The Fishery Question. 39 



tonnage. In spite of objections based on the 

 unconstitutionality of a pecuniary encourage- 

 ment to an occupation, the system was con- 

 tinued down to the reciprocity treaty of 



1854.'^ 



The volume of commerce carried on be- 

 tween Great Britain and the United States 

 was ei'eater than before the war. The two 

 nations divided the carrying trade of the 

 world, yet all efforts in behalf of the Fisheries 

 were pronounced hopeless, in the face of 

 British opposition. A committee of Congress 

 reported in 1802, that it was doubtful if the 

 United States employed as large a tonnage 

 and as many men in the whale and cod fishery 

 as before the Revolution. Merchants com- 

 plained that the market was glutted with 

 British fish. Regrets for the good old priva- 

 teering days of the war were frequently ex- 

 pressed. From prosperity the fish trade fell 

 away until 18 14, when the value of fish ex- 

 ported was only one hundred and twenty- 

 eight thousand dollars.*"^ A very unpopular 

 measure in New England was the Embargo. 

 It was partially evaded by the use of small 

 boats in the South American trade. Fish 

 spoiled in the warehouses or were confiscated 



