Chapter LXIX: Appendix: O (6)

[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.