j Chap. X. from the Conquest,

he not only challenged the Sovereign'ty over the narrow Seas; But it wasallowed, by all hisNeighbours, to be hisDue from Times beyond all Memory;as particularly appears by the Transac-tion, with which I shall conclude thisDissertation.

Edward I. coming to the Crown inthe Year 1272. and entring into a Warwith Philip, the Fair, of France, bothPrinces agreed upon a Freedom of Com-merce (then called Sujferentia Guerrœ,a Sufferance of War.) Each appoint-ed Commissioners to take Cognizance ofall Things relating to this Agreement,which they were to decide, accordingto the Laws and Customs of Merchants,as far as it was allowed by the aforesaidTreaty of Commerce, or Form of Suf-ferance. When these two Kings con-cluded a Peace, they mutually obligedthemselves to be Enemies to each o-thers Enemies, except some Princesexpresly mentioned in the Treaty ofPeace and Alliance. But several Com-plaints arising, concerning Injuries done,and Violences offered to Merchant-menupon that Sea, not only during the Suf-ferance, but after the Peace; And thetwo Kings foreseing the Differences,between the King of France and theEarl of Flanders, might give Occasionto other Complaints of that Nature,they appointed each four Commissio-ners , with full Power to decide all, Controversies of that Kind, had hap-pened, or might happen. The parti-cular Occasion of this Commission atthat Time was this : In the Year 1303.Philip the Fair, King of France, fend-ing certain Gal lies and other Ships inAid of the Flemmings, against Guy,Earl of Flanders, and Marmal of Na-mur, unto Zurickzee, under the Com-mand of Reyner Grimbalz , a Genoeze,creating him, by his Commission, hisAdmiral; And he, by Virtue of his saidCommission, pretending to exercise aSovereign Jurisdiction in the narrow Sea,then called, by the French themselves,La Mi er d' Engleterre (the Sea of Eng-land) Complaint was thereupon made tothe Kings of England and France, whoappointed certain Auditors, as they werecalled, to hear and redress, as above.Upon which a very remarkable Remon-strance was exhibited to these Auditors,not only in the Name of the whole Bo-dy of the People of England ; But therealso joined in it the Procurators of allthe Nations in Europe, that were then,

to the ’Death o/'^Mary 1, 4. t

in any Manner, considerable for Tradeand Navigation, who all unanimouslyacknowledged the Kings of England tohaze been Time out of Mind (QuatenusKings of England) the Lawful Sovereignsof the English Seas. This is such anAuthentick Proof, that none can, withany Colour of Reason, object against it.

It strews that the Kings of England hadthen been, by Prescription of Time im-memorial, in the actual Possession of theSovereign Dominion of the narrow Seas,both in prescribing Laws, granting ofsafe Conducts, keeping of the Peace, andjudging of all Kind of Persons and Ac-tions, as well their own Subjects asStrangers, within the said Sea; Andthat this Dominion does inseparably be-long to the Kings of England {par Rai-fon du dit Royaume) by Reason or Rightof the said Kingdom. As also, that theKings of France, who might, preferablyto all other Princes, pretend a Right,could not justify so much as the makingof an Admiral, but only a Master ofhis Navy in those Seas. The originalWriting is among the Archives, kept inthe Tower of London , in the old Frenchor Norman Tongue, in which it wasthen usual to draw up such sort ofThings. The Reader will not be dis-pleased with a Translation of as much ofit as relates to the present Controversy,from Coke 4. Instit. p. 142.

" To you, our Lords, Auditors, de-er puted by the Kings of England andFrance, to redress the Injuries done,c to their Subjects, by Sea and Land,

' in Times of Truce and Peace; Wetr the Procurators of the Prelates and" Nobles, and of the Admiral of the" English Sea, as well as of the Cities" and Towns, and of the Merchants,

" Mariners, Messengers, and Foreign '

" Inhabitants, and all others belonging" to the Realm of England, and other" Dominions and Territories,belonging" to the King of England ; as also oftc divers other Inhabitants of Genoa ,

" Catalonia, Spain, Germany, Zealand ,

" Frifeland, Denmark and Norway, andtc of sundry other maritime Places of<<r the Empire, most humbly shew. ThatfC whereas the Kings of England, by" Right of the said Kingdom, have al-tc ways been in Peaceable Postession of(C the Sovereign Lordssiip of the English“ Seas, and of the Islands situate with-«« in the fame, with Power of Constitu-" ting and appointing of Laws and Sta-re tutes, and of prohibiting the Use of

" Arms

I