THE FIRST DUTCH WAR 413 



pious but intemperate language without shedding much light 

 upon the question. 



But if there was a dearth of competent pens in England able 

 to carry on a juridical controversy about the sovereignty 

 of the sea, it was not for lack of belief in the importance of 

 the matter. At no previous time in English history had 

 popular feeling been more aroused or was the general resolu- 

 tion stronger to maintain the rights of the country in the seas. 

 The traditional sentiment of the nation, which Charles had 

 in large measure alienated by his ship-money exactions and 

 his. bungling and fruitless attempts to maintain those rights, 

 was revived in full force, and it was greatly strengthened 

 by other considerations relating to commerce and trade. 

 Though English commerce and shipping had greatly developed 

 since the earlier part of the century, by far the larger part 

 of oversea traffic was still in the hands of the Dutch. It 

 was against this predominance that the Navigation Act was 

 aimed. The pre-eminence of the Dutch excited the emulation 

 of the nation to outvie and outdo them, and success in this 

 policy was believed to be closely bound up with the assertion 

 of the sovereignty of the sea. Before the war began, the 

 authors of works on commerce and navigation had urged 

 the Parliament to enforce these claims, even in the 

 Mediterranean against France, and for the same reasons 

 that were formerly used by Sir Walter Raleigh. 1 To the 

 national sentiment and commercial ambitions was added 

 the zeal of religious fanaticism. The godly Barebones 

 Parliament of 1653, who looked askance at the Dutch as 

 carnal and worldly politicians, held it necessary that the seas 

 should be secured and preserved as peaceable as the land, 

 in order to prepare for the coming of Christ and the personal 

 reign. 2 



1 For example, Robinson, Brief e Considerations concerning the Advancement of 

 Trade and Navigation, 1649. 



2 Stubbe, A Further Justification, 91. 



