SOME DORSET PRIVATEERS. 31 



by individuals to whom Letters of Marque had been issued 

 were justified in international law by the fact that such 

 persons had suffered loss at the hands of the subjects of a 

 foreign Power, for which redress could not be obtained by 

 other means. Practically all maritime nations made use 

 of these methods ; in our own country one of the earliest 

 instances occurs in the year 1293, when a Patent Roll men- 

 tions Letters of Marque which had been granted against 

 the King of Castile, and again, in 1387, permission is given to 

 " take what they can for one year." The issue of these 

 licences to make reprisals on the shipping of another state 

 did not necessarily imply a condition of warfare with its 

 Government, but in practice such reprisals were regarded as 

 unfriendly acts, and a formal declaration of war generally 

 followed, the other party to the dispute failing to appreciate 

 such a nice distinction. 



In Britain the Crown, after it had unsuccessfully preferred 

 claims for redress, issued a general commission to the Lord 

 High Admiral, authorising him to grant Letters of Marque 

 to the aggrieved persons, and under Charles I. the more im- 

 portant of the regulations laid down by the Admiralty Court 

 were as follows : 



1. The complainant shall prove the amount of his loss. 



2. Shall execute a bond to bring in all captures to 



a British port. 



3. Prize ships and cargoes to be kept intact until the 



Court have adjudged them to be lawful seizures. 



4. After judgment the captor may sell ship and mer- 



chandise to cover his loss. 



Customs were levied on dutiable articles brought in, and an 

 additional toll of one-tenth was taken by the Court, which 

 tithe was apparently a perquisite of the Lord Admiral, 

 who appointed deputies to collect his proportion ; in 1625-6 

 John Drake and his son, Sir John, acted in that capacity for 

 Dorset. The remaining sum was usually apportioned as 



