40 



Then General Knox arose and stated the claims of Marble- 

 head and the reasons why they should be recognized. "I 

 am surprised," said he, "that Marblehead should ask so 

 small a privilege as that of banking, and that there should 

 be ()px)()sition to it. Sir, I wish the members of this body 

 knew the people of Marblehead as well as I do. I could 

 wish that they had stood on the banks of the Delaware 

 River in 1777, in tliat bitter night when the Commander-in- 

 Chief had drawn up his little army to cross it, and had seen 

 the powerful current bearing onward the floating masses 

 of ice, which threatened destruction to whomsoever should 

 venture upon its bosom. I wish, that when this occurrence 

 threatened to defeat the enterprise, they could have heard 

 that distinguished warrior demand : ' Who will lead us 

 on?' and seen the men of Marblehead, and Marblehead 

 alone, stand, forward to lead the army along the perilous 

 path to unfading glories and honors in the achievement of 

 Trenton. There, sir, went the flshermen of Marblehead, 

 alike at home upon land or water ; alike ardent, patri- 

 otic, and unflinching, whenever they unfurled the flag of 

 the country." 



The privateers of that period were manned mostly, by 

 fishermen, and their captures of British merchantmen un- 

 doubtedly had much to do with the conclusion of the war 

 and the establishment of American independence. Sabine 

 remarks that the books of Lloyd's Coffee House show 

 "that from May, 1776, to February, 1778, the American 

 privateers (173 in number) made prizes of 733 British ves- 

 sels, which, with their cargoes, were worth more than 

 $25,000,000, after deducting the value Of the property re- 

 taken and restored. '• * * * "■' * * 

 The mercantile interests became at last so clamorous as to 

 render the war unpopular, and to embarrass the Ministry 

 in their measures to continue it." 



I deem it unnecessary to enter into a fuller discussion of 

 the public services of our flshermen, who, in the second 



