L9S APPENDIX TO BRITISH COUNTER CASE. 



at this period, were considered as well established, and were steadily 

 and profitably pursued. 



Fifty years had now elapsed since the settlement of Plymouth. 

 The country, back from the sea, was yet a wilderness. A generation, 

 born in the colony, had attained manhood. Religious worship was 

 maintained in all the towns, but there were no public schools. Few 

 of the Mayflower pilgrims were then alive; and the number of edu- 

 cated persons was small. A proposition had been made, as appears 

 by the proceedings of the court, to provide schoolmasters " to train 

 up children to reading and writing;" but without results. The 

 profits of the mackerel, bass, and herring fisheries at Cape Cod, were 

 now granted to found a FREE SCHOOL; and in 1671, under John Mor- 

 ton as teacher, and Thomas Hinckley as steward of the fund, such a 

 school was opened in the colony. This is a most interesting incident ; 

 the Cape which afforded the first shelter to the fathers, supported 

 the first public seminary for the education of the children ! 



Morton, who was a nephew of the secretary of the colony, proposed 

 merely to teach the youth of one town " to read, write, and to cast 

 accounts." But a grammar school \vas soon established in Plymouth ; 

 and several were actually in operation in other places as early as 

 the year 1680. 



The fisheries, I conclude, were considered public property, and were 

 generally leased to individuals for the benefit of the colony, or of 

 particular towns. The subject of " rents " and of " profits " is con- 

 tinually referred to in the records, and orders to grant leases to 

 petitioners, or to protect lessees in the enjoyment of the privileges 

 stipulated in the covenants with them, are of frequent occurrence. 

 An ordinance of the latter description of extreme severity was 

 180 passed in 1678 the court directing that all fishing vessels not 

 belonging to the colony should be seized for public use by 

 warrant from the governor, or one of his assistants, and that the 

 lessees of the colony fisheries should be entitled to damages, to be paid 

 them out of the proceeds of the vessels seized and confiscated. The 

 people of Massachusetts were alone exempted from the penalties 



of this extreme measure. 



******* 



Whoever examines the records of Congress will find that between 

 February and August, 1779, the various questions connected with the 

 fisheries were matters of the most earnest and continued debates, and 

 of the most anxious solicitude. During the discussions upon a propo- 

 sition to, open a negotiation for peace, Mr. Gerry introduced the fol- 

 lowing resolutions. First : " That it is essential to the welfare of these 

 United States that the inhabitants thereof, at the expiration of the 

 war, should continue to enjoy the free and undisturbed exercise of 

 their common right to fish on the Banks of Newfoundland, and the 

 other fishing banks and seas of North America, preserving inviolate 

 the treaties between France and the said States." Second : " That an 

 explanatory article be prepared and sent to our minister plenipoten- 

 tiary at the court of Versailles, to be by him presented to his Most 

 Christian Majesty, whereby the said common right to the fisheries 

 shall be more explicitly guarantied to the inhabitants of these States 

 than it already is by the treaties aforesaid." Third : " That in the 

 treaty of peace with Great Britain, a stipulation be made on their 

 part not to disturb the inhabitants of these States in the free exercise 



