106 THE HERRING FISHERY 



the Festival of the Vineyards to the nations of 

 warmer climates. 



Section II. — ^The Dutch and English Ques- 

 tion IN THE Seventeenth Century. 



Dominium Maris. Throughout the history 

 of the Dutch herring fishery, and especially 

 that part which deals with the Zuider Zee 

 under the Republic of the United Provinces, 

 whether expressed or tacitly held, runs the 

 doctrine of the Dominion of the Seas. The 

 right to fish all over the open seas, and the 

 question of Dominium Maris were the cause 

 of endless disputes and claims by the Dutch, 

 and in an indirect way resemble the claims 

 which the Germans have advanced about 

 the " freedom of the seas " during the present 

 War. But the meaning which the Central 

 European Powers and the Papal Note seek in 

 1917 to place on the words ** Freedom of the 

 seas " is the very opposite to that placed upon 

 them by Grotius. 



The question was raised by Grotius in his 

 Mare Liberum (1608), his contention being that 

 the high seas were open to all. It was to coun- 

 teract his influence that in 1635 at the request of 

 Charles I. John Selden again took up his 

 Mare Clausum, a work begun as early as 1618 

 (but at the request of James I. not published 

 for fear of subsequent complications with 

 Denmark), when Grotius was one of the Dutch 



