A HARBINGER OF THE REVOLUTION 119 



the punishment we inflict upon it, which is universal, 

 and includes all the inhabitants; among these, many are 

 admitted to be innocent, and several are alleged by 

 ministers to be, in their sense, even meritorious. That gov- 

 ernment which attempts to preserve its authority by de- 

 stroying the trade of its subjects, and by involving the 

 innocent and guilty in a common ruin, if it acts from 

 a choice of such means, confesses itself unworthy; if from 

 inability to find any other, admits itself wholly incompetent 

 to the ends of its institution.' 



Lord North was not content with the destruction of 

 the American fisheries. His next move was the introduc- 

 tion of a bill for the encouragement of the fisheries of 

 Great Britain and Ireland. The bill granted bounties to 

 vessels engaged in the cod and whale fisheries, and in other 

 ways favored the fishermen of Great Britain. There can 

 be little doubt that the measure was intended to stimulate 

 British merchants and fishermen to supply the domestic 

 and foreign markets with the products of the sea. The 

 colonists retaliated by agreeing to refuse to supply British 

 ships in American waters with any outfits or provisions 

 that would be of use in their fishing. 



Within less than a month of the passage of the act 

 to restrain the commerce of the New England colonies 

 and to destroy their fisheries the conflict at Concord 

 Bridge marked the beginning of active hostilities between 

 the two people. Open war, and not the provisions of the 

 bill, brought about the cessation of the fisheries, which 

 remained inactive during the period of the Revolution. It 

 is very clear that the ministry were resolved to "starve 

 the people into submission' by destroying their fisheries, 

 which were regarded in Great Britain as the basis of the 

 industrial system of the New England colonies. Had there 

 been a fair chance for the provisions of the bill to be 

 enforced under conditions of peace, it is altogether probable 



