Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	lord_n	say_a	unite_a	1,066	5	10.8816	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59088	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.; Mare clausum. English	Selden, John, 1584-1654.; Nedham, Marchamont, 1620-1678.	1652 (1652)	Wing S2432; ESTC R15125	334,213	600

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 in●uries which they receiv most commonly at their hands Our Sub●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 ad●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 ●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

Venice and there paie custom And saith Bartholomeus Cepola The Venetians within their Dominion have several Roialties and Rights belonging to their Exchequer and de facto at least acknowledg no Superior so that they have power to impose Gabels to confiscate goods and commodities in the aforesaid Sea as well as in the Citie of Venice having as full jurisdiction in the Sea as in the Citie Antonius Peregrinus also who was advocate of the Exchequer at Padua after a large discours upon this subject the conclusion saith hee is this that the right of Fishing in the Adriatick Sea is one of the Roialties belonging to the Duke of Venice and therefore hee hath power to forbid permit and charge Gabels upon it Julius Pacius Marta and others both modern and antient treat at large of this particular And the reasons of som Neapolitans that are the most obstinate opposers of this right are onely drawn either from that opinion for so many Ages since exploded by the custom of Nations that the Sea is naturally common to all or from that chimera of the universal Dominion of the Roman Emperor Whereas Marta himself who was a Lawyer of Naples writes thus The Venetians are Lords of the Adriatick Sea the extent whereof is 80 miles reaching from that place heretofore called Aquae Graduatae unto the Town of Loreto seated now near the River Po. And Francisco di capoblanco a Neopolitan also confesseth that now the Rivers and Seas are passed into the hands of Lords and Patrons And in a Letter of Lewis the 2 d to Basilius Emperor of the East Nicetas Patricius is mentioned under this title The Protector of the Adriatick Sea And the Gulph saith Cardinalis Tuschus doth properly belong to the Venetians by virtue of a long prescription of possession as it hath been declared in an agreement made between the States of Venice and Genoa For confirmation whereof hee cite's Angelus and Jason But the first time they saie wherein custom was charged upon those that passed through the Adriatick Sea was the year 1263 when Lorenzo Tepulo was Duke of Venice The Republick of Genoa beeing distressed with war and famine and their neighbors not releiving them with provisions this Tepulo saith Flavius Blondus began to impose a new custom or to speak more plainly laie a Restraint upon those that sad'd through the Adriatick Sea For upon that occision a Law was made which remain's in force to this very d●ie that all who sailed between the Gulf de Quevera and the Promontory of Sola and Coast of Ravenna should com into Venice to paie Custom and if the Officers thought fit to unlade their Merchandise and Goods And an Officer was ordained for that purpose to scout daie and night with his Barks about the Coasts and Harbors of shores to see to the Observation of this Statute But above all wee must not pass by that Controversie which happened about this time between the people of Ancona and the Venetians in a general Councel at Lions the Anconitans complained that the Venetians had usurped the Sea and Custom and other things against all right Pope Gregorie the tenth referred the matter to the examination of the Abbot of Nervosia He rejected the allegations of the Anconitans as weak and wanting proof and by the Autoritie of the Pope saith the aforenamed Blondus commended to the Venetians the care of defending the aforesaid Coast of the Adriatick Sea against the Saracens and Pirats allowing them withal the rights of their Customs and Impost Whereat the Ambassadors which were then present did not interpose a word but the debate was thus determined with the approbation of all except the Complainants But the Dominion of Venice over that Sea is of far greater Antiquitie to signifie which they have an annual cerimonie instituted they say by Pope Alexander the third I mean the use of the Ring which every year upon Ascension daie the Duke in a solemn manner rowed in the Bucentoro accompanied with the Clarissimos of the Senate cast's into the midst of the water for the perpetuating saith Paulus Merula of their dominion over the Sea signifying by that love-token that hee betroth's the Sea to himself in the manner of a lawful Spous using such a form of matrimonie Wee take thee to our wedded wife O Sea in token of a true and perpetual Dominion What should hinder then but that wee may conclude that the Venetians were looked upon not onely by themselvs but by their neighbor Princes as Lords of that Sea by as unquestionable and full a title as of their Land and Citie There are other States also in Italy that have Maritim Rights of the same nature Princes saith Benedictus Bonius have right to laie impositions upon the Sea shores forasmuch as what nature ●ad left at libertie is brought by them into servitude and proprietie as the Tyrrhen Sea which is under the command of Pisa and Tus. canie the Adriatick of Venice the Ligustick of Genoa which is affirm'd in like manner by Angelus Baldus Cepola and others The Bishop of Rome also hath his Sea which is called likewise the Churches Sea The Bull intituled Coenae Domini which is wont to bee published every good Friday for the excommunication or Delinquents run's thus Item wee excommunicate and anathematize all Pirats Rovers and Robbers upon the sea th●se that haunt and infest our sea especiallie that part lying between the Mountain Argentaro and Terracina And Bartholomaeus Ug●inus a famous Lawyer saith that this Excommunication did involv Pirats Rovers or Robbers upon the Sea such as haunted the Churches sea especially that part lying between the Mountain Argentaro and Terracina The same is called by others the Pope's Sea And although a certain Autor would there by Our Sea have the whole Sea understood in all parts of Christendom yet it is the unanimous consent of the most famous Interpreters of that Bull as Tolet Suarez Ugolinus Antonius de Sousa and others that by that name is signified the Sea which is part of the peculiar patrimonie of the Pope Nay more then this som of those Autors now mentioned will have this curs of Excommunication to bee incurred not onely by committing piracie but by a harmless passage of Pirats through this sea it being all one as if a profanation or injurie were committed upon Church-land So that such a dominion over the sea is plainly avouched by the Canon Law And it is confirmed by what may bee gathered out of the gloss of that body If Herrings were taken upon an holy day a convenient part of them by the Canon Law are due to the next neighboring Churches There the gloss add's especially to those in whose Territories the Fish were caught By a Decree of a General Councel at Lions if the Pope dyed beeing out of the Citie the Cardinals are to meet for the Election of

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 Re●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 Pietr● 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

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

Romane Empire was in its prime that Caesar is Lord of the whole world Thus Ovid according to the Romane custom saith Gentibus est aliis tellus data limite certo Romanae spatium est urbis orbis idem All other States have Limits to their Ground Rome and the world have but one common bound The Sea I suppose is not more inexhaustible then the whole world That is very much inferior to this as a part is to the whole in greatness and plenty And therefore a Dominion of the Sea is not to bee opposed upon this accompt unless also wee in like manner affirm that not onely that saying of the Emperor's Dominion over the world is manifestly fals as it must bee but also contrary to natural reason it self becaus of the worlds extraordinary greatness and abundance Therefore they are more justifiable in their Opinion who as they say that the Roman Emperor according to the antient Law is Lord of the World or Land that is to say a large part of it so also they would have him to bee Lord of the Sea Nor is there any difficulty in that expression of the Emperor Antoninus wherein hee call's himself Lord of the World but the Law as 't is commonly understood Lady of the Sea which if it were granted that his Answer ought so to bee understood doth signifie no other thing then that the Rhodian Laws where they did not thwart the Romane were so far in force about Sea-affairs that however hee were Moderator and Lord of both hee would by no means determin ought contrary to those Laws by any Rescript of his own Alcialus and other very Learned men also make almost the same interpretation But concerning that Answer of Antoninus I shall add more by and by So that it seem's the Antients in that so often repeated speech concerning universal Dominion conceived the Romane Empire to bee no less or narrower then it is represented by Petronius Arbiter who set's forth the matter in these words Orbem jam totum victor Romanus habebat Quà Mare quà Terrae quà Sidus currit utrumque The Romane Conqu'rer then the world Both Sea and Land did sway Wheresoe're the Moon travel's by night Or the bright Sun by day And the Ancient Inscription in honor of Augustus Caesar was ORBE MARI ET TERRA PACATO IANO CLUSO c. Peace beeing restored to the world by Sea and Land hee shut up the Temple of Janus according to which sens it is recorded also by Historians that hee shut Janus his Temple three times having settled Peace by Sea and Land whereby they would have us to understand the verie same thing which wee have proved more fully before that the Seas were comprehended as well as the Land within the huge Bodie of the Romane Empire An Answer to such Testimonies as have faln from Writers treating of other subjects and which are usually alleged against Dominion of the Sea CHAP. XXIII IT remain's in the next place that wee consider of what validitie the contrarie Opinions of Writers are whereof wee formerly made mention As to what concern's those Passages of the Poêts Plautus and Phaenicides it is clear in Plautus that the lewd slave Trachalio was but in jest with Gripus the Fisherman Hee saith in general that the Sea is common to all which signifieth a Sea that never was possessed as well as that which is necessarily and naturally common and in that place that rather then this Wherefore it may bee understood that Fishing was common or not yet appropriated that is that the people either of Rome or Greece had such a Dominion over any kinde of Sea for by what hath been alreadie mentioned it appear's both of them had a Dominion over som Sea before Plautus his time that either of them might use their respective Seas at their own pleasure in hindling others from sailing through them and removing such impediments of Trade and Commerce as should happen therein And yet that hitherto they had prohibited no man from fishing in that Sea mentioned by Plautus and Phaenicides in such a manner but that the use of it might remain common either to Natives or Neighbors as the use of a ground for feeding of Cattel though there may indeed bee a particular Owner in possession reserving the other Commodities of it to himself as it often come's to pass But afterwards also especially in the Eastern Empire or among the Greeks it is clear out of what wee have alreadie shewn you that a peculiar Right of Sea-fishing hath passed into the hands of private persons as well as of Princes So that such Expressions as these beeing applied against private Dominion of the Sea soon vanish and com to nothing As to that passage out of Ovid Quid prohibetis aquas Why do yee forbid water c. then which nothing is more usual in Disputes about this matter it is not so much an Assertion of the communitie of waters as a vehement and hyperbolical reproof of the inhumanitie of that rustick Rout in Lycia Latona beeing thirstie and wearie asked for a draught of water and that out of a Lake The barbarous people denie her and therefore shee most deservedly reprove's them But shee doth it not more earnestly then Ampelisca in Plautus did merrily to Sceparnio a slave that denied her water Cur iu inquit Ampelisca aquam gravare amabò quam hostis hosti commodat Why saith Ampelisca art thou so loth to let mee have water which one stranger afford's another For whatsoëver may bee afforded or communicated without prejudice of the Owner hee is concerned many times in humanitie to impact it to a meer stranger that asketh him For the word Hostis in that place signifie's a Stranger as wee often finde among the Antients And it appear's also by the question of Sceparnio whereby hee jeer's the wench Cur tu ait ille operam gravare mihi quam civis civi commodat Why saith hee dost thou denie mee that help one Citizen afford's another Here hee opposeth Citizen to Stranger From the same Office of humanitie those particulars are derived as not to denie running Water to suffer one Fire or one Candle to light another and other things of that nature which are profitable to the Receiver and not troublesom to him that give 's or permit's the Favor And upon this Rule of Moralitie onely which is the Rule of Charitie are those demands both of Latona and Ampelisca grounded They denie not the private Dominion of waters Neither Latona of the Lake whose private Dominion is confess 't by all nor Ampelisca of the Well from whence shee demanded water for the Priest of Venus Moreover those words of Latona are spoken concerning a Lake of little water as Ovid sheweth in that place Fortè lacum mediocris aquae prospexit in imis Vallibus By chance a little Lake shee did espie Which in the Uallies far beneath did

also his Sea-men to keep all relief of Victual from going to the Enemie by Sea Hee used the word Pirats in this place as others of that age have don not for Robbers as 't is commonly taken but for such as beeing skill'd in Sea-affairs were appointed to set upon the Enemie's Fleets and defend the Dominion by Sea Touching the derivation of the word the old Scholiast upon Sophocles his Aiax saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Pira in the Attick Tongue signifie's craft or art and hence it is that they are called Pirats which infest the Sea But when the English-Saxons and Danes in the time of K. Alfred were ever and anon strugling for the Soveraigntie in England for Gurmundus or Guthrunus King of the Danes was at that time setled in Northumberland as a Fiduciarie Client or Vassal to Alfred and had very large Territories in the East-part of England their Fights were mostly by Sea as if they had both been of opinion that hee which could get the Dominion of the British Sea would by necessarie consequence becom Lord also of the Land or of that part of the Isle which lie's before it For this caus also it was that the Danes growing strong at Sea K. Alfred mightily augmented his Naval Forces by building ships twice as long as the Danish ships deeper nimbler and less rocking or rolling and so much more convenient for Sea-Fights Florentius the Monk saith In the same year that is to say the year of our Lord MCCCXCVII the Forces of the Pagans residing in East-England and Northumberland using Piracie upon the Sea-Coasts did grievously infest the West-Saxon's Countrie with very long and nimble ships which they had built divers years before Against whom ships were built by the Command of K. Alfred twice as long deeper nimbler and less waving or rolling by whose force hee might subdue the aforesaid ships of the Enemie It is related also in the same words by Roger Hoveden But Henrie of Huntingdon speaking expresly of the number of Oars that served for the rowing of these ships of Alfred saith King Alfred caused long ships to bee made readie to wit of 40 Oars or more against the Danish ships But there are Chronicles written in the Saxon Tongue that speak of ships of 60 Oars and larger built by him at that time out of which these Writers above-mentioned and others of the like sort have compiled theirs The words of the Chronicles are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say King Alfred gave command for the building of long ships to encounter the Danish But they were twice as long as these whereof som had sixtie Oars som more They were also more nimble less rolling and deeper then the other Not built after the Frisian or Danish manner but such as hee conceived most convenient for fighting So that there is no doubt but the business of shipping was mightily advanced in his Reign among the English-Saxons in order to the defence and maintenance of their Dominion by Sea And wee very often finde that those Sea fights managed by Alfred and his son Edward with various success against the Danes and Normans were undertaken not without great numbers of Shipping But in the time of King Athelstan who was very strong at Sea upon the Irish Nation saith Huntingdon and those that dwelt in ships there fell a fatal destruction The English-Saxon words in the antient Chronicles from whence Huntingdon translated those and which agree w th these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which fully signifie the same thing For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Scotish Nation and Scots are by the Antients often taken for the Irish. Hee also saith the same Autor led an huge Armie by Land and Sea into Northumberland and Scotland and in regard there was none appear'd to make any opposition bee marched up and down the Countrie and wasting it at pleasure returned with Triumph whereupon saith a Poët of that time Jam cubat in terris fera barbaries Aquilonis Jam jacet in campo pelago pirata relicto Illicitas torvásque minas Analavus anhelans Now is the wilde and barb'rous North brought down Now Analave the Pirat is o'rethrown Who having left the Sea on Land doth lie And spightful threats breath's out against the Skie This Analavus was King of the Irish and of many Islands who invading the Coasts of Athelstan with a Fleet of DCXV ships at the mouth of the River Humber received a great overthrow and was put to a most shameful Flight But King Edgar as saith Florentius of Worcester sailing about the North of Britain with a great Navie arrived at Chester where his eight pettie Kings met him as hee had given order who sware fealtie to him and that they would assist him both by Sea and Land Or as Huntingdon saith of the same thing they all did homage to him declaring themselvs readie at his command to serv him by Sea and Land Among these pettie Kings there was one Maccusius whom Hoveden and Florentius call a King of very many Islands and Florilegus a King of Man and very many Islands William of Malmsburie call's him an Arch Pirat Moreover the same King Edgar as if hee intended to set forth the splendor magnificence and as it were an Epitome of his whole Empire in Sea-affairs and Shipping did as say Florentius and Hoveden during his abode at Chester enter into a Boat wherein hee was rowed by those pettie Kings himself holding the Stern and steering it about the River Dee and beeing attended by all his Dukes and Peers in such another Vessel bee sailed from the Palace to the Monasterie of S. John Baptist where an Oration beeing made to him hee returned in the same pomp unto the Palace In the very Entrie whereof hee is reported to have said to his Lords that then his Successors might boast themselvs Kings of England when they should bee thus attended by so many Kings and enjoy the state and glory of such honors or as Malmsburie write's of the same thing when they should enjoy so great a Prerogative of honors So many Kings as Vassals to bee readie alwaies to assist with their Forces whensoëver they should bee required both by Sea and Land There is also a notable testimonie in the same Florentius and the Monk of Malmsburie how that this King sailed round about his Sea every year and secured it with a constant Guard and Forces Every Summer saith Malmsburie immediately after Easter bee commanded his ships upon every shore to bee brought into a Bodie sailing usually with the Eastern Fleet to the West part of the Island and then sending it back hee sail'd with the Western Fleet unto the Northern and thence with the Northern hee returned to the Eastern beeing indeed very diligent to prevent the Incursions of Pirats that is behaving himself in this manfully as say Florentius also and Hoveden for the

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 ●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 ●ee are obliged in Honor to maintain the rights of Our Crown especially