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.