276 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



or giving battle and refusal, was not witnessed. The dis- 

 appointment at the English Court was all the more keen, inas- 

 much as France, in the treaty of confederation with the States- 

 General in the beginning of the year, had stipulated that the 

 Dutch men-of-war should salute the French flag in the same 



o 



way as they saluted the flag of England, thus " challenging a 

 dominion," as Sir Thomas Roe said, "where anciently they 

 durst not fish for gurnets without license." 1 



By this time the question of the striking of the flag had been 

 forced into great prominence : even the " footpads " of the 

 Channel, the humble picaroons and shallops, hailed the English 

 ketches which they pillaged with the cry of " Strike, you English 

 dogs ! " It has been shown in a previous chapter that though 

 the ceremony was enforced in the narrow seas in the reign of 

 James, it did not then become a burning political question, and 

 the same is true of the early part of the reign of Charles. The 

 English commanders were then satisfied with a moderate 

 acknowledgment of the " honour," and the Dutch at least rarely 

 ever contested it. That it was enforced in 1627 appears. from 

 the narrative of the Earl of Warwick's voyage in that year, 

 when a French man-of-war was compelled off Falmouth "to 

 come up by the lee," though nothing is said about the flag 

 itself. 2 But when France openly aspired to become a great 

 naval Power, England began to force the salute with a high 

 hand. It is from the year 1631 that we may date the marked 

 development of this symbol, as it was claimed to be, of the 

 sovereignty of the sea. We have already seen Pennington's 

 instructions in that year, which, however, only mention the 



1 State Papers, Dom., cclxxviii. 3. Roe's reference was to the fishings at the 

 Zowe or Sowe, where great numbers of gurnards were caught (see p. 65). 

 The stipulation of Richelieu concerned the allied squadrons which were to blockade 

 Dunkirk, as arranged by Article viii. of the treaty. Article xii., after providing 

 for the size of the squadrons, continues, " Et au cas que lesdites esquadres viennent 

 a s'assembler, comme il peut arriver qu'il sera necessaire pour le bien commun, 

 1'Admiral desdits Seigneurs les Estats abaissera a 1'abord son pavilion du grand 

 mast, et le saluera de son canon, et celui du Roi le resaluere comme de coustume, 

 et comme il en a este use par le Roi de la Grande Bretagne." Dumont, Corps 

 Diplomatique, 83 (?). 



2 State Papers, Dom., Ixxix. 17. "Athwart ye opening of Falmouth four sailes 

 stood with their forefoot," and very earnestly tried to weather the English ships. 

 Among them was a French man-of-war of Rochelle, but they shot four or five 

 pieces of ordnance at him, and "soo brought him by ye lee." See p. 207. 



