1803:] 
the Dutch. The rgth atticle of this 
Treaty is verbatim the fame with the 
yoth of that in 1662, and therefore need 
not be ftated. 
Next comes the Treaty made at Lon- 
don in 1673, to which Sir William Tem- 
ple refers; and it was made upon the 
conclufion of the fecond war between 
Charles If. and the Dutch, but of tie 
third betwixt England and Holland, ‘The 
fourth article is as follows :— 
“¢ That the aforefaid States General of 
the United Provinces, in due acknow- 
Icdgement, on their part, of the King of 
Great Britain’s right to have his flag re- 
fpected in the feas hereafter mentioned, 
fhall and do declare and agree, that what- 
éver thips or veffels of war, or others, or 
whether fingle or in fleets, fhaill meet, in 
any of the feas frorn Cape Finifterre to the 
middle point of the land Vanjftaten in 
Norway, with any fhips or veflels be- 
longing to his Majefty of Great Britain, 
whether thofe fhips be fingle or in greater 
numbers, if they carry his Majelty of 
Great Britain’s flag or jack, the aforefaid 
Datch veffels or fhips fhall firike their 
flag and lower their topfail in the fame 
manner, and.with as much refpeét, as has 
at any time, and in any place, been for- 
“Yherly practifed towards any fhip of his 
Majefty of Great Britain or his prede- 
ceffors, by any fhips of the States General, 
or their predeceffors.”” 
_ Thele form all the Treaties wherein the 
flag has ever been the fubje&t of covenant 
between us and the Dutch, and there ne- 
ver was any compaét between us and any 
Other nation re{peéting it. ‘ 
I now proceed to inguire whether the 
Treaty of 1673 was the firft wherein the 
Dutch yielded the honour of the flag to 
the Crown of England, or whether it had 
been covenanted before by preceding Trea- 
ties, in fuch manner as might equally fup- 
port the claim of the Crown of Englaud to. 
the Dominion of the Sea. 
It muft be obvious to every one, from 
the before recited articles, that the friking 
the flag and lowering the topfail had been 
exprefsly conceded to England by the 
Dutch in three Treaties antecedent to this 
in 16733 and if it be faid, True, it was 
covenanted before, but not in words fo 
efficacious or fo operative, or with fo 
ftrong implication and clear acknowledg- 
ment from the Dutch of the Crown of 
England’s claim to the Domunion of the Sea, 
the article itfelf will bett fatisfy us, where 
it fays, ‘* That the ftriking the flag and 
lowering the top{ail fhall be done in the 
fame manner, and with as much refpedct 
Moyrery Mac. No. 95 
Obfervatiens on the Dominion of the Sea. 
469 
as has at any time, or in any place, been 
formetly practifed. The words are re- 
ftri€tive, and transfer nothing new, but 
only aflert and maintain what was in 
former pragtice;, and of this I am furey 
that the Dominion of the Sea is neither in 
this nor in any other articles exprefled in 
dire& terms, notin words equivalent. And 
furely if the Du:ch and we nad been upon 
agreement in this main point, it oughi to 
have been expreffed in the plaineft and 
mott binding words that could have been 
devifed, and not to have trufted fo weishty 
a matter to uncertain inferences and de- 
ductions. Tt is not enough to fay, The fea 
is our’s, though others fifh in it. We 
have the name whilft they have the thing. 
We have a claim to the Dominion of the 
Sea, though our neighbours will not al~ 
low it. ‘* But (/ays Sir William Temple) 
our claim is now acknowledged, and that 
by the molt powerful of our neighbours.” 
Does the article in the Treaty tell us this, 
either exprefsly or impliediy? or more 
ftrongly in this Treaty than any former ? 
But the examination of this will better fa'l 
under the two following heads of enquiry, 
which I fhall now proceed to duiculs, 
Viz.— 
Whether the article of the flag in the 
Treaty of 1673 allows a claim in the 
Crown of England to an acknowledgment 
on the part ‘ot the States General of the 
United Provinces of the ‘aid Crown’s Do- 
minioa in the Narrow Seas? for fo Sit 
William Temple expreiles it. 
If the Treaty had allowed, or intended 
to allow, fuch a claim to the Crown, 
furely it woyld have faid fo. At all 
events, not the direét contrary. It was 
as ealy to have faid, ‘¢ The Dutch fhall 
ftrike their flag and lower their topfail iz 
acknowledgment of the Crown of Eng- 
land’s right to the Dominion of the Narrow 
Seas,” as Sir William Temple has it, 
it was to fay, ** Dhey fhall do this in ac- 
knowledgment of the King of Great Bri- 
tain’s richt to bave his flag refpected,” as 
the article expreffes it, .If an aét be ca- 
pable of a double meaning, the one fa- 
vourable, the other burthenfome, and I, 
antecedently to my own aét, declare FE do 
it in the favourable fenfe, fhall you impofe 
the burthenfome one upon it, contrary to 
my own previous declaration? .[f a mean 
countryman takes off his hat to a gentie- 
man of rank, and tells him be does it out 
of refpedt to his quality, fhall the gentle- 
man ‘tell him agam—-No, but you do it 
becaufe you are within my manor, and toe 
acknowledge that you owe me fuit and fer- 
as 
Vice atiny tourt. In this cale, therciore, 
q 5 Sir 
