124 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



the talons of the Dutch on the high seas. The judgment 

 of the Court of Admiralty, so far as concerned the place of 

 capture, was always based upon the consideration whether 

 that place lay within or without the limits of a "chamber." 



The campaign against foreigners fishing on the British coast, 

 which opened up the claims of England in the seventeenth 

 century to the sovereignty of the sea and introduced a new 

 principle into English international policy, originated in another 

 set of ideas, which James brought with him from Scotland. 

 The Scottish people had been always very jealous of foreigners 

 sharing in their fisheries, and, as we have seen, never consented 

 to give them the liberty to fish, so freely accorded by England. 

 Moreover, a tax or tribute, called the " assize-herring," was im- 

 posed upon the native fishermen in Scotland, and formed a part 

 of the revenues of the crown. Although its value was not 

 great, James conceived the idea of levying it also from the 

 foreign fishermen, who frequented the British seas in large 

 numbers, and before he formally demanded it in 1609, some 

 curious negotiations took place with a syndicate of London 

 merchants who proposed to form a fishery association based on 

 the taxation of foreign fishermen, and in return they promised 

 a handsome revenue to the king. The desire for an increased 

 revenue may therefore have had something to do with the 

 proposal to restrain unlicensed fishing on the British coasts. 

 But neither this consideration, the practice in Scotland, nor the 

 king's passion for his prerogative, fully accounts for the re- 

 versal of the long -settled policy of England, which was ac- 

 complished with the concurrence of the Privy Council, and, so 

 far as may be judged, with the full approval of the people. 



In truth, a great change had taken place in the national 

 sentiment. England had now entered upon the long struggle 

 for commercial and maritime supremacy, with the aim of 

 increasing the power of the nation against all rivals. 1 It was 

 obvious to every one that the great rival and competitor was 

 the Dutch Republic, whose rapid rise to the first commercial 

 state in Europe deeply impressed the minds of English states- 

 men and writers. In the reign of Elizabeth, the common 

 interest of the two countries in opposing Spain prevented 

 measures being taken to curb the growing power of the 



1 Cunningham, The Growth of English Industry and Commerce, i. 424. 



