ij^t- eulogitim on the minister. 159 



lefs to proceed in this ihelarcVoly tale ; any person can 

 foresee the refult : The expeiices thus ilicuired are enor- 

 mous ; the trouble to which the unwary adventurer is ex- 

 posed,- is inconceivable J and in every case where this is. 

 attempted, without a large capital, ruin is almost inevi- 

 table*. In consequence of this, nine hundred and ninety- 

 nine, out of a thousand of these people, are condemned 

 to listlefs idlenefs, who, if they were only allowed to buy- 

 salt, and sell salted fifh with perfect freedom, would be 

 busily employed in the most active exertions of industry •, 

 and by whom filh could be caught and brought to market, 

 at lefs than half the price they ever can be afforded for in 

 any other way. It is evident that lownefs of price, and 

 that alone, can open up a market for our filheries 

 •sufficiently extensive ever to render this an object of great 

 national importance. It is the wealth that is to flow from 

 this general diffusion of industry, that is to lay the foun- 

 dations of agriculture, of manufactures, and of commerce 

 in those regions. It is these employments that are to 

 augment the population •, and it is this increase of popu- 

 lation and of wealth, that is to raise the duties upon all 



• A gentleman of great property in the Highlands lately, whose name 

 IS here supprefsed merely out of respect, with a view to encourage scn.c 

 adventurojs fiiliers on his estate, took a ftiare in a filhing adventure with 

 them. The commifsionets, under some frivolous pretext, lespecting the salt, 

 jtopped a vtftel with the fiih when they were ready to go to market. The 

 gentleman, who himself WaS bred to the law, was satisfied the commif- 

 lioners interpreied the act wrong. He remonstrated to them, but in vain^ 

 He then wroie to the commifsioners of s;.lt duties in England, de;irlng to 

 know in what manner tjicy explained the clause of the act in que.tion. 

 They unJers'ood it exactly as i.c had done. He then wrote again to the 

 Soari in Scotland, desiring tliem, in a peremptory manner, to say if they 

 adhered to tViiirlbrm'^r decision, as he was determined, in that case, to apply 

 elsewhere for rcdrefs. They then v.trs pleased to let it pafs. But it 

 -wjs too late. The iifii w?.'e, before that time entirely usclefs and had lost 

 .Uicir Q-.^rkct. 



