bee sold to the Inhabitants of the same kingdome quhuiâ— by his Majesties custumes bee not defrauded and his Hienesse Lieges not frustrate of the commodity appointed to them by God under the paine of confiscation and tynsell of the Ueschelles of them that cumes in the contrair thereof and escheating of all their movable guddes to our Soveraigne Lords use In this condition were the Rights of the Fishing until the Dutch did advance themselves to that height and puissance that they esteemed themselves able to infringe them and such was their Covetousness which prompts them that are infected therewith to value the smallest and most unjust Gains that they determined to do it In the year 1594. Iames VI. King of Scotland apprehending the growth of these Netherlanders and their influence upon the English Nation by reason of the multitudes of our Nobility and Gentry which resorted thither into the Armies and being desirous to fortifie by all possible means His right of succession to the Crown of England invited the States to be God-fathers to his Son Prince Henry together with the Kings of France and Denmark and Queen Elizabeth they sent a splendid Embassy Walravius van Brederode being principal and so richly presented the Royal Infant that they much endeared themselves to King Iames and no less exasperated Queen Elizabeth in that they should dare to rival her at the Baptisme of the Prince and also demean themselves with so much munificence or rather prodigality King Iames either out of interest to ascertain himself of their Friendship or being captivated by their Presents and Flatteries granted but not by any Deed that I know unto the Dutch the Priviledges which had been formerly granted to the Belgick Provinces upon Leagues betwixt the House of Burgundy and England in reference to the Fishing whereby according to Articles made with Philip of Burgundy and with Charles V. they were to Fish in the Brittish Seas without any impediment or the sueing for a special License It was by vertue of the same Treaties and Confederacies with the House of Burgundy that Q. Elizabeth did permit them the Fishing of our English Seas for that Queen did alwaies pretend and declare that by reason of sundry Alliances betwixt England and the House of Burgundy she did aid and support the Netherlands At first the Dutch either out of pure respect a rare quality in that sort of people or because their Busses were not so very numerous as in the subsequent times did Fish at a good distance from the Land and leaving convenient space for the Natives of Scotland to pursue their small employment in the Fishery there was no notice or at least no complaints against them upon that subject But when a series of prosperous successes gain'd by the English and Scotch valour had raised the Dutch to a great power at home and renown abroad and that their Ships became exceeding numerous and their Fleets potent and Queen Elizabeths death had advanced a more peaceable Prince to the English Crown They began to encroach upon the English and Scottish shores to disturb the Natives in their Fishing not leaving them so much Sea-room upon their Princes Coast as to take any Fish but such as were the gleanings of the Hollanders Busses who driving at Sea do break the skull or shole of Herrings and then they flie near the shore and through the sounds I find King Iames to have complained against their insolence and the encroachments of the Dutch Fishermen upon His Seas and to the prejudice of His Subjects But that Prince dealt most in Remonstrances an ineffectual course with Hollanders and equipped out no Ships to assert his rights on the whole Brittish Seas at last in 1609. He established Commissioners for to give Licenses at London to such as would Fish on the English Coasts at Edinburgh for such as would Fish in the more Northern Sea and by Proclamation interdicted all un-licensed Fishers The Licenses were to be demanded yearly for so many Ships and the Tonnage thereof as should intend to Fish for that whole year or any part thereof upon any of the Brittish Seas and the Offenders against the King's Proclamation to undergo due chastisement But this Edict of his Majesty proved but a Brutum fulmen an insignificant noyse and thunder the Dutch contemned it and grew more pervicacious in opposition to His Majesties Officers which came to disturb their un-licensed Fishing The States did mingle their concerns with those of the Fishermen and sent Wafters or Men of War to protect their Busses against the Spanish Pirates and to awe the Kings Officers They refused to pay either the Assize-Herring or to take Licenses and in 1616. M. Brown being ordered by the Duke of Lennox who as Admiral of Scotland was commanded to vindicate the Kings's Rights in those Seas to insist upon the Assize-Herring which was the King's Old and indubitable Right they did contest about it and after much dispute paid it according to the Laws and Customes of Scotland But the next year being the year in which King Iames did gratifie that People with the Surrendry of the cautionary Towns the Busses obstinately refused it saying They were commanded by the States of Holland to pay it no more Mr. Browne wanting sufficient force to chastise their Wafters did only take witness of this their refusal whereupon the insolent Dutch seised the King of England's Officer and carried him into the Netherlands where He was detained a while The King repeats His Complaints at the Hague and to their Embassadors here at London the Dutch amused him with Treaties and sent Commissioners to London not to submit or adjust differences but to heighten them They pleaded A right of their own by immemorial prescription and confirmed it with divers Treaties viz. One of the year 1459 betwixt Philip of Burgundy and Henry the Seventh Another betwixt Charles V. as Duke of Burgundy and Henry the Eighth by both which it had been agreed that the Subjects of the Belgick Provinces should Fish in the English Seas without impediment and without License But what influence have those Treaties upon the Kingdom of Scotland Or how do they extend unto the Assize-herring For those Capitulations do not leave them at liberty as to this point any more than they absolve them from paying Customes To observe the Laws and pay the dues of a Country are no illegitimate impediments of Fishing To proceed Suppose we that the Subjects of the House of Burgundy had any such priviledges granted them by the said Treaties what doth this concern the Rebels of the House of Burgundy What doth it concern the States General of the United Netherlands who by their change of Government and rupture from the majority of the Provinces are no longer the same people They have nothing to pretend unto but the Connivance of Q. Elizabeth and the indulgence of K. Iames during the time of their distress nor doth the whole Age of their
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
A JUSTIFICATION OF THE Present War AGAINST THE United Netherlands WHEREIN The Declaration of His Majesty is Vindicated and the WAR proved to be Iust Honourable and Necessary The Dominion of the Sea Explained and His Majesties Rights thereunto Asserted The Obligations of the Dutch to England and Their Continual Ingratitude Illustrated with Sculptures In Answer to a Dutch Treatise Entituled Considerations upon the Present State of the United Netherlands By an English Man Cicero ad Atticum Lib. X. Ep. 7. Pompeij omne Consilium Themistocleum est Existimat enim qui Mare teneat eum necesse rerum potiri Lucius Florus Pudebat nobilem populam ablato mari raptis insulis dare tributa quae jubere consueverat LONDON Printed for Henry Hills and Iohn Starkey and are to be Sold at the Bell in St. Pauls Chuch-yard and the Mitre within Temple-Bar 1672. THE AUTHOUR UNTO THE READER SInce the Author of the Considerations is pleased to conceal his Name and suffer his Book to pass as the work of a private person it seems requisite that I do declare this ensuing Treatise to proceed from an Hand not less private if not more and this I am the more obliged to own lest by any mistake of mine through Haste Ignorance or Mis-information some prejudice might be created against the just and unquestionable Rights of his Majesty The Interests of Princes are not proper subjects for ordinary pens yet in this juncture of our Affairs in these times of universal danger I hope my attempt shall not be liable to mis-construction since it hath no other sourse and original than the service of my King and Native Country and I do profess that I have not to my best knowledge made use of any officious untruths nor in any Allegation or Asseveration imposed upon the credulous Reader nor have I asserted the less probable opinions at any time out of compliance with the present exigencies of State in opposition to those which are strengthned with greater Authority and Reason I have throughly convinced my self in the first place and therefore hope the Discourse may prove more satisfactory unto all others The infant Republick of the United Netherlands after that it had got some considerable strength by the assistance of England began to be sensible of the Advantages they drew from Navigation and how necessary it was for them not only to open the Commerce unto both Indies but to secure themselves of the Fishing in the British Seas the death of Queen Elizabeth who would otherwise have been jealous of their growing power and tender of her own Rights together with the peaceable disposition of King James seemed to make way for their ambitious designs and the Cabal of Holland whereof Grotius was one did publish an Anonymous Treatise called Mare liberum wherein the freedom of the Sea to navigate or fish in was maintained as a due right of mankind according to the Law of Nature and Nations which foundation they esteemed more suitable to their ends then if they should depend upon a revocable priviledge or tacit permission The Book was the less resented at that time because it was in appearance levelled against the Spanish Indies and the prohibition of Commerce there and then all Europe was willing to see the pride and power of Spain abated by any means Howsoever King James was angry at the pretended Liberty of Fishing and his Embassador Carleton complained thereof to the States but they never avowed the principles but owned the Rights of King James though in deed slighted them and usurped upon the Fishing in such manner as I have shewed in this Treatise That single Book hath occasioned a multitude of Discourses upon that Subject Mr. Selden defended the English dominion over the British Seas Others that of Venice and Genoa The Dutch Advocates undermining by their Writings all the Regalities of Princes as their Masters have done by their Actions After that the troubles of Scotland and England had disabled King Charles the First from attending unto the Dominion of the Sea according as He most generously purposed the Dutch thought that the English being weakned with the Civil Wars and distracted with Intestine Factions by reason of the alteration of the Government could not resist their ambition should they usurp the Universal Dominion of the Seas and to secure themselves therein they sent Van Tromp to destroy the English Navy without declaring any War but neither did that attempt nor the War ensuing thereupon prosper as they hoped they would But ever since that fierce War they have determined upon the ruining the English Navigation and not only to exclude the English from the East-India Trade but to expel them from and deprive them of the Dominion of the British Seas It is a received Aphorism amongst the Hollanders that the flourishing condition of England is a diminution of their glory Also that Trade and the Repute of strength are inseparably linked together and hereupon they have so many ways contributed to the embroiling of our Kingdoms and omitted nothing that might represent us as ridiculous and contemptible unto Foreign Princes After they had usurped the Fishery they began to assume a freedom to act all manner of Hostilities upon our Allies if at enmity with them not only upon our Seas but in our Ports and hereof there are many Instances besides the destruction of the Spanish Fleet in 1639. After this their pride increasing with their power they refused to strike Sail to our Ships of War now they will allow it to be but a Ceremony and Civility and dispute the paying thereof unless we come up to such terms as are insupportable Thus by degrees they have reduced this Nation to the present weakness and contempt nor can any concessions any indulgence satisfie their Arrogance and Covetousness They who covet all will not acquiesce in any grants that are not answerable to their desires how unjust or vast soever they be And their friendship is sooner purchased by a brisk opposition than complaisance If we look upon the number and quality of the injuries which we have received from the Dutch the Turks of Algiers and Tunis are less offensive and less perfidious If we consider the courses by which the Dutch attacque us the Algerines are the more supportable to an English spirit since they act by force and open piracy what the Hollanders do by finess and deceipt And since it is our unhappiness to have so ill neighbours that we must either fall by a lingring and inglorious death or hazard by War a more precipitate end I think hiâ— Majesty hath made that choice which is most conformable to the genius and temperament of his Subjects and instigated by his Honour Justice and Necessity put into the hands of the English an opportunity at least of perishing bravely But as we ought not in a righteous cause to distrust the mercy of God so upon so auspicious a beginning as the Lord of Hosts
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
owe their welfare and being to the Mercy of God and Favour of Quéen Elizabeth they should now take no notice that the English contributed any thing to their support So detestable baseness doth make me judge that If it were not their Interest Their Religion is such that Thâ—y would proceed to ascribe nothing unto God himself and all they write to that purpose is no more than a Complement from their High and Mighties to the Almighty We shall on it to relate how often the Republick after that by the hand of God she was raised from that desperate condition hath trembled and quaked both for fear of Foraign Enemies and Intestine combustions Histories will declare unto us that not only the State of the united Provinces but all the Netherlands which together but not with a strict obligation were tyed were sufficiently plunged into the extremest inconveniences by the perfidiousness of the Duke of Anjou brother to the King of France And that afterwards the United Provinces were brought into a deplorable disorder and beyond all posture of defence by the craft and ambitious designs of the Earl of Leicester sent hither by Queen Elizabeth for our protection I have already spoken concerning the Earl of Leicester and their ingratitude towards him the French do form the like charge against them in behalf of the Duke of Anjou that they violated their agreements with him gave him only an empty Title but reserving and drawing all the power into their own hands the sense of which indignity considering that He was a Brother of France and had brought them powerful succours in their distress made him take the courses specified And it is observable that in all thâ—se and other emergencies where the Dutch are branded for their Ingratitude Perfidiousness and unworthy Dealings the particular Province of Holland is always the sole Author or principal occasion Whereof they themselves boastingly give a relation in their Manifest published at Leyden 1654. It is thence that I derive my Intelligence that the Infant States being jealous of the Power and Popularity of William Prince of Orange did without ever acquainting him therewith invite the Archduke Matthias to be their Governour And it is there that I read of a great peril that Holland c. was in and how they were delivered from it the which our Considerer might have seasonably inserted here as well as the rest viz. The States of Holland Zeland and Vtrecht were determined to make Prince William Earl of Holland with all the Prerogatives heretofore enjoyed by such Earls and though Amsterdam Gouda and some other Towns dissented yet were they resolved to pursue their intentions but the Prince was assassinated a month before the Installment could be effected and God most providentially did thereby frée the Subjects oâ— Holland from that subjection into which they were running precipitously There cannot be a greater testimony of the degeneracy of this Age in which such Ingratitude is publickly avowed and authenticated by a solemn declaration of the States of Holland and West-Frizlanâ— the most infamous actions in the world and such as would create a blush in the countenances of any men but Hollanders are recited as the most glorious 'T is there that I read how the States of Groninghen and Ommeland immediately upon the Murther of Prince William did deprive his Son Grave Maurice of all his Dignities Honours and Emoluments in their Province and never admitted any of that Line to be their Governour unto this day 'T is there that I read a defence of their secluding the Prince of Orange from being State-holder or Admiral or General of the Forces of the Vnited Provinces a separate Article which Holland concluded with Cromwell wherein they extenuate and deny any obligations they have to the whole House of Orange and therefore they might without breach of Morality and Civility proceed as they did I confess I was amazed to read such things and wondred not that Queen Elizabeth and our English Kings meet with so much unmoral usage amongst these Hollanders since Prince William and his Heirs are thus intreated and whilst others behold the Dutch as Protestants and Christians I cannot but rank them amongst the worst of mankind not to be parallel'd by any known race of Pagans and Savages We will likewise pass by in silence the relating of those passages of which many of Us have béen living Witnesses as when the whole Country 〈…〉 a sudden Invasion on the Veluwe and the taking of Amerford was in the like manner alarm'd as Rome when Hannibal appeared before her Gates This Invasion happened Anno Dom. 1629. The Spaniards joyning their Forces with those of the Emperour under Montecuculi did make the said irruption and surprised Amerford being already Masters of Wesel All Holland was affrighted and their High and Mighties forsook the Hague to fit at Vtrecht The recent memory hereof might suggest unto the Hollanders more of moderation in their deportment since they are no more assured of their good Fortune than the World is of their good Manners I could not but compassionate the distress of old Rome the memory whereof this passage renewed and I wished that victorious Monteâ—uâ—â—â—i had prevented our Prince and the King of France in the reducing of Holland whose baseness represents them to have a greater affinity with Carthage than Rome and the Belgie Faith imports as much of Treachery as ever did the Punic And forasmuch as comes within the reâ—ch of our own Memories we have yet fresh remembrances of the War with the Lord Protector Cromwell into which by a certain destiny and an interest beyond interest we were drawn at a time when the Nation for want of Ships and Guns was reduced to a perplexity the thought whereof we cannot entertain without grief and alteration in our hearts All that are acquainted with the transactions of that War do well know that the Dutch began their preparations for that War long before the English apprehended it they ordered 150 Ships to be equipped out and beat up their Drums for Volunteers to man them amusing the English with a Declaration that this was done to secure the Commerce so that no preparations extraordinary were then set on foot in England and whilst they were in League with this Nation and in the midst of a Treaty for a stricter Alliance their Admiral most perfidiously comes into Dover road with an intent to destroy the English Navy and ascertain thereby to his Masters the Dominion of the Sea I more willingly mention these things because they are an instance to some people not only of the perfidiousness of the Dutch but of the equity of his Majesties present quarrel for that War was grounded upon the striking of the Flag and the Dominion of the Seas and it is apparent Faction not any colourable reason which can sway any man that approved of that War to condemn this It is also an instance that the present
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
then they should repute them as Enemies without expecting a declared War and destroy them and their Ships or otherwise seize and confiscate their Ships and Goods And these Instructions have been retained in use as well since the Treaty of Breda as before it The like Instructions are given by the Venetians to their Captains in reference to the Adriatick Sea and by several other Princes It is manifest and agreed upon by the Considerer that this Article must decide the present Controversie and 't is no less evident that this Article doth decide it to their prejudice and that they are inexcusable as to the breach thereof I will not stretch the words of the Article so far as to infer that they ought to strike Flag in acknowledgment of the Soveraignty of the Sea since otherwise they do not strike it in such manner as the same hath been formerly observed in any times whatsoever though the words oblige them not only to the thing but circumstantiate the manner of it Let their sentiments be free but yet let us see how they comply with the Article as to matter of Fact They say that O. Cromwell would needs after a long debate have those words put in whereas the Article was otherwise penned at first But this allegation is impertinent since we now enquire not into What was at first debated nor insist upon the first draught of the Treaty but what was at last ratified and confirmed on both sides For 't is thence ariseth the Obligation Secondly They say that by the earnest instance of their Ministers O. Cromwell was so far prevailed upon as to relax that Article and leave out the said words and therefore the Article must not be so understood as if an entire Fleet of the States by virtue thereof should 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 the single Ships and Vessels of their State in point of saluting this Ship of England are to govern themselves To this I reply that it is not credible nor believed here by any that were privy to the transactions of O. Cromwell that ever he consented to any such alteration in the said Article There is no proof of any such thing alledged and 't is notoriously known to all our Admiralty that he never did vary his Instructions and Commissions in the Navy but enjoined them as before to enforce all Ships to strike without regarding whether they were entire Fleets or single Ships And I think this to be a demonstration of the falshood of the Dutch in this suggestion Lastly I find the Articles of peace published at Amsterdam in 1655. in Latine where is not any such thing to be seen as is here insinuated Artic. 13. 13. Item quod Naves Navigia dictarum foederatarum provinciarum tam bellica ad hostium vim propulsandam instructa quà m alia quae alicui è navibus bellicis hujus Reipublicae in maribus Britannicis obviam dederint vexillum suum è mali vertice detrahent supremum velum demittent eo modo quo ullis retrò temporibus sub quocunque anteriori regimine unquam observatum fuit This is sufficient to disprove this impudent forgery of the Considerer but had any such thing intervened betwixt the State and O. P. if it do not appear that His Majesty did make the like accord how comes it to pass that the expressions of his Majesty must be construed by the sense of Cromwell If this Notion of exempting Fleets from saluting any single Man of War were never thought upon nor mentioned much less debated and decided at the Treaty of Breda doth not common Equity and Reason oblige the Dutch to acquiesce in the plain sense of the words and not to distort or pervert them by far-fetch'd interpretations and evasions It is usual in the last Articles of Treaties or in the Ratification for Princes to express that they do sign consent and ratifie the Agreement in its true proper and most genuine sense or sincerely and bonâ fide and where it is not so declared yet it is understood in all Contracts but more especially in the Contracts of Soveraign Princes and Charles V. and Lewis of France are blamed for making use of those little shifts and elusions of Treaties which better become a Pettifogger than a King This is the common Tenet of the Civil Lawyers and consonant to the Law of Nations It is true there lies a ready Evasion for All this is averred concerning Princes and their Contracts but the Dutchmen have nothing that is Royal amongst them their High and Mighties are not Princes and they have different jura Majestatis as they have different ends from the generous and sincere part of mankind After an impertinent Harangue concerning God Piety Protestancy they are absolved from giving honour to them unto whom honour is due Reverence to whom reverence or Right to whom right They can plausibly recede from and evert an Article that is prejudicial to their Interest and insatiable Ambition and impudently exempt Fléets from amongst the number of Ships Such men presume strangely upon their power or the stupidity of the world that impose thereon such Glosses as these There was no such word mentioned no such interpretation proposed at Breda much less assented unto The common usage of that Naval term admits not thereof and the immemorial practice at Sea to the contrary doth sufficiently refute this sentiment The Ambassadours had no power delegated them to part with such a Regality and perhaps it may be said that the King himself hath no such Authority as can devest the Crown thereof However if any such thing had been done had such a sense been admitted of or intended by the Dutch Why did not They urge it sooner and demand that the Instructions to our Admiral and the Commanders at Sea should be changed from what they have been during the space of above four hundred years Their High and Mighties have very much prejudiced themselves in the opinion of all prudent men by so long a silence and in the judgment of all honest persons by remonstrating thus now since thereby they declare that to be the right sense of the Article which is indeed Non-sense and that to be Iustice which is as notorious an Usurpation as any Chronicles inform us of But lest this sense of the Article should not be admitted of They say further in defence of themselves that since in the judgment of the King of Great Britain the striking of the Flag and the acknowledging the Soveraignty of the Sea are equipollent things and that by the one His Majesty understands the other they cannot consent to the striking of the Flag lest it should be construed to a yielding him a Soveraignty and Dominion over the Sea which is too much for these High and Mighty Zealots and such Protestants that abominating all
others about the Islands of Dalmatia to clear those parts of Pirates who have much infested those Seas others and those of most force have their stations in the Island of Corfu and Standia in the first of which commonly resides the Captain of the Gulf whose Office it is to secure the Navigation of the Gulf not only from the Corsaires but to provide that neither the Gallies nor ships of the Pope the King of Spain nor great Turk do so much as enter the same without permission of the Signory and upon such conditions as best pleaseth them which they are so careful to effect that in the Year 1638. the Turkish Fleet entring the Gulf without license was assailed by the Venetian General who sunk divers of their Vessels and compelling the rest to fly unto Valona he held them there besieged although the same City and Port whereon it stands be under the jurisdiction of the Grand Signior And notwithstanding that a great and dangerous War was likely to ensue thereupon betwixt the Grand Signor and the Republick because the Venetian General being not content to have chased them into their own ports did moreover then that sink their Vessels and landing his men slew divers of their Mariners who had escaped his fury at Sea yet after that a very honourable Peace was concluded again betwixt them wherein amongst other things it was agreed that it should be lawful for the Venetians as often as any Turkish Vessels did without their license enter the Gulf to seise upon them by force if they would not otherwise obey And that it should likewise be lawful for them so to do within any Haven or under any Fort of the Grand Signors bordering on any part of the Venetian Gulf. In the Year 1630 Mary sister to the King of Spain being espoused to the Emperours Son Ferdinand King of Hungary the Spaniards designed to transport her from Naples in a Fleet of their own The Venetians suspected that they had an intention hereby to intrench upon and privily to undermine by this specious president that Dominion of the Sea which the Signory had continued inviolate time out of mind and that they took this opportunity when Venice was involved with a War abroad and infested with the Plague at home and therefore not in a condition to oppose their progress The Spanish Embassadour acquainted the State that His Masters Fleet was to Convoy the Queen of Hungary being his Sister from Naples to Triesti The Duke replied That her Majesty should not pass but in the Gallies of the Republick The Spaniard repined thereat pretending that they were infected with the Plague The Senate being consulted came to this resolution That the Sister of his Catholick Majesty should not be transported to Triesti any other way then by imbarking on the Venetian Gallies according to the usual manner of the Gulf and that if the Embassadour would acquiesce herein Her Majesty should be attended and used with all that respect and deference which became her quality But if she proceeded in any other way the Republick would by force assert her proper rights and attacque the Spanish Navy as if they were declared enemies and in hostile manner invaded them Whereupon the Spaniard was compelled to desire of them the favour of transport the Queen in their Gallies which Antonio Pisani did peform with much state and Ceremony and the courtesie was acknowledged by solemn thanks from the Court of the Emperour and of Spain Ioannes Palatius doth furnish me with many more cases wherein the Venetians have practiced immemorially and Forreign Princes approved of their Soveraignty of the Adriatick Sea and had our Nation been hitherto as prudent in the perpetual vindication of their Rights as that Republick His Majesty had not been put to this trouble nor his Subjects endangered as they are by this War with Holland Howsoever 't is manifest that they did alwaies immemorially challenge the Dominion of the Brittish Seas and have never abandoned that Regality but so as to preserve their Right unto it by the exercising of several Acts that result from the entire Dominion of the said Seas 1. As to that Vniversal Dominion which is inferred from the Protection of the Seas It is evident that our Admirals by their Commissions have ever been encharged with the Guardianship and Protection of the said Seas and they were styl'd of Old Guardians of the Seas the denomination of Admiral is more modern But with the Name their Power and Instructions were not varyed they being still designed pro salvâ custodiâ defensione Maris And there was a particular Tax raised on every Hyde of land in this Kingdom called Danegeld at first exacted by the Danes in lieu of their protection of the said Seas and continued after their ejectment by our English Kings before and since the Conquest unto the Reign of K. Stephen and Henry II for the Guardianship of the Seas and after that the Danegeld was abolish'd several Lands were charged particularly for the defence of the Seas and Subsidies have been demanded of the people to the same purpose 2. As to that Dominion of the Sea which is exemplified by Acts of Iurisdiction it is manifest that the English have been immemorially prossessed thereof Thus Edward the First made Laws for the reteining and conserving of the ancient Superiority of the Sea of England and for the maintaining of Peace and Justice amongst all people what Nation soever passing thorough the Sea of England and to take cognizance of all attempts to the contrary in the same and to punish Offenders c. In the like manner did his Royal Predecessours And the so famed Laws of Oleron an Island seated in Aquitaine at the mouth of the River Charente were published in that Isle by King Richard the First as sole Ruler and Moderator of Sea-affairs which hold in force to this day and are the Laws of our Admiralty And this Dominion is further elucidated from hence that Our Kings as appears by the Parliamentary Records of King Richard the Second imposed a Tribute or Custome upon every Ship that passed thorough the Northern Admiralty which stretched it self from the Thames mouth along the Eastern shore of England towards the North-East for the pay and maintenance of the Guard or Protection of the Sea Nor was it imposed onely upon the Ships of such Merchants and Fishermen as were English but upon any Forreigners whatsoever no otherwise then a man that is Owner of a Field should impose a yearly revenue or rent for the liberty of Thorow fare or driving of Caâ—tel or Cart thorough his Field And if any were unwilling to pay the said Tribute it was lawful to compel them there being certain Officers that had authority to exact it having the command of six Ships men of War The Original record is penned in the Norman language as were almost all Records of Parliament in that age and is thus Englished This is the