ryo HISTORY OF THE 



ropcan markets, and their fifh, whether defending or 

 otherwife, had the reputation of fuperior qualities 

 to all others taken jn our feas. 



With fuck. advantages, the Dutch not only main<* 

 tained their ground againft this formidable company, 

 but had alfo the pleafure of feeing the capital gra<- 

 dually finking, without having procured an adequate 

 return to the adventurers, notwithftanding various 

 aids and efforts of government from time to time 

 in their favour, particularly in 1757, when an ad- 

 vance of twenty fhillings per ton was added to the 

 bounty. 



.Such hath been the fate of all the fpirited efforts of 

 the Scottifh and Britifh governments for thefe lad four 

 hundred years, to recover the filheries from the 

 hands of foreigners j and if ever this national object 

 fhall be accomplished, either wholly or in part, it 

 v/ill be folely owing to the encouragements given, 

 not to companies, but individual adventurers, and 

 the abilities of thofe adventurers to perfevere in that 

 bufmefs againft all the accidents, difcouragements, 

 and misfortunes that attend it, both in the capture, 

 and the fale of the fifh. Even the frugal Dutch, who 

 have reduced all the branches of the fiiheries into a 

 regular fyftem, founded upon long experience, 

 judged it neceffary, after repeated attempts in favour 

 offocieties, to relinquiih that mode, and to direct 

 their attention indiscriminately to the fiiheries in 

 general. This is alfo the practice of all other ftates 

 whofe fubjects embark therein, They are encou- 

 raged by exclufive privileges and exemptions, .fuit- 

 cd to the various cafes and circumftances of their 

 refpe&ive fituations ; and this leads to a minute in- 

 veiligation of the Scottifh herring filheries, as carried 

 on at the prefect time, by foreigners, as well as 

 natives. 





