394 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



these measures had not stopped the abuse, and that the visita- 

 tion was not prejudicial ; and no agreement on this clause was 

 reached. The commentary of the Council on the fishery 

 article (see p. 388) was that, saving and asserting the righl 

 of the Commonwealth, they would be willing to proceed to 

 such an agreement as should be found fit and reasonable 

 while the Dutch took their stand on the provision in the 

 Intercursus Magnus, and urged that it would be unjust to 

 deviate from an agreement which had endured for a century 

 and a half. It was admitted by the English commissioners 

 that the treaty gave liberty of fishing, but they asserted that 

 long before the time of Henry VII. the right to the fisheries 

 and to the sovereignty of the sea belonged to England. It had, 

 moreover, been impeached by succeeding kings and especially 

 by James, to whom, as King of Scotland, the right to the 

 fishery pertained ; while after the union of the crowns he 

 pursued the same policy as King of England, and now that 

 Scotland had been brought under the dominion of the English 

 Republic, it was thought that the best course was to make a 

 new treaty about the fisheries. 1 The ambassadors could obtain 

 no definite information as to the nature of the treaty proposed, 

 but it would not be difficult for them to comprehend its genei 

 tenour, for they had to listen to the recital of the " evidences " 

 that England had constantly made use of her rights in the 

 fishery, and of the care she ha4 always exercised as to the 

 sovereignty of the sea. The Dutch endeavoured to avoic 

 mixing up these two questions, pleading that the fishery 

 concerned the lives of a multitude of poor fishermen ; but the 

 commissioners retorted that it was a very valuable industry 

 the right to which belonged to England, and this, they said, hs 

 been acknowledged by neighbouring nations paying taxes for 

 liberty to fish in their seas, adding that all peoples had been 

 accustomed to recognise in them the masters of the sea by 

 striking the flag to them, and that the Dutch themselves li;u 

 earlier instructed their naval officers to salute English ships 

 " cum debita reverentia," and it was also expressly ordered in 

 the commissions issued by Prince William and Maurice. From 



i The conferences on the articles were on 3rd, 5th, 6th, 10th, and 13th May. 

 The incorporation and union of Scotland with England was proclaimed at Edin- 

 burgh on the 21st of the preceding month. 



