XXII THe Objection touching the defect of Limits and and Bounds follow 's next And truly where Dominions are distinguished nothing can bee more desirable then known and certain Bounds in every place Nor was it without caus that Terminus the God of Bounds was received heretofore among the Romanes for the God of Justice But the nature of Bounds is to bee consider'd either upon the Shores or in the open Sea And why Shores should not bee called and reputed lawful Bounds whereon to ground a distinction of Dominion in the Sea as well as Ditches Hedges Meers rows of Trees Mounds and other things used by Surveyors in the bounding of Lands I cannot fully understand Nor is Sylvanus any whit more a Guardian of Bounds then Neptune But yet a very learned man saith there is a Reason in nature why the Sea under the aforesaid consideration cannot bee possessed or made appropriate becaus possession is of no force unless it bee in a thing that is bounded So that Thucydides call s a Land unpossessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbounded and Isocrates the Land possessed by the Athenians a Land bounded with Limits But liquid things becaus of themselvs they are not bounded cannot bee possessed save onely as they are conteined in som other thing after which manner Lakes and Ponds are possessed and Rivers also becaus they are conteined within Banks But the Sea is not conteined by the Earth it beeing of equal bigness or bigger then the Earth so that the Antients have affirmed the Earth to bee conteined by the Sea And then hee bring 's divers Testimonies of the Antients whereby it is affirmed more then once that the Sea is the girdle or Bond of this Globe of Earth and that fetching a compass it incloseth all the Parts thereof together and it is very often said by the Antients that the Land is conteined and bounded by the water or Sea as if the whole Earth made as it were one Island beeing surrounded by the Sea But admit it were to bee granted which I suppose neither that learned man nor any other will grant yet I do not well see why the thing conteining should not in truth bee bounded by the thing conteined as well as this by that May not a lesser bodie that is spherical or of any other form beeing conteined by a greater which is every way contiguous to it bee said to bound and limit the Concave of the greater Bodie as well as this to limit the Convex of the lesser But Julius Scaliger saith very well of the Sea and Land That the one is not so conteined by the other but that it may also contein Nor are they so disjoyned from each other but that they may both encroach upon each other and retire by Turns The Sea and Land mutually imbrace one another with crooked windings and turnings this with Peninsula's and Promontories butting forth and Creeks bending inward that working up its waves about all the Passages of its vast Bodie Thus it is evident that the one indifferently set's Bounds to the other no otherwise than Banks and Lakes or Rivers which also appear's more evident in the Caspian Sea that is encompassed with Land And in like manner in the Mediterranean before that Hercules or as the Arabians say Alexander the great did by cutting the Mountains let in the Atlantick Ocean through the streights of Cadiz And thereby it is made up one single Globe wherein divers Seas are bounded as well as the Isles or main Land as it is more clearly proved out of holy Scripture There the waters are gathered together and limited by their Places and Bounds And saith the Lord himself of the Sea I encompassed it with my Bounds and set Bars and Doors and said hitherto shalt thou com but no farther And in another place Hee gave unto the Sea his Bounds his Decree unto the waters that they should not pass their Bounds So that it cannot bee doubted every Sea hath its Bounds on the Shore as the Land it self Nor had I made mention of this Particular had I not found it impugned by so eminent a person And truly there is but a very little more difficultie to finde out Limits and Bounds in the main Sea for distinguishing of private Dominions Wee have high Rocks Shelvs Promontories opposite to each other and Islands dispersed up and down from whence as well direct Lines as crooked windings and turnings and angles may bee made use of for the bounding of a Territorie in the Sea Mille jacent mediae diffusa per aequora terrae Innumeri surgunt Scopuli montésque per altum A thousand Lands within the main do lie Rocks numberless and Mountains rise on high Throughout the deep The antient Cosmographers also reckon up the Seas of the world no otherwise then Towns Rivers Islands and Mountains as beeing no less distinguished from each other by their respective Bounds AEthicus saith Every Globe of Land hath XXX Seas CCCLXX Towns LXXII Islands LVII Rivers and XL Mountains c. After this also hee reckon's the Seas of the Eastern Western Northen and Southern Ocean one after another after the same manner as hee doth the Provinces and their Isles How truly I dispute not but in the mean time hee made no question but that the Seas are sufficiently distinguished by their Names and Bounds Add hereunto that useful invention of the sea-man's Compass and the help of Celestial degrees either of Longitude or Latitude together with the doctrine of Triangles arising therefrom Also in those Plantations that in our time have been carried out of Europe into America the degrees of Latitude and Longitude do serv the Proprietors in stead of Bounds which with as little difficultie are found in the Sea In like manner som would have had the Tropick of Cancer and the Equinoctial Line to have been the Bounds in the Sea for the limiting of that Agreement which was to have been made in the year MDCVIII between the States of the United Provinces and the Hous of Austria And in the late Agreement betwixt the Kings of Great Britain and Spain the Equinoctial Line is the bound appointed in the Sea Other Instances there are of the same nature Eor Sarpedon and Calycadnus two Promontories of Cilicia were designed as Bounds for distinguishing the Dominion of the Sea in that League made betwixt the Romanes and Antiochus King of Syria Also by Decree of the Emperor Leo of which wee have alreadie spoken the Fishing Epoches or Fish-pens that were by men placed in the Sea lying over against their Lands were limited to certain number of Cubits The case was the same likewise touching the Cyanean and Chelidonian Islands in the League made by the Athenians with the King of Persia which hath been mentioned also before Moreover Pope Alexander VI and his Cardinals or the King of Spain's Agents made no scruple touching Bounds of this
Grant of the use of the Northern or Norwegian sea for a certain time to our Merchants of the Muscovie Companie in such a manner as if hee had rented out any Land whereof hee stood fully seized and possessed Hee limited the Grant also with such conditions as hee thought fit The publick Instruments or Records about this Particular are yet extant whereby the King had an annual Tribute in recompence other Merchants were excluded and the Grant it self was to continue no longer then the Peace made between that King and the Moscovit Wee read also in the ancient Histories of Denmark of King Harald Hildetan that no man did presume to usurp a Domination in the Sea without his consent And that which follow 's next ought especially to bee taken notice of as to this Particular becaus the Empire of Land and Sea was once divided in the Republick of Denmark And Olo who afterwards was King succeeding his Father in the Dominion of the Sea vanquish't LXX Kings of the Sea by Sea-Fight Which things are written by Saxo Grammaticus and other also of that kinde And in the Treatie held at Koppenhagen betwixt Christiern the fourth of Denmark and Gustavus Adolphus of Swedland the King of Swedland renounceth the right Soveraigntie and Dominion of the Sea and the other Roialties by him formerly claimed over the said sea in Norway Norland and in the Jurisaiction of Wardhuisen But touching the Sea of Norway as it lie's more Northward wee shall add more at the latter end of the second Book Mention is made likewise of the Sea belonging to the Reâ—lm of Poland and the Dominion thereof in that Promise which was made by the French Ambassadors in the name of Henrie III of France when hee was elected King of Poland The aforesaid Ambassadors do promise in the name of the most illustrious King now chosen that assoon God willing as hee shall com to his Kingdom hee will at his own charge maintain a convenient Navie sufficient to defend the Ports and the Soveraigntie of the Sea belonging to the Kingdom and the Provinces adjoyning even to the utmost bounds of the whole Dominion of Poland as it is recorded by Janus Januszowskius in his Syntagma of the statutes of Poland But the Turkish Emperor who by Conquest succeeded in the right of the Emperors of Constantinople and so purchased both the AEgean and Euxin sea calling this the black the other the white sea is wont solemnly to intitle himself Lord both of the white and black sea as you may see in the League betwixt Achmet the Ottoman Emperor and Henry the IV. of France made above thirty years since and printed both in the French and Turkish Tongue Moreover in the same League the Turk grant's the French free leav to Fish and search for Coral in certain Streits and Creeks of the African Sea within his Kingdoms of Algier and Tunis And hee farther confirm's all that had been granted to them by his Predecessors for freedom of Fishing in those parts In like manner Coriolanus Cippicus relating the Actions of Pietrâ— Mocenigo General of the Venetians saith The Ottoman Emperor built two Castles very well fortified over against each other on both sides the Hellespont in its narrowest passage which hee stored with Ordnance of an extraordinary bigness and charged the Governors of the Castles to shoot and sink any ship that should endeavor to pass without leav Which is plainly to domineer over the Sea and agreeable to his Title of Lord of the white and black Sea Neither is that to bee sleighted here which wee finde in the Letters of David Emperor of Ethiopia or the Abassins to Emmanuël King of Portugal Hee entituleth him Lord of Africa and Guinee and the Mountains and Island of the Moon and of the Red Sea Arabia and Persia and Armutia great India c. Hee useth here an Hyperbole after the manner of the African Princes and attribute's those things to Emmanuël which were none of his But in the mean time hee admit's that hee might have been Lord of the Red Sea as well as of any other Territorie and that that Title doth not intrench upon the Law of Nature or Nations any more then this Now that wee may at length conclude this part touching the Dominion of the Sea as admitted among those things that are lawful and received into the Customs of Nations there are not onely very many Testimonies every where as hath been shewn you concerning it but nothing at all I suppose can bee found to impugn it in the Customs of those Nations that have been of any note in later times unless it bee where som of them that are Borderers upon the Sea-Dominions of others do strive to violate or infringe the Rights of their Neighbors under pretence of that Natural and perpetual communitie so often insisted on out of Ulpian by such Writers as too much prefer that obsolete Opinion before the Universal and most antient Customs of Nations Of which kinde truly the first Article of that League seem's to bee which was made above twentie or about thirtie years past betwixt the States of the United Provinces and som of the Hans-Towns as it was translated out of Low-Dutch by a Dutch-man to this effect That this Conjunction or Union ought not to bee intended for the offence of any but onely for the preservation and maintenance of the freedom of Navigation Commerce and Merchants in the Eastern and Northen Seas and also in all Rivers and Streams running into the Eastern and Northern Seas nor ought any other thing to bee meant in this place so that their Citizens and Subjects joyned in this League respectively may according to the Law of Nations use and enjoy the Liberties acquired and obtained together with the Rights Privileges and Customs received from their Ancestors throughout the Eastern and Northern Seas aforesaid and in the aforesaid Rivers Streams and waters without any Let or Impediment They promise also to aid each other in opposing any that should hinder such a freedom of Navigation in that Northern and Eastern Sea that is to say the Baltick and that which washeth the Coasts of Denmark Lituania Pomerania and the Dominions of the King of Poland where it seem's they pretend not onely Rights and Liberties peculiarly granted to them long since but also to the very Law of all Nations It is no hard matter to guess what the Intent of that League might bee For about that time the King of Denmark had raised his Toll in the Baltick Sea and in like manner the King of Poland within his Territories by Sea And that for the maintenance of that Dominion which they enjoyed which that kinde of League betwixt the States of the Hans Towns and United Provinces did seem to oppose But to pass over these things seeing a private Dominion of the Sea which is the point in Question is founded upon such clear Testimonies out of the Customs
requisite to add a few such Evidences onely as are found among several Papers of publick Transaction which are still to bee produced and will serv to shew how that claim which hath been made successively by all our Kings of the English Race was continued down to the present Times by the two Princes of the Scotish Extraction In the seventh year of the Reign of King James this Right was stoutly asserted by Proclamation and all persons excluded from the use of the Seas upon our Coasts without particular Licence the Grounds whereof you have here set down in the Proclamation it self A Proclamation TOUCHING FISHING JAMES by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defendor of the Faith c. To all and singular persons to whom it may appertein Greeting Although Wee do sufficiently know by Our Experience in the Office of Regal Dignitie in which by the favor of Almightie God Wee have been placed and exercised these many years as also by the observation which Wee have made of other Christian Princes exemplarie actions how far the absoluteness of Soveraign Power extendeth it self and that in regard thereof Wee need not yield accompt to any person under God for any action of Ours which is lawfully grounded upon that Just Prerogative Yet such hath ever been and shall bee Our care and desire to give satisfaction to Our Neighbor-Princes and friends in any action which may have the least relation to their Subjects and Estates as Wee have thought good by way of friendly premonition to declare unto them all and to whomsoever it may appertain as followeth Whereas Wee have been contented since Our coming to the Crown to tolerate an indifferent and promiscuous kinde of libertie to all Our Friends whatsoever to Fish within Our Streams and upon any of Our Coasts of Great Britain Ireland and other adjacent Islands so far forth as the permission or use thereof might not redound to the impeachment of Our Prerogative Roial nor to the hurt and damage of Our loving Subjects whose preservation and flourishing Estate Wee hold Our self principally bound to advance before all worldly respects So finding that Our continuance therein hath not onely given occasion of overgreat encroachments upon Our Regalities or rather questioning for Our Right but hath been a means of daily wrongs to Our own People that exercise the Trade of Fishing as either by the multitude of strangers which do pre-occupie those places or by the inâ—uries which they receiv most commonly at their hands Our Subâ—ects are constrained to abandon their Fishing or at least are becom so discouraged in the same as they hold it better for them to betake themselvs to som other cours of living whereby not onely divers of Our Coast Towns are much decayed but the number of Mariners daily diminished which is a matter of great consequence to Our Estate considering how much the strength thereof consisteth in the power of Shipping and use of Navigation Wee have thought it now both just and necessarie in respect that Wee are now by God's favor lineally and lawfully possessed as well of the Island of Great Britain as of Ireland and the rest of the Isles adâ—acent to bethink Our selvs of good lawful means to prevent those inconveniences and many others depending upon the same In consideration whereof as Wee are desirous that the world may take notice that Wee have no intention to denie Our neighbors and allies those fruits and benefits of Peace and Friendship which may bee justly exspected at Our hands in honor and reason or are afforded by other Princes mutually in the point of Commerce and Exchange of those things which may not prove prejudicial to them so becaus som such convenient order may bee taken in this matter as may sufficiently provide for all these important considerations which do depend thereupon Wee have resolved first to give notice to all the world that Our express pleasure is That from the beginning of the Month of August next coming no person of what Nation or Qualitie soever beeing not Our natural born Subject bee permitted to Fish upon any of Our Coasts and Seas of Great Britain Ireland and the rest of the Isles adjacent where most usually heretofore any Fishing hath been until they have orderly demanded and obteined Licenses from Us or such Our Commissioners as â—ee have autorised in that behalf viz. at London for Our Realms of England and Ireland and at Edenborough for Our Realm of Scotland which Licenses Our intention is shall bee yearly demanded for so many Uessels and Ships and the Tonnage thereof as shall intend to Fish for that whole year or any part thereof upon any of Our Coasts and Seas as aforesaid upon pain of such chastisement as shall bee fit to bee inflicted upon such wilful Offendors Given at our Palace of Westminster the 6 day of May in the 7 th year of Our Reign of Great Britain Anno Dom. 1609. Notwithstanding this Proclamation the Netherlanders proceeded still in their way of encroachment upon our Seas and Coasts through the whole Reign of that King and were at length so bold as to contest with him and endeavor to baffle him out of his Rights pretending becaus of the long connivence of himself and Queen Elisabeth that they had a Right of their own by immemorial possession which som Commissioners of theirs that were sent over hither had the confidence to plead in Terminis to the King and his Council And though the King out of his tenderness to them insisted still upon his own Right by his Council to those Commissioners and by his Ambassador to their Superiors yet they made no other use of his Indulgence than to tire out his whole Reign and abuse his Patience by their artificial delaies pretenses shifts dilatorie addresses and evasive Answers And all that the King gained by the tedious disputes overtures and dispatches to and again was in conclusion onely a verbal acknowledgment of those Rights which at the same times that they acknowledged they usually designed to invade with much more insolence than before But you have the main of what passed in those daies in this particular with their insolent demeanor lively described in these following Collections taken out of several Dispatches that passed betwixt Secretarie Naunton and Dudley Carlton Lord Ambassador from the King to the States of the United Provinces In a Letter of Secretarie Naunton's to the said Ambassador dated at White-Hall the 21 of December 1618. I finde these passages I Must now let your Lordship know that the State 's Commissioners and Deputies both having attended his Majestie at New-Market and there presented their Letters of Credence returned to London on Saturday was a sevennight and upon Tuesday had Audience in the Council-Chamber where beeing required to communicate the points of their Commission they deliver'd their meditated Answer at length The Lords upon perusal of it appointed my Lord Bining and mee to attend his Majestie for
NEPTUNE to the COMMON-WEALTH of England 1 OF Thee great STATE the God of Waves In equal wrongs assistance crave's defend thy self and mee For if o're Seas there bee no sway My Godhead clean is tane away the Scepter pluckt from thee Such as o're Seas all sovereigntie oppose Though seeming friends to both are truly foes 2 Nor can I think my suit is vain That Land the Sea should now maintain since retribution's due And England hath great wealth possest By Sea's access and thereby blest with plenties not a few Which next the virtue of thy watchful eies Will her secure from forein miserles 3 Thy great endeavors to encreas The Marine power do confess thou act'st som great design Which had Seventh Henrie don before Columbus lanch'd from Spanish shore the Indies had been thine Yet do thy Seas those Indian Mines excell In riches far the Belgians know it well 4 What wealth or glorie may arise By the North-West discoveries is due unto thy care Th' adopting them with English names The greatness of thy minde proclaim 's and what thy actions are New Seas thou gain'st to the antient FOUR By Edgar left thou addest many more 5 If little Uenice bring 's alone Such waves to her subjection as in the Gulf do stir What then should great Britannia pleas But rule as Ladie o're all seas and thou as Queen of her For Sea-Dominion may as well bee gain'd By new acquests as by descent maintain'd 6 Go on great STATE and make it known Thou never wilt forsake thine own nor from thy purpose start But that thou wilt thy power dilate Since Narrow Seas are found too straight For thy capacious heart So shall thy rule and mine have large extent Yet not so large as just and permanent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the DOMINION Or Ownership of the SEA TWO BOOKS In the FIRST is shew'd that the SEA by the LAVV OF NATURE or NATIONS is not common to all men but capable of PRIVATE DOMINION or Proprietie as well as the LAND In the SECOND is proved that the Dominion of the BRITISH SEA or that which incompasseth the Isle of GREAT BRITAIN is and ever hath been a Part or Appendant of the Empire of that Island Writen at first in Latin and Entituled MARE CLAUSUM SEU De Dominio Maris By JOHN SELDEN Esquire Translated into English and set forth with som Additional Evidences and Discourses By MARCHAMONT NEDHAM Published by special Command LONDON Printed by William Du-Gard by the appointment of the Council of State and are to bee sold at the Sign of the Ship at the New-Exchange Anno Domini 1652. TO The Supreme Autoritie OF THE NATION The PARLAMENT of the Common-wealth of ENGLAND Right Honorable I Should not have presumed thus in the mid'st of so many great affairs to press into your presence did I not bring a Present in my hand most worthie of your acceptance It is that Learned and elaborate Work entituled MARE CLAUSUM A Piece so fully vindicating your Right of Soveraigntie over the Seas by the clearest evidences of Reason and Record from all Antiquitie that it stand's more impregnable against the Pens than the Island it self against the Attempts of Forein Nations It was written Originally in Latin for the asserting of this Right before all the world and how they have been convinced by it appear's hitherto by the universal Admiration that attend's it But considering what pitie it was that so rare a Jewel as this which hath drawn the envie of som few but the Approbation of All should lie so long lockt up in a Language unknown to the greatest part of that Nation whom it most concern's and how necessarie it is in this present Juncture to let the People have a clear understanding of their nearest interest and how that Right hath been received in all Ages which a strange People in this latter Age have been bold to undermine it was judged very requisite to unlock the Cabinet and expose the Jewel to the view of the whole Nation that they may prize it and apprehend not onely their own Interests and Concernments but how far wee and our Posteritie must stand indebted to the name and memorie of the noble SELDEN As for my self though it bee accounted one of the meanest Services to Translate yet when I consulted with my own Thoughts which way I might best express my dutie and affection to your present Caus and consider'd that little could bee said or collected upon this subject of the Sea which is not abundantly set forth in this irrefragable Treatise I conceived it a Task of no less importance than difficultie And now it is don if it were well don I should believ my self to have atteined no small happiness in having my name any way related to the Learned Autor who shall ever live like himself in this excellent Book as long as there is any memorie of Britain or of the Sea that flow's about it It was a work begun it seem's in the Reign of King James and then laid aside again for above sixteen years but afterwards revived alter'd and enlarged by the Learned Autor as hee saith in his Epistle at the command of the late Tyrant And as it was written for him so it was dedicated to him as beeing supposed one who was or ought to have been a fit Patron of the Dominion here asserted However this I finde that as hee seemed by his naval Preparations in the year 1635 to resent the many injurious usurpations of our unruly Neighbors and did in words also strenuously assert the Jurisdiction at Sea so hee set a value upon this Book as it 's main Evidence and in the 12 year of his Reign it was upon his special command deliver'd by the hands of Sir William Beecher one of the Clerks of his Council to the Barons of the Exchequer in open Court and by immediate Order of that Court it was placed among their publick Records where it remain's to this day Now had hee persisted with the same firm resolution in this honorable business of the Sea as hee did in other things that were destructive to the Nation 's interest the Netherlanders had been prevented from spinning out their long opportunitie to an imaginarie Claim of Prescription so that they would have had less Pretence to Act those Insolencies now which in former times never durst enter the Thoughts of their Predecessors The truth is too much easiness and indulgence to the Fathers and Grand-fathers of the present Generation was the first occasion of elevating them to this height of Confidence in pressing upon the Seas of England For who know's not with what tenderness and upon what terms they were first taken into the bosom of Queen Elisabeth yet they were no sooner warm but they shew'd their sting and proved the onely great vexation becaus deceitful friends to that excellent Ladie who in those Infant-daies was both Mother and Nurs of their ungrateful Republick Too
hee freed the sea-Coast from Pirates and restored the Dominion to the people of Rome Moreover as touching the vast Sea-dominion of the Romane people Dionysius Halicarnass saith Rome is Ladie of the whole sea not onely of that which lie's within Hercules's Pillars but also of the Ocean it self so far as it is navigable This is indeed an Hyperbole But in the mean time a clear Testimonie of a very large Sea-dominion As also that of Appianus Alexandrinus The Romanes saith hee hold the Dominion of the whole Mediterranean Sea Other instances there are of the same nature But truly that expression of a very eminent man is not to bee admitted who saith of examples of that kinde that they do not prove a possession of the Sea or of a Right of Navigation For as particular private men so also people and Nations may be Leagues and Agreements not onely quit that Right which peculiarly belong's to them but that also which they hold in common with all men in favor and for the benefit of any one whom it concern's And for this hee referr's himself unto Ulpian who will have that Cessation of fishing for Tunies in the Sea of which more hereafter to bee derived from the Autoritie of som stipulation or Covenant not from any vassalage imposed upon the Sea Surely by such a kinde of distinction whereof Ulpian is indeed the Autor the same may bee said either of Dominion or vassalage as wee call it of every kinde If to occupie and enjoy in a private manner by Right to hinder and forbid others bee not Dominion it is nothing Moreover Cassandra in Lycophron prophesied that the people in Rome should have such a Dominion where shee attribute's to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Scepter and Monarchie both of Land and Sea Hereunto belong those things above mentioned touching the Command of Pompey held by Commission from the people of Rome as also those other which wee meet with now and then among writers concerning the Sea-Dominion of the Romans Suetonlus saith of Augustus Cesar Het placed one Navie at Mesinum and another at Ravenna to guard the upper and lower Sea But Aristides saith this Dominion was not limited to the Romans by certain Bounds as of old 〈◊〉 the Athenians but that it incompassed their Empire round like a girdle And Themistius speaking of the Emperor Theodosius the elder saith what would you say of him who is Emperor or Ruler of almost the whole Earth and Sea In like manner Procopius making mention of a Statue of a Romane Emperor holding a Citie in his left hand saith that the Statuarie's meaning was that the whole Land was subject to him as well as the Sea To the same purpose speak's Nicephorus Callistus in the Preface to his Ecclesiastical History And Julius Firmicus speaking of such persons who have in the Schemes of their Nativities the Moon encreasing in the thirtieth Degree of Taurus fortified with a friendly Aspect of Jupiter saith they shall possess the Dominions of Sea and Land whithersoëver they lead an Armie Oppianus saith to the Emperor Antoninus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Under thy Laws or Scepter the Sea role's And Fishes swim throughout thy Sea in sholes And Venus to Jupiter concerning the future Empire of the Romanes Certè hinc Romanos olim volventibus annis Hinc fore ductores renovato sanguine Teucri Qui Mare qui Terras omni ditione tenerent Pollicitus quae te genitor sententia vertit Hence Romans their Original should take In after-years thou once didst promise make And Leaders spring to rule both Land and Sea From Teucer's bloud what alter's thy decree From whence the same Poët in another place speak's of Augustus Caesar An Deus immensi venias Maris ac tua Nautae Numina sola colant tibi serviaâ— ultima Thule Téque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis Or whether thou the God wilt bee Of the vast Sea and Thule's farthest shore Or thee alone the Sailors shall adore As Thetys Son-in-law with all her Seas Given for a dower c. And Claudian of Scipio Africanus Ergò seu patriis primaevus Manibus ultor Subderet Hispanum legibus Oceanum Then whether in revenge to 's Father's ghost Hee quell'd the Sea upon the Spanish Coast. Or what other business soêver hee did Ennius was still at his elbow In like manner Constantinus Monomachus is by John Bishop of Euchaïta in his Iambicks called indeed Emperor of the East but according to the custom of the Western Empire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord and absolute Soveraign both of Land and Sea As also the Emperor Leo by Varadatus Terrae Marisque Dominus Lord of the Land and Sea So that in the Empire of Constantinople which followed the Customs of the Western the AEgean Sea it self was reckoned among the Provinces no otherwise then Samos Cyprus or other Islands or Territories of any kinde whatsoëver This appear's out of Constantinus Porphyrogennetus his Themata where also the Hellespont is expresly assigned to the Commander in chief of the AEgean Sea together with the Territories lying round about And truly the Customs out of this Sea were very great onely upon the accompt of Fishing Somtimes ten somtime twelv thousand Crowns were collected out of it yearly Wee learn this also out of a Decree whereby Andronicus Palaeologus one that kept the State of an Emperor but lived a chambering idle life within his Palace had for the victualling of himself and his retinue the yeerly profit of the fishing before Constantinople wont to bâ—e valued at that time at ten thousand Crowns as saith Nicephorus Gregoras The same is by som called Topiaticum Topicum it is named also Piscinica and Topice Moreover in the servey or breviarie of the Dignities of the East onely three Provinces are reckoned under the Proconsul of Asia after this manner These Provinces under-written are under the charge of that eminent person the Proconsul of Asia Asia The Isles Hellespont Their towred Diadems equal Stature majestie and wealth not differing at all seem to point out such an equalitie that neither of them can appear by this form of description to bee reckoned a part of another And so that Hellespont cannot in that place bee any other then the Sea it self or that Arm of the Sea flowing between which beeing thus joyned with the Isles to the Proconsulship of Asia upon one and the same account of Dominion the Provinces of Asia and Europe became in a civil sens either continual or contiguous Yea when there was no such distinction of Provinces the adjacent Isles and the Sea it self made one entire Provincial bodie also with the continent And hence it came to pass that the Isles of Italy were part of Italy as also of every Province and such as were divided from Italy by a small arm of the Sea as Sicily they were to bee
rule for limitation became useless after a ten years prescription The Lord of a Manor bordering upon the Sea improved his yearly Revenue by these as by other commodities which profit arising from those Entries is usually stiled by the Eastern Lawyers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may bee translated locarium for the price which was paid for hire of a Stall Shop or Farme is called in Latine locarium so that wee see private persons raised their topiatica or locaria that is their Rents out of the adjacent Sea And out of those Rents they paied to the Prince a yearly Tribute amounting to no inconsiderable summe as was shewed before levyed upon that accompt So that by the custom of the Eastern Empire not onely the Soveraigntie of a Prince which is the point in question but also the Dominion of private persons in the Sea beeing ratified by Autoritie of publick decrees enacting it and repealing as unjust whatsoëver gainsai'd it it was in use beyond all dispute above five hundred and fiftie years for so many are reckoned to the taking of Constantinople from the date of the aforesaid decree of Leo which concerned not onely Bosphorus in Thracia the Hellespont the AEgean and the narrower Seas but all those that were under the Dominion of the Emperor of Constantinople And this may serv to bee spoken of the more antient Historical Age or that which contain's the customs and Laws of Kingdoms and Common-weals that are long since exspired Touching the Dominion of the Sea according to the Customs of such Nations as are now in beeing First of the Adriatick Sea belonging to the Venetians the Ligustick to the Genoëses the Tyrrhen to the Tuscans and lastly of the Sea belonging to the Church or Pope of Rome CHAP. XVI IF wee take a view of later times or the Rights and Customs of Nations which at this present are in high repute and autoritie there is nothing that can more clearly illustrate the point in hand then the Dominion of the Adriatick Sea which the most noble Common-weal of Venice hath enjoyed for so many Ages The truth of this is every where attested and acknowledged not onely by Historians and Chorographers but by very many Lawyers Bartolus Baldus Angelus and a companie of above thirtie the most eminent among them unless they bee mis-reckoned by Franciscus de Ingenuis who saith hee counted so many in that Epistle of his to Liberius Vincentius written som years ago in defence of the Dominion of the Venetians over the Adriatick Sea in answer to Johannes Baptista Valenzola a Spaniard and Laurentius Motinus a Roman who as hee saith to gratifie the Duke of Ossuna Vice-Roy of Naples whose creatures they were wrote against the Right of Dominion which belong's to the Venetians by Sea Venice is commonly styled the Mistress of the Sea and the Queen of the Adriatick Sea though the Controversie ahout its Bounds bee not yet decided And Sannazarius write's thus of this Citie Viderat Adriacis Venetam Neptunus in undis Stare urbem toto ponere jura Mari. Neptune saw Uenice in the Gulf to stand Of Adria and all the Sea Command Nor doth this Dominion arise from any jurisdiction or protection over the persons of such as frequent the Sea as is imagined by som miserably carried away with the autoritie of Ulpian so often affirming that the Sea by the Law of nature is commnn to all men nor is it a qualified Dominion as saith Angelus Matthaeacius professor at Padua but this Sea doth so properly belong to the Venetians that it is not lawful for any other to use or enjoie the same without their permission forasmuch as they have right to prohibit any to pass to impose custom upon those whom they permit to do any other thing in order to the raising of benefit and advantage out of the water as any man may do in his proper possessions by Land As concerning Navigation in that Sea that it may bee prohibited at their pleasure and that by approved right wee have the testimonies of many Lawyers It cannot bee denied saith Angelus de Ubaldis but the Venetians and their Signiory for very many Ages have been and are in possession as it were of the aforesaid Gulf wherefore the Venetians by virtue of that antient possession which they have had so long and do yet enjoie may by putting a restriction into the form of their Covenants hinder the Genoëses or any other whatsoëver that shall offer to sail through their Gulf. The same saâ—e others also quoted by Benevenutus Straccha Antonius Peregrinus Marta Neopolitanus Julius Pacius Mantua Patavinus Franciscus de Ingenuis and Fulgentius Monachus Venetus who all have written more particularly and made it their business to assert the right of the Venetians And there are examples to bee produc'd which shew how Princes as well neighbors as others have made it their suit to the State of Venice to obtain leav to pass through that Sea which somtimes was granted and somtimes denied In the year 1399 December 12. Radulphus Earl of Otranto made a request to that State in the behalf of Uladislaus King of Naples and William Archduke of Austria that leav might bee granted to pass through the Adriatick Sea with Galleyes and other Ships to conveigh the Sister of the King out of Apulia to the Territories of the Archduke her husband which the Republick granted but with this condition that no person that had been banished from Venice or was guiltie of any capital crime against the State should bee taken aboard those Ships Which the Austrians imbarking at Trieste faithfully observed both in their voiage and in their return There are extant also two Letters wherein the Emperor Frederick the third in the years 1478 and 1479 desire 's of Giovanni Mocenigo Duke of Venice and of the State that leav might bee granted him to transport corn from Apulia through the Adriatick Sea Franciscus de Ingenuis make's mention of others to the same purpose written to the same Duke from the Kings of Hungarie And this they intreat as a matter of great favor for which they shall acknowledg themselvs obliged Matthias King of Hungarie in a Letter to Duke Mocenigo dated 1482. write's That whereas the State hath been wont to give leav to the Earls of Frangipanis and Zenga and others whose Territories laie upon the Sea Coasts every year to transport a certain store of corn from Apulia through that Sea hee desire 's that the same libertie might bee vouchsafed to himself who had now succeeded into the Dominion of the very same Countries And as touching the right which the Venetians had to impose custom on passengers as travelling through their peculiar Territorie there are frequent testimonies among the Lawyers Salicetus mentioneth a Decree of the Venetians that all who passed through the Sea should bring in their merchandise to
directions what Reply to return to this Answer of theirs which I represented to their Lordships yesterday to this effect That his Majestie found it strange that they having been so often required by your Lordship his Majesties Ambassador as from himself in their publick Assembly to send over Commissioners fully autorised to treat and conclude not onely of all differences grown between the Subjects of both States touching the Trade to the East-Indies and the Whale-Fishing and to regulate and settle a joint and an even Traffick in those Quarters but withall to take order for a more indifferent cours of determining other Questions growing between our Merchauts and them about their Draperies and the Tare And more especially to determine his Majesties Right for the sole Fishing upon all the Coasts of his Three Kingdoms into which they had of late times incroached farther than of Right they could And lastly for the reglement and reducing of their Coins to such a proportion and correspondence with those of his Majestie 's and other States that their Subjects might make no Advantage to transport our Monies by inhansing their valuation there All which they confessed your Lordship had instanced them for in his Majestie 's name that after all this attent on his Majestie 's part and so long deliberation on theirs they were com at last with a Proposition to speak onely to the two first points and instructed thereunto with bare Letters of Creance onely which his Majestie take's for an Imperious fashion of proceeding in them as if they were com hither to Treat of what themselvs pleased and to give Law to his Majestie in his own Kingdom and to propose and admit of nothing but what should tend meerly to their own ends To the second Whereas they would decline all debate of the Fishings upon his Majestie 's Coasts first by allegations of their late great losses and an Esmeute of their people who are all interessed in that Question and would bee like to break out into Jom combustion to the hazard of their State which hath lately scaped Naufrage and is not yet altogether calmed What is this but to rais an advantage to themselvs out of their disadvantage But afterwards they profess their lothness to call it into doubt or question claiming an immemorial possession seconded by the Law of Nations To which his Majestie will have them told that the Kings of Spain have sought leav to Fish there by Treatie from this Crown and that the King of France a nearer Neighbor to our Coasts than they to this day request 's leav for a few Vessels to Fish for Provision of his own houshold And that it appear's so much the more strange to his Majestie that they beeing a State of so late date should bee the first that would presume to question his Majestie 's antient Right so many hundred years inviolably possessed by his Progenitors and acknowledged by all other antient States and Princes That themselvs in their publick Letters of the last of June sent by your Lordship seemed then to confirm their immemorial possession as they tearm it with divers Treaties as are of the year 1550 and another between his Majestie 's Predecessors and Charls the fift as Prince of those Provinces and not by the Law of Nations To which their last Plea his Majestie would have them told that hee beeing an Islander-Prince is not ignorant of the Laws and Rights of his own Kingdoms nor doth exspect to bee taught the Laws of Nations by them nor their Grotius whose ill thriving might rather teach others to disavow his Positions And his honestie called in question by themselvs might render his Learning as much suspected to them as his person This his Majestie take's for an high point of his Soveraigntie and will not have it slighted over in any fashion whatsoëver Thus I have particulated unto you the manner of our proceeding with them Let them advise to seek leav from his Majestie and to achnowledg him his Right as other Princes have don and do or it may well com to pass that they that will needs bear all the world before them by their Mare Liberum may soon com to have neither Terram Solum nor Rempublican liberam And in a Letter of the said Ambassador Carlton to Secretarie Naunton of the 30 of December 1618 from the Hague wee finde this Return touching the business of Fisherie WHether the final resolution here will bee according to his Majestie 's desire in that point concerning the Fishing upon the Coasts of his three Kingdoms I cannot say And by somwhat which fell from the Prince of Orange by way of Discours when hee took leav of mee on Monday last at his departure I suspect it will not in regard the Magistrates of these Towns of Holland beeing newly placed and yet scarce fast in their seats who do autorise the Deputies which com hither to the Assembly of the States in all things they are to Treat and resolv will not adventure for fear of the people to determine of a Business on which the livelihood of fiftie thousand of the Inhabitants of this one single Province doth depend I told the Prince that howsâ—ëver his Majestie both in honor of his Crown and Person and Interest of his Kingdoms neither could nor would any longer desist from having his Right acknowledged by this State as well as by all other Princes and Commonweals especially finding the same openly oppugned both by their States-men and men of war as the writings of Grotius and the taking of John Brown the last year may testifie yet this acknowledgment of a Right and a Due was no exclusion of Grace and Favor and that the people of this Countrie paying that small Tribute upon every one of their Busses which is not so much as disputed by any other Nation whatsoëver such was his Majestie 's well-wishing to this State that I presumed of his permission to suffer them to continue their cours of Fishing which they might use thereby with more Freedom and less apprehension of molestation and let than before and likewise spare the Cost of som of their Men of War which they yearly send out to maintein that by force which they may have of courtesie The Prince answer'd that for himself at his return from Utrecht hee would do his best endeavor to procure his Majestie contentment but hee doubted the Hollanders would apprehend the same effect in their paiment for Fishing as they found in the passage of the Sound where at first an easie matter was demanded by the King of Denmark but now more exacted than they can possibly bear And touching their Men of War hee said they must still bee at the same charge with them becaus of the Pirats Withal hee cast out a question to mee whether this freedom of Fishing might not bee redeemed with a Summe of monie To which I answered it was a matter of Roialtie more than of Utilitie though Princes were not
to neglect their profit And in another Letter of the said Ambassador from the Hague to Secretarie Naunton of the 14 of Januarie 1618. Hee give 's him to understand That having been expostulated with but in friendly manner by certain of the States about his late Proposition as unseasonable and sharp they said they acknowledg their Commissioners went beyond their limits in their terms of Immemorial Possession and immuable Droict de Gens for which they had no order Then saith hee I desired them to consider what a wrong it is to challenge that upon right which these Provinces have hitherto enjoied either by connivence or courtesie and yet never without claim on his Majestie 's side c. In another Letter of Secretarie Naunton's to the Lord Ambassador Carlton of the â—1 of Januarie 1618. wee read thus AS I had dictated thus far I received direction from his Majestie to signifie to the State's-Commissioners here That albeit their earnest entreatie and his gracious consideration of the present trouble of their Church and State had moved his Majestie to consent to delay the Treatie of the great Fishing till the time craved by the Commissioners yet understanding by new and fresh complaints of his Mariners and Fishers upon the Coasts of Scotland that within these four or five last years the Low Countrie-Fishers have taken so great advantages of his Majestie 's Toleration that they have grown nearer and nearer upon his Majestie 's Coasts year by year than they did in preceding Times without leaving any Bounds for the Countrie People and Natives to Fish upon their Prince's Coasts and oppressed som of his Subjects of intent to continue their pretended possession and driven som of their great Vessels through their Nets to deter others by fear of the like violence from Fishing near them c. His Majestie cannot for bear to tell them that hee is so well perswaded of the Equitie of the States and of the Honorable respect they bear unto him and to his Subjects for his sake that they will never allow so unjust and intolerable Oppressions for restraint whereof and to prevent the inconveniences which must ensue upon the continuance of the same his Majestie hath by mee desired them to write to their Superiors to caus Proclamation to bee made prohibiting any of their Subjects to Fish within fourteen miles of his Majestie 's Coasts this year or in any time hereafter until order bee taken by Commissioners to bee autorised on both sides for a final settling of the main business His Majestie hath likewise directed mee to command you from him to make the like Declaration and Instance to the States there and to certifie his Majestie of their Answer with what convenient speed you may Thus far Secretarie Naunton to the Ambassador Now what effect the Ambassador's Negotiation with the States had appear's by a Letter of his from the Hague of the 6 of Februarie 1618 to King James himself where among other passages hee hath this I finde likewise in the manner of proceeding that treating by way of Proposition here nothing can bee exspected but their wonted dilatorie and evasive Answers their manner beeing to refer such Propositions from the States General to the States of Holland The States of Holland take advice of a certain Council residing at Delph which they call the Council of the Fisherie From them such an Answer commonly com's as may bee exspected from such an Oracle The way therefore under correction to effect your Majestie 's intent is to begin with the Fishers themselvs by publishing against the time of their going out your resolution at what distance you will permit them to Fish whereby they will hee forced to have recours to their Council of Fisherie that Council to the States of Holland and those of Holland to the States-General who then in place of beeing sought unto will for contentment of their Subjects seek unto your Majestie By these you may perceiv how earnestly the antient Rights of England were asserted and the old Claim made and renewed and a recognition made also in the Reign of that King by the Netherlanders themselvs though all proved to no purpose the King and his Council beeing afterward lull'd again into a connivence one way or other And it give 's sufficient caus to suspect that the men in Power at that time might bee charm'd with monie since it was a Quaere put by the Prince of Orange to the Ambassador Carlton in the heat of all the Controversie Whether the Freedom of Fishing might not bee redeemed with a summe of monie For turning over the Papers of Transactions of the Time immediately following I perceiv the dispute was let fall on a sudden and thereupon an opportunitie given the Netherlanders to encroach more and more every year upon the Seas and Shores of this island And so far they proceeded in this presumptuous Cours through the Toleration given them in the later end of the Reign of King James and the begining of the late Tyrant his son that at length they fell to a downright impeachment of our Rights not in words onely but by contemning the commands of the King s Officers prohibiting us free Commerce within our own Seas abusing and disturbing the Subjects at Sea and the King himself in his very Ports and Chambers and by many other actions of so intolerable a nature that in the year 1635 hee was awakened and constrained to see to the preservation of our Rights at Sea and give order for the setting forth of a powerful Fleet to check the audacious designs and attempts of those ungrateful Neighbors And the following year in prosecution of his purpose hee set forth this ensuing Proclamation entituled A Proclamation For restraint of Fishing upon His Majestie 's Seas and Coasts without LICENCE WHereas Our Father of Blessed memorie King James did in the seventh year of His reign of Great Britain set forth a Proclamation touching Fishing whereby for the many important reasons therein expressed all persons of what Nation or Qualitie soever beeing not His natural born Subjects were restrained from Fishing upon any the Coasts and Seas of Great Britain Ireland and the rest of the Isles adjacent where most usually heretofore Fishing had been until they had orderly demanded and obtained Licences from Our said Father or His Commissioners in that behalf upon pain of such chastisement as should bee fit to bee inflicted upon such wilful Offendors Since which time albeit neither Our said Father nor Our Self have made any considerable execution of the said Proclamation but have with much patience expected a voluntarie conformitie of Our Neighbors and Allies to so just and reasonable Prohibitions and Directions as are contained in the same And now finding by experience that all the inconveniences which occasioned that Proclamation are rather increased then abated Wee beeing very sensible of the premisses and well knowing how far â—ee are obliged in Honor to maintain the rights of Our Crown especially
places Herrings are every daies meat Winter and Summer as well to draw on drink as to satisfie hunger and in most places the greatest part of the year they bee scarce to bee had for presently after Michaëlmas the Sound and Rivers are frozen up so as no Herrings can bee transported into twentie several Kingdoms and free States until July which is for thirtie weeks space together so that when Lent com's there are few to bee bought for monie Lastly since by care and industry wee gained from the Flemmings doubtless so by the means wee may as easily grow expert in the Art of Fishing and in time make it a staple commoditie of our own But this wee shall the better and sooner do if wee consider and endeavor to reform certain wants and abuses which hitherto have hindred us from effecting that good and great work whereof these that follow are none of the least 1. General libertie of eating flesh contrarie to old custom and the Statute-Laws provided for observing Fish-daies from whence our scarcitie and dearth of Fish proceedeth for where Flesh is ordinarily spent Fish will not bee bought and want of sale decaieth all Trade gain beeing the Nurs of Industrie 2. Want of order and discretion in our Fishing every man beeing left to himself and permitted to Fish as best liketh him whereas amongst the Hollanders two of the best experienced Fisher-men are appointed to guide the rest of the Fleet all others beeing bound to follow them and to cast their lines according to their direction 3. The Hollanders and other Nations set forth with their Busses in June to finde the shole of Fish and having found it dwell amongst it till November whereas wee stay till the Herring com home to our rode-steads and somtimes suffer them to pass by ere wee look out our Herring-Fishing conteining onely seven weeks at the most and their 's twentie 4. The Hollander's Busses are great and strong and able to brook foul weather whereas our Cobles Crayers and Boats beeing small and thin sided are easily swallowed by a rough Sea not daring to adventure far in fair weather by reason of their weakness for fear of storms 5. The Hollanders are industrious and no sooner are discharged of their lading but presently put forth for more and seek for Markets abroad as well as at home whereas our English after they have been once at Sea do commonly never return again until all the monie taken for their fish bee spent and they in debt seeking onely to serv the next Market 6. The Hollanders have certain Merchants who during the Herring-season do onely com to the places where the Busses arrive and joining together in several companies do presently agree for the lading of thirtie or fortie Busses at once and so beeing discharged they may speedily return to their former shipping whereas our Fisher-men are uncertain of their Chap-men and forced to spend much time in putting off their Fish by parcels These and other defects would carefully bee taken into consideration and certain orders made to make our Fishing prosperous and successful especially considering the fearful mischiefs the neglect hereof hath brought to the King and Kingdom in general and to many good Towns and Corporations in particular as by autoritie even of Parlament it self in the Statute of 33 Hen. the eight is plainly testified which I have summarily here set down to avoid the prolixitie of the original Becaus the English Fisher-men dwelling on the Sea-Coasts did leav off their Trade of Fishing in our Seas and went the half-Seas over and there upon the Seas did buie Fish of Pickards Flemmings Normans and Zelanders by reason whereof many incommodities did grow to the Realm viz. the decaie of the wealth and prosperitie as well of the Cinque-Ports and Members of the same as of other Coast-Towns by the Sea-side which were builded and inhabited by great multitudes of people by reason of using and exercising the craft and feat of Fishing Secondly the decaie of a great number of Boats and Ships And thirdly the decaie of many good Mariners both able in bodie by their diligence labor and continual exercise of Fishing and expert by reason thereof in the knowledg of the Sea-Coasts as well within this Realm as in other parts beyond the Seas It was therefore enacted that no manner of persons English Denizens or strangers at that time or any time after dwelling in England should buie anie Fish of any strangers in the said Ports of Flanders Zealand Picardie France or upon the Sea between shore and shore c. This act by many continuances was continued from Parlament to Parlament until the first of Queen Marie and from thence to the end of the next Parlament and then expired For conclusion seeing by that which hath formerly been declared it evidently appeareth that the Kings of England by immemorable prescription continual usage and possession the acknowledgment of all our Neighbor-States and the Municipal Laws of the Kingdom have ever held the Soveraign Lordship of the Seas of England and that unto his Majestie by reason of his Soveraigntie the supreme command and Jurisdiction over the passage and Fishing in the same rightfully apperteineth considering also the natural site of those our Seas that interpose themselvs between the great Northern Commerce of that of the whole world and that of the East West and Southern Climates and withal the infinite commodities that by Fishing in the same is daily made It cannot bee doubted but his Majestie by means of his own excellent wisdom and virtue and by the industrie of his faithful subjects and people may easily without injustice to any Prince or person whatsoever bee made the greatest Monarch for Command and Wealth and his people the most opulent and flourishing Nation of any other in the world And this the rather for that his Majestie is now absolute Commander of the British Isle and hath also enlarged his Dominions over a great part of the Western Indies by means of which extent of Empire crossing in a manner the whole Ocean the Trade and persons of all Nations removing from one part of the world to the other must of necessitie first or last com within compass of his power and jurisdiction And therefore the Soveraigntie of our Seas beeing the most precious Jewel of his Majestie 's Crown and next under God the principal means of our Wealth and Safetie all true English hearts and hands are bound by all possible means and diligence to preserv and maintain the same even with the uttermost hazzard of their lives their goods and fortunes Thus you see what wondrous advantages may redound to the Felicitie and Glorie of this Nation if God give hearts and resolutions to vindicate those rights which are now most impiously and injuriously invaded And so much for what concern's England Now that I may reflect a little upon the point of Sea-Dominion in general to shew how far it hath been asserted and mainteined by
which from time out of minde it had alwaies don without any interruption as well in receiving of customs as in assigning of places for the exaction of it and that the pretens now alleged was new and never before used by any predecessor of the Emperor either as King of Hungarie or as Arch-Duke of Austria or the countries thereto adjacent or of his Majestie then beeing for many years until this present time Hee challenged the Imperialists to shew when ever any such thing was before pretended certainly not before the peace of Bolonia for then such a difference as this if there had been any such had been there determined or referred over to the Arbitrarie Tribunal wherein were handled above 120 controversies but of this not any mention made neither from that time to this was there any such pretension once set a foot But if this were a new wrong succeeding after the sentence of Trent they should shew what it was and when it had beginning becaus hee was prepared to shew unto them that any thing concerning the same was of most antient use and continuance without the least noveltie in the world and therefore they ought not to bee heard who came with demands which could take no original either from the sentence of Trent or from any innovation of wrongs succeeding thereupon To this Rapicio replied that hee intended not to lay his principal foundation upon that which to all is so well known which is to say that the Sea is common and free and that by reason thereof not any might bee prohibited to sail unto any place which best pleased him and if any Doctors should happen to say that the Republick hath a prescript Dominion over the Adriatick Sea with a long possession notwithstanding they prove it not and to Doctors who affirm a thing barely out of fact without any manner of proof little belief is to bee given for which caus hee would not dwell upon that but would com to his principal reason which was that admitting the Republick to bee Patron of the Sea yet the Emperor's Subjects might navigate freely by the Capitulations which were established betwixt the Princes on both sides and therefore the Petition proposed was pertinent to bee handled by the said Convention to which hee beeing so required by the Venetians added this for a foundation Quia libera navigatio Maris Adriatici cùm Majestatis suae Caesareae tum subditorum damno incommodo ab Illustrissimi Domini Veneti triremium Praefectis impedita fuerit contra Capitula Vormatiae Bononiae Andegavi Venetiis inita Forasmuch as the free navigation of the Adriatick Sea hath been hindred by the Captains of the Venetian's Gallies to the loss and prejudice of his Imperial Majestie and of his subjects against the Capitulations of Worms Bolonia Angiers and Venice And here hee produced a passage of the Capitulation of Bolonia which spake as followeth Quòd communes subditi liberè tutè securè possint in utriusque statibus dominiis tam â—errâ quà m Mari morari negotiari cum bonis suis ac si essent incolae subditi illius Principis ac Dominii cujus patrias Dominia adibunt provideatúrque nè vis aut aliqua injuria ulla de causa eis inferatur celeritérque jus administretur That the subjects of either partie may freely safely and securely abide and traffick with their goods in the States and Dominions of one another in like manner as if they were inhabitants and subjects of that Prince and State into whose Countrie or Dominion they do com and that it bee provided that no violence or injurie bee for any caus whatsoëver offered them and moreover that justice bee speedily administred Hee also recited the capitulations of the truce of Angiers and Worms and of the peace of Venice which is not necessarie here to repeat beeing of the same tenor Hee did rest much upon the word liberè considering that liberè is joined to the word Navigare by which it ought to bee understood according to the common construction of Law That everie one might navigate freely but hee cannot bee said to bee free who is constrained to go to Venice Hee added moreover that the word liberè could not bee imagined to bee superfluous but must of necessitie operate somthing that the two words tutè securè could import nothing els 〈◊〉 but without impediment or molestation or paying of Customs to this hee added that there were then 400 complaints of his Majestie 's subjects whose vessels were compelled to go to Venice and there made to pay Custom for happening onely to arrive in the ports of the Venetians either by fortune or som other occasion Hee read the sentence of a Rector of Liesina who freed a ship which touched upon that Island by chance and hee made a narration that certain barks with salt were suffered by the Venetian Fleet to pass upon their Voiage without sending them to Venice Hee concluded that his request extended to these three points 1. That the Austrian subjects might Navigate whither it pleased them 2. That arriving in any Port of the Republick onely per transitum they should not pay any thing 3. Lastly that coming to Trade in any of them they should not pay more then the subjects of the Republick Chizzola answered hereto promising clearly to solv all the objections introduced by the other so as there should not remain any place of reply and to shew with true and lively reasons that what was don by the Ministers of the Republick in the Gulf was don by lawful Autoritie And reserving himself to speak of the Dominion of the Sea afterwards howsoëver presupposing it in the first place hee began with the Capitulations and first hee said that the word liberè was not joined as Rapicio said to any such word as Navigare but to the words Morari negotiari tam terrâ quà m Mariâ— therefore by liberè is to bee understood as the common construction of Law intend's when one doth either dwell or do business in the hous or land of another that is to say observing the Laws and paying the Rights of the Countrie Hee added also that those Capitulations betwixt the hous of Austria and the Republick were equally reciprocal and not made more in favor of the Austrians in the State of the Venetians then of the Venetians in the State of the Austrians neither was there greater libertie granted to the Sea then to the Land and that the words were clear enough which import that the subjects on both sides might stay trade and merchandise in the state of one another as well by Land as by Sea and bee well intreated insomuch as the subjects of the Venetians were to have no less libertie in the Lands of the Austrians then the Austrian subjects in the Sea of Venice And that by virtue of those words what his Majestie would have in the State of the Republick it is fitting that
much of the same tenderness was expressed afterward by King James becaus as in the former Reign so in his it was counted Reason of State to permit them to thrive but they turning that favorable Permission into a Licentious Encroaching beyond due Limits put the King to a world of Trouble and Charge by Ambassies and otherwise to assert his own interest and dispute them into a reasonable submission to those Rights which had been received before as indisputable by all the world For the truth whereof I am bold to refer your Honors to the Memorials of several Transactions in those daies which I have added at the end of this Book and for which I stand indebted as I am also for many other Favors to a Right honorable Member of your own great Assembly By the same also it will appear how this People perceiving that King to bee of a temper disposed to use no other arguments but words held him in play with words again and while they trifled out his Reign in Debates and Treaties carried on their design still to such a height by a collusion of Agencies and Ventilations to and agen and a daily intrusion upon the Territorie by Sea that in time they durst plead and print Mare Liberum and after his Son Charls came to the Crown they in effect made it so For though hee were not ignorant of his own Right as appear's by his esteem of this Book his Preparations and Proclamation for Restraint of Fishing without Licence c. Yet hee never made any farther use of them than to milk away the Subjects monie under pretence of building Ships to maintein his Autoritie by Sea which end of his beeing served hee immediately let fall the prosecution of what hee pretended So that through the over-much easiness and indulgence of preceding Princes they in a short time arrived to so loftie a Presumption as to seem to forget and question and now at length by most perfidious actings to defie the Dominion of England over the Sea These things beeing consider'd it was supposed this Translation it beeing a noble Plea asserting that Dominion would bee a very seasonable Service which how poorly soëver it bee apparel'd in our English dress is bold to lay Claim unto your Honors as its proper Patrons conceiving it ought to bee no less under your Protection than the Sea it self And therefore let mee have leav here without Flatterie or Vanitie to say though in other things I may injure the eminent Autor yet in this hee will bee a Gainer that his Book is now faln under a more noble Patronage in the tuition of such heroïck Patriots who observing the errors and defects of former Rulers are resolved to see our Sea-Territorie as bravely mainteined by the Sword as it is by his Learned Pen. It is a gallant sight to see the Sword and Pen in victorious Equipage together For this subdue's the souls of men by Reason that onely their bodies by force The Pen it is which manifest's the Right of Things and when that is once cleared it give 's spurs to resolution becaus men are never raised to so high a pitch of action as when they are perswaded that they engage in a righteous caus according to that old Versicle Frangit attollit vires in Milite causa Wherefore seeing you Right Honorable have had so frequent experience of the truth of this in our late Wars wherein the Pen Militant hath had as many sharp rancounters as the Sword and born away as many Trophies from home-bred Enemies in prosecution of your most righteous caus by Land certainly you will yield it no less necessarie for the Instruction of this generous and ingenious people in vindicating your just Rights by Sea against the vain Pretences and Projects of encroaching Neighbors For what true English heart will not swell when it shall bee made clear and evident as in this Book that the Soveraigntie of the Seas flowing about this Island hath in all times whereof there remain's any written Testimonie both before the old Roman Invasion and since under every Revolution down to the present Age been held and acknowledged by all the world as an inseparable appendant of the British Empire And that by virtue thereof the Kings of England successively have had the Soveraign Guard of the Seas That they have imposed Taxes and Tributes upon all ships passing and fishing therein That they have obstructed and open'd the passage thereof to strangers at their own pleasure and don all other things that may testifie an absolute Sea-Dominion VVhat English heart I say can consider these things together with the late Actings of the Netherlanders set forth in your publick Declaration and not bee inflamed with an indignation answerable to their Insolence That these People raised out of the dust at first into a state of Libertie and at length to an high degree of Power and Felicitie by the Arms and Benevolence of England or that they who in times past durst never enter our Seas to touch a Herring without Licence first obteined by Petition from the Governor of Scarborough-Castle should now presume to invade them with armed Fleets and by a most unjust war bid defiance to the United Powers of these three Nations Had they dared to do this in the daies of our Kings I suppose they even the worst of thē would have checkt and chastised them with a Resolution suitable to their monstrous Ingratitude For however som of them were wholly busied in vexing and undermining the people's Liberties at home yet they were all very jealous of the Rights and Interests of the Nation at Sea and good reason they had for it since without the maintenance of a Soveraigntie there the Island it self had been but a great Prison and themselvs and the Natives but so many Captives and Vassals to their Neighbors round about not so much secluded as excluded from all the world beside Upon this ground it was that Kings ever conceived and mainteined themselvs as much Monarchs by Sea as by Land and the same you will finde here was received by all other States and Princes the Land and Water that surround's it making one entire Bodie and Territorie Moreover our own Municipal Constitutions every where declare the same as may bee seen by the several Presidents and Proceedings thereunto relating which manifestly shew that by the Cōmon Law of the Land our Kings were Proprietarie Lords of our Seas That the Seas of Engl. were ever under the Legiance of our Kings and they soveraign Conservators of the peace as well upon the Sea as Land Now therefore Right honorable when I look upon you and behold you more highly intrusted than Kings and far more nobly adorned upon a better Ground than they were with all the Rights Interests and Privileges of the People when I consider how God hath wrested the Sword out of their hands and placed it in yours for our Protection with the Conservation of our Peace and