merce of theſe kingdoms is that navigation-act, the rudiments of which were firſt framed in 1650[1], with a narrow partial view: being intended to mortify the ſugar iſlands, which were diſaffected to the parliament and ſtill held out for Charles II, by ſtopping the gainful trade which they then carried on with the Dutch[2]; and at the ſame time to clip the wings of thoſe our opulent and aſpiring neighbours. This prohibited all ſhips of foreign nations from trading with any Engliſh plantations without licence from the council of ſtate. In 1651[3] the prohibition was extended alſo to the mother country; and no goods were ſuffered to be imported into England, or any of it's dependencies, in any other than Engliſh bottoms; or in the ſhips of that European nation of which the merchandize imported was the genuine growth or manufacture. At the reſtoration, the former proviſions were continued, by ſtatute 12 Car. II. c. 18. with this very material improvement, that the maſter and three fourths of the mariners ſhall alſo be Engliſh ſubjects.
Many laws have been made for the ſupply of the royal navy with ſeamen; for their regulation when on board; and to confer privileges and rewards on them during and after their ſervice.
1. First, for their ſupply. The power of impreſſing men for the ſea ſervice by the king's commiſſion, has been a matter of ſome diſpute, and ſubmitted to with great reluctance; though it hath very clearly and learnedly been ſhewn by ſir Michael Foſter[4], that the practice of impreſſing, and granting powers to the admiralty for that purpoſe, is of very antient date, and hath been uniformly continued by a regular ſeries of precedents to the preſent time: whence he concludes it to be part of the common law[5]. The difficulty ariſes from hence, that no ſtatute has expreſſly declared this power to be in the crown, though many of them very ſtrongly imply it. The ſtatute 2 Ric. II. c. 4. ſpeaks
