time of Richard the Second Hugh Calverley was made Admiral of the Sea saith the same Author and the Universal Custody of the Sea was committed by our Kings to the High Admirals of England And that the Dominion of the Seas is properly in the Power and Jurisdiction of the King may appear by those Tributes and Customes that were Imposed and Payed for the Guard and Protection of them The Tribute called the Danegeld was paid in the Time of the English Saxons which amounted to four shillings upon every Hide of Land for the defending of the Dominion by Sea Roger Houerden affirmeth that this was paid until the Time of King Stephen Afterwards Subsidies have been demanded of the People in Parliament upon the same Account and in the Parliament-Records of King Richard the Second it is Observable That a Custome was imposed upon every Ship that passed through the Northern Admiralty that is from the Thames along the Eastern Shoare of England towards the North-East for the Maintenance of a Guard for the Seas Neither was this Imposed onely upon the English but also upon the Ships of Forreigners payment was made at the Rate of six pence a Tun upon every Vessell that passed by such Ships only excepted that brought Merchandize out of Flanders into London If a Vessel were imployed to Fish for Herrings it payed the Rate of Six pence a week upon every Tun If for other kind of Fish so much was to be payed every three weeks as they who brought Coles to London from New-Castle paid it every three Moneths But if a Vessel were bound North-wards to Prussia Scone or Norway or any of the Neighbouring Countries it payed a particular Custome according to the Weight and Proportion of the Freight And if any were unwilling it was Lawful to Compel them to pay In this Place we shall give you the Copy of the usual form of a Commission whereby the High Admiral of England is Invested with Authority for the Guard of the Sea it runneth in these Words VVE Give and Grant to N. the Office of our Great Admiral of England Ireland Wales and of the Dominions and Islands belonging to the same also of our Town of Calais and our Marches thereof Normandy Acquitayn and Gascoign and we have Made Appointed and Ordained And by these Presents we Make Appoint and Ordain â—im the said N. our Admiral of England Ireland and Wales and our Dominions and Isles of the same our Town of Calais and our Marches thereof Normandy Gascoign and Aquitayn as also General Governour over all our Fleets and SEAS of our said Kingdomes of England and Ireland and our Dominions and Islands belonging to the same And know ye further that we of our especial Grace and upon certain Knowledge do Give and Grant to the said N our Great Admiral of England and Governour General over our Fleets and Seas aforesaid all manner of Iurisdictions Authorities Liberties Offices Fees Profits Duties Emoluments Wracks of the Sea cast Goods Regards Advantages Commodities Preheminences Priviledges whatsoever to the said Officer our Great Admiral of England and Ireland and of the other Places and Dominions aforesaid in any manner Whatsoever Belonging or Appertaining Thus we see we have a continual Possession or Dominion of the Kings of England by Sea pointed out in very Expresse Words for very many years We may add to this that it can be proved by words plain enough in the form of the Commissions for the Command of High Admiral of England that the Sea for whose Defence he was appointed by the King of England who is Lord and Sovereign of it was ever bounded towards the South by the Shores of Aquitain Normandy and Picardy for although those Countries sometimes in the Possession of the English are now lost and for many years under the Jurisdiction of the French yet the whole Sea Flowing betwixt our Brittish Isles and the Provinces over against them are by a Peculiar Dominion and Right of the King of England on those Seas subject unto them whom he puts in Command over the English Fleet and Coasts that there remaineth neither Place nor Use for any other Commanders of that kinde And as for the Islands of Gernesey Jersey and the rest Mr. Selden affirmeth that before a Court of Delegats in France in expresse terms it hath been acknowledged that the King of England hath ever been Lord not onely of this Sea but also of the Islands placed therein Par raison du Royalmed ' Angleterre upon the Account of the Realm of England or as they were Kings of England And in the Treaty held at Charters when Edward the Third Renounced his Claim to Normandy and some other Counties of France that bordered upon the Sea it was added that no Controversie should remain touching the Islands but that he should hold all Islands whatsoever which he Possessed at that time whither they lay before those Countries y t he held there or others For Reason required this that he should maintain his Dominion by Sea And both Gernesey and Jersey as well as the Isles of Wight and Man in several Treaties held betwixt the Kings of England and other Princes are acknowledged not onely to lye neer unto the Kingdome of England but to belong unto it But to give a greater Light to this Truth we may from several Records produce many Testimonies that the Kings of England have given leave unto to Forreigners upon Request to passe through their Seas he gave permission to Ferrando Vrtis de Sarachione a Spaniard to Sail freely from the Port of London through his Kingdomes Dominions and Jurisdiction to the Town of Rochel There are Innumerable Letters of safe Conducts in the Records especially of Henry the Fifth and Sixth whereby safe Port and Passage was usually granted And it is worthy of observation that these kinde of Letters was usually superscribed and directed by those Kings to their Governours of the Sea-Admirals Vice-Admirals and Sea-Captains And to clear all at once the Kings of England have such an absolute Dominion in the English Seas that they have called the Sea it self their Admiralty And this we finde in a Commission of King Edward the Third The Title whereof is De Navibus Arrestandis Capiendis For the Arresting and Seizing of Ships The Form of it runs in these Words The King to his beloved Thomas de Wenlock his Serjeant at Armes and Lievtenant To our Beloved and Trusty Reginald de Cobham Admiral of our Fleet of Ships from the mouth of the River of Thames towards the Western parts Greeting Be it known unto you that we have appointed you with all the speed that may be used by you and such as shall be Deputed by you to Arrest and Seize all Ships Flie-Boats Barks and Burges of ten Tun burthen and upwards which may happen to be found in my foresaid ADMIRALTY that is in the Sea reaching from the Thames Mouth towards the South and West and
then was in the more Antient Nations and covered with Oxe-Hides yet with good ground we may conceive that they were wont to Build and set forth ships of War of a far more commodious and solid substance for the Guarding of the Seas and the Isles We read in Caesar's Commentaries that they were strong at Sea and it is not to be doubted but that besides their Twiggs and Leathern Vessels they had a considerable Navy which was able at pleasure to Encounter the ships of their Neighbours that were best Armed But the Southernly Parts of Great Brittain being Invaded by the Emperour Claudius and the Isle of Wight surrendred to them the Brittish Sea following the Fate of the Island was annexed with it to the Roman Empire From the Dominion of the Brittish Sea as being continually United to the Island or an Inseparable Concomitant thereof many remarquable passages have proceeded amongst those who have left unto Posterity the Atchievements of the Romans when they were Masters of this Island But when the Roman Empire was declining and they had scarce Forces enough to Guard the City it self The Brittains about the Year of our Lord Four Hundred and Fourscore did cast off the Roman Government and setled a Common-Wealth after their own liking In the mean time the Saxons Inhabiting the Shoar over against them had a great and greedy mind unto it who being a People extreamly given to Piracy the Romans were accustomed to appoint an Officer to drive them away called The Count of the Saxon Shore throughout Brittain These Saxons being sent for by the Brittains to Assist them against the Scots and Picts did get at length the whole Power into their own hand These Saxons being Arch Pirats did not only know but were familiarly acquainted with the Dangers of the Sea The same may be said of the Danes and Normans for these names being promiscuously used do often signifie the same Nation as is sufficiently attested by Regino Dudo the Monk of Malmesbury and others And these People had so great and so admirable a Knowledge of the Sea and Sea Affairs that by an exquisite observation of the Tides and Ebbings of the Sea they were accustomed to reckon their Months and Years yea and to frame Computations of years thereby In Antient Records diverse particulars are to be seen which most plainly show that both the Saxons and Danes had a Dominion over the Sea whilest they Reigned in Brittain In the Reign of the English Saxons we read in Asserius Bishop of Sherburn that Hengist being invited into England by the Perswasions of Vortigern there came presently afterwards to recruit him Octa and Ebissa who putting Pitates aboard his ships he charged them to Guard the passages of the Sea You are to understand that the word Pirate was not then taken as now commonly it is for Robbers or Rovers but for such who being the most skilfull in Sea-Affairs were judged to be the fittest Men to Encounter with their Enemies The word sayes my Authour doth seem to be deriv'd from the Greek for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Pira in the Greek Tongue signifieth Craft or Art and from this Art in Maritine Discipline they are now called Pirates which infest the Seas But amongst these Kings none was more Potent then King Edgar who possessing an Absolute Dominion of the Seas sayled round about it every Year and secured it with a constant Guard It is Recorded that these ships being very stout ones were in number One Thousand Two Hundred Other Writers affirm that they were Foure Thousand the Abbot of Jorvaux John Bramton by name doth number them to be Four Thousand and Eight Hundred sayle And what Dominion King Edgar had as Absolute Lord of the Sea appears in these words I Edgar King of England and of all the Kings of the Islands and of the Ocean lying round about Brittain and of all the Nations that are Included within the Circuit thereof Supream Lord and Governour do render my thanks to Almighty GOD My KING who hath Enlarged my Empire and Exalted it above the Royal Estate of my Progenitors who although they Arrived to the Monarchy of all England ever since Athelstan yet the Divine Goodness hath favoured me to Subdue all the Kingdomes of the Island in the Ocean with their most Stout and Mighty Kings even as far as Norway and the greatest part of Ireland together with their most Famous City of Dublin After him King Canutus left a Testimony whereby he most expresly Asserteth the Sea to be a part of his Dominion For placing himself by the Sea side in the time of a High Tide upon Southampton shoare he is reported to have made tryal of the Obedience of the Sea in this manner Thou O Sea art under my Dominion as the Land also which I sit upon is mine And there was never any that disobeyed my Command without Punishment Therefore I command thee not to ascend upon my Land nor do thou presume to wet the Feet or Garments of Thy Sovereign But although the Event did not answer his Expectation yet most plain it is that here he openly professed himself to be Sovereign of the Seas as well as of the Land From the Testimonies of the Saxons and Danes we shall Descend to the Government of the Normans where by many Notable and Cleer Proofs we shall finde That 1. The Custody Government or Admiralty of the English Sea did belong unto the King together with the Dominion of the Adjacent Islands 2. That the Leave of Passage through this Sea was granted unto Forreigners upon Request 3. That the Liberty of Fishing was upon Courtesie Allowed to Forreigners and Neighbours and Protection given to the Fisher-men 4. That Laws and Limits were Prescribed to Forreigners who being in Hostility the one with the other but both in Amity with the English made Prize of each other on the Sea 5. The Records whereby this Dominion is expressely Asserted as a most Undoubted Right and that not onely by the Kings but by the Parliaments of England As for the First There is nothing more Cleer than that the Kings of England have been Accustomed to Constitute Governours or Commanders who had a Charge to Guard the English Seas and these were called Custodes Navium or Custodes Maritimi These were the Officers that were called Butsecarli as may be gathered out of that Breviary of England called Doomes Day In this Number was Thomas de Moleton who is Stiled Captain and Guardian of the Sea and Hugh de Cerquen Afterwards the Title of Guardians was changed into that of Admiral as is alleaged by Thomas Walsingham in the days of Edward the First We finde that in the days of Edward the third The Principal End of Calling that Parliament was concerning the Preservation of Peace both by Land and Sea giving us to understand that the Land and Sea together made one entire Body of the Kingdome of England In the
to bring them speedily well and sufficiently Armed to Sandwich c. All Officers also in the said Admiralty are Commanded to yeild Obedience and Assistance upon the same Condition Thus That the Sea it self was contained under the Name of the Admiralty is most clearly manifest by what already we have shown you And as a Freedome of Passage so also we do finde that a Liberty of Fishing hath been obtained by Petition from the Kings of England we have already made mention that King Richard the Second imposed a Tribute upon all persons whatsoever that used Fishing on his Seas We read also that Henry the Sixth gave leave to the French and other Forreigners sometimes for a Year sometimes but for six Moneths to go and Fish throughout his Seas provided that the Fishing-Boats and Busses were not above thirty Tuns And if any Forreigners whither French Dutch or others should Disturb or Molest any of the Kings Subjects as they were Fishing they were to loose the benefit of their Licence But in the Eastern Sea which washeth the Coasts of York-shire and the Neighbouring Counties It hath been an Antient Custome for the Hollanders and Zelanders to obtain leave by Petitioning to the Governour of Scarborough Castle It is worth the while saith the Reverend Mr. Cambden to observe what an extraordinary gain the Hollanders and the Zelanders do make by fishing on the English Seas having first obtained leave from the Castle of Scarborough For the English have ever granted them leave to Fish reserving always the Honour and the Priviledge to themselves but through a negligence resigning the Profit unto Strangers for it is almost incredible saith he to believe what a vast sum of Money the Hollanders do make by this Fishing upon our Coast Mr. Hitchock also in the time of Queen Elizabeth presented a Book to the Parliament written in the English Tongue concerning the Commodity of Fishing in which he specifies that the Hollanders and Zealanders every year towards the latter end of summer do send forth four or five hundred Vessels called Busses to Fish for Herrings in our Eastern Seas but before they fish they ask leave of Scarborough they are his very Words Care was also taken by K. James that no Foreigner should Fish on the English or Irish Seas without leave first obtained and every year at the least this leave was renewed from the Commissioners for that purpose appointed at London But the Reason why we do not so often meet with these Forms of Licences is because by the Leagues made with the Neighboring Princes a Licence or Freedom of that kinde was so often allowed by both parties that as long as the League was in Force the Sea served as it were a Common Feild as well for the Forreigner y was in Amity as for the King of England himself who was the Lord and owner of it But a remarkable Example of Fishing in this Nature we finde in the days of King Henry the Fourth An Agreement was made betwixt the Kings of England and France that the Subjects of both Kingdomes might freely 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 of Sein The time was also limited betwixt Autumn and the beginning of January And that the French might securely enjoy the Benefit of this Agreement the King of England sent Letters unto all his Sea Captains and Commanders By this we may plainly see that these Limits wholy excluded the French from that part of the Sea which lies towards the West and South-West as also that which lieth North-East of them as being so limited by our Henry at his own pleasure as Lord and Soveraign of the whole There is amongst the Records of Edward the First an Inscription Pro Hominibus Hollandiae c. For the Men of Holland Zealand and Friesland to have leave to Fish neer Jernemuth now called Yarmouth The Kings Letter for their Protection runneth in these Words The King to his Beloved and Trusty John de Buteturte Warden of his Port of Jernemuth Greeting For as much as we have been certified that many men out of the Parts of Holland Zealand and Freisland who are in Amity with us intend now to come and Fish in our Seas neer unto Jernemuth we command you that publick Proclamation be made once or twice every week that no Person whatsoever imployed abroad in our Service presume to cause any Injury Trouble Dammage Hinderance or Grievance to be done unto them but rather when they stand in need that you give them Advice and Assistance in such manner that they may Fish and pursue their own Advantage without any Let or Impediment In Testimony whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Pattents and to continue in Force until after the Feast of St. Martins next ensuing Here you see that the King granteth a Protection to Fish and he Limits it within the space of two Moneths He alone also Protected the Fishermen upon the German Coast nor might the Fishermen use any other kind of Vessels then what were Prescribed by our Kings Upon which Accounts all kind of Fishing was sometimes prohibited and sometimes admitted this Restriction being added hat they should Fish onely in such Vessels as were under the Burden of Thirty Tun And this appears by the Letters of King Edward the Third concerning the Laws of Fishing which were directed unto the Governours of several Ports and Towns on the Eastern Shoar the Words are these For as much as We have given Licence to the Fishermen of the Neighbouring Ports and to others who shall be willing to come unto them for the Benefit of Fishing that they may Fish and make their own Advantage with Ships and Boats under the burden of thirty Tuns any Prohibition or Commands of ours whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding we command you to permitt the Fishermen of the said Towns and others who shall be willing to come to the said places for the Benefit of Fishing to Fish and make their own Advantage with Ships and Boats under-thirty Tun without any Let or Impediment any Prohibitions or Commands of ours made to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding This is evident also in the Records of King Edward the Fourth for he invested three Persons with Naval Power whose Office it was to Protect and Guard the Fishermen upon the Coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk and the charges of the Guard were to be Defrayed by the Fishermen of the said Seas at the pleasure of the King of England although they have Letters of Publick Security and Protection from Foreign Princes Neither were any Persons admitted to a Partnership in this kind of Guard except those who were appointed by the King of England least by this means perhaps it might Derogate from the English Right which is a manifest Sign and Evidence of their
Dominion and Possession of the place And this may yet more clearly appear by the Laws and Limits usually set by our Kings to such Foreigners as were at Enmity with each other but in Amity with the English and to this effect is the Proclamation of King James who having made Peace with all Nations did give equal Protection to the Spaniards and the United Neatherlands at that time exercising Acts of great Hostility one against another Our Pleasure saith he and Commandment is to all our Officers and Subjects by Sea and Land that they shall Prohibite as much as in them lieth all hovering of Men of War of either Spaniard or Hollander neer to the Entry of any of our Coasts or Havens and that they shall Rescue and Succour all Merchants and others that shall fall within the Danger of any such as shall Await our Coasts And it is further to be observed that as our Kings have very often Commanded that all manner of persons should cease from Hostility throughout all the spaces extended into their Territories by Sea so they indulged the like Privilege for ever throughout the more Neighbouring Coasts of the French shore that all manner of Persons though Enemies to one another should securely sayle to and fro as it were under the wings of an Arbitrator or Moderatour of the Sea and also freely should use the Sea according to such spaces and limits as they were pleased at first to appoint which without doubt is a clear Evidence of Dominion In this next place I shall cite some of the Publick Records which are kept in the Tower of London in which the Dominion of the Sea is expresly Asserted as belonging to the Kings of England We Read that Edward the Third in his Commissions given to Geoffery de Say Governour or Commander of the Western and Southern Seas and to John de Norwich of the Northern expresseth himself in these following words We calling to mind that our Progenitors the Kings of England having before these times been Lords of the English Sea on every side yea and Defendors thereof against the Invasions of Enemies do strictly Require and Charge you by the Duty and Allegiance wherein you stand bound that you set forth to Sea with the Ships of the Ports and the other Ships that are ready and that you Arrest the other ships under our Command and that with all Diligence you make search after the Gallies and Ships of War that are abroad against Us and that stoatly and manfully you set upon them if they shall presume to bend their Course towards any part of our Dominions or the Coasts of Scotland c. Then followeth a Power to Press Seamen and other matters of that kind We read also in the Reign of the said King in the preferring of a certain Bill in Parliament which is the voice of the Estates of the Realm that he was usually accounted King or Sovereign of the Seas by all Nations The words in French are to this sence in English The Nation of the English were ever in the Ages past Renowned for Sea-Affairs in all Countries near the Seas and they bad also so numerous a Navy that the People of all Countries Esteemed and called the K. of Engl. the K. or Sovereign of the Sea Another Testimony to the same Effect we read in the Parliamentary Records of Henry the Fifth where the Tenour of the Bill runs after this manner The Commons do pray that seeing our Sovereign Lord the King and his Illustrious Progenitors have ever been Lords of the Sea and now seeing through Gods Grace it is so come to pass that our Lord the King is Lord of the Shores on both sides of the Sea such a Tribute may be imposed upon all Strangers passing through the said Sea for the Benefit and Advantage of our said Lord the King as may seem agreeable to reason for the safegard of the said Sea The Answer subscribed to the said Bill was Soit avise par le Roy which is Let the King Himself be advised of it For the King at that time Resided in France being Lord of that Country as well by Conquest as Inheritance And Humphrey Duke of Glocester was then President of the Parliament and Leivtenant of England by whom as the Kings Deputy that Answer was given to the said Bill but when the King was present in person Le Roy S' advisera the King will Advise was the Answer from the Antient down to our present times in such Bills as were to be passed into Acts Many other Testimonies in this Nature may be produced which for brevities sake are purposely omitted Neither hath the High Court of Parliament onely given this Attestation to our Kings as Supream and Sovereign of the Seas But to confirme it we shall produce the Testimonies of Robert Belknap an Eminent Judge in the Time of Richard the Second who affirmeth that the Sea is Subject to the King as a part of his Kingdom or of the Patrimony of the Crown And it appeareth by Publick Records containing diverse main points touching which the Judges of the Land were to be consulted for the good of the Common-Wealth that the Kings Sea-Dominion which they called The Antient Superiority of the Sea was a matter out of Question amongst all Lawyers of that Age and Asserted by the Determinations and Customes of the Law of the Land and by the express words of the Writs and Forms of the Actions themselves Neither is this Truth confirmed only by our Laws but by our Medals There hath been a piece of Gold very often Coyned by our Kings called a Rose-Noble which was stamped on the one side of it with a Ship floting in the Sea and a King Armed with a Sword and Shield sitting in the Ship it self as in a Throne to set forth a Representation of the English K. by Sea The first Authour hereof was Edward the Third when he Guarded his own Seas with a Numerous Navy consisting of Eleven Hundred ships at which time as at others he marched victoriously through France But what need we labour to produce so many Testimonies at home from our Records in the Tower and other places from our High Courts of Parliament from our Laws from our Coyns from our Histories to prove this Truth since it is acknowledged even by Forreigners themselves whom it most concerneth by their usual striking of sayles according to the antient Custom by every ship of any Forreign Nation whatsoever if they sayle near the Kings Navy or any ship belonging to it at Sea which is done not onely in Honour to the English King but also in acknowledgement of His Sovereignty and Dominion at Seas The Antiquity of this Custome and that it hath been in use for above these Four Hundred years may appear by this following testimony At Hastings a Town scituate upon the Shore of Sussex it was Decreed by K. John in the Second Year of His Reign with
the Assent of His Peers That if the Governour or Commander of the Kings Navy in His Naval Expeditions shall meet with any Ships whatsoever by Sea either Laden or Empty that shall refuse to strike their sayles at the Command of the Kings Governour or Admiral or his Lievtenant but make resistance against any who be long unto his Fleet that then they are to be reputed Enemies and if they be taken their Ships and Goods to be Consiscated as the Goods of Enemies And that although the Masters or Owners of the Ships shall Alledge afterwards that the same Ships and Goods do belong to the Friends and Allies of our Lord the King yet the persons who shall be found in these Ships are to be punished with Imprisonment at discretion for their Rebeltion It was accounted Treason saith Master Selden If any ship what soever had not acknowledged the Dominion of the King of England in His own Sea by striking sayle and they were not to be protected upon the Account of Amity who should in any wise presume to do the contrary Penalties were also appointed by the Kings of England in the same manner as if mention were made concerning a Crime committed in some Territory of his Land But above all that as yet hath been said there can hardly be alledged a more convincing Argument to prove the Truth of all that hath hitherto been spoken then the Acknowledgement of the Sea-Dominion of the King of England by very many of our Neighbouring Nations At what time the Agreement was made by Edward the First of England and Philip the Fair of France Reyner Grimbald Governour of the French Navy Intercepted and Spoyled on the English Seas the Goods of many Merchants that were going to Flanders as well English as Others and not contented with the Depredation of their Goods He Imprisoned also their Persons and delivered them up to the Officers of the King of France and in a very insolent manner justified his Actions in Writing as done by Authority of the King his Masters Commission This being alledged to be done to the great Damage and Prejudice of the King of England the Prelats Peers and the rest of the Nation a Bill against Reyner Grimbald was exhibited and managed by Procurators on the behalf of the Prelates Peers and of the Cities and Towns throughout England and lastly of the whole English Nation by an Authority as I believe of the Estates Assembled in Parliament with these were joyned the Procurators of most Nations bordering upon the Sea throughout Europe Viz. The Genoeses The Catalonians The Spaniards The Almayns The Zealanders The Hollanders The Freislanders The Danes The Noruegians The Hamburghers c. All these instituted a Complaint against Reyner Grimbald who was Governour of the French Navy in the time of the. War of Philip King of France and Guy Earle of Flanders And all these Complainants in their Bill do joyntly affirm that the King of Englandand his Predecessors have time out of minde and without Controversie Enjoyed the Soveraignty and Dominion of theEnglish Seas and the Isles belonging to the same by Right of their Realm of England that is to say by Prescribing Laws Statutes and Prohibitions of Armes and of Ships otherwise furnished then with such necessaries and Commodities as belong to Merchants and by demanding Security and affording protection in all places where need should require and ordering all other things necessary for the conservation of Peace Right and Equity between all sorts of People passing through that Sea as well Strangers as others in Subjection to the Crown ofEngland Also that they have had and have the Soveraign Guard thereof with all manner of Cognisance and Jurisdiction in doing Right and Justice according to the said Laws Ordinances and Prohibitions and in all other matters which may concern the Exercise of Soveraign Dominion in the said places This is the Declaration of the Nations above named manifestly acknowledging the Sovereignty and Dominion of our Kings over the Seas and thereupon demanding protection for themselves But more particularly we do finde an acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominions of the Kings of England made by the Flemmings themselves in the Parliament of England in the Reign of Edward the Second the Records of the Parliament speak it thus In the Fourteenth Year of the Reign ofEdward the Second there appeared certain Ambassadours of the Earl of Flanders to Treat about the Reformation of some Injuries they received and as soon as the said Ambassadours had been admitted by our Lord the King to Treat of the said Injuries amongst other particulars they required that the said Lord the King would at his own Suit by Vertue of his Royal Authority cause Enquiry to be made and do Justice about a Depredation by the Subjects of England upon the English Seas taking Wines and other sort of Merchandizes belonging to certain Merchants of Flanders towards the parts of Crauden within the Territory and Jurisdiction of the King of England Alledging that the said Wines and other Merchandizes taken from the Flemmings were brought within the Realm and Jurisdiction of the King and that it belonged to the King to see Justice done in Regard thatHE IS LORD OF THE SEA and the aforesaid Depredation was made upon the said Sea within his Territory and Jurisdiction c. This we have Cited out of the Parliament Records which may Declare an Acknowledgement of the Sea-Dominion of our Kings made by those Foreign and Neighbour-Nations who were most concerned in the Business Having given you thus besides the Attestation of our own Writers the acknowledgment of Foreign Nations that the King of England hath the Dominion of the Seas we shall now come to give you an Account of those Northern Seas which came unto the Subjection of the Kings of England at what time King James of Blessed Memory by reducing the two Nations into one Great Brittanie United the Crown of Scotland to the Crown of England Odericus in his Ecclesiastical History informs us that the Orcades was subject heretofore to the King of Norway and that the people of the Orcades do speak the Gothish Language to this day these Isles are Numerous and onely Twenty Eight of them are at this day Inhabited Above One Hundred Miles beyond the Orcades towards Norway are the Shetland Isles in Number Eighteen which are at this day Inhabited and in subjection to the King of Scotland concerning which there hath been a great Quarrel in former Ages between the Scots and Danes but the Dane kept the Possession All these Islands did Christiern King of Denmark peaceably Surrender together with his Daughter in Marriage to James King of Scots until that either he himself or his Posterity paid to the Scottish King or his Successors the sum of Fifty Thousand Rhenish Florens which were never discharged to this day But afterwards when the Queen had been delivered of Her Eldest Son the Danish King being willing to Congratulate
his Daughters good Delivery did for ever Surrender his Right in the Islands of the Orcades Shetland the rest unto the Scottish King This was in the days of James the Third of Scotland in the Year 1468. A Claim was afterwards laid to Iseland by Q. Elizabeth And her Successor K. James the Sixth of Scotland and first of England hath a Dominion in the Sea which lieth farr more Northerly then Iseland which is that of Greenland For that Sea having never been entred by Occupation nor used in the Art and Exercise of Fishery was first of all rendered very gainful through a peculiar Fishing for Whales by those English Merchants of the Muscovie Company who first Sailed that way The use of a Sea never entred by Occupation and such a kinde of profit being first discovered doth according to the manner of the Claim give a Dominion to the Discoverer who claims it in the Right of another as here in the Name of the Sovereign of England Upon which ground it was that King James in his Letters of Credence given to his Ambassadour in Holland Sir Henry Wotton did very justly say that the Fishing in the North Seas was His onely and His by Right In the Seventh year of the Reign of King Iames this Right was more strenuously asserted by Proclamation and all persons excluded from the use of the Seas upon our Coasts without particular License the Grounds whereof you have here set down in the Proclamation it self A Proclamation Touching Fishing JAMES by the Grace of God King of Great Brittain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To all and singular persons so whom it may appertein Greeting Although we do sufficiently know by Our Experience in the Office of Regal Dignity in which by the Favor of Almighty God We have been placed and exercised these many years as also by the observation which We have made of other Christian Princes exemplarie actions how farr the absolutenesse of Sovereign Power extendeth it self and that in regard thereof We need not yield account to any person under God for any action of Ours which is lawfully grounded upon that Iust Prerogative Yet such hath ever béen and shall be Our care and desire to give satisfaction to Our Neighbour-Princes and Friends in any action which may have the least relation to their Subjects and Estates as We have thought good by way of friendly premonition to declare unto them and to whomsoever it may appertain as followeth Whereas we have been contented since Our coming to the Crown to tolerate an indifferent and promiscuous kinde of liberty to all Our Friends whatsoever to Fish within Our Streams and upon any of Our Coasts of Great Brittain Ireland and other adjacent Islands so farr forth as the permission or use thereof might not reâ—ound to the impeachment of Our Prerogative Royal nor to the Hurt and Damage of our loving Subjects whose preferâ—ation and flourishing Estate We hold Our self principally bound to advance before all worldly respects So finding that Our continuance therein hath not onely given occasion of over-great encroachments upon Our Regalities or rather questiening of Our Right but hath béen a means of daily wrongs to Our own People that exercise the Trade of Fishing as either by the multitude of strangers which do pre-occupie those places or by the injuries which they receive most commonly at their hands Our Subiects are constrained to abandon their Fishing or at least are become so discouraged in the same as they hold it better for them to betake themselves to some other course of living whereby not onely divers of Our Coast-Towns are much decayed but the number of Mariners daily diminished which is a matter of great consequence to Our Estate considering how much the strength thereof consisteth in the Power of Shipping and use of Navigation We have thought it now both just and necessary in respect that Wée are now by God's favor lineally and lawfully possessed as well of the Islands of Great Brittain as of Ireland and the rest of the Isles adjacent to bethink Our selves of good lawful means to prevent those inconveniences and many others depending upon the same In consideration whereof as We are destrous that the world may take notice that we have no intention to denie Our Neighbours and Allies those fruits and benefits of Peace and Friendship which may be justly expected at Our hands in Honour and Reason or are afforded by other Princes mutually in the point of Commerce and Exchange of those things which may not prove prejudicial to them so because some such convenient order may be taken in this matter as may sufficiently provide for these important considerations which do depend thereupon We have resolved first to give notice to all the world that Our Express Pleasure is That from the beginning of the Moneth of August next coming no Person of what Nation or Quality soever being not Our natural born Subject be permitted to Fish upon any of Our Coasts Seas of Great Brittain Ireland and the rest of the Isles adjacent where most usually heretofore any Fishing hath béen until they have orderly demanded and obtained Licenses from Us or such Our Commissioners as we have Authorised in that behalf viz. at London for Our Realms of England and Ireland and at Edenborough for Our Realm or Scotland which Licenses Our intention is shall be yearly demanded for so many Vessels and Ships and the 〈◊〉 thereof as shall intend to Fish for that whole year or any part thereof upon any of Our Coasts and Seas as aforesaid upon pain of such chastisement as shall be 〈◊〉 to be inflicted upon such wilful Offendors Given at our Palace of Westminster the 6. day of May in the 7 th year of Our Reign of Great Brittain Anno Dom. 1609. Notwithstanding this Proclamation the Netherlanders proceeded still in their way of encroachment upon our Seas and Coasts through the whole Reign of King James and were at length so bold as to contest with him and endeavour to quarrel His Majesty out of his Rights pretending because of the long connivence of Himself and Queen Elizabeth that they had a Right of their own by Immemorial Possession which some Commissioners of theirs that were sent over hither had the confidence to plead in Terminis to the King and his Council And though the King out of his tenderness to them insisted still upon his own Right by his Council to those Commissioners and by his Ambassadour to their Superiors yet they made no other use of his indulgence than to tire out his whole Reign and abuse his patience by their artificial Delays Pretences Shifts Dilatorie Addresses and Evasive Answers And all that the King gained by the tedious disputes overtures and dispatches to and again was in conclusion onely a Verbal acknowledgment of those Rights which at the same time that they acknowledged they usually designed to invade with much more insolence than before But you
thirdly the decay of many good Marriners both able in body by their diligence labour and continual exercise of Fishing and expert by reason thereof in the knowledge of the Sea-Coasts as well within this Realm as in other parts beyond the Seas It was therefore enacted that no manner of Persons English Denizens or strangers at that time or any time after dwelling in England should buy any Fish of any strangers in the said Ports of Flanders Zealand Picardie France or upon the Sea between shoare and shoare c. This Act by many continuances was continued from Parliament to Parliament until the first of Queen Marie and from thence to the end of the next Parliament and then expired For Conclusion seeing by that which hath formerly been declared it evidently appeareth that the Kings of England by immemorable prescription continual usage and possession the acknowledgment of all our Neighbour-States and the Municipal Laws of the Kingdom have ever held the Sovereign Lordship of the Seas of England and that unto his Majesty by reason of his Sovereignty the supream command and Jurisdiction over the passage and Fishing in the same rightfully apperteineth considering also the natural Scite of those our Seas that interpose themselves between the great Northern Commerce of that of the whole world and that of the East West and Southern Climates and withal the infinite commodities that by Fishing in the same is daily made It cannot be doubted but his Majesty by means of his own excellent Wisdom and Virtue and by the Industry of his faithful Subjects and People may easily without injustice to any Prince or Person whatsoever be made the greatest Monarch for Command and Wealth and his People the most opulent and Flourishing Nation of any other in the world And this the rather for that his Majesty is now absolute Commander of the Brittish Isle and hath also enlarged his Dominions over a great part of the Western Indies by means of which extent of Empire crossing in a manner the whole Ocean the Trade and persons of all Nations removing from one part of the world to the other must of necessity first or last come within compass of his power and jurisdiction And therefore the Sovereignty of our Seas being the most precious Jewel of his Majestie 's Crown and next under God the principal means of our Wealth and Safety all true English hearts and hands are bound by all possible means and diligence to preserve and maintain the same even with the uttermost hazzard of their Lives their Goods and Fortunes Thus you see what wonderous advantages may redound to the Felicity and Glory of this Nation if God give hearts and resolutions to vindicate those rights which are now most impiously and injuriously invaded There is also another Dominion of the Sea belonging to the King of Great Brittain and that of a very large Extent upon the Shore of America as on the Virginian Sea and the Islands of the Barbadoes and Saint Christophers and many other places but how farr our English Colonies Transported into America have Possessed themselves of the Sea there is not exactly as yet discovered A further Assertion that the Sea is under the Laws of Propriety Declared in a full Convention betwixt Ferdinando Emperour of Germany and the Republick of Venice in the Year 1563. AT this Convention the Complaints on both sides were opened And it being required in the Name of his Emperial Majesty that it may be Lawful for his Subjects and others to Traffick freely in the Adriatick Sea It was answered by the Advocate of the Common-Wealth of Venice that Navigation indeed ought to be free yet those things at which his Imperial Majesty found himself agrieved were no ways repugnant to this Freedom for as much as in Countries which are most free Those who have the Dominion thereof receive Custome and do give Bounds and prescribe Order by which way all Merchandize shall pass and therefore none should finde themselves agrieved if the Venetians for their own Respects did use to do so in the Adriatick Seas which is under their Dominion there being nothing more known then that the Common-Wealth of Venice were Lords of the Adriatick Sea and do exercise that Dominion which from time out of minde it had always done as well in receiving of Customes as in assigning of places for the Exaction of it And that according to former Capitulations the Subjects of the Venetians were to have no less liberty in the Lands of the Austrians then the Austrian Subjects in the Sea of Venice And if his Imperial Majesty within his own State upon the Land will not permit that the Subjects of the Common-Wealth of Venice shall go which way they list but doth constrain them to go by such places onely where customs is to be paid he cannot with Justice demand that his Subjects may passe by or through the Sea of the Republick which way they please but must content himself that they passe that way onely which shall best stand with the Advantage of those who have the Dominion over it And if his Majesty cause Custome to be paid upon his Land why may not the Venetians likewise do it upon their Sea He demanded of them if by the Capitulation they would have it that the Emperour should be restrained or hindred from the taking of Custome And if not why would they have the Venetians tyed thereunto by a Capitulation which speaks of both Potentates equally with the same words He proceeded in a Confirmation of the Truth that the Republick had the Dominion of the Sea and although the proposition was true that the Sea is common and free yet it is no otherwise to be understood there in the same sence when usually we say that the high-way are common free by which is meant that they cannot be Usurped by any private Person for his sole proper service but remain to the use of every one Not therefore that they are so free as that they should not be under the Protection and Government of some Prince and that every one might do therein Licenciously whatsoever pleaseth Him either by Right or by Wrong for as much as such Licenciousness or Anarchy both of God Nature as well by Sea as by Land That the true liberty of the Sea excludes it not from the protection and superiority of such as maintain it in Liberty nor from the Subjection to the Laws of such as have Command over it but rather necessarily it includes it That the Sea no less then the Land is Subject to be divided amongst men appropriated to Cities and Potentates which long since was ordained by God from the beginning of man kind as a thing most Natural And this was well understood by Aristotle when he said that unto Maritine Cities the Sea is the Territory because from thence they take their Sustenance and Defence A thing which cannot possibly be unless that part of it be appropriated
is the Title of Successive Inheritance confirmed as well by the Law of Nature as of Nations and is so much the more considerable in regard of the infinite Advantages of the profits of it as the Brittish Ocean in its Latitude and Circumference exceedeth the small Boundaries of the Gulph of Venice But in this great Disputation where were present the most Remarkable Wits of Italy and Germany and where the Imperialists themselves and amongst them one of the most Eminent Stephen Baron of Gourz Attested openly that the Common-Wealth of Venice was Patron of the Adriatitk Sea and might impose what Customs they thought fitting and that all other the Commissaries thought so in their Consciences There is enough as may be thought in Reason to convince all Opponents that may pretend to differ in Judgement from us Yet so it is that the Indulgence of the Kings of England to their Neighbouring Nations especially to the Hollanders by giving them too much liberty hath incouraged them to assume a Liberty to themselves and what at the first was but a License they improve into a Custom and make that Custom their Authority Insomuch that some of the most busiest of them have openly declared against the Kings Propriety on the Brittish Seas Amongst these is one Hugo Grotius a Gentleman of great Ingenuity but in this particular so inclined to obey the Importunities and serve the Interests of his Country-men that he disobliged himself of the Truth and moreover to speak the truth of his Conscience it self for it you look into his Silvae upon the first Inauguration of King Iames of ever Blessed Memory he is pleased to express himself in these words Tria Sceptra profundi in magnum Cojere Ducem which is that the Rights of the English Scottish and Irish Seas are united under one Scepter neither is he satisfied with this bare profession but he goes on Sume animas a Rege tuo Quis det Iura Mari which is in English Take courage from the King who giveth Law unto the Seas In the same Book in the contemplation of so great a Power he concludeth Finis hic est qui fine caret that is This is an end beyond an end a bound that knoweth no bound a bound which even the winds and the waves must submit unto But with what ingratitude have the Dutch Answered the many Royal Favours which the Kings of England have almost perpetually conferred on them If there be no Monster greater then Ingratitude what Monsters are these Men who of late are so far from acknowledging their thankfulness that like Vipers they would feed upon and consume those Bowells which did afford them Life and Spirit We may observe that in their Lowest Condition which is most sutable to the Name of their Abode called the Low Countries they Petitioned to the Majesty of the Qâ—een of England whose Royal Heart and Hand being alwayes open to those that were Distressed especially those that were her Neighbours upon the account of Religion she sent them Threescore Thousand Pound upon the account of Sir Thomas Gresham in the year One Thousand Five Hundred Seventy and Two and presently afterwards there followed Colonel Morgan Colonel Gilbert Colonel Chester to Assist them in their Wars who were the Commanders of so many Regiments of Men And after them the War increasing there were sent over Colonel North Colonel Cotton Colonel Candish and Colonel Norris and some other persons of an Eminent Name who for the Honour of the English Nation made there Excellent Demonstrations of their Valour and Redeemed the Dutch from the Power of those who otherwise would have brought them to a better understanding of their Duties Great supplyes of monies were sent over to maintain so great a charge At the last the Prince of Orange being slain presently after the Death of the Duke Alanson Brother to Henry the third of France who if the successe had Answered the Expectation was wisely enough made Duke of Brabant the Queen of England sent over unto them Robert Duke of Leicester with great provision both of Men and Money accompanied with diverse of the Nobility and Gentlemen of good account And although the said Earle not long afterwards returned into England and the affairs of the Hollanders were doubtful untill the fatal Battel at Nieuport yet Queen Elizabeth of ever Blessed Memory out of her unspeakable goodness to the distressed and to those that suffered for Religion did as long as she lived constantly Assist the Hollanders both with Men and Monies she gave them Hope in Despair she gave them strength being weak and and with the Charity of her Princely Hand did support them being fallen And although the Hollanders do ungratefully alledge that it was a Benefit great enough for the English to Assist them in reason of state because by so doing they kept out a War from their own Country It is most certain that at that time the English had need to fear no Warr at all but onely for their Cause and for taking their parts for it was for their Cause that the English in the year One Thousand Five Hundred and seventy one had seized upon the sum of Six Hundred Thousand Ducats on the West Coast of England being the money designed from Spain to the Duke of Alva for the Advancement of the Spanish Interests in the Neatherlands And although the Hollanders do further alledge in their own Excuse that they were so grateful as that they offered unto the Queen of England the Soveraignty of the Neatherlands which she would not accept and therefore it was not their fault that she obtained it not It is in reason truly answered That the Queen of England well knowing that she was in danger to draw a perpetual Warr upon her Self and her Successours by the accepting of such a Gift to which she had no Right did wisely refuse their Liberality And yet for all that she continued still to aid them without that chargeable obligation The Hollanders do further alledge that the Queen of England had the Cautionary Town of Brill Flushing and the other places delivered into her Hands It is true she had so and thereby enjoyed only the Benefit of being at more Expence both of Men and Money and let the Reader take notice that most certain it is that the Hollander had no sooner made a Truce with the King of Spain and the Arch-Duke Albertus but he began presently to set the English at nought and to take the Bridle out of their Hands whereupon immediately insued their Forbiding of the bringing of English cloaths died and dressed into Holland and the adjoyning Provinces without ever making the King of England or his Ambassadour Leiger at the Hague Privy thereunto And to make amends for this their Saucy and Insolent Affront in a more High and Peremptory way they demeaned themselves to King Iames himself for whereas the Duke of Lennox as Admiral of Scotland had by order from
the Majesty of King Iames in the year One Thousand Six Hundred and Sixteen sent one Master Brown to demand of the Hollanders then fishing upon the Coasts of Scotland a certain antient Duty called Size Herring they began to contest with him about it and after a long Disputation they payed it as in former times it had been accustomed but not without some affronting terms that it was the last time it should be payed And it is most observable that the same Gentleman coming the year following with the same Authority and Commandment with one only Ship of His Majesties to demand the Duty aforesaid And with Order if he were denyed to take witness of the refusal in writing and so peaceably depart He came aboard one of their Ships and no sooner demanded the aforesaid Duty but by the Master of the Ship he was denyed it who as plainly as peremptority told him That he was commanded by the States of Holland not to pay it unto the King of England any more of which he took witness according to his Order from His Majesty This taking of witness did so startle the Dutch that before Master Brown had got off to his own Ship the Master of another Ship of Holland came presently aboard that Ship in which he was who demanding of Master Brown his Name he replyed that his Name was Brown Why then quoth he if you be the Man I have Order to Arrest you and to carry you into Holland whereof Master Brown gave notice to the Master of the Kings Ship requiring him to advertise His Majesty of this Insolency and Master Brown was in this manner Arrested and carried away Prisoner into Holland where for a while he was detained I do read that much about the same time one Master Archibald Ranthin a Scotch Gentleman and residing at Stockholme in Sweden where he sollicited for the payment of some sums of monies due to the English Merchants there was at the same time in the same City one Vandyke who lying there as an Agent for the States of Holland said unto some Principal Persons of the Swedes that they need not be so hasty in paying any Monies to the Subjects of the King of England or to give them any high Respect because the said Kings promises were not to be believed nor his threatnings to be feared for which Vile and Insolent Speeches bring afterwards challenged by Master Archibald Ranthin he had no better Excuse then to say he was drunk when he did speak those words for deny them he could not and by this means his Excuse of playing the Beast did excuse him for playing the Man Now from these Insolent Affronts by words let us proceed and come to what they have done by deeds where in the first place we may observe their rude demeanour to our English Nation in the Northern Seas on the Coasts of Greenland and those parts about the Fishing for Whales and the Commodity of Train Oyle where violently they have offered unpardonable abuses by giving of blows and chasing the English-men away and by procuring much loss and prejudice unto them their Pride of Heart was so high that it would not give their Reason leave to apprehend that Fishing at Sea is free for every Man where it is not upon the Coast of any Country unto which the Dominion of the Sea belongeth by antient Prerogative And yet all this is but inconsiderable in regard of their usage of our Nation in the East-Indies where in open Hostility they have as fiercely set upon them as if they had been most mortal Enemies having in several Encounters slain many of our Men and sunk sundry of our Ships And when they had taken our Men Prisoners they would use them in the sight of the Indians in such a Contemptible and Disdainfull manner as if at their own Home and in the Country of the Butter-Boxes the English in respect of them were but a sordid and a slavish Nation and the Hollanders were either their Superiours and might use them at their own pleasure or the English were so spiritless or so unpowerfull that they durst not be revenged but quietly must put up all the Affronts and Injuries which they received at their Hands And as for the Commodious Trade which the English have had in Muscovy for above these fourscore years and some other Countries that lye upon the East and North which the Hollanders have now gotten quite out of their Hands to the great Grief and Prejudice of many Merchants in this City What shall we say seeing not long since they have been acting the same again with our English Merchants in Turkey And it is a practise so usual with them to spoyle the Trade of other Nations that when they cannot find any Occasion to do it they will show a Nature so wretchedly Barbarous that they will not stick to spoyle one another so great is their Covetous and most Insatiable desire of Gain And yet all this proceedeth out of an ignoble and a sordid spirit for let them arrive to what Wealth they will they can never be the Masters of a Noble and a Generous Disposition Had it not been for their Neighbouring Nation of the English they had never arrived to the liberty of a Free State yet so ungratefull have they been that they have endeavoured to forget all the Obligations of Humanity and have digged into the very Bowels of those who did preserve them Many Examples of this may be instanced I shall look a little back again on the cruelty of their proceedings in the East Indies before their studied malice at Amboyna and afterwards of their horrid Massacre at Amboyna it self As their Avarice was unsatisfied so their quarrels with the English were many Covetousness and Ambition not long enduring a Co-partner Queen Elizabeth being translated into a better World and the Hollanders to be the more ready to set the English at nought having by the Assistance of Sir Ralph Winwood got the Cautionary Towns into their own Possession they presently began to appear in their true Colours by adding Cruelty to Hypocrisie and Avarice to Insolence The English that were Trafficking in the East Indies being sensible thereof and finding no redress preferred their Just Complaints to the Majesty of King Iames on which ensued the first Treaty in the year One thousand six hundred and thirteen in the City of London and after that another Treaty in the year One thousand six hundred and fifteen at the Hague in Holland which taking up much time to little effect there was a third Treaty which was held in London in the year One thousand six hundred and nineteen touching the Differences between the English and Dutch in the East Indies in which a full and solemn Composition was made and a fair Order set as to the Management of the Affairs for the Time to come but so restless were the Spirits of the Hollanders to make themselves the entire Masters of the
profits of the Indies that having driven from thence the Spaniards and Portugals they at the last determined with themselves by subtility as well as strength to force from thence the English also In pursuance whereof some four years before the most Barbarous Proceedings at Amboyna they endeavoured to dispossess the English of the Islands of Banda Polleroone and some others famous for the Rich Spices of Nutmeggs Cloves and Mace and understanding by one of their Spies that Captain Courtupe was gone from his House and Factory in Polleroon to one of the adjacent Clove-Islands called Lantore they did shoot him as he was in his Boat upon his Return and being demanded the cause of so unexpected a Murther they sent word to the English that they should take no more care for him for he was dead and he should be buried Although this was a great discouragement to the English that were there in their Occupation of Merchandize yet some were afterwards so venturous as to endeavour a settlement at Lantore amongst whom was Master Woofe a Factor there and the Authour from whom we have received this Discourse and one who being taken not long afterwards by the Dutch indured almost as much misery as a Created Nature can be capable of which the ensuing Narration will make manifest He writeth of the Dutch That as often as he thinketh of their unparralleld and barbarous Cruelty he cannot but admire and praise that Great God who so much strengthened and inabled him to undergoe those heavy Tortures and Pressures which were loaden on him by those bloody Patrons of Cruelty The Dutch had no sooner notice that the English had raised a Factory in the Island of Lantore but sayling from Iaccatra now by them called Bata via they importuned the Natives to surrender the Island into their Hands and Custody Sometimes they thought to have prevailed upon them with perswasions and fair words fayling they would make use of foul and threaten them with Sword and Fire And although they were not ignorant that a Treaty had been held in London and a full Composition for the ending of all Controversies yet they informed the Natives that although they had given the Island to the King of England they need not to fear to disclaim what they had done by making them to become Masters of it for they said they could nay and they would interpose between all Dangers and them and assured them that they had Strength enough to defend them against all the Nations in the World They only desired of them a Seizin of security to enjoy the profit of their Fruits on those Terms which the English had conditioned with them The Natives of the Island being hereat in a great perplexity and doubting amongst themselves what might be the event if they refused a proffer which carried an Obligation of so much safety with it did Address themselves unto the English and desired of them to be informed how they might secure themselves from that deceitfull and cruell Generation of men whose perswasions were as plausible as their threatnings terrible And understanding by the English that they expected a considerable Recruit both of Men and Ships to come suddainly unto them they were resolved to be Couragious and not to yield to their treacherous perswasions In this apprehension the Dutch not long afterwards desired of them after some flattering Asseverations to give them A Seizin of Security At which the Natives pretending Ignorance told them that they knew not the signification of the World and seemed to be extraordinarily curious to understand the Interpretation of it At which the Dutch with as much Mirth as Confidence having whispered amongst themselves did after some deliberation tell them That they must bring a great Brass Bason filled with Earth and plant in the middle of it the Branch of a Nutmeg-Tree laden with Fruit and cause it to be presented to them by the Chiefest Men of their Islands And this they told them was the Sence and Interpretation of the word The Natives having received this Answer did suddainly acquaint the English with it to whom they were more inclined then to the Dutch as all the rest of those Nations are and having advised with one another they told the Dutch in plain terms that their Demands were Impossibilities for should they recede from what already they had done both God and Man might justly brand them with Infidelity for to their apprehensions they seemed to un-interest the English of what was their proper Title which by no means they could be induced to consent unto At which the Hollanders being much incensed told them that since no perswasions would allure them to a knowledge of their own Happiness they must expect to find the reward of their obstinacy for rather then be frustrated of their Intentions they were resolved to make a Benefire of the Island they did advise them not to trust to the English strength which could stand in no Competition with theirs for they owned them but as a Handfull in comparison with themselves This Dispute being frustrated and the Dutch finding the Natives of the Island to be intractable to their Demands they prepared a great Vessel which they had with Battery Guns with a resolution forthwith to Assault the Town This great Ship was called the Float and besides her they had in a readiness other less Ships that lay against that part of the Town where the English Factory was Having for two dayes planted their Batteries and played against that place where by the Flaggs and Pendants of the Red Cross they found the English Factory to be and finding the Event not to answer the expectation on the first of March five dayes after their first Assault they found the means to Land their Men and Enter the Town they had placed in their Front a considerable number of the Nation of Japan being all armed with Guns like unto Cullivers with barrels of Brass who making way for the Hollanders did such Execution that the Out-cry in the Streets was terrible Men Women and Children being cut in pieces and the Town a Shamble of dead persons The English being but few in number were taken Prisoners and saluted with the Titles of base Rogues and Villains they were bound unto posts by Hands and Neck they were bruised beaten and buffered they were afterwards ty'd back to back and so the stronger was inforced to carry the weaker to one of the Dutch Ships called the Holland where they were laden with Irons and tormented with variety of Tortures Insomuch that the Author of this Discourse who was a Factor at Lantore and one of those who did partake in these grievous torments hath these express words For my own part I seriously protest that if it pleased God the great Determiner of all things to command me to yield my Body to be Tortured I had rather by far choose the Turkish then the Dutch Tormentors for their Cruelties I am confident are
instead of redressing their Injuries they have increased them About three years since they concluded a Treaty with the English and having ingaged that better order should for the future be observed they have since heaped new Injuries to the utter over-throw of all the Trade of His Majesties Subjects in the East and West-Indies Witness our Ships the Hope-well the Leopard and some others in the East-Indies And the Charles the James the Mary the Sampson the Hopefull Aduenture the Speed-well on the Coast of Africa And after all these Acts of the Highest Injustice and their utmost endeavours for driving on a War they would make the world believe that his Majesty is the first undertaker of it who from his own Mouth to their Ambassadour in England and by his Injunctions to Sir George Downing his Minister at the Hague hath given so many and such Remarkable Demonstrations to the contrary What can they say to the Memorial of the complaints which Sir George Downing exhibited to the States General importing that in the space of a very few years almost twenty English Ships with their whole Lading to a very great value have been seized upon in a horrible manner and the Men in them most Barbarously and most Inhumanely Treated being put into stinking and nasty Dungeons and Holes at Castel del Mina where they did lye bedded and bathed in their own Excrements having nothing but bread and water given them and not enough of that neither to sustain Nature their Bodies being under the Fury of Exquisite and Horrid Torments and when any of them died the living and the dead were left together and such as out-lived that cruelty were exposed in the woods to famine or to the mercy of wild beasts in those desolate Countries or to be carried into Captivity by the Natives by which means several Hundreds of His Majesties Good Subjects have perished and been destroyed And unto this hour notwithstanding all sollicitations and endeavous of his Majesties Envoy not one penny of Satisfaction can be had either for the loss of the Ships or the Persons concerned in any of them but to the contrary they have ever since hindred and shot at the English Ships that have Anchored by them and have took by force all the Boats of those Natives who have endeavoured to come aboard them and have seized also upon the English Boats that would go on shore and deprive them of all manner of Provision nor suffer so much as fresh water to be brought unto them And to give a further proof of their Confidence and Ambition they have published a Declaration wherein they assume and challenge to themselves a Right to that whole Coast to the Exclusion of all other Nations Although by Order from His Majesty Sir George Downing both in Publick Conferences with the Deputies of the Lords General as also with those of Holland in particular hath at large Remonstrated His Majesties Right and Interest in some part therein having by his Subjects bought the Ground of the King of that Country for a valuable Consideration and built a Factory thereon And yet for all this some of the Dutch-West-India Company by Fraud and ireachery have got into the place and no hopes of the Restitution of it but they are resolved to keep by violence what they have gained by deceit Moreover what can they say for themselves concerning their stirring up the King of Fantin by rewards and sums of Money and supplying him with all manner of Arms and Ammunition for the surprizing of his Majesties Castle at Cormantin in the West-Indies so that an absolute Necessity is imposed upon his Majesty and his Subjects either of losing all that have been actually taken from them and abandoning for ever that Trade it self or of betaking themselves to some other wayes for their Relief And what Hope is there of their Restoring back any place which they have once taken The Island of Polleroon hath been upon surrendring back to the English ever since the year 1622. at which by a Solemn and Particular Treaty it was promised to be done and again by another Treaty in the year 1654. and by an Order of the States General and the East Company of that Nation in the year 1661. and again by another Treaty in the year following And yet to this day there is not the least mention of any thing Restored And should any Man then think it strange that His Majesty after so long an experience of the perversness and deceitfulness of that Nation should suffer his Subjects to repossess themselves of those places which by the hand of Violence and Oppression they have forced from them Now as for the business of the New-Neatherlands as they are pleased to call it It hath been abundantly else-where prov'd that the said Land is part of the Possession of His Majesties Subjects of New England which their Charter plainly and precisely expresseth And those few Dutch that have lived there heretofore have lived there meerly upon the connivence and sufferance of the English which hath been permitted to them so to do so long as they demeaned themselves peaceably and quietly but the Dutch not contenting themselves therewith have incroached more and more upon the English imposing their Laws and Customs and endeavouring to raise Contributions and Excises on them and in those places where the Dutch had never been whereupon they have been necessitated several times to send Souldiers for the repulsing of them Since the Conclusion for the late Treaty the Dutch have made new Incursions upon the English and given them many new Provocations and have ordained a Tryal of Causes amongst themselves and a proceeding by course of Arms without any appealing into Europe at all And can any Prince then think it strange especially the King of France if His Majesty of England suffer his Subjects to rescue themselves from such continual Vexations seeing the King of France himself hath been pleased this year to Order his Subjects to re-possess themselves by force of Arms of a certain place called Cayen which the French alledge hath been wrongfully kept from them by the West-India Company of the Neatherlanders As for the business of Captain Holmes at Capo Verde in Guiney a complaint was no sooner made to His Majesty this last year in the Moneth of June But His Majesty immediately returned Answer that he had given no Order nor Direction there into Captain Holmes and that upon his Return he would examine the business and see that Right should be done according to the nature of the Offence In order whereunto when Captain Holmes was returned His Majesty sent him to the Tower and being afterwards allowed the liberty of some few dayes to follow his particular business he was again Commanded back where being strictly and throughly Examined touching the management of the whole matter complained of he so fully and so clearly upon every point did acquit himself that His Maâ—esty was graciously pleased to grant him his
Inlargement and to restore him again to His Princely Favour We might in the next place alledge De Ruyters leaving the English Fleet when with United Councils and Forces they were to Act against their Common Enemies the Pyrats and Barharians in the Midland-Seas We may alledge their Instructions this last year given to Van Campen at what time His Majesty entertained not any open War against them which Instructions was in down-right Terms To Attach and Fall upon His Majesties Subjects in the West-Indies and to carve out their own Satisfaction and Reparation And if this be not Affront enough to provoke His Majesty to maintain the Justice of His Cause by the Force of Armes we leave to the World and to His Enemies themselves to Judge and surely that Sword is to be feared which striketh with the Hand of Justice FINIS The LOYAL MARTYROLOGY Or brief Catalogues and Characters of the â—ost of Eminent Persons who suffered for their Conscience 〈…〉 of Rebellion either by Death Imprisonment Banishment or Sequestration Together with those who were Slain in the King's Service As also Dregs of Treachery With the Catalogue and Characters of those Regicides c. And are to be sold by Edward Thomas at the Adam and Eve in Little Brittain 1665. Vide Doctor Dee his Brittish Monarchy pa. 44. Lyren ad â—umer 34. Dion lib 36. Chron. Canon p. 128. Florus lib. 2. cap. 6. Aristo Polit lib. 7. cap. 6. Strabo Geograp lib. 1. Seneca Ep. 39. Luke 5. 1. Forcus in cap. Juris cap. 9. Seld. Marâ— Clausum 158. De Bello Gallico lib. 9. Zosimus Hist lib. 6. Bede De Natura Rerum cap. 28. M â— In Bibleothecâ Cottonianâ Hunting lib. 5. Guil. Malmesb lib. 2. cap. 8. Rot. Pat. 48. Hen. 3. 22. Edw. 1. 2. Rich. 2. Annal. 1. part page 276. Rot. Parl. 2 Rich. 2. part 2. Act 38. Seld. Mare Clausum page 334. Rot. Fran. 5 Hen. 4. Rot. Fran. 38 Hen. 6. Rot. Patent 23. Edvar Rot. Scotia 10. Edvar Rot. Parli 46. Edv. 3. Rot. Parli 8. Hen. 5. Rich. 2. Fitz Herbert Tit. protection 46. Edw. Cook part 5. fol. 108. in Com. ad Littleton Sect. 439. fol. â—60 M â— Commentar de Rebus Admiral fol. 28. Rot. Parl. 31 Edw. 1. Membran 16. Ibidem ut Supra Tilius in Recucil destraictes fol. 4. Rot. Parl. 14. Edvar 2. Membran 26. Cambd. in Insul Britan p. 849. Cambden Annal. Elizab. The Hollanders Insolence Their Imperious fashion of Treating How farr Navigation is to be free The Sea in His Majesties Dominions no more common nor free then is the High-way by Land The Dominion of the Seas appropriated to such and such places ever since the begining of Mankind The Propriety of the Seas according to the Laws of God The Sea not to be without Protection The Sea to be protected by those to whom it doth appertain by Divine Disposition The Power of the Soveraign of the Seas to impose Customes in his own Jurisdiction How the Sea comes into the Dominion of Princes Vide the Venetians Title unto the sole Dominâ—oâ— of the Adriatick Sea Hugo Grotius Sylv. lib. 2. Vide the Observations concerning the Affairs of Holland The Hollanders Objections Answered The Impudent Affront of the Hollanders to the late Kings of England Vide Observations concerning the Affairs of Holland Their spoyling of our Trade in Muscovy and other Countries of the East Vide Master Woofes Discourse on the Tyranny of the Dutch upon the English pa. 10. Ibid pa. 12 and 13. Ibidem pa. 18. Ibidem pa. 20. Ibidem pâ— 42. The English abandoned the Banda Islands and the reason of it Vide The Dutch Tyranny pag. 64. * Vide The Discourse of Sir George Downing