37 



the smaller fish simply because he was small, the result would 

 be to exterminate the larger ones. However he would not 

 speak at any length on this subject, because he anticipated 

 it would come up for discussion later. He rose to thank 

 his friends who had thought proper to draw attention to 

 the superior modes of fishing to a certain extent pursued 

 in Canada, and to warn them not to use it very largely, for 

 fear that if they did, they would destroy the vast supplies of 

 herrings in the sea, and as a consequence the larger 

 and better description of fish also. 



Earl DuciE then proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Duff 

 for the paper he had read, which was very valuable, not 

 only in itself, but for having produced what one of the 

 speakers had called a want of unanimity, which he con- 

 sidered to be one of the most valuable features of the 

 discussion. Mr. Duff had treated of the history of the 

 herring during the present century, but he remembered in 

 the course of the discussion that he had read in Gibbon, 

 who, when treating of one of the early eruptions of the 

 barbarians in the early Christian ages, and describing the 

 effects that it had on Europe, told them that it had even 

 interfered with the herring trade on the coast of the North 

 Sea, and he would commend that remark to the investiga- 

 tion of anybody who proposed to write the history of the 

 herring. 



Sir GEORGE CAMPBELL seconded the motion. He said 

 in these days of division of labour, however talented a v 

 man might be, he never was so effective as he might be, 

 unless he devoted himself specially to one subject. That 

 was what his friend Mr. Duff had done, and he had done 

 so with good effect. He showed, in his own person, that a 

 good sailor and a good fisherman was likely to make a 

 good member of Her Majesty's Government, and so he was 

 heartily welcomed in the function which he fulfilled in the 



