315 



an average, more than one-half of the sum stated as the average in 

 1850. Wliile at Gloucester (December, 1 852) I made a detailed esti- 

 mate of the aggregate loss of the people of that town during the season 

 just closed, and found that it was certainly quite one hundred and fifteen 

 thousand dollars, aside from the wreck of vessels and the ordinary 

 casualties of maritime enterprises. The whole of this large loss I attrib- 

 ute to the course pursued by the colonial authorities, and the officers of 

 her Majesty's ships-of-war. For other fishing towns my data is less 

 complete ; but the loss to all New England, from the same sources of 

 annoyance and interruption to our flag, was a quarter of a million of 

 dollars at the lowest computation. Surely, our fishermen cannot long 

 bear this state of things without becoming beggars. 



They feel that they have no assurance of the continuance of the 

 bounty to the cod-fishery, and they know by some years of experience, 

 that under the present tariff and the warehousing system, when unmo- 

 lested by their competitors, their hope of earning a bare subsistence is 

 less than ever before; and they appeal to the country which they have 

 always served, faithfully served, in war, for relief. They are certain 

 that, without more protection than they now receive, they cannot keep 

 the sea. 



The duty of twenty per cent, on colonial fish, when put in the gov- 

 ernment warehouses for export,* as every one can perceive, is merely 

 nominal. Already the colonists, under this arrangement, enjoy a large 

 share of the export trade of the United States ; and, as a consequence 

 of the recent change in the bounty system of France, t the subjects of 

 that empire are to appear in our ports to still further depress the industry 

 of the class whose discouragements are almost insupportable, from the 

 various causes which have been discussed in this report. 



I cannot forbear to add, that had our statesmen stood by the doctrine 

 which was asserted and maintained at Ghent by the American commis- 

 sioners, one source of calamity at least would have been spared to our 

 fishermen. The rights guarantied to us formed a part of, and in their 

 very nature were as perpetual as, our independence as a nation. The 

 first article of the convention of 1818 should never have been agreed 

 to by our government. The third aiticle of the treaty of 1783 ought 

 never to have been stricken from that instrument. It is too late to 

 correct the mistake. Our national faith is pledged that our flag shall 

 nowhere interfere with the colonial shore fisheries, and we must abide 

 by the contract. But it behooves us to see to it that we part with no 

 more of the rights which, won in the wars between France and Eng- 

 land, were bequeathed to us by the men who broke the bonds of our 

 colonial vassalage. Strange it is that we are at this moment willing to 

 offer the colonists the privilege of our market without the payment of 

 any duty whatever on the productions of the sea, when originally, and 

 until 1818, we possessed substantially all the rights to then- fishing 



* About 200,000 barrels of pickled fish (foreign caught aud cured) were warehoased at 

 Boston, and exported from that port, in 1851. The quantity in 1852 has not been ascertained, 

 but I leaiTi from an official source that it was large. 



t The French have, in fact, commenced bringing their codfish to our markets. One house 

 m Boston purchased, in 18.52, upwards of six thousand quintals; and several other houses 

 were buyers to a considerable extent. Probably 20,000 quintals were sold in Boston during 

 the last year. 



