CHAPTER III.

UNDER THE TUDORS.

Decay of English fisheries--Influence of Reformation--Rise of Dutch fisheries--The “Political Lent”--Cecil’s inquiries and proceedings--Legislation to protect the English fisheries and encourage the consumption of fish--First complaints against foreign fishermen on English coast--Hitchcock’s “Pollitique Platt”--His scheme of a national fishery association to compete with the Dutch--Proposals of Dr John Dee to tax foreigners fishing on British coasts--Claim advanced to the sovereignty of the sea--Supposed limits of British seas--Queen Elizabeth opposes all claims to _Mare Clausum_--Spanish and Portuguese pretensions to dominion on the great oceans--Negotiations with Denmark as to trading and fishing at Iceland and Norway--Queen Elizabeth’s exposition of the principles of the freedom of the seas--Further legislation to promote the fisheries--Failure of the policy of fish-days--The striking of the flag 86