JAMES I. I DISPUTES WITH THE DUTCH 189 



immemorial possession of the fishery and its paramount import- 

 ance to their country, and to plead for delay on account of the 

 confusion and difficulties of their home affairs. 



On their arrival in London they were met by two high 

 Scottish personages, who had been awaiting their coming for 

 some weeks. They took this for a bad sign, concluding from 

 it that the king was resolved to raise the fishery question. 

 They had several interviews with the Council and the king. 

 On finding that their instructions limited them to the discussion 

 of the two points on which there was least anxiety in England, 

 the East India business and the whale -fishing, the Council 

 received them coldly, Bacon indeed rating them soundly for 

 coming without adequate powers. James himself was very 

 angry, and made no effort to conceal his disappointment. He 

 expressed astonishment that after all the complaints that had 

 been made, and after all the negotiations that had gone on 

 through the ambassadors at London and The Hague, they had 

 ventured to come unprepared to deal with the principal matter 

 in dispute. "The fishing," he told them, "on the coasts of 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland, as a regality and point of 

 sovereignty, was possessed by him alone, to the exclusion of 

 all others." Spain, he said, had asked leave to negotiate about 

 freedom of fishing, while France enjoyed the privilege only 

 under great limitations, a few small vessels being allowed to 

 fish for the use of the Court and the king's family. 1 How little 

 becoming was it therefore, continued James with heat, that a 

 Republic which had only been recognised for a few years should 

 be the first to contest his sovereign rights ! It was useless for 

 them to plead unprofitable years and immemorial possession. 

 He was king of the greatest islands in the world, and he knew 

 very well the rights he had on the coasts of his three kingdoms. 2 

 He further informed them that he was bound by oath at his 

 coronation to maintain the rights, liberties, and privileges of his 

 crown, and that he would rather lose all that he had than give 



1 This referred to the licenses to certain French boats to fish on the Sowe in 

 the Channel. See p. 65. 



2 " Zijne ma* was een coninck van de grootste insulen van de werelt ende 

 seer wel wiste het rechte dat hij hadde opte custen van sijne drij coninckrijcken." 



24 D6C 1618 

 Commissioners to States-General, , '" iia' Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 17,677, 



J, fol. 372. 



