10 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



views held in Scotland as to the waters " reserved " for the 

 sole use of the inhabitants, was a reversal of the long-settled 

 practice in England, where fishing in the sea was free. It is 

 from this time that one may date the beginning of the English 

 pretension to the sovereignty of the sea. The proclamation 

 and the policy were aimed against the Dutch, the great com- 

 mercial people of those times. Their ever-increasing herring 

 fishery along the British coast was one of the principal sources 

 of their wealth and power; by means of it indeed, according 

 to their own accounts, they were able to maintain their vast 

 commerce and shipping. The action of James may be looked 

 upon as the first blow in the great contest between the 

 English and the Dutch for maritime and commercial supremacy, 

 which was prolonged throughout the seventeenth century ; and 

 the ready acceptance of the new policy by the English people 

 was owing to the fact that the conditions had been gradually 

 preparing for it in the preceding reign, while the two nations 

 were still bound together in alliance against Catholic Spain. 

 With the new development of commercial enterprise the English 

 found the Dutch their competitors in trade in all parts of the 

 globe to which they ventured. The feeling of jealousy that 

 was thus engendered was embittered by the belief that they 

 were often circumvented by the Dutch by unfair means, 

 and this feeling deepened with every year as the cen- 

 tury advanced. It was thus against the Dutch that the 

 English pretension to the sovereignty of the sea was specially 

 directed, and it eventually culminated in war. From various 

 circumstances, and not least perhaps from the timid character 

 of James when force was necessary, the policy of preventing 

 the Dutch from fishing on the British coasts was not carried 

 into effect in his lifetime. But with the tenacity that was 

 a curious feature in his nature, his claim to the fisheries was 

 kept alive and formed the subject of mutually irritating 

 negotiations throughout the whole of his reign. 



Under Charles I. the English pretension rapidly developed 

 and reached its greatest height, in connection more particu- 

 larly with the ship-money fleets. The need of an efficient 

 navy for the most elementary duty of safeguarding the sea 

 had been made fully manifest by the frequent and flagrant 

 violations of the king's sovereignty in his " chambers," and 



