164 



Newfimndland, from said Cnpe Ray to the Qulrpon islands, at the 

 Magdalen islands, between Mount Jol}^ and the Straits of Bellisle, and 

 through these straits to an indednile extent along the shores of Lab- 

 rador ; while elsewhere in British America we retained the sea JisherieSf 

 hut surrendered the inner or shore fisheries. 



During the discussions abroad, in consequence of the outrage of the 

 Jaseur and other British cruisers, Congress were not unmindtul of the 

 fishing interest, both to repair the wrongs of unauthorized captures 

 and to afford protection against foreign competition. The tariff of 

 1816 imposed a duty of one dollar the quintal on foreign dried or 

 smoked fish imported into the United States, two dollars the barrel on 

 salmon, one dollar and fifty cents the barrel on mackerel, and one 

 dollar the barrel on all other kinds of pickled fish. So, in 1817, an 

 act was passed which required that all officers, and three quarters 

 of the crews of vessels employed in the cod-fishery, and claiming the 

 bounty or allowance, should be American citizens, "or persons not the 

 subjects of any foreign prince or state ;" while no such vessel, it was 

 provided by further enactments, should be deprived of bounty, if 

 prevented from fishing the full time prescribed by law, by reason 

 of detention or seizure by British ships-of-war. 



In the revision of the tariff' in 1824, there was no change in the rates 

 of duty imposed on foreign fish. These rates were continued also in 

 the tariffs of 1828 and 1832. Thus, in four revisions, the principle of 

 ample protection was preserved, except that the products of the sea, 

 like all other commodities imported, were subject to the provisions of 

 the "compromise" measure introduced by Mr. Clay. In the present 

 tariff, specific duties on fish are entirely abolished, and the uniform rate 

 of twenty per cent, ad valorem substituted, which on some kmds is 

 merely nominal, and on all insufficient. The ad valorem system has 

 proved extremely beneficial to British colonists. In fact, having driven 

 us from the markets of Catholic Europe, they are in active competition 

 with us for our own. 



The question of "bounty," or allowance to vessels einployed in the 

 cod-fishery, will next engage our attention. The act now in force 

 was passed by Congress in 1819. Its provisions, the construction 

 given to it, as w^ell as the rules to be observed by the collectors of the 

 customs, will be found in the circular of the Secretary of the Treasury 

 of February 20, 1852. Before inserting this carefully prepared docu- 

 ment, which supersedes all former instructions and regulations on this 

 subject, I may remark, that the course of the government has not only 

 beenjust, but liberal, towards those who, in peculiar cases, have applied 

 ff>r rehef. Many specicil acts of Congress, lor the payment of the bounty 

 or allowance, are to be found scattered through the statute-book. These 

 acts embrace cases where the original fishing agreements required by 

 law were burned, or otherwise accidentally destroyed ; where vessels 

 were known to be lost at sea, or were never heardof after leaving port, 

 or were driven on shore and wrecked ; and where sickness and death 

 prevented the completifm of the tijll term of time at sea. The petitions 

 of owners whose vessels were "unlucky" on the fishing grounds, and 

 returned with "broken fares ;" whose articles of agreement were in- 



