452 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



they claimed the right of fishing in the open sea by the law 

 of nations ; that it was a right independent of any treaties, 

 which merely illustrated and explained it, and was like the 

 liberty of commerce and navigation free and open to all. 

 The two countries should therefore, it was urged, agree 

 mutually to support one another in the free exercise of this 

 common right. In substance this was clearly a demand that 

 France should combine with them to resist the English pre- 

 tension to the sovereignty of the sea, on the point in which 

 it chiefly affected the United Provinces namely, the fishery. 

 The French met it by suggesting that, as a quid pro quo, the 

 States should guarantee them in the same way against the 

 claim of the English to make French ships lower their flag to 

 them in the narrow seas. France, as we have seen, was not 

 troubled by England about the fishery, although many French 

 vessels fished off the English coast. On the other hand, the 

 Dutch had formally agreed to strike to English ships by the 

 treaty of 1654, a ceremony that France declined to render, 

 and avoided as far as possible. De Witt saw that if the States 

 gave the guarantee desired, it would place in the hands of the 

 French the power to compel them to take up arms against 

 England at any time they chose, and he instructed the Dutch 

 ambassadors, if they could not evade the proposal altogether, 

 to request a declaration, in writing, of the precise claims con- 

 cerning the striking of the flag which the King of France put 

 forward as against the King of England. He said the obliga- 

 tion of the States to strike was indisputable ; but it was not 

 a recognition of England's pretended dominion of .the sea, but 

 merely a formal deference that republics had always shown to 

 monarchies. De Witt privately expressed the opinion that the 

 French would hesitate to formulate in writing any claim of 

 that kind, and the result proved his foresight. The French 

 ambassador in London made certain overtures to Charles with- 

 out receiving a satisfactory reply, and the French proposal for 

 a guarantee about the flag was dropped. 



A diplomatic tussle then took place as to whether the word 

 "fishery" should appear in the treaty. The French were 

 anxious to keep it out, and the Dutch as desirous that it 

 should be expressly included. Later, De Witt seemed disposed 

 to concede the point, provided other words could be found 



