16 



rivers in the Fisheries adjoining, may be defined 

 by the law of the country, I presume it will not 

 be contended, that one set of proprieters has a 

 larger share in that interest than the other. If, 

 however, it were considered expedient to enlarge 

 that interest in favour of the sea-coast proprietors, 

 can the permission to erect yairs and cruives where 

 they please, be refused to the others? Can those 

 who offer to prove that the Salmon is not a sea 

 fish, oppose the granting sucli a boon ? 



If this conclusion be just, the whole question 

 may be set at rest in a few words. The Salmon 

 Fisheries could not long exist under such a system, 

 however modified as to the time of fishing. Dur- 

 ing that time the stake-nets along the coast, and the 

 yairs and cruives in the friths and rivers, would 

 be in full operation ; there would be a sort of scram- 

 ble fora year or two, but the fishing would rapidly 

 diminish, and soon be quite destroyed altogether. 

 It moy therefore be concluded, that while common 

 justice forbids the granting of the partial privi- 

 lege, the interest of the public is quite at variance 

 with that condition, on which alone it can be fairly 

 granted. \Vhowould suppose that those who are 

 petitioning to obtain this partial privilege, were so 

 full of declamation against monopoly ? Such, how- 

 ever, is the blindness which a strong sense of pe- 

 culiar interest is apt to produce. 



On the other hand, should the laws, as now ex- 

 plained, be carried into full execution, in this case. 



