20 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



and which is reproduced in the frontispiece of this book, he 

 presumably represented what he regarded as the British seas 

 proper; and in several places in his work he expressly de- 

 clared that the English sea and the English sovereignty of 

 the sea extended to the opposite shores of the Continent. 



Throughout almost the whole of the remainder of the 

 century after the appearance of Mare Clausum, Selden's 

 authority was paramount on all questions relating to the 

 sovereignty of the sea, and his description of the extent of 

 the British seas was very generally adopted, both by writers 

 and by the Government, at least in theory. But it not in- 

 frequently happened on particular occasions when a precise 

 definition of their extent was required, that only a vague dec- 

 laration was forthcoming. Again and again one finds English 

 admirals and naval commanders imploring the Admiralty to 

 tell them the bounds of the British seas, so that needless broils 

 about the salute might be avoided. As a rule, no reply was 

 given to their inquiries; and when it was, it was usually so 

 oracular as to be of little practical advantage. Thus the Earl 

 of Lindsey, when placed in command of the first ship-money 

 fleet, put the question to Secretary Coke, and was told that 

 his Majesty's seas "are all about his dominions, and to the 

 largest extent of those seas," and similar explanations were 

 given on other occasions. There is evidence that neither the 

 Admiralty nor the law officers of the crown were able to state 

 what the boundaries of the British seas were, and sometimes 

 the Trinity House was appealed to, with but little better re- 

 sult. In truth, it was part of the national policy to leave 

 their boundaries undetermined. The free navigation of the 

 North Sea and the Channel was of vital importance for many 

 of the states of Europe, and three of them at least the 

 Netherlands, France, and Spain had large interests in the 

 fisheries on the British and Irish coasts. If this country had 

 by a formal act of state assigned definite and wide boundaries 

 to the British seas within which sovereignty was claimed, it 

 would have led to frequent and hopeless wars or to constant 

 humiliation. By leaving them vague and ambiguous the pre- 

 tension to maritime sovereignty could be put forward and used 

 as a political instrument when the navy was strong and oc- 

 casion offered, and when the navy was weak the pretension 



