5130 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



of fishing and navigating within four leagues of the coast 

 of all Danish possessions in the Arctic seas ; and the Dutch 

 were accused of carrying on an extensive illicit trade at 

 Iceland, under cover of fishing. The States - General used 

 the familiar arguments about the freedom of the seas for 

 fishing and navigation, urged long -continued possession, and 

 cited an old treaty of 1447 which gave the Dutch the right 

 to navigate "usque ad Borese oras." Then Denmark placed 

 her case on its ancient basis, declaring that the kings of 

 Denmark and Norway had enjoyed from time immemorial 

 the dominion of the northern seas, and were therefore en- 

 titled, even according to the teaching of Grotius, to the 

 exclusive fishing. They denied that the Dutch had ever 

 possessed the right of fishery in these seas, alleging that 

 clandestine acts, punished as soon as discovered, could not 

 be construed into possession. This revival of dominium 

 maris called forth an energetic protest from the States-General, 

 and affairs took a bellicose turn. Denmark sent a squadron 

 north to maintain her claims, and Holland provided an armed 

 convoy for her whalers and Iceland cod -smacks, "to defend 

 themselves against the pretensions of the Danes." Hostilities 

 were averted by the intercession of Sweden, and of the British 

 and French Ministers at Copenhagen, in favour of the Dutch 

 Republic and the freedom of the seas. 



Occasional disputes of the same kind occurred between 

 Denmark and the United Provinces later in the century. In 

 1757 a Dutch ship was arrested it was said in the open 

 sea on the ground that it had been trading in Davis' Strait, 

 and the matter was adjusted a few years later by an under- 

 taking that the Dutch vessels would refrain from trading 

 within the precincts of the Danish possessions. The States- 

 General in 1762 issued a placard to this effect, and they also 

 sent a ship of war to enforce it. In 1776 an English brigan- 

 tine and two Dutch vessels were seized for trading at Green- 

 land, and condemned by the Danish Admiralty Court, and 

 although on the protests of the British and Dutch Govern- 

 ments the vessels were released, compensation for detention 

 was refused. 1 



1 Resd. St.-Gen., Nov., Dec. 1698, 1740, 1741. Jtesol. Holl., July 1699 ; Jan., 

 March, April, Sept., Dec. 1739 ; Jan., March, May 1740, 1741 ; Oct. 1757 ; Jan. 



