UNDER THE TUDORS 107 



the claims of Portugal, and had a heated dispute with King 

 Sebastian about them. 1 Later, the daring exploits of Drake 

 on the Spanish seas were more than a flagrant violation of 

 Philip's pretension to mare clausum in the western Atlantic 

 and the Pacific Oceans a claim which Elizabeth refused to 

 recognise. When Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador, com- 

 plained to her in 1580 of Drake's depredations, and that 

 English ships presumed to trade in the " Indian " seas, he was 

 told in effect that the Spaniards, contrary to the Law of Nations, 

 had prohibited the English from carrying on commerce in 

 those regions, and had consequently drawn the mischief upon 

 themselves. She was unable to understand, she said, why 

 her subjects and those of other princes should be barred from 

 the "Indies." She could not recognise the prerogative of 

 the Bishop of Rome "that he should bind princes who owe 

 him no obedience," and her subjects would continue to navigate 

 " that vast ocean," since " the use of the sea and air is common 

 to all ; neither can any title to the ocean belong to any 

 people or private man, forasmuch as neither nature nor regard 

 of the public use permitteth any possession thereof." 2 



About the time when Drake left England, the question of 

 the right of Spain to forbid the English to trade to the Indies 

 had been considered. It was argued that the Pope's bull was^ 

 void, for several reasons. The consent of the Pope had been 

 conditional for the conversion of the natives, while the " usage 

 of the Spaniards hath been otherwise." The bull could have 

 no_force in tending to the prejudice of a third party, because 

 all princes by theTCaw of Nations had the right of navigation 

 in the sea and the right of traffic, and the Pope could not 

 deprive them of these rights. Besides, there had been agree- 

 ments between Spain and England since the^date of the bull 

 that the subjects of each state might freely traffic in the 

 ' dominions of the other ; and the Spanish lawyers had come 

 to the conclusion that the Venetians could not legally inhibit 

 others from trading in the Adriatic, and therefore, by the same 

 reasoning, neither could the Spaniards or Portuguese prohibit 

 orderly and lawful traffic to their Indies. 3 Elizabeth has been 

 charged with inconsistency on the ground that at the time 



1 Selden, loc. cit. 2 Camdeu, Annales, 225 (ed. 1635). 



3 Hatfield MSS., ii. 684. " Whether Your Majesty's Subjects may lawfully trade 

 into the Indies." Undated, but calendered under the year 1578. 



