did the Festivals of Bacchus or as it is usual to proceed against Traitors I think I may now put a period unto the Discourse about Indulgence which I have so managed as becomes a Son and a Friend unto the Church of England as well as a lover of the peace and welfare of his Native Countrey I have not debated the point of Prerogative in particular partly because what was said heretofore about the Deity is true concerning these Gods on earth It is dangerous to tell even the truth concerning their Essence partly because I could not do it without offending if not prejudicing the Church of England I do not think it convenient or seasonable that we should minutely inquire whether All the Power which was owned to be in the Pope at the Lateran Councill were vested in K. Henry VIII Or to examine strictly what the purport of those words are that The Kings of this Realme shall be taken accepted and reputed the onely Supreame Head on Earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia and shall have and enjoy annexed and united unto the Imperial Crown of this Realm as well the title and stile thereof as all Honours Dignities Preheminences Jurisdictions Priviledges Authorities Immunities Profits and Commodities to the said Dignity of Supream Head of the same Church belonging and appertaining Our Laws doe likewise tell us that the King is the onely and undoubted supream Headof the Church of England and Ireland to whom by Holy Scripture all Authority and power is wholly given to hear and determine all manner of causes Ecclesiastical Which passages whosoever shall discreetly consider He will esteem of these Arcana Imperii as matters which no wise man will search into that affects the tranquillity of these Realms To exemplify this further did not Q. Elizabeth dispense with the Act for coming to Church and connived at the Popish Service in private Houses in a manner without punishment although it were prohibited by the Law under a pecuniary mulct This Indulgence she used for thirteen years And when the Statute was made against the bringing in of Bulls Agnus Dei's and hallowed grains c. privy tokens of Papal obedience or to reconcile any man unto the Church of Rome yet was there no man in full six years proceeded against by that Law What imports it whither a Law be suspended by Practice or Declaration Her Reign doth afford some instances of Toleration as also do the Primitive Times which I have declined to mention But yet they are instances of what a Prince may do upon Reason of State and against which I have not met with any Father Bishop or Lawyer that hath protested I thought to put an end here unto this Preface which is grown prolixe beyond my intention But I met lately with a Book written by an English Lawyer in 1640. and tendered to the Parliament which requires some Animadversions thereupon The Case is about Ship-Money but there is an excursion against the English Soveraignty of the Brittish Seas the which since I have so perspicuously asserted against the Dutch it seems necessary that I do not suffer it to be betrayed by the English I am sorry to find a sort of Civil war betwixt the Temple and a faction in Lincolns-Inn and I wondered who had suggested unto the Dutch those principles of refusing the Flag and denying our Rights on the Sea until I found this Book to have given them a pretext thereunto If I be any thing sharp in my reflections thereon I may be pâ—…doned since those assertions are less to be endured in an English man then in an Hollander After the writings of Selden it is strange to find a Subject of the King of Great Britain that doubts Whether the Sea be a part of the King's dominions and adds But grant the Sea be a part of the King's Dominions to some purposes How is it a part Essential or equally valuable or how does it appeare that the Fate of the Land depends wholly upon the Dominion of the Sea France subsists without the Regiment of the Sea and why may not we as well want the same If England quite spend it self and poure out all its treasure to preserve the Seignory of the Seas it is not certain to exceed the Naval force of France Spain Holland c. And if it content it self with its antient strength of Shipping it may remain as safe as it hath formerly done Nay I cannot see that either necessity of ruine or necessity of dishonour can be truly pretended out of this that France Spain or Holland c. are too potent at Sea for Us. The Dominion of the Seas may be considered as a meer Right or as an Honour or as a Profit to us As a Right it is a Theame fitter for Scholars to whet their Wits upon then for Christians to fight and spill blood about And since it doth not manifestly appeare how or when it was first purchased or by what Law conveyed unto Us we take notice of it onely as matter of wit and disputation As it is an Honour to make others strike saile to us as They pass it is a glory fitter for women and children to wonder at then for Statesmen to contend about It may be compared to a Chaplet of Flowers not to a Diadem of Gold But as it is a profit unto Us to fence and enclose the Sea its matter of moment yet it concernes Us no more then it doth other Nations By too insolent contestations hereupon we may provoke God and dishonour our selves we may more probably incense our friends then quell our enemies we may make the Land a Slave to the Sea rather then the Sea a Servant to the Land I mention this passage to shew the Frenzy which possessed the Heà ds of many that would be reputed Patriots and Defenders of the Laws and Liberties of the English Nation in 1636 c. But there are some fatal periods amongst these Northern Regions when the Inhabitants do become so brutal and prejudicate that no obligations of Reason Prudence or Conscience and Religion can prevail over their passions especially if they are instigated by the Boutefeus of the Law in opposition to the Gospel of Peace and Obedience At another time it would have seemed strange that a Common-Lawyer should doubt whither the Sea be a part of the King's Dominions Whereas our Laws and Parliaments have alwayes decreed it to be so It is strange that one of that Robe should controvert our Right thereunto or scruple How it was purchased since in Vulgar Titles the Common Law looks no farther then Prescription and in explication thereof they are not so nice as the Civilians â—…or by the Civil Law there is required a Just Title which the Common Law requireth not And Bona fides which the Common Law requireth not and continual Possession which the Common Law only requireth And This He might have seen proved in Mr. Selden and Sir John Boroughs
Avarice Gruelty and Insolence of the Spaniard which qualities since he was not likely to change it was in vain for Her to think of a safe and durable Peace The same Inclinations the same Incentives continuing wouldin a short space produce their usual effects that by this Amity she would but give him time to Recruit that Strength which would be employed against Her The conclusion with a little Change runs thus Those Kings and States have taken wiser Courses who without any particular Provocation have made a timely Opposition to growing Empires lest the Conquest of their Neighbours should render them a Prey to the Victour They knew that there are some Wars made to procure a Peace some because no Peace can be had For as betwixt Fire and Water both being of a contrary Nature so between those that are ambitious to Rule over all and those that scorn to become Tributaries and Vassals to any there is a perpetual Strife and everlasting Enmity wherein 't is too late to revenge Injuries when received It becomes the Wise and it is most Glorious to prevent them whilst they are yet only Threatned or Imminent Heaven hath not given unto Kings their Power and Government only that they might redress and punish Evils their chief Business and Care ought to be to provide that they may never happen He doth not so much as defend himself who contains within the narrow bounds of Defence Wicked minds are excited by Impunity Whether the Dutch make War with France or enlarge their Conquests in both Indies or Fight with the Dane or Swede or with great Fleets guard their Fishermen and Merchants those dangers which we do not yet feel do still hang over our Heads and whilst they are in Arms England must be in a continual Jealousie and at a constant Expense The question is Whither it be best to perpetuate or dispel our Fears And which is the most prudent course to spend our own Incomes or subsist upon the Spoils of others These considerations prevailed with that Queen whose Memory and Actions are to this day Celebrated and Reverenced in England Were that Queen now alive let us examine what Maxims She would inculcate to this Age upon the present Juncture and if we may conjecture by her past Deportment what She would urge it would be to this effect Never to Relinquish any thing of Honour A Prince despised and contumeliously used is already half-ruined If he endure it long he is totally lost at Home and Abroad She made the States decree Death to such as should Libel or revile her Majesty and one reason of Her quarrel with Spain was that the King had slighted her Embassadours Never to abandon the Dominion of the Sea but to maintain constantly such a Fleet of Ships as may secure it and strike an Awe into the Neighbouring States To propagate Trade by all possible means into all Parts as the principal means of encreasing the Riches of private Men the Revenues of the Prince and the Renown and Puissance of the Realm To improve the Fishery by all manner of Contrivances as observation of Lent and Fasting-days encouraging and protecting the Fisher-men whence will arise besides the effects for a gainful Trade a constant Seminary of Mariners inured to the Sea acquainted with the Coast and skill'd in Navigation Never to suffer any Nation to grow more Powerful at Sea or greater Traders then our selves but by sundry Artifices or open War to dâ—…stress them and draw the Trade to England Thus She undermined the Hanse-Towns because they did prejudice the English Trade notwithstanding that many of them did profess the Reformed Religion Such Aphorisms as these would She instil into the English were She now living And I am confident had She lived to see France and the United Provinces both in their grandâ—…ur last Winter She would neither have stood Neutral nor joyned Her Forces with those of the Dutch Against a Neutrality it is a Rule in Politicks That in a War begun betwixt two mighty States it is dangerous for a Thâ—…rd and Neighbour to them both not to be a Party being called into the Action For he is in peril of becoming a Prey to the incensed Victor Except the Neutral Prince be so Potent as to be able to secure himself from the Conquerour But this not being our condition at present the next Debate is Whether we ought to adhere to the United Provinces or to France Against the United Provinces so many Arguments have been already Alledged that it is a shame not to assent unto them except the like or greater can be produced against the League with France Although it be true Policy for every Prince to oppose the excessive growth and strength of another State that it arrive not at that heighth of Puissance as to be able to reduce the rest under obeisance yet Wise men suggest many considerations before a War be commenced against this so Potent Empire For if we judg of Events by the ordinary course of Humane Affairs whosoever makes War upon a State infinitely surpassing his in Power doth but occasion his own Ruine Neither is it providentiâ—…l for a weak Prince though he foresee that he shall be at last subdued by this puissant Empire therefore to run Precipitously into a War against it any more then it would seem Wisdom for a company of Men to Accelerate their own Destruction because they are ascertained that in time they shall be Destroyed If the Question were now the same that it was in the days of Cromwel which way the Scales should be turned betwixt Rising France and Declining Spain the debate might end in favour of the House of Austria but since that Cromwel by Assisting France and Depressing of Spain hath contributed much to the paramount Greatness of that Monarchy and that His Majesty of Great Britain hath since his Restauration been enforced to emplóy his Cares upon those most necessary and urgent Affairs of composing his distracted Kingdoms Re-establishing the Government Securing and Advancing the Trade of his Subjects in opposition to the Hollanders without leisure to regard the growth of the French Monarchy The Case now seems different from what it was and it doth not seem prudential to oppose the greatness of France now that it is Arrived unto its present Heighth under so Haughty Martial and Wise a King so able Council so plentiful a Treasury so Vast Well-commanded and Well-disciplined Armies There is no one State that is able to Counter-poise the Forces of his most Christian Majesty and great Leagues which are to be made up of a multitude of Parties and Confederates are so uncertain Strengths to be relied on by the Wise that History doth not acquaint us with any Instances almost of their succeeding well and 't is manifest to any who understands the Genius of this Age that any such League would become Ineffectual Let Us therefore resolve that it is at present best for
to merit his esteem and affection Such like insinuations have heretofore been made by such as the world valued for policy but we request not any benefit therefrom but upon the regards of Piety desiring to serve the same God and pray for the same Soveraign under our several forms of worship How zealously the Fathers justifie the present Declaration of his Majesty it is a thing well known to the Learned and Mr. Chillingworth a Book licensed by the greatest Episcoparians and reprinted under no less Authority since his Majesties return doth make a large harangue in the behalf of it And if to impose upon men the profession of what they do not believe seem the most ready way to Atheism and if Atheism be much more pernicious to Government then Superstition the late procedure of his Majesty is authorized by the most prudential documents and we do heartily wish that the reign of his Majesty may be as prosperous and as glorious as was that of Constantine Valentinian Theodosius c. who are the illustrious presidents in this way of Royal clemency It is most certain that nothing did more in bolden the Dutch in their insolences against his Majesty and the English Nation then the opinion they had that we being subjected to the rigour of the penal Laws must needs be thereupon discontented with the present Government and inclined to favour them during the war But how cogent soever were those motives which made us desire greater indulgence we have not so learned Christ as thereupon to become rebels and enemies to our native Country Neither should ever De Witte by his artifices and soâ—…hisins convince us of the equity of their Cause who in the heighth of religious extravagancies and fanaticism did so vigorously assert those English rights in the defense of which His Majesty is now embarked We are not at all concerned in favour of the Dutch because They profess the same Protestant Religion which the English adhere unto It is most certain that the sense of Religion doth not extinguish Civil rights neither ought Injuries therefore to be tolerated because the Authors are Protestants No Judge no man regards the Effusion of Christian blood when a cut-â—…urse or a Robber is to be put to death we consider here the demeanour not the Creed of the criminals and injurious The Dutch pressed us with such Arguments as these when they had in â—…ain assaulted our Fleet in the Downs A. D. 1652. They harangued unto us by their Embassadour Adrian Pauw about the Interest of Protestancy in general and the mutual regards that ought to be betwixt Nations avowing the same Reformed and Orthodox Religion But the Council of State then would not be amused with such expressions nor relinquish thereupon the Rights and Honour of England They challenged the Right of the Flag as anciently and indubitably appertaining to this Nation and esteemed that no trivial Ceremony but so important a matter as to bottom the Quarrel and pursue the War thereupon We did not look upon the thing as a Civility which 't was indifferent if payed or omitted but beheld it as Land-lords do those small acknowledgments of a Capon or Pepper-corn by which their Tenants hold their Lands We esteemed it such a Ceremony as whereby wo preserved our Title to the Dominion and Soveraignty of the Brittish Seas the which Seas if we like Prodigals do not improve to all Advantages yet we would not bereave our Posterity of their Right to do it We said 't was a Right which All Princes and States even those of Holland and their Ancestours had allowed to belong unto England that a long Usage and Prescription which 't was easie to deduce out of Authent'ck records had confirmed unto us The Dutch were not then so insolent as to demand of us any Declaration that we pretended not thereby to the Dominion of the Brittish Seas but we know very well that Our Soveraignty over those Seas was suspended thereupon and that they did not refuse the Flag but that they might deprive us of and usurp to themselves the other The Dutch then were not so impudent as openly to justifie their Admiral and other Captains which refused to shew that Obeisance They did not commissionate them to deny it but intimated to them their displeasure at it whilst they publickly avowed That they had ordained them to continue those civilities and testimonies of affection which were usual upon any rancounter with the English Men of War Their Pride was not become so extravagant as of late it shewed it self against His Majesty and yet we thought fit to abate it then and therefore we cannot be justly suspected to be averse from this quarrel All our claim All our prescription was deduced from Crowned Heads and we do not imagine the Rights of England to be lessened because that His Majesty doth sway the Brittish Sceptre We prosecuted that War with so much courage and conduct that our valour amazed the whole world until the atchievements of his Royal Highness did give Men greater occasions for wonder And what we demanded by way of Treaty this Article will attest ARTIC XV. That the Ships and Vessels of the said United Provinces as well Men of War as others be they single Ships or in Fleets meeting at Sea with any of the Ships of War of this State of England or in their Service and wearing the Flag shall strike the Flag and lower their Topsail until they be passed by and shall likewise submit themselves to be visited if thereto required and perform all other respects due to the said Common-wealth of England to whom the Dominion and Soveraignty of the Brittish Seas belong This was one of the Articles delivered to their four Embassadors Novemb. 18. 1653. And the pretended Common-wealth did so peremptorily insist thereon that without the Solemn declaration and acknowledgment of the English Soveraignty over the Brittish Seas they could not any way treat with the Hollanders And it is well known to those which were commissioned to treat with their Embassadours I had this relation from Sir Robert Reynolds who was one of them that the said Embassadours being introduced and recommended to their pitty by Hugh Peters did offer to the several Commissioners that the States General should by a publick deed acknowledge that The Dominion and Soveraignty of the Brittish Seas did belong unto the pretended Common-wealth of England and that Thus much should be expressed in the several Commissions and Instructions issuing out of their Admiralties and Their Ships upon this account avowedly to strike the Flag and lower their Topsail We so much the more insisted thereon because we knew the usual evasions of the Dutch would otherwise reduce affairs to a second dispute if ever They recollected their strength We wonder that They should so far obliterate in their minds all sense of the respect due to Crowned Heads above the Republicks and so extreamly forget what
â—…ind in your own reason an Apology for our being resolute in this point you must needs be convinced that We ought not to abandon a Ceremony which is of so high concernment It is no policy to attempt the change of inveterate customs and usages Even errours and abuses are upon this account legally tolerated Let us then so adjust the matter Let Equity and all those inclinations you express for Us as Neighbours English-men and partakers of the same Faith induce you to continue those Honorary respects to the Ships of war of this Nation which All the Neighbour-States and Princes and which you your selves and your Progenitors have constantly exhibited Which you may do without detriment or disgrace But We cannot for bear to demand without our unspeakable prejudice Private persons move in another Sphear and act by other Rules then Soveraign Powers The regards of Credit with them may oftentimes yield to those of Utility or other Motives the publick receives little of injuâ—…y thereby nor is their wisdom questioned for such punctilio's if they relinquish them for other emoluments or peace-â—…e But Soveraigns cannot transact so Their Subjects The People participate in their Honour and Indignities They have a propriety a direct Right in the former Soveraigns cannot alienate or suffer their Honour to be impaired because it is not really Theirs it appertains to the Nation universally and They are all effectually injured by such transactions either because the Indignity doth directly extend unto them or because the Government and Authority is thereupon weakned and prejudiced which is the greatest of Civil detriments that can befall a People though ordinarily they are not aware thereof As prudence doth thus distinguish betwixt the demeanour of private and publick persons So doth Châ—…istianity it self for albeit that the Gâ—…spel-precepts do oblige particular persons to bear injuries and contumelies with patience and to surrender even the Coat as well as Cloak yet is not this so to be construed as if even private Christians were to yield up their Civil rights to every insolent that would encroach upon and usurp them or that they were to deprive themselves of those reâ—…arations which the Law and Government affords them Neither is it so to be understood as if the Civil Magistrate in Christendome might not secure himself of that obedience and reverence which is due â—…nto his dignity but bear the sword in vain Do not therefore go about to teach Us patience that you may more easily wrong us Do not insinuate the concerns of the Frotestant Churches the interest of Religion the Evangelical rules for peace and brotherly love that You thereupon may deprive Us of our Rights destroy our Fleets ruine our Trade and either subject Us to Your States or render Us a facile conquest for any invader Hither to We have acquainted you with the value we ought to place upon the Right of the Flag were it only an Honorary salute with what prescription we claim it and with what injustice you refuse it We now adde that The English Nation did never regard it only as a Civility and Respect but as a Principal Testimony of the unquestionable Right of this Nation to the Dominion and Superiority of the adjacent Seas acknowledged generally by all the Neighbour-States and Princes and particularly by You and Your Predecessours besides many most authentick Records and undeniable proofs together with a constant practise in confirmation thereof Yet did a Captain of yours refuse it affirming that If He did it He should loose his Head Your Vice-Admiral denied it to the English Admiral and menaced such as rendered that submission to our Ships We do not upbraid you with meer incivility in this procedure though the grandâ—…ur of England and the obligations which the United Netherlands have to thâ—…s Nation might contain you from being rude It is the absolute and substantial Soveraignty of the Brittish Seas which on our parts by such a deportment as the striking of the Flag or Topsail to our Ships on those Seas is required to be acknowledged and so hath been for many hundred years understood agreed unto and acknowledged by the Nations of Europe Would you know the extent of this Maritime Dominion our English Laws have alwayes reckoned upon the Four Seas Such as are â—…rn thereon are not Aliens and to be within them is to be within the Ligieance of the King and Realm of England The Records of Parliament in the dayes of King Edward III. and Henry V. proclaim it that those Kings and their Progenitors had ever been Lords of the Sea And God forbid that ever there should be any Parliament in England that should consent to erase those Records or cast dirt upon them by renouncing the Soveraignty asoresaid In the Records of the Tower there is a Libel relating to the times of Edward I. and Philip the fair of France in which the Procurators of most Nations bordering upon the Sea throughout Europe as the Genoâ—…ses Catalonians Almains Zelanders Hollanders Frieslanders Danes and Norwegians besides others under the dominion of the Roman-German Empire Allâ—… these joyntly declare That The Kings of England by Right of the said Kingdom from time to time whereof there is no memorial to the contrary have been in peaceable Possession of the Soveraign Lordship of the Sea of England and of the Isles within the same with power of making and establishing Laws Statutes and Prohibitions of Arms and of Ships otherwise fâ—…rnished then Merchant-men use to be and of taking surety and affording safe-guard in all cases where need shall require and of ordering all other things necessary for the maintaining of Peace Right and Equity among all manner of People as well of other Dominions as their own passing through the said Seas and the Soveraign Guard thereof Out of this Libel we deduce that The Kings of England had then been in peaceable possession of the said Dominion of the said Sea of England by immemorial prescription That the Soveraignty belonged unto them not because they were Domini utriusqâ—… ripae as when they had both England Normandy and so were Lords of both Shores For Edw. I. at this time had not Normandy but that it is inseparably appendant and annexed unto the Kingdom of England Our Kings being Superiour Lords of the said Seas by reason as the said Record speaketh of the said Kingdom And since that the Soveraignty of the Sea did appertain to the English Kings not in any other Right then that of the Kingdom of England you cannot doubt the Title by which Our present claiâ—… is deduced 'T is in right of Britannia that We challenge it 'T was in that right the Romans held it This claim justified K. Edward III. and his Rose-nobles Though there are other reasons regarding to the Lancastrian line which yield a colour for the use of the Portcullis in the Royal banners of England yet as we read in reference to his