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
A DISCOURSE Written by Sir George Downing The King of Great Britain's Envoy Extraordinary to the States of the Vnited Provinces Vindicating his Royal Master from the Insolencies of a Scandalous Libel Printed under the Title of An Extract out of the Regicter of the States General of the Vnited Provinces upon the Memorial of Sir George Downing Envoy c. And delivered by the Agent De Heyde for such to several Publick Ministers Whereas no such Resolution was ever Communicated to the said Envoy nor any Answer returned at all by Their Lordships to the said Memorial Whereunto is added a Relation of some Former and later Proceedings of the HOLLANDERS By a Meaner Hand LONDON Printed for John Luttone and are to be sold at the Blew Anchor in the Poultrey 1672. A Discourse written by Sir George Downing the King of Great Britain's Envoy Extraordinary to the States of the United Provinces c THE Envoy Extraordinary of His Most Sacred Majesty of Great Britain c. having lately seen a certain Paper entituled An Extract out of the Register of the Resolutions of the High and Mighty Lords Estates General of the Vnited Provinces upon the Memorial of Sir George Downing Envoy Extraordinary from the King of Great Britain did not at all think it fit for him to take any notice thereof but to pass it by as a Pamphlet of which sort there come out too many here every day in regard that no such Resolution had been communicated to Him by their Lordships not any one word given him in Answer to his said Memorial And he had accordingly past it by without taking any notice thereof had he not since by accident been informed by several Publick Ministers residing here That the said pretended Resolution had been brought to them by the Agent de Heyde Whereupon he now holds himself obliged to Complain in most serious terms to their Lordships the Estates General of the Vnited Provinces of this strange and irregular way of proceeding That while he is Residing here on the behalf of the King his Master Papers in form of Answers to his Memorials should be given to other Publick Ministers here and elsewhere and sent all over the world and yet concealed from Him and thereby neither opportunity of being convinced if any thing of reason should have been said therein nor on the contrary of vindicating the Honour and Justice of the King his Master in what he is therein unjustly charged and defamed withal Suppose that he the said Envoy Extraordinary should have proceeded in that manner and have given the Memorial to which the said Paper is a Reply to all Pubblick Ministers residing here and sent it to all Courts abroad and should have Printed and exposed it to the view of the world without giving it to their Lordships what would they have thought thereof and what might have been expected that they would have said to it Can their Lordships imagine that this way of acting doth tend any way to the justifying of their Cause as to the working of better impressions concerning the same in the minds of those Publick Ministers or their Masters Or rather that they must be exeeedingly scandalized thereat as looking more like a Surprise of them and their Judgments than otherwise and considering that they may to morrow be dealt with in like manner in relation to any Paper they may give in and see the Affairs of their Masters traduced and defamed without any opportunity or possibility of clearing the same And as to the Matter of the said Paper Is it enough to say in general terms That the said Memorial was ill graunded or abusively informed without particularizing at all how or wherein or so much as excepting against any one word thereof much less disproving the same And again If the things wherewith they are charged therein be true as they both are and must now be taken by all men to be since nothing is made out by their Lordships to the contrary To what purpose is the whole sequel of the said Paper If it be true as it is That the Royal Master of the said Envoy was no sooner returned to His Kingdoms but that He was immediately and from day to day troubled and importuned with a Crowd of Complaints of His Subjects against those of this Countrey all which notwithstanding His Majesty did not grant any one Letter of Marque nor betake himself to any way of force for the obtaining of their reparation and satisfaction But instead thereof for an everlasting memorial of his great kindness and good-will towards this Countrey and for the facilitating of the bringing to a Conclusion the late Treaty with them finding the Complaints and Pretensions of His Subjects to be so numerous and great was pleased after all to suffer very many of them and those to a vast value to be utterly mortified and extinguished and the rest except the business of the Ships Bonadventure and Bon-Esperanza after so much money and time had been already expended in the pursuit thereof and many of them ready for a determination to be puâ— in a LIST and proceeded upon a-new according to the fifteenth Article thereof no ways doubting but that all possible speed would have thereupon been used in bringing the matter to an issue and that for the future better order would have been observed to wards His Subjects But having waited now above 27 Months sincâ— the Conclusion of the said Treaty and in that time their Lordship being continually call'd upon bâ—… His said Majesties Envoy Extraordinary yea by His Majesty Himself in several Audiences to theiâ— Embassador Yet so it is that thosâ— matters are still so far from beinâ— ended that in truth they seem to be now rather further from it than at the day of the signing of the said Treaty and on the other side new injuries daily heaped and the same Designs of the East and West-Indie-Companies carried on for the utter overthrow of all the Trade of His Majesties Subjects in those parts of the world as appeared by the business of the Ships Hopewell Leopard and other Ships in the East-Indies and by the business of the Charles James Mary Sampson Hopeful Adventurer Speedwel c. upon the Coast of Africa All which are matters hapned since the Conclusion of the said Treaty And after all this and notwithstanding His Parliaments application to Him upon the account of His aggrieved Subjects in so solemn and extraordinary a manner His Majesty was yet so far from being inclined to any other than ways of accommodation as that he did by a publick Writing or Declaration declare That he would yet try what could be done by amicable endeavours at the Hague before he would make use of any other means the which was also very well known to their Lordships and did thereupon accordingly give orders to his Envoy Extraordinary to press them afresh And further to make out his peaceable and moderate intentions and to take off all umbrage
some Tapestries Sayes and Hull-shops yea some of our Herrings are carried as far as Brasile and that which is more strange and much to our shame above four hundred of their Ships fish with ours at Yarmouth within Ken of land uncontrould making us pay ready-money for our fish caught by them on our shores Fourthly by this their large extent of Trade originally derived from the benefits they have received from the Kingdom of England they are become as it were Devisions of the whole World whereby they have within a Century or more of years so enlarged their Towns that the major part of them are as big again as they were before for instance Amsterdam Leyden and Middle-borough having been lately above twice enlarged and their Streets and Buildings so orderly set forth that for Beauty and Strength they may compare with most upon which they bestow infinite sums of Money all originally flowing from the bounty of our Seas from whence by their labor and industry they derive the beginnings of all their Wealth and Greatness and particularly for the Havens of the aforesaid Towns whereof some of them cost Forty Fifty or an Hundred Thousand pounds Fifthly by reason of the number of their Shipping and Mariners and so great a Trade occasioned by fishing principally they have not only strengthned and fortyfied themselves at home to repell any further Polemick attempts of the King of Spain but have likewise stretched their power to the East and West-Indies in many places whereof they are Lords of the Sea-coasts and have likewise fortified on the Main where the King and People are subject to their devotion and our Country-men the English lying open to all the out-rages a cruel and imulting Tyrant can inflict upon them So formidable they are both by Sea and Land that none but a Carolus a Carolo knows how to lore their top-saile of their insufferable Pride and bring by the Lee their matchless insolence Sixthly how mightily the publick Revenue and Customes of the State are increased by their fishing may appear in that about forty or fifty years since over and above the Customes of the Merchandize Excises Licenses Waftage and Lastage there was paid to the State for Custom of Herrings and other Salt-fish and Cask paid for Waftage which cometh at least to as much more besides a great part of their Fish sold in forraign parts for ready money for which they commonly export for the finest Gold and Silver and coming home recoyn it of a baser allay under their own stamp witness the scarcity of our old Gold which is no small means to augment their Treasure Seventhly as touching their private wealth it will appear by the abundance of Herring and other fish by them taken For instance during the War between the King of Spain and the Hollander the Dunkirkkers by taking spoyling and burning the Busses of Holland and setting great ransome on the Fishermen enforced them to compound for great Sumns of Money that they might fish quietly one year whereunto the next year after the Fishermen among themselves were to pay a dollar upon every last of Herrings towards the maintenance of certain Ships of War to convoy and secure them in their fishing by reason whereof there was a Record kept of the several last of Herrings taken that year and it appeared thereby that in one half year there was taken three hundred thousand last of Herings which being at twelve pound per last amounteth to three Millions and six hundred thousand pounds whereas at sixteen twenty and thirty pounds they are sold in other Countries This great Trade of fishing employing so many ships at Sea must consequently maintain a very great number of Tradesmen and Artizens at land as Spinsters and Hemp-winders for Cables Cordage Yarn Twine for Nets and Lines Weavers to make Sail-cloaths Receivers Packers Dressers Tacklers Coopers Blocks and Bowl-makers for ships Keelmen and Labourers for removing and carrying fish Sawyers for planks Carpenters Shipwrights Boat-men Brewers Bakers and a number of others whereof a great part may be maimed Persons and unfit to be otherwise employed besides the maintenance of all their several Wives Chidren and Families and further every man or maid-servant or Orphan having any poor stock may venture the same in their fishing voyages which affords them ordinarily great increase and is duly paid according to the proportion of their gain this makes them have so few Beggars amongst them and we so many in not finding out such like means to imploy the poorer sort of people the appurtenances hereunto belonging will cost us no more than theirs did and since we have the propriety of the seas we want only industry to effect this purpose Lastly Holland is so poor of it self that it yieldeth little saving some few Hops Madder Butter and Cheese yet notwithstanding by reason of this Art of fishing aboundeth plentifully in all manner of Provisions as well for Life as Luxury nay for defence too all which they not only have in competent proportion for their own use but are likewise able from their several Magazines to supply other Countries The premises considered it maketh much to the ignomy and shame of this Kingdom that God and Nature offering us so rich a Treasure even to our own doors we notwithstanding neglect the benefit thereof and by paying money to the ungrateful Hollander for the fish of our own Seas impoverish our selves to inrich them But thanks to Almighty God that hath put it into his Majesties heart to put a stop to their further proceedings herein and do not doubt but he will once more make them acknowledg that the Soveraignty of the Narrow Seas belong to him alone his Majesties Prerogative by immemorable prescription continuall usage and possession the acknowledgment of all Neighbours States and the Municipal Laws of this Kingdom and that unto him by reason of the said Soveraignty the Supream command and jurisdiction over the passage and fishing in the same rightfully appertaineth Why may not the English then make the same advantages of these Seas as the Dutch whom we are now chastiseing not for their industry therein but for their ingratitude incivility and rag-manners The task will not be very difficult if this method may be observed as followeth By erecting two hundred and fifty Busses of reasonable strength and bigness there will be employment found for a thousand Ships and for at least twenty thousand Fishermen and Mariners at Sea and consequently for as many Laborers and Tradesmen at Land The Herrings taken by those Busses will afford the King twenty thousand pound Custom outward and for Customes returned inward three hundred thousand pound and more We have Timber sufficient and at reasonable rates growing in this Kingdom for the building these Busses and every Shire affordeth men of able and hardy bodies fit for such employment who now live poorly and idlely at home Provision we have cheap enough and great plenty thereof and our Shores and Harbours are
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
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