SALMON-FISHERY OF SCOTLAND. 137 



of mind, than to submit, from selfish motives of prudence, to 

 every injustice, without complaint, until apathy at length ends 

 in a general bouleversement. Mr Kennedy attempted to extend 

 the benefit of his act to Ireland, but the Irish members resisted 

 it manfully. They could not, they said, accede to so much in- 

 justice to such destruction of private property, without any 

 advantage to the public ; so that the early rivers of that coun- 

 try escaped, while those of Scotland fell a sacrifice to the ignor- 

 ance and pretension of the Scotch members, who, with a 

 singular, but, we hope, not national, perversity, are always 

 forward when nobody wants their services, and backward when 

 the united voice of the country loudly calls upon them to 

 stand forth in her cause ; and to whom acts of spoliation and 

 injustice do not appear to have the same nauseous odour as to 

 the more honourable minds of the Emerald Isle. 



They know little of the nature of the salmon-fishery who do 

 not understand that no injury can be inflicted upon a salmon 

 river in which the public does not largely participate. If the 

 owners of the 'rivers are prevented, by the interception of the 

 fish by stake-nets, from improving them, fewer fish will be 

 reared : if, by absurd and unjust acts, they are prevented from 

 catching them in their proper season, the public are deprived 

 of the finest part of the fish at a season when they are a luxury : 

 in every view the interest of the owners of the rivers and of 

 the public is inseparable. This great fishing truth, we repeat, 

 is utterly undeniable. If the different constitutions of the 

 rivers, as they were formed by Nature, be only attended to, it 

 will be found that, under a proper system, as we before ob- 

 served, a constant supply of fresh salmon might be obtained 

 to the public throughout the whole year, instead of the three 

 months recommended by Dr Fleming one river ceasing to 

 produce her fish just as another commences. In some early 

 rivers, the new fish begin to come on early in November, in 

 others in December, and in many in January and February. 

 In those early rivers the fishery generally declines in April, 

 when the fish of the late rivers begin to make their appearance, 

 and in some of these they continue good till the middle or near 

 the end of October thus forming, from the admirable system 



