A. D. 1612. 



271 



would have been effeded. Among his other reafonings, he quotes Al- 

 phonfus Caftrenfis, a Spanilh divine, as inveighing againft the abfurdity 

 and injuftice of thofe nations who claim an exclufive navigation in 

 xertain feas ; as the Genoefe, in their bay -, the Venetians, in their 

 gulf; and principally the Portuguefe, in the Eaft-Indian feas; as well as 

 all other nations (Spain itfelf not excepted) who pretend to fuch an ex- 

 clufive right on the fea (which is common to all), contrary to the law 

 of natvn-e, or natural juflice, and to that natural and divine rule, of do- 

 ing to others as we would they fliould do to us. Towards the conclu- 

 iion, Grotius, fpeaking of the neceflity of vindicating by all poflible 

 means the freedom ot navigation and commerce, thus addrefles his own 

 nation, viz. * Go on, thou mofl: invincible nation on the Ocean, in bold- 

 * ly aiferting and defending that freedom which is not thine alone, but 

 ' is equally the right of all mankind.' 



In this treatife there is not a word of England's claim to any kind of 

 fea dominion ; the author's whole drift feeming profefledly to be againfl 

 Spain and Portugal (then flill united). Yet there is one expreffion in 

 his fifth chapter, which feems to have been pointed at King James 

 obliging the Hollanders to pay a tribute for the liberty of filhing on our 

 coafts, where he alTerts, ' that the reafons given for the freedom of na- 

 ' vigation hold equally good for that of fifliing on the feas, which alfo 

 '■ ought to remain common or free to all.' 



What fomewhat confirms this conjedure, was, that William Wel- 

 wood publiflied a fmall treatife, in Latin, {2^ pp. ^to, 161 5] intitled,. 

 ' De dominio maris juribufque ad dominium praecipue fpedantibus, af- 

 ' fertiobrevis et methodica. * Cofmopoli. 161 5.' As it is an anfwer 

 to Grotius, we fhall here give the fubftance of it, though three years 

 later in point of time. 



He endeavours to prove, rhat the fea is capable of diflindion of pro- 

 perty, or of private dominion, as well as the land ; contrary to the opi- 

 nion (he owns) of many antient lawyers, orators, and poets; as Cicero, 

 Seneca, Virgil, Plautus, Ovid, &c. whom he boldly accufes of igno- 

 rance of the law of nature. And he fixes that dominion to be one hun- 

 dred miles every way from the fliore of the country adjacent, and 

 claiming the fame. But all the refi: of the fea beyond that limit, he, 

 and the civilians Bartolus ai^d Cepola (whom he quotes) leave perfedly 

 free to all mankind, to ufe indifferently without all doubt or controver- 

 fy. Thefe points he fpeaks of as the fenfe of all nations, ' excepting 

 ' (fays he) only one nation, who, though her native foil abounds with 

 ' milk, is neverthelefs indebted to other countries for all other nccefla- 

 ' lies, and is even enriched and become haughty with the fpoils of all 



* A brief and methodical vindica'Ion of the dominion of the fea, and the ptincipal rights appertai:> 

 ing to it. 



