DEFENCE OF THE BUSS FISHERY. 369 



failors, for the mod part, on account of their hardi- 

 nefs, temperance, and fober manners. Above 100 

 of thefe blue bonnets have been counted on board a 

 fhip of the line at one time. 



Neither hath doctor Smith in his publication, foun J 

 it expedient to mention the employment given to 

 various clafles of people by means of the bufs ft/he- 

 ry, and the comfortable fubfidence which the poor 

 acquire by their induftry in thefe branches. No lefs 

 than 8ool. per annum was paid to boys and girls in 

 and about Campbeltown, for dreffing hemp, fpinning 

 twine, and knitting and making the nets for the ufc 

 of the bufies there. But the mod ufeful body of 

 men, next to the feamen, are the fhip carpenters, and 

 coopers, of whom this branch raifed a confiderable 

 number. 



Refpecting all thefe degrees of people, and the 

 ruin of the owners of the bufles, was that branch to 

 be abandoned, the doctor exprefies no fympathizing 

 feelings ; no fenfations for what they have already 

 fuffered, and what they muft again fufFer, were go- 

 vernment difpofed to withhold their aid, by which 

 the remaining property would fink to half its value, 

 by which hundreds of families would be driven to 

 Ireland ; and the rifing ports of Campbeltown, Stran- 

 rawer, &c. reduced to their former (late of indigence, 

 or the idle pernicious habits of fmuggling. 



There hath long exided a jealoufy between the in- 

 habitants of the eaft fide of Scotland and thole of the 

 wed; a proof that the amor patri* doth not flourifti 

 at prefent in the Scottifh foil. The people in the 

 eaft country have not found the bufs fifhery worthy 

 their attention, or adequate to the great cxpcnce in 

 fitting out. They therefore wilh to encourage a 

 boat fifhery upon their fhores, which, to edablifh, 

 requires fome parliamentary aid ; and this aid, they 

 imagine, cannot be obtained during the exiftcnce of 

 the bounties to the weftcrn bufs filhcry. From this 



A A fourcc 



