JAMES II. AND AFTER 523 



claiming it as an acknowledgment of our actual naval suprem- 

 acy during the greater part of the eighteenth century, for 

 it was obvious to all the world that British sea-power was 

 supreme. From the reign of Anne onwards the naval force of 

 Great Britain was overwhelming, and formed a determining 

 factor in the history of Europe. This country was undisputed 

 mistress of the seas, or tyrant of the seas, as our enemies 

 preferred to put it, and our old rival, the Netherlands, was 

 left far behind in the race for naval power as well as in 

 commerce. 1 Nor was it longer necessary to insist on the 

 honour of the flag in order to stimulate the valour of our 

 seamen, to keep alive the spirit of maritime glory in the 

 nation, or to evoke the reverence of foreign peoples. The 

 forcing of all foreign ships to strike in the British seas be- 

 came a political encumbrance unsuited to the times. It was 

 allowed to fall into disuse when its inconvenience had long 

 outgrown any utility it had possessed, and the battle of Tra- 

 falgar, in 1805, gave the opportunity of departing from the 

 ancient claim. The naval power of France and Spain having 

 been humbled, it was thought a convenient time spontaneously 

 to abandon a pretension which " could not probably have been 

 maintained much longer except at the cannon's mouth." 2 The 

 Admiralty, with the approbation of the Government, accord- 

 ingly omitted the arbitrary article from their instructions for 

 the fleet. 3 



In the closing years of the seventeenth century and the 

 earlier part of the next there were many signs that the era of 

 claiming an exclusive sovereignty over extensive regions of 

 the sea was passing away ; and that, on the other hand, the 

 policy of fixing exact boundaries for special purposes, either by 

 international treaties or national laws, was taking its place. 

 Such signs may be observed in the writings of public men, as 

 in the letter of recantation which Evelyn indited to Pepys in 



1 Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 209, 225, 510, &c. 



2 The Life of Richard, Earl Howe, 200 (1838). 



3 In the Regulations and Instructions issued in 1808, the article is as follows : 

 " XXIV. Within his Majesty's seas his ships are not on any account to strike their 

 topsails, nor take in their flags ; nor in any way to salute any foreign ship what- 

 ever ; nor are they, in any other seas, to strike their topsails, or take in their 

 flags, to any foreign ships, unless such foreign ships shall have first struck, or shall 

 at the same time strike, their flags and topsails to his Majesty's ships." 



