silks of France, the straws of Leghorn, the figs of Smyrna, the teas of China; from gathering in the opulence of the East, and the treasures of the South. Nor did the reflection that they had nothing to give in exchange, at all disturb their visions of commercial affluence and grandeur. They designed that the same energies which were to reach out to the wealth of the world's extremities, should create the necessities of exchange. They had an alchemy more potent than that of the visionary philosophers of the middle-ages, and the power of which they well understood. They knew how to convert that which seemed worthless, into a thing of use, of comfort, even of luxury; and they feared not, therefore, that when they appeared in the world's marts, they would find themselves without trading capital.

One of the first objects of this maritime adventure, had been the Fishery of Newfoundland and the adjoining region. The French and English had visited these grounds over half a century before the settlement of the English colonies. The former, at this time, were enjoying nearly the monopoly of a lucrative business in those seas, and the provincialists were farther stimulated by the ambition to meet their natural rival on this element, as they had in the colonization of the land, and contest with him the supremacy on the American waters. Beside furnishing food to their own population, they counted upon the Fishery as a chief source, whence was to be drawn the necessities for their cherished Commerce. Here, then, is their enterprise-this rather desperate, than simply hazardous scheme; to wrest from Europe, with all her power of ships, men, and money, a business of which she had the present monopoly, which she found highly profitable, and which she had made extraordinary efforts to secure and cherish; and then to offer in the flush of victory, to trade her the very food snatched from her mouth. This was the identical spirit of daring adventure, of rough independence, of manly selfreliance, or as some will have it, of Yankee impudence, which, and which alone, could have built up on a region like New England, a community like that which New England is, the richest, freest, most intelligent, and happiest in the world.

The attention of the New England people was first turned to the codfishery of Labrador in the year 1670, a half century after the settlement of Plymouth. In 1675, they had engaged in the Fishery, six hundred and sixtyfive vessels, of 25,650 tons, and carrying 4,405 seamen ; and the annual produce was 350,000 to 400,000 cwt., valued at about $1,000,000. During the French wars, of course, the Fishery of the colonies was totally interrupted, or much embarrassed; and one principal stimulus of the enthusaism with which the colonists engaged in the various expeditions for the conquest of Canada, and the other French possessions, was the desire of securing a full and uninterrupted privilege in the fishing grounds, and of, perhaps, excluding their antagonist therefrom. The privilege, so far as regarded themselves, was enjoyed to the fullest extent, after the French colonies fell into the hands of the English, until it was again totally cut off by the war of the Revolution.

The treaty of Ghent, guaranteeing to the United States a continued right in the seas of British America, they were revisitsd in 1783, by our Fishermen, and the pursuit went on, thenceforward, with some variations, but without any thing for a long time to interrupt noticeably its progress in importance. In 1786-9 the American vessels in the Codfishery, averaged 539 in number, with a tonnage of 19,185, and carrying 3,287 men. The aver

age catch was 250,650 quintals, (cwt.,) valued at $609,900. In 1789, there were exported from the United States, 371,319 quintals.*

We come now, to the action of our government, since the establishment of independence, regarding the Fisheries. This action embraces its own internal measures, and treaties with foreign powers.-We will first notice the former.

In the year 1789, that of the large exports stated above, the sales in the foreign markets were ruinously low, and the losses suffered were so heavy as to affect the business quite seriously. In consequence of this condition of things, the State of Massachusetts, having surrended to the national government its own power to adopt measures calculated to relieve the depressed interest, petitioned Congress for the passage of some act adapted to that object. What made the aid asked for more desirable, if it did not render it a thing of imperative necessity, was the fact that both the British and French, feeling the effects of our competition on their fishing interests, with the mutual injury inflicted by their own wars, struggling yet for the ascendancy, and knowing the losses of our fishermen, made efforts to induce them to remove to their colonies. American fishermen had always sufficient love of country, but under the circumstances existing, had no change occurred, or nothing been attempted for their relief, it is very probable that a considerable number of them might have been induced to emigrate to the British and French colonies. Not to have made any precautionary effort against such a misfortune, would have been a very bad policy for a new nation to begin with. Great Britain and France, both, at this time, encouraged their fishermen by bounties, and by the prohibition of the fish of other nations from their ports. Congress was not prepared to adopt similar measures, being very justly rigidly cautious, amid the dispute as to the powers and objects of the constitution, of acts asserting generic principles, on which long trains of legislation might afterwards be depended; and being further unwilling, however the constitutional question were regarded, to start the precedent for a general system of bounties to industrial pursuits.

But the necessity of an important interest was apparent, and its demand could not be overlooked. Whatever relief it obtained, in the way of legislation, must come from Congress; and however men differed about abstractions, all saw, practically, that the government was intended to conserve all interests, and not to sit by in regardless imbecility or impotent sympathy, while they perished. In respect to the fishing interest, it had indeed, been declared in the constitutional convention, by Gouverneur Morris, one of the ablest of the Revolutionary statesmen, and best acquainted with the economical affairs of the country, that "to preserve the navigation of the Mississippi, and the Fisheries, were the two great objects of the proposed union of the thirteen States." Beside the weight of these considerations, the voice came from Massachusetts, whose influence was then about culminating, fresh of

The French had engaged in the American Fisheries, in 1577, 150 vessels; in 1744, 564 vessels, 27.500 seamen, and the catch was 1,441,500 quintals. In 1769, they had 259 vessels, of 24,420 tons, 9,722 seamen, catch 200,000 quintals, worth $861,723. In 1773, 264 vessels, of 24.996 tons, catch 10,128 quintals. [?] In 1786, 7,000 seamen, 426,000 quintals; 1787, 6,000 seamen, 128,000 quintals. The French vessels made a miserable season's work in 1773, or there is a great error in the statementprobably the latter.

The English bad in the Fisheries in 1577, 15 vessels; in 1615, 150 vessels; in 1626, the same number: in 1670, 80 vessels; in 1676, 102 vessels, 9,180 seamen, and the fish caught were valued at $1,738,800. In 1731, the catch was 200,000 quintals, value $540,000. In 1773, there were 25.000 seamen employed and the catch was 486,561 quintals. In 1775, 400 vessels, of 3,600 tons, 20,000 men, and the catch was 600,000 quintals, value $2,250,000. In 1786, the catch was 470,000 quintals; in 1787, there were 14,000 seamen, and the catch was 732,000 quintals.

Revolutionary leadership: and every member of the new organization, in spite of the swelling jealousy of State-rights, was willing to give something in acknowledgement of her noble bearing, as the leader of the confederacy throughout the war. An act was accordingly passed, July 4, 1789, being one of the earliest acts of the first Congress, which, in lieu of a drawback asked for on articles used in the Fisheries, gave an allowance of five cents on every quintal of dried, and five cents on every barrel of pinkled fish exported from the United States.

Failing in their object, and fearing the ultimate total annihilation of their own Fisheries, by the navy of England together with the rivalry of her colonies, the French government at the opening of the century, in order to raise up a new rival to her enemy, admitted our fish into its ports under advantages denied those coming from other places. One reflection in regard to this policy. Had the old monarchy acted with the same wisdom in its dealings generally, with this country, after our Revolution, it might have occasioned a more auspicious train of affairs for France. While it professed warm friendship toward the American nation, it manifested toward us an extreme of jealousy and a narrow spirit, equal in degree to the hatred borne to its ancient enemy herself. Of course, the government of France, being less liberal than that of England, had never approved the principle on which the Revolution was effected; and it was, therefore, naturally very anxious to banish the theories, which, by the connection with America, were being rapidly transfused into its own people; and for that purpose endeavored as far as possible, to limit the intercourse and cool down the mutual sympathies of the two people. Had France acted throughout as wisely as England, who, in spite of her resentments, sought, immediately after the war, to re-establish the former commercial and social intercourse, the result must have been moment ous, regarding the comparative standing of the two powers. It is not impossible that the effect might have been, even with the preservation of our neutrality, to unseat Great Britain from her commercial supremacy, and to give France the ascendancy on the seas, and the uncontrolled dictatorship of European fortunes.*

In 1792, an act was passed by Congress, giving more substantial encouragemen to the Fisheries. The allowance in lieu of the drawback on salt was discontinued, and it was provided that the collectors of the several districts should pay to the owners and crew of every vessel employed in the Fishery, provided she had been engaged fishing four months in the year, as follows:-for vessels of 20 tons and not over 30, $1 50 per ton; above 30 tons, $250 per ton, Of this amount, three-eighths to belong to the owner, and five-eighths to the fishermen employed, to be shared in proportion to the fish they had severally taken. Not above $170 was to be paid to any one For boats and vessels of five to twenty tons, emvessel, for a single season. ployed four months, provided they had landed twelve quintals, (after being dried) for every ton, $1 00 per ton was to be paid. The same year the allowance was increased 20 per cent to vessels engaged in the bank and other

The policy of the French government has always been exceedingly liberal in the encouragement of the fisheries of that country. The object has been, both to extend and protect the fisheries on their own account, and to strengthen its commercial and naval marine, in which it has been so much the desire of the French statesmen to wrest the palm from their great rival. For many years the French government has paid a bounty to its seamen in the codfishery, at a rate per quintal larger than the whole average price at which American codfish have been sold. Of course, the effect has been to nearly exclude American fish from France and her colonies, In a report recently made to the National Assembly, on the subject of the French Fisheries, it was proposed to continue the bounty at 20 francs (about $3 75) per quintal, for the trans-atlantic countries.

codfisheries. An act was also passed, granting a bounty of 12 cents per barrel on pickled fish (chiefly mackerel) exported, and another addition of 331 per cent made to the allowance on cod. These additional grants were continued only so long as the salt duty remained at certain rates, the effect of which on the Fisheries they were designed to obviate. The main act continues, by renewals, at different times, and with various modifications, -chiefly to accommodate it to the varying rate of the salt duty,-in force to this day.

The average amount paid under these acts, to the vessels in the codfishery, was for the ten years from 1800 to 1810, $119,842. The number of seamen in the codfishery in 1800, was 3,481, and the average number during the ten years, was 4,000 to 5,000 men.

Like other interests of the country, the fishing business derived considerable benefit for some years, from the wars and agitated condition of Europe, during the time of the French Republic and the career of Napoleon; but the same circumstances were to it, also, as to them, the occasion of serious embarrassment, and several times involved the shippers of fish to Europe, and with them, the fishermen partially, in heavy and unexpected losses. Although the measures and practices of the English were outrageously oppressive to our Commerce, the greatest losses were suffered from the French, through their depredations prior to 1800, and in conseqence of the confiscation of all American vessels in France, by the Emperor Napoleon, when finding all the seductions offered to the United States, failed to secure their alliance with him against England, he resolved to force them from their neutrality. Many engaged in the fishing business were broken down by these losses, and a large number of others were involved in their sufferings. The vessels loaded with fish taken in the French and Mediterranean ports, form an item in the several French claims, of which so much has been heard for some years past. A part of the claim of those interested in these vessels, has been, after lon g delay, as fairly settled as could be expected; others have been extinguished with a very reduced equivalent, and some have received as yet, no satisfaction at all.

The war of 1812-15, of course, was another complete interruption to the osecution of the codfishery, almost entirely suspending even that on our own coast. During the war, Congress passed an act, placing the allowances on a new footing, as an equivalent, principally, for the double duty imposed on salt. It provided that from January 1, 1815, there should be paid for all codfishing vessels, four months out, if above 20 tons, and not over 30, $2 40 per ton; distributed in proportion as before; for vessels of 5 to 20 tons, $1 60 per ton, on terms as before, the allowance for any one vessel for a single season, not to exceed $272. The act to continue in force during the war, and one year thereafter. It was renewed by act of February, 1816, without limitation of time.

On the close of the war, the American fishermen returned to the business, with greater energy than ever. The war had served to clear the markets at home, and joined with other causes, to raise the prices abroad. Under the stimulus of the increased bounty of the government, with the ready sales and considerable profits of the few succeeding years, the fishing tonnage rapidly increased. But difficulties soon arose regarding the construction of the treaty of 1783; the British colonial authorities forbade our vessels to approach within 60 miles of the shore, at any place, and seized and condemned some of them for infringement of this regulation. The dispute

being adjusted by a convention, in 1818, nothing farther of serious moment occured to interrupt the progress of the Fisheries. The profits, however, did not long remain so high as in the period immediately following the war. The maximum number of vessels engaged in the codfishery was reached in 1829; and that in the mackerel fishery in 1836. Since those periods, the amount in each fishery, has fluctuated considerably, owing to various causes, although the average for series of any Beyears, is very nearly the same. side the special enactments for the benefit of the Fisheries, some consideration has generally been paid to their encouragement, in the various modifications of the tariff. In fact, the almost prohibitory duty on cod and other dried and smoked fish, and the considerable duty on other kinds, retained through several alterations of the general rates, must be regarded as designed far more for protection, than for the object of revenue. Under several of the late acts regulating the duties, the following were the rates fixed on foreign fish imported into the United States :

The duty on salt, which has formed the basis of the bounties, has been in the several tariffs, as follows:

A number of efforts have been made, at different times, to abolish the salt duty, and with it the allowance or bounty. Some have chosen to consider these measures an especial grievance, not to be tolerated by men loving justice and equal rights. But they have never yet brought any one Congress into their way of thinking. One very determined and persevering attempt was made, about the time of Mr. Van Buren's administration, by a very determined and persevering man, in most things-Hon. Thomas H. Benton. But although Mr. Benton declared, with his usual vehemence, that he would stick by his object until he had accomplished it, he has of late years found a sufficiency of other matters to absorb his attention and his energies and the salt duty and bounties remain undisturbed. Should the nation soon relapse into a political quiet, embarrassing to presidential aspirants, for the lack of stimulus-enkindling matters, we may expect to see some genius in the budding hours or second stage of his statesmanship, endeavoring to develop a magnificent next degree, by the furious concentration of all his powers for the destruction of those twin abominations, the Salt, Duty and Fishing Bounty.

CHAPTER II.

TREATIES CONCERNING FISHERIES-TREATY OF 1783-TREATY OF 1815-CONVENTION OF 1818-SACRIFICE OF OUR RIGHTS BY THE LATTER-BASIS OF THE TREATIES OF '83 AND 1815 UNSETTLED -LARGE PART OF THE FISHING GROUND SURRENDERED-CONCESSION OF 1845 A DELUSION, ETC.

The Fisheries have been several times the subject of negotiation with Great Britain. The first instance, was in the formation of the treaty by which the Revolutionary War was concluded.