Samuel Mulford, Alongshore Whaler 15 



posed upon him, but to establish a principle, as 

 shall now appear. Parliament had provided 

 special encouragements for "subjects within this 

 Kingdom, " who might wish " to go a Whale Fish- 

 ing to Greenland, Friezland and places adjacent." 

 In Mulford's view "the subjects in New York" 

 had the same rights under that act as any English- 

 man in England. If that were so, the decree of 

 Hunter for taxing the fishery was contrary to the 

 act of Parliament for encouraging it, and this was 

 the plea which Mulford's attorney made when 

 he was arraigned on the charge of trover. The 

 subservient Chief Justice, in considering this 

 plea, declared that the colonists "had nothing to 

 do with the acts of Parliament," and that they 

 "had no law but what the Crown allowed" them. 

 On hearing this decision Samuel Mulford de- 

 termined to learn "whether the Subjects in New 

 York Colony are to be governed by Prerogative 

 and deprived of property, or whether they are 

 to be governed by the Constitution of English 

 Government." That is to say, Mulford made his 

 fight to determine the rights of the colonists as 

 British citizens, and not merely to escape a petty 

 fine that he was well able to pay. 



