Almighty alone and the King of England usurpes to Himself although perhaps per gratiam Dei by which the most Absolute Princes govern their Lands and Territories And the Ambassadour Downing also concerning the aforesaid sense of the Ninteenth Article in his Memorial delivered in the Name of the King demanded of the States a plain and clear acknowledgment of the aforesaid Pretended Soveraignty of the Seas Eveâ—y one that can tell of our Country-men the impartial World may sée that not the refusing to strike the Flag in pursuance of the said Article which was fully performed as shall hereafter be made evident but only a Refusal of the said acknowledgment hath béen the subject of the King of England's complaint And it is likewise easily to be apprehended that at present the said Acknowledgment is demanded from the States not by reason of the Justice of Right to the pretended affair but only out of a plotted Design to war against Us which design could not be put in Execution but by a demand of Impossible Satisfaction for which intent the Ambassadour Downing propounded nothing else to the States than the Acknowledgment aforesaid lest having made Propositions of other things he might receive satisfaction for his King who he knew would not be satisfied Of what importance the said Acknowledgment so demanded is is not unknown to any of the Subjects of this State whose only subsistence is Commerce and consequently the Liberty of the Seas I do believe that not one single Fisherman in our Country can be found be he never so simple that apprehends not his chiefest Interest to consist herein and that to force the said Acknowledgment out of his throat and thereupon to cause the Effects of the said Pretended Soveraignty to follow is one and the same thing as to tye up his throat or at least there is no other Distinction than betwixt a speedy and a tedious yet assured Death since after the said Acknowledgment there can at the best nothing else be expected from the King of England's Grace and Favour than an option and choice of a sudden period or a lingring disease which is worse than a precipitated death And although the King of England extends not His pretended Dominion further than the British Seas yet it is evidently known that the Limits of the said Seas are by the King stretched out so far that not the least part for a passage out of our Country is left which is not in respect of his pretended Soveraignty subjected to the King according to his sense considering that not only the Chanel but also the North Sea and a great part of the Ocean is by the King of England accounted the British Sea so that We should not be able out of our own Country to set out to Sea but only by the Grace and Favour of the King of England of which we should be assured â—ar less than now we are of his faith and promise We shall not enter at present to confute the aforesaid pretences to the Soveraignty of the Sea not only because the same would probe too prolix but also and that principally by reason it cannot be judged necessary to contradict what all the World holds to be impertinent except the King of England who as little can adhere to reason as with reasonable offers he will be satisfied We shall only say that it is false and never can be proved that we ever fished in the Sea with licence and permission of the King of England's Father and that for paying Tribute as the aforesaid Declaration expresseth We confess that in the year 1636. some of the King of England's Ships of War seized upon our defensless Herring-busses and that by méer violence they forced a sum of money from them which they called Tonnage-money but we deny that from thence any Right or Title can be derived not only because violence can create no Right no not by continuance but also because the aforesaid violent exaction was not continued Complaints being made in England of the aforesaid exorbitance the same afterwards was no more demanded We shall with favour of the courteous Reader passing to the business of the Flag so as the same in the Nineteenth Article of the Treaty at Breda is regulated which Article must decide this Controversie briefly demonstrate that nothing was committed by the Lord of Ghent in the late Encounter contrary to the said Article and moreover that what hath béen offered to the King of England by this State over and above the obligations of the said Articles is of so convincing a concession that we néed not fear to refer it to the judgment of the English themselves as promising to our selves from the said peoples discretion that in respect this State hath given abundant satisfaction to them in point of Honour they will scorn and detest to demand that We should acknowledge the Soveraignty of the Sea procéeding only from a desire of War to belong to Them It is evident and amongst all discreet persons without Controversie that Saluting at Sea either by firing of Guns or striking the Flag or Lowring of some Sail must not be interpreted as some sign of subjection but méerly for an outward testimony of Respect and Civility which then with a Resolute and the like Civility is required and forasmuch as concerns the first saluting whereof We only here shall make mention it is conceived since those commonly first salute that owne themselves inferiours in Rank and Worth to those they méet although they are not under subjection to them that Ships of Republicks méeting at Sea with Ships of War belonging to Crowned Heads to which Republicks yield Superiority in the World must give the first salute either with one or other sign of respect which respect notwithstanding as all other Acts of Civility must procéed from a free willingness and an unconstrained mind in those that shew the same yet it hath often been seen that the strongest at Sea hath forced the weakest to this submission and that likewise the necessity and manner thereof hath béen expressed in Articles Such is likewise concerning the same agréed on betwixt the King of England and this State in the said Ninteenth Article in conformity to former Articles as well concluded with the present King as the Protector Cromwell that the Ships and Vessels of the United Provinces set out to Sea as well for War and defence against Enemies as others which at any time should meet in the British Seas with any of the Ships of War of the King of Great Britain shall strike their Flag and lowr their Top-sail in the like manner as formerly hath been customary To apprehend the true sense of that Article as it ought to be let the Reader be pleased to take notice that the same procéeded originally from the Articles betwixt this State and the Protector Cromwell concluded in the year 1654. and that at that time the same was not expressed in such terms as after
inutile and that they have so much of common sense as to understand that the welfare of the people is the grand interest of the Prince and that the King is the greatest sufferer in the ruinating of his Kingdoms To the end that others may be undeceived as well as my self and fortified against all mis-apprehensions which either their own ignorance or the clandestine Artifices of these ingrateful and most malicious Netherlanders may subject them unto I shall represent unto the World the most important passages whereby they endeavor to elude or refute the most just and sincere Declaration of His Majesty and evince unto the most suspicious or prejudicate Persons that it is incumbent upon the Subjects of His Majesty and there is an unavoidable necessity of reducing these insolent and treacherous Dutchmen into such a posture as they may not onely pay their due submissions with reparations of honor unto our King but be obliged to continue them for the future They are a Nation with whom no League can take effect any longer then their advantage leads them thereunto or want of strength and opportunity doth restrain them It is impossible for any Civilian to fetter them by a Treaty If they cannot evade it by equivocations mental reservations common elusions and such artifices as become not Soveraigners These Hollanders will impudently deny all such matters as enterfere with their designs and supply the injustice of their actions by violence and fraud They have no Honor to loose no Conscience to stain no certain Principles to recede from The Tartars and Moors prove the sincerer Confederates and Humanity it self is concerned that there should not be any longer upon Earth so fatal an instance that there are not in Men naturally such seeds of Morality such inclinations to civil Society such Laws of Nature and of Nations as those Authors teach us who never thorowly understood an Hollander I might give evident proofs of this so heinous a charge several ways but I shall confine my discourse to what these Dutch considerations lead me unto and it is from thence that I will manifest to the most ordinary capacities and the most prepossessed judgments that these Adversaries are not injured by this Character and to make the case more plain I will write their words Considerations upon the present state of the Affairs of the Vnited Netherlands Published by a Lover of his Countrey for the encouragement of his Countreymen in these troublesome times WHosoever looks upon the first beginning of the State of the United Netherlands with a curious eye and serious consideration of the Histories and discreetly observes by what means the Fabrick of the said State out of the lowness of its original is raised to this present height must needs be induced to confess That Divine Providence which not always appears visible to the eyes of the World hath so clearly been manifested in the framing and exalting of this State that with just Reasons it must be acknowledged that God Almighty was the external and visible erector of this Famous Republick An Age is now expired when before the Countrey through an unhappy Disorder of Government of those times was faln into a lamentable confusion since William E. of Marck L. of Lumè Admiral of the P. of Orange's Navy by a strict command from the Queen of England who not onely denied him liberty to stay in Her Countrey but also refused to supply his Seamen with necessaries constrained to leave England arrived beyond his intentions forced by cross Winds but indeed the Winds of Gods directions before the Brill of which He easily possessed himself not with a design to keep but onely to ransack the same and so to leave it again But being informed by others of the convenience and importance of the place brought the same into a posture of defence keeping it for his Principals and Superior Commanders And in this manner was the first Foundation of this precious structure laid or rather in regard of the External Instruments cast up by chance but in verity by the direction of the Supream Builder whose omnipotent hands oftentimes make use of Mortals as the blind instruments of his wonderful destinies It is not my design here to make a Relation of the progress of our Affairs and by what means our Ancestors have through troubles and adversities struggled and ascended to the heighth of that felicity which by Gods goodness we enjoy at present But my intentions onely aim by this short discourse to move my worthy Countrey men to fix their assured confidence that the same God which hath exalted us from lowness to a State whose high and flourishing condition now for a long continuance of time hath stirred up as much Envy as formerly its Misfortunes moved Compassion shall graciously protect and preserve the Works of his Almighty hands if imitating our Predecessors we in this juncture of time do joyn two principles together which ever ought to be inseparable viz. An entire resignation of our selves to the Divine Providence and An unalterable mind and vigorous courage in these troublesome times to act as much for our preservation as our Forefathers have done for their first Deliverance Desiring my Countrey-men that in comparing our present Anxieties with the Perplexities of our Ancestors and the necessities under which we our selves have labored they will look back in the Histories for the Primitive times of our Predecessors and for that time within compass of their own remembrance whereof still we preserve the memory We shall find in the Histories that the Affairs of our Predecessors in their first progress and growing Infancy were reduced to that inconvenience that the consideration thereof moved the Supream Person at that time who with an indissoluble Bond had linked his own prosperity to the fate and destiny of these Countries to urge this hopeless Advise viz. To cause by cutting of the Banks and pulling up the Sluces these Lands to be swallowed down in an irrecoverable condition and with Gods Mercy with that small remainder of their ruinated Fortunes to seek other Countries beyond Seas there either to live more happily or to find a period of their lives with less misery I shall not blame the Considerer for reflecting upon the Mercies of God extended towards his Countrey men I coâ—mend the least sense of Religion in him but I have most suspicious thoughts concerning Piety in an Hollander And I believe every Englishman will approve this jealousie to be just seeing All this specious preamble is made use of to no other end then to evade all acknowledgments to Queen Elizabeth and the English Monarchy It is not the pleasure of the Almighty that subordinate means and instruments should be deprived of their proper Elogies He by his Providence appointed means He by his Sovereign will doth prosper or frustrate them yet so that the divine interposition doth not usually derogate from the efficacy of second causes or exclude us from confessing their concurrence
from France though the Prince of Orange atchieved great things and reduced many Towns in Holland and Zealand unto his party yet such was their distress that An. Dom. 1575. they entred into a debate of putting themselves under the Protection of some Foreign Prince least through want of Money and of Soldiers and also the fickle inclinations of a discontented populace they should suddenly fall under the power of the Enemy And in the name of the States of Holland and Zeland and Prince of Orange was an Embassy sent into England to offer unto the Queen not only what was agreeable to equity reason and religion but to the exigency of their condition and what self preservation and extream necessity prompted them unto The Commission of the Embassadors was either to make a League with the Queen or to submit themselves under her Protection or if necessity required it to acknowledge her for their Princess and Soveraign Lady issued from the Earls of Holland and Zeland by the Lady Philip Daughter to William the third of that Name Earl of Henault and Holland c. The Queen thanked them for their good will towards her but fearing the enmity of Spain the envy of France and the charge of the War as also not being satisfied how she might with her honour and a safe conscience receive those offered Provinces into her protection much less possession she declined the Overture yet promised to intercede for them with Spain and in the mean space gave them leave to raise what Souldiers they could in England either from out of the English Scots or exiled Netherlanders and to furnish themselves with what provisions and Ammunitien they wanted and to transport them Notwithstanding this transcendent favour of the Queen's the ingrateful Zelanders the next year affronted her Majesty and seised upon sundry of her Merchants Ships upon various pretences whereupon she was so incensed that there had been an absolute difference betwixt them had not the Prince of Orange prudently composed all After this when Don Iohn became Governour of the Netherlanâ—â— and withall aspired to marry the Queen of Scots and render himself King of England the Queen enters into a more strict League and confederacy with them to aid them with men and money and 't was at her charge principally that Prince Casimire came to their aid with a German Army And out of England there went over the Seas to them the Lord North's eldest Son Iohn North the Lord Norris's second Son Iohn Norris Henry Cavendish and Thomas Morgan Colonels with very many Voluntiers and after that the Germans mutinously deserted the States the Queen furnished them readily with a great sum of money the ancient Jewels and rich Plate of the House of Burgundy being 〈…〉 ed unto her for it After this for several years the 〈…〉 erlands cast themselves under Arch-Duke Matthia 〈…〉 Duke of Anjou but with so ill success that they found themselves not able to continue long Antwerp and sundry other places being taken and William Prince of Orange murdered the French King not being able or willing to receive the Soveraignty of those Provinces so that they determined by a solemn Embassy to tender her Majesty the entire Dominion and Principality of the Netherlands They had treated with her before by I. Ortelius about protection but the Queen refused to espouse their quarrel except she might have cautionary Towns that her expences might be repaid at the end of the War But now that the desperate condition of their Affairs made any terms to be prudential they resolved to subject themselves unto her or contract any League for protection which she would enjoin them Upon the sixth of Iuly 1585. their Deputies came to London which were these For Brabant although by reason of the Siege of Antwerp not fully authorised was sent Iacques de Grise chief Bailiff of Bruges for Guelderland was Rutgert van Harsolt Burgomaster of Harderwick for Flanders although likewise not fully authorised Noel Caron Seignior of Schoonwall Burgomaster of Franc for Holland and Friseland was Iohn Vander Does Lord of Noortwick and Ioos Van Menin Counsellor of the Town of Dort and Iohn van Oldenbarnevelt Counsellor of the Town of Rotterdam Doctor Francis Maelson Counsellour of the Town of Enâ—khuysen for Zeland was Iacob Valck a Civil Lawyer and one of the Council of State for Vtrecht was Paul Buys Doctor for Friseland was Ielgher van Seytzma Counsellor of State Hessel Aysma President and Laest Ioughema They were kindly received by the Queen and nobly feasted at her cost upon the ninth of Iuly they were brought to their Audience at Greenwich the Audience was most solemn and publick the Queen being seated on her royal Throne and all the Privy Council attending on each hand of her Majesty The Deputies being introduced fell upon their knees before the Throne of the Queen and Ioos Van Menin with great reverence and submission made an Oration to her in the name of the Distressed States of the United Netherlands unto this purpose That the States of the United Netherlands Provinces humbly thanked her Majesty for the honourable and many Favours which it had pleased her to shew unto them amidst their extreme necessities having not long since received the testimonies of her Princely clemency when after the cruel Murther of the Prince of Orange it pleased her Majesty by her Ambassador Mr. Davidson to signifie unto them the great care she had for their defence and preservation and after that again by the Lord of Grise by whom she let them understand how much she was discontended to see them frustrated of their expectations reposed upon the hope they had in the Treaty with France adding that nevertheless her Majesties care for the support of the Netherlands was rather augmented than diminished by reason of the difficulties which multiplied upon them For the which not only the Provinces in general but every particular person therein should rest bound unto her Majesty for ever and labour to repay so transcendant obligations by all posâ—â—ble fidelity and obedience And therefore the Estates aforesaid observing that since the death of the Prince of Orange they had lost many of their Forts and good Towns and that for the defence of the said United Netherlands they had great need of a Soveraign Prince who might protect and defend them from the insolencies and oppressions of the Spaniards and their Adherents who sought daily more and more all the means they could with their Forces and other sinister Practices to spoil and utterly root up the foundation of the aforesaid Netherlands and thereby to bring the â—oor afâ—â—icted people of the same into perpetual bondage and worse than Indian slavery under the insupportable yoke of the most exeerable Inquisition Finding likewise that the Inhabitants of the said Netherlands were perswaded and had assured confidence that her Majesty out of her Princely inclination would not endure to see them
A JUSTIFICATION OF THE Present War AGAINST THE United Netherlands WHEREIN The Declaration of His Majesty is Vindicated and the WAR proved to be Iust Honourable and Necessary The Dominion of the Sea Explained and His Majesties Rights thereunto Asserted The Obligations of the Dutch to England and Their Continual Ingratitude Illustrated with Sculptures In Answer to a Dutch Treatise Entituled Considerations upon the Present State of the United Netherlands By an English Man Cicero ad Atticum Lib. X. Ep. 7. Pompeij omne Consilium Themistocleum est Existimat enim qui Mare teneat eum necesse rerum potiri Lucius Florus Pudebat nobilem populam ablato mari raptis insulis dare tributa quae jubere consueverat LONDON Printed for Henry Hills and Iohn Starkey and are to be Sold at the Bell in St. Pauls Chuch-yard and the Mitre within Temple-Bar 1672. THE AUTHOUR UNTO THE READER SInce the Author of the Considerations is pleased to conceal his Name and suffer his Book to pass as the work of a private person it seems requisite that I do declare this ensuing Treatise to proceed from an Hand not less private if not more and this I am the more obliged to own lest by any mistake of mine through Haste Ignorance or Mis-information some prejudice might be created against the just and unquestionable Rights of his Majesty The Interests of Princes are not proper subjects for ordinary pens yet in this juncture of our Affairs in these times of universal danger I hope my attempt shall not be liable to mis-construction since it hath no other sourse and original than the service of my King and Native Country and I do profess that I have not to my best knowledge made use of any officious untruths nor in any Allegation or Asseveration imposed upon the credulous Reader nor have I asserted the less probable opinions at any time out of compliance with the present exigencies of State in opposition to those which are strengthned with greater Authority and Reason I have throughly convinced my self in the first place and therefore hope the Discourse may prove more satisfactory unto all others The infant Republick of the United Netherlands after that it had got some considerable strength by the assistance of England began to be sensible of the Advantages they drew from Navigation and how necessary it was for them not only to open the Commerce unto both Indies but to secure themselves of the Fishing in the British Seas the death of Queen Elizabeth who would otherwise have been jealous of their growing power and tender of her own Rights together with the peaceable disposition of King James seemed to make way for their ambitious designs and the Cabal of Holland whereof Grotius was one did publish an Anonymous Treatise called Mare liberum wherein the freedom of the Sea to navigate or fish in was maintained as a due right of mankind according to the Law of Nature and Nations which foundation they esteemed more suitable to their ends then if they should depend upon a revocable priviledge or tacit permission The Book was the less resented at that time because it was in appearance levelled against the Spanish Indies and the prohibition of Commerce there and then all Europe was willing to see the pride and power of Spain abated by any means Howsoever King James was angry at the pretended Liberty of Fishing and his Embassador Carleton complained thereof to the States but they never avowed the principles but owned the Rights of King James though in deed slighted them and usurped upon the Fishing in such manner as I have shewed in this Treatise That single Book hath occasioned a multitude of Discourses upon that Subject Mr. Selden defended the English dominion over the British Seas Others that of Venice and Genoa The Dutch Advocates undermining by their Writings all the Regalities of Princes as their Masters have done by their Actions After that the troubles of Scotland and England had disabled King Charles the First from attending unto the Dominion of the Sea according as He most generously purposed the Dutch thought that the English being weakned with the Civil Wars and distracted with Intestine Factions by reason of the alteration of the Government could not resist their ambition should they usurp the Universal Dominion of the Seas and to secure themselves therein they sent Van Tromp to destroy the English Navy without declaring any War but neither did that attempt nor the War ensuing thereupon prosper as they hoped they would But ever since that fierce War they have determined upon the ruining the English Navigation and not only to exclude the English from the East-India Trade but to expel them from and deprive them of the Dominion of the British Seas It is a received Aphorism amongst the Hollanders that the flourishing condition of England is a diminution of their glory Also that Trade and the Repute of strength are inseparably linked together and hereupon they have so many ways contributed to the embroiling of our Kingdoms and omitted nothing that might represent us as ridiculous and contemptible unto Foreign Princes After they had usurped the Fishery they began to assume a freedom to act all manner of Hostilities upon our Allies if at enmity with them not only upon our Seas but in our Ports and hereof there are many Instances besides the destruction of the Spanish Fleet in 1639. After this their pride increasing with their power they refused to strike Sail to our Ships of War now they will allow it to be but a Ceremony and Civility and dispute the paying thereof unless we come up to such terms as are insupportable Thus by degrees they have reduced this Nation to the present weakness and contempt nor can any concessions any indulgence satisfie their Arrogance and Covetousness They who covet all will not acquiesce in any grants that are not answerable to their desires how unjust or vast soever they be And their friendship is sooner purchased by a brisk opposition than complaisance If we look upon the number and quality of the injuries which we have received from the Dutch the Turks of Algiers and Tunis are less offensive and less perfidious If we consider the courses by which the Dutch attacque us the Algerines are the more supportable to an English spirit since they act by force and open piracy what the Hollanders do by finess and deceipt And since it is our unhappiness to have so ill neighbours that we must either fall by a lingring and inglorious death or hazard by War a more precipitate end I think hiâ— Majesty hath made that choice which is most conformable to the genius and temperament of his Subjects and instigated by his Honour Justice and Necessity put into the hands of the English an opportunity at least of perishing bravely But as we ought not in a righteous cause to distrust the mercy of God so upon so auspicious a beginning as the Lord of Hosts
hath favoured us with under the conduct of our Undaunted Admiral we may hope for a prosperous success over our treacherous and ungrateful Enemies It becomes the Nation now to express their generous resolution and courage whereby the first advantages may be timely and vigorously pursued It is true War is expensive yet 't is not to be esteemed so when the effects of peace will be more fatal and cost us more It is expensive yet in the beginnings of War even prodigality is wisdom and he that lays out most lays out least Small supplies may foment and continue a War but great ones put a speedy end thereunto Let us then shew our selves unanimous and resolute Let us add to our usual boldness all that fury which despair infuseth Our circumstances are such as admit of no after-game either we must be the Distressed Kingdom of England or they once more the Distressed States of Holland and 't will be more insupportable for us to fall into a condition we never yet understood than for them who return only to their primitive estate The Dutch presume not so much upon their own strength as upon our divisions animosities and poverty Let us undeceive them in these surmises let us convince them that the English have yet much to give as well as All to lose and that they can abandon all private emulations and jealousies where the Publick is so highly endangered and either totally extinguish them or lay them aside till they have a more fitting time to resume them If we can form our minds to such sentiments as these we may have in a short space what Peace we desire if we act by other Principles we can have no Peace but what pleaseth the insolent and enraged Hollander Errata Pag. 10. lin 31 for Soveraigners read Soveraigns p. 21. l. 25. blot out being now in p. 62. l. 36. for vénd r. read The second Cut is to be inserted pag. 40. Impartial and Seasonable REFLECTIONS Upon a late Book Entituled Considerations upon the Present State of the United Netherlands WHen I perused the Treatise Entituled Considerations upon the present State of the United Netherlands I could not but recal to minde that Raillery of Charles the Fifth who when He adjusted the usefulness of several European Languages said That the Dutch was fittest to be used unto an Horse Certainly the expressions they use against His Sacred Majesty the present King of Great Britain are so rude and barbarous the suggestions so palpably false that in a controversie betwixt private persons such a procedure were intolerable in any part of the Civil World How much more then ought we to resent it where the Dignity and Honor of our Prince upon whose Reputation abroad and at home not onely the National Renown and General Commerce but the Welfare and Being of each Particular Man is suspended is concerned I do not endeavor to serve the present juncture by this high insinuation of what importance it is that the Majesty of our Soveraign be upheld I do not act any thing of the Courtier herein 't is a document of the best Politicians and the experience of all Ages doth confirm it for a Truth It is no vain or empty design for a Prince to preserve that credit and renown which appertains unto His Quality 't is hereby that He shall ensure Himself of those that waver in their Friendship or Allegiance 't is hereby that He shall retain His Armies in Discipline and Courage 't is hereby that He shall continue in His other Subjects their due Reverence and Respect In fine The Reputation of a Prince is All in all And that being once lost the most powerful and prudent Remedies become ineffectual to the support of his Crown and tranquility of His Dominions Neither do I upbraid the Dutch with the violation of those Edicts whereby Christianity regulates Men so in their deporments As not to speak evil of Dignities not to Blaspheme the Gods or Magistrates being reviled not so much as to revile again Whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are of good report if there be any praise if there be any glory to think thereof No no I should injure Christendom to reckon the Vnited Netherlands a part thereof such are their practises that 't is a crime in them to profess that Religion and a great mistake in those that entitle them thereunto I know not whether I do not speak too mildly concerning those deluded persons since 't is a wilful error in them that imagine so the Dutch themselves have avowed it and those that managed their Trade in Iapan when the Christians there at the instigation of the Dutch were all by horrible tortures put to death and every Hous-keeper enjoyned to declare in writing That he neither was a Christian nor retained any Christians in his family Melchior à Santvoort and Vincentius Romeyn subscribed themselves that They were Hollanders Most impiously for lucre's sake declining that Profession of Christianity to which Christ and his Apostles oblige them If they were ashamed or afraid to acknowledge Christ then I know what our Saviour will do to them hereafter and if we be ashamed to own them now or positive in denying them to be Christians now we are justified by an infallible Authority I would willingly palliate the matter by casting the scandal upon a few particular persons who might be surprised with the imminent danger at that time But their reputation is not to be salved so for the Conditions upon which the Trade continues to be managed there with the knowledge and approbation of the States-General and of the Provincials of Holland are these They are at their first arrival faithfully to deliver up all the Books which they bring along with them to Japan not a Bible or Prayer-Book is reserved which are not to be restored till their departure again They are to refrain from all manner of outward Profession of Christianity in Word or Deed amongst the Japanners in so much that it is Death and Confiscation of their Ships and Goods if they do so much as verbally give God thanks for the Meat they eat or by any motion of their Hands or Eyes testifie any inclination thereunto Upon these terms the Emperor permitted them to trade thither the Conditions were sent into Holland to be approved of there it being added in the close of the Letter That if they did make any of the least show that they were Christians they should not obtain any favor at the hands of the Emperor And the Dutch have so exactly submitted to these Conditions and do so absolutely in word and deeds dissemble their Christianity that not onely the common people but the Rulers and Magistrates of Iapan do really believe that they are as perfect Heathens as themselves What would those Ancient Christians do to these Irreligious Hollanders What Sentiments would they entertain against these practises who proceeded so
owe their welfare and being to the Mercy of God and Favour of Quéen Elizabeth they should now take no notice that the English contributed any thing to their support So detestable baseness doth make me judge that If it were not their Interest Their Religion is such that Thâ—y would proceed to ascribe nothing unto God himself and all they write to that purpose is no more than a Complement from their High and Mighties to the Almighty We shall on it to relate how often the Republick after that by the hand of God she was raised from that desperate condition hath trembled and quaked both for fear of Foraign Enemies and Intestine combustions Histories will declare unto us that not only the State of the united Provinces but all the Netherlands which together but not with a strict obligation were tyed were sufficiently plunged into the extremest inconveniences by the perfidiousness of the Duke of Anjou brother to the King of France And that afterwards the United Provinces were brought into a deplorable disorder and beyond all posture of defence by the craft and ambitious designs of the Earl of Leicester sent hither by Queen Elizabeth for our protection I have already spoken concerning the Earl of Leicester and their ingratitude towards him the French do form the like charge against them in behalf of the Duke of Anjou that they violated their agreements with him gave him only an empty Title but reserving and drawing all the power into their own hands the sense of which indignity considering that He was a Brother of France and had brought them powerful succours in their distress made him take the courses specified And it is observable that in all thâ—se and other emergencies where the Dutch are branded for their Ingratitude Perfidiousness and unworthy Dealings the particular Province of Holland is always the sole Author or principal occasion Whereof they themselves boastingly give a relation in their Manifest published at Leyden 1654. It is thence that I derive my Intelligence that the Infant States being jealous of the Power and Popularity of William Prince of Orange did without ever acquainting him therewith invite the Archduke Matthias to be their Governour And it is there that I read of a great peril that Holland c. was in and how they were delivered from it the which our Considerer might have seasonably inserted here as well as the rest viz. The States of Holland Zeland and Vtrecht were determined to make Prince William Earl of Holland with all the Prerogatives heretofore enjoyed by such Earls and though Amsterdam Gouda and some other Towns dissented yet were they resolved to pursue their intentions but the Prince was assassinated a month before the Installment could be effected and God most providentially did thereby frée the Subjects oâ— Holland from that subjection into which they were running precipitously There cannot be a greater testimony of the degeneracy of this Age in which such Ingratitude is publickly avowed and authenticated by a solemn declaration of the States of Holland and West-Frizlanâ— the most infamous actions in the world and such as would create a blush in the countenances of any men but Hollanders are recited as the most glorious 'T is there that I read how the States of Groninghen and Ommeland immediately upon the Murther of Prince William did deprive his Son Grave Maurice of all his Dignities Honours and Emoluments in their Province and never admitted any of that Line to be their Governour unto this day 'T is there that I read a defence of their secluding the Prince of Orange from being State-holder or Admiral or General of the Forces of the Vnited Provinces a separate Article which Holland concluded with Cromwell wherein they extenuate and deny any obligations they have to the whole House of Orange and therefore they might without breach of Morality and Civility proceed as they did I confess I was amazed to read such things and wondred not that Queen Elizabeth and our English Kings meet with so much unmoral usage amongst these Hollanders since Prince William and his Heirs are thus intreated and whilst others behold the Dutch as Protestants and Christians I cannot but rank them amongst the worst of mankind not to be parallel'd by any known race of Pagans and Savages We will likewise pass by in silence the relating of those passages of which many of Us have béen living Witnesses as when the whole Country 〈…〉 a sudden Invasion on the Veluwe and the taking of Amerford was in the like manner alarm'd as Rome when Hannibal appeared before her Gates This Invasion happened Anno Dom. 1629. The Spaniards joyning their Forces with those of the Emperour under Montecuculi did make the said irruption and surprised Amerford being already Masters of Wesel All Holland was affrighted and their High and Mighties forsook the Hague to fit at Vtrecht The recent memory hereof might suggest unto the Hollanders more of moderation in their deportment since they are no more assured of their good Fortune than the World is of their good Manners I could not but compassionate the distress of old Rome the memory whereof this passage renewed and I wished that victorious Monteâ—uâ—â—â—i had prevented our Prince and the King of France in the reducing of Holland whose baseness represents them to have a greater affinity with Carthage than Rome and the Belgie Faith imports as much of Treachery as ever did the Punic And forasmuch as comes within the reâ—ch of our own Memories we have yet fresh remembrances of the War with the Lord Protector Cromwell into which by a certain destiny and an interest beyond interest we were drawn at a time when the Nation for want of Ships and Guns was reduced to a perplexity the thought whereof we cannot entertain without grief and alteration in our hearts All that are acquainted with the transactions of that War do well know that the Dutch began their preparations for that War long before the English apprehended it they ordered 150 Ships to be equipped out and beat up their Drums for Volunteers to man them amusing the English with a Declaration that this was done to secure the Commerce so that no preparations extraordinary were then set on foot in England and whilst they were in League with this Nation and in the midst of a Treaty for a stricter Alliance their Admiral most perfidiously comes into Dover road with an intent to destroy the English Navy and ascertain thereby to his Masters the Dominion of the Sea I more willingly mention these things because they are an instance to some people not only of the perfidiousness of the Dutch but of the equity of his Majesties present quarrel for that War was grounded upon the striking of the Flag and the Dominion of the Seas and it is apparent Faction not any colourable reason which can sway any man that approved of that War to condemn this It is also an instance that the present
a long debate of some words which the Protector Cromwell would have added thereunto thereby not only to oblige single Ships but entire Fleets of the States to the said Salute in case of méeting with any of the Ships of War belonging to England which words afterwards upon the earnest instance of the Ministers of this State were left out of the said Article so that the aforesaid Nineteenth Article drawn on t of the tenth Article of the Peace in the year 1662. which tenth Article on the Kings side was delivered in out of the thirteenth Article of the year 1654. must not be so understood that an entire Fleet of the States by vertue of the said Article shall be obliged to give the said Salute to one single Ship of the English but the said Article must be taken for a Regulation according to which single Ships and Vessels of this State in point of saluting the Ships of England are to govern themselves Now to apply the said Article according to the true sense to the late accident of the Lord of Ghent it is in the first place to be observed that the King of England's Pleasure-Boat suppose in respect of her Equippage it must pass for a Ship of War which we will not dispute not having met with any single Ships or Vessels of the States but coming in amongst a Fleet then riding at Anchor undoubtedly with a wicked design to séek matter of Complaint it with no fundamental reasons can be maintained that the Lord of Ghent by vertue of the said Article was obliged to strike Secondly It is likewise considerable that the aforesaid Article speaking of meeting cannot be applied to a formed design to cause a Quarrel by requiring in the uncivillest manner in the world an act of Civility and Respect And lastly It is notorious that the said accident happened in the North Sea not far from our own Coast as likewise it is well known that the North Sea is not the British Sea not only because in all Sea-plats yea in the English Map it self it is distinguished from all other but also and especially which in this case is an invincible Argument by reason the same in the seventh Article of the Treaty of Breda are distinctly mentioned one from the other where it is expresly said that All Ships and Merchandizes which within twelve days after the Peace are taken in the British Sea and the North Sea shall continue in propriety to the Seizer out of which it plainly appears that even according to the King of England's sense the North Sea differs in reallity from the British Sea but vice versâ that the North Sea is made the British Sea and consequently that distinct things are confounded together where there is a design to raise commotions and disturbances in the world And though their High and Mighties might have kept to the Nineteenth Article of the said Treaty according to the true original interpretation yet they declared to the King of Great Britain that upon the foundation and condition of a firm friendship assurance of a real and sincere performance thereof upon the fifth Article of the Triple Alliance in case France should fall upon this State they would willingly cause the entire Fleet when they should at any time méet with any Ship or Ships of War carrying his Majesties Standard to strike the Flag and lowr the Top-sail in testimony of their Respect and Honour which they upon all occasions will publickly shew to so faithful a Friend and so great a Monarch Provided that from thence no occasion either now or hereafter should be taken or the least inducements given to hinder or molest the Inhabitants and Subjects of the United Provinces of the Netherlands in their Free use of the Seas which Declaration the King of England wrongly interprets because that the same is joyned with the true performance of the Triple League that is with his Honour and Word as also with the assurance that no prejudice should be offered in regard of the Free use of the Seas being an infallible argument that The King of England is as little inclined to leave us an undisturbed use of the Seas as He is to kéep and perform his word I have already demonstrated the Iustice and Honour of his Majesties Arms. This Discourse gives me occasion to manifest the Necessity thereof All that is recited here was alledged by the Dutch Ambassadours to our King and if it appear hence that His Majesty could not continue his Alliance any longer with the Dutch unless He would abandon the Soveraignty of the Sea exchange his proper Rights into meer Civilities and those not to be enforced and put Himself and his Dominions into the Power of the Dutch there is none then can doubt but That the King was unavoidably engaged into this War by the insolence and arrogance of the treacherous and usurping Hollanders and that He did not seek or feign pretensions to quarrel with them The Nineteenth Article of the Treaty at Breda doth run thus That the Ships and Vessels of the said United Provinces as well Men of War as others meeting any Men of War of the said King of Great Britain's in the British Seas shall strike the Flag and lowre the Top-sail in such manner as the same hath béen formerly observed in any times whatsoever This Article was transcribed out of a former Treaty made betwixt O. P. and the States General and he was the first that ever inserted any such Article into any Treaty our Right and Dominion over the British Seas having never been disputed before but by an immemorial prescription and possession transmitted unto us and supposed as unquestionable by all Princes these ungrateful Dutch are the first that controverted it disowning it in the time of the late Wars when our Civil distractions rendred our Prince unable to attend unto the Maritime Dominion and to curb their growing pride yet was the long Parliament so concerned to preserve the Rights of this Nation that they made an Ordinance April 5. 1643. commanding their Admiral and Commanders at Sea to inforce all persons to pay the usual and due submissions unto the Men of War appertaining to this Kingdom And the pretended Republick here did vigorously and by a dreadful War assert the said Soveraignty of the Seas So that it ought to be deemed the concurring sentiment of All parties in England that These submissions by striking the Flag and lowring the Top-sail are not meer Civilities and unnecessary Punctilioes of Honour and vain-glory but a fundamental point whereon the Being of the King and Kingdom is in great part suspended and it hath been so studiously insisted on by our Princes that for above Four hundred years it hath been a Clause in the Instructions of the Admiral and the Commanders under him tha◠in case they met any Ships whatsoever upon the British Seas that refused to strike Sail at the Command of the Kings Admiral or his Lieutenants that
bee sold to the Inhabitants of the same kingdome quhuiâ— by his Majesties custumes bee not defrauded and his Hienesse Lieges not frustrate of the commodity appointed to them by God under the paine of confiscation and tynsell of the Ueschelles of them that cumes in the contrair thereof and escheating of all their movable guddes to our Soveraigne Lords use In this condition were the Rights of the Fishing until the Dutch did advance themselves to that height and puissance that they esteemed themselves able to infringe them and such was their Covetousness which prompts them that are infected therewith to value the smallest and most unjust Gains that they determined to do it In the year 1594. Iames VI. King of Scotland apprehending the growth of these Netherlanders and their influence upon the English Nation by reason of the multitudes of our Nobility and Gentry which resorted thither into the Armies and being desirous to fortifie by all possible means His right of succession to the Crown of England invited the States to be God-fathers to his Son Prince Henry together with the Kings of France and Denmark and Queen Elizabeth they sent a splendid Embassy Walravius van Brederode being principal and so richly presented the Royal Infant that they much endeared themselves to King Iames and no less exasperated Queen Elizabeth in that they should dare to rival her at the Baptisme of the Prince and also demean themselves with so much munificence or rather prodigality King Iames either out of interest to ascertain himself of their Friendship or being captivated by their Presents and Flatteries granted but not by any Deed that I know unto the Dutch the Priviledges which had been formerly granted to the Belgick Provinces upon Leagues betwixt the House of Burgundy and England in reference to the Fishing whereby according to Articles made with Philip of Burgundy and with Charles V. they were to Fish in the Brittish Seas without any impediment or the sueing for a special License It was by vertue of the same Treaties and Confederacies with the House of Burgundy that Q. Elizabeth did permit them the Fishing of our English Seas for that Queen did alwaies pretend and declare that by reason of sundry Alliances betwixt England and the House of Burgundy she did aid and support the Netherlands At first the Dutch either out of pure respect a rare quality in that sort of people or because their Busses were not so very numerous as in the subsequent times did Fish at a good distance from the Land and leaving convenient space for the Natives of Scotland to pursue their small employment in the Fishery there was no notice or at least no complaints against them upon that subject But when a series of prosperous successes gain'd by the English and Scotch valour had raised the Dutch to a great power at home and renown abroad and that their Ships became exceeding numerous and their Fleets potent and Queen Elizabeths death had advanced a more peaceable Prince to the English Crown They began to encroach upon the English and Scottish shores to disturb the Natives in their Fishing not leaving them so much Sea-room upon their Princes Coast as to take any Fish but such as were the gleanings of the Hollanders Busses who driving at Sea do break the skull or shole of Herrings and then they flie near the shore and through the sounds I find King Iames to have complained against their insolence and the encroachments of the Dutch Fishermen upon His Seas and to the prejudice of His Subjects But that Prince dealt most in Remonstrances an ineffectual course with Hollanders and equipped out no Ships to assert his rights on the whole Brittish Seas at last in 1609. He established Commissioners for to give Licenses at London to such as would Fish on the English Coasts at Edinburgh for such as would Fish in the more Northern Sea and by Proclamation interdicted all un-licensed Fishers The Licenses were to be demanded yearly for so many Ships and the Tonnage thereof as should intend to Fish for that whole year or any part thereof upon any of the Brittish Seas and the Offenders against the King's Proclamation to undergo due chastisement But this Edict of his Majesty proved but a Brutum fulmen an insignificant noyse and thunder the Dutch contemned it and grew more pervicacious in opposition to His Majesties Officers which came to disturb their un-licensed Fishing The States did mingle their concerns with those of the Fishermen and sent Wafters or Men of War to protect their Busses against the Spanish Pirates and to awe the Kings Officers They refused to pay either the Assize-Herring or to take Licenses and in 1616. M. Brown being ordered by the Duke of Lennox who as Admiral of Scotland was commanded to vindicate the Kings's Rights in those Seas to insist upon the Assize-Herring which was the King's Old and indubitable Right they did contest about it and after much dispute paid it according to the Laws and Customes of Scotland But the next year being the year in which King Iames did gratifie that People with the Surrendry of the cautionary Towns the Busses obstinately refused it saying They were commanded by the States of Holland to pay it no more Mr. Browne wanting sufficient force to chastise their Wafters did only take witness of this their refusal whereupon the insolent Dutch seised the King of England's Officer and carried him into the Netherlands where He was detained a while The King repeats His Complaints at the Hague and to their Embassadors here at London the Dutch amused him with Treaties and sent Commissioners to London not to submit or adjust differences but to heighten them They pleaded A right of their own by immemorial prescription and confirmed it with divers Treaties viz. One of the year 1459 betwixt Philip of Burgundy and Henry the Seventh Another betwixt Charles V. as Duke of Burgundy and Henry the Eighth by both which it had been agreed that the Subjects of the Belgick Provinces should Fish in the English Seas without impediment and without License But what influence have those Treaties upon the Kingdom of Scotland Or how do they extend unto the Assize-herring For those Capitulations do not leave them at liberty as to this point any more than they absolve them from paying Customes To observe the Laws and pay the dues of a Country are no illegitimate impediments of Fishing To proceed Suppose we that the Subjects of the House of Burgundy had any such priviledges granted them by the said Treaties what doth this concern the Rebels of the House of Burgundy What doth it concern the States General of the United Netherlands who by their change of Government and rupture from the majority of the Provinces are no longer the same people They have nothing to pretend unto but the Connivance of Q. Elizabeth and the indulgence of K. Iames during the time of their distress nor doth the whole Age of their
and that within the memory of this present Age and they so disputed it at first as to acknowledge our Right but yet to plead an exemption as to fishing in nothing else by vertue of the Capitulations of Intercourse betwixt the English and House of Burgundy the vanity of which claim being so notorious they at last began to be so impudent and insolent as to renounce the Concessions of the Burgundians and their own and now to plead universally that the Sea is the Lord's and not capable of or subjected to the Dominion of any Prince or State It is an unparalleld and most imprudent attempt for these up-starts to shake thus the Tenures not only of Kings but even private persons and to deny that an Immemorial quiet possession of a Land or Territory the Sea is called a Territory is a just Title thereunto whereas hitherto it hath been allowed by those that treat of the Laws of Nations that he who can alledge this needs not to prove his Acquest and Title That prescription doth not require any Right but supplies it and doth it self create a Right nor ought there any proof to be admitted against it Nothing is more received amongst Man-kind then that Prescription and Long Vsage should be deemed equivalent to mutual pacts and the assent of the voisinage And that practise seems to be adjudged to be legitimate where all parties though otherwise interessed to oppose it do without any extraordinary awe or other indirect motive silently and peaceably acquiesce Iephtha when the Ammonites demanded that the Israelites should surrender up the Cities held by them on that side Iordan replied that the Israelites had possessed them three hundred years during all which time the Ammonites had not redemanded them The Law of Nations doth generally allow a lesser space to authenticate a Prescription and just Occupancy It is esteemed to have an Immemorial prescription the contrary whereof no man can say He ever saw done or heard related by others to have been done and 't is commonly declared that one hundred years of usage or possession do suffice to determine the controversie Our case is such that I need not make use of this last plea though so many allow of it and Rome urged it against Antiochus 't is really Immemorial and consequently as valid morally as if it had been conferred upon us at the primitive distribution of Lands except there can be produced most unanswerable reasons to the contrary I shall therefore examine the Reason all edged by the Dutch to invalidate this Prescription and long occupancy of his Majesty The Considerer alledgeth but one which is That the Dominion of the Sea appertains to God alone in the judgment of the States General and the King of England doth usurp upon the divine prerogative by assumeing it to himself I answer that in the judgment of them that are as intelligent and more honest then the States General The Dominion of God Almighty over the Land is as much appropriated to Him as that over the Seas Since that the same Scripture which saith that The Sea is his and he made it doth likewise inform us that His hands prepared the dry land Ps. 95.5 and that The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein Ps. 24.1 So that without a more express declaration a more revealed will of God we cannot conclude from the Text any thing else then the General providential Soveraignity of God which where He doth not in a particular manner publish his Will as when He gave the Israelites the land of Canaan doth no way enterfere with or exclude Humane propriety Otherwise the Earth must likewise become common and All people live Free from Subjection to any Government As to this last point I find M. Schoockius a Belgick Professour to write that 't is proverbially said in the United Netherlands That the Placaets of the States General are not in force beyond three days But they ought not to oblige one minute since the world and they that dwell therein are the Lords Of all the Arguments which ever I read in behalf of the freedom of the Sea this is the most Fanatical If it were granted that the Kings of England France Denmark Sweden c. were Usurpers upon the rights of God Almighty what Commission have these wicked Hollanders to vindicate them a people worse then Sodom and Gomorrah if you believe M. Schoockius the most unworthy Delegates in this world Who made these Skellums to be of the Star-chamber May they run before they are sent Are all Apostles But to wave this foolish pretense I will for the instruction of the more ignorant remove such Objections as men of more High and Mighty reason then the States General do press vehemently against the dominion of the Sea 1. The nature of the Sea is such that it is in a perpetual flux and never settles in any certain place therefore it is not capable of being subjected under a certain dominion possession or prescription I answer that though it be not strictly and Physically the same it continues to be so Legally and in respect of its Bottom Sand and Channel If this Objection were valid even Rivers would not be subject to impropriation they do continually flow and which is more without reflux and the same reason would render every man uncapable of a Legacy or Inheritance because a constant transpiration varieth our bodies In idem flumen bis non descendimus Neither do we twice swim in the same river nor are we the same persons who attempt to swim twice within the same channel Besides a man may retain a propriety in things variable as in mony lent and to be repaid in specie not numerically A man may have a right unto the Air or Light and an Action lieth in case of Nusance And shall a remedy be allowed in case an encroaching Neighbour doth obstruct the Light or annoy the Air and shall not a Prince take care that no Forein Fleets shall without warning and license approach his territories Provision in this case is much more allowable by how much greater the danger is 2. There cannot be any peculiar and distinct bounds prefixed to particular dominions upon the Seas and since nothing can be privately possessed which is not bounded therefore God and Nature seem to have ordained the Seas to be free since it is not limitable I answer That the Inundation of Nile and the Storms upon the Libyan Sands do render the bounds undistinguishable yet are the Lands subject to propriety Besides the Shores Promontories c. may stand as well for Sea-bounds as Trees Posts Hedges Rivers c. are bounds on Land and where they fail Imaginary Lines and Contrivances may supply the defect since we are no more in Contracts betwixt Princes to expect rigour of Law but Aequum bonum then in mixt Mathematicks indivisible Points and Lines Several Leagues of