552 



THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



people had obtained the exclusive sovereignty by convention, 

 conquest, or prescription. 



We thus perceive that the opinion of jurists at the end of the 

 seventeenth century with regard to the appropriation of the sea 

 was very much what it was at the beginning. With the 

 exception of the clear and terse declaration of the Dutch 

 ambassadors in 1610, and the somewhat dubious dictum of 

 Grotius in 1625, the principle that the maritime sovereignty of 

 a state was limited by the range of guns from the shore does 

 not appear to have been advanced throughout the century. 



Nor does an examination of the usage of nations during the 

 period show that the opinions of publicists were at variance 

 with the actual practice. All maritime countries enforced an 

 unquestionable jurisdiction, more or less extensive, in the 

 neighbouring seas, and several of them exercised dominion 

 over particular regions. The extravagant pretensions of Spain 

 and Portugal had long since vanished ; but Venice, while sadly 

 fallen from her former greatness, still asserted her sovereignty 

 over the Adriatic. Sweden and Denmark possessed a joint 

 sway over the Baltic ; and Denmark maintained her claim to 

 the northern seas between Iceland, Greenland, and the coast 

 of Europe. Moreover, the pretensions of England to the 

 sovereignty of the so-called British seas, although in abeyance, 

 had not been withdrawn. The striking of the flag was still 

 enforced by English men-of-war, and there was nothing to 

 prove that the other phases of the pretension might not be 

 revived at any time. 



With regard to the extent of neutral waters, it would appear 

 that the boundaries were as a rule vague, and that general 

 considerations determined jurisdiction in particular cases. In 

 connection with the declaration of war by the United Provinces 

 against France in 1689, a placard was issued by the States- 

 General in which both Dutch and foreign vessels were exhorted 

 to keep out on the high seas; and it was declared that any 

 vessels suspected of having contraband goods on board and 

 found " on the coast of France, or of other countries, islands, and 

 places under the dominion of the King of France, and particu- 

 larly in the bays and gulfs on the coast of the said kingdom," 

 would be seized and brought to trial. 1 On the English coast the 

 1 7th March, 1689, Art iv. 



