any modern nation, the action of her government first claims
attention. In general direction this action has been consistent,
though often far from praiseworthy. It has aimed steadily at the
control of the sea. One of its most arrogant expressions dates back as
far as the reign of James I., when she had scarce any possessions
outside her own islands; before Virginia or Massachusetts was settled.
Here is Richelieu's account of it:--

"The Duke of Sully, minister of Henry IV. [one of the most chivalrous
princes that ever lived], having embarked at Calais in a French ship
wearing the French flag at the main, was no sooner in the Channel
than, meeting an English despatch-boat which was there to receive him,
the commander of the latter ordered the French ship to lower her flag.
The Duke, considering that his quality freed him from such an affront,
boldly refused; but this refusal was followed by three cannon-shot,
which, piercing his ship, pierced the heart likewise of all good
Frenchmen. Might forced him to yield what right forbade, and for all
the complaints he made he could get no better reply from the English
captain than this: 'That just as his duty obliged him to honor the
ambassador's rank, it also obliged him to exact the honor due to the
flag of his master as sovereign of the sea.' If the words of King
James himself were more polite, they nevertheless had no other effect
than to compel the Duke to take counsel of his prudence, feigning to
be satisfied, while his wound was all the time smarting and incurable.
Henry the Great had to practise moderation on this occasion; but with
the resolve another time to sustain the rights of his crown by the
force that, with the aid of time, he should be able to put upon the
sea."

This act of unpardonable insolence, according to modern ideas, was not