94 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
themselves called upon to abstain from Sunday fishing; and, notwithstanding 
all appeals, they declined to discontinue their labors on the Sabbath. So much 
resentment was engendered among the Cornishmen that, not being inclined to 
surrender their principles, but having no lawful means of imposing them on 
their visitors, they had recourse to acts of violence, and considerable rioting 
was the consequence. In the absence of laws to the contrary the east-country 
boats were, of course, as much entitled to fish on Sunday as the west-country 
boats were to abstain; and, short of mutual agreement, the only way of settling 
the dispute would have been to pass a law making Sunday fishing illegal on 
the part of all British subjects, at any rate in the particular portions of the sea 
in respect to which the trouble had arisen. But while this would, so far, have 
ended the controversy as between British subjects, it would have resulted in 
a possibly greater grievance and a certainly greater anomaly, since the waters 
in question are frequented by both British and foreign fishermen. It was one 
thing for the Cornishman voluntarily to abstain from fishing on Sunday and to 
leave the ground free to such of his foreign rivals as chose to fish there in his 
absence—especially seeing that the fish so caught were not brought into the 
Cornish markets, but it would have been quite another thing to compel the east- 
country fisherman to desist from catching fish which he was anxious to catch, 
while the foreigner was under no such disability—especially seeing that it was 
not pretended that the prohibition of Sunday fishing would have benefited the 
fisheries as a whole. Without in any way going into the merits of the dispute, 
it is obvious that no form of compulsion in this case would have been tolerable, 
if effective, which was not of universal application, and this could be brought 
about only by the common consent of all the States whose fishermen frequented 
the grounds in question. 
MAIN OBJECTS OF INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS. 
It seems obvious that, in waters in which the fishermen of any considerable 
number of different nationalities are largely concerned in fishing at the same 
time, not only will there be the greatest necessity for international agreement 
and regulation, but there must exist the greatest diversity of interest, and the 
greatest difficulty will be encountered in devising rules that will be mutually 
acceptable. It is therefore, perhaps, not out of place to consider what have 
been the history, objects, and results of such international regulations as have 
been framed for waters which answer most fully to the above description. 
In none of the seas of the world are such extensive and diverse fishing opera- 
tions carried on at the same time by so large a number of fishermen, of so 
many various nationalities as in the extraterritorial waters of the English 
Channel and the North Sea or German Ocean. Prolific of fish in great variety 
and of the finest quality, and easily accessible to vessels of all sizes belonging 
to at least eight different powers of western Europe whose shores it washes, 
