138 



nished with the "Anguilla clearances" to enter with their cargoes 

 without inquiry', for a considerable time ; but, on a sudden, libels were 

 filed, nnd prosecutions were commenced in the court of admiralty 

 against those who h;id been concerned in such evasions of the stnliites, 

 and ruinous forfeitures of property and renewed clamors were the con- 

 sequences. 



We pass to other topics. In 17G2, the fishino: towns of I^assachu,- 

 setts, cdarmed at die news that the French had ca|)tared St. John, 

 Newfoundland, petitioned the governor and council to fit out a ship and 

 a slo()[), then in the service of the province, to protect their vessels. 

 Both vessels, in accordance widi these petitions, were provided with 

 additional men and means of defence, and sent to sea. "^Fhe expense 

 thus incurred became the subject of legislative inquiry, and was ob- 

 jected to because the executive branch of the government had appro- 

 priated the pubUc money without the consent or knowledge of the rep- 

 resentatives of the people. The debate in the House was angry and 

 protracted. James Otis, the popular leader, used expressions never 

 before uttered in the colonies ; and, soon after the close of the session, 

 published a pamphlet, in which he justified himself for lu's conduct on 

 tlie occasion, and defended with great ability the principles fi)r which 

 he had contended as a member of the House. " This production has 

 been considered the original source from which all subsequent argu- 

 ments ag linst taxation were derived ;" while the wdiole aniiir created 

 an intense excitement, and, in the judgment of the biographer of" Otis, 

 exerted very great influence in causing the Revolution. 



It is a singular fact, that the fisheries furnished the advocates of the 

 supremacy of Parliament with one of their best illustrations. They 

 stated that the authority of the imperial legislature w.as indispensable 

 in many cases, and that without it the colonies would often be involved 

 in conflicts injuiious to each other's interests. Governor Hutchinson, 

 in his remarks upon the qu^^stion, said, substantially, that it had been 

 generally thought a public benefit to prevent fishing vessels from depart- 

 ing on th( ir voyage until the month of April; but that if any colony 

 engaged in the business failed to conform to a law imposing such a 

 regulation, others that complied widi it would suffer, because their fish, 

 later caught, must, of necessity, be later in market; and he declares 

 tliat a motion had actually been made in the legislature of Massachu- 

 setts, a few years previously, for parliamentar}'' interposition in this 

 behalf, which failed, not in consequence of any objection to the princi- 

 ple involved in the motion, but because a majority of" the members dis- 

 approved of the restraint itself, and were willing that fishing vessels 

 shouhl df>part f"rom port before A{)ril, and whenever their owners and 

 masters thought proper. 



In 1772, a fishing vessel, having one passenger on Ijofuxl, sailed from 

 Boston for Chatham, Cape Cod. The morning aftc^r her departure she 

 was discovered without her crew, who, as the passeng( r said, were all 

 murdered soon after leaving Boston, by a party of men who came on 

 board in a boat, despatched from an armed schooner. This parly, he 

 further averred, phmdered the fishing vessel, lashed her helm with her 

 sails standing, and abandoned her; while he, supposing that llry be- 

 toiiged to a King's cruiser, and would impress hiuj, concealed himself 



