THE FIRST DUTCH WAR 381 



by Charles to his ship - money fleets. " It must be your 

 principal care," they ran, "to preserve the honour of this 

 kingdom, and the coasts, jurisdictions, territories, and sub- 

 jects thereof, being in amity with the Parliament, and within 

 the extent of your employment, as much as in you lieth ; 

 that no nation or people whatsoever intrude thereon or injure 

 any of them. And if you chance to meet in any of the 

 seas that are under the jurisdiction of England, Scotland, 

 and Ireland, with any ships or fleets belonging to any foreign 

 prince or state, you must expect that they, in acknowledg- 

 ment of this kingdom's sovereignty there, shall perform their 

 duty and homage in passing by, in striking their top-sails 

 and taking in their flags." If they refused they were to be 

 forced to do so in the usual way. It will be noticed that 

 the region within which foreigners were to be compelled 

 to strike was greatly extended by the Parliament. Up to 

 and including the reign of James the " acknowledgment " 

 was confined to the narrow seas, in which it had been 

 exacted for centuries ; Charles in 1635 ordered Lindsey to 

 compel it " in his Majesty's seas," and now the Parliament 

 extended it specifically to all the seas under the jurisdiction 

 of England, Scotland, and Ireland. From a clause in the in- 

 structions it is clear that the seas over which the Parliament 

 claimed sovereignty reached to the coasts of the Continent; 

 but a territorial limit was excepted on foreign coasts. The 

 clause in question enjoined the naval officers "to be very 

 careful not to meddle with any ships within the harbours, 

 or ports, or under the command of any of the castles of 

 any foreign prince or state, or within any buoys (Buoyes) 

 or rivers, that they may have no just cause of offence." 

 Another feature of these instructions is of interest. The 

 clause which was inserted in the instructions to Lindsey 

 and Northumberland in 1635, 1636, and 1637, commanding 

 them to prevent all hostilities between men-of-war or mer- 

 chant vessels in the presence of the king's ships, was repeated. 1 



1 Instructions given by the Committee of Lords and Commons for the Admir- 

 alty and Cinque Port*, to be observed by all captains, officers, and common men 

 respectively in this fleet, provided to the glory of God, the honour and service of 

 the Parliament, and the safety of the three Kingdoms, March 30, 1647. Ibid,, 

 dxv. 40. 



