THE SECOND DUTCH WAR 453 



which would " clearly stipulate, in express terms, that if their 

 subjects were molested in their fishery the French would carry 

 out against those who molested them the guarantee promised." 

 At this stage, however, March 1662, the Dutch towns insisted 

 on the fishery guarantee being absolutely explicit. The states 

 most concerned Holland and West Friesland unanimously 

 passed a resolution that if France refused to agree to the word 

 " fishery " being inserted, the negotiations should be broken off 

 and the ambassadors recalled. Louis XIV. then gave way. 

 " I must admit," he wrote to his ambassador in London, " that 

 I have the same interest in this guarantee as the Dutch, since 

 the right of fishing may just as well be refused by England to 

 my subjects as to those of the States-General. 1 The treaty was 

 signed on 27th April 1662, and in the fourth article the two 

 contracting Powers mutually agreed to assist one another in 

 protecting their fishermen from those who might molest them. 2 

 The stipulation in the treaty with France was a notable 

 triumph for De Witt. For the first time in their history 

 the Dutch had succeeded in formally binding another Power 

 to help them in resisting the English claims to the sover- 

 eignty of the sea, so far as concerned the liberty of fishing. 

 Should Charles II. wish to emulate the exploits of his father 

 by sending a fleet to force licenses on the Dutch herring- 

 busses, he would now have to reckon on the combined opposi- 

 tion of France and the United Provinces. The triumph was, 



1 Letters from Van Beuningen to De Witt, i Feb. 1661 to 1^^,', 1662 ; from 

 De Witt to Van Beuningen, ^ Oct. 1661 to ^ March 1662. Brieven, i. 432-514. 



Secreete Resolution van de Staaten ran Holland en West-Vriesland, ii. 246. Pon- 

 talis, John de Witt, i. 276. Pontalis scarcely grasps the question of the fishery 

 when he says : " The free right of fishing still more directly concerned the States- 

 General ; they could not prevail in England to allow them the enjoyment of it, 

 so long as it had not been accorded to them by France, and they therefore made it 

 a condition of their treaty with Louis XIV." 



2 Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, VI. ii. 412. Aitzema, Saken van Staet en Oor- 

 loyh, x. 305. The article was as follows : " IV. L'obligation reciproque de 

 s'entr'aider et deffendre, s'entend aussi pour estre Sa Majeste" et lesdits Seigneurs 

 Estats Generaux, leurs Pays et Sujets, conservez et maintenus en tous leurs Droits, 

 Possessions, Immunitez et Libertez, tant de Navigation, que de Commerce et 

 Peche, et autres quelconques par Mer et par Terre, qui se trouveront leur appar- 

 tenir par le Droit commun, ou estre acquis par des Traitez faits ou a faire, en la 

 maniere susdite, envers et contre tous Roys, Princes, Republiques, ou autres Estats 

 Souverains," &c. 



