146" WllALE-riSHEKY. 



most eiitei-prisiug and intrepid nations in the world, 

 they, through the dissolution of their unanimity, by 

 the presence and influence of French soldiery, and 

 the consequent introduction of French principles 

 among them, liave greatly degenerated in public spirit 

 and commercial talent. Hence, of late years, their 

 energies have been relaxed, and they have been 

 unable to keep pace with the improvements which 

 have been adopted in the art of the fishery by the 

 British, and their success has in consequence been 

 much inferior. Such is the revolution which has 

 occurred in the fishery of the Dutch, that their an- 

 tient superiority over the British is now reversed ; — 

 the British, in point of fishing talent, being, at pre- 

 sent, beyond dispute their superiors : And as the 

 English in the early and middle ages of the whale- 

 fishery, were commonly under the necessity of en- 

 gaging the assistance of the Dutch, so the Dutch 

 now, in their turn, find British fishing-officers a 

 valuable acquisition. About the year 1770, the 

 Dutch fishery began to decline ; during half a 

 century previous to this period, it had averaged 

 182 ships jjer year, but from 1769 to 1778, the 

 average was reduced to 134 sail, and about the time 

 of the American war, to 60 or 70 ships i^er year *. 



* Oddy's Commerce^ p. 525. ; and Histoire des Pitches, vol. L 

 p. 294. to 316. 



I 



