222 



limits; and I suppose that during the ensuing season the greatest vigi- 

 lance will be displa3^ed in looking alter oflenders." 



The seizures in the course of the year were numerous. The Java, 

 Battelle, Mayflower, Charles, Eliza, Shetland, Hyder Ally, Independ- 

 ence, Hart, Ocean, Director, Atlas, Magnolia, Amazon, and Three 

 Brothers, were among the number ; whether for justifiable cause, will 

 form the subject of inquiry in another place. Her Majestj^'s cruisers 

 spread consternation on the fishing-grounds throughout the season. The 

 Hon. Keith Stewart, in command of the Ringdove, was as much 

 dreaded by our fishermen in the Bay of Fundy as Captain Hoare had 

 been, in the Dotterel, in the year 1824. In July, a gentleman of one of 

 the frontier ports of Maine informed an official personage at Washing- 

 ton that four or five hundred American fishing vessels were then in 

 that bay ; that the complaints of the colonists of the island of Grand 

 Menan had caused the commanders of the British cruisers to refuse 

 shelter to our flag even in stormy weather ; that nearly one hundred ot 

 our vessels, which had been driven from positions secured to them by 

 the treaty, had fled for refuge to a single harbor on the American side 

 of the line ; and that our fishermen were generally armed, and would 

 not bear the" indignities to which they were exposed. He added that 

 *' they can furnish some thousands of as fearless men as can be found 

 anywhere, at short notice ; and, unless our government send an armed 

 vessel without delay, j-ou will shortly hear of bloodshed." Such was 

 the condition of things, now well remembered, at and near the border. 

 Elsewhere there was so much difficulty and excitement that the mas- 

 ters of our vessels, whether at sea or at anchor, felt themselves unsafe ; 

 and, molested along the entire coast of Nova Scotia, many of them ad- 

 justed their affiurs at the close of the season without reward lor their 

 toil and exposure, and in sadness of spirit as to the future. In a word, 

 there seemed to persons of calm judgment a determination on the part 

 of colonial politicians to drive our countrymen to extremities. To ex- 

 clude us from the Bays of Fundy and Chaleurs, and other large bays, 

 by lines drawn from headland to headland; to deny to us resort to the 

 colonial ports and harbors for shelter and to procure wood and water, 

 except in cases of actual distress; to dispute our right to fish on the 

 shores of the Magdalene islands, and thus to render the treaty stipula- 

 tion valueless ; and to close against us the Strait of Canso, and of con- 

 sequence to compel us to make the dangerous voyage round the island 

 of Cape Breton, when bound to or from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 are among the pretensions of Nova Scotia seriously asserted in the 

 memorable year 1839. The seizures of our vessels, and the other pro- 

 ceedings which we have briefly noticed, attracted the attention of our 

 government, and the United States schooner Grampus, under the com- 

 mand of Lieutenant John S. Paine, was despatched to the scene of 

 alarm and commotion. Lieutenant Paine informed himself of the mat- 

 ters in dispute, and performed his duty with zeal and efficiency. In 

 his official report to Mr. Forsyth, Secretary of State, he observes that 

 ** the injustice and annoyance suffered b}^ our fishermen had so irritated 



