quotes any authority for the statement. Scarborough
-Castle was in early times an important stronghold on
-the north-east coast, and it is not unlikely that foreign fishermen,
-who were frequently at the port, found it to their interest
-to maintain friendly relations with the governor, and gave
-notice of their arrival, or perhaps asked leave to dry their nets
-and paid for the privilege. It was the practice for the governor
-to levy dues, in kind, on fish brought ashore, for Edward III.,
-in 1347, ordered writs of attachment to lie against those who
-during the fishing season sold their fish at sea instead of bringing
-them to the town, thus defrauding the Castle of its dues.
-Another instance, which was frequently made use of in negotiations
-later with the Dutch on the question of the fishery, was
-an alleged lease for twenty-one years granted by Queen Mary
-to her husband Philip II. of Spain, by which his subjects
-received licenses to fish on the Irish coasts. The first trace of
-this story is found in a memorandum addressed to Lord Salisbury
-in 1609 by one Richard Rainsford, an agent for a fishery
-company,<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">112</a> in which it is said that &pound;1000 per annum had been
-paid into the Irish Exchequer by Philip for the privilege, and
-that Sir Henry Fitton, the son of the treasurer at the time, could
-substantiate the statement “on oath if need is.” No year is
-mentioned by any of those who put forward this story,<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">113</a> and no
-record of it is referred to. If not entirely apocryphal, and
-invented as an argument against the Dutch, who were subjects
-of Philip in the early part of his reign, it was probably constructed
-on a very slender basis.</p>
-
-<p>There is, however, one interesting case, or series of cases, in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span>
-which licenses to fish in the Channel were frequently granted
-by the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports to a limited number
-of French fishermen, chiefly of Dieppe and Treport, for the
-ostensible purpose of supplying the king of France’s table with
-fresh fish, and especially soles. It is stated that the French
-kings “time out of mind” had applied for such licenses,<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">114</a> and
-they were certainly granted under Elizabeth, the Stuart kings,
-and Oliver Cromwell. It is doubtful when the custom originated,
-but since the liberty of fishing was granted for a definite
-area or bank, called the Zowe or Sowe, off Rye and well out
-in the Channel, it was probably of considerable antiquity, and
-may have survived from the Norman or Angevin reigns.
-James also furnished similar licenses for the use of certain
-high personages, such as the Duchess of Guise and the French
-ex-ambassador; but the liberty was greatly abused, and was
-the cause of much friction and trouble with the English fishermen
-later.<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">115</a> The fact that such licenses were asked for by the
-French court on behalf of fishermen of Dieppe, Treport, Calais,
-and other ports on the coast of France, may indicate that the
-fisheries out in the Channel were at one time claimed by
-England. But it is possible it was only the survival of a
-custom adopted during the times when great lawlessness
-reigned on the seas, and when the men of the Cinque Ports
-were a terror to their neighbours. A license from the Lord
-Warden would be then a safeguard and protection.</p>
-
-<p>Such are the cases which were adduced to prove the rights
-of the English crown to exclusive fishing in the British seas.
-On the other side there is an overwhelming body of testimony
-to show that the fishery was free. It may be noted in the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span>
-first place that Bracton and the other early English lawyers,
-unlike those of the seventeenth century, made no claim for an
-exclusive fishery. They merely propounded the Roman law
-that the sea and the shores of the sea were common to all;
-that the right of fishing in rivers and ports was likewise free
-to all; and that animals, <i>fer&aelig; natur&aelig;</i>, including fish, belonged
-to no person. The law laid down by Bracton and the others
-was not, of course, international; but if it had been in agreement
-with English jurisprudence in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
-(as it was made to be in the seventeenth) to consider the
-sea fisheries as the property of the crown, that would have
-been declared, because Bracton was embodying the customary
-law of England, and adopted Roman law only when that failed
-him. He is careful to state that wreck of the sea and “great
-fish,” such as sturgeons and whales, “belong to the lord the
-king himself by reason of his privilege” or prerogative, precisely
-on the ground that Callis, Coke, Selden, and Hale
-claimed the sea fisheries generally for the crown in the seventeenth
-century. Had any such right existed or been thought
-of in the reign of Henry III., Bracton could not have failed to
-incorporate it, since the king placed the archives and everything
-necessary at his disposal to enable him to embody the
-common law of England.<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">116</a> So also there is nothing in the rolls
-of Edward I. and Edward III., which deal with the sovereignty
-of the sea, to indicate any claim to the fisheries; nor is there in
-the Admiralty ordinances and regulations in the <i>Black Book</i>,
-although it was part of the duties of the admirals to supervise
-the sea fisheries and to enforce the laws relating to them.</p>
-
-<p>But the assertion that the fisheries were free in those early
-times does not depend upon negative testimony. Liberty of
-fishing was guaranteed in various treaties concluded with foreign
-nations from the middle of the fourteenth century until
-the end of the sixteenth. The first of these was made in the
-reign of Edward III., and it was in keeping with the liberal
-policy of that monarch in regard to the promotion of foreign
-commerce. It was almost a necessity, for English fishermen
-were by themselves unable to meet the home demand for fish.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span>
-Fish caught by foreigners were regularly imported into England,
-and such importation was encouraged by the crown and by
-Parliament until after the Reformation. Foreign fishermen were
-also encouraged, as is shown by the mandates of Edward I. and
-Edward II. above alluded to, and by many others.</p>
-
-<p>The first of the formal treaties providing for liberty of fishing
-was concluded in 1351 between Edward III. and the king of
-Castile and towns on the coast of Castile and Biscay. Edward
-had signally defeated the Spanish fleet in the year before in the
-battle known as “L’Espagnols sur Mer,” and in the truce for
-twenty years which followed, it was stipulated that there
-should be mutual freedom of commerce and navigation, and
-that the fishermen from Castile and Biscay should be at liberty
-to come freely and safely to fish in the ports of England and
-Brittany, and in all other places and ports, paying the dues
-and customs to the lords of the country.<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">117</a> Spanish fishermen
-do not appear to have taken part in the great herring fishing
-on the east coast,&mdash;Spaniards, indeed, have never cared for
-pickled or cured herrings, differing in this respect from the
-Teutonic races, but have preferred the mackerel, the pilchard,
-and the cod. The liberty of fishing conferred by the treaty
-was no doubt chiefly valuable to them with respect to their
-fishery off the Irish coast, the south-west coast of England, and
-along the coasts of Aquitaine and Brittany for sardines and
-mackerel. Two years later a similar treaty was concluded
-between Edward and the towns of Portugal and Algarve, in
-which liberty of fishing was stipulated in precisely the same
-terms,<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">118</a> and no doubt related to the same waters.</p>
-
-<p>Early in the next century we find what seems to be the first
-of the numerous agreements as to the liberty of fishing for
-herrings in the narrow seas, quite a number of which were
-made in the comparatively short and troubled reign of Henry
-IV. In a truce concluded in 1403 between Henry and the
-King of France, it was provided that merchants, mariners, and
-fishermen should be free to pass to and through either kingdom
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span>
-without requiring letters of safe-conduct. Henry, therefore,
-issued a mandate to his admirals and other officers concerned,
-enjoining that during the current herring season the fishermen
-of both countries should freely fish for herrings and all other
-fish, from Gravelines and the Isle of Thanet down to the mouth
-of the Seine and Southampton, without hindrance or molestation,
-and that if they were chased by pirates or met with contrary
-winds they were to be allowed to take refuge in the ports within
-the area defined, and were to be well treated.<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">119</a> As the king’s
-missive is dated 26th October, it appears that there was then, as
-there is now, a considerable winter herring fishing in the Channel.
-Three years later, on 5th October 1406, Henry took all the
-fishermen of France, Flanders, and Brittany, with their ships
-and boats, under his protection until 2nd February in the
-following year,&mdash;that is to say, during the winter herring
-fishery,&mdash;for which time they were to be allowed to fish freely
-and without molestation, and to carry away their fish, provided
-they did nothing to prejudice him or his kingdom.<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">120</a> Considering
-the weak condition of the English navy at the time&mdash;the
-security of the sea had been committed to the merchants on
-the east coast, a system which in this month of October was
-known to have failed&mdash;and the prevalence of pirates, it is
-unlikely that the protection of the king was of much avail.</p>
-
-<p>In November of the same year, with reference to his treaty
-with France, Henry published another proclamation stating that,
-on the supplication of the burgesses and people of Flanders,
-it had been agreed that the fishermen of England and Flanders,
-and generally of all the realm of France, should, during the
-continuance of the treaty, go in safety to fish in the sea. To
-the end that the fishermen who travelled on the sea at great
-peril to gain their living might fish in greater security, and
-obtain sea fish for the sustenance of the people, it was ordained
-that for a year from the publication of the proclamation all
-the fishermen of England, of Calais, and of other towns and
-places belonging to the King of England, as well as the fishermen
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span>
-of Flanders, Picardy, Normandy, and Brittany, and other
-parts of France, might go in peace over the whole sea to fish
-and gain their living, without any restraint or hindrance; provided
-no fraud was committed, and that English fishermen
-had the same privileges from Flanders, Picardy, Normandy,
-Brittany, and other parts of France. If the fishermen were
-driven into port by the violence of the wind, or other cause,
-they were to be received freely and treated reasonably, paying
-the dues and customs as of old, and be at liberty to return
-to their own ports. The king, therefore, commanded his
-admirals, captains, bailiffs, the commanders of castles and
-ports, and others concerned, to see that the provisions of the
-treaty were carried out.<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">121</a></p>
-
-<p>In the following year was concluded the first of the great
-series of Burgundy treaties, about which so much was to be
-heard in the diplomatic negotiations with the Dutch in the
-seventeenth century. Flanders was then part of the dominions
-of the Duke of Burgundy, who held it as a fief of France, and
-freedom of commerce and fishery was of the highest importance
-to his Flemish subjects. A treaty or convention was
-therefore drawn up between Henry’s ambassadors and the
-Duke of Burgundy, dealing chiefly with commercial intercourse,
-in which the above-mentioned provisions for mutual
-liberty of fishing were embodied, in practically the same
-language, and comprising likewise the whole of France.<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">122</a> In
-1408 the mutual freedom of fishing in the sea was twice confirmed,&mdash;in
-the prorogation of the truce with the Duke of
-Burgundy, and in the ratification by the King of France of
-the treaty between Henry and the Duke;<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">123</a> and it was again
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span>
-confirmed at Amiens by John, Duke of Burgundy, in 1417,
-in the reign of Henry V.<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">124</a></p>
-
-<p>The various fishery truces and conventions of Henry IV.,
-which were made at a time when great insecurity prevailed
-on the sea and depredations were committed on all hands,
-reflect credit on that able monarch, and notwithstanding the
-naval weakness in the early part of his reign, they must have
-had a favourable influence in fostering the sea fisheries. The
-sort of treatment that fishermen in those times had frequently
-to undergo is indicated in a complaint made to the king in 1410
-that, notwithstanding the fishery truce with France, the men of
-Harfleur had seized an English fishing vessel of twenty-four
-tons, <i>Le Cogge Johan de Briggewauter</i>, and had thrown the
-master and fourteen of the crew into prison, without food and
-water, and held them to ransom for a hundred pounds.<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">125</a> Such
-occurrences were by no means uncommon, and it was customary
-for fishing vessels to go to sea armed,<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">126</a>&mdash;a provision which also
-enabled them on occasion to do a little piracy on their own
-account. It was sometimes difficult for the authorities to
-decide whether a vessel provided with fishing-lines and armed,
-as some were, with “minions, falcons, and falconettes,” and
-having a good store of powder and bullets, had been equipped
-to catch fish or prey upon other vessels.</p>
-
-<p>It does not appear that any treaty concerning liberty of
-fishing was made in the warlike reign of Henry V. (1413-1422);
-but, as stated above, this king confirmed the Burgundy treaty
-in 1417. In the succeeding reign of Henry VI., in 1439, a
-treaty was concluded for three years with Isabel of Portugal,
-as representing her husband, Philip, Duke of Burgundy, which
-provided for liberty in fishing in much the same language as
-in the treaty of Henry IV. It was stipulated that all the
-fishermen of England, Ireland, or Calais, as well as of Brabant
-and Flanders, should be free to go all over the sea for fishing,
-without any hindrance or molestation on either side, and that
-they should have free access to the ports of either, under the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span>
-usual conditions. Although the Duke of Burgundy was also
-Count of Holland and Zealand, these states were not specifically
-included in this treaty, which was renewed in 1442 for other
-five years, and again, at Calais, in 1446, for a term of twelve
-years, in precisely the same terms, and the commonalties of
-Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, and of the French dominions promised
-to observe it.<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">127</a> In the renewal of the treaty of intercourse
-at Brussels, in 1468, by Edward IV. and the Duchess of Burgundy
-on behalf of her husband, Duke Charles, in addition to
-the mention of Brabant, Flanders, and Mechlin, words were
-added<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">128</a> which brought Holland and Zealand into the treaty,
-and thus formally gave them that liberty of fishing on the
-British, or at least the English, coast which they struggled so
-hard and so successfully to retain in the seventeenth century.
-The article on the fishery also declared that the fishermen
-should be at liberty to fish without being required to obtain
-any license, permission, or safe-conduct,<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">129</a> which appears to
-indicate that the practice of obtaining such letters for their
-security had been previously in vogue. In 1468, in the treaty
-of peace, at P&eacute;ronne, between Louis XI. of France and Charles,
-Duke of Burgundy, a similar clause was inserted providing for
-the freedom of the herring fishery;<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">130</a> and in the ten years’ truce
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span>
-agreed upon in 1471 between Edward IV. and the King of
-France mutual liberty of commerce and fishing was stipulated
-during the continuance of the truce.<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">131</a> The treaty of 1467,
-above referred to, which included Holland and Zealand, was
-to last for thirty years, but by the death of Charles the Bold,
-and the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian of
-Austria, it was deemed necessary to renew it with the new
-Duke; and this was done, and the compact declared to be perpetual,
-in 1478, the clause providing for the liberty of fishing
-remaining unaltered.<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">132</a></p>
-
-<p>It is thus clear from those numerous treaties that in the
-fifteenth century the liberty of fishing in the sea was so
-generally recognised by England that the principle might
-be regarded as having become a part of her international
-policy and custom. Towards the end of the century the
-Burgundy treaties were superseded by the great treaty of
-peace and commercial intercourse which was concluded in
-1496 between Henry VII., the first of the Tudor sovereigns,
-and Philip, Archduke of Austria and Duke of Burgundy.
-This treaty, which became so well known later as the Great
-Intercourse (Intercursus Magnus, le Trait&eacute; d’Entrecours, ’t
-Groot Commercie-Tractaat), was the sheet-anchor of Dutch
-policy in relation to England in the seventeenth century, and
-was constantly appealed to by them in their diplomatic struggles
-with the Stuarts and with Cromwell. It was the price paid by
-Henry for the expulsion of Perkin Warbeck from Flanders,
-the provisions in regard to whom, when slightly modified by
-St John in 1651 to apply to the “rebels” of the Commonwealth,
-so startled the Dutch Government (<a href="#Page_387">see p. 387</a>). The treaty
-was to be perpetual, and it actually endured for a century
-and a half. The article dealing with the liberty of fishing
-was couched in almost the same language as in the preceding
-treaties. The fishermen of both nations were to be at liberty
-to go in security to fish anywhere on the sea, without requiring
-any license or safe-conduct, and to have free use of one
-another’s ports under stress of misfortune, weather or enemies,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span>
-on paying the ordinary dues.<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">133</a> As conservators for this treaty
-of peace and commerce, which was received with much rejoicing
-in the Low Countries, Henry appointed, among others, the
-mayors and aldermen of London and of a large number of
-towns, including Southampton, Sandwich, Dover, Winchelsea,
-Boston, Yarmouth, and Berwick; and the Archduke, on his
-side, appointed the burgomasters of Ghent, Bruges, Dunkirk,
-Antwerp, Dort, Delft, Leyden, Amsterdam, Briel, and others.</p>
-
-<p>Several supplementary treaties dealing with commercial subjects
-were concluded between Henry VII. and Henry VIII. on
-the one side, and the Archduke of Burgundy on the other&mdash;viz.,
-in 1499, 1506, 1515, and 1520.<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">134</a> While they confirmed in
-general terms the previous treaty, the clause referring to the
-freedom of fishery was not specifically mentioned, a circumstance
-which, considering the nature of the matters dealt
-with&mdash;the staple at Calais, the cloth trade, the Zealand tolls,&mdash;was
-not surprising. Nevertheless, the fact that treaties of
-commerce had been made with the Low Countries subsequent to
-the Intercursus Magnus, without containing a clause expressly
-renewing the liberty of fishing, was used later by English
-statesmen, as by Lord Bacon, as an argument that the provision
-of that treaty had thereby been rendered inoperative.
-But the policy of Henry VIII., and indeed of all the Tudor
-sovereigns, proved the contrary; liberty of fishing on the
-English coast was not called in question till James came to
-the throne.</p>
-
-<p>We have already seen that Margaret of Savoy appealed to
-Henry VIII. in 1512 to protect the herring fishermen of the Low
-Countries from the attacks of the Hanseatic towns, and apparently
-with success. The same regard for the herring fishery
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span>
-was shown in a marked manner in 1521 in the negotiations
-between the Emperor Charles V. and King Francis I. of France.
-Cardinal Wolsey, who was the “mediator” between them,
-strongly urged the need of allowing the herring fishery to be
-free, safe, and unmolested. He made this stipulation one of the
-chief points of the proposed treaty. It is stated in a despatch
-which was sent to Charles V. by his ambassadors at Calais,
-where the negotiations were being conducted, that the Cardinal
-declared his intention to propose, among other things, security
-for the fishermen and cessation of hostility on the sea between
-England and Flanders, and that either party should be free
-from attack by the other in English ports. There was no difficulty
-about the fisheries, the ambassadors said, as they knew
-the Emperor wished it, and that his subjects would more willingly
-go to sea in that event than they then did under the
-protection of ships charged to defend them.<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">135</a> The French
-ambassadors also informed Francis that Wolsey pressed the
-point on them, and that they had ultimately agreed in order
-“to conciliate him, considering it can be revoked at pleasure,
-and will be profitable to those living on the coast of Normandy
-and Picardy, and without it they will not be able to pay their
-taxes.”<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">136</a> It is clear from the political events that followed, that
-the great Cardinal, in stipulating for the security of the fishermen,
-had principally in view the interests of the Emperor, to
-whom the Netherlands belonged; but it was in perfect accord
-with established English policy. The agreement for the security
-of the herring fishery was embodied as a leading article in
-the formal treaty concluded between the two potentates in
-October of the same year, it being provided that until the end
-of the following January, even though the war should continue
-between the two countries, the fishermen of both parties should
-be allowed to fish unmolested and to go home in safety.<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">137</a> In
-the war which ensued, the French admirals did not push the
-advantage they had on the sea to extremes, but sold safe-conducts
-to the fishermen of the Netherlands, and allowed them to
-pursue their fishing. In several treaties and truces made in the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span>
-next few years between the Powers named, it was provided that
-the herring fishery should be carried on freely and in security
-on both sides, even during the existence of hostilities. One of
-these, to last for eight months, was concluded in 1528 between
-Charles V., Francis I., Henry VIII., and Margaret of Austria,
-who represented Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, as well as
-Flanders.<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">138</a> It may perhaps be surmised that in the common
-concern about the winter herring fishery the influence of the
-Church was not without effect, so that the fish for Lent might
-not be wanting.</p>
-
-<p>From the foregoing it is apparent that the kings of England,
-so far from claiming an exclusive right to the sea fisheries along
-the English coast, entered into a series of treaties with their
-neighbours, extending over a period of nearly two hundred
-years, by which freedom of fishing was mutually recognised
-and guaranteed. Throughout the reigns of the Plantagenet and
-Lancastrian kings, as well as under the Yorkists and Tudors,
-foreign fishermen were at liberty to fish freely in the English
-seas without requiring any license or paying any tribute. Not
-only so, but up to the middle of the sixteenth century, and
-especially in the time of the Plantagenet kings, they were
-encouraged to take part in the fisheries off our coasts, and
-to bring into the realm and freely trade in fish, both fresh and
-cured; and, in point of fact, a large proportion of the fish
-consumed in England was caught and sold by foreigners. It
-was not until after the Reformation, when the English fisheries
-began to decay, that protective measures were adopted in
-favour of the native fishermen; and it was not until the reign
-of James I. that any attempt was made to place restrictions
-on the liberty of fishing immemorially enjoyed by foreigners
-along the English coasts.</p>
-
-<p>But when we turn to Scotland we find there was not only in
-that country an absence of the toleration which was extended
-in England to foreign fishermen, but that restrictive measures
-were in force from an early period. The claim made by the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span>
-Scottish kings in the twelfth century for the exclusive fishing
-in the sea around the Isle of May on behalf of the monks of
-the priory there, strikes the keynote of their policy in later
-times. This difference between the policy in England and
-Scotland might to some extent be due to the nature of the
-fishings. In the northern kingdom the herring fishery was
-confined almost entirely to the firths and lochs “within land”:
-the native fishermen did not compete with the foreign vessels
-which carried on the fishery at a greater or lesser distance
-from the coast from the neighbourhood of the Shetlands to the
-Thames. The encroachments of the foreign fishermen, which
-sometimes occurred from the vagaries of the shoals, were thus
-resented. On the English coast the native fishery was carried
-on for the most part alongside the foreign fishermen, and the
-English fishermen were thus accustomed to the presence of the
-foreigners. In Scotland, moreover, the sea fisheries, and in
-particular the herring fishery, were of greater relative importance
-to the people than was the case in England, which possessed
-rich pastures and was essentially agricultural. Fishing
-was much more of a national pursuit, and besides supplying
-what was required for home consumption, Scotland was able
-to export large quantities of fish to other lands: in the fifteenth
-century the title “Piscinata Scotia” was referred to as
-an “old proverb.” The fisheries, besides forming a not unimportant
-source of revenue to the crown, supplied a chief staple
-of the trade and commerce of the “royal burghs,” which were
-always extremely jealous of their rights and privileges, and
-possessed great power. Hence the Acts of the Scottish Parliaments
-which dealt with sea fisheries&mdash;and they are numerous&mdash;breathe
-a much more exclusive spirit than those of England.
-Hence also the treaties and conventions between Scotland and
-the Netherlands did not extend to foreign fishermen the generous
-treatment which was so evident in the south. The
-earliest of those commercial agreements seems to have been
-made in 1291; others were concluded in 1321 and 1323, in the
-reign of Robert the Bruce, by which free ingress and egress
-were given to merchants to pass with their merchandise to any
-parts of the kingdom, “with their ships and goods”; and
-similar freedom of commercial intercourse was stipulated in
-1371, 1401, 1407, 1412, 1416, and on numerous occasions subsequently.<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">139</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span>
-These early agreements contain no provision about
-the fisheries, and nothing to indicate a desire on the part of the
-Scottish king or people to allow fishermen from the Low
-Countries to fish in the adjacent waters. The feeling of the
-coast population towards the foreigners was usually jealous and
-aggressive; attacks by the one and reprisal by the other were
-of frequent occurrence, especially in the fifteenth and sixteenth
-centuries. The Earl of Holland complained in 1410 that the
-Scots had attacked the fishermen of that province “when they
-went to sea to catch herrings in their fishing vessels and to
-gain their living like honest men”; and by way of reprisal he
-gave permission to the people of Brouershaven to attack and
-injure their “enemies,” the Scots, wherever they could find
-them, on sea or land.<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">140</a> There is much testimony to show that
-in those times the Scottish fishermen were of a fierce and forceful
-disposition, and little inclined to tolerate the intrusion of
-foreign fishermen within what they claimed as their “reserved
-waters,”&mdash;that is, the firths and bays and a distance along the
-coast described as “a land kenning,” which extended to fourteen
-miles or to twenty-eight miles from the shore. An indication
-of their treatment of those who intruded is afforded by a
-story told in one of the English State Papers on the authority
-“of the old Bishop of Ross, who came in with King James
-to England.” He said that in the time of King James V.
-(<small>A.D.</small> 1513-1542) the Hollanders, who had only a verbal
-license to fish at twenty-eight miles off, came near the shore
-within the mouth of the Firth of Forth, “and there fished
-in despite of the king’s command.” James thereupon set out
-men-of-war and took so many of them that “he sent a baril ful
-of their heads into Holland, with their names fixed to their
-foreheads on cards,” as a warning to their fellows.<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">141</a> This tale
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span>
-of savagery, probably apocryphal, no doubt originated in the
-conflicts and reprisals between the Dutch and the Scots which
-are known to have occurred in the reign of James V., and led
-to the treaty of 1541, in which, for the first time, there is a
-stipulation concerning the fisheries. For some years previously
-the relations of the Emperor Charles V. (in whose dominions
-the Low Countries were included) and the King of Scotland had
-been strained, owing to the renewal of the old alliance between
-Scotland and France. A number of armed vessels, under the
-command of Robert Foggo of Leith, cruised about and captured
-many Dutch herring-busses, especially those belonging to
-Schiedam and Briel. The States of Holland retaliated by
-seizing Scottish goods in Holland, and then James V. threatened
-that he would put an entire stop to their herring fishing on the
-coast of Scotland.<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">142</a> Owing to the war with France and the
-depredations of privateers, the Netherlands at that time had
-much difficulty in protecting their herring-busses, and the
-threat of the Scottish king speedily brought about negotiations.
-The States of Holland petitioned the Emperor to interfere,<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">143</a>
-alleging that the prohibition of their herring fishing by the
-King of Scotland was inconsistent with the freedom of navigation,
-and even with the treaties subsisting between them&mdash;which,
-however, as has been said, did not include the question
-of fishing. In the treaty which followed between James V.
-and the Emperor,<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">144</a> it was, amongst other things, agreed that
-means should be devised for reparation of the damages done on
-both sides “to merchants, fishers, and other traders or subjects,”
-or to their ships and goods, in time of peace; and that mutual
-protection should be afforded to the fishermen against pirates.
-It contained no fishery clause like those in the English treaties,
-and not a word about the liberty of fishing. It can scarcely be
-doubted that the omission was deliberate, and that those conducting
-the negotiations on behalf of the Dutch wished to have
-a guarantee of the kind. We learn from the treaty that the
-last article in the instructions of the Scots ambassador contained
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span>
-some proposal about the fishery. Its nature does not
-appear; but from the fact that it was not agreed to, and was
-reserved for further consideration on the part of the Emperor,
-it is not unlikely that it referred to the fixing of a limit within
-which the Dutch were not to fish.<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">145</a> The Scottish lawyer,
-Welwood, early in the next century referred to the “notorious
-covenant” which had been made with the Dutch, that they
-should not fish within eighty miles of the coast of Scotland, a
-statement that may have been a reminiscence of this proposal.</p>
-
-<p>The peace was not of long duration. The Scots again
-attacked the Dutch fishermen on the coast of Scotland; the
-goods of Scotch merchants were in turn seized in the Netherlands,
-and their ships and seamen arrested, and arrangements
-were made by the Dutch to convoy their herring-busses with
-many ships of war.<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">146</a> On the representations of Rotterdam
-and Schiedam&mdash;towns which had a great stake in the herring
-fishery on the Scottish coast&mdash;a request was made to the
-Emperor, in the name of the States of Holland, asking him
-to arrange in his negotiations with the Scots for the restitution
-of the goods taken by them from the Hollander fishermen;
-and early in 1545 he was petitioned to conclude a truce with
-them on account of the herring and dogger (cod) fishing.<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">147</a> It
-was not until 1550 that another treaty was signed between
-the two countries,&mdash;also at Binche, on 15th December, on behalf
-of the Emperor Charles V. and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland.
-It confirmed all previous treaties, and contained provisions
-for mutual freedom of commerce and navigation
-without the need of any safe-conduct or license, general or
-special, and with liberty to make use of one another’s ports,
-and also mutually to protect one another’s subjects, including
-fishermen, from the attacks of pirates. The part referring to
-the fishery did not, however, differ from that in the previous
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span>
-treaty, which it merely confirmed. “With regard to the
-fishery and the free use of the sea,” it said, “that which was
-made, concluded, and agreed upon by the foresaid treaty
-made at Binche on the 19th February 1541, between the
-Most Serene Queen Mary (of Hungary and Bohemia) and the
-aforesaid ambassador of the King of Scotland, shall be truly
-and sincerely observed.”<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">148</a> This treaty, which was called in
-the Netherlands “celebre fœdus,” may be regarded as the
-Scottish counterpart of the Intercursus Magnus, concluded
-with England in 1496. The older Dutch writers, as Wagenaar
-and Plegher, professed to regard it as having guaranteed
-freedom of fishery on the coasts of Scotland in the same way;
-and it was cited by the Dutch ambassadors in the negotiations
-concerning the fishery in the seventeenth century in this sense.
-But in the English treaty freedom of fishing all over the sea
-was expressly covenanted in the most plain and explicit
-language, while the treaty with Scotland in 1550 merely
-confirmed a previous treaty which certainly did not confer
-liberty of fishing, though the phrase “the free use of the sea,”
-now introduced in the preamble, might at first sight imply
-the contrary. Nothing more appears to have been heard of
-the proposal of the Scottish ambassador in 1541, which had
-been deferred for further deliberation.<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">149</a></p>
-
-<p>A treaty which took a still more important place in the
-subsequent disputes and negotiations respecting <i>mare clausum</i>
-and unlicensed fishing, and upon which the Dutch relied even
-more, at least in the reign of James, than they did on the
-Intercursus Magnus, was concluded with King James VI. in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span>
-1594, fifteen years before he issued, as king of England as
-well as of Scotland, his famous proclamation forbidding promiscuous
-and unlicensed fishing. On the occasion of the
-baptism of his son, Prince Henry, which took place at Stirling
-on 30th August 1594, the States-General despatched two
-ambassadors, Walraven van Brederode and Jacob Valck, laden
-with costly gifts, to take part in the ceremony, and also to do
-a little business with the king. The two previous treaties
-between Scotland and the Netherlands had been concluded
-at a time when the whole of that country had been under the
-rule of Charles V. In the interval it had passed into the
-possession of Philip of Spain, and then the northern provinces
-had revolted, thrown off the Spanish yoke, and formed the
-famous federal commonwealth of the seven United Provinces
-of Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Gelderland, Over-Yssel, Friesland,
-and Groningen. It was thought to be desirable by the
-prudent Dutchmen to renew if possible on their own behalf
-the treaties with Scotland, especially as it was then recognised
-that James would succeed to the English throne. The ambassadors
-therefore brought with them a long draft treaty, in
-which the previous treaty of 1541 was recited and that of 1550
-was given in full. James agreed to the confirmation of the
-previous treaties, and the ratification was signed at Edinburgh
-on 14th September 1594. In his declaration he stated that he
-had “seen, read, and examined” the treaty of peace and
-alliance made at Binche in 1550 between Charles V., Emperor
-of the Romans, in the capacity of sovereign of the Low
-Countries, and Queen Mary, “his honoured dame and mother,”
-and having found it very desirable, good, and beneficial for
-him and his country, it was to be observed inviolably for the
-good of the traffic and commerce of the subjects of the two
-nations; and he sincerely promised to observe the treaty and
-every clause and article in it. Then the easy-going monarch
-appears to have forgotten all about it. The document itself
-was lost, and when it was urgently wanted for the negotiations
-in the next century it could not be found, and nobody in this
-country seemed to know what it contained; it was even
-regarded by some&mdash;as the English ambassador at The Hague&mdash;as
-apocryphal. Although the Dutch relied much on this
-treaty, it contained no stipulation regarding liberty of fishing.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span>
-The treaty of 1550 was confirmed, by which it was provided
-that commerce and navigation were to be free; merchants
-were to be at liberty to pass safely and freely with their
-goods by land and sea, and to buy and sell; pirates were to be
-chased from the sea, and the subjects of either state, including
-fishermen, were to be mutually protected from their attacks;
-but the fishery clause was precisely the same as before.<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">150</a></p>
-
-<p>It is thus evident that there was a great difference between
-the English and the Scottish treaties with the Netherlands
-respecting the right of fishery. The former contained a
-separate clause, conceived in a broad and liberal spirit and
-again and again renewed, providing for mutual freedom of
-fishing everywhere on the seas, while no such agreement or
-anything like it was made on the part of Scotland. The
-Dutch fishing on the coast of Scotland was more important
-to them than their fishing on the English coast, and there
-is no doubt they strove to obtain the same privileges for it as
-they received in England. The omission of a corresponding
-clause in the Scottish treaties was in accordance with the long-settled
-policy of the Scottish kings and Parliaments, and it
-was that policy that James carried with him to England when
-he attempted to reverse the established practice with regard
-to the fisheries, and opened up the claims to <i>mare clausum</i>.</p>
-
-<p>There is, unfortunately, little contemporary evidence as to the
-precise extent of the claim to the fisheries which was anciently
-put forward in Scotland. The Acts of the Scottish Parliaments
-do not help us very far, although they reveal the jealous and
-conservative spirit previously referred to. Many statutes were
-made prohibiting strangers from buying fish except such as
-were salted and barrelled, and then only at free burghs; concerning
-the “assize-herring,” of which so much was to be
-heard; and the payment of customs by foreigners exporting
-fish. The language of some of the Acts implied a certain control
-over foreign fishermen on the sea,<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">151</a> and all that we know of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span>
-the practice and customs in Scotland makes it highly probable
-that these enactments were in point of fact enforced against
-foreign fishermen as far as they could be. The Scots were
-always particularly jealous about the fishings in the firths and
-lochs “within land.” An important herring fishery of this kind
-was carried on in the lochs on the west coast, especially in
-Loch Broom and Loch Fyne, in autumn and winter, by fishermen
-from the Clyde, the Ayrshire coast, and Fifeshire, who
-built timber houses on shore where they cured the herrings;
-and this fishing was attended by Frenchmen, “Flemings,” and
-English, who purchased the cured herrings or bought the fish
-and cured them themselves.<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">152</a> Wishing to catch the herrings for
-themselves, these “divers strangers” most earnestly petitioned
-Queen Mary in 1566 for “license to fish in the said lochs.” But
-the Council, to whom the petition was referred, after consultation
-with the burghs, refused the request, and ordained that
-“no stranger of whatever nation they be come in the said lochs,
-nor use the commodity of the said fishing in any time to come,
-but the same to be reserved for the born subjects and natives
-of the realm,” under pain of confiscation of ships and goods.<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">153</a>
-Some of the old Scots Acts, of the reign of James III. (1460-1488)
-and later, refer to previous statutes, which seem to be
-lost, respecting the herring fishery in the western seas; and
-they indicate that “letters” had sometimes been granted by the
-king favouring foreigners in some way, but whether by
-allowing them to fish there is unknown.</p>
-
-<p>On the east coast, where the Dutch carried on their great
-herring-fishing from busses, there is evidence that a limit was
-early fixed within which they were not allowed to fish, but no
-contemporary records relating to it appear to have been preserved.
-It is probable that an arrangement was come to
-between them and the Scottish fishermen, possibly in the reign
-of James V. or even earlier, by which they were not to fish
-within sight of land. At the beginning of the seventeenth
-century, when the question of unrestricted fishing was raised in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span>
-an acute form, there was a remarkable unanimity of opinion in
-Scotland that the ancient and established custom was that
-foreigners were not allowed to carry on their operations within
-a “land-kenning” of the coast,&mdash;that is, not nearer than where
-they could discern the land from the top of their masts. This
-distance was usually placed at fourteen miles, but sometimes a
-double land-kenning, of twenty-eight miles, was claimed; and we
-shall see that the former distance was embodied in the Draft
-Treaty of Union with England in 1604, as well as proposed to
-the States-General as a provisional limit in 1619 (<a href="#Page_192">see p. 192</a>), and
-declared by Parliament and the Privy Council of Scotland to
-be the bounds of the “reserved waters” belonging to Scotland.
-Welwood, a Scottish lawyer who wrote at the end of the sixteenth
-and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries, states
-that before his time, after “bloody quarrels” about sea affairs
-between the Scots and the Hollanders, the disputes were
-arranged on the understanding that in future the Hollanders
-were to keep at least eighty miles from the coast of Scotland,
-which, he says, they did for a long time. If they were driven
-nearer by stress of weather they paid a tax or tribute at the
-port of Aberdeen, where a castle was built for this and other
-reasons. This tax, he adds, was paid until by frequent dissensions
-at home and the audacity of the Hollanders the right was
-lost.<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">154</a> There is no very satisfactory evidence to show in how
-far the statements of Welwood were in accordance with the
-facts. In the records of the Privy Council a case is mentioned
-which might be interpreted in another way. In 1587 two
-English ships belonging to Shields, coming from the “easter
-seas” laden with fresh fish and bound for England, were seized
-and brought into port by one Thomas Davidson of Crail, apparently
-on the plea that they had been fishing too near the shore.
-The owners contended that the fish had been caught “upon the
-main sea, outwith his Majesty’s dominions, where not only they
-but the subjects of all other princes had had a continual trade
-and fishing in all times bygone past the memory of man.” But
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span>
-even, it was argued on their behalf, if the fish had been caught
-within his Majesty’s waters, still, in respect of the “continual
-trade” which strangers had had there in all time past, “there
-being no inhibition made or published to the contrary as yet,”
-no such treatment should have been meted out to them.<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">155</a> This
-was in the reign of James VI.; and the most likely explanation,
-in the absence of information as to the decision taken by the
-Council, is that while no official proclamation forbidding fishing
-by foreigners had been promulgated, and no recent measures
-carried out to prevent them from doing so, it was believed that
-a certain part of the sea was reserved for the use of the Scottish
-fishermen, apart from the waters of firths and lochs.</p>
-
-<p>The difference in the national policy of England and Scotland
-concerning foreigners fishing along our coasts prevailed
-until the Union of the crowns, when James introduced the
-Scottish ideas into England and soon endeavoured to transform
-them into practice. Meanwhile, under the Tudors, certain
-changes were slowly and silently taking place which paved the
-way for the new policy, and that too although, very shortly
-before, the freedom of the seas had been proclaimed and vindicated
-by Queen Elizabeth.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">UNDER THE TUDORS.</span></h2>
-
-<p>The policy of freedom of commercial intercourse, navigation,
-and fishery which was enunciated in the Intercursus Magnus
-and the treaties which preceded it, was faithfully observed
-throughout the sixteenth century. No attempt was made by
-any of the Tudor sovereigns to interfere with the liberty
-which foreigners enjoyed of fishing on the English coast; nor
-was any claim put forward by them to the dominion or lordship
-of the surrounding seas. On the contrary, throughout the
-greater part of the century, facilities were given for the peaceful
-exercise and encouragement of sea-fishing, even in time of
-war; while on several occasions the last and greatest of the
-monarchs of the Tudor line actively contested the old pretensions
-of Denmark to the sovereignty of the northern seas, and
-the more recent claims of Spain and Portugal to the exclusive
-right of navigating the great oceans. It was nevertheless during
-this century that changes occurred which made it easy for
-James early in the next to initiate a new policy of <i>mare
-clausum</i>, and to repudiate the provisions of the so-called
-Burgundy treaties. The most important of these changes was
-perhaps the decay which overtook the sea fisheries. Apart
-from their commercial and economic value, the fisheries were
-looked upon as indispensable for the maintenance of maritime
-power, and probably at no previous time had greater efforts
-been made to foster maritime power than under the Tudors.
-The hardy fishermen who navigated their barks to distant seas&mdash;to
-Iceland, to Wardhouse, round the North Cape, and now
-to Newfoundland&mdash;were trained in a school of seamanship
-which fitted them admirably to take their place for the naval
-defence of the country. Even the herring-smacks and the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span>
-dogger-boats that fished in the North Sea and the Channel
-turned out mariners by no means to be despised,&mdash;men acquainted
-with the coasts and the tides, able to manage sails
-and educated to the sea. It was this aspect of the fisheries
-which was mostly regarded by the statesmen of those times,
-and for which the “political lent” and the protective legislation
-were designed.</p>
-
-<p>The causes which led to the decay in the English fisheries
-were no doubt various, but perhaps the chief one, and the one
-on which most stress was laid in the latter part of the century,
-was the Reformation. The very large consumption of fish due
-to the observance of Lent and the numerous days of fasting, or
-fish-days, has been referred to (<a href="#Page_58">see p. 58</a>). The suppression
-of the monasteries (1536-1539) and the dispersal of the inmates
-and dependants must alone have had considerable influence, but
-the relaxation of ecclesiastical rule among the laity which followed
-was much more detrimental to the fisheries. The decay
-of the sea-coast towns, so frequently spoken of in the reign of
-Elizabeth, was mainly attributed to this cause. Another influence
-which operated in the same direction, most markedly
-towards the end of the century, was the great growth of the
-fisheries and commerce of the Dutch. After the assertion of
-their independence of Spain (1581), commonly called the
-“abjuration of Philip,” their fisheries developed with great
-rapidity. One of the first acts of the new Republic (1582) was
-the codification of the fishery statutes; and about this time
-they applied to the deep-sea herring fishery the name of Great or
-Grand Fishery (<i>Groote Visscherye</i>), as being “the chief industry
-of the country and principal gold-mine to its inhabitants,” in
-contrast to the real gold-mines of Spain. They furnished the
-greater part of Europe with cured herrings and other fish, and
-the fish supply of England, and more particularly of London,
-fell to a large extent into their hands. Their herring fishery
-was carried on along our east coast, and the spectacle of great
-fleets of foreign fishing vessels frequenting our waters, while
-the native fisheries were falling to decay, roused envious and
-jealous feelings in the breasts of patriotic Englishmen.<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">156</a></p>
-
-<p>Under the Tudors the efforts made to foster the sea fisheries
-did not, as has been said, take the form of interfering with the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</span>
-foreign fishermen. They were rather directed, on the one hand,
-to increase the consumption of fish by restoring the strict observance
-of Lent and fish-days, and, on the other hand, to
-check the importation of fish caught by foreigners. In this
-way it was hoped that the native fisheries would be stimulated
-to supply at least the home markets. As early as 1541&mdash;a year
-or two after the suppression of the monasteries&mdash;an Act was
-passed which apparently indicates that the decline in the
-fisheries had already set in, and that it was customary for the
-English people to purchase fish from foreigners rather than
-catch them for themselves. Heavy penalties were imposed on
-any person who should bring into the realm for sale fresh fish
-(except sturgeon, porpoise, and seal, which were then included
-in the term) which they had purchased from strangers in
-Flanders, Zealand, Picardy, France, or elsewhere beyond the
-sea, “or upon the sea between shore and shore”; but the buying
-of fish at Iceland, Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, Ireland, or
-Newfoundland&mdash;to all which places English vessels went&mdash;was
-not prohibited.<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">157</a> This statute was re-enacted four years later,
-and again by Edward VI. and Queen Mary.<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">158</a> In the reign of
-Elizabeth a number of similar statutes were made, with the
-object of favouring the native fishermen in their competition
-with foreigners.</p>
-
-<p>About the same time as the first Act of Henry was passed
-we begin to get evidence of laxity in the observance of Lent
-and of measures taken to deal with it. Many persons, including
-noblemen, were brought before the Privy Council charged
-with having eaten flesh in Lent, and were committed to the
-Fleet. The mayor and aldermen of London were commanded
-to make inquisition throughout all the wards of the city as to
-the households in which flesh was used in Lent, and the
-butchers were required to furnish information as to the quantity
-of flesh sold by them, and to whom, in the same period.<a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">159</a>
-This activity of the Privy Council foreshadowed the new policy
-of the “political lent” which was inaugurated a few years later
-in the reign of Edward VI., and with which the name of Cecil
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span>
-was associated. By this time it was clearly recognised that
-the religious changes that had taken place were prejudicial to
-the fisheries by lessening the consumption of fish, and in 1548
-an “Act for Abstinence from Flesh” was passed, by which fines
-were imposed on those who did not observe the usual fast-days.
-The object of the measure was clearly explained. “One day
-or one kind of meat of itself,” it said, “is not more holy, more
-pure, or more clean than another, for that all days and all
-meats be of their nature of one equal purity, cleanness, and
-holiness;” but “considering that due and godly abstinence is a
-mean to virtue, and to subdue men’s bodies to their soul and
-spirit, and considering also especially that Fishers, and men
-using the trade of living by fishing in the sea, may thereby
-the rather be set on work,” it was enacted that no person
-should eat flesh meat on Fridays, Saturdays, Ember-days, Lent,
-or on any other day which was accustomed a fish-day, under a
-penalty of ten shillings fine and ten days’ imprisonment without
-flesh food.<a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">160</a></p>
-
-<p>By this statute the political lent was established, and the
-policy of compelling the people to eat fish for the good of the
-fisheries and the navy was continued with more or less vigour
-for a century and a half. Sir William Cecil was especially
-active in its favour. He caused careful inquiries to be made
-into the condition of the decayed havens and sea-coast towns
-and the state of the fisheries. He was informed by the London
-fishmongers, to whom he had submitted a series of questions,
-that there was not so much fish then consumed “by a great
-quantity” as used to be the case, and that the number of
-vessels engaged in the fisheries had greatly decreased. On the
-latter point they referred to a return made about the twentieth
-year of the reign of Henry VIII., which showed that seven-score
-and odd ships then went to the Iceland fishery, about
-80 crayers to Shetland, and about 220 crayers from Scarborough
-and other towns to the North Seas fishing, making a total of
-about 440 fishing vessels; while at the time they wrote&mdash;in the
-reign of Edward VI., and probably in 1552 or 1553&mdash;the
-number had fallen to about 133, of which 43 went to Iceland,
-10 crayers to Shetland, and 80 to “the North Seas,” showing a
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span>
-decrease in the twenty-four or twenty-five years of about 307
-“ships and crayers.”<a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">161</a> A similar story of the decay of the fisheries
-came from the east-coast towns. At Lynn, which was
-maintained chiefly by the Iceland and the herring fisheries,
-and which twenty or thirty years before sent out about
-thirty vessels to those fisheries, there were then only two Iceland
-barks, and no herring-smacks at all. It used to be able
-to furnish 300 mariners for the king’s service, while now it
-could not supply more than twenty or thirty. And so at
-Burnham (where the fishing-boats had decreased from 26
-to <i>nil</i>), Wells, Clee, Cromer, Yarmouth, and other Norfolk
-ports&mdash;all had greatly decayed. The fisheries and the shipping
-had fallen off, the “men of substance” had lost their money or
-left, the population had diminished, and even the houses were
-falling down. To a statesman like Cecil, who knew the value
-of the mariners bred at the fishing ports for manning the navy
-if need arose, and how a flourishing fishery multiplied shipping,
-such information must have been disquieting. He calculated
-that while within twenty years back there had been 150 ships
-for Iceland, 220 for the north seas, and 78 for “Shotland”
-(Shetland), the numbers had fallen when he wrote to 43 for
-Iceland, 75 for the north seas, and 9 for Shetland; and that
-the number of fishing vessels had decreased from 448 to 127.<a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">162</a></p>
-
-<p>In replying to Cecil’s second question as to the cause of the
-decay in the fisheries, the fishmongers said it was first of all
-due to the diminished consumption of fish, since the fish-days
-were not “duly observed as heretofore,” which “took away
-such hope of gain as in time past they have had” in carrying
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span>
-on the fisheries. A second reason they gave was the
-greater love “for ease and pleasure” than in former times,
-people now preferring to buy their fish from strangers rather
-than to “travail and venture for it themselves,”&mdash;a very
-common charge against Englishmen then and for a long time
-afterwards. As a third reason, they said the price of fish was
-regulated in various towns by the mayors and other officers in
-such a way that they were often forced to sell without sufficient
-profit, while Government purveyors made them part with their
-fish at nominal prices. It is to be noted that they made no
-complaint against foreign fishermen or the importation of
-foreign fish.</p>
-
-<p>During the brief reign of Mary (1553-1558) Cecil was in the
-shade, but shortly after the accession of Elizabeth he again
-devoted attention to the decay of the fisheries and tried to
-apply fitting remedies. Among the State Papers of the year
-1563 is a long and elaborate document, copiously revised by
-Cecil himself, which deals with the condition of shipping and
-fisheries, and obviously formed the basis and argument for the
-great Act made in the same year.<a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">163</a> In this paper the decay of
-the navy both in ships and mariners was traced by Cecil to a
-variety of causes: the piracies of Turks and Moors on the
-Levant trade, the transference of the spice trade from the
-Venetians to the Portuguese and Spaniards, the Spanish law of
-bottomry, the augmentation by the King of Denmark of the tolls
-at the Sound and his recovery of Iceland, and the decay of the
-English fisheries. Herrings and other sea fish, he said, were
-now taken upon our coast by strangers, who brought them into
-the realm and sold them “to the very inhabitants of the parts
-that were used to be fishermen,” while Englishmen had themselves
-been prohibited from exporting fish.<a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">164</a> The remedies
-which Cecil proposed were that the importation of wines and
-woad should be allowed only in English ships; that Englishmen
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span>
-should be prohibited from purchasing fresh herrings which
-had been caught by strangers; that they should be free to
-export and sell sea fish out of the realm; and, principally, that
-Wednesday should be made an additional fish-day. The decay
-of the fisheries, he said, was manifest on all the sea coast in the
-decay of the port towns, which soon would be “remedeless,” and
-it was caused by diminished consumption of fish at home and
-the want of foreign markets.<a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">165</a> On the other hand, Scotland,
-Norway, Denmark, Friesland, Zealand, Holland, and Flanders
-caught not only sufficient fish for themselves, but exported it to
-other countries, including England; while Spain provided herself
-by her fisheries on the south coast of Ireland, and France
-“aboundeth with fishermen” from her great fisheries at Newfoundland
-and Iceland.<a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">166</a> Cecil’s conclusion was that there was
-no likelihood for a long time of developing a flourishing export
-trade in fish, and that it would be necessary to institute another
-fish-day to increase the demand at home. On this part of his
-proposals he entered into a long argument, showing that in 1536
-the 500 monasteries which paid tithes to the king, with a minimum
-number of 25,000 inmates, must have required a great
-supply of fish, as fish was then eaten on at least seventy-six
-days a year more than at the time when he wrote.<a id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">167</a></p>
-
-<p>By the great Act passed in 1563, “Touching certain Politic
-Constitutions made for the Maintenance of the Navy,” Wednesday
-was added to the two fish-days previously enjoined by the
-statute of Edward VI., but only after long debate and opposition
-on the part of the “puritans.”<a id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">168</a> The Act also contained
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span>
-provisions to restrain foreign importation of fish, to encourage
-the export of English-caught fish by subjects, and to remove
-the complaints as to the action of purveyors and burdensome
-impositions&mdash;points on which the fishmongers had laid some
-stress. Herrings and other sea fish taken by Englishmen in
-English ships were to be freely exported without paying
-custom; no tax, toll, or restraint was to be imposed on fish
-taken and landed by subjects; it was made illegal to buy from
-strangers any herrings unless they were “sufficiently salted,
-packed, and casked”; only English vessels were to be allowed
-to carry coastwise any fish, victuals, or other goods; the
-cultivation of flax for fishing-nets was to be encouraged;
-and on the plea that there was “much deceitful packing”
-of cod and ling brought into the realm by aliens, the importation
-of these fish was forbidden, except only “loose, in bulk
-and by tale.” Most of these provisions and prohibitions would
-operate against the Dutch, who had not only a large part
-of the trade in herrings with England, but practically the
-monopoly in supplying barrelled cod and ling.<a id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">169</a></p>
-
-<p>From this time forward the policy of protecting the native
-fisheries by checking the competition of foreigners went hand
-in hand with the encouragement of the consumption of fish
-by the compulsory observance of fish-days. Interfering as it
-did with established practice and conflicting trade interests,
-the Act aroused opposition in various quarters, especially on
-the part of those who were interested in the important commerce
-in cured cod-fish. In the year after it passed, the Queen’s
-purveyors were unable to obtain in England sufficient supplies
-of fish for the navy and the royal service, and they were
-licensed to import cod-fish, lings, and green-cod, in barrels
-or casks, notwithstanding the prohibition in the Act,<a id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">170</a>&mdash;a
-privilege which had to be extended to all English subjects
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span>
-a few years later with respect to fish caught in their own
-vessels “with cross-sails.”<a id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">171</a> On the other hand, it was claimed
-that the Act had done good. The coast people of Norfolk and
-Suffolk informed the Council in 1568 that it had increased the
-trade in fish in these counties; and as the Act had been passed
-for four years only and continued at the Queen’s pleasure, they
-petitioned that it should be renewed, and that provision should
-be made to put a stop to the importation by strangers of cod
-and ling in bulk, which were dried and sold under the name of
-Iceland fish, to the detriment of those engaged in the Iceland
-fishery, and also to ensure that fish-days should be better
-observed.<a id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">172</a> In the same year the Council instructed the
-magistrates of London, Hull, and Southampton, and the
-justices of various shires, to commit to jail any persons
-fraudulently dealing with foreign imported cod and ling as
-Iceland fish;<a id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">173</a> and three years later another Act was passed,
-giving effect to the wishes of the fishermen, and continuing the
-former Act for other six years.<a id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">174</a> It contained a new provision
-showing that complaints had been made about the vessels, some
-of them foreign, which came “pretending” to buy fresh herrings
-on the coast of Norfolk. To avoid “lewd outrages” by these
-“catches, mongers, and Picardes,” in cutting and damaging the
-drift-nets of the fishermen, they were prohibited from anchoring
-between sunset and sunrise during the fishing season
-in the places where the boats were accustomed to fish.</p>
-
-<p>Up to about this time no complaint seems to have been
-made against the foreign fishermen either by English fishermen
-or by statesmen or writers. The men from the Low Countries
-appear to have pursued their occupation in peace side by side
-with the Englishmen. But in 1570 the first note was heard of
-what became later almost a continuous lamentation. A petition
-was presented to the Privy Council asking that “letters”
-should be sent to Zealand and Holland, or ships of war despatched
-to protect the English fishermen from the evil doings
-of the Low Countrymen. “Otherwise,” the petitioners said,
-“both wee and all others that entend fysshing in all partes of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span>
-this realme shall be utterly undone, for that the fishermen
-Flemynges this yeire have so spoyled and mysused all the
-coaste men, that it hath so discomforted them” that they feared
-“the whole avoyadaunce of fysshing both for herring and
-other fysshing upon all the north coast of this realme.”<a id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">175</a>
-Whether or not this complaint referred to the outrages described
-in the Act quoted above is uncertain, but probably
-it did not, as the Hollanders and Zealanders fished for themselves,
-and they were now becoming rather numerous. It does
-not appear that any special action was taken regarding the
-petition. It was Cecil’s aim to increase the use of fish within
-the realm and to foster the native fisheries, but he had no
-desire to interfere with the liberty of fishing enjoyed by the
-Hollanders. Such action would have been contrary not only
-to the treaties but to the international policy of England at
-that time. On political and religious grounds the aid of the
-Dutch was needful in the struggle against the common enemy,
-Spain.</p>
-
-<p>That the English people had become interested in the condition
-of the fisheries and somewhat jealous of the fleets of
-foreign vessels which fished along their coast may be inferred
-from the appearance at this time of two works&mdash;one by Captain
-Robert Hitchcock, and the other by the learned and unfortunate
-Dr John Dee. It is a curious circumstance that those authors,
-who wrote at the same period, should each have advocated one
-of the two lines of policy adopted in the next century. Hitchcock
-was all for freedom of fishing, for strangers and natives
-alike. His remedy was the creation of a great English fishery
-organisation to oust the Dutch from our seas. Dee, on the
-other hand, was emphatic in claiming <i>mare clausum</i> and an
-exclusive fishing for Englishmen, and in urging heavy taxation
-of foreigners who fished in the British seas.</p>
-
-<p>Hitchcock was a gentleman and a soldier who, in 1553,
-as he himself tells us, while serving the Emperor Charles V.
-in his wars in the Low Countries, had observed with astonishment
-that the wealth and shipping of Zealand and Holland
-were due to their sea fisheries. Pondering on his discovery,
-he thought out a plan some years later by which a great
-national fishery might be established in England to supplant
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span>
-the Dutch, so that the wealth acquired by them in the British
-seas might go to profit his own countrymen. It was the first
-of the innumerable schemes of the kind which are to be found
-scattered over the economic literature of the next two centuries.
-Having reduced his plan to writing, he submitted it about
-the year 1573 to the Earl of Leicester, in 1575 to Queen
-Elizabeth, and in the following year he distributed copies to
-men of influence, in the hope “that God would stir up some
-good man to set out this work.” It appears even to have been
-brought to the notice of Parliament by Sir Leonard Digges, but
-its consideration was deferred “for want of time.”<a id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">176</a> The copy
-presented to the Queen is preserved among the Burghley Papers
-in the British Museum,<a id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">177</a> and the completed work, somewhat
-enlarged,&mdash;now very rare,&mdash;was published (in black-letter)
-on 1st January 1580 as “A New Year’s Gift to England.”<a id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">178</a></p>
-
-<p>The plan of Hitchcock was to borrow &pound;80,000 for three years,
-when the whole amount would be repaid from the proceeds
-of the fish sold. The shires were to be arranged in eight
-groups, each group providing with its &pound;10,000 fifty fishing
-vessels of not less than 70 tons burthen, or 400 altogether.
-These were to be built after the manner of “Flemysche Busses”
-and distributed at eighty ports around the coast; and at eight
-of the chief ports (London, Yarmouth, Hull, Newcastle, Chester,
-Bristol, Exeter, and Southampton) two “honest and substantial
-men of credit” were to be appointed chief officers, to act as
-treasurers, purveyors, and directors. Hitchcock estimated that
-each ship when ready for fishing would cost &pound;200; the crews
-were to consist of a skilled master, twelve mariners or fishermen,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span>
-and twelve “strong lustie beggers or poore men taken
-upp through the land.”<a id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">179</a> The scheme proposed that the busses
-should first fish for herrings on the coast of England and
-Ireland during the fourteen or fifteen weeks this fishing lasted,
-the herrings being cured and branded after the “Flemish”
-fashion. The busses were also to visit Newfoundland for
-cod and ling; or some were to go to Iceland, “Wardhouse,”<a id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">180</a>
-the north seas of England and Scotland, or to Ireland. It
-was intended to employ some of them in winter in exporting
-the surplus of cured fish to France, “or elsewhere.” As for the
-all-important question of earnings, it was calculated that each
-buss would catch at least 50 lasts, or 600 barrels, of herrings,
-worth &pound;10 a last; altogether &pound;200,000 from this item,<a id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">181</a> and
-if two voyages were made, the amount would be doubled.
-It was supposed that each buss would bring back from Newfoundland
-20,000 of the best “wet” fish and 10,000 dried&mdash;together
-worth &pound;500; the same value was placed upon the
-15,000 cod and 10,000 ling to be procured at Iceland, Wardhouse,
-or the north seas; and besides the fish, each ship
-was estimated to return with &pound;50-&pound;60 worth of cod-liver oil.
-Then with regard to the “vent” or sale of the fish, it was
-assumed that about half of the herrings, or 120,000 barrels,
-would be required for home consumption&mdash;not an exaggerated
-idea, for from other accounts it appears that London and the
-parts around it consumed about this time 60,000 barrels.
-Markets for the surplus herrings, it was believed, would be
-found at Normandy, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Rochelle. The
-profits were to be divided into shares, and besides paying
-off the borrowed capital and the interest (at 10 per cent),
-a stock of &pound;8000 was to be formed at the eight chief ports,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span>
-and &pound;400 at the “225 decayed towns” in England and Wales
-for the philanthropic purpose of giving work to the poor.
-Nay, there was more. At the chief ports the surplus earnings
-were to provide a salary for “an honest, virtuous and learned
-man,” who was to travel constantly about the coasts preaching
-to the people, “as the Apostles did.” Among the indirect
-benefits to the nation Hitchcock included the transformation
-of idle vagabonds, of whom there were plenty, “daily increasing,”
-into good subjects&mdash;some of the Members of Parliament
-thought this part of the scheme alone entitled it to national
-support,&mdash;the addition of 9000 mariners for manning the navy,
-the saving of coin spent on foreign fish, the increase of the
-Queen’s customs, of commerce and navigation, and the repair
-of the decayed towns.</p>
-
-<p>Such was the dream of this enthusiastic but thoroughly
-sincere old soldier: to expel the Hollanders from our seas
-by means of a national fishery organisation and to win back
-for England the wealth they gathered from her waters. At
-the time when he wrote, foreign fishermen were not nearly
-so numerous on our coasts as they became later. The herring-busses
-from the Low Countries which fished on the east coast
-numbered, he says, between 400 and 500, and the Englishmen
-“for feare of them,” and of tempests, fished in small vessels
-near the shore, as he shows in a “similitude,” here reproduced
-(<a href="#fig_2">fig. 2</a>). Besides these, between 300 and 400 ships and barks
-from Biscay, Galicia, and Portugal fished off the south-west
-coast of Ireland from April to July, “near to Mackertymors
-country”; and also on the west and north-west coasts of
-Ireland for cod and ling from about Christmas to March.
-Hitchcock makes no complaint against the foreign fishermen
-for fishing in “her Majesty’s seas.” With a fine catholic generosity
-he indeed expressly says that all men of what country
-soever should be free to do so; that there was enough fish in
-the northern seas for all, even if there were 1000 sail more than
-there was. He believed that the English, by being so much
-nearer the fishing grounds, ought to be able to undersell the
-foreigner and get the markets and the trade.<a id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">182</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_2" src="images/fig_2.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 2.&mdash;<i>Hitchcock’s representation of the English and Flemish fisheries.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The scheme of Dr John Dee was very different from that of
-Hitchcock. A mathematician, an astrologer, a reputed magician,
-and, above all, an accomplished scholar, he looked at the subject
-from another point of view. Well acquainted with the writings
-of the Italian jurists and the practice of the Italian states, he
-expounded the view that the fisheries and the sovereignty in the
-British seas pertained to the crown of England, and that
-foreigners should be compelled to pay tribute for the liberty of
-fishing within them. It is the philosopher of Mortlake, indeed,
-who must be recognised as the literary pioneer of the claims to
-the sovereignty of the sea which were put forward by England
-in the seventeenth century. In 1577 he published a book
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span>
-entitled <i>General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect
-Arte of Navigation</i>,<a id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">183</a> in which he dealt with the fisheries
-and the boundaries of the British seas, and recommended that
-the tribute to be exacted from foreign fishermen should be
-expended in maintaining a navy to be called “The Petty Navy
-Royall,” for keeping the seas and supervising the fisheries.
-“Should not forreyne fishermen,” he asks, “(overboldly now
-and to to injuriously abusing oure riche fishings about England,
-Wales and Ireland), by the presence, oversight, power and
-industry of this Petty Navy Royal be made content; and judge
-themselves well apaid to enjoy, by our leave, some great portion
-of revenue to enrich themselves and their countries by, with
-fishing within the seas appertayning to oure ancient bounds
-and limits? Where now, to oure great shame and reproache,
-some of them do come in a manner home to our doors; and
-among them all, deprive us yearly of many hundred thousand
-pounds, whiche by our fishermen using the said fishings as
-chief, we might enjoy; and at length, by little and little, bring
-them (if we would deal so rigorously with them) to have as
-little portion of our peculiar commodity (to our Islandish
-Monarchy, by God and Nature assigned) as now they force
-our fishermen to be contented with; and yearly notwithstanding,
-doo at their fishing openly and ragingly use suche words of reproche
-toward our Prince and realm, as no true subject’s hart can
-quietly digest; and besides that, offer such shamefull wrongs to
-the good laboursom people of this land, as is not (by any reason)
-to be born withall, or endured any longer: destroying their nets,
-cutting their cables to the los of their anchors; yea, and often-tymes
-of Barkes, men and all.”<a id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">184</a> Here is the first note of a
-plaint which will become very common. He also accused the
-foreign fishermen, under colour of fishing, of making secret
-soundings of the channels and banks along our coast, to the
-great danger of the realm.</p>
-
-<p>As for their fishing on the English coast, he says, erroneously,
-that the men from the Low Countries had frequented the herring
-fishing off Yarmouth for only thirty years (since 1540), since
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span>
-when their numbers had greatly increased. They had now
-become “very rich, strong, proud, and violent,” so that the ships
-of Norfolk and Suffolk, next to the fishing places, were reduced
-in numbers by 140 sail, besides crayers and other craft. The
-number of Flemish herring-busses that came to our coast he
-placed at over 500, while there were about 100 French; and
-300 or 400 “Flemings” fished for cod in the north seas, “within
-the English limits.” Other foreigners, moreover, caught herrings
-on the Lancashire and Welsh coasts, and about 300 sail of Spaniards,
-besides Frenchmen, fished off Cape Clear and Blackrock
-in Ireland. All these fishings, said Dee, were “enjoyed as
-securely and freely from us by strangers, as if they were within
-their own King’s peculiar sea limits; nay, rather as if those
-coasts, seas and bays were of their private and several purchases:
-to our unspeakable loss, discredit and discomfort, and
-to no small further danger in these peculiar times of most
-subtle treacheries and fickle fidelity.” While admitting that
-the British seas were free for navigation, Dee held that the
-fisheries pertained to the crown of England, and that no
-foreigner had a right to cast a net in our sea without first
-obtaining leave from the Queen. To her belonged “the tenth”
-of all foreign fishings “within the royal limits and jurisdiction”
-in the British and Irish seas, and it was “a most reasonable and
-friendly request” that foreigners should pay that tenth in
-acknowledgment of the liberty to fish,&mdash;a tribute which he
-calculated would amount to &pound;100,000 a-year, and which he
-urged should be devoted to the maintenance of the “Petty
-Navy Royal.”</p>
-
-<p>Dee was not only the first English writer who claimed the
-sovereignty of the sea and the fisheries for England; he was
-also the first who attempted to define their boundaries in detail.
-At the time when he wrote, it appears indeed to have been held
-in theory by some lawyers that the limit of the English seas
-extended to the mid-line between England and foreign coasts,
-except in the case of the Channel, where the water right up to
-the opposite shore was believed to be under the sovereignty of
-England. The doctrine, no doubt, was evolved from the opinions
-of the Italian jurists, whose authority was then very high (<a href="#Page_539">see
-p. 539</a>), and from the political relations with France then and
-in former times. Two years before Dee published his book,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span>
-Plowden, an eminent lawyer, acting as counsel in a case concerning
-the rights on a manor to wreck of the sea, argued for
-the defendant that “the bounds of England” extended to the
-middle of the adjoining sea which surrounded the realm, but
-that the Queen had the exclusive jurisdiction on the sea between
-England and France by reason of her title to France, and so
-also with Ireland; whereas in other places, as towards Spain,
-she had only the moiety. It was the same, said Plowden, with
-the sea as with great rivers. But while Plowden allowed the
-“jurisdiction and governance of all things” to the Queen on the
-sea within the limits stated, he denied to her the right of
-property in it or in the land under it; it was common to all
-men, and she could not prohibit any one from fishing in it; the
-water and the land under it were things of no value, and “the
-fish are always removable from one place to another.”<a id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">185</a></p>
-
-<p>Dee adopted the same opinion as to the limits, but held,
-as we have seen, that the fisheries were appropriated. The
-boundaries of the Queen’s “peculiar seas,” he said, were “in
-all places to be accounted directly to the myddle seas over
-betweene the sea-shores of her own kingdom (and of all petty
-Isles to the same kingdom appertayning) and the opposite sea-shores
-of all forrein princes: and in all seas lying immediately
-betweene any two of her own coasts or sea-shores, the whole
-breadth of the seas over (in such places) is, by all reason of
-justice, appropriate to her peculiar jurisdiction and sea royalty,”
-even if the distance in such cases were 1000 miles or
-more.<a id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">186</a> On the other hand, according to Dee, neighbouring
-countries were to be allowed the same rights and interests in
-the moiety of the sea appropriate to their coasts.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span></p>
-
-<p>The limits of the British seas, and the sovereignty pertaining
-to them, were more fully described by Dr Dee some
-years later in a long unpublished letter or treatise addressed to
-Sir Edward Dyer,<a id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">187</a> who had apparently asked him for a fuller
-statement of his views on the subject. In his book Dee said
-little about the boundaries in the Channel, where the principle
-of the mid-line was complicated by two circumstances&mdash;the
-claim of Elizabeth to the French crown, and the possession by
-England of the Channel Islands. In his later treatise he says
-that presupposing “for doctrine’s sake” that Calais was in the
-hands of Spain, and the northern coasts of Picardy and Normandy
-were appropriated by France (which was the case), then
-the boundary must be drawn in the very middle of the Channel
-between Dover and Calais, and then westwards in the middle
-line between the opposite coasts of England and of Picardy and
-Normandy, until it touched the middle of a straight line drawn
-between Portland and the island of Alderney. In this region,
-west of the line, inasmuch as the coasts of the Channel Islands
-and the opposite coast of England belonged to the Queen, her
-Majesty had “absolute, peculiar, and appropriate Sea Sovereignty
-and Jurisdiction Royall.” The western boundary of this area
-of absolute sovereignty in the narrow seas coincided with a
-line drawn from Start Point to an “island” that Dee calls
-“Rocktow,” which is unrepresented on charts, but which is
-probably a phonetic synonym for “Roches Douvres,” a group
-of islets off the north coast of Brittany.<a id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">188</a> From the middle of
-this line the boundary passed westwards, again midway between
-the coasts of England and Brittany, until it touched the middle
-of a third straight line drawn from the north-west part of
-Ushant to about the Lizard. These were the limits on the
-supposition above referred to; but, “speaking more boldly in
-her Majesty’s right,” Dee declared that the whole sea between
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span>
-the south coast of England and the north coast of France&mdash;Picardy,
-Normandy, and Brittany&mdash;was under the Queen’s “sea-jurisdiction
-and sovereignty absolute,” inasmuch as she was a
-real monarch of France by direct inheritance and prior conquest,
-and therefore had right to the French coasts; and this
-“absolute sovereignty” served to “enlarge and warrant” the
-Queen’s “Jurisdiction Respective” in the ocean to the west of
-France. So also the jurisdiction of the crown of England
-extended into the main ocean to the west of England and
-Ireland by reason of the possession of the shores; while the
-ocean around Scotland, inasmuch as that country was (he
-said) in olden times tributary to the English kings, yielded to
-her Majesty “a mightie portion of Sea Sovereignty,” as it
-stretched away westwards to “that famous and very ancient
-Platonicall or Solonicall Atlantis.” For the same reasons Dee
-claimed prerogative and jurisdiction for the Queen in the
-northern ocean, and between Scotland and the opposite coasts
-of Norway and Denmark, “at least to the mid-sea,” and so
-to the southwards “half seas over” between the east coast
-of England and the coasts of Denmark, Friesland, and Holland,
-to the Straits of Dover.</p>
-
-<p>Within the British seas as thus defined, Dee claimed that the
-crown of England had first of all sovereign jurisdiction, over
-foreigners as well as over subjects,<a id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">189</a> and part of the duty of the
-Petty Navy Royal&mdash;which, as stated, was to be maintained by
-taxing foreign fishermen&mdash;was to guard and protect foreign
-ships passing through our seas. This doctrine he based upon
-the law as laid down by the Italian jurists. Nor did he forget
-the purely naval side. Quoting the old proverb, “A sword
-keepeth peace,” he argued that the presence of a fleet such as
-he suggested would cause other nations to respect us more
-than they did, and enable us to enjoy the royalty and
-sovereignty of the narrow seas and of our other seas better
-than the possession of Calais and Boulogne could do.</p>
-
-<p>Dee’s work was premature. His proposals that Elizabeth
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span>
-should tax foreigners for fishing in the British seas and exercise
-jurisdiction over foreign vessels passing through them
-remained as much a dream as the scheme of Hitchcock.<a id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">190</a> It
-need not be supposed that such measures as Dee proposed
-were intrinsically distasteful either to the Queen or to Cecil.
-If a navy could have been acquired so easily, or a much
-less sum than &pound;100,000 gathered from foreign fishermen in
-a “friendly” way, as Dee supposed, neither the sovereign nor
-the statesman was likely to let the chance go by. But they
-knew better than the philosopher, or than the Stuarts in the
-next century, that a policy of the kind would involve them
-in difficulties with other Powers,&mdash;with France and Spain as
-well as with the Protestant Netherlands.</p>
-
-<p>So far from adopting any policy of this nature or making
-any claim to a special sovereignty in the surrounding seas,
-Elizabeth steadily opposed all claims which other nations put
-forward to <i>mare clausum</i>. Long before Grotius, she was the
-champion of the free sea, although it must be admitted that
-the action of the English Queen was no more based on considerations
-of the general good of mankind than were the
-efforts of the Dutch publicist: both had in view the interests
-of their native land. Elizabeth’s motive was to secure liberty
-of trade and fishery for her subjects, which was threatened
-by the pretensions of Spain and Portugal on the one hand
-and by Denmark on the other. The Portuguese pretension
-was of long standing. When that nation in the latter half
-of the fifteenth century had pushed her way down the west
-coast of Africa and ultimately round the Cape of Good Hope
-to the East Indies, she obtained from the Pope various bulls
-securing her in her possessions, and granting sovereign authority
-to the crown of Portugal in all the lands it might discover in
-the Atlantic from Cape Bojador to the Indies. By an inhuman
-doctrine established during the Crusades, Christian princes were
-supposed to have the right to invade, ravage, and acquire the
-territories of infidel nations on the plea of extending the sway
-of the Christian Church; and the Pope, from his supreme
-authority over all temporal things, disposed of these heathen
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span>
-lands to such princes as might bring them under the dominion
-of the Church and propagate the true faith among the inhabitants.
-Immediately on the return of Columbus from his first
-voyage in 1493, the Spanish monarchs accordingly obtained a
-bull from Pope Alexander VI. confirming them in the newly-discovered
-regions; and in order to prevent disputes with
-Portugal as to the extent of their respective claims, another
-bull was issued, on 4th May 1493, containing the famous line
-of demarcation between their territories. This was an ideal
-straight line drawn from the North Pole to the South Pole,
-passing 100 leagues to the west of the Azores and Cape
-Verde Islands. All islands or lands discovered to the west
-of this line by the Spaniards, and which had not been in the
-possession of any Christian Power before the preceding Christmas,
-were to belong to the Spanish crown; and all territory
-discovered to the east of it was to belong to Portugal. The
-Pope, moreover, granted a monopoly of commerce within those
-immense regions to the respective crowns, so that other nations
-could not trade thither without license from the Spanish or
-Portuguese sovereigns.<a id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">191</a> Spaniards even were not allowed to
-go to the New World either to trade or form establishments
-without royal license and authority. Disputes arose between
-Spain and Portugal as to the equity of the Pope’s line of
-demarcation, and by the Treaty of Tordesillas, 7th June 1494,
-they agreed that the inter-polar line should pass 370 leagues
-to the west of Cape Verde Islands.<a id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">192</a> The exclusive rights conferred
-by the Pope were rigorously enforced by Spain and
-Portugal. Navigation to their new possessions, or the carrying
-on of any trade or commerce with them, without royal license
-was made punishable by death and confiscation of goods.<a id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">193</a></p>
-
-<p>Early in her reign Elizabeth had occasion to protest against
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span>
-the claims of Portugal, and had a heated dispute with King
-Sebastian about them.<a id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">194</a> Later, the daring exploits of Drake
-on the Spanish seas were more than a flagrant violation of
-Philip’s pretension to <i>mare clausum</i> in the western Atlantic
-and the Pacific Oceans&mdash;a claim which Elizabeth refused to
-recognise. When Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador, complained
-to her in 1580 of Drake’s depredations, and that
-English ships presumed to trade in the “Indian” seas, he was
-told in effect that the Spaniards, contrary to the Law of Nations,
-had prohibited the English from carrying on commerce in
-those regions, and had consequently drawn the mischief upon
-themselves. She was unable to understand, she said, why
-her subjects and those of other princes should be barred from
-the “Indies.” She could not recognise the prerogative of
-the Bishop of Rome “that he should bind princes who owe
-him no obedience,” and her subjects would continue to navigate
-“that vast ocean,” since “the use of the sea and air is common
-to all; neither can any title to the ocean belong to any
-people or private man, forasmuch as neither nature nor regard
-of the public use permitteth any possession thereof.”<a id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">195</a></p>
-
-<p>About the time when Drake left England, the question of
-the right of Spain to forbid the English to trade to the Indies
-had been considered. It was argued that the Pope’s bull was
-void, for several reasons. The consent of the Pope had been
-conditional for the conversion of the natives, while the “usage
-of the Spaniards hath been otherwise.” The bull could have
-no force in tending to the prejudice of a third party, because
-all princes by the Law of Nations had the right of navigation
-in the sea and the right of traffic, and the Pope could not
-deprive them of these rights. Besides, there had been agreements
-between Spain and England since the date of the bull
-that the subjects of each state might freely traffic in the
-dominions of the other; and the Spanish lawyers had come
-to the conclusion that the Venetians could not legally inhibit
-others from trading in the Adriatic, and therefore, by the same
-reasoning, neither could the Spaniards or Portuguese prohibit
-orderly and lawful traffic to their Indies.<a id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">196</a> Elizabeth has been
-charged with inconsistency on the ground that at the time
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span>
-when she was asserting the freedom of the seas against the
-claims of Spain she was claiming for herself, “with very great
-energy,” a similar dominion in the British seas.<a id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">197</a> The charge
-is quite unfounded. No claim was put forward by her to
-the sovereignty of the British seas. On the contrary, they
-were declared to be free for the navigation and fishery of all
-nations.</p>
-
-<p>The policy of Elizabeth as to the freedom of the sea is
-revealed still more clearly in the negotiations with the King
-of Denmark as to the right of fishery at Iceland and in the
-northern seas. Denmark claimed not only the Sound and the
-Belts and the maritime dominion of the Baltic, with the right
-of controlling the navigation through them, but also the seas
-intervening between the coasts of Norway on the one hand
-and Iceland and Greenland on the other. A similar claim was
-made to the sea between Norway and the Orkney and Shetland
-Isles, at all events prior to 1468, when they were acquired by
-Scotland. Putting aside altogether the differences that arose
-with regard to the dues exacted at the Sound and in connection
-with the Baltic, a great many disputes had occurred
-between England and Norway and Denmark as to the right
-of Englishmen to trade and fish at Iceland and along the
-Norwegian coast, and many treaties were made between the
-two Powers regulating that right. From an early period
-numerous barks from Lynn, Yarmouth, Hull, Scarborough,
-and other east coast ports, and from Bristol, frequented the
-northern seas for fishing and buying fish, and for traffic,
-visiting not only Iceland, but Helgeland, Nordland, and Finmark,
-and going at least as far east as Wardhouse or Vard&ouml;.
-In 1415 Henry V., at the request of King Eric, and notwithstanding
-an earnest petition of the Commons to the contrary,<a id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">198</a>
-prohibited his subjects from going to Iceland or other islands
-belonging to Norway or Denmark;<a id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">199</a> in 1429 the King of
-Denmark prohibited English merchants from purchasing fish
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span>
-at Finmark, or elsewhere in his dominions than at Bergen,
-against which the English petitioned Henry VI.;<a id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">200</a> and in 1490
-an important treaty was concluded between Henry VII. and
-King John II. of Denmark and Norway, by which English
-subjects were granted liberty to sail freely to Iceland for
-fishing or trading on paying the usual customs, provided that
-they obtained a renewal of their license to do so every seven
-years.<a id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">201</a> This treaty was renewed in 1523 between Henry VIII.
-and Christian II.,<a id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">202</a> but disputes frequently arose later, and
-several embassies were charged with composing the differences.</p>
-
-<p>Apparently the English fishermen did not always conduct
-themselves with propriety. They were accused of committing
-various wrongs and injuries on the inhabitants, and in 1585,
-on the complaint of the King of Denmark, Queen Elizabeth
-issued an Order in Council reproving them for their excesses,
-and intimating that if they were continued the King of Denmark
-would interdict their fishing, and “punish such as shall
-without his license repair thither, and confiscate their ships
-and goods.” The king, she said, had promised that if the
-English fishermen abstained from committing outrages and
-behaved themselves, and paid the customary duties, he would
-allow them to enjoy the liberties they had formerly possessed;
-and she commanded the principal officers at her ports to take
-bonds from all those going to Iceland or Wardhouse for their
-good behaviour.<a id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">203</a> But the disputes and difficulties continued.
-The English fishermen omitted to renew their licenses septenially,&mdash;in
-1592 it was said they had not been obtained
-for twelve years, and the stipulation had been forgotten by
-those in authority,<a id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">204</a>&mdash;and the Danes began about 1593 to
-interrupt them in their fishing at Westmoney and in the sea
-off Iceland, and to seize their vessels. On complaint being
-made to the King of Denmark, he declared his willingness to
-allow the Englishmen to fish at Iceland under license, except
-at Westmoney (small islands on the south coast), where the
-fishing was reserved for his court.<a id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">205</a> At the close of the century
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span>
-the Danes used stronger measures. In 1599 several English
-vessels were seized or molested. Five ships of Kingston-upon-Hull,
-while at Wardhouse for fish, as had been their custom
-for years, were met there by a small Danish fleet with the
-King of Denmark himself on board, who caused them to be seized
-as prize, took all the goods and effects of the Englishmen, beat
-some of the crew and put them in irons, and finally carried off
-four of the ships.<a id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">206</a> Other English vessels were driven away
-from their fishing on the high seas around Iceland, although
-far from the coast.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth complained strongly of these acts of injustice as
-being contrary to the Law of Nations.<a id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">207</a> A Danish ambassador
-who came to England at this time tried to justify the prohibitions
-by reference to the treaty of 1583, by which permission
-had been given to English vessels to navigate the northern
-seas to Russia, but which did not grant any authority for fishing;
-and he requested the Queen to publish an edict inhibiting
-her subjects from fishing at Iceland or Wardhouse without the
-license of the King of Denmark, declaring that many English
-vessels persisted in carrying on the fishery without any license,
-contrary to the treaties. Reliance was also placed on an old
-treaty made in 1468 between Edward IV. and Christian I., in
-which it was stipulated that English vessels should not go
-farther north on the coast of Norway than Hagaland.<a id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">208</a> In the
-following year ambassadors were dispatched from England to
-negotiate an arrangement concerning the tolls levied at the
-Sound and the freedom of the northern seas for English fishermen,<a id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">209</a>
-and in a paper of 1602 conveying instructions to the
-ambassadors at Bremen we find an admirable exposition of the
-principles of the freedom of the seas.</p>
-
-<p>After claiming that the treaties of 1490 and 1523 had given
-liberty of fishing to the English, the ambassadors were to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span>
-declare that the Law of Nations allowed fishing in the sea
-everywhere, as well as the use of the ports and coasts of princes
-in amity for traffic and the avoiding of the dangers from
-tempests; so that if the English were debarred from the enjoyment
-of those common rights, it could only be in virtue of an
-agreement. But there was no such contract or agreement. On
-the contrary, by denying English subjects the right of fishing
-in the sea and despoiling them for so doing, the King of Denmark
-had injured them against the Law of Nations and the
-terms of the treaty. Moreover, with respect to the licenses the
-Queen declared that if her predecessors had “yielded” to take
-them, “it was more than by the Law of Nations was due”;
-they might have yielded for some special consideration; and in
-any case it could not be concluded that the right of fishing,
-“due by the Law of Nations,” failed because licenses were
-omitted. As to the claim to the sea between Iceland and Norway
-on the ground that the King of Denmark possessed both
-coasts&mdash;the argument used by Dee and Plowden for the dominion
-of the English crown in the Channel&mdash;Elizabeth was
-emphatic. If it was supposed thereby “that for the property
-of a whole sea it is sufficient to have the banks on both sides,
-as in rivers,” the ambassadors were to declare “that though
-property of sea, in some small distance from the coast, may
-yield some oversight and jurisdiction, yet use not princes to
-forbid passage or fishing, as is well seen in our Seas of England
-and Ireland, and in the Adriatic Sea of the Venetians, where
-we in ours and they in theirs, have property of command; and
-yet neither we in ours nor they in theirs, offer to forbid fishing,
-much less passage to ships of merchandise; the which by Law
-of Nations cannot be forbidden ordinarily; neither is it to be
-allowed that property of sea in whatsoever distance is consequent
-to the banks, as it happeneth in small rivers. For
-then, by like reason, the half of every sea should be appropriated
-to the next bank, as it happeneth in small rivers, where
-the banks are proper to divers men; whereby it would follow
-that no sea were common, the banks on every side being in the
-property of one or other; wherefore there remaineth no colour
-that Denmark may claim any property in those seas, to forbid
-passage or fishing therein.”</p>
-
-<p>The ambassadors were to declare that the Queen could not
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span>
-agree that her subjects should be absolutely forbidden the seas,
-ports, or coasts in question for the use of fishing, “negotiation,”
-and safety; she had never yielded any such right to Spain and
-Portugal for the Indian seas and havens. Nevertheless, if the
-King of Denmark for special reasons desired that she should
-“yield to some renewing of license,” or that “some special place
-upon some special occasion” should be reserved for his own use,
-they were in their discretion and for the sake of amity to
-agree; but the manner of obtaining the license was to be
-defined in such a way that it would not be prejudicial to her
-subjects, nor “to the effect of some sufficient fishing,” and the
-licenses were to be issued in the subject’s name rather than in
-hers or the king’s.<a id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">210</a> Denmark continued to insist upon her
-right to the trade with Iceland, and to the fisheries in the
-northern seas,<a id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">211</a> which became of greater importance early
-in the next century when the whale-fishing was established
-at Spitzbergen. The Danish claim to a very wide zone of
-territorial sea around Iceland was enforced until quite recent
-times.</p>
-
-<p>The dispute between Elizabeth and the King of Denmark as
-to the rights of fishing in the North Atlantic bears a strong
-resemblance to that between James I. and the Dutch, which
-began a few years later, when the positions, however, were
-reversed, James insisting on his right to the fishery on the
-British coasts, while the Dutch used the arguments of Elizabeth
-in favour of the complete freedom of the seas. One difference
-in the two cases may be pointed out. England by agreeing to
-take licenses from the King of Denmark, in the treaties of
-1490 and 1523, acknowledged the sovereignty of Denmark in
-northern waters, whereas the Netherlands never acknowledged
-the sovereignty of England in the British seas, within which
-the liberty of fishing had been expressly granted to them by
-the Burgundy treaties.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime the condition of the English fisheries had not
-much improved, either under the restrictive legislation respecting
-imports and exports of fish or by the measures taken to
-enforce the political lent. The liberty given by the Act of
-1571 for the importation of cod-fish was opposed to the interests
-of the Iceland trade, and gave rise to abuses. Great quantities
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span>
-of inferior fish were “engrossed” by English merchants abroad
-and brought into the realm, which was thus “furnished with
-foreign fish and herrings,” while the Iceland fishery declined
-and the number of mariners available for the navy diminished.
-The importation of foreign salted fish or salted herrings by
-Englishmen or denizens was therefore prohibited; such fish
-were allowed to be brought by aliens alone, who were to pay
-additional customs, but fish from Iceland, Shetland, Newfoundland,
-and from the Scottish seas were still to be admitted.<a id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">212</a>
-But the attempt to keep out foreign fish failed in its object,
-the restrictions were found to be otherwise injurious, and they
-were repealed in 1597. “It had been hoped and expected,”
-it was said in the preamble of the repealing Act,<a id="FNanchor_213" href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">213</a> “that the
-fishermen of this realm would in such sort have employed
-themselves to fishing, and to the building and preparing of
-such store of boats and shipping for that purpose, as that they
-should long ere this time have been able sufficiently to have
-victualled this realm with salted fish and herrings of their own
-taking, without any supply of aliens and strangers, to the great
-increase of mariners and maintenance of the navigation within
-this realm. Notwithstanding it is since found by experience
-that the navigation of this land is no whit bettered by means
-of that Act, nor any mariners increased, nor like to be increased
-by it; but contrary wise, the natural subjects of this
-realm being not able to furnish the tenth part of the same with
-salted fish of their own taking, the chief provision and victualling
-thereof with fish and herrings hath ever since the making
-of the same Statute been in the power and disposition of aliens
-and strangers, who thereby have much enriched themselves,
-greatly increased their navigation, and (taking advantage of
-the time) have extremely enhanced the prices of that victual<a id="FNanchor_214" href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">214</a>
-to the great hurt and impoverishing of the native subjects of
-this realm, and yet do serve the markets here in very evil
-sort,” housing their fish till the price was raised to their liking.
-Thus the merchants in England were hindered in their trade,
-the navigation of the realm “which was intended to be augmented,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span>
-hath been rather impaired than increased,” and the
-price of fish had been greatly raised, to the general prejudice
-of the people. After this very thorough condemnation of its
-previous Act,<a id="FNanchor_215" href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">215</a> Parliament declared that as strangers and subjects
-were at liberty to export English-caught fish and herrings,
-it was only right to allow subjects as well as foreigners to
-bring in fish to provision their own country, and the previous
-Act was wholly repealed. Thus the condition reverted to what
-it had been before this course of legislation began.</p>
-
-<p>It is equally doubtful whether the compulsory fish-days or
-political lent had much influence in fostering the fisheries. At
-first, if a return from the Trinity House can be trusted, the
-number of fishing-boats increased. They reported in January
-1581 that since the previous Parliament there had been an
-increase along the coast from Newcastle to Portsmouth of 114
-sail of fishing-boats, of between fifteen and forty tons, which was
-equal to the maintenance of a thousand additional seamen for
-the navy.<a id="FNanchor_216" href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">216</a> It is not improbable that an increase of the herring-boats
-occurred on the east coast at this time, but it was
-temporary, and more likely due to other provisions of the Act
-of 1563. Cecil’s Wednesday, for which he had fought so hard,
-was abolished in 1584, while certain penalties for eating flesh
-in Lent, on Fridays, Saturdays, or other fish-days, were at the
-same time augmented;<a id="FNanchor_217" href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">217</a> but in 1593 all the penalties were
-greatly reduced.<a id="FNanchor_218" href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">218</a></p>
-
-<p>The policy of the political lent did not fail from want of
-efforts to enforce it. In London especially precautions were
-taken to have the law carried out, and the fishmongers were
-naturally active in their own interests. Taverns and inns
-were often raided; those who had flesh in their houses during
-Lent were often put in the pillory, and those who partook of
-it in the stocks; and butchers were frequently prosecuted for
-selling flesh on forbidden days. Those who were licensed to
-provide flesh in Lent for the sick were put under bond, and
-had to keep an account of every joint they sold; watchmen
-guarded the city gates lest any beef should be smuggled in.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span>
-Similar measures were taken throughout the country. The
-sheriffs and justices of the peace were ordered by the Council
-to see that the Act was duly enforced, and innkeepers had to
-enter into recognisance to observe it.</p>
-
-<p>But there is abundant testimony that the observance of the
-fish-days was evaded on all sides. The policy was against the
-temper of the people. So long as it had been a matter of religion
-and ecclesiastical rule they were faithfully observed.
-The motive was now too remote; and although the people were
-exhorted on grounds of “conscience” to eat fish on 153 days
-in the year in order to maintain the navy, and “great
-numbers” at first obeyed, the “universal multitude” always
-abstained, and their example was followed by the better
-classes. Many considered abstinence from flesh on fish-days
-to be “papistical”; others objected on economic grounds, saying
-they could maintain their families better and cheaper on
-flesh than on fish; and great numbers took advantage of the
-clauses in the Act granting license of exemption. The Lord
-Mayor was pestered by such applications, very commonly from
-noblemen and persons about the Court, even receiving them
-from the Queen herself, and in 1595 he begged that the Act
-might be repealed altogether.<a id="FNanchor_219" href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">219</a> Thus “Cecil’s fasts,” as the
-unpopular fish-days were vulgarly called, designed by the
-great statesman to increase the fisheries and strengthen the
-navy, became the butt of the popular dramatist, and served
-little purpose except, in the words of Ben Jonson, to “keep a
-man devoutly hungry all day, and at night to send him
-supperless to bed.”<a id="FNanchor_220" href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">220</a> There is little doubt that the policy of
-the political lent, if it had been feasible, would have succeeded
-in its object. Edward Jennings at the end of the century
-calculated that shipping had diminished in the proportion of
-two to five since the time when fish-days were observed, and
-that the fisheries were reduced in the proportion of four-fifths
-in the same period; while the number of idle persons in England
-who had previously engaged in fishing in the sea was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span>
-estimated at 10,000. Even if those figures were exaggerated,
-they indicate, as Parliament admitted, that the measures
-hitherto taken to revive the fisheries had failed. It remained
-for King James to try another plan, that of exercising an
-effective sovereignty on the British seas by prohibiting foreign
-fishermen from fishing within them without taking license and
-paying tribute.</p>
-
-<p>Before passing to the reign of James something must be
-said about one symbol of this sovereignty, as it was now regarded&mdash;the
-striking of the flag and top-sails. From the beginning
-of the fifteenth century, when the Flemish herring-boats,
-and no doubt others, lowered their sails to English ships
-(<a href="#Page_43">see p. 43</a>), there appears to be no record of the ceremony
-until the middle of the next. In the reign of Henry VIII.,
-although he was sometimes called “Lord of these seas,”<a id="FNanchor_221" href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">221</a> and
-ships were appointed to “keep the passage of the narrow sea,”
-the honour of the flag was probably only occasionally enforced.
-But under Edward VI., during the Protectorate of Northumberland,
-we find it stated in the King’s Journal that in April
-1549 “the Flemings’ men-of-war would have passed our ships
-without vailing bonnet, which they seeing shot at them, and
-drave them at length to vail bonnet and so depart”; and again
-in July of the following year, at Dieppe, the Flemish ships
-lowered their sails to an English man-of-war.<a id="FNanchor_222" href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">222</a> This appears to
-be the first recorded instance of foreign men-of-war saluting
-the ships of the King of England, and it is noteworthy that in
-the latter case it was performed in a French port by Flemish
-vessels.</p>
-
-<p>That it was not always demanded in the absolute manner of
-later times is shown by orders issued by the Privy Council in
-1552. The Baron de la Garde was in command of a French
-fleet of twelve men-of-war, and Sir Henry Dudley, whose force
-was weaker, asked how he should act “touching the preeminence
-of honnour to be gyven” when he met the Baron. The
-Council replied that “in respect of thamitie and that the sayd
-Baron is stronger then he uppon the sees sume tymes yelde and
-sume tymes receyve thonnour”; and he was told to use the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span>
-Baron courteously, “and with such discression that the same
-yelding of the preeminence may be interpreted to be of curtesy
-rather then to the derogacion of the Kinges honnour.”<a id="FNanchor_223" href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">223</a> It was
-the French who consistently and constantly opposed the English
-claim, and there is evidence that the salute was a point of
-rivalry between the two countries even at this time. An ordinance
-issued by Henry II. of France in 1555 (repeated by
-Henry III. in 1584) required all vessels to strike their sails
-to ships of the French navy whenever they met them at sea,
-and some Hamburgers were seized because they did not do so.<a id="FNanchor_224" href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">224</a>
-The honour appears to have been generally accorded by the
-Dutch in the reign of Elizabeth,<a id="FNanchor_225" href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">225</a> and compelled from the
-Spaniards. In 1554, in the reign of Mary, when the Spanish
-fleet was coming up Channel in all its bravery, with the royal
-flag flying on the Admiral’s ship, and bringing Philip of Spain
-to marry the Queen of England, the English Admiral, Lord
-William Howard, fired a broadside into the Spaniard and
-forced him to lower his colours while in his presence.<a id="FNanchor_226" href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">226</a> And
-later, when Anne of Austria was on her way to Spain to marry
-Philip, the Spanish ships were fired on by Admiral Hawkins at
-Plymouth and forced to strike the flag and lower top-sails in
-like manner.<a id="FNanchor_227" href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">227</a> But it was not till the reign of Charles I. that
-this punctilio became of great international importance.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">UNDER THE STUARTS. JAMES I. A NEW POLICY.</span></h2>
-
-<p>Shortly after the accession of James to the throne of England,
-the liberal policy of his predecessors as to the freedom of the
-sea suffered a marked change. In the previous century, under
-the Tudors, little was heard of the pretension to the sovereignty
-of the sea, with the exception of the striking of the flag to
-the royal ships in the narrow seas&mdash;a ceremony that was not
-peculiar to England. Foreigners then, as always before, enjoyed
-complete liberty of fishing on the coasts of England and
-Ireland, and no attempts had been made to exact tribute from
-them on the Scottish coasts. Queen Elizabeth, as has been
-shown, not only refrained from putting forward claims to the
-sovereignty of the sea, but on several occasions and in the most
-positive manner asserted the freedom of the seas for both
-navigation and fishing against the exclusive policy of Denmark
-and Spain. At the end of the Tudor period England was the
-great champion of <i>mare liberum</i>&mdash;long before the Dutch Republic
-had challenged the monopolies of the Portuguese either
-by the pen of Grotius or the guns of Jakob van Heemskerk.</p>
-
-<p>But under James the old doctrine was revived, and something
-new was added in a claim to the fisheries along the British
-coasts. Before he had been a year in England he took measures,
-with the laudable object of defining the bays, or “King’s
-Chambers,” within which the hostile actions of belligerents
-were prohibited. In its essence this act was opposed to extensive
-claims to maritime sovereignty, because it restricted a
-most important attribute of such sovereignty to comparatively
-a narrow space in the adjacent sea, though a space much
-greater than that now comprised in the so-called territorial
-waters. In point of fact, throughout his reign no assertion was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span>
-made to such a maritime sovereignty as was claimed by
-Charles I.<a id="FNanchor_228" href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">228</a> The measures referred to were in relation to
-neutrality in the war which continued between the United
-Provinces and Spain, James having promptly concluded peace
-with the latter Power. He issued a number of proclamations
-referring to privateering and depredations at sea, most of them
-being conceived in the interests of Spain; and in one of these,
-for the recall of British mariners in foreign service, dated
-1st March 1604, the king forbad hostilities within his ports,
-havens, roads, creeks, or other places of his dominions, or so
-near to any of his ports or havens as might be reasonably construed
-to be within that title, limit, or precinct, as well as the
-hovering of men-of-war in the neighbourhood of such places;
-and he caused “plats” of the limits of his ports and jurisdiction
-to be prepared for the instruction of his officers concerned.<a id="FNanchor_229" href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">229</a></p>
-
-<p>Long before the time of James the harbours, roadsteads, and
-at all events some of the bays of a country were recognised as
-belonging to it, in the sense at least that hostilities of belligerent
-men-of-war or the capture of prizes were forbidden within
-them; they were “sanctuaries” under the jurisdiction and
-protection of the adjoining territory. With regard to the
-English Chambers, we find that in the treaty which Cardinal
-Wolsey drew up in 1521, when acting as mediator between the
-Emperor Charles V. and King Francis I. of France, it was
-stipulated that during the war between these two sovereigns,
-the ships, whether armed or unarmed, as well as the mariners,
-of either side should be secure from attack by the other Power
-in the harbours, bays, rivers, mouths of rivers, roads or stations
-for shipping, and especially in the Downs or other maritime
-place under the jurisdiction of the King of England.<a id="FNanchor_230" href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">230</a> There is
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span>
-little doubt that this article only embodied in a formal manner
-what had long been the practice of nations, the Downs being
-specially mentioned as the most important anchorage in the
-kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>When James decided to mark out distinctly on a chart the
-boundaries of his neutral waters on the coast of England, the
-matter was submitted to the Trinity House, and a jury of
-thirteen men, specially skilled in maritime affairs, was appointed
-to prepare tables and charts showing the position and limits of
-the King’s Chambers and ports and the sailing directions for
-the same, according to their knowledge of what had been the
-custom in the past. The charts and schedules were presented
-to Sir Julius C&aelig;sar, the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty,
-on 4th March 1604, together with a sworn declaration that
-they represented the true boundaries.<a id="FNanchor_231" href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">231</a> The chambers formed
-were nominally twenty-six in number, the points or headlands
-selected by the surveyors being as follows, beginning at the
-northern extremity of the east coast and ending at the Isle of
-Man&mdash;Holy Island, Souter Point, Whitby, Flamborough Head,
-Spurn Point, Cromer, Winterton Ness, Caster Ness, Lowestoft,
-East Ness, Orfordness, the North Foreland, the South Foreland,
-Dungeness, Beachy Head, “Dunenoze” (Isle of Wight), Portland
-Bill, Start Point, Rame Head, Dodman Point, the Lizard,
-the Land’s End, Milford, St David’s Head, Bardsey Island,
-Holyhead, the Isle of Man. The extent of the “chambers”
-varies in different places; and while this is obviously due on
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span>
-some parts of the coast to the contour, it is due on other parts
-to a selection of headlands, no doubt according to the custom
-which had grown up and was recognised among the officers and
-others concerned. Thus the great bay between Cornwall and
-Devon would have formed a natural “chamber” by a line, not
-so long as some of the others, between Start Point, or Prawl
-Point, and the Lizard, and which would have formed part of
-the girdle around the coast; whereas three chambers are formed
-along its shores. On the east coast the “chambers” are as a rule
-small,<a id="FNanchor_232" href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">232</a> the largest embracing the mouths of the Humber and
-the Thames; they are generally large on the south coast, and
-largest of all on the west coast, where the whole of the Bristol
-Channel was enclosed by the line from Land’s End to Milford,
-a distance of nearly 100 nautical miles, the whole area containing
-about 3400 square nautical miles. This chamber, as
-well as those to the north of it, must have been of importance
-on account of the volume of shipping which passed
-through it.<a id="FNanchor_233" href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">233</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_3" src="images/fig_3.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 3.&mdash;<i>Chart prepared by the Trinity House showing the bearings of
-the King’s Chambers.</i> From Selden.</p></div>
-
-<p>It is to be noted that the King’s Chambers were confined to
-the coast of England, and, further, that they had no reference
-to the claim of James to property in his seas, so far at least
-as fisheries were concerned. They were strictly limited to
-questions of neutrality and jurisdiction, in view of the war
-then existing between Spain and the United Provinces and
-the frequent depredations of privateers. The chambers on
-the east coast, where the Dutch carried on their great herring
-fishery, were much too small to have any relation to the subject
-of unlicensed fishing; and at no time during the prolonged discussions
-on the fishery were the limits of the King’s Chambers
-made use of in argument. Neutral protection, moreover, was
-strictly limited to the waters defined. It was in vain that
-Gentilis, the Spanish advocate in the Admiralty Prize Court,
-argued that the jurisdiction of England extended far beyond
-the limits of the “chambers,” and ought therefore to be lawfully
-and justly applied in protecting Spanish vessels from
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span>
-the talons of the Dutch on the high seas. The judgment
-of the Court of Admiralty, so far as concerned the place of
-capture, was always based upon the consideration whether
-that place lay within or without the limits of a “chamber.”</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_4" src="images/fig_4.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 4.&mdash;<i>Showing the King’s Chambers on the Coast of England.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The campaign against foreigners fishing on the British coast,
-which opened up the claims of England in the seventeenth
-century to the sovereignty of the sea and introduced a new
-principle into English international policy, originated in another
-set of ideas, which James brought with him from Scotland.
-The Scottish people had been always very jealous of foreigners
-sharing in their fisheries, and, as we have seen, never consented
-to give them the liberty to fish, so freely accorded by England.
-Moreover, a tax or tribute, called the “assize-herring,” was imposed
-upon the native fishermen in Scotland, and formed a part
-of the revenues of the crown. Although its value was not
-great, James conceived the idea of levying it also from the
-foreign fishermen, who frequented the British seas in large
-numbers, and before he formally demanded it in 1609, some
-curious negotiations took place with a syndicate of London
-merchants who proposed to form a fishery association based on
-the taxation of foreign fishermen, and in return they promised
-a handsome revenue to the king. The desire for an increased
-revenue may therefore have had something to do with the
-proposal to restrain unlicensed fishing on the British coasts.
-But neither this consideration, the practice in Scotland, nor the
-king’s passion for his prerogative, fully accounts for the reversal
-of the long-settled policy of England, which was accomplished
-with the concurrence of the Privy Council, and, so
-far as may be judged, with the full approval of the people.</p>
-
-<p>In truth, a great change had taken place in the national
-sentiment. England had now entered upon the long struggle
-for commercial and maritime supremacy, with the aim of
-increasing the power of the nation against all rivals.<a id="FNanchor_234" href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">234</a> It was
-obvious to every one that the great rival and competitor was
-the Dutch Republic, whose rapid rise to the first commercial
-state in Europe deeply impressed the minds of English statesmen
-and writers. In the reign of Elizabeth, the common
-interest of the two countries in opposing Spain prevented
-measures being taken to curb the growing power of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span>
-Dutch. But early in the seventeenth century this motive
-had lost its force. James had promptly concluded peace
-with Spain, and even spoke of the Dutch as rebels.<a id="FNanchor_235" href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">235</a> Thus,
-during his reign arose that bitter rivalry and keen emulation
-of the Dutch which continued throughout nearly the whole
-century, and of which the English claim to the sovereignty of
-the sea may be looked upon as an important phase. It was
-against the United Provinces that the claim was directed, and
-as the Dutch themselves openly boasted that the sea fisheries
-were the foundation of their shipping, wealth, and power, it
-was to the sea fisheries that England first turned in her efforts
-to cripple them.</p>
-
-<p>Those fisheries had greatly increased towards the end of the
-sixteenth and in the early part of the seventeenth century. An
-official account of the fisheries of Holland, Zealand, and
-Flanders in 1562 estimated the number of busses and fishing-boats
-at 700, of which Holland had 400, most of them being
-“great” busses of about 46 lasts burden.<a id="FNanchor_236" href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">236</a> Guiccardini, who
-visited the Low Countries about the same time, placed the fleet
-of busses at 700, each of which made three voyages, bringing
-back on an average 70 lasts of herrings, or a total of 588,000
-barrels, valued at &pound;441,000 sterling.<a id="FNanchor_237" href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">237</a> Another author of the
-period gave a list of towns whose prosperity and even existence
-depended upon the fishery;<a id="FNanchor_238" href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">238</a> and a little later Hitchcock, and,
-following him, Dee, stated that 400 or 500 busses came every
-year from the Low Countries to fish for herrings on the east
-coast of this country.<a id="FNanchor_239" href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">239</a> Those figures referred to the fisheries
-of the Netherlands as a whole, including Flanders, but during
-the war of independence, after the United Provinces threw
-off the yoke of Spain and secured command of the sea, the
-Flemish fisheries withered away. At Dunkirk, for example,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span>
-which sent 500 busses to the herring-fishing in 1532 and 400
-in 1550, the fishermen at the beginning of the next century
-were scarcely able to supply the town with herrings.<a id="FNanchor_240" href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">240</a> The
-industry passed into the hands of the Dutch. At the end of
-Elizabeth’s reign, so greatly had it prospered that 1500 busses
-went to the herring-fishing in 1601 from Holland and Zealand
-alone.<a id="FNanchor_241" href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">241</a></p>
-
-<p>From this time much attention was given by English writers
-to the Dutch fisheries, and on the whole they exaggerated their
-extent and the number of boats and vessels engaged in them.
-One of them, John Keymer, who was afterwards much quoted,
-professedly based his account upon his personal observations in
-the Netherlands about the year 1601. His statement appears
-to have been submitted to King James in 1605 or 1606, but it
-was not published until 1664. He said that the fishing fleet of
-the Hollanders numbered more than 4100 vessels, of which 100
-were dogger-boats, 700 pinks and well-boats, 700 “strand-boats,”
-400 “euers,” and 400 “galliotts, drivers, and tod-boats,” and
-1200 busses, afterwards increased to 2000. The pinks and well-boats,
-each from 60 to 100 tons burden, fished on the coasts of
-England and Scotland for cod and ling, while the busses, ranging
-from 60 to 200 tons burden, pursued the herring fishery
-along our east coast. There were also, according to this author,
-400 Dutch vessels, called “Gaynes” and “Euers,” which fished
-for herrings off Yarmouth; 1000 vessels, of from 50 to 100 tons,
-that caught cod and ling in his Majesty’s seas; as well as 600
-ships engaged in carrying cod and ling to London. Keymer
-also says that he had seen near 3000 sail of English, Scotch,
-French, Hollanders, Embdeners, Breemeners, and Hamburgers
-fishing <i>at one time</i> upon the coast of Scotland, Shetland,
-Orkney, Gattney (Caithness?), North Farrel, and Fowl (Fair)
-Isle, and divers other places.<a id="FNanchor_242" href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">242</a> In a later treatise which
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span>
-Keymer wrote in 1620 and submitted to King James, it is also
-said that the Hollanders employed about 3000 ships and 50,000
-people in fishing on the coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
-This tract has usually been attributed to Sir Walter Raleigh
-and is published among his works, and it obtained celebrity in
-consequence, both in this country and on the Continent, but it
-was without doubt written by Keymer.<a id="FNanchor_243" href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">243</a> A more moderate
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span>
-statement was made by another writer, Tobias Gentleman, who
-published the best work on the subject, in 1614, and was
-evidently well versed in the fisheries both of Holland and
-England. He states that 1000 sail of Hollanders came every
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span>
-year to fish for herrings in “his Majesty’s streams”; that more
-than 600 of them were “great busses,” some of 120 tons, most
-of about 100 tons; that the crews numbered from 16 to 24
-men, so that there could not be less than 20,000 mariners
-altogether. In addition to the great fleet of busses, the Hollanders
-had “a huge number” of smaller vessels of from 20 to
-50 tons burden, with crews of from 8 to 12 men, which were
-called “sword-pinks,” “flat-bottoms,” “Holland-toads,” “Crabskuits,”
-and “Yeuars,” and fished for herrings along with the
-busses on the east coast from Shetland southwards, carrying
-home their catches or selling them at Yarmouth. Gentleman
-says there had been seen at one time, “and numbered,” at
-Brassey Sound, in Shetland, where the busses rendezvoused,
-either going to sea or at sea within view, 2000 sail of busses
-and schuits, besides those that were out of sight. All these
-fished for herrings during the season “in his Majesty’s seas.”
-Then the pinks and well-boats, which caught cod and ling all
-the year round, numbered between 500 and 600; they were
-from 30 to 40 tons burden, and had crews of about 12 men
-each. There were also more than 200 “fly-boats” which fished
-with lines to the north-east of Shetland all the year round for
-ling, which were split and salted in bulk and were known as
-“Holland-lings,” although, says Gentleman, they were really
-Shetland lings before they took them from his Majesty’s seas.
-This author placed the total number of Dutch fishermen who
-fished off the British coasts at not less than 37,000, of whom
-32,000 were engaged in the herring fishery, and 5000 in fishing
-for cod and ling.<a id="FNanchor_244" href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">244</a></p>
-
-<p>It would thus appear from the evidently honest account
-of Gentleman, that early in the reign of James fully 2000
-Hollander busses and fishing vessels frequented the British
-seas. But the Dutch were not the only foreigners who reaped
-the harvest of fishes along our coasts. Fishermen likewise
-came from France, Spain, and Portugal, from Hamburg, Emden,
-and Bremen. The French herring-boats, from Normandy and
-Picardy, generally numbered about 100; sometimes there were
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span>
-only 40, and they did not go so far north as the Hollanders.<a id="FNanchor_245" href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">245</a>
-Spanish, Portuguese, and French vessels fished for
-mackerel on the Irish coast and to the south-west of England,
-as well as for cod in the North Sea. Those from Hamburg,
-Bremen, and Emden took part in the herring fishery on the east
-coast, but they appear to have mostly confined their operations
-to the northern parts of Scotland. French and Flemish vessels
-also visited the western lochs of Scotland, both for fishing and
-for the purchase of fish.<a id="FNanchor_246" href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">246</a> The total number of foreign vessels
-thus fishing in the British seas at the time in question must
-have been large. In both of Keymer’s treatises it is stated
-that there were 20,000, with 400,000 people. This estimate is
-obviously greatly exaggerated; but making all due allowances,
-it is certain that the fleets of foreign fishing vessels frequenting
-our coasts in the reign of James were of formidable extent. The
-great herring-busses, while fishing along the east coast of
-Scotland, were described in 1608 as occupying an area of the
-sea of at least 45 miles in length by 22 miles in breadth,
-within which space they allowed no others to shoot a net.<a id="FNanchor_247" href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">247</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span></p>
-
-<p>The herring fishery of the Dutch along the British coast was
-known as the “great fishery” (<i>Groote Visscherye</i>), to distinguish
-it from the “small” or fresh-herring fishery which was pursued
-locally, and it was subjected to minute regulations. The busses
-collected at Bressay Sound in Shetland in the early part of June,
-but the fishing was not allowed to begin until St John’s Day,
-on the 24th of the month, when the vessels departed in fleets
-for the fishing-grounds under the charge of “commodores” and
-guarded by men-of-war. As the season advanced the fishing was
-carried on farther and farther to the south. Until St James’
-Day (25th July) it was prosecuted in the neighbourhood of
-Shetland, Fair Isle, and as far south as Buchan Ness; from
-then until Elevation Day (14th September) it was from Buchan
-Ness to the coast of Northumberland; then southwards to the
-deep water off Yarmouth till St Catherine’s Day (25th September);
-and so to the mouth of the Thames, the fishing usually
-coming to an end at the beginning of December. The “fleet” or
-train of nets was more than a mile in length, which necessitated
-the busses keeping some distance apart to prevent fouling;
-they were shot in the evening and hauled in the morning,
-when the crew began to salt and pack the herrings into barrels,
-which were then taken to Holland in “yagers,” or carriers,
-repacked, branded, and exported to various countries. The
-smaller vessels which took part in the “fresh” herring fishery
-were employed especially off Yarmouth in the autumn, and
-they sold their herrings for ready money to the fish-curers
-with whom they were “hosted.” On some occasions as many
-as 200 of those smaller Dutch vessels lay in Yarmouth harbour
-at a time. The boats that went for cod, ling, and haddock
-fished throughout the North Sea,&mdash;the smaller ones at the
-Dogger Bank as a rule, the larger on the Scottish coast and
-at Shetland. Hand-lines, baited with herring or lamprey, were
-used, the cod being either pickled, dried, or brought to land
-alive in wells, and these vessels furnished the larger part of
-the supply to London.</p>
-
-<p>The quantity and value of the fish caught by the Dutch off the
-British coasts were variously stated. Keymer, in his first tract,
-estimated the quantity of herrings taken by the 2000 busses in
-the twenty-six weeks of their fishing at about 300,000 lasts
-(or 3,600,000 barrels) annually, and the value, at first hand, at
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span>
-&pound;3,600,000 sterling. But the merchants who exported the
-pickled herrings&mdash;and by far the greater quantity were exported<a id="FNanchor_248" href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">248</a>&mdash;are
-said to have charged from &pound;16 to &pound;36 a last, the
-eventual value as merchandise being estimated at not less than
-&pound;5,000,000 sterling. In his later treatise the value of the
-herrings exported by the Dutch is placed lower, at about
-&pound;1,768,000, the quantity being stated at from about 89,500
-to 100,500 lasts, or from 1,074,000 to 1,206,000 barrels. Gentleman,
-whose work seems to have been the most trustworthy,
-estimated the quantity of herrings taken by the Dutch in the
-British seas at over 100,000 lasts or 1,200,000 barrels, the original
-value at &pound;1,000,000 sterling and the gross value at twice
-that amount; “while we,” he says, “take no more than to bait
-our hooks.” Gentleman’s estimate of the quantity may be taken
-as approximately correct, because in the present day the least
-effective of the vessels taking part in the Dutch herring fishery&mdash;namely,
-the old-fashioned flat-bottomed boats (<i>bommen</i>)&mdash;catch
-and cure on an average in a season about 660 barrels each, so that
-the quantity taken by a fleet of 2000 of such vessels would be
-about 1,320,000 barrels. But the old busses were of a superior
-type, keeled vessels (<i>hoekers, sloepen</i>), and the average catch of
-their modern representatives in a season is about 1060 barrels,
-which for a fleet of the same number would give a total yield
-of about 2,120,000 barrels, or over 176,000 lasts. Monson
-placed the value of the herrings exported from Holland to the
-Baltic at &pound;800,000, and of those sent to other countries at
-&pound;1,000,000,<a id="FNanchor_249" href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">249</a> while Sir Nicholas Hales in 1609 estimated the
-value of the exported herrings at &pound;4,000,000, but raised it
-later, in 1634, to &pound;6,000,000, owing to information received
-from Amsterdam.<a id="FNanchor_250" href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">250</a> Sir John Borough’s estimate was still higher.
-He said that if account was taken of all the herrings, cod,
-ling, and other fish caught in the British seas by foreigners,
-the gross value would exceed &pound;10,000,000 a year.</p>
-
-<p>The larger figures above cited are unquestionably exaggerated,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span>
-but even the lowest shows how very valuable the sea
-fisheries were to the Dutch at the beginning of the seventeenth
-century, for the total value of all the commodities exported
-from England in 1613 was placed at &pound;2,487,435, and the value
-of the imports at &pound;2,141,151.<a id="FNanchor_251" href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">251</a></p>
-
-<p>The English fisheries, which Cecil had laboured to revive,
-presented a striking contrast to the prosperous fishery of the
-foreigners. As in the days of Hitchcock, our fishermen shot
-their nets for herrings from small vessels near the shore, and
-on the east coast, at least, only in the period from September
-to November, with the exception of an occasional “summer”
-fishing.<a id="FNanchor_252" href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">252</a> They had very “sorry” nets and poor frail boats, and
-most of those going to the Yarmouth fishing from Yorkshire
-and Durham were only “five-men” cobles.<a id="FNanchor_253" href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">253</a> “The Hollander
-busses,” it was said, “are greate and strong and able to brooke
-foul weather, whereas our cobles, crayers, and boats, being
-small and thin-sided, are easily swallowed by rough seas, not
-daringe to adventure far in fair weather by reason of their
-weaknesse for feare of stormes.” The largest of the crayers
-were of 20 tons burden, their catch of herrings for a
-night being generally from one to three, and rarely as much as
-seven, lasts.<a id="FNanchor_254" href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">254</a> One can only guess at the number of fishing
-boats and vessels belonging to east coast ports at this time.
-Gentleman stated that the number of “North Sea boats”
-which fished for cod, and probably also for herrings, in autumn,
-was from 224 to 237 along the stretch of coast between the
-Thames and the Humber, the crews employed in them being
-between 1500 and 1600. The Iceland barks numbered about
-125 in 1614; 20 of them, as well as 150 of the North Sea
-boats, belonged to Yarmouth. The town-clerk of that port,
-writing about the same time, said that they sent annually
-to Iceland and the north seas for cod and ling about 120
-sail, while all the “ships, crayers, and fisher-boats” belonging
-to Yarmouth numbered 220; the able-bodied mariners and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span>
-fishermen amounted to 1000.<a id="FNanchor_255" href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">255</a> The only other fisheries on
-the east coast were a small one for mackerel, which employed
-40 boats at Yarmouth in the spring; a sprat fishery with bag-nets;
-while some small trawlers worked in the bays and
-estuaries. On the east coast of Scotland there was no native
-herring fishery except in the firths.</p>
-
-<p>Compared with the great trade of the Dutch, the exports
-of fish from this country were insignificant and trifling in
-view of the quantity imported: in London alone no less
-than &pound;12,000 was paid to the Hollanders for barrelled fish
-and Holland lings between the Christmas of 1613 and 18th
-February 1614. Scotland still sent tolerably large quantities
-of salmon, herrings, and salt fish to France, Spain, and elsewhere;
-but the exports from England were almost quite confined
-to red-herrings from Yarmouth and pilchards from Cornwall,&mdash;both
-sent to the Mediterranean, and very commonly in Dutch
-bottoms.<a id="FNanchor_256" href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">256</a> The English had no share whatever in the trade in
-pickled herrings or in pickled cod; they were indeed ignorant
-of the method of curing the latter.</p>
-
-<p>From the foregoing it is not difficult to realise the feeling of
-irritation against the Dutch which began to gather in the
-breasts of the English people. They witnessed with envy
-the great fleets of alien fishing vessels which darkened their
-coasts every season and reaped a rich harvest in waters which
-they regarded as their own. “No king upon the earth,”
-said Gentleman, “did yet ever see such a Fleet of his own
-subjects at any time, and yet this Fleet is there and then yearly
-to be seen. A most worthy sight it were, if they were my
-own countrymen!” Statesmen and economists saw in the
-extension of the Dutch fisheries a menace to the power and
-wealth of the nation. The fisheries formed a valuable nursery
-of seamen to man the mercantile marine and the royal navy; it
-was chiefly from this point of view that the political lent
-and the fishery Acts of the previous reign were designed.
-Another consideration began to excite even more attention.
-The trade in fish was looked upon as forming the basis of
-commerce and national wealth. The Dutch boasted that the
-herring fishery was their “gold-mine”; that “the herring
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span>
-keeps Dutch trade going, and Dutch trade sets the world’s
-afloat”;<a id="FNanchor_257" href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">257</a> and the argument that national power and wealth
-depended on the sea fisheries became a commonplace in the
-seventeenth century, and was urged as a reason why the
-English people should secure for themselves the fisheries in
-their own seas. This, it was said, would do more good to
-the kingdom than all the mines and the whole trade in
-cloth and wool; the fisheries would be more valuable to us
-than the Indies were to Spain, or than was the commerce
-with the West Indies; they were the “very goal and prize
-of trade and of the dominion of the sea.”<a id="FNanchor_258" href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">258</a> Had not Holland,
-which was “not so big as one of his Majesty’s shires,” and
-where nothing “grew” save “a few hops, madder, and cheese,”
-become a rich and powerful state, full of goodly towns,
-and the great mart of Europe, owing to the fish drawn
-from the British seas? Did not Dutch ships, in return for
-the fish they exported, come back laden with the riches of
-other lands,&mdash;with oil and wine, honey and wool, from France
-and Spain; with velvets, silks, and spices from the Mediterranean;
-with corn and wax, hemp, iron, and timber, from
-the Baltic? And all this great commerce was founded on
-their fisheries in his Majesty’s seas.</p>
-
-<p>Two other arguments were very commonly put forward,&mdash;that
-the development of the fisheries would directly increase
-shipping, and also give birth to many other industries.
-Ingenious and detailed calculations were made to show that
-if 20 busses were built at a seaport they would cause other
-80 ships to be constructed, increase the number of mariners
-by 1000, and give employment to nearly 8000 people by
-sea and land. “It is the fish taken upon his Majesty’s coasts,”
-said Sir William Monson, the Admiral of the Narrow Sea,
-“that is the only cause of the increase of shipping in Europe;
-and he that hath the trade of fishing becomes mightier than
-all the world besides in number of ships.”<a id="FNanchor_259" href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">259</a> Dutch ships
-crowded our ports; they carried away English commodities
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span>
-at lower freights than English vessels could afford to do,
-and thus we were “eaten out of all trade and the bread
-taken out of our mouths in our own seas, and the great
-customs carried from his Majesty’s coffers to foreign princes
-and states.” The Hollanders were accused of trying “to get
-the whole trade of Christendom into their own hands, as
-well for transportation as otherwise for the command and
-mastery of the seas.” Yet the king was “Lord Paramount
-of those seas” in which the foreigners caught the fish that
-made them so rich and powerful: surely “he would not,
-without question, allow strangers to eat up the food that
-was provided for his children!”<a id="FNanchor_260" href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">260</a></p>
-
-<p>Such was the national spirit and sentiment that had been
-developing during the closing years of Elizabeth’s reign and
-the early part of the reign of James, and was well expressed
-by Sir Walter Raleigh when he said that “whosoever commands
-the sea commands the trade; whosoever commands
-the trade of the world commands the riches of the world,
-and consequently the world itself.”<a id="FNanchor_261" href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">261</a> England was to become
-powerful and rich by shipping and maritime commerce, and
-the first step in the struggle was to secure the fisheries for
-herself. Opinions varied as to how this was to be accomplished.
-Some recommended the establishing of a national
-fishery on the plan recommended by Hitchcock in the preceding
-generation and tried by Charles I. in the next. Others
-suggested the institution of a commission of “State Merchant,”
-which would have trade and commerce as well as fisheries
-under its charge. A few spoke, more faintly, of the potency
-of fish-days and the strict observance of Lent. But all
-or almost all agreed that foreigners, and in particular the
-Hollanders, should be either prohibited from fishing in the
-British seas or allowed to do so only under license and regulations
-and the payment of a tribute to the crown.</p>
-
-<p>The proposal most commonly mooted was to build a fleet
-of herring-busses for ourselves, and, in short, to imitate the
-Dutch system in all particulars. The natural advantages we
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span>
-possessed were made the most of. The fishing-grounds were
-at our doors, while the Dutch had to sail long distances. We
-had numerous harbours and sheltered beaches for the wintering
-of the busses. We had all the materials for building and
-equipping the busses except pitch and tar, whereas the Dutch
-had to import everything save hemp; and abundance of men
-to man the vessels could be got from the “decayed towns.”
-It was on the other hand admitted that we laboured under
-one disadvantage. The Dutch fishermen were more frugal,
-more industrious and painstaking, than the English. They
-were content with plain fare&mdash;with bread and butter, cheese,
-a little pork, and fish,&mdash;while the English required beef and
-beer, and much of both.<a id="FNanchor_262" href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">262</a> And while the Dutch worked hard,
-“labouring merrily together,” the English fishermen “sat day
-and night drinking in the ale-houses.”<a id="FNanchor_263" href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">263</a></p>
-
-<p>But any scheme for establishing a great national fishery
-had little chance of financial support from the public unless
-it could be shown to be profitable, and there was no lack
-of calculations and computations to prove the great profits
-that might be made. Gentleman estimated that the clear
-gain from one buss, allowing for wear and tear, would amount
-to &pound;565 in four months, and from a pink for cod-fishing to
-&pound;158 in two months. The author of <i>Britaines Buss</i> calculated
-that the yearly profit from one herring-fishing and one cod-fishing
-of a single buss would amount to &pound;897, after all expenses
-had been paid. This writer proposed that a corporation
-should be formed, consisting of noblemen, gentry, and citizens
-“of ability,” each of whom should provide one buss; that
-the corporation should receive from the king certain powers,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span>
-privileges, and immunities; and that a joint-stock should
-be raised like that of the East India Company, the annual
-profit on which was estimated at 75 per cent.</p>
-
-<p>Those schemes resembled the one put forward by Hitchcock
-in the previous reign and frequently advocated since.
-Sir Walter Cope indeed told King James, in 1612, that “this
-royal work,” within his own knowledge, had been in project
-for thirty years, but that in Queen Elizabeth’s time it had
-been “ever silenced” in favour of the Netherlands, who then
-maintained war against a common enemy.<a id="FNanchor_264" href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">264</a></p>
-
-<p>Within two or three years of the accession of James, the
-project took more definite form, and was brought before the
-Privy Council, and it was carefully considered in 1607. An
-integral part of the proposal was that strangers fishing in
-the British seas should pay tribute to the king, while the
-native fishery remained untaxed, and that the tribute should
-be farmed out to patentees, as was done with the assize-herrings
-in Scotland, who would then establish a national
-buss fishery and pay a rent to the crown.<a id="FNanchor_265" href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">265</a> There were
-several schemes of the kind, but the one which received
-most attention was put forward by a Mr Richard Rainsford,
-acting on behalf of a number of London merchants, who
-aimed at forming an association to be called the Society
-of Fishing Merchants. In 1608 the proposals were referred
-to the Earl of Northampton, Lord Privy Seal, and the Earl
-of Devonshire, who commended them as being for the public
-good, and early next year a formal and detailed scheme
-was prepared.<a id="FNanchor_266" href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">266</a> In the preamble stress was laid on the fact
-that the Hollanders and other nations had their principal
-fishing on his Majesty’s coasts and seas, “whose soveraignty
-ought therein to be acknowledged, not only to procure thereby
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span>
-payment of his Majesty’s duties of fishing, but also to have
-his kingdom provided with fish at such reasonable rates and
-prices as other nations have maintained thereby navigation
-and mariners; and setting of an infinite number of subjects
-on work within the realm of England and Scotland to
-strengthen his Majesty’s dominion by sea and land, as the
-chief point of a most commendable Union,” that is to say,
-a union of England and Scotland, the idea of which was
-still in the mind of James. The justification for imposing
-a tribute on foreign fishermen, which was to be in kind,
-was the king’s right to the tithe, “grounded by ancient
-customs and records of his Majesty’s predecessors demanding
-the tenth fish; whereunto three things were required: (1)
-how his Majesty’s tithe and right can be evidently proved;
-(2) precedents, that other kings and princes have and do
-the like in their seas; (3) that it shall give no cause of
-offence to other princes or states to move war.” The second
-part of the project was to build a “competent number” of
-ships or busses yearly, and so to re-establish the fishing trade
-which, it was said, one Violet Stephens and other discontented
-fishmongers from England had transferred to Enkhuisen and
-other places in Holland some ninety years earlier, teaching
-the Dutch to come and fish in the British seas&mdash;a false tale
-current in England in the reign of James.</p>
-
-<p>As an alternative plan, to be put into immediate execution
-in connection with the truce just concluded between Spain
-and the United Provinces,<a id="FNanchor_267" href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">267</a> it was proposed that, his Majesty’s
-right and tithe having been made plain as above described,
-the Hollanders themselves should be invited to join on reasonable
-terms with the English projectors in the fishing trade
-for one-third part, or even a half, of the fishery. This course,
-it was believed, would prevent any cause of offence, being,
-it was said, in agreement with “the known precedents of other
-princes.” It was also thought that it would be agreeable to
-the Hollanders, since they would see that the Society of Fishing
-Merchants, being free from license or tribute, could afford
-to have busses built in Denmark for themselves should that
-be necessary. If the Hollanders could be induced to associate
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span>
-themselves with the Society, then, it was argued, when the time
-came to interfere with their “general fishery,” the risk of war
-would be removed, and the king’s tithe and right might be
-acknowledged and established by proclamation or otherwise.<a id="FNanchor_268" href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">268</a></p>
-
-<p>The acknowledgment of the king’s “sovereignty or title
-annexed to the dignity of the Crown” required the contribution
-of the tenth or the twentieth fish, more or less, to be delivered
-at sea for the general good of the Society, so that they might
-be able to tide over bad years and maintain the fishermen.
-In this way, by heavily taxing the Hollanders, it was believed
-that “no man should be discouraged by bad successe, but might
-depend upon God’s blessing with a quiete minde to follow his
-vocacion avoydinge Idlenes by ye survey of others.” On the
-other hand, the Society would undertake to pay the king so
-much upon every last of fish as might be thought convenient,
-provided that letters patent were granted under which the
-Hollanders and other strangers would be “limited and ruled.”</p>
-
-<p>In this scheme of the London merchants it was proposed to
-acquire in the first year fifty fishing vessels, partly by buying
-them beyond the seas, and partly by building them in
-Denmark, Scotland, and the north of England. The busses
-were not to exceed fifty, or the dogger-boats thirty tons, since
-the Dutch in recent years had found the smaller vessels more
-profitable than the larger ones. It was stated that some
-families in Holland, the “east countries,” and Hamburg, with
-vessels of their own, were desirous of joining the London
-Society,&mdash;several of them had indeed arrived in England,&mdash;and
-it was proposed to admit them for a few years only, in order
-to lay the foundations of the business, and to educate English
-lads in the curing of herrings, and, what was “not the least
-point,” to make the English as industrious as themselves.
-When the fishery was thoroughly established, it would be easy
-to erect “staple towns and magazines” for the commodities
-of other countries; the ships of the Society would bring back
-merchandise for the fish exported, and a great commerce would
-be created. In all this prosperity “the King’s Majesty might
-be made a partaker, as a Royal Merchant,” while the stock
-required would easily be found among the merchants. On the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span>
-other hand, if the king confined his action to the issuing of
-licenses to foreigners, without giving means for establishing
-a society of merchants for the fishing, then his subjects would
-be entirely dependent for their fish on these foreign fishermen,
-who would charge higher prices to recoup themselves for the
-cost of the licenses. The country, moreover, would suffer
-from the loss of the commerce that sprung from the trade in
-fish; the transportation of money and bullion for fish and
-other commodities brought into the realm would continue
-unchecked; and the king would lose the great strength of
-shipping and mariners that otherwise would be available for
-the defence of the kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>Objections were raised to the project on the ground that it
-was unlikely that the Society, even with the advantages which
-they desired, would be able to compete with the Hollanders.
-The Hamburgers and other peoples who had previously made
-the attempt had failed, for the Dutch were very industrious
-and frugal, their fish always brought the highest price,
-often 25 per cent above that of other nations, because they
-were thoroughly skilled and experienced in the industry. The
-freights of the Hollanders were, moreover, far lower than in
-English ships, as they took barrelled herrings for ballast, or
-even for “drink money.”</p>
-
-<p>A more serious difficulty was the principle that lay at the
-root of the scheme&mdash;the taxation of the Dutch fishermen for
-the benefit of the Society. It was evidently admitted that the
-project would fail, even if the busses were manned by Dutchmen
-and the herrings cured and exported by them, unless
-some form of subsidy was provided. But on the threshold lay
-the question of the king’s right to impose a tribute on foreign
-fishermen. Rainsford endeavoured to help the solution by submitting
-a memorandum, “Touching his Majesty’s Tythe.”<a id="FNanchor_269" href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">269</a>
-It has some interest from the circumstance that it was the
-first attempt made in the reign of James to furnish historical
-and legal precedents for interfering with the liberty of fishing.
-In substance it is little more than a collection of the stories
-current at the time concerning the sovereignty of the sea,
-such as those about King Edgar, Queen Mary and Philip, and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span>
-Camden’s statement about Scarborough.<a id="FNanchor_270" href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">270</a> It was also said
-that fishermen were compelled to pay taxes for liberty to fish
-in Russia, at the “Shoffland” islands and other islands belonging
-to the King of Sweden, in Denmark, and in Spain, where
-the Duke of Medina Sidonia derived a large revenue from
-the taxes on the tunny fishery. Rainsford reiterated the
-advantages of the scheme to the nation and the navy, and
-promised an annual revenue of &pound;20,000 to the king, after the
-lapse of seven years, so long as he granted to the patentees
-the tribute on foreign fishermen.</p>
-
-<p>About this time, whether by arrangement with the London
-merchants or independently, some influential persons addressed
-the king in denunciation of the Dutch. Sir Nicholas Hales
-in 1608, and again in 1609, strongly advised the king to take
-action against them. Their fisheries in his Majesty’s seas,
-he said, were worth more than the mines of gold and silver
-in the Indies; in one year they had sold fish in England alone
-to the value of &pound;1,200,000; by their means they maintained
-100,000 men with their wives and families. Then their
-immense shipping was a menace to the security of the realm.
-They came into our roads and harbours with their guns and
-ordnance on board: sometimes three or four hundred sail
-of Hollanders sheltered in St George’s Channel, where our
-fleet, if need were, could always strike them. The whole
-trade of Christendom appeared to be going into their hands.
-Sir Nicholas was afraid they might join with the “Turks”
-against us; there was even risk of invasion unless measures were
-taken to curb their growing power. The measures he proposed
-were the delivery of Flushing and Brill as pledges of security,
-and the payment of &pound;4,000,000 for the king’s license to carry
-on their fishery for twenty-one years on the British coasts.
-Otherwise they should be compelled to pay a tithe of the
-twentieth herring or be forbidden altogether.<a id="FNanchor_271" href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">271</a> Sir William
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span>
-Monson&mdash;who was a Roman Catholic, had been Admiral of
-the Narrow Sea, and was accused by the Dutch of antipathy
-to them&mdash;wrote several papers in the same strain. He dwelt
-upon the danger to England of their increase in shipping
-commerce and power, all derived from the fisheries in the
-British seas. They had already got the Irish and Russian
-trade, as well as that to the Mediterranean, so that while twelve
-years before there were twelve English ships to one Hollander
-in that sea, there were now ten Hollanders to one English;
-they even transported the red-herrings from Yarmouth and
-the pilchards from Cornwall and Ireland, which was previously
-done by English vessels. Monson’s remedy was to obtain
-possession of the fisheries and build a fleet of English busses.<a id="FNanchor_272" href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">272</a></p>
-
-<p>There is no doubt James was inclined to listen with a
-favourable ear to the proposals to establish a native herring
-fishery at the expense of the Dutch. A year or two earlier
-he had, indeed, induced the Parliament of Scotland to pass
-an Act providing, among other things, that the royal burghs
-should equip busses for the herring fishery,&mdash;a suggestion
-frequently made and never well received. When the burghs
-were called upon to state the number of busses they were
-prepared to set forth, they declared that some of the coast
-towns already had vessels engaged in this fishery, especially
-in summer, “att the back of the Isles besyid the Flemeingis”;
-that on the coast there was more shipping for fishing than
-“substance” to furnish them with or mariners to serve in
-them; and that the most profitable and “easy” fishing was
-at the Isles and lochs on the west coast, though they were
-hindered there by the barbarous conduct of the natives. It
-was therefore, they said, “in vain” to ask them to fish “in
-the mayne sea” when they could get this easy and profitable
-fishing at the lochs and near the shore at all seasons, in great
-abundance, both summer and winter.<a id="FNanchor_273" href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">273</a></p>
-
-<p>At the time the fishery scheme was under consideration
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span>
-some events occurred which favoured the plans, if not of
-the London merchants, at least of those who were preaching
-hostility to the Dutch. A chorus of complaints came from
-Scotland and England as to the encroachments of the Hollanders
-near the shore on the east coast, not only interfering
-with the operations of the native fishermen, but breaking up
-and scattering the shoals of herrings. Whereas they had been
-prescribed “in ancient times” in Scotland from fishing nearer
-the land than they might see the shore from the main-tops of
-their vessels, they now came as near as they pleased, and
-would not sutler any others, whether subjects or strangers, to
-fish within the bounds of their fleet, which, it was said, extended
-over a space “at least forty Scottish miles in length and twenty
-broad,” thus “breaking and killing” the shoals before they
-could reach the mainland. They were also accused of drawing
-“the great fish” (by which was meant cod, saithe, &amp;c.) from
-the grounds along the shore, by casting into the sea the guts
-of the herrings they cured on board their busses. By reason
-of all this the Scottish fishermen, who used to get abundant
-supplies at “yair awn dooris” to supply the whole country,
-were now scarcely able, with great pains, to supply their own
-families, and there was in consequence a general clamour in
-the country, the people affirming that “the Hollanderis fishes
-the meait out of thir mouthis.” The evil was felt all the more
-by the Scottish fishermen because they paid three “assizes”
-every year for their several fishings, each consisting of 1000
-herrings, while the Hollanders paid nothing.<a id="FNanchor_274" href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">274</a></p>
-
-<p>Early in 1609 the fishermen of the Cinque Ports, who frequented
-the Yarmouth fishing in large numbers, sent a petition
-to the king, in which they recited their grievances. They
-alleged that the laws prohibiting the purchase from foreigners
-of fish unless sufficiently salted and casked (laws which, they
-pointed out, had done great good in the past, and had increased
-shipping and mariners) were not properly enforced. This complaint
-was aimed against the Dutch, who sold large quantities
-of fresh herrings at Yarmouth, and supplied London and other
-towns with fresh cod. They also complained that fishermen
-from the Low Countries, with a few from France, came before
-the fishing season and “preoccupied and environed” the best
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span>
-places with their shipping, enclosing, as in a circle, the shoals
-of herrings, and preventing the native fishermen from fishing
-among them. They were thus deprived of one of the best
-commodities of the land, and the herrings which they were
-prevented from catching were taken by the Hollanders and
-sold fresh on the English coast in contravention of the statutes.
-They said they were threatened with utter decay and impoverishment,
-and were discouraged from building barks for the
-Iceland fishing, which had in the past produced numbers of
-good mariners, to the great honour and defence of the realm.
-They pointed to the “ingenious dexterity of the Netherlanders,
-who in the care and pollicy of their State, and for the maintenance
-of their navigation and fishing,” had imposed a tax of
-fifteen shillings on every last of herrings imported by foreigners
-into their country; and they begged the king, by the justice of
-<i>lex talionis</i>, to do likewise, and thus to save the poor fishermen
-from the multitude of foreigners who oppressed them.<a id="FNanchor_275" href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">275</a> About
-this time complaints began to be made of cruel and harsh
-treatment of the native fishermen by the Dutch, but they
-appear to have rested on very slender grounds.<a id="FNanchor_276" href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">276</a></p>
-
-<p>The complaints against the Hollanders gave James his
-opportunity. The policy of issuing a proclamation to forbid
-unlicensed fishing by foreigners on the British coasts was
-discussed by the Privy Council early in the year. Doubts,
-however, were expressed whether such action would be in
-conformity with the provisions of the “Burgundy” treaties,
-which granted liberty of fishing to the Low Countries. In
-the “qualification” of Rainsford’s fishery scheme the question
-as to how the king’s title and rights could be proved had
-been answered in a lofty spirit&mdash;“By prerogative royall,
-without any accompt to be rendered to other nations; yet
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span>
-others to declare the reasons thereof.” But the Privy Council
-had to consider the matter more carefully. They remitted
-the draft proclamation to a committee consisting of Sir John
-Herbert, the second Secretary, Sir Julius C&aelig;sar, now Chancellor
-of the Exchequer, Sir Daniel Dunn, Sir Thomas
-Crompton, and Sir Christopher Perkins, instructing them,
-after perusing all the Burgundy treaties, to report as to the
-lawfulness or unlawfulness of the proposed action.<a id="FNanchor_277" href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">277</a></p>
-
-<p>A fortnight later the report of the committee was sent to
-the Council. They had, they said, considered of the liberty
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span>
-taken by the subjects of foreign princes and states to fish
-upon the coasts of the King’s Majesty, by which not only
-the English fishermen received wrong in their fishing, but
-the very coast towns were decayed; they had also considered
-the proclamation for the restraint of fishing, and had perused
-the Burgundy treaties as required, and they were “of opinion
-that the King’s Majesty may without breach of any treaty
-now in force, or of the law, upon the reasons specified in the
-proclamation sent unto us, restrain all strangers from fishing
-upon his coasts without license, in such moderation and after
-such convenient notice given thereof by public proclamation,
-as his Majesty shall think fit.”<a id="FNanchor_278" href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">278</a></p>
-
-<p>It was on this extremely important deliverance that the new
-policy of interfering with the liberty of foreigners fishing on
-the British coasts was based. The cautious language of the
-Privy Council indicates that they were conscious of the strength
-of the case against them from the existence of the Burgundy
-treaties; but the committee professed to find that those treaties
-were no longer in force,&mdash;an argument which was made the
-most of in the subsequent negotiations with the Dutch Republic.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span>
-The report was submitted to the Council in February;
-in March Grotius published his <i>Mare Liberum</i>, in which he
-branded as “insanely cupid” any one who attempted to interfere
-with the common liberty of fishing in the sea; and within
-a week or two thereafter the Truce of Antwerp was signed by
-Spain and the States-General, by which the long war between
-those Powers was brought to a close, and James was free to
-begin his policy against the Dutch fishermen. On 12th April
-1609 a memorandum was drawn up for the Council, in which
-it was stated (1) that a conference having been held with the
-fishermen concerning the seasons of all the fishings on the
-coast, it was thought fit that the proclamation should take
-effect from 1st August ensuing; (2) that from that day
-forward it should be unlawful for any stranger to fish “upon
-those his Majesty’s coasts and seas of Great Britain and Ireland
-and the Isles adjacent,” where the fishing was usually
-carried on, until they had obtained license for the same from
-the king; (3) that commissioners should be appointed by the
-king, at London, for England and Ireland, and for Scotland
-at such place as the king should select, to give out licenses
-on such conditions as he might think fit; and (4) that the
-licenses should be apportionable to the number and tonnage
-of the ships.<a id="FNanchor_279" href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">279</a></p>
-
-<p>These provisions were embodied in the proclamation, which
-was issued on 6th May 1609.<a id="FNanchor_280" href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">280</a> “Whereas,” said James, in his
-wordy style, “we have been contented since our coming to the
-crown, to tolerate an indifferent and promiscuous kind of
-liberty to all our friends whatsoever, to fish within our
-streams, and upon any of our coasts of Great Britain, Ireland,
-and other adjacent islands, so far forth as the permission or
-use thereof might not redound to the impeachment of our
-prerogative royal, nor to the hurt and damage of our loving
-subjects, whose preservation and flourishing estate we hold
-ourself principally bound to advance before all worldly respects:
-so finding that our connivance therein hath not only
-given occasion to over great encroachments upon our regalities,
-or rather questioning for our right,<a id="FNanchor_281" href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">281</a> but hath been a means of
-much daily wrongs to our own people that exercise the trade
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span>
-of fishing, as (either by the multitude of strangers, which do
-preoccupy those places, or by the injuries which they receive
-most commonly at their hands) our subjects are constrained to
-abandon their fishing, or at the least are become so discouraged
-in the same, as they hold it better for them to betake themselves
-to some other course of living, whereby not only divers
-of our coast-towns are much decayed, but the number of
-mariners daily diminished, which is a matter of great consequence
-to our estate, considering how much the strength thereof
-consisteth in the power of shipping and use of navigation.”
-It was therefore both just and necessary, the king continued,
-to take lawful means to put an end to these inconveniences,
-although he had no intention, as he desired the world to take
-notice, to deny his neighbours “those fruits and benefits of
-peace and friendship” which might justly be expected at his
-hands in honour and reason. He therefore gave notice to all
-the world, that after 1st August 1609, “no person of what
-nation or quality soever, being not our natural born subject,
-be permitted to fish upon any of our coasts and seas,” “until
-they have orderly demanded and obtained licenses from us,”
-or the commissioners appointed at London and Edinburgh.
-The licenses were to be renewed yearly, “upon pain of such
-chastisement as shall be fit to be inflicted upon such wilful
-offenders.”<a id="FNanchor_282" href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">282</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_6" src="images/fig_6.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 6.&mdash;<i>Facsimile of the concluding part of the Draft of Committee’s Report to Privy Council regarding the
-restraint of foreigners fishing on the British coasts.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The prohibition of unlicensed fishing in the British or Irish
-seas was general in its character, and applied to all foreigners
-indifferently. But it was well understood to be aimed at the
-Dutch. There is no evidence to show that any steps were
-taken to induce the hundred or so of French boats that took
-part in the herring-fishing on the east coast to obtain licenses;
-and though the Earl of Salisbury wrote a long letter to the
-English ambassador at Madrid, explaining the reasons that had
-induced the king to issue the proclamation, it does not appear
-that the numerous Spanish fishermen who caught mackerel off
-the coast of Ireland and the south-west coast of England were
-ever interfered with, or asked to apply for licenses.<a id="FNanchor_283" href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">283</a></p>
-
-<p>In the United Provinces the important step taken by the King
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span>
-of England was regarded with much concern. Early in June
-the proclamation was discussed by the States of Holland, and
-it was resolved that as the interference with the liberty of
-fishing was contrary to the treaties between England and the
-Netherlands, the States-General should maintain their right
-to fish off the British and Irish coasts.<a id="FNanchor_284" href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">284</a> This resolution was
-confirmed on the same day by the States-General, and it was
-decided to make representations against putting the proclamation
-into force. The herring-fishing, as previously described,
-began in June at Shetland, and was prosecuted down the east
-coast to Yarmouth, where the busses were usually to be found
-in September. There was therefore not much time to lose.
-Sir Noel Caron, the Dutch ambassador in London, had several
-interviews on the subject with the Earl of Salisbury and with
-James himself. Lord Salisbury, who was believed by Caron
-to be the real author of the scheme, held out little hope of an
-amicable settlement. But the good-natured king, who loved
-peace even more than he loved his prerogative, was more conciliatory.
-He explained to Sir Noel that the proclamation was
-for the purpose of introducing better order into the fishery,
-and to make manifest to the world the authority and power
-which he had on the sea,<a id="FNanchor_285" href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">285</a> and was not meant in any way to
-wrong the States, either by hostile force or otherwise. The
-French Government had in the meantime moved in the matter.
-At first nothing was said to our ambassador at Paris about the
-proclamation, and he thought it “no wisdom” to speak about
-it to them unless they raised the question. This they did
-later, either on account of the French fishermen or at the instigation
-of the Dutch, and a year’s respite was granted.<a id="FNanchor_286" href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">286</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span>
-Caron learned the welcome intelligence from the French ambassador
-in London, that a promise had been made to him that
-the project would proceed no further until after mutual negotiations,
-which would occupy the whole of that year.<a id="FNanchor_287" href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">287</a> Sir Ralph
-Winwood, who was appointed English ambassador at The Hague
-in August 1609, also had conferences about the proclamation
-with Barnevelt, whose authority in Holland was then supreme.
-He was told that the States would send special ambassadors
-to the king, “to acknowledge those many royal favours they
-had received from him,” and to treat of the liberty of fishing.
-Meantime their ambassador in London had been instructed to
-beseech the king to have patience with their people “trading”
-on his coasts, and that “without impeachment they might use
-their accustomed liberty and ancient privileges.”<a id="FNanchor_288" href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">288</a></p>
-
-<p>Sir Noel Caron had also discussions in London with respect
-to the legality of imposing any tax on Dutch fishermen, the
-principle of which he could not well understand. As previously
-mentioned, one of the precedents upon which James founded
-his claim to impose tribute was the payment by Scottish fishermen
-of the so-called “assize-herrings.” This was an ancient
-tax or custom of a thousand herrings levied from each fishing-boat
-employed at the herring fishery, and they belonged to the
-king as part of the crown revenues.<a id="FNanchor_289" href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">289</a> From the extent of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span>
-Dutch herring fishery it is evident that a similar tax imposed
-on it would have brought in a goodly sum annually to the
-king’s coffers. A few years later, when James did attempt to
-collect the tax from the Dutch fishermen, each buss was to be
-charged an “assize duty” of 10,000 herrings, or &pound;66, 13s. 4d.
-Scots, which was equal to about &pound;5, 11s. 1d. sterling; so that if
-the duty had been exacted from the 2000 herring-boats fishing
-on the coast the crown would have benefited to the extent of
-about &pound;11,000 a year, and the Hollanders would have been all
-that the poorer.</p>
-
-<p>When the principle of the assize-herring was explained to
-the Dutch ambassador, he appears to have devoted some attention
-to it. He argued that although the Scots Acts showed that
-the assize-herrings had been exacted from the Scottish fishermen
-in the firths on the east and west coasts, the tax had never
-been imposed in the north seas and at the Isles (Shetlands)
-where the Hollander busses fished; it would therefore be an
-“innovation” to enforce the payment there now. He further
-averred that treaties between King James and the United
-Provinces existed by which Dutch fishermen were freed from
-any payment to the king for fishing on his coasts and seas.
-Moreover, he declared the sea was free to all, <i>mare est liberum</i>,
-and consequently there was no king nor lord to be acknowledged
-upon the sea, “but every stranger may fish over all the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span>
-seas where he pleases, without asking license, or paying any
-toll or duty whatsoever.” It was moreover apparent, apart
-from considerations of principle as to the freedom of the sea,
-that no certainty existed that the king, or a successor, would
-not raise the tax, if once imposed, as the King of Denmark had
-done with the dues at the Sound, until they became a heavy
-burden.</p>
-
-<p>A Scottish lawyer, probably in the service of the crown,
-in reply to the objections of Sir Noel Caron, argued that it
-could not be called an “innovation” to exact the tribute, if
-the herrings swam from the ancient places of their resort
-and appeared in new places in his Majesty’s seas, where the
-tax was not previously levied, or because there was an “oversight”
-in levying it in olden times when, he said, there was
-little fishing in the north seas and about the Isles, and
-the cost of collecting it would have been great. As for
-treaties, it was most improbable that any stranger would
-ask or king grant that strangers should be more free to fish
-“within the seas of the king’s dominions” than the native
-subjects of the kingdom. But even if such grant had been
-made, it could not stand good in law, because it was “repugnant
-to reason.” By negligence, he said, the Hollanders
-had been allowed two advantages. In ancient times they were
-“appointed” to fish no nearer the land than they could see the
-shore from their main-tops; but now they fished as near as
-they pleased, excluding the natives and breaking up the shoals.
-Then, while the natives had to pay three assizes yearly, the
-Dutch were “as yet” asked to pay only one, though many of
-the busses made three voyages in a year. And if the sea was
-free to all, why had the Netherlanders entered into treaties for
-freedom of fishing? By making covenants with the kings of
-Scotland, “and taking liberty of them to fish within the Scottish
-seas,” they had “disclaimed <i>mare liberum</i> and acknowledged
-the Kings of Scotland to be Lords of these Seas.” Why
-should the Dutch alone object, if the natives, the French, and
-all other foreigners willingly pay the assize-herring?<a id="FNanchor_290" href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">290</a> It was,
-however, untrue to say that the tax was paid by the French or
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span>
-other foreign fishermen. Even Scottish fishermen who fished at
-the North Isles were exempt; and when an attempt was made
-some years later to force them to pay, the burghs obtained a
-decree of <i>absolvitor</i> from the court and the Privy Council, on
-the ground that the tax could only be levied on “green”
-or fresh fish landed, and not on herrings cured on board
-(<a href="#Page_166">see p. 166</a>).</p>
-
-<p>In the spring of 1610 James’s proclamation was again taken
-into consideration by the States of Holland and the States-General,
-and it was resolved to send an embassy to London,
-primarily to thank the king for his friendly offices in connection
-with the conclusion of the truce with Spain, but in reality to
-deal with the fishery question and some other matters. One of
-the ambassadors was Joachimi, who afterwards represented the
-States at the English Court for over twenty-five years. Another
-was Elias van Oldenbarnevelt, a brother of the great statesman
-who was then at the head of affairs in the Netherlands, and to
-him the business of the fishing was specially committed. They
-arrived in England on 14th April, and had an audience with the
-king a few days later and another with the Privy Council.
-They asked for an assurance that the king’s proclamation was
-not meant to extend to the United Provinces, since he was in
-alliance with them, and treaties existed between the two
-countries. But the Earl of Salisbury plainly told them that
-the principal motive of the proclamation arose from the multitude
-and disorder of their fishermen, “who had wholly drawn
-the fishing to themselves, to the destruction of his Majesty’s
-people and coast-towns”; and they were invited to further
-conference.<a id="FNanchor_291" href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">291</a></p>
-
-<p>On the 6th May, exactly a year after the publication of the
-proclamation, the ambassadors had a formal conference with
-Sir Julius C&aelig;sar, Sir Thomas Parry, Sir Daniel Dunn, Sir
-Christopher Perkins, Dr Henry Marten (Advocate-General), and
-Levinus Muncke, a Fleming, and “clerk to his Majesty’s Signet.”
-The English commissioners began the discussion by
-justifying the proclamation on the grounds previously indicated.
-The Dutch contended for complete freedom of fishing,
-resting their case on arguments drawn from the civil law, on
-immemorial possession, on the existence of treaties, and on
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span>
-political considerations. They said the United Provinces had
-always been in peaceful possession of free fishing, and that from
-time immemorial they had enjoyed complete liberty to fish over
-the whole sea, both as a matter of usage and of right. To disturb
-them by force in the enjoyment of that right would be
-unjust. Besides, by the Law of Nations the boundless and
-rolling sea was as common to all people as the air, “which no
-prince could prohibit.” No prince, they said, could “challenge
-further into the sea than he can command with a cannon,
-except gulfs within their land from one point to another,”&mdash;the
-first occasion on which this principle for delimiting territorial
-waters, afterwards so celebrated, appears to have been
-advanced.<a id="FNanchor_292" href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">292</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_7" src="images/fig_7.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 7.&mdash;<i>Facsimile of Minute of the Declaration of the Dutch Envoys
-as to the range of guns.</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span></p></div>
-
-<p>Besides these more or less abstract arguments, the ambassadors
-made a strong case by reason of the treaties in
-which liberty of fishing was stipulated. It is noteworthy
-that they referred to only one of the treaties with England,
-the Intercursus Magnus of 1496, while they laid stress on the
-treaties with Scotland in 1541, 1550, and especially in 1594,
-when James himself was on the throne of the northern kingdom
-(<a href="#Page_81">see p. 81</a>). They further declared that there were
-reasons of state which forbade the United Provinces from
-allowing the free use of the sea to be disputed. More than
-20,000 mariners were maintained by the herring fishery
-alone, besides other 40,000 people who gained their livelihood
-by making nets, packing the fish, and in other industries
-depending upon the fishery. The power and security of
-the country and much of its commerce rested on the fishery.
-As for the complaint that the decay of English coast-towns
-was caused by their fishing off the coast, it was explained
-that they only fished there for herrings which were cured
-on board, and that this industry had been discovered by
-themselves, which gave them a prior claim to it. The English
-were free to carry on the herring fishery themselves, though,
-they dexterously added, it was a business that required much
-experience, and it would be a long time before they succeeded,
-especially as heavy losses sometimes occurred, which the Dutch
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span>
-were able to bear, since they lived cheaply and each of the
-60,000 people mentioned were “adventurers,” the losses being
-thus spread over a great number. They suggested that the
-English had given up the fishery because they had found a
-more comfortable livelihood in other ways.<a id="FNanchor_293" href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">293</a></p>
-
-<p>On the other side, the English commissioners argued that
-by the custom of nations the king had a right to the whole
-of the seas around his coasts; and this right was exercised
-by other countries, as Spain, France, Denmark, Sweden,
-Venice, Genoa, and Russia, and generally by all maritime
-states; and it was not opposed to the Roman law or the
-teachings of the Civilians. They admitted that the sea was
-free for navigation, but denied that it was free for fishing.
-All the kings of England since Edgar had the adjoining
-seas under their jurisdiction, and had always received “consideration”
-for the fishing within them. The commissioners
-evidently felt that the treaties offered the greatest difficulty
-to the policy of James, and they contended that all the
-Burgundy treaties had become obsolete for a variety of
-reasons. The great treaty of 1496 had lost its effect, inasmuch
-as a later treaty in 1520 (which, however, dealt with
-quite other things) did not confirm it. The treaties, moreover,
-had been made with the House of Burgundy, and concerned
-only the subjects of that house; but there were now
-no subjects of the Duke of Burgundy; and the Dutch at least
-could not found upon those treaties, because they had themselves
-broken and transgressed them. Even if those old
-treaties could be supposed to be in force and provided liberty
-of fishing without license, that could not mean without the
-payment of the usual dues, customs, and taxes. Besides,
-when the treaties were made the circumstances were different.
-The fishing of the Netherlanders was not then so disagreeable
-to this country as it was now; then about 100 vessels
-came to fish, while now they sent 2000. The king was therefore
-not bound to tolerate them any longer.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span></p>
-
-<p>The negotiations between the English and Dutch commissioners
-went on for a short time, the arguments on either side
-being elaborated without much hope of agreement, when an
-event occurred that brought them to a sudden end. This was
-the assassination of King Henry IV. of France, the head of
-the Protestant League, which made James anxious to retain
-the goodwill and alliance of the Dutch Republic, in view of
-his relations with Spain. On 14th May the ambassadors
-were told by the Earl of Salisbury that while the king held
-his right to forbid the Netherlanders to fish on his coasts
-to be indubitable, he, “out of his great love to the Low
-Countries, would forbear to proceed according to the proclamation.”<a id="FNanchor_294" href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">294</a>
-At the farewell audience James used very kind
-expressions. He made the remarkable but characteristic statement
-to the ambassadors that he had issued the proclamation
-owing to the just complaints of his subjects, not from the
-solicitation of courtesans or courtiers.<a id="FNanchor_295" href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">295</a> He assured them
-of his affection towards them and the preservation of their
-state, “which next unto his own he held most dear above
-all other respects in the world.” As for the business of the
-fishing, he thought it was not fit now to spend more time
-on it, but to refer it to some better season, and in the meantime,
-he said, things would remain as they were.<a id="FNanchor_296" href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">296</a> This termination
-to the negotiations was naturally gratifying to the
-Dutch. Barnevelt and the States-General had become somewhat
-anxious as to the issue, and the ambassadors had been
-instructed to try to get the matter shelved for a little. Although
-James had suspended the operation of the proclamation,
-however, he had not withdrawn it. The question was merely
-postponed to a more convenient season.</p>
-
-<p>The failure to carry out the policy of exacting tribute from
-the Dutch fishermen was fatal to the scheme of the London
-merchants to form a Society of Fishing Merchants. Rainsford
-wrote to Lord Salisbury in October 1609 expressing his fears
-that the Earl disapproved of the project to raise a great
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span>
-revenue to the king for the fishing in his seas;<a id="FNanchor_297" href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">297</a> and in 1611
-he again addressed a memorandum to the Earl, answering
-various objections that had been raised to the scheme, and
-renewing the offer for farming the tribute.</p>
-
-<p>The plans to form a national herring fishery founded on
-taxation of the Dutch having failed, others were brought
-forward on the basis of receiving special privileges and immunities
-from the crown. One proceeded so far towards realisation,
-that in December 1611 a corporation was formed,
-consisting of a governor, deputy-governor, a treasurer, twenty-four
-“consuls,” with “searchers” (cure-masters), gaugers, and
-other officials, in imitation of the Dutch system. The administration
-was to be general “for matter of order, and particular
-for matter of adventure,” leaving every town at liberty to
-venture for itself; and laws and ordinances were drawn up
-for the central body in London and the affiliated societies
-throughout the country. Since the money necessary was
-to be found by private individuals, a number of privileges
-were asked from the Government. One of these, which made
-it lawful for the corporation to carry their fish abroad and
-to bring back commodities in exchange, “from all parts wheresoever,
-notwithstanding any former privileges to the contrary,”
-was strenuously opposed by all the trading companies, and
-in particular by the Merchant Adventurers, who objected
-that it would be most injurious to their great trade in cloth.<a id="FNanchor_298" href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">298</a>
-This opposition killed the “business of the busses,” as the
-fishing project was popularly called. Writing ten years later,
-Gerard Malynes, a London merchant and author, who appears
-to have been one of the promoters and to have spent both time
-and money on it, deplored the failure of this society, which
-he said was due to the opposition of the Merchant Adventurers,
-the Russia Company, and the Eastland Merchants.<a id="FNanchor_299" href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">299</a></p>
-
-<p>Within a year or two another project came from an unexpected
-quarter. No less a personage than the queen became
-a suppliant for a royal patent empowering her to compound
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span>
-with strangers for licenses to fish on the British coasts. The
-arguments adduced from the point of view of benefit to the
-nation were of the usual kind; but others of a more or less
-domestic nature were added, which must have appealed to
-the heart of her consort. “It is desired by the Queene,” proceeds
-the petition, “that the King’s Majesty will be pleased to
-graunt unto her a Pattent of theis fishings under his Majesty’s
-great Seales of England and Scotland, whereby her Majesty
-may have power to graunt lycense and to compound with
-these strangers for an yearly revenue to be paid unto her
-Majestie for theis fishings.” By this means a great revenue
-would be drawn into the country, which would be sufficient
-to support and maintain her estate, “and so his Majesty’s
-coffers will be spared.” She promised besides that she would
-give him a full fifth of the amount she obtained; and another
-advantage would be that the king would be “royally invested
-in possession of his undoubted right, which,” she na&iuml;vely added,
-“hath never ben yet obtayned by anie of his royall progenitors.”
-The petition was brought before the Privy Council, who decided
-that the proposal was not feasible, as it depended upon “so
-many points of question and circumstance between us and
-the House of Burgundy in former times, and the States of
-the Low Countries and us for the present.”<a id="FNanchor_300" href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">300</a></p>
-
-<p>In her petition the queen referred to the proposal to build
-a number of busses. While explaining that her project would
-not prevent the king or any of his subjects from building
-busses if they so desired, she questioned whether that plan
-would be successful. Some men, indeed, of great judgment,
-she said, were of opinion that the king would reap no benefit
-at all in that way, for 1000 busses was “the least number
-that could be thought to doe any good upon this fishing,”
-and each would cost &pound;1000 at least, while &pound;100 a-year
-would be required for repairs, and 20,000 men would be
-needed to man them.</p>
-
-<p>About this time several works were published giving details
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span>
-as to the cost and equipment of herring-busses,<a id="FNanchor_301" href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">301</a> but little
-was accomplished. The net result in 1614 was that one
-Richard Godsdue, Esquire, of Bucknam Ferry, in Norfolk,
-had five busses on the stocks at Yarmouth, and Sir William
-Harvey had built a large one at Limehouse. But all the
-efforts made in the reign of James, and indeed throughout
-the whole century, to form a great national fishery on the
-model of the Dutch completely failed. It required nearly
-two centuries of experience, and the squandering of vast
-sums of money, to teach the people that a great industry
-could not be suddenly created in this way by servile imitation
-of a system not suited to the natural circumstances of
-the case. It was chiefly by the gradual evolution of the
-Scottish herring-boat, and not by the building of busses,
-that the herring industry was wrested from the Dutch.</p>
-
-<p>James was doubtless privy to the queen’s petition before
-it was officially considered,<a id="FNanchor_302" href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">302</a> and he appears not to have been
-satisfied with the decision of the Council. At all events,
-the question of the fisheries was still kept alive. In the
-spring of 1614 we find Wotton writing from The Hague
-to Secretary Winwood, saying that he still had his Majesty’s
-commission regarding the fishings, and that it was, as Winwood
-said, “a tender and dainty piece,” adding that though
-he had seen Mr Barnevelt on several occasions he had not
-mentioned the matter to him, and was waiting for a suitable
-time to speak of this “dainty and delicate business.”<a id="FNanchor_303" href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">303</a> Later
-in the year, the Keeper of the State Papers was requested
-by the Lord Chancellor and the Archbishop of Canterbury
-to search the records in his custody relating to the king’s
-jurisdiction on the sea and his right to the fishing. “Whereas,”
-they said, “there is occasion for his Majesty’s special service
-to look out such precedents and records as concern his Majesty’s
-power, right, and sovereign jurisdiction of the seas and fishing
-upon the coast; and that we are informed there are many
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span>
-of that kind among the records in your custody, we do
-hereby require you to make your personal repair hither to
-seek out all such precedents and papers as are remaining
-there and do any way concern that business,” and to hold
-them ready for inspection.<a id="FNanchor_304" href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">304</a></p>
-
-<p>This search was doubtless in connection with the subject
-of the assize-herrings mentioned in the next chapter, but
-that the queen’s scheme had been revived is evident from
-the action of Sir Noel Caron. As soon as he got wind
-of it, he wrote hurriedly to the States-General stating that
-the king had assigned to the queen for twenty-one years
-the revenue to be derived from taxing the herring-busses,
-and that no one would be allowed to fish on the coasts
-of England or Scotland without her consent.<a id="FNanchor_305" href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">305</a> This letter
-was at once considered by the Dutch Government. A committee
-was appointed to look into the treaties bearing on
-the question and the instructions which had been given to
-the ambassadors in 1610, and to report as to what action
-should be taken; but it was finally resolved to await further
-developments in England before interfering, and at the
-beginning of November Caron was able to announce that
-the danger had passed.<a id="FNanchor_306" href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">306</a></p>
-
-<p>At this period there were other disputes with England
-that caused apprehension in Holland. One referred to the
-trade in cloth, and in a proclamation which prohibited the
-export of wool<a id="FNanchor_307" href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">307</a> James took the opportunity to extol the
-commanding situation of the British Isles for navigation and
-trade, and to draw a parallel between the commodities of
-wool on land and fish in the sea, “which,” he said, “are
-the Adamants that draw and govern all other Trade and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span>
-Merchandizing”&mdash;language which led the Dutch to think
-the proclamation anent unlicensed fishing was about to be
-renewed. Another referred to the whale fishery at Spitzbergen,
-which was claimed both by the Dutch and the
-British, and was regarded by James as being within his maritime
-dominion. It led, as shall be seen, to an interesting
-contest for <i>mare clausum</i> in the Arctic Seas.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br />
-
-<span class="medium"><small>JAMES I.</small>&mdash;<i>continued</i>. <small>DISPUTES WITH THE DUTCH.</small></span></h2>
-
-<p>It would probably be too flattering to James to suppose that he
-had any well-considered plan for extending his authority over
-the foreign fishermen frequenting his coasts, or for extracting
-from them a tribute for their liberty of fishing. But the existence
-of the tax of the assize-herrings in Scotland clearly
-offered the best means for bringing that about if it was to be
-brought about at all. It has been explained that in the negotiations
-which followed the issue of the proclamation of 1609,
-Sir Noel Caron laid his finger on a weak spot in the English
-case, by pointing out that the assize-herring had never been
-levied on the native fishermen who fished where the Dutch
-fished at the North Isles. The special ambassadors in 1610
-also mentioned that their fishermen had never been asked to
-pay it, though they naturally did not lay stress on the point.
-James resolved that those omissions should be remedied. In
-1610 he granted the assize-herrings to Captain John Mason,
-who was employed with two ships of war in that and in the
-following year on the coast of Scotland. Mason accordingly
-made strenuous efforts to collect the tribute. The fishermen
-of Fifeshire, who carried on a herring fishery at Orkney and
-Shetland, resisted the unaccustomed tax, and in 1612 raised an
-action of <i>absolvitor</i> before the Lords of the Privy Council
-and gained their case.<a id="FNanchor_308" href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">308</a> The Lords of the Council decided that
-the “adventure” of the fishermen at the Northern Isles was of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span>
-the nature of a merchant voyage, and that the fishermen had
-no right to pay any such assize, which had never been craved
-of them before.<a id="FNanchor_309" href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">309</a></p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding this decision of the Privy Council of Scotland,
-James in 1614 again granted the assize-herrings of the North
-Isles, on this occasion to the Duke of Lennox, who was his
-Admiral in Scotland and one of the chief noblemen of the
-time. In ordinary course the grant came before the Privy
-Council for confirmation, and the Council at once informed the
-Convention of Burghs, requesting them to make it known to
-the burghs that the Duke of Lennox had obtained a gift from
-the king of “ane excyse to be tayne of all heyring to be tayne
-be north of Buqhan Nes” (Buchan Ness, Aberdeenshire), so
-that they might lodge their defences. The commissioners for
-Dundee, St Andrews, Dunbar, and the burghs on the coast of
-Fife, were accordingly appointed to proceed to Edinburgh to
-give reasons to the Council against the “gift.”<a id="FNanchor_310" href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">310</a> After hearing
-the representatives of the burghs and the agents of the Duke
-(one of whom was “Maister Johnne Browne,” the central figure
-in the dramatic episode in 1617, referred to later), the Lords of
-the Council indited a long letter to the king. They cited the
-decision in Mason’s case two years before, and the reasons for
-it. They expatiated on the great decay which had occurred in
-all trades and commerce in Scotland, and stated that the fishings
-would also decay if the duty was levied. In plain words
-they told the king that the fisheries should rather be encouraged&mdash;for
-the general welfare of the country, the increase of
-customs, the inbringing of bullion, and providing work for the
-poor. In face of the decree in Mason’s case, the Duke’s agents
-had to admit that they could not levy the tax from the burghs,
-but they craved leave to exact them from the native fishermen
-of Orkney and Shetland, and from the foreign fishermen who
-fished there. On the former point the opinion of the Council
-was clear. They upheld the contention of the burghs that the
-native fishermen were only their servants, since they paid
-wages to them for their labour, and that the herrings, being
-cured and barrelled on the sea, were exempt from assize duty,
-which could be exacted only on herrings brought fresh and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span>
-“green” to land.<a id="FNanchor_311" href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">311</a> The Council evaded giving an opinion on
-the point of chief importance, the proposal to levy the tax on
-the foreign fishermen, all of whom cured their fish on board
-their vessels. There were, they said, according to information
-supplied by the burghs, “some strangers, especially of Holland,”
-who claimed the liberty and privilege of fishing “by his Majesty’s
-patent granted in their favour to fish in his Majesty’s waters”;
-but the tenour of this patent was obscure and not known to
-them, and they had no record of it. They suggested that the
-king should ask his ambassador at The Hague to procure an
-authentic copy of it, to be sent to Scotland for inspection and
-consideration.<a id="FNanchor_312" href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">312</a></p>
-
-<p>Evidently the Council in Scotland were at this time as
-cautious as the Council in England in doing anything contrary
-to the treaties with the Netherlands. Had they sanctioned
-offhand the request of the Duke to exact the assize-herrings
-from the Hollanders, they would have taken the responsibility,
-without direct authority from the king, of an act which they
-knew might have serious consequences. They had no sympathy
-with the foreign fishermen, for complaints regarding them from
-the burghs were frequent. In 1611 the city of Edinburgh
-represented to them the “inconvenience” which was sustained
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span>
-by the whole realm and by the merchants in particular through
-the non-observance of the Act of 1581, “anent the comming of
-schippis to burrowis in the west and north Isles be Flemings
-and uther nations”; and in the following year the “mater of
-the fischeing of the Flemins in the West and North Isles” was
-again brought up, and it was remitted to the burghs of Edinburgh
-and Dundee to draw up a supplication to the Privy
-Council to have the fishing by the Flemings in those places
-repressed.<a id="FNanchor_313" href="#Footnote_313" class="fnanchor">313</a></p>
-
-<p>In view of the decision of the Privy Council, the Duke of
-Lennox did not at this time attempt to collect the tribute from
-the foreign fishermen at the North Isles. But two years later
-the political relations between this country and the Netherlands
-having become strained, the opportunity was seized to
-raise once more the question of the fishery and the exaction
-of the assize-herrings. Serious disputes involving retaliatory
-measures had broken out respecting the trade in cloth. In
-England strong resentment was aroused by an edict of the
-States prohibiting the importation of English dyed cloth.
-Winwood, now Secretary of State, wrote to Sir Dudley Carleton,
-who had taken his place at The Hague, that it was the
-opinion of “every true-hearted Englishman” that the king
-“ought to forbid all manner of intercourse between the Kingdoms
-and the United Provinces, and forbid the Hollanders, by
-a fresh reviving of former proclamations, to continue their
-yearly fishing upon our coasts.”<a id="FNanchor_314" href="#Footnote_314" class="fnanchor">314</a> The influence of this feeling
-was soon apparent. The Duke of Lennox was now instructed
-by the king to levy the assize-herrings from foreigners fishing
-at the North Isles, the grant, under the great seal of Scotland,
-being dated in June 1616; and to render his task more easy he
-obtained from Sir Noel Caron in the same month a letter of
-recommendation (“aanbevelingsbrief”) to the captains of the
-Dutch convoying-ships. This letter was innocently given by
-Caron in the belief that it concerned the payment of dues on
-land at Shetland, which the busses had been accustomed to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span>
-pay, and which were then payable to the Duke,<a id="FNanchor_315" href="#Footnote_315" class="fnanchor">315</a> but it was
-made use of by the Duke’s agent to cover the collection of the
-assize-herrings. The duty of collecting the tax was assigned
-to Mr John Brown, one of the Duke’s deputies. The detailed
-instructions he received in 1616 do not appear to have been
-preserved, but they were probably similar to those issued a
-year or two later (see <a href="#APPENDIX_G">Appendix G</a>). He was to proceed to the
-North Isles in one of the king’s pinnaces and there to demand
-the assize duty from the foreign fishermen.</p>
-
-<p>At the end of July 1616 Brown, in one of the king’s vessels,
-appeared among the Dutch busses at work off the Scottish
-coast, and began to carry out his instructions, offering a “quittance
-or receipt” for the tax claimed. Probably to his surprise,
-it was peaceably paid by the busses, amounting for each to one
-angel or a barrel of herrings and twelve cod-fish. The fishermen
-were told that if they did not pay it the amount would be
-doubled in the following year; and that the king had a right
-to levy this tax for a distance of 100 miles from the coast in
-virtue of the agreement made with the States at the baptism of
-Prince Henry.<a id="FNanchor_316" href="#Footnote_316" class="fnanchor">316</a> Although the toll was paid by most of the
-busses, it was without the consent of the captains of the
-convoying men-of-war. They came to Brown and demanded
-to see his commission; and it is said that he showed them the
-letter which the Duke of Lennox had obtained from Sir Noel
-Caron. Since no force had been used in collecting the tax, the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span>
-States’ officers contented themselves with forbidding any further
-proceedings, and Brown then departed.<a id="FNanchor_317" href="#Footnote_317" class="fnanchor">317</a></p>
-
-<p>The success of the mission was gratifying to James, and
-the payment willingly made on this occasion by the Dutch
-fishermen was often afterwards cited as an argument that they
-had acknowledged the king’s rights in the fishery. In the
-United Provinces the matter was naturally viewed in another
-light. The Dutch officers promptly reported the occurrence to
-the directors of the Enkhuisen branch of the fishery; the
-authorities of the town complained to Barnevelt in energetic
-terms, and the matter was brought before a meeting of the
-States-General, who characterised the proceeding of Brown as
-an “unheard of and intolerable innovation, contrary to the
-existing treaties,” and instructed their ambassador in London
-to make a strong protest against it. Orders were, moreover,
-issued to the commanders of the convoying ships of war to put
-a stop to any further payments, and even to refuse to give
-their names. Caron, who was indignant at the use to which
-his friendly letter had been put, complained to the king and to
-the Duke of Lennox. James explained that it was merely a
-small tribute or tax which was levied in Scotland on all foreign
-fishermen, and even on his own subjects, and had been leased to
-the Duke of Lennox, who paid an annual rent for it into the
-Exchequer. He had, he said, arranged that one of his ships of
-war should be stationed on the fishing-ground for the security
-of the fishermen and to protect them from pirates. Caron
-declared that their High Mightinesses were exempt from all
-imposts or taxes for their fishery, both by the treaties “and
-otherwise,” and he begged the king to give other instructions,
-as the matter had occasioned great disquiet and alarm in
-Holland. Lennox also tried to minimise the importance of
-the measure. It was, he said, a small matter; a mere “acknowledgment”
-of a barrel of herrings or ten shillings from each
-buss, which had to be paid thrice a year by all the king’s
-subjects who fished at the North Isles, and was willingly paid
-by the English, French, German, and all other foreign fishermen.
-The ambassador says he was shown a printed book
-in which it was stated that the Scottish Parliament had
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span>
-decreed that the assize-herrings should be paid not only
-by the native fishermen but by foreigners who came to fish
-on their coasts.<a id="FNanchor_318" href="#Footnote_318" class="fnanchor">318</a> The latter were furthermore prohibited
-from approaching the coast nearer than they could see the
-land from the top of their masts, whereas of late they came
-within ten, eight, six, and even four miles of the shore, which
-had caused much murmuring in the country, particularly as in
-that year between 1500 and 1000 of their busses were there in
-June. Sir Noel Caron, however, continued to protest against
-what he said was an unjust innovation, and he closed the
-interview with the important declaration that, be the consequences
-what they might, the States would not allow a single
-herring to be paid in future, as it might be regarded as a
-precedent for further demands.<a id="FNanchor_319" href="#Footnote_319" class="fnanchor">319</a></p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding this strong protest from the Dutch ambassador,
-and a request he made to the king to forbear the
-right he claimed pending the appointment of a special embassy
-to treat of the matter, Brown was again sent to the North Isles
-in the next year to collect the king’s dues from the herring
-fishers. This he attempted to do as quietly and inoffensively
-as possible, but his mission had an abrupt and dramatic termination.
-Immediately on his arrival among the busses,
-Captain Andrees Tlieff, the commander of one of the convoying
-ships from Rotterdam, formally refused the payment in the
-name of all the Netherland fishermen, handing to Brown a declaration
-to that effect in writing. Brown professed himself
-satisfied, and was about to leave Tlieff’s vessel to proceed, as he
-said, among the fishermen of other countries, when the captain
-of the convoyer from Enkhuisen, Jan Albertsz by name, who
-had spoken to Brown in the previous year, came on board. He
-asked Brown if he was the person who had levied the tax in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span>
-the year before, and on receiving a reply in the affirmative he
-at once arrested him, saying he had orders to that effect; and
-notwithstanding Brown’s warning as to the consequences, and
-the exhibition of his commission, he was made prisoner by the
-irate Dutchman and carried off to Holland. Whether the
-king’s pinnace had on this occasion, as two years later, more
-than “two small guns and ten muscattis” to represent the
-power and majesty of the British navy, does not appear. But
-Brown, meek and peaceful, was seemingly quite contented with
-his position. He wrote from the Dutch ship to Captain Murray,
-in charge of the king’s pinnace, telling him of his arrest and
-advising him to make no attempt at rescue, but to return to
-Scotland and report the matter to the king.<a id="FNanchor_320" href="#Footnote_320" class="fnanchor">320</a></p>
-
-<p>James received the news of the capture of Brown at Dumfries
-while on a visit to Scotland. He felt that the arrest of
-an officer of the state, discharging business of the state and
-with his Admiral’s commission in his pocket, was an “insolent”
-personal affront to himself. The members of the Privy Council
-who were with him&mdash;and the Duke of Lennox was one of
-them&mdash;immediately wrote to the Council in London requesting
-them in the name of the king to arrest the masters of two or
-three Dutch ships in the Thames by way of reprisal, and to
-retain them as hostages; to inform Sir Noel Caron that reparation
-must be made by the States; and to instruct the British
-ambassador at The Hague to “demand satisfaction from them
-for this insolence offered to his Majesty.” Winwood at once
-sent for Caron, and informed him of the “disgraceful affront”
-which had been put upon the king while his Majesty himself
-was in Scotland. The king, he said, was very sensible of their
-“injurious and scornful carriage,” and immediate satisfaction
-and redress were demanded. Sir Dudley Carleton used even
-stronger language in addressing the States-General at The
-Hague. What, he asked, would the world say when they
-knew that a public officer and Minister of the King of England
-had been seized by them in Scotland, in sight of the ships of
-other nations and while the king himself was in that country?
-That the outrage was committed by the orders of the States
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span>
-he did not believe; but the captains pretended they had a
-commission for what they did, and produced certain letters
-patent containing, as they said, an express commission from
-their masters. The ambassador concluded by requiring instant
-reparation and satisfaction.<a id="FNanchor_321" href="#Footnote_321" class="fnanchor">321</a></p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Brown himself had, perhaps, little cause for
-regret. He spent two days on board the Dutch man-of-war,
-and was then landed at Enkhuisen. The authorities of the
-town at once perceived the rashness of the step that had been
-taken by Captain Albertsz. Brown was immediately liberated,
-treated with the greatest courtesy, and conducted by one of
-the chief magistrates, with profuse apologies, to the British
-ambassador at The Hague. All his expenses were defrayed;
-he was presented with seventy “double Jacobus pieces” as a
-personal gift, and he left for home on 13th September. Count
-Maurice and Barnevelt promptly disavowed the act of Albertsz,
-and when the matter was brought before the States-General
-by Carleton, it fell to the lot of Grotius, in the absence of
-Barnevelt, to express the regret of the assembly for the “accident,”
-and to request the British ambassador to put the case
-in writing for inquiry. In their reply later, the States-General
-threw the whole blame on the captains, Albertsz and Tlieff,
-who had, they said, acted without authority, and would be
-punished on their return from the fishing. They renewed
-their regrets, said that Brown had been immediately released,
-and begged that the Dutch merchant captains who had been
-thrown into prison in England and Scotland might be set free,
-and their “ancient accustomed liberty of fishing maintained.”
-In preferring this request the States relied on their treaty with
-James in 1594, and the gracious answer he had given to their
-ambassadors in 1610 concerning the proclamation of the year
-before.<a id="FNanchor_322" href="#Footnote_322" class="fnanchor">322</a></p>
-
-<p>If the States-General thought they were to get so easily out
-of the awkward position in which the precipitate action of their
-officers had placed them, they were disappointed. James not
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span>
-only refused to release the Dutch ships, but said their masters
-would be detained in prison until the offending commanders
-had been sent as prisoners to England, there to receive such
-justice as their case merited. This request was most unpalatable
-to the States, and they raised various objections to it,
-founded both on law and privilege; and although they were
-assured by Carleton that the only punishment the offenders
-would receive would be “the crossing and re-crossing the seas,”
-they begged that some other means might be found of settling
-the matter. James, however, who had submitted the case to
-counsel as to the legality of his demand, remained obdurate.<a id="FNanchor_323" href="#Footnote_323" class="fnanchor">323</a>
-Finally, after much negotiation and debate, the States, in
-February 1618, resolved to send over the two captains to
-receive the personal rebuke of the king. Albertsz, the chief
-offender, fell ill and died, but Tlieff did actually come to
-England in April. Notwithstanding letters of recommendation
-from the States-General, Sir Noel Caron, and Sir Dudley
-Carleton (with whom Grotius had interceded), he was “very
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span>
-wrathfully” received by James, who scolded and rebuked him
-severely for the enormity of his offence, and then dismissed
-him without further punishment.<a id="FNanchor_324" href="#Footnote_324" class="fnanchor">324</a> Thus ended an incident
-in the claims to <i>mare clausum</i> which almost led to a rupture
-between the two countries.</p>
-
-<p>It would appear that James, though thus foiled in his
-attempt to levy the assize-herrings from the Hollander fishermen
-in 1617, did not intend to let the matter rest in the
-following season, and circumstances occurred which brought up
-the question of the “land-kenning” in another quarter. Early
-in 1618 the King of Denmark complained to him that Scottish
-fishermen were in the habit of fishing “within the waters of
-Faer&ouml;e,” which was part of the dominions of Denmark, and that
-the native fishermen had been so much injured by their encroachments
-that they were unable to pay their dues and
-taxes. Here was a complaint against Scottish fishermen like
-that which they so commonly made against the Dutch. The
-complaint was brought before the Privy Council of Scotland, who
-summoned the burghs concerned<a id="FNanchor_325" href="#Footnote_325" class="fnanchor">325</a> to appear and explain their
-conduct. They admitted that for some years they had gone to
-the Faer&ouml;e Isles to fish, but they said that they had been “driven
-thereto upon necessity, and by the violence and oppression of
-the Hollanders, who came yearly with two thousand sail and
-above within his Majesty’s waters, and within a mile of the
-‘continent’ of Orkney and Shetland, and not contented with
-the benefit that the liberty of their fishing within the said
-bounds affords yearly unto them, they do very heavily oppress his
-Majesty’s poor subjects and fishers.” They said that the Hollanders
-“stoppis thame, houndis and chaisis thame frome thair
-fischeing, cuttis thair nettis, threatnis thair lyveis, and thairby
-compellis thame, who ar a nomber of poore people haveing no
-other trade quhairby to manteene thair families, to seeke thair
-fischeing elsquhair and far frome thair awne coist, with grite
-tormoyll, travell, trouble, and chargeis.”<a id="FNanchor_326" href="#Footnote_326" class="fnanchor">326</a> The Lords of the
-Council, however, held that the oppression committed by the
-Hollanders on them was no warrant for their oppressing the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span>
-subjects of other princes, and “that they ought not to have
-fished in the said waters without some license and oversight.”
-A proclamation was thereupon issued by the king and Council
-forbidding Scottish fishermen “to fish within sight of the land
-of the Isle of Faer&ouml;e, but to reserve the [fishings there<a id="FNanchor_327" href="#Footnote_327" class="fnanchor">327</a>] to the
-inhabitants of the said Isle, and to other” subjects of the King
-of Denmark, “conform to the law of nations,” under a penalty
-of confiscation of the ships, vessels, and goods of the persons
-offending. At the same time the Council wrote to the king
-acquainting him with the oppressions committed by the Hollanders
-on the Scottish fishermen, and suggesting that his ambassador
-at The Hague should demand reparation and “instant
-prohibition” by the States to their people, “that they fish not
-within sight of his Majesty’s land, but reserve these bounds to
-his Majesty’s own subjects, conform to the law of nations.”<a id="FNanchor_328" href="#Footnote_328" class="fnanchor">328</a></p>
-
-<p>Sir Dudley Carleton accordingly made a strong representation
-to the States-General on the subject in April. They
-asked for particulars as to the persons who were alleged to
-have been ill-treated in Scotland, and the nature of the wrongs
-done to them; while with respect to the limit proposed to be
-set them in their fishery&mdash;namely, not to come within sight of
-land&mdash;they said they had never heard of any such custom,
-and did not understand how it could be put into practice.<a id="FNanchor_329" href="#Footnote_329" class="fnanchor">329</a>
-On reporting this home, Carleton was told by the king to
-raise the question of the fishing again before he came away,
-and he explained to him that the custom of the land-kenning
-was that no stranger should fish either within the creeks of
-the land or within a kenning of the land, “as seamen do take
-a kenning.” He asked Carleton to ascertain whether the
-Dutch claimed to fish wherever they liked, or were willing
-to accept reasonable bounds, adding that the resolution that
-might be taken on the subject would depend largely on this.<a id="FNanchor_330" href="#Footnote_330" class="fnanchor">330</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span>
-A few months before this Carleton had brought similar complaints
-to the notice of the States-General, declaring that the
-Hollanders were daily guilty of “great outrages and insolencies
-on the Scottish fishermen.” It was even said to be
-the opinion in London that the prosecution of the herring
-fishery by the Dutch under the protection of ships of war was
-a direct challenge to and defiance of the king.<a id="FNanchor_331" href="#Footnote_331" class="fnanchor">331</a></p>
-
-<p>The authorities in Scotland lost no time in preparing statements
-recounting in detail the outrages and insolences committed
-by the Dutch fishermen; but an impartial perusal of
-the complaints leaves little doubt that they were greatly
-exaggerated. The Dutch fishermen were accused of going
-ashore in large numbers and chasing, taking, and slaying
-sheep; they “intromitted” with growing timber, trod down
-all the corn they could find, induced the best and ablest of the
-native fishermen to join them, or even took them by force;
-entered the kirks, where they broke down the seats and
-polluted the pulpits; carved their names on the green pastures;
-took uninvited rides on the horses in the fields, “to the great
-hurt of the owners”; and made free with the eggs and young
-of seafowl on the uninhabited isles, to the hurt of the proprietors.
-In the long catalogue of their supposed outrages
-on land, two were more important. It was alleged that
-they gave refuge to thieves and malefactors, so that justice
-could not reach them; and that some years before they seized
-an honest young woman who was selling stockings among
-them and held her head-downwards on an eminence in sight
-of the whole fleet, owing to which she died later. Among
-their offences at sea they were charged with shooting at
-native fishermen, “catching of their small netts and lynes
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span>
-within those huge long netts” that they used, and which they
-laid hard by the shore, “whereas before they approached not
-nearer the coasts than fourty (<i>sic</i>) myles.” By fishing near the
-shore they had impoverished the whole trade of fishing; before
-they began to do so the herrings came close in, so that the
-poorest fisherman could enrich himself, while the shoals were
-now broken up and dispersed. So near did the busses come
-in stormy weather that they fished “hard by gentlemen’s
-doors,” where the fishing was “appropriate to the owners of
-the land nearest adjacent for their own fishing in the time
-of storms when they could not go to sea for the entertaining
-of their houses.”<a id="FNanchor_332" href="#Footnote_332" class="fnanchor">332</a></p>
-
-<p>Since the States-General appeared to be tardy in admitting
-the offences with which their fishermen were charged, the
-king wished strong measures to be taken by the Council in
-Scotland, and he instructed Lord Binning, his Secretary there,
-to take steps “for interrupting and staying the Hollanders to
-fish in his seas within sight of the land.” The Council,
-however, pointed out in a very humble tone that inasmuch as
-it was a matter which concerned not only “thir Hollanders,
-who ar your Maiesties confederatis, pretending thair awne
-interes thairin, ather be right or lang possessioun,” but also the
-whole of the kingdom, it would be better if the king’s proposals
-were first imparted to the Privy Council in England. They
-requested, further, that the ambassador in Holland should again
-expostulate with the States as to the injuries caused to the
-king’s subjects by their “unjust usurpation to fish within sight
-of his Majesty’s land,” and to urge them to issue a proclamation
-to prohibit, under heavy penalties, their people from all
-further fishing within his Majesty’s seas, which, they said,
-ought by the Law of Nations to be exclusively reserved for his
-own subjects. They advised the king to make the States
-clearly understand that if they continued any longer in their
-“oppression,” he would so provide for the maintenance of his
-right and the freeing of his people as his honour and justice
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span>
-required; and if the answer was not satisfactory he might then
-resolve upon the “next expedient,” and the Council would be
-ready to obey whatever he should command.<a id="FNanchor_333" href="#Footnote_333" class="fnanchor">333</a></p>
-
-<p>The States-General, while they did not go so far as the
-Council desired in prohibiting their fishermen from approaching
-near to the land, did all that they reasonably could do
-to prevent injuries being committed on the Scottish people.
-After an inquiry was made among those taking part in the
-great herring fishery, without any evidence being forthcoming
-in support of the Scottish complaints, they published an edict
-forbidding their subjects, under pain of severe punishment “as
-pirates and malefactors,” from interfering with the Scottish
-fishermen, with whom they were enjoined to maintain “true
-friendship, neighbourliness, and good correspondence.”<a id="FNanchor_334" href="#Footnote_334" class="fnanchor">334</a> In
-forwarding a copy of this proclamation to the king, the States
-said that they had issued it for his satisfaction, and had given
-strict orders to their captains to apprehend any one who acted
-contrary to it. But they expressed the hope that he would
-not permit the fishermen of the United Provinces to be disturbed
-or troubled in the liberty and freedom of taking herrings
-throughout the whole sea, of which liberty they were in
-immemorial possession, and it had been confirmed to them
-by several treaties, in particular by that made in 1551 between
-the king’s predecessor and Charles V. The prosperity of their
-country, it was added, depended on navigation, traffic, and
-fisheries, and the freedom of these had been provided for in
-treaties.<a id="FNanchor_335" href="#Footnote_335" class="fnanchor">335</a> James, however, was far from satisfied. He sent on
-the missive to the Privy Council in Scotland, with the request
-that the rolls and registers should be searched to see if any
-record existed of any such treaty, whether “with the said
-Emperor or any other potentate of the Low Countries.” The
-States, he said, had promised to send a copy of it, but they
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span>
-had not done so, and in the meantime he would cause the rolls
-in London to be searched.<a id="FNanchor_336" href="#Footnote_336" class="fnanchor">336</a></p>
-
-<p>The negotiations with the States-General dragged on throughout
-the summer without much result, and in August James
-took the sudden resolution again to demand from the Dutch
-fishermen the payment of the assize-herrings. This was doubtless
-caused by the receipt of a letter from Sir Dudley Carleton,
-informing him that the herring-fishers had gone that year
-to the coast of Scotland with extraordinary convoy, the number
-of their men-of-war having been doubled, and expressing the
-hope that notwithstanding this the king would send some
-one to make the usual demand in a peaceable manner; otherwise,
-said Carleton, the Hollanders “will think his Majesty
-has laid aside his pretension.”<a id="FNanchor_337" href="#Footnote_337" class="fnanchor">337</a> James accordingly wrote
-hurriedly to the Council at Edinburgh, saying it was necessary
-to make requisition of his duties from the Hollanders fishing
-on the coasts of Orkney and Shetland, in order both to
-keep possession of the fishing and to foil any plea from
-the States-General that no such duties had been demanded
-of them. He had intended, he said, to send a ship of war,
-but those which were ready were otherwise engaged, and
-there would not be time to equip a vessel in England before
-the Hollanders returned from the fishing. The Council were
-therefore instructed to fit out with all expedition either his
-own pinnace or any other ship which could conveniently
-be procured, and to send it to the North Isles with such
-person as the deputy of the Duke of Lennox should choose,
-who was to be instructed “in fair tearmes and calme and
-peciable maner to crave oure said dewties, and accept of
-any suche answer as they sall gif him, without making any
-furder questioun or dispute in the mater.”<a id="FNanchor_338" href="#Footnote_338" class="fnanchor">338</a> Here was another
-Brown mission over again; but James forgot, if indeed he
-ever knew, that at that time of year the Dutch herring
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span>
-fishermen would be very far from the North Isles, and fishing
-along the English coast.<a id="FNanchor_339" href="#Footnote_339" class="fnanchor">339</a> The fact was well known at
-Edinburgh, but, for whatever reason, it was not pointed out
-to the king; and the Council, urged to use “exceeding great
-haste,” chartered a Leith vessel, the <i>Restore</i>, put Mr Patrick
-Bruce on board to demand the tax from the Hollanders, along
-with a notary “to give instruments thereupon,” and despatched
-it on its bootless errand to the Shetlands. No Hollanders could
-be discovered, and the <i>Restore</i> came back to Leith.</p>
-
-<p>The reason of the king’s action, as well as of Carleton’s
-advice, is doubtless to be sought in the desire to strengthen
-the case against the Dutch in view of an expected special
-embassy from The Hague, whose appointment was now mooted,
-and which was designed to settle various differences between
-the two countries that had become acute. Besides the herring
-fishery, which was a never-failing subject of dispute, there was
-the trade in cloth, the East Indies, and the “Greenland” whale
-fishery, about which it is necessary to say something here.</p>
-
-<p>Allusion has already been made to this phase of the controversy
-respecting <i>mare clausum</i> which sprang up in the
-Arctic seas, and was now mixed up with the question of
-the liberty of fishing on the British coasts. Towards the
-end of the previous century English whalers, for the most
-part in the service of the Russia or Muscovy Company,
-frequented the coasts of Greenland, and the northern seas
-which had been opened up to English enterprise by the
-voyages of Willoughby and Chancellor;<a id="FNanchor_340" href="#Footnote_340" class="fnanchor">340</a> and early in the
-next century they also began to catch whales at Spitzbergen,
-where they were found in enormous numbers.<a id="FNanchor_341" href="#Footnote_341" class="fnanchor">341</a> The whalers
-of other nations followed in their wake, and in 1612 two
-Dutch vessels arrived at Spitzbergen to take part in the
-fishery, and although from their ignorance of the methods
-they failed of success that year, a company (<i>Noordsche
-Compagnie</i>) was formed at Amsterdam to continue the venture
-under better conditions.<a id="FNanchor_342" href="#Footnote_342" class="fnanchor">342</a> The Muscovy Company, whose
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span>
-whalers in 1612 got within nine degrees of the North Pole,
-sighting 700 whales and bringing back 17,<a id="FNanchor_343" href="#Footnote_343" class="fnanchor">343</a> became jealous
-of competitors. In 1613 they procured from King James
-a charter by which they were entitled to exclude all others,
-foreigners as well as subjects, from sailing to Spitzbergen;
-and in that year they dispatched thither a fleet of seven
-armed vessels to defend their rights by force as well as
-to catch whales.<a id="FNanchor_344" href="#Footnote_344" class="fnanchor">344</a> In the seas at Spitzbergen they found
-a number of other whalers from Spain and France, as well
-as two Dutch ships which had returned to the fishery. The
-English vessels immediately attacked them, and drove most
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span>
-of the intruders away.<a id="FNanchor_345" href="#Footnote_345" class="fnanchor">345</a> The Englishmen then set up a
-cross on the shore with the king’s arms on it, and they
-called the land “King James’s Newland.” It is noteworthy
-as indicating the attitude and practice towards France throughout
-almost the whole of the disputes about <i>mare clausum</i>,
-that the French whalers were allowed to continue their operations,
-subject, however, to the payment of a tribute of
-whales or train-oil, while the two Dutch ships were despoiled
-of their catches and fishing-gear and were sent home empty.
-On their arrival at Amsterdam the ill-treatment to which
-they had been subjected was naturally resented, and representations
-to King James were made through the ordinary
-channels, but without success. The Dutch founded their
-case partly on the general principle “that according to the
-practice of all times and peoples, navigation, fishery, and
-the use of the shore were free and common to all,” and
-partly on the claim of prior discovery. Spitzbergen, they
-said, was discovered by Jakob van Heemskerk, a Dutchman,
-in 1596; they had therefore at least as good a right as
-the English or any other nation to the fisheries there. On
-the other hand, the powerful Muscovy Company argued
-that Spitzbergen was discovered by Willoughby in 1553,
-and accordingly belonged to England; and the king adopted
-this view, notwithstanding the elaborate case drawn up by
-the famous cosmographer, Plancius, on the other side, which
-was submitted to him.<a id="FNanchor_346" href="#Footnote_346" class="fnanchor">346</a> The seas around Spitzbergen were
-held to pertain to the British seas, and to be under the
-maritime dominion of the King of England,&mdash;a claim which
-Selden attempted to vindicate later.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_8" src="images/fig_8.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 8.&mdash;<i>Dutch Whalers at Spitzbergen</i>. After Van der Meulen.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span></p></div>
-
-<p>Having failed by diplomacy to obtain recognition of what
-they believed to be their plain rights, the States resolved
-to oppose force by force. Early in 1614 a new Dutch company
-was formed, and exclusive privileges were conferred
-on it “to navigate, trade, and fish, from the Netherlands
-on or to the coasts of the lands between Nova Zembla and
-Davis’ Straits,” including therefore Greenland and Spitzbergen.<a id="FNanchor_347" href="#Footnote_347" class="fnanchor">347</a>
-A tax of “last-money” was established, and in
-the same year eighteen Dutch whalers, armed, and convoyed
-by three States’ men-of-war, left Holland for the Arctic
-seas, prepared to maintain their right to freedom of fishery
-by fighting for it if necessary. The English whalers did
-not venture to attack so powerful a squadron, and as the
-Hollanders came in 1615 and 1616 in even greater force,
-they were for these three years enabled to carry on their
-whale-fishing without molestation. In 1617, however, their
-convoyers having been reduced in numbers, they were again
-assailed by the English; one of the Dutch vessels was despoiled,
-and their “cookeries,” or the buildings on shore in which
-the oil was made, were destroyed. Then in 1618 the Dutch
-reappeared, and in strength sufficient not only to maintain
-the right they claimed, but to make reprisals. They attacked,
-despoiled, and drove off thirteen English ships, most of which
-returned to England empty, and the Muscovy Company
-were loud in their complaints to the king. They put their
-loss at &pound;66,436, 15s., besides the spoiling of the ships and
-the killing of the men.<a id="FNanchor_348" href="#Footnote_348" class="fnanchor">348</a></p>
-
-<p>At this time, as we have seen, James was pressing more than
-ever for the recognition of his claims to the herring fishery in
-the British seas, and it may be easily imagined how he was
-moved by the news of this fresh “outrage” at Spitzbergen.
-At a meeting of the States-General in October, the British
-ambassador used strong language in animadverting on these
-“violencies, robberies, and murders” committed by the Dutch
-on the king’s subjects in the Arctic seas, on the injuries
-inflicted on the English in the East Indies, and on other
-matters in dispute; and he demanded that the embassy so
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span>
-repeatedly promised by the States should be sent to England
-without any further delay. The embassy in question had been
-originally proposed by the Dutch with the view of arranging
-the differences as to the trade in cloth and the herring fishery.
-Their diplomacy through the ordinary channels had, however,
-been so successful in preserving their freedom of fishing, notwithstanding
-the harassing efforts of the king, whom they
-invariably foiled, that they preferred to procrastinate, and the
-proposed embassy had from time to time been put off. But
-now the minatory demands of Sir Dudley Carleton were reinforced
-by the insistence of the Dutch East India Company,
-for it had been proposed in England to arrest the vessels of
-that company in the Channel in reprisal for the wrongs done
-to the English in the East Indies, and one of their ships had
-just narrowly escaped capture.<a id="FNanchor_349" href="#Footnote_349" class="fnanchor">349</a></p>
-
-<p>The Dutch ambassadors arrived in England on 27th
-November;<a id="FNanchor_350" href="#Footnote_350" class="fnanchor">350</a> but notwithstanding the earnest exhortations of
-Carleton, their instructions were confined to the “Greenland”
-(Spitzbergen) and East Indian questions, and did not contain
-what the king most desired&mdash;full powers to treat on the
-herring fishery.</p>
-
-<p>James had been looking forward to this embassy as providing
-an opportunity for the final settlement of the fishery
-dispute. Sir Dudley Carleton had informed the States-General
-that the king wished to go into the matter of the treaties on
-which their claim to liberty of fishing was in great measure
-based, adding jesuitically that it was probably with the view
-of confirming them. The king in reality felt that owing to
-the dissensions in the Low Countries and the general political
-state of Europe, the time was specially opportune for negotiating
-a treaty in his favour.<a id="FNanchor_351" href="#Footnote_351" class="fnanchor">351</a> He had accordingly made
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span>
-considerable preparations to meet their arguments both with
-reference to the treaties and the Law of Nations. Early in
-November he wrote to the Council at Edinburgh, saying that
-the wrongs suffered by his Scottish subjects from the fishing of
-the Hollanders in the seas of Scotland had caused him to bring
-the matter before the States, and to acquaint them of his “resolution
-to have them duly repaired.” The States had signified
-their desire to have their rights and the actions of their subjects
-“orderly tried and determined,” and they were therefore about
-to send over commissioners “sufficiently authorised” for that
-purpose. As commissioners to meet them, he had chosen the
-Duke of Lennox, the Marquis of Hamilton, Lord Binning
-(Secretary), and Sir George Hay (Clerk of Register), and he
-asked the Council to expedite the issue of their commission
-under the great seal. He also desired them to send him, in
-writing, the most perfect information they could procure as to
-his right to exclude the States from their pretended right or
-alleged possession of the herring-fishing, with full particulars
-of the wrongs committed by the Dutch on the Scottish people,
-either by scattering the shoals of herrings or by “usurpation
-of farder libertie to themselves nor hes bene formerlie granted
-or tolerated be us or our prediceesoris to them.”<a id="FNanchor_352" href="#Footnote_352" class="fnanchor">352</a></p>
-
-<p>The commissioners named were accordingly authorised to
-treat with the Dutch commissioners “anent the trial and
-verification of the rights, immunities, and privileges alleged to
-have been granted by his Majesty or any of his most noble
-progenitors, Kings of Scotland, to the said States-General of the
-United Provinces, or any others from whom they deduce and
-derive their claim to fish in the seas of the said kingdom of
-Scotland, or any part or place thereof.” They were further
-instructed to treat as to the redress required for the injuries
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span>
-committed by the Dutch fishermen, and for preventing in
-future any unlawful proceeding by the States, “either by
-fishing in his Majesty’s Scottish seas” or by doing wrong to
-the inhabitants. They were, moreover, “to concur” with the
-English commissioners to be appointed as to the “friendly
-behaviour” of British subjects and the subjects of the United
-Provinces in all other seas, fishings, voyages, and other foreign
-intercourse, necessary for the continuance of peace and amity.<a id="FNanchor_353" href="#Footnote_353" class="fnanchor">353</a>
-The business of the herring fishery was thus placed in charge
-of the Scottish commissioners, while the English had specially
-to deal with the other subjects in dispute&mdash;the East Indian
-trade, the whale fishery, the coinage, and the trade in cloth.
-Towards the end of November Lord Binning informed the king
-that the Council had sent off the commission, together with a
-statement of the injury sustained by the whole kingdom by the
-daily increase of the Dutch usurpation in his seas.<a id="FNanchor_354" href="#Footnote_354" class="fnanchor">354</a></p>
-
-<p>With regard to the other matter about which James had
-desired “the most perfect information,”&mdash;his right to exclude
-foreigners from fishing on his coasts,&mdash;the Council had the
-greatest difficulty in discovering anything whatever pertaining
-to it. It was the most important part of the question to come
-before the commissioners, because the States had already issued
-a strongly-worded edict forbidding their people from committing
-any wrongs upon the Scottish people (<a href="#Page_179">p. 179</a>), and the king could
-scarcely make out a just case for prohibiting the Hollanders
-from fishing on this ground alone. He desired to show, what
-he no doubt fully believed, that his claims were supported by
-historical precedents and the laws of Scotland, and that none of
-the treaties on which the Dutch always relied in such negotiations
-were contrary to his claims. In his letter to the Council
-he therefore repeated the request that the public records should
-be searched, and desired that Lords Lauderdale and Balmerino,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span>
-the Laird of Lundy, and others into whose hands such documents
-might have come, “from their ancestors, Chancellors,
-secretaries, clerks of register, ambassadors, or councillors of
-state,” should try to find any which bore upon the matter, and
-to have them forwarded to him without delay. The terms of
-the king’s letter show plainly enough the confusion and imperfection
-of the Scottish state records at that time; and the Lords
-of the Council sought high and low to discover copies of the
-treaties or any other official papers relating to the subject, but
-for a long time without any success. Copies of some of the
-treaties were afterwards found, but nothing to establish the
-king’s right to exclude the Hollanders from the fishery. In
-these circumstances the Council advised the commissioners “to
-proceed warily,” and to make the Dutch ambassadors produce
-what they had to show for their claim to the fishing, and then
-to answer that.<a id="FNanchor_355" href="#Footnote_355" class="fnanchor">355</a></p>
-
-<p>But as things turned out, it was of no immediate importance
-whether or not the Scottish commissioners were armed with
-documentary proofs of the king’s claims to the fishery. The
-Dutch ambassadors, as has been said, came without any powers
-to treat on that subject. In their private instructions, indeed,
-they were enjoined to avoid carefully any discussion about the
-herring fishery. If it was forced upon them, they were to point
-out that the States had already issued a proclamation to prevent
-wrongs being done to Scottish fishermen, which would be strictly
-enforced. If this was not sufficient, they were to fall back on
-general arguments as to the natural freedom of the sea, their
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span>
-immemorial possession of the fishery and its paramount importance
-to their country, and to plead for delay on account of the
-confusion and difficulties of their home affairs.</p>
-
-<p>On their arrival in London they were met by two high
-Scottish personages, who had been awaiting their coming for
-some weeks. They took this for a bad sign, concluding from
-it that the king was resolved to raise the fishery question.
-They had several interviews with the Council and the king.
-On finding that their instructions limited them to the discussion
-of the two points on which there was least anxiety in England,
-the East India business and the whale-fishing, the Council
-received them coldly, Bacon indeed rating them soundly for
-coming without adequate powers. James himself was very
-angry, and made no effort to conceal his disappointment. He
-expressed astonishment that after all the complaints that had
-been made, and after all the negotiations that had gone on
-through the ambassadors at London and The Hague, they had
-ventured to come unprepared to deal with the principal matter
-in dispute. “The fishing,” he told them, “on the coasts of
-England, Scotland, and Ireland, as a regality and point of
-sovereignty, was possessed by him alone, to the exclusion of
-all others.” Spain, he said, had asked leave to negotiate about
-freedom of fishing, while France enjoyed the privilege only
-under great limitations, a few small vessels being allowed to
-fish for the use of the Court and the king’s family.<a id="FNanchor_356" href="#Footnote_356" class="fnanchor">356</a> How little
-becoming was it therefore, continued James with heat, that a
-Republic which had only been recognised for a few years should
-be the first to contest his sovereign rights! It was useless for
-them to plead unprofitable years and immemorial possession.
-He was king of the greatest islands in the world, and he knew
-very well the rights he had on the coasts of his three kingdoms.<a id="FNanchor_357" href="#Footnote_357" class="fnanchor">357</a>
-He further informed them that he was bound by oath at his
-coronation to maintain the rights, liberties, and privileges of his
-crown, and that he would rather lose all that he had than give
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span>
-up his right to the fishings.<a id="FNanchor_358" href="#Footnote_358" class="fnanchor">358</a> Declarations equally strong were
-expressed in despatches to the British ambassador at The Hague.
-The king, it was said, would not be taught the laws of nations
-“by them nor their Grotius.”<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> It would be to their advantage
-to ask the king’s leave for the fishing and to acknowledge his
-right as other princes had done, or it might well come to pass
-“that they that will needs bear all the world before them with
-their <i>Mare Liberum</i>, may soon come to have neither <i>Terram et
-solum</i> nor <i>Rempublicam Liberam</i>,”&mdash;phrases which lead one to
-think that James penned the missive himself.<a id="FNanchor_359" href="#Footnote_359" class="fnanchor">359</a> The Council
-intimated to the ambassadors that the king declined to discuss
-only the two points mentioned in their instructions, and that
-they must get powers from the States-General to deal with the
-question of the herring fishery.</p>
-
-<p>Language of this kind from the king and Council disturbed
-and perplexed the envoys. They were anxious that the friendly
-relations between the two countries should be strengthened, and
-yet it appeared not unlikely that they would have to return
-home without having been heard on any of the matters in
-dispute. They began to think that after all it would be better
-if the fishery question were taken up and settled, and they
-advised the States-General in that sense. The British ambassador
-at The Hague was using pressure with the same object.
-But the Prince of Orange told him that in his opinion the
-States of Holland would refuse to give authority for the fishery
-question to be opened, “for fear of the people,” because the
-livelihood of 50,000 of the inhabitants of that province depended
-on the herring-fishing, and they feared that the same thing
-would happen with the tribute the king claimed as had happened
-with the dues at the Sound, which had been gradually raised
-until they had become an intolerable burden. He threw out
-the suggestion at the same time that perhaps the freedom of
-fishing might be purchased by a lump sum. A little later
-Carleton proposed to the States-General that the three subjects
-omitted from the ambassadors’ instructions should also be
-brought into the negotiations&mdash;viz., the trade in cloth, the
-coinage, and especially the herring fishery. In a minatory
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span>
-speech he declared that the king, who had “a legitimate title
-and the exclusive sovereign right and propriety to the fishery
-on the coasts of his three kingdoms,” would not any longer
-permit the subjects of the United Provinces to encroach on his
-rights, which were recognised by all other princes and states.
-The condition of affairs, he said, had been brought to extremities
-by the extravagant discourses of one of their politicians and
-the violent conduct of the commanders of their ships.<a id="FNanchor_360" href="#Footnote_360" class="fnanchor">360</a> Sweeping
-aside the treaties and the claim to immemorial possession,
-and using much the same language as the king had done as to
-the hardihood of a young republic flouting the sovereign rights
-of princes, he ended a long harangue by declaring that if there
-was any further delay in dealing with the fishery question,
-England would take measures to provide for her rights by
-force of arms, “for such,” he said, “was the demand of the
-people, the advice of the Council, and the resolution of the
-king.”</p>
-
-<p>But all those strong speeches and brave words came to nothing.
-The leaders in the States knew the character and difficulties
-of James, and felt that the warlike threats of a monarch
-whose greatest desire was that he should be known as <i>Rex
-pacificus</i><a id="FNanchor_361" href="#Footnote_361" class="fnanchor">361</a> were not likely to be carried to the extremity of the
-sword. A little more delay brought about a change in the
-English attitude. In the Privy Council there were signs of
-wavering and evident hesitation to recommend extreme measures
-against an allied and Protestant state. In the political
-condition of Europe&mdash;troubles in Bohemia, the King of Spain
-threatening the overthrow of Venice, &amp;c.&mdash;it was urged that
-harsh measures might drive the Dutch to have recourse to
-France, which supported Barnevelt, the king’s enemy. Above
-all, it was feared that the Protestants throughout the world
-would be unable to understand how the king could attack the
-Dutch at that critical time over so small a matter. On the
-whole, “for the sake of the peace of Christendom,” it might be
-better to “continue” the question to another time, and thus
-avoid an immediate rupture. The faltering in the Council
-coincided with a humbler tone on the part of the Dutch
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span>
-ambassadors. They strove to convince James that it was by
-no means the desire of the States to refuse to treat of the fishery,
-or absolutely to deny his right to regulate it on his own
-coasts. All they asked was that the matter might be delayed
-a little owing to the religious troubles which were raging in
-the Netherlands, and because as all the provinces were concerned
-and the records and treaties would have to be searched,
-it would take some time before they would be in a position to
-deal with it in an equitable way. The States-General used
-language equally conciliatory to Sir Dudley Carleton, and
-promised to send other ambassadors later, fully empowered to
-treat of the herring fishery and the trade in cloth. James was
-appeased and agreed to the delay, but he told the ambassadors
-that unless the States gave an undertaking in writing to send
-commissioners sufficiently authorised to settle the matter before
-a year had expired, he would take it as “a plain and perpetual
-declining of the treaty.”<a id="FNanchor_362" href="#Footnote_362" class="fnanchor">362</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus James was again baffled in his endeavour to force the
-United Provinces to acknowledge his rights in the fishery.
-But scarcely had the arrangement been completed when he
-brought forward another proposal. Pending the conclusion of
-the final treaty, he wished the States to issue a provisional
-edict forbidding their fishermen from approaching within fourteen
-miles of the British coasts, to which they had been coming
-closer and closer in recent years, a proceeding which was the
-principal cause of the complaints from Scotland.<a id="FNanchor_363" href="#Footnote_363" class="fnanchor">363</a> The distance
-mentioned was that embodied in the Draft Treaty of Union in
-1604, and was supposed to be equivalent to a “land-kenning.”<a id="FNanchor_364" href="#Footnote_364" class="fnanchor">364</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span>
-Carleton, however, thought the States would not immediately
-agree to this,&mdash;their cumbersome system of government would
-alone cause great delay,&mdash;and he counselled the king “to begin
-with the fishers themselves,” by publishing a proclamation fixing
-the distance at which they would be permitted to fish.<a id="FNanchor_365" href="#Footnote_365" class="fnanchor">365</a>
-But the States were disposed to go so far to meet the wishes of
-the king. They objected, indeed, that fourteen miles was a
-greater distance than that at which a person could see the coast
-from the sea, and thus exceeded a “land-kenning” or the range
-of vision, but they promised to issue orders to their fishermen
-to keep so far from the land as to be out of sight of people on
-the shore, and to strongly prohibit them from going nearer.<a id="FNanchor_366" href="#Footnote_366" class="fnanchor">366</a></p>
-
-<p>The business of the herring fishery having thus been shelved,
-the negotiators took up the other matters in dispute. The East
-Indian question was settled by a treaty,<a id="FNanchor_367" href="#Footnote_367" class="fnanchor">367</a> but the differences as
-to the whale fishery were not so easily adjusted. The English
-case was founded on the contention that Spitzbergen belonged
-to King James, on their prior fishing in those seas, and on the
-depredations committed by the Dutch in 1618 on English
-vessels. The Dutch claimed a right to the fishery from their
-discovery of the island, and they proposed three alternatives:
-(1) that both nations should fish at Spitzbergen with an equal
-number of ships, the bays to be divided by drawing lots;<a id="FNanchor_368" href="#Footnote_368" class="fnanchor">368</a> (2)
-that fishing should be carried on by both parties everywhere
-with an equal number of ships of equal size, disputes to be
-settled by regulations; (3) that the island should be divided by
-an imaginary line into two equal parts, the Dutch to have one
-part and the English the other. The English declined all these
-proposals, and James informed the ambassadors that even if the
-island had been discovered by their nation the English had the
-right to the fishery because they were the first to practise it,&mdash;an
-argument which, it may be remarked, if applied to the herring
-fishery, would have been unfortunate for the king’s claim
-to it. But while maintaining his abstract right to the sea at
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span>
-Spitzbergen, James gave way on the immediately practical
-point, consenting that the Dutch should continue their fishery
-at the island for three years longer.<a id="FNanchor_369" href="#Footnote_369" class="fnanchor">369</a></p>
-
-<p>We have mentioned that late in 1618 James caused the Scottish
-Council to send a vessel (the <i>Restore</i>) to the Shetlands to
-demand the assize-herrings from the Dutchmen, and that it
-arrived on the scene too late. Next year he resolved to be in
-time, and while the Dutch ambassadors were still in London he
-wrote to the Council saying it was necessary “for divers imperative
-reasons” that the duties should still be craved, and requesting
-them to send a ship that summer with some discreet person
-on board, “who in fair terms may require our duties of the said
-Hollanders and report their answer”; and the Council were
-desired to take special care that the business should not fail
-through negligence.<a id="FNanchor_370" href="#Footnote_370" class="fnanchor">370</a> At a meeting of the Council at Holyrood
-House on 29th June, arrangements were made to carry out the
-king’s wishes. Mr John Fenton was appointed “his Majesty’s
-commissioner” for “craving his Majesty’s rent of assize and
-teind from the Hollanders and other strangers fishing in his
-Majesty’s seas,” and a Mr James Brown was instructed to
-accompany him as notary.<a id="FNanchor_371" href="#Footnote_371" class="fnanchor">371</a> Fenton’s commission, under the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span>
-great seal, commanded him to repair to the north seas, and there
-“in his Majesty’s name to ask, crave, receive, intromit with, and
-uplift from those of Holland, Zealand, Hamburg, Embden, and
-Rostock, and from all other strangers following the trade
-of fishing in his Majesty’s said seas this present year, his
-Majesty’s rent of assize and teind of the whole fishes taken, or
-to be taken by them in his Majesty’s said seas and waters this
-present year.” The tribute levied by John Brown, in 1616, on
-behalf of the Duke of Lennox, amounted to only one angel
-(about ten shillings) or a barrel of herrings from each buss, or
-twelve cod from a line-boat. But that claimed by the king
-was now considerably greater. The “assize” was to be computed
-at ten thousand herrings (which would be fully ten
-barrels) for every buss that fished for herrings, and a last of
-white fish for every buss that fished for white fish, that is to
-say, cod and ling; or, if the fishermen preferred to pay in
-money, they were to pay at the rate of &pound;6, 13s. 4d. Scots for
-every thousand of the assize-herrings, and at the rate of &pound;50
-Scots for every last of the assize white fish; and the same
-equivalents were to be asked for each thousand “teind herrings,”
-and for each last of “teind white fish,”&mdash;a new duty now
-first mentioned, “teinds” being the Scottish term for ecclesiastical
-tithes. The value of the assize-herrings to be levied
-from each buss was thus about &pound;5, 11s. 1d. sterling, and the
-value of the assize white fish from each dogger about &pound;4, 3s. 4d.
-On the basis of two thousand Dutch herring vessels the total
-duty would amount to the respectable sum of about &pound;11,000,
-while the dogger-boats would yield some &pound;1500 additional.
-On receiving payment Fenton was to give an “aquittance and
-discharge,” which would be as valid and sufficient as if given
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span>
-by his Majesty’s comptrollers or ordinary receivers of his
-Majesty’s rents.<a id="FNanchor_372" href="#Footnote_372" class="fnanchor">372</a></p>
-
-<p>In the particular instructions given to Fenton,<a id="FNanchor_373" href="#Footnote_373" class="fnanchor">373</a> and which,
-there are reasons for thinking, were essentially the same as
-those previously given to Brown, he was enjoined to proceed
-to the north seas in H.M.S. <i>Charles</i>, under the command of
-Captain David Murray, and in the first place to inquire the
-names of the admirals and vice-admirals of the Dutch fleet,
-the names of their ships, to what towns and provinces they
-belonged, and also the number of the convoys and busses sent
-out to the fishing by every town, province, and state. This
-having been done, he was “in fair and gentle terms and with
-modesty and discretion” to demand from the admirals or vice-admirals,
-and from two or three of the convoyers and busses
-of each state, “his Majesty’s rent of assize and teind” as specified.
-He was not to dispute with them as to the amount of
-the duty. If they offered a smaller amount, “although it were
-only an angel for every buss,” he was to accept it, but not
-less; so also if he were offered fish instead of money. It was
-left to his discretion to make a differential duty according to
-the size of the busses, if that point was raised, and also to compound
-with the admiral for the whole of the busses of a town,
-state, or province. If payment of the duties were refused,
-Fenton was merely “to take instruments upon the said refusal
-without further contestation,” and to report the result.
-He was also to inform the Dutch of the oppressions made by
-those landing from the fleet at Shetland, and to demand redress
-and a promise that such conduct would not be repeated.<a id="FNanchor_374" href="#Footnote_374" class="fnanchor">374</a></p>
-
-<p>A short time before this the Council, for the sake of economy,
-had ordered the <i>Charles</i> to be disfurnished, but now, in view
-of her important mission, they judged it to be “no ways meet
-or expedient” that she should be made altogether empty of
-her furniture and munitions of war, so that she might be able
-to resist any sudden or secret onslaught by the Hollanders or
-others. They therefore instructed that there should be left
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">197</span>
-on board “twa of the smallest pecceis of hir ordinance and
-ten muscattis, with some few bullets ansuerable thairto, and
-a litill quantitie of poulder, yf ony be within the schip.”<a id="FNanchor_375" href="#Footnote_375" class="fnanchor">375</a>
-Orders were given for the manning of the vessel, which was
-to be ready to sail before 1st July. It was with this scrimp
-and penurious armament, and in this attorney-like manner, that
-James prepared to obtain an acknowledgment from the Dutch
-of his rights in his seas, whereas Charles I., as we shall see,
-employed his great ship-money fleet for the same purpose.
-But apparently the king would be almost as satisfied with a
-refusal as with the payment of the tribute, either of which he
-would be able to make use of in the negotiations for the “final
-treaty” on which he had set his heart. It is therefore unfortunate
-that we can discover no further information as to the
-expedition of Fenton. That the <i>Charles</i> left on its mission we
-know,<a id="FNanchor_376" href="#Footnote_376" class="fnanchor">376</a> but the records are silent as to the result. It may
-perhaps be inferred from this circumstance alone that the
-Charles was no more successful than the <i>Restore</i> in the year
-before.</p>
-
-<p>Early in 1620 the States, which had taken no steps to redeem
-their promise to send another embassy to deal with the
-question of the herring fishery, were reminded of it, and
-Carleton urged this course as a point both of policy and
-honour. But they were as reluctant as ever to handle the
-matter. The increased duty which Fenton was commanded to
-ask&mdash;of which very probably they had heard&mdash;was not likely
-to make them more willing, and they continued to procrastinate,
-alleging the unsettled state of their affairs at home and
-the troubles in Bohemia and Germany as reasons for further
-delay. Some prominent men in Holland indeed began now
-to assume a firmer tone. Hints were thrown out to the British
-ambassador that there was really little difference between forcing
-on the matter and declaring war, since freedom of fishing
-was of fundamental importance to the people of the United
-Provinces. The Prince of Orange gave it as his opinion that
-the seaport towns of Holland would never be brought to consent
-to “any innovation” in the herring fishery, even if it were
-urged at the cannon’s mouth. Still more significant was the
-action of the States in now voting large additional sums for
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">198</span>
-the equipment of a greater number of men-of-war to guard
-the herring-busses from molestation.<a id="FNanchor_377" href="#Footnote_377" class="fnanchor">377</a></p>
-
-<p>To all appearance, therefore, the Dutch had now stiffened
-their backs and were prepared to fight for their liberty to fish
-on the British coasts, as they had done at Spitzbergen, instead
-of sending commissioners to London to haggle over it. But
-their uncompromising attitude was soon modified owing to certain
-political events, which taught them the need of caution in
-flouting the wishes of the King of England. In the autumn
-of 1619, Frederick, the Elector Palatine, who had married
-Elizabeth, the daughter of James, was offered and accepted
-the crown of Bohemia under circumstances pregnant with
-troubles. In consequence of this, Spain, in alliance with the
-Emperor, attacked and took possession of the Palatinate. The
-strengthening of the Spanish power in Germany was by itself
-inimical to the United Provinces, and the sense of danger was
-intensified when it was found that the occupation of the Lower
-Palatinate was part of a plan for marching the Catholic troops
-overland from Lombardy to the Spanish Netherlands. In view
-of an impending conflict with their hereditary enemies, it became
-a matter of grave anxiety to the States to retain the
-goodwill of England. Accordingly, after many discussions, the
-States-General at the end of 1620 appointed another embassy
-to go to London; but it was rather with the view of meeting
-the political dangers with which they were threatened than
-of dealing effectually with the subjects in dispute. The ambassadors’
-official instructions, which were most carefully considered,
-referred in general terms to the affairs of Germany
-and the approaching expiry of the truce with Spain, and more
-particularly to the cloth trade, the coinage, and the East Indies.
-On the all-important subject of the herring fishery they were
-mute. In their private instructions the envoys were enjoined
-to avoid all discussion about it; if pressed, they were to assure
-the king that the States would be glad to consider it “later”;
-and in any discussion that did arise, they were to bear in mind
-that they always had been in undisturbed possession of it,
-and that the profit they derived from it had been greatly exaggerated
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">199</span>
-and was far less than the king supposed&mdash;so little
-indeed that they would be quite unable to carry it on if any
-“innovation” were made.<a id="FNanchor_378" href="#Footnote_378" class="fnanchor">378</a></p>
-
-<p>The embassy of six persons arrived in London towards the
-end of January 1621. At their first audience with the king
-they spoke only of the affairs in Germany and the seizure of
-the Palatinate, desiring it to be understood that this was the
-principal matter to be considered; and when they met the
-Council they raised the question of a warlike alliance between
-the two countries against Spain. But the herring fishery had
-not been forgotten by the English, and when the subject was
-mooted the Dutch begged that it might be allowed to rest for
-a time, pleading in particular that the expiry of the truce with
-Spain would leave them face to face with a powerful foe. The
-Council reminded them of the promise given, and James
-bluntly expressed the hope that they had come on this occasion
-fully empowered to treat of the business of the fishery,
-which had been suspended at the conferences two years before.
-While disclaiming any wish to diminish their legitimate profits
-from the fishery, he warned them that the question touched
-his honour and sovereignty so closely that it could not be
-always left undecided and in dispute; and that he would only
-agree to further delay when he was informed at what time it
-would suit the States to conclude an agreement both about the
-fishing on the coasts of Great Britain and at “Greenland.”<a id="FNanchor_379" href="#Footnote_379" class="fnanchor">379</a>
-After many conferences and much negotiation it was arranged
-that another embassy should be sent by the States before the
-lapse of a year, and the Dutch commissioners quitted London
-on 16th April.</p>
-
-<p>In accordance with this understanding, still another embassy
-came to London, in November 1621. On this occasion the ambassadors
-were provided with full powers to settle the East
-Indian disputes, and with less ample authority to deal with the
-Spitzbergen fishery question. But, astonishing as it appears,
-they were again sent without any power to negotiate any
-treaty about the herring fishery. That the States, after so
-many delays and evasions, in the face of so many protests from
-the king, should again break their promise, shows both the great
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">200</span>
-importance they attached to the matter and their belief that
-James would not force on a quarrel about it. In their secret
-instructions the old injunctions were repeated. They were to
-beg that as a year had not yet elapsed a little further delay
-might be granted; laying stress on the danger to the Protestant
-cause, in view of the relations with Spain, if anything were
-done to lessen the sea-power of the Netherlands, which depended
-so much on their fisheries. At this time the East Indian question
-had become important and pressing in England, and the
-early conferences were confined to it. But later the king
-broached the subject of the herring-fishing; and after listening
-to the ambassadors for a while, he peevishly asked them to
-make an end of their long harangue, called them leeches and
-blood-suckers, who sucked the blood from his subjects and tried
-to ruin him,<a id="FNanchor_380" href="#Footnote_380" class="fnanchor">380</a> and then treated them to the same sort of disquisition
-as on former occasions. To the king’s railing and
-reproaches the ambassadors made such answer as they could,
-and the upshot was that they were allowed to go on with
-the conferences on the East Indian question. This embassy, at
-the head of which was Fran&ccedil;ois Van Aerssen, Lord of Sommelsdijck,
-remained in England until the spring of 1623, engaged
-in negotiations, often interrupted, on political affairs, and on
-the East Indian and Greenland fishery questions. James did
-not harass them further about the herring fishery. At the
-farewell audience he spoke of it in a good-natured way. He
-must, he said, resume his old song, <i>veterem cantilenam</i>, but
-not at that time. But whenever the condition of the Netherlands
-was favourable, he would, he said, be glad to resume the
-negotiations.<a id="FNanchor_381" href="#Footnote_381" class="fnanchor">381</a></p>
-
-<p>During their long stay in England the ambassadors had an
-opportunity of learning what was thought about the fishery
-question. On their return to the Netherlands they earnestly
-counselled the States-General to come to some agreement with
-England both on the herring fishery on the British coasts and
-the whale-fishing at Spitzbergen. These matters, they said,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">201</span>
-were close to the king’s heart, and many people whom they
-had met had shown much irritation in speaking of them, and
-had even advised forcible measures against the Dutch. By this
-time the Republic was again at war with Spain, while Prince
-Charles and Buckingham had gone to Madrid to woo the
-Infanta: it would be prudent to do all that could reasonably
-be done to cultivate good relations with England. The States
-therefore wrote to Sir Noel Caron telling him they had resolved
-to take the fishery matter into serious consideration, and their
-efforts were directed to the removal of all cause of complaint in
-Scotland. Two edicts had already been issued&mdash;one, in 1618,
-prohibiting any wrong from being committed on Scottish subjects;
-the other, in 1620, ordering their fishermen to refrain from
-taking herrings within the rocks and reefs of Shetland, Ireland,
-and Norway, on the ground that such herrings were inferior
-in quality and unfit for curing.<a id="FNanchor_382" href="#Footnote_382" class="fnanchor">382</a> The technical reason given in
-the latter for keeping away from the coast had some foundation,
-but the real motive was probably to redeem the pledge
-which the States had given in the year before (<a href="#Page_193">see p. 193</a>).
-What the States now did was to renew the edict of 1618, and,
-after a conference between the ambassadors who had returned
-from England and the College or Board of Fisheries, to issue
-orders that the herring-busses were not to go too near the coast
-of Scotland, which had, indeed, been agreed upon some years
-earlier, so as to avoid causing inconvenience to the native
-fishermen.<a id="FNanchor_383" href="#Footnote_383" class="fnanchor">383</a></p>
-
-<p>There is evidence that the warning which the ambassadors
-gave to the States-General as to the feeling in England was
-well founded, and there occurred at this time, both in England
-and Scotland, a revival of proposals aimed against the Hollanders.
-The Scottish burghs complained of the “heavie hurt”
-they sustained owing to the English and the “Fleymings,” who
-had lately taken up the “trade of fishing” in the North and
-West Isles, by which was probably meant the curing of herrings
-and other fish. The Council accordingly ordained that the
-Islesmen should “suffer no strangers to come within their
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">202</span>
-bounds to the fishing,” and that none of the country people
-should sell fish to them; and they issued a proclamation
-forbidding “all and sundry strangers” to “slay or take any
-fish within the Isles, lochs and bays of the kingdom, and
-that they buy no fish but salted and barrelled, and at free
-burghs.”<a id="FNanchor_384" href="#Footnote_384" class="fnanchor">384</a></p>
-
-<p>In England fresh attempts were made to establish a great
-national herring fishery which might rival that of the Dutch.
-Within a month of the departure of the ambassadors, Lord
-George Carew, Master of the Ordnance, was busy with a
-project. Along with Lord Hervey and Sir William Monson&mdash;who
-was perhaps the prime mover in the matter&mdash;he had
-several conferences with “skilful fishermen,” and then he sent
-for the city merchants to consider how the scheme might be
-floated. To them he proposed that six busses and four doggers
-should be bought or built at a cost not exceeding &pound;10,000,
-explaining, after the usual manner, how the return from the first
-year’s fishing would repay the whole of that sum and encourage
-“all men” to adventure. The city merchants, one of whom was
-Sir William Cockaine, were loud in their praises of the scheme,&mdash;“it
-was the best work for the public and the most profitable
-that the wit of man could imagine,”&mdash;but as for the money
-required, they were afraid that it could not be raised. Then
-the promoters asked the Lord Mayor to propound the plan to
-the Court of Aldermen. But the Lord Mayor curtly replied
-that the Aldermen were engaged in other adventures, and were
-“utterly unwilling” to enter into the project of building busses,
-while the Merchant Companies were too much in debt to undertake
-it. On a second appeal being made to him, he said the
-Court of Aldermen “absolutely declined” to entertain either
-the general project for fishing-busses or the lesser scheme of
-building six busses and four doggers. They would have
-nothing to do with it;<a id="FNanchor_385" href="#Footnote_385" class="fnanchor">385</a> and this scheme was therefore nipped
-in the bud.</p>
-
-<p>Fresh proposals were now brought forward by others, based
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">203</span>
-on Government support, and a plan was propounded similar to
-the old one of Hitchcock and Dee in the reign of Elizabeth, but
-to be carried out under an Act of Parliament. Each city,
-county, and seaport town was to be encouraged to equip
-fishing-busses at their common charge and for their common
-benefit, with power to employ their idle inhabitants in manning
-them. For the security of the fishing fleet the king was
-to provide twenty ships of war, five of which were to belong
-to the royal navy, and they were to continue at sea from the
-beginning of April till the end of September. To meet the
-cost of this guard the king was to receive the tenth fish taken
-both by English and foreign fishermen, the promoters thinking
-that the latter would be quite willing to be taxed when
-the tax was demanded by an “Act of the King and Kingdom,”
-and when they knew they would be protected by a
-squadron of men-of-war.<a id="FNanchor_386" href="#Footnote_386" class="fnanchor">386</a> It was a pretty scheme, well-intentioned,
-but innocent of information as to the actual state
-of affairs.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely anything more was heard about the herring fishery
-or the taxation of Dutch fishermen during the brief remainder
-of James’s reign. Another embassy came from the Netherlands
-in 1624, but it was to conclude a defensive alliance against
-Spain, and in the shadow of this new alliance the Dutch fishermen
-quietly reaped the harvest of the sea without fear of
-English interference. James’s policy of the assize-herring
-had thus completely failed. All his efforts to induce or to
-force the Netherlands’ fishermen to acknowledge his right
-were baffled by the superior diplomacy of the States,&mdash;their
-“artificial delays, pretences, shifts, dilatory addresses, and
-evasive answers.” The only immediately practical result of
-the king’s policy was that the herring-busses kept for a time
-farther from the coast of Scotland. But a new weapon had
-been forged for the contest with the United Provinces for
-supremacy at sea, and one which was to be used by his
-successors with much more skill, if with little greater ultimate
-success.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">204</span></p>
-
-<p>Of one symbol of this sovereignty of the sea comparatively
-little was heard during James’s reign&mdash;namely, the salute or
-homage to his flag. This traditional custom of the narrow
-seas, while maintained on important occasions, was not
-enforced with the vigour and arrogance which characterised
-it later, perhaps less rigorously than under the Great Queen.
-“I myself remember,” said Raleigh a few years before his
-execution, “when one ship of her Majesty’s would have made
-forty Hollanders strike sail and come to anchor. They did
-not then dispute <i>de mari libero</i>, but readily acknowledged
-the English to be <i>domini mavis Britannici</i>.”<a id="FNanchor_387" href="#Footnote_387" class="fnanchor">387</a> Sir William
-Monson, too, who was Admiral of the Narrow Seas in the
-earlier part of James’s reign, tells us that the Hollanders were
-very “stubborn” about striking their top-sails and performing
-the duty due to the king’s prerogative, and that he earned
-their lasting ill-will by compelling them to do it.<a id="FNanchor_388" href="#Footnote_388" class="fnanchor">388</a></p>
-
-<p>But the English commanders were punctilious in enforcing
-the salute in the narrow seas on state occasions. A notable
-instance occurred in 1603, when King Henry IV. of France
-sent over the famous Sieur de Rosny, afterwards Duke of
-Sully, to congratulate James on his accession to the throne
-of England. With a numerous retinue he went on board an
-English man-of-war at Calais, which then made sail for Dover
-accompanied by a French warship under the command of
-M. de Vic, the Vice-Admiral of France. The English captain
-observed with displeasure that the French vessel bore the arms
-of France at his top, “contrary to the custom of the narrow
-seas”; but on account of the important personage on board
-and the nature of his mission, he restrained himself from
-challenging the “indignity” until they approached Dover
-Road. Unable to brook the affront any longer, he fired at the
-French ship, and so “constrained her to strike her flag.” The
-shot did no harm, but M. de Vic at once turned round his
-vessel and went back to France in high dudgeon. Cecil
-thought it necessary to send a despatch to the English ambassador
-at Paris explaining the circumstances, and while
-saying that the English captain “rashly discharged” his gun,
-he thought that if the matter was “well looked into, and the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">205</span>
-former customs observed, there would be reason found for us
-to stand upon.”<a id="FNanchor_389" href="#Footnote_389" class="fnanchor">389</a></p>
-
-<p>A somewhat similar incident happened two years later, when
-Sir William Monson was bringing over an ambassador of the
-Emperor from Calais to Dover. In Dover Road he found a
-number of States’ men-of-war, and their admiral, as Monson
-drew near, struck his flag thrice, but then “advanced” it again
-and kept it flying in the presence of the king’s ship. Monson
-believed the Dutch admiral had come in on purpose to put
-this “affront” on him, so that the ambassador, as well as the
-Spaniards then at Dover, might “spread it abroad throughout
-all Europe” that the Dutch, “by their wearing their flags, might
-be imputed kings of the sea as well as his Majesty,” and so
-lessen the esteem of the king’s prerogative in the narrow seas.
-Instead of firing upon the Dutch ship, he sent to invite the
-admiral to dinner, and to tell him that he must take in his
-flag. To this request the admiral demurred, saying that he
-had struck it thrice, and that no former admirals of the narrow
-seas had required more at his hands. Monson rejoined that
-“times were altered”; that when the mere striking of the flag
-as he had done was sufficient, England and Holland were both
-at war with Spain and it was tolerated; but now, since the
-war was ended so far as England was concerned, his Majesty
-required “such rights and duties as have formerly belonged
-to his progenitors.” On the Dutch admiral still refusing,
-Monson threatened to weigh anchor and come near him, and
-that the force of their ships should determine the question;
-“for,” said the English admiral, “rather than I would suffer
-his flag to be worn in view of so many nations as were
-to behold it, I resolved to bury myself in the sea.” The
-flag was then struck, and the Dutch ships stood out to
-sea. Monson tells us that he was congratulated by a
-Spanish general who had been watching the proceedings,
-who said that if the Hollanders had worn their flag times
-had been strangely altered in England, since his old master
-King Philip II. was shot at by the Lord Admiral of England
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">206</span>
-for wearing his flag in the narrow seas when he came to
-marry Queen Mary.<a id="FNanchor_390" href="#Footnote_390" class="fnanchor">390</a></p>
-
-<p>Sometimes, however, the zeal of the naval officers led them
-too far in their resolution to compel the salute. Thus in 1613,
-when the Count of Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, was returning
-to England accompanied by two galleons, an English
-man-of-war forced the Spanish ships to take in their flags off
-Stokes Bay. The ambassador complained to the Lord Admiral
-(the Earl of Nottingham), who decided that the captain had exceeded
-his authority, for the Spaniards were not bound to
-strike their flag unless to the admiral of the narrow seas,
-and the captain was neither admiral of the narrow seas nor
-employed under his commission. The rules or etiquette regarding
-this ceremony were indeed somewhat complicated,
-occasionally changed, and not always well understood, and as
-a good deal will be heard of the striking of the flag in the
-following chapters, it may be well to say something here
-about the practice. It appears that it was customary from a
-remote period for merchant vessels to lower their sails on meeting
-a ship of war in seas under the dominion of the state to which
-the latter belonged,<a id="FNanchor_391" href="#Footnote_391" class="fnanchor">391</a> but the ceremony only attained to international
-notoriety in connection with the claims of England
-to the sovereignty of the narrow seas. The practice varied
-at different times. Generally speaking, by the custom of the
-narrow seas as interpreted in this country, any foreign man-of-war
-meeting with an English man-of-war in those seas had to
-take in her flag and strike her top-sails as soon as she came
-within sight or within range of the English guns, and she had
-to keep in the flag until she had passed out of range. A
-merchant vessel had to strike in the same way. Further, no
-vessel in the narrow seas was to pass to windward of an
-English ship of war, but must “come by the lee”; the inferior
-had to make way for the superior.<a id="FNanchor_392" href="#Footnote_392" class="fnanchor">392</a> In an English port or
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">207</span>
-road no foreign ship or English merchant vessel could wear her
-flag in the presence of a king’s ship. This custom was also
-sometimes enforced in foreign ports and roads, but usually only
-when out of range of forts on shore. If a foreign vessel,
-whether man-of-war or merchant ship, did not thus “do her
-duty” or “perform the homage of the sea,” the English ship
-of war might hail her or send a boat to command her to
-strike. Or they might at once, without any parley, fire a shot
-across her bows, and after an interval another, also across her
-bows or over her poop, and if this was ineffective, then a third
-between her masts or at her flag. If the foreigner still refused
-to strike, a broadside was usually poured in, and the vessel
-might be carried into port and the offender punished. In the
-reign of Charles II., Spaniards, Dunkirkers, Frenchmen, and
-other foreigners, were not infrequently brought before the
-courts and fined for refusing to strike. If a merchant vessel
-refused to strike until she was shot at, she was compelled to
-pay to the king’s ship twice the value of the gunpowder and
-shot expended.</p>
-
-<p>In England the custom, no doubt, originated in the Channel,
-probably in the time of the early Angevin kings, when the
-opposite coasts were under the same rule; and it is most
-probable, as formerly said, that it arose in connection with the
-exercise of jurisdiction over pirates and for securing peaceful
-commerce. In early times the utmost lawlessness prevailed
-on the sea: it would be a common duty of the king’s ships to
-satisfy themselves as to the character of the vessels they encountered,
-and the lowering of the sails and the coming under
-the lee, for “visit and search,” might well be a relic of a duty
-enforced for that purpose. With regard to ships of war, the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">208</span>
-ceremony appears to have been first confined to the Channel,
-and was held to be peculiarly a privilege of the admiral of the
-narrow seas. Thus, when Captain Plumleigh was appointed
-admiral of a squadron for service in Ireland in 1632, he was
-ordered by the Admiralty if he met “in any part of the narrow
-seas with the <i>Convertive</i>, in which Captain Pennington commands
-as admiral of those seas,” to take in his flag, and to
-“continue it furled whilst in sight of that ship, it being an
-ancient honour and privilege belonging only to that admiral to
-carry the flag in the maintop in those seas.”<a id="FNanchor_393" href="#Footnote_393" class="fnanchor">393</a> Monson also
-tells us, in referring to the decision of the Lord High Admiral
-in Gondomar’s case, above alluded to, that every ship of the
-king’s serving under an admiral could not demand the striking
-of the flag when out of sight of the admiral; but the
-foreign ship, “be he admiral or no, is to strike his top-sail and
-hoist it again, to any one ship of the king’s that shall meet
-him.” He further states that any foreign ship or fleet arriving
-in an English port, or passing by a fort or castle, had to take
-in their flag three times, and advance it again, unless the
-English admiral’s ship was in the same harbour, in which case
-they were to keep it in so long as the admiral was present;
-“but if any other ship of his Majesty’s be there but the
-admiral’s, they are not bound to keep in their flag, but only
-to strike it thrice as aforesaid.” Monson added that he wished,
-in these later times (the reign of Charles I.), “that his Majesty’s
-ships would take more authority upon them than is due,” in
-order to curb the insolence of the French and the Hollander&mdash;a
-wish which, as we shall see, must have been fully gratified.
-It was against the Dutch that the striking of the flag was most
-thoroughly enforced, and one cannot but admire the patience
-and restraint they exhibited under great provocation. The
-French and Swedes avoided giving the salute as much as they
-could. As the century wore on, the English exaction on this
-point grew more outrageous. Foreign ships of war were forced
-to strike on their own coast even to our royal yachts, and the
-Hollanders were asked to strike not merely in the British
-seas, but wherever they were encountered. To the old
-sea-dogs all seas were “British” where their fleets were
-strongest.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">209</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">CHARLES I. FISHERIES AND RESERVED WATERS.</span></h2>
-
-<p>It was during the reign of Charles, into whose hands the
-sceptre passed in the spring of 1625, that the English pretensions
-to the sovereignty of the sea attained their most extravagant
-proportions,&mdash;a circumstance which was owing in great
-measure to the condition of domestic affairs and the king’s
-assumption of personal government. James had been content
-to limit his assertion of sovereignty to the question of the
-rights of fishing and the preservation of the “King’s Chambers”
-from the hostile acts of belligerents. But Charles, while
-vigorously pursuing this policy so long as he was able, combined
-with it the most extreme claims to dominion on the
-neighbouring seas that had ever been put forward by an
-English king. The sovereign rights of jurisdiction over the
-“Sea of England” which were supposed to have been exercised
-by the early Plantagenets, were now roused from the slumber
-of centuries and revived in their most aggressive form. The
-King of England was to be lord of the surrounding seas, and to
-rule over them as a part of his territory. A beneficent and
-universal peace was to reign over the waters of the German
-Ocean and the Channel, unbroken by the sound of an angry
-shot. No other fleets or men-of-war&mdash;be they Spanish, or
-Dutch, or French&mdash;were to be allowed “to keep any guard”
-there, to offer any violence, to take prize or booty, or to search
-the merchant vessels of other nations. The blockade of the
-opposite coasts of the Continent by an enemy’s fleet, as that of
-Flanders by the Dutch or French, was to be interdicted, because
-those coasts were washed by the British seas and blockading
-was a warlike operation. On the other hand the king was to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">210</span>
-protect the commerce and navigation of his friends and allies.
-Foreign merchantmen might go on their way in security, undisturbed
-by fears of pirates or enemies, for “all men trading or
-sailing within those his Majesty’s seas do justly take themselves
-to be <i>in pace Domini Regis</i>,”&mdash;under the peace of our Lord the
-King. And as an external symbol and acknowledgment of
-this absolute dominion, foreign vessels were “to perform their
-duty and homage” on meeting his Majesty’s ships by striking
-their flag and lowering their top-sails. If they refused to do so,
-they were to be attacked and taken or sunk; the vessel was
-liable to forfeiture as “good prize,” and the offenders carried
-into port to be tried for their high contempt. Moreover&mdash;and
-it looks but a small thing by comparison,&mdash;no foreigners were
-to be permitted to fish in British waters without first receiving
-the king’s license so to do, and paying to him a tax in acknowledgment
-of the permission. In this way Charles hoped to restore
-the sovereignty of the King of England in the British
-seas&mdash;that “fairest flower of the imperial crown,” as he described
-it&mdash;to “its ancient style and lustre.”</p>
-
-<p>That a scheme so preposterous was seriously entertained and
-for a time attempted to be realised showed the inherent incapacity
-of the king for rational government. He was no more
-able to gauge his strength in relation to foreign Powers than he
-was to foresee that the contest he had entered into with his
-own subjects would end in rebellion and the scaffold. It was
-ridiculous to suppose that other nations would tamely surrender
-their sovereign rights in the seas off their own coasts
-and ports, abandon the protection of their commerce and
-shipping and their rights as belligerents, simply because the
-King of England wished to be lord of the sea. Had Charles
-been able to give effect to his selfish and ambitious scheme, he
-would soon have been confronted with an overwhelming
-coalition of maritime Powers, to whom the free use of the sea
-was as necessary as it was to England. As it happened, war
-was averted by the dexterity of Richelieu and the prudence
-and patience of the Dutch; and also, it must be added, by the
-vacillation of Charles himself, who was always trying to
-arrange some new combination with Continental Governments
-to carry out the only policy to which he was true&mdash;the recovery
-of the Palatinate for his nephew.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">211</span></p>
-
-<p>It may be supposed that the splendour of the <i>r&ocirc;le</i> attributed
-to the early kings of England as lords of the sea, would by
-itself appeal to the narrow imagination of one so deeply imbued
-as Charles was with a belief in the divine prerogative of kings;
-and the dominion of the seas was claimed as peculiarly a prerogative
-of the crown. But there were other more practical
-and less exalted inducements. The assumption of the <i>r&ocirc;le</i> of
-the Plantagenet kings was intimately related to the state of
-home affairs and the means taken for the equipment of a fleet.
-Parliament having refused supply and been dissolved, recourse
-was ultimately had to the famous ship-money writs, by which
-it was possible to obtain the necessary ships independently of
-Parliament, as had been done by the early kings. To declare
-that these measures were indispensable for the maintenance of
-the sovereignty of the sea in its ancient style and lustre was
-well adapted to lessen their unpopularity, if anything could. It
-was a declaration “exactly calculated for the meridian of
-England,”<a id="FNanchor_394" href="#Footnote_394" class="fnanchor">394</a> for the English people in all ages have been prone
-to maritime glory and willing and anxious to make sacrifices
-for the sake of the navy, upon which their national safety
-depends.</p>
-
-<p>It was in connection with the policy of the ship-money writs
-that the old doctrine of the Plantagenets came again into
-being. In the writs themselves the very words were copied that
-Edward III. had used in 1336 in his mandate to the admirals;
-but some years before they were issued one may trace the growth
-of the idea. In the period from 1631 to 1633 there was much
-searching of records with the view of establishing the king’s
-rights in his seas. Negotiations had been proceeding with Scotland,
-described below, with reference to a great fishery scheme,
-and the Scots had been very troublesome and persistent about
-their “reserved waters,” which the scheme threatened, the “land-kenning,”
-and the encroachments of the Dutch. They only
-agreed to give up their exclusive claim to the “reserved waters”
-for the benefit of the fishery association, provided that Charles
-would free the Scottish seas of the Hollander busses. In the
-long series of papers respecting the fishery project, mostly prepared
-by the indefatigable Secretary Coke, the change referred
-to may be perceived. In those of 1629 and 1630 there is no
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">212</span>
-suggestion of the sovereignty of the seas, but in 1631 instances
-become numerous. Coke claims the sea fishings as belonging to
-the crown; he begins to speak of the king’s “undoubted right
-of sovereignty in all the seas of his dominions,” and plainly says
-it will be necessary to exclude foreign fishermen from the
-British seas once the fishing society is a success. In the next
-year he goes further. He begins a long and formal document&mdash;also
-on fisheries&mdash;in the following words: “The greatnesse
-and glorie of this Kingdom of Great Britaine consisteth not
-so much in the extent of his Majesty’s territories by land, as
-in the souerantie and command of the seas. This command
-is in peace over trade and fishing: and for warre in the power
-of his Majesty’s Navie to incounter the sea-forces of anie foren
-prince.” And he goes on to say that while Spain alone used
-to oppose it, it was now opposed by France and the Low
-Countries.<a id="FNanchor_395" href="#Footnote_395" class="fnanchor">395</a> Still more to the point were the words of
-Charles himself. A few months after the fishery negotiations
-with Scotland were concluded, he wrote to the Clerk-Register
-in Edinburgh saying that, as the fishing business was now
-completed, he was desirous that it should be known abroad
-by his neighbours through some “public writing,” and asking
-him to search the records of the kingdom for authentic evidence
-to show his rights to the fishings, and to send such
-evidence to him.<a id="FNanchor_396" href="#Footnote_396" class="fnanchor">396</a></p>
-
-<p>At this time also the English records were being subjected to
-search and scrutiny with the same object, but for other reasons.
-The “homage” of the flag was being hotly enforced in the
-Channel and disputed by France. Pennington, the Admiral of
-the Narrow Seas, reported cases in which the French demanded
-the salute from English merchant vessels, and rumours that it
-was the intention of the French admirals to wrest the regality
-of those seas from England on the ground that the Pope had
-given it to France.<a id="FNanchor_397" href="#Footnote_397" class="fnanchor">397</a> This news caused Viscount Dorchester&mdash;the
-Sir Dudley Carleton who had represented King James at The
-Hague, now a peer and Secretary of State&mdash;to write to Boswell,
-Clerk of the Privy Council (soon also to be ambassador at The
-Hague) for some information, however little, concerning the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">213</span>
-King’s admiralty in the narrow seas. Boswell sent a few brief
-notes of little relevancy about the jurisdiction of the admiral
-and the Cinque Ports; but he added the interesting information
-that he believed Sir John Boroughs, the Keeper of the Records
-in the Tower, was able to produce an “original” concerning the
-first institution of “La Rool d’Oleron” by Edward I., in which
-the sovereignty of the kings of England in those seas appeared.
-This, said Boswell, was therefore before the kings of France
-could pretend to any sovereignty there, having “neither right
-nor possession of any part, or part of Britany, Normandy, or
-Aquitaine.”<a id="FNanchor_398" href="#Footnote_398" class="fnanchor">398</a> This, then, was the famous roll of 26 Edward I.
-now brought to light, or at least into use in the sphere of practical
-affairs. The discovery of Boroughs led Nicholas, the
-Secretary of the Admiralty, to draw up a note about the roll,
-“by which,” he said, “it is apparent that in those tymes ye
-soueraignty of those (Narrow) Seas was acknowledged by
-those princes (of Denmark, Sweden, &amp;c., as mentioned in the
-roll): and justly, though no man can be said to have ye
-property of the sea, because a man cannot say this water is
-myne which runs, yet it is manifest that ye Kings of England
-have and had ye soueraignty and jurisdiction of those seas;
-that is, power to give laws and redresse injuries done on the
-same.”<a id="FNanchor_399" href="#Footnote_399" class="fnanchor">399</a></p>
-
-<p>The germ of the new pretension of Charles to play the part
-of Plantagenet on the adjoining seas appears to have been this
-disclosing by Boroughs of the ancient roll. All the later
-writers on the English side of the controversy about <i>mare
-clausum</i> and <i>mare liberum</i>, as Selden, Coke, Prynne, as well
-as Boroughs himself, laid great stress on it.</p>
-
-<p>It was, however, as we have already hinted, in connection
-with the fisheries that Charles’s first actions were concerned.
-He earnestly believed in the common opinion of the age that
-sea fisheries formed a principal means of developing commerce
-and navigation and maintaining a powerful navy, and early in
-his reign, before the new idea of maritime sovereignty dawned
-upon his mind, he did what he could to promote and foster
-them. The old laws for the preservation of the spawn and
-brood of fish, which had fallen into disuse, were put into force;
-proclamations appeared prohibiting wasteful fishing; a vigorous
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">214</span>
-effort was made to suppress the use of injurious appliances;
-the strict observance of Lent was repeatedly enjoined. But
-what proved most attractive was the notion which had haunted
-men’s minds since the time of the Great Queen, and had always
-eluded realisation. Charles became convinced that the formation
-of a grand national fishery association would wrest from
-the Dutch their predominance in the fisheries, drive their busses
-from our seas, and transfer to the English people the herring-fishing,
-with all the blessings which flowed from it&mdash;commerce,
-wealth, and maritime power. The last attempt which had been
-made in this direction, in 1623, had, as we saw, signally failed,
-the Lord Mayor and the opulent aldermen of London
-“absolutely refusing” to have anything to do with it. The
-scheme was now, however, to be launched by the king himself,
-who undertook to favour it with important privileges and immunities,
-and intended at a suitable time to aid it by prohibiting
-foreigners from fishing on the British coasts.</p>
-
-<p>Shortly after Charles began to reign, the old proposals to
-tax the Dutch were renewed. In 1626 a petition was presented
-to the House of Commons praying that a duty of 10 per cent
-might be laid upon all Dutch or foreign ships fishing in the
-narrow seas; with what result the records are silent. Two
-years later the proposal got a step further, for in 1628 a Bill was
-drafted to empower the king to levy two shillings in the pound
-on all herrings or fish exported in foreign vessels, and the tenth
-of the fish taken by foreigners in the British seas, the revenue
-so obtained to be employed for the king’s use. The latter suggestion
-looks almost satirical in view of the failure of the many
-attempts of James to get revenue from that source, and in the
-midst, too, of the squabbles then occurring between Charles and
-the Parliament, which refused supplies and was abruptly prorogued;
-especially as the House “humbly beseeched” him, “in
-recompense of the great sums which your Commons have thus
-cheerfully granted,” “yearly to provide and maintain a strong
-fleet of able ships upon the Narrow Seas.”<a id="FNanchor_400" href="#Footnote_400" class="fnanchor">400</a></p>
-
-<p>The original plan of the new fishery association was drawn
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">215</span>
-up by Secretary Coke and was submitted to a meeting held at
-Suffolk House on 29th November 1629. The two main points
-for consideration were: how they should obtain command of
-the fishery and be able to supply both themselves and foreign
-people, and how to find a “vent” for the fish taken and
-encourage merchants to purchase and export them. With
-regard to the first point, Coke said that to command and
-govern the whole fishing so as to make it a foundation of
-wealth to the kingdom, “equal to the Indies,” as it was then
-to the Hollanders, would require not fewer than 1000 busses,
-the cost of which would exceed &pound;800,000. This, he admitted,
-would be a work of time, and he proposed, for a beginning,
-that timber should be felled in England, Scotland, and
-Ireland so as to be seasoned for the construction of 200
-busses in the following year&mdash;40 in Scotland, 40 in Ireland,
-and 120 in England. Meanwhile, for the year beginning in
-January 1630, he recommended that ten or twelve busses
-should be bought in Holland, six Dutchmen to serve in each
-for the year; and that the necessary salt and timber for
-casks for curing the herrings should be got at Dunkirk from
-the prizes taken from the Dutch. As the cost of ten new
-busses built in England, fully equipped, would amount to
-&pound;8390, including the cost of maintenance for four months,
-the plan suggested would be the best, and it was proposed
-to raise the money required by the “contributions of such
-adventurers as may be persuaded upon hope of the gains and
-by privileges from his Majesty.” It was intended that the
-busses should fish along with the Dutch on the east coast,
-beginning like them at Bressay Sound, Shetland, on 23rd June,
-and the herrings were to be put ashore to be repacked, after
-the Dutch method, at Aberdeen, Tynemouth, and Yarmouth.
-Supplementary to the busses, it was proposed to have six
-“doggers” to fish for cod and ling at Orkney and Shetland
-in the spring.</p>
-
-<p>With respect to the second head, the prospect of obtaining
-markets for the produce, Coke said that English fishermen did
-not catch above 2000 lasts of herrings in a year, of which not
-more than 1000 lasts were consumed in England;<a id="FNanchor_401" href="#Footnote_401" class="fnanchor">401</a> and he
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">216</span>
-calculated that the ten busses would catch another thousand
-lasts, which he thought might be mostly exported to Prussia
-and along the German coast. The first step in carrying out
-the scheme was to form a company to raise a capital of
-about &pound;11,000 or &pound;12,000, and a committee was appointed
-for the purpose.<a id="FNanchor_402" href="#Footnote_402" class="fnanchor">402</a></p>
-
-<p>Coke’s scheme, which, like all the others, was based upon a
-close imitation of the Dutch system, met with great favour
-from the king and the court. Further consideration, moreover,
-led the promoters to believe that the success of the enterprise
-would be increased if operations were also undertaken at the
-Lewes instead of being confined to the east coast, and various
-schemes were propounded with this end in view. The suggestion
-appears to have emanated from Captain John Mason,
-and it was made at a time when the island was a bone of contention
-between the royal burghs of Scotland and the Earl of
-Seaforth, who had obtained from the king a charter to “erect”
-Stornoway into a royal burgh.<a id="FNanchor_403" href="#Footnote_403" class="fnanchor">403</a> The burghs strenuously
-resisted the confirmation of this charter and refused to give
-effect to it, all the more since Seaforth had settled at Stornoway
-a number of Dutch people who were engaged in the
-fisheries there. From an interesting report by a Captain John
-Dymes, who visited Lewis in 1630 at the request of certain
-members of the Privy Council, and apparently in the interest of
-the proposed fishery society, we learn that the Dutch had been
-fishing there with great success. Their four busses, each with
-twenty-five nets and a crew of sixteen men, caught 300 lasts
-of herrings in three months, which were sold at Dantzic for 400
-guilders or about &pound;38 a last, which Dymes calculated would total
-&pound;11,400, showing, after charges had been met, a gain for the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">217</span>
-three months’ work of &pound;7500.<a id="FNanchor_404" href="#Footnote_404" class="fnanchor">404</a> The Scottish burghs protested
-against the introduction of the Hollanders, which they said
-would ruin the whole trade and navigation of the kingdom and
-completely destroy the native fisheries. They petitioned the
-Privy Council to restrain strangers from resorting to the North
-and West Isles, pointing out that from the numbers of the
-Hollanders, their numerous ships and great commerce, they
-would draw the whole trade of the country into their hands,
-as they had done everywhere they had gone; and in a petition
-to the king they accused them of “great oppressions” in the
-Isles and on the coasts of the kingdom, and declared that by a
-“pretendit libertie obtenit of his father” they were “the over-throwes
-of the haill fischeing of this cuntry.”<a id="FNanchor_405" href="#Footnote_405" class="fnanchor">405</a></p>
-
-<p>Mr John Hay, the Town-Clerk of Edinburgh, was despatched
-to London to the king, to ask that the country might be freed
-of the objectionable Hollanders and the Seaforth charter withdrawn;
-and to declare that the Scottish burghs would themselves
-undertake the whole of the fishings at the Lewes and
-erect a burgh there. Secretary Coke, full of the fishery scheme,
-took advantage of Hay’s presence to obtain from him a detailed
-account of Lewis and its fisheries, and of the Dutch fishings on
-the coast of Scotland, which, it was said, sometimes employed a
-fleet of 3000 busses; and from the information acquired an
-“estimate of the charge of a fishing to be established in the
-island of Lewes in Scotland” was prepared. This document
-showed that ten Scottish fisher-boats, of from twenty-five to
-thirty tons each, might be bought for &pound;1200, and other ten
-boats, of twelve to fourteen tons, for a proportionately smaller
-sum. Each of the large boats was to be equipped with 120
-nets of twenty yards in length, and the smaller boats with
-forty nets of the same dimensions; and it was calculated that
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">218</span>
-with a stock of &pound;6743, 6s. 8d. a clear profit of &pound;18,270 might
-be earned in one year.</p>
-
-<p>This alluring prospect was no doubt encouraging to Coke
-and his friends; but he learned from Hay some further information
-which must have been disquieting. He was told
-that the Scottish people would not permit any foreigners
-to fish within twenty-eight miles of their coast, or within
-the lochs, the fishings there being reserved for the natives;
-that by the laws of Scotland any stranger found fishing
-within these limits was liable to confiscation of goods and
-loss of life, citing as an example the story of the barbarous
-treatment by James V. of the Dutch fishermen who had
-transgressed the “reserved waters” by fishing in the Firth
-of Forth.<a id="FNanchor_406" href="#Footnote_406" class="fnanchor">406</a> This point about the reserved waters was indeed
-the main difficulty which soon confronted the fishery scheme.
-To be successful, the fishing must be carried on along the
-Scottish coast and at the Isles, for it was there the great
-shoals of herrings resorted, but the objections of the Scottish
-Parliament, Council, and burghs had first to be overcome.<a id="FNanchor_407" href="#Footnote_407" class="fnanchor">407</a></p>
-
-<p>The first important step was a declaration by the king
-of his intentions. On 12th July he wrote to the Privy
-Council of Scotland, laying before them his scheme for a
-great fishery association. With the advice of his Privy
-Council in England, he said, he had maturely considered
-that “als weill in thankfulnesse to Almighty God as for
-the benefite of all our loving subjects we ought no longer
-to neglect that great blessing offered unto us in the great
-abundance of fishe upon all the coasts of these Yllands. To
-the end we may at lenth injoy with more honnour these
-rights whiche properlie belong to our imperiall crowne and
-ar vsurped by strangers, We have considered of a way
-whiche in tyme by God’s favour may produce this good
-effect and also increasse our navigatioun and trade. And
-becaus this worke concerneth equallie all our three Kingdomes
-and must thairfoir be vndertakin and ordered by
-commoun counsell and assistance,” he had taken the opportunity
-of a meeting of the Scottish Parliament to send his
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">219</span>
-“instructions” on the subject by his Secretary for Scotland,
-Sir William Alexander.<a id="FNanchor_408" href="#Footnote_408" class="fnanchor">408</a></p>
-
-<p>In his instructions the king, after a preamble reciting the
-abundance of fish on our coasts, the benefit which was reaped
-by strangers, “to the great disparagement and prejudice”
-of his loving subjects, declared his “firm resolution” to set
-up a “commoun fishing to be a nurserie of seamen and to
-increase the shipping and trade in all parts of his dominions,”
-and added&mdash;what must have been unwelcome news to the
-Scottish burghs and people&mdash;that as it was to be a “common
-benefit” to all the three kingdoms, so it could not be “dividedly
-enjoyed” by any one nation in particular. The Council were
-enjoined to take the matter into serious consideration, and
-to give their advice and assistance in bringing it to a successful
-issue; and as it was necessary to raise a “great stock”
-from adventurers, who would not be drawn into the scheme
-except by hope of great and immediate gains, an estimate
-of the outlays and profits was submitted to the Council, showing
-that 200 busses would earn a clear profit of &pound;165,414
-in a single year, after paying all costs.<a id="FNanchor_409" href="#Footnote_409" class="fnanchor">409</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">220</span></p>
-
-<p>Sir William Alexander was also requested to ascertain
-how many busses and how much money might be contributed
-in Scotland, and he was to urge the Council to confer
-on the subject with the nobility and gentry, and especially
-with the burghs. Moreover, as it was not thought to be
-feasible to manage the whole project by one common joint-stock,
-the king advised that subsidiary companies should
-be formed in the principal town or burgh of each province,
-to be related to one central body or corporation. No foreigners
-were to be admitted as members of the company,
-although they might be employed as servants. All the
-adventurers, whether English, Irish, or Scottish, were to be
-allowed to fish freely “in all places and at all times”; and
-the king signified that as the Lewes was “the most proper
-seate for a continuall fishing along the westerne coasts,” it
-was his resolve to take it from the Earl of Seaforth into
-his own hands, as “adherent” to the crown, and to erect
-one or more free burghs in the Isles. If difficulties arose
-in the acceptance of the scheme, the Lords of Council were
-to be asked to appoint commissioners to treat with those
-he would nominate to act on behalf of England and Ireland.</p>
-
-<p>The king’s proposals were brought before the Scottish
-Parliament on 29th July 1630, and remitted to a large committee
-to report upon them.<a id="FNanchor_410" href="#Footnote_410" class="fnanchor">410</a> They were ill-received in
-Scotland. The free burghs in particular opposed the scheme
-with great energy. They had brought about the withdrawal
-of the charter obtained by the Earl of Seaforth, and were
-negotiating among themselves for the formation of a company
-to carry on the fishing at the Lewes and establish a free
-burgh there. But the charter of the Highland Earl was
-a small thing to the scheme of the king. They saw in it
-an invasion of their special rights and privileges in trading
-and fish-curing, which had been conferred on them and confirmed
-by many Acts of Parliament, not merely at the Lewes
-but throughout the country. The “reserved waters,” moreover,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">221</span>
-sacredly preserved for the industry and sustenance of
-their own people, were to be thrown open to Englishmen
-and Irish, whereby the nation would suffer greatly.<a id="FNanchor_411" href="#Footnote_411" class="fnanchor">411</a></p>
-
-<p>On 9th August a statement was drawn up by the Convention
-and circulated to all the burghs, in which their
-opinion was asked as to whether any association with England
-in the fishings was expedient; whether the English
-should be suffered to “plant” or settle in any part of the
-Isles; whether, if the burghs undertook the fishing themselves,
-they should allow the nobility and gentry to “stock”
-with them, and if so on what conditions; and if not, whether
-the burghs should undertake it themselves by a company
-or by burgesses, and what sums might be subscribed for
-an exclusive company. On the following day it was complained
-in the Convention that, though the king had cancelled
-the patent to the Earl of Seaforth, the “Flemings”
-still remained in the Lewes; and the burghs thereupon
-decided that as the Privy Council had appointed commissioners
-from each of the Estates of Parliament to treat on
-the king’s proposals, their own commissioner, Mr John Hay,
-should be empowered to deal with the king in order to
-have the “Flemings” removed and the fishing “devolvit in
-thair hands”; to “stay” the proposed association with the
-English, or the plantation of strangers at any part of the
-kingdom where fishing was carried on; and to cause the
-“Flemings” to forbear from fishing on the Scottish coasts,
-“or not to cum neirer to the schoire of anie pairt of this
-kingdome than ane land kenning of the said schoire.”</p>
-
-<p>Meantime a smaller committee which had been appointed
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">222</span>
-by Parliament, no doubt under the inspiration of the opposition
-of the burghs, reported against the association with
-England in the fishings. Such a course, they said, would
-be “verie inconvenient to the estait; and tuiching the land
-fishing, whilk consists in fishing within loches and yles and
-twenty aucht myles frome the land, and whilk is proper to
-the natives, and whairof they have been in continuall possessioun
-and neuer interrupted thairin be the Hollanders,”&mdash;a
-statement inconsistent with the frequent complaints made
-by the burghs in the reign of James. The burghs, they
-said, were able and content to undertake the “said land
-fishing” by themselves, without “communicating” therein with
-any other nation; and as for the buss-fishing, to which the
-king’s proposals specially referred, they stated that the season
-for it that year was passed, and that as it was a matter of
-great importance, it required time for consideration. The
-burghs reported to Parliament in the same sense.<a id="FNanchor_412" href="#Footnote_412" class="fnanchor">412</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus Charles, in endeavouring to carry out his laudable
-desire to create a great national fishery to oust the Hollander
-from his seas, had suddenly raised against him a Scottish
-claim of <i>mare clausum</i>, which he found very provoking.
-Not only did the Scottish Parliament declare that a great
-extent of the sea around Scotland pertained exclusively to
-the natives so far as concerned fishing, but they coupled
-this with the request that the king should exclude foreigners
-from fishing within that area. It must be said that, apart altogether
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">223</span>
-from the unwritten law as to the “reserved” waters
-pertaining to Scotland, the Scottish people had some ground
-of complaint against the king for his sudden proposal to
-open up the whole of their seas and lochs to the English;
-for it was well known that in the Draft Treaty of Union
-which James had caused to be prepared in 1604, and which
-would also have conferred important privileges on Scotland
-in matters of trade, words had been inserted reserving to
-each nation the fishings within all lochs, firths, and bays
-within land and up to a distance of fourteen miles from
-the coast. This treaty was drawn up by commissioners appointed
-by the respective Parliaments, the most active of
-whom were Secretary Lord Cecil (afterwards Earl of Salisbury)
-and the illustrious Sir Francis (afterwards Lord) Bacon
-on the English side, and Lord President Fyvie and Sir Thomas
-Hamilton (later Earls of Dunfermline and Haddington) on
-the part of the Scots. It was signed by thirty-nine of the
-forty-four English and by twenty-eight of the thirty Scottish
-commissioners; it was approved by the king and adopted
-by the Scottish Parliament, and it was thus an instrument
-of high authority with respect to the delimitation of the
-waters of exclusive fishing. The clause in the treaty dealing
-with freedom of commerce contained the reservation
-referred to, which was as follows: “Exceptand also and
-reserveand to Scottishmen thair trade of fisheing within
-thair loches, ffirthis, and bayis within land, and in the seas
-within fourtene mylis of the costis of the realme of Scotland,
-wheir nather Englishmen nor ony stranger or forinaris haue
-use to fishe, and soe reciprocally in the point of fisheing on
-the behalfe of England.”</p>
-
-<p>Unfortunately, the treaty was never ratified by the English
-Parliament, and therefore did not come into force. But
-the objection of the English members was not in the least
-degree founded upon the reservation of fishing rights,
-but upon the nationalisation clauses, which caused them
-to dread the influx of an army of “hungry Scots” into
-England, Scotsmen being at the time very unpopular in
-London.<a id="FNanchor_413" href="#Footnote_413" class="fnanchor">413</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">224</span></p>
-
-<p>The stipulation in the treaty of 1604 was now brought
-to mind in the negotiations on Charles’s fishing scheme. These
-negotiations, which were carried on for more than two years,
-were conducted on the part of Scotland with an ingenuity
-and refinement of procrastination scarcely surpassed by the
-Dutch in the previous reign.</p>
-
-<p>After the report above mentioned, a large committee was
-appointed to discuss the business with the English authorities,
-and to report to the meeting of Parliament in November.
-Accordingly, on 3rd November the committee submitted the
-report of their proceedings with the English commissioners,
-which was signed by the Earl of Monteith, the President
-of the Council. They understood, they said, that the general
-fishing proposed by the king referred only to those fishings
-of which the benefit was exclusively reaped by strangers
-(that is to say, to deep-sea buss-fishing), and did not in any
-way touch the fishings which were enjoyed by the natives
-of any of the three kingdoms, so that the laws and freedom
-of every kingdom might be preserved, as indeed was “contained
-in the said instructions.” It was therefore necessary,
-they said, in the first place, that such fishings “in everie
-kingdom whiche ar onely injoyed be the natives be made
-known,” and that it should be clearly determined what those
-fishings were which were called “common benefits” that could
-not be “dividedly enjoyed.” With their eyes probably on
-the fate of the nationalisation clauses in the Draft Treaty
-of 1604, they declared it to be desirable that Scottish adventurers
-in the proposed association should be naturalised in
-England; and with reference to the commodities brought
-back for exported fish, they said it was necessary to inquire
-how the return for the fishes exported out of each kingdom
-should be made to the kingdom in which they were
-actually taken. As to founding a burgh in the Lewes, that,
-they said, would be an infraction of the rights of the existing
-burghs.</p>
-
-<p>The reply of the English commissioners was somewhat vague
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">225</span>
-and general. It was, however, made clear that the king’s
-intention was that every member, or “brother,” of the company
-should be free to fish “in places near and remote, where
-common fishing is, or may be, used by any of his people,”
-this “mutual participation being the bond of union and sole
-means to recover his Majesty’s right and power at sea, and
-to enrich all his subjects, and those chiefly where the greatest
-fishings are.” On the other points they said, in effect,
-that the king would do what was best.</p>
-
-<p>A letter from the king to the Parliament was also read,
-expressing his desire that the business should be advanced,
-as it would be “a worke of great consequence for the generall
-good of our whole kingdome, and more particularlie for the
-benefite of that our ancient kingdome” by the improvement
-of its trade and shipping. So anxious was Charles for the
-success of his enterprise, that he added a postscript in his
-own hand, in which he said: “This is a worke of so great
-good to both my kingdomes that I have thought good by
-these few lynes of my owne hand seriouslie to recommend
-it unto yow. The furthering or hindering of whiche will
-ather oblige me or disoblige me more then anie one business
-that hes happened in my tyme.” He also sent a letter
-to the burghs to mollify them, saying that it was in no
-ways intended that they should be wronged in their ancient
-privileges or benefits; and he requested Parliament to appoint
-commissioners charged with absolute powers to settle the
-matter with the English commissioners, so that there should
-not be undue delay.<a id="FNanchor_414" href="#Footnote_414" class="fnanchor">414</a></p>
-
-<p>The Parliament thereupon appointed commissioners, on 11th
-November 1630, to treat with those of England.<a id="FNanchor_415" href="#Footnote_415" class="fnanchor">415</a> Nominally
-they were given full powers to treat, but their instructions,
-dated 23rd December, were so detailed and remarkable that it
-must have been obvious to every one that rapid progress was
-not intended. Nothing was to be done prejudicial or derogatory
-to the liberties and privileges of the kingdom, the crown,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">226</span>
-or the laws of Scotland; special care was to be taken that the
-natives of Scotland were to be preferred in the choice of the
-best places for establishing “magazines” for the fishery, and
-that the places appointed for the English should be such as
-would not prejudice the “land fishing” of the Scotch; the
-Scottish members of the association were to have the same
-privileges and immunities, with power to erect magazines, in
-England and Ireland; English members who settled in Scotland
-were to be debarred from fishing in the reserved waters,
-or from buying fish from the natives, except for their own
-sustenance, as well as from any trade or commerce, unless for
-the same purpose; they were to be prohibited from importing
-or exporting commodities except fishes taken by their own
-vessels, and they were to pay customs and other duties for the
-fish they cured in Scotland and exported&mdash;and many other conditions
-were laid down which showed how little the Parliament
-had been moved by the personal appeal of the king.<a id="FNanchor_416" href="#Footnote_416" class="fnanchor">416</a></p>
-
-<p>With respect to the fundamental question, the limits of the
-territorial seas pertaining to Scotland, the demands of the
-Parliament went much further than any previous claim. The
-old principle of division by the mid-line, which was held by
-some lawyers in the reign of Elizabeth, was now put forward.
-The commissioners were instructed to take care that a
-clause was inserted in the treaty to make it clear, “that the
-seas foreanent the coasts of this kingdome and about the Yles
-thairof and all that is interjected betuix thame and that mid-lyne
-in the seas whilk is equallie distant and divyding frome
-the opposite land, ar the Scotish Seas properlie belonging to
-the crowne of Scotland, and that the English hes no right nor
-libertie to fishe thairin, nor in no part thairof, bot be vertew of
-the association and not otherwayes.” But while these were
-the Scottish seas ideally regarded, English members of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">227</span>
-association were to be permitted to fish in them, except in the
-waters which were reserved to the Scottish people in the Draft
-Treaty of Union of 1604&mdash;namely, bays, firths, and lochs within
-land, and a belt of fourteen miles along the coast. These waters
-were to be strictly preserved for the native fishermen.<a id="FNanchor_417" href="#Footnote_417" class="fnanchor">417</a></p>
-
-<p>The instructions which the burghs gave to their representative,
-Mr John Hay, although less ample, were equally to the
-point. He was to agree to the proposal for the establishment
-of an English settlement at the Lewes, provided they did not
-fish in the reserved waters, and had no magazines or settlements
-in any of the other West or North Isles, or north of
-Buchan Ness or Cromarty, and not at Aberdeen if they wished
-any south of Buchan Ness; and the burghs were also to have
-the right to establish colonies at the Lewes. In “retribution,”
-as they said, for these privileges to be granted to the English
-in Scotland, they required the “liberty” of the pilchard-fishing
-in England and Ireland, with equal privileges regarding it.
-The king was also to remove the “Flemings” from the Isles,
-and to prohibit them and all other strangers from fishing
-within a “land-kenning” (that is, within a distance at which
-the land was visible from the sea), and power was to be conferred
-upon the burghs, with the assistance of the Sheriffs and
-other officers to prevent their fishing nearer. “Hamburgers,
-Bremeners,” and all other strangers, were also to be removed
-furth of Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, and other places.<a id="FNanchor_418" href="#Footnote_418" class="fnanchor">418</a></p>
-
-<p>A week or two before the Scottish commissioners were
-selected, Charles issued a commission appointing Lord Weston
-(High Treasurer of England), the Earl of Arundel and Surrey
-(Earl Marshal), the Earl of Pembroke (Lord Chamberlain), the
-Earl of Suffolk (Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports), and eight
-others as commissioners on behalf of England and Ireland.<a id="FNanchor_419" href="#Footnote_419" class="fnanchor">419</a>
-His object, he said, was to establish a “common” fishing, both
-to be a nursery of seamen and for the increase of navigation,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">228</span>
-and “to make the store of fish of all kinds, being a necessary
-food for the people on fish-days, to be had at reasonable prices,
-and the overplus thereof to be a principal addition to the staple
-commodities of our kingdom for the increase of trade.” In
-order that this common fishing might be extended and freely
-exercised in “all places by his subjects of each of the three
-kingdoms,” he appointed them “with full power and authority
-to confer severally and jointly, and to consider, treat, propose,
-determine and conclude what they concurrently found fit and
-expedient for the ordering, establishing, and advancing of the
-said common fishing.” Power was also given to them to call
-for any of the records in the Tower or elsewhere which might
-bear upon their labours.</p>
-
-<p>The commissioners from both countries met early in 1631.
-In March the Privy Council of Scotland received a report from
-the Scottish commissioners in London, stating that several
-meetings with the English commissioners had been held, and
-that the extent of the waters proposed to be reserved “was
-thought too much,” unless it could be shown that “the intention
-was only to reserve so much without which the natives could
-not subsist, and not to hinder the good public work,” and they
-craved full and particular instructions on this point. The
-Privy Council at once summoned the Lord Provost and Bailies
-of Edinburgh before them to furnish the information required,
-but they replied that it was a subject which concerned all the
-burghs, and that time must be given to consult them. After
-some further delay the burghs submitted an elaborate and interesting
-report to the Council on 21st April, in which, after
-citing the clause in the Draft Treaty of Union, they proceeded
-to define the bounds of the waters “without the whiche the
-countrie can not subsist,” and “whiche trewlie is the bounds
-whairupon if anie stranger sall resort this countrie sall suffer
-utter ruine.” These bounds were as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p class="small">“Vpon the east side of Scotland, frome Sanct Tabsheid [St Abb’s
-Head] in the shiredom of Beruick directlie north to the Reidhead in
-Angus whiche comprehends the coast of the Merce, Lothiane, the
-Firth, Fyfe and ane part of the coast of Angus, and 14 myles without
-the course frome the said Sanct Tabsheid to the Reidhead. Frome
-the Reidhead north north-east alongs the coast of Angus, Mernes,
-Mar and Buchan to Buchannesse, northwards and be north to Dungisbeyheid
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">229</span>
-[Duncansby Head] in Caithnes, comprehending thairin the
-coast of Bamf and Murrey upon the south side, Murrey firth and the
-coast of Rosse, Sutherland and ane part of Caithnes vpon the north,
-and fourtene myles without the course frome the said Buchannesse to
-the said Dungisbiehead, and frome the same Dungsbie in Caithnes
-west alongs the coast of Caithnes and Strathnauer to Farrayheid in
-Stranauer [Cape Wrath], and fourteine myles aff the said coast, with
-fourtene myles round about the yles of Orkney and Yetland. Frome
-the Farrayheid alongs the coast of Stranauer to the head of Stoir of
-Assint [Stoir Head] and 14 myles aff the said coast, and frome the
-said heid of Stoir Assint directlie west north-west to the eastmost
-point of the yle of the Lewes, comprehending thairin the haill seas
-interjected betuixt the said heid of Stoir of Assint and eastmost point
-of the said yle of the Lewes, with all the yles and loches within the
-same, and 14 myles without the course frome the said heid of the
-Stoir of Assint to the said east point of the Lewes; frome the said
-eastmost point of the Lewes south about the haill yles of the Lewes
-to the westmost part of Barra, and 14 myles without the samine;
-frome the said westmost part of Barra n-west, south, south-east to
-southmost part of the yle of Yla [Islay], frome the said southmost
-part of yla south-east to the mull of Kintyre, frome the said mull of
-Kintyre n-west, south-east, to the mull of Gallouay: Whiche bounds
-frome the said heid of Stoir Assint west north-west to the eastmost
-point of the Lewes and frome thence south to Bara be Yla, and mull
-of Kintyre to the mull of Gallouay, comprehends the haill west yles
-and loches within the samine with the loches vpon the mayne of
-Stranauer, Tarbet, Lochaber, Kintyre, Argyle, Renfrew, Cuninghame,
-Kyle, Carrick, Gallouay, Quhithorne; alongs the coast of Gallouay
-eastward to Solloway [Solway] sands and 14 myles aff the said coast.
-Quhilk bounds above designed being so necessar both for the haill
-lieges living vpon the saids coasts and yles, as if these sould be exhausted
-be strangers of fishes, they sould be depryved of all benefite
-of living and so be tyme bring ane vtter desolatioun vpon the land,
-as lykeways so necessar for ws of the borrowes [burghs] as without
-the said fishing the most part of our inhabitants sould be brought to
-extreem miserie. Quhairfoir we of the burrowes doe humbelie beseeke
-your Lordships to recommend the bounds abone designed to the saids
-commissioners in suche maner as they give not way that strangers be
-permitted to fishe within the saids bounds vpon anie conditioune.”<a id="FNanchor_420" href="#Footnote_420" class="fnanchor">420</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">230</span></p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>A glance at the accompanying chart, indicating the boundary
-of the “reserved” waters as claimed by the burghs, will show
-how large an extent of the neighbouring seas was considered to
-be necessary for the subsistence of the people. Not only were
-all the great firths included, and the waters of the Minch and
-within the Isles, but it will be observed that the fourteen-mile
-limit around a very great part of the coast was drawn, not from
-the shore, but from an ideal straight line uniting the headlands.</p>
-
-<p>When this report from the burghs was submitted to the Privy
-Council, they professed to find it “to be of too large an extent”;
-and they therefore, as they said, “out of their desire to his
-Majesty’s contentment and for the advancement of the great
-work,” proceeded to “retrench and restrict the universality of
-the exceptions” made by the burghs. The true spirit of the
-Council was, however, shown by the fact that their alternative
-scheme was practically the same. They rearranged the description
-of the lines at the Orkneys and Shetlands without
-diminishing the extent of the enclosed sea, and they carried the
-boundary down the east instead of the west side of the Hebrides,
-and so on to Islay. They thus reduced the area of the waters
-proposed to be reserved by omitting only the strip of fourteen
-miles to the west of the Hebrides. The Council declared that
-they had reserved an area of fourteen miles off such coasts as
-were well peopled, and where the inhabitants lived mostly by
-fishing, and could not possibly subsist and pay their rents and
-duties without it. They also stated that if a buss-fishing had
-been established in Scotland,<a id="FNanchor_421" href="#Footnote_421" class="fnanchor">421</a> the fishing would have been
-reserved for the use and benefit of the country people, “seeing
-it cannot be qualified that ever any Hollanders or other
-strangers fished in these waters.”</p>
-
-<p>In transmitting the two schemes to the commissioners in
-London, on 31st April 1631, the Council observed that at first
-the burghs had “stood very punctually” on the instructions at
-first issued to the commissioners, saying there was no need to
-particularise the reserved waters, since they had been included
-in the Act of Union, but that they had been persuaded to
-abandon this attitude and condescend to particulars. If this
-was not a stroke of Scotch humour, it would indicate that the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">231</span>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">232</span>
-measurement of the fourteen miles mentioned in the Draft
-Treaty was to be understood as expressed in the report of the
-burghs.<a id="FNanchor_422" href="#Footnote_422" class="fnanchor">422</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_9" src="images/fig_9.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 9.&mdash;<i>Showing the limits of the “Reserved Waters” claimed by Scotland.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>This kind of zeal for the “great work” on the part of
-the Scottish Council and burghs was naturally displeasing to
-the king and the English commissioners. Coke fumed at the
-obstacles raised by the Scottish commissioners against the
-realisation of his pet scheme. They disclaim not the name of
-association, he said, but they decline the only way of establishing
-it; we propound a government, and they say their laws are
-against it; we desire freedom to fish in all places where, by his
-Majesty’s license, it may be lawfully granted to us, and they
-reply by the “reserved waters” which “would leave no more
-scope to the company than strangers now enjoy.” Nay, they
-even propound a further limitation, and request that bounds
-may now be set to the seas of England and Scotland; “which
-debates,” he adds, “tending to division, we labour to avoid.”
-At this time the minds of English statesmen had not yet become
-saturated with lofty ideas of the king’s sovereign prerogative
-in his seas, and Coke did not then, as he did a little later, make
-use of high arguments of that kind. But he believed that the
-opposition of Scotland would be prejudicial to the scheme, and
-that further negotiations would be vain; and he proposed that
-an English company should be formed without waiting for the
-concurrence of Scotland.<a id="FNanchor_423" href="#Footnote_423" class="fnanchor">423</a> But Charles was more patient. In
-June he again sent Sir William Alexander, the Secretary for
-Scotland, to Edinburgh, and despatched a letter to the burghs
-assuring them that he would be careful to preserve their
-privileges and liberties, and another to the Privy Council in
-which he expressed his astonishment that they had reserved so
-many places, and likewise “fyftene myles [<i>sic</i>] within the sea
-distant frome everie shoarr, where it would seeme expedient
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">233</span>
-that these of the association for this generall fishing, as they
-have libertie to land in any place, paying the ordinarie dewteis,
-sould lykewayes be free to fish where ever they ar to passe.”
-He plainly told the Council that while he was willing to reserve
-for the natives all such fishings without which they could not
-well subsist, and which they of themselves “have and doe fullie
-fishe,” he would not allow anything to be reserved which might
-hinder the general work which was so important for all the
-kingdoms; and he enjoined them to give their best attention to
-everything that would conduce to the accomplishment of his
-desire. In a later letter to the President of the Council, Charles
-expressed his fears that if the places proposed were reserved
-the great business of the fishing would be put in hazard.<a id="FNanchor_424" href="#Footnote_424" class="fnanchor">424</a> On
-receipt of the king’s letter, the Council, on 28th July, summoned
-before them the representatives of the burghs, who on being
-asked if they were yet resolved on their answer, said they were
-not; they were thereupon requested to consider the matter and
-to report at the meeting on 21st September.</p>
-
-<p>The resolute attitude of the king was not without its effect.
-The burghs now modified their demands, but they still declared
-that it was necessary to reserve the “Firth of Lothian” within
-a line between St Abb’s Head and Red Head; the Moray Firth
-within a line between Buchan Ness and Duncansby Head; the
-Firth of Clyde between the Mulls of Galloway and Cantyre,
-and also the waters within fourteen miles along the coast
-between Red Head and Buchan Ness. They further desired
-that a space of fourteen miles outside the boundary lines of the
-Firths should be reserved, but on this point they stated their
-willingness to submit themselves to the king.<a id="FNanchor_425" href="#Footnote_425" class="fnanchor">425</a></p>
-
-<p>The modified proposals of the burghs were submitted to the
-Privy Council on 22nd September by certain noblemen, gentry,
-and commissioners of the burghs, and an additional reason for
-reserving the fourteen miles along the coast between Red Head
-and Buchan Ness was now brought forward. If this space were
-opened to buss-fishing, it would, they said, ruin the salmon-fishings
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">234</span>
-of the Dee, Don, Ythan, and the two Esks, “to the great
-prejudice of the whole kingdom.” The question of the reserved
-waters at the Isles and on the west coast had not been dealt
-with by the burghs, and the Council asked them to report on
-these. The burghs thereupon modified their original demands,
-specifying certain places that should be reserved, where the
-fishings had been continually carried on by Scottish fishermen
-and merchants, who were able, they said, to undertake and fish
-the same “to the full,” and within which no stranger had ever
-been admitted to fish. These places were as follows: (1) all
-lochs on the mainland between Farryhead (Cape Wrath) and
-the Kyle, together with Loch Hourn on the south side of Kyle;
-(2) the east side of Lewes, Uist, Barra, and “Muggersland”
-(? Mull), and the lochs of the same, together with the Broad
-Loch and the “Bybleheid” on the north-east part of the Lewes;
-(3) “Lochusherd” (? Loch Eishort) in Skye; (4) between the
-islands and the mainland, from “Farayhead” to the north-east
-point of Lewis, and for fourteen miles without the line between
-them it was “absolutely necessary,” for the good of the fishings
-in the lochs above mentioned, that no buss-fishing should be
-permitted. All the salmon-fishings were to be wholly reserved
-for the natives, and the burghs expressed the wish that fourteen
-miles around the Orkneys and Shetlands should also be reserved,
-but they referred this to the king. The question of the remaining
-lochs on the mainland between the Kyle and the Mull of
-Cantyre, and of the waters on the “backside” of Lewis, Uist,
-Barra, “Muggersland,” and Skye, except those previously mentioned,
-was to be “remitted” to the king’s consideration.<a id="FNanchor_426" href="#Footnote_426" class="fnanchor">426</a></p>
-
-<p>The Council forwarded these propositions to London, and
-the burghs instructed their own commissioner in a like sense,
-but with an important qualification as to the Hollanders fishing
-on the coast of Scotland. The king was to be informed
-of the great oppressions and wrongs suffered by his subjects
-from the encroachment of the Dutch on the seas and coasts of
-the kingdom, at Shetland and Orkney, and lately at the Lewes.
-If these encroachments were allowed to continue, the burghs
-declared that the rich fishings would be made quite unprofitable,
-and they appealed to the king “to free the seas of Scotland
-and the Isles of the busses of the said Northlands (Netherlands),”
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">235</span>
-and of other strangers, from Hamburg and Bremen,
-resorting to Orkney and Shetland. At the very least, they
-said, he ought to free the seas of the Dutch busses or fishing-boats
-“for the space of twenty-eight or fourteen miles, and
-to discharge them to have any fishing near the coasts of the
-said mainland or isles.” If the king would do this, the burghs
-promised to further to the utmost of their power “his Majesty’s
-most royal work of fishing,” to supply the proportional number
-of busses that might fall to their part, and to consent that
-liberty should be granted to Englishmen and Irishmen to fish in
-all the waters around Scotland, except the Firths of Lothian,
-Moray, and Clyde, and those reserved for salmon-fishing; but
-they would only agree to this on the condition stated and not
-otherwise. They also asked that the buss-fishing should not
-be allowed at the Lewes, that it should begin on the east coast
-on 24th June and the fishing at the Isles on 1st September,
-and that they should receive equal liberty to fish in the seas
-of England and Ireland for pilchards and white fish.<a id="FNanchor_427" href="#Footnote_427" class="fnanchor">427</a></p>
-
-<p>In the debates between the Scottish and English commissioners
-in London, at most of which the king was present,<a id="FNanchor_428" href="#Footnote_428" class="fnanchor">428</a>
-Coke exerted himself to reconcile the differences that existed.
-He adroitly pointed out that, as the complaints from Scotland
-showed, strangers now possessed their fishings, and said they
-would be able to oust them only by degrees and by making
-the most of the natural advantages on the sea which both
-nations had. And while claiming that all the fisheries in the
-British seas (and even in America) belonged to the crown,
-and that there could not therefore be, strictly considered, any
-right to “reserve” certain of them, still the king, by the
-undoubted right of sovereignty he had in all his seas, had
-power to give license of fishing within them, either to subjects
-or foreigners as he might think fit, and by his royal prerogative
-alone he could establish the proposed company “whereby all
-his subjects which are brethren thereof may enjoy that fishing
-by right which strangers have by usurpation in our seas.”<a id="FNanchor_429" href="#Footnote_429" class="fnanchor">429</a> By
-this time the Scottish commissioners were becoming reconciled
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">236</span>
-to the proposal of forming the society on very much the
-original plan, and their opposition, perhaps partly from the
-presence of Charles at the conferences, was beginning to give
-way. They had been told, too, in answer to some of their
-objections, that while it was the king’s intention to maintain
-existing rights, all their liberties depended wholly upon the
-king’s grace, and he had expressed his purpose that his Council
-in both kingdoms should advise them in anything that required
-further consideration. It was much to be desired, they were
-told, that his Majesty’s clear intentions should prevail with
-them as they had done with the English commissioners, not
-to question, but to advance and settle so needful a work.<a id="FNanchor_430" href="#Footnote_430" class="fnanchor">430</a></p>
-
-<p>Charles himself came forward to help them with an alternative
-plan to that of the “reserved waters.” The ground
-upon which the claim to the latter was based had gradually
-shifted. The initial argument that the surrounding seas pertained
-to Scotland as an independent kingdom&mdash;that they
-were the “seas of Scotland”&mdash;had been disposed of by the
-declaration that the right to the sea and to its fisheries was
-a prerogative of the crown; and it could not be denied that
-though no union of the kingdoms had taken place, there
-certainly had been union of the crowns. The question of the
-prerogative was a thorny one, which the Scottish commissioners
-had to avoid; and the claim to the reserved waters was now
-made solely on behalf of the poor inhabitants of certain parts
-of the coast, who subsisted mainly by their fishing in the sea,
-and would, it was said, be reduced to poverty and indigence
-unless these waters were reserved for their exclusive use. To
-meet this objection, Coke proposed a resolution at one of the
-meetings that the king should be asked to lay down a regulation
-to guard against interference with the poor fishermen at
-the places where the fishing of the company would be carried
-on, and at the next meeting a draft in the king’s handwriting,
-perhaps laid on the table by Charles himself, was read as
-follows: “The English commissioners desire to take away
-all showes of wordes that may show diffidence between the
-two nations, and hauing heard that the Scots commissioners
-are to desire some places to be reserved from the company or
-association, it is conceived this to be the fitter way:&mdash;That
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">237</span>
-instead of those reservations, that the association should
-appoint the same fishermen that now fishe in them, [so that
-they] may continue as particular company of the said association,
-and to be subject [to] the law of the same, and are willing
-that no others should fish in those places, [unless] it be found
-upon examination that those places may admit more fishermen
-than those that now fish in them, and in that case the great
-committee of the association shall add such to them as they
-shall think fit, desiring them always to remember that the said
-committee is compounded equally of both nations.”<a id="FNanchor_431" href="#Footnote_431" class="fnanchor">431</a> The king’s
-proposition was in keeping with the intention of Coke, “to bring
-all private fishing vessels under the company,” and though
-it was obviously impracticable, it furnished a plausible argument
-against the claim to reserved waters.</p>
-
-<p>After further conferences a number of articles were agreed
-to: That an association should be established, with no joint-stock
-except that received from those who voluntarily joined
-the undertaking; that a standing committee of the two nations
-in equal numbers should be formed, some of whom were to be
-appointed, also equally from both nations, to judge of controversies
-amongst the busses according to regulations to be made,
-with the right of appeal to the standing committee. Two hundred
-busses were “propounded” for the first year; “whereof,”
-said the Scots commissioners, “wee gott to advise what number
-we would undertake, but our answer was never yet sought;
-always we intend, God willing, to sett out 100 busses.” The
-main point, in regard to the reserved waters or fishing-places,
-was left for the king’s consideration. Finally, the king was
-to be asked to give order for drawing up the charter of
-association.<a id="FNanchor_432" href="#Footnote_432" class="fnanchor">432</a></p>
-
-<p>In July 1632 Charles was able to announce that the difficulties
-were overcome and the negotiations completed, to his
-“great contentment,” and with the mutual consent of both
-parties. Desirous of removing as soon as possible the causes
-of the complaints which had been made by the burghs, he
-wrote to the Privy Council at Edinburgh about the great
-wrongs done by the Dutch inhabiting the Lewes and fishing
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">238</span>
-there “against the laws of that our kingdom,” instructing
-them to put in force a decree which had been previously
-issued at the request of the burghs, to prevent all strangers
-from trading or fishing there or at Shetland.<a id="FNanchor_433" href="#Footnote_433" class="fnanchor">433</a> He also requested
-the Council to prohibit unseasonable fishing for
-herrings at Ballantrae Bank near the mouth of the Clyde,
-which, he had been informed, was very injurious to the herring
-fisheries on the west coast of Scotland, the Isles, and the
-neighbouring coast of Ireland, by destroying the fry of herrings
-at unseasonable times, which, he was informed, if they were
-spared, might produce such plenty in all these coasts as might
-very much advance the intended work of fishing. At the same
-time he declared that it was necessary to establish settlements
-for the fishings at the Isles, and the Council were asked to
-take sureties from the landlords of the Isles, and of the lochs
-of the mainland, against violations or oppressions on those of
-the association engaged in fishing there, and from exacting
-any duties or impositions from them. The Council was also
-invited to take into serious consideration the Act of the
-Scottish Parliament “of 4 James IV.” respecting the building
-of busses by the noblemen, and to use their best means to put
-it into execution.<a id="FNanchor_434" href="#Footnote_434" class="fnanchor">434</a> The nobility and gentry of Scotland were
-apparently expected to build forty busses for fishing on both
-coasts, at an estimated cost of &pound;10,960; and in addition to
-equip them with nets, salt, casks, and victuals.<a id="FNanchor_435" href="#Footnote_435" class="fnanchor">435</a></p>
-
-<p>On the all-important question of the reserved waters the
-king did not grant the “irreducible minimum” of the burghs.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">239</span>
-The condition which the burghs attached to their surrender
-of everything except the three great Firths, that is, the exclusion
-of the Hollanders from fishing on the coasts of Scotland,
-was in the meantime nominally met by the instructions
-to the Council mentioned above. In two or three years, as
-we shall see, when his naval power was greater, he would
-attempt to carry out their desire in quite a forcible and
-dramatic way. Charles would not concede the Moray Firth
-as an exclusive preserve for the Scottish fishermen, but he
-gave up to them the Firth of Lothian within a straight line
-from St Abb’s Head to Red Head in Forfarshire, and also the
-Firth of Clyde within a line drawn between the Mulls of
-Galloway and Cantyre; because, as he said, the inhabitants of
-the coasts of these parts were chiefly maintained by the fishing
-within them and could not well subsist otherwise. These
-waters were therefore to be reserved to Scottish fishermen,
-“according to ancient custom.”<a id="FNanchor_436" href="#Footnote_436" class="fnanchor">436</a></p>
-
-<p>Everything having been arranged to the king’s satisfaction,
-he issued a commission providing for the establishment of a
-Fishery Society under the great seal of both kingdoms, which
-was approved by the Scottish Parliament on 7th September
-1632.<a id="FNanchor_437" href="#Footnote_437" class="fnanchor">437</a> The Society was to consist of twelve councillors appointed
-by the king, six of them to be English or Irish and
-six to be Scots,<a id="FNanchor_438" href="#Footnote_438" class="fnanchor">438</a> and also a “commonalty” composed of a large
-number of noblemen and other persons. They were empowered
-to appoint officers, to make laws, and to punish
-transgressions. In every “province” of the kingdom and in
-the towns most convenient, “judges” were to be elected by the
-resident members to settle disputes and make regulations.
-The members, their servants and fishermen, were favoured by
-certain immunities and privileges; they and their vessels were
-exempt from impressment for the king’s service and relieved
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">240</span>
-of certain civil obligations. They were to be free to fish for
-sea-fish wherever they pleased “within his Majesty’s seas” and
-dominions, and at the isles pertaining thereto, as well as in
-the “lochs, creeks, bays and estuaries” wherever herrings or
-sea-fish were or might be taken, except in such creeks or firths
-as might be reserved in a proclamation of the king. On the
-trading side of the enterprise, they were to be at liberty to
-carry the fish to any place within the kingdom, “as well within
-free burghs as without them,” to salt, dry, and barrel them,
-to erect the necessary buildings and magazines, and to dispose
-of the fish as they thought best, within the realm, or to export
-them either in their own vessels or in others. Other clauses
-prohibited any person not a member of the Society from exporting,
-or causing to be exported, abroad any sea-fish taken
-within, or brought within, his Majesty’s dominions. Charles
-and his advisers aimed at no less a thing than to bring the
-whole of the sea fisheries and fish-curing industries of the
-country, as well as the foreign exports, under the control of
-the Council of the Society. The whole business was then to
-be organised and developed in such a manner that the Dutch
-fishermen would be driven from the British seas, and the nation
-to which they belonged deprived of the commanding position
-which, it was believed, their fisheries had been the chief means
-of conferring.</p>
-
-<p>But the patience and perseverance of Charles in wearing out
-the opposition of Scotland to his scheme, and in giving it the
-semblance of a national design, were most inadequately rewarded.
-Like almost everything to which he put his hand,
-the fishery association failed miserably. The Scottish burghs
-promised to equip sixty busses for the fishing in the following
-year, but in point of fact the Scottish people took scarcely any
-part in the operations of the Society. The London merchants,
-canvassed personally by Sir Thomas Roe and appealed to by
-Pembroke, also held aloof. They gave “fair answers,” but
-kept their money. The subscriptions, or stock, came almost
-exclusively from persons about the Court, from naval officers
-and others desirous of preferment. The first meeting of the
-Council was called for 24th January, but so few members
-attended that the meeting had to be adjourned until 19th
-February, when it took place in the Star Chamber. Oaths
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">241</span>
-were administered, two silver seals were ordered (and never
-paid for) at a cost of &pound;12, and Captain John Mason was
-made “Admiral of their fleet” of busses. Differences of
-opinion soon arose in the Council, and the Society split up
-into two branches or associations, one under Weston (now Earl
-of Portland),&mdash;that “man of big looks and of a mean and abject
-spirit,” as Clarendon describes him,&mdash;and after his death, under
-the Earl of Arundel; the other branch under the Earl of Pembroke,
-the Lord Chamberlain, who appears to have been almost
-the only one, besides the king and Coke, who took a sincere
-personal interest in the Society. Portland’s society had its
-headquarters at Lewis, while Pembroke’s was more particularly
-designed to carry on operations at Shetland and the east coast,
-but also had a station in the Lewes. The total amount of the
-subscriptions to the Society up to 3rd February 1636 was
-&pound;22,682, 10s., of which only &pound;9914, 10s. was paid up, and the
-company had been forced to borrow &pound;3550 at interest to set the
-scheme afloat. The stock of Portland’s association amounted
-altogether to &pound;16,975 up to and including the year 1637, while
-the losses in the same period reached &pound;21,071, 5s. 7d.</p>
-
-<p>Ground was acquired and houses and magazines for salt and
-casks erected at the Lewes,<a id="FNanchor_439" href="#Footnote_439" class="fnanchor">439</a> and several busses were purchased
-in Holland by both associations, ready for fishing and manned
-entirely by Dutchmen. Agents despatched to Shetland and
-Lewis sent favourable reports of the prospects. “We hope,”
-said the one at Lewis, “to furnish London with some plenty
-against the hard times of winter”; yet the total quantity of
-herrings cured at the island in that the first year of the
-Society’s fishing was only 386 lasts, and the price obtained
-for them was so low that the loss amounted to &pound;4261. This,
-according to the agents, was due to want of proper means of
-curing them (salt, casks, hoops, &amp;c.), otherwise they said they
-might have obtained 1000 lasts or more. A great effort
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">242</span>
-was therefore put forth in the following year. Preparations
-were made to deal with 1500 lasts, and vessels were chartered
-to carry them from Stornoway to various Continental markets.
-But less than 443 lasts were cured in the second year; some
-were sent to Dantzic and fetched “mean prices,” the rest
-reached London “when Lent was wellnigh over,” and were
-sent on to Dunkirk and Dantzic, the vessels coming back in
-ballast, and the loss in this year was &pound;8163, 19s. 4d.<a id="FNanchor_440" href="#Footnote_440" class="fnanchor">440</a> In this
-way the operations of the Society went on. The herrings then
-failed to come into the lochs, and the Society turned its attention
-to the salting and exportation of beef, salmon, cod,
-and coal-fish,&mdash;a course fraught with less disastrous financial
-results, but not well calculated to carry out the objects for
-which it was founded.</p>
-
-<p>Ill-fortune was encountered in other directions. Both the
-islanders and the Scots from the east coast treated the English
-adventurers badly. The Bishop of the Isles and the heritors
-insisted on their tithes and dues in spite of the king’s charter.
-The busses were attacked by bands of Highlanders, armed with
-“swords and bows and arrows and other warlike weapons,”
-who took various articles from them in lieu of dues. The
-Lowlanders, under the leadership of “one Thomas Lindsay, a
-fisherman of Crail,” who pretended to be the deputy to the
-deputy of the Vice-Admiral of Scotland, were still less considerate.
-Lindsay “villified” their certificates, declared that
-King Charles had nothing to do with the Lewes, and vowed
-that “he would be the death of every Englishman on the
-island.” He forcibly seized one of the vessels laden with
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">243</span>
-herrings which had gone ashore, on the ground that it was
-wreck, and wreck belonged to the Admiral of Scotland, and
-committed other hostile actions. The grievances of the Society
-became so acute, and redress from the Privy Council and the
-Admiralty Court so tardy and imperfect, that Charles in May
-1635 appointed a commission, consisting of Archbishop Laud,
-the Earl of Pembroke, Sir Thomas Edmonds, and Secretaries
-Coke and Windebank, as judges, according to the charter, to
-deal with cases as they thought fit.</p>
-
-<p>Disasters at sea were even more injurious to the Society
-than the troubles ashore. Again and again the busses were
-taken by Dunkirk privateers, who threw the crews into prison
-and held them for ransom. When those freebooters came
-across a Dutch-built buss, with a Dutch crew on board, they
-did not quite see why they should relinquish it because they
-were told it belonged to an English society; and the letters
-of “denization” which were provided by the king did not
-avail them much.<a id="FNanchor_441" href="#Footnote_441" class="fnanchor">441</a> Notwithstanding strong protests, prolonged
-negotiations with the Cardinal Infanta, and reprisals made by
-English men-of-war on Dunkirk shipping, the Society suffered
-great loss in this way.</p>
-
-<p>The misfortunes of the Society caused many of those who
-had promised subscriptions to withhold them. Then followed
-drastic measures: summonses before the Star Chamber, warrants
-for apprehension, threats of imprisonment, and most of the
-subscriptions were squeezed from the unwilling adventurers.
-On the other hand, creditors sued the Society for goods supplied
-and money lent; seamen sued it for wages; even the clerks had
-to petition the king for theirs, appropriately suggesting that
-they might be paid from the license-money that Northumberland’s
-fleet had extorted from the Dutch herring-busses.<a id="FNanchor_442" href="#Footnote_442" class="fnanchor">442</a> As
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">244</span>
-Charles’s domestic troubles thickened and his power on the sea
-began to wane, Pembroke and his associates became more and
-more importunate for help. Petitions were conveyed to him,
-and then “remonstrances.” He was pointedly reminded that he
-was the originator and “Protector” of the Society; unless he
-“really” helped them the work must stop. But Charles was
-then unable either to compel the restitution of the captured
-busses or to induce his subjects to subscribe to the Society’s
-funds. He did what he could. Pennington and the Warden of
-the Cinque Ports were ordered to seize Dunkirk ships to be sold
-for the benefit of the Society; he granted them a standing lottery,
-and issued a proclamation enjoining the strict observance
-of Lent, which might possibly help them by increasing the consumption
-of fish, and could at least do them no harm. Almost
-his last act in connection with the fishery association was to
-issue an Order in Council in which, somewhat irritably, he
-blamed the Dutch for the failure, and remitted to an influential
-committee to consider some means by which the fishery in the
-north seas might be “advanced and settled,” and particularly
-whether the Dutch should not be deprived of English lampreys
-for bait, which were necessary for their cod-fishing.<a id="FNanchor_443" href="#Footnote_443" class="fnanchor">443</a> It was
-a great fall for Charles as Lord of the Seas, with a policy as
-sketched at the beginning of this chapter, to use the lampreys
-of the Thames as a weapon against the Dutch rather than a
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">245</span>
-powerful armada. But by this time his power at sea had
-vanished. The Dutch lorded it in the Channel.</p>
-
-<p>When the Order in Council was penned, Tromp had hemmed
-in the Spanish fleet in the Downs and was ready to pounce on
-it the moment it quitted English waters, or to destroy it there if
-he only could get a plausible excuse. Charles and his Council
-were trembling with fear lest the best known of all the “King’s
-Chambers” should be flagrantly violated by the impatient
-Dutchman, with all the world looking on. And twelve days
-after the Council meeting this is just what Tromp did, and
-Charles’s sovereignty of the seas vanished for ever. And the
-fishery scheme, “the Royal Fishery of Great Britain and
-Ireland,” set agoing after so much patient labour, heralded by
-so many promises of profit and success, designed to be a great
-instrument for the development of naval power and commerce,
-was extinguished in the following year, with no tangible result
-save that those who had given their money to it were left
-“great losers.”
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">246</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.<br />
-
-<span><small>CHARLES I.</small>&mdash;<i>continued</i>. <small>THE NAVY.</small></span></h2>
-
-<p>Since Charles had resolved to assert his claims to the sovereignty
-of the sea by force if necessary, it was obviously essential
-that he should have a strong and capable fleet. During
-the peaceful reign of James the navy had greatly deteriorated
-from what it had been under Queen Elizabeth.<a id="FNanchor_444" href="#Footnote_444" class="fnanchor">444</a> The expedition
-to Cadiz in 1625, and that to Rh&eacute; two years later, revealed
-startling inefficiency and disorganisation, and efforts were soon
-made to bring it into a better state. When he assumed the
-crown, his fleet consisted of thirty ships; in 1633 it numbered
-fifty, including the ten small vessels called the “Lion’s Whelps”;
-and when the Civil War broke out there were forty-two, the
-difference being due to the shedding of the smaller ones.<a id="FNanchor_445" href="#Footnote_445" class="fnanchor">445</a></p>
-
-<p>There were many reasons why a strong fleet should be provided,
-apart from any question of enforcing a new political
-sovereignty over the North Sea and the Channel. The maritime
-strength of the United Provinces was growing quickly,
-and France, under the wise and energetic guidance of Richelieu,
-was rapidly becoming a formidable naval power. Within the
-space of about five years before 1631, as Charles knew, the
-Cardinal had created a fleet of thirty-nine ships, of which
-eighteen were of 500 tons or over, and no less than twenty-seven
-had been built in French ports.<a id="FNanchor_446" href="#Footnote_446" class="fnanchor">446</a> These two states were
-drawing closer together, and while it was known that their
-alliance, which was then mooted and was soon realised, would
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">247</span>
-be chiefly directed against Spain, it was nevertheless a danger
-to England unless she was strong enough to defend her rights
-on the sea.</p>
-
-<p>Other reasons were the insecurity of the seas from the prevalence
-of piracy, and the violation of the “King’s Chambers,”
-and even of English ports, by the Dunkirkers and the Dutch.
-Moorish pirates swarmed in the Channel and made havoc
-amongst English shipping. So bold and successful were they,
-that in 1631 they seized and sacked Baltimore, on the coast of
-Munster, and carried off over 200 English subjects into slavery.
-Within a space of ten days they captured twenty-seven ships
-and 200 men.<a id="FNanchor_447" href="#Footnote_447" class="fnanchor">447</a> The Dunkirkers played a corresponding <i>r&ocirc;le</i> in
-the North Sea. In a petition to the king in 1627, the ship-owners
-of Ipswich complained that within a year the Dunkirkers
-had captured five of their ships, valued with their
-cargoes at &pound;5000, and carried the crews to Dunkirk. No ship,
-they said, could go to sea, and the livelihood of seafaring men
-was taken from them, and the king’s service would thus suffer.
-The Mayor and burgesses of King’s Lynn put the losses of the
-town at twenty-five ships, worth &pound;9000, and complained that
-they were unable to carry on the Iceland fishery. The Cinque
-Ports also complained that the Dunkirkers had taken their
-goods, imprisoned their mariners, and rifled and sunk their
-ships on the English shore; and they asked for a guard to
-enable them to go to the fishing in the north and at Scarborough
-and Yarmouth. The alarm was general all along the
-coast. In February 1629 the bailiffs of Yarmouth reported
-that the sea was overrun with Dunkirkers, who had even rifled
-and fired one of their ships close under the cliffs at Mundesley,
-notwithstanding the efforts of the sheriff and posse of the
-county; they said 250 fishing vessels were ready to go to the
-northern fishing and awaited convoy. In the next year they
-and other towns of Norfolk and Suffolk stated their intention
-of sending out two fishing fleets of “ships, barks, and crayers,”&mdash;one
-of 160 sail to Iceland and Westmony, and the other of
-230 sail for the north seas,&mdash;and they begged for ships of war to
-guard them, as the livelihood or “utter ruin” of 10,000 people
-and their families depended on these fleets. Two years later
-they repeated their request to the Admiralty, saying they
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">248</span>
-usually sent out a fleet of about 300 sail, with 5000 persons, to
-the fishings mentioned, but the fishermen were now so terrified
-by the Dunkirkers that they refused to go. The Mayor of
-Newcastle also informed the Council that they had been
-despoiled to the extent of &pound;7000; he said there were 300 sail
-in port which dared not venture out; and the Council were
-asked to take means to secure safe passage on the sea. At
-this time there were said to be forty Dunkirk privateers
-scouring the North Sea, many of them with English sailors on
-board.<a id="FNanchor_448" href="#Footnote_448" class="fnanchor">448</a> We have already seen how successfully these freebooters
-preyed upon the busses of the Fishery Society.</p>
-
-<p>Here then was a clear case for a navy, when an effective
-navy did not exist. The Council and the Admiralty took
-such isolated measures as they could; but the Dunkirkers
-were almost always too nimble to be caught. “They take
-ships,” wrote the commander of a man-of-war convoying the
-Iceland fishing fleet, “and we in sight and cannot come up
-to help it.” The duty and expense of providing convoys
-to protect the fishermen were thrown on the fishing ports
-and the counties. In 1627 the Council ordered four Newcastle
-ships to be taken up for eight months, to convoy the
-Iceland fleet, at a cost of &pound;1768, to be paid out of the “loans”
-in Suffolk. The estimate in the following year for a guard
-of four merchant ships, of 400 tons each, with 120 men
-for one month in harbour and 240 men for six months
-at sea, was &pound;4399; and the Council in authorising the Admiralty
-to “press, victual, arm, and man” the ships, instructed
-that if Yarmouth and the other towns wanted convoy in
-future they should first consult together as to some mode
-of levying monies for it, either upon the coast towns or
-upon the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. This was done,
-in part at least, by levying a contribution of twenty shillings
-from each fisherman; and fishermen also protected themselves
-by insuring their vessels in London against the risks
-of capture by the Dunkirk privateers. The owners and
-masters of the merchant ships thus pressed to act as guards
-to the fishing fleets were usually most unwilling to serve,
-and sometimes “utterly refused,” and the Admiralty had
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">249</span>
-to get an Order in Council to compel them.<a id="FNanchor_449" href="#Footnote_449" class="fnanchor">449</a> Provision of
-a guard for the east coast generally was attempted by levying
-a duty of two and five shillings a ton on all coal laden
-at Newcastle or Sunderland for English and foreign ports
-respectively.<a id="FNanchor_450" href="#Footnote_450" class="fnanchor">450</a></p>
-
-<p>Equally impressive evidence of the lawlessness that then
-reigned on the sea, and of the inability to deal with it effectively,
-was furnished by the flagrant violation of English
-ports and roadsteads, by the Dutch as well as the Dunkirkers,
-who waged incessant war with one another. The herring-busses
-and merchant vessels of the former were frequently
-captured, rifled, and burned by the privateers, and when
-the commander of a Dutch man-of-war had a chance of
-destroying one of the pests, he was not always deterred
-from vengeance by the Dunkirker taking refuge in English
-waters; and in like manner the privateer did not scruple
-to pursue his prey into English ports and anchorages. Sometimes,
-indeed, the warfare was continued on English soil
-and the lives of the king’s lieges endangered. In 1634, for
-example, a Dunkirker chased a Hollander vessel into Yarmouth
-harbour and robbed her, and a lively fusillade went
-on between the Dutchmen, who had taken refuge on the
-pier, and the crew of the privateer, and one of the former
-was killed. As the Dunkirkers refused to stop their “furious
-assault,” the bailiffs ordered two of the town’s guns to be
-fired at them, “which they only scoffed at”; and when the
-marshal called upon them in the king’s name to desist and
-begone, they only “answered with unseemly gestures and
-scorn,” and they did not make off until a company of musketeers
-went down to them. But next day as the privateer
-was hovering off the coast, two States’ men-of-war bore
-down upon her and she ran for shelter to the beach near
-Lowestoft; but the Dutch followed, seized her, and carried
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">250</span>
-her off, the crew escaping to shore, where they were promptly
-arrested and lodged in Yarmouth jail.</p>
-
-<p>A still more outrageous transgression of the neutrality of
-an English port took place in the following year, at the
-very time that Lindsey’s fleet was cruising in the Channel.
-A Dunkirker brought a Hollander buss into Scarborough
-harbour, and she was followed by a States’ man-of-war,
-which opened fire, and a fight both with cannon and
-muskets took place. The bullets, flying into the town, hit
-several of the citizens, and some strangers on the sands
-were also hurt, “to the amazement and discouragement of
-the whole town.” Twelve Dunkirkers were slain, and the
-rest only saved themselves by swimming ashore, while the
-man-of-war went off with both the privateer and the buss.
-A fortnight later another privateer was chased into the
-harbour by a Hollander man-of-war, which landed three or
-four score of men, armed with muskets and pikes, to set
-upon the Dunkirkers when the ship lay dry; and the Dutch
-captain only consented to re-embark them, on condition that
-the bailiffs of the town would themselves place a guard
-of fifty men to watch the privateer, so as to prevent any
-of the crew escaping.<a id="FNanchor_451" href="#Footnote_451" class="fnanchor">451</a></p>
-
-<p>This glaring outrage on English soil caused the Council
-to arrest a Dutch man-of-war, to be held until the one
-that had committed the misdeed should be delivered up;
-for, said Windebank, it was a matter that concerned the
-king himself in point of honour and the safety of the
-kingdom, as an act of hostility, “little less than an invasion,”
-had been committed in landing armed men on his
-Majesty’s territories, “violating his imperial chamber and
-threatening his subjects.” Nevertheless, in the next month
-a like offence was committed at Blyth, when a Dutch man-of-war
-not only attacked a Dunkirk privateer lying in the
-harbour, but landed fifty men armed with muskets, who
-marched in military order nearly half a mile, “to the great
-terror of the inhabitants,” and by seizing the fishing-boats,
-captured the Dunkirker and took her away. Not only so,
-but thirty of the Hollanders, armed, and with trumpets,
-pursued the crew of the privateer on land for a distance of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">251</span>
-two miles.<a id="FNanchor_452" href="#Footnote_452" class="fnanchor">452</a> There was a natural excuse for the violence of
-the Hollanders in these proceedings. They were exasperated
-by the immense havoc which the privateers had just
-committed on their herring-busses, by sinking or burning
-over 100 of them, the remainder of the fishing fleet escaping
-into Scottish and English harbours.<a id="FNanchor_453" href="#Footnote_453" class="fnanchor">453</a></p>
-
-<p>This insecurity of the sea and the open and daring violation
-of English ports remind one of the conditions that too
-frequently prevailed in earlier centuries. The misdeeds must
-have been galling to Charles, for only a short time before
-he had issued a public proclamation with the object of putting
-a stop to them. In February 1633 Sir H. Marten,
-Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, along with the
-Attorney-General, had been instructed, in view of the war
-between Spain and the United Provinces, to draw up a
-regulation whereby “his Majesty’s ancient rights, honours,
-and sovereignty in the narrow seas and in the chambers
-and ports may be preserved, and the trade of the kingdom
-of England and Ireland secured.”<a id="FNanchor_454" href="#Footnote_454" class="fnanchor">454</a> In this regulation
-(which is printed in <a href="#APPENDIX_H">Appendix H</a>) a claim to absolute dominion
-over the Four Seas was made. The king spoke of “that
-sovereignty and especial and peculiar interest and property
-which he and his predecessors, time out of mind, have had
-and enjoyed in the said seas, and so approved not only by
-the fundamental laws of this his kingdom, but by the acknowledgment
-and assent of the bordering princes and nations,
-as appeareth by undoubted records”&mdash;language which seems
-like an echo of Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i>. Moreover, in
-referring to the limits of the “King’s Chambers,” he continued:
-“Albeit his Majesty doth justly challenge sovereignty
-and property in all those his seas, far beyond the limits
-hereafter to be described, and might with like justice require
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">252</span>
-from all persons using those his seas a forbearance from
-injuries and all hostile actions, yet (in and through all the
-same) suddenly to tie the hands of his friends and allies
-in open hostility each with other, is not for some reasons
-held convenient at this time,” and therefore he would cause
-the bounds to be laid down within which he would yield
-peace and security to his friends and neighbours.<a id="FNanchor_455" href="#Footnote_455" class="fnanchor">455</a></p>
-
-<p>Clearly, however, something more than a proclamation
-was required to ensure the security of the seas and the
-neutrality of the chambers and ports. As early as 1627
-official proposals had been made to build thirty ships of
-a small class to guard the narrow seas, which might compete
-in swiftness with the privateers and freebooters infesting
-them,&mdash;a plan that was partly carried out by the building
-of the ten “Lion’s Whelps,” which, however, proved complete
-failures. An estimate was also procured for building eighteen
-ships and two pinnaces, at a cost of about &pound;43,000, the
-estimated expense of the crews being &pound;6100 per month.<a id="FNanchor_456" href="#Footnote_456" class="fnanchor">456</a>
-Various other schemes were considered, including one to
-form a fleet of forty armed Newcastle colliers, to be employed
-primarily in convoying the coal ships, but capable of being
-called off at any time for the king’s service. The want
-of money was the great obstacle to the formation of a
-strong fleet. The wages of the seamen and others employed
-were always in arrear,&mdash;at the end of 1627 the arrears
-amounted to &pound;251,361,&mdash;and the victualling and furnishing
-of the ships afloat were of the worst possible description.<a id="FNanchor_457" href="#Footnote_457" class="fnanchor">457</a>
-The necessity of a fleet to maintain the dominion of the
-sea and defend the coasts was being constantly urged upon
-the king. The Attorney-General, Heath, in 1632, called
-attention to the truism that our strength and safety lay
-“in our walls, which is our shipping,” and he strongly recommended
-that a powerful fleet should be maintained because
-of the boldness of the Hollanders, and in order to preserve
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">253</span>
-the king’s prerogative in the fisheries in the British seas,
-as well as to secure the mastery of the narrow seas.<a id="FNanchor_458" href="#Footnote_458" class="fnanchor">458</a></p>
-
-<p>Charles required no spur in a matter the importance of
-which he thoroughly understood, and he had private and
-personal reasons for wishing that a strong force should be
-placed on the sea. It was the family policy as to the
-restoration of the Palatinate that chiefly guided him. At
-the end of 1633 he entered into negotiations with Spain
-for an alliance against the Dutch, and in the following year
-a secret treaty was drafted and sent to Madrid (four days
-before the issue of the first ship-money writs) in which
-Charles undertook to provide a fleet, partly at the charge
-of the King of Spain, who was to advance a sum of &pound;50,000
-and help to recover the Palatinate for his nephew.<a id="FNanchor_459" href="#Footnote_459" class="fnanchor">459</a> It was
-intended that the fleet should co-operate with the Spaniards
-against the United Provinces; the ports of Flanders were
-to be freed from the blockade maintained by the Dutch,
-and Spanish vessels carrying soldiers and money for Dunkirk
-were to be protected by English ships; the mastery
-of the Dutch at sea was to be destroyed, the Republic
-was to be attacked and overthrown, and the country divided
-between the allies. The open avowal of such a policy
-would have been equivalent to making it almost impossible,
-for an alliance with Catholic Spain against the Protestant
-Republic was in the highest degree unpopular in England,
-and the fleet, moreover, was to be created by means of the
-ship-money writs. The negotiations had been carried on
-with the greatest secrecy; only three members of the Council
-(Portland, Cottington, and Windebank) were in the king’s
-confidence, the others remaining in ignorance. It was thus
-necessary to deceive them as well as the nation as to the
-object of equipping a fleet. The insecurity of the seas from
-the prevalence of piracy and the violations of English
-waters, referred to above, were put forward among the
-ostensible reasons to justify it. “The pretext of this arming,”
-it was distinctly stated in 1634, “shall be to secure
-the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and to free them
-from pirates and others that commit hostilities and insolencies
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">254</span>
-there.”<a id="FNanchor_460" href="#Footnote_460" class="fnanchor">460</a> To deceive the people by fears of invasion,
-owing to the “great preparations both by sea and land of
-the neighbouring princes,” orders were given to have the
-beacons along the coast examined; to muster and make
-ready the trained bands to join their colours at an hour’s
-warning; to enrol all untrained men between the ages of
-sixteen and sixty, so that levies of them might be made
-“on any sudden occasion.”<a id="FNanchor_461" href="#Footnote_461" class="fnanchor">461</a></p>
-
-<p>Another reason put prominently forward to cloak the
-nefarious scheme was the need of maintaining the ancient
-sovereignty of the sea. While the Spanish negotiations were
-proceeding, Boroughs, as we shall see, had finished his treatise
-on the rights of the crown in the adjoining seas, and Selden
-was busy with his <i>Mare Clausum</i>. The language of the
-ship-money writs, sent out in October 1634, and the charge
-of Lord Coventry to the Judges, breathed the same spirit as
-these treatises. In the writs, which were founded upon extracts
-made by Boroughs from records of the times of Edward
-I., II., and III.,<a id="FNanchor_462" href="#Footnote_462" class="fnanchor">462</a> the king described how “thieves, pirates, and
-robbers of the sea” were “taking by force and spoiling the
-ships and goods and merchandises, not only of our subjects,
-but also of the subjects of our friends in the sea which hath
-been accustomed anciently to be defended by the English
-nation,” delivering the men into miserable captivity. The
-pirates, he said, were daily preparing all manner of shipping
-further to molest the merchants, unless a remedy was applied,
-and that in view also of the dangers menacing the realm “in
-these times of war,” it was necessary to hasten the defence
-of the sea and kingdom. Therefore, he continued, “We willing
-by the help of God chiefly to provide for the defence of the
-kingdom, safeguard of the sea, security of our subjects, safe
-conduct of ships and merchandises to our kingdom of England
-coming, and from the same kingdom to foreign parts
-passing; forasmuch as we and our progenitors, Kings of England,
-have been always heretofore masters of the aforesaid
-sea, and it would be very irksome unto us if that princely
-honour in our time should be lost or in anything diminished,”
-it was necessary for the sea-coast towns to furnish ships or
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">255</span>
-an equivalent in money.<a id="FNanchor_463" href="#Footnote_463" class="fnanchor">463</a> In similar language Coventry told
-the Judges in 1635 that the dominion of the sea, “as it was
-an ancient and undoubted right of the crown of England,”
-so was it the best security of the land, which was impregnable
-so long as the sea was well guarded; and that those subjects
-“whose minds are most fixed upon the honour of the king
-and country” would not endure that it should be either lost
-or diminished. The safety of the realm, he said, required
-the dominion of the sea to be kept and the sea guarded: “The
-wooden-walls are the best walls of the kingdom; and if the
-riches and wealth of the kingdom be respected, for that cause
-the dominion of the sea ought to be respected; for else what
-would become of our wool, lead, and the like, the price whereof
-would fall to nothing if others should be masters of the
-sea?” If the dominion of the sea was lost, trade and commerce
-would be lost by being placed at the mercy of the neighbouring
-nations, and the whole kingdom would suffer.<a id="FNanchor_464" href="#Footnote_464" class="fnanchor">464</a></p>
-
-<p>In carrying out his Spanish policy, Charles’s first task was
-to deceive his Council.<a id="FNanchor_465" href="#Footnote_465" class="fnanchor">465</a> For this purpose no better agent
-could have been chosen than Coke, who, as we have seen,
-was by this time enthusiastic about the sovereignty of the
-seas, and was known to be hostile to Spain. He was accordingly
-directed to prepare a report for the king on the unsatisfactory
-relations between England and foreign countries,
-and the need of providing a fleet. In the long statement he
-drew up, Coke described how the credit of the country had
-been lowered abroad, and innumerable wrongs and insolences
-suffered in various parts of the world, because of the want
-of a sufficient navy to make our name respected. “All free
-trade,” he wrote, “is interrupted”; within the king’s own
-chambers squadrons of men-of-war from Biscay and Flanders
-took not only Hollanders, but Frenchmen, Hamburgers, and
-his Majesty’s subjects. From the Hollanders “we suffered
-most by their intrusion on our fishings and pretence of <i>Mare</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">256</span>
-<i>Liberum</i>,” and they pursued and took prizes in our ports
-and rivers. But our trade and rights were injured everywhere,&mdash;from
-Constantinople and Morocco to Denmark and
-Sweden,&mdash;and Coke recommended that the navy should be
-reinforced in order that the king might obtain justice and
-“recover his undoubted right of sovereignty in all his seas.”<a id="FNanchor_466" href="#Footnote_466" class="fnanchor">466</a>
-Coke read his report to the Council in June 1634; the ship-money
-writs were issued in October; and in May next year
-the first of the “ship-money fleets” was ready and was
-placed under the command of the Earl of Lindsey, with
-special instructions to maintain the king’s sovereignty of
-the sea.</p>
-
-<p>On the Continent the naval preparations of England were
-followed with close attention. As early as 1633, Joachimi,
-the States’ ambassador in London, informed his Government
-that the English were putting forth pretensions to be sole
-lords and masters of the narrow seas, and he earnestly advised
-the States to avoid everything which might give the
-English offence in their excitable condition, on a matter which
-they had so much at heart.<a id="FNanchor_467" href="#Footnote_467" class="fnanchor">467</a> An indication of the feeling
-prevailing in England was observed by the ambassador early
-in the year, for when he complained that Dutch vessels had
-been fired on from Portland Castle and then detained, he
-was told they had presumed to put up their flags in the
-face of the king’s colours flying on the walls.<a id="FNanchor_468" href="#Footnote_468" class="fnanchor">468</a> Next year
-the repeated complaints from England as to the violation of
-the King’s Chambers by Dutch vessels of war, and the seizure
-of one of them by the English in consequence of the attack
-at Scarborough, did not lessen the apprehensions that began
-to be entertained in Holland. Rumours circulated that the
-English fleet was being prepared for the purpose of waging
-war against the Republic, and the answer given by the
-English ambassador at The Hague to inquiries as to the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">257</span>
-object of the fleet was not calculated to allay anxiety. In
-the spring of 1635, a little before the Earl of Lindsey hoisted
-his colours on the <i>Merhonour</i>, Coke wrote a long and resounding
-despatch to Boswell, the English ambassador at
-The Hague, explaining the reasons for the naval preparations.
-“First,” he said, “we hold it a principle not to be
-denied, that the King of Great Britain is a monarch at land
-and sea to the full extent of his dominions, and that it concerneth
-him as much to maintain his sovereignty in all the
-British seas as within his three kingdoms; because without
-that these cannot be kept safe, nor he preserve his honour
-and due respect with other nations. But, commanding the
-seas, he may cause his neighbours and all countries to stand
-upon their guard whensoever he thinks fit. And this cannot
-be doubted, that whosoever will encroach upon him by sea,
-will do it by land also when they see their time. To such
-presumption,” he added, “<i>Mare Liberum</i> gave the first warning-piece,
-which must be answered with a defence of <i>Mare
-Clausum</i>: not so much by discourses, as by the louder language
-of a powerful navy, to be better understood when
-overstrained patience seeth no hope of preserving her right
-by other means.” The innuendo against the United Provinces
-was still further developed. They had impeached the king’s
-dominion in his seas for a long course of years. They had
-been permitted to gather wealth and strength in our ports
-and on our coasts by trade and fishery, for which they had
-“sued to King James for license,” granted under the great
-seal of Scotland; and when they had possessed themselves
-of our fishings “by leave or by connivance,” and obtained a
-great trade by our staple, they so increased their shipping
-and naval power that now they would not endure to be
-kept at any distance. “Nay,” exclaimed Coke, “to such
-confidence are they grown, that they keep guard upon our
-seas,” and prohibit us free commerce within them; they take
-our ships and goods unless we conform to their placards. Besides
-all which, “what insolencies and cruelties” they have
-committed against us in the past, in Ireland, in Greenland,
-in the Indies, as known to all the world; care would be taken
-to refresh their memories on these wrongs “as there should
-be cause.” After a preamble of this sort one might expect
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">258</span>
-a declaration of war to follow. But the fleet, Coke continued,
-was neither for revenge nor for the execution of justice for
-past wrongs. It was primarily to put a stop to the “violent
-current of the presumption” of men-of-war and freebooters,
-who had abused the freedom allowed by the king to friends
-and allies to make use of his seas and ports, by assaulting
-one another within his Majesty’s chambers and in his rivers,
-“to the scorn and contempt of his dominion and power.”
-The king intended no rupture with any prince or state; he
-was “resolved to continue and maintain that happy peace
-wherewith God hath blessed his kingdom, and to which all
-his actions and negotiations have hitherto tended.” But that
-peace must be maintained by the arm of power, “which only
-keeps down war by keeping up dominion.” Therefore the
-king found it necessary, even for his own defence and safety,
-“to re-assume and keep his ancient and undoubted right in
-the dominion of these seas, and to suffer no other prince or
-state to encroach upon him, thereby assuming to themselves
-or their Admirals any sovereign command; but to force them
-to perform due homage to his Admirals and ships, and to
-pay them acknowledgments, as in former times they did. He
-would also set open and protect the free trade both of his
-subjects and allies, and give them such safe conduct and
-convoy as they shall reasonably require. He will suffer no
-other fleets or men-of-war to keep any guard upon these
-seas, or there to offer violence, or take prizes or booties, or
-to give interruption to any lawful intercourse. In a word,”
-Coke concluded, “his Majesty is resolved, as to do no wrong,
-so to do justice, both to his subjects and friends within the
-limits of his seas.”<a id="FNanchor_469" href="#Footnote_469" class="fnanchor">469</a></p>
-
-<p>The substance of this bombastic despatch, in which Charles
-was fully displayed in his new figure as a Plantagenet, was
-communicated by Boswell in a memoir to the States-General,
-and their High Mightinesses must have rubbed their eyes as
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">259</span>
-they read it.<a id="FNanchor_470" href="#Footnote_470" class="fnanchor">470</a> But it at least removed their fears of immediate
-war. Explanations of similar tenour, but couched in more
-moderate language, were made to other Courts. The intentions
-of the king were declared to be quite peaceful, and stress was
-laid on the violations of the King’s Chambers, “to the great
-derogation of that dominion at sea which has always of right
-belonged to the Imperial crown of this kingdom”; the fleet
-was to free his coasts and seas from such disturbances, to secure
-free trade to his subjects and allies, and “to reduce his dominion
-upon the British seas to the ancient style and lustre.”<a id="FNanchor_471" href="#Footnote_471" class="fnanchor">471</a></p>
-
-<p>Let us now turn to the fleet which was to carry out this
-grand programme and see what it actually accomplished. The
-ships began to assemble in the Downs in May, the Earl of
-Lindsey being appointed “Admiral, Custos Maris, Captain-General
-and Governor” of the fleet, with the veteran Sir
-William Monson as Vice-Admiral, and Sir John Pennington as
-Rear-Admiral. It consisted of nineteen of the king’s ships and
-five armed merchant vessels, making twenty-four in all;<a id="FNanchor_472" href="#Footnote_472" class="fnanchor">472</a> and
-though other ten royal ships which were being prepared to
-reinforce it were ultimately discharged, it was said by the common
-people that “never before had such a fleet been set out by
-England.” In the king’s commission appointing the Earl of
-Lindsey it was stated that he had thought fit, by the advice of
-his Council, to set forth to sea a navy as well for the defence
-and safety of his own territories and dominions as for the guard
-and safe-keeping of his seas, and of the persons, ships, and goods
-of his own subjects and of his friends and allies “trading by
-sea to and fro our dominions for commerce and trade, and
-other their just and necessary occasions, from those spoyles and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">260</span>
-depredations committed at sea ... and for sundry reasons and
-considerations of state best known to ourselves.”<a id="FNanchor_473" href="#Footnote_473" class="fnanchor">473</a></p>
-
-<p>In the official instructions from the Lords of the Admiralty,
-issued on the day after the secret agreement with Spain had
-been drawn up, the Earl was ordered principally to guard the
-narrow seas and the king’s subjects and allies trading through
-them, and so to dispose his ships that “all parts of the seas, as
-well from the Start westward as the rest of the Sleeve from the
-Start to the Downs, and from thence northward, might be
-secured from men-of-war, pirates and sea-rovers and of picaroons
-that interrupt the trade and commerce of his Majesty’s dominions.”
-It was to be his principal care to preserve the king’s
-honour, coasts, jurisdiction, territories, and subjects within the
-extent of his employment, “that no nation or people whatsoever
-intrude thereon or injure any of them.” If he met “in his
-Majesty’s seas” any fleet or ships belonging to any foreign
-prince or state, he was to expect that the admiral or chief of
-them, in acknowledgment of his Majesty’s sovereignty there,
-should perform “their duty and homage in passing by”; if they
-refused and offered to resist, he was “to force them thereunto,
-and to bring them in to answer this their high contempt and presumption
-according to law.” He was to suffer no dishonour to
-be done to the king or derogation to his power or sovereignty
-in those seas. If English ships so far forgot their duty as not
-to strike their top-sails in passing, the commanders were either
-to be punished on the spot or reported to the Admiralty, who
-would punish them exemplarily. When he met with foreign
-men-of-war or merchant vessels, either at sea or in any road “or
-other place,” he was to send to them to discover if any English
-subjects were serving on board; and if so he was “to cause them
-to be taken forth and committed,” to answer their contempt
-of the king’s proclamation forbidding such service, and also
-to caution the commander of the vessel in which they were
-found not to receive English subjects again; but the Earl was
-expressly forbidden to send any of his men on board the foreign
-vessels to search for English subjects.</p>
-
-<p>The most remarkable part of the instructions issued to the
-first ship-money fleet referred to the hostilities between the
-ships of other nations, not merely in the King’s Chambers, but
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">261</span>
-throughout the narrow seas. “In this your Lordship’s employment,”
-wrote the Lords of the Admiralty, “you are not to permit
-or suffer any men-of-war to fight with each other, or men-of-war
-with merchant, or merchant with merchant, in the
-presence of his Majesty’s ships in any part of the Narrow Seas.
-But you are to do your best to keep peace in those seas for the
-freer and better maintenance of trade and commerce through
-the same, so that all men trading or sailing within those his
-Majesty’s seas do justly take themselves to be <i>in pace Domini
-Regis</i>. And therefore his Majesty in honour and justice is to
-protect them from injury and violence.”<a id="FNanchor_474" href="#Footnote_474" class="fnanchor">474</a></p>
-
-<p>It is interesting to compare these instructions to Lindsey
-with those given earlier to Pennington as admiral of the fleet
-for the guard of the narrow seas. His private instructions
-from the Lords of the Admiralty in 1631 contained a clause
-regarding the homage of foreign vessels on meeting the king’s
-ships. He was to expect the admiral or chief, in acknowledgment
-of the king’s sovereignty in the narrow seas, “to strike
-their toppe sayles in passing by,” and if they refused he was to
-force them to do so; and in no wise suffer any dishonour to be
-done to his Majesty, or derogation to his sovereign power in
-those seas. At that time the efforts of Richelieu to create a
-French navy had caused some disquiet in England, and Pennington
-was also ordered to do his utmost, by spies and otherwise,
-to discover whether any considerable preparations were
-being made abroad.<a id="FNanchor_475" href="#Footnote_475" class="fnanchor">475</a> The instructions in 1631 appear to have
-represented the English pretensions so far as they were understood
-at the time. There was nothing about forbidding the
-hostilities of belligerents, as in Lindsey’s instructions. On the
-contrary, Pennington was told that if he saw any Hollanders
-and Dunkirkers in fight at sea he was to take no part with
-either, “but to pass by and leave them to their fortunes”; and
-he issued orders to his subordinates to that effect.<a id="FNanchor_476" href="#Footnote_476" class="fnanchor">476</a> In his
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">262</span>
-instructions in 1633 this clause was repeated, but in other
-respects they resembled those of Lindsey.<a id="FNanchor_477" href="#Footnote_477" class="fnanchor">477</a> The same duties
-were allotted to him in 1634, and he was specially charged to
-free the narrow seas of pirates and sea-rovers, and to prevent
-hostilities in the King’s Chambers. “If,” he was told, “any
-man-of-war, or other, <i>in any of his Majesty’s roads, harbours,
-or coasts</i>, shall offer any violence by unduly taking out any
-ships, vessels, goods or merchandise, of what nation soever, or
-commit any other insolency, you shall do your best to recover
-the same again from them, and reform the abuses, either by due
-admonition, or (if that will not serve) by bringing the offender
-to answer to justice, preserving by all means the honour of his
-Majesty from such insolencies (as much as in you lieth), having
-always a due regard to the amity between his Majesty, his
-friends and allies.”<a id="FNanchor_478" href="#Footnote_478" class="fnanchor">478</a></p>
-
-<p>But a change took place, as we have seen, in the following
-year. Among the suggestions made by Pennington to the king,
-and repeated to the Admiralty, was one that any foreign ship
-attacked by another foreigner in the narrow seas might put
-herself under the protection of any of the king’s ships by
-coming under its lee, “in the same manner as under a castle on
-shore.”<a id="FNanchor_479" href="#Footnote_479" class="fnanchor">479</a> It was certainly a proposal as bold as it was brilliant.
-Ships of war have long been regarded by certain writers on
-international law as being essentially an extension of the territory
-of the state to which they belong; but no writer ever
-suggested that the water around them on the high sea should
-be looked upon as partaking of the same character. The sea
-round a king’s ship, within range of the guns on board, was
-to be a sanctuary like the waters of the King’s Chambers,&mdash;a
-sort of territorial girdle which it carried about with it like an
-aureole round the head of a saint. Pennington’s suggestion
-was considered by the Admiralty early in April 1634, and
-Nicholas, the Secretary, was instructed to confer with Sir
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">263</span>
-Henry Marten, the Judge of the Admiralty Court, with
-regard to it. Nicholas summed up his own views oracularly
-in the sentence, “If a merchant fly from men-of-war, it
-concerns the king’s ships to preserve trade.” Sir Henry
-Marten gave a clear opinion. “It is not fit,” he said, “nor
-honourable for the king’s ships appointed to guard the Narrow
-Seas to suffer any men-of-war to fight with each other, or men-of-war
-with merchants, or merchant with merchant, in the
-presence of the king’s ships within the Narrow Seas, for that
-the king’s ships are set forth to keep peace in those seas
-for the freer and better maintenance of trade and commerce
-through the same: and all men trading or sailing within
-the king’s seas do justly take themselves to be <i>in pace Domini
-Regis</i>; and since such are <i>in pace Domini Regis</i>, it doth
-concern the king in honour and justice to protect them from
-injury and violence.” The language of the first part of this
-statement is the same as in the regulation prepared a little
-before with respect to hostilities within the King’s Chambers
-(<a href="#Page_251">p. 251</a>); but its purport went much further than the recommendation
-of Pennington, and in effect extended the protection
-afforded by the King’s Chambers, and the regulation applying
-to them, to the whole of the narrow seas.</p>
-
-<p>The Admiralty approved of the opinion of Sir Henry
-Marten, and Nicholas was directed to embody it in Pennington’s
-instructions. Before doing so, however, it was deemed
-desirable to get the king’s own opinion, and he was asked
-by Windebank, at the instance of the Admiralty, whether
-Pennington should be instructed not to permit any man-of-war
-to fight in the narrow seas in the sight of his Majesty’s ships,
-while he commanded there as Admiral. Pennington had then
-only two ships and two “Whelps” under his command,&mdash;a force
-quite inadequate to enforce an innovation so revolutionary,&mdash;and
-Charles apparently did not think the time or circumstances
-fitting for it, for the Admiral’s instructions in 1634 were
-virtually the same as in 1633, except that the clause about
-passing by Dutch and Dunkirkers in fight and leaving them
-to their fortunes was omitted at the special request of Lord
-Cottington.<a id="FNanchor_480" href="#Footnote_480" class="fnanchor">480</a> But next year, when the imposing ship-money
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">264</span>
-fleet was ready, Sir H. Marten’s memorandum was inserted,
-almost verbatim, in the Earl of Lindsey’s official instructions.</p>
-
-<p>In addition to the official instructions, the Earl received
-private commands from the king. In these the new doctrine
-as to the sovereignty of the seas received a new gloss, corresponding
-to the tenour of Coke’s despatch to Boswell, and
-they were clearly intended to embroil us with the Dutch
-Republic, as well as with France, and thus enable Charles to
-carry out his clandestine agreement with Spain. He was not
-to permit the warships of other states to keep guard, or
-commit acts of hostility, or take spoil or booty, “within his
-Majesty’s seas”; and it was also resolved that the fleet should
-be employed in forcing the Dutch herring-busses to take the
-king’s licenses for permission to fish, or in interrupting them in
-their fishing. It was a common practice for orders of this kind
-given to naval officers to be expressed in general or indefinite
-language, leaving to them the responsibility of applying them
-to specific cases according to their judgment and discretion.
-Both Pennington in the previous year, and the Earl of Northumberland
-in the following year, had to ask for further and
-more precise directions. So also did Lindsey now. He wrote
-to Charles on receipt of the royal commands, asking a number
-of questions. In the first place, he asked that the “bounds
-of his Majesty’s seas might be expressed”&mdash;a reasonable
-request, and one frequently made by naval officers. He
-was loftily told by Coke, who replied, that “his Majesty’s
-seas are all about his dominions, and to the largest extent
-of those seas,”&mdash;an answer not very illuminating, and of
-little use to the Admiral.<a id="FNanchor_481" href="#Footnote_481" class="fnanchor">481</a> His second question was whether
-the ships of the King of France, or the Archduke, or the
-Dutch States, might not “lie to and again” upon their own
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">265</span>
-coasts, as they have anciently done? To this the reply
-was that they might stay in their harbours or roads, or
-pass “to and again for trade,” but not otherwise. Then he
-asked whether the Dutch men-of-war might not lie before
-Dunkirk, “as they have been accustomed to do”? (in blockading
-the port, which belonged to Spain). For answer, he
-was curtly referred to his instructions. Then there was
-another disturbing suggestion: If no men-of-war were to
-be permitted “to lie in the King’s seas,” notice, he said,
-should be given of the fact by proclamation or otherwise.
-He was told that this was already done&mdash;the remark having
-reference, no doubt, to the despatches sent to foreign Governments.
-Finally, he inquired what he should “do with the
-herring fishers.” But the patience of Coke appears to have
-been exhausted, and no answer at all was given.<a id="FNanchor_482" href="#Footnote_482" class="fnanchor">482</a></p>
-
-<p>It was obviously the intention of Charles to force a quarrel
-with France and the Dutch Republic on a point or points
-connected with the sovereignty of the sea, which might
-rouse popular enthusiasm in England and enable him to
-attempt to recover the Palatinate for his nephew, while
-ostensibly defending the national honour. But the punctilios
-and hesitation of Lindsey about the duties before him must
-have raised misgivings at Court as to whether the right man
-had been chosen for the job. It was not long before this
-feeling deepened into mortification and disgust.</p>
-
-<p>The fleet was ready at the beginning of June. Before
-its setting off one or two incidents happened which might
-have seemed ominous to the superstitious. A shot fired from
-the Admiral’s ship, in answer to the salutation of the rest
-of the fleet as he sailed into the Downs, hit a poor woman
-on shore and broke her leg; the same day, during musketry
-exercise, a seaman nearly killed a master of the navy,&mdash;and
-these, as it turned out, were the sole effective warlike operations
-of the fleet. On the very day of departure a couple
-of Dunkirk privateers “were so insolent” as to set upon a
-Dutch merchantman in Dover Road, under the Admiral’s
-nose and in sight of the fleet, battering the ship, slaying
-the gunner, and wounding the men. As an offset, the fleet
-captured a small prize from a Dunkirker, which was to be
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">266</span>
-sold for the benefit of the Fishery Society. Then the Earl
-himself had been snubbed by the Admiralty, and left with
-a flea in his ear. He wanted a vessel to serve as a “kitchen”
-to accompany the fleet, and a salary for a secretary; but
-there being no precedents, the requests were refused. Then
-he complained that he had not enough flags, and above all
-that he lacked a standard, which made him “not a little
-wonder, considering his commission gave him as much power
-as a Lord Admiral of England&mdash;or rather more by being
-General, who is always a representative person of his prince”;
-he said he was “a little maimed” without it.<a id="FNanchor_483" href="#Footnote_483" class="fnanchor">483</a></p>
-
-<p>The fleet weighed anchor early on the morning of the
-7th June, and steered down Channel on its mission. At
-that time a combined Dutch and French squadron blockaded
-Dunkirk&mdash;France, which in January had entered into a treaty
-with the States for an invasion and partition of the Spanish
-Netherlands, having declared war against Spain a month
-before Lindsey left the Downs. There was thus every prospect
-of a collision if the English Admiral carried out the
-king’s wishes, and both the Court and the capital were on
-the tiptoe of expectation of stirring news. The fleet had
-scarcely quitted its anchorage when London was full of
-rumours. The <i>Swallow</i> got credit for having sent to the
-bottom a Dutch man-of-war before she had even left Deptford.
-A few days later it was reported that a fight had taken
-place in the Channel, a violent cannonade having been heard
-on the English coast, whereat Charles looked anxious and
-moody.<a id="FNanchor_484" href="#Footnote_484" class="fnanchor">484</a> But it was only a peaceful salutation between the
-English fleet and a Danish man-of-war, “who did their duty”
-in passing by. On 12th June “certain news” arrived by
-express from Dungeness that a great battle had been fought
-off Calais, in which the Hollanders were totally defeated.
-Authentic despatches from the fleet soon put an end to such
-rumours. Very bad weather had been experienced, which
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">267</span>
-forced them to take shelter at the Isle of Wight; thereafter
-they sailed for Portland, having received intelligence that a
-French squadron of fourteen sail and a Dutch one of the same
-number were there, each flying its national flag.</p>
-
-<p>At a council held on board the Admiral’s ship, it was resolved
-that if the Dutch struck when they came up with them and
-the French did not, a message was to be sent to the Dutch
-Admiral “that we did not expect to see the friends of the
-king our master in company of them that do affront
-him, therefore we desire them, like friends, to stand by and
-see the sport.” But there was no “sport,” for when the
-English fleet got to Portland on 20th June, the allies had
-gone; “the same wind,” wrote Lindsey, “which brought me
-thither carried them out to sea” the day before. Learning
-from the Mayor of Dartmouth that a fleet of fifty-six sail had
-been seen off Falmouth on the 19th, the fleet went off westwards,
-calling at Plymouth, where it stayed for a few days.
-On one occasion they thought they had come up with their
-quarry. They espied a great number of ships at a distance,
-dimly visible in the morning mist, which made them “provide
-their guns” and get ready for action. But they turned out
-to be only peaceful salt-ships from Rochelle. Despatches
-were sent to the Court from Plymouth on 23rd June, in which
-Lindsey stated he was going on to Land’s End, “and so to
-make a short return from thence.” He also defended himself
-from complaints that seem to have been made against him
-from Dunkirk, apparently owing to his seizure of the prize for
-the Fishery Society. He told Windebank that two or three
-more Dunkirk men had been brought to him who had taken
-prizes from the French, but that he had dismissed them
-without meddling with their prizes. And then he added&mdash;what
-must have been unpleasant reading to Charles&mdash;that the
-king’s instructions had bound him to carry an equal hand
-between the subjects of his allies, and from that “compass”
-he would not vary. He would perform as friendly offices to
-the Dunkirkers as to either the French or the Hollander.</p>
-
-<p>Neither the impartial sentiments of the Admiral nor his
-proceedings were approved at Court, where the king was getting
-impatient. The summer was passing, and the opportunity of
-forcing a conflict was passing with it. He soon learned how
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">268</span>
-his conduct was regarded from despatches from Coke. Since
-the Earl went to sea, wrote the bustling Secretary, the account
-he had been able to give the king out of his despatches had
-been only of a fall from his coach, and of the stay his fleet had
-made in the Downs, then near St Helens, and thence of his
-plying along the coast to Plymouth, where the Mayor had
-advised him he was on Sunday, five days earlier. All this,
-he said, gave his Majesty little satisfaction, who expected to
-hear the fame of his acts in the open sea, whereof he had
-committed the custody to his trust. And though the civil
-answer sent by the French Vice-Admiral to the Mayor of
-Weymouth<a id="FNanchor_485" href="#Footnote_485" class="fnanchor">485</a> had been well taken, yet it would have been more
-for the king’s honour and the Earl’s also if this office had been
-done with due homage to the Earl. And this all the more
-because there was a common report that the French had forced
-some English merchant vessels to strike sail to them, and that
-the French and Dutch had visited English ships,&mdash;an act, said
-Coke, of direct pretence to equal rights in our seas which the
-Earl must not suffer; he must not allow English ships to be
-visited by the men-of-war of any nation whatsoever, and he
-must be careful to protect them from all wrongs. In particular&mdash;and
-the request should have opened his eyes,&mdash;if any
-English merchant ships came from the Straits, Spain, or Portugal,
-with Spanish coin or other commodities (for Dunkirk),
-he must take care that no man go on board or interrupt them.
-He should convoy English ships in the same way, and for the
-honourable execution of his employment he should “strive to
-keep the open sea.” Coke concluded by telling him that he
-“thus freely enlarged himself” chiefly by the direction of the
-king, out of his own honour and interest. In another letter
-to Viscount Conway, who was on board the Admiral’s ship
-and had written a note to Coke of their proceedings, he used
-similar language. He did not want to hear of “misinformations,”
-but of “noble effects”; he had written to the Admiral
-whereby he would “perceive that neither spending time in
-harbour, nor at anchor, nor coasting along our shore, would
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">269</span>
-answer the expectation they had of the fleet.” “You must
-command the seas or be commanded,” said Coke in his pompous
-vein. “Wisdom seeks not danger when with honour it may
-be shunned; but where honour and dominion lie at stake,
-brave men will set up their rests.”<a id="FNanchor_486" href="#Footnote_486" class="fnanchor">486</a></p>
-
-<p>All which, when he came to know of it, very naturally
-nettled the Admiral. He had obtained the information about
-the allied fleet on 9th June, three days after he left the Downs,
-and he had gone in pursuit as speedily as the weather and
-the heavy-sailing English vessels would allow. He was now
-away at the Scilly Isles, but he failed to see any French ships,
-and was duly honoured in the matter of the flag by the few
-Dutch men-of-war encountered. He sent further despatches
-from off the Lizard on 28th June, explaining his movements,
-stating that his ship was leaking, grumbling again about the
-want of a standard,&mdash;“his commission making him equal to
-a Lord High Admiral of England,” &amp;c., &amp;c.,&mdash;and complaining
-that his letters were not answered. Coke’s letter awaited him
-at Plymouth, and in reply to it he said, on 5th July, that he
-neither deserved his scorn for a fall in a coach nor his blame
-for negligence. Was it his fault that the French sought to
-avoid him? They had left the English seas, and they could
-have done no more if he had fought with them; but if they
-came again he should meet and fight them, time enough. Sir
-Henry Vane had also written to Conway of the discontent
-about the fleet. It was not well taken, he said, that they did
-not put over to the coasts of Flanders, Holland, and France,&mdash;not
-indeed that they should go into the harbours and force
-them to salute and strike, but to keep at sea upon these coasts
-and act according to their instructions.</p>
-
-<p>Lindsey then stood to sea and plied about in the middle of
-the Channel, off the coast between the Lizard and Plymouth,
-and sometimes standing over to the coast of France, until the
-beginning of August, without finding any trace of the French
-and Dutch fleet, which was supposed&mdash;and rightly&mdash;to be to
-the southward on the Biscay coast. No glimpse of the lilies of
-France could be obtained; not even a pirate was seen, the
-presence of the fleet no doubt having scared them from their
-haunts in the Channel. On 3rd August Lindsey’s fleet returned
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">270</span>
-to the Downs for revictualling, what remained of the
-victuals on board being very bad,&mdash;“the beef is so extremely
-tainted,” he had written on 21st July, “that when the shifter
-stirs it, the scent over all the ship is enough to breed a contagion.”
-No sooner was he in the Downs than news came
-that the French squadron had come back to the English coast,
-twenty-six sail of them having been seen about the Lizard.
-“They haunt us like a shadow,” murmured the Admiral from
-his anchorage, “flying when we pursue, and following when we
-retreat.”</p>
-
-<p>Lindsey was not far wrong on this occasion, for the withdrawal
-of the French ships from the narrow seas on the approach
-of the English fleet was due to the sagacious plan of
-Richelieu. He appears to have been well aware of the pretext
-and design of Charles, and endeavoured to outwit him. At war
-with Spain, he desired to avert an open rupture with England.
-At the same time, it was not fitting that he should break the
-tradition of France, or check the maritime ambitions which
-aimed at rivalling England on the seas, by lowering the French
-flag to the English Admiral. While the Earl was still at the
-Isle of Wight, Richelieu ordered the French Admiral to retire
-with three of his smallest vessels round Cape Finisterre to
-Belle Isle, off the coast of Brittany and well out of the Channel,
-and to put the rest of the French squadron under the
-command of the Dutch Admiral. The French ships left in the
-narrow seas were to carry no flags at all, and therefore could
-not strike them; and if the combined fleet met the English, the
-Admiral of the States would, in his accustomed manner, strike,
-without the dignity of France being compromised or Charles
-being given the rebuff for which he was seeking.<a id="FNanchor_487" href="#Footnote_487" class="fnanchor">487</a> When on
-the following day Richelieu learned that the Spanish transports
-for the relief of Dunkirk had entered that port, he ordered the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">271</span>
-combined fleet to withdraw altogether from the Channel, as
-their further presence there was useless and might give occasion
-for a conflict.<a id="FNanchor_488" href="#Footnote_488" class="fnanchor">488</a> Thus it was that Lindsey could not find
-them. While Richelieu’s strategy succeeded, the course adopted
-was somewhat pusillanimous and not calculated to add to the
-laurels of France. He therefore took advantage of an incident
-to raise the question of the flag diplomatically with England, in
-the hope of having the respective rights of the two nations
-settled, and no doubt for other reasons. He complained to
-Charles that the Earl of Lindsey&mdash;who denied the story&mdash;told
-a Dutch captain of whom he inquired the whereabouts of the
-French fleet, that he was “going to make them lower their
-colours”;<a id="FNanchor_489" href="#Footnote_489" class="fnanchor">489</a> he inquired as to the intentions of the king, and he
-proposed that in future the French should salute the English
-on the coast of England, and, reciprocally, that the English
-should salute the French on the coast of France; while if
-the fleets were in the middle of the sea they should either
-pass one another without saluting, or the weaker fleet should
-first salute the stronger. If Charles did not like these proposals,
-he was invited to suggest others.<a id="FNanchor_490" href="#Footnote_490" class="fnanchor">490</a> It appears indeed
-that instructions of a similar tenour had been actually
-given to the French Admiral, except that they might
-strike to the English when out of sight of the French
-coast.<a id="FNanchor_491" href="#Footnote_491" class="fnanchor">491</a></p>
-
-<p>Richelieu’s proposals for equality and reciprocity in the
-narrow seas were instantly rejected. Coke, in a despatch
-to the English agents at Paris, the draft of which was revised
-by the king, expressed astonishment that the French ambassador,
-instead of the negotiation of a treaty for a confederation
-between England, France, and the States-General for the
-restitution of the Elector Palatine, should raise “impertinent
-questions” about the king’s dominion at sea. The king could
-enter into no such debate with the French ambassador. But
-Coke had assured that personage that the instructions given to
-the Earl of Lindsey were no other than had been given in
-effect in all former times, and “for near forty years within his
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">272</span>
-own knowledge,”&mdash;that the Admiral should defend and maintain
-the ancient known rights of the crown; guard the seas,
-secure freedom of commerce, suppress pirates, and oppose
-hostile acts in prejudice thereof; assist his Majesty’s friends
-and allies, attempt no innovation, nor do anything contrary
-to his treaties,&mdash;and so he presumed that no one would do anything
-to impeach his Majesty’s ancient and undoubted rights.
-But instead of being satisfied with this “fair answer,” the
-French ambassador put into Coke’s hands a regulation he had
-drawn up, prescribing to both kings “when and where the one
-shall vail his bonnet to the other.” Coke informed the agents
-that it was hoped this proceeding would be disavowed; and he
-instructed them, pending the arrival of the new English ambassador
-(Lord Scudamore), to refrain from all discussion with the
-French king or his Ministers as to the king’s right to the
-dominion of the sea, or about the extent thereof, and to say
-nothing further as to the designs of the fleet.<a id="FNanchor_492" href="#Footnote_492" class="fnanchor">492</a> Richelieu, who
-had quite enough to concern him in the failure of his attack
-on the Spanish Netherlands, was content to leave alone
-the dispute about the flag, and the French ambassador was
-requested to say as little as possible concerning it.<a id="FNanchor_493" href="#Footnote_493" class="fnanchor">493</a></p>
-
-<p>The Earl of Lindsey, failing to find the French fleet and
-coming to revictual in the Downs, now bethought himself of
-the other part of the king’s private instructions, about the
-Dutch herring-busses. If he had been baffled in the attempt to
-lower the lilies of France, might he not yet force the herring-boats
-to take his Majesty’s license before they cast their nets in
-his Majesty’s seas? But here, too, obstacles arose. He wrote
-to Charles on 2nd August that he had consulted the ablest men
-in the fleet, the captains and masters, and they were of opinion
-that “his Majesty’s great ships would run much hazard” upon
-the northern coasts. Moreover, if the fleet went north, would
-it not encourage the French to quit their retreat and “embolden
-them perhaps to do that which now standing in awe they forbear
-to do?” Still, he was willing to do whatever the king
-thought best. The king agreed that it might be better to stay,
-especially as he thought that before the Earl could apply himself
-to that service the fishing season would be past. Besides,
-said Coke, who penned the despatch, the fleets his Lordship
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">273</span>
-had left behind him&mdash;“pressing after him,” as he said&mdash;were of
-more consideration. The king therefore ordered that when the
-victualling was completed the fleet should again keep the sea
-to the westward.<a id="FNanchor_494" href="#Footnote_494" class="fnanchor">494</a></p>
-
-<p>This decision probably saved the Earl of Lindsey, as well as
-the king, from further humiliation and disappointment. Even
-had he at once sailed to the north, he would have found no
-Dutch herring-busses to deal with, any more than he had found
-the French fleet. For the Dunkirk privateers, swiftly taking
-advantage of Richelieu’s withdrawal of the blockading squadron
-from their port, had made a bold dash into the North Sea and
-overwhelmed the Hollanders off the coast of Northumberland.
-More than 100 busses had been sunk or burnt, and 1000
-fishermen carried prisoners to Flanders; the rest were in full
-flight homewards or pent up in British ports, and the herring-fishing
-was ruined for that year.<a id="FNanchor_495" href="#Footnote_495" class="fnanchor">495</a></p>
-
-<p>The calamity soon brought over the Dutch fleet to protect
-the remaining busses. Van Dorp, with fourteen French and
-Dutch men-of-war, arrived in Calais Road about the middle of
-August and sailed thence northwards, thirsting for vengeance
-on the freebooters. Lindsey detached some of the ships from
-his fleet, which lay victualling in the Downs, for convoys, as
-well as to punish the “contempt” of the Dutch at Scarborough
-(<a href="#Page_250">see p. 250</a>), and a few of the smaller vessels were engaged in
-looking for “picaroons” in the Straits of Dover. For during
-the absence of the fleet, the post-boat between Dover and Dunkirk
-had been attacked and pillaged five times within seven
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">274</span>
-weeks, and the packages containing the king’s letters opened.<a id="FNanchor_496" href="#Footnote_496" class="fnanchor">496</a>
-A French man-of-war, too, had taken an English ship off Harwich
-and carried her off to Boulogne. Such occurrences, and
-the presence of Van Dorp in the north, delayed Lindsey’s
-departure. But on 4th September he again left the Downs
-with most of his ships, stood over to Calais and ranged the
-French coast for some distance southwards, and then out to
-sea. Heavy weather coming on, he had to run for shelter to
-the Isle of Wight, where the fleet lay weather-bound, and with
-much sickness on board, from the 12th till the 29th September.
-The Admiral then made for the Downs, where he arrived on
-4th October, and on the 8th he struck his flag.<a id="FNanchor_497" href="#Footnote_497" class="fnanchor">497</a></p>
-
-<p>Pennington was left with seven ships for the winter guard
-of the narrow seas; and with “private” instructions from
-the Earl not to suffer any breach of the peace to be done to
-any of his Majesty’s allies, nor to permit his sovereignty to
-be infringed upon; to give convoys to merchants when they
-wished it; to clear his Majesty’s seas of pirates, and to
-compel the “due homage of the sea.” Finally, he was to
-assist the farmers of the customs, particularly in preventing
-the smuggling of tobacco.</p>
-
-<p>It was a fitting close to the first ship-money fleet. The
-great armada by which Charles expected to recover the Palatinate,
-and restore his sovereignty of the seas to its ancient style
-and lustre, upon which the eyes of Europe had been fixed,
-accomplished practically nothing. It had snatched a petty
-prize from a Dunkirk privateer and seized a Dutch man-of-war
-in reparation for the “contempt” at Scarborough; it had
-convoyed a few vessels, English and Spanish, to Dunkirk, and
-as its greatest achievement had caused the blockade of that
-port to be raised. No wonder that that tough sea-dog, Sir
-John Pennington, when he heard that a still stronger fleet was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">275</span>
-preparing for the next year, should exclaim, “God grant they
-may do more than the present fleet has done, or the money
-were as well saved as spent.”<a id="FNanchor_498" href="#Footnote_498" class="fnanchor">498</a> No doubt the fleet had a
-moral value, if that term can be used about it, the naval
-demonstration being an intimation to France and to the Dutch
-Republic that Charles was resolved to assert command of the
-sea. Whether England could have proved herself mistress of
-the seas in 1635, had Lindsey’s fleet been opposed, is problematical.
-But, at all events, Charles attained none of his special
-objects. The sudden and successful uprising of the Spanish
-Netherlands against the armies of France dispelled the fears of
-Spain, and that power having no further immediate need of
-England, the nearly completed alliance came to naught, and the
-recovery of the Palatinate was further off than ever.<a id="FNanchor_499" href="#Footnote_499" class="fnanchor">499</a> On the
-other hand, the Dutch were much irritated. Charles had
-denied their right to blockade the Flemish ports against free
-commerce,<a id="FNanchor_500" href="#Footnote_500" class="fnanchor">500</a> and it was through his action that the privateers
-had been able to work such havoc and destruction among the
-herring-busses.</p>
-
-<p>Something more must be said about one of the duties imposed
-on Lindsey, in regard to which it was expected the English
-fleet would shine&mdash;namely, the homage of the flag. Apart from
-forcing a number of merchant vessels, English and foreign, to
-lower their top-sails, and some Dutch men-of-war and Dunkirkers,
-and even one or two of the French (on the English
-coast) to strike their flag to the king’s ships, nothing was
-accomplished. The politic arrangement of Richelieu foiled
-Lindsey and Charles alike, and the great spectacle of the
-Admiral of France lowering his flag to the Admiral of England,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">276</span>
-or giving battle and refusal, was not witnessed. The disappointment
-at the English Court was all the more keen, inasmuch
-as France, in the treaty of confederation with the States-General
-in the beginning of the year, had stipulated that the
-Dutch men-of-war should salute the French flag in the same
-way as they saluted the flag of England, thus “challenging a
-dominion,” as Sir Thomas Roe said, “where anciently they
-durst not fish for gurnets without license.”<a id="FNanchor_501" href="#Footnote_501" class="fnanchor">501</a></p>
-
-<p>By this time the question of the striking of the flag had been
-forced into great prominence: even the “footpads” of the
-Channel, the humble picaroons and shallops, hailed the English
-ketches which they pillaged with the cry of “Strike, you English
-dogs!” It has been shown in a previous chapter that though
-the ceremony was enforced in the narrow seas in the reign of
-James, it did not then become a burning political question, and
-the same is true of the early part of the reign of Charles. The
-English commanders were then satisfied with a moderate
-acknowledgment of the “honour,” and the Dutch at least rarely
-ever contested it. That it was enforced in 1627 appears from
-the narrative of the Earl of Warwick’s voyage in that year,
-when a French man-of-war was compelled off Falmouth “to
-come up by the lee,” though nothing is said about the flag
-itself.<a id="FNanchor_502" href="#Footnote_502" class="fnanchor">502</a> But when France openly aspired to become a great
-naval Power, England began to force the salute with a high
-hand. It is from the year 1631 that we may date the marked
-development of this symbol, as it was claimed to be, of the
-sovereignty of the sea. We have already seen Pennington’s
-instructions in that year, which, however, only mention the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">277</span>
-striking of the top-sail; and although the omission of the flag
-may have been only verbal, there are reasons for thinking that
-the custom and etiquette of the ceremony were not well understood
-at the Admiralty. Thus on Pennington reporting that
-French men-of-war were trying to force English merchant
-vessels to strike to the French flag,<a id="FNanchor_503" href="#Footnote_503" class="fnanchor">503</a> he was ordered by the
-Admiralty “to see that no one presumes to carry the flag in
-the Narrow Seas”; all the more since “some” pretended to
-have an interest in the sovereignty of these seas.<a id="FNanchor_504" href="#Footnote_504" class="fnanchor">504</a> When
-Pennington pointed out that this “was more than ever was
-done, for our own merchants’ ships and all other nations ever
-have and do wear their flags, till they come within shot of the
-king’s ships: if they take them in and keep them in till they
-are out of shot again, it is as much as has ever been expected,”&mdash;when
-he told the Admiralty this, he was informed that the
-“Lords would not expect impossibilities”&mdash;the main business
-he was to take care of was to see that no foreigner carried the
-flag where his Majesty’s ships were present in the Narrow
-Seas.<a id="FNanchor_505" href="#Footnote_505" class="fnanchor">505</a> Then Captain Plumleigh in the <i>Antelope</i> reported that
-on meeting two States’ men-of-war guarding the herring-fishers
-off Orfordness, the Admiral had “stood” with the <i>Antelope</i>
-with his flag aloft, and did not take it in till several shots had
-been fired at him; and when requested to come on board and
-explain his conduct, he refused. How, asked Plumleigh, was he
-to comport himself in such cases? The matter was brought
-before the Admiralty, but no answer appears to have been
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">278</span>
-then given.<a id="FNanchor_506" href="#Footnote_506" class="fnanchor">506</a> Two or three years later Pennington put the
-same and other queries to the king. He had been appointed
-in April 1633 Admiral of the Narrow Seas, with general
-instructions already quoted (<a href="#Page_262">see p. 262</a>), to preserve the king’s
-honour, coasts, and jurisdiction, and to compel homage to the
-flag. Pennington asked whether, when a stranger refused to
-take in his flag till forced, he should not be “brought in as a
-delinquent”; whether, if he met a foreign fleet of far greater
-strength than his own, and they refused to take in their flags,
-he should fight with them about it “upon so great disadvantage,”
-or make “a fair retreat”; whether on going into Calais,
-Dunkirk, or the Briel&mdash;that is to say, ports in France, Flanders,
-and Holland&mdash;and finding strangers riding there with their
-flags aloft, he should force them to take them in?<a id="FNanchor_507" href="#Footnote_507" class="fnanchor">507</a> He also
-wrote to the Admiralty in 1634 substantially repeating these
-inquiries, and asking for a positive or negative expression in
-regard to them in his instructions. The Admiralty remitted
-Pennington’s letter to Nicholas and Sir Henry Marten to frame
-answers. The final opinion on the first point was that by the
-law of the Admiralty both in England and France, the ships
-were forfeited&mdash;that is to say, the same penalty applied as was
-prescribed in King John’s ordinance. It was, however, rarely,
-if ever, carried into effect. The instructions on this matter
-usually ran that punishment was to be inflicted at the place, or
-the commander brought in to answer his contempt. When the
-Earl of Northumberland asked a similar question in 1636, he
-was told the offender should be “punished on the place.”<a id="FNanchor_508" href="#Footnote_508" class="fnanchor">508</a> In
-Nicholas’ opinion much more than the forfeiture of the ship
-was required; the offender, he thought, should be brought in as
-a delinquent, and if he resisted he should be tried as a pirate;
-but this absurd interpretation was overruled.</p>
-
-<p>On the other points it is not quite clear what the final
-official answers were. Nicholas thought that when a superior
-fleet was encountered, the English Admiral ought not to engage
-rashly about the flag; but if he once commanded the foreigners
-to strike, then “the ships were better to be lost than his (the
-king’s) honour and sovereignty yielded.” The opinion he gave
-with regard to forcing foreign vessels to strike in foreign ports
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">279</span>
-was in these words: “For ye French roades,” he said, “ye
-king of England’s ships should suffer none to wear ye flag but
-themselves: but in other roades after salutes both may weare
-ye flag without dishonour.” The exceptional treatment proposed
-for ships in French roads may have been in part owing
-to the political circumstances of the time, but probably chiefly
-had reference to ancient custom and the old claims of England
-to the soil of France. Charles still styled himself King of
-France; and later Selden argued that though English dominion
-had been lost in France itself, it nevertheless extended over the
-sea up to the very shores. It became the common practice to
-enforce the homage on the coast of the Continent, but not
-within harbours, ports, rivers, or within buoys, or at any place
-under the command of the guns of forts or castles.<a id="FNanchor_509" href="#Footnote_509" class="fnanchor">509</a> The Earl
-of Northumberland, on repeating Pennington’s question in
-1636 as to Calais, Dunkirk, and the Briel, was told that the
-homage was to be exacted “in the roads out of command of
-any forts.”<a id="FNanchor_510" href="#Footnote_510" class="fnanchor">510</a></p>
-
-<p>There was always some doubt as to the etiquette of the salutation
-between ships and forts or castles. Dutch vessels were
-fired on and detained at Portland Castle in 1633 for putting up
-their flags in the presence of the king’s colours, which were
-flying on the walls; and the act was justified to the States’
-ambassador when he complained about it. In the year before,
-the commanders of the Castles at Deal and Walmer fired upon
-a French man-of-war that came in with his flag in the main-top,
-because after taking it down when requested, he hoisted it
-again on going away. “I gave him five shots,” said the Captain
-of Deal, “without hitting him,” and he added that the Council
-on a previous occasion approved of a like action against the
-Dutch, who had never since offended, but he had never heard of
-the French attempting it before. The Admiralty asked Pennington’s
-opinion as to the proper course, and he said he thought
-that all the ships of his Majesty’s subjects and of foreigners
-and strangers should strike their flags and top-sails as they
-passed by any of his Majesty’s castles; such, he said, was the
-custom in all parts of Christendom, “which, being done, they
-may ride under the castles with their colours flying abroad if
-there be none of the king’s own ships present.” The king’s
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">280</span>
-castles had thus not so high a status as the king’s ship; but the
-military officers were not less zealous than those of the navy.
-Pennington himself had an amusing illustration of their zeal,
-for in 1631 Sir William Killigrew, the Captain of Pendennis
-Castle, persisted in “spending the king’s powder” in shooting
-at the <i>Bonaventure</i>, Pennington’s ship, for not striking its flag
-to the castle,&mdash;“a thing,” said the Admiral, “never used by a
-king’s ship, nor would he be the beginner of it.” Fortunately,
-the gunnery of the time was wild; but Killigrew had to be
-summoned before the Admiralty, rebuked, and, “upon submission,
-discharged with strict command never more to offend in
-that kind,” before the practice ceased. The Admiralty also
-issued an order to the notorious Sir James Bagg, the Governor
-of Plymouth and the Vice-Admiral for South Devon, strictly
-forbidding that any castle or fort under his command should
-fire upon the king’s ship, even if passing near with their flags
-on the top of any of their masts, “for,” he was told, “they are
-as absolutely his Majesty’s castles or forts, though floating, as
-that under your command.”<a id="FNanchor_511" href="#Footnote_511" class="fnanchor">511</a></p>
-
-<p>As was to be expected from the attempted maritime rivalry
-openly displayed by France, and from English policy at the
-time, our naval officers vied with one another in compelling
-homage to the flag. The Dutch, both merchant vessels and
-men-of-war, more particularly the latter, usually struck at once
-to the English ships. If they showed reluctance, or hoisted
-their flag again too soon, they were fired at. The English captains
-insisted on the right off Continental ports. Thus Captain
-Richard Plumleigh, having gone to Calais in 1632 to bring over
-the corpse of Sir Richard Walker, late British ambassador, in
-his ship&mdash;well named the <i>Assurance</i>,&mdash;“bestowed some powder
-on the French flags,” and caused all the French shipping in
-Calais Road to take in their colours, “at which,” he said, “they
-repined heavily.” Some of the States’ men-of-war also riding
-in the Road took the side of the French, and sent to Plumleigh
-to say that they knew no reason why he should demand superiority
-on that side of the sea, and “threatening” to wear their
-flags there as well as he. But Plumleigh boldly returned a
-message&mdash;what he called “a cooling card”&mdash;to their Admiral,
-saying that if he showed a Dutch flag there, he “would sink
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">281</span>
-him or be sunk by him,” which caused him to keep his colours
-close.<a id="FNanchor_512" href="#Footnote_512" class="fnanchor">512</a> In the following year, Captain Ketelby, of the <i>Bonaventure</i>,
-was sent to Boulogne to bring over another ambassador
-(Lord Weston), and finding the Admiral of Amsterdam in the
-Road with his flag up, he “gave her a shot,” when she struck it
-and presently hoisted it again. Ketelby then sent his lieutenant
-to command him to take in his flag or prepare to defend it.
-The Dutch Admiral argued, and kept it up till Ketelby was preparing
-to shoot again, when he took it in. Two days later
-another Dutch admiral, this time the Admiral of Holland, came
-into the Road with ten or twelve ships of war; within a reasonable
-distance he struck his flag twice and saluted with seven
-pieces, and then he also hoisted it again. Ketelby “conceived
-this homage not sufficient,” and notwithstanding the disparity
-of force, sent him a command to take in his flag, which he did,
-and kept it in till the <i>Bonaventure</i> departed. Such incidents
-show both the domineering conduct of the English captains
-and the forbearance and good sense of the Dutch, who acted
-in obedience to the strict orders they had received to strike
-to the English ships. But nearer home Ketelby had not so
-much glory. On returning with the ambassador he met ten
-sail of Hollanders on the English coast between Dover and
-Folkestone, one, a States’ man-of-war, bearing his flag on the
-main-top, while a merchant vessel had his top-sails “a-trip.”
-Both were obdurate as to rendering the accustomed homage,
-and in spite of the fact that Ketelby sent twenty shot “in
-and through” the sides of the merchantman, she would not
-lower her sails in the least.<a id="FNanchor_513" href="#Footnote_513" class="fnanchor">513</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">282</span></p>
-
-<p>In many instances peaceful merchant vessels suffered greatly
-over this question of striking. During the cruise of Lindsey’s
-fleet, Dutch men-of-war, and also a Danish warship, struck
-without hesitation, even at Calais. So also as a rule did the
-merchant vessels; but sometimes they transgressed the rule, it
-might be from ignorance, and then they were exposed to harsh
-treatment. Thus, three great ships of Amsterdam bound for
-Pernambuco, on meeting the <i>Constant Reformation</i> off Plymouth,
-did everything required of them; but hoisting their sails
-before they got clear of the <i>Vanguard</i>, the latter gave them
-six pieces of ordnance, twice sending a cannon-ball through the
-hull of one of them. Then for a similar reason, too great an
-alacrity in re-hoisting her flag, another Hollander was shot
-through with five pieces by the <i>Rainbow</i>. So anxious were
-the English officers to compel the homage that they sometimes
-demanded it at night. The <i>Freeman</i>, returning from convoying
-merchant-ships to Dunkirk, met in the night-time a fleet of
-Dutch merchantmen with one convoy accompanying them, and
-shot to make them strike. In the darkness the traders took the
-English ship for a Dunkirk privateer and made what haste
-they could away. The States’ man-of-war, coming up to the
-rescue, approached so near the <i>Freeman</i> before she discovered
-what she was (and then immediately struck) that a collision
-occurred, the bowsprit of the English ship being broken, while
-her anchor carried away the Dutchman’s chains and stays.
-The Dutch captain then came on board, humbly asked pardon
-for what had happened, excused himself by the night and the
-mistake, offered to go before the Lord Admiral, and paid for the
-bowsprit and the shot.<a id="FNanchor_514" href="#Footnote_514" class="fnanchor">514</a></p>
-
-<p>While the Dutch were thus forbearing, the Dunkirkers, the
-<i>prot&eacute;g&eacute;s</i> of Spain, for whom Charles was supposed to be
-making sacrifices, were refractory. They refused to strike to
-the <i>Vanguard</i> lying at anchor off Gravelines, although it fired
-many times at them: before the anchor could be got up they
-were off, and it was useless to follow. They sent a message
-that they did not care for the English now, and would not
-strike. On the other hand, just as Lindsey reached the Downs
-at the beginning of October, Captain Stradling in the <i>Swallow</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">283</span>
-met the French Admiral, for whom the Earl had been searching
-all summer, off Falmouth with two ships. He immediately
-shot at him, and he struck his top-sails and saluted. But this
-was on the English coast, and was not contrary to Richelieu’s
-instructions. The French, on their part, a week or two afterwards
-forced an English merchant vessel to strike “for the
-king of France.”<a id="FNanchor_515" href="#Footnote_515" class="fnanchor">515</a></p>
-
-<p>Perhaps the worst offenders of all were the British merchantmen.
-Again and again the naval commanders complained to
-the Admiralty of their remissness or neglect to strike, which
-they said set a very bad example to foreigners. Pennington
-reported to the king that they passed his ships in the narrow
-seas, not only without speaking, but even “presumptuously
-wearing their flag at the topmast head” until forced to take
-it in; and he recommended the king to issue a proclamation
-commanding all ships to speak with the king’s ships and give
-an account of themselves, or be subject to fine and punishment.
-Pennington asked what he was to do if any of the king’s subjects
-were so stubborn as not to strike their flag and top-sails
-in due time: “I meane,” he said, “soe soone as they come
-within distance of our ordynaunce.” On this Sir Henry
-Marten recommended that when an English ship did not strike
-in time, the naval captain should complain to his Admiral or
-to the Admiralty. He was strongly of opinion that too much
-discretion should not be left to the naval officers in this matter.
-It was, he said, too much to hazard an English ship being sunk
-or English lives lost on a point on which a mistake might
-easily be made.<a id="FNanchor_516" href="#Footnote_516" class="fnanchor">516</a> The official instruction given to the officers
-was either to punish the offenders themselves or to report them
-to the Admiral or to the Admiralty. Neglectful merchant
-vessels were sometimes severely punished. In April 1632,
-when Lady Strange and a large party of Lords, with a great
-retinue, went on board Pennington’s ship, the <i>Convertive</i>, lying in
-Tilbury Hope, a merchant ship, the <i>Matthew</i> of London,
-passed up the river “in an insolent manner,” not striking his
-flag until he had come up with the <i>Convertive</i>, and soon hoisting
-it again notwithstanding the shots Pennington fired at
-him. For this the master was lodged in jail, and was only
-released on expressing his contrition to the Lords of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">284</span>
-Admiralty. The Earl of Lindsey took a sharper course in a
-similar case. On returning to the Downs, no doubt irritated
-from his failure and smarting under Coke’s gibes, he pounced
-upon two English merchantmen who had presumed to wear
-their flags within full view of the fleet, “almost within command
-of shot,” and in the presence of nearly 200 sail of
-British and foreign ships. The masters were at once seized,
-brought on board and put in custody, and a day or two later,
-a council of war having been called and Sir H. Marten consulted,
-one of them, William Bushell of Limehouse, captain of
-the <i>Neptune</i>, was fined &pound;500, and the other, Thomas Scott of
-Ratcliffe, was fined &pound;100, for so gross a misdemeanour.<a id="FNanchor_517" href="#Footnote_517" class="fnanchor">517</a></p>
-
-<p>From the foregoing it is evident that in those days peaceful
-merchant vessels traversing the narrow seas had not a very
-happy time. It must often have been irksome in the extreme
-to the masters, probably not always understanding the minuti&aelig;
-of the rules,&mdash;which, indeed, the naval captains themselves
-sometimes failed fully to comprehend,&mdash;to render due and
-proper homage to the English flag. To compel foreign men-of-war
-to salute the king’s ships was a different matter. It
-flattered the national vanity and kept alive the national aspiration
-for power on the sea, and it did not interfere with the
-duties of the men-of-war which gave the salute. But to the
-merchantman anxious for his voyage, often undermanned and
-contending with turbulent seas, it must have been vexatious
-to be called upon every now and again to lower his top-sails
-to a king’s ship, or take the risk of a shot through his sides
-or a heavy fine. The inconvenience led later to a modification
-in the practice, so far as concerned English vessels, it being
-insisted on only “when it could be done without loss of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">285</span>
-voyage”;<a id="FNanchor_518" href="#Footnote_518" class="fnanchor">518</a> but it may be said here that the regulation with
-regard to merchant vessels striking to a man-of-war was
-always afterwards embodied in the Admiralty instructions,
-offenders being reported to the Admiralty, and proceedings
-often taken against them in the Admiralty Court.<a id="FNanchor_519" href="#Footnote_519" class="fnanchor">519</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">286</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.<br />
-
-<span class="medium"><small>CHARLES I. NAVY</small>&mdash;<i>continued</i>.</span></h2>
-
-<p>Considering the failure of his foreign policy and the inglorious
-fiasco of the first ship-money fleet, it might be
-supposed that Charles would pause in the unusual method he
-had adopted of wringing money from the country for empty
-displays. While the Earl of Lindsey was still cruising at sea,
-and before the issue of the second ship-money writs, he knew
-that his schemes had miscarried. He was left drifting about
-without any definite policy, but still clinging to the plan of
-the restoration of his nephew to the Palatinate as the one
-thing before him. He was equally ready to ally himself with
-France against Spain, or with Spain against France, whichever
-would be most likely to aid him in realising that object;<a id="FNanchor_520" href="#Footnote_520" class="fnanchor">520</a> and
-as he had neither money nor troops to attract a Continental
-alliance, his only pawn lay in the navy. In the summer of
-1635, while Selden was busy in the Temple at his book, it was
-resolved to equip a fleet far more formidable than Lindsey’s
-for the following year. Coventry made his speech to the
-Judges in June, and in August the second writs for ship-money
-were sent out. In this case, as is well known, they
-were addressed not only to the coast towns but to the whole of
-England, with consequences notorious in English history. The
-number of ships it was at first intended to set out was forty-five,
-totalling 21,850 tons, and with 8650 men, the estimated
-cost being &pound;218,000.<a id="FNanchor_521" href="#Footnote_521" class="fnanchor">521</a> At the beginning of December the Admiralty
-considered what number should be set out in the
-spring; and by an Order of the King in Council on December
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">287</span>
-27th, it was decreed that twenty-four should be prepared
-“for guarding the narrow seas,” while ten other ships should
-be got ready as a second fleet to reinforce the first, or to take
-its place later.<a id="FNanchor_522" href="#Footnote_522" class="fnanchor">522</a></p>
-
-<p>The second ship-money fleet was placed under the command
-of the Earl of Northumberland, an able, accomplished, and
-high-spirited young nobleman, much better fitted than Lindsey
-was for the office of Admiral. This fleet is usually said to have
-been the most powerful ever set out by England up to that
-time.<a id="FNanchor_523" href="#Footnote_523" class="fnanchor">523</a> According to Northumberland’s Journal, it consisted of
-twenty-seven vessels, all of which were king’s ships, except
-three which had been fitted out by London. Sir John Pennington
-was appointed Vice-Admiral and Sir Henry Mervin,
-Rear-Admiral.<a id="FNanchor_524" href="#Footnote_524" class="fnanchor">524</a></p>
-
-<p>But what was to be done with the fleet? That was a
-question put by Windebank in the autumn of the previous
-year. The king had remitted to the Foreign Committee two
-inquiries: what answer he should make to the French ambassador
-concerning “a nearer conjunction” with France; and
-whether he should declare his neutrality. Windebank argued
-against either a French alliance or a declaration of neutrality.
-Against the former proposition he urged four reasons, one
-being that the French “had challenged a joint sovereignty
-on the sea with his Majesty”; and against the latter that the
-French and Hollanders would besiege Dunkirk or some part
-of Flanders, and the king would have to sit still and suffer
-it to be lost, or break his neutrality. “Besides,” said Windebank,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">288</span>
-clinching his arguments, “what was to be done with
-the fleet next year if his Majesty declared his neutrality?
-it must lie still and do nothing.”<a id="FNanchor_525" href="#Footnote_525" class="fnanchor">525</a> Apparently the problem
-of what was to be done with the fleet was not quite solved
-until the February following, though there had been several
-tolerably clear indications that one part of its duty at least
-would be the suppression of unlicensed fishing on the British
-coasts. Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i> was issued from the press
-in December 1635, and it was with great satisfaction that
-Charles welcomed it (<a href="#Page_368">see p. 368</a>). The idea of playing the
-more distinguished <i>r&ocirc;le</i> of Lord of the Sea was not therefore
-likely to be abandoned because Lindsey’s fleet had been able to
-do nothing.</p>
-
-<p>At the same time Charles thought he might get some money
-as well as honour by means of his fleet, and he submitted two
-propositions to the Lords of the Admiralty for their consideration
-in employing the fleet “for his honour and profit”: first,
-in “wafting and securing” foreign merchant vessels passing
-through his seas; second, in protecting all such fishermen as
-should fish under his license upon his seas and coasts. With
-reference to the latter suggestion, Sir Henry Marten delivered
-an elaborate opinion to the Admiralty. He recited how King
-James, after long and mature deliberation, had satisfied himself
-and resolved that the fishing “in his seas and upon the coasts
-of his dominions, did justly appertain unto him as a right
-incident to his crowns,” and had issued a proclamation declaring
-his title and forbidding unlicensed fishing by foreigners.
-He also explained that the United Provinces had then sent over
-commissioners who alleged continued custom and present
-possession of the fishings, “mentioning withall some treaties
-that had been heretofore between the Kings of England and
-the Dukes of Burgundy” in favour of their liberty of fishing.
-After hearing Sir Henry, the Admiralty expressed a unanimous
-opinion that “the right and royalty of that fishing upon
-your Majesty’s coasts doth undoubtedly belong unto your
-Majesty by inheritance, so as you may justly prohibit or license
-all strangers at your royal will and pleasure.” They further
-declared that by reason of his strength at sea, the time was
-then most fitting to put his claim into execution; and they
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">289</span>
-recommended that the States’ ambassador should be informed
-that the king had not relinquished his right to the “royal fishing,”
-but was “resolved to defend it as the hereditary right
-and possession of any other of his dominions.” This intimation
-was to be wrapped up in sophistries, lest the Dutch should
-think the king challenged it at a time when they had most
-need of his favour and grace. James had offered them a bare
-license for liberty to fish; Charles was to offer them safety and
-security as well, and the depredations which the Dunkirk privateers
-had committed on the herring-busses were to be used as
-an impressive argument to convince them of the benefits they
-would receive from his protection. The privateers had driven
-them from the fishing, even in sight of English harbours, by
-which the king was prejudiced both in honour and interest;
-but if they accepted his licenses he might feel justified in drawing
-his sword in their defence, in spite of any league or treaty.
-If, however, the Hollanders should be so wanting in discretion
-as to refuse the royal licenses, the Lords of the Admiralty were
-“all clear of opinion that his Majesty should renew and publish
-the like proclamation to that of the King his father, and prosecute
-the settling of that his right as a thing so highly concerning
-him in honour, dominion and profit.”</p>
-
-<p>As to the second proposition, the convoying of foreign merchant
-vessels, the Admiralty were more guarded in their opinion.
-They all agreed that the king was entitled to have profit by it,
-but not by way of a general imposition on all ships passing
-through his seas, as Charles, fresh from the perusal of <i>Mare
-Clausum</i>, apparently had proposed. That, they said, would
-doubtless “draw a just complaint and clamour” from the
-neighbouring princes and their subjects. The best course, they
-thought, was for a tribute to be taken from such vessels as
-desired convoy, in proportion to the value of the ship and the
-length of the waftage. The King of England was thus to hire
-out his ships of war when any foreign vessels were willing to
-pay for their employment.<a id="FNanchor_526" href="#Footnote_526" class="fnanchor">526</a></p>
-
-<p>The instructions to the Earl of Northumberland were issued
-by the Admiralty on 7th April, and they were substantially the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">290</span>
-same as those given to Lindsey in the previous year. In the
-clause referring to hostilities in the presence of the king’s ships,
-the phrase, “in any part of the Narrow Seas,” in Lindsey’s
-instructions, was replaced by the words “in any part of his
-Majesty’s seas,”&mdash;an alteration of some importance in view of
-Coke’s description of the extent of them; and the same change
-was made in the title of his instructions.<a id="FNanchor_527" href="#Footnote_527" class="fnanchor">527</a> The king also gave
-the Earl private and verbal commands, particularly as to the
-operations to be conducted against the Dutch herring-busses.</p>
-
-<p>The fleet mustered in the Downs, the Earl embarking in the
-<i>Triumph</i> on 14th May. Leaving some of the ships to convoy
-merchant vessels and guard the Straits of Dover, he hoisted
-sails on the 20th, and stood away westwards in search of the
-French fleet. It was known that a large number of ships had
-been equipped by France and lay at Rochelle; and Pennington
-had reported at the end of February that twenty-four States’
-men-of-war were at Amsterdam, ready to come out and join
-the French, and that they were to wear French colours. It
-was believed that the intention of the allies was to lay siege to
-and blockade Dunkirk, and Northumberland was ordered to
-keep a watch on them and to force them to strike. On leaving
-the Downs he passed over to the French coast, sailing along it
-within sight of Calais, Boulogne, and Dieppe, and then stood
-over for the English coast. On 26th May he was at Portland;
-thence he passed westwards to the Lizard, and cruised between
-it and Ushant and within sight of the French coast till 11th
-June, when the fleet put into Plymouth. During all this time
-they got no glimpse of the fleet for which they were seeking,
-but they had frequent reports from passing vessels that it was
-at the Isle de Rh&eacute;, and numbered between forty and fifty sail,
-most of which were small and unprepared to put to sea. Within
-ten days of leaving the Downs, Northumberland had
-apparently satisfied himself that they would see nothing of the
-French that summer; he thereupon reminded the Admiralty
-that the fishing season was approaching, and requested to know
-the king’s pleasure as to whether he should go northwards.
-On the 14th, the Admiralty informed him that as the season
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">291</span>
-for fishing began about the 20th June, he was to repair to the
-northwards as soon as his other business would permit.
-Northumberland received this letter at Plymouth on the 22nd,
-together with other information that the French fleet had
-passed towards Dunkirk. He thereupon hurried eastwards,
-arriving at the Downs on 24th June, and finding that the
-report as to the movement of the French fleet was false, prepared
-for the campaign against the Dutch fishermen.</p>
-
-<p>The Channel cruise of Northumberland’s fleet was thus as
-barren of result as had been Lindsey’s in the year before. He
-fell in with a few Dunkirk privateers, far too nimble to be
-caught up by the “great unwieldy” English ships. When in
-Portland Road, a glimpse was got of eight large ships at a
-great distance, which were thought to be States’ men-of-war.
-Northumberland stood towards them, but as soon as they perceived
-the movement they tacked about and were speedily out
-of sight. “They are so well built and fitted for sailing,”
-remarked the Earl, “that I can never come near when they
-have a mind to avoid, unless by chance.” It has indeed been
-well said that whether Charles was sovereign of the seas or
-not, he could not build ships that would sail.<a id="FNanchor_528" href="#Footnote_528" class="fnanchor">528</a> For the same
-reason the English vessels were unable to find the “Turkish”
-pirates, which, when the Earl put into Plymouth, came out of the
-Irish seas, and carried off about thirty English fishermen into
-captivity. During Northumberland’s cruise, Captain Carteret
-with six ships was busily employed in convoying such trading
-vessels “as desired it” from the English coast to Dunkirk or
-Ostend, “taking an acknowledgment in money of strangers.”<a id="FNanchor_529" href="#Footnote_529" class="fnanchor">529</a></p>
-
-<p>But if Northumberland was foiled by the Fabian tactics
-of Richelieu, as they had foiled Lindsey, with regard to the
-striking of the flag, he succeeded in forcing the Dutch fishermen
-to take the king’s license, a policy which Charles had
-contemplated long before even the first ship-money fleet was
-equipped. We have already seen how the Scottish burghs
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">292</span>
-in the course of the negotiations about the Fishery Society, repeatedly
-insisted that the unwelcome Hollander should be driven
-from their seas (see pp. 227, 234). As early indeed as 1630
-rumours were rife in Paris that a fleet of fifteen English ships,
-under the command of Sir Kenelm Digby, was to be equipped
-for this purpose;<a id="FNanchor_530" href="#Footnote_530" class="fnanchor">530</a> and there were signs from other quarters
-of what was impending. In 1634 Sir Nicholas Halse addressed
-a treatise to the king on Dutch trade and fisheries, like those
-so profusely bestowed on James, in which he drew a lively
-picture of the ills which arose from their predominance. The
-yearly profit derived by the Hollanders from their fishing in
-the British seas he placed at &pound;6,000,000 sterling, which enabled
-them to maintain their wars; and yet they were so ungrateful
-as to say that England would never be well governed until
-they had the governing of it. He recommended that the
-Hollanders should be licensed to enjoy half the fishings, a
-course which he said would make Charles the most powerful
-sovereign in Christendom,&mdash;superlatives and hyperbole never
-being stinted in such forecastings.<a id="FNanchor_531" href="#Footnote_531" class="fnanchor">531</a> Then a very influential
-body, the Merchant Adventurers, exasperated by certain
-measures taken by Holland and the States-General with
-respect to their staple at Amsterdam, petitioned the Council
-to retaliate, and among their retributory suggestions was the
-prohibition of the Hollanders from fishing on the British coasts
-or drying their nets on the English shore.<a id="FNanchor_532" href="#Footnote_532" class="fnanchor">532</a> It would appear
-indeed that originally one of the principal ostensible objects
-of the fleet of 1635 was to force licenses on the Dutch. Thus
-Nicholas, the Secretary to the Admiralty, who was not in the
-secret of the Spanish negotiations, in a memorandum drawn up
-in that year, suggested that the duties of the fleet should be
-the suppression of piracy about the mouth of the Straits, and
-the establishment of the king’s rights to the fishings in the
-eastern and northern seas.<a id="FNanchor_533" href="#Footnote_533" class="fnanchor">533</a></p>
-
-<p>The course upon which Charles had now embarked in reference
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">293</span>
-to foreign fishermen was a revival of the policy of the
-“assize-herring” of James. No foreigner was to be allowed
-to fish in the British seas without obtaining, and paying for,
-a license from the king. James, as we have seen, demanded
-his right in a pettifogging way, sending a scarcely-armed and
-half-dismantled pinnace among the busses, with a lawyer on
-board, to ask the tribute in fair and gentle words, and if refused
-“to take out instruments upon the said refusal.” Charles
-sent his Admiral with a powerful fleet, and with instructions
-to force the fishermen to take the licenses in spite of all
-opposition. The first step was to issue a formal proclamation
-like that issued by James in 1609, forbidding unlicensed
-fishing by foreigners. The opinion of the Lords of the Admiralty
-and their legal adviser (to whom appertained the jurisdiction
-of the fisheries) being emphatically in favour of the
-king’s claims, the draft proclamation was drawn up and submitted
-to them on 3rd May.<a id="FNanchor_534" href="#Footnote_534" class="fnanchor">534</a> It was approved, and published
-to the world on May 10th, four days before Northumberland
-joined the fleet.</p>
-
-<p>In this proclamation Charles recited the provisions contained
-in the earlier one of 1609, “since which time,” he said, “neither
-Our said father nor Our Self have made any considerable
-execution of the said Proclamation, but have with much
-patience expected a voluntary conformity of our neighbours
-and allies to so just and reasonable prohibitions and directions
-as are contained in the same.” But finding by experience
-that all the inconveniences which occasioned the previous
-proclamation had rather increased than abated, being “very
-sensible of the premises, and well knowing how far we are
-obliged in honour and conscience to maintain the rights of
-our Crown, especially of so great consequence,” he thought it
-necessary, by the advice of his Privy Council, “to renew the
-aforesaid restraint of fishing upon our aforesaid coasts and
-seas, without license first obtained from Us, and by these
-presents to make public declaration that Our resolution is (at
-times convenient) to keep such a competent strength of
-shipping upon Our Seas, as may (by God’s blessing) be sufficient,
-both to hinder such further encroachments upon Our
-regalities, and assist and protect those our good friends and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">294</span>
-allies, who shall henceforth, by virtue of our license (to be first
-obtained) endeavour to take the benefit of fishing upon our
-coasts and seas, in the places accustomed.”<a id="FNanchor_535" href="#Footnote_535" class="fnanchor">535</a></p>
-
-<p>In connection with the proclamation several hundred licenses
-were prepared, the precise form of which appears to have
-occasioned some trouble.<a id="FNanchor_536" href="#Footnote_536" class="fnanchor">536</a> The duty of drawing them up had
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">295</span>
-been remitted in April to Nicholas and Sir Henry Marten, and
-on June 14th a hundred of them were sent to Deal Castle for
-the Earl of Northumberland, with instructions from the Lords
-of the Admiralty. The king, they said, had told them he had
-already verbally given the Earl directions to charge the busses
-which took the licenses at the rate of twelvepence a ton; with respect
-to such as might refuse to accept the license, he was “to
-take order that they may not fish in the said seas; and in case
-they shall fish without license, he is to send their vessels and
-fish into some of his Majesty’s ports till further order.” The
-Admiralty left to his own discretion what ships he should take
-with him, but they said he would require the bigger ships to
-repel such force as he might encounter, and the smaller ships
-to apprehend the fisher-boats.</p>
-
-<p>The fleet remained at the Downs, victualling, taking in
-stores, and waiting for pilots acquainted with the northern
-coasts, from 24th June to 19th July. The masters of
-the ships were unwilling to risk the large vessels among
-“the sands and flats” of the east coast, or where there were
-no good harbours; and they were all of opinion that if they
-went at all, they ought to leave before 12th July, in order
-to fall in with the herring fleet north of Buchan Ness. In
-any case they declined to go unless pilots were provided,
-and these had to be obtained from the Cinque Ports and
-Yarmouth. There was obviously much reluctance in the
-fleet to go on this expedition. The objections and difficulties
-were brought to the notice of the king, but Charles stood
-firm, and expressed his “pleasure” that the northern voyage
-should be undertaken; and Northumberland before leaving
-wrote to Windebank to assure him that the fleet would
-decide the business they had in hand, for either the Dutch
-would take the licenses and pay the acknowledgment, or
-else the fleet “would put an end to that work.” There
-could be no doubt of success, because the men, he assured
-Windebank, were full of resolution to do the king’s service
-and gain credit to themselves. At the same time, he asked
-for further instructions with regard to his stay among the
-busses&mdash;those he had received, he said, being like oracles.<a id="FNanchor_537" href="#Footnote_537" class="fnanchor">537</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">296</span></p>
-
-<p>On July 19 the English fleet weighed anchor and shaped
-its course northwards in its expedition against the Dutch
-herring-boats. It consisted of sixteen ships, one Whelp,
-and a frigate; and both Vice-Admiral Sir John Pennington
-and Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Mervin accompanied the Earl.
-Contrary winds compelled them to come again to anchor,
-but on the 22nd a fair breeze carried them to the north of
-Cromer, on the Norfolk coast. On Sunday, 24th, when at
-Tynemouth, the Admiral called all his captains together and
-gave them precise instructions in the event of their meeting
-with any considerable opposition from the States’ men-of-war
-guarding the busses. On the 25th, 26th, and 27th, foul and
-misty weather caused them to ride at anchor ten leagues off
-the coast. About noon on the 28th they descried sixteen
-sail of herring-busses accompanied by one man-of-war; and
-immediately the Dutch skippers observed the English fleet
-they made off “with all the sails they could pack on.”
-Northumberland’s unwieldy ships started in pursuit&mdash;“but
-in vain,” wrote the Earl, “for none of our ships could come
-near them.” The States’ man-of-war was less fortunate or
-more courageous. It was from the first far astern of the
-busses, and it was soon overtaken by the <i>Swan</i>&mdash;which, it
-may be noted, was a Dunkirk privateer that had been captured
-and converted into an English warship. Northumberland
-kept the Dutch captain on board his own ship, the <i>Triumph</i>,
-all night, expecting, as he said, that the busses would not
-go far without him&mdash;for of course they were liable to be
-swooped upon by the privateers. But the fishermen now
-feared the Dunkirkers less than they feared the English
-fleet, and the Earl’s ruse failed. After dark he sent off
-four ships to try to surprise them at their nets, but “they
-plied away all night without making any stop.”<a id="FNanchor_538" href="#Footnote_538" class="fnanchor">538</a> They
-were well aware of the mission of the fleet, but they had
-no mind either for the license or the protection of the King
-of England. Next day Northumberland, finding that the
-busses “trusted only to their good sailing” and did not return,
-and that the convoying men-of-war were not likely to be
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">297</span>
-able to oppose him,&mdash;two or three “very meane ships only
-able to defend them from the Dunkirk frigates” accompanying
-each fleet of busses,&mdash;and hearing, moreover, that the
-principal fishing was past and most of the busses gone
-home, resolved to divide his fleet into three squadrons, the
-better to meet in with those which remained. Sir John
-Pennington was sent to the north as far as Buchan Ness,
-and Sir H. Mervin to the south as low down as Flamborough
-Head, each with instructions to use his best endeavours to
-get the Dutchmen to take the king’s licenses, while the Earl
-himself plied “to and again” between them. Next day&mdash;Saturday,
-30th July&mdash;being misty and calm, Northumberland’s
-squadron lay at anchor. About noon they espied four or
-five sail at a distance, and as there was not a breath of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">298</span>
-wind, the boats were ordered to take the frigate in tow and
-go towards them; but a breeze soon springing up, all the
-ships weighed anchor and stood after them. On getting up
-to them they proved to be a Hollander man-of-war and
-a few busses; but the fog was so great that they were
-unable that night to get more than three of the busses, the
-skippers of which, as well as the commander of the man-of-war,
-were brought on board the <i>Triumph</i>. On Sunday
-four other busses were captured, and having been manned with
-English sailors and threats made that their nets would be
-taken from them, they at last consented to receive licenses
-and pay the acknowledgment, and Northumberland sent
-them away “very well satisfied.”<a id="FNanchor_539" href="#Footnote_539" class="fnanchor">539</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_10" src="images/fig_10.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 10.&mdash;<i>Dutch Herring-busses under sail.</i> After Van der Meulen.</p></div>
-
-<p>On August 1 the Admiral stood into the Firth of Forth
-and despatched to Edinburgh a missive for the Court, telling
-the good news. Then the squadron from the 2nd to the
-8th of August beat off and on the coast, going as far north
-as Aberdeen (5th August) and reaching twenty to thirty
-leagues off without seeing any busses. It then turned
-southwards, and on the 9th gave chase to two men-of-war
-guarding a fleet of busses, the latter, as before, making all
-haste away. The Dutch men-of-war coming up to the
-English squadron, no doubt to inquire and protest, were
-promptly manned with English sailors and sent in hot haste
-after the busses that had fled. “Yet,” said the Earl, “with
-all the wayes we could use, we gott not above 20 of them,
-though wee spent divers shott to make them come in.”<a id="FNanchor_540" href="#Footnote_540" class="fnanchor">540</a> On
-the same afternoon Pennington’s squadron came up from the
-northwards, where they had succeeded in distributing only
-three licenses; and on this day three of the ships were sent
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">299</span>
-back to port by reason of “divers desertes,” which made
-them unfit to keep the sea longer.<a id="FNanchor_541" href="#Footnote_541" class="fnanchor">541</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_11" src="images/fig_11.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 11.&mdash;<i>Dutch Herring-busses hauling their nets, with convoying ship-of-war.</i>
-After Van der Meulen.</p></div>
-
-<p>Passing to the southward of the Firth of Forth on 10th
-August, the English squadron, before the day broke on the
-11th, had the good luck to sail into a great fleet of about
-two hundred busses, which were guarded by five States’ men-of-war.
-To thirty-five of these fishing-boats Rear-Admiral
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">300</span>
-Mervin, whose squadron was found here, had given licenses
-on the previous day, and Northumberland now distributed
-about a hundred more amongst them, and left the <i>Convertive</i>,
-the <i>Bonaventure</i>, and the <i>Fifth Whelp</i> to act as a guard to
-them on behalf of the King of England, with spare licenses
-for any other busses that might require them. Next day
-Northumberland disposed of a few more licenses and came
-to anchor, lest the ships should damage the long drifting-nets
-of the fishermen. But a heavy gale coming on and threatening
-to increase, the Admiral fired a warning gun and
-weighed at break of day on the 13th: so furious was the
-wind and sea that two of the vessels broke loose, and others
-had the greatest difficulty in getting up their anchors, and
-the English fleet was dispersed. The <i>Triumph</i> made for
-Scarborough, where it was joined during the next few days
-by the rest of the fleet, and then they all left for the
-Downs. On the morning of the 20th they descried twenty
-sail of good ships, and on filling sails and standing to them
-they found they were Dutch men-of-war, under Van Dorp,
-who, as we shall see, had been sent by the States-General
-to protect the busses and prevent the acceptance of the
-English licenses. The Dutch ships, as the Earl carefully
-recorded in his Journal, “tooke in all their flaggs, strucke
-their topsails, and every ship one after another saluted us
-with their guns, which we answered.” Van Dorp went on
-board the <i>Triumph</i> to explain to the English Admiral the
-reason of the presence there of the Hollander squadron, and
-when they departed they again saluted. On 22nd August
-the English fleet cast anchor in the Downs, and Van Dorp,
-having arrived too late to carry out the instructions of his
-Government, returned to the Flemish coast.<a id="FNanchor_542" href="#Footnote_542" class="fnanchor">542</a></p>
-
-<p>From the foregoing narrative it is clear that the Dutch
-fishermen evaded as much as they could the acceptance of
-the king’s licenses. They endeavoured to escape when escape
-was possible, and only yielded when they were threatened
-with the loss of their nets and the interruption of their
-fishing; and it would have shown little wisdom for the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">301</span>
-few small men-of-war guarding them to have attempted
-resistance to a force so superior. Northumberland, however,
-in his report, while explaining that from the lateness
-of the season they had encountered fewer busses than they
-expected, said that “those we could come to speak with,
-when they were made to understand the business, have
-been very willing to take licenses, and are most desirous
-of the King’s protection.” About two hundred licenses, he
-stated, had been distributed among the busses, and others
-were left with the ships he had appointed as their guard.<a id="FNanchor_543" href="#Footnote_543" class="fnanchor">543</a></p>
-
-<p>As was to be expected, the revival in England of the
-policy of James as to unlicensed fishing by foreigners on
-the British coasts occasioned serious concern in the United
-Provinces. Since Charles came to the throne the Dutch had
-been careful to repress as much as they could any cause of
-further complaints from Scotland. In 1628, when they were
-informed of the continued “insolencies” of their fishermen,
-the States-General renewed their previous edict (<a href="#Page_179">see p. 179</a>),
-and gave instructions that extracts from it should be sent
-to the Chancellor of Scotland; and they issued peremptory
-orders to the captains of the convoying ships and the masters
-of the busses and others to obey it strictly.<a id="FNanchor_544" href="#Footnote_544" class="fnanchor">544</a> When the
-Fishery Society was instituted, the States were kept advised
-by their ambassador in London of its progress and of the
-measures proposed to be taken at the Hebrides and on the
-east coast; and although they soon perceived that they had
-very little to fear from it in the sphere of commercial competition,
-they rightly suspected that the project foreshadowed
-the revival of exclusive claims to the fishery, such as had
-given them so much trouble under James.<a id="FNanchor_545" href="#Footnote_545" class="fnanchor">545</a> We have noted
-also how anxiety was aroused in Holland over the equipment
-of Lindsey’s fleet, and that Joachimi, their ambassador,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">302</span>
-had got wind of the intention to send some of the ships
-northwards among the busses. But the proclamation of
-10th May as to “restraint of fishing” removed any lingering
-doubts they had of the king’s intentions, especially as
-it appeared so soon after the publication of <i>Mare Clausum</i>.
-At that time the policy of the Dutch was earnestly directed
-towards detaching England from the side of Spain and
-bringing her into line with France and the Republic, and
-a special ambassador, Van Beveren, was sent over to the
-English Court to help Joachimi in bringing this about. He
-arrived in London in March 1636, and in April Coke and
-Windebank explained to him that the intention of the king
-in setting forth the fleet was to preserve and maintain his
-sovereignty and hereditary right over the sea, as well as
-to furnish convoys for the protection of traffic; and further,
-that no one could be allowed to fish in the British seas
-without express license from the king, and the rendering
-of a proper acknowledgment for the liberty. They told him
-that the Dutch fishermen would find the king’s protection
-against the Dunkirk privateers both advantageous and profitable.
-On asking for a statement in writing of the king’s
-claims, the Dutch ambassadors were coldly referred to Selden’s
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>.</p>
-
-<p>In notifying the States-General of this conversation, Van
-Beveren asked for prompt and precise instructions how to
-deal with what he described as an important, dangerous,
-and far-reaching business. He was told by De Seneterre,
-the French ambassador, that he had received a similar notification,
-and that he had expressed the opinion that it was
-inopportune to raise at that time a prickly question that
-had been sleeping for five-and-twenty years, and which
-was equivalent to a tacit declaration of war against the
-United Provinces. At an interview which Van Beveren had
-with Charles on April 25th, he explained that the main
-object of his coming was to arrange for open and combined
-action against Spain and help to the young Elector to recover
-the Palatinate; but the king in a few words put the proposed
-alliance aside, and began to speak of the herring
-fishery. The States-General, always anxious to burk discussion
-of this matter, had postponed giving Van Beveren
-definite instructions about it, in the hope and expectation
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">303</span>
-that it would be submerged in the more important business
-of the alliance.<a id="FNanchor_546" href="#Footnote_546" class="fnanchor">546</a> There were other circumstances which
-led them to think the king would not press his claim to
-the fishery. One was that the publication of the proclamation
-for restraint of fishing had been delayed, and even its
-promulgation denied. It seems, indeed, that the opinions
-of Charles as to his policy on this question were constantly
-fluctuating, and that he could scarcely make up his mind
-as to what it were best for him to do. Both the young
-Elector, his nephew, whom Van Beveren had gained over
-to his views, and his sister, the Elector’s mother and Queen
-of Bohemia, were against any interference with the Dutch
-fishermen at that time. It was doubtless with some knowledge
-of the state of affairs, that the Earl of Northumberland
-inquired in May if the king was still desirous that
-he should go north against the busses. But in June all
-scruples had vanished: the instructions were sent to Northumberland
-and the proclamation was widely disseminated.
-In the States of Holland the king’s edict was discussed at
-the beginning of June, and it was remitted to a committee,
-with Joachimi (then in Holland) and the Prince of Orange,
-for consideration, and to report as to what measures should
-be taken to protect the interests of the fishermen. The
-States finally resolved to do two things&mdash;first, to endeavour
-by all diplomatic means to get the proposed action of the
-king delayed, and second, to equip a strong fleet to protect
-the fishermen by force lest diplomacy failed.</p>
-
-<p>In these anxious days Van Beveren kept a tireless eye on
-the English fleet lying in the Downs, and reported to the
-States-General from time to time anything he learned of its
-movements or the rumours he heard concerning it.<a id="FNanchor_547" href="#Footnote_547" class="fnanchor">547</a> Twelve
-days before it sailed for the north, he informed them that the
-general opinion was that it would return to the westwards to
-look for the French fleet. A few days later he discovered its
-real destination, and at once demanded an audience of the king.
-Charles received him very courteously at Windsor on the
-17th July; assured him that he would treat the Dutch “as
-friends”; and explained that the measures to be taken by the
-fleet were of a peaceful nature, and were intended to benefit
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">304</span>
-the fishermen by extending to them the protection of England
-against the Dunkirk privateers, from whom they had suffered
-so much in the previous year. The payment of a small acknowledgment
-would in reality, he said, be very profitable to
-them. Van Beveren had accordingly to content himself as
-well as he could with these assurances. He received the condolences
-of the French ambassador, with whom he had frequent
-interviews, and who pointed out to him that the circumstances
-of the time were such that the wisest course would be to deprive
-the king of every pretext for open hostility. If the
-matter could only be prolonged under the pretence of negotiations
-until peace was concluded with Spain, then indeed France&mdash;ay,
-and even Spain too, he added&mdash;would join with the
-States in bringing the King of England speedily to reason.
-When Northumberland actually departed for the north, Van
-Beveren immediately informed the States-General of the important
-fact; but it was not long until the king was able to
-tell him that the fishermen had accepted the licenses and paid
-the acknowledgment “with good contentment.”<a id="FNanchor_548" href="#Footnote_548" class="fnanchor">548</a></p>
-
-<p>The ambassador’s reports, and still more the accounts which
-soon poured in from the busses and the convoys of their treatment
-by the English fleet, raised a storm of indignation in the
-United Provinces. Captain Ruyter sent on, for visual inspection,
-the safe-conduct or passport which the Earl of Northumberland
-had forced upon him; and Joost Bouwensz, and some
-of the other skippers who had taken the licenses, were loud in
-their complaints. The unheard-of proceeding was discussed in
-every seaport town.</p>
-
-<p>The ordinary ambassador, Joachimi, then in Holland, was
-hurried back to England&mdash;at such a pace, indeed, that two of
-the horses in his carriage dropped dead in one day from exhaustion
-as he sped Londonwards. He was to express to the
-king the regret of their High Mightinesses that he should send
-his powerful “armada” among the poor herring fishermen, who
-had been so much scared and frightened that many had withdrawn
-from the fishing altogether and returned home; and the
-king was to be urged to suspend further action until the matter
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">305</span>
-had been considered by commissioners to be appointed by both
-sides.<a id="FNanchor_549" href="#Footnote_549" class="fnanchor">549</a> In his audience with Charles, Joachimi avoided the
-long juridical arguments which used to tire the patience of
-King James. He laid stress on the close connection of the
-fishery question, so dear to the United Provinces, and the restoration
-of the Palatinate, in which the States might be able
-to afford valuable aid; expatiated on the long and close friendship
-that had existed between England and the Netherlands;
-and depicted in moving terms the poverty and hard life of
-the poor fishermen. But it was all in vain. Charles declared
-that to ask him to abdicate his sovereignty of the sea was as
-absurd as if Spain should ask him to give up Ireland; and he
-added&mdash;probably with the knowledge that the States-General
-had commissioned Graswinckel to answer Selden (<a href="#Page_375">see p. 375</a>)&mdash;that
-the publication of books in France, Spain, and the Netherlands,
-contesting his rights, made it necessary for him to
-vindicate his sovereignty with all the more strength. The
-same attitude was maintained in a formal paper handed to
-Joachimi a little later, in reply to his proposals and representations.
-In this Charles announced his firm intention to control
-the fisheries in his own seas. He would only permit foreigners
-to fish there if they accepted his license and “acknowledged”
-his right, that is, paid tribute. The request for a conference of
-commissioners to consider the question was rejected. The king
-could not with honour, it was said, listen to such a proposal.
-His right had already been publicly confirmed before the whole
-world, and was sustained and recognised by all the great kings
-in performing homage to the fleet at sea, as well as by the
-Dutch themselves, who were very glad of the protection afforded
-to them.<a id="FNanchor_550" href="#Footnote_550" class="fnanchor">550</a> Joachimi had to return to The Hague without having
-accomplished anything.</p>
-
-<p>By another channel influence was brought to bear on the
-king to induce him to suspend the campaign against the Dutch
-fishermen. Elizabeth, the widowed Queen of Bohemia and the
-sister of Charles, resided at The Hague, patiently waiting for
-some lucky turn in the wheel of fortune which might replace
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">306</span>
-her son in possession of the Palatinate. She was led to believe
-that the States would aid in this project, and in her correspondence
-with Sir Thomas Roe and Archbishop Laud she often
-murmured gently against her brother’s policy. When Joachimi
-was hustled back to London, she wrote to Roe that the Dutch
-were in great alarm about the herring-busses, and she breathed
-the wish that “all might be laid aside at that time” when
-they had so much need of the States; “the king,” she said,
-“might do it upon that consideration, and keep his claim still
-good, to take it up again when he would.”<a id="FNanchor_551" href="#Footnote_551" class="fnanchor">551</a> Roe argued on
-the other side. He thought it would show wisdom on the part
-of Holland, and be greatly to her advantage, if, avoiding an
-open breach with England, she acknowledged the right of the
-king and accepted his protection for her fishermen. In this
-way the States would reap all the advantages they already
-had, and be relieved of the expense of maintaining a fleet to
-protect the busses. The king, he felt sure, could not now recede
-“without weakening or blemishing his right, or his power,
-to all posterity”; he was prepared to guard the Dutch fishermen
-and to fight for them as his own subjects; and as for the
-“acknowledgment,” that would be really only a small thing
-and would not burden the fishing&mdash;which would never be
-thought of. “I doe confidently affirme to your Majesty,” continued
-Roe, “that this affair of ye king is a safetye, an honour,
-an happines, and utilitye to them, and will, if they know how
-to use it as a medicine, heale all ulcerations and discontents
-that have beene bred, or aggravated, by enemies of our mutuall
-and necessarye amitye.... Therefore I beseech your Majestie
-to inform the Prince of Orange clearely, there is noe other way,
-if they desire to reconcile, and to oblige the king at once; and if
-our amity be to them of any value, lett them beginn to doe right
-and honour to his Majestie,”&mdash;and they would get more than
-they hoped for in other things. At all events, he said, Joachimi
-had failed to get any satisfaction of his request to have the
-“execution” on the second fishing suspended, for a new command
-had been sent to the Admiral to visit the busses again.<a id="FNanchor_552" href="#Footnote_552" class="fnanchor">552</a></p>
-
-<p>This was indeed the case. Northumberland’s success had
-gratified the king, and yet it was felt it had fallen short of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">307</span>
-what it might have been if they only had got among the
-busses in time. It was therefore resolved to send the fleet
-among the Dutch fishermen who came to the Yarmouth fishing
-in September and October, and to continue the process of
-forcing licenses upon them. The Earl of Northumberland left
-the Downs for Yarmouth on 16th September, taking with him
-eight ships and a pinnace; another ship was to follow later.
-He felt that his task at Yarmouth would be more difficult than
-his first had been. Then, the only advantage the busses had
-was their good sailing; now they would have others owing to
-the season and the place&mdash;shoal waters; and if they avoided
-the king’s ships, he said, as they did in the north, it would be
-impossible to bring any numbers of them into “conformity.”
-He also requested fresh licenses, because some words in those
-he had would require to be blotted out, which “would not be
-so handsome to be seen abroad.”<a id="FNanchor_553" href="#Footnote_553" class="fnanchor">553</a></p>
-
-<p>The weather being stormy, they had to anchor one night off
-the North Foreland and the next off Lowestoft, reaching Yarmouth
-Roads on the 18th, where they lay for a few days
-getting pilots and gathering information about the Dutch
-fishermen. Hearing that some Holland men-of-war were
-cruising outside, the Earl guessed that the herring-boats
-would not be far off, and the wind being fair, the fleet weighed
-anchor on the morning of the 22nd and stood out to sea. When
-clear of the sands they again anchored, and the ketch was sent
-out during the night to discover the whereabouts of the busses,
-but without success. Next day the fleet stood off farther to
-sea, but failed to see or to hear anything of the Hollanders,
-and being joined by a ninth ship, the <i>Swallow</i>, the fleet lay at
-anchor in “blowing weather” about ten leagues from the coast
-until Monday, September 26. Two of the ships, the <i>James</i>
-and the <i>Nonsuch</i>, had been driven out of sight by the gale;
-two, the pinnace and the <i>Fortune</i> pinck, had to run nearer
-shore for fear of foundering; and the Admiral sent the two
-London ships, the <i>Jonas</i> and the <i>Neptune</i>, into port, because
-they were insufficiently victualled. On this day news was
-brought from Yarmouth, received from a Scottish ship which
-had arrived from Zealand, that the Dutch had forbidden any
-more busses to go to the fishing that year, and the Earl advised
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">308</span>
-Windebank to this effect.<a id="FNanchor_554" href="#Footnote_554" class="fnanchor">554</a> The rumour, however, was false, for
-on the 28th a fleet of fifty sail of busses and two or three men-of-war
-was descried to windward, but Northumberland was
-able to speak to only three of them that “wanted licenses.”
-On the next day, as they were following the busses that “would
-not come near them,” they caught sight of another fleet of
-about sixty sail, with three men-of-war, and the English ships
-went amongst them and cast anchor, and made the convoyers
-anchor also; “then,” said the Earl, “all the busses of both fleets
-came about us; most of them had formerly taken licenses, and
-such as were unprovided were then furnished by us.” Next
-day, finding no more of the herring-boats “that wanted
-licenses,” the English squadron weighed anchor and shortly
-afterwards perceived a third large fleet of busses, guarded this
-time by ten men-of-war. To this fleet they gave chase, plying
-up to windward all night, and on October 1, as the wind
-prevented the boats being sent out, they anchored in sight of
-them. All Sunday it also “overblew,” but as the weather
-grew calmer at night the squadron again got under way, and
-by daybreak was among the busses, which were, no doubt,
-busily engaged in hauling their nets. Northumberland stayed
-amongst them until October 5, the ships’ boats being kept
-occupied each day in distributing the licenses; but they
-“found it a very troublesome business,” as the busses dispersed,
-and it became difficult to distinguish those that had
-taken licenses from those that had not. The weather growing
-misty and unsettled, and the Admiral being “out of all hope to
-give out any more licenses,” the squadron quitted the herring
-fleet and made for Yarmouth, where the Earl landed on October 9
-and journeyed to the Court. Altogether, at the Yarmouth fishing,
-more than 200 licenses were distributed among over 400
-busses which were present, and no opposition was offered by
-any of the fifteen men-of-war which were guarding them.
-“The unwillingnesse of the busses to come neere us,” wrote
-Northumberland to the Admiralty, “hath found us intertainement
-for 8 dayes together in following them, but now we have
-left verie few of them unprovided of his Majesty’s licenses.”<a id="FNanchor_555" href="#Footnote_555" class="fnanchor">555</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">309</span></p>
-
-<p>Thus ended the campaign against the Dutch herring-boats,
-from which, as we have seen, Charles desired to reap profit as
-well as honour. So far as the profit went, it did not amount
-to much. Appended to the official journal of the voyage of
-the fleet is a statement of the sums received for convoying
-shipping,&mdash;which, in accordance with the advice of the Admiralty,
-was voluntary,&mdash;and also of the “acknowledgment money”
-taken from the fishing-busses. The former amounted to &pound;999,
-nearly all of which was earned by the convoying of merchantmen
-and small traders to Dunkirk and Ostend.<a id="FNanchor_556" href="#Footnote_556" class="fnanchor">556</a> Small as the
-amount was, it greatly exceeded what was exacted from the
-Dutch busses for king’s license and protection, the total being
-&pound;501, 15s. 2d., collected in a variety of coins.<a id="FNanchor_557" href="#Footnote_557" class="fnanchor">557</a> The detailed
-schedule is as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<table>
- <tr>
- <td>“In Rix Dollo<sup>rs</sup></td>
- <td class="tdr">878</td>
- <td class="tdr">163</td>
- <td class="tdr">10</td>
- <td class="tdr">08</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>In halfe Crownes</td>
- <td class="tdr">145</td>
- <td class="tdr">018</td>
- <td class="tdr">02</td>
- <td class="tdr">06</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>In pieces of 3<sup>s</sup></td>
- <td class="tdr">40</td>
- <td class="tdr">006</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>In Kunnings Dollo<sup>rs</sup></td>
- <td class="tdr">100</td>
- <td class="tdr">025</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>In Ryalls of 8</td>
- <td class="tdr">134&frac12;</td>
- <td class="tdr">029</td>
- <td class="tdr">02</td>
- <td class="tdr">10</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>English money</td>
- <td />
- <td class="tdr">018</td>
- <td class="tdr">12</td>
- <td class="tdr">08</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>English Gold</td>
- <td />
- <td class="tdr">119</td>
- <td class="tdr">13</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Dutch and Scotch Angells</td>
- <td />
- <td class="tdr">015</td>
- <td class="tdr">15</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Hungare Duckats</td>
- <td class="tdr">7</td>
- <td class="tdr">002</td>
- <td class="tdr">09</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Dutch and French money</td>
- <td />
- <td class="tdr">001</td>
- <td class="tdr">05</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Dutch shillings</td>
- <td />
- <td class="tdr">066</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Double Stivers</td>
- <td />
- <td class="tdr">030</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- <td class="tdr">06</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Single Stivers</td>
- <td />
- <td class="tdr">005</td>
- <td class="tdr">06</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>In Silver</td>
- <td />
- <td class="tdr">000</td>
- <td class="tdr">18</td>
- <td class="tdr">00</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td />
- <td />
- <td class="tdr bt">501</td>
- <td class="tdr bt">15</td>
- <td class="tdr bt">02”</td>
- </tr></table>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">310</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_12" src="images/fig_12.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 12.&mdash;<i>Facsimile of the official account of the monies received from
-the Dutch herring fishermen for the king’s licenses.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>There is probably no circumstance connected with the English
-claims to the sovereignty of the seas that has been more frequently
-misrepresented by historians, pamphleteers, and writers
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">311</span>
-on international law than the operations of Northumberland’s
-fleet, and in particular the amount paid by the Dutch herring
-fishermen for the king’s licenses; and so far as appears, the
-account given here is the first that is authentic and correct.
-Although Northumberland’s Journal is preserved among the
-national records, only one author seems to have quoted from it,
-namely, Evelyn, and he deliberately misrepresented it. Under
-the hands of various authors the sum of money gradually
-became swelled to &pound;30,000, or even to &pound;100,000, and it was
-represented as a rent paid by the Dutch for permission to fish,
-and played an important part in all later controversies and
-negotiations.<a id="FNanchor_558" href="#Footnote_558" class="fnanchor">558</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">312</span></p>
-
-<p>The doings of Northumberland’s fleet at the Yarmouth fishing
-caused increased excitement in Holland. Van Beveren knowing,
-as he said, that the English ships had not gone northwards
-“to catch flies,” immediately sent intelligence of its departure
-to Admiral Van Dorp, so that he might extend his protection to
-the Dutch fishermen. Early in August the Admiral had been
-expressly instructed to guard the fishermen “from the Spanish
-and all others inclined to molest them”; and he had a fleet of
-fifty-seven sail under his command for this purpose.<a id="FNanchor_559" href="#Footnote_559" class="fnanchor">559</a> But Van
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">313</span>
-Dorp was too late. As we have seen, he met the Earl of Northumberland
-on the 20th August returning triumphantly to the
-Downs. On asking the English Admiral why he was among
-the busses, he was politely told “to protect the fishermen,” and
-when Northumberland asked the reason of the presence of the
-Dutch fleet, he received the same answer, “to protect the fishermen.”
-It was a perplexing position for Van Dorp. His instructions
-were to guard the busses from molestation, but they
-contained no article which covered the case as it now presented
-itself, and to attack the English squadron under the circumstances
-would have been foolish. He therefore sailed back to
-the coast of Flanders to watch the Spanish ships. He returned
-to the English coast in September, and on the very day that
-Northumberland left the Downs for Yarmouth the Dutch fleet
-was actually lying at that port. Van Dorp again missed both
-the English squadron and the herring-busses, and resumed
-“plying to and again” between Dover and Calais.<a id="FNanchor_560" href="#Footnote_560" class="fnanchor">560</a> The States-General
-were much incensed at this failure of their Admiral to
-prevent the distribution of the licenses. As they well knew, it
-furnished Charles with a precedent, and with the argument
-that the Dutch fishermen desired his protection and were willing
-to accept and pay for his licenses. When a suitable opportunity
-occurred in the following year, they forced Van Dorp to resign
-his office.<a id="FNanchor_561" href="#Footnote_561" class="fnanchor">561</a></p>
-
-<p>As the herring-fishing was now over for the year, the States
-had time to consider what they ought to do in the following
-season if Charles persisted in his attempts. On two occasions
-it was resolved to issue an edict forbidding the fishermen to
-accept licenses from any foreign prince;<a id="FNanchor_562" href="#Footnote_562" class="fnanchor">562</a> and this would certainly
-have been done had Charles adhered to his policy. But
-the States naturally hesitated, until it should be absolutely
-necessary, to take a step which would at once have placed them
-in direct antagonism to England in the eyes of the whole world,
-and the publication of the edict was from time to time delayed.
-This cautious conduct served their purpose much better, for
-before the fishing season of 1637 arrived, the kaleidoscope of
-Charles’s foreign relations had taken another turn, and he was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">314</span>
-anxious to avoid further trouble with the Dutch. The Earl of
-Arundel, who had been sent to Vienna on one of the king’s
-wild-goose missions, to negotiate a treaty with the Emperor for
-the restoration of the Palatinate, returned unsuccessful to England
-at the close of the year. He came back full of bitterness
-at the perfidy of Spain, and persistently urged a French alliance,
-even if it should lead to war with the former Power. The
-strenuous arguments of Arundel, as well as the treatment of his
-mission, caused Charles to turn again to France, the ally of the
-Dutch Republic; and Richelieu promptly proposed an alliance
-against Spain and the Emperor, one result of which would have
-been to range England and the States on the same side in a
-maritime war.<a id="FNanchor_563" href="#Footnote_563" class="fnanchor">563</a></p>
-
-<p>At such a conjuncture the promulgation of the edict of the
-States-General would have been unfortunate, and Arundel
-requested George Goring, who had gone to The Hague, to see
-the Prince of Orange in order to get it suppressed. But the
-Prince of Orange, while anxious enough to avoid further trouble
-with England, desired, before he consented, to receive an assurance
-that the king would cease from molesting the Dutch fishermen
-in the ensuing season. The Queen of Bohemia urged the
-same course. She “humbly besought” her royal brother to
-suspend further execution of his right, which, she said, he might
-take up again when he would, without any prejudice, “as the
-king, our father, did.” Charles was loth to give an assurance
-so wounding to his vanity, and so opposed to what he conceived
-to be a chief prerogative of his crown. In the autumn Sir
-Thomas Roe had declared that the difficulty in the way for the
-benefit of the Prince Elector arose from the fishery dispute,
-and that upon nothing was the will of the king more firmly
-bent: if the Dutch did not yield, he feared “another procedure”
-next season. Even in February, Archbishop Laud told Elizabeth
-that the king was “so set to maintain the dominion of the sea”
-that he durst not speak to him any more about it. At the same
-time he gave a broad hint that nothing further would be attempted
-against the Dutch fishermen in the approaching season.
-He much wondered, he said, that the Prince of Orange and
-the States should trouble themselves to gain an overt concession
-from his Majesty to leave their fishing that year, since
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">315</span>
-it was “more than manifest” there would be so much other
-work for his navy that the business of the fishing must needs
-fall asleep of itself. He would advise a silence on all hands in
-regard to it, and not to interrupt “business with moving a
-question about that which would necessarily do itself (<i>sic</i>) without
-questioning.” Sir Thomas Roe also sent the queen assurances
-in the same sense. The king, he said, would never retract
-his declaration of the dominion of the sea, but “only for this
-year, and at the request of the Prince (her son) and in contemplation
-of concurrence expected with him, he will not trouble
-their fishing.” These assurances seemed so far satisfactory to
-the States that the edicts were suppressed. They would be
-well content, they informed Elizabeth, if the king “forgot it
-and spoke no more of it,” which she told them she was confident
-he would not, having things of greater importance on
-hand.<a id="FNanchor_564" href="#Footnote_564" class="fnanchor">564</a></p>
-
-<p>The young Elector, Prince Charles Louis, took a considerable
-part in the conversion of the king; or rather, he was made use
-of by the Dutch ambassador for this purpose. When Van
-Beveren first arrived in London, he let it be known that the
-States were desirous of doing something for the Prince; but
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">316</span>
-his hint was not then taken up, since hopes were entertained
-that Arundel’s mission to Vienna would make other aid
-unnecessary.<a id="FNanchor_565" href="#Footnote_565" class="fnanchor">565</a> Arundel was recalled in September; it was
-known that his mission had failed, and early in October Van
-Beveren saw his opportunity. Through a trustworthy friend<a id="FNanchor_566" href="#Footnote_566" class="fnanchor">566</a>
-the suggestion was made to the Elector that if some arrangement
-could be come to about the fishery question, negotiations
-might be begun for a treaty between the States and England
-relating to the recovery of the Palatinate. The ambassador
-learned that the Prince had already taken steps in the same
-direction. Through the intermediary of Laud, the proposal
-had been made to Charles that the Dutch, instead of paying
-license-money for liberty to fish in the British seas, should
-place at the disposal of the Elector some ships and soldiers,
-the king’s proclamation for restraint of fishing being meanwhile
-suspended. Charles would not agree to this. The ambassador,
-he said, had offered assistance when he arrived
-without any hope of an equivalent on his part, and he could
-not give up his claim to an acknowledgment of his rights.
-Van Beveren, on the other hand, informed his confidant that
-it was a question of principle with the States, and that it
-would be better to break off all negotiations if the “acknowledgment”
-was insisted on. Nevertheless, these private negotiations
-continued, and finally a draft treaty was prepared
-embodying two proposals. The first agreed well enough with
-Van Beveren’s instructions. It was to the effect that a fleet
-should be equipped to which England should contribute thirty
-ships and 8000 men, and the States fifteen ships and 4000
-men; and France was to be asked to furnish the same force
-as England. The combined fleet was to attack Spain by sea
-and effect a landing. The second proposal related to the fishery,
-and it provided that while these operations were going on,
-the Dutch herring fishermen would be allowed to fish freely
-and in security, as they had always done from the time of
-Queen Elizabeth and King James, approaching the coasts
-near enough to carry on their fishing profitably, and to dry
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">317</span>
-their nets on shore, without the king interfering with them in
-any way.<a id="FNanchor_567" href="#Footnote_567" class="fnanchor">567</a></p>
-
-<p>This proposition, at first sight apparently favourable to the
-States, was rejected by Van Beveren. Although it got rid
-of the difficulty for the time, the question was sure to be raised
-at a later period when the naval and military operations were
-concluded; its acceptance would, moreover, be equivalent to a
-tacit acknowledgment that the king had the right to exclude
-them from the fishery. The ambassador was afraid of a
-precedent which bargained as a <i>quid pro quo</i> for what was
-claimed as a right; and the negotiations went no further.</p>
-
-<p>But Charles, although unwilling to risk the success of the
-treaty with France, from which great things were expected,
-by openly insisting upon the acceptance of his licenses by the
-Dutch fishermen, was reluctant to abandon his policy. From
-the readiness with which the fishermen had taken the licenses
-after they “understood” them (as Northumberland reported),
-he was apparently led to believe that they really desired his
-protection, and that the only obstacle in his way was the
-opposition of the States’ Government. He therefore decided
-that instead of trying&mdash;or at least before trying&mdash;to enforce
-the licenses by means of the fleet in the ensuing summer, the
-attempt might be made secretly to induce the fishermen to
-accept them in Holland before they left for the fishing. Boswell,
-the English ambassador at The Hague, was instructed
-to try what could be done in this way, and so anxious was
-Charles for such acknowledgment of his sovereignty of the
-sea as acceptance of the licenses implied, that the ambassador
-was authorised to reinforce his persuasion by bribing those
-who were most influential among the fishermen. The fishermen,
-according to Boswell, were not averse to the proposal, but
-they very naturally wished to know, first of all, how the licenses
-of the King of England would protect them from the Dunkirk
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">318</span>
-privateers. If the Government at Brussels would acknowledge
-the validity of the licenses, or if the Cardinal Infant agreed
-to back them with passports of his own, the offer, they said,
-would be worth considering; but they could scarcely depend
-on the protection of the English fleet alone. As a sign that
-they were in earnest, they offered to place &pound;2000 at Boswell’s
-disposal if he could get the matter settled in this way. This
-sum, with the king’s approval, was forwarded to the English
-representative at Brussels, to be used in gaining over the
-Spanish authorities.<a id="FNanchor_568" href="#Footnote_568" class="fnanchor">568</a> The Dutch fishermen were a practical
-race of men. They cared little for abstract questions about
-the sovereignty of the sea. But they suffered much from
-the Dunkirk privateers, and the burden of maintaining convoys
-was a heavy one. Any reasonable scheme which promised
-to free them from the attacks of their relentless enemy at
-small cost was bound to be attractive. That the proposal was
-seriously considered was also shown by a spontaneous application
-made to the Secretary of the English Admiralty on behalf
-of the fishermen of Schiedam. The agent in London, Mr
-Brames, who supplied them with lampreys for bait, wrote
-to Nicholas for a copy of the license granted in the previous
-year, with a statement of the rates charged. If the fishermen
-were pleased with the license and the price, they would, he
-said, come themselves for them. Charles instructed Nicholas
-to give the information wanted, but only “as from himself.”<a id="FNanchor_569" href="#Footnote_569" class="fnanchor">569</a></p>
-
-<p>An unexpected obstacle intervened to prevent the plan being
-carried out. Gerbier, the British agent at Brussels, chiefly
-by bribing the mistress of the Cardinal Infant, had secured a
-promise that the passports would be granted; but the Spanish
-Admiral absolutely refused to be bound by them. He declared
-he would not spare a single herring-boat, even if the Cardinal
-went down on his knees to him. He would pay attention to
-no passport that did not come direct from Madrid.<a id="FNanchor_570" href="#Footnote_570" class="fnanchor">570</a> Thereupon
-the Dutch fishermen refused to have anything to do with the
-licenses which had been sent to Boswell “under the King’s
-hand and signet.”<a id="FNanchor_571" href="#Footnote_571" class="fnanchor">571</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">319</span></p>
-
-<p>Still, the peculiar resources of Charles were not exhausted.
-He might yet, he thought, be able to distribute the licenses
-among the fishermen when they came to fish off the British
-coast, without employing his fleet for the purpose, or running
-the risk of war with the Republic. The third ship-money
-fleet had assembled in the Downs in April and May; it consisted
-of twenty-eight ships, of which nine were merchant
-vessels, and the Earl of Northumberland was again appointed
-Admiral, his instructions, dated 15th April, being identical
-with those of the previous year.<a id="FNanchor_572" href="#Footnote_572" class="fnanchor">572</a> The state of the negotiations
-with France, and other causes, prevented the king from renewing
-his enterprise against either the French for the honour
-of the flag or the Dutch in connection with the fishery. The
-fleet, therefore, to the wonder and discontentment of the
-officers, was kept for the most part lying at anchor, ships
-being occasionally detached for special purposes.</p>
-
-<p>On 3rd July, Windebank wrote to the Earl of Northumberland
-telling him of the failure of the secret treaty with the
-Cardinal Infant, and saying that it was the intention of the
-Hollanders, who had refused the king’s licenses sent to Boswell,
-to fish in his Majesty’s seas as heretofore, many of the busses
-having already left Holland under strong convoys. By the
-king’s commands he sent him about 200 licenses, “and withal
-his pleasure is,” said Windebank, “that you dispatch immediately
-one of the merchant ships under your charge (being not
-willing to employ any of his own until it appear what the
-success will be) toward the north with these licenses, with
-order to make offer of them to the fishers, and if they accept
-them to distribute them at the same rates they were taken
-the last year. And if such as take them,” he continued,
-“desire to be safe-conducted in their return, your Lordship is
-to assure them his Majesty will take them into his protection,
-and cause some of his fleet to accompany them homewards
-for their defence.” But if the fishermen refused to take the
-licenses, then the Earl was to notify the fact to the king,
-who would “take further resolution.” Sir William Boswell,
-added the Secretary, had been informed of the king’s intentions,
-and told to assure the fishermen willing to take the
-licenses of his Majesty’s protection. The Cardinal Infant and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">320</span>
-the Spanish Ministers had also been informed, and did not
-well relish it.<a id="FNanchor_573" href="#Footnote_573" class="fnanchor">573</a></p>
-
-<p>This despatch, sent by express messenger, appears to have
-somewhat surprised the Earl. His clear intelligence must
-have told him that a tortuous and fatuous proceeding of this
-kind could only end by making the king ridiculous. He
-apparently wished Charles to reconsider the matter, and asked
-for further directions. Ignoring part of Windebank’s letter, he
-inquired how Captain Fielding, whom he intended to send,
-should behave himself if the fishermen proved obstinate and
-refused the licenses; and he pointed out that if they accepted
-them and the king resolved they should be convoyed home, it
-would need a large number of ships, as the busses returned in
-small fleets.<a id="FNanchor_574" href="#Footnote_574" class="fnanchor">574</a> Windebank two days later repeated the instruction
-that, if they refused, the fact was to be immediately notified,
-when the king would take further resolution. “The truth
-is,” he said, “his Majesty in this present conjuncture is not
-willing to proceed so roundly with them as he hath done heretofore,
-and therefore thinks fit to hold this way of inviting
-them fairly to acknowledge his right without sending his
-whole fleet, which would be a manifest engagement and obligation
-to him in honour to perfect the work upon any conditions,
-and notwithstanding any opposition whatsoever, and might be
-of dangerous consequence, and destructive to the present condition
-of his affairs. And therefore he chooses rather to attempt
-it with as little noise as may be, that if the business take not
-in this way it may receive the less blow, and in case of their
-refusal he may have time deliberately to consider what resolution
-to settle.”<a id="FNanchor_575" href="#Footnote_575" class="fnanchor">575</a></p>
-
-<p>At this time Charles was very anxious to be on good terms
-with the States. Van Beveren, the special Dutch ambassador,
-who was returning home, was very cordially received by him
-on taking his leave on 16th July. The king then insisted on
-the States entering the alliance, and he expressed his pleasure
-at the courtesies which had been shown to the Prince Elector.
-Besides the usual gifts on such occasions, Van Beveren tells us
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">321</span>
-he sent him a few days later a handsome diamond ring.<a id="FNanchor_576" href="#Footnote_576" class="fnanchor">576</a> But
-even if Charles had been moved by no special desire to conciliate
-the Republic, the preparations which were being made in
-Holland to guard the fishermen from molestation might have
-given pause to the attempt to repeat the operations of the
-year before. The Dutch Government were perfectly aware of
-Boswell’s intrigues about the licenses, and they put little faith
-in the assurances received through the Queen of Bohemia.
-They resolved to err on the safe side by equipping a powerful
-fleet to protect the busses. In April and May, Pennington reported
-to the Admiralty that Van Dorp (not yet cashiered) was
-cruising between the Downs and Dunkirk with twenty sail of
-stout men-of-war, and that he heard that six French warships
-were bound for the north to aid in guarding the fishermen.<a id="FNanchor_577" href="#Footnote_577" class="fnanchor">577</a></p>
-
-<p>Fielding departed on his mission in the <i>Unicorn</i>, one of the
-ships furnished by London, and on the morning of 18th July
-he came among the busses fishing off Buchan Ness, Aberdeenshire.
-They numbered between six and seven hundred, and
-were convoyed by twenty-three men-of-war. Fielding, according
-to his account, “found the busses very willing” to take the
-licenses, and two did so. Then one of the Dutch warships
-came up and lay by him, and the captain asked him to speak to
-his Admiral before sending for the busses; “but it blew hard
-that day and the next, so that no boat could pass.” On the
-20th he spoke with the Admiral of South Holland and the
-Commander of North Holland, and explained his mission; but
-they would not then give their answer. On the following day
-all the commanders of North and South Holland and of Zealand,
-with three other captains, told him “that they durst not
-let his boat pass among the busses to give out his Majesty’s
-licenses before they had orders from their Masters.” This was
-their answer, but they declined to give it in writing. The
-<i>Unicorn</i> then made sail for England to report the rebuff.<a id="FNanchor_578" href="#Footnote_578" class="fnanchor">578</a></p>
-
-<p>The result of his manœuvre was mortifying to the king.
-Fielding, sailor-like, did not conceal the outcome of his
-mission in diplomatic reserve. The story soon spread throughout
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">322</span>
-the fleet, and occasioned both hilarity and indignation.
-When Fielding left, Pennington expressed the opinion to
-his friend Nicholas that the attempt would fail and would
-bring greater inconveniences in its train. On his return,
-Northumberland said it would have been much better if
-the king had absolutely forborne his request to the Dutch
-than have demanded it in the manner he did. After the
-successful campaign of the year before, Charles was now
-practically warned off his own seas, “as he is pleased,” said
-Pennington, “to call them.”<a id="FNanchor_579" href="#Footnote_579" class="fnanchor">579</a> It was a pitiful position for
-the Sovereign of the Seas, with a great armada lying idle
-at the Downs and his bombastic declarations still echoing
-in the ears of Europe.</p>
-
-<p>As soon as it was known at Court that the story had got
-out, Windebank was commanded to take such measures as
-he could to contradict it. To duplicity was added mendacity.
-Fielding in his report had described an occurrence he witnessed
-on returning along the coast to Scarborough. Thirteen
-Dunkirkers had attacked a Dutch man-of-war, and as the
-<i>Unicorn</i> came upon the scene the latter sank, and the
-English captain unsuccessfully endeavoured to save the
-drowning men. Windebank seized upon this incident. He
-wrote to Captain Fogg, who was in command of the ships
-in the Downs in the absence of the Admiral, that the report
-spread about that the Hollanders had refused his Majesty’s
-licenses to fish in his seas was “utterly mistaken.” Fielding
-had not been sent to offer licenses to the busses, but to
-tender the king’s protection. His Majesty, hearing “that
-the Dunkirkers had prepared a great strength to intercept
-them in their return from the fishing,” had sent Fielding,
-“in love to them,” to give them notice of it, and to offer
-them safe-conduct. “This,” said Windebank, “you are
-publicly to advow whensoever there shall be occasion, and
-to cry down the other discourse as scandalous and derogatory
-to his Majesty’s honour.”<a id="FNanchor_580" href="#Footnote_580" class="fnanchor">580</a> Similar directions were sent to
-the Earl of Northumberland.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">323</span></p>
-
-<p>At the beginning of August 1637, Charles, conscious of the
-ridicule that would ensue if the third ship-money fleet lay
-at anchor all the year, and yet having nothing for it to do,
-sent it to the west&mdash;“to make one turn in an honourable
-procession, to continue the boundaries of our master’s dominion
-in the sea,” as Roe, with gentle sarcasm, described it. It got
-as far as the Land’s End, and returned to the Downs on
-5th September, having “scarce seen a ship stirring on the
-sea, except the poor fishers that dwell upon the shore.”<a id="FNanchor_581" href="#Footnote_581" class="fnanchor">581</a>
-Windebank told Northumberland that the king was “very
-sensible” of the story which was being told about the licenses,
-and that he had been specially commanded to give the
-refutation of it in charge of the Earl, “and that you should
-do it in the same way that I have directed him (Fogg),
-namely, that his being sent to the busses was to give them
-notice of the forces prepared by the Dunkirkers to intercept
-them in their return, and to offer them his Majesty’s
-protection, but no licenses; that of the licenses to be cried
-down and the other to be advowed and reported through
-the whole fleet.” Fielding was to be admonished to be more
-reserved in future “in such great services,” and in the
-meantime to “make reparation by divulging this and suppressing
-the former report.”<a id="FNanchor_582" href="#Footnote_582" class="fnanchor">582</a> Captain Fogg readily agreed
-to suppress “the false report,” as he called it; but what
-Northumberland’s answer was does not appear. He seems
-to have received the king’s commands only on returning
-to the Downs, and he left the <i>Triumph</i> a few days thereafter.
-What he thought is not doubtful: he was getting disgusted
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">324</span>
-at his employment. “No man,” he wrote to Roe, “was
-ever more desirous of a charge than I am to be quit of
-mine, being in a condition where I see I can neither do
-service nor gain credit.”<a id="FNanchor_583" href="#Footnote_583" class="fnanchor">583</a></p>
-
-<p>There is clear evidence indeed that by this time the naval
-officers, as well as the people generally, were becoming tired
-of the king’s great pretensions and small performance.
-Even Pennington, a simple, loyal, unimaginative man, always
-ready to obey orders, had begun to joke, as we have seen,
-at the king’s seas, “as he is pleased to call them.” Throughout
-the country discontent was deepening. The opposition
-to the collection of ship-money was growing formidable, and
-the declaration of the Judges in favour of the king’s right
-to levy it only postponed the inevitable for a little.<a id="FNanchor_584" href="#Footnote_584" class="fnanchor">584</a> In
-his letter to the Judges, Charles based his case on the necessity
-of maintaining his sovereignty of the sea. The honour and
-safety of the realm of England, he said, “was and is now
-more neerely concerned then in late former tymes, as well
-by divers councells and attempts to take from Us the dominion
-of the seas (of which we are sole Lord, and rightfull owner
-and proprietour, and the losse whereof would bee of greatest
-danger and perill to this kingdome and other our Domynions)
-as many other waies.”<a id="FNanchor_585" href="#Footnote_585" class="fnanchor">585</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_13" src="images/fig_13.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 13.&mdash;<i>The “Sovereign of the Seas.”</i> After Vandevelde.</p></div>
-
-<p>The king’s dominion on the sea was rapidly waning.
-Fielding’s ignoble mission was the last attempt that fate
-permitted Charles to make in actively asserting it. The
-shadow of the coming revolution was already upon him. The
-trial of Hampden for refusing to pay the ship-money focussed
-the attention of England, and it was followed by complaints
-of other grievances arising from the personal government of
-the king. The popular tumult in Edinburgh in the summer
-about the new Liturgy had as a sequence the National
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">325</span>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">326</span>
-Covenant and insurrection. Charles found another use for
-his fleet than the enforcement of his sovereignty of the sea
-in the expedition to Scotland to subdue his rebellious subjects;
-and the British seas, even the King’s Chambers, were soon
-again the scenes of flagrant acts in violation of his authority.
-By a strange irony it was at this time that the king’s “Great
-Ship,” the famous <i>Sovereign of the Seas</i>, whose praises
-were sung by Thomas Heywood, the dramatist, was launched
-at Woolwich. Its construction had been under consideration
-for several years; it was begun in January 1636 and launched
-early in October 1637. Charles took a keen personal interest
-in his great ship, and supervised its details. He selected a
-scutcheon and motto to be engraved on each of its 102 brass
-guns&mdash;the rose and crown, sceptre and trident, and anchor
-and cable, with the inscription, <i>Carolus Edgari sceptrum
-stabilivit aquarum</i>&mdash;Charles established the dominion of
-Edgar over the seas; and on the “beak-head” sat the effigy
-of King Edgar, trampling on seven kings.<a id="FNanchor_586" href="#Footnote_586" class="fnanchor">586</a> As its name
-implied, it was meant to be a symbol as well as an instrument
-of the king’s sovereignty of the seas; and it was symbolical
-of it in a sense undreamt of by Charles. It was costly,
-highly decorated and begilt, but useless until it was cut
-down and made serviceable under the Commonwealth. He
-inserted it in the list of ships to serve in the fleet that
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">327</span>
-assembled in the Downs in 1638, but it was not ready
-to join.</p>
-
-<p>This fleet consisted of twenty-four king’s ships and seven
-merchant vessels, and, owing to the illness of the Earl of
-Northumberland, it was placed under the command of Sir
-John Pennington.<a id="FNanchor_587" href="#Footnote_587" class="fnanchor">587</a> It did still less than the fleet of the
-previous year. Two ships were sent to the westwards on an
-alarm that “Turkish” pirates were in the Channel; it convoyed
-two vessels laden with gunpowder into Dunkirk, notwithstanding
-the blockade by the Dutch, and returned to the
-Downs; and two ships were despatched to the north to intercept
-supplies of arms and munitions of war from Rotterdam
-and Bremen to the Scots. There was not even the “one turn
-in an honourable procession” to the westwards as in the
-previous year, and the fleet rode idly at its anchorage.</p>
-
-<p>The question of the “homage of the flag” had by this time
-also fallen somewhat into the background. In the two preceding
-years it had been enforced with much zeal. In 1636,
-when Northumberland’s fleet was among the herring-busses,
-Captain Carteret, in the <i>Happy Entrance</i>, forced a Spanish
-fleet of twenty-six sail to strike to him off Calais, though they
-tried their best to avoid it. A Dunkirker was also made to
-strike and “lie by the lee” off Nieuport by Captain Slingsby.
-But the French still refused to lower their flag when on the
-other side of the Narrow Sea. Sir Henry Mervin, on meeting
-two French men-of-war off Gravelines with their colours in
-the main-top, fired some twenty shots at them without causing
-them to strike. In the Mediterranean the French retaliated.
-An English vessel on the coast of Barbary was forced to lower
-its flag to French ships of war, and because the captain refused
-to go on board them when requested, the ship was attacked
-and captured. In the following year Captain Straddling of
-the <i>Dreadnought</i> used drastic measures against some Hollander
-merchant-ships. Falling in with four of them off the
-Lizard, homeward bound from Brazil, with their flags abroad,
-he commanded them to strike. One refused till many shots
-were fired, excusing himself afterwards by saying he thought
-the English ships were Dunkirkers. Straddling took him into
-custody, and lodged him in Plymouth fort “to answer his
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">328</span>
-insolence and contempt of his Majesty’s regality in these seas,”
-and he remained a prisoner there for a fortnight before he was
-released by order of the Admiralty.<a id="FNanchor_588" href="#Footnote_588" class="fnanchor">588</a> But in 1638 there were
-few incidents of this kind, probably because of the fleet lying
-at anchor so long, though it may be supposed that the general
-condition of public affairs did not whet the zeal of the naval
-officers.</p>
-
-<p>It was not long before advantage was taken abroad of
-Charles’s troubles in Scotland. In the early part of 1638
-Pennington reported that there were many Hollander, French,
-and Dunkirk ships at sea, and that they were pillaging English
-vessels;<a id="FNanchor_589" href="#Footnote_589" class="fnanchor">589</a> but the king was unable to protect even the herring-busses
-of the Fishery Society that he had taken under his
-peculiar care. The Dunkirkers, emboldened by immunity,
-took four of them in 1639, and then daringly anchored in
-the Downs. The Dutch men-of-war became bold, and then
-insolent. They began by protecting a Calais vessel that had
-rifled an English ship, their Admiral refusing to surrender
-her. Soon their fleets visited the English coasts in menacing
-strength, and although they “performed their duty” in the
-matter of the flag, they insisted on their right to stop and
-search English vessels, even in the King’s Chambers. “The
-Hollanders’ ships,” wrote Northumberland’s secretary to Pennington
-in June 1639, “begin to be very bold in our seas,
-and lie about Portland with fifty sail, examining and searching
-all English ships and others which pass by them, so that
-in effect they command where the King challenges sovereignty.”
-The English merchants, he said, made great complaint that
-their trade was likely to be destroyed; they were “much perplexed,
-and called to mind tonnage and poundage, for which
-his Majesty was pleased to promise thirty sail of his ships to
-secure trade in the Narrow Sea.”<a id="FNanchor_590" href="#Footnote_590" class="fnanchor">590</a></p>
-
-<p>The truth was that English ships had been engaged in
-transporting Spanish troops and bullion to Dunkirk, and that
-the Dutch were merely exercising their rights as belligerents.
-Their action was nevertheless a plain flouting of the high
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">329</span>
-pretensions of the king, and it was the more disagreeable
-because Charles had now again veered round to the side of
-Spain. He was much moved at the “insolencies” of the
-Hollanders, which “concerned his honour” and “put his sovereignty
-in hazard”; and the Earl of Northumberland, who
-had been created Lord High Admiral in the preceding year,
-also expressed himself as much afflicted that such affronts were
-put on the nation in his time. It was, said Windebank, a
-very high disorder that any of the king’s neighbours should
-presume to lie with a fleet in his Majesty’s Channel, near his
-ports, and where he justly claimed sovereignty, and arrest
-and search English ships, taking out of them “such persons,
-being passengers, as they please”; “especially”&mdash;and this no
-doubt was a potent reason of the king’s displeasure&mdash;“since
-the merchants and others took occasion by such pretences of
-interruption of their trade to make difficulty to pay their ship-money,
-which his Majesty is resolved to maintain.” The king
-therefore commanded Pennington to put a stop to these affronts
-and to preserve the sovereignty of the narrow seas, so “that
-trade may be free and open, as well to his Majesty’s subjects as
-to others in league and amity with his Majesty, and that peace be
-kept and the merchants secured according to his Majesty’s proclamations
-and declarations published heretofore to that effect.”<a id="FNanchor_591" href="#Footnote_591" class="fnanchor">591</a></p>
-
-<p>It was one thing to indite imperious commands in London
-as to the necessity of maintaining the king’s sovereignty of the
-seas; it was quite another thing to carry them out in the
-Channel in the presence of a powerful Dutch fleet under the
-new Admiral, Maarten Harpentz Tromp. Pennington, conscious
-of his impotency, tried at first to justify, or at least to extenuate,
-the action of the Dutch men-of-war. They only took
-out of the English ships the Spanish soldiers, he said, who were
-being carried to Flanders; they were most civil and courteous
-while doing so; in reality, it was the English captains who had
-committed the greater insolency. At all events, before attempting
-any reparation, it would be only prudent to have an overmastering
-force, lest greater loss and dishonour should happen,
-because, he said, the Dutch were in great strength, and it was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">330</span>
-reported that the French fleet was about to put to sea. Pennington
-was nevertheless ordered to prevent the affronts as
-best he could. He then said he would do his best; but he had
-only four ships available, and he asked for express orders how
-far he should proceed if he were resisted with overmastering
-strength.<a id="FNanchor_592" href="#Footnote_592" class="fnanchor">592</a></p>
-
-<p>But the question of the right of search was for the moment
-relegated to diplomatic channels, and before anything could
-be done, either by peaceful agreement or by Pennington’s ships,
-another event put an end to it, and dissipated the king’s dreams
-of the dominion of the seas. The battle of the Downs was
-fought between the Dutch and the Spaniards on 11th October
-1639, in spite of Charles’s express prohibition, and in spite of
-his helpless fleet. So glaring a violation of one of the King’s
-Chambers within three years of the appearance of Selden’s
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>&mdash;an injury which he was as unable to prevent
-as to redress&mdash;proclaimed to Europe that he was no longer
-sovereign over the sea that was incontestably his own.</p>
-
-<p>At the end of August a large Spanish fleet, consisting of
-some thirty great galleons and thirty-six transports with
-troops for Flanders, set sail from Corunna. On 6th September
-it was attacked in the Channel by a Dutch squadron of seventeen
-ships, and a running fight was kept up, the Spaniards
-passing eastwards off the English coast. Tromp, engaged in
-blockading Dunkirk, heard the cannonading, and on the 8th
-he joined the Dutch squadron with fifteen sail, when a fierce
-battle took place in the Straits of Dover.<a id="FNanchor_593" href="#Footnote_593" class="fnanchor">593</a> The Spanish
-Admiral, Don Antonio de Oquendo, having expended all his
-powder, took refuge with his shattered galleons in the Downs
-on 9th September, whither Tromp followed him. Great anxiety
-was felt in London, first of all lest the powerful foreign fleets
-should refuse to strike to the small English squadron under
-Sir John Pennington, and then lest they should begin hostilities
-in the King’s Chamber. On the former point doubts were soon
-set at rest. Tromp at once took in his flag in the presence of
-the English ships, a “civility” with which Charles was pleased.
-So also did the proud Spaniard, but only after preliminary
-refusal and demur; and Pennington’s insistence that the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">331</span>
-standard of Spain should be lowered was made a subject of
-complaint at Madrid.<a id="FNanchor_594" href="#Footnote_594" class="fnanchor">594</a> Anxiety on the second point was protracted,
-and it was not diminished by the reports that were
-received that the French fleet was coming to reinforce their
-allies the Dutch. Pennington, in the most emphatic manner,
-had forbidden hostilities within the King’s Chambers, and he
-assigned the northern part of the anchorage to the Spaniards
-and the southern part to the Dutch. For several weeks the
-belligerent squadrons remained in the Downs facing one
-another. The Spanish Admiral, a few days after his arrival,
-succeeded under cover of night in despatching to Dunkirk some
-of his smaller vessels laden with soldiers. Tromp and Oquendo
-appealed to Charles through their respective ambassadors, “and
-then ensued an auction, the strangest in the annals of diplomacy,
-in which Charles’s protection was offered as a prize to the
-highest bidder.”<a id="FNanchor_595" href="#Footnote_595" class="fnanchor">595</a> On the one hand, he demanded &pound;150,000
-from Spain, and better treatment in the business of the Palatinate,
-as the price of securing the safety of the Spanish fleet.<a id="FNanchor_596" href="#Footnote_596" class="fnanchor">596</a>
-On the other hand, he declared himself ready to abandon
-the Spaniards to Tromp, if France would come under a
-binding promise to place Charles Louis at the head of the
-army which had been commanded by Bernard of Weimar&mdash;as
-a means, of course, to recover the Palatinate.<a id="FNanchor_597" href="#Footnote_597" class="fnanchor">597</a></p>
-
-<p>While waiting the highest bid from one or the other, the
-king’s commands regarding the fleet were puzzling and contradictory.
-Smith, Northumberland’s secretary, who carried on
-a confidential correspondence with Pennington, wrote to him
-that the king, when the difficult situation of the English fleet
-was explained to him and he was asked for explicit instructions
-as to how the Admiral should act, “would not give any express
-declaration.” “I earnestly pressed his Lordship [the Earl
-of Northumberland] to prevail with his Majesty,” he said,
-“that you might have some justifiable instructions how you
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">332</span>
-should demean yourself.... To all this he told me that he
-had often pressed his Majesty to declare his resolution, but
-never could get any.” Smith privately advised Pennington to
-make a show of assisting the Spaniards if there was a fight,
-but not to run himself or the king’s ships into danger where
-there was no hope of victory and “the only expectation was
-hard blows and hazard.”<a id="FNanchor_598" href="#Footnote_598" class="fnanchor">598</a></p>
-
-<p>Desperate efforts were hurriedly made to strengthen the
-English fleet. Ten additional ships were being got ready, and
-Northumberland intended to take command himself as soon
-as they reached the Downs, but of the 3000 men which the
-Admiralty were “labouring” to procure for them, only 300
-could be obtained; they did not join Pennington till some days
-after the battle. Pennington had been ordered to press into
-his service all English ships he could lay his hands on, and
-to employ them “in any warlike manner against any that
-shall presume to affront his Majesty, or derogate from his
-sovereignty in these parts.”<a id="FNanchor_599" href="#Footnote_599" class="fnanchor">599</a> Ten vessels were thus pressed;
-but it was impossible to find seamen to man them properly,
-and by command of the king some of them were dispensed
-with. In presence of the powerful States’ fleet, to say nothing
-of the Spaniards, Pennington’s instructions to the masters of
-the merchantmen must have sounded somewhat ironical. If
-either of the “great fleets,” he said, should presume to attempt
-anything in the King’s Chambers “contrary to the laws and
-customs of nations and to the dishonour of our king and
-kingdom, you are to fall upon the assailants, and to do your
-best to take, sink, or destroy them.” Moreover, if any ships
-of the hostile fleets assembled, “or any others that may come,”
-should put out a flag, they were to cause them to be taken in;
-if refused, they were to do their best to sink the offending
-ship.<a id="FNanchor_600" href="#Footnote_600" class="fnanchor">600</a> The “any others” meant the French, who were expected
-daily in the Downs, and whose arrival there was regarded with
-apprehension. The general opinion was that they would refuse
-to strike when they came, and, in that event, what would
-happen? “That,” said Smith, “will set us all in combustion,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">333</span>
-for then we must <i>strike</i> them, although peradventure to our
-own prejudice. But this punctilio of honour,” added the
-secretary to the Lord High Admiral, with prophetic instinct,
-“will one day cause more blood to be drawn than ere it will
-bring profit or honour to our king.”<a id="FNanchor_601" href="#Footnote_601" class="fnanchor">601</a></p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Tromp and his resolute men were getting impatient.
-Since they had cooped up the hated Spaniard in
-the English roadstead, they had been reinforced from Holland,
-so that the Dutch fleet was soon in the overwhelming
-strength of a hundred sail. Tromp also knew that Charles
-had arranged (for a substantial consideration) to supply the
-Spanish Admiral with gunpowder, of which he stood in dire
-need, and that thirty Dunkirk sloops had succeeded in joining
-Oquendo. Above all, he had in his pocket the express orders,
-just issued by the States-General, “to destroy the Spanish fleet,
-without paying any regard to the harbours, roads, or bays of
-the kingdom where it might be found.”<a id="FNanchor_602" href="#Footnote_602" class="fnanchor">602</a> He promptly seized
-an opportunity to carry out his orders. Information reached
-London on 8th and 9th October that the Dutch were preparing
-to attack. Commands were at once sent to warn them to
-desist, and they were informed that the king was going to fix
-a short period for the departure of both fleets; and this
-message was conveyed to the Dutch Admiral. On the evening
-of the 10th, the gunpowder for the Spanish fleet came alongside,
-and the accidental discharge of a gun on one of the
-Spanish ships killed a Dutch sailor. This was enough. Before
-the fog lifted next morning Tromp’s fleet was under sail;
-the roar of cannon announced that the attack had begun; and
-within a few hours the Spanish galleons were driven ashore,
-burnt, sunk, or in flight for Flanders, with Tromp in hot
-pursuit. The English Admiral acted on the prudent advice
-which had been given to him by Smith. He made a show of
-resenting the violation of the King’s Chambers by firing at
-the Dutch. In Madrid it was afterwards said he had fired
-his guns into the air, but Pennington himself tells us that
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">334</span>
-(although he affected to believe the Spaniards had begun the
-combat) he “chased and shot at the Hollanders” until they
-were all beyond the South Foreland; but the Hollanders took
-no notice of him. On the morning of the battle Tromp sent
-a letter to Pennington which was more than tinged with irony.
-Since the Spaniards, he said, had infringed the conditions
-fixed by firing at him first, the English Admiral should assist
-him in fighting them, “according to his Majesty’s orders.” At
-all events he&mdash;Tromp&mdash;was resolved, by instructions from his
-masters, to fall upon his enemies, and to defend themselves
-“against those that shall resist them.” The Dutch would
-rather die as soldiers, he said, “with his Majesty’s leave in
-clearing his Majesty’s Road,” than fail to carry out their
-orders; and he hoped that this would be “acceptable to his
-Majesty, but if his Majesty should take any distaste we hope
-he will graciously forgive us.”</p>
-
-<p>After pursuing the remnant of the Spanish fleet to Dunkirk,
-the Dutch Admiral returned triumphant to the Downs, and
-saluted the English squadron by striking his flag and firing
-nineteen guns,&mdash;“as a token,” says an ironical observer, “that
-his Majesty was Sovereign of these his seas!”<a id="FNanchor_603" href="#Footnote_603" class="fnanchor">603</a> Tromp indeed,
-in those years, was most punctiliously respectful to this symbol
-of the king’s sovereignty. Even during the height of the
-battle, when he was violating not merely the sovereignty
-claimed by Charles but the well-understood Law of Nations,
-he kept his flag down until he was a good way off from the
-Downs,&mdash;a circumstance which Pennington reported with satisfaction.
-Had the Dutch Admiral shown the same willingness
-to strike to the flag of the Commonwealth when he encountered
-Blake thirteen years later, the war that followed
-might, perhaps, have been averted, or at least postponed.</p>
-
-<p>Charles was very naturally highly incensed at this open
-flouting of his authority. It was an ugly blot on the lustre
-of his ancient prerogative, and a painful proof of the contempt
-in which his much-vaunted naval power was held by the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">335</span>
-Dutch Republic, and&mdash;what perhaps he felt quite as much at
-the time&mdash;it robbed him of all chance of blackmailing Spain.
-When that Power was asked to pay the great sum above
-mentioned, the Cardinal Infant put the proposal aside, considering
-that it was the king’s own interest to protect the
-Spanish fleet; and when Tromp’s precipitation broke in on
-the negotiations, it was decided to withhold any payment at
-all until it was seen how Charles would resent the injury done
-to Spain.<a id="FNanchor_604" href="#Footnote_604" class="fnanchor">604</a> At first he resolved to punish the affront. Pennington
-was ordered to cause the Dutch fleet, which had returned
-to the Downs, and was suspected of meditating further
-“insolency” by falling upon the stranded galleons, to immediately
-quit the road. The king, he was told, had made up
-his mind not to allow them the liberty of his ports or roads
-“until he shall have received satisfaction for the insolency
-already committed.” If they refused to leave, Pennington,
-immediately the other ten ships had reinforced him, was to
-drive them out with all his power and strength, or answer
-the contrary at his uttermost peril. Before these orders could
-be executed, Tromp voluntarily departed.<a id="FNanchor_605" href="#Footnote_605" class="fnanchor">605</a> Copies of the
-letter to Pennington were sent to Brussels and Madrid to
-show the Spaniards that the king was full of resolution.
-They were told he was very sensible of the affront and insolence
-of the Hollanders, and “would make such demonstration
-of it, and demand and expect such reparation as in
-honour he is obliged.” But he was quite unable to carry out
-his good intention. It was in vain that he was urged from
-Madrid to take strong measures against the Dutch; to seize
-their property; even to invade Normandy as a punishment to
-their ally.<a id="FNanchor_606" href="#Footnote_606" class="fnanchor">606</a> He had no fleet and no money to enable him to
-cope with the Dutch Republic, even if the condition of home
-affairs had permitted the attempt. On the contrary, to such
-a level had he fallen by his stubborn ineptitude that the
-English Minister at The Hague was ordered to avoid even a
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">336</span>
-remonstrance about Tromp’s high-handed action in the Downs.
-If the States-General mentioned the matter to him, he was to
-say that he had received no instructions, “and so to refuse
-any conference on that particular.”<a id="FNanchor_607" href="#Footnote_607" class="fnanchor">607</a></p>
-
-<p>The Dutch Government had expected that Charles would raise
-loud complaints, and they decided to take a bold attitude. On
-the day that they received news of Tromp’s victory the proposal
-was made to send over an ambassador, and Aerssen Van
-Sommelsdijck, who was chosen for the mission, reached London
-early in November. There was to be no attempt made on this
-occasion to appease the king with soft phrases and show of submission.
-Aerssen was to complain of the action which England
-had for a long time taken in favouring the Spaniards. The
-violation of the King’s Chamber was to be passed over, and the
-battle in the Downs represented as having been merely a continuation
-of the first fight in the Channel, which forced the
-Spaniards to take refuge in the English roadstead. But the
-pains taken by the States-General were hardly necessary.
-Charles in his perplexity did not know to which side to lean.
-He received the Dutch ambassador in a very friendly way, and
-began to speak again of an alliance with the Republic.<a id="FNanchor_608" href="#Footnote_608" class="fnanchor">608</a> In
-another direction he was flouted by the Dutch. On the 1st
-October, while the belligerent fleets were at anchor in the
-Downs, his representative at the conference at Hamburg proposed
-that if the Republic joined the projected alliance with
-France, Charles would grant them liberty to carry on their herring
-fishery in the narrow seas. At the very time that Tromp
-was battering the Spanish galleons in the King’s Chamber, the
-States-General were engaged in passing the resolution “that
-they did not intend to ask for the right of fishing in the North
-Sea from any one.”<a id="FNanchor_609" href="#Footnote_609" class="fnanchor">609</a></p>
-
-<p>A year later, the Long Parliament began its sittings at Westminster,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">337</span>
-and Charles was rapidly stripped of sovereign power
-within his own kingdom. The Dutch, conscious that they and
-not the King of England were the real masters of the sea,
-became overbearing in their conduct. More than ever their
-fishermen indulged in the bad treatment of British subjects,
-which this country was unable to prevent. But their triumph
-was short-lived. A decade later they were smitten by the heavy
-hand of Cromwell, who resumed the sovereignty of the sea. It
-is to the period beginning about this time that the Dutch
-trace the decadence which set in in their great fisheries as
-well as the decline of their trade. It is, however, a satisfaction
-to think that the part played by this country in causing the
-misfortunes of Holland&mdash;a country to which civilisation is
-indebted for immense advances, both material and intellectual&mdash;was
-comparatively small. From about the middle of the
-seventeenth century to the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, the
-Dutch Republic was involved in almost constant wars with its
-Continental neighbours, and the herring-fishery and the trade
-in general suffered severely, and never afterwards regained the
-prosperity they formerly enjoyed.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">338</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">THE JURIDICAL CONTROVERSIES.</span></h2>
-
-<p>The great juridical controversies respecting <i>mare liberum</i> and
-<i>mare clausum</i>&mdash;the sea open to all, or that under the dominion
-of a particular Power&mdash;which enlivened the international
-politics of the seventeenth century, reached their highest pitch
-in the reign of Charles I., and may be conveniently considered
-here. The writers who touched upon the question in the previous
-century took it for granted that the seas were capable of
-appropriation, and that they were almost wholly under the
-dominion of one Power or another. It is true that now and
-again a slender voice was raised in protest, on abstract legal
-grounds, against the exclusive maritime sovereignty arrogated
-by Venice, Portugal, or Spain. Queen Elizabeth too, as we have
-seen, not only protested against these claims in certain cases,
-but actively opposed them. Her action, however, pertained
-rather to the sphere of diplomacy and politics than to legal
-controversy; and the protests of the few jurists alluded to
-were too feeble to have practical effect on the course of events
-or on the prevalent opinion.</p>
-
-<p>It is noteworthy that the birth of modern international law
-was associated with the origin of these juridical controversies
-as to the freedom of the sea.<a id="FNanchor_610" href="#Footnote_610" class="fnanchor">610</a> It was the appearance of <i>Mare
-Liberum</i> in 1609 that heralded the dawn of the new epoch.
-The little book of Grotius was at once a reasoned appeal for
-the freedom of the seas in the general interest of mankind, and
-the source from which the principles of the Law of Nations
-have come. The main reasons why the controversy broke out at
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">339</span>
-that time and the pleas of Grotius had so much success are not
-difficult to discover. The period was characterised by a great
-expansion of commercial enterprise. The Western Powers of
-Europe, and above all the United Provinces, were pushing into
-every sea for the sake of traffic and gain. In some directions
-the trading adventurers found their way barred by claims to
-<i>mare clausum</i> and monopoly of trade; in other directions it
-was open to them only under heavy burdens and aggravating
-restrictions. The northern seas, in theory at least, were closed
-to the whaling vessels engaged in what was then a most valuable
-business; and commerce and fishing within them were permitted
-only under irksome conditions. The passage through
-the Sound into the Baltic was subjected to high dues by Denmark;
-Venice claimed dominion in the Adriatic and levied
-imposts for the right of navigation there, and Genoa followed
-her example in the Ligurian Sea. But it was not so much the
-claim of Denmark to the sovereignty of the northern seas, or
-the rights asserted by Venice in the Adriatic, that led to the
-outburst for the freedom of the sea and of commercial intercourse
-at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Except
-with regard to English traffic with Iceland and Norway and the
-fishing there, more or less regulated by treaties, the Scandinavian
-claim at this time was not of great practical importance;
-and the dominion of Venice over the Adriatic was
-generally regarded as beneficial on the whole, by interposing a
-powerful barrier to the further extension of the Turkish empire
-in Europe, and by facilitating the suppression of pirates and
-Saracens.<a id="FNanchor_611" href="#Footnote_611" class="fnanchor">611</a> It was the extravagant pretensions of Spain and
-Portugal to a monopoly of navigation and commerce with the
-New World and the East Indies that constituted the great
-obstacle to the new spirit of commercial enterprise. Founding
-their title on the Bulls of the Pope, and the right of discovery,
-conquest, and prior occupation, they arrogated to themselves
-the exclusive sovereignty of the great oceans which were the
-pathways to these immense regions,&mdash;the Atlantic, the Indian
-Ocean, and parts of the Pacific. Thus, as Grotius remarked,
-the whole Ocean except a little was to remain under the control
-of two nations, and all the other nations of the earth were to
-content themselves with the remnant.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">340</span></p>
-
-<p>The commerce with the East Indies was of special value and
-importance. The discovery of the Cape route by Vasco di
-Gama, in 1497, led to the great stream of traffic between Europe
-and the East being diverted in the next century from its old
-channel in the Mediterranean and Levant to the Atlantic. The
-lucrative trade with the Indies was transferred from the Venetians
-and the Italian Republics to the Portuguese, who then
-became for a time the chief trading people of the world,<a id="FNanchor_612" href="#Footnote_612" class="fnanchor">612</a> and
-strove to keep it entirely in their own hands. It was particularly
-with reference to this monopoly that the disputes about
-the freedom of the sea began. The <i>Mare Liberum</i> of
-Grotius was specially directed against the prohibition by the
-Portuguese for any other nation to navigate round the Cape of
-Good Hope or to trade with the Indies. It has been well said
-by Calvo that the historical antecedents of the controversy
-about <i>mare clausum</i> are to be found in the voyages of
-Columbus and Vasco di Gama.<a id="FNanchor_613" href="#Footnote_613" class="fnanchor">613</a></p>
-
-<p>Very soon, however, the claims of other Powers to maritime
-sovereignty&mdash;of Denmark, Venice, England&mdash;were similarly
-assailed, and the controversy became general. It may be noted
-that those who took part in it on the one side or the other,
-including some of the most learned men of their age, were in
-large measure inspired by patriotic motives. National interests
-as much as lofty ethics or legal principles were at its root.
-Even Grotius, notwithstanding his impassioned appeal to the
-conscience of the world for the liberty of the sea and the freedom
-of commerce, was not exempt from this weakness. It was
-his happy fortune that the cause he publicly advocated was
-equally in conformity with the growing spirit of liberty and the
-immediate interests of the United Provinces. Only four years
-later, when the Dutch had obtained a footing in the East Indies
-in spite of the Portuguese, they in turn wished to exclude the
-English from any share in the trade with that opulent region:
-they did not want any freedom of commerce that might tell
-against themselves. And then we find Grotius arguing, in
-London, against his own declarations in <i>Mare Liberum</i>, and
-in favour of commercial monopoly for his native land&mdash;a
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">341</span>
-task, which, we are told, he performed “with uncommon
-ability.”</p>
-
-<p>This charge cannot be made against the two authors whose
-voices were raised in opposition to the prevailing opinions as
-to the appropriation of the sea before the work of Grotius
-appeared, and of whose writings he made considerable use.
-One of these was a Spanish monk, Francis Alphonso de Castro,
-who wrote about the middle of the sixteenth century, protesting
-against the Genoese and Venetians prohibiting other
-peoples from freely navigating the Ligurian and Adriatic Seas,
-as being contrary to the imperial law, the primitive right of
-mankind, and the law of nature; and also against the Spanish
-and Portuguese claims for exclusive rights to the navigation to
-the East and West Indies.<a id="FNanchor_614" href="#Footnote_614" class="fnanchor">614</a> The other author, also a Spaniard,
-was Ferdinand Vasquez or Vasquius, who expressed the same
-opinions as de Castro, and for the same reasons. He held that
-the sea could not be appropriated, but had remained common
-to mankind since the beginning of the world; that the claim
-of the Portuguese to forbid to others the navigation to the East
-Indies, and that of the Spaniards to a similar prohibition to
-sail through “the spacious and immense sea” to the West
-Indies, were no less vain and foolish (<i>non minus insan&aelig;</i>) than
-the pretensions of the Venetians and Genoese. The law of prescription,
-he said, was purely civil, and could have no force in
-controversies between princes and peoples who acknowledged
-no superior, because the peculiar civil laws of any country were
-of no more value with respect to foreign nations than as if
-they did not exist; to decide such controversies recourse must
-be had to the law of nations, primitive or secondary, which it
-was evident could never admit of such a usurpation of a title
-to the sea. With regard to the right of fishery, Vasquius drew
-a distinction between fishing in the sea and in rivers or lakes.
-He held that the sea had been from the first, and still remained,
-by the primitive right of mankind, free both for navigation
-and fishing, and that its use could not be exhausted by fishing,
-while lakes and rivers may be so exhausted.<a id="FNanchor_615" href="#Footnote_615" class="fnanchor">615</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">342</span></p>
-
-<p>From the foregoing, it will be seen that Grotius had ready to
-his hand many of the legal arguments of which he made so
-much use; but the strength of his work lay rather in its appeal
-to the sense of justice and the conscience of the free peoples of
-Christendom, to whom it was dedicated. The Spanish authors,
-moreover, were not in a position to assail the validity of the
-Papal Bulls, upon which the Spanish and Portuguese claims
-were partly founded, whereas it was against them that the
-Protestant writer levelled some of his most powerful philippics.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Mare Liberum</i> of Grotius was published anonymously
-at Leyden, Holland, in March 1609.<a id="FNanchor_616" href="#Footnote_616" class="fnanchor">616</a> As the title declares, the
-author’s object was to assert the right of the Dutch to trade
-with the Indies, and to combat the pretensions of the Portuguese
-to a monopoly of navigation and commerce in those
-regions; but the genesis of the book has only been recently
-made known. At the end of the sixteenth century, when the
-commerce of the United Provinces was expanding in all directions,
-the Dutch merchants resolved to share in the lucrative
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">343</span>
-trade with the far east. Having failed to open up a passage to
-the Indies by the north-east, they boldly sailed thither by the
-Cape of Good Hope, in 1595, through the seas and to the
-regions which Portugal claimed for herself. Encouraged by
-success, other trading voyages by the same route were undertaken
-almost every year. A United Dutch East India Company
-was formed in 1602, and the States-General decided to maintain
-their rights to the trade by force. The disputes and conflicts
-with the Portuguese which followed were soon brought to a
-head by the action of the redoubtable Jacob van Heemskerk in
-attacking and seizing Portuguese ships.<a id="FNanchor_617" href="#Footnote_617" class="fnanchor">617</a> The valuable booty
-taken from the Portuguese was brought to Holland in 1604 and
-1605, and caused much searching of heart among the shareholders
-of the company. Many were gratified by the spoil, but
-others of much influence, moved by conscientious scruples or
-good policy, refused to share in it, and they threatened to
-separate themselves from the company and form a rival association
-to carry on peaceful trade under the protection of the
-King of France. It was about this time that Grotius, incited
-by the condition of affairs, began to write a treatise with the
-object of encouraging his countrymen to resist the claims of
-the Portuguese by force. In a tract written about 1614 to
-vindicate <i>Mare Liberum</i> against the attack of the Scotch
-lawyer, Welwood&mdash;which was not published, and the existence
-of which was unknown till about forty years ago&mdash;he says
-that some years earlier, perceiving the great importance of the
-East Indian trade for the Netherlands, and that it could only
-be made secure by armed resistance to the Portuguese, he had
-written a book in which he explained the law of war and
-spoil; and in order to rouse the popular mind he gave an
-account of the ill-treatment of the Dutch in the East Indies at
-the hands of the Portuguese.<a id="FNanchor_618" href="#Footnote_618" class="fnanchor">618</a> Grotius was then only a little
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">344</span>
-over twenty years of age, and it enhances our sense of the
-precocity and fertility of his genius to learn that <i>Mare Liberum</i>
-was only one chapter (the twelfth) of this treatise. The treatise
-itself was not published by Grotius; but in 1608, during the
-negotiations with Spain which ended in the truce of Antwerp,
-on (March 30)/(April 9), 1609, the Spaniards demanded that the Dutch
-should relinquish the trade with the West Indies and also
-with the East Indies (Portugal being then united to Spain),
-and, probably at the request of the directors of the East India
-Company, Grotius then detached the part of his work which
-dealt with the freedom of commerce and navigation and
-published it in March 1609, under the title of <i>Mare Liberum</i>.</p>
-
-<p>In dealing with his theme Grotius attacked in succession
-all the arguments put forward by the Portuguese to justify
-their claim. Their titles from prior discovery of the Cape
-route, under Papal Bulls, by the right of war or conquest,
-or from occupancy and prescription, were all, he maintained,
-invalid; by the Law of Nations navigation and commerce
-were free to all mankind. The action of the Portuguese
-in attempting to restrain the trade with India furnished a
-just cause of war; and the Dutch were resolved to assert
-their rights by force. But <i>Mare Liberum</i> was much more
-than a pleading in a particular case. An earnest and
-powerful appeal was made to the civilised world for complete
-freedom of the high seas for the innocent use and mutual
-benefit of all. Grotius spoke in the name of humanity as
-against the selfish interests of a few; and while he made
-full use of arguments founded on Roman law, on the law of
-nature and of nations, it was principally the lofty moral
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">345</span>
-ideas which inspired his work that gave it its reputation
-and charm. He entered into a subtle and learned disquisition
-as to the origin of the idea of property from the primitive
-times when all things were held in common; the conditions
-under which private property is possible or lawful, and
-the distinction between what is private, what is public, and
-what is common. Much of the argument appears to us
-now to be of the nature of hair-splitting and word-play;
-but inasmuch as it was made use of subsequently in the
-numerous controversies regarding the freedom or the
-sovereignty of the sea, as well as in diplomatic negotiations,
-it is necessary to summarise it here. All property, he says,
-is based upon possession or occupation (<i>occupatio</i>), which
-requires that all movable things shall be seized and all
-immovable things enclosed; things that can neither be seized
-nor enclosed cannot become property: they are common to
-all, and their use pertains not to any particular people but
-to the whole human race. The distinction is also made
-between things which are exhausted by promiscuous use and
-those which are not: the latter are common, and their free
-use belongs to all men. Thus the air is common, because
-it cannot be occupied and because it cannot be exhausted by
-promiscuous use; it therefore belongs to all mankind. And
-in the same way the sea is common to all; it is clearly so
-infinite that it is not capable of being possessed, and is
-fitted for the use of all both for navigation and fishing.<a id="FNanchor_619" href="#Footnote_619" class="fnanchor">619</a>
-It is also among those things which cannot be bought and
-sold&mdash;that is, which cannot be lawfully acquired; whence
-it is, strictly speaking, impossible to look upon any part of
-it as belonging to the territory of a people. The sea is
-under no one’s dominion except God’s; it cannot by its
-very nature be appropriated; it is common to all, and its
-use, by the general consent of mankind, is common, and
-what belongs to all cannot be appropriated by one; nor
-can prescription or custom justify any claim of the kind,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">346</span>
-because no one has power to grant a privilege adverse to
-mankind in general.</p>
-
-<p>Grotius places navigation and fishing in the sea on the
-same footing, or rather he looked upon interference with
-the freedom of fishing as a greater offence than interference
-with navigation. With regard to imposing tribute on
-fishermen, he said that such as are reckoned among the
-Regalia are imposed not on the thing, that is the sea and
-the fishing, but on the person; and while it may be levied by
-a prince on his own subjects, it is not to be levied on foreigners,
-for the right of fishing everywhere should be free to foreigners,
-lest a servitude be imposed on the sea which it cannot bear.
-An action of this kind would be worse than the prohibition of
-navigation; it would be barbarous and inhuman. If any one,
-says Grotius, claimed jurisdiction and sovereignty on the
-great seas for himself alone against promiscuous use, he would
-be looked upon as one who was aiming at extravagant
-dominion; if any one was to keep others from fishing, he
-would not escape the brand of insane cupidity.<a id="FNanchor_620" href="#Footnote_620" class="fnanchor">620</a></p>
-
-<p>It is hardly possible to escape the suspicion, which was
-apparently shared by King James, as it was by many others,
-that Grotius in these sentences was aiming obliquely at
-England. Such strength of language about the right of free
-fishing in the sea was scarcely pertinent to his theme, for
-neither the Portuguese nor the Spaniards contested that
-right, and the Dutch did not fish in waters under their
-control. It would, on the other hand, be explicable if
-Grotius had got a hint of James’s intention with regard to
-the “assize-herring” (<a href="#Page_152">see p. 152</a>), and we know that as early as
-the beginning of 1606 proposals were made for the formation
-of an English fishery society, with taxation of foreign
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">347</span>
-fishermen, and that in the beginning of 1608 negotiations
-were on foot between the English Government and the Dutch
-Ambassador as to the “assize-herring.”<a id="FNanchor_621" href="#Footnote_621" class="fnanchor">621</a></p>
-
-<p>It is important to note&mdash;what many of his followers too often
-forgot&mdash;that Grotius restricts the application of his general
-argument for <i>mare liberum</i> to the open sea. He does not, he
-says, deal with an inland sea (<i>mare interiore</i>) which, surrounded
-on all sides by land, did not exceed the breadth of
-a river; the question concerned the ocean, which the ancients
-called immense, infinite, the parent of things, co-terminous
-with the air. The controversy, he continues, was not about
-a bay or a strait in this ocean, <i>nor concerning so much of
-it as might be seen from the shore</i>: the Portuguese claim
-for themselves whatever lies between the two worlds.<a id="FNanchor_622" href="#Footnote_622" class="fnanchor">622</a> Again,
-referring to the Italian publicists, he says their opinion
-cannot be applied to the matter in question, for they speak
-of the Mediterranean, he of the ocean; they of bays or
-gulfs, he of the vast sea, which differ very much in respect
-of occupation.<a id="FNanchor_623" href="#Footnote_623" class="fnanchor">623</a></p>
-
-<p>The opinions and reasonings of Grotius in <i>Mare Liberum</i>
-as to the free use of the sea were repeated more concisely
-and with some modification in his greatest work, <i>The Rights
-of War and Peace</i>, which was published in 1625.<a id="FNanchor_624" href="#Footnote_624" class="fnanchor">624</a> No one,
-he affirmed, can have property in the sea, either as to the
-whole or its principal parts; and as some people admit this
-in respect to private persons but not in regard to countries
-or states, he proceeds to prove its truth by both a “moral
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">348</span>
-reason and a natural reason.” The moral reason is the vast
-extent and inexhaustibility of the sea, whether for navigation
-or fishing; the natural reason is that it cannot be occupied
-or possessed because of its fluidity, since liquids having no
-bounds of their own cannot be possessed unless enclosed by
-something else, as a river by its banks; but the sea is not
-contained in the earth, as it is equal to it or even greater.<a id="FNanchor_625" href="#Footnote_625" class="fnanchor">625</a>
-Grotius, however, admits that his argument that rivers and
-lakes may be appropriated because their banks could be
-appropriated, may be logically applied also to certain parts
-of the sea. From the example of rivers he says, “It appears
-that the sea may be occupied by him who is in possession
-of the lands on both sides, although it be open either above,
-as a bay or gulf, or both above and below, as a strait, provided
-that it be not so great a part of the sea that when
-compared with the lands on each side it cannot be supposed
-to be some part of them”; and what is lawful to one king
-or people may be also lawful to two or three, if they have
-a mind to take possession of the sea thus enclosed within
-their land.<a id="FNanchor_626" href="#Footnote_626" class="fnanchor">626</a> He also admits by another train of reasoning&mdash;concerning
-property in the marine vivaria of the Romans&mdash;that
-if it is not repugnant to the law of nature for a
-private person to appropriate a small enclosed part of the
-sea, one or more nations possessing the shores might in
-like manner appropriate a part of the sea, if it be small
-compared with the land; and that might happen although
-the sea was not enclosed on all sides. But this admission
-that the law of nature does not preclude appropriation of
-a relatively small part of the sea by the neighbouring
-state, he qualifies in a general way by saying that there
-are many things tolerated by the law of nature which the
-law of nations, by common consent, might prohibit; and
-where this law of nations was in force and is not repealed
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">349</span>
-by common consent, the most inconsiderable part of the sea,
-although almost enclosed by the shores, can never be the
-property of a particular people. And in places where the
-law of nations was not received, or was afterwards abolished,
-it does not follow that the people merely because they possess
-the lands also possess the sea enclosed by them; the taking
-possession must be made by an overt act, and signified and
-made known. And if the possession thus gained by the
-right of prior occupation is afterwards abandoned, the sea
-returns to its original nature&mdash;namely, to the common use
-of mankind. Further, he who possesses any part of the sea
-cannot lawfully hinder unarmed ships, giving no room to
-apprehend danger, from sailing there, in the same way that
-he cannot justly prohibit innocent passage through his lands.
-Grotius goes on to explain that it is more easy to take
-possession of the jurisdiction (<i>imperium</i>) alone over part
-of the sea than of the right of property, and that it is not
-contradicted by the law of nations; and he points to a
-number of instances among the ancients.<a id="FNanchor_627" href="#Footnote_627" class="fnanchor">627</a> He admits that
-sovereignty or jurisdiction may be acquired on the sea either
-in regard to persons or in regard to territory (<i>ratione personarum
-et ratione territorii</i>),&mdash;in regard to persons, as when
-a fleet, which is a maritime army, is maintained in any
-part of the sea; in regard to territory, as when those who
-sail along the coasts may be compelled from the land, as
-if they were actually on the land.<a id="FNanchor_628" href="#Footnote_628" class="fnanchor">628</a></p>
-
-<p>The latter statement of Grotius contains the germ of the
-idea subsequently adopted by almost all the writers on international
-law, that the extent of the adjoining sea over which
-the neighbouring state is entitled to exercise dominion is
-limited by the range of guns from the land. Grotius does
-not mention the means by which compulsion was to be
-made effective, but there is little or no doubt of what was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">350</span>
-in his mind.<a id="FNanchor_629" href="#Footnote_629" class="fnanchor">629</a> It remained for Bynkershoek, at the beginning
-of the next century, to give the doctrine precise expression.</p>
-
-<p>It is obvious from the foregoing that the opinions expressed
-by Grotius as to the appropriation of the sea were not always
-consistent, and were sometimes self-destructive. If the fluidity
-and physical nature of the sea made it impossible to occupy
-or appropriate it, the objection applied as much to one part
-of it as to another, since it is everywhere fluid; and the
-admissions in his later book stultify many of the statements
-in the earlier one. It seems to be indisputable that Grotius
-was to some extent influenced by his environment, and
-expanded or contracted his argument to meet the conditions
-at the time&mdash;that he was, in short, like all the others, more
-or less of an advocate. When he published his greater work
-he was in the service of the Queen of Sweden, who claimed
-a somewhat extensive maritime sovereignty in the Baltic,
-and it is not unlikely that this influenced him in making
-the admissions referred to.</p>
-
-<p>The immediate object for which <i>Mare Liberum</i> was published&mdash;the
-recognition of the right of the Dutch to sail to the
-East Indies and to trade there&mdash;was achieved by the treaty
-of Antwerp in the month following its appearance,<a id="FNanchor_630" href="#Footnote_630" class="fnanchor">630</a> and
-no reply from the Portuguese or Spaniards to the arguments
-of Grotius was published till sixteen years later.
-Grotius tells us that a work in refutation of <i>Mare Liberum</i>
-had been prepared by a scholar of Salamanca, but it was
-suppressed by Philip III.;<a id="FNanchor_631" href="#Footnote_631" class="fnanchor">631</a> but in 1625, when Philip IV.
-was on the throne, an elaborate defence of the rights of
-Portugal in the Indies and a reply to Grotius was published
-by Franciscus Seraphinus de Freiras, a Spaniard, who
-dedicated his book to the king.<a id="FNanchor_632" href="#Footnote_632" class="fnanchor">632</a> The Venetians also, whose
-power had by this time declined, began to defend with the
-pen their rights in the Adriatic. These rights had been
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">351</span>
-indirectly assailed by the general argument of <i>Mare Liberum</i>,
-and directly in the writings of de Castro and Vasquius,
-from which Grotius had quoted liberally; and now at the
-beginning of the seventeenth century they were actively
-contested by other Powers, and in particular by Spain. Hence
-quite a number of works defending the claims of Venice
-appeared at this period, the best of which was that of Pacius,
-who relied on the opinions of numerous early jurists, as
-Bartolus, Baldus, and Angelus; on immemorial possession
-and prescription, and stated that the rights of the Venetians
-consisted in jurisdiction, the imposition of taxes, the prohibition
-or regulation of navigation, the protection of subjects,
-and the suppression of pirates.<a id="FNanchor_633" href="#Footnote_633" class="fnanchor">633</a></p>
-
-<p>But it is probable that <i>Mare Liberum</i> received as much attention
-in England as it did in any other country. Grotius,
-as we have seen, condemned any interference with the liberty
-of fishing or the imposition of taxes on foreign fishermen in
-very severe language, and his book appeared just at the time
-when King James had resolved on both these courses, and
-within less than two months of the issue of the famous proclamation
-forbidding unlicensed fishing by foreigners on the
-British coasts. To be by implication branded as “insanely
-cupid” by an anonymous Dutch writer, because he had decided
-to levy the “assize-herring” from Dutch fishermen, must have
-irritated James; and the irritation would not be lessened when
-he found the envoys from the Netherlands in the following
-year vindicating their right to liberty of fishing by just such
-arguments as were contained in <i>Mare Liberum</i>. James, indeed,
-showed a somewhat bitter feeling towards the great
-Dutch publicist when the authorship was revealed and the
-author lay in prison; and Carleton, the English ambassador
-at The Hague, in a speech to the States-General, held him up
-to opprobrium and stated that the disgrace into which he had
-fallen should deter others from adopting his opinions.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">352</span></p>
-
-<p>The task of replying to Grotius was taken up by a Scottish
-lawyer, William Welwod or Welwood, a professor of the civil
-law. Welwood was Professor of Mathematics at St Andrews
-University, but exchanged the Mathematical for the Juridical
-Chair about the year 1587; at the royal visitation in 1597 he
-was deprived of his office, on the ground that the profession of
-the law was in no wise necessary at that time in the University,
-but probably because his profession as a teacher of jurisprudence
-was obnoxious in the eyes of James.<a id="FNanchor_634" href="#Footnote_634" class="fnanchor">634</a> In 1590 he
-had published at Edinburgh a treatise on the Sea Laws of
-Scotland, which is believed to be the earliest regular work on
-maritime jurisprudence printed in Britain, and which was
-dedicated to James;<a id="FNanchor_635" href="#Footnote_635" class="fnanchor">635</a> but it contains nothing bearing on the
-question of the fishery or “assize-herring.” In 1613 he
-published at London a new and enlarged edition of his early
-work, and in one of the chapters on “The Community and
-Proprietie of the Seas,” he endeavoured to refute the arguments
-advanced in <i>Mare Liberum</i>, which he seems to have
-looked upon as a reply to James’s proclamation of 1609.<a id="FNanchor_636" href="#Footnote_636" class="fnanchor">636</a> This
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">353</span>
-work was also dedicated to the king, and in a prefatory address
-to the three High Admirals&mdash;the Duke of Lennox, the
-Earl of Northampton, and the Earl of Nottingham&mdash;he impressed
-upon them the importance of the “conservacie” of the
-sea, especially for the fisheries, and urged that strangers should
-be stayed from scattering and breaking the shoals of fish on
-the coast of Scotland, a duty on which some of his Majesty’s
-ships might well be employed.</p>
-
-<p>Welwood was scarcely fitted either by knowledge or capacity
-to be a formidable antagonist to a giant like Grotius; and
-although his writings contain quite a number of arguments
-which were later used and expanded by Selden, it can hardly
-be said that they had a great influence on the controversy. He
-looked upon <i>Mare Liberum</i> as an attack on the rights of King
-James and his subjects to the fisheries “on this side the seas,”
-veiled under the pretext of asserting the liberty to sail to the
-Indies. As befitted his nationality and his time, many of his
-arguments were drawn from Holy Writ, and he had no difficulty
-in placing Providence on the side of James and in opposition
-to the Dutch. Others were more pertinent. He urged
-that the injunctions of the Roman law applied only to the
-subjects of Rome, and not internationally as between state and
-state,&mdash;an opinion also pressed, as we have seen, by Vasquius;
-that the fluidity of the sea was no bar to its occupation, and
-that it could be, and had been in certain cases, divided up into
-marches and boundaries, by the ordinary methods used by
-navigators, “so farre as is expedient for the certain reach and
-bounds of seas, properlie pertaining to any prince or people,”&mdash;what
-these bounds are or should be he does not say, though
-he quotes the Italian limit of 100 miles with approval. He
-held that the liberty of navigation was beyond all controversy,
-and agreed to the principle of the complete freedom of the
-sea so far as concerned the “main Sea or great Ocean,” which
-was “farre removed from the just and due bounds above
-mentioned properlie perteyning to the neerest Lands of euerie
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">354</span>
-Nation.” To Grotius’ statement that it was worse to prohibit
-promiscuous fishing than to forbid navigation, Welwood justly
-replied that if the free use of the sea is interfered with for
-any purpose, it ought to be chiefly for the sake of the fishings,
-if the fishes become exhausted and scarce, as he says was the
-condition at that time on the east coast of Scotland, from the
-“neere and dailie approaching of the busse fishers” scattering
-and breaking the shoals, so that no fish “worthy of anie paines
-and travels” could now be found.</p>
-
-<p>Two years later Welwood returned to the theme, and published
-a formal little book on the dominion of the seas.<a id="FNanchor_637" href="#Footnote_637" class="fnanchor">637</a> It
-was dedicated to Queen Anne, who had just been endeavouring
-to set up a fishery society with power to tax foreign fishermen
-(<a href="#Page_161">p. 161</a>), and, as explained in the dedication, the book was
-specially directed against the freedom unlawfully usurped by
-foreigners of fishing in the British seas. It may be regarded
-as an amplification of his chapter in the <i>Abridgement</i>, but is
-much superior and more logically arranged; and being written
-in Latin, it attained, if not a reputation, at least considerable
-recognition on the Continent. He urges strongly that the sea
-as well as the land is capable of distinction and dominion, both
-by human and by divine law, and explains the contrary
-opinion of many publicists, poets, and orators (so copiously
-quoted by Grotius) by saying they were ignorant of the
-true law of nature, and had infected the minds of later generations
-with “a preposterous notion concerning some universal
-community of things.” The adjacent sea is claimed for the
-neighbouring state, because it is as necessary there as it is on
-land that some one should have jurisdiction, and this jurisdiction
-ought to be exercised by the neighbouring prince, so
-that both the land and the sea should be under the same
-sovereignty. The part of the sea next the land is, moreover,
-so joined to and, as it were, incorporated with it, that the ruler
-of the land is not permitted to alienate either a part of it, or
-the use of it, or to let it out (<i>locare</i>) any more than his kingdom
-or the patrimony of his kingdom. He held that it was
-incontestable that the vast and boundless waters beyond the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">355</span>
-<i>mare proximum</i> were open to all nations indifferently for all
-uses, but that in the adjacent sea the neighbouring prince had
-in particular two primary rights besides jurisdiction&mdash;namely,
-the right of navigation and the right of fishing, with the power
-to impose taxes for either. He maintained that fishing in the
-sea was for the most part appropriated, and for a clear reason.
-God had appointed the fishes (herrings) to swarm along the
-coasts of Britain and the surrounding isles at seasons and
-places which He had pre-arranged, and for the benefit of the
-inhabitants: why, then, should the people be hindered from
-possessing as their own this benefit which God had granted
-them? He would be unwilling to deny the communication of
-this natural advantage to other nations, “but only by the
-same law by which they possess their own, that is by a just
-price.” Yet, notwithstanding this special blessing which had
-been granted to the British people, they were despoiled of it
-and of their just rights, owing to their seas being taken possession
-of, as it were, by a continual inundation of foreign
-fishermen, so that the shoals were scattered and the fishery exhausted.
-Welwood then refers to the alleged old agreement
-between the Scotch and the Dutch, whereby the latter were
-not to fish within eighty miles of the coast of Scotland (<a href="#Page_84">p. 84</a>),
-but which they of late totally disregarded, fishing close to the
-shore, in front of the houses. And while they were permitted
-to carry away their fish from our seas without paying any
-tribute, the poor Scottish fishermen had to pay tithes to the
-Church and the assize-herring to the crown, as well as having
-their livelihood damaged by the action of the foreigners.</p>
-
-<p>The treatises of Welwood were composed to support the
-claim of James to the assize-herring, and the project of the
-queen to monopolise the fishings, as much as to demonstrate
-the law as to the dominion of the sea. On one account if
-on no other his works deserve to be remembered. He was
-the first author who clearly enunciated, and insisted on,
-the principle that the inhabitants of a country had a primary
-and exclusive right to the fisheries along their coasts&mdash;that
-the usufruct of the adjacent sea belonged to them; and
-that one of the main reasons why that portion of the sea
-should pertain to the neighbouring state was the risk of
-the exhaustion of its fisheries from promiscuous use.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_356">356</span></p>
-
-<p>But they will be remembered in the history of international
-law for another reason. The first of them called forth from
-Grotius the only reply he ever vouchsafed to the numerous
-writers who attacked <i>Mare Liberum</i>. In the year in which
-the work was published, he was in London as one of the
-Dutch ambassadors, engaged in the somewhat ironical task
-of defending a Dutch <i>mare clausum</i> in the East Indies, and
-probably the book then fell into his hands. In his <i>Defensio</i>
-(<a href="#Page_344">see p. 344</a>) Grotius reaffirmed the position he took in <i>Mare
-Liberum</i>, with the old arguments, and with some new ones to
-meet the criticism of Welwood, and not without some of the
-customary logic-chopping and wire-drawn reasoning. He held
-that the Roman law as to the sea being common applied not
-merely among the citizens of one state, but among mankind
-in general, because <i>communis</i> was a different thing from
-<i>publicus</i>.<a id="FNanchor_638" href="#Footnote_638" class="fnanchor">638</a> While admitting the possibility of marking out
-the sea by imaginary lines, he said this was not relevant
-to the question of appropriation, since appropriation could
-not take place without possession, and possession cannot be
-established merely by the mind or intellect, but requires a
-corporeal act; otherwise the astronomer might lay claim to
-the heavens or the geometrician to the earth. Concerning
-the rights of fishery, with which the <i>Defensio</i> largely deals,
-he asserts that as the use of the sea is common to all, no
-one can prohibit fishing in it or justly impose taxes on it.
-With respect to the right of the Dutch to fish on the British
-coasts, he cites the Burgundy treaties and uses the same
-arguments as the Dutch ambassadors did in 1610 (<a href="#Page_155">p. 155</a>).
-They had the right by treaties, immemorial usage, prescription,
-and the Law of Nations. It is noteworthy that in the <i>Defensio</i>,
-Grotius, no doubt owing to the polemical spirit inciting
-him above all to refute the arguments of Welwood concerning
-the <i>mare proximum</i>, as well as to demolish the claims of
-King James, denies the existence of sovereignty or property
-in any part of the sea, whereas it appears to be allowed
-by implication in <i>Mare Liberum</i>, and is expressly admitted
-in his later and larger work. Here he says, and more
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_357">357</span>
-logically, that whatever applies to the whole sea applies to
-all its parts, even to a diverticulum, and he allows no
-exception for the sea washing a coast: a conclusion, however,
-at variance with the general practice of the time.
-This tract, as already stated, was not published by the
-author, probably because it was likely to excite still more
-the ire of James at finding his “rights” again “questioned.”<a id="FNanchor_639" href="#Footnote_639" class="fnanchor">639</a></p>
-
-<p>In contrast with the writings of Welwood may be cited
-the opinions of another and more eminent Scottish lawyer,
-Sir Thomas Craig, who touched upon the subject of maritime
-jurisdiction in a non-controversial work published before
-the juridical controversy had arisen.<a id="FNanchor_640" href="#Footnote_640" class="fnanchor">640</a> He states that the
-sea is common to all for navigation, but that property and
-jurisdiction in the adjacent sea pertains to the neighbouring
-territory according to the current opinion&mdash;the sea washing
-the coast of France, England, Scotland, Ireland, &amp;c., to the
-respective countries. No limits or bounds are laid down
-by Craig as to the partitioning of the sea in this way, but
-when dealing with the theoretical question of islands arising
-in the sea, he follows Bartolus in assigning a space of 100
-miles from the coast. He admits that certain seas may
-be prescribed, as the Adriatic, which Venice, though not
-possessing the shores, claimed by prescription. With respect
-to fisheries, the Scottish author, as might have been expected,
-holds that those in the adjoining sea belong to the bordering
-state: they are prescribed, and fishing there may be permitted
-or prohibited according to custom; and he says that it was
-not without great injury to us that the Dutch carry on their
-fishery around our islands.<a id="FNanchor_641" href="#Footnote_641" class="fnanchor">641</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_358">358</span></p>
-
-<p>In the period that elapsed between the appearance of the
-works of Grotius and Welwood and the publication of
-Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i>, a number of other books were
-issued which dealt with the question of the freedom of the
-seas and the extent to which they might be appropriated.
-Gerard Malynes, in treatises on commerce which had a wide
-circulation, re-echoed the opinions of Welwood, and of
-Gentleman and Keymer. The “main great seas,” he said,
-were common to all nations for navigation and fishing, but
-the bordering sea was under the dominion of the prince of
-the adjoining country, and foreigners could only fish in it
-by obtaining permission and paying for the privilege; within
-this sea navigation was free unless it interfered with the
-fishings. Malynes said that this was the practice in Russia,
-Denmark, Sweden, and Italy; and he ascribed the decay
-of English fisheries and trade to the admission of foreigners
-to fish in “his Majesty’s streames” without paying for
-the liberty.<a id="FNanchor_642" href="#Footnote_642" class="fnanchor">642</a> Two other authors, each celebrated in his
-respective sphere, touched upon the king’s dominion in the
-seas, and they may be regarded as representing two different
-aspects of the subject, both of which became of great
-importance&mdash;namely, the limits of neutral waters, and the
-rights of the crown by the Common Law of England to
-the propriety of the sea and its bed. One was Alberico
-Gentilis and the other Serjeant Callis.</p>
-
-<p>Gentili, or Gentilis, who was a forerunner of Grotius
-in shaping the Law of Nations,<a id="FNanchor_643" href="#Footnote_643" class="fnanchor">643</a> was an Italian of the school
-of Perugia, domiciled in England, where he held the Regius
-Professorship of Civil Law at Oxford. In 1605, after the
-conclusion of peace with Spain, he was appointed advocate
-for the Spanish embassy in London, and was frequently
-employed in the Admiralty Court in cases where the legality
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_359">359</span>
-of the capture of Spanish vessels by the Dutch had to be
-determined. His pleadings and the decisions in these and
-similar cases were collected and published in 1613, after
-his death, and they form, according to Wheaton, the earliest
-reports of judicial decisions on maritime law published in
-Europe.<a id="FNanchor_644" href="#Footnote_644" class="fnanchor">644</a></p>
-
-<p>In discharging his duties in the English Prize Courts, it often
-fell to the lot of Gentilis to deal with the jurisdiction of
-England in the seas, for while he held office war existed
-between Spain and the United Provinces, and Spanish ships
-were frequently taken by the Dutch in the neighbourhood of
-the British coasts. Of course, captures made in the King’s
-Chambers after the proclamation of 1604 (<a href="#Page_119">see p. 119</a>) were not
-good prize, and were restored.<a id="FNanchor_645" href="#Footnote_645" class="fnanchor">645</a> But when a Spanish vessel
-was seized clearly outside the limits of the King’s Chambers,
-Gentilis argued that it was not good prize, because, first, the
-treaty of peace<a id="FNanchor_646" href="#Footnote_646" class="fnanchor">646</a> between Spain and England provided that the
-subjects of either were to be protected in all places throughout
-the dominions of the other; and, second, the dominion of the
-King of England extended far into the neighbouring seas.
-He seemed to stretch the joint sovereignty of Spain and England
-as far as America, pointing out that the southern coasts of
-Ireland were opposite to Spain, and the western coasts were
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_360">360</span>
-bounded by the Indies belonging to Spain, while the northern
-coasts of Britain, having no countries lying against them, were
-washed by an immense and open sea. He held that the proclamation
-of 1604, fixing the limits of the chambers in connection
-with acts of hostilities between the Spaniards and the
-Hollanders, ought not to prevail against the provisions of the
-treaty, for the proclamation was subsequent to the treaty, and
-it would be unjust to allow it to lessen the extent of the territory
-(sea) over which protection was to be afforded by the
-terms of the contract. It was not a valid argument, Gentilis
-continued, to say that the boundaries expressed in the proclamation&mdash;that
-is, the King’s Chambers&mdash;had been observed long
-before by common usage in relation to similar cases.<a id="FNanchor_647" href="#Footnote_647" class="fnanchor">647</a></p>
-
-<p>There is no doubt, however, that although Gentilis as an
-advocate took this line of pleading, the boundaries of the
-King’s Chambers from headland to headland, as defined by
-James in his “plat,” were received as settled law in regard to
-neutrality both in the English courts and on the Continent.<a id="FNanchor_648" href="#Footnote_648" class="fnanchor">648</a>
-Gentilis further urged that the limit fixed by the Italian jurists
-for the extent of jurisdiction&mdash;viz., 100 miles from the coast,
-unless the proximity of another state interfered with its
-application&mdash;also was in force off the British coasts, a view
-which the court declined to accept.</p>
-
-<p>Yet, although this principle of extending and limiting the
-territorial jurisdiction to 100 miles was not accepted in the
-English Courts, we find it made use of in the diplomatic
-correspondence of the time. The Earl of Salisbury in a
-letter to Cornwallis, the English ambassador at Madrid, explanatory
-of James’s proclamation in 1609 forbidding unlicensed
-fishing, did not seek to defend the action of the
-king by reason of any intrinsic right of the crown of
-England to sovereignty in the neighbouring sea, but rather
-upon what he alleged was the practice of the civil law. A
-sovereign prince or state, he said, was <i>Mundi Dominus, Lex
-Maris</i>, both because of the protection afforded to navigation
-in the adjacent sea and from prescription: the adjoining sea,
-as Baldus said, pertained to the territory of the neighbouring
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_361">361</span>
-state, and thus the Venetians, as lords of the Adriatic, could
-impose taxes and penalties on navigation. “In respect of
-both which titles,” continued the Earl, “the Kings and
-Princes in general fronting upon the seas, as Spayne, France,
-Denmark, &amp;c., have upon occasion offered, not only made
-ordinances and published edicts for the ruling and better
-ordering of the seas, but also have put them in execution; as
-well civilly for deciding of contracts, as criminally for transgressions;
-and have raised taxes and gabells in the seas as on
-the land to their best benefit, as part of their regalities properly
-belonging unto them, in sign of their sovereignty.” As to the
-distance to which this sovereignty extended, he said it was
-“generally received to be about one hundred miles at the least
-into the seas,” unless in narrow seas only, in which case the
-limits are divided by the channel, “except the princes of the
-one shore have prescribed the whole, as it falleth out in his
-Majesty’s narrow seas between England and France, where
-the whole appertayneth to him in right, and so hath been
-possessed tyme out of mind by his progenitors.”</p>
-
-<p>By another channel we may trace the course of the ideas
-which converged and culminated in the claims of Charles to
-the dominion of the surrounding seas&mdash;viz., in connection with
-the development of the law relating to the rights of property
-in the foreshore and the bed of the sea. Cases frequently
-occurred in which those rights were contested between private
-individuals and the crown; and in the course of litigation, or
-in writings dealing with the subject, the rights in the sea
-which were alleged to belong to the crown were explained.
-We have already seen that Plowden, in a case of the kind,
-argued that Queen Elizabeth possessed jurisdiction as far as
-the middle line in the surrounding seas,&mdash;a doctrine which the
-queen expressly repudiated in 1602,&mdash;but denied to her any
-right of property in either the sea or its bed. The claims
-of the crown to the ownership of the foreshores originated in
-the reign of Elizabeth; under James and Charles I. they were
-systematically pursued by the “title-hunters”; and while the
-legal decisions in contested cases were for a long time adverse
-to the crown, they began in the reign of James to be in its
-favour, and gradually the idea was imported into and became
-a part of English law that the ownership of the foreshore
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_362">362</span>
-was <i>prima facie</i> vested in the crown in virtue of the royal
-prerogative.<a id="FNanchor_649" href="#Footnote_649" class="fnanchor">649</a></p>
-
-<p>Along with the development of this idea came another,
-which was ultimately likewise engrafted on English law&mdash;that
-the crown had the exclusive right of property in the sea
-and in the soil beneath it. The origin of the idea is to be
-found in a treatise written in 1569 by Thomas Digges.<a id="FNanchor_650" href="#Footnote_650" class="fnanchor">650</a> He
-argued that as many things&mdash;as wrecks, treasure-trove, waifs
-and strays, which were originally common by the law of
-nature&mdash;now belonged to the Prince, so also should the sea,
-which was the chief of all waters, and could not by the civil
-law become the property of a subject. He held that just as
-the owners of the soil had the property in a river and its banks,
-the king had the interest and property in the “great salt river”
-environing the island, and in its shores and bottom; and he
-speaks of the sea as the “King’s river,” the “King’s streme,”
-and the “King’s water,” in which he had also jurisdiction.
-Digges also claimed that the fishings in the sea belonged to
-the crown, for “although the Kings of England have benne
-content to suffer fishermen <i>Jure gentium</i> to enjoy to theire
-owen use such fishe as by theire charges travill and adventure
-they can in the Englishe Seas take, Yet haue the Kings of
-England for remembrance of this theire favoure that the
-memorie of theire propertie in the Seas shoulde not be extinguished,
-alwaie reserved to them selves the cheif fishe as
-Sturgeon, Whale, &amp;c.”<a id="FNanchor_651" href="#Footnote_651" class="fnanchor">651</a></p>
-
-<p>The contention that the crown had the right of property in
-the sea and its bed, denied by Plowden, received in the reign
-of James much fuller amplification at the hands of Serjeant
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_363">363</span>
-Callis, whose well-known lectures on the Statute of Sewers
-were delivered in 1622.<a id="FNanchor_652" href="#Footnote_652" class="fnanchor">652</a> Callis argued that in “our <i>Mare
-Anglicanum</i>” the king had, by the common law of England,
-four “powers and properties”: sovereignty (<i>imperium regale</i>),
-legal jurisdiction for the administration of justice, property in
-the soil under the sea and in the water, and possession and
-profits both real and personal. He cites in proof a number of
-authorities, legal and historical, such as were cited later by
-Selden. The statement in a case decided in the reign of
-Richard II. (1377-99), that “the sea is within the legiance of
-the king as of his crown of England”; the charter of the
-Admiral giving him power in maritime cases throughout the
-realm of England; the phrases in certain statutes; the right to
-wreck and royal fishes, and so forth, “proved the King full
-Lord and owner of the seas, and that the seas be within the
-realm of England.” The king rules on the sea, he held, “by
-the laws imperial” as by the Roole d’Oleron and others, but
-only in the case of shipping and for merchants and mariners;
-his rights of property in the bed and waters of the sea, and the
-personal profits (wreck, flotsam, &amp;c.) accruing, were his by the
-common law. Callis did not deal with fishing, nor attempt to
-define the bounds of “the seas of England” in which the king
-had property and jurisdiction.</p>
-
-<p>The interpretation of the law as to the rights of the crown
-in the seas, as propounded by Callis, was followed by Selden
-and Hale, and generally by the lawyers who came after him.
-Lord Chief-Justice Coke, in his <i>First Institute</i>, which was
-published in 1628, explains the old phrase “within the four
-seas” (<i>infra quatuor maria</i>) as meaning within the kingdom
-and dominions of England; for if a man be upon the sea of
-England he is “within the kingdom or realm of England, and
-within the ligeance of the king of England, as of his crown of
-England.” In his <i>Fourth Institute</i>, which was not published,
-however, till 1644, ten years after his death, when treating of
-the Admiralty Court, Coke entered more fully into the question
-of the rights of the crown in the seas of England; and, as
-already mentioned, he looked upon the roll of Edward I., <i>De</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_364">364</span>
-<i>Superioritate Maris</i>, as proving that the king’s right of
-dominion over the sea had been expressly acknowledged by
-neighbouring nations.</p>
-
-<p>But none of the works on the rights of England in the
-adjoining seas, which had appeared when the new policy of
-Charles began to be fashioned, was sufficiently profound or
-authoritative to furnish reasonable justification for that policy
-in the eyes of the world. The king in 1632, as we have seen,
-desired to demonstrate his rights by means of “some public
-writing,” founded upon the historical records of the realm,&mdash;a
-demonstration which was to precede the revival of the English
-pretension to the dominion of the seas in what Secretary Coke
-called its ancient style and lustre. As a result of the search
-made amongst the records in the Tower and elsewhere for
-evidence and precedents to establish the claim, several treatises
-and collections were compiled. Most of these were of little
-account,<a id="FNanchor_653" href="#Footnote_653" class="fnanchor">653</a> but one of them attained an authority and celebrity
-only second to the great work of Selden. Before Charles
-wrote to the Clerk-Register in Edinburgh for Scottish documents
-to substantiate his claims (<a href="#Page_212">p. 212</a>), it seems that Sir John
-Boroughs, the Keeper of his Majesty’s Records in the Tower,
-had been commissioned by the king to prepare the “public
-writing” to which he referred. We have already seen that in
-1631 Boroughs brought forward the important roll of Edward
-I.; he tells us in his preface that his work was composed at
-the request of “a great person”; it was written in Latin, the
-language which fitted it for foreign Courts; and it deals very
-largely with the Dutch and English fisheries, even recommending
-the construction of 250 busses for the fishery association.
-Boroughs’ treatise, entitled “The Soveraignty of the British
-Seas, proved by Records, History and the Municipall Lawes of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_365">365</span>
-this Kingdome,” was completed in 1633, but it was not published
-until 1651, when the question of maritime rights had
-been again raised between England and the United Provinces.<a id="FNanchor_654" href="#Footnote_654" class="fnanchor">654</a>
-It is probable that the king discarded it for <i>Mare Clausum</i>,
-the incomparably superior treatise by Selden, of the existence
-of which he was probably made aware as early at least as 1634.</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, Boroughs’ work was the first successful attempt
-to bring together a great array of historical facts in favour of
-the English claims to the dominion of the seas. Like Selden,
-he begins with the Roman occupation of Britain in order to
-show that from the first the “British nation had the supreme
-power of command of their own seas”; and, moreover, he
-gives all the more important documents to be found in <i>Mare
-Clausum</i>,&mdash;the ordinance of John, the rolls of Edward I. and
-Edward III., the charter of Edgar, the Laws of Oleron, commissions
-to the admirals, safe-conducts, and extracts from the
-Burgundy treaties. He is very emphatic as to the king’s right
-to the dominion of the seas and the fisheries. “That princes,”
-he says, “may have an exclusive property in the soveraigntie
-of the severall parts of the sea, and in the navigation, fishing
-and shores thereof, is so evidently true by way of fact, as no
-man that is not desperately impudent can deny it”; and&mdash;no
-doubt for the benefit of the Dutch&mdash;he adds that “if any
-nation usurp our rights, the king has a good sword to defend
-them.” He asserts that the kings of England in succession
-had the “sovereign guard” of the seas; had imposed taxes and
-tributes upon all ships navigating or fishing in them; and had
-closed and opened the passage through them to strangers, as
-they saw cause. The sovereignty of the sea he calls “the
-most precious jewel of his Majesty’s crown, next (after God)
-the principal means of our wealth and safety.” A considerable
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_366">366</span>
-part of the treatise is taken up with the fisheries, the information
-being almost wholly derived from previous writers;
-the usual comparisons are drawn of the flourishing state of the
-fisheries of Holland and the poor condition of those of England,
-and the usual statements made as to the benefits that would
-accrue to the kingdom if the fisheries were developed.</p>
-
-<p>Boroughs’ treatise, however interesting from the historical
-documents it contained, had serious defects when considered as
-a formal justification to Europe of the policy of Charles. The
-facts were not skilfully marshalled; the deductions were bald
-and crude; and above all, it was destitute of arguments and
-reasoning founded on law. Grotius was then the Swedish
-ambassador at Paris, his works were well known and esteemed
-throughout Europe, and it would have been indiscreet to
-attempt to answer his elaborate arguments against such claims
-to <i>mare clausum</i> by saying that these claims were self-evident
-and that only an impudent person would deny them.</p>
-
-<p>Fortunately for Charles, Selden now came upon the scene
-to vindicate and glorify his prerogative in the surrounding seas.
-The distinguished author tells us that his great work, <i>Mare
-Clausum</i>, was begun long before at the desire of King James,
-and had been lying in an incomplete and imperfect form for
-fully sixteen years.<a id="FNanchor_655" href="#Footnote_655" class="fnanchor">655</a> It was presented to James in 1618, but
-several reasons prevented its publication, one of the chief being
-that the king was afraid that some passages it contained might
-give offence to the King of Denmark, from whom he was then
-endeavouring to obtain a loan of money.<a id="FNanchor_656" href="#Footnote_656" class="fnanchor">656</a> At the request of
-Charles, Selden now recast his treatise, added to it, and completed
-it. It was dedicated to the king and published by his
-“express commands,” as he explained a little later, “for the
-manifesting of the right and Dominion of Us and our Royal
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_367">367</span>
-Progenitors in the seas which encompass these our Realms and
-Dominions of Great Britain and Ireland.”<a id="FNanchor_657" href="#Footnote_657" class="fnanchor">657</a></p>
-
-<p>Selden, as is well known, had taken a prominent part in the
-Parliament of 1629, in the majority which resisted the king’s
-wishes, and was for a time imprisoned in consequence of his
-share in the historic disturbances with which it had ended,
-when the Speaker was held down in the chair. He was
-released on bail under sureties for good behaviour, and he was
-bound to present himself, on the motion of the Attorney-General,
-in the Court of King’s Bench, on the first day of each term, as
-a person under surveillance.<a id="FNanchor_658" href="#Footnote_658" class="fnanchor">658</a> Selden was not of the stuff of
-which martyrs are made. After his release, we find him among
-the lawyers of the Inns of Court arranging for the masque
-which was performed before the Court, at Whitehall in February
-1634, as a token of the detestation in which they held
-Prynne’s innuendo concerning the queen in his <i>Histriomastix</i>.<a id="FNanchor_659" href="#Footnote_659" class="fnanchor">659</a>
-Towards the end of the same year, in a humble petition to
-the king (“prostrating myself at the feet of your sacred
-Majesty”), he begged that the royal displeasure might be
-removed and the bail discharged, assuring Charles of his
-readiness to serve him with gladness and affection. In
-February 1635 the king forwarded to the Judges of the Court
-of King’s Bench a mandate, the draft of which had been
-prepared by Selden himself, instructing them to discharge
-him of their recognisances;<a id="FNanchor_660" href="#Footnote_660" class="fnanchor">660</a> in August we find the Dutch
-ambassador writing to The Hague that the book was being
-printed;<a id="FNanchor_661" href="#Footnote_661" class="fnanchor">661</a> and in December of that year it was given to the
-world.<a id="FNanchor_662" href="#Footnote_662" class="fnanchor">662</a> There is little doubt that Selden’s petition to the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_368">368</span>
-king and its favourable reception covered the negotiations
-concerning the completion and publication of <i>Mare Clausum</i>,
-which were carried on under the auspices of certain eminent
-personages at Court, and probably of Laud.<a id="FNanchor_663" href="#Footnote_663" class="fnanchor">663</a> He tells us that
-the early work was very imperfect, and required to be completely
-reconstructed, and that he was able to devote some
-months of leisure to the task. But even Selden’s extraordinary
-erudition and great industry could not have produced such a
-book without prolonged labour; and it may be guessed that,
-observing the trend of the king’s policy and becoming desirous
-of royal favour, he began to reconstruct his treatise very soon
-after leaving prison.</p>
-
-<p>The political significance of Selden’s work was instantly
-recognised both at home and abroad. It appeared at the time
-when the pretensions of Charles to the dominion of the sea
-were astonishing Europe. While the printers were still busy
-with it, the Earl of Lindsey’s fleet was scouring the Channel
-to force the elusive squadrons of France to strike to the king’s
-flag. The longing to compel homage to the flag burned like
-a fever in the breasts of naval officers; and despatches poured
-in from them announcing that Dutch, Danish, and even occasionally
-French, ships had been forced to strike, sometimes in
-their own waters. The supposed policy of the Plantagenets
-had been expounded in high-sounding despatches to foreign
-Courts, and formulated in Admiralty instructions. The Dutch
-fisheries had been threatened; and it was known everywhere
-that the King of England was preparing a formidable fleet to
-sweep the seas in the following year.</p>
-
-<p>Charles did what he could to emphasise the importance of
-the book. When a pirated edition appeared within a few
-months at Amsterdam, bearing the name of the king’s printers
-and the word London in imitation of the original edition, and
-with a print of the great Burgundy treaty, the Intercursus
-Magnus, and a tract appended by way of antidote, he complained
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_369">369</span>
-to the Dutch ambassador, and issued a proclamation
-declaring that <i>Mare Clausum</i> had been published by his
-express commands, denouncing those who had produced the
-pirated copy, and banning it from the realm.<a id="FNanchor_664" href="#Footnote_664" class="fnanchor">664</a> On 26th March,
-as the following record shows, he brought it before the Privy
-Council with high eulogy, and for a definite purpose: “His
-Majesty this day in Council took into consideration a book
-lately published by John Selden, Esquire, intituled <i>Mare
-Clausum, seu de Dominio Maris</i>, written by the king’s command,
-which he had done with great industry, learning and
-judgment, and hath asserted the right of the Crown of England
-to the Dominion of the British seas. The King requires one
-of the said books to be kept in the Council-Chest, another in
-the Court of Exchequer, and a third in the Court of Admiralty,
-as faithful and strong evidence of the Dominion of the British
-seas.”<a id="FNanchor_665" href="#Footnote_665" class="fnanchor">665</a></p>
-
-<p>There was good reason for the king’s eulogy of Selden’s
-treatise. From the point of view of his policy nothing that
-the pen can do could have been better done. It is an elaborate
-and masterly exposition of the case for the sovereignty of the
-crown of England in the British seas, which throws into the shade
-all the other numerous works which were written on that side
-of the question. One of the most eminent lawyers of his time,
-a scholar, an antiquary, an historian, the author brought to his
-task a keen intellect, an immense erudition, and the ability of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_370">370</span>
-disposing his material and arguments to the best advantage.
-In learning at least he far surpassed Grotius, and he was not
-inferior to his illustrious contemporary in ingenuity of reasoning.
-It was Selden’s misfortune that the cause he championed
-was moribund, and opposed to the growing spirit of freedom
-throughout the world. At the same time it must be said that,
-apart from its extreme doctrines as to the sovereignty of
-England in the seas, it more correctly represented what are
-now the admitted principles as to the appropriation of the
-adjacent sea than did most of the works written on the other
-side, not excepting even those of Grotius.</p>
-
-<p>But in relation to the cause for which it was written, the
-merit of <i>Mare Clausum</i> lay not merely in the enunciation of
-the theoretical and legal aspects of the claim to maritime
-sovereignty, but also in the imposing array of historical facts
-and arguments by which the right of England was sought to
-be established. The defects of the work are scarcely less
-apparent. There is no ground to suppose that Selden was
-guilty of the offence attributed to him by some of his foreign
-critics, of inventing part of the evidence he cites. But the
-interpretation he placed upon much of it was strained or
-erroneous. Great conclusions were drawn from things which
-had in reality no connection with his case; laws and events
-which referred solely to English subjects were improperly
-extended to include foreigners; the bearing of many records
-was misrepresented, others were passed over in silence, or, as
-with the “Burgundy” treaties, referred to in such a way as to
-distort their plain meaning.</p>
-
-<p>In the first book the author endeavours to prove that
-the sea is not everywhere common, but is capable of
-appropriation, and has been in fact in numerous cases
-appropriated. The objections to that opinion are classified
-in three groups: first, that it is contrary to the law of
-nature and the law of nations to forbid free commerce
-and navigation; second, that the physical nature of the
-sea, its fluidity and fluxion, renders it incapable of occupation;
-third, the opinions of certain learned men. He
-argued that the ancient law as to the community of things
-had become modified in certain particulars, and that the
-received practice and custom of many nations, ancient and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_371">371</span>
-modern, showed that the sea was capable of private dominion,
-and that such dominion or appropriation was therefore not
-contrary either to the law of nature or the law of nations.
-In support of his argument Selden drew freely upon the
-vast stores of his erudition. He began, like Welwood, by
-quoting Scriptures to show that the divine law (<i>jus divinum</i>)
-allowed private dominion in the sea, and that according to
-the opinion of those learned in the Jewish law, a great
-part of the sea washing the west coast of the Holy Land
-had been annexed to the land of Israel by the appointment
-of God. Among almost all the nations of antiquity, he
-said, it was the custom to admit private dominion in the
-sea, and many of them exercised maritime sovereignty.<a id="FNanchor_666" href="#Footnote_666" class="fnanchor">666</a>
-Among modern nations, sovereignty was exercised by the
-Venetians in the Adriatic, by the Genoese in the Ligurian
-Sea, by the Tuscans and Pisans in the Tyrrhenian Sea,
-and by the Pope over a part of the sea called <i>Mare Ecclesi&aelig;</i>.
-Then the sovereignty claimed by the Spaniards and Portuguese,
-and the maritime dominion of the Danes and Norwegians,
-were notorious. Even the Poles and the Turks possessed
-sovereignty in the Baltic and the Black Sea respectively.</p>
-
-<p>How then could it be denied, with all these examples,
-ancient and modern, that the sea could not be appropriated?
-Selden indeed agreed with Grotius in repudiating the
-sovereignty claimed by Spain and Portugal in the great
-oceans,&mdash;not, however, because it was opposed to reason and
-nature, but because it was founded on no legitimate title,
-and these nations had not a sufficient naval force to assert
-and maintain it.<a id="FNanchor_667" href="#Footnote_667" class="fnanchor">667</a></p>
-
-<p>As to the free use of the sea, Selden admits that to
-prohibit innocent navigation would be contrary to the
-dictates of humanity;<a id="FNanchor_668" href="#Footnote_668" class="fnanchor">668</a> but he held that the permitting of
-such innocent navigation does not derogate from the dominion
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_372">372</span>
-of the sea&mdash;it is comparable to the free passage on a road
-across another’s land&mdash;and it cannot always be claimed as
-a right. With respect to the argument that the sea cannot
-be appropriated because of its physical properties, he points
-to the example of rivers and springs, which even by Roman
-law may be appropriated, as well as of lakes. It is not
-true that the sea has no banks or limits: it is clearly
-bounded by the shores; some seas, as the Caspian, are
-completely enclosed, and the Mediterranean is so everywhere
-except at the Straits of Gibraltar. Elsewhere there
-are islands, rocks, promontories, by which boundaries may
-be determined; and limits may be set in the open sea by
-nautical science, as in the fixing of latitude and longitude;
-and that was shown by the Bull of Pope Alexander VI.,
-and the hundred-mile limit of the Italians. Selden denies
-that the sea is inexhaustible from promiscuous use. On
-the contrary he says a sea may be made worse for him
-that owns it by reason of other men’s fishing, navigation,
-and commerce, and less profit accrue from it, as where pearls,
-corals, and other things of that kind are produced. In
-such cases the abundance may be diminished by promiscuous
-use just as readily as in the case of metals and suchlike
-on land; and the same argument applies to all kinds of
-fishing.<a id="FNanchor_669" href="#Footnote_669" class="fnanchor">669</a></p>
-
-<p>It was, however, the second book of <i>Mare Clausum</i> which
-gave it its chief political importance. It was appropriate
-and necessary that the claims of Charles should be justified
-in the domain of law and custom; it was still more necessary
-that they should be supported by weighty precedents
-existing in the history of England&mdash;that some of his
-predecessors had been styled Lords of the Sea, and had
-exercised sovereign jurisdiction over foreigners even on
-their own coasts. After partially defining the British
-seas (<a href="#Page_19">see p. 19</a>), Selden, as mentioned in a former chapter,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_373">373</span>
-labours to show that maritime sovereignty had been continuously
-exercised within them by the ancient Britons,
-the Romans, and the Anglo-Saxons in succession, and then
-by the Norman and later kings. He strove to prove by a
-multitude of citations from records that the kings of England
-had perpetually enjoyed exclusive dominion and jurisdiction in
-the surrounding seas as part of their territory, and were hence
-styled Lords of the Sea; that they had always preserved the
-right to forbid fishing and even navigation by foreigners
-within the British seas, or to exact tribute for that liberty;
-that the rights of the crown in the seas, asserted both by
-kings and Parliaments, were in conformity with the common
-law of England, and had been in several important respects
-acknowledged by other nations. A great deal of the evidence
-adduced is, as has been said, irrelevant. The long recital of
-facts connected with the guarding of the sea, the disposition
-of fleets, the office and jurisdiction of the admirals, the raising
-of special taxes&mdash;as the Danegeld&mdash;for defensive purposes
-or the equipment of ships of war, might have been paralleled
-in the records of other maritime states, as France or Flanders.</p>
-
-<p>The maritime sovereignty claimed by Selden for the kings of
-England was of the most absolute kind. Speaking particularly
-of the eastern and southern parts of the English sea, lying
-between England and the shores of France and Germany,&mdash;in
-which Charles was especially interested,&mdash;he declared that
-the powers exercised by the kings of England from the
-time of the Norman Conquest were as follows: (1) the custody,
-government, and admiralty, as if it were a territory or province
-of the king; (2) leave of passage granted to foreigners at their
-request; (3) liberty of fishing in them conceded to foreigners,
-and protection afforded to their fishermen; (4) the prescribing
-of laws and limits to foreigners in hostility with one another as
-to the taking of prizes.<a id="FNanchor_670" href="#Footnote_670" class="fnanchor">670</a> It is to be noted that Selden in
-expounding his case expressly rejected the principle of the
-mid-line, the limits laid down by the Italian writers, and
-those prescribed by King James in defining the King’s
-Chambers; and he disclaimed the arguments used by the
-English commissioners at the Bremen Conference in 1602, as
-to the freedom of the seas, as being contrary to English
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_374">374</span>
-rights. He concludes his famous book in the following words:
-“It is certainly true, according to the mass of evidence set
-forth above, that the very shores or ports of the neighbouring
-sovereigns on the other side of the sea are the bounds of
-the maritime dominion of Britain, to the southwards and
-eastwards; but in the open and vast ocean to the north and
-west they are to be placed at the farthest extent of the
-most spacious seas which are possessed by the English, Scots,
-and Irish.”</p>
-
-<p>It may be added that <i>Mare Clausum</i> became in a sense a
-law-book, an authoritative work to which eminent lawyers,
-as Lord Chief-Justice Hale and Hargrave, appealed as proving
-the existence and the legality of the rights of the crown of
-England to the dominion of the British seas. Even as late
-as the year 1830 this doctrine held its place in certain recognised
-treatises on the law of England, together with Selden’s
-definition of the extent of those seas. (<a href="#Page_580">See p. 580</a>.)</p>
-
-<p>As was natural, the appearance of Selden’s book created
-anxiety in Holland. Its very title was a challenge to the
-much-cherished principles in <i>Mare Liberum</i>, and the circumstances
-connected with its birth heightened its political importance.
-It was felt to be almost equivalent to a declaration
-of the king himself. The simultaneous measures for the
-formation of an English fleet of unexampled strength made
-the Dutch fear for even more than their herring fishery.
-Their interest in the book was shown by the fact that within
-a year of its publication no less than three editions were
-brought out in Holland.<a id="FNanchor_671" href="#Footnote_671" class="fnanchor">671</a> It was promptly brought before
-the States of Holland, on 11th December 1635, and remitted
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_375">375</span>
-to one Professor Petrus Cun&aelig;us for examination and report.<a id="FNanchor_672" href="#Footnote_672" class="fnanchor">672</a>
-His report was read on 31st March 1636, and the States of
-Holland, after hearing it, resolved to look upon <i>Mare Clausum</i>
-merely as the work of a private person, which did not require
-any special procedure on their part.<a id="FNanchor_673" href="#Footnote_673" class="fnanchor">673</a> The States-General, however,
-took another view of the book, and decided that it should
-be formally refuted, since they had learned that King Charles
-would attempt to establish his pretended rights over the so-called
-four seas by arguments borrowed from <i>Mare Clausum</i>.
-No doubt at this juncture the thoughts of men in Holland
-were turned towards Grotius, the one above all others most
-worthy of the task of refuting Selden. But Grotius was then
-the Swedish ambassador in France, and did not wish to offend
-his royal mistress by publicly opposing claims not dissimilar
-to those she herself made in the Baltic.<a id="FNanchor_674" href="#Footnote_674" class="fnanchor">674</a> If we can trust Sir
-Kenelm Digby, Grotius was even pleased to see his works
-refuted. In a letter from Paris about Selden’s book, which
-was “much esteemed” there, Digby said Selden was not to
-expect a reply from Grotius, “who wrote, he says, as a
-Hollander, and is exceeding glad to see the contrary proved.”<a id="FNanchor_675" href="#Footnote_675" class="fnanchor">675</a></p>
-
-<p>The official refutation of <i>Mare Clausum</i> was, by a resolution
-of the States-General on 28th April 1636, entrusted to a
-lawyer of Delft, called Dirck Graswinckel, who does not appear
-to have been very well fitted for so onerous a duty. His
-treatise in reply to Selden was not submitted to the States-General
-until 13th April in the following year, and by that
-time much had happened to alter the political complexion of
-affairs. The States-General had then reason to believe that
-the campaign which Charles had been carrying on against the
-Dutch herring-busses would be suspended (<a href="#Page_315">p. 315</a>), and probably
-never resumed; and after remitting Graswinckel’s work to a
-committee, it was finally set aside and was never published,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_376">376</span>
-while the author was soothed by the substantial pension of
-500 gulden a-year for his pains.<a id="FNanchor_676" href="#Footnote_676" class="fnanchor">676</a></p>
-
-<p>But another Dutchman in this year assumed the task which
-Graswinckel had fruitlessly essayed. This was Pontanus,
-Professor of Philosophy and History in the College of Harderwyck
-in Guelderland, who also occupied the office of Historiographer
-to the King of Denmark. He had thus, like Grotius,
-to be cautious in his refutation of Selden’s general arguments
-upon the appropriation and dominion of seas, because the
-claims of Denmark to such property and dominion were
-notorious. But he was free to contest the particular rights
-of England, which he did with zest. He subjected Selden’s
-chapters, almost <i>seriatim</i>, to a rigorous criticism, beginning
-with the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. He made the most
-of the declarations of Elizabeth as to the freedom of the seas
-for navigation and fishing, and of her State Paper of 1602
-(<a href="#Page_110">see p. 110</a>); and he dealt specially with the sovereignty over
-the northern seas&mdash;the <i>Mare Caledonium</i> and those flowing
-between the Scandinavian countries and Iceland and Greenland&mdash;which
-he asserted were not, and never had been, under the
-dominion of England, but always appertained to the Scandinavian
-nations. Pontanus entered very fully into the negotiations
-which had taken place between England and Scotland
-on the one hand, and Norway and Denmark on the other,
-concerning those seas and the rights of navigating and fishing
-at Iceland and Greenland&mdash;subjects on which, from his official
-position, he had special knowledge.<a id="FNanchor_677" href="#Footnote_677" class="fnanchor">677</a> In the same year another
-author, and he a Frenchman, entered the field in defence of the
-appropriation and dominion of seas,<a id="FNanchor_678" href="#Footnote_678" class="fnanchor">678</a> while a somewhat virulent
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_377">377</span>
-controversy broke out between Poland and Denmark as to the
-sovereignty of the Baltic Sea, which was claimed by each, as
-it had been shortly before by Sweden, and formed, indeed, one
-of the causes of the war by Gustavus Adolphus against
-Germany.<a id="FNanchor_679" href="#Footnote_679" class="fnanchor">679</a></p>
-
-<p>The juridical controversies respecting the appropriation and
-dominion of the seas continued throughout the whole of the
-seventeenth century and well on into the next, and so far as
-this country was concerned, they were particularly vehement
-during the first and the third Dutch wars.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_378">378</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">THE PARLIAMENT, THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE
-PROTECTORATE.<br />
-
-THE FIRST DUTCH WAR.</span></h2>
-
-<p>On the 3rd November 1640 the Long Parliament commenced
-its sittings at Westminster, and within two years thereafter&mdash;on
-22nd August 1642&mdash;Charles raised the royal
-standard at Nottingham, and initiated the great Civil War.
-During the period of strife little was heard of the claim
-to the sovereignty of the sea, although the Parliament continued
-to issue the usual instructions to the naval commanders
-to compel homage to the flag. But under the Commonwealth
-and Protectorate the English pretensions were carried
-to as high a pitch as ever they were under the Stuarts.
-The stern men who then guided the destinies of England
-were as jealous of the symbols of the nation’s greatness as
-had been the vacillating king they destroyed. In particular,
-the salutation of the flag was enforced with great vigour.
-A dispute on the point between Tromp and Blake occasioned
-the first Dutch war, and the result proved to the world that
-after all England possessed the actual dominion of the sea
-by reason of her naval power. In the negotiations with
-the Dutch which preceded the treaty of peace, we shall find
-that Cromwell put in the forefront of his conditions the
-recognition of England’s right to the herring fishery, and
-to the striking of the flag within the British seas.</p>
-
-<p>At first, as might have been expected from the actions
-of the king with regard to the ship-money collections, little
-sympathy was shown by the Parliament for the claim to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_379">379</span>
-the sovereignty of the sea. The necessity of maintaining
-that sovereignty had always been put forward as a principal
-argument for levying the money, and on that ground
-it was objectionable to many of those opposed to the king.
-In a work said to have been presented to the Parliament
-at its first meeting, forcible opinions were expressed against
-the pretension. It was doubtful, it was said, whether the
-sea really belonged to the crown, as the king claimed. Even
-if it did, it was not apparent that the fate of the land
-depended upon the dominion of the sea. That dominion
-might be considered as a right, an honour, or a profit. As
-a right it was a theme “fitter for scholars to fret their
-wits upon than for Christians to fight and spill blood about”;
-as an honour, by making others strike sails to our ships
-as they passed, it was “a glory fitter for women and children
-to wonder at than for statesmen to contend about”; as a
-matter of profit, to fence and enclose the sea, it was of
-moment, but not more to us than to other nations: by too
-insolent contentions about it we might provoke God and
-dishonour ourselves, and rather incense our friends than
-quell our enemies.<a id="FNanchor_680" href="#Footnote_680" class="fnanchor">680</a> If such sentiments reflected the feeling
-of the Parliament at the beginning of their labours,
-they were not of long duration. Within a few years a
-change was wrought, which was probably in large measure
-due to the part taken by the fleet in the struggle with
-the king, as well as to the abiding spirit of the people for
-predominant power on the sea.</p>
-
-<p>From an early stage in the conflict the control of the
-fleet passed into the hands of the Parliament. In the
-summer of 1642, when the Earl of Northumberland, the
-Lord High Admiral, was laid aside by illness, the Parliament
-succeeded, with his connivance and assistance, in placing the
-Earl of Warwick in actual command; Sir John Pennington,
-the nominee of Charles, having to stand aside.<a id="FNanchor_681" href="#Footnote_681" class="fnanchor">681</a> Under
-the management of its new masters the navy rapidly became
-a powerful and efficient instrument for the defence of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_380">380</span>
-realm, as was shown at the opening of the Dutch war. The
-general instructions given by the Parliament to its naval
-officers respecting the honour of the flag and the sovereignty
-of the sea were almost identical with those which had been
-issued to the Earls of Lindsey and Northumberland, but
-the phraseology was sometimes a little varied. On 5th April
-1643 the Parliament, in view of the attempt organised by
-Queen Henrietta Maria to smuggle into England military
-supplies from the Netherlands for the use of the royalists,
-ordered the Earl of Warwick, if he met with “any foreign
-forces, ships, or vessels, as Spaniards, French, Danes, Dunkirkers,
-or any other whatsoever, making towards the coasts
-of England, Ireland, or any other of his Majesty’s dominions,”
-to command them, “according to the usual manner, to strike
-their flags or top-sails,” and cause them to be examined and
-searched for soldiers or munitions of war. If they refused
-to strike, he was “to compel them thereunto by force of
-arms and surprise, and to take all such ships and vessels,
-or otherwise to burn, sink, or destroy them.”<a id="FNanchor_682" href="#Footnote_682" class="fnanchor">682</a> In the following
-year the Committee for the Admiralty instructed Vice-Admiral
-Batten, who was in command of the fleet, “upon
-all occasions, as you shall be able, to maintain <i>the Kingdom’s</i>
-sovereignty and regality in the seas.”<a id="FNanchor_683" href="#Footnote_683" class="fnanchor">683</a></p>
-
-<p>In the spring of 1647, the Committee of the Admiralty,
-for some reason or other, appears to have devoted special
-attention to the question of the flag and the sovereignty
-of the sea. Collections were made from the Admiralty archives
-of precedents showing that all ships refusing to strike in
-English waters were to be reputed enemies, and were liable
-to forfeiture,&mdash;the examples beginning with the Ordinance
-of King John and ending with the instructions issued by
-Charles.<a id="FNanchor_684" href="#Footnote_684" class="fnanchor">684</a> These collections were probably made in connection
-with the instructions which the Committee drew up at
-this time for the guidance of the captains and officers of
-the navy, and which were essentially similar to those given
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_381">381</span>
-by Charles to his ship-money fleets. “It must be your
-principal care,” they ran, “to preserve the honour of this
-kingdom, and the coasts, jurisdictions, territories, and subjects
-thereof, being in amity with the Parliament, and within
-the extent of your employment, as much as in you lieth;
-that no nation or people whatsoever intrude thereon or injure
-any of them. And if you chance to meet in any of the
-seas that are under the jurisdiction of England, Scotland,
-and Ireland, with any ships or fleets belonging to any foreign
-prince or state, you must expect that they, in acknowledgment
-of this kingdom’s sovereignty there, shall perform their
-duty and homage in passing by, in striking their top-sails
-and taking in their flags.” If they refused they were to be
-forced to do so in the usual way. It will be noticed that
-the region within which foreigners were to be compelled
-to strike was greatly extended by the Parliament. Up to
-and including the reign of James the “acknowledgment”
-was confined to the narrow seas, in which it had been
-exacted for centuries; Charles in 1635 ordered Lindsey to
-compel it “in his Majesty’s seas,” and now the Parliament
-extended it specifically to all the seas under the jurisdiction
-of England, Scotland, and Ireland. From a clause in the instructions
-it is clear that the seas over which the Parliament
-claimed sovereignty reached to the coasts of the Continent;
-but a territorial limit was excepted on foreign coasts. The
-clause in question enjoined the naval officers “to be very
-careful not to meddle with any ships within the harbours,
-or ports, or under the command of any of the castles of
-any foreign prince or state, or within any buoys (Buoyes)
-or rivers, that they may have no just cause of offence.”
-Another feature of these instructions is of interest. The
-clause which was inserted in the instructions to Lindsey
-and Northumberland in 1635, 1636, and 1637, commanding
-them to prevent all hostilities between men-of-war or merchant
-vessels in the presence of the king’s ships, was repeated.<a id="FNanchor_685" href="#Footnote_685" class="fnanchor">685</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_382">382</span>
-The Parliament clearly intended to abate no jot of the pretensions
-which had been put forward by the king.</p>
-
-<p>An opportunity soon came for putting the instructions
-regarding the flag into force. In May of the same year a
-Swedish fleet of fifteen sail, consisting of ten merchantmen
-bound for the Mediterranean and five ships of war convoying
-them, was met by Captain Owen in the <i>Henrietta Maria</i> off
-the Isle of Wight. On being called upon to strike, the Swedes
-refused, declaring that they had been commanded by the
-Queen of Sweden “not to strike to any whatsoever.” Owen,
-reinforced by Batten, thereupon attacked them, the fight continuing
-till night. The Swedes suffered much loss; the colours
-of their vice-admiral and rear-admiral were shot away, a “great
-breach” was made in the vice-admiral’s ship, and their vessels
-were captured and taken into Portsmouth. They were afterwards
-released, but the Admiralty Committee expressed the
-opinion that the proceedings of their officers “in order to the
-maintenance of the kingdom’s sovereignty at sea” were to be
-commended, and this resolution was reported to both Houses of
-Parliament.<a id="FNanchor_686" href="#Footnote_686" class="fnanchor">686</a> The question of the salute between ships of war
-of different nations had been brought to the front in most
-other maritime countries by the forcible measures taken by
-Charles in 1633 and later. Two years before the encounter
-with the Swedes in the Channel, Denmark and Sweden had
-regulated the ceremony, as affecting their own ships of war, in
-the treaty of peace then concluded between them.<a id="FNanchor_687" href="#Footnote_687" class="fnanchor">687</a></p>
-
-<p>From this time until shortly before the war with the Dutch
-there is little to record about the claims to the dominion of the
-sea. In 1649, the instructions issued to Popham, Blake, and
-Dean, the commanders of the fleet, included the guarding of
-the North Sea and the mackerel-fishing, as well as the maintenance
-“of the sovereignty of the Commonwealth in the sea,”
-all in the prescribed form.<a id="FNanchor_688" href="#Footnote_688" class="fnanchor">688</a> In the following year the Council
-of State issued express commands to Blake on the subject
-when he was ordered to proceed against Prince Rupert and the
-revolted ships at Lisbon. The dominion of “these seas,” they
-said, had anciently and time out of mind belonged to the English
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_383">383</span>
-nation, and the ships of all other nations in acknowledgment
-of that dominion had been accustomed to take down their flags
-“upon sight” of the Admiral of England, and not to bear them
-in his presence. Blake was therefore, to the best of his powers,
-and “as he found himself and the fleet of strength and ability,”
-to do his utmost endeavours to preserve the dominion of the
-sea, and to cause the ships of all other nations to strike their
-flags and keep them in in his presence, and to compel such as
-were refractory, by seizing their ships and sending them into
-port, to be punished according to the “laws of the sea,” unless
-they, submitted and made such reparation as he required. At
-the same time, although the dominion of the sea was so ancient
-and indubitable, and it concerned the honour and reputation
-of the nation to uphold it, Blake was not to imperil his fleet
-over it in the expedition on which he was employed. If he
-was opposed in the question of the flag by a force so considerable
-as to prove dangerous, he was not to press it, but to note
-who they were that refused, so that they might be forced to
-strike at some better opportunity.<a id="FNanchor_689" href="#Footnote_689" class="fnanchor">689</a></p>
-
-<p>Such were the instructions of the Government to the English
-naval commanders, and they were soon to bear bitter fruit.
-At this period the Dutch men-of-war apparently did not
-show unwillingness to salute the English flag, even sometimes
-in distant seas. Penn notes in his journal, on 13th September
-1651, that on meeting with the Dutch Admiral with his vice- and
-rear-admirals between Cape Trafalgar and Cape Sprat,
-they struck their flags to him and saluted; but they then
-hoisted them, which would have been contrary to the custom
-in the narrow sea, and Penn thereupon called his captains
-together for advice, but they said the Dutch “had done enough.”
-A little later he records that young Tromp, convoying thirteen
-merchantmen, came into Gibraltar Road, where Penn was
-lying, with his flag in the main-top. The English Admiral,
-however, did nothing, since Tromp was in a port of the King
-of Spain. Shortly afterwards in the same place eight sail of
-Hollanders, four of which were men-of-war, all struck their
-flags and saluted the English fleet.<a id="FNanchor_690" href="#Footnote_690" class="fnanchor">690</a></p>
-
-<p>The claims of England to the sovereignty of the seas were
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_384">384</span>
-now about to enter on a new phase, which culminated in the
-first Dutch war. So long as the ambitious and energetic Prince
-William II. of Orange was alive, the relations between the
-United Provinces and the Parliament were strained and menacing.
-The States-General, under Orange influence, refused to
-enter into diplomatic communication with the English Government,
-or to admit their ambassador, Strickland, to audience. The
-execution of Charles I. had raised strong feelings of reprobation
-and horror in the Netherlands, even amongst the
-Hollanders and Zealanders, who sympathised with the Puritans;
-and it was believed in England that the Prince of
-Orange was contemplating war against them for the restoration
-of his brother-in-law, Charles II., to the throne. The
-death of the Prince, on 27th October 1650, produced a great
-change. It was followed by a political revolution in the
-United Provinces, the chief outcome of which was the predominance
-of the States of Holland and of the party opposed
-to the Orange faction, and most favourably inclined to maintain
-good relations with the English Commonwealth.<a id="FNanchor_691" href="#Footnote_691" class="fnanchor">691</a> It was
-therefore agreed at The Hague to send back Joachimi, who
-had been dismissed by the Parliament in the previous year,
-with credentials as ambassador from the States-General to
-the Parliament.</p>
-
-<p>In London the accession to power of the republican party in
-the Netherlands had been watched with keen interest. The
-time, it was believed, was come for a close alliance between
-the two great Protestant Republics for safeguarding their
-religious and political liberties; perhaps, it was thought by
-some, for even a closer union than was implied in the strictest
-alliance known to diplomacy. The Parliament accordingly
-lost no time in opening negotiations with the States-General.
-On 17th March, 1651, Lord Chief-Justice St John and Walter
-Strickland entered The Hague with great pomp and splendour
-as ambassadors from the Commonwealth, attended by an
-imposing retinue of 246 persons. They were greeted in the
-street with insulting cries from Orange partisans and royalist
-refugees. On the following days their suite only ventured
-abroad in parties, and with their rapiers in their hands. The
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_385">385</span>
-ambassadors themselves were openly jeered at, and threatened
-by Prince Edward, son of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia; and
-though the States-General received them with ostentatious
-courtesy, and prompt measures were taken to suppress the
-disorders and insults, the conditions of their surroundings
-produced irritation and impatience in their minds, with important
-results in the sequel.<a id="FNanchor_692" href="#Footnote_692" class="fnanchor">692</a> The principal object of the Parliament
-was to make use of the Dutch Republic to help them to
-maintain the Commonwealth, and to resist any attempt to
-place Charles II. on the throne. In return they were willing
-to aid the Republic against the House of Orange or any other
-inclined to disturb it.</p>
-
-<p>St John had with him two series of propositions,&mdash;one relating
-to a strict alliance and union; the other, private and never
-fully disclosed, included a novel scheme for the coalescence and
-fusion of the two states and peoples, on the lines propounded
-by the Council of State in the following year. He brought
-out his propositions one by one, requiring categorical acceptance
-of each before dealing with the next, the design being
-to lead step by step to the proposals for coalescence and fusion.
-His first proposition was in substance for “a more strict and
-intimate alliance and union” than any before, by which there
-might be “a more intrinsical and mutual interest of each in
-other” for the good of both.<a id="FNanchor_693" href="#Footnote_693" class="fnanchor">693</a> After some fencing and much
-hesitation and delay&mdash;the Dutch proferring a qualified acceptance,
-which the ambassadors rejected&mdash;a guarded assent was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_386">386</span>
-given. St John, though not satisfied, thinking the “manner
-of penning the answer was dark and doubtful,” “determined
-to proceed into some further thing which might come nearer
-to make a discovery of their temper and inclination in point
-of their neutrality, than stay any longer upon general terms,”
-and he accordingly at the same meeting submitted another
-proposition requiring the confederation of the two states for
-the defence and preservation of the freedom and liberty of the
-people of each against all that might attempt to disturb them,
-or that were declared to be enemies to the freedom and liberty
-of the people living under either Government.<a id="FNanchor_694" href="#Footnote_694" class="fnanchor">694</a> The Dutch
-commissioners, however, declared that this was a general proposition,
-and they insisted on a request they had made from
-the first, to be furnished with the “particulars”&mdash;they wanted
-the particulars, <i>simul et semel</i>, that were intended to be insisted
-upon.</p>
-
-<p>The negotiations had been protracted. By this time a month
-had elapsed since the ambassadors arrived, and St John, now
-conscious that his mission for coalescence would fail, and
-irritated by the indignities to which he had been subjected,
-obtained an order from the Parliament for his recall. At the
-urgent entreaty of the States of Holland the Parliament
-allowed their ambassadors to stay for other forty days, and
-also gave them authority to treat on the basis of the old Intercursus
-Magnus of 1496, which the Dutch had suddenly proposed.
-The States, in truth, had totally different aims from
-the Commonwealth. They were thinking about their commerce,
-their navigation, and their fisheries, rather than about
-the repression of “rebels”; and they desired that their alliance
-with England should confirm and extend the benefits conferred
-upon them in these respects by the old treaty. The Intercursus
-Magnus had for generations been the sheet-anchor of
-Dutch policy towards England. It gave them the utmost
-freedom of commercial intercourse, and complete liberty of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_387">387</span>
-fishing on the English coasts. But it contained other clauses
-appropriate in spirit to the political conditions of 1651. The
-treaty had been concluded by Henry VII. in the year in which
-apprehensions were entertained that Perkin Warbeck would
-effect a landing in England; it provided for mutual military
-aid against the enemies of either country, and the expulsion
-of rebels and fugitives from the territories of the other. St
-John naturally took the clauses embodying these stipulations
-as the basis of his new draft articles, which he submitted to
-the Dutch commissioners on 10th May. They were seven in
-number. The first required that the proposition made on
-17th April for mutual defence of the freedom and liberty of
-each people should be an article of the treaty. The second
-provided that neither party should afford any aid or favour
-to any one whomsoever to the injury or prejudice of the
-other, but should expressly oppose “and really hinder all
-whomsoever,” abiding in either commonwealth or under its
-power, that should do or attempt anything against the other;
-and the remaining articles were of similar tenour, relating
-to “rebels” and enemies. They were, in short, political articles
-of the most comprehensive scope, aimed against the royalists;
-so comprehensive and thorough that the English Commonwealth
-might, by declaring the Prince of Orange himself
-its enemy, demand his expulsion from the Provinces.<a id="FNanchor_695" href="#Footnote_695" class="fnanchor">695</a> St
-John’s articles were by no means to the liking of the Dutch;
-and though he pointed out that they were “but a translation
-of the old treaty, only enlarged for the better assurance of
-performance,”&mdash;the treaty which they themselves had proposed
-as the basis for the new one,&mdash;they insisted on sending the
-articles to the various Provinces for their opinion. For a
-full month the English ambassadors waited without an answer
-to their articles&mdash;a delay which they believed was meant “to
-spin out the treaty until the Scotch mist was over” and the
-result of the struggle in Scotland apparent. But the
-Dutch, though slow, had not been idle. On 14th June, when
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_388">388</span>
-only four of the forty days allotted by the Parliament remained,
-the Dutch produced counter-proposals in the form
-of draft articles, thirty-six in number, which were paraphrased
-from the Intercursus Magnus, the treaty with King James VI.
-of Scotland in 1594, the treaty of Southampton with Charles
-in 1625, and the marine treaty with Spain in 1650.</p>
-
-<p>These articles had been submitted by Holland to the convocation
-of the States-General on 15th May, and were under
-the consideration of the provincial states for nearly a month.
-They provided for a “perpetual friendship, unity, correspondence,
-and a further and nearer alliance, confederation, and
-union” against all who should attempt anything derogatory
-to the liberties of the two peoples, their commerce, and common
-interests; mutual defence and mutual assistance with men and
-ships against “notorious or known” enemies of the other, and
-the prohibition of assisting rebels. But there was no article
-under which the royalists could be expelled from the United
-Provinces, or which prevented the House of Orange from aiding
-or harbouring declared rebels of England; and it was expressly
-stipulated that the States should in no way be drawn into the
-disputes and war between Scotland and the Parliament. Having
-thus whittled down the proposals of the Parliament for a close
-alliance directed against the royalists, the Dutch propounded
-a whole series of articles providing for the freest commercial
-intercourse between the two countries, for freedom of navigation
-and of fishing. The trade to Virginia and the Caribbean
-Islands, which had been closed by the Parliament, was
-to be thrown open to both nations; ships were to be free to
-anchor without seizure of goods; the subjects of one state were
-not to be taxed higher in the territories of the other than the
-natives, and they were to be free to carry on their business
-or profession with the same liberty. A number of articles
-dealt with questions relative to the sovereignty of the seas, in
-such a way as to show clearly that the design of the Dutch was
-to render harmless a pretension which had caused them so much
-trouble. They had not forgotten the declarations of Charles
-sixteen years before, or the forceful operations of Northumberland
-against their herring-busses. With regard to fishing,
-they wished the subjects of either state to be at liberty to go
-to any part of the sea to fish for herrings and all other kinds
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_389">389</span>
-of fish, great or small, without any license or pass being
-required. If the fishermen were forced by storms, pirates,
-enemies, or any other cause, to go to land, they desired that
-they should be courteously received and well treated in the
-ports of either country, and permitted to depart with their
-ships and cargoes, and if they had not broken their cargoes,
-without paying any customs or dues.<a id="FNanchor_696" href="#Footnote_696" class="fnanchor">696</a> These stipulations
-paraphrased corresponding provisions in the Intercursus Magnus,
-and rather more favourably to the Dutch. If they had
-been accepted, they would have destroyed the English policy
-which had been pursued, though fitfully, from 1609 to the
-outbreak of the Civil War, of requiring foreigners to pay
-tribute and take out licenses for fishing on the British coasts.</p>
-
-<p>Some of the other articles proposed by the Dutch were directed
-against the claims put forward in Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i>, and
-by Charles himself, to a special dominion and jurisdiction of
-England in the surrounding seas. If the freedom of commerce
-and navigation was to be assured, it would be necessary, it
-was said, for both countries to equip fleets to secure the safety
-and liberty of the subjects of both, to purge the sea of pirates
-and sea-rovers, and to preserve the security of commerce and
-of fishing. The proposition was that each state should set
-forth a fleet yearly, its strength to be fixed by mutual agreement,
-and the ocean as well as the North Sea and the Mediterranean,
-with their straits and channels, were to be patrolled
-by the two fleets, each under its own admiral and flag. This
-was in effect asking the Commonwealth not only for equality
-of sovereignty on the sea, but for the assistance of England
-in protecting the immense commerce and shipping of the
-United Provinces. They desired that each nation should
-shield and defend the merchant vessels of the other, and help
-to recover them if taken by an enemy.</p>
-
-<p>Among other proposals were that men-of-war, but only in
-small numbers, should be allowed freely into the ports and
-havens of the other, and were not to be subjected to visitation
-and search, the showing of the commission to be sufficient; and
-that no sea-rovers were to be tolerated in harbours, and no
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_390">390</span>
-ships with letters of marque allowed to leave without first providing
-security that they would not exceed their commissions.
-One of the provisions went much further, and seems to smack
-of Dutch humour, when we think of the action of James
-and Charles. For the sake of liberty, both peoples were to use
-their fleets, not only against pirates, but against all and sundry,
-whomsoever they might be, who should attempt to molest,
-hinder, or&mdash;“against the right of all peoples”&mdash;impose exactions
-on their commerce, navigation, or their fishery. In such
-an event, if amicable remonstrances failed, the whole sea forces
-of each nation were to attack the depredators and wage war
-against them until complete satisfaction had been obtained.<a id="FNanchor_697" href="#Footnote_697" class="fnanchor">697</a></p>
-
-<p>So resolved were the Dutch to have a general clearing-up
-with England on all points concerning the sovereignty of the
-sea, that they at first proposed to insert among their draft
-articles one relating to the striking of the flag and similar
-ceremonies, which frequently gave rise to differences. The
-States-General, however, considered the matter “too delicate”
-to be raised at that time, and the article was not inserted.<a id="FNanchor_698" href="#Footnote_698" class="fnanchor">698</a>
-Two or three months before this, as elsewhere mentioned
-(<a href="#Page_398">p. 398</a>), the question of striking the flag to the English had
-been raised and debated in the States-General in connection
-with Tromp’s expedition to the Scilly Islands.</p>
-
-<p>With the foregoing proposals before him, it is not to be
-wondered at that St John was dissatisfied, and longed more
-than ever to get away from The Hague. The Commonwealth
-had asked for a strict and close alliance at the very least,
-for the security of religious and political liberty and the
-common interests of both Republics, but in reality and above
-all for aid against the royalists. The Dutch also desired
-security for liberty, but it was chiefly for the liberty of
-commerce, navigation, and fishing; and they were anxious,
-if they could, to get rid of the troublesome English pretension
-to a sovereignty of the sea. The proposals of the two sides
-were incompatible, and St John left The Hague a few days
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_391">391</span>
-later with the unuttered plan for the fusion of the nations
-in his pocket and with bitterness in his heart. His disappointment
-was to cost the Dutch dear. Within a few months of
-his return the Navigation Act was passed, mainly by his
-impulse, and it dealt a serious blow to the commerce of the
-United Provinces.<a id="FNanchor_699" href="#Footnote_699" class="fnanchor">699</a> It was the retort of the English Commonwealth
-to the rebuff of the States. If the Dutch put their
-commerce and fisheries above everything else, the Parliament
-would show them how they could injure them and at the
-same time foster English shipping and fisheries.</p>
-
-<p>But much more than the Navigation Act, some other proceedings
-of the Parliament increased the tension between the
-two countries. In November they renewed certain letters
-of reprisal against the Dutch, under which a few of their
-vessels were captured. More serious were the actions of English
-men-of-war and of some privateers who held letters of reprisal
-against the French. An informal maritime war with France
-began in 1649 and continued till 1655, and though there
-was nominally peace, the English captured French vessels,
-and <i>vice vers&acirc;</i>. They then began to seize Dutch ships, suspected
-of having French goods on board, and brought them
-into English ports for trial in the Admiralty Court. This
-was an interference with freedom of commerce which the
-States could not tolerate, and an embassy to England, which
-had been decided upon after St John left The Hague, was
-despatched thither.<a id="FNanchor_700" href="#Footnote_700" class="fnanchor">700</a> The three ambassadors, Cats, Schaep, and
-van de Perre, arrived in London on 15th December 1651.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_392">392</span>
-They were instructed to renew negotiations for a treaty on
-the basis of the thirty-six articles, to endeavour to get the
-Navigation Act repealed, the captured vessels released, and
-the letters of reprisal withdrawn, with compensation for the
-losses suffered by reason of them. The question of adding
-another article to their instructions, about the striking of
-the flag, which had been omitted from the thirty-six articles,
-had again been considered. But, for the same reason as before,
-it was withheld. “The carrying or striking of the flags by
-the one side or the other” was judged to be “very delicate”;
-and it was decided (on 10th November 1651) that the States-General
-should deliberate further on the matter, and send
-later to the ambassadors such instructions “as should be found
-suitable for the removal of misunderstandings and hostilities.”<a id="FNanchor_701" href="#Footnote_701" class="fnanchor">701</a>
-We thus see that in 1651 the Government of the United
-Provinces was fully alive to the risks and difficulties about
-the flag. But from their proceedings at this time it would
-seem that they were unwilling to acknowledge unreservedly
-the claim of the Commonwealth to the salute, which was
-looked upon as a symbol of England’s sovereignty of the
-sea. The question was only rendered “delicate” because of
-certain qualifications and conditions of reciprocity which they
-desired to attach to it, and for which they struggled hard
-with Cromwell during the subsequent negotiations for peace.</p>
-
-<p>The ambassadors had an audience with the Parliament on
-19th December,&mdash;Cats treating the members to a long and
-flowery oration in Latin,&mdash;and with the Council of State
-on 1st January 1652; but it was not until the 16th that
-commissioners were appointed to deal with them. The English
-commissioners<a id="FNanchor_702" href="#Footnote_702" class="fnanchor">702</a> showed no anxiety to facilitate the negotiations.
-The spirit with which they were animated was
-evident from their eagerness to bring forward all imaginable
-reasons for dispute,&mdash;the interest taken by the Dutch in the
-fate of Charles I.; the partiality of some of their ambassadors
-at foreign Courts; their refusal to receive Strickland; and so
-forth. In the end, the Dutch ambassadors failed to get what
-they wanted. The English refused to cancel or modify the
-Navigation Act, to release the captured ships before the cases
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_393">393</span>
-had been tried in the Admiralty Court, or to make reparation.
-They suspended the letters of direct reprisal against
-the Dutch, but not those against the French, which were by
-far the more important.</p>
-
-<p>It was felt in Holland that such interference with their
-trade could not be endured. There were loud complaints about
-the seizure of the ships, and the opinion was growing in the
-Netherlands that it was the intention of the Commonwealth
-to force a war upon them. As a precautionary measure the
-States-General decided on 22nd February to add 150 ships
-to the existing fleet, “for the security of the sea and the
-preservation of the shipping and commerce of the United
-Provinces”; and the ambassadors were requested to inform
-the English Council of their intention, which was done on
-5th March, with the explanation that it was not with the
-object of doing the slightest harm to any nation, and least
-of all to England, that the increase in the fleet was to be
-made, but only to preserve their freedom of navigation.<a id="FNanchor_703" href="#Footnote_703" class="fnanchor">703</a> As
-this extraordinary addition to the navy of the Dutch Republic
-would raise it to the formidable number of 226 ships, it is
-not surprising that the proceeding was viewed in England
-as a preparation for war. The Council, on their part, put
-forward a series of more or less provoking claims. They
-demanded reparation for wrongs and losses suffered by the
-English at the hands of the Dutch at “Greenland” in 1618,
-in the East Indies since 1619, and at Brazil; and they complained
-of various other wrongs and affronts they had suffered.
-But pending an answer from the States-General to their
-complaints and requests, they agreed, on 3rd May, to discuss
-with the ambassadors the thirty-six articles.</p>
-
-<p>These articles had been previously considered by the Council
-of State, which had prepared a commentary on them; and now
-both documents were taken up together. On the proposals
-concerning the sovereignty of the sea many differences arose.
-With regard to the right of the English to visit and search
-vessels, men-of-war as well as merchantmen, the ambassadors
-referred to the edicts of the States forbidding warships to take
-merchandise on board, and to the certificates of their Admiralty
-to the same effect; but it was argued on the other side that
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_394">394</span>
-these measures had not stopped the abuse, and that the visitation
-was not prejudicial; and no agreement on this clause was
-reached. The commentary of the Council on the fishery
-article (<a href="#Page_388">see p. 388</a>) was that, saving and asserting the right
-of the Commonwealth, they would be willing to proceed to
-such an agreement as should be found fit and reasonable;
-while the Dutch took their stand on the provision in the
-Intercursus Magnus, and urged that it would be unjust to
-deviate from an agreement which had endured for a century
-and a half. It was admitted by the English commissioners
-that the treaty gave liberty of fishing, but they asserted that
-long before the time of Henry VII. the right to the fisheries
-and to the sovereignty of the sea belonged to England. It had,
-moreover, been impeached by succeeding kings and especially
-by James, to whom, as King of Scotland, the right to the
-fishery pertained; while after the union of the crowns he
-pursued the same policy as King of England, and now that
-Scotland had been brought under the dominion of the English
-Republic, it was thought that the best course was to make a
-new treaty about the fisheries.<a id="FNanchor_704" href="#Footnote_704" class="fnanchor">704</a> The ambassadors could obtain
-no definite information as to the nature of the treaty proposed,
-but it would not be difficult for them to comprehend its general
-tenour, for they had to listen to the recital of the “evidences”
-that England had constantly made use of her rights in the
-fishery, and of the care she had always exercised as to the
-sovereignty of the sea. The Dutch endeavoured to avoid
-mixing up these two questions, pleading that the fishery
-concerned the lives of a multitude of poor fishermen; but the
-commissioners retorted that it was a very valuable industry,
-the right to which belonged to England, and this, they said, had
-been acknowledged by neighbouring nations paying taxes for
-liberty to fish in their seas, adding that all peoples had been
-accustomed to recognise in them the masters of the sea by
-striking the flag to them, and that the Dutch themselves had
-earlier instructed their naval officers to salute English ships
-“<i>cum debita reverentia</i>,” and it was also expressly ordered in
-the commissions issued by Prince William and Maurice. From
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_395">395</span>
-the language of the English commissioners, it appears probable
-that they were acquainted with the proceedings of the States-General
-as to the proposed article on the striking of the flag,
-and with the debates in the previous year concerning Tromp’s
-instructions (<a href="#Page_398">see p. 398</a>). The negotiations on the fishery
-question were not carried further at this stage.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to the article relating to the equipment of a
-fleet by each nation for the protection of commerce, the commentary
-of the Council of State was that “the Commonwealth
-of England shall take such care for the guard of their seas and
-defence of the freedom of trade and commerce therein as shall
-be fit”; and with respect to the next, which stipulated that
-both countries should protect commerce and fisheries from
-molestation or impositions, the reply was equally uncompromising.
-“If any person,” it was said, “shall, within those seas,
-trouble, hinder, or unlawfully burthen any in the exercise of
-that freedom of trade which belongs of right unto them, this
-Commonwealth will use all means just and honourable to restore
-and preserve freedom to all lawful commerce in those seas
-as aforesaid.”<a id="FNanchor_705" href="#Footnote_705" class="fnanchor">705</a> The meaning of this language was unmistakable.
-The Commonwealth intended to adhere to the old claim
-to the dominion of the seas, which had been revived by Charles.
-And this exclusive sovereign jurisdiction, it was explained,
-would be of advantage to the Dutch, since they would bear no
-part of the cost; they must be content with freedom of navigation
-and commerce, and leave to the English the duty of maintaining
-the security of “their seas.” On inquiring what means
-the Commonwealth proposed to take for this purpose, the
-ambassadors were told that the intention of the Council was
-“to defend the sea in their own right,” and that any further
-explanation would be given by the Council if they applied
-to it.</p>
-
-<p>At this stage of the proceedings William Nieuport, a member
-of the States-General, came to London with fresh instructions
-for the ambassadors. That body had been considering the
-English demands for reparation, above alluded to, and also the
-commentary of the Council on the thirty-six articles; but the
-refusal to liberate the captured ships, or to stop the operations
-of privateers against Dutch vessels, made them obdurate. The
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_396">396</span>
-ambassadors were now told to insist on the articles relating to
-visitation and search as an essential part of the treaty. No
-Dutch vessel was to be visited, whether it was on the sea, in
-harbour, or in a roadstead. The principle of “free ship, free
-goods,” was to be strictly enforced, and no investigation of
-the cargo of a merchant vessel was to be permitted; still less
-should they agree to the visitation of a man-of-war. The
-ambassadors were specially requested to avoid discussion as to
-any claim on the part of England to exclusive right in any
-portion of the sea; in any case, they were not to admit that
-such right existed, but were to treat only about the liberty and
-security of the fishery on both sides.<a id="FNanchor_706" href="#Footnote_706" class="fnanchor">706</a> If the English protested
-that they would not allow themselves to be prejudiced in any
-of their “pretended rights,” the ambassadors were then to make
-a formal declaration that they, on their part, could not allow
-the freedom of navigation and of fishery, or the free use of the
-sea, to be called in question, nor could they recognise the special
-claims of any one over the sea which might prejudice those
-rights. In order to avoid, if possible, directly raising the
-question of the dominion of the sea, they were requested when
-dealing with the crucial articles to speak only of commerce and
-fishery, and not of the “purging” of the sea of pirates; and
-they were also to abandon the proposal for a division of the
-sea into districts.<a id="FNanchor_707" href="#Footnote_707" class="fnanchor">707</a></p>
-
-<p>So passed, peacefully enough, the early weeks of May at the
-conferences in London. The States’ ambassadors, on the one
-hand, demanding freedom of navigation and fishery; above
-all, that the visitation and seizure of their vessels should
-cease. The English commissioners, on their part, putting
-forward incompatible claims to the sovereignty of the British
-seas: the right of exclusive jurisdiction, of guardianship, the
-right to the fishery. Whether the negotiations would have
-reached a happy conclusion, as the ambassadors, and apparently
-also the States-General, believed they would, may only
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_397">397</span>
-be conjectured. For an event of momentous importance
-now occurred which swept their labours away and embroiled
-the two nations in war. On the 19th May, at the very
-moment when the Dutch ambassadors were conveying their
-new instructions to the English commissioners, Tromp and
-Blake were engaged in furious battle in the Straits of Dover
-about that very matter which the States-General had found
-to be “so delicate”&mdash;the striking of the flag. The long-impending
-struggle engendered by years of mutual jealousy
-and commercial rivalry had now come suddenly. The claim
-of England to the sovereignty of the sea was to be decided,
-in the words of Sir Philip Meadows, by a longer weapon
-than a pen.</p>
-
-<p>Tromp had put to sea early in May, 1652, with a fleet of
-forty-two sail, and bearing instructions to prevent the searching
-of Dutch merchantmen, to protect them against any who
-interfered with them, and to free them, by force if necessary,
-if they were captured. He was further told to refrain as
-far as possible from going on the English coast.<a id="FNanchor_708" href="#Footnote_708" class="fnanchor">708</a> On one
-important point his instructions were defective. He received
-no definite orders as to how he should act if the fleet of the
-Commonwealth called upon him to strike his flag. The subject
-of the salute had been much discussed in the Netherlands,
-and an opinion was widely held that while their ships would
-suffer no loss of dignity in striking to a fleet belonging to
-a crowned head, it was doubtful whether the same homage
-should be rendered to the ships of a republic like themselves.
-The question had been definitely raised and fully discussed
-early in the previous year in connection with Tromp’s expedition
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_398">398</span>
-to the Scilly Isles, in view of the likelihood of his falling
-in with the English fleet,&mdash;its consideration, indeed, delayed
-his departure,&mdash;but the Government hesitated in coming to a
-decision, and a general wish was expressed to hear Tromp’s
-own opinion first. He accordingly prepared a memorandum
-describing what the States’ ships had done in the past.
-He said that whenever their men-of-war met at sea a ship
-of the King of England carrying the flag of an admiral,
-vice-admiral, or rear-admiral, they struck their admiral’s flag,
-lowered top-sails, and fired nine, seven, or five guns, the
-English answering with a like number, and the States’ flag
-remained struck until the ships separated, when three or
-one adieu-shots were fired, and the flag was then hoisted.
-On meeting a single king’s ship, he said, they did not strike
-their flag, but only exchanged guns; but it sometimes happened
-that an English ship of little power tried to compel them to
-strike, out of pride (“uyt hooghmoet”), but when they fired
-back and showed their teeth, and the English ship found it
-had not power to force them, it went on its way with derision;
-in such cases striking was a matter of discretion. When they
-entered a harbour or came before a castle they fired a salute,
-which was returned; the flag was taken in and a pennant
-run up in its place, and kept flying so long as they were
-there, particularly if a king’s ship, carrying the king’s flag,
-was present. If no king’s ship was present, the governor
-sometimes gave his permission, out of courtesy, for the admiral
-to wear his flag until his departure, when it was again struck
-and a salute exchanged.<a id="FNanchor_709" href="#Footnote_709" class="fnanchor">709</a></p>
-
-<p>The substance of Tromp’s report was communicated to the
-States of Holland by De Witt on 1st/11th March 1651, stress apparently
-being laid on the point that it had been the custom in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_399">399</span>
-earlier times for the States’ ships, “particularly when they
-were weakest,”<a id="FNanchor_710" href="#Footnote_710" class="fnanchor">710</a> to salute with guns and strike their flag on
-meeting the English fleet.<a id="FNanchor_711" href="#Footnote_711" class="fnanchor">711</a> The Government, however, thought
-that the conditions had changed; but they failed to give the
-admiral definite directions one way or the other as to how
-he should act if he met the fleet of the Parliament. He was
-merely told in general terms that he must so manage matters, if
-he met with the English fleet, that the state should suffer no
-affront (“geen cleynicheyt”),&mdash;a decision which left everything
-to his own discretion. There was the more risk in this course
-as the English at this time were said to be jealous of Tromp,
-owing to his reluctance to strike his flag to them.<a id="FNanchor_712" href="#Footnote_712" class="fnanchor">712</a></p>
-
-<p>Later in the same year, the question was again raised by
-Vice-Admiral Jan Evertsen, who was placed in command of a
-squadron to cruise between Cape Ortegal, the Scillies, and
-Ushant. Before his departure he endeavoured to obtain precise
-orders as to how he should comport himself if called
-upon to strike, so that no “inconvenience” might be caused.
-The States thereupon merely renewed the instructions they
-had given to Tromp in March, and they ordered that copies
-of Tromp’s memorandum should be distributed to the other
-commanders.<a id="FNanchor_713" href="#Footnote_713" class="fnanchor">713</a></p>
-
-<p>No further directions on the matter were given to Tromp when
-he took command of the fleet in 1652, though it ought to have
-been evident to the States that in the delicate position of
-affairs with England, and from the nature of the duties they
-had laid upon their admiral, the risk of misunderstanding and
-collision with the English fleet was great and imminent. They
-hesitated to give decided orders to strike, apparently lest such
-action might be construed into an acknowledgment of the
-inferiority of the Dutch Republic to the English Commonwealth,
-especially at a time when they believed themselves
-to be superior to it in naval power;<a id="FNanchor_714" href="#Footnote_714" class="fnanchor">714</a> and though alive to
-the importance of the matter, they were very reluctant to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_400">400</span>
-have it discussed in the negotiations in London. But if the
-Dutch had no clear idea as to what they were to do about
-the flag on meeting the English fleet, the English commanders
-had no doubt about their own line of action. Their instructions
-were explicit. They were, by force if necessary, to compel
-the ships of all nations to this acknowledgment of England’s
-sovereignty of the sea.</p>
-
-<p>Tromp proceeded to his cruising station off the coast of
-Flanders, between Dunkirk and Nieuport, and while riding
-at anchor there a strong north-east gale set in, which damaged
-some of his vessels, and on the evening of the 18th May he
-crossed over to the English coast for shelter and repairs.
-At this time Bourne was lying in the Downs with eight
-Parliamentary ships, and Tromp sent two of his captains to
-him to explain the accidental cause of his coming, the ships
-conveying them saluting Bourne’s flag. One of the officers,
-according to Bourne’s account, said that Tromp himself
-would have gone into the Downs “but that he was not
-willing to breed any difference about his flag, forasmuch
-as he had not orders to take it down”; to which Bourne
-replied that he “presumed there would be no new thing
-required of them, and neither more nor less would be expected
-from them but what they knew to be the ancient
-right of this nation”; and he added that the reality of the
-explanation given for their presence “would best appear by
-their speedy drawing off from this place.”<a id="FNanchor_715" href="#Footnote_715" class="fnanchor">715</a> According to
-Tromp’s account of the interview, Bourne merely thanked
-him courteously for the message.<a id="FNanchor_716" href="#Footnote_716" class="fnanchor">716</a></p>
-
-<p>At all events, the Dutch fleet passed along the English
-coast in all its bravery, the admiral’s ship with his flag on the
-main-top-mast head, the rest with “jacks and ancients” flying,
-and about seven in the evening they cast anchor off Dover,
-within little more than gunshot of the castle. Here they
-remained till the following afternoon with all their flags displayed,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_401">401</span>
-and without saluting. Three times a gun was fired from
-Dover Castle, according to the usual practice, warning the Dutch
-admiral to strike his flag; but Tromp&mdash;strictly within his right
-if beyond gunshot&mdash;took no heed. He had probably purposely
-selected an anchorage beyond the range of cannon in order
-to avoid striking to the English flag. Not only did he not
-strike, but he exercised his raw musketeers in discharging
-volleys of small-shot for many hours together, in a way
-that must have been provoking to the English. On the
-afternoon of the 19th, Blake, who had been lying at
-anchor in Rye Bay a little to the westward, and who had
-received intimation from Bourne of the presence of the
-Dutch fleet, came upon the scene with fifteen ships. As he
-approached Tromp weighed anchor and stood off to sea
-towards Calais,&mdash;a movement which Blake thought to be due
-to a desire to avoid “the dispute of the flag.”<a id="FNanchor_717" href="#Footnote_717" class="fnanchor">717</a> So far Tromp
-had carried out his instructions. He had indeed, through
-stress of weather, gone upon the English coast, which he
-had been requested to avoid as far as possible. But he had
-preserved the States from suffering any “indignity” about
-the flag. Obviously there was great tension between the
-fleets as to the question of striking. Not unnaturally, Tromp’s
-proceedings were regarded by the English as an attempt to
-brave them upon their own coast; and the English admirals,
-who were vigilantly watching, would not be slow to challenge
-any infraction of the custom of the narrow seas. They too
-had to take care that their country suffered no dishonour,
-as they understood it.</p>
-
-<p>When Tromp was on his way to Calais, and about half
-seas over, a small Dutch vessel fired a gun and came up
-to him, and communicated the intelligence that a week earlier
-a Dutch convoy had been attacked by the English for not
-striking their flags; and, above all, that the seven homeward-bound
-merchant vessels which had been under their charge,
-with valuable cargoes on board, were at that moment lying
-at anchor off the English coast, and, it was believed, in
-danger from the English fleet.<a id="FNanchor_718" href="#Footnote_718" class="fnanchor">718</a> The occurrence referred to
-took place on 12th May. Captain Young, in the <i>President</i>,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_402">402</span>
-while off the Start, accompanied by two other English men-of-war,
-fell in with seven Dutch merchantmen from Genoa and
-Leghorn, convoyed by three men-of-war, with their flags
-displayed. Young sent a boat to their admiral to request
-him to strike his flag “before any blood was shed in the
-controversy,” which he did. But the vice-admiral, contrary
-to the custom in the narrow sea, came to the windward of
-Young, and refused to strike, telling him to come on board
-and strike the flag himself. The <i>President</i> then poured a
-broadside into the Dutch ship, together with a volley of small-shot,
-and several broadsides were exchanged before the vice-admiral
-struck, and then the rear-admiral did the same. On
-Young demanding the vice-admiral or his ship to carry
-into port to make good the damage done, he was told by
-the admiral that he himself had not interfered so long as
-it was only a question of striking the flag, but if he attempted
-to seize the ship he would resist him; and the matter was
-carried no further. “I do believe,” said Young, “I gave him
-his bellyful of it, for he sent me word he had order from
-the State that if he struck he should lose his head.”<a id="FNanchor_719" href="#Footnote_719" class="fnanchor">719</a> It is
-probable that the Dutch vessels encountered the north-east
-gale that forced Tromp from his anchorage; at all events,
-they were brought by their convoyers along the English
-coast to Fairlight,<a id="FNanchor_720" href="#Footnote_720" class="fnanchor">720</a> between Hastings and Winchelsea, where
-they cast anchor; then the Dutch captain who had been
-attacked, Joris van der Saen, went in search of Tromp to
-tell him of their plight.</p>
-
-<p>On hearing his story, Tromp instantly turned about and
-made straight for the English coast, which he had left only
-a few hours before. In this case, at all events, his instructions
-were explicit. He had been ordered to prevent Dutch
-vessels from being visited or searched, and to recover them
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_403">403</span>
-if captured. Blake, on seeing the Dutch fleet returning,
-stood off to meet it. He did not know the real reason that
-had made Tromp alter his course: he had passed the merchant-ships
-a few days after their meeting with Young, and had
-done nothing to them. He believed that Tromp was seeking
-an occasion of quarrel, and watching for an advantage to
-brave them on their own coast. The Dutch admiral came
-on with his flag at the main-top, and when he was well within
-range, Blake fired a gun across his bows to make him strike,
-and after an interval a second, and yet again a third at his
-flag; the ball going through the main-sail and killing a man
-on deck. Tromp then, still with the States’ colours aloft,
-fired a single gun at Blake’s flag, ran up a red flag,&mdash;the
-prearranged signal for battle,&mdash;and poured a broadside into
-Blake’s ship, and the two fleets entered into a fierce encounter.<a id="FNanchor_721" href="#Footnote_721" class="fnanchor">721</a>
-The fight lasted from four or five o’clock until nine, Blake
-being assisted by Bourne, who came from the Downs with
-his small squadron and assailed Tromp in the rear. The
-Dutch fleet, with the loss of two ships, gradually drew off
-towards the French coast, and Blake kept his position all
-night and anchored some leagues off Dungeness.</p>
-
-<p>This was the first great fight over the striking of the flag,
-and it occasioned immediate war between the two countries.
-Encounters on a small scale had been not infrequent before,
-but no foreign fleet had hitherto ventured to challenge an
-English fleet in this way off the English coast. Tromp himself,
-thirteen years before, when he possessed an overwhelming
-force, readily struck his flag to Pennington’s small squadron
-in the Downs. After the battle attempts were made to
-justify Tromp’s action, but not at all on the ground that the
-demand for him to strike his flag to the English admiral
-was unjust or contrary to custom. Blake was accused of
-having precipitated the battle. Tromp, it was said, had men
-aloft ready to strike the top-sails, or had already done so; he
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_404">404</span>
-had sent a man up to strike his flag; he was preparing to send
-his boat to Blake after the second gun was fired to ask him
-the reason of his firing, and so forth. But the Dutch admiral
-well knew the custom of the narrow sea, and had no need
-to ask Blake the reason of his firing across his bows.<a id="FNanchor_722" href="#Footnote_722" class="fnanchor">722</a>
-When the nature of his instructions with reference to saluting
-is considered, along with his memorandum and the discussions
-connected with it, his action before Dover Castle
-on the day before, and the variation in his own subsequent
-accounts of his intentions and proceedings, the inference is
-strong that he had resolved not to strike to the weaker
-fleet of the Commonwealth.</p>
-
-<p>In London the news of the battle aroused intense indignation.
-It was everywhere believed that Tromp had deliberately
-attacked the English fleet,&mdash;an opinion confirmed by the commissioners,
-of whom Cromwell was one, sent to Dover to
-inquire into the facts. The meeting of Joris van der Saen
-with Tromp, which had been seen from the English fleet, was
-viewed in a sinister light. The little Dutch ship was thought
-to have carried instructions from the States for Tromp to make
-the attack. The Parliament thought so also: “They found too
-much cause,” they said, “to believe that the Lords the States-General
-of the United Provinces have an intention by force to
-usurp the known rights of England in the seas, to destroy the
-fleets that are, under God, their walls and bulwarks, and thereby
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_405">405</span>
-expose this Commonwealth to invasion at their pleasure.”<a id="FNanchor_723" href="#Footnote_723" class="fnanchor">723</a>
-It was in vain that the States disowned responsibility for
-Tromp’s action and sent over a copy of their instructions to
-him, showing that he had been commanded to avoid the
-English coast. The ambassadors appealed to the Council to
-hold their hand until the States-General had made an inquiry.
-Tromp was cautioned to use the greatest circumspection, so
-that while preserving the reputation of his country, nothing
-further should be done to widen the breach with England. And
-now, when too late, the Dutch Government came to a definite
-decision as to the striking of the flag. Tromp was expressly
-ordered to strike his flag on meeting the English fleet, according
-to the manner that had been customary when England was
-under its kings; and not to attack them, but only to defend
-himself if assailed.<a id="FNanchor_724" href="#Footnote_724" class="fnanchor">724</a></p>
-
-<p>The States also sent over a special ambassador, Adrian Pauw,
-the Grand Pensionary of Holland, and the most venerable and
-influential personage in the Republic, to assure the Parliament
-of their pacific intentions, and to strive to maintain peace. He
-urged that the encounter of the fleets should be looked upon as
-an “accident,” and that a joint inquiry should be made and
-the admiral found to have been in fault duly punished. He
-proposed, further, that regulations should be drawn up for the
-fleets, so that in future such disputes might be avoided,&mdash;not,
-he said, that it was the wish of the States to dispute the
-honour and the dignity of the English Republic, which they
-esteemed the first and greatest in Europe.<a id="FNanchor_725" href="#Footnote_725" class="fnanchor">725</a> But the Parliament
-insisted that the States should first pay them the costs and
-compensate them for the injuries they had sustained by the
-Dutch naval preparations and Tromp’s attack, and give
-security for an alliance between the two countries. Meanwhile,
-the Parliament had been seizing Dutch vessels and
-preparing for war, while in the United Provinces feeling was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_406">406</span>
-rising steadily and angrily against England. The ambassadors
-were recalled and the naval preparations on both sides pushed
-on with energy.</p>
-
-<p>It was well understood that the most vulnerable part of the
-States lay in their shipping and fishery. A day or two after
-the news of Blake’s encounter with Tromp reached London, the
-Council issued instructions to Major-General Dean, who commanded
-the troops in Scotland, that in view of the fishery
-carried on every year by the Dutch about Orkney and Shetland,
-the forces there should be increased.<a id="FNanchor_726" href="#Footnote_726" class="fnanchor">726</a> A month later, on
-26th June, before the ambassadors had left London, Blake
-himself sailed northwards with a fleet of about sixty ships,
-with a double object of putting a stop to the Dutch herring
-fishery and intercepting their homeward-bound East-Indiamen,
-which were expected to return to Holland by way of the Shetlands.<a id="FNanchor_727" href="#Footnote_727" class="fnanchor">727</a>
-On 12th July he sent forward in advance eight
-frigates to discover the Dutch convoying men-of-war, which
-they soon fell in with, guarding the herring-busses, to the
-north of Buchan Ness. They were twelve in number, and
-after a stubborn fight of over three hours’ duration, towards
-the end of which the English frigates were reinforced by other
-five, they were all taken, before the main fleet came up. The
-English wounded were sent in three of the captured ships to
-Inverness; other three ships were so much shattered that they
-were sunk. While the fight went on, most of the herring-busses
-escaped and made their way homewards with all speed,
-but about thirty were taken by the English. Blake dealt with
-them very leniently. He took from them “a taste and toll” of
-herrings, and then sent them home with this “lesson,” that they
-“fish no more in those seas without leave from the Republick of
-England.”<a id="FNanchor_728" href="#Footnote_728" class="fnanchor">728</a> For this humane action Blake was subsequently
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_407">407</span>
-blamed, on the ground that the busses might have been made
-use of in establishing a native fishery, while the detention of
-their crews would have helped to cripple the resources of the
-Dutch in manning their fleets.<a id="FNanchor_729" href="#Footnote_729" class="fnanchor">729</a> The same generous spirit was
-shown towards the French boats that fished in the Channel,
-which were excepted from the general seizure of French shipping,
-unless they acted improperly.<a id="FNanchor_730" href="#Footnote_730" class="fnanchor">730</a> In the course of the war,
-however, it became the rule for both the Dutch and the English
-vessels to bring into port all the fishing-boats captured
-from the enemy.</p>
-
-<p>After Blake dispersed the Dutch busses, the States of Holland
-at first thought of calling home the rest of the herring fleet
-(only about 600 or 700 had returned), and for that year to put
-a stop to the fishing, which had just begun; but it was finally
-decided to continue it with twenty-four armed busses and six
-men-of-war as a guard,&mdash;a conclusion, no doubt, helped by the
-gentle way in which the English admiral had dealt with the
-busses that fell into his hands. When English herring-boats
-were seized and taken to the Netherlands, Holland, which had
-the greatest stake in the fishery, tried to induce the States-General
-to release them, and to issue orders that British fishermen
-were not to be molested, in the hope that such forbearance
-would be imitated in England. But the policy failed, and
-orders were given to do the English fishermen all harm
-possible. In the following year the States-General forbade
-the whaling-ships sailing for Greenland, but they did not
-prohibit the herring fishery, though the greater number of
-the busses were kept at home by the prudence of their owners.
-Many were captured by English cruisers. More than fifty
-were taken by the English fleet on the Dutch coast in May
-1653, most of them being brought into Aberdeen and there
-sold. Some of those seized in the course of the war were
-handed over by the Council of State to the London Corporation
-for the Poor, to be used in fishing on the English coast.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_408">408</span>
-On the other hand, the English fishermen suffered greatly.
-The Iceland and North Sea fishing came almost to a stop, and
-men-of-war had to guard the herring and mackerel boats. In
-September 1653 the Council sent a force of men and three
-“fit and nimble” ships to the Shetlands to ply about the
-islands, to intercept the enemy’s trade of fishing, with what
-results do not appear.<a id="FNanchor_731" href="#Footnote_731" class="fnanchor">731</a></p>
-
-<p>But the operations against the enemy’s fisheries played only
-a small part in the war. The struggle for the command of
-the sea was concentrated in many fierce battles between the
-contending fleets in 1652 and 1653. The exploits of Blake,
-Dean, Monk, and Penn on the one side, and of Tromp, De
-Ruyter, Evertsen, and De With on the other, are famous in
-the naval history of the two countries; and although victory
-finally rested with England, there were times when the actual
-control of the British seas was in the hands of the Dutch.
-It was on one of those occasions that the Dutch admiral was
-said to have hoisted a broom at his mainmast-top as a sign
-that he would sweep the seas of all Englishmen. Tromp
-unexpectedly appeared in force in the Channel in the winter
-of 1652, and on 30th November he defeated Blake off Dungeness.
-From that date till the end of February in the following
-year no English fleet was able to oppose him. The Dutch
-were “lords and masters” of the sea, and English commerce
-suffered severely. But the popular story about the broom
-seems to have uncertain foundation. It was first set afloat
-in two English newspapers, published on 9th March 1653, after
-the decisive “three days’ battle.” In one it was said that
-Tromp had set forth “a flag (or standard) of Broom; and being
-demanded what he meant by it, reply’d, That he was once
-more going to sweep the Narrow Seas of all Englishmen.”
-The other paper gave a letter from the <i>Nonsuch</i> frigate at
-Portsmouth, stating that the Hollanders had probably gone
-home after the battle, and that “their gallant Mr Trump when
-he was in France (we understand) wore a flagg of Broom, and
-being demanded what he meant by it, replied that he was going
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_409">409</span>
-to sweep the narrow seas of all English men.” The story is not
-mentioned by Dutch authorities, and is now generally discredited,
-but in an earlier century the broom had been used
-in this way by a Dutch admiral to signalise a victory in the
-Baltic;<a id="FNanchor_732" href="#Footnote_732" class="fnanchor">732</a> and it is said that after the two days’ battle in the
-following summer, when the Dutch had been driven from the
-sea, the English fleet rode triumphant off the Texel with a
-broom displayed at their mast-heads, perhaps in ironical parody
-of Tromp.</p>
-
-<p>While the fleets were contending for actual dominion over
-the sea, the Parliament took care to keep alive the historic
-claims to maritime sovereignty and to place them well before
-the people. As early as 25th June 1652&mdash;the day before Blake
-sailed away to the north in quest of the herring-busses&mdash;they
-passed a resolution: “That it be referred to the Council of
-State to prepare a declaration to assert the right of this
-Commonwealth to the Sovereignty of the Seas, and to the
-fishery; to be made use of when the Parliament shall see
-cause.”<a id="FNanchor_733" href="#Footnote_733" class="fnanchor">733</a> No time was lost, for on the same day the Council
-remitted the instruction of the Parliament to the Committee
-for Law and Examinations, with the request that they should
-bring the declaration to the Council with all speed, and
-Bradshaw was desired to see that this was done.<a id="FNanchor_734" href="#Footnote_734" class="fnanchor">734</a> Apparently,
-for the use of the Committee in drawing up this declaration,
-Mr William Ryley, the Keeper of the Records in the Tower,
-made transcripts of several of the records in his charge referring
-to the sovereignty of the sea, as the ordinance of King
-John, Edgar’s charter, the mandate of Edward I. to the Bailiffs
-of Yarmouth, the rolls of the same king concerning Grimbald,
-and of Edward III. on the laws of the sea, and some others.<a id="FNanchor_735" href="#Footnote_735" class="fnanchor">735</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_410">410</span></p>
-
-<p>It was soon apparent to the Council that the task of again
-attempting formally to vindicate the claims of England to the
-sovereignty of the seas, while Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i> was at
-their disposal, would be like painting the lily. They therefore
-instructed the Committee for Foreign Affairs “to take order
-for printing the book called <i>Mare Clausum</i> and Mr Dugard
-to print it.”<a id="FNanchor_736" href="#Footnote_736" class="fnanchor">736</a> But simply to reprint Selden’s work, with its
-fulsome dedication to Charles II., and in the Latin tongue,
-would not have served the purpose in view, and it was then
-resolved to translate it. This task was assigned to Marchamont
-Needham, who had deserted the royalist cause and
-placed his pen at the service of the Commonwealth, writing
-the <i>Mercurius Politicus</i>, in which he had latterly the assistance
-of Milton.<a id="FNanchor_737" href="#Footnote_737" class="fnanchor">737</a> The translation was rapidly made, and the
-work was published later in the year.<a id="FNanchor_738" href="#Footnote_738" class="fnanchor">738</a> And just as the
-original had been dedicated to the king, so now the translation
-was dedicated to “the Supreme Authority of the Nation,
-the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England”; and
-so pleased were the Council of State with it that they, on
-8th November, ordered two hundred copies for their own use,
-and paid Needham &pound;200 for his labours, as the book, they
-said, “learnedly asserted the rights and interests of the Commonwealth
-in the adjacent seas, and would be of good use for
-these and future times.”<a id="FNanchor_739" href="#Footnote_739" class="fnanchor">739</a></p>
-
-<p>The “additional evidences” brought forward by Needham
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_411">411</span>
-comprised the proclamation of James in 1609, and of Charles
-in 1636, forbidding unlicensed fishing; some of the letters that
-passed between the English Government and their ambassadors
-at The Hague; extracts from Sir John Boroughs’ <i>Sovereignty
-of the British Seas</i>, which was first published in the previous
-year; and a few other papers of little importance. The purpose
-of the book was better served by Needham’s bitter if rather
-frothy invective against the Dutch, and by his ranting appeals
-to English patriotism to conquer the foe and establish our
-interests on the sea beyond the possibility of future question.<a id="FNanchor_740" href="#Footnote_740" class="fnanchor">740</a></p>
-
-<p>Selden was still alive, and the translation was doubtless
-made with his concurrence, whatever he may have thought
-of it. He was himself soon drawn into the controversy which
-the book evoked. Graswinckel, the Dutch lawyer who had
-been chosen by the States-General in 1636 to reply to Selden’s
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, and whose neglected treatise had ever since
-being lying in the secret archives at The Hague, again entered
-the lists. His shaft was ostensibly directed against a certain
-Italian writer, P. B. Burgus, who had published a work eleven
-years before in support of the right of Genoa to the dominion
-of the Ligurian Sea.<a id="FNanchor_741" href="#Footnote_741" class="fnanchor">741</a> There was no apparent reason why
-the Dutch lawyer should be at the pains to attempt to refute
-a claim so remote and after so long an interval; but Burgus
-quoted largely from <i>Mare Clausum</i>, and Graswinckel seized
-upon the opportunity to attack Selden, and to gratify his
-feelings by making use of his early abortive treatise, under
-the guise of replying to the Italian author. And his attack
-on Selden was very bitter.<a id="FNanchor_742" href="#Footnote_742" class="fnanchor">742</a> On the main question, the familiar
-arguments were adduced against the appropriation of seas,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_412">412</span>
-with the usual seasoning of Scriptural and classical quotations;
-the historical claims of England to the sovereignty of the sea
-were treated in a sarcastic and bantering spirit, and the
-authenticity of some of the records cited by Selden was
-questioned; while he said that in many respects the Hollanders
-were the real lords of the British seas. But he made a personal
-attack on Selden, accusing him of having written <i>Mare
-Clausum</i> in order to get out of prison.<a id="FNanchor_743" href="#Footnote_743" class="fnanchor">743</a> Selden made a strong
-reply, explaining the circumstances under which his treatise
-was written, and entering into a minute description of the
-documents which Graswinckel suggested he had invented;
-but on the controversy as to the dominion of the seas he
-contributed nothing new.<a id="FNanchor_744" href="#Footnote_744" class="fnanchor">744</a></p>
-
-<p>Stimulated by the war and the dispute which had precipitated
-it, a number of works were now published in Holland
-in defence of the freedom of the seas and the liberty of fishing,
-and opposing the claims of England to any special maritime
-jurisdiction. Among them was another dissertation by
-Graswinckel, published before he was aware of Selden’s
-reply to his attack, and apparently containing further extracts
-from his stillborn treatise. This time the earlier Scottish
-lawyer, Welwood, was assailed, and his book, <i>De Dominio
-Maris</i>, was republished in Holland in order to serve,
-apparently, as a theme and target. Graswinckel was
-especially severe against any claim to interfere with the
-herring fishery or to impose tribute on the fishermen.<a id="FNanchor_745" href="#Footnote_745" class="fnanchor">745</a> The
-controversy continued to rage on both sides of the North Sea,
-but in England it fell for the most part into the incompetent
-hands of ignorant pamphleteers, who vilified the Dutch in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_413">413</span>
-pious but intemperate language without shedding much light
-upon the question.</p>
-
-<p>But if there was a dearth of competent pens in England able
-to carry on a juridical controversy about the sovereignty
-of the sea, it was not for lack of belief in the importance of
-the matter. At no previous time in English history had
-popular feeling been more aroused or was the general resolution
-stronger to maintain the rights of the country in the seas.
-The traditional sentiment of the nation, which Charles had
-in large measure alienated by his ship-money exactions and
-his bungling and fruitless attempts to maintain those rights,
-was revived in full force, and it was greatly strengthened
-by other considerations relating to commerce and trade.
-Though English commerce and shipping had greatly developed
-since the earlier part of the century, by far the larger part
-of oversea traffic was still in the hands of the Dutch. It
-was against this predominance that the Navigation Act was
-aimed. The pre-eminence of the Dutch excited the emulation
-of the nation to outvie and outdo them, and success in this
-policy was believed to be closely bound up with the assertion
-of the sovereignty of the sea. Before the war began, the
-authors of works on commerce and navigation had urged
-the Parliament to enforce these claims, even in the
-Mediterranean against France, and for the same reasons
-that were formerly used by Sir Walter Raleigh.<a id="FNanchor_746" href="#Footnote_746" class="fnanchor">746</a> To the
-national sentiment and commercial ambitions was added
-the zeal of religious fanaticism. The godly Barebones
-Parliament of 1653, who looked askance at the Dutch as
-carnal and worldly politicians, held it necessary that the seas
-should be secured and preserved as peaceable as the land,
-in order to prepare for the coming of Christ and the personal
-reign.<a id="FNanchor_747" href="#Footnote_747" class="fnanchor">747</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_414">414</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.<br />
-
-<span class="medium"><small>THE PARLIAMENT, THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE
-PROTECTORATE</small>&mdash;<i>continued</i>.<br />
-
-<small>THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.</small></span></h2>
-
-<p>The importance of the questions connected with the claim to
-the sovereignty of the sea was revealed in the long negotiations
-with the Dutch which preceded the conclusion of peace. These
-were begun at a very early stage of the contest. From the first
-the war had been as distasteful to Cromwell as it was to
-John de Witt and the leading men in the States of Holland,
-and so soon as the beginning of August 1652, within three
-months of Tromp’s encounter with Blake, clandestine
-negotiations were set on foot, with the approval of Cromwell,
-Vane, Whitelock, and other leaders in England, with the
-object of bringing about peace; and though nothing came
-of them at the time, they were resumed early in 1653.
-The Speaker informed the Parliament on 22nd March
-that he had received a formal letter from the States of
-Holland desiring that the negotiations might be resumed,
-and on 1st April the Parliament replied favourably, offering to
-take up the negotiations at the point at which they had been
-broken off when the special ambassador, Pauw, quitted London
-in the previous year.<a id="FNanchor_748" href="#Footnote_748" class="fnanchor">748</a> This implied payment to the Parliament
-of the expense incurred in consequence of the Dutch naval
-preparations and of Tromp’s fight with Blake, and “security”
-for a close alliance,&mdash;conditions unacceptable by the ruling
-oligarchy at The Hague.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_415">415</span></p>
-
-<p>In order to find some more satisfactory basis for the
-negotiations, the States-General in June 1653, immediately
-after the two days’ battle, and when the English fleet was
-blockading the Dutch ports, sent four deputies to London.
-One of them, Hieronymus van Beverning, a trusty friend
-of De Witt’s and a representative of the States of Holland,
-came on in advance, reaching London on June 17; the
-others, Nieuport, van de Perre, and Jongestal, following a
-few days later.<a id="FNanchor_749" href="#Footnote_749" class="fnanchor">749</a> The deputies arrived at a time when
-Cromwell, having dissolved the Long Parliament and the old
-Council of State, was dictator, and the new Council was
-composed of his own nominees; and Cromwell, as is well
-known, had been against the war and was favourable to
-peace.<a id="FNanchor_750" href="#Footnote_750" class="fnanchor">750</a> Nevertheless, a stiff attitude was adopted towards
-the envoys. To their request that negotiations might be
-resumed on the basis of the thirty-six articles the Council
-turned a deaf ear, putting forward the demands for reparation
-and security, and refusing to proceed with the negotiations
-until they had received a satisfactory answer.<a id="FNanchor_751" href="#Footnote_751" class="fnanchor">751</a> Cromwell,
-however, sent a private message to Nieuport, on 30th June,
-that the Council would not insist on satisfaction and security.
-He suggested that Tromp should be suspended for a few
-months; that a binding treaty and alliance should be concluded;
-and that for security two or three Englishmen
-should sit in the States-General or Council of State in the
-Netherlands, and the same number of Dutchmen in the
-English Council. If these conditions were agreed to, little
-difficulty would be made about the thirty-six articles, the
-Dutch would be allowed to carry on their herring fishery
-in the British seas, and a truce probably granted.<a id="FNanchor_752" href="#Footnote_752" class="fnanchor">752</a> But by
-the next day Cromwell, after discussion with the Council,
-had changed his mind, and the debate went on about reparation
-and security. The deputies were told that the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_416">416</span>
-Council did not ask for a great sum, but that the “security”
-meant “uniting both states together in such manner as
-they may become one people and Commonwealth, for the
-good of both,”<a id="FNanchor_753" href="#Footnote_753" class="fnanchor">753</a>&mdash;a scheme apparently much the same as
-St John had taken with him to The Hague.</p>
-
-<p>This extraordinary proposal for a union, closer even than
-that which existed among the seven United Provinces themselves,
-astonished the envoys of the many-headed Government.
-They pretended at first not to understand it, and went on
-talking of “alliance” and the Intercursus Magnus; but the
-Council pointedly declared that what they meant was not the
-mere “establishing of a league and union between two sovereign
-states and neighbours, but the making of two sovereign
-states one,” under a joint Government, all the subjects to possess
-equal privileges and freedom in either country “in respect of
-habitations, possessions, trade, ports, fishing, and all other advantages
-whatsoever.”<a id="FNanchor_754" href="#Footnote_754" class="fnanchor">754</a> The deputies considered such a scheme
-“absurd,”&mdash;nothing of the kind had ever been heard of in
-history; it was opposed to the constitution of the United
-Provinces and was impossible; and they hinted that if the
-proposal was pressed they would have to return home. They
-thought it was far better to take as a basis for the negotiations
-the treaty of 1496, which was a perfect, true, and sincere
-alliance, league, and confederation by land and sea. To this
-the Council replied that they had desired a coalescence of the
-two countries as the best security for the future of both, and
-especially of the United Provinces; and that the deputies
-offered nothing more than they did at first, by which they
-demanded free trade to the English colonies and the suspension
-of the Navigation Act; “nay,” the Council continued, “they do
-in effect demand to share with this state in the sovereignty of
-the narrow seas, and in their right of fishing,” whereas these
-advantages could only be obtained by such a coalescence as
-had been proposed.<a id="FNanchor_755" href="#Footnote_755" class="fnanchor">755</a></p>
-
-<p>The negotiations had now come to such a pass that the
-Dutch commissioners judged it to be necessary to report verbally
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_417">417</span>
-to the States, and Nieuport and Jongestal left for home
-with this object on 3rd August. They did not return until the
-end of October; and while the official conferences with the
-Council were suspended in the interval, the two deputies
-who remained in London carried on important private negotiations
-with Cromwell, mostly through an intermediary. At
-first Cromwell descanted on the advantages to the United
-Provinces of the proposed coalescence, including the complete
-liberty they would have of fishing on the British coasts. Later
-he put forward the extraordinary schemes which remind one
-of the dreams of Napoleon&mdash;a confederation of the Protestant
-states of Europe for the propagation of the Gospel; the partition
-of the rest of the world, Asia to fall to the share of the
-Dutch and America to England; a war of conquest against
-Spain and Portugal, and then there would be complete freedom
-of commerce and of fishery in all seas, without molestation or
-disturbance.<a id="FNanchor_756" href="#Footnote_756" class="fnanchor">756</a> A less extravagant alternative offered was an
-alliance of the Protestant states, without the partition of the
-globe or the war of conquest; but this smaller scheme was not
-to carry with it either freedom of commerce or liberty of fishing.
-And now, for the first time since the negotiations began,
-a formal stipulation was asked that all ships of war of the
-Dutch Republic, on meeting “on the sea” with the ships of
-war of the Commonwealth, should show them the same respect
-and do them the same honour as had been practised in any
-former time.<a id="FNanchor_757" href="#Footnote_757" class="fnanchor">757</a></p>
-
-<p>The two deputies in London could do nothing with these
-proposals until the States-General had decided about the
-original project of coalition, with reference to which Nieuport
-and Jongestal had gone to The Hague. But they expressed
-their own opinion on the twelve articles which had been submitted
-to them; and with regard to the striking of the flag,
-they thought the word “respect” conveyed the impression of
-too great a sovereignty on one side and of submission on the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_418">418</span>
-other, but they agreed that another word might be chosen and
-a “good regulation” made. The objection was curious, because
-during the negotiations of 1673 the envoys of the States&mdash;and
-the same able Beverning was the chief of them&mdash;themselves
-proposed that the striking of the flag should be done “by way
-of respect”; and when that word, respect, was inserted in the
-treaty of 1674, it was said in England that the Dutch had
-scored a great diplomatic victory, since to show respect was
-not to acknowledge sovereignty.</p>
-
-<p>When the two absent deputies returned to London they
-brought back with them the old instructions for a “close
-alliance and strict union,” nothing being said about the proposal
-to fuse the two nations into one. Their memorandum
-was submitted to the new Council of State, on which Cromwell
-had a working majority; the only coalition suggested was a
-“coalition of interests,” and a “brotherhood” of the peoples.
-Cromwell at once called it a mutilated coalition, and some of
-the Council are said to have expressed strong opinions as to
-the “contumelious” tactics of the Dutch. If they refused real
-coalition, it was our duty, they said, to make them and keep
-them our inferiors, so that they might never attempt this nation
-again; they must pay for liberty to fish on our coasts; render
-the usual submission at sea; give up their own wafters and pay
-us for convoys, since we were the proper guardians of the British
-sea; they must not equip many great ships, without explaining
-their intentions and asking leave to pass through our seas; and
-they must pay the costs of the war. Such were the opinions
-attributed to the Council by a well-informed author who wrote
-a little later,<a id="FNanchor_758" href="#Footnote_758" class="fnanchor">758</a> and they indicate tolerably well the demands
-which were subsequently made. The Council then prepared
-draft articles for a treaty on the lines the Dutch desired, and
-Cromwell informed them that since they were averse to a
-coalition which would have made the privileges of both countries
-equal, it would be necessary first of all to define clearly
-their respective rights, so that disputes might be avoided in
-future. And in the first place, he said, they must settle their
-right and dominion in the narrow sea and the question of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_419">419</span>
-fishery, remarking that if these points were adjusted the work
-in hand would be much facilitated.<a id="FNanchor_759" href="#Footnote_759" class="fnanchor">759</a></p>
-
-<p>In putting the question of the sovereignty of the sea and
-the fishery in the foreground of the negotiations, Cromwell
-placed the envoys in a difficulty. In conformity with their
-traditional policy on like occasions, the States-General had
-expressly instructed their representatives to avoid discussion
-on these thorny subjects,&mdash;a circumstance no doubt well known
-to Cromwell. They therefore fenced with them. With regard
-to the “honour of the sea,” they had never desired to dispute
-with the Parliament of the Republic of England any honour
-or dignity which had been rendered to former Governments,
-and they declared their willingness to pay the same “honour
-and respect” to the English flag as had been previously
-shown to it. They thought it would be better to defer consideration
-of the fishery question until the articles of a “strict
-union” had been adjusted, when the whole business of
-commerce, fishery, and the immunities on both sides might
-be dealt with. But Cromwell was not to be turned from
-his purpose. On the following day, after a long and remarkable
-speech on the advantages of coalition&mdash;which the Dutch
-once more put aside,&mdash;he again declared that the matter of
-the sea and the fishery must be first of all settled; and he
-ended the discussion by handing to the deputies the draft
-articles which the Council had prepared.<a id="FNanchor_760" href="#Footnote_760" class="fnanchor">760</a> The articles were
-twenty-seven in number. Some of them provided for a
-defensive alliance and arranged details of peace. Freedom of
-trade was to be allowed, provided the laws in force&mdash;the
-Navigation Act&mdash;were observed; the rebels of the one were
-not to be assisted by the other, and so forth. But the Dutch
-were to pay a sum to be agreed upon, by way of reparation,
-and there were several articles dealing with the sovereignty
-of the sea and the fisheries.</p>
-
-<p>The article<a id="FNanchor_761" href="#Footnote_761" class="fnanchor">761</a> on the fishery was framed on the model of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_420">420</span>
-proclamations of James and Charles relating to unlicensed
-fishing. It was as follows: “The people and inhabitants of
-the said United Provinces, of what condition or quality soever
-they be, shall with their busses and other vessels fitted
-to that purpose, have liberty from time to time, for the term of
-one and twenty years, next coming, to sail and fish as well for
-herrings, as all other sort of fish, great and small, upon any
-of the coasts or seas of Great Britain and Ireland and the
-rest of the Isles adjacent, where and in such manner as
-they have been formerly permitted to fish. In consideration
-whereof, the States-General of the United Provinces shall
-during that term pay into the public treasury of this Commonwealth
-at the City of London the sum of ... at two
-equal payments upon every 24 day of June and 24 day of
-December; the first payment to begin on the 24 day of June
-next.” When it is remembered that the Dutch in the reign
-of James, and again in the reign of Charles, were prepared
-to go to war with England rather than surrender their
-liberty of fishing, the objectionable nature of this article is
-apparent. No glimpse is obtained throughout the negotiations
-of the sum that was to be asked for the liberty of
-fishing, possibly because it was never definitely fixed by the
-Council. It is, however, stated by Stubbe, who had special
-sources of information, that it was the intention of the Council
-to demand &pound;100,000, as well as payment for constant wafters
-or convoys,<a id="FNanchor_762" href="#Footnote_762" class="fnanchor">762</a>&mdash;a statement which is credible only on the supposition
-that it was desired utterly to ruin the Dutch herring
-fishery.</p>
-
-<p>Some of the other articles were equally or even more
-objectionable. That concerning the striking of the flag,<a id="FNanchor_763" href="#Footnote_763" class="fnanchor">763</a>
-though not feasible in its original form, was capable of adjustment.
-It provided “that the ships and vessels of the said
-United Provinces, as well men-of-war as others, be they
-single ships or in fleets, meeting at sea with any of the ships
-of war of the State of England, or in their service, and
-wearing their flag, shall strike their flag and lower their
-top-sail, until they be passed by, and shall likewise submit
-themselves to be visited, if thereto required, and perform
-all other respects due to the said Commonwealth of England,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_421">421</span>
-to whom the dominion and sovereignty of the British sea
-belong.” By this article the whole of the Dutch fleet would
-be bound to strike to a single ship in the English service
-anywhere on the sea, and, what was a far more serious
-matter, to submit to be visited and searched. A stipulation
-of that kind was unacceptable. Tromp’s fleet had been
-fitted out before the war expressly to prevent the visitation
-and search of merchant vessels; if no conflict had occurred
-with Blake about the flag, it would almost certainly have
-happened on this other point.<a id="FNanchor_764" href="#Footnote_764" class="fnanchor">764</a> And now the States were
-asked to confirm in a formal treaty the right claimed by
-England; and above all to make it applicable to their ships
-of war. Another article with reference to the measures to
-be taken against pirates embodied the old doctrine attributed to
-the Plantagenets. The Commonwealth of England, it stated,
-had declared their resolution “to put upon these seas a convenient
-number of armed ships, for the defence and safeguard
-thereof, and to maintain and preserve all lawful navigation,
-trade, and commerce therein, against pirates and sea-rovers.”<a id="FNanchor_765" href="#Footnote_765" class="fnanchor">765</a>
-Another article which raised the strongest objections provided
-that the Dutch fleet passing through the British seas should
-be limited to a certain number, to be agreed upon in the
-treaty, and that if the States had occasion for a larger number
-to pass than that agreed to, they should first give the Commonwealth
-three months’ notice and obtain their consent. The
-article also provided that Dutch merchant vessels should be
-allowed freely to navigate the British seas, as if the right of
-permitting or forbidding navigation there belonged to England.<a id="FNanchor_766" href="#Footnote_766" class="fnanchor">766</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_422">422</span></p>
-
-<p>Such conditions could only have been imposed on a nation
-hopelessly vanquished. They were conditions, the ambassadors
-declared, which would not be demanded from rebels or slaves.
-On the English side there was a strong feeling that since
-coalition had been rejected, the “security” for the future
-ought to be rigorous and complete. It was still firmly believed
-by the mass of men, and doubtless by many in the
-Council, that Tromp had attacked Blake in overwhelming
-force in order to destroy the English fleet; and that too by
-the implicit or express orders of the States. There was doubtless
-also a desire to cripple Dutch commerce and power as far
-as was possible. Commercial jealousy had long been simmering,
-and now that the English thought they had the power
-they were resolved to use it to their own advantage.<a id="FNanchor_767" href="#Footnote_767" class="fnanchor">767</a></p>
-
-<p>The Dutch deputies were astonished and indignant at the
-English demands, which, as they sarcastically noted in their
-journal, they could scarcely reconcile with the professions of
-friendship and the pious words of Cromwell. Had they communicated
-them to the States-General all thoughts of peace
-would have been at an end, for it had required the most
-adroit diplomacy of John de Witt to induce that body to
-allow the negotiations to be set agoing. They therefore sent
-home only an imperfect official account of them, pleading
-that Cromwell had tied them down to the utmost secrecy,<a id="FNanchor_768" href="#Footnote_768" class="fnanchor">768</a>
-and then proceeded to consider the articles themselves. Those
-dealing with reparation, the Prince of Orange, the visitation
-of ships, and the fishery, they decided absolutely to reject
-as inadmissible, for reasons to be given later. The one which
-proposed to limit their naval power in the adjacent seas
-they resolved indignantly to refuse, and to break off the
-negotiations rather than to agree even to discuss it, believing
-that it was a matter in which all Christian princes in Europe
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_423">423</span>
-were also interested, who would condemn the English Government
-for their extravagant claims to special maritime rights
-and to the fishery. Their conclusions were embodied in a
-paper which was submitted to the Council of State on 22nd
-November. In this they said that the visiting and searching
-of merchant vessels and ships of war was contrary to the
-practice of the United Provinces, was subject to innumerable
-disorders and disputes, and was injurious in point of sovereignty,
-since it was not reciprocal. As to the fishery, they
-declared that they had been in immemorial possession of
-complete liberty of fishing. They denounced the article
-concerning the limitation of the number of their ships of
-war, which they said they could hardly persuade themselves
-had been put forward seriously, since it struck at the root
-of their existence as an independent sovereign state, and
-they declined to discuss it.<a id="FNanchor_769" href="#Footnote_769" class="fnanchor">769</a></p>
-
-<p>Cromwell throughout the whole negotiations, until he became
-Lord Protector, acted as spokesman for the Council at the
-conferences; and he now stated that the visitation of Dutch
-ships was an undoubted right of sovereignty possessed by the
-English Commonwealth. The limitation of their ships of
-war passing through the British seas was also a consequence
-of the same right of dominion; and the English had now
-more than ever reason to maintain it, both on account of their
-ancient prerogative and the recent injuries committed by the
-Dutch. The right to the fishery was of the same nature. No
-other nation in Europe had attempted to carry it on without
-the consent of England; the Dutch were the only people, he
-said, who sought a separate interest in it&mdash;a statement which
-was quite inaccurate. But the deputies took their stand on
-the obnoxious article which proposed to clip their naval power
-and interfere with their liberty of navigation, and threatened
-to return home unless it was withdrawn. After standing firm
-for a time Cromwell withdrew the article, asserting at the
-same time that England had jurisdiction on both sides of the
-sea, and that it was perilous to allow a fleet of sixty or eighty
-men-of-war to come into our rivers or ports without our knowledge
-or consent,&mdash;a reference, no doubt, to Tromp’s action
-before the war.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_424">424</span></p>
-
-<p>This concession facilitated the negotiations. Frequent conferences
-were held in the following week, Cromwell and his
-Council strongly asserting the right of the Commonwealth to
-the fisheries and the dominion of the sea. At this period
-there were four subjects chiefly in dispute&mdash;the arrangements
-relating to the striking of the flag, the visitation of ships of
-war, the preliminary part of the sixteenth article as to the
-guarding of the seas, and the fishery. On none of these was
-Cromwell inclined as yet to give way. The deputies repeated
-their offer as to the flag, and requested that a joint commission
-of old and experienced naval officers should be appointed to
-draw up regulations for the guidance of both sides in future.
-To this Cromwell replied that such a commission was unnecessary,
-their rights and the custom being well understood and
-clearly expressed in the article. There was, however, uncertainty
-as to the places where the right could be claimed,
-and the Dutch deputies said they wished to make it clear
-in what seas and on what coasts the flag ought to be
-struck, urging that it was better to be guided by a regulation
-than to compel it by force. But Cromwell was inflexible.
-To yield would be to admit that the claim was doubtful in
-point of right or mode, and it would stultify their whole
-action; he may also have thought it would open a door
-for some form of reciprocity. The article was therefore
-postponed, as was also the sixteenth article, the deputies
-insisting on the deletion of the introductory sentence as to
-a fleet to be put forth to guard the sea, which Cromwell
-refused to do.<a id="FNanchor_770" href="#Footnote_770" class="fnanchor">770</a></p>
-
-<p>The keenest dispute at this time was about the herring
-fishery. There were two principles in the article, Cromwell
-said, which required attention: first, the recognition of
-England’s right to the fishery; secondly, compensation for
-allowing the use of it. Unable to avoid the discussion, the
-envoys pleaded their immemorial possession and their treaties,
-and said that their liberty of fishing had never been disputed;
-besides, they asked, was it a friendly thing to make a proposal
-of the kind when they were about to conclude a strict and
-close alliance between the two countries? Cromwell, who had
-obviously been well posted up in the arguments in <i>Mare</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_425">425</span>
-<i>Clausum</i>, then entered upon a lengthy disquisition on the
-subject. He said the English could prove by authentic documents
-that they had had possession of the fishery from all
-time, and that other nations sought their permission to fish;
-that the clause in the treaty of 1496 (the Intercursus Magnus)
-upon which the Dutch relied, was omitted in later treaties;
-and that the treaties had expired owing to the subsequent
-wars between Queen Elizabeth and Spain, and had never been
-since renewed; they were not the same people with whom
-the treaties had been made, since they were now alienated
-from the House of Burgundy. And they could not establish
-their right by prescription, for by the civil law it required
-a hundred years for a just prescription, and the States had not
-existed so long as an independent nation. Moreover, long
-before the treaty of 1496, licenses for fishing had been sought
-and granted. Even King Philip II. in Queen Mary’s time had
-asked permission to fish for twenty-one years, and had paid
-&pound;1000 a-year for the privilege. King James, too, had issued
-a proclamation in 1610 (<i>sic</i>) forbidding unlicensed fishing,
-while King Charles had demanded and received through the
-Earl of Northumberland an acknowledgment from their
-herring-busses.</p>
-
-<p>To this long argument the deputies replied with arguments
-as long. With respect to the treaties, they said that the treaty
-of 1496 was not between prince and prince, but between states
-and towns, as specified in it; and that the article which provided
-for mutual liberty of fishing had been confirmed in later
-treaties, notably in the treaty of Binche, in 1541, between the
-Emperor Charles and the King of Scotland; in that of 1550
-with Queen Mary of Scotland; and in that between the United
-Provinces and King James of Scotland in 1594.<a id="FNanchor_771" href="#Footnote_771" class="fnanchor">771</a> Moreover,
-in the treaty between England and Spain in 1630, there were
-certain words which confirmed the ancient treaties of intercourse
-and commerce.<a id="FNanchor_772" href="#Footnote_772" class="fnanchor">772</a> They expressed the opinion that Cromwell
-had not been well informed in saying that licenses for
-fishing had been granted before the Intercursus Magnus was
-concluded, because it was doubtful if the invention of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_426">426</span>
-salting and casking of herrings was much before that date.<a id="FNanchor_773" href="#Footnote_773" class="fnanchor">773</a>
-As to the alleged lease of the fishings by King Philip, there
-was nothing to compel him to take such a lease, and they saw
-no reason why he should have done so; while the proclamation
-of James, so far from being an argument against them, was
-entirely in their favour, because, as they could prove from
-papers in their hands, it was never put into execution, but was
-suspended on the representations of the States. The action of
-the Earl of Northumberland they described as simple extortion,
-since he had compelled a few defenceless fishermen, without
-the knowledge of the States, to pay him some money. The
-deputies concluded their arguments by saying they had no
-further instructions on the matter, and that if the Council
-pressed the article, they would require to return and report
-to their Government: there was, they said, a high and mighty
-Lord in heaven who knew the hearts and rights of all, and He
-would judge. Cromwell assured them that the article had
-not been inserted in the draft treaty with the object of breaking
-off the negotiations, but only that they might maintain
-their just rights. Why, he asked, should the States object to
-acknowledge the right of the Commonwealth to the fisheries,
-when other Powers like France and Sweden, who had as much
-claim to liberty as they, had not scrupled to acknowledge it?<a id="FNanchor_774" href="#Footnote_774" class="fnanchor">774</a></p>
-
-<p>As Cromwell was immovable, and the deputies equally obdurate,
-the negotiations came to a stop, and the latter on 5th
-December formally requested their passports to return to The
-Hague. In the interval they asked the French ambassador if
-France had requested permission from England to fish in the
-sea, as Cromwell averred. He told them nothing had been
-said to him on the matter since he came to England, but that
-his papers showed that the Duke of Guise had formerly asked
-that certain fishermen of Treport should not be molested in
-their fishing.<a id="FNanchor_775" href="#Footnote_775" class="fnanchor">775</a> They also learned that the Swedish ambassador
-had sought to obtain from England free commerce in general,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_427">427</span>
-free fishery, and freedom of trading to the Barbadoes. It was
-indeed the case that Sweden had made such proposals. In the
-negotiations for a treaty with the Commonwealth, the queen
-expressed her desire to obtain liberty for her subjects to fish
-for herrings in the British seas,<a id="FNanchor_776" href="#Footnote_776" class="fnanchor">776</a> and in the preceding August
-the Council of State, at the request of her ambassador, had
-actually issued a license to four Swedish vessels to fish in the
-narrow seas and upon the British coasts.<a id="FNanchor_777" href="#Footnote_777" class="fnanchor">777</a> In a treaty concluded
-in 1656 between the King of Sweden and the Lord
-Protector, the privilege, it may be said, was carried much
-further. The treaty provided that Swedish subjects should
-be free to fish for herrings and other fish in the seas and
-on the coasts under the dominion of the Republic, provided
-the number of ships so employed did not exceed a thousand;
-and no charges (such as the assize-herring) were to be demanded
-of the Swedish fishermen, who were to be treated
-courteously and amicably, allowed to dry their nets on the
-shore, and to purchase necessaries at a fair price.<a id="FNanchor_778" href="#Footnote_778" class="fnanchor">778</a></p>
-
-<p>It may be noted as remarkable that, throughout the long discussions
-with Cromwell about the fishery, the Dutch deputies
-never made use of the argument, so frequently employed by
-their predecessors at the Court of James, that the English
-claims were opposed to the law of nations. They probably
-shrank from using an argument of that kind to the great
-dictator who had ruthlessly trampled on the laws of England;
-perhaps they were deterred by the abrupt intimation made
-earlier, that the Council had not come to listen to scholastic
-subtleties, but to consider the real legal rights of England.
-The obstinacy of Cromwell in refusing at this stage to modify
-the fishery article is also noteworthy. No doubt he was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_428">428</span>
-moved by a sincere desire to benefit England. The belief
-was still prevalent that the herring fishery which the Dutch
-carried on along the British coasts was the foundation of
-their commerce, wealth, and naval power. It, moreover, provided
-them with a great “seminary of seamen” to recruit
-their fleets&mdash;a consideration which must have had a special
-force at a time when we had only the ships in the coal
-trade between Newcastle and London to draw upon for ours,
-and when the most rigorous system of pressing failed to
-provide sufficient men for the navy.<a id="FNanchor_779" href="#Footnote_779" class="fnanchor">779</a> But Cromwell had
-other reasons for insisting on the English claims, even to the
-point of rupture of the negotiations. It was by this time
-obvious that the Barebones or nominated Parliament had
-only a short life before it, and it was desirable that its
-dissolution should be free from violence and as far as possible
-voluntary. The majority of the members were strongly
-opposed to the Dutch, and to the conclusion of peace except
-on humiliating terms to the enemy; and it is probable that
-Cromwell’s insistence was partly due to his desire to conciliate
-them. He was now about to put on the mantle of
-the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England.</p>
-
-<p>When the Dutch envoys wrote to the Council for their
-passports, they received no answer. On repeating their request
-two days later, they got a hint of what was impending,&mdash;that
-the Parliament which was against them would soon be
-dissolved, and the management of affairs placed in the hands
-of a council of ten or twelve.<a id="FNanchor_780" href="#Footnote_780" class="fnanchor">780</a> Then on the 9th December
-they were asked by Viscount Lisle, in the name of the Council,
-to delay their departure, as commissioners would soon be
-appointed to treat with them and conclude the treaty. Cromwell
-took the oath as Lord Protector on the 16th; the new
-Council of State met on the 19th; and the conferences on the
-treaty were resumed four days later.<a id="FNanchor_781" href="#Footnote_781" class="fnanchor">781</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_429">429</span></p>
-
-<p>Cromwell did not now attend the conferences, the negotiations
-being entrusted to four members of the Council&mdash;Viscount
-Lisle, Sir Charles Wolseley, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, and
-Walter Strickland, who had accompanied St John to The
-Hague in 1651. The discussions on the questions affecting
-the claim to the sovereignty of the sea were continued: the
-striking of the flag, the visitation of ships, and the declaration
-that the dominion of the sea belonged to England. The
-former arguments on both sides were repeated, and the Dutch
-proposed the following article with reference to the flag:
-“That the ships and vessels of the United Provinces, as well
-men-of-war as others, meeting with any of the ships of
-war of the State of England shall honour and dignify them
-with the striking of the flag and lowering the top-sail, in
-such a manner as ever under any form of government in
-times past they have been honoured and dignified; and to
-prevent all quarrels for the future the particulars thereof
-shall be regulated by the advice of the generals and commanders.”<a id="FNanchor_782" href="#Footnote_782" class="fnanchor">782</a>
-The English commissioners reiterated the objections
-previously made, but now stated that they had been referring
-only to the narrow seas;<a id="FNanchor_783" href="#Footnote_783" class="fnanchor">783</a> and it was agreed to refer the points
-in dispute to the Lord Protector.</p>
-
-<p>Another difficulty arose on the third article, which fixed
-the dates on which the peace should take effect on the sea,
-after which dates the capture of prizes would be illegal.
-The part was as follows: “Excepting such depredations as
-shall be committed in the British Seas (<i>Maria Britannica</i>)
-after the space of twelve days, and betwixt the British Seas
-and the Line after the space of ten weeks,” &amp;c. At the
-first, the phrase “British Seas” had caught the eye of the
-envoys; but, thinking it was merely an ordinary appellation
-such as might appear on a chart, and that no deep design
-lurked beneath it, they decided that it would not be desirable
-to raise “the business of the sea” on such a point.<a id="FNanchor_784" href="#Footnote_784" class="fnanchor">784</a> They
-now took exception to these words, and suggested that it would
-be better to begin, “in the narrow sea, which was called the
-British Sea” after twelve days, from there to Cape St Vincent
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_430">430</span>
-after six weeks, &amp;c. This matter also was referred to the
-Protector.</p>
-
-<p>Cromwell, who was now settled in his new dignity, gave
-close attention to the peace negotiations. On 26th December
-the deputies were handed a paper in his name, in which he
-gave up the demand for a money payment in reparation for
-the war; agreed to the stipulation about the exclusion of the
-Prince of Orange&mdash;which was the corner-stone of the treaty&mdash;being
-put in a secret article; agreed to some new articles
-which the Dutch had proposed, after slight modifications; and at
-the same time introduced a new element of trouble and debate
-by formulating three additional articles requiring justice to be
-done for the “murder” of the English at Amboyna in 1623, and
-concerning the settlement of disputes and wrongs committed
-in the East Indies, Brazil, and Greenland. Important concessions
-were at the same time made on the maritime question.
-The article respecting the fishery was dropped. “Concerning
-the fishing,” wrote the Protector, “the Lords Deputies having
-by their former papers desired that freedom of fishing in these
-seas might be declared in this treaty, the 17 article was
-thereupon propounded, whereby license is granted to the
-people of the United Provinces to fish freely in these seas
-upon the terms therein expressed, notwithstanding as in their
-Lordships’ power either to accept or refuse, but it cannot be
-admitted that anything should be inserted in this treaty that
-may prejudice the right of this state in their fishery.”<a id="FNanchor_785" href="#Footnote_785" class="fnanchor">785</a> The
-Dutch thus again scored a diplomatic victory and preserved
-their liberty of fishing on the British coasts, just as they had
-done in the reigns of James and Charles. They did not
-succeed in getting the clause in the Intercursus Magnus
-inserted or confirmed, as they desired, but it still remained
-in force. Later writers accused Cromwell of having surrendered
-the rights to the fishery, and much else, as a <i>quid pro
-quo</i> for the stipulation regarding the exclusion of the Orange
-family in the Netherlands, which was his main object;<a id="FNanchor_786" href="#Footnote_786" class="fnanchor">786</a> but
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_431">431</span>
-there is no doubt at all that the States-General would never
-have agreed to the English proposal.</p>
-
-<p>Concessions were also made as to the striking of the flag.
-“The 15 article,” said Cromwell, “to be as following: that the
-ships and vessels of the United Provinces, as well men-of-war
-as others, meeting at sea with any of the ships of war of
-the State of England, shall strike their flag and lower their
-top-sail, and perform the other respects due to this State until
-they be passed by”; but the request that a naval commission
-should draw up a “regulation” on the subject was not acceded
-to. On the other hand, the clauses which stipulated for a
-right of visitation of Dutch ships at sea, and the declaration
-that the dominion and sovereignty of the sea belonged to
-England, were entirely withdrawn; but the Protector would
-not yet part with the clause which provided for an English
-fleet to guard the seas and protect commerce. Surely, he said
-in effect, since the article limiting the number of warships has
-been withdrawn, you will not contest our dominion of the sea
-in this?&mdash;and at this stage it was retained, with the remark,
-“this article is insisted on.” One of the new clauses provided
-that not more than eight men-of-war at a time were to enter
-any port of the other Power, unless constrained by force of
-tempest, without having obtained consent to do so; and when
-compelled to enter by danger of the sea, they were immediately
-to signify to the chief magistrate the cause of their coming, and
-to leave when he required them to depart.<a id="FNanchor_787" href="#Footnote_787" class="fnanchor">787</a></p>
-
-<p>On the subject of striking the flag, the deputies were not
-yet satisfied. They still continued to urge that a “regulation”
-should be prepared; and they now raised a new point. Cromwell
-had always used the words “at sea,” which might mean
-any sea or any part of the sea. They now desired that the
-ceremony should be restricted to the narrow seas, “which,”
-they said, “are called the British seas.”<a id="FNanchor_788" href="#Footnote_788" class="fnanchor">788</a> To this proposal
-Cromwell assented in so far that the words “in the British
-seas” were inserted later. It is curious to notice how the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_432">432</span>
-meaning of the term “British Sea” thus became confused
-even within the compass of a single treaty. In reference to
-this article, the Protector made the important admission that
-the narrow seas and the British seas were synonymous.<a id="FNanchor_789" href="#Footnote_789" class="fnanchor">789</a> In
-the third article, as we have seen, the same term was used,
-and it was natural for the Dutch to suppose that it there had
-the same significance and meant the narrow seas or Channel.
-Since the clause dealt with a matter of great practical importance,
-namely, the restitution of vessels that might be captured
-after a specified date, and the term “British seas” appeared
-to be restricted to the Channel, they wished specifically to
-include in it the North Sea and the East Sea (or Baltic), both
-regions of great traffic. The envoys were accordingly instructed
-later by the States-General to have these words added, so that
-the clause would read, “excepting such depredations as shall be
-committed in the British Sea, the East Sea, and the North
-Sea.”<a id="FNanchor_790" href="#Footnote_790" class="fnanchor">790</a> By this addition, moreover, the objectionable phrase
-“the British seas” would be formally restricted to the narrow
-seas or Channel, with the consent of England. The proposed
-change was instantly rejected. When Beverning brought it
-forward, Thurloe resisted it with great warmth,<a id="FNanchor_791" href="#Footnote_791" class="fnanchor">791</a> and the
-qualifying words confining the term British seas to the
-narrow seas, which the Dutch had inserted, were also deleted.<a id="FNanchor_792" href="#Footnote_792" class="fnanchor">792</a>
-When it was verbally agreed that the striking of the flag
-should be restricted to the narrow sea,<a id="FNanchor_793" href="#Footnote_793" class="fnanchor">793</a> the deputies made a
-new proposal. It was to the effect that Dutch ships, without
-any distinction, not only in the narrow seas but throughout the
-whole world, on meeting English men-of-war should give them
-the first salute by striking the flag and top-sails and firing
-guns, provided that the English ships immediately returned
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_433">433</span>
-the salute in precisely the same manner. This, doubtless, was
-the proposition which lurked behind the reiterated suggestion
-for a “regulation”; but the English commissioners would not
-agree to any form of reciprocity. The Dutch again raised
-objections to the part of the sixteenth clause concerning
-pirates, on the ground that it contained an implication of the
-claim to the dominion of the seas, which they had constantly
-opposed, and they cited the treaties with Elizabeth in 1585,
-and with Charles in 1625, as having assigned to them the
-protection of the sea off the Flemish coast and neighbouring
-coasts. They declared they would prefer it to be dropped
-altogether unless it was amended or made reciprocal.<a id="FNanchor_794" href="#Footnote_794" class="fnanchor">794</a></p>
-
-<p>The differences as to the sovereignty of the sea or the phraseology
-of the maritime articles were now, however, of little
-actual importance. The progress of the negotiations, secret and
-otherwise, had narrowed the real ground of contention to two
-crucial points&mdash;the exclusion of the Prince of Orange from
-office, and the inclusion of Denmark in the treaty. The former
-had been secretly agreed upon by Cromwell and Beverning,
-the latter acting in conjunction with De Witt;<a id="FNanchor_795" href="#Footnote_795" class="fnanchor">795</a> but the Protector
-was obdurate as to the inclusion of Denmark, and the
-deputies decided to return home to report the state of the
-negotiations. They left London on 3rd (13th) January, and
-though a message from Cromwell overtook them at Gravesend
-conceding the point in dispute as to Denmark, they thought
-it better to continue their homeward journey. The treaty,
-so far as it had been officially arranged and made known,
-was received with approbation in Holland, the vital stipulation
-respecting the exclusion of the Prince of Orange being
-concealed. Beverning came back to London on 25th January,
-but was refused audience by the Protector until he had obtained
-proper credentials recognising the new Government.
-He was joined by Nieuport and Jongestal a month later,
-but it was not till 15th March that the conferences were
-resumed.<a id="FNanchor_796" href="#Footnote_796" class="fnanchor">796</a></p>
-
-<p>By this time the Protector had in substance conceded almost
-everything concerning the dominion of the seas that the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_434">434</span>
-Dutch had asked for, and the ambassadors&mdash;they had returned
-with the title of extraordinary ambassadors&mdash;were
-anxious to avoid any more discussion about it. For this
-reason Beverning disapproved of the resolution of the States-General,
-above referred to, for the amendment of the third
-article by specifying the North Sea and Baltic, and after
-his first interview with Cromwell he wrote to them expressing
-his opinion that it would occasion new disputes about the
-fisheries and the sovereignty of the sea. We have seen how
-it was received by Thurloe; and from what followed it would
-appear that Cromwell had either heard of the rumours going
-about that he had sacrificed the rights of England to the
-sovereignty of the seas in order to gain the exclusion of
-the Orange family, or that he was determined to keep the
-matter open until the secret arrangement for that exclusion
-had been officially accepted in the United Provinces&mdash;a task
-in which De Witt was struggling against enormous difficulties.
-At all events, after the treaty had been signed by the negotiators
-and ratified by the States-General, and when Cromwell
-was on the point of ratifying it, he suddenly reopened the
-question as to the extent of the British seas. Thurloe began
-by asking the ambassadors what was meant by the distinction
-drawn in the third article between the British seas and Cape
-St Vincent. Such a distinction seemed to prejudice the limits
-of the British seas, and might besides give rise to disputes later
-as to the seizure of vessels. He then treated the ambassadors
-to a discourse on the extent of the British seas, the particulars
-of which are, unfortunately, not recorded. They were, however,
-told that they extended to and along the coast of France,
-“Xaintonge” (Saintonge, an old French province) and round
-about there. It had not been thought, he said, to limit or
-define any seas in stating the districts, and he asked them for
-a declaration on the subject. They suspected that the design
-was to extract from them an explicit statement as to the
-southward limit of the British seas, and they said they had
-now no power either to alter the article or even to interpret it.
-The treaty had been signed on both sides and ratified by
-the States-General, and their instructions and commission
-were at an end. The proposal to alter it, they now alleged,
-came from themselves alone, without instructions from the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_435">435</span>
-States-General, and they had willingly and immediately withdrawn
-it when objection was made. Cromwell then asked
-if it had ever been their intention to define in any way the
-limits of the seas by that article. They replied that they
-believed not, and added that they had never thought of
-yielding anything with regard to right or jurisdiction or
-limits of the seas; and they failed to see what prejudice his
-Highness could suffer from the extension of the article, unless
-it was to be maintained that the whole of the French and
-Portuguese coasts to Cape St Vincent were within the narrow
-seas, as they had defined in the fourteenth article, which
-was withdrawn.<a id="FNanchor_797" href="#Footnote_797" class="fnanchor">797</a> Cromwell then angrily told them that he
-would not exchange the ratification of the treaty unless he
-got the explanation and interpretation requested.<a id="FNanchor_798" href="#Footnote_798" class="fnanchor">798</a> It was
-only, the ambassadors reported home, by their earnest insistence
-to the Protector that the articles had been signed
-with perfect knowledge on both sides of their contents, that
-he passed from the point. Whatever the object may have
-been in thus raising a discussion at the last moment as to
-the extent of the British seas, there is little doubt that the
-circumstance would prove useful to De Witt in his difficult
-and manifold manœuvres to get the Act of exclusion of the
-House of Orange adopted.</p>
-
-<p>The treaty of peace, which had been signed by the plenipotentiaries
-on 5th April, was ratified by the Protector on 19th
-April, and proclaimed with due solemnity on the 26th May.
-It was received with rejoicing both in this country and the
-Netherlands.<a id="FNanchor_799" href="#Footnote_799" class="fnanchor">799</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_436">436</span></p>
-
-<p>Comparison of the treaty as completed<a id="FNanchor_800" href="#Footnote_800" class="fnanchor">800</a> with the original
-draft shows how thoroughly the Dutch plenipotentiaries had
-eviscerated the parts dealing with the sovereignty of the sea,
-and stripped it of almost all the phraseology which might
-imply such sovereignty. The articles imposing tribute for
-the liberty of fishing; stipulating for the visitation and search
-of vessels; restricting the number of their men-of-war in the
-British seas; the Plantagenet claim for the guarding of the
-sea; the declaration that the dominion of the British seas
-belonged to England,&mdash;all had been wiped out. Cromwell
-indeed succeeded in retaining the term “British seas” in its
-original ambiguity; but both he and his commissioners admitted
-(verbally) that it meant, in reference to the salute,
-only the narrow sea&mdash;a statement which was in contradiction
-to the instructions issued to the naval officers, and to the
-practice both before and afterwards. The clause providing
-for the striking of the flag was saved, but only in a mutilated
-form. It ran as follows: “That the ships and vessels of the
-said United Provinces, as well those of war as others which
-shall meet any of the men-of-war of this Commonwealth in
-the British Seas, shall strike their flag and lower the top-sail,
-in such manner as the same has ever been observed at any
-time heretofore under any other form of government.”<a id="FNanchor_801" href="#Footnote_801" class="fnanchor">801</a></p>
-
-<p>This, as the States-General took care to point out to their
-fellow-countrymen, was no more than they had voluntarily
-agreed to do, and had instructed Tromp to perform, previous
-to the declaration of war. It was, however, the first time the
-custom had been recognised in a treaty.</p>
-
-<p>After the conclusion of peace, the English naval commanders
-took pleasure in vigorously enforcing their right to the “honour
-of the flag,” and, as above stated, notwithstanding the verbal
-limitation made by Cromwell and Thurloe, they did not confine
-the demand to the narrow sea. Within a few weeks of the
-proclamation of the treaty, and before its details were known
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_437">437</span>
-to the fleet, Vice-Admiral Lawson encountered the “bellicose”
-De With off the north coast of Scotland. The Dutch admiral
-with three men-of-war was convoying seventy sail bound for
-Greenland, and he at once struck his flag and fired a salute,
-which the English returned. He also “submitted to a search,”
-though stating that it was not customary for men-of-war to
-do so. “De With,” wrote Lawson, “begins to know his duty,
-being very submissive, acknowledging the sovereignty of England
-in the seas, and yielding as much as could have been
-required of any merchant ships.”<a id="FNanchor_802" href="#Footnote_802" class="fnanchor">802</a></p>
-
-<p>In the south the Dutch were not always so compliant, and
-disputes with the English officers sometimes arose as to whether
-the place where the striking of the flag was demanded was or
-was not within the British seas. Thus, Captain Cockraine, in
-the <i>Old Warwick</i>, met a fleet of Holland merchantmen under
-convoy of a man-of-war between the Lizard and Ushant.
-The merchant vessels struck their top-sails, but the man-of-war
-refused to strike, on the ground that he was not in the British
-but in the Spanish seas. Cockraine refrained from firing, as
-the ship was surrounded by others and there was “much
-wind.” Instead, he wrote to the Admiralty. “I want to
-know,” he said, “how far is intended by the British Seas,
-and how far our power reaches, so that we may make no
-unnecessary broils.” There is nothing to show what answer
-he got; but a week later he encountered twenty-six Dutch
-merchant vessels bound for the Mediterranean, who refused
-to strike, and he had to fire thirty guns among them before
-they submitted.<a id="FNanchor_803" href="#Footnote_803" class="fnanchor">803</a> About the same time, a States’ man-of-war
-convoying a fleet of Hollander merchantmen met Captain
-Heaton, in the <i>Sapphire</i>, and did not strike until a shot
-was fired. Heaton sent a message to the commander saying
-that he had not fulfilled the articles of peace, and that the
-keeping of his flag and top-sail aloft when within shot of
-one of the ships of the State of England was a great abuse,
-and a gross affront by the States of Holland to the Commonwealth.
-To which the Dutch captain replied that if he had shot
-back at the <i>Sapphire</i> he would have been quite justified, as,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_438">438</span>
-being on his own coast, he was not bound to strike, and had
-done so not out of duty, but from “brotherly love,” and he
-then re-hoisted his top-sails and flag. Heaton deliberated
-whether or not he should fight the Dutchman for doing this,
-but refrained. He, too, wrote to the Admiralty asking how
-he should act in similar cases in future.<a id="FNanchor_804" href="#Footnote_804" class="fnanchor">804</a></p>
-
-<p>The authorities at the Admiralty were always sparing in
-advice on such matters. They showed the same reticence
-as the Government in defining the extent of the British seas,
-and for the same reason&mdash;that they did not know themselves.
-This reluctance was shown, and a partial glimpse afforded,
-in a letter to General Montague (afterwards Earl of Sandwich)
-which Richard, Cromwell’s son, wrote during his brief
-tenure of the Protectorate. Telling him to demand “the
-flag” of such foreign ships of war as he might encounter in
-the British seas, he remarked that there had been “some
-doubt” as to how far the British seas extend. Not unnaturally,
-“Tumble-down Dick” shrank from plunging into a matter
-which had puzzled the great Oliver and every one else.
-“Not being willing,” he said, “to determine that in our instructions,
-we rather put in general terms the ‘British Seas’
-only. We judge there is no question of all the sea on
-this side the Shagenriffe;<a id="FNanchor_805" href="#Footnote_805" class="fnanchor">805</a> on the other side [the Baltic] you
-have need be tender, and to avoid all disputes of this nature,
-if it be possible, because war and peace depend on it.”<a id="FNanchor_806" href="#Footnote_806" class="fnanchor">806</a></p>
-
-<p>Disputes about the flag were not the only differences that
-arose on the sea. At the end of September 1654 complaints
-came from Yarmouth that the English fishermen were being
-molested by the Dutch in the herring fishery there. They
-had come, it was alleged, with a multitude of busses, “far
-above a thousand sail,” and, contrary to the custom before
-the war, “and against the laws of this nation,” shot their
-nets so close to the sands that the English were crowded
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_439">439</span>
-out and hindered in their usual fishing. The Dutch busses
-occupied a space of more than forty miles adjacent to the
-coast, and the English fishermen were afraid to use their nets
-lest they lost them. When they remonstrated with the
-foreigners for coming so near the shore, they were vilified, and
-muskets and “great guns” were shot at them.<a id="FNanchor_807" href="#Footnote_807" class="fnanchor">807</a> By the direction
-of Cromwell and the Council, the complaints were transmitted
-to the ambassadors, who were still in London, and they
-requested the States-General and the commanders of the ships
-guarding the busses to make every effort to avoid giving
-cause for complaint. In the inquiry which followed, the
-Dutch fishermen denied the charges against them, and in
-turn accused some of the Englishmen of shooting at them,
-cutting their ropes, and calling them dogs, rogues, and devils.
-They stated that they had carried on the fishing in the old
-accustomed way, the English usually fishing peacefully along
-with them.<a id="FNanchor_808" href="#Footnote_808" class="fnanchor">808</a></p>
-
-<p>Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate very little was
-heard of schemes for establishing fishery societies, such as
-appeared and disappeared so frequently in the preceding
-reigns and afterwards. That the Puritan spirit was not antagonistic
-to projects of the kind was shown by proposals
-made in 1649. One of these contemplated the employment
-of Dutchmen to establish “a fishing trade” in England. It
-was referred by the Council of State to Sir Henry Vane and
-Alderman Wilson, with what result does not appear. Another,
-briefly described, was to set up a fishing trade for the English
-nation;<a id="FNanchor_809" href="#Footnote_809" class="fnanchor">809</a> and about this time the attention of some writers
-on commercial matters was directed to the same end. The
-only thing apparently effected was the gift to the Corporation
-of the Poor in London of some of the Dutch busses
-captured in the war, to be used in fishing on the English
-coast. During this period of our history the Government
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_440">440</span>
-had other things to think about than the launching of fishery
-schemes. Cromwell, however, at the conclusion of the war,
-renewed the licenses to the fishermen of Dieppe and Calais
-to fish in the seas between England and France, at the usual
-times and places.<a id="FNanchor_810" href="#Footnote_810" class="fnanchor">810</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_441">441</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.<br />
-
-<small>CHARLES II.<br />
-
-THE SECOND DUTCH WAR.</small></h2>
-
-<p>The Restoration, in 1660, made no change either in the national
-sentiment or the national policy of England concerning the
-sovereignty of the sea. Charles II. encouraged the pretension
-with as much zeal as had been shown by his father, or by the
-Commonwealth and the Lord Protector; and he was more
-astute than any of his predecessors in taking advantage of the
-national feeling with regard to it in order to carry out his own
-selfish policy. Under the pretence of maintaining the dominion
-of the sea, a base and treacherous war was waged against the
-United Provinces in circumstances which will for ever sully
-the reputation of the king. The measures at first taken were,
-however, of a peaceful kind. Commercial jealousy of the
-Dutch was still a strong factor in England. As firmly as ever
-the opinion was held that the primary source of their great
-trade, shipping, and wealth lay in their fisheries, which also
-formed a great “nursery” of seamen for the navy.</p>
-
-<p>As in the reign of Charles I., it was therefore towards the
-development of British fisheries that efforts were first directed.
-The means taken with this view were twofold: the taxation of
-imported fish which had been caught by foreigners, and the
-creation of great fishery associations like those which had been
-established earlier in the century. The Navigation Act, which
-was passed a few months after the Restoration, while more
-oppressive to Dutch commerce and shipping than the Act of
-1651, was less stringent in this particular. The measure of the
-Rump Parliament prohibited the importation or exportation of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_442">442</span>
-fish, or its carriage coastways, unless such fish had been caught
-by subjects. This prohibition was ineffective,<a id="FNanchor_811" href="#Footnote_811" class="fnanchor">811</a> and it was now
-replaced by the imposition of double customs on all kinds of
-dried or salted fish imported, if caught or brought by vessels
-other than English.<a id="FNanchor_812" href="#Footnote_812" class="fnanchor">812</a> Three years later, the importation of
-fresh herrings, cod, haddocks, and coal-fish was absolutely prohibited
-unless they had been taken and imported in vessels
-certified to be English.<a id="FNanchor_813" href="#Footnote_813" class="fnanchor">813</a> With the view of still further promoting
-the fisheries, the same prohibition was afterwards extended
-to cured fish and certain other fresh fish,<a id="FNanchor_814" href="#Footnote_814" class="fnanchor">814</a> which
-practically restored the provision of the first Act of 1651.
-To a large extent these variations were due to the trade
-rivalries that existed in England, the party which was
-uppermost at the time forcing the measures that were most
-in its interest.</p>
-
-<p>Besides protective duties and monopolies, more direct means
-of encouraging the fisheries were tried. The always attractive
-idea was revived of establishing a great national fishery society,
-which, on the one hand, would enrich those who supported
-it with their purse, and on the other hand would increase the
-prosperity and the power of the country. Simon Smith, who
-had been the agent of the Royal Fishery Society in the reign
-of Charles I., lost no time in presenting to the king his two
-books on the subject, along with a petition in which he dwelt
-upon the advantages that would accrue to the nation from the
-labours of such an association.<a id="FNanchor_815" href="#Footnote_815" class="fnanchor">815</a> Smith recommended that all
-the corporations and county towns in the kingdom should conjointly
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_443">443</span>
-raise a stock to buy hemp and other materials to equip
-busses, which were to be built at the seaports nearest to them
-and sent to the fishing at Shetland; and he calculated, after
-the usual fashion, that each buss would maintain twenty
-families in work, “breed country youths to be mariners,” and
-cause many ships to be employed in exporting the herrings
-and bringing back commodities.</p>
-
-<p>Charles was apparently impressed by Smith’s arguments.
-Within two months of the Restoration he caused a letter to be
-written to the Lord Mayor of London, referring to the good
-done by the Society formed in 1632, “as by the book called the
-Royal Herring Busse Fishing (<i>sic</i>) presented to him, plainly
-appeared”; requesting particulars to be obtained of all the poor
-inhabitants within each ward who were in want of employment;
-requesting that the Lord Mayor and Aldermen should
-raise a stock by a free subscription to fit out a buss or fishing
-vessel for each ward; and that storehouses should be built in
-suitable places about the river Thames, provided with nets,
-casks, salt, and all things in readiness. The busses were to
-attend the fishing at Shetland, according to the “prescribed
-orders in the aforesaid book,” and the king declared he would
-recommend the same course to all the cities and towns throughout
-the kingdom, so as to make it a national employment.<a id="FNanchor_816" href="#Footnote_816" class="fnanchor">816</a></p>
-
-<p>The assistance of Parliament was also called in. On 8th November
-1660 the House of Commons remitted “the consideration
-of the fisheries” to the Committee for Trade and Navigation,
-who were asked to inform the House “what they thought
-necessary for the regulation and advancement of that trade.”<a id="FNanchor_817" href="#Footnote_817" class="fnanchor">817</a>
-The Committee’s report does not appear to have been preserved,
-but on 8th December a “Bill for Encouraging the Fisheries of
-this Kingdom” was introduced. It was remitted to a large
-committee, including the members for the seaport towns, and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_444">444</span>
-being read a third time on 27th December, was sent up to the
-Lords.<a id="FNanchor_818" href="#Footnote_818" class="fnanchor">818</a> It was, to a large extent, directed against fishing by
-foreigners on the British coasts and the use of destructive
-methods of fishing. One of its clauses prohibited trawling,
-whether by subjects or foreigners, within eight miles of certain
-parts of the coast. The fate of this important measure
-was unfortunate. The Parliament was dissolved two days
-after it reached the Lords, and nothing further was heard
-of it.<a id="FNanchor_819" href="#Footnote_819" class="fnanchor">819</a></p>
-
-<p>In the following year a measure dealing with the fisheries
-was passed by the Scottish Parliament.<a id="FNanchor_820" href="#Footnote_820" class="fnanchor">820</a> The preamble contained
-the common declarations as to the value of the fisheries
-to shipping and commerce, to the navy, in the employment of
-the poor, and as furnishing the materials for a great native
-export. The Act provided for the formation of societies and
-companies of free-born Scotsmen, each member to supply at
-least 500 merks Scots as stock, and they were to receive various
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_445">445</span>
-privileges and immunities, including power to erect houses for
-the fishing trade wherever it was most convenient, a “limited
-allowance” to be paid for the ground. An absolute monopoly
-of the export of fish, fresh or cured, was granted to the companies;
-foreigners were prohibited from curing herrings or
-white fish on land, or erecting booths for the purpose,&mdash;a provision
-aimed against the German merchants at Shetland,&mdash;but
-encouragement was given to foreign fishermen to settle and
-become naturalised in Scotland, and even to become burgesses,
-and they were to be exempt from taxation for seven years.
-The importation of everything required for the fishery, including
-“Holland nets,” was to be free of custom dues; the
-exports were to be similarly exempted, and the “teind” and
-“assize” herrings were to be remitted for nine years.</p>
-
-<p>The provisions of this Act differed essentially from the
-scheme proposed by Charles I. in 1630, which aroused so much
-opposition, inasmuch as the companies were to be composed
-solely of Scotsmen. The question of the territorial or
-“reserved” waters belonging to Scotland was thus avoided.
-It appears, indeed, that the Act was due to the representations
-of the Royal Burghs, for in the preceding autumn they expressed
-a desire for the “erection of the fishing trade in
-Scotland,” and resolved to bring the subject before the next
-Parliament.<a id="FNanchor_821" href="#Footnote_821" class="fnanchor">821</a> Little was done in Scotland under this Act.
-A company was formed, which, however, seemed more desirous
-of misusing its privileges than of fostering the fisheries, if we
-may judge from a petition of the burghs to the Lords of the
-Exchequer, praying that the company might be restricted to
-import nothing but what was necessary for the fishing trade.
-The town of Musselburgh also was empowered to equip busses,
-and various towns in Fife applied for and received permission
-to fish in the northern seas. The Scottish society became an
-incubus, and in 1690, when its function seems to have shrunk
-to the mechanical exaction of a tax of &pound;6 Scots per last
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_446">446</span>
-of herrings exported from Scotland, the Act under which it
-had been formed was repealed.<a id="FNanchor_822" href="#Footnote_822" class="fnanchor">822</a></p>
-
-<p>In England the efforts to establish a fishery association met
-with but little more success, although the king showed an
-active interest in its promotion. On 22nd August he issued
-a commission under the great seal, appointing his brother,
-the Duke of York, and twenty-nine noblemen, including all
-the great officers of the Court, with six others, as the “Council
-of the Royal Fishery of Great Britain and Ireland,” to which
-he assigned various privileges and monopolies. To encourage
-the building of busses, the king “requested” that wharfs,
-docks, and storehouses should be built on the Thames and
-in all the ports of the kingdom for their accommodation
-and use; all the “returns” or commodities brought back
-from foreign lands for the fish exported were exempted from
-customs for seven years; all victuallers, inns, alehouses,
-taverns, coffee-houses, and the like, were to be bound to take
-from one to four, or more, barrels of herrings from the society
-yearly at thirty shillings a-barrel, “until foreign vent be
-attained to perfection”; each barrel of pickled herrings or
-cod-fish brought into the realm by the Flemings, or others,
-was to be taxed half-a-crown, the tax to be paid into the
-coffers of the society, and the protection of the State was
-to be given to their fishing vessels and the vessels employed
-in exporting fish. It was further provided that the money
-necessary for the scheme should be obtained by a lottery,
-to be set up for three years, and by a collection in every
-parish in the kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>A few days later, Charles issued letters-patent saying that he
-had requested a bountiful subscription from London to fit out
-fishing vessels, which should belong to the wards, and recommending
-the same to the whole country, as the Hollanders had
-so engrossed the fisheries that the fishing towns were greatly
-decayed; the local officers were to see to the collections being
-made, the monies to be paid to the high-sheriff and by him
-remitted to the Earl of Pembroke, who was appointed treasurer.
-Those who subscribed to the stock were to pay their money
-in three instalments to Mr Thomas King, a London merchant
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_447">447</span>
-and member of Parliament, who became the moving spirit
-in the project; and the adventurers were to have the option of
-withdrawing after three years, on giving six months’ notice.<a id="FNanchor_823" href="#Footnote_823" class="fnanchor">823</a>
-Literary puffs were not neglected. A highly-coloured account
-of the value of the Dutch fisheries (founded mainly on the
-Raleigh tract) and of the rosy prospects of the society was
-published “by command.” The cost of a buss, equipped
-and provisioned for four months, was set down at &pound;835; the
-herrings caught in that time were calculated to fetch a round
-&pound;1000, giving an immediate profit of &pound;165 after meeting all
-expenses.<a id="FNanchor_824" href="#Footnote_824" class="fnanchor">824</a></p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding the active support of the Court and the
-energy of many agents, subscriptions to the fishery society
-filtered in but slowly. The sum collected for it in the London
-churches in the year 1661 amounted to the paltry total of
-&pound;818, 6s. 4&frac12;d.&mdash;scarcely enough to set forth one buss,&mdash;and in
-the autumn of 1664 it was reported that the amount collected
-throughout England and Ireland was only &pound;1076. The lottery,
-too, from which a great deal was hoped, gave rise to much
-corruption, confusion, and dispute, without notably enriching
-the society.<a id="FNanchor_825" href="#Footnote_825" class="fnanchor">825</a> In these depressing circumstances recourse was
-again had to Parliament. On 5th March 1662 a “Bill to
-confirm his Majesty’s letters patent concerning the fishing
-trade” was introduced into the House of Commons and remitted
-to a committee; but it ultimately became transformed
-into a mere local Act dealing with pilchard-fishing.<a id="FNanchor_826" href="#Footnote_826" class="fnanchor">826</a> The
-king was not yet discouraged. The Masters of the Trinity
-House were consulted in July as to the cost of ten busses
-he had resolved to build, and the amount required&mdash;&pound;9000&mdash;was
-actually handed over to Mr Thomas King. Charles
-further offered to pay &pound;200 to every person who had a new
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_448">448</span>
-English-built fishing-buss ready for the fishing before the
-middle of the following year.<a id="FNanchor_827" href="#Footnote_827" class="fnanchor">827</a> To facilitate the success of
-the society on the foreign markets, an Act was passed in
-1663, after considerable discussion, to make the use of the
-Dutch system of curing and packing herrings compulsory,
-so as to avoid abuses, and bring the English-cured herrings
-into repute.<a id="FNanchor_828" href="#Footnote_828" class="fnanchor">828</a></p>
-
-<p>At a meeting of the Privy Council a few months later,
-Sir William Batten, Sir Richard Chaterton, and Sir William
-Ryder were appointed to formulate proposals for the organisation
-of the Royal Herring Fishery, and, after consultation
-with Simon Smith and Mr Thomas King, it was resolved to
-adopt the Dutch system and regulations and to go on with
-the scheme.<a id="FNanchor_829" href="#Footnote_829" class="fnanchor">829</a> The next step was the issue by the king in the
-spring of 1664 of another commission under the great seal, by
-which the Duke of York and thirty-six assistants were incorporated
-as Governors and Company of the Royal Fishery of
-Great Britain and Ireland; the Lord Mayor and the Chamberlain
-of the City of London were appointed treasurers.<a id="FNanchor_830" href="#Footnote_830" class="fnanchor">830</a></p>
-
-<p>In spite of all efforts, such as they were, extremely little
-was done by the society before the outbreak of the second
-Dutch war. The slovenly way in which the business was
-managed and the corruption in regard to the finances were
-notorious. Pepys, who was a member of the council of the
-society, and had grave misgivings as to the issue of their
-labours, gives amusing glimpses of the proceedings in his
-Diary. He examined the accounts, and declared that “the
-loose and base manner that monies so collected are disposed
-of in, would make a man never part with a penny in that
-manner.” The Duke of York and the members did not
-even meet to read the king’s commission until July, and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_449">449</span>
-the later meetings were often futile from the want of a
-quorum. “A sad thing it is to see,” says Pepys, “so great
-a work so ill followed, for at this pace it can come to
-nothing but disgrace to us all.”<a id="FNanchor_831" href="#Footnote_831" class="fnanchor">831</a></p>
-
-<p>The failure of the attempt to establish a great national
-fishery to expel the foreigner from the British seas, after five
-years’ endeavour, was very agreeable to the Dutch, who had
-watched the proceedings with close attention, and had tried,
-openly and secretly, to hinder success whenever they had an
-opportunity. Immediately after the Restoration, the States-General,
-anxious to come to a good understanding with Charles,
-sent special ambassadors to London to arrange a treaty of
-friendship and alliance, and to renew previous treaties.<a id="FNanchor_832" href="#Footnote_832" class="fnanchor">832</a> The
-negotiations which ensued dealt, among other things, with the
-fisheries, the flag, and the sovereignty of the sea. The object
-of De Witt, the great Dutch Minister, was the usual one of
-his countrymen on similar occasions&mdash;viz., to secure as far as
-possible the commercial and other privileges which had been
-granted by the Intercursus Magnus. Charles, on the other
-hand, wished at the very least to retain all the concessions
-that Cromwell had secured by the treaty of 1654.<a id="FNanchor_833" href="#Footnote_833" class="fnanchor">833</a></p>
-
-<p>When the Dutch ambassadors arrived, or at all events when
-they began negotiations in London, the House of Commons
-had already taken up the question of the fisheries. Action of
-this kind always occasioned the Dutch anxiety. They knew
-it was directed against their predominance in a vital industry,
-and that it was usually followed by troublesome claims to
-the sovereignty of the sea and to an exclusive fishing on
-the British coasts. Here were all those questions raised in
-threatening fashion in the Bill passed by the Commons and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_450">450</span>
-sent up to the Lords. Moreover, English privateers, sailing
-under Swedish colours, had lately been seizing Dutch herring-busses,
-and though protests were made by the ambassadors, no
-redress was obtained.<a id="FNanchor_834" href="#Footnote_834" class="fnanchor">834</a> The debates and proceedings in the
-House of Commons attracted immediate attention in Holland.<a id="FNanchor_835" href="#Footnote_835" class="fnanchor">835</a>
-De Witt at once took up a firm attitude. He declared that
-the new pretension of England to the dominion of the seas and
-for the ruin of the Great Fishery would meet with the most
-determined resistance of the Republic; and, while consoling
-himself with the thought that reason had always prevailed
-against it in the past, he urged the ambassadors to use every
-means in their power with the Peers and the king in order
-to frustrate it. The Marquis of Ormonde, who was an intimate
-friend of Beverwaert’s and one of Charles’s Ministers, was bribed
-to use his influence to the same end. This nobleman informed
-the ambassador that when he was asked to favour the fishery
-project, he had answered that while he desired the advantage
-of the nation as much as any man, it would be first necessary
-to prepare for war, as it was in reality an affair of state; and
-he took credit with his Dutch friend for having induced many
-members of Parliament to oppose the Bill.<a id="FNanchor_836" href="#Footnote_836" class="fnanchor">836</a> Whether these
-intrigues had any influence in causing the fishery question to
-be so frequently “laid aside” in Parliament can only be surmised.</p>
-
-<p>So much concerned were the States-General about the provisions
-of the Bill, that they despatched a special letter to be
-presented to the king, in the hope, as De Witt said, that the
-resolution of the Commons might be suspended and its execution
-prevented.<a id="FNanchor_837" href="#Footnote_837" class="fnanchor">837</a> But when it became known in Holland that
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_451">451</span>
-the Bill had been shelved by the dissolution of Parliament, and
-that Charles was unlikely to summon another Parliament for
-a long time, the ambassadors were told to withhold it, but at
-the same time to make its substance known to the Ministers,
-so that the king might learn of it indirectly. They were also
-warned to say nothing, in the negotiations for the treaty on
-which they were engaged, that might allow it to be supposed
-that the right of the Dutch to fish in the seas around the coast
-of England was derived from any treaty or compact, or from
-any concession on the part of England. On the contrary, it
-arose <i>jure proprio</i> from the law of nature and the law of
-nations, the stipulation in the treaty of 1495 merely expressing
-this mutual right of free fishery with the view of preventing
-violence on either side.</p>
-
-<p>The negotiations dragged on slowly. The English commissioners
-showed no anxiety to discuss the questions of the
-fishery, commerce, or navigation, about which the Dutch were
-most concerned. Taking their stand on the Navigation Act,
-which Parliament had recently passed, they declined to listen
-to any proposal for free fishing on the English coast. The
-Dutch ambassadors grew hopeless of being able to conclude a
-treaty satisfactory to the States, and this feeling was strengthened
-by the jealousy and resentment which the English began
-to manifest concerning the simultaneous negotiations that were
-going on between Paris and The Hague.<a id="FNanchor_838" href="#Footnote_838" class="fnanchor">838</a> Foreseeing the
-difficulties likely to arise with England over the fishery question,
-De Witt had made a dexterous move. In the negotiations
-with France for a treaty between the two countries, he proposed
-that an article should be inserted reciprocally guaranteeing the
-right of free fishing in the sea to the subjects of each nation
-against any that might endeavour to interfere with it. A
-similar proposal had been made to France in 1653, but was
-rejected owing to the desire of the French Government to avoid
-irritating Cromwell.<a id="FNanchor_839" href="#Footnote_839" class="fnanchor">839</a> Even now, when international conditions
-were more favourable for its acceptance, the French looked
-askance at it, and asked the States to define precisely their
-position as to the right of fishery. They said in reply that
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_452">452</span>
-they claimed the right of fishing in the open sea by the law
-of nations; that it was a right independent of any treaties,
-which merely illustrated and explained it, and was like the
-liberty of commerce and navigation&mdash;free and open to all.
-The two countries should therefore, it was urged, agree
-mutually to support one another in the free exercise of this
-common right. In substance this was clearly a demand that
-France should combine with them to resist the English pretension
-to the sovereignty of the sea, on the point in which
-it chiefly affected the United Provinces&mdash;namely, the fishery.
-The French met it by suggesting that, as a <i>quid pro quo</i>, the
-States should guarantee them in the same way against the
-claim of the English to make French ships lower their flag to
-them in the narrow seas. France, as we have seen, was not
-troubled by England about the fishery, although many French
-vessels fished off the English coast. On the other hand, the
-Dutch had formally agreed to strike to English ships by the
-treaty of 1654,&mdash;a ceremony that France declined to render,
-and avoided as far as possible. De Witt saw that if the States
-gave the guarantee desired, it would place in the hands of the
-French the power to compel them to take up arms against
-England at any time they chose, and he instructed the Dutch
-ambassadors, if they could not evade the proposal altogether,
-to request a declaration, in writing, of the precise claims concerning
-the striking of the flag which the King of France put
-forward as against the King of England. He said the obligation
-of the States to strike was indisputable; but it was not
-a recognition of England’s pretended dominion of the sea, but
-merely a formal deference that republics had always shown to
-monarchies. De Witt privately expressed the opinion that the
-French would hesitate to formulate in writing any claim of
-that kind, and the result proved his foresight. The French
-ambassador in London made certain overtures to Charles without
-receiving a satisfactory reply, and the French proposal for
-a guarantee about the flag was dropped.</p>
-
-<p>A diplomatic tussle then took place as to whether the word
-“fishery” should appear in the treaty. The French were
-anxious to keep it out, and the Dutch as desirous that it
-should be expressly included. Later, De Witt seemed disposed
-to concede the point, provided other words could be found
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_453">453</span>
-which would “clearly stipulate, in express terms, that if their
-subjects were molested in their fishery the French would carry
-out against those who molested them the guarantee promised.”
-At this stage, however,&mdash;March 1662,&mdash;the Dutch towns insisted
-on the fishery guarantee being absolutely explicit. The states
-most concerned&mdash;Holland and West Friesland&mdash;unanimously
-passed a resolution that if France refused to agree to the word
-“fishery” being inserted, the negotiations should be broken off
-and the ambassadors recalled. Louis XIV. then gave way.
-“I must admit,” he wrote to his ambassador in London, “that
-I have the same interest in this guarantee as the Dutch, since
-the right of fishing may just as well be refused by England to
-my subjects as to those of the States-General.”<a id="FNanchor_840" href="#Footnote_840" class="fnanchor">840</a> The treaty was
-signed on 27th April 1662, and in the fourth article the two
-contracting Powers mutually agreed to assist one another in
-protecting their fishermen from those who might molest them.<a id="FNanchor_841" href="#Footnote_841" class="fnanchor">841</a></p>
-
-<p>The stipulation in the treaty with France was a notable
-triumph for De Witt. For the first time in their history
-the Dutch had succeeded in formally binding another Power
-to help them in resisting the English claims to the sovereignty
-of the sea, so far as concerned the liberty of fishing.
-Should Charles II. wish to emulate the exploits of his father
-by sending a fleet to force licenses on the Dutch herring-busses,
-he would now have to reckon on the combined opposition
-of France and the United Provinces. The triumph was,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_454">454</span>
-however, a barren one, and the treaty had no practical effect.
-Within a few years the Dutch Republic was in the throes
-of war, first with England, and then with England and France,
-and other treaties took its place. It had, however, an immediate
-influence upon the policy of Charles, who feared an alliance
-of the two Continental Powers against England. When he
-heard of the negotiations about the fishery guarantee he tried,
-both at Paris and at The Hague, to prevent an agreement
-being reached, and the obstacles which he interposed delayed
-the conclusion of the treaty. Sir George Downing, the English
-ambassador in Holland, who had taken a prominent part in
-the debates in the Commons on the Fishery Bill, and whose
-hostile sentiments to the Dutch were notorious, took up an
-unusual attitude. He assured De Witt that since the United
-Provinces were a republic and did not seek to encroach on
-England, they might freely continue their fishery without
-fearing the least trouble; but England could never allow
-that France, a monarchy, and a bold and enterprising nation,
-should have unrestricted liberty of fishing on the English
-coasts. It was feared, he said, that by its fishery the abundance
-of mariners and the increase in shipping which would follow
-would make it formidable to England, and this the English,
-in accordance with their political maxims, would prevent.
-The French had frequently requested and received licenses
-for a limited number of vessels to fish in English waters,
-sometimes for the king’s table. If, therefore, he continued,
-the proposed guarantee were agreed to, the Republic as well
-as France would be <i>de facto</i> at war with England, because
-England would never leave the French fishermen at peace.
-The same language was used by Downing to many of the
-deputies of the States-General, in the hope of frightening
-them, but it made no impression. “I have declared to Downing,”
-wrote De Witt, “that sooner than acknowledge this
-imaginary sovereignty over the seas, or even receive from
-the English, as a concession, that freedom of navigation and
-fishing which belongs to us by natural right and the law
-of nations, we would shed our last drop of blood.”<a id="FNanchor_842" href="#Footnote_842" class="fnanchor">842</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_455">455</span></p>
-
-<p>The inflexible attitude of De Witt, and the actual conclusion
-of the treaty with France, extinguished for a time
-the hope of compelling the Dutch to acknowledge the right
-of England to the exclusive fishing along her coasts, and
-the proposal was not pressed upon the ambassadors in London
-during the dilatory negotiations for the Anglo-Dutch treaty.
-With regard to the striking of the flag, Charles received
-more satisfaction. The tenth article of the treaty, which
-was signed at Whitehall on 4/14 September 1662, stipulated
-that Dutch ships, whether men-of-war or others, should
-strike their flag and lower their top-sails on meeting an English
-man-of-war on the British seas. It was indeed precisely
-the same clause as that contained in Cromwell’s treaty of
-1654, except that certain verbal alterations were made in
-accordance with the change in the form of the English
-government.<a id="FNanchor_843" href="#Footnote_843" class="fnanchor">843</a></p>
-
-<p>In the earlier years of the reign of Charles II., comparatively
-little was heard of disputes about the flag, which
-afterwards became so frequent and important. One instance
-occurred in 1662, when a Dutch vessel that was in Yarmouth
-Roads without a commission was taken to the Downs for
-refusing to lower her sails to a king’s ship.<a id="FNanchor_844" href="#Footnote_844" class="fnanchor">844</a> A case of much
-greater interest happened in the previous year, when Captain
-R. Holmes, in command of the <i>Royal Charles</i>, allowed the
-ship of the Swedish ambassador to pass him on the Thames
-without compelling it to strike. As the English Admiralty
-were always punctilious in enforcing the salute on state occasions,
-as when a foreign ambassador was concerned, Holmes
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_456">456</span>
-for his remissness was deprived of his command.<a id="FNanchor_845" href="#Footnote_845" class="fnanchor">845</a> The case
-of Holmes had some interesting consequences. It revealed
-once more the want of precise knowledge at the Admiralty
-as to the rules which should be followed in making foreign
-ships strike their flag. The Duke of York, who was the
-Lord High Admiral, was himself ignorant on the point, and
-he asked the principal officials about it&mdash;Sir George Carteret,
-the treasurer; Coventry, his own secretary; Sir William Batten
-and Sir William Penn, commissioners of the navy and experienced
-naval officers; and lastly Mr Pepys, who was the clerk
-to the navy. It appears, however, that though they all
-“did do as much as they could,” the information they possessed
-was of the scantiest kind. Pepys tells us that he knew
-nothing about it himself, and was forced “to study a lie”
-by fathering an improbable story on Selden, on the spur
-of the moment; but on the same evening the genial diarist
-bought a copy of Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i> and sat up at
-nights diligently studying it, with the view of writing a
-treatise “about the business of striking sail” to present to
-the Duke. After nearly six weeks’ inquiry and cogitation
-the Admiralty officials “agreed upon some things to answer
-to the Duke about the practice of striking of the flags,”
-which encouraged Pepys to persevere with his treatise, but
-it was never completed.<a id="FNanchor_846" href="#Footnote_846" class="fnanchor">846</a></p>
-
-<p>A case of greater international importance occurred in the
-Mediterranean in the following year. Vice-Admiral Sir John
-Lawson was co-operating with De Ruyter against the Algerine
-pirates, and when the fleets met, the Dutch admiral saluted
-the English flag with guns and by lowering his own flag.
-Lawson returned the guns, but he did not strike his flag, as
-was the custom in distant seas, and De Ruyter, indignant at
-the slight, resolved not to strike his flag in future either, on
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_457">457</span>
-the ground that he was not in British waters, and that he
-had verbal orders which authorised him in refusing. When
-De Witt heard of his intentions, he immediately sent instructions
-in the name of the States of Holland strictly to observe
-the treaty, and declaring that the lowering of the flag must
-not be confined to British waters, since that might be interpreted
-into subjection to English dominion of the seas. If the
-English admiral again declined to lower his flag in return,
-De Ruyter was merely to report the fact to the States.<a id="FNanchor_847" href="#Footnote_847" class="fnanchor">847</a>
-The action of De Witt was not designed simply to avoid
-a quarrel. As will be seen later, it expressed his settled conviction
-and the fixed policy of the Republic on this thorny
-subject.</p>
-
-<p>All such questions as to the flag and the fisheries were
-soon submerged in the second Dutch war. The causes
-which brought it about were at root the same as those
-which had led up to the first. Commercial jealousy was
-always a smouldering flame, ready to burst into a great
-conflagration. The English believed that the Dutch had
-juggled them out of their trade and trading rights in several
-quarters of the globe, and with some reason. But probably
-the real motive was succinctly stated by Monk, now Duke
-of Albemarle, when he said that the essential cause of the
-quarrels between the two nations was that the English wanted
-a larger share of the trade of the Dutch. Charles himself,
-like his great Minister, the Chancellor Clarendon, seems to
-have been disinclined to the war, which, however, was advocated
-strongly by the Duke of York, who supported the
-contention of the merchants that it would benefit English
-commerce. Accusations were levelled against the Dutch of having
-by fraud and stratagem driven English trade almost entirely
-from the East and West Indies, and greatly reduced it in
-the Mediterranean and in Africa. These complaints were
-echoed in Parliament, and in April 1664 a resolution was
-passed by the two Houses declaring that the wrongs and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_458">458</span>
-outrages committed by the Dutch on our merchants in India,
-Africa, and elsewhere were “the greatest obstruction of our
-foreign trade,” and that the king should be asked to “take
-some speedy course for redress.” John de Witt fruitlessly
-endeavoured by all honourable means to avert hostilities.
-The warlike and marauding expedition of Holmes (now
-restored to favour) against the Dutch settlements on the
-west coast of Africa and in America was followed, as it
-was bound to be, by the retaliatory expedition of De Ruyter,
-which gave the English the pretext for declaring war in
-the spring of 1665.<a id="FNanchor_848" href="#Footnote_848" class="fnanchor">848</a></p>
-
-<p>The war was exceedingly popular in England, and large
-sums were willingly voted by the House of Commons. Pepys
-tells us that the Court were “mad” for it, and another contemporary
-writer says it was the universal wish of the people.<a id="FNanchor_849" href="#Footnote_849" class="fnanchor">849</a>
-Thus no appeal to the national passion of Englishmen about
-the sovereignty of the sea was required on this occasion, and
-such references as were made to the subject were of a formal
-kind. One of the accusations which the Parliament flung
-at the Dutch was that they had “proclaimed themselves Lords
-of the South Sea; and, in contempt, shot at and use other
-indignities to our royall flag, thereby affronting his Majesty
-and this nation.” Then, in the preamble of the Act granting
-money for the equipment of a fleet, it was declared to be “for
-the preservation of his Majesty’s ancient and undoubted sovereignty
-and dominion in the seas”;<a id="FNanchor_850" href="#Footnote_850" class="fnanchor">850</a> and in his instructions
-to the Duke of York as Lord High Admiral, the king said
-the great fleet he had prepared was “to assert his right to
-the dominion of the Narrow Seas,” and for the mastery of
-the sea and the security of navigation.<a id="FNanchor_851" href="#Footnote_851" class="fnanchor">851</a> But these phrases
-were to be expected. For the same reason, popular literature
-on England’s dominion of the seas was on this occasion scanty,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_459">459</span>
-though some attempts were made to excite national animosity
-by the familiar arguments.<a id="FNanchor_852" href="#Footnote_852" class="fnanchor">852</a></p>
-
-<p>The general course of the war, in which France, and then
-Denmark, combined with the United Provinces against England,
-does not concern us here.<a id="FNanchor_853" href="#Footnote_853" class="fnanchor">853</a> It did not add fresh laurels to the
-brow of Charles II. as Sovereign of the Sea. Three great
-sea-fights took place&mdash;off Lowestoft, on 13th June 1665; in
-the Straits of Dover, from 11th to 14th June 1666 (the Four
-Days’ Battle); and off the North Foreland, on 4th August in the
-same year. In the first and last the English were successful;
-in the Four Days’ Battle the advantage lay with the Dutch;
-but the war ended in naval disaster and national humiliation
-for England. In June 1667, when the plenipotentiaries were
-quietly sitting at Breda leisurely engaged in arranging terms
-of peace, De Ruyter, with Cornelius the brother of John de
-Witt, suddenly appeared in the mouth of the Thames, and
-sent up a squadron which seized Sheerness and Chatham, and
-might have gone to London Bridge for all the king could
-have done to prevent it. They burned the best ships of
-the great fleet which was to have “asserted England’s dominion
-of the sea”; London was paralysed with consternation
-and amazement,&mdash;Pepys locked his father and wife in a bedroom
-to save them from the perils of a sack,&mdash;and while
-Monk, the one stout heart among them, posted down to
-Gravesend “in his shirt,” the libertine monarch was engaged
-with his mistresses in pursuing “a poor moth” about the
-supper-room! For many weeks afterwards, until the peace
-of Breda, De Ruyter rode triumphant in the narrow seas, and
-England was in terror of a French invasion, not knowing of
-the ignoble intrigue in which Louis and Charles were now
-engaged.</p>
-
-<p>Passing from these notorious blots on English history, and
-before considering the relevant business in the negotiations
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_460">460</span>
-for peace, a word or two must be said of some of the minor
-events and consequences of the war. During its continuance
-the fisheries of England, and still more those of the United
-Provinces, suffered severely. In January 1665, before war
-was declared, but when it was obvious it might break out
-at any moment, the States-General laid an embargo on the
-fisheries and on all shipping,&mdash;a measure which, it was reported
-in England, furnished them with 30,000 men for their
-navy. The stoppage of the fishing was a heavy blow to
-those dependent on it, and advantage was taken of the fact
-by the English, who tempted the Dutch fishermen by offering
-licenses, for a nominal payment, which would enable
-them to fish notwithstanding the war. The States of Holland,
-however, forbade the acceptance of the obnoxious licenses, “considering
-that it might be of very dangerous consequence, as
-making the inhabitants of these countries indirectly tributary
-to the King of England”; and the treasurer of the herring
-fishery at Maassluis, who had purchased some of them, was
-severely censured and forbidden to make use of them. Notwithstanding
-this patriotic resolution, it appears that private
-cupidity in some cases prevailed, and a few licenses were
-accepted in the following year. One of these, dated 21st
-November 1666, was granted on the petition of one, Gisbert
-Petersen, of “Scheveling” (Scheveningen), the captain of
-the “sailing waggons” of the Prince of Orange, who “wafted”
-the king on board his fleet at the Restoration. It gave him
-authority, in his vessel, the <i>Young Prince of Orange</i>, “to
-fish in any part of our seas, not being within ... leagues
-of land,” and to carry the fish which were caught to Holland;
-and in certain circumstances he was to have the freedom of
-English ports. The Scandinavian name of the recipient, and
-the circumstances recited, throw doubt on the genuineness of
-the case. The license was renewed on 7th June 1667.<a id="FNanchor_854" href="#Footnote_854" class="fnanchor">854</a></p>
-
-<p>A much more interesting concession for fishing in all parts
-of the British seas, irrespective of distance from shore, was
-granted by Charles in the same year, though not to subjects
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_461">461</span>
-of the United Provinces. The citizens of Bruges, in Flanders,
-where the king had received friendly treatment when in exile,
-petitioned him to allow all the sworn burgers and citizens
-of that city to fish “freely and frankly” at all times, to the
-number of fifty busses or other vessels fit for fishing, on the
-seas and coasts of his kingdoms; to enter the ports and
-rivers to buy necessaries, for shelter, and to dry their nets,
-and to depart without molestation, on giving security not
-to sell fish to his enemies.<a id="FNanchor_855" href="#Footnote_855" class="fnanchor">855</a> Charles granted them a charter
-under the great seals of England and Scotland, giving them
-liberty to fish with fifty vessels at a time for herrings or any
-kind of fish in the British seas, up to the coasts or shores,
-with the privilege of drying their nets on land, and using
-English or Scottish ports in security. The Duke of Lennox
-and Richmond, the High Admiral of Scotland, and others
-concerned were commanded to treat the vessels of Bruges
-with friendship, “in whatever part of the sea, whether near
-the shores, in rivers, or ports” they might be.<a id="FNanchor_856" href="#Footnote_856" class="fnanchor">856</a> The fishermen
-of Bruges continued to fish near our shores, in terms of this
-charter, and even from our harbours, until 1850, and the
-charter was regarded by the English authorities as spurious.<a id="FNanchor_857" href="#Footnote_857" class="fnanchor">857</a></p>
-
-<p>By granting this charter, it is not unlikely that Charles
-also hoped to strike a blow at the fisheries of the Dutch
-Republic. While refusing to allow their subjects to accept
-any compromising English license or concession for fishing,
-the States-General tried to bring about a mutual and equitable
-arrangement. Early in 1665 they issued instructions
-that English fishermen should not be attacked till further
-orders; and in October of the same year&mdash;that is, when, in
-peaceful times, Dutch fishermen would have been taking
-part in the profitable fishing at Yarmouth&mdash;one of their
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_462">462</span>
-naval officers delivered an official letter to the Bailiffs of that
-town, intimating that orders had been given to all their
-admirals, commanders, and captains at sea that no English
-fisherman was to be molested, and expressing a hope that
-a similar Christian forbearance (<i>medelijdentheyt</i>) might be
-shown to Dutch fishermen on the part of England. No
-answer was returned, but an emphatic response was made
-a week or two later when the <i>Sapphire</i> seized several Dutch
-fishing vessels and brought them into port,&mdash;a circumstance
-which also shows that the embargo had not been strictly
-observed.<a id="FNanchor_858" href="#Footnote_858" class="fnanchor">858</a> In the following year the embargo was officially
-continued, the “small” or fresh-herring fishery carried on
-along the coast being excepted;<a id="FNanchor_859" href="#Footnote_859" class="fnanchor">859</a> but after the defeat of the
-English fleet in the beginning of June, the deep-sea fishing
-appears to have been partially resumed. Early in August
-reports reached London from Yarmouth and Whitby that the
-Holland busses and doggers were fishing off the land, and had
-been seen by our fishermen. They were said to number 400
-and to be guarded by eight convoyers, and it was rumoured
-the English fleet had gone in pursuit and sunk eighty busses;
-and a few doggers were in reality brought in. It was again
-reported later that a fleet of busses was fishing off the coast
-of Suffolk, attended by seventeen ships of war.<a id="FNanchor_860" href="#Footnote_860" class="fnanchor">860</a> If the
-retaliation of the Dutch was less effective, it was because the
-English fishermen carried on their industry close to their
-own ports; to which, moreover, they were often confined by
-fear of the Dutch privateers, which boldly hovered about
-the coast, and the sight of a sail was enough to frighten them
-back.<a id="FNanchor_861" href="#Footnote_861" class="fnanchor">861</a> After Van Ghent had burned the English ships in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_463">463</span>
-the Thames and the Dutch were supreme at sea, the States
-of Holland withdrew the embargo on the Great Fishery, and
-when peace was proclaimed the <i>schuyts</i> again took part in
-the autumn fishing at Yarmouth.<a id="FNanchor_862" href="#Footnote_862" class="fnanchor">862</a></p>
-
-<p>It has been already mentioned that France, which had bound
-itself by the recent treaty to aid the United Provinces, declared
-war against England in January 1666, but Louis showed great
-reluctance to begin actual hostilities; and one of the diplomatic
-obstacles which served to delay the junction of the French
-and Dutch fleets referred to the striking of the flag. A French
-squadron of thirty sail had been equipped under the Duke
-de Beaufort, and Louis required that the Dutch admiral should
-salute not only the Admiral of France, but the vice- and rear-admirals;
-and further, that the French admiral should not
-be required to lower his flag in returning the salute of the
-Dutch. The States-General were willing that their admiral
-should strike to De Beaufort first, but they demanded that
-the latter should return the salute in a similar manner. The
-French, who were apparently anxious to be placed in the
-same position as England with respect to this ceremony, argued
-that the English did not re-salute the Dutch fleet by striking
-the flag, but only returned the guns, citing the treaty of 1662
-and the actual practice; and they proudly boasted that the flag
-of the Admiral of France had never at any time been lowered
-to that of any nation. To this De Witt replied that they were
-willing to give the same respect to the French as they did to
-the English; that the re-salute was not expressly mentioned
-in the treaty because it was a well-understood custom on their
-own coast; and that in point of fact the English did return
-the salute, as had been done by Admiral Montague (the Earl of
-Sandwich) in 1661 and by Vice-Admiral Lawson on meeting
-De Ruyter. If on some occasions it was omitted by the English,
-it was on the seas they called “British,” and was to be
-attributed to the claim they pretended to the dominion of
-the seas&mdash;a claim which France and the Republic had solemnly
-agreed by treaty to resist. If a similar claim was now advanced
-by France, it would argue a like pretension to maritime
-sovereignty by a nation which had engaged itself to preserve
-the liberty of the sea. Moreover, the salute at sea between
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_464">464</span>
-the fleets of two sovereign states was not an act of submission
-of an inferior to a superior, but one of civility, honour, and
-respect, and should therefore be mutual and equal. They,
-as a republic, offered to strike first, and to keep their flag
-lowered until the French admiral had struck and re-hoisted
-his flag. This discussion about the re-salute was prolonged,
-extending from June 1666 to July 1667, for De Witt was
-not a man lightly to agree to diminish the dignity of his
-country; and after the peace conference met at Breda, and
-De Ruyter was master of the sea, the Dutch roundly declared
-they would not strike to the French admiral at all,
-unless he agreed to return the salute by dipping his flag,
-but would only salute him with guns.<a id="FNanchor_863" href="#Footnote_863" class="fnanchor">863</a></p>
-
-<p>At the conferences at Breda Charles had little right to expect
-that he would gain much, in view of the inglorious events at
-the end of the war. He retained New Amsterdam (re-named
-New York), which Holmes had taken in 1664, but he lost
-Poleroon and Surinam, and relinquished the claims which
-had been put forward to justify the war. An important concession
-was made to the Dutch by a modification of the Navigation
-Act, for a repeal of which they pressed, by a stipulation,
-in separate articles, that they might import into England in
-Dutch vessels all commodities produced or manufactured in
-Germany or Flanders, for which, it was claimed, the United
-Provinces were the natural outlet to the sea; and all the
-essential articles of the commercial treaty of 1662 were
-confirmed.<a id="FNanchor_864" href="#Footnote_864" class="fnanchor">864</a> All pretensions to exclusive fishing off the
-British coasts were withdrawn; the old stipulations of the
-Burgundy treaties were not, however, renewed.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to the “honour of the flag,” De Witt, in the
-preliminary negotiations, strove to come to an arrangement
-with France and Denmark, who were also parties to the
-treaty, to compel England to relinquish her claim to pre-eminence
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_465">465</span>
-in this matter, especially by insisting that English
-vessels should return the salute by lowering their flag.<a id="FNanchor_865" href="#Footnote_865" class="fnanchor">865</a>
-Charles was saved from this humiliation by the good offices
-of Louis, and the article in the treaty of 1662 was simply
-repeated in precisely the same words.<a id="FNanchor_866" href="#Footnote_866" class="fnanchor">866</a> Another of the maritime
-articles gave less contentment in England. We have
-already seen how persistently the Dutch had struggled in
-deliberating on the terms of the treaty of 1654 to restrict
-the application of the term “British Sea” to the Channel.
-What they were then unable to accomplish was now conceded
-to them. In the usual article about the cessation of
-hostilities on the sea, it was specified that restitution of
-prizes should not be made if they were taken “in the Channel
-or British Sea within the space of twelve days, and the
-same in the North Sea; and within the space of six weeks
-from the mouth of the Channel unto the Cape of St Vincent.”<a id="FNanchor_867" href="#Footnote_867" class="fnanchor">867</a>
-In the treaty with France, signed at Breda on the same
-day, the French plenipotentiaries took care that the terms
-English Channel or British Sea in the corresponding clause
-were omitted, the neutral if indefinite phrase “the neighbouring
-seas” (<i>maria proxima</i>) being substituted.<a id="FNanchor_868" href="#Footnote_868" class="fnanchor">868</a> In the similar
-treaty with Denmark, the phraseology was even less tender
-to English susceptibilities&mdash;namely, “in the Northern Ocean
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_466">466</span>
-and in the Baltic Sea and the Channel, &amp;c.”<a id="FNanchor_869" href="#Footnote_869" class="fnanchor">869</a> However
-trifling such points may appear to us now, they had a real
-importance in the seventeenth century, and the phraseology
-cited caused some heart-burning in England as being derogatory
-to our rights to the dominion of the British seas.<a id="FNanchor_870" href="#Footnote_870" class="fnanchor">870</a></p>
-
-<p>For some years after the conclusion of peace at Breda,
-and indeed up to the opening of the third Dutch war, the
-question of the salute was a frequent subject of international
-discussion. Dutch statesmen had always wished to come to
-a definite arrangement with England about it, for they saw
-that to leave it in ambiguity while the English looked upon
-it as touching their national honour, was fraught with danger.
-A whole series of points was in doubt, any one of which
-might furnish occasion for war unless clearly defined and
-mutually understood. Was a whole fleet or squadron of the
-States to strike to a single English ship of war? Were they
-to strike to a frigate, or to a still smaller ship, such as a
-ketch, or only to ships carrying the flag of an admiral, vice-admiral,
-or rear-admiral? Was the salute to be returned by
-the English in the same way, by dipping the flag and lowering
-the top-sails as well as by guns? Within what parts of the
-sea was the salute to be enforced, or differentiated, or the
-re-salute given? English statesmen purposely left many of
-these points undefined, in order to gain as wide a recognition
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_467">467</span>
-of the ceremony as was possible, and when disputes did arise
-with other Powers, to enable them to avoid war or to make
-war as circumstances and policy might determine. They held
-that England, and England alone, was the rightful interpreter
-of what was due to her flag by ancient custom. On the other
-hand, the Dutch Republic looked upon the whole business
-as a troublesome affair; and as the greatest commercial nation
-of the time, whose chief interest was peace, they naturally
-desired that the dubious points about the salute should be
-permanently settled.</p>
-
-<p>Immediately after the conclusion of the Triple Alliance
-against France, at the beginning of 1668,<a id="FNanchor_871" href="#Footnote_871" class="fnanchor">871</a> De Witt, taking
-advantage of the good feeling existing between England and
-the Netherlands, and especially of the presence of Sir William
-Temple as English ambassador at The Hague, proposed that a
-formal settlement should be made of the doubtful points
-concerning the striking of the flag. Temple, who was a
-staunch friend of the Dutch and was on intimate terms with
-De Witt, shared this opinion. He thought that by a slight
-concession, or by a definite agreement, England might count
-with some confidence on the support of the States-General in
-any future quarrel with other nations about the flag. The
-subject was formally raised by De Witt on a proposal for a
-union of the Dutch and English fleets, in certain contingencies,
-against France. He offered to give the same honour to the
-king’s ships at sea as their ambassadors gave to his Majesty’s
-person, “to uncover first and cover last”; but stipulated that
-any agreement about the flag must not be regarded as an
-acknowledgment of England’s pretension to the sovereignty of
-the sea, which the Dutch would “die rather than do.” Knowing
-that it was a “delicate” subject to broach with the King
-of England, he thought the negotiations might be opened by
-the States-General sending a polite letter to Charles, laying
-stress on the good relations between the two nations, and
-intimating that in order to prevent sinister encounters which
-any new sourness might occasion, they had issued orders to
-all their naval officers to strike their flag with every mark of
-civility on meeting with the royal flag of England. The king
-was then (according to the scheme) to inform the States-General
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_468">468</span>
-that he had received this mark of deference to his
-royal dignity with singular satisfaction, and that he on his
-part would order his admirals and commanders to re-salute the
-States’ flag. Temple thought the matter was so “ticklish,”
-that it ought to be first broached verbally at a fitting opportunity;
-and De Witt, in advising the Dutch ambassadors in
-London to this effect, reminded them that the salute was
-merely a mark of honour and respect, and that if anything
-was put into writing this should be expressed. He added
-that he had never been able to understand how it could be
-conceived that the free element of the sea, or dominion over
-it, could belong to England or to any nation, and that in
-Holland the common right of sovereignty of all nations over
-it was held to be incontestable.</p>
-
-<p>When, about a month afterwards, the ambassadors spoke to
-the king, he said he did not see how the question could be
-ambiguous, since it was provided for in the treaty. They
-pointed out that the re-salute was not mentioned, and then
-used the arguments which De Witt had put into their mouths
-about its being a ceremony of respect which it would be only
-reasonable and courteous to return, just as his Majesty would
-do, sitting on his throne, in response to the salutations of the
-ambassadors of the Republic; and they adduced one or two
-instances in which the English ships had returned the salute.
-Charles told them they were possibly thinking of the custom
-in the Mediterranean, which was different from all the other
-seas (meaning the British seas), and said he claimed nothing
-but the old practice; but he promised to look into the matter.
-The ambassadors did not press the subject further, and the
-important declaration they had been charged to make, that in
-future the States’ ships would refuse to strike unless the salute
-was returned in the same way, remained unspoken. Shortly
-afterwards, when the States were asked to send some of their
-warships to strengthen the squadron of Sir Thomas Allin, who
-was ordered to enforce the restitution of some English vessels
-seized by the French, they refused, unless the difficulties about
-the flag were first settled, and the discussion continued throughout
-the summer.</p>
-
-<p>It is interesting to note, in view of the antecedents of the
-next war, that the ambassadors were instructed to say that the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_469">469</span>
-States’ fleet would not strike, even in the Channel, to a frigate
-or ketch, which did not customarily carry the royal flag in the
-main-top, but only to an admiral’s ship, or one carrying the
-royal flag. This contention was promptly set aside by the
-Duke of York and Lord Arlington (the Secretary for State);
-but De Witt, still clinging to the hope that a “regulation”
-might be arranged, asked the ambassadors to find out the
-instructions which were actually issued to the English captains
-serving in the Downs, the Channel, the North Sea, the Mediterranean,
-and the Ocean, as it was generally believed in Holland
-that outside the Channel neither side should strike the flag or
-lower the sails to the other, but that the States’ ships should
-first salute with guns alone, and the English answer with guns
-also. In any case, if the principal fleets of the two countries
-were combined for any purpose, or jointly brought into action,
-it was to be first arranged that they should salute one another
-with guns only, or at all events in an equal and reciprocal
-manner, the Dutch always giving the salute first; and the
-ambassadors were to insist earnestly and finally for a settlement.</p>
-
-<p>The ambassadors informed De Witt that, as was shown in
-the copy of the instructions found on board the <i>Charity</i>, an
-English man-of-war taken by the Dutch in the battle of Lowestoft,
-in 1665, and which was published by Aitzema, the commander
-of an English man-of-war was to compel every foreign
-ship, or ships, to strike their flag in the British seas, and that
-in these seas no English king’s ship was to strike to any foreign
-ship. In all other seas the English ship was never to strike to
-a foreigner unless the latter struck first or at the same time.
-According to this, they said, a single English man-of-war
-could compel a whole fleet to strike their flags and lower
-their top-sails in the so-called British seas, and it was forbidden
-for it to strike in return. In all other seas, if the
-foreign ship did not strike, the English would not strike, and
-no salute would be exchanged. They said this was well
-known to be the regular formula in England, and no distinction
-was drawn between the Channel and other “pretended
-English seas.” The “British seas,” they said, according to the
-Admiralty instructions, extended to Cape Finisterre, in Galicia,
-and westwards, according to Selden, to America. It would
-be an excellent thing, they thought, if they could succeed in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_470">470</span>
-drawing a distinction between the Channel and the other seas,
-since their fisheries, the main object of solicitude, were carried
-on, not in the Channel, but in the North Sea. But as the
-whole subject was very delicate, they advised De Witt to pass
-from it for the time and to allow things to remain on their
-old footing; and to show the spirit in which the matter was
-regarded in England, they sent him specimens of the coin issued
-by Charles a few years before, which bore the king’s effigy on
-one side with the inscription <i>Carolus a Carolo</i>, and on the
-obverse the figure of Britannia, with the proud words, <i>Quatuor
-Maria Vindico</i>.<a id="FNanchor_872" href="#Footnote_872" class="fnanchor">872</a> De Witt, who had just arranged with
-Temple that the matter should be brought to the notice of the
-king, acquiesced, but with reluctance. He expressed satisfaction
-that they now at least knew more about the English
-pretension, so that fresh hostility and war could be avoided
-on that point; but that an English frigate or ketch should
-claim to compel a whole fleet to strike was, he said, intolerable.
-And it was this very thing that Charles selected to force war
-upon the United Provinces a few years later.<a id="FNanchor_873" href="#Footnote_873" class="fnanchor">873</a></p>
-
-<p>It was not only with the Dutch that discussions arose at
-this time as to the rights of the English to demand the salute.
-The astute Dutch statesman, as was his wont, began to pull
-diplomatic wires at other Courts in order to have the subject
-raised by them. The King of Denmark in the following year
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_471">471</span>
-proposed to Charles that new regulations should be arranged
-with respect to the “salutes and civilities” at sea between the
-men-of-war of the two nations. Charles declined the invitation.
-He did not think it fit, he said, to make any new regulation on
-the salutes at sea, “since there has never been any question
-made of the constant practice in that matter, which we shall
-always observe.”<a id="FNanchor_874" href="#Footnote_874" class="fnanchor">874</a></p>
-
-<p>A renewed attempt to convince the French that it was to
-their interest to curtail the English claim to the sovereignty
-of the sea had consequences little dreamt of by De Witt. The
-Dutch Minister, clinging to his principle, urged at Paris that
-Charles, who wished to be the supreme ruler of the sea, ought
-to be forced to modify his pretension and to give the salute
-in return. It had indeed been rumoured in London that the
-French king had decided to forbid his naval commanders to
-strike to the English, and even to compel both English and
-Dutch to strike to his own flag.<a id="FNanchor_875" href="#Footnote_875" class="fnanchor">875</a> Louis certainly raised the
-question at the Court of St James’s, but in a different way.
-Colbert, his ambassador there, secretly revealed to Charles
-the confidential negotiations which the States-General had
-opened at Paris, in the hope that this mark of confidence would
-make more easy his policy of detaching the King of England
-from the Triple Alliance.<a id="FNanchor_876" href="#Footnote_876" class="fnanchor">876</a> By this time Charles and Louis
-were drawing closer together, and in order to prevent chance
-disputes about the flag, a verbal arrangement was made through
-Colbert, in the summer of 1669, that no salutes should be
-exchanged between English and French men-of-war in the
-Mediterranean, nor should the ship of one be expected to go
-to leeward of the other. Instructions of this tenour were
-given to Sir Thomas Allin, who was on the point of leaving
-with a squadron to chastise the Barbary pirates.<a id="FNanchor_877" href="#Footnote_877" class="fnanchor">877</a></p>
-
-<p>About this time the Duke of York and the officials of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_472">472</span>
-navy began to devote close attention to the rules regulating
-the salute and the striking of the flag, and a number of memoranda
-were prepared which described recent precedents, and
-dealt with other points. With reference to recent practice,
-it was stated that the Earl of Sandwich had struck in return
-to De Ruyter in 1661 or 1662; that Sir John Lawson declared
-he would strike to none, and kept his flag aloft in Toulon
-harbour; while Sir William Berkeley, serving under Lawson,
-refused even to fire a gun on meeting De Beaufort, the Admiral
-of France, until he was assured that the report attributed to
-him that he would force the English to strike was unfounded.
-A statement was compiled of the number of guns fired in salute
-to English vessels arriving in various foreign ports, and rules
-were formulated with respect to the salutation of forts and on
-other points. The general custom was that “the sea should
-salute the land”&mdash;that is, the vessel first saluted the forts,
-except on extraordinary occasions, as when a prince or an
-important foreign embassy arrived. No foreign man-of-war
-was to be allowed to pass above the ports at Gravesend and
-Sheerness, or at any other harbour, without special permission
-from the Lord High Admiral or the governor of the fort; all
-vessels were to keep in their flag as long as they were in sight
-of the fort, and if they refused they were to be forced to
-comply; salutes of foreign flagships were to be answered gun
-for gun, and of other foreign ships with two guns less. As for
-the striking of the flag, the Earl of Sandwich and other naval
-authorities who were consulted intimated that the matter was
-too important for them to decide upon, and should be left to
-the king&mdash;a plain acknowledgment of its political character.
-The Duke of York, however, the Lord High Admiral, stated
-that the rule was that English ships were everywhere to be
-saluted first, and were not to strike in return, but only
-to answer with guns; but if a single English ship met a
-foreign fleet out of the British seas, it was to salute first with
-guns, but neither was to strike the flag.<a id="FNanchor_878" href="#Footnote_878" class="fnanchor">878</a></p>
-
-<p>This activity at the English Admiralty may not have been
-wholly unconnected with the circumstances which ushered in
-the next war, but it was more probably due to the general
-revival of punctiliousness regarding the salute and similar
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_473">473</span>
-naval ceremonies which took place at this time throughout
-Europe. Even the petty states in the Mediterranean became
-infected with the spirit of their powerful neighbours, and
-followed their example. At Genoa and Leghorn frequent disputes,
-and sometimes sanguinary encounters, occurred between
-the authorities and Dutch and English men-of-war as to the
-number of guns that should be fired, or the striking of the
-flag. French and Dutch men-of-war lying in the Tagus were
-only prevented by the governor of the castle from putting
-to the arbitrament of force the question whether the latter
-should strike to the former. At Civita Vecchia, at Gl&uuml;ckstadt,
-at Dover, at Dieppe, at Kronberg, similar incidents took
-place. The Earl of Essex, going on a special embassy to the
-King of Denmark, and on board the king’s yacht, had a sharp
-dispute with the Governor of Kronberg, in the Sound, as to
-lowering his flag, which the Danish officer requested him to
-do. But Essex was well primed with precedents before he
-left England, and was able to maintain his refusal.<a id="FNanchor_879" href="#Footnote_879" class="fnanchor">879</a> Though
-Dutch men-of-war engaged with spirit in such quarrels about
-the salute in foreign ports, their action was not countenanced
-by the policy of the States-General. On 16th May 1670 they
-instructed that the fort of Kronberg should be saluted by
-Dutch vessels in such manner as the King of Denmark might
-require; and on 3rd February next year the States of Holland
-issued a general order that their men-of-war should salute
-those of other sovereigns on their coasts, within the reach of
-the guns of batteries or forts, in the precise manner that the
-Government of the country might demand, leaving it entirely
-to the discretion of that Government to return the salute or
-not, just as they pleased. Every foreign Government, they
-added, was sovereign within its own jurisdiction, and every
-foreigner was a subject there.<a id="FNanchor_880" href="#Footnote_880" class="fnanchor">880</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_474">474</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.<br />
-
-<span class="medium"><small>CHARLES II.</small>&mdash;<i>continued</i>.<br />
-
-<small>THE THIRD DUTCH WAR.</small></span></h2>
-
-<p>The “honour of the flag” and the sovereignty of the sea were
-now about to gain a shameful notoriety in connection with
-the third Dutch war, which Charles, from the basest personal
-motives and in the most treacherous manner, suddenly sprang
-upon the Republic. At that time, and for long afterwards,
-European policy turned upon the ambitious designs of
-Louis XIV. Laying claim to the Spanish dominions, he overran
-the Low Countries in 1667 with an army of 40,000 men.
-The rapidity of the conquest and the display of formidable
-military power filled Europe with alarm; and the United
-Provinces, which lay nearest the scene of danger, were thrown
-into apprehension as to their own safety. In England popular
-feeling was very hostile to France, and Charles, after some
-hesitation, despatched Sir William Temple to The Hague to
-conclude an alliance against France, which he succeeded in
-accomplishing in a few days&mdash;in January 1668,&mdash;and it was
-adhered to by Sweden. The Triple Alliance thus formed
-was hailed with enthusiasm in England, and it abruptly and
-effectually checked Louis in the execution of his plans. Deeply
-mortified, the French king bent his energies and talents to
-detach Charles from the League, in order to wreak his vengeance
-on the Dutch Republic, and he succeeded even better than he
-expected. Charles was deeply in debt, and the expenses of his
-Court were heavy. His relations with the Parliament were
-becoming strained and difficult. Mistrust was growing up
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_475">475</span>
-between him and his subjects, and, mindful of the fate of his
-father, he thought it prudent to secure in secret a wealthy
-and powerful ally lest rebellion again broke out in England.
-Within a year of the signing of the Triple Alliance Charles
-was gained over by France, and the compact was sealed in
-the disgraceful secret treaty of Dover in May 1670. Under
-the treaty Charles was to receive a large yearly pension from
-Louis, and aid in case of insurrection; he was to avow and
-re-establish the Roman Catholic religion in England when it
-could be done with safety; and he was to begin hostilities
-against the Dutch Republic when Louis required him by furnishing
-4000 men and fifty ships of war, for which he was
-to receive a subsidy of &pound;120,000, and to gain as his share of
-the spoils of conquest Walcheren, Sluys, and Cadsand. Louis
-crowned the dishonourable compact with the appropriate gift
-of a new mistress to his royal ally&mdash;Mademoiselle de Kerouaille,
-afterwards the Duchess of Portsmouth, who well served the
-interests of France.<a id="FNanchor_881" href="#Footnote_881" class="fnanchor">881</a></p>
-
-<p>In order to carry out his part of the iniquitous bargain, it
-was necessary for Charles, as the vassal of France, to deceive
-his subjects and his Parliament as well as his public ally, the
-Dutch Republic. He had first to get money for the armaments,
-for which the subsidy from France was insufficient, and he had
-then to discover some pretext for the war which would make
-it least objectionable to the English people. For the former
-purpose he resorted to a bold subterfuge. The sentiment of
-both the Parliament and the people was hostile to France, and
-advantage was taken of this circumstance to obtain a subsidy
-under false pretences. When Parliament met in October 1670
-the Lord Keeper, by the king’s commands, made a speech on
-the state of public affairs, in which he enlarged on the king’s
-need of supply; pointed to the great strengthening of the
-French navy and the decay of our own; urged the necessity
-of fitting out in the ensuing year a fleet of fifty sail; and
-dwelt upon the obligations placed upon the king by several
-treaties to exert himself for the good of Christendom, mentioning
-among others the Triple Alliance and the League with the
-United Provinces. The trick succeeded. Parliament, uneasy
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_476">476</span>
-at the recent journey of Louis to Flanders and the naval
-preparations in France, voted a sum of &pound;800,000.<a id="FNanchor_882" href="#Footnote_882" class="fnanchor">882</a></p>
-
-<p>It was also indispensable to foment ill-feeling against the
-Dutch, and to devise disputes with them so as to prepare
-the way for a rupture. Some time before this, at Genoa,
-a Dutch commander, Captain Braeckel, who had led the attack
-on the English ships at Chatham in 1667, had hoisted under
-the Dutch colours some English flags which he had taken on
-that occasion, in derision of the English in the port. Charles
-demanded reparation and the punishment of Braeckel; and
-the States-General ultimately ordered the trophies to be given
-up, and sent them to London.<a id="FNanchor_883" href="#Footnote_883" class="fnanchor">883</a> Later, the king complained that
-the States-General had allowed him and the English people
-to be insulted by lampoons, medals, &amp;c., commemorating the
-exploits of the Dutch fleet in the Thames in 1667, the king
-suing for peace at Breda, and so forth. The States-General,
-when the king continued to press these complaints, seized
-all copies of certain lampoons and destroyed the dies of
-several of the medals. Charles then boldly accused the
-Grand Pensionary De Witt of having carried on a confidential
-correspondence with France with the object of inducing
-that Power to take up arms against England. The accusation
-was meant to prejudice the Dutch in the eyes of the
-Parliament; and the States, to prove their sincerity, sent
-fresh proposals for an alliance, to which Charles replied that
-they should first have offered him subsidies. The apprehension
-of the States that the king was inclined to force a quarrel
-on them was not lessened by intelligence they received that he
-had abandoned the Triple Alliance, and especially by the recall
-of Sir William Temple from The Hague in 1670,&mdash;a step that
-followed the seizure of Lorraine by Louis.</p>
-
-<p>Affairs were ripening to the wished-for crisis, and Charles
-now sought for a decisive pretext, which, while making war
-inevitable, would lessen its unpopularity in England. Such
-a pretext was to be found in the “honour of the flag.” No
-cry was more likely to rouse resentment in the people than
-that the flag had been insulted and the sovereignty of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_477">477</span>
-sea threatened. To insult the flag was to insult the nation.
-The king was well aware from the repeated declarations of
-the States-General that they would never willingly acknowledge
-England’s sovereignty of the sea: they had said they would
-“rather die first.” He was also doubtless fully acquainted with
-the fixed opinion of the Grand Pensionary that to claim that the
-whole Dutch fleet should strike to a single frigate or a ketch was
-“intolerable.” He contrived his measures accordingly, and
-decided to send one of his yachts to pass through the States’
-fleet, on their own coast, and to fire upon them if they did
-not strike their flags in the accustomed manner. The matter
-was deliberately considered. The clause in the treaty of Breda
-was not very clear as to whether a yacht, or even a man-of-war,
-could compel the whole Dutch fleet to strike, and on the
-Dutch coast. Just about the time Temple returned from
-The Hague, Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the High Court
-of Admiralty, wrote a confidential letter to Sir Thomas Allin,
-the commander of the Blue, asking him to find out secretly, “as
-if for his own satisfaction,” whether there were any “ancient
-seamen” at Trinity House or elsewhere who were on board
-the <i>Happy Entrance</i> when it carried the Earl of Arundel
-to Holland in 1636, and if so, whether they remembered
-that on entering the road of Goeree, in Holland, Admiral
-Tromp, who was at anchor there, struck his flag to it; and
-similar information was asked in regard to other cases of
-like import in 1637 and later. The question was also put
-to Sir Thomas, “How far the British Sea, or British Ocean,
-does in common reputation extend itself; and whether all that
-which washes the coasts of the Low Countries, as well as
-that which runs upon the French coast, has been anciently
-deemed and reputed to be British Sea?” Jenkins explained
-that he had been desired by the king to obtain proof of the
-striking of the flag as secretly as possible; and the two
-chief points were, (1) “Had not the French and the Dutch
-always struck to the king’s flag even on their own coasts?
-and (2) that a single ship of ours, if commissioned for war,
-though never so inconsiderable in its strength, did make
-whole squadrons and fleets of the neighbouring nations to
-strike, and particularly the Spaniards near the Spanish Netherlands
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_478">478</span>
-and the subjects of the United Provinces near their
-coasts?”<a id="FNanchor_884" href="#Footnote_884" class="fnanchor">884</a></p>
-
-<p>The reference to the French and Spaniards was no doubt
-meant to conceal the real significance of the inquiry. The
-reply of the admiral seems not to have been preserved,
-but a later memorandum of Jenkins answers the questions
-as to the striking of the flag at Goeree, and in the other cases,
-in the affirmative. The Trinity House, whose opinion was
-also asked, said that it had been commonly received by them
-from their predecessors that the British seas “extend to Cape
-Finisterre, or the North Cape” (<i>sic</i>), and that the sea which
-washes the coast of the Low Countries and France had
-been always reputed part of the British seas. “To know
-how far it does extend northwards,” they ingenuously added,
-“we desire you will please to consult those authors who have
-treated on that subject, it not being known to a certain
-by us.”<a id="FNanchor_885" href="#Footnote_885" class="fnanchor">885</a> They had been unable to meet with any persons
-who knew about the alleged cases of striking, so that Jenkins
-must have obtained the information about them from other
-sources.</p>
-
-<p>There can be no doubt that Charles was advised by the
-authorities he consulted on the ambiguous points in the article
-of Breda that (1) any king’s ship, however small, commissioned
-for war, was a “man-of-war” in the sense of the treaty, and could
-call upon the whole Dutch fleet to strike; (2) that the British
-seas included those washing the coasts of the United Provinces;
-and (3) with respect to the previous custom referred to in the
-treaty, that the Dutch had struck on their own coasts.</p>
-
-<p>Thus fortified in law and precedent, the way was clear for
-Charles to pick a quarrel with the States about the striking
-of the flag, and he despatched, not a man-of-war, nor even a
-frigate, but his yacht, the <i>Merlin</i>, for the purpose. Ostensibly
-it was sent to bring over Lady Temple, who had, by
-his wish, remained in Holland since her husband’s departure,
-but with orders to pass through the Dutch fleet then cruising
-in the Channel, and to fire at them until they struck their
-flags or fired back at the <i>Merlin</i>. As the French ambassador,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_479">479</span>
-who was in the secret, tersely put it to his Court, “the captain
-is to use all his powder, so as to give good cause for a quarrel.”
-The <i>Merlin</i> on her way to Holland passed through the
-Dutch fleet, but owing to a heavy gale she could not get
-near enough to execute the king’s commands. She appears,
-however, to have met two Dutch men-of-war convoying the
-herring-busses, who exchanged guns with her but did
-not strike their flag.<a id="FNanchor_886" href="#Footnote_886" class="fnanchor">886</a> But in returning, early in August,
-with Lady Temple on board, the <i>Merlin</i>, with the royal
-standard flying, came upon the States’ fleet lying at anchor
-beyond the Goodwins, six leagues from the coast of Zealand
-and sixteen leagues from England. The little yacht, while
-still at a distance, began to fire at the Dutch flagship. De
-Ruyter did not reply at once, but the Lieutenant-Admiral,
-Van Ghent, thinking that it was merely a question of the
-salute, returned the guns in the usual manner, and was not
-a little surprised to receive for his pains a discharge of cannon-balls.
-He sent an officer on board the yacht for an explanation,
-and Captain Crow, the commander of the <i>Merlin</i>, informed
-him that he had been sent to bring the English
-ambassadress with her family from Holland, and had orders
-to make the Dutch fleet lower their colours wherever he met
-with it. On hearing this, Van Ghent, on the pretext of paying
-a compliment to Lady Temple, whom he had frequently
-met at The Hague, went himself on board the <i>Merlin</i>. He
-told Captain Crow that the point he had raised was one on
-which he had received no orders from the States, and that
-he could not concede the claim without express commands.
-He declared his willingness to pay due respect to the English
-flag according to the former practice, but he thought it
-could scarcely be contended that the admiral and the whole
-fleet should strike on their own coast to a single vessel, and
-that vessel a yacht, which was only a pleasure-boat, or at
-least served only for a passage, and could not pass for a
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_480">480</span>
-man-of-war. It was at all events, he said, a question which
-should first be submitted to inquiry by the two Governments.</p>
-
-<p>Captain Crow was puzzled and perplexed, and on Van
-Ghent’s departure he appealed to Lady Temple as to what
-he should do. She, seeing he did not relish his job and would
-be glad to get out of it by her help, shrewdly told him that he
-knew his orders best and what he ought to do, and begged him
-not to mind her or her children. After firing another gun, the
-<i>Merlin</i> continued her voyage to England, leaving the Dutch
-fleet with their flags displayed, and without having fired a single
-angry shot in reply. Very naturally, Charles was irritated at
-the miscarriage of his plan. He had hoped for a sharp and
-unequal contest about the flag, the news of which would have
-rung from end to end of England and enabled him to drag the
-country into war to resent the affront. Crow was thrown into
-the Tower, “for refusing to do his duty towards the Dutch
-men-of-war who refused to strike to the king’s flag.” The
-Privy Council debated whether a frigate, the other class of
-vessel to whose status De Witt had objected, should not be
-hastily despatched to the Dutch fleet to draw the spark which
-the <i>Merlin</i> had failed to elicit, by firing on every ship that
-refused to take in her flag. Probably the device was deemed
-to be too transparent; but it was rumoured that the captain
-of the <i>Reserve</i>, which left Deal a few days later for Portsmouth,
-had received instructions to fight the Dutch fleet if he
-met them and they did not strike,&mdash;a rumour which, it was
-reported, “deads the hearts of people lest we should have war
-with Holland.”</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, Sir Leoline Jenkins was requested to inquire into
-the case of the <i>Merlin</i>, presumably to see what could be made
-of it. He examined Lady Temple and others, and drew up a
-memorandum embodying the information he had received as to
-the extent of the British seas and the precedents of striking to
-the English flag off foreign coasts.<a id="FNanchor_887" href="#Footnote_887" class="fnanchor">887</a> After citing the precedents
-at Goeree and elsewhere, he expressed an opinion against calling
-witnesses in such cases “for fear of chicane,” declaring that
-we had “a constant uninterrupted possession of the prerogative,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_481">481</span>
-with the highest notoriety that public immemorial reputation
-can give, in the British seas, and that the onus of making proof
-as to the non-use and enjoyment of it in some certain places or
-rencounters, as for instance the Dutch coast, or when a small
-sail of ours met a fleet of theirs, was cast by the law and by
-reason upon our opposers.”<a id="FNanchor_888" href="#Footnote_888" class="fnanchor">888</a> The English Government did not
-make any immediate protest to the States-General about Van
-Ghent’s refusal to strike to the yacht, possibly lest they might
-proffer satisfaction and dispose of the episode; but Charles
-boldly told the Dutch ambassadors that he thought the conduct
-of their admiral had been premeditated.</p>
-
-<p>Up to this time the Dutch had failed to discern the danger
-which was approaching. After the <i>Merlin</i> incident indeed, as
-Temple tells us, the Dutch ambassadors in London, “with as ill
-noses as they have, began to smell the powder after the Captain’s
-shooting.” But relying on the well-known animosity of
-the English people and Parliament to France, and their aversion
-to a rupture of the Triple Alliance, they fondly clung to
-the belief that the incident was one of the temporary misunderstandings
-about the flag which would be readily cleared up.
-The States-General were equally undiscerning, and perhaps a
-little more obtuse. They adopted a course which, however
-proper it might have been under other circumstances, now
-served only to play into the hands of Charles. A manifesto
-was prepared declaring that by the terms of the treaties with
-England the salute was to be regulated according to the custom
-in the past; that it could not be claimed except in British
-waters, where&mdash;as their High Mightinesses thought it well
-to remind the king&mdash;it was offered only as a mark of courtesy,
-and not in recognition of England’s pretension to the sovereignty
-of the sea. And in order that their intention might be
-perfectly clear, they instructed De Ruyter to draw up a set
-of rules prescribing the salute to be given in future by the
-Dutch fleet to English or French men-of-war on the Dutch
-coast, which was to be confined to the exchange of guns without
-striking the flag at all.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_482">482</span></p>
-
-<p>Thus, by their own maladroitness as it happened, the States
-were drawn into precisely the dispute that Charles had been
-longing for&mdash;a dispute about the flag and the sovereignty of
-the sea. He replied by sending Downing to The Hague, in
-December 1671, as ambassador extraordinary, with a sheaf of
-peremptory and intolerable demands. The choice of the ambassador
-was in itself significant of much, for Downing was known
-to be repugnant to the States-General, partly from his overbearing
-and quarrelsome disposition, still more because of his
-unconcealed enmity to the Dutch people. He was to demand
-free trade for the English in the Dutch plantations in the
-Indies; redress and satisfaction for the pamphlets and medals
-insulting to the king; above all, he was to present to the
-States-General a memorial requiring that they should “solemnly
-and clearly acknowledge, in writing, the king’s right to the
-dominion of these seas, and that they neither do nor will dispute
-it, but expressly engage themselves that all ships or fleets
-of theirs, however numerous, shall, upon warning given by any
-ship or ships of war, carrying English colours, of what rate or
-bigness soever, strike their top-sails and lower their flags, as
-has been ever practised.” As a pendicle to this, he was to
-demand that Van Ghent should be “exemplarily punished for
-the insolent affront done by him to a small English man-of-war
-[the <i>Merlin</i>] in refusing to strike.” If within a fortnight no
-answer was received to this “memorial,” Downing was to
-present a sharp and peremptory note demanding an immediate
-reply, and if he did not get it within another week, he was
-instantly to quit The Hague, without giving any notice of his
-intention to go.</p>
-
-<p>While Downing was away on his explosive mission, Boreel,
-the Dutch ambassador in London, was beguiled with smooth
-words in order to lull the States-General into a feeling of
-security. On the eve of his departure, Downing told him he
-was going to The Hague with the object of strengthening the
-good understanding between the two countries, and Charles
-treated the ambassador with the most friendly courtesy. The
-ease with which the Dutch were being hoodwinked caused
-much amusement in Paris. But Charles was not yet quite
-ready. He needed a great deal more money than what was
-left of the &pound;800,000 which the House of Commons had voted.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_483">483</span>
-Afraid to summon Parliament again, or to levy taxes under the
-prerogative as Charles I. had levied the ship-money, he had
-recourse to the daring expedient of closing the Exchequer, by
-which he robbed the public creditors of some &pound;1,200,000, causing
-widespread ruin and commercial panic. A little later, on
-21st January 1672, the first quarterly instalment of the subsidy
-of three million livres from Louis was landed at Rye, and
-escorted to the Tower by forty men of the Guards and a trumpeter.
-Now in possession of ample supplies, Charles hastened
-to throw aside the mask. Downing played his arrogant part
-at The Hague, refusing to allow any debate as to the justice of
-his demands. When he suddenly called for his passports, the
-States-General began to awaken to a truer sense of their position,
-menaced as they also were by imminent peril from France.
-Adopting the advice of the deluded Boreel, that by yielding on
-the question of the flag they would remove any inclination the
-English people had for war with them, since England really
-cherished enmity against France, the States-General agreed to
-comply with the claims of Charles respecting the salute. The
-concession was still joined with the offensive proviso that they
-gave it only as a mark of respect to a powerful monarch: it
-was, moreover, to be conditional on the maintenance of the
-Triple Alliance. Downing told them the offer came too late, and
-slunk away home, reaching London on 6th February, where
-the king, displeased with his management of the affair, sent
-him to the Tower “for not having obeyed the orders sent
-him.”</p>
-
-<p>The flight of Downing threw the States-General into consternation.
-Meerman, previously their ambassador at the
-English Court, was despatched in haste to London to renew
-the offer about the flag, to agree to the dismissal of Van
-Ghent, and to tender large subsidies for the king’s privy
-purse. At the audience with Meerman and Boreel, Charles
-skilfully evaded their proposals and expressed surprise that
-they had not submitted a formal signed paper. This they
-made haste to do, and they were then informed that it was
-ambiguous and obscure, but in what particulars they could
-not learn. They next submitted a draft to Arlington and
-Lauderdale, the English commissioners appointed to treat with
-them, with the request that they might amend it as they
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_484">484</span>
-thought fit, but they were haughtily told that it was none
-of their business to draw up papers for the Dutch. Finally,
-they signed a written engagement to give satisfaction about
-the flag, but at the conference appointed for its reception
-the English refused to consider it, saying the time for negotiations
-was now past.<a id="FNanchor_889" href="#Footnote_889" class="fnanchor">889</a></p>
-
-<p>The time was now obviously ripe for a declaration of war;
-but Charles before taking this step had resolved on an audacious
-and treacherous stroke, by which he hoped to gain
-much plunder for himself while diminishing the resources
-of the Dutch. In spite of the solemn obligations of treaties
-for the temporary security of their shipping even if war
-broke out, it was decided to attack and capture Dutch merchant
-vessels in time of peace. Here also a ready excuse
-might be found by contriving disputes about the striking
-of the flag. As early as 26th January, Sir Robert Holmes
-sent an express to Arlington recommending the seizure of
-a Dutch fleet laden with salt and wine, which lay wind-bound
-at the Isle of Wight, under the convoy of three or
-four States’ men-of-war. He said that in Holland there
-was a great scarcity of salt, and that without it they could
-not carry on their fishery or provide for their garrisons;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_485">485</span>
-the capture of the salt fleet would thus overwhelm them in
-ruin even greater than would the loss of their East Indian
-fleet. But ships were apparently not ready for this venture&mdash;and,
-besides, it was not salt that Charles wanted. On 18th
-February orders were sent to the Mediterranean to take and
-sell, or to destroy, all Dutch shipping. On 5th March Charles
-wrote to the Duke of York commanding that, as he had
-received many indignities from the States-General, and his
-demand for reparation against one of their subjects who
-refused to strike his flag remained unanswered, such men-of-war
-as were ready at Portsmouth should immediately put
-to sea and seize and bring into port, with their cargoes intact,
-any Dutch vessels they met with, and destroy those that
-resisted. Another royal command on the following day
-included Hamburg vessels in the piratical order, since Dutch
-ships often sailed under that flag; and in this missive, as
-a sort of moral salve, the king announced that he had resolved
-to make war on the States-General.</p>
-
-<p>The first capture was made on 8th March, and when Boreel
-demanded restitution, he was told, boldly but incautiously,
-that the Dutch ships would be seized everywhere. The
-Cadiz fleet returning to the United Provinces had a very
-narrow escape, having passed up Channel on the day Holmes
-received his instructions. On the next day, 13th March, off
-the Isle of Wight, he fell in with the Smyrna fleet of fifty-six
-merchant vessels returning home from the Mediterranean
-with rich cargoes of silks, plate, cochineal, gums, &amp;c., estimated
-to be worth over a million pounds. It was upon
-this fleet that Charles had been counting. Eleven States’
-men-of-war acted as convoy to the merchantmen, many of
-which were also heavily armed as fighting ships. To deal
-with this formidable force Holmes at first had only five ships,
-having failed to effect a junction with Spragge’s squadron,
-from the selfish design, it was alleged, of keeping the prize-money
-among as few as possible. The Dutch fleet, which
-had been warned of their danger by Boreel, were on the
-alert. On the approach of the English the armed vessels
-moved into line to protect the defenceless merchantmen.
-Lord Ossory, in the <i>Resolution</i>, bore up to the Dutch vice-admiral
-and gave him a “warning piece” to strike his flag,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_486">486</span>
-and as he took no notice of it, Ossory gave him another
-and “placed it in him.” Sir Robert Holmes, in the <i>St Michael</i>,
-treated Captain Adrian de Haas, who commanded the convoy,
-in the same way, and when the latter sent his lieutenant
-on board the <i>St Michael</i> to ascertain the cause of shooting,
-he was promptly clapped into the hold, “having, it seems,”
-as the English official account says, “given some saucy language
-to Sir Robert.”<a id="FNanchor_890" href="#Footnote_890" class="fnanchor">890</a> The <i>St Michael</i> then poured in a broadside
-and the fight began. It continued until night, and was
-resumed on the following day, when Holmes was reinforced
-by three other ships, and on the day after that, as the Dutch
-fleet made its way up the Channel, defending itself with
-the greatest valour. The English were hopelessly outnumbered.
-They sank one Dutch man-of-war and captured another,
-with four or five of the merchant vessels, but all the others
-safely reached port. The English ships which were beaten
-off were so terribly battered and cut up that they could
-scarcely make their way back to the Downs. On the <i>St
-Michael</i> alone thirty-four men were killed and fifty-six
-wounded, as well as “a great many” missing.</p>
-
-<p>Charles was deeply disappointed at losing the booty on
-which he had calculated. He was further annoyed when
-he found he could not confiscate the whole of the cargoes
-actually taken, and which Holmes with vainglorious exaggeration
-boasted “would give him credit for &pound;200,000 at least.”
-When the question came to be decided whether the captured
-ships were lawfully good prize, Holmes and his officers showed
-the greatest reluctance to be examined. Included in the
-cargoes were goods belonging to Spaniards and subjects of
-other nations, but notwithstanding this the Council wished
-to confiscate everything. Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the
-High Court of Admiralty, opposed this design with great
-energy. The confiscation of Dutch ships and property in
-time of peace might be colourably made under the pretence
-that the owners refused to strike their flag and were the
-aggressors. But to condemn neutral goods on board as lawful
-prize would be, Sir Leoline said, to introduce “a new law
-of war, not so honourable for us to endure from others when
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_487">487</span>
-his Majesty shall be at peace and his neighbours at war.”
-He declared that no hostile act of the Dutch, supposing them
-the aggressors, could involve a stranger not party to it, before
-a public declaration of war; and as he threatened to resign
-his office if the course was persisted in, the Council gave
-way, and restitution was made of the property of neutrals.<a id="FNanchor_891" href="#Footnote_891" class="fnanchor">891</a></p>
-
-<p>The iniquity of this shameful and deliberate attack on Dutch
-shipping in time of peace was not extenuated or obscured by
-the plea of the English Ministry that it had been caused by the
-obstinacy of the Dutch in refusing to strike the flag. The
-opinion of Europe was expressed in the remark of a French
-diplomatist at one of the German Courts, that “when the king,
-his master, made war on the States-General, he would not do
-so like a pirate.” An immediate result of the onslaught on the
-Smyrna fleet was to convince not only the States-General, but
-the French Court, that Charles was in earnest, and the formal
-declaration of war could not be longer delayed. On 17th March
-1672, the day after Churchill brought the tidings to London,
-an Order in Council was issued to print and publish the declaration
-of war against the States-General. In this long, verbose,
-and rhetorical document of eight pages Charles tried hard to
-justify his flagrant violation of treaties. The real reason of
-the war could not be avowed, but every complaint that had
-at any time been levelled against the Dutch was now dragged
-forth, accusation being piled on accusation. The accumulated
-charges connected with the East Indies, the West Indies, and
-Surinam were revived and aggravated; the safety of trade,
-upon which the wealth and prosperity of the English people
-depended, was in danger; the king and nation were declared to
-have been insulted by lampoons and caricatures. But, as was
-to be expected from the antecedents, a principal ground of
-rupture was found in the flouting by the Dutch of the right
-of England to the honour of the flag and the sovereignty of
-the sea. “The right of the flag,” the king declared, “is so
-ancient that it was one of the first prerogatives of our royal
-predecessors, and ought to be the last from which this kingdom
-should ever depart. It was never questioned, and it was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_488">488</span>
-expressly acknowledged in the treaty of Breda; and yet this
-last summer it was not only violated by their commanders at
-sea, and that violation afterwards justified at The Hague, but it
-was also represented by them in most Courts of Christendom
-as ridiculous for us to demand. An ungrateful insolence!
-That they should contend with us about the dominion of these
-seas, who, even in the reign of our royal father, thought it an
-obligation to be permitted to fish in them, by taking of licenses
-and for a tribute.” Notwithstanding all these provocations, the
-king continued, he had patiently waited expecting satisfaction.
-To the memorials sent to them they had at last replied to this
-effect: “That in this conjuncture they would condescend to
-strike to us, if we would assist them against the French; but
-upon condition that it should never be taken for a precedent
-hereafter to their prejudice.” The concluding negotiations were
-mendaciously summarised by saying that after the return of
-Downing the States-General sent over an extraordinary ambassador,
-who declared he could give no satisfaction till he had
-consulted his masters. “Wherefore,” said the king, “despairing
-now of any good effect of further treaty, we are compelled to
-take up arms in defence of an ancient prerogative of our crown,
-and the glory and safety of our kingdoms.”</p>
-
-<p>Louis’ declaration of war, of fewer words and greater dignity,
-followed; arrangements were completed for the union of the
-English and French fleets, and no difficulty was made about the
-salute. Charles, while taking so high and imperial a tone in
-the declaration of war about the ancient and sacred rights of
-the English flag, immediately relinquished them to his royal
-ally and paymaster. For the first time in history the French
-fleet was put on an equality with the English in the British
-seas. Orders were issued that if an English squadron under
-a vice-admiral was sent to the Mediterranean to be commanded
-by a French admiral, the latter was to be saluted in the same
-manner as he was saluted by French vice-admirals. When an
-English frigate was sent to Brest with a despatch for the
-Comte d’Estr&eacute;es, the Vice-Admiral of France, it was ordered
-if it met the French squadron appointed to join the English
-fleet to salute them as if they were English ships, and to treat
-the French Vice-Admiral as if he were English. Charles sent
-similar commands to the Governors of Portsmouth, Dartmouth,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_489">489</span>
-Dover, and other places&mdash;that the French ships were to be
-saluted as if they were English. Thus not only in the Mediterranean,
-but in the Channel and in English ports, the English
-flag was to be lowered to that of France&mdash;a proposition that
-might have made the old sea-dogs turn in their graves.<a id="FNanchor_892" href="#Footnote_892" class="fnanchor">892</a></p>
-
-<p>The junction of the allied fleets was followed, on 28th May,
-by the fierce and sanguinary battle of Solebay. The victory
-was indecisive, but the advantage lay rather with the Dutch.
-De Ruyter withdrew to his own coast, and the English were
-too much crippled to follow.<a id="FNanchor_893" href="#Footnote_893" class="fnanchor">893</a> No other great sea-fight took
-place in 1672, but in September Sir Edward Spragge employed
-his squadron against the Dutch fishermen. Just before the
-declaration of war the States-General laid an embargo on their
-fishing vessels; but they removed it in September,<a id="FNanchor_894" href="#Footnote_894" class="fnanchor">894</a> and towards
-the end of the month it was reported that a hundred Dutch
-busses, convoyed by twenty frigates, were fishing off the Norfolk
-coast. On the 22nd Spragge’s squadron, showing no
-colours, appeared off Yarmouth, and greatly frightened the
-English herring fishermen, who thought the Dutch fleet was
-upon them. By noon on the 24th he had captured eleven
-Dutch doggers and 117 prisoners; two of the doggers had
-licenses from the English Government, and were released
-later. By the end of the month the prizes numbered about
-thirty doggers, one buss, and a privateer, with over 300
-prisoners,&mdash;not a very large haul,&mdash;while about 200 others
-had been chased home, and many nets, which the fishermen
-had cut and left in the water, were destroyed. Spragge having
-thus, as he reported, “cleared these seas of fishermen except
-our own,” returned to the Thames.<a id="FNanchor_895" href="#Footnote_895" class="fnanchor">895</a></p>
-
-<p>While the Dutch maintained the contest at sea with honour
-and success, they were overwhelmed on land. A great French
-army, under Turenne, Cond&eacute;, and other celebrated generals of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_490">490</span>
-the age, poured into the Provinces. Town after town, fortress
-after fortress, surrendered to the invaders, and the Prince of
-Orange, with the remnant of his small army, retired into
-Holland. It seemed inevitable that the Republic, contending
-with the two most powerful states in Europe and bereft of
-allies,&mdash;for Sweden as well as England had been detached from
-the triple league,&mdash;would soon be subjugated. The States-General,
-in despair, sued for peace. Two ambassadors were
-sent to Louis and two to Charles. Louis offered them impossible
-terms, and allowed ten days for acceptance or rejection.
-Charles refused to see them at all, but sent them to Hampton
-Court along with Boreel, who had not yet left England; and
-there they remained for some weeks carrying on a sort of
-backstairs negotiation. Then the king, fearing they might
-intrigue with his own subjects, who were in sympathy with
-them, dismissed them early in August. But becoming apprehensive
-at the unexpected rapidity of the French conquests,
-he despatched the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Arlington,
-and soon also Viscount Halifax, to negotiate anew with Louis,
-and to inform him of the overtures for peace from the States-General.
-On their way they passed through Holland, where
-they had several interviews with the Dutch Government and
-the Prince of Orange. After renewing the league with Louis
-at Utrecht, and agreeing that neither king should conclude
-peace except with the consent of the other, the conditions on
-which Charles was willing to make peace were formulated.
-The States were asked to undertake, on demand, to banish perpetually
-any person guilty of treason against the king, or of
-writing seditious libels; to pay &pound;1,000,000 sterling towards the
-cost of the war; to invest the Prince of Orange with the sovereignty
-of the United Provinces, or at least to confer upon him
-the highest offices; and to surrender as security to the king
-Walcheren, the city and castle of Sluys, as well as the isles of
-Cadsand, Goeree, and Voorne. With regard to the sovereignty
-of the sea, they were to yield the honour of the flag without
-the least reserve or hesitation, so that whole fleets were to lower
-their top-sails and strike their flags to a single English ship
-carrying the king’s flag, in any part of the British sea up to
-the coasts of the United Provinces. The States-General were,
-moreover, to agree to pay to the King of England, for ever, the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_491">491</span>
-sum of &pound;10,000 a-year for permission which the king would
-grant them to fish for herrings on the coasts of England, Scotland,
-and Ireland.<a id="FNanchor_896" href="#Footnote_896" class="fnanchor">896</a></p>
-
-<p>The demands of Louis were even more oppressive to the
-Dutch, and threatened them in what they held most dear&mdash;their
-religious liberty, for the sake of which they had formerly fought
-so long and so heroically against the tyranny of Spain.</p>
-
-<p>In this crisis of their history despair and fury seized upon
-the people. The Ministers were blamed for the misfortunes
-of the country; a popular tumult burst forth in favour of the
-Prince of Orange; and John de Witt, the clear-eyed statesman
-who had so long held the helm and steered the Republic
-through so many dangers and difficulties, was foully murdered
-in circumstances of great brutality&mdash;a fate which his brother
-shared. The young Prince infused his own invincible spirit
-into the people. The terms of peace were rejected, and a
-supreme effort was made to save the country by the method
-which had been adopted against Alva and Requesens just a
-century before: the dykes were opened and the land laid
-under water, causing the enemy to retreat. The steadfast
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_492">492</span>
-courage of the Prince of Orange and the growing alarm at
-the designs of France at last brought allies to the States.
-Spain and both branches of the house of Austria espoused
-their cause, and German troops came marching to the Rhine.</p>
-
-<p>But the ally on which the Dutch most relied was the Parliament
-of England. It had now been prorogued for nearly
-two years, and Charles was at last forced to summon it by
-his need of money to carry on the war. When it met, the
-members were told by the king that he had been forced into
-a war which was just and necessary both for the honour
-and the interest of the nation, and he referred them to his
-declaration, in which the reasons were given. He also defended
-the Declaration of Indulgence to dissenters, which had been
-designed to favour the Roman Catholics, and about which
-the country was greatly agitated. The Earl of Shaftesbury,
-as Chancellor, enlarged on the same themes. Against the
-Dutch he levelled such charges as were contained in the
-declaration of war. They had broken treaties about the
-East Indies and Surinam, “and at last,” he exclaimed, “they
-came to that height of insolence, as to deny the honour and
-right of the flag, though an undoubted jewel of this crown,
-never to be parted with; and by them particularly owned
-in the late treaty of Breda and never contested in any age.”
-He accused them of disputing the king’s title to it in all
-the Courts of Christendom, and of having made great offers
-to the King of France if he would stand by them against
-England. They were branded as the common enemy to all
-monarchies, and especially to that of England, “their only
-competitor for trade and power at sea,” who alone stood in
-their way to a universal empire as great as Rome. They
-had, he said, slighted all negotiations and refused all cessation
-of hostilities; and the king, he claimed, in entering on the
-war had only carried out the maxims of the Parliament which
-had advised the last war, and had then judged it necessary
-to extirpate the Dutch, laying it down as an eternal maxim,
-“<i>delenda est Carthago</i>, that government is to be brought
-down.” The Parliament was then asked to vote further
-supplies.</p>
-
-<p>At first, while avoiding the least approbation of the war,
-Parliament passed a resolution that they would grant eighteen
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_493">493</span>
-months’ assessments, at the rate of &pound;70,000 a-month, for the
-king’s “extraordinary occasions”; but this was designed
-merely to allow them time to deal with the Declaration of
-Indulgence before Charles could afford to dismiss them. The
-contest with the king on this question ended in victory for
-the Parliament, which then passed the Test Act, disqualifying
-Catholics for all offices under the crown. The king was
-still resolved to pursue the war. The money voted by Parliament
-served to equip a fleet; and as the Duke of York
-was made ineligible owing to the Test Act, Prince Rupert
-took his place as admiral. In May 1673 the combined naval
-forces of France and England sought out De Ruyter on his
-own coast, and three battles were fought in the summer,&mdash;on
-28th May, 4th June, and 11th August,&mdash;both sides claiming
-victory; but the Dutch prevented the projected landing of
-English troops, and compelled the allies to retire to their
-own coasts.<a id="FNanchor_897" href="#Footnote_897" class="fnanchor">897</a></p>
-
-<p>By this time, however, the king saw he could not with
-safety continue to carry on the war much longer. Spain,
-which had already declared war against France, threatened
-to do the same against England unless peace was made, and
-this would destroy the lucrative English trade with that
-country. The war was intensely unpopular in England, and
-the seamen fought without heart. The timid conduct of the
-French squadrons in the various battles excited deep and
-widespread resentment. It was on all sides rumoured that
-Charles had sold his country in order to carry out the selfish
-designs of Louis. The subsidies, moreover, were soon exhausted,
-and it would be necessary to ask Parliament again for more
-money. It was clear that the appeal which Charles had
-made to the spirit or vanity of the nation with respect to
-the honour of the flag and the sovereignty of the sea had
-thoroughly failed, although inspired and mercenary pens did
-what they could to arouse enthusiasm. These efforts were
-indeed a measure of the unpopularity of the third Dutch
-war. Before it broke out certain authors had handled the
-theme. The learned Prynne, who lost his ears for opposing
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_494">494</span>
-Charles I., became a subservient supporter of his son; and,
-as Keeper of the Records in the Tower, he published an erudite,
-but confused, book in which the absolute right of the King
-of England to the dominion of the surrounding seas was
-maintained.<a id="FNanchor_898" href="#Footnote_898" class="fnanchor">898</a> In a very different kind of book, one Captain
-John Smith repeated current arguments and misstatements
-on the same topic, especially with reference to the fisheries,
-for he had been one of the agents of the Fishery Society of
-Charles I. He makes a statement that must have caused
-the king, if he saw it, some surprise at his modesty in asking
-only &pound;10,000 or &pound;12,000 from the Dutch. He had heard, he
-says, that the “composition” of the Hollanders for leave to
-fish on our coasts was an annual rent of &pound;100,000 and
-&pound;100,000 “in hand”; and as none of it had been paid into
-the Exchequer, he computed the arrears then to be over
-&pound;2,500,000, a sum which, he very truly remarked,&mdash;and it
-is the sole truth in the statement,&mdash;“would come very happily
-for the present occasions of his Majesty.” Like many others
-before him and after him, he advocated the building of a
-fleet of busses and the prohibition of the Hollanders from
-fishing in the British seas.<a id="FNanchor_899" href="#Footnote_899" class="fnanchor">899</a> Still other writers laid stress
-on the close connection between the sovereignty of the sea
-and trade, commerce, and navigation;<a id="FNanchor_900" href="#Footnote_900" class="fnanchor">900</a> and after the war
-broke out more pointed attacks were made against the Dutch.
-They were accused of invading our fisheries without license
-from the king, refusing to strike sail, disputing our dominion
-of the seas, and by artifice supplanting us in trade and
-commerce.<a id="FNanchor_901" href="#Footnote_901" class="fnanchor">901</a></p>
-
-<p>None of those works was of much account, and the Ministry
-felt the need of obtaining the services of an able writer to
-stimulate ill-feeling against the Dutch, and in particular to
-answer a well-reasoned pamphlet which the Dutch had widely
-circulated in refutation of the reasons for the war given in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_495">495</span>
-the king’s declaration. The States-General did not reply to
-that document, but Wicquefort did so in the pamphlet referred
-to, which was entitled “Considerations on the Present State
-of the United Netherlands.” The tone of his reply was extremely
-temperate. The writer insisted on the difference
-between the striking of the flag and the sovereignty of the
-sea; the former was merely a ceremony of respect which all
-republics paid to monarchies, and not in the least a sign of
-subjection or an acknowledgment of sovereignty, and as such
-it had been regulated in the treaty of Breda. The States
-had always resisted the claim that a whole fleet of theirs
-should strike to a single English ship. In 1654 Cromwell
-had abandoned a similar claim on their objecting; and as
-the article in the treaty of Breda was the same as the one
-agreed to in 1654, it was unjust to construe it now in the
-sense of the article which Cromwell had withdrawn. On
-that ground alone, therefore, it could not be maintained that
-Van Ghent and the whole Dutch fleet were bound to strike
-to the king’s yacht. Moreover, the article applied only to
-the British seas, and the writer argued that that meant the
-Channel and not the North Sea, citing the seventh article of
-the treaty of Breda as to the cessation of hostilities. Since
-the Dutch fleet were lying at anchor off their own coast
-when the king’s yacht passed, they were not obliged to strike,
-because they were in the North Sea, and not in the British
-seas at all. The conclusion was drawn, and as we have seen
-justly, that the king had sent his yacht for the deliberate
-purpose of getting a ground of quarrel. As for the sovereignty
-of the sea, the States attributed to God alone such dominion
-as the king usurped to himself. They therefore refused
-Downing’s demands, which had been put forward to give
-the king a pretext for war. To admit them would ruin the
-United Provinces, which lived by commerce and the liberty
-of the sea. As for the fisheries, they had never asked for
-permission to fish from the King of England; and though
-in 1636 licenses were forced upon some of their defenceless
-fishermen by English men-of-war, that was an act of violence
-from which no right or title could be derived, and the attempt
-was relinquished at the demand of the States-General, and
-had not been repeated.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_496">496</span></p>
-
-<p>The cogent arguments of the Dutch writer were well fitted
-to confirm the general opinion in England as to the cause of the
-war, and the Court promptly secured the services of Henry
-Stubbe, a clever, versatile, and prolific writer, to refute them.
-His answer to Wicquefort was considered by the private
-committee on 15th May 1672,<a id="FNanchor_902" href="#Footnote_902" class="fnanchor">902</a> and it was published anonymously
-in the following month.<a id="FNanchor_903" href="#Footnote_903" class="fnanchor">903</a> The spirit in which Stubbe
-entered into his task is revealed in a letter he wrote to
-Secretary Williamson. “The rule I go by,” he said, “is this:
-that no nation is more zealous for their honour than the
-English; that if they are put into a great passion they forget
-their particular interests and animosities.”<a id="FNanchor_904" href="#Footnote_904" class="fnanchor">904</a> He therefore
-tried as much as he could to inflame the public mind.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Justification</i>, though rabid in tone, is in many respects
-an able book. It differs from many of the controversial works
-of the day in that the author, however oblique may be his
-inferences from them, does not, so far as we have observed,
-pervert and misquote the documents he cites. It is unnecessary
-to particularise his arguments on the sovereignty of the sea.
-They were drawn mainly from Selden, Welwood, and other
-authors, and partly from certain State Papers which the
-Ministry placed at his disposal. The striking of the flag by
-foreigners was, of course, declared to be a regality, and “paramount
-to all treaties”; it was a “fundamental of the crown
-and dignity of the King of England.” The attack on the
-Smyrna fleet, which Wicquefort denounced and made the
-most of, was justified by their refusal to strike their flags,
-the instructions issued to the admirals of England for four
-hundred years compelling them to seize all ships which refused.
-The universal dominion which the king possessed
-over the British seas was thus formulated: (1) the regality
-of fishing for pearl, coral, amber (!), &amp;c., and the “direction
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_497">497</span>
-and disposal” of all fishes “as they shall seem to deserve
-the regards of the public”&mdash;a somewhat cryptic claim; (2)
-the prescribing of the laws of navigation to foreigners as well
-as to the king’s own subjects; (3) the power of imposing
-customs and taxes upon those navigating or fishing in them;
-(4) jurisdiction in regard to maritime delinquencies; (5) the
-duty of foreign ships to strike their flags and lower their
-top-sails to the king’s “floating castles,” the ships of war, by
-which “submission they are put in remembrance that they
-have come into a territory wherein they are to own a sovereign
-power and jurisdiction, and receive protection from it.”
-It was admitted that the sea was free for commerce and
-innocent passage; but both might be refused if there was
-suspicion of danger, and that the imposition of tribute for
-fishing, convoy, or the maintenance of lights and beacons
-did not infringe the liberty of commerce.</p>
-
-<p>The work appears to have pleased his employers, for immediately
-after its publication Stubbe began the composition
-of another on the same lines&mdash;to vindicate the “honour” of
-his Majesty and the kingdom. In this he wished very much
-to deal with the lampoons and “scandalous pictures” circulated
-in Holland, “thereby to raise a due passion and resentment
-in the English,” especially one which represented the English
-ambassadors at Breda kneeling in supplication to their High
-Mightinesses the States-General; and Sir Joseph Williamson,
-who was then in Holland with Buckingham and Arlington, was
-asked to bring over specimens of these. He told Williamson
-that in his new work, which he proposed to entitle “An
-Apology for the King’s Majesty’s Declaration, By an Old
-Commonwealth Man,” he would represent to the English
-people his Majesty’s “generous concern for his subjects’ welfare
-and trade,” and his admirable prudence in the noble
-conduct of affairs; he would excuse his stop of the Exchequer
-and the Declaration of Indulgence, and descant upon the
-growth of the Dutch by contumelies to the king and nation.
-Stubbe was also anxious to obtain, besides the pictures and
-medals, a manuscript book which he had seen, containing an
-account of the transactions between the Dutch and the
-Commonwealth. This was in the possession of Thurloe, who
-had been Secretary under Cromwell, and he refused to produce
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_498">498</span>
-it, until a warrant issued by Lord Clifford compelled
-him to give it up.<a id="FNanchor_905" href="#Footnote_905" class="fnanchor">905</a></p>
-
-<p>The second work was published in 1673, and Stubbe did
-all that he promised to do, copiously illustrating it with
-figures of the objectionable medals and pictures, and greatly
-abusing the Dutch.<a id="FNanchor_906" href="#Footnote_906" class="fnanchor">906</a></p>
-
-<p>But all such efforts to stir up animosity against the Dutch
-and to convince the public and Parliament of the justness of
-the war completely failed, and Charles was forced to enter
-into negotiations for peace. Immediately after the battle
-of the Texel, in August 1673, a congress of the Powers which
-had assembled at Cologne began its deliberations to arrange
-terms of peace, under the mediation of Sweden. The English
-plenipotentiaries were Sir Leoline Jenkins and Sir Joseph
-Williamson, and the instructions given to them by Charles
-included the following:&mdash;“The principal points we shall insist
-upon,” said the king, “beyond the particular ones relating
-to general amity, commerce, &amp;c., are these following: <i>First</i>,
-To have the honour for the future paid to the flagg of England,
-which hath been practised and acknowledged by them in all
-former times. <i>Secondly</i>, A million of pounds sterling to reimburse
-us in some part the expenses we have been at in
-making the war. <i>Thirdly</i>, Ten thousand pounds per annum
-as an honorary acknowledgment for the great benefit that
-Republic reaps for the fishing on our coasts, and two thousand
-pounds more for the like liberty they enjoy upon the coast
-of our kingdom of Scotland.”<a id="FNanchor_907" href="#Footnote_907" class="fnanchor">907</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_499">499</span></p>
-
-<p>The terms of peace now offered, it will be observed, were
-much less exacting than those demanded in the previous year,
-and the request for an express acknowledgment of the king’s
-sovereignty of the sea was dropped. The Dutch plenipotentiaries
-at the outset of the proceedings said little difficulty
-would be raised about the question of the flag, but they demurred
-to the demand to pay tribute for liberty of fishing.<a id="FNanchor_908" href="#Footnote_908" class="fnanchor">908</a>
-This thorny subject was threshed out on either side with all
-the old arguments which were used in the times of James and
-Cromwell. The Dutch pled possession, prescription, treaties;
-the English replied that the treaties had expired in subsequent
-wars, and were abrogated by the separation of the Provinces
-from the House of Burgundy, with whom the treaties were
-made. A new point was raised to show that no right could
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_500">500</span>
-now be claimed under the Burgundy treaties. If they were
-still in force, why had the citizens of Bruges in the Spanish
-Netherlands, subjects of the King of Spain, who was the
-successor and descendant of the Dukes of Burgundy, and the
-very people in whose favour the Magnus Intercursus was
-made, petitioned the King of England as lately as 1666
-for a license to fish in the British seas, a privilege which
-had been granted to them?<a id="FNanchor_909" href="#Footnote_909" class="fnanchor">909</a> To this the Dutch replied
-that the right to the fishery did not spring from the treaty
-of 1495, which had been made merely to avoid contests that
-previously occurred. As the result of conferences with the
-Dutch representatives, the Swedish mediators informed Jenkins
-and Williamson that the States-General would not consent to
-an annual payment for the right of fishery, but they suggested,
-as the Prince of Orange had done once before, that the matter
-might be compromised by the payment of a lump sum.
-Charles declined this proposal, but he reduced the amount of
-the yearly payment he asked by half&mdash;to &pound;5000 for the English
-fishery and &pound;1000 for the Scottish. The conference was at
-the same time informed that it was then, and always would
-be, the “passion” both of king and subject in England to
-assert and preserve the great royalty of the fishery.</p>
-
-<p>Since the Dutch would not agree to the payment of an
-annual tribute for the liberty to fish, and Charles would not
-agree to a lump sum, the mediator suggested that the Dutch
-might be asked for a small yearly payment for the privilege
-of drying their nets on shore. This ingenious device roused
-the suspicions of the English delegates, who feared the tabling
-of a clause which would represent the tribute as for the use
-of the land and not for the liberty of fishing. Charles agreed
-with them in refusing the compromise, telling them that the
-article about the fishing was “to be barely and solely for the
-liberty of fishing on his Majesty’s coasts,” and was not to be
-mixed up with any question of drying nets. They were also
-told to make it clear that his license was to be a “successive
-permission” only, from his Majesty to the Dutch, for liberty
-to fish, and to take care, not to part wholly with his right
-in the fishery to them. By an arrangement of this nature
-Charles and his successors would have been free to follow the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_501">501</span>
-example of the kings of Denmark in dealing with the dues at
-the Sound&mdash;that is, in gradually raising the amount.<a id="FNanchor_910" href="#Footnote_910" class="fnanchor">910</a></p>
-
-<p>Passing from this subject to the question of the flag, it was
-soon apparent that the Dutch had been too sanguine in thinking
-there would be little difficulty in dealing with it. The
-mediators, in drawing up a protocol of the English demands,
-had modified the article put in concerning the flag. The English
-had confined themselves to the bare words “the right of
-the flag” (“le droit du pavillon”), to which the Swedes added,
-“in the manner your Excellencies (the Dutch ambassadors)
-projected.” The Dutch, in short, had expanded the meaning
-of the nineteenth article of the treaty of Breda so as to omit
-the troublesome and objectionable words “the British seas,”
-their proposed article being “that ships of the United Provinces
-meeting British ships <i>at sea</i> should lower the top-sail and the
-flag, in such manner as the same had ever been previously
-observed.” Jenkins and Williamson strongly opposed the
-omission of the phrase “the British seas.” They declared that
-the King of England had a special right and immemorial prerogative
-in those particular seas, but if he grasped at the same
-honour in all places, not only the Dutch but all the world
-besides would have reason to dispute it with him. They said
-further that the king wished that yachts, by name, and all
-vessels whatsoever in his service and carrying his colours, flag,
-or jack, should have the same honour paid to them. They
-also objected to the clause “in such manner as,” &amp;c., as being
-vague and open to misunderstanding, and insisted that it
-should be set down clearly what the Dutch were to do and
-how they were to do it in the future. They wished, in short,
-to bind the Dutch by an express stipulation to the view that
-the meaning of the clause in the previous treaties was that
-whole fleets should strike to any single vessel in the king’s
-service in the British seas, while leaving “the British seas”
-undetermined; and they tabled an article to that effect. Both
-the Dutch and the mediators objected to this clause as asserting
-positively that to have been the custom in former times, and
-saying that to admit it would be to condemn themselves in what
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_502">502</span>
-they had done in regard to the <i>Merlin</i>. They were quite
-willing, they said, to do the thing for the future, but it was
-unreasonable to ask them to avow so openly that they had
-been in the wrong in not doing it hitherto. To this the
-English replied that it was most certainly and notoriously an
-ancient right of the crown of England, of which they had
-proofs in all ages, and that to omit the words would be to
-accept of the ceremony as a courtesy and not as a right.</p>
-
-<p>At this stage, however, the king sent them a new article
-about the flag, defining in part the limits within which the
-Dutch were to be asked to strike, and these were from Cape
-Finisterre to the North Cape in Norway. These surprising
-boundaries had been suggested a year or two before as the
-limits of the British seas by the Masters of the Trinity House
-(<a href="#Page_478">p. 478</a>), and no doubt Charles meant them to be so considered.
-They were derived primarily from Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i>,
-and the southern limit, Cape Finisterre, had been for some time
-incorporated in the Admiralty instructions.<a id="FNanchor_911" href="#Footnote_911" class="fnanchor">911</a> The Dutch were
-thus to be asked to strike to English ships along almost
-the whole extent of the western coasts of Europe, a distance
-exceeding two thousand miles.</p>
-
-<p>The English plenipotentiaries did not like this article. They
-informed Lord Arlington that when they were preparing the
-one they had already submitted, they had wished there had
-been means to ascertain the bounds of our seas as well as there
-was for clearing up the point regarding whole fleets striking to
-a single ship; but they had concluded that the king and
-the Lords of the Committee (for foreign affairs) looked upon
-it as a thing so invidious and difficult as not to be attempted
-at that juncture. They explained that they would receive no
-assistance from the French ambassador or the mediators, all of
-whom, they clearly perceived, had difficulty in containing themselves
-from disputing the right of striking at all. As long as
-they confined the claim to the British seas they were not afraid
-of opposition, since they had overwhelming evidence as to the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_503">503</span>
-usage. But if they insisted on the limits of Cape Finisterre
-and the North Cape, and supported their contention with
-arguments from geography or tradition, or if they were asked
-to produce proofs or instances as to “the matter of fact” near
-those limits, they foresaw that objections would be raised which
-they were not sufficiently instructed to answer. No doubt,
-they continued, it might be advantageous to fix some limits in
-order to lessen the chance of disputes, but even if mathematical
-lines could be laid down and agreed upon, it would not remove
-all ground of quarrel. Besides, to fix definite bounds would
-place upon themselves a burden which properly lay upon their
-adversaries; for when the king’s right of the flag was established
-as incontrovertible within the British seas, if any one
-who was called upon to strike declared he was not in the
-British seas, he would have to prove it. This long disquisition
-failed to convince the king. He insisted that the previous
-article, in which the term “British seas” alone occurred, should
-be withdrawn and the new article with the specified limits
-substituted.<a id="FNanchor_912" href="#Footnote_912" class="fnanchor">912</a></p>
-
-<p>The influence of certain important changes in political affairs
-which had taken place since the congress met now made itself
-strongly felt at the deliberations. The position and the
-prospects of the United Provinces had greatly improved. The
-States-General had succeeded in entering into alliances with the
-Emperor, the King of Spain, and the Dukes of Brandenburg
-and Lunenburg. In the field the movements of the Prince of
-Orange and his allies caused Louis to abandon his conquests
-with even greater rapidity than he had made them. The
-English Parliament, too, from which the Dutch had reason to
-hope for much, was about to assemble. It was thus natural
-that the Dutch ambassadors and the representatives of their
-allies at the congress should take a higher tone in dealing
-with the peace proposals. Some of the conditions which had
-been put forward by France and England were now declared to
-mean “utter ruin” to the Dutch, or their “eternal servitude”;
-and among them was the demand of Charles for a payment
-for liberty of fishing, which it was asserted would make them
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_504">504</span>
-tributary to England. The English plenipotentiaries employed
-all the arguments they could discover in Selden’s <i>Mare
-Clausum</i> and other similar works, and in the volume of
-State Papers with which they were provided, to convince
-the congress that fisheries might be “appropriated” on the
-high seas as well as in rivers and lakes, and that the King of
-England had the exclusive right to the fisheries off his own
-coasts. They cited the example of Genoa with the tunny
-fishery, the treaties between England and Denmark concerning
-the fisheries on the Norwegian coast and at Iceland, the
-licenses of the kings of Denmark, the English licenses to
-French fishermen and the grant to Bruges, the Act of
-Richard II., and the licenses forced by the Earl of Northumberland
-on the Hollander busses in 1636. They even displayed
-the original documents showing King James’s expostulations
-with the Dutch in 1618, and the charter granted to Bruges.
-It was all in vain. The times had changed. The Dutch
-ambassadors could now afford to pass the matter off with a
-raillery. They told Jenkins and Williamson that they “would
-bait the herrings, as men do carps, to come and feed upon their
-coasts, and then they would be in possession of a liberty to
-fish”; adding that they would then allow the English to fish
-upon the Dutch coast without fear of molestation. More
-seriously, they said that since no similar stipulation had been
-allowed in any previous treaty, the States-General trusted
-to the goodness of the king to pass over the article on that
-occasion; and Beverning, who was one of the Dutch representatives,
-recalled how he had discussed the whole matter with
-Cromwell in 1653, who had withdrawn the claim to the fishery.</p>
-
-<p>No one, neither the mediators nor even the French, the
-allies of Charles, gave the English ambassadors any encouragement
-to insist on the fishery article; and finally De Groot
-informed them, in language more forcible than elegant, that his
-countrymen would rather “burst” than submit to any acknowledgment
-in that matter, and that he believed the States
-would sooner forbid their subjects to fish at all than to ask
-leave to do so of the crown of England.</p>
-
-<p>The English ambassadors were forced to tell the king that
-they had no hope of obtaining consent to the article about the
-fishery, unless indeed the Parliament (which had by this time
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_505">505</span>
-strongly and boldly shown its sympathy with Holland) “should
-happen to stand vigorously by his Majesty in this demand
-which he is pleased to make.” They suggested&mdash;almost, one
-may think, with a touch of irony&mdash;that the Dutch might be
-offered, as an alternative, “a Bill,” like the proclamation of
-James in 1609, or the Act of 2 Richard II. that laid an impost
-of sixpence a ton on our own fishing vessels, “wherein,” they
-added, “if strangers be not intended (as we humbly conceive
-they are), they may be more expressly taken in.”<a id="FNanchor_913" href="#Footnote_913" class="fnanchor">913</a></p>
-
-<p>Although it was on the fishery article that the negotiations
-stuck most, difficulties also continued to arise about the one on
-the flag. The Dutch said they were willing to do anything
-that had been done in former times by way of respect to the
-crown of England; they could not do it as a right, nor could
-they do anything that might be construed to be an acknowledgment
-of the king’s claim to the dominion of the British seas.
-They were unable to admit, without proof, that it was the
-former practice for a whole fleet of theirs to strike to a single
-English ship; and while again affirming their willingness for
-this to be done in future, they declined to make any express
-recognition of it as a right in the treaty, saying that it would
-be “abundant courtesy” if they admitted the words <i>Maria
-Britannica</i>, as in all their other treaties; it was a term, moreover,
-which the French could not be brought to admit into their
-treaty of Breda, insisting on the term <i>maria proxima</i> instead.
-The English representatives would not condescend to adduce
-proofs as to the past usage. The king, they said, would not
-allow an observance so ancient and notorious to be questioned
-as a matter of fact, any more than that England was an ancient
-monarchy; and they did not ask for a fuller stipulation than
-in the article proposed by Cromwell. On the other side, it
-was pointed out that Cromwell had given up all the points
-raised, especially the striking of a whole fleet; and, moreover,
-they could not allow that all the tract of sea between the
-North Cape and Cape Finisterre was the British Ocean, and
-they hinted they were willing to strike all the world over
-without any limitation of places. The English ambassadors
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_506">506</span>
-wrote to Arlington that although they had not been instructed
-to claim as British the sea between the limits named, yet,
-if these limits were adhered to, the Dutch would not fail to
-alarm the Dane and the Swede, the French and the Spaniard.
-They were justly suspicious of the too generous offer of the
-Dutch to strike in all seas. They saw in it the design to make
-the special right possessed in the British seas, in virtue of the
-king’s sovereignty there, less certain and evident in future ages,
-and to transform it into a mere mark of civility. Charles gave
-way to a slight degree. In February 1674 he sent on another
-article, in which the northern limit was brought down from
-the North Cape to the middle point of the Land-van-Staten
-in Norway.<a id="FNanchor_914" href="#Footnote_914" class="fnanchor">914</a></p>
-
-<p>By this time, however, negotiations for a separate peace
-between England and the United Provinces had been begun
-in London, and the sluggish congress at Cologne, slowly evolving
-a general peace, broke up and dispersed. Charles was
-driven to negotiate separately by the action of the Parliament,
-which financial necessities had forced him to summon in
-October, and which lost little time in showing its ill-humour
-with his policy. In his opening speech he stated that he
-had hoped to be able to announce the conclusion of an honourable
-peace, but the Dutch, he said, had treated his ambassadors
-at Cologne “with the contempt of conquerors,” and had other
-thoughts than peace; and he asked for supplies. Shaftesbury,
-as usual, filled in the picture. The king, he said, had
-expected to meet them with the olive-branch of peace, but the
-obstinacy of the Dutch had foiled the negotiations, although
-his Majesty’s concessions had been so great. “He could not,”
-he continued, “be King of Great Britain without securing
-the dominion and property of his own seas: the first, by
-an article clear, and not elusory, of the flag; the other, by
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_507">507</span>
-an article that preserved the right of the fishing, but gave
-the Dutch permission, as tenants, under a small rent, to enjoy
-and continue that gainful trade upon his coasts.” But the
-Dutch, he said, would not agree to any article on the flag
-that was clear or plain, and they refused any article about
-the fishery except such a one as might convey to them the
-right of inheritance for an inconsiderable sum of money,
-“though it be a Royalty so inherent in the crown of England,
-that I may say (with his Majesty’s pardon for the expression)
-he cannot sell it.” “There is not,” continued the Chancellor,
-“so lawful or commendable a jealousy in the world,
-as an Englishman’s of the growing greatness of any Prince
-at sea. If you permit the sea, our British wife, to be ravished,
-an eternal mark of infamy will stick upon us.” It was
-therefore the duty of Parliament to provide the king with
-more money.<a id="FNanchor_915" href="#Footnote_915" class="fnanchor">915</a></p>
-
-<p>Parliament was not to be cozened by fair words or beguiled
-by the oratorical tropes of Shaftesbury. The Commons
-boldly affirmed they would vote no more money unless it
-appeared that the Dutch were so obstinate as to refuse all
-reasonable conditions of peace; and with regard to other
-matters they showed a bellicose spirit. The king resolved
-to prorogue them suddenly, and went unexpectedly to the
-House of Peers and sent for the Commons. When Black
-Rod approached to summon them the door was hastily closed,
-the Speaker was hurried into the chair, and the following
-motions were instantly put: that the alliance with France
-was a grievance; that the evil counsellors about the king
-were a grievance; that the Duke of Lauderdale was a grievance
-and not fit to be trusted or employed. Before the motions
-could be passed, Black Rod, knocking loudly in the king’s
-name, was admitted, and the House rose in confusion. A
-scene so reminiscent of the days of his father could hardly
-be lost on Charles. It was clear that it would be impossible
-to continue the Dutch war if its continuance depended on
-Parliament voting money for it.</p>
-
-<p>Shortly afterwards the king found it necessary to summon
-Parliament again, and, changing his attitude, he condescended
-to submit to them, for their opinion, certain propositions for
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_508">508</span>
-peace which the States-General had communicated through
-the Spanish ambassador. At the same time he sent privately
-for John Evelyn, who had been for some time engaged on
-a history of the second Dutch war, and asked him to write
-something “against the Hollanders about the duty of the
-flag and fishery,” no doubt with the intention and object
-of influencing the opinion of Parliament.<a id="FNanchor_916" href="#Footnote_916" class="fnanchor">916</a> Parliament acted
-with promptitude. They passed a resolution, on 27th January
-1674, recommending the king to make a speedy peace. Louis,
-who saw how things were tending with the Parliament, having
-advised the same course, Sir William Temple was summoned
-from his orchards a few days later and requested to proceed
-to The Hague to conclude the treaty. On the eve of his
-departure, the Marquis de Frezno, the Spanish ambassador,
-announced that he had received full powers from the States
-to treat and conclude a peace. The negotiations were thereupon
-conducted in London between Sir William Temple and
-the Marquis, and they went on so smoothly and speedily that
-the treaty was signed at Westminster on 9th February. The
-two points that caused the greatest difficulty were the flag and
-the recalling of the English troops from the French service: the
-claim for tribute for liberty to fish was dropped altogether.<a id="FNanchor_917" href="#Footnote_917" class="fnanchor">917</a></p>
-
-<p>The article relating to the flag differed from the corresponding
-articles in the previous treaties. It was as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p class="small">“The said States-General of the United Provinces, duly acknowledging,
-on their part, the right of the above-mentioned most serene
-prince, the King of Great Britain, to have honour paid to his flag in the
-seas to be hereafter named, will and do declare and agree, that all and
-singular the ships and vessels belonging to the said United Provinces,
-whether ships of war or others, whether single ships or in squadrons,
-which shall meet with any ships or vessels whatsoever belonging to the
-most serene prince, the King of Great Britain, whether one or more,
-carrying his Britannic Majesty’s ensign, or flag called the <i>Jack</i>, in any
-of the seas from the Cape called <i>Finisterre</i>, to the middle point of the
-land called <i>van Staten</i>, in Norway, the foresaid ships or vessels of the
-United Provinces shall strike their flag and lower their topsail, in the
-same manner and with the like testimony of respect, as hath been
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_509">509</span>
-customary in any time or place heretofore, by any ships of the States-General
-or their predecessors to any ships of his Britannic Majesty or
-his predecessors.”<a id="FNanchor_918" href="#Footnote_918" class="fnanchor">918</a></p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Most writers who have dealt with the subject have followed
-Temple in thinking that this article was a great triumph for
-English diplomacy. “The point of the flag,” said Temple,
-“was carried to all the height his Majesty could wish; and
-thereby a claim of the crown, the acknowledgment of its
-dominion in the narrow seas, allowed by treaty from the
-most powerful of our neighbours at sea, which had never
-yet been yielded to by the weakest of them, that I can
-remember, in the whole course of our pretence; and had
-served hitherto but for an occasion of quarrel, whenever we
-or they had a mind to it, upon other reasons or conjectures.”<a id="FNanchor_919" href="#Footnote_919" class="fnanchor">919</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_510">510</span></p>
-
-<p>Temple’s eulogy of his own diplomacy was hardly justified.
-The Dutch had offered a similar article at Cologne;
-the striking of the flag had been provided for in previous
-treaties, and it was not in the least, as Temple should have
-known well (for De Witt often told him), and as the wording
-of the article shows, an acknowledgment of the dominion
-of England in the narrow seas. There is nothing in the
-article of the Westminster treaty that the Dutch were not
-perfectly willing to concede at Cologne. It was an improvement
-on the arrangement in previous treaties, inasmuch as
-the northern and southern limits of the seas in which
-the Dutch were to strike were defined, and it was made
-clear that the Dutch were to strike to a single English
-ship.</p>
-
-<p>But in truth the real diplomatic victory lay with the Dutch.
-The striking of the flag is expressly described in the article
-as a ceremony of “honour” and a “testimony of respect,”&mdash; a
-qualification and attenuation not to be found in the previous
-treaties. By the introduction of these words the Dutch gained
-a point they had long contended for. Equally pertinent was
-the omission of the term “British seas,” which is found in
-all the earlier treaties,&mdash;an omission for which Charles was
-in part responsible. The ceremony “of respect” was to be
-paid “in any of the seas” between Cape Finisterre and Van
-Staten; and while the Dutch refused to consider those seas
-British, the English plenipotentiaries at Cologne were unable
-to contend that they were British. The limits fixed were
-therefore, as Sir Philip Meadows observed, “too wide for
-dominion and too narrow for respect”;<a id="FNanchor_920" href="#Footnote_920" class="fnanchor">920</a> for we never claimed
-dominion in the Sea of Norway or the Bay of Biscay, and
-the Dutch offered to strike to the king’s flag all over the
-world. There is little doubt that the part of the article
-in which Charles was most interested was that relating
-to the striking of a squadron to a single ship of his, as it
-furnished a sort of justification for the action of the <i>Merlin</i>
-before the war. Temple himself was most anxious that the
-“former custom” referred to in all the previous treaties should
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_511">511</span>
-be clearly defined; and Charles was entirely satisfied with
-the article.<a id="FNanchor_921" href="#Footnote_921" class="fnanchor">921</a></p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding Temple’s satisfaction as to the article
-on the flag, it did not end disputes on the subject. In the
-year in which the treaty was concluded, and in the year
-following, several episodes occurred. One of them concerned
-personages no less eminent than the English ambassadors
-who had been at Cologne, and it formed a practical commentary
-on the fruitless negotiations in which they had been
-engaged. Sir Leoline Jenkins and Sir Joseph Williamson
-did not return until after the conclusion of peace, and when
-the king’s yacht, the <i>Cleveland</i>, which had been sent to
-bring them over, was lying at anchor off the Briel, with
-Sir Leoline on board, a yacht of the States passed between
-it and the shore without striking its flag or firing any guns.
-When a message was sent from the <i>Cleveland</i> to the commander
-of the yacht, who was ashore, telling him he should
-have struck his flag, he only shrugged his shoulders and
-said he had the States’ ambassadors bound for England aboard.
-The <i>Cleveland</i> then weighed anchor and went about a league
-seawards, where the Dutch yacht and a man-of-war were
-lying. Again no flag was lowered to the king’s yacht,
-and the English captain asked Jenkins what he should do.
-Jenkins adduced the case of Tromp’s striking to the Earl of
-Arundel in Goeree Road, and also of Prince Maurice’s yacht,
-which a few days before had struck “to the kitchen-yacht
-in the canal of Delf-Haven, between the houses.” The captain
-then remembered that the Dutch had struck to him in that
-very place as he passed up to Rotterdam, and he proceeded
-to take vigorous measures to compel the “duty.” A shot
-was fired “under the forefoot” of the States’ man-of-war,
-and after a “convenient” interval another over his poop,
-and then a third between his masts. This brought a boat
-from the man-of-war to say that the States’ ambassadors
-were “much astonished” at the shots being fired, and that
-they would not strike, as they were within their own ports.
-But when Sir Leoline Jenkins sent a formal request to Van
-Beuningen, one of the Dutch ambassadors, the man-of-war
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_512">512</span>
-took in its flag, and the incident ended.<a id="FNanchor_922" href="#Footnote_922" class="fnanchor">922</a> In the following
-year Sir Leoline Jenkins was again a passenger on board
-one of the royal yachts, the <i>Charles</i>; on reaching the Maes
-a Holland man-of-war saluted with five guns, but kept its
-pennant flying, and only took it in and repeated the guns after
-two shots had been fired at it by the <i>Charles</i>; the men-of-war
-at the Briel also saluted with their pennants struck.<a id="FNanchor_923" href="#Footnote_923" class="fnanchor">923</a></p>
-
-<p>In the spring of the same year Captain Herbert in the
-<i>Cambridge</i> encountered six French ships off Dungeness which
-refused to strike, and returned the fire, their admiral saying
-it was the King of France’s ship, and did not strike. They
-outsailed the <i>Cambridge</i>, said Herbert, which was no match
-for them. A few weeks later a French privateer in the same
-locality refused to strike to the <i>Garland</i>; and the tables were
-turned on the English by a Dutch privateer, which fired on
-a Whitby merchant vessel for not striking quick enough,
-and fined the master six shillings and eightpence for each shot
-expended, as well as beating and abusing him.<a id="FNanchor_924" href="#Footnote_924" class="fnanchor">924</a> A case of
-quite a different kind, unique indeed, as it appears, occurred
-at the end of 1675. On the return of the <i>Quaker</i> ketch to
-England the officers charged the commander, Captain Joseph
-Harris, with having lowered his top-sails to a Spanish man-of-war,
-supposed to be an Ostend privateer, in the Bay of Biscay,
-to the great dishonour of the king. He was tried by a court-martial,
-found guilty, and condemned to be shot to death at
-such time and place as the Lords Commissioners of the
-Admiralty should appoint.<a id="FNanchor_925" href="#Footnote_925" class="fnanchor">925</a> He was, however, reprieved and
-then pardoned.<a id="FNanchor_926" href="#Footnote_926" class="fnanchor">926</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_513">513</span></p>
-
-<p>Difficulties not infrequently occurred with merchant vessels,
-and even with fishing-boats, over this matter of the flag. We
-find Pepys writing to Captain Binning of the <i>Swan</i>, at Yarmouth,
-telling him that while he should take care that the
-Dutch “do their parts of civility towards his Majesty’s
-flag,” he ought not to impose upon them any “innovation,”
-the reference being to the taking of twelve barrels of herrings
-from each of the offenders in lieu of carrying them into port.<a id="FNanchor_927" href="#Footnote_927" class="fnanchor">927</a>
-Foreign merchant vessels, especially Spanish and French, were
-sometimes brought into port and their masters tried before
-the High Court of Admiralty for refusing to strike to English
-men-of-war. By the strict law of the Admiralty such vessels
-might have been forfeited, but this extreme course was apparently
-rarely or never taken, the usual punishment inflicted
-being fine and imprisonment. Cases of this kind were naturally
-apt to raise unpleasant questions with foreign Powers, and they
-had to be dealt with cautiously. In 1675, when two Frenchmen
-were brought before the court for this offence, the judge, Sir
-Thomas Exton, appealed for advice to Sir Leoline Jenkins,
-then at the Congress of Nimeguen, and was warned by him
-to be very careful how he dealt with the case. He advised
-him to meddle as little as possible with the French edicts
-of 1555 and 1584 (<a href="#Page_117">see p. 117</a>), under which the French
-Admiralty claimed similar rights, and to “stick to the terms
-of the indictment of the Spanish Captain at the Old Bailey,”
-adding that although much might be said plausibly on the
-subject of striking, that indictment had never been attacked;
-and he argued against the seizure and forfeiture of the ship.<a id="FNanchor_928" href="#Footnote_928" class="fnanchor">928</a></p>
-
-<p>After the third Dutch war several works appeared in which
-the claims of England to the salute and to the sovereignty
-of the sea were maintained. It has been already mentioned
-that at the beginning of 1674, when the Dutch offers of
-peace were received in London, the king asked Evelyn to
-write something against the Dutch about the flag and fishery.
-As the occasion was pressing, Evelyn extracted the introductory
-part of his work on the second Dutch war (a work which was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_514">514</span>
-never completed), and after submitting it to the king, published
-it under a rather misleading title.<a id="FNanchor_929" href="#Footnote_929" class="fnanchor">929</a> Notwithstanding the haste
-shown, the book appeared too late. Peace had been concluded,
-and the Dutch ambassador complained about it to the king.
-Charles ordered it to be recalled, but with characteristic artifice
-he instructed that the copies which were seized publicly to
-pacify the ambassador should be immediately restored to the
-printer, by which means the sales at least were much increased.<a id="FNanchor_930" href="#Footnote_930" class="fnanchor">930</a>
-About the book itself little need be said. It is an ill-digested
-and unveracious account of England’s claim to the sovereignty
-of the sea and the fishery, founded on Selden, Boroughs, and
-less reputable writers. The author computed the arrears of
-“rent” due by the Dutch, and which he said they had engaged
-to pay for liberty of fishing, at over &pound;500,000; and he falsified
-the amount of “license-money” received by Northumberland
-in 1636, although the Earl’s journals, and many other documents,
-were placed at his disposal. The most severe criticism
-of the work was made by the author himself, in a long and
-remarkable letter which he sent to Pepys a few years later,
-in which he repudiated, <i>seriatim</i>, all the “evidences” he
-had adduced in favour of the English pretension.<a id="FNanchor_931" href="#Footnote_931" class="fnanchor">931</a></p>
-
-<p>Another book of more influence than Evelyn’s, because it
-was for a long time considered the standard work on the
-maritime law of England, and went through many editions,
-was published by Molloy two years later; and in it the
-English pretension received perhaps its most arrogant expression.<a id="FNanchor_932" href="#Footnote_932" class="fnanchor">932</a>
-Notwithstanding the terms of the treaty of 1674, the
-author declared that the striking of the flag was not a mere
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_515">515</span>
-ceremony of respect, but an absolute acknowledgment of
-England’s sovereignty of the seas, the king granting foreigners
-a general license to pass through his seas, “paying that obeisance
-and duty, like the services when Lords grant out estates,
-reserving a rose or peppercorn, the value of which is not
-regarded, but the remembrance and acknowledging their
-benefactor’s right and dominion.” Molloy held that by the
-treaty of 1674 the dominion of the British seas was “ascertained”
-to extend from Cape Finisterre to Van Staten, in
-Norway, and similar opinions on this and on the subject
-generally were expressed by other writers on naval matters,
-as by Godolphin<a id="FNanchor_933" href="#Footnote_933" class="fnanchor">933</a> and Zouch,<a id="FNanchor_934" href="#Footnote_934" class="fnanchor">934</a> and by most writers on Admiralty
-affairs during the remainder of the century and well into
-the next.</p>
-
-<p>With respect to the fisheries, the failure of the previous
-attempt to establish a great fishery society did not deter
-others from being proposed. Efforts were indeed made
-throughout nearly the whole of the reign of Charles to keep
-the subject alive. An elaborate report was prepared by Dr
-Benjamin Worsley, who was Secretary to the Council for
-Trade and Plantations, on the Dutch fisheries and the best
-means by which a fishery could be established in this country
-with good hope of success. He stated that the least valuation
-generally placed on the Dutch herring fishery was
-&pound;3,000,000, and that it was said to employ 1600 busses. Detailed
-reasons were given for the belief that success would
-not attend any attempt to establish a great fishery in England,
-unless it received the active support of the king and Parliament,
-and unless we were able to undersell the Dutch in
-the markets, which he thought by a change of methods we
-might be able to do.</p>
-
-<p>Various efforts were made, openly and surreptitiously, to
-induce Dutchmen to settle at Yarmouth and Dover; the king
-even issued a declaration to encourage this in June 1672.
-But the schemes failed, and Sir Arnold Braems suggested that
-&pound;3000 of the amount expected to be paid by the Dutch for
-the liberty of fishing should be devoted to bringing over
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_516">516</span>
-busses and men.<a id="FNanchor_935" href="#Footnote_935" class="fnanchor">935</a> Early in 1675 a detailed scheme was laid
-before Charles for the setting up of a fishery company with
-forty busses and a capital of &pound;40,000, the estimated profit in
-the first year being placed at &pound;31,463.<a id="FNanchor_936" href="#Footnote_936" class="fnanchor">936</a> Among the objections
-urged to the setting up of the fishery by the king were the
-want of seamen and experienced curers; the acquaintance
-of the Dutch with the markets and their spare living, which
-would enable them to undersell us; and the laziness of English
-seamen. These objections were apparently answered satisfactorily,<a id="FNanchor_937" href="#Footnote_937" class="fnanchor">937</a>
-and in 1677 Charles issued a commission to the
-Duke of York, the Earl of Danby, and others for a new society,
-to be called “The Company of the Royal Fishery of England,”
-granting a number of privileges and &pound;20 per annum from
-the customs of the port of London for each buss or dogger.
-Stock was subscribed to the amount of about &pound;12,500, which
-was spent in purchasing busses; but as they were Dutch-built
-and manned by Dutchmen, the French, then at war
-with the United Provinces, seized six of the seven belonging
-to the company and brought the work to a stop. Although
-the company was reconstructed later, and an attempt to
-raise &pound;60,000 to carry it on made with some success, the
-death of the king and the troubles which followed caused
-the enterprise to be suspended. Thus the endeavours of
-Charles II. to create a great national fishery in England
-were no more successful than those of Charles I.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_517">517</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_I_CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.<br />
-
-<small>JAMES II. AND AFTER.</small></h2>
-
-<p>In the short and troubled reign of James II. little was heard
-of the claims of England to the sovereignty of the sea. Bad
-king as James was, he rescued the navy from the deplorable
-condition into which it had sunk in the later years of Charles,&mdash;of
-which Pepys has left so graphic a picture,<a id="FNanchor_938" href="#Footnote_938" class="fnanchor">938</a>&mdash;and the naval
-officers continued to enforce the routine duty of the flag; but
-the domestic troubles with which he was surrounded prevented
-him from turning it to account against any of his neighbours,
-even if he had been so inclined. And with the Revolution of
-1688 the whole aspect of the question was changed. The
-English pretension, as we have seen, had been specially
-directed against the United Provinces, but when the Prince of
-Orange was called to the English throne as William III., and
-was thus the ruler in both countries, it was not to be expected
-that he would show much zeal in continuing the policy of the
-Stuarts against his own countrymen.</p>
-
-<p>It is true that in the treaty which was concluded between
-England and the Dutch Republic in 1689, the article on the
-flag in the treaty of Westminster was repeated and confirmed.
-This, however, was very much a matter of routine and formality,
-though it must be said the Dutch ambassadors in London
-complained that William was as obstinate and punctilious about
-the question of the flag as any purely English sovereign could
-have been.<a id="FNanchor_939" href="#Footnote_939" class="fnanchor">939</a> But from this time until well on in the next
-century England and the United Provinces were united as
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_518">518</span>
-allies in the great wars with France. There was thus little
-room for serious disputes with them about the flag, the right to
-the herring fishery, or the sovereignty of the sea, even if the
-desire had existed. Against France, however, William made
-use of the customary language as to the English sovereignty of
-the sea. In the spring of 1689, after William had been proclaimed
-King of England, Louis XIV. foresaw the formidable
-coalition that would be formed against him, and he boldly
-issued what was virtually a challenge to England on the
-subject. He published an ordinance on 15th April in which he
-not only prohibited his officers from giving the first salute to
-ships of other nations carrying flags of equal rank to their
-own, but ordered them to demand the salute from foreign
-vessels on whatever seas or coasts they might encounter them,
-and to compel them by force if they refused.<a id="FNanchor_940" href="#Footnote_940" class="fnanchor">940</a> That this
-challenge of Louis to dispute the sovereignty of the sea was
-not too presumptuous was shown in the following year, when
-the combined fleets of England and Holland were defeated by
-the French off Beachy Head. In the declaration of war
-against France, in May 1689, the ordinance of Louis was made
-one of the reasons for hostilities. “The right of the flag,”
-said William, “inherent in the crown of England, has been
-disputed by his orders, in violation of our sovereignty of the
-Narrow Seas, which in all ages has been asserted by our
-predecessors, and which we are resolved to maintain, for the
-honour of our crown and of the English nation.”<a id="FNanchor_941" href="#Footnote_941" class="fnanchor">941</a> They were
-strange words to come from the mouth of one who was Prince
-of Orange as well as King of England, but the times were
-changing and such phrases were soon to become merely empty
-forms.</p>
-
-<p>With respect to this ceremony of the flag, which the English
-professed to regard as an acknowledgment of their sovereignty
-on the sea, it may be said that from this time on it ceased to
-have much importance in international affairs. The instructions
-issued by the Admiralty to the naval officers continued to be
-explicit enough, and they indeed suffered but little change for
-another century. The commander of one of his Majesty’s ships,
-on meeting with any ship or ships belonging to any foreign
-prince or state within his Majesty’s seas (which, it was explained,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_519">519</span>
-extended to Cape Finisterre, Van Staten not being mentioned),
-was to “expect” such ship or ships to strike their top-sail and
-take in their flag, “in acknowledgment of his Majesty’s sovereignty
-of those seas,” and if they refused or offered to resist,
-they were to be compelled to do so. Within his Majesty’s seas
-his Majesty’s ships were in no wise to strike to any; and in
-other parts only if the foreign ship struck first or at the same
-time, except in a foreign harbour or in a road within gunshot
-of a fort or castle, in which case a salute with guns was to be
-given if the commander of the fort agreed to answer gun for
-gun. If any British ship was so far forgetful of its duty as
-not to salute the king’s ship by striking the top-sail as it passed
-by, when it might be done without loss of the voyage, they
-were to be “brought to the Flag” to answer their contempt, or
-reported to the Admiralty for proceedings to be taken.<a id="FNanchor_942" href="#Footnote_942" class="fnanchor">942</a> Similar
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_520">520</span>
-instructions were issued in succeeding reigns, the injunction
-to compel by force those who refused to strike being limited to
-flag officers and commanders.<a id="FNanchor_943" href="#Footnote_943" class="fnanchor">943</a></p>
-
-<p>Disputes as to striking appear to have been much less
-common in the latter part of the seventeenth and in the
-eighteenth century than they were previously, but they sometimes
-occurred; and the ceremony seems to have been enforced
-on Dutch ships, though they were allied with the English fleet
-at the time. At all events, the Lords of the Admiralty in 1694
-wrote to the Duke of Shrewsbury saying that the instructions
-required the respect of the flag from all nations whatsoever,
-without any distinction, and that Sir Cloudesley Shovel had
-been advised to that effect.<a id="FNanchor_944" href="#Footnote_944" class="fnanchor">944</a> At this period, as indeed always,
-the Danes were very punctilious as to Kronberg Castle on the
-Sound being saluted with proper respect by foreign ships, and
-in 1694 Shrewsbury advised the Admiralty that the king had
-signified his pleasure that all ships of war sent to the Sound
-should salute Kronberg with three guns only, upon assurance
-that their salute would be returned by the castle with a like
-number of guns.<a id="FNanchor_945" href="#Footnote_945" class="fnanchor">945</a></p>
-
-<p>Early in the reign of Anne, in 1704, a sanguinary encounter
-took place with reference to the striking of the flag that
-equalled if it did not surpass in brutality any case that
-happened under Charles. An English squadron under the
-command of Admiral Whestone fell in with a Swedish man-of-war
-convoying some merchant vessels. The Swedish commander
-refused to strike to the English admiral, on the ground
-that he had received strict injunctions not to do so to any flag
-whatever, even in the Channel, and thereupon the English
-proceeded to compel him by force. After about 150 Swedes
-had been killed or wounded, as well as many English, the unlucky
-man-of-war, with all the merchantmen, was brought into
-Yarmouth Roads.<a id="FNanchor_946" href="#Footnote_946" class="fnanchor">946</a> Another case of a different kind happened
-in 1728, early in the reign of George II. A French man-of-war,
-the <i>Gironde</i>, under the command of Mons. de Joyeux, on going
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_521">521</span>
-into Plymouth Sound on 23rd November, was hailed by an
-English frigate, which demanded that he should salute the
-fortress and the frigate. The Frenchman replied that the
-bad weather had prevented his sending an officer to the
-governor to agree about a salute, but that he owed none to
-the frigate, which carried a pennant only, it being usual to
-salute none but flags; and he passed quickly into the port,
-where the captain of another frigate sent to ask him if he
-would not salute the commodore, who carried a bare pendant,
-and he returned the same answer. On coming out again on
-the 29th the frigate called upon him to strike his pennant,
-and on his refusal threatened to fire upon him. M. de Joyeux,
-feeling that it was by no means proper to hazard his ship
-under the cannon of the castle and the batteries, then complied,
-and also saluted the fort with eleven guns, as previously
-arranged. This “insult” was made the subject of complaint
-by France, and when all the papers had been submitted to the
-king he instructed that the officer responsible, Lieutenant
-Thomas Smith of the <i>Gosport</i>, should be forthwith dismissed
-the service as having in this particular exceeded his instructions.<a id="FNanchor_947" href="#Footnote_947" class="fnanchor">947</a></p>
-
-<p>In the writings of the naval historians of last century one
-may find expressed the views which were then prevalent in
-naval circles as to the striking of the flag and the sovereignty
-of the sea generally. They claimed for the crown of England
-an exclusive propriety and dominion in the British seas, both
-as to the right of passage and the right of fishing, and the
-widest limits were assigned to those seas. Thus Burchett,
-who was Secretary to the Admiralty, defined them as follows
-in 1720: On the east they extended to the shores of Norway,
-Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands, so as to include
-the North Sea; on the south they were bounded by the shores
-of France and Spain to Cape Finisterre, and by a line from
-that Cape westwards to meet the western boundary, thus
-comprising the Channel, the Bay of Biscay, and part of the
-Atlantic Ocean; on the west they extended to an imaginary
-line in the Atlantic in longitude 23 degrees west from London,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_522">522</span>
-passing from the southern boundary to latitude 63 degrees
-north; and on the north they were bounded by this parallel
-to the middle point of Van Staten. These were declared to
-be the British seas proper, in which the crown had the most
-absolute dominion and the right to the honour of the flag from
-all other nations; but in addition, it was stated that on the
-north and west as far as America and Greenland the crown
-had also “most ample rights” in virtue of first discovery and
-occupation.<a id="FNanchor_948" href="#Footnote_948" class="fnanchor">948</a></p>
-
-<p>No doubt much of the claim put forward by these writers on
-behalf of the maritime dominion of England was stereotyped,
-and had more form than substance. Entick, indeed, in 1757,
-although asserting the right of Great Britain to an absolute
-sovereignty of the sea, and to the striking of the flag as an
-acknowledgment of it, himself described this duty as “but an
-indifferent honorary ceremony.” The changed point of view in
-which the matter was regarded was shown also in the declaration
-of war by Great Britain against the United Provinces in
-1780, because they had joined the Armed Neutrality. It
-contained nothing referring either to the flag or to the sovereignty
-of the sea; and it was doubtless as a mere matter of
-form and precedent that a brief article relating to the striking
-of the flag was inserted among the preliminary articles of
-peace, drawn up at Paris in 1783, and in the definitive treaty
-of peace concluded with the United Provinces in the next
-year.<a id="FNanchor_949" href="#Footnote_949" class="fnanchor">949</a> The time was approaching when this ceremony was to
-pass away altogether as a symbol of our maritime sovereignty,
-even in the eyes of Englishmen. There was little need of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_523">523</span>
-claiming it as an acknowledgment of our actual naval supremacy
-during the greater part of the eighteenth century, for
-it was obvious to all the world that British sea-power was
-supreme. From the reign of Anne onwards the naval force of
-Great Britain was overwhelming, and formed a determining
-factor in the history of Europe. This country was undisputed
-mistress of the seas,&mdash;or tyrant of the seas, as our enemies
-preferred to put it,&mdash;and our old rival, the Netherlands, was
-left far behind in the race for naval power as well as in
-commerce.<a id="FNanchor_950" href="#Footnote_950" class="fnanchor">950</a> Nor was it longer necessary to insist on the
-honour of the flag in order to stimulate the valour of our
-seamen, to keep alive the spirit of maritime glory in the
-nation, or to evoke the reverence of foreign peoples. The
-forcing of all foreign ships to strike in the British seas became
-a political encumbrance unsuited to the times. It was
-allowed to fall into disuse when its inconvenience had long
-outgrown any utility it had possessed, and the battle of Trafalgar,
-in 1805, gave the opportunity of departing from the
-ancient claim. The naval power of France and Spain having
-been humbled, it was thought a convenient time spontaneously
-to abandon a pretension which “could not probably have been
-maintained much longer except at the cannon’s mouth.”<a id="FNanchor_951" href="#Footnote_951" class="fnanchor">951</a> The
-Admiralty, with the approbation of the Government, accordingly
-omitted the arbitrary article from their instructions for
-the fleet.<a id="FNanchor_952" href="#Footnote_952" class="fnanchor">952</a></p>
-
-<p>In the closing years of the seventeenth century and the
-earlier part of the next there were many signs that the era of
-claiming an exclusive sovereignty over extensive regions of
-the sea was passing away; and that, on the other hand, the
-policy of fixing exact boundaries for special purposes, either by
-international treaties or national laws, was taking its place.
-Such signs may be observed in the writings of public men, as
-in the letter of recantation which Evelyn indited to Pepys in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_524">524</span>
-1682 (<a href="#Page_514">see p. 514</a>), which included a long reasoned argument
-against the English pretensions. Still more to the point was
-the appearance of an extremely able work by Sir Philip
-Meadows in 1689, immediately after the Revolution, in which
-these pretensions were subjected to the most destructive criticism.<a id="FNanchor_953" href="#Footnote_953" class="fnanchor">953</a>
-Meadows had considerable experience of public affairs.
-As Latin Secretary to Cromwell’s Council&mdash;an office to which
-he was appointed in 1653 in order to relieve the poet Milton,
-whose blindness interfered with his duties&mdash;he was conversant
-with the negotiations then proceeding with the Dutch; and
-later, as ambassador to Denmark and then to Sweden, he had
-opportunities of acquainting himself with the claims to maritime
-sovereignty put forward by those countries. The keynote
-of Meadows’ work was, that as the dominion of the seas was
-apt to become a specious pretence to a war between England
-and Holland, while the real causes of such a war were hidden
-and remote, nothing would conduce more effectually to preserve
-a lasting peace than a true knowledge and right understanding
-of the matter. If the claim of England as expounded by
-Selden was to be considered the proper standard of right and
-wrong between us and other nations, “if what was well written
-must be fought for too, not being to be gained but by a longer
-tool than a pen,” then the King of England would be cast upon
-this hard dilemma&mdash;either of being involved in endless and
-dangerous quarrels with all his neighbours abroad, or of having
-his honour and reputation prostituted at home, as tamely
-suffering “the best jewel of his crown to be ravished from it.”
-The English pretension, he pointed out, differed from that of
-Venice, inasmuch as it related not to a bay or gulf, but to a
-sea open on both sides which formed the passage of communication
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_525">525</span>
-for the northern and southern nations of Europe. Persistence
-in the pretension would therefore result in war between
-the island and the Continent, as to whether the island should
-have the sea to herself, or whether the Continent should have
-a share of it with her. No nation had ever acknowledged the
-claim of England, which, moreover, was not enforced, because
-if one foreigner did violence to another, outside the King’s
-Chambers, but in the Channel or any part of the so-called
-British sea, he did not come under the jurisdiction of the King
-of England but under that of his own state.</p>
-
-<p>While strenuously opposing the pretensions to the sovereignty
-of the sea, Meadows agreed with all other authors in holding
-that every country had an exclusive right to certain parts of
-the sea adjoining its coasts: the difficulty was to fix the
-bounds. “If there is no certain standard in nature,” he says,
-“whereby to ascertain the precise boundaries of that peculiar
-Marine Territory I am now speaking to, which belongs to
-every prince in right of his land, yet, by treaty and agreement,
-they may easily be reduced to certainty. For, as to the judgment
-and opinion of private persons, we cannot fetch from
-thence any true measure; for though they all agree unanimously
-that there is something due of right, yet they vary in
-the <i>quantum</i>, or how much. Therefore the surest way is to
-prescribe the limits of fishing betwixt neighbouring nations by
-contract, and not by the less certain measure of territory. For,
-if no bounds be fixed, how many inconveniencies, and what a
-licentious extravagance, may such a liberty run into?” The
-Dutch, he said, unless boundaries were fixed, might dredge for
-oysters on the coast of Essex, as they did formerly; or fish
-within the mouth of the Thames, or in our creeks, havens, and
-rivers; and it was unreasonable not to draw a distinction as to
-fishing between natives and aliens. Meadows therefore, foreshadowing
-modern practice, urged that the boundaries of exclusive
-fishing should be determined by treaty, and he prepared
-a draft article for the consideration of those concerned.<a id="FNanchor_954" href="#Footnote_954" class="fnanchor">954</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_526">526</span>
-In a later unpublished treatise he advocated much the same
-method of mutual agreement with France, with respect to the
-striking of the flag, as had been formerly proposed by Richelieu&mdash;that
-in our half of the Channel they should strike to us, and
-that in the half next France we should strike to them.<a id="FNanchor_955" href="#Footnote_955" class="fnanchor">955</a></p>
-
-<p>Whether or not the writings of Meadows had any influence
-upon the practice, or, what is more likely, merely reflected
-the change in opinion that had begun, it is from about this
-time that we find instances of definite boundaries being fixed,
-usually in connection with the rights of fishery, instead of
-the vague claims that commonly prevailed. The first case
-of the kind happened indeed a few years earlier. In a treaty
-between James II. and Louis XIV., which was concluded in
-1686, concerning the rights of trading and fishing in the
-British and French possessions in America, it was agreed
-that the subjects of each were to abstain from fishing or
-trading “in the havens, bays, creeks, roads, shoals or places”
-belonging to the other, and the liberty of innocent navigation
-was not to be disturbed.<a id="FNanchor_956" href="#Footnote_956" class="fnanchor">956</a> Though no definite limit was laid
-down in this treaty, the meaning of the terms used was well
-understood; they were practically the same as those used
-in the proclamations as to neutral waters in 1668 and 1683.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_527">527</span>
-They are interesting as being the first definitions of the kind
-which apply to the coasts of America, and they do not materially
-differ from the terms used in the treaty of 1818, the
-interpretation of which has given rise to so much dispute.
-Another example for a different purpose is to be found in a
-convention between France and Algeria in 1689, which established
-a limit of ten leagues along the Mediterranean coasts
-of France in connection with the operations of the Barbary
-corsairs.<a id="FNanchor_957" href="#Footnote_957" class="fnanchor">957</a></p>
-
-<p>In the treaty above referred to, between Great Britain and
-France, the rights of trading and fishing went together. This
-was a very common thing in those times, particularly in
-remote seas, where the two pursuits were often combined,
-and it was especially the case in the northern seas which
-were supposed to be under the sway of the King of Denmark.
-The disputes which occurred between Denmark and
-the United Provinces of the Netherlands are of interest in this
-regard, since they reveal the methods and the stages by which
-a defined boundary was eventually substituted for a general
-claim to maritime dominion. They show, moreover, that at
-the end of the disputes Great Britain stood by the side of
-Holland in opposing the Danish pretension to <i>mare clausum</i>,
-and was altogether in favour of the free sea. It was apparently
-the assertion of James I. to a monopoly of the whale-fishing
-at Spitzbergen (<a href="#Page_181">see p. 181</a>) that induced Denmark to
-put forward a similar pretension with regard to Greenland.
-As early as 1615 a Danish man-of-war demanded a contribution
-from Dutch whalers for liberty to fish there, and the King
-of Denmark complained to the States-General that their
-subjects were carrying on the fishery without his license and
-contrary to his rights. The Dutch opposed this claim and
-sent armed ships to the scene, which kept the Danes from
-active interference. A little later, in 1623, Denmark raised
-fresh complaints in connection with the fishing at Jan Mayen,
-an island discovered by the Dutch, and which, therefore,
-according to the charter of the Dutch Arctic Company, belonged
-to them. In 1639 Danish men-of-war again interfered
-with Dutch whalers, this time at Spitzbergen, in virtue of
-a decree prohibiting fishing without a license from the King
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_528">528</span>
-of Denmark; but the firm attitude of the States-General,
-whose fleets were then all-powerful, cooled the ardour of
-the Danes. Denmark also raised difficulties in connection
-with the cod-fishing in the northern seas. In 1616 foreigners
-were prohibited from fishing either at F&aelig;r&ouml;e, Iceland, or on
-the coast of Norway, an injunction renewed in 1636 and
-1639, and various limits were assigned with respect to the
-cod-fishing at Iceland. In 1636 the Norwegian Government
-declared that the exclusive right of fishing pertained to
-subjects within a distance of four to six Scandinavian leagues
-from the coast, which is equal to from sixteen to twenty-four
-geographical miles. The Danish claim to <i>mare clausum</i> also
-included a monopoly of trade in those remote regions, and
-the Hanseatic towns as well as the Dutch were forbidden
-to carry on traffic with the natives. But the efforts of Denmark
-to preserve a monopoly of fishing and trading in the
-Arctic seas were intermittent and ineffectual. The great
-Dutch Arctic Company (<i>Noordsche Compagnie</i>), by their
-charter granted in 1614, were entitled not only to the exclusive
-right, so far as concerned Dutchmen, “to trade and
-fish from the United Provinces on or to the coasts of the
-lands between Nova Zembla and Davis’ Strait,” including
-Spitzbergen, Barent’s Island, and Greenland, but also to the
-possession and fishery of any islands they might discover in
-those seas. The rights granted to this powerful company
-were thus directly opposed to the Danish claim to <i>mare
-clausum</i>, and owing to the preponderating naval force of
-the United Provinces, which was behind them, they eventually
-prevailed. In February 1691, after the defeat by the French
-of the allied British and Dutch fleets off Beachy Head and
-the suspension of the Dutch whale-fishing by reason of the
-war, King Christian V. issued another decree prohibiting whale-fishing
-at Greenland to all but Danish subjects; and in the
-following year Hamburg was forced to conclude a treaty
-with Denmark to enable her citizens to carry on fishing
-and navigation in Davis’ Strait.</p>
-
-<p>It was at this time, nevertheless, that Denmark substituted
-a fixed limit at other parts of her dominions for her previous
-vague and general claim to maritime sovereignty. By a
-decree of 26th June 1691, the sea between the south coast
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_529">529</span>
-of Norway and the coast of Jutland, within a straight line
-drawn from Cape Lindesn&aelig;s to Harboore in Rinkjobing, a
-distance of over a hundred geographical miles, was declared
-to belong to Denmark; and it was further ordained that in
-places where the king possessed only one of the coasts, the
-sea was under his dominion up to the distance at which the
-land was lost sight of&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, within the range of vision. At
-the end of the following year (3rd December 1692) another
-edict was issued declaring that no one without royal authority
-would be allowed to carry on whale-fishing within ten Norwegian
-leagues, or forty geographical miles, of the coast.<a id="FNanchor_958" href="#Footnote_958" class="fnanchor">958</a>
-This tendency of Denmark to formulate defined boundaries
-in the seas along her coasts was carried further, as we shall
-see, in the eighteenth century.</p>
-
-<p>Within the areas above mentioned, Denmark enforced her
-authority with considerable vigour. In 1698 a Dutch ship
-was seized and confiscated for fishing at the F&aelig;r&ouml;es; and in
-the period 1738-1740 great energy was displayed in repressing
-violations of the Danish decrees. Several Dutch ships
-were fired on by Danish men-of-war for trading at Greenland;
-the crews were turned adrift in open boats, and the vessels
-taken to Copenhagen, where they were condemned as prize
-in the Admiralty Court. In retaliation, a Danish ship was
-seized at Amsterdam, and then Danish men-of-war fell upon
-the Dutch doggers fishing around Iceland, about a hundred
-in number, captured four, and dispersed the others without,
-it was alleged, offering to molest the British and French
-smacks fishing along with them. While bringing the captured
-doggers to Denmark, one of them managed to escape, and
-carried off to Holland the prize crew on board, consisting of
-a Danish midshipman and three seamen&mdash;an episode that
-recalls John Brown’s experience in 1617. These occurrences
-were naturally followed by diplomatic controversies. Denmark
-at first based her action in seizing the doggers on a decree
-of 1733, reserving to her own subjects the exclusive right
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_530">530</span>
-of fishing and navigating within four leagues of the coast
-of all Danish possessions in the Arctic seas; and the Dutch
-were accused of carrying on an extensive illicit trade at
-Iceland, under cover of fishing. The States-General used
-the familiar arguments about the freedom of the seas for
-fishing and navigation, urged long-continued possession, and
-cited an old treaty of 1447 which gave the Dutch the right
-to navigate “usque ad Bore&aelig; oras.” Then Denmark placed
-her case on its ancient basis, declaring that the kings of
-Denmark and Norway had enjoyed from time immemorial
-the dominion of the northern seas, and were therefore entitled,
-even according to the teaching of Grotius, to the
-exclusive fishing. They denied that the Dutch had ever
-possessed the right of fishery in these seas, alleging that
-clandestine acts, punished as soon as discovered, could not
-be construed into possession. This revival of <i>dominium
-maris</i> called forth an energetic protest from the States-General,
-and affairs took a bellicose turn. Denmark sent a squadron
-north to maintain her claims, and Holland provided an armed
-convoy for her whalers and Iceland cod-smacks, “to defend
-themselves against the pretensions of the Danes.” Hostilities
-were averted by the intercession of Sweden, and of the British
-and French Ministers at Copenhagen, in favour of the Dutch
-Republic and the freedom of the seas.</p>
-
-<p>Occasional disputes of the same kind occurred between
-Denmark and the United Provinces later in the century. In
-1757 a Dutch ship was arrested&mdash;it was said in the open
-sea&mdash;on the ground that it had been trading in Davis’ Strait,
-and the matter was adjusted a few years later by an undertaking
-that the Dutch vessels would refrain from trading
-within the precincts of the Danish possessions. The States-General
-in 1762 issued a placard to this effect, and they also
-sent a ship of war to enforce it. In 1776 an English brigantine
-and two Dutch vessels were seized for trading at Greenland,
-and condemned by the Danish Admiralty Court, and
-although on the protests of the British and Dutch Governments
-the vessels were released, compensation for detention
-was refused.<a id="FNanchor_959" href="#Footnote_959" class="fnanchor">959</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_531">531</span></p>
-
-<p>Other and later examples of the tendency alluded to, of
-fixing definite limits for the rights of the state in the seas
-washing its territories, may be found in the international
-treaties, which were concluded during the eighteenth century,
-concerning the rights of fishery on the coasts and islands of
-the British possessions in North America, a region of the world
-which has furnished numerous examples of agreements of
-the kind. One of these, in 1686, has been already mentioned.
-By the great treaty of Utrecht in 1713, following Marlborough’s
-successful campaigns on the Continent, France ceded
-Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Great Britain; but certain
-concessions were made to French fishermen, who, of
-course, previously enjoyed the right of fishing there, which
-subsequently for a long period formed a fertile source of
-trouble and dispute. In addition to certain privileges as to
-landing and drying fish, French subjects were to be free to
-fish in the seas, bays, and other places to thirty leagues from
-the south-east coast of Nova Scotia.<a id="FNanchor_960" href="#Footnote_960" class="fnanchor">960</a> Half a century later,
-by the treaty of Paris in 1763, at the conclusion of the seven
-years’ war, Canada was ceded to Great Britain, and the concessions
-to French fishermen at Newfoundland were confirmed,
-with some modifications. Liberty of fishing was also granted
-to them in the Gulf of St Lawrence, subject to the condition
-that they did “not exercise the said fishery, except at a
-distance of three leagues from all the coasts belonging to
-Great Britain, as well those of the continent as those of
-the islands situated in the said Gulf of St Lawrence.” On
-the coasts of the island of Cape Breton, outwith the Gulf,
-they were not to fish within fifteen leagues of the shore.<a id="FNanchor_961" href="#Footnote_961" class="fnanchor">961</a>
-These provisions concerning the fishery in the Gulf of St
-Lawrence and at Cape Breton were confirmed twenty years
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_532">532</span>
-later by the treaty of Versailles in 1783, the article regarding
-Newfoundland being at the same time modified.<a id="FNanchor_962" href="#Footnote_962" class="fnanchor">962</a></p>
-
-<p>In these various treaties the fisheries were dealt with in a
-special and exceptional manner, in connection with the cession
-of the adjacent territories by France to Great Britain. The
-French fishermen had always enjoyed the right of fishing in these
-seas in virtue of the ownership of the land; and though full
-sovereignty over the latter was acquired by Great Britain, the
-liberty of fishing, under certain restrictions, was continued notwithstanding
-the transference of territory. The fisheries of
-Newfoundland and Canada were of great importance. They
-were highly valued by France as forming nurseries of seamen
-for her navy, and for this reason the preliminary treaty of
-1762 was severely criticised by the Opposition in the British
-Parliament, and especially by Pitt, who perceived that the
-concessions with respect to the fisheries would enable France
-to revive her naval power.<a id="FNanchor_963" href="#Footnote_963" class="fnanchor">963</a></p>
-
-<p>A concession still more extensive, on the same principle, was
-granted by Great Britain to the newly-established United
-States of America in the treaty of 1783, by which their independence
-was recognised. The question of the rights of fishery
-was very fully discussed in the negotiations which preceded the
-treaty; and though Great Britain did not deny the right of
-American citizens to fish on the Great Banks of Newfoundland,
-or in the Gulf of St Lawrence, or elsewhere in the open sea,
-she denied their right to fish in British waters, or to land on
-British territory for the purpose of drying or curing their fish.
-A compromise was arrived at, and the treaty provided that the
-people of the United States should continue to enjoy, unmolested,
-the right to take fish of all kinds on the Newfoundland Banks,
-in the Gulf of St Lawrence, and at “all other places in the sea
-where the inhabitants of both countries used at any time heretofore
-to fish”; also on such parts of the coast of Newfoundland
-as British fishermen should use, and “on the coasts, bays, and
-creeks” of all other parts of the British-American dominions.
-They were further permitted to dry and cure their fish on
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_533">533</span>
-unsettled parts of the coast of Nova Scotia, the Magdalen
-Islands, and Labrador, so long as these parts remained unsettled.<a id="FNanchor_964" href="#Footnote_964" class="fnanchor">964</a>
-It will be observed that by this treaty the liberty of fishing in
-the territorial waters of the British possessions in America was
-conceded to the citizens of the United States, who had exercised
-the fishery before their independence was declared. They
-continued to enjoy the right which they had had as British
-subjects after they had ceased to be British subjects, and they
-did so until the war of 1812.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to the fisheries at home, in whose interest James I.
-had originally raised the question of the sovereignty of the sea,
-the clamour against the Dutch gradually died out, or was only
-heard at intervals and received but scant attention. Pamphleteers
-continued to denounce the liberty allowed to foreigners to
-fish along the British coasts, and drew the usual picture of the
-great national advantage that would flow from the creation of
-native fisheries to rival those of the Dutch.<a id="FNanchor_965" href="#Footnote_965" class="fnanchor">965</a> Under James II.,
-William, Anne, and the Georges, the policy of fostering the
-fisheries by protective legislation and by means of organised
-societies or associations was continued, with but little good
-result. The most serious attempt was made in the middle
-of the eighteenth century, when an Act was passed<a id="FNanchor_966" href="#Footnote_966" class="fnanchor">966</a> for the
-incorporation of “The Society of the Free British Fishery,”
-giving power to raise a stock of &pound;500,000, and guaranteeing
-3 per cent interest on the sum raised within eighteen months,&mdash;which
-amounted to &pound;104,509,&mdash;as well as conferring various
-privileges and immunities, including a tonnage bounty to
-encourage the equipment of busses. This society, which was
-incorporated in the autumn of 1750, with the Prince of Wales
-as Governor, had a chequered career. Its headquarters were
-pitched at Southwold, Suffolk, where docks were built and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_534">534</span>
-buildings erected. In 1756 it possessed thirty busses and six
-“yagers” to carry the pickled herrings to Hamburg and
-Bremen, the masters of the busses being Dutch or Danish,
-and the crews chiefly from Orkney, the fishing being carried
-on at the Shetlands and down the coast to Yarmouth. Financial
-and other difficulties were encountered, some of the vessels
-being taken by French privateers, and all the remaining busses
-and effects were sold in 1772 for &pound;6391. Half a century later,
-the relics of some of the discarded busses were dug out of the
-mud at Southwold.</p>
-
-<p>The Act above referred to was the parent of many others
-designed to encourage the fisheries, chiefly by providing
-bounties; but probably more effective than such measures in
-stimulating the native industry was the decay which overtook
-the fisheries of the Dutch. This decay was no doubt due to
-several causes, but among the chief must be reckoned the
-frequent maritime wars of the eighteenth century in which
-the United Provinces were engaged. Their herring-busses
-were often captured or destroyed, sometimes in large numbers
-at a time, as in 1703, when a French squadron fell upon them
-at Shetland and burned many of them&mdash;variously stated at
-from 150 to 400.<a id="FNanchor_967" href="#Footnote_967" class="fnanchor">967</a> Not infrequently their herring fishery was
-entirely suspended, it might be for a series of years, owing to
-the inability of the States-General to protect the fishing vessels
-from the French or the British cruisers; and such interruptions
-told seriously upon a business which depended so largely on
-the export trade of the cured herrings. From these repeated
-blows the Dutch fisheries never recovered, and the fleets of
-busses gradually dwindled. In 1703, 500 of them fished
-at the Shetlands and southwards along the coast; half a
-century afterwards there were but little over 200; and in
-the later years of the century the number sank as low as
-120, which scarcely exceeded the vessels from Denmark, Prussia
-(Emden), and Belgium. Thus the part of the pretension to the
-sovereignty of the sea which related to the fisheries along the
-British coasts was gradually solved, the British fisheries, now
-the greatest in the world, rising on the ruins of the Dutch.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_535">535</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 class="xx-large" id="SECTION_II">SECTION II.<br />
-
-<img class="figcenter" src="images/hr.jpg" alt="" />
-
-THE TERRITORIAL WATERS
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_536">536</span>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_537">537</span></h2>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_II_CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE TERRITORIAL SEA.</span></h2>
-
-<p>From what has been said in previous chapters, it is apparent
-that the extensive claims which were formerly made to the
-dominion of the English or British seas were practically
-abandoned in the eighteenth century, and the pretensions of
-other states to a similar and more effective dominion in particular
-seas long ago shared the same fate. It is now settled
-as indisputable, both by the usage of nations and the principles
-of international law, that the open ocean cannot be appropriated
-by any one Power. But it is also as firmly established
-that all states possess sovereign rights in those parts of the
-sea which wash their shores, although there is not, and has
-never been, universal agreement as to the precise nature of
-those rights, or as to the extent of the sea that may be thus
-appropriated. While the general movement of opinion and
-practice in modern times has thus been from the <i>mare clausum</i>
-to the <i>mare liberum</i>&mdash;from the sea held to be appropriated
-by particular nations to the sea under no sovereignty, but free
-and open to all for all purposes,&mdash;there has been another movement
-in the opposite direction, by which the exclusive rights
-of maritime states in the waters immediately adjoining their
-coasts have come to be more clearly recognised and definitely
-incorporated in international law. To this extent all maritime
-countries now possess a sovereignty of the sea.</p>
-
-<p>It is desirable to trace the evolution of this limited
-sovereignty over what is now known as the territorial waters
-or territorial sea (also named the neighbouring, proximal, adjacent,
-or littoral sea&mdash;<i>mare proximum</i>, <i>mare vicinum</i>, <i>mer
-territoriale</i>, <i>n&auml;chstangrenzendes Meer</i>), and to consider in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_538">538</span>
-particular the two main aspects it presents,&mdash;first, the actual
-practice of nations on the one hand, and, second, the opinions
-of the accredited writers on international law.</p>
-
-<p>The sovereignty over the so-called territorial sea has sometimes
-been regarded as the direct remnant of a sovereignty
-which was previously asserted by particular nations over
-whole seas or large parts of them.<a id="FNanchor_968" href="#Footnote_968" class="fnanchor">968</a> This is true in a general
-sense, but in tracing the historical evolution of the territorial
-waters it is found that the steps by which the transference
-was effected varied in different cases. The pretensions of
-Denmark, for example, to a wide dominion over the Norwegian
-Sea and the North Atlantic, were slowly curtailed by gradual
-concessions to the opposition of other Powers, so that the extensive
-territorial waters at present pertaining to Norway may
-be looked upon as the residuum of the ancient claim. The
-exclusive rights have persisted, while the area over which they
-are exercised has dwindled. In like manner, the equally extensive
-territorial waters of Sweden may be regarded as an
-abridgment of her old claims in the Baltic. The same process
-may have operated in the case of Spain and Portugal, both of
-which Powers now claim maritime sovereignty to a distance
-of six miles from their coasts; but here the successive stages
-of contraction are not obvious. The territorial sea now held
-to pertain to Great Britain, so far as it has been defined, did
-not originate in this way, by direct descent from the old
-claim to the dominion of the British seas. That claim simply
-died out and vanished in the lapse of time, without apparently
-leaving a single juridical or international right behind it. The
-British territorial waters, as usually defined, are of modern
-origin, and were derived from the international jurisprudence
-of the Continent, and especially from the doctrine of Bynkershoek,
-to be referred to later.</p>
-
-<p>Even during the time when some nations were asserting a
-wide maritime dominion, and other nations were opposing such
-pretensions, there was a general recognition that every maritime
-state was entitled to exercise jurisdiction over some extent
-of the neighbouring sea. This was admitted by the most
-thoroughgoing advocates of the <i>mare liberum</i>, as by Grotius
-himself, and it was acknowledged by the common usage of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_539">539</span>
-nations. The rights exercised by the crown of England, for
-instance, in the so-called King’s Chambers in the seventeenth
-century were apparently not challenged by foreign Powers. But
-while the sovereign rights of a state over a part of the adjacent
-sea were recognised by the usage of nations and the opinions of
-publicists, there was no agreement as to the extent which might
-be appropriated, and various limits or boundaries have from time
-to time been proposed or adopted, by which the sea pertaining
-to a state might be divided off from that which was open
-and free to all. From an early date attempts were made by
-jurists to discover some general principle or to lay down rules
-which might be applied in all such cases. Some of these
-rules were of such a nature as to assign to states an extent
-of sea almost as great as any comprised under the widest
-claims to maritime sovereignty, and none of them received a
-general assent. The early English lawyers of the twelfth and
-thirteenth centuries, Glanville, Bracton, Britton, and “Fleta,”
-merely followed the Roman law with regard to the sea&mdash;that
-is to say, they held that it is by its nature common, like the
-air, and they did not suggest any limit within which the prince
-of the adjoining state had exclusive jurisdiction or dominion
-(<a href="#Page_66">see p. 66</a>).</p>
-
-<p>It is in the writings of the early Italian jurists, who lived
-after the time when Venice by force of arms had established
-her sovereignty over the Adriatic, that we first meet with
-proposals to assign legal limits to the maritime jurisdiction
-of the neighbouring state. Bartolus of Saxo-Ferrato, a great
-Perugian jurist who died in 1357, and whose authority in
-the middle ages was very great, declared the law to be that
-jurisdiction extended to a distance of one hundred miles from
-the coast, or less than two days’ journey from it. Within this
-space the ruler had power to apprehend and punish delinquents
-just as he had on land.<a id="FNanchor_969" href="#Footnote_969" class="fnanchor">969</a> Baldus Ubaldus, another eminent
-Italian jurist, who was a pupil of Bartolus and died in 1400,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_540">540</span>
-also allotted a wide limit to the maritime rights of the prince
-of the adjoining territory; but he reduced the space from one
-hundred to sixty miles, a distance which was supposed to be
-equal to one day’s journey from the coast.<a id="FNanchor_970" href="#Footnote_970" class="fnanchor">970</a> The boundaries
-assigned by these jurists, or sometimes the equivalent of one
-or two days’ voyage from the coast, were very generally accepted
-by civilians later, although frequently with qualification,
-more particularly as to the nature of the rights to be exercised.<a id="FNanchor_971" href="#Footnote_971" class="fnanchor">971</a>
-Bartolus confined the rights of the prince to jurisdiction and
-the appropriation of islands, and since the distance prescribed
-included the space within which navigation in those times was
-almost entirely restricted, it is probable that the primary idea
-was the maintenance of order and the suppression of piracy.
-The underlying principle was the range of navigation from the
-coast or from a port, just as later it was the range of guns.</p>
-
-<p>Baldus seems to have gone a step further than Bartolus by
-including sovereignty (<i>potestas</i>) as well as jurisdiction (<i>jurisdictio</i>)
-among the rights of the neighbouring prince, and he
-declared that the proximal sea pertained to the territory of
-the adjoining state, which, as in the case of Venice, had power
-to impose taxes for the use of it.<a id="FNanchor_972" href="#Footnote_972" class="fnanchor">972</a> Much the same opinion was
-expressed by Bodin, a French lawyer who wrote about the
-middle of the sixteenth century. When speaking of the taxes
-or tolls that might be imposed by a state, he said that though
-the sea was incapable of appropriation, it was in a measure
-accepted that for a distance of sixty miles from the shore the
-prince of the adjoining country could impose law on those who
-approached the coast, and that it had been so adjudged in the
-case of the Duke of Savoy.<a id="FNanchor_973" href="#Footnote_973" class="fnanchor">973</a> Gentilis, writing at the beginning
-of the next century, stated that it was laid down by the
-civilians that not only jurisdiction, but dominion, pertained to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_541">541</span>
-the neighbouring state as far as one hundred miles from the
-coast, and even further unless the proximity of another state
-interfered.<a id="FNanchor_974" href="#Footnote_974" class="fnanchor">974</a></p>
-
-<p>It is thus clear that long before the beginning of the seventeenth
-century, the original simplicity of the Roman law regarding
-the appropriation of the sea had undergone a change
-at the hands of its commentators, and that the doctrine of
-sovereignty or dominion over a very considerable maritime
-zone was widely held by jurists. But there is no evidence
-that either of the boundaries prescribed by Bartolus or Baldus
-was sanctioned by the general usage of nations. They do not
-appear ever to have been adopted by any state of northern
-or western Europe as the limits of its territorial sea or maritime
-sovereignty; although they were occasionally used in arguments
-in State Papers, as when the Earl of Salisbury justified
-to the Spanish Court King James’s proclamation of 1609
-against unlicensed fishing, on the ground that maritime jurisdiction
-was “generally received to be about one hundred miles
-at the least into the seas.” The actual application of these
-large boundaries appears to have been confined to parts of
-the Mediterranean, where the doctrine took its rise, and where
-it survived till the eighteenth century.<a id="FNanchor_975" href="#Footnote_975" class="fnanchor">975</a> A more recent and
-a curious survival of the old boundary of Bartolus is to be
-found in the abortive Russian Ukase of 1821, by which
-foreigners were prohibited from navigating in Behring Sea
-within one hundred Italian miles of the coast, a claim which
-was revived by the United States as late as 1891.<a id="FNanchor_976" href="#Footnote_976" class="fnanchor">976</a></p>
-
-<p>Another general principle for the demarcation of the seas
-belonging to a state had even wider currency than the above.
-It consisted in the transference to the sea of the principle of
-the mid-channel, or <i>thalweg</i>, as applied to rivers in apportioning
-the waters pertaining to either bank,&mdash;a doctrine laid
-down in Roman law and in vogue among the Anglo-Saxons as
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_542">542</span>
-early at least as the seventh century.<a id="FNanchor_977" href="#Footnote_977" class="fnanchor">977</a> The <i>thalweg</i> or mid-channel
-was not infrequently a boundary between contiguous
-states, and it was not a great step to transfer its application
-in theory from wide rivers and estuaries to intervening seas.
-In this way the mid-line in the sea lying between the coasts
-of two states was held to be the boundary of their respective
-maritime jurisdiction or sovereignty. The whole extent of a
-sea stretching between territories belonging to the same state,
-however far apart these territories might be, was looked upon
-as being under the sovereignty of that state. This principle,
-therefore, covered most extensive claims to maritime dominion,
-since it left hardly any part of the sea unappropriated. The
-mid-line as an international boundary was in the case of
-narrow seas logically derived from the tenets of the Italian
-lawyers, but there are grounds for believing that it may have
-been much older. An ancient example of its use in a limited
-way is to be found in King Cnut’s charter, in 1023, granting
-the port of Sandwich, in Kent, to the Church at Canterbury,
-by which certain rights of wreck up to the middle of the sea
-were conferred on the monks. After mentioning “the great
-sea without the port,” it provided that half of whatever was
-found “on this side of the middle of the sea,” and brought to
-Sandwich, should belong to the monks and half to the finder.<a id="FNanchor_978" href="#Footnote_978" class="fnanchor">978</a>
-Cnut’s charter cannot be taken as expressing any direct claim
-to jurisdiction to the middle line, but as wreck was a prerogative
-of the crown&mdash;and this is the first grant of it&mdash;the limit
-assigned seems to imply a differentiation of authority. More
-pertinent is the statement in the <i>Mirror of Justice</i>, a law-book
-written about the end of the thirteenth century, and attributed
-to Andrew Horn, who was Chamberlain of London in the reign
-of Edward II., that the king’s sovereign jurisdiction extended
-as far as the middle line of the sea surrounding the land.<a id="FNanchor_979" href="#Footnote_979" class="fnanchor">979</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_543">543</span>
-Plowden, the Elizabethan lawyer, believed that this work
-contained the law as it existed before the Norman Conquest,
-but it is now declared to contain much that is spurious.
-Whether that be so or not, there is no doubt that this principle
-of maritime delimitation was adopted by many of the lawyers
-and scholars of Elizabeth’s time, as Dee and Plowden.<a id="FNanchor_980" href="#Footnote_980" class="fnanchor">980</a> Even
-well on in the next century no less a personage than Lord
-Chief-Justice Hale, in an early unpublished treatise on the
-law of the customs and seaports, maintained that the king
-had “right of jurisdiction or dominion of so much at lest of
-the sea as adjoines to the British coast nearer then to any
-forren coast.”<a id="FNanchor_981" href="#Footnote_981" class="fnanchor">981</a> From internal evidence this tract appears to
-have been written about 1636, and the influence of Selden’s
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, which was published at this time, and in which
-the mid-line was repudiated as a boundary of the British
-seas, was shown in Hale’s later treatise. In it the mid-line
-was abandoned, and the “narrow sea, adjoining to the coast of
-England,” was declared to be “part of the waste and demesnes
-and dominions of the King of England,” who had in it the
-double right of jurisdiction and property or ownership, “Master
-Selden” being referred to as authority.<a id="FNanchor_982" href="#Footnote_982" class="fnanchor">982</a></p>
-
-<p>There is no evidence that the principle of the mid-channel
-as applied to the sea was ever homologated by an English
-sovereign or Government. Notwithstanding its currency in
-the reign of Elizabeth, we know that it was explicitly disavowed
-by the queen herself in diplomatic controversy with
-the King of Denmark, who, in virtue of it, claimed the whole
-of the sea between Norway and Iceland. Still earlier the
-English Parliament vainly petitioned the victorious Henry V.,
-fresh from his conquests in France, to impose tribute on vessels
-passing through the Channel, on the ground that he possessed
-both shores, and therefore had a legal title to the intervening
-sea.<a id="FNanchor_983" href="#Footnote_983" class="fnanchor">983</a> But although the mid-line appears never to have been
-clearly adopted, there are two circumstances, both referring
-like Cnut’s charter to the Channel, which may point to its ancient
-usage there. One is that an important fishing-bank, the Zowe
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_544">544</span>
-or Sow, extending about one-third across the Channel between
-Rye and Dieppe, was recognised by France as within the
-English jurisdiction, and French fishermen for a very long
-period were in the habit of procuring licenses from the Warden
-of the Cinque Ports for permission to fish there (<a href="#Page_65">see p. 65</a>).
-The other is that when the question was raised as to how
-far the jurisdiction of the Cinque Ports extended into the
-sea&mdash;in connection apparently with complaints against French
-fishermen towards the end of the reign of Charles II.&mdash;the
-Trinity House, while avowing their own ignorance, stated
-that the Sergeant of the Admiralty within the Cinque Ports
-claimed to exercise his authority “half seas over or further.”<a id="FNanchor_984" href="#Footnote_984" class="fnanchor">984</a></p>
-
-<p>The methods of delimitation hitherto mentioned consisted
-in drawing imaginary lines in the sea, usually at a considerable
-distance from the coast. Another principle, which probably
-originated among seafaring men and was capable of being
-made use of in a rough-and-ready fashion, depended on the
-range of vision on a fair day, seawards from the shore, or
-usually from the sea to the land. The space of sea between the
-coast and the horizon, or <i>vice vers&acirc;</i>, was regarded as belonging
-to the adjoining state. This was the principle adopted
-in Scotland, but it was not confined to that country. It was
-employed in olden times in England to determine whether a
-bay or arm of the sea was within the body of a county, <i>inter
-fauces terr&aelig;</i>, and therefore under common law, or part of
-the high sea and under the jurisdiction of the Admiral.<a id="FNanchor_985" href="#Footnote_985" class="fnanchor">985</a> An
-early instance of its adoption as a boundary of international
-jurisdiction is to be found in the nautical laws prescribed for
-the Netherlands in 1563 by Philip II. of Spain, by which it
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_545">545</span>
-was forbidden, on pain of death, for any violence to be done by
-reason of war, or for any other cause, to his subjects or allies,
-or to foreigners, on the sea within sight of the land.<a id="FNanchor_986" href="#Footnote_986" class="fnanchor">986</a> Grotius
-also referred to the range of vision as a boundary, when he
-said that the controversy respecting the freedom of the sea
-was not about bays or straits, or “so much of the sea as might
-be seen from the shore.”<a id="FNanchor_987" href="#Footnote_987" class="fnanchor">987</a> We have already seen that in Scotland
-the fisheries within sight of the coast, or a “land-kenning,”
-were claimed as belonging exclusively to the Scottish people.
-In this case the range of vision was from the sea to the land,
-and it was to be determined from the main-top of the fishing
-smack.<a id="FNanchor_988" href="#Footnote_988" class="fnanchor">988</a> The extent of a land-kenning was stated to be fourteen
-miles, and this was the distance expressed in the Draft
-Treaty of Union in 1604, and pressed upon the Dutch by King
-James in 1618; but sometimes twenty-eight miles, or two land-kennings,
-was claimed; and it is to be noted that in the case
-of bays and firths the distance was measured from a base-line
-drawn between headland and headland. The range of vision,
-or land-kenning, as the boundary of the reserved fishing waters,
-was embodied in Scottish law as well as claimed against other
-nations by the Privy Council, the Parliament, and the king.<a id="FNanchor_989" href="#Footnote_989" class="fnanchor">989</a></p>
-
-<p>It was also conceded to Denmark, for in 1618 the Privy
-Council prohibited Scottish fishermen from fishing within
-sight of land at the F&aelig;r&ouml;e Isles. The King of Denmark,
-indeed, assigned the same limit in a decree of 1691 with
-regard to places where he did not possess the opposite coasts.<a id="FNanchor_990" href="#Footnote_990" class="fnanchor">990</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_546">546</span>
-Although the principle was not formally acknowledged by
-the Dutch in determining their fishing on the British coasts,
-they agreed to adhere to it (<a href="#Page_193">see p. 193</a>); and there is evidence
-to show that the British cruisers caused them to respect
-this limit, at all events in connection with the herring-fishing
-at Yarmouth.<a id="FNanchor_991" href="#Footnote_991" class="fnanchor">991</a> A later example of the adoption of this limit
-is to be found in a treaty concluded in 1740 between the
-Porte and the King of Naples, by which it was stipulated
-that neither party would permit vessels to be pursued or
-molested on their coasts within a distance at which ships
-could discern the land.<a id="FNanchor_992" href="#Footnote_992" class="fnanchor">992</a></p>
-
-<p>The method of determining the extent of the territorial
-sea by the range of vision was vague and open to obvious
-objections, even though it was ascertained only on a fair
-day. The distance, as Bynkershoek pointed out, would vary
-according to the position of the observer, the keenness of
-his vision, the climate, and many other circumstances, and
-it was inapplicable to narrow seas, such as the Channel,
-where the opposite coasts belonged to different states. It
-is, however, questionable whether, under proper rules, it
-would have furnished a zone much less definite than that of
-the range of guns. It has been proposed by some modern
-publicists, as Rayneval, Azuni, Heffter, and Godey, as a
-boundary of territorial waters; and if it had been generally
-adopted as a principle of delimitation, there is no doubt that
-the equivalent distance of fourteen miles as used in Scotland
-would have proved more satisfactory in several respects than
-the ordinary limit of three miles, which was supposed to
-represent the range of guns.</p>
-
-<p>Still less definite was another principle, if such it can be
-called, which was proposed as a guide in allotting the space
-of sea within which exclusive rights of fishing should belong
-to the adjacent state. Welwood, Selden, and many others,
-held, in opposition to Grotius and his school, that the fisheries
-along a coast might be exhausted or injured by promiscuous
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_547">547</span>
-fishing, and that the inhabitants of the coast had a primary
-right to the <i>fructus</i> of the adjacent sea, as against the intrusion
-of foreigners&mdash;a principle which lay at the root of the Scottish
-claims to the “reserved waters.” Sarpi, an Italian author of
-the early part of the seventeenth century, in a work defending
-the claims of Venice, formulated the opinion that the extent
-of territorial sea should not be fixed everywhere in an absolute
-manner, but should be made proportionate to the requirements
-of the adjoining state, without violating the just rights of
-other peoples. Thus a country or city which possessed large
-and fertile territories that provided adequate subsistence for
-the inhabitants, would have little need of the fisheries in the
-neighbouring sea, while one with small territories that drew
-a large part of its subsistence from the sea ought to have a
-much greater extent of sea for its exclusive use.<a id="FNanchor_993" href="#Footnote_993" class="fnanchor">993</a> This doctrine,
-though obviously difficult of application internationally, has
-much to recommend it on grounds of reason and justice. It
-is one of the fundamental principles on which Norway claims
-at the present day an unusually large extent of territorial sea.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to bays, straits, and arms of the sea, the
-general usage from the earliest times has included them within
-the jurisdiction of the neighbouring state. They have been
-always regarded as differing from the sea on an open coast,
-the only disputes about them referring to the size of such
-areas that might justly be looked upon as territorial. By
-the old common law of England, which Hale dates as far
-back at least as the reign of Edward II. (1307-1327), bays,
-gulfs, or estuaries, of which one shore could be “reasonably
-discerned” from the other shore, were regarded as <i>inter fauces
-terr&aelig;</i>, and within the body of the adjacent county or counties,
-so that offences committed there were triable at common law.
-But along the coast, on the open sea, the jurisdiction of the
-common law extended no farther than to low-water mark;
-beyond that it was high sea, or <i>altum mare</i>, and under the
-jurisdiction of the Admiral.<a id="FNanchor_994" href="#Footnote_994" class="fnanchor">994</a> Here we see a sharp distinction
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_548">548</span>
-drawn between bays and the open coast, the former being
-included within the realm as part of the territory. It seems
-reasonable on many grounds that the waters lying in view
-between two parts of the same continuous territory should
-have been regarded as pertaining to that territory, and it
-may be noted that in early times the navigation of a vessel
-along a coast was conducted from headland to headland, and
-thus a distinction was likely to arise between the open sea
-lying outside a line joining the headlands, as a waterway
-common to all, and the sea inside the headlands as an access
-to the territory. The distinction was maintained from an
-early period with regard to international relations. Reference
-has already been made to the treaty arranged by Cardinal
-Wolsey in 1521, in which it was stipulated that English
-harbours, bays, rivers, and roads should be exempt from hostilities
-between belligerents, and to the proclamations of King
-James in 1604, and of succeeding sovereigns, defining the
-extent of the King’s Chambers, or bays, according to ancient
-custom, for purposes of neutrality.<a id="FNanchor_995" href="#Footnote_995" class="fnanchor">995</a> It is interesting to note
-that the rights exercised within the King’s Chambers, or bays,
-on the coasts of England referred only to neutrality and had
-nothing to do with fishing, while in Scotland it was exactly
-the opposite. The large bays and firths on the Scottish coast
-were reserved for fishing, without any specific reference to the
-rights or obligations of neutrals. The differentiation of bays
-and arms of the sea from the territorial belt on open coasts
-has persisted to the present day, both in the writings of
-publicists and in the practice of nations, although the introduction
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_549">549</span>
-of another principle of delimitation has tended to
-keep the claims to bays within moderate bounds.</p>
-
-<p>The various methods of determining the territorial waters
-of a state referred to above were more or less arbitrary, and
-did not rest upon a natural basis capable of universal application.
-During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries another
-principle was gradually evolved, and was ultimately accepted
-as furnishing such a natural basis, so that it may now be
-regarded as an established part of international law. It was,
-that the maritime dominion of a state ended where its power
-of asserting continuous possession ended. The belt of sea
-along the coast which could be commanded and controlled
-by artillery on shore thus came to be regarded as the territorial
-sea belonging to the contiguous state. Beyond the
-range of guns on shore the sea was common.</p>
-
-<p>This principle was of slow growth. It did not even receive
-definite expression among jurists until the beginning of the
-eighteenth century; but as previously stated (<a href="#Page_156">see p. 156</a>), the
-Dutch ambassadors who came to London in 1610, to endeavour
-to induce King James to withdraw his proclamation against
-unlicensed fishing, made use of it in their conferences with
-the English Ministers, not improbably at the instigation of
-Grotius. But whether or not Grotius was the person who
-enunciated the principle in 1610, it is in his writings that
-we first meet with it, although in a veiled form. It is not
-mentioned in <i>Mare Liberum</i>, but in his greater work, the
-Law of War and Peace, which was published in 1625, he
-said that a state might acquire sovereignty over parts of
-the sea, in regard to persons by an armed fleet, and “in
-regard to territory, as when those who sail on the coasts of
-a country may be compelled from the land, just as if they
-were on the land.”<a id="FNanchor_996" href="#Footnote_996" class="fnanchor">996</a> The principle of compulsion from the
-land is clearly enough expressed, and though Grotius did
-not define the nature of the compulsion to be exercised,
-modern writers have generally held that what he meant was
-compulsion by artillery. If Grotius was the author of the
-dictum of 1610, he must have had reasons for expressing it
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_550">550</span>
-in a less definite form in 1625,&mdash;perhaps owing to his employment
-at that time by the Queen of Sweden, to whom the
-naked doctrine would have been no more attractive than to
-James.</p>
-
-<p>For a long time, however, the doctrine was equally neglected
-by publicists and statesmen. This may have been partly due
-to the somewhat obscure and incidental way in which it was
-advanced, but probably mainly to the fact that the time was
-not ripe for its acceptance. It represented much too stringent
-a limitation of the territorial sea to receive general assent.
-Selden does not refer to it, and it was passed over by the
-authors, such as Pontanus,<a id="FNanchor_997" href="#Footnote_997" class="fnanchor">997</a> Burgus,<a id="FNanchor_998" href="#Footnote_998" class="fnanchor">998</a> Shookius,<a id="FNanchor_999" href="#Footnote_999" class="fnanchor">999</a> Conringius,<a id="FNanchor_1000" href="#Footnote_1000" class="fnanchor">1000</a>
-and Strauchius,<a id="FNanchor_1001" href="#Footnote_1001" class="fnanchor">1001</a> who favoured more or less extensive claims
-to maritime dominion, while even writers who opposed such
-claims, as Stypmannus<a id="FNanchor_1002" href="#Footnote_1002" class="fnanchor">1002</a> and Graswinckel,<a id="FNanchor_1003" href="#Footnote_1003" class="fnanchor">1003</a> do not adopt it.</p>
-
-<p>The opinions of Grotius with respect to the appropriation
-of the sea had, indeed, comparatively little influence among
-jurists in the seventeenth century. The views which prevailed
-in the latter part of the period are rather represented in the
-works of two of the writers whose reputation was greatest,
-Loccenius and Puffendorf. Loccenius, a Swedish author who
-wrote about the middle of the century and is still quoted as an
-authority, declared that while a nation could not acquire a
-universal dominion over the sea, it might possess sovereignty in
-a particular sea as far as it was under its power or dominion,
-subject to the rights of innocent passage and navigation by
-others; and he cited as examples Sweden and Denmark, which
-exercised sovereignty in the Baltic.<a id="FNanchor_1004" href="#Footnote_1004" class="fnanchor">1004</a> As a general rule, however,
-Loccenius held that states had jurisdiction only in the
-waters adjacent to their coasts, for the preservation of peaceful
-navigation; but no attempt is made by him to lay down any
-fixed rule or limit as to the extent of such jurisdiction. He
-merely contrasts the opinions of those, as Baldus and Bodin,
-who contended for a wide limit of sixty miles, or two days’
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_551">551</span>
-journey, with those who argue for a narrow but undefined
-space in the neighbouring sea.</p>
-
-<p>The celebrated Puffendorf, whose authority later was only
-second to that of Grotius, dealt with the question in his great
-work on the Law of Nature and Nations, and with even less
-precision than Loccenius.<a id="FNanchor_1005" href="#Footnote_1005" class="fnanchor">1005</a> On the general question of the
-appropriation of the sea he discarded the objection that its
-fluidity rendered it incapable of possession, but held that it
-would be morally impossible for one nation to possess the ocean.
-He also set aside the moral objection in the absolute form in
-which it was put forward by Grotius, that the use of the sea
-was inexhaustible. On the contrary, he held with Selden and
-Welwood that fisheries in the sea might be exhausted by
-promiscuous use. “If all nations,” he said, “should desire such
-a right and liberty (of fishing) near the coasts of any particular
-country, that country must be very much prejudiced in this
-respect; especially since it is very usual that some particular
-kind of fish, or perhaps some more precious commodity, as
-pearls, coral, amber, or the like, are to be found only in one
-part of the sea, and that of no considerable extent. In this
-case there is no reason why the bordering people should not
-rather challenge to themselves this happiness of a wealthy shore
-or sea, than those who are situated at a distance from it.”<a id="FNanchor_1006" href="#Footnote_1006" class="fnanchor">1006</a> On
-this ground, the right of exclusive fishing, and also for the
-security and defence of the state, a nation was justified in
-claiming dominion in the neighbouring sea. The extent of
-this territorial sea, he says, cannot in general be accurately
-determined; but it is clear that he thought it might be very
-considerable. We had the power to abridge others of the use
-of the sea by forts on shore, in narrow creeks and straits, or by
-armed fleets; but it would, he thought, show unreasonable
-jealousy to claim “some hundreds of leagues.” The true
-bounds could only be discovered either from “the right of
-possession” of a state, or from its treaties with its neighbours.
-Gulfs, channels, or arms of the sea, on the other hand, were
-“according to the regular course” supposed to belong to the
-state which had possession of the shores. If the shores
-belonged to several peoples, the sovereignty was distributed
-to the middle line, unless treaties directed otherwise, or one
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_552">552</span>
-people had obtained the exclusive sovereignty by convention,
-conquest, or prescription.</p>
-
-<p>We thus perceive that the opinion of jurists at the end of the
-seventeenth century with regard to the appropriation of the sea
-was very much what it was at the beginning. With the
-exception of the clear and terse declaration of the Dutch
-ambassadors in 1610, and the somewhat dubious dictum of
-Grotius in 1625, the principle that the maritime sovereignty of
-a state was limited by the range of guns from the shore does
-not appear to have been advanced throughout the century.</p>
-
-<p>Nor does an examination of the usage of nations during the
-period show that the opinions of publicists were at variance
-with the actual practice. All maritime countries enforced an
-unquestionable jurisdiction, more or less extensive, in the
-neighbouring seas, and several of them exercised dominion
-over particular regions. The extravagant pretensions of Spain
-and Portugal had long since vanished; but Venice, while sadly
-fallen from her former greatness, still asserted her sovereignty
-over the Adriatic. Sweden and Denmark possessed a joint
-sway over the Baltic; and Denmark maintained her claim to
-the northern seas between Iceland, Greenland, and the coast
-of Europe. Moreover, the pretensions of England to the
-sovereignty of the so-called British seas, although in abeyance,
-had not been withdrawn. The striking of the flag was still
-enforced by English men-of-war, and there was nothing to
-prove that the other phases of the pretension might not be
-revived at any time.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to the extent of neutral waters, it would appear
-that the boundaries were as a rule vague, and that general
-considerations determined jurisdiction in particular cases. In
-connection with the declaration of war by the United Provinces
-against France in 1689, a placard was issued by the States-General
-in which both Dutch and foreign vessels were exhorted
-to keep out on the high seas; and it was declared that any
-vessels suspected of having contraband goods on board and
-found “on the coast of France, or of other countries, islands, and
-places under the dominion of the King of France, and particularly
-in the bays and gulfs on the coast of the said kingdom,”
-would be seized and brought to trial.<a id="FNanchor_1007" href="#Footnote_1007" class="fnanchor">1007</a> On the English coast the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_553">553</span>
-limits of jurisdiction were better defined, but still, in many
-cases, without precision. Within the King’s Chambers, as
-specified by James I. in 1604, “or other places of our dominion,
-or so near to any of our said ports, or havens, as may be reasonably
-construed to be within that title, limit, or precinct,” the
-hostile acts of belligerents, captures of the enemy’s vessels, and
-the hovering of foreign ships of war were forbidden. The
-injunction with respect to the neutral waters was renewed in
-1633, 1668, and 1683, and it was in no case confined strictly
-to the “chambers.” In the proclamations of 1668 and 1683,
-which were drawn up by Sir Leoline Jenkins, the definition
-was merely “within our ports, havens, roads, and creeks, as also
-in every other place or tract at sea that may be reasonably
-construed to be within any of these denominations, limits, or
-precincts.”<a id="FNanchor_1008" href="#Footnote_1008" class="fnanchor">1008</a> These limits were upheld by the decisions of the
-High Court of Admiralty during the greater part of the century.
-Sir Leoline Jenkins, it may be noted, although in questions of
-international policy advocating the most extreme pretensions
-of the English crown to the sovereignty of the seas, was careful
-in his judicial decisions to restrict jurisdiction within the terms
-of the royal proclamations. If a capture was made in one of
-the chambers or beyond them by a foreign privateer which had
-issued from an English port and had been hovering in the
-neighbourhood, the vessel was ordered to be restored. So also
-if the prize was taken, in any case, outside a chamber, but near
-enough the coast to be “reasonably construed” to be within the
-king’s jurisdiction. This usually happened on the east coast,
-where the chambers were small. In one such case the vessel
-was taken between half a league and one league off Orfordness
-(the headland of a chamber); in another instance the vessel
-was seized eight leagues at sea off Harwich, and presumably
-four leagues from the boundary of the nearest chamber.<a id="FNanchor_1009" href="#Footnote_1009" class="fnanchor">1009</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_554">554</span></p>
-
-<p>At the end of the seventeenth century, while the old pretensions
-of various nations to the appropriation of particular
-seas had not been withdrawn, they had in many cases become
-by the force of circumstances to a large extent nominal or
-were in abeyance. There was moreover a tendency, as we
-have seen (<a href="#Page_526">p. 526</a>), to substitute fixed boundaries in place of a
-wide and vague sovereignty, and to arrange by treaty defined
-limits for special purposes. In the historical retrospect we
-can now perceive the main influences which led to the modification
-of the claims and practice in the century that followed.
-The juridical controversies on the subject between the writers
-of various nations were doubtless not without effect. The
-repeated decisions of the High Court of Admiralty in this
-country, going counter to the English pretension even in the
-Channel, and fixing limits for neutrality, must also have had
-an important influence. But the chief causes were probably
-twofold. One was the moral and material victory of the
-Dutch Republic in its long and persistent struggle against
-the exorbitant claims to maritime dominion, first, of Spain
-and Portugal, and then of England and Denmark. The other
-was the great extension of commerce and navigation, in which
-England secured an ever-increasing share, so that in the next
-century we find her taking the part of Holland in opposing
-the Danish claims to <i>mare clausum</i>. As maritime commerce
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_555">555</span>
-extended and the security of the sea became established, it was
-felt more and more that claims to a hampering sovereignty
-and jurisdiction were incompatible with the general welfare
-of nations; and as the states interested in this commerce
-had the greatest power, the assertion of a wide dominion
-was gradually abandoned, surviving only in remote regions
-or in enclosed seas, like the Baltic.</p>
-
-<p>At the beginning of the eighteenth century the question
-of the appropriation of the sea was placed on another footing.
-The principle of delimiting the territorial sea which is now
-generally accepted was first expounded in 1703 by a distinguished
-publicist, Cornelius van Bynkershoek, who, like
-Grotius, was a Dutchman, and held the office of Judge in
-the Supreme Court of Appeal of Holland, Zealand, and West
-Friesland. In his early work on the dominion of the sea,<a id="FNanchor_1010" href="#Footnote_1010" class="fnanchor">1010</a>
-and in a later treatise published in 1737,<a id="FNanchor_1011" href="#Footnote_1011" class="fnanchor">1011</a> he dealt with the
-subject with much acumen. With respect to the general
-question as to the capability of appropriation, he agreed with
-Puffendorf rather than with Grotius. While holding that
-the open ocean could not be wholly brought under dominion,
-he admitted, with Selden, not only that large parts of the sea
-are susceptible of appropriation, but that various nations had
-at different times enjoyed such dominion: the fluidity of the
-sea was not a bar to its occupation, and by taking possession
-of it the same right was acquired as by taking possession
-of the land. But he declared there was no instance at the
-time he wrote of any ruler possessing maritime dominion
-of that kind, unless when the surrounding territory belonged
-to him, and that the general freedom of the seas for navigation
-had been established both by usage and by various treaties.
-He denied that England had the dominion of the so-called
-British seas, mainly on the ground of the want of uninterrupted
-possession, pointing out that all the neighbouring
-nations freely navigated them without paying any tribute
-or requiring any permission.</p>
-
-<p>It was, however, with regard to the delimitation of the
-territorial sea immediately adjacent to the coast that Bynkershoek’s
-teaching had its chief results. He showed how uncertain
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_556">556</span>
-and unsatisfactory were the limits previously proposed,
-and, following Grotius, he laid down the principle that the
-dominion of a state extended over the neighbouring sea as
-far, and only as far, as it was able to command and control
-it from the land. But he went further and showed how the
-principle was to be carried into practice. The dominion of
-the territory extended as far as projectiles could be thrown
-from the shore by artillery, so that exclusive possession might
-be taken of the part so commanded: “the dominion of the
-land ends where the power of arms terminates.”<a id="FNanchor_1012" href="#Footnote_1012" class="fnanchor">1012</a> Thus
-Bynkershoek assigned the dominion of the adjacent sea (<i>mare
-proximum</i>) to the neighbouring state, within the range of
-a cannon-shot from the shore. Besides the general reasoning
-on which the limit was based, he cited in support of it an
-Act of state. He was apparently unaware of the clear declaration
-made by the Dutch ambassadors a century earlier;
-but he referred to an edict of the States-General in 1671,
-which enjoined that the commanders of their ships should
-give the salute on the coasts of a foreign Power when they
-were within the range of the guns of a town or fort, in
-such manner as the Government of the country should require,
-leaving to its discretion the return of the salute, and
-adding that every Government was sovereign within its own
-jurisdiction and every foreigner a subject there.<a id="FNanchor_1013" href="#Footnote_1013" class="fnanchor">1013</a></p>
-
-<p>This decree could not, of course, as Bynkershoek admitted,
-bind other Powers to the same opinion. Nevertheless it may
-be said that the almost universal practice which had grown
-up, regulating the salute of a vessel coming within range of
-a battery on a foreign coast, had prepared the way for the
-acceptance of the doctrine. It was a recognition that the
-vessel had passed within the sphere of territorial authority
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_557">557</span>
-of the particular state. It was the rule, in England at
-least, that “the sea should salute the land,” and the range
-of guns determined the limit within which the salute ought
-to be rendered. Beyond the reach of cannon no salute was
-expected; within it usage, international courtesy, or the law,
-required it. No foreign ship with its flag aloft could come
-within range of an English fort or castle without exposing
-itself to the risk of a shot. It is indeed a curious circumstance,
-that it was largely through the action of England
-with regard to the salute that the acceptance of the cannon-range
-limit was facilitated. The relation of the ceremony
-to the sovereignty of a state was forced by her prominently
-into international politics. Before the time of Selden and
-Charles I. jurists paid little attention to the matter, but
-afterwards they dealt with it as a department of international
-law: Loccenius and Bynkershoek, for example, each devotes
-a chapter to it. Even when the English were most actively
-asserting “the honour of the flag,” they recognised the rights
-of foreign states within the actual range of guns on their
-shore. In 1636 the Earl of Northumberland was instructed
-by the Admiralty not to enforce the salute within the command
-of the guns of forts on foreign coasts,&mdash;an order which was
-repeated by the Parliament in 1647,<a id="FNanchor_1014" href="#Footnote_1014" class="fnanchor">1014</a> and became the rule in
-the service. Molloy, a vehement supporter of the most extreme
-claims of England to the sovereignty of the seas, stated in
-1676 that English men-of-war entering a foreign harbour, or
-“the road within shot of cannon of some fort or castle,”
-were to pay such respect as was usually there expected.<a id="FNanchor_1015" href="#Footnote_1015" class="fnanchor">1015</a></p>
-
-<p>The gunshot limit had been long established in connection
-with another international relationship&mdash;namely, the right of
-visitation of neutral vessels in the open sea. Many treaties
-had been made which stipulated that the visiting ship was
-not to approach nearer than within cannon-shot, and was
-then to send one of its boats with a few men to conduct the
-examination necessary. It is, moreover, extremely probable
-that with respect to what was in those times the principal
-attribute of the territorial waters&mdash;viz., the rights and obligations
-of neutrals&mdash;the gunshot limit, at the least, was recognised
-where guns were actually in position. In view of the general
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_558">558</span>
-practice, as shown for instance in the decisions of the English
-Admiralty Court, and the usage in connection with the salute,
-it can scarcely be supposed that a capture made under the
-guns of a neutral fortress would be held as good prize; at
-all events, it was not so held in the Admiralty Court in
-1760. But the merit of Bynkershoek’s doctrine was, that it
-transferred in theory to all parts of a coast this decisive
-property of compulsion and dominion which, strictly speaking,
-only existed where forts or batteries were placed. The
-doctrine, justly enough, has been called fictitious, because there
-are various coasts and districts where it would be impracticable
-to maintain dominion over the territorial sea by means
-of artillery on shore; and because in point of fact such
-dominion, unless in the neighbourhood of forts, is actually
-maintained by other means, as by coastguards and naval
-vessels. Nevertheless the principle, though resting largely
-on hypothesis, had much to recommend it, and it gradually
-became incorporated into international law as the rule for
-fixing the boundary of the territorial waters. Apart from its
-intrinsic merits, its acceptance was perhaps not a little facilitated
-by the felicity with which it was expressed. Bynkershoek
-gave it the form almost of an aphorism, and the phrase,
-<i>terr&aelig; dominium finitur ubi finitur armorum vis</i>, has been
-quoted by almost all later writers.</p>
-
-<p>But although the doctrine of Bynkershoek was attractive,
-and was eventually accepted almost everywhere, it did not
-command immediate assent. The publicists who came after
-Bynkershoek in the eighteenth century, while usually referring
-to the cannon-range limit, or adopting it with respect to questions
-of prize, did not as a rule adhere to it as the sole principle
-for delimiting the territorial belt. The earliest notice of it
-after the <i>Qu&aelig;stiones</i> appeared seems to have been by Casaregi,
-an Italian writer of authority, who was judge in the Court of
-the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in a work which appeared in
-1740, and referred more especially to the practice in the
-Mediterranean.<a id="FNanchor_1016" href="#Footnote_1016" class="fnanchor">1016</a> Foreign ships, he said, were under the protection
-of the prince whose seas they sail through, when they
-are in his ports, or in the sea so near as to be within the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_559">559</span>
-range of guns on shore; if seized by the enemy there, they
-require to be restored.<a id="FNanchor_1017" href="#Footnote_1017" class="fnanchor">1017</a> This was the ordinary rule in regard
-to neutrality; but with regard to the question of sovereignty
-in the neighbouring sea, Casaregi followed preceding Italian
-jurists in assigning a space of one hundred miles from the
-coast for civil and criminal jurisdiction, with the power of
-levying tolls and dues from passing ships, and even of prohibiting
-or permitting navigation.</p>
-
-<p>A little later a Spanish writer, Abreu y Bertodano, in a
-work on the law of maritime prize,<a id="FNanchor_1018" href="#Footnote_1018" class="fnanchor">1018</a> held that it was unlawful
-for cruisers to attack the enemy’s vessels in the seas adjacent
-to the coast of a neutral within a distance of two leagues from
-the shore, or within the reach of a cannon-shot from it. He
-stated that no European Power had asserted the dominion of
-the sea with more heat and boldness than Great Britain, and
-yet by Act of Parliament the visitation of ships by the coastguard
-was restricted to two leagues from the coast, which was
-as much as could reasonably be claimed.<a id="FNanchor_1019" href="#Footnote_1019" class="fnanchor">1019</a> But this author also
-followed the Italian rule that jurisdiction, including the levying
-of tolls, &amp;c., was not limited to the coast waters, but
-extended for at least a hundred miles from the shore, and
-said that this was in agreement with the teaching of the
-lawyers of all nations.<a id="FNanchor_1020" href="#Footnote_1020" class="fnanchor">1020</a></p>
-
-<p>Wolff, who wrote on the law of nations about the same time,
-appears rather to have followed the opinions of Puffendorf. He
-argued that the use of the sea next the shore, for fishing and
-the collection of things that grow on it, was not inexhaustible,
-nor its use for navigation always innocuous; and since it
-served as a protection for the adjoining state, it was reasonable
-that it should be under the dominion of that state. The
-inhabitants of the shores had therefore the right to occupy
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_560">560</span>
-it “so far as they can maintain their dominion over it”; and
-the same was true of straits and bays.<a id="FNanchor_1021" href="#Footnote_1021" class="fnanchor">1021</a></p>
-
-<p>Some ten years later Vattel, the pupil and follower of
-Wolff, published a work on the law of nations, which is still
-of authority, and in which much the same opinions as those
-of Puffendorf and Wolff are expressed.<a id="FNanchor_1022" href="#Footnote_1022" class="fnanchor">1022</a> On the general
-question of the appropriation of the sea the usual statement
-was made; but Vattel held that a nation might acquire
-exclusive rights of navigation and fishery in the open sea
-by treaties, but not by prescription, unless in virtue of the
-consent or tacit agreement of other nations. Thus “when a
-nation that is in possession of the navigation and fishery in
-certain tracts of the sea claims an exclusive right of them, and
-forbids all participation on the part of other nations, if the
-others obey that prohibition with sufficient marks of acquiescence,
-they tacitly renounce their own right in favour of that
-nation, and establish for her a new right, which she may
-afterwards lawfully maintain against them, especially when it
-is confirmed by long use.” On the other hand, Vattel states
-that the uses of the sea near the coast render it very susceptible
-of appropriation: it supplies fish, shells, pearls, and
-other things, and with respect to all these its use is not
-inexhaustible. A maritime people may therefore appropriate
-and convert to their own profit “an advantage which nature
-has placed within their reach as to enable them conveniently
-to take possession of it, in the same manner as they possessed
-themselves of the dominion of the land they inhabit.” Vattel
-does not state his opinion as to the distance from the coast
-within which the fisheries may be appropriated, but from the
-examples he cites it is evident that the space might extend
-considerably beyond the range of guns. “Who can doubt,” he
-asks, “that the pearl fisheries of Bahrem and Ceylon may
-lawfully become property?” And the same principle may
-be applied to floating fish, which appear less liable to be
-exhausted. If a people, he says, have on their coast a particular
-and profitable fishery of which they can become
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_561">561</span>
-masters, shall they not be permitted to appropriate that
-bounteous gift of nature as an appendage to the country they
-possess, and to reserve to themselves the great advantages
-which their commerce may thence derive, if there is sufficient
-abundance of fish to furnish neighbouring nations? Thus,
-Vattel states, the herring fishery on the British coasts might
-have been appropriated by the English if they had originally
-taken exclusive possession of it, instead of allowing other
-nations to take part in it. Another reason for the extension
-of territorial dominion over the adjoining sea, “as far as a
-nation is able to protect its right,” is the security and welfare
-of the state; but the author says it is not easy to fix upon
-any precise distance. Between nation and nation, “all that
-can reasonably be said is that, in general, the dominion of
-the state over the neighbouring sea extends as far as her
-safety renders it necessary and her power is able to assert
-it.” At the time he wrote, “the whole extent of the sea which
-is within cannon-shot of the coast is considered as forming part
-of the territory; and for that reason a vessel taken under the
-cannon of a neutral fortress is not a lawful prize.” The principle
-that applied to the adjacent sea applied with much greater
-force to roads, bays, and straits, since they were more capable
-of being possessed, and were of greater importance to the
-safety of the country. But such areas must be “of small
-extent,” and not great tracts of sea&mdash;as Hudson’s Bay and
-the Straits of Magellan: a bay “whose entrance can be
-defended” might clearly be appropriated.</p>
-
-<p>The opinions of Vattel do not, therefore, materially differ
-from those of Puffendorf in the previous century, though the
-tendency of the earlier writer to allow a wide dominion is
-modified. Bynkershoek’s principle of cannon range is adopted
-in a somewhat cautious manner, and shown to apply especially
-to captures under the guns of a neutral fortress. But the
-general argument in regard to fisheries, the security of the
-state, and the exercise of territorial jurisdiction&mdash;as in the
-King’s Chambers on the English coast, which Vattel cites as
-an example of the practice&mdash;implies that a nation might lawfully
-extend its sovereignty much beyond the range of guns.</p>
-
-<p>In the writings of other international jurists later in the
-century, the tendency to narrow the extent of the territorial
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_562">562</span>
-sea in accordance with Bynkershoek’s teaching becomes more
-manifest, particularly in those which treat specially of the rights
-of neutrals. H&uuml;bner, who was assessor in the Consistorial Court
-at Copenhagen, treating of this subject, said with reference to
-Bynkershoek’s doctrine that it was evident the parts of the
-adjacent sea belonged to the master of the country, as accessory
-to the land,&mdash;first, “because it is in his power to take possession
-and to maintain it by means of forts and batteries which he is
-able to erect on the shore”; and, secondly, because the waters
-serve as a rampart to the land.<a id="FNanchor_1023" href="#Footnote_1023" class="fnanchor">1023</a></p>
-
-<p>Valin, a French writer of authority, introduced another
-principle in combination with that of the range of guns.
-In his commentary on the marine ordinance of Louis XIV.,
-first published in 1760, he stated that the rule that the
-adjacent sea within the reach of guns from the coast is
-under the dominion of the neighbouring state was universally
-recognised, the alternative distance which he gave being
-two leagues&mdash;the same as given by Abreu. But he thought
-that the depth of the water ought also to be taken into
-account, and that the sea up to the point at which the bottom
-ceased to be reached by a sounding-line pertained to the adjoining
-coast&mdash;an idea vague and impracticable.<a id="FNanchor_1024" href="#Footnote_1024" class="fnanchor">1024</a></p>
-
-<p>In 1778, Moser, a councillor of state in Denmark, adopted
-Bynkershoek’s doctrine, declaring that the sea adjacent to
-the coast of a country was, according to the law of nations,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_563">563</span>
-indisputably under the sovereignty of the neighbouring territory,
-as far as a cannon-ball could reach.<a id="FNanchor_1025" href="#Footnote_1025" class="fnanchor">1025</a> On the other
-hand, Lampredi, Professor of Public Law in the University
-of Pisa, writing at the same time, while allowing to a state
-the right of property in the adjacent sea, makes the limit
-of its dominion depend, not on cannon range, but upon considerations
-of general convenience.<a id="FNanchor_1026" href="#Footnote_1026" class="fnanchor">1026</a> Another contemporary
-Italian, Galiani, who was Sicilian Secretary of Legation at
-Paris, and was employed by his master, the King of the Two
-Sicilies, to write a book in defence of his adhesion to the
-Russian League of Armed Neutrality, expressed somewhat
-varying opinions as to the limits of the territorial sea.<a id="FNanchor_1027" href="#Footnote_1027" class="fnanchor">1027</a> Admitting
-as a received doctrine that the belt of sea washing
-the coasts of a country belonged to it as a part of its territory,
-he at first seems to extend it, in accordance with
-the Italian principles, as far as the authorities can cause
-their jurisdiction to be enforced. Later, he advances the
-gunshot limit for certain purposes, as the imposition of tolls
-and the regulation of navigation; and finally, with regard
-to the observance of neutrality he considers the boundary
-should be two leagues, or twice the distance of cannon range,
-and he appears to have been the first to fix upon three
-miles as equivalent to the range of guns.<a id="FNanchor_1028" href="#Footnote_1028" class="fnanchor">1028</a></p>
-
-<p>G. F. von Martens, one of the greatest authorities on international
-law, writing a little later, more definitely adopted
-the principle of the range of guns; but he gave the equivalent
-distance as “three leagues,” and moreover admitted
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_564">564</span>
-that a nation might acquire maritime dominion beyond that
-limit.<a id="FNanchor_1029" href="#Footnote_1029" class="fnanchor">1029</a> The principle of appropriation, he says, which applies
-to lakes and rivers also applies to straits, which are in general
-not wider than great rivers and lakes, so that the middle
-may be reached by a cannon-ball fired from the shore; and
-those parts of the sea which border the land may also be
-regarded as the property and under the dominion of the
-nation possessing the coast. By a custom generally acknowledged,
-he continues, the authority of the possessor of the
-coast extends as far as the range of guns from the shore&mdash;that
-is to say, to a distance of three leagues;<a id="FNanchor_1030" href="#Footnote_1030" class="fnanchor">1030</a> and he adds
-that this distance is the least that a nation ought to claim
-as the extent of its dominion in the sea. But he also says
-that a nation may occupy and extend its dominion beyond
-that distance, and maintain it, if the security of the nation
-require it, by a fleet of armed vessels; and, further, that
-its sovereignty may extend as far as it has been acknowledged
-to reach by the consent of other nations, and beyond
-the boundary of its property&mdash;Von Martens, like many others,
-drawing a distinction between property in the sea and sovereignty
-over it. As examples of such cases, he definitely states,
-as well established at the time he wrote, that St George’s
-Channel was under the sovereignty of Great Britain and
-the Gulf of Bothnia under that of Sweden, while the straits
-between Sweden and Denmark were considered to be the
-property of Denmark. On the other hand, the Bay of Biscay,
-the Mediterranean, the Straits of Gibraltar, the White Sea,
-and the North Sea were acknowledged to be free.</p>
-
-<p>Towards the close of the century, an Italian author, Azuni,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_565">565</span>
-who was judge in the commercial court at Nice, published
-a work on maritime law, in which he dealt with the territorial
-sea; and adopting the range of guns as the principle
-of delimitation, he declared that the equivalent distance ought
-to be fixed at three miles, which, he said, was “without
-doubt” the farthest a cannon-shot could ever be made to
-reach.<a id="FNanchor_1031" href="#Footnote_1031" class="fnanchor">1031</a> In this Azuni followed Galiani, making the statement
-more definite, and thus we see the three-mile limit
-put forward by publicists, as the alternative to the range
-of guns, before the century closed. In point of fact, however,
-it had actually been applied in the United States a
-year or two before Azuni wrote;<a id="FNanchor_1032" href="#Footnote_1032" class="fnanchor">1032</a> and it is clear from what
-he says that no general agreement then existed as to the
-extent of the territorial sea, for he complained that the
-limit was still undecided,&mdash;a statement repeated in his enlarged
-work, published in 1805,&mdash;and he contended that it ought
-to be fixed by a solemn treaty between the maritime Powers,
-as Meadows had suggested a century before.<a id="FNanchor_1033" href="#Footnote_1033" class="fnanchor">1033</a> Although Azuni
-adopted the principle of cannon range, and, like Galiani,
-declared that three miles was the farthest that a ball or
-bomb could be thrown,<a id="FNanchor_1034" href="#Footnote_1034" class="fnanchor">1034</a> he was of opinion that for purposes
-of neutrality, as an asylum against hostilities, the territorial
-waters should be extended to two leagues from either shore
-in the case of bays and gulfs, which, he says, even when
-their centre was at a greater distance than three miles from
-either shore, were admitted to be territorial. He even strongly
-recommended the adoption of the range of vision as the
-boundary of neutral waters in time of war.</p>
-
-<p>From the above review of the opinions of publicists in
-the latter half of the eighteenth century, it is evident that
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_566">566</span>
-there was a general agreement that the sea, at least as far
-as the range of guns from the coast, was accessory to the
-land: no one doubted that this space at all events was included
-within the territorial sea of the neighbouring country. Almost
-all the writers went further, and held that the sovereignty
-of a state was not confined to gunshot range, but could be
-extended to a greater distance from the coast, either for
-the security of the state or for jurisdiction, but there was
-not agreement as to how far this could be carried. We
-see, moreover, the growing tendency to assign a fixed distance
-as an alternative to cannon range or as a boundary
-to neutral waters. Abreu, Valin, and Galiani placed it at
-two leagues from the coast, and the same distance is given
-by the writer of the article “Mer” in a great French work
-published in 1777<a id="FNanchor_1035" href="#Footnote_1035" class="fnanchor">1035</a>&mdash;that is, twice the distance of cannon
-range, which was said to be one marine league, or three
-miles.</p>
-
-<p>Turning from the opinions of international jurists in the
-eighteenth century to the practice and usage of nations in
-the same period, we may note certain features of prominence:
-(1) the continued decadence of claims to sovereignty over
-extensive areas; (2) the growing custom of fixing definite
-boundaries for special purposes by international treaties or
-by municipal laws; (3) legal decisions by which the limit
-of cannon range was recognised in certain cases. In the
-eighteenth century claims to the sovereignty of seas became
-greatly restricted and lost their previous importance. The
-feebleness of Venice prevented her from asserting in practice
-the rights which were hers by law and ancient prescription.
-Both Vattel and Azuni, while admitting that she
-possessed a limited sovereignty, questioned whether any other
-Power would recognise her claim to the whole of the Adriatic.
-“Such pretensions to empire,” says the former author, “are
-respected so long as the nation that makes them is able
-to assert them by force, but they vanish, of course, on the
-decline of her power.” In 1779, indeed, before Azuni wrote,
-the Republic issued a decree respecting her neutrality, in
-which the limit of cannon range was fixed as the boundary
-of her waters for that purpose.<a id="FNanchor_1036" href="#Footnote_1036" class="fnanchor">1036</a> Her ancient dominion over
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_567">567</span>
-the Adriatic was soon finally extinguished. When Napoleon
-conquered Venice in 1795 and transferred her like a chattel
-to Austria, her maritime sovereignty came to an end, and
-the picturesque and symbolic ceremony of “espousing” the
-Adriatic, which had been performed by the Doge every year
-for many centuries, terminated with it.<a id="FNanchor_1037" href="#Footnote_1037" class="fnanchor">1037</a></p>
-
-<p>The similar pretension of England to sovereignty of the
-sea, as previously mentioned, did not survive till this century,
-except on the point of the flag; and this ceremony
-fell into desuetude, and was abandoned finally in 1805. Great
-Britain now appeared rather as a champion of the freedom
-of the sea than as an advocate of <i>mare clausum</i>. This was
-particularly shown in connection with the rights claimed by
-Denmark in the northern sea, especially at Iceland and the
-Danish portion of Greenland. As already stated, Denmark
-tried in the preceding century to keep alive her ancient
-rights to the fisheries and trade in these remote regions,
-and having failed in her efforts, introduced a fixed limit
-of forty geographical miles from the coast, within which
-whale-fishing by foreigners was forbidden (<a href="#Page_529">see p. 529</a>).</p>
-
-<p>While Denmark was unsuccessfully endeavouring to assert
-exclusive rights to the fisheries within a wide extent of water
-in the northern seas, she was at the same time claiming a much
-less extensive space along her coasts for purposes of neutrality.
-Moreover, it may be added that just as in most European
-countries the cannon-range limit and then the three-mile belt&mdash;which
-likewise originated in connection with neutral rights&mdash;came
-to be applied as the boundary of the territorial seas for
-all purposes, so the Danish limit for neutral waters, which was
-a different one, was also adopted later as the general boundary
-of the territorial seas by the Scandinavian states. The decree
-in regard to neutrality was issued in 1745 by the King of
-Denmark and Norway, and communicated to the foreign
-consuls, and it forbade all foreign privateers to capture any
-vessel of the enemy within a distance of one league, of fifteen
-to a degree of latitude, from the coast or its outlying banks
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_568">568</span>
-or rocks.<a id="FNanchor_1038" href="#Footnote_1038" class="fnanchor">1038</a> This ordinance in regard to neutral waters was
-renewed in 1756, 1759, and 1779,&mdash;that of 1759 expressly
-declaring that the league was the marine league of fifteen to a
-degree.<a id="FNanchor_1039" href="#Footnote_1039" class="fnanchor">1039</a> It may be added here that early in the next century,
-in view of the war with Great Britain, decrees were published
-prohibiting either Danish or Norwegian privateers from capturing
-the enemy’s vessels within the territorial sea of any
-foreign state which was friendly or neutral; and such sea, it
-was said, was usually supposed to extend for one marine league
-from the coast.<a id="FNanchor_1040" href="#Footnote_1040" class="fnanchor">1040</a> The same distance of four geographical miles
-was assigned by Sweden, in a decree of 12th April 1808, which
-prohibited the seizure of vessels nearer the coast of neutrals
-than the limit named.<a id="FNanchor_1041" href="#Footnote_1041" class="fnanchor">1041</a></p>
-
-<p>The various ordinances cited referred solely to the limit of
-the territorial sea in relation to neutrality. But as early as
-1747 the same boundary was applied to a limited part of the
-Norwegian coast in connection with fisheries. In that year a
-royal decree prohibited Russian fishermen at Finmarken from
-fishing within one league of the land,&mdash;a measure which was
-not opposed by the Russian Government, and which was
-renewed by a Norwegian law in 1830.<a id="FNanchor_1042" href="#Footnote_1042" class="fnanchor">1042</a> In 1812, as we shall
-see (<a href="#Page_653">p. 653</a>), the territorial waters of Denmark and Norway
-were declared to extend to four miles from the coast or its
-outlying isles,&mdash;that is to say, the limit which was adopted
-for neutrality was applied in regard to fisheries and other
-purposes.</p>
-
-<p>Another example of the decadence of wide claims to maritime
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_569">569</span>
-sovereignty is to be found in the case of Spain, which,
-like the Scandinavian countries, adopted a fixed limit in the
-eighteenth century as the boundary of her territorial waters,
-and, as with them also, it was placed at a greater distance
-than the range of guns from the coast. An eminent Spanish
-publicist, Abreu, as we have seen, declared in 1746 that the
-boundary of neutral waters should be at least two leagues from
-the coast, and by a royal decree of 17th December 1760 this
-distance was assigned, the territorial sea of Spain being
-declared to extend to six miles from the land. This boundary
-was again given in 1775 and in 1830, and it is still retained by
-Spain&mdash;and also, until last year, by Portugal&mdash;as the maritime
-frontier for customs, fishery, neutrality, and jurisdiction.<a id="FNanchor_1043" href="#Footnote_1043" class="fnanchor">1043</a> At
-various times Spain has entered into treaties with her neighbours,
-France and Portugal, concerning the rights of fishery within
-the six-mile zone, either for reciprocal liberty to fish in the
-whole extent of the territorial sea, or in the outer belt of three
-miles. A treaty of this kind was concluded with France in
-1768.<a id="FNanchor_1044" href="#Footnote_1044" class="fnanchor">1044</a></p>
-
-<p>The uprising in America in 1775, which resulted in the
-independence of the United States, brought in its train a
-widespread maritime war, Great Britain having to meet the
-naval forces of France, Holland, and Spain, and at this time
-and throughout the remainder of the century we meet with
-numerous decrees and treaties bearing upon the delimitation of
-territorial waters, particularly in connection with the rights of
-neutrals. One of the first of these was a circular which the
-American Commissioners at the Court of Paris addressed to
-the commanders of American armed vessels in 1777, instructing
-them to abstain from capturing the enemy’s vessels, or
-vessels of neutrals, when they were “under the protection of a
-port, river, or coast of a neutral country.” To do so, it was
-said, would be contrary to the usage and customs of nations;
-and the proclamation issued by the American Government in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_570">570</span>
-the following year on the same subject is couched in equally
-general terms.<a id="FNanchor_1045" href="#Footnote_1045" class="fnanchor">1045</a></p>
-
-<p>We find the same want of definition in an edict of the
-King of the Two Sicilies in the same year, which speaks
-only of the accustomed rules being observed in his “ports,
-coasts, and adjacent seas.”<a id="FNanchor_1046" href="#Footnote_1046" class="fnanchor">1046</a> But in corresponding proclamations
-issued at the same time by the Grand Duke of
-Tuscany, the Republic of Genoa, the Republic of Venice, and
-the Pope, the range of guns is expressly mentioned as determining
-the boundary of their territorial waters in respect to
-neutrality. The Grand Duke prohibited all acts of hostility in
-the ports or coasts of Leghorn, within certain places specified,
-and in the seas adjacent to all his other ports, castles, or coasts
-within gunshot of the shore.<a id="FNanchor_1047" href="#Footnote_1047" class="fnanchor">1047</a> With respect to Civita Vecchia,
-Ancona, and his other territories, the Pope prohibited, “according
-to the common usage of nations,” all acts of hostility or
-superiority between belligerents there or in the adjacent seas,
-“or generally within the range of guns from the shore”;<a id="FNanchor_1048" href="#Footnote_1048" class="fnanchor">1048</a>
-while the Genoese edict forbade all acts of hostility between
-belligerents “in the ports, gulfs, and coasts, within range of
-guns,”<a id="FNanchor_1049" href="#Footnote_1049" class="fnanchor">1049</a> and contained particular rules for carrying the prohibition
-into effect. Thus, if such an act of hostility should be
-committed within range of cannon, a shot was first to be fired
-into the air, or to a distance from the vessel or vessels violating
-the neutrality, unless there was risk of damage to other vessels,
-in which case a blank shot was to be fired. If this did not put
-a stop to the transgression, the offenders were to be assailed
-with shot and musketry. In places where cannon were not
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_571">571</span>
-available, the same course was to be followed with muskets,
-and, it was said, the rules had to be carried out precisely as
-they had been ordained in a decree of 1756, when, no doubt,
-the gunshot limit was equally in force. The Venetian decree
-is couched in similar terms, and the size of the cannon whose
-range was to determine the limit is mentioned. All acts of
-force or authority between belligerents were prohibited “in
-the ports, roads, and coasts of our dominion, and in all the
-adjacent sea, at least to the distance within range of a large
-cannon of battery.”<a id="FNanchor_1050" href="#Footnote_1050" class="fnanchor">1050</a> In several of the edicts, as in the two
-last referred to, the range of vision was also used as a limit
-within which no belligerent vessel was to be allowed to station
-itself, or cruise about waiting for the enemy’s vessels: such
-action was prohibited within view of the ports or roads.</p>
-
-<p>It will be noticed that all these edicts regarding neutral
-waters in which the limit of cannon range was prescribed,
-emanated from the small Mediterranean states; but in many of
-the international treaties which followed the Armed Neutrality
-of 1780 the gunshot limit for neutral waters was also adopted.
-This league, which was directed against Great Britain, had its
-source in a declaration by the Empress Catherine II. of Russia
-regarding the rights of neutrals; especially that neutral vessels
-should be free to carry on trade on the coasts of belligerents,
-and that the property of belligerents in neutral vessels, except
-arms, equipment, and munitions of war, should be free from
-capture. The seizure of enemy’s goods in neutral ships by
-English cruisers bore hardly on the commerce of neutral
-countries; and for this reason, and, according to English
-views, because it was perceived by the other Powers that
-they could not directly contend against the naval force of
-Great Britain, a new code of international law was introduced
-which would have the effect of sapping it.<a id="FNanchor_1051" href="#Footnote_1051" class="fnanchor">1051</a> In some of the
-treaties referred to, the limits of neutral waters were defined in
-vague or general terms, as in that of 1782 between the United
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_572">572</span>
-States and the United Provinces.<a id="FNanchor_1052" href="#Footnote_1052" class="fnanchor">1052</a> The gunshot limit, however,
-was specified in a treaty between the United States and
-Morocco in 1785, which stipulated that if a vessel of either
-state was engaged with that of another Christian Power within
-the range of guns of a castle of the other state, it was to be
-protected and defended;<a id="FNanchor_1053" href="#Footnote_1053" class="fnanchor">1053</a> in a treaty of navigation and commerce
-between Great Britain and France in 1786;<a id="FNanchor_1054" href="#Footnote_1054" class="fnanchor">1054</a> and in a
-treaty between France and Russia in 1787. In the latter it
-was stipulated that in agreement with the principles laid down
-in the Russian declaration regarding the navigation of neutrals,
-either Power, if at war, should abstain from attacking the
-enemy’s vessels within cannon range of the coasts of the other
-Power, or in the ports, harbours, gulfs, and “other waters comprised
-under the name of closed waters.”<a id="FNanchor_1055" href="#Footnote_1055" class="fnanchor">1055</a> Russian activity
-in the direction indicated was shown by the conclusion of a
-similar treaty in the same terms with the Two Sicilies a few
-days later.<a id="FNanchor_1056" href="#Footnote_1056" class="fnanchor">1056</a> A little later, in 1803, the range of guns was
-adopted by Austria as determining the extent of neutral waters,
-as in the treaties above referred to.<a id="FNanchor_1057" href="#Footnote_1057" class="fnanchor">1057</a></p>
-
-<p>In contrast to the gunshot limit in connection with neutrality,
-was another which Spain incorporated in a treaty with Tripoli
-in 1784, by which it was agreed that Tripolitan vessels of war
-or privateers should not capture ships of their enemy within
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_573">573</span>
-ten leagues of the coasts of the Spanish dominions<a id="FNanchor_1058" href="#Footnote_1058" class="fnanchor">1058</a>&mdash;that is to
-say, within the same extent of sea as was expressed in the
-treaty between France and Algeria a century earlier.<a id="FNanchor_1059" href="#Footnote_1059" class="fnanchor">1059</a> A few
-years later the same limit of ten leagues was agreed to in a
-treaty between Great Britain and Spain concerning fisheries
-and navigation in certain parts of the Pacific. Disputes had
-arisen with Spain concerning proceedings at Nootka Sound,
-Vancouver; and in a convention between the two Powers, signed
-in 1790, it was agreed, <i>inter alia</i>, that British subjects should
-not navigate or carry on their fishery within a distance of ten
-sea leagues from any part of the coast already occupied by
-Spain, the object being to prevent illegal trading with the
-Spanish settlements.<a id="FNanchor_1060" href="#Footnote_1060" class="fnanchor">1060</a></p>
-
-<p>We thus perceive that towards the end of the eighteenth
-century various maritime boundaries were assigned in particular
-places for particular purposes, and that many states looked
-upon the limit of gunshot from an open coast as fixing the
-extent of their neutral waters. But hitherto, with the exception
-of the league limit prescribed by Denmark and Norway, which
-had no avowed reference to the range of guns, and was in
-reality equivalent to much more than three miles, no Power
-had yet adopted one marine league as the equivalent of gunshot
-from the shore. It appears that this step was first taken by
-the United States of America, and it is of interest to note that
-the three-mile limit was put forward tentatively, and, in a
-manner, as a temporary expedient. When the war between
-Great Britain and France broke out in 1793, the United States
-found it necessary to define the extent of the line of territorial
-protection which they claimed on their coast, in order to give
-effect to their neutral rights and duties. Washington, who
-was then President, instructed the executive officers to consider
-the line restrained, for the time being, to the distance of one
-sea league, or three geographical miles, from the shores, a distance
-which was said to be not more extensive than was
-claimed by any other Power. This limit was adopted tentatively,
-since the Government “did not propose, at that time,
-and without amicable communication with the foreign Powers
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_574">574</span>
-interested in the navigation of the coast, to fix on the distance
-to which they might ultimately insist on the right of protection.”
-It was stated that the greatest distance to which any
-“respectable assent” among nations had ever been given was
-the range of vision, which was estimated at upwards of twenty
-miles, and the smallest distance claimed by any nation was
-“the utmost range of a cannon-ball, usually stated at one sea
-league.”<a id="FNanchor_1061" href="#Footnote_1061" class="fnanchor">1061</a> Besides the extent of sea referred to, the bays and
-rivers were held by usage and the law of nations to be territorial,
-with immunity from belligerent operations. This was
-well shown in the same year, when the United States claimed
-that the whole of Delaware Bay and New Jersey, an arm of
-the sea about fifty English miles in length and a little over
-eleven miles wide at the entrance, was under their territorial
-jurisdiction, and ordered the restitution of a British vessel, the
-<i>Grange</i>, which had been captured there by a French frigate,
-<i>L’Ambuscade</i>; and this was done notwithstanding the protest
-of the French Minister that Delaware Bay was open sea and
-not under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States. The
-American Government rested its action on the law of nations,
-and declared that they were entitled to attach to their coasts
-an extent of sea beyond the reach of cannon-shot&mdash;a claim
-which showed that the three-mile limit had not been adopted
-as an inflexible rule.<a id="FNanchor_1062" href="#Footnote_1062" class="fnanchor">1062</a></p>
-
-<p>Next year the United States Congress passed a law authorising
-the district courts to take cognisance of all captures
-made within one marine league of the American shores;<a id="FNanchor_1063" href="#Footnote_1063" class="fnanchor">1063</a>
-but in the treaty concluded between Great Britain and the
-United States in the same year, it is interesting to observe
-that the less precise limit of gunshot was adopted, in the
-same words as in the treaty of 1786 between Great Britain
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_575">575</span>
-and France. The twenty-fifth article of this treaty provided
-that neither Government should permit the ships or goods belonging
-to the citizens or subjects of the other “to be taken
-within cannon-shot of the coast, nor in any of the bays, ports,
-or rivers of their territories, by ships of war, or others, having
-commissions from any prince, republic, or state whatever.”<a id="FNanchor_1064" href="#Footnote_1064" class="fnanchor">1064</a></p>
-
-<p>It may be mentioned here that the claims which have
-been put forward by the United States as to the extent of
-their territorial or jurisdictional waters have varied greatly
-on different occasions. The above declaration to M. Genet
-was, for instance, repudiated by President Jefferson as establishing
-a fixed limit; and it was claimed that the limit of
-neutrality should extend “to the Gulf Stream, which was
-a natural boundary (!), and within which we ought not to
-suffer any hostility to be committed.”<a id="FNanchor_1065" href="#Footnote_1065" class="fnanchor">1065</a> On another occasion,
-in a controversy about the right of jurisdiction, they claimed
-that the extent of neutral immunity off the American coast
-ought at least to correspond with the claims maintained by
-Great Britain around her own territory, and that no belligerent
-rights should be exercised within “the chambers formed by
-headlands, or anywhere at sea within the distance of four
-leagues, or from a right line from one headland to another.”<a id="FNanchor_1066" href="#Footnote_1066" class="fnanchor">1066</a>
-The American Government endeavoured to obtain from
-England in the same year the recognition of a territorial
-belt six miles in breadth, and in the draft treaty proposed
-in 1807 a distance of five miles was in reality specified.<a id="FNanchor_1067" href="#Footnote_1067" class="fnanchor">1067</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_576">576</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_II_CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">GENERAL ADOPTION OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT.</span></h2>
-
-<p>It is evident from the foregoing that, notwithstanding the
-variation in the extent of water claimed in certain cases, the
-principle of determining the general boundary of the territorial
-sea by the range of guns from the coast had become
-tolerably firmly established in the practice of nations before
-the end of the eighteenth century, with reference in particular
-to the rights of neutrals. Shortly before the century closed,
-moreover, we have seen that one of the important maritime
-Powers, the United States of America, had adopted a fixed
-distance of three miles or one marine league as equivalent to
-the utmost range of the cannon of those days. The range of
-guns naturally varied according to their size and power,
-and though it was specified in some of the Continental
-ordinances that the distance was to be determined by a large
-gun of battery, there was no certainty that it would be everywhere
-the same. It was thus clearly an advantage to have
-a fixed distance, which could be marked on charts, substituted
-for the less definite cannon range, so long as it really represented
-it. By the progress of the military art, however, most
-notably perhaps after about the middle of last century, the
-range of guns became enormously increased, so that long ago
-the three-mile limit ceased to represent it.</p>
-
-<p>The new boundary of one marine league, as equivalent to
-the range of guns, was soon introduced into English law
-and practice, in the first place through the decisions of the
-High Court of Admiralty in questions affecting the extent
-of neutral waters. It is noteworthy that nothing was heard
-at this period about the principle of the King’s Chambers
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_577">577</span>
-in such cases. It is very doubtful whether, as the American
-Government implied in 1806, the boundaries of the King’s
-Chambers had retained their validity at the beginning of
-last century. There seems to be no evidence that they
-were enforced during the eighteenth century, or even in the
-closing years of the seventeenth, possibly because occasions
-to test the point had become rare. But it is perhaps more
-probable that the claim to the King’s Chambers was allowed
-gradually to die out, and that the deliberate omission of
-any reference to them in the later proclamations of Charles II.
-(<a href="#Page_554">see p. 554</a>) foreshadowed this change in practice. It is clear
-at all events that long before the end of the eighteenth
-century it was well established that a vessel captured by one
-belligerent from another belligerent in a port of a neutral
-state or within the actual reach of cannon was not good
-prize.<a id="FNanchor_1068" href="#Footnote_1068" class="fnanchor">1068</a> The next step was to give effect to the same principle,
-whether the place was actually within the range of a
-fort or not.</p>
-
-<p>The decisions which introduced the three-mile limit into
-English jurisprudence were those of Sir William Scott (afterwards
-Lord Stowell) at the beginning of last century. In
-1800 and 1801 this great authority adopted both the gunshot
-limit and the distance of three miles as its equivalent for
-the boundary of neutral waters, in deciding the well-known
-cases of the <i>Twee Gebroeders</i>. It was these decisions of
-Lord Stowell’s which introduced the three-mile limit into
-English jurisprudence. The cases arose from the capture
-of certain vessels in 1799, by the boats of a British man-of-war,
-in the Groningen-Watt, between East Friesland and
-the island of Borkum, in the belief that they were bound
-from Hamburg to Amsterdam, which was then blockaded by
-the British; and it was claimed by the King of Prussia that
-the capture was made within the territory of that state. In
-deciding the first case,<a id="FNanchor_1069" href="#Footnote_1069" class="fnanchor">1069</a> Lord Stowell found that the <i>capturing</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_578">578</span>
-vessel was “lying within the limits to which neutral immunity
-is usually conceded. She was lying in the eastern
-branch of the Eems, within what may, I think, be considered
-as a distance of three miles, at most, from East Friesland. An
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_579">579</span>
-exact measurement cannot easily be obtained; but in a case
-of this nature, in which the Court would not willingly act
-with an unfavourable minuteness towards a neutral state, it
-will be disposed to calculate the distance very liberally; and
-more especially, as the spot in question is a sand covered with
-water only on the flow of the tide, but immediately connected
-with the land of East Friesland, and when dry, may be considered
-as making part of it. I am of opinion, that the ship
-was lying within those limits in which all direct hostile
-operations are by the law of nations forbidden to be exercised.”<a id="FNanchor_1070" href="#Footnote_1070" class="fnanchor">1070</a>
-In this decision the three-mile limit is assumed to
-be, “by the law of nations,” the boundary of the neutral waters.
-It is also to be observed that the distance was reckoned, not
-from low-water mark, but apparently from the land; while
-according to the rule apparently governing such cases now,
-the sand-bank itself would be a part of the territory, and
-the distance of three miles would be measured from its outer
-margin at low water (<a href="#fig_19">see fig. 19</a>, p. 635).</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_14" src="images/fig_14.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 14.&mdash;<i>Facsimile of part of the chart, showing where the “Twee Gebroeders”
-were taken.</i> From Robinson, Admiralty Reports.</p></div>
-
-<p>In deciding the second case, in which the circumstances were
-much the same, Lord Stowell said that “in the sea, out of the
-reach of cannon shot universal use is presumed”; but he made
-no reference to three miles as an equivalent distance.<a id="FNanchor_1071" href="#Footnote_1071" class="fnanchor">1071</a> A few
-years later, in 1805, in deciding the case of the <i>Anna</i>, which
-was captured at the mouth of the Mississippi by a British
-privateer, and in which the question of the violation of
-American waters had to be considered, the same judge, quoting
-Bynkershoek, said: “We all know that the rule of law
-on this subject is <i>terr&aelig; dominium finitur, ubi finitur armorum
-vis</i>; and since the introduction of fire-arms, that
-distance has usually been recognised to be about three miles
-from shore.”<a id="FNanchor_1072" href="#Footnote_1072" class="fnanchor">1072</a></p>
-
-<p>It is, as above stated, in these decisions of the High Court
-of Admiralty that the three-mile limit originated in England.
-They furnished the legal precedents which regulated subsequent
-practice. The gunshot limit was a doctrine borrowed from
-Continental publicists, and three miles as its equivalent from
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_580">580</span>
-recent American practice. Both were previously unknown to
-English law.<a id="FNanchor_1073" href="#Footnote_1073" class="fnanchor">1073</a></p>
-
-<p>Moreover, although, as we shall see, the writers on international
-law had in only a few instances accepted the three-mile
-limit as an alternative to the range of guns from the
-shore, and scarcely any of the Continental publicists of repute,
-the actual practice of Great Britain and the United States,
-together with the legal decisions in the British and American
-courts, and the dicta of the judges, tended steadily to bring
-about its adoption. At first the boundary of one marine league
-as equivalent to the range of cannon had reference solely to
-questions of neutrality, as the capture of prizes, in the maritime
-wars that prevailed. But very soon it was applied to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_581">581</span>
-other purposes, and first of all by the British Government in
-connection with the rights of fishery. During the peace
-negotiations with the United States at Ghent, after the war
-of 1812-14, the British Government intimated that they did
-not intend to grant to the United States gratuitously the
-privileges formerly given by the treaty of 1783 “of fishing
-within the limits of British territory, or of using the shores
-of the British territories for purposes connected with the
-fisheries.” The treaty of Ghent contained no stipulation on
-the subject, but shortly afterwards the British Government
-expressed its intention to exclude, and gave instructions to
-exclude, fishing vessels of the United States from fishing
-within the harbours, bays, rivers, and creeks, and within
-one marine league of the shores of the British territories in
-America, and from drying and curing their fish on shore.
-Several American vessels were seized for trespassing within
-British waters, and the prolonged diplomatic discussion which
-followed resulted in the convention of 1818, by which the
-fishermen of the United States were allowed the same rights
-as British fishermen on certain parts of the coast, but at all
-other parts they were forbidden to fish within a distance of
-three miles of the “coasts, bays, creeks, or harbours.”<a id="FNanchor_1074" href="#Footnote_1074" class="fnanchor">1074</a> This
-was the first of the treaties in which the three-mile limit
-was specified, and it naturally formed a precedent for those
-which followed.</p>
-
-<p>That the principle of adopting the distance in question as
-the proper boundary of the territorial sea had not yet become
-firmly incorporated in British policy in all cases was, however,
-shown a few years later in the negotiations with Russia concerning
-Behring Sea. In 1821 the Emperor of Russia issued
-a ukase or decree, in which he declared that the pursuit of
-commerce, whaling, and fishery, and of all other industry, on
-all islands, ports, and gulfs, including the whole of the north-west
-coast of America, beginning from Behring Straits to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_582">582</span>
-the 51st of northern latitude, and in other parts specified, had
-been exclusively granted to Russian subjects; and therefore
-prohibiting “all foreign vessels not only to land on the coasts
-and islands belonging to Russia, as stated above, but also to
-approach them within less than 100 Italian miles,” the
-penalty for doing so being the confiscation of the transgressing
-vessel and the cargo.<a id="FNanchor_1075" href="#Footnote_1075" class="fnanchor">1075</a> The Russian Government claimed that
-the extent of sea of which the Russian possessions formed
-the limits “comprehended all the conditions which are ordinarily
-attached to closed seas (<i>mers ferm&eacute;es</i>), and it might consequently
-judge itself authorised to exercise upon this sea the
-right of sovereignty, and especially that of entirely interdicting
-the entrance of foreigners; but it preferred only
-asserting its essential rights without taking any advantage
-of localities.” This, it will be perceived, was a revival in the
-nineteenth century of pretensions similar to those which
-Denmark had advanced in the seventeenth and eighteenth;
-and the claim was opposed by Great Britain and the United
-States, whose interests were threatened by it. The British
-Government declared that it was contrary to the law of
-nations, and that it could not admit the right of any Power
-possessing the sovereignty of a country to exclude the vessels
-of others from the seas on its coasts to a distance of 100
-Italian miles. In its justification Russia cited, not the Italian
-publicists or the earlier practice in the Mediterranean, but
-an article in the treaty of Utrecht, which assigned thirty
-leagues as the distance of prohibition (<a href="#Page_531">see p. 531</a>),&mdash;an argument
-which was sufficiently answered by the statement that the
-distance mentioned was a particular stipulation in a treaty
-to which the other party had given its deliberate consent.
-At an early period in the discussion the Russian Government
-suspended the execution of the ukase, and instructed the
-commanders of their ships of war to confine their surveillance
-as nearly as possible “to the mainland, <i>i.e.</i>, over an extent
-of sea within the range of cannon-shot from the shore.”</p>
-
-<p>An article in the draft convention subsequently arranged
-between Great Britain and Russia provided for an exclusive
-fishery, not within three miles, but within two leagues or six
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_583">583</span>
-miles, from the coasts of their respective possessions in the
-regions referred to; but when the British Government discovered
-that in the corresponding convention concluded a little
-earlier between Russia and the United States no limit at all
-had been specified, they withdrew this article. Mr George
-Canning, in a despatch to Mr Stratford Canning, the British
-plenipotentiary at St Petersburg, withdrawing the article, said
-that its omission was, in truth, immaterial, since “the law of
-nations assigns the exclusive sovereignty of one league to each
-Power on its own coasts, without any specific stipulation.”
-The Russian Government raised no objection to the new article,
-and the distance from the coast at which the fishing was to
-be exercised in common passed without specification, “and consequently,”
-added Stratford Canning, “it rests on the law of
-nations as generally received.” A little later, before the convention
-was ratified, the British plenipotentiary, thinking it
-might be desirable to have the law of nations declared therein,
-jointly with the Court of Russia, in some ostensible shape,
-broached the subject anew and suggested that notes should be
-exchanged in London “declaratory of the law as fixing the
-distance at one marine league from the shore.” The Russian
-Minister, however, expressed disinclination to do anything that
-might retard the immediate ratification of the convention; and
-he assured Canning that the Russian Government would be
-content in executing the convention to abide by the recognised
-law of nations, and that if any question should afterwards be
-raised upon the subject, he would not refuse to join in making
-the suggested declaration, “on being satisfied that the general
-rule under the law of nations was such as the English Government
-supposed.”<a id="FNanchor_1076" href="#Footnote_1076" class="fnanchor">1076</a></p>
-
-<p>It is evident from these despatches that the British Government
-at that time held the opinion that the territorial waters
-of a state on an open coast extended, “by the law of nations,”
-for one marine league from the shore. But it would not have
-been easy for them to adduce convincing testimony in support
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_584">584</span>
-of that opinion from the accredited writers on the law of
-nations whose works were then available, or from the general
-usage of nations apart from Anglo-American practice. The
-Russian Government were obviously not satisfied on the point,
-and their instruction to their naval commanders to enforce the
-limit of cannon range, though that was a less definite boundary,
-was more in consonance with the law of nations as generally
-understood. It was natural that the British Government should
-give weight to the decisions of Lord Stowell in the Admiralty
-Court.</p>
-
-<p>The Government of the United States, in discussing the
-Russian pretension, did not apparently lay the same stress on
-the principle of the three-mile limit as they did on some other
-occasions. The claim that the Northern Pacific might strictly
-be regarded as a closed sea was met by the simple statement
-that the opposite coasts on the parallel of 51 degrees were
-4000 miles apart. The right of American subjects to navigate
-and fish within the prescribed distance of 100 miles from the
-coast was rested on continuous exercise from the earliest times.
-Universal usage, it was declared, which had obtained the force
-of law, had established for all coasts “an accessory limit of
-a <i>moderate distance</i>” which was sufficient for the security of
-the country and for the convenience of its inhabitants, but
-which laid no restraint upon the universal right of nations,
-nor upon the freedom of commerce and of navigation.<a id="FNanchor_1077" href="#Footnote_1077" class="fnanchor">1077</a></p>
-
-<p>In the conventions which followed, it was provided that the
-subjects of the contracting Powers should not be molested
-either in navigating or in fishing in any part of the Pacific
-Ocean, and they were to be at liberty for ten years to frequent
-without hindrance all the inland seas, gulfs, havens, and
-creeks, on the coasts mentioned, for the purpose of fishing
-and of trading with the natives, subject to certain conditions
-to prevent illicit commerce.<a id="FNanchor_1078" href="#Footnote_1078" class="fnanchor">1078</a></p>
-
-<p>It may be here stated that some years later, when American
-and British whalers had greatly increased in numbers in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_585">585</span>
-Behring Sea, the Russian officials on several occasions urged
-their Government to preserve the sea as a <i>mare clausum</i>,<a id="FNanchor_1079" href="#Footnote_1079" class="fnanchor">1079</a> or
-to prohibit foreign whalers from approaching the coast within
-a distance of forty Italian miles.<a id="FNanchor_1080" href="#Footnote_1080" class="fnanchor">1080</a> The Russian Government
-pointed out in reply that to fix such a limit would be contrary
-to the conventions, and might lead to protests from other
-Powers, “since no clear and uniform agreement has yet been
-arrived at among nations in regard to the limit of jurisdiction
-at sea.” In 1847 the Government repeated the objections, and
-expressed the opinion that “the limit of a cannon-shot, that
-is, about three Italian miles, would alone give rise to no dispute”;
-and they further observed that no Power had yet succeeded
-in limiting the freedom of fishing in open seas, other
-Powers never recognising such pretensions. Subsequently, in
-1853, in consequence of continued complaints as to foreigners
-fishing in the sea of Okhotsk, the Russian Government were
-pressed by the influential Russian-American Company either
-to close that great stretch of waters, as an inland sea, or to
-prohibit whalers from approaching close to the shores and
-whaling in the bays and among the islands. Instructions were
-thereupon issued to the commanders of the Russian cruisers
-to prevent foreign whalers from entering bays or gulfs, or
-from coming “within three Italian miles of the shores” of
-Russian America (north of 54&deg; 41&acute; lat.), the peninsula of
-Kamtchatka, Siberia, the Kadjak Archipelago, the Aleutin
-Islands, the Pribyloff and Commander Islands, and the others
-in Behring Sea, as well as Sakhalin and others; and at the
-same time it was declared that while the Sea of Okhotsk, from
-its geographical position, was a Russian inland sea, foreigners
-were to be allowed to take whales there.<a id="FNanchor_1081" href="#Footnote_1081" class="fnanchor">1081</a> Thus the Russian
-Government adopted at first the principle of the range of guns,
-then spoke of this or three Italian miles, and eventually accepted
-and enforced, on the great extent of coast referred to
-above, the three-mile limit.</p>
-
-<p>Reference must now be made to some decisions in the courts
-of law and to certain provisions in particular Acts of Parliament
-which bear upon the question of the extent of the territorial
-waters. Owing to the long-continued peace on the sea
-since the decisions of Lord Stowell at the beginning of last
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_586">586</span>
-century, few occasions have occurred for the question of the
-boundary of neutral waters to be raised. In a number of civil
-cases tried in our courts the three-mile limit has, however, been
-referred to, either as a ground for the decision, or more usually
-as a dictum of the judges, as the proper boundary of the territorial
-sea; but this has been frequently coupled with the qualification
-that it is the assumed distance of the range of guns,
-or the smallest extent that has been claimed by publicists or
-states.<a id="FNanchor_1082" href="#Footnote_1082" class="fnanchor">1082</a> Some of these cases dealt with the vexed question of
-bays.<a id="FNanchor_1083" href="#Footnote_1083" class="fnanchor">1083</a> One of the most important was tried in 1859, and it
-referred to the Bristol Channel. An offence was committed on
-an American vessel within one mile of the coast in Penarth
-Roads, but where the width from shore to shore is less than
-ten miles, and Chief Justice Cockburn, in delivering judgment,
-said, “We are of opinion that, looking at the local situation of
-this sea, it must be taken to belong to the counties respectively
-by the shores of which it is bounded; and the fact of the Holms,<a id="FNanchor_1084" href="#Footnote_1084" class="fnanchor">1084</a>
-between which and the shore of the county of Glamorgan, the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_587">587</span>
-place in question, is situated, having always been treated as
-part of the parish of Cardiff, and as part of the county of
-Glamorgan, is a strong illustration of the principle on which we
-proceed, namely, that the whole of this inland sea, between
-the counties of Somerset and Glamorgan, is to be considered as
-within the counties by the shores of which its several parts
-are respectively bounded.” A good deal of discussion has
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_588">588</span>
-taken place as to the precise meaning of these words. It is to
-be noted that much farther seawards than the place in question
-the width of the Channel is less than ten geographical miles.
-On the usual rule for bays (as laid down in the fishery
-conventions), the ten-mile base-line would pass between Nash
-Point in Glamorgan and Hurtstone Point, the headland east
-of Porlock in Somerset, and the closing line would be three
-miles west of this, or about twenty geographical miles from
-Penarth Roads. The six-mile limit, from land to land, is, however,
-about twenty-seven miles farther east, between the coast
-near Goldcliff, in Monmouth, and that near Walton Castle,
-Somerset. But about midway between these two limits (and
-seawards of Penarth Roads) there is a part where the three-mile
-zone around the island, Steepholm, joins that of the coast
-on either side, and though eastwards of this there are small
-areas beyond the distance of three miles from shore, the fact
-that the territorial waters are continuous from side to side
-at this place probably confers territoriality on all the waters
-inside, though that is a point which has not apparently been
-decided. A line drawn from the western boundary of Somerset
-(and in that case not from a headland) to Worms Head, the
-most western part of Glamorgan, measures about thirty
-geographical miles, and it is a markedly oblique line. What
-is true of one county ought to be true of another, and a much
-more natural line would be one of about twenty-three geographical
-miles between Morte Point in Devon and Worms
-Head in Glamorgan; or one still farther seawards between
-Hartland Point in Devon and St Goven’s Head in Pembroke,
-which are about thirty-eight geographical miles apart; but
-under common law the range of vision has to be taken into
-account. It may be added that the whole of the Bristol
-Channel within a line from Land’s End to Milford was one
-of the “King’s Chambers” (<a href="#Page_122">see p. 122</a>), the closing line being
-nearly one hundred miles long; and that Continental publicists
-have referred to it, probably from this circumstance, as being
-within British jurisdiction.<a id="FNanchor_1085" href="#Footnote_1085" class="fnanchor">1085</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_15" src="images/fig_15.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 15.&mdash;<i>The Bristol Channel.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Another case of the kind decided in a British court concerned
-Conception Bay in Newfoundland, which is rather more
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_589">589</span>
-than twenty miles wide between the headlands and from forty
-to fifty miles in length. It was decided by the Judicial Committee
-of the Privy Council in 1877 that it was a British bay
-and part of the territorial waters of Newfoundland. The
-decision was based partly on the configuration of the bay, but
-mainly on the evidence that the British Government had for a
-long time exercised dominion over it, which had been acquiesced
-in by other nations, and the Legislature had by Acts of
-Parliament declared it to be British territory.<a id="FNanchor_1086" href="#Footnote_1086" class="fnanchor">1086</a> Lord Blackburn,
-in delivering judgment, said that there was a universal
-agreement among writers on international jurisprudence that
-harbours, estuaries, and bays, landlocked, belong to the territory
-of the nation which possesses the shores round them, but
-no agreement existed as to what is the rule to determine what
-is a “bay” for this purpose. “It seems generally agreed,” he
-continued, “that where the configuration and dimensions of
-the bay are such as to show that the nation occupying the
-adjoining coasts also occupies the bay, it is part of the territory,”
-most of the writers referring to defensibility from the
-shore as the test of occupation. But the judgment was founded
-on the principle above stated.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to jurisdiction over foreigners in the waters
-along our coasts, it is surprising that until quite recently
-there was no statutory enactment or international agreement
-defining the extent of that jurisdiction. Even in
-certain statutes in which the territorial waters are specially
-mentioned their boundaries are not defined, Thus, the provisions
-of the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870,<a id="FNanchor_1087" href="#Footnote_1087" class="fnanchor">1087</a> which was
-passed for purposes of neutrality in the war between France
-and Germany, were declared by the second section to extend
-“to all the dominions of Her Majesty, including the
-adjacent territorial waters”; and the fourteenth section provided
-that any ship captured during the war between other
-nations when Great Britain was neutral, “within the territorial
-jurisdiction of Her Majesty, in violation of the neutrality of
-this realm,” &amp;c., would be illegal; yet, in the interpretation
-clause no definition is given of the meaning or extent of “the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_590">590</span>
-adjacent territorial waters.” A similar reluctance apparently
-to fix a definite boundary to the territorial seas for all purposes
-has been shown by the British Government on several occasions
-in recent years&mdash;as, for example, in the Territorial Waters
-Jurisdiction Act, and in the negotiations preceding the North
-Sea fishery convention of 1882.<a id="FNanchor_1088" href="#Footnote_1088" class="fnanchor">1088</a></p>
-
-<p>The statute just referred to was the outcome of a very
-important case which was decided in the English courts in 1876,
-and raised indirectly the whole question of the extent of the
-territorial sea (apart from bays) and the nature of the jurisdiction
-over it. A German ship, the <i>Franconia</i>, bound from
-Hamburg to the West Indies, ran into a British ship, the
-<i>Strathclyde</i>, off Dover and within two and a half miles from
-the English coast, whereby the <i>Strathclyde</i> was sunk and a
-passenger drowned. The master, a German named Keyn, was
-convicted of manslaughter in the Central Criminal Court,
-according to English law, and the case was carried to the
-Criminal Court of Appeal. The defence was that as the
-defendant was a foreigner, in a foreign vessel, on a foreign
-voyage, sailing upon the high seas, he was not subject to the
-jurisdiction of any court in this country, while it was contended
-for the crown that inasmuch as at the time of the
-collision he was within three miles of the English shore, the
-offence was committed within the realm of England and was
-triable by the English court.<a id="FNanchor_1089" href="#Footnote_1089" class="fnanchor">1089</a> It was held by seven of the
-thirteen judges that in the absence of statutory enactment the
-Central Criminal Court had no power to try such an offence,
-inasmuch as the original jurisdiction of the admiral, which
-had been transferred to that court, did not enable him to try
-offences by foreigners on board foreign ships; the other six
-judges held the opposite, on the ground that the sea within
-three miles of the coast of England is part of the territory of
-England; that the English criminal law extends over those
-limits; and the admiral formerly had, and the Central Criminal
-Court now has, jurisdiction to try offences there committed
-although on board foreign ships. In referring to the limits of
-the territorial waters under the law of nations, the three-mile
-distance or the range of guns from the shore was very generally
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_591">591</span>
-quoted, and not infrequently the two were confused and
-spoken of as if they were one and the same thing. This was
-particularly the case with Sir Alexander Cockburn, who
-referred to various treaties and edicts (<a href="#Page_570">see p. 570</a>) in which the
-range of guns alone was mentioned, as having fixed a three-mile
-limit for purposes of neutrality. He even gives Bynkershoek
-the credit of having propounded the three-mile theory.<a id="FNanchor_1090" href="#Footnote_1090" class="fnanchor">1090</a>
-His conclusion was cautiously expressed as follows: “Possibly,
-after these precedents and all that has been written on this
-subject, it may not be too much to say that, independently of
-treaties, the three-mile belt of sea might at this day be taken
-as belonging, for these purposes [in connection with fisheries
-and neutrality], to the local State.”</p>
-
-<p>It was, as we have said, in sequence to the above case of the
-<i>Franconia</i> that the important statute, the Territorial Waters
-Jurisdiction Act, was passed by the British Parliament in 1878.<a id="FNanchor_1091" href="#Footnote_1091" class="fnanchor">1091</a>
-This Act is sometimes loosely referred to as having settled the
-extent of the territorial waters at three miles from the shore.
-This is far from being the case. In the preamble it is stated
-that “whereas the rightful jurisdiction of Her Majesty, her
-heirs and successors, extends and has always extended over the
-<i>open seas</i> adjacent to the coasts of the United Kingdom and of
-all other parts of Her Majesty’s dominions to such a distance as
-is necessary for the defence and security of such dominions.
-And whereas it is expedient that all offences committed on the
-<i>open sea</i> within a certain distance of the coasts of the United
-Kingdom and of all other parts of Her Majesty’s dominions, by
-whomsoever committed, should be dealt with according to law,”
-it was enacted that an offence committed by a person, whether
-or not a British subject, within the territorial waters of Her
-Majesty’s dominions was an offence within the jurisdiction of
-the admiral, although committed on board, or by means of, a
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_592">592</span>
-foreign ship, and the person who committed the offence might
-be arrested, tried, and punished accordingly. The legal advisers
-of the Government were, however, careful to guard against the
-limitation of the general rights of the crown in the adjacent
-seas to the distance to which criminal jurisdiction was declared
-to extend. In the interpretation clause it is stated: “‘The
-territorial waters of Her Majesty’s dominions,’ in reference to the
-sea, means such part of the sea adjacent to the coast of the
-United Kingdom, or the coast of some other part of Her
-Majesty’s dominions, as is deemed by international law to be
-within the territorial sovereignty of Her Majesty: and for the
-purpose of any offence declared by this Act to be within the
-jurisdiction of the admiral, any part of the open sea within one
-marine league of the coast measured from low-water mark shall
-be deemed to be <i>open sea</i> within the territorial waters of Her
-Majesty’s dominions.” The reservation is made explicit in the
-fifth section, which says that “nothing in this Act contained
-shall be construed to be in derogation of any rightful jurisdiction
-of Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, under the law of nations,
-or to affect or prejudice any jurisdiction conferred by Act of
-Parliament or now by law existing in relation to foreign ships
-or in relation to persons on board such ships.”</p>
-
-<p>In the debate that took place in the House of Lords in 1895
-in connection with the Sea Fisheries Regulation (Scotland) Act,<a id="FNanchor_1092" href="#Footnote_1092" class="fnanchor">1092</a>
-by which power was conferred on the Fishery Board for
-Scotland of regulating trawling, under certain conditions, up
-to thirteen miles from the coast (<a href="#Page_720">see p. 720</a>), it was stated by
-Lord Halsbury, who had charge of the Territorial Waters
-Jurisdiction Act in 1878, that “in that Act they took care
-specially to avoid any measurements. The distance was left
-at such limit as was necessary for the defence of the Realm;
-then the exact limit was given for the particular purpose in
-view.” Equally clear was the statement of the late Lord
-Salisbury in the same debate, that “Great care had been taken
-not to name three miles as the territorial limit. The limit
-depended on the distance to which a cannon-shot could go.”<a id="FNanchor_1093" href="#Footnote_1093" class="fnanchor">1093</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_593">593</span></p>
-
-<p>It is evident from the foregoing that the territorial sea that
-may be claimed as belonging to this country is not restricted
-to a distance of three miles from the shore on an open coast,
-though a certain jurisdiction and certain rights may be confined
-to that distance by municipal law or international agreement.
-The determination of the extent is left to the law of nations,
-and there is but little doubt that by the law of nations the
-true principle of delimitation is the actual range of guns from
-the coast, where the coast is washed by the open sea. It is to
-be noted that in the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act nothing
-is said about bays: criminal jurisdiction is confined to “the
-open sea” within one marine league of the coast. Offences
-such as come under the Act may obviously be committed as
-well in territorial bays and arms of the sea as within the three-mile
-limit on the open coast; and the omission to include bays
-was no doubt deliberate, bays in England being left under the
-common law on the principle previously explained, the range
-of vision, and in Scotland presumably under Scots law&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>,
-“within land” (see pp. 545, 547).</p>
-
-<p>Other Acts of Parliament which fix limits of jurisdiction
-beyond three miles from the shore include those relating to
-smuggling, the public health, and slave-ships. In 1736, and
-later, statutes were made by Parliament, known as the Hovering
-Acts, by which vessels with certain cargoes on board,
-destined for British ports, might be seized within four leagues
-of the British coast; and foreign vessels so taken have been
-brought for adjudication before British courts and forfeited
-for illicit trade.<a id="FNanchor_1094" href="#Footnote_1094" class="fnanchor">1094</a> By later Acts concerning the customs, differential
-limits were fixed with respect to jurisdiction over vessels
-having dutiable goods on board. Those belonging wholly or
-in part to British subjects, or having half the persons on board
-British subjects, found or discovered to have been within four
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_594">594</span>
-leagues of the coast between the North Foreland and Beachy
-Head, or within eight leagues of any other part of the coast;
-or any foreign ship with one or more British subjects on board,
-found or discovered to have been within three leagues of the
-coast, or any foreign ship irrespective of British subjects
-within one league, might under certain specified conditions be
-forfeited; and power was conferred on the commander of a
-ship of the royal navy to fire on such vessel if it refused to
-bring to after a warning gun had been given.<a id="FNanchor_1095" href="#Footnote_1095" class="fnanchor">1095</a></p>
-
-<p>Other nations have also assigned boundaries for customs
-jurisdiction, which in nearly all cases exceed the ordinary
-limits of territorial waters. The United States in 1799 extended
-its jurisdiction for such purposes to four leagues from
-the coast, and in 1807, in an Act against the importation of
-slaves, the seizure of vessels laden with certain cargoes within
-that distance was also authorised.<a id="FNanchor_1096" href="#Footnote_1096" class="fnanchor">1096</a> In Spain the customs
-limit is six miles, and therefore corresponds to the territorial
-zone which is claimed;<a id="FNanchor_1097" href="#Footnote_1097" class="fnanchor">1097</a> in Sweden it is also six miles, but
-measured on the Scandinavian system from the outermost
-rocks; in Norway it is four miles, measured on the same
-principle, but a treaty between Norway and Mexico, concluded
-in 1886, places it as between these countries at three leagues
-from low-water mark.<a id="FNanchor_1098" href="#Footnote_1098" class="fnanchor">1098</a> In Italy the boundary is ten kilometres;
-in France two myriametres, or about four leagues; in Austria
-it is also four leagues; while in Canada it is three leagues.<a id="FNanchor_1099" href="#Footnote_1099" class="fnanchor">1099</a>
-Wide limits for jurisdiction have also been fixed by certain
-quarantine Acts. By the British Act of 1753, all vessels
-coming from places whence the plague might be brought were
-required to make signals on meeting other ships within four
-leagues of the coast, a distance which was reduced to two
-leagues by a later Act.<a id="FNanchor_1100" href="#Footnote_1100" class="fnanchor">1100</a></p>
-
-<p>Such extension of jurisdiction as is indicated for customs
-or quarantine purposes over foreign ships approaching the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_595">595</span>
-ports of a country, has only been sanctioned in a few cases
-by international treaties. It is now generally held to rest upon
-another basis than the absolute rights possessed by a state
-in its territorial waters proper; although it is quite in agreement
-with the principles laid down by the older publicists,
-as Puffendorf, Vattel, and Von Martens, and by several recent
-writers, as Latour,<a id="FNanchor_1101" href="#Footnote_1101" class="fnanchor">1101</a> that a nation is justified in exercising
-jurisdiction in the sea as far as its security or interests render
-it necessary. The current opinion is that such rights can
-only be enforced against foreigners under the comity of nations
-or by their tacit assent, as a matter of mutual convenience, and
-in practice they are acquiesced in by other Powers.<a id="FNanchor_1102" href="#Footnote_1102" class="fnanchor">1102</a> But it is
-important to observe that, as will be more apparent when we
-come to deal with the exclusive right of fishing, maritime
-nations find it necessary for the protection of their just interests
-to extend their jurisdiction beyond the somewhat narrow
-boundary at present ordinarily assigned.</p>
-
-<p>The statement made above, that the true principle for determining
-the extent of the territorial sea on an open coast is the
-range of guns from the shore, is borne out by an examination
-of the writings of the accredited authorities on the law of
-nations. A review of the opinions of the leading publicists
-of the earlier part of last century shows that while the
-majority accepted Bynkershoek’s principle of cannon range,
-comparatively few restricted it to the distance of three miles,
-and many logically insisted that the extent must necessarily
-vary with the improvements in artillery. Works of a purely
-polemical nature may be passed over, such as those of the
-worthless Barr&egrave;re<a id="FNanchor_1103" href="#Footnote_1103" class="fnanchor">1103</a> and of Champagne.<a id="FNanchor_1104" href="#Footnote_1104" class="fnanchor">1104</a> They were inspired
-by hatred of Great Britain and the desire of flattering Napoleon
-rather than by love of the truth, and were written in order
-to show that the British were the tyrants of the sea. Another
-contemporary French author, of much superior merit, who
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_596">596</span>
-dealt with the question was Rayneval, although his views
-were also somewhat coloured by national prejudice. In 1803
-he published a treatise on international law,<a id="FNanchor_1105" href="#Footnote_1105" class="fnanchor">1105</a> and in 1811
-another on the liberty of the sea.<a id="FNanchor_1106" href="#Footnote_1106" class="fnanchor">1106</a> The latter for the most
-part consists, like the work of Champagne, of an examination
-of the writings of Grotius and Selden regarding the <i>mare
-liberum</i> and the <i>mare clausum</i>, and also of the trenchant
-little book of Jenkinson (Lord Liverpool) on the conduct of
-the British Government in relation to neutrals. But in the
-earlier treatise, which is still cited as an authority, Rayneval
-expounded the law of nations respecting the territorial sea
-with marked impartiality. On the general question of the
-freedom of the sea and the appropriation of straits and
-bays the usual opinions were expressed. He held that the sea
-bathing the coasts of a country makes part of it; that the
-security and tranquillity of the state require that it should be
-held as a rampart against hostile surprise or violence and illicit
-trading; and that the fisheries form a natural appendage to
-this zone. With regard to the extent of sea that may be
-appropriated, Rayneval stated that it had not been determined
-by any uniform rule. Some, he said, carried it to a hundred
-miles, or to sixty miles, from the coast, others only to three
-miles, and others placed it at the distance of gunshot from the
-shore. On the southern coast of France it had been fixed by
-agreement at ten leagues with respect to the Barbary privateers.
-Like Meadows and several preceding writers, he held it to be
-desirable in the interests of the peace of nations that a
-general rule, or at least particular rules clearly determined,
-should be adopted on a matter so important and exposed
-to such uncertainties and disputes. Authors, he said, had
-usually fixed the distance at the range of cannon, but their
-opinion was not founded on a general regulation nor on uniform
-practice; and the most equitable limit according to some was
-the range of vision from the coast or the apparent horizon.
-Rayneval was of opinion that within the territorial seas the
-neighbouring state had the right to forbid navigation, except
-in cases of stress and necessity&mdash;a claim generally discarded,
-though still made by Norway. Any liberty to foreigners to
-fish along the coasts or in the bays of a country, he thought,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_597">597</span>
-was a matter of tolerance, founded principally on the supposed
-abundance of fish; and he held the opinion, which is at variance
-with that of most other writers,&mdash;unless when confined to the
-territorial zone,&mdash;that a state does not lose the right to forbid
-foreigners from fishing in the waters along its coasts because
-it at one time allowed them to do so.</p>
-
-<p>Much more definite and restricted was the opinion of a contemporary
-English lawyer, Chitty, who published a work on
-the law of nations in 1812.<a id="FNanchor_1107" href="#Footnote_1107" class="fnanchor">1107</a> Quoting Vattel, that the whole
-extent of the sea within cannon-shot of the coast is considered
-as making part of the territory, and that a vessel taken
-under the guns of a neutral fortress is not lawful prize, he
-says that the same doctrine is enforced by Von Martens; and
-he refers to the decisions in the English Court of Admiralty
-in the cases of the <i>Twee Gebroeders</i> and the <i>Anna</i>, which
-established the principle in English law. Chitty, however,
-makes no allusion to the three-mile limit as an alternative
-to the range of guns.</p>
-
-<p>Bynkershoek’s principle, and also a fixed distance in place
-of it, were likewise accepted by Schmalz, Professor of Law in
-the University of Berlin. Writing in 1817,<a id="FNanchor_1108" href="#Footnote_1108" class="fnanchor">1108</a> he declared that
-the adjacent sea pertained to the neighbouring land as far
-as it could be defended by cannon from the shore; that this
-principle had been systematically adopted; and that the
-distance had been fixed arbitrarily at three marine leagues,<a id="FNanchor_1109" href="#Footnote_1109" class="fnanchor">1109</a>&mdash;an
-erroneous statement, no doubt derived from G. F. von
-Martens, which has been previously referred to,<a id="FNanchor_1110" href="#Footnote_1110" class="fnanchor">1110</a> and was
-copied from one book into another. Two years later another
-and a greater German authority, Kl&uuml;ber, also adopted the
-principle of the range of guns, without, however, proposing
-an equivalent distance in miles.<a id="FNanchor_1111" href="#Footnote_1111" class="fnanchor">1111</a> He allowed to the state
-the waters susceptible of exclusive possession, over which it
-had acquired, by occupation or convention, and maintained,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_598">598</span>
-its sovereignty. Among the parts so comprised are (1) the
-sea adjoining the continental territory of a state&mdash;at all events,
-“according to the generally received opinion,” to the extent
-to which it can be reached by cannon-shot from the shore;
-(2) parts extending into the land, as bays and gulfs, which
-can be commanded by guns on shore; (3) straits which are
-equally commanded by guns; (4) gulfs, straits, and seas adjoining
-the continental territory of a state, which, though not
-entirely under the range of guns on shore, are recognised by
-other Powers as closed seas&mdash;that is, under one dominion,
-and inaccessible to foreign vessels without permission.</p>
-
-<p>Wheaton, an eminent American jurist, whose first work
-was published about this time, likewise accepted the principle
-of cannon range, or, as an alternative, a distance of three
-miles from the shore.<a id="FNanchor_1112" href="#Footnote_1112" class="fnanchor">1112</a> The territorial jurisdiction of a neutral
-Power, he says, “extends to the ports, harbours, bays, and
-chambers formed by headlands of the neutral Power. The
-usual addition allowed to this is a distance of three English
-miles, or a marine league, or as far as a cannon-shot will
-carry from the coasts or shore.” His statement is based on
-the decisions in the English Admiralty Court, and on the
-writings of Vattel, Bynkershoek, Von Martens, and Azuni. In
-his great treatise on the law of nations, first published in 1836,<a id="FNanchor_1113" href="#Footnote_1113" class="fnanchor">1113</a>
-the same views are expressed, it being stated that the general
-usage of nations superadds “to bays, ports, &amp;c., a distance
-of a marine league, or as far as a cannon shot will reach,
-along all the coasts of the state”; and, incorporating into
-his text Lord Stowell’s observation, he says, “The rule of law
-on this subject is <i>terr&aelig; dominium finitur, ubi finitur
-armorum vis</i>, and since the introduction of fire-arms, that
-distance has usually been recognised to be about three miles
-from the shore.” Wheaton also states that the exclusive
-territorial jurisdiction of the British crown over the enclosed
-parts of the sea along the coasts of Great Britain has immemorially
-extended to those bays called the “King’s Chambers,”<a id="FNanchor_1114" href="#Footnote_1114" class="fnanchor">1114</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_599">599</span>
-and that a similar jurisdiction is also asserted by the United
-States over Delaware Bay, and other bays and estuaries forming
-portions of their territory, and that a state had the
-exclusive right of fishing within its territorial waters.</p>
-
-<p>Chancellor Kent, who was another high American authority,
-expressed somewhat different opinions from those of Wheaton,
-in a treatise published in 1826, and seemed inclined to extend
-territorial jurisdiction much farther into the sea than the latter
-writer.<a id="FNanchor_1115" href="#Footnote_1115" class="fnanchor">1115</a> The extent of such jurisdiction over the neighbouring
-sea is, he says, often a question of difficulty and of dubious
-right, but as far as a nation can conveniently occupy, and
-that occupancy is acquired by prior possession or treaty, the
-jurisdiction is exclusive. It is difficult, he states elsewhere,
-to draw any precise conclusion, amidst the variety of opinion,
-as to the distance to which a state may lawfully extend its
-exclusive dominion over the sea adjoining its territories, and
-beyond harbours, gulfs, bays, and estuaries, where its jurisdiction
-unquestionably extends. “All that can reasonably be
-asserted is, that the dominion of the sovereign of the shore
-over the contiguous sea extends as far as is requisite for
-his safety, and for some lawful end. A more extended
-dominion must rest entirely upon force and maritime supremacy.
-According to the current of modern authority,” he
-continues, “the general territorial jurisdiction extends into the
-sea as far as cannon-shot will reach, and no farther; and
-this is generally calculated to be a marine league.” These
-opinions do not differ materially from those of Puffendorf
-and Vattel, and the tendency of this writer to allow an
-extended maritime jurisdiction is shown by his statement
-regarding bays. He holds that the American Government
-have the right to claim for fiscal and defensive regulations
-an extensive jurisdiction, and that it would not be unreasonable
-to assume, “for domestic purposes connected with our safety
-and welfare,” the control of the waters within lines stretching
-from quite distant headlands, as from Cape Ann to Cape
-Cod, and from Nantucket to Montauk Point, and from that
-point to the capes of the Delaware, and from the south cape
-of Florida to the Mississippi; that is to say, within areas in
-comparison with which the “King’s Chambers” are insignificant,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_600">600</span>
-since a straight line from the south cape of Florida to the Mississippi
-measures about 500 miles, and encloses a tract of sea as
-much as 180 miles in breath. Kent adds that the Government
-of the United States would certainly view with uneasiness, in
-the case of war between other maritime Powers, the use of
-the waters of the American coast, far beyond the reach of
-cannon-shot, as cruising ground for belligerent purposes.</p>
-
-<p>Manning, an English publicist, writing a little later,<a id="FNanchor_1116" href="#Footnote_1116" class="fnanchor">1116</a> adopts
-the usual opinion, stating that the distance to which the
-special right of jurisdiction or the qualified dominion of a
-state extends on the adjacent sea has been variously measured,
-the most prevalent distances being those of a cannon-shot
-or of a marine league from the shore. Heffter, a publicist of
-high authority, asserting as incontestable the right of all
-maritime nations, both for defence and for the protection of
-their commercial and revenue interests, to establish an active
-surveillance on the neighbouring sea, declares that for these
-purposes a state has the power of fixing, according to the
-particular conditions of its coasts and waters, the distance
-to which its rights shall extend. A common usage, he says,
-has established the limit at the range of guns, a principle
-sanctioned by the laws and regulations of many nations. But
-he maintains with Vattel that the dominion of the state in
-the adjacent sea extends as far as it is necessary for its
-security, and it can enforce it,&mdash;qualifying this declaration,
-however, by adopting Rayneval’s suggestion that the horizon
-should be the extreme boundary of the territorial sea. In
-his opinion the range of guns, although the principle commonly
-adopted, affords no invariable basis, and the distance may
-be fixed, at all events provisionally, by the laws of each
-state: formerly, he adds, it included two leagues, and now
-usually three marine miles.<a id="FNanchor_1117" href="#Footnote_1117" class="fnanchor">1117</a></p>
-
-<p>A much more restricted view of the extent of the territorial
-sea was taken by Reddie, an English writer whose work
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_601">601</span>
-appeared in the same year.<a id="FNanchor_1118" href="#Footnote_1118" class="fnanchor">1118</a> He adopted Bynkershoek’s doctrine
-of the range of guns, but makes no mention of the
-three-mile limit or any other alternative distance. A certain
-breadth of the adjacent open sea is, he says, necessary for
-defence and security, and it is that portion within reach of
-cannon-shot, capable of being protected and commanded by
-artillery from the land, and thus susceptible of exclusive and
-permanent dominion, if not of appropriation. Beyond the
-range of artillery the sea is common; within that range each
-nation has the right of sovereignty, legislative, judicial, and
-executive, and the exclusive fishery. This part of the sea
-cannot be used by nations generally, without diminishing the
-use or enjoyment of others, and its produce is by no means
-inexhaustible.</p>
-
-<p>Ortolan, a French publicist of eminence, writing about the
-same time, not only adopted the principle of Bynkershoek,
-but affirmed in a positive manner that the extent of the
-territorial sea should correspond to the actual range of artillery
-at the time.<a id="FNanchor_1119" href="#Footnote_1119" class="fnanchor">1119</a> Although the gunshot limit was the one recognised,
-there was nothing, he says, to hinder two or more
-states from fixing between themselves, by treaty, another
-limit, but such would be binding only on those who were
-parties to the agreement. Bays and arms of the sea whose
-shores belong to the same state are also territorial, provided
-that their width does not exceed twice the actual range of
-guns, or that the entrance can be commanded by artillery,
-or is naturally protected by islands, banks, or rocks. Within
-the territorial sea as thus defined the state has the power
-of making laws and regulations for its safety, prosperity,
-and interests, but it has not the right of property,&mdash;Ortolan,
-like so many other writers, drawing a distinction between
-property and jurisdiction. The opinion that the real range
-of guns is the true principle for the determination of the
-extent of the territorial sea was also affirmed by Hautefeuille,
-another French writer of authority.<a id="FNanchor_1120" href="#Footnote_1120" class="fnanchor">1120</a> According to him, it
-extends to the distance a ball can be actually thrown from
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_602">602</span>
-the shore and no farther. Within the space thus commanded
-the rights of the state are absolute, both in regard to jurisdiction
-and property, and even to the prohibition of navigation.
-The right of fishery is exclusive, since the products
-of the sea are not inexhaustible, and the pursuit of them
-requires to be kept under proper regulation. On this view,
-therefore, the fisheries of right belong to the neighbouring
-state up to the limit of gunshot from the coast.</p>
-
-<p>Other French writers of authority have maintained the
-same opinion as to the principle for the delimitation of the
-territorial waters. Thus, Pistoye and Duverdy<a id="FNanchor_1121" href="#Footnote_1121" class="fnanchor">1121</a> state that
-each Power is able, in a given zone, measured by the range
-of cannon, to impose its laws and enforce obedience to them.
-It cannot take bodily possession of the waves, but it can
-maintain over them direct and constant domination. While
-there has been much discussion, they say, as to the extent
-of the territorial sea, the principle upon which its appropriation
-rests serves also to determine its bounds, “and it
-must be acknowledged that the range of cannon from the
-shore is the only real and true boundary of the sea in question.”<a id="FNanchor_1122" href="#Footnote_1122" class="fnanchor">1122</a>
-No measure, they add, has been generally agreed
-upon between different nations as to the distance which the
-range of guns may be supposed to cover; but they think
-the eyes of experienced officers on the coast may be trusted
-to judge how far a given spot is within the distance. Still
-another French author of repute expressed the same view
-as to the extent of the territorial sea. Mass&eacute;, in his elaborate
-work on commercial law in relation to the law of nations,<a id="FNanchor_1123" href="#Footnote_1123" class="fnanchor">1123</a>
-pointed to the fact that the arbitrary opinions of the older
-writers had been rejected, and stated that the real basis of
-delimitation was the range of guns&mdash;a distance which he
-places at “about three miles”; but he says that this rule is
-not always followed in practice. Bays and gulfs are declared
-to be undoubtedly part of the territorial sea, even when
-they are not capable of being defended from the shore.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_603">603</span>
-The reasons for this opinion are the same as those advanced
-by Hubner&mdash;namely, that such areas form natural harbours
-and anchorages, sheltering vessels from tempests: the vessels
-are thus under the protection of the coasts, and consequently
-of the sovereign of the coasts. The true boundary in such
-cases Mass&eacute; regards as the line joining the headlands, or
-passing between the islands that may lie off the mouth, even
-if the distance be greater than the range of guns, or than
-what has been fixed by convention for an open coast.</p>
-
-<p>It is obvious from the above review of the opinions of
-publicists in the first half of last century that no complete
-agreement had been reached in theory or principle respecting
-the extent of the territorial sea. Many of the writers held
-to the opinions expressed by Puffendorf, Wolff, and Vattel,
-which allowed a more or less wide and vague jurisdiction
-in the neighbouring sea for the security of the state; and
-most of them refer to the cannon-range limit as the one
-usually adopted. Few, however, accept the three-mile boundary
-as an alternative to the range of guns: most of the authors
-indeed do not even mention it, and those who do, appear
-to have been guided in the main by Lord Stowell’s decisions.
-On the other hand, the later of the French writers affirm
-that the boundary of the territorial waters is determined by
-the actual range of artillery from the shore at the time,
-which is a virtual repudiation of the three-mile limitation.
-Their view is summed up by Pistoye and Duverdy when
-they say that the principle on which the appropriation of
-the bordering sea rests serves also to determine its bounds&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>,
-control and command from the shore.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_604">604</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_II_CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">THE FISHERY CONVENTIONS.</span></h2>
-
-<p>Compared with the eighteenth century and the earlier part of
-the nineteenth, the period which has elapsed since the close of
-the Napoleonic wars has been singularly free from occurrences
-raising the question of the extent of the territorial sea in
-connection with the rights of belligerents and neutrals. There
-has been no great maritime war in Europe since the enormous
-advance in the power of artillery rendered the three-mile limit
-untenable for the security of a neutral state against the operations
-of belligerents in the sea off its coasts, though some questions
-involving the inadequacy of that limit came to the front
-during the civil war in America. The chief questions affecting
-the boundary of the territorial waters were concerned with sea
-fisheries, and several conventions were made between European
-nations in which limits were fixed for exclusive fishing. They
-originated in the perennial disputes between British and foreign
-fishermen.</p>
-
-<p>In previous chapters it has been shown that the intermittent
-efforts of the British Government to establish an exclusive
-right to the fisheries along the coasts of this country were
-without definite result, except that it came to be tacitly
-understood by the Dutch fishermen that they should keep
-out of sight of the shore. At various times during the
-eighteenth century complaints were made to the Government
-of the encroachments of Dutch, French, and Danish
-fishermen along our coasts and in the Channel, and representations
-were in several instances made to the foreign
-Government concerned. An examination of these complaints
-shows that in many cases the foreigners were alleged to fish
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_605">605</span>
-within the bays and close to the shore, destroying the spawn
-and brood of fish. In other cases they were accused of fishing
-in British waters when they were between three and four, or
-even between six and seven, miles from the coast,&mdash;the real
-ground of complaint being that they occupied the localities
-where the fish were most abundant, and where the native
-fishermen mostly carried on their industry.<a id="FNanchor_1124" href="#Footnote_1124" class="fnanchor">1124</a> From causes
-previously described, the number of Dutch fishermen frequenting
-the British coasts diminished very much during the
-eighteenth century, while at the same time French fishermen,
-and on the coast of Scotland also Danes and Prussians, as
-well as fishermen from the Austrian Netherlands, came in
-increasing numbers. During the war with France and Holland
-the fishermen of these nations were unable to pursue their
-fishing on the British coasts. But shortly after the restoration
-of peace they returned, and complaints of their encroachments,
-especially on the coast of Scotland and the south coast of
-England, soon became prevalent. In 1819 the Board of British
-White Herring Fishery received numerous complaints of
-foreign, and more particularly Dutch, herring-busses shooting
-their nets too near the coasts, and committing depredations on
-the lines and nets of the native fishermen. The Board were
-urged to prevent foreigners from fishing “within a certain
-distance” of the shore; but they considered they had no power
-to do so, and forwarded copies of the petitions to the Lords of
-the Treasury. The clamour continued, and in 1821, and again
-in 1822, the Board strongly recommended the Government to
-take action. In the latter year the Government made representations
-on the subject to the Government of the Netherlands;
-and as a result a royal decree was issued in 1824 by the King
-of the Netherlands prohibiting Dutch fishermen from fishing on
-the main coast of Scotland, or even, in the absence of urgent
-necessity, from approaching it within a distance of two leagues,
-twenty making a degree, or twice the limit of three miles.<a id="FNanchor_1125" href="#Footnote_1125" class="fnanchor">1125</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_606">606</span>
-In 1827&mdash;and thus only twelve years before the Anglo-French
-convention fixed a three-mile limit&mdash;this Dutch ordinance was
-renewed, and from that time few complaints were made of the
-encroachments of Dutch herring-busses on the Scottish coast.
-They continued to conduct their herring fishery, for the most
-part, at distances ranging from twelve or fourteen to forty or
-fifty miles, as they still do at the present day.</p>
-
-<p>As the disputes with the Dutch fishermen were thus amicably
-arranged by the recognition of a six-mile zone of reserved
-water, similar contentions sprang up, and continued for a long
-period, with fishermen from France. In 1824, some years after
-the peace, they began to frequent the coast of Scotland, and
-they came in great numbers in each succeeding year, fishing at
-the Shetlands, Orkneys, and along the north and east coasts
-from Cape Wrath to Berwick, and down the English coast as
-far as Flamborough Head.<a id="FNanchor_1126" href="#Footnote_1126" class="fnanchor">1126</a> Several circumstances connected
-with the French fishery tended to provoke disputes. While
-the Dutch fished from their busses at a distance from the coast,
-where the largest and best herrings were caught, and were forbidden
-under heavy penalties from buying or selling herrings
-while at sea, or even from entering any foreign port except by
-reason of urgent necessity, the French fished, as a rule, near the
-shore from small boats, which they even hired for the season,
-not uncommonly from Scotch fishermen. They frequented the
-Scottish ports; they bought herrings in large quantities surreptitiously
-from native boats engaged to local fish-curers, for
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_607">607</span>
-money, brandy, tobacco, biscuits, and other articles; and they
-were allowed to dry their nets, and even sometimes to salt
-their herrings, on shore for a small payment.<a id="FNanchor_1127" href="#Footnote_1127" class="fnanchor">1127</a> They were thus
-intimately associated with the native fishermen along the coast,
-and they carried on their fishery near the shore in the waters
-which were mostly used by the natives.</p>
-
-<p>In the English Channel disputes between British and French
-fishermen were still more frequent and acrimonious. British
-naval supremacy during the long war had given a monopoly
-of the fisheries to the people of the English coast, but after
-peace was concluded French fishermen swarmed in the Channel,
-and began to fish along the English shores. Complaints became
-rife of the decadence of the English fisheries, owing to
-the alleged encroachments of the French and a general diminution
-in the abundance of fish. In 1833 a Select Committee
-of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the
-state of the British Channel fisheries and the laws affecting
-the fishing trade of England, with a view to their amendment.
-After taking evidence, the Committee reported that they found
-those fisheries, and the interests connected with them, to be
-in a very depressed and declining state; that the decline
-had begun with the peace in 1815; that the number of fishermen
-and boats had diminished; and that the fishermen and
-their families were indigent.<a id="FNanchor_1128" href="#Footnote_1128" class="fnanchor">1128</a></p>
-
-<p>The principal causes of the depression were found to be
-the extensive interference and aggressions of the French fishermen
-on the coasts of Kent and Sussex, the large quantity
-of foreign-caught fish illegally imported, and the great decrease
-and comparative scarcity of fish in the Channel. Large fleets
-of French fishing vessels from Calais, Boulogne, Dieppe, and
-other ports were in the habit of fishing along the English
-coasts, frequently within half a league of the shore, and
-occasionally nearer, as well as in the bays and shallow waters,
-“in which,” said the Committee, “it is particularly necessary
-for the preservation of the brood of fish, that such as frequent
-those waters during the breeding season should not be disturbed,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_608">608</span>
-or their young destroyed before they have attained
-maturity.” The French fishing vessels were more numerous
-and larger than the English boats,&mdash;between two and three
-hundred coming from Boulogne alone,&mdash;and they had caused
-great injury to the nets and gear of the English fishermen,
-especially in the herring and mackerel seasons. At other
-times of the year it was proved that they were in the habit
-of coming in great numbers every morning into English bays,
-and dragging there for bait in the shallow waters close upon
-the shore, taking and destroying an immense quantity of
-young and unsizeable fish, at periods when they were prevented
-by French laws from conducting similar operations in their
-own bays.<a id="FNanchor_1129" href="#Footnote_1129" class="fnanchor">1129</a> These laws, the Committee reported, were understood
-to be enforced also against English fishermen within
-three leagues of the coast of France; on approaching nearer
-they were warned off by French cruisers, and told that they
-would not be allowed to fish within that distance.</p>
-
-<p>The Committee considered it to be proved that the scarcity
-of fish in the Channel (with the exception of herrings and
-mackerel) had been occasioned by the great destruction of
-the spawn and brood of fish in the shallow waters. They
-recommended as remedies for the evil “that foreign fishermen
-should be prevented at all seasons of the year from
-fishing within one league, or such other distance of the English
-coast, as by the law or usage of nations is considered to
-belong exclusively to this country,” and that they should
-also be required to observe, during the spawning or breeding
-season of fish, all such laws or regulations as might be imposed
-upon English fishermen for the better preservation of
-the spawn and brood of fish in the bays and shallow waters
-on the coast.<a id="FNanchor_1130" href="#Footnote_1130" class="fnanchor">1130</a> In order to accomplish these objects, they
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_609">609</span>
-recommended that customs and revenue officers and the commanders
-of cruisers should be instructed to prevent foreign
-fishermen from fishing “within such prohibited distance of the
-shore,” to enforce the observance by foreigners as well as by
-subjects of our fishery laws and regulations, and to protect
-the English fishermen from aggression at sea.</p>
-
-<p>The Committee had considerable difficulty in arriving at
-their conclusion respecting the limit which should be fixed
-for exclusive fishing on the English coast. They were influenced
-partly by what they understood to be the usage, that
-the sea for one marine league from the shore was considered
-to be the territory of the adjoining country, partly by the
-practice of the Customs’ authorities in connection with the
-prevention of smuggling, and partly by considerations affecting
-the preservation of the fry and brood of fish. Under
-the Customs’ regulations, vessels and boats of certain descriptions,
-including fishing-boats, required a license, and the Commissioners
-of Customs had discretionary power<a id="FNanchor_1131" href="#Footnote_1131" class="fnanchor">1131</a> to prescribe
-within what distance of the English coast they might be
-employed. In some cases fishing-boats were restricted to a
-distance of four leagues, in other instances they were allowed
-to fish to within one league of a foreign coast, one league
-of sea being regarded by the Customs’ authorities as belonging
-to the territory of the adjacent country. With regard to
-the right of fishing, however, it was generally understood
-among the English fishermen that the limit on the French
-coast reserved for French fishermen was three leagues; and
-they desired that the same limit should be applied on the
-English coast. The Committee laid great stress on the fixing
-of a limit of exclusive fishing in order to preserve the spawn
-and brood of fish. It was universally believed, and stated
-by all the witnesses, including Mr James Cornish, an ichthyologist
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_610">610</span>
-of repute, that the fish spawned in the shallow
-water near the shore,&mdash;an erroneous opinion that has prevailed
-almost to the present day, but which was shown to be incorrect
-by the observations made by the Fishery Board for Scotland<a id="FNanchor_1132" href="#Footnote_1132" class="fnanchor">1132</a>
-and others.</p>
-
-<p>It was deemed to be of great importance that the breeding
-fish, and the eggs which they were supposed to deposit near
-the shore, should be protected from alleged injurious modes
-of fishing; and the Committee recommended statutory enactments
-to establish close-times, and to prohibit the use of
-trawl or drag nets within a league from the shore or in
-water less than ten fathoms in depth. They inquired carefully
-as to the limit which would be sufficient for this purpose.
-Most of the fishermen were of opinion that the distance of
-one league would be sufficient to include the “breeding-grounds,”
-and bring them under the protection of the law;
-but they held that the distance should be measured not from
-the shore, following its sinuosities, but from a straight line
-drawn from one headland to another,&mdash;an opinion with which
-the Committee concurred.</p>
-
-<p>No immediate action was taken by the Government to
-establish a definite boundary for exclusive fishing, and petitions
-and memorials continued to pour in from various parts
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_611">611</span>
-of the coast complaining of the depredations of French fishermen.
-They were accused of interfering with British fishermen
-engaged in dredging for oysters fifteen miles from the shores
-of France; of fishing for herrings and mackerel within less
-than a mile of the British coasts, compelling the native fishermen
-to shoot their nets to the seawards of them; of maliciously
-destroying fishing gear, and of recklessly extirpating the
-spawn and brood of fish in the shallow waters along the
-English coast. The Government were urged to give effect
-to the recommendations of the Committee of 1833, and they
-were asked by the Commissioners for the Herring Fishery
-to issue instructions to the naval superintendent in Scotland
-to prevent the encroachments complained of.<a id="FNanchor_1133" href="#Footnote_1133" class="fnanchor">1133</a></p>
-
-<p>From a perusal of these petitions it is evident that much
-doubt existed at the time, not only in the minds of fishermen
-but among many in authority, as to what was the precise
-limit of exclusive fishery that might be claimed or enforced.
-As a general rule, it was believed to extend much farther
-than a league from the shore. Many fishermen maintained
-that the boundary was three leagues, an opinion strongly
-held in Scotland as late as 1862. The fishermen of Eyemouth,
-probably influenced by traditions of the extent of the “reserved
-waters” in earlier times, asked that foreigners should
-be “kept without the limits prescribed by law, and that
-limits (<i>sic</i>) be seven leagues,” declaring that they went that
-distance themselves, and were annoyed and endangered by
-foreign vessels taking up the ground.</p>
-
-<p>On the part of French fishermen there were also numerous
-complaints against the English, the most bitter referring to
-the dredging for oysters off the French coast. In 1837 a
-mixed commission was appointed by the British and French
-Governments in connection with these complaints, and
-especially to ascertain and define the limits within which
-the subjects of the two countries respectively should be at
-liberty to fish for oysters between Jersey and the neighbouring
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_612">612</span>
-coast of France. The opportunity was taken at the
-same time “to define and regulate the limits within which
-the general right of fishery on all parts of the coasts of the
-two countries shall be exclusively reserved to the subjects
-of Great Britain and of France respectively,” and a convention
-was concluded at Paris in 1839 defining these rights.<a id="FNanchor_1134" href="#Footnote_1134" class="fnanchor">1134</a>
-By its articles a very considerable stretch of water containing
-oyster-beds, in the Bay of Granville on the French coast,
-between Cape Carteret and Point Meinga, south-east of
-Jersey, and extending far beyond the three-mile limit, was
-reserved exclusively for French fishermen, the boundaries
-being minutely defined and laid down on a chart annexed
-to the convention; and British fishermen were prohibited
-from carrying on any kind of fishing, even for floating fish,
-within this area. The bay thus appropriated is over seventeen
-miles in breadth, and the closing line passes in some
-places about fourteen miles from the shore.<a id="FNanchor_1135" href="#Footnote_1135" class="fnanchor">1135</a> This concession
-to France was a recognition of the principle that fisheries
-of this nature&mdash;that is, for objects which are attached to or
-stationary on the bottom&mdash;require special treatment.</p>
-
-<p>The article defining the general fishery limit on the coasts of
-the two countries was as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p class="small">“<span class="smcap">Article IX.</span> The subjects of Her Britannic Majesty shall enjoy
-the exclusive right of fishery within the distance of three miles from
-low-water mark, along the whole extent of the coasts of the British
-Islands; and the subjects of the King of the French shall enjoy
-the exclusive right of fishery within the distance of three miles
-from low-water mark, along the whole extent of the coasts of
-France; it being understood that upon that part of the coast of
-France which lies between Cape Carteret and Point Meinga, French
-subjects shall enjoy the exclusive right of all kinds of fishery within
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_613">613</span>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_614">614</span>
-the limits assigned in Article I. of this Convention, for the French
-oyster fishery.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_16" src="images/fig_16.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 16.&mdash;<i>Showing the Limits reserved for French Fishermen in Granville Bay.</i></p></div>
-
-<p class="small">It is equally agreed, that the distance of three miles fixed as the
-general limit for the exclusive right of fishery upon the coasts of
-the two countries shall, with respect to bays, the mouths of which
-do not exceed ten miles in width, be measured from a straight line
-drawn from headland to headland.”</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>The next article defined the miles to be geographical miles,
-of which sixty make a degree of latitude; and it was also
-provided that with a view to prevent the collisions which
-from time to time took place “on the seas lying between
-the coasts of Great Britain and of France,” between the
-trawlers and the line and long-net fishermen of the two
-countries, a mixed commission should be appointed to prepare
-a set of regulations for the guidance of the fishermen in the
-seas above mentioned. The code of regulations so arranged
-was confirmed by the respective Governments in June 1843,
-and was in this country embodied in an Act of Parliament.
-They embraced a large number of subjects, many of them
-beyond what was contemplated in the convention. Besides
-what may be termed police regulations, such as the numbering
-and lettering of fishing-boats, there were others defining
-and restricting the fishing apparatus to be employed;<a id="FNanchor_1136" href="#Footnote_1136" class="fnanchor">1136</a> and
-all this machinery of regulation was to be applied to British
-and French fishermen pursuing their industry in the extra-territorial
-waters.</p>
-
-<p>This convention was the first to establish by an international
-agreement the three-mile limit as the boundary
-of exclusive fishing on the British coasts, so far as French
-fishermen were concerned. In view of the numerous conflicts
-and disputes, it was clearly of importance that some limit
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_615">615</span>
-should be precisely fixed, but the selection of so narrow a
-strip of the adjacent sea was in some respects unfortunate,
-and has probably acted injuriously on the interests of the
-sea fisheries. It was imposed, no doubt, partly because it
-was the limit already recognised in England and America
-as bounding the territorial seas for the purposes of neutrality,
-and because it was deemed sufficient to afford protection to
-the breeding fishes and fish-spawn, one of the objects the
-Parliamentary Committee had in view in recommending it.</p>
-
-<p>The disputes between the fishermen of the two nations
-were not set at rest by the convention. Numerous infringements
-of the new boundary of exclusive fishing occurred,
-and the difficulty of causing it to be respected was for many
-years considerable.<a id="FNanchor_1137" href="#Footnote_1137" class="fnanchor">1137</a> As many as twenty-one French vessels
-were seized and taken into Berwick at one time for transgressing
-the limit, and the convention was naturally not
-looked upon with favour in certain French seaports.<a id="FNanchor_1138" href="#Footnote_1138" class="fnanchor">1138</a> Nor
-was it generally regarded among the fishery classes in this
-country as a triumph of diplomacy. In Scotland it was
-thought that the British Government had made a very bad
-bargain in parting with the exclusive right to fish for herrings
-beyond a limit of only three miles instead of three leagues,
-the boundary maintained to be the “legal” and just distance,
-for the sake of obtaining, as it was supposed, some
-fancied advantage for the English oyster fishermen.<a id="FNanchor_1139" href="#Footnote_1139" class="fnanchor">1139</a></p>
-
-<p>The convention, moreover, was binding only on French
-and British subjects. It left unsettled the limit in relation
-to other nations, and the inconvenience of this was shown
-by the action of Belgian fishermen. While the French were
-excluded from the three-mile zone, the Belgians not only
-fished within it, but in many cases they anchored their vessels
-in the Scottish harbours and bays and fished in the neighbouring
-waters from their small boats. In 1848 the commissioners
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_616">616</span>
-for the British fisheries brought the question before
-the Board of Trade, and they were advised to enforce the
-boundary laid down in the Anglo-French convention with
-respect to Belgian and all other foreign boats also.<a id="FNanchor_1140" href="#Footnote_1140" class="fnanchor">1140</a> Against
-this procedure strong remonstrances were made by the Belgian
-fishermen, and these were followed by representations from
-the Belgian Government. The Fishery Commissioners, who
-were anxious that the law in regard to foreigners fishing
-on our coasts should be made clear, continued to press the
-matter. The Belgian fishermen then produced to the naval
-superintendent a copy of the charter that had been granted
-by King Charles II., in 1666, to the citizens of Bruges,<a id="FNanchor_1141" href="#Footnote_1141" class="fnanchor">1141</a>
-under which they claimed equal privileges with British subjects.
-That charter appears to have been generally regarded as
-fictitious; but, acting on the advice of the Queen’s Advocate,
-the Board of Trade directed that for the ensuing season
-of 1851 Belgians should be allowed to fish on the same
-system as before, but that afterwards this liberty should
-cease, except in the case of such as had been able to prove
-special privileges under the asserted charter in the English
-courts of law. The dispute was settled by a convention
-between Great Britain and Belgium in 1852, in which, without
-mention of any specified limit, it was stipulated that
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_617">617</span>
-Belgian fishermen should enjoy the same rights of fishing
-on the coasts of the United Kingdom as the most favoured
-foreign nation, and, in like manner, that British subjects
-should enjoy corresponding rights on the coast of Belgium.<a id="FNanchor_1142" href="#Footnote_1142" class="fnanchor">1142</a>
-This convention was more beneficial to Belgium than to us,
-as the Fishery Commissioners pointed out, owing to the
-extent of the respective coasts conceded for fishing, but it
-was thought to be satisfactory, inasmuch as defined rights
-were substituted for vague and disputed privileges. Nevertheless,
-as the Belgian Minister remonstrated that sufficient
-time had not been afforded for trying in the British courts
-the validity of the charter “alleged” to have been granted
-to the fishing vessels of Bruges, the vessels of that port
-were allowed for one season more (namely, 1852) the privilege
-of using the Scottish harbours for their fishing vessels and
-of fishing from them with small boats.<a id="FNanchor_1143" href="#Footnote_1143" class="fnanchor">1143</a> When the authorities
-attempted in 1852 to enforce the convention against
-Belgian vessels other than those of Bruges, by excluding
-them from our harbours, so much dissatisfaction was caused
-that the Belgian Minister again appealed to the British Government,
-and the restriction was relaxed for another year for
-all Belgian boats, so that the enforcement of the three-mile
-limit against them did not come into operation till 1853.</p>
-
-<p>The violations of the boundary by French vessels, above
-referred to, continued for many years, and the disputes were
-sometimes so frequent and serious as to occasion the employment
-of seven or eight gunboats on the east coast of Scotland
-to maintain the law. Yet the three-mile limit, as the
-Commissioners declared, was but “a slender privilege” to
-retain for the native fishermen. “The extent of it,” they
-truly said, “when looked at from the sea appears small indeed,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_618">618</span>
-seeming but a narrow slip lying close under the high cliffs
-of the land, and when it is taken into account that the
-whole sea outside is free to every comer, whether British
-or foreign, the slight boundary within shore ought to be
-strictly kept.” Sometimes, however, the French were accused
-of infringing the limit from a common misconception on
-the part of our fishermen that the boundary was the traditional
-one of three leagues or nine miles, instead of only
-three miles. Upon explanation, they admitted their misapprehension,
-“but,” said the Commissioners, “with a significant
-expression of their wish that it had been leagues
-instead of miles.”</p>
-
-<p>The French herring vessels swarmed chiefly about Berwick
-and the coast of Northumberland, and in 1853 a question
-of the limit at the Farne Isles was raised by the French
-commodore. He interpreted the words of the convention
-(which did not specify islands) as meaning that the three
-miles was to be measured from low-water mark on the
-mainland, which would have allowed the French to fish
-close to the islands. The British naval superintendent, on
-the other hand, held that the limit extended to three miles
-from low-water mark on the islands as well, but, pending
-a legal opinion, he released two French vessels he had seized
-for fishing within that distance from them. The Queen’s
-Advocate decided in favour of the latter interpretation, and
-the point does not appear to have been again raised.<a id="FNanchor_1144" href="#Footnote_1144" class="fnanchor">1144</a> The
-infringement of the boundary by the French gradually became
-less frequent, and in 1867 it was reported that they had
-begun to fish at a greater distance from the coast than
-formerly, and even out of sight of land.</p>
-
-<p>At this time it was found to be desirable to conclude
-another fishery convention with France. Nearly all the
-elaborate regulations under the convention of 1839 had turned
-out to be unworkable or were disregarded, and much difference
-of opinion existed as to what actually were “the seas
-lying between the British Islands and France” to which
-they applied.<a id="FNanchor_1145" href="#Footnote_1145" class="fnanchor">1145</a> In this second convention, in 1867, the exclusive
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_619">619</span>
-fishery limits of the two countries were defined as
-in the convention of 1839, and the boundaries of the large
-area in the Bay of Granville or Cancale, reserved for French
-fishermen, were precisely the same as before.<a id="FNanchor_1146" href="#Footnote_1146" class="fnanchor">1146</a> The international
-“extra-territorial” regulations under this convention
-were much less detailed than in the previous one. Fishing
-beyond the reserved limits was to be entirely free, with
-the exception that a close-time for oysters was established
-for the English Channel. The police regulations were to
-apply to “the seas surrounding and adjoining Great Britain
-and Ireland,” and adjoining the Atlantic coast of France,
-between the frontiers of Belgium and Spain. The conditions
-under which the fishing-boats of one nation might enter
-the exclusive fishery limits of the other, such as by stress
-of weather, were carefully specified; and each boat while
-there was to hoist a blue flag, and was again to leave as
-soon as the exceptional circumstances had ceased. The convention
-was to continue in force for ten years, and afterwards
-from year to year, terminable on twelve months’ notice.
-But, although confirmed by an Act of the British Parliament,
-in 1868,<a id="FNanchor_1147" href="#Footnote_1147" class="fnanchor">1147</a> it was not ratified by France, and its provisions
-never came into practical operation, except with regard to
-the close-time for oysters, owing to certain objections raised
-by the French Government.<a id="FNanchor_1148" href="#Footnote_1148" class="fnanchor">1148</a> Certain of its provisions, including,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_620">620</span>
-amongst others, the article in the convention defining
-the exclusive fishery limits, were repealed by the Sea Fisheries
-Act, 1883.<a id="FNanchor_1149" href="#Footnote_1149" class="fnanchor">1149</a></p>
-
-<p>Both conventions, as we have seen, dealt with oyster fisheries
-in a special manner, and on the coast of France a large area,
-extending much beyond the three-mile limit, was reserved to
-French fishermen on account of the valuable oyster-grounds
-it contained. An interesting point was raised by the Irish
-authorities. It happened that Ireland also possessed productive
-and extensive oyster-beds on the coast of Wexford, stretching
-for many miles beyond the exclusive fishery limits laid down
-in the convention, and the Irish authorities claimed the right
-of control over the whole of them. They had enforced regulations
-there before the first convention with France, in 1889,
-had been entered into, and at that time they protested against
-its application to Ireland. Accordingly, in the Act of 1843
-giving effect to the convention, a clause was inserted empowering
-the Board of Trade, with the sanction of the Privy Council,
-to suspend the operation of the convention in Ireland or any
-part thereof, so long as the fisheries there should be carried on
-exclusively by British subjects, and also to make bye-laws for
-enforcing the Act as soon as French boats frequented Irish
-waters for the purpose of fishing.<a id="FNanchor_1150" href="#Footnote_1150" class="fnanchor">1150</a> On the day following the
-passing of the Act an Order in Council was issued directing
-“that the said Act and articles of regulation shall be suspended
-with respect to the fisheries of the whole coasts of Ireland, so
-long as such fisheries shall be carried on exclusively by the
-subjects of Her Majesty.”</p>
-
-<p>The matter was again raised in connection with the convention
-of 1867, and it was associated with a recent act of
-jurisdiction by the Irish authorities beyond the three-mile
-limit. Some Welsh boats which had been dredging for oysters
-on the coast of Wexford, at a distance, it was said, of four or
-five miles from the shore, were arrested, taken to Wexford, the
-fishermen fined, and the oysters forfeited. The Board of Trade
-thereupon asked the Irish Department, with reference to an
-Act that had been passed in 1842 to regulate the Irish
-fisheries,<a id="FNanchor_1151" href="#Footnote_1151" class="fnanchor">1151</a> to state what were “the limits of the Act to regulate
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_621">621</span>
-Irish fisheries” in pursuance of the provisions of which they
-presumed they had acted, and “whether the oysters in question
-were captured within those limits.” The reply was that the
-oysters were taken two and a half miles from the shore, but
-that the most extensive and valuable oyster-beds on the east
-coast of Ireland lay at a distance of from five to ten miles from
-and parallel to the shore, and so far as they, or any other beds,
-were “within the reach of ordinary shore boats, and were
-habitually frequented by and afforded the means of living to
-a shore population, the Commissioners conceive they are justly
-entitled to be considered Irish beds, and to come within their
-control.”<a id="FNanchor_1152" href="#Footnote_1152" class="fnanchor">1152</a></p>
-
-<p>The Irish Members of Parliament strenuously supported this
-contention, and they succeeded in getting a clause inserted in
-the Convention Act of 1868 enabling the Irish Commissioners,
-with the approval of the Queen in Council, to regulate the
-dredging for oysters on any oyster-beds situated within the
-distance of twenty miles seawards from a straight line between
-Lambay Island and Carnsore Point&mdash;an area of nearly 1300
-square (geographical) miles, outside the three-mile limit, including
-the Arklow and Wexford banks, and stretching from
-twelve and a half to nineteen miles beyond the ordinary limit.
-All such regulations were to “apply equally to all boats and
-persons on whom they might be binding,” and they were binding
-“on all British sea-fishing boats, and on any other sea-fishing
-boats in that behalf specified in the Order, and on the crews of
-such boats.”<a id="FNanchor_1153" href="#Footnote_1153" class="fnanchor">1153</a> By an Order in Council, dated 29th April 1869,
-regulations were made under this section of the Act appointing
-a close-time; but no other boats than British boats were therein
-specified.<a id="FNanchor_1154" href="#Footnote_1154" class="fnanchor">1154</a></p>
-
-<p>In the interval between the two conventions with France,
-referred to above, there were some other treaties that dealt
-with territorial waters to which allusion may be made. The
-provisions of the treaty of 1818 with the United States respecting
-the fishery rights on the coasts of the British dominions in
-America (<a href="#Page_581">see p. 581</a>) had given rise to disputes, and in particular
-the words “within three marine miles of any of the coasts,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_622">622</span>
-bays, creeks, or harbours.” This was interpreted by the British
-and Colonial Governments as meaning that the boundary of
-three miles was to be drawn, not everywhere along the coast
-following all its sinuosities, but, where bays or creeks existed,
-from a straight line passing from one headland to another
-across their mouth or entrance&mdash;that is, according to the
-principle now known as the headland doctrine. The United
-States, on the other hand, generally contended that the words
-meant that the three-mile limit was to be measured everywhere
-along the coast from the line of the shore, following it
-in all its curves and indents, thus eliminating altogether any
-special treatment for inlets or bays, and dealing with all parts
-of the coast as if it were an open coast. There is little doubt
-that the British interpretation was the correct one. This is
-evident from the previous usage with regard to bays as
-shown by the rules relating to the King’s Chambers and the
-practice of the Admiralty Court in England, and the reserved
-firths in Scotland, and by the claim advanced by the United
-States with respect to neutral rights in 1806. It is also
-evident from the language of previous treaties. That of 1686
-between France and Great Britain referred to “havens, bays,
-creeks, roads, shoals, or places”; in that of 1783 between Great
-Britain and the United States, “coasts, bays, and creeks” are
-spoken of; and in that between the same Powers in 1794,
-with respect to neutral rights, it was agreed that ships should
-not be taken “within cannon-shot of the coast, nor in any of
-the bays, ports, or rivers of their territories.” It is clear
-that a distinction was drawn between coasts and bays&mdash;a
-distinction which is now and always has been recognised in
-international law, which is made in the North Sea and other
-fishery conventions of recent times, and is claimed by the
-United States with regard to their own coasts.<a id="FNanchor_1155" href="#Footnote_1155" class="fnanchor">1155</a> If no such
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_623">623</span>
-distinction between coast and bays was meant in the clause of
-the treaty of 1818, then the words “bays, creeks, and harbours”
-are without meaning and superfluous, a construction which is
-contrary to the rule which requires that effect be given to
-every word in a contract or treaty. That the British construction
-was correct was virtually admitted by Mr Webster, the
-American Secretary of State, when he said in a State paper,
-6th July 1852, that “it was undoubtedly an oversight in the
-convention of 1818 to make so large a concession to England,
-since the United States had usually considered that those vast
-inlets, or recesses of the ocean, ought to be open to American
-fishermen as freely as the sea itself, to within three miles of
-the shore.” He admitted, moreover, that the word bay applied
-equally to small and large tracts of water situated between
-capes or headlands.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_17" src="images/fig_17.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 17.&mdash;<i>Bay of Fundy.</i> A, <i>United States territory</i>.</p></div>
-
-<p>In 1824, and again in 1838 and 1839, British cruisers seized
-American vessels for fishing within the Bay of Fundy, the
-Bay of Chaleurs, and elsewhere in contravention of the treaty
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_624">624</span>
-of 1818; and in 1843 the schooner <i>Washington</i> was arrested
-for fishing in the Bay of Fundy at a distance of ten miles
-from shore, taken to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and sold. In
-the diplomatic correspondence which followed these seizures,
-the two Governments took up the position as to the interpretation
-of the treaty which is referred to above; but
-eventually, in March 1845, Lord Aberdeen intimated that
-the British Government, while adhering to their interpretation,
-would as a matter of courtesy relax the rule with regard to
-the Bay of Fundy, and allow “the United States fishermen
-to pursue their avocations in any part of it, provided they
-should not approach, except in cases specified in the treaty
-of 1818, within three miles of the entrance of any bay on
-the coast of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick.” The Bay of
-Fundy (<a href="#fig_17">fig. 17</a>) is a very large but typically landlocked inlet of
-the sea, passing between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for
-a distance of about 140 miles from its mouth. As with many
-other bays, there is more than one cape or projection of land
-that might be taken as its headlands, but one of them is
-clearly in the United States; and the distance from it to
-the opposite coast is from forty to fifty-five nautical miles,
-while the bay itself at sixty or seventy miles from the entrance
-is over twenty-five miles in width. Chaleur Bay, between
-New Brunswick and Quebec, is a little over sixteen miles in
-width and over sixty miles long (<a href="#fig_18">fig. 18</a>).</p>
-
-<p>The United States declined to receive the above-mentioned
-privilege as a favour, and the colonists made a strong representation
-to London as to the injurious results that would
-ensue if the proposed policy were adopted; and in 1849 the
-British law officers of the Crown gave their opinion on the
-provisions of the treaty, “that the prescribed distance of three
-miles is to be measured from the headlands or extreme points
-of land next the sea of the coasts, or of the entrance of the
-bays, and not from the interior of such bays or inlets of the
-coast; and consequently that no right exists on the part of
-American citizens to enter the bays of Nova Scotia, there to
-take fish, although the fishing, being within the bay, may be at
-a greater distance than three miles from the shore of the bay.”</p>
-
-<p>In terms of the convention of February 8, 1853, the case
-of the <i>Washington</i>, above described, came before referees in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_625">625</span>
-London, and on their disagreement it was decided by the
-umpire, Mr Joshua Bates, in favour of the United States.
-His conclusion was that the Bay of Fundy was not a British
-bay, nor a bay within the meaning of the word as used in
-the treaties of 1783 and 1818, but belonged rather to the
-class which comprised such bays as the Bay of Bengal and
-the Bay of Biscay, over which no nation can have the right
-to assume sovereignty. He also pointed out that one of
-its headlands was in the United States; and he thought that
-the doctrine of the headlands had “received a proper limit”
-in the Anglo-French convention of 1839, where a ten-mile
-base-line was adopted.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_18" src="images/fig_18.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 18.&mdash;<i>Bay des Chaleurs.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>A few years before this, negotiations had been opened
-between the Governments with the view of establishing reciprocal
-free-trade between Canada and the United States,
-and in June 1854 a treaty was signed at Washington,
-commonly known as the Reciprocity Treaty, by which certain
-articles of produce of the British colonies and of the United
-States were admitted to each country respectively free of
-duty, and reciprocal rights of fishery were granted. The
-subjects of either state were to be free to fish along the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_626">626</span>
-coasts and in the bays, harbours, and creeks of the other, without
-any restriction as to distance from the shore, in Canada,
-New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward’s Island,
-and on the eastern coast of the United States north of the
-36th degree of north latitude. On each side salmon and
-shad fisheries, and the fisheries in rivers and the mouths of
-rivers, were reserved.<a id="FNanchor_1156" href="#Footnote_1156" class="fnanchor">1156</a> This treaty was to endure for ten
-years, and it was terminated by the United States and came
-to an end on 17th March 1866, when, in consequence, the
-provisions of the treaty of 1818 again came into force. The
-British Government, however, being very desirous to prevent,
-as far as possible, the loss to the citizens of the United States
-by a sudden withdrawal of the privileges which they had
-enjoyed for twelve years, decided to allow American fishermen
-to continue to fish in all provincial waters upon the payment
-of a small fee.<a id="FNanchor_1157" href="#Footnote_1157" class="fnanchor">1157</a> From the neglect of American fishermen to
-obtain the licenses, the fee for which had been raised from
-fifty cents to two dollars per ton, the system was discontinued
-in 1870, and orders were given to British cruisers to exclude
-American vessels from fishing in territorial waters, and several
-of them were seized and forfeited. The Canadian Minister
-of Marine and Fisheries issued instructions, in May 1870, for
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_627">627</span>
-the same limits as are contained in the Anglo-French convention
-of 1839 to be put in force against American fishermen;
-but, on representations from London, these were withdrawn
-and other instructions issued to the commanders of
-the cruisers, in which bays of six miles or less in width at
-the mouth were alone reserved.<a id="FNanchor_1158" href="#Footnote_1158" class="fnanchor">1158</a></p>
-
-<p>Further negotiations between the Governments ended in the
-treaty of Washington in 1871, in which reciprocal rights of
-fishing were re-established in much the same way as in the
-treaty of 1854, but the liberty to British subjects to fish on
-the coast of the United States was restricted to the part
-north of the 39th degree of north latitude.<a id="FNanchor_1159" href="#Footnote_1159" class="fnanchor">1159</a> Under this
-treaty it was agreed to appoint joint commissioners to
-determine the amount of compensation, if any, which should
-be paid by the United States for the greater privileges granted
-to American citizens by the treaty; and this commission
-met at Halifax in 1877, the sum of 5,500,000 dollars being
-so awarded. The award was not received with favour in
-the United States, and notice was given at the end of the
-stipulated ten years for the abrogation of the treaty, and
-the articles referring to the fisheries were so terminated on
-July 1, 1885, the provisions of the convention of 1818 again,
-for the third time, coming into force. Further troubles and
-disputes occurred, not so much in relation to fishing within
-territorial waters, as to American vessels frequenting colonial
-ports for the purchase of bait, salt, &amp;c., a liberty which was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_628">628</span>
-not granted by the treaty of 1818, and several of them having
-been seized, retaliatory measures were threatened by the
-United States. After negotiations between the two Governments
-another treaty was signed at Washington, on February
-15, 1888, the principal British plenipotentiary being Mr
-Joseph Chamberlain. This treaty provided for the appointment
-of a mixed commission to delimit “the British waters,
-bays, creeks, and harbours of the coasts of Canada and of
-Newfoundland, as to which the United States, by Article I.
-of the Convention of 20th October 1818, between Great
-Britain and the United States, renounced for ever any liberty
-to take, dry, or cure fish.” The delimitation was to be marked
-upon charts by a series of lines regularly numbered and
-described, the three marine miles being measured from low-water
-mark, “but at every bay, creek, or harbour, not otherwise
-specially provided for in this treaty, such three marine
-miles shall be measured seaward from a straight line drawn
-across the bay, creek, or harbour, in the part nearest the
-entrance at the first point where the width does not exceed
-ten marine miles.” A large number of bays were specially
-dealt with by lines specified, that of Chaleurs being closed,
-or by other special lines from which the three miles was
-to be measured; and other articles in the treaty regulated
-the entry of American fishing vessels into colonial ports.
-It was further provided that whenever the United States
-removed the duties on fish and fish-oils from Canada and
-Newfoundland, United States’ vessels would be licensed, free
-of charge, to enter the colonial ports and harbours to purchase
-provisions, bait, ice, seines, and all other supplies and outfits,
-to tranship their catch, or for the shipping of crews.</p>
-
-<p>But, inasmuch as the above treaty could not possibly be
-ratified before the commencement of the next fishing season,
-the British plenipotentiaries, in order to avoid a recrudescence
-of the usual friction and irritation, and to afford evidence of
-their anxious desire to promote good feeling, agreed, in a
-protocol of the same date, to a “temporary arrangement for
-a period not exceeding two years, in order to afford a <i>modus
-vivendi</i> pending the ratification of the Treaty.” This arrangement
-granted the privilege to American fishing vessels of
-entering the bays and harbours, on payment for an annual
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_629">629</span>
-license of a fee at the rate of one and a half dollars per ton,
-in order to purchase bait, ice, and all other supplies and outfits,
-to tranship their catch and ship crews, and gave them some
-other privileges, declaring also that forfeiture was to be
-exacted only for the offence of fishing or preparing to fish
-in territorial waters.<a id="FNanchor_1160" href="#Footnote_1160" class="fnanchor">1160</a></p>
-
-<p>Unfortunately, this treaty failed to pass the Senate of
-the United States and was never ratified, and the system
-temporarily adopted as a <i>modus vivendi</i> has been regularly
-renewed since, and is still in force.<a id="FNanchor_1161" href="#Footnote_1161" class="fnanchor">1161</a></p>
-
-<p>It is to be noted that the arrangement in the treaty, both as
-to drawing lines on charts to separate the common from the
-exclusive fishing waters and for the adoption of a ten-mile
-base-line for bays, was proposed, not by the British Government,
-but by that of the United States. The British Government,
-indeed, strongly objected to a ten-mile line as involving
-“a surrender of fishing rights” and making “common fishing-grounds
-of the territorial waters which, by the law of nations,
-have been invariably regarded, both in Great Britain and the
-United States, as belonging to the adjacent country,” and they
-cited the Bay of Chaleurs as an example. They argued that
-in the convention with France in 1839, and in other similar
-conventions, the boundary-lines selected were due to special
-configuration of the coast, and could not be well settled “by
-reference to the law of nations”; and attention was called to
-the claims of the United States to Delaware Bay and other
-bays on their coasts. In reply to these observations of the
-British Government, the United States said they had proposed
-the width of ten miles not only because it had been adopted
-in fishery conventions, but also because it was deemed reasonable
-and just in the case in question; “while they might have
-claimed a width of six miles as a basis of settlement, fishing
-within bays and harbours only slightly wider would be confined
-to areas so narrow as to render it practically valueless,
-and almost certainly expose the fishermen to constant danger
-of carrying their operations into forbidden waters; a width of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_630">630</span>
-more than ten miles<a id="FNanchor_1162" href="#Footnote_1162" class="fnanchor">1162</a> would give room for safe fishing more
-than three miles from either shore, and thus prevent the constant
-disputes which this Government’s proposal, following the
-conventions above noticed, was designed to avert.”<a id="FNanchor_1163" href="#Footnote_1163" class="fnanchor">1163</a></p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, notwithstanding this proposal by the United
-States’ Government, the limit now enforced for bays on the
-coasts of British North America is that of six miles, with the
-exception of the Bay of Chaleurs.<a id="FNanchor_1164" href="#Footnote_1164" class="fnanchor">1164</a> It was apparently found
-that the attitude adopted by the British Government in 1870,
-then stated to be temporary and exceptional, of allowing the
-United States’ fishermen to fish “except within three miles of
-land, or in bays which are less than six miles broad at the
-mouth,” ought to be adhered to, during the existence of the
-<i>modus vivendi</i> and pending the ratification of the treaty of
-1888. If a recent statement of the Under-Secretary for
-Foreign Affairs, made in the House of Lords, represents the
-policy of the British Government at the present day, this six-mile
-limit for bays is to be regarded as established not alone
-for British North America, but for every part of the British
-dominions unless specially provided for otherwise. (<a href="#Page_730">See p. 730</a>.)</p>
-
-<p>From the foregoing summary of the disputes, negotiations,
-and treaties, concerning the rights of Americans to fish on the
-coasts of the British possessions in North America, it is evident
-that the British Government has gradually given way to the
-pressure exerted by the United States. In allowing a six-mile
-line for bays they have, indeed, as just shown, gone further
-than was demanded, and have departed from the terms of the
-fishery conventions which they have concluded with European
-Powers. The basis of the delimitation adopted in the treaty
-of 1888 was, as Mr Chamberlain intimated to Lord Salisbury,
-derived from the North Sea Convention of 1882, to which important
-treaty we must now turn our attention.</p>
-
-<p>It has been already said that the fishery convention with
-France in 1867 was not ratified by that country, and never
-came into operation in the general police regulation of the
-fisheries in extra-territorial waters. The desirability of international
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_631">631</span>
-regulations to preserve the peace between the fishermen
-of various countries frequenting the neighbouring seas,
-and particularly the North Sea, soon became apparent. Complaints
-of malicious interference with one another increased in
-number. The Belgians and French were accused of cutting
-and stealing the lines of Scottish fishermen, and the Dutch of
-taking their derelict nets, and the Fishery Board for Scotland
-accordingly pressed upon the Government, as early as 1876, the
-advantage of negotiating a fishery convention with Holland.<a id="FNanchor_1165" href="#Footnote_1165" class="fnanchor">1165</a>
-A little later the free use by foreign trawlers of a destructive
-implement known as “the devil,” or “the Belgian devil,”
-aroused a strong feeling among British drift-net fishermen.
-The instrument consisted of a shank and sharpened flukes,
-which was hung overboard and was designed for the sole
-purpose of cutting fishing-nets in the sea which might impede
-the movement of the boat making use of it. It was a product
-of the disputes and difficulties that occurred in carrying on
-trawling and drift-net fishing in the same localities at the
-same time. The British Government in January 1880 appointed
-Mr W. H. Higgin, Q.C., to make an inquiry on the
-subject. His report<a id="FNanchor_1166" href="#Footnote_1166" class="fnanchor">1166</a> showed that the state of things with
-regard to fishing operations in the North Sea by British,
-Belgian, French, and Dutch boats was unsatisfactory. He
-found that grievous injury and damage had been done to the
-drift-nets and tackle of English fishermen in the North Sea
-by trawlers belonging to France, Belgium, and Holland;<a id="FNanchor_1167" href="#Footnote_1167" class="fnanchor">1167</a> that
-there was no international law or convention between England
-and France, England and Belgium, or England and Holland,
-affecting the fisheries in the North Sea,&mdash;the convention with
-France in 1867 never having been ratified, while that of 1839
-was, he said, confined to the English Channel and referred only
-to French fishermen; and he stated that some international law
-of the kind was urgently required, as it would be impossible
-otherwise to put a stop to the outrages described. In consequence
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_632">632</span>
-of this report the Government invited the co-operation
-of France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden and Norway, and Denmark
-in devising a remedy, suggesting that separate agreements
-might be made for the purpose. At the instance of
-Holland, it was agreed to have one joint convention, and a
-conference of the North Sea Powers was convened at The
-Hague, in 1881, to negotiate it, Germany, at her own request,
-being included.<a id="FNanchor_1168" href="#Footnote_1168" class="fnanchor">1168</a></p>
-
-<p>In the proceedings at the conference the question that caused
-the greatest difficulty and discussion was the definition of the
-territorial waters or exclusive fishery limits. The British
-Government, in curious contrast to their action earlier in the
-century, desired to avoid any definition at all. The memorandum
-prepared by them as the basis of the deliberations,
-stipulated that the convention should “apply to the high seas
-generally outside the fishery limits of the countries joining in
-the convention.” This somewhat vague, not to say illogical,
-phraseology did not meet with the approval of the other
-Governments. It was objected to by France in particular.
-That Power had accepted the invitation to the conference on
-condition that the regulation to be agreed upon should be
-restricted to police rules intended to prevent conflicts between
-fishermen of different nationalities, “and to secure to them the
-free practice of their calling in the common waters of the North
-Sea.” In making a special convention dealing with the open sea
-which was common to all, it seemed to it impossible to do otherwise
-than begin by defining the limits within which it was
-intended to operate.<a id="FNanchor_1169" href="#Footnote_1169" class="fnanchor">1169</a> The French delegates at the conference
-therefore proposed that the extent of the territorial waters
-should, for fishery purposes, be defined in precise terms, and
-they endeavoured further to get the limit made as contracted
-as possible. They urged that the boundary should be fixed
-everywhere at three geographical miles from low-water mark,
-whatever might be the configuration of the coast. As to fixing
-a larger measurement for bays, as in the Anglo-French convention
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_633">633</span>
-of 1867, they argued that the rules laid down on this
-subject in the convention in question ought not to apply to the
-North Sea; in many instances these rules had reference only
-to the interests of oyster fisheries, which, they said, did not
-exist in the North Sea. The French contention regarding bays
-was thus similar to that of the United States in the negotiations
-concerning the treaty of 1818; and it was of course to the
-interest of France, whose own coast would be but little affected,
-and whose fisheries along the British coast in the North Sea
-were of great importance, to have the exclusive fishery limit
-made as narrow as possible.</p>
-
-<p>The proposal that the territorial waters for fishery purposes
-ought to be precisely defined, and that the limit on the open
-coast should be fixed at three geographical miles from low-water
-mark, was generally accepted, Belgium alone supporting
-the British view that it was better not to define them in the
-convention. But as regards bays, objection was taken to the
-French scheme on the part of Germany, with special reference
-to the mouth of the Elbe, which was declared to be a part
-of the sea belonging exclusively to Germany; and on the
-part of Norway, on the ground that that country could not
-agree to fix the limit at three miles, particularly with respect
-to bays. The rights which particular states might have
-acquired, it was urged, ought not to be prejudiced, and “bays
-should continue to belong to the State to which they at present
-belonged.” The French delegates then formulated their proposition
-in the following terms: “In the North Sea the
-limit of the part known as territorial waters (<i>mer territoriale</i>)
-is fixed, whatever may be the configuration of the country,
-at three miles from low-water mark, along the whole length
-of the shores of ... It is, however, understood that this
-shall not be taken to modify in any way the rights acquired
-on certain parts of their coasts by the different Powers to
-whom the shore belongs;” or else, “It is, however, understood
-that the present convention shall not be taken to modify in
-any way the rights which any Government may possess outside
-the three-mile limit in bays.”</p>
-
-<p>As the British and French delegates could not agree on
-this subject, further discussion was postponed until the former
-had consulted their Government. When this was done, they
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_634">634</span>
-announced that their instructions did not permit them to
-adopt the French proposals; and they continued to press
-the draft article for acceptance, declaring that the question
-of defining the limits of the maritime jurisdiction of the
-various countries did not fall within the province of the
-convention. The other delegates, however, did not share this
-view, and when a complete definition was insisted on, the
-British representatives ultimately agreed to accept the terms
-employed in the first article of the Anglo-French convention
-of 1867, and they submitted the following article: “The
-fishermen of each country shall enjoy the exclusive right of
-fishery within the distance of three miles from low-water
-mark along the whole extent of the coasts of their respective
-countries. As regards bays, the entrances of which do not
-exceed ten miles in width, the distance of three miles shall
-be measured from a straight line drawn from headland to
-headland.” The counter-proposal on the part of France did
-not materially differ from this, except by the inclusion of
-islands, by the better definition regarding bays, and by the
-insertion of a clause providing for the right of free navigation
-and anchorage in territorial waters.<a id="FNanchor_1170" href="#Footnote_1170" class="fnanchor">1170</a> The German delegate,
-anxious about the waters at the mouths of German rivers,
-urged that flats or banks uncovered at low water should
-also be included, as well as islands. This proposal had been
-agreed to by the British Government in 1868, after correspondence
-between the Foreign Office and the German Embassy
-in London, and though apparently not now desired by Great
-Britain, it was formally adopted.<a id="FNanchor_1171" href="#Footnote_1171" class="fnanchor">1171</a></p>
-
-<p>The article as finally agreed upon was as follows: “The
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_635">635</span>
-fishermen of each country shall enjoy the exclusive right of
-fishery within the distance of three miles from low-water
-mark along the whole extent of the coasts of their respective
-countries, as well as of the dependent islands and banks. As
-regards bays, the distance of three miles shall be measured
-from a straight line drawn across the bay, in the part nearest
-the entrance, at the first point where the width does not
-exceed ten miles. The present Article shall not in any way
-prejudice the freedom of navigation and anchorage in territorial
-waters accorded to fishing-boats, provided they conform
-to the special police regulations enacted by the Powers to
-whom the shore belongs.”</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_19" src="images/fig_19.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 19.&mdash;<i>Showing the Sandbanks at the mouth of the Ems.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>It is interesting to note that, at the instance of the Dutch
-president, the conference agreed that the provisions of the
-convention would not be applicable to the Zuiderzee; and
-that in deliberating on the boundaries of the North Sea
-within which they would apply, it was agreed to exclude
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_636">636</span>
-the Skagerrack, the fisheries of which, it was stated by the
-president, were not international, but were “essentially within
-the jurisdiction of the States to which the shores belong.”
-The greater part of the Zuiderzee, however, would have been
-excluded by the definition of bays in the convention, and the
-rest of it by the inclusion of “banks”; but the Skagerrack, on
-the other hand, is nowhere less than sixty geographical miles
-from shore to shore. Neither Norway nor Denmark has
-asserted since the convention exclusive jurisdiction in its
-moiety of these waters, where, in point of fact, both English
-and German vessels now carry on an extensive fishing.<a id="FNanchor_1172" href="#Footnote_1172" class="fnanchor">1172</a></p>
-
-<p>Some other points of interest were raised during the deliberations
-of this important conference. It was asked by the president:
-What would be the fate of the convention during war,
-in which one or two of the Governments joining in it should
-be belligerents? Would the fishery cruisers of the Powers
-concerned merely retire from the North Sea and leave fishermen
-of their nationality without protection or help? He
-recommended that the conference should adopt the principle
-that fishing-boats, <i>bon&acirc; fide</i> engaged in fishing, should be
-declared neutral. This was to revive a subject that had
-earlier, especially during the time of Napoleon I., caused much
-discussion, and which was remote from the object of the
-convention; and the proposal, though sympathetically received
-by the French delegates, was not supported by any of the
-Governments. A proposal of another kind was made by
-the German delegate. He thought it was necessary that
-restrictive measures should be enforced to prevent the destruction
-of the fry of fish and the taking of small fish; for
-example, by forbidding trawling within a certain distance
-of the shore, so as to provide a shelter for the free development
-of fish, and by regulating the construction of trawl-nets.
-The British and French delegates were opposed to
-any system of restriction, relying on the results of the
-inquiry which had been then recently made by Messrs
-Buckland and Walpole,<a id="FNanchor_1173" href="#Footnote_1173" class="fnanchor">1173</a> and on the part of France the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_637">637</span>
-following draft clause was formulated for insertion in the
-convention: “In the extra-territorial part of the North Sea,
-fishery shall be free at all seasons, and with all kinds of
-implements, without any sort of distinction.” The clause was
-not adopted, and it was generally agreed that the question
-was not ripe for decision by that conference, which was moreover
-concerned with the police of the fisheries, and not with
-the reproduction of fish, in the North Sea.</p>
-
-<p>The North Sea Convention was concluded in 1882, the
-signatory Powers being Great Britain, Germany, France,
-Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands.<a id="FNanchor_1174" href="#Footnote_1174" class="fnanchor">1174</a> Although the
-delegates of the United Kingdom of Sweden and Norway
-signed the protocol and were present at the final deliberations,
-those Powers did not join in the convention, objections being
-raised as to the definition of the territorial waters and on some
-other points.<a id="FNanchor_1175" href="#Footnote_1175" class="fnanchor">1175</a> An additional article was inserted providing
-that the King of Sweden and Norway might adhere later, for
-both or either country; but this has not been done, though the
-coast of Norway forms a not inconsiderable part of the boundary
-of the North Sea as defined in the convention. The reasons
-which induced these countries to abstain from joining in a
-friendly agreement with the neighbouring Powers of western
-Europe, after having accepted the invitation to the conference
-and taken part in its deliberations, must have appeared to them
-strong; and from the delay that occurred in coming to a decision
-it is evident that the matter received full consideration.
-They believed, however, that to agree to so restricted a boundary
-for their territorial waters in respect to fishery would be
-disadvantageous to them: it is probable, moreover, that the
-raising of the question was not foreseen, since the object of the
-conference was to consider the police of the fisheries in extra-territorial
-waters in the North Sea. It is curious, indeed, that
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_638">638</span>
-the limits for exclusive fishery, both in the convention with
-France in 1839 and with the other North Sea Powers in 1882,
-were fixed as it were incidentally.</p>
-
-<p>The duration of the convention was to be for five years from
-the date at which it came into operation, unless one year’s
-notice to terminate it were given by any of the contracting
-Powers; and it was to continue in force from year to year
-subject to similar notice. That none of the signatory Powers
-have withdrawn from the convention is the best proof of its
-general utility. From the number and influential position of
-these states, and from the character of the sea to which it
-applies,&mdash;one of the most productive in the world,&mdash;this convention
-is an international document of high importance to the sea
-fisheries, and deserves careful consideration. The first article
-declares that the provisions shall apply to the subjects of the
-high-contracting parties, the object being “to regulate the
-police of the fisheries in the North Sea outside territorial
-waters”; and the limits of the North Sea were carefully defined.<a id="FNanchor_1176" href="#Footnote_1176" class="fnanchor">1176</a>
-The provisions of the convention relate to the registration,
-lettering, and numbering of boats, the operations of fishermen
-pursuing different methods of fishing at the same place at the
-same time, the malicious use of instruments for cutting nets,
-the salvage of derelict fishing-gear, and the superintendence by
-cruisers. It was put in force in this country in 1883 by an Act
-of Parliament,<a id="FNanchor_1177" href="#Footnote_1177" class="fnanchor">1177</a> which also extended its application, so far as
-British sea-fishing boats were concerned, to the whole of the
-seas around the British Islands, whether within or without the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_639">639</span>
-exclusive fishery limits. In this Act the stipulation in the
-second article of the convention, as to the freedom of navigation
-and anchorage in territorial waters on the part of foreign fishing-boats,
-received a limiting definition. The clause in question was
-inserted in the convention at the instance of France, and was
-accepted with some reluctance by the British delegates, who
-agreed to it in general terms only, without the recognition of a
-right.<a id="FNanchor_1178" href="#Footnote_1178" class="fnanchor">1178</a> By the Act foreign fishing-boats were prohibited from
-entering the exclusive fishery limits of the British Islands
-except for purposes recognised by international law, or by any
-treaty or arrangement in force between this country and any
-foreign state, or for any lawful purpose. If a foreign boat did
-enter, it was to return outside the limits as soon as the purpose
-for which it entered had been answered, and fishing or attempting
-to fish within the limits was, of course, forbidden
-under penalties.</p>
-
-<p>The definition of the exclusive fishery limits in the North
-Sea Convention differed in two respects from that contained in
-the previous conventions with France. The rule for the
-measurement of bays was modified, and the dependent islands
-and banks were expressly included as part of the coast from
-which the limit should be measured. In the Anglo-French
-conventions of 1839 and 1867 bays which did not exceed ten
-miles in width at the mouths were comprised in the reserved
-waters, and the three-mile limit was measured from the line
-joining the “headlands.” Thus some bays whose width at the
-mouth, or between their headlands, exceeded ten miles were
-deprived of the benefit of the principle applied to bays and
-came under the three-mile rule, even although at a small distance
-within the entrance the width might not exceed ten miles.
-Since all bays have not headlands, the French proposal at The
-Hague conference to substitute “the two extreme points of the
-bay” for that term was an improvement. Still better was the
-definition finally adopted, to place the base-line at the first
-point nearest the entrance where the width did not exceed ten
-miles. The specific inclusion of islands removed such difficulties
-as were raised in 1853 by a French commodore at the
-Farne Islands (<a href="#Page_618">see p. 618</a>), though it had long been established
-in connection with the rights of neutrals that islands
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_640">640</span>
-carried with them, no less than the mainland, the belt of territorial
-sea. The inclusion of banks was, however, novel, and
-was not received with favour by the British Government. It
-was feared that it would lead to difficulties and complications
-in future if such banks as the Goodwin Sands, which were
-situated beyond the three-mile limit, and the similar banks on
-the German and Dutch coasts, were held to be territorial
-dependencies of the coast; and so strong was the objection of
-the British Government to their inclusion, that they instructed
-their ambassadors abroad, if an objection was raised by any
-Power, to have this definition reconsidered.<a id="FNanchor_1179" href="#Footnote_1179" class="fnanchor">1179</a> The objection is
-theoretically well founded. Sand-banks of this character may
-be not permanent, and usually vary in extent, configuration, and
-position with lapse of time and even after a single tempest;
-and the extent of sea appendent will vary likewise. It would
-thus be difficult to fix a precise and permanent limit in connection
-with them. Moreover, since the banks may be covered
-by the sea except at low-water without losing their territorial
-value, it would sometimes require more than ordinary care on
-the part of foreign fishing-boats to avoid infringing the limit
-around them. On the other hand, for the purpose of regulations
-designed to protect fish life, such as are referred to in the
-sequel, banks of this nature are of especial value; and, in point
-of fact, few difficulties in practice appear to have arisen on this
-score in carrying out the convention.<a id="FNanchor_1180" href="#Footnote_1180" class="fnanchor">1180</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_641">641</span></p>
-
-<p>On one or two points, however, the definitions in the convention
-might have been improved. Nothing is said as to the
-tides at which low-water mark is to be taken for measurements,
-though on certain coasts the extent of territorial water will
-vary much according to whether it is a neap or a high spring
-tide; and the question whether certain banks are or are
-not territorial and entitled to the limit may vary in the
-same way. It is to be presumed that the tide is an ordinary
-neap tide, as in English law. More important is the fact
-that “rocks” are not included along with islands. Quite
-recently the omission has given rise to difficulties in regard
-to three places on our coast&mdash;viz., the Eddystone, the
-Bell Rock, and the Seven Stones Rocks, off the Scilly Islands.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_642">642</span>
-The Seven Stones Rocks are a reef near the south-west
-extremity of Cornwall, about seven miles from Land’s End,
-and about a mile in length, and with a lightship at it; but
-it does not appear that any portion is above the sea-level
-at low-water of neap tides. Complaints were made to the
-Government by the Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee that
-French fishing-boats fished within three miles from the
-rocks, and close to them; but it was stated by the Admiralty,
-and also by the Foreign Office, that these rocks could not be
-claimed as being within British territorial waters.<a id="FNanchor_1181" href="#Footnote_1181" class="fnanchor">1181</a> In this case,
-presumably, the decision might rest on the fact that the rocks
-do not appear at low-water of ordinary tides. The Eddystone
-is somewhat different. The rock or reef on which the lighthouse
-is placed lies about fourteen miles south-west of Plymouth,
-and while covered by the sea at high tide, is exposed
-to the extent of an area of about 500 yards at low-water of
-neaps. French fishermen also fish around it and close to
-it, a practice which caused the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee
-to complain. The gunboat <i>Circe</i>, in August 1905, seized and
-took into Plymouth two French “crabbers” for fishing within
-three miles from the Eddystone, but after communicating with
-the Board of Trade, instructions were sent to release the
-boats; and the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, while
-saying that they were not in a position to express an authoritative
-opinion on the matter, called attention to the decision
-in 1902 regarding the somewhat similar case at the Seven
-Stones. Here, no doubt, the decision rested on the absence
-of the specific inclusion of “rocks,” as distinguished from
-islands, in the conventions, and one can understand the expression
-of surprise by the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee
-that a rock which was recognised as British, and was inhabited
-by lighthouse-keepers, was not considered as within the territorial
-limit for fishing purposes.</p>
-
-<p>Similar complaints have been made concerning the Bell
-Rock, which lies about ten miles east-south-east of Arbroath,
-Forfarshire, and has a lighthouse upon it. It is entirely
-covered at high-water; at the ebb of spring tides it is uncovered
-to a depth of four feet, while at low-water of neap
-tides the top of the rock is just visible, and would then
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_643">643</span>
-probably acquire validity for the measurement of three miles
-from it and around it, if rocks had been included in the
-conventions, as they are now included in the recent convention
-between this country and Denmark concerning Iceland
-and the Faro&euml;s (<a href="#Page_647">p. 647</a>). The case of the Seven Stones and
-the Eddystone is, however, on a different footing; for while
-the limit of exclusive fishery along the coasts of the North
-Sea, with the exception of the part formed by Norway, was
-settled by the convention of 1882 (so far as concerns the
-fishermen of the signatory Powers), there appears to be some
-obscurity as to how far the three-mile limit operates on the
-coasts that lie outwith the boundaries of the North Sea,&mdash;such,
-for example, as the west coasts of England and Scotland
-and the coasts of Ireland. The second article of the convention
-declares, without qualification, that the three-mile
-limit shall apply “along the <i>whole extent</i> of the coasts” of
-the respective countries,&mdash;it does not say merely to the North
-Sea coasts,&mdash;and the view that this stipulation operates on
-all the coasts appears to be widely prevalent, and is expressed,
-for example, in the Belgian law which put the convention
-in force in that country.<a id="FNanchor_1182" href="#Footnote_1182" class="fnanchor">1182</a> It is, however, held by legal
-authorities that since the special object of the convention
-was “for the purpose of regulating the police of the fisheries
-in the North Sea outside territorial waters,” and as the
-boundaries of the North Sea are defined “for the purpose
-of applying the provisions of the present Convention,” the
-definition of the exclusive fishery limits applies only within
-the area specified, and not to the other coasts of the signatory
-Powers.<a id="FNanchor_1183" href="#Footnote_1183" class="fnanchor">1183</a> In the Convention Act, as in the Territorial Waters
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_644">644</span>
-Jurisdiction Act, we accordingly find a distinction drawn
-between the exclusive fishery limits under international law
-and those under specific treaties or conventions. In the definition
-clause, the expression “British Islands” is explained
-to mean the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
-the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and their dependencies,
-and it is declared that “the expression ‘exclusive fishery
-limits of the British Islands’ means that portion of the seas
-surrounding the British Islands within which Her Majesty’s
-subjects have, by international law, the exclusive right of
-fishing, and where such portion is defined by the terms of
-any convention, treaty, or arrangement for the time being
-in force between Her Majesty and any Foreign State, includes,
-as regards the sea-fishing boats and officers and subjects
-of that State, the portion so defined.”<a id="FNanchor_1184" href="#Footnote_1184" class="fnanchor">1184</a></p>
-
-<p>From all this it would appear that, notwithstanding the
-ambiguity introduced by the unqualified phrase “the whole
-extent of the coasts of their respective countries,” the definition
-of the exclusive fishery limits in the convention of 1882 applies
-only to the coasts of the North Sea. In the convention of 1839
-with France, on the other hand, there seems no reason to doubt
-that the three-mile limit was applied to all parts of the coasts
-of Great Britain and France respectively. By Article ix. it
-was declared that the exclusive right of fishing was reserved
-for subjects within that distance “along the whole extent of
-the coasts” of each country; and the British Act of Parliament
-to carry into effect this convention, and the international
-regulations agreed upon under it, so far from expressing any
-qualification or reservation as in the Act of 1883, made it clear
-that the limit applied generally. In the preamble it is stated
-that “Whereas a Convention was concluded between Her
-Majesty and the King of the French ... defining the limits
-of the oyster fishery between the island of Jersey and the
-neighbouring coast of France, and also defining the limits of
-the exclusive right of fishery on all other parts of the coasts
-of the British Islands and France”; and Article 85 of the
-regulations enacted that the fishing-boats of the one country,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_645">645</span>
-except under certain circumstances, “shall not approach nearer
-to any part of the coasts of the other country than the limit
-of three miles specified in Article ix. of the convention.”<a id="FNanchor_1185" href="#Footnote_1185" class="fnanchor">1185</a></p>
-
-<p>In the convention of 1852 between Great Britain and
-Belgium, which was simply entitled “relative to fishery,”
-without any particular purpose, seas, or regions being specified,
-it was stipulated that “Belgian subjects shall enjoy, in regard
-to fishery along the coast of the United Kingdom of Great
-Britain and Ireland, the treatment of the most favoured foreign
-nation.” The most favoured foreign nation at that time was
-France, and although no distance was fixed in the Belgian
-treaty, there is no doubt the three-mile limit applied, and was
-indeed, as stated above, enforced, on the east coast of Scotland
-against the Belgians as well as against the French.</p>
-
-<p>In the convention of 1867 the same limit was assigned
-“along the whole extent of the coasts” of the two countries;
-and the provisions of the convention were expressly stated to
-apply beyond the exclusive fishery limits, in the one case “to
-the seas surrounding and adjoining Great Britain and Ireland,”
-and in the case of France to the seas adjoining the coast of
-that country between the frontiers of Belgium and Spain; and
-the object of the convention was “relative to fisheries in the
-seas between Great Britain and France.” As already stated,
-this treaty, with an unimportant exception, did not come into
-effect, and the convention of 1839 remained in force.<a id="FNanchor_1186" href="#Footnote_1186" class="fnanchor">1186</a></p>
-
-<p>As no other treaties exist defining the exclusive fishery
-limits along our coasts than those referred to, the position in
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_646">646</span>
-relation to conventional law appears to be as follows. With
-respect to France and Belgium, the three-mile limit, with the
-ten-mile line for bays, seems to be in force along the whole
-extent of the British and Irish coasts. With respect to the
-other Powers which were parties to the North Sea Convention
-of 1882,&mdash;namely, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands,&mdash;this
-limit is in force only on the eastern, or North Sea, coasts
-of England and Scotland. On the north and west coasts of
-Scotland, the south and west coasts of England, and the whole
-of the coast of Ireland, the limits of exclusive fishery as regards
-these countries, and as regards all countries except France and
-Belgium, fall to be determined by the principles of international
-law. With respect to all other nations, as, for example,
-the Norwegians, Swedes, and Spaniards, the limits on all parts
-of our coasts also fall to be determined under international
-law. The principles of international law, as expounded by the
-accredited writers, do not, as will be shown later, and as is
-implied in the quotations from the Acts above cited, support
-the view that the right of exclusive fishing, apart from treaty,
-must necessarily be restricted to the three-mile limit. The
-preponderance of opinion is that the boundary of the territorial
-sea, including, therefore, the exclusive right of fishery, coincides
-with the range of guns from the shore; and it is evident that
-as against such nations as claim for themselves a greater extent
-than three miles on their own coasts&mdash;viz., Norway,
-Sweden, and Spain&mdash;a larger limit than that contained in
-the conventions could be rightfully enforced on the British
-coasts.</p>
-
-<p>There are many things to show that the unsatisfactory state
-of affairs, not to say confusion, with respect to the limits of
-exclusive fishing to which we are entitled on various parts of
-our coast, has been brought about partly by a widespread belief
-that the boundary under international law is three miles,
-partly also by what must be characterised as a want of
-knowledge and care on the part of those dealing with the
-question. Mr T. H. Farrer, the permanent Secretary of the
-Board of Trade, told a Committee of the House of Commons
-in 1876 that the convention and regulations with France were
-“hastily and recklessly” made,<a id="FNanchor_1187" href="#Footnote_1187" class="fnanchor">1187</a> and the record of the proceedings
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_647">647</span>
-at the conference at The Hague in 1881 shows that it
-would not have been a difficult matter to clear up some of the
-obscurity that exists. One point of importance is that, notwithstanding
-the absence of any treaty or agreement defining
-the extent of the limits of exclusive fishery with certain nations,
-the three-mile limit alone has been enforced against the vessels
-of such nations fishing on our coasts. This has been the case,
-except for a brief period, with respect to Norwegian and
-Swedish trawlers in the Moray Firth in Scotland, which is
-“closed” to British trawlers, and the vessels of these two
-nations are thus put on the same footing as those of other
-countries with which a convention has been made. It is also
-the case on the west coast of Scotland, where the limit of three
-miles is enforced against foreign trawlers, apparently irrespective
-of nationality, and certainly against Dutch and
-German vessels as well as against Belgians in the Clyde, from
-which British trawlers are excluded.<a id="FNanchor_1188" href="#Footnote_1188" class="fnanchor">1188</a> How far this undoubted
-usage may modify the position under international law it
-would be of importance to determine.</p>
-
-<p>A more recent convention must be referred to, which, however,
-does not relate to the coasts of this country, but to those
-of the Danish islands, the Far&ouml;es, and Iceland, where British
-trawling vessels carry on extensive operations. The Icelanders,
-who depend so much upon their fisheries, were desirous of
-having a considerable extent of the waters around their coasts
-reserved to themselves, and wished to have a limit of seven
-miles to protect the grounds from the action of foreign fishing-boats.<a id="FNanchor_1189" href="#Footnote_1189" class="fnanchor">1189</a>
-As a result of negotiations, however, with Great
-Britain, Denmark agreed to the usual limit of three miles.
-The treaty was signed at London on 24th June 1901, and after
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_648">648</span>
-ratification was brought into force on 31st March 1903 by an
-Order in Council of the 12th of that month. Its main object,
-apparently, was to regulate the fisheries of the subjects of the
-two countries outside territorial waters in a large part of the
-ocean surrounding the Far&ouml;e Isles and Iceland, in a small part
-of which extensive fisheries are now carried on by foreigners,
-especially by English and German trawlers; but its immediate
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_649">649</span>
-effect was to impose the three-mile limit on the coasts in question.
-The article defining the territorial waters is the same as
-in the North Sea Convention, except that islets and rocks are
-included, which thus gets rid of some possible difficulties in
-interpretation, such as have arisen in connection with the
-Eddystone and Bell Rock.<a id="FNanchor_1190" href="#Footnote_1190" class="fnanchor">1190</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_20" src="images/fig_20.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 20.&mdash;<i>Showing the Limits for the Anglo-Danish Fishery Convention of 1901.</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_650">650</span></p></div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_II_CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">THE MODERN PRACTICE OF STATES AND THE OPINIONS
-OF RECENT PUBLICISTS.</span></h2>
-
-<p>We may now pass to the consideration of the modern practice
-of states with respect to the extent of territorial sea which is
-claimed or allowed by them, and of the opinions of the later
-writers on the law of nations as to the extent that may be
-rightfully conceded or appropriated. It will be found that
-there is apparently a very considerable discrepancy between
-the one and the other. For while the opinions of publicists
-have on the whole become more decided and definite as to
-Bynkershoek’s principle being the true principle for the
-delimitation of territorial waters, and the inadequacy of the
-three-mile limit has been formally declared, the general usage
-of states is indicated by the common adoption of the latter
-limit for several purposes. As elsewhere stated, this general
-use of the one marine league is in large measure owing to the
-example, or the pressure, of Great Britain and the United
-States of America, and perhaps chiefly, if indirectly, to the
-influence of the latter. Although the United States more than
-any other Power has varied her principles and claims as to the
-extent of territorial waters, according to her policy at the time&mdash;now
-claiming the vague and wandering “boundary” of the
-Gulf Stream or the whole of Behring Sea, and now the liberty
-to fish right up to the shores of the Falkland Islands,&mdash;she has
-been consistent in this, that she has steadily and constantly
-pressed for the narrowest limit she could get in favour of her
-own fishermen on the coasts of the British North American
-Colonies. The unhappy heritage of the British Foreign Office
-that came from the abnegation of territorial dominion over
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_651">651</span>
-large parts of the waters in question by Great Britain in
-former times, has been as fruitful of trouble as Lear’s renunciation
-of his sovereignty. The numerous negotiations as to the
-rights of fishing on the coasts of British North America have
-always resulted in concessions to the United States, and appear
-to have been conducted, as they were almost bound to be, rather
-in the light of the general political relationship of the two
-Powers than on the intrinsic merits of the particular question
-at issue; and thus in Canada and Newfoundland British
-diplomacy on this subject has often been criticised. Obviously,
-when British policy takes this course in regard to
-North America, one must expect for the sake of consistency,
-if on no other ground, that it will tend to take the same
-course elsewhere. An example of this was quite recently
-shown, when a concession of the kind referred to, as to the
-rule for bays, which was granted during a <i>modus vivendi</i>
-as a temporary act of grace, was spoken of as if it were
-now definitely incorporated in British international policy
-(<a href="#Page_730">see p. 730</a>).</p>
-
-<p>The discrepancy alluded to between the authorities on the
-law of nations and the common usage is perhaps more apparent
-than real. The international treaties and municipal laws in
-which a limit is fixed refer to a few subjects, and in particular
-to fisheries, and they relate to times of peace. The
-most vital attributes of the territorial sea relate to the
-security, the obligations, and the rights of neutral states in
-time of war; and there has happily been no great maritime
-war in Europe for a long time to put the principles to the
-test. But when such a war does come, there is little doubt
-that during hostilities the three-mile limit will be set aside by
-the neutral states concerned, and another and greater limit fixed
-for security, in closer correspondence with the actual range
-of guns. It is to be further noted, that notwithstanding the
-numerous municipal enactments and the international conventions
-in which the three-mile limit is fixed for certain purposes,
-no state seems to have formally and deliberately defined
-the absolute extent of the neighbouring sea which it claims
-as pertaining to it under all circumstances. Many states&mdash;and
-Great Britain is one of them&mdash;have taken pains to make it
-clear that in adopting a three-mile limit for particular purposes
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_652">652</span>
-they do not abrogate their right to the farther extent
-of sea that may be necessary for other purposes.</p>
-
-<p>Though Germany has not defined the extent of her territorial
-waters by municipal law,<a id="FNanchor_1191" href="#Footnote_1191" class="fnanchor">1191</a> she has entered into agreements
-with various Powers respecting the limits of exclusive
-fishery. The first of these was made with Great Britain in
-1868, and the rules for the guidance of British fishermen,
-issued by the Board of Trade in accordance with it, stated
-that,&mdash;“The exclusive fishery limits of North Germany are
-designated by the North German Government as follows:
-that tract of the sea which extends to a distance of three
-sea-miles from the extremest limit which the ebb leaves dry
-of the German North Sea coast, of the German Islands or
-Flats lying before it, as well as those bays and incurvations
-of the coast which are ten sea-miles or less in breadth,
-reckoned from the extremest points of the land and the
-flats, must be considered as under the territorial sovereignty
-of the North German Confederation;” and it is further said
-that the exclusive rights of fishery in the above spaces are
-reserved to Germans, and English fishermen are not at liberty
-to enter these limits except under certain specified circumstances,
-as of wind and weather.<a id="FNanchor_1192" href="#Footnote_1192" class="fnanchor">1192</a> These limits were again
-formally recognised by Great Britain in July 1880, and,
-according to Perels, were further confirmed by the North
-Sea Convention of 1882. It is obvious that “the extremest
-limit which the ebb leaves dry,” both for the open coast and
-for bays, will differ considerably on such a coast as that
-of Germany from the low-water mark of ordinary tides, and
-that the space included in the measurement will be correspondingly
-enlarged. Germany also agreed with Denmark,
-in 1880, to the three-mile limit for the adjacent coasts of
-the two countries in the Baltic, with a ten-mile base-line
-for bays, the mid-line or <i>thalweg</i> applying where the waters
-between the respective coasts were less than six miles in
-width. More recently, an agreement has been concluded
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_653">653</span>
-precisely defining on charts the exclusive fishing waters of
-the two countries in the Little Belt.<a id="FNanchor_1193" href="#Footnote_1193" class="fnanchor">1193</a></p>
-
-<p>Denmark is one of the Scandinavian countries which, as
-previously mentioned, claimed a wide extent of territorial
-sea. In 1812 the limits, both for Norway and Denmark,
-were defined as follows in a royal ordinance: “We will
-that it be established as a rule in all cases where it is a
-question of determining the maritime boundary of our territory,
-that that territory shall be reckoned to the ordinary
-distance of one marine league from the outermost islands or
-islets which are not overflowed by the sea.”<a id="FNanchor_1194" href="#Footnote_1194" class="fnanchor">1194</a> The league
-in these Scandinavian ordinances, as previously mentioned,
-is one-fifteenth of a degree, or four geographical miles, and
-therefore one mile more than the ordinary three-mile limit.
-But, in point of fact, owing to the method of measurement
-adopted, the space of sea included as territorial is much
-greater. Instead of computing the four miles from low-water
-mark on the shore, which is the base usually taken,
-it is measured from an imaginary straight line connecting
-the outermost points of the permanently visible isles or
-rocks lying farthest from the coast. In some places the
-extent of water thus cut off as territorial is very considerable.
-Though the other Scandinavian countries, Norway and
-Sweden, have maintained this limit to the present day, it
-has been in practice abandoned by Denmark, which has
-adopted the three-mile limit in certain agreements with
-Germany, in the North Sea Convention of 1882, and in the
-recent treaty with Great Britain with respect to Iceland
-and the Far&ouml;es. In the Skagerrack and Cattegat she concedes
-the three-mile limit to German and British fishermen,
-and no doubt also to the fishermen of the other nations which
-were parties to the North Sea Convention; and it is of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_654">654</span>
-interest to note, with reference to the discussion on a former
-page as to the extent of coast really comprised in the North
-Sea Convention, that it is in virtue of this convention that
-the old boundary of four miles has been abandoned there.<a id="FNanchor_1195" href="#Footnote_1195" class="fnanchor">1195</a>
-But while Denmark has taken up this attitude with reference
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_655">655</span>
-to English and German fishermen, it is claimed on her behalf
-by an eminent Danish authority that it is within her
-right still to maintain the old geographical league as the
-boundary of her territorial sea,<a id="FNanchor_1196" href="#Footnote_1196" class="fnanchor">1196</a> and this has indeed been
-recently done in a fishery convention with Sweden, which
-claims the same limit with regard to the fisheries in the
-Cattegat, the Sound, the Baltic along the Swedish coast from
-Falsterbo to Simbrishamn, and around the islands Bornholm
-and Kristians&ouml;.<a id="FNanchor_1197" href="#Footnote_1197" class="fnanchor">1197</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_21" src="images/fig_21.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 21.&mdash;<i>Showing the two Limits in Danish Waters; the dotted line shows
-the Scandinavian Limit.</i> From ‘Dansk-Fiskeritidende.’</p></div>
-
-<p>It is to be noted that the terms used in this treaty in
-defining the limit differ from those in the ordinance of 1812.
-The ordinance speaks of islands and islets which are not
-submerged or overflowed by the sea, while the treaty mentions
-the outermost islets or rocks which are not <i>constantly</i>
-submerged or overflowed by the sea,&mdash;a distinction which
-might make a very considerable difference in the extent of
-the waters reserved.</p>
-
-<p>We thus see that Denmark enforces two limits in connection
-with fishery&mdash;one of four miles, measured according to the
-Scandinavian method, in the Baltic, &amp;c., as against Sweden
-(and doubtless also against Norway); and the ordinary one of
-three miles in the Baltic, &amp;c., as against Great Britain and
-Germany at least, and also in the North Sea and at the Far&ouml;es
-and Iceland. The various limits are shown in the accompanying
-figure, which is a reproduction of the official chart. It also
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_656">656</span>
-shows how complicated the three-mile limit is among the
-islands.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_22" src="images/fig_22.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 22.&mdash;<i>The White Sea, showing the line between Cape Kanin and Cape Sviatoi.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The views of Russia with respect to the limits of territorial
-waters, as expressed during the negotiations with Great Britain
-in the earlier part of last century, have been referred to (<a href="#Page_581">p. 581</a>),
-and it appears from the Russian Code of Prize Law, 1869
-(Art. 21), that the jurisdictional waters, the extent of which
-had been fixed in her treaties at the end of the eighteenth
-century at the range of guns, are limited to three miles (about
-5647 metres) from the shore. The same distance was assigned
-for customs purposes; and as no general boundary has been
-prescribed for the exclusive right of fishing, it may be presumed
-that that right is restricted to the same space.<a id="FNanchor_1198" href="#Footnote_1198" class="fnanchor">1198</a> It
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_657">657</span>
-appears that Russia also claims the White Sea as a <i>mare
-clausum</i>, or <i>mer ferm&eacute;e</i>, within a line between Cape Kanin
-(Kanin Nos) and Cape Sviatoi (Sviatoi Nos), where it is about
-eighty geographical miles in width.<a id="FNanchor_1199" href="#Footnote_1199" class="fnanchor">1199</a> If this claim is now
-made by Russia, it would probably be difficult for her to make
-it good before an international tribunal, did such exist. For
-not only is the mouth of the width stated, but the area included
-is nearly 30,000 square geographical miles, only about
-twenty per cent of which is within the ordinary three-mile
-limit. Until lately the only foreigners who fished in the
-neighbourhood of the White Sea were Norwegians, but in each
-summer since 1905 both English and German steam-trawlers
-have carried on an important fishery in the vicinity of Cape
-Kanin, but not within the White Sea itself, where the rocky
-nature of the bottom is said to prevent this method of fishing.<a id="FNanchor_1200" href="#Footnote_1200" class="fnanchor">1200</a></p>
-
-<p>In France, fishing in the sea beyond three miles from low-water
-mark was declared by a decree of 10th May 1862 to be
-free all the year round, except for oysters; but certain fisheries
-were allowed to be temporarily suspended beyond the three-mile
-limit, if it was found necessary for the preservation of
-the bed of the sea, or of a fishery composed of migratory
-fishes.<a id="FNanchor_1201" href="#Footnote_1201" class="fnanchor">1201</a> The first Article of the law of 1st March 1888, which
-originated in the North Sea Convention, states that “fishing by
-foreign vessels is prohibited in the territorial waters of France
-and Algeria within a limit which is fixed at three marine miles
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_658">658</span>
-seawards from low-water mark,” with the same arrangement
-for bays as in the North Sea Convention. The distance stated
-does not, however, necessarily represent the bounds of the
-territorial sea, properly so called, the extent of which has never
-been precisely defined by France.<a id="FNanchor_1202" href="#Footnote_1202" class="fnanchor">1202</a> No doubt France, like other
-countries, reserves her right to a wider limit should occasion
-arise to make that necessary.</p>
-
-<p>It appears that as early as 1832 the three-mile limit was
-declared by Belgium to be the boundary of her territorial
-waters,<a id="FNanchor_1203" href="#Footnote_1203" class="fnanchor">1203</a> and by a law promulgated in 1891, and based upon
-the North Sea Convention, “all foreign boats” were prohibited
-from fishing within three miles of the Belgian coast.<a id="FNanchor_1204" href="#Footnote_1204" class="fnanchor">1204</a></p>
-
-<p>In the Netherlands also, in connection with the North Sea
-Convention, the boundary of exclusive fishing has been declared
-to be at the distance of three miles from low-water
-mark, and this applies to all foreign fishermen. No distinction
-has been formally made between the fishery limit and the limit
-of the territorial sea for political purposes.<a id="FNanchor_1205" href="#Footnote_1205" class="fnanchor">1205</a></p>
-
-<p>In Austria-Hungary, whose coast is confined to the eastern
-shore of the Adriatic, the three-mile limit has been adopted,
-subject to certain qualifications respecting the right of fishery
-under treaties with Italy. The regulations concerning foreign
-vessels of war authorise a shot to be fired from the nearest
-battery at any such vessel which does not show its flag on
-coming within range of the guns, and within the same distance
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_659">659</span>
-of a fortified port they are prohibited from taking soundings,
-practising with firearms, &amp;c.; other regulations forbid vessels
-laden with goods which form the object of a monopoly of the
-state from approaching within gunshot. By a decree of 23rd
-August 1846, and a circular of 28th April 1849, it was declared
-that the expression “range of guns” in these ordinances was
-equivalent to three marine miles of sixty to a degree. The
-customs regulations operate within the same limit, but the
-manifest can be demanded within a farther distance of four
-marine miles.<a id="FNanchor_1206" href="#Footnote_1206" class="fnanchor">1206</a> With respect to the right of fishing, the regulations
-are somewhat complex. The boundary of exclusive
-fishing is fixed at three miles,<a id="FNanchor_1207" href="#Footnote_1207" class="fnanchor">1207</a> but inasmuch as the fisheries
-in the Adriatic are carried on almost only by Austrian and
-Italian subjects, it was found convenient to arrange by treaty
-for the fishermen of either country to fish within the territorial
-waters of the other, except within a distance of one marine
-mile from the shore, and subject to certain restrictions regarding
-the fisheries for corals and sponges, and the observance of
-the local regulations.<a id="FNanchor_1208" href="#Footnote_1208" class="fnanchor">1208</a> This mutual arrangement with regard
-to the right of fishery was renewed and continued in a later
-treaty of 11th February 1906.</p>
-
-<p>The fishings within one marine mile of the shore are reserved
-to the inhabitants of the commune to which the coast
-appertains; but in certain specified circumstances fishermen
-from other places may be allowed to fish within this communal
-zone. The use of drag-nets and trawl-nets is prohibited in all
-places where the depth is under eight metres; within the first
-maritime or communal zone at certain seasons, irrespective of
-depth, and altogether within five miles of the coast when employed
-from steamers. Owing to the absence of tides, the
-shoreward limit is not measured from a low-water mark, but
-from a line, fixed by local authorities, where the water ceases
-to be constantly brackish.<a id="FNanchor_1209" href="#Footnote_1209" class="fnanchor">1209</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_660">660</span></p>
-
-<p>It is doubtful how far the three-mile limit has been adopted
-in Italy. In a Bill of 1872 a distinction was proposed between
-the territorial waters and the exclusive fishing waters, but this
-distinction was not made in the law of 1877.<a id="FNanchor_1210" href="#Footnote_1210" class="fnanchor">1210</a> The question
-was taken up later by the Commission for Fisheries, and the
-opinions elicited from the local authorities at various parts
-of the coast, who were consulted, varied, the recommendations
-for the boundary of the territorial waters (<i>mare territoriale</i>)
-ranging from one and a half miles to ten kilometres, and very
-commonly the limit suggested was four geographical miles.
-The boundary recommended for the exclusive fishing waters
-(<i>mare pescatorio</i>) also varied, but in this case the depth of
-the water rather than the distance from shore was held to be
-the more important factor in deciding on a limit, an opinion
-with which the Commission agreed so far as concerned steam
-trawling. In view of the fishery conventions of the western
-Powers, the Commission recommended a limit of three miles and
-ten miles for bays, as in those conventions,<a id="FNanchor_1211" href="#Footnote_1211" class="fnanchor">1211</a> but the proposal
-was not accepted by the Italian Government. The subject was
-again considered by the Commission in 1904 and 1906, with
-particular reference to steam trawling and dredging, but no
-proposition to determine the boundary of the territorial waters
-for fishing purposes was adopted. A decree of 4th September
-1908, however, introduced a limit of three miles, but only
-with reference to the use of dredges in some districts of the
-Tyrrhenian Sea.</p>
-
-<p>With respect to the extent of the territorial sea for political
-purposes, no definition has been given in Italian laws; it depends
-therefore upon the general principles of international jurisprudence.
-It is interesting to note that in some comparatively
-recent decrees the boundary is stated to depend on the range
-of guns. Thus, instructions issued by the Minister of Marine
-in June 1866 commanded the officers of the navy to refrain
-from all hostile acts in the ports and territorial waters of
-neutral Powers, and reminded them that the limit of the
-territorial waters was the range of cannon from the shore;
-and in a circular from the same Ministry in March 1862
-it was stated that the extent of the territorial sea varied
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_661">661</span>
-in different countries and in the opinion of different publicists,
-but that the general opinion was that the range of guns was
-the sole rule on the matter.<a id="FNanchor_1212" href="#Footnote_1212" class="fnanchor">1212</a> It may be added that by the
-customs law of 1896, the manifest of vessels may be demanded
-within ten kilometres of the coast.<a id="FNanchor_1213" href="#Footnote_1213" class="fnanchor">1213</a></p>
-
-<p>In Greece, another of the Mediterranean states, the three-mile
-limit was adopted in 1869, when a circular of the
-Minister of Marine prohibited foreigners from fishing within
-that distance of the shore. Previously, in virtue of a royal
-decree issued in 1834, foreign boats were allowed to fish for
-sardines in the Gulf of Corinth, but this concession was
-withdrawn.<a id="FNanchor_1214" href="#Footnote_1214" class="fnanchor">1214</a></p>
-
-<p>As already mentioned, the three-mile limit is the one in
-force in all the British colonies, in Japan,<a id="FNanchor_1215" href="#Footnote_1215" class="fnanchor">1215</a> in the United
-States of America, and in some at least of the South American
-states. The Chilian Government, for example, has defined
-the extent of the territorial sea belonging to it as one marine
-league from low-water mark, within which distance the right of
-fishing is reserved to Chilian citizens or domiciled foreigners.
-At the same time it is stated that “police administration for
-the purposes of the security of the State or the carrying
-out of fiscal regulations extends to a distance of four marine
-leagues, measured in the same manner.”<a id="FNanchor_1216" href="#Footnote_1216" class="fnanchor">1216</a></p>
-
-<p>Quite lately, however, one of the chief states of South
-America has advanced a claim to a very wide extent of sea
-along its coasts&mdash;so far, at least, as the right of fishery is concerned.
-In September 1907 the Minister of Agriculture for
-the Argentine Republic issued a series of ordinances for the
-regulation of the fisheries,<a id="FNanchor_1217" href="#Footnote_1217" class="fnanchor">1217</a> in which it is declared that, with
-respect to the fisheries, a zone of water up to a distance of ten
-miles (18,520 metres, or about 10&frac14; nautical miles) from high-water
-mark on the land is under the control of the state. The
-great gulfs and bays are, moreover, included, such as the Gulf
-of San Matias, the Gulf of St George, and the Gulf of Nuevo,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_662">662</span>
-the closing line in some cases considerably exceeding one
-hundred nautical miles from point to point, and extending for
-more than seventy miles beyond a three-mile limit. All living
-animals in the sea are considered as objects of sea-fishing,
-with the exception of those which reproduce on the land, as
-birds, seals (<i>lobos</i>), and fish-otters. Within the declared limits
-the exercise of sea-fishing is free, provided that the regulations
-are adhered to. The one referring to trawling prohibits that
-method of fishing by sailing-boats within three miles of the
-shore, but allows such boats to trawl outside that distance if
-the meshes of the nets have an aperture not less than 16
-centimetres (6&frac14; inches); steam trawling, on the other hand, is
-prohibited within five miles of the shore. Commercial fishing
-is forbidden within the great extent of water referred to unless
-by vessels entered on the official list (<i>matricula nacional</i>), and
-foreigners are thus excluded. A novel feature, but one in
-complete harmony with the results of modern fishery investigations,
-is the reservation of the right to close any area within
-the limit claimed, so that such area or areas may act as reserves
-to replenish neighbouring grounds and increase the multiplication
-of the fish. The right to establish close-times is also
-reserved, and the sale of undersized fish is prohibited unless
-for certain specified purposes.</p>
-
-<p>Special regulations are made for sealing. Concessions for
-this purpose will be granted for a term of five years on various
-parts of the coast under certain conditions, and it is enacted
-that for a distance of twenty miles from the coast in such
-places the right of taking seals is confined to those who have
-obtained the concession. Penalties for the infraction of the
-laws are provided, fines varying from five to five hundred
-pesetas, and offenders may be imprisoned for a period of from
-one to sixty days.</p>
-
-<p>Later regulations issued by the Minister of Agriculture,
-applying to that part of the coast between the Rio de la
-Plata and the Rio Negro, provide that all those engaged or
-who desire to engage in sea fishing there, must first receive
-official permission to do so. Within a zone of twelve miles
-from low-water mark, trawling by steamers is prohibited, but
-trawling by sailing-boats, and fishing with various kinds of
-lines and with drift-nets, are allowed; and all vessels employed
-must fly the national flag, and have their crews partly
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_663">663</span>
-national, in accordance with the laws.<a id="FNanchor_1218" href="#Footnote_1218" class="fnanchor">1218</a> It may be noted that
-these regulations are declared to be for the purpose of preventing
-the extermination of certain species of fish, and that
-the grantees must, when requested, allow officials to be on
-board for scientific study.</p>
-
-<p>The adjoining state of Uruguay also lays claim to jurisdiction,
-with regard to fisheries at least, beyond the ordinary
-three-mile limit in the extensive inlet of the Rio de la Plata,
-which lies between Uruguay and Argentina, and is nearly sixty
-miles wide at its mouth, with an estimated area of about 5000
-square miles. In 1905 a Canadian sealer, the <i>Agnes G. Donohoe</i>,
-was arrested for the contravention of a presidential decree which
-prohibits sealing within these Uruguayan waters, but it was
-subsequently released. The British Government formally protested
-against this claim to jurisdiction outside the three-mile
-boundary, which, however, is strongly supported by the
-Argentine Government, which is equally concerned in its
-maintenance.<a id="FNanchor_1219" href="#Footnote_1219" class="fnanchor">1219</a></p>
-
-<p>It is evident from the foregoing that most maritime states, and
-all the great ones, either by treaty or in their municipal laws
-and decrees, have adopted the three-mile limit, at least for
-fishery purposes. It is quite appropriate, therefore, to refer
-to it as the “ordinary” limit, as was done by the Tribunal of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_664">664</span>
-Arbitration on the rights of seal-fishing in the Behring Sea,
-though the tribunal did not affirm, and could not affirm, that
-it found the three-mile limit to be, as a matter of fact, universally
-accepted.<a id="FNanchor_1220" href="#Footnote_1220" class="fnanchor">1220</a> But though it is the ordinary limit, it is not
-the only one enforced, and it is erroneous to declare, as some of
-the less instructed writers on international law have stated,
-that territorial jurisdiction cannot be carried further.<a id="FNanchor_1221" href="#Footnote_1221" class="fnanchor">1221</a></p>
-
-<p>In point of fact, no fewer than four of the maritime states
-of Europe reject the three-mile limit, while a fifth has in part
-deviated from it. Norway, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal, all
-claim to enforce a wider boundary, and Denmark has adopted
-the old Scandinavian limit in her recent treaty with Sweden
-(<a href="#Page_655">see p. 655</a>). Thus, along nearly 4000 miles of the coasts of
-Europe, or for about one-third of their whole extent, the three-mile
-limit is not accepted by the bordering state. The right
-claimed by these countries to a wider extent of territorial sea
-has been embodied in treaties between some of them, and has
-been successfully maintained in specific instances against the
-opposition of other Powers. It is to be noted, moreover, as is
-shown later, that their claims to the wider space have been
-quite lately fully justified and homologated by the most
-authoritative exponents of international law, the French
-Institute and the British Association on the Law of Nations,
-as well as by various international congresses of fishery experts
-dealing with the subject from a fishery point of view.</p>
-
-<p>We have already stated that Spain in the eighteenth century
-declared that her territorial sea extended to a distance of six
-miles from the coast (<a href="#Page_569">see p. 569</a>). At that time such a limit
-must have been regarded as moderate, but during last century,
-after the principle of cannon range had been commonly translated
-into one marine league, the right to a zone of double that
-extent was called in question both by the United States and
-Great Britain. During the civil war in America the question
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_665">665</span>
-came to the front, more particularly with reference to the
-waters around Cuba. In 1862 the American Government
-intimated that they were not prepared to admit that Spain,
-without a formal concurrence of other nations, could exercise
-exclusive sovereignty upon the open sea beyond a line of three
-miles from the coast; while Spain, relying on the legal principle
-governing the extent of the territorial sea, argued that
-the improvement of modern artillery made the three-mile limit
-ineffective. Two years later a discussion on the subject took
-place between the British and American Governments, the
-former desiring that during the existence of hostilities the
-limit of neutral waters should be greatly extended, so that shots
-from belligerents might be prevented from falling, not only on
-land, but within the neutral waters, and limits of ten, eight, and
-five miles were mentioned.<a id="FNanchor_1222" href="#Footnote_1222" class="fnanchor">1222</a> In 1874 the British Government
-had itself occasion to object to the claim of Spain; and on communication
-with the Government of the United States, they
-were informed that that Government had always protested
-against it, and on the same grounds, that by the law of nations
-jurisdiction could only extend to one marine league from the
-coast.<a id="FNanchor_1223" href="#Footnote_1223" class="fnanchor">1223</a> Notwithstanding the opposition of the two chief
-maritime Powers, Spain did not abandon its claim, for by a
-royal order of 16th May 1881, passed with special reference to
-the jurisdiction over American vessels in Cuban waters, it was
-declared that full jurisdiction extended to a distance of six
-miles from the coast. This limit was also fixed for customs
-purposes in Spanish waters by royal decrees in 1830 and 1852,
-and in the general ordinances of the customs in 1884, the six
-miles being stated to be equivalent to eleven kilometres.<a id="FNanchor_1224" href="#Footnote_1224" class="fnanchor">1224</a></p>
-
-<p>With regard to fisheries, Spain has entered into various
-treaties with Portugal as to the right of fishing along their
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_666">666</span>
-respective coasts. By a convention in 1878, reciprocity was
-established in the territorial waters of the two countries, subject
-to the observance of local regulations and certain specified
-conditions, as the prohibition of the use of drag or trawl nets
-(“<i>artes de Bou ou parelhas, chalut, muletas</i>”) within twelve
-miles from the coast.<a id="FNanchor_1225" href="#Footnote_1225" class="fnanchor">1225</a> In another treaty concluded between
-these Powers on 2nd October 1885, and slightly amended in
-1888, two fishery zones were established, the first extending to
-three miles from the coast, which was exclusively reserved for
-nationals, and the second, from three to six miles, in which the
-fishermen of both countries were at liberty to fish. In a later
-treaty of commerce and navigation, which came into force in
-October 1893, the zone of exclusive fishing was extended to
-six geographical miles from the coast of either country&mdash;that is,
-to the extreme boundary of the jurisdictional waters, measured
-from low-water mark of spring tides (“de la l&iacute;nea de bajamar
-de las mayores mareas”), and a ten-mile base-line for bays
-was adopted. Within this space the fishery and its regulation
-were reserved by each state; but in the frontier rivers, the
-Mi&ntilde;o and Guadiana, the fishery was specially dealt with, as in
-previous treaties. Each Government also agreed to prohibit
-certain injurious modes of fishing (<i>parejas</i>, <i>muletas</i>, &amp;c.) within
-twelve miles of their coasts, and a series of regulations, like
-those of the North Sea Convention of 1882, were included with
-respect to the entry of the fishing-boats of one of the countries
-within the territorial waters of the other, and the
-police supervision of the fishing-boats of either country beyond
-the six-mile limit.<a id="FNanchor_1226" href="#Footnote_1226" class="fnanchor">1226</a> In Spain the reservation of six miles
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_667">667</span>
-was regarded as unjust, since the water off the coast of Portugal
-was much deeper than off the Spanish coast, and in the following
-year the Portuguese Government allowed Spanish fishermen
-to fish, under certain conditions, to within three miles of the
-coast of Algarbe.<a id="FNanchor_1227" href="#Footnote_1227" class="fnanchor">1227</a></p>
-
-<p>While it is evident that Spain and Portugal claim jurisdiction
-to the extent of six miles from the coast, it appears that
-an exclusive fishery to that distance is not enforced against all
-other nations. It seems that on the Mediterranean coast, the
-three-mile, and not the six-mile, limit is applied against French
-fishermen,<a id="FNanchor_1228" href="#Footnote_1228" class="fnanchor">1228</a> and the British Government, in the interests of
-British trawlers, recently intimated that they did not recognise
-any claims of the Spanish or Portuguese Governments to
-exercise jurisdiction over British vessels beyond the three-mile
-limit; and, in point of fact, British and German trawlers now fish
-off the Portuguese and Spanish coasts up to three miles from
-the shore.<a id="FNanchor_1229" href="#Footnote_1229" class="fnanchor">1229</a> They have developed an important and extensive
-trawl-fishery there during the last few years; and although the
-local fishermen strongly object to their presence within waters
-where they are themselves prohibited to trawl, and it is stated
-that negotiations on the matter have taken place between the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_668">668</span>
-London and Lisbon Governments, they have not been ordered
-out of them, and still continue their trawling. Both in Spain
-and Portugal meetings have been held with reference to the
-territorial waters, at which resolutions were passed calling for
-an international arrangement for the extension of the limits to
-ten or twelve miles; and some unpleasant encounters have
-occurred between the local and foreign fishermen. On these
-coasts, however, a limit so extensive would largely prevent
-foreigners from fishing, owing to the great depth of the water
-at such distances from the shore. On the other hand, it is
-argued that as the available fishing-ground is so narrow and
-small, there is all the more reason why it should be protected
-from the destructive methods of fishing pursued by the foreign
-vessels, and preserved as far as possible for the inhabitants of
-the coast.<a id="FNanchor_1230" href="#Footnote_1230" class="fnanchor">1230</a> Quite recently, it appears, the Portuguese Government
-have regularised their position with regard to foreign
-trawlers and foreign fishermen generally, by passing a law
-forbidding them to fish, under severe penalties, within a zone
-of three sea miles from the shore. They have thus accepted
-the inevitable, in view of the pressure applied by at least one
-of the great maritime Powers. With regard to bays, however,
-the limit specified in the fishery conventions is not adopted.
-The zone of three miles in respect to bays has to be reckoned
-according to the principles of international law.<a id="FNanchor_1231" href="#Footnote_1231" class="fnanchor">1231</a></p>
-
-<p>Spain, it may be added, after the victorious campaign of
-1859-60, concluded a treaty with Morocco, by which Spanish
-subjects are allowed to fish on the coast of that country up to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_669">669</span>
-the shores, for corals, sponges, and other marine products, as
-well as for fish.<a id="FNanchor_1232" href="#Footnote_1232" class="fnanchor">1232</a></p>
-
-<p>The extent of the territorial waters claimed by Norway and
-Sweden is even greater than that claimed by Spain and Portugal,
-owing to the method of measurement, the distance of four
-geographical miles being measured either from the coast or
-from the outermost part of the outermost isle or rock which is
-not submerged by the sea at high tide. Such isles and rocks
-are numerous on the Scandinavian coasts, so that the fishermen
-distinguish the waters “within the rocks” (<i>inom sk&auml;rs</i>) from
-those “without the rocks” (<i>utom sk&auml;rs</i>) or at sea, and in many
-places the extent of water reserved by the rule is very considerable.
-There appears, however, to be a difference in Sweden
-and Norway as to the precise method of measurement. In
-Norway such isles and rocks are appropriate for the base-line,
-if they are not farther from the mainland than eight geographical
-miles of sixty to a degree; and it seems to follow from
-the rule that the measurement from the coast or shore must
-be made at high-water, but this is not expressly said.<a id="FNanchor_1233" href="#Footnote_1233" class="fnanchor">1233</a> In
-Sweden the isle or rock is spoken of as within one geographical
-league of the coast, and it may be such as is not <i>continuously</i>
-submerged, but is periodically uncovered, which implies
-a base of low-water.<a id="FNanchor_1234" href="#Footnote_1234" class="fnanchor">1234</a> On some parts of the Norwegian coast
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_670">670</span>
-the territorial sea may thus extend to twelve miles from the
-mainland. Bays and fjords are, moreover, included in the
-territorial waters irrespective of whether their width at the
-mouth is or is not greater than ten miles; and in including
-these, as much importance is attached to the islands which
-may lie at their entrance as to the distance between headlands.
-With regard to large open ways or stretches of sea partly
-enclosed, no fixed rule has been laid down, but Norway
-reserves the right in certain cases to exceed the limit derived
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_671">671</span>
-from the general principle as above explained. On some parts
-of the coast special laws regulate the extent of the sea in
-which the exclusive right of fishing is reserved to subjects.
-The rich cod-banks on the coast of S&ouml;ndm&ouml;re, Romsdal, and
-Nordm&ouml;re are thus included within the territorial waters,
-the base-line being drawn between various islands, in the
-manner described above. The first of these was a royal
-decree of 16th October 1869, which prescribed that a straight
-line drawn at a distance of one geographical mile (of fifteen to
-a degree) from and parallel to a straight line drawn between
-Storholmen and Svin&ouml;, shall be taken as the boundary of the
-waters off the coast of the S&ouml;ndm&ouml;re district, in which the
-fishing is entirely reserved for the inhabitants of the country.
-Another royal decree of 9th September 1889 continued this
-boundary farther to the north-east. It ordained that a line
-drawn at a distance of one geographical mile from and parallel
-to a line from Storholmen through Skraapen (outside of Har&ouml;),
-Gravskj&aelig;r (outside of Ona), and Kalven (the last of the Orskj&aelig;rens),
-to the last of the Jevleholme, outside of Grip, was the
-boundary of the waters off the coast of the Romsdal district,
-in which fishing is entirely reserved for the inhabitants of the
-country.<a id="FNanchor_1235" href="#Footnote_1235" class="fnanchor">1235</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_23" src="images/fig_23.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 23.&mdash;<i>Showing the Limit at Romsdal Amt, Norway.</i></p>
-
-<p><small>A</small>, The base-line; <small>B</small>, the line of closure; <small>C</small>, the three-mile limit.</p></div>
-
-<p>This special line from Svin&ouml; (which lies about eight miles
-north of Stadtland, or Van Staten) to Jevleholm stretches for
-about eighty-five geographical miles along the coast,<a id="FNanchor_1236" href="#Footnote_1236" class="fnanchor">1236</a> the distance
-between the islets through which the base-line passes
-being respectively 28, 14&frac12;, 7, 23&frac12;, and 12 geographical miles,
-and some of them are over seven miles distant from the mainland
-or the nearest large island. The extent of water reserved
-is thus large, the area between the base-line and the boundary-line
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_672">672</span>
-being alone about 340 square miles; but the extent of sea
-included which would be outside the ordinary three-mile limit
-is much less than might be expected, owing to the great number
-of isles and islets along the coast. In the accompanying figure
-(<a href="#fig_23">fig. 23</a>),the part of the coast embraced by the law of 1889 is represented,
-the base-line, the boundary of the reserved waters, and
-the ordinary three-mile limit being shown. The area of water
-between the latter and the Norwegian limit amounts, approximately,
-to 140 square miles. The figure also shows how
-complicated a three-mile boundary based on the provisions of
-the North Sea Convention would be on such a coast. It is to
-be noted further, that within the limits prescribed by the royal
-decrees a series of stringent regulations have been made for
-the orderly prosecution of the fishery.<a id="FNanchor_1237" href="#Footnote_1237" class="fnanchor">1237</a></p>
-
-<p>Of much greater international importance is the claim made
-by the Norwegians to the exclusive right of fishing in the
-Vestfjord, an arm of the sea which extends between the coast
-of Nordland and the Lofoten Islands, where from time immemorial
-the greatest cod-fishing in Europe has been carried
-on.<a id="FNanchor_1238" href="#Footnote_1238" class="fnanchor">1238</a> It is, strictly speaking, a strait, as indicated in the accompanying
-figure (<a href="#fig_24">fig. 24</a>), bounded on one side by a chain of islands
-and on the other by the mainland, opening to the northwards
-by several narrow channels, and to the south by a wide mouth
-about forty-five geographical miles in breadth. The waters of
-the Vestfjord have for centuries been considered as territorial,
-and the fisheries within them as reserved for the Norwegian
-people; but no decree or law has as yet been promulgated
-respecting the boundary between the reserved waters and the
-open sea.<a id="FNanchor_1239" href="#Footnote_1239" class="fnanchor">1239</a> Locally, however, as at Bod&ouml;, it is supposed that
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_673">673</span>
-the line of closure runs from Mosken&aelig;s on the west to Stot on
-the east, which are about forty-five miles apart, and the length
-of the fjord from this line is about sixty-five miles. As stated
-below, however, it appears from a letter of the Minister of
-Foreign Affairs, in 1868, that the line may be drawn from the
-southern part of R&ouml;st, a group of isles situated nearly fifty
-miles from the mainland and about 110 miles from the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_674">674</span>
-extreme head of the fjord. The total area within a line
-drawn from the south end of Mosken&aelig;s&ouml; (Lofoten Point) to
-M&ouml;st Fjord is over 2000 square (geographical) miles, about 900
-square miles of this lying outside the ordinary three-mile limit.
-Within a line from R&ouml;st to Kunna the total area is nearly
-3900 miles, about half being beyond the ordinary limit.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_24" src="images/fig_24.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 24.&mdash;<i>The Vestfjord, Lofoten Islands.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Another large expanse of sea, the Varangerfjord, in East
-Finmarken (<a href="#fig_25">fig. 25</a>), has been closed, with special regard to
-whaling, for a distance up to one geographical mile (of fifteen
-to a degree) outside a line drawn from Kibergn&aelig;s on the
-north to Jacobs River on the south; and it is stated by the
-Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs that the boundary
-mentioned has always been considered as indicating the true
-limit of the territorial waters in the Varangerfjord. This arm
-of the sea, claimed as territorial, is thirty-two miles wide at
-the entrance and about fifty miles in length. The total area
-of the fjord is about 630 square (geographical) miles, of which
-approximately 225 square miles are beyond the ordinary three-mile
-limit. Various laws have been made by the Norwegian
-Government affecting whaling in this quarter.<a id="FNanchor_1240" href="#Footnote_1240" class="fnanchor">1240</a></p>
-
-<p>A Swedish decree of 5th May 1871 concerning the fisheries,
-defined the extent of the territorial waters from the Norwegian
-frontier along the coast to Kullen, at the entrance to the Sound,
-as one Swedish league (equal to four geographical miles of
-60 to a degree), reckoned from the coast, or the farthest out
-island or rock which is not constantly overflowed by the sea;<a id="FNanchor_1241" href="#Footnote_1241" class="fnanchor">1241</a>
-and by the treaty with Denmark in 1899, already referred to,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_675">675</span>
-the same limit is carried on from Kullen to Falsterbo and up
-to Simrishamn in Christianstad. There does not appear to be
-any corresponding decree for the eastern coast of Sweden.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_25" src="images/fig_25.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 25.&mdash;<i>The Varanger fjord.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Within the territorial waters as described above, Norway
-claims the exclusive right to the fisheries and all the sovereign
-rights that are usually exercised in territorial seas, as well as
-one that is not as a rule included&mdash;namely, the right to control
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_676">676</span>
-all navigation. All vessels within the territorial waters are
-likewise subject to the control of the customs authorities,
-while in Sweden the Customs Law of 1877 extends jurisdiction
-to a distance of one Swedish league from the base-line. The
-Government does not rest its claim to so large an extent of the
-bordering sea merely on the principle which is usually held to
-determine its bounds&mdash;the range of cannon fire,&mdash;though it is
-pointed out that the Norwegian boundary is in reality more
-in conformity with the range of modern artillery than is the
-three-mile limit. They argue, very truly, that the zone of one
-marine league, although adopted in conventions between several
-Powers, has not been definitely established in international
-law, and they have themselves always refused to agree to a
-limit so narrow. But the principal reasons advanced are those
-of necessity and utility. The Norwegian coast is peculiarly
-irregular. It is engirdled by a multitude of islands, reefs, and
-rocks, and is broken up by numerous fjords which penetrate
-deeply into the land. A three-mile limit applied to such a
-coast on the principle adopted in the North Sea Convention
-would be intricate, confusing, and impracticable. The boundary
-would be exceedingly irregular, and patches and strips
-of extra-territorial water of the most diverse size and form
-would be intermingled with the territorial water; and in
-practice it would be extremely difficult or impossible for
-foreign fishermen to observe the complicated boundary, or
-for the authorities to enforce it. Constant disputes would
-result.</p>
-
-<p>Another reason put forward is a moral one. The country
-is comparatively sterile; the climate is rigorous; the people
-are poor, and the fisheries are of the utmost importance for
-their maintenance. A large proportion of the population
-derive, and have always derived, their livelihood from the
-sea, “with which they wage a desperate war in the darkness
-and tempests of winter and spring to gain their daily bread.”<a id="FNanchor_1242" href="#Footnote_1242" class="fnanchor">1242</a>
-It is therefore only just that this natural source of food along
-their coasts should be conserved as much as possible, so long
-as the manifest rights of other nations are not violated, and
-that the poor native fishermen, pursuing a hard and laborious
-calling, which necessity has imposed on them, should be protected
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_677">677</span>
-from the intrusion of foreign vessels, better equipped
-and with more capital at their disposal. It is further urged
-that the Norwegian fishermen have enjoyed the wider area
-for many centuries. From immemorial times the right of
-fishing has been regarded as pertaining to the land. This
-principle was enunciated in the old provincial laws (<i>landskapslagar</i>)
-of Sweden in the middle ages, and was continued in
-the laws of the kingdom since the fourteenth and fifteenth
-centuries.<a id="FNanchor_1243" href="#Footnote_1243" class="fnanchor">1243</a> It is also declared that a smaller extent of territorial
-sea would interfere with the efficacy of the regulations
-enforced for the preservation of the fisheries. A lesser boundary
-would intersect the more important fishing-banks,
-“making it impossible,” to quote the words of the Minister
-of the Interior, “for the state to regulate the fisheries on the
-whole bank, and it would be fatal to those fisheries which are
-necessary for the subsistence of the coast population.” This
-consideration, it is pointed out, is likely to have still more
-weight in future, owing to the increase of the population and
-the impoverishment of the fishing-grounds along the coast.</p>
-
-<p>The claim of Norway to the wider extent of territorial sea
-has been as a rule respected by foreigners, probably owing in
-the main to the fact that its coasts are but little visited by
-foreign fishermen, but it has not remained without challenge.
-The French Government on one occasion complained that a
-French vessel had been prevented from fishing in the Vestfjord;
-but the prohibition was justified by Norway on the grounds
-that by the law of nations the Lofoten fisheries, and especially
-those in the Vestfjord, which was “part of the territorial sea,”
-belonged exclusively to the inhabitants, and that for centuries
-no foreign vessels had attempted to take part in them.<a id="FNanchor_1244" href="#Footnote_1244" class="fnanchor">1244</a> In
-communicating the decision to the French Government, the
-Minister for Foreign Affairs declared that the prohibition
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_678">678</span>
-applied equally to the adjacent sea and to the entrance to the
-fjord up to the distance of a marine league (of four miles),
-measured from the most southerly point of the isles called
-“R&ouml;st”&mdash;a group which lies about twenty-six geographical
-miles west and south of Mosken&aelig;s, and about sixty geographical
-miles from the mainland.<a id="FNanchor_1245" href="#Footnote_1245" class="fnanchor">1245</a> In 1870 another foreign
-Government raised objection to the limits defined off Romsdal
-by the royal decree of 16th October 1869, on the ground
-that the base-line drawn between the islands Svin&ouml; and Storholmen
-exceeded eight ordinary marine miles in length, which
-was the maximum distance according to the Norwegian principle,
-already referred to, for the inclusion of the “outermost”
-island. The Norwegian Government, however, declared that
-by the law of nations it was competent to include a bay or a
-gulf of “not too large an extent” by drawing the line from
-one advanced point to another, and that it was necessary to
-consider local circumstances and what was natural, convenient,
-and just. The line that had been drawn, they said, coincided
-with a natural depression in the bottom of the sea which
-separated the inshore from the offshore fishing-banks, and it
-formed a natural boundary which could be readily ascertained
-by the use of a sounding-lead. To adhere strictly to the four-mile
-line in this case would make the limit intricate and
-impossible to be observed, and it would pass across the inshore
-banks. It was also argued that till lately foreign fishermen
-had never attempted to fish in the neighbourhood, even within
-a space far more extensive than that comprised in the decree.<a id="FNanchor_1246" href="#Footnote_1246" class="fnanchor">1246</a></p>
-
-<p>Since the period referred to, the limit claimed by Norway is
-said to have been respected by foreign states and by foreign
-fishermen; and the Scandinavian Government has officially
-declared on several occasions, and notably in December 1874
-to the British Government, that it would never adhere to
-any international convention which established a maritime
-zone of less than four marine miles. It declined to become
-a party to the North Sea Convention of 1882 for this reason,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_679">679</span>
-and because the line for the closure of bays was in its opinion
-much too small. The only treaties with foreign countries
-in which a limit has been fixed are the one between Sweden
-and Denmark, previously mentioned, in which the Scandinavian
-boundary is maintained, and one with Mexico, in
-1886, for customs purposes, which stipulates for three marine
-leagues from low-water mark.<a id="FNanchor_1247" href="#Footnote_1247" class="fnanchor">1247</a></p>
-
-<p>It is evident that Sweden and Norway, besides claiming
-a greater extent of territorial water than other countries,
-also claim in particular cases to depart from the principles
-which in general govern their own system of delimitation,
-in order to include other waters lying off their coasts, when
-they deem it necessary to reserve the fisheries there for their
-own subjects. In such cases it is said to be impossible to
-be guided by geographical rules of an absolute kind, and
-it is urged that any general international rules on the
-question should be sufficiently elastic to allow of similar exceptions
-elsewhere.<a id="FNanchor_1248" href="#Footnote_1248" class="fnanchor">1248</a> There is little doubt that the wider
-area claimed by the Scandinavian states is, from the point
-of view of sea fisheries, preferable to the narrower zone
-adopted in the North Sea Convention. It will appear later,
-that both the authorities on sea fisheries in various countries
-and the authorities on international law agree as to the inadequacy
-of the three-mile limit for fishery purposes: and it
-is hardly probable that the Government of any other country
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_680">680</span>
-will now seriously contest the right of Sweden and Norway
-to the larger area they claim, unless under exceptional circumstances.
-Norway has been fortunate in this respect,
-that her coasts are rarely visited by foreign fishing vessels;
-but this immunity is not likely to continue. During the
-last few years the great feature of the sea fisheries both
-in Great Britain and also on the Continent has been the
-enormous development of steam-fishing, particularly trawling
-(<a href="#Page_698">see p. 698</a>). Confined for a time to the North Sea and
-the neighbourhood of their own coasts, steam fishing-vessels
-now regularly visit distant quarters in large numbers, and
-trawlers from England and Germany make the long voyage
-to the grounds off the White Sea, traversing the whole coast
-of Norway, in quest of fish. The absence of foreign competition
-in the fisheries of the Norwegian coast is due largely
-to the generally rough and rocky nature of the bottom and
-the great depth of the water, which make trawling difficult
-or impossible; but there are, no doubt, within the territorial
-limits, more or less restricted areas where trawling could be
-carried on with success, and if these be discovered by foreign
-vessels, and they are outside the ordinary three-mile boundary
-to which they are accustomed, there is little doubt the
-question of the Norwegian claim will be raised again. Line-fishing
-by steamers is now, moreover, greatly developed, and
-this method of fishing can be pursued, and is now pursued
-by the Norwegians, in deeper water and on rocky bottom,
-as in the Vestfjord and off Romsdal. In the summer of
-1907, indeed, one or two British trawlers were seized by
-the Norwegian authorities for fishing within their territorial
-waters at Finmarken, but were released later.<a id="FNanchor_1249" href="#Footnote_1249" class="fnanchor">1249</a></p>
-
-<p>From the account which has been given above of the recent
-practice of civilised states it is apparent that the majority
-of them have adopted the three-mile limit, with a ten-mile
-base-line for bays, for fishery purposes. There is a tendency,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_681">681</span>
-moreover, for this process to be continued and extended, as
-is shown by the recent treaty between Great Britain and
-Denmark concerning the ocean around Iceland and the
-Far&ouml;es, and the action of the British Government respecting
-the six-mile limit on the coasts of Spain and Portugal. It
-is possible, and indeed likely, that the Spanish and Portuguese
-Governments have protested against the infringement of what
-they regard as their just rights; but if they are unable or
-unwilling to maintain them, and the three-mile limit comes
-to be the only one observed on their coasts, the usage will
-settle the matter in the course of time. Up to the present,
-however, Norway and Sweden have very justly resisted all
-attempts to impose on them the ordinary limit and bring
-them into line with other Powers, and they have successfully
-caused their wider bounds to be respected. The diversity
-in practice between the Iberian and Scandinavian states and
-the other states of Europe may be traced to the modes by
-which the limits were evolved. In the former case, the
-boundaries were fixed in the middle of the eighteenth
-century, without special reference to the range of the guns
-of the time. The three-mile zone, on the other hand, was
-developed early in last century from the doctrine of Bynkershoek,
-three miles being then looked upon as approximately
-the range of cannon.</p>
-
-<p>The general adoption of this limit, as previously said, was
-due in great measure to the preponderating influence of
-Great Britain and America in maritime affairs, the lesser
-states following their example, willingly or with reluctance.
-It is not too much to say, indeed, that the three-mile
-boundary in its origin and development is an Anglo-American
-doctrine, its authors being Washington and Lord Stowell.
-It is thus of interest to consider the opinions of modern
-writers on international law on the question, and to see
-how far they agree with or differ from their predecessors,
-whose opinions have been previously passed under review.
-It will be found that, considering the extent to which the
-three-mile limit has been actually applied in practice, the
-writers who accept it as the established rule in international
-law are singularly few, and are for the most part English
-or American. It will be also noticed how extremely loose
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_682">682</span>
-some writers, even of high authority, are in their use of
-the terms “three miles <i>or</i> the range of guns,” as if they
-were now synonymous, which they are not. Such looseness
-of phrase is not absent from some judicial decisions on the
-question, as in that of Lord Cockburn in the case of Regina
-<i>v.</i> Keyn, previously referred to (<a href="#Page_591">p. 591</a>).</p>
-
-<p>Another statement that one not uncommonly finds in the
-text-books, and to which currency was given by Lord Stowell,
-is that <i>since</i> the invention of firearms the distance at which
-the power of the state, and therefore the territorial waters,
-terminated, has usually been recognised as about three miles
-from the shore. Calvo, a writer of much authority, also makes
-this statement, affirming at the same time the doctrine of
-Bynkershoek as the principle of delimitation.<a id="FNanchor_1250" href="#Footnote_1250" class="fnanchor">1250</a> In view of the
-range of modern artillery, he, however, considers this space too
-small, and is of opinion that it ought justly, on grounds of
-logic and reason, to be extended; but until this extension has
-been sanctioned by a majority of states he looks upon the
-three-mile limit as the established rule of international law.
-Much the same view is expressed by Bluntschli.<a id="FNanchor_1251" href="#Footnote_1251" class="fnanchor">1251</a> He defines
-the territorial sea according to the range of guns, and says
-that international treaties or the laws of states may fix more
-precise limits, such as one marine league from the coast at
-low-water; but, considering the increased range of artillery,
-he is disposed to think the three-mile limit insufficient. Phillimore,
-one of the greatest English authorities, agrees with Calvo.<a id="FNanchor_1252" href="#Footnote_1252" class="fnanchor">1252</a>
-He states that the rule of law may now be considered as fairly
-established that absolute property and jurisdiction in the adjacent
-open sea “does not extend, unless by the specific provisions
-of a treaty, or an unquestioned usage, beyond a marine
-league (being three miles) or the distance of a cannon-shot
-from the shore at low tide.” The limit, he says, was fixed at a
-marine league because that was supposed to be the utmost
-distance to which a cannon-shot from the shore could reach;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_683">683</span>
-and he adds that the great improvements recently effected in
-artillery seem to make it desirable that this distance should be
-increased, but he holds that this can be done only by the
-general consent of nations, or by specific treaty with particular
-states. Phillimore, like most of the other writers, was apparently
-ignorant of the fact that the Scandinavian and the
-Iberian Powers claimed a limit much farther than three miles.</p>
-
-<p>Halleck follows Wheaton in saying that the general usage
-of nations superadds to bays, &amp;c., an exclusive territorial jurisdiction
-over the sea for the distance of one marine league, or
-the range of a cannon-shot, along all the shores or coasts of
-the state, and that the maxim of law on the subject is <i>terr&aelig;
-dominium finitur ubi finitur armorum vis</i>, “which is generally
-recognised to be about three miles from the shore.”<a id="FNanchor_1253" href="#Footnote_1253" class="fnanchor">1253</a> On
-the other hand, Lawrence, in his edition of Wheaton (<a href="#Page_321">p. 321</a>),
-says very definitely that all the space through which projectiles
-thrown from the shore pass, being protected and
-defended by these warlike instruments, is territorial and subject
-to the dominion of the Power that controls the shore: “The
-greatest reach of a ball fired from a cannon on the land is,
-then, really the limit of the territorial sea.” Bishop, also
-accepting Bynkershoek’s principle, says that a cannon-shot is
-estimated for the purpose of delimiting the territorial seas at
-a marine league, but, like so many others, he argues from the
-improvement of artillery that, “in reason, the distance would
-now seem to require extension.”<a id="FNanchor_1254" href="#Footnote_1254" class="fnanchor">1254</a> Woolsey, likewise adopting
-the three-mile limit “or” cannon range, is of opinion that, “as
-the range of cannon is increasing, and their aim becoming more
-perfect, it might be thought that the sea-line of territory ought
-to be wider,” though this author does not think the point likely
-to become of great importance.<a id="FNanchor_1255" href="#Footnote_1255" class="fnanchor">1255</a> Dana expresses the usual
-vague opinion of the English and American writers in regarding
-it as “settled that the limit of the territorial waters is,
-in the absence of treaty, the marine league, <i>or</i> the cannon-shot.”<a id="FNanchor_1256" href="#Footnote_1256" class="fnanchor">1256</a>
-Sir Travers Twiss also speaks of the range of guns,
-which, he says, with the common lack of information respecting
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_684">684</span>
-some other countries, “by consent is now taken to be a
-maritime league seawards along the coasts of a nation.”<a id="FNanchor_1257" href="#Footnote_1257" class="fnanchor">1257</a></p>
-
-<p>Rather different opinions are expressed by Fiore, an Italian
-writer of eminence. While pointing out that publicists are not
-agreed as to the extent of the territorial sea, he thinks it
-should be determined by the necessity of the case and the
-nature of the particular rights claimed, as fishing, dues connected
-with navigation, and defence: for the latter purpose
-he is of opinion that the zone should increase with the improvement
-of artillery. With regard to the rights to certain fisheries,
-he says that the fishing for coral,&mdash;an important industry in
-Italy,&mdash;for example, belongs to the people of the neighbouring
-coast where it is found.<a id="FNanchor_1258" href="#Footnote_1258" class="fnanchor">1258</a> Pradier-Fod&eacute;r&eacute; holds strongly to the
-doctrine of cannon range. The extent of the territorial sea, he
-says, depends upon the power of artillery from shore; the
-farthest distance a shot can be thrown, according to the progress
-of military art, is the limit of the territorial sea, and he
-adds that this is the principle almost universally adopted,
-although, “since the invention of firearms,” this distance has
-usually been considered as three miles.<a id="FNanchor_1259" href="#Footnote_1259" class="fnanchor">1259</a> Perels, a German
-writer of eminence, accepts the doctrine of Bynkershoek that
-the sovereign jurisdiction of a state extends in the sea to the
-distance of a cannon-shot from the coast, and he says the extension
-of the boundary-line depends upon the range of cannon-shot
-at the particular period, but is the same at any period
-for all coasts. British and American publicists, he adds, have
-generally adopted three miles as an equivalent, but this has not
-usually been done by Continental authorities.<a id="FNanchor_1260" href="#Footnote_1260" class="fnanchor">1260</a> Another writer,
-Ferguson, gives a novel explanation of the reason why three
-miles is generally adopted in practice. He says the distance
-referred to is presumed to be the range of the coast defences,
-but on the maxim that <i>terr&aelig; dominium finitur ubi finitur
-armorum vis</i>, it should be stated to extend to any point on
-the sea to which the cannon of actual coast defences on shore
-can carry a projectile. Since, however, the carrying power of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_685">685</span>
-any given cannon is such a vague measure, the three-mile
-radius is generally adopted.<a id="FNanchor_1261" href="#Footnote_1261" class="fnanchor">1261</a></p>
-
-<p>In the opinion of Desjardins, the expression territorial sea
-must be taken in the precise sense given to it by international
-law. Maritime territory, he says, is only made effectively
-inviolable at the real range of cannon from the coast, and the
-laws of police or customs usually applied in time of peace cannot
-prevail against a principle founded on the nature of things.
-In his opinion a prize taken beyond three miles from the coast,
-but within the range of guns, would be illegitimate, while it
-would be legitimate within the particular limits fixed by a
-neutral state if beyond the range of guns.<a id="FNanchor_1262" href="#Footnote_1262" class="fnanchor">1262</a> Latour, another
-recent French writer, also argues that the three-mile limit is
-not necessarily the true one, but that it depends on the actual
-range of guns from the shore.<a id="FNanchor_1263" href="#Footnote_1263" class="fnanchor">1263</a> On the other hand, Professor
-Kleen, in his work on the laws of neutrality, considers the
-Scandinavian method of delimiting the territorial sea the
-proper one, since the extent depends not only on the mainland
-but on the “adjacent isles.” Admitting that the distance from
-the coast at which the external limit is fixed is, according to
-the positive international law of to-day determined by the
-range of cannon, he thinks this measure is so susceptible of
-change and controversy that it is desirable to replace it by
-a fixed one, which ought not to be less than four marine miles.
-The range of guns is much greater than four miles; and there
-are some coasts where the geographical configuration requires
-that a larger area should be subject to the territorial state,
-in order to avoid collision with foreigners as well as encroachments
-on the natural rights of the inhabitants. He is of
-opinion that Bynkershoek’s doctrine was wrong in certain
-respects: it reposed on a basis of brute force; the range of
-guns differs in different countries and at different times; and
-the range of the most powerful modern gun is too much to
-allow a state the exclusive possession of the sea up to that
-distance from the shore. The range of guns, he says, is admissible
-in respect of war and neutrality, but in all other
-respects the distance ought to be fixed and mathematically
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_686">686</span>
-determined independent of military force, and should be the
-same everywhere.<a id="FNanchor_1264" href="#Footnote_1264" class="fnanchor">1264</a></p>
-
-<p>Another Scandinavian publicist, Professor Aschehoug, also
-argues for a wide extent of territorial sea under international
-law, according to the principles previously described. He
-thinks that it is impossible to exclude from the territorial
-sea of a people that space which is commanded by their
-guns on shore; and <i>vice versa</i>, this space is necessary to
-preserve the shores from the projectiles of belligerents. The
-state has all the rights of sovereignty in this area, as those
-connected with neutrality, police, inspection, jurisdiction, and
-the exclusive right of fishery and other usufructs, except
-the right of forbidding navigation.<a id="FNanchor_1265" href="#Footnote_1265" class="fnanchor">1265</a></p>
-
-<p>The eminent Russian authority, Professor de Martens, expresses
-a strong opinion that the three-mile limit is now
-quite inadequate, and that a state has the power to extend
-it. The only true boundary of the territorial sea is, he says,
-the range of guns from the coast, Bynkershoek’s aphorism&mdash;<i>terr&aelig;
-dominium finitur ubi finitur armorum vis</i>&mdash;forming
-the only legal and rational foundation for the delimitation.
-Within the zone so determined the bordering state has exclusive
-sovereignty and dominion, and the exclusive right of fishing.
-The limit of the territorial waters ought therefore to change
-with the modifications in the range of cannon. If at one time
-the reach of guns was three miles, then the extent of the
-territorial sea at that time was only three miles. If at the
-present day, he says, cannon carry to twelve, or even fifteen,
-miles, the territorial waters extend to the same distance.
-De Martens, however, thinks that an international agreement
-with regard to such limits is necessary to ensure the success
-of the measures of protection established in the open sea
-for the preservation of the legitimate interests of each nation,
-especially with regard to fisheries. But he holds that until
-such an international arrangement has been accomplished,
-each state has the incontestable right to declare as its territorial
-sea the waters which are dominated by batteries on
-its coasts. In view of the necessity of precisely defining
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_687">687</span>
-the range of cannon, and the exigencies of international commerce,
-the bordering state, he says, may limit this distance
-to a number of miles fixed by law; and he himself advocates
-a limit of ten miles, instead of three miles, as being more
-in conformity with the actual range of guns, and better
-fitted to protect the interests of the coast population who
-subsist by sea fisheries.<a id="FNanchor_1266" href="#Footnote_1266" class="fnanchor">1266</a></p>
-
-<p>The latest English writer of authority on international law,
-Mr W. E. Hall, who has given a lucid and philosophical
-account of the territorial sea, is also of opinion that the
-three-mile limit is inadequate. The boundary, he says, is
-generally fixed at three miles, but this distance was defined
-by the supposed range of guns of position, and the effect
-of the recent increase in the power of artillery has not yet
-been taken into consideration, either as supplying a new
-measure of the space over which control may be efficiently
-exercised, or as enlarging that within which acts of violence
-may be dangerous to persons and property on shore. “It
-may be doubted,” he continues, “in view of the very diverse
-opinions which have been held until lately as to the extent
-to which marginal seas may be appropriated, of the lateness
-of the time at which much more extensive claims have been
-fully abandoned, and of the absence of cases in which the
-breadth of the territorial waters has come into international
-questions, whether the three-mile limit has ever been unequivocally
-settled; but in any case, as it has been determined,
-if determined at all, upon an assumption which
-has ceased to hold good, it would be pedantry to adhere to
-the rule in its present form; and perhaps it may be said
-without impropriety that a state has the right to extend its
-territorial waters from time to time at its will with the
-increased range of guns; though it would undoubtedly be
-more satisfactory that an arrangement upon the subject
-should be come to by common agreement.” In a later edition
-of his work, which appeared after the results of the international
-conferences of publicists, to be presently referred to,
-were known, he says that it is felt and growingly felt, not
-only that the width of three miles is insufficient for the
-safety of the territory, but that it is desirable for a state to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_688">688</span>
-have control over a larger space of water for the purpose
-of regulating and preserving the fishery in it, the productiveness
-of sea fisheries being seriously threatened by the destructive
-methods of fishing which are commonly employed,
-and in many places by the greatly increased number of fishing
-vessels frequenting the grounds.<a id="FNanchor_1267" href="#Footnote_1267" class="fnanchor">1267</a> A still later writer, Oppenheim,
-has apparently much the same opinion, for he says
-that although many states in municipal laws and international
-treaties still adhere to a breadth of one marine league,
-the time will come when by common agreement of the states
-concerned such breadth will be very much extended.<a id="FNanchor_1268" href="#Footnote_1268" class="fnanchor">1268</a></p>
-
-<p>While there is thus some diversity of opinion among
-modern writers on the law of nations, both as to the
-actual extent of territorial sea belonging to a state and in
-respect to the principles which should govern its delimitation
-in certain cases, there is all but universal acceptance of the
-rule that in general the limit is determined by the range of
-guns. Practically all authorities are agreed that this is the
-historical basis of the demarcation, and the majority of
-publicists, as Schmalz, Kl&uuml;ber, Reddie, Ortolan, Hautefeuille,
-Pistoye and Duverdy, Mass&eacute;, Bluntschli, Pradier-Fod&eacute;r&eacute;,
-Lawrence, Perels, Desjardins, De Martens, and Aschehoug,
-adhere to it as the only true principle. This adherence to
-Bynkershoek’s doctrine logically implies that the range of
-artillery at any particular period governs the extent of the
-territorial sea at that period, and several authorities, as Ortolan,
-Lawrence, Perels, Desjardins, and De Martens, accept this
-view in its bare and absolute form, while others, though
-willing to agree to it as proper and reasonable, think that
-a mutual arrangement on the subject is first of all desirable
-or necessary, or that it applies specially to questions of
-neutrality. There are very few writers, on the other hand, who
-are of opinion that the three-mile limit has become established
-in international jurisprudence as the legal limit, notwithstanding
-that it is the limit commonly adopted. Calvo and Phillimore
-are the most important authorities who take this view, but
-both think the extent is too small and ought logically to
-be increased owing to the greater range of artillery,&mdash;an
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_689">689</span>
-opinion which is shared by Bishop, Woolsey, Fiore, and Hall.
-Nearly all those who mention three miles as the boundary
-of the territorial seas&mdash;and they are almost wholly English
-or American&mdash;couple with it the alternative, “<i>or</i> the range
-of cannon,” as Wheaton, Manning, Halleck, Phillimore, Bishop,
-Dana, Twiss, Ferguson, and Woolsey. In this they merely
-adopt the language used by Lord Stowell at the beginning
-of last century, and which was quite appropriate at the
-time. But for more than half a century the range of guns
-has exceeded three miles, and to use the terms now as if they
-were synonymous tends only to confusion. Some modern
-publicists, it may be added, as Kent, Heffter, and Fiore,
-follow Wolff and Vattel in the opinion that the limit of
-territorial waters may be extended in certain cases beyond
-the range of guns.</p>
-
-<p>Moreover, quite lately the subject of the territorial sea has
-been jointly and exhaustively inquired into by the leading
-publicists of Europe, and with important results. In 1887 the
-International Law Association appointed a committee to consider
-the definition and <i>r&eacute;gime</i> of the territorial waters, and
-two years afterwards the Institut de Droit International
-followed the same course.<a id="FNanchor_1269" href="#Footnote_1269" class="fnanchor">1269</a> A long series of questions was
-circulated among the members to elicit their opinions on the
-various points connected with the subject; the whole matter
-was discussed and considered at various subsequent annual
-meetings; and the rules as finally adopted and approved
-by the Institute and the Association may therefore be
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_690">690</span>
-fairly taken as representing the latest views of European
-publicists.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to the question of the limits of the territorial
-sea. it was very generally held that a distinction should be
-drawn between various sovereign rights, as the right of fishery
-and the rights of neutrals during war. The two limits commonly
-recognised&mdash;namely, cannon range and three miles from
-low-water mark&mdash;were no longer identical. Three miles was
-now too small a distance for safeguarding the coasts of a
-neutral from the projectiles of belligerents, and the range of
-modern artillery fluctuated, and was besides considered to be
-too great a distance for the exercise of exclusive rights of
-sovereignty. Sir Thomas Barclay’s proposal was therefore to
-reaffirm the limit of cannon range as the public law of Europe,
-but to confine its application to the right of the neutral as
-founded in reason, and to establish another and a lesser boundary
-for the exercise of the exclusive sovereign rights of the
-neighbouring state. The former limit was a “zone of respect”;
-the latter bounded the true territorial sea. There was general
-agreement that the neutral line or zone of respect should coincide
-with the actual range of guns; but some were of opinion
-that the range should be considered not from the coast, on the
-principle of Bynkershoek, but from the sea, and others that
-the neutral zone should be measured from the boundary of the
-true territorial sea, in order to prevent violation of the latter
-by the bullets of belligerents. Since the range of guns, however,
-is uncertain and variable, and the line of respect must
-necessarily vary with it, it was decided finally not to adopt a
-fixed distance, but to recommend that in case of war the neutral
-state, taking the range of guns as the basis, should itself fix
-and declare the extent of its neutral waters beyond the limit
-of the territorial sea.</p>
-
-<p>There was not the same agreement as to the limit which
-should be recommended as the boundary of the territorial sea,
-within which the rights of the state are much more complex,
-and of which the extent should be precisely fixed. The historical
-principle of demarcation&mdash;the range of cannon&mdash;having
-been transferred to the line of respect, the only other limit in
-common use was the three-mile limit, and this was the distance
-at first proposed by Sir Thomas Barclay in the draft rules,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_691">691</span>
-mainly because it was the one which was usually recognised by
-international usage. But the preponderating opinion of Continental
-publicists favoured a more extended boundary, in view
-more particularly of the right of fishery, the distances proposed
-varying from five to ten miles from low-water mark;<a id="FNanchor_1270" href="#Footnote_1270" class="fnanchor">1270</a> and
-Professor Auber, of Christiania, advocated the extension of
-jurisdiction with respect to fisheries beyond the limit fixed for
-the territorial sea, to apply equally to subjects and foreigners,
-each state assigning boundaries for such jurisdiction, either
-itself or by convention between the Powers interested, and a
-similar proposal was made by the Canadian representative, who
-suggested that the jurisdictional zone should extend to nine
-miles. Owing to these opinions, and also to the report of the
-Sea Fisheries Committee of the House of Commons in 1893,
-presided over by Mr Marjoribanks (the late Lord Tweedmouth),
-which proposed an extension of the territorial waters in the
-interests of the fisheries,<a id="FNanchor_1271" href="#Footnote_1271" class="fnanchor">1271</a> the three-mile limit was abandoned,
-and one of six miles from low-water mark recommended instead.
-This particular distance was selected in order to secure a limit
-which would correspond to that of Spain and the Scandinavian
-Powers, and thus make the practice in all European countries
-more uniform.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to bays, the draft proposal was at first to adopt
-a base-line of six miles from headland to headland, and afterwards
-one of ten miles, as in the fishery conventions, was
-proposed. The Institut finally adopted a base-line of twelve
-miles&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, double the width of the territorial zone,&mdash;but the
-International Law Association preferred the old limit of ten
-miles. The Scandinavian publicists were of opinion that these
-limits were too small, and that instead of having a fixed and
-rigid rule for the delimitation of bays, each state should be
-permitted to fix the boundaries according to the local configuration
-of the coast and the local requirements. While this
-suggestion was not accepted, it was admitted that certain
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_692">692</span>
-bays whose width exceeded ten miles were necessarily, by their
-situation, placed under the sovereignty of the neighbouring
-state, as the Bay of Cancale, the Bay of Chaleur, and the
-Scottish Firths.<a id="FNanchor_1272" href="#Footnote_1272" class="fnanchor">1272</a></p>
-
-<p>The various rules concerning sovereignty and jurisdiction
-were applied to straits whose width does not exceed twelve
-miles, with the following modifications: (1) straits of which the
-coasts belong to different states form part of the territorial sea
-of the bordering states, which exercise their sovereignty there
-up to the middle line; (2) straits whose coasts belong to the
-same state, and which are indispensable for maritime communication
-between two or several states other than the bordering
-state, always form part of the territorial sea of the bordering
-state, and they cannot be closed; (3) in straits whose coasts
-belong to the same state, the sea is territorial even though the
-distance between the coasts is greater than twelve miles, if at
-each entrance of the strait this distance is not exceeded;
-(4) straits which serve as a passage from one free sea to
-another free sea can never be closed. The rules were adopted
-by the Institut in 1894, and by the International Law Association,
-with slight amendments, in the following year, when
-Sir Richard Webster (now Lord Alverstone, the Lord Chief
-Justice of England) was in the chair.<a id="FNanchor_1273" href="#Footnote_1273" class="fnanchor">1273</a> The rules as finally
-adopted in London are given in <a href="#APPENDIX_O">Appendix O</a>.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_693">693</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="SECTION_II_CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">THE INADEQUACY OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT FOR
-FISHERY REGULATIONS.</span></h2>
-
-<p>The recommendation of the International Law Association
-and of the French Institute that the territorial waters should
-be extended to six miles from the shore, or double the width
-usually enforced, was avowedly made, as we have seen, chiefly
-in the interests of the sea fisheries; and it may be presumed
-from the opinions of the majority of accredited writers on the
-law of nations, as reviewed in these pages, that it is open to
-any Power so to extend its territorial sea, except in so far as
-such extension may be opposed to the provisions of treaties
-with any other Power or Powers. It is undoubtedly the case
-that in by far the greater number of instances in which the
-limits of territorial waters, or the rights of the bordering state
-in the adjacent sea, have been disputed, or have come under
-discussion, between one nation and another, it was the right
-of fishery that was at issue. From the reign of James I. this
-has been the case, and it has been exhibited on all coasts, and
-in almost all countries. How replete our history is with such
-disputes may be gathered from foregoing chapters, while
-nearly all recent international treaties in which limits in the
-neighbouring sea are dealt with have been concerned with
-fishery questions. The numerous treaties and agreements
-with the United States and France respecting the vexed rights
-of fishing on the coasts of British North America, the North
-Sea conventions in Europe, and the various other agreements
-between European Powers, as between Spain and Portugal,
-Austria and Italy, Denmark and Sweden, Denmark and
-Germany, Great Britain and France, Belgium and Germany,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_694">694</span>
-and with Denmark concerning Iceland, are instances in point.
-The fishery interest is thus the determining interest, and the
-one which has made these various conventions desirable.</p>
-
-<p>There appears to be little doubt that, in many cases at least,
-the three-mile boundary which has been commonly fixed in the
-fishery conventions is inadequate from the point of view of the
-fisheries, and this is the opinion of most of the experts and
-authorities, as is explained below. It must not be forgotten
-that the three-mile limit was selected, not on any grounds
-special to fisheries, but because it had been already recognised
-and put into force in connection with the rights of neutrals
-and belligerents in time of war, as representing the approximate
-range of guns at the time. It is in reality a product of
-the maritime wars in the latter part of the eighteenth and
-the beginning of the nineteenth century, and its application to
-the right of fishing is accidental and arbitrary. The boundaries
-which were formerly proposed as limiting the right to
-exclusive fishery, independently of any question of the rights
-of neutrals or the range of cannon, were invariably greater
-than three miles. The range of vision was employed in
-Scotland and on the English coast later; its equivalent of
-fourteen miles was embodied in the Draft Treaty of Union
-between England and Scotland in 1604, and was proposed
-again in 1618; and Sir Philip Meadows, the most able opponent
-of extravagant claims to maritime sovereignty, favoured a
-similar distance in 1689. Limits of eight miles and ten miles
-to be enforced against foreigners were fixed in the Fishery
-Bill passed by the House of Commons in 1660, while as late
-as 1824 and 1827 the Dutch Government decreed a limit of
-six miles for their fishermen on the British coasts. We have
-seen, too, that the wider extent of sea in which rights of exclusive
-fishery are claimed by the Scandinavian and Iberian
-states exists in great measure because those Powers established
-their limit without reference to Bynkershoek’s doctrine, and
-before indeed it became prevalent.</p>
-
-<p>The same need of a wider limit is shown in the municipal
-legislation of many countries, which was specially designed
-with the object of preserving sea fisheries, as well as in certain
-international agreements. There are two classes of sea fisheries
-which have received special treatment beyond the ordinary
-limits of territorial waters, and both on the same principle&mdash;viz.,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_695">695</span>
-that the action of man, if unrestrained, would lead to their
-destruction and economic extinction. They are those for
-marine mammals, as seals and cetaceans, and for certain shell-fishes
-and coral. A considerable number of countries have
-legislated for the preservation of seals, and some of the enactments
-at least apply beyond the ordinary limits. Examples
-may be found in the Canadian statute of 1886,<a id="FNanchor_1274" href="#Footnote_1274" class="fnanchor">1274</a> which refers
-also to whales and porpoises; the Russian law dealing with
-the sealing industry in the White Sea; the Norwegian law
-fixing a close-time for whales in the Varangerfjord; and the
-concurrent international legislation of Great Britain, Sweden,
-Norway, Russia, Germany, and Holland concerning the Jan
-Mayen seal fishery in the Atlantic east of Greenland.<a id="FNanchor_1275" href="#Footnote_1275" class="fnanchor">1275</a> A
-recent instance is afforded by the regulations which were
-prescribed for British and American citizens and subjects by
-the Tribunal of Arbitration for the purpose of protecting and
-preserving the fur-seal in Behring Sea. By these regulations
-the killing, capture, or pursuit of this animal was forbidden
-within a zone of sixty geographical miles around the Pribilov
-Islands, comprising about 15,000 square miles of sea; a close-time
-was fixed between 1st May and 31st July on the high sea
-within an immense area&mdash;viz., north of 35 degrees North
-latitude and eastwards of 180 degrees West longitude; only
-specially licensed sailing vessels, with canoes or undecked boats
-propelled by paddles, oars, or sails, were at liberty to carry on
-fur-sealing operations where and when the fishing was allowed;
-the use of nets, firearms, and explosives was forbidden, except
-shot-guns outside of Behring Sea, and some minor conditions
-were laid down.<a id="FNanchor_1276" href="#Footnote_1276" class="fnanchor">1276</a></p>
-
-<p>Another instance is the agreements entered into between
-Russia on the one hand and Great Britain and the United States
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_696">696</span>
-on the other, by which a zone of ten marine miles on all the
-Russian coasts of Behring Sea and the North Pacific Ocean,
-and a zone of thirty marine miles round the Commander
-Islands and Robben Island, were closed to sealing for the
-fur-seal.<a id="FNanchor_1277" href="#Footnote_1277" class="fnanchor">1277</a></p>
-
-<p>The other class of fisheries referred to, for sedentary animals
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_697">697</span>
-connected with the bottom, such as oysters, pearl-oysters, and
-coral, which are found in shallow water, as a rule, and usually
-near the coast, have always been considered as on a different
-footing from fisheries for floating fish. They may be very
-valuable, are generally restricted in extent, and are admittedly
-capable of being exhausted or destroyed; and they are looked
-upon rather as belonging to the soil or bed of the sea than to
-the sea itself. This is recognised in municipal law, and international
-law also recognises in certain cases a claim to such
-fisheries when they extend along the soil under the sea beyond
-the ordinary territorial limit. Cases in point are the pearl-fisheries
-on the banks in the Gulf of Manar, Ceylon, which
-extend from six to twenty-one miles from the coast, and are
-subject to a colonial Act of 1811, which authorises the seizure
-and condemnation of any boat found within the limits of the
-pearl-banks, or hovering near them: boats or vessels navigating
-the inner passage are prohibited from hovering or anchoring
-in water deeper than four fathoms, and those navigating the
-outer passage from hovering or anchoring within twelve
-fathoms. These pearl-fisheries are very valuable, and have
-been treated from time immemorial by the successive rulers of
-the island as subjects of property and jurisdiction; and the
-laws referred to apply also to foreigners. Another case is the
-pearl-fisheries in Australia. In Western Australia certain Acts
-are applied far beyond the three-mile limit, though apparently
-only against British subjects,<a id="FNanchor_1278" href="#Footnote_1278" class="fnanchor">1278</a> and a similar Act, of 1888,
-applied in Queensland to extra-territorial waters west of
-Torres Strait. The pearl-fisheries of Mexico and Columbia are
-also subject to regulation beyond the ordinary three-mile limit.
-Examples of extra-territorial jurisdiction over beds of the
-common edible oyster are to be found in the British conventions
-with France in 1839 and 1867, by which the Bay of
-Granville was reserved to France (<a href="#Page_612">see p. 612</a>), and in the last
-of these conventions (Article ix.) a close-time was provided
-in the English Channel; and likewise in the proceedings
-concerning the Arklow and Wexford banks, off the Irish coast
-(<a href="#Page_621">see p. 621</a>). Coral-beds in the Mediterranean, off the coasts
-of Algeria, Sardinia, and Sicily, are in a similar way regulated
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_698">698</span>
-by Italian and French laws beyond the ordinary three-mile
-limit.</p>
-
-<p>Even in regard to the class of fisheries for what is termed
-“floating” fish&mdash;that is to say, the ordinary fisheries for sea
-fishes, carried on usually by nets and lines&mdash;there are a number
-of enactments conferring jurisdiction, or which have conferred
-jurisdiction, beyond the distance of three miles from shore.
-Old English and British Acts, previously referred to (<a href="#Page_608">p. 608</a>),
-fixed limits of four-and-a-half and five miles from the coast,
-within which distance the use of certain apparatus, as drag-nets
-and trawls, was prohibited. In the Herring Fishery Act
-of 1808, which provided for the appointment of commissioners
-for the herring fishery, and for the regulation of the fishery
-and the curing of herrings, jurisdiction was extended over “all
-persons” engaged in catching, curing, and dealing in fish in all
-the lochs, bays, and arms of the sea, and also within ten miles
-of the coasts.<a id="FNanchor_1279" href="#Footnote_1279" class="fnanchor">1279</a> At the Isle of Man an Act of Tynwald prohibited
-herring-fishing at a certain season within nine miles
-of the shore,<a id="FNanchor_1280" href="#Footnote_1280" class="fnanchor">1280</a> and other instances might be given where
-municipal Acts extended jurisdiction beyond the ordinary
-three-mile limit for similar purposes.</p>
-
-<p>It is, however, in connection with the great development of
-trawl-fishing from steamers in recent years, that the question
-of the inadequacy of the ordinary three-mile limit for the preservation
-and regulation of fisheries has been brought to the
-front, and it is around this method of fishing that most of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_699">699</span>
-controversies affecting the territorial waters, at least in Europe,
-have gathered.<a id="FNanchor_1281" href="#Footnote_1281" class="fnanchor">1281</a> It is therefore necessary to understand something
-about it, and how it is that it has given rise to demands
-for the extension of the ordinary limits and for the closure of
-large areas beyond these limits. It is the most effective and at
-the same time the most destructive method of fishing ever made
-use of. It differs from hook-and-line fishing, in which only a
-few kinds of fish are taken at the same time, according to the
-size of the hook and the kind of bait, and from gill-net or drift-net
-fishing, which is adapted, according to the dimensions of
-the mesh, to capture a particular fish, as herring or mackerel.
-Trawling consists essentially in dragging along the bottom of
-the sea a great bag of netting, which captures a large variety of
-fishes, big and little; and it may involve, at certain places and in
-certain seasons, the destruction of immense quantities of edible
-fishes too small to be marketable, and which are thrown back,
-dead, into the sea.<a id="FNanchor_1282" href="#Footnote_1282" class="fnanchor">1282</a> It is a very old method, but until about a
-century ago it was confined on the British coast to the mouth of
-the Thames and neighbourhood and to certain localities in the
-Channel, its headquarters being Barking and Brixham. Trawling
-was then restricted to shallow water; the boats were small and
-the trawls were such as a man could carry on his shoulders. At
-the close of the French war, Brixham trawlers began to migrate
-eastwards, prospecting for new grounds, fixing their temporary
-headquarters first at Dover, then at Ramsgate in 1818, and at
-Harwich in 1828. Continuing their explorations, the Dutch
-coast was visited about 1830 and the southern part of the
-Dogger Bank a few years later, and in 1837 a great impetus
-was given to trawling by the discovery of enormous quantities
-of soles in the Great Silver Pit, south of the Dogger. Trawlers
-flocked thither from all quarters; the Brixham men fixed upon
-Hull, first as their temporary, and then as their permanent home,
-and from this time North Sea trawling was firmly established.
-It was not until 1858, little more than half a century ago, that
-trawlers began to be employed from Grimsby, which is now by
-far the greatest fishing-port in the world. Gradually the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_700">700</span>
-enlarging fleets of trawlers pushed northwards and eastwards
-as new grounds were discovered. By 1860 the whole of the
-Dutch coast and the coast of Schleswig was frequented; ten
-years later the Danish coast was included, and, for the first
-time, the whole of the Dogger Bank, as well as large areas
-north and west of it, off the coast of England and Scotland.
-About 1875 the Great Fisher Bank, which lies about 200 miles
-east of the Scottish coast, began to be visited, and in 1891 the
-English trawlers boldly pushed on to Iceland, where enormous
-catches of fish were obtained.</p>
-
-<p>During this period, while the fishing-grounds were being
-vastly extended, great improvements were made in the means
-of catching the fish and bringing them to market. The trawling
-vessels gradually increased in numbers, size, speed, and
-storage capacity; the trawl-net grew larger and more efficient;
-the use of ice for the preservation of the fish enabled distant
-grounds to be visited, and the deeper waters of the north
-necessitated the substitution of steam-power for hand-labour
-in hauling the nets on board; the “fleeting” system, by which
-steam-carriers collected the fish each morning and brought
-them rapidly to market, allowed the fleets of sailing smacks
-to remain on the grounds constantly fishing for many weeks
-at a time. Then the industry was revolutionised by the substitution
-of steam vessels for the sailing smacks, a change
-which began about 1878; and trawling, which was at first a
-summer occupation owing to the frailty of the boats, and then
-a winter pursuit, as plenty of wind was required to drag the
-heavier nets, became independent of the season, and almost of
-the weather. A further improvement was the introduction in
-1895 of the otter-trawl instead of the unwieldy beam-trawl,
-the mouth of the net being kept open by the divergence of two
-boards, one at each side, on the principle of the kite. This
-allowed the net to be made very much larger, and also to be
-used in much deeper water, and commercial trawling is now
-carried on in depths down to about 200 fathoms.</p>
-
-<p>There has thus occurred during the last generation or so an
-enormous development in the extent and efficiency of trawl-fishing.
-The British fleet since about 1885 has grown from
-some 200 small vessels, of twenty to twenty-four tons, and
-using trawls of from twenty to thirty feet beam, to an aggregate
-of 3170 vessels in 1907, of which 1609 were steamers
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_701">701</span>
-and 918 deep-sea sailing smacks.<a id="FNanchor_1283" href="#Footnote_1283" class="fnanchor">1283</a> These figures, however,
-convey but little impression of the real increase in the catching
-power. It has been computed, both by practical men and by
-scientific experts, that the modern steam otter-trawler is approximately
-eight times more effective in catching fish than was one
-of the large sailing smacks of a generation ago,<a id="FNanchor_1284" href="#Footnote_1284" class="fnanchor">1284</a> and thus the
-British deep-sea trawling fleet in 1907 was equal to about 13,790
-of the older sailing smacks. But in addition to these there are
-the foreign steam-trawlers which fish on the same grounds,
-for many other countries have followed the English example
-in developing deep-sea trawling. The aggregate number of
-such vessels at the end of 1907 was about 634, of which 224
-were French, 239 German, and 81 Dutch;<a id="FNanchor_1285" href="#Footnote_1285" class="fnanchor">1285</a> and they would
-represent 5072 sailing smacks, so that the total trawling fleet
-of Western Europe was then equal to about 18,862 of the
-sailing trawlers of twenty or thirty years ago, the sailing
-trawlers in use on the Continent being left out of account.
-It has been calculated that the area of the sea-bottom which
-is swept each day by the nets of this great fleet is equal to
-about 2000 square miles.</p>
-
-<p>Now, this extraordinary extension of trawl-fishing in recent
-times bears upon the question of territorial waters in two ways.
-One relates to the impoverishment of the older fishing-grounds
-near the coast and in the North Sea. The other relates to the
-incursion of steam-trawlers on foreign coasts as affecting the
-fishing of the inhabitants of such coasts.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to the first, there have been many inquiries
-made by Royal Commissions and Parliamentary Committees,
-as well as by fishery departments and experts, which show
-that the excessive fishing has depleted the older banks. In the
-first of these inquiries, which began in 1863, when there were
-only from 650 to 700 smacks trawling in the North Sea (and
-then only in a part of it), the reporters expressed their belief
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_702">702</span>
-that this method of fishing “in the open sea” was not wastefully
-destructive, and required no legislative interference, for
-if any ground were over-fished, the fishing there would become
-unprofitable, and the trawlers would go elsewhere.<a id="FNanchor_1286" href="#Footnote_1286" class="fnanchor">1286</a> The next
-Commission, in 1878, by which time trawling had greatly
-developed, came to much the same general conclusions; but
-they found that a decrease of soles had occurred, and also a
-decrease of plaice and flounders in some localities, and they
-recommended that power should be given to the Secretary of
-State to forbid trawling “in any of the territorial seas,” which
-power was conferred in 1881.<a id="FNanchor_1287" href="#Footnote_1287" class="fnanchor">1287</a> This inquiry was noteworthy
-as first revealing complaints by the trawlers themselves of the
-diminution of certain fish and the impoverishment of inshore
-grounds, and for the advocacy by Grimsby smack-owners of
-the prohibition of trawling at localities where small fish abound,
-as the inlets on the Dutch and German coast, the Wash, and
-off Yarmouth, and even within a nine-mile limit all round the
-shores of the North Sea. At the next Commission of inquiry,
-in 1883, the complaints of the trawlers were stronger, and the
-remedies they proposed more drastic. Those of Hull and
-Grimsby stated that the numbers of flat fishes, particularly
-soles, had much diminished; that the nearer grounds were
-impoverished, and that they had to go much greater distances
-for their supplies of fish. They expressed the belief that most
-damage was being done by trawling along the coasts, especially
-on the Continental side of the North Sea, and that the most
-effectual remedy would be to prohibit trawling within a ten-mile
-limit around the whole of the North Sea coasts. The
-conclusions reached by the Commission were that soles had
-decreased, and also flat fishes and haddocks in many parts of
-the territorial waters between Grimsby and the Moray Firth,
-and they recommended that the Scottish Fishery Board should
-receive powers to regulate or suspend trawling within territorial
-waters.<a id="FNanchor_1288" href="#Footnote_1288" class="fnanchor">1288</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_703">703</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_26" src="images/fig_26.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 26.&mdash;<i>Showing the three-mile limit and a thirteen-mile limit in the North Sea.</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_704">704</span></p></div>
-
-<p>From this time onwards the demand of the trawlers for some
-legislative restrictions on trawl-fishing increased to a clamour.
-At a conference of practical fishermen held in 1883, in connection
-with the International Fisheries Exhibition at London,
-statements were made by trawlers as to the enormous destruction
-of under-sized fish and the depletion of the grounds,
-and a resolution was passed calling upon the Government to
-bring about an international conference to consider the desirability
-of recommending legislation.<a id="FNanchor_1289" href="#Footnote_1289" class="fnanchor">1289</a> At another conference,
-in 1888, they declared that a large and distressing diminution
-of flat-fishes had occurred in the North Sea; that they viewed
-the future with alarm unless some steps were immediately
-taken to protect immature fishes; and they called upon the
-Government to try to arrange for an international law for the
-purpose.<a id="FNanchor_1290" href="#Footnote_1290" class="fnanchor">1290</a> As no result followed from the representations to
-the Government, the trawl-owners on the East Coast took
-independent action in 1890, and formally agreed, as a preliminary
-step, to prevent their trawlers from fishing in the summer
-within a very large area of extra-territorial water off the
-German and Danish coasts, where immature fish were generally
-caught in great abundance. The line of closure of
-this area extended along the coast for 130 miles, passing, to
-the west of Heligoland, at a distance varying from twenty
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_705">705</span>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_706">706</span>
-to over fifty miles from the shore, and embracing no less than
-about 3600 square (geographical) miles of water lying outside
-the three-mile limit as defined by the North Sea Convention.
-The Conference also pressed for legislation of a national and
-international character to prevent the sale and purchase of
-immature fish, and they defined what they meant by that
-term.<a id="FNanchor_1291" href="#Footnote_1291" class="fnanchor">1291</a> For some time at least the vessels of the great trawling
-companies abstained from fishing within the large area
-above referred to, but the voluntary arrangement fell through
-owing to the action of independent “single-boaters,” and the
-grounds were never effectually closed. The Government went
-so far to meet the wishes of the trawlers as to issue, through the
-Foreign Office, invitations from the National Sea Fisheries Protection
-Association to various Continental Governments to send
-delegates to a conference in 1890, and representatives from Belgium,
-France, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain
-attended a meeting at Fishmongers’ Hall in that year, but no
-representative of this country was present in an official capacity.
-Statements of the usual kind were made as to the impoverishment
-of the fishing-grounds and the necessity of remedial
-measures in order to keep up the fish supply, and it was
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_707">707</span>
-resolved, in view of an official international conference being
-called, to circulate a set of questions regarding the scientific
-and statistical aspect of the subject.<a id="FNanchor_1292" href="#Footnote_1292" class="fnanchor">1292</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_27" src="images/fig_27.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 27.&mdash;<i>Showing the area of the Small-fish Grounds, which the English trawlers desired to have closed for the
-preservation of immature fish.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The complaints continuing as to the deterioration of the
-fisheries, the Government in 1893 appointed a Select Committee
-of the House of Commons to inquire into their condition and
-to report as to what remedies might be required. The trawlers
-again gave strong evidence as to the impoverishment of the
-grounds in the North Sea from over-fishing, the banks having
-been “fished out” in succession as they were discovered, so that
-they were compelled to go to distant regions, as Iceland and
-the Bay of Biscay, to keep up the supplies. Some of them still
-pressed for an extension beyond the three-mile limit and the
-prohibition of trawling within ten miles from the shore,
-especially on the foreign coasts on the eastern side of the
-North Sea, and in particular that large areas in the extra-territorial
-waters should be closed by international agreement.
-The prohibition of the sale of immature flat fishes was also
-strongly advocated as an indirect means of closing these
-grounds. The Committee reported that the evidence of all
-classes of witnesses, “whether trawlers or linesmen, smack-owners
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_708">708</span>
-or fishermen, scientific experts or statisticians,” showed
-that a considerable diminution had occurred among the more
-valuable classes of flat-fishes in the North Sea, which was to be
-attributed to over-fishing by trawlers in certain localities; and
-they recommended that the sale of undersized flat-fishes should
-be forbidden, and that the three-mile limit should be extended
-for fishery purposes alone, provided it could be effected on an
-international basis.<a id="FNanchor_1293" href="#Footnote_1293" class="fnanchor">1293</a></p>
-
-<p>It does not appear that any action was taken by the British
-Government in consequence of this report; and as the trawlers
-had failed to get the large area of the German and Danish
-coasts closed to them directly, they got a Bill introduced into
-Parliament to prohibit the sale of undersized flat-fishes, in the
-belief that an enactment of that kind would result in closing
-the grounds indirectly. The reasoning on which they proceeded
-was this. Trawling, to be remunerative, depends upon the
-capture of a variety of fishes, and it is not possible by an
-enlargement of the mesh of the net to allow of undersized flat-fishes
-escaping, without also and at the same time permitting
-the escape of numerous large marketable round-fishes, as
-haddocks, as well as of many marketable soles, and fishing
-under such conditions would be unprofitable. It was also
-known that it would be futile to return to the sea the undersized
-fishes after they had been brought on board, because in
-commercial trawling they are dead or moribund, and might as
-well be taken ashore as thrown back into the water. It was
-admitted that the only effective way to protect the immature
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_709">709</span>
-fish was to prevent the trawl from being used on the grounds;
-and if this could not be done by direct closure of the area, it
-might be accomplished by prohibiting the sale of undersized
-flat-fishes generally; for on these particular “small fish”
-grounds, or “nurseries,” large fishes are so scarce that trawling
-is remunerative only by reason of the great quantity of small
-fishes taken. If the sale of these were forbidden, then trawling
-in such localities would cease. For an enactment of this kind
-to succeed, it was obviously necessary that it should apply to
-the whole kingdom, and it was opposed by fishermen on other
-parts of the coast; and as it was felt to be extremely problematical
-whether it would secure the cessation of trawling on
-the small-fish grounds without at the same time injuriously
-affecting the fisheries on our own coast and raising the price of
-fish, the Bill was abandoned. Several subsequent Bills of the
-same kind shared the same fate, usually after a more or less
-exhaustive inquiry by a Parliamentary Committee. One of
-those Committees, consisting of thirteen members of the House
-of Commons, took evidence in 1900 from the representatives of
-the trawlers and others, of the character previously described,
-advocates of the Bill admitting that in their view it was a
-tentative measure, and that the direct closure of the grounds
-would be preferable. The Committee thought that it was
-proved beyond all doubt that there was a serious diminution
-of flat-fishes, particularly in the North Sea; that the ancient
-fishing-grounds were much depleted; that the evil was a
-growing one, and that in default of a remedy the consequences
-would be disastrous to the industry.<a id="FNanchor_1294" href="#Footnote_1294" class="fnanchor">1294</a> One of the causes of the
-diminution was found to be the vast destruction of immature
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_710">710</span>
-fish, the direct remedy for which, the Committee said, was
-either the prohibition of the taking and killing of such fish, or
-the prohibition of fishing within areas where small fish abound.
-They were of opinion that the former was practically impossible
-without prohibiting trawling altogether, while the areas where
-the small fish congregate could only be closed by a joint international
-arrangement. The indirect remedy was that proposed
-by the Bill, and, for reasons such as are stated above, they felt
-it would not be expedient to pass the Bill into law without
-further inquiry and investigation. The Committee were of
-opinion that the subject of the diminution of the fish supply
-was a very pressing one, and that the situation was going from
-bad to worse, and they recommended that no effort should be
-spared, first, to arrange for international treatment of the
-subject generally, and especially for regulation of the North
-Sea area; and second, to provide for the adequate equipment
-of the Government Departments in charge of the subject.<a id="FNanchor_1295" href="#Footnote_1295" class="fnanchor">1295</a></p>
-
-<p>The trawlers still pressed for legislation to deal with the
-wasteful destruction of undersized fish, and continued to pass
-resolutions on the subject;<a id="FNanchor_1296" href="#Footnote_1296" class="fnanchor">1296</a> and another and somewhat modified
-Bill was introduced into the House of Lords in 1904 by the
-Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, and remitted to a
-Select Committee of that House. The Committee, after taking
-much evidence of the usual kind, stated their opinion that the
-ideal manner of protecting the fishing-grounds in the North Sea
-where young fish abound would be by an international agreement
-between all the Powers concerned, and they expressed the
-hope that the Government would not relax its efforts to secure
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_711">711</span>
-such a convention. It was thought that, as the first step
-towards attaining this result, the Bill ought to be passed
-into law; but the opposition to it was too strong, and it
-shared the fate of its numerous predecessors.<a id="FNanchor_1297" href="#Footnote_1297" class="fnanchor">1297</a></p>
-
-<p>The statements of the trawlers that the older fishing-grounds
-are impoverished, particularly those in the North Sea, are
-borne out by the results of statistical and scientific inquiries.
-It was calculated by Professor W. Garstang that the average
-catch of bottom fishes, per fishing unit, decreased in the North
-Sea in the ten years 1889 to 1898 from 60&middot;6 to 32&middot;3; or, in other
-words, that while the average take of each trawling smack in
-1889 was sixty tons, it was only about thirty-two tons in
-1898.<a id="FNanchor_1298" href="#Footnote_1298" class="fnanchor">1298</a> The official statistics published annually by the Board
-of Agriculture and Fisheries show that the quantity of bottom
-fishes taken from the North Sea is declining, while on the
-other hand the quantity landed in this country from distant
-waters is greatly increasing.<a id="FNanchor_1299" href="#Footnote_1299" class="fnanchor">1299</a></p>
-
-<p>This brings us to the second point, in which the immense
-development of trawling touches upon the question of territorial
-waters&mdash;namely, the flocking of the trawlers to new
-grounds on foreign coasts. As the North Sea became, comparatively
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_712">712</span>
-speaking, more and more exhausted, the vessels
-were compelled to go farther and farther away in order to
-maintain the supply.<a id="FNanchor_1300" href="#Footnote_1300" class="fnanchor">1300</a> The grounds at Iceland, now so important
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_713">713</span>
-not only to the British trawlers but to the Germans and
-the French, were first visited in 1891, and those in the neighbourhood
-of the Far&ouml;e Islands a little later. The operations
-of the trawlers were at first limited to the south-east
-coast, but the catches were so enormous, and the enterprise
-so profitable, that large and seaworthy vessels were specially
-built for this fishing, which became one of the most important
-for the English markets.<a id="FNanchor_1301" href="#Footnote_1301" class="fnanchor">1301</a> Then the grounds in
-the Bay of Biscay and those on the coasts of Spain and
-Portugal began to be frequented, mostly from about the year
-1902; and in the next year the operations of the trawlers
-were extended farther south to the coast of Morocco, as far at
-least as Agadir (20 deg. N. latitude), and even in some cases
-to the coast of Mauritania in French West Africa. The vessels
-fishing in these southern regions, many of them being fitted
-with refrigerating rooms, land a considerable proportion of
-their fish in Portugal and elsewhere. A year or two later,
-in 1905, the enterprising English trawlers opened up new
-grounds far away to the north-east in Barents Sea, at the very
-borders of the perpetual ice of the Arctic regions, and increasing
-numbers make the long double voyage of some 3500 miles
-thither every summer, and bring back from the neighbourhood
-of Cape Kanin great quantities of plaice for the English markets.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_28" src="images/fig_28.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="hang table">Fig. 28.&mdash;<i>Chart showing the Fishing-grounds frequented by British trawlers. Depths
-under 100 metres represented in black; those from 100 to 200 metres in shading.</i>
-From Report of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for 1906.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>Thus the great enterprise and energy of British trawlers,
-supported by large capital, have enabled them to exploit the
-available grounds from far beyond the Arctic circle almost to
-the tropics, and it is from those distant regions that an increasing
-proportion of the fish supply is being drawn.<a id="FNanchor_1302" href="#Footnote_1302" class="fnanchor">1302</a> The influx
-of alien vessels, the most powerful and efficient fishing machines
-in existence, along these foreign coasts is not, as was naturally
-to be expected, viewed with satisfaction by the native fishermen.
-They see the fishing-grounds which they had so long
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_714">714</span>
-been accustomed to consider as their own&mdash;in many cases lying
-within the territorial waters preserved to them by the laws
-of their own country, though possibly outside “the ordinary
-three-mile limit”&mdash;invaded and exploited by foreigners, and
-their own livelihood threatened. They fear that what has
-occurred in the North Sea will happen along their own coasts;
-that the fishing-grounds, often of limited extent, will be impoverished
-and exhausted for the sole benefit of the foreigners,
-and their efforts to maintain themselves and their families
-rendered difficult or impossible. They observe from their
-boats the immense hauls of fish made by the huge trawl-nets,
-and the great waste that is often involved.<a id="FNanchor_1303" href="#Footnote_1303" class="fnanchor">1303</a> One cannot be
-surprised that the fishermen, and those who sympathise with
-them, feel indignation at the invasion of their waters by foreign
-trawlers, and that great meetings have been held, as in Spain
-and Portugal, to demand redress, and that at least the same
-limit as applies to natives pursuing similar methods should be
-enforced on the foreigners, or an international conference called
-to arrange for an equitable limit, or equitable treatment, which
-would have regard for the rights of all concerned.<a id="FNanchor_1304" href="#Footnote_1304" class="fnanchor">1304</a></p>
-
-<p>From the foregoing description of the problems associated
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_715">715</span>
-with the modern development of trawling, it will not be
-difficult to understand the scope and nature of the legislation
-which has been devised in various countries to preserve the
-native fisheries for the inhabitants of the coast. It may be
-said that in practically all of them, trawl-fishing is either entirely
-prohibited within territorial waters or is subjected to
-various regulations, for the most part with the view of allowing
-minor forms of trawling, as that for shrimps, to be carried on.
-In those countries which have a zone of territorial water
-extending beyond the ordinary three-mile limit, it is prohibited
-within that zone, as in Norway, Spain, and Portugal,
-and even up to twelve miles from the shore; while in some
-others in which three miles is in use as the ordinary limit for
-exclusive fishing, trawling is forbidden at distances beyond
-that limit. In Italy and Austria steam-trawling is not allowed
-within five miles of the coast. In Scotland and Ireland it is
-prohibited in certain specified waters, which extend much
-beyond a three-mile boundary. As recent legislation, or byelaws
-made with the authority of Parliament, bearing upon
-these prohibitions have given rise to much controversy, it is
-desirable to consider them with a little care.</p>
-
-<p>In England, where the administration of the local fisheries
-around the coast is in the hands of various Sea Fisheries
-District Committees, numerous byelaws have been made and
-are in force, with the sanction of the Board of Agriculture and
-Fisheries, prohibiting or regulating trawling of one kind or
-another in the waters under the control of the Committees.
-None of the byelaws appear to apply to parts of the sea beyond
-the ordinary three-mile zone, though it is open to question
-whether the wording of the Act, by which the Committees
-were created, does not give power in that direction.<a id="FNanchor_1305" href="#Footnote_1305" class="fnanchor">1305</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_716">716</span></p>
-
-<p>The Irish Fishery Department have made a very large
-number of byelaws, at various times and under various Acts,
-for the regulation or prohibition of trawling. Of these some
-forty-four are at present in force, twenty-two applying to all
-trawling and twenty-two to steam trawling alone, and one or
-two of them date from the years 1842 and 1851.<a id="FNanchor_1306" href="#Footnote_1306" class="fnanchor">1306</a> Under these
-byelaws trawling in one form or another is prohibited entirely
-or under certain conditions at most parts of the coast of Ireland;
-and on certain parts of the coast not inconsiderable
-stretches of the sea, beyond the three-mile limit and the limit
-for bays as defined in the fishery conventions, are closed against
-this method of fishing. The lines around the coast within
-which trawling is prohibited, in many instances pass between
-headlands which may be as much as twenty-six, and even
-forty-three, miles apart; not infrequently they are drawn, not
-between headlands, but from one light-ship to another, and
-these light-ships may be four or five miles from land and
-twenty miles apart. Sometimes the closing line is placed three
-miles to the seawards of such base-lines; and they may pass
-from about two to seven or eight miles outside the limit as
-defined in the conventions, and in some instances up to ten or
-eleven miles from low-water mark on the shore.</p>
-
-<p>It is obvious that the principle upon which these lines have
-been drawn has been one of convenience. They differ entirely
-from the lines of closure in the two Scottish Firths referred to
-below, which are <i>inter fauces terr&aelig;</i> with the lines passing
-from headland to headland. But all the lines on the Irish
-coast are well within the range of guns from the shore, and
-are thus, according to the Law of Nations, within the territorial
-sea. The aggregate area beyond the ordinary limits of
-the conventions amounts to a little over 400 square (geographical)
-miles.</p>
-
-<p>It does not appear that foreign trawlers have been found
-contravening the Irish byelaws to any great extent. Between
-June 1904 and September 1905 seven steam-trawlers and one
-sailing-trawler were captured fishing within the limits, one of
-the former being registered in a foreign country, and, with
-regard to it, the official report says “it was found impossible
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_717">717</span>
-to enforce the order made by the magistrates against the
-owner and skipper.” It is added that “it is thought, however,
-that means have been found within the existing law of compelling
-foreign trawlers to observe the byelaws affecting Irish
-territorial waters.”<a id="FNanchor_1307" href="#Footnote_1307" class="fnanchor">1307</a></p>
-
-<p>It is, however, with reference to the legislation for Scotland,
-under which certain areas are closed against trawling, that the
-main controversies have been raised. Several statutes gave
-power to the Fishery Board for Scotland to regulate trawling.
-The first was an Act of 1881,<a id="FNanchor_1308" href="#Footnote_1308" class="fnanchor">1308</a> which empowered the Board of
-Trade to restrict or prohibit this method of fishing “in any
-area being part of the sea adjoining the United Kingdom, and
-within the territorial waters of Her Majesty’s dominions, within
-the meaning of the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, 1878”
-(<a href="#Page_591">see p. 591</a>); which power was transferred to the Scottish Board
-by subsequent Acts.<a id="FNanchor_1309" href="#Footnote_1309" class="fnanchor">1309</a> Then the Sea Fisheries (Scotland)
-Amendment Act, of 1885,<a id="FNanchor_1310" href="#Footnote_1310" class="fnanchor">1310</a> empowered the Board to make
-byelaws for restricting or prohibiting, either entirely or subject
-to such regulations as might be provided, any method of fishing
-“in any part of the sea adjoining Scotland, and within the
-exclusive fishery limits of the British Islands,” when they were
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_718">718</span>
-satisfied that such mode of fishing was injurious to any kind
-of sea fishing within that part, or in order to make experiments
-and observations to ascertain this, or for fish-culture: and such
-byelaw was not to be valid until it had been confirmed by the
-Secretary for Scotland. Several byelaws under this Act were
-made, prohibiting trawling within certain areas on the coast
-of Scotland within the ordinary limits.<a id="FNanchor_1311" href="#Footnote_1311" class="fnanchor">1311</a> It may well be
-questioned, in view of the definition of the “territorial
-waters of Her Majesty’s dominions” in the Territorial Waters
-Jurisdiction Act, and of the “exclusive fishery limits of the
-British Islands” in the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883,<a id="FNanchor_1312" href="#Footnote_1312" class="fnanchor">1312</a> whether these
-powers were restricted to the three-mile limit and to bays
-whose width was not greater than ten miles; but it is noteworthy
-that a byelaw with reference to the Firth of Clyde
-was not confirmed by the Secretary for Scotland, presumably
-because it was considered at the time to be <i>ultra
-vires</i>.<a id="FNanchor_1313" href="#Footnote_1313" class="fnanchor">1313</a></p>
-
-<p>In 1889, however, an Act was passed which directly prohibited
-trawling “within three miles of low-water mark of any
-part of the coast of Scotland” (except the Solway and Pentland
-Firths), and within the waters specified in a schedule annexed,
-except in such parts as might from time to time be permitted
-by byelaws of the Fishery Board; and the Board was further
-empowered to forbid trawling within any area or areas in
-the Moray Firth between Duncansby Head and Rattray Point,
-which may be regarded as its headlands.<a id="FNanchor_1314" href="#Footnote_1314" class="fnanchor">1314</a> The waters specified
-in the schedule included the areas closed under the then
-existing byelaws, as well as a number of bays, lochs, and areas,
-the most important of which was “the waters inside a line drawn
-from Corsewall Point, in the County of Wigton, to the Mull of
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_719">719</span>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_720">720</span>
-Cantyre, in the County of Argyll”&mdash;that is to say, the Firth of
-Clyde. In this Act, it will be noted, nothing is said about bays,
-save in this schedule, and an examination of the charts shows
-that the waters specified in the schedule, twenty-five in number,
-would all, with a single exception, be included in the limits of
-exclusive fishing as defined in the North Sea Convention.
-Presumably the bays on the coast of Scotland which are not
-mentioned in the schedule do not come under the provisions of
-this Act beyond the distance of three miles from low-water
-mark on their shores. The exception referred to is the Firth
-of Clyde (<a href="#fig_29">fig. 29</a>), where the line of closure is about twenty-eight
-miles in length, within which trawling was directly prohibited
-by the Act. The area of water outside the ordinary limits of
-the conventions which is thus embraced amounts to about
-380 square (geographical) miles.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_29" src="images/fig_29.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 29.&mdash;<i>The Firth of Clyde, showing the line of closure and the ordinary three-mile limit.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Under the section referring to the Moray Firth, a byelaw was
-passed in 1890 giving effect to its provisions within a straight
-line drawn from the Ord of Caithness to Craighead near Buckie,
-the extent of water enclosed, beyond the ordinary limits, being
-about 310 square miles. This was replaced by another byelaw
-in 1892, in which the line of closure to trawling was from
-Duncansby Head to Rattray Head, a distance of about 73
-geographical miles, the area of sea enclosed between it and the
-ordinary limits amounting to approximately 1480 square
-(geographical) miles (<a href="#fig_30">fig. 30</a>). It is this byelaw that has of
-late given rise to discussion in relation to the operations of
-foreign trawlers within the Moray Firth, as is explained below.</p>
-
-<p>In 1895 another Bill was introduced into the House of Lords
-by the Lord Privy Seal (Lord Tweedmouth), with the object,
-among other things, of extending a similar jurisdiction over
-the waters washing the east coast of Scotland. The line at
-first chosen in this case was a very long one, running along
-the open coast from Rattray Head to the Farne Islands, a
-distance of about 120 miles, and passing a little over thirty
-miles east of Fife Ness.<a id="FNanchor_1315" href="#Footnote_1315" class="fnanchor">1315</a> It was proposed later to give power
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_721">721</span>
-to prohibit trawling in any area or areas within eighteen
-miles of the coast.<a id="FNanchor_1316" href="#Footnote_1316" class="fnanchor">1316</a> In the Act as passed the distance was
-reduced to thirteen miles from the coast in areas under the
-jurisdiction of the Crown, and no area was to be so regarded
-unless the powers conferred had been accepted as binding
-upon their own subjects with respect to such area by all the
-states who were parties to the North Sea Convention.<a id="FNanchor_1317" href="#Footnote_1317" class="fnanchor">1317</a> This
-section of the Act has remained inoperative, and no byelaws
-have been made under it; and there appears to be no evidence
-as to whether the views of other Powers have been
-obtained.</p>
-
-<p>In the Moray Firth, closed to trawling by the byelaw above
-referred to, foreign trawlers began to make their appearance
-first of all in 1895, when a Danish vessel came. Two years
-later it returned, and a German trawler also, which was prevented
-from landing its fish at Aberdeen,&mdash;an act of the Crown,
-which was tested by a case in the Court of Session and upheld
-by it. In 1898 foreign trawlers appeared in the Firth in
-considerable numbers, and, it was reported, carried on their
-operations in such a reckless manner as to involve a great deal
-of damage to the gear of the net and line fishermen.<a id="FNanchor_1318" href="#Footnote_1318" class="fnanchor">1318</a> These
-vessels appear to have been mainly Danish, but there were a
-few Belgian, Dutch, and German, and they came for the most
-part intermittently and for brief periods, some of them appearing
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_722">722</span>
-only once or twice in a year. Soon, however, the Firth
-was invaded by a fleet of trawlers flying the Norwegian flag,
-although it was known that Norway possessed no steam
-trawlers,<a id="FNanchor_1319" href="#Footnote_1319" class="fnanchor">1319</a> and these vessels fished regularly in the Moray
-Firth, carrying their fish to Grimsby, where they were landed
-and sold. It was soon discovered, and admitted, that these
-trawlers were in reality English, so far as capital, management,
-and crew were concerned, but they were registered in
-Norway in order to evade the British statute, and they soon
-obtained a practical monopoly of trawling in the Moray Firth.
-In 1901 there were fourteen or fifteen of them, but by 1905
-they had increased to twenty-nine or thirty; while the visits
-of trawlers of other nationalities had diminished to nine in
-1903, to six in 1904, and to two in each of the three following
-years. In 1903 and 1904 thirteen convictions were recorded
-against foreign trawlers, eight in connection with the Moray
-Firth and five in connection with the Clyde; in 1905 the
-number rose to fifteen for the Moray Firth and six for the
-Clyde. In all these cases the charge was for trawling within
-the ordinary three-mile limit. In 1905 a case was brought
-against Martin Olsen, the Norwegian “flag-master” of one
-of the trawlers registered in Norway, the <i>Catalonia</i>, for
-trawling within the Dornoch Firth in contravention of the
-Act of 1889, and byelaw No. 2, made under the Act of 1885.
-The place where the offence was committed was beyond the
-distance of three miles from the shore, but it was within three
-miles of the ten-mile base-line across the Dornoch Firth, and
-therefore within the exclusive fishery limit as defined in the
-conventions, and within one of the areas scheduled in the Act
-of 1889. The Sheriff-Substitute at Dornoch sustained Olsen’s
-plea of no jurisdiction, on the ground that the <i>Catalonia</i> was
-registered in Norway, and Norway was not one of the Powers
-signatory to the North Sea Convention. On appeal to the
-High Court of Justiciary the decision was reversed, the judges
-holding that the prohibition in the Act of 1889, being quite
-general in terms, was applicable to foreigners as well as to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_723">723</span>
-British subjects, and that it was not for them to draw a distinction
-which had not been made by Parliament.<a id="FNanchor_1320" href="#Footnote_1320" class="fnanchor">1320</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_30" src="images/fig_30.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 30.&mdash;<i>The Moray Firth, showing the line of closure.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>This decision was the means of raising the question whether
-the byelaw did not apply to foreigners equally with British
-subjects in the whole extent of the Firth, and a series of cases
-were brought before the Sheriff to test the point. Three
-prosecutions were instituted, one against Emmanuel Mortensen,
-a Dane, master of the <i>Niobe</i>, of Sandefjord, Norway, for trawling
-at a point about five miles off Lossiemouth; another
-against Thomas Robinson, a British subject, master of the
-<i>Verbena</i> of Stavanger, Norway, for trawling at a point five
-miles S.S.E. of Garty Point, Sutherlandshire; and the third
-against Arthur Lambert, a British subject, fishing-master of
-the <i>Pinewold</i>, registered at Sandefjord, Norway, for trawling
-at a distance of seven miles from Tarbetness. Convictions
-were obtained in all cases in the Sheriff Court of Dornoch,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_724">724</span>
-mainly on the same ground as in the above case, that the
-statute was general and applied to all persons, but Sheriff
-(now Lord) Guthrie also held that the Moray Firth was within
-the territorial waters of Scotland.<a id="FNanchor_1321" href="#Footnote_1321" class="fnanchor">1321</a></p>
-
-<p>The case in regard to Mortensen was appealed and was
-heard by the full bench of twelve judges of the High
-Court of Justiciary, who unanimously upheld the conviction
-and dismissed the appeal. The leading opinion was delivered
-by the Lord Justice-General (Lord Dunedin), who
-treated the question as one of construction, and of construction
-only, since the court had nothing to do with whether
-an Act of the Legislature was <i>ultra vires</i> or in contravention
-of international law; they had only to give effect to it.
-The terms of the Act, applying to “every person” committing
-the offence within an area which was precisely defined,
-made the inference strong that it was meant to apply
-to all persons whatsoever; and this inference was further
-strengthened by the consideration that the clear object of the
-Act was to stop trawling, and that object would be defeated
-or rendered less effective if the prohibition applied only to
-British subjects, while leaving those of other nations free.
-With regard to the territorial or non-territorial character of
-the place where the <i>Niobe</i> had been trawling, Lord Dunedin
-said that while it might be assumed that within the three-mile
-limit the territorial sovereignty would be sufficient to cover such
-legislation, that was not a proof of the counter proposition,
-that outside the three miles no such result could be looked for.
-There were at least three points which went far to show that
-the <i>locus</i> was <i>intra fauces terr&aelig;</i>: (1) the dicta of the Scottish
-Institutional Writers, as Stair and Bell;<a id="FNanchor_1322" href="#Footnote_1322" class="fnanchor">1322</a> (2) the fact that the
-same statute puts forward claims to analogous places, as, <i>e.g.</i>,
-the Firth of Clyde; (3) there were many instances in decided
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_725">725</span>
-cases where the right of a nation to legislate for waters more
-or less landlocked, though beyond the three-mile limit, had
-been admitted. “It seems to me, therefore,” continued Lord
-Dunedin, “without laying down the proposition that the Moray
-Firth is for every purpose within the territorial sovereignty, it
-can at least be clearly said that the appellant cannot make out
-his proposition that it is inconceivable that the British Legislature
-should attempt for fishery regulation to legislate against
-all and sundry in such a place. And if that is so, then I revert
-to the considerations already stated, which, as a matter of construction,
-make me think that it did so legislate.” He did not
-think any argument could be drawn from the definition of
-“exclusive fishery limit” in the North Sea Convention, inasmuch
-as the Convention, as a whole, did not deal with what
-was here in question&mdash;viz., mode of fishing; and the Act
-treated subjects and foreigners alike in the matter.</p>
-
-<p>Lord Kyllachy also held that, on the point of construction,
-the intention of the Act was that in no part of the area should
-trawling be practised by anybody; the terms were definite and
-applied to a quite definite area; it would be easier to suppose
-that the Legislature had reached even an erroneous conclusion
-as to the extent of its jurisdiction, than that it had resolved
-deliberately to impose a futile restriction upon its own countrymen
-and at the same time to create a hurtful monopoly in
-favour of foreigners. With regard to the territorial or
-non-territorial character of the Moray Firth, it seemed vain
-to suggest that according to international law there was any
-part of it which was simply an area of the open sea, and thus
-in the same position as if it were situated, say, in the middle
-of the German Ocean. The whole Firth was <i>prima facie</i> a
-“bay,” with two well-marked headlands, and stretching inwards
-for many miles into the heart of the country. All that could
-be said against this was that at its outer end the Firth was
-very wide, and of a size, if not also of a configuration, somewhat
-beyond what is usually characteristic of bays and
-estuaries; but that might or might not be so, and the
-cases of the Bristol Channel, the Firth of Clyde, and the
-Firth of Forth would have to be considered before the proposition
-could be affirmed. There was no established rule
-on the subject in international law, and in particular no rule
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_726">726</span>
-“so arbitrary and artificial as that of the ten-mile limit
-measure,” for which the appellant contended. Perhaps the
-most interesting part of Lord Kyllachy’s opinion concerned
-the bearing of the North Sea Convention on the case. If
-the question had been one of <i>exclusive fishing privileges</i>, the
-bearing of the Convention might have been important. “But
-exclusive fishing privileges&mdash;or, at all events, exclusive fishing
-privileges as defined by convention&mdash;are one thing; territorial
-jurisdiction, proprietary or protective, is a different thing....
-There is certainly nothing in the Convention, at least nothing
-was brought under our notice, which in the least conflicts with
-the right of the several contracting nations to impose each of
-them within its territorial limits (whatever these are) restrictions
-universally applicable against injurious practices or modes
-of fishing such as are by this statute and byelaw imposed here.
-In other words, there is nothing in the statute and byelaw in
-question which at all interferes with the exclusive fishing
-privileges of the several nations.” He could not consent to
-the argument that the Convention had introduced a new
-chapter into international law establishing, with respect to
-the definition of bays and estuaries, new and artificial rules.
-The other judges who gave their reasoned opinions expressed
-similar views, both as to the construction of the Act, the
-possibility or probability that the Moray Firth was a territorial
-bay by the law of nations, and as to the distinction between
-the limits of exclusive fishing as defined in the Convention
-and the right of the bordering state to regulate the fishery
-beyond that limit and within its territorial waters, provided
-the regulations applied equally to all.<a id="FNanchor_1323" href="#Footnote_1323" class="fnanchor">1323</a></p>
-
-<p>It is to be noted that although the question was strictly one
-of the construction of the Act, the judges had necessarily, in
-reaching its true meaning, to consider certain aspects of international
-law in relation to the territorial sea. From the above
-summary of their opinions, it is evident that the most eminent
-Scottish lawyers are in agreement with the modern publicists
-whose views have been referred to in a previous chapter, both
-in rejecting the three-mile limit as the farthest boundary of
-territorial sovereignty and as to the ten-mile rule (to say
-nothing of the six-mile theory) for bays. It may, however, be
-questioned as to how far the doctrine of independent territorial
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_727">727</span>
-regulation of fisheries beyond the limit of exclusive fishing, as
-defined in the Conventions, will be accepted as applied to the
-signatories of the Conventions. It is not expressly stated in
-the Conventions that the waters outside the exclusive fishery
-limits shall be free and common to all; but that is implied even
-in the title of the last of them,<a id="FNanchor_1324" href="#Footnote_1324" class="fnanchor">1324</a> and the Convention, in point of
-fact, lays down such regulations for the conduct of the fishery,
-outside the exclusive fishery limits, as appeared to the signatories
-at the time sufficient for the equitable enjoyment of
-the common right. It would be easy to conceive of general
-regulations being applied independently at particular places by
-one state, which would have the effect of abridging the common
-right of the other states, without affecting the interests of its
-own subjects&mdash;on the principle of the invitations which the
-fox and the stork issued to one another in the fable. That the
-intention was to leave the fisheries outside the limits mentioned
-free, except in so far as the regulations agreed upon affected
-them, is clear from the proceedings at the conference at The
-Hague. As regards other states, however, such as Norway,
-which were not signatories of the Conventions, it is equally
-clear that, up to the utmost bounds of the territorial waters,
-regulations may not only be imposed on their subjects, but they
-may be excluded from the fisheries altogether.</p>
-
-<p>The effect of the decision of the High Court of Justiciary
-was apparently to keep the foreign trawlers out of the Moray
-Firth for a short time. But very soon a number of them came
-back again from Grimsby, with express instructions from the
-owners to fish in the Moray Firth. On 31st January 1907 six
-masters, all foreigners, of trawlers registered in Norway, were
-charged at Elgin Sheriff Court with thirteen separate contraventions
-of the byelaw, committed between 23rd November and
-22nd December 1906, at various distances from about five to
-twelve miles from the coast; on conviction, penalties of &pound;100 or
-sixty days’ imprisonment were imposed, and five of the men
-went to prison. On 4th February other two masters of foreign
-trawlers were convicted of a corresponding offence at Wick
-Sheriff Court. At the trial at Elgin, the Norwegian Vice-Consul
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_728">728</span>
-at Aberdeen read a protest, at the instance of the Foreign
-Minister of Norway, against the conviction of the masters of
-three of the Norwegian vessels which he named, provided the
-trawling with which they were charged had taken place “outside
-the territorial limits.”<a id="FNanchor_1325" href="#Footnote_1325" class="fnanchor">1325</a></p>
-
-<p>Representations were also made to the British Foreign Secretary
-by the Norwegian Minister in London (Dr F. Nansen),
-and the men were released on 9th February,<a id="FNanchor_1326" href="#Footnote_1326" class="fnanchor">1326</a> the decision
-of the Scottish High Court being thus in effect set aside. It
-was subsequently explained that in taking this action Norway
-was merely making a formal stand for the rights of her flag,
-since the trawlers had been registered in Norway in a legal
-way, Norwegian subjects were concerned, and no claim had
-been put forward on behalf of the British Government to the
-Moray Firth as being territorial in character. In point of fact,
-the Norwegian Government was in full sympathy with the
-policy of keeping the pseudo-Norwegian vessels out of the
-Moray Firth,<a id="FNanchor_1327" href="#Footnote_1327" class="fnanchor">1327</a> and they immediately, after the formal protest
-referred to, issued orders warning all owners of Norwegian
-trawlers fishing in the Moray Firth to cease from doing so,
-and not to expect the support of their Government in case
-of proceedings being taken against them in Scotland.<a id="FNanchor_1328" href="#Footnote_1328" class="fnanchor">1328</a> It does
-not appear that any advantage was taken of this proceeding for
-further prosecutions of Norwegians contravening the law; but
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_729">729</span>
-it was decided to proceed against British subjects who might
-be found on the foreign vessels which were violating it, and
-who were undoubtedly under the jurisdiction of British courts.
-On March 20th twelve cases were brought before the Elgin
-Sheriff Court, the men charged being the “fishing-masters” of
-the foreign trawlers,<a id="FNanchor_1329" href="#Footnote_1329" class="fnanchor">1329</a> and the only one who appeared was fined
-fifty pounds for each of three offences, or fifteen days’ imprisonment.
-A little later, on 17th April, fifteen fishing-masters of
-foreign trawlers, one of which was Swedish, all British subjects
-belonging to Grimsby, were charged in the same court for
-trawling within the Moray Firth outside the ordinary limits,
-and on conviction small fines were imposed. Similar cases
-were brought against eleven men in July, who were charged
-with twenty-eight offences committed between 2nd March and
-24th June, and still smaller penalties were imposed.<a id="FNanchor_1330" href="#Footnote_1330" class="fnanchor">1330</a></p>
-
-<p>Considerable discussion was evoked by the various occurrences
-above referred to. Resolutions were passed at various
-meetings of fishermen in Scotland in favour of the byelaw being
-strictly enforced, and asking that an international arrangement
-should be come to if necessary to enable that to be done.
-At meetings of trawl-owners, on the other hand, held at
-Grimsby and elsewhere, resolutions to the opposite effect were
-agreed to, and the Government were requested to maintain the
-“three-mile international territorial limits as now defined.”
-In the Houses of Parliament also numerous questions were put
-to Ministers on the subject, and there were several debates of
-a more or less formal kind. It appears that the Foreign Office
-had come to the conclusion that the Act of Parliament as interpreted
-by the High Court of Justiciary was in conflict with
-international law;<a id="FNanchor_1331" href="#Footnote_1331" class="fnanchor">1331</a> and that view having been taken, it was
-obvious that it would be necessary, if the statute was to have
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_730">730</span>
-equal effect on foreigners, that some international arrangement,
-such as had been previously recommended by the Select Committees
-of the House of Commons and the House of Lords,<a id="FNanchor_1332" href="#Footnote_1332" class="fnanchor">1332</a>
-should be reached. It appears that there would have been no
-difficulty in arranging such an agreement with Norway, which
-was desirous of entering into negotiations for the purpose; but
-it was felt by the Foreign Office that, while an arrangement
-of the kind would not bind other Powers, questions of reciprocity
-might be raised, and British trawlers might be excluded
-from similar areas on foreign coasts. They therefore declined
-to enter upon negotiations with foreign Powers until the whole
-policy had been carefully considered.<a id="FNanchor_1333" href="#Footnote_1333" class="fnanchor">1333</a> One point of view
-which was taken was indicated in a speech of the Under-Secretary
-for Foreign Affairs (Lord Fitzmaurice) in the course
-of a debate in February 1907, which had been initiated by
-Lord Balfour of Burleigh. He stated that according to the
-views hitherto accepted by the chief departments of the
-Government&mdash;the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, the Colonial
-Office, the Board of Trade, and the Board of Agriculture and
-Fisheries&mdash;and apart from the provisions of special treaties,
-territorial waters were: “First, the waters which extend from
-the coast-line of any part of the territory of a State to three
-miles from the low-water mark of such coast-line; secondly, the
-waters of bays the entrance to which is not more than six
-miles in width, and of which the entire land boundary forms
-part of the territory of a State. By custom, however, and
-by treaty and in special convention, the six-mile limit has
-frequently been extended to more than six miles.”<a id="FNanchor_1334" href="#Footnote_1334" class="fnanchor">1334</a> The
-Lord Chancellor, it may be said, was absent through illness;
-and the declaration quoted, though it represents what has been
-the general, but by no means the invariable, attitude of the
-British Foreign Office in dealing with territorial waters, is not
-in accordance with the law of nations, as is shown in the
-foregoing chapters. Nor does it agree with the opinions
-expressed in a former debate by the late Lord Salisbury, so
-long the distinguished Foreign Minister of this country, by
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_731">731</span>
-Lord Halsbury, the former Lord Chancellor, and by Lord
-Herschell, the then Lord Chancellor (<a href="#Page_592">see p. 592</a>), in which
-Lord Salisbury said “great care had been taken not to name
-three miles as the territorial limit.” Nor is it in agreement
-with the carefully considered and most explicit reservations
-made in the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, both in
-regard to the extent of the territorial waters and the rightful
-jurisdiction of the Crown beyond three miles from the shore
-under the law of nations, conferred by Act of Parliament, or
-by law existing, and the similar reservations in certain other
-Acts previously referred to. Even more singular is the novel
-statement as to what constitutes a territorial bay. A six-mile
-limit of the kind will obviously confer in the great majority of
-cases no greater extent of sea than the three-mile limit on an
-open coast, and it is thus opposed to one of the best-recognised
-principles of international law relating to the subject. The only
-part of the world where it appears to be in force is in British
-North America, with reference to subjects of the United States.
-The history of how it came to be applied at all is told in a
-previous chapter, in which it is also shown that the British
-Government as late as 1887 rejected even the ten-mile limit
-for bays, as involving a surrender of fishing rights, and as being
-contrary to the law of nations (<a href="#Page_629">p. 629</a>), and they have made
-declarations equally emphatic on other occasions.<a id="FNanchor_1335" href="#Footnote_1335" class="fnanchor">1335</a></p>
-
-<p>But in a subsequent debate Lord Fitzmaurice appears to have
-qualified his statement, and quoted the observation of Lord
-Salisbury that where the coast was “folded and doubled,” as
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_732">732</span>
-where bays exist, it was an unsettled question in international
-law how far territorial waters extend in such cases.<a id="FNanchor_1336" href="#Footnote_1336" class="fnanchor">1336</a></p>
-
-<p>Rather a different view was taken by the Lord Chancellor,
-a few weeks later, in the course of another debate about the
-Moray Firth. Lord Loreburn confined himself to saying that
-the obvious contention of other nations, and one very difficult
-to encounter, if we tried to make byelaws under our own law
-in regard to waters within a line from headland to headland
-eighty-five miles apart, would be that we might be trying to
-legislate for the high seas.<a id="FNanchor_1337" href="#Footnote_1337" class="fnanchor">1337</a> And in a debate in July 1908, the
-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Sir Edward Grey) put the matter
-in an exceedingly lucid manner. Parliament had recognised
-the contention, he said, that there ought to be special regulations,
-especially in regard to the Moray Firth, going far beyond the
-three-mile limit; and, like other members of the Government,
-he condemned the action of British subjects who, knowing
-perfectly well the law, made use of a foreign flag to evade
-the regulations of the Moray Firth, which it was obviously the
-desire of Parliament should be enforced. But when they came
-to the question of enforcing the law on foreign subjects, they
-were placed in a very difficult position. The national policy of
-this country hitherto “had been to uphold the three-mile limit,
-but to protest against and to resist by every means in our
-power the pretension of any foreign country to enforce its own
-jurisdiction on the sea beyond the three-mile limit.” We had
-contended before international tribunals, as in the Behring Sea
-Arbitration, that the three-mile limit is the only one we can
-recognise as the limit of foreign jurisdiction over British
-vessels; and suppose we attempted to enforce a doctrine going
-far beyond the three-mile limit on foreign ships, how could we
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_733">733</span>
-contend before an international tribunal for a doctrine precisely
-the reverse of that which we have always upheld on previous
-occasions? It followed from this that “if there was to be a
-modification of the rules relating to trawling in the North Sea,
-it must be by agreement with foreign Powers”&mdash;that was really
-the practical point upon which the matter turned. But in an
-important question affecting the interests of the country at
-large, it was impossible for the Foreign Office to approach
-other Powers with the view of reaching an agreement until it
-was quite clear that it was in the interest of a policy which had
-been adopted, affirmed, and declared by the Government to be
-a policy which was in the general national interest of the
-United Kingdom. Judging from the very great force with
-which the case in such regions as the Moray Firth had been
-presented, and the strong feeling that existed and which was
-not confined to the Moray Firth, it had always seemed to him
-that there was a case for grave consideration as to whether
-any new regulations were required for the preservation of the
-fishing industry in the North Sea at large. Trawling was
-a perfectly legitimate industry in which large capital was
-invested, and if further restrictions were to be imposed on it, it
-must be because a really important national interest required
-it; it would not be right to adopt in the interests of particular
-localities any special restrictions which might result in diminishing
-the supply and raising the price of fish. But, having
-laid down these two principles, Sir Edward Grey thought it
-was equally true that if the supply of fish from the North Sea
-is being affected by want of further regulations, then the
-interests of any particular industry must be subordinated to the
-general interest, which in the long-run was also the interest of
-the industry itself. “If it be the case,” he proceeded, “that in
-areas like the Moray Firth, which are important breeding-grounds,
-the supply of fish is being seriously interfered with by
-the prosecution of trawling in narrow waters, then it becomes
-a matter of national interest that we should, as soon as possible,
-come to some agreement with foreign Powers under which we
-should be able to make the arrangements which prove to be
-necessary in the national interest at large.” The subject was
-one requiring the deliberate investigation of the Government,
-and the investigation was proceeding; and they should know in
-the course of a reasonable time whether or not the Government
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_734">734</span>
-thought they had a case for approaching other Powers, and if
-so what were the grounds and propositions they should ask
-those Powers to agree to. With regard to bays, the Foreign
-Secretary said it had generally been understood that the qualification
-of the three-mile limit applied to bays ten miles wide,
-and they must be very careful as to how far they pressed the
-doctrine as to the width of a bay, or laid down an international
-doctrine on any particular bay. They must think
-of what the application of it might be in other parts of the
-world.<a id="FNanchor_1338" href="#Footnote_1338" class="fnanchor">1338</a></p>
-
-<p>In this statesmanlike speech the case was put temperately
-and fairly. Whether the Moray Firth is or is not a territorial
-bay, it has been the general practice of the British Government
-to contend for the ordinary three-mile limit, at least on open
-coasts, in relation to fishery questions. If there are clear
-reasons for the extension of this limit at any part of the coast,
-or in the North Sea generally, in the common interests of the
-fisheries, as recommended by the Select Committee of the House
-of Commons in 1893; or for the prohibition of trawling within
-a great area on the Continental coast, as urged by the English
-trawlers, and recommended by the Parliamentary Committees
-of 1900 and 1904; or if it is believed to be necessary to regulate
-the fisheries in any way beyond the ordinary limit, then obviously
-the best method is to endeavour to come to an arrangement
-with the other Powers concerned. There are precedents
-for this course in British policy. By treaties with France, the
-British Government agreed to bind British subjects not to fish
-for oysters or any kind of fish within Granville Bay in waters
-beyond the ordinary limit. In the interests of the preservation
-of the fur-seal, in which the United States was mainly concerned,
-they agreed to prohibit British subjects from taking
-them within a limit of sixty miles around the Pribilov Islands,
-and to compel them to observe a close-time on the high seas,
-and to use only the primitive spear. They have also by treaty
-agreed to respect various other limits beyond the ordinary
-three miles in the interest of the preservation of other kinds of
-seals. The case of the North Sea, or of that inlet of it known
-as the Moray Firth, is on the same footing as these. The
-question is not one of the extension of territorial sea <i>qua</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_735">735</span>
-territorial sea, but of special regulations independent of it, and
-exclusively relating to the fisheries.</p>
-
-<p>From what has been said in foregoing pages as to the impoverishment
-of the fishing-grounds in the North Sea, and the
-various remedies that have been at one time or another proposed
-by the English trawlers and by Parliamentary Committees
-with the view of maintaining the fish supply, it might
-appear that a very good case already existed for approaching
-foreign Powers with the object of arranging for general
-regulations beyond the ordinary limit, and one far weightier
-than that which brought about the conference at The Hague
-and the North Sea Convention in 1882 (<a href="#Page_631">see p. 631</a>).</p>
-
-<p>Two probable reasons may be advanced for the delay in
-giving effect to the recommendations of the various Committees
-of Parliament. The first is that a very important
-international investigation of the North Sea and adjacent
-waters has been in progress for a number of years and is
-still going on. On the invitation of the Swedish Government,
-representatives of Great Britain, Germany, Russia, the Netherlands,
-Denmark, Sweden, and Norway met at Stockholm in
-June 1899, and again at Christiania in May 1901, to discuss
-and arrange an organisation and a programme for an international
-scientific investigation of the North Sea, the Norwegian
-Sea, and the Baltic, in the interests of the fisheries;
-and in July 1902, the first meeting of the body so constituted,
-the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, was
-held at Copenhagen. Since then all the maritime countries of
-Western Europe, with the exception of France, have engaged
-in these researches.<a id="FNanchor_1339" href="#Footnote_1339" class="fnanchor">1339</a> This country entered into the arrangement
-with special reference to the fisheries in the North Sea,
-and with a very practical end in view&mdash;namely, to secure a
-careful inquiry into the effect of the methods of fishing in the
-North Sea, and to promote a scheme for determining whether
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_736">736</span>
-protection against overfishing was required; and, if so, where,
-when, and how such protection should be given.<a id="FNanchor_1340" href="#Footnote_1340" class="fnanchor">1340</a> Much strong
-criticism has been passed as to the origin, the methods, and the
-programme of these investigations,<a id="FNanchor_1341" href="#Footnote_1341" class="fnanchor">1341</a> and while they have naturally
-resulted in large additions to our knowledge of the physical
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_737">737</span>
-and biological conditions of the sea, of the life-history of fishes,
-and of certain fishery questions, no report has yet appeared
-dealing with the fundamental problem as to overfishing and
-any remedies which may be required to safeguard the fish-supply;
-and it is doubtless such information that is referred
-to by the Foreign Secretary as essential before Foreign Powers
-can be approached. An opinion was, however, early expressed
-as to the particular question of the Moray Firth. The Conference
-held at Christiania in 1901, at which all the Powers
-signatory to the North Sea Convention (with the exception of
-France) were represented, passed a resolution to the effect that
-“in distinct areas of the sea, as for example the Moray Firth,
-in which any Government has undertaken scientific experiments
-in the interest of the fisheries, and in which the success of the
-experiments is being hindered by the operations of trawlers, it
-is to be desired that measures be adopted for the removal of
-such hindrances.”<a id="FNanchor_1342" href="#Footnote_1342" class="fnanchor">1342</a></p>
-
-<p>The second probable reason that nothing has yet been done
-to arrive at an international understanding appears to be that
-the representatives of the great trawling industry have changed
-their minds within the last few years. Since foreign coasts have
-been exploited with immediate financial success to the trawling
-companies, their interest in the North Sea has diminished.
-They fear that if the question of fishery regulations beyond the
-ordinary three-mile limit is opened up with foreign Powers in
-the interest of the North Sea fisheries, proposals may be made,
-as a <i>quid pro quo</i>, by some of the other Powers for similar
-regulations on their coasts; and it is evident from the statements
-made in Parliament that this view has hitherto prevailed.<a id="FNanchor_1343" href="#Footnote_1343" class="fnanchor">1343</a>
-One would have thought that a <i>quid pro quo</i> which
-closed to trawling the great area off the Continental coast,
-which English trawlers for more than fifteen years have been
-vainly asking to be closed by international arrangement, would
-be satisfactory to them. Or that a fishery limit of nine or ten
-miles on the other side of the North Sea, or all around it, which
-they thought some years ago to be the best remedy for the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_738">738</span>
-depletion of the fishing-banks, would meet with their approval.
-These areas, compared with the whole of the North Sea, are
-comparatively of small extent (<a href="#fig_26">see fig. 26</a>). The area of the
-North Sea between the three-mile line and a nine-mile limit
-amounts to about 12,000 square miles, or 7&middot;4 per cent of the
-whole area beyond three miles from the shore; and the area
-between the three-mile line and a thirteen-mile limit amounts
-to about 20,000 square miles, or 12&middot;3 per cent.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, the condition of the fishing-grounds in the North
-Sea is described as serious by those who ought to know most
-about it&mdash;the trawlers who are daily working there; and if
-no remedy is timeously applied, the measures which will
-eventually be necessary will transcend those which are now
-proposed.<a id="FNanchor_1344" href="#Footnote_1344" class="fnanchor">1344</a></p>
-
-<p>But if it be imprudent to postpone indefinitely the seeking
-of an international remedy for the depleted fisheries of the
-North Sea, because the trawling industry fears that retaliatory
-measures may be proposed against British trawlers on some
-foreign coasts, it may be questioned, on the other hand, whether
-the action taken to obviate such measures has always been
-well-judged or in accordance with the true comity of nations.
-On strictly selfish grounds, and for immediate profit, it is
-doubtless justifiable to make every fishing-bank, wherever it
-is situated, available for the enterprise of British capital, irrespective
-of the interests of the inhabitants of the adjoining
-coast, if that can be managed. If, indeed, the resources of the
-sea were inexhaustible,&mdash;if it was impossible for the operations
-of man to diminish the abundance of fish,&mdash;then no limit of
-exclusive fishing would be necessary: only such regulations
-would be required as would enable fishing operations to be
-conducted in an orderly manner. But the condition of the
-North Sea alone proves the opposite. It shows also, what is
-well enough understood, that unrestrained trawling on any
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_739">739</span>
-banks will, in course of time, materially reduce their productiveness;
-and the rapidity of the impoverishment will very
-largely depend upon the intensity of the fishing and the extent
-of the grounds. That being so, it may well be said that a
-measure of protection on the banks which are still productive
-along foreign coasts would be in the permanent interest of
-the English trawling industry itself, as well as in the interest
-of the coast population.<a id="FNanchor_1345" href="#Footnote_1345" class="fnanchor">1345</a></p>
-
-<p>On some of those coasts the local population are dependent
-on the fish they catch on the neighbouring grounds, which
-are often of limited extent, and it is reasonable and just that
-they should endeavour to preserve this supply for their own
-use and advantage. At Iceland, for example, the area of the
-possible fishing-grounds between the ordinary three-mile limit
-and a depth of 200 metres (or 109 fathoms), including places
-where trawling is not practicable, amounts to about 36,600
-square miles, compared with nearly 312,000 square miles between
-the same limits off the British Isles.<a id="FNanchor_1346" href="#Footnote_1346" class="fnanchor">1346</a> It was recently
-stated in the House of Lords, by Lord Heneage, that the Icelanders,
-with the view of preserving their fishing-grounds,
-a few years ago brought forward a law in the <i>Althing</i>, or
-local Parliament, to extend the limit of exclusive fishing to
-seven miles around their coast. It was also said that in
-1901 they passed laws for enclosing extra-territorial waters.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_740">740</span>
-As soon as these proceedings came to the knowledge of the
-English trawl-owners, the National Sea Fisheries Protection
-Association made a representation on the subject to the Foreign
-Office, and in consequence of this the Danish Government
-took action, and the law was prevented from coming into
-operation.<a id="FNanchor_1347" href="#Footnote_1347" class="fnanchor">1347</a> And any such action in the future was effectually
-prevented by the immediate negotiation of an international
-convention in which a three-mile limit was fixed for Iceland
-and Far&ouml;e (<a href="#Page_647">see p. 647</a>) so far as concerned British fishermen.
-Then with respect to the coasts of Spain and Portugal, where
-the available grounds are narrow, amounting altogether between
-the three-mile limit and the 200-metre line to 15,460 square
-miles (<a href="#fig_28">see fig. 28</a>), intimation has been made by the British
-Foreign Office, at the instance of the National Sea Fisheries
-Protection Association, that jurisdiction will not be recognised
-over British vessels beyond three miles from the shore, and the
-national regulations in regard to trawling are thus rendered
-comparatively ineffective. With regard to Norway, moreover,
-where the area between the three-mile limit and the 200-metre
-line exceeds 30,000 square miles, it appears that soon after her
-separation from Sweden, in 1905, the British Foreign Office
-made the proposal that she should join in the North Sea Convention
-(which, along with Sweden, she refused to do in 1882),
-so that the ordinary three-mile limit might be imposed along
-the Norwegian coast; but the proposal was rejected.<a id="FNanchor_1348" href="#Footnote_1348" class="fnanchor">1348</a></p>
-
-<p>In view of the evidence that has been adduced, the recommendations
-of the various Committees of Parliament that
-have inquired into the subject, and the statements made in
-the House of Commons, it may be assumed that an international
-conference of the Powers bordering the North Sea
-will be convened, to consider how fishery regulations may be
-made more effective, whether by extension of the limits of
-exclusive fishery or otherwise, as soon as the results of the
-international fishery investigations justify that course.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_741">741</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_A">APPENDIX A.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_45">P. 45.</a>)</span><br />
-
-<span class="large">THE LIBEL REGARDING REYNER GRIMBALD.</span><br />
-
-<small><span class="smcap">De Superioritate Maris Angli&aelig; et Jure officii Admirallatus
-in eodem.</span></small><br />
-
-<small>(Chancery Rolls, Miscellaneous. Treaties and Diplomatic. Bundle 14,
-No. 15, Mem. 12.)</small></h2>
-
-<p>A vous Seignurs Auditours Deputez par les Roys Dengleterre et de
-Fraunce a redresser les damages faitz as gentz de lour Roialmes et des
-autres terres subgiz a lour seignuries par meer et par terre en temps
-de pees et de Trewes monstrent les Procureurs<a id="FNanchor_1349" href="#Footnote_1349" class="fnanchor">1349</a> des Prelatz et Nobles
-et del Admiral de la meer Dengleterre et des Comunaltes des Citees
-et des Villes et des Marchanz Mariners Messagers et Pillerins et de
-tous autres<a id="FNanchor_1350" href="#Footnote_1350" class="fnanchor">1350</a> du dit Roialme Dengleterre et des autres terres subgies
-a la seignurie du dit Roy Dengleterre et daillours sicome de la Marine
-de Genne Cateloigne Espaigne Alemaigne Selaunde Heylande Frese
-Denemarch et Norweye et de pluseurs autres leux del empyre qe come
-les Roys Dengleterre par raisoun du dit Roialme du temps dount il
-na<a id="FNanchor_1351" href="#Footnote_1351" class="fnanchor">1351</a> memoyre du contraire eussent este<a id="FNanchor_1352" href="#Footnote_1352" class="fnanchor">1352</a> en paisible possession de la
-souereigne seignurie de la meer Dengleterre et des Isles esteans en
-ycele<a id="FNanchor_1353" href="#Footnote_1353" class="fnanchor">1353</a> par ordinance et establicement des lois estatuz et deffenses
-darmes et des vesseaux autrement garniz qe vesseaux de Marchandise
-et de seurte prendre et sauuegarde doner en tous cas qe mestier serra
-et par ordinance de tous autres faitz necessaires a la garde des pees
-droiture et equite entre toute<a id="FNanchor_1354" href="#Footnote_1354" class="fnanchor">1354</a> manere des genz taunt dautri seignurie
-come leur propre<a id="FNanchor_1355" href="#Footnote_1355" class="fnanchor">1355</a> par illeqes passanz et<a id="FNanchor_1356" href="#Footnote_1356" class="fnanchor">1356</a> par souereigne garde et<a id="FNanchor_1357" href="#Footnote_1357" class="fnanchor">1357</a>
-tote manere de conisance et Justice haute et basse sur les dites loys
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_742">742</span>
-estatuz ordinances et deffenses et par tous autres faitz queux a le
-gouernement<a id="FNanchor_1358" href="#Footnote_1358" class="fnanchor">1358</a> de souereigne seignurie appartenir purront es leux
-auantdiz. Et A. de B. Admiral de la dite meer deputez par le Roy<a id="FNanchor_1359" href="#Footnote_1359" class="fnanchor">1359</a>
-Dengleterre et tous les autres Admirals par meisme celui Roy Dengleterre<a id="FNanchor_1360" href="#Footnote_1360" class="fnanchor">1360</a>
-et ses Ancestres iadiz Roys Dengleterre eussent este<a id="FNanchor_1361" href="#Footnote_1361" class="fnanchor">1361</a> en
-paisible possession de la dite souereigne garde<a id="FNanchor_1362" href="#Footnote_1362" class="fnanchor">1362</a> oue la conisance et
-Justice et tous les autres appurtenances auantdites horspris<a id="FNanchor_1363" href="#Footnote_1363" class="fnanchor">1363</a> en cas
-dappel et de querele faite de eux a lour souereignes Roys Dengleterre
-de deffalte de droit ou de mauueis iuggement et especialment par
-empeschement mettre et Justice faire<a id="FNanchor_1364" href="#Footnote_1364" class="fnanchor">1364</a> seurte prendre de la pees de
-tote manere des genz vsanz armes en la dite meer ou menanz Nefs
-autrement apparaillees ou garnies qe nappartenoit au<a id="FNanchor_1365" href="#Footnote_1365" class="fnanchor">1365</a> Neef Marchande
-et en tous autres pointz en queux homme poet auoir resonable cause
-de suspecion vers eux de roberie ou des autres mesfaitz.<a id="FNanchor_1366" href="#Footnote_1366" class="fnanchor">1366</a> Et come
-les Meistres des Neefs du dit Roialme Dengleterre en absence des diz
-Admirals eussent este en paisible possession de conustre et juggier de
-tous faitz en la dite meer entre tote manere des gentz solonc les loys
-estatus et les deffenses franchises et Coustumes.<a id="FNanchor_1367" href="#Footnote_1367" class="fnanchor">1367</a> Et come en le
-primer article de lalliaunce nadguers faite entre les diz Roys en les
-traitiz sur la darraine pees de Paris soient comprises les paroles qe
-sensuient en vne cedule anexe ayceste.<a id="FNanchor_1368" href="#Footnote_1368" class="fnanchor">1368</a> Primerement il est traite
-et acorde entre nous et les messages et les procureurs desurdiz en
-nonn des diz Roys qe yceux Roys serrount lun a lautre desores en
-auant bons verays et loiaux amys et eydanz countre tout homme
-sauue lesglise de Rome en tiele manere que si ascun ou pluseurs
-quicunques ils fuissent voloient deponticer [<i>sic</i>] empescher ou troubler
-les diz Roys es franchises es libertez priuileges es droiz es droitures
-ou es custumes de eux et de lour Roialmes qils serront bons et loiaux
-amys et aydanz countre tout homme qi puisse viure et morir a defendre
-gardir et mainterer<a id="FNanchor_1369" href="#Footnote_1369" class="fnanchor">1369</a> les franchises les libertez les priuileges les
-droiz les droitures et les coustumes desusdites Excepte<a id="FNanchor_1370" href="#Footnote_1370" class="fnanchor">1370</a> le dit Roy
-Dengleterre Monsieur Johan Duc de Braban en Brabant et ses heirs
-dessenduz de lui et de la fille le Roy<a id="FNanchor_1371" href="#Footnote_1371" class="fnanchor">1371</a> Dengleterre et excepte pur
-le dit nostre seigneur le Roy de Fraunce excellent Prince Monsieur
-Aubert Roy Dalemaigne [et] ses heirs Roys Dalemaigne et Monsieur
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_743">743</span>
-Johan Counte de Henau en Henau. Et que lun ne serra en consail
-ne en ayde ou lautre perde vie membre estat ne honur temporel
-[Mem. 12<i>d</i>] Monsieur Reymer Grymbaltz Meistre de la Nauie du
-dit Roy de Fraunce qi se dit estre Admiral de la dite Meer deputez
-per soun seignur auantdit pur sa guerre countre les Flamaings apres
-la dite alliaunce faite et affirmee et<a id="FNanchor_1372" href="#Footnote_1372" class="fnanchor">1372</a> contre la fourme et la fource
-de meisme lalliance et lentencion de ceux qi la firent loffice deladmiralte
-en la dite Meer Dengleterre<a id="FNanchor_1373" href="#Footnote_1373" class="fnanchor">1373</a> par commission du Roy<a id="FNanchor_1374" href="#Footnote_1374" class="fnanchor">1374</a> de
-France torsenousement enprist et usa un an et plus en parnant les
-gentz et<a id="FNanchor_1375" href="#Footnote_1375" class="fnanchor">1375</a> marchantz du Roialme Dengleterre et daillours par la dite
-meer passanz euesque leur biens<a id="FNanchor_1376" href="#Footnote_1376" class="fnanchor">1376</a> et les gentz ansi prises liuera a la
-prison de soun dit Seignur le Roy de Fraunce et lour biens et<a id="FNanchor_1377" href="#Footnote_1377" class="fnanchor">1377</a>
-Marchandises a les Receiuours par meisme celui Roy de Fraunce<a id="FNanchor_1378" href="#Footnote_1378" class="fnanchor">1378</a>
-a ce<a id="FNanchor_1379" href="#Footnote_1379" class="fnanchor">1379</a> deputez en les Portz de soun dit Roialme come a lui forfaites
-et acquises fist amener par soun iuggement et agard<a id="FNanchor_1380" href="#Footnote_1380" class="fnanchor">1380</a> et la prise et
-detenue des dites gentz oue<a id="FNanchor_1381" href="#Footnote_1381" class="fnanchor">1381</a> lour diz biens et marchandises et soun
-dit iuggement et agard sur la forfaiture de eaux et acqueste<a id="FNanchor_1382" href="#Footnote_1382" class="fnanchor">1382</a> ait
-Justice deuant vous Seignurs Auditours en escript par my lautorite
-de la<a id="FNanchor_1383" href="#Footnote_1383" class="fnanchor">1383</a> dite commission sur ladmiralte auantdite par lui ansi vsurpee
-et par my vne deffense communement faite par le Roy<a id="FNanchor_1384" href="#Footnote_1384" class="fnanchor">1384</a> Dengleterre
-par my soun poer solonc la forme du<a id="FNanchor_1385" href="#Footnote_1385" class="fnanchor">1385</a> tiers article de lalliaunce auant
-dite qi contient les paroles desouzescriptes en requerant que de ce
-il en fuisse quitz et assouz en grant damage et preiudice du dit Roy
-Dengleterre et des Prelatz et Nobles et autres desusnomez par quoy
-les diz procureurs en les nouns de lour diz Seignurs<a id="FNanchor_1386" href="#Footnote_1386" class="fnanchor">1386</a> Auditours
-auantdiz prient que deliuerance dewe et hastiue des dites gentz
-ouesqe leur biens et marchandises ansi prises et detenues facez estre
-faite al Admiral du dit Roy Dengleterre a qi la conisance de ce appartient
-de droit sicome desus est dit ansi qe<a id="FNanchor_1387" href="#Footnote_1387" class="fnanchor">1387</a> sans destorbance de
-vous et dautri<a id="FNanchor_1388" href="#Footnote_1388" class="fnanchor">1388</a> puisse de ce conustre et faire ce qe appartient a soun
-office auant dit et qe le dit Monsieur Reyner soit condampne et
-destreint affaire dewe satisfaction a tous les diz damagez si auant
-come etc.<a id="FNanchor_1389" href="#Footnote_1389" class="fnanchor">1389</a> Item vous requirent les diz procureurs que come solone
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_744">744</span>
-les anxnienes<a id="FNanchor_1390" href="#Footnote_1390" class="fnanchor">1390</a> loys franchises et coustumes du Roialme Dengleterre
-a la garde des queles vostre dit seignur le Roy et ses auncestres Roys
-Dengleterre soloient estre liez par lour sermentz Lour Admirals de la
-Meer Dengleterre oue<a id="FNanchor_1391" href="#Footnote_1391" class="fnanchor">1391</a> les Maistres et Mariners nefs<a id="FNanchor_1392" href="#Footnote_1392" class="fnanchor">1392</a> des Portz de
-la Marine Dengleterre esteans en les<a id="FNanchor_1393" href="#Footnote_1393" class="fnanchor">1393</a> armees des diz Admirals ne
-deuoient<a id="FNanchor_1394" href="#Footnote_1394" class="fnanchor">1394</a> respondre deuant nuls Justices des Roys auantdiz<a id="FNanchor_1395" href="#Footnote_1395" class="fnanchor">1395</a> sur
-fais en la Meer susdite durans lours<a id="FNanchor_1396" href="#Footnote_1396" class="fnanchor">1396</a> guerres countre lour enemis
-et le dit Admiral vostre dit seignur le Roy et plusours des Maistres
-et Mariners des Portz auantdiz ore esteans en sa Armee countre les<a id="FNanchor_1397" href="#Footnote_1397" class="fnanchor">1397</a>
-enemis Descoce et lour aydans et alliez par expres mandement de vostre
-dit seignur le Roy soiient accusez deuant vous par gentz de Normandie
-et de Bretaigne et daillours sur ascuns faitz en la dite Meer en temps
-de trewes et puis la pees afferme entre les diz Roys Dengleterre et de
-Fraunce et auant la guerre comencee entre eaux a ce qest dit. Vous
-plaise surseer es proces countre eux ia comencee et deporter de comencer
-nouel durant la guerre susdite ansi qils naient mestier de se<a id="FNanchor_1398" href="#Footnote_1398" class="fnanchor">1398</a>
-complaindre a vostre dit seignur et as Prelatz et Nobles de soun dit
-Roialme par leur serment liez a les dites loys franchises et coustumes
-garder et maintenir.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_B">APPENDIX B.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_49">P. 49.</a>)</span></h2>
-
-<p class="large hang">PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE AUDITORS DEPUTED BY THE
-KINGS OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE FOR THE REDRESS
-OF THE GRIEVANCES BETWEEN THE SUBJECTS OF
-THE TWO COUNTRIES. 27-33, Edw. I.</p>
-
-<p class="copy">(Abstract of Chancery Miscellaneous Roll. Bdle. 5, No. 6.)</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Richard Bush</span> <i>against</i> <span class="smcap">Reyner Gr&yuml;maus</span>.</h4>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Libel</span> (<i>Libellus</i>).</p>
-
-<p>Richard Bush of London complains that a ship called “la Blacog̃”
-of London, going from Winchelsea to Dieppe in August 1301, containing
-goods to the value of &pound;157, was attacked by Michel de Navere
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_745">745</span>
-and others of Calais, and his said goods taken thither and there disposed
-of by said Michel and Henry de Ganewe. Said Richard
-demands restoration of goods and &pound;20 damages.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Denial</span> (<i>Contestatio negativa</i>).</p>
-
-<p>The said “Cheual̃” asserts that he was not in that country at the
-time specified, nor for nearly a year afterwards.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Rejoinder</span> (<i>Repplicatio</i>).</p>
-
-<p>To the answer of the “chevalier” that he was not admiral till
-some time after the events specified, the attorneys of said Richard
-reply that they will advise with their master as to the truth.</p>
-
-<p>William Bush of London loaded a ship called “la Mariote de Seland”
-at Antwerp for London with goods to the value of &pound;175, 17s. 8d.
-Michel de Nauere and others of Calais came with three galleys to the
-foreland of Thanet at the mouth of the Thames in May 1298; took
-said ship to Calais and there disposed of the goods by the aid of
-Henri de Ganewe. Said William demands restoration and &pound;20
-damages.</p>
-
-<p>To the demand of William Bush the said John<a id="FNanchor_1399" href="#Footnote_1399" class="fnanchor">1399</a> replies “en la
-maniere q̃ il fait a la demande Cecile,”<a id="FNanchor_1400" href="#Footnote_1400" class="fnanchor">1400</a> that it does not concern him,
-but “mos̃ Henri et Michel de Nauare.”</p>
-
-<p>Said William further complains that he loaded a ship called “la
-Blithe” of London in Brabant for London with goods, value &pound;40.
-John Pederogh seized them at the mouth of the Thames in July
-1303, took them to Calais, and there disposed of them by the aid
-of Edward de Mabusshon. William demands restoration and &pound;8
-damages.<a id="FNanchor_1401" href="#Footnote_1401" class="fnanchor">1401</a></p>
-
-<p>Said John replies that at the time specified he was not on the sea
-at all but in Paris or on the road to Calais.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Thomas Cros</span> <i>against</i> <span class="smcap">John Paydro</span>.</h4>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Libel</span>.</p>
-
-<p>Thomas Cros of London, executor of the will of Thos. Cros his
-father, who was executor of Henry Box of London, complains that said
-Henry loaded the ships William le fiz Henri, Godefroi de Duffle,
-Michel de Middelborgh, Johan Athelard, Johan le Chaundeler in
-London, to go to Brabant (which ships were of Brabant) with goods
-value &pound;672; Michel de Nauuere and others of Calais with three
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_746">746</span>
-galleys seized said ships off the foreland of Thanet in May 1298, took
-the goods aforesaid from said ships and in their galleys to Calais, and
-there disposed of them by the aid of Henry de Genewe. Said Thomas
-Cros demands restoration and &pound;100 damages.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Exception requiring delay</span> (<i>Excepc̃o dilatoria</i>).</p>
-
-<p>The said John says it is not for him to reply, as the complaint
-concerns not him but mos̃ Henri de Genes and Michel de Nauare,
-who are abroad where they cannot be had.</p>
-
-<p>“Watier le Hert de Mallins” and Rose de Salisbery of London
-loaded at London a ship called the Johan Azelard de Mallins with
-goods value &pound;28, 19s. 2d. Michel de Nauare and others of Calais
-with three galleys seized said goods out of said ship, then anchored off
-the foreland of Thanet (May 1298), took them in their galleys to
-Calais, and disposed of them by the aid of mons̃. Henri de Genewe.
-Said Watier and Rose demand restoration and &pound;6 damages.</p>
-
-<p>Cecile atte More of London loaded at London for Brabant the ships
-William Petersone of Seland, William Henriessone of Seland, Johan
-le Chandeler, with goods value &pound;158, 19s. Michel de Nauere and
-others of Calais in May 1298 seized said goods out of said ships (then
-anchored off Thanet) and disposed of them at Calais by the aid of
-Henri de Genewe. Cecile claims restoration and &pound;20 damages.</p>
-
-<p>Cecile atte More complains that in July 1303 Johan Pederogh and
-others seized goods of the said Cecile at the mouth of the Thames out
-of a ship called “la Blithe de Londres” coming from Brabant, and
-disposed of them at Calais by the aid of mos̃ Edward de Mabusshon:
-value &pound;10. Cecile prays restoration and 40s. damages.</p>
-
-<p>Said John replies that at the date specified he was at Paris or on
-the road to Calais, and not on the sea at all.</p>
-
-<p>Thomas atte Hurst of London loaded at Berwick the “Distaf de
-Haneford” for London, with goods to the value of &pound;11, 18s. 8d.
-They were seized by men from Calais off Blakeney on the Tuesday
-after Saint Bartholomew 1303,<a id="FNanchor_1402" href="#Footnote_1402" class="fnanchor">1402</a> and disposed of at Calais. Thomas
-prays restoration and damages.</p>
-
-<p>The said John [<i>sic</i>] says that the above demand concerns “mi sire
-Reniers de Grimaus” only, for he was then admiral, and said John
-was on shore at the date specified. Said John was only in the company
-of said Reniers “en Sellande et en Horlande.”
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_747">747</span></p>
-
-<p>To the demand of Thos. atte Hurst touching goods seized from the
-“Distaf de Haneforde” by Johan Peidroge, Clay Clinkhamer, Piers
-Hues, and others in 1302 [<i>sic</i>], the said “Oudart” [<i>sic</i>] replies as he
-did to the claim of Alayn de Thorndon. [<i>See below.</i>]</p>
-
-<p>Aleyn de Thornden, burgess of “Lenn,” loaded a ship in Scotland
-belonging to Nichol de Caith̃ with goods value &pound;133 for Brabant,&mdash;mons̃
-Odard de Maubusshon, Johan Peidrgroge, Johan de la
-B..ge.lour, “soen frere Lani yacop” Gusse Odin, Johan le
-parker, vaaseur le Mariner, Hirnolet le Man and Petre le Puttere,
-in August 1304 seized the ship off Kirkele, killed the crew, and disposed
-of ship and goods at Calais. Aleyn demands restoration and
-damages, value in all &pound;143.</p>
-
-<p>The said John replies that he and others named in above plaint at
-the date specified were in Holland and Zeeland. “Car le iour de la
-Seint Laurence<a id="FNanchor_1403" href="#Footnote_1403" class="fnanchor">1403</a> il se combatieront en Selande as Flamens as Baion̄ois
-et as Engleis qi estoient en lour aide.”</p>
-
-<p>William Quineberge, burgess of Lynn, loaded his own ship, the
-“Nicholas,” at Lynn for Scotland with goods, value &pound;35, 15s. 8d.&mdash;Odard
-de Maubusshon, Johan Perdroge, Johan Huard, Gusse Odin,
-Simond Danyn, Johan Allestein, Clay Clinchamer, Vaaseur le Mariner,
-Johan Paye, and Petre le Pottere in August 1303 plundered the ship
-off Scarborough, killed a mariner, and disposed of the goods at Calais.
-William demands restoration and &pound;10 damages.</p>
-
-<p>Adam Honson of Gloucester loaded the ship of “Williame de
-Douere” at Antwerp for England with goods, value &pound;220. Odard
-de Maubusshon and Johan Peidroge of Calais, in September 1303,
-plundered said ship in sight of Dover, “et illoeques la Nief deliuereront
-al auant dit William de Douere” [<i>sic</i>]. Adam demands
-restoration and &pound;60 damages.</p>
-
-<p>Johan de Hetheye, William le Scherman, Rich. le Goldsmith,
-Johan le Blunt, Will. de Nesse, Johan Gode, and Wauter Top loaded
-the ship of William Gare called “Michele de Arwe” in London with
-goods, value &pound;556, 3s. 8d., for Brabant.</p>
-
-<p>Sire Reyner Grimbaud, admiral, on the high seas, the Sunday after
-Michaelmas 1303,<a id="FNanchor_1404" href="#Footnote_1404" class="fnanchor">1404</a> seized said ship and goods and took them “a Roem
-en Normandie”; sent the crew to Calais, where some were put in
-prison, and one still remains. Plaintiffs demand restoration and
-&pound;100 damages.</p>
-
-<p>To the complaint touching “la Michele de Arwe,” seized on the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_748">748</span>
-Sunday after Michaelmas 1304 [<i>sic</i>], the “chiualer” confesses he took
-such a ship in that year but not of the value named: “ains fu prise
-la dite Nief a la Suyne a la pointe du Jour oue poer des enemys as
-Ancres.” He seized it rightfully, the said ship consorting with the
-enemies of France. The crew were taken, without force, and letters
-were found in the ship to those of Bruges concerning money to be
-received in that town; those put in prison all escaped except Johan
-de Masworth, who is still there. The “chiualer” deems both persons
-and goods forfeit to the King of France.</p>
-
-<p>To the demand of John de Masworth for restoration of goods and
-liberty, the “chiualer” says he is in prison as a malefactor against the
-King of France, and that the commission of the deputies does not
-extend to such cases.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Adam de Fulham</span> <i>against</i> <span class="smcap">John Paydroge</span>.</h4>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Libel.</span></p>
-
-<p>Adam de Fulham of London complains that in the year 1302 men
-of Calais attacked the “Margarete de Jernemuth” off Orfordenessh
-going to London, killed the crew, and took the ship and goods to the
-value of &pound;20 to Calais and there disposed of them. Demands restoration
-and damages.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Denial.</span></p>
-
-<p>To the demand made by Adam de Fulham against said John and
-others touching violence done to him between “le Seint Martin et
-le Chaundeler” in 1302, said John replies as he did to Johan de
-Chelchethe.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Exemption Requiring Delay.</span></p>
-
-<p>To another demand of said Adam, said John replies as he did to
-William Seruat.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">John de Chelchete</span> <i>against</i> <span class="smcap">Reyner de Grymaus</span>.</h4>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Libel.</span></p>
-
-<p>John de Chelchethe of London complains that in 1302 John
-Padrogh and others of Calais attacked the “Margarete de Jernemuth”
-off Orfordenessh, killed the crew, and took ship and goods to Calais.
-Demands restoration and damages, value in all &pound;39, 5s. 8d.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Exemption Requiring Delay.</span></p>
-
-<p>Said John Padrogh replies as he did to William Seruat.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_749">749</span></p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Edmund Lamby</span> ... <i>against</i> <span class="smcap">John Paydroge</span>.</h4>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Libel.</span></p>
-
-<p>Said Edmund complains as others have done concerning the
-“Margaret of Yarmouth.” His goods therein were of the value
-of &pound;12.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Gilbert de Asshendon</span> <i>against</i> <span class="smcap">John Paydroge</span>.</h4>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Libel.</span></p>
-
-<p>Said Gilbert de Asshendon of London complains that the “Distaf
-de Haneford” loaded at Berwick for London was taken off Blakeney
-in 1303 (Tuesday after St Bartholomew). Demands restoration and
-damages, value in all &pound;8, 10s. 4d.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Denial.</span></p>
-
-<p>Said John replies that at the date specified he was on dry land at
-Calais.</p>
-
-<p>To this demand against Johan Peidroge, Clay Clinkhanner, Piers
-Hues, Stace Swares, and Johan Huares, Oudart replies as he did to
-Alein de Thornden.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_C">APPENDIX C.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_65">P. 65.</a>)</span><br />
-
-<span class="large table">LICENSE FOR FISHING AT THE “ZOWE” BANK IN
-THE CHANNEL.</span></h2>
-
-<p class="copy">(State Papers, Domestic. James I., Vol. 81, No. 3. 1615.)</p>
-
-<p>Robert, Baron of Brancepeth, Viscount Rochester, Earle of Somersett,
-Lord Chamberlaine of his Ma<sup>te</sup> householde, knyght of the most
-noble order of the Garter, and one of his Ma<sup>te</sup> most honorable privie
-Counsell, provisionally deputed for the government of the Cinque
-Portes. To all to whom theis presentes shall come, Greeting, Knowe
-ye that I, according to the auntient ordinances and rules hertofore
-established and lately revived for the preservacon of the fishing
-betwixt the subiectes of the Easterne coast of the kingdome of
-great Britayne and the frenche Fishermen accoastinge those partes,
-Haue by theis presentes licensed and authorised Reynold Howgatt
-of the Towne of Treporte, Fisherman, M<sup>r</sup> of one Fisherboate called
-the Don de Dieu of about fourteen tonnes, with all her Company and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_750">750</span>
-servants of the same Boate, To Fishe at the place called the Sowe
-upon the English coast and elsewhere upon that coast, in the same
-sorte as any one of those five boates heertofore tollerated and
-privileged out of respect for the service of the Frenche king his
-excellent Ma<sup>tie</sup>, for all sortes of Fishe without restrainte of season,
-soe the same be done and performed with nettes and engines lawfull
-and accustomed by the English subiectes of that coast. Requiring
-you and every of you whom it shall concerne not onely to permit
-and suffer him and his sayd servantes soe to doe without any your
-unnecessary lett or impeachement. But alsoe to yeilde him and his
-company all lawfull favor and assistance therein as they shall have
-occasion, bearinge themselves orderly and peaceably and observing
-the rules and ordinances sett downe and established for that coast
-fishing as aforesaid under the penalties therein expressed and conteyned.
-This license is to endure but untill the first daie of August
-w<sup>ch</sup> shalbe in the yeare of our Lord God 1616.</p>
-
-<p>Geven under the Seale of Office at Douer Castle the sixt daie
-of July in the thirteenth yeare of the reigne of our Souereigne Lord,
-James, by the grace of God of Great Britaine, Frannce, and Ireland,
-king, Defender of the fayth, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p class="author">
-(Sd.) <span class="smcap">R. Somerset.</span></p>
-
-<p class="hang">A la nominac̃on du Mouns<sup>r</sup> Villares Houden gouern<sup>r</sup> du
-Chatiau et ville de Diep et suit du Roy de Fraunce.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_D">APPENDIX D.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_119">P. 119.</a>)</span><br />
-
-<span class="large table">PROCLAMATION FOR REUOCATION OF MARINERS FROM
-FORREINE SERUICES.</span></h2>
-
-<p class="hang">(A Booke of Proclamations, published since the beginning of his Majesties most
-happy Reigne ouer England, &amp;c., Vntill this present Moneth of Febr. 3,
-Anno Dom. 1609 [1602-1612].)</p>
-
-<p>Whereas within this short time since the Peace concluded betweene
-vs and the King of Spaine and the Archdukes our good
-brothers, it hath appeared unto vs that many Mariners and Seafearing
-men of this Realme hauing gotten a custome and habite
-in the time of the Warre to make profite by Spoile, doe leaue their
-ordinary and honest vocation and Trading in Merchantly Voyages,
-whereby they might both reape conuenient maintenance, and be seruiceable
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_751">751</span>
-to their Countrey, And doe betake themselues to the seruice of
-diuers forreine States, vnder the title of men of Warre, to haue
-thereby occasion to continue their vnlawful and vngodly course of liuing
-by spoile vsing the seruice of those Princes but for colour and pretext,
-but in effect making themselues commonly no better then Pirats to
-robbe both our owne Subiects their Countreymen, and the subiects
-of other Princes our neighbours, going in their honest Trade of
-Merchandize: By which courses they doe impeach the quiet traffique
-of Nations one with other, leaue our Realme vnfurnished of men of
-their sort, if we should haue cause to vse them, and inure themselues
-to an impious disposition of liuing by rapine and euill meanes,
-although by reason of the Uniuersall peace wherein wee are at this
-present with all Christian Princes and States, they may haue a more
-plentifull employment in an orderly and lawfull Nauigation, then at
-any time of late yeeres they could haue had: We haue thought
-it necessary in time to preuent the spreading of such a corruption
-amongst our Subiects of that sort and calling, whereby our Nation
-will be so much slandered, and our Realme so greatly disaduantaged.
-Wherefore we doe will and command all Masters of ships, Pilots,
-Mariners, and all other sort of Seafearing men, who now are in the
-Martiall seruice of any forreine States, that they doe presently
-returne home into their owne Countrey, and leaue all such forreine
-Seruices, and betake themselues to their vocation in the lawfull
-course of Merchandize, and other orderly Nauigation, upon such
-paines and punishments as by the Lawes of our Realme may be
-inflicted upon them, if after this declaration of our pleasure, they
-shall not obey. And we doe also vpon the same paines straitly
-charge and command al our Subiects of that profession, that none
-of them shall from hencefoorth take Letters of Marke or Reprisall,
-nor serue vnder any that hath such Letters of Marke or Reprisall
-from any forreine Prince or State whatsoeuer, Nor otherwise employ
-themselues in any warlike Seruices of any forraine State vpon the
-Sea, without speciall License obtained from our selfe, or from our
-high Admirall, as they will answer the contrary at their perils.</p>
-
-<p>And forasmuch as although we are in Peace with all Christian
-Princes and States, yet during the continuance of the Warre betweene
-the King of Spain and the Archdukes on the one side, and the
-vnited Prouinces of the Low-Countreys on the other side, many
-chances may happen, as some already haue happened, of difficult
-interpretation to our Officers and Subiects how to behaue themselues
-in such cases, vnlesse they be explained vnto them: We
-haue thought it conuenient to make an open declaration how our
-said Officers and Subiects shall demeane themselues towards the
-Subiects aswell of the King of Spaine and Archdukes, as also of
-the States vnited in the cases following.</p>
-
-<p>First our pleasure is, That within our Portes, Hauens, Rodes,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_752">752</span>
-Creekes, or other places of our Dominion, or so neere to any of
-our sayd Ports or Hauens, as may be reasonably construed to bee
-within that Title, Limit, or Precinct, there shall be no force,
-violence, surprise, or offence suffered to be done either from Man
-of warre to Man of warre, or Man of warre to Merchant, or Merchant
-to Merchant of either party, but that all of what Nation soeuer,
-so long as they shall bee within those our Ports and places of our
-Jurisdiction, or where our Officers may prohibite violence, shall
-bee vnderstood to be under our protection to bee ordered by course
-of Justice, and be at peace each with other.</p>
-
-<p>And whereas some of the Men of warre of ech side haue vsed
-of late, and it is like will vse in time to come, though not to
-come within our Ports, because there they know wee can restraine
-violence, yet to houer and hang about the skirts of our Ports,
-somewhat to Seaboard, but yet so neere our coastes and the entrie
-of our Harbours, as in reason is to be construed to be within the
-extent of the same, and there to await the Merchant of the aduerse
-part, and doe seaze and take them at their going out of our Ports,
-which is all one in a manner, as if they tooke them within our
-Port, and will bee no lesse hinderance to the trade of Merchants:
-Our pleasure therefore and commaundement is to all our Officers and
-Subiects by Sea and Land, That they shall prohibite, as much as in
-them lyeth, all such houering of Men of warre of either side, so
-neere the entrie of any of our Hauens or our Coastes, And that
-they shall rescue and succour all Merchants, and others that shall
-fall within the danger of any such as shall await our Coastes in so
-neere places to the hinderance of Trade and Traffique outward and
-homeward from and to our Kingdomes. And for the better instructions
-of our Officers in the execution of these two Articles,
-Wee haue caused to be sent to them plats of those Limits, within
-which we are resolued that these Orders shalbe obserued.</p>
-
-<p>And where it hath happened, and is like to doe often, that a
-Ship of warre of the one side may come into some of our Ports,
-where there shall bee a Merchant of the other side: In such case,
-for the benefit and preseruation of the lawfull Trade of Merchants,
-Our pleasure is, That all Merchants Ships, if they will require it,
-shall bee suffered to depart out of the sayd Port, two or three
-tydes before the Man of warre, to the intent that the Merchant
-may bee free from the pursuite of his aduersary. And if it so
-happen, that any Ship or Ships of warre of the one side, doe finde
-any Ship or Ships of warre of the other side in any our Ports or
-Roades aforesayd; Like as our pleasure is that during their abode
-there, all violence be forborne: So doe wee likewise commaunde
-our sayd Officers and Subiects both on Sea and Land, That the
-Ship of warre which came in first, bee suffered to depart a Tyde
-or two before the other which came in last, And that for so long
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_753">753</span>
-time they shall stay and detaine any Ship of warre, that would
-offer to pursue another out of any our Ports immediately.</p>
-
-<p>And where [<i>sic</i>] wee are infourmed, that notwithstanding the
-seueritie of our Lawes against receiuers of Pirats goods, many of
-our Officers of our Ports and other inhabitants within and neere
-vnto them, doe receiue dayly Goods brought in from Sea by such
-as are indeed Pirats, if they, and the getting of their Goods were
-well examined: We doe hereby admonish them all, to auoyd the
-receiuing or buying of any Goods from Sea, coming not into the
-Realme by lawfull course of Merchandise, for that they shall finde,
-wee are resolued so to preuent all occasion and encouragement of
-Pirats to bee vsed by any our Subiects as wee will cause our Lawes
-to bee fully executed according to their true meaning, both against
-the Pirats, and all Receuiers and Abetters of them, and their
-Goods.</p>
-
-<table>
- <tr>
- <td>Giuen at Thetford the first day of March, in the<br />
- second yeere of our Reigne of Great Britaine,<br />
- France and Ireland.<br />
- <br /></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc">Anno Dom. 1604.</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_E">APPENDIX E.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_120">P. 120.</a>)</span><br />
-
-<span class="large table">DECLARATION OF JURY OF THE TRINITY HOUSE AS
-TO THE LIMITS OF THE KING’S CHAMBERS.</span></h2>
-
-<p class="copy">(State Papers, Domestic. James I., Vol. 13, No. 11. 1605.)</p>
-
-<p class="hang">A note of y<sup>e</sup> Headlandes of England as they beare one from
-another agreeing with the plott of y<sup>e</sup> Description of y<sup>e</sup>
-Countrye as followeth.</p>
-
-<p>From Holy Iland to the Sowter is South South east. From
-the Sowter to Whitby is Southeast. From Whitby to Flamborough
-head is Southeast, and half a point Southerly. From Flamborough
-head to the Sporne is Southeast easterlie. From the Sporne to
-Cromar is Southeast, and by East. From Cromar to Wynterton
-nes is Southeast and by South. From Wynterton nes to Caster
-nes is South South east. From Casternes to Layestof is South.
-From Layestof to East nes is South, and half a point to the Westward.
-From Eastness to Orforthnes is South and by West. From
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_754">754</span>
-Orforth nes to the North foreland is South, and one third of a point
-to the Westward. From the Northforland to the Southforeland is
-South. From the Southforeland to Dungnes is Southwest and one
-fourth part of a point to y<sup>e</sup> Southwards. From Dungnes to Beache
-is West Southwest, and one fourth part of a poynt to the Southwards.
-From Beache to Dune noze is West Southwest, and three
-quarters of a point to the Westwards. From Dune noze to Portland
-is West and by South Southerly. From Portland to the Start is
-West Southwest and one fifth part of a point to the Westwards.
-From the Start to the Ramme is West, and one fourth part of a
-point to the Northwards. From the Ramme to the Dudman is West
-Southwest, and one sixt part of a point to the Westwards. From
-the Dudman to the Lizard is West Southwest, and one third part
-of a point to the Southwards. From the Lizard to Lands end is
-West Northwest Northerly. From Lands end to Milford is North
-and two third parts of a point to the Eastwards. From Milford
-to S. Dauids head is North and half a point to the Westwards.
-From S. Dauids head to Beardsie, is North and by East, and one
-eight part of a point to the Eastwards. From Beardsie to Holly
-head is North, and one sixt part of a poynt to the Westwards.
-From Holly head to the Ile of Man is North and by East, and one
-fifth part of a point to the Northwards.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Wee whose names are heerevnder written being called before
-the right worshipfull Sir Julius Cesar, Knight, Judge of the Kings
-Majesties Highe Court of Admiraltie, and there impanelled, and
-sworne vpon a Jurie to sett downe the bounds, and lymits, howfarre
-the Kings Chambers, Hauens, or Ports on the Sea coasts doe extend;
-Do heereby certifie, and sett downe (according to our best knowledge,
-and vnderstanding) that his Highnes said chambers, Hauens,
-or Ports are all the Seacoasts within a straight lyne drawne from
-one head land to the next head land throughout this realme of
-England. And for the better vnderstanding thereof haue made a
-plott of the same, and haue therevnto prefixed this our Schedule,
-shewing how euerie head-land doth beare vpon a right lyne the
-one from the other according to the said Plott. Dated the 4. of
-March A<sup>o</sup>. D<sup>i</sup>. 1604 [1604/5] And in the second yeare of the reigne
-of our Souueraigne Lord King James, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<table>
- <tr>
- <td>(Signed)</td>
- <td style="text-indent: 0;">Thomas Milton.<br />
- William Bygate.<br />
- John Burrell.<br />
- William Jones.<br />
- Peter Hilles.<br />
- Michael Edmondes.<br />
- James Woodcolt.<br />
- Thomas Beast.<br />
- William Juye.<br />
- John Skynner.<br />
- John Wyldes.<br />
- Henry Hauken.<br />
- William Cace.</td>
- </tr></table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_755">755</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_F">APPENDIX F.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_148">P. 148.</a>)</span><br />
-
-<span class="large table">PROCLAMATION OF JAMES I. FOR THE RESTRAINT OF
-FOREIGNERS FISHING ON THE BRITISH COASTS.</span></h2>
-
-<p class="copy">(A Booke of Proclamations, &amp;c. 1609 [1602-1612].)</p>
-
-<p>James by the Grace of God King of Great Britaine, France and Ireland,
-Defender of the Faith, &amp;c. To all and singular persons to
-whom it may appertaine, Greeting. Although we doe sufficiently
-know by our experience in the Office of Regall dignitie (in which by
-the fauour of Almighty God, we haue bene placed and exercised these
-many yeres) as also by the obseruation which wee haue made of other
-Christian Princes exemplary Actions, how farre the absolutenesse of
-Soueraigne power extendeth it selfe, And that in regard thereof we
-need not yeeld accompt to any person under God, for any action of
-ours, which is lawfully grounded upon that iust prerogatiue: Yet
-such hath euer bene, and shalbe our care and desire to give satisfaction
-to our neighbour Princes, and friends, in any Action which may haue
-the least relation to their Subiects and Estates, as we haue thought
-good (by way of friendly premonition) to declare unto them all, and
-to whom soeuer it may appertaine, as followeth.</p>
-
-<p>Whereas wee haue bene contented since our comming to the
-Crowne, to tolerate an indifferent and promiscuous kinde of libertie
-to all our friends whatsoeuer, to fish within our streames, and vpon
-any of our coasts of Great Britaine, Ireland, and other adiacent
-Islands, so farre foorth as the permission or vse thereof might not
-redound to the empeachment of our Prerogatiue Royall, nor to the
-hurt and damage of our louing Subiects, whose preseruation and
-flourishing estate we hold our selfe principally bound to aduance
-before all worldly respects: So finding that our conniuence therein,
-hath not onely giuen occasion of ouer great encrochments vpon our
-Regalities, or rather questioning for our Right, but hath bene a
-meanes of much dayly wrongs to our owne people that exercise the
-trade of Fishing as (either by the multitude of Strangers, which doe
-preoccupy those places, or by the iniuries which they receiue most
-c&otilde;monly at their hands) our Subiects are constrained to abandon their
-Fishing, or at the least are become so discouraged in the same, as they
-hold it better for them, to betake themselues to some other course of
-liuing, whereby not onely diuers of our Coast-townes are much decayed,
-but the number of Mariners dayly diminished, which is a matter of
-great consequence to our Estate, considering how much the strength
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_756">756</span>
-thereof consisteth in the power of Shipping, and vse of Nauigation:
-We haue thought it now both iust and necessary (in respect that wee
-are now by Gods fauour lineally and lawfully possessed, aswell of the
-Island of Great Britaine, as of Ireland, and the rest of the Isles
-adiacent) to bethinke our selues of good lawfull meanes to preuent
-those inconueniences, and many others depending vpon the same. In
-the consideration whereof, as we are desirous that the world may take
-notice, that we haue no intention to deny our neighbors and Allies,
-those fruits and benefits of Peace and friendship, which may be iustly
-expected at our hands in honour and reason, or are affoorded by
-other Princes mutually in the point of Commerce, and exchange of
-those things which may not prooue preiudiciall to them: So because
-some such conuenient order may be taken in this matter, as may
-sufficiently prouide for all these important considerations which doe
-depend thereupon; Wee haue resolued first to give notice to all the
-world, That our expresse pleasure is, that from the beginning of the
-Moneth of August next comming, no person of what Nation or
-qualitie soeuer, being not our naturall borne Subiect, be permitted to
-fish vpon any of our Coasts and Seas of Great Britaine, Ireland, and
-the rest of the Isles adiacent, where most usually heretofore any fishing
-hath bene, untill they haue orderly demanded and obtained
-licenses from vs, or such our Commissioners, as we haue authorised in
-that behalfe, viz. at London for our Realmes of England and Ireland,
-and at Edenborough for our Realme of Scotland: Which Licenses,
-our intention is, shall be yeerely demanded, for so many Vessels and
-ships, and the Tonnage thereof, as shall intend to fish for that whole
-yeere, or any part thereof, vpon any of our Coastes and Seas as aforesaid,
-vpon paine of such chastisement, as shalbe fit to bee inflicted
-vpon such wilfull offendors.</p>
-
-<table>
- <tr>
- <td>Giuen at our Palace of Westminster, the 6. day<br />
- of May, in the 7. Yeere of our Reigne of<br />
- Great Britaine, &amp;c.<br /></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc">Anno Dom. 1609.
- <span class="pagenum" id="Page_757">757</span></td>
- </tr></table>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_G">APPENDIX G.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(Pp. 169, 196.)</span></h2>
-
-<p class="large hang">INSTRUCTIONS BY THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF SCOTLAND
-FOR THE LEVYING OF THE “ASSIZE-HERRINGS” FROM
-FOREIGN FISHERMEN.</p>
-
-<p class="copy">(Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. xi. p. 592.)</p>
-
-<p>Instructionis givin be the Lordis of Secreit Counsall to Mr
-Johnne Fentoun, his Majesteis commissionar, who is directit to demand
-his Majesteis rent of assyse and teynd frome these of Holland, Zeland,
-Hambruch, Ambden, Rustock, and all utheris strangeris haunting the
-trade of fisching in his Majesteis seas during this present yeir.</p>
-
-<p>In the first, yow sall prepair your selff and mak you reddie
-in goode and comelie ordour and equippage and with all possibill
-haist to go in his Majesteis schip callit <i>The Charles</i>, quhairof
-David Murray is capitane and commander, towardis the North
-Seas of this Kingdome, quhair the Hollanderis and utheris strangeris
-hes thair fisching: And at your arryveall thair yow salbe cairfull
-to inquyre and informe yourselff of the names of the admirallis
-and vice-admirallis attending the flott, and of the names of thair
-schippis, of quhat townes and provinceis they ar, and quhat nomber
-of wauchteris and buscheis is sent oute be every towne, province
-and estate to attend thair fischeing.</p>
-
-<p>Yow sall be vertew of your commissioun, and attending to the
-tennour thairof, demand frome the saidis admirallis, and, incaice of
-thair absence, frome the vice-admirallis, and frome tua or thrie
-of the waughteris and busches of every estate, his Majesteis rent
-of assyse and teynd specifeit and contenit in your commissioun
-for the haill fischeis tane and slayne be thame in his Majesteis
-watteris and seas this yeir. And yow sall use this requisitoun
-and demand in fair and gentill termes and with modestie and
-discretioun.</p>
-
-<p>Yf thay contravert with yow anent the quantitie of this dewytie,
-yow sall not dispute that poynt with thame, bot, if they mak offer of
-ane smaller dewytie, althoght it wer bot ane angell for every busche
-overhead, yow sall accept of thair offer.</p>
-
-<p>Yf thay sall mak offer of the fische outher for the teynd or
-assyse, yow sall accept of thame, and, gif yow find ony countrey
-vessellis or boittis thair, yow sall send for thame and putt the
-fische in thame.</p>
-
-<p>Yf they gif unto yow a delaying answer and crave tyme and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_758">758</span>
-laiser to send to thair superiouris to be advyseit with thame, yow
-sall accompt of thair delay as ane refuisall, and accordinglie accept
-sua of it.</p>
-
-<p>Yf it be objectit unto yow that all the busches ar not of a
-lyke burdeyne, and that consequentlie they aucht not to pay a
-lyke dewytie for assise and teynd, yow sall in this caise gif defalcatioun
-to the smaller busches according to your discretioun and
-be the aduyse of the admirallis, gif thay will concur with yow
-in that erand; provydeing alwayes that the smallest dewytie to
-be taine be yow for every busche be not within ane angell.</p>
-
-<p>Yf the admirallis or vice-admirallis for every toun, estate, or
-province will aggrie with yow for the haill busches under thair
-charge, yow sall aggrie with thame and gif unto them acquittanceis
-in name of the haill that thay tak burdeyne for; bot, yf thay
-remitt yow to deale with every busche apairt, yow sall do the
-same and gif acquettanceis accordinglie.</p>
-
-<p>Yf refuisall salbe maid unto yow of his Majesties rent and
-dewytie, yow sall tak instrumentis upoun the said refuisall without
-forder contestatioun; and, gif obedience be givin and payment
-accordinglie maid, yow sall lykwayse take instrumentis thairupoun.</p>
-
-<p>Yow sall informe the saidis admirallis, and, incaice of thair
-absence, the saidis vice-admirallis, of the complaint maid to his
-Majesteis Counsall be his Majesteis subjectis of Zetland anent
-the greit oppressioun committit upoun thame be divers personis of
-the floitt who comes aschoir upoun thair illis of Halff Grunay,
-Wedderholme, South Grunay, and Lungya, and upoun divers
-utheris pairtis of the countrey, quhair thay not only enter in
-kirkis, dimolischeis and brekis doun the daskis and seattis within
-the same and schamefullie abuses the same, to the offence and
-dishonour of God, bot with that thay spoyle the countrey people
-of thair scheip, geis, hennis, eggs, and suche uther commoditeyis
-as they find upoun the ground, and sumtymes invaidis and persewis
-thame of thair lyveis; and thairfoir yow sall crave redres
-and reparatioun to be made for thir wrangis and that the lyke be
-forborne in all tyme coming.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_759">759</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_H">APPENDIX H.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_251">P. 251.</a>)</span><br />
-
-<span class="large table">REGLEMENT FOR PREVENTING ABUSES IN AND ABOUT
-THE NARROW SEAS AND PORTS.</span></h2>
-
-<p class="copy">(State Papers, Domestic. “James I., Vol. 11, No. 40. 1604.” Charles I.,
-Vol. 279, No. 18. 1634.)</p>
-
-<p>His most Excellent Ma<sup>ty</sup> taking into his Royall Consideration,
-upon the frequent Complaints, as well of his own Subjects, as the
-Subjects of other Princes and States in Peace and Amitie with his
-Ma<sup>ty</sup>. That his Seas (commonly called the four English Seas)
-are more infested now a days then heretofore, by men of Warre
-and such others, who living by spoile haunt those Seas, with ships
-and vessels of strength warlikely appointed to gett prey and booties,
-whereby not only his Ma<sup>tye’s</sup> own Subjects and the Subjects of his
-friends suffer manifold losses, violences and Injuryes in their persons,
-ships and goods, but also divers strange Insolencyes indignityes and
-contempts are committed, tending indirectly and by consequence to
-the denyall and impeachment of that Soveraignety and especiall and
-peculiar Interest and property, w<sup>ch</sup> his Ma<sup>ty</sup> and his Predecessors time
-out of mind have had and enjoyed in the said Seas, and soe approved
-not only by the fundamentall Lawes of this his Kingdome, but
-by the acknowledgement and assent of the bordering Princes and
-Nations, as appeareth by undoubted Records. His Ma<sup>ty</sup> out of
-his Princely wisedome and providence (with the Advice of his Privy
-Councell) hath thought it most necessary, as well for vindicating
-his own honour and right in the said Seas, as in point of Justice
-for securing the passage of his Subjects and friends to and fr&otilde; his
-harbours and Ports, and all other Ports [? parts] of his Dominions,
-to make this open declaration ensuing.</p>
-
-<p>1. That notwithstanding the continuance of y<sup>e</sup> war between the
-K. of Spaine on the one side, and the United Provinces of the
-Low Countryes on the other side, his Ma<sup>ty</sup> doth streightly prohibite
-any force, violence, surprize, or offense to be done or attempted
-either fr&otilde; Man of Warre to man of Warre, or man of Warre to
-Merchant, or Merchant to Merchant of either Party within the
-limits w<sup>ch</sup> his Ma<sup>ty</sup> will cause to be described in a Plott for that
-purpose, but that all of what Nation soever soe long as they
-shall be upon those places or Seas aforesaid, especially within
-such limits, shall be understood to be under his Ma<sup>tyes</sup> Protection,
-and obliged to be at Peace each with other.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_760">760</span></p>
-
-<p>2. Because it appeareth that an especiall occasion of the mutuall
-spoiles and acts of hostility executed by the said men of Warre
-each upon other and sometimes upon his Ma<sup>tyes</sup> own Subjects, or
-the Subjects of other Nations w<sup>ch</sup> are in Amity with the Soveraignes
-of the Spoilers, ariseth from the opportunity w<sup>ch</sup> the said Men of
-Warre have by continuing and abiding in havens, Sea-shoares or
-Sea-Roades and other harbours of his Ma<sup>tyes</sup> Kingdomes, whence
-they gett intelligence of ships and vessels outward and hitherward
-bound, and accordingly assayle them, where it is most for their
-advantage, to the great hindrance and interruption of free Commerce
-and Entercourse, His Ma<sup>tyes</sup> Will and Pleasure is, That, for
-the reasons aforesaid, noe shipps of Warre, belonging either to the
-K. of Spaine, or any his Subjects, or to the said United Provinces,
-or any of their Subjects shall be permitted or allowed to come,
-enter, repaire, or arrive in or to any of his Ma<sup>tyes</sup> Towns, Citties,
-Sea-Shores, Havens, Harbours, or Sea roades, whatsoever, or there
-to abide and continue, except they happen to be constrained either
-by force of Tempest, or buying of Victualls, or other things, or
-for repairing of shipping, so that they doe no hostile act in the
-said Places, but demeane themselves honestly and quietly as it
-becometh Confederates and friends, and so as they stay and remaine
-not in and about the said Ports any longer then shall be needfull
-for reparation, and Provision of necessaryes.</p>
-
-<p>3. Albeit his Ma<sup>ty</sup> doth justly challenge Soveraignety and property
-in all those his Seas farre beyond the limits hereafter to be
-described and might with like Justice require from all persons using
-those his seas a forbearance fr&otilde; Injuryes and all hostile actions,
-yet (in and through all the same) sodenly to tye the hands of his
-friends and Allyes in open hostility each with other is not for some
-reasons held convenient at this time. And therefore to avoyde
-all difficultyes and Colour of Controversies that may be stirred concerning
-the bounds and extent wherein his Ma<sup>ty</sup> now professeth to
-yeild Peace and Security to his friends and neighbours, desiring the
-same, his Ma<sup>ty</sup> purposeth to send Plotts of those limits to be
-affixed in the most publique places of his chiefest Sea-Towns and
-harbours.</p>
-
-<p>4. Because it is very like, that during the continuance of the
-Warre betweene the K. of Spaine, and the United Provinces as is
-aforesaid, each Party may gaine and acquire fr&otilde; other in places out
-of the aforesaid Limitts, ships, and goods, His Ma<sup>ty</sup> doth declare,
-That as he will afford to the conquering Partyes, free passage
-through his Seas for themselves, their ships and prizes, and like free
-accesse and repaire to all his Ports and harbours, and safe aboad and
-continuance in the same during their occasions, so his Ma<sup>ty</sup> shall
-not understand it to be any breach of his Peace, or violation of
-that Security w<sup>ch</sup> he intendeth to mainteine, if the enemyes of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_761">761</span>
-conquering Party shall reconquer or regaine the said Prizes, before
-the conquering Party shall have brought his said Prizes within
-any of his Ma<sup>tyes</sup> harbours, or when after they shall have departed
-with the said Prizes homewards, or elsewhere from the said harbours,
-the right of Warre and Law of Nations giving like allowance to either
-of the said hostile actions, Provided always, that his Ma<sup>ty</sup> doth
-not mean hereby to derogate from the Jurisdiction of his Court
-of Admiralty, but if any action (in forme of Law) shall be lawfully
-instituted and duly presented in the Admirall Court ag<sup>t</sup> the said
-Prizes and the Takers thereof, his Ma<sup>ty</sup> will cause Justice to be
-administred in that behalfe with all possible expedition.</p>
-
-<p>5. Whereas mention is often made in the premisses of his Ma<sup>tyes</sup>
-Protection within the aforesaid bounds and limits, his Ma<sup>ty</sup> is now
-pleased further to expresse his Intention and meaning to that effect,
-viz. That he shall readyly give his Letters of Safe Conduct
-under the Great Seale of his Admiralty to any the Subjects of
-the Princes or States in league and Amity with his Ma<sup>ty</sup> desiring
-the same from the Lords Commiss<sup>rs</sup> of the Admiralty, to whom
-his Ma<sup>ty</sup> will referre the Consideration and allowance of such Petitions,
-the said Letters of Safe Conduct to be conceived in the best forme.
-And if any man of Warre or other Person whatsoever shall assault
-or use any violence to any ship or vessell, or the persons therein,
-within the limits aforesaid his Ma<sup>ty</sup> will hold such offender being
-lawfully convicted thereof for a Pirate, and will cause his Officers
-to inflict such punishment thereupon, as in Cases of Piracy is
-usuall, if the said offenders can be apprehended within any his
-Ma<sup>tyes</sup> Countrey or Dominions, or any other, or any other ships
-or goods belonging to them, To w<sup>ch</sup> purpose his Ma<sup>ty</sup> will cause
-notice to be given from the Court of his Admiralty to all his
-Officers in Ports and Vice-Admiralls and Captaines of his Forts and ships,
-But if all this notwithstanding, the said offenders cannot be attached
-or apprehended, then the Party wronged, upon sufficient testimonyes
-to be recorded in the Court of Admiralty may take out of the said
-Court Processe, conteining a Monition for the said pretended offenders,
-to appeare in the Court of Admiralty within 4 moneths next after
-the date of the said Processe, there to answer for the pretended
-wrong or violence, the said Processes to be affixed openly in some
-eminent place of the Royall Exchange, London. And if the said
-offenders shall not render their bodyes to Justice, then upon faith
-made, that the said Processe was duly taken out, and the next day
-after the date thereof was publiquely affixed as is aforesaid, his
-Ma<sup>ty</sup> will by his Letters of Request under his Privy Seale to the
-Soveraignes of the said offenders, or otherwise, pursue such further
-proceedings ag<sup>t</sup> the said offenders, as is agreeable to the Custome
-amongst Sovereigne States and Princes and the Law of Nations in
-like Cases.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_762">762</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_I">APPENDIX I.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_289">P. 289.</a>)</span></h2>
-
-<p class="large hang">REPORT OF THE ADMIRALTY TO CHARLES I. AS TO THE
-EMPLOYMENT OF THE SHIP-MONEY FLEET IN WAFTING
-AND SECURING FOREIGN MERCHANTS PASSING
-THROUGH HIS MAJESTY’S SEAS, AND IN PROTECTING
-FOREIGN FISHERMEN WHO ACCEPT THE KING’S
-LICENSE.</p>
-
-<p class="copy">(State Papers, Domestic. Charles I., Vol. 313, No. 24.)</p>
-
-<h4>It may Please your Ma<sup>ty</sup>,</h4>
-
-<p>According to your Majesty’s commandment, wee, your Commissioners
-for ye Admiralty have mett and consulted on those two pointes
-which you were pleased to recommend to our consideration, touching
-the imploying of your fleete for yo<sup>r</sup> Honor and Proffit. The
-one for the wafting and securing of Merchants that pass through
-yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty’s seas. The other for protecting all such fishermen
-in generall as shall exercise that trade by your Majesty’s license
-upon yo<sup>r</sup> seas and coastes.</p>
-
-<p>The first of these that fell into debate was that concerning the
-fishing, and by S<sup>r</sup> Henry Martin it was made evident vnto vs that
-y<sup>r</sup> Ma<sup>ts</sup> father of blessed memory in ... yeere of his
-Raigne, was, vpon long and mature deliberacion, satisfied and resolved,
-that the fishing in his Seas, and upon the coasts of his
-Dominions, did justly appertain unto him as a right incident to
-his Crownes, and that in pursuance thereof, he did then sett out
-his Royall Proclamation, thereby declaring his title, as allso his
-pleasure, that no stranger of what quality soever should presume
-to fish there without his expresse license, and so was graciously
-pleased in the said Proclamation to appoint, that for the Coastes
-of England and Ireland licenses should be given in London, and
-for those of Scotland in Edenborough.</p>
-
-<p>And howsoever S<sup>r</sup> Henry Martin did allso make it appear unto
-us that the States of the Vnited Provinces did at that time sende
-Commissioners into England who presented to his Majesty a
-paper contayning allegations by w<sup>ch</sup> they did entend to prove
-continued custom and a present possession of that fishing, mentioning
-w<sup>t</sup>all som treaties that had bene heretofore betwene the
-Kinges of Englande and the Dukes of Burgundy in fauor of that
-their fishing, yet upon the whole matter, and after due deliberation,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_763">763</span>
-wee were all of opinion and are so still, that the Right and Royallty
-of that fishing upon yo<sup>r</sup> Ma<sup>ts</sup> Coastes doth undoubtedly belong
-unto yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty by inheritance, so you may iustly prohibit or
-license all strangers at yo<sup>r</sup> Royall will and pleasure.</p>
-
-<p>This being laid for the ground, wee proceeded (according to
-your Majesty’s directions) to the consideration of what was now
-fitting to be advised unto yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty vpon this present occasion
-of yo<sup>r</sup> strength at sea, and are all of opinion, that this season is
-most propper again not only to set on foote, but to putt in
-execucion that yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty’s so iust clayme, so as then there only
-remayned our consultation <i>de modo</i>.</p>
-
-<p>In this wee are now much guided by that which yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty
-yo<sup>r</sup> selfe was pleased to declare unto us concerning the protecting
-of all such fishers as shall take yo<sup>r</sup> license. For it is most certain
-that the Hollanders will by no meanes be so much induced (be
-the right what it will) as by consideracions of their owne proffitt
-and safety. Wee therefore thought itt (and do most humbly offer
-it to yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty as our opinion) that vnto the Minister or Ministers
-of the States residing here, it may be intimated and declared, that
-yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty doth no way relinquish that iust right and clayme of
-inheritance to the Royall fishings, so divolved unto you from yo<sup>r</sup>
-Royall Predecessors, but are resolved to defende it as the hereditary
-right and possession of any other yo<sup>r</sup> Dominions. Yet least they
-should think you do now challenge it in a tyme that they have
-most neede of yo<sup>r</sup> favor and grace, it may be tolde them, that it
-is farr otherwise, for whereas yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty’s father did barely offer
-them licenses, you do now offer them safety and protection w<sup>t</sup>all,
-and that w<sup>ch</sup> further moved you to do it, in this season, is, that
-by a third Prince, they are of late interrupted and beaten from
-that fishing even in sight of yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty’s harbours; wherein yo<sup>r</sup>
-Majesty is prejudiced in honor and Interest, and they in Proffit.</p>
-
-<p>That it is not vnknown to the States how much their enemies
-are resolved to interrupt that their fishing, as holding it a most
-certain way and meanes both to weaken and impoverish them.</p>
-
-<p>That by taking licenses from yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty you may justify the
-drawing yo<sup>r</sup> sword in their defence, and likewise for the maintenance
-of the said licenses against any notwithstanding any
-league or treaty whatsoever, w<sup>ch</sup> without that obligation might
-seeme a breach of that neutrality w<sup>ch</sup> hitherto yo<sup>r</sup> Ma<sup>ty</sup> hath
-preserved in yo<sup>r</sup> selfe.</p>
-
-<p>And lastly wee tooke into consideration that in case the
-Hollanders shall willfully refuse to take those licenses upon so
-gracious and fauorable conditions from yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty then we were
-all cleere of opinion, that yo<sup>r</sup> M. should renew and publish the like
-proclamation to that of the King yo<sup>r</sup> father, and prosecute the settling
-of that yo<sup>r</sup> right as a thing so highly concerning you in honor,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_764">764</span>
-dominion and profit. And so we do humbly conclude this point,
-with advice, that all such licenses as shalbe granted, be rated according
-to the tonne or burden of the vessells, so to be licensed.</p>
-
-<p>Touching that of the Wafting of Merchants strangers shippes
-that shall passe through yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty’s seas, we are cleere of opinion
-that yo<sup>r</sup> M. ought to have a profit by it, seeing that they are
-thereby preserved from oppression and ruine. But we are not of
-opinion that this profit should arise by way of a generall Imposition
-vpon all that passe: for that wold, doubtlesse, draw a iust
-complaint and clamor from yo<sup>r</sup> neighbour Princes and their subjects.
-But that it should be taken of such as shall desire waftage, w<sup>ch</sup> yo<sup>r</sup>
-M. may direct not to be denyed to any of what Christian nacion
-soever that shall demande it, not being men-of-warre.</p>
-
-<p>And because it wilbe a difficult matter to expresse in any
-Commission or Instructions a certain somme or duety to be taken
-of every ship so wafted, for that som shippes are rich, others of
-lesse value; som will require a short waftage, others a longer.
-Therefore we are of opinion, that for the value, much is to be
-left to the discretion of yo<sup>r</sup> Majesty’s Generall and commanders,
-and that som honest hable men may be employed to keepe bookes,
-and to receave the moneyes of all those waftings w<sup>ch</sup> shall occurr,
-and be accomptable and answerable for the same. [5 Feb. 1635/1636
-Copy by Windebank.]</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_K">APPENDIX K.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_389">P. 389.</a>)</span><br />
-
-<span class="large table">ABSTRACT OF THE THIRTY-SIX ARTICLES PROPOSED BY:
-THE DUTCH TO ST JOHN AT THE HAGUE, 1651.</span></h2>
-
-<p class="copy">State Papers. Foreign. Treaty Papers (Holland), No. 46. 1651.</p>
-
-<p class="hang">A Briefe Narrative of the Treatie at the Hague betweene the
-hono<sup>ble</sup> Oliver S<sup>t</sup> John, Lord Chiefe Justice of the Court of
-Com̃on Pleas, and Walter Strickland Esq. Embassado<sup>rs</sup> extraordinary
-of the Parliament of the Com̃onwealth of England, to
-the great Assembly of the States Generall of the United Provinces
-begun upon the 20th of March 1650 [1651] and continued
-vntill the 20th of June 1651 and then broke of re infecta.</p>
-
-<p>A Drafte of the Treatie which is to be made and entred into with
-the extraordinary Ambassado<sup>rs</sup> of the Republique of England.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_765">765</span></p>
-
-<h3>2.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Confederated
-ffr<sup>ds</sup> for defence
-&amp;c. &amp; against Dystourb<sup>rs</sup>
-&amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>That they shalbe, and remayne confederated friends,
-vnited, and allyed for the defence, and preservation
-of the Libertye and freedomes of each others people,
-and mutuall Com̃erce Navigacion,and Com̃on Interests
-against all those that shall endeavour to disturbe either of the States
-in the same by water or land in manner as is herevnder declared and
-expressed.</p>
-
-<h3>17.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Libertie to dwell
-in each oth<sup>rs</sup> lands
-&amp; to enjoy equall
-p<sup>r</sup>ivil<sup>ges</sup> w<sup>th</sup> the
-Natiues &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>The subiects, and Inhabitants on both sydes may
-com̃e, and dwell in each others lands reciprocallye,
-and take their setled residence there, have their
-owne houses there to dwell in, and their Warehouses
-for to bring their goods, wares, and Merchandizes
-thither, and also vse their trade, and com̃erce there in all
-securitye, and without hinderance of any one as well at sea, other
-waters, as at land, enioyeing there, and every where else, the same,
-privilidges, Libertie, and freedome, as the Inhabitants, and each others
-subiects doe respectively enioy there in their own Country, and in
-case any hinderances happen they shall really, and speedilye be
-removed.</p>
-
-<h3>18.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Free libertie of
-Fishing &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>The subiects, and Inhabitants of either, of what
-qualitie, or condition soever they be, may sayle, and
-fish every where at sea freely, without any disturbance Licence, Patent,
-or Passe port, as well herring, as all other sorte of fish, great and small,
-and the sayd Fishermen being driven out of the sea by storme, Rovers,
-Enemyes, or any other accident, and coming in, or to any of the other
-Havens, or Jurisdictions shalbe well, and freindly receaved, and
-entreated, and may depart thence againe with their ships, fish, furniture
-for fishing, and other laedings, (in such case, and not haveing
-broak bulke there,) freely without payeing custome, or any the least
-duty.</p>
-
-<h3>19.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">No harboring of
-Pyrates &amp;c.</div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Rouers &amp; Coceal<sup>rs</sup>
-to be punish<sup>d</sup>
-&amp; y<sup>e</sup> ships &amp;
-goods restored &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>For to make the free Navigation, and com̃erce,
-on the seas, Rivers, and every where more certeyne,
-the said Republicke, and Vnited Provinces, shall
-not receave, nor suffer, or permitt that any Pyrats, or
-Searovers, be receaved, kept, or harboured by their
-subiects, in their respective Havens, Lands, Cittyes,
-or Townes but shall cause as well the said cencealo<sup>rs</sup>, as Rovers, to
-be persequuted, apprehended, and punished, for terrou<sup>r</sup> to others as is
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_766">766</span>
-fitt, and the roved ships, goods, Merchandises yet in Esse, and in
-being, yea though they were there sould, shalbe restored, or made
-good to the right owners, or to such as have their Assignm<sup>ts</sup>, or
-Lett<sup>rs</sup> of Attorney, who doe sue for, and reclayme the said roved
-ships, and goods, vpon a iuratory affirmation of the reclaymer till
-better proofe.</p>
-
-<h3>20.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Sufficient securitie
-by those who
-goe out vpon perticul<sup>r</sup>
-com̄issions.</div>
-
-<p>All perticuler persons on either syde, that goe out
-upon perticular Com̄issions, shalbe bound before
-they may goe to sea, to put in sufficient securitie
-before the Judge of the place from whence he
-setts saile.</p>
-
-<h3>21.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Both to set out
-Fleets for scouring
-the Seas &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>And to cleare the seas from all Pyrats, and
-Rovers, of what nation soever they bee, and to
-defend, and free the Libertie, and freedome of
-both the Nations Com̃erce, Navigation, and Freefishing as well in
-the North sea, Ocean, as Mediterranean sea, and all channells, and
-Streights ru&ntilde;ing betweene ’em; the sayd Republicke of England and
-the Vnited Netherlands shall provide and a&ntilde;ually set out to sea a
-strong fleete at least of ... [<i>sic</i>] Vessells, and the like proportion
-of men, munition of warr, Victualls, and all necessary furniture,
-wherewith each vnder his owne Admirall, and flagg, shall crosse, and
-scoure the said seas, to witt those of England from ... vntill ... and
-those of the Lowe countryes from ... till ... beginning the
-first of ... and stayeing till the last of ... and shalbe bound to
-seaze on, and master all Pyrats that they shall meete with, the ships
-of either of the nations by them taken to restore to the true owners,
-and if it be needfull, and requisite to helpe, and seacond each other,
-each to keepe his taken bootye, or prises for himselfe, and so to cleare,
-and free the said seas, and channell, or straights from all Pyrats and
-searovers.</p>
-
-<h3>22.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Each parties
-Fleetes to force
-to Reparacion hinders
-of y<sup>e</sup> Com̄erce
-navigcion Fish<sup>g</sup> &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>And for the further defence and advancem<sup>t</sup> of
-the freedome, and Libertie of both the said Nations
-Com̃erce, Navigation, and freefishinge in the sayd
-seas, the sayd fleets and alsoe other men of warr,
-and com̃ission bearers on either syde, shall not only
-doe against Pyrats in manner aforesayd, but alsoe against all, and
-singuler persons, whatsoever they be that shall chance to trouble, molest,
-hinder, exacte, or against the Lawe of all nations burthen, or charge
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_767">767</span>
-them, or either of them in the sayd freedome, Com̃erce, Navigation, and
-fishing. It is intended neverthelesse that the dampnifyed partie shall
-first, and aforehand complayne of the same to the undampnifyed partie,
-and endeavo<sup>r</sup> together by all freindly waies, and intercession, that they
-who molested them doe make reparation to content, But if it be not so
-done, that then they shall seaze, take, and surprize in the said seas,
-not onlie with the said Fleete, but alsoe with all the strength of
-shipping which they can bring to sea the ships, and goods of the
-Cittie, and of her inhabitants, who have done the said trouble and
-so continewe vntill that the dampnifyed partye shall have gott full
-satisfaction, and every thing be putt agayne in full Freedome, that
-all dam̃age may be recovered, in case they chance to goe beyond or
-exceed their com̃ission, and charge.</p>
-
-<h3>23.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Men of warr to
-protect y<sup>e</sup> Merh<sup>ts</sup>
-ships of each party
-or of y<sup>e</sup> Allies &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>The men of warr of either partye meeting or
-overtakeing any Marchant shipp, or ships at sea,
-of the other partie, or of the others subiects, or
-of the Allyes (alsoe comprehended in this Treatye)
-and haveing both one course, or goeing both one way shalbe bound
-so longe as they keepe one course togeather to take them vnder their
-protection, and to defend them against all, and everyone.</p>
-
-<h3>24.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Retaking of ships
-taken in one
-anoth<sup>rs</sup> Havens.</div>
-
-<p>In case any shipp, or ships of eithers subiects,
-or of a Newter chance to be taken in the Havens,
-or Libertyes of the one or the other by a third
-partie, being no subiects of either partie, they in or out of whose
-Havens, or Libertyes the said ship, or ships shall be taken, shalbe
-bound to help with the other party, to endeavo<sup>r</sup> that the sayd taken
-ship, or ships may be followed, brought back, and restored to the
-Owners, but all at the charges of the said Owners, or interessed.</p>
-
-<h3>25.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Ships forced into
-Haven through any
-Misfortune may depart
-againe freely
-w<sup>th</sup>out paying any
-Dutie &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>In case any Marchants ships of the subiects of
-either partye chance to com̃e to harbour in the
-Land of one or the other by tempest, or by
-pursuite of Searovers, or through any other necessitye,
-force, or misfortune, they may sayle out
-agayne from thence freely at their pleasure, without that they shall
-therefore be bound to goe on shoare, vnlade, or sell their Merchandizes
-there, nor to paye for the same any duties, or customes, it shall
-in such cases be enough if they shew their Maritine lett<sup>rs</sup> and Passe
-ports without being subiect to any other search.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_768">768</span></p>
-
-<h3>26.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">None to come
-into each oth<sup>rs</sup>
-Havens w<sup>th</sup> men
-of warr to a
-Number w<sup>ch</sup> might
-cause suspition &amp;c.
-w<sup>th</sup>out Leaue &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>They may not come to, or in, nor stay in the
-Havens of each others Country with men of warr,
-and souldiers, to a number which might cause
-apparent suspition, or ill thoughts, without consent,
-or leave of those vnder whome the said
-Havens are, vnlesse they be driven by tempest,
-or forced to doe soe through necessitye, and to avoyd any dangers
-of the sea.</p>
-
-<h3>27.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Oth<sup>r</sup> men of
-warre to come &amp;
-goe freely &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>For the men of warr of either syde, not being
-in soe great a number to cause any suspition,
-the Havens, rivers, and roades of either party, shall
-be alwayes open and free for to come in, there lye at Ancher, and
-sayle out agayne without any hinderance, or trouble; the sayd men
-of warr regulating themselves neverthelesse according to the lawes,
-and customes of the respective places.</p>
-
-<h3>28.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Men of warre not
-to be searcht onely
-com̄ing into Hauens
-to shew their
-Com̄iss<sup>ns</sup>.</div>
-
-<p>Provided neverthelesse that none of the men
-of Warr, or such as have Com̄ission on either
-syde, shalbe subiect to any search, or visitation
-there, or on the respective coasts, or alsoe in
-the full sea, further then only to shew each
-others Com̄issions, com̄eing into their respective Havens, and not
-otherwise.</p>
-
-<h3>29.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Like libertie
-touch<sup>g</sup> Prizes &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>All perticular Com̄ission bearers on either side,
-shall likewise enioy the same freedome, in respect
-of their owne ships, as alsoe of the prises which they shall have taken
-from their particular on the com̄on Enemy, for to bring the said prises
-to the place where they are bound according to their Com̄ission,
-which they shalbe bound to informe, or make knowne to the Officers
-of the place, or to paie any dutye vnto them, or any else there, they
-shalbe neverthelesse bound to shew their respective Com̄issions to the
-sayd Officers.</p>
-
-<h3>30.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Goods of eith<sup>r</sup>
-p<sup>ty</sup> found in Enemies
-ships to be
-prize as well as y<sup>e</sup>
-ships.</div>
-
-<p>The goods, wares, and merchandizes of the
-subiects, and inhabitants of either partie, laeden,
-and found in Enemyes ships shalbe vnfree, and
-prise as well as y<sup>e</sup> ships.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_769">769</span></p>
-
-<h3>31.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">No Assistance to
-Enem<sup>s</sup> or Rebels
-by Cōtrab<sup>da</sup> wares
-&amp;c.</div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">What serues for
-victuall or mainten<sup>a</sup>nce
-of Life to
-be free &amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>It is alsoe expressly agreed, that the parties
-Contracto<sup>rs</sup> shall not give, nor suffer that out of
-their respective Countries, by their subiects, or
-other Newters any assistance be done to their
-respective enemies, or rebells, of any Contrabanda
-wares, or Marchandises, as are all manner of fyreworks,
-and what else belongs therevnto, as Cannon,
-Musketts, Morterpieces Petards, Guns, Granadoes,
-Sawsiges, ..., [?,] Rests, Bandeliers, Powder Match, Saltpeter, Bullets;
-all sortes of armes, as Pykes, swordes, Headpieces, Cuirasses, Holberds,
-and such lyke; as also souldiers Horses, horse furniture, Pistoll cases,
-Rapiers, Belts, and all furniture, fashioned, and made for vse of warr,
-with expresse meaning that vnder the name of Contraband, or forbidden
-goods, there shall not be comprehended wheat, Corne, and
-other grayne, Pease, Beanes, Wheat [<i>sic</i>: Meat?], Salt, Wyne, Oyle,
-nor generally all that serves for food, and maintenance of lyfe, but
-shalbe free, as other goods above mentioned, And any of the said
-Contraband goods, being found in each others ships, they may be
-confiscated after knowledge of the case before a competent Judge,
-without troubling any other Wares, or goods.</p>
-
-<h3>32.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">No carying of
-anie Portug<sup>ll</sup> goods
-&amp;c. vpon Penaltie
-of Losse of y<sup>e</sup> ships
-&amp;c.</div>
-
-<p>It is further bespoake, that the subiects, and
-inhabitants of either side, may not transporte, or
-carry any Portingall goods, wares, or Merchandises
-out of America, Asia, or Affrica, or into, or out of
-Europe, or one parte thereof to another, nor vice
-vers&acirc; from Europe to America, Asia, or Affrica, nor from one part of
-them to another, upon penaltye of losse of the same ships.</p>
-
-<h3>33.</h3>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Ships cast away
-If claym<sup>d</sup> w<sup>th</sup>in a
-yeare &amp; a Day to be
-w<sup>th</sup> y<sup>e</sup> goods restored
-to the Own<sup>er</sup>s
-w<sup>th</sup>out suite.</div>
-
-<p>If any ships either for warr, or marchandise, or
-other of either partye by storme, or any other
-misfortune, chance to be stranded, or cast away
-on the coast of either country, the said ships with
-their Apparell, and all therein may be reclaymed,
-and brought back againe within the space of a yeare, and a day, by
-the right owners or there Assignes, or deputies, and shalbe restored
-againe to them without any forme of suite onlye payeing for the
-charges done about ’em, and a reasonable gratuitye or salvage money,
-and in case upon such, and the like accidents, subiects of either side
-chance to fall to question, the officers of the respective places shall
-be bound to doe good, and right Justice betweene the partyes, without
-deteyning them by any formalitye of processe.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_770">770</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_L">APPENDIX L.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_398">P. 398.</a>)</span></h2>
-
-<p class="large hang">TROMP’S MEMORANDUM TO THE STATES OF HOLLAND
-AS TO THE CUSTOM OF STRIKING THE FLAG TO THE
-ENGLISH. 27th FEBRUARY/9th MARCH 1651.</p>
-
-<p class="copy">(Aitzema, <i>Saken van Staet en Oorlogh, in, ende omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden</i>,
-Vol. iii. p. 731.)</p>
-
-<p>Wanneer deses Staets Schepen van Oorloge in Zee quamen te ontmoeten
-een Engelsch Koninghs Schip, op-hebbende de Vlagge als Admirael,
-Vice-Admirael ofte Schout bij nacht; dat deses Staets-Schepen hare
-Admiraels Vlagge ende Mars-zeylen streecken en schoten negen, seven
-of vijf Eer-schoten (daer op de Engelsche antwoordede met gelijcke
-Eer-schoten) en lieten de Vlagge gestreken hangen tot sij van malkanderen
-scheyden, met het schieten van drie of een Adieu-schoot; en
-weynigh van den anderen zijnde, setten de Staetsche de Vlagge
-wederom op. Doch voor particuliere Konings Schepen streken geen
-Vlagge, alleen salueerden malkanderen met eenige Eer-schooten.
-Maer is verscheyden-malen geschiet, dat particuliere Schepen van
-weynigh geweldt zijnde, oock naer de Vlagge van Staetsche hebben
-geschoten, uyt hooghmoet, willende hebben dat men soude strijcken:
-daer meesten tijdt op is gevolgt, dat de Staetsche wederom na haer
-hebben geschoten en haer tanden laten sien, en geen macht hebbende
-de Staetsche daer toe te dwingen, moesten met uytlacchen haer Kours
-gaen; doch is bij haer en die van desen Staet veel tijdts gesien op de
-meeste macht, en dan discretie gebruyckt. Binnen haer Havenen
-ende Casteelen komende, salueerden de Casteelen met Eer-schoten
-(die oock wederom antwoorden) en namen de Vlagge in, en lieten in
-plaets een Wimpel waijen, soo lange die van desen Staet binnen haer
-Havenen lagen, in sonderheydt wanneer eenige Konings Schepen daer
-waren die de Konings Vlagge lieten waeijen. Doch geen Konings
-Schepen zijnde, is ’t verscheyde-malen gebeurt, dat de Gouverneurs
-van de Casteelen een Expressen aen boort stuyrden uyt courtosie, en
-gaven consent, dat de Staetsche haer Admiraels Vlagge souden opsetten
-en laten waijen: mits wederom uyt-zeylende ende de Casteelen
-passerende, de Vlagge streecken en lieten hanghen, totdat men met
-Eer-schooten haer hadde gesalueert, en sij gheantwoordt; dan wierde
-wederom de Staetsche Vlagge op geset.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_771">771</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_M">APPENDIX M.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_404">P. 404.</a>)</span><br />
-
-<span class="large table">CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN TROMP AND BLAKE.</span></h2>
-
-<p class="hang">(De Zee Betwist. Geschiedenis der Onderhandelingen over de Zeeheerschappij
-tusschen de Engelsche Republiek en de Vereenigde Provinci&euml;n v&oacute;&oacute;r den
-eersten Zee-Oorlog. Dr M. C. Tideman.)</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Mons<sup>r</sup></span>,</p>
-
-<p>Le 19/29 du Mois pass&eacute; nous entrerencontrans en mer mon
-invention [<i>sic</i>: intention?] estoit de vous saluer, mais me voyant attacqu&eacute;e
-de la sorte, et n’ayant peu scavoir la vostre puisque devant ny
-apres ladite rencontre je n’ay parl&eacute; a personne des vostres ne doubtant
-toutesfois nullemant (selon que m’a tesmoign&eacute; Mons<sup>r</sup>. le Commandeur
-Born, par les responses qu’il a faictes et donn&eacute;es a celuy que je luy
-envoyois pour luy communiquer mon ordre et sincere Intention) que
-ne soions amis et bons alliez, fus contraint, comme un homme d’honneur,
-tant seulement de me defendere, mais d’autant que aujourdhuy, estant
-a lancre devant Calais on ma rapport&eacute;, qu’un de nos Navires le Capiteyne
-Tuynemans de Middelbourg auroit este emmen&eacute; a vostre Rade
-aux d’unes, lequel je croiois estre coul&eacute; en fond, comme celuy seul
-qu’il nous defailloit. C’est pourquoi je vous supplie en toute amitie
-que ce soit votre plasir, que ledit navire nous soit rendu et mis en
-main du porteur de ceste, en forme qu’il a este prins, et me promets,
-que la bonne alliance et union entre Messeigneurs les Estats de Vostre
-et de nostre Republycque, nostre Religion et mutuelle amiti&eacute; fera, que
-ne voudres le refuser, Sur quoy me tiendray oblig&eacute; de demeurer, comme
-veritablement je suis,</p>
-
-<table>
- <tr>
- <td style="text-align: right">Monsieur,</td>
- <td>
- Vostre Tres humble Serviteur,<br />
- (Sign&eacute;) <span class="smcap">M. Harp<sup>ts</sup>. Tromp</span>.<br />
- <br />
- En notre navire <i>Le Brederode</i> le 2<sup>e</sup> Junij<br />
- 1652 a la Rade de Calais.<br />
- </td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>The superscription was:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>A Monsieur,</p>
-
-<p>Monsieur N. N. Blake, Collonel et Admirael au Service
-de Messeigneurs les Estats de la Republicque d’Angleterre, ou en son
-absence au Commandant a present aux d’unes.</p>
-
-<p>Gardiner (Letters and Papers, 257) gives Blake’s reply “retranslated
-from the Dutch translation.” The original, which was appended to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_772">772</span>
-Tromp’s letter to the States-General, is given by Tideman, as follows,
-from <i>Lias Admiraliteit</i>: Bijvoegsel bij Tromps brief aan H. Ho. Mo.
-uit Ostende d. d. 10 Juni 1652.</p>
-
-<p>S<sup>r</sup>,</p>
-
-<p>Y<sup>r</sup> Letter of the second of June 1652 stilo novo, brought by
-yo<sup>r</sup> Messenger, was read by mee not without much wonder that you
-stiling yo<sup>r</sup> selfe a person off honor should insert therin toe great
-mistakes after yo<sup>r</sup> seeking out the ffleet of the Parliament of the
-Comonwealth of England instead of performing those usuall respects
-which off right belong unto them and which yo<sup>r</sup> selve have often done,
-you were pleased to beginn acts off hostility which you call yo<sup>r</sup> owne
-defence against the commonwealth, without the least provocation on
-the part of their servants thus assaulted by you, and at a time when
-yo<sup>r</sup> Superiours, and their Ambassadors with the Parlyament were in
-a Treaty and desire of friendshipp with the Comonwealth of England,
-but that God in whome wee trust, having defeated your purposes of
-our destruction and some off yo<sup>r</sup> ships taken, you thincke fitt to
-demaund the same off us as if yo<sup>r</sup> former accord had been as you call
-it but a salutation and when that fayled, you would second yo<sup>r</sup> high
-affronts by yo<sup>r</sup> paper to which I doe not thincke fitt to returne any
-other Answere, But that I presume you will find the Parlyament
-sensible of these greate Iniuries and of the Losse off the innocent
-bloud of their Countrymen, And you will find likewise ready to obey
-their comandts,</p>
-
-<p class="author">
-Yo<sup>r</sup> humble Servant,<br />
-<span class="smcap">Rob: Blake</span>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Downes</span>, <i>29th May 1652</i>.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_N">APPENDIX N.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_461">P. 461.</a>)</span><br />
-
-<span class="large table">CONCESSION TO BRUGES TO FISH IN THE BRITISH SEAS.<a id="FNanchor_1405" href="#Footnote_1405" class="fnanchor">1405</a></span></h2>
-
-<p class="copy">(State Papers&mdash;King’s Letter Book, 1664-1670. Foreign Entry Book.
-Vol. 174, p. 119.)</p>
-
-<p>Carolvs &amp;c. Omnibus ad quos pr&aelig;sentes liter&aelig; pervenerint vel ullo
-modo spectaverint salutem. Cum in virtutum albo long&egrave; Princeps
-audiat liberalitas, quippe qu&aelig; non tant&ugrave;m beneficia sed ipsam etiam
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_773">773</span>
-benevolentiam et humanitatem secum comites trahat, Hinc est, quod
-Nobilissim&aelig; et antiquissim&aelig; civitatis Brugensis summis erga Nos meritis
-coacti quodammodo, animique Nostri ductum secuti [sicuti], tum maxim&egrave;
-accepti hospitij memores, in hoc unum ferimur [feremur] ut priorum
-prementes Vestigia grati in eam animi non leve argumentum posteris quoquo
-modo traderemus; Et san&egrave; affectu tam [tum] singulari non tant&ugrave;m
-Sacerdotum, Consulum, Senatorum, et summus ille Nobilium ordo, sed
-universa passim Urbs et Nos et fratres Nostros iniquitate rerum
-hospites olim factos fovit semper et propensior indies accepit, ut
-animo Nostro altius infixa recens adhuc amoris tant&oacute; h&aelig;reat memoria,
-eaque jure quodam h&aelig;reditario ad Successores Nostros deferenda, ne
-posteris Nostris tant&aelig; benignitatis ingrata tandem obrepat oblivio, Regnis
-utique [utque] Nostris ejecti benigniori hospitio in tantum recreari cœpimus,
-ut iniquam [inquam] fortun&aelig; invidiam &aelig;quiori animo tulisse videremur,
-eo saltem nomine non passuri [possum] unquam ut ad priorem
-statum reduces ingratorum not&acirc; laboremus. Vellemus quidem e&acirc;dem
-alacritate qu&acirc; pr&aelig;dicta Civitas Brugensis (Celeberrimum quondam Emporium
-tum magnificenti&acirc;, amplitudine et fulgore pr&aelig; c&aelig;teris clarum)
-benevolenti&aelig; et benignitatis fidem coluit, gratum animum testari, &amp;
-Civitati de Nobis tam bene merit&aelig; pristinam gloriam et splendorem
-ill&aelig;sum prorsus, et [est] integrum pr&aelig;stare. Qu&acirc; de caus&acirc; &agrave; Viro Nobis
-pr&aelig;cipu&egrave; dilecto Marco Alberto Dognati Equite [d’Ognati Equiti]
-Aurato, Regisque Catholici ad renovandam Belgij Dignitatem Commissario,
-rebusque Nostris singulari cur&acirc; intento &agrave; charissimo consanguineo
-Nostro (et) Illustrissimo Marchione [Marchioni] de Castel-Rodrigo
-Belgij et Burgundi&aelig; Gubernatore de Commercij libertate hoc tempore
-faciend&acirc; misso [misse] tum literas, tum Monochroma Novi Opificij,
-Portus, usque ad Oceanum Ductus [ductos] nuper elaborati et in capacem
-Navigationis formam redacti, grato animo accepimus; L&aelig;tique
-benignitate pristin&acirc;, Regiam aliquam pr&aelig;rogativam qu&aelig; non [non non]
-ingrate spondeat, in predictam civitatem Brugensem conferre meditamur,
-plen&acirc; potestate &amp; authoritate Nostr&acirc; Regi&acirc; plen&egrave;, liber&egrave;
-sponte, ac motu proprio dantes &amp; concedentes sicuti [sicut] per
-pr&aelig;sentes pro Nobis, H&aelig;redibus et Successoribus Nostris damus
-et concedimus, ut pr&aelig;dicta civitas Brugensis quocunque demum
-impedimento obstante Quinquaginta Naves piscatorias in Mare Nostrum
-in futurum possit deducere, nec non juxta Regnorum Nostrorum Oras
-et Littora liber&egrave; ac secure piscaturam exercere, tum etiam Haleces
-[Halices] piscesque alios quoscunque captare. Licebit porr&ograve; pr&aelig;dict&aelig;
-Urbis Civibus ad Portus Nostros Littora et flumina cum pr&aelig;dictis
-Navibus appellere, retia siccanda [seccanda] et resarcienda in terram
-exponere, periculis hostium tempestatumque sese subducere, necessaria
-tum ad victum tum ad alia qu&aelig;cunque in oppidis alijsque locis Regnorum
-Nostrorum justo pretio coemere, null&acirc;que ali&acirc; ad hoc speciali
-facultate aut salvi [salvus] conduct&ucirc;s literis habitis aut petitis inde
-redire liber&egrave;que [libere] recedere ita tamen ut dict&aelig; Civitatis Brugensis
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_774">774</span>
-Magistrat&ucirc;s literis, pr&aelig;sentium vigore sub sigillo ejus exhibendis,
-instructi veniant; caveant interim pr&aelig;dictarum Navium piscatoriarum
-proprietarij, fide prius dat&acirc; apud dictum Magistratum per
-sponsores idoneos, ne per ipsos piscatores, Nautas, aliosv&egrave; ad pisces
-derehendos substitutos, ad loca Nobis et Regnis Nostris inimica hujusmodi
-onus subrehi sinant [hujusmodi oras sinant et] aut permittant.
-Volumus igitur et per pr&aelig;sentes decernimus, ut pr&aelig;dicta piscandi
-libertas juxta numerum Navium supramemoratarum pr&aelig;fatis
-Urbis Brugensis Civibus solva [sola] semper et integra maneat, et in
-perpetuum per Nos ac H&aelig;redes et Successores Nostros stabilita continuetur.
-N&egrave;que quisquam subditorum Nostrorum, cujuscunque stat&ucirc;s,
-authoritatis, grad&ucirc;s seu conditionis, huic [hujus] Nostr&aelig; liber&aelig; et
-spontane&aelig; concessioni [concessionis] grati&aelig;, favori et privilegio, quoquo
-modo contravenito. Mandamus igitur et injungimus Fratri Nostro
-Charissimo Duc&eacute; Eboracensi Magno Nostro Angli&aelig; Admiralio
-[Admirallo] Nec non omnibus et singulis Regnorum Nostrorum
-Thalassiarchis, Navium Bellicarum capitaneis et Ductoribus Provinciarum,
-Urbium, Arciumque maritimarum Pr&aelig;fectis et eorum
-Vicem gerentibus, Judicibus, Officialibus, et alijs quibuscunque
-Ministris Nostris et juris Administratoribus, &amp;c., ut pr&aelig;dictis
-piscatoribus in quācunque maris parte vel juxta littora, flumina,
-Portusve Nostros obviam facti, non modo illis injuriam non inferant,
-sed e&oacute;s etiam amic&egrave; et benevol&egrave; excipiant, ac ubi opus fuerit,
-ijs opem ferant ijsdemque liberum accessum et recessum reditumque
-in patriam un&agrave; cum Navibus, piscibus, c&aelig;terisque bonis suis, nullo
-facto impedimento seu contradictione qu&acirc;cunque pr&aelig;stent et permittant.
-In quorum omnium majorem fidem [fidem majorem] pr&aelig;sentibus
-hisce manu Nostr&acirc; Regi&acirc; signatis [signatas] Magnum Nostrum
-Angli&aelig; Sigillum appendi fecimus. Dabantur, &amp;c., Julij 1666
-[<i>sic</i>].</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="APPENDIX_O">APPENDIX O.<br />
-
-<span class="medium">(<a href="#Page_692">P. 692.</a>)</span><br />
-
-<span class="large table">TERRITORIAL WATERS.</span></h2>
-
-<p class="hang">The articles adopted by the Institut de Droit International at Paris in 1894, and
-accepted with slight modifications by the International Law Association at
-London in 1895. [<i>Note.</i>&mdash;The additions to and alterations of the Rules
-adopted at Paris, which were made at London, are indicated by italic type.]</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">L’Institut</span>,</p>
-
-<p>Consid&eacute;rant qu’il n’y a pas de raison pour confondre
-en une seule z&ocirc;ne la distance n&eacute;cessaire pour l’exercice de la souverainet&eacute;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_775">775</span>
-et pour la protection de la p&ecirc;che littorale et celle qui l’est
-pour garantir la neutralit&eacute; des non-bellig&eacute;rants en temps de guerre;</p>
-
-<p>Que la distance la plus ordinairement adopt&eacute;e de trois milles de la
-laisse de basse mar&eacute;e a &eacute;t&eacute; reconnue insuffisante pour la protection de
-la p&ecirc;che littorale;</p>
-
-<p>Que cette distance ne correspond pas non plus &agrave; la port&eacute;e r&eacute;elle des
-canons plac&eacute;s sur la c&ocirc;te;</p>
-
-<p>a adopt&eacute; les dispositions suivantes:</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Article Premier.</span>&mdash;L’&Eacute;tat a un droit de souverainet&eacute; sur une z&ocirc;ne
-de la mer qui baigne la c&ocirc;te, sauf le droit de passage inoffensif
-r&eacute;serv&eacute; &agrave; l’article 5.</p>
-
-<p>Cette z&ocirc;ne porte le nom de mer territoriale.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Art. 2.</span>&mdash;La mer territoriale s’&eacute;tend &agrave; six milles marins (60 au
-degr&eacute; de latitude) de la laisse de basse mar&eacute;e <i>ou de la ligne de laquelle
-il est parl&eacute; dans l’article 3</i>, sur toute l’&eacute;tendue des c&ocirc;tes.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Art. 3.</span>&mdash;Pour les baies, la mer territoriale suit les sinuosit&eacute;s de la
-c&ocirc;te, sauf qu’elle est mesur&eacute;e &agrave; partir d’une ligne droite tir&eacute;e en
-travers de la baie dans la partie la plus rapproch&eacute;e de l’ouverture
-vers la mer, o&ugrave; l’&eacute;cart entre les deux c&ocirc;tes de la baie est de <i>dix</i> milles
-marins de largeur, &agrave; moins qu’un usage continu et s&eacute;culaire n’ait
-consacr&eacute; une largeur plus grande.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Art. 4.</span>&mdash;En cas de guerre, l’&Eacute;tat riverain neutre a le droit de
-fixer, par la d&eacute;claration de neutralit&eacute; ou par notification sp&eacute;ciale, sa
-z&ocirc;ne neutre au del&agrave; de six milles, jusqu’&agrave; port&eacute;e du canon des
-c&ocirc;tes.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Art. 5.</span>&mdash;Tous les navires sans distinction ont le droit de passage
-inoffensif par la mer territoriale, sauf le droit des bellig&eacute;rants de
-r&eacute;glementer et, dans un but de d&eacute;fense, de barrer le passage dans
-ladite mer pour tout navire, et sauf le droit des neutres de r&eacute;glementer
-le passage dans ladite mer pour les navires de guerre de toutes
-nationalit&eacute;s. <i>Il n’est pas d&eacute;rog&eacute; par cet article aux dispositions de
-l’article 10.</i></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Art. 6.</span>&mdash;Les crimes et d&eacute;lits commis &agrave; bord de navires &eacute;trangers
-de passage dans la mer territoriale par des personnes qui se trouvent
-&agrave; bord de ces navires, sur des personnes ou des choses &agrave; bord de ces
-m&ecirc;mes navires, sont, comme tels, en dehors de la juridiction de l’&Eacute;tat
-riverain, &agrave; moins qu’ils n’impliquent une violation des droits ou des
-int&eacute;r&ecirc;ts de l’&Eacute;tat riverain, ou de ses ressortissants ne faisant partie ni
-de l’&eacute;quipage ni des passagers.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Art. 7.</span>&mdash;Les navires qui traversent les eaux territoriales se
-conformeront aux r&egrave;glements sp&eacute;ciaux &eacute;dict&eacute;s par l’&Eacute;tat riverain
-dans l’int&eacute;r&ecirc;t et pour la s&eacute;curit&eacute; de la navigation et pour la police
-maritime.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Art. 8.</span>&mdash;Les navires de toutes nationalit&eacute;s, par le fait seul qu’ils
-se trouvent dans les eaux territoriales, &agrave; moins qu’ils n’y soient
-seulement de passage, sont soumis &agrave; la juridiction de l’&Eacute;tat riverain.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_776">776</span></p>
-
-<p>L’&Eacute;tat riverain a le droit de continuer sur la haute mer la poursuite
-commenc&eacute;e dans la mer territoriale, d’arr&ecirc;ter et de juger le navire qui
-aurait commis une infraction <i>p&eacute;nale</i> dans les limites de ses eaux. En
-cas de capture sur la haute mer, le fait sera, toutefois, notifi&eacute; sans
-d&eacute;lai &agrave; l’&Eacute;tat dont le navire porte le pavillon. La poursuite est
-interrompue d&egrave;s que le navire entre dans la mer territoriale de son
-pays ou d’une tierce puissance. Le droit de poursuite cesse d&egrave;s
-que le navire sera entr&eacute; dans un port de son pays ou d’une tierce
-puissance.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Art. 9.</span>&mdash;Est r&eacute;serv&eacute;e la situation particuli&egrave;re des navires de
-guerre et de ceux qui leur sont assimil&eacute;s.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Art. 10.</span>&mdash;Les dispositions des articles pr&eacute;c&eacute;dents s’appliquent aux
-d&eacute;troits dont l’&eacute;cart n’exc&egrave;de pas douze milles, sauf les modifications
-et distinctions suivantes:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p class="hang">1<sup>o</sup> Les d&eacute;troits dont les c&ocirc;tes appartiennent &agrave; des &Eacute;tats diff&eacute;rents
-font partie de la mer territoriale des &Eacute;tats riverains, qui y
-exerceront leur souverainet&eacute; jusqu’&agrave; la ligne m&eacute;diane.</p>
-
-<p class="hang">2<sup>o</sup> Les d&eacute;troits dont les c&ocirc;tes appartiennent au m&ecirc;me &Eacute;tat et qui
-sont indispensables aux communications maritimes entre
-deux ou plusieurs &Eacute;tats autres que l’&Eacute;tat riverain font
-toujours partie de la mer territoriale du riverain, quel que
-soit le rapprochement des c&ocirc;tes. <i>Ils ne peuvent jamais &ecirc;tre
-barr&eacute;s.</i></p>
-
-<p class="hang">3<sup>o</sup> <i>Dans les d&eacute;troits dont les c&ocirc;tes appartiennent au m&ecirc;me &Eacute;tat, la
-mer est territoriale bien que l’&eacute;cartement des c&ocirc;tes d&eacute;passe
-douze milles, si &agrave; chaque entr&eacute;e du d&eacute;troit cette distance n’est
-pas d&eacute;pass&eacute;.</i></p>
-
-<p class="hang">4<sup>o</sup> Les d&eacute;troits qui servent de passage d’une mer libre &agrave; une
-autre mer libre ne peuvent jamais &ecirc;tre <i>barr&eacute;s</i>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Art. 11.</span>&mdash;Le r&eacute;gime des d&eacute;troits actuellement soumis &agrave; des conventions
-ou usages sp&eacute;ciaux demeure r&eacute;serv&eacute;.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_777">777</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h2 id="INDEX">INDEX.
-
-<img class="figcenter" src="images/hr.jpg" alt="" />
-
-</h2>
-
-<ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">Aberdeen, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Abreu y Bertodano on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_559">559</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Admiral, office of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Admiralty, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_520">520</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Admiralty and “striking,” <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380-383</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Admiralty, High Court of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a> n., <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and striking, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">decisions as to neutral waters, <a href="#Page_553">553</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">decisions as to three-mile limit, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>, <a href="#Page_577">577</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Admiralty jurisdiction, origin of, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Admiralty, on extent of British Seas, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Adriatic, <a href="#Page_52">52</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sovereignty of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries of, <a href="#Page_659">659</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aerssen, Fran&ccedil;ois van, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Africaine</i>, case of, <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Agincourt, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Agnes G. Donohoe</i>, case of, <a href="#Page_663">663</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Albemarle, Duke of. <i>See</i> Monk.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Albertsz, Jan, Captain, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alderney, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alexander, Sir William, Secretary for Scotland, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> n., <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alfred, King, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Algarve, fishery treaty with, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Algeria, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_657">657</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Allin, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alverstone, Lord, <a href="#Page_692">692</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alward, G. L., <a href="#Page_711">711</a> n., <a href="#Page_739">739</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Amboyna, <a href="#Page_430">430</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">America, British North, fishery disputes with United States, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery limit, <a href="#Page_650">650</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ten-mile limit for bays, <a href="#Page_626">626</a>, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">six-mile limit for bays, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery rights, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>, <a href="#Page_731">731</a>, <a href="#Page_731">731</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hague Tribunal on, <a href="#Page_732">732</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Mixed Commission to delimit bays, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>modus vivendi</i> with United States, <a href="#Page_626">626</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaties regarding fisheries, <i>See</i> Treaties.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">America, fisheries claimed for crown, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Amsterdam, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Amsterdam Island, <a href="#Page_194">194</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ancient Britons and maritime dominion, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Angelus, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Angevins, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Anglo-Saxons, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>, <a href="#Page_542">542</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Anna</i>, case of, <a href="#Page_579">579</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Annapolis</i>, case of, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Anne of Austria, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Anne, Queen, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Anstruther Easter, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Antwerp, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaty of, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Appropriation of sea. <i>See</i> Sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aquitaine, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries at, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Archer, Walter E., <a href="#Page_736">736</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Argentine Republic, claim to great bays, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to wide limit of exclusive fishery, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>, <a href="#Page_662">662</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Argyle, Earl of, <a href="#Page_153">153</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Arlington, Lord, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_502">502</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Armed Neutrality, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>, <a href="#Page_572">572</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Arundel, Earl of, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n., <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aschehoug, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Assize-herring, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152-154</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163-171</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194-196</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proposal to levy from foreign fishermen, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">demanded from Dutch, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">how to be levied from Dutch, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_757">757</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">paid by Dutch fishermen, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">value of, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Auber, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_691">691</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Australia, pearl fisheries, <a href="#Page_697">697</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Austria-Hungary, territorial sea, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Customs jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reciprocal rights of fishery with Italy, <a href="#Page_659">659</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ayrshire, fishermen of, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Azores, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Azuni, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on range of vision, <a href="#Page_546">546</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Bacon, Lord, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a> n., <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bagg, Sir James, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Baldus, on territorial limit, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_778">778</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Balfour of Burleigh, Lord, <a href="#Page_730">730</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ballantrae Bank herring fishery, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Balmerino, Lord, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Baltic, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">as closed sea, <a href="#Page_572">572</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sovereignty over, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>, <a href="#Page_555">555</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial limits in, <a href="#Page_655">655</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Baltimore, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barbary, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barclay, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_689">689</a> n., <a href="#Page_690">690</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barebones Parliament, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barents Sea, foreign trawlers in, <a href="#Page_713">713</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barking, <a href="#Page_699">699</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barneveldt, Elias van Olden, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barneveldt, J. van Olden, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barr&egrave;re, on the freedom of the sea, <a href="#Page_595">595</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barrett, Frank, <a href="#Page_738">738</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bartolus, on territorial limit, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>, <a href="#Page_541">541</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bates, Joshua, on bay of Fundy, <a href="#Page_625">625</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Batten, Sir William, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Battle of the Downs, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Baty, Dr Thomas, Hon. Secretary, International Law Association, <a href="#Page_673">673</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bays. <i>See</i> Territorial Sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bayonne, <a href="#Page_52">52</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beaufort, de, Duke, Admiral of France, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beaufort, Henry, <a href="#Page_56">56</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beaufort, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Behring Sea, fishery disputes, negotiations with Russia, <a href="#Page_581">581-585</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Russian ukase fixing 100-mile limit, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">gunshot limit accepted by Russia, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">three-mile limit adopted by Russia, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">United States on Russian claim, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Tribunal of Arbitration, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>, <a href="#Page_695">695</a>, <a href="#Page_695">695</a> n., <a href="#Page_732">732</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Japanese sealers in, <a href="#Page_696">696</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">whaling in, <a href="#Page_585">585</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Belgium, complaints against fishermen of, <a href="#Page_615">615</a>, <a href="#Page_616">616</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_658">658</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bell Rock, territoriality of, <a href="#Page_642">642</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bengal, Bay of, <a href="#Page_625">625</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bergen, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Berkeley, Sir William, on striking, <a href="#Page_472">472</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Berwick, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beukelsz, invention of herring cure, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beuningen, van, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_511">511</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beveren, van, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beverning, Hieronymus van, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_504">504</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beverwaert, van, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_449">449</a> n., <a href="#Page_450">450</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Binge, Raymond, <a href="#Page_109">109</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Binning, Captain, <a href="#Page_513">513</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Binning, Lord, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a> n., <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Birch, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bird, Sir William, <a href="#Page_174">174</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Biscay, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishermen of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">whalers at Spitzbergen, <a href="#Page_183">183</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Biscay, Bay of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510</a>, <a href="#Page_521">521</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries in, <a href="#Page_707">707</a>, <a href="#Page_713">713</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territoriality of, <a href="#Page_625">625</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bishop of Isles, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bishop of Ross, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bishop, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_683">683</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Black Book of Admiralty, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>,<a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39-42</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Blackburn, Lord, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_589">589</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Black Sea, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Blackstone, on Sovereignty of Sea, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Blake, General Robert, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instructions to, regarding sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">encounter with Tromp, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a> n., <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a> n., <a href="#Page_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">correspondence with Tromp, <a href="#Page_404">404</a> n., <a href="#Page_772">772</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">captures Dutch herring busses, <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n., <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Blakeney, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Blockade, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bluntschli, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Blyth, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Board of Trade on fishery limit, <a href="#Page_616">616</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and German territorial limits, <a href="#Page_652">652</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bodin, on territorial limit, <a href="#Page_540">540</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bohemia, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bohemia, Queen of. <i>See</i> Elizabeth.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bohusl&auml;n, herring fishery at, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bordeaux, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boreel, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boroughs, Sir John, Keeper of the Records, on Sovereignty of Sea, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a> n., <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">discovery of rolls, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on foreign fishermen, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boston, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boswell, Sir W., British ambassador at The Hague, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a> n., <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Botetourt, Sir John de, <a href="#Page_46">46</a> n., <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bothnia, Gulf of, sovereignty over, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_564">564</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boulogne, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bourne, Rear-Admiral, meets Tromp, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">assists Blake, <a href="#Page_403">403</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bouwensz, Joost, <a href="#Page_294">294</a> n., <a href="#Page_298">298</a> n., <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brabant, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bracton, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a> n., <a href="#Page_539">539</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bradshaw, <a href="#Page_409">409</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Braeckel, Captain, <a href="#Page_476">476</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Braems, Sir Arnold, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brazil, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Breda, conference at, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaty of, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>, <a href="#Page_501">501</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brederode, W. van, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bremen, fishermen and merchants from, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations at, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bressay Sound, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Briel, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>, <a href="#Page_512">512</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bristol, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bristol Channel, territoriality of, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>, <a href="#Page_725">725</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">British Colonies, territorial sea, <a href="#Page_661">661</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">British fisheries, foreigners at. <i>See</i> Fisheries.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">British Seas. <i>See</i> Sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">British subjects in foreign service, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Dutch navy, <a href="#Page_251">251</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brittany, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Britton, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_779">779</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brixham, <a href="#Page_699">699</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brood and spawn of fish, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brouershaven, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brown, James, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brown, John, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a> n., <a href="#Page_194">194</a> n., <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a> n., <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sent to uplift the assize herrings from Dutch fishermen, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">seized by Dutch and carried to Holland, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">released, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch apologise, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">counsel’s opinion on seizure, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bruce, King Robert, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bruce, Patrick, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bruges, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a> n., <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishing charter from Charles II., <a href="#Page_460">460</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>, <a href="#Page_504">504</a>, <a href="#Page_616">616</a>, <a href="#Page_617">617</a>, <a href="#Page_772">772</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brussels, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Bucentaur</i>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_567">567</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Buchan Ness, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Buckingham, Duke of, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a> n., <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Buckland, Frank, on inexhaustibility of fisheries, <a href="#Page_636">636</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burchett, on Sovereignty of Sea, <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n., <a href="#Page_521">521</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burghs, Scottish, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burgundy, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burgundy, Duke of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burgundy, House of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burgundy treaties, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a> n., <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a> n., <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_500">500</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burgus, P. B., on dominion of Ligurian Sea, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_550">550</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burnham, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bushell, William, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bynkershoek, Cornelius van, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_579">579</a>, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>, <a href="#Page_650">650</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_555">555</a>, <a href="#Page_556">556</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on range of vision, <a href="#Page_546">546</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Cadiz, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">C&aelig;sar, Sir Julius, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Caithness, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Calais, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a> n., <a href="#Page_45">45</a> n., <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_440">440</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Callis, Serjeant, on the appropriation of the sea, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Calvo, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Camden, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Canada, fishery rights at. <i>See</i> British North America.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cancale, Bay of. <i>See</i> Granville Bay.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Canning, George, on Behring Sea, <a href="#Page_583">583</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cannon range limit, proposed by Dutch, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Territorial Sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Canterbury, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cape Bojador, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cape de Verde, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cape Finisterre, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>, <a href="#Page_521">521</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cape of Good Hope, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cape St Vincent, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a> n., <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cardinal Infant, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carew, Lord George, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carleton, Sir Dudley, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Grotius, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carlisle, Earl of, <a href="#Page_222">222</a> n., <a href="#Page_227">227</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Caron, Sir Noel, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_151">151-154</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168-174</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carrick, Earl of, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carteret, Captain, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Casaregi, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_558">558</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Castile, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Castro, Francis Alphonso de, on dominion of sea, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Catalonia, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cats, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_391">391</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cattegat, territoriality of, <a href="#Page_653">653</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cavendish, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cecil, Secretary Sir William, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a> n., <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ceva, Cardinal de, <a href="#Page_273">273</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ceylon, pearl fisheries, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>, <a href="#Page_697">697</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chaleurs, Bay of, <a href="#Page_623">623</a>, <a href="#Page_624">624</a>, <a href="#Page_625">625</a>, <a href="#Page_627">627</a> n., <a href="#Page_628">628</a>, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>, <a href="#Page_692">692</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chamberlain, Joseph, <a href="#Page_628">628</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Champagne, on freedom of the sea, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>, <a href="#Page_596">596</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chancellor, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Channel, English, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">extent of, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a> n. <a href="#Page_506">506</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">great avenue of commerce, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">importance of command of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries in, <a href="#Page_65">65</a> n., <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">licenses for fishing in, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">disputes with French fishermen, <a href="#Page_607">607</a>, <a href="#Page_608">608</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mid-line limit, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sovereignty over, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">striking in, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Channel Islands, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles the Bold, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles I., <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">asked to free the seas of Hollander busses, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opinion on importance of fisheries, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">initiates fishery association, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">plan of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">lays scheme before Council in Scotland, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ill received in Scotland, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opposed by Scottish Parliament, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">debates regarding, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his great anxiety for, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Scottish Commissioners appointed, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his letters on, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Royal Fishery Society established, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proceedings of, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">misfortunes and failure of Fishery Society, <a href="#Page_241">241-243</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209-212</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proclamation regarding narrow seas and King’s Chambers, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">draft proclamation <i>re</i> Sovereignty of Sea, <a href="#Page_759">759</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">personal policy, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">pretext for equipping a fleet, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">deceives his Council, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">secret agreement with Spain, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instructions to first ship-money fleet, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">failure of his policy, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">report of Admiralty as to employment of second ship-money fleet, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_762">762</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instructions regarding license money from foreign fishermen, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_780">780</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">proclamation forbidding unlicensed fishing by foreigners, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">licenses to fishermen, <a href="#Page_762">762</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations with Dutch as to unlicensed fishing, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tries surreptitiously to induce Dutch to accept licenses, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch despatch a fleet to protect their fishermen, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">general dissatisfaction with his actions, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his power on sea wanes, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">pretensions to sovereignty of sea flouted by Dutch, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">battle of Downs, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">proceedings regarding Spanish fleet and Tromp, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles II., his efforts to develop fisheries, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bill to encourage fisheries, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">directed against foreigners, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>, <a href="#Page_444">444</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">establishes the Royal Fishery, <a href="#Page_446">446-448</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">failure of, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch embassy, negotiations concerning fishery question, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tries to prevent Franco-Dutch treaty, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaty with the United Provinces, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">disputes about striking, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">second Dutch war, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">very popular, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">course of, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">terms of peace, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to exclusive fishing withdrawn, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of striking, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">extent of British seas, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">licenses offered to Dutch fishermen, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">De Witt’s proposals as to striking, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">verbal arrangement with Louis as to striking, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Triple Alliance, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">secret treaty of Dover, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">obtains a subsidy, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ill-feeling against Dutch fomented, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">accuses De Witt of secret negotiations with Louis, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">recall of Sir William Temple, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">pretext for war in the “honour of the flag,” <a href="#Page_476">476</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sends his yacht <i>Merlin</i> to pick a quarrel over the salute, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">failure of the <i>Merlin</i>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dispute with Dutch as to striking, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch asked to acknowledge his dominion of the seas, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the Dutch hoodwinked, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">rejects concessions of Dutch, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">orders Dutch shipping to be seized, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">failure of attack on Smyrna fleet, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">declaration of war against States-General, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">declaration on the honour of the flag and sovereignty of the sea, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arranges salute with Louis, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">terms offered the Dutch, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">demands payment for fishery, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>, <a href="#Page_491">491</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">summons Parliament, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">subsidy granted, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the war intensely unpopular, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">efforts to stir up animosity against Dutch, <a href="#Page_494">494-498</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">congress at Cologne, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">terms of peace offered, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of flag and striking, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>, <a href="#Page_499">499</a>, <a href="#Page_501">501-503</a>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of fisheries, <a href="#Page_498">498-500</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503-505</a>, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations for separate peace, <a href="#Page_504">504-508</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">peace concluded, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">establishes a new fishery company, <a href="#Page_516">516</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles V., <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charteris, A. H., <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chaterton, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_448">448</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chatham, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chelchethe, John de, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chelmsford, Lord, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chester, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chili, territorial sea, <a href="#Page_661">661</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chitty, on Sovereignty of Sea, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chitty, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_597">597</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Christian V. of Denmark, prohibits fishing at Greenland, <a href="#Page_528">528</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Churchill, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_486">486</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cinque Ports, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">complain about foreign fishermen, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishermen of, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a> n., <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">jurisdiction on sea, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">licenses to French fishermen, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Clarendon, Chancellor, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Clee, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Cleveland</i> yacht, <a href="#Page_511">511</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Clyde, Firth of, foreign trawlers in, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries of, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> n., <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cnut, King, and the sea, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">charter regarding Sandwich, <a href="#Page_542">542</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cockaine, Sir William, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cockburn, Lord Chief-Justice, on Bristol Channel, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>, <a href="#Page_591">591</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cockraine, Captain, <a href="#Page_437">437</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cod-fishing, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> n., <a href="#Page_672">672</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coke, Lord Chief-Justice, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a> n., <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on appropriation of sea, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coke, Secretary, Sir John, <a href="#Page_130">130</a> n., <a href="#Page_227">227</a> n., <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on the British seas, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on the fishery scheme, <a href="#Page_215">215-218</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235-237</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n., <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255-258</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coke, Roger, <a href="#Page_127">127</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Colbert, French ambassador, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cologne, congress at, <a href="#Page_264">264</a> n., <a href="#Page_323">323</a> n., <a href="#Page_347">347</a> n., <a href="#Page_491">491</a> n., <a href="#Page_498">498</a>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Colomb, Admiral, <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Columbus, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Commerce, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in middle ages, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a> and n., <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">monopoly of, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Commercial enterprise, expansion of, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_533">533</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Commercial jealousy of Dutch, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Commonwealth, instructions as to striking, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relations with United Provinces, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations for alliance, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">St John’s mission to The Hague, <a href="#Page_384">384-390</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Navigation Act, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">seizure of Dutch ships, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">letters of reprisal against the Dutch, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">renewed negotiations, <a href="#Page_392">392-396</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">thirty-nine articles considered, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_764">764</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">differences as to sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of striking, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of fishery, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_781">781</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">question of right of visitation and search, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations interrupted, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">indignation against States-General for attack on Blake, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">terms offered to Pauw, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch ships seized and preparations for war, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">declaration on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>Mare Clausum</i> to be translated and printed, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">peace negotiations with Dutch, <a href="#Page_414">414-435</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">terms offered, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch propose the <i>Intercursus Magnus</i> as basis, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">liberty of fishing offered, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the twenty-seven articles proposed, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proposal for fusion of English and Dutch, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of dominion of the sea, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of extent of British seas, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431-436</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of fishing, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of guarding the sea, <a href="#Page_421">421-424</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of limitation of Dutch fleet, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of the Prince of Orange, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of striking, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch propose a “regulation” for, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch propose to strike in all seas, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of visit and search, <a href="#Page_420">420-424</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaty signed, <a href="#Page_435">435</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Conception Bay, territoriality of, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>, <a href="#Page_589">589</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Conringius, <a href="#Page_550">550</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Conway, Viscount, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cook, George M., <a href="#Page_728">728</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cooper, Sir Anthony Ashley, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> also Lord Shaftesbury.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cope, Sir Walter, <a href="#Page_128">128</a> n., <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Corinth, Gulf of, <a href="#Page_661">661</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cornish, James, on spawning of fish, <a href="#Page_610">610</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cornwall, pilchards, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cornwallis, Lord, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cottingham, Sir Francis, <a href="#Page_227">227</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cottington, Lord, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Courcel, Baron de, on three-mile limit, <a href="#Page_664">664</a> n., <a href="#Page_696">696</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coventry, Lord, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Craig, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_359">359</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on the right of fishery, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Crail, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a> n., <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Craudon, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cromarty, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cromer, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Crompton, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cromwell, Oliver (<i>see</i> also Commonwealth), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a> n., <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arguments for exclusive fishery, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">clandestine negotiations with Dutch, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">renews fishing licenses for Zowe, <a href="#Page_440">440</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cromwell, Richard, on extent of British seas, <a href="#Page_438">438</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Crow, Captain, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cuba, territorial limit, <a href="#Page_665">665</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cun&aelig;us, Professor Petrus, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Customs limit. <i>See</i> Territorial sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dana, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_683">683</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Danby, Earl of, <a href="#Page_516">516</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Danegeld, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dantzic, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dartmouth, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">David I., <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Davidson, Thomas, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Davis’ Straits, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Deal Castle, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dean, Major-General, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Decay of English fisheries. <i>See</i> Fisheries.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Decay of havens and sea-coast towns, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_446">446</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dee, Dr John, <a href="#Page_27">27</a> n., <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a> n., <a href="#Page_364">364</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Delaware Bay, claimed by United States, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>, <a href="#Page_599">599</a>, <a href="#Page_629">629</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Delfshaven, <a href="#Page_294">294</a> n., <a href="#Page_298">298</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Delft, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Demetrius, Emanuel, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Denmark, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to cod-fishing at Iceland, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">to whaling at Greenland, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries of, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishermen on British coasts, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claims to sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opposed by Queen Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">range of vision claimed, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">inclusion in Cromwell’s treaty with Dutch, <a href="#Page_433">433</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Deptford, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">De Ruyter, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a> n., <a href="#Page_458">458</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">De Seneterre, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Desjardins, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“De Superioritate maris” roll, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a> and n., <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_740">740</a>, <a href="#Page_744">744</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Devonshire, Earl of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">De With, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">De Witt, Cornelius, <a href="#Page_459">459</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">De Witt, John, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">secret negotiations with Cromwell, <a href="#Page_430">430</a> n., <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">secret negotiations with France regarding fishery and flag, <a href="#Page_451">451-454</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attitude on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on fishery claim, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451-457</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking to a frigate or ketch, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_509">509</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking to French, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">assassinated, <a href="#Page_491">491</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dieppe, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>, <a href="#Page_473">473</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Digby, Sir Kenelm, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Digges, Sir Leonard, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Digges, Thomas, on foreshore and bed of sea, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dogger Bank, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a> n., <a href="#Page_699">699</a>, <a href="#Page_700">700</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dominion of Sea. <i>See</i> Sovereignty of Sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dorchester, Viscount, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>. <i>See</i> Carleton.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dorp, van, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dorset, Earl of, <a href="#Page_227">227</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dort, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_782">782</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dover, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a> n., <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">straits of, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Downing, Sir George, English ambassador at The Hague, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_488">488</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Downs, The, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Drake, Sir F., <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Drechsel, C. F., Captain, <a href="#Page_647">647</a> n., <a href="#Page_707">707</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dudley, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dues levied at Scarborough Castle, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dunbar, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a> n., <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dunedin, Lord, Lord Justice-General, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_724">724</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dunfermline, Earl of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a> n., <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dunkirk, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">blockade of, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273-275</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dunkirk privateers, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247-250</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dunn, Sir Daniel, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dunwich, <a href="#Page_90">90</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Durham, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dussen, E. van der, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_185">185</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dutch, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">commercial jealousy of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">encouraged to settle in England, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">growth of fisheries and commerce, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries, growth and extent of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on British coasts, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Scottish coast, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a> n., <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statistics of, <a href="#Page_125">125-132</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a> and n., <a href="#Page_534">534</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">strength of fishing fleet, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">value of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">exports of fish, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">embargo on, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">supply England with fish, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">herring fishery, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78-85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134-137</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143-145</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>, <a href="#Page_534">534</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">description of, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">exports of herrings, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">herring fleet attacked by Blake, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">whale fishing, <a href="#Page_194">194</a> n., <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishermen, frugality and industry of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">settled at Stornoway, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">complaints against, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proposal to tax, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">assize herring, <a href="#Page_169">169-171</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">licenses to be forced on, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proceedings with reference to Northumberland’s fleet, <a href="#Page_301">301-305</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">payments for licenses to fish, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attempt to distribute licenses, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> also Fisheries and Sovereignty of Sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dutch, first war with England, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">second, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">third, <a href="#Page_474">474</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dutch fleet to protect fishermen, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dutch East India Company, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dutch Republic. <i>See</i> United Provinces.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dyer, Sir Edward, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dymes, Captain John, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">East India Company, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">East Indies, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Eastland Merchants Company, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Eddystone, territoriality of, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>, <a href="#Page_643">643</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edgar, King, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edmonds, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edward I., <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a> n., <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edward II., <a href="#Page_52">52</a> n., <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edward III., <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edward IV., <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edward VI., <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elbe, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elector Palatine, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elizabeth, Queen, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65-85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">asserts freedom of seas, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108-112</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opposes claims of Denmark in northern seas, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108-112</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opposes Spanish and Portuguese claims, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opposes <i>mare clausum</i>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">made no claim to sovereignty of seas, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">policy to foster fisheries, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishing declared free, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery disputes with Denmark, <a href="#Page_106">106-112</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">policy regarding territorial waters, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_543">543</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, <a href="#Page_167">167</a> n., <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Emden, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">England, Sea of. <i>See</i> Sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">English, new spirit of commercial enterprise in, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">irritation against Dutch, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">jealous of their commerce, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries, yield of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">condition of, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">decay of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">description of, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishermen, indolence of, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Iceland, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Norway, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">molested by Dutch, <a href="#Page_438">438</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Enkhuisen, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a> n., <a href="#Page_397">397</a> n., <a href="#Page_439">439</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Entick, on Sovereignty of Sea, <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n., <a href="#Page_522">522</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Essex, Earl of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a> n., <a href="#Page_473">473</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ethelred, King, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Evelyn, John, <a href="#Page_312">312</a> n., <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Sovereignty of Sea, <a href="#Page_514">514</a> and n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Eversley, Lord, <a href="#Page_702">702</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Evertsen, Vice-Admiral Jan, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Exeter, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Exton, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_513">513</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Faer&ouml;e Isles, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>, <a href="#Page_711">711</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fair Isle, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fairlea, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fairlight, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fajardo, Don Louis, <a href="#Page_206">206</a> n.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_783">783</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Falkland Islands, <a href="#Page_650">650</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Falmouth, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Farne Isles, <a href="#Page_618">618</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Farrer, Sir T. H., <a href="#Page_646">646</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fast-days, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fenton, John, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a> and n., <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_757">757</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ferguson, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_684">684</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fielding, Captain, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fife, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a> n., <a href="#Page_445">445</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishermen of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Finmark, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_568">568</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fiore, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_684">684</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, abuses in trade in, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, commerce in, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">exports, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a> n., <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">imports, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">prices regulated, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish days, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a> and n., <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a> n., <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_444">444</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, demand for, in early times, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, destruction of spawn of, <a href="#Page_608">608</a>, <a href="#Page_609">609</a>, <a href="#Page_610">610</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish for victualling army and navy, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, fresh, distribution of, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, preservation of brood of, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_607">607</a>, <a href="#Page_608">608</a>, <a href="#Page_609">609</a>, <a href="#Page_610">610</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, protection of breeding-grounds of, <a href="#Page_610">610</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, royal, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a> n., <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, spawning of, <a href="#Page_610">610</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, taxation of imported, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>, <a href="#Page_446">446</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish tithes, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fish, undersized, <a href="#Page_444">444</a> n., <a href="#Page_608">608</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_704">704</a>, <a href="#Page_706">706</a>, <a href="#Page_707">707</a>, <a href="#Page_708">708-710</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, appropriation of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, as nursery for navy, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, charter to Bruges, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>, <a href="#Page_772">772</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, claim to wide limit by Argentina, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>, <a href="#Page_662">662</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, claimed for crown, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, closure of areas, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>, <a href="#Page_720">720</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Territorial Sea, Extra territorial.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, cod-fishing at Lofoten Isles, <a href="#Page_672">672</a> and n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, Conference at Hague, 1881, <a href="#Page_632">632</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, decay of English, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Dutch, <a href="#Page_534">534</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, disputes in North Sea, <a href="#Page_631">631</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Iceland, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in North America, <a href="#Page_621">621</a>, <a href="#Page_622">622-630</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, distant voyages, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, Dutch, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125-130</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Dutch.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, Dutch regulations on British coast, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_606">606</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, early English law as to, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries Enquiries&mdash;Anglo-French in 1837, <a href="#Page_611">611</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by Royal Commissions in 1863, <a href="#Page_701">701</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in 1878, <a href="#Page_702">702</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in 1883, <a href="#Page_702">702</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by Select Committee of House of Commons in 1817, <a href="#Page_610">610</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in 1833, <a href="#Page_607">607-610</a>; in 1893, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>, <a href="#Page_707">707</a>, <a href="#Page_714">714</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by Select Committee of House of Lords in 1904, <a href="#Page_710">710</a>, <a href="#Page_711">711</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by Mr Higgin as to disputes in North Sea, 1880, <a href="#Page_631">631</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, estimated profits of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, exclusive limit for, <a href="#Page_632">632</a>, <a href="#Page_633">633</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, exhaustibility of, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>, <a href="#Page_602">602</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, for coral, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>, <a href="#Page_695">695</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sponges, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">oysters, <a href="#Page_612">612</a>, <a href="#Page_621">621</a>, <a href="#Page_697">697</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">pearls, <a href="#Page_697">697</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, for “floating” fish, <a href="#Page_698">698</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, freedom of fishing during war, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, herring, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a> n., <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73-75</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197-200</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214-218</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> n., <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">importance of, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Bohusl&auml;n, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Scania, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Channel, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch, <i>see</i> Dutch;</li>
-<li class="isub1">French, on British coasts, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>, <a href="#Page_607">607</a>, <a href="#Page_608">608</a>, <a href="#Page_618">618</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaties granting liberty for, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, importance of, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Scotland, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">for navy, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in relation to international territorial limits, <a href="#Page_693">693</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, impoverishment of grounds, <a href="#Page_701">701</a>, <a href="#Page_702">702</a>, <a href="#Page_704">704</a>, <a href="#Page_706">706-711</a>, <a href="#Page_713">713</a>, <a href="#Page_714">714</a> n., <a href="#Page_733">733</a>, <a href="#Page_738">738</a>, <a href="#Page_739">739</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, in Channel, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_607">607</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, in North Sea. <i>See</i> North Sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, increase of shipping due to, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, industries dependent on, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, International Conference, London, 1890, <a href="#Page_706">706</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, international investigations proposed, <a href="#Page_707">707</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">begun, <a href="#Page_735">735</a>, <a href="#Page_736">736</a>, <a href="#Page_740">740</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instructions to British delegates, <a href="#Page_735">735</a>, <a href="#Page_736">736</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">criticism of, <a href="#Page_736">736</a> and n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, international regulations, <a href="#Page_614">614</a>, <a href="#Page_618">618</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>, <a href="#Page_631">631</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a> n., <a href="#Page_648">648</a>, <a href="#Page_704">704</a>, <a href="#Page_729">729</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">German proposal to protect fry and small fish, <a href="#Page_636">636</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, liberty of fishing granted to Sweden, <a href="#Page_427">427</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, liberty of fishing guaranteed by treaties, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66-74</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, license for fishing at Zowe, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_749">749</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, old Scandinavian rights, <a href="#Page_677">677</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, old Scots Acts regarding, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, policy of Scottish kings, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, promoted by Charles I., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, proposals to develop English, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, protective legislation and regulation, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>, <a href="#Page_608">608</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, regulations beyond three-mile limit, <a href="#Page_614">614</a>, <a href="#Page_618">618</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_621">621</a>, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>, <a href="#Page_666">666</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>, <a href="#Page_697">697</a>, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>, <a href="#Page_734">734</a>, <a href="#Page_735">735</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of oyster beds, <a href="#Page_621">621</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, rise of British, <a href="#Page_534">534</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, Scottish treaties regarding, <a href="#Page_75">75-82</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_784">784</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, sealing regulations, Argentina, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Uruguay, <a href="#Page_663">663</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, small-fish grounds, <a href="#Page_705">705</a>, <a href="#Page_708">708</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, the “Belgian devil,” <a href="#Page_631">631</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, trawling, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">methods, <a href="#Page_699">699</a>, <a href="#Page_700">700</a>, <a href="#Page_701">701</a>, <a href="#Page_708">708</a>, <a href="#Page_714">714</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">development of, <a href="#Page_680">680</a>, <a href="#Page_698">698-701</a>, <a href="#Page_711">711</a>, <a href="#Page_713">713</a>, <a href="#Page_739">739</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">enterprise of British trawlers, <a href="#Page_713">713</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by British vessels on foreign coasts, <a href="#Page_680">680</a>, <a href="#Page_711">711</a>, <a href="#Page_712">712</a>, <a href="#Page_713">713</a>, <a href="#Page_730">730</a>, <a href="#Page_735">735</a>, <a href="#Page_737">737</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Barents Sea, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>, <a href="#Page_713">713</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Far&ouml;es, <a href="#Page_711">711</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Finmarken, <a href="#Page_680">680</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">French West Africa, <a href="#Page_713">713</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Iceland, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>, <a href="#Page_711">711</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Morocco, <a href="#Page_713">713</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Spain and Portugal, <a href="#Page_667">667</a> and n., <a href="#Page_668">668</a> n., <a href="#Page_713">713</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">foreign trawlers on Scottish coast, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">damage by foreign trawlers, <a href="#Page_631">631</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">destruction of undersized fish, <a href="#Page_714">714</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Board of Trade empowered to restrict, <a href="#Page_717">717</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">German proposals to restrict in North Sea, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">restrictive regulations, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>, <a href="#Page_714">714</a>, <a href="#Page_733">733</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in England, <a href="#Page_715">715</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">prohibited beyond ordinary limits in Adriatic, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Argentina, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Austria-Hungary, <a href="#Page_715">715</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Italy, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Ireland, <a href="#Page_715">715</a>, <a href="#Page_716">716</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Norway, <a href="#Page_680">680</a>, <a href="#Page_715">715</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Portugal, <a href="#Page_666">666-668</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Scotland, <a href="#Page_716">716-720</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Spain, <a href="#Page_666">666-668</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">bill to prohibit within eight miles of coast, <a href="#Page_444">444</a> and n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">German proposal to restrict, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">restrictions desired by English trawlers, <a href="#Page_702">702</a>, <a href="#Page_704">704-710</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ten-mile limit desired by English trawlers, <a href="#Page_707">707</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">voluntary closure of Continental area, <a href="#Page_704">704</a>, <a href="#Page_706">706</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">international agreement necessary, <a href="#Page_732">732</a>, <a href="#Page_734">734</a>, <a href="#Page_735">735</a>, <a href="#Page_738">738</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">recent views as to extension of limits, <a href="#Page_735">735</a>, <a href="#Page_737">737</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, tribute from foreigners proposed, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fisheries, truce for fishing during war, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishermen, early frequent distant seas, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishermen, foreign&mdash;</li>
-<li class="isub1">On British coasts, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59-62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145-150</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a> n., <a href="#Page_605">605-608</a>, <a href="#Page_611">611</a>, <a href="#Page_615">615</a>, <a href="#Page_617">617</a>, <a href="#Page_618">618</a>, <a href="#Page_631">631</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">Belgian, <a href="#Page_615">615-618</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">Dutch, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77-79</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82-85</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, and <i>see</i> Dutch;</li>
-<li class="isub2">Flemish, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59-62</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">French, <a href="#Page_59">59-62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a> n., <a href="#Page_606">606-608</a>, <a href="#Page_611">611</a>, <a href="#Page_617">617</a>, <a href="#Page_618">618</a>, <a href="#Page_631">631</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">Portuguese, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">Spanish, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">cause of increase of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">complaints against, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_604">604</a>, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_631">631</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">against Belgian, <a href="#Page_615">615</a>, <a href="#Page_616">616</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub3">Dutch, <i>see</i> Dutch;</li>
-<li class="isub3">French, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a> n., <a href="#Page_606">606-608</a>, <a href="#Page_611">611</a>, <a href="#Page_617">617</a>, <a href="#Page_618">618</a>, <a href="#Page_631">631</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">encouraged in England, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">prohibited to fish, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">licenses for, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">tax on proposed, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">protection of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
-<li class="isub1">On Irish coasts, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishermen, guardians of, appointed, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishery Conventions, <a href="#Page_604">604</a>, <a href="#Page_693">693</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Anglo-Belgian, of 1852, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Anglo-French, of 1839, <a href="#Page_612">612</a>, <a href="#Page_613">613</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">of 1867, <a href="#Page_618">618</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>, <a href="#Page_633">633</a>, <a href="#Page_634">634</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">North Sea, of 1882, <a href="#Page_634">634</a>, <a href="#Page_637">637-639</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Norway and Sweden decline to adhere to North Sea Convention, <a href="#Page_636">636</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishery, reciprocal right of, <a href="#Page_626">626</a>, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>, <a href="#Page_666">666</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">old Scandinavian rights, <a href="#Page_677">677</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishery, right of, Boroughs on, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Callis, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Craig, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Digges, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Fiore, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Graswinckel, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Grotius, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hautefeuille, <a href="#Page_601">601</a>, <a href="#Page_602">602</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Wicquefort, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Malynes, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Meadows, <a href="#Page_525">525</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Pontanus, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Puffendorf, <a href="#Page_551">551</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Rayneval, <a href="#Page_596">596</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Sarpi, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Selden, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Stubbe, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Vasquius, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Vattel, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Welwood, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Wheaton, <a href="#Page_599">599</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Wolff, <a href="#Page_559">559</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishery rights, British North America. <i>See</i> America.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishery Societies and Associations, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a> n., <a href="#Page_136">136-140</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160-162</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a> n., <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235-243</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a>, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>, <a href="#Page_494">494</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>, <a href="#Page_534">534</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishing boats, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of neutrality of, during war, <a href="#Page_636">636</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishing boats, varieties of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishing, old limit on Scottish coast, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishing, safe-conducts for, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishing vessels, armed, <a href="#Page_34">34</a> n., <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fitton, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fitzmaurice, Lord, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>, <a href="#Page_730">730</a>, <a href="#Page_731">731</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Flag, “honour of.” <i>See</i> Striking.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Flanders, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a> n., <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fleta, <a href="#Page_539">539</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fletcher, George, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> n., <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Flushing, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fogg, Captain, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Foggo, Robert, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Folkestone, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Foreign Enlistment Act, <a href="#Page_589">589</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Foreshore, ownership of, <a href="#Page_361">361-363</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Forth, Firth of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> n., <a href="#Page_273">273</a> n., <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">herring fishery, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Four Seas, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a> n., <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">France, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Customs jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">differences with United Provinces as to striking, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">regulation of fisheries beyond three miles, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaty with Dutch regarding fishery question, <a href="#Page_451">451-454</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Francis I. of France, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Franconia</i>, case of, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n., <a href="#Page_590">590</a>, <a href="#Page_591">591</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Frankland, <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Freiras, F. S. de, on <i>Mare Liberum</i>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">French fishermen on British coasts, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">whalers at Spitzbergen, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a> and n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Frezno, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_785">785</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Friesland, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Froissart, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fryer, C. E., <a href="#Page_619">619</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fundy, Bay of, <a href="#Page_623">623</a>, <a href="#Page_624">624</a>, <a href="#Page_625">625</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fyvie, Lord President, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Galiani, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">first to suggest three miles as equivalent to range of guns, <a href="#Page_563">563</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Galicia, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gama, Vasco da, <a href="#Page_340">340</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Garde, Baron de la, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gelderland, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Genoa, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> n., <a href="#Page_402">402</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>, <a href="#Page_504">504</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sovereignty of Ligurian Sea, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">limit of territorial sea, <a href="#Page_570">570</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gentilis, on appropriation of sea, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gentleman, Tobias, <a href="#Page_128">128</a> and n., <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gerbier, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">German Ocean, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Germany, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial waters of, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>, <a href="#Page_653">653</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ghent, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations at, <a href="#Page_581">581</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ghent, van, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Glanville, <a href="#Page_539">539</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gl&uuml;ckstadt, <a href="#Page_473">473</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Goch, Johan van, <a href="#Page_185">185</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Godey, on range of vision, <a href="#Page_546">546</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Godolphin, <a href="#Page_52">52</a> n., <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Godsdue, Richard, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gondomar, Count of, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Goodwin Sands, territoriality of, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gor&eacute;e, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Goring, George, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Grange</i>, case of, <a href="#Page_574">574</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Granville Bay, <a href="#Page_612">612</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_697">697</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Graswinckel, Dirck, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a> n., <a href="#Page_366">366</a> n., <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a> n., <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>, <a href="#Page_550">550</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gravelines, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Greece, territorial sea, <a href="#Page_661">661</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Greenland, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">whale fishery at, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grey, Sir Edward, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_732">732</a>, <a href="#Page_733">733</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grimaldi, Reyner. <i>See</i> Grimbald.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grimbald, Reyner, <a href="#Page_44">44</a> n., <a href="#Page_45">45</a> and n., <a href="#Page_47">47-51</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_740">740</a>, <a href="#Page_744">744</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grimsby, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_699">699</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">trawlers of, in Moray Firth, <a href="#Page_722">722</a>, <a href="#Page_727">727-729</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Groningen, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Groningen-Watt, <a href="#Page_578">578</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Groot, de, <a href="#Page_504">504</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Groot, Cornets de, <a href="#Page_344">344</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Groot, Hugo de. <i>See</i> Grotius.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grotius, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a> n., <a href="#Page_158">158</a> n., <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a> n., <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a> n., <a href="#Page_256">256</a> n., <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">appearance of, <i>Mare Liberum</i>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">object and genesis of, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arguments of, <a href="#Page_344">344-350</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">defends a Dutch <i>mare clausum</i>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">‘Rights of War and Peace,’ <a href="#Page_347">347</a> ;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on appropriation of sea, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Portuguese and Spanish claims, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on range of gun limit, <a href="#Page_157">157</a> n., <a href="#Page_158">158</a> n., <a href="#Page_549">549</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Welwood, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grotius and James I., <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a> n., <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guard for fishing fleet, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guernsey, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guiccardini, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guise, Duke of, license to fish at Zowe, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gulf of Nuevo, <a href="#Page_661">661</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gulf of St George, <a href="#Page_661">661</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gulf of San Matias, <a href="#Page_661">661</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guns, range of. <i>See</i> Territorial sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guthrie, Lord, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_623">623</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Haas, Captain Adrian de, <a href="#Page_486">486</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Haddington, Earl of, <a href="#Page_179">179</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hagaland, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hague, The, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Conference at, 1881, <a href="#Page_632">632</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Tribunal N. American Fisheries Arbitration, <a href="#Page_732">732</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hale, Lord Chief-Justice, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_543">543</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Halifax Commission, <a href="#Page_627">627</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Halifax, Viscount, <a href="#Page_490">490</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hall, H. van, <a href="#Page_605">605</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hall, on Sovereignty of Sea, <a href="#Page_48">48</a> n., <a href="#Page_312">312</a> n., <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_687">687</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Halleck, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_683">683</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Halsbury, Lord, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>, <a href="#Page_730">730</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Halse, Sir Nicholas, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a> n., <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hamburg, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">conference at, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hamburgers, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a> n., <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hamilton, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hamilton, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_179">179</a> n., <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hampden, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hansards, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hardy, Sir T. Duffus, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Harfleur, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hargrave, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Sovereignty of Sea, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Harris, Captain Joseph, condemned to death for striking to Spaniard, <a href="#Page_512">512</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Harvey, Sir William, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Harwich, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_699">699</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hastings, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a> n., <a href="#Page_544">544</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hatherly, Lord, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hautefeuille, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_601">601</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hawkins, Sir John, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hay, Sir George, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hay, Sir John, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a> n., <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> n., <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Headland doctrine, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_622">622</a>, <a href="#Page_624">624</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Bays.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Heath, Attorney-General, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Heaton, Captain, <a href="#Page_437">437</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hebrides, <a href="#Page_153">153</a> n., <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a> n., <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Heemskerk, Jacob van, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Heffter, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_600">600</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on range of vision, <a href="#Page_546">546</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Helgeland, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_786">786</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Heneage, Lord, <a href="#Page_728">728</a> n., <a href="#Page_739">739</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henrietta Maria, Queen, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry I., <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry II., <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry II. of France, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry III., <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry III. of France, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry IV., <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry IV. of France, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry V., <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry VI., <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry VII., <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry, Prince, of Scotland, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herbert, Captain, <a href="#Page_512">512</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herbert, Sir John, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hermetra, <a href="#Page_241">241</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herring busses, <a href="#Page_74">74</a> n., <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_447">447</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herring fishery. <i>See</i> Fisheries, herring.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herrings, commerce in, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">price of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herschell, Lord, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_592">592</a> n., <a href="#Page_731">731</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hervey, Lord, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Heywood, Thomas, <a href="#Page_326">326</a> and n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Higgin, W. H., inquiry on North Sea fishery disputes, <a href="#Page_631">631</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Highlanders, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hitchcock, Captain Robert, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hoek, Dr P. P. C., <a href="#Page_707">707</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holland, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a> n., <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holland, Earl of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holland, fishery treaty with, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holland, Prof., <a href="#Page_359">359</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_691">691</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hollanders. <i>See</i> Dutch.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holmes, Captain Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a> n., <a href="#Page_458">458</a>, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hoorn, Simon van, <a href="#Page_449">449</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Horn, Andrew, <a href="#Page_542">542</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hovering Acts, <a href="#Page_593">593</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Howard, Lord William, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">H&uuml;bner, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_562">562</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hull, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a> n., <a href="#Page_699">699</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Humber, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hume, <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Huxley, Professor, <a href="#Page_702">702</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hythe, <a href="#Page_145">145</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Iceland, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">area of fishing-grounds at, <a href="#Page_739">739</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">English fishermen attacked by Danes, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">English traffic with, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Danish claims at, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>, <a href="#Page_567">567</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries at, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">English at, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">foreign trawlers at, <a href="#Page_700">700</a>, <a href="#Page_707">707</a>, <a href="#Page_711">711</a>, <a href="#Page_714">714</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery dispute between Denmark and United Provinces, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery limit at, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">seven-mile limit, <a href="#Page_739">739</a>, <a href="#Page_740">740</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Idle persons, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Impressment of ships, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Indies, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Insecurity of sea, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Institut de Droit International, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_689">689-692</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">articles on, <a href="#Page_774">774</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Intercursus Magnus</i>, treaty, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a> n., <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_500">500</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">International fishery investigations. <i>See</i> Fisheries.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">International Law Association, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_689">689-692</a>, <a href="#Page_774">774</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Articles on, <a href="#Page_774">774</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Inveraray, <a href="#Page_83">83</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ipswich, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ireland, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">oyster fisheries, <a href="#Page_697">697</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">foreigners prohibited from fishing at, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">restrictions on trawling beyond three-mile limit, <a href="#Page_716">716</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Spanish fishings at, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territoriality of oyster-beds, <a href="#Page_620">620</a>, <a href="#Page_621">621</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Irgens, J., Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, <a href="#Page_673">673</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Isabel of Portugal, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Islay, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Isle of Man, fishery regulations, <a href="#Page_698">698</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Isle of May, fishing tithes, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Italian jurists, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Italian Republics, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Italy, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Customs jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reciprocal rights of fishery with Austria, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_659">659</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">James I., <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a> n., <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">James I., a new policy, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">antecedents of, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proclamation forbidding hostilities in King’s Chambers, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_750">750</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">concludes peace with Spain, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proclamation restraining foreigners from fishing on British coasts, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145-148</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>, <a href="#Page_755">755</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">remit of Council on, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">deliverance of Committee on, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attitude of French towards, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations with Dutch, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155-159</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178-180</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185-194</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proclamation suspended, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">orders records to be searched, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">grants of assize herrings, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instructs assize herrings to be levied from foreign fishermen, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_757">757</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">indignation at capture of Brown, satisfaction demanded, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">forbids Scottish fishermen to fish within a land-kenning at the Faroes, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">requests Dutch not to fish within sight of land, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">requests Scottish Council to prevent the Hollanders fishing within sight of land, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">again demands assize herrings from Dutch, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claims seas around Spitzbergen as British, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">appoints commissioners to treat with Dutch envoys, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch ambassadors without power to treat of herring fishery, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">indignation with Dutch ambassadors, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">again gives way on the herring fishery question, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">requests Dutch to prohibit fishing within fourteen miles, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_787">787</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations with Dutch as to whale fishery, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Carleton advises fixing a limit, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch agree to keep out of sight of shore, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">orders assize herrings to be again collected, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch embassy appointed, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch ambassadors without instructions to deal with fishery question, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">speech to Dutch ambassadors, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">indignation against Dutch, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch ambassadors advise States-General to settle fishery question, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">failure of policy of assize herring, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">James II., <a href="#Page_517">517</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">James III. of Scotland, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">James V. of Scotland, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">James VI. of Scotland, treaty with Dutch, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jan Mayen, sealing at, <a href="#Page_695">695</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">whaling at, <a href="#Page_527">527</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Japan, territorial sea, <a href="#Page_661">661</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jenkins, Sir Leoline, judge of the High Court of Admiralty, judicial decisions regarding neutral waters, <a href="#Page_553">553</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">plenipotentiary at Cologne, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on case of the <i>Merlin</i>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on confiscation of Smyrna fleet, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_484">484</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>, <a href="#Page_501">501-503</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>, <a href="#Page_513">513</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jenkinson. <i>See</i> Lord Liverpool.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jennings, Edward, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jersey, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Joachimi, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">John’s ordinance, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking, <a href="#Page_39">39-43</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Johnsen, Hans, on Moray Firth, <a href="#Page_728">728</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jongestal, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jonson, Ben, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Juridical controversies about sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_338">338-340</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410-413</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Kanin, Cape, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>, <a href="#Page_713">713</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kemble, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kennet, <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kent, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_599">599</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kerouaille, Mademoiselle de, <a href="#Page_475">475</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ketelby, Captain, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Keymer, John, author of the “Raleigh” tract, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a> n., <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Killigrew, Sir William, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">King James’s Newland, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">King John’s ordinance. <i>See</i> John.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">King, Thomas, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">King’s Chambers, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>, <a href="#Page_553">553</a>, <a href="#Page_598">598</a>, <a href="#Page_622">622</a>, <a href="#Page_723">723</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">declaration of Trinity House as to limits of, <a href="#Page_753">753</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">description of, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">defined by James I., <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">extent of, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proclamation concerning, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_750">750</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of validity of, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>, <a href="#Page_577">577</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">restricted to neutrality, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">violation of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330-333</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kirkelee, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kishinouye, Dr, <a href="#Page_661">661</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kleen, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_685">685</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kl&uuml;ber, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_597">597</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kronberg, striking at, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>, <a href="#Page_520">520</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kyllachy, Lord, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_725">725</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Lake, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_359">359</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lampredi, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_562">562</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lampreys, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Land-fishing” in Scotland, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Land-kenning in Scotland, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a> n., <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a> n., <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Faroes, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Territorial Sea, Range of Vision.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Land-van-Staten, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Larrey, <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Latour, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Laud, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lauderdale, Lord, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_507">507</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Laughton, Professor, <a href="#Page_521">521</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Law, early English, as to fishing, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lawrence on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Laws of Oleron, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a> n., <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Laws of the Sea, old, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lawson, Vice-Admiral Sir John, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a> n., <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Leda</i>, case of, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lediard, <a href="#Page_167">167</a> n., <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lefevre, Mr Shaw. <i>See</i> Lord Eversley.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leghorn, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>, <a href="#Page_473">473</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leicester, Earl of, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lennox, Duke of, <a href="#Page_130">130</a> n., <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a> and n., <a href="#Page_230">230</a> n., <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">grant of assize herrings to, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lent, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">difficulties in enforcing observance of, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">laxity of observance of, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">measures to enforce observance of, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See also</i> Political Lent.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leon, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“L’Espagnols sur Mer,” battle of, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Levant, <a href="#Page_340">340</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Levi, Leoni, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_664">664</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lewes, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lewis, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a> and n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leybourne, Lord William de, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leyden, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Libelle of Englyshe Polycye, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Licenses for foreign fishermen, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">for Dutch, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">distributed to the busses, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sums received for, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">offered to Dutch, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">to French, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">to Swedes to fish in British seas, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Danish to fish at Iceland and northern seas, <a href="#Page_108">108-112</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Liens, Joachim, Dutch Ambassador, <a href="#Page_185">185</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ligurian Sea, sovereignty of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lindsay, Thomas, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_788">788</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lindsey, Earl of, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a> n., <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">appointed Admiral of the first ship-money fleet, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his instructions from the Admiralty, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">private instructions from Charles I., <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">to force licenses on Dutch fishermen, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">punctilios of, as to flags, extent of British Seas, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dissatisfaction of Charles with, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and the Dutch herring busses, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proceedings of the fleet, <a href="#Page_259">259-274</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lisle, Viscount, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Liverpool, Lord, on neutral rights, <a href="#Page_596">596</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lizard, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Loccenius, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_550">550</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Loch Broom, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Loch Fyne, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Loch Maddy, <a href="#Page_241">241</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lofoten Isles, <a href="#Page_672">672</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Logan, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_77">77</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">London, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a> n., <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_396">396</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">consumption of fish in, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fish supply of, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Fishery Society, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishmongers of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Long Parliament, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attitude towards Sovereignty of Sea, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lord Mayor, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Loreburn, Lord, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_732">732</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Lords of the Sea,” English kings as, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a> n., <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lothian, Firth of, <a href="#Page_153">153</a> n., <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lottery for Fishery Society, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>, <a href="#Page_447">447</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Louis of Nassau, <a href="#Page_449">449</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>, <a href="#Page_518">518</a>, <a href="#Page_526">526</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on fishery question, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">intrigue with Charles, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reveals to Charles De Witt’s negotiations, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his policy, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">declares war against States-General, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking, <a href="#Page_518">518</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Low Countries, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries of, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishermen of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See also</i> Dutch and Netherlands.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lowestoft, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lucas farthing, <a href="#Page_470">470</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lundy, Laird of, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lushington, Dr, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lynn, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a> n., <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Mackerel fishery, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">MacLeod, Sir Reginald, <a href="#Page_667">667</a> n., <a href="#Page_673">673</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Madrid, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mainwaring, Sir H., <a href="#Page_65">65</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Malynes, Gerard, <a href="#Page_128">128</a> n., <a href="#Page_130">130</a> n., <a href="#Page_138">138</a> n., <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on the appropriation of the sea, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Manning, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_600">600</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mansel, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_219">219</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Mare Clausum</i>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a> n., <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a> n., <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Selden.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Mare Liberum</i>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a> n., <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Grotius.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Margaret of Savoy, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Marine laws, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Maritime laws, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Marlborough, Duke of, <a href="#Page_486">486</a> n., <a href="#Page_531">531</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Marion, Professor A. F., <a href="#Page_667">667</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Marten, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a> n., <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Martens, F., <a href="#Page_194">194</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Martens, G. F. von, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_563">563</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Martens, Professor de, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Martin, Martin, <a href="#Page_241">241</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Martin, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a> n., <a href="#Page_762">762</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mary, Queen, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mary, Queen, of Hungary and Bohemia, <a href="#Page_80">80</a> and n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mary Stuart, Queen, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mason, Capt. John, <a href="#Page_153">153</a> n., <a href="#Page_167">167</a> n., <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a> n., <a href="#Page_220">220</a> n., <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">grant of assize herrings to, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mass&eacute;, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_602">602</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Masson, Professor, <a href="#Page_195">195</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Masterman, Captain Walter S., <a href="#Page_711">711</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Masterman, Dr A. T., <a href="#Page_735">735</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Maurice, Count, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Maximilian of Austria, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Meadows, Sir Philip, on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a> n., <a href="#Page_510">510</a>, <a href="#Page_524">524</a>, <a href="#Page_694">694</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proposes a convention for fishery limits, <a href="#Page_525">525</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mechlin, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Medina Sidonia, Duke of, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mediterranean, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">striking in, <i>See</i> Striking.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Meerman, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_483">483</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Melrose, Earl of, <a href="#Page_179">179</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mendoza, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Merchant Adventurers, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Merchant Associations to secure the peace of the sea, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Mercurius Politicus</i>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Merlin</i>, the King’s yacht, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477-482</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">encounter with Dutch fleet, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">inquiry by Sir Leoline Jenkins on, <a href="#Page_480">480</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mervin, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mexico, Customs jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">pearl fisheries, <a href="#Page_697">697</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaties with, <a href="#Page_679">679</a> and n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mid-line (<i>Thalweg</i>), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>, <a href="#Page_652">652</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Miles, Scots, <a href="#Page_233">233</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Milton, John, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a> n., <a href="#Page_524">524</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Minch, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Mirror of Justice</i> and mid-line, <a href="#Page_542">542</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Molloy, on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking, <a href="#Page_557">557</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Monk, Duke of Albemarle, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Dutch commerce, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Monson, Sir William, <a href="#Page_130">130</a> n., <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a> n., <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a> n., <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Montague, General. <i>See</i> Earl of Sandwich.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Monteith, Earl of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> n., <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_789">789</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Moore, on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_691">691</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Moray Firth, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">prohibition of trawling within, <a href="#Page_718">718</a>, <a href="#Page_720">720</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">foreign trawlers in, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>, <a href="#Page_720">720-728</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Norwegian-registered trawlers in, <a href="#Page_721">721</a>, <a href="#Page_727">727</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">prosecution and conviction of foreign trawlers, <a href="#Page_722">722</a>, <a href="#Page_723">723</a>, <a href="#Page_724">724</a>, <a href="#Page_727">727</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">case of <i>Catalonia</i>, <a href="#Page_722">722</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">of Emmanuel Mortensen, <a href="#Page_722">722</a>, <a href="#Page_724">724-727</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">of Martin Olsen, <a href="#Page_722">722</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">of <i>Niobe</i>, <a href="#Page_722">722</a>, <a href="#Page_724">724</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">of <i>Pinewold</i>, <a href="#Page_723">723</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">of <i>Verbena</i>, <a href="#Page_723">723</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">High Court of Justiciary decides prohibition applies to foreigners, <a href="#Page_722">722</a>, <a href="#Page_724">724-727</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">protest by Norway, <a href="#Page_727">727</a>, <a href="#Page_728">728</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Norway favours a convention, <a href="#Page_728">728</a>, <a href="#Page_730">730</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and warns Norwegian trawlers to cease fishing in Moray Firth, <a href="#Page_728">728</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">actions against British subjects on foreign trawlers, <a href="#Page_728">728</a>, <a href="#Page_729">729</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">views of Foreign Office, <a href="#Page_729">729</a>, <a href="#Page_730">730</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proposal of International Council, <a href="#Page_737">737</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territoriality of, <a href="#Page_723">723-728</a>, <a href="#Page_729">729</a>, <a href="#Page_732">732</a>, <a href="#Page_734">734</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opinions of Scottish judges as to territoriality of, <a href="#Page_724">724-727</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Moray Firth, herring fishery in, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Morocco, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">trawling at, <a href="#Page_713">713</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Morton, Earl of, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> n., <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Moser, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_562">562</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Muncke, Levinus, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mundesley, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Murray, Captain David, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a> n., <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Muscovy Company, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">whale fishery of, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Musselburgh, <a href="#Page_175">175</a> n., <a href="#Page_445">445</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Nansen, Dr Fridtjof, Norwegian Minister, <a href="#Page_673">673</a> n., <a href="#Page_728">728</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nantes, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Narrow seas, the, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a> n., <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">description of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">herring fisheries in, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">hostilities prohibited in, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">prizes taken in, <a href="#Page_359">359</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">striking in, <a href="#Page_204">204-206</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Channel.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">National Sea Fisheries Protection Association, <a href="#Page_667">667</a> n., <a href="#Page_706">706</a>, <a href="#Page_728">728</a> n., <a href="#Page_740">740</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Naval Salute. <i>See</i> Striking.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navare, Michel de, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navigation, freedom of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_676">676</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navigation Act of 1651, <a href="#Page_391">391</a> and n., <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of 1660, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>, <a href="#Page_464">464</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navy, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_517">517</a>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under Charles I., <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under Edward III., <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under Henry IV., <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under Henry VI., <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">complaint of Commons on, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navy and fisheries, <a href="#Page_428">428</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Needham, Marchamont, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Netherlands, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a> n., <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a> n., <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">prohibit their fishermen from fishing within two leagues of Scottish coast, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Dutch.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Neutral waters, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a> n., <a href="#Page_548">548</a>, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>, <a href="#Page_622">622</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n., <a href="#Page_665">665</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>, <a href="#Page_775">775</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">decrees regarding, <a href="#Page_569">569-571</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">limit of, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proclamations and decisions regarding, <a href="#Page_553">553</a>, <a href="#Page_554">554</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Scandinavian limit of, <a href="#Page_568">568</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaties regarding, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">usage in seventeenth century, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>, <a href="#Page_553">553</a>, <a href="#Page_554">554</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Newcastle, <a href="#Page_34">34</a> n., <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a> n., <a href="#Page_428">428</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Newfoundland, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery rights at, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nicholas, Secretary of Admiralty, <a href="#Page_44">44</a> n., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a> n., <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nicholl, Sir John, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nicolas, Sir N. H., <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> n., <a href="#Page_46">46</a> n., <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nieuport, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nieuport, William, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nootka Sound, <a href="#Page_573">573</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nordland, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Norfolk, <a href="#Page_46">46</a> n., <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Norham, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Norman Conquest, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Normandy, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Northampton, Earl of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">North Cape, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">North-east passage, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Northmen, sea power of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">North Sea, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Conference at Hague on, 1881, <a href="#Page_632">632</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Fishery Convention, 1882, <a href="#Page_634">634</a>, <a href="#Page_637">637</a>, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>, <a href="#Page_721">721</a>, <a href="#Page_722">722</a>, <a href="#Page_725">725</a>, <a href="#Page_726">726</a>, <a href="#Page_735">735</a>, <a href="#Page_737">737</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">defects in definitions, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of limit of exclusive fishing on other coasts, <a href="#Page_643">643</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Sweden and Norway decline to join, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">development of trawling in, <a href="#Page_699">699</a>, <a href="#Page_700">700</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">impoverishment of fishing-grounds in, <a href="#Page_706">706-710</a>, <a href="#Page_711">711</a>, <a href="#Page_738">738</a>, <a href="#Page_739">739</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Northumberland, Earl of, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a> n., <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">appointed admiral of second ship-money fleet, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instructions of Admiralty, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instructions from Charles, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proceedings of fleet in Channel, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proceedings of fleet against Dutch fishermen, <a href="#Page_295">295-300</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307-311</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">forces licenses on Dutch fishermen, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">appointed admiral of the third ship-money fleet, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">appointed Lord High Admiral, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Norway, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a> n., <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">area of fishing-grounds, <a href="#Page_738">738</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Customs jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">declines three-mile limit, <a href="#Page_633">633</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">declines to adhere to North Sea Convention, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_783">783</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">disputes with England as to fisheries, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_790">790</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries in Vestfjord, <a href="#Page_672">672</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery limit early fixed, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">special fishery limits, <a href="#Page_671">671</a>, <a href="#Page_672">672</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>, <a href="#Page_679">679</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">foreign trawlers seized for illegal fishing, <a href="#Page_680">680</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">registered trawlers in Moray Firth, <a href="#Page_721">721</a>, <a href="#Page_727">727</a>, <a href="#Page_728">728</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sovereignty of sea of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>, <a href="#Page_669">669-681</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">method of computing, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>, <a href="#Page_670">670</a>, <a href="#Page_676">676</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">respected by foreign fishermen, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Norwegian Sea, sovereignty over, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nottingham, Earl of, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nova Zembla, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Okhotsk, Sea of, foreigners fishing in, <a href="#Page_585">585</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oldenbarneveldt. <i>See</i> Barneveldt.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oldys, <a href="#Page_127">127</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oleron, Laws of. <i>See</i> Laws.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Onward Ho!</i> case of, <a href="#Page_657">657</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oppenheim, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_688">688</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oquendo, Don Antonio de, <a href="#Page_330">330-334</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Orange, Prince of, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a> n., <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>, <a href="#Page_517">517</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Orfordness, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_553">553</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Orkney, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Orkney, Earl of, <a href="#Page_169">169</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ormonde, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_450">450</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ortolan, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_601">601</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Orwell, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ossory, Lord, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ostend, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ouwers, Egidio, <a href="#Page_273">273</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Overbury, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_127">127</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Over-Yssel, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Owen, Captain, <a href="#Page_382">382</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oxford, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oyster fisheries, special treatment of, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of territoriality of Irish, <a href="#Page_620">620</a>, <a href="#Page_621">621</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reserved for French, <a href="#Page_612">612</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_620">620</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Pacius, on Venetian dominion of sea, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Palatinate, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Papal Bulls, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pardessus, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Parliament, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a> n., <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on safeguarding the sea, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">petitions for dues on navigation of Channel, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on navy, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Parliament of Ireland, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Parliament of Scotland, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Parry, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pauw, Adrian, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pearl fisheries, <a href="#Page_697">697</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Vattel on, <a href="#Page_560">560</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pedrogue, John de, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> n., <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pembroke, Earl of, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n., <a href="#Page_240">240-244</a>, <a href="#Page_446">446</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pendennis Castle, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Penn, Sir William, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pennington, Sir John, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a> n., <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instructions as to striking, <a href="#Page_261">261-263</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">suggestion as to neutral waters round a King’s ship, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">action at Battle of Downs, <a href="#Page_329">329-335</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pepys, Samuel, <a href="#Page_312">312</a> n., <a href="#Page_513">513</a>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Fishery Society, <a href="#Page_447">447</a> n., <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on second Dutch war, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on state of navy, <a href="#Page_517">517</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Perels, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Perkins, Sir Christopher, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Perre, Van de, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>, <a href="#Page_415">415</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Petersen, Gisbert, fishing license to, <a href="#Page_460">460</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip, Archduke of Austria, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip the Fair, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip II., <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip III., <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip IV., <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Phillimore, <a href="#Page_312">312</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_682">682</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Picardy, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Picaroons, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pilchard, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_447">447</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Piracy, prevalence of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pirates, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a> n., <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a> n., <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pistoye and Duverdy, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_602">602</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pitt, on fishery arrangements with France, <a href="#Page_532">532</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pittenweem, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Plague, <a href="#Page_299">299</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Plancius, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Plantagenets, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_421">421</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Plegher, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Plowden, on sea of England, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_543">543</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Plumleigh, Captain, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Plymouth, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Poland, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to Baltic, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Political Lent, the, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pontalis, on fishery question, <a href="#Page_453">453</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pontanus, J. I., on Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_550">550</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pope, the, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a> n., <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Popham, Col. Edward, <a href="#Page_382">382</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Porpoise, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Portland, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Portland Castle, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Portland, Earl of, <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n., <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Portsmouth, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Portsmouth, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_475">475</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Portugal, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">area of fishing-grounds, <a href="#Page_738">738</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishermen visit British coasts, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">and Irish coast, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery treaty with, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">foreign trawlers at, <a href="#Page_713">713</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105-108</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_569">569</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_791">791</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pradier-Fod&eacute;r&eacute;, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Prerogative of crown, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pribilov Islands, <a href="#Page_695">695</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Privateers, <a href="#Page_462">462</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Prize, law of, <a href="#Page_359">359</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Prussia, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishermen on British coasts, <a href="#Page_605">605</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Prynne, Keeper of the Records, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a> n., <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a> n., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a> n., <a href="#Page_352">352</a> n., <a href="#Page_367">367</a> and n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on the sovereignty of the sea, <a href="#Page_493">493</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Puffendorf, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_551">551</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Quarantine Acts, <a href="#Page_594">594</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Rainsford, Richard, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Raleigh, Sir Walter, <a href="#Page_127">127</a> and n., <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Raleigh tract. <i>See</i> Keymer.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ramsgate, <a href="#Page_699">699</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Range of guns, Grotius on, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">range of modern guns, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">range of gun limit, <a href="#Page_549">549</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">range of guns and salute, <a href="#Page_473">473</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">range of vision, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claimed by Denmark, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Grotius on, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">old English law, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">prescribed by Philip II., <a href="#Page_544">544</a></li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Land-kenning and Territorial sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rapin, <a href="#Page_167">167</a> n., <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rayneval, on range of vision, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_596">596</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Reddie, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_600">600</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Reformation, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">influence of, on fisheries, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Reprisals between Scots and Dutch, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">between traders, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Reserved waters. <i>See</i> Scotland.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Restoration, the, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Revocation, Act of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rh&eacute;, Isle de, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Richard I., <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Richard II., <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Richard III., <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Richelieu, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a> n., <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_526">526</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Right of fishery. <i>See</i> Fishery.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Right of search, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>, <a href="#Page_393">393</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rio de la Plata, territoriality of, <a href="#Page_663">663</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ripperda, Joachim, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_449">449</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rivalry in trade between English and Dutch, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rochelle, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a> n., <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Roe, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a> n., <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Roman law as to sea, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">as to fishing, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Romans and sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rool d’Oleron. <i>See</i> Laws of Oleron.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rose, Richard, <a href="#Page_324">324</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rosny, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rostock, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rotterdam, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a> n., <a href="#Page_511">511</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rouen, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Royal fishery, Pepys on, <a href="#Page_447">447</a> n., <a href="#Page_448">448</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Roxburgh, Earl of, <a href="#Page_225">225</a> n., <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rupert, Prince, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Russia, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Behring Sea question, <a href="#Page_581">581</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Company, <i>see</i> Muscovy Company;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Customs limit, <a href="#Page_656">656</a>, <a href="#Page_657">657</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_656">656</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ruyter, Captain, <a href="#Page_298">298</a> n., <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rye, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a> n., <a href="#Page_483">483</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ryley, William, Keeper of the Records, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ryswick, <a href="#Page_466">466</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Saen, Joris van der, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">St Andrews, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">St George’s Channel, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">St John, Lord Chief-Justice, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proceeds to The Hague, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations with Dutch, <a href="#Page_385">385-390</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his proposals for alliance and coalescence, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>Intercursus Magnus</i> taken as basis of treaty, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his seven articles, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the Dutch thirty-six articles, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">abstract of, <a href="#Page_764">764</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">as to fishing, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch proposals as to sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">for a joint fleet to police the seas, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch withdraw proposal as to striking, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">failure of negotiations, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">leaves The Hague, <a href="#Page_391">391</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">St Lo, Captain George, on fishery limit at Yarmouth, <a href="#Page_546">546</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Safe-conducts for fishing, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Salisbury, Earl, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a> n., <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a> n., <a href="#Page_359">359</a> n., <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on 100-mile limit, <a href="#Page_541">541</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Salisbury, Marquis of, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>, <a href="#Page_731">731</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Salisbury, Miss E., <a href="#Page_45">45</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Salmon fishing, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Salute. <i>See</i> Striking.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sandwich, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Knut’s grant of, <a href="#Page_542">542</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sandwich, Earl of, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Saracens, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sarpi, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_547">547</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Savage, Viscount, <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Savoy, Duke of, <a href="#Page_540">540</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scania, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">decline of herring fishery at, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scarborough, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">castle, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scaw, three-mile limit at, varies, <a href="#Page_640">640</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Schaep, Dutch ambassador, <a href="#Page_391">391</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Schelde, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scheveningen, <a href="#Page_460">460</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Schiedam, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Schmalz, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_597">597</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scilly Isles, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scotland, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Draft Treaty of Union with England, 1604, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_694">694</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fish exported from, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">importance of, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">exclusive spirit as to, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">policy towards, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaties regarding, <a href="#Page_75">75-82</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">foreigners at West Coast fishings, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">jealousy of foreign fishermen, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishing in bays and lochs prohibited, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attacks on Dutch fishermen, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_792">792</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">complaints against Dutch fishermen, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">complaints against French fishermen, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>, <a href="#Page_617">617</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dutch edicts <i>re</i> fishing, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">old fishery limits, <a href="#Page_226">226-229</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">old limit against Dutch, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">herring fishery in, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">extra-territorial jurisdiction in, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instructions of Privy Council <i>re</i> assize herrings, <a href="#Page_757">757</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery Acts, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery scheme, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishery society, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishing in lochs claimed, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">“land fishing” described, <a href="#Page_222">222</a> and n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">land-kenning, <i>see</i> Land-kenning;</li>
-<li class="isub1">limits of territorial sea, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">limit of <a href="#Page_14">14</a> miles in Draft Treaty of Union, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">limit of two leagues fixed by Dutch, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reserved waters, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226-230</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236-238</a>, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>, <a href="#Page_547">547</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scotland, royal burghs, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">ask that the Dutch be removed within a land-kenning, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and fishery society, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">oppose assize herrings, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territoriality of firths, <a href="#Page_692">692</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">trawling restrictions on, <a href="#Page_715">715</a>, <a href="#Page_716">716</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Fishery Board empowered to restrict, <a href="#Page_717">717</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bill to extend prohibition of, <a href="#Page_720">720</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Act fixing thirteen-mile limit for, <a href="#Page_720">720</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaties with the Dutch, <a href="#Page_188">188</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scotland, Sea Fisheries Regulation Act, 1895, <a href="#Page_592">592</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scott, Thomas, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scott, Sir William. <i>See</i> Stowell, Lord.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scottish Seas, the, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scudamore, Lord, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sea, appropriation of, <a href="#Page_537">537</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Middle Ages, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reasons for, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Roman law on, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opinions of Italian jurists, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opinions of modern jurists on, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bynkershoek, <a href="#Page_555">555</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Callis, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Chief-Justice Coke on, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Gentilis on, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Graswinckel on, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Loccenius, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Puffendorf, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Salisbury on, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Selden, <a href="#Page_370">370-374</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Stair, <a href="#Page_545">545</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Vattel, <a href="#Page_560">560</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sea, exhaustibility of. <i>See</i> Fisheries.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sea, “High Seas,” <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sea, insecurity of, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247-257</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sea, measures for guarding, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sea, sovereignty of. <i>See</i> Sovereignty.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sea of England, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">extent of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">seizure of ships in, by Grimbald, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sovereign lordship of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Callis on, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Plowden on, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">terms applied to, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the “Two Seas,” <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the “Three Seas,” <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the “Four Seas,” <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sea, property in bed of, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seaforth, Earl of, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sealing, <a href="#Page_695">695</a>, <a href="#Page_696">696</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seals, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seas, British, extent of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a> and n., <a href="#Page_381">381</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431-437</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a> n., <a href="#Page_465">465</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a> and n., <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a> and n., <a href="#Page_510">510</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>, <a href="#Page_521">521</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Admiralty on, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reluctance of Admiralty to define, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a> and n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">boundaries intentionally left undefined, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dee on extent of, <a href="#Page_101">101-103</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dispute as to extent of, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Richard Cromwell on extent of, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Thurloe on extent of, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Trinity House on extent of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking in, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_501">501-505</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to, gradually died out, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sebastian, King, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Secretary for Scotland, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a> n., <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seine, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seines, Bill to prohibit, within ten miles, <a href="#Page_444">444</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Selden, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> n., <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a> n., <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a> n., <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a> n., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a> n., <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a> n., <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a> n., <a href="#Page_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>, <a href="#Page_551">551</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">controversy with Graswinckel, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">imprisonment and release of, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">requested by Charles to write <i>Mare Clausum</i>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on British seas, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on English sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on exhaustibility of sea, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>Mare Clausum</i>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a> n., <a href="#Page_315">315</a> n., <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_504">504</a>, <a href="#Page_509">509</a> n., <a href="#Page_543">543</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">history of, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">publication of, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">political importance of, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">importance of, in English law, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">satisfaction of Charles with, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arguments of, <a href="#Page_369">369-374</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">anxiety in Holland about, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">translated, <a href="#Page_410">410</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Semeyns, Meynert, <a href="#Page_242">242</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Servat, William, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seven Stones Rocks, territoriality of, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>, <a href="#Page_643">643</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shaftesbury, Earl of, <a href="#Page_492">492</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on the Dutch, <a href="#Page_506">506</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sheerness seized by Dutch, <a href="#Page_459">459</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shetlands, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a> n., <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, <a href="#Page_534">534</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shields, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ship-money, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ship-money fleet, first, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub2">object of, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">proceedings of, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">failure of, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub2"><i>See</i> Lindsey.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Second, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">its object, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">opinion of Admiralty on convoying foreign vessels, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_762">762</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">on protecting foreign licensed fishermen, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_762">762</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">proceedings of fleet, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295-301</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307-311</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">failure to meet with French, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">instructions of Charles as to foreign fishermen, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">licenses distributed to Dutch herring busses, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">amount received as convoy and license-money, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub2"><i>See</i> Northumberland.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Third, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Fourth, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_793">793</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ship-money writs, <a href="#Page_36">36</a> n., <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ships, impressment of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shookius, <a href="#Page_550">550</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shovel, Sir Cloudesley, <a href="#Page_520">520</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shrewsbury, Duke of, <a href="#Page_520">520</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sicily, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Skagerrack, <a href="#Page_438">438</a> and n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territoriality of, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_653">653</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sleeve, the, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Slingsby, Capt., <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sluys, battle of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Smeerenburg, <a href="#Page_194">194</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Smith, Captain John, <a href="#Page_312">312</a> n., <a href="#Page_494">494</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Smith, Lieut. Thomas, dismissed for forcing French to strike, <a href="#Page_521">521</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Smith, Northumberland’s Secretary, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Smith, Simon, <a href="#Page_242">242</a> n., <a href="#Page_244">244</a> n., <a href="#Page_442">442</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a> n., <a href="#Page_448">448</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Smyrna fleet, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>, <a href="#Page_487">487</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Society of Fishing Merchants, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Solebay, battle of, <a href="#Page_489">489</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Solinus, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Somerset, Earl of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sommelsdijck, Lord of. <i>See</i> Aerssen.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sound, the sovereignty over, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">toll levied at the, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_501">501</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">South America, territorial sea, <a href="#Page_661">661</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Southampton, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Southwold, <a href="#Page_90">90</a> n., <a href="#Page_534">534</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Sovereign of the Seas,” the, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sovereignty of the sea, among ancients, <a href="#Page_371">371</a> n., <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sovereignty of sea, decadence of claim to, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_517">517</a>, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>, <a href="#Page_566">566</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sovereignty of sea, juridical controversies about, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410-413</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">liberty of navigation, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> Navigation.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sovereignty of the sea, meaning of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">striking as a symbol of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sovereignty of sea, treatises on, <a href="#Page_364">364</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sovereignty of the sea, Barr&egrave;re on, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Blackstone, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Boroughs, <a href="#Page_364">364-366</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Champagne, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>, <a href="#Page_596">596</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Chitty, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Secretary Coke, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cromwell, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dr Dee, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">De Witt, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Evelyn, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">English writers, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>, <a href="#Page_494">494</a>, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Gentilis, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hargrave, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Italian jurists, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Jenkins, <a href="#Page_484">484</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Loccenius, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Molloy, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Moore, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">naval historians on, <a href="#Page_521">521</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Selden, <a href="#Page_370">370-374</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Stubbe, <a href="#Page_496">496-498</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Wicquefort, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Baltic, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bothnian Gulf, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sovereignty of sea, Denmark, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>, <a href="#Page_567">567</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">contested by Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">England, origin of English claims, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">nature of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">defects of, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">early history of, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">under ancient Britons, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">under Romans, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">under Anglo-Saxons, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">under King Edgar, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">before Norman Conquest, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">after Norman Conquest, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">under Plantagenet Kings, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">rolls concerning, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_740">740</a>, <a href="#Page_744">744</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">not claimed, by Tudors, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">importance of claim under Stuarts, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">claimed as a prerogative of the crown, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">aimed against Dutch, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">extravagant claims under Charles I., <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">under the Commonwealth, <a href="#Page_378">378-382</a>, <a href="#Page_394">394</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">under Charles II., <a href="#Page_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">decadence of claim, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_517">517</a>, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of France, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Genoa, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Norway, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Pisans, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Poland, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Portugal, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105-108</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Spain, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105-108</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Sweden, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Tuscans, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Venice, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a> n., <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>, <a href="#Page_566">566</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sowe. <i>See</i> Zowe.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spain, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105-108</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fisheries, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">area of fishing-grounds, <a href="#Page_738">738</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">foreign trawlers at, <a href="#Page_713">713</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fishermen of, on British coasts, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">peace with England, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">war with United Provinces, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a> n., <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_644">644-668</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">limits of, <a href="#Page_569">569</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Customs limit, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">disputes with Great Britain and United States as to territorial sea, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>, <a href="#Page_665">665</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spaniards forced to strike, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spanish Netherlands, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spanish whalers at Spitzbergen, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spelman, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spitzbergen, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">whaling at, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182-185</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a> n., <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See also</i> Greenland.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Spragge, Sir Edward, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sprat fishery, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stair, Lord, on territorial limit, <a href="#Page_545">545</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Star Chamber, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Start, the, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">State merchant, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">States-General of the United Provinces, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">conclude treaty with James VI., <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">conclude peace with Spain, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">consider James’s proclamation on unlicensed fishing, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">decide to maintain freedom of fishing on British coast, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">send embassy to James about, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arguments used, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proclamation suspended, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">apologise for the capture of Brown, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">send the Captain responsible to London, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">publish an edict forbidding their fishermen to interfere with Scottish fishermen, 179:</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations with James, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">disputes as to whale fishing at Spitzbergen, <a href="#Page_181">181-185</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">send another embassy to London, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">no instructions as to fishery question, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_794">794</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">order their fishermen to keep out of sight of shore, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">send another embassy to James, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">again without instructions as to fishery question, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">renew their edicts and order their fishermen not to go too near Scottish coast, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proceedings regarding licenses of Charles I., <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instructions to Evertsen as to striking, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">to Tromp, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a> n., <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">send Van Dorp to protect the busses from Northumberland, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">order Van Dorp to prevent acceptance of licenses, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">send Aerssen van Sommelsdijck as ambassador, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Selden’s ‘Mare Clausum,’ <a href="#Page_375">375</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">resolve to increase their fleet, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and question of striking, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attitude to the Parliament, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">send ambassador to London, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations with St John, <a href="#Page_384">384-391</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">another embassy to London, <a href="#Page_391">391</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">consider and postpone question of striking, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">resolve to strengthen their fleet, <a href="#Page_393">393</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations interrupted by Tromp’s encounter with Blake, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">disown Tromp’s action, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">instruct him to strike, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">send the Grand Pensionary to London, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">recall ambassador and prepare for war, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">send four deputies to the Parliament, <a href="#Page_415">415</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations for peace, <a href="#Page_414">414-435</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">peace concluded, <a href="#Page_435">435</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">States-General and Charles II., action on fishery Bill, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">embargo on fisheries, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">propose freedom of fishing during war, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">differences with France as to, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">decision as to striking, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">orders to their men-of-war on striking, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">drawn into dispute about striking, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">yield as to striking, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sue for peace, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">terms offered, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reject terms, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiations for peace, <a href="#Page_498">498-506</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">peace concluded, <a href="#Page_508">508</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">States-General. <i>See</i> Dutch, Netherlands, United Provinces.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">States of Holland, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stebbing, <a href="#Page_127">127</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stephens, Violet, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stewart, Lord Robert, <a href="#Page_169">169</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stirling, Viscount, <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stornoway, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stowell, Lord, decisions respecting territorial limit, <a href="#Page_577">577</a>, <a href="#Page_578">578</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n., <a href="#Page_681">681</a>, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on three-mile limit, <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Straddling, Captain, <a href="#Page_207">207</a> n., <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Straits of Dover. <i>See</i> Dover.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Strange, Lady, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stratherne, Earl of, <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Strauchius, <a href="#Page_550">550</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Strickland, Walter, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_429">429</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking as an acknowledgment of maritime sovereignty, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">origin of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">first instance of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">John’s ordinance on, <a href="#Page_39">39-43</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under Tudors, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opposed by French, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under James I., <a href="#Page_204">204-208</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking under Charles I., <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">becomes very prominent, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">arrogance of English officers regarding, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under Commonwealth, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under Charles II., <a href="#Page_496">496</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">James II. and after, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">decay of claim to, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_518">518</a>, <a href="#Page_519">519</a>, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">abandoned after Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Admiralty instructions concerning, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380-383</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking, rules and customs of, <a href="#Page_206">206-208</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469-472</a>, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">not well understood, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking at foreign ports and coasts, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">before forts, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in British seas, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Mediterranean, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in narrow seas, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a> n., <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking by merchant vessels, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">British, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_519">519</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">foreign, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_513">513</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking by Danes, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to, by Danes, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by Dunkirkers, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking by Dutch, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_400">400-403</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455-457</a>, <a href="#Page_466">466-469</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477-481</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_491">491</a> n., <a href="#Page_495">495</a>, <a href="#Page_501">501</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510-513</a>, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">States-General consider question, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_392">392</a>, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">De Witt’s proposals regarding, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking to a frigate or ketch, <a href="#Page_468">468-470</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of whole fleet to single ship, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">terms offered Dutch, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_491">491</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">offer to strike in all seas, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by Dutch to French, <a href="#Page_276">276</a> and n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by English to Dutch, <a href="#Page_512">512</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking by French, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a> and n., <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>, <a href="#Page_518">518</a>, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>, <a href="#Page_521">521</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">French demand salute from English vessels, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">force English merchant vessels to strike, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by Hamburgers, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by Spaniards, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by English to Spaniards, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by Swedes, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a> n., <a href="#Page_520">520</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking, Bynkershoek on, <a href="#Page_556">556</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Jenkins on, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">jurists on, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Molloy on, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Wicquefort on, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Duke of York on, <a href="#Page_469">469</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking, treaties regarding, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>, <a href="#Page_517">517</a>, <a href="#Page_522">522-572</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking, arrangement between Charles and Louis, <a href="#Page_488">488</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking, arrangement between France and the United Provinces proposed, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_795">795</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking, differences between French and Dutch as to, <a href="#Page_452">452</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking, French edicts on, <a href="#Page_513">513</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking, Richelieu’s proposals, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Striking, Tromp’s memorandum on, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_770">770</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stuarts, the, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_378">378</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stubbe, Henry, on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_498">498</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sturgeon, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stypmannus, <a href="#Page_550">550</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Suffolk, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Suffolk, Earl of, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sully, Duke of, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sunderland, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sweden, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">asks for and obtains liberty of fishing in British seas, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">claim to sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and striking, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>, <a href="#Page_675">675</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">method of computing, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Customs limit, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">declines to adhere to North Sea Convention, <a href="#Page_636">636</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>Taurus</i>, case of, <a href="#Page_640">640</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Taxation of foreign fishermen, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Teind fish, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Temple, Lady, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Temple, Sir William, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">concludes Triple Alliance, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">recalled from The Hague, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">negotiates peace, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on the article regarding striking, <a href="#Page_509">509</a>, <a href="#Page_510">510</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, agreements between Great Britain and Germany, <a href="#Page_634">634</a>, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Anglo-Danish Convention concerning Iceland and Faroes, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">boundaries begin to be fixed, <a href="#Page_554">554</a>, <a href="#Page_573">573</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">by treaty, <a href="#Page_526">526</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Gulf Stream as a boundary, <a href="#Page_575">575</a>, <a href="#Page_650">650</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">British Foreign Office on, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>, <a href="#Page_667">667</a> and n., <a href="#Page_730">730</a>, <a href="#Page_731">731</a>, <a href="#Page_732">732</a>, <a href="#Page_738">738</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">wishes territorial waters in North Sea to remain undefined, <a href="#Page_632">632</a>, <a href="#Page_633">633</a>, <a href="#Page_634">634</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Parliamentary Committee recommend extension of, <a href="#Page_707">707</a> and n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, bays, and gulfs, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>, <a href="#Page_575">575</a>, <a href="#Page_581">581</a>, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>, <a href="#Page_598">598</a>, <a href="#Page_599">599</a>, <a href="#Page_601">601-603</a>, <a href="#Page_610">610</a>, <a href="#Page_614">614</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a> n., <a href="#Page_622">622-630</a>, <a href="#Page_632">632-634</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>, <a href="#Page_649">649</a>, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>, <a href="#Page_666">666</a>, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>, <a href="#Page_670">670</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>, <a href="#Page_718">718</a>, <a href="#Page_723">723</a>, <a href="#Page_725">725</a>, <a href="#Page_726">726</a>, <a href="#Page_730">730</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Bengal, <a href="#Page_625">625</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Biscay, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>, <a href="#Page_625">625</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bothnia, Gulf of, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cancale, <i>see</i> Granville;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Chaleurs, <a href="#Page_623">623</a>, <a href="#Page_624">624</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>, <a href="#Page_692">692</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Conception, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Delaware, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>, <a href="#Page_599">599</a>, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Fundy, <a href="#Page_623">623-625</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Granville, <a href="#Page_612">612</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_692">692</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hudson’s, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Argentina, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Norway, <a href="#Page_670">670</a>, <a href="#Page_672">672</a>, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Scotland, firths, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>, <a href="#Page_622">622</a>, <a href="#Page_692">692</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Moray Firth, <a href="#Page_721">721</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See also</i> Fisheries and King’s Chambers.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, British Foreign Office on, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>, <a href="#Page_730">730</a>, <a href="#Page_731">731</a> and n., <a href="#Page_732">732</a>, <a href="#Page_733">733</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">delimitation of North American, <a href="#Page_622">622</a>, <a href="#Page_627">627-630</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">French Government on, <a href="#Page_632">632</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hague Tribunal on, <a href="#Page_732">732</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Institut de Droit International on, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>, <a href="#Page_775">775</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">International Law Association on, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>, <a href="#Page_775">775</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>inter fauces terr&aelig;</i>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">measurement of, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">old English law regarding, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">omitted in Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">principles regarding, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">six-mile line for, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>, <a href="#Page_632">632</a>, <a href="#Page_730">730</a>, <a href="#Page_731">731</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">treaty stipulation in 1521, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">usage regarding, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>, <a href="#Page_548">548</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, closed seas, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>, <a href="#Page_598">598</a>, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">straits, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>, <a href="#Page_692">692</a>, <a href="#Page_776">776</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, Dano-Swedish limit in Baltic, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">decisions of law courts as to extent of, <a href="#Page_585">585-592</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">definitions in Acts, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>, <a href="#Page_718">718</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>, <a href="#Page_592">592</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, not absolutely defined by any State, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>, <a href="#Page_660">660</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, not defined by Great Britain, <a href="#Page_593">593</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, discussion between Spain, Great Britain, and United States, <a href="#Page_665">665</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, discussion as to limit in North Sea, <a href="#Page_632">632</a>, <a href="#Page_633">633</a>, <a href="#Page_634">634</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, distinction between limit under international law and in treaties, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">between exclusive fishery limit and territorial limit, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">distinction between “coasts” and “bays,” <a href="#Page_622">622</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">meaning of “coasts,” <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, historical evolution of, <a href="#Page_537">537</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, in peace and war, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>, <a href="#Page_665">665</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, in relation to fisheries, <a href="#Page_693">693</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">for “floating” fish, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">for coral, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>, <a href="#Page_695">695</a>, <a href="#Page_697">697</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">oysters, <a href="#Page_611">611</a>, <a href="#Page_612">612</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_620">620</a>, <a href="#Page_621">621</a>, <a href="#Page_697">697</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">pearls, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>, <a href="#Page_697">697</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">seals, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>, <a href="#Page_695">695</a>, <a href="#Page_696">696</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">whales, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>, <a href="#Page_695">695</a>, <a href="#Page_696">696</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">exclusive fishery limit, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on British and Irish coasts, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">outside the North Sea, <a href="#Page_643">643</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">extra-territorial regulations, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>, <a href="#Page_695">695</a>, <a href="#Page_699">699</a>, <a href="#Page_704">704</a>, <a href="#Page_707">707</a>, <a href="#Page_708">708</a>, <a href="#Page_716">716</a>, <a href="#Page_720">720</a>, <a href="#Page_725">725</a>, <a href="#Page_726">726</a>, <a href="#Page_727">727</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">international regulations, <a href="#Page_733">733</a>, <a href="#Page_734">734</a>, <a href="#Page_735">735</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">trawling, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>, <a href="#Page_707">707</a>, <a href="#Page_735">735</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">jurisdiction for Customs, <a href="#Page_593">593-595</a>, <a href="#Page_609">609</a>, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>, <a href="#Page_676">676</a>, <a href="#Page_679">679</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">for public health and slave-ships, <a href="#Page_593">593-595</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">under common law of England, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">over foreigners, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>, <a href="#Page_590">590</a>, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">navigation in, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_676">676</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, need of distinguishing different rights in, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">neutral waters, decrees respecting, <a href="#Page_569">569-570</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proposed limit for, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>, <a href="#Page_775">775</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, possession of opposite shores, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">principle of thalweg or mid-line, <a href="#Page_541">541-544</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, proposals of International Law Association, <a href="#Page_690">690-692</a>, <a href="#Page_774">774</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">question of banks and flats, <a href="#Page_633">633</a>, <a href="#Page_634">634</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a> and n., <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of consistency of soil, <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of depth, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of islands, <a href="#Page_618">618</a>, <a href="#Page_634">634</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of rocks and islets, <a href="#Page_641">641-643</a>, <a href="#Page_649">649</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of tide-marks, <a href="#Page_579">579</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>, <a href="#Page_666">666</a>, <a href="#Page_669">669</a> and n.;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_796">796</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">of true boundary of, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Scottish firths, <a href="#Page_692">692</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">statutes referring to, <a href="#Page_589">589-594</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, usage in seventeenth century, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in eighteenth, <a href="#Page_566">566</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">modern, <a href="#Page_650">650</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, modern usage, Algeria, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Argentine Republic, wide claim by, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">in Rio de la Plata, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Austria-Hungary, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Behring Sea, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>, <a href="#Page_695">695</a> and n., <a href="#Page_696">696</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Belgium, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Chili, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Cuba, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Denmark, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_567">567</a>, <a href="#Page_568">568</a>, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">in Cattegat, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Iceland and Faroes, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Skagerrack, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">France, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Germany, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Great Britain, origin of, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">in Bristol Channel, <a href="#Page_586">586-588</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">at Bell Rock, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">at Eddystone, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>, <a href="#Page_643">643</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">at Seven Stones Rocks, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>, <a href="#Page_643">643</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">British colonies, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">British N. America, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Greece, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Italy, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Japan, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Netherlands, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Zuiderzee, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Norway, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_568">568</a>, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>, <a href="#Page_669">669-681</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">method of measuring, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>, <a href="#Page_670">670</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">rejects three-mile limit, <a href="#Page_633">633</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">reasons for wide limit, <a href="#Page_676">676</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">in Varangerfjord, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">in Vestfjord, Lofotens, <a href="#Page_672">672-674</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">special limits in, <a href="#Page_671">671</a>, <a href="#Page_672">672</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>, <a href="#Page_679">679</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Portugal, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_569">569</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Russia, <a href="#Page_656">656</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">White Sea, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Scandinavian limit, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_567">567</a> and n., <a href="#Page_653">653</a>, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Spain, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_569">569</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664-668</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">South America, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Sweden, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>, <a href="#Page_675">675</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">method of computing in, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">United States, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">various limits claimed by, <a href="#Page_575">575</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Uruguay, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Venice, <a href="#Page_571">571</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, opinions of publicists in first part eighteenth century on, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>, <a href="#Page_566">566</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of recent publicists, <a href="#Page_603">603</a>, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial sea, opinions of Abreu y Bertodano, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Aschehoug, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Auber, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Azuni, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">on Bays, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bishop, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bluntschli, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bodin, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Burgus, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Bynkershoek, <a href="#Page_555">555</a>, <a href="#Page_556">556</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">on range of vision, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Calvo, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Casaregi, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Chelmsford, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Chitty, <a href="#Page_597">597</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Conringius, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Baron de Courcel, <a href="#Page_664">664</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Craig, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Dana, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Desjardins, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Dunedin, <a href="#Page_724">724</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Ferguson, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Fiore, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Fitzmaurice, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>, <a href="#Page_730">730</a>, <a href="#Page_731">731</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Galiani, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Gentilis, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Graswinckel, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Sir Edward Grey, <a href="#Page_732">732</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Grotius, <a href="#Page_549">549</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">on range of vision, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Guthrie, <a href="#Page_723">723</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Chief-Justice Hale, <a href="#Page_543">543</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hall, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Halleck, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Halsbury, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Hatherly, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hautefeuille, <a href="#Page_601">601</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Heffter, <a href="#Page_600">600</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Herschell, <a href="#Page_692">692</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Holland, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">H&uuml;bner, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Kent, <a href="#Page_599">599</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Kleen, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Kl&uuml;ber, <a href="#Page_597">597</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Kyllachy, <a href="#Page_725">725</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lampredi, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Latour, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lawrence, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Leoni Levi, <a href="#Page_664">664</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Loccenius, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Loreburn, <a href="#Page_732">732</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lushington, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Manning, <a href="#Page_600">600</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Mass&eacute;, <a href="#Page_602">602</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">de Martens, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">G. F. von Martens, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">on bays, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">on straits, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Moore, <a href="#Page_691">691</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Moser, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Sir John Nicholl, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Oppenheim, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Ortolan, <a href="#Page_600">600</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Perels, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Phillimore, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Pistoye and Duverdy, <a href="#Page_602">602</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Pontanus, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Pradier-Fod&eacute;r&eacute;, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Puffendorf, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">on bays and gulfs, <a href="#Page_551">551</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Rayneval, <a href="#Page_596">596</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Reddie, <a href="#Page_600">600</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Salisbury, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Sarpi, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Schmalz, <a href="#Page_597">597</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Shookius, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Stowell, <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Strauchius, <a href="#Page_550">550</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Sir Travers Twiss, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>, <a href="#Page_691">691</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Valin, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Vattel, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">on bays, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">on straits, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Wensleydale, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Westlake, <a href="#Page_691">691</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Wheaton, <a href="#Page_598">598</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Wolff, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Woolsey, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opinions of early English lawyers, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of early Italian jurists, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Institut de Droit International, <a href="#Page_689">689-692</a>, <a href="#Page_774">774</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of International Law Association, <a href="#Page_689">689-692</a>, <a href="#Page_774">774</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of judges in <i>Franconia</i> case, <a href="#Page_590">590</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial Sea. Various limits proposed or adopted for different purposes:</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>Three-mile limit</i>, proposed by Galiani, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">by Azuni, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">introduced for neutrality by United States, <a href="#Page_573">573</a>, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">introduced into English jurisprudence, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>, <a href="#Page_577">577</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">originated in neutral rights, <a href="#Page_694">694</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">applied to fisheries, <a href="#Page_581">581</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">confusion of, with range of guns, <a href="#Page_591">591</a> and n., <a href="#Page_598">598</a>, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">not equivalent to range of guns, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">discussion on, <a href="#Page_650">650-652</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">generally adopted through influence of the United States and Great Britain, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">an Anglo-American doctrine, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">not generally accepted by publicists, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>, <a href="#Page_680">680</a>, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>, <a href="#Page_775">775</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">common adoption of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_650">650</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">in some international fishery conventions, <a href="#Page_581">581</a>, <a href="#Page_612">612</a>, <a href="#Page_614">614</a>, <a href="#Page_617">617</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_621">621</a>, <a href="#Page_634">634</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>, <a href="#Page_649">649</a>, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">generally for fisheries, <a href="#Page_616">616</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>, <a href="#Page_680">680</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">inadequacy of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_604">604</a>, <a href="#Page_615">615</a>, <a href="#Page_617">617</a>, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>, <a href="#Page_679">679</a>, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>, <a href="#Page_693">693</a>, <a href="#Page_694">694</a>, <a href="#Page_707">707</a> and n.;</li>
-<li class="isub2">in relation to next great maritime war, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">British Government on, <a href="#Page_730">730</a>, <a href="#Page_732">732</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">refuses to recognise jurisdiction beyond three miles, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>, <a href="#Page_667">667</a> and n., <a href="#Page_738">738</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">wishes three-mile limit extended in war, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">rejected by four European States, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">refused by Norway, <a href="#Page_633">633</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">complex on Norwegian coast, <a href="#Page_672">672</a>, <a href="#Page_676">676</a></li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>Four-mile limit</i>, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>five miles</i>, <a href="#Page_575">575</a>, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>, <a href="#Page_715">715</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>six miles</i>, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>, <a href="#Page_566">566</a>, <a href="#Page_575">575</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>, <a href="#Page_694">694</a>, <a href="#Page_775">775</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">adopted by International Law Association for Fisheries, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>, <a href="#Page_775">775</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">limit for Dutch on Scottish coast, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_797">797</span></li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>eight miles</i>, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>, <a href="#Page_694">694</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>nine miles</i>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_564">564</a> n., <a href="#Page_608">608</a> and n., <a href="#Page_611">611</a>, <a href="#Page_618">618</a>, <a href="#Page_679">679</a>, <a href="#Page_679">679</a> n., <a href="#Page_691">691</a>, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>, <a href="#Page_737">737</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">on French coast, <a href="#Page_608">608</a> n., <a href="#Page_609">609</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">recommended by English trawlers for North Sea, <a href="#Page_702">702</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>ten miles</i>, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>, <a href="#Page_694">694</a>, <a href="#Page_696">696</a>, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>, <a href="#Page_707">707</a>, <a href="#Page_737">737</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">in Argentina, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">recommended for North Sea by English trawlers, <a href="#Page_702">702</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>twelve miles</i>, <a href="#Page_575">575</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>, <a href="#Page_715">715</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>thirteen miles</i>, <a href="#Page_703">703</a>, <a href="#Page_720">720</a>, <a href="#Page_738">738</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">for fishery on Scottish coast, <a href="#Page_720">720</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>fourteen miles</i>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>, <a href="#Page_694">694</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>twenty-eight miles</i>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>thirty miles</i>, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>, <a href="#Page_696">696</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>forty miles</i>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>sixty miles</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_696">696</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>eighty miles</i>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>100 miles</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">claimed by Russia in Behring Sea, <a href="#Page_582">582</a></li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>Range of guns</i>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_549">549</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>, <a href="#Page_676">676</a>, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685-687</a>, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>, <a href="#Page_716">716</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">first proposed by Dutch ambassadors, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_549">549</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">Bynkershoek’s dictum on, <a href="#Page_556">556</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">merits of, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">fixed in treaties and decrees, <a href="#Page_570">570-572</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">generally adopted, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">incorporated in international law, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">generally accepted by publicists, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">the true principle of delimitation, <a href="#Page_595">595</a>, <a href="#Page_602">602</a>, <a href="#Page_603">603</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">and neutral rights, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">and salute, <a href="#Page_556">556</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">as “zone of respect,” <a href="#Page_690">690</a>, <a href="#Page_775">775</a></li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>Range of vision</i>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544-546</a>, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>, <a href="#Page_596">596</a>, <a href="#Page_602">602</a>, <a href="#Page_694">694</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">defects of, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">adhered to by Dutch, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">claimed by Denmark, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">proposed by some modern publicists, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>, <a href="#Page_600">600</a> (<i>see</i> Land-kenning);</li>
-<li class="isub2">subsistence limit of Sarpi, <a href="#Page_547">547</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial waters. <i>See</i> Territorial sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, <a href="#Page_580">580</a> n., <a href="#Page_590">590</a>, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>, <a href="#Page_717">717</a>, <a href="#Page_718">718</a>, <a href="#Page_731">731</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Teutonic invaders, seafaring habits of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Texel, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>; battle of, <a href="#Page_498">498</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Thalweg. <i>See</i> Mid-line.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Thames, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, <a href="#Page_444">444</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Thanet, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Thorpe, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Three-mile limit. <i>See</i> Territorial sea.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Three seas, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Thurloe, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_498">498</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tithes of fish. <i>See</i> Fish.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tlieff, Captain Andrees, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Top-sails, lowering of. <i>See</i> Striking.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tordesillas, treaty of, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Traders, hostilities between, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trawling. <i>See</i> Fisheries.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Treaties, England and Burgundy, 1405, 1408, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1417, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1439, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1467, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1478, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1496 (<i>Intercursus Magnus</i>), <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1499, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1506, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1515, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1520, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Castile, 1351, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Denmark, 1468, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1490, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1523, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1583, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Flanders, 1320, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and France, 1303, <a href="#Page_44">44-46</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1403, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1471, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1528, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Portugal, 1353, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1439, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and United Provinces, 1585, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Scotland and the Emperor, 1541, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1550, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Scotland and the Netherlands, 1291, 1321, 1323, 1371, 1401, 1407, 1412, 1416, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1531, 1541, <a href="#Page_188">188</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and United Provinces, 1594, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a> n., <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Great Britain and Belgium, 1852, <a href="#Page_617">617</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1882, <a href="#Page_637">637</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Denmark, 1882, <a href="#Page_637">637</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1901, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>, <a href="#Page_740">740</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and France, 1686, <a href="#Page_526">526</a>, <a href="#Page_622">622</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1786, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1839, <a href="#Page_612">612</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1867, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1882, <a href="#Page_637">637</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Germany, 1882, <a href="#Page_637">637</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Mexico, 1888, <a href="#Page_679">679</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and the Netherlands, 1625, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1654, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1662, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1674, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1689, <a href="#Page_517">517</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1784, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1882, <a href="#Page_637">637</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Russia, 1825, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Spain, 1630, <a href="#Page_425">425</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1790, <a href="#Page_573">573</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Sweden, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and United States, 1783, <a href="#Page_622">622</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1794, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>, <a href="#Page_622">622</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1814, <a href="#Page_581">581</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1818, <a href="#Page_581">581</a>, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1854, <a href="#Page_625">625</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1871, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1888, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Denmark and Sweden, 1780, <a href="#Page_572">572</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1899, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>, <a href="#Page_675">675</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">France and Algeria, 1689, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>, <a href="#Page_573">573</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Burgundy, 1468, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the Emperor, 1521, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Russia, 1787, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">and United Provinces, 1635, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">1662, <a href="#Page_453">453</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Norway and Mexico, 1886, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>, <a href="#Page_679">679</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Porte and Naples, 1740, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Russia, Denmark, and Sweden, 1780, <a href="#Page_572">572</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub2">and the two Sicilies, 1787, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">and the United Provinces and Prussia, 1781, <a href="#Page_572">572</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Spain and Morocco, 1861, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">and Portugal, 1494, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub3">1878, 1885, 1893, <a href="#Page_665">665</a>, <a href="#Page_666">666</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">and Tripoli, 1784, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">and the United Provinces, 1609, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">United States and Morocco, 1785, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub2">and Russia, 1824, <a href="#Page_583">583</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Treaties concerning fishery, British North America, <a href="#Page_526">526</a>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>, <a href="#Page_622">622</a>, <a href="#Page_625">625</a>, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Treaties guaranteeing liberty of fishing on English coasts, <a href="#Page_66">66-74</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Treaty of Antwerp, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Breda, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Dover, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Ryswick, <a href="#Page_466">466</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Southampton, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Tordesillas, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Troyes, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Union, England and Scotland, 1604, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">of Utrecht, <a href="#Page_531">531</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Treport, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_426">426</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trinity House, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on limits of King’s Chambers, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_753">753</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on extent of British Seas, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_465">465</a> n., <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on jurisdiction of Cinque Ports in Channel, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on striking, <a href="#Page_477">477</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Triple Alliance, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a>, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_490">490</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tromp, Lieut.-Admiral Martin Harpentz, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>, <a href="#Page_395">395</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a> n., <a href="#Page_415">415</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>, <a href="#Page_477">477</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attacks Oquendo in the Straits of Dover, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in the Downs, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">strikes to English, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his letter to Pennington, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">commands Dutch fleet, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">puts to sea to prevent search of Dutch vessels, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>;
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_798">798</span></li>
-<li class="isub1">no instructions as to striking, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his memorandum on striking, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_770">770</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reluctance to strike, <a href="#Page_400">400</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">encounter with Blake, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a> n., <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">correspondence with Blake, <a href="#Page_404">404</a> n., <a href="#Page_771">771</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">story of broom, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tudors, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tunny fishery, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_504">504</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tweedmouth, Lord, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>, <a href="#Page_720">720</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Twee Gebroeders</i>, case of, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>, <a href="#Page_577">577</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Twiss, Sir Travers, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a> n., <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a> n., <a href="#Page_689">689</a>, <a href="#Page_691">691</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Two seas, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tynemouth, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tyrrhenian Sea, sovereignty of, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">United Provinces, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12-14</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a> n., <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a> n., <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>, <a href="#Page_517">517</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527-529</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1"><i>See</i> States-General, Dutch, Netherlands.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">United States of America, disputes and negotiations regarding British North American fisheries, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>, <a href="#Page_581">581</a>, <a href="#Page_621">621-630</a>, <a href="#Page_731">731</a> and n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">regarding Behring Sea, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>, <a href="#Page_695">695</a> n.;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territorial sea, <a href="#Page_599">599</a>, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fixes three miles for neutrality, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_573">573</a>, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">various limits claimed, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>, <a href="#Page_575">575</a>, <a href="#Page_650">650</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">influence of, in adoption of three-mile limit, <a href="#Page_650">650</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Uruguay, territorial sea, <a href="#Page_663">663</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ushant, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Utrecht, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>; treaty of, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Vagabonds, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Valck, Jacob, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Valin, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_562">562</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vane, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a> n., <a href="#Page_439">439</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Varangerfjord, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>, <a href="#Page_695">695</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vard&ouml;, or Vard&ouml;huus, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a> n., <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vasquez. <i>See</i> Vasquius.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vasquius, Ferdinand, on dominion of sea, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vattel, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on appropriation of fisheries, <a href="#Page_561">561</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Venice, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a> n., <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sea sovereignty of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a> and n., <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">limit of territorial sea, <a href="#Page_571">571</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vestfjord, <a href="#Page_672">672</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vic, M. de, Vice-Admiral of France, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Violation of ports, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Virginia, <a href="#Page_388">388</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Visit and search and gun range, <a href="#Page_557">557</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Visitation of English ships, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Wagenaar, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a> n., <a href="#Page_311">311</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Walderswick, <a href="#Page_90">90</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Walker, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Walmer Castle, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Warbeck, Perkin, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wardhouse. <i>See</i> Vard&ouml;.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Warwick, Earl of, <a href="#Page_206">206</a> n, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>, <a href="#Page_380">380</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wash, the, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Washington, George, <a href="#Page_573">573</a>, <a href="#Page_681">681</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wells, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Welwood, William, <a href="#Page_342">342</a> n., <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>, <a href="#Page_551">551</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on appropriation of the sea, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dominion of the sea, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">exhaustibility of sea, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on Grotius, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">on limit for Dutch on Scottish coast, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sea laws of Scotland, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attack on, by Graswinckel, <a href="#Page_412">412</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wensleydale, Lord, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wentworth, Viscount, <a href="#Page_227">227</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">West Friesland, <a href="#Page_453">453</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Westlake, Professor, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_691">691</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Westmoney Islands, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Weston, Lord, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a> n., <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Weymouth, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Whale-fishing, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Behring Sea, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Greenland, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527-530</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Jan Mayen, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Spitzbergen, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181-184</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a> n., <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in Varangerfjord, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">regulations, <a href="#Page_695">695</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Whales, right to, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wharton, <a href="#Page_312">312</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wheaton, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_598">598</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Whestone, Admiral, <a href="#Page_520">520</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Whitby, <a href="#Page_462">462</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Whitelock, <a href="#Page_414">414</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">White Sea, sealing at, <a href="#Page_695">695</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">territoriality of, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">trawling at, <a href="#Page_680">680</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Whitstable Fishery, case of, <a href="#Page_586">586</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wicklow, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wicquefort, on sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_495">495</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wilkins, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Willes, John, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">William of Malmesbury, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">William III. and sovereignty of sea, <a href="#Page_517">517-520</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">William the Lion, King, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Williamson, Sir Joseph, plenipotentiary at Cologne, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Willoughby, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wilson, Thomas, <a href="#Page_163">163</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wimbledon, Viscount, <a href="#Page_227">227</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Winchelsea, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Windebank, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Winwood, Sir Ralph, <a href="#Page_130">130</a> n., <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wolff, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_559">559</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wolseley, Sir Charles, <a href="#Page_429">429</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wolsey, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_548">548</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Woolsey, on territorial sea, <a href="#Page_683">683</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Worcester, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Worcester, Earl of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Worsley, Dr Benjamin, <a href="#Page_515">515</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wotton, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wreck, right to, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_542">542</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Yarmouth, <a href="#Page_34">34</a> n., <a href="#Page_46">46</a> n., <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a> n., <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a> n., <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143-145</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_391">391</a> n., <a href="#Page_438">438</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_799">799</span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">York, Duke of, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Yorkshire, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Young, Captain, <a href="#Page_207">207</a> n., <a href="#Page_401">401</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ypres, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Zealand, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a> n., <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zierikzee, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zorgdrager, <a href="#Page_194">194</a> n.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zouch, <a href="#Page_515">515</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zowe, fishing-bank, <a href="#Page_65">65</a> and n., <a href="#Page_189">189</a> n., <a href="#Page_276">276</a> n., <a href="#Page_426">426</a> n., <a href="#Page_440">440</a>, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>, <a href="#Page_749">749</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Zuiderzee, territoriality of, <a href="#Page_635">635</a></li>
-</ul>
-
-<h4>THE END.</h4>
-
-<p class="copy">PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.</p>
-
-<div class="footnotes">
-
-<h2 id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES:</h2>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">1</a>
-The possession by Venice of this maritime sovereignty was symbolised each
-year for many centuries by the picturesque ceremony of “espousing” the Adriatic.
-On Ascension Day the Doge was rowed to the strains of music in a magnificent
-gilded state barge, the <i>Bucentaur</i>, to the channel of Lido, where he cast a ring
-into the water, exclaiming as he did so, “We espouse thee, O Sea, in sign of a
-real and perpetual dominion” (“Desponsamus te mare in signum veri perpetuique
-dominii”). The Papal nuncio and representatives of other states assisted at the
-ceremony.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">2</a>
-Twiss, <i>The Law of Nations in Time of War</i>, 142. Maine, <i>International Law</i>, 76.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">3</a>
-Twiss, <i>op. cit.</i>, 143, 144. Reddie, <i>Maritime International Law</i>, i. 41.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">4</a>
-Nicolas, <i>Hist. Navy</i>, i. 157.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">5</a>
-“Il sera banny hors dAngleterre et de mer appartenant au roi dAngleterre,”
-Article in <i>Black Book</i>, i. 58, ascribed to the reign of Henry I. (<small>A.D.</small> 1100-1135);
-“Ad piscandum in mari nostro, prope Jernemuth,” Edward I., <small>A.D.</small> 1295, <i>Fœdera</i>,
-ii. 688; “la meer Dengleterre,” <small>A.D.</small> 1306, <i>Chanc. Rolls, Misc. Treaties</i>, &amp;c., Bd.
-14, No. 15; “super mare Anglicanum” (<i>Rot. Pat.</i>, 14 Edw. II., pt. ii. m. 26, d.),
-<small>A.D.</small> 1320, &amp;c., &amp;c.; “partibus maris infra regnum nostrum Angli&aelig;,” <i>A.D.</i> 1317,
-Edw. II., <i>Fœdera</i>, iii. 469; <small>A.D.</small> 1406, Hen. IV., giving freedom of fishing,
-“ubicumque supra mare, per et infra dominia, jurisdictiones, et districtus
-nostra”; “Seigneur de la mer,” <small>A.D.</small> 1320, <i>Fœdera</i>, iii. 852; “reges Angli&aelig;
-domini maris Anglicani circumquaque,” <small>A.D.</small> 1336, <i>Rot. Scot.</i>, i. 442; “domini
-maris et transmarini passagii,” <small>A.D.</small> 1336, <i>Fœdera</i>, iv. 721; “le roi de la mier,”
-<small>A.D.</small> 1372, <i>Rot. Parl.</i>, ii. 311; “seigneurs del meer,” <small>A.D.</small> 1420, <i>ibid.</i>, iv. 126,
-&amp;c., &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">6</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, xvi. 395; <i>State Papers, Dom.</i> 1604, 11, 40; <i>Fœdera</i>, xix. 211; <i>Libelle
-of Englyshe Polycye</i>; Dee, <i>General and Rare Memorials</i>, 6; <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>
-1662, 66, 50, “It is a fundamental Maxime of England, that the sea flowing about
-the Isle of Great Britaine is of the same dominion with the isle”; “the dominion
-of the ambient seas.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">7</a>
-<i>Rot. Escheat.</i>, 41 Hen. III., <small>A.D.</small> 1259, referred to by Coke, 1. 107<i>a</i>; Bracton,
-<i>Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angli&aelig;</i>, lib. v. c. xxx. fol. 437 (<small>A.D.</small> <i>circa</i> 1259);
-<i>Statutes of the Realm</i>, 18 Edw. I. Stat. 4 (<small>A.D.</small> 1290); <i>Rot. Parl.</i>, 13 Ric. II., “deinz
-les quatre miers Dengleterre,” &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">8</a>
-Hall, <i>On the Rights of the Crown in the Sea Shores of the Realm</i>, p. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">9</a>
-“The guardian of his Majesty’s three seas” (<small>A.D.</small> 1607). <i>C&aelig;sar Papers, MS.
-Brit. Mus. Lansd.</i>, 142, fol. 373.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">10</a></p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Thene here I ende of the comoditees<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Ffor whiche nede is well to kepe the sees;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Este and weste, sowthe and northe they be;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And chefely kepe the sharpe narowe see,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Betwene Dover and Caleise.”<br /></span>
-</div></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">11</a>
-<i>Acts of the Privy Council of England</i>, N.S., i. 232, 242.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">12</a>
-Winwood’s <i>Memorials</i>, iii. 50.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">13</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, ii. c. xiii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">14</a>
-Selden, <i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. i. c. viii., lib. ii. cc. ii.-viii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">15</a>
-<i>Polyhistor.</i>, c. xxiv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">16</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">17</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xii. “Canutus autem Rex su&aelig; ditionis esse Oceanum
-Britannicum verbis expressissimis item est testatus.” Prynne uses the same
-argument. <i>Animadversions on Coke’s Fourth Institute</i>, 88.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">18</a>
-Ed. Petrie, 395.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">19</a>
-<i>Gesta Regum Anglorum</i>, i. 235; Eng. Hist. Soc. “Ego Edgarus totius Albionis
-Basileus nec non maritimorum seu insulanorum Regum circumhabitantium.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">20</a>
-“Ego Edgardus Anglorum Basileus omniumque Regum insularum, Oceanique
-Britanniam circumjacentis cunctarumque nationum qu&aelig; infra eam includuntur
-Imperator et Dominus,” &amp;c. Dee, <i>General and Rare Memorials</i>, 58, 60; Selden,
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, ii. c. xii. (quoting from a charter of Inspeximus, <i>Rot. Pat.</i>,
-1 Edw. IV., m. 23); Prynne, <i>op. cit.</i>, 87.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">21</a>
-<i>Concilia</i>, i. 432.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">22</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, i. 239.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">23</a>
-<i>Codex Diplomaticus</i>, ii. 404, vi. 237.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">24</a>
-<i>Diplomatarium Anglicum &AElig;vi Saxonici</i>, 211.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">25</a>
-<i>Cartularium Saxonicum</i>, iii. 377.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">26</a>
-“Insularum oceani qu&aelig; Brytanniam circumjacent.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">27</a>
-Worsaae, <i>An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and
-Ireland</i>; Depping, <i>Histoire des Exp&eacute;ditions maritimes des Normands</i>; Beamish,
-<i>The Discovery of America</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">28</a>
-Burrows, <i>Cinque Ports</i>, 62, 81.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">29</a>
-Cunningham, <i>The Growth of English Industry and Commerce during the Early
-and Middle Ages</i>, 173.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">30</a>
-Twiss, <i>The Law of Nations in Time of Peace</i>, 244; ibid., <i>In Time of War</i>, 142.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">31</a>
-<a href="#Page_51">See p. 51</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">32</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xiv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">33</a>
-“Pour garder la mere,” “la garde du meer,” “la sauve garde du meer,” “pro
-custodia maris,” “de custodia maritim&aelig;,” &amp;c. See <i>Proceedings and Ordinances
-of the Privy Council of England</i>; Nicolas, <i>History of the Royal Navy</i>; Prynne,
-<i>Animadversions</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">34</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, i. 861; Nicolas, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. 279, 437.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">35</a>
-Twiss, <i>The Law of Nations in Time of Peace</i>, 245.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">36</a>
-<i>Vide</i> Twiss, <i>Black Book of the Admiralty</i>, i. 420.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">37</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i>, lib. ii. c. xviii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">38</a>
-Twiss, <i>ibid.</i>, i. 64.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">39</a>
-Nicolas, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. 131, 231, ii. 45, 84, 130, 176; <i>Rot. Pat.</i>, 65 (1206);
-<i>Fœdera</i>, i. 96 (1208).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">40</a>
-<i>Chronicles</i>, ii. 497.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">41</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i>, lib. ii. cc. xiii., xx.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">42</a>
-<i>Rot. Parl.</i>, iii. 46b; Nicolas, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 260-280; Laughton, <i>Studies in
-Naval History</i>, 16-22. The Yarmouth herring fishing suffered severely in these
-years, and the fishermen equipped and armed vessels for their own defence,&mdash;<i>Chronicon
-Angli&aelig;, ab</i> <small>A.D.</small> 1328 <i>usque ad annum</i> 1388, p. 170, Rolls Series.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">43</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i>, lib. ii. c. xv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">44</a>
-<i>Rot. Parl.</i>, iii. 63b, 391a; <i>Fœdera</i>, vii. 220. “C’este l’ordinance et grante
-par l’advis des Marchaundz de Londres, et des autres Marchaundz vers la North,
-par assent de touz Communes de Parlement par devant le Comte de Northumberland
-et le Meair de Londres, pur la garde et tuicion du Mier,” &amp;c. The specified
-dues throw some light on the commerce and fisheries of the period: (1) all vessels
-or crayers navigating the seas within the limits of the admiralty of the north were
-to pay a duty of sixpence a ton-tight, going and returning, with the exception of
-those bringing wines and goods from Flanders to London, or carrying wool and
-skins to Calais; (2) vessels laden with goods belonging to merchants of Prussia,
-Norway, or Scone (Scania) were to pay sixpence a last; (3) vessels carrying coals
-from Newcastle were to pay sixpence a ton every three months; (4) sixpence
-a-week per ton was to be paid by all vessels fishing for herrings within the said
-admiralty, and sixpence every three weeks per ton by boats fishing for other fish.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">45</a>
-<small>A.D.</small> 1420, <i>Rot. Parl.</i>, iv. 126. “Item, priount les ditz Communes, que par
-l’ou nostre tr&egrave;s soverain seignour le Roy et ses nobles progenitours de tout temps
-ount est&eacute; seignours del meer, et ore par la grace de Dieu est venuz que nostre dit
-seignour le Roy est seignour des costes d’ambeparties del meer d’ordeigner que
-sur toutz estraungers passantz parmye le dit meer tiel imposition &agrave; l’oeps nostre
-dit seignour le Roy apprendre qui &agrave; luy semblera resonable, pur la salve garde del
-dit meer.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">46</a>
-<i>Rotuli Scoti&aelig;</i>, i. 442, “Nos advertentes quod progenitores nostri reges Angli&aelig;
-Domini Maris Anglicani circumquaque et etiam defensores contra hostium invasiones
-ante h&aelig;c tempora extiterint,” &amp;c. Part of the language of this mandate
-was copied by Charles I. in his ship-money writs. <a href="#Page_211">See p. 211</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">47</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, iv. 722. “Consideratio etiam quod progenitores nostri, Reges Angli&aelig;,
-in hujusmodi turbationibus, inter ipsos et alios terrarum exterarum dominos motis,
-domini maris et transmarini passagii, totis pr&aelig;teritis temporibus, extiterunt,” &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">48</a>
-Nicolas, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 49, 106.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">49</a>
-<i>Political Poems</i>, ii. 157. The author states that it was coined after Edward
-captured Calais, when</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“The see was kepte, and thereof he was lorde,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Thus made he nobles coigned of recorde.”<br /></span>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>But Edward did not take Calais till 1347, while the noble was issued in July 1344.
-Nicolas, <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">50</a>
-Oppenheim, <i>A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy</i>, i. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">51</a>
-Cunningham, <i>op. cit.</i>, 361. In the <i>Libelle</i> it is asked&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Wher ben our shippes, wher ben our swerdes become?<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Our enmyes bid for the ship set a sheep”;<br /></span>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>and the rubric of an anonymous commentator states that the advice quoted was
-owing to the fact that while in the time of Edward III. the English were lords of
-the sea, they were now in these days mad (<i>vecordes</i>), vanquished, and for waging
-war and guarding the sea, like sheep. The jest is also alluded to by Capgrave,
-<i>Liber de Illustribus Henricis</i>, 135.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">52</a>
-“Tous les pays tenoient et appelloient nostre avandit seigneur, le Roi de la
-Mier.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">53</a>
-<i>Rot. Parl.</i>, ii. 311.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">54</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xxvi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">55</a>
-<i>Animadversions</i>, 108.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">56</a>
-Nicolas, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. 156, but cf. ii. 481; Hannay, <i>A Short History of the Royal
-Navy</i>, 15. Hannay, as well as the writer of the naval articles in <i>Social England</i>
-(i. 138), was not apparently aware of the labours of Sir Travers Twiss mentioned
-in the text.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">57</a>
-<i>The Black Book of the Admiralty</i>, i. Intro. xiii <i>et seq.</i>, 129; iii. Intro. i, x.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">58</a>
-“Item ordonne estoit a Hastynges pour loy et coustumes de mer ou temps du
-roy Johan lan de son regne second par advys de ses seigneurs temporelz que se le
-lieutenant en aucun voyage ordonne par commun conseil du royalme encontrent
-sur la mer aucunes nefz ou vesseaux chargees ou voide que ne veullent avaller et
-abbesser leurs trefs ou commandement du lieutenant du roy ou de ladmiral du roy,
-ou son lieutenant, mais combatant encontre iceulx de la flotte que silz puent estre
-pris quilz soient reputez comme ennemys et leurs nefs, vesseaulx, et bien pris et
-forfaitz comme biens des ennemys tout soit que les maistres ou possesseurs dicelles
-vouldroient venir apres et alleguer mesmes les nefs, vesseaulx, et biens estre biens
-des amys du roy nostre seigneur, et que le mayne estant en icelles soient chastiez
-par emprisonnement de leur corps pour leur rebellete par discrecion.” The above
-is given by Twiss from the <i>Whitehall MS.</i> of the eighteenth century; it does not
-materially differ from the others. The <i>Cottonian MS.</i>, which is stated to be the
-earliest and purest, reads in both places “le lieutenant du roy ou ladmiralle du roy
-ou soun lieutenant.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">59</a>
-<i>The Black Book</i>, Intro. xix, lxxvii. It is <i>Vespasian MSS.</i>, B. xxii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">60</a>
-<i>The Black Book</i>, iii. Intro. viii, x. <a href="#Page_410">See p. 410</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">61</a>
-<i>Collection des Lois Maritimes</i>, iv. 199.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">62</a>
-<i>Collection des Lois Maritimes</i>, i. Intro. pp. li, 129; iii. Intro. p. xi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">63</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xxvi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">64</a>
-“Quanquam tamen, ad primam vocem ipsorum Anglicorum, idem Johannes
-Willes velum suum declinavit,” &amp;c., <i>Fœdera</i>, viii. 273; “omnes tamen inermes, et
-velum suum, ad primum clamorem Anglicorum declinantes,” <i>ibid.</i>, 277.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">65</a>
-<i>Chancery Rolls, Misc. Treaties and Diplomatic</i>, Bdle. 14, No. 15. It is endorsed
-<i>De Superioritate Maris Angli&aelig; et Jure Officii Admirallatus in eodem</i>. There are
-several copies on separate membranes in the bundle&mdash;viz., 1, 8, 12, 14, 15,&mdash;and
-they differ from one another, as indicated in the transcript in <a href="#APPENDIX_A">Appendix A</a>. Prynne
-(<i>Animadversions</i>, 109) says that besides the roll in the Tower from which Lord
-Coke and Selden quoted, he discovered “an ancient copy of it in the White Tower
-Chapple,” and among the Admiralty papers is a memorandum by Nicholas, undated,
-but before 1631, on the records in the Tower respecting the Laws of Oleron and
-the Sovereignty of the Seas, in which he says that “in ye little closset there” a
-record in French exists, dated in the time of Edw. I. or II., referring to the depredations
-of Grimbald. There is also a transcript in a collection of MSS. in the
-British Museum (<i>Harleian</i>, 4314) and a translation of the roll, in a hand of the
-seventeenth century, in <i>MS. Otho.</i> E. ix. fol. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">66</a>
-<i>Fourth Institute</i>, cap. 22, p. 142.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">67</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xxvii., xxviii., xx., xxiv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">68</a>
-<i>Rot. Pat.</i>, 26 Edw. I., part 2, memb. 24, <i>in dorso</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">69</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, i. 954.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">70</a>
-Selden, <i>op. cit.</i>, lib. ii. c. xxvii., quoting from <i>Rot. Pat.</i>, 31 Edw. I., m. 16,
-which reads as follows: “Des enterprises, mesprises, et forfaitz en Treue ou en
-Sufferance, entre nous et le dit Roi de Fraunce, dune part et dautre, es costeres de
-la mer Dengleterre et autres per decea et ausint per deuers Normandie et autres
-costeres de la mer per de la.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">71</a>
-The King of France ordered John de Pedrogue, a celebrated seaman of Calais,
-to collect a fleet there and proceed with it to Holland against the Count of Flanders,
-who had invested Zierikzee. Included in the fleet were eleven Genoese galleys,
-under Reyner de Grimaldi, who was given the chief command by Philip, with the
-title of “Admiral,” John de Pedrogue acting under him. Nicolas (<i>op. cit.</i>, i. 373)
-gives a description of the fight.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">72</a>
-The translation, for which I am indebted to Miss E. Salisbury, is from
-membrane 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">73</a>
-The expression is also used in a document of 1297, when Lord William de
-Leybourne is described as “Admiral of the sea of the said King of England.”
-<i>Fœdera</i>, i. 861.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">74</a>
-Coke (<i>op. cit.</i>, 143) states that this refers to “De Botetourt,” who, he says, was
-Admiral “of the sea coasting upon Yarmouth in Norfolk (right over against
-France) and of that station in <i>anno</i> 22 Edw. I.” Nicolas (<i>op. cit.</i>, i. 270, 407)
-states that Sir John de Botetourt was made commander of the northern fleet in
-1293, and in the following year, when Edward divided his fleet into three squadrons,
-the ships of Yarmouth and the adjacent ports were placed under his charge.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">75</a>
-The rest is on the back of the membrane.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">76</a>
-The part within brackets is to be found on the membranes 1, 14<i>d</i>, and 15,
-but not on 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">77</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xxvii. Hall, in his excellent <i>Treatise on International
-Law</i> (<a href="#Page_141">p. 141</a>), and with reference apparently to this roll, says that exclusive dominion
-over the English seas by the English king was acknowledged as early as 1299 (<i>sic</i>),
-at a commission in Paris, by the representatives of the merchants and mariners of
-the countries mentioned in the above document.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">78</a>
-See <a href="#APPENDIX_A">Appendix A</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">79</a>
-<i>Chancery Miscel. Rolls</i>, <i>France</i>, Bdl. 5, No. 6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">80</a>
-See translation in <a href="#APPENDIX_B">Appendix B</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">81</a>
-<i>Chancery Rolls, Misc.</i>, Bdle. 14, n. 15, memb. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">82</a>
-“Infrascripti sunt articuli generales super quibus et fines ad quos Justiciarii
-domini nostri Regis sunt consulend’, et dominus noster Rex de eorum consilio
-certificand’ in Cancellar’ sua in scriptis citra festum, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p style="text-indent: 0">“Item ad finem, quod resumatur et continuetur ad subditorum prosecucionem
-forma procedendi quondam ordinata et inchoata per avum Domini
-nostri Regis et ejus consilium ad retinendum et conservandum antiquam
-Superioritatem Maris Angli&aelig; et jus officii Admirallatus in eodem, quoad
-corrigendum, interpretandum, declarandum, et conservandum leges et statuta
-per ejus antecessores Angli&aelig; Reges dudum ordinata ad conservandum pacem
-et Justitiam inter omnes gentes nacionis cujuscunque per Mare Angli&aelig;
-transeuntes, et ad cognoscendum super omnibus in contrarium attemptatis
-in eodem, et ad puniendum delinquentes et dampna passis satisfaciendum;
-qu&aelig; quidem leges et statuta per Dominum Ricardum quondam Regem Angli&aelig;
-in reditu suo a Terr&acirc; Sancta correcta fuerunt, interpretata, declarata, et in
-Insula Oleron publicata, et nominata in Gallica lingua La loy Olyroun.”</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>According to Godolphin (<i>A View of the Admiral Jurisdiction</i>, 1661), the “form
-of proceedings” refers to the statute of the Writ of Consultation, 24 Edw. I., with
-regard to the proceedings of the Courts. The following is on another membrane
-in the same roll (mem. 2<i>d</i>), which contains ordinances agreed upon between the
-masters and mariners of England, Bayonne, and Flanders, at Bruges, 8th March
-1286. It is in the handwriting of the time of Edward III.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p style="text-indent: 0">“Item a la fin qe veues et considerees les formes des proces et des lettres
-ordeinees per les consaillers le dit aiel nostres seigneur le Roi pur eux et la
-dite nacioun Dengleterre a recouerer et receuer les ditz subgitz aidaunz et
-alliez et a faire redresser a eux toux les damages a eux donez en Mier et en
-terre duraunz les dites trewes pees et confederaciouns et countre la forme
-dycelles par les ditz Fraunceys aidaunz et alliez et eschuire clamour de poeple
-sur la dite denatureste, &amp;c., et les damages quiex de tiel clamour purroient
-auenir et especialment a retenir et meintener la souereignete qe ses ditz
-auncestres Rois Dengleterre soleyent auoir en la dite mier Dengleterre quant
-alamendement declaracioun et interpretacioun des lois per eux faites a gouerner
-toutes maneres des gentz passanz per la dite mier. Et primerement a son
-admirail et as meistres et mariners des nefs des Sync Portz Dengleterre et
-des autres terres annex a la Corone Dengleterre entendaunt a sa armee en
-la dite mier pur retenir et meyntenir la garde des lois auauntdites et la
-puniscioun de toux faitz al encountre en la mier susdite Semblables formes
-des proces et lettres soient desors tenues od toux les amendementz quiex
-purrount estre ordeinez par le sage Counsail nostre Seignur le Roi a profist et
-honur de lui et des soens.”</p></blockquote>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">83</a>
-Twiss (<i>Black Book of the Admiralty</i>, ii. xliii; ii. xi), who collected the old sea
-laws of Europe, states that the most ancient extant source of modern marine law
-are the Decisions of the Consuls of the Sea of the City of Trani, on the shores of
-the Adriatic, which purport to be of the date <small>A.D.</small> 1063; and that the next most
-ancient are the Judgments of Oleron, of which there are still copies, belonging to
-the reign of Edward II., in the archives of the Guildhall, for use no doubt in the
-City court, which administered the Law Merchant and the Law Maritime.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">84</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i>, i. 484.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">85</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">86</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i> The specification of the duties within the cognisance of the Admiralty
-occupies several pages; they included “all cases of seizures and captures made
-at sea, whether <i>jure belli publicis</i>, or <i>jure belli privati</i> by way of reprisals, or
-<i>jure nullo</i> by way of piracy ... all causes of spoil and depredations at sea;
-robberies and pyracies,” &amp;c., &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">87</a>
-M’Pherson, <i>Annals of Commerce</i>, i. 475, 485, quoting from <i>Fœdera</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">88</a>
-18 Edw. III., st. 2, cap. 3. Several articles in the <i>Black Book</i> show the same
-desire to encourage foreign merchants, and severe penalties were prescribed for the
-robbing or wronging of foreign ships, or interference with their freedom to trade.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">89</a>
-<i>The Reading of the Famous and Learned Robert Callis, Esqr.</i>, <i>upon the Statute
-of Sewers</i>, 23 Hen. VIII., c. 5, &amp;c., 1622; ed. 1824, p. 48.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">90</a>
-“Sur la mere d’Engleterre, devers les parties de Craudon.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">91</a>
-“Et prierent que le Roi, de sa seignurie et poer real, fait sente dreit et
-punissement del dit fait, de siccome il est seigneur de la mer, et la dite roberie
-fut fait sur la mer dans son poer, sicomme dessus est dit.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">92</a>
-Nicolas, who gives the details referred to, says that there is no record of these
-proceedings in the rolls of Parliament. <i>Op. cit.</i>, i. 388.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">93</a>
-“Et cum dicti nuncii ad tractandum de novo super hujusmodi dampnis per
-dictum dominum nostrum Regem admissi fuissent, ipsi nuncii, prout alii nuncii
-pr&aelig;fati Comitis, in tractatibus supradictis, inter cetera qu&aelig; requirebant, ante
-omnia supplicabant, ut dictus dominus Rex ad sectam suam de potestate sua
-Regia inquiri et justitiam faceret de quadam depr&aelig;datione quibusdam hominibus
-de Flandria nuper de vinis et aliis diversis mercimoniis suis super mare Anglicanum,
-versus partes de Crauden, infra potestatem dicti domini nostri Regis, per homines
-de regno Angli&aelig;. Ut dicebant facta asserentes quod vina et mercimonia pr&aelig;dicta
-eisdem Flandrensibus depr&aelig;data adducta, fuerunt infra regnum et potestatem
-dicti domini Regis, et quod ipse est dominus dicti maris, et depr&aelig;datio pr&aelig;dicta
-facta fuit supra dictum mare infra potestatem suam.” <i>Rot. Pat.</i>, 14 Edw. II.,
-pt. ii. m. 26, <i>in dorso</i>. Selden quotes this document (lib. ii. c. xxix.), but his
-text varies from the above, thus: “... potestatem dicti domini Regis, et quod
-ad ipsum Regem pertinuit sic facere pro eo quod ipse est dominus dicti maris.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">94</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xxix. p. 282.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">95</a>
-That “Crowdon” was in Brittany appears from a letter, dated from Plymouth,
-9th December 1402, from Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Lincoln, the Earl of Somerset,
-and the Earl of Worcester, who were sent to escort Joan of Navarre, Duchess of
-Brittany, the second wife of Henry IV., to England. “Et par fin force pur un
-temps nous faut demurrer en Bretaigne car la ou nous avoioms envoie au dite
-nostre treshonuree et tresredoutee dame pur venir, noz niefs ne poiont ne osent
-aler en le temps dyver. Et faut qele eit un leisir pur venir pardevers nous, dont
-le havene que nous pensoms aler ove leide de Dieu est Crowdon.”&mdash;<i>Proceedings
-and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England</i>, i. 190.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">96</a>
-Allard, <i>Du Poisson, consid&eacute;r&eacute; comme Aliment dans les Temps anciens et modernes</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">97</a>
-Garrad, <i>The Arte of War</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">98</a>
-In the itinerary of a journey from England made by a Scottish nobleman to
-join Edward I. in Scotland, it is recorded that herrings were purchased nearly
-every day&mdash;at Dunstable, Newport, Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham, Sherburn,
-&amp;c. Sixty fresh herrings at York, nearly forty miles from the sea in a straight
-line, cost eightpence, and fresh haddocks and codlings were also bought.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">99</a>
-“Prohibeo etiam firmiter ne quis decimas suas eis injuste detineat sicut habuerunt
-in tempore regis Davidis super meum forisfactum et ne quis in aquis eorum
-piscari presumat ... nisi per eorum licentiam.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">100</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, ii. 23. “Gent de Flaundres estre venuz sur mer, come Pescheurs,” &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">101</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, ii. 37. The Flemish fishermen had probably gone up the Tweed after
-salmon.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">102</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, ii. 688, dated 28th September. “Quia intelleximus quod multi
-homines, de partibus Hollandi&aelig;, Zelandi&aelig; et etiam Frislandi&aelig;, qui sunt de amicitia
-nostra, ad piscandum in mari nostro, prope Jernemuth,” &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">103</a>
-Lundberg, <i>Det Stora sillfisket i Sk&aring;ne under medeltiden oeh nyare tidens b&ouml;rjan</i>.
-Worms, <i>Hist. commerciale de la Ligue Hans&eacute;atique</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">104</a>
-Fruin, <i>Tien Jaren uit den Tachtigjarigen Oorlog</i>, 181.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">105</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. MSS. Galba</i>, B. iii. 16. Henry apparently acceded to the request;
-<i>vide</i> “John Heron’s accompte for waftynge of the herring fleete in the parties of
-Norfolk and Suffolk, <i>anno quarto</i> R. Henrici VIII.” <i>State Papers, Foreign and
-Domestic</i>, Hen. VIII., i. 1512.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">106</a>
-Ljungman, <i>N&auml;gra ord om de stora Bohus-l&auml;nska Sillfiskeri</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">107</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xxi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">108</a>
-<i>Rot. Pat.</i>, 22 Edw. IV., m. 2; <i>ibid.</i>, 2 Ric. III., i. m. 3; <i>ibid.</i>, 3 Hen. VII.,
-part ii. <i>dorso</i>; <i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. xxi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">109</a>
-<i>The Statutes at Large passed in the Parliaments held in Ireland</i>, i. 30.
-5 Edw. IV., c. vi. “An Act that no Ship or other Vessel of any Foreign Country
-shall go to the Fishing in the Irish Countries, and for Custom to be paid of the
-Vessel that cometh from Foreign Lands to Fishing.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">110</a>
-<i>Britannia</i>, Gough’s edition, ii. 248.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">111</a>
-<i>A Pollitique Platt</i>, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">112</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, James I., xlviii. 94.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">113</a>
-Malines, <i>Lex Mercatoria</i>, 189, from whom Selden quotes it, with the remark,
-“There are some also who affirm that the King of Spain,” &amp;c. <i>Mare Clausum</i>,
-ii. c. xxx. It is also given by Boroughs and other writers.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="label">114</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Charles I., clxxx. 96.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="label">115</a>
-One of the licenses, which ran for a year, is printed in <a href="#APPENDIX_C">Appendix C</a>. The
-Zowe was described in 1630 as “a bank which lies between Rye and Dieppe,
-and the outermost part is nearly one-third over the sea. This zowe which they
-call the small zowe is 3 leagues long and 3 broad, and 26 and 28 fathoms deep.
-The French make it 10 leagues, because they fish till they bring Beachy Head N.,
-fayre Loo (? Fairlea, Fairlight) W.N.W., and fish in 30 fathoms.” Sir H. Mainwaring
-to Coke, “A Short Discourse or Propositions concerning the French fishing
-uppon the Zowe, theyr abusing it, and the Remedy” (<i>ibid.</i>) It was described as
-the “chief nursery for turbetts, hollibatts, pearles (brill), soules, weavers and
-gurnetts.” In Queen Elizabeth’s time only four licenses were granted, but James
-increased the number to fourteen or fifteen. They were carefully entered in the
-records of Dover Castle and the Hundred Book of Rye.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="label">116</a>
-Henrici de Bracton, <i>Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angli&aelig;</i>, lib. i. c. 12; lib. iii.
-c. 3. <i>Rolls Series</i>, Introd., by Sir Travers Twiss, i. ii. G&uuml;terbock, <i>Henricus de
-Bracton und sein Verh&auml;ltniss zum R&ouml;mischen Rechte</i>, 14, 55.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="label">117</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, v. 719. “Il est convenu, &amp;c., &amp;c. Item, que pessoners de la seignurie
-del roi de Castelle et del counte de Viscay peussent venir et pescher fraunchement
-et sauvement en les portz d’Engleterre et de Bretaigne, et en touz autres lieux
-et portz o&ugrave; ils vorrontz, paiantz les droits et les custumes &agrave; les seignurs du pais.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="label">118</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, v. 763.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="label">119</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, viii. 306, 336. “Q’en ceste presente harenguison les pescheurs de l’une
-part et d’autre puissent pescher plus seurement en la mer la harenk et toutz autres
-poissons, depuis hable de Grauelinguez et l’isle de Tanent, jusques a l’entree de la
-riviere de Saine, et au hable de Hautoune.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="label">120</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, viii. 451.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="label">121</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, viii. 459. “Pro Piscatoribus, sub Dominio Ducis Burgundi&aelig;: ... toutz
-pescheurs, tant de nostre dit roiaume d’Engleterre et de Caleis, et dez autres noz
-villes et lieux, come dez ditz conte et paiis de Flandres, dez paiis de Picardie, de
-Normandie, et de Bretaigne, et generalment de tut le dit roiaume de Fraunce,
-puissent paisiblement aler par tout sur meer, pur peschier et gaigner lour vivre,
-saunz en estre reprins ne empeschiez en ascun manere ... et par ainsi que semblablement
-soit fait et otroie, de lez dites parties de Flandres, Picardie, Normandie,
-Bretaigne, et autres del dit roiaume de Fraunce, a la seurte dez ditz pescheours de
-nostre dit roiaume d’Engleterre.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="label">122</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, viii. 469, 472. Dumont, <i>Corps Universel Diplomatique du Droit des Gens</i>,
-&amp;c., II. i. 302. <i>Proc. and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England</i>, i. 282.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="label">123</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, viii. 530, 548, “Et les pescheurs generalment aler pescher sur mer pour
-gaignier leur vivre paisiblement.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="label">124</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, ix. 483.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="label">125</a>
-<i>Rot. Parl.</i>, iii. 643<i>b</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="label">126</a>
-Pikes and bows and arrows were used. Later, in the early part of the seventeenth
-century, a regular part of the equipment of a herring-buss was half-pikes
-and muskets, an estimate for one being&mdash;ten half-pikes, &pound;1; muskets with bandaleers,
-rests, and moulds, &pound;6, with 6 lb. of gunpowder and 6 lb. of leaden bullets.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="label">127</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, x. 730, 736, 761, 791. The article on the fishery was as follows:
-“Que tous pescheurs, tant d’Engleterre, d’Irlande, et de Calais, comme des paiis
-de Brabant et de Flandres, pourront paisiblement aler par tout sur mer, pour
-peschier et gaignier leur vivre, sans empeschement ou destourber de l’une partie ne
-de l’autre. Et avec ce, se fortune ou autre aventure chassoit ou amenoit les diz
-pescheurs de la partie d’Engleterre, en aucun des ports, havres, destrois, et daugiers
-des dites paiis de Brabant ou de Flandres, ou les diz pescheurs des dites paiis de
-Brabant et de Flandres en aucuns des dites ports, havres, destrois, ou daugiers du
-royaume d’Engleterre, Yrland, et de Calais, que ilz y soient paisiblement et
-franchement receuz et traictiez raisonnablement d’une coste et d’autre, en paiant
-aux lieux, ou ils arriveront, les toulieux et devoirs accoustumez, et d’illec puissent
-liberalment retourner a tout leurs nefs, applois, et biens sans destourbier, arrest,
-ne empeschement; pourveu que, par les diz pescheurs, d’un coste et d’autre, ne
-soit commise aucune fraude, ou fait dommaige.” Intercursus continuandus pro
-spatio duodecim annorum inter Anglos et Flandros, Gandanos, Iperos et civitatis
-de Brabant. <i>Ibid.</i>, xi. 143.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="label">128</a>
-“Et pur toutz sez autres paiis et seigneuries.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="label">129</a>
-“Et sans qu’il leur soit bosoigne sur ceo requirer ne opteiner ascune license,
-congie, ou saufconducte.” 5 Jan. 1467/1468. <i>Ibid.</i>, xi. 591, 592, 595, 609. Dumont,
-<i>op. cit.</i>, III. i. 592.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="label">130</a>
-Dumont, III. i. 400.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="label">131</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, xi. 683.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="label">132</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, xii. 67. In 1484 Richard III. issued a commission to Thomas Lye,
-sergeant-at-arms, to make restitution for fishing-boats belonging to subjects of
-Maximilian, Duke of Austria, which had been taken, laden with fish, by English
-pirates. <i>Ibid.</i>, xii. 227.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="label">133</a>
-“Item, conventum, concordatum et conclusum est quod piscatores utriusque
-partis partium pr&aelig;dictarum (cujuscunque conditionis existant) poterunt ubique
-ire, navigare per mare, secure piscari absque aliquo impedimento licentia seu salvo
-conductu: Et, si contingat aliquos ex piscatoribus unius partis per fortunam,
-tempestatem maris, vim hostium, aut alio modo compelli intrare aliquem portum
-vel districtum alterius partis, ibidem pacifice et amicabiliter recipientur et tractabuntur
-(solvendo in locis ubi applicabunt jura et theolonia pr&aelig;dicta) et ab illis
-portubus et locis poterunt libere recedere et redire, cum eorum navibus et bonis,
-sine impedimento vel contradictione quacunque; dummodo tamen per ipsos
-piscatores non committatur fraus neque dolus, seu per eos aliis dampnum minime
-fiat.” 24 Feb. (1495)/(1496). <i>Fœdera</i>, xii. 583. Dumont, III. ii. 338.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="label">134</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, xii. 714; xiii. 132, 539, 714.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="label">135</a>
-Ships of war were used to convoy the herring-busses of Holland and Zealand
-at least as early as 1440.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="label">136</a>
-<i>Cal. State Papers, Foreign and Domestic</i>, iii. Nos. 1534, 1535.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="label">137</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, xiii. 752. Dumont, IV. i. 352.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="label">138</a>
-Dumont, IV. i. 515. “Pourront aussi les Sujets des Pa&iuml;s, Roiaumes, Terres et
-Seigneuries dessusdites, librement, et sans d&eacute;tourbier, ni emp&ecirc;chement, p&ecirc;cher &agrave;
-harangs, et autres poissons en la mer, o&ugrave; ladite Treve aura lieu, et l&agrave; o&ugrave; la p&ecirc;che
-dudit harang s’adonera, comme ils faisoient avant la Guerre, et pourroient et sont
-acco&ucirc;tumez de faire au tems de Paix.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="label">139</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, ii. 529, 545. Mieris, <i>Groot Charterboek der Graaven van Holland</i>, &amp;c.,
-ii. 268; iii. 257; iv. 223, 378, 692, 816. Kluit, <i>Histori&aelig; Federum Belgii Federati</i>,
-284. Yair, <i>An Account of the Scotch Trade in the Netherlands</i>, 6, 27, 36.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="label">140</a>
-Mieris, <i>op. cit.</i>, iv. 146. About this time the Scots also did their best to drive
-away English fishermen from their coasts. In 1400 they fitted out a small fleet
-under Sir Robert Logan for this purpose, but it was apparently insufficient, and
-Logan himself was captured by the men of Lynn. Walsingham, <i>Hist. Anglicana</i>,
-364. In 1420 complaint was made to the English Parliament that the Scots had
-at divers times attacked and taken English fishing vessels. <i>Rot. Parl.</i>, iv. 127<i>a</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="label">141</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Charles I., clii. 63. <a href="#Page_218">See p. 218</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="label">142</a>
-“Dat hy voorhadt, de haringvisscherij omtrent zyne kusten te beletten.”
-Wagenaar, <i>Vaderlandsche Historie</i>, v. 209.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="label">143</a>
-<i>Resol. Staten van Holl.</i>, 5/15 September 1540. Bosgoed, <i>Bib. Pisc.</i>, 319.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="label">144</a>
-Treaty of Binche, 9/19 February 1540/1541. Dumont, <i>op. cit.</i>, IV. ii. 208.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="label">145</a>
-“Et quant au dernier article de la commission du Sr. de Limdy [Lundy]
-ambassadeur, concernant le fait de la pescherie, ladite Dame Reine [the Queen
-Dowager of Hungary and Bohemia] veuille par bonne et meure deliberation proceder
-en telles et semblables affaires, se fera informer sur le contenu dudit article,
-pour apr&egrave;s en ordonner comme il sera trouv&eacute; &eacute;tre de raison, &eacute;quit&eacute;, et justice
-d’une part et d’autre pour la conservation de la paix et amiti&eacute; mutuelle desdits
-Sieurs.” <i>Op. cit.</i>, and see footnote next page.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="label">146</a>
-Wagenaar, <i>op. cit.</i>, 355.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="label">147</a>
-<i>Res. St. Holl.</i>, (29 Nov.)/(9 Dec.) 1544; (23 Feb.)/(5 Mar.) 1545, &amp;c. Bosgoed, <i>op. cit.</i>, 320.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="label">148</a>
-Dumont, IV. iii. 12. “Circa piscationem ver&ograve; ac liberum usum maris, ea
-qu&aelig; per supradictum Tractatum anno 1541, 19 Februarii, Binchii inter Serenissimam
-Reginam Mariam et supra nominatum Oratorem Regis Scoti&aelig;; inita, conclusa
-ac conventa fuerint debite ac sincere observari debebunt.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="label">149</a>
-In 1618, when there was much searching of the records in Scotland (where
-they were kept in a most careless and slovenly manner) to establish the claim of
-James to the fishing in connection with the approaching visit of the Dutch ambassadors,
-the Earl of Dunfermline wrote to Lord Binning in London, forwarding
-a copy, in French, of the treaty of 1541, and said, “Albeit ye will perseive by the
-last article of the same annent the propositions of the fishings, the Queen of
-Hungarie and Bohemia, who was for the Emperour Governant of the Low
-Countries&mdash;we call her commonly Frow Mary&mdash;in that takes her to further
-advysement with her Councill, and no thing resolved if any further proceeding;
-<i>I pray God ye may find it otherwayes</i>.” <i>MSS. Advoc. Lib.</i>, 31. 2. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="label">150</a>
-The heads of the treaty and the ratifications are given by Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>,
-V. i. 507. The treaty itself is published in full by Bor, <i>Vervolgh Vande
-Nederlantssche Oorlogen ende Geschiedenissen</i>, iv. fol. 48-52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="label">151</a>
-<i>E.g.</i>, in 1573, that “all maner of fischeris that occupyis the sey and vtheris
-persounis quhatsumeuer” that catch herrings or white fish “vpon the coist or
-within the Ilis or outwith the samin within the Fyrthis” should bring them to
-free ports to be sold. <i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, iii. c. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="label">152</a>
-Leslie, <i>De Origine Moribus et Rebus Gestis Scotorum</i>, 24. A point of land near
-Inveraray in Loch Fyne was long known, and is still known, as Frenchman’s Point
-or French Farl, the tradition being that it was to this place that herrings were
-brought to be sold and cured. <i>Old Statistical Account of Scotland</i>, v. 291.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="label">153</a>
-<i>Register Privy Council of Scotland</i>, i. 482.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="label">154</a>
-<i>De Dominio Maris</i>, 16. In another work Welwood says, “And for the
-eastern seas, direct from Scotland, what is more antiently notorious than that
-covenant twixt Scottish men and Hollanders, concerning the length of their approaching
-toward Scotland by way of fishing.” <i>An Abridgement of All Sea Lawes</i>,
-c. 26.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="label">155</a>
-<i>Register Privy Council of Scotland</i>, iv. 216.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="label">156</a>
-Much information on the fisheries of the Netherlands will be found in Professor
-A. Beaujon’s <i>History of Dutch Sea Fisheries</i>, 1884.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="label">157</a>
-33 Hen. VIII., c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="label">158</a>
-37 Hen. VIII., c. 23; 5 &amp; 6 Edw. VI., c. 17; 7 Edw. VI., c. 11; 1 Mary,
-st. 2, c. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159" class="label">159</a>
-<i>Acts of the Privy Council of England</i>, i. 103, 104, 106, 112, 114, <i>an.</i> 1543.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160" class="label">160</a>
-2 &amp; 3 Edw. VI., c. 19. Certain exceptions, of those licensed, ill, or very old, or
-in prison, were made.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161" class="label">161</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom., Addenda</i>, Edw. VI., iv. 56. The paper, which is endorsed
-by Cecil, “The Answer of the Fishmongers,” is undated, but that it belongs to the
-reign of Edward VI. (1547-1553) is proved by the words, “the reign of our late
-sovereign, Henry VIII.” The return of 1528, referred to by the fishmongers, is
-among the State Papers <i>(Foreign and Domestic Letters and Papers</i>, Hen. VIII., iv.
-pt. 2, No. 5101). It states that 149 vessels went to the Iceland fishing, mostly
-from Yarmouth, Blakeney, Cromer, Dunwich, Walderswick, and Southwold; the
-herring-fishing in the North Sea employed 222, of which 110 belonged to the
-Cinque Ports, while 69 went to Shetland, the total being 440. Shetland lings
-were in those days greatly prized, and brought very high prices.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162" class="label">162</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom., Addenda</i>, Edw. VI., iv. 57. “The decaied Porte Townes
-w<sup>th</sup> nombers of good villages a longe by the sea cost of this realm, within these
-twentie or thirtie years;” undated, but belonging to the same period, with Cecil’s
-calculations written on the back.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163" class="label">163</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Elizabeth, xxvii. 71, February 1563. Endorsed, “Arguments
-for Increase of the Navy,” and “Arguments to prove that it is necessary
-for the restoring of the navy of England to have one Day more in ye weeke
-ordained to be a fish day, and that to be Wensday rather than any other.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164" class="label">164</a>
-The exportation, without license, of herrings, among other things, had been
-forbidden by 1 &amp; 2 Ph. and Mary, c. 5 (1554); but by 1 Eliz., c. 17, subjects were
-permitted to export sea fish taken by subjects in English ships free of customs for
-four years.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165" class="label">165</a>
-“The causes of the decay of fishing must be the lack of the vse of fishing,
-which must be divided into ij partes, small eating of fisshe in ye Realme, and not
-selling of it abroad.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166" class="label">166</a>
-The number of French vessels engaged in the Newfoundland fisheries is placed
-at 500, with 15,000 men; and over 100, with at least 1000 men, fished at Iceland
-for “herrings,”&mdash;but no doubt for cod and ling.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167" class="label">167</a>
-There are many other memoranda amongst the State Papers, some in Cecil’s
-handwriting, which deal with fish-days. One gives in detail a note of all the fish-days
-throughout the year, amounting to 186, and in addition “a number of sayntes
-evens were fastyng dayes that now be not observed.” <i>Ibid.</i>, xxxi. 41, 42 (1563).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168" class="label">168</a>
-5 Eliz. c. 5. The debate on the Wednesday proposal lasted three days, the
-clause being ultimately carried by 179 to 97 (<i>Commons Journals</i>, i. 68). It was in
-view of the expected opposition that the long paper above referred to was prepared.
-The Wednesday was not put on quite the same footing as the Fridays and Saturdays,
-since “one only usual competent dish of flesh and no more” was allowed,
-provided that at the same table “three full competent usual dishes of sea fish
-of sundry kinds, either fresh or salt,” were served and eaten “without fraud or
-covin.” Another clause explained that the object was “meant politically for the
-increase of fishermen and mariners, and repairing of port towns and navigation”, and
-not for any superstition “regarding choice of meats”; any one stating the contrary
-was to be punished.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169" class="label">169</a>
-Among the imports of fish from the Low Countries at this time were “cods-heads,
-cod-fish, eels, ‘gull-fish,’ haddocks, herrings, ling, salmon, salt-fish, sturgeon,
-and ‘staple-fish.’” Hall, <i>A History of the Customs Revenue in England</i>, ii. 237.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170" class="label">170</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Eliz., xxxv. 36.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171" class="label">171</a>
-13 Eliz., c. 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172" class="label">172</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Eliz., xlviii. 83.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173" class="label">173</a>
-<i>Hatfield MSS.</i>, i. 1177, 27th June 1568.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174" class="label">174</a>
-13 Eliz., c. 11. In the preamble it is said the former Act “is a very good Act,
-and greatly increased the navy and fishermen.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175" class="label">175</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Eliz., lxxv. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176" class="label">176</a>
-In the same year the author, at a dinner he gave at Westminster to the
-burgesses representing “all the stately port towns of England,” explained the
-substance of his “plat”; several of them suggested that a subsidy should be
-raised on land and goods to set the scheme afloat; and the Speaker remarked that
-“a Parliament had been called for a less cause.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177" class="label">177</a>
-<i>Burghley Papers</i>, <small>A.D.</small> 1572, <i>MSS. Lansd.</i> 14, No. 30. As the catalogue
-states, the signature is erased, and the paper is entered as anonymous; but careful
-scrutiny shows that it was signed “Rob<sup>t.</sup> Hitchcock.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178" class="label">178</a>
-<i>A Pollitique Platt for the honour of the Prince, the greate profite of the publique
-state, relief of the poore, preseruacion of the riche, reformation of Roges and Idle
-persones, and the wealthe of thousandes that knowes not howe to liue. Written for
-an</i> Newyeres gift <i>to Englande and the inhabitantes thereof</i>, by Robert Hitchcok,
-late of Cauersfeelde, in the Countie of Buckyngham, Gentleman. London, 1st
-Januarie 1580.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179" class="label">179</a>
-In the early MS. copy presented to the Queen the 400 vessels were to be from
-100 to 200 tons, costing &pound;400 each, and the crew was to consist of a master, nine
-mariners, and thirty “rogues and lustie vagabonds” obtained in the same forcible
-way.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180" class="label">180</a>
-This place, frequently mentioned in old works and papers referring to the
-fisheries, was Vard&ouml;, or Vard&ouml;huus, at the mouth of the Varangerfjord, Finmarken,
-on the north-east coast of Norway, or, as it was often described, Lapland. The
-king of Denmark had a castle on the island, and dues had to be paid for liberty to
-fish. A number of English vessels went there in spring, returning towards the end
-of summer.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181" class="label">181</a>
-In France at this time, according to other records, Flemish herrings brought
-&pound;25 per last; Yarmouth, &pound;10; Irish, &pound;18; “coast” herrings and Scotch, &pound;11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182" class="label">182</a>
-The <i>Pollitique Platt</i> is earnest and even religious in tone, and it is obvious
-that the author spent much time in collecting the information and elaborating his
-scheme, which in all sincerity was meant for the good of his country. Even after
-three centuries one learns with regret (from his letter preserved at Hatfield) that
-he had to petition the Privy Council, “for his relief and maintenance in these his
-now declining years” (1596), to cause every innkeeper, &amp;c., to purchase from him,
-for sixpence, and put up publicly, a printed table, or “breviate,” describing the
-“benefits that growe to this Realme by the Observance of Fish-Daies.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183" class="label">183</a>
-Better known by its running title, <i>The Brytish Monarchie</i>. It is a very rare
-work, only 100 copies having been printed. The author’s own copy is in the
-British Museum.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184" class="label">184</a>
-P.7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185" class="label">185</a>
-Sir John Constable’s case. Moore, <i>Hist. Foreshore</i>, 225, from <i>Hargrave MSS.</i>,
-15, fol. 95<i>d</i>. In the case for the crown the claim to the sea is very briefly put:
-“Car quant est floud est parcel del mere que est solement en le Roign et nemy
-en ascun subject; car est pur passage pur chescun, mes owner de ceo nul si non le
-Roign.” Anderson, <i>Les Reports du Treserudite</i>, i. 86. (ed. 1664). In a MS. in
-the Cottonian collection (<i>Galba</i>, C. 11, “Acta inter Angliam et Belgium, 1564-1567”)
-it is said the jurisdiction of the Prince in the adjoining sea extends for a
-distance of 100 miles unless (1) in seas lying between the territories of two princes
-which contain less than a hundred miles, in which case it extends to the mid-line&mdash;usq’
-ad mediũ eiusdem maris extenditur; (2) where another prince has a right
-to the whole sea. The authorities referred to are Bartolus, Angelus, Paulus de
-Castro, and Joan de Platea.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186" class="label">186</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i>, 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187" class="label">187</a>
-Two MS. copies exist, one bound up with Dee’s copy of the <i>General and Rare
-Memorials</i> in the British Museum, which was sent to Dyer with the MS., the
-other in <i>Harleian MSS.</i> 249, fol. 95. The latter, which is a draft, is addressed
-“To my very honorable frende Syr Edward Dyer, Knight,” and a note inscribed on
-it says, “Written by Dr John Dee, out of whose library I bought it after his death
-A<sup>o</sup> D<sup>o</sup> 1625, S.D.” The title on both MSS. is ΘΑΛΑΤΤΟΚΑΡΤΙΑ ΒΡΕΤΤΑΝΙΚΗ:
-<i>Miscelanea qu&aelig;dam extemporanea de Imperii Britannici Iurisdictione in Mari</i>;
-and both are dated 8th September 1597.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188" class="label">188</a>
-Lat. 49&deg; 6&acute; N., long. 2&deg; 49&acute; W.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189" class="label">189</a>
-“All those that pass within our sea jurisdiction (either absolute or respective)
-and therein commit any notable offence against us may lawfully by our
-power be taken; and the same offenders may as lawfully and justly be punished,
-as if on our land territory an offence like, or of like degree of injury, were by them
-against us committed.” “Absolute” jurisdiction applied to the sea where both
-coasts belonged to England; “respective” where it terminated half seas over.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190" class="label">190</a>
-In 1597 Dee expressed his grief and surprise that so little had been done or
-attempted with regard to the sovereignty of the sea, “and so my labours (after a
-sort) vaynely employed.” MS.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191" class="label">191</a>
-<i>Bullarium Romanum Novissimum</i>, i. 346. “Insul&aelig; novi Orbis &agrave; Ferdinando
-Hispaniarum Rege, et Elisabeth Regina repert&aelig;, et reperiend&aelig;, conceduntur eisdem,
-propagand&aelig; fidei Christian&aelig; causa ... omnes insulas et terras firmas inventas et
-inveniendas, detectas ad detegendas versus Occidentem et Meridiem fabricando, et
-construendo unam lineam &agrave; Polo Arctico scilicet Septentrione, ad Polum Antarcticum,
-scilicet Meridiem, sive terr&aelig; firm&aelig;, et insul&aelig; invent&aelig; et inveniend&aelig; sint
-versus Indiam aut versus aliam quamcumque partem, qu&aelig; linea distet &agrave; qualibet
-Insularum, qu&aelig; vulgariter nuncupantur de los Azores y cabo vierde, centum
-l&aelig;ucis versus Occidentem et Meridiem,” &amp;c. Art. 8, “prohibet aliis accessum ad
-illas insulas pro mercibus habendis absque Regis licentia.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192" class="label">192</a>
-Harrisse, <i>The Diplomatic History of America</i>, 78.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193" class="label">193</a>
-Selden, <i>Mare Clausum</i>, i. c. xvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194" class="label">194</a>
-Selden, <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195" class="label">195</a>
-Camden, <i>Annales</i>, 225 (ed. 1635).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196" class="label">196</a>
-<i>Hatfield MSS.</i>, ii. 684. “Whether Your Majesty’s Subjects may lawfully trade
-into the Indies.” Undated, but calendered under the year 1578.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197" class="label">197</a>
-Hautefeuille, <i>Hist. des Origines, des Progr&egrave;s, et des Variations du Droit maritime
-international</i>, 15. Hall, <i>A Treatise on International Law</i>, 142.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198" class="label">198</a>
-<i>Rot. Parl.</i>, iv. 79<i>b</i>. The petition declared that owing to the fish having deserted
-the coasts where they used to be taken, the fishermen had been forced to go to
-Iceland and other places for six or seven years past in order to catch them.
-English fishermen, however, had frequented Iceland long before that time.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199" class="label">199</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, ix. 322.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200" class="label">200</a>
-<i>Rot. Parl.</i>, iv. 348, 378. 8 Hen. VI., c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201" class="label">201</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, xii. 381.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202" class="label">202</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, xiii. 798.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203" class="label">203</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Elizabeth, clxxx. 26, 15th July 1585.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204" class="label">204</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, ccxiii. 92.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205" class="label">205</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, xvi. 278. A license granted in 1570 to an Englishman, one Raymond
-Binge, for fishing at Iceland for seven years, gave permission for his boats to be
-kept and wintered in the ports there, on payment of the customs and abstaining
-from trading, as well as freedom of fishing except where prohibited by royal
-edicts, reserved for the king’s use, or granted to others. <i>Brit. Mus. Vespasian MSS.</i>,
-C. xiv. fol. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206" class="label">206</a>
-Complaint of the Mayor of Kingston-upon-Hull to Cecil, 2nd July 1599.
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxi. 68.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207" class="label">207</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, xvi. 395, 432.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208" class="label">208</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Vespasian MSS.</i>, C. xiv. fol. 22. <i>Fœdera</i>, xvi. 431.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209" class="label">209</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxiv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210" class="label">210</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, xvi. 433.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211" class="label">211</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 380.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212" class="label">212</a>
-23 Eliz., c. 7, 1580-81. <i>Brit. Mus. Lansd. MSS.</i>, 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_213" href="#FNanchor_213" class="label">213</a>
-39 Eliz., c. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_214" href="#FNanchor_214" class="label">214</a>
-The price of stock-fish had risen from &pound;12 a last in 1584 to &pound;18 and &pound;20 in
-1597, and the price of cured ling in the same time advanced from &pound;3 to &pound;5, 5s.
-per cwt. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_215" href="#FNanchor_215" class="label">215</a>
-A commission of eleven peers, three bishops, and two law-officers had been
-appointed in 1593 for the repeal of the Act respecting the importation of salted
-fish and herrings. <i>Ibid.</i>, ccxliv. 84.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_216" href="#FNanchor_216" class="label">216</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cxlvii. 21, 22.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_217" href="#FNanchor_217" class="label">217</a>
-27 Eliz., c. 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_218" href="#FNanchor_218" class="label">218</a>
-35 Eliz., c. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_219" href="#FNanchor_219" class="label">219</a>
-Jeninges, <i>A briefe discouery of the damages that happen to this Realme by disordered
-and vnlawfull diet</i>, 1593. Hitchcock, <i>A briefe note of the benefits that grow
-to this Realme by the observation of Fish-Daies</i>, <i>Hatfield MSS.</i>, 1595. <i>State Papers,
-Dom.</i>, cclxv. 25. <i>Remembrancia</i>, 391 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_220" href="#FNanchor_220" class="label">220</a>
-<i>Every Man in His Humour</i>, Act 3, sc. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_221" href="#FNanchor_221" class="label">221</a>
-Froude, <i>Hist. England</i>, iii. 69.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_222" href="#FNanchor_222" class="label">222</a>
-King Edward’s Journal, in Burnet, <i>Hist. Reformation</i>, ii. (v. of ed. 1865).
-Oppenheim, <i>Hist. Administration Roy. Navy</i>, 106.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_223" href="#FNanchor_223" class="label">223</a>
-<i>Acts of the Privy Council of England</i>, iv. 37. 7th May 1552.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_224" href="#FNanchor_224" class="label">224</a>
-Selden, <i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xxvi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_225" href="#FNanchor_225" class="label">225</a>
-Raleigh, <i>A Discourse of the Invention of Ships</i>, Collected Works, viii. 326.
-Monson, <i>Naval Tracts</i>, in Churchill’s <i>Collection of Voyages and Travels</i>, iii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_226" href="#FNanchor_226" class="label">226</a>
-Monson, <i>op. cit.</i> Laughton, <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, Aug. 1866.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_227" href="#FNanchor_227" class="label">227</a>
-Froude, <i>op. cit.</i>, viii. 68. Laughton, <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_228" href="#FNanchor_228" class="label">228</a>
-An undated State Paper, calendared under the year 1604, entitled “Reglement
-for Preventing Abuses in and about the Narrow Seas,” contains a claim by the
-king to a most absolute dominion over the Four Seas (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, James,
-xi. 40). It appears, however, to be merely a copy of the similar regulation prepared
-in 1633 by Sir Henry Martin (<a href="#Page_252">see p. 252</a>). It is not contained in the volume
-of royal proclamations published in 1609, and is not referred to by Selden. It has
-no doubt been wrongly calendared.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_229" href="#FNanchor_229" class="label">229</a>
-It is given in <a href="#APPENDIX_D">Appendix D</a>, from <i>A Booke of Proclamations, published since the
-beginning of his Majesties most happy Reigne ouer England, &amp;c., Vntill this present
-Moneth of Febr. 3, Anno. Dom. 1609. Cum Priuilegio</i>, p. 98.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_230" href="#FNanchor_230" class="label">230</a>
-“Item, conventum et conclusum est, quod, dicto bello durante, nullus subditus
-principum pr&aelig;dictorum, intra portus et sinus maris quoscumque, flumina, ostia
-fluminum, gurgites, aquas dulces, stationes navium, et pr&aelig;sertim stationem vulgariter
-vocatam <i>les Dunes</i>, aut alia loca maritima qu&aelig;cumque jurisdictioni dicti
-Regis Angli&aelig; subjecta aliquam navem mercatoriam, onerariam, armatam vel non
-armatam, onustam seu vacuam, cujuscumque quantitatis aut oneris fuerit, de
-quacumque natione eadem navis extiterit, capere, spoliare, diripere, seu merces,
-victualia, aut armamenta qu&aelig;cumque, ab eisdem navibus, aut earumdem nautis
-auferre, nec eisdem vim, violentiam, aut molestationem aliquam inferre possit,
-aut debeat,” &amp;c. Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, IV. i. 352.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_231" href="#FNanchor_231" class="label">231</a>
-This interesting document is printed in <a href="#APPENDIX_E">Appendix E</a>, from <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-James I., vol. 13 (1605), No. 11; No. 12 is another of the same. It is not the
-original, but a copy, the names being all in the same hand as the body of the
-paper. Diligent search among the records has failed to furnish the “plott”
-referred to, but there is no reason to doubt that the reproduction of it by Selden
-(<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii. c. xxii.), and shown here on fig. 3, is an accurate representation.
-Selden states that the plott or chart was engraved, and copies sent to
-the officers concerned.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_232" href="#FNanchor_232" class="label">232</a>
-It will be noticed from fig. 4, where the lines between the headlands are
-shown on a modern map, that some of the “chambers” on the east coast have
-entirely disappeared, no doubt owing to the erosion or silting up of the coast at
-those places during the last three hundred years.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_233" href="#FNanchor_233" class="label">233</a>
-In stormy weather as many as 300 or 400 sail of Hollanders took refuge in
-St George’s Channel at a time. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlv. 23 (1609).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_234" href="#FNanchor_234" class="label">234</a>
-Cunningham, <i>The Growth of English Industry and Commerce</i>, i. 424.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_235" href="#FNanchor_235" class="label">235</a>
-Gardiner, <i>Hist. England</i>, i. 103.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_236" href="#FNanchor_236" class="label">236</a>
-Declaratie van de visscherijen in Holland Zeeland en Vlaanderen. Fruin,
-<i>Tien Jaren uit den Tachtigjarigen Oorlog</i>, 1588-1598, p. 186.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_237" href="#FNanchor_237" class="label">237</a>
-<i>Descrittione Di M. Lodovico Gvicciardini Patritio Florentino, Di Tvtti i Paesi
-Bassi, Altrimenti Detti Germania Inferiore</i>, Antwerp, 1567, p. 21. The value of
-the cod caught was placed at &pound;150,000 sterling per annum.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_238" href="#FNanchor_238" class="label">238</a>
-Hadrianus Junius, <i>Batavia</i>, p. 203. The work was written between 1565 and
-1569, and published in 1588.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_239" href="#FNanchor_239" class="label">239</a>
-Hitchcock, <i>A Pollitique Platt</i>. The author says that when he was at the wars
-in 1553, more than 400 busses were set forth from twelve towns in the Low
-Countries. Dee, <i>General and Rare Memorials</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_240" href="#FNanchor_240" class="label">240</a>
-Faulconnier, <i>Description Historique de Dunkerque</i>, i. 47, 53, 121.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_241" href="#FNanchor_241" class="label">241</a>
-Van Meteren, <i>Historie der Nederlandscher ende haerder Naburen Oorlogen</i>
-(1614), fol. 466. This author says the maritime power of the States was shown
-in the same year, when between 800 and 900 ships departed for the Baltic within
-the space of two or three days’ tides.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_242" href="#FNanchor_242" class="label">242</a>
-John Keymer’s <i>Observation made upon the Dutch Fishing about the year 1601.
-Demonstrating that there is more Wealth raised out of Herrings and other Fish in
-his Majesties Seas, by the neighbouring Nations in one Year, then the King of Spain
-hath from the Indies in Four.</i> London, Printed from the original Manuscript,
-for Sir Edward Ford, in the year 1664. Keymer states that he found in Holland
-more than 20,000 sail of ships and “hoyes,” more than was possessed by England,
-France, Spain, and other eight countries in Europe. The same figure is given by
-Sir Thomas Overbury, who visited the Netherlands in 1609 (<i>Observations in his
-Travels, upon the State of the Seventeen Provinces</i>, 1626).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_243" href="#FNanchor_243" class="label">243</a></p>
-
-<p><i>Observations touching Trade and Commerce with the Hollander, and Other
-Nations; presented to King James, wherein is proved that our Sea and Land Commodities
-serve to enrich and strengthen other Countries against our own.</i> Raleigh’s
-<i>Collected Works</i>, viii. 351. Oldys, in his Life of Raleigh, which was published in
-1736, says there was some reason to doubt whether Sir Walter Raleigh was the
-author of this treatise: it was first printed in 1653, first associated with Raleigh’s
-name by being bound up with his “Remains” in 1656, and first definitely said to be
-Raleigh’s by Roger Coke in his <i>Detection of Court and State</i>; and he gives reasons
-for the opinion that it was written by John Keymer and not by Raleigh (<i>Collected
-Works</i>, i. 441). But, as Raleigh’s latest biographer states, Raleigh still has the
-credit of it (Stebbing, <i>Sir Walter Raleigh</i>, 267). I have, however, found the original
-signed manuscript copy among the State Papers for 1620 (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cxviii.
-114, December 1620), and an unsigned and slightly altered copy among those
-for 1623 (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clvii. 45). The original is endorsed, <i>Keymers booke
-of observac͠ons for your moste excellent Ma<sup>tie</sup> touchinge trade and traffique beyond
-y<sup>e</sup> Seas and in England wherein he certaynly findeth y<sup>t</sup> your sea and land Commodities
-doe searve to inrich and strengthen other Cuntries agnst your Kingdome;
-w<sup>ch</sup> were y<sup>e</sup> urgent causes why he endeavoured himselfe to take extraordynarie
-paynes for y<sup>e</sup> redresse: soe it maie stande w<sup>th</sup> your Ma<sup>ties</sup> good Likinge</i>. 1620. It
-is subscribed, “Your Ma<sup>ties</sup> most loyall and true harted Subject, John Keymer,”
-and it is the same treatise as is published in Raleigh’s <i>Works</i>, with a few trifling
-verbal differences, while the concluding sentence is omitted in the printed form&mdash;viz.,
-“To conclude, England is a great and famous body and would be farr
-greater, richer and stronger, if the ten fingers were rightly imployed.” Further
-proof exists that Keymer was the author of this much-discussed treatise. Its
-object was to show how the trade and revenue might be greatly increased, and
-the author begged the king to have a commission appointed to examine witnesses
-as to his proposals. This commission was appointed two years later, as appears
-from the following entry in the Grant Book in 1622: “20 Dec. Com̃ to Charles,
-pr. of Wales, John Bp. of Linc., Ld Keeper of y<sup>e</sup> g. seale, Lewis Duke of Lennox,
-Geo. Marquis Buck., &amp;c. to hear the propositions which shall be made by John
-Keymer and to consider whether they will tend to the good of y<sup>e</sup> King, and commonwealth
-as is pretended” (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Jas. I. (Grants), vol. 141, p. 352).
-There does not appear to be any further mention of the matter. This John
-Keymer is supposed to be the same as a person of that name who was licensed by
-Raleigh about 1584 to sell wines at Cambridge. Among the MSS. at Hatfield are
-letters from him, dated in 1598, to Cecil and the Earl of Essex, in which he speaks
-of his services, of “his travels and labours to find out the practises used beyond the
-seas to their advantage and our great danger and how to prevent the same,” and
-of his works, one of which he said showed how to increase the Queen’s treasure
-above &pound;100,000 a year. He also corresponded with Carleton in 1619. In his
-address to the king, prefixed to the treatise of 1620, he mentions that “about
-fourteen or fifteen years past” he had presented him with “a book of such extraordinary
-importance for the honour and profit” of his Majesty and posterity,
-which was doubtless the earlier tract referred to above, and would fix its date
-about 1605 or 1606. He was also engaged on the fishery question about 1612
-(doubtless in connection with the proposed society), because Tobias Gentleman,
-whose work was published in the spring of 1614, tells us that he was visited “some
-two yeares past” by “Maister John Keymar,” who was collecting information
-about the fisheries, with the view of placing it before the Council (<i>Englands Way
-to Win Wealth</i>, 3).</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img id="fig_5" src="images/fig_5.jpg" alt="" />
-<p class="caption">Fig. 5.&mdash;<i>Facsimile of Keymer’s Signature to his ‘Book of Observations.’</i></p>
-</div>
-
-<p>The copy of Keymer’s tract, which is among the State Papers of 1623, is unsigned,
-and is simply calendared as “Tract addressed to the King, consisting of observations
-made by the writer in his travels on the coasts,” &amp;c.; but the person who
-calendared the paper has written on it, in pencil, “q. By Sir Walter Cope (<i>ob.</i> 1614).
-See 1612, a letter or discourse to the King, to which this was attached,” and has
-added the name “Walter Cope” at the end. The paper referred to (<i>State Papers,
-Dom.</i>, vol. 71, No. 89) has written on it in the old hand, “Sr Walter Cope to K.,”
-and “Anno Domini 1612. A present for the Kinges most excellent Maiestie.”
-It is only mentioned here because the draft of it, which is the next paper in the
-volume (No. 90) and has several corrections on the first page, bears the following
-note in one of the corners, “Nota Mr Chancellor and Malynes wife (?) the ... of
-Maye, Ralegh.” The meaning is obscure, but perhaps it may be surmised from
-the contents that Malynes, who was at that time concerned with the fishery society
-proposals, had submitted it to Sir Walter Raleigh, and that ultimately it was presented
-to the king by Sir Walter Cope, who was on intimate terms with him.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_244" href="#FNanchor_244" class="label">244</a>
-<i>Englands Way to Win Wealth, and to employ Ships and Mariners; or, A plaine
-description what great profite it will bring vnto the Commonwealth of England, by
-the Erecting, Building, and aduenturing of Busses, to Sea, a Fishing: With a true
-Relation of the inestimable Wealth that is yearly taken out of his Majesty’s Seas by
-the Hollanders, &amp;c.</i>, by Tobias Gentleman, Fisherman and Mariner, London, 1614.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_245" href="#FNanchor_245" class="label">245</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Jas. I., xlvii. 114.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_246" href="#FNanchor_246" class="label">246</a>
-Keymer, <i>Observations on Dutch Fishing</i>; Gentleman, <i>op. cit.</i>; Buchanan, <i>Rerum
-Scot. Hist.</i>, lib. i. c. xlix; Leslie, <i>De Origine Moribus et Rebus Gestis Scotorum</i>, 39;
-<i>Register Privy Council of Scotland</i>, ii. 656; <i>MSS. Advoc. Lib.</i>, 31. 2. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_247" href="#FNanchor_247" class="label">247</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xxxii. 31. Other accounts are as follows. In 1609 the
-Earl of Salisbury wrote (erroneously) that while fifty or sixty years before only
-one or two hundred foreign vessels came to fish on the east coast, they then
-numbered two or three thousand sail (Winwood, <i>Memorials</i>, iii. 50). Sir William
-Monson in the same year placed the number of Hollander busses at 3000 and the
-number of men at over 30,000 (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlvii. 112, 114). Sir Nicholas
-Hales also estimated the number of men at 30,000 (<i>Ibid.</i>, xlv. 23; cclxxiv. 67).
-In the following year the Dutch ambassadors admitted that 20,000 men were employed
-in the great herring fishery, as well as other 40,000 in connection with it
-on shore (<i>Ibid.</i>, lxvii. 111). A little later, in 1616, the Secretary to the Duke of
-Lennox told the Dutch ambassador that in the previous June, 1500 or 1600 Hollander
-busses were at Shetland (<i>Add. MSS. Brit. Mus.</i>, 17,677, J, fol. 160).
-In 1618 the number fishing on the east coast of Scotland sometimes exceeded 2000
-sail (<i>MSS. Advoc. Lib.</i>, 31. 2. 16). Malynes in 1622 placed the number of busses
-from Holland and Zealand at 2000 (<i>Consuetudo vel Lex Mercatoria</i>, 89). Two years
-later a Spanish agent described them as consisting of 2400 vessels, guarded by 40
-men-of-war, and scattered over an area of 200 leagues (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, dxxi.
-30). In 1629 Secretary Coke, who derived the information from a Scottish source,
-said the Hollander busses sometimes amounted to 3000 sail; three years later he
-put the number in connection with the fishery off Yarmouth at “above a thousand”;
-at this time the French vessels numbered 40 (<i>Ibid.</i>, Chas. I., clii. 63;
-ccxxix. 79). Beaujon (<i>op. cit.</i>, p. 64) expresses the opinion that 2000 busses were
-the maximum number.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_248" href="#FNanchor_248" class="label">248</a>
-To Pomerania, Poland, “Spruceland,” Denmark, Liefland, Russia, Sweden,
-Germany, Brabant, Flanders, France, “Lukeland,” England, Greece, Egypt,
-Venice, Leghorn, and all over the Mediterranean, and even as far as Brazil.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_249" href="#FNanchor_249" class="label">249</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlvii. 112.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_250" href="#FNanchor_250" class="label">250</a>
-To the King’s most excellent Majesty: A Declaration of the fishing of Herring,
-Cod, and Ling, and how much the favour or disfavour of Your Royal Majesty
-concerneth the Hollanders. <i>Ibid.</i>, xxxii. 30; cclxxix. 67.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_251" href="#FNanchor_251" class="label">251</a>
-Misselden, <i>The Circle of Commerce, or the Balance of Trade</i>, 1623, p. 121. It
-may be said that the aggregate quantity of herrings now taken in the North Sea,
-and mostly by Scottish and English fishermen, equals about 3,500,000 barrels in a
-year.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_252" href="#FNanchor_252" class="label">252</a>
-Manship, <i>History of Great Yarmouth</i>, 119, 121.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_253" href="#FNanchor_253" class="label">253</a>
-Gentleman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 7, 32.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_254" href="#FNanchor_254" class="label">254</a>
-Keymer, <i>Observations on Dutch Fishing</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_255" href="#FNanchor_255" class="label">255</a>
-Manship, <i>op. cit.</i>, 97, 120. The work was written between 1612 and 1619.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_256" href="#FNanchor_256" class="label">256</a>
-Gentleman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 36; Swinden, <i>History of Great Yarmouth</i>, 465; <i>State
-Papers, Dom.</i>, xlvii. 112, 114.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_257" href="#FNanchor_257" class="label">257</a>
-Meynert Semeyns, <i>Een corte beschryvinge over de Haring-visscherye in Hollandt</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_258" href="#FNanchor_258" class="label">258</a>
-Keymer, <i>Observations on Dutch Fishing</i>; Monson, <i>Naval Tracts</i>, in Churchill’s
-<i>Collection</i>, iii. 467; H. Robinson, <i>Briefe Considerations concerning the Advancement
-of Trade</i>, p. 50; <i>England’s Great Interest by encouraging the setting up of the Royal
-Fishery</i>, &amp;c., &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_259" href="#FNanchor_259" class="label">259</a>
-A Demonstration of the Hollanders increase in Shipping and our Decay herein.
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlvii. 112.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_260" href="#FNanchor_260" class="label">260</a>
-<i>The Trades Increase.</i> Keymer, <i>Observations on Dutch Fishing, &amp;c. Observations
-touching Trade, &amp;c.</i>, Raleigh’s <i>Works</i>, viii. 374. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlviii.
-114.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_261" href="#FNanchor_261" class="label">261</a>
-<i>A Discourse of the Invention of Ships. Works</i>, viii. 325.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_262" href="#FNanchor_262" class="label">262</a>
-In one of the most elaborate and detailed of the proposals for the building of
-busses, the daily allowance of beer for each man was to be a gallon, as in the king’s
-ships: the buss was to go to sea with 56 herring barrels full of beer. E. S.&mdash;<i>Britaines
-Bvsse, or a Computation as well of the Charge of a Bvsse or Herring fishing
-ship as also of the Gain and Profit thereby.</i> London, 1615.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_263" href="#FNanchor_263" class="label">263</a>
-Keymer, <i>Observations on Dutch Fishing</i>. The industrious Hollander was held
-up as an example to the English. “If any be so weak,” said one writer, “to think
-this mechanical fisher trade not feasible to the English people, to him I may say
-with Solomon, Go to the Pismire! Look upon the Dutch! Thou Sluggard! learn
-of them! They do it daily in the sight of all men at our own doors, upon our own
-coasts.” “Shall we,” said another, “neglect so great blessings? O slothful England,
-and careless Countrymen! Look but on these fellows, that we call the plump
-Hollanders; behold their diligence in fishing and our own careless negligence.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_264" href="#FNanchor_264" class="label">264</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, James I., lxxi. 89. Malynes, who, as already suggested in
-the note on page 128, may have been the author of Cope’s tract, said exactly
-the same thing in 1622&mdash;that there had been a continual agitation for over thirty
-years to make busses and fisher-boats. <i>The Maintenance of Free Trade</i>, 42.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_265" href="#FNanchor_265" class="label">265</a>
-J. Bowssar to Sir Julius C&aelig;sar, 14th October 1607, <i>Brit. Mus. Lansdowne
-MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 373.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_266" href="#FNanchor_266" class="label">266</a>
-A Project for to restore unto the King’s Majestie his Dueties of Fishing by
-re-establishing ye Auncient Manner of fishing for herringe, Coad, and Ling, for
-maintenaunce of Navigation and Marryners with greatt increase of Traffique,
-22nd April 1609, <i>Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 371. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-xlviii. 95.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_267" href="#FNanchor_267" class="label">267</a>
-Treaty of Antwerp, 30 March/9 April 1609.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_268" href="#FNanchor_268" class="label">268</a>
-A rubric in the copy at the Record Office says, “By Proclamation first, most
-convenient to all the world.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_269" href="#FNanchor_269" class="label">269</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlviii. 94. It is written on parchment and imperfect, and
-endorsed, “Mr Rainsford’s Answeares.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_270" href="#FNanchor_270" class="label">270</a>
-<a href="#Page_64">See p. 64</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_271" href="#FNanchor_271" class="label">271</a>
-To the King’s Most excellent Majestie: A Declaration of the Fishing of Herring,
-Codd, and Ling, and how greatly the favour or disfavour of Your Royal Majesty
-concerneth the Hollanders. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xxxii. 32. A Declaration how
-much the Favour or Disfavour of Your Royal Majestie doth concern the Prosperity
-or Adversitie of the Hollanders: and what inconvenience may ensue, and how
-to praevent the same to the honour and safety of your Majesty and the tranquillitie
-of the Netherlanders. <i>Ibid.</i>, xlv. 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_272" href="#FNanchor_272" class="label">272</a>
-A Demonstration of the Hollanders Increase in Shipping and our Decay herein.
-<i>Ibid.</i>, xlvii. 112. Particulars of the Lawes observed by other Nations touching
-fishing, and the Advantages that would accrue from establishing an English Fishing
-fleet. <i>Ibid.</i>, 114.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_273" href="#FNanchor_273" class="label">273</a>
-<i>Records of the Convention of the Royal Burghs of Scotland</i>, ii. 203, July 2,
-1605.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_274" href="#FNanchor_274" class="label">274</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xxxii. 31.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_275" href="#FNanchor_275" class="label">275</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlv. 22. The petition was signed by fishermen of Yarmouth,
-Dover, Hastings, Rye, Hythe, and Folkestone. It is said in the petition that they
-had previously craved both the king and the Council for redress, without avail.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_276" href="#FNanchor_276" class="label">276</a>
-The author of <i>Britaines Buss</i> had heard, but did not believe, stories of the
-“very foul and insolent dealing of their bussmen with our poor weak fishermen
-upon our coasts.” Tobias Gentleman, who admired the Dutch for their industry,
-said they scorned us only “for being so negligent of our profit, and careless of our
-fishing; and they do daily flout us that be the poor fishermen of England, to
-our faces at sea, calling to us and saying, ‘Ya English, ya zall, or oud scoue
-dragien,’ which in English is this: ‘You English, we will make you glad for to
-wear our old shoes.’” <i>Englands Way to Win Wealth</i>, p. 44.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_277" href="#FNanchor_277" class="label">277</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 375. A copy of the letter of the Lords of
-the Council, in the handwriting of Sir Julius C&aelig;sar, is as follows: After our very
-hearty recommendations. Whereas his Majesty hath of late been moved vpon many
-consyderations arising from the complayntes of his subiects, to take some course
-of restraynt of many inconveniences depending vpon the excesse of libertie, w<sup>ch</sup> is
-taken by the subiectes of forraigne princes and states to fish vppon his coast; By
-which, not onlie his owne ffishermen receive wrong in their fishing, but the verie
-Coast-Townes themselves are much decayed for lack of meanes to sett their people
-on work. To w<sup>ch</sup> end hee had resolved to set forth a proclamation to th’effect
-of that w<sup>ch</sup> is hereinclosed:</p>
-
-<p>Fforasmuch as vppon perusall of some Treaties from King Henry 7<sub>ths</sub> tyme till
-this daye betweene the Crowne of England and the house of Burgundy, we fynde
-certeyne clauses, by which there maye arise some question how farre any such
-Prohibition maye concurre with the practice of the same for so much as shall
-concerne the subiects of that Estate; Of w<sup>ch</sup> particulars it is necessary that some
-deliberation were taken, beefore his Ma<sup>tie</sup> proceeded to a generall execution of the
-same: We have thought good to requyre yow ioyntly and severally to peruse all
-those Treaties, and to consyder of them, and all other thinges, by w<sup>ch</sup> the lawfullnes
-or vnlawfulnes maye appeare of this proceeding; Which being don wee shall
-expect some report from you for his Ma<sup>ties</sup> better satisfaction.</p>
-
-<p>Wherein wee doubt not but yow will proceede w<sup>th</sup> all convenient expedition.
-And so will bid yow hartelie farewell.</p>
-
-<table>
- <tr>
- <th>Ffrome the Court at Whitehall<br />
-first of Ffebruarie, 1606.</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td />
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td />
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Mr Secretary Herbert.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Sr. Daniel Dun.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Sr. Thomas Crompton.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Sr. Christopher Perkins.</td>
- </tr></table>
-
-<table>
- <tr>
- <th>Yo<sup>r</sup> Verie loving friendes,<br />
-Subscribed by the<br /></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>1. L. Chancellor.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>2. L. Treasour.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>3. L. Admirall.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>4. The Earle of Worcester.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>5. The Earle of Salisbury.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>6. The Earle of Marr.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>7. The L. Stanhop.</td>
- </tr></table>
-
-<p>This copy is dated 1st February 1606, and the copy of the report of the
-Committee is also dated 1606, which would imply that the matter had been
-before the Privy Council in that year. It appears, however, from other evidence
-that Sir Julius C&aelig;sar made a mistake in dating the copies.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_278" href="#FNanchor_278" class="label">278</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 377. In Sir Julius C&aelig;sar’s handwriting,
-and endorsed, “A copy of a letter from Mr Secretary Herbert, myself,
-and others to the L<sup>ds</sup> of the King’s P. Councell, touching the prohibition of
-strangers fishing on the coasts of England,” &amp;c. This important paper reads as
-follow: Our humble duties dewe to y<sup>r</sup> good LL<sup>ps</sup>. We have according to
-y<sup>r</sup> commandement, considered of the liberty w<sup>ch</sup> is taken by the Subiectes of forreine
-Princes and States to fish vppon the kings Ma<sup>ties</sup> coasts by w<sup>ch</sup> not onely the
-English fishermen receive wrong in their fishing but the very coast townes themselves
-are much decayed for want of meanes to set their people on work; and we
-have considered likewise of the proclamation for the restraint of those many inconveniences
-depending vppon the excesse of such strangers fishing: We haue also
-pervsed the treaties fr&otilde; Henry the 7th time till this day betweene the Crowne of
-England and the House of Burgundy, and we have considered of them, and of all
-other thinges by w<sup>ch</sup> (as wee conceave) the lawfulness or vnlawfulness may appeare
-of this proceeding. And are of opinion, that the K<sup>s</sup> Ma<sup>ty</sup> may w<sup>thout</sup> breach of
-any treatyie nowe in force, or of the lawe, vppon the reasons specified in the
-proclamation sent vnto vs, restreine all strangers fr&otilde; fishing vppon his coasts
-w<sup>thout</sup> license, in such moderation and after such convenient notice given thereof
-by publik proclamation, as his Ma<sup>ty</sup> shall think fit.</p>
-
-<p>And so we most humbly take our leaves. 14 febr. 1606.</p>
-
-<p>Yo<sup>r</sup> L<sup>dships</sup> humbly at commandment,</p>
-
-<p>J. Herbert. Jul. C&aelig;sar. Daniel Dun. Christoph. Parkins. Tho. Crompton.</p>
-
-<p>From the erasures and corrections (<a href="#fig_6">see Fig. 6</a>) there seems little doubt that the
-paper is the original draft.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_279" href="#FNanchor_279" class="label">279</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 379. In C&aelig;sar’s handwriting.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_280" href="#FNanchor_280" class="label">280</a>
-See <a href="#APPENDIX_F">Appendix F</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_281" href="#FNanchor_281" class="label">281</a>
-Perhaps an oblique reference to <i>Mare Liberum</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_282" href="#FNanchor_282" class="label">282</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlv. 24. <i>Proc. Coll.</i>, No. 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_283" href="#FNanchor_283" class="label">283</a>
-Salisbury to Cornwallis, 8th June 1609. Winwood’s <i>Memorials of Affairs of
-State in the Reigns of Q. Elizabeth and K. James I.</i>, iii. 49.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_284" href="#FNanchor_284" class="label">284</a>
-Muller, <i>Mare Clausum</i>, <i>Bijdrage tot de Geschiedenis der Rivaliteit van Engeland
-en Nederland in de Zeventiende Eeuw</i>, p. 52. Bosgoed, <i>Bib. Pisc.</i>, 347. Resoluti&euml;n ... van
-Vergaderinge van de Heeren Staten van Hollandt ende West-Vrieslandt,
-2/12 June 1609. “Ter Generaliteyt’s lands recht voorstaan ter saake van het Engelsch
-placaat op het visschen op de kusten en zee&euml;n van Groot Brittannien en Yrland.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_285" href="#FNanchor_285" class="label">285</a>
-“Ende oic Sijne authoriteyt eñ macht die hy in die See heeft voir de werelt
-manifest te maecken.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_286" href="#FNanchor_286" class="label">286</a>
-Sir George Carew to Salisbury, 20th June 1609. Acknowledges his lordship’s
-letter, “according the request made by the ffr. Amb<sup>r</sup> for one year’s Respite longer
-for the ffishers of this nation,” and expressing his pleasure that other considerations
-of state so fell out as to give his Majesty cause to grant them that favour, “for it
-is like to increase the amity of the two crowns.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_287" href="#FNanchor_287" class="label">287</a>
-Caron to the States-General, 13/23 July 1609. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17, 677.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_288" href="#FNanchor_288" class="label">288</a>
-Winwood to Salisbury, 6th September 1609. <i>Memorials</i>, iii. 64.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_289" href="#FNanchor_289" class="label">289</a>
-The assize-herring was thus described by Skene, in <i>De Verborum Significatione</i>,
-annexed to the laws of Scotland, printed in 1597. “Assisa Halecum. The assise
-herring signifies ane certain measure and quantity of herring, quilk perteinis to the
-king as ane part of his custumes and annexed propriety, <i>Jac.</i> 6, p. 15, c. 237, for
-it is manifest that Hee shuld have of everie Boat that passis to the drave, and
-slayis herring, ane thousand herring of ilk tak that halds, viz. of Lambmes tak,
-of the Winter tak, and the Lentrone tak”&mdash;that is, of the summer, winter, and
-spring fishings. The assize-herrings appear to have been originally a contribution
-to the king’s kitchen. In 1526 James V. granted assize-herrings to Stuart of
-Ardgowane (<i>Origines Parochiales Scoti&aelig;</i>, ii. 83). In 1593, in an Act of the
-Parliament of Scotland, entitled “Annexatioun of the Propertie of the Croun that
-wes nocht annext of befoir,” the assize-herrings were included (Jac. VI., 1593, c. 32.
-<i>Acta</i>, iv. 28), and an Act of 1597, entitled “Assysis hering may nocht be disponit,”
-ordained that no infeftment or alienation in few ferm or otherwise, and all rentals
-and dispositions whatsoever, past or to come, were to be null and void, because
-they pertained to the king as part of his customs and annexed property (<i>Acta</i>,
-iv. 131). Later the assize-herring was commuted into a money payment. An
-Act of Charles I. in 1641 (cap. 117), entitled “Act anent the Excise of Herring,”
-on the ground that the collection of the herrings was “very hard and difficult,”
-commuted the thousand herrings in the Firth of Lothian into a money payment
-of &pound;6 Scots. In the eighteenth century, when it had been for the most part
-granted to individuals, or farmed, it took the form of a tax ranging from &pound;4 Scots
-to &pound;10 Scots per boat or per net, and was felt as a grievous burden. In the Firth
-of Forth each boat that was “size-worthy” (viz., that caught 3000 herrings during
-the whole season) had to pay ten shillings as “size-duty.” On the west coast it
-amounted to &pound;10 Scots, or sixteen shillings and eightpence sterling, whether
-herrings were caught or not. With regard to the gross value of the tax, those
-of the great Dunbar fishings were leased in 1614 for five years for &pound;1000 Scots,
-and a yearly rent of 2000 merks (<i>Reg. Privy Council Scot.</i>, x. 282). In 1613 the
-value of the “duty of the tack of the assize-herrings,” amounting to fourteen lasts,
-which the Earl of Argyle rendered for Lochfyne, was estimated to be about &pound;36 or
-&pound;38 sterling (<i>Melrose Papers</i>, i. 124). In 1598 the assize-herring from the “east
-seas” was estimated to amount to 1120 dry “killing” (cod), which shows it was
-sometimes paid in other fish; in 1656-57 it was equal to &pound;130 sterling (Chalmers,
-<i>Caledonia</i>, ii. 497); in 1629 Captain Mason claimed no less than &pound;12,489, 7s.
-sterling as the value, with interest, of the assize-herrings of the Hebrides and
-North Isles granted to him by James for the years 1610-11, and not paid (<i>State
-Papers, Dom.</i>, cliv. 13).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_290" href="#FNanchor_290" class="label">290</a>
-Arguments for Collecting the Assyze herring from all Strangers fishing in the
-North Seas of Scotland, and Answers to some objections proponet be Sir Noel
-Caron. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xxxii. 31.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_291" href="#FNanchor_291" class="label">291</a>
-Winwood, <i>Memorials</i>, iii. 105, 135, 146, 162. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 56.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_292" href="#FNanchor_292" class="label">292</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlvii. 111. “2. For that it is by the Lawe of nacions,
-no prince can Challenge further into the Sea then he can Com̃and w<sup>th</sup> a Cannon
-except Gulfes w<sup>thin</sup> their Land from one point to an other. 3. For that the
-boundlesse and rowlinge Seas are as Com̃on to all people as the ayre w<sub>ch</sub> no prince
-can prohibite.” The paper is endorsed “Reasons vsed by the Hollanders for the
-Continuance of Fishing Contrarie to the proclamation made in May 1609 forbidding
-of strangers to fish,” and there is a note, apparently in C&aelig;sar’s writing,
-saying, “This note was sent by Emanuell Demetrius who was present att the
-discourse.” It is misdated “Aug. 1609.” The endorsements appear to have
-been made after 1612, because at the end it is said, “It was answered by the
-<i>late</i> Lord Treasr. Salisburie att a hearing,” &amp;c. A list is given of those present
-at the conference&mdash;viz., the Earls of Salisbury, Northampton, Nottingham, Suffolk,
-Shrewsbury, and Worcester, Mr Secretary Herbert and Sir Julius C&aelig;sar, the
-“Standers by” being Sir T. Edmondes, Sir Daniel Dunn, Sir Christopher Perkins,
-Sir William Wade, and Mr Levinus Emanuell Demetrius,&mdash;probably the Levinus
-Muncke of the Dutch and other records. It is to be noted that the argument as
-to the limitation of the territorial sea by the range of guns was not contained
-in the instructions to the Dutch, as printed by Aitzema (<i>Saken van Staet en Oorlogh</i>,
-ii. 406) and Vreede (<i>Vrijheid van Haringvaart</i>, 6; compare Muller, <i>Mare Clausum</i>,
-58, 91), and is not referred to by them in their Journal, where, however, they
-say they put forward “other reasons” than those they recite (Muller, <i>Mare
-Clausum</i>, 59). Van Meteren, whose work was published in 1614 (<i>Historie der
-Nederlandscher ende haerder Naburen Oorlogen, &amp;c.</i>, fol. 650), reports, however,
-that there was a great dispute as to how far a country’s limit might extend into
-the open sea, and the brief note of Levinus seems to be the only record of it. (“Sy
-seyden mede, dat het een groote dispute ware, hoeverre elcx Laudts Custen ofte
-Limiten inde groote wijde Zee Oceane mochte strecken.”) The document is of
-interest not only from the clear enunciation of the doctrine at so early a period,
-but because there are grounds for thinking that the idea may have originated in
-the fertile brain of Grotius. Competent Dutch authorities believe that Grotius
-either himself drew up the instructions dealing with the fishery question or was
-consulted in their preparation; and the fact that the argument is not contained
-in the official instructions scarcely weakens the supposition. It was of so drastic
-and novel a character to be urged against the pretensions of King James that the
-Dutch, anxious to conciliate him, may have followed a practice not uncommon in
-diplomacy, and kept it in the background only to be made use of if a suitable
-occasion arose. It is, moreover, known that Grotius had a close personal relationship
-with Elias van Oldenbarnevelt, the envoy to whom the fishery negotiations
-were specially entrusted.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_293" href="#FNanchor_293" class="label">293</a>
-Vreede, <i>Vrijheid van Haringvaart en Visscherij</i>. <i>Nota, in den Jare 1610, door
-de Nederlandsche Gezanten aan de Engelsche Regering ingediend (Bijdragen voor
-Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde, Derde Deel.</i> Arnhem, 1842). Muller,
-<i>op. cit.</i>, 57; <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlvii. 111; <i>Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol.
-362. Vreede thinks it probable that the instructions were drawn up by Grotius;
-Muller believes that he was at all events consulted on the matter.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_294" href="#FNanchor_294" class="label">294</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlvii. 111. Vreede, <i>op. cit.</i> Muller, <i>op. cit. Brit. Mus.
-Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 362. “Answers for prohibiting of strangers fishing
-upon the English coastes without the King’s license, 5th May 1610”&mdash;in the writing
-of Sir Julius C&aelig;sar.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_295" href="#FNanchor_295" class="label">295</a>
-“Niet door sollicitati&euml;n van eenige courtisanen ofte hovelingen.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_296" href="#FNanchor_296" class="label">296</a>
-The Lords of the Council to Winwood, <i>Memorials</i>, iii. 166.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_297" href="#FNanchor_297" class="label">297</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlviii. 92.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_298" href="#FNanchor_298" class="label">298</a>
-Sir Walter Cope to the king, <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lxxi. 89. See note, p. 128.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_299" href="#FNanchor_299" class="label">299</a>
-<i>The Maintenance of Free Trade</i>, 42 (1622). He mentions the reasons given by
-the powerful companies for their action, but it was caused by their fears for their
-monopolies.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_300" href="#FNanchor_300" class="label">300</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lxxvii. 79. The Earl of Northampton to Sir Thomas Lake,
-4th July 1613. <i>Ibid.</i>, lxxiv. 23. The queen, who was fond of the banquet and the
-masque, was often in financial straits. Chamberlain wrote to Winwood in 1609
-that she had been melancholy about her jointure, and that &pound;3000 a-year had been
-added to it out of the customs, with a gift of &pound;20,000 to pay her debts. <i>Memorials</i>,
-iii. 117.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_301" href="#FNanchor_301" class="label">301</a>
-Gentleman, <i>Englands Way to Win Wealth, &amp;c.</i>; E. S., <i>Britaines Buss; The
-Trades Increase</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_302" href="#FNanchor_302" class="label">302</a>
-In 1609 Sir Nicholas Hales told the king that he had been informed “the
-Hollanders were petitioners to the Queen to grant them a term of years in the
-seas for the fishing of herring, cod, and ling.” <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xlv. 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_303" href="#FNanchor_303" class="label">303</a>
-Wotton to Sec. Winwood, Hague, 20th March 1614.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_304" href="#FNanchor_304" class="label">304</a>
-Archbishop Abbot and Lord Chancellor Ellesmere to Thomas Wilson, 24th
-August 1614. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lxxvii. 80. It is endorsed, “The letter to me,
-24th Aug. 1614, sending for me from Harford and for the transcribing an
-abstract of all things out of my papers which might concern his Majesty’s jurisdiction
-on the sea, which I did and delivered it to Mr Attorney-General, Sir
-Francis Bacon, by the commandment of the Lord Chancellor and the Archbishop
-of Canterbury.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_305" href="#FNanchor_305" class="label">305</a>
-Caron to States-General, 27 Aug./6 Sept. 1614. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17, 677, H.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_306" href="#FNanchor_306" class="label">306</a>
-Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 91, 92.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_307" href="#FNanchor_307" class="label">307</a>
-26th September 1614.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_308" href="#FNanchor_308" class="label">308</a>
-<i>Records of the Convention of the Royal Burghs of Scotland</i>, ii. 455. Anstruther
-Easter, one of the Fife villages, asked that the costs (&pound;400 Scots) should be
-reimbursed to them for obtaining the decree against Mason “for exacting of thame
-certane excyse hering and fishes at the fishing in Orknay and Zetland.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_309" href="#FNanchor_309" class="label">309</a>
-<i>State Papers and Correspondence of Thomas, Earl of Melros</i>, i. 130.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_310" href="#FNanchor_310" class="label">310</a>
-<i>Reg. Privy Council Scot.</i>, x. 231. <i>Rec. Convent. Roy. Burghs Scot.</i>, ii. 540.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_311" href="#FNanchor_311" class="label">311</a>
-The Lords of the Council to the king, 17th May 1614. <i>Melrose Papers</i>, i.
-130. “It wes fundin,” wrote the Lords, “by vniforme voices and consent, without
-ony kynd of contradictioun, that the assise dewytie aucht onlie to be payit for
-the hering brought freshe and greene to land, and that the hering whilkis ar
-maid, saltit, and barrellit vpoun the sea, and maid reddye for the transporte, hes
-nevir bene in vse to pay ony dewytie.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_312" href="#FNanchor_312" class="label">312</a>
-<i>Loc. cit.</i> The “patent” was the treaty of 1594. <a href="#Page_81">See p. 81</a>. It may be
-mentioned that Mason, in his petition to Charles I. (<a href="#Page_153">see p. 153</a> <i>note</i>), stated that in
-1611 he collected “some part” of the assize-herrings, but that upon the marriage
-of the Princess Elizabeth (February 1613) “the States ambassador made suit
-to the king for the remission of the said assize-herrings due by their nation, which
-was granted.” We have discovered no other evidence of this. Loose statements
-were often made on the subject by English writers and certain foreign authors, as
-Rapin (<i>Hist, d’Anglet.</i>, vii. 58), and Wagenaar (<i>Vaderl. Hist.</i>, ix. 318) following him,
-that the Dutch agreed to pay an annual sum for liberty to fish on the British
-coasts. The error was elaborated by others, as by Lediard in his great work
-(<i>Naval History of England</i>, i. 420), who says: “In the year 1608 (<i>sic</i>) King
-James published a proclamation prohibiting all foreign nations to fish on the
-coast of Great Britain. This prohibition, though general, was designed against
-the Dutch; and it occasioned the Treaty the year following whereby they engaged
-to pay an annual sum for leave to fish&mdash;an evident acknowledgment of the English
-Dominion of the Seas.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_313" href="#FNanchor_313" class="label">313</a>
-<i>Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs Scot.</i>, ii. 323, 350, 354, 374.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_314" href="#FNanchor_314" class="label">314</a>
-Winwood to Carleton, 14/24 September 1616. <i>Letters from and to Sir Dudley
-Carleton, Knt., during his Embassy in Holland; from January 1615/6 to December
-1620</i>, p. 52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_315" href="#FNanchor_315" class="label">315</a>
-Caron to the States-General, 25 Aug./4 Sept. 1616. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17,677,
-J, fol. 152. In an account of the oppressions of Lord Robert Stewart in the
-Orkneys and Shetlands in the sixteenth century, it is stated that that nobleman
-laid heavy tolls upon the Dutch fishermen and the Norwegian traders. In 1575
-the inhabitants complained that he compelled “the dogger boats and other fishers
-of this realm to pay to him great toll and taxis bye auld use and wont, to wit, ilk
-boat ane angel noble, ane hundreth fish, and twa bolls salt” (<i>Oppressions of the
-Sixteenth Century in the Islands of Orkney and Zetland</i>, xlviii. 4). It appears
-from a complaint of merchants of Bremen, in 1614, that it had been a custom
-“past memory of man” for each ship arriving at the Orkneys to pay six angels
-and one dollar for ground-leave and water-leave (<i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>, x.
-247); and the Dutch are said to have given to the agent of the Earl of Orkney a
-barrel of salt for his “oversight” of each ship, and to have offered the Earl for
-each ship “an angell and ane barrell of birskate (biscuit) bread,” while he demanded
-“no less than ane double angell or ane Rose noble at the least” (<i>MSS. Advoc.
-Lib.</i>, 31. 2. 16).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_316" href="#FNanchor_316" class="label">316</a>
-<a href="#Page_81">See p. 81</a>. The treaty did not contain any stipulation of the kind; and,
-moreover, the Scottish copy was then amissing.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_317" href="#FNanchor_317" class="label">317</a>
-Muller, <i>Mare Clausum</i>, 107. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17,677, J, fol. 153 <i>et
-seq. Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 410. <i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>, xi. 605, 608.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_318" href="#FNanchor_318" class="label">318</a>
-By the Scots Act, 1 James I., May 1424, regarding the “custome of horse,
-nolt, scheepe, had furth of the realm, and of herring,” it was ordained that the
-following should be paid: “of ilk thousand of fresche herring sauld, of the Sellar
-one penny, and of ilk last of herring, tane be Scottis-men barrelled, foure schillinges,
-of ilk last be strangeris taken, sexe schillinges.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_319" href="#FNanchor_319" class="label">319</a>
-Caron to the States-General, 25 Aug./4 Sept., 12/22 Sept., 19/29 Sept. 1616. <i>Brit. Mus. Add.
-MSS.</i>, 17,677, J, fol. 152-166. The statement of Lennox that the tax was a
-barrel of herrings or ten shillings agrees with the statements of the Dutch skippers,
-who, however, added twelve cod-fish (“Een tonne harinck van elcke bu&yuml;sse oft
-een Angelott daervooren met twelff cabillauwen”).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_320" href="#FNanchor_320" class="label">320</a>
-Carleton, <i>Letters</i>, 156, 157. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 110. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>,
-17,677, J, fol. 213<i>b</i>. <i>Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 410. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>
-Collection, Charles II., vol. 339.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_321" href="#FNanchor_321" class="label">321</a>
-Carleton, <i>Letters</i>, 156. Caron to the States-General, 3/13 Aug. 1617; Carleton
-to the States-General, 27 Aug./6 Sept. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17,677, J, fol. 210, 213.
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i> Collection, Charles II., vol. 339.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_322" href="#FNanchor_322" class="label">322</a>
-Carleton, <i>Letters</i>, 168, 169, 172, 176, 186. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 111.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_323" href="#FNanchor_323" class="label">323</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 398, 400. “The State of the Case
-between his Majesty and the States of the United Provinces, touching the remanding
-to his Majesty of a Delinquent,” 19th November 1617. In C&aelig;sar’s
-handwriting. It describes the circumstances of Brown’s capture. The counsel
-whose opinion was obtained were “W. Byrde (? Sir Wm. Bird, Dean of the
-Arches), H. Marten, and Hy. Styward.” “Brown, his Majesty’s subject of the
-Kingdom of Scotland, was by authority from that State sent in a pinnace of the
-King to the subjects of the United Provinces, who were then fishing for herrings
-upon the coasts of Scotland, to demand a certain acknowledgment claimed by his
-Majesty, as due unto him in the right of that crown;” that “while delivering his
-errand he was arrested and carried prisoner to Holland by the Dutch commander,
-who pretended he had warrant and commission from the Lords the States so to do;
-that his Majesty (having represented this indignity by his ambassador there to the
-Lords the States, the latter disavowed the act of the captain) requireth the
-offender there, to be remanded unto himself here to receive as to justice shall
-appertain. <i>The Question</i>&mdash;Whether this offender ought to be sent herein to his
-Majesty as is required. <i>Answer</i>&mdash;There are good authorities that if a subject of
-one State commit a heinous crime within the territory of another State (though
-against a private person), the subject so offending ought to be remitted to the
-place where the crime was committed, if it be required.” There were also opinions
-to the contrary, but “two very particular circumstances about this offence seem
-necessarily to enforce the remission of the Dutch captain to his Majesty (1) taken
-from the person of Brown, who was a public messenger sent by the State of
-Scotland on the affairs of the Prince, and ought to have been inviolable by the
-Law of Nations, and therefore a wrong and abuse done to him was <i>contra jus
-gentium</i>; (2) taken from the manner of the wrong done, which was <i>nomine publico</i>&mdash;viz.,
-by a pretended commission from the Lords the States.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_324" href="#FNanchor_324" class="label">324</a>
-Carleton, <i>Letters</i>, 219-263. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 113.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_325" href="#FNanchor_325" class="label">325</a>
-Crail, Anstruther, and Pittenweem, in Fife, and Musselburgh and Fisherrow,
-on the opposite side of the Firth of Forth.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_326" href="#FNanchor_326" class="label">326</a>
-12th March 1618. <i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>, xi. 329.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_327" href="#FNanchor_327" class="label">327</a>
-Record imperfect.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_328" href="#FNanchor_328" class="label">328</a>
-<i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>, xi. 328, 330.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_329" href="#FNanchor_329" class="label">329</a>
-Carleton, <i>Letters</i>, 259.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_330" href="#FNanchor_330" class="label">330</a>
-King James to Sir D. Carleton, 4th May 1618. “For the other part,
-which is y<sup>e</sup> ancient custom alleadged by O<sup>r</sup> Subjects that they (the Dutch)
-should not fish within Kenning of Land, of which they make shew to be
-ignorant, and would understand what is meant by it: you may say that
-O<sup>r</sup> Subjects do conceave that Custom to be that no strangers should fish either
-within the Creeks of O<sup>r</sup> Land or within a Kenning of the Land as Seamen do take
-a kenning, and insisting upon this interpretation of O<sup>r</sup> Subjects’ meaning, you
-shall observe curiously their reply, and what scope and liberty they do limit to
-themselves in their fishing, and whether they understand that they may fish where
-they list, near or far off, or that they may be confined to any reasonable bounds,
-for thereupon will depend a great part of that resolution which may be taken
-hereafter in a matter of so great moment as this is, and the answer you shall
-receive you may either advertise by writing, or bring with you, as you shall find
-O<sup>r</sup> service to require.” <i>State Papers, Dom.</i> Collections, Chas. II., vol. 339. In a
-later communication to the States-General Carleton described the land-kenning
-thus: “Ce qui est une limite bien entendue par gens de Marine, et appell&eacute;e en ces
-quartiers l&agrave; <i>The Kenning of the Land</i>, et icy <i>de kennis vant landt</i>.” Dr P. P. C. Hoek
-informs me that “het land verkennen” is even now the technical Dutch expression
-when a sailor comes near the coast without knowing at what point he approaches it.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_331" href="#FNanchor_331" class="label">331</a>
-Muller, <i>Mare Clausum</i>, 114.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_332" href="#FNanchor_332" class="label">332</a>
-“Ane True Relatione of the Greifs and Wrangs qlks the Inhabitants of the Isles
-of Orknay and Schetland and Others his Ma<sup>ties</sup> Subjects Fishars within ye Kingdome
-of Scotland sustains be the Hollanders and Hamburghgers and wha within
-these few Zears are associat to the Hollanders in the Fishing within his Ma<sup>ties</sup>
-Seas in Scotland.” <i>MSS. Advoc.</i>, 31. 2. 16. It may be noted that the custom
-referred to in the last paragraph was of Scandinavian origin.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_333" href="#FNanchor_333" class="label">333</a>
-The Council to the king, 4th April 1618. <i>Melrose Papers</i>, i. 306, 307.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_334" href="#FNanchor_334" class="label">334</a>
-5th June 1618, <i>Groot Placaet-Boeck, inhoudende de Placaten ende Ordonnantien
-van de H.M. Heeren Staten Generael der Vereenighde Nederlanden, &amp;c.</i>,
-i. 707. In Fraser’s <i>Memorials of the Earls of Haddington</i> (ii. 66) there is printed
-the copy which King James sent to Lord Binning. Sir Thomas Hamilton became
-Lord Binning in 1613, the Earl of Melrose in 1619, and the Earl of Haddington
-in 1627.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_335" href="#FNanchor_335" class="label">335</a>
-Answer by the States-General of the United Provinces to the Propositions of
-the Ambassador of James VI. relative to the Herring Fishery on the Coast of
-Scotland, 5th June 1618. Fraser, <i>Memorials</i>, ii. 65. <i>Resol., St.-Gen.</i>, 5th, 6th June.
-Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 115.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_336" href="#FNanchor_336" class="label">336</a>
-The king to Lord Binning, 11th June 1618. Fraser, <i>Memorials</i>, ii. 85. Nothing
-seemed to be known of this treaty. James complained that the States were not
-explicit. “This pointe” about the treaty, he wrote, “they leave obscure, seeing
-they neyther expresse which of our predecessouris it was, neyther whether he were
-our predecessour in Scotlande or Englande.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_337" href="#FNanchor_337" class="label">337</a>
-Carleton to Naunton, 19th August 1618.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_338" href="#FNanchor_338" class="label">338</a>
-The king to the Privy Council, 29th August 1618. <i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>,
-xi. 440.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_339" href="#FNanchor_339" class="label">339</a>
-P. 131.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_340" href="#FNanchor_340" class="label">340</a>
-Hakluyt’s <i>Voyages</i>, i. 246.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_341" href="#FNanchor_341" class="label">341</a>
-M’Pherson, <i>Annals of Commerce</i>, ii. 213.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_342" href="#FNanchor_342" class="label">342</a>
-Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 118. In a memorandum drawn up by Sir John Coke in
-1625, the Dutch are said to have first “intruded” in 1613. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-Chas. I., dxxii. 136. See also <i>Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 387 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_343" href="#FNanchor_343" class="label">343</a>
-Earl of Northampton to King James, August 2, 1612. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-lxx. 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_344" href="#FNanchor_344" class="label">344</a>
-Chamberlain to Carleton, 27th October 1613. <i>Ibid.</i>, lxxiv. 89. M’Pherson,
-<i>Annals</i>, ii. 273.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_345" href="#FNanchor_345" class="label">345</a>
-M’Pherson, <i>Annals</i>, ii. 274. Winwood, <i>Memorials</i>, iii. 480. M’Pherson speaks of
-fifteen Dutch, French, and Biscay whalers and four English “interlopers.” Muller
-(<i>Mare Clausum</i>, 120), quoting from a contemporary Dutch account, mentions three
-Biscayers, three Spaniards, two French, one Dunkirker, and two Hollanders. Both
-the Spanish and French Governments protested against the action of the English
-vessels. Digby wrote from Madrid (4th September 1613) that the English merchants
-at St Sebastian were threatened in person and goods on the return of the Spanish
-ships which had been prevented from fishing at “Greenland,” and they were forced
-to remain indoors.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_346" href="#FNanchor_346" class="label">346</a>
-A Trew Declaracion of the Discoverie of the mayne Landes, Islandes, Seas,
-Ports, Havens, and Creekes, lyenge in the North-West, North, and North-East
-partes of the World, <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lxxvi. 51. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 121, 123.
-Carleton, <i>Letters</i>, 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_347" href="#FNanchor_347" class="label">347</a>
-<i>Groot Placaet-Boeck</i>, i. 670. Aitzema, <i>Saken van Staet en Oorlogh</i>, ii. 336.
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xcix. 36.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_348" href="#FNanchor_348" class="label">348</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, xcix. 36-41. M’Pherson, <i>Annals</i>, ii. 287. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 131.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_349" href="#FNanchor_349" class="label">349</a>
-Carleton, <i>Letters</i>, 312.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_350" href="#FNanchor_350" class="label">350</a>
-They were Johan van Goch, Ewout van der Dussen for Gelderland and
-Holland, and Joachim Liens for Zealand. Holland had at first intended to send
-Grotius. <i>Ibid.</i>, 306.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_351" href="#FNanchor_351" class="label">351</a>
-Among the C&aelig;sar papers in the British Museum (<i>Lansd. MSS.</i>, 142, fol. 383)
-there is one dated 23rd December 1618, containing extracts “noted out of a book
-called <i>Mare Liberum sive de Jure quod Batavia, &amp;c.</i>, Lugd. Bat., 1609,” together
-with notes from Welwood’s <i>De Dominio Maris</i>, answering the assertions in that
-book. It was doubtless a memorandum to be used in the conferences with the
-Dutch ambassadors; and on the back of it are scrawled jottings difficult to
-decipher, headed, “The Kinges Speeche touching the Dutchemen’s fishing upon
-the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland,” to the following effect: “1. The treaty
-never so opportune as now when they fearest it most and their State least settled;
-in ill terms with France and Spain. 2. In the East Indies we can match them,
-and so in the north voyage (Greenland ?). The French King taketh part with
-Barnevelt. The King of Spain prepareth against Venice. What the King of
-Denmark, the Princes of the Union, the ... and the rest of the Protestants
-think of any falling out with the Low Countries.” It may be noted that this
-memorandum contains no reference to Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i>, which the author
-stated was submitted to the king this year (<a href="#Page_366">see p. 366</a>).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_352" href="#FNanchor_352" class="label">352</a>
-The king to the Council, 7th November 1618. <i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>, xi. 631.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_353" href="#FNanchor_353" class="label">353</a>
-<i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>, xi. 462.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_354" href="#FNanchor_354" class="label">354</a>
-Lord Binning to the king, 27th November 1618. <i>Melrose Papers</i>, ii. 631.
-The statement was to the same effect as that previously referred to. A Mr
-Bruce of Shetland stated that while of old the Hollanders used to carry on the
-greater part of their fishery forty miles and more from the land, yet they came
-usually within fourteen miles before shooting their nets; that in the time of the
-late Earl of Orkney they came still nearer, within six or seven miles; while now
-they came so close that their nets were sometimes torn on the rocks. Sir Gideon
-Murray to Lord Binning, 26th November 1618. <i>MSS. Advoc.</i>, 31. 2. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_355" href="#FNanchor_355" class="label">355</a>
-Earl of Dunfermline to Lord Binning, 27th November 1618. <i>MSS. Ibid.</i> “Concerning
-the Hollanders fishing in our seas,” he said, “for all the search and tryall
-I have made, whilk has been my uttermost, I can wryte or send to you little more
-nor before, in effect nothing.” The Constable of Dundee searched all his records,
-the records of the Admiralty were explored, and all those in Edinburgh Castle and
-in the city archives, as well as many in the keeping of private persons, and every
-one likely to know anything about the matter was communicated with; but
-“nothing to the purpose” was found, “nor no recorde of any wryte made for the
-Hollanders’ use in 1594 or any other time.” The “wryte” of 1594, it is to be
-remembered, was a long treaty made by James himself. Copies were ultimately
-discovered of the treaties of 1531 and 1541, but nothing to the point. Copies of
-the treaty and of other documents referring to it were obtained, apparently from
-Holland, in 1619, and were ordered to be preserved in his Majesty’s Register
-in Edinburgh Castle (<i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>, xii. 22); but in 1630 and 1631,
-when they were again wanted, they could not be found. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-Chas. I., ccvi. 46.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_356" href="#FNanchor_356" class="label">356</a>
-This referred to the licenses to certain French boats to fish on the Sowe in
-the Channel. <a href="#Page_65">See p. 65</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_357" href="#FNanchor_357" class="label">357</a>
-“Zijne ma<sup>t</sup> was een coninck van de grootste insulen van de werelt ende
-seer wel wiste het rechte dat hij hadde opte custen van sijne drij coninckrijcken.”
-Commissioners to States-General, (24 Dec. 1618)/(3 Jan. 1619). <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17,677,
-J, fol. 372.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_358" href="#FNanchor_358" class="label">358</a>
-Note of Treatie with the Commissioners of the Estates annent the Fishing.
-Dec. 1618. <i>MSS. Advoc.</i>, 31. 2. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_359" href="#FNanchor_359" class="label">359</a>
-Naunton to Carleton, 21st December 1618.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_360" href="#FNanchor_360" class="label">360</a>
-In apprehending Brown, p. 171. Grotius was then in prison, and known to be
-the author of <i>Mare Liberum</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_361" href="#FNanchor_361" class="label">361</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xc. 65.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_362" href="#FNanchor_362" class="label">362</a>
-The Dutch Commissioners to the States-General, (29 Nov.,)/(9 Dec.,) 17/27 Dec. 1618;
-(24 Dec. 1618,)/(3 Jan. 1619), 3/13 Jan., (23 Jan.)/(2 Feb.) 1619. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17,677, J, fol. 364, 367,
-370, 374, 380. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 140, 147, 148, 153. Aitzema, <i>Saken van Staet</i>,
-ii. 402. Carleton, <i>Letters</i>, 326. <i>MSS. Advoc.</i>, 31. 2. 16. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>
-Collection, Chas. II., vol. 339, p. 351, 361, 369, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_363" href="#FNanchor_363" class="label">363</a>
-The Dutch Commissioners to the States-General, (30 Jan.)/(9 Feb.) 1619. <i>Ibid.</i>, 387.
-Naunton to Carleton, 21st January 1619. Carleton, <i>Letters</i>. Justice, <i>A General
-Treatise of the Dominion and Laws of the Sea</i>, 179. The States were desired “to
-cause proclamation to be made, prohibiting any of their subjects to fish within
-fourteen miles of his Majesty’s coasts this year, or in any time hereafter, until
-order be taken by commissioners to be authorised on both sides, for a final
-settling of the main business.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_364" href="#FNanchor_364" class="label">364</a>
-<a href="#Page_223">P. 223</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_365" href="#FNanchor_365" class="label">365</a>
-Carleton to the king, 6th February 1619.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_366" href="#FNanchor_366" class="label">366</a>
-Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 156. “So verre van ’t Lant souden blijven als men met
-oogen konde afsien.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_367" href="#FNanchor_367" class="label">367</a>
-2nd June 1619. Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, V. ii. 333.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_368" href="#FNanchor_368" class="label">368</a>
-The English, who were the first to carry on the whale-fishing at Spitzbergen,
-had taken possession of the best fishing-places: whales then abounded in the bays
-close to the shore, where the “cookeries” were erected.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_369" href="#FNanchor_369" class="label">369</a>
-Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 160. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cv. 9. The Muscovy Company, now
-supported by the East India Company, fitted out nine ships and two pinnaces
-for the Spitzbergen fishery in 1619, but the voyage was unfortunate. After
-carrying on the fishing for a few years longer the company abandoned it, though
-it was carried on on a small scale by other English vessels, mostly from Hull.
-The Dutch, on the other hand, prosecuted the fishing with great vigour and
-success under the protection of men-of-war, and they rapidly made it one of the
-most profitable industries of the Low Countries. A full account is given by
-Zorgdrager, an old whaling captain, who wrote in the early part of the eighteenth
-century (<i>Bloeijende opkomst der aloude en hedendaagsche Groenlandsche Visscherij</i>).
-The Dutch factory on Amsterdam island grew to a village called Smeerenburg or
-Oil-town, which was fortified in 1636. In those early years the whales were taken
-by the ships’ boats, which lay moored in the bays; later, as the whales got scarce,
-they were flensed at sea and the blubber carried home. This was the case before
-F. Martens visited the island in 1671.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_370" href="#FNanchor_370" class="label">370</a>
-The king to the Privy Council of Scotland, 16th June 1619. <i>Reg. Privy
-Counc. Scot.</i>, xi. 607.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_371" href="#FNanchor_371" class="label">371</a>
-Since the records of the Scottish Council are silent as to the steps taken to
-collect the assize-herrings in 1616 and 1617 and the capture of John Brown in the
-latter year, while the Dutch and English records are equally mute as to the
-proceedings in 1618 and 1619, it at first appeared that a mistake might have been
-made in the dates of the former, a view that seemed to be supported by the
-remark in the first letter of the king to the Council, “to the intent that the
-Estaitis may not alledge that no suche dewteis had bene demandit”&mdash;a curious
-statement in face of the fact that Brown had been carried to Holland the year
-before. But the late Professor Masson, who was the editor of the <i>Register of the
-Privy Council</i>, obligingly informed me that the documents are the original <i>Acta</i>
-and not copies; and among the English State Papers is a letter dated from
-Holyrood House, on 10th July 1619, in which it is stated that Captain Murray
-had been sent to claim the assize-herrings from the “Flemings” fishing in the
-northern seas, and that he was well equipped to secure his safety if his demands
-were refused (Raith to Abercromby, <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cix. 127). The phrase
-in the king’s letter may be explained by the fact that the duty in 1616 and 1617
-was demanded by the Duke of Lennox, to whom the assize-herrings had been
-granted.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_372" href="#FNanchor_372" class="label">372</a>
-<i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>, xi. 605, 608.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_373" href="#FNanchor_373" class="label">373</a>
-See <a href="#APPENDIX_G">Appendix G</a>. Fenton was one of those who were on intimate terms with
-Ben Jonson during the poet’s visit to Scotland. <i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>, xi.
-p. clxvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_374" href="#FNanchor_374" class="label">374</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i>, 606.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_375" href="#FNanchor_375" class="label">375</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i>, 593, 603.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_376" href="#FNanchor_376" class="label">376</a>
-Footnote, p. 195.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_377" href="#FNanchor_377" class="label">377</a>
-Carleton, <i>Letters</i>, 437, 447, 448, 451. Bosgoed, <i>Bib. Pisc.</i>, 352. The sum
-voted in 1620 was 22,000 gulden; in the following years it varied between 23,000
-and 36,000 gulden.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_378" href="#FNanchor_378" class="label">378</a>
-Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 172, 173. Aitzema, <i>Saken van Staet</i>, i. 13, 17.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_379" href="#FNanchor_379" class="label">379</a>
-Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 174, 178.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_380" href="#FNanchor_380" class="label">380</a>
-“Ghy sijt sangsues, bloetsuygers van mijn rijck, ghy treckt het bloet van
-mijne Ondersaeten ende souckt mij te ruineren.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_381" href="#FNanchor_381" class="label">381</a>
-Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 191, 194, 203. Aitzema, i. 191, 193. Journal van de Ambassade
-van den Heere van Sommelsdyck naer Engelant, 1621-1623, <i>Brit. Mus. Add.
-MSS.</i>, 22,866.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_382" href="#FNanchor_382" class="label">382</a>
-2/12 May 1620. Verboth van Haringh binnen de Klippen van Yerlandt, Hitlandt,
-oft Noorwegen te vangen. <i>Groot Placaet-Boeck</i>, i. 752.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_383" href="#FNanchor_383" class="label">383</a>
-2/12 June 1623, <i>Groot Placaet-Boeck</i>, i. 708. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 206.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_384" href="#FNanchor_384" class="label">384</a>
-<i>Rec. Convent. Roy. Burghs</i>, iii. 142. <i>Reg. Privy Counc. Scot.</i>, xiii. 308, 317.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_385" href="#FNanchor_385" class="label">385</a>
-George Lord Carew to the Secretary of State, Calvert, 8th March 1623.
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cxxxix. 66. The Lord Mayor to Lords Grandison, Carew,
-and Chichester, 27th March, 3rd April 1623. <i>Ibid.</i>, cxl. 47, cxlii. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_386" href="#FNanchor_386" class="label">386</a>
-A Project for the Encouragement of Fishing by passing an Act of Parliament
-for Building fishing-vessels, to be protected by a Fleet Royall of 20 ships, the
-expense to be defrayed by a Tribute of every Tenth Fish. <i>Ibid.</i>, clvii. 46.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_387" href="#FNanchor_387" class="label">387</a>
-A Discourse of the Invention of Ships. <i>Collected Works</i>, viii. 326.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_388" href="#FNanchor_388" class="label">388</a>
-Naval Tracts, in Churchill’s <i>Collection of Voyages</i>, iii. 220, 224.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_389" href="#FNanchor_389" class="label">389</a>
-Cecil to Parry, 10th June 1603. <i>Foreign Papers, France</i>, vol. 129. It is
-endorsed “Souverainty of ye Seas, 1603. Monsr. de Vicque beares ye armes of
-france in Dover road.” See also Sully, <i>Memoires des Sages et royales Oeconomics
-d’Estat</i>, ii. 173, and Kermaingant, <i>Le Droit des Gens Maritimes</i>, 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_390" href="#FNanchor_390" class="label">390</a>
-Monson’s Naval Tracts, <i>ibid.</i>, 222. The Spaniards to whom Monson refers
-were no doubt the troops which Don Louis Fajardo had attempted to carry to
-Flanders when he was attacked by the Dutch and took refuge in Dover. Monson,
-it may be said, was in receipt of a secret pension of &pound;350 per annum from Spain.
-Gardiner, <i>Hist.</i>, i. 215.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_391" href="#FNanchor_391" class="label">391</a>
-Loccenius, <i>De Jure Maritimo et Navali</i>, 48.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_392" href="#FNanchor_392" class="label">392</a>
-Thus in the Earl of Warwick’s voyage, in 1627, four vessels “stood with their
-forefoot and very earnestly” tried to weather the king’s ships off Falmouth, among
-them being a French man-of-war. The English then shot at the latter, and “soo
-brought him by ye lee” (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lxxix. 17). In 1637 Captain Straddling
-explained how he compelled Dutch vessels to take in their flags, lower their top-sails,
-and “lie by the lee” (<i>Ibid.</i>, ccclxi. 41). In the historic encounters with
-the Dutch in 1652 the same rule was shown. When Captain Young met the
-Dutchmen on 12th May (<a href="#Page_402">see p. 402</a>), their admiral came under his lee and took
-down his flag, but their vice-admiral, “contrary to navigation with us in the
-narrow seas, came to the windward of us” (<i>French Occurrences, Brit. Mus.</i>, E,
-665, 6). So also when Blake met Tromp, he “fired two shots thwart Tromp’s
-forefoot for him to strike his flag and bear down to leeward, and he taking no
-notice of it, the general ordered the third shot at Tromp’s flag, which went through
-his main top-sails” (<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 11,684, fol. 5<i>b</i>).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_393" href="#FNanchor_393" class="label">393</a>
-The Lords of the Admiralty to Plumleigh. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clvii. fol. 121.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_394" href="#FNanchor_394" class="label">394</a>
-Meadows, <i>Observations concerning the Dominion and Sovereignty of the Seas</i>, 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_395" href="#FNanchor_395" class="label">395</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Chas. I. ccxxix. 79.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_396" href="#FNanchor_396" class="label">396</a>
-17th October 1632. <i>The Earl of Stirling’s Register of Royal Letters</i>, ii. 627.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_397" href="#FNanchor_397" class="label">397</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cxcix. 51.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_398" href="#FNanchor_398" class="label">398</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cc. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_399" href="#FNanchor_399" class="label">399</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, ccviii. 27.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_400" href="#FNanchor_400" class="label">400</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, dxxiii. 74, dxxix. 73. The proposal to utilise the tenth
-herring for maintaining a navy had been long before put forward by Dr Dee.
-<a href="#Page_101">See p. 101</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_401" href="#FNanchor_401" class="label">401</a>
-The other half were exported as red-herrings.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_402" href="#FNanchor_402" class="label">402</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, 1629, clii. 57.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_403" href="#FNanchor_403" class="label">403</a>
-Mason, who was intimately associated with the fishery scheme, proposed that
-the island should be purchased by a company of naturalised Scotsmen, and fishing
-stations established; and later he recommended the purchase of the island by the
-king, leaving complete freedom of fishery to all Scotsmen. Sir William Monson
-urged that a “government” should be established in the island as well as in
-Orkney and Shetland, and also a principal town; and that the children of the
-islanders should be taught English, and “correspondence” between the inhabitants
-and the Highlanders hindered, “considering the danger of their too great
-friendship.” <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, 1629, clii. 66, 67, 68. The subject of the Earl
-of Seaforth’s lease and the fishings is dealt with by Mackenzie, <i>History of the Outer
-Hebrides</i>, 290 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_404" href="#FNanchor_404" class="label">404</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clii. 63, 71; clxxx. 97. Dymes’ report is printed in full
-by Mackenzie (<i>op. cit.</i>, 591). The master of one of the Dutch busses, who transported
-Dymes from Lewis to the mainland, told him that the herrings were in
-such great abundance that they were sometimes constrained to cast them into
-the sea again, they having more in half their nets than they were able to save,
-“and he was of opinion that if there had bene a thousand Busses more there was
-fish enough for them all.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_405" href="#FNanchor_405" class="label">405</a>
-<i>Rec. Convent. Roy. Burghs Scot.</i>, iii. 257, 259, 291. The arguments against the
-Dutch were elaborated in a long document, which concluded thus: “Lastly, theis
-Netherlanders greatnes, strength, wealth, arts, and every happines doe originally
-proceede from their fishing in his Majesty’s seas of England, Scotland, and Ireland.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_406" href="#FNanchor_406" class="label">406</a>
-P. 77.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_407" href="#FNanchor_407" class="label">407</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clii. 63; clxv. 201; clxxx. 100. <i>Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs</i>,
-iii. 300 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_408" href="#FNanchor_408" class="label">408</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 220<i>b</i>. Captain John Mason, who was afterwards appointed
-“Admiral” of the busses belonging to the society, was apparently originally intended
-to lay the matter before the Council. The draft, in Coke’s handwriting,
-is entitled, “Instructions for Captain John Mason employed by his Majesty to
-treat with the Lordes of the Privie Council of Scotland about the erection of a
-general fishing,” and is among the <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clxxx. 101.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_409" href="#FNanchor_409" class="label">409</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 221. This ambitious scheme included the building of 200
-busses of from 30 to 50 tons each, “for a considerable beginning,” besides the employment
-of the fishing vessels already engaged on the coast which were of suitable
-size. These were computed to number about 100 in Scotland and 200 in
-England (employed at Newfoundland and the north seas), while at least 300
-“coasters” from Berwick to the Thames might also be made available; and it
-was suggested that more might be built by the company “in every town,” or
-bought from the Dutch. It was estimated that the cost of building and equipping
-the 200 busses, including casks, salt, wages, &amp;c., would be &pound;222,586, and that the
-total return the first year would amount to &pound;388,000, made up as follows:
-(1) summer herring fishing, 20,000 lasts at &pound;10, equal to &pound;200,000; (2) winter
-herring fishing, 12,000 lasts at &pound;12, equal to &pound;144,000; (3) cod and ling fishing
-in spring, 1,200,000 fish at &pound;30 a thousand, and 600 tuns of oil at &pound;13, 6s. 8d.,
-equal to &pound;44,000. Several calculations were made about this time as to the cost
-of equipping herring-busses, the profits to be derived from their use, and the loss
-to the realm by the transport of cured fish by the Dutch; Monson put the latter
-loss at &pound;621,750 per annum. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clii. 70, clxxx. 99, ccvi. 52;
-<i>MSS. Advoc. Lib.</i>, 31. 2. 16; <i>Brit. Mus. Sloane MSS.</i>, 26. The latter is a “Discourse
-on the Hollanders’ Trade of Fishing,” by Sir Robert Mansel, of the usual type.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_410" href="#FNanchor_410" class="label">410</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 225. The committee consisted of fifteen peers, several
-bishops, and a large number of commoners. Mason, who had accompanied Sir
-William Alexander to Scotland, reported to Coke that the Council gathered in
-the Lord Chancellor’s chamber, “he lying sick of the gout,” to hear the king’s
-letter read, and that Mr John Hay “violently opposed” the scheme and attacked
-the Earl of Seaforth for bringing in the Hollanders. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clxxii. 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_411" href="#FNanchor_411" class="label">411</a>
-At this time the herring-fishing on the west coast of Scotland, which began
-on 1st July and continued till Christmas, employed from 800 to 1500 fishing-boats
-of from 5 to 6 tons each, besides about 200 “cooper” boats of about
-12 tons, which carried casks and salt and brought back cured herrings to the
-burghs: about 6000 “seamen” were employed in this industry. The herring-fishing
-on the east coast was for the most part carried on at Dunbar&mdash;as many
-as 20,000 people sometimes congregating there&mdash;and in the deep water where the
-Dutch fished in July, August, and September. There was also an important
-winter fishing for herrings in the Firth of Forth in November, and at the North
-Isles from 1st October till Christmas. The “keeling” or cod-fishing at the mouth
-of the Clyde in February, March, and April employed about 120 of the largest
-boats; on the east coast this method of fishing was carried on from 1st April till
-24th June.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_412" href="#FNanchor_412" class="label">412</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 226. <i>Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs</i>, iii. 322, 323. The
-Earl of Seaforth, writing to the Earl of Carlisle on August 17th, said that the
-Lord Chancellor and the Lord Treasurer had left no argument unuttered which
-might induce their countrymen, and especially the burghs, to concur in the king’s
-desire about the fishing. The burghs would not admit any association either with
-countrymen or strangers; “they like not,” he said, “that noblemen or gentry
-should understand matters of industry,” and they would do what they could to
-move the king to delay. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clxxii. 78. In another account of
-the proceedings of the Convention, it is said the burghs claimed as “absolutely
-theirs” the fishing within bays and lochs, and at sea for a distance of “two
-kennings” from the shore, and stated that they would admit no partners, either
-natives or strangers; that buss-fishing was distinguished by them to be “without
-two kennings from the land”; and they would not “on any condition” allow
-any busses to participate in the “land fishing” within two kennings, or to land at
-all, but only to “make” their fish (cure them) on shipboard, as the “Flemings”
-did. It is added that those who would have hazarded some means in the project
-were “absolutely discouraged” by the attitude of the burghs. <i>Ibid.</i>, ccvi. 45.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_413" href="#FNanchor_413" class="label">413</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, iv. 369. <i>Statutes of the Realm</i>, 1 Jac. I., c. 2. <i>Reg. Privy
-Counc. Scot.</i>, vi. <i>Nat. MSS. of Scot.</i>, iii. No. 85. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, 1604, x.
-No. 1. It is unfortunate that the reasonable delimitation of the territorial fishing
-waters proposed in the treaty was not carried out, for there can be little doubt
-that had it been it would have become recognised by other nations, and would
-have continued to the present day.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_414" href="#FNanchor_414" class="label">414</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 228, 230. <i>The Earl of Stirling’s Register of Royal Letters</i>,
-ii. 478.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_415" href="#FNanchor_415" class="label">415</a>
-The commissioners were the Earl of Morton (Lord High Treasurer), the Earl
-of Monteith (President of the Privy Council), the Marquis of Hamilton, the Earls
-of Roxburgh and Carrick, Sir William Alexander, Mr John Hay, and Mr George
-Fletcher.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_416" href="#FNanchor_416" class="label">416</a>
-Among other things, the commissioners were instructed to represent to the
-king the prejudice which Scotland sustained by the use of the name “Great
-Britain” in the royal patents, writs, and records relating to Scotland, for, they
-reminded him, “there was no union as yet with England”; and Charles was to be
-requested to renew his seals under the terms <i>Carolus Dei gratia Scoti&aelig;, Angli&aelig;,
-Franci&aelig;, et Hiberni&aelig; Rex</i>. It must be remembered that at this time the Scottish
-aristocracy were smarting under the defeat which the king had recently inflicted on
-them in connection with the Act of Revocation, by which most of the church,
-property in the hands of laymen was re-annexed to the crown.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_417" href="#FNanchor_417" class="label">417</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 232.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_418" href="#FNanchor_418" class="label">418</a>
-<i>Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs</i>, iii. 325. The foreigners from Hamburg and Bremen
-were chiefly engaged in trade and barter.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_419" href="#FNanchor_419" class="label">419</a>
-<i>Fœdera</i>, xix. 211. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clxxxvii. 46. The commission was
-dated 8th December 1630, and the other commissioners were the Earls of
-Salisbury, Dorset, and Carlisle, Viscounts Wimbledon and Wentworth, Sir John
-Coke, Sir Francis Cottingham, and Sir William Alexander, who was Secretary for
-Scotland.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_420" href="#FNanchor_420" class="label">420</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 235. <i>Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs</i>, iv. 526. <i>State Papers,
-Dom.</i>, clxxxviii. 72. In the record of the burghs the distance from the shore on
-the east coast, at the Orkneys and Shetlands, and on the north coast, is given as
-forty miles; but as the original records of the Convention between 1631 and 1649
-were lost, and that printed is from an abstract prepared in 1700, it appears that an
-error was made in the transcribing.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_421" href="#FNanchor_421" class="label">421</a>
-The Duke of Lennox had some time before this proposed the formation of a
-fishery society for the purpose.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_422" href="#FNanchor_422" class="label">422</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 236. The Act referred to was passed in 1607 by the
-Scottish Parliament, but it was to be inoperative until a corresponding Act was
-passed by the Parliament of England, which was not done.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_423" href="#FNanchor_423" class="label">423</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cxci. 7. Memorandum, dated 11th May 1631, by Secretary
-Coke, on “Matters in difference betwixt the English and Scottish Commissioners
-concerning the fishing.” From this paper it appears that the Scottish commissioners
-made the most of points relating to naturalisation; they objected to the
-natives being employed as fishermen by the association, and they would say nothing
-about the proportion of busses that might be set forth in Scotland.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_424" href="#FNanchor_424" class="label">424</a>
-<i>Stirling Letters</i>, ii. 538, 544. <i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 236. Charles, it will be
-observed, mentions 15 miles. The miles stated in the Scottish documents were
-Scots miles of 5929&middot;5 imperial feet, 10 Scots miles being equal to nearly 11&frac14;
-imperial miles; the extent of the reserved waters was therefore very nearly 15&frac34;
-imperial miles (15&middot;72).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_425" href="#FNanchor_425" class="label">425</a>
-<i>Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs</i>, iv. 534.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_426" href="#FNanchor_426" class="label">426</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 238.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_427" href="#FNanchor_427" class="label">427</a>
-<i>Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs</i>, iv. 534, 535.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_428" href="#FNanchor_428" class="label">428</a>
-“Whereat we ourselff for the most part were present,”&mdash;king to Council,
-15th July 1632. <i>Stirling Letters</i>, ii. 604.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_429" href="#FNanchor_429" class="label">429</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccvi. 46.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_430" href="#FNanchor_430" class="label">430</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccvi. 50.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_431" href="#FNanchor_431" class="label">431</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cciii. 53, 54, 19th November 1631. The draft appears to
-have been prepared and altered entirely by the king himself.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_432" href="#FNanchor_432" class="label">432</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxxix. 78, 83, 87, 89.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_433" href="#FNanchor_433" class="label">433</a>
-The king to the Council, 15th July 1632. <i>Stirling Letters</i>, ii. 605, 606, 617.
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 245.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_434" href="#FNanchor_434" class="label">434</a>
-The Act specified by the king was passed in 1491, but he seems rather to have
-been referring to the Act 6 James III., c. 48. “That Lordes, Barrones and Burrowes
-gar make Schippes, Busches, and greate Pinck-boates with Nettes,” which was
-passed in 1471, “for the common good of the realm and the great increase of
-riches,” to be brought from other countries in exchange for fish exported. The Act
-of James IV., “Anent the makeing of Schippes and Busches on the quhilk all Idle
-Men suld Laboure,” was an early attempt to carry out the policy advocated by
-English writers in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. It enacted
-that ships and busses, not under twenty tons burden, should be built in all the
-burghs and towns of Scotland, provided with mariners and nets: and power was
-given to compel “idle men” to man them.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_435" href="#FNanchor_435" class="label">435</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccvi. 47. “What is required from the Lords and Gentry
-of Scotland towards the fishing.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_436" href="#FNanchor_436" class="label">436</a>
-<i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 236.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_437" href="#FNanchor_437" class="label">437</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxxi. 1 ; <i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, v. 239.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_438" href="#FNanchor_438" class="label">438</a>
-The councillors nominated by Charles were, for England and Ireland, Lord
-Weston, the High Treasurer (created Earl of Portland in February of the
-following year), the Earl of Arundel, the Earl of Pembroke, Viscount Savage,
-Lord Cottingham, and Secretary Coke; for Scotland, the Earl of Morton, the
-High Treasurer, the Earl of Stratherne and Monteith, President of the Privy
-Council, the Earl of Roxburgh, Viscount Stirling, Mr John Hay, and Mr George
-Fletcher.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_439" href="#FNanchor_439" class="label">439</a>
-Martin, who visited the Hebrides about the year 1695, saw the foundation of a
-house, which, the natives told him, had been built by the Society as a store for salt
-and casks, on Hermetra, a small island in the Sound of Harris; and he saw a
-similar relic on a small island called Vacksay, in Loch Maddy. He was informed
-by the natives that “in the memory of some yet alive,” as many as 400 sail had
-been loaded with herrings in Loch Maddy in one season: at the time of his visit
-the fishing had been abandoned, though herrings were plentiful. <i>A Description of
-the Westerne Islands of Scotland</i>, pp. 51, 54, 55.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_440" href="#FNanchor_440" class="label">440</a>
-Simon Smith, who was latterly Secretary to Pembroke’s association, afterwards
-stated that the Society had attained to the proper cure of herrings, and was likely
-to have been ultimately successful. This opinion was not shared by Dutch writers.
-The author of <i>The True Interest and Political Maxims of the Republic of Holland</i>,
-published under the name of De Witt, says the herrings the Society sent to Dantzic
-in 1637 and 1638, though caught at the same time and place as the Hollanders’
-herrings, were “esteemed naught to the very last barrel”; and a contemporary
-author, Meynert Semeyns, a skipper of Enkhuisen, in a work written in 1639 (<i>Een
-corte beschryvinge over de Haring-visscherye in Hollandt</i>), says the same thing.
-“The Dutch,” he boasted, “catch more herrings and prepare them better than
-any other nation ever will; and the Lord has, by means of the herring, made
-Holland an exchange and staple-market for the whole of Europe.” No other
-nation, he added, ever tried the industry but to their loss, and the example adduced
-was the Society’s herrings sent to Dantzic.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_441" href="#FNanchor_441" class="label">441</a>
-In August and September 1633, before the Council had met (busses having
-been purchased on the strength of subscriptions promised), two busses were taken
-by Dutch men-of-war and one by a Dunkirker. The former captures were doubtless
-made because the Dutch fishermen were acting contrary to the fishery laws of
-the United Provinces in taking service with aliens, and they were promptly disavowed
-by the States-General and the busses restored. The Dunkirkers made
-prize of some of the busses (there were ten or twelve of them) almost every year:
-one, the <i>Salisbury</i>, was taken twice, and in 1639 four were captured. Spain was
-then at war with the United Provinces, and the Dutch buss was a natural prey of
-the Dunkirk privateer.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_442" href="#FNanchor_442" class="label">442</a>
-P. 309.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_443" href="#FNanchor_443" class="label">443</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccccxxix. 48. Order of the King in Council, 29th September
-1639. “Taking into consideration of what great importance it is and may be to the
-good of this kingdom to plant, increase and cherish the fishery in the North seas,
-and understanding that the Dutch, who reap an annual great benefit thereby, have
-and do not only privately underhand, but too manifestly also oppose the endeavours
-of his Majesty’s good subjects, who have of late years employed their industry that
-way,” it was ordered that the Lord Treasurer, the Earl Marshal, the Lord Admiral,
-the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Dorset, and one of the Secretaries of State,
-calling to their aid Sir Henry Marten (Judge of the Court of Admiralty), should
-forthwith “consult and advise what fitting course may be taken to advance and
-settle the said fishery, and particularly to consider whether it may not be fit to
-debar the exportation of lampreys, without which the Dutch cannot well, as is
-informed, continue their fishing for cod and ling, until his Majesty’s subjects be
-quietly settled in the herring fishing.” The Dutch obtained their lampreys for
-bait almost exclusively from England, and chiefly from the Thames. The above
-account of the proceedings of the Fishery Society is summarised (for the most
-part) from numerous State Papers. It was stated by Simon Smith, who was
-latterly Secretary to Pembroke’s association, that &pound;10,000 was lost through the
-Dunkirkers.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_444" href="#FNanchor_444" class="label">444</a>
-Oppenheim, <i>A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy</i>, i. 215,
-217, 221.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_445" href="#FNanchor_445" class="label">445</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>; Hannay, <i>A Short History of the Royal Navy</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_446" href="#FNanchor_446" class="label">446</a>
-Oppenheim, <i>op. cit.</i>, 265.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_447" href="#FNanchor_447" class="label">447</a>
-Oppenheim, <i>op. cit.</i>, 275.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_448" href="#FNanchor_448" class="label">448</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lvi. 66; lxi. 81; lxx. 8, 9; liv. 56; xc. 70, 119; clxii.
-82, 45.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_449" href="#FNanchor_449" class="label">449</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lix. 79; xci. 30, 45; xcii. 62; xciii. 82; xcv. 39;
-clxiii. 65; clxxx. 94. In 1630 a Yarmouth fisherman, owner of one of the
-Iceland smacks under convoy, petitioned the Council for relief from the payment
-of the twenty shillings, on the grounds that before the Order was made
-he had paid &pound;5 for the assurance of his boat during that season to the assurance
-office in London, and that three boats belonging to him had been previously
-taken by Dunkirkers.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_450" href="#FNanchor_450" class="label">450</a>
-Oppenheim, <i>op. cit.</i>, 276.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_451" href="#FNanchor_451" class="label">451</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxviii. 31, 88 ; cclxiv. fol. 20<i>a</i>; ccxciii. 107; ccxciv. 46.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_452" href="#FNanchor_452" class="label">452</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxciii. 107; ccxciv. 46; ccxcv. 31, 69, 71; cclxiv.
-fol. 164. Many of the crew of the man-of-war were English, Scottish, or
-Irish. It was probably owing in part to the considerable numbers of British
-subjects serving on the Dutch men-of-war that they were always favoured by
-the country people.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_453" href="#FNanchor_453" class="label">453</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, ccxcvi. 5, 14, 30. Joachimi to States-General, (26 Aug.)/(4 Sept.), <i>Brit. Mus. Add.
-MSS.</i>, 17,677, O, fol. 380.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_454" href="#FNanchor_454" class="label">454</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 30,221, fol. 43<i>b</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_455" href="#FNanchor_455" class="label">455</a>
-Reglement for Preventing Abuses in and about the Narrow Seas and Ports,
-March 1633. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclx. 127, 128; cclxxix. 18. <i>Brit. Mus. Add.
-MSS.</i>, 30,221, fol. 44 (Pepys’ collections). Copies exist in <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-vol. 515, Nos. 38, 39 (1647), extracted from <i>Admiralty Book</i>, Liber E, and in <i>State
-Papers, Dom.</i>, Jas. I., vol. 11, No. 40 (1604), wrongly calendered (<a href="#Page_119">see p. 119</a>).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_456" href="#FNanchor_456" class="label">456</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, liv. 9, 33.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_457" href="#FNanchor_457" class="label">457</a>
-Oppenheim, <i>op. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_458" href="#FNanchor_458" class="label">458</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lxxxvi. 73, 75; ccxxix. 102.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_459" href="#FNanchor_459" class="label">459</a>
-Gardiner, <i>Hist.</i>, vii. 349 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_460" href="#FNanchor_460" class="label">460</a>
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, 368.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_461" href="#FNanchor_461" class="label">461</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxxvii. 55; ccxci. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_462" href="#FNanchor_462" class="label">462</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cclxxvi. 65.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_463" href="#FNanchor_463" class="label">463</a>
-Rushworth, <i>Collections</i>, ii. 257. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxvi. 64. Compare the
-language of Edward III. in 1336, p. 36.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_464" href="#FNanchor_464" class="label">464</a>
-Rushworth, ii. 294, 353. Compare Windebank’s notes of the speech, <i>State
-Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxc. 108: “The Judges at the Assizes to let the people know his
-Majesty’s care to preserve the ancient dominion (of the seas).”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_465" href="#FNanchor_465" class="label">465</a>
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_466" href="#FNanchor_466" class="label">466</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxix. 51.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_467" href="#FNanchor_467" class="label">467</a>
-<i>Resol. States-General</i>, 9/19 Nov. 1633; Muller, <i>Mare Clausum: Bijdrage tot de
-Geschicdenis der Rivaliteit van Engeland en Nederland in de Zeventiende Eeuw</i>, 229.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_468" href="#FNanchor_468" class="label">468</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxxxiv. 87; Nicholas’s <i>Letter Book</i>, Feb. 16, fol. 97.
-Muller thinks it was this revival of feeling about the dominion of the sea that
-caused the edition of Grotius’ <i>Mare Liberum</i> to be published this year, with the
-Magnus Intercursus appended.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_469" href="#FNanchor_469" class="label">469</a>
-Coke to Boswell, 16/26 April 1635. Needham, <i>Additional Evidences concerning
-the Right of Soveraigntie and Dominion of England in the Sea</i>; Justice, <i>A General
-Treatise of the Dominion and Laws of the Sea</i>, 181; Entick, <i>A New Naval History</i>,
-xvii. If, as is probable, the mention of discourses concerning <i>Mare Clausum</i> referred
-to Selden’s work, it would show that the author was then known to be
-engaged in writing it.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_470" href="#FNanchor_470" class="label">470</a>
-“Dessein de Sa Ma<sup>te</sup> de la grande Bretagne p̄ sa flotte p̅r̅e̅nte,” 15/25 May 1635.
-Aitzema, <i>Saken van Staet en Oorlogh</i>, ii. 164; Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 230. Boswell suppressed
-the reference to the Dutch fisheries and to the old troubles at Greenland
-and in the East Indies, and he toned down the part prohibiting the warships of
-other nations from keeping guard in the British seas.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_471" href="#FNanchor_471" class="label">471</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxxvi. 100.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_472" href="#FNanchor_472" class="label">472</a>
-They were as follow: <i>Merhonour</i>, admiral, 44 guns; <i>James</i>, vice-admiral, 48
-guns; <i>Swiftsure</i>, rear-admiral, 42 guns; <i>St George</i>, 42 guns; <i>St Andrew</i>, 42 guns;
-<i>Henrietta Maria</i>, 42 guns; <i>Vanguard</i>, 40 guns; <i>Rainbow</i>, 40 guns; <i>Red Lion</i>, 38
-guns; <i>Constant Reformation</i>, 42 guns; <i>Antelope</i>, 34 guns; <i>Leopard</i>, 34 guns; <i>Swallow</i>,
-34 guns; <i>Mary Rose</i>, 26 guns; <i>Bonaventure</i>, 34 guns; and the First, Third, Eighth,
-and Tenth <i>Lion’s Whelps</i>, of 14 guns each. The merchant ships were the <i>Sampson</i>,
-<i>Freeman</i>, <i>Royal Exchange</i>, <i>William Thomas</i>, and <i>Pleiades</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_473" href="#FNanchor_473" class="label">473</a>
-The king to the Earl of Lindsey, <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxxviii. 84.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_474" href="#FNanchor_474" class="label">474</a>
-Instructions for our very good Lord, the Earle of Lindsey, Admirall of his
-Majesties’ fflete, in his Majesty’s shippe the <i>Merhonour</i>, prepared for this present
-Expedic̃on for Guard of the Narrow Seas. 2nd May 1635. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-clvii. fol. 135<i>b et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_475" href="#FNanchor_475" class="label">475</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cxcii. 3, 21st May 1631; clvii. fol. 117<i>b</i>. It was found that the French
-had a fleet of thirty-nine men-of-war, and two additional ships were building.
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cxcviii. 84.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_476" href="#FNanchor_476" class="label">476</a>
-20th May 1631. <i>Ibid.</i>, cxci. 80.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_477" href="#FNanchor_477" class="label">477</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxxxvii. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_478" href="#FNanchor_478" class="label">478</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, clvii. fol. 132, 26th April 1634.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_479" href="#FNanchor_479" class="label">479</a>
-In the memorandum which Pennington submitted to the Admiralty, he said:
-“Sixtly, that if any stranger bee oprest by another stranger y<sup>t</sup> is stronger than
-hee, within the jurisdicion of ye Narrow Seas, and y<sup>t</sup> hee flyes for succor or
-refuge to any of his Majesty’s shippes imployed for the guard of the sayd Seas,
-and come under his lee, and craves protection, whether his Majesty’s ffloatinge
-ffortes shall not have ye same privelege in succoringe and defendinge them as
-ffortes a Land hath.” <i>Ibid.</i>, cclxv. 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_480" href="#FNanchor_480" class="label">480</a>
-Windebank and Cottington were two of the three in the confidence of the king
-as to the secret negotiations with Spain. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxv. 23, 25, 26,
-41, 49, 78, 89; clvii. fol. 132.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_481" href="#FNanchor_481" class="label">481</a>
-An equally obscure answer of Coke’s is recorded in the collection of papers for
-the ambassadors to Cologne in 1673 (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Chas. II., vol. 339, p. 513).
-“1636. Ea Leicester (<i>sic</i>) Query&mdash;What answer shall I give if I be asked what
-I mean by the seas of ye King my master, or our seas? The Answer returned by
-Mr Secretary Coke in his own hand: By the King’s or our seas you are not to
-understand or condescend to any restrictive sense but to answer ye Brittish Seas:
-and that the 4 seas mentioned in our laws are thereby meant, which you must not
-otherwise circumscribe or limitt; besides they are the same which in all antiquity
-have been acknowledged to belong unto us, as is sufficiently proved by authentic
-records.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_482" href="#FNanchor_482" class="label">482</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxxviii. 84, 85.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_483" href="#FNanchor_483" class="label">483</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxxviii. 4; cclxxxix. 75. He had “no more than two
-blue and two white flags with six pendants to each of them; there are wanting
-two red flags and six pendants, one blue flag and one white.” The office of Lord
-High Admiral was in commission from the death of the Duke of Buckingham in
-1628 until the appointment of the Earl of Northumberland in 1638.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_484" href="#FNanchor_484" class="label">484</a>
-Gardiner, <i>Hist.</i>, vii. 385.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_485" href="#FNanchor_485" class="label">485</a>
-The inhabitants of the coast were apprehensive of the French fleet, and the
-Admiral sent a message to the Mayor offering to show his orders from the King of
-France, which bound him to honour and respect everything that belonged to his
-Majesty of Great Britain. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxci. 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_486" href="#FNanchor_486" class="label">486</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxci. 58, 59.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_487" href="#FNanchor_487" class="label">487</a>
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, 385; <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxcv. 61. The English agent in
-France reported in August that two squadrons under French admirals, and bearing
-the French flag, were to ply, one along the coast of France from Belle Isle to
-Bayonne, the other at the mouth of the Channel. The remainder of the fleet,
-half French and half Hollander (which guarded the coast up to Calais and to the
-north of it), bore the States’ colours, and were under the command of the Hollander
-Admiral,&mdash;“an expedient to avoid acknowledging his Majesty’s right in the
-Channel, in case this squadron should meet his Majesty’s fleet and be constrained
-to vail the bonnet.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_488" href="#FNanchor_488" class="label">488</a>
-Gardiner, <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_489" href="#FNanchor_489" class="label">489</a>
-It was from this Hollander, met off Beachy Head on 9th June, that Lindsey
-learned that the French fleet was at Portland.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_490" href="#FNanchor_490" class="label">490</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxci. 80, 27th June 1635.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_491" href="#FNanchor_491" class="label">491</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, ccxcvi. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_492" href="#FNanchor_492" class="label">492</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxciii. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_493" href="#FNanchor_493" class="label">493</a>
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, 386.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_494" href="#FNanchor_494" class="label">494</a>
-Lindsey to the king, 2nd August; Coke to Lindsey, 4th August. <i>State Papers,
-Dom.</i>, ccxcv. 9, 42. The rumour that two of the king’s ships were to go north to
-the busses reached the ears of the States’ ambassador. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>,
-17,677, O, fol. 376.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_495" href="#FNanchor_495" class="label">495</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxcvi. 5, 14, 16, 30. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17,677, O,
-fol. 380. <i>Res. Holl.</i>, 7th September, Bosgoed, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 358. Twelve busses and
-three of the convoys took refuge at Newcastle; others in the Firth of Forth. The
-skipper of a coasting vessel from Scotland to Scarborough saw seven busses in
-flames; the sky was red from the conflagration. The <i>Leopard</i>, one of Lindsey’s
-fleet, convoying merchantmen to Dunkirk, met eighteen of the privateers returning
-in triumph. The Dutch busses were the natural prey of the Dunkirkers, and the
-States were put to great expense and pains in guarding them. In 1625 a Spanish
-agent, Egidio Ouwers, submitted to Cardinal de Ceva, at Brussels, an elaborate
-plan for destroying the Dutch herring fishery, so as to “spoil their chiefest mine
-by which they maintained their wars.” <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, dxxi. 30.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_496" href="#FNanchor_496" class="label">496</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxcv. 44.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_497" href="#FNanchor_497" class="label">497</a>
-The facts as to the movements, &amp;c., of the fleet are mostly taken from the
-Earl of Lindsey’s Journal, written for the king’s information, and preserved in the
-Record Office. “A Relation of the passages that daily happened in this late
-expedition under my conduct, being by Your Majesty’s gratious appointment
-Admiral and General of your Majesty’s ffleet sett forthe for guard of your Narrow
-Seas, from the time that the ships mett all together in the Downes, 28<sup>o</sup> May, untill
-the 8<sup>o</sup> of October following, I making my first entrance aboard yo<sup>r</sup> Royall ship
-the <i>Merhonor</i>, 16<sup>o</sup> May, in Tilbury Hope.” <i>Ibid.</i>, ccxcix. 28.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_498" href="#FNanchor_498" class="label">498</a>
-Pennington to Nicholas, 3rd August 1635. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxcv. 18.
-Pennington, it may be said, lost no chance of sneering privately at the Earl of
-Lindsey, especially in his correspondence with his friend, Nicholas, the Secretary
-to the Admiralty. When Lindsey finally reached the Downs in October, and
-Pennington was appointed to command the winter fleet, he told Nicholas that
-he had hoped that “they” who had had the “sweet of the summer should have
-had a little of the sour sauce of the winter”; he had spent “twice as much as he,
-and more every way for the king’s honour.” Nicholas shared the feeling. On
-hearing that Lindsey had appointed a French cook on board the <i>Henrietta Maria</i>
-he refused to believe it, “as it was never since his time known that any Frenchman
-was admitted scarce to go aboard, much less to be an officer in any of the king’s
-ships”; and he foretold great evils from it. <i>Ibid.</i>, ccxcix. 19; ccxci. 61.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_499" href="#FNanchor_499" class="label">499</a>
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_500" href="#FNanchor_500" class="label">500</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17,677, O, fol. 364.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_501" href="#FNanchor_501" class="label">501</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxviii. 3. Roe’s reference was to the fishings at the
-Zowe or Sowe, where great numbers of gurnards were caught (<a href="#Page_65">see p. 65</a>).
-The stipulation of Richelieu concerned the allied squadrons which were to blockade
-Dunkirk, as arranged by Article viii. of the treaty. Article xii., after providing
-for the size of the squadrons, continues, “Et au cas que lesdites esquadres viennent
-&agrave; s’assembler, comme il peut arriver qu’il sera necessaire pour le bien commun,
-l’Admiral desdits Seigneurs les Estats abaissera &agrave; l’abord son pavillon du grand
-mast, et le salu&euml;ra de son canon, et celui du Roi le resalu&euml;re comme de coustume,
-et comme il en a est&eacute; use par le Roi de la Grande Bretagne.” Dumont, <i>Corps
-Diplomatique</i>, 83 (?).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_502" href="#FNanchor_502" class="label">502</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lxxix. 17. “Athwart ye opening of Falmouth four sailes
-stood with their forefoot,” and very earnestly tried to weather the English ships.
-Among them was a French man-of-war of Rochelle, but they shot four or five
-pieces of ordnance at him, and “soo brought him by ye lee.” <a href="#Page_207">See p. 207</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_503" href="#FNanchor_503" class="label">503</a>
-He reported, 16th September 1631, that two English merchantmen had met
-five French men-of-war, bearing the French king’s colours on the main-top, and the
-Malta colours on the poop, who saluted them with, “Amain, rogues, for the King
-of France”; but as the English ships refused to strike and prepared to fight, the
-French sheered off. He added that he had learned, through an interview between
-one of his lieutenants and one of the French commanders, that the latter had
-a commission to compel any English ships he could master to take in their flags
-and dowse their top-sails, and that three French admirals had been appointed for
-regaining the regality of the Narrow Seas, because, as the French officer said, the
-Pope had taken it from France and given it to England, but now that we had fallen
-from their religion it had been reassigned. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cxcix. 51.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_504" href="#FNanchor_504" class="label">504</a>
-Nicholas to Pennington, 29th September 1631. <i>Ibid.</i>, cc. 45.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_505" href="#FNanchor_505" class="label">505</a>
-Pennington to Nicholas, 2nd October (<i>ibid.</i>, cci. 7). Pennington, whose
-information about the French trying to make the English strike had given the
-Admiralty and the king “good content” (<i>ibid.</i>, cc. 27), had been ordered westwards
-to retaliate, but “he hoped the Lords would not think that his two ships half-manned
-were able to encounter with twenty well manned”. <i>Ibid.</i>, cci. 29.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_506" href="#FNanchor_506" class="label">506</a>
-14th October, 12th November 1631. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cci. 54; cciii. 32.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_507" href="#FNanchor_507" class="label">507</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cclxiii. 75.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_508" href="#FNanchor_508" class="label">508</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cccxvii. 102.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_509" href="#FNanchor_509" class="label">509</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxv. 23, 25, 41, 49.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_510" href="#FNanchor_510" class="label">510</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cccxvii. 102.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_511" href="#FNanchor_511" class="label">511</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cci. 59; ccii. 17; ccciii. 71, 79; ccx. 58; ccxxxiv. 37;
-ccxlviii. 81.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_512" href="#FNanchor_512" class="label">512</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxx. 25, 26.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_513" href="#FNanchor_513" class="label">513</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, ccxxxiv. 5, 32. “The Ambassador and the other Lords being at dinner
-in the great cabin, the gunner sent word that a Hollander was passing with his
-top-sails a-trip, to whom he gave order to make a shot. The Lords and gentlemen
-left the table to see the event, but the Hollander, neither for that shot nor two
-or three others, would lower the same one foot; whereupon he gave order to shoot
-him through, which was done, with as much speed as they could bring ordnance
-to bear, so as before she passed she had twenty shot in and through her sides,
-which they heard to crash in the same. They could perceive but one piece she
-had forth; to that fire was given twice. The shot came not near, but they might
-well hear the same. After her came the Admiral with his flag on the main-top.”
-Ketelby cleared for action and was giving orders for a broadside; but the ambassador
-twice desired him to give over and stand for Dover, and he submitted.
-If it had not been for his passengers, Ketelby did not doubt he would have brought
-them in to answer the contempt.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_514" href="#FNanchor_514" class="label">514</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxcv. 13; ccxcvii. 28; ccxcviii. 16. It was the usual
-practice to make the offender pay for the shot.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_515" href="#FNanchor_515" class="label">515</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccc. 43; ccci. 28; ccxcix. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_516" href="#FNanchor_516" class="label">516</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cclxv. 49.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_517" href="#FNanchor_517" class="label">517</a>
-Ketelby and Viscount Conway explained that it was necessary to punish them
-in a public manner, since imprisonment in the bilboes and such corporal punishments
-were not effective. Conway recommended Scott’s fine to be remitted, owing
-to his worth and poverty, as well as from the fact that he had recently been taken
-captive by the “Turkish” pirates, and his ransom was not all paid. Bushell, as
-we learn from a petition “of divers poor men, women, and children, whose kindred
-are now in slavery at Argier and Sallee,” had redeemed and brought home thirty
-of the captives; and it is probable that neither of the fines was exacted. It is
-doubtful if Lindsey’s action was regular, for the vessels, according to his statement,
-had not come within gunshot. The <i>Neptune</i> was one of the three ships fitted out
-by London for Northumberland’s fleet. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxv. 28, 65, 67;
-cclxv. 50; cclxiii. 75; ccxcvi. 30, 34, 37; ccci. 31.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_518" href="#FNanchor_518" class="label">518</a>
-Molloy, <i>De Jure Maritimo et Navalis</i>, 149.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_519" href="#FNanchor_519" class="label">519</a>
-<i>Regulations and Instructions relating to his Majesty’s Service at Sea</i>, 1734, 1766,
-1790, Art. xi.; 1808, Art. xxiv. A case of the kind occurred in 1829. Phillimore,
-<i>Commentaries upon International Law</i>, ii. 58.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_520" href="#FNanchor_520" class="label">520</a>
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, viii. 84.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_521" href="#FNanchor_521" class="label">521</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxcvi. 69; cci. 26, 97.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_522" href="#FNanchor_522" class="label">522</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccciii. 74; cccv. 36, 38; cccxi. 1. The total number of
-men in the first fleet, which included five of the “Whelps” and two pinnaces then
-building, was to be 4580; in the second, in which were included two “Whelps,” it
-was to be 1890.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_523" href="#FNanchor_523" class="label">523</a>
-Hume (<i>Hist. Engl.</i>, ch. lii. an. 1636), following earlier writers, places the
-number at sixty. Thus Frankland (<i>Annals of King James and King Charles the
-First</i>, 477 (1681)) speaks of “sixty gallant ships.” Baker (<i>A Chronicle of the Kings
-of England</i>, 455 (1679)) and others, including most of the naval historians of the
-eighteenth century, give the same number.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_524" href="#FNanchor_524" class="label">524</a>
-Northumberland’s Journal, <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxliii. 72. Pennington, on
-hearing of the appointment of the Earl of Northumberland, wrote in February
-1636 to the Council expressing his satisfaction; verily believed he would carry
-himself like a general in all respects, unless led away, “as the last was, by such as
-neither knew the honour of the place nor the way of managing the service for the
-honour and safety of the kingdom.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_525" href="#FNanchor_525" class="label">525</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxcviii. 63.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_526" href="#FNanchor_526" class="label">526</a>
-The Lords of the Admiralty to the king, 24th February 1636. <i>State Papers,
-Dom.</i>, cccxiii. 24, 25. The documents are in Windebank’s writing; the first is
-endorsed “Fishing. Waftage. An excellent Piece.” See <a href="#APPENDIX_I">Appendix I</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_527" href="#FNanchor_527" class="label">527</a>
-“Instructions for our very good Lord, the Earle of Northumberland, Admirall
-of his Majesty’s fflete in his Majesty’s ship the <i>Triumph</i>, prepared for this present
-Expedic̃ion for guard of his Majesty’s Seas.” <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clvii. fol. 141.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_528" href="#FNanchor_528" class="label">528</a>
-Gardiner, viii. 157. The English ships were “clogged with timber,” which,
-however, served them well in the first Dutch war when they were pitted against
-the slighter-built ships of the States. (Oppenheim, <i>op. cit.</i>, 254.)</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_529" href="#FNanchor_529" class="label">529</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clvii. fol. 141<i>b</i>; ccxiv. 107. The Earl of Northumberland
-to the Lords of the Admiralty, cccxxi. 44, 45, 65, 78, 87; cccxxii. 16, 40; cccxxv.
-78, 79; cccxxvi. 16, 38; cccxxvii. 42, 73. The Lords of the Admiralty to Northumberland,
-14th June, cccxxvi. 32.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_530" href="#FNanchor_530" class="label">530</a>
-Rowland Woodward to Francis Windebank, 16th December 1630. <i>State Papers,
-Dom.</i>, clxxvii. 13. The writer said he “much feared the event if it should be put
-in execution.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_531" href="#FNanchor_531" class="label">531</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cclxxix. 67.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_532" href="#FNanchor_532" class="label">532</a>
-Petition of the Governor, Assistants, and Fellowship of the Merchant Adventurers
-of England to the Council. <i>Ibid.</i>, cclxxxix. 91.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_533" href="#FNanchor_533" class="label">533</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cclxxxv. 84.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_534" href="#FNanchor_534" class="label">534</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccviii. 48; cccxx. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_535" href="#FNanchor_535" class="label">535</a>
-A Proclamation for Restraint of Fishing upon His Maiesties Seas and Coasts
-without License. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxx. 62. <i>Fœdera</i>, xx. 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_536" href="#FNanchor_536" class="label">536</a>
-The form annexed to the Earl of Northumberland’s instructions, sent to him
-on 14th June from Hampton Court, and which he received at Plymouth on the
-22nd, is as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<h4>“CHARLES R.</h4>
-
-<p>“We are gratiously pleased by these Presents to grant Lycense to ... to fish
-with the Men and Company belonging to a Ship or Vessel called the ... being of
-the Burthen of ... Tonnes, upon any of Our Coasts or Seas of Great Brittaine
-and Ireland, and the rest of our Islands adjacent, where usually heretofore any
-fishing hath been. And this Our Lycense to continue for one whole Year from
-ye Date hereof: Willing and requiring as well all Our subjects as others of what
-Nation, quality or condition soever that they give no Impeachment or molestation
-to ye said ... or his company in the said Vessell in the Execution of this Our
-Lycense, upon such Paines and Punishments, as are to be inflicted upon the
-Violators of Our Royall Protection, and the wilful Breakers of Our Peace, in Our
-aforesaid Dominions and Jurisdictions, further requiring and Commanding all Our
-Admiralls, Vice-Admiralls, Rere-Admiralls and Captaines of Our Ships, Castles,
-and Forts to protect and assist the said ... in ye quiet enjoying the benefit of
-this Our Lycense.”</p>
-
-<p>Another form, dated in July, was as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“Charles by the Grace of God King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland,
-Defender of the Faith, &amp;c. To all his Admiralls, Vice-Admiralls, Rere-Admiralls,
-and Captaines of oure Shippes, Castles and fforts, and to all and every other our
-Officers, Ministers and subjects to whome it shall apperteyne, Greeting. Whereas
-Wee are gratiously pleased by these presents to grant License to ... Master of a
-Busse or Vessell called the ... beinge of the burthen of ... Tonnes, To fishe
-with the Men and Company belonging to the said Busse or Vessell upon anie of our
-Coastes and Seas of Great Brittaine, Ireland and the rest of our Islands adiacent
-where usually fishing hath bene, from the date hereof, to the last of December
-next. These are to will and require as well Yow our said Officers and Subjects, as
-others of what Nacion, quality, or condition soever That yow not onely give noe
-impeachment or molestacion to the said ... or his Company in the said Vessell
-in the Execucion of this Our License, upon such paynes and punishments, as are
-to be inflicted upon the Violaters of oure Royall Protecion and the wilfull Breakers
-of our Peace in oure aforesaid dominions and jurisdictions: But that yow protect
-and assist the said ... and his Company in the quiet enioying the benefitt of
-this oure License during the time before limitted: Given ...” <i>Ibid.</i>, cccxxvi.
-32; cccxxix. 77, 78, 79. It appears from copies without the names and particulars
-filled in, which are preserved at The Hague, that the first form was used in July,
-a certain Joost Bouwensz of Delfshaven having accepted one on the 24th (N.S.)
-of that month.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_537" href="#FNanchor_537" class="label">537</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxix. 81; cccxxii. 40; cccxxvi. 32; cccxvii. 93; cccxxviii.
-11, 41, 69.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_538" href="#FNanchor_538" class="label">538</a>
-The herring-busses in ordinary course fished all night in fleets, with their
-drift-nets floating in the water; during the day the crews were employed in
-curing and packing the herrings caught.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_539" href="#FNanchor_539" class="label">539</a>
-“Next day wee fetched in 4 more of them, and having caused their busses
-to be manned with English, and threatened the takeing away their nettes, they
-at last consented to take Licenses, and paying the acknowledgment I sent them
-all away very well satisfied.” These busses belonged to the Enkhuisen herring
-fleet, which was convoyed by a warship under Captain Gerrit Claesz. Ruyter,
-to whom Northumberland, after the licenses had been accepted, gave a written
-certificate and safe-conduct for bringing in the busses. Muller, <i>Mare Clausum</i>,
-269, 377.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_540" href="#FNanchor_540" class="label">540</a>
-These were the Delfshaven busses, the skipper of one being Joust Bouwensz,
-previously referred to. According to the Dutch accounts, money was scarce on
-the busses, but the English very willingly took herrings instead, a barrel of herrings
-being reckoned at from four to four and a-half florins.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_541" href="#FNanchor_541" class="label">541</a>
-These were the <i>Victory</i>, <i>Repulse</i>, and <i>Swallow</i>. From a report of the Officers
-of the Navy to the Admiralty, on 20th August, we learn that the <i>Repulse</i> had a
-great many sick on board&mdash;“some three or four having died within these two
-days; some thirty sick were landed at Margate and eight are ill on board. The
-surgeon is dead, as is said of the spotted fever, full of spots, and it is much doubted
-that the pestilence is amongst them.” The plague in this and the following year
-made great ravages in London and at the naval ports, partly from the want of
-simple precautions&mdash;<i>e.g.</i>, in this case the sick men were to be discharged “for fear
-of infection (of the ship) and to cease a needlesse charge.” <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-cccxxx. 61.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_542" href="#FNanchor_542" class="label">542</a>
-The account of the movements of Northumberland’s fleet is extracted from his
-“Journall of oure Summer’s Voyage in the yeare 1636.” <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-cccxliii. 72.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_543" href="#FNanchor_543" class="label">543</a>
-Northumberland to Windebank, 16th August 1636 (from Scarborough). <i>State
-Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxxx. 41. About 400 licenses in all, each signed by the king,
-had been furnished to the Earl.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_544" href="#FNanchor_544" class="label">544</a>
-20th Dec. 1628. “Clachten van de insolentien van’t bootsvolk en de visschers
-deser landen in Schotlandt.” Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 232.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_545" href="#FNanchor_545" class="label">545</a>
-The English Company and the king’s relation to it were considered by the
-States in January 1631, 25th Oct. 1632, 19th Nov. 1633, and 15th Sept. 1634.
-(Bosgoed, <i>Bib. Pisc.</i>, 357. Oprichting eener Engelsche compagnie voor de Haring-visscherij,
-Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 235.)</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_546" href="#FNanchor_546" class="label">546</a>
-<i>Verbaal van Beveren</i>, 1636-37. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 246.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_547" href="#FNanchor_547" class="label">547</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17,677, P, fol. 67 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_548" href="#FNanchor_548" class="label">548</a>
-Van Beveren to the States-General, 15/25 Aug. <i>MSS. Add.</i>, 17,677, P, fol. 88.
-In his letter he says the tax on each ton was “twee sixpenningen,” or an
-English shilling. Others placed it at two shillings a last.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_549" href="#FNanchor_549" class="label">549</a>
-Aitzema, <i>Saken van Staet en Oorlogh</i>, ii. 409. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 263.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_550" href="#FNanchor_550" class="label">550</a>
-Joachimi to the States-General, (31 Aug.)/(10 Sept.), 9/19 Sept. 1636. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>,
-17,677, P, fol. 99, 100. <i>Verbael van Joachimi</i>, 1636. Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 264.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_551" href="#FNanchor_551" class="label">551</a>
-Elizabeth to Sir Thomas Roe, 15/25 Aug. 1636. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxxx. 38.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_552" href="#FNanchor_552" class="label">552</a>
-Roe to Elizabeth, 19th Aug., 20th Sept. <i>Ibid.</i>, cccxxx. 50; cccxxxii. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_553" href="#FNanchor_553" class="label">553</a>
-Northumberland to the Admiralty and to Secretary Coke, Sept. 16. <i>State
-Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxxxi. 55, 56.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_554" href="#FNanchor_554" class="label">554</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxxxii. 39.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_555" href="#FNanchor_555" class="label">555</a>
-Northumberland’s Journal, <i>Ibid.</i>, cccxliii. 72; Northumberland to Nicholas,
-6th October 1636. <i>Ibid.</i>, cccxxxiii. 26. Dutch accounts vary somewhat from
-that given by the Earl of Northumberland. According to them, seven English
-men-of-war fell in with a hundred busses convoyed by five States’ warships, and
-the busses paid the tax and took the licenses. But when thirteen Dutch men-of-war,
-convoying a great herring fleet, arrived on the scene and put themselves in
-a position for battle, the English ships did not interfere any further and soon
-sheered off.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_556" href="#FNanchor_556" class="label">556</a>
-An Accompt of the Convoy money, as it was delivered unto me by the Captaines
-emploied in that Service, vizt.: Captain Carteret, &pound;657, Captaine Lindsey,
-&pound;200, Captain Slingsby, &pound;42, Captain Johnson, &pound;20, Mr Skinner, &pound;80.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_557" href="#FNanchor_557" class="label">557</a>
-An Account of the Acknowledgment Money taken of the Holland Fishermen.
-The partiality for English gold is shown by the fact that &pound;119, 13s. of the total
-was thus paid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_558" href="#FNanchor_558" class="label">558</a>
-The Dutch themselves appear to have acknowledged a payment of 20,000
-florins (Muller, <i>Mare Clausum</i>, 274). Rapin (<i>Hist. d’Angleterre</i>, vii. 455) and
-Wagenaar (<i>Vaderlandsche Historie</i>, xi. 260) placed it at 30,000 florins; Larrey
-(<i>Hist. d’Angleterre, d’Ecosse et d’Irlande</i>, iv. 126) states that the Dutch concluded
-a treaty with Charles by which they agreed to pay him “dix mille ecus par an,”
-which is equivalent to the same thing; Hume (<i>Hist. of England</i>, ch. lii. an. 1636)
-says: “The Dutch were content to pay &pound;30,000 for a license during this year.”
-The error is found in the earlier English historical writers. Rushworth (<i>Collections</i>,
-V. ii. 322) also states the sum as &pound;30,000, and adds that the Dutch were
-willing to pay a yearly tribute for a like liberty in future. Frankland (<i>Annals of King
-James and King Charles the First</i>, 477 (1681)) says that Northumberland with his
-“sixty gallant ships” “commanded the Dutch busses to cease fishing until they had
-obtained permission from the King, which they seeming not willing and ready to
-do, he fired amongst them, sunk some and seized others, until they were forced
-to fly into his Majesty’s harbours, and desired the Lord Admiral to mediate to
-his Majesty for his leave for this summer, and they would pay unto his Majesty’s
-treasury therefor the sum of &pound;30,000, which they did accordingly, and professed
-their readiness to become suppliants to his Majesty for a grant, under the condition
-of a yearly payment therefor for the future.” This writer seems to have
-confused Northumberland’s operations with those of Blake’s fleet in 1652 (<a href="#Page_406">see p. 406</a>)
-or with the onslaught of the Dunkirkers in 1635. Kennet (<i>A Complete Hist. of
-England</i>, iii. 85 (1719)) repeats the mistake and puts the sum at &pound;30,000, and so
-with almost all the historians, as well as the naval writers. Thus, Burchett (<i>A
-Complete Hist. of the Most Remarkable Transactions at Sea</i>, 379 (1720)) and Lediard
-(<i>The Naval History of England</i>, 526 (1735)) give the statement of Frankland;
-Entick (<i>A New Naval History</i>, 438 (1757)) drops one of the ciphers and makes the
-sum &pound;3000, but otherwise retains the false account. Admiral Colomb, in his
-recent excellent work on <i>Naval Warfare</i> (<a href="#Page_33">p. 33</a>), no doubt founding on these naval
-authors, also refers to the “non-payment of the &pound;30,000 annually, which had been
-fixed by Charles as license dues.” The writers of minor books embellished the
-error. In a mendacious treatise published in 1664 (<i>The Dutch drawn to the Life</i>,
-146) it is said that Northumberland “scoured the seas of the Dutch busses, seizing
-some, sinking others, and enforcing the rest to flee; so reducing all to the precarious
-condition of entreating the favour of fishing by the King’s commission,
-which he was the readier to indulge them, because he looked upon them as the
-most likely instruments for his nephew’s restauration to the Palatinate.” John
-Smith, writing in 1670 (<i>England’s Improvement Reviv’d</i>, 257), said that “the
-composition of the Hollanders (for liberty to fish) was an annual rent of &pound;100,000,
-and &pound;100,000 in hand; and never having been paid or brought into the Exchequer,
-as I could hear of, there is an arrearages of above &pound;2,500,000; an acceptable
-sum,” he adds, “and which would come very happily for the present occasions
-of his Majesty”&mdash;Charles II. would have been very glad of much less; he quite
-failed to induce the Dutch to pay him &pound;12,000 a-year for a like liberty. Evelyn
-in 1674 (<i>Navigation and Commerce</i>) put the “arrears” at over half a million
-sterling, and he said that in 1636 the Hollanders paid &pound;1500, 15s. 2d. for licenses;
-but this was only, as he explained later, “the sophism of a mercenary pen,” since
-he slumped the convoy and the “acknowledgment” money together (having had
-access to Northumberland’s Journal), and eight years later he wrote to Pepys his
-remarkable letter of recantation, in which he stated, “Nor did I find that any
-rent (whereoff in my 108 page I calculate the arrears) for permission to fish was
-ever fixed by both parties” (<i>Diary and Correspondence</i>, iii.)
-</p>
-<p>
-The writers on international law have copied the erroneous statements from the
-historians and from one another. Wharton (<i>Hist. of the Law of Nations</i>, 154)
-says, “The exclusive rights to the fisheries within these seas (the Four Seas) and
-near the coasts of the British Islands had been occasionally acknowledged by the
-Dutch in the form of annual payments and taking out licenses to fish; and was
-again suspended by treaties between the sovereigns of England and the Princes
-of the House of Burgundy.” This statement, which outrages chronology as well
-as fact, is repeated (without acknowledgment) by Phillimore (<i>Commentaries upon
-International Law</i>, I., Part ii., c. vi. s. clxxxiv.), and by Travers Twiss (<i>The Law of
-Nations in Time of Peace</i>, 254), Hall (<i>Treatise on International Law</i>, 145), and
-others. Hall quotes Hume’s statement that the Dutch had to pay &pound;30,000 for
-leave to remain, and a more recent author supposes that the great fishing of the
-Dutch on our coasts originated in the reign of Elizabeth, and that, growing strong,
-they refused to pay the “duties levied without question for generations within
-the British Seas” (Walker, <i>A History of the Law of Nations</i>, i. 167). As has been
-shown in the text, the Dutch herring-boats resisted the payment of the “acknowledgment”
-money as far as they could; the States-General equipped a fleet to
-prevent by force their molestation by the English men-of-war, and they dismissed
-their Admiral because he failed in 1636 to protect them.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_559" href="#FNanchor_559" class="label">559</a>
-Aitzema, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 408. “Op de bewaringhe ende bescherminghe van de
-groote ende kleyne Visscherij deser Landen tegen de Spaansche ende allen anderen
-die hun souden willen beschadigen,” August 5/15, 1636.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_560" href="#FNanchor_560" class="label">560</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxxxiii. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_561" href="#FNanchor_561" class="label">561</a>
-Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 273.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_562" href="#FNanchor_562" class="label">562</a>
-<i>Res. Holl.</i>, 19th September; <i>Res. St.-Gen.</i>, 8th November 1636; Bosgoed, <i>Bib.
-Pisc.</i>, 360.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_563" href="#FNanchor_563" class="label">563</a>
-Gardiner, <i>Hist. England</i>, viii. 160, 163, 202, 205.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_564" href="#FNanchor_564" class="label">564</a>
-Roe to Ferentz, Oct. 15, 1636. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxxxiv. 15. Goring
-to his father, Lord Goring, Feb. 4/14, 1637. <i>Ibid.</i>, cccxlvi. 33. Goffe to Archbishop
-Laud, Feb. 2. <i>Ibid.</i>, cccxlvi. 23. The Queen of Bohemia to Archbishop Laud,
-Feb. 4/14. <i>Ibid.</i>, cccxlvi. 34. Laud to the Queen, Feb. 28. <i>Ibid.</i>, cccxlviii. 62.
-Roe to the Queen, Mar. 17. <i>Ibid.</i>, cccl. 16. The Queen to Laud, (Mar. 25)/(April 4). <i>Ibid.</i>,
-cccli. 1. Goffe’s letter to Laud was as follows: “Your Grace will receive intelligence
-from other hands that certain edicts which were ready to be published by
-the States against paying any acknowledgment for leave to fish are now suppressed
-upon the hopes of his Majesty’s relinquishing that business for the present. But
-the Prince of Orange, not willing to content himself with probabilities, hath been
-very pressing with the Queen of Bohemia to have some assurance given him that
-the king would not interrupt their fishing this year. And if no other way might
-be afforded, he is very urgent at least that the Elector (the son of Elizabeth) would
-write to him and assure him so much. How much such an assurance would be
-prejudicial to the honour of his sacred Majesty your Grace can best judge. But I
-thought it my duty to add that though their edicts are suppressed, yet their book
-in answer to Mr Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i> is ready to come forth: and the author is
-neither so modest nor discreet that the Elector should trust him [? the Prince of
-Orange] with any written assurance in that kind. The Prince of Orange hath been
-so much upon this that it hath given others cause to believe that the Elector will
-be moved in it.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_565" href="#FNanchor_565" class="label">565</a>
-Roe to Ferentz. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxxxiv. 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_566" href="#FNanchor_566" class="label">566</a>
-The “confident vrundt” was probably Roe, who was the confidential adviser
-of Elizabeth, and at this time had interviews with the Dutch ambassador in the
-Prince’s interests, which he “feared would come to nothing.” <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_567" href="#FNanchor_567" class="label">567</a>
-“Que durant le m&ecirc;me temps les Pescheurs et preneurs d’hareng, subjects de
-leurs Seigneuries, pescheront librement et franchement, com̄e ils out tousiours
-faict du temps de la Royne Elysabeth et du grand Roy Jacques tous deux de tr&egrave;s-glorieuse
-m&eacute;moire, s’approchants si pr&egrave;s des bords de mer, et rivages des royaulmes,
-terres et ysles de sa Ma<sup>t&eacute;</sup>, que leur mestier, la course de poisson et hareng, et leur
-proffit portera, voire jusques &agrave; seicher leurs filets sur terre, sans que sa Ma<sup>t&eacute;</sup> directement
-ou indirectement leur fera ou fera faire aucun dommage, destourbier, ou
-empeschement en cela.” <i>Verbaal van Beveren.</i> Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 279.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_568" href="#FNanchor_568" class="label">568</a>
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, 218. <i>State Papers, Holland</i>, Jan., Feb. 1637.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_569" href="#FNanchor_569" class="label">569</a>
-March 19, 1637. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccl. 34.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_570" href="#FNanchor_570" class="label">570</a>
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit. State Papers, Holland, Flanders.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_571" href="#FNanchor_571" class="label">571</a>
-Windebank to Northumberland, July 3. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccclxiii. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_572" href="#FNanchor_572" class="label">572</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clvii. 151<i>b</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_573" href="#FNanchor_573" class="label">573</a>
-Windebank to the Earl of Northumberland, 3rd July 1637. <i>State Papers,
-Dom.</i>, ccclxiii. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_574" href="#FNanchor_574" class="label">574</a>
-Northumberland to Windebank, 4th July, <i>Ibid.</i>, ccclxiii. 28.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_575" href="#FNanchor_575" class="label">575</a>
-Windebank to Northumberland, 6th July. <i>Ibid.</i>, ccclxiii. 41.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_576" href="#FNanchor_576" class="label">576</a>
-“Diamentenring van tamelijcke groote,” <i>Verbaal van Beveren</i>. Muller,
-<i>op. cit.</i>, 297.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_577" href="#FNanchor_577" class="label">577</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccliv. 16; ccclv. 22.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_578" href="#FNanchor_578" class="label">578</a>
-Report of Fielding, 24th July. <i>Ibid.</i>, ccclxiv. 45.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_579" href="#FNanchor_579" class="label">579</a>
-Pennington to Nicholas, 10th July, <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccclxiii. 99;
-Northumberland to Sir Thomas Roe, 6th August, <i>ibid.</i>, ccclxv. 28; Pennington
-to Northumberland, 20th May, <i>ibid.</i>, ccclvii. 15, ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_580" href="#FNanchor_580" class="label">580</a>
-Windebank to Fogg, Aug. 10. <i>Ibid.</i>, ccclxv. 51. With reference to this letter
-of Windebank’s, the following note by Secretary Williamson was made on the copy
-in the volume prepared for the ambassadors going to Cologne in 1673 (<i>State Papers,
-Dom.</i>, Chas. II., 339, p. 519): “This mentioned report appears by other letters and
-passages of that time to have been really the truth, but of that disadvantage to his
-Ma<sup>tys</sup> right and title, as it was thought fitt by all means to stiffle it, and give out
-Captain Fielding went to ye Holland Busses onely w<sup>th</sup> notice of ye Dunquerq<sup>rs</sup>
-preparations to intercept them in their return and to offer his Ma<sup>ties</sup> protection.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_581" href="#FNanchor_581" class="label">581</a>
-Windebank to Northumberland, 1st Aug., <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Chas. I.,
-ccclxv. 5; Roe to Countess of Northumberland, 20th July, <i>ibid.</i>, ccclxiv. 22;
-Northumberland to Windebank, 1st Sept., <i>ibid.</i>, ccclxviii. 1; Same to Admiralty,
-6th Sept., <i>ibid.</i>, ccclxviii. 43.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_582" href="#FNanchor_582" class="label">582</a>
-Aug. 10. <i>Ibid.</i>, ccclxv. 53. The king’s real feelings were shown in the instructions
-given to the Earl when he was ordered to the west on 1st August. “If any
-of the fishers of Holland which have refused his Majesty’s licenses shall be assaulted
-by the Dunkirkers, his Majesty will in no wise that you protect them.” <i>Ibid.</i>,
-ccclxv. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_583" href="#FNanchor_583" class="label">583</a>
-Aug. 6. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccclxv. 28.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_584" href="#FNanchor_584" class="label">584</a>
-An example of the feeling is to be found in an incident of this summer. One,
-Richard Rose, a justice of the peace, on hearing that the fleet was going forth to
-maintain the king’s title of being Lord of the Narrow Seas, exclaimed: “What a
-foolery is this; that the country in general shall be thus much taxed with great
-sums to maintain the king’s titles and honours! For my part, I am &pound;10 the
-worse for it already.” When information of this remark was laid before the
-Council, the Lords “thought it not fit to question these words.” <i>Ibid.</i>, ccclxx. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_585" href="#FNanchor_585" class="label">585</a>
-The king to the Twelve Judges, 2nd Feb. 1637. <i>Ibid.</i>, ccclxvi. 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_586" href="#FNanchor_586" class="label">586</a>
-The <i>Sovereign of the Seas</i> was the largest ship hitherto built for the navy;
-it was 127 feet long in the keel, 46&frac12; feet in breadth (inside measurement), and 19
-feet 4 inches in depth; the tonnage was by the “new rule” 1552 tons, by the
-“old rule” 1823 tons. She was also by far the most expensive. Her cost was
-&pound;40,833, 8s. 1&frac12;d., besides her guns, which were estimated to cost, with engraving,
-&pound;25,059, 8s. 8d. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccclxi. 71; ccclxix. 44; ccclxxiv. 30;
-ccclxxxvii. 87. See also Oppenheim, <i>Hist. Administration Royal Navy</i>, 260.
-In 1637 a “description” of the ship was published by Thomas Heywood, dedicated
-to the king, and with a frontispiece representation of it: “<i>A True description of
-his Majestie’s Royall Ship Built this yeare 1637 at Wool-witch in Kent. To the
-great glory of our English Nation and not paraleld in the whole Christian World.</i>
-Published by Authoritie, London, 1637.” The description, apart from the verse,
-occupies a few pages at the end, the work dealing chiefly with the ships of the
-ancients. A second edition was published in 1638: “<i>A True Discription of his
-Majestie’s royall and most stately ship called the Soveraign of the Seas, built at Wol-witch
-in Kent 1637 with the names of all the prime officers in her</i>,” &amp;c. Prynne
-(<i>Brief Animadversions</i>, &amp;c., p. 123) says that Charles claimed and maintained the
-dominion of the seas by increasing the navy, &amp;c., and “by giving the name of the
-<i>Edgar</i> (with this motto engraven on it, <i>Ego ab Edgaro quatuor maria vendico</i>) and
-of the <i>Soveraign of the Sea</i> to the Admiral of his fleet.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_587" href="#FNanchor_587" class="label">587</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccclxxx. 61; ccclxxxix. 86; cccxc. 39.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_588" href="#FNanchor_588" class="label">588</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxxv. 21; cccxxxviii. 15; cccxli. 6; ccclxi. 41; cccliii.
-fol. 34. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17,677, O, fol. 364.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_589" href="#FNanchor_589" class="label">589</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccclxxxii. 44; ccclxxxiii. 29.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_590" href="#FNanchor_590" class="label">590</a>
-Smith to Pennington, 8th June 1639. <i>Ibid.</i>, ccccxxiii. 56.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_591" href="#FNanchor_591" class="label">591</a>
-Windebank to Pennington, 10th, 15th, 16th July, <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-ccccxxv. 45, 72, 81; Northumberland to Pennington, <i>ibid.</i>, ccccxxv. 76; Windebank
-to Hopton, 16th August, <i>Clarendon State Papers</i>, i. 1283.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_592" href="#FNanchor_592" class="label">592</a>
-Pennington to Windebank, 13th July. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccccxxv. 61, 68.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_593" href="#FNanchor_593" class="label">593</a>
-Gardiner, <i>Hist.</i>, ix. 69; <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccccxxviii. 52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_594" href="#FNanchor_594" class="label">594</a>
-Northumberland to Pennington, 12th September, <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccccxxviii.
-92; Windebank to Hopton, 29th September, <i>Clarendon State Papers</i>, ii. 71; Hopton
-to Windebank, October 12/22, <i>Cal. Clar. State Papers</i>, i. 1311.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_595" href="#FNanchor_595" class="label">595</a>
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, 61.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_596" href="#FNanchor_596" class="label">596</a>
-Windebank to Colonel Gage and Count Leslie, (28 Sept.)/(8 Oct.). <i>Cal. Clar. State Papers</i>,
-i. 1296.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_597" href="#FNanchor_597" class="label">597</a>
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, 63.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_598" href="#FNanchor_598" class="label">598</a>
-Smith to Pennington, 30th Sept. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccccxxix. 70.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_599" href="#FNanchor_599" class="label">599</a>
-Northumberland to Pennington, 16th September. <i>Ibid.</i>, ccccxxviii. 92.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_600" href="#FNanchor_600" class="label">600</a>
-Pennington to the Master of the <i>Luke</i>, of London, 23rd Sept. <i>Ibid.</i>,
-ccccxxix. 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_601" href="#FNanchor_601" class="label">601</a>
-Smith to Pennington, 19th Sept. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccccxxviii. 111.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_602" href="#FNanchor_602" class="label">602</a>
-“De Spaansche Vloot te vernielen sonder eenige aanschouw of reguard te
-nemen op de Havenen, Reeden, of Baayen van de Coningryken, waar de zelve
-zoude zyn te bekomen.” <i>Resol. Stat.-Gen.</i>, 11/21, 20/30 Sept. 1639. Aitzema, <i>Saken van
-Staet en Oorlogh</i>. Bynkershoek, <i>Qu&aelig;stiones Juris Publici</i>, lib. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_603" href="#FNanchor_603" class="label">603</a>
-Northumberland to Pennington, 8th Oct., <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccccxxx. 47;
-Same to Windebank. 9th Oct., <i>ibid.</i>, ccccxxx. 55; Pennington to Northumberland,
-11th Oct., <i>ibid.</i>, 77; Suffolk to Windebank, 11th Oct., <i>ibid.</i>, 66, 68; Pennington’s
-report, 11th Oct., <i>ibid.</i>, 74; Hopton to Windebank, 20/30 Nov., <i>Cal. Clar. State Papers</i>,
-i. 1323; Tromp to Pennington, 11/21 Oct., <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, 80 (translation
-in Windebank’s writing); <i>ibid.</i>, ccccxxxi. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_604" href="#FNanchor_604" class="label">604</a>
-Leslie to Windebank, 11th Oct.; Gage to Windebank, 19/29 Oct. <i>Cal. Clar. State
-Papers</i>, i. 1309, 1313.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_605" href="#FNanchor_605" class="label">605</a>
-Northumberland to Pennington, 15th Oct. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccccxxxi. 18, 30;
-<i>Cal. Clar. State Papers</i>, i. 1324.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_606" href="#FNanchor_606" class="label">606</a>
-Windebank to Gerbier, 18th Oct. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccccxxxi. 35. Gage to
-Windebank, 9/19 Nov. Paper delivered by Hopton to King of Spain, 24th Nov. <i>Cal.
-Clar. State Papers</i>, i. 1321, 1324.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_607" href="#FNanchor_607" class="label">607</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, dxxxviii. 106. The paper is endorsed “Soverainty of the
-Seas: the Dutch attempt on the Spaniards in the Downs.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_608" href="#FNanchor_608" class="label">608</a>
-<i>Resol. St.-Gen.</i>, 16/26, 20/30 Oct., (26 Oct.)/(5 Nov.) 1639. Instructie van Sommelsdijck, Muller,
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, 309; Aitzema, <i>Saken van Staet</i>, ii. 618.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_609" href="#FNanchor_609" class="label">609</a>
-<i>Secrete Resol. St.-Gen.</i>, 11/21 Oct., “Dat hunne meeninge gantsch niet was, het
-recht van Visscherie in de Noortzee van ijemant te stipuleren, versoecken ofte
-reveleren.” Muller, <i>op. cit.</i>, 312. In the following year Vice-Admiral De With
-refused to lower his flag to an English ship-of-war off Hellevoetsluis.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_610" href="#FNanchor_610" class="label">610</a>
-Maine, <i>International Law</i>, 13, 75. Phillimore, <i>Commentaries upon International
-Law</i>, I. xxi. Wheaton, <i>History of the Law of Nations</i>, 54.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_611" href="#FNanchor_611" class="label">611</a>
-Meadows, <i>Observations</i>, p. 3. Raleigh, <i>A Discourse on the Invention of Ships</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_612" href="#FNanchor_612" class="label">612</a>
-Cunningham, <i>The Growth of English Industry and Commerce during the Early
-and Middle Ages</i>, p. 418.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_613" href="#FNanchor_613" class="label">613</a>
-<i>Le Droit International</i>, i. 20.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_614" href="#FNanchor_614" class="label">614</a>
-<i>De Potestate Legis Pœnalis</i>, lib. ii. c. 14. Quoted by Nys, <i>Les Origines du
-Droit International</i>, p. 382, and by Grotius, <i>Mare Liberum</i>, c. vii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_615" href="#FNanchor_615" class="label">615</a>
-D. Fernandus Vasquius, <i>Controversi&aelig; Illustres</i>, Venice, 1564, lib. ii. c. lxxxix.
-s. 30 (p. 356, ed. Frankfurt, 1668).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_616" href="#FNanchor_616" class="label">616</a>
-<i>Mare Libervm sive de Jvre qvod Batavis competit ad Indicana Commercia Dissertatio.</i>
-Lugdvni Batauorvm. Ex officin&acirc; Ludovici Elzevirij Anno 1609. The
-name of Grotius did not appear on the title-page until the second edition in 1618
-(<i>Hvgonis Groti Mare Libervm sive</i> ... vltima editio. Lvgdvni Batavorum, anno
-1618), the year in which he was arrested; and that he was not generally known
-to be the author until this time is shown by Welwood referring to <i>Mare Liberum</i>
-in 1613 as written by “an unknown author,” and by an English State Paper, prepared
-for the negotiations with the Dutch ambassadors in 1618, which contains
-excerpts out of a book called <i>Mare Liberum</i> (<i>Brit. Mus. MSS. Lansd.</i>, 142,
-fol. 383). Grotius was then one of the most prominent men in Holland. Another
-edition was published, also at Leyden, in 1633, together with Paul Merula’s <i>Dissertatio
-de Maribus</i> and Boxhorn’s <i>Apologia pro Navigationibus Hollandorum adversus
-Pontem Hevtervm</i>, under the title, Hugo Grotius, <i>De Mare Libero</i>. It was
-also included in Hagemeier’s <i>De Imperio Maris, variorum Dissertationes</i>, published
-in 1663. A translation in the vernacular appeared at Haarlem in 1636,&mdash;no doubt
-in consequence of the publication of Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i>,&mdash;H. Groti, <i>Vrye
-Zeevaert, ofte Bewys van het Recht dat de Inghesetenen deser gheunieerde Landen
-toekomt over de Oost ende West-Indische Koophandel</i>. Hugo de Groot was born at
-Delft in 1583; he was appointed Advocate-General before he was twenty-four
-years of age, and settled at Rotterdam in 1613, where he became Pensionary of
-that town; he was sent to England as one of the Dutch envoys in that year. In
-1618 he was arrested in connection with the Barnevelt troubles, and in the following
-year condemned to perpetual imprisonment; but he escaped to Paris, where
-he lived for eleven years, and then entering the service of the Queen of Sweden,
-he was employed as her ambassador at the Court of France. He died at Rostock
-in 1645. Some of his works were translated into almost all European languages,
-and even into Persian, Greek, and Arabic.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_617" href="#FNanchor_617" class="label">617</a>
-Tiele, <i>Opkomst van het Nederlandsch Gezag in Oost-Indie</i>; Fruin, <i>Een onuitgegeven
-werk van Hugo de Groot</i>, in <i>De Gids</i>, Derde ser. zesde Jaargang, 1868,
-vierde del; M’Pherson, <i>Annals of Commerce</i>, ii. 209, 226.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_618" href="#FNanchor_618" class="label">618</a>
-“Ante annos aliquot, cum viderem ingentis esse momenti ad patri&aelig; securitatem
-Indi&aelig; qu&aelig; Orientalis dicitur commercium, id vero commercium satis
-appareret obsistentibus per vim atque insidias Lusitanis sine armis retineri non
-posse, operam dedi ut ad tuenda fortiter qu&aelig; tam feliciter cœpissent nostrorum
-animos inflammarem, proposita ob oculos caus&aelig; ipsius iustitia et &aelig;quitate, unde
-nasci το ἑυελπι recte a ueteribus traditum existimabam. Igitur et universa belli
-pr&aelig;d&aelig;que iura, et historiam eorum qu&aelig; Lusitani in nostros s&aelig;ue atque crudeliter
-perpetrassent, multaque alia ad hoc argumentum pertinentia eram persecutus
-amplo satis commentario, quem edere hactenus supersedi.” <i>Hugonis Grotii Defensio
-Capitis quinti Maris liberi oppugnati a Gulielmo Welwodo Iuris Civilis professore
-capite XXVII. eius libri scripti Anglico sermone cui titulum fecit Compendium
-legum Maritimaram.</i> This manuscript of Grotius was discovered in
-1864, along with the work <i>De Jure Pr&aelig;d&aelig;</i>, to which he refers, in a collection of
-MSS. brought to auction, which belonged to the family of Cornets de Groot of
-Bergen-op-Zoom, who had descended in a direct line from the great publicist
-(Fruin, <i>op. cit.</i>) It was printed by Muller in 1872 (<i>Mare Clausum</i>, p. 331). The
-greater work, edited by Hamaker, was published in 1868, <i>Hugo Grotius de Jure
-Pr&aelig;d&aelig; Commentarius</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_619" href="#FNanchor_619" class="label">619</a>
-“Hujus generis est A&euml;r, duplici ratione, tum quia occupari non potest, tum
-quia usum promiscuum hominibus debet. Et eisdem de causis commune est
-omnium Maris Elementum, infinitum scilicet ita, ut possideri non queat, et
-omnium usibus accommodatum: sive navigationem respicimus, sive etiam piscaturum.”
-Cap. v.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_620" href="#FNanchor_620" class="label">620</a>
-Cap. v. “Similiter reditus qui in piscationes maritimas constituti Regalium
-numero censenter, non rem, hoc est mare, aut piscationem, sed personas non
-obligant. Quare subditi, in quos legem ferendi potestas Reipublic&aelig; aut Principi
-ex consensu competit, ad onera ista compelli forte poterunt: sed exteris jus piscandi
-ubique immune esse debet, ne servitus imponatur mari quod servire non
-potest.... Quod in aliis difficile videtur, in hac omnino fieri non potest: quod
-in aliis iniquum judicamus, in hac summe barbarum est, atque inhumanum....
-In tanto mari si quis usu promiscuo solum sibi imperium et ditionem exciperet,
-tamen immodic&aelig; dominationis affectator haberetur: si quis piscatu arceret alios,
-insan&aelig; cupiditatis notam non effugeret.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_621" href="#FNanchor_621" class="label">621</a>
-Not improbably James had <i>Mare Liberum</i> in view in the following sentence in
-his Proclamation of 1609: “Finding that our connivance therein hath not only
-given occasion of over great encroachment upon our regalities, or rather questioning
-for our right.” That it was believed in England that Grotius had James in
-view is shown by the following <i>pr&eacute;cis</i> contained in the volume of official records
-prepared for the ambassadors to the Congress at Cologne in 1673: “K. James
-coming in, the Dutch put out <i>Mare Liberum</i>, made as if aimed at mortifying the
-Spaniards’ usurpation in the W. and E. Indyes, but indeed at England. K. James
-resents it, bids his Amb<sup>r</sup> S<sup>r</sup> D. Carleton complaine of it.” <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-cccxxxix. p. 99. Chas. II., 1673-75.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_622" href="#FNanchor_622" class="label">622</a>
-Cap. v. p. 29. “In hoc autem Oceano non de sinu aut fretu, nec de omni
-quidem eo quod e littore conspici potest controversia est. Vindicant sibi Lusitani
-quicquid duos Orbes interjacet.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_623" href="#FNanchor_623" class="label">623</a>
-Cap. vii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_624" href="#FNanchor_624" class="label">624</a>
-Hvgonis Grotii De Ivre Belli ac Pacis, Libri Tres.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_625" href="#FNanchor_625" class="label">625</a>
-Lib. ii. cap. ii. s. iii. 1, 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_626" href="#FNanchor_626" class="label">626</a>
-Lib. ii. cap. iii. s. viii. “Ad hoc exemplum videtur et mare occupari potuisse
-ab eo qui terras ad latus utrumque possideat, etiamsi aut supra pateat ut sinus,
-aut supra et infra ut fretum, dummodo non ita magna sit pars maris ut non cum
-terris comparata portio earum videri possit. Et quod uni populo aut Regi licet,
-idem licere videtur et duobus aut tribus, si pariter mare intersitum occupare
-voluerint, nam sic flumina qu&aelig; duos populos interluunt ab utroque occupata sunt,
-ac deinde divisa.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_627" href="#FNanchor_627" class="label">627</a>
-Lib. ii. cap. iii. ss. ix.-xii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_628" href="#FNanchor_628" class="label">628</a>
-Lib. ii. cap. iii. s. xiii. 2. “Videtur autem imperium in maris portionem
-eadem ratione acquiri qua imperia alia, id est, ut supra diximus, ratione personarum
-et ratione territorii. Ratione personarum, ut si classis, qui maritimus est
-exercitus, aliquo in loco maris se habeat: ratione territorii, quatenus ex terra cogi
-possunt qui in proxima maris parte versantur, nec minus quam si in ipsa terra
-reperirentur.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_629" href="#FNanchor_629" class="label">629</a>
-Calvo, <i>Le Droit Internat.</i>, i. 348; Ortolan, <i>R&egrave;gles Internationales et Diplomatie
-de la Mer</i>, i. c. v. <a href="#Page_156">See p. 156</a> referring to a State Paper of 1610, which seems to
-be misdated “August 1609.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_630" href="#FNanchor_630" class="label">630</a>
-Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, vol. V. ii. p. 99. The treaty was signed on (30 March)/(9 April)
-1609.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_631" href="#FNanchor_631" class="label">631</a>
-<i>Defensio</i>, 332 (<i>circa</i> 1614); Letter to his brother, 1st April 1617. <i>Epistol&aelig;</i>,
-759.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_632" href="#FNanchor_632" class="label">632</a>
-<i>De Justo Imperio Lusitanorum Asiatico adversus Grotii Mare Liberum.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_633" href="#FNanchor_633" class="label">633</a>
-<i>Ivlii Pacii De Dominio Maris Hadriatici Disceptatio</i>, Lvgdvni M.D.C.XIX.
-Other works were Angelus Mattheacius, <i>De Jure Venetorum et Jurisdictione Maris
-Adriatici</i>, Venezia, 1617; Cornelio Francipane, <i>Alegazion in Jure, per il Dominio,
-della Republica Veneta, del suo Golfo, contra alcune Scritture di Napolitani</i>, 1618;
-Franciscus de Ingenuis, <i>Epistola de Jurisdictione Venet&aelig; Reipublic&aelig; in Mare
-Adriaticum</i>, 1619; P. Zambono, <i>Del Dominio del Mare Adriatico overo Golfo
-di Venezia</i>, Venice, 1620.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_634" href="#FNanchor_634" class="label">634</a>
-M’Crie, <i>Life of Andrew Melville</i>, 206, &amp;c. Selden describes him as <i>Jurisconsultus
-Scotus</i>; and Prynne “A Scot, Professor of the Civil Law” (<i>Animadversions</i>,
-113).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_635" href="#FNanchor_635" class="label">635</a>
-There is a copy in the Library of the University, Cambridge (Aldis, <i>A List of
-Books printed in Scotland before 1700</i>; Dickson and Edmond, <i>Annals of Scottish
-Printing</i>, 415), and I have found a MS. copy among the State Papers, entitled
-“The Sea Law of Scotland, shortly gathered and plainly dressed for the ready
-use of all seafaring men. Dedicated to James VI. of Scotland by William
-Welvod. At Edinborough, A<sup>o</sup> 1590, by Robert Walgrave.” (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-Jas. I., ccviii. No. xvi.) It was printed at Edinburgh by Waldegrave in 1590.
-There are fifteen chapters dealing with the freighting of ships, the powers and
-duties of the master, the relations between the master and the merchants, &amp;c.
-In his preface to the <i>Abridgement</i>, Welwood refers to this earlier work as follows:
-“It pleased your M. some yeeres past most graciously to accept of this birth, in
-the great weaknes and infancie thereof. Therefore it is, that now being strong,
-and by all warrants inarmed, it most thankefully returnes, offring seruice to your
-M. euen for all the coasts of your Highnes dominions, vpon hope to merit your
-former grace.” His last work is dated 1622. It is probable that, like so many of
-his countrymen, he followed King James to London, where all his later works were
-published. He was of an ingenious mind, and, while teaching mathematics at
-St Andrews, obtained a patent for a new mode of raising water from wells, &amp;c.,
-on the principle of the syphon. M’Crie, <i>op. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_636" href="#FNanchor_636" class="label">636</a>
-<i>An Abridgement of all Sea-Lawes, gathered forth of all Writings and Monuments,
-which are to be found among any people or Nation upon the coasts of the
-greate Ocean and Mediterranean Sea: And specially ordered and disposed for the
-use and benefit of all benevolent Sea-farers, within his Maiesties Dominions of Great</i>
-<i>Britanne, Ireland, and the adiacent Isles thereof.</i> London, 1613. Tit. xxvii. deals
-with the “community” of seas. He refers to the work of Grotius as “a verie
-learned, but a subtle Treatise (<i>incerto authore</i>) intituled <i>Mare Liberum</i>.” Welwood’s
-<i>Abridgement</i> was republished in 1636, without alteration; also in the edition of
-1686 of Malyne’s <i>Consuetudo vel Lex Mercatoria</i>, but without his name.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_637" href="#FNanchor_637" class="label">637</a>
-<i>De Dominio Maris Ivribvsque ad Dominivm praecipve spectantibvs Assertio
-brevis et methodica.</i> Cosmopoli, 16th January 1615. It was republished at The
-Hague in 1653, and replied to by Graswinckel. <a href="#Page_412">See p. 412</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_638" href="#FNanchor_638" class="label">638</a>
-In Roman law a distinction was made between the sea and rivers in regard
-to propriety. The sea is “<i>communis omnium naturali jure</i>,” but the rivers are
-“<i>public&aelig; res, quarum proprietas est populi vel reipublic&aelig;</i>.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_639" href="#FNanchor_639" class="label">639</a>
-Welwood’s <i>De Dominio Maris</i> is not mentioned by Grotius, whose tract
-appears to have been written before it was published.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_640" href="#FNanchor_640" class="label">640</a>
-<i>Jus Feudale, Tribus Libris Comprehensum</i>, lib. i., Diegesis 13, p. 103. Edinburgh,
-1603 and 1655. The treatise was dedicated to King James. Craig was
-born in 1538 and died in 1608.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_641" href="#FNanchor_641" class="label">641</a>
-“Quod ad mare attinet, licet adhuc ita omnium commune sit, ut in eo navigari
-possit. Proprietas tamen ejus ad eos pertinere hodie creditur, ad quos proximus
-continens adeo ut mare Gallicum id dicatur quod littus Galli&aelig; alluit, aut ei
-propius est, quam ulli alii continenti. Sic Anglicum, Scoticum, et Hybernicum,
-quod propius Angli&aelig;, Scoti&aelig;, et Hyberni&aelig; est. Ita ut reges inter se, quasi maria
-omnia diviserint, et quasi ex mutua partitione alterius id mare censeatur, quod
-alteri propinquius et commodius est; in quo si delictum aliquod commisum fuerit,
-ejus sit, jurisdictio qui proximum continentem possideat. Isque suum illud mare
-vocat.... Piscationes vero qu&aelig; in proximo mari fiunt, proculdubio eorum sunt
-qui proximum continentem possident. Itaque non sine summa injuria nostra
-Belg&aelig; circa nostras insulas piscantur. Nam licet piscationes in mari non prohibeantur,
-tamen et h&aelig; pr&aelig;scribuntur, et traduntur permiss&aelig; aut prohibit&aelig;
-secundum consuetudinem.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_642" href="#FNanchor_642" class="label">642</a>
-<i>The Maintenance of Free Trade</i>, p. 42 <i>et seq. Consuetudo vel Lex Mercatoria.</i>
-The latter contains chapters on Navigation and Community of Seas, and The
-Distinct Dominions of the Seas. Many editions were published.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_643" href="#FNanchor_643" class="label">643</a>
-Wheaton, <i>Hist.</i>, 51, 153; Phillimore, <i>Commentaries</i>, I. xxxix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_644" href="#FNanchor_644" class="label">644</a>
-<i>Alberici Gentilis Juriscons. Hispanic&aelig; Advocationis</i>, Libri Duo, Hanovi&aelig;, 1613.
-Gentilis was born in 1551 and died, like Craig, in 1608. His most important works
-were <i>De Jure Belli</i> (1588) and <i>De Legationibus</i>. Professor Holland has given an
-account of his life and works in <i>An Inaugural Lecture on Albericus Gentilis</i>,
-delivered at All Souls College, 1874. See also Alessandro de Giorgi, <i>Della Vita e
-delle opere di Alberico Gentili</i>, Parma, 1876.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_645" href="#FNanchor_645" class="label">645</a>
-In a letter from the Earl of Salisbury to Sir Thomas Lake in 1606, referring
-to a dispute between the Dutch and Spanish ambassadors about prizes taken in the
-Narrow Sea, it is said that the king, in putting in force his proclamation about the
-recall of subjects in foreign service (<a href="#Page_119">p. 119</a>), dealt as follows: if a prize had been
-taken and brought into the English limits (chambers), and Englishmen were aboard
-the taker, he dealt with them as having offended against his proclamation, and also
-released the ship as not being good prize. Even more, proceeds the Earl, “although
-there be no English but all Flemings, the king takes all from them and restores
-it [the ship] wherein, tho’ in effect it undoes the end of the States warr by sea,
-because they have no way to come home but by the narrow seas, where the least
-wind that can blow them can hardly keepe themself from the English coasts,
-and so a partiall jugement of &frac12; a mile more or less in a wyde sea looseth or
-winneth their right.” <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xviii. 22.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_646" href="#FNanchor_646" class="label">646</a>
-In 1604, between King James and Philip III. and the Archdukes. Dumont
-<i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, V. ii. 34.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_647" href="#FNanchor_647" class="label">647</a>
-“Etiam non nocet, quod objicitur et longe antehac longo usu servatos in
-hujusmodi qu&aelig;stionibus hos esse fines qui expressi nunc sunt Edicto,” p. 30.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_648" href="#FNanchor_648" class="label">648</a>
-Gryphiander, <i>De Insulis Tractatus</i>, Frankfort, 1623, cap. 14, s. 46.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_649" href="#FNanchor_649" class="label">649</a>
-Moore, <i>A History of the Foreshore and the Law relating thereto</i>, 1888.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_650" href="#FNanchor_650" class="label">650</a>
-“Arguments prooving the Queenes Ma<sup>ties</sup> propertye in the Sea Landes, and
-salt shores thereof, and that no subiect cann lawfully hould eny parte thereof but
-by the Kinges especiall graunte.” It is printed by Moore (<i>op. cit.</i>, 185) from
-<i>Lansdowne MSS.</i>, No. 100. Various copies exist; one in <i>Lansd. MSS.</i>, No. 105,
-belonged to Lord Burghley, and is endorsed by him “Mr Digges. The Case of
-Lands left by ye Seas.” A copy is in <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxxxix. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_651" href="#FNanchor_651" class="label">651</a>
-It may be said that this claim to “royal fish,” made also by Bracton, was not
-peculiar to the English crown. It was made on the Continent from an early period,
-as is shown by the ancient laws of Jutland and of Scania, and the practice in many
-parts of France and among the Normans. It may have been introduced into
-England by William the Conqueror, who granted Dengey Marsh to Battle Abbey,
-with the right to wreck and royal fish.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_652" href="#FNanchor_652" class="label">652</a>
-<i>The Reading of the famous and learned Robert Callis, Esqr., upon the Statute of
-Sewers</i>, 23 Hen. VIII., c. 5, as it was delivered by him at Gray’s Inn in August
-1622. 4th ed., 1824.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_653" href="#FNanchor_653" class="label">653</a>
-Such as “A Collection of divers particulars touching the King’s Dominion and
-Soveraignty in the Fishings, as well in Scotland as in the British Ocean,” by
-Captain John Mason. (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, 1590. <i>Admiralty</i>, Eliz., Jac. I.,
-Car. I., No. 37, fol. 131.) A superior compilation, dealing with the opinions of
-the Civilians, as well as with the Dutch and native fisheries, and founded largely
-on Dee, Hitchcock, Gentleman, and Keymer, is entitled “The King’s Interest in
-the Sea and the Commodities thereof” (<i>ibid.</i>, ccv. 92). Another treatise, also
-dealing with the opinions of the Civilians, the jurisdiction of the Admiral, and
-the rights of the crown of England to the dominion of the narrow seas, is in
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccviii., No. x., fol. 402.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_654" href="#FNanchor_654" class="label">654</a>
-The original Latin copy bearing the date 1633 (confirmed by internal evidence)
-is in the British Museum (<i>Harleian MSS.</i>, 4314). It is entitled <i>Dominium Maris
-Britannici assertum ex Archiuis Historiis et Municipalibus Regni Legibus</i>, per
-D. Johannem de Burgo, 1633; it is dedicated to the king. Other MS. copies in
-the British Museum are <i>Harl.</i>, 1323; <i>Lansdowne</i>, 806, f. 40; <i>Sloane</i>, 1696; and
-<i>Harl.</i>, 4626, the latter being very imperfect. There is also a fine copy in English
-among the State Papers, dated 1637, with this addition to the title: “Also a
-Perticuler Relation concerning the Inastimable Riches and Commodities of the
-British Seas” (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccclxxvi. 68). It was republished in the third
-edition of Malyne’s <i>Consuetudo vel Lex Mercatoria</i>, in 1686.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_655" href="#FNanchor_655" class="label">655</a>
-<i>Mare Clausum</i>, in dedication to King Charles, “Divi parentis tui jussu tentata
-olim adumbrataque, inter schedas sive neglectas sive disjectas per annos amplius
-sedecim mecum latuit; ut imperfecta nimis sic etiam ceu intermortua.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_656" href="#FNanchor_656" class="label">656</a>
-<i>Vindici&aelig; Maris Clausi</i>, p. 25. This was the explanation which Selden gave
-when, in 1652, he was taunted by a Dutch writer, Graswinckel, with having written
-his work to get out of prison. It is surprising that James, who was loquacious and
-fond of displaying his knowledge, never lectured the Dutch ambassadors on the
-themes in <i>Mare Clausum</i>&mdash;as from the rolls of the Edwards; nor was any use
-made of its facts and arguments throughout the protracted negotiations in his
-reign.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_657" href="#FNanchor_657" class="label">657</a>
-A Proclamation concerning a book intituled <i>Mare Clausum</i>, 15th April 1636.
-<i>Fœdera</i>, xx. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_658" href="#FNanchor_658" class="label">658</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxiii. 30; cclxxvi. 58.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_659" href="#FNanchor_659" class="label">659</a>
-Gardiner, <i>Hist.</i>, vii. 330. Poor Prynne, who lost both his ears on this
-occasion, and had his books burned under him in the pillory, became later an
-ardent defender of the king’s dominion in the seas in the reign of Charles II.,
-when he held the office of Keeper of the Records.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_660" href="#FNanchor_660" class="label">660</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cclxxvi. 58; cclxxxiii. 96-98.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_661" href="#FNanchor_661" class="label">661</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 17,677, O, fol. 367. Joachimi to the States-General,
-5/15 Aug. 1635. “Het boeck Seldeni getituleert, soo ich hoore, <i>mare clausum</i>, is
-onder den druck deur ordre van den Coningh.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_662" href="#FNanchor_662" class="label">662</a>
-Joannis Seldeni Mare Clausum seu de Dominio Maris, Libri Duo. <i>Primo</i>,
-Mare, ex <i>Jure Natur&aelig; seu Gentium</i>, omnium hominum non esse Commune, sed
-Dominii privata seu Proprietatis capax, pariter ac Tellurem, esse demonstratur.
-<i>Secundo</i>, Serenissimum Magn&aelig; Britanni&aelig; Regem Maris circumflui, ut individu&aelig;
-atque perpetu&aelig; Imperii Britannici appendicis, Dominum esse, asseritur. Pontus
-quoque Serviet Illi. Londini, excudebat Will. Stanesbeius, pro Richardo Meighen,
-MDCXXXV. The Preface is dated at the Temple, 4th November 1635.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_663" href="#FNanchor_663" class="label">663</a>
-<i>Vindici&aelig;</i>, “proceres apud regem pr&aelig;pollentes.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_664" href="#FNanchor_664" class="label">664</a>
-Proclamation, 15th April 1636.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_665" href="#FNanchor_665" class="label">665</a>
-Rushworth, <i>Historical Collections</i>, ii. 320. Frankland, <i>The Annals of King
-James and King Charles the First</i>, 476. In the Exchequer Order Book, under date
-5th May, the following entry occurs: “Whereas S<sup>r</sup> William Beecher, K<sup>t</sup>, one of
-the clerks of his Ma<sup>ts</sup> most honorable pryvy councill, did this daye deliver in Court
-to the Lord Treasurer, Chauncillor, and Barons of the Courte, a booke lately published
-by John Selden, Esqr., entituled <i>Mare Clausum seu de dominio maris</i>, to be
-kept in this Courte as a faithfull and stronge evidence for the undoubted right of
-the Crowne of England to the Dominion of the Bryttishe seas, which saide booke
-the said Clerke of the Councill did deliver according to an order in that behalfe
-made by the King’s most excellent Ma<sup>tie</sup> and the Lords of His Highness privy
-councell at Whitehall, the third of Aprill last past, a coppie of which said order is
-alsoe delivered with the said booke: It is, therefore, nowe ordered by the said
-Lord Treasurer, Chauncillor, and Barons that the said booke bee receaved by his
-Ma<sup>ties</sup> Remembrancer of this Courte, and by him kypt of record amonge the
-Records of the Courte as his Ma<sup>ties</sup> evidence. And as well the said order of the
-third of Aprill before mentioned as this present order to bee inrolled upon Record.”
-<i>Charles I. Decrees and Orders</i>, Series iii., No. 19, fol. 3<i>b</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_666" href="#FNanchor_666" class="label">666</a>
-Besides the Romans and the Carthaginians, he mentions as among these the
-Cretans, Lydians, Thracians, Phœnicians, Egyptians, Lacedemonians, and a great
-many more; but in most cases the evidence adduced shows merely that naval
-power was exercised.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_667" href="#FNanchor_667" class="label">667</a>
-Lib. i. cap. xvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_668" href="#FNanchor_668" class="label">668</a>
-Lib. i. cap. xx. “Quod ad genus primum attinet (commerce, travelling, navigation);
-humanitatis quidem officia exigunt, ut hospitio excipiantur peregrini
-etiam ut innoxius non negetur transitus.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_669" href="#FNanchor_669" class="label">669</a>
-Lib. i. cap. xxii. “Sed vero ex aliorum piscatione, navigatione, commerciis
-ipsum mare deterius Domino c&aelig;terisque ejus jure gaudentibus fieri non raro
-videmus. Scilicet minui, quod alias inde percipi posset, commodum. Quod
-manifestius cernitur in marium usu, quorum fructus sunt uniones, corallium, id
-genus c&aelig;tera. Etiam minuitur in horas marium hujusmodi abundantia, non aliter
-ac sive metalli fodinarum ac lapicidinarum, sive hortorum, quando fructus eorum
-auferuntur.... Et similis sane ratio qualiscunque piscationis.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_670" href="#FNanchor_670" class="label">670</a>
-Lib. ii. cap. xiii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_671" href="#FNanchor_671" class="label">671</a>
-(1) <i>Ioannis Seldeni Mare Clavsvm sev de Dominio Maris Libris Dvo. Quorum
-argumentum pagin&acirc; vers&acirc;.</i> Juxta exemplar Londinense. Will. Stanesbeii pro
-Richardo Meighen, CIƆ IƆc xxxvi. (12<sup>o</sup>); (2) with the same title and the following
-addition: <i>Accedunt Marci Zverii Boxhornii Apologia pro navigationibus
-Hollandorum adversus Pontvm Hevtervm et Tractatvs Mvtvi commercii et navigationis
-inter Henricvm VII. Regem Angli&aelig; et Philippvm Archidvcem Austri&aelig;</i>.
-Londini, juxta exemplar Will. Stanesbeii pro Richardo Meighen, MDCxxxvi. (8<sup>o</sup>);
-(3) with the title as in the original London edition, and Lvgdvni Batavorvm apud
-Joannem et Theodorvm Maire, 1636 (4<sup>o</sup>). The original London edition was a
-small folio. In all the Dutch editions the plates are badly copied. No. 1 is
-sometimes referred to by English writers as the original edition. No. 2 is the
-one alluded to by Charles in his proclamation of 15th April 1636.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_672" href="#FNanchor_672" class="label">672</a>
-<i>Resol. Holl.</i>, 11/21 Dec. 1635. Quoted by Arendt, <i>Algemeene Geschiedenis des
-Vaderlands</i>, iii., stuck 5, p. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_673" href="#FNanchor_673" class="label">673</a>
-<i>Resol. Holl.</i>, (31 March)/(10 April) 1636. Muller, <i>Mare Clausum</i>, 283.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_674" href="#FNanchor_674" class="label">674</a>
-“Ego, cum Suecia,” he wrote to his brother on January 14, 1636, “multum
-teneat or&aelig; maritim&aelig;, quid aliud pr&aelig;stare possum quam silentium?” Grotii,
-<i>Epistol&aelig;</i>, 864.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_675" href="#FNanchor_675" class="label">675</a>
-Digby to Lord Conway, January 21/31, 1636. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxliv. 58.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_676" href="#FNanchor_676" class="label">676</a>
-The treatise was entitled, <i>Th. Graswinckelii, Jurisc. Delph. Maris Liberi
-Vindici&aelig; adv. virum clarissimum Johannem Seldenum</i>. Arendt, <i>loc. cit.</i>; Muller,
-<i>loc. cit.</i> Goffe, writing from Holland to Archbishop Laud on 2nd February 1637,
-stated that the book in answer to Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i> was “ready to come
-forth, and the author is neither so modest nor discreet that the Elector should
-trust him with any written assurance in that kind,”&mdash;that Charles would not
-interrupt the Dutch fishery that year (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxlvi. 23). We
-shall again find Graswinckel in the thick of the controversy during the first Dutch
-war, p. 411.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_677" href="#FNanchor_677" class="label">677</a>
-<i>Joh. Isacii Pontani Discvssionvm Historicarvm Libri Duo, quibus pr&aelig;cipu&egrave;
-quatenus et quodnam mare liberum vel non liberum clausumque accipiendum dispicitur
-expenditurque, &amp;c.</i>, Harderwick, 1637.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_678" href="#FNanchor_678" class="label">678</a>
-<i>Jacobi Gothofredi De Imperio Maris</i>, in Hagemeier, <i>De Imperio Maris
-Variorum Dissertationes</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_679" href="#FNanchor_679" class="label">679</a>
-<i>Mare Balticum</i> (anon.), 1638; <i>Ante-Mare Balticum, scilicet, an ad Reges Dani&aelig;,
-an ad Reges Poloni&aelig;, pertineat</i> (anon.), 1639; Azuni, <i>Systema dei Principii del
-Diritto Maritimo</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_680" href="#FNanchor_680" class="label">680</a>
-The Case of Ship-Money briefly discussed, according to the Grounds of Law,
-Policy, and Conscience. Presented to the Parliament, November 3, 1640. Stubbe,
-<i>A Further Justification of the Present War against the United Netherlands</i>, 76.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_681" href="#FNanchor_681" class="label">681</a>
-Gardiner, <i>Hist. Engl.</i>, x. 208. Clarendon, iii. 113.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_682" href="#FNanchor_682" class="label">682</a>
-Rushworth, <i>Collections</i>, v. 312.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_683" href="#FNanchor_683" class="label">683</a>
-Penn, <i>Memorials of the Professional Life and Times of Sir William Penn, Knt.,
-from 1640 to 1670</i>, i. 224.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_684" href="#FNanchor_684" class="label">684</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, dxv. i. 37, 38, 39. There is also in one of the collections
-a quotation from Selden’s <i>Mare Clausum</i>, that it was treason not to acknowledge
-the King of England’s dominion in his own seas by striking sails.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_685" href="#FNanchor_685" class="label">685</a>
-Instructions given by the Committee of Lords and Commons for the Admiralty
-and Cinque Ports, to be observed by all captains, officers, and common men
-respectively in this fleet, provided to the glory of God, the honour and service of
-the Parliament, and the safety of the three Kingdoms, March 30, 1647. <i>Ibid.</i>,
-dxv. 40.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_686" href="#FNanchor_686" class="label">686</a>
-Rushworth’s <i>Collections</i>; Penn, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. 242.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_687" href="#FNanchor_687" class="label">687</a>
-Loccenius, <i>De Jure Maritimo</i>, x. s. 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_688" href="#FNanchor_688" class="label">688</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, 27th Feb. 1649.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_689" href="#FNanchor_689" class="label">689</a>
-17th January 1650. <i>A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe</i>, i. 134.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_690" href="#FNanchor_690" class="label">690</a>
-Penn, <i>Memorials</i>, i. 365, 379.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_691" href="#FNanchor_691" class="label">691</a>
-Geddes, <i>History of the Administration of John de Witt</i>, i. 102, 106, 150-157.
-Gardiner, <i>History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate</i>, i. 353, 356.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_692" href="#FNanchor_692" class="label">692</a>
-Geddes, <i>op. cit.</i>, 157, 159, 165. Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, 359. <i>The Nicholas Papers</i>,
-i. 230.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_693" href="#FNanchor_693" class="label">693</a>
-“Wee doe tender the ffriendshipp of the Com̃onwealth of England unto the
-High and Mighty Lords the States Generall of the Vnited Provinces, and doe propound
-that the Amitye, and good Correspondency which hath aunciently beene
-betweene the English Nation and the Vnited Provinces, be not only renewed, and
-preserved inviolably, But that a more strict, and intimate Allyance, and Vnion,
-be entred into by them, whereby there may be a more intrinsicall, and mutuall
-interest of each in other then hath hitherto beene for the good of both.” Submitted
-25 March/6 April. “A briefe Narrative of the Treatie at the Hague betweene the
-hono<sup>ble</sup> Oliver St John, Lord Chiefe Justice of the Court of Com̃on Pleas, and Walter
-Strickland, Esq., Embassado<sup>rs</sup> extraordinary of the Parliament of the Com̃onwealth
-of England, to the great Assembly of the States Generall of the Vnited Provinces
-begun upon the 20th of March 1651 and continued vntill the 20th of June 1651 and
-then broke of <i>re infect&acirc;</i>.” <i>State Papers, Foreign, Treaty Papers (Holland)</i>, No. 46,
-1651.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_694" href="#FNanchor_694" class="label">694</a>
-“We propound, That the two Com̄onwealths may be confederated friends,
-ioyned, and allyed togeather for the defence and Preservation of the Libertyes,
-and ffredomes of the people of each, against all whomsoever that shall attempt
-the disturbance of either State, by Sea or Land, or be declared enemyes to the
-freedome and Libertie of the people liveing under either of the said Governments.”
-Submitted, 17th April. <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_695" href="#FNanchor_695" class="label">695</a>
-<i>Narrative of the Ambassadors</i> (ibid.) Geddes, <i>op. cit.</i>, 157, 159, 165, 171.
-Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, 359, 362, 363. Tideman, <i>De Zee Betwist: Geschiedenis der
-Onderhandelingen over de Zeeheerschappij tusschen de Engelsche Republiek en de
-Vereenigde Provinci&euml;n v&oacute;&oacute;r den ersten Zee-Oorlog</i>, 39-47. Thurloe’s <i>Collections</i>,
-i. 176, 179, 181-186, 188, 193. Aitzema, <i>Saken van Staet en Oorlogh</i>, 657-660.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_696" href="#FNanchor_696" class="label">696</a>
-See <a href="#APPENDIX_K">Appendix K</a>. <i>Narrative of the Ambassadors</i>, p. 23. Aitzema, <i>op. cit.</i>,
-iii. 698-700. MS. of Duke of Portland in <i>Hist. MSS. Com. Thirteenth Report,
-App. I.</i>, 605. Tideman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 47, 48, 49. Geddes <i>op. cit.</i> 178.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_697" href="#FNanchor_697" class="label">697</a>
-Articles 17-33, <i>Narrative of the Ambassadors</i>. These articles are given in
-<a href="#APPENDIX_K">Appendix K</a>. Tideman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 50. Aitzema, <i>op. cit.</i>, iii. 695.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_698" href="#FNanchor_698" class="label">698</a>
-“Over het strijken van vlaggen ende andere Ceremonie&euml;n daeruyt meenichmael
-differentien in zee coomen te ontstaen.” <i>Resol. der Groote Vergadering</i>, 15/25 May
-1651. Tideman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_699" href="#FNanchor_699" class="label">699</a>
-St John and Strickland left The Hague on 20th June, and the Act was recommended
-to the Parliament by the Council of State on 5th August, and passed on
-9th October (Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 82). The essence of the Act was to prohibit
-the importation of extra-European commodities into any territory of the Commonwealth
-except in English vessels, or from Europe unless in English vessels or vessels
-belonging to the country in which the commodities were manufactured or produced.
-The importation of salt-fish or fish-oil, and the exportation of salted fish, were to
-be permitted only in English vessels, but the importation of fresh fish was not
-forbidden. Early in the next year two Dutch doggers, driven into Yarmouth by
-contrary winds, exposed their cod and haddocks for sale and were seized by the
-bailiffs; their release was ordered by the Council of State.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_700" href="#FNanchor_700" class="label">700</a>
-Geddes, <i>op. cit.</i>, 192, 193. Tideman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 89, 96. Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii.
-108. Gardiner, <i>Letters and Papers relating to the First Dutch War, 1653-1654</i>,
-Navy Records Society. In the third volume (1906) of this valuable work the
-papers are brought down to 10th February 1653.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_701" href="#FNanchor_701" class="label">701</a>
-Tideman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 96. Aitzema, <i>op. cit.</i>, iii. 696.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_702" href="#FNanchor_702" class="label">702</a>
-They were Whitelocke, John Lisle, Bond, Scott, Viscount Lisle, and Purefoy.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_703" href="#FNanchor_703" class="label">703</a>
-Cats’ <i>Verbael</i>. Tideman, 94-108. Geddes, 198.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_704" href="#FNanchor_704" class="label">704</a>
-The conferences on the articles were on 3rd, 5th, 6th, 10th, and 13th May.
-The incorporation and union of Scotland with England was proclaimed at Edinburgh
-on the 21st of the preceding month.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_705" href="#FNanchor_705" class="label">705</a>
-Cats’ <i>Verbael</i>, <i>App.</i>, 21. Tideman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 117.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_706" href="#FNanchor_706" class="label">706</a>
-“De dispuyte over ’t recht hetwelck de Engelsche pretenderen privative over
-eenigh ghedeelte van de Zee te hebben, ende in allen ghevalle aan deselve geen
-soodanigh recht in eenigher wijse toe te staen, ende alleen te handelen over de
-vryheijdt ende seeckerheijdt van wederzijts visscherije.” Tideman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 119.
-Aitzema, <i>op. cit.</i>, iii. 708.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_707" href="#FNanchor_707" class="label">707</a>
-Cats’ <i>Verbael</i>. Tideman, 118.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_708" href="#FNanchor_708" class="label">708</a>
-Aitzema, iii. 713. Tideman, 124, 130, 132. The draft instructions were
-dated (April 30)/(May 10), and were approved on May 6/16. A translation of the 7th Article is
-as follows :“The superior officers and captains either already in command of the
-aforesaid squadrons or hereafter appointed, are to be charged to free the ships of
-this country from all search by any one whatever, and to defend them against all
-who try to do them injury, and to release them to the uttermost of their power
-from every one who may have captured them, and further to do whatever their
-ordinary instructions in their commission requires in a sailor-like fashion for the
-service of the country.” By the 5th Article, fifteen men-of-war were to be sent for
-the protection of the “great” (herring) fishery, “which is of so great importance
-to the State,” along with the ordinary national convoy-ships, and the ships which
-the towns of Enkhuizen, Delft, Rotterdam, and Schiedam were accustomed to
-add. Gardiner, <i>Letters and Papers</i>, i. 155.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_709" href="#FNanchor_709" class="label">709</a>
-Tromp’s memorandum was dated (28 Feb.)/(9 March), 1651. The original is apparently
-lost (Tideman, <i>De Zee Betwist</i>, 68); but an account of it is given by his contemporary,
-Aitzema (iii. 731), and is printed in <a href="#APPENDIX_L">Appendix L</a>. Tromp, in his <i>Rescript</i>
-of 14/24 October 1652, justifying and explaining his conduct with regard to the meeting
-with Blake, refers to a memorandum on the subject of the flag which he presented
-to a committee of the States on “Jan. 6/16, 1650/1651,” and which they considered
-in arranging his instructions of “(Feb. 21)/(March 3), 1650/1651” (Gardiner, <i>Letters and Papers</i>, i.
-422). The dates here are those given by Tideman.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_710" href="#FNanchor_710" class="label">710</a>
-“Sonderlinge de swackste sijnde.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_711" href="#FNanchor_711" class="label">711</a>
-Tideman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 68. <i>Resol. Holl.</i>, 1/11 March 1651.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_712" href="#FNanchor_712" class="label">712</a>
-<i>Hollantsche Mercurius</i>, April 1651, p. 49: “Seer jalours, omdat hij niet terstond
-gereedt was voor haar te strijcken.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_713" href="#FNanchor_713" class="label">713</a>
-<i>Resol. St. Gen.</i>, 7/17, 12/22 Oct. 1651. Aitzema, iii. 731. Tideman, 68, 92.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_714" href="#FNanchor_714" class="label">714</a>
-<i>Add. MSS. Brit. Mus.</i>, 11,684, fol. 30.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_715" href="#FNanchor_715" class="label">715</a>
-Bourne’s letter in <i>The Answer of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England
-to three Papers delivered to the Council of State by the Lords Ambassadors
-Extraordinary of the States-General of the United Provinces</i>: and also a <i>Narrative
-of the Late Engagement</i>, &amp;c., <i>Brit. Mus.</i>, (517, k, 15)/(36), p. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_716" href="#FNanchor_716" class="label">716</a>
-Letter to States-General, May 30. <i>Hollantsche Mercurius</i>, May 1652. <i>The
-Answer of the Parliament.</i> Geddes, 209. Tideman, 130.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_717" href="#FNanchor_717" class="label">717</a>
-Blake’s letter, <i>The Answer of the Parliament</i>, p. 8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_718" href="#FNanchor_718" class="label">718</a>
-Tideman, 128, 129. Geddes, 210, 211.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_719" href="#FNanchor_719" class="label">719</a>
-Young’s despatch, 14th May 1652, in <i>The Answer of the Parliament</i>, p. 20.
-Penn’s <i>Memorials</i>, i. 419. Tideman, 197. Gardiner, <i>Letters and Papers relating
-to the First Dutch War</i>, i. 178. <i>The French Occurrences</i>, &amp;c., <i>Brit. Mus.</i>, E, 665,
-6. It may be noted that Tromp, in his <i>Rescript</i> to the States-General (see note,
-p. 398), mentioned that Huyrluyt and van der Saen had received instructions to
-strike only to royal squadrons.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_720" href="#FNanchor_720" class="label">720</a>
-In the Dutch writings the place was described as “Fairle,” “Fayrleigh,”
-“Virly,” “Vierly,” &amp;c. Its position is shown, as Fairlee, in the reproduction of
-the chart from Selden in this book (Fig. 3, p. 121).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_721" href="#FNanchor_721" class="label">721</a>
-<i>The Answer of the Parliament.</i> Gibson, Collections of Naval Affairs, <i>Add.
-MSS.</i>, 11,684, fol. 5<i>b</i>. Geddes, <i>op. cit.</i>, 212. Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 118; <i>Letters
-and Papers</i>, i. 172. Tideman, <i>op. cit.</i>, 135. The Dutch accounts, which vary in
-certain particulars from the English and from one another, are unanimous in saying
-that the first broadside came from Blake’s ship, the <i>James</i>, which would have
-been according to custom, since Tromp did not lower his flag after the third shot.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_722" href="#FNanchor_722" class="label">722</a>
-See his memorandum, p. 398. Tromp wrote to Blake from Calais four days
-afterwards ((23 May)/(2 June)), saying he had intended to salute him, and asking for the
-restoration of a ship taken. In reply Blake accused him of having sought out the
-English fleet, and “instead of performing those usual respects which of right
-belong unto them, and which yourself have often done,” had attacked him. In
-<i>The Answer of the Parliament</i>, p. 11, it is said that one of the Dutch captains who
-had been taken prisoner stated that when he struck to some English men-of-war
-at Calais a few weeks before, Tromp asked him “why he did strike sail to them,”
-saying, “Were you not as strong as they? And being so, why were you afraid?”
-As the above-mentioned letter from Tromp to Blake is given by Gardiner (<i>Letters
-and Papers</i>, i. 216) only as “translated from a Dutch translation of the French
-original,” an authenticated copy of the French original is given in <a href="#APPENDIX_M">Appendix M</a>,
-from Tideman (<i>De Zee Betwist</i>, App. C, p. 202). It is from the archives at The
-Hague (<i>Lias Engeland</i>, 1652 (<i>Copie</i>), and is endorsed by Job. Cor&ntilde;. Rhees, and
-again by N. Ruysch, as identical with the authentic copy. The original of Blake’s
-reply is also given. It is printed by Gardiner as “retranslated from the Dutch
-translation” (<i>ibid.</i>, i. 257), and differs in some points from the original.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_723" href="#FNanchor_723" class="label">723</a>
-<i>The Answer of the Parliament</i>, p. 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_724" href="#FNanchor_724" class="label">724</a>
-<i>Resol. St.-Gen.</i>, (25 May)/(4 June), 3/13 June 1652. Tideman, <i>De Zee Betwist</i>, 164. Articulen
-van Vreede ende Confederatie, &amp;c. <i>Brit. Mus.</i>, 8122, ee. 12&mdash;“Dat hij
-aengaeñ het voeren ofte strijcken van vlagge in de Rencontre mette Engelsche
-Vlooten of Schepen hem bij provisie respectivelijck sal hebben te gedragen en te
-reguleren in sulcker voegen als bij tijden van voorgaende Coningen van Groot-Britaignen
-is gedaan ende gepractiseert geweest.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_725" href="#FNanchor_725" class="label">725</a>
-Tideman, 171.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_726" href="#FNanchor_726" class="label">726</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xxiv. 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_727" href="#FNanchor_727" class="label">727</a>
-Cats, Schaep, and van de Perre to the States-General, 27th June 1652. <i>Add.
-MSS.</i>, 17,677, U, fol. 162. Pauw was officially informed by the Council of State
-that the fleet had put to sea “to execute its designs.” Geddes, <i>op. cit.</i>, 223.
-Gardiner, <i>Letters and Papers</i>, i. 301. The number of Blake’s fleet was variously
-stated as 60, 64, 66, 68, 72 vessels: 60 were counted passing Dunbar.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_728" href="#FNanchor_728" class="label">728</a>
-Letter from Leyden, 4/14 August 1652. <i>Mercurius Politicus</i>, <i>Brit. Mus.</i>, E,
-673, 1. The accounts vary somewhat. <i>Severall Proceedings in Parliament</i>, <i>Brit.
-Mus.</i>, E, 796, 11. <i>A Perfect Diurnall</i>, E, 796, 14. <i>French Occurrences</i>, E, 669, 6. <i>Onstelde-Zee</i>,
-p. 34, (8122, ee. 6)/(11). <i>Hollantsche Mercurius</i>, 1652, p. 70. Gibson in his
-narrative (<i>supra</i>) says he was on board one of the ships (the <i>Assurance</i>) that
-attacked the busses, and that they found them “northwards of the Dogger
-Bank”; but there is no doubt that the locality was far north of the Dogger, off
-Buchan Ness, <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i> 11,684.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_729" href="#FNanchor_729" class="label">729</a>
-<i>Memoirs of Edward Ludlow</i>, 420.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_730" href="#FNanchor_730" class="label">730</a>
-<i>Proc. Council of State</i>, 20th July 1652.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_731" href="#FNanchor_731" class="label">731</a>
-<i>Resol. Holl.</i>, 1652, pp. 343, 364, 387. <i>Hollantsche Mercurius</i>, 1652, p. 86.
-Beaujon, <i>Hist. Dutch Fisheries</i>, 363. <i>Groot Placaet-Boeck</i>, ii. 506. Aitzema,
-<i>Saken van Staet</i>, iii. 810. Penn’s <i>Memorials</i>, i. 526, 527. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-xxv. 25; xxxii. 15; xxxvi. 15, 29, 55; xxxviii. 116; xxxix. 73; xli.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_732" href="#FNanchor_732" class="label">732</a>
-The Declaration and Speech of the Lord Admiral Vantrump, and his setting
-up a great Standard of Broom for the States of Holland, for the Cleering of the
-Narrow Seas of all Englishmen: New Broom sweepes clean, p. 4. <i>Brit. Mus.</i>, E,
-689, 13. A Perfect Account of the Daily Intelligencer, <i>Brit. Mus.</i>, E, 689, 14.
-Gardiner, <i>Hist. of Commonwealth</i>, ii. 151. Geddes, <i>op. cit.</i>, 270, 319.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_733" href="#FNanchor_733" class="label">733</a>
-<i>Journals of the House of Commons</i>, vii. 145.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_734" href="#FNanchor_734" class="label">734</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, <i>Interregnum</i>, xxix. 42-47.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_735" href="#FNanchor_735" class="label">735</a>
-This collection is in a treatise in the British Museum (<i>Harleian MSS.</i>, 4314),
-entitled “The Sovereignty of the English seas vindicated and proved by some few
-Records (amongst many others of that kynd) remayning in the Tower of London,”
-Collected by William Ryley, senior. Among the State Papers (<i>Dom.</i>, xxxv. 35) is
-a copy of the ordinance of John, in Latin, French, and English, endorsed by Bradshaw,
-“A transcript of a record in the time of King John touching the striking of
-sail; brought in by Mr Ryley, Keeper of the Records in the Tower, by order of
-the Council of State.” It contains the following note by Ryley, referring, presumably,
-to the <i>Black Book of the Admiralty</i>: “The French is in a very ancient and
-fair MS. book amongst the rest of the maritime laws, and undoubtedly was a
-record of the Admiralty Court, then in the possession of the registrar of that Court,
-the names of the Lord Admiral and registrar being written at the beginning of the
-book, which is now remaining with Mr Selden, and is of no less authority than
-antiquity.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_736" href="#FNanchor_736" class="label">736</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, <i>Interregnum</i>, xxix. 48.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_737" href="#FNanchor_737" class="label">737</a>
-Masson, <i>Life of Milton</i>, iv. 149, 226.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_738" href="#FNanchor_738" class="label">738</a>
-<i>Of the Dominion or Ownership of the Sea, written at first in Latin and entituled</i>
-Mare Clausum seu De Dominio Maris <i>by John Selden, Esqr: translated into English
-and set forth with some Additional Evidences and Discourses</i> by Marchamont
-Needham. Published by special Command, London, 1652. Another edition, by
-“J. H. Gent,” was published in 1663, “perfected and restored.” It is, however,
-so far as Selden’s text is concerned, merely Needham’s translation, careful inspection
-showing that it was printed from the same type.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_739" href="#FNanchor_739" class="label">739</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, <i>Interregnum</i>, xxxiv. 31-49; vol. 33, No. 14. The copy
-belonging to Cromwell, and bearing his autograph, was sold in 1908.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_740" href="#FNanchor_740" class="label">740</a>
-In some dedicatory verses Neptune thus addresses the Great Commonwealth
-of England:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Go on (great State!) and make it known<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Thou never wilt forsake thine own,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Nor from thy purpose start:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But that thou wilt thy power dilate,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Since Narrow Seas are found too straight<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">For thy capacious heart.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">So shall thy rule, and mine, have large extent:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Yet not so large, as just, and permanent.”<br /></span>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p>The work appeared when Tromp was lord of the narrow seas; the preface is dated
-19th November, the day before Blake’s defeat.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_741" href="#FNanchor_741" class="label">741</a>
-<i>De Dominio Serenissim&aelig; Genvensis Reipublic&aelig; in Mari Ligustico.</i> Rome, 1641.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_742" href="#FNanchor_742" class="label">742</a>
-<i>Maris Liberi vindici&aelig; adversus Petrum, Baptistam Burgum Ligustici Maritimi
-Dominii Assertorem.</i> Hag&aelig; Comitum, 1652.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_743" href="#FNanchor_743" class="label">743</a>
-Cap. vi. p. 118. See <i>supra</i>, p. 367.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_744" href="#FNanchor_744" class="label">744</a>
-<i>Joannis Seldeni vindici&aelig; secundum integritatem existimationis su&aelig;, per convitium
-de Scriptione Maris Clausi, petulantissimum mendacissimumque insolentius
-l&aelig;s&aelig; in Vindiciis Maris Liberi adversus Petrum Baptistam Burgum, Ligustici
-Maritimi Dominii assertorem. Hag&aelig; Comitum jam nunc emissis.</i> London, 1653.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_745" href="#FNanchor_745" class="label">745</a>
-<i>Maris Liberi Vindici&aelig; adversus Gulielmum Welwodum Britannici Maritimi
-Dominii assertorem.</i> Hag&aelig; Comitum, 1653. Other works were Mord. von der
-Reck, <i>Disputatio juridica de Piscatione</i>, 1652; Martin Schook, <i>Imperium Maritimum</i>,
-Amsterdam, 1653; Stephen S. Burman, <i>Mare Belli Anglicani injustissim&egrave;
-Belgis illata</i>, Helena, 1652. The latter contains a pretty full account of the old
-“Burgundy” treaties, and of others concluded by England with various countries
-in the seventeenth century, in which, as the author points out, no claim was made
-to the sovereignty of the seas.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_746" href="#FNanchor_746" class="label">746</a>
-For example, Robinson, <i>Briefe Considerations concerning the Advancement of
-Trade and Navigation</i>, 1649.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_747" href="#FNanchor_747" class="label">747</a>
-Stubbe, <i>A Further Justification</i>, 91.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_748" href="#FNanchor_748" class="label">748</a>
-Geddes, i. 282, 289, 292. Gardiner, ii. 128, 183, 329. Aitzema, iii. 804.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_749" href="#FNanchor_749" class="label">749</a>
-Geddes, i. 315. Gardiner, ii. 340. <i>Verbael gehouden door de Heeren H. van
-Beverningk, W. Nieuport, J. van de Perre, en A. P. Jongestal, als Gedeputeerden
-en Extraordinaris Ambassadeurs van de Heeren Staeten Generael der Vereenigde
-Nederlanden, aen de Republyck van Engelandt</i>, i. 7, 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_750" href="#FNanchor_750" class="label">750</a>
-Clarendon, <i>The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars</i>, vi. 607. Gardiner,
-<i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 111.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_751" href="#FNanchor_751" class="label">751</a>
-<i>Verbael of the Ambassadors</i>, 10, 21, 35.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_752" href="#FNanchor_752" class="label">752</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, 84. Thurloe’s <i>State Papers</i>, i. 394.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_753" href="#FNanchor_753" class="label">753</a>
-21st July 1653. <i>Verbael</i>, 53.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_754" href="#FNanchor_754" class="label">754</a>
-25th July, <i>Verbael</i>, 56, 59, 62. Geddes, i. 341. Thurloe, i. 382.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_755" href="#FNanchor_755" class="label">755</a>
-The Deputies to the Council, (27 July)/(6 August); reply of the Council, 1/11 August.
-<i>Verbael</i>, 64, 66, 70.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_756" href="#FNanchor_756" class="label">756</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 75, 142, 143, 150. Thurloe, i. 370, 417, 418. Geddes, i. 362.
-Gardiner, ii. 350,</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_757" href="#FNanchor_757" class="label">757</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 155. “7. Dat alle schepen onder het ressort van haer Ho. Mog.
-t’ huys behoorende, in alle rencontres in de Zee, aen Oorloghschepen van de
-Republyck van Engelandt sullen draegen het selvige respect, ende deselve eere
-doen, als sy ooit voor desen syn gewoon geweest te doen.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_758" href="#FNanchor_758" class="label">758</a>
-Stubbe, <i>A Further Justification</i>, 92. Stubbe says he had an account of part
-of the proceedings from one of the English commissioners; he had also the use of
-official manuscripts.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_759" href="#FNanchor_759" class="label">759</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 189. “Syn Excellencie ... gesyt ... dat sy daerom voor af
-meenden, dat moeste vaststellen haer Reght ende Dominie in de naeuwe Zee, ende
-het stuck van haere Visscherye, ende ... eyndelyck besluytende dat die pointen
-van de Zee ende Visscherye geadjusteert synde, het vordere werck seer souden
-faciliteren.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_760" href="#FNanchor_760" class="label">760</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 189, 190, 196, 198, 214.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_761" href="#FNanchor_761" class="label">761</a>
-Art. xviii. <i>Verbael</i>, 203.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_762" href="#FNanchor_762" class="label">762</a>
-Stubbe, <i>A Further Justification</i>, 62.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_763" href="#FNanchor_763" class="label">763</a>
-Art. xv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_764" href="#FNanchor_764" class="label">764</a>
-Gardiner, <i>Letters and Papers</i>, i. 49, 170.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_765" href="#FNanchor_765" class="label">765</a>
-Art. xvi. <i>Verbael</i>, 203.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_766" href="#FNanchor_766" class="label">766</a>
-Art. xiv. “That the inhabitants and subjects of the United Provinces may,
-with their ships and vessels, furnished as merchantmen, freely use their navigation,
-sail, pass and repass in the seas of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Isles within
-the same, (commonly called the British Seas) without any wrong or injury to be
-offered to them, by the ships or people of this Commonwealth, but on the contrary
-shall be treated with all love and friendly offices; And may likewise with their
-men of war not exceeding such a number as shall be agreed upon in this treaty,
-sail, pass and repass through the said seas, to and from the countries and parts
-beyond them: but in case the States-General shall have occasion to pass the said
-seas with a greater number of ships of war, they shall give three months before
-notice of their intentions to the said Commonwealth, and obtain their consent for
-the passing of such fleet, before they put them forth upon these seas, for preventing
-all jealousies and misunderstandings between the States by means thereof.”
-<i>Verbael</i>, 202.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_767" href="#FNanchor_767" class="label">767</a>
-Sir H. Vane, who was the chief director of the war, is reported to have said
-that the interests of the two countries “were as irreconcilable as those of rivals,
-trade being to both nations what a mistress is unto lovers; that there never could
-intervene any durable peace, except both nations did unite by coalition, or the
-English subjugate the others and reduce them into a province, or by strict conditions
-and contrivances ensure themselves against the growth and future puissance
-of the Dutch.” Stubbe, <i>op. cit.</i>, 119.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_768" href="#FNanchor_768" class="label">768</a>
-The Ambassadors to the States-General, 18/28 November. <i>Verbael</i>, 215.
-Geddes, i. 372.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_769" href="#FNanchor_769" class="label">769</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 216, 219.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_770" href="#FNanchor_770" class="label">770</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 229, 230, 236.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_771" href="#FNanchor_771" class="label">771</a>
-See pp. 78-81.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_772" href="#FNanchor_772" class="label">772</a>
-Art. xviii. “Antiqui intercursus et commercii tractatus, provisionaliter pristinam
-vim et auctoritatem obtineant.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_773" href="#FNanchor_773" class="label">773</a>
-Beukelsz, who invented the modern method of pickling herrings, is said by
-some to have died in 1347, by others in 1397, and by a few in 1401. Stubbe says
-the deputies assigned the year 1414 to the discovery, but no year is mentioned in
-their report.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_774" href="#FNanchor_774" class="label">774</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 237, 238, 240-243. Stubbe, <i>op. cit.</i>, 64.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_775" href="#FNanchor_775" class="label">775</a>
-The statement referred to the licenses for fishing on the Zowe. <a href="#Page_65">See p. 65</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_776" href="#FNanchor_776" class="label">776</a>
-Whitelock to Thurloe, 10th March 1654. Thurloe’s <i>Collection</i>, ii. 158.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_777" href="#FNanchor_777" class="label">777</a>
-Council of State Order Book, 6th Aug. 1653. <i>State Papers, Dom., Interregnum.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_778" href="#FNanchor_778" class="label">778</a>
-Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, VI. ii. 125. “X. Subditis Serenissimi Regis
-Sueci&aelig; liberum erit, per Maria atque Littora, qu&aelig; in Ditione hujus Reipublic&aelig;
-sunt, piscari, atque Haleces, aliosque Pisces capere; dummodo mille Navium
-numerum piscantes non excedant. Neque inter piscantes ullum iis impedimentum,
-aut, molestia asseratur Neque &agrave; Navibus pr&aelig;sidiariis hujus Reipublic&aelig;,
-neque ab iis quibus Diplomate permissum est, res suas privatim suo marte repetere,
-nec a piscantibus in Boreali plag&acirc; Britanni&aelig;, piscationis nomine onera aliqua exigantur,
-immo omnes humaniter atque amice tractentur, usque retia in Littore
-siccare, quemque opus est commeatum ab eorum Locorum Incolis, justo pretio
-comparare sibi licebit.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_779" href="#FNanchor_779" class="label">779</a>
-Stubbe, <i>op. cit.</i>, 68. Robinson, <i>England’s Safety in Trades Encrease</i>, 1641.
-Ibid., <i>Considerations Concerning the Advancement of Trade and Navigation</i>, 1649.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_780" href="#FNanchor_780" class="label">780</a>
-The Deputies to the States-General, 7/17 December 1653. <i>Verbael</i>, 246.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_781" href="#FNanchor_781" class="label">781</a>
-It may be noted that Philip Meadows now became Latin Secretary to the
-Council in place of Milton. He was afterwards an extremely able opponent of
-the English claims to the sovereignty of the sea, and wrote the best book against
-them. <a href="#Page_524">See p. 524</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_782" href="#FNanchor_782" class="label">782</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 260, 261. MS. Commentary, Stubbe, <i>op. cit.</i>, 60.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_783" href="#FNanchor_783" class="label">783</a>
-“Ende dat sy alleenlyck spraecken van de naeuwe Zee.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_784" href="#FNanchor_784" class="label">784</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 231.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_785" href="#FNanchor_785" class="label">785</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 272.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_786" href="#FNanchor_786" class="label">786</a>
-Stubbe, <i>op. cit.</i> Geddes has shown that Beverning, acting secretly with De
-Witt, had clandestine communications with Cromwell as early as 8th December,
-clearly with reference to the exclusion of the Prince of Orange. <i>Op. cit.</i>,
-i. 385.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_787" href="#FNanchor_787" class="label">787</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 273.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_788" href="#FNanchor_788" class="label">788</a>
-Ad. 15. ut ad angustum mare (quod Britannicum vocant) ibique ad certas
-regulas cum distinctione locorum et littorum ita restringatur, ut idem ille honor
-eademque dignitas, qu&aelig; vexilli supremi et veli dimissione unquam delati aut
-observati fuerunt, in posterum adhuc deferantur, et observentur. <i>Verbael</i>, 275.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_789" href="#FNanchor_789" class="label">789</a>
-“Ende met eenen voortgaende tot het 15 Artikel raekende het stryken van
-de Vlagge, &amp;c., syn wederom gerepeteert alle de argumenten ende redenen, die in
-voorige Conferentien syn geallegeert geweest, ende wierdt ten uytersten by den
-Heer Generael daer in gepersisteert, alleenlyck, dat hy die explicatie byvoeghde op
-haere laetste antwoorde, daer sonder eenige distinctie van de rencontres in zee
-gesprooken wordt, dat sy dat verstonden van de naeuwe Ze&euml;n die de Britannische
-Ze&euml;n genoemt worden.” <i>Verbael</i>, 278, 27 December 1653/4 January 1654.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_790" href="#FNanchor_790" class="label">790</a>
-<i>Secrete Resol. St. Generael</i>, 9/19 Feb. 1654. <i>Verbael</i>, 300.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_791" href="#FNanchor_791" class="label">791</a>
-“Met seer scherpe woorden, ende hatelycke illatien tegensprack.” <i>Ibid.</i>, 307.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_792" href="#FNanchor_792" class="label">792</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, 320. “Angustum mare, quod vulgo Britannicum mare appellatur.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_793" href="#FNanchor_793" class="label">793</a>
-“Tot de naeuwe Zee expresselyck gerestringeert.” <i>Ibid.</i>, 288.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_794" href="#FNanchor_794" class="label">794</a>
-<i>Verbael</i>, 283, 285, 289.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_795" href="#FNanchor_795" class="label">795</a>
-Geddes, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. 380.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_796" href="#FNanchor_796" class="label">796</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, 290, 293, 311, 319. Geddes, i. 378-393. Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 368,
-369.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_797" href="#FNanchor_797" class="label">797</a>
-“Gelyk sy in ’t 14 van de 27 Artikelen haere Brittannische Z&euml;n selver gedefinieert
-hadden.” <i>Verbael</i>, 396.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_798" href="#FNanchor_798" class="label">798</a>
-“Daer op syne Hoogheyt in colere seyde, dat sonder de versoghte elucidatie
-ende interpretatie, hy de Ratificatie niet konde uytwisselen.” <i>Ibid.</i>, 397.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_799" href="#FNanchor_799" class="label">799</a>
-Next day Cromwell entertained the Dutch ambassadors and their wives to a
-sumptuous banquet, and after dinner he passed them a paper with the remark,
-“We have hitherto exchanged many papers, but in my opinion this is the best.”
-It was the first verse of Psalm cxxxiii., which they all then sang together solemnly&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Behold, how good a thing it is,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And how becoming well,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Together such as brethren are<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">In unity to dwell.”<br /></span>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<p><i>Verbael</i>, 419. Aitzema, iii. 927. Geddes, i. 422.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_800" href="#FNanchor_800" class="label">800</a>
-Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, VI. ii. 75. <i>Verbael of the Ambassadors</i>, 356.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_801" href="#FNanchor_801" class="label">801</a>
-XIII. Item, quod naves et navigia dictarum Fœderatarum Provinciarum,
-tam bellica et ad hostium vim propulsandam instructa, quam alia, qu&aelig; alicui e
-navibus bellicis hujus Reipublic&aelig; in maribus Britannicis obviam dederint, vexillum
-suum e mali vertice detrahent, et supremum velum demittent, eo modo, quo ullis
-retro temporibus, sub quocunque anteriori regimine, unquam observatam fuit.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_802" href="#FNanchor_802" class="label">802</a>
-Lawson, from the <i>Fairfax</i>, at Aberdeen, to the Admiralty Committee, 13th
-May 1654. Same to Blackburn, 13th May. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lxxi. 78, 79.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_803" href="#FNanchor_803" class="label">803</a>
-Cockraine to the Admiralty Committee, 11th Aug. 1654. <i>Ibid.</i>, lxxiv. 39.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_804" href="#FNanchor_804" class="label">804</a>
-Heaton to the Admiralty Committee, 15th Aug. 1654. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-lxxiv. 61, 62.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_805" href="#FNanchor_805" class="label">805</a>
-The Skagerreef or Scaw, the north point of Jutland, Denmark. The ships
-were going to the north in connection with the war between Denmark and Sweden.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_806" href="#FNanchor_806" class="label">806</a>
-Richard Cromwell, the Protector, to General Montague, 18th March 1659.
-Thurloe’s <i>Collections</i>, vii. 633.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_807" href="#FNanchor_807" class="label">807</a>
-The Information of William Gunnell, and others, of Great Yarmouth, 25th
-September 1654. <i>Verbael of the Ambassadors</i>, 600, 601.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_808" href="#FNanchor_808" class="label">808</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, 612, 614, 646, 689, 711. From the sworn depositions made before the
-Burgomasters of Enkhuisen, it appears that that town had at least 246 busses at
-the Yarmouth fishing in 1654.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_809" href="#FNanchor_809" class="label">809</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. MSS. Stowe</i>, 152, fol. 135.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_810" href="#FNanchor_810" class="label">810</a>
-Proc. Council of State, 9th June 1654. Vice-Admiral Lawson, in transmitting
-to the Admiralty the request from the Governor of Calais, said it had been the
-practice for the French and Spanish men-of-war to suffer the fishermen of each
-nation to fish freely, although the war between these Powers had lasted so long.
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xcviii. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_811" href="#FNanchor_811" class="label">811</a>
-Bills to repeal it were introduced into the Commons in 1656, 1657, and 1658.
-<i>Commons’ Journals</i>, vii. 451, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_812" href="#FNanchor_812" class="label">812</a>
-<i>An Act for the Encouraging and Increasing of Shipping and Navigation</i>, 12
-Car. II., c. 18, cl. v. 1660.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_813" href="#FNanchor_813" class="label">813</a>
-<i>An Act for the Encouragement of Trade</i>, 15 Car. II., c. 7, ss. xiii., xiv. 1663.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_814" href="#FNanchor_814" class="label">814</a>
-<i>An Act against importing Cattle from Ireland and other parts beyond the Seas,
-and Fish taken by Foreigners</i>, 18 &amp; 19 Car. II., c. 2, s. ii. Any ling, herring,
-cod, pilchard, fresh or salted, dried or bloated, or any salmon, eels, or conger,
-taken by aliens and brought into the realm, were liable to be seized by any person
-for his own benefit and the benefit of the poor of the parish. The prohibition to
-import stockfish and live eels was withdrawn by 32 Car. II., c. 2, 1680.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_815" href="#FNanchor_815" class="label">815</a>
-“To the High and Mighty Monarch Charles ye Second, &amp;c., the humble
-petition of Simon Smith, late agent for the Royall Fishing,” MS. prefixed in a
-copy of <i>The Herring-Bvsse Trade</i>, and <i>A True Narration of the Royall Fishings of
-Great Brittaine and Ireland</i>, bound together in vellum, elaborately ornamented in
-gold, and bearing the royal arms and the letters C. R. on both sides.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_816" href="#FNanchor_816" class="label">816</a>
-Sir Edward Nicholas to the Lord Mayor, 23rd July 1660. <i>Remembrancia</i>,
-p. 143. There is an undated copy among the State Papers (<i>Domestic</i>) erroneously
-calendared under September 1662 (vol. lix. 6: compare vol. xli. 19, under date
-September 1661). The original is in the Guildhall. Simon Smith was employed
-in the preliminary work connected with the Society, and in 1662 rendered an
-account of his disbursements, amounting to &pound;456, including &pound;150 “for setting the
-poor to work so as to breed up teachers for making nets, &amp;c.” <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-liv. 77.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_817" href="#FNanchor_817" class="label">817</a>
-<i>Commons’ Journals</i>, viii. 179. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Charles II., xxi. 27.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_818" href="#FNanchor_818" class="label">818</a>
-<i>Commons’ Journals</i>, viii. 203, 215, 222, 228. <i>Lords’ Journals</i>, xi. 228<i>b</i>.
-According to the Dutch ambassador, the Bill was not passed without much debate
-and opposition (De Witt’s <i>Brieven</i>, iv. 68), no doubt principally owing to the
-provisions concerning fish-days. An amendment was carried limiting Wednesday
-to be a fish-day in all inns, taverns, and victualling houses.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_819" href="#FNanchor_819" class="label">819</a>
-<i>Lords’ Journals</i>, xi. 239. De Witt’s <i>Brieven</i>, iv. 66. The preamble was of
-the usual kind: that the honour and greatness of the king and the power and
-wealth of the kingdom depended upon shipping and commerce, the fisheries being
-one of the greatest means thereto; and it proceeded to say that the kingdom was
-specially suited for fishery by reason of the number of harbours, and the sea from
-which foreign nations took such great wealth, set their people on work, and made
-their towns populous and prosperous. The foreigners were not content with a
-temperate and moderate exercise of the liberty of fishing on our coasts, which was
-permitted to them by favour of the king, but fished with illegal instruments which
-served to destroy the brood of fish in some places, causing the greatest poverty;
-and in other places they came with whole fleets among the nets and boats of
-subjects, to the great damage and hindrance of their lawful business. The king
-was therefore most humbly beseeched to establish completely and vigorously and
-maintain the rights of his crown over the seas, and to give such orders and instructions
-to the admirals and commanders at sea as might be necessary to this effect.
-The first clause prohibited trawling, whether by subjects or foreigners, within eight
-miles of the coast of Sussex and the coast to the westwards, and other clauses
-prohibited the use of set-nets or other nets with small meshes on the coast “or
-within half seas over,” or the use of seines by foreigners within ten miles of any
-part of the coast to the hindering of subjects in their fishing. Offenders were to
-be brought in as prize. These provisions were in part aimed against the French.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_820" href="#FNanchor_820" class="label">820</a>
-<i>Act for the Fishings and Erecting of Companies for promoting the same</i>, 12th
-June 1661. <i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, vii. 259.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_821" href="#FNanchor_821" class="label">821</a>
-<i>Records Convent. Roy. Burghs</i>, iii. 523, 15th September 1660. The commissioners,
-taking into consideration how advantageous it would be to the increase
-of trade and the common weal of the whole burghs and kingdom “that the
-fisching tread be erected within the samyn, and wnderstanding by thair registeris
-and wther paperis in thair clarkis handis that the said tread hes bein endevoured
-in former tymes but not takin full effect,” instructed that the records be searched,
-and the matter represented to Parliament.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_822" href="#FNanchor_822" class="label">822</a>
-<i>Rec. Conv. Roy. Burghs</i>, iii. 626. <i>Acta Parl. Scot.</i>, vii. 64, 103, 195, &amp;c.
-<i>Ibid.</i>, William and Mary, c. 103.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_823" href="#FNanchor_823" class="label">823</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xli. 20.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_824" href="#FNanchor_824" class="label">824</a>
-ΙΧΘΨΟΘΗΡΑ, <i>or the Royal Trade of Fishing, Discovering the inestimable Profit
-the Hollanders have made thereof, with the vast Emoluments and Advantages that
-will redound to his Sacred Majesty and his three Kingdoms by the Improvement of it.
-Now seasonably published by Command for the Benefit of the Nation.</i> London, 1662.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_825" href="#FNanchor_825" class="label">825</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, 1663, lxxiii. 56; lxxxvi. 104, 105, 106; xci. 53; ciii. 130;
-cix. 2. “But Lord!” says Pepys, “to see how superficially things are done in the
-business of the Lottery, which will be the disgrace of the Fishery, and without
-profit.” <i>Diary</i>, iv. 369 (ed. 1893).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_826" href="#FNanchor_826" class="label">826</a>
-<i>Commons’ Journals</i>, viii. 378, 383. 14 Car. II., c. 28.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_827" href="#FNanchor_827" class="label">827</a>
-Lord Southampton to the Masters of the Trinity House, 31st July 1662. The
-Masters to the Lord Treasurer, 23rd August. The Lord Treasurer to the king,
-2nd Sept. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lix. 7; <i>Entry Book</i>, vii. 258. Pepys’ <i>Diary</i>, ii.
-403, 404.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_828" href="#FNanchor_828" class="label">828</a>
-<i>Commons’ Journals</i>, viii. 497, &amp;c. <i>Lords’ Journals</i>, xi. 555, &amp;c. 15 Car. II.,
-c. 16. All herrings, white or red, were to be “justly and truly packed, and of one
-time of taking, salting, saving, or drying, and equally well packed in the midst and
-every part of the barrel.” This was to be done by a sworn packer, and the barrel
-branded after the Dutch method.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_829" href="#FNanchor_829" class="label">829</a>
-John Collins, <i>Salt and Fishery</i>, 2. 1682.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_830" href="#FNanchor_830" class="label">830</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ciii. 130.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_831" href="#FNanchor_831" class="label">831</a>
-<i>Diary</i>, vol. iv. 177, 192, 233, 263, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_832" href="#FNanchor_832" class="label">832</a>
-The ambassadors were Van Beverwaert (Louis of Nassau), Simon van Hoorn,
-the burgomaster of Amsterdam, Michael van Gogh, and Joachim Ripperda. Pontalis,
-<i>John de Witt</i>, i. 263. <i>Brieven, geschreven ende gewisselt tusschen de Heer
-Johan de Witt, Raedt-Pensionaris en Groot-Segelbewaerder van Hollandt en West-Vrieslandt,
-ende de Gevolmaghtigden van den Staedt der Vereenigde Nederlanden</i>,
-&amp;c., iv. 1, 46.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_833" href="#FNanchor_833" class="label">833</a>
-De Witt’s <i>Brieven</i>, iv. 109, 119. Clarendon’s <i>Memoirs</i>, iii. 434. There are
-numerous papers referring to these negotiations and the subsequent treaty, including
-“the articles which the States’ Ambassadors Extraordinary are to procure
-from his Majesty of Great Britain,” among <i>State Papers, Foreign Treaty Papers
-(Holland)</i>, 1651-1665, Bdl. 46.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_834" href="#FNanchor_834" class="label">834</a>
-<i>Res. Holl.</i>, 13th Sept. 1659, 261. <i>Ibid.</i>, 1660, p. 749; 1661, p. 181.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_835" href="#FNanchor_835" class="label">835</a>
-<i>Hollantsche Mercurius</i>, 1661, pp. 9, 10. De Witt’s <i>Brieven</i>, iv. 48, 61, 68, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_836" href="#FNanchor_836" class="label">836</a>
-De Witt to Van Beuningen, 27 December 1660/6 January 1661; the same to Van Beverwaert and
-Van Hoorn, 4/14 Jan. 1661; Van Beverwaert to De Witt, 3/13, 4/14 Jan. 1661. <i>Brieven</i>,
-i. 344; iv. 65, 66, 68. Pontalis, <i>John De Witt</i>, i. 267.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_837" href="#FNanchor_837" class="label">837</a>
-“Dutch Amb<sup>rs</sup> Memoriall desiring the Act of Parliament about fishing may
-not pass,” 17th Dec. 1660. Copy in <i>S. P., Dom.</i> Collection, Chas. II., vol. 339,
-p. 581. It is to the effect that the extraordinary ambassadors were informed that
-a Bill had been introduced into the Lower Chamber regarding the herring fishery,
-in which foreigners were to be prohibited from fishing within eight or ten
-“leagues” (“huiet ou dix lieu&euml;s”) from the coast, and praying the king to prevent
-the said Bill from becoming an Act of Parliament. It contains the usual
-arguments as to immemorial possession, treaty rights, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_838" href="#FNanchor_838" class="label">838</a>
-<i>Brieven</i>, i. 344; iv. 66, 69, 81, 87, 89, 105, 109.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_839" href="#FNanchor_839" class="label">839</a>
-Boreel to De Witt, (25 Nov.)/(5 Dec.) 1653. <i>Ibid.</i>, i. 54.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_840" href="#FNanchor_840" class="label">840</a>
-Letters from Van Beuningen to De Witt, 1/11 Feb. 1661 to (20 Feb.)/(2 March) 1662; from
-De Witt to Van Beuningen, 3/13 Oct. 1661 to 12/22 March 1662. <i>Brieven</i>, i. 432-514.
-<i>Secreete Resoluti&euml;n van de Staaten van Holland en West-Vriesland</i>, ii. 246. Pontalis,
-<i>John de Witt</i>, i. 276. Pontalis scarcely grasps the question of the fishery
-when he says: “The free right of fishing still more directly concerned the States-General;
-they could not prevail in England to allow them the enjoyment of it,
-<i>so long as it had not been accorded to them by France</i>, and they therefore made it
-a condition of their treaty with Louis XIV.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_841" href="#FNanchor_841" class="label">841</a>
-Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, VI. ii. 412. Aitzema, <i>Saken van Staet en Oorlogh</i>,
-x. 305. The article was as follows: “IV. L’obligation reciproque de
-s’entr’aider et deffendre, s’entend aussi pour estre Sa Majest&eacute; et lesdits Seigneurs
-Estats Generaux, leurs Pays et Sujets, conservez et maintenus en tous leurs Droits,
-Possessions, Immunitez et Libertez, tant de Navigation, que de Commerce et
-P&ecirc;che, et autres quelconques par Mer et par Terre, qui se trouveront leur appartenir
-par le Droit commun, ou estre acquis par des Traitez faits ou &agrave; faire, en la
-maniere susdite, envers et contre tous Roys, Princes, Republiques, ou autres Estats
-Souverains,” &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_842" href="#FNanchor_842" class="label">842</a>
-“Herr Downingh de voorsz. antwoorde begonde te justificeren, door de gepretendeerde
-Souverainiteyt van de Engelschen op de Zee, ... ende hebbe ick rondt
-uyt verklaert, dat eer wy die imaginaire Souverainiteyt souden erkennen, ofte by
-maniere van concessie van de Engelschen ontfangen, die vryheydt tot het bevaeren
-ende bevisschen van de Zee, die ons van de nature, ende nae ’t Volckeren-reght
-competeerde, wy alle den laetsten druppel bloedt daer by souden laeten.” De
-Witt to Van Beverwaert and Van Hoorn, 14/24 June 1661 (<i>Brieven</i>, iv. 144); the
-same to Van Beuningen, 4/14 Dec. 1661 (<i>ibid.</i>, i. 471).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_843" href="#FNanchor_843" class="label">843</a>
-Dumont, <i>op. cit.</i>, VI. ii. 424. “X. Item, quod naves et navigia dictarum
-Fœderatarum Provinciarum, tam bellica et ad hostium vim propulsandam instructa,
-quam alia, qu&aelig; alicui e navibus bellicis dicti Domini Regis Magn&aelig;
-Britanni&aelig; in maribus Britannicis obviam dederint, vexillum suum e mali vertice
-detrahent, et supremum velum demittent, eo modo quo ullis retro temporibus,
-unquam observatam fuit.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_844" href="#FNanchor_844" class="label">844</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, lv. 14.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_845" href="#FNanchor_845" class="label">845</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, xliv. 64. Pepys’ <i>Diary</i>, ii. 135, 151. According to Rugge
-(<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 10, 116), quoted by Lord Braybrooke, Holmes insisted
-upon the Swede’s lowering his flag, and had even fired a shot to enforce the
-observance; but the ambassador sent a message to the English frigate to assure
-the captain, on the word of honour of an ambassador, that the king by a verbal
-order had given him leave and a dispensation, and upon this false representation
-he was allowed to proceed. The Swedes, it may be added, were always disinclined
-to strike to English ships.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_846" href="#FNanchor_846" class="label">846</a>
-Pepys’ <i>Diary</i>, ii. 145, 146, 148, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_847" href="#FNanchor_847" class="label">847</a>
-Pontalis, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. 313. It would appear that on a previous occasion Lawson
-had returned the salute with the flag, for in the controversy with France on the
-striking of the flag a few years later, the Dutch stated, as an instance of the
-custom with England, that Lawson had shown this courtesy to De Ruyter off
-Tangiers. De Witt’s <i>Brieven</i>, ii. 474.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_848" href="#FNanchor_848" class="label">848</a>
-<i>Commons’ Journals</i>, viii. 548, 553; <i>Lords’ Journals</i>, xi. 599, 614; <i>Parlt. Hist.</i>,
-iv. 291, 308; Clarendon’s <i>Memoirs</i>, ii. 235-237, 288; Hume, <i>Hist. of England</i>,
-lxiv.; Pepys’ <i>Diary</i>, iv. 31, 42, &amp;c.; Pontalis, <i>John de Witt</i>, i. 309.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_849" href="#FNanchor_849" class="label">849</a>
-<i>The Dutch Drawn to the Life</i>, 1664. “Never was anything so unanimously
-applauded by men of all persuasions and interest as a Dutch Warre, which is the
-universal Wish of the people.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_850" href="#FNanchor_850" class="label">850</a>
-16 &amp; 17 Car. II.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_851" href="#FNanchor_851" class="label">851</a>
-The king to the Duke of York, 22nd March 1665. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>,
-cxv. 76.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_852" href="#FNanchor_852" class="label">852</a>
-The author of <i>The Dutch Drawn to the Life</i> expatiated on the inestimable
-benefit the Dutch derived from the British seas by encroaching on our fisheries, and
-asserted that the only way to keep them under was “by commanding the narrow
-sea, their coast and ours,”&mdash;the narrow sea, according to this writer’s view, or at
-least the “right and dominion of England,” extending as far as the Mediterranean
-(<a href="#Page_75">p. 75</a>).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_853" href="#FNanchor_853" class="label">853</a>
-See Mahan, <i>The Influence of Sea Power upon History</i>; Colomb, <i>Naval Warfare</i>;
-Pontalis, <i>op. cit.</i>; Clarendon’s <i>Memoirs</i>, ii. 111.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_854" href="#FNanchor_854" class="label">854</a>
-<i>Groot Placaet-Boeck, inhoudende de Placaten ende Ordonnantien van de H. M.
-Heeren Staten Generael der Vereenighde Nederlanden</i>, iii. 291-293. <i>Resol. Holl.</i>,
-1665, 24, 59, 78, 210, 383. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cxiv. 104. <i>Ibid.</i>, <i>Warrant Book</i>,
-18, p. 213; 23, pp. 283, 475. <i>Ibid.</i>, clxxviii. 172.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_855" href="#FNanchor_855" class="label">855</a>
-<i>S. P., Dom.</i> Collection, Chas. II., vol. 339, p. 591. It is a copy in English.
-The petition was from the “Burgomasters, Eschevins, Counsellors, and the rest of
-the body of Citizens.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_856" href="#FNanchor_856" class="label">856</a>
-“Warrant to ye Lord Chancellor for affixing ye great seale to an instrument
-containing a grant of fishinge in these seas for a certain number of boates belonging
-to ye City of Bruges, yearely,” July 17, 1666. <i>State Papers, Warrant Book</i>, 23,
-p. 27. “Patent in favour of the Citie of Bruges in fflanders for a libertie of fishing
-in the British Seas with 50 saill of ships,” 29th August 1666. <i>Advoc. MSS.</i>, 25. 3. 4.
-The draft or copy of the Royal Letter which followed upon the Warrant is given
-in <a href="#APPENDIX_N">Appendix N</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_857" href="#FNanchor_857" class="label">857</a>
-<a href="#Page_617">See p. 617</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_858" href="#FNanchor_858" class="label">858</a>
-<i>Resol. Holl.</i>, 11/21 Jan. 1665, p. 54. <i>Hollantsche Mercurius</i>, 15th Oct. 1665, p. 143.
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, 4th Nov. 1665, cxxxvi. 35.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_859" href="#FNanchor_859" class="label">859</a>
-<i>Groot Placaet-Boeck</i>, iii. 295, 296.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_860" href="#FNanchor_860" class="label">860</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, clxvi. 8, 46, 77, 100; clxvii. 148; clxxv. 146; clxxxi. 113.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_861" href="#FNanchor_861" class="label">861</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, clxxi. 30; clxxii. 7, 41. At the Yarmouth fishing this year (1666) “the
-sea was fuller of herrings than was ever known”; no sooner were the nets in the
-water than they were full of fish, and many herrings had to be thrown overboard,
-so that it was locally rhymed, “twelve herrings a penny fills many a hungry belly.”
-The exceptional abundance was attributed by the fishermen to the war having
-practically put a stop to the Dutch fishing off our coast, so that the shoals came to
-the inshore grounds in a body and not broken up. The herring fishing was also
-unusually successful during the third Dutch war. In 1666, however, the herring
-fishing in Ireland was likewise uncommonly productive. <i>Ibid.</i>, clxxiv. 52, 100,
-129, 156; clxxv. 49.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_862" href="#FNanchor_862" class="label">862</a>
-<i>Resol. Holl.</i>, 21 June/1 July 1667, p. 210. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccxvi. 143; ccxvii. 77.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_863" href="#FNanchor_863" class="label">863</a>
-De Witt to Van Beuningen, 12/22 July 1666 to 18/28 July 1667; Van Beuningen to
-De Witt, (21 June)/(1 July) 1666 to 12/22 July 1667. “Raisons par lesquelles il paro&icirc;t, que le
-contre-salut du Pavillon, aux rencontres des Flotes de Sa Majest&eacute; Tr&egrave;s-Chr&eacute;tienne
-et des &Eacute;tats G&eacute;n&eacute;raux, est d’une justice toute &eacute;vident.” De Witt’s <i>Brieven</i>, ii.
-473, &amp;c. Pontalis, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. 353.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_864" href="#FNanchor_864" class="label">864</a>
-<i>Articles touching Navigation and Commerce, concluded at Breda</i>, 21/31 July 1667.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_865" href="#FNanchor_865" class="label">865</a>
-“Dat de scheepen van oorlois (<i>sic</i>) van den Coninck van Groot Brittannien door
-die van desen staet met het strijcken van de vlagge gesalveert werdende, van haere
-sijde vervolgens met het strijcken van haere vlagge contra salueren sullen.” Extract
-from <i>Secret Resolution, States-General</i>, 11th May 1667, Instructions to Ambassadors.
-<i>Treaty Papers (Breda)</i>, 1667, Bdl. 73.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_866" href="#FNanchor_866" class="label">866</a>
-Art. xix. <a href="#Page_455">See p. 455</a>. Van Beuningen to De Witt, 5/15 April 1667. De Witt
-to Van Beuningen, 18/28 April, 20/30 June, (27 June)/(1 July) 1667. <i>Brieven</i>, ii. 483, 487, 528, 533.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_867" href="#FNanchor_867" class="label">867</a>
-<i>Treaty of Breda</i>, Art. vii. It may have been in connection with the interpretation
-of this clause that the High Court of Admiralty asked the Trinity House
-their opinion as to the end of the English Channel westwards, and got the following
-answer: “We shall not presume,” said the Masters, on 2nd January 1668, “to
-determine matters that have for some ages past been controverted, and for anything
-that we at present know have not had a full resolution or any precedent for
-deciding questions relating thereunto;” but the opinion of “the past and present
-age,” with which they concurred, was that when any commander brought Scilly
-N.N.W. he had entered “the Channel of England.” <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>,
-30,221.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_868" href="#FNanchor_868" class="label">868</a>
-<i>Treaty of Peace and Alliance between Charles I. and Louis XIV., concluded at
-Breda</i>, 21/31 July 1667. Article xvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_869" href="#FNanchor_869" class="label">869</a>
-<i>Treaty of Peace and Alliance between Charles II. and Frederick III., concluded
-at Breda</i>, 21/31 July 1667. Art. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_870" href="#FNanchor_870" class="label">870</a>
-In the negotiation of subsequent treaties, controversy was usually occasioned
-about the wording of these articles relating to the date of cessation of hostilities
-on the sea, the United Provinces or France pointing to the treaty of Breda as a
-precedent, while the English took their stand on Cromwell’s treaty of 1654. In
-the treaty of Ryswick in 1697, between the United Provinces and France, the
-term “British Channel” was employed in conjunction with the Baltic and North
-Sea (Art. ii.); and in the treaty between William III. and Louis, signed at Ryswick
-on the same day, the words were “in the British and North Seas, as far as the
-Cape St Vincent” (Art. x.) In the negotiation with France in 1712 for a suspension
-of hostilities, the French insisted on the words, “the seas which surround
-the British Isles,” citing the treaty of Breda, while the British were equally
-obstinate to have the term <i>in maribus Britannicis</i> inserted, as in the treaty of
-1654, arguing that the “error” of Breda had been rectified in the later treaty of
-Ryswick; the result being that in one article “the Channel, the British Sea, and
-the North Sea” were specified, and in another the phrase was “in the Channel and
-North Sea.” Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, VIII. i. 306. Burchett, <i>A Complete
-History of the Most Remarkable Transactions at Sea, &amp;c.</i>, p. 38.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_871" href="#FNanchor_871" class="label">871</a>
-<a href="#Page_474">See p. 474</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_872" href="#FNanchor_872" class="label">872</a>
-This was the farthing known later as the “Lucas farthing,” from the gibes of
-Lord Lucas in his attack on the king’s policy made in the debate on the Subsidy
-Bill in the House of Lords in 1670. Speaking of the scarcity of money in the
-kingdom, he said: “What supply is preparing for it, my Lords? I hear of none,
-unless it be of copper farthings; and this is the metal that is to indicate, according
-to the inscription on it, ‘The Dominion of the Four Seas.’” <i>Parl. Hist.</i>, iv. 473.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_873" href="#FNanchor_873" class="label">873</a>
-“Omtrent het point van de Vlagge, saegen wy alhier seer gaerne iets seeckers
-gedetermineert, ten minsten dat wy moghten weten waer mede men buyten nieuwe
-feytelyckheydt ende Oorloge konde verblyven; dat een Fregatje ofte een Kitsje
-een gantsche Oorloghs-Vloote soude doen strycken, is notoirlyck intolerabel.”
-De Witt to Meerman, 12/22 June 1668. The same to the same, (29 Feb.)/(9 March), 3/13, 7/17 April,
-(24 April)/(4 May), (22 May)/(1 June) 1668. De Witt to Meerman and Boreel, 17/27 March, (29 May)/(8 June) 1668.
-Meerman to De Witt, (28 March)/(7 April), 6/16 June 1668. De Witt’s <i>Brieven</i>, iv. Sir William
-Temple to Lord Arlington, 2/12 Feb., 6/16 March 1668; the same to the Lord-Keeper
-Bridgeman, (25 Oct.)/(4 Nov.) 1668. <i>Works</i>, iii. 134, 199, 348. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, 1668,
-ccxxxv. 49, 62; <i>ibid.</i>, 1665, cxxiii. 67. Aitzema, <i>Saken van Staet en Oorlogh</i>, v. 390.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_874" href="#FNanchor_874" class="label">874</a>
-The king to the Duke of York, 31st Oct. 1669. <i>State Papers, Entry Book</i>,
-31, fol. 37.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_875" href="#FNanchor_875" class="label">875</a>
-Pepys’ <i>Diary</i>, 20th Dec. 1668, viii. 184.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_876" href="#FNanchor_876" class="label">876</a>
-Pontalis, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 24.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_877" href="#FNanchor_877" class="label">877</a>
-The king to the Duke of York, 26th June 1669. <i>State Papers, Entry Book</i>,
-31, fol. 29. Instructions by the Duke of York to Sir Thomas Allin, 6th July
-1669. <i>Ibid.</i>, cclxii. 120. A marginal memorandum on the latter document says,
-“This rule was adjusted with Colbert, the French Ambassador here, <i>but nothing
-passed in writing but this</i>.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_878" href="#FNanchor_878" class="label">878</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, 1669, cclxi. 82-87.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_879" href="#FNanchor_879" class="label">879</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, 1668, ccli. 191; 1670, cclxxiv. 157; cclxxv. 43; cclxxvi.
-206; cclxxxi. 15; 1671, ccxc. 5, &amp;c. Temple’s <i>Memoirs</i>, iii. 433. Justice,
-<i>Dominion and Laws of the Sea</i>, 298.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_880" href="#FNanchor_880" class="label">880</a>
-Bynkershoek, <i>De Dominio Maris</i>, cap. ii. iv. As elsewhere explained (<a href="#Page_557">p. 557</a>),
-it was this custom which helped to prepare the way for the acceptance of the
-principle that now determines the extent of the territorial sea on an open coast&mdash;viz.,
-the range of guns.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_881" href="#FNanchor_881" class="label">881</a>
-Hume, <i>Hist, of England</i>, c. lxv. Temple’s <i>Memoirs and Letters</i>. Pontalis,
-<i>John de Witt</i>. Macaulay, <i>Hist.</i>, i. c. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_882" href="#FNanchor_882" class="label">882</a>
-<i>Parl. Hist.</i>, iv. 456. Hume, <i>op. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_883" href="#FNanchor_883" class="label">883</a>
-De Witt’s <i>Brieven</i>, iv. 837. Pontalis, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 122.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_884" href="#FNanchor_884" class="label">884</a>
-Sir Leoline Jenkins to Sir Thomas Allin, Admiral of the Blue Flag, 8th Oct.
-1670. <i>Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins</i>, ii. 699.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_885" href="#FNanchor_885" class="label">885</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 30,221, ff. 46<i>b</i>, 48<i>b</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_886" href="#FNanchor_886" class="label">886</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 30,221, fol. 47<i>b</i>. The affidavits of three English
-sailors who witnessed the meeting of the <i>Merlin</i> and the two Dutch convoyers
-off Flamborough. The sailors swore “that they exchanged guns but did not
-strike their flags, but went away with their flags abroad.” This evidence was
-obtained to magnify the offence; the position assigned, “off the Flamborough,”
-makes its value doubtful.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_887" href="#FNanchor_887" class="label">887</a>
-“A Draft made by Sir Leoline Jenkins about the King’s Sovereignty in the
-British Seas.” <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 30,221, fol. 46<i>b</i>. Undated, but probably
-referring to this case.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_888" href="#FNanchor_888" class="label">888</a>
-Sir William Temple to Sir John Temple, 14th Sept. 1671. <i>Works</i>, iii. 501.
-Pontalis, <i>John de Witt</i>, 126, 127. Hume, <i>Hist. of England</i>, cap. lxv. <i>State
-Papers, Dom.</i>, 1671, ccxcii. 45, 77, 78, 81, 215. Evelyn’s <i>Diary</i> (ed. 1850), ii. 69.
-<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 30,221.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_889" href="#FNanchor_889" class="label">889</a>
-Pontalis, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 130, 134. Hume, <i>op. cit.</i>, cap. xlv. Sir William Temple
-to his brother, 23rd May 1672. <i>Works</i>, iii. 505. Clarendon’s <i>Memoirs</i>, ii. 289.
-<i>England’s Appeal</i>, p. 22. <i>State Papers, Entry Book</i>, 24, fol. 54. <i>Ibid.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>,
-1671, ccxciv. 127; 1672, cccii. 55, 112, 233; ccciii. 206. <i>Entry Book</i>, 34, f. 147.
-It was in connection with the offers of the Dutch on this occasion or a little later
-in the year that Sir Leoline Jenkins made the following pronouncement as to
-the king’s rights to the dominion of the seas. He was asked by Secretary
-Coventry “what his Majesty, his heirs and successors, Kings of England, may
-reasonably pretend to be signified by these words, <i>en la pleine et entiere jo&uuml;issance
-du droit de pavillon</i>”? Jenkins replied (1) that the King of England for
-the time being was Lord of these seas, where he had the right of his flag acknowledged,
-and that these seas were, as much as that watery element is capable of
-being so in its nature, no less a domain of the Crown than the Honour of
-Greenwich or the Manor of Eltham; (2) that the <i>droits souveraines</i> of the king
-in his seas against strangers had all the legal requisites of a prescription beyond
-the memory of man, and did not consist in one individual point, as for instance
-in having the flag struck to, or in having the liberty of fishing acknowledged by
-yearly sums of money; but in all the several rights, honours, and perquisites that
-a sovereignty is capable of producing, and have been enjoyed by former kings of
-England, with this difference from all <i>seigneuries</i> that move from a <i>mesne</i> Lord,
-or Lord Paramount, that our kings hold this as they do their crown, from God
-alone, and by their sword. <i>Life</i>, ii. 697.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_890" href="#FNanchor_890" class="label">890</a>
-The account was brought to Court by Lieutenant Churchill, afterwards the
-great Duke of Marlborough, who was serving under Lord Ossory.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_891" href="#FNanchor_891" class="label">891</a>
-Pontalis, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. 239. Hume, <i>loc. cit. State Papers, Dom.</i>, <i>Entry Book</i>,
-24, f. 57; <i>ibid.</i>, 34, f. 164; cccii. 130; ccciii. 26, 72, 211-218; ccciv. 9, 11, 20,
-21, 25, 36; cccvii. 169; <i>Foreign Entry Book</i>, 21, ff. 1, 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_892" href="#FNanchor_892" class="label">892</a>
-Hume, <i>loc. cit.</i> Pontalis, <i>loc. cit.</i> Temple’s <i>Works</i>, i. 175; iii. 505. <i>Parl.
-Hist.</i>, iv. 512. <i>Hollantsche Mercurius</i>, 1672, p. 50. Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>,
-VII. i. 163. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccii. 210; ccciv. 21, 22; cccvi. 27; <i>Entry Book</i>,
-31, f. 90. <i>Ibid.</i>, 34, f. 157.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_893" href="#FNanchor_893" class="label">893</a>
-Mahan, <i>op. cit.</i> Colomb, <i>op. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_894" href="#FNanchor_894" class="label">894</a>
-9/19 March, 5/15 Sept. 1672. <i>Groot Placaet-Boeck</i>, iii. 292, 298. The embargo was
-renewed in the next year.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_895" href="#FNanchor_895" class="label">895</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxv. 108, &amp;c.; cccxvi. 43.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_896" href="#FNanchor_896" class="label">896</a>
-Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, VII. i. 206. Hume, <i>op. cit.</i>, c. lxv. In <i>State
-Papers, Foreign, Treaty Papers</i> (<i>Breda</i>), 1667, Bdl. 73 (as at present arranged),
-are a number of papers belonging to these negotiations and the later ones at
-Cologne in 1673, consisting mostly of draft articles, with copious notes by the
-plenipotentiaries. In one, marked “1st project as framed,” Art. xiv. refers to
-the flag as follows, the words in brackets being inserted here from a second copy:
-“That the ships and vessells of the United Provinces, as well men-of-war as others,
-be they single ships or in Fleets how great soever, meeting in any part within ye
-Brittish seas, with any one of ye ships of war (yachts) or other vessells w’soever
-of ye said K. of Gr. Brittain, or in his service and wearing his flagg, colours (or
-Jack) shall strike their flaggs and lower their Topsailes untill they be passed by,
-as a Ancient and undoubted Right belonging to the said K., and which hath been
-payd and performed to his R<sup>ll</sup> progenitors in all times.” The fishery article (xxiv.)
-was as follows, the words within brackets being taken from another copy, to fill up
-a blank: “And the said States acknowledging his said Maj<sup>ts</sup> ancient and undoubted
-Right in the Brittish Seas, as they do hereby own and acknowledge ye same, Doe
-further promise and agree, that they and their successors will from henceforth pay
-to his said Maj. his Heirs and successors, for euer, at the Receipt of his Exchequer,
-a yearly sum̄ of ... (10<sup>mte</sup>&mdash;as likewise ye yearly summe of 2<sup>mt</sup> sterling by ye
-yeare at ye Receipt of his Ma<sup>tys</sup> Treasury of his Kingdom of Scotland) ... sterling
-by the year, in consideration of his Maj<sup>ts</sup> license and permission to them and
-their subj<sup>ts</sup> to fish in the said seas and upon his Ma<sup>tys</sup> coasts.” Another article
-(xxv.) provided for the payment of &pound;1,000,000 for the charges of the war, &pound;400,000
-in the following October, and the remainder later.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_897" href="#FNanchor_897" class="label">897</a>
-Hume, <i>loc. cit.</i> Temple’s <i>Memoirs</i>, i. 166. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxi. 75, 82,
-206; cccxiii. 233. <i>Commons’ Journals</i>, ix. 246. Dumont, <i>op. cit.</i>, VII. i. 206.
-<i>Hollantsche Mercurius</i>, 1672, p. 265.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_898" href="#FNanchor_898" class="label">898</a>
-<i>Brief Animadversions on, Amendments of, and Additional Explanatory Records
-to the Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England, concerning the Jurisdiction
-of Courts, compiled by the late famous Lawyer, Sir Edward Coke, Knight,
-&amp;c.</i>, 1669.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_899" href="#FNanchor_899" class="label">899</a>
-England’s <i>Improvement Reviv’d: Digested into Six Books</i>, 1670.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_900" href="#FNanchor_900" class="label">900</a>
-Roger Coke, <i>A Discourse of Trade</i>, 1670.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_901" href="#FNanchor_901" class="label">901</a>
-William de Britaine, <i>The Dutch Usurpation, or a Brief View of the Behaviour of
-the States-General of the United Provinces towards the King of England</i>, 1672.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_902" href="#FNanchor_902" class="label">902</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccviii. 143.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_903" href="#FNanchor_903" class="label">903</a>
-<i>A Justification of the Present War against the United Netherlands, wherein the
-Declaration of his Majesty is vindicated, and the War proved to be Just, Honourable,
-and Necessary; the Dominion of the Sea explained, and his Majesty’s Rights thereunto
-asserted; the Obligations of the Dutch to England, and their continual Ingratitude:
-Illustrated with Sculptures. In Answer to a Dutch Treatise entitled,
-Considerations upon the Present State of the United Netherlands.</i> By an English
-Man, 1672.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_904" href="#FNanchor_904" class="label">904</a>
-8th July 1872. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxii. 166.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_905" href="#FNanchor_905" class="label">905</a>
-Benson to Williamson, 28th June, 9th July 1672. Stubbe to Williamson, 8th
-July. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxii. 45, 166, 184. The warrant was to Mr Thurloe
-and Mr Bish of Lincoln’s Inn. Stubbe made considerable use of the book, citing
-it as “MSS. Commentary of the Treaty and Articles betwixt the English and the
-Dutch in 1653.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_906" href="#FNanchor_906" class="label">906</a>
-<i>A Further Justification of the Present War against the United Netherlands,
-illustrated with several Sculptures.</i> By Henry Stubbe, a lover of the Honour and
-Welfare of Old England, &amp;c., 1673. Unfortunately for Stubbe, he tried his hand
-on another line, and was arrested and imprisoned in the same year for denouncing,
-in his “Paris Gazette,” the Duke of York’s marriage with Princess Mary of Modena.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_907" href="#FNanchor_907" class="label">907</a>
-<i>Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins</i>, i. 3. For the use of the plenipotentiaries a volume
-of transcripts of documents, mostly State Papers, and chiefly in the handwriting
-of Williamson’s clerks, was prepared, dealing with the claims to the sovereignty of
-the sea in its various phases. It comprised 613 folio pages, and forms volume
-339 of the Domestic series of Charles II. There is a long memorandum in regard
-to the striking of the flag, consisting for the most part of brief paragraphs reciting
-precedents (and many of them are omitted), and arranged under the following
-heads: (1) Strikeing in Generall; (2) Whole Fleets to Single Ships and a Greater
-Number to a Lesser; (3) Till they be passed by to keepe downe their Flag in sight
-of ye English; (4) Within the Brittish Seas, What the Brittish Seas are, &amp;c., where
-done, &amp;c. What Places esteemed according to this Practice to be within ye
-Brittish Seas; (5) This done as a Duty and Right and not only as a Civillity.
-Some of the papers have notes on them, apparently penned by the ambassadors
-at Cologne.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_908" href="#FNanchor_908" class="label">908</a>
-In one of the papers in the volume provided for the use of the ambassadors,
-containing a copy of the fishery article put forward by Cromwell in 1653 and afterwards
-withdrawn, is the following, with a sidenote referring to the “king’s instructions
-to the special ambassadors”: “Lastly, that y<sup>e</sup> subiects of y<sup>e</sup> States
-generall shall for y<sup>e</sup> future abstayne from fisheing vpon y<sup>e</sup> Countreys and shores
-of any of his Ma<sup>tyes</sup> Dominions w<sup>thout</sup> leaue and Passeports first obtayned. One
-thing more I must obserue to you relating to those six propositions particularly
-that of y<sup>e</sup> fishery. In his Ma<sup>tyes</sup> former Instructions to you vpon that Point you
-were bid to consent to y<sup>e</sup> leauing out that Article in case y<sup>e</sup> Dutch should be
-obstinate vpon it. But his Ma<sup>ty</sup> by progress of tyme finding that his Subiects
-seem fonder thereof, bids me now to direct you to insist vpon that, as vpon
-y<sup>e</sup> rest and to frame it as neare as you can according to y<sup>e</sup> Words set down in
-y<sup>e</sup> Reply.” Then after Cromwell’s article is the following: “Ye Art. of the
-Fishery as contained in y<sup>e</sup> Project, 1673.” It is the same as that given in the
-previous year (note, p. 491),&mdash;the part referring to the contribution of &pound;2000 for
-Scotland being interpolated,&mdash;except that it concludes with this sentence, “In
-w<sup>ch</sup> fisheing y<sup>e</sup> said States shall oblidge themselues that their Subiects shall not
-come w<sup>th</sup>in one league of y<sup>e</sup> shoares of England and Scotland,” which is the first
-mention of a three-mile limit that has been discovered. Sir Arnold Braems suggested
-to Arlington, in August 1673, that the king should insist in the treaty for
-an annual payment of &pound;10,000 or &pound;12,000 for their free fishing on his coasts, and
-that &pound;3000 of this should be devoted to the bringing over of Dutch families and
-fishing-busses to England, a project which was then being tried by more or less
-surreptitious methods. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, vol. 336, No. 295.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_909" href="#FNanchor_909" class="label">909</a>
-<a href="#Page_461">See p. 461</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_910" href="#FNanchor_910" class="label">910</a>
-The ambassadors to the Earl of Arlington, 8/18 Aug., (26 Aug.)/(5 Sept.), 13/23 Sept., (23 Sept.)/(3 Oct.),
-3/13 Oct. 1673. <i>Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins</i>, i. 68, 86, 87, 109, 126, 133.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_911" href="#FNanchor_911" class="label">911</a>
-Penn was in error in supposing that “Finisterre” in the subsequent treaty
-was <i>finis terr&aelig;</i>, and meant the Land’s End in England (Granville Penn, <i>Memorials
-of the Professional Life and Times of Sir William Penn</i>, ii. 255). It was described
-as “Finisterre, in Galicia,” by the Dutch ambassadors in 1668. See
-p. 469.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_912" href="#FNanchor_912" class="label">912</a>
-The ambassadors to Arlington, (29 Aug.)/(8 Sept.), 2/12, 13/23 Sept., (23 Sept.)/(3 Oct.), 3/13 Oct. 1673.
-<i>Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins</i>, i. 91, 95, 109, 117, 120, 125, 133.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_913" href="#FNanchor_913" class="label">913</a>
-The same to the same, (24 Oct.)/(3 Nov.), 11/21, 14/24 Nov. 1673, (23 Dec. 1673)/(2 Jan. 1674), 2/12 Jan., 3/13 Feb.
-1674. <i>Ibid.</i>, i. 151, 170, 171, 223, 235, 237, 279.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_914" href="#FNanchor_914" class="label">914</a>
-The same to the same, 10/20 Oct. 1673 to 3/13 Feb. 1674. <i>Ibid.</i>, i. 139, &amp;c. <i>State
-Papers, Foreign, Treaty Papers</i> (<i>Breda</i>, sic), Bdle. 73. There were prolonged
-discussions as to the extent of the British seas both in regard to the article on
-the flag and that on the cessation of hostilities on the sea, as shown by the very
-numerous notes on the draft articles. The ambassadors were of opinion with
-regard to the latter article that St George’s Channel and the sea between England,
-Ireland, and Scotland were comprehended in the term “the Channel,” a point
-which was left for the opinion of the king.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_915" href="#FNanchor_915" class="label">915</a>
-<i>Commons’ Journals</i>, ix. 282. <i>Lords’ Journals</i>, xii. 588.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_916" href="#FNanchor_916" class="label">916</a>
-P. 513.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_917" href="#FNanchor_917" class="label">917</a>
-Hume, <i>loc. cit. Commons’ Journals</i>, ix. 299. Temple’s <i>Memoirs</i>, i. 167-169.
-Temple to the Prince of Orange, Feb. 1674. The same to the Duke of Florence,
-11th Feb. 1674. <i>Works</i>, iv. 13, 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_918" href="#FNanchor_918" class="label">918</a>
-“Pr&aelig;dicti Ordines Generales Unitarum Provinciarum debite, ex parte sua agnoscentes
-jus supramemorati Serenissimi Domini Magn&aelig; Britanni&aelig; Regis, ut
-vexillo suo in maribus infra nominandis honos habeatur, declarabunt et declarant,
-concordabunt et concordant, quod qu&aelig;cunque naves et navigia ad pr&aelig;fatas
-Unitas Provincias spectantia, sive naves bellic&aelig;, sive ali&aelig;, e&aelig;que vel singul&aelig; vel
-in classibus junct&aelig;, in aliis maribus a Promontorio <i>Finis Terr&aelig;</i> dicto usque
-ad medium punctum terr&aelig; <i>van Staten</i> dict&aelig; in Norwegia, quibuslibet navibus
-aut navigiis ad Serenissimum Dominum Magn&aelig; Britanni&aelig; Regem spectantibus,
-obviam dederint, sive ill&aelig; naves singul&aelig; sint, vel in numero majori, si majestatis
-Britannic&aelig; sive aplustrum, sive vexillum <i>Jack</i> appelatum gerant, pr&aelig;dict&aelig; Unitarum
-Provinciarum naves aut navigia vexillum suum e mali vertice detrahent
-et supremum velum demittent, eodem modo parique honoris testimonio, quo ullo
-unquam tempore aut in alio loco antehac usitatum fuit, versus ullas Majestatis su&aelig;
-Britannic&aelig; aut antecessorum suorum naves ab ullis Ordinum Generalium suorumque
-antecessorum navibus.” Art. iv. Dumont, <i>op. cit.</i>, VII. i. 253. The land <i>van
-Staten</i> (which is a Dutch expression) is the peninsula of Stadtland in N. Berghus,
-in 62&deg; 5&acute; N. latitude. It is probable that the English Ministers took the advice
-of the Trinity House (<a href="#Page_478">p. 478</a>) to consult the authors who had written on the
-northern boundary of the British seas, and that the substitution of <i>van Staten</i>
-for the North Cape, first made at the congress of Cologne (<a href="#Page_506">see p. 506</a>), was based
-upon Selden’s plate showing the British seas (<i>Mare Clausum</i>, lib. ii., cap. i.,
-p. 122), and which is reproduced in the frontispiece of this book. Selden’s plate
-was much less liberal to the British seas than was his text. The Dutch appellation
-may have been extracted from a Dutch map.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_919" href="#FNanchor_919" class="label">919</a>
-<i>Memoirs</i>, i. 170. Temple added: “Nothing, I confess, had ever given me a
-greater pleasure, in the greatest public affairs I had run through, than this success;
-as having been a point I ever had at heart, and in my endeavours to gain, upon
-my first negotiations in Holland, but found Monsieur De Witt ever inflexible,
-though he agreed with me it would be a rock upon which our firmest alliances
-would be in danger to strike, and to split, whenever other circumstances fell in to
-make either of the parties content to alter the measures we had entered into upon
-the triple alliance.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_920" href="#FNanchor_920" class="label">920</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 30,221, fol. 59. Some writers on international law
-erroneously describe the boundaries mentioned in the article as the boundaries of
-the British seas.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_921" href="#FNanchor_921" class="label">921</a>
-Temple to the Duke of Ormonde, Oct. 1673. The same to the Duke of
-Florence, 11th Feb. 1674. <i>Works</i>, ii. 91; iv. 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_922" href="#FNanchor_922" class="label">922</a>
-<i>Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins</i>, ii. 697.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_923" href="#FNanchor_923" class="label">923</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, vol. ccclxxvi. 46.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_924" href="#FNanchor_924" class="label">924</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccclxx. 238, 245, 252.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_925" href="#FNanchor_925" class="label">925</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccclxxvi. 92; ccclxxix. 9. The incident occurred on 11th
-November 1675, between 46 and 47 degrees latitude. The Spanish ship “required
-him to strike for the King of Spaine, and the said Cap<sup>n</sup> Harris haueing seuerell
-times refused to doe it, and required the said Ostender to strike for his Ma<sup>ty</sup> of
-Greate Brittain; yet neuerthelesse he, Cap<sup>t</sup> Jos. Harris, in the time of their convention
-(<i>sic</i>) about this matter, did order the Topsaile of the said Ketch to be
-Lowered, w<sup>ch</sup> was accordingly done, and is proued by the depositions vpon Oath
-taken in Court,” &amp;c. The court found that by lowering his top-sails he struck to
-a foreigner in his Majesty’s seas, “a great derogac͠on from his Ma<sup>ties</sup> Honour, contrary
-to the 32th Article of the General Instrucc͠ons and punishable by the Eleventh
-Article of War.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_926" href="#FNanchor_926" class="label">926</a>
-<i>H. O. Warrant Book</i>, i. 126, 144.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_927" href="#FNanchor_927" class="label">927</a>
-8th Oct. 1674. Tanner, <i>Catalogue of Naval MSS. in Pepysian Library</i>,
-No. 1838.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_928" href="#FNanchor_928" class="label">928</a>
-<i>Life</i>, ii. 716. Various other indictments are referred to in <i>Brit. Mus. Add.
-MSS.</i>, 30,221, fol. 62<i>b</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_929" href="#FNanchor_929" class="label">929</a>
-<i>Navigation and Commerce; their Original and Progress</i>, 1674.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_930" href="#FNanchor_930" class="label">930</a>
-Evelyn’s <i>Diary and Correspondence</i>, ii. 90, 91 (ed. 1850).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_931" href="#FNanchor_931" class="label">931</a>
-Evelyn to Pepys, 19th Sept. 1682. “To speake plaine truth,” he says, “when
-I writ that Treatise, rather as a <i>philological</i> exercise, and to gratifie the present
-circumstances, I could not clearly satisfie myself in sundry of those particulars, nor
-find realy that euer the Dutch did pay toll or tooke license to fish in Scotland after
-the contest (with Spain) from any solid proofs.... I think they neuer payd a
-peny for it ... nor did I find that any rent (wheroff in my 108 page I calculate
-the arrears) for permission to fish, was euer fixed by both parties.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_932" href="#FNanchor_932" class="label">932</a>
-<i>De Jure Maritimo et Navali, or a Treatise of Affaires Maritime and of Commerce</i>,
-London, 1676. Editions were published in 1682, 1690, 1744, 1769, &amp;c. It
-is still quoted by writers on international law. Molloy was the author of a work
-attacking the Dutch during the second Dutch war&mdash;<i>Holland’s Ingratitude, or a
-Serious Expostulation with the Dutch, &amp;c.</i>, 1666.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_933" href="#FNanchor_933" class="label">933</a>
-<i>A View of the Admiral Jurisdiction, &amp;c.</i>, London, 1661; 2nd edition,
-1685.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_934" href="#FNanchor_934" class="label">934</a>
-<i>The Jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England Asserted</i>, London, 1686.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_935" href="#FNanchor_935" class="label">935</a>
-<i>England’s Great Interest</i>, 38. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, cccxi. 86; cccxv. 196 ;
-cccxxxvi. 295.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_936" href="#FNanchor_936" class="label">936</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, ccclxix. 263. It is endorsed by Williamson, “Herring
-Fishery: Given me by ye King to keepe. Sunday, 24 Ap. 75,” and is unsigned.
-Each buss was to be of 70 tons, with a master, mate, pilot, and 12 seamen, to
-be all paid partly by results. The whole charge for the first year was put at
-&pound;58,537, and the earnings at &pound;90,000, on the assumption that each buss would
-catch 100 lasts of herrings, 15,000 cod, and 10,000 ling.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_937" href="#FNanchor_937" class="label">937</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, 264, 265.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_938" href="#FNanchor_938" class="label">938</a>
-<i>Memoires relating to the State of the Royal Navy of England for Ten Years,
-determin’d December 1688.</i> London, 1690.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_939" href="#FNanchor_939" class="label">939</a>
-Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, VII. ii. 236. Wagenaar, <i>Vaderlandsche Historie</i>,
-c. lxi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_940" href="#FNanchor_940" class="label">940</a>
-Valin, <i>Nouveau Commentaire sur l’Ordonnance de la Marine, &amp;c.</i>, ii. 689.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_941" href="#FNanchor_941" class="label">941</a>
-Dumont, <i>op. cit.</i>, VII. ii. 230.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_942" href="#FNanchor_942" class="label">942</a>
-“Upon your meeting with any ship or ships within his Majestie’s Seas, (which
-for your better guidance herein, you are to take notice that they extend to Cape
-Finisterre) belonging to any foreign Prince or State, you are to expect them in
-their passage by you, to strike their topsail and take in their flag, in acknowledgment
-of his Majestie’s Sovereignty in these Seas; and if any shall refuse, or offer
-to resist, you are to use your utmost endeavour to compel them therto, and in no
-wise to suffer any dishonour to be done to his Majesty; and in case any of his
-Majestie’s subjects shall be so far forgetful of their duty, as to omit striking their
-topsail as they pass by you, when it may be done without the loss of the voyage,
-you are to bring them to the Flag to answer their contempt, or otherwise to return
-the name of the ship and of the master to the Secretary of the Admiralty, or the
-Lord High Admiral of England, or the Commissioners for executing the office of
-Lord High Admiral for the time being, as also the place whence and the port to
-which he shall be bound. And you are to make the master of such ship pay the
-charge of what shot you shall make at her. And you are further to take notice
-that in his Majestie’s Seas his Majestie’s ships are in no wise to strike to any; and
-that in other parts no ship of his Majestie’s is to strike her flag or topsail to any
-foreigner, unless such foreign ship shall have first struck, or at the same time strike,
-her flag or topsail to his Majestie’s ship, except in the harbour of some foreign
-Prince, or in the road within shot of cannon of some fort or castle, where you are
-to send on shore to inform yourself what return they will make to your salute.
-And in case you have good assurance you shall be answered gun for gun, you are
-then to salute the port as is usual; but if you shall not be well assured that you
-shall have an equal number of guns returned you, you are in no wise to salute that
-place. And in case the ship in which you now command shall at the same time
-carry his Majestie’s flag, you are, before you salute the place, carefully to inform
-yourself how flags of the same quality with that you carry, of other Princes, have
-been saluted there, and you are to insist on it being saluted with as great respect
-and advantage as any flag of the same quality with yours, of any other Prince, hath
-been saluted in that place, from which you are in no wise to depart.” Art. xxxv.
-1691. <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, <i>H. O. Admiralty</i>, 1, No. 14. Justice, <i>A General
-Treatise of the Dominion and Laws of the Sea</i>, 595.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_943" href="#FNanchor_943" class="label">943</a>
-<i>Regulations and Instructions relating to His Majesty’s Service at Sea. Established
-by His Majesty in Council.</i> 2nd edition, 1734, Art. xi. <i>Ibid.</i>, 10th edition,
-1766. <i>Ibid.</i>, 13th edition, 1790.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_944" href="#FNanchor_944" class="label">944</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom., H. O. Admiralty</i>, 5, 1108, October 19.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_945" href="#FNanchor_945" class="label">945</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom., Petition Entry Book</i>, 3, 90.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_946" href="#FNanchor_946" class="label">946</a>
-Justice, <i>op. cit.</i>, 193.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_947" href="#FNanchor_947" class="label">947</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom., Naval</i>, 1769, 45. Copies of the various papers sent from
-the Admiralty to the Under-Secretary of State. Professor Laughton states that
-Lieutenant Smith was reinstated to a higher rank next day. <i>Fortnightly Review</i>,
-Aug. 1866, p. 721.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_948" href="#FNanchor_948" class="label">948</a>
-<i>A Complete History of the Most Remarkable Transactions at Sea, &amp;c.</i> By Josiah
-Burchett, Secretary to the Admiralty, 1720. Burchett’s account and definitions
-were adopted by later writers, as Lediard, <i>The Naval History of England</i>, 1735;
-Colliber, <i>Columna Rostrata; or a History of the English Sea Affairs</i>, 1727; Entick,
-<i>A New Naval History or Compleat View of the British Marine, &amp;c.</i>, 1757; Campbell,
-<i>Lives of the Admirals and other Eminent British Seamen</i>, 1742-44. Entick claimed
-for the crown the right to all the fisheries in the British seas, the right to impose
-tribute on all merchant ships navigating them, the execution of justice for all
-crimes committed within them, the permitting or denial of free passage through
-them to foreign ships of war, and the striking of the flag.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_949" href="#FNanchor_949" class="label">949</a>
-In both it was as follows: “Art. ii. &Agrave; l’&eacute;gard des honneurs du pavillon, et
-du salut en mer, par les vaisseaux de la R&eacute;publique vis-&agrave;-vis de ceux de Sa Maj.
-Britannique, il en sera us&eacute; respectivement de la m&ecirc;me mani&egrave;re qui a &eacute;t&eacute; pratiqu&eacute;e
-avant le commencement de la guerre qui vient de finir.” Martens, <i>Recueil de
-Trait&eacute;s</i>, iii. 514, 561.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_950" href="#FNanchor_950" class="label">950</a>
-Mahan, <i>The Influence of Sea Power upon History</i>, 209, 225, 510, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_951" href="#FNanchor_951" class="label">951</a>
-<i>The Life of Richard, Earl Howe</i>, 200 (1838).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_952" href="#FNanchor_952" class="label">952</a>
-In the <i>Regulations and Instructions</i> issued in 1808, the article is as follows:
-“XXIV. Within his Majesty’s seas his ships are not on any account to strike their
-topsails, nor take in their flags; nor in any way to salute any foreign ship whatever;
-nor are they, in any other seas, to strike their topsails, or take in their
-flags, to any foreign ships, unless such foreign ships shall have first struck, or shall
-at the same time strike, their flags and topsails to his Majesty’s ships.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_953" href="#FNanchor_953" class="label">953</a>
-<i>Observations concerning the Dominion and Sovereignty of the Seas: being an
-Abstract of the Marine Affairs of England.</i> In his preface the author says the
-work was presented in manuscript to Charles II., “and well accepted by him.” In
-a letter from W. Bridgeman to Sir J. Williamson, dated from Whitehall, 13th May
-1673, there was enclosed “a paper drawne up as I remember about the beginning
-of this Warre by S<sup>r</sup> Philip Meadowes, which I find amongst other papers, and
-showing it to My Lord he directed mee to send it to you.” The enclosure is
-endorsed, “Soveraignity and Fishery by S<sup>r</sup> Phil. Meadowes, 1674,” the proper date
-being probably 1672. It is evidently a draft of the later work, essentially the same
-in substance and tone. (<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Chas. II., vol. 335, Part II., No. 168.)
-Later he sent a copy to Pepys, dated January 2, 1686. <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>,
-30,221, ff. 13-43.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_954" href="#FNanchor_954" class="label">954</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i>, pp. 44-46. The draft article was as follows: “To maintain a due distinction
-betwixt natives and foreigners fishing upon the coasts of their respective
-sovereigns; and to prevent the manifold inconveniences which occasionally arise
-by a promiscuous and unlimited fishing; ’Tis mutually covenanted, concluded, and
-agreed, That the people and subjects of the United Netherlands shall henceforth
-abstain from fishing within any the rivers, fryths, havens, or bays of Great Britain
-and Ireland, or within a distance of ... leagues from any point of land thereof,
-or of any the isles thereto belonging; under a penalty and forfeiture of all the fish
-that shall be found aboard any vessel doing to the contrary, and of all the nets,
-utensils and other instruments of fishing. The like distances, and under the same
-penalties, to be kept and preserved by the subjects of His Majesty of Great Britain
-and Ireland, from any of the coasts belonging to the United Netherlands. But
-beyond these precincts and limits, that the people and subjects on both sides be at
-freedom to use and exercise fishing, where they please, without asking or taking
-licenses or safe-conducts for so doing, and without the let, hindrance, or molestation
-one of another. Saving always the ancient rights of the crown of England, and that
-nothing herein contained be interpreted or extended to any diminution or impeachment
-thereof, But that they remain in the same force and vertue, as before this
-agreement.” Meadows does not suggest the number of leagues within which fishing
-should be reserved, but he quotes with approval the proposal of James, in 1618, to
-fix a limit of fourteen miles&mdash;that is, one “land-kenning” of the Scotch.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_955" href="#FNanchor_955" class="label">955</a>
-“Reflections upon a Passage in S<sup>r</sup> William Temple’s Memoirs, printed 1692,
-relating to the Right of Dominion on the British Seas.” <i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>,
-30,221, fol. 55. It is dated 1693.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_956" href="#FNanchor_956" class="label">956</a>
-<i>A Treaty of Peace, Good Correspondence and Neutrality in America, &amp;c.</i>, 16th
-November 1686, Art. v. By Article xvi. French subjects were to be at liberty to
-fish for turtles in the islands of Cayman.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_957" href="#FNanchor_957" class="label">957</a>
-Rayneval, <i>Institutions du Droit de la Nature et des Gens</i>, i. c. x.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_958" href="#FNanchor_958" class="label">958</a>
-<i>Resol. van de Staten-Generael</i>, April, May, June 1616. <i>Resol. d. Stat. van Holl.</i>,
-March, April 1616. <i>Ibid.</i>, 15th Dec. 1623; March, May 1635; 19th May 1637;
-Dec. 1639, <i>Res. St.-Gen.</i>, 18th June 1639. <i>Res. Holl.</i>, 13th April 1691. Lindemann,
-<i>Die Arktische Fischerei der Deutschen Seest&auml;dte</i>, p. 8. <i>Groot Placaet-Boeck</i>,
-iv. 235, 237. Auber, <i>Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International</i>, xi. 144.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_959" href="#FNanchor_959" class="label">959</a>
-<i>Resol. St.-Gen.</i>, Nov., Dec. 1698, 1740, 1741. <i>Resol. Holl.</i>, July 1699; Jan.,
-March, April, Sept., Dec. 1739; Jan., March, May 1740, 1741; Oct. 1757; Jan.
-1758; Aug. 1761; April 1762. Martens, <i>Causes C&eacute;l&egrave;bres</i>, i. 359-398; ii. 122-131.
-Beaujon, <i>Hist. Dutch Fisheries</i>, 479. A full account of the proceedings in 1738-40
-is said by Beaujon to be contained in the memorials of Mauricius, who was the
-Dutch ambassador at Hamburg at the time, and was closely connected with the
-negotiations; they are contained in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek at The Hague.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_960" href="#FNanchor_960" class="label">960</a>
-Art. xii. “D’exercer la p&ecirc;che dans lesd. mers, bayes, et autres endroits &agrave; trente
-lieues pr&egrave;s des costes de la nouvelle Ecosse au sudest, en commen&ccedil;ant depuis l’isle
-appell&eacute;e vulgairement de <i>Sable</i>,” &amp;c. Dumont, <i>Corps Diplomatique</i>, VIII. i. 341.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_961" href="#FNanchor_961" class="label">961</a>
-Treaty of Paris, 10th February 1763, Art. v. Hertslet, <i>Collection</i>, i. 274.
-Martens, <i>Recueil</i>, i. 109.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_962" href="#FNanchor_962" class="label">962</a>
-Treaty of Versailles, 3rd Sept. 1783, Arts. v., vi., and Declaration attached.
-Hertslet, i. 246. Martens, iii. 522.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_963" href="#FNanchor_963" class="label">963</a>
-<i>Parl. Hist.</i>, xv. 1063, 1261-1263. In the negotiations for peace in 1761, Pitt,
-who was then in office, most wisely insisted on an exclusive fishery.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_964" href="#FNanchor_964" class="label">964</a>
-<i>Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and the United States of America, signed
-at Paris</i>, 3rd Sept. 1783, Art. viii. Martens, <i>Recueil</i>, iii. 556.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_965" href="#FNanchor_965" class="label">965</a>
-Gander, <i>A Vindication of a National Fishery, wherein is asserted that the Glory,
-Wealth, Strength, Safety, and Happiness of this Kingdom ... doth depend (under
-God) upon a National Fishery ... to which is added the Sovereignty of the British
-Seas</i>, 1699. Puckle, <i>England’s Way to Wealth and Honour</i>, 1699. <i>A Discourse
-concerning the Fishery</i>, 1695. <i>The British Fishery recommended to Parliament</i>,
-1734. <i>The Wealth of Great Britain in the Ocean Exemplified</i>, 1749, &amp;c., &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_966" href="#FNanchor_966" class="label">966</a>
-23 Geo. II., c. 24, 1750. <i>An Act for the Encouragement of the British White
-Herring Fishery.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_967" href="#FNanchor_967" class="label">967</a>
-Gifford, <i>Historical Description of the Zetland Isles</i>; Edmondston, <i>A View of
-the Ancient and Present State of the Shetland Isles</i>; <i>Europische Mercurius</i>, 1703,
-ii. 107.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_968" href="#FNanchor_968" class="label">968</a>
-Maine, <i>International Law</i>, 77.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_969" href="#FNanchor_969" class="label">969</a>
-<i>Tyberiadis, D. Bartoli de Saxoferrato, Jurisconsultorum omnium facile principis,
-Tractatus de Fluminibus, &amp;c.</i>, Bononi&aelig;, 1576, p. 55. “Jurisdictionem habens in
-territorio mari coh&aelig;renti habet etiam jurisdictionem in mari usque ad centum
-milliaria, ... sicut pr&aelig;ses provinci&aelig; debet purgare provinciam malis hominibus
-per terram, ita etiam per aquam.... Constat autem qu&ograve;d centum miliaria per
-mare minus est duabus dietis.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_970" href="#FNanchor_970" class="label">970</a>
-<i>Commentaria ad Institutiones, Pandectas et Codicem</i>, iii. 79. Venice, 1577.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_971" href="#FNanchor_971" class="label">971</a>
-Bodinus, <i>De Republica</i>, lib. i. c. x. &sect; 170, Frankfort, 1591; Pacius, <i>De Dominio
-Maris Hadriatici Disceptatio</i>, c. i., Leyden, 1619; Welwood, <i>De Dominio Maris</i>,
-c. i. p. 5, 1615; Dee, <i>General and Rare Memorials</i>, p. 21, 1577; Gryphiander,
-<i>De Insulis Tractatus</i>, c. xiv., 1623; Gentilis, <i>Advocatio Hispanica</i>, c. viii. de
-marina territorio tuendo, 1613; Gothofredus, <i>De Imperio Maris</i>, 1637.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_972" href="#FNanchor_972" class="label">972</a>
-“Mare dicitur esse de territorio illius civitatis cui magis appropinquat et ideo
-Veneti quia domini sunt maris Adriatici possunt imponere navigantibus vectigalia,
-et adversus contra facientus pœnam adjicere.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_973" href="#FNanchor_973" class="label">973</a>
-<i>Loc. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_974" href="#FNanchor_974" class="label">974</a>
-“Et dicunt doctores, quod domini Veneti, et Genuenses, et alii habentes
-portum, dicuntur habere jurisdictionem, et imperium in toto mari sibi propinquo
-per centum miliaria, vel etiam ultra, si non propinquant alteri provinci&aelig;.” <i>Loc. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_975" href="#FNanchor_975" class="label">975</a>
-Azuni, <i>Systema Universale dei Principii del Diritto Maritimo dell’ Europa</i>,
-i. 58, 1798. Jurisdiction was conferred within certain boundaries on land, “et
-intus mare centum milliaria.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_976" href="#FNanchor_976" class="label">976</a>
-<i>Parl. Papers, U.S., No. 1.</i>, 1893. <i>Behring Sea Arbitration, British Case</i>,
-37, 133.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_977" href="#FNanchor_977" class="label">977</a>
-In the definitions of the boundaries of lands and fisheries in Anglo-Saxon
-charters such descriptions occur as “up midne streame,” “ūt on Temese o&eth; midne
-streām,” “up midne streame by halfen streame,” &amp;c. Birch, <i>Cartulariurm Saxonicum</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_978" href="#FNanchor_978" class="label">978</a>
-“Quicquid etiam ex hac parte medietatis maris inventum et dilatum ad Sandwic
-fuerit sive sit vestimentum sive rete arma ferrum aurum argentum, medietas
-monachorum erit, alia pars remanebit inventoribus.” Kemble, <i>Codex Diplomaticus
-&AElig;vi Saxonici</i>, iv. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_979" href="#FNanchor_979" class="label">979</a>
-<i>Le Mirroir des Justices</i>, c. iii., “la sovereine seignurie de tote la terre jeqes
-el miluieu fil de la meer environ la terre.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_980" href="#FNanchor_980" class="label">980</a>
-<a href="#Page_102">See p. 102</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_981" href="#FNanchor_981" class="label">981</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Hargraves MSS.</i>, No. 98; printed by Moore, <i>Hist. of the Foreshore</i>,
-362.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_982" href="#FNanchor_982" class="label">982</a>
-<i>A Treatise relating to the Maritime Law of England</i>, 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_983" href="#FNanchor_983" class="label">983</a>
-<a href="#Page_35">See p. 35</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_984" href="#FNanchor_984" class="label">984</a>
-<i>Brit. Mus. Add. MSS.</i>, 30,221, fol. 50. The opinion of the Trinity House
-was given in November 1686. In 1677 the Privy Council, on a petition of the
-fishermen of Hastings complaining of the French fishing on the coast, sent to the
-Cinque Ports for an account “of the old limitations used to be put upon the
-French and others in their proceedings in that fishing,” and also ordered two ships
-to be sent “to forbid the French to fish on the coast as having no license thereto,
-and to drive them away from thence” (<i>ibid.</i>) On the other hand, Jeakes, in his
-<i>Charters of the Cinque Ports</i>, written in 1678, states with reference to the powers
-“by land and sea” conferred on the Ports by various charters, that <i>per mare</i> did
-not mean <i>altum mare</i>, the high sea, where the Admiral had jurisdiction, but only
-the “havens, creeks, and arms of the sea, so far as can be judged in a county,
-where the land is on both sides,” p. 69.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_985" href="#FNanchor_985" class="label">985</a>
-<a href="#Page_547">See p. 547</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_986" href="#FNanchor_986" class="label">986</a>
-31st Oct. 1563, tit. i. par. 27, “Ne qua in mari vis fierit vel suis subditis, vel
-sociis, vel peregrinis, sive belli, sive alterius rei causa intra conspectum a terra vel
-portu.” Bynkershoek, <i>Qu&aelig;stiones Juris Publici</i>, lib. i. cap. viii. <i>De Domini
-Maris</i>, c. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_987" href="#FNanchor_987" class="label">987</a>
-<i>Mare Liberum</i>, c. v. <a href="#Page_347">See p. 347</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_988" href="#FNanchor_988" class="label">988</a>
-Foreigners were not to fish “nerer the land nor nor yai mycht see the shoir
-out of yair main toppis.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_989" href="#FNanchor_989" class="label">989</a>
-Stair, <i>The Institutions of the Law of Scotland</i>, bk. ii. tit. i. 5 (1681). “The
-vast ocean is common to all mankind as to navigation and fishing, which are the
-only uses therof, because it is not capable of bounds; but where the sea is
-enclosed, in bays, creeks, or otherwise is capable of any bounds or meiths, as
-within the points of such lands, or within the view of such shores, there it may
-become proper, but with the reservation of passage for commerce, as in the land.
-So fishing without these bounds is common to all, and within them also, except
-as to certain kinds of fish, such as herrings, &amp;c.” The qualification and the
-“etcetera” are peculiar.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_990" href="#FNanchor_990" class="label">990</a>
-<a href="#Page_528">See p. 528</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_991" href="#FNanchor_991" class="label">991</a>
-Captain George St Lo, <i>England’s Safety, or a Bridle to the French King</i>, 1693.
-“During the time I was convoy to our fishing there, as aforesaid (1685-6), my
-business was to see that no foreigner should fish in sight of the shore, because the
-fish draw thither to spawn; the best draughts are there.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_992" href="#FNanchor_992" class="label">992</a>
-Azuni, <i>Sistema universale dei Principj del Diritto marittimo</i>, i. 78.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_993" href="#FNanchor_993" class="label">993</a>
-<i>Dominio del Mar’ Adriatico e sue Raggione per il Jus Belli della Serenissima
-Repvblica di Venetia</i>, Venezia, 1686.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_994" href="#FNanchor_994" class="label">994</a>
-Hale, <i>A Treatise relating to the Maritime Law of England</i>, c. iv. Coke’s
-<i>Fourth Institute</i>, c. xxii. p. 140 (ed. 1797). Blackstone, <i>Commentaries</i>, i. 110.
-Hale, <i>Pleas of the Crown</i>, ii. 54. An early authority is in Fitzherbert’s <i>La Grande</i>
-<i>Abridgment</i> (1565), Corone et Plees de Corone, fol. 259, placit 399, “Nota p.
-Stanton justic q̃ ceo nest pas sa͠nce demere ou hoe puit veier ceo q̃’est fait del
-ou part del ewe et del aut, coe a rier de lun terr tanq̃ a laut q̃ le cozon viendr’ en
-ceo cas et fra son offic auri coe auent a vyent en vu brau del mer la ou home puit
-vier de lun parte tanque a lauter del auer que en cel lieu auient puyt paiis auer
-conisans.” There are some words in this passage difficult to translate, but the
-following has been given as its rendering: “Nota per Stanton Justice, that that
-is not sance [which Lord Coke translates ‘part’] of the sea where a man can see
-what is done from one part of the water and the other, so as to see from one land
-to the other; that the coroner shall come in such case and perform his office, as
-well as coming and going in an arm of the sea, there where a man can see from
-one part to the other of the [word undeciphered], that in such a place the country
-can have conusance.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_995" href="#FNanchor_995" class="label">995</a>
-<a href="#Page_119">See p. 119</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_996" href="#FNanchor_996" class="label">996</a>
-Lib. ii. cap. iii. s. xiii. 2, “Ratione territorii, quatenus ex terra cogi possunt
-qui in proxima maris parte versantur, nec minus quam si in ipsa terra reperirentur.”
-<a href="#Page_349">See p. 349</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_997" href="#FNanchor_997" class="label">997</a>
-<i>Discussiones Historic&aelig; de Mari Libero</i>, 1637.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_998" href="#FNanchor_998" class="label">998</a>
-<i>De Dominio Seren. Genuensis Reipub. in Mari Ligustico</i>, 1641.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_999" href="#FNanchor_999" class="label">999</a>
-<i>Imperium Maritimum</i>, 1654.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1000" href="#FNanchor_1000" class="label">1000</a>
-<i>Dissertatio de Imperio Maris</i>, 1676.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1001" href="#FNanchor_1001" class="label">1001</a>
-<i>De Imperio Maris.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1002" href="#FNanchor_1002" class="label">1002</a>
-<i>Jus Maritimum</i>, 1652.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1003" href="#FNanchor_1003" class="label">1003</a>
-<i>Maris Liberi Vind. adv. P. B. Burgum</i>, 1652; <i>Maris Liberi Vind. adv.
-G. Welwodum</i>, 1633.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1004" href="#FNanchor_1004" class="label">1004</a>
-<i>De Jure Maritime et Navali</i>, lib. i. c. iv. Ed. 1652.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1005" href="#FNanchor_1005" class="label">1005</a>
-<i>De Jure Natur&aelig; et Gentium</i>, 1672.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1006" href="#FNanchor_1006" class="label">1006</a>
-Lib. iv. c. v. s. vii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1007" href="#FNanchor_1007" class="label">1007</a>
-7th March, 1689, Art iv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1008" href="#FNanchor_1008" class="label">1008</a>
-<i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Chas. II., ccxxxiv. 112, 113, 8th Feb. 1667/8. <i>Brit. Mus.
-Add. MSS.</i>, 30,221, fol. 64, 12th March 1683.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1009" href="#FNanchor_1009" class="label">1009</a>
-Wynne, <i>Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins</i>, ii. 727, 732, 755, 780, 783. In reporting
-to the king in one case, in which he found the capture was made in the Channel
-beyond the limits of a chamber, Jenkins says: “However the truth be as to the
-chamber, ’tis certain the seizure was made in your Majesty’s seas: but so it is,
-that notwithstanding your Majesty’s undoubted right of dominion and protection
-in these seas, strangers do hold themselves, if not permitted, yet excused for
-such hostilities, when they are acted at a due distance from your Majesty’s ports,
-harbours, and chambers; grounding themselves upon what was done and observed
-in that long war between Spain and the Netherlands.” The preamble of the
-proclamation of 12th March 1683 was as follows: “Whereas the safeguard and
-protection we owe to such of our own subjects, and to all others in league and
-amity with us, as pass and repass the seas belonging to these our kingdoms, has
-been always a principal part of our royal care and concern, and we, finding that
-the freedom and security of our navigation and commerce to and from our ports
-in time of hostility between our neighbouring princes has been much disturbed,
-nay, the reverence due to our ports, harbours, and other places under our immediate
-protection has been violated by the partial practices, depredations, and
-insolencies of private men-of-war and others pretending commissions for the
-present hostilities: We have thought fit, by the advice of our Privy Council, after
-an exact view first taken of the rules, ordinances, and provisions made on the like
-occasions by our royal progenitors and ourself, to revive, establish, ratify and
-publish to all the world these rules and ordinances following.” The rules are
-similar to those in the regulations of 1633 and 1668; but it is noteworthy that
-the “King’s Chambers” are not specifically mentioned, nor is any reference made
-to a “platt,” and the claim to the dominion of the seas, so prominent in 1633, is
-omitted.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1010" href="#FNanchor_1010" class="label">1010</a>
-<i>De Dominio Maris Dissertatio.</i> Hag&aelig;-Batavorum, 1703.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1011" href="#FNanchor_1011" class="label">1011</a>
-<i>Qu&aelig;stiones Juris Publici.</i> Lugduni-Batavorum, 1737.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1012" href="#FNanchor_1012" class="label">1012</a>
-“Unde dominium maris proximi non ultra concedimus, quam e terra illi imperari
-potest, et tamen eo usque; nulla siquidem sit ratio, cur mare, quod in alicujus
-imperio est et potestate, minus ejusdem esse dicamus, quam fossam in ejus
-territorio.... Quare omnino videtur rectius, eo potestatem terr&aelig; extendi,
-quousque tormenta exploduntur, eatenus quippe cum imperare, tum possidere
-videmur. Loquor autem de his temporibus, quibus illis machinis utimur: alioquin
-generaliter dicendum esset, potestatem terr&aelig; finiri, ubi finitur armorum vis;
-etenim h&aelig;c, ut diximus, possessionem tuetur.” <i>De Dom. Maris</i>, cap. ii. In the
-<i>Qu&aelig;stiones</i> the phrase is “imperium terr&aelig; finitur, ubi finitur armorum potestas,”
-and “terr&aelig; dominium finitur ubi finitur armorum vis.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1013" href="#FNanchor_1013" class="label">1013</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, cap. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1014" href="#FNanchor_1014" class="label">1014</a>
-<a href="#Page_381">See p. 381</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1015" href="#FNanchor_1015" class="label">1015</a>
-<i>De Jure Maritimo</i>, p. 150.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1016" href="#FNanchor_1016" class="label">1016</a>
-<i>Discursus Legales de Commercio</i>, Venice, 1740, D, 136. 174, 211, tom. 2. An
-earlier edition was published at Florence in 1719.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1017" href="#FNanchor_1017" class="label">1017</a>
-“Naves exter&aelig; dicuntur esse sub protectione illius principis, cujus mare navigant,
-quando reperiuntur intra portus illius, aut in mari, ita vicino, ut illuc tormenta,
-bellica adigi possent. Et si depr&aelig;dentur ab inimicis, de jure restituend&aelig;
-sunt.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1018" href="#FNanchor_1018" class="label">1018</a>
-<i>Tratado jur&iacute;dico-politico, sobre pressas de mar, y calidades, que deben concurrir
-para hacerse legitimamente el Corso</i>, Part I. c. v. Cadiz, 1746.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1019" href="#FNanchor_1019" class="label">1019</a>
-“No podr&aacute; con razon pretender mas extension de sus Costas, que las dos
-leguas.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1020" href="#FNanchor_1020" class="label">1020</a>
-“Y circunda en el espacio &aacute; lo menos de cien millas en recto: lo qual es una
-infalible, y conforme tradicion de los Letrados de todas las Naciones.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1021" href="#FNanchor_1021" class="label">1021</a>
-<i>Jus Gentium</i>, Hal&aelig; Magdeburgic&aelig;, 1749, cap. i. ss. 120-132, pp. 99-107.
-“Partes maris a gentibus, qu&aelig; idem accolunt, occupari possunt, quousque dominium
-in iisdem tueri possunt.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1022" href="#FNanchor_1022" class="label">1022</a>
-<i>Le Droit des Gens</i>, Liv. i. c. xxiii. 5, 279-295, 1758.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1023" href="#FNanchor_1023" class="label">1023</a>
-<i>De la Saisie des B&acirc;timens Neutres</i>, La Haye, 1759, tom. i. Part I. c. iii. s. 5,
-p. 57.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1024" href="#FNanchor_1024" class="label">1024</a>
-<i>Nouveau Commentaire sur l’Ordonnance de la Marine du mois d’Ao&ucirc;t 1681</i>,
-Rochelle, 1766, t. ii. Liv. v. tit. i. pp. 687, 688. “Jusqu’&agrave; la distance de deux
-lieues, et avec cette restriction encore, la mer est donc du domaine du souverain
-de la c&ocirc;te voisine; et cela que l’on puisse y prendre fond avec la sonde, ou non. Il
-est juste au reste d’user de cette m&eacute;thode en faveur des &Eacute;tats dont les c&ocirc;tes sont
-si escarp&eacute;es, que d&egrave;s le bord on ne peut trouver le fond; mais cela n’emp&ecirc;che pas
-que le domaine de la mer, quant &agrave; la jurisdiction et &agrave; la p&ecirc;che, ne puisse s’&eacute;tendre
-au del&agrave;; soit en vertu des trait&eacute;s de navigation et de commerce, soit par la r&egrave;gle
-ci-dessus &eacute;tablie qui continue le domaine jusq’o&ugrave; la sonde peut prendre fond, ou
-jusqu’&agrave; la port&eacute;e du canon, ce qui est aujourd’hui la r&egrave;gle universellement reconnue.”
-Lawrence, in his annotated edition of Wheaton’s <i>Elements of International
-Law</i>, Part II. c. iv. s. 6 (1864), makes a curious blunder in regard to the
-limit proposed by Valin, who, he says, “proposed to fix it according to the <i>sound
-of a cannon</i>, or as far as the ball would reach.” The authority Valin gives for the
-statement that the rule was universally recognised is <i>Journal de Commerce</i>, Mai
-1759, p. 40.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1025" href="#FNanchor_1025" class="label">1025</a>
-<i>Versuch des Neuesten Europ&auml;ischen V&ouml;lkerrechts in Friedens-und Kriegs-zeiten</i>,
-Bd. v. 486, Frankfort, 1778. “Das an die K&uuml;sten eines Landes stossende Meer
-stehet nach dem V&ouml;lkerrecht unter der Oberherrschaft des angr&auml;nzenden Landes
-unstreitig, so weit es mit Canonen von dem festen Land bestrichen werden kan.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1026" href="#FNanchor_1026" class="label">1026</a>
-<i>Juris Publici Universalis, sive Juris Natur&aelig; et Gentium, Theoremata</i>, ii. 7, 65.
-“Nobis visum est singulas gentes eam partem circa littus suum occupare posse,
-cujus usus necessarius, quamque tuendis littoribus et territorio necessarium
-arbitrantur.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1027" href="#FNanchor_1027" class="label">1027</a>
-<i>De’ Doveri de’ principi neutrali verso i principi guerreggianti, e di questi verso
-i neutrali.</i> Naples, 1782.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1028" href="#FNanchor_1028" class="label">1028</a>
-“Mi parrebbe peraltro ragionevole, che senza attendere a vedere se in atto
-tenga il Sovrano del territorio construtta taluna torre o batteria, e di qual calibro
-di cannoni la tenga montata, si determinasse fissamente, e da per tutto la distanza
-di tre miglia dalla terra, come quella, che sicuramente &egrave; la maggiore ove colla forza
-della polvere finora conosciuta si possa spingere una palla, o una bomba,” p. 432.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1029" href="#FNanchor_1029" class="label">1029</a>
-<i>Pr&eacute;cis du Droit des Gens moderne de l’Europe, fond&eacute; sur les Trait&eacute;s et l&acute;Usage</i>,
-G&ouml;ttingen, 1789, Liv. iv. c. iv. In an earlier work, <i>Prim&aelig; Line&aelig; Juris Gentium
-Europ&aelig;arum</i>, published at G&ouml;ttingen in 1785, the three-league limit is omitted.
-After speaking of ports, bays, and straits, he says, “Neque minus in genere e&aelig;
-maris partes, qu&aelig; territorio proxim&aelig; sunt (mare proximum vocant) et tormentorum
-in limite terr&aelig; constitutorum ictui subsunt, censentur esse in dominio gentis terr&aelig;
-domin&aelig;, et pro parte territorii habentur.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1030" href="#FNanchor_1030" class="label">1030</a>
-“Sur la mer voisine en g&eacute;n&eacute;ral jusqu’&agrave; la port&eacute;e du canon plac&eacute; sur le rivage;
-c. a. d. jusqu’&agrave; trois lieues du rivage,” p. 189. He also speaks elsewhere of the
-range of guns being equivalent to three leagues; but it would appear that the
-terms “miles” and “leagues” were sometimes used indifferently and carelessly
-(see Bluntschli, p. 682), and three leagues was far beyond the range of guns in Von
-Marten’s time.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1031" href="#FNanchor_1031" class="label">1031</a>
-<i>Sistema universale dei Principj del Diritto marittimo dell’ Europa.</i> Florence,
-1795-96. The work was translated into French in 1801&mdash;<i>Syst&egrave;me Universel de
-Principes du Droit Maritime de l’Europe</i>&mdash;and revised, enlarged, and republished
-in 1805.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1032" href="#FNanchor_1032" class="label">1032</a>
-<a href="#Page_574">See p. 574</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1033" href="#FNanchor_1033" class="label">1033</a>
-“Giacch&egrave; essa sola &egrave;, secondo me, il giusto ed unico mezzo, che potrebbe servire
-di norma per fissare una volta il mare territoriale sempre combattuto, e non
-ancora deciso, o almeno non stabilito come si dovrebbe in un pubblico Trattato
-tra le Potenze marittime,” i. 75.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1034" href="#FNanchor_1034" class="label">1034</a>
-“La distanza di tre miglia dalla Terra come quella, che senza dubbio &egrave; la
-maggiore, dove colla forza della polvere a fuoco finora cognita si possa spingere una
-palla o una bomba,” p. 76.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1035" href="#FNanchor_1035" class="label">1035</a>
-<i>R&eacute;pertoire de Jurisprudence.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1036" href="#FNanchor_1036" class="label">1036</a>
-<a href="#Page_571">See p. 571</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1037" href="#FNanchor_1037" class="label">1037</a>
-Daru, <i>Histoire de la R&eacute;publique de Venise</i>, i. 445; Smedley, <i>Sketches of Venetian
-History</i>, i. 72. <a href="#Page_4">See p. 4</a>. When Venice was conquered, the <i>Bucentaur</i> was stripped
-of her gilding and finery, and, under the name of <i>Hydra</i>, became a prosaic guard-ship,
-stationed at the mouth of the Lido until 1824, when she was destroyed.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1038" href="#FNanchor_1038" class="label">1038</a>
-<i>Rescripter, Resolutioner og Collegial-Breve for Kongeriget Norge, i Tidsrummet
-fra 1660-1813</i>, i. 315, 18th June 1745. “Rescr. (til Stiftsbefalingsm&aelig;ndene i
-Norge) ang. det ikke skal v&aelig;re nogen fremmed Caper tilladt at opbringe noget
-Skib een Miil nœr de Norske Kyster og de der udenfor beliggende Grunde og
-Skj&aelig;r,” &amp;c. The league in the Scandinavian ordinances measures fifteen to one
-degree of latitude, or one German mile, equal to about 7420 metres. The marine
-league, or three-mile limit ordinarily adopted, is of twenty to a degree of latitude,
-or about 5565 metres, or 3.4517 English statute miles.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1039" href="#FNanchor_1039" class="label">1039</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, i. 423, 439, 602.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1040" href="#FNanchor_1040" class="label">1040</a>
-14th Sept. 1807, s. 5; 28th March 1810, s. 7. In the last the privateers were
-forbidden to capture ships in the Sound within such distance of the Swedish coast
-as was within the range of guns. Auber, <i>Ann. de l’Institut de Droit Internat.</i>, xi.
-145.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1041" href="#FNanchor_1041" class="label">1041</a>
-Kleen, <i>Neutralitetens Lagar</i>, ii. 865.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1042" href="#FNanchor_1042" class="label">1042</a>
-Boeck, <i>Oversigt over Litteratur, Love, Forordninger Rescripter, m.m. vedr&oslash;rende
-de Norske Fiskerier</i>, p. 12.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1043" href="#FNanchor_1043" class="label">1043</a>
-Real C&eacute;dula, 17th December 1760; Real &Oacute;rden, 1st May 1775; Real Decreto,
-3rd May 1830; Real Decreto, 20th June 1852. Riquelme, <i>Elementos de Derecho
-P&uacute;blico Internacional, con esplicacion de todas las reglas que, segun los Tratados, &amp;c.,
-constituyen el Derecho Internacional Espa&ntilde;ol</i>, i. 211, App., 187, 197, 200; Madrid,
-1849. Negr&iacute;n, <i>Tratado de Derecho internacional maritimo</i>, Madrid, 1883, p. 66.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1044" href="#FNanchor_1044" class="label">1044</a>
-Martens, <i>Recueil</i>, i. 479.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1045" href="#FNanchor_1045" class="label">1045</a>
-21st Nov. 1777; 9th May 1778. Martens, <i>Recueil</i>, iii. 16, 18. In Kent’s <i>Commentaries
-on American Law</i>, i. 118 (ed. 1884), it is said (apparently on the authority
-of Sparks’ <i>Diplomatic Correspondence</i>, ii. 110) that the Commissioners, in their
-circular letter of 1777 to the commanders of American armed vessels, “carried very
-far the extension of neutral protection when they applied it indiscriminately to all
-captures within sight of a neutral coast.” There is nothing of this in the document
-given by Martens.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1046" href="#FNanchor_1046" class="label">1046</a>
-19th Sept. 1778. <i>Op. cit.</i>, i. 47.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1047" href="#FNanchor_1047" class="label">1047</a>
-1st Aug. 1778. “E ne’ mari adjacenti agli altri porti, scali, torri, e spiagge
-del Gran Ducato non potr&agrave; usarsi atto veruno di ostilit&agrave; nella distanza, che potrebbe
-circoscriversi da un tiro di cannone.” <i>Op. cit.</i>, 24.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1048" href="#FNanchor_1048" class="label">1048</a>
-4th March 1779. “N&egrave; generalmente dentro la distanza di un tiro di cannone
-da terra.” <i>Op. cit.</i>, i. 52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1049" href="#FNanchor_1049" class="label">1049</a>
-1st July 1779. “Nei porti, golfi, e spiagge del nostro dominio nella distanza,
-che potrebbe circonscriversi da un tiro di cannone.” <i>Op. cit.</i>, 64.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1050" href="#FNanchor_1050" class="label">1050</a>
-9th Sept. 1779, Arts. viii., ix. “Ed in tutti mari ad essi adjacenti, limitati,
-almeno allo spazio circoscritto dalla portata d’un grosso cannone di batteria.” <i>Op.
-cit.</i>, i. 78.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1051" href="#FNanchor_1051" class="label">1051</a>
-Jenkinson (Lord Liverpool), <i>A Discussion on the Conduct of the Government of
-Great Britain in respect to Neutral Nations</i> (1758), ed. 1801, Pref. Phillimore,
-<i>Commentaries</i>, iii. 273. Wheaton’s <i>Elements</i> (ed. 1864), 1024. Martens, <i>Recueil</i>,
-iii. 158, <i>seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1052" href="#FNanchor_1052" class="label">1052</a>
-Mutual protection was to be afforded “dans leurs ports ou rades, mers internes,
-passages, rivi&egrave;res, et aussi loin que leur jurisdiction s’etend en mer.” 8th Oct.
-1782, Art. v. Martens, <i>op. cit.</i>, 433.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1053" href="#FNanchor_1053" class="label">1053</a>
-“&Agrave; la port&eacute;e du canon des ch&acirc;teaux de l’autre.” <i>Vide</i> Martens and De Cussy,
-<i>Rec.</i>, i. 381.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1054" href="#FNanchor_1054" class="label">1054</a>
-26th Sept. 1786, Art. xli. “Leurs dites Majest&eacute;s ne souffriront point que sur
-les c&ocirc;tes, &agrave; la port&eacute;e du canon, et dans les ports et rivi&egrave;res de leur ob&eacute;issance, des
-navires et des marchandises des sujets de l’autre soient pris par des vaisseaux de
-guerre, ou par d’autres qui seront pourvus de patentes de quelque prince, r&eacute;publique,
-ou ville quelconque,” &amp;c. Martens, <i>Rec.</i>, iv. 178.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1055" href="#FNanchor_1055" class="label">1055</a>
-11th Jan. 1787, Art. xxviii. “... Hors de la port&eacute;e du canon des c&ocirc;tes de
-son alli&eacute; ... dans les ports, havres, golfes et autres eaux comprises sous le nom
-d’eaux closes.” By Article xx. the salute was abolished. <i>Ibid.</i>, 207, 210. The
-mention of closed waters no doubt referred to the Baltic, which was declared to be
-a closed sea (<i>une mer ferm&eacute;e</i>), into which the armed vessels of belligerents were to
-be refused entry, by a decree of the King of Denmark in 1780, and by conventions
-between Russia and Denmark and Sweden in the same year, and between Russia
-and the United Provinces and Prussia in the following year. <i>Ibid.</i>, iii. 175, 195,
-219, 250.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1056" href="#FNanchor_1056" class="label">1056</a>
-17th Jan. 1787, Art. xix. <i>Ibid.</i>, iv. 237.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1057" href="#FNanchor_1057" class="label">1057</a>
-7th August 1803. Martens, <i>Recueil</i>, 2. viii. 105.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1058" href="#FNanchor_1058" class="label">1058</a>
-Martens, <i>Recueil</i>, iii. 763, 10th Sept. 1784, Art. vi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1059" href="#FNanchor_1059" class="label">1059</a>
-<a href="#Page_527">See p. 527</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1060" href="#FNanchor_1060" class="label">1060</a>
-Oct. 28, 1790, Art. iv. Martens, <i>ibid.</i> iv. 489, 497. Wheaton, <i>Elements</i>, 307
-(ed. 1864).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1061" href="#FNanchor_1061" class="label">1061</a>
-Wheaton, <i>Elements</i>, 723 ; President’s Proclamation of Neutrality, April 22,
-1793; Mr Jefferson, Secretary of State, to M. Genet, 8th Nov. 1793; Wharton’s
-<i>Digest of the International Law of the United States</i>, i. c. 2, s. 32.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1062" href="#FNanchor_1062" class="label">1062</a>
-Opinion of Attorney-General, 14th May 1793; Letter of Sec. of State to the
-French Minister, 15th May 1793; Kent’s <i>Commentaries</i>, i. 30. Delaware Bay, it
-may be said, has always been, and still is, claimed as territorial water by the
-United States. <i>Vide</i> reply of Government of United States to Observations of
-British Government on Draft Treaty, 1887. Correspondence relative to the
-Fisheries Question, 1887-1888. <i>Parl. Papers (Canada)</i>, 1888, p. 70.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1063" href="#FNanchor_1063" class="label">1063</a>
-Act of Congress, 5th June 1794, c. 50. Kent’s <i>Commentaries</i>, 30.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1064" href="#FNanchor_1064" class="label">1064</a>
-Wheaton, <i>Elements</i>, 724.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1065" href="#FNanchor_1065" class="label">1065</a>
-Wharton’s <i>Digest</i>, i. c. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1066" href="#FNanchor_1066" class="label">1066</a>
-Mr Madison to Messrs Monroe and Pinckney, 17th May 1806. Kent, <i>Commentaries</i>,
-i. 31.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1067" href="#FNanchor_1067" class="label">1067</a>
-Hall, <i>A Treatise on International Law</i>, Part II. c. ii. s. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1068" href="#FNanchor_1068" class="label">1068</a>
-The High Court of Admiralty, for instance, decided in 1760 that a French
-vessel taken by an English privateer at Hayti was not good prize, as it had been
-attacked while in a port belonging to the King of Spain, “within reach of his
-cannon and under his protection” (Marsden, <i>Report of Cases determined by the
-High Court of Admiralty</i>, 175).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1069" href="#FNanchor_1069" class="label">1069</a>
-There were two cases of <i>Twee Gebroeders</i>&mdash;the first (Alberts, master) tried on
-29th July 1800; the second (Northolt, master) tried on 27th November 1801.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1070" href="#FNanchor_1070" class="label">1070</a>
-Robinson, <i>Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of
-Admiralty</i>, iii. 162. London, 1802.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1071" href="#FNanchor_1071" class="label">1071</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, 339.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1072" href="#FNanchor_1072" class="label">1072</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, v. 373.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1073" href="#FNanchor_1073" class="label">1073</a>
-<i>Vide</i> Chief Justice Cockburn, <i>Law Reports, Excheq. Div.</i>, ii. 178. It is a
-curious circumstance that many English writers on municipal law, even after this
-time, adhering to a different line of inquiry, clung tenaciously to the husk of the
-old claims of England to the sovereignty of the sea. Hale, as we have seen,
-followed Selden, as did Hargrave and Blackstone, though with apparent diffidence.
-Chitty, in his <i>Treatise on the Law of the Prerogative of the Crown</i>, published in
-1820, relying on Selden, Hale, and Molloy, declares that “the king possesses the
-sovereign dominion in all the narrow seas, that is, the seas which adjoin the coasts
-of England, and other seas within his dominions” (<a href="#Page_173">p. 173</a>); and that he “has an
-undoubted sovereignty and jurisdiction, which he has immemorially exercised,
-through the medium of the admiralty courts, over the British seas, that is, the
-seas which encompass the four sides of the British islands; ... the law of
-nations and the constitution of the country have clothed the sovereign with this
-power, that he may defend his people and protect their commercial interests”
-(<a href="#Page_142">p. 142</a>). He also assigns the soil under the sea to the king. Hall, in his <i>Essay
-on the Rights of the Crown and the Privileges of the Subject in the Sea Shores of the
-Realm</i>, published in 1830, states the doctrine even more nakedly. After defining
-the British seas according to Selden, he says, “Over the British Seas, the King of
-England claims an absolute dominion and ownership, as Lord Paramount, against
-all the world. Whatever opinions foreign nations may entertain in regard to the
-validity of such claim, yet the subjects of the King of England do, by the common
-law of the realm, acknowledge and declare it to be his ancient and indisputable
-right.” Hall also assigns the bottom or <i>fundum</i> of the British seas to the king, the
-authorities cited being Coke, Callis, Molloy, Hale, and Blackstone. Loveland, the
-editor of the second edition of Hall’s <i>Essay</i>, which was published in 1875, does
-not attempt to qualify the statements. It was not, indeed, till after the decision
-in the case of the <i>Franconia</i> in 1876, and the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act
-of 1878, that the doctrine was abandoned in theory by English lawyers. Even
-Moore, the editor of the third edition of Hall’s <i>Essay</i>, which appeared in 1888, while
-pointing out the alteration of the law by the decision in the <i>Franconia</i> case, and
-by the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, thought it undesirable to vary Hall’s
-text, having regard to the diversity of the opinions expressed by the judges in the
-case referred to. <i>Vide</i> p. 590.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1074" href="#FNanchor_1074" class="label">1074</a>
-Convention, 1818, Art. i. “... And the United States hereby renounce
-for ever any liberty heretofore enjoyed or claimed by the inhabitants thereof to
-take, dry, or cure fish on or within three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays,
-creeks, or harbours of his Britannick Majesty’s dominions in America not included
-within the above-mentioned limits.” Wheaton, <i>Elements</i>, 324, 463 (ed. 1864).
-<i>Parl. Papers, North America</i>, No. 1 (1878). Henderson, <i>American Diplomatic
-Questions</i>, 497.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1075" href="#FNanchor_1075" class="label">1075</a>
-Martens, <i>Nouv. Recueil</i>, V. ii. 358; Behring Sea Arbitration, British Case, <i>Parl.
-Papers, United States</i>, No. 1 (1893), p. 38, App. I. No. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1076" href="#FNanchor_1076" class="label">1076</a>
-The Duke of Wellington to Count Nesselrode, 17th Oct. 1822; G. Canning to
-the Duke of Wellington, 27th Sept. 1822; Count Nesselrode to Count Lieven,
-26th June 1823; G. Canning to S. Canning, 8th Dec. 1824; S. Canning to
-G. Canning, 3rd April 1825. <i>Parl. Papers</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, 41, 42, 44, 46, 56, App. II.
-pt. i. 14, 15, 29, 52, 57.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1077" href="#FNanchor_1077" class="label">1077</a>
-<i>American State Papers, Foreign Relations</i>, v. 452; <i>Parl. Papers</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, App. II.
-pt. ii. No. 5; Wheaton, <i>Elements</i>, 308.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1078" href="#FNanchor_1078" class="label">1078</a>
-Treaty between Russia and the United States, April 17th, 1824, Art. i. iv.;
-treaty between Great Britain and Russia, 28th Feb. 1825, Art. i. vii. Martens,
-<i>Nouv. Recueil</i>, vi. 684. <i>Parl. Papers</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, 52, 53.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1079" href="#FNanchor_1079" class="label">1079</a>
-In 1842. <i>Parl. Papers</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, 83.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1080" href="#FNanchor_1080" class="label">1080</a>
-In 1846. <i>Ibid.</i>, 84.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1081" href="#FNanchor_1081" class="label">1081</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, 87.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1082" href="#FNanchor_1082" class="label">1082</a>
-<i>E.g.</i>, the case of the <i>Leda</i>, in which Dr Lushington claimed that the term
-United Kingdom included the waters to a distance of three miles from the
-shore (Swa., <i>Adm.</i>, 40); General Iron Screw Company, in which Lord Hatherly
-said that it was “beyond question that for certain purposes every country may, by
-the common law of nations, legitimately exercise jurisdiction over that portion of
-the high seas which lies within three miles from its shores,”&mdash;whether this limit
-was determined by the range of cannon was not material, since it was clear it
-extended at any rate to that distance (1 J. and H., 180); Whitstable Fishery Case,
-in which it was said that the soil of the seashore to the distance of three miles from
-the beach was vested in the crown, and in which Lord Chelmsford observed that
-“the three-mile limit depends upon a rule of international law, by which every
-independent state is considered to have territorial property and jurisdiction in the
-sea which washes their coast within an assumed distance of a cannon-shot from
-the shore” (11 C.B. (N.S.), 387; 2 H.L.C., 192); the <i>Annapolis</i>, in which Dr
-Lushington said. “Within British jurisdiction, namely, within British territory,
-and at sea within three miles from the coast” (1 Lush., <i>Adm.</i>, 306); Rex <i>v.</i> Forty-nine
-Casks of Brandy, in which Sir John Nicholl said that “as between nation and
-nation, the territorial right may, by a sort of tacit understanding, be extended to
-three miles” (3 Haggard, 257); Gammell <i>v.</i> Commissioners Woods and Forests and
-Lord Advocate, in which Lord Wensleydale referred to the distance of three miles
-as belonging, by the acknowledged law of nations, to the coast of the country, and
-“under the dominion of the country by being within cannon range, and so capable
-of being kept in perpetual possession” (3 MacQueen, H.L., 419).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1083" href="#FNanchor_1083" class="label">1083</a>
-This subject is treated of by Mr A. H. Charteris, Lecturer in International Law,
-University of Glasgow, in a paper read before the International Law Association at
-Berlin in 1906 (<i>Twenty-third Report</i>, 103).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1084" href="#FNanchor_1084" class="label">1084</a>
-Two small islands in the Channel.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1085" href="#FNanchor_1085" class="label">1085</a>
-Bell, <i>Crown Cases Reserved</i>, 72. See Hall, <i>Internat. Law</i>, 5th edit., p. 156;
-Westlake, <i>Internat. Law</i>, i. 118.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1086" href="#FNanchor_1086" class="label">1086</a>
-The Direct United States Cable Company <i>v.</i> the Anglo-American Telegraph
-Company, Privy Council, 1877. <i>Law Reports</i>, Appeal Cases, ii. 394.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1087" href="#FNanchor_1087" class="label">1087</a>
-33 &amp; 34 Vict., c. 90.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1088" href="#FNanchor_1088" class="label">1088</a>
-See pp. 592, 632.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1089" href="#FNanchor_1089" class="label">1089</a>
-Regina <i>v.</i> Keyn, <i>Law Reports, Excheq. Div.</i>, ii., 1876-7, p. 63.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1090" href="#FNanchor_1090" class="label">1090</a>
-<i>E.g.</i>, p. 204: “There are several treaties by which nations have engaged, in
-the event of either of them being at war with a third, to treat the sea within three
-miles of each other’s coasts as neutral territory,” the treaties being those referred
-to on p. 572. “After the three-mile theory had been propounded by Bynkershoek,”
-p. 177. Mr Justice Amphlett went further, and attributed a similar doctrine to
-Grotius: “All the earlier writers, including Grotius, the vigorous advocate of the
-free navigation of the high seas, and many of the later writers, maintained that
-within the zone of three miles the state had, without qualification,” &amp;c., p. 122.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1091" href="#FNanchor_1091" class="label">1091</a>
-41 &amp; 42 Vict., c. 73.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1092" href="#FNanchor_1092" class="label">1092</a>
-58 &amp; 59 Vict., c. 42.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1093" href="#FNanchor_1093" class="label">1093</a>
-<i>Hansard</i>, xxxiii. 504. The Lord Chancellor (Lord Herschell), who followed,
-said : “He was far from saying that three miles was to be the limit of territorial
-waters for all time. Originally the distance was fixed by gunshot, and it was
-always said that the distance a gun could fire to was three miles. How far this
-principle was to be extended, and whether it was to be extended indefinitely, was
-a question for consideration, and it was a question which would not be without its
-difficulty.” Lord Salisbury referred to a gun which was fired on Jubilee Day
-and carried twelve miles, and Lord Herschell to one which had a range of thirteen
-miles.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1094" href="#FNanchor_1094" class="label">1094</a>
-9 Geo. II., c. 35; 24 Geo. III., c. 47; Twiss, <i>The Law of Nations in Time of
-Peace</i>, 261; Hall, <i>A Treatise on the Foreign Powers and Jurisdiction of the British
-Crown</i>, 244.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1095" href="#FNanchor_1095" class="label">1095</a>
-16 &amp; 17 Vict., c. 107, ss. 212, 218; 39 &amp; 40 Vict., c. 36, s. 179.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1096" href="#FNanchor_1096" class="label">1096</a>
-Kent, <i>Commentaries</i>, i. 31; Wheaton, <i>Elements</i>, 267, 323.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1097" href="#FNanchor_1097" class="label">1097</a>
-Riquelme, <i>op. cit.</i> <a href="#Page_569">See p. 569</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1098" href="#FNanchor_1098" class="label">1098</a>
-<i>Fifteenth Ann. Rep. Assoc. for Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations</i>,.
-18, 22; <i>Seventeenth</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, 302; <i>Annuaire de l’Institut</i>, xi. 151.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1099" href="#FNanchor_1099" class="label">1099</a>
-<i>Fifteenth Rep.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, 84, 121; <i>Ann. de l’Institut</i> for 1894. Customs Act of
-Canada, 49 Vict., c. 32, s. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1100" href="#FNanchor_1100" class="label">1100</a>
-26 Geo. II.; 6 Geo. IV., c. 78.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1101" href="#FNanchor_1101" class="label">1101</a>
-<i>Mer Territoriale</i>, 222; and see pp. 551, 560, 564.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1102" href="#FNanchor_1102" class="label">1102</a>
-Twiss, <i>op. cit.</i>, 261-264; Phillimore, <i>Commentaries</i>, i. 236; Kent, <i>loc. cit.</i>;
-Wheaton, <i>loc. cit.</i>; Hall, <i>loc. cit.</i> The latter author states that they “repose on
-an agreement which, though tacit, is universal,” and that “no civilised country
-encourages offences against the laws of a foreign state when it sees that the laws
-are just and necessary.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1103" href="#FNanchor_1103" class="label">1103</a>
-<i>De la Libert&eacute; des Mers, ou le Gouvernement Anglois devoil&eacute;</i>, 1798.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1104" href="#FNanchor_1104" class="label">1104</a>
-<i>La Mer Libre, La Mer Ferm&eacute;e</i>, 1803.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1105" href="#FNanchor_1105" class="label">1105</a>
-<i>Institutions du Droit de la Nature et des Gens.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1106" href="#FNanchor_1106" class="label">1106</a>
-<i>De la Libert&eacute; des Mers.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1107" href="#FNanchor_1107" class="label">1107</a>
-<i>A Practical Treatise on the Law of Nations relative to the Legal Effect of War
-on the Commerce of Belligerents and Neutrals.</i> London, 1812.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1108" href="#FNanchor_1108" class="label">1108</a>
-<i>Das Europ&auml;ische V&ouml;lkerrecht</i>, Berlin, 1817, p. 141.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1109" href="#FNanchor_1109" class="label">1109</a>
-“So weit der Schuss des Gesch&uuml;tses vom Ufer es bestreichen m&ouml;ge; dies selbst
-nahm man mit noch ungebundenerer Will-K&uuml;hr auf 3 Lieues an.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1110" href="#FNanchor_1110" class="label">1110</a>
-P. 564.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1111" href="#FNanchor_1111" class="label">1111</a>
-<i>Europ&auml;isches V&ouml;lkerrecht</i>, Stuttgart, 1821, p. 204; <i>Droit des Gens moderne de
-l’Europe</i>, 1819, III. ii. 130 (ed. 1831).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1112" href="#FNanchor_1112" class="label">1112</a>
-<i>A Digest of the Law of Maritime Captures or Prizes</i>, New York, 1815,
-c. ii. p. 55.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1113" href="#FNanchor_1113" class="label">1113</a>
-<i>Elements of International Law</i>, c. iv. ss. 6-10. London, 1836.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1114" href="#FNanchor_1114" class="label">1114</a>
-The King’s Chambers were, however, confined to the coast of England.
-<a href="#Page_122">See p. 122</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1115" href="#FNanchor_1115" class="label">1115</a>
-<i>Commentaries on American Law</i>, i. Part I. Lect. iii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1116" href="#FNanchor_1116" class="label">1116</a>
-<i>Commentaries on the Law of Nations</i>, p. 119. 1839.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1117" href="#FNanchor_1117" class="label">1117</a>
-<i>Das Europ&auml;isches V&ouml;lkerrecht der Gegenwart</i>, Berlin, 1844. <i>Le Droit International
-de l’Europe</i>, Paris, 1873, s. 75. “La ligne de la port&eacute;e du canon elle-m&ecirc;me,
-bien qu’elle soit regard&eacute;e comme de droit commun, ne pr&eacute;sente aucune base invariable
-et peut-&ecirc;tre fix&eacute;e par les lois de chaque &Eacute;tat, du moins d’une mani&egrave;re
-provisoire.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1118" href="#FNanchor_1118" class="label">1118</a>
-<i>Researches in Maritime International Law</i>, i. 16. 1844.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1119" href="#FNanchor_1119" class="label">1119</a>
-<i>R&egrave;gles Internationales et Diplomatie de la Mer</i>, i. 177.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1120" href="#FNanchor_1120" class="label">1120</a>
-<i>Histoire des Origines, des Progr&egrave;s, et des Variations du Droit Maritime International</i>,
-ed. 1858, p. 22.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1121" href="#FNanchor_1121" class="label">1121</a>
-<i>Trait&eacute; des Prises maritimes</i>, i. 93. Paris, 1855.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1122" href="#FNanchor_1122" class="label">1122</a>
-“La port&eacute;e du canon, plac&eacute; &agrave; terre, est la seule limite r&eacute;elle et vraie des mers
-territoriales.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1123" href="#FNanchor_1123" class="label">1123</a>
-<i>Le Droit commercial, dans ses rapports avec le Droit des Gens et le Droit Civil</i>,
-Paris, 1844-47, tom. i. Liv. ii. tit. i. c. i. ss. 103-105.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1124" href="#FNanchor_1124" class="label">1124</a>
-<i>Plans and Proposals transmitted to the Committee on the Fishery</i>, No. 1, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1125" href="#FNanchor_1125" class="label">1125</a>
-<i>Reports by the Commissioners for the British Herring Fishery</i> for 1819, 1821,
-1822; <i>Staatsblad</i>, No. 28, 4th April 1824, for a copy of which I am indebted to Mr
-H. van Hall, of the Universiteits-Bibliotheek, Amsterdam. After a reference to the
-previous decrees prohibiting the taking of herrings “between the banks and rocks
-of Scotland,” as being injurious to the reputation of Dutch pickled herrings (see
-p. 201), it is stated that the Board for the Great Fishery is of opinion that, in the
-interest of this branch of national industry, the fishing should be carried on at
-a farther distance from the main coast of Scotland (<i>Schotsche vaste kust</i>), and it is
-determined and resolved as follows: “Art. I. Het zal aan geenen Nederlandschen
-visscher geoorloofd zijn, de groote of pekelharingvisscherij op eenen naderen afstand
-der vaste kust van Schotland uitteoefenen, dan dien van twee uren hemelsbreedte
-(20 zoodanige uren eenen graad uitmakende), noch onder eenig voorwendsel hoe ook
-genaamd (alleen met uitzondering van het geval van dringende noodzakelijkheid
-bij art. 22 der voormelde wet voorzien), gedurende den tijd dat hij de vangst van
-pekelharing bedrijft, de vermelde kust op eenen minderen afstand te naderen.”
-The second article excepted the fishing at Shetland (Hitland) and Fair Isle (Fair-hill),
-the autumn fishing on the English coast and off Yarmouth, and the fresh-herring
-fishery; but these exceptions were withdrawn by a royal decree of 5th
-June 1827 (<i>Staatscourant</i>, 1827, No. 278). It may be said that in 1818 the old
-prohibition of fishing between the sandbanks and rocks of Norway, Shetland, and
-Scotland had been renewed. <i>Staatsblad</i>, No. 15, 12th March 1818.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1126" href="#FNanchor_1126" class="label">1126</a>
-<i>Rapport fait en Ex&eacute;cution des Ordres du Ministre de la Marine</i>, par M. L. de
-Montaignac, Capitaine de fr&eacute;gate, Commandant la Station de la Mer du Nord.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1127" href="#FNanchor_1127" class="label">1127</a>
-Montaignac, <i>op. cit.</i>; <i>Parl. Papers</i>, Sess. 1837-38; <i>Rep. Com. Brit. Herring
-Fishery</i>, 1834.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1128" href="#FNanchor_1128" class="label">1128</a>
-<i>Report from the Select Committee on British Channel Fisheries, Parl. Papers</i>,
-Sess. 1833, No. 676.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1129" href="#FNanchor_1129" class="label">1129</a>
-An ordinance of the French Marine Department, of 15th January 1829, prohibited
-the use of certain nets, as drag and trawl nets, within <i>three leagues</i> of the
-shore from 15th April to 1st September, and within two leagues from 1st September
-to 15th April.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1130" href="#FNanchor_1130" class="label">1130</a>
-Some of the English fishery Acts then in force, at least nominally, extended
-jurisdiction beyond the distance of one league with regard to the use of certain
-nets, &amp;c., and the Committee apparently desired that, besides a zone of exclusive
-fishery, foreigners should be bound to observe the municipal law for the protection
-of the spawn and brood of fish that might apply beyond such zone. The Acts
-referred to were 3 Jac. I., c. 12 (1605), for the better preservation of sea fish,
-which, <i>inter alia</i>, prohibited the use of certain nets within five miles of any harbour,
-haven, or creek; 14 Chas. II., c. 28 (1662), regulating the pilchard-fishing in
-Devon and Cornwall, which prohibited the use of any “drift, trammel, or stream
-net,” between 1st June and 30th November, within one and a half leagues of the
-coasts of these counties; 1 George I., stat. 2, c. 18 (1714), which prohibited the
-use “at sea upon the coast of England” of certain nets, and the landing or sale
-of undersized fish; the Act 33 Geo. III., c. 27 (1759), prohibited the taking or
-knowingly possessing “any spawn, fry, or brood of fish, or any unsizeable fish,
-or any fish out of season.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1131" href="#FNanchor_1131" class="label">1131</a>
-Under the Act 6 Geo. IV., c. 108, 1825.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1132" href="#FNanchor_1132" class="label">1132</a>
-Mr Cornish, quoting from his MS. treatise on zoology, said: “It is generally
-supposed that all sea fish, the cetaceous (<i>sic</i>) and cartilaginous excepted, deposit
-their ova in sand-banks, in creeks, bays, and shallow water near the shores, because
-it is imagined that a certain, though a small, degree of the sun’s action on the water
-and atmosphere is necessary to bring such ova to maturity. This we know to be
-the case with the salmon species, which always ascend to the shallow parts of rivers
-for that purpose, and never lay their eggs in deep water, and therefore we infer
-that the same influence prevails over the sea fish: this cannot, however, be proved,
-and rests mainly on opinion and probable conjecture, founded on such facts as we
-are acquainted with.” It may be said that a Select Committee of the House of
-Commons, appointed in 1817 to inquire into the condition of the fisheries on the
-south coast of Devon, strongly recommended Parliamentary action for the protection
-of the fisheries, founding on the same erroneous assumption that the fishes
-spawned near the shore. A Bill was accordingly introduced in the session of 1819,
-and again in 1822, for the appointment of conservators or overseers of the bays,
-creeks, and arms of the sea, to supervise regulations for the preservation of the fish
-coming there to spawn, and of their brood and fry, and applying to a distance of
-one and a half leagues from the shore; but it did not pass the Lords. <i>Rep. Select
-Com. on the State and Condition of the Fisheries on the South Coast of Devon</i>, 1817;
-<i>Parl. Bills</i>, xxii. 587, 601. <i>Eighth Ann. Rep. Fishery Board for Scotland</i>, Part
-III., pp. 13, 258 (1890); <i>Tenth, ibid.</i>, pp. 19, 235; <i>Eleventh, ibid.</i>, p. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1133" href="#FNanchor_1133" class="label">1133</a>
-Memorials, &amp;c., received by Her Majesty’s Government since 1st January 1832,
-complaining of the Aggressions of French fishermen on the British Coasts, <i>Parl.
-Papers</i>, Sess. 1837-38; Supplementary Papers relative to the Complaints respecting
-the Aggressions of French fishermen on the British Coasts, 1838, <i>ibid.</i>, 1839;
-<i>Reports by the Commissioners for the Herring Fishery</i>, for 1834, 1835, 1839.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1134" href="#FNanchor_1134" class="label">1134</a>
-<i>Convention between Her Majesty and the King of the French, defining and
-regulating the Limits of the Exclusive Right of the Oyster and other Fishery on the
-Coasts of Great Britain and of France.</i> Signed at Paris, August 2, 1839.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1135" href="#FNanchor_1135" class="label">1135</a>
-The line of closure, as will be seen from fig. 16, was not a single straight line,
-as usual, but a series of lines determined by landmarks. The area between this
-series and the three-mile limit, from which British fishermen were excluded, measures
-a little over 100 square (geographical) miles. On the other hand, all of the
-closing line north of 49&deg; 3&acute; (and thus the greater part of it) is, curiously, <i>within</i> the
-three-mile zone; the area outside this line to the three-mile line is about 23 square
-miles.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1136" href="#FNanchor_1136" class="label">1136</a>
-6 &amp; 7 Vict., cap. 79. “An Act to carry into Effect the Convention between
-Her Majesty and the King of the French concerning the Fisheries in the Seas
-between the British Islands and France,” 22nd August 1843. The mesh of trawl-nets,
-the length of the trawl-beam, the weight of the trawl-irons and of the ground-rope,
-the mesh of herring, mackerel, “bratt,” and trammel nets, were in no case to
-be over or under a specified standard. A series of detailed regulations for oyster-fishing
-was also made, including a close-time and a minimum size. This Act was
-repealed by the Sea Fisheries Act, 1868 (the Convention Act), 31 &amp; 32 Vict., c. 45,
-but it was revived by Parliament in 1877 (40 &amp; 41 Vict., c. 42), the Convention of
-1867 not having been ratified by France.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1137" href="#FNanchor_1137" class="label">1137</a>
-<i>Reports of the Commissioners for the Herring Fishery</i>, 1839, 1840, 1841.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1138" href="#FNanchor_1138" class="label">1138</a>
-It was denounced in the Boulogne Chamber of Commerce as the greatest
-blunder the French Government had ever made, and many complaints were
-received from French fishermen of their boats having been captured or pursued
-by British cruisers. Deseille, <i>Histoire de la P&ecirc;che &agrave; Boulogne-sur-Mer</i>, 229. The
-French cruisers were no less active in apprehending British transgressors. <i>Parl.
-Papers</i>, Sess. 1854-5, 459.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1139" href="#FNanchor_1139" class="label">1139</a>
-Mitchell, <i>The Herring: Its Natural History and National Importance</i>, 243.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1140" href="#FNanchor_1140" class="label">1140</a>
-The Board pointed out that the fishermen of other foreign countries were not
-disposed to observe the limits laid down in the Anglo-French convention, specifying
-Dutch as well as Belgians, and that the naval superintendents were perplexed
-from the want of fixed instructions on this point. The letter from the Board of
-Trade was as follows (<i>Report of the Commissioners for the year ended 5th January
-1849</i>):&mdash;</p>
-
-<p class="author">“<span class="smcap">Office of Committee of Privy-Council for Trade</span>,<br />
-“<span class="smcap">Whitehall</span>, <i>14th September 1848</i>.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;With reference to your letter of 4th ultimo, requesting, on the part of
-the Commissioners of British Fisheries, to know whether Foreign Fishermen are
-permitted to fish within three miles of the Shore; I am directed by the Lords of
-the Committee of Privy-Council for Trade, to inform you, that it is the opinion of
-this Board, that no such permission is recognised by the British Government, and
-accordingly, that it is the duty of the Superintendents of British Fisheries, to warn
-Dutch, Belgian, or any other Foreigners, as well as French Fishermen, to keep outside
-of the limits above mentioned.&mdash;I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p>
-
-<p class="author">(Sd.) <span class="smcap">Denis le Marchant</span>.</p>
-
-<p>The Honourable <span class="smcap">B. F. Primrose</span>, Secretary,<br />
-Board of Fisheries, Edinburgh.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1141" href="#FNanchor_1141" class="label">1141</a>
-<a href="#Page_461">See p. 461</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1142" href="#FNanchor_1142" class="label">1142</a>
-Convention between Her Majesty and the King of the Belgians relative to
-Fishery. Signed at London, March 22, 1852. “Art. I. Belgian subjects shall
-enjoy, in regard to fishery along the coast of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
-and Ireland, the treatment of the most favoured foreign nation. In like manner,
-British subjects shall enjoy, in regard to fishery along the coast of the Kingdom of
-Belgium, the treatment of the most favoured foreign nation.” The convention
-was to endure for seven years, and it was to remain in force thereafter until the
-expiry of twelve months after either party notified to the other its intention of
-terminating it.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1143" href="#FNanchor_1143" class="label">1143</a>
-<i>Reports by the Commissioners for the British Fisheries</i>, 1848-51. <i>Parl. Papers</i>,
-Sess. 1856.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1144" href="#FNanchor_1144" class="label">1144</a>
-<i>Reports of the Commissioners for the British Fisheries</i>, 1852, 1853, 1862.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1145" href="#FNanchor_1145" class="label">1145</a>
-<i>Report of the Commissioners appointed to Enquire into the Sea Fisheries of the
-United Kingdom</i>, I. lxix. (1866).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1146" href="#FNanchor_1146" class="label">1146</a>
-<i>Convention between Her Majesty and the Emperor of the French, relative to the
-Fisheries in the seas between Great Britain and France.</i> Signed at Paris, 11th
-November 1867. Art. I. “British fishermen shall enjoy the exclusive right of
-fishery within the distance of three miles from low-water mark, along the whole
-extent of the coasts of the British Islands; and French fishermen shall enjoy the
-exclusive right of fishery within the distance of three miles from low-water mark
-along the whole extent of the coast of France, the only exception to this rule being
-that part of the coast of France which lies between Cape Carteret and Point Meinga.
-The distance of three miles fixed as the general limit for the exclusive right of fishery
-upon the coasts of the two countries shall, with respect to bays, the mouths of
-which do not exceed ten miles in width, be measured from a straight line drawn
-from headland to headland. The miles mentioned in the present Convention are
-geographical miles, whereof sixty make a degree of latitude.” In neither of the
-conventions was it expressly said that the ten-mile closing-line for bays was to be
-measured from low-water mark of the headlands, but it was so declared in the Act
-of 1843, 6 &amp; 7 Vict., c. 79.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1147" href="#FNanchor_1147" class="label">1147</a>
-31 &amp; 32 Vict., c. 45.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1148" href="#FNanchor_1148" class="label">1148</a>
-<i>London Gazette</i>, 9th Feb. 1869. C. E. Fryer, <i>The Relation of the State with
-Fishermen and Fisheries. Parl. Papers, Commerc.</i>, 24 (1882), p. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1149" href="#FNanchor_1149" class="label">1149</a>
-46 &amp; 47 Vict., c. 22, sec. 30.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1150" href="#FNanchor_1150" class="label">1150</a>
-6 &amp; 7 Vict., c. 79, s. vi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1151" href="#FNanchor_1151" class="label">1151</a>
-5 &amp; 6 Vict., c. 106.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1152" href="#FNanchor_1152" class="label">1152</a>
-<i>Parl. Papers</i>, Sess. 1867-68, Fisheries (Ireland), 135.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1153" href="#FNanchor_1153" class="label">1153</a>
-31 &amp; 32 Vict., c. 45, s. 67.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1154" href="#FNanchor_1154" class="label">1154</a>
-<i>Report from the Select Committee on Oyster Fisheries</i>, 8, 166 (1876).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1155" href="#FNanchor_1155" class="label">1155</a>
-Had the coasts of the United States been visited by British fishermen, it is not
-unlikely that the Government of that country would have been more willing to
-admit the ordinary interpretation with regard to bays. British vessels do not,
-however, fish on the coasts of the United States, and the United States fishermen,
-having exhausted the once productive waters of their own coasts of the New
-England States, go to catch a large part of their fish to the waters on the coasts of
-British North America, and hence it is to their interest that the limit of exclusive
-fishing on the latter should be as small as they can get it made. The position is
-very similar to that of the English trawlers who, having impoverished the North
-Sea, now go to foreign coasts, as Iceland, to keep up the supplies. <a href="#Page_707">See p. 707</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1156" href="#FNanchor_1156" class="label">1156</a>
-Treaty between Her Majesty and the United States of America, signed at
-Washington, 1st June 1854, Art. i., ii. I. “It is agreed by the high contracting
-parties that in addition to the liberty secured to the United States’ fishermen by
-the above-mentioned convention of October 20, 1818, of taking, curing, and drying
-fish on certain coasts of the British North American Colonies therein defined, the
-inhabitants of the United States shall have, in common with the subjects of Her
-Britannic Majesty, the liberty to take fish of every kind, except shell-fish, on the
-sea coasts and shores, and in the bays, harbours, and creeks of Canada, New
-Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward’s Island, and of the several islands thereunto
-adjacent, without being restricted to any distance from the shore, with
-permission to land upon the coasts and shores of those Colonies and the islands
-thereof, and also upon the Magdalen Islands, for the purpose of drying their nets
-and curing their fish; provided that, in so doing, they do not interfere with the
-rights of private property, or with British fishermen, in the peaceable use of any
-part of the said coast in their occupancy for the same purpose.” The second article
-accorded to Canadian fishermen similar privileges in the waters of the United
-States, north of 36 degrees N. latitude.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1157" href="#FNanchor_1157" class="label">1157</a>
-Before this arrangement was made, the British Government, on 12th April 1866,
-instructed the Admiralty “that American fishermen should not be interfered with,
-either by notice or otherwise, unless they are found within three miles of a line
-drawn across the mouth of a bay or creek, which is less than ten geographical
-miles in width, in conformity with the arrangement made with France in 1839.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1158" href="#FNanchor_1158" class="label">1158</a>
-27th June 1870. “The limits within which you will, if necessary, exercise the
-power to exclude United States’ fishermen, or to detain American fishing vessels or
-boats, are for the present to be exceptional.... Her Majesty’s Government are
-clearly of opinion that, by the Convention of 1818, the United States have renounced
-the right of fishing, not only within three miles of the Colonial shores, but within
-three miles of a line drawn across the mouth of any British bay or creek. It is,
-however, the wish of Her Majesty’s Government neither to concede, nor for the
-present to enforce, any rights in this respect which are in their nature open to any
-serious question. Until further instructed, therefore, you will not interfere with
-any American fishermen, unless found within three miles of the shore, or within
-three miles of a line drawn across the mouth of a bay or creek, which, though in
-parts more than six miles wide, is less than six geographical miles in width at its
-mouth. In the case of any other bay&mdash;as Bay des Chaleurs, for example&mdash;you will
-not interfere with any United States’ fishing vessel or boat, or any American fishermen,
-unless they are found within three miles of the shore.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1159" href="#FNanchor_1159" class="label">1159</a>
-Treaty between Her Majesty and the United States of America, signed at
-Washington, 8th May 1871, Art. xviii., xix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1160" href="#FNanchor_1160" class="label">1160</a>
-<i>Parl. Papers</i>, No. 1 (1888), (C.&mdash;5262).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1161" href="#FNanchor_1161" class="label">1161</a>
-The number of American fishing vessels which take the licenses for Canadian
-waters is usually about 100, the fees aggregating 10,000 or 12,000 dollars per
-annum. <i>Ann. Reports, Marine and Fisheries</i>, Ottawa.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1162" href="#FNanchor_1162" class="label">1162</a>
-The three-mile limit is measured from the ten-mile arc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1163" href="#FNanchor_1163" class="label">1163</a>
-Mr Phelps to the Marquis of Salisbury, 3rd August 1887, enclosing ad interim
-arrangement proposed by the United States’ Government, with “Observations” by
-the British Government and Reply of the Government of the United States.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1164" href="#FNanchor_1164" class="label">1164</a>
-Gordon, <i>15th Ann. Rep. Assoc. for Reform of Law of Nations</i> (8). 1893.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1165" href="#FNanchor_1165" class="label">1165</a>
-<i>Report by the Commissioners for the Herring Fishery</i>, Scotland, 1869, p. 4;
-<i>Report by the Commissioners of the Fishery Board, Scotland</i>, 1876, p. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1166" href="#FNanchor_1166" class="label">1166</a>
-Report of W. H. Higgin, Esq., Q.C., on the Outrages committed by Foreign
-upon English Fishermen in the North Sea. <i>Parl. Papers</i> (C.&mdash;2878), 1881.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1167" href="#FNanchor_1167" class="label">1167</a>
-After all, however, the damage from the monetary point of view was not
-very great, amounting, according to the detailed information collected by Mr Higgin,
-to &pound;4372, 3s. over the years 1870-1880, or at the rate of about &pound;400 per annum.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1168" href="#FNanchor_1168" class="label">1168</a>
-Correspondence respecting the Conference at The Hague and the Convention
-of the 6th May 1882, relative to the Police of the Fisheries in the North Sea.
-<i>Parl. Papers, Commercial</i>, No. 24, 1882.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1169" href="#FNanchor_1169" class="label">1169</a>
-M. Barth&eacute;lemy St Hilaire to Lord Lyons, 2nd July 1881; M. de Freycinet to
-M. Challemel-Lacour, 2nd March 1882.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1170" href="#FNanchor_1170" class="label">1170</a>
-“The fishermen of each country shall enjoy the exclusive right of fishery
-within the distance of three miles from low-water mark along the whole extent of
-the coasts of their respective countries and of the dependent islands. As regards
-bays, the entrances of which do not exceed ten miles in width, the distance of three
-miles shall be measured from a straight line joining the two extreme points of the
-bay. The present article shall not in any way prejudice the right of free navigation
-and anchorage in territorial waters accorded to vessels of all sizes, provided they
-conform to the special police regulations enacted by the Powers to whom the shore
-belongs.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1171" href="#FNanchor_1171" class="label">1171</a>
-Messrs Kennedy and Trevor to Mr Farrer, Oct. 31, 1881. In the Anglo-French
-convention of 1867 the British negotiators unsuccessfully pressed for the
-insertion of the words, “the islands ... and their dependencies.” M. de Freycinet
-to M. Challemel-Lacour, 2nd March 1882.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1172" href="#FNanchor_1172" class="label">1172</a>
-Vide <i>Fiskeri-Beretning for Finansaaret</i>, 1907-1908, p. 178. Kjobenhavn, 1908.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1173" href="#FNanchor_1173" class="label">1173</a>
-<i>Report on the Sea Fisheries of England and Wales</i>, 1879. The British delegate
-laid stress on one of the conclusions reached by Mr Buckland, to the effect that
-“nothing that man has done, and nothing that man can do, can affect the supply
-of herrings in the seas.” Even if this were proved for the herring in the absolute
-form in which it is expressed,&mdash;and it is clearly illogical and unwarrantable to
-pledge the future in this loose way,&mdash;it obviously might not, and in point of fact
-does not, apply to the great bulk of the fishes that would have been affected by the
-German suggestion.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1174" href="#FNanchor_1174" class="label">1174</a>
-<i>International Convention for the Purpose of Regulating the Police of the Fisheries
-in the North Sea outside Territorial Waters.</i> Signed at The Hague, 6th May 1882.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1175" href="#FNanchor_1175" class="label">1175</a>
-Sir H. Rumbold to Earl Granville, 16th March 1882; H.M. Plenipotentiaries
-to the same, 8th May 1882.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1176" href="#FNanchor_1176" class="label">1176</a>
-The boundaries specified are, on the north, the parallel of the 61st degree of
-latitude; on the east and south, the coast of Norway between the above parallel and
-Lindesn&aelig;s Lighthouse, a straight line thence across the Skagerrack to Hantsholm
-Lighthouse in Denmark, the coasts of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands,
-Belgium, and France, as far as Cape Gris Nez Lighthouse; on the west, a straight
-line from Gris Nez Lighthouse to the easternmost lighthouse at the North Foreland
-in Kent, the eastern coasts of England and Scotland, a line from Duncansby Head
-in Caithness to the southern point of South Ronaldsha in the Orkneys, the eastern
-coasts of the Orkney Islands, a straight line from North Ronaldsha Lighthouse to
-Sumburgh Head Lighthouse in the Shetland Islands, the eastern coasts of these
-islands, and the meridian of the North Unst Lighthouse as far as the parallel of
-the 61st degree of latitude. The Dutch proposed the 60th degree of latitude as
-the northern limit, and the British the 62nd degree.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1177" href="#FNanchor_1177" class="label">1177</a>
-46 &amp; 47 Vict., c. 22. An Act to carry into effect an International Convention
-concerning the Fisheries in the North Sea, and to amend the laws relating to British
-Sea Fisheries.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1178" href="#FNanchor_1178" class="label">1178</a>
-Messrs Kennedy and Trevor to Mr Farrer, 31st Oct. 1881. <i>Doc. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1179" href="#FNanchor_1179" class="label">1179</a>
-Dispatch to Hon. E. Ashley, 17th Nov. 1881; Earl Granville to Her Majesty’s
-Representatives at Paris, Brussels, The Hague, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Stockholm,
-6th December 1881.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1180" href="#FNanchor_1180" class="label">1180</a>
-A case occurred in 1908 in which the master of an English trawler, the <i>Taurus</i>,
-was convicted in a German court for trawling within the three-mile limit on the
-German coast, and the case was appealed on the ground that the place was outside
-the territorial waters, and was so shown on the English fishery charts. It was
-found, however, that the three-mile line on these charts did not take into account
-the dependent banks, whereas the German charts did take them into account, the
-limit running in some cases six or seven miles from the coast. It may be mentioned
-that as considerable parts of the Goodwin Sands are visible at low-water of
-neap tides, such parts are entitled to a three-mile limit in the same way as the
-dependent banks on the German coast. Recently, also, it has been found that
-the three-mile limit in the neighbourhood of the Scaw fluctuates considerably
-owing to the shifting of the shoals, and the Danish authorities, early in 1907,
-intimated that any case of alleged infraction of the limit by foreign fishing
-vessels would be judged of by the actual position of the line at the time, and
-not by what may be shown on any chart in use. The point in regard to banks was
-raised a century ago in connection with neutral rights in a case in which a British
-privateer captured a French corvette, the <i>Africaine</i>, on the coast of the United
-States, six miles from shore. It was argued that the capture was unlawful, because
-the place was within the neutral waters of the United States, the extent of which
-had been defined by Congress in 1794 as one marine league from the coast (<a href="#Page_574">see
-p. 574</a>). It was contended that “coasts” included all the shoals or banks which,
-in Florida, extended to a distance of twenty miles from the land, and were therefore
-within territorial jurisdiction, and that the distance of protection should be
-reckoned from the outermost shoal. The American judge overruled the argument,
-because, although in a maritime sense this interpretation of “coasts” might be
-correct, it was too vague for juridical purposes, since the shoals vary, and there
-would be no fixed rule by which the boundary could be ascertained; and that the
-district courts would have to apply different rules at different places, instead of the
-one marine league everywhere. A somewhat similar question was argued in 1805
-in the English Admiralty Court in the case of an American ship, the <i>Anna</i>,
-captured by a British privateer off the mouth of the Mississippi, at a point
-claimed to be within the neutral waters of the United States&mdash;viz., 1&frac12; mile
-from an island, and “within view” of a fort, which was, however, five miles distant.
-A question raised was whether certain small mud-islands, formed of earth
-and drifted logs, and covered with reeds, where people occasionally went to shoot
-wild-fowl, was United States territory from which the marine league could be
-measured. It was argued that the islands had not sufficient consistency to support
-the purposes of life, and were sometimes scarcely distinguishable, and that since
-the distance of neutral protection “is reckoned according to the efficacy of protection,
-that is, within the range of firearms,” the land from which the extension
-is measured should be a place from which this protection could be in reality afforded.
-Lord Stowell, in deciding that they were United States territory, stated that the
-right of dominion did not depend upon the texture of the soil; and he quoted
-Bynkershoek’s formula as the rule of law, saying that the distance “has usually
-been recognised to be about three miles from the shore.” It may be said here that
-in the earlier writings and decisions about the limit of territorial waters, low-water
-mark is not specified, and in the case of the <i>Twee Gebroeders</i> (<a href="#Page_577">see p. 577</a>) it is clear
-that sand-banks uncovered at low-water were not regarded as entitled to an independent
-zone, the distance being measured from <i>terra firma</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1181" href="#FNanchor_1181" class="label">1181</a>
-<i>Fish Trades Gazette</i>, May 31st, 1902, p. 8; <i>ibid.</i>, April 4th, 1903, p. 21.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1182" href="#FNanchor_1182" class="label">1182</a>
-“Les articles 2 et 3 de ce contrat stipulent que les p&ecirc;cheurs nationaux jouiront
-du droit exclusif de p&ecirc;che dans le rayon de trois milles g&eacute;ographiques de 60 au
-degr&eacute; de latitude, &agrave; partir de la laisse de basse mer, le long de toute l’&eacute;tendue des
-c&ocirc;tes de leurs pays respectifs, ainsi que des &icirc;les et des bancs qui en d&eacute;pendent.”
-<i>Loi relative &agrave; la p&ecirc;che maritime dans les eaux territoriales. Expos&eacute; des motifs.</i>
-Sess. 1890-91.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1183" href="#FNanchor_1183" class="label">1183</a>
-The Marquis of Lothian, Secretary for Scotland, in introducing the Bill which
-became the Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act, 1889, said: “With regard to the east
-coast there is no very great difficulty in fixing the limits of territorial waters,
-because between Her Majesty’s Government and what I may call the riparian
-powers of the North Sea there is a Fisheries Convention; but on the west coast
-there is no such convention, and therefore it has been thought desirable to attach
-a schedule to this Bill in order to show exactly what are the waters closed against
-trawlers apart altogether from the general international rule as to the three-mile
-limit.” June 28th, 1889. Hansard, vol. 337, p. 975.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1184" href="#FNanchor_1184" class="label">1184</a>
-46 &amp; 47 Vict., c. 22, s. 28.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1185" href="#FNanchor_1185" class="label">1185</a>
-6 &amp; 7 Vict., c. 79 (1843). The international regulations agreed upon in virtue
-of the eleventh article of the convention were to apply to “the seas lying between
-the coasts of Great Britain and of France”; and differences of interpretation arose
-in this country as to the extent of the seas coming under this denomination&mdash;<i>e.g.</i>,
-whether those on the west coast of Scotland were included. The power given
-to the crown to suspend the operation of the Act on the Irish coasts, and the obvious
-intention of the Act and articles, seemed to the Royal Commissioners of 1863
-to warrant the opinion that these extra-territorial regulations applied to all the
-seas around the British Isles (<i>Report, Royal Commission on Sea Fisheries</i>, i.
-p. lxiii). On the other hand, it was contended that the words quoted must be
-construed strictly, and included only those seas which were situated geographically
-between the two countries. This difference of opinion as to the interpretation
-of the phrase in question does not, however, affect the validity of Article ix.
-of the convention, one of the principal objects of which was to determine the
-limits of exclusive fishery.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1186" href="#FNanchor_1186" class="label">1186</a>
-<i>Vide</i> 46 &amp; 47 Vict., c. 22, s. 24.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1187" href="#FNanchor_1187" class="label">1187</a>
-<i>Report from the Select Committee on Oyster Fisheries</i>, p. 1. 1876.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1188" href="#FNanchor_1188" class="label">1188</a>
-19th, 22nd, and 23rd <i>Reports Fishery Board for Scotland</i>, Part I. Corresponding
-particulars are not given in the English or Irish fishery reports.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1189" href="#FNanchor_1189" class="label">1189</a>
-The preceding laws, however, left the territorial limits indefinite, under the
-law of nations, or subject to any special international agreement, as that of 12th
-February 1872, concerning foreign fishermen at Iceland. (“1. Drive fremmede
-Nationers Fiskere nogetsomhelst Fiskeri under Islands Kyster indenfor S&oslash;territoriets
-Gr&aelig;nse, saaledes som denne er bestemt ved den almindelige Folkeret, eller
-ved s&aelig;rlige internationale Overenskomster for Islands Vedkommende maatte blive
-fastsat, straffes de med B&oslash;der fra 10 til 200 Rd.” C. F. Drechsel, <i>Samling af
-Islandske Love, Forordninger, m.m. g&aelig;ldende for Fiskeriet paa S&oslash;territoriet ved
-Island</i>, 1892.) Later laws, both for the Far&ouml;es and Iceland, merely referred to
-the “territorial sea.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1190" href="#FNanchor_1190" class="label">1190</a>
-Convention between His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great
-Britain and Ireland and His Majesty the King of Denmark for regulating the
-Fisheries of their respective Subjects outside Territorial Waters in the Ocean surrounding
-the Far&ouml;e Islands and Iceland. Art. ii. “The subjects of His Majesty
-the King of Denmark shall enjoy the exclusive right of fishery within the distance
-of three miles from low-water mark, along the whole extent of the coasts of the
-said islands, as well as of the dependent islets, rocks, and banks.
-</p>
-<p>
-“As regards bays, the distance of three miles shall be measured from a straight
-line drawn across the bay, in the part nearest the entrance, at the first point where
-the width does not exceed ten miles.” The geographical limits for the application
-of the convention, which embodies practically the same regulations as in the North
-Sea Convention, are as follows: on the south, by a line commencing from where
-the meridian of North Unst Lighthouse (Shetland Islands) meets the parallel of
-61st degree of north latitude to a point where the 9th meridian of west longitude
-meets the parallel of 60&deg; north latitude, and from thence westward along that
-parallel to the meridian of 27&deg; west longitude; on the west, by the meridian of
-27&deg; west longitude; on the north, by the parallel of 67&deg; 30&acute; of north latitude; on
-the east, by the meridian of the North Unst Lighthouse (which is about 50&acute; west
-longitude). The area is thus very large, much larger than the North Sea. The
-convention continues in force until the expiration of two years from notice by
-either party for its termination, and a clause is inserted providing for the adhesion
-of any other Government whose subjects fish in the ocean surrounding the Far&ouml;e
-Islands and Iceland.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1191" href="#FNanchor_1191" class="label">1191</a>
-“Das positive deutsche Recht enth&auml;lt keinerlei ausdr&uuml;ckliche Bestimmung
-&uuml;ber die Grenze der K&uuml;stengew&auml;sser landw&auml;rts.... Auch f&uuml;r die Grenze seew&auml;rts
-hat das deutsche Recht keine ausdr&uuml;ckliche Bestimmung, und adoptiert in
-dieser Richtung lediglich die Regeln des V&ouml;lkerrechts.” Harburger, <i>Fifteenth Ann.
-Rep. Internat. Law Assoc.</i>, 73. 1893.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1192" href="#FNanchor_1192" class="label">1192</a>
-Herstlet, <i>Commercial Treaties</i>, xiv. 1055. Perels, <i>Das Internationale &ouml;ffentlichs
-Seerecht der Gegenwart</i>, 38.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1193" href="#FNanchor_1193" class="label">1193</a>
-<i>Mittheilungen des deutschen Seefischerei-vereins</i>, Bd. xiii. 61. 1897.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1194" href="#FNanchor_1194" class="label">1194</a>
-“Vi ville have fastsat som Regel i alle de Tilf&aelig;lde hvor Sp&oslash;rgsmaal er om
-Bestemmelse af Vor Territorial-Hoiheds Gr&aelig;endse udi S&oslash;en, at denne skal regnes
-indtil den s&aelig;dvanlige S&oslash;-Miils Afstand fra den yderste &oslash;e eller Holme fra Landet,
-som ikke overskylles af S&oslash;en.” <i>Rescripter Resolutioner</i>, &amp;c., i. 626, 22 (25), Feb.
-1812. A circular of the Royal Danish Chancellory of 18th August 1810 made an
-exception for the territorial waters near the fortress of Kronberg, on the Sound,
-and of Gl&uuml;ckstadt, on the Elbe, where the distance was to be computed only up to
-the range of the guns of the fortress. Auber, <i>Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit
-International</i>, xi. 146 (1894).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1195" href="#FNanchor_1195" class="label">1195</a>
-<i>Svensk Fiskeri Tidskrift 9e</i> &Aring;rg., 78. Stockholm, 1900. “Danmark r&auml;knar
-p&aring; grund af konvention samma [with Sweden] fyra mils gr&auml;ns mot oss, men
-d&auml;remot p&aring; grund af Nordsj&ouml;traktaten blott tre mil gentemot de i denna deltagande
-makterna, t. ex. engelsm&auml;n och tyskar.” Instruks for det ved Fiskerikontrollen
-ansatte Personale, Landbrugsministeriet, den 20 Marts 1908, <i>Fiskeri-Beretning
-for Aaret</i> 1908-9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1196" href="#FNanchor_1196" class="label">1196</a>
-Natzen, <i>Den Danske Statsforfatningsret</i>, i. 36. 1888.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1197" href="#FNanchor_1197" class="label">1197</a>
-Fiskerikonventionen mellem Danmark og Sverig, 14de July 1899. <i>Fiskeri-Beretning
-for Finansaaret</i>, 1898-1899, Copenhagen, 1900. “Art. I. I de til
-Kongerigerne Danmark og Sverig gr&aelig;nsende Farvande skal, med de i Art. II.
-n&aelig;vnte Undtagelser, det Omraade, hvor Fiskeriet udelukkende er forbeholdt hvert
-Lands egne Undersaatter, udg&oslash;re en Str&aelig;kning af en geografisk Mil (1/15 Breddegrad)
-fra Kysten eller yderste der udfor liggende Holme og Sk&aelig;r, som ikke til
-Stadighed overskylles af Vandet,” &amp;c. The definition in the Swedish is “en
-geografisk mil (1/15 breddgrad) fr&aring;n kusten eller ytterst d&auml;rutanf&ouml;r liggande holmar
-och sk&auml;r, som icke st&auml;ndigt af vattnet &ouml;fversk&ouml;ljas.” (<i>Svensk Fiskeri Tidskrift, 16e</i>
-&Aring;rg., H&auml;ft 6, p. 189.) Article II. makes the fishery in the Sound, including Kioge
-Bay, common to the subjects of each state, except that on either side, <i>within a
-depth of seven metres</i> (four fathoms), subjects of the other country shall be allowed
-to fish for herrings only, with nets; and mutual liberty of herring-fishing with
-drift-nets is conceded in like fashion at certain other specified places. Certain
-amendments were made to this agreement in 1907, the chief one being the prohibition
-of trawling in the Sound. <i>Fiskeri-Beretning for Finansaaret</i>, 1906-1907,
-p. 45. <i>Svensk F&ouml;rfattningssamling</i>, No. 79, &Aring;r., 1907.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1198" href="#FNanchor_1198" class="label">1198</a>
-<i>Sixth Supplement to Section 44 of Customs Orders</i>, vol. vi., 1886; <i>Ordinance of
-Home Department for the Regulation of the Fishery Supervision on the Murman
-Coast</i>, 4th May 1887. See footnote, p. 657.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1199" href="#FNanchor_1199" class="label">1199</a>
-<i>Norsk Fiskeritidende</i>, 466, 1893: Revue G&eacute;n&eacute;ral de <i>Droit International Public</i>,
-1894, p. 440.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1200" href="#FNanchor_1200" class="label">1200</a>
-In July 1910, a British trawler, <i>Onward Ho</i>, while engaged in fishing off the
-Kanin Peninsula, at a distance, according to the skipper, of 40 miles from Russian
-Lapland, and admittedly much beyond the three-mile limit, was arrested by a
-Russian cruiser and taken to Archangel, on the charge of illegal fishing. The
-vessel was released after representations had been made by the British Government,
-the Russian authorities finding that it had been arrested outside the
-boundary under the protection of the cruiser. The action was doubtless taken
-in connection with a new law of 10th December 1909, establishing a limit of 12
-miles from the coast for customs purposes,&mdash;all vessels, Russian or foreign, being
-held to be subject to the control of the Russian authorities when within that
-distance. <i>Handelsberichten</i>, 12th May 1910, p. 135.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1201" href="#FNanchor_1201" class="label">1201</a>
-“Art. 2. Sur la demande des prud’hommes des p&ecirc;cheurs, de leurs d&eacute;l&eacute;gu&eacute;s et,
-&agrave; d&eacute;faut, des syndics des gens de mer, certaines p&ecirc;ches peuvent &ecirc;tre temporairement
-interdit&eacute;s sur une &eacute;tendue de mer au del&agrave; de 3 milles du littoral, si cette
-mesure est command&eacute;e par l’int&eacute;r&ecirc;t de la conservation des fonds ou de la p&ecirc;che de
-poissons de passage. L’arr&ecirc;t&eacute; d’interdiction est pris par le Pr&eacute;fet Maritime.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1202" href="#FNanchor_1202" class="label">1202</a>
-M. de Chasseloup Lubat, in <i>Ann. di Agricoltura</i>, 50. 1891.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1203" href="#FNanchor_1203" class="label">1203</a>
-Law of 7th June 1832. Heffter, <i>Le Droit International de l’Europe</i>, c. ii. s. 75.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1204" href="#FNanchor_1204" class="label">1204</a>
-“Loi relative &agrave; la p&ecirc;che maritime dans les eaux territoriales,” 19th August
-1891. A decree of 5th September 1892 regulated foreign fishing-boats when
-within territorial waters.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1205" href="#FNanchor_1205" class="label">1205</a>
-Wet van 15 Juni 1883, <i>Staatsblad</i>, No. 73; Koninklijk Besluit van 20 March
-1884, <i>Staatsblad</i>, No. 40, putting in force the North Sea Convention: “Art. 1.
-De bepalingen dezer overeenkomst, welke ten doel heeft de politie der visscherij
-in de Noordzee buiten de territoriale wateren te regelen, zijn toepasselijk op allen,
-die tot de nationaliteit der Hooge contracteerende Partijen behooren. 2. De
-visschers van elken Staat zullen het uitsluitend recht van visscherij genieten
-binnen een kring van drie mijlen, gerekend van de laagwaterlijn, langs de geheele
-uitgestrektheid der kusten van elken Staat en evenzeer langs de eilanden en banken,
-die daarmede zijn verbonden,” &amp;c. Wet van 7th December 1883, <i>Staatsblad</i>, No.
-202; Wet van 26th October 1889, <i>Staatsblad</i>, No. 135, “Tot vaststelling van
-bepalingen tegen het visschen door opvarenden van vreemde vaartuigen in de territoriale
-wateren van het Rijk”; the limits, as laid down in the convention of 1882,
-are applied to all foreign fishing vessels. There are special agreements with Belgium
-as to the fishings in the Schelde. H. van der Hoeven, <i>Wetgeving betreffende
-de Zee- en de Zalmvisscherijen</i>. Leiden, 1897.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1206" href="#FNanchor_1206" class="label">1206</a>
-Strisower, <i>Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International</i>. 1894.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1207" href="#FNanchor_1207" class="label">1207</a>
-Verordnung der Ministerien des Handels und des Ackerbaues, im Einvernehmen
-mit dem Ministerium des Innern, vom 5 December 1884, betreffend die
-Seefischerei, s. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1208" href="#FNanchor_1208" class="label">1208</a>
-Handels- und Schiffahrtsvertrag vom 27 Dec. 1878, zwischen Oesterreich-Ungarn
-und Italien. Schlussprotokoll ad Art. xvii., xviii.; Marchesetti, <i>La pesca
-lungo le coste orientali dell’ Adria</i>. Trieste, 1882.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1209" href="#FNanchor_1209" class="label">1209</a>
-Vorschriften &uuml;ber die See-Fischerei giltig in Oesterreich-Ungarn seit 12
-December 1884.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1210" href="#FNanchor_1210" class="label">1210</a>
-Legge sulla pesca del 4 marzo 1877, No. 3706 (Serie 2<sup>a</sup>).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1211" href="#FNanchor_1211" class="label">1211</a>
-<i>Annali di Agricoltura</i>, 1891. Atti della commissione consultiva per la pesca,
-pp. 32, 86.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1212" href="#FNanchor_1212" class="label">1212</a>
-Definizione del mare territoriale e ordine di vigilare sugli armamenti alla pesca.
-<i>Ann. del Ministero di Agricoltura, Industria e Commercio</i>, i. parte i. 96. Genoa, 1871.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1213" href="#FNanchor_1213" class="label">1213</a>
-Corsi, in <i>Fifteenth Ann. Rep. Assoc. for the Reform and Codification of the
-Law of Nations</i>, 83.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1214" href="#FNanchor_1214" class="label">1214</a>
-No. 7, 409, 2nd Dec. 1869. Apostolid&egrave;s, <i>La P&ecirc;che en Gr&egrave;ce</i>, 86. Athens, 1888.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1215" href="#FNanchor_1215" class="label">1215</a>
-Dr Kishinouye, <i>in litt.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1216" href="#FNanchor_1216" class="label">1216</a>
-Civil Code, Articles 593, 611.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1217" href="#FNanchor_1217" class="label">1217</a>
-Reglamentendo la pesca y caza, <i>Boletin official</i>, 20th September 1907.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1218" href="#FNanchor_1218" class="label">1218</a>
-Reglamento para las concesiones de pesca en el litoral oce&aacute;nico de la Provincia
-de Buenos Aires, 4th June 1909. “Art. 3<sup>o</sup>. Los concesionarios solo podr&aacute;n emplear
-redes arrastradas por vapores en una zona distante no menos de doce (12) millas,
-contadas desde las l&iacute;neas de las m&aacute;s bajas mareas. Art. 4<sup>o</sup>. Dentro de la zona de
-doce millas hasta la l&iacute;nea de las m&aacute;s bajas mareas, podr&aacute;n usarse redes arrastradas
-por veleros. Se declara libre el uso de las l&iacute;neas, palangres &oacute; espineles, nasas y
-redes verticales de deriva. Art. 6<sup>o</sup>. Las personas &oacute; empresas que quisieran usar
-artes especiales de pesca distintos de los indicados, deber&aacute;n solicitar permiso especial
-de la Divisi&oacute;n de Ganader&iacute;a y obtener la autorizaci&oacute;n correspondiente. Art. 7<sup>o</sup>.
-Las embarcaciones llevar&aacute;n bandera nacional y sus tripulaciones se compondr&aacute;n
-de una parte de individuos de nacionalidad argentina, de acuerdo con las leyes y
-reglamentos de cabotaje nacional.” I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr R. M.
-Bartleman, the American Consul-General at Buenos Aires, for a copy of these
-regulations.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1219" href="#FNanchor_1219" class="label">1219</a>
-Reuter’s telegrams from Buenos Aires, 21st March, 30th June 1908. <i>Scotsman</i>,
-23rd March, 2nd July 1908. <i>La Prensa</i>, one of the leading journals of Buenos
-Aires, is quoted as declaring it hard to believe that the British Government has
-decided to raise a question of such exceptional gravity, seeing the first effect of
-such action would be to bring about a conflict to which there could be no conciliatory
-or friendly solution, since the immediate reply, which would be final,
-would be absolute rejection of the claim put forward&mdash;that is, that the waters of
-the estuary outside the limits of three miles from the coasts are non-territorial.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1220" href="#FNanchor_1220" class="label">1220</a>
-Award of the Tribunal of Arbitration, p. 23, “outside the ordinary three-mile
-limit.” The President, Baron de Courcel, has since explained that the tribunal
-“s’est born&eacute; &agrave; constater que les parties &eacute;taient d’accord pour admettre que l’&eacute;tendue
-de trois milles &agrave; partir de la c&ocirc;te comme formant dans l’esp&egrave;ce qui lui &eacute;tait soumise,
-la limite ordinaire des eaux territoriales.” M. de Courcel to M. Auber, <i>App. Ann.
-de l’Institut de Droit Internat.</i> for 1894, p. 282. <i>Vide</i> Hall, <i>A Treatise on International
-Law</i>, 4th ed., p. 161.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1221" href="#FNanchor_1221" class="label">1221</a>
-For example, Leoni Levi, “No territorial sovereignty exists or can be claimed
-beyond the three miles zone.” <i>Internat. Law</i>, 112.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1222" href="#FNanchor_1222" class="label">1222</a>
-Mr Seward, Secretary of State, to Mr Tassara, 6th December 1862. The same
-to Mr Burnley, 16th September 1864. Wharton, <i>A Digest of the International
-Law of the United States</i>, i. 105. American ships were charged with pursuing Confederate
-vessels into British waters, and the balls from the guns they fired had
-struck objects on shore. The facts were used to show that the hostile acts had
-occurred within our territorial jurisdiction. Hansard, vol. 173, p. 509; February
-1864.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1223" href="#FNanchor_1223" class="label">1223</a>
-Secretary Fish to Sir E. Thornton, 22nd January 1875. “We have understood
-and asserted that, pursuant to public law, no nation can rightfully claim jurisdiction
-at sea beyond a marine league from the coast.” <i>Loc. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1224" href="#FNanchor_1224" class="label">1224</a>
-Torres-Campos, in <i>Fifteenth Ann. Rep. Assoc. for Reform and Codification of the
-Law of Nations</i>, 93. Negrin, <i>Tratado de Derecho internacional maritimo</i>, 1883.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1225" href="#FNanchor_1225" class="label">1225</a>
-<i>Negocios Externos. Documentos apresentados &aacute;s Cortes na Sess&atilde;o legislativa de
-1879 pelo Ministro e Secretario d’Estado dos Negocios Estrangeiros. Quest&atilde;o das
-Pescarias</i>, p. 258. Lisboa, 1879. The volume contains a full discussion of the
-questions between the two Governments.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1226" href="#FNanchor_1226" class="label">1226</a>
-Tratado de navegaci&oacute;n y comercio entre Espa&ntilde;a y Portugal, firmado en
-Madrid el d&iacute; 27 de Marzo de 1893. Ap&eacute;ndice Sexto. Reglamento de polic&iacute;a
-costera y de pesca. Sec. 1. Disposiciones aplicables &aacute; las aguas de cada pa&iacute;s,
-“Art. 1<sup>o</sup>. La polic&iacute;a costera y de pesca en las aguas jurisdiccionales de Espa&ntilde;a y
-de Portugal, quedar&aacute; sujeta &aacute; las disposiciones siguientes. Art. 2<sup>o</sup>. Los l&iacute;mites
-dentro de los cuales el derecho general de pesca, queda reservado exclusivamente
-&aacute; los pescadores sujetos &aacute; las jurisdicciones respectivas de las dos naciones, se fijan
-en seis millas, contadas por fuera de la linea de bajamar de las mayores mareas.
-Para las bah&iacute;as cuya abertura no exceda de diez millas, las seis millas se cont&aacute;ran &aacute;
-partir de una linea recta tirada de una punta &aacute; la otra. Las millas mencionadas
-son millas geogr&aacute;ficas de 60 al grado de latitud. Art. 3&deg;. Cada una de los Estados
-tendr&aacute; el derecho de reglamentar el ejercicio de la pesca en sus respectivas costas
-mar&iacute;timas hasta una distancia de seis millas de las mismas, l&iacute;mite dentro del cual
-solamente ser&aacute; permitido &aacute; los Pescadores nacionales ejercer esta industria.”
-F. L&oacute;pez y Medina, <i>Colecci&oacute;n de Tratados Internacionales, Ordenanzas y Reglamentos
-de Pesca</i>, pp. 44, 49 (Madrid, 1906). I am indebted to Sir Reginald MacLeod,
-K.C.B., late Under-Secretary for Scotland, for this volume.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1227" href="#FNanchor_1227" class="label">1227</a>
-<i>Revista de Pesca Mar&iacute;tima</i>, ix. 97 (1893); x. 209 (1894). Various regulations
-have been lately made with respect to trawling beyond the six-mile limit at certain
-parts of the Spanish coast (<i>vide</i> L&oacute;pez y Medina, <i>Primer Ap&eacute;ndice a la Colecci&oacute;n
-de Tratados, &amp;c.</i>, pp. 34-45. Madrid, 1907), and also on the coast of Portugal (<i>vide
-Collec&ccedil;&atilde;o de Leis e Disposi&ccedil;&otilde;es diversas com rela&ccedil;&atilde;o &aacute; Pesca e Servi&ccedil;o maritimo dos
-Portos</i>, pp. 28, 54, 276, 535. Lisboa, 1907). In no other countries, it may be
-added, have more regulations been made restricting all kinds of trawling than in
-Spain and Portugal.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1228" href="#FNanchor_1228" class="label">1228</a>
-Prof. A. F. Marion, <i>in litt.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1229" href="#FNanchor_1229" class="label">1229</a>
-The National Sea Fisheries Protection Association: <i>Twenty-fourth Ann. Rep.
-of the Committee of Management</i>, 1905, p. 7. “Spanish and Portuguese Territorial
-Limits. Communications were made to the Foreign Office on the subject of Spanish
-and Portuguese Territorial Limits, and, in reply, the Association was informed that
-His Majesty’s Government did not recognise any claims of the Spanish or Portuguese
-Governments to exercise jurisdiction over British vessels beyond the three-mile
-limit.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1230" href="#FNanchor_1230" class="label">1230</a>
-<i>Fish Trades Gazette</i>, 10th Dec. 1904, p. 23. London. <i>Boletin Oficial de la
-Liga Mar&iacute;tima Espa&ntilde;ola</i>; <i>Vida Mar&iacute;tima, Revista de Navegaci&oacute;n y Comercio,
-Pesquerias, &amp;c.</i> Madrid. In 1905 no less than forty-five English trawlers, as well
-as four German trawlers and one Spanish, landed fish at Lisbon and Oporto, which
-had been caught in neighbouring waters and as far as Morocco, the value being
-332,220 milreis, or about &pound;74,750. <i>Estatistica das Pescas Maritimas, Anno de 1905.</i>
-Lisboa, 1907.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1231" href="#FNanchor_1231" class="label">1231</a>
-A summary of this new law, which received the sanction of the King of Portugal
-on 26th October 1909, is given in <i>Mitteilungen des Deutschen Seefischerei-Vereins</i>
-for February 1910 (Bd. xxvi. No. 2), from <i>Diario do Governo</i>, No. 247, viz.:
-Portugiesisches Gesetz betreffend das Verbot f&uuml;r fremde Fahrzeuge zum Fischen in
-den territorialen Gew&auml;ssern. “Art. 1. In den portugiesischen Territorialgew&auml;ssern
-innerhalb einer Zone von 3 Seemeilen, von der Linie des Niedrigstwasserstandes an
-gerechnet, ist fremden Fahrzeugen das Fischen verboten. In den Buchten ist die
-Zone von 3 Seemeilen gem&auml;ss den Grunds&auml;tsen des internationalen Rechts zu
-berechnen.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1232" href="#FNanchor_1232" class="label">1232</a>
-Tratado de comercio con el emperador de Marruecos, 20th November 1861,
-<i>Revista de Pesca Mar&iacute;tima</i>, xiv. 149, 1898. L&oacute;pez y Medina, <i>op cit.</i>, 72.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1233" href="#FNanchor_1233" class="label">1233</a>
-This is also the interpretation made by Mr Arctander (<i>Norsk Fiskeritidende</i>,
-Tolvte Aargang, 1893, p. 464) of the wording of the ordinances, that the line must
-be drawn through points that lie above the water at high tide (<i>flod</i>), the rule thus
-differing from the usual one. On the other hand, the Norwegian Department of
-the Interior, in replying to certain queries from the International Law Association,
-stated, with reference to the royal ordinance of 1812 (<a href="#Page_653">see p. 653</a>), that “it is not
-expressly said whether the distance is to be reckoned at half-tide, high-water, or low-water”;
-and they did not suggest which ought to be adopted. <i>Rep., Seventeenth
-Conference</i>, 1895, p. 301. The Danish terms agree with the Swedish. <a href="#Page_655">See p. 655</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1234" href="#FNanchor_1234" class="label">1234</a>
-Professor Auber thus states the practice in Norway: “Nous avons regard&eacute;
-comme tout naturel que, l’&icirc;le n’&eacute;tant pas situ&eacute;e plus qu’&agrave;, deux anciens milles
-marins (deux quinzi&egrave;mes de degr&eacute;) de la terre ferme, l’&eacute;tendue de la mer territoriale
-doive &ecirc;tre compter jusqu’&agrave; un mille au del&agrave; de l’&icirc;le, et ainsi de suite d’&icirc;le en &icirc;le”
-(<i>Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International</i> for 1889, p. 139). M. Kleen, on the
-other hand, speaks of the outermost isle being included “sous la condition que
-cette &icirc;le ou ce brisant ne soit pas situ&eacute; plus loin de la c&ocirc;te qu’une lieu g&eacute;ographique”
-(<i>Fifteenth Ann. Rep., Internat. Law Association</i>, p. 20). The Norwegian law
-refers to “the island or islet farthest from the mainland, and not covered by the
-sea,” while M. Kleen says: “Comme brisant &agrave; compter sera alors consid&eacute;r&eacute; chacun
-qui n’est pas <i>continuellement</i> submerg&eacute; par la mer ... pourvu qu’il soit &agrave; d&eacute;couvert
-p&eacute;riodiquement et que la mer ne le couvre pas <i>toujours</i>.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1235" href="#FNanchor_1235" class="label">1235</a>
-<i>Kongelig Resolution</i> af 16 Oktober 1869: “At en ret linie, trukket i en
-geografisk mils afstand fra og parallelt med en ret linie mellem Storholmen og
-Svin&ouml;, bliver at betragte som gr&aelig;ndsen for den havstr&aelig;kning udenfor den
-tilsvarende kyst af S&ouml;ndm&ouml;res fogderi, paa hvilken fiskeriet er landets egen
-befolkning udelukkende forbeholdt.” <i>Kongelig Resolution</i> af 9 September 1889:
-“En linie, trukket i en geografisk mils afstand fra og parallelt med en linie fra
-Storholmen over Skraapen (udenfor Har&ouml;), Gravskj&aelig;r (udenfor Ona) og Kalven
-(det yderste af Orskj&aelig;rene) til yderste Jevleholme udenfor Grip, bliver at betragte
-som gr&aelig;ndsen for den havst&aelig;kning udenfor den tilsvarende kyst af Romsdal amt,
-paa hvilken fiskeriet er landets egen befolkning udelukkende forbeholdt.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1236" href="#FNanchor_1236" class="label">1236</a>
-From about 62&deg; 20&acute; N. lat. and 5&deg; 13&acute; E. long, to about 63&deg; 13&acute; N. lat. and
-7&deg; 35&acute; E. long.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1237" href="#FNanchor_1237" class="label">1237</a>
-Provisorisk Anordnung angaaende vaartorskefiskeriet ved S&ouml;ndm&ouml;res kyster,
-3 Jan. 1870; Lov angaaende vaartorskefiskeriet ved S&ouml;ndm&ouml;res kyster, 6 June
-1878; Lov om vaartorskefiskeriet ved Romsdals amts kyst og fjorde, 1 July 1907.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1238" href="#FNanchor_1238" class="label">1238</a>
-It is referred to in A.D. 888. The fishery is prosecuted from about the middle
-of January to the end of April; in 1908 over 20,000 fishermen, drawn from all the
-neighbouring parts of the coast, took part in it. <i>Aarsberetning vedkommende Norges
-Fiskerier for 1908</i>: 4<sup>de</sup> Hefte. <i>Lofotfiskeriet</i>, 1908.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1239" href="#FNanchor_1239" class="label">1239</a>
-“Le droit exclusif de la p&ecirc;che dans le golfe du Vestfjord, consacr&eacute; par un
-usage plusieurs fois seculaire, n’a jusqu’ici &eacute;t&eacute; l’objet d’aucune disposition legislative.”
-Letter of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, 6th August 1908. “The Vestfjord
-through centuries has been considered as Norwegian territorial waters, but no
-decree or decision as to the special frontier or limit between this fjord and the
-open sea has been issued up to the present.” Letter from his Excellency M. J.
-Irgens, the Norwegian Minister, 13th June 1908. Having some difficulty in
-getting authentic copies of the various Norwegian decrees, I applied to Dr Fridtjof
-Nansen, then Norwegian Minister in London, and later received full information
-from three sources&mdash;from Mons. J. Irgens, Dr Nansen’s successor, and now the
-Foreign Minister of Norway; by the courtesy of Sir Reginald MacLeod; and
-through Dr Baty, the Secretary to the International Law Association.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1240" href="#FNanchor_1240" class="label">1240</a>
-5th January 1881; 19th June 1880; 14th June 1890; 17th December 1896;
-7th January 1904. In the law of 17th December 1896 the limits are mentioned as
-follows: “Paa Havstr&aelig;kningen ved Troms&oslash; Amts og Finmarkens Amts Kyst i en
-Afstand af indtil &eacute;n geografisk Mil fra Kysten, regnet fra den yderste &Oslash; eller Holme,
-som ikke overskylles af Havet, skal det indtil videre v&aelig;re forbudt at jage, anskyde
-eller dr&aelig;be Hval i Tidsrummet fra 1ste Januar til Udgangen af Mai. For Varangerfjordens
-Vedkommende i Finmarkens Amt bliver Gr&aelig;ndsen for den fredede Str&aelig;kning
-udad mod Havet en ret Linie trukket fra Kibergn&aelig;s til Gr&aelig;ndse, Jakobselv,
-dog saaledes, at det ogsaa udenfor denne Linie skal v&aelig;re forbudt i den ovenanf&oslash;rte
-Tid at jage, anskyde eller dr&aelig;be Hval i kortere Afstand fra Kysten ved Kibergn&aelig;s
-end &eacute;n geografisk Mil.” See also Auber, Annuaire, xi. 136, 1892; Kleen, <i>Fifteenth
-Ann. Rep. Internat. Law Assoc.</i>, 17; Aschehoug, Norges nuvarende Retsforfatning,
-90; Kleen, <i>Neutralitetens Lagar</i>, 1889; <i>Norsk Fiskeritidende</i>, 1893, 461.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1241" href="#FNanchor_1241" class="label">1241</a>
-“R&auml;knadt fr&aring;n kusten eller l&auml;ngst ut fr&aring;n denna liggande &ouml; eller sk&auml;r, som ej
-st&auml;ndigt af hafvet &ouml;fversk&ouml;ljes.” <i>Svensk Fiskeri Tidskrift</i>, 9e &Aring;rg., p. 78.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1242" href="#FNanchor_1242" class="label">1242</a>
-Auber, <i>loc. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1243" href="#FNanchor_1243" class="label">1243</a>
-Kleen, <i>op. cit.</i>; Egerstr&ouml;m, <i>Sveriges Landtbruksf&ouml;rvaltning</i>, 1896, p. 37. It
-is the same in Finland,&mdash;J. A. Sandman, <i>Uebersicht ueber die Seefischerei Finnlands</i>,
-p. 145, 1906.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1244" href="#FNanchor_1244" class="label">1244</a>
-Minister of the Interior to Minister of Foreign Affairs, 28th October 1868 ...
-“Cela s’explique: ces p&ecirc;ches, ayant lieu dans un golfe consid&eacute;r&eacute; comme faisant
-partie de la mer territoriale de la Norv&egrave;ge, out &eacute;t&eacute; regard&eacute;es comme la propri&eacute;t&eacute;
-exclusive du pays. Cela ne peut certainement pas cadrer avec les principes du
-droit international, qu’on puisse tout &agrave; coup amener des changements dans une
-situation l&eacute;gale qui repose sur une reconnaissance tacite de plusieurs si&egrave;cles.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1245" href="#FNanchor_1245" class="label">1245</a>
-Letter of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, 7th November 1868. “Aussi il est
-d&eacute;fendu aux sujets &eacute;trangers de faire la p&ecirc;che dans ce golfe, et cette d&eacute;fense
-s’applique &eacute;galement &agrave; la mer voisine et &agrave; l’embouchure jusqu’&agrave; une distance d’une
-lieue marine &agrave; partir du point le plus m&eacute;ridional du group d’&icirc;lots dit ‘R&ouml;st.’”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1246" href="#FNanchor_1246" class="label">1246</a>
-Minister of the Interior to Minister for Foreign Affairs, 28th January 1870.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1247" href="#FNanchor_1247" class="label">1247</a>
-20th August 1886. “Art. 7 ... Les deux parties contractantes conviennent
-de consid&eacute;rer comme limites des mers territoriales de leur c&ocirc;tes respectives pour
-tout ce qui se rapporte &agrave; l’application des r&egrave;glements de douane et aux mesures
-prises pour emp&ecirc;cher la contrebande, une distance de trois lieues marines compt&eacute;es
-depuis de la ligne de mar&eacute;e basse.” A similar customs treaty, it may be mentioned,
-was concluded between Mexico and Great Britain on 27th November 1888, in
-which three marine leagues was stipulated by each country “as a limit of their
-territorial waters on their respective coasts,” strictly for customs purposes. “The
-two Contracting Parties agree to consider, as a limit of their territorial waters on
-their respective coasts, the distance of three marine leagues reckoned from the line
-of low-water mark. Nevertheless, this stipulation shall have no effect, excepting
-in what may relate to the observance and application of the Custom-house Regulations
-and the measures for preventing smuggling, and cannot be extended to
-other questions of civil and criminal jurisdiction or of international maritime law”
-(Hertslett, <i>Treaties</i>). It is of interest to note, however, that the ordinary limit
-adhered to by the British Government so rigorously in connection with fishery
-rights, may be legitimately extended by treaty in order to protect the revenue.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1248" href="#FNanchor_1248" class="label">1248</a>
-Auber, <i>op. cit.</i>, 141.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1249" href="#FNanchor_1249" class="label">1249</a>
-Foreigners are forbidden to carry on fishing within the territorial waters, the
-most recent law relative to this subject being that of 2nd June 1906. Instructions
-to the commanders of the Norwegian cruisers, dated 22nd December 1906,
-with reference thereto, describe the limit as an “ordinary sea mile” (measured as
-described), the equivalent distance being stated at 7529 metres, which is equal to
-4&middot;065 mean nautical miles, or 4&middot;68 English statute miles. A law of 1908 prohibits
-trawl-fishing within the territorial waters.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1250" href="#FNanchor_1250" class="label">1250</a>
-<i>Le Droit International</i>, i. 349; <i>Dict. de Droit International</i>, 501. Bluntschli
-endeavours to place the doctrine on a philosophical but absurd basis, by stating
-that the sovereignty over the sea extended originally only to a stone’s-throw from
-the coast, later to an arrow-shot, and then according to the range of firearms.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1251" href="#FNanchor_1251" class="label">1251</a>
-<i>Das Moderne V&ouml;lkerrecht</i>, s. 307-9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1252" href="#FNanchor_1252" class="label">1252</a>
-<i>Commentaries upon International Law</i>, I. viii. cxcviii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1253" href="#FNanchor_1253" class="label">1253</a>
-<i>International Law</i>, 135.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1254" href="#FNanchor_1254" class="label">1254</a>
-<i>Commentaries on Criminal Law</i>, iv. c. 5, s. 74.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1255" href="#FNanchor_1255" class="label">1255</a>
-<i>Introduction to the Study of International Law</i>, s. 56.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1256" href="#FNanchor_1256" class="label">1256</a>
-Wheaton’s <i>International Law</i>, 8th ed., p. 359.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1257" href="#FNanchor_1257" class="label">1257</a>
-<i>The Law of Nations in Time of Peace</i>, s. 172.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1258" href="#FNanchor_1258" class="label">1258</a>
-<i>Trattato di Diritto Internazionale Pubblico</i>, ii. c. 3, pp. 65-67.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1259" href="#FNanchor_1259" class="label">1259</a>
-In Fiore, <i>Nouveau Droit International Public</i>, note, p. 372.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1260" href="#FNanchor_1260" class="label">1260</a>
-<i>Das Internationale &Ouml;ffentliche Seerecht der Gegenwart</i>, p. 21 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1261" href="#FNanchor_1261" class="label">1261</a>
-<i>International Law</i>, 399.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1262" href="#FNanchor_1262" class="label">1262</a>
-<i>Droit Commercial Maritime</i>, 10.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1263" href="#FNanchor_1263" class="label">1263</a>
-<i>La Mer Territoriale</i>, 36.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1264" href="#FNanchor_1264" class="label">1264</a>
-<i>Neutralitetens Lagar</i>, i. s. 160; <i>Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International</i>,
-xii. 140.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1265" href="#FNanchor_1265" class="label">1265</a>
-<i>Norges Offentlige Ret</i>, 79-81; <i>Annuaire</i>, xi. 141.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1266" href="#FNanchor_1266" class="label">1266</a>
-<i>Revue g&eacute;n&eacute;rale de Droit International Public</i>, No. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1267" href="#FNanchor_1267" class="label">1267</a>
-<i>A Treatise on International Law</i>, 4th edition, 1895, p. 160.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1268" href="#FNanchor_1268" class="label">1268</a>
-<i>International Law</i>, i. 242 (1905).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1269" href="#FNanchor_1269" class="label">1269</a>
-The Committee of the Association was composed of ten members&mdash;viz., Sir
-Travers Twiss, President; Sir George Baden-Powell; Hon. D. Dudley Field, New
-York; Dr F. Sieveking, President of the Hanseatic High Court of Appeal, Hamburg;
-Mr E. H. Schweigaard, Christiania; Rear-Admiral P. H. Colomb; E. Edouard
-Clunet, Paris; Dr E. N. Rahusen, Amsterdam; Mr T. H. Haynes; and Mr (now Sir)
-Thomas Barclay, Paris, who was Secretary. The Committee of the Institut comprised
-twenty-four members, including Sir Travers Twiss; Professor Westlake;
-Professor Lorimer; M. Desjardins, Advocate-General of the Court of Cassation;
-Feraud-Giraud, Judge of the French Court of Cassation; Harburger, Judge of
-the Court of First Instance at Munich; Hartmann, Privy Councillor, Hanover;
-Perels, Director of the German Admiralty; Marquis d’Olivart, Ex-Professor of
-International Law, Madrid; Edouard Rolin, Editor of the <i>Revue de Droit International</i>;
-&amp;c. M. Renault, the Paris Professor of International Law, was
-appointed “reporter” to the Committee, but this position was soon occupied by
-Sir Thomas Barclay.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1270" href="#FNanchor_1270" class="label">1270</a>
-Most of the English members who expressed their opinion, as Sir Travers
-Twiss, Professor Holland, and Mr Moore, preferred to retain the limit at three
-miles; Professor Westlake favoured five miles.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1271" href="#FNanchor_1271" class="label">1271</a>
-<i>Report from the Select Committee on Sea Fisheries</i>, 1893; <i>Seventeenth Rep.,
-International Law Assoc.</i>, p. 103, 1896; <i>Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International</i>,
-xiii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1272" href="#FNanchor_1272" class="label">1272</a>
-“Il en est ainsi pour les <i>firths</i> &eacute;cossais.... Toutes ces baies sont consid&eacute;r&eacute;es
-comme &eacute;tant sous la domination exclusive de l’&Eacute;tat riverain.” <i>Annuaire</i>, 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1273" href="#FNanchor_1273" class="label">1273</a>
-<i>Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International</i>, x., xi., xii., xiii. <i>Reports, International
-Law Association</i>, xv., xvi., xvii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1274" href="#FNanchor_1274" class="label">1274</a>
-49 Vict., c. 95.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1275" href="#FNanchor_1275" class="label">1275</a>
-38 Vict., c. 18; Order in Council, 28th November 1876.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1276" href="#FNanchor_1276" class="label">1276</a>
-<i>Award of the Tribunal of Arbitration</i>, p. 23. Declarations made by the Tribunal
-of Arbitration, 1893. As the Behring Sea case has been often referred to in recent
-controversies about the right of fishing, as having affirmed the three-mile limit as
-the true international boundary of the territorial sea, the facts may be briefly
-recalled. In 1867 the United States purchased from Russia the territory of Alaska
-with its dependent islands, &amp;c., and an American company, very powerful financially
-and politically, was formed in 1870, which obtained a lease of the Pribilov
-Islands in order to engage in the fur-seal industry. Under the Act of Congress of
-1870 which enabled this to be done, it was made unlawful to kill any seals upon
-the islands, “or in the waters adjacent thereto,” except during certain specified
-months. Sealing vessels, both from the United States and from British Columbia,
-began to frequent Behring Sea and the waters adjacent to the islands; their competition
-impaired the practical monopoly of the Company in the markets for seal-skins;
-and in 1886 three British vessels were seized by American revenue cruisers
-at distances of 70, 75, and 115 miles from the land, and the masters and mates
-were fined and imprisoned for illegal sealing. Up to 1890 other eleven British
-sealers were similarly seized and dealt with for fishing at distances between 15 and
-96 miles from land, and five others were ordered out of Behring Sea. In the
-negotiations which followed, the American Government first pled a virtual <i>mare
-clausum</i> for the whole of Behring Sea; then that they had jurisdiction up to 100
-miles from land; and lastly, that they had special property in and right of protection
-over the fur-seals in Behring Sea and frequenting the islands for breeding purposes.
-The Tribunal of Arbitration decided that they had not this right of protection or
-property “when such seals are found outside the ordinary three-mile limit.” Then
-the Tribunal, in terms of the treaty appointing them, prescribed the regulations above
-referred to, leaving to Great Britain the honours of the contest, and to the United
-States the advantage. The true lesson to be derived from this chapter of international
-diplomacy, is not that the high tribunal reaffirmed the three-mile limit as
-the legal boundary of the territorial sea, which they did not do (see letter from
-Baron de Courcel, the President, p. 664), but that that limit may be set aside and
-a much wider boundary fixed (in this instance 60 miles) if the protection and preservation
-of a marine fishery require it. It may be added that of late years pelagic
-sealing by Japanese has greatly increased in Behring Sea, and since the regulations
-apply only to British and American subjects, the Japanese carry on their operations
-up to the ordinary three-mile limit around the Pribilov Islands, and sometimes
-within it, there having been several encounters with the American patrol-boats
-involving loss of life, and heavy fines have been inflicted on offenders. In the
-summer of 1908 a fleet of thirty Japanese schooners, some with sixteen boats, were
-thus engaged, and according to the Government agent, they effectually blocked the
-escape of the seals from the islands. The agent says that in the last ten years the
-seal herds have diminished almost three-fourths, and if the slaughter by the Japanese
-is not put a stop to, complete destruction of the industry will follow. Thus, while
-the British are compelled to keep sixty miles off the islands, and can only kill the
-seals with spears, the Japanese operate up to three miles from shore, and can use
-firearms or any other method. It is stated that some of the British Columbia
-sealers are endeavouring to nationalise their vessels in Japan, so that they may be
-able to fish under the Japanese flag. In April 1910, when the lease of the Company
-expired, the United States Government did not renew it, but took the seals under
-their own protection, and an Act was passed prohibiting the killing of the fur-seal
-unless authorised by the Secretary of Commerce and Labour.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1277" href="#FNanchor_1277" class="label">1277</a>
-<i>Parl. Papers, Russia</i>, No. 1 (1895). Correspondence respecting the Agreement
-with Russia relative to the Seal Fishery in the North Pacific. Seal Fishery (North
-Pacific) Act, 1893, 56 Vict., c. 23; Order in Council, 4th July 1893.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1278" href="#FNanchor_1278" class="label">1278</a>
-The Western Australian Pearl and B&ecirc;che-de-mer Fishery (Extra-Territorial)
-Act, 1889.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1279" href="#FNanchor_1279" class="label">1279</a>
-An Act for the further Encouragement and better Regulation of the British
-White Herring Fishery, 48 Geo. III., c. 110, s. 60, 46. Section 60: “And whereas
-it may be useful to provide a jurisdiction for preserving order and settling disputes
-among persons carrying on the fishery for herrings on the coast and in the lakes
-of Scotland; be it therefore enacted, That the jurisdiction of the sheriffs and
-stewarts depute of Scotland, and their substitutes, shall be extended over all
-persons engaged in catching, curing, and dealing in fish in all the lochs, bays, and
-arms of the sea within their respective counties and stewartries, and also within ten
-miles of the coasts of their said counties and stewartries, and that in as full and
-ample a manner as the same is exercised over the inhabitants of these counties and
-stewartries; and if any loch, bay, or arm of the sea shall adjoin to two or more
-counties or stewartries, or any part of the sea shall be within ten miles of the
-coasts of two or more counties or stewartries, the sheriffs and stewarts of the said
-counties shall have and exercise a concurrent jurisdiction over such persons as
-aforesaid, in any such loch, bay, or arm of the sea which shall be in or opposite to
-their respective counties and stewartries, or any part of the sea within the aforesaid
-distance of the coast thereof.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1280" href="#FNanchor_1280" class="label">1280</a>
-<i>Report of Commission on Sea Fisheries</i>, 1863, p. lxvi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1281" href="#FNanchor_1281" class="label">1281</a>
-Trawling, and, in particular, steam-trawling, is practically unknown in America;
-but in recent years French steam-trawlers have begun to frequent the Newfoundland
-banks.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1282" href="#FNanchor_1282" class="label">1282</a>
-<i>Annual Reports</i>, Fishery Board for Scotland; <i>Journal of the Marine Biological
-Association, &amp;c.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1283" href="#FNanchor_1283" class="label">1283</a>
-For the earlier periods the statistics are incomplete. In 1863 the number of
-sailing trawlers was 955, of which 650 to 700 fished in the North Sea, 530 belonging
-to Ramsgate, Yarmouth, Grimsby, and Hull; in 1883 the aggregate was estimated
-at 3000, some being large vessels of ninety tons; in 1889 there were 230 steamers
-and 2323 smacks; in 1899 the steamers numbered 1186 and the smacks 1637.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1284" href="#FNanchor_1284" class="label">1284</a>
-Garstang, The Impoverishment of the Sea, <i>Journal Marine Biol. Assoc.</i>,
-vol. vii. p. 47, 1900.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1285" href="#FNanchor_1285" class="label">1285</a>
-Return of the Number of Steam Trawlers registered at Ports in the States of
-Western Europe in the Year 1907, <i>Parl. Papers</i>, Cd. 4236, 1908.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1286" href="#FNanchor_1286" class="label">1286</a>
-<i>Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Sea Fisheries of the
-United Kingdom</i>, vol. i., 1866. The late Professor Huxley and Mr Shaw Lefevre
-(now Lord Eversley) were two of the commissioners.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1287" href="#FNanchor_1287" class="label">1287</a>
-<i>Report on the Sea Fisheries of England and Wales</i>, 1879 (C.&mdash;2449). The commissioners
-were Mr Frank Buckland and Mr (afterwards Sir) Spencer Walpole.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1288" href="#FNanchor_1288" class="label">1288</a>
-<i>Report of the Commissioners on Trawl-Net and Beam-Trawl Fishing</i>, 1885
-(C.&mdash;4328).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1289" href="#FNanchor_1289" class="label">1289</a>
-“That taking into consideration that the question of the destruction of immature
-fish is one of international importance, it is, in the opinion of this meeting,
-imperative in the public interest that an International Conference be held to consider
-the desirability of recommending legislation upon the subject; and this
-meeting of practical fishermen further requests of Her Majesty’s Government to
-take immediate steps to bring about such Conference at the earliest possible date.”
-<i>Fisheries Exhibition Literature</i>, vol. iv. pp. 346, 355.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1290" href="#FNanchor_1290" class="label">1290</a>
-Conference of Representatives of the Trawl-Fishing Industry, held at the Inns
-of Court Hotel, London, 13th November, 1888. “1. That we find a large and distressing
-diminution in the North Sea of soles, turbot, plaice, and all flat fish,
-and view with alarm the future, unless some steps are immediately taken to prohibit
-the catching of immature fish.” 2. “That the Conference petition Her
-Majesty’s Government, urging them to enter into negotiations with all Continental
-Governments to establish an international law to prohibit the wilful catching
-of immature fish, and to make it unlawful to offer such immature fish for sale.”
-3. “That copies of the resolutions be forwarded to the President of the Board of
-Trade asking for immediate action, and to the President of the National Sea
-Fisheries Protection Association, asking that Association to undertake the responsibility
-of a measure for legislation, and to do all they can for the protection of
-immature fish in and around the coasts of the North Sea and other coasts of the
-United Kingdom upon which breeding-grounds exist.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1291" href="#FNanchor_1291" class="label">1291</a>
-Conference of the Trawl-Fishing Industry of the East Coast Ports, held at
-Hull, 30th April 1890. 1. “That this Conference of the Trawl-Fishing Industry
-of the East Coast, consisting of delegates from Hull, Grimsby, Yarmouth, Lowestoft,
-Scarboro’, and Boston, having realised the enormous loss which the trade has
-sustained year by year through the wholesale capture and destruction of immature
-and inedible fish, hereby resolves that the time has come when a strong and united
-effort should be made to put a stop to this growing evil; and as a preliminary step
-in this direction, it is agreed by the whole of the delegates here assembled, for
-themselves individually and the Companies, Corporations, Fleets, and Associations
-they represent, to abstain during the coming summer from fishing on the grounds
-where immature fish are generally caught in great abundance, such grounds being
-specified in the next Resolution.” 2. “That the Fishing Grounds or Nurseries
-where experience has found immature fish to be most prolific, and which are
-referred to in the foregoing Resolution, shall be defined as follows: That part of
-the North Sea the Eastern Boundary of which is the German and Danish Coasts;
-the Western Boundary, Longitude 7 deg. 30 min.; the Northern Boundary, Latitude
-56 deg.; the Southern Boundary, 53 deg. 50 min.” The third resolution
-defined immature lemon soles, soles, turbot, brill, and plaice; and the fourth expressed
-the opinion that it was “highly necessary for the future wellbeing of the
-trade, and for the preservation of an important food-supply, that Parliament
-should be asked to impose restrictions upon the sale and purchase of immature
-fish”; and the delegates were instructed to press for legislative interference,
-national and international.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1292" href="#FNanchor_1292" class="label">1292</a>
-International Conference of Representatives of Maritime Powers convened
-under the auspices of the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association, to discuss
-the Question of Remedial Measures necessary to be taken for the Preservation and
-Development of the Fisheries in the Extra-territorial Waters of Europe, 1890.
-<i>Minutes of Proceedings.</i> The Conference passed a resolution that an official
-international conference of European maritime powers should be held with the
-view of concluding a convention for the preservation of undersized fish; and
-another, proposed by Dr P. P. C. Hoek, the delegate for the Netherlands, that
-before such a conference met, “the different nations interested in the sea fisheries
-of European waters should collect, with as little delay as possible, sufficient information,
-scientific as well as statistical, with regard to the damage done by the
-capture of undersized fish by their fishermen.” The author, who was present,
-conscious of the advantages of international co-operation, if the programme and
-conditions were appropriate, proposed that Dr Hoek’s resolution “should be modified
-in the way of recommending that a joint scheme of investigation might be
-drawn up by the countries concerned”; and on the motion of Captain C. F.
-Drechsel, the delegate for Denmark, who approved of it, the delegates adjourned
-to consider this proposal. The result, however, was merely the tabling of a
-resolution, which was adopted, “That the National Sea Fisheries Protection
-Association be requested to formulate a set of questions with a view to obtaining
-scientific and statistical information in relation to undersized fish, and forward
-it to each delegate, in order that he may submit it to his Government for adoption”&mdash;with
-what result does not appear. <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 21, 34, 36, 37.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1293" href="#FNanchor_1293" class="label">1293</a>
-“Your Committee are sensible of the difficulties of making international regulations,
-but are nevertheless of opinion that the best method for effectively governing
-the operations of the various classes of fishermen, and, at the same time, for
-securing, so far as it may be found possible, the proper protection of spawning
-and immature fish, would be to throw the responsibility of these duties, so far as
-the waters immediately adjacent to the various countries are concerned, on those
-various countries; that, for the effective realisation of this object, the present
-territorial limit of three miles is insufficient, and that, for fishery purposes alone,
-this limit should be extended, provided such extension can be effected upon an
-international basis, and with due regard to the rights and interests of all nations.
-Your Committee would earnestly recommend that a proposition on these lines
-should be submitted to an international conference of the Powers who border on
-the North Sea.” <i>Report from the Select Committee on Sea Fisheries</i>, 377, 1893.
-The Chairman of the Committee, which consisted of fourteen members, was Mr
-Marjoribanks (the late Lord Tweedmouth); among the others were Sir Albert
-Rollit, Mr Buchanan, and Mr (now Lord) Heneage. The report was presented
-to the House of Commons and ordered to be printed on 17th August 1893.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1294" href="#FNanchor_1294" class="label">1294</a>
-<i>Special Report and Report from the Select Committee on the Sea Fisheries Bill</i>,
-1900 (287): “Your Committee think that it is proved beyond doubt that there
-is a very serious diminution of the supply of certain kinds of flat-fish, particularly
-in the North Sea. Of late years the total quantity of such fish caught has remained
-nearly stationary. This fact, when taken along with the enormously increased
-catching power and the vastly larger area of sea subjected to fishing
-operations, seems to show that the ancient fishing-grounds are much depleted.
-The whole of the local evidence, differing in many other respects, is practically
-unanimous as to this point. It seems clear that the evil is a growing one, and
-that in default of a remedy the consequences to the fishing industry in the diminished
-supply of flat-fish will at no very distant future be disastrous.” The late
-Mr (afterwards Lord) Ritchie, President of the Board of Trade, Mr Graham
-Murray (now Lord Dunedin), and Captain Sinclair, now Lord Pentland, Secretary
-for Scotland, were members of the Committee.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1295" href="#FNanchor_1295" class="label">1295</a>
-“Your Committee feel that the subject of the diminution of the fish supply
-is a very pressing one, and that the situation is going from bad to worse. In
-their view, no effort ought to be spared (1st) to arrange for international treatment
-of the subject generally, and especially for regulation of the North Sea area;
-and (2nd) to provide for the adequate equipment of the Government Departments
-in charge of the subject, so that they may effectively pursue scientific investigation
-and ascertain with sufficiency and precision what has been done, either in the way
-of scientific research or in the matter of practical legislation, by other inquirers and
-by other countries, with the view of determining whether any, and if so what,
-legislation may be desirable to effect the objects of the Bill.” <i>Ibid.</i>, iv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1296" href="#FNanchor_1296" class="label">1296</a>
-<i>E.g.</i>, “That this conference regards as conclusive the evidence of a widespread
-diminution of the supply of food fishes in the North Sea and adjacent grounds, and
-is of opinion that the only practicable remedy is the prevention of landing and
-sale of immature and undersized fish.” Nat. Sea Fisheries Protection Ass., 1902.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1297" href="#FNanchor_1297" class="label">1297</a>
-<i>Report from, the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Sea Fisheries Bill
-(H.L.)</i>, 1904 (36). The Earl of Onslow, Lord Tweedmouth, and Lord Heneage
-were members of this Committee.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1298" href="#FNanchor_1298" class="label">1298</a>
-<i>Op. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1299" href="#FNanchor_1299" class="label">1299</a>
-Thus from the year 1903 (when these statistics begin) to 1906 the number of
-tons of bottom fishes landed on the East Coast of England by first-, second-, and
-third-class fishing vessels, from the North Sea and from beyond the North Sea,
-was as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<table>
- <tr>
- <th />
- <th>1903.</th>
- <th>1904.</th>
- <th>1905.</th>
- <th>1906.</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>From North Sea</td>
- <td class="tdr">260,313</td>
- <td class="tdr">230,975</td>
- <td class="tdr">207,440</td>
- <td class="tdr">217,567</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>From beyond the North Sea</td>
- <td class="tdr">67,625</td>
- <td class="tdr">78,216</td>
- <td class="tdr">93,395</td>
- <td class="tdr">129,697</td>
- </tr></table>
-
-<p>The particulars for all coasts are only given for 1906, and they show that almost
-half of the total supply of bottom fishes in England and Wales come from grounds
-outwith the North Sea. The figures are: from North Sea, 217,571 tons; from
-beyond the North Sea, 203,863 tons. Captain Walter S. Masterman, of the Board
-of Agriculture and Fisheries, in a valuable report on his research work in the
-North Sea, states that while the total quantity of bottom fishes taken within the
-North Sea by steam-trawlers and landed on the East Coast of England has decreased
-in the four years, 1903-1906, by 39,650 tons, or nearly 17 per cent, the
-decrease in flat fish has amounted to 23,590 tons, or nearly 42 per cent; and that
-“the decrease has been continuous from year to year, especially in the case of
-plaice.” <i>Report on the Research Work of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in
-relation to the Plaice Fisheries of the North Sea</i>, 1908 (Cd. 4227).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1300" href="#FNanchor_1300" class="label">1300</a>
-A leading representative of the trawling industry, Mr G. L. Alward, thus described
-the process to the Committee of the Lords in 1904. The diminution, he said,
-was from over-fishing, “first of all in our original old fishing-grounds. We denuded
-those, and found less year by year as time went on. We then discovered new
-grounds, with, in process of time, the same result. In going back originally, say
-to about 1830 to about 1890, we found, at ground after ground, after being fished for
-a few years, the same results; the fish became scarcer and scarcer.” <i>Report</i>, p. 78.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1301" href="#FNanchor_1301" class="label">1301</a>
-The quantity brought to England from Iceland and Far&ouml;e in 1907 was nearly
-117,000 tons, or nearly 26 per cent of the total quantity of bottom fishes landed.
-<i>Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Annual Report on Sea Fisheries for 1907</i>.
-Schmidt, <i>Fiskeriunders&oslash;gelser ved Island og F&aelig;r&oslash;erne i Sommeren</i>, 1903, p. 132.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1302" href="#FNanchor_1302" class="label">1302</a>
-A sidelight is thrown upon the risks as well as the enterprise of their labours
-by the fact that in 1908 a trawler’s crew, on the one hand, fishing on the coast of
-Africa, fell into the hands of the Moors; while another, whose vessel was wrecked
-near the White Sea, were saved from starvation by the kindness of Russian Laplanders,
-who killed reindeer for their sustenance.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1303" href="#FNanchor_1303" class="label">1303</a>
-Trawlers, on discovering new and productive grounds, invariably select out the
-fish that are most remunerative and throw the rest back into the sea. “Hundreds
-of thousands of tons” of immature fish are said to have been destroyed in this way
-in the North Sea, and what has happened at Iceland with regard to mature fish
-is thus described in a letter from one trawler to another, which was read by the
-recipient to the Parliamentary Committee in 1893: “Dear Manton, ... At
-present the trawlers who are running Iceland are throwing thousands of tons of
-good mature fish away, which, if some scheme of storage were got up, the fish
-sorted, and bought for food, would supply thousands in the year. I have been to
-Iceland, and we have to throw away hundreds of tons of good mature fish, such
-as haddock, supposed to be too large, and great quantities of cod, ling, and other
-fish. The fact is, the ground, which is valuable for fishing, is completely rotten
-with the refuse from the trawlers. We have to haul every two hours, and we have
-to carry extra hands to get rid of the fish and get the bit below we choose to save.
-The ground is fairly poisoned, and the plaice-fishing not so brisk, only in odd places;
-whereas before it was more general where there is any trawling ground” (<i>Report
-cit.</i>, p. 248). The grounds had only been recently opened up when this was written.
-It is different to-day, when 85 per cent of the fish brought back from Iceland are
-round fish, chiefly haddocks and cod (<i>Ann. Rep. Sea Fisheries for 1906</i>, App., p. 15).
-It used to be the same in the North Sea, only prime fish being taken, and haddocks,
-&amp;c., thrown away.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1304" href="#FNanchor_1304" class="label">1304</a>
-<i>Vida Mar&iacute;tima, &Oacute;rgano de la Liga Mar&iacute;tima Espa&ntilde;ola</i>, 1904, 1905; <i>Boletin
-oficial</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1305" href="#FNanchor_1305" class="label">1305</a>
-Sea Fisheries Regulation Act, 1888, 51 &amp; 52 Vict., cap. 54. Section 1 is as
-follows: “1.&mdash;(1) The Board of Trade may from time to time on the application of
-a county council or borough council, by order, (<i>a</i>) create a sea fisheries district comprising
-<i>any part of the sea within which Her Majesty’s subjects have by international
-law the exclusive right of fishing</i>, either with or without any part of the
-adjoining coast of England and Wales; and (<i>b</i>) define the limits of the district,” &amp;c.
-<i>Sea Fisheries (England and Wales), Annual Reports of the Inspectors</i>; <i>Board of
-Agriculture and Fisheries, Annual Reports of Proceedings under Acts relating to Sea
-Fisheries</i>. An excellent chart, showing the regulations with respect to trawling
-around the English coast, is published in the <i>Report from the Select Committee of
-the House of Lords on the Sea Fisheries Bill</i>, 1904.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1306" href="#FNanchor_1306" class="label">1306</a>
-<i>Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland: Report on the
-Sea and Inland Fisheries for 1907.</i> Part I., General Report, pp. 56-62.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1307" href="#FNanchor_1307" class="label">1307</a>
-<i>Report on the Sea and Inland Fisheries of Ireland for 1904</i>, p. xxv. <i>Manual of
-Fisheries (Ireland) Acts.</i> Section 3 (subsection 1) of the <i>Steam Trawling (Ireland)
-Act</i>, 1889 (52 &amp; 53 Vict., c. 74), gave powers to the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries to
-make, alter, and revoke byelaws for prohibiting steam-trawling “within three miles
-of low-water mark of any part of the coast of Ireland, <i>or within the waters of any
-other defined areas specified in any such byelaw</i>, and subject to any conditions or
-regulations contained in such byelaw.” Subsection 2 enacted that “each and every
-person who uses any trawl-net, or any method of fishing in contravention of any
-byelaw of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries made in pursuance of this section,” shall
-be subject to a fine not exceeding five pounds for a first offence, or twenty pounds
-for a second or subsequent offence, with forfeiture of the gear employed. Section 4
-made it unlawful for “any person” to land or sell in Ireland any fish caught
-in contravention of any such byelaw. Section 1 (subsection 1) of the <i>Fisheries
-(Ireland) Act</i>, 1901 (1 Ed. VII., c. 38), makes “every person who uses any trawl-net
-or any method of fishing in contravention of any byelaw” of the department
-made in pursuance of the third section of the Act of 1889, liable on conviction
-under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds,
-with forfeiture of the gear, for the seizure of which any duly authorised officer is
-empowered to “go on board any vessel propelled by steam employed in fishing.”
-The Irish byelaws must be approved by the Lord-Lieutenant and Privy Council of
-Ireland.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1308" href="#FNanchor_1308" class="label">1308</a>
-<i>Sea Fisheries (Clam and Bait Beds) Act</i>, 44 &amp; 45 Vict., c. 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1309" href="#FNanchor_1309" class="label">1309</a>
-48 &amp; 49 Vict., c. 70; 50 &amp; 51 Vict., c. 52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1310" href="#FNanchor_1310" class="label">1310</a>
-48 &amp; 49 Vict., c. 70.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1311" href="#FNanchor_1311" class="label">1311</a>
-1st Feb. 1886, 18th April 1887, 25th April 1887, &amp;c. <i>Manual of Sea Fisheries
-(Scotland) Acts and Statutory Bye-laws</i>, pp. 253-257.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1312" href="#FNanchor_1312" class="label">1312</a>
-See pp. 592, 643.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1313" href="#FNanchor_1313" class="label">1313</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 255.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1314" href="#FNanchor_1314" class="label">1314</a>
-<i>The Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act</i>, 1889, 52 &amp; 53 Vict., c. 23. Section 7.&mdash;(1)
-“The Fishery Board may, by byelaw or byelaws, direct that the methods of
-fishing known as beam trawling and otter trawling shall not be used within a line
-drawn from Duncansby Head, in Caithness, to Rattray Point, in Aberdeenshire, in
-any area or areas to be defined in such byelaw, and may from time to time make,
-alter, and revoke byelaws for the purposes of this section, but no such byelaw
-shall be of any validity until it has been confirmed by the Secretary for Scotland.”
-The next section prohibits the landing or sale in Scotland of any fish caught in
-contravention of the Act or byelaws.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1315" href="#FNanchor_1315" class="label">1315</a>
-“11.&mdash;(1) The Fishery Board may, by byelaw or byelaws, direct that the
-methods of fishing known as beam trawling and otter trawling shall not be used
-within a line drawn from Rattray Point, in Aberdeenshire, to the Farne Islands, in
-Northumberland, in any area or areas to be defined in such byelaw, and may from
-time to time make, alter, and revoke byelaws for the purposes of this section.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1316" href="#FNanchor_1316" class="label">1316</a>
-<i>A Bill [as amended in Committee] intituled An Act for the better Regulation of
-Scottish Sea Fisheries</i> (52), s. 10, February 1895.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1317" href="#FNanchor_1317" class="label">1317</a>
-<i>Sea Fisheries Regulation (Scotland) Act</i>, 1895, 58 &amp; 59 Vict., c. 42. Section
-10.&mdash;(1) “The Fishery Board may, by byelaw or byelaws, direct that the methods
-of fishing known as beam trawling and otter trawling shall not be used in any area
-or areas under the jurisdiction of Her Majesty, within thirteen miles of the Scottish
-coast, to be defined in such byelaw, and may from time to time make, alter, and revoke
-byelaws for the purposes of this section. Provided that the powers conferred
-in this section shall not be exercised in respect to any areas under Her Majesty’s
-jurisdiction lying opposite to any part of the coasts of England, Ireland, or the
-Isle of Man, within thirteen miles thereof.” (2) provided for a local inquiry to be
-held. (3) “Provided that no area of sea within the said limit of thirteen miles
-shall be deemed to be under the jurisdiction of Her Majesty for the purposes of
-this section unless the powers conferred thereby shall have been accepted as binding
-upon their own subjects with respect to such area by all the States signatories of
-the North Sea Convention, 1882.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1318" href="#FNanchor_1318" class="label">1318</a>
-<i>Eighteenth Ann. Rep. Fishery Board for Scotland</i>, Part I., p. xxxii. The
-information relating to this part of the subject is taken mostly either from the
-<i>Annual Reports</i> of the Scottish Fishery Board or from Hansard’s <i>Parliamentary
-Debates</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1319" href="#FNanchor_1319" class="label">1319</a>
-See <i>Norges Officielle Statistik; Norges Fiskerier</i>, 1906, pp. 17, 18. Sixteen
-steam trawlers were on the list as registered in Norway in that year, but “they
-did not carry on fishing from Norwegian ports,” and were not included in the list
-of <i>bona fide</i> Norwegian fishing-vessels.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1320" href="#FNanchor_1320" class="label">1320</a>
-<i>Peters</i> v. <i>Olsen</i>, 7, <i>Court of Session Reports</i>, 5th Series (<i>Justiciary Cases</i>); 42
-<i>Scottish Law Reporter</i>, p. 735.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1321" href="#FNanchor_1321" class="label">1321</a>
-“In fact, the Moray Firth, within the line from Duncansby Head to Rattray
-Point, is not the high seas, but is a bay or area between these headlands <i>intra
-fauces terr&aelig;</i>,&mdash;between the jaws of the land,&mdash;which has been called in England
-one of the King’s Chambers. In law, such an area must be dealt with by the
-Courts of this country as part of the territorial limits of Scotland, unless the
-Legislature chooses to enact, in fairness to other countries or for any other reason,
-that the extent of the space involved is too great to come within the reasonable
-definition of a bay.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1322" href="#FNanchor_1322" class="label">1322</a>
-<a href="#Page_545">See p. 545</a>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1323" href="#FNanchor_1323" class="label">1323</a>
-<i>Court of Session Reports</i>, 8 Fraser, p. 93.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1324" href="#FNanchor_1324" class="label">1324</a>
-“For the purpose of regulating the police of the fisheries in the North Sea
-outside territorial waters.” The use of the words “territorial waters” and
-“exclusive fishery limits” indifferently for the same thing is common, but
-improper.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1325" href="#FNanchor_1325" class="label">1325</a>
-“I, George Milne Cook, Vice-Consul for Norway for Aberdeenshire and the
-adjacent districts, by instructions of Herr Laveland, Minister for Foreign Affairs
-of Norway, hereby protest, on behalf of the Government of Norway, against any
-conviction of the masters of the Norwegian trawling vessels <i>Stroma</i>, <i>Sando</i>, and
-<i>Catalonia</i>, provided the trawling with which they were charged has taken place
-outside the territorial limits, and I further protest against any punishment or
-fines being inflicted in the Sheriff Court at Elgin on the said masters.”</p>
-
-<p class="author">(Sd.) <span class="smcap">George M. Cook.</span></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Elgin</span>, <i>31st January 1908</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1326" href="#FNanchor_1326" class="label">1326</a>
-Hansard, vol. 169, pp. 557, 558, 988; vol. 170, pp. 1202, 1206.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1327" href="#FNanchor_1327" class="label">1327</a>
-A letter appeared in the <i>Fish Trades Gazette</i>, on 14th October 1905, from
-Mr Hans Johnsen, the Fisheries Agent for Norway in Great Britain, stating that
-he had resigned his membership of the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association
-owing to the President (Lord Heneage) having prevented him from reading
-at the annual conference of the Association at Aberdeen, with reference to a
-resolution regarding the Moray Firth, a letter from the Norwegian fishery
-authorities. His object in endeavouring to speak on the resolution, he said,
-“was to clear the Norwegian flag from having anything to do with the piracy
-practised by Grimsby steam trawl-owners in the Moray Firth, and which the
-Government of Norway and the Norwegian Fishery Board is highly indignant at.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1328" href="#FNanchor_1328" class="label">1328</a>
-Hansard, vol. 170, pp. 472, 1206, 1246, 1383.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1329" href="#FNanchor_1329" class="label">1329</a>
-In these Norwegian vessels there were a “flag-master” and a “fishing-master,”
-the former, nominally in charge of the vessel, being a Norwegian in order to comply
-with the registration laws, but often, or usually, occupying a humble position,
-such as cook. The “fishing-master” had the real control and occupied the master’s
-rooms on board. He, like all or most of the crew, was English, resident at Grimsby.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1330" href="#FNanchor_1330" class="label">1330</a>
-In April the penalties ranged from &pound;10 to &pound;2, 10s., or two to ten days’ imprisonment;
-in July they ranged from &pound;1 or one day to &pound;45 or fourteen days; three
-cases were dismissed, one was found not proven, and in five the verdict was not
-guilty; four cases were appealed to the High Court by the Procurator-Fiscal and
-the appeal sustained. <i>Twenty-Sixth Ann. Rep. Fishery Board for Scot.</i>, Part I.,
-App. L., II.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1331" href="#FNanchor_1331" class="label">1331</a>
-Hansard, vol. 170, p. 472.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1332" href="#FNanchor_1332" class="label">1332</a>
-<a href="#Page_707">See p. 707</a> <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1333" href="#FNanchor_1333" class="label">1333</a>
-Hansard, vol. 169, pp. 832, 991, 1037; vol. 170, pp. 786, 1246, 1247; vol. 192,
-p. 832. &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1334" href="#FNanchor_1334" class="label">1334</a>
-<i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1335" href="#FNanchor_1335" class="label">1335</a>
-Thus, in the “Reply on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government to the
-Answer of the United States of America,” submitted to the International Fisheries
-Commission at Halifax in 1877, it was said: “It is not understood that the
-Answer either raises or invites the discussion of any rules or doctrines of international
-law, save such as bear upon the question of what are to be considered
-the territorial waters of a maritime State for the purposes of exclusive fishing.
-The contention of the Answer in relation to these doctrines which requires special
-attention, is that which asserts that Great Britain and other Powers have traditionally
-recognised a rule, by which foreigners were excluded from fishing in those bays
-only which are six miles, or less, in width at their mouths. It is distinctly asserted
-on the part of Her Majesty’s Government <i>that this alleged rule is entirely unknown
-to, and unrecognised by, Her Majesty’s Government</i>, and it is submitted that no instance
-of such recognition is to be found in the Answer or the Brief accompanying
-the same, and that none can be produced.” This was approved of by the Earl of
-Derby, Foreign Secretary (the Earl of Derby to Mr Ford, August 31, 1877;
-the same to the same, Oct. 6, 1877).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1336" href="#FNanchor_1336" class="label">1336</a>
-11th Nov. 1908. Hansard, vol. 196, p. 236. Very important declarations as
-to the territorial character of bays will be found in the decision of the Permanent
-Court of Arbitration at The Hague, on the North Atlantic Fisheries (7th September
-1910, Award No. V.), received as these sheets are passing through the press.
-The application of the three-mile limit to bays was rejected, the following rule
-being formulated: “In case of bays the three marine miles are to be measured
-from a straight line drawn across the body of water <i>at the place where it ceases to
-have the configuration and characteristics of a bay</i>. At all other places the three
-marine miles are to be measured following the sinuosities of the coast.” In its
-practical application to British North America, the Tribunal recommended a ten-mile
-limit generally, except for certain specified bays (including Chaleurs, Miramichi,
-Egmont) where special lines, enclosing much larger areas, are proposed.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1337" href="#FNanchor_1337" class="label">1337</a>
-Hansard, vol. 170, p. 1383. The miles referred to are English statute miles.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1338" href="#FNanchor_1338" class="label">1338</a>
-Hansard, vol. 191, p. 1769.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1339" href="#FNanchor_1339" class="label">1339</a>
-Reports of the British Delegates attending the International Conferences held
-at Stockholm, Christiania, and Copenhagen, with respect to Fishery and Hydrographical
-Investigations in the North Sea. <i>Parl. Papers</i>, Cd. 1313, 1903. Corresponding
-“Reports” to 1906 (<i>Parl. Papers</i>, Cd. 2966/06, 3033/06, 3165/06).
-Conseil Permanent International pour l’Exploration de la Mer, <i>Rapports et Proc&egrave;s-Verbaux
-des R&eacute;unions</i>, Copenhague. A summary on the subject, by Dr A. T.
-Masterman, will be found in the Minutes of Evidence, Committee on Fishery
-Investigations (<i>Parl. Papers</i>, Cd. 4304, p. 479, 1908).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1340" href="#FNanchor_1340" class="label">1340</a>
-“2. The delegates should propose that the scientific investigations shall be
-accompanied by a practical <i>expos&eacute;</i> of the steps to be taken in order to bring the
-exercise of sea-fishing more in accord with the natural conditions regulating the
-growth and increase of fish in our seas, and thus permanently increase the supply
-of fish in the markets of the countries adjoining the North Sea. 3. In making
-this proposal, which they should do at the outset, the delegates should make it
-clear that the principal object the British Government have in directing them to
-take part in the Conference, is to secure a careful inquiry into the effect of present
-methods of fishing in the North Sea; and the delegates should give every assistance
-in promoting a scheme for determining whether protection against overfishing is
-needed, and, if so, where, when, and how such protection should be given. 4. The
-delegates should propose that a thorough scheme for obtaining statistical information
-with regard to the quantity and quality of fish caught by the different methods
-of fishing shall be organised, with a view of determining whether protection against
-overfishing is needed, either by the prohibition of trawling in certain selected areas
-or the limitation of fishing during certain selected seasons.”&mdash;Instructions to the
-British Delegates for the Meeting at Stockholm, 15th June 1899; Reports of the
-British Delegates, &amp;c., p. 13. <i>Parl. Papers</i>, Cd. 1313, 1903; Committee on
-Fishery Investigations, Minutes of Evidence, &amp;c., p. 278, <i>Parl. Papers</i>, Cd. 4304,
-1908. The instructions of the British Government to the Delegates for the Meeting
-in 1901, at Christiania, were of similar tenour:&mdash;“His Majesty’s Government
-fully share in the interest shown in the cause of scientific research, but having regard
-to the importance of the evidence which was laid before the Select Committee
-of the House of Commons [see p. 709], and which was adopted by them as showing
-that the supply of fish in the North Sea is decreasing, they are of opinion that the
-consideration of this subject will admit of no delay, and you should press on your
-foreign colleagues the importance of entering at once upon the pursuit of investigations
-calculated to lead to an international agreement. You should in no way
-discourage or check any desire which you may find to exist for scientific research
-into problems not so immediately pressing, but his Majesty’s Government place in
-the forefront of their reasons for taking part in the forthcoming Committee the
-desire that no delay should be incurred in the adoption, by international agreement,
-of measures for arresting the diminution of the supply of fish in the North Sea,
-and for restoring, as far as possible, that source of supply to its former abundance.”
-<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 278.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1341" href="#FNanchor_1341" class="label">1341</a>
-<i>Memorandum drawn up by the Expert Members of the Ichthyological Research
-Committee</i>, Report of the Committee appointed to Inquire and Report as to the
-Best Means by which the State or Local Authorities can Assist Scientific Research
-as applied to Problems affecting the Fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland (<i>Parl.
-Papers</i>, Cd. 1312, p. xxii, x, 1902). <i>Evidence of Mr Walter E. Archer, Assistant-Secretary,
-Board of Agriculture and Fisheries</i>, Minutes of Evidence given before
-the Committee appointed to inquire into the Scientific and Statistical Investigations
-now being carried on in relation to the Fishing Industry of the United
-Kingdom, pp. 277, 288, 346, 359 (<i>Parl. Papers</i>, Cd. 4304, 1908).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1342" href="#FNanchor_1342" class="label">1342</a>
-Reports of the British Delegates, &amp;c., <i>Parl. Papers</i>, Cd. 1313, p. 72, 1903.
-The countries represented were Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the
-Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Russia.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1343" href="#FNanchor_1343" class="label">1343</a>
-Hansard, vol. 169, pp. 992, 996; vol. 170, p. 786; and 11th Nov. 1908.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1344" href="#FNanchor_1344" class="label">1344</a>
-Mr Frank Barrett, of Grimsby, thus referred to the condition of the North Sea
-at the conference of the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association in 1905:
-“Unless they did something as a counterpoise to the continual trawling which was
-going on, they would find themselves powerless as regarded that splendid fishing-ground,
-the North Sea. He did not believe the North Sea, if left to itself, could
-last for ever. He was one of those who thought it could not last very long; and
-he thought they should apply the lessons of science in order to rehabilitate the
-North Sea.” <i>Fish Trades Gazette</i>, Oct. 14, 1905.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1345" href="#FNanchor_1345" class="label">1345</a>
-Mr G. L. Alward, one of the leading and most experienced trawl-owners
-of Grimsby, who was invited to take part in a discussion on sea fisheries in the
-Zoological Section of the British Association in 1906, thus referred to the subject.
-He said: “There was no doubt that the North Sea was deteriorated as a fishing-ground,
-and in order to maintain an adequate supply they had had to explore fresh
-fields. They had shifted the trawling-grounds to the coasts of Far&ouml;e, Iceland, and
-Norway, while others had had to go out into the Atlantic, to the Bay of Biscay,
-and to the coast of Morocco. But if they had exhausted the 147,000 square miles
-of the North Sea,&mdash;every mile of which had been fished,&mdash;and they fished out the
-area between Norway and Far&ouml;e and Iceland, not more than forty or fifty thousand
-square miles, with the same rapidity, they had to look forward to nothing
-short of a dearth of fish and a rise in value to famine prices.” <i>Aberdeen Free Press</i>,
-9th August 1906.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1346" href="#FNanchor_1346" class="label">1346</a>
-According to an interesting table on a chart appended to the <i>Annual Report of
-the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries</i> for 1906 (<a href="#fig_28">see fig. 28</a>), the areas, in square
-miles, between the three-mile limit and the 200-metre line, are as follows: North
-Sea, 152,473; North of Scotland (Orkney and Shetland), 18,096; West of Scotland,
-32,099; West of Ireland, 9066; Irish Sea, 15,743; Southwards of Ireland,
-50,416; Bristol Channel, 8613; English Channel, 25,238. The area at Iceland is
-36,608, and at the Far&ouml;es, 4949 square miles.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1347" href="#FNanchor_1347" class="label">1347</a>
-Hansard, vol. 169, p. 996; vol. 196, p. 217. I have been courteously informed
-by Mr Bjarni S&aelig;mundsson, of Reykjavik, a well-known authority on the
-fisheries of Iceland, that no laws proposing to extend the territorial waters were
-passed, or proposed, by the <i>Althing</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1348" href="#FNanchor_1348" class="label">1348</a>
-Hansard, vol. 170, p. 786.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1349" href="#FNanchor_1349" class="label">1349</a>
-On Mem. 1 the words “le dit Roi Dengleterre et” follow “Procurors.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1350" href="#FNanchor_1350" class="label">1350</a>
-Mem. 1 and 8, “de touz autres de son Roialme.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1351" href="#FNanchor_1351" class="label">1351</a>
-Mems. 1, 14, and 15, “il ny ad.” Mem. 8, “du temps qil ny ad.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1352" href="#FNanchor_1352" class="label">1352</a>
-Mem. 8, “aueroient este.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1353" href="#FNanchor_1353" class="label">1353</a>
-Mem. 1, “oue touz les Isles et les apportenaunces.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1354" href="#FNanchor_1354" class="label">1354</a>
-Mem. 1, the words are “estatuitz et defenses comunes et priuees” and the rest is
-omitted to “sur toute manere des gentz taunt,” &amp;c. Mem. 8, “communes et priuees
-a garder pays et droiture entre tote manere des gentz tant,” &amp;c. Mem. 15, “estatuitz
-et defences pur gouerner en toute manere,” &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1355" href="#FNanchor_1355" class="label">1355</a>
-Mems. 1, 8, 14, 15, “come de lour propre.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1356" href="#FNanchor_1356" class="label">1356</a>
-Mem. 1, “oue.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1357" href="#FNanchor_1357" class="label">1357</a>
-Mems. 1, 8, and 15, “oue.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1358" href="#FNanchor_1358" class="label">1358</a>
-Mem. 1, instead of gouernement, “a la generalte”; Mem. 8, “a la garde.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1359" href="#FNanchor_1359" class="label">1359</a>
-Mems. 1, 8, and 15, “le dit Roi.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1360" href="#FNanchor_1360" class="label">1360</a>
-Mem. 1 omits “Dengleterre.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1361" href="#FNanchor_1361" class="label">1361</a>
-Mems. 1 and 8, “Rois Dengleterre deputez eient este.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1362" href="#FNanchor_1362" class="label">1362</a>
-Mem. 8, “de la dite seignurie et garde.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1363" href="#FNanchor_1363" class="label">1363</a>
-Mems. 1, 8, 14, and 15, “forspris.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1364" href="#FNanchor_1364" class="label">1364</a>
-Mems. 1, 8, and 15 insert “et.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1365" href="#FNanchor_1365" class="label">1365</a>
-Mem. 15, “a.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1366" href="#FNanchor_1366" class="label">1366</a>
-Mem. 1, “ou mesfaitz”; Mem. 8, “ou de mesfaitz.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1367" href="#FNanchor_1367" class="label">1367</a>
-The sentence from “Et come” to “Coustumes” is omitted on Mems. 1, 8, and 15.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1368" href="#FNanchor_1368" class="label">1368</a>
-Mems. 1 and 8 omit “en vne cedule anexe ayceste,” and Mems. 1, 14, and 15
-omit the whole of the next paragraph, recommencing “Monsieur Reymer Grimbaus.”
-Mem. 8<i>d</i>, paragraph commencing “Primerement.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1369" href="#FNanchor_1369" class="label">1369</a>
-Mem. 8, “et a maintener.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1370" href="#FNanchor_1370" class="label">1370</a>
-Mem. 8, “excepte pur le dit Roy.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1371" href="#FNanchor_1371" class="label">1371</a>
-Mem. 8, “le dit Roy.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1372" href="#FNanchor_1372" class="label">1372</a>
-Mem. 14 omits “et.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1373" href="#FNanchor_1373" class="label">1373</a>
-Mems. 1 and 8 omit “Dengleterre.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1374" href="#FNanchor_1374" class="label">1374</a>
-Mems. 1, 14, and 15, “du dit Roi.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1375" href="#FNanchor_1375" class="label">1375</a>
-Mems. 8 and 15 insert “les.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1376" href="#FNanchor_1376" class="label">1376</a>
-Mems. 1, 8, and 15 insert “et marchandises.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1377" href="#FNanchor_1377" class="label">1377</a>
-Mem. 1 omits “et.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1378" href="#FNanchor_1378" class="label">1378</a>
-Mem. 1 omits “de Fraunce.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1379" href="#FNanchor_1379" class="label">1379</a>
-Mems. 1, 14, and 15 read (here and elsewhere) “ceo.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1380" href="#FNanchor_1380" class="label">1380</a>
-Mem. 8 omits “et la prise,” &amp;c., recommencing, “sur la forfaiture,” &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1381" href="#FNanchor_1381" class="label">1381</a>
-Mem. 14, “ou.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1382" href="#FNanchor_1382" class="label">1382</a>
-Mem. 8 inserts “et.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1383" href="#FNanchor_1383" class="label">1383</a>
-Mems. 1, 14, and 15, “sa.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1384" href="#FNanchor_1384" class="label">1384</a>
-Mems. 1 and 8, “de par le dit Roi.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1385" href="#FNanchor_1385" class="label">1385</a>
-Mem. 1, “de la”; Mems. 8, 14, and 15, “de le.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1386" href="#FNanchor_1386" class="label">1386</a>
-Mems. 1, 8, 14, and 15 insert “a vous Seigneurs.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1387" href="#FNanchor_1387" class="label">1387</a>
-Mems. 8 and 14, “qil.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1388" href="#FNanchor_1388" class="label">1388</a>
-Mem. 8 inserts “il.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1389" href="#FNanchor_1389" class="label">1389</a>
-Mems. 1, 14<i>d</i>, and 15 complete the passage as follows: “Come il purra suffire
-et en sa deffaute son dit seignur le Roi de Fraunce par qi il estoit deputeez al dit office
-et qe apres dewe satisfactioun faite as ditz damagez le dit Monsieur Reiner soit si
-duement punitz pur le blemissement de la dite alliance qe la punicioun de lui soit as
-autres example [Mem. 8, ‘ensample’] pur temps auenir.” Mem. 15 ends here. Mem. 8
-transposes the next paragraph and the last.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1390" href="#FNanchor_1390" class="label">1390</a>
-Mem. 1, “aunciens”; Mem. 14, “auncienes.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1391" href="#FNanchor_1391" class="label">1391</a>
-Mems. 1, 8, and 14, “ne.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1392" href="#FNanchor_1392" class="label">1392</a>
-Mems. 1, 8, and 14 omit “nefs.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1393" href="#FNanchor_1393" class="label">1393</a>
-Mem. 8, “leurs.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1394" href="#FNanchor_1394" class="label">1394</a>
-Mem. 8, “doiuent.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1395" href="#FNanchor_1395" class="label">1395</a>
-Mem. 8. “deuantdiz.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1396" href="#FNanchor_1396" class="label">1396</a>
-Mems. 1 and 8, “les.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1397" href="#FNanchor_1397" class="label">1397</a>
-Mems. 1 and 8, “ses.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1398" href="#FNanchor_1398" class="label">1398</a>
-Mem. 8, “soy.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1399" href="#FNanchor_1399" class="label">1399</a>
-[<i>Sic</i>]: not previously mentioned; probably Johan Paderogh.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1400" href="#FNanchor_1400" class="label">1400</a>
-<i>See</i> below.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1401" href="#FNanchor_1401" class="label">1401</a>
-Side-note says: “The said goods have been delivered to Will. Bush.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1402" href="#FNanchor_1402" class="label">1402</a>
-<i>24th Aug. 1303, Saturday.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1403" href="#FNanchor_1403" class="label">1403</a>
-<i>St Lawrence</i>, <i>Aug. 10</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1404" href="#FNanchor_1404" class="label">1404</a>
-<i>29th Sept. 1303, Sunday</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1405" href="#FNanchor_1405" class="label">1405</a>
-Differences found in copy, <i>State Papers, Dom.</i>, Chas. II., Vol. 339, p. 589, are
-shown in brackets.</p></div>
-
-</div>
-
-
-<div class="transnote">
-
-<h4>Transcriber's Note:</h4>
-
-<p>Manuscript abbreviations on pages 765-767 have been changed to modern letters due to the unavailability of suitable characters.</p>
-
-<p>Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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