Ill-

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Chap.XXIX. from the I, of James I, to the Revolution,'

1 636. ty stout Ships of War,, (b) the fameYear, under the Command of Æger-noon, Earl of Northumberland now$■ w . . made Lord High Admiral, (c)

^°nsoni laiT1 This Fleet being safely arrived inTr m. the Downs, all but the Vice-Admiral,which was by Negligence cast away andlost, in her Passage hetweenChatham andfsilbury Hope , His Lordship set Sailwith it to the Westward; From whenceseveral of his Ships were detach'd uponsundry particular Services, as Occasionrequired. The Viblory , one of thechief of the Fleet, was sent into Spain,to carry Home a Spanijh Ambassador.

Having scoured the Coasts of France ,and meeting with no Fleet to opposehim, his Lordship returned to the Soundof Plymouth, where having Informati-on of some ‘Furkijh Rovers, hoveringon the Coasts, who had committed someDepredations on His Majesty's SubjeAs,

he put to Sea again in Qu,est of them;But they were too nimble for him. AtSea, His Lordship met with an Irishman,from France, who deceived him with afalse Report of a French Fleet beingsail’d to the Eastward of the Channel,in Order, as it was believed, to besiegeDunkirk, upon which he bore up, andtook the Opportunity of a Wind, to fol-low them 1 But Arriving at the Downsa few Days after, he found himself im-posed upon in his Information : And,theWind setting in Westerly and Southerly,it was long before he could recover theWestern Parts again, by which Meansthe Pirats committed great Spoils andInsistencies on the Coasts, (d)

While His Lordship was waiting inthe Downs, for a North-East-Wind, tocarry him Westward again, His Maje-jesty resolved upon an Employment forhim of greater Importance, vis, to fend

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J n ‘ treaty F) At t' 16 sameTime, he pubUfh’d a Poclama-L Dom tion, declaring the Reasons of His making thisp^Seas ' Armament; Wherein,having shewn what Outrage' ' had been done to His father's, and His own Pre-

rogative, by several People Fishing in their Seas,without License, he says : " We being very fen.“ sible of the Premises, and well knowing how“ far We are obliged in Honour, to maintain the“ Rights of Our Crown, especially of so great“ Consequence, have thought it necessary, by the“ Advice of Our Privy Council, to renew the“ aforesaid Restraint os Fishing upon Our afore-" laid Coasts and Seas, without License first ob-“ tained from Us, and by these Presents to make" Publick Declaration, that Our Resolution is“ (at Times convenient) to keep such a competent" Strength of Shipping upon Our Seas, as may" (by God’s Blesiing) be sufficient both to hinder" such farther Encroachments upon our Regali-“ ties, and affist and protect those Our good“ Friends and Allies, who shall henceforth, by" Virtue-of Our Licences (to be first obtained)<■<■ endeavour to take the Benefit of Fishing upon« Our Coasts and Seas, in the Places accustom,“ed.”

The Dutch expressing their Apprehensions of' these Naval Preparations, to SirWiiliam Bo swell-,then Resident at the Hague , he acquainted theMinisters in England with it; And Sir John Cook ,then Secretary of State, wrote him a Letter,wherein, after he had set forth the several En,croachments made by the Hollanders on the Fish-ings in the British Seas, and other Marine Of-fences, he writes thus: " Considering that Peace“ and War must be maintained by the Arm ofct Power, which only keeps down War by keep-c f ing up Dominion, His Majesty, thus provoked," finds it necessary, even for his own Defence and" Safety, to re-assume and keep His ancient and" undoubted Rtght in the Dominion of the Seas ,“ and to suffer no otherPrince or State to encroach" upon Him, thereby assuming to themselves, or" their Admirals, any Sovereign Command; But" to enforce them to perform due Hommage to" his Admirals Ships, and to pay them Acknow." ledgments, as in former Time they did. He

“ will also set open and protect the free Trade of" His Subjects and Allies, and give them such“ safe Conduct and Convoy, as they [shall reaso,

“ nably require : He will suffer no other Fleets,

" or Men of War, to keep any Guard upon" these Seas, &c.

In the fame Letter, the Secretary fays : " We“ hold it a Principle not to be denied, that the“ King of Great Britain is a Monarch at Land" and Sea, and that it concerns Him as much to" maintain His Sovereignty in all the Britifo Seas,

" as within His Three Kingdoms ; Because, with,

“ out that, these cannot be kept fafe, nor He“ preserve His Honour, and due Respect with" other Nations.

{c) Rapin, probably in Favour of the Dutch , Rap in,among whom he lived, pretends, it was manifest,that, after thirty Years Forbearance, the Kingsought a Quarrel with the Dutch , only to haveOccasion to fit out a Fleet, which served for aPretence to impose the Tax of Ship-mony, But Sir WilliamSir William Monfon gives us another Account of Monfon’%it : His Majesty, fays he, finding, that the last Tracts,Year’s Fleet produced both Fame and Safety toHimself and Kingdom, resolved to persevere inhis Intentions, that it should not be looked on byother Nations, as a sodden unpremeditated De-termination, or a vain needless Ostentation to shewwhat he could do, if put to it by an Enemy,

Therefore, he prepared this Year, a Fleet notinferiour to the others, to make good what hehad declared before, vis. To maintain the Save -reignty of the Seas , due to the Crown of England*in all Jges , and left him by his Progenitors; Asalso to defend the peaceable Commerce and T'raf-fick, that had evermore belonged and continuedto His Jurisdiction, but had lately been disturbedby the Dutch, committing Hostilities upon theDunkirkers, under His Majesty’s Protection.

(d) Sir William Monfon reckons this a greatWeakness and Oversight in the Earl, to give en-tire Credit to the Report of one single Irishman ;

When, if he had waited but a few Hours, beforehe stood to the Eastward, he might have been in-formed of the Truth, by Ships that were cantsnually passing the Channel,