ARGUMENT OF SAMUEL J. ELDER. 1527 



It is not provided that those fresh men shall be British subjects. 

 There is nothing in conflict with the previous statute with regard to 

 three-fourths of the crew being British, with a fair implicaton that 

 the other quarter might be of other nationalities. 



All that is said by our learned friend with regard to the desire of 

 Great Britain to build up a navy and mercantile marine is true, but 

 Great Britain was glad to get sailors from every source, and in that 

 provision it is notable that while the Act carefully provides with 

 regard to the character of at least two men, there is no provision that 

 British subjects shall be the ones that are so brought up to the trade 

 of fishing. 



THE PRESIDENT: But. would foreigners have been of use to the 

 British navy? 



MR. ELDER: Oh, unquestionably. Our own navy, in the last war, 

 was composed quite considerably of men of other nationalities; and, 

 I think that has been true of the history of all naval wars. 



Coming to the British statute of 1775, at p. 543, the statute with 

 regard to bounties, of which I spoke, and without reading all the way 

 down through, it speaks in the fifth line of : 



" fishermen, sailors, and others emploved therein, to the ports of Great 

 Britain." 



very much as the other statute did. And, coming down to a little 

 above the middle of that page the sentence begins : 



" That from and after the first Day of January, one thousand seven 

 hundred and seventy-six the respective bounties hereinafter men- 

 tioned shall be paid and allowed annually, for eleven years 

 924 for a certain number of ships or vessels employed in the Brit- 

 ish fishery on the banks of Newfoundland, under the limita- 

 tions and restrictions hereinafter expressed, that is to say, such ves- 

 sels shall appear by their register to be British built, and owned by 

 His Majesty's subjects residing in Great Britain or Ireland, or the 

 islands of Guernsey, Jersey or Man; and be of the burthen of fifty 

 tons or upwards, and navigated with not less than fifteen men each, 

 three-fourths of whom, besides the master, shall be His Majesty's 

 subjects; and in other respects qualified, and subject to the same rules 

 and restrictions, as are described." 



And so on. 



And, for that class of vessel, 40 pounds is given as a bounty under 

 certain conditions. 



So that the fact, which I suppose is well-nigh common knowledge, 

 that crews are composite, made up of various nationalities, and have 

 been from the earliest times, is recognized in these very statutes with 

 regard to bounties. 



Now, the same thing was true in the United States. I will read 

 from a copy of Sabine's report at p. 152. It is a copy of circular in- 

 structions to certain Collectors of Customs relating to fishing allow- 



