Selected quad for the lemma: parliament_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
parliament_n	king_n	lord_n	say_a	16,658	5	7.1993	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36497	A discourse written by Sir George Downing, the King of Great Britain's envoy extraordinary to the states of the United Provinces vindicating his royal master from the insolencies of a scandalous libel, printed under the title of (An extract out of the register of the States General of the United Provinces, upon the memorial of Sir George Downing, envoy, &c.), and delivered by the agent De Hyde for such to several publick ministers : whereas no such resolution was ever communicated to the said envoy, nor any answer returned at all by their lordships to the said memorial : whereunto is added a relation of some former and later proceedings of the Hollanders / by a meaner hand.	Downing, George, Sir, 1623?-1684.	1672 (1672)	Wing D2108; ESTC R34994	50,712	177

you stand bound That you set forth to Sea with the ships of the Ports and the other ships that are ready and that you arrest the other ships under our Command and that with all diligence you make search after the Gallies and Ships of Warr that are abroad against Vs and that stoutly and manfully you set upon them if they shall presume to bend their course to any part of our Dominions or the Coasts of Scotland c. We read also in the Reign of the said King in the preferring a certain Bill in Parliament which is the voice of the State of the Realm that he was usually accounted King or Soveraign of the Seas by all Nations written in French and thus translated into English The Nation of the English were ever in the Ages past renowned for Sea-Affairs in all Countries near the Seas and they had also so numerous a Navy that the people of all Countreys esteemed and called the King of Edgland the King or Soveraign of the Sea Another Testimony to the same effect we read in the Parliamentary Records of Henry the fifth where the tenour of the Bill runs after this manner The Commons do pray That seeing our Soveraign Lord the King and his illustrious Progenitors have ever been Lords of the Sea and now seeing through God's grace it is now come to pass that our Lord the King is Lord of the shores on both sides the Sea such a Tribute may be imposed on all Strangers passing through the said Sea for the benefit and advantage of our said Lord the King as may seem agreeable to Reason for the safeguard of the said Sea The Answer subscribed to the Bill was Soit avise par le Roy for the King at that time resided in France being Lord of that Countrey as well by Conquest as Inheritance Many other Testimonies in this nature may be produced which to avoid prolixity I must omit Neither hath the High Court of Parliament only given this attestation to our Kings as Supream and Soveraign of the Seas but to confirm it all the Judges of the Land were consulted herein and all jointly averred That the King's Sea-Dominion which they called the Ancient Superiority of the Sea was a matter out of question his Right Neither is this Truth confirmed only by our Laws but by our Medals There hath been a piece of Gold often coined by our Kings called a Rose-Noble upon the one side whereof was stamped a Ship floating in the Sea and a King armed with a Sword and Shield sitting in the Ship it self as in a Throne But what need we labour to produce so many Testimonies at home from our Records in the Tower and other places from our High Courts of Parliament from our Laws from our Coyn and from our Histories to prove this Truth since it is acknowledged even by Forreigners themselves whom it most concerneth by striking sail according to the ancient custom by every ship of any forreign Nation whatsoever to any King's Man of War which is done not only in Honour to the King of England but also in acknowledgment of his Soveraignty and Dominion at sea The Antiquity of this Custom and that it hath been in use above these four hundred years may appear by this following Testimony At Hastings a Town scituate on the shore of Sussex it was decreed by King John and the assent of his Peers in the second year of his reign That if the Governour or Commander of the King's Navy in his Naval-Expeditions shall meet with any ships whatsoever at sea laden or empty that shall refuse to strike their sails at the command of the King's Governour or Admiral they are to be looked on as Enemies c. Mr. Selden in his excellent Treatise called Mare Clausum saith If any ship whatsoever had not acknowledged the Dominion of the King of England in his own sea by striking sail they were not to be protected on any account of Amity and Penalties were appointed by the Kings of England in the same manner as if mention were made concerning a crime committed in some Territory of his Land But above all that yet hath been said There cannot be produced a more convincing Argument than the acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominion of the King of England by very many of our Neighbouring-Nations At what time the Agreement was made between Edward the first of England and Philip the Fair of France Reyner Grimbald Governour of the French Navy intercepted and spoiled on the English Seas the Goods of many Merchants that were going to Flanders and not contented with the depredation of their Commodities he imprisoned their Persons Hereupon a Bill was exhibited against the said Reyner Grimbald and managed by Procurators on the behalf of the Peers and People of the English Nation with these were joined the Procurators of most Nations bordering upon the Sea throughout Europe all these instituted a Complaint and all these Complainants in their Bill do jointly affirm That the King of England and his Predecessors have time out of mind and without controversie enjoyed the Soveraignty and Dominion of the English Seas and the Isles belonging to the same by right of their Realm of England also that they have had and have the Soveraign Guard thereof with all manner of Cognizance and Jurisdiction in doing Right and Justice according to the said Laws Ordinances and Prohibitions with all other matters which may concern the exercise of Soveraign Dominion in the said places But more particularly We do find an acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominion of the Kings of England made by the Flemmings themselves in the Parliament of England in the Reign of Edward the second the Records of the Parliament speak it thus In the fourteenth year of the Reign of Edward the second there appeared certain Embassadors of the Earl of Flanders to treat about the reformation of some injuries they received and as soon as the said Ambassadors had been admitted by our Lord the King to treat of the said Injuries amongst other particulars they required That the said Lord the King would at his own suit by vertue of his Royal Authority cause enquiry to be made and do justice about a depredation by the subjects of England upon the English seas taking Wines and other Commodities from certain Merchants of Flanders alledging that the said Merchandizes taken from the Flemmings were brought within the Realm and Jurisdiction of the King and that it belonged to the King to see Justice done in regard that He is Lord of the Sea In the seventh year of King James this Right was very strenuously asserted by Proclamation and all persons excluded from the use of the seas upon our Coasts without particular License but the Hollander continuing his encroachments till after the death of that wise and learned King CHARLES the First of ever blessed memory issued a Proclamation for restraint of fishing upon his Seas and Coasts without License in these terms Whereas our Father

and Ammunition which have ever been prohibited the Indians by the English all their Musquets were charged with Powder and Ball which with some of the principal Indians were carried to Boston who upon examination confessed the Dutch had set them a work all that we could then doe was but to put our selves in our best Posture of Defence Having thus given you a summary account of some of their cruelties I cannot omit one particular passage Chronicled by themselves wherein you may see in the cruel disposition of one the bloody inclination of the whole Flemish Nation At the Siedg of Leyden a Fort being held by the Spanish Party was after taken by the Dutch by assault or storm The Defendants according to the Law of Arms were put to the sword where one of the Dutch in the fury of the slaughter ript up the Captains body and with a barbarous hand tore out the yet living heart panting among the reeking bowels then with his teeth rent it still warm with blood into gobbets which he did spit over the Battlements in defiance to the rest of the Army Now as we have with brevity displayed the cruelty and treachery of the Nature and Actions of the Hollander both at home and abroad so we must not forget what hath been by them committed since the year 1660. At which time it was his Majesties particular care to conclude a strict League with the States General of the United Provinces upon such equal Terms as would certainly not have been broken if any Obligations could have kept them within the bounds of Justice or Friendship this League was inviolably kept and maintained on his But in the year 1664. such and so many were the complaints of his Majesties Subjects abused and wronged by the ungrateful Hollander that the King with the Unanimous vote of both Houses of Parliament was provoked to war finding it a vain attempt to indeavour the prosperity of the three Kingdoms by peaceable wayes at home whilst the People thereof were still exposed to the injuries and oppressions of the States abroad His Majesty spent a whole Summer in negotiations and indeavours to bring them to reasonable terms which notwithstanding all He could do proved at length ineffectual for the more his Majesty pursued them with friendly Propositions the more obstinately and unworthily they kept off from agreeing thereunto upon this ensued the War in the year 1665. and continued to the year 1667. in all which time our Victories and their Losses were memorable enough to put them in mind of being more faithful to their Leagues for the future Which Victories they endeavoured to stifle by misreporting them conquests to their People over the their gallantly equipt English Navy and particularly that of the third of June 1665. under the conduct of his Royal Highness the Duke of York Narrative whereof was Printed for general satisfaction and to preven● misreports which are commonly through ignorance or malice begotten upon occasions of that Nature and lest that signal Victory should be forgotten in short it was this the Dutch Fleet was brought on our Coasts in all probability rather in expectation of finding Ours in disorder upon the proceeding foul weather or by the Reports of our unreadiness then from their own innate Valour but they were much mistaken for it cost his Royal Highness but little time to make ready his fore-going care and the cheerfulness of our men having prevented all hazard of disorder and the happy arrival of the Colliers haveing supplyed us with what we only wanted Men but not Courage the Dutch perceiving this stood off to Sea the number of their Ships being one Hundred and ten Sail besides ten Fire Ships we followed them till that Evening and the next day forced them to fight upon the whole matter it pleased God to give his Majesty a great and signal Victory the Enemy being driven into the Texe●… as far as the draught of water and the condition of our Ships would permit the day being also very far spent the summe of all is the Enemie●… whole Fleet was defeated Thirty of them burnt or taken Opdam with his Ship blown up as is supposed by a lucky shot in the Powder-room most of their Admirals killed with many more of their Principal Officers and according to their general computation eight Thousand Seamen and Soldiers on our side only one Ship lost with some other slight damage The God of Heaven be praised for preserving his Royal Highness to be the great instrument of so signal a success and continuing him to the perfecting this great work in hand to the honour of his Majesty and the welfare of his People And that you may trace them farther in their unworthiness and ingratitude this Victory with the fear of being made no People had no sooner brought them on their knees and his Majesty out of his accustomed Clemency and Commiseration had received them into favour by making Peace with them but they returned to their usual custom of breaking Articles and supplanting our Trade For instance the States were particularly ingaged in an Article of the Treaty at Breda to send Commissioners to his Majesty at London about the Regulation of our Trade in the East Indies but they were so far from doing it on that obligation that when an Ambassador was sent over to put them in mind of it He could not in three years time get from them any satisfaction in the material points nor a forbearance of the wrongs his Majesties Subjects received in those parts To give you an account of every particular wrong and injury the English suffered by the Dutch in their East India factory would be a Task as difficult to do as to tell the spokes of a running Coach-wheele let it suffice his Majestie is throughly sensible of them from the just and miserable complaints of the Sufferers and will now with Gods Assistance now call them to a severe account for all their insufferable wrongs and abuses which the East could not contain and therefore they went a little farther in the West Indies For by an Article in the same Treaty his Majesty was to restore Surinam into their hands and by Articles upon the Place confirmed by that Treaty they were to give liberty to all the King of Englands subjects in that Colony to transport themselves and their Estates into any other of his Majesties Plantations In pursuance of this agreement the place was delivered up and yet they detained all our men in it only one emiminent Person they sent away prisoner for but desiring to remove according to the Articles To what a height will this insolence and perfidiousness of theirs arrive to if not timely check't and prevented How arrogant and presumptious will they be if the bladder of their pride blown up with violence and oppression be not suddenly prick't and so let out the airy opinion of their supposed strength and greatness I know not what their arrogance and ambition may

sailed in to be of her Dominion There was an ancient Custom used in the East That when Great Kings had a design to bring any Nation under their power they commanded Water and Earth the pledges of Empire and Dominion to be delivered unto them conceiving that the Command of the Sea as well as of the Land was signified by such a Token And if we take a view of these late times as to the Rights and Customs of Forreign Nations we shall find that the Commonwealth of Venice hath enjoyed the Dominion of the Adriatique-Sea for many Ages The Tuscans to this day have an Absolute Dominion in the Tyrhene-Sea and those of Genoa in the Lygustick To conclude That the Dominion of the Sea is admitted amongst those things that are lawful and received into the Customs of Nations is so far from contradiction that nothing at all can be found to controul it in the Customs of our later times unless it be by the Encroaching Hollander who bordering so near our shores hath done and doth endeavour to violate the Right of His Most Sacred Majesty under the pretence of Civil Community Besides it is most evident from the Custom of all Times That Commerce and free Passage hath ever been so limited by Princes in their Territories that is either granted or denied according to the various concernments of the Publick Good Princes are concerned to be wary and careful that they admit no such Strangers or Forreign Commerce where the Commonwealth may receive any damage thereby Some Oppugners to the Mare Clausum introduce this Argument That the Water is open to All and therefore by Law it must be open at all times to all men What a trifle is this Before the distribution of things there was no Land which did not lie open to All before it came under particular possession If the Hollanders should object this Argument against our Dominion over the Narrow Seas I would ask them the reason of their Custom in Delph-land called Jus Grutae which hath ever been under the care of those Officers called in Dutch Pluymgraven whereby the Beer-Brewers are obliged to pay the hundredth part for the use of those Waters Having thus in general given you an account That almost amongst all Nations there hath been allowed a private Dominion of the Sea We shall now come nearer home and inform you That the ancient Britains did Enjoy and Possess the Sea as Lords thereof before they were subjected to the Roman Power We find no History of Britain to which any credit ought to be given elder than the time of Julius Caesar at whose coming we find the Britains used the Sea as their own for Navigation and Fishing and withal permitted none besides Merchants to sail into the Island without their leave nor any man at all to sound or view their Sea-coasts or Harbours Amongst several Kings of old that not only ruled this Land but had also Dominion over the Sea I find none more potent than King Edgar who possessing an absolute Dominion of the Seas sailed round it once a year and secured it with a constant Guard of Ships of which as is reported he had Four thousand eight hundred stout ones and what Dominion this was King Edgar had as Absolute Lord of the Sea appeareth in these words I Edgar King of England and of all the Kings of the Islands and of all the Ocean lying about Britain and of all the Nations that are included within the circuit c. After him King Canutus left a testimony whereby he most expresly asserteth the Sea to be a part of his Dominion for placing himself by the Sea-side on Southampton shore he is reported to have made trial of the Seas obedience in this manner Thou O Sea art under my Dominion as the Land also which I sit upon is mine therefore I command thee not to wet the feet or garments of thy Soveraign Although the event did not answer his expectation yet by this he professed himself to be Soveraign of the Seas as well as of the Land There is nothing more clear than that the Kings of England have been accustomed to constitute Governours who had a charge to guard the English Sea and these were called Custodes Maritimi In this number you shall find in Parliamentary Rolls of the 48 of Hen. 3. Thomas de Moleton who is called Captain and Guardian of the Sea this Title was afterwards changed into Admiral in the days of Edward the third The principal end of calling that Parliament was concerning the preservation of Peace both by Land and Sea giving us to understand that the Land and Sea together made one entire Body of the Kingdom of England And that the Dominion of the Seas is properly in the Power and Jurisdiction of the King may appear by those Tributes and Customs that were imposed and payed for the guard and protection of those Seas and this was paid to the Reign of King Stephen Since Subsidies have been demanded of the people in Parliament upon the same account Neither was this imposed only on the English but also upon the ships of Forreigners every Vessel paying after the rate of six pence a Tun that passed by such ships only excepted that brought Merchandize out of Flanders If a Vessel were employed to fish for Herrings it payed six pence a week for every Tun if for other fish so much was to be paid every three weeks as they who brought Coles from Newcastle to London every three months Mr. Selden that learned Antiquary affirmeth That before a Court of Delegates in France in express terms it hath been acknowledged That the King of England hath ever been Lord not only of the Sea but of the Islands therein contained upon the account of being King of England But to give greater light to this truth we may from several Records produce many testimonies That the Kings of England have given leave to Forreigners upon request to pass through their seas There are innumerable Letters of safe conducts in the Records especially of Henry the fifth and sixth and it is worthy of observation that those Letters were directed by those Kings to their Governors or Sea Admirals Vice-Admirals and Sea-Captains And to clear all at once The Kings of England have such an absolute Dominion in the English seas that they have called the Sea it self their Admiralty and this we find in a Commission of Edward the Third the Title whereof is de Navibus Arestandis Capiendis And as a freedom of Passage so a liberty of Fishing hath been obtained by Petition from the Kings of England We read that Henry the sixth gave leave to the French and other Forreigners sometimes for a year sometimes but for six months to go and fish throughout his seas provided that the Fishing-boats and Busses exceeded not the burthen of thirty Tuns and if any Forreigners whatever should molest or disturb any of the King's subjects as they were fishing they were forthwith to