a long debate of some words which the Protector Cromwell would have added thereunto thereby not only to oblige single Ships but entire Fleets of the States to the said Salute in case of méeting with any of the Ships of War belonging to England which words afterwards upon the earnest instance of the Ministers of this State were left out of the said Article so that the aforesaid Nineteenth Article drawn on t of the tenth Article of the Peace in the year 1662. which tenth Article on the Kings side was delivered in out of the thirteenth Article of the year 1654. must not be so understood that an entire Fleet of the States by vertue of the said Article shall be obliged to give the said Salute to one single Ship of the English but the said Article must be taken for a Regulation according to which single Ships and Vessels of this State in point of saluting the Ships of England are to govern themselves Now to apply the said Article according to the true sense to the late accident of the Lord of Ghent it is in the first place to be observed that the King of England's Pleasure-Boat suppose in respect of her Equippage it must pass for a Ship of War which we will not dispute not having met with any single Ships or Vessels of the States but coming in amongst a Fleet then riding at Anchor undoubtedly with a wicked design to séek matter of Complaint it with no fundamental reasons can be maintained that the Lord of Ghent by vertue of the said Article was obliged to strike Secondly It is likewise considerable that the aforesaid Article speaking of meeting cannot be applied to a formed design to cause a Quarrel by requiring in the uncivillest manner in the world an act of Civility and Respect And lastly It is notorious that the said accident happened in the North Sea not far from our own Coast as likewise it is well known that the North Sea is not the British Sea not only because in all Sea-plats yea in the English Map it self it is distinguished from all other but also and especially which in this case is an invincible Argument by reason the same in the seventh Article of the Treaty of Breda are distinctly mentioned one from the other where it is expresly said that All Ships and Merchandizes which within twelve days after the Peace are taken in the British Sea and the North Sea shall continue in propriety to the Seizer out of which it plainly appears that even according to the King of England's sense the North Sea differs in reallity from the British Sea but vice versâ that the North Sea is made the British Sea and consequently that distinct things are confounded together where there is a design to raise commotions and disturbances in the world And though their High and Mighties might have kept to the Nineteenth Article of the said Treaty according to the true original interpretation yet they declared to the King of Great Britain that upon the foundation and condition of a firm friendship assurance of a real and sincere performance thereof upon the fifth Article of the Triple Alliance in case France should fall upon this State they would willingly cause the entire Fleet when they should at any time méet with any Ship or Ships of War carrying his Majesties Standard to strike the Flag and lowr the Top-sail in testimony of their Respect and Honour which they upon all occasions will publickly shew to so faithful a Friend and so great a Monarch Provided that from thence no occasion either now or hereafter should be taken or the least inducements given to hinder or molest the Inhabitants and Subjects of the United Provinces of the Netherlands in their Free use of the Seas which Declaration the King of England wrongly interprets because that the same is joyned with the true performance of the Triple League that is with his Honour and Word as also with the assurance that no prejudice should be offered in regard of the Free use of the Seas being an infallible argument that The King of England is as little inclined to leave us an undisturbed use of the Seas as He is to kéep and perform his word I have already demonstrated the Iustice and Honour of his Majesties Arms. This Discourse gives me occasion to manifest the Necessity thereof All that is recited here was alledged by the Dutch Ambassadours to our King and if it appear hence that His Majesty could not continue his Alliance any longer with the Dutch unless He would abandon the Soveraignty of the Sea exchange his proper Rights into meer Civilities and those not to be enforced and put Himself and his Dominions into the Power of the Dutch there is none then can doubt but That the King was unavoidably engaged into this War by the insolence and arrogance of the treacherous and usurping Hollanders and that He did not seek or feign pretensions to quarrel with them The Nineteenth Article of the Treaty at Breda doth run thus That the Ships and Vessels of the said United Provinces as well Men of War as others meeting any Men of War of the said King of Great Britain's in the British Seas shall strike the Flag and lowre the Top-sail in such manner as the same hath béen formerly observed in any times whatsoever This Article was transcribed out of a former Treaty made betwixt O. P. and the States General and he was the first that ever inserted any such Article into any Treaty our Right and Dominion over the British Seas having never been disputed before but by an immemorial prescription and possession transmitted unto us and supposed as unquestionable by all Princes these ungrateful Dutch are the first that controverted it disowning it in the time of the late Wars when our Civil distractions rendred our Prince unable to attend unto the Maritime Dominion and to curb their growing pride yet was the long Parliament so concerned to preserve the Rights of this Nation that they made an Ordinance April 5. 1643. commanding their Admiral and Commanders at Sea to inforce all persons to pay the usual and due submissions unto the Men of War appertaining to this Kingdom And the pretended Republick here did vigorously and by a dreadful War assert the said Soveraignty of the Seas So that it ought to be deemed the concurring sentiment of All parties in England that These submissions by striking the Flag and lowring the Top-sail are not meer Civilities and unnecessary Punctilioes of Honour and vain-glory but a fundamental point whereon the Being of the King and Kingdom is in great part suspended and it hath been so studiously insisted on by our Princes that for above Four hundred years it hath been a Clause in the Instructions of the Admiral and the Commanders under him tha◠in case they met any Ships whatsoever upon the British Seas that refused to strike Sail at the Command of the Kings Admiral or his Lieutenants that
and that within the memory of this present Age and they so disputed it at first as to acknowledge our Right but yet to plead an exemption as to fishing in nothing else by vertue of the Capitulations of Intercourse betwixt the English and House of Burgundy the vanity of which claim being so notorious they at last began to be so impudent and insolent as to renounce the Concessions of the Burgundians and their own and now to plead universally that the Sea is the Lord's and not capable of or subjected to the Dominion of any Prince or State It is an unparalleld and most imprudent attempt for these up-starts to shake thus the Tenures not only of Kings but even private persons and to deny that an Immemorial quiet possession of a Land or Territory the Sea is called a Territory is a just Title thereunto whereas hitherto it hath been allowed by those that treat of the Laws of Nations that he who can alledge this needs not to prove his Acquest and Title That prescription doth not require any Right but supplies it and doth it self create a Right nor ought there any proof to be admitted against it Nothing is more received amongst Man-kind then that Prescription and Long Vsage should be deemed equivalent to mutual pacts and the assent of the voisinage And that practise seems to be adjudged to be legitimate where all parties though otherwise interessed to oppose it do without any extraordinary awe or other indirect motive silently and peaceably acquiesce Iephtha when the Ammonites demanded that the Israelites should surrender up the Cities held by them on that side Iordan replied that the Israelites had possessed them three hundred years during all which time the Ammonites had not redemanded them The Law of Nations doth generally allow a lesser space to authenticate a Prescription and just Occupancy It is esteemed to have an Immemorial prescription the contrary whereof no man can say He ever saw done or heard related by others to have been done and 't is commonly declared that one hundred years of usage or possession do suffice to determine the controversie Our case is such that I need not make use of this last plea though so many allow of it and Rome urged it against Antiochus 't is really Immemorial and consequently as valid morally as if it had been conferred upon us at the primitive distribution of Lands except there can be produced most unanswerable reasons to the contrary I shall therefore examine the Reason all edged by the Dutch to invalidate this Prescription and long occupancy of his Majesty The Considerer alledgeth but one which is That the Dominion of the Sea appertains to God alone in the judgment of the States General and the King of England doth usurp upon the divine prerogative by assumeing it to himself I answer that in the judgment of them that are as intelligent and more honest then the States General The Dominion of God Almighty over the Land is as much appropriated to Him as that over the Seas Since that the same Scripture which saith that The Sea is his and he made it doth likewise inform us that His hands prepared the dry land Ps. 95.5 and that The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein Ps. 24.1 So that without a more express declaration a more revealed will of God we cannot conclude from the Text any thing else then the General providential Soveraignity of God which where He doth not in a particular manner publish his Will as when He gave the Israelites the land of Canaan doth no way enterfere with or exclude Humane propriety Otherwise the Earth must likewise become common and All people live Free from Subjection to any Government As to this last point I find M. Schoockius a Belgick Professour to write that 't is proverbially said in the United Netherlands That the Placaets of the States General are not in force beyond three days But they ought not to oblige one minute since the world and they that dwell therein are the Lords Of all the Arguments which ever I read in behalf of the freedom of the Sea this is the most Fanatical If it were granted that the Kings of England France Denmark Sweden c. were Usurpers upon the rights of God Almighty what Commission have these wicked Hollanders to vindicate them a people worse then Sodom and Gomorrah if you believe M. Schoockius the most unworthy Delegates in this world Who made these Skellums to be of the Star-chamber May they run before they are sent Are all Apostles But to wave this foolish pretense I will for the instruction of the more ignorant remove such Objections as men of more High and Mighty reason then the States General do press vehemently against the dominion of the Sea 1. The nature of the Sea is such that it is in a perpetual flux and never settles in any certain place therefore it is not capable of being subjected under a certain dominion possession or prescription I answer that though it be not strictly and Physically the same it continues to be so Legally and in respect of its Bottom Sand and Channel If this Objection were valid even Rivers would not be subject to impropriation they do continually flow and which is more without reflux and the same reason would render every man uncapable of a Legacy or Inheritance because a constant transpiration varieth our bodies In idem flumen bis non descendimus Neither do we twice swim in the same river nor are we the same persons who attempt to swim twice within the same channel Besides a man may retain a propriety in things variable as in mony lent and to be repaid in specie not numerically A man may have a right unto the Air or Light and an Action lieth in case of Nusance And shall a remedy be allowed in case an encroaching Neighbour doth obstruct the Light or annoy the Air and shall not a Prince take care that no Forein Fleets shall without warning and license approach his territories Provision in this case is much more allowable by how much greater the danger is 2. There cannot be any peculiar and distinct bounds prefixed to particular dominions upon the Seas and since nothing can be privately possessed which is not bounded therefore God and Nature seem to have ordained the Seas to be free since it is not limitable I answer That the Inundation of Nile and the Storms upon the Libyan Sands do render the bounds undistinguishable yet are the Lands subject to propriety Besides the Shores Promontories c. may stand as well for Sea-bounds as Trees Posts Hedges Rivers c. are bounds on Land and where they fail Imaginary Lines and Contrivances may supply the defect since we are no more in Contracts betwixt Princes to expect rigour of Law but Aequum bonum then in mixt Mathematicks indivisible Points and Lines Several Leagues of
Ordinance and Grant by the advice of the Merchants of London and other Merchants towards the North by the assent of all the Commons in Parliament before the Earl of Northumberland and the Mayor of London for the Guard and tuition of the Sea and the Coasts of the Admiralty of the North with two Ships two Barges and two Ballingers armed and fitted for War at these rates following First To take of every Ship and Bark of what burthen soever it be which passeth thorough the Sea of the said Admiralty going and returning for the Uoyage upon every Tun VI l. Except Ships laden with Wines and Ships laden with Merchandises in Flanders which are fraighted for and discharged at London and Ships laden with Woolls and Skins at London or elsewhere within the said Admiralty which shall be discharged at Calais which Ships the Guardians of the said Sea shall not be bound to Convoy without allowance Item To take of every Fisher-boat that fisheth upon the Sea of the said Admiralty for Herrings of what burthen soever it be for each wick of every Tun VI d. Item To take of other Ships and Fisher-boats that fish for other kinds of Fish upon the Sea within the said Admiralty of what burthen soever they be for three weeks of every Tun VI l. Item To take of all other Ships and Vessels passing by Sea within the said Admiralty laden with Coals from New-Castle upon Tyne of what burthen soever they be for a Quarter of a year of every Tun VI l. Item To take of all other Ships Barks and Uessels passing by Sea within the said Admiralty laden with Goods of any Merchants whatsoever for Prussia or for Norway or for Scone or for any other place in those parts beyond the Sea for the Uoyage going and returning every Last VI â— The Imposition here laid upon all Fishers that took Herrings or other Fish upon the Sea within the Northern Admiralty sheweth the Antiquity of the right his Majesty hath unto that Regality within the Brittish Seas but the benefits accruing to the Crown from this speciaâ—ty of the Maritime Dominion were not alwaies raised in one and the same manner In the Ordinance aforesaid the Fishermen purchase their Liberty of Fishing by a sum of mony to be paid weekly At other times I read that the Hollanders and Zealanders every year did repair to Scarborough Castle and there by ancient custome obtained leave to Fish which the English have ever granted them reserving alwaies the Honour and Priviledge to themselves Amongst the Records of the time of Edward the First there is an Inscription Pro hominibus Hollandiae c. For the Men of Holland and Zealand and Friesland to have leave to Fish near Iernemuth and that King's Letter for their Protection is extant And if we do not continually vend of special Licenses granted to Forreigners in reference to the Fishery the reason is because by the Leagues that were made with the Neighbouring Princes a License or Freedome of that kind as also of Ports Shores Passages and other things was so often allowed by both Parties that as long as the League was in force the Sea served as if it were a common-Field as well for the Forreigner that was in Amity as for the King of England himself who was Lord and Owner But yet in this kind of Leagues sometimes the Fishing was restrain'd to certain limits and the limits related both as to place and time so that according to agreement the Forreigner in Amity might not Fish beyond these limits the King of England retaining absolute Dominion over the whole adjoyning Sea Thus by an Agreement betwixt France and England the French are excluded from that part of the Sea which lies towards the West and Southwest and also from that which lies North-east of them but permitted freely to Fish throughout that part of the Sea which is bounded on this side by the Ports of Scarborough and Southampton and on the other side by the Coast of Flanders and the mouth of the River Seine and the time is limited betwixt Autumn and the Calends of Ianuary following But in the League of mutual Commerce betwixt Henry the Seventh and Philip Duke of Burgundy c. Earl of Holland and Zealand A. D. 1459. Chap. 14. It was agreed that the Fishermen of each parts of what condition soever they be shall Sail and pass freely every where and Fish securely without any impediment License or Safe-conduct From the which Leagues it is a genuine inference that His Majesty hath the Dominion of the Seas as to Fishing and that the Liberty thereof is not to be obtained but by License or Compact wherein the general emolument arising from the League supplieth the advantage that would otherwise accrew from particular Licenses It being thus evinced that the Soveraignty of the English Seas as to the Fishing doth appertain unto His Majesty I proceed to Scotland where I find the same power invested in the Crown thereof so that the Right of His Majesty unto the Fishing there is as unquestionable as His Succession to the Kingdom I have not read in the Scotch Laws that ever there were Licenses given to any for Fishing but every Fisher as well Forreigner as Native was to pay an Assize-Herring unto the King and this Assize-Herring is an unalterable Regality of that King Iacobi 6. p. 15. c. 237 It is Statute and Ordâ—ined that all infestments and alienations in Few firme or otherwies and all rentalls assedationes and dispositionâ—s quhatsumever in all time by gane and to cum of the Assise-Herring is null and of nane availe Because the said Assise-herring perteinis to our Sovereigne Lorde as are part of his custumes and annexed property Concerning the Nature and Antiquity of the Assize-Herring I find this most authentick account given by Mr. Iohn Skene Clerk of the King's Register Council and Rolls in a treatise de verborum significatione annexed to the Laws of Scotland and Printed at Edinburgh A. D. 1597. Cum privilegio regali ¶ Assisa Halecum the Assize-Herring signifies ane certaine 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 every 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 What Dues and Customes the Kings of Scotland had upon other Fish I know not but that He did exact some and exercised the Dominion of the Sea in reference to the Fishing there is apparent by these Laws ordaining That all manner of Fischeres that occupies the Sea and â—theres persons quhatsumever that happenis to sâ—ay Hering or Quihte fish upon the Coast or within the Iles or out with the Samen within the Frithes bring them to Free ports c. where they may
Duke of Bradenburg the Bishops of Cologne and Munster because their Provinces cannot be safe without them They would usurp our Seas because they cannot mannage their trade without them And they will seise hereafter upon our principal Ports because their Navigation cannot be secure without them Certainly 't is not a sufficient ground for them to deny his Majesty the Proper Rights of the Brittish Crown because They do not know How He will use them They have no reason to imagine that He would entreat them worse then His Royal Predecessors have done who never made the utmost advantage of their just Rights against the Netherlanders nor ever practised such a Sovereignty as the Venetians exercise in their Seas 'T is true that the case is much altered by their questioning his Royalty which was never before disputed by them or any else and 't is but equitable that they should be in some manner frank in their acknowledgments who have been so arrogant in the contest They that begin a president are more criminal than they which follow it and since they by an ungrateful insolence have instructed others to imitate their demeanor it is but just thâ—â— They should contribute to the necessary charges whereupon They put his Majesty to ensure that Royalty which They above all others being supported by Queen Elizabeth and owned for a Free State by the interposition of King Iames and strengthened by the surrendry of the Cautionary Towns upon most easie terms should not have controverted at least not in so barbarous a manner as to say That all the world holds the King of England'â— Claim to be impertinent Whereas it may be with more truth said That All the world in all Ages hath and doth justifie his Right in general or in Thesi And 't is manifeâ—â— by the concessions of all Princes concerned and of the House of Burgundy and of the Hollanders themselves as to the Brittish Seas or in Hypothesi Whereas They deny that ever They Fished in our Seas with License and permission of the Kings of England It is a Lye For since They hold their priviledge of Fishing by means of a general License or League contracted betwixt the Crown of England and the House of Burgundy it is manifest that whosoever Fished in the English Seas before did Fish with a particular License from which they were then exempted and that from thenceforward They did Fish all by the General License or indult of the Kings of England in that League I have already shewed his Majesties right unto the Fishery and How it hath been exerted and there is Equivocation in what They say concerning the Tribute for Fishing that They never paid it to the King of England 's father The Fishing Busses did pay Tonnage-mony for their liberty to Fish unto the Earl of Northumberland as Admiral under the present King of England his Father They knowing the Legality of the thing paid it with much satisfaction not regretting or protesting against it The Dutch Admiral Dorpe did not except against the actions much less oppose the said Honourable person nor do I find that the States General did remonstrate against that Tonnage-mony as an exorbitant and illegal demand But according to the usual demeanour of these Hollanders They gave it out all over Europe that they would not pay any more and that They refused it in 1637. To shew that this was but a scattered report not any publick complaint or refusal of the States General at that time behold this Extract of a Letter from Mr. Secretary Windebank to Captain Fogge who at that time commanded five or six Ships under the Earl of Northumberland ¶ Here hath been a Report raised here that the Hollander's have refused his Majesties Licenses to Fish in his Seas pretended to have been offered them by Captain Fielding But it is utterly mistaken seeing Captain Fielding was sent to the Busses to offer them protection His Majesty having understood that the Dunkirkers had prepared great strength to intercept them in their return from the Fishing which his Majesty in love to them sent Captain Fielding to give them notice of and to offer them safe conduct This you are publickly to avow wheresoever there shall be occasion and to cry down the other discourse as Scandalous and derogatory to his Majesties Honour Aug. 10. 1637. Thus you see to return upon them their own language It is a Lye that the said Tonnage-money was protested against It is a Lye that It was no more demandâ—d for Captain Fielding did demand it I am sure by Letters in the Paper-Office though I have not had leisure to examine what bâ— râ—ceived And it iâ— a foolish report to say that The single attempt of the Earl of Northumberland being violent could not create any Right Whâ—â—eas we do not claim it in right because it was then paid but because as an Immemorial Royalty it was always due and acknowledged by â—hem to be so I cannot allow of that Parenthesis of the Considerer That violence can create no Right no not by continuance For if Prescription of an hundred years or less time according to particular Countries does create a Right how violent and unjust soever the first Occupancy be according to the Law of Nations which formally approves thereof even betwixt Prince and Prince and fundamentally according to the Law of Nature which disposeth us to mutual peace and amicable Society and to the means conducing thereto in the number whereof is Prescription Occupancy and Custom How then can He say that Violence can never create a Right How do they hold their Freedom but by violence Are these the Principles of the Peace-loving Hollanders Do not these suggestions tend to the involving of all the World in Bloud As to the meeting of the Yatcâ—t with the Fleet under Van Ghent in the North-sea and their not striking Sail or Flag The Considerer yields it to be a Ship of War by reason of its Equipage Commission and Standard and so it was according to the presidents of our Law which styles Barges and Ballingers if armed for War to be Ships of War But neither He nor any man else can say that The refusal to lowre the Topsail and strike the Flag was not a breach of the Treaty at Breda It is alledged that This hapned in the North-sea which is not the Brittish Sea being distinguished there from in all Sea-plats yea in the English Map and which in this case is an invincible Argument by reason that in the seventh Article of the Treaty at Breda the same are distinctly mentioned one from the other where it is expressedly said that All Ships and Merchandises which within twelve days after the peace are taken in the Brittish Sea and the North-Sea shall continue in propriety to the Seizer Out of which it plainly appears that even according to the King of England's sense the North-sea differs in reality from the Brittish Sea These reasons are so far
Whosoever shall reflect upon the Ambitious designs joyned with the extraordinary power of Spain in those days The intentions of that Monarchy to reduce the Belgick Provinces under a more absolute obedience than the Brabantine Constitutions consisted with the obstinate humour of the Dutch in adhearing to their Priviledges how irrational soever Also the apprehensions which France Germany and England had concerning the excessive growth of the Spanish and Austrian power such a Considerer will not admire so very much that the rebellion of the Vnited Netherlands did continue so long and succeed so well nor discover such an extraordinary series of providences in the erection of their Republique And the most partial men must grant that 't is a most fallacious way of reasoning to argue from the happiness of the event unto the justice of the cause or peculiar favour of the divine Authour There is not any thing in this Dutch suggestion which might not have been more rationally alledged by a Goth or Mahometan since the juncture where in those Monarchies advanced themselves was attended with less favourable circumstances than I can observe in the revolutions of the Netherlands But I am confident no Goth or Sarracen would have so entitled to God the original of their successes as to exclude the intermediatt assistances which they received from others at any time Such ingratitude is singular in the Netherlanders and all this impudent harangue hath no other tendency then to elude the obligations which that unworthy people have to Q. Elizabeth and the Royal Progenitors of His Majesty Here is no mention made of any protection or aid given them by the English Queen but one Action related which as it seemingly carries with it somewhat of unkindness so it is insinuated meerly to this end that they may alienate the people from a Reverence and regard for our Nation It is not to be denied that Q. Elizabeth did contribute much to the first support of these Dutch giving them reception here in England when the fury of the D. of Alva enforced them as exiles to seek an habitation in forreign Countries this most gracious Queen compassionated their miseries and gave multitudes of them leave to fix at Norwich Colchester Sandwich Maydstone and Southampton A. D. 1568. Here the exiles had the advantage of a quiet life and the opportunity of pursuing their designs in order to the regaining of their Countrey Nor was it a small favour to the Prince of Orange and his Partisans that when they were ready to sink under their losses in Friezeland and elsewhere this Queen seised upon two hundred thousand Pistols of Gold which were transporting from Spain to the D. of Alva the detaining whereof as it was a great disappointment to the Duke who stood in great need of it for the reinforcing of his designs so it begat great animosities betwixt the Queen and Him the Merchants Ships on each side were seised upon Letters of Reprisall granted and the English estranged from the Spanish Netherlands by the translation of our Staple from Antwerp to Hambourgh It is manifest that our Queen did by that action and by the hostilities and contrivances of a new Trade which ensued thereupon contribute effectually to the fomenting of the Netherlandish discontents the D. of Alva was diverted from prosecuting the Gheusians with his former violence his subjects were exasperated by the dammage of the English Trade the English were by the removal of our Staple dis-engaged from all dependance on the Spaniards there by way of Commerce and inclined to abett and assist the distressed followers of the Prince of Orange And if the Dutch will not acknowledge these actions for a great assistance and courtesie to them the Spanish Embassador De-speci in his Remonstrance said they proceeded from some that bare no good will to the Spaniard and favoured the Rebels of the Netherlands After this the distressed Netherlanders betook themselves to practise piracy at Sea upon the Spaniards under the command of the Prince of Orange but were immediately under the conduct of William Earle Vander Marck and others and the Queen notwihstanding that She was resetled in a good correspondence and league with the Spaniards did permit them by connivence the free use of her Ports every where throughout England so as that they provided themselves here with Victuals and Munition upon all occasions and here they usually vended their prizes which they took upon the Vly Texel and the Ems. By which means these exiles sustained themselves well the Prince of Orange receiving the Tenths or Fifths of their Prizes gave much trouble to the Duke of Alva continued those discontents in their partisans which otherwise would in all probability have been extinguished by reason of the power and terror of the Spaniards and the weak and declined condition of the exiled Prince of Orange I would willingly understand from any ingenuous persons whether these actions did not highly contribute to the erection of this Republick and might not as well have been thankfully acknowledged as the subsequent decree of Queen Elizabeth is most ingratefully mentioned Viz. That William Earl of Marck Lord of Lumè Admiral of the Prince of Orange 's Navy was by a strict command from the Queen of England denied liberty to stay in her Countrey and also refused to supply his Seamen with necessaries whereupon ensued the taking of Brill as is specified The insinuation of this Edict is maliciously urged here thereby to extenuate the favors of the English Nation The Queen was engaged by Articles not to entertain openly any Rebels unto the Crown of Spain She could not harbour them any longer without a rupture with that potent Monarch and She was unwilling to involve Her self in so great a War for so weak Confederates Whereupon She by a strict Proclamation did forbid them the use of Her Ports and that Her subjects should sell them any Provisions after a certain time which was March. Whereupon they were necessitated to depart and seek some other receptacle and Providence cast them upon Brill But had not the Queen harbored them How had they ever imbodied themselves or encreased to the strength of Forty Sail of Ships most of them Fly-boats wherewith they possessed themselves of Brill and took two rich Ships by the way No sooner was Brill taken but Flushing in Zealand and some other Towns revolted to the Prince of Orange yet were his forces so small though joyned with those of Vander Marck as not to be able to subsist against the Spaniards but that the Queen permitted multitudes of English to repair thither The first that went was Sir Thomas Morgan who carried over Three hundred Men to Flushing the report of whose coming is said to have stayed the D. of Alva when he was in a readiness to recover that Town Afterwards through the procurement of Morgan arrived there Nine Companies of English under Sir Humphrey Gilbert With these aids and other Auxiliaries
from France though the Prince of Orange atchieved great things and reduced many Towns in Holland and Zealand unto his party yet such was their distress that An. Dom. 1575. they entred into a debate of putting themselves under the Protection of some Foreign Prince least through want of Money and of Soldiers and also the fickle inclinations of a discontented populace they should suddenly fall under the power of the Enemy And in the name of the States of Holland and Zeland and Prince of Orange was an Embassy sent into England to offer unto the Queen not only what was agreeable to equity reason and religion but to the exigency of their condition and what self preservation and extream necessity prompted them unto The Commission of the Embassadors was either to make a League with the Queen or to submit themselves under her Protection or if necessity required it to acknowledge her for their Princess and Soveraign Lady issued from the Earls of Holland and Zeland by the Lady Philip Daughter to William the third of that Name Earl of Henault and Holland c. The Queen thanked them for their good will towards her but fearing the enmity of Spain the envy of France and the charge of the War as also not being satisfied how she might with her honour and a safe conscience receive those offered Provinces into her protection much less possession she declined the Overture yet promised to intercede for them with Spain and in the mean space gave them leave to raise what Souldiers they could in England either from out of the English Scots or exiled Netherlanders and to furnish themselves with what provisions and Ammunitien they wanted and to transport them Notwithstanding this transcendent favour of the Queen's the ingrateful Zelanders the next year affronted her Majesty and seised upon sundry of her Merchants Ships upon various pretences whereupon she was so incensed that there had been an absolute difference betwixt them had not the Prince of Orange prudently composed all After this when Don Iohn became Governour of the Netherlanâ—â— and withall aspired to marry the Queen of Scots and render himself King of England the Queen enters into a more strict League and confederacy with them to aid them with men and money and 't was at her charge principally that Prince Casimire came to their aid with a German Army And out of England there went over the Seas to them the Lord North's eldest Son Iohn North the Lord Norris's second Son Iohn Norris Henry Cavendish and Thomas Morgan Colonels with very many Voluntiers and after that the Germans mutinously deserted the States the Queen furnished them readily with a great sum of money the ancient Jewels and rich Plate of the House of Burgundy being 〈…〉 ed unto her for it After this for several years the 〈…〉 erlands cast themselves under Arch-Duke Matthia 〈…〉 Duke of Anjou but with so ill success that they found themselves not able to continue long Antwerp and sundry other places being taken and William Prince of Orange murdered the French King not being able or willing to receive the Soveraignty of those Provinces so that they determined by a solemn Embassy to tender her Majesty the entire Dominion and Principality of the Netherlands They had treated with her before by I. Ortelius about protection but the Queen refused to espouse their quarrel except she might have cautionary Towns that her expences might be repaid at the end of the War But now that the desperate condition of their Affairs made any terms to be prudential they resolved to subject themselves unto her or contract any League for protection which she would enjoin them Upon the sixth of Iuly 1585. their Deputies came to London which were these For Brabant although by reason of the Siege of Antwerp not fully authorised was sent Iacques de Grise chief Bailiff of Bruges for Guelderland was Rutgert van Harsolt Burgomaster of Harderwick for Flanders although likewise not fully authorised Noel Caron Seignior of Schoonwall Burgomaster of Franc for Holland and Friseland was Iohn Vander Does Lord of Noortwick and Ioos Van Menin Counsellor of the Town of Dort and Iohn van Oldenbarnevelt Counsellor of the Town of Rotterdam Doctor Francis Maelson Counsellour of the Town of Enâ—khuysen for Zeland was Iacob Valck a Civil Lawyer and one of the Council of State for Vtrecht was Paul Buys Doctor for Friseland was Ielgher van Seytzma Counsellor of State Hessel Aysma President and Laest Ioughema They were kindly received by the Queen and nobly feasted at her cost upon the ninth of Iuly they were brought to their Audience at Greenwich the Audience was most solemn and publick the Queen being seated on her royal Throne and all the Privy Council attending on each hand of her Majesty The Deputies being introduced fell upon their knees before the Throne of the Queen and Ioos Van Menin with great reverence and submission made an Oration to her in the name of the Distressed States of the United Netherlands unto this purpose That the States of the United Netherlands Provinces humbly thanked her Majesty for the honourable and many Favours which it had pleased her to shew unto them amidst their extreme necessities having not long since received the testimonies of her Princely clemency when after the cruel Murther of the Prince of Orange it pleased her Majesty by her Ambassador Mr. Davidson to signifie unto them the great care she had for their defence and preservation and after that again by the Lord of Grise by whom she let them understand how much she was discontended to see them frustrated of their expectations reposed upon the hope they had in the Treaty with France adding that nevertheless her Majesties care for the support of the Netherlands was rather augmented than diminished by reason of the difficulties which multiplied upon them For the which not only the Provinces in general but every particular person therein should rest bound unto her Majesty for ever and labour to repay so transcendant obligations by all posâ—â—ble fidelity and obedience And therefore the Estates aforesaid observing that since the death of the Prince of Orange they had lost many of their Forts and good Towns and that for the defence of the said United Netherlands they had great need of a Soveraign Prince who might protect and defend them from the insolencies and oppressions of the Spaniards and their Adherents who sought daily more and more all the means they could with their Forces and other sinister Practices to spoil and utterly root up the foundation of the aforesaid Netherlands and thereby to bring the â—oor afâ—â—icted people of the same into perpetual bondage and worse than Indian slavery under the insupportable yoke of the most exeerable Inquisition Finding likewise that the Inhabitants of the said Netherlands were perswaded and had assured confidence that her Majesty out of her Princely inclination would not endure to see them