donation cannot take place in
things which enter not into trade; and that, besides, the Pope is not
master of the sea. In the seventh chapter it is shewn, that the Eastern
sea, or the right of navigation in it, cannot belong to the Portuguese
by prescription, since prescription being only by the civil law it
cannot operate against the law of nature, by virtue of which, navigation
in that sea is free to all the world; that, moreover, prescription doth
not take place in things that cannot be alienated, such as the sea, the
use of the sea, and things common to all men: add to this, that the
opposition of other nations, and their navigation in that sea would have
hindered the prescription. It is proved in the eighth, that by the law
of nations the commerce between nations is free, and cannot be
prohibited without injustice. In the ninth it is shewn that the trade to
the Indies doth not belong to the Portuguese, exclusive of other
kingdoms, because they first took possession of it, since the title of
first occupant takes place only in that which is corporeal. The tenth
proves, that the Pope could not grant the Portuguese an exclusive trade
to the Indies: the eleventh, that this trade does not belong to them by
prescription: the twelfth, that nothing is more unjust than the claim to
an exclusive trade set up by the Portuguese. The author concludes his
work with the thirteenth chapter, exhorting the Dutch to continue their
trade to the Indies in time of war, of truce, or of peace.

This work was printed without Grotius's knowledge, and published without
his consent. He appears not to have been quite satisfied with it: "My
intention (says he in a letter to Camerarius, May 20th, 1637) was good;
but the work favours too much of my want of years." They wrote against
him in Spain: "I know (he writes his brother, April 1, 1640) that a
treatise was written some time ago, at Salamanca, against mine _Of the
Freedom of the Ocean_, but it was suppressed by the King of Spain."
Another appeared, in 1625, at Valladolid, entitled, _De justo imperio
Lusitanorum Asiatico_, by one Francis Seraphin de Freiras. _The Freedom
of the Ocean_ was refuted in England by the famous Selden in his work
entitled _Mare clausum, seu de dominio maris_. Grotius thought the
Spanish author's book not ill done, and deserving of an answer[53]; and
was pleased with the politeness shewn him by Selden[54]. But at the time
these Answers appeared Grotius was so dissatis