86 CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



DEBATES IN CONGRESS, 1852. 



The action of Mr. Webster was the subject of debates in Congress, 

 and some of the speeches are material as showing the real cause of 

 the difficulty. The speakers pointed out that the fisheries had changed 

 since 1818, and that the mackerel fishery, an inshore fishery, which 

 was then of no account, had since become important. Representative 

 Tuck, for example, said: 



From the September to the close of the season the mackerel run 

 near the shore, and it is next to impossible for our vessels to obtain 

 fares without taking fish within the prohibited limits. We differ with 

 England in regard to the measurement of these " limits," they claim- 

 ing to run from " headland to headland " and we to follow the in- 

 dentations of the coast. But the real difficulty is not here. I do not 

 think it generally known that the whole difficulty about the fisheries 

 is about our right to take mackerel. The cod-fishing privileges are 

 adequate already, and no vessel in that business has ever been seized 

 or interfered with. 



I think it is proper to go still further, and to state frankly what, 

 after a patient investigation of every source of authentic informa- 

 tion within my reach, I believe to be tfre real difficulty. The truth 

 is, our fishermen need absolutely, and must have, the thousands of 

 miles of shore fishery which have been renounced, or they must 

 always do an uncertain business. If our mackerel men are prohibited 

 from going within three miles of the shore, and are forcibly kept 

 away (and nothing but force will do it), then they may as well give 

 up their business first as last. It will be always uncertain and gen- 

 erally unsuccessful, however well pursued. 



Perhaps I shall be thought to charge the commissioners of 

 98 1818 with overlooking our interests. They did so in the impor- 

 tant renunciation which I have quoted ; but they are obnoxious 

 to no complaints for so doing. In 1818 we took no mackerel on the 

 coasts of the British possessions, and there was no reason to antici- 

 pate that we should ever have occasion to do so. Mackerel were then 

 found as abundantly on the coast of New England as anywhere in 

 the world, and it was not till years after this that this beautiful fish, 

 in a great degree, left our waters. The mackerel on the provincial 

 coasts has principally grown up since 1838, and no vessel was ever 

 licensed for that business in the United States since 1838. The com- 

 missioners of 1818 had no other business but to protect the cod fishery; 

 and this they did hi a manner generally satisfactory to those most 

 interested. 



During the debate in the Senate the present contention of the 

 United States was formulated for the first time. Senator Soule 

 said (App., p. 178) : 



" Such bay," says an eminent writer, " must communicate with 

 the ocean only by a strait so narrow that it must be reputed as being 

 a part of the maritime domain of the State to which the coast belongs ; 



Appendix to Congressional Globe, 1852, 32nd Congress, 1st Session, vol. xxv, 

 p. 1186. 



