148 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



public. The report was submitted to the Council in February ; 

 in March Grotius published his Mare Liberum, in which he 

 branded as " insanely cupid " any one who attempted to inter- 

 fere with the common liberty of fishing in the sea ; and within 

 a week or two thereafter the Truce of Antwerp was signed by 

 Spain and the States-General, by which the long war between 

 those Powers was brought to a close, and James was free to 

 begin his policy against the Dutch fishermen. On 12th April 

 1609 a memorandum was drawn up for the Council, in which 

 it was stated (1) that a conference having been held with the 

 fishermen concerning the seasons of all the fishings on the 

 coast, it was thought fit that the proclamation should take 

 effect from 1st August ensuing; (2) that from that day 

 forward it should be unlawful for any stranger to fish " upon 

 those his Majesty's coasts and seas of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land and the Isles adjacent," where the fishing was usually 

 carried on, until they had obtained license for the same from 

 the king; (3) that commissioners should be appointed by the 

 king, at London, for England and Ireland, and for Scotland 

 at such place as the king should select, to give out licenses 

 on such conditions as he might think fit; and (4) that the 

 licenses should be apportionable to the number and tonnage 

 of the ships. 1 



These provisions were embodied in the proclamation, which 

 was issued on 6th May 1609. 2 " Whereas," said James, in his 

 wordy style, " we have been contented since our coming to the 

 crown, to tolerate an indifferent and promiscuous kind of 

 liberty to all our friends whatsoever, to fish within our 

 streams, and upon any of our coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, 

 and other adjacent islands, so far forth as the permission or 

 use thereof might not redound to the impeachment of our 

 prerogative royal, nor to the hurt and damage of our loving 

 subjects, whose preservation and flourishing estate we hold 

 ourself principally bound to advance before all worldly re- 

 spects : so finding that our connivance therein hath not only 

 given occasion to over great encroachments upon our regalities, 

 or rather questioning for our right, 3 but hath been a means of 

 much daily wrongs to our own people that exercise the trade 



1 Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS., 142, fol. 379. In Caesar's handwriting. 



a See Appendix F. 3 Perhaps an oblique reference to Mare Liberum. 





