JAMES I; MARE LIBERUM 7 
Petershead. Being refused this, they gradually encroached 
so much upon the privileges of the native fishermen, that 
these, seeing themselves being gradually deprived of the 
best fishing grounds, made complaint to the king. 
It appeared highly significant to the mind of James that 
the treatise of Hugh Grotius on Mare Liberum should 
have appeared at the very time when the Hollanders were 
attempting to seize by force that which they had formerly 
been glad to use by special favour. James took it that the 
assertion of “‘ Mare Liberum ”’ was a definite declaration of 
Dutch policy, aimed particularly at England, and acted 
accordingly. He ordered his ambassador to the Hollanders, 
Sir D. Carlton, to make formal complaint, and, irritated by 
the outcry on the part of his subjects against foreign fisher- 
men, issued a Proclamation on May 16th, 1609, forbidding 
foreign fishermen to fish on the British coasts and in British 
seas except upon payment of certain fees for license ; these 
licenses were bought at London by those who wished to 
fish off the English coasts, and at Edinburgh by those who 
wished to fish off the Scottish coasts. By proclamation, all 
unlicensed fishers were interdicted from fishing, the Duke 
of Lennox, as Admiral of Scotland, being ordered to see 
the right of Assize Herring? put in execution ;*? James thus 
openly took his stand by the “‘ Mare Clausum ”’ theory, the 
assertion of the “ Dominium Maris.” 
Henceforth during the reign of James, an armed peace 
prevailed, both in the North Sea and at Spitzbergen, where 
the whalers of Britain and of Holland were working in com- 
petition with each other. Men-of-war accompanied the 
fishing fleets of both nations and prevented open warfare, 
although disputes were frequent. James, however, was not 
1 Gal. S.P. Dom. Car. II., vol. 339, p. 13. 
2 Assize Herring, payable by all Fishers Native and Foreign, 1424, 21st 
Act of Year, Ist Parliament under King James I. 
Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. II., vol. 339, pp. 1-5. 
