1 8 THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 



facts and laws on record may be traced, by the resolutions 

 of the States of Holland, of which a register has been kept 

 from the year 15 24 downward. As the province of Holland 

 has always been prominent in fishery as well as in all other 

 seafaring trades, this register is indeed the principal source 

 from which the history both of sea fisheries and legislation 

 relating to them may be constructed, down to the present 

 century. 



Under the government of the Emperor Charles and his 

 son King Philip of Spain, the main feature of the fisheries' 

 history is a succession of quarrels about money. The 

 Sovereign wanted to raise money from the fishermen 

 towards the equipment of convoying ships for the herring 

 fleet, and wanted it, not in the shape of temporary subsidies, 

 but in that of a permanent tax, as to the employment of 

 which control would of course be inefficient. Against these 

 pretensions the fishermen's attitude was one of constant 

 grudging and reluctant granting. Continuous wars in the 

 meantime occasioned constant need of efficient convoy, and 

 kept the money question in the foreground as a subject of 

 unceasing and painful wrangling, in the midst of which, 

 however, the trade somehow managed to prosper. Such 

 was, in outline, the course of affairs from the beginning of 

 the domination of Charles V. and his successive deputies, 

 down to his son's ultimate deposition from the sovereignty, 

 i.e. for more than sixty years. 



The wars between the Emperor and France first 

 brought this convoying question into open dispute. The 

 French, indeed, used much forbearance, and their admirals 

 were in the .habit of offering sauf-conduits for sale to the 

 Dutch herring fishermen, subjects of a sovereign at war 

 with theirs. These sauf-conduits were purchased by many 

 for a consideration of fifteenpence per head of the crews 



