8 THE DUTCH GRAND FISHERY 



yet satisfied ; the tax on Dutch fishermen had already been 

 remitted in 1612, at the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth 

 to the Prince Elector of the Palatinate, but, ignoring this, 

 James in 1617 demanded of the Dutch fishermen working 

 in British waters a tax of one angelot, or a barrel of herring 

 and twelve codfish, for every vessel. The tax was at first 

 paid ; afterwards, however, the Dutch refused to admit 

 the king's right to demand it. 1 A certain Mr. Browne 

 sent to defend the king's claim to this tax and to see it 

 collected in due form from the Dutch fishing vessels, was 

 seized and carried off to Holland. James, roused to action 

 by this act of defiance, ordered the ambassador, Sir D. 

 Carlton, to demand reparation for the insult from the 

 States-General. So vigorously did the ambassador state 

 the case that Browne was released, while the captains of 

 the ships who had seized him were handed over to James for 

 punishment, a plea for mercy being entered on their behalf 

 by the States. 2 



The States at this time pleaded that by at least two 

 treaties, one concluded in 1495, between Philip of Burgundy 

 and Henry VIII., and the other between Charles of Bur- 

 gundy and Henry VIII., it had been agreed that the subjects 

 of the Netherlands should fish in the English seas without 

 impediment and without license. Upon James repudiating 

 this, the Prince of Orange proposed, as a compromise, that 

 the Right of Fishing should be purchased by one payment. 

 Sir D. Carlton, however, answered that a royalty of this 

 nature could not thus be purchased. The Dutch next 

 claimed that in 1594, at the christening of Prince Henry, 

 the States assisted as godfathers, and that King James 

 then granted them the privilege of fishing without license ; 

 when asked for proof, however, they were unable to produce 

 evidence of any such privilege. 3 



1 Beaujon's Essay, p. 172. 



2 Cal. S.P. Dom> Car. II., vol. 339, pp. 1-5. 3 Ibid. 



