grent mnrts of Europe.* Of France I ma}^ remar]^, that her fishermen 

 founded her marine, and that ehief amrmo^ her early ()f}en>;ive opera- 

 tions upon the ocean was the armament fitted out by this class of her 

 people, under the royal sanction, to relieve themselves from the real or 

 fancied oppressions of their English competitors, while employed on the 

 waters common to the subjects of both crowns, in the pursuit of fish. 



Of the origin and rapid increase of the commerce of England, suf- 

 ficient has been said elsewhere, t We proceed to consider the course 

 ef the British government towards New England. 



So steadily and successfully were the fisheries pursued by the people 

 of Plymouth, Massachnselts, New Hampshire, and Maine, that only 

 fifty years elapsed from the landing of the Puritans, before an English 

 writer of high authority in matters of trade expressed his apprehensiori 

 as to the events likely to result, in the following remarkable words: 

 ^* Neio E//gland,^^ said he, "?V the most prejudicial j^^c-'^tttion to this Mvg- 

 dom^ And why? '^Gam&e, ^^ of all the American jihintdtioris, his Ma- 

 jesty has none so aft for hvildhig of shipimig as Nov England, nor any 

 comyarahly so qualified for the breeding of seamen., not only by reason of the 

 natural industry of that '[)co])lc, hut irfincipaUy by reason of their cod and 

 viacJcerel fisheries ; mid, in my poor opinion, there is nothing more preju- 

 dicial, and in prospect more dangerous, to any mother kingdom, tJian the 

 increase of shipping in her colonies, plantations, or provinces.'''' k^ir Josiah 

 Child was alarmed too much, probably, at what really was in his own 

 time, but still saw with a proj)het's eye what was to be. But the 

 policy of England, fiom the restoration of the Stuarts down to the 

 Revolution, was in strict accordance with the apprehensions expressed 

 by him, and she not onlj^ neglected and declined all support to the nav- 



* The naval power of Denmark dates fi'om an early perioti of modern history. This king- 

 dom consists for the most part of islands and portions of the contiueat separated from each 

 other by deep and stonny seas, lutercomunmicatiou naturally prodnced seamen, while its 

 poor soil di-ore its people to fishing for subsistence. Canute the Sixth, who died in the year 

 1202, paid great attention to the herring fisheries of his dominions. A Selavoniiiu chronicler 

 describes this branch of industry at this period as productive and profitable, and as briaging 

 into the country "gold, silver, and all other precious things." The exports of herrings from 

 Nalbni'g, in 1720, were raore than twenty-three thousand tons, but in J 705 only about cighi 

 thousand tons. Two j'ears later, a herring company was establislied at Altoim, by royal grant, 

 for ten years; the King, however, bought up the deeds before the expiration of the teiin, and 

 coninw'ut'ed the fishery on his own account. 



Wiiile the fisheries of Denmark were in a prosperons condition, Copenhagen, Aitona, Kiel, 

 and other ports, were crowded with ships. At present, the commerce of the kingdom is in a 

 languishing state. In 180], the Danish navy consisted of twenty-three ships-oi-i he-line, thirty- 

 one Irigates, guard-sliips, and other vessels; but in ]«33 it had diminished to four ships-ofthe- 

 line, seven frigates, and eighteen smaller vess«'ls. The diminution of the conimerciHl marin© 

 was quite as large. Tlie s(?as aljouud with fish, and, m^der regulatious, might now, as in Ca- 

 nute's time, bring into Denmark all nuiuner of " precious things." 



t It may be added liere, that about tlit; year J,()(tO, there was but one quay or wharf in the 

 city of London. The first was at Billingsgate, the great fish-market. The wharfage or toU 

 was a half-penny for every boatload of fish which was landed. 



It maybe sjiid, further, that the firat dock which was constructed in the same city (now so 

 celebrutod for its iunnense docks and warehouses) was used by the Greenland whide-fishers. 



So, too, Liverpool, Enghind — the present mart oi'Ameiican commerce — was once a poor fi.'ih- 

 ing vilbige. It derived its first importance, towards the close of i lie 12th century, fntui tho 

 circunisiiiace of Henry II having used it as a station for the embaikationof troops to Ireland. 



And (,;];isgow. in the reign of James I (>f Scotland, was a small village, "consisting of littlo 

 else lliiin the hou.ses of the clergy belonging to tlu; metropolitan church. A merchant of ihu 

 name »,(' Mlpliinston, engaging in the fisheries upon the coast, and accumulating cousi.derabid 

 wealth, inspired his fellow-citizeas with a similar ambition." 



