UNDER THE STUARTS : JAMES I. : A NEW POLICY 157 



Besides these more or less abstract arguments, the am- 

 bassadors made a strong case by reason of the treaties in 

 which liberty of fishing was stipulated. It is noteworthy 

 that they referred to only one of the treaties with England, 

 the Intercursus Magnus of 1496, while they laid stress on the 

 treaties with Scotland in 1541, 1550, and especially in 1594, 

 when James himself was on the throne of the northern king- 

 dom (see p. 81). They further declared that there were 

 reasons of state which forbade the United Provinces from 

 allowing the free use of the sea to be disputed. More than 

 20,000 mariners were maintained by the herring fishery 

 alone, besides other 40,000 people who gained their liveli- 

 hood by making nets, packing the fish, and in other indus- 

 tries depending upon the fishery. The power and security of 

 the country and much of its commerce rested on the fishery. 

 As for the complaint that the decay of English coast -towns 

 was caused by their fishing off the coast, it was explained 

 that they only fished there for herrings which were cured 

 on board, and that this industry had been discovered by 

 themselves, which gave them a prior claim to it. The English 

 were free to carry on the herring fishery themselves, though, 

 they dexterously added, it was a business that required much 

 experience, and it would be a long time before they succeeded, 

 especially as heavy losses sometimes occurred, which the Dutch 



58, 91), and is not referred to by them in their Journal, where, however, they 

 say they put forward " other reasons " than those they recite (Muller, Mare 

 Clausum, 59). Van Meteren, whose work was published in 1614 (Historic der 

 Nederlandscher ende haerdcr Naburen Oorlogen, <tc., fol. 650), reports, however, 

 that there was a great dispute as to how far a country's limit might extend into 

 the open sea, and the brief note of Levinus seems to be the only record of it. ( " Sy 

 seyden mede, dat het een groote dispute ware, hoeverre elcx Laudts Custen ofte 

 Limiten inde groote wijde Zee Oceane mochte strecken.") The document is of 

 interest not only from the clear enunciation of the doctrine at so early a period, 

 but because there are grounds for thinking that the idea may have originated in 

 the fertile brain of Grotius. Competent Dutch authorities believe that Grotius 

 either himself drew up the instructions dealing with the fishery question or was 

 consulted in their preparation ; and the fact that the argument is not contained 

 in the official instructions scarcely weakens the supposition. It was of so drastic 

 and novel a character to be urged against the pretensions of King James that the 

 Dutch, anxious to conciliate him, may have followed a practice not uncommon in 

 diplomacy, and kept it in the background only to be made use of if a suitable 

 occasion arose. It is, moreover, known that Grotius had a close personal relation- 

 ship with Elias van Oldenbarnevelt, the envoy to whom the fishery negotiations 

 were specially entrusted. 



