264 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



fleet was ready, Sir H. Marten's memorandum was inserted, 

 almost verbatim, in the Earl of Lindsey's official instructions. 

 In addition to the official instructions, the Earl received 

 private commands from the king. In these the new doctrine 

 as to the sovereignty of the seas received a new gloss, corre- 

 sponding to the tenour of Coke's despatch to Boswell, and 

 they were clearly intended to embroil us with the Dutch 

 Republic, as well as with France, and thus enable Charles to 

 carry out his clandestine agreement with Spain. He was not 

 to permit the warships of other states to keep guard, or 

 commit acts of hostility, or take spoil or booty, "within his 

 Majesty's seas " ; and it was also resolved that the fleet should 

 be employed in forcing the Dutch herring-busses to. take the 

 king's licenses for permission to fish, or in interrupting them in 

 their fishing. It was a common practice for orders of this kind 

 given to naval officers to be expressed in general or indefinite 

 language, leaving to them the responsibility of applying them 

 to specific cases according to their judgment and discretion. 

 Both Pennington in the previous year, and the Earl of North- 

 umberland in the following year, had to ask for further and 

 more precise directions. So also did Lindsey now. He wrote 

 to Charles on receipt of the royal commands, asking a number 

 of questions. In the first place, he asked that the "bounds 

 of his Majesty's seas might be expressed" a reasonable 

 request, and one frequently made by naval officers. He 

 was loftily told by Coke, who replied, that "his Majesty's 

 seas are all about his dominions, and to the largest extent 

 of those seas, " an answer not very illuminating, and of 

 little use to the Admiral. 1 His second question was whether 

 the ships of the King of France, or the Archduke, or the 

 Dutch States, might not "lie to and again" upon their own 



1 An equally obscure answer of Coke's is recorded in the collection of papers for 

 the ambassadors to Cologne in 1673 (State Papers, Dom., Chas. II., vol. 339, p. 513). 

 " 1636. Ea Leicester (sic) Query What answer shall I give if I be asked what 

 I mean by the seas of ye King my master, or our seas ? The Answer returned by 

 Mr Secretary Coke in his own hand : By the King's or our seas you are not to 

 understand or condescend to any restrictive sense but to answer ye Brittish Seas : 

 and that the 4 seas mentioned in our laws are thereby meant, which you must not 

 otherwise circumscribe or limitt ; besides they are the same which in all antiquity 

 have been acknowledged to belong unto us, as is sufficiently proved by authentic 

 records." 



