8 THE DUTCH GRAND FISHERY 
yet satisfied ; the tax on Dutch fishermen had already been 
remitted in 1612, at the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth 
to the Prince Elector of the Palatinate, but, ignoring this, 
James in 1617 demanded of the Dutch fishermen working 
in British waters a tax of one angelot, or a barrel of herring 
and twelve codfish, for every vessel. The tax was at first 
paid; afterwards, however, the Dutch refused to admit 
the king’s right to demand it.1 A certain Mr. Browne 
sent to defend the king’s claim to this tax and to see it 
collected in due form from the Dutch fishing vessels, was 
seized and carried off to Holland. James, roused to action 
by this act of defiance, ordered the ambassador, Sir D. 
Carlton, to demand reparation for the insult from the 
States-General. So vigorously did the ambassador state 
the case that Browne was released, while the captains of 
the ships who had seized him were handed over to James for 
punishment, a plea for mercy being entered on their behalf 
by the States. 
The States at this time pleaded that by at least two 
treaties, one concluded in 1495, between Philip of Burgundy 
and Henry VIII., and the other between Charles of Bur- 
gundy and Henry VIIL., it had been agreed that the subjects 
of the Netherlands should fish in the English seas without 
impediment and without license. Upon James repudiating 
this, the Prince of Orange proposed, as a compromise, that 
the Right of Fishing should be purchased by one payment. 
Sir D. Carlton, however, answered that a royalty of this 
nature could not thus be purchased. The Dutch next 
claimed that in 1594, at the christening of Prince Henry, 
the States assisted as godfathers, and that King James 
then granted them the privilege of fishing without license ; 
when asked for proof, however, they were unable to produce 
evidence of any such privilege.* 
1 Beaujon’s Essay, p. 172. 
2 Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. II., vol. 339, pp. 1-5. 3 Ibid. 
