them above other Nations but since they break out like an Inundation and with a drawn Sword declare prodigious Principles of Enmitie against the Rights and Liberties of England it is presumed a thing unquestionable that due Defences ought to be made till they bee reduced within their antient Limits For if they should bee permitted in the least to Lord it at Sea as they want not will and advantages and have given you experience of their encroaching and ambitious temper so it 's to bee feared they would bee ever seeking opportunitie to impose a Lord upon you by Land May you go on therefore Right honorable as you have begun and do and the God of Heaven go along w th you upon terms of honor Justice in such a way that men may understand as you will do no wrong at what rate they must offend you Not onely our eies but the eies of all the world are fixt upon the carriage and conduct of this noble enterprise by Sea when you have acquitted your selvs there as no doubt you will do having alreadie given the same demonstrations of wisdom and courage that you have don by Land your Wars through God's blessing will at once bee ended It will draw such a reverence repute to your affairs that men will beware how they provoke you and your worst enemies despair of any future opportunitie The late Engagements Successes of your Fleets at Sea have shewn that the great God hath owned you there That hee hath not left you destitute of means That the old English bloud sens of honor run's still in the veins of your Sea-men and thereby given you to understand that hee who hath appeared so gloriously for you in the midst of wondrous difficulties by Land will also manifest his wonders in the Deep to make a final Accomplishment of the good VVork by Sea and beeing himself alone invested with the absolute Soveraigntie of Sea Land bee pleased to continue you and your Successors his Lievtenants in both for the establishment of this Common-wealth in a plenarie possession of its Rights and Liberties to all Posteritie I am in my praiers and endeavors RIGHT HONORABLE Your Honor 's most humble and faithful Servant Marchamont Nedham November 19. 1652. THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE SOm things there are that I thought fit here to forewarn the Reader part whereof may bee necessarie even for those who are in other things very well instructed The rest likewise not unprofitable for them who while they salute Books by the way are wont through a customarie vice of temeritie to stumble in the verie Threshold Those things concern either the place of such Testimonies as are alleged or som Circumstances of the Sea-Dominion which is proved or the Title of the Work Among Testimonies besides such as are in Print and Manuscripts reserved in private men's Libraries there are not a few especially in the second Book brought out of Records or publick Monuments whose credit I suppose every indifferent Judg of matters will as once the Senate of Rome did allow better than other Witnesses at least if there bee any difference and therefore full Those which lie in private men's Libraries you will finde where they are kept in the Margin If omitted there they are in my own But as to the Testimonies taken often out of publick Records som likewise have the Place either of the Archive or Rolls or the name of the Record-keeper's Office so noted in the Margin that thereby you may know immediately where to finde them But som of these Records that are very frequently cited have no place at all nor any name of the Record-keeper expressed but the King for the most part and the Year besides the name of the Court-Roll are only noted As many as are of this kinde do relate som to those years that pass betwixt the beginning of the reign of King John and the end of Edward the Fourth others to those years that succeed down to our time They which are of the former sort having no place nor name of the Record-keeper noted are kept in the Archive of the Tower of London but those of the latter sort in the Chappel of the Rolls It had been too slight a matter to have signified thus much here to such as are acquainted with our English Records becaus by the very name of the Court-Roll as Rotulorum Patentium Rotulorum Clausorum Rotulorum Parlâ—mentariorum Rotulorum Franciae Vasconiae Alemanniae and others of that kinde which are Records belonging to the English Chancerie and by the name of the King the very place also of the Records is sufficiently known But it is necessarie to premise this in the first place as well for the sakes of my own Countrie-men who have been Strangers to the Rolls as in the behalf of Foreiners to the end that if either of them perhaps have a minde exactly to consult the Original of any testimonie thence alleged they might when the Places are so described the more conveniently do it themselvs at their own leasure if present or if absent obtein it by the assistance of friends For the Record-keepers who have a special care to preserv them safely do usually give admittance at seasonable hours to all that pleas to consult them and have them so placed as Justinian commanded concerning the Records of the Empire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may easily bee found by them that search As to what concern's the aforesaid circumstances of Sea-Dominion whereas there are two Propositions here so far as the term may bee born in things of a civil nature made evident The one That the Sea by the Law of Nature or Nations is not common to allmen but capable of private Dominion or proprietie as well as the Land The other That the King of Great Britain is Lord of the Sea flowing about as an inseparable and perpetual Appendant of the British Empire it is not to bee conceived that any other kinde either of Causes or Effects of Sea-Dominion are here admitted than such as have been of the Dominion of an Island Continent Port or any other Territorie whatsoëver or Province which is wont to bee reckoned in the Royal Patrimonie of Princes Nor that a less Dominion of the Sea than of the Land is derived from the nature of the Law received among Nations about the acquiring of Dominion and of Justice it self as from the Causes nor that the Effects thereof are any other than what are variously subservient to Compacts Agreements Leagues and Treaties Constitutions or Prescriptions of servitudes and other things of that nature in the same manner as the effects of Dominion by Land And therefore hee said well of old Nunc jam cessit Pontus Omnes Patitur leges The Seals now made appropriate And yield's to all the Laws of state That is to say all which are admitted in any other kinde of Territories according to the difference of things persons
and Acceptions that are to bee used in the Controversie it remain's that in the next place that of Dominion or Ownership bee taken into consideration Of Dominion both Common to all and Private Also its Original either by Distribution or Primarie Occupation CHAP. IV. DOminion which is a Right of Using Enjoying Alienating and free Disposing is either Common to all men as Possessors without Distinction or Private and peculiar onely to som that is to say distributed and set apart by any particular States Princes or persons whatsoever in such a manner that others are excluded or at least in som sort barred from a Libertie of Use and Enjoiment As to the first kinde of Dominion or that which is Common to All frequent mention is made of it in relation to that State of Communitie which was in antient times And of which Virgil speak's in his Georgicks Nec signare quidem aut partiri limite Campum Fas erat in medio quaerebant Nor was it lawful then their Lands to bound They liv'd in common All upon the Ground And Seneca pervium cunctis iter Communis usus omnium rerum fuit All men might pass what way they pleas'd to chuse And all things were expos'd for common use And Tibullus Non domus ulla fores habuit non fixus in agris Qui regeret certis finibus arva lapis Men did not then with dores their Houses build Nor were they wont with stones to bound the Field Many more there are of the like nature But yet Lactantius would have them to bee so understood not that wee should conceiv that nothing at all was private or peculiar in those daies but in a figurative sens after the manner of the Poëts to let us know that men were then so free and generous that they did not hoord up the fruits of the Earth for themselvs nor dwel in an obscure solitarie manner but admitted the poor to partake of the benefit of their labors And truly wee finde divers passages plainly pointing out this state of Communitie in that Divine Act of Donation whereby Noah and his three sons Shem Cham and Japhet who represented as it were the person of Adam for the restoring of mankinde after the flood became Joint-Lords of the whole world The form of Donation is expressed in these words Bee fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth And the fear of you and the dread of you shall bee upon every Beast of the Earth and every Foul of the Aër upon all that moveth upon the Earth and upon all the Fishes of the Sea into your hands are they delivered Also Justin the Historian speak's aptly and to the purpose In the Age of Saturn saith hee all things were without distinction common to all as if all men had lived upon one stock or Patrimonie From whence it came to pass that in the Festivals of Saturn all things were enjoyed in common To which likewise accord's that of Cicero No thing is private or peculiar to any by Nature but either by occupation of old as in the case of those who first inhabited Vacancies or who became possess 't by right of War and Conquest or by virtue of som Law or by Compact Covenant or by Lot Yet'tis not probable that this kinde of Communitie was of any long continuance But as for Private Dominion or that distribution of Possessions and Bounds which depriveth or in any sort barreth all others besides the known possessor from a libertie of use and enjoiment they say it was not in beeing till those golden daies were over And so as the Poêt sings Communémque priùs ceu lumina solis Aurae Cautus humum longo signavit limite Menser The Earth as commou once as Light or Aër They then by Art did measure bound and share It appear's also by holy Writ that the Earth was divided by the Posteritie of Noah som Ages after the Flood By Japhet and his sons were the Isles of the Gentiles divided in their Lands everie one after his Tongue after their Families in their Nations as it is recorded by Moses That is to say they settled themselvs as private Lords and appointed Bounds accordings to the number of their Families from the River Tanais even as far as the Atlantick Sea or through a great part of the Western Asia as it bend's towards the North and throughout all Europe In like manner Cham and his Posteritie possessed themselvs of that Part which lie's open to the South and South-west as Shem did the Eastern Countries as far as India As you may see it in Josephus Eusebius the Autor of the Chronicle of Alexandria Zonaras Cedrenus Eustathius of Antioch Freculphus and others It hath been received also by Tradition that Noah himself as if hee had been absolute Lord or Arbiter of the whole world was the first man after the Flood that revived this kinde of distribution or private Dominion which they say also hee did by Command from God and that in the nine hundred and thirtieth year of his Age which was three hundred and thirtie years after the Floud and twentie before his death hee confirmed it by Will and deliver'd it a little before his death into the hands of Shem his eldest son admonishing them altogether that no man should invade the Bounds of his Brother nor should they wrong one another becaus it would of necessitie occasion Discords and deadly Wars among them As it is expresly mentioned both in Eusebius and Cedredrenus But howsoever the matter hath been this is very certain that private Dominions or Possessions were revived again after the Flood in the same accustomed manner as they had been before from the daies of Adam For hee also received such a Donation from God as wee have told you Noah and his Sons did afterward and so became Lord of the whole World not without such a peculiar possession or proprietie to himself which so far as wee are able to judg of Affairs of that Age according to the waies and means received by Posteritie did exclude his children from all Right but by his voluntarie Grant or Resignation But yet whether it were by Donation Assignment or any other Grant whatsoëver it appear's before hee died or left any Heir to succeed him his children did enjoy their several Bounds and Territories in a way of peculiar Dominion or Possession Thus Abel had Cattel and Pastures of his own as Cain had Lands and Plantations that were his own Hee possessed himself also of the Land of Nod or Naida where hee built the Citie of Enoch and settled his abode After this Exchanges Buying and selling came in fashion and besides Weights and Measures they appointed Judges of Covenants and Contracts and added Bounds or Limits to Fields and Pastures And of Cain it is said that hee first set Bounds unto Fields So at length came in private Dominions or Possessions which whether by virtue
form of Donation And therefore that is very vain which is objected by som That the Earth is given to the children of men but that the Sea belong's onely to God himself as if Dominion not common indeed but onely a common use of the Sea were permitted by the words of holy Scripture And as if it were not said in like manner The Earth is the Lord's and fulness thereof The tops of the Hills are his also Who know's not that such sayings as these cannot in any wise weaken the Dominion of Mankinde For whatsoëver is acquired by men still God Almightie as Father of the Univers retein's his supreme Dominion both over men as also all other Things which never was denied yet by any sober man But the Controversie is about the Dominion of man to wit that which comprehend's any enjoiment or proprietie whatsoëver saving still that right of the Dominion of God which cannot bee diminished And the distinction about this matter is very ordinarie in the Schools According to the first sort of Dominion nothing whatsoëver much less may the Sea belong unto men According to the second all things indeed are or may bee theirs which can bee apprehended seized and possessed And moreover that in the old Testament express mention is made more then once of such a Seisure possession or private Dominion as this whereof wee Treat and that as of a Thing lawfully brought in use There wee finde that the men of Tyre were Lords and Masters of the Phaenician and the Egyptians of the Alexandrian Sea Concerning the Phaenician saith the Prophet unto Tyrus All the Princes of the Sea shall com down from their Thrones c. And they shall take up a lamentation for thee and say to thee how art thou destroyed that wast inhabited of Seafaring men the renowned Citie which wast strong in the Sea Here the Dominion of the Tyrians at Sea is plainly set forth And in the following Chapter Thy Borders are in the midst or heart of the Sea as wee read it in the Hebrew and also in an Arabian Manuscript which render's it to the same purpose For both the Greek and vulgar Translation differ there from the Original It follow 's also thus All the Ships of the Sea with their Mariners were thine to occupie thy Merchandize In stead of which last words these are put in the Greek Copies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even Westward of the West or through a great part of the main or Western Sea that is the Phaenician or Syrian Again Becaus thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said I am a God I sit in the seat of God in the mid'st of the Sea Hee threaten's not the Tyrian becaus hee had gotten him a Dominion over the neighboring Sea but becaus beeing lifted up with pride hee had taken unto himself the name of God The Tyrian is called likewise in another Scripture the Sea it self and the strength of the Sea But concerning the Egyptian Sea another Prophet speak's thus unto Ninive Art thou better then populous Alexandria in the Original the Citie is called No taken here for Alexandria which is situate among the Rivers that hath the waters round about it whose Riches and strength as it is in the Hebrew or as the Greek render's it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is whose Empire or Dominion is the Sea Moreover it seem's to make mention of Kings of the Sea as well as of Islands The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents For Tarshish or Tharsis in Hebrew signifieth the Sea as it is often confessed both by the Greek and Chaldee Interpreters Although Munster a man otherwise very learned speak's unadvisedly upon the fore-mention'd place and will not have Tharsis there to signifie the Sea becaus saith hee Kings have nothing to do at Sea but rule onely upon Land forgetting what wee have alreadie told you that express mention is made by Ezechiel concerning Princes of the Sea With which agree's also that saying I will set his hand in the Sea and his right hand in the Flouds upon which place Aben-Ezra note 's that God Almightie assigned the Dominion of the Sea there unto King David That hee might rule over those that sailed either through the Sea or the Rivers It is written thus likewise in the Apocrypha O yee men do not men excel in strength that bear rule over Sea and Land and all things in them But yet the King is more mightie for hee is Lord of all these things and hath Dominion over them And in another place saith the Angel to Esdras The Sea is set in a wide place that it might bee deep and great But put case the entrance were narrow and like a River who then could enter the Sea to look upon it and have Dominion over it iâ— hee went not through the narrow The Dominion of the Sea and of the Land is granted alike in both these places It is said also of King Ahasuerus That hee made not onely the Land but all the Isles of the Sea to becom tributarie which words truly do clearly shew a Dominion of the Sea for so they are expressed in the vulgar Edition out of the Hebrew Original which is lost But the Greek Copies are more plain there The King wrote to his Kingdom of the Land and Sea Nor must wee omit that of Moses when hee blessed the people And of Naphtali hee said Naphtali shall enjoy abundance and bee full with the blessings of the Lord hee shall possess or inherit the Sea and the South as the â—â—lgar and the Greek do render that place But by many others the Sea is taken there for the West-Quarter as it is often in the Scriptures Yet truly it is clear those words are meant of the Sea of Galilee or of the Lake of Tiberias not of the great or Phaenician Sea which lie's Westward becaus the Land of Naphtali was situate near that Lake which also is often called the Sea As it appear's likewise out of Onkelus his Paraphrase where express mention is made of the Sea of Genesareth called also the Lake of Tiberias or the Sea of Chinnereth and by this name it passeth with the salt Sea or the Lake of Asphaltites in the sacred description of the Eastern part of the holy Land But the former place of Deuteronomie is â—…usly rendred by Rupert the Abbot of Tuitiuâ— Maâ—e Meridiem possidebit for Mare Meridiem hee shall possess the Morning and the South for the Sea and the South However it is clear I suppose out of the places alleged such plain Testimonies are found in holy Writ touching such a Dominion of the Sea that in the mean time it must bee granted that according to the Universal Permissive Law any man may acquire it as well as the Land And truly as for those places quoted in the foregoing Chapter concerning the
South West or Sea and Northen Bounds of the holy Land they are so understood both by the Jewish Lawyers and Divines that they would have either the great or Phaenician Sea it self or at least som adjoyning part of it to bee assigned also by God unto the Israëlites as Lords of it for ever of which point wee shall discours a little more fully As for that which is rendred there out of the vulgar Edition touching the South Border As far as the river of Egypt and it shall bee bounded by the shore of the great Sea the Hebrew saith ad â—orrentem AEgypti unto the River of Egypt or the North entrance of Niâ—us which divided the â—and of Israël from Egypt at the Sea erunt exitus ejus in Mare and the goings out thereof shall bee into the Sea So that concerning that Borders beeing bounded by the shore as it is in the vulgar wee finde it no otherwise expressed there in the Original Then it is added next concerning the West-border or that which is at the great Sea word for word out of the Hebrew As for your Sea-border you may have the great Sea And let this bee your border or let it bee your Sea border or border of the Sea And there the Greek Interpreter's render it thus you shall have the bounds of the Sea or they shall bee your bounds The great Sea shall bound you wherein after their usual manner they plainly follow the Text of the Samaritan Copie For there wee read it thus And you shall have a Sea-border The great Sea shall bound you Let this bee your Sea or Western-border And thus the word SEA beeing used as well for the Western Quarter as for the Sea it self that place is for the most part so rendred that in so short a period the Sea is taken for both As for the West-Border you shall have the great Sea And this Border shall bee your West-Border As it is expressed by the Jews of Spain y Termino de ponente y sera à vos el mar el grande y Termino este sera à vos Termino de ponente Thus is also in Onkelus and Erpenius his Arabick save that Onkelus render's it thus But your West-border shall bee the great Sea and the Border thereof the same shall bee your West-border But an Arabian Translation in manuscript for which wee are beholden to the Earl or Arundel's Librarie after these words unto the River of Egypt add's also And the going out thereof shall bee at the Coasts or parts of the Sea And the Border of the Sea shall bee your Border Also the great Sea in their Borders Thiâ— shall bee your Border from the Sea Coast. But the North part as appear's by the particulars alleged in the former Chapter is bounded by mount Hor so that it appear's hence that the more Northerly enterance of Nilus that is the Pelusiock as it seem's for they are not well agreed about the very particular place served instead of Bounds to the South part of the Land of Israël which border'd upon the Sea as also to that part of the Promontorie or foot of mount Hor which was situated North-East by the Sea But this mount is that which in the vulgar edition is called an exceeding high mountain In the Jewish Commentaries it is known also by the name of Amana and Amanon and Amanus and by som it is taken for that mountain in the Canticles called Amana And in the Jewish Targum Manus is put for mount Hor. It is taken also for Libanus by such as in their Descriptions of the Holie Land are wont to make mount Libanus its Northern Border But as touching this mount Hor or Amanus of the same name with that mountain which but 's out into the Gulph now called Golfo dell ' Aiazza by som also taken for the same or rather mount Taurus it is described after this manner by Solomon Jarchius it is seated in a north west corner It 's head bending downward stretcheth out into the very sea And it is wash't in divers places by the main Betwixt these Bounds to wit the Southern part or the Pelusiack entrance of Nilus and the North-East bound or Promontorie of the aforesaid mount the great sea which is reckoned the Western bound or Border haivng divers windings and turnings along the shore is stretcht out in such a manner above 200 miles that if a streight line should bee drawn from the North-East Border to the Southern a great part of the Sea that extend's it self within the line for so many miles must needs bee intercepted which also is very easily to bee understood without the help of a Map These things beeing thus premised briefly but so far as the matter in hand require's to discover the western part of the Holie Land bordering wholy upon the Sea and that according to the judgment of the antient Hebrews not by modern Descriptions it is to bee consider'd that the Jewish Divines and Lawyers when they discours about the precepts and Laws belonging to the Land of Israël that is of those to which they conceiv themselvs not bound by the Holy Law without the Limits of that Land use to treat very precisely even to an hair touching the Borders of their Dominion as it was appointed by the Command of God To wit touching the Bounds of their Territorie as the name Territorie signifie's the whole not onely Lands and Fields but Rivers also and all other waters within the circuit of each Citie as it is rightly taken also by the Civil Lawyers The Precepts spoken of are those which are received by the Jews touching the observation of the Sabbaticall year oblations of Fruits the Lâ—vitical custom of Tithing and others of that kinde For by the Law of God they will not yield that those things should bee observed out of the Israëlitish Dominions although by Tradition of their Ancestors they were usually observed in Egypt Jdumaea the Land of Moab and Shinar both by reason of their neighborhood and the frequent convers of the Israëlits among them But now so far as concern's the western or Sea-bordering of the Land of Israël as it was assigned at first by God in observing Precepts of this kinde according to the holie Law wee meet with two opinions in their Commentaries from both which indeed it will appear that the Sea was assigned by God Himself unto the Israëlites as Lords thereof in the same manner as the Land though one opinion assign's larger Bounds the other much more narrow So that they all agree about the thing differing onely about the latitude The first opinion is of those who affirm that the whole western Sea as it lie's before the western Coast of the Land of Israël or as it is bounded inward by streight lines drawn on both sides from the North-east and South border before mentioned through that Ocean into the west together with the Continent was given
had without leav of the Lord or Possessor There was also a very antient Custom used in the Fast that when great Kings having designs to bring any Nations under their power commanded the pledges of Empire and Dominion to bee deliver'd to them they were wont to demand Water and Earth together That is to say there quired them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bring earth and water and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to prepare Earth and Water They conceived that their Dominion of the Sea as well as the Land was signified by such a kinde of pledg or token Thus Darius demanded Earth and Water from Indathyrsus King of the Scythians Thus Xerxes from the Lacedemonians and thus both of them from the People of Coos which is witnessed by the Coans themselvs in a publick Decree or Epistle in answer to Artaxerxes his most imperious demand that Hippocrates should bee rendred up to him wherein the Coans slighting the threats of that great King decreed that what hazzard soêver they might seem to run Hippocrates should by no means bee rendred They added also to that Decree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. How that when his Predecessors Darius and Xerxes had by their Letters demanded Earth and Water the people of Coos did in no wise yield it forasmuch as they were satisfied that those who had sent unto them were mortal as well as other men And in the Greek Copies of the Historie of Judith Nabuchodonosor beeing about to denounce War against the neighbor-Nations saith expresly the form of submission which hee expected was that they should provide for him Earth and Water Unless they conceiv themselvs to bee Lords of the Waters as well as the Land I do not well see wherefore they should demand Earth and Water as tokens of universal Dominion Moreover also Achmes Ben Seirim an Arabian writing of the Sea saith that according to the Doctrine of the Indians Persians and Egyptians in expounding of dreams If any one in a dream seem to himself to bee made Lord of the Sea hee shall bee heir of the whole Kingdom and shall reign Add hereunto that Oracle of Delos concerning the Sea-Dominion of the Athenians The men of Athens offering sacrifice in Delos a Boy that drew water to wash their hands poured Fish out of the pot together with the water Hereupon this Oracle was delivered by the Priests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they should becom Lords of the Sea The Autor is one Semus an antient Writer in Athenaeus where Phylarchus also relate's how that when Patroclus a Captain of Ptolomie the son of Lagus had sent fish and fresh figs together unto King Antigonus and those that stood by were in doubt what was meant by that present Antigonus said hee himself very well apprehended what might bee the meaning of Patroclus For saith hee either Patroclus mean's That wee must get the Soveraignty or Dominion of the Sea or els gnaw figs. Or that hee must seem slothful and effeminate or becom Lord of the Sea Therefore hee made no doubt touching private Dominion of the Sea And there also the Glutton in Antiphanes the Comedian saith it is neither profitable for life nor to bee endured That som of you should claim the Sea as peculiar to themselvs and spend much monie upon it but no victual for Navigation not so much as a bit Add also that of Theocritus touching the Dominion of Ptolomeus Philadelphus King of Egypt over the Sea as well as the Land 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee is Lord of much Land and also of much Sea And a little after hee speak's of the Pamphilian Lycian and the inner part of the remaining Sea that the whole Sea and Land and Rivers were subject to King Ptolomie Also Philo Judeus saith let not Princes glory in that they have conquer'd many Nations or that they have brought all the rivers and Seas so exceeding vast both in Number and magnitude under their power Moreover though Isocrates in his Oration concerning Peace seem's to hint that the Sea-Dominion and Soveraignty which the Athenians endevored to maintain brought many mischiefs upon them and also that it somtimes occasioned them to use Tyrannie against the Neighbor-Cities of Greece yet hee dispute's it as a thing that may com into examination under the account of profitable and unprofitable and by accident of unjust but hee doth not in anie wise endeavor to prove it unjust from the nature of the thing it self Yea in another place hee sufficiently commend's that Dominion though not all things in preserving it And the same Autor saith expresly of both Cities the Lacedemonian and Athenian It hapned that both Cities did enjoy a Command of the Sea which when either of them held they had most of the other Cities obedient thereto Wee read also a dispute in Aristotle concerning a Communion or common enjoyment of the Sea to wit whether it may bee convenient or not for a well order'd City whether it were better it should remain common to all men so that no man might in any wise bee denied passage traffick merchandise and fishing Or that the use of it may bee so restrained that it might bee received into the Dominion of any Citie so as to exclude forreiners Hee dispute's this point whether it bee profitable or unprofitable but question 's it not at all as unjust having been abundantly instructed out of the Customs of the Nations round about touching a propriety of the Sea as well as the Land Also his Scholar Alexander the Macedonian beeing victorious in the East prepared for an expedition against Europe that Hee might becom Lord of the whole Land and Sea as saith the Emperor Julian And truly among the People of Greece especialy such as border'd upon the Sea and others of that nature in the East to hold supreme power and Soveraigntie above others and to enjoy a Soveraigntie of the Sea were acoounted almost one and the same thing Nor did they conceiv that could bee obteined without this From whence arose that Council of Themistocles which Pompey the great also followed at Rome Qui mare teneat eum necesse esse rerum potiri c. Hee which can possess the Sea must need 's have Command of all So also saith Jsaac Casaubon upon Polybius To have Dominion of the Sea which is expressed by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is wholly and ever hath been a great strengthning and as it were a pledg of extraordinarie power Therefore the old writers of Chronicles among the Grecians seeing before the institution of the Olympiads there was no Sovereign power of any People of Greece in beeing upon whose actions a knowledg of times might bee grounded therefore among the other times that they made use of for the computing of times they omitted not that particular but carefully kept an accompt of those People who had once enjoyed a Dominion of the Sea and
hee freed the sea-Coast from Pirates and restored the Dominion to the people of Rome Moreover as touching the vast Sea-dominion of the Romane people Dionysius Halicarnass saith Rome is Ladie of the whole sea not onely of that which lie's within Hercules's Pillars but also of the Ocean it self so far as it is navigable This is indeed an Hyperbole But in the mean time a clear Testimonie of a very large Sea-dominion As also that of Appianus Alexandrinus The Romanes saith hee hold the Dominion of the whole Mediterranean Sea Other instances there are of the same nature But truly that expression of a very eminent man is not to bee admitted who saith of examples of that kinde that they do not prove a possession of the Sea or of a Right of Navigation For as particular private men so also people and Nations may be Leagues and Agreements not onely quit that Right which peculiarly belong's to them but that also which they hold in common with all men in favor and for the benefit of any one whom it concern's And for this hee referr's himself unto Ulpian who will have that Cessation of fishing for Tunies in the Sea of which more hereafter to bee derived from the Autoritie of som stipulation or Covenant not from any vassalage imposed upon the Sea Surely by such a kinde of distinction whereof Ulpian is indeed the Autor the same may bee said either of Dominion or vassalage as wee call it of every kinde If to occupie and enjoy in a private manner by Right to hinder and forbid others bee not Dominion it is nothing Moreover Cassandra in Lycophron prophesied that the people in Rome should have such a Dominion where shee attribute's to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Scepter and Monarchie both of Land and Sea Hereunto belong those things above mentioned touching the Command of Pompey held by Commission from the people of Rome as also those other which wee meet with now and then among writers concerning the Sea-Dominion of the Romans Suetonlus saith of Augustus Cesar Het placed one Navie at Mesinum and another at Ravenna to guard the upper and lower Sea But Aristides saith this Dominion was not limited to the Romans by certain Bounds as of old 〈◊〉 the Athenians but that it incompassed their Empire round like a girdle And Themistius speaking of the Emperor Theodosius the elder saith what would you say of him who is Emperor or Ruler of almost the whole Earth and Sea In like manner Procopius making mention of a Statue of a Romane Emperor holding a Citie in his left hand saith that the Statuarie's meaning was that the whole Land was subject to him as well as the Sea To the same purpose speak's Nicephorus Callistus in the Preface to his Ecclesiastical History And Julius Firmicus speaking of such persons who have in the Schemes of their Nativities the Moon encreasing in the thirtieth Degree of Taurus fortified with a friendly Aspect of Jupiter saith they shall possess the Dominions of Sea and Land whithersoëver they lead an Armie Oppianus saith to the Emperor Antoninus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Under thy Laws or Scepter the Sea role's And Fishes swim throughout thy Sea in sholes And Venus to Jupiter concerning the future Empire of the Romanes Certè hinc Romanos olim volventibus annis Hinc fore ductores renovato sanguine Teucri Qui Mare qui Terras omni ditione tenerent Pollicitus quae te genitor sententia vertit Hence Romans their Original should take In after-years thou once didst promise make And Leaders spring to rule both Land and Sea From Teucer's bloud what alter's thy decree From whence the same Poët in another place speak's of Augustus Caesar An Deus immensi venias Maris ac tua Nautae Numina sola colant tibi serviaâ— ultima Thule Téque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis Or whether thou the God wilt bee Of the vast Sea and Thule's farthest shore Or thee alone the Sailors shall adore As Thetys Son-in-law with all her Seas Given for a dower c. And Claudian of Scipio Africanus Ergò seu patriis primaevus Manibus ultor Subderet Hispanum legibus Oceanum Then whether in revenge to 's Father's ghost Hee quell'd the Sea upon the Spanish Coast. Or what other business soêver hee did Ennius was still at his elbow In like manner Constantinus Monomachus is by John Bishop of Euchaïta in his Iambicks called indeed Emperor of the East but according to the custom of the Western Empire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord and absolute Soveraign both of Land and Sea As also the Emperor Leo by Varadatus Terrae Marisque Dominus Lord of the Land and Sea So that in the Empire of Constantinople which followed the Customs of the Western the AEgean Sea it self was reckoned among the Provinces no otherwise then Samos Cyprus or other Islands or Territories of any kinde whatsoëver This appear's out of Constantinus Porphyrogennetus his Themata where also the Hellespont is expresly assigned to the Commander in chief of the AEgean Sea together with the Territories lying round about And truly the Customs out of this Sea were very great onely upon the accompt of Fishing Somtimes ten somtime twelv thousand Crowns were collected out of it yearly Wee learn this also out of a Decree whereby Andronicus Palaeologus one that kept the State of an Emperor but lived a chambering idle life within his Palace had for the victualling of himself and his retinue the yeerly profit of the fishing before Constantinople wont to bâ—e valued at that time at ten thousand Crowns as saith Nicephorus Gregoras The same is by som called Topiaticum Topicum it is named also Piscinica and Topice Moreover in the servey or breviarie of the Dignities of the East onely three Provinces are reckoned under the Proconsul of Asia after this manner These Provinces under-written are under the charge of that eminent person the Proconsul of Asia Asia The Isles Hellespont Their towred Diadems equal Stature majestie and wealth not differing at all seem to point out such an equalitie that neither of them can appear by this form of description to bee reckoned a part of another And so that Hellespont cannot in that place bee any other then the Sea it self or that Arm of the Sea flowing between which beeing thus joyned with the Isles to the Proconsulship of Asia upon one and the same account of Dominion the Provinces of Asia and Europe became in a civil sens either continual or contiguous Yea when there was no such distinction of Provinces the adjacent Isles and the Sea it self made one entire Provincial bodie also with the continent And hence it came to pass that the Isles of Italy were part of Italy as also of every Province and such as were divided from Italy by a small arm of the Sea as Sicily they were to bee
of Citizens for the conveniencie of larger Fish-ponds bringing the Sea into their grounds made it their own and became Masters thereof with as good a Title as they had to their adjacent Land There beeing saith Varro two kindes of Fish-ponds one of Fresh the other of salt water the former sort are ordinarie and little worth such as our Countrie Fish-ponds that are supplied with water by little streames but those saltwater-Ponds are to bee found in the possessions of Noblemen and are supplied by the Sea as well with Fish as water yet they yield more delight then profit the filling of those Ponds beeing commonly the draining of the Owners purs Now what was this but to becom proprietaries of the Sea so far forth as it was derived or inclosed in their possessions And Columella who lived in the time of Claudius relate's that the Romanes in antient times for the most part used none but in-land Fish-ponds storing them with Spawners of the larger size presently adding Not long after that good husbandrie was laid aside when the wealth and luxurie of the succeeding age made inclosures of the Ocean and Seas themselvs And the yearly Revenue of such Demains which bordered upon the Sea was advanced by those Ponds or Inclosures of the Sea as well as by any Lands Lakes or Vineyards appertaining thereunto The same Columella discoursing hereupon hath this passage But seeing the custom of the times hath so far prevailed that these things are not onely in use but have gotten the reputation of magnificent and noble contrivances wee also least wee should seem morose and importune reprovers of so long and settled a practice will show what profit may redound from them to the Lord of the Manor how hee may rais an incom by the Sea if having made a purchase of Islands or Lands bordering upon the Sea hee cannot reap the fruits of the Earth by reason of that barrenness of the soil which usually is near the Shore So that wee see the Revenues of a Manor were improved by managing the Sea as well as Land and the Possessor was counted Lord of the one no more then of the other This usual right of Dominion over the Sea is mentioned also by S t Ambrose For the serving of their prodigious luxurie saith hee the Earth by digging of channels is forced to admit the Ocean for the making of artificial Islands and bringing litle Seas into their own possessions They challenge to themselvs large portions of the Sea by right and boast that the Fishes like so many bond-slaves have lost their former libertie and are subjected to their service This Creek of the Sea saith one belong's to mee that to another Thus great men divide the Elements among themselvs For Examples there are the Fish-ponds of Lucullus famous for his expensiveness in this kinde Hee having made way through a Mountain near Naples inclosed the Sea and became master of those water-courses which Plutarch call's Sea-Courses and Chases for the breeding of Fish Whereupon Pompey the Great in merriment saith Paterculus was wont to call Lucullus the gowned Xerxes in regard that by damming up of Chanels and digging down Mountains â—ee took the Sea into the Land The same Lucullus saith Plinie digging down a Mountain near Naples at greater charge then hee built his Villa took an arm of the Sea into his Manor which gave occasion to Pompey the Great to call him the gowned Xerxes The same conceit in Plutarch is attributed to Tubero the Stoick That concerning Xerxes is very famous Hoc terrae fiat hâc Mare dixit eat Here run the Sea hee said There let firm Land bee made When hee commanded the Sea to bee brought round about the Mountain Athos And Valerius saith of Caius Sergius Orata That hee might not have the serving of his palate depend upon the pleasure of Neptune hee contrived Seas of his own intercepting the waves with his trenches and so inclosing divers sholes of Fishes with dams that what tempestuous weather soëver happened Orata's Table was never unfurnished with varietie of Dishes The same libertie was used upon the Formian shore by Apollinaris of whose Fish-pond Martial speak's Si quando Nereus sentit AEoli regnum Ridet procellas tuta de suo Mensa Piscina Rhombum pascit Lupos vernas When winds do Lord it o're the Sea fright The Fisher his Table laugh's at their spight By its own private store secur'd from need While captiv'd Pikes and Turbot's Fish-ponds breed All the varietie of Fish which the wider Sea afforded Apollinaris had readie at hand in his Fish-pond which was nothing els but the Sea let in from the shore into his possession Contracta pisces AEquora sentiunt Jactis in altum molibus Such dams are cast into the main The Fish for want of room complain So saith Horace and in another place Caementis licèt occupes Tyrrhenum omne tuis Mare Ponticum though thou thy walls do rais Through all the Tuscan and the Pontick Seas And saith Salust To what purpose should I relate those things which cannot seem credible to any but those who have been eie-witnesses how Mountains have been removed by severall private persons and Seas brought into their places Of this sort were the Fish-ponds of Philippus Hortensius and others all made by taking in the Sea Moreover wee finde that Soveraigntie and Dominion over the Sea hath been somtimes conferred by the Patents of Princes The Emperor Trajan when hee endowed the Citie of Tharsus with Immunities and Privileges besides the Territorie of Land lying about added also a grant of Jurisdiction and Dominion over the river Cydnus and the adjacent Sea as may bee seen in Dion Chrysostom And it is very probable that the Maritimate rights of Neocesarea which Theodorus Balsamon saies were compiled by the Metropolitan of that Citie had respect unto the like Original as also those privileges in the Sea which the Emperor Comnenus granted to a great number of Monasteries according to the same Author The ancient Lawyers also are not silent as touching the Dominion of particular persons in the Sea Paulus one of greatest note among them declare's himself expresly thus Verily whensoëver a proprietie in som part of the Sea belong's to any person that person may sue out an interdict of uti possidetis in case hee bee â—indred from the exercise and enjoyment of his right becaus this matter concern's a private not a publick caus seeing the suit is commenced for the enjoying of a right which ariseth not from a publick but private Title For interdicts are proper to bee used in private cases not in publick Nothing could have been more plainly spoken to show that beyond all controversie hee admit's a private Dominion in the Sea even of single persons Yea Ulpian himself who was so fondly inclined to favor the opinion of a perpetual communitie of the Sea doth sufficiently
hee allow to them in his own State and if his Imperial Majestie within his own State upon the Land will not yield that the subjects of the Republick shall go which way they list but coustrain's them to pass by such places onely where Custom is to bee paid hee cannot with justice demand that his subjects may pass by or through the Sea of the Republick which way they list but ought to content himself that they go that way onely which shall best stand with the commoditie of those who have the Dominion over it and if his Majestie caus Custom to bee paid upon his Land why may not the Venetians likewise do it upon their Sea Hee demanded of them if by the Capitulation they would have it that the Emperor was restrained or hindred from taking of Custom and if not why would they have the Venetians tied thereunto by a Capitulation which speak's of both Potentates equally with the same words Hee shewed by particular Narration that from the Peace of Venice 152◠until that present the Emperor had increased his Customs to the grievance of the Venetian's subjects in victuals and Merchandise which passed from the one State unto the other insomuch as that which formerly paied but one was now increased in som to 16 and in others to 20. and hee instanced in iron and other commodities which were wont to pay little or nothing were now raised to such an excessive Custom as proved much to the damage of the Venetians besides they were forced to pass onely by such places where they should pay Custom out of which to pass it was Contra banda and their goods confiscated And if his Majestie think 's it lawful to do what it pleaseth within his own estate without breaking of the Capitulations hee cannot think that the Venetians doing but the same should contrarie thereunto any waies offend Hee added that in every Peace established betwixt two Princes after a war it is necessarie that their subjects may live and trade together not to the excluding of Customs although there bee excluded the violences hostilities and other impediments of trade which were formerly used in time of war neither is the autoritie of the one or other Prince thereby taken away or restrained by Sea or by Land At the force and clearness of this discours the Austrians remained as it were in a trance looking one upon another insomuch that Chizzola judging it not to bee necessarie to dwell longer upon this passed to the proof of the presupposed truth viz. That the Republick had the Dominion of the Sea and said that the proportion was most true that the Sea was common and free but yet no otherwise that could bee understood then as it is commonly said The high-waies are common and free by which is meant that they cannot bee usurped by any private person for his sole proper service but remain to the use of everie one not therefore that they are so free as that they should not bee under the protection and government of som Prince and that every one might do therein licentiously all that which it pleased him either by right or wrong forasmuch as such licentiousness or Anarchie is abhorred both of God and nature as well by Sea as by Land That the true libertie of the Sea exclude's it not from the protection and superioritie of such as maintain it in libertie nor from the subjection to the laws of such as have command over it rather necessarily it include's it That no less the Sea then the Land is subject to bee divided amongst men and appropriated to Cities and Potentates which long since was ordained by God from the beginning of mankinde as a thing most natural which was well understood by Aristotle when hee said that unto Sea or maritim Cities the Sea is the Territorie becaus from thence they take their sustenance and defens a thing which cannot possibly bee unless part of it might bee appropriated in the like manner as the Land is which is divided betwixt Cities and Governments not by equal parts nor according to their greatness but as they have been or are able to rule govern and defend them Bern is not the greatest Citie of Switzerland and yet it hath as large a Territorie as all the rest of the twelv Cantons together And the Citie of Norimberg is very great and yet the Territories thereof hardly exceed the walls And the Citie of Venice for many years was known to bee without any possession at all upon the firm Land Upon the Sea likewise certein Cities of great force and valor have possessed a large quantitie thereof others of little force have been contented with the next waters neither are there wanting Examples of such who notwithstanding they are Maritim yet having fertile Lands lying on the back of them have been contented therewith without ever attempting to gain any Sea-dominion Others who beeing aw'd by their more mightie neighbors have been constrained to forbear any such attempt for which two causes a Citie notwithstanding it bee Maritim may happen to remain without any possession of the Sea Hee added that God did instant Principalities for the maintenance of Justice to the benefit of mankinde which was necessarie to bee executed as well by Sea as by Land That S. Paul said That for this caus there was due to Princes Customs and Contributions that it should bee a great absurditie to prais the well governing regulating and defens of the Land and to condemn that of the Sea that if the Sea in som parts for the ampleness and extreme distance thereof from the Land was not possible to bee governed and protected that proceeded from a disabilitie and defect in mankinde as also there are deserts so great upon the Land as it is impossible to protect them witness the many sandie parts of Africa and the immens vastities of the new world And as it is a gift of God that a Land by the Laws and publick power bee ruled protected and governed so the same happen's to the Sea that those were deceived by a gross equivocation who said that the Land by reason of its stabilitie might bee governed but not the Sea for beeing an unconstant element no more then the aër forasmuch as if by the Sea and the Aër they intend all the parts of those fluent elements it is a most certein thing that they cannot bee governed becaus whilst a man serv's himself with any one part of them the other escape's out of his power but this chanceth also to Rivers which cannot bee reteined But when it is said to rule over a Sea or River it is not understood of the Element but of the site where they are placed The water of the Adriatick Sea continually run's out of it neither can it all bee kept in and yet it is the same Sea as well as the Tiber Po or the Rhine are the same Rivers now which they were 1000 years past And this is that which
much of the same tenderness was expressed afterward by King James becaus as in the former Reign so in his it was counted Reason of State to permit them to thrive but they turning that favorable Permission into a Licentious Encroaching beyond due Limits put the King to a world of Trouble and Charge by Ambassies and otherwise to assert his own interest and dispute them into a reasonable submission to those Rights which had been received before as indisputable by all the world For the truth whereof I am bold to refer your Honors to the Memorials of several Transactions in those daies which I have added at the end of this Book and for which I stand indebted as I am also for many other Favors to a Right honorable Member of your own great Assembly By the same also it will appear how this People perceiving that King to bee of a temper disposed to use no other arguments but words held him in play with words again and while they trifled out his Reign in Debates and Treaties carried on their design still to such a height by a collusion of Agencies and Ventilations to and agen and a daily intrusion upon the Territorie by Sea that in time they durst plead and print Mare Liberum and after his Son Charls came to the Crown they in effect made it so For though hee were not ignorant of his own Right as appear's by his esteem of this Book his Preparations and Proclamation for Restraint of Fishing without Licence c. Yet hee never made any farther use of them than to milk away the Subjects monie under pretence of building Ships to maintein his Autoritie by Sea which end of his beeing served hee immediately let fall the prosecution of what hee pretended So that through the over-much easiness and indulgence of preceding Princes they in a short time arrived to so loftie a Presumption as to seem to forget and question and now at length by most perfidious actings to defie the Dominion of England over the Sea These things beeing consider'd it was supposed this Translation it beeing a noble Plea asserting that Dominion would bee a very seasonable Service which how poorly soëver it bee apparel'd in our English dress is bold to lay Claim unto your Honors as its proper Patrons conceiving it ought to bee no less under your Protection than the Sea it self And therefore let mee have leav here without Flatterie or Vanitie to say though in other things I may injure the eminent Autor yet in this hee will bee a Gainer that his Book is now faln under a more noble Patronage in the tuition of such heroïck Patriots who observing the errors and defects of former Rulers are resolved to see our Sea-Territorie as bravely mainteined by the Sword as it is by his Learned Pen. It is a gallant sight to see the Sword and Pen in victorious Equipage together For this subdue's the souls of men by Reason that onely their bodies by force The Pen it is which manifest's the Right of Things and when that is once cleared it give 's spurs to resolution becaus men are never raised to so high a pitch of action as when they are perswaded that they engage in a righteous caus according to that old Versicle Frangit attollit vires in Milite causa Wherefore seeing you Right Honorable have had so frequent experience of the truth of this in our late Wars wherein the Pen Militant hath had as many sharp rancounters as the Sword and born away as many Trophies from home-bred Enemies in prosecution of your most righteous caus by Land certainly you will yield it no less necessarie for the Instruction of this generous and ingenious people in vindicating your just Rights by Sea against the vain Pretences and Projects of encroaching Neighbors For what true English heart will not swell when it shall bee made clear and evident as in this Book that the Soveraigntie of the Seas flowing about this Island hath in all times whereof there remain's any written Testimonie both before the old Roman Invasion and since under every Revolution down to the present Age been held and acknowledged by all the world as an inseparable appendant of the British Empire And that by virtue thereof the Kings of England successively have had the Soveraign Guard of the Seas That they have imposed Taxes and Tributes upon all ships passing and fishing therein That they have obstructed and open'd the passage thereof to strangers at their own pleasure and don all other things that may testifie an absolute Sea-Dominion VVhat English heart I say can consider these things together with the late Actings of the Netherlanders set forth in your publick Declaration and not bee inflamed with an indignation answerable to their Insolence That these People raised out of the dust at first into a state of Libertie and at length to an high degree of Power and Felicitie by the Arms and Benevolence of England or that they who in times past durst never enter our Seas to touch a Herring without Licence first obteined by Petition from the Governor of Scarborough-Castle should now presume to invade them with armed Fleets and by a most unjust war bid defiance to the United Powers of these three Nations Had they dared to do this in the daies of our Kings I suppose they even the worst of thē would have checkt and chastised them with a Resolution suitable to their monstrous Ingratitude For however som of them were wholly busied in vexing and undermining the people's Liberties at home yet they were all very jealous of the Rights and Interests of the Nation at Sea and good reason they had for it since without the maintenance of a Soveraigntie there the Island it self had been but a great Prison and themselvs and the Natives but so many Captives and Vassals to their Neighbors round about not so much secluded as excluded from all the world beside Upon this ground it was that Kings ever conceived and mainteined themselvs as much Monarchs by Sea as by Land and the same you will finde here was received by all other States and Princes the Land and Water that surround's it making one entire Bodie and Territorie Moreover our own Municipal Constitutions every where declare the same as may bee seen by the several Presidents and Proceedings thereunto relating which manifestly shew that by the Cōmon Law of the Land our Kings were Proprietarie Lords of our Seas That the Seas of Engl. were ever under the Legiance of our Kings and they soveraign Conservators of the peace as well upon the Sea as Land Now therefore Right honorable when I look upon you and behold you more highly intrusted than Kings and far more nobly adorned upon a better Ground than they were with all the Rights Interests and Privileges of the People when I consider how God hath wrested the Sword out of their hands and placed it in yours for our Protection with the Conservation of our Peace and
patria â—ospitio prohibemur Arenae What barb'rous Land this custom own 's what sort Of men are these Wee are forbid their Port. Now if such a Proprietie or Dominion of the Sea were admitted that men might bee forbidden the libertie of Navigation and Ports at the will of any Proprietor then say they it would bee an infringement of that Law of Commerce and Travel by them styled the Law of Nature which they would not have to bee indured Touching the second sort of Objections drawn from the nature of the Sea it self it is commonly alleged That the Sea is alter'd and shifted every moment and the state of it through a continued Succession of new waters alway so uncertain and remain's so little the same in all things the Channel onely excepted that it is impossible it should ever bee retained in the possession of any one Particular Moreover they say the nature of Possession consist's chiefly in a separation or distinction of Limits and Bounds but no such Materials or Instruments can possibly bee found in the Sea as that the Law for regulation of Bounds which hath a principal place in all Controversies about Dominion or Ownership may bee grounded thereupon They produce also a saying out of S t Ambrose speaking about the lurking-holes or holds of Fishes Geometram audivimus Thalassometram nunquam audivimus tamen Pisces mensâ—ras suas nôrunt I have heard of a Geometrician or one that could measure Land but never of a Thalassometrician one that could measure or lay out Bounds in the Sea and yet the Fishes know their own Bounds They are pleased likewise to insinuate what a world of Sea room there is that all Nations may have sufficient for watering fishing and Navigation And therefore that the peculiar Dominion thereof is by no means to bee appropriated unto any A third sort of Arguments lie's in those Testimonies that are drawn out of antient Writers partly out of old Poëts Divines and others writing of other subjects partly from such Lawyers as handle the matter purposely Of the first kinde is that of Gripus the Fisherman and Trachalio the Slave as they are brought upon the Stage by Plautus quarrelling about a Bag that was found in the Sea Gr. Mare quidem commune certò est omnibus Tr. Assentio Quî minùs hunc communem quaeso mihi oportet esse vidulum In Mari inventum est Commune est Gr. The Sea is common certainly to all Tr. True Why not this Bag to mee then too thou brawâ— It was found within the Sea Therefore common it must bee They produce likewise a piece of a supplicatorie speech of Latona to a rustick Rout in Lycia as it in Ovid Quid prohibetis Aquas usus communis Aquarum est Nec Solem proprium Natura nec Aëra fecit Nec tenues Undas In publica munera veni why hinder you said shee The use of Water that to all is free The Sun Aër Water Nature did not frame Peculiar a publick Gift I claim And that of Virgil too Littúsque rogamus Innocuum cunctis undâ—mque Aurâ—mque patentem Nothing but what is common wee implore Free Aèr and Water and a harmless shore Phaenicides saith also in Athenaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Sea is common To which may bee added that memorable saying of certain Jewish Rabbins who when they acknowledged Alexander to bee Lord of the whole world did it nevertheless with this Caution that they conceived hee had by his Conquests gained a Soveraigntie onely over the Earth or drie Land but none at all over the Sea it beeing subject onely to God himself as its sole Commander The words are these out of the Ebrew Non Dominabatur in Mari sed Deus O. M. Dominatur tà m in Mari quà m in Tellure Hee ruled not over the Sea but God Almightie is hee onely that rule 's by Sea as well as by Land The second kinde of Arguments here found among the Lawyers are of two sorts Naturali jure omnium communia sunt illa Aër Aqua profluens Mare per hoc littora Maris Item Nemo ad littus Maris accedere probibetur piscandi caussâ dum tamen villis aedificiis Monimentis abstineatur quia non Juris Gentium sicut Mare Idque Divus Pius piscatoribus Formianis Capenatis rescripsit By the Law of Nature the Aër Rivers the Sea and its Shores are common to all Also None are prohibited to use fishing upon the Shores as long as they meddle not with Lowns Buildings and Monuments in regard these are not common by the Law of Nations as is the Sea And this was prescribed by the Emperor Antonius Pius to the Fisher men of Formiae and Capena which are the very words used by Marcianus the Lawyer and by Justiâ—â—ion in his Institutions And Ulpian Mari quod Naturâ omnibus patet servitus imponi privatâ lege non potest The Sea beeing by Nature free for all cannot bee vassalised by any particular Law And in another place saith hee Mare commune omnium est litora sicut Aër Et est saepissime rescriptum non posse quem piscari prohiberi The Sea and Shores are common to all as the Aër And wee finde it very often prescribed or commanded by the Emperors that none bee prohibited from Fishing With which agree's also that saying of Celsus Maris esse usum communem omnibus hominibus ut Aëris A freedom of the Sea as well as of the Aër is common to all men In like manner som would have it that the Romane Emperor himself was Lord onely of the Land and not of the Sea for proof whereof they mention an Answer given by the Emperor Antoninus Se quidem mundi Dominum esse legem autem Maris That himself was Lord of the world but the Law of the Sea pretending this Answer of his to bee commonly understood as if hee refused to arrogate the Dominion of the Sea unto himself And in the Basilica or Laws of the Eastern Empire wee finde it thus written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Shores are within the power of all men So also saith Michaël Attaliates a man learned in the Laws of that Empire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Som things are common to all as Aër Fountains the Sea Shores and Rivers And the summe is that som antient Lawyers of both Empires write that the Sea is common to all men by the Law of Nature and Nations which if it were truly proved either from the nature of the Sea it self or from either of those Laws then it could not possibly bee admitted that the Sea might becom the peculiar possession of any one unless a change were made of the Law of nature which is commonly said to bee altogether unchangeable or that the consent of Nations that have interest herein were obteined to admit of such a Dominion or Ownership And
therefore from thence they seem to hold that a Dominion over the Sea cannot bee atteined by any antient usage custom or prescription nor under any other pretence or title whatsoëver for faie they no Plea or Barr is to bee allowed against nature Nor as Papinian saith is a Prescription of long possession wont to bee admitted for the holding of such places as are publick and common by the Law of Nations And these antient Lawyers here mentioned are followed by no small Train of Interpreters though nevertheless there are not a few even of them who restrain and qualifie that antient opinion more waies then one touching the necessitie of a common Intercours and freedom at Sea as wee shall shew hereafter But of our modern Lawyers those that have appeared most forward in opposing a Right of Dominion over the Sea are onely two both indeed very eminent men but of unequal learning and elegancie of wit by name Fernandus Vasquius the Spaniard and Hugo Grotius the Hollander the former an honorable Counsellor to King Philip the 3. of Spain in his high Court of Exchequer The later was heretofore Advocate Fiscal of Holland Zeland and West-Friesland and most deservedly adorned with divers other honors in his own Countrie a man of an acute judgment and for his excellencie in all kinds of learning incomparable But Vasquius in his discours both of the Law of Nature and Nations as also concerning the Rights of Dominion Prescription and other things of that nature speak's to this effect From hence saith hee it appear's how little esteem is to bee had of their opinion who suppose that the Genoëses or Venetians may without injurie forbid others to sail through the Gulph in their respective Seas as if they could have laid claim to those Seas by Prescription which is not onely contrarie to the Imperial Laws above mentioned but also against the Primitive Law of nature and nations which cannot bee alter'd And that it is against this Law is evident becaus by the same Law not onely the Seas but all other immovable things whatsoëver were common And although in after-time that Law came to bee abolish't in part so far as concern's the Dominion and Proprietie of Lands which beeing enjoied in common according to the Law of nature were afterwards distinguish't divided and so separated from that common use yet it hath been otherwise and is still as to the Dominion of the Sea which from the beginning of the world to this present daie is and ever hath been in common without the least alteration as 't is generally known And though I hear many of the Portugals are of this opinion that their King hath had such an antient Title by Prescription in that vast Ocean of the West-Indies so that other Nations have no right to sail through those Seas and also that the ordinarie sort of our own Nation of Spain seem to bee of the same opinion that no people whatsoëver but Spaniards have any right to sail through that immens and most spatious Sea to those Indian Countries that have been subdued by the most mightie Kings of Spain as if they onely had a right by Prescription thereto yet all these men's opinions are no less vain and foolish then theirs who use to dream the same things of the Genoeses and Venetians The follie of which opinions appear's the more clearly even in this respect becaus neither of those Nations singly consider'd can prescribe ought against themselvs that is to saie neither the Republick of Venice against it self nor that of Genoa against it self nor the Kingdom of Spain against it self nor that of Portugal against it self for there ought ever to bee a difference between the Agent and Patient Much less can they prescribe ought to the prejudice of other Nations becaus the Law of Prescriptions is purely Civil Therefore such a Law can bee of no force in deciding Controversies that happen betwixt Princes or people that acknowledg no Superior For the peculiar Civil Laws of every Countrie are of no more value as to Forrain Countries and Nations or their people then if such a Law were not in Beeing or never had been â—nd therefore in Controversies of that nature recours must bee had unto the common Law of Nations Original or Secondarie which Law certainly did never admit of such a Prescription or usurpation of Title over the Sea Other matters hee hath of the same kinde beeing a very confident opposer of any peculiar Dominion over the Sea But in the year MD CIX it beeing the year after that large Treatie held at the Hage betwixt the Spaniard and the Hollander about freedom of Trade and Navigation to the East-Indies there was published that Book of Hugo Grotius entituled MARE LIBERUM or a discours concerning that Right which the Hollanders have to Trade in the Indies Wherein hee endeavor's first to prove that by the Law of Nations there ought to bee such a freedom of Navigation for all men whatsoëver which waie they pleas so that they cannot without injurie bee molested at Sea Next that the Atlantick and Southern Ocean or the Right of Navigation to the Indies is not nor indeed can bee any peculiar of the Portugalls forasmuch as the Sea saith hee according to the Laws and reasons already mentioned can in no wise becom the Proprietie of any one becaus nature not onely permit's but require's it should bee common Several other passages hee hath about this matter in his excellent Book De Jure Belli pacis of which more hereafter Thus much in brief concerning those arguments that are usually brought against the Dominion or Ownership of the Sea The next thing therefore is to explain the sens of the Question and its terms What is meant by the word SEA in the Question Also a division of the LAVV in order to the discours CHAP. III. AS to what concern's the present Question Whether the Sea bee capable of private Dominion wee take the word CAPABLE in the same sens as it was used by the Emperor Traian in an Epistle of his to his beloved Plinie Solum peregrinae civitatis capax non esse dedicationis quae fit jure nostro The soil of a strange Citie is not capable of such a dedication as is made by our Law Moreover wee shall explain what is meant by the SEA as also by those Terms of LAW and DOMINION By the SEA wee understand the whole Sea as well the main Ocean or out-Out-land Seas as those which are within-land such as the Mediterranean Adriatick AEgean or Levant British and Baltick Seas or any other of that kinde which differ no otherwise from the main then as Homogeneous or Similary parts of the same bodie do from the whole But the Law as it is the rule measure and pointing out of things lawful or unlawful fall's under a twofold consideration Fither as it is Obligatorie which is called also Preceptive or as it is Permissive
or Sea-side or Coast. The vulgar read's it thus The great Sea also shall bee its Sea-border strait along from the border till you com to Emath This is the Sea-side Which the Greeks render thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This part is South and South-west according to the translation of the fore-going words Then according to what hath been alleged out of the Hebrew it follow 's in the Greek This is part or this divide's part of the great Sea untill a man com over against the entrance which lead's to Hemath even to the entrance thereof These are they which lie near the Sea of Hemath So that every Translation speak's to the same purpose But that which wee have added to the Hebrew agree's both with the Chaldee Paraphrase and the Exposition of the Spanish Jews Moreover Solomon Jarchius expound's it there after this manner according to the doctrine of the Antients From the South-Corner for so hee interpret's this word from the Border which is the river of Egypt till a man com over against the entrance which lead's to Hamath that is to the Corner situated under the Northwest which is the very Mount Hor over against the entrance unto Hamath For Hamath was seated on the North-west side near Mount Hor. And so that which is cut off here by the Border in a strait line as the vulgar hath it drawn from the entrance of Nilus to the Promontorie of Mount Hor contein's no small portion of the Sea as assigned unto Israël And this later Opinion is the better received whereby onely the nearer Parts of the Sea are by God's appointment conceived to bee in the very same condition with the continent as appear's not onely out of the more antient Digests or both Volums of the Talmud but also by the Testimonie of those most learned Rabbins Moses Maimonides and Moses Cotzensis besides others of a less account who in express terms imbrace it Also according to both these Opinions that is in the mean time of sufficient Autoritie which is deliver'd in general terms touching the beyond-Sea Provinces by Solomon Jarchius Rabbenu Nissim Obadiah Bartenorius and others to wit That whatsoëver lie's without the Territorie of Israël that whole Province or Citie is often comprised under the Notion of the Sea except Babylon After the example of the Sea-Provinces situated afar off in the West without the Lines drawn according to this or the other Opinion the Mediterranean Provinces and Cities also which were â—eated in other remote Parts without the Borders of Israël have in stead of beeing called a strange Land been termed the Provinces or Cities of the Sea Which point is very well handled by Rabbenu Nissim in the former place But as these which were seated without their Territorie in the continent were onely by the said Custom of speech called Cities of the Sea so also it is clear by what wee have shewn you that according to the same way of speaking it is granted that other Cities also within their Territorie were seated in the verie Sea And so at length from both the Opinions here recited wee have sufficiently proved that such an Exposition of the divine Assignation was received by the antient Interpreters of the Jewish Law to whom that Assignation was made that they made no doubt but the Sea was every jot as capable of private Dominion as the Land and so reckoned those Islands placed in the neighboring Sea as belonging to the Territorie of Israël becaus of their Dominion over the Sea that did flow between them Nor doth it hinder at all that in their Assignations or Distributions wee so often finde this Particle usque ad Mare unto the Sea as appear's in the former Chapter or that the Sea was their Border For the word usque until or unto is not onely often inclusive but also the Borders or Limits themselves are many times all one with the thing limited after the same manner as all Bounds that are bounded Touching which Particular both the Canonists and Civilians are very Copious as also the Jews in those other Particulars alreadie mention'd And therefore wee conclude out of the Premisses that neither the Divine Law which is universal nor the Positive as it appear's in Scripture to bee Imperative or to have a command over som certain Nations for there is a true picture of the Imperative Law in the aforesaid distribution of Bounds doth oppose a private Dominion of the Sea but that both of them do sufficiently allow it and afford also very clear examples of such a Dominion if wee may believ the Jews themselvs In the next place then let us consider what is yet behinde of the Law natural and of Nations That the natural-Permissive Law whereof any use may bee in this place is to bee derived out of the Customs and Constitutions of the more civilized and more noble Nations both antient and modern CHAP. VII AS to what concern's here the Law Natural as one head of the universal or Primitive Law of Nations in our former Division of the Law commonly derived from a right and discreet use of Reason that it doth in no wise gainsay a private Dominion of the Sea but plainly permit it wee shall prove hereby becaus by the positive Law of Nations of every kind which is humane for wee have alreadie spoken of the Divine to wit as well by the Law Civil or Domestick of divers Nations as the Common Law of divers Nations whether it bee Intervenient or Imperative that is to say by the Customs of almost all and the more noble Nations that are known to us such a Dominion of the Sea is every where admitted It is not indeed to bee denied that a right use of humane Reason which usually serv's as an Index of the natural Law cannot well bee gather'd from the Customs of several Nations about things Divine or such as relate unto Divine Worship Nor are the Points either of the Obligatorie or Permissive kinde of natural Law relating thereunto to bee thence determined For it hath been the common Custom of men in all Ages and throughout all parts of the known World to conclude of such maters either without exact and convenient examination or els for the serving of their own Interests or els to suit with the humor and disposition of the people whom they are to rule and keep in order as do the Pagans Mahometans and others of that sort as well modern as antient And therefore Antisthenes of old taught well and boldly at Athens as many other Philosophers have don Populares Deos esse multos sed naturalem unum esse That there are many National Gods and but one Natural contrarie to what the most usual practice of men and Custom had introduced among the ordinarie sort of People So that as of old in the Jewish Church so also in the Christian the use of humane Reason among the vulgar though free in other things yet
those Trifles whereby the vulgar suffered themselvs with patience to bee cozen'd touching the Heaven or Skie the kingdom of Hell or of the dead and of the whole Earth's beeing common after this division to all the Brothers som of the Antients have taught that the Truth it self which lay couched in this Fable was quite another Thing They say these were not gods but men Also that Jupiter was not King of Heaven but of the Eastern part from whence the Light first dawn's upon mortal men by which means also it seemed the higher part and therefore was called Heaven And that Pluto was King of the West which point's at the Sun 's setting and Night from whence it was said to bee lower and Hell Lastly that Neptune was Lord of the Sea and the Isles scatter'd therein Thus it appear's here that a private Dominion of the Sea no otherwise then of the Land arose from Humane distribution And that the case stood thus it was affirmed long since by Euhemerus Messenius an old Autor in his Historie of the Affairs of those men who were supposed gods recorded and translated by Ennius For Lactantius saith thus Concerning the lot or share of Neptune it is manifest I say that his Kingdom was such as was that unlimited command of Cneius Pompeius who by decree of the Senate had Autoritie given him over all the Sea-Coast for suppressing Pirats and scouring the whole Sea Thus all things belonging to the Sea with its Islands fell by lot unto Neptune But how may it bee proved To wit by antient Histories Euhemerus an old Autor who was of the Citie of Messina hath collected the Affairs and Atchievments of Jupiter and others that are reputed gods and compiled a Historie of thâ—se sacred Titles and Inscriptions that were found in the most antient Temples and especially in the Temple of Jupiter of Triphylia where a golden Pillar was placed by Jupiter himself as appeared by the Inscription Upon which Pillar hee wrote his own Actions that it might remain a Monument of his Affairs unto Posteritie This Historie Ennius did both translate and follow whose words are these Jupiter grant's the Dominion of the Sea unto Neptune that hee might reign over all the Islands and all Places near the Sea But both the Translation of Ennius and the Commentaries themselvs of Euhemerus are utterly lost nor is it to bee thought that they were lost without the knowledg and design of the chief Priests of Jupiter and other Deities For doubtless whatsoever had been written touching the Originals of the gods was so much the more odious by how much the more it did lay them open and discover that those great Names which were magnified in their Chappels and Temples were taken out of the List either of great Kings or Heroes and obtruded upon the credulous vulgar For from hence it was that Euhemerus with Diagoras and som others was branded an Atheist who is used as a singular Autor not onely by Lactantius but also by Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius Augustin Arnobius and others to whom wee know very great credit is given in those Arguments that are pieced together against the vain Theologie of the Heathen It is I suppose the same man that is called by Plutarch Tegeata when hee is ranked in the same form with Diagoras But hee is by the same Autor called Messenius when as beeing very obstinate in the superstition of his Ancestors hee brand's him as a great Patron of Impostures and beeing induced it seem's by hatred against Euhemerus hee conceit 's there never were any such Nation as the Triphylians or Panchaeans whereas Panchaea is an Island situate about Arabia in the more Southern Ocean wherein Euhemerus placeth the Temple of Jupiter Triphylius from whence that Storie touching the Dominion of the Sea was taken Truly Diodorus useth him also as a grave Autor A late Lawyer also make 's use of that Neptune in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But of those things which were distributed by lot I have taken the Sea for my share that I might dwell therein for ever so hee translate's it that hee may with the more confidence take the whole matter related concerning the three Deities as meant of Noah's three sons His words are these Id proculdubio ex partitione terrarum inter tres filios Noachi ex quibus Japheto Insulae obvenerunt causam traxit It may without question bee proved from that partition of Lands which was made verwixt Noah's three sons whereby the Isles of the Sea fell to Japhet So that in that fable hee would have the Dominion not onely of the Isles but also of the Sea to bee assigned unto Japhet But that which Lactantius saith touching the unlimited Command of Pompey as parallel to the example of Neptune's Dominion it is so to bee understood that regard bee had also as well of those that gave the Command to Pompey as of him to whom the Command was given As for instance the Cilicians had infested the Seas as Florus saith and having spoiled commerce behaving themselvs like enemies of mankinde they shut up the Sea with warr as it were a tempest Therefore the Romans haveing a special eye to their provision of Corn did by a decree of the Senate procured by Gabinius send out Pompey to free the Sea from Pirats And there was granted unto him by that decree a Command of the Sea which lie's within Hercules's pillars and also of the continent about 400 furlongs from the Sea Hereupon beeing master of a huge Navie and having disposed divers Lievtenants through all parts of his Command Hee so scoured the whole Sea from the straits of Cadiz to the Cilician shore that none was able to stand before him either by Sea or Land Certainely Pompey had a Commission onely as Admiral of the People of Rome as Paterculus saith Mark Antony had the like about two years before But that people which intrusted him was Lord of this Sea as the Romane Territorie as well as of those 400 furlongs of the Continent which were joined alike with the Sea in the Grant of that Commission though no more lyable to Dominion then the Sea it self Florus saith also that Tiberius Nero who was one of Pompey'es Lievtenants blockt up the streights of Cadiz at the first entrance of our Sea Hee beeing a Romane rightly call's it our Sea as also Salust doth more then once becaus it was so wholy subdued under the Romane power And Dio Cassius Hee scoured the whole Sea which was under the Romane obedience And saith Mela of the Mediteranean Sea all that Sea whencesoëver it flow's or whithersoëver it spread's it self is called by one name Our Sea So it is called likewise by others And Mela useth the name our Sea very often afterwards But more of this hereafter where wee treat more largely concerning the Dominion of the Romanes by Sea Nor did Pompey's commission extend onely
c Concerning Pirates Philip saith it is meet that both hee and you should by common consent drive away such as offend upon the Sea requiring no other thing than this that hee may bee put in command over the Sea by you and that you would confess your selvs unable to defend and guard the Sea which hitherto hath been yours without the help of Philip. They did also by League impose a certain size and proportion upon all sorts of Bottoms both for qualitie and quantitie which their neighbors should have leav to use It is an Article of the Treatie made with the Lacedemonians That the Lacedemonians and their Consederates might indeed use the Sea but not sail in a long ship but any other kinde of vessel which beeing rowed with Oares should not exceed the freight of five hundred Talents That is to say not in a vessel with one range of Oares much less in one of two or three ranges or others that were men of War but in vessels to bee rowed nevertheless with certain pairs of Oars beeing vessels onely for carriage and those small enough other passages of this kinde there are in Thucydides Hereunto belong's that of AEmilius Probus touching Timotheus a famous Captain of the Athenians Hee brought Corcyra saith hee under the command of the Athenians and made the people of Epirus the Athamanians Chaonians and all those Nations which border upon that Sea to bee their Confederates Whereupon the Lacedemonians desisted from long contentions and of their own accord yielded a pre-eminence of Sea Dominion to the Athenians and setled Peace upon this condition that the Athenians should bee chief Commanders at Sea Which Victorie was received with so much joy among the Athenians that Altars were then erected unto PEACE and a Temple appointed for that Goddess And Demosthenes concerning Archebius and Heraclides who when they had deliver'd Byzantium to Thrasybulus they made you saith hee speaking to the men of Athens Lords of the Sea so that yee might sell the Tenth To wit the Customs of the Merchandize of such Merchants as should trade in the Hellespont which is noted there by Ulpianus the Rhetorician From hence also Cicero would have that barbarous Decree of this Nation to have had its rise concerning the people of AEgina somtimes Lords of the Sea The Athenians saith hee dealt very cruelly who passed a Decree that the AEginetans who were powerful in Shipping should have their thumbs cut off to the end that they might not grow strong in Shipping hereafter or by force enter upon that Sea then possessed by the Athenians For in som Books wee read quia classe valebant becaus they grew strong in Shipping as it is noted by Carolus Langius Though it bee conceived by AElian the Decree was therefore made that they might not bee able to use a Spear and yet to handle Oars This crueltie is detested by Writers But it is evident that by this means they were deprived of a free use of the Sea Nor was such a Dominion of the Sea approved onely among those people of Greece but also by the Persians who at that time ruled the East as appear's in that notable League made after the Victory at Eurymedon For truly Cimon Captain of the Athenians having vanquish't the Naval Forces of Artaxerxes Longimanus King of the Persians which had infested the Sea about the Chelidonian Islands the King's courage was so broken That as Plutarch saith and Aristides almost the same hee concluded that notable Peace upon such terms that hee was to keep the distance of an hors-race from the Greek Sea and that hee should not have a Ship built long or beaked within the Cyanean and Chelidonian Islands So that the King was to keep out of every part of the AEgean Rhodian Carpathian and Lydian Sea and that which bend's thence into the West towards Athens Becaus the Athenians were clearly Lords thereof For the Greek which of old was called the Carick Sea spread its self to a very great latitude from Caria or the shore of the Western part of Asia Moreover subjection was imposed upon the Sea of Pamphylia and Lycia as also the Euxin Sea that no Ship of the King 's which should bee long-built or beaked that is to say a man of War could according to the League bee admitted either in this beyond the Cyanean or in that beyond the Chelidonian Islands This certainly was the very meaning of Isocrates when making mention of the Athenian Dominion hee saith it was not lawful to sail in long Ships or Gallies beyond Phaselis For Phaselis a Town either of Lycia or Pamphylia is situate in the same direct line with the Chelidonian Islands But Suidas tell 's us that Castor Rhodius an antient Writer had compiled an Historie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of such as have enjoied a Dominion of the Sea Learned men are upon very good ground of Opinion that those Lords of the Sea reckoned up in the former Chapter were taken by Julius Africanus and Eusebius out of that Autor It is almost out of question too that hee added the Soveraigntie both of the Athenians and Lacedemonians by Sea Castor lived about the time of Augustus Caesar. That work of his is utterly lost Other Testimonies which are found scatter'd up and down touching the Dominion of the Sea in the Customs of the Eastern Nations CHAP. XII MOreover very many things are found scatter'd up and down in those Writings that concern the Customs of the Eastern Nations which clearly prove it to have been a most received opinion touching private Dominion of the Sea Antiochus Epiphanes King of Syria saith speaking of the Syrian Sea Are not both the Sea and the Land mine And Xerxes that Persian King when in a ridiculous humor hee scourged the Hellespont stigmatized it and cast a pair of Fetters into the Waters said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy Lord inflict's this punishment upon thee Also whereas Agatharcides following the storie of Boxus the Persian write's that the red or Erythrean Sea was so called from King Erythras or Erythrus that is from Edom bordering thereupon who also was Esau and signifieth the same that Erythrus or Rubrus doth in Ebrew hee add's also this Exposition doth imply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man enjoying the Dominion of that Sea And truly wee read in Philostratus that there was an old contract touching the Red-Sea which King Erythras had contracted when hee had Dominion over that Sea that no Egyptian ought to enter that Sea in a long Ship but to imploy there onely one of Burthen And Quintus Curtius saith of the Citie of Tyre that beeing built by Agenor shee made not onely the neighboring Sea but what Sea soëver her Ships sail into to bee of her Dominion From whence also Tyria Maria Tyrian Sea's became a Proverb to signifie a Sea so possessed that free passage could not bee
XXII THe Objection touching the defect of Limits and and Bounds follow 's next And truly where Dominions are distinguished nothing can bee more desirable then known and certain Bounds in every place Nor was it without caus that Terminus the God of Bounds was received heretofore among the Romanes for the God of Justice But the nature of Bounds is to bee consider'd either upon the Shores or in the open Sea And why Shores should not bee called and reputed lawful Bounds whereon to ground a distinction of Dominion in the Sea as well as Ditches Hedges Meers rows of Trees Mounds and other things used by Surveyors in the bounding of Lands I cannot fully understand Nor is Sylvanus any whit more a Guardian of Bounds then Neptune But yet a very learned man saith there is a Reason in nature why the Sea under the aforesaid consideration cannot bee possessed or made appropriate becaus possession is of no force unless it bee in a thing that is bounded So that Thucydides call s a Land unpossessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbounded and Isocrates the Land possessed by the Athenians a Land bounded with Limits But liquid things becaus of themselvs they are not bounded cannot bee possessed save onely as they are conteined in som other thing after which manner Lakes and Ponds are possessed and Rivers also becaus they are conteined within Banks But the Sea is not conteined by the Earth it beeing of equal bigness or bigger then the Earth so that the Antients have affirmed the Earth to bee conteined by the Sea And then hee bring 's divers Testimonies of the Antients whereby it is affirmed more then once that the Sea is the girdle or Bond of this Globe of Earth and that fetching a compass it incloseth all the Parts thereof together and it is very often said by the Antients that the Land is conteined and bounded by the water or Sea as if the whole Earth made as it were one Island beeing surrounded by the Sea But admit it were to bee granted which I suppose neither that learned man nor any other will grant yet I do not well see why the thing conteining should not in truth bee bounded by the thing conteined as well as this by that May not a lesser bodie that is spherical or of any other form beeing conteined by a greater which is every way contiguous to it bee said to bound and limit the Concave of the greater Bodie as well as this to limit the Convex of the lesser But Julius Scaliger saith very well of the Sea and Land That the one is not so conteined by the other but that it may also contein Nor are they so disjoyned from each other but that they may both encroach upon each other and retire by Turns The Sea and Land mutually imbrace one another with crooked windings and turnings this with Peninsula's and Promontories butting forth and Creeks bending inward that working up its waves about all the Passages of its vast Bodie Thus it is evident that the one indifferently set's Bounds to the other no otherwise than Banks and Lakes or Rivers which also appear's more evident in the Caspian Sea that is encompassed with Land And in like manner in the Mediterranean before that Hercules or as the Arabians say Alexander the great did by cutting the Mountains let in the Atlantick Ocean through the streights of Cadiz And thereby it is made up one single Globe wherein divers Seas are bounded as well as the Isles or main Land as it is more clearly proved out of holy Scripture There the waters are gathered together and limited by their Places and Bounds And saith the Lord himself of the Sea I encompassed it with my Bounds and set Bars and Doors and said hitherto shalt thou com but no farther And in another place Hee gave unto the Sea his Bounds his Decree unto the waters that they should not pass their Bounds So that it cannot bee doubted every Sea hath its Bounds on the Shore as the Land it self Nor had I made mention of this Particular had I not found it impugned by so eminent a person And truly there is but a very little more difficultie to finde out Limits and Bounds in the main Sea for distinguishing of private Dominions Wee have high Rocks Shelvs Promontories opposite to each other and Islands dispersed up and down from whence as well direct Lines as crooked windings and turnings and angles may bee made use of for the bounding of a Territorie in the Sea Mille jacent mediae diffusa per aequora terrae Innumeri surgunt Scopuli montésque per altum A thousand Lands within the main do lie Rocks numberless and Mountains rise on high Throughout the deep The antient Cosmographers also reckon up the Seas of the world no otherwise then Towns Rivers Islands and Mountains as beeing no less distinguished from each other by their respective Bounds AEthicus saith Every Globe of Land hath XXX Seas CCCLXX Towns LXXII Islands LVII Rivers and XL Mountains c. After this also hee reckon's the Seas of the Eastern Western Northen and Southern Ocean one after another after the same manner as hee doth the Provinces and their Isles How truly I dispute not but in the mean time hee made no question but that the Seas are sufficiently distinguished by their Names and Bounds Add hereunto that useful invention of the sea-man's Compass and the help of Celestial degrees either of Longitude or Latitude together with the doctrine of Triangles arising therefrom Also in those Plantations that in our time have been carried out of Europe into America the degrees of Latitude and Longitude do serv the Proprietors in stead of Bounds which with as little difficultie are found in the Sea In like manner som would have had the Tropick of Cancer and the Equinoctial Line to have been the Bounds in the Sea for the limiting of that Agreement which was to have been made in the year MDCVIII between the States of the United Provinces and the Hous of Austria And in the late Agreement betwixt the Kings of Great Britain and Spain the Equinoctial Line is the bound appointed in the Sea Other Instances there are of the same nature Eor Sarpedon and Calycadnus two Promontories of Cilicia were designed as Bounds for distinguishing the Dominion of the Sea in that League made betwixt the Romanes and Antiochus King of Syria Also by Decree of the Emperor Leo of which wee have alreadie spoken the Fishing Epoches or Fish-pens that were by men placed in the Sea lying over against their Lands were limited to certain number of Cubits The case was the same likewise touching the Cyanean and Chelidonian Islands in the League made by the Athenians with the King of Persia which hath been mentioned also before Moreover Pope Alexander VI and his Cardinals or the King of Spain's Agents made no scruple touching Bounds of this
nature when the King obteined that famous Bull whereby hee had a Grant of the Western world but so to bee limited that the thing given should in the hither part of it bee bounded by an imaginarie Line drawn from the Artick to the Antarctick Pole which should bee distant from each of those Islands called de Los Azores y cabo verde one hundred Leagues towards the West and South which are the verie words of the Bull. Whereupon Hieronymus de Monte saith Bounds were set in Heaven and in the Aër in the time of Pope Alexander VI between the Portugals and Castilians in dividing the Indian Isles then newly discover'd by the degrees of Heaven and so all that was found Eastward was allotted to the Portugals and that which lay Westward to the Castilians Certainly in this place no more regard was had to the portions of Land whether Islands or continent in the measuring of Bounds then to the spaces of the Sea Moreover it is ordinarie among the Lawyers even those who are most earnest for a Communitie of everie Sea to limit an hundred miles jurisdiction to the Lord of the adjacent Coast. Somtimes wee finde sixtie It is in a manner received saith Bodin by the common custom of all Princes bordering upon the Sea that for sixtie miles from the shore any Prince may give Law to those that sail near their Coast and it was so adjudged in the Case of the Duke of Savoy Which hee observeth out of Cacheranus his decisions of Piemont Yea and it is mainteined by very eminent Professors of the Civil Law that an Action at Law may bee allowed for regulating of Bounds in the Borders of the Sea Therefore they sufficiently acknowledg the Custom of measuring and setting Bounds even in the Sea But as to what concern's that saying of Ambrose Geometram audivimus Thalassometram nunquam audivimus Wee have heard of a Geometrician one that measureth land but never of a Thalassometrician or one that could measure and lay out Bounds in the Sea This truly is rather a quibling of words then any Argument against the point in hand And the holy man speak's in that place of the various lurking-holes or holds of divers Fishes which God hath appointed for them in the Sea not touching a civil distribution of the Sea Nor was there any reason why hee should speak thus of a Thalassometrician as a thing never heard of before For wee know that even Thalassometricians were ordinarie among the Grecians who had Dominions by Sea with very frequent and various distinctions of those Dominions And that the Sea was measured according to the Rules of Geometrie no less then the Land Proelus a famous Mathematician treating about the excellencie of Geometrie saith It hath discover'd the Situations of places the measures also of Voiages by Sea as well as journies by Land Moreover they had Instruments to measure the Sea which the Grecians or at least the modern Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 measures of Sea-voiages and have written that Hero Anthemius and other antient Mathematicians learn't the Art from Archimedes and transmitted it to Posterity Yea it is said by Joannes Tzetzes that those men discover'd both water and winde-instruments out of the Books of Archimedes and Engines to move things of weight and instruments called Thalassodometrae for measuring of Sea-voiages so that as concerning the business of measuring the sea there is nothing to hinder but that both matter and instruments may bee had for the distinguishing of its Dominions Lastly that which is objected touching the vast magnitude of the Sea and its inexhaustible abundance is of very little weight here Suppose it bee inexhaustible so that hee which shall appropriate it to himself can receiv no dammage by other men's using it what more prejudice is this to the right of Ownership or Dominion then it is to the Owner of a Fire or Candle that another man's should bee lighted by his Is hee therefore less Master of his own Fire or Candle But truly wee often see that the Sea it self by reason of other men's Fishing Navigation and Commerce becom's the wors for him that own 's it and others that enjoie it in his right So that less profit ariseth then might otherwise bee received thereby Which more evidently appear's in the use of those Seas which produce Pearls Coral and other things of that kinde Yea the plentie of such seas is lessned every hour no otherwise then that of Mines of Metal Quarries of stone or of Gardens when their Treasures and Fruits are taken away And it is a custom of the Mahometans who are very great and Potent Nations to estimate their seas no less upon this accompt then by the Revenue either of Fishing or Navigation as wee may see in that their fals Prophet when speaking of the most holy God hee saith It is hee that hath prepared the Sea for your use that thence yee may take fresh Food and use Fishing and also that out of it yee may draw ornaments to adorn you Mahomet Ben Achmed the best Expositor of the Alcoran interpret's those ornaments by Coral and Pearls which words also are used in another place of the Alcoran for the chief Commodity of the Sea From whence also it is that a special Licence to search for Coral hath somtimes been granted in Leagues made by the grand Seignieur as is observed before Yea and Pliny speaking especially of the more Easternly Seas saith It had been counted a small matter that men swallowed whole Seas into their throats if both men and women also did not wear them up and down upon their hands ears heads and all parts of the Body But it is well known to us that precious Stones and Pearls are very often found also in the Western Seas and hee tell 's us they were frequently found in antient time Moreover saith hee It is certain that in Britain they are produced though small and ill colored as wee all see at this day forasmuch as Julius Caesar would have it understood that the breast plate which hee consecrated to Venus in her Temple was made of British Pearl Yea it is written by many and testified by Suetonius that Caesar went to Britain in hope of Pearls It is obvious therefore to every man that the gain of such a Voiage into Britain may bee lessned and that the abundance either of Pearls themselvs or of those shell-fishes which produce them may through a promiscuous and common use of the Sea bee diminished in any Sea whatsoêver Where then is that inexhaustible abundance of Commodities in the sea which cannot bee impaired There is truly the same reason also touching every kinde of Fishing But what need many words about this Matter Do wee not at this day finde it pressed home to the utmost every where by Lawyers especially those of the Empire and was it not a thousand times said of old when the
Romane Empire was in its prime that Caesar is Lord of the whole world Thus Ovid according to the Romane custom saith Gentibus est aliis tellus data limite certo Romanae spatium est urbis orbis idem All other States have Limits to their Ground Rome and the world have but one common bound The Sea I suppose is not more inexhaustible then the whole world That is very much inferior to this as a part is to the whole in greatness and plenty And therefore a Dominion of the Sea is not to bee opposed upon this accompt unless also wee in like manner affirm that not onely that saying of the Emperor's Dominion over the world is manifestly fals as it must bee but also contrary to natural reason it self becaus of the worlds extraordinary greatness and abundance Therefore they are more justifiable in their Opinion who as they say that the Roman Emperor according to the antient Law is Lord of the World or Land that is to say a large part of it so also they would have him to bee Lord of the Sea Nor is there any difficulty in that expression of the Emperor Antoninus wherein hee call's himself Lord of the World but the Law as 't is commonly understood Lady of the Sea which if it were granted that his Answer ought so to bee understood doth signifie no other thing then that the Rhodian Laws where they did not thwart the Romane were so far in force about Sea-affairs that however hee were Moderator and Lord of both hee would by no means determin ought contrary to those Laws by any Rescript of his own Alcialus and other very Learned men also make almost the same interpretation But concerning that Answer of Antoninus I shall add more by and by So that it seem's the Antients in that so often repeated speech concerning universal Dominion conceived the Romane Empire to bee no less or narrower then it is represented by Petronius Arbiter who set's forth the matter in these words Orbem jam totum victor Romanus habebat Quà Mare quà Terrae quà Sidus currit utrumque The Romane Conqu'rer then the world Both Sea and Land did sway Wheresoe're the Moon travel's by night Or the bright Sun by day And the Ancient Inscription in honor of Augustus Caesar was ORBE MARI ET TERRA PACATO IANO CLUSO c. Peace beeing restored to the world by Sea and Land hee shut up the Temple of Janus according to which sens it is recorded also by Historians that hee shut Janus his Temple three times having settled Peace by Sea and Land whereby they would have us to understand the verie same thing which wee have proved more fully before that the Seas were comprehended as well as the Land within the huge Bodie of the Romane Empire An Answer to such Testimonies as have faln from Writers treating of other subjects and which are usually alleged against Dominion of the Sea CHAP. XXIII IT remain's in the next place that wee consider of what validitie the contrarie Opinions of Writers are whereof wee formerly made mention As to what concern's those Passages of the Poêts Plautus and Phaenicides it is clear in Plautus that the lewd slave Trachalio was but in jest with Gripus the Fisherman Hee saith in general that the Sea is common to all which signifieth a Sea that never was possessed as well as that which is necessarily and naturally common and in that place that rather then this Wherefore it may bee understood that Fishing was common or not yet appropriated that is that the people either of Rome or Greece had such a Dominion over any kinde of Sea for by what hath been alreadie mentioned it appear's both of them had a Dominion over som Sea before Plautus his time that either of them might use their respective Seas at their own pleasure in hindling others from sailing through them and removing such impediments of Trade and Commerce as should happen therein And yet that hitherto they had prohibited no man from fishing in that Sea mentioned by Plautus and Phaenicides in such a manner but that the use of it might remain common either to Natives or Neighbors as the use of a ground for feeding of Cattel though there may indeed bee a particular Owner in possession reserving the other Commodities of it to himself as it often come's to pass But afterwards also especially in the Eastern Empire or among the Greeks it is clear out of what wee have alreadie shewn you that a peculiar Right of Sea-fishing hath passed into the hands of private persons as well as of Princes So that such Expressions as these beeing applied against private Dominion of the Sea soon vanish and com to nothing As to that passage out of Ovid Quid prohibetis aquas Why do yee forbid water c. then which nothing is more usual in Disputes about this matter it is not so much an Assertion of the communitie of waters as a vehement and hyperbolical reproof of the inhumanitie of that rustick Rout in Lycia Latona beeing thirstie and wearie asked for a draught of water and that out of a Lake The barbarous people denie her and therefore shee most deservedly reprove's them But shee doth it not more earnestly then Ampelisca in Plautus did merrily to Sceparnio a slave that denied her water Cur iu inquit Ampelisca aquam gravare amabò quam hostis hosti commodat Why saith Ampelisca art thou so loth to let mee have water which one stranger afford's another For whatsoëver may bee afforded or communicated without prejudice of the Owner hee is concerned many times in humanitie to impact it to a meer stranger that asketh him For the word Hostis in that place signifie's a Stranger as wee often finde among the Antients And it appear's also by the question of Sceparnio whereby hee jeer's the wench Cur tu ait ille operam gravare mihi quam civis civi commodat Why saith hee dost thou denie mee that help one Citizen afford's another Here hee opposeth Citizen to Stranger From the same Office of humanitie those particulars are derived as not to denie running Water to suffer one Fire or one Candle to light another and other things of that nature which are profitable to the Receiver and not troublesom to him that give 's or permit's the Favor And upon this Rule of Moralitie onely which is the Rule of Charitie are those demands both of Latona and Ampelisca grounded They denie not the private Dominion of waters Neither Latona of the Lake whose private Dominion is confess 't by all nor Ampelisca of the Well from whence shee demanded water for the Priest of Venus Moreover those words of Latona are spoken concerning a Lake of little water as Ovid sheweth in that place Fortè lacum mediocris aquae prospexit in imis Vallibus By chance a little Lake shee did espie Which in the Uallies far beneath did
refuted as well by their own indiscretion as by the Autoritie of others Touching the Emperor Antoninus his Answer that himself was Soveraign of the world but the Law as 't is commonly translated of the Sea in L. Deprecatio ff tit de Lege Rhodiâ The true meaning of the said Answer and a new but genuine Exposition of it Also that it comprehend's nothing which may in any wise oppose a Dominion of the Sea CHAP. XXV BUt seeing that among those particulars which are usually drawn out of Antient Lawyers against Dominion of the Sea that Answer of the Emperor Antoninus to Eudaemon several times before-mentioned is of so principal an account therefore it seem'd meet to treat of it apart by it self and search into the genuine sens thereof concerning which whosoëver shall look into the whole matter with a little more care then ordinarie will I suppose bee very well satisfied not onely that most Interpreters have hitherto been wholly ignorant thereof but also that it in no wise contradict's a Dominion of the Sea Eudaemon having been Shipwrack't at Sea had petitioned the Emperor for a restitution of those wrack't goods that had been seized by the Receivers of his Customs The words according to Volusius Maetianus who was one of the Emperor 's Privie Councellors are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Emperor Antoninus our Lord wee having made Shipwrack have been spoiled of all by those Receivers of the Customs that inhabit the Cyclades Islands Hee received an Answer from the Emperor pointed for the most part after this manner in the printed Books 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is usually thus translated I indeed am Soveraign of the world but the Law of the Sea Let it bee determined by the Rhodian Law which is prescribed for the regulation of Sea-affairs so far as it is not opposed by any of our Laws For the Emperor Augustus also was of this Opinion There never was any Controversie about the reading or Translation of this Answer unless it were in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereto answereth but the Law of the Sea with a period or full point after it as for the most part it is taken and as wee have according to the received translation related it alreadie in the Objections Of those that would have it so rendred there have been not a few who were of Opinion that from the Adversative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 autem is implied that the Emperor answer'd that himself indeed was Lord of the rest of the world but not of the Sea and that the Law onely not any man was Lord of this Andraeas Alciatus saith Whereas it is said I indeed am Lord of the world but the Law of the Sea som French Doctors were of Opinion becaus of that Adversative that a Soveraigntie of the Sea did not appertain unto the Emperors But hee add's which truly is very ridiculous Although Baldus and Jason conceived for this reason that the Venetians were not subject to the Roman Empire But the sens of this Law is this to wit that Sea-affairs were to bee determined by the Rhodian Law as hee declare's a little before For seeing the Emperor is Lord of the world surely not the Land onely but the Sea also ought to submit to his Laws and hee to appoint Laws therein though notwithstanding hee do not determine matters by his own Law in the Sea but by the Rhodian Law which was by him approved Understand therefore when it is said I am Lord of the world becaus I govern the world according to my own Law But the Law suppose the Rhodian Law of the Sea becaus by it Justice is administred upon the Sea Add hereunto that this Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Autem is not so opposed that it alwaies exclude's what goeth before And therefore Alciatus also rendreth it thus But the Law of the Sea by which Law of the Rhodians concerning Navigation let it bee determined c. And therefore truly it is upon exceeding good ground that hee call's their opinion very ridiculous who would have it hence concluded that a Dominion of the Sea did not belong unto the Emperors For suppose the Emperor did answer so as it is commonly rendred Doth hee therefore deny himself a Dominion of the Sea becaus hee affirm's the Law to have Dominion at Sea was hee not in the mean time Soveraign Lord and Arbitrator of the world as hee implied indeed by his Answer and so also of the Law whatsoëver hee pleased was Law Therefore to say that any thing which the Law had Dominion over was not also under the Emperor's Dominion to whom the Law it self was subject is so absurd as nothing can bee more Others there are that render the sens of the words after this manner Although I my self bee Lord and Emperor of the world and so free from all Laws nor bound by any Rule to give any account to my Subjects yet notwithstanding the Law shall bee Empress and Queen at Sea that is it shall bear sway by Sea in such Cases as have faln out at Sea since it concern's Sea affairs nor shall my Exchequer bee advanced by the loss of my Subjects but Justice ought to bee equally administred between the Exchequer and private persons and therefore the Exchequer shall bee liable to give an account So saith Franciscus de Amaya Advocate in the King's Court of Exchequer within the Kingdom of Granada So you see here is not the least Track admitted of a denial of Sea-Dominion Som also there are who would have the meaning bee that Antoninus should expressly say that hee himself was as well the Law of the Sea as Lord of the world I indeed am Lord of the world and I am also the Law of the Sea So Joannes Igneus And som others there are that incline this way with whose opinion if wee shall concur wee must needs confess also that the Emperor did sufficiently attribute the very Dominion of the Sea unto himself But Samuel Petit a very learned French-man saith Antoninus doth not deny himself to bee Lord of the Sea that hee cannot give Law and do Justice to those which deal upon the Sea for you see his meaning was that Right should bee don betwixt Eudaemon and the Customers which dwelt in the Cyclades Islands according to the Rhodian Law nor doth hee say also that hee is so tied by this Rhodian Law that hee can by no means reliev Eudaemon against this Law if any injurie bee don him but his meaning is that Eudaemon should have Right don him according to this Law but yet so that this do not thwart any of the Roman Laws Thus hee interpret's it though the vulgar reading bee reteined which hee would rather have to bee rejected and the name of Law to bee put out there Beeing of opinion that the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the Law of the Sea
are corrupted from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the winde of the Sea As if the Emperor had said that hee himself indeed was Lord of the Sea but that the â—ea nevertheless is so subject to the power and alterations of winde and weather that it was not in his power though Lord thereof to prevent Shipwracks Moreover also Petit correct's the Cosmographie of the Petition Hee is of opinion that those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italie crept in through the negligence of Transcribers in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being understood in the Telian or AEgean Sea which is about the Island Telos What a monstrous thing were saith hee that those who were shipwrack't in the Sea upon the Coast of Italie should have been pillaged by Publicans or Customers dwelling in the Cyclades Islands what Cosmographie is this what relation have the Publicans or Customers of those Isles unto Italie which is most judiciously spoken For it appear's a manifest error there concerning Italie And it is most certain that the Island Telos whether it bee one of the Cyclades or Sporades is so placed in the AEgean or Levant Sea as wee finde in Strabo Plinie and Stephanus de urbibus that the matter hang's well together if wee say that the Customers of the Cyclades seized upon wrack't Goods in the Telian Sea which to say of the Italian Sea or Shore is too monstrous in reason Perhaps also in that Catalogue of Seas summ'd up by AEthicus an antient Cosmographer the Ionian and AEgean Sea the Sea called Mare Lautades which learned men suppose to bee corruptly read for Leucadium and Mare Tillae the Telian Sea it self beeing taken out of this very Petition before it was corrupted was signified by the name of Tilla And thus you have in a manner the opinion of learned men so far as concern's the matter in hand touching that Answer and the Petition of Eudemon For my part I most willingly yield my assent to the emendation of the Cosmographie But do conceiv that the antient and received reading of the Answer ought not to bee alter'd save onely in the pointing Oftentimes no regard hath been had nor any use of points in antient Books So that succeeding Generations have been puzzled now and then with a confusion of Syntax But by a very small alteration of them in this place for they are the very same with those in the Books that are published the sens appear's to mee not onely suited to the matter of the Petition and clear but also plainly freed both from that Phansie as if Dominion of the Sea were denied the Emperor in that place and also from that fiction there expresly delivered touching the Sea-Dominion of the Law Nor can I bee perswaded that Interpreters hitherto have sufficiently hit upon the Emperor's meaning For what is this to the purpose I indeed am Lord of the world but the Law of the Sea If it were spoken of the Law in general certainly the Law had Dominion as well upon the main Land The Emperor himself was Lord of every kinde of Law even by Land as well as by Sea And so truly the Answer had hitherto concerned the Petition nothing at all If you would understand it of the Rhodian Law in such a sens as Alciatus did that the Emperor's meaning was that the Law had Dominion over the Sea what then is the Consequence that the matter was to bee determined by the Rhodian Law so far as it was not opposed by any of the Roman Laws What was the Rhodian Law simply supreme over the Sea and yet notwithstanding that high Title subject to restraint by the Roman Laws These things do not cotten well Let it bee pointed therefore either after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I indeed am Lord of the world But of this kinde or this is the Law or the Custom of the Sea Let it bee determined by the Rhodian Law concerning Navigation so far as none of our Laws do oppose the same Or let it bee pointed thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I indeed am Lord of the world But let that Law or that Custom of the Sea bee judged or determined by the Rhodian Law concerning Navigation so far as c. The Case was this Eudemon Asiaticus born in Nicomedia a Citie of Bithynia having suffer'd Shipwrack in the Telian Sea or the AEgean which is about Telos complain's that his Goods were seized by the Customers of the Cyclades petitioning the Emperor for relief in such a manner as if the Customers had made an advantage by his misfortune in a most injurious manner Hee salute's him with the style of Lord and Emperor The Emperor in his Answer readily owneth himself to bee a Lord and so far a Lord that hee saith the whole Earth yea and the world it self was comprised within his Lordship or Jurisdiction Therein also hee signifie's that it belong's to him to reliev Petitioners when wrong is don them But as to what concern'd the matter of complaint or the Petition about the wrack't Goods that had been seized by the Customers that it did not sufficiently appear whether those Customers had don it wrongfully Becaus if our former reading or pointing bee admitted in general saith hee and according to Rule the Sea-Custom or that Law of the Sea which give 's wrack't Goods to the Customers hold's good For so these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that Custom or that Law of this kinde belong's to the Sea hath relation to the thing don by the Customers as it was in brief set sorth in the Petition But in regard that to this Custom or Law of the Sea there might either through som privilege or becaus of the qualitie of the goods or som other Custom no less in force certain Qualifications arise according to circumstance in respect whereof perhaps either the Customers ought in this case to have forborn medling with the goods or the Complainant might have a special exception to privilege his goods from Seizure therefore hee did well to leav it beeing a matter so succinctly and without any addition of circumstance expressed in the Petition to bee determined by the Naval Laws of the Rhodians but yet so far onely as the Roman Laws in the mean time were not contrarie thereto Nor doth the sens much differ if the latter pointing and translation bee admitted I indeed am Lord of the world and the Sea as well as the Land is conteined within my Jurisdiction in both I willingly right those that are wronged according to Law But truly what the Custom of the Sea may bee in this case and whether the Complainant ought to bee relieved let it bee determined by the Rhodian Laws which by my permission are in use upon the Sea where they are not contrarie to our own But it seem's to mee not a little conducing to a confirmation of the fore-going sens whereby the Maritim Law touching Wrecks and
Nation used Fishing very much which together with the frequent use of Navigation and Commerce shew's that they did enter upon the Sea corporally by Occupation But if to such a corporal occupation as this wee add also that they excluded others from the Sea shutting it up in such a manner that they restrained them at pleasure from passage and entrance what hinder's why wee may not conclude that they acquired a manifest Dominion of their own both by an Intentional and Corporal possession But that the Sea was thus shut up by them Caesar himself seem's to inform us plainly enough For when hee upon his first attempt to cross the Sea into Britain made diligent enquirie among the Gauls touching the Shore and Situation of the ports and to this end had summoned the Gallick Merchants together from all Quarters hee was so deceived in his expectation about this matter that hee was necessitated to send C. Volusenus before with a long Ship to sound them as beeing wholly unknown For as much as the Gauls were utterly ignorant of these Shores becaus they were prohibited entrance and so excluded from a free use of the Sea For hee write's expresly not a man of them went thither without leav besides Merchants nor was any thing known even to those Merchants besides the Sea Coast and those parts which lay over against Gaul or Gallia Therefore according to the usual Custom no man besides Merchants could touch upon the Shore without leav of the Britains nor was it lawful for those Merchants to make a narrow search or prie into such places ashore as were convenient or inconvenient for landing or what Havens were fit to entertain Shipping For although hee saith they knew the Sea-Coast yet as Caesar affirm's they were utterly ignorant what ports were fit to receiv a number of the greater sort of Ships And it seem's Merchants were permitted to visit the Sea-Coasts onely by Coasting about and using Commerce in the very Sea with the Inhabitants of the Island The old Greek Interpreter of Caesar saith also upon the place None els besides Merchants were easily admitted among the Britains That is to say neither by Land nor by Sea whereof they had as hath been shewn a very frequent use and from which they excluded all Forreigners except Merchants as from a part of that Territorie whereof they were Lords in possession From whence it follow 's also that they also who were wont to cross the Sea often out of Gaul into Britain to bee train'd up in the learning and discipline of the Druïdes could not do it without rendring themselvs liable to punishment for their boldness if leav were not first had from the pettie Kings or Lords of the Island From those pettie Kings I mean that ruled upon the Sea-Coast For the Britains at that time were not subject to the Government of a single Person They were Lords of the Sea who governed those Cities or Provinces that lay next to the Sea Cingetorix Carvilius Taximâ—gulus and Segonax in Kent others also that ruled over the Regni the Belgae Durotriges Damnonii Trinobantes Iceni Coritani being the people that inhabited Sussex Surrie Hampshire Dorsetshire Deâ—on 〈…〉 Essex Norfolk Lincolnshire and the like For even Caesar himself saith the inner part of the Island was inhabited by such as were said by Tradition to have been born there but the Sea-Coasts by such as had cross't the Sea thither out of Belgium to make war and gain bootie who were called all for the most part by the names of those Cities from whence they came and having seated themselvs there by force of Arms they betook themselvs to Husbandrie But hee according to that little knowledg hee had of a small part of the Island called those onely maritime Cities or Provinces which lie South of the River Thames especially Kent the Regni and the Belgae But although the Sea-Coasts were thus divided at that time into several Jurisdictions nevertheless it cannot bee doubted but that they used to consult together in common against an Fnemie or to guard the Sea the defence whereof belonged to all the Princes bordering upon it just after the same manner as they used to do upon other occasions of war against forreign Enemies as you may see in Caesar where the principal administration of the Government with the business of war was put into the hands of Cassivellaunus by a common Council of the whole British Nation Nor is that any prejudice against such a Dominion of the Britains by Sea which wee finde in Caesar concerning the Veneti a people of Gallia that were seated at the entrance of the River of Loire to wit that they had a very large command upon the Sea-Coast of Western Gallia and that they were better skill'd then any other of their own Countrimen in the Use and Art of Navigation and that in the Sea-fight with Decius Brutus they had Ships made all of Oak very well built and whether you consider their leathern Sails or their Iron Chains in stead of Cordage or their Masts fitted to bear the brunt of any assault whatsoëver and that CCXX sail or thereabout in number went out of the Haven very well manned and provided with all necessaries for War to oppose the Roman Navie It is very probable that the most of these were Auxiliaries fetched by the Veneti out of Britain or how great soëver the Venetan strength was at Sea yet that it was not greater then the Britains may bee collected from the same Author For hee write's expresly that Auxilaries were not onely sent for at that time by the Veneti out of Britain but also that they had very many Ships wherewith they used to sail into Britain But yet as it hath been shewn out of him alreadie no man might sail hand over head into Britain or without leav of the Britains It is not to bee doubted therefore but that besides their Twig or leathern Vessels they had a stout gallant Navie which was able even at pleasure to exclude those Ships of the Veneti that were best armed Els how could it bee that none but Merchants were admitted out of Gaul upon the Sea-Coast of Britain Moreover the whole Senate of the Veneti having been put to death by Caesar not a man was found among those who remained alive after Brutus his Victorie that could discover so much as one Port of Britain as appear's out of the same Author Which how it might bee admitted I do not at all understand if the strength of those Veneti that were wont to sail thither had been greater then the British or if the British had not been much greater then theirs But the reason why at Caesar's arrival afterwards no Ship of that kinde was found upon the British Sea or Shore which Peter Ramus wonder 's at very much and why the Roman Writers mention not any other Ships then such as were made of Twigs seem's evident For the Veneti had got
all the Shipping together into one place from all parts to maintein the afore-said fight as Caesar saith expressly Therefore if the British Navie were called forth to their assistance as t is probable it was then questionless it was all lost before Caesar's arrival For the whole strength and Forces of the Veneti perished in that Sea fight Moreover also Peter Ramus speaking of that great tempest whereby Caesar's Ships were scatter'd up and down in this Sea with great hazard saith The Sea raised this Tempest as it were revenging the British bounds and disdaining to bear a new and strange Lord. As if hee had said that the Bounds of the British Empire were in the very Sea and the Sea it self angrie that it should bee transferr'd into the hands of any other Lord. But as to that which wee finde in a certain Panegyrist touching the time of Julius Caesar that Britain was not arm'd at that time with any Shipping fit for War by Sea it was spoken either in a Rhetorical way onely and highly to magnifie that Victorie of the Emperor Constantius Chlorus whereby having slain C. Allectus who had invaded Britain hee reduced the Island together with the Sea as is shewn hereafter or els it is to bee taken onely of the very time of Caesar's arrival Otherwise it is expressly contrarie to those reasons here alleged and grounded upon good Autors and therefore not to bee admitted for Truth But after that the Island was reduced under the Roman power doubtless the Britains were prohibited from having any Ships of war that they might bee the better held in obedience Which is the reason why Writers afterwards make mention of such onely as were made of Twigs That the Britains were Lords of the Northern Sea before they were subdued by the Romans And that the Sea and the Land made one entire Bodie of the British Empire CHAP. III. THat the Britains were Lords also at that time of the Northern or Deucalidonian Sea is a thing proved by sufficient Testimonie They called this part of the Sea Mario sui secretum The secret or Closet of their Sea Tacitus relating the Navigation of Julius Agricola into this part saith the Britains as it was understood by the Prisoners were amazed at the sight of his Navie as if upon thiâ— opening the Closet or secret part of their Sea there remained no farther refuge in case they were overcom And in that stout Oration of Galgacus the Caledonian wherein hee encouraged his Souldiers to fight Now saith hee the bound of Britain is laid open The secret part of their Sea or their Sea-Territorie in the North they called their bound Moreover saith the same Galgacus beyond us there is no Land and not the least securitie at Sea the Roman Navie beeing at hand giving them to understand that the Dominion hereof was to bee defended as was the Island as a thing acquired before Add also that among the Writers of that Age vincula dare Oceano and to subdue the Britains signified one and the same thing So that place of Lucan is to bee understood where hee reckon's what pompous Shewâ— and Triumphs might have usher'd Caesar into Rome had hee returned onely with Conquest over the Gauls and the North ut vincula Rheno Oceanóque daret celsos ut Gallia currus Nobilis flavis sequeretur mista Britannis What Stories had hee brought how the vast Main And Rhine hee by his Conquests did restrain The noble Gauls and yellow Britains tread Behind his loftie Chariot beeing led But for all that our Sea was not as yet subdued by the Romans Julius Caesar onely shewed the Island rather then deliver'd it into the hands of Posteritie neither was any part of it reduced under the Roman power before the Emperor Claudius his time nor the Soveraigntie of the Sea transferr'd into the hands of any other And although in Augustus his time Drusus Germanicus sailed through that part of the Sea which lie's betwixt the entrance of the River Rhine and Denmark and subdued the Friâ—slanders nevertheless not any part of the Sea was added by that Victorie to the Roman Empire for the Britains held it all in possession they beeing not yet fully subdued Nor is it unworthie observation here that C. Caligula beeing near Britain and coming out of Germanie to the Coasts on the other side of our Sea as if saith Dio hee intended to make war in Britain and having drawn up his Armie made readie all his slings and other warlick Engines and given the signal or word for Battel no man knowing or imagining what his intent was hee on a sudden commanded them to fall a gathering of Cockles and fill their Laps and Helmets Then saying these Spoils of the Sea belong'd to the Capitol and Mount Palatin hee vaunted as if hee had subdued the Ocean it self At last for a token or Trophie of this mock-victorie hee rear'd a very lofty Tower hard by out of which as if it had been another Pharos Lights were hung forth by night for the direction of Sea men in their Courses the ruins whereof beeing not yet wholly demolished but for the most part overwhelm'd with water near Cattwiick and very seldom discover'd it is called by the Hollanders that dwell near it Britenhuis and L'Huis te Briten that is the British Hous or the British Tower Certain it is out of Suetonius that a Tower was raised by Caligula in that place yea and it is mainteined by divers learned men as Hadrianus Junius the Hollander William Camden our Countriman and Richardus Vitus that these were the ruins of the same Tower though others denie it as Ortelius Gotzius and Cluverius And they make a doubt both about the Original of the name and also its signification concerning which wee dispute not But am extremely mis-taken if Caligula by this Action of his did not so much neglect the conquest of Britain it self which hee hoped or at least thought of as seem to sport himself with the conceit of having found out so compendious a way of Victorie Hee carried the matter as if hee had had an intent to subdue Britain and supposed those Cockles which hee called Spoils of the Sea to bee Tokens of Sea-Dominion and as a most sure pledg of the British Empire Moreover it is upon good ground to bee conceived that there was one entire Territorie of the British Empire made up of the Land or continent of great Britain with the Isles lying about it and the Seas flowing between in their respective Channels which may bee collected both from that one single name of British comprehending an entire Bodie of such a kinde of Territorie as was shewn you before and also from hence that the very Sea it self is by Albategnius and som others described by the name of Britain in the same manner as the Island when as hee placeth Thule an Isle of the Sea in Britain That is to
of the Abbie of Abingdon say of the same year 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King commanded that 21000 should bee paid to his Armie For so that Fleet is called every where in English Saxon which rode at Grenewich Here you see is no small difference in the number of pounds But howsoever if it bee to bee conceived of the yearly Tax or Tribute then it was far less this year then it is reckoned by those Monks who speak of thirtie eight thousand pounds Four years after in the Reign of King Canutus who was a Dane a far greater summe of Monie was raised for the maintenance of this Fleet. That Florentius whom wee have often cited saith In this year that is MXVIII Seventie two thousand pounds out of all England and one thousand and fiftie pounds out of London were paid to the Danish Fleet and there remained fourtie ships with K. Canutus But the rest were returned to Denmark Of which year Hoveden speak's thus Out of all England seventie two and out of London 410 pounds were paid to the Danish Armie or Fleet. And there remained c. They differ about the Summe not the Thing wherein they agree with the English-Saxon Chronicles before mentioned Yet these altogether speak contrarie to that accompt of the certain summes as it is set down by the aforesaid Monks But Matthew Paris and Matthew Westminster say of the same Time that Cnute sent home the Danish Fleet and Stipendarie Souldiers except fourtie ships as appear's by what hath been said alreadie having paid them out of all England eightie two thousand pounds in silver Also in the second year of King Hardeâ—nute a Tax was levied for the Danish Armie or Fleet amounting to 21000 pounds and 89 pounds as Huntingdon tell 's us All which particulars do I suppose sufficiently demonstrate that the Danish Tribute here mentioned was not fixed to any certain summe of yearly paiment and also that an huge summe of monie was wont to bee paid yearly at that time to the Kings of England for the Guard of the Sea for to what purpose els was that Fleet alwaies kept and so great Taxes levied every year for the maintenance thereof But in the Reign of King Henrie the second the name of Danegeld grew out of use Tributes or Taxes beeing usually paid still notwithstanding by other names that are very well known for the Guarding of the Sea as wee shall shew by and by But they are extremely mistaken even they who agree either with John Bramton the Abbot of Jorvaux or som other Autor out of whom hee wrote it or any others of that kinde in deriving the Original of that yearly Danegeld so often mentioned every where from the former kinde of Tribute which was paid to the Danes for the procuring of a peace and they also who would have the Warr to have been undertaken by the Danes and Saxons against the Britains becaus they denied them a freedom of Navigation and that the end thereof was that this Tribute was upon that accompt imposed upon the Nation when it was subdued Now as concerning the Duties of Fiduciarie Clients or Vassals wont to bee paid in that Age for Naval Expeditions and the Guard of the Sea wee have set them down among those particulars which were spoken of King Edgar in the former Chapter The Pettie Kings or Lords of the neighboring Isles were bound to him by Oath to bee readie at his command to serv him by Sea and Land And in that famous Breviarie or Register of England called Domesday conteining very many Customs in use among the English-Saxons besides the assessment of the Provinces and written in the time of William the first wee read thus It is a Custom at Warwick if the King went by Sea against his Enemies to send him either IV. Batsueins Sea-souldiers or Rowers or els IV. pounds in monie And at Excester when hee made any Expedition by Land or by Sea this Citie served after the rate of V Hides of Land Barnestaple Lydeford and Totenais served as far as that Citie That is these three Towns paid as much as Excester alone Moreover Clocester yielded XXXVI Dicres of Iron and C iron Rods fitted to make nails for the King's ships Leicester also if the King went against his Enemies by Sea sent him four horses from that Town to London to carrie Arms or other necessaries Concerning Lewes also a chief Town in Sussex there K. Edward the Confessor had CXXVII Burgers at his service Their Custom was if the King went not himself in person but sent others to guard the Sea then they collected XX Shillings of every man of what Countrie soëver hee were and provided men who were to look to the Arms on shipboard Here very express mention is made of the defence or Guardianship of the Sea it self And in Colchester an eminent Town of Essex wee finde it was the Custom of that Age to pay out of every hous six pence a year that was able to pay it for maintenance of the King's souldiers upon an Expedition by Land or Sea c. And this ought to bee the rate if the King shall entertain souldiers or make any Expedition All these particulars are in that Register And others there are in it of the same kinde But an Expedition by Sea signified in these testimonies not a Warr to bee undertaken for subduing the Dominions of their neighbors lands but most clearly a preparation and enterprise of Warr for the guarding scouring and keeping the Sea as a part of the Empire of Britain As it sufficiently appear's out of the Histories of that time For wee do not reade that our English-Saxons or Danes had any other quarrel at that time with any of their Neighbors whatsoëver unless it concerned either the British Islands or the Sea belonging thereunto Which also is especially to bee consider'd The Testimonies of Edgar and Canutus Kings of England with others expressly declaring the Dominion which they and their predecessors had over the Sea together with an observation touching the Nations which in that age were seated upon the opposite Shore CHAP. XII THat wee may at length set an end to that fourfold distribution which wee made of the Testimonies of that Age let us in the last place add the express determinations of King Edgar and Canutus concerning their own Dominion over the Sea As for Edgar the title which hee commonly used ran thus I Edgar Soveraign Lord of all Albion and of the Maritim or Insular Kings inhabiting round about So hee make's the bodie of the British Empire to comprehend all the Maritim Kingdoms that lay about that is to say all that are Situate in the British Sea And this hee more plainly declare's in the Charter or Deed by which hee setled revenues on the Cathedral Church of Worcester in the year DCCCCLXIV if so bee the copie were rightly rendred by those who many years since printed so
the saufegard of the Seas for the entercourse of Marchandise safely to come into and to pass out of the same which is the usual form of words That is to say these words are part of the Preface or Preamble which was usually placed in the beginning of any Law or Statute whereby that most known Custom or Impost of Tonnage and Powndage was wont to bee imposed For the keeping and sure defending of the Seas against all persons entending or that shall extend the disturbance of us your said Commons in the intercourse and the invading of this your Realm So that the King of England hath ever been so accounted the Arbitrator and Lord of Commerce throughout these Seas that it could not lawfully bee hindred without his Commission Which truly is a manifest evidence of that Dominion or Ownership whereof wee treat And here you see also that the defence of the Realm that is of the Island for somtimes the Isle alone and somtimes the Sea also as I shall shew by and by is comprehended in that name and of the Sea as of those things which are held and possessed by one and the same Right is joined together The Tribute or Custom afore-mentioned which was wont to bee imposed and the usual form of the same Imposition may bee seen compleat in the printed Acts of Parlament of K. Kdward the Sixt and others following But it appear's most certain by the Rolls that the Predecessors also of this Edward whose Records are yet extant did enjoy the same or the like according to the various Custom of the Times Observations touching the Dominion of the English and Irish Sea from the tenor and varietie of those Letters Patents or Commissions Roial whereby the Admirals of England were wont to bee put in Autoritie CHAP. XVI THe usual form of Commission whereby the High Admiral of England is wont to bee invested with Autoritie for the Guard of the Sea run's thus at this day as it hath don also for very manie years past Wee give and grant to N. the Office of our great Admiral of England Ireland Wales and of the Dominions and Islands belonging to the same also of our Town of Calais and our Marches thereof Normandie Gascoigne and Aquitain And wee have made appointed and ordained and by these Presents Wee make appoint and Ordain him the said N. our Admiral of England Ireland and Wales and our Dominions and Isles of the same Our Town of Calais and our Marches thereof Normandie Gascoign and Aquitain as also general Governor over all our Fleets and Seas of our said Kingdoms of England and Ireland our Dominions and Islands belonging to the same And know yee further that Wee of â—uâ— especial grace and upon certain knowledg c. Do give and grant to the said N. our great Admiral of England and Governor general over our Fleets and Seas aforesaid all manner of Jurisdictions Autorities Liberties Offices Fees Profits Duties Emoluments Wrecks of the Sea Ejectments Regards Advantages Commodities Preheminences and Privileges Whatsoëver to the said Office our great Admiral of England and Ireland and of the other Places and dominions aforesaid in any manner whatsoëver belonging and appertaining And afterwards there follow verie many other particulars in the King's Commission setting forth that most ample Command and Jurisdiction In former times as hath been alreadie shewn you this kinde of Commanders were called Custodes Maris Guardians or Keepers of the Sea who afterward began to bee invested with the name of Admirals in the Reign of Edward the First But their Commands were usually restrained to certain Limits of Coasts So that particular Commanders were somtimes set over each of the Three Western Southern and Northern Coasts but for the most part over the Western and Northern Seldom was one set over both before that the Title of Admiral of England Ireland and Aquitain was put into the Commissions of which more by and by But as the name of Guardian of the Sea was taken from the Sea it self whereof hee was Governor as of a Province so that of Admirals a word whose Original is very uncertain but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Amiralius was used of old for a Commander of a Fleet or Navie not onely in the West but also in the Eastern Empire derived its name of Dignitie either from the Fleet wherewith hee defended his Jurisdiction at Sea as it was usual heretofore or els from the Land either bordering upon that Jurisdiction or joined therewith as it hath been in the later Form of Commissions Whereupon from the time of Edward the first unto Henrie the Fourth about one hundred and Fiftie years they were in solemn manner created Admirals of the Fleet or Navis of our Ships towards the Northern Parts or towards the Western Parts or the Southern or as it â—â—ll out somtimes of both together For the Southern and Western Coast did as appear's by the thing it self signifie one and the same That is to say the Coast stretched here and there along the Shore from the North of the Thames But as the Dignitie of those Officers called Comes and Magister Equitum of the West Magister Equitum throughout Gallia Magister Militum throughout the East Magister Militum throughout Thrace and others of that kinde in the Imperial Offices did no less denote the Autoritie and Jurisdiction of them that commanded in these Provinces who before were Lords of the Provinces than if they had been called Comes and Magister of the West Magister throughout Gallia throughout the East and throughout Thrace so it is evident that the Admirals of the Fleets and Navies whereby the Sea is guarded after the same manner as the Land is possessed by Land-Forces did no less set forth the Command and Dominion and civil possession of those that had autoritie over the Sea who before were Lords of the Sea then if they had been styled Guardians of the Sea Commanders or Admirals in their Commissions And such as were so constituted Admirals of both Coasts or of the whole English Navie were somtimes by a general name called Admirals of England over the Sea before that form of words was put into the Royal Commissions And of this sort of Admirals you have a Catalogue set down by that eminent man Sir Henrie Spelman in his Glossarie where there are others also that follow But such a change hapned in the Form of the Commissions in the time of Henrie the Fourth that there was one man appointed Admiral not onely of the fleets or Navies but of England and Ireland over whose Fleet of Ships or Navie for Defence of the Irish Sea somtimes a particular person was made Admiral as was Thomas Percie Earl of Worcester yea and in express words also Admiral of Aquitain and Picardie As was Thomas Beaufort who also was Duke of Excester under Henrie the Fifth in the thirteenth year of Henrie the Fourth after hee had surrendred the Commission whereby hee had
to the Royal Patrimonie of England to the end that no man might question whether the Sea belong'd to his King by the Right of the Kingdom of England or of the Dutchie of Normandie or of any other Province in France Another also who wrote in the time of Henrie the Eighth saith it hath been received by antient custom that it is a dutie lying upon the King of England as Lord of the British Sea to scour the Sea of Pirates and to render the use thereof as of a publick Road or Thorow-fare whose soil is within his Patrimonie safe for Shipping For hee expresseth himself in English thus The King of the ould Custome of the Realme as the Lord of the narrow Sea is bound as it is said to scoure the Sea of the Pirates and petit robbers of the Sea So much also as to what concern's Dominion is without controversie admitted by our Lawyers of later time And it appear's by publick Records conteining divers main points touching which the Judges were to bee consulted for the good of the Common-weal in the time of King Edward the Third that the King's Sea-Dominion which they called the antient superioritie of the Sea was a matter out of question among our Lawyers of that Age. But consultation was had for the more convenient guarding of it For the whole Bench of Judges were advised with to the end so wee read it in the Records and that is especially to bee observed which wee finde here about the first beginning of the Naval Laws of the Isle of Oleron seated in the Creek of Aquitain at the mouth of the River Charente that the form of proceeding heretofore ordained and begun by Edward the first grandfather of our Lord the King and his Council at the prosecution of his Subjects may bee resumed and continued for the reteining and conserving of the antient superioritie of the Sea of England and the Autoritie of the Office of Admiraltie in the same as to the correcting expounding declaring and conserving the Laws and Statutes long since made by his Predecessors Kings of England for the mainteining of Peace and Justice among all people of what Nation soëver passing through the Sea of England and to take cognisance of all attempt to the contrarie in the same and to punish Offenders and award satisfaction to such as suffer wrong and damage Which Laws and Statutes were by the Lord Richard heretofore King of England at his return from the holy Land interpreted declared and published in the Isle of Oleron and named in French le ley Olyroun Here you have it declared as a thing most received and certain that the King of England hath by antient right been Lord of the Sea of the same name or that which flow's about it But that whereof the Bench of Judges were to consult was onely about the orderly maintenance of this right Nor is it truly a small sign of this Dominion that Richard the First King of England beeing in the Isle of Oleron which hee possessed as seated in his own Sea not so much for that hee was Duke of Aquitain as King of England whereof wee have alreadie spoken did as sole Ruler and Moderator of Sea-affairs first publish those Naval or Sea-Laws in that his Island which hold in force to this day and from that time gave them so large and perpetual an Autoritie by that name that as the Rhodian Naval Laws as the case stand's do prove that the Rhodians in antient time were Lords of the Grecian Sea so the Laws of Oleron having obteined such a kinde of Autoritie by Sea from their first Institution must ever declare the King of England as the Autor to bee Lord of the neighboring Sea round about But som printed Copies of these Laws make them about sixtie years later than the Reign of that Richard by what autoritie I cannot tell For they relate them to have been made in the year MCCLXVI which is the fiftieth year of our Henrie the third Also in the Law of the Land it is reckoned among the Privileges of such as are absent that they who shall bee out of the Realm of England at the levying of a Fine of any Land and making Proclamations thereupon are not so bound either by a yearly prescription as heretofore or by a five years prescription as is usual of later time but that their Right remain's entire to them upon their return home if they make their claim within the like spaces of time But intra regnum within the Kingdom is by the same Law taken and that in the usual phrase for that which is intra or as it is wont to bee barbarously render'd infra Quatuor Maria within the four Seas to wit the Southern Western Eastern and that Northen Sea which washeth both the sides of that neck of Land whereby Scotland is united to England That is to say within the outmost bounds of the English Empire in those four Seas or within the opposite Shores of the Eastern and Southern Sea or Ports belonging to other Princes and within the bounds of the Northern and Western Sea which indeed are to bee bounded after another manner but yet to bee bounded that is accordirng to the extent of possession West-ward beyond the Western Shores of Ireland and by the first beginning of that Sea which is of the Scotish name and jurisdiction But that which is opposed to this Particle intra quatuor maria within the four seas is that extra quatuor Maria without the four seas or to bee in the parts so beyond the Seas that they bee beyond the bounds of the Sea-Dominion of the King of England from whence wee are to determine of the bounds or exterior limit of the Seas And although the Land of England bee somtimes used for that which is the whole Realm or English Empire as signifying the same a more ordinarie and indeed more brief expression beeing applied as is usual in stead of a more large yet it certainly appear's that extra quatuor maria without the four seas and extra Regnum without the Realm do in our Law-Books signifie the very same thing that is to say so far as the extent and latitude of the whole English Empire is comprehended in the name of Realm not as the Realm of England is now and then distinguished in our Law from Ireland which also is a distinct Dominion of the same Empire or from the other Islands which are reckoned in the Roial patrimonie of the Kings of England For it is usual in the Language of the Law so to describe him who in that sens shall bee out of the Realm And whereas in the Reign of Richard the second to an objection made against one that would avoid the yearly prescription as not bound by it for that hee was not in England it was excepted that hee was in Scotland and so within the four Seas It was thereupon answer'd and rul'd
Sea That the Kings of England never had prohibited Navigation and Fishing in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland as if they would have had it proved from thence that the Dane ought not to bee prohibited Fishing or Navigation between Island and Norway becaus neither were Lords of the Sea but had possessed the Shores onely on both sides by an equal Right There were other particulars also no less rashly spoken touching a communitie of the Sea as wee observed before Concerning Navigation and Fishing in the Norwegian Sea I shall add more by and by But as it was ill don of those Commissioners in that Treatie to make use of an Argument drawn from a necessarie communitie of the Sea so there is no truth in that which they let fall concerning the Irish Sea For wee know that not onely those pettie Potentates bordering near the Sea heretofore that were in Rebellion and had usurped the Kings Right in many places of Ireland did exact grievous Tributes of Foreiners for the very libertie of Fishing but also it was expressly provided by Act of Parlament that no Foreiner should Fish in the Irish Sea without leav first obteined to this purpose from the Lord Lievtenant or som other lawsul Deputie or Officer of the King of England yea and that all Foreiners should pay yearly for every Fisher-boat of XII Tons or upward thirteen shillings and four pence and for everie lesser Vessel two shillings upon pain of forfeiting their Vessels Furniture and all Goods whatsoëver if so they refused this kinde of paiment or did not acknowledg this Soveraignite of the Lord of the Sea But I shall insert the whole Act touching this business that wee may understand what was the most received Opinion of all the Estates of Ireland touching this Right here of the King Item at the requeste of the Commons that where divers vessels of other landes fro one daie to other goynge to fish amongst the kings Irish enemies in divers partes of this sayd land by which the kings said enemies bee greatlye advanced and strengthened aswell in vitualles harneys armor as dyvers others necessaries also great tributes of money given by every of the said vessells to the said enemies from day to day to the great augmentation of their power and force against the King's honor and wealth and utter distruction of this said land thereupon the premisses considered it is enacted and ordeined by aucthoritie of the said Parliament that no manner vessell of other landes shall bee no time nor season of the yeere from henceforth from the feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christs next comming go in no part of the said land betwixt the said Irish enemies to no manner fishing without one special licence of the Lieutenant his deputy or Justice of the land for the time being or licence of another person having the kings power to grant such licence upon paine of forfaiture of the shippe and goods to the king And that whatsoever person or persons that find or impeche any of the said vessells rumpants or forfaites against this act by the auctoritie of the same it bee lawfull to them so making any claime in behalfe of the King and approving the said forfaytures by any of the said vessels to be made that the king shall have th' one moitye of the said forfeyture and the said person or persons shall have th' other without anye impechment and that all manner vessells of other lands comming in the said land of Ireland a fishing being of the burden of twelue tunnes or lesse haveing one Drover or boate everye of them to paye for the maintenance of the Kings warres there xiii s. iiii d. by the yeer And all other small vessells as scarfes or boates not haveing Drover nor lighter being within the said burden of twelve runnes every of them shall paye twoe shillings goings a fishing in the like manner Provided alwayes that no vessell fyshing in the North parte of Wicklo be charged by reason of this art and that the Lieutenant his deputy or Justice of the land for the time being shall have the foresaid summes and duties of mony so paid to be imployed in the Kings warres for the defente of the said land and that the Customers and Collectors of the same summes shall accoumpt before the said Justice Lieutenant or Deputy for the time being or such Auditors that shall be for the same appointed by the king or them and not before the Barons of th'exchequer in the said lande and that none of the saide vessels so comming from other parts in the saide lande shall not depart out of the saide lande till every of them pay their said duties upon pain of forfeiture of the vessels and goods to the King There are som also who affirm that the King of Spain obteined leav by request from our Queen Marie for XXI years to fish in the more Northerly part of the Irish Sea and that thereupon a Revenue of one thousand pounds per annum was advanced to the Exchequer in Ireland A Proclamation also was set forth by James King of great Britain prohibiting any foreiner without leav first obteined to fish in this Irish Sea But as to what concern's that Controversie about the Isle of Man although it bee remember'd by Giraldus who wrote in the Reign of Henrie the Second nevertheless it is to bee conceived that it arose in the more antient times of the English-Saxons when all that lie's betwixt England and Ireland was in subjection either to the Kings of Ireland or Britain that is when both of them had in this Sea distinct Territories of their own whose Bounds were in question Certain it is as Beda write's that Edwin the most potent King of the Nortbumbrians or rather of all the English-Saxons subdued the Mevanian Isles to the Dominion of England about the year DCXXX That is to say both that Mevanian which wee call Anglesey the other also which is Man whereof wee discoursed But in the later time of the Anglo-Saxon Empire the Norwegians or Danes who exceedingly infested both this and the North-east Sea with very frequent Robberies at length seized both this Isle and the Hebrides and held them almost two hundred years So that in the mean time this of Man could not in a Civil sens bee ascribed either to Ireland or Britain But that the Kings thereof were at that time Lords as well of the neighboring Sea as of the Isles may bee collected out of their Annals where we find that Godred whose sirname was Crovan King of Man in the year of our Lord MLXVI brought Dublin and a great part of Laynster under his subjection And so throughly subdued the Scots that no man who built a Ship durst drive in more than three Nails So that hee gave both limitation and Law to the Shipping of his Neighbors which is all one as to enjoy the very Dominion of the Sea as I have shewn in