FIRKIN. 



FISHERIES. 



parts simultaneously on the lighting of an attached fuse, the length of 

 the fuse being adapted to the occasion, and so as to allow sufficient 

 time to elapse after ignition to enable the firing party to effect a safe 

 retreat from the conflagration. 



Fire ships are at all times a foftnidable means of attack, but espe- 

 cially so when darkness or fog favours their employment. They are 

 used principally in rivers or roadsteads against ships at anchor. The 

 Chinese in the late war showed considerable ingenuity in availing 

 themselves of this mode of surprise and attack, in which so little 

 exposure of Jife on their side, enabled them to threaten with destruc- 

 tion a more powerful enemy ; and but for great vigilance on our part, 

 much disaster to our ships must have resulted. The nature of im- 

 proved armaments, however, tends materially to protect ships at anchor 

 from attempts of this kind ; for immediately on the detection of a 

 suspected fire ship, the increased precision of aim, the heavier weight 

 of shot, and the progressing improvement in naval tactics now develop- 

 ing, will enable a threatened ship rapidly to destroy and sink any of 

 the class of vessels generally used as fire ships, or will disperse into 

 fragments the framework and materials of fire rafts. 



So long as 150 years since, fire ships formed part of the regular 

 establishment of the naval defences of the kingdom. In the ' Navy 

 List" of 1710, we see the names of five of these vessels, each of which 

 was armed with 8 guns, to be used either for ordinary battle, or in 

 setting fire to an enemy, as opportunity might offer. Of late years, 

 however, their use has been confined solely to the defence of invaded 

 coasts. No ships of this class are now to be found in the English 

 navy. Every gunner in the sea service is trained according to an 

 approved system on board H.M.S. Excellent, to so dispose of com- 

 bustible matter, fuses, ftc., as to readily convert any vessel into a fire- 

 ship. 



(tfaffna Britannia: ffotitia ; Sir Howard Douglas On Narai Warfare 

 mtk Sttam,itc.) 



FIRKIN, a measure of ale, beer, and some dry commodities now 

 disused. Eight gallons of ale, soap, or herrings, made a firkin, and 

 nine gallons of beer. But by a statute passed in 1689, the distinction 

 between the firkin of ale and beer was abolished, except only in 

 London, and eight and a half gallons were declared to make a firkin. 

 In 1803 the ale and beer measures were ordered to be assimilated, and 

 the firkin now contains nine gallons. 

 FIRM. [PARTNERSHIP.] 



FIRMA'N or FIRMAU'N, is the name of the decrees issued by 

 the Turkish Sultan, which are signed with his own cipher or signet. 

 Such are the firmauns by which he appoints the various pashas and 

 other great officers of the state. Finnaun is also the name of a kind 

 of passport which the pashas are in the habit of granting to travellers, 

 especially Europeans, by which they enjoin the subordinate authorities 

 to give the bearer protection and assistance. The " finnaun of deatb " 

 was a sentence of summary execution issued by the sultan against a 

 pasha, the written onler for which was entrusted to a chiaous, or state 

 messenger, whose duty it was to see it executed. 



FIRST FRUITS li'riniitin'), the profits of every spiritual living 

 ie year, according to the valuation thereof in the king's books 

 [AMXATES]. They were claimed by the pope throughout Christendom, 

 his claim being first asserted in England in the reign of King John, 

 and then only so far as related to clerks whom he appointed to bene- 

 fices. Afterwards, by Pope Clement V. and John XXII., about the 

 beginning of the 14th century, they were demanded from all clerks, 

 by whomsoever presented. By 25 Henry VIII. c. 20, and 26 Henry 

 VIII. c. 3, first fruits and tenths [TENTHS] were given to the king. 

 In the thirty-second year of the same reign a court was erected for the 

 management of them, but it was soon after abolished. Queen Anne 

 gave up the first fruits to be applied towards the augmentation of 

 small livings. [BuxKPiCE.] 



Fir.it fruits arising in Ireland were by Oeo. I. c. 15, to be applied 

 fur the same purpose; but by the 3 ft 4 Will. IV. c. 37, the payment 

 of I I Ireland is abolished. 



r'ISi ', FISCU8, was the name given under the Roman empire, and 

 afterwards in the monarchies which rose on its ruins, to the private 

 treasury of the sovereign, as distinguished from airarium, or the 

 treasury of the state. The fiscus was chiefly replenished by fines and 

 confiscations, ami unclaimed property of deceased persons : the taxes 

 ther revenues of the country were paid into the iBrarium. Under 

 absolute monarchies, however, the two treasuries have been often con- 

 founded both in name and in reality. Under the feudal system, fiscus 

 regius and fiscales terra! signified the domains of the crown, and the 

 peasants attached to those domains were called fiscalini. Fiscus by 

 degrees came to be used figuratively for the rights of the crown in 

 civil as well as criminal matters, and the king's attorney was called 

 jrator fisci, procureur fiscal in French, avvocato fiscale in Italian, 

 is, in the sense of " feuduin regiuni," or fiefs granted by the 

 crown, was contrasted with proprietaa, or an allodial estate. The word 

 fiscus meant originally a basket or frail in which the moneys of the 

 prin<: were collected. (Ducange.) 



FISHKKI KS are localities frequented at certain seasons by shoals or 



great numbers of fish, where they are taken upon a large scale. The 



right of frequenting these fishing grounds has frequently been matter 



pute between governments, and sometimes the subject of treaties ; 



while exclusion frrim them , or invasion of presumed exclusive rights 



to their enjoyment, has been the cause of warlike preparations. The 

 principal kinds of fish which are the objects of these systematic 

 occupations are whales, cod, ling, hake, herrings, lobsters, mackerel, 

 oysters, pilchards, salmon, anchovies, sardines, sturgeon, and tunny. 

 With the exception of the four last-named descriptions, the fishermen 

 of this country are engaged in the taking of all these fish, and pursue 

 their calling to an extent which makes each an important branch of 

 national industry. The quantity of other fish taken by British 

 fishermen is in the aggregate exceedingly great, and furnishes constant 

 employment throughout the year to a great number of men on almost 

 every part of the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland ; but it has not 

 been usual to apply the word fisheries otherwise than as we have 

 already mentioned. 



Of the British fisheries, some are carried on in rivers or their 

 sestuaries, and others in the bays or along the coasts. Our principal 

 cod-fishery is on the banks of Newfoundland ; and for whales our ships 

 frequent the shores of Greenland, Davis's Straits, and the South Seas. 

 Of late, whale-fisheries have also been carried on near the shores of 

 Australia and of the Cape of Good Hope. 



The taking of herrings was extensively pursued in Scotland in the 

 ninth century, and continued until the Convention of Royal Burghs 

 prohibited the exportation of fish before the resident population was 

 supplied at a stipulated price. In consequence of this interference, 

 many of the fishermen abandoned the pursuit at home, and settled in 

 Holland a circumstance which first drew the attention of the Dutch 

 to the value of the Scotch fisheries. Several enactments were passed 

 under James III., IV., and V. of Scotland for the promotion of the 

 fisheries ; and James VI., before his accession to the English throne, 

 directed the building of three towns for the same purpose ; but this 

 measure failed of success. In 1633 Charles I. ordained " An Associa- 

 tion of the three kingdoms for a general fishery within the hail seas 

 and coasts of his majesty's said kingdoms," but the breaking out of the 

 civil war put an end to this scheme. In 1654 the government, in 

 order to give protection to the fisheries, remitted in favour of Sir 

 Phiueas Andrews, who had embarked in the same, the salt duties and 

 " customs, and excise duties upon all naval necessaries ; " besides which, 

 voluntary collections were made from wealthy and patriotic individuals 

 for building wharfs, docks, and storehouses, and for defraying other 

 expenses. These measures of " protection " appear to have been 

 unsuccessful ; as were others of various kinds, made in 1677, 16110, and 

 1720, sometimes through the medium of charters, sometimes through 

 that of Joint-stock companies. Various reasons have been assigned 

 for these repeated failures. Among these reasons may be mentioned, 

 the rule which made London the head-quarters of the fishery (it being 

 the dearest port in the kingdom) and the superiority of the Dutch in 

 the art. Andrew Yarington, in the second part of " England's 

 Improvement by Sea and Land," sums up all other reasons in this one 

 fact " We fish intolerably dear, and the Dutch exceedingly cheap." 

 In 1749 a committee of the House of Commons was appointed to 

 inquire concerning the herring and white fisheries : and as the result 

 of its labours a corporation was formed, with a capital of 500,000/., 

 under the name of " The Society of the Free British Fishery." A 

 bounty was given to encourage the fishermen, increased in amount 

 from time to time ; but this entirely failed in realising the object in 

 view ;f or, thebounty being given to the vessels and not to the fish, "ships 

 were equipped to catch the bounty and not the herrings." In 1786 

 " The British Society for extending the Fisheries and improving the 

 Sea Coasts of the Kingdom" was incorporated, and a joint-stock was 

 subscribed " for purchasing land and building thereon free towns, 

 villages, and fishing-stations in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland." 

 This joint-stock was raised by the subscriptions of a few spirited 

 individuals, who did not look for any profitable return. The members 

 of the society were chiefly proprietors of estates, and their object was 

 the improvement of their property. Another act was passed in 1808 

 for the regulation of the fisheries : granting bounties to the fisher- 

 men ; and prescribing regulations for fishing, curing, inspecting and 

 branding herrings, and a board of seven commissioners was appointed 

 for administering the law. This act, which was at first passed for a 

 limited time, was made perpetual in 1815. For the inspection and 

 branding of herrings the whole coast of Great Britain was divided into 

 districts. In each of these officers were appointed to oversee the 

 operations of the fishermen, and to prevent frauds in regard to the 

 bounty. The principal regulations affecting the curing of herrings 

 were borrowed from the practice of the Dutch fishermen. In 1817 

 a further boon was granted to the fishermen by allowing them the 

 use of salt duty free : a peculiar advantage, which ceased in 1823 by 

 the repeal of the duty on that article. 



The impolicy of granting bounties on production, the effect of 

 which is to tax the people of this country in order that foreign 

 countries may be supplied with articles of consumption at prices below 

 their actual cost, came at length to be seen and acknowledged. In 

 1821 the bounty began to be reduced, and in 1830 it ceased altogether. 

 That this alteration of the system has not been productive of any 

 serious evil to the herring-fishery has been abundantly shown by the 

 statistical returns. The average annual number of barrels of herrings 

 cured and exported respectively in the five years that preceded the 

 alteration was 349,488 and 224,370. In the five years from 1826 to 

 1830, while the bounty was proceeding to its annihilation, the average 



