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Third: "That in the treaty of peace with Great Britain, a stipulation be made on their part not to disturb the inhabitants of these States in the free exercise of their common right to the fisheries aforesaid, and that a reciprocal engagement be made on the part of the United States." Fourth: "That the faith of Congress be pledged to the several States, that, without their unanimous consent, no treaty of commerce shall be formed with Great Britain previous to such stipulation." Fifth: "That if the explanatory article should not be ratified by his Most Christian Majesty, nor the stipulation aforesaid be adopted by Great Britain, the minister conducting the business shall give notice thereof to Congress, and not sign any treaty of peace until their pleasure be known."

The opposition to these resolutions was determined and violent in the extreme. Those who enlisted against them insisted that it was unreasonable and absurd to ask or expect that a war commenced for freedom, should be continued for the humble privilege of catching fish. Mr. Gerry, who had grown up among the fishermen of Massachusetts, replied: "It is not so much fishing," said he, "as enterprise, industry, employment. It is not fish merely which gentlemen sneer at; it is gold, the produce of that avocation. It is the employ

ment of those who would otherwise be idle, the food of those 200 who would otherwise be hungry, the wealth of those who would otherwise be poor, that depend on your putting these resolutions into the instructions of your Minister."

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The majority of Congress sustained Mr. Gerry's propositions, in fifteen divisions on calls of the ayes and noes, and rejected numerous amendments offered to modify them; but consented, finally, to the adoption of the single declaration, that "although it is of the utmost importance to the peace and commerce of the United States that Canada and Nova Scotia should be ceded, and more particularly that their equal common right to the fisheries should be guaranteed to them, yet, a desire of terminating the war has induced us not to make the acquisition of these objects an ultimatum on the present occasion." This declaration appears to have been the result of concession and compromise; since Mr. Adams was instructed, in September, 1779, first, that the common right of fishing should in no case be given up; " second," that it is essential to the welfare of all these United States that the inhabitants thereof, at the expiration of the war, should continue to enjoy the free and undisturbed exercise of their common right to fish on the banks of Newfoundland, and all the other fishing-banks and seas of North America, preserving inviolate the treaties between France and the said States;" third, "that our faith be pledged to the several States that without their unanimous consent no treaty of commerce shall be entered into, nor any trade or commerce whatever carried on with Great Britain, without the explicit stipulation hereinafter mentioned. You are, therefore, not to consent to any treaty of commerce with Great Britain without an explicit stipulation, on her part, not to molest or disturb the inhabitants of the United States of America in taking fish on the banks of Newfoundland, and other fisheries in the American seas, anywhere, except within the distance of three leagues of the shores of the territories remaining to Great Britain at the close of the war, if a nearer distance cannot be obtained by negotiation. And in the negotiation you are to exert your most strenuous endeavours to obtain 92909°-S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 4——32

a nearer distance in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and particularly along the shores of Nova Scotia; as to which latter, we are desirous that even the shores may be occasionally used for the purpose of carrying on the fisheries by the inhabitants of these States.

These instructions tediously minute and encumbered with repetitions embody, as will be seen, the substance of Mr. Gerry's resolutions, with this essential difference that the right to visit and freely use the fishing grounds was to be made an ultimatum to a treaty of commerce instead of a treaty of peace. Strangely enough, these instructions were revoked by Congress in July, 1781, though adopted after mature deliberation and in the spirit of concession. Whatever the motive of Congress, it was not communicated to Mr. Adams by that body, or by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, or by any individual member. Of this he complains with some asperity. In a letter to Robert R. Livingston he states the fact just mentioned, and remarks, that whether the act of neglect " was intended as a punishment to me, or with a charitable design not to lead me into temptation; whether it was intended as a punishment to the English for their insolence and barbarity; whether it was intended to prevent or remove suspicions of allies, or the envy and green jealousy of copatriots, I know not." That, then, we finally secured the rights in question, was owing to the zeal of Mr. Adams and his associate commissioners, and not to the firmness or good faith of Congress.

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The first American vessel which was fitted for the Labrador fishery sailed from Newburyport towards the close of the last century.

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The mackerel fishery at Cape Cod was held by the gov ernment of the colony of Plymouth as public property, and its profits were appropriated to public uses. The records show that it was rented, from time to time, to individuals, who paid stipulated sums, and that a part of the fund to support the first free-school established by our Pilgrim fathers was derived from it.

The proposition to found and endow a school of this description seems to have been made in 1663, but not to have been adopted until seven years later, when the general court,“ upon due and serious consideration, did freely give and grant all such profits as might or should annually accrue to the colony," from this and the bass and herring fisheries, at the same place. In 1689, the "rent of the Cape fishery was added to the appropriation for magistrates' salary for that year."

The modes of catching the mackerel have varied with time, and the real or supposed changes in the habits of the fish. The original method was probably in seines, and in the night. John Prince and Nathaniel Bosworth petitioned the general court of the colony of Plymouth, in 1671, in behalf of themselves and their fellow-townsmen

of the "little and small place of Hull," within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, to be allowed to continue to fish for mackerel at Cape Cod; and stated, among other reasons, that they and others of Hull were some of the first who went there; and that by "beating about by evening," and "travelling on the shores at all times and seasons, they had "discovered the way to take them in light as well as in dark

nights." This shows the practice of the early settlers. The 201 court of Plymouth, however, in 1684, prohibited "the taking mackerel ashore with seines or nets," and ordered the forfeiture of these implements, and the vessels and boats, of persons who violated the decree.

THE HERRING FISHERY.

[From its commencement to the year 1852.]

We hear of this fishery among the Pilgrims. In 1641 they rented the herring wear at Plymouth for three years to three men, "who were to deliver the shares of fish, and receive one and sixpence per thousand for their trouble."

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EXAMINATION OF THE BRITISH PRETENSIONS, AND OF THE DOCUMENTS WHICH SUPPORT THEM.

As regards the shore fishery, for kinds usually dried, that in the region of Barrington is of itself a mine of wealth. Colonial fishermen, here and elsewhere along the coast, may be at home after every day's toil, and look out upon their American competitors in the offing, rejoicing in advantages of pursuing their avocation in open boats, and the consequent advantages of social life, and of fishing and of attending to their little farms between "slacks of the tide," in "blowy weather," and when the fish "strike off."

No. 117.-1853, July 9: Circular addressed to the United States Directors of Ports.

(Private and Confidential.)

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DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 9, 1853. SIR, The President has learned with much surprise the excitement which exists among our fellow citizens who are interested in the fisheries of British North America, and that they are apprehensive of molestation during the approaching fishing season. is also stated in the public prints, that some of the American fishing vessels have already sailed, or are about to do so, armed and prepared to sustain their real or supposed rights by the employment of actual force. The President feels a deep interest in this important branch of national industry, and he is now anxiously engaged in negotiations respecting the conflicting interests of Great Britain and the

United States, which may be seriously impeded, as well as greatly complicated, by any actual collision between the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of this country. The President, relying confidently on your intelligence and activity, is persuaded that you will use all the means in your power to diffuse a good understanding amongst those engaged in the fishery interest. You will warn them of the consequences of committing any unfriendly act during the progress of the pending negotiations, as any such act may postpone indefinitely the settlement of this vexatious question; and the result would be likely, in any event, to prove hazardous to themselves. Any armed resistance on the part of the fishing vessels, either singly or combined, would be an act of private hostility which can never receive any countenance from this Government.

You will omit nothing that your knowledge of the circumstances may suggest, and which our good faith towards a Power with which we are, and desire to remain, at peace demands, to prevent any rash or illegal movements intended or calculated to violate our obligations towards a friendly foreign Power, and our colonial neighbours. I have been directed by the President to invite your prompt and personal attention to this matter, and to assure you that he places entire confidence in your active and judicious exertions to soothe the present irritation of popular feeling, excited in some instances, it is said, by unfounded reports of alleged violation of our national rights. Every good citizen should be solicitous to prevent any occurrence which may further excite that feeling. No violation of the colonial local law should be attempted, and their civil authorities and other officers should have due respect paid to them within their jurisdiction.

In case of insult to the American flag or of injury to our fishermen, you will request them to transmit the particulars, properly substantiated, to the Department of State instead of attempting to settle the difficulties themselves.

A naval force under the command of Commodore W. B. Shubrick, has been ordered to the fishing grounds to protect the American fishermen in their just rights.

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Our hardy and useful seamen may rest assured while engaged in their lawful avocations all over the world, that no outrage or indignity which they may suffer will be permitted to go unnoticed, but that they will be protected to the utmost of its power by the Government of their country.

I am, &c.

W. L. MARCY.

No. 118.-1853, July 21: Letter from Vice-Admiral Seymour to the Secretary to the Admiralty.

"Cumberland," Halifax.

SIR, I have to acquaint you, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that Mr. Crampton, Her Majesty's Minister to the United States, arrived at Halifax on the night of the 7th instant, for the purpose of conferring with me on a notice he had received on the 2nd from Mr. Marcy, the Secretary of State at Washington, of the intention of the United States Government to send a force to the fisheries, and their desire that the possibility of any col

lision in the present season should be avoided, by his receiving an assurance that no American vessel would be actually seized for fishing in the open bays; with regard to which the American Government placed a different construction on the terms of the Convention from that adopted by Great Britain. Mr. Crampton felt unable to give this assurance, but deemed it advisable at once to communicate with me on the subject.

2. The vessels employed under my orders in the Gulf have already instructions to exercise the utmost moderation: to prefer warning to seizure; and are told, as last year, to drive away, not to actually seize, beyond three miles from the shore, except in the last resort, in case of determined and contumacious encroachment in what are clearly bays of our provinces.

3. The American Government does not conceal that it has been induced to send a force to the British waters, by the clamour in the Eastern States. The measure has been preceded by an avowal on the part of many of the United States fishermen, that they are armed, and will defend themselves by force against our smaller cruizers; while no concession appears to have been contemplated on the part of the United States Government in exchange for that they profess to deem reasonable on ours, beyond expressing a disposition to avoid dwelling on disputed points in the orders they intended to give their commanders.

4. It is to be observed that the United States Government has deemed force necessary to protect their rights, when no complaint of the mode in which the Convention was enforced last year has, to my knowledge, been made, and no seizure or circumstance had taken place during the present season which justified the probability of a collision, except one may be brought on by their own people, or in consequence of an endeavour to resume the fisheries in the Bay of Chaleur, from which they were excluded last year; and the resumption would tend to the great disadvantage of the British fisheries around that bay.

5. Commodore Perry, in 1852, although not officially authorized to establish what were fishing-grounds open to his countrymen, did not attempt to urge that Chaleur was of that description, and did not himself enter the bay.

6. I am not authorized by my instructions to pursue a different course from that of last year; and I consider the moment when the United States are sending a force beyond any that can be necessary for their proposed object, ill-suited for concessions. Mr. Crampton did not dissent from this view of Mr. Marcy's proposal; and a message was therefore sent by electric telegraph on the 9th to his Secretary of Legation at Washington, that "I could not give the assurance requested; that a single United States ship of war on our own coasts could ascertain facts; and that more would be menace, and likely to produce mischief."

7. Messages by telegraph are necessarily short, and do not admit of much explanation; and I understand this message has given dissatisfaction at Washington. Mr. Crampton, on his return to the United States, for which he left Halifax in the "Medea " on the 14th, will be able to enter into such explanations as may satisfy the United States Government that I retain the same readiness to prevent collisions between the countri as I have always evinced, and to again

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