JAMES I; MARE LIBERUM 7 



Petershead. Being refused this, they gradually encroached 

 so much upon the privileges of the native fishermen, that 

 these, seeing themselves being gradually deprived of the 

 best fishing grounds, made complaint to the king. 1 



It appeared highly significant to the mind of James that 

 the treatise of Hugh Grotius on Mare Liberum should 

 have appeared at the very time when the Hollanders were 

 attempting to seize by force that which they had formerly 

 been glad to use by special favour. James took it that the 

 assertion of " Mare Liberum " was a definite declaration of 

 Dutch policy, aimed particularly at England, and acted 

 accordingly. He ordered his ambassador to the Hollanders, 

 Sir D. Carlton, to make formal complaint, and, irritated by 

 the outcry on the part of his subjects against foreign fisher- 

 men, issued a Proclamation on May 16th, 1609, forbidding 

 foreign fishermen to fish on the British coasts and in British 

 seas except upon payment of certain fees for license ; these 

 licenses were bought at London by those who wished to 

 fish off the English coasts, and at Edinburgh by those who 

 wished to fish off the Scottish coasts. By proclamation, all 

 unlicensed fishers were interdicted from fishing, the Duke 

 of Lennox, as Admiral of Scotland, being ordered to see 

 the right of Assize Herring 2 put in execution ; 3 James thus 

 openly took his stand by the " Mare Clausum " theory, the 

 assertion of the " Dominium Maris." 



Henceforth during the reign of James, an armed peace 

 prevailed, both in the North Sea and at Spitzbergen, where 

 the whalers of Britain and of Holland were working in com- 

 petition with each other. Men-of-war accompanied the 

 fishing fleets of both nations and prevented open warfare, 

 although disputes were frequent. James, however, was not 



1 Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. II., vol. 339, p. 13. 



2 Assize Herring, payable by all Fishers Native and Foreign, 1424, 21st 

 Act of Year, 1st Parliament under King James I. 



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



