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 Warr that are abroad against Vs and that stoutly and manfully you set upon them if they shall presume to bend their course to any part of our Dominions or the Coasts of Scotland c. We read also in the Reign of the said King in the preferring a certain Bill in Parliament which is the voice of the State of the Realm that he was usually accounted King or Soveraign of the Seas by all Nations written in French and thus translated into English The Nation of the English were ever in the Ages past renowned for Sea-Affairs in all Countries near the Seas and they had also so numerous a Navy that the people of all Countreys esteemed and called the King of Edgland the King or Soveraign 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 Soveraign Lord the King and his illustrious Progenitors have ever been Lords of the Sea and now seeing through God's grace it is now come to pass that our Lord the King is Lord of the shores on both sides the Sea such a Tribute may be imposed on 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 safeguard of the said Sea The Answer subscribed to the Bill was Soit avise par le Roy for the King at that time resided in France being Lord of that Countrey as well by Conquest as Inheritance Many other Testimonies in this nature may be produced which to avoid prolixity I must omit Neither hath the High Court of Parliament only given this attestation to our Kings as Supream and Soveraign of the Seas but to confirm it all the Judges of the Land were consulted herein and all jointly averred That the King's Sea-Dominion which they called the Ancient Superiority of the Sea was a matter out of question his Right Neither is this Truth confirmed only by our Laws but by our Medals There hath been a piece of Gold often coined by our Kings called a Rose-Noble upon the one side whereof was stamped a Ship floating in the Sea and a King armed with a Sword and Shield sitting in the Ship it self as in a Throne 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 Coyn and from our Histories to prove this Truth since it is acknowledged even by Forreigners themselves whom it most concerneth by striking sail according to the ancient custom by every ship of any forreign Nation whatsoever to any King's Man of War which is done not only in Honour to the King of England but also in acknowledgment of his Soveraignty and Dominion at sea The Antiquity of this Custom and that it hath been in use above these four hundred years may appear by this following Testimony At Hastings a Town scituate on the shore of Sussex it was decreed by King John and the assent of his Peers in the second year of his reign That if the Governour or Commander of the King's Navy in his Naval-Expeditions shall meet with any ships whatsoever at sea laden or empty that shall refuse to strike their sails at the command of the King's Governour or Admiral they are to be looked on as Enemies c. Mr. Selden in his excellent Treatise called Mare Clausum saith If any ship whatsoever had not acknowledged the Dominion of the King of England in his own sea by striking sail they were not to be protected on any account of Amity and Penalties were 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 yet hath been said There cannot be produced a more convincing Argument than the acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominion of the King of England by very many of our Neighbouring-Nations At what time the Agreement was made between Edward the first of England and Philip the Fair of France Reyner Grimbald Governour of the French Navy intercepted and spoiled on the English Seas the Goods of many Merchants that were going to Flanders and not contented with the depredation of their Commodities he imprisoned their Persons Hereupon a Bill was exhibited against the said Reyner Grimbald and managed by Procurators on the behalf of the Peers and People of the English Nation with these were joined the Procurators of most Nations bordering upon the Sea throughout Europe all these instituted a Complaint and all these Complainants in their Bill do jointly affirm That the King of England and his Predecessors have time out of mind and without controversie enjoyed the Soveraignty and Dominion of the English Seas and the Isles belonging to the same by right of their Realm of England also that they have had and have the Soveraign Guard thereof with all manner of Cognizance and Jurisdiction in doing Right and Justice according to the said Laws Ordinances and Prohibitions with all other matters which may concern the exercise of Soveraign Dominion in the said places But more particularly We do find an acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominion 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 of Edward the second there appeared certain Embassadors of the Earl of Flanders to treat about the reformation of some injuries they received and as soon as the said Ambassadors 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 Commodities from certain Merchants of Flanders alledging that the said 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 that He is Lord of the Sea In the seventh year of King James this Right was very strenuously asserted by Proclamation and all persons excluded from the use of the seas upon our Coasts without particular License but the Hollander continuing his encroachments till after the death of that wise and learned King CHARLES the First of ever blessed memory issued a Proclamation for restraint of fishing upon his Seas and Coasts without License in these terms Whereas our Father
sailed in to be of her Dominion There was an ancient Custom used in the East That when Great Kings had a design to bring any Nation under their power they commanded Water and Earth the pledges of Empire and Dominion to be delivered unto them conceiving that the Command of the Sea as well as of the Land was signified by such a Token And if we take a view of these late times as to the Rights and Customs of Forreign Nations we shall find that the Commonwealth of Venice hath enjoyed the Dominion of the Adriatique-Sea for many Ages The Tuscans to this day have an Absolute Dominion in the Tyrhene-Sea and those of Genoa in the Lygustick To conclude That the Dominion of the Sea is admitted amongst those things that are lawful and received into the Customs of Nations is so far from contradiction that nothing at all can be found to controul it in the Customs of our later times unless it be by the Encroaching Hollander who bordering so near our shores hath done and doth endeavour to violate the Right of His Most Sacred Majesty under the pretence of Civil Community Besides it is most evident from the Custom of all Times That Commerce and free Passage hath ever been so limited by Princes in their Territories that is either granted or denied according to the various concernments of the Publick Good Princes are concerned to be wary and careful that they admit no such Strangers or Forreign Commerce where the Commonwealth may receive any damage thereby Some Oppugners to the Mare Clausum introduce this Argument That the Water is open to All and therefore by Law it must be open at all times to all men What a trifle is this Before the distribution of things there was no Land which did not lie open to All before it came under particular possession If the Hollanders should object this Argument against our Dominion over the Narrow Seas I would ask them the reason of their Custom in Delph-land called Jus Grutae which hath ever been under the care of those Officers called in Dutch Pluymgraven whereby the Beer-Brewers are obliged to pay the hundredth part for the use of those Waters Having thus in general given you an account That almost amongst all Nations there hath been allowed a private Dominion of the Sea We shall now come nearer home and inform you That the ancient Britains did Enjoy and Possess the Sea as Lords thereof before they were subjected to the Roman Power We find no History of Britain to which any credit ought to be given elder than the time of Julius Caesar at whose coming we find the Britains used the Sea as their own for Navigation and Fishing and withal permitted none besides Merchants to sail into the Island without their leave nor any man at all to sound or view their Sea-coasts or Harbours Amongst several Kings of old that not only ruled this Land but had also Dominion over the Sea I find none more potent than King Edgar who possessing an absolute Dominion of the Seas sailed round it once a year and secured it with a constant Guard of Ships of which as is reported he had Four thousand eight hundred stout ones and what Dominion this was King Edgar had as Absolute Lord of the Sea appeareth in these words I Edgar King of England and of all the Kings of the Islands and of all the Ocean lying about Britain and of all the Nations that are included within the circuit c. 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 on Southampton shore he is reported to have made trial of the Seas obedience in this manner Thou O Sea art under my Dominion as the Land also which I sit upon is mine therefore I command thee not to wet the feet or garments of thy Soveraign Although the event did not answer his expectation yet by this he professed himself to be Soveraign of the Seas as well as of the Land There is nothing more clear than that the Kings of England have been accustomed to constitute Governours who had a charge to guard the English Sea and these were called Custodes Maritimi In this number you shall find in Parliamentary Rolls of the 48 of Hen. 3. Thomas de Moleton who is called Captain and Guardian of the Sea this Title was afterwards changed into Admiral 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 Kingdom 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 Customs that were imposed and payed for the guard and protection of those Seas and this was paid to the Reign of King Stephen Since Subsidies have been demanded of the people in Parliament upon the same account Neither was this imposed only on the English but also upon the ships of Forreigners every Vessel paying after the rate of six pence a Tun that passed by such ships only excepted that brought Merchandize out of Flanders If a Vessel were employed to fish for Herrings it payed six pence a week for every Tun if for other fish so much was to be paid every three weeks as they who brought Coles from Newcastle to London every three months Mr. Selden that learned Antiquary affirmeth That before a Court of Delegates in France in express terms it hath been acknowledged That the King of England hath ever been Lord not only of the Sea but of the Islands therein contained upon the account of being King of England But to give greater light to this truth we may from several Records produce many testimonies That the Kings of England have given leave to Forreigners upon request to pass through their seas There are innumerable Letters of safe conducts in the Records especially of Henry the fifth and sixth and it is worthy of observation that those Letters were directed by those Kings to their Governors or 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 find in a Commission of Edward the Third the Title whereof is de Navibus Arestandis Capiendis And as a freedom of Passage so a liberty of Fishing hath been obtained by Petition from the Kings of England We read that Henry the sixth gave leave to the French and other Forreigners sometimes for a year sometimes but for six months to go and fish throughout his seas provided that the Fishing-boats and Busses exceeded not the burthen of thirty Tuns and if any Forreigners whatever should molest or disturb any of the King's subjects as they were fishing they were forthwith to
and Ammunition which have ever been prohibited the Indians by the English all their Musquets were charged with Powder and Ball which with some of the principal Indians were carried to Boston who upon examination confessed the Dutch had set them a work all that we could then doe was but to put our selves in our best Posture of Defence Having thus given you a summary account of some of their cruelties I cannot omit one particular passage Chronicled by themselves wherein you may see in the cruel disposition of one the bloody inclination of the whole Flemish Nation At the Siedg of Leyden a Fort being held by the Spanish Party was after taken by the Dutch by assault or storm The Defendants according to the Law of Arms were put to the sword where one of the Dutch in the fury of the slaughter ript up the Captains body and with a barbarous hand tore out the yet living heart panting among the reeking bowels then with his teeth rent it still warm with blood into gobbets which he did spit over the Battlements in defiance to the rest of the Army Now as we have with brevity displayed the cruelty and treachery of the Nature and Actions of the Hollander both at home and abroad so we must not forget what hath been by them committed since the year 1660. At which time it was his Majesties particular care to conclude a strict League with the States General of the United Provinces upon such equal Terms as would certainly not have been broken if any Obligations could have kept them within the bounds of Justice or Friendship this League was inviolably kept and maintained on his But in the year 1664. such and so many were the complaints of his Majesties Subjects abused and wronged by the ungrateful Hollander that the King with the Unanimous vote of both Houses of Parliament was provoked to war finding it a vain attempt to indeavour the prosperity of the three Kingdoms by peaceable wayes at home whilst the People thereof were still exposed to the injuries and oppressions of the States abroad His Majesty spent a whole Summer in negotiations and indeavours to bring them to reasonable terms which notwithstanding all He could do proved at length ineffectual for the more his Majesty pursued them with friendly Propositions the more obstinately and unworthily they kept off from agreeing thereunto upon this ensued the War in the year 1665. and continued to the year 1667. in all which time our Victories and their Losses were memorable enough to put them in mind of being more faithful to their Leagues for the future Which Victories they endeavoured to stifle by misreporting them conquests to their People over the their gallantly equipt English Navy and particularly that of the third of June 1665. under the conduct of his Royal Highness the Duke of York Narrative whereof was Printed for general satisfaction and to prevenâ— misreports which are commonly through ignorance or malice begotten upon occasions of that Nature and lest that signal Victory should be forgotten in short it was this the Dutch Fleet was brought on our Coasts in all probability rather in expectation of finding Ours in disorder upon the proceeding foul weather or by the Reports of our unreadiness then from their own innate Valour but they were much mistaken for it cost his Royal Highness but little time to make ready his fore-going care and the cheerfulness of our men having prevented all hazard of disorder and the happy arrival of the Colliers haveing supplyed us with what we only wanted Men but not Courage the Dutch perceiving this stood off to Sea the number of their Ships being one Hundred and ten Sail besides ten Fire Ships we followed them till that Evening and the next day forced them to fight upon the whole matter it pleased God to give his Majesty a great and signal Victory the Enemy being driven into the Texeâ—… as far as the draught of water and the condition of our Ships would permit the day being also very far spent the summe of all is the Enemieâ—… whole Fleet was defeated Thirty of them burnt or taken Opdam with his Ship blown up as is supposed by a lucky shot in the Powder-room most of their Admirals killed with many more of their Principal Officers and according to their general computation eight Thousand Seamen and Soldiers on our side only one Ship lost with some other slight damage The God of Heaven be praised for preserving his Royal Highness to be the great instrument of so signal a success and continuing him to the perfecting this great work in hand to the honour of his Majesty and the welfare of his People And that you may trace them farther in their unworthiness and ingratitude this Victory with the fear of being made no People had no sooner brought them on their knees and his Majesty out of his accustomed Clemency and Commiseration had received them into favour by making Peace with them but they returned to their usual custom of breaking Articles and supplanting our Trade For instance the States were particularly ingaged in an Article of the Treaty at Breda to send Commissioners to his Majesty at London about the Regulation of our Trade in the East Indies but they were so far from doing it on that obligation that when an Ambassador was sent over to put them in mind of it He could not in three years time get from them any satisfaction in the material points nor a forbearance of the wrongs his Majesties Subjects received in those parts To give you an account of every particular wrong and injury the English suffered by the Dutch in their East India factory would be a Task as difficult to do as to tell the spokes of a running Coach-wheele let it suffice his Majestie is throughly sensible of them from the just and miserable complaints of the Sufferers and will now with Gods Assistance now call them to a severe account for all their insufferable wrongs and abuses which the East could not contain and therefore they went a little farther in the West Indies For by an Article in the same Treaty his Majesty was to restore Surinam into their hands and by Articles upon the Place confirmed by that Treaty they were to give liberty to all the King of Englands subjects in that Colony to transport themselves and their Estates into any other of his Majesties Plantations In pursuance of this agreement the place was delivered up and yet they detained all our men in it only one emiminent Person they sent away prisoner for but desiring to remove according to the Articles To what a height will this insolence and perfidiousness of theirs arrive to if not timely check't and prevented How arrogant and presumptious will they be if the bladder of their pride blown up with violence and oppression be not suddenly prick't and so let out the airy opinion of their supposed strength and greatness I know not what their arrogance and ambition may
prompt their precipitate indeavours but if they think that our God above is deaf and doth not hear the loud cryes of the injured and oppressed and that his Vice-gerent here on Earth the King of England will not endeavour the redress of his abused Person and People they are worse then that impudent Impostor who in despight of his Saviour threw his dagger into the air as if he would have stab'd Heaven therewith but was at last forc't to confess Vincisti me Galilaee They will now find I hope a good God to direct a great and gracious Prince how to punish such a vild and ingrateful People not so supinous or careless as the Dutch abusively have pictured him with his hand in his Pockets as an idle-spectator looking on his Ships as they burn'd at Chatham I confess it was a suddain hot Feaverish fit and unexpected but let them have a care they have not many thousand shaking cold ones for it Nec Surdum nec Tiresiam quenquam esse Deorum They 'l find None of the Gods are either deaf or blind But to return where I left off my passion carrying me a little from my present subject though not from the present purpose Our Ambassadour complaining of this behaviour after two years sollicitation obtained an Order for the performance of these Articles but Commissioners being sent and two Ships to bring our Men away the Hollanders according to their former practises sent private Orders contradictory to these they had owned in publick whereby our Commissioners journy thither was to no other effect then to bring away the poorer sort of people and the prayers and cries of the wealthier for releif out of that captivity Whither this practice participate not of the Nature of Hell I will give any rational Man leave to judge since the mouth of that infernal place stands alwaies gaping to receive but will let none out Thus notwithstanding his Majesty made complaints by Letters to the States of Holland of this unjust detention yet never received one word of satisfaction It is not to be wondred that they venture on these outrages upon the English in remote parts when they dare be so bold with his Majesties Royal Person in their abusive pictures so grosly that as it is not fit to be named so none but a beastly boarish Flemming would do it But let De Wit look to it he that would have the States of Hollands Arms over his head and that of England pictured under his feet I question not but he will find that the Belgick Lyon with his crack't Sheafe of Arrowes cannot defend his sides from being gored by the Enlish Unicorn Yet still see is in bearing these Majesty was and still is in bearing these matchless contumelies and abuses represented in Pictures false Historical Medals and Pillars this one would think sufficient to exasperate his Majestie into an high displeasure since it is so evilly rescented by all his Majesties loving Subjects and will undoubtedly be revenged but his Majesty graciously declares it is not what relates to his particular Self but the safety of our Trade upon which the wealth and prosperity of England depends the preservation of his people abroad from violence and oppression and the Hollanders daring to affront us almost within our very Ports which move his just indignation against them and what English-man will not be assisting with his life and estate in so just a cause wherein the honour of his King and the welfare and safety of all his temporal concerns consist surely if we have left any thing of an English spirit we cannot but be herein active and as England never wanted men of courage so I hope she will not want power if confidence may be put in the Arm of flesh to chastise the Insolencies of our Enemies Who would have thought they durst have disputed the right of the Flag a Prerogative so Ancient it was one of the first of his Majesties Predecessors and ought to be the last from which this Kingdome should ever depart it was heretofore by them never questioned and I know not how it should it was expresly acknowledged in the Treaty at Breda and yet it was not only violated last Summer but afterwards justified and represented by them abroad as ridiculous for us to demand His Majestic may well call this an ungrateful insolence since in the time of King James and King Charles they never left cringing till they got a permission to fish in our Narrow Seas and thought it an high obligation although they paid a large Tribute for so doing large did I call it no but small considering the vast benefit that did accrew unto them thereby And now I think it will not be amiss here in this place to give you some account of this fishing-trade according to my best information The Coasts of Great Britain do yeild such a continual Sea-harvest to all those who with diligence labour in the same that no time or season elapseth in the year in which industrious men may not employ themselves in fishing which continueth from the beginning of the year to the latter end in some Port or other upon Coasts and therein such infinite shoales of Fishes are offered to the Takers as may justly move admiration the Hollander I am sure is not ignorant hereof The Summer fishing for Herrings begins about Midsummer and lasteth to the latter end of August the Winter fishing for Herring lasteth from September to the mid'st of November both which extend from Bughoness in Scotland to the Thames mouth The fishing for Cod at Almby Wirkinton and White-haven from Easter to Whitsontide The Fishing of Hake at Haberdeny Abarswith and other places between Wales and Ireland from Whitsontide to Saint James-tide The Fishing of Cod and Ling about Padstow within the Lands and Severn from Christ-tide to Midlent The Fishing for Cod on the West part of Ireland from the beginning of April to the latter end of June The Fishing of Pilchars on the West of England from St. James-tide to September The Fishing for great Scalping and many other sorts of Fish about the Islands of Scotland and in several parts of the Brittish Seas all the year long And that you may know what plenty of fish we have in our Seas not many years since upon the Coasts of Devonshire in one day were taken five hundred Tun of fish and about the same time three thousand pounds worth of fish in one day were taken at St. Ives by Cornwal in small Boats others of the same Party adventuring in a Calm among the Holland Busses not far from Robinhoods-bay returned presently to Whitby full fraught with Herrings and reported that they saw some of those Busses take ten twenty and four and twenty Lasts of Herrings at a draught most of them returning with an hundred Lasts of Herrings in one Buss into Holland At another time it was observed that a Fleet of Colliers returning from New-Castle to London about the Well
near those places where the Fish do haunt for drying our Nets Salting and Packing our Fish and for succour in stress of weather we may bring our fish to Land Salt and Pack it and from some parts of this Kingdome be at our Markets in France Spain or Italy before the Hollander can get home But this we shall the better and sooner do if we consider and endeavour to reforme certain wants and abuses which heretofore hath hindred us from effecting this good and great work whereof these that follow are none of the least The non-observance or but slightly of the old Custom and the Statute Laws for observing fish-daies from whence scarcity of flesh proceedeth Thus fish being not bought so frequently as it ought to be the want of sale decayeth the Trade thereof Want of order and direction in our fishing every man being left to himself and every man fishing as liketh him best Whereas amongst the Hollander two of the best experienced Fishermen are appointed to guide the rest of the Fleet and the rest are bound to follow them and so cast their lines according to their discretion Again the Hollanders set forth in June to find the shoal of fish and having found it dwell amongst it till November whereas We stay till the Herrings come home to us and somtimes suffer them to pass by us ere we look out our Herring fishing continuing only seven weeks at most and their 's twenty The Hollanders Busses are great and strong and able to brook foul weather whereas our Cobbles Crayes and Boats being small and thin-sided are easily swallowed by a rough Sea not daring to adventure far in fair weather The Hollanders are industrious and no sooner are discharged of their lading but presently put forth for more whereas our English after they have been once at Sea do commonly never return again till their money taken for their fish be spent and they in debt The Hollanders do retain the Merchants who during the Herring season doe duly come to the places where the Busses arrive and by joyning together in several Companies do presently agree for the lading of forty Busses at once and so being discharged they may return speedily to their former fishing whereas our Fishermen uncertain of their Chapmen are forced to spend much time in putting off their fish by parcels What else may be considered in this particular I will leave to the serious thoughts of better Head-peices than my own Thus as I have given you a summary account of the vast advantages which will accrue unto us by the regular orderly and industrious fishing on our own Coasts so I have briefly related how highly indebted the Hollander is to the King of England for his wealthy fishing Trade yet they are so far from acknowledging any debt that instead thereof they have most unworthily thrown dirt in his Majesties face a Gracious Prince who hath indeavoured by kindnesses to charm these swarming Frogs who are now ready to become an Egyptian Plague by croaking against him in his own Waters They say Hollands opulent and wealthy Citty Amsterdam was founded on Herring-bones For all my just animosity against the Dutch as an Englishman I cannot but be somewhat afflicted to see the Dutch Here now let me crave leave to address my speech to this ungrateful Neighbour and thus a little expostulate with him 1. Hath not his Sacred Majesty been alwayes so tender of his Royal word that he made with you before he left the Hague and the preservation whilst you needed it and friendship since God hath inabled you to subsist as he scarce had set foot on his Royal Throne here before the sence of your safety no less then of his inspired him with an earnestness to renew or strengthen his Royall Alliance with your not so observable in respect of any Neighbour beside doubling I am sure in retalliation the poor and few marks of gratitude have dropt from you rather expunging his kindnesses with your more frequent injuries and imputing your failing to the less courtly nature of your soile and people then the want of gratitude and civility to so potent a Neighbour as Britain who next to God may be styled your Maker who hath dispensed with thousands of dangers and inconveniences for your sake 2. Have you not had liberty to trade and to become Denisons nay so graciously you have been used by his Sacred Majesty and his Royal Father even to admiration that you had power to buy and purchase Land in fee-simple tale or otherwise in any of his Cities and Countries no mark of distinction being imposed in relation either to Honour Profit or Justice Witness the Acts of Naturalizing so many of your Spawn in the Twelsth Thirteenth and Fourteenth years of his present Majesties Reign 3. Do not the Maritan Towns of Kent Essex Suffolk and Norfolk c. aboundwith the issue of those swarms the very sound and noise of their fellowes Calamities had driven out of their Hives And notwithstanding the present just War his Majesty hath proclaimed against the States General of the United Provinces he hath mercifully provided for the aforesaid Dutch-Inmates and all such who are necessitated to withdraw their Persons and Estates out of those Countries nay observe his Majesties special care of your people inhabiting this his Kingdom in his own words And because there are remaining in our Kingdoms many Subjects of the States General of the United Provinces We do declare and give our Royal Word that all such of the Dutch Nation as shall demean themselves dutiful towards Us and not correspond with Our Enemies shall be safe in their Persons and Estates and free from all molestation and trouble of any kind how illy you have deserved this continuance of so many kindnesses I dare appeal to your own Consciences or any impartial Person to judge 4. Can you think so wise a Council as this Kingdom was steered by did not apprehend That though the making you free might fortify the Queens out-works yet it could not but as much dismantle the Royal Fort of Monarchy I know not whither you were a President to the late Usurper who for many years steeped the three Kingdoms in their own blood but sure I am your Principles may teach Subjects to depose their Princes and be no losers by the bargain which by the way hath rendred you unpleasant or unacceptable to all Neighbor Monarchs fearing by your practices you will furnish their subjects with pretences upon all occasions of advantage to do the like 5. Was not the assisting you an occasion of our invasion in eighty eight by a Navy held invincible in the Creed of Rome till the more glorious Valours of the English assisted by the Lord of Hosts had clearly confuted the Popes Title even to the amazement of the Clists and wonder of the World The only reason then that kept King Philip from heading a Royal Army in his own Person was the fear he did apprehend of
his being cast in his passage out of Spain as his Father Charles the Fifth was upon the British shore knowing the English were cordial in your preservation then ever to suffer him to come and goe in Peace when he came on so bloody an errand 6. And though he as a Magnanimous Prince and so great a Monarch as he was yet he did often desire his Sister of England to hear his just defence for his so rigorous proceedings She refusing to dispute the truth of your complaints presuming it more probable for a stranger to be a Tyrant then that the Natural Inhabitants upon a slighter cause cast themselves into the no less bloody then scorching flames of a Civil and uncertain War She seeming rather to forget the Obligations She owed him either as a private Person or Brother when he was King of England then her Neighbours oppressions I shall not need here draw blood in your faces by application your Consciences if you have any such thing left will do it for me 7. Were not your messengers received into England in the quality of Embassadors they being then too modest to own higher Titles then of Poor Petitioners casting themselves prostrate at the feet of no less Potent Tribunal then what you were admitted to in the quality of Embassadors the other day and the which you now fight against at which time I blush to think thereof your Embassadors was pleased to say that in this conjuncture they would condescend to strike to Us if we would assist them against the French but upon condition that it should never be taken for a President here after to their prejudice this was such a condition which would soon have reduced us to a miserable and contemptible condition Did not your Embassadour forget himself what and where he was to be admitted into the quality of an Ambassadour was an honour you could never have attained to but through the Clemency of a gratious Prince your Messengers in the same quality but narrowly escap'd the Gallowes when they went with their Petition to his Catholick Majesty And did not his late Sacred Majesty out of his Princely goodness imbroider your Messengers with Titles unworthy such ingratitudes as you afterwards shewed him and his against your Alliance then made and professed 8. Have you not opened your Arms to receive those into your Councils and pay that even the whole World doth blush at the reflection of so horrid an Act such is it that tears fall on my Pen at its Relation as if it should say thou art not able to express blackness Wherein Holland canst thou glory not with colouring it with a charitable Protection O no! Then what satisfaction can you give the World or fancy to your selves when you shew a President how to protect the most horrid Regicide that ever drew breath such as are culpable of no less crime then the blood of the best of Kings and one who espoused you as it were into his Royal Family 9. Nay see farther your ingratitude that no sooner Providence had measured out the Kingdom into Peace by restoring our dread Soveraign unto his undoubted Right and the words of a firm Alliance and Amity concluded betwixt him and you scarce cold in his mouth but what wonderful outrages you committed on our Ships and Merchants in allmost all places and Ports where you could either find or meet them but especially there where you were able to treble the English power and strength who if equally but Man'd or Shipt would have reduced your Brandy-courages into that combustion which they say that Wine bears and that only by its flames to behold your own ruines nay such was your ingratitude as if nothing were more indifferent to you then who were happy so England were miserable 10. If you were not willing for those many years to come stealing and bribeing the Usurpers so long for your fishing why should you be so tutchy now with such as inquire whether it was worth your cost or their honour to defend the propriety thereof to the utmost hazard of their lives and fortunes I understand that the late Usurpers did not only give you the fish but baits to catch them Lampries I mean loaden by boat-fulls out of the Thames which they would never have done had they been as full of circumspection as that Creature is reported to be of eyes this kindness to you as all other kindnesses shown to you use to do made you so insolent as to fly in their face sor which they were forced to bring you into better manners witness the several Victories they obtained over you in the year 1652. But more especially that neer Portland wherein you were totally overthrown imputing your want of success to want of powder but I think those few of yours which were left they sent home with a powder Lastly all this considered why may not his Majesty assume to himself the rights of disposure and regulation of that which is undoubtedly his own and why may he not take till by you that never questioned style of Lord of the British Ocean as well as you at Guiny and the East-Indies that strive with your Maker who shall be most High and Mighty With these Expostulations pray take some of these following Queries Some pertinent and necessary Queries to the present Subject 1. What other Alliance can afford you so safe Harbourage in case of foul weather at Sea as England Scotland and Ireland if none whether contingencies driven in by storm under our shelter your West and East India and Straits men may not exceed all the Coales and Tobbacco Prizes De Ruyter or any under him shall scrape up in his Naval expedition If the raising a Flying Army in the Netherlands may not one time or other be reduced to such a faction especially when headed by one that cannot keep the same Consort with you as to cause the resolving you into the first Principles of both Poor Distressed and Oppressed Nay it may be further reduce you to be Vassals to some of your right or left hand Neighbours whose aim is wholly to root up that Vine which they perceive is likely to ecclipse but more willing to destory the glories of their rights and benefits of their Traffick and Trade 3. If Venice may not unproperly be called the Signet on Neptunes right hand whether England and the Netherlands being in a strait confederacy may not be styled his two Arms By which in relation to their shipping he embraceth the Universe 4. Whether your Maiden Towns as you call them may not longer enjoy that Title under the Alliance of England who hath many more rich and beautiful Havens and Harbours then any other Neighbouring Nation 5. Whether the making an honourable Peace with England by complying with her just commands may not be accounted putting of Money to more than common Interest 6. In case it so happens whether their Wisdomes do not cease too dangerous and chargable Wars the which
lose their License and the benefit thereof In the Eastern Sea which washeth the Coasts of York shire it hath been an ancient custom for the Hollanders and Zealanders to obtain leave by petitioning the Governour of Scarborough-Castle It is worth the while saith the Reverend Mr. Cambden to observe what an extraordinary gain the Hollanders do make of 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 Priviledg to themselves but through Negligence resigning the Profit to Strangers King James took special care that no Forreigner should fish on the English or Irish seas without leave first obtained and every year at the least this leave was renewed by the Commissioners for that purpose at London A remarkable Example of Fishing in this nature we find in the days of Henry the Fourth An Agreement was made between the Kings of England and France That the subjects of both Kingdoms might freely fish throughout part of that Sea which is bounded on this side by the Ports of Scarborough and Southampton and on the other side by the Coast of Flanders and the mouth of the River Seine 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 to all his Sea-Captainsand Commanders By this we may plainly see that these Limits wholly 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 sole 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 near Yarmouth the King's Letter for their protection runneth in these words The King to his beloved and trusty John de Butelarte Warden of his Port of Iernemuth now called Yarmouth Greeting For as much as we have been certified that many men out of the parts of Holland Zealand and Friesland who are in amity with us intend now to come and fish in our Seas near unto Iernemuth We command you That publick Proclamation be made once or twice every week that no person whatsoever employed abroad in our service presume to cause any injury trouble damage hindrance 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 lett or impediment In testimony whereof we have caused these Letters to be made Patents and to continue in force till 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 months He alone also protected the Fisher-men on the German Coast nor might the Fishermen use any other Vessels than what were prescribed by our Kings Upon which accounts all kinds of fishing was sometimes prohibited and sometimes admitted this restriction being added That they should fish only in such Vessels as were under the burden of thirty Tuns 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 shore the words are these For as much as we have given leave and license 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 Command of ours to the contrary notwithstanding We command you to permit 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 the burden of thirty Tun without any lett 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 guard and protect the Fishermen upon the Coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk and the charges of the Guard were defrayed by the Fishermen of the said Seas at the pleasure of the King of England Neither were any persons admitted to a Partnership in this kind of Guard except those who were appointed by the King of England lest 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 Limits and Laws usually set by our King to such Forreigners as were at enmity with each other but with 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 Vnited Netherlands at that time exercising acts of great hostility one against another Our pleasure saith he and commandment is to all our Officres and Subjects by Sea and Land That they shall prohibit as much as in them lieth all hovering of Men of Warr of either Spaniard or Hollander near 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 places extended into their Territories by sea so they indulged the like priviledg for ever throughout the more Neighbouring-coasts of the French shore That all manner of persons though enemies one to another should securely sail to and fro as it were under the wings of an Arbitrator or Moderator of the Sea and also should freely 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 the next place I shall cite some of the Publick Records kept in the Tower of London in which the Dominion of the Seas is expresly asserted as belonging to the Kings of England We read that Edward the third in his Commissions given to Geofry de Say Governour or Commander of the Southern and Western 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 Defenders thereof against the Invasions of Enemies do strictly require and charge you by the Duty and Allegiance wherein
years an ordinary practice which we have endeavoured in vain to reform by the ways of Justice and Treaties the World I think will now be satisfied that we have reason to look about us And no wise man will doubt that it is high time to put our selves in this Equipage on the Seas and not to suffer the Stage of Action to be taken from Us for want of Our appearance So you see the general ground upon which our Counsels stand In particular you may take notice and publish as cause requires That His Majesty by this Fleet intendeth not a rupture with any Prince or State nor to infringe any point of His Treaties but resolveth to continue and maintain that happy Peace wherewith God hath blessed His Kingdom and to which all His Actions and Negotiations have hitherto tended as by your own Instructions you may fully understand But withal considering that Peace must be maintained by the Arm of Power which only keeps down Warr by keeping up Dominion His Majesty thus provoked finds it necessary even for His own defence and safety to reassume and keep his ancient and undoubted Right in the Dominion of these Seas and to suffer no other Prince or State to encroach upon Him thereby assuming to themselves or their Admirals any Soveraign Command but to force them to perform due homage to His Admirals and Ships and to pay them acknowledgments as in former times they did He will also set open and protect the free Trade of his Subjects and Allies and give them such safe Conduct and Convoy as they shall reasonably require He will suffer no other Fleets or Men of Warr to keep any Guard upon these Seas or there to offer violence or take Prizes or Booties or to give interruption to any lawful intercourse In a word His Majesty is resolved as to do no wrong so to do Justice both to His Subjects and Friends within the limits of His Seas And this is the Real and Royal Design of this Fleet. Whitehall April 16. 1635. Your assured Friend and Servant JOHN COOK Nay farthermore you may see the Dominion of His Majesty in His Brittish Seas clearly represented asserted and fully proved by that Propriety of Title and Soveraignty of Power which the Duke of Venice exerciseth on the Adriatick Sea if you will consult Mr. Howel in his Commonwealth of Venice which by the manner of Prescription the Consent of Histories and even by the Confession of their Adversaries themselves is almost the same with his Majesties of Great Britain But his Majesty hath one Title more above all theirs which 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 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 encouraged 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 busie of them have openly declar'd against the King's 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 Countrey-men that he disobliged himself of the Dutch and moreover to speak the truth of his Conscience it self for if you look into his Sylvae upon the first Inauguration of King James 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 Sume animos a Rege tuo quis det jura Mari Take courage from the King who giveth Laws unto the Seas In the same Book in the contemplation of so great a Power he concludeth Finis hic est qui fine caret c. This is an End beyond an End a bound that knoweth no 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 than 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 bowels which did afford them life and spirit We may observe that in their lowest condition which is most suitable to the name of their abode called the Low-Countreys they petitioned to the Majesty of the Queen of England whose Royal Heart and Hand being always open to those that were Distressed especially those that were her Neighbours upon the account of Religion she sent them Threescore thousand pound in the year 1572 and presently after there followed Four Regiments of Foot and after them the Warr encreasing there were sent over Col. North Col. Cotton Col. Candish and Col. Norris with other Persons of Quality who for the Honour of the English Nation made in that Warr excellent Demonstrations of their Valour and redeem'd the Dutch from the Power of those who otherwise would have brought them to a better understanding of their duties At the last the Prince of Orange being slain presently after the death of the Duke of Alanson Brother to Henry the Third of France the Queen of England sent over to them Robert Duke of Leicester with great provision both of Men and Money accompanied with divers of the Nobility and Gentry of good account and although the said Earl not long afterwards returned into England and the affairs of the Hollander were doubtful till the fatal battel at Newport 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 assist the Hollanders both with Men and Moneys she gave them hope in despair gave them strength when weak and with the charity of Her Princely Hand did support them when fallen And although the Hollanders do ungratefully alledg 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 Countrey It is most certain that at that time the English had no cause to fear a War at all but only for their Cause and for the taking their parts for it was for their Cause that the English in the year 1571 had seized upon the sum of Six hundred thousand Ducats on the West of England being the Money designed from Spain to the Duke d'Alva for the advancement of the Spanish Interests in the Netherlands And although the Hollanders do
further alledg in their own excuse That they were so grateful as that they offered unto the Queen of England the Soveraignty of the Netherlands which she would not accept and therefore none of 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 War on her Self and her Successors by the accepting such a Gift to which She had no right did wisely refuse their Liberality and yet for all that She continued to aid them without that chargeable obligation The Hollanders do further alledg That the Queen of England had the Cautionary Towns of the Brill and Flushing with other places delivered into her hands It is true She had so and thereby only enjoyed the benefit of being at the greater expence of Men and Money But pray 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 naught and take the Bridle out of their hands whereupon immediately ensued the bringing of English Clothes died and dressed into Holland and the adjoining Provinces without ever making the King of England or his Ambassador Leiger at the Hague acquainted therewith And to make amends for this their sawcy and insolent affront in a more high and peremptory way they demeaned themselves to King James himself For whereas the Duke of Lennox as Admiral of Scotland had by order from the Majesty of King James in the year 1616 sent one Mr. Brown to demand of the Hollanders then fishing on the Coasts of Scotland a certain ancient Duty called Size Herring they began to contest with him about it and after a long disputation they paid it as in former times it had been accustomed but not without some affronting terms That it was the last time it should be paid And it is most certain that the same Gentleman coming the year following with the same Authority and Commandment with one only Ship of His Majesty 's to demand the Duty aforesaid but by them he was denied it who as plainly as peremptorily told him That they were commanded by the States of Holland to pay it no more to the King of England Of which he took witness according to his Order from His Majesty This taking of witness did so startle them that without any more ado they pretended an Order to arrest him and so they carried him into Holland where a while he was detain'd Nay a little while after such was their insufferable abuse that when Mr. Archibald Ranthim a Scotch Gentleman and residing at Stockholm in Sweden where he sollicited for some sums of money due to the English Merchants at the same time in the same City was one Vandyke lying there as an Agent for the States of Holland who said unto some principal persons of the Swedes That they need not be so hasty in paying any moneys 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 being afterwards challenged by Mr. Ranthim he had no better excuse than to say He was drunk when he spake those words And by this means his excuse of playing the Beast did excuse him from playing the Man Now from these insolent Affronts by words let us proceed and come to what they have done by deeds more than what I have already declared in my preceding Discourse where in the first place we may observe their rude demeanour to out English Nation in the Northern Seas on the Coasts of Greenland and those parts about the fishing for Whales and the Commodity of Trayn-oyl where violently they have offered unpardonable abuses in an hostile manner driving the English away to their great loss and prejudice 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 Countrey unto which the Dominion of the Sea belongeth by ancient Prerogative And yet all this is but inconsiderable in regard of their usage of our English 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 disdainful manner as if it at their own home and all places else the English in respect of them were but a sordid and slavish Nation and the Hollanders were either their Superiors and might use them at their own pleasure or the English were so spiritless or so unpowerful 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 and profitable Trade which the English have had in Muscovy for above these fourscore years and some other Countreys 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 several Merchants in London 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 practice so usual with them to spoil 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 spoil one another And yet all this proceedeth out of an ignoble and sordid spirit for let them arrive to what wealth they will they can never be the Masters of a Noble and 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 ingrateful 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 So many Examples of this nature may be instanced that I am forced to omit them for want of room The Perfidiousness and Ingratitude of the Hollanders to the English may be traced all along ever since they shook off their obedience to the King of Spain even unto this present time But we will pass from their Hypocrisie and Cruelty practised abroad and look on their actions at home How almost but the other day did they labour to impose upon His Majesty and Sir George Downing his Envoy Extraordinary by delivering Papers to many publick Ministers of State at the Hague as if his Majesty and his Envoy had been pre-possessed with them when they had not the least notice of any such thing How have they seemed to be most desirous of Peace when at the same