130 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Lincoln, Samuel Osgood, Nathaniel Gorham, Thomas Fitzsimuious, and James Madison, they 

 approached one of the Massachusetts delegation who was a resident of Boston, and who was 

 greatly prejudiced against Nantucket. After an interview of about two hours with no apparent 

 relaxation of the bitterness of feeling on his part, Mr. Eotch questioned him as to whether the 

 whale fishery was 'worth preserving to this country?' He replied, 'Yes.' 'Can it be preserved 

 in the present state of things by afly place except Nantucket?' 'No.' 'Can we preserve it unless 

 you and the British will both give us permits?' 'No.' 'Then, pray,' continued Mr. Eotch, 'where 

 is the difficulty"?' Thus this interview ended. Messrs. Eotch and Starbuck then drew up a 

 memorial and presented it to the consideration of the above named gentlemen, desiring them to 

 review it, at the same time telling them of the conversation between Mr. Eotch and the delegate 

 from Boston. By advice of these friends they waited again upon the member from Massachusetts, 

 and he accepted the charge of bringing the subject before Congress, where, after deliberation, it 

 was determined to grant permits for thirty-five vessels to sail on whaling voyages, and these were 

 accordingly granted and delivered. The very next day a vessel arrived from Europe bringing the 

 rumor of the signing of a provisional treaty of peace.* 



' This was early in 1783. t The passage from the provisional to the definitive treaty was long, 

 circuitous, and at times dark. One of the chief sources of difference was the settlement of the 

 question of the fisheries, England with an apparent feeling of magnanimity conceding favors, and 

 America with a sense of justice claiming rights. Against what the United States considered her 

 just dues the diplomacy of the English, their late enemies, and the French, their recent allies, was 

 arrayed, and nothing but firmness, sagacity, and skill on the part of the American commissioners 

 saved the day. The English guarded their assumptions with all possible jealousy ; the French 

 sought a loose place in the armor to insert the diplomatic sword, and gain by treaty what they 

 had bsen unable to sustain with force. The Americans were ever on the alert to overcome the 

 prejudices of a power from whom they had conquered a peace, and to propitiate the supersensi- 

 tiveness of a power which had rendered them so valuable assistance. They could not, however, 

 depart from certain propositions. The articles which must be inviolate were those guaranteeing 

 to America full and unconditional independence, and the withdrawal from the thirteen States of 

 all British troops ; the Mississippi as a western, and the Canadian line as it was prior to the Que- 

 bec act of 1774, for a northern boundary ; and a freedom in the fishery off Newfoundland and 

 elsewhere as it had been enjoyed prior to the commencement of hostilities. In vain Great Britain 

 sought to evade the latter clause ; the United States tenaciously, as in a vice, held her to it, and 

 she yielded. " 



EFFECTS OF THE EEVOLXTI IONAEY WAR. "But the announcement of peace came to a 

 people whose commerce was sadly devastated. Save such of the interest as had been preserved 

 by what Mr. Jefferson termed the Nantucketois, the business of whaling was practically ruined 

 and required rebuilding. To Nantucket the war had, despite its holy necessity and its glorious 

 conclusion, been a heavy burden. Of the little over 150 vessels owned there in 1775, 134 had 

 fallen into the hands of the English and 15 more were lost by shipwreck; many of the young men 

 had perished through the rigors of war;J in about 800 families on the island there were 202 

 widows and 342 orphan children; the direct money loss far exceeded $1,000,000 in times when a 



" 'Memoranda of William Eotch unpublished." 



" t On the 22d of March, 1783, au order was passed in Congress granting 35 licenses to Nautuckot vessels to whale 

 ami to secure theui from the penalty attached to double papers. (Madison Papers, p. 405.)" 



" t It is estimated that no less than 1,200 seamen, mostly whalemen, were captured by the English or perished at 

 i lien- bauds during the Revolution, from Nan tucket alone! " 



