496 



THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



The cogent arguments of the Dutch writer were well fitted 

 to confirm the general opinion in England as to the cause of the 

 war, and the Court promptly secured the services of Henry 

 Stubbe, a clever, versatile, and prolific writer, to refute them. 

 His answer to Wicquefort was considered by the private 

 committee on 15th May 1672, 1 and it was published anony- 

 mously in the following month. 2 The spirit in which Stubbe 

 entered into his task is revealed in a letter he wrote to 

 Secretary Williamson. " The rule I go by," he said, " is this : 

 that no nation is more zealous for their honour than the 

 English ; that if they are put into a great passion they forget 

 their particular interests and animosities." 3 He therefore 

 tried as much as he could to inflame the public mind. 



The Justification, though rabid in tone, is in many respects 

 an able book. It differs from many of the controversial works 

 of the day in that the author, however oblique may be his 

 inferences from them, does not, so far as we have observed, 

 pervert and misquote the documents he cites. It is unnecessary 

 to particularise his arguments on the sovereignty of the sea. 

 They were drawn mainly from Selden, Welwood, and other 

 authors, and partly from certain State Papers which the 

 Ministry placed at his disposal. The striking of the flag by 

 foreigners was, of course, declared to be a regality, and " para- 

 mount to all treaties"; it was a "fundamental of the crown 

 and dignity of the King of England." The attack on the 

 Smyrna fleet, which Wicquefort denounced and made the 

 most of, was justified by their refusal to strike their flags, 

 the instructions issued to the admirals of England for four 

 hundred years compelling them to seize all ships which re- 

 fused. The universal dominion which the king possessed 

 over the British seas was thus formulated: (1) the regality 

 of fishing for pearl, coral, amber (!), &c., and the "direction 



1 State Papers, Dom., cccviii. 143. 



2 A Justification of the Present War against the United Netherlands, wherein the 

 Declaration of his Majesty is vindicated, and the War proved to be Just. Honourable, 

 and Necessary ; the Dominion of the Sea explained, and his Majesty's Rights there- 

 unto asserted, ; the Obligations of the Dutch to England, and their continual In- 

 gratitude: Illustrated with Sculptures. In Answer to a Dutch Treatise entitled, 

 Considerations upon the Present State of the United Netherlands. By an English 

 Man, 1672. 



:! 8th July 1872. State Papers, Dom., cccxii. 166. 



