GIIEATBRITAIN. 817 
fourth year of his reign, anno 1512; at wliicli time, tliat 
king, taking umbrage at the mighty naval preparations 
of France, made an augmentation of twenty-five large 
fhips of war to thofe already in being; he likewife 
ereCfed an office for the navy, and eftablilhed a certain 
number of commilfioners, to whom the charge of the 
navy vs'as committed, and whole duty it was to infpedl 
into the Hate and condition of the king’s Hiips, and to 
make a report thereof to the lord high admiral, in order 
to their being repaired or rebuilt, and I'upplied with 
every thing neceffiary for the public fervice, according 
as the cafe required it ; for till that time, the eflablilh- 
ment of the naval forces of this kingdom feems to have 
been upon an auxiliary dependency of the I’ea-ports and 
maritime towns, who were under certain conditions of 
furnifiiing their refpedlive quotas of lliips, for the king’s 
life, upon previous notice given to them in that behalf; 
pfter which, they all came to the appointed rendezvous, 
and were then difpofed of by the king’s order upon the 
I'ervices intended. Upon this augmentation, the king’s 
fleet at that time conlilted of no more than forty-five 
fhips, with which that of the French was foon over¬ 
come. Of thofe towns which, fwrniflied Ihips for the 
public fervice, the Cinque-ports were the moft noted, 
and whole privileges ftill fubfift, on account of the fer- 
vices which they obliged themfelves in particular to 
perform to the crowm. 
There are lifts of the fleet of queen Elizabeth, w'hich 
make it appear, that tliere was but one private gentle¬ 
man a captain, all the reft being lords and knights : fo 
high was the efteem for fervice at lea in thofe' days, 
when our princes ruled with the moftj confummate 
glory ; but the opinion of ferving at fca in later times 
liaving been very much left'ened, it has fince been too 
much declined by tlte nobility. 
A memorable inftance, however, of the bravery of 
one of our noblemen, the duke of Albemarle, who com- 
manded one divilion of the Englilli fquadron in the Dutch 
war of 1666, ought for ever to ftand upon record. On 
the 2d of June in that year, in a council of war, held for 
the purpofe of conlidering how far it would be prudent 
to renew the aftibn on that day, after having loft two 
fliips in the abtion of the preceding, naiilely, the Swift- 
fure and the Ell'ex, which were taken by the Dutch 
fleet commanded by Van Tromp and De Ruyter in the 
Englifh channel, the duke of Albemarle delivered his 
opinion as follows : “ That if we had dreaded the num¬ 
bers of our enemies, we ftiould have fled yefterday ; but 
though we are inferior to them in ftiips, we are in all 
things elfe fuperior. Force gives them courage. Let 
us, if we need it, borrow refolution from the thoughts 
of what we have formerly performed. Let the enemy 
feel, that, though our fleet be divided, our fpirit is en¬ 
tire. At the worft it will be more honourable to die 
bravely here on our own clement, than to be made fpec- 
tacles to the Dutch. To be overcome is the fortune of 
war, but to fly is tl'iC falhion of cowards. Let us teach 
the world, that Eng lishmen wou ld rather be 
ACQUAINTED WITH DEATH THAN WITH FEAR.” 
The maritime (late, lays Blackftone, though nearly 
related to the military, is much more agreeable to the 
principles of our free conftitution. The royal navy of 
Great Britain hath ever been its greateft defence and 
ornament; it is its ancient and natural ftrength, the 
floating bulwark of the illand : an army from which, 
however ftrong and powerful, no danger can ever be 
apprehended to liberty: and accordingly it has been 
aiiiduoully cultivated, even from the earlieft ages. To 
fo much perfection was our naval reputation arrived in 
the twelfth century, that the code of maritime laws, 
which are called the I.aws of Oleron, and are received 
by all nations in Europe as the ground of their marine 
conltitutions, was confeli'edly compiled by our king 
Richard 1 . at the ille of Oleron, on the coall of France, 
then part of the polfellions of the crown of England. 
V'^OL.VIII, N0.J47. 
And, yet fo vaftly inferior were our anceftors in this 
point, to the prefent age, that, even in the maritime 
reign of queen Elizabeth, Hr Edward Coke thinks it mat¬ 
ter of boaft, that tlie royal navy of England tlien confiftcd 
of thirty-three ftiips. The prefent condition of our ma¬ 
rine is in a great meafure owing to the I'alutury provi- 
llons of tlie ftatutes called the Navigation Adis ; where¬ 
by the conftant incrcafc of Englifli lliipping and feamcn 
W'as not only encouraged, but rendered unavoidably 
necelfary. 
At the fame time tliat the good economy of the royal 
navy is dilplayed, it feems necelfary to take fome no¬ 
tice of tliat, which affords it an opportunity of appear¬ 
ing in more magnificent gi'andeur tliaii can be repre- 
fented by the ableft writer in the world ; namely, tlie 
ocean on which it is borne; cfpecially as there is a pecu¬ 
liar fovereignty and piroperty inherent theiein, to the 
monarclis of Great Britain ; the prefervatioii of which,, 
for ages paft, has lb much conduced to iiicrcafe the 
glory of the nation. This right is fo ancient and unde¬ 
niable, that even the moft haughty of our neighbours 
dare not controul it, however they may prefunie to con- 
t'adidt it by vaunting words; neither vvas any tiling 
ever written againft it until it was undertaken by Ktigo 
Grotius, in his book called Mare liberum. 
The boundaries properly faid to encompafs wlicit arq 
Called the Britilh Seas, are thus accounted,, under the 
diftinclioa of the four cardinal points of tlie compafs;, 
taking it for granted in general, that all the feas which 
furround Great Britain, Ireland, and the other iflands 
appertaining to the crown, are called the Britilh Seas; 
but as to particulars they ftand thus: On the fouth is 
the Britilh Channel, which feparates England from 
France, the boundaries of which extend to the oppolite 
fliores of France, and to thofe of Spain, as far as Cape 
Finifterre. From that Cape it'extends on the weft in 
an imaginary line running in twenty-three degrees of 
weft longitude from London, to the latitude of fixty- 
tliree degrees north, which laft is called the Weftern 
Ocean of Britain. From the aforefaid latitude of fixty- 
three degrees, it extends in a line (fuppofed to be 
drawn) in that parallel of latitude, to the middle point 
of the land. Van Staten, on the coall of Norway, wliich 
is the northern boundary, and from that .point it extends 
along the ftiores of Norway, Denmark, Germany, and 
the Netherlands, to the channel firft mentioned; which 
baft boundary comprehends what is called the Eaftern 
Ocean of Britain. 
There being no lands lying on the weft and north fides 
of the Britifli dominions, nearer than the continent of 
America, the illand of Newfoundland, and Greenland; 
and the king of Great Britain having polfellions in the 
two firft places, the boundaries of his maritime empire 
cannot be faid to be ftrittly limited on that fide. More¬ 
over, as to Greenland, it was at firft dil'covered in the 
reign of Edward VI. by fir Hugh Willoughby, for tlie 
life of the crown of F..ngland ; and ftill again to the 
northward there is I’ome foundation for extending this 
fovereignty a great deal farther, on account of the ac- 
quilitions of king Artliur, a record of which is to be 
found in Hackluyt, p. 245, tranllated from the Latin 
original there quoted from Geoilrcy of Monmouth’s 
liiftory. 
According to this ancient right, the Britilh dominion 
on the North Sea is very extenfive ; , and lo far from 
being queftioned, or the trade of the Brit-illi fubjeCts in 
thofe parts obftrudted, that on the contrary, (witliout 
regard to the above relation concerning king Arthur,) 
Britain has a prior right even to Denmark and Norway 
in the Greenland filliery, and in Davis’s Streigius; thele 
places being unknown to them, and the reft of Europe, 
till John Davis’s voyage for difeovery of the norih-weli 
palfage in the year 1585 ; tliougli it feems tiiat ilic D.incs 
afterwards demanded toll for our fiftiing at Greenland, 
but it was refufed to them. 
9Y 
In 
