Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A50499
|
Observations concerning the dominion and sovereignty of the seas being an abstract of the marine affairs of England / by Sir Philip Medows, Knight.
|
Meadows, Philip, Sir, 1626-1718.
|
1689
(1689)
|
Wing M1567; ESTC R9028
|
41,043
|
66
|
Equipp'd for War over the Seas of England Whether any Sovereign Prince or State having occasion to enter upon any the Seas of England with Men of War either in entire Fleets or as Convoys to Merchants have first asked leave so to do of the King of England as the Supreme Lord of the Territory I have often met with a Traditional Story both in Discourse and in Printed Pamphlets that Queen Elizabeth having intelligence that Henry the 4th of France had a design to encrease the Naval Strength of his Kingdom and to Equip a considerable Fleet of War not only for the Mediterranean but for the Seas also toward England She sent to bid him desist from it That the Queen might request him not to put out upon these Seas with an unusual Fleet as that which might occasion Jealousie in her Subjects and oblige her to an extraordinary Expence in Arming proportionably and consequently tend to weaken the Amity and good Assurance betwixt the two Crowns I say that she might do this for I do not find that she did it is neither morally impossible nor wholly disagreeable to the practice amongst Princes But that she did pro Jure interdict and forbid him so doing as an Intrenchment and Invasion of her Right by entring with an Armed Force upon the Territories of her Crown without her leave for this I shall suspend my belief till better Vouchers be produced 'T is too common amongst Men first to form their Opinions and then to seek their Proofs and some rather than not find them will devise them There is another currant Story of the same alloy That Queen Elizabeth seized in the Bay of Cascais in Portugal Sixty Laden Ships belonging to the Hans Towns of Germany and afterwards consiscated both Ships and Goods For having presumptuously pass'd over her Seas without first obtaining her Royal Permission In this several Mistakes are complicated together one in Law and two in Fact. That in Law is this supposing the Dominion of the Seas to have been universally acknowledged as the Queens undoubted Right yet ought not the Hanseaties who were Friends and peaceable Traders and pursuing their lawful Occasions to have been consiscated for not a king leave of Passage over these Seas had there been nothing more in the case because they needed not in Law so to have done No more than a Market-man needs ask leave of the Owner to pass his Field over which the Market Path lies The two Mistakes in Fact are these 1. The said Sixty Sail of Ships did not in Fact pass the Seas of England 〈…〉 15.9 〈…〉 lib. 95. and therefore could not be consiscated upon that accompt Mr. Cambden our faithful Annalist says expresly and so does Thuanus too That they pass'd on the North of Scotland by the Occades Hebrides and great Western Ocean on the backside of Ireland a long and dangerous Passage to avoid being intercepted in the Channel by the Queens Ships 2. The sole Reason why they were confiscated was this because they carried Goods of Contrabanda Prohibited Goods viz. Corn which at that time Spain wanted and Naval Provisions to the relief of an Enemy who at that time was preparing a new Fleet for the Invasion of England in revenge of the Disgrace he had received the year before viz. in 88. And this they did contrary to the Queens Proclamation and Monitory Letters to the Hans Towns whereby she forbad them to supply Spain her declared Enemy with such Provisions under the Penalty of forfeiting Ships and Goods Thus the Dutch in the year 1652. when by their Interest and Influence in the Court of Denmark they had caus'd an English Fleet of above Twenty Merchant men Laden with Pitch Tar Flax Hemp and other Naval Stores to be Arrested in the Sound supposing that England with whom they were then in War would be Distressed for want of sâ—â—n Provisions They Published a Placart forbidding all in general to Import into England any the aforesaid Materials upon pain of confiscation thereof as being a Relief to an Enemy in things they particularly wanted for prosecuting the War against them I enquire not here Quo jure by what Right the Dutch did this and whether it was not a Violation of the free Commerce of Neutral Nations But I only instance in the Fact as parallel with what the Queen did Nay the States did far more than what the Queen did comes to for they in the Year 1599 almost in the Infancy of their Republick publish'd a Placart forbidding all Nations any Commerce with Spain not in this or that prohibited Commodity but in all Goods and Merchandizes whatsoever Grot. Host de Rebus Belg. lib. 8. pag. 372. Edâ—t Amstol Vetant populos quescunque â—llos commeatur resve alias in Hispaniam ferre They are the very words of Grotius in his Belgick Annals the eighth Book this by the way â—â—ly If we consult the publick Treaties which have been betwixt England and other Sovereigns concerning Sâ—â—ps of War passing these Seas we shall find the 〈…〉 have been as followeth The usual Covenants are 〈◊〉 have been That the Ships of War of either side may 〈◊〉 come into the Roads Havens and Rivers each of other provided they be not in such number as may occasion suspicion and therefore the number is ascertain'd and not to be exceeded unless to avoid imminent Danger and in such case notice to be given thereof For Example In the Treaty concluded at Madrid in the Year 1630 betwixt Charles the First of England and Philip the Fourth of Spain which Treaty was but a renewal of the former made with King James in the Year 1604 it is in the 9th Article agreed That it shall be lawful to have access unto each others Ports with Ships of War whether they shall arrive there either by force of Tempest or for necessary Repairs or for provision of Victuals so they exceed not eight when they come of their own accord nor stay longer than they shall have cause And when any greater Number shall have occasion of Access they not to enter the Port without the privity or consent of the King. This is the form of all the Treaties and Articles like to this have been agreed betwixt England and France and England and Helland but they are always reciprocal and as their Ships of War are restrained from access to the English Ports so are the English from access to theirs in equal manner And 't is to be noted that the Restraint is only from access to each others Ports but never any Restraint of Foreign Ships of War from entering in what Number they please the Seas of England Thus in the Year 1639 which was but nine Years after the Treaty aforementioned at Madrid a Spanish Fleet of above sixty Sail equipped for War entred the Western Channel without leave first asked bound for Ostend to supply the Spanish Netherlands with Men Munition and other Necessaries and pass'd the Channel to the height of
Dover And the Dutch Fleet put out in like manner upon the North-East Sea and fought the Spanish Fleet in the Downs 'T is true that Sir John Pennington who then commanded the English Guard endeavoured to hinder them from sighting so near the Ports to the disturbance of the Security and Protection of them and troubling the Commerce and Entercourse of the King's Lieges and Allies But no Complaint made either then or afterwards of the two Fleets of War entering the Seas aforesaid parcel of the Dominion and Territory of the Crown of England without a special License first ask'd and obtain'd And it would be Time mispent to recount how often either Spaniards French or Dutch have entred these Seas with armed Fleets and Convoys as their Occasions obliged them freely without leave and without controul I speak not here of the private Notices and Intimations which one Prince may in friendly manner give another to satisfy him of the reason of any extraordinary Military Preparations and of the clearness of his Intentions towards him But of a formal previous Leave to be ask'd and obtain'd by a Foreign Prince or State before they put out to Sea upon the Maritime Territory of the Crown of England in a Warlike Equipage In the year 165â— The States General gave publick Notiâ—e by their Ambassadors here in England that they had Resolved to fit out to Sea an extraordinary Fleet of One hundred and fifty Men of War besides those in present Service for the Security and Preservation of their Navigation and Commerce They did not ask leave to do it but first resolv'd upon it and then gave Notice and they pretended this Notice was an Argument of their Sincerity and good Will in order to prevent all misunderstandings and finister interpretations But they in England understood it otherwise and resented it as a Bravado and Insult I Pass now to the second Incident of the Sovereignty Of the Marine Jurisdiction and the Laws of Oleron Videsis Vs Corstumâ—s de la Mer printed at Boâ—â—deaux 1661. to Examine the Matter of Fact as to that viz. The Marine Jurisdiction 'T is commonly affirm'd by English Writers that our King Richard the First the French give a different accompt did in his return from the Holy Land make and declare certain Marine Laws for the better Regulation of Commerce which from the place of their first Publication were call'd the Laws of Oleron A small Island scituate in the Bay of Aquitain and a Member of that great and wealthy Dutchy which was in the actual Possession of King Richard as his maternal Inheritance for it came to his Father Henry the Second by Marriage with Elianor Daughter and Heir of William Duke of Aquitain And by the way it may be noted that this Dutchy either in whole or part continued in the Possession of the Kings of England by ten Descents to the 32d of Henry the Sixth near 300 years though that of Normandy continued but five Descents and ended in King John. But whether these Laws were Published as aforesaid by King Richard or whether about Sixty years after as some Printed Editions would have them is not an Enquiry pertinent to this place Be it admitted those Laws were Published by King Richard who was actual Duke both of Aquitain and Normandy and in right of the latter Lord on both sides the English Channel The great entercourse betwixt his English and French Subjects and those of his Allies required a certain Rule of Sea-Laws for the more speedy and impartial Determination of all Controversies which might occasionally arise These Laws of Oleron as to the main of them are but a transcript of the old Rhodian Laws with some new Additions and Amendments accommodated to the practice of that Age and the Customs of the Western Nations who thereupon might readily conform to them as to a common Standard and Measure like a Law of Nations for the more equal distribution of Justice amongst the People of different Governments But to infer from hence an Universal Monarchy at Sea and that King Richard in right of his Imperial Crown of England and Ducal Crowns of Nâ—rmandy and Aquitain did as sole or Supreme Legislator for the Marine authoritatively impose Sea-Laws upon the People and Subjects oâ— other Nations is but a strained inference The Romans were far enough from yielding a Sea-Sovereignty to the little Republick of Rhodes and yet were so well satisfied with the Equity of their Sea-Laws that they not only conform'd to them Lab. 11. Dâ—â—â—l but incorporated them into the Body of their Digest And as the Rhodian Laws obtain'd in the Mediterranean and the Laws of Oleron in the Western and English Seas So the Laws of Wisbuy a Town scituate upon the little Isle of Gotland in the Eastern part of the Baltick formerly under Denmark now under the Crown of Sueden call'd from thence Leges Wisbuicenses Pâ—â—k in 〈…〉 Tit. Diâ— Cod. 〈…〉 p. 19â— were received by the general consent of the Northern Traders as a common measure for all Nautick Assairs to the Northwards of the Rhine and throughout the whole Baltick That the Sea is within the Jurisdiction of the King of England is a matter unquestionable not at home only but amongst all Nations His Admiral has and ever had through a long series of Ages the Conusance of all Contracts Pleas and Querrels made upon the Sea out of the Body of any County of England Which Power is inlarged by the Statute of 15 R. 2. cap. 3. to Death and Mayhem upon great Ships in the main Stream of great Rivers And by the Statute of 28. Hen. 8. cap. 15. a Court of Commission may be held under the great Seal Coram Admirallo c. to hear and determine all Treasons Felonies Robberies c. done or committed upon the Sea. But then 't is evident and undeniable also that the Neighbouring Kingdoms and States who border upon the Sea have their distinct Admiralties likewise and have long since had where their Subjects and People receive sinal Sentence in all Maritime Causes without exception of any Seas or without Appeal to the Admiralty of England as the last resort or as having Supream Conusance of all things done and committed in and upon the Brittish Seas If a French or Dutch Vessel take a Pirat of what Nation soever who has committed a Robbery upon the English Seas they do not remit him to the Admiralty of England as to the sole Tribunal of the place where the Fact was done to receive Sentence there but they carry him before their own Judicatories and judge him as an Enemy of Mankind by the Law of Nations If one Foreigner does any Injury to another be it Fraud or Violence upon the British Seas the Party injured makes not his Complaint to the Admiralty of England as the proper Court and as having the sole Juridical Conusance of his Plea but resorts to the Jurisdiction of his own Sovereign or