510 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



Temple's eulogy of his own diplomacy was hardly justi- 

 fied. The Dutch had offered a similar article at Cologne; 

 the striking of the flag had been provided for in previous 

 treaties, and it was not in the least, as Temple should have 

 known well (for De Witt often told him), and as the wording 

 of the article shows, an acknowledgment of the dominion 

 of England in the narrow seas. There is nothing in the 

 article of the Westminster treaty that the Dutch were not 

 perfectly willing to concede at Cologne. It was an improve- 

 ment on the arrangement in previous treaties, inasmuch as 

 the northern and southern limits of the seas in which 

 the Dutch were to strike were defined, and it was made 

 clear that the Dutch were to strike to a single English 

 ship. 



But in truth the real diplomatic victory lay with the Dutch. 

 The striking of the flag is expressly described in the article 

 as a ceremony of "honour" and a "testimony of respect, "- 

 a qualification and attenuation not to be found in the previous 

 treaties. By the introduction of these words the Dutch gained 

 a point they had long contended for. Equally pertinent was 

 the omission of the term "British seas," which is found in 

 all the earlier treaties, an omission for which Charles was 

 in part responsible. The ceremony "of respect" was to be 

 paid "in any of the seas" between Cape Finisterre and Van 

 Staten; and while the Dutch refused to consider those seas 

 British, the English plenipotentiaries at Cologne were unable 

 to contend that they were British. The limits fixed were 

 therefore, as Sir Philip Meadows observed, "too wide for 

 dominion and too narrow for respect " ; x for we never claimed 

 dominion in the Sea of Norway or the Bay of Biscay, and 

 the Dutch offered to strike to the king's flag all over the 

 world. There is little doubt that the part of the article 

 in which Charles was most interested was that relating 

 to the striking of a squadron to a single ship of his, as it 

 furnished a sort of justification for the action of the Merlin 

 before the war. Temple himself was most anxious that the 

 " former custom " referred to in all the previous treaties should 



1 Brit. Mua. Add. MSS., 30,221, fol. 59. Some writers on international law 

 erroneously describe the boundaries mentioned in the article as the boundaries of 

 the British seas. 



