43 



Those of Ireland received the zealous attention of our earlier 

 statesmen, and are still worthy of it. " 



The assistance formerly given to the Sea arm of the fisheries 

 of this country having been withdrawn, these resources became 

 less worked, principally from the want of means, and the igno- 

 rance of the coast fishermen as to adoption of the best modes 

 of capture ; the absence of exertion on the part of those who 

 might feel locally interested in their development ; and, along 

 the eastern coast, where the best markets are found from the 

 deficiency of good harbours and of piers. The Enactment is 

 chiefly directed to the intricate matters of our Inland waters ; 

 but, of the portions relating to those of the sea, several sections 

 leave disputed or difficult regulations to be determined by by- 

 laws to be framed by the Commissioners. Some encouragement 

 was afforded by the provision for empowering them to hold 

 Meetings with proprietors of fisheries, for inquiry into their 

 state, and the best means to be adopted for their regulation, 

 improvement, or protection. It was expected that this depart- 

 ment of industry would have animation thrown into it, the 

 ignorance of its followers partly dispelled, altercations allayed, 

 and perhaps capital attracted to those branches in which it is 

 required, (namely the deep-sea fishing, and the establishment 



chapter treats ' Of the commodities of Ireland, and policie and keeping thereof, 



and conquering of wild Irish.' 



' I cast to speake of Ireland but a litle : 

 Commodities of it I will entitle, 

 Hides and fish, salmon, hake, herring, 

 Irish wooll, and linen cloth, faldinge, 

 And marterns goode ben her marchandize ; 

 Harte's hides, and other of venerie, 

 Skinnes of otter, squirrell, and Irish hare, 

 Of sheepe, lambe, and foxe, is her chaffare* 



Of silver and golde there is the oore 

 Among the wilde Irish, though they be poore : 

 For they are rude, and can thereon no skill : 

 So that if we had their peace and good will 

 To myne and fyne, and metal for to pure, 

 In wilde Irish might we find the cure.' 



In the Dittamondi of Fazzio delli Uberti, a Florentine poet, (1357,) we hare 

 the following testimony as to the antiquity of our export trade of woollens : 

 ' Similamente passamo en Irlanda, 

 La qual fra noi e degna di fama, 

 Per le nobile sale che ci manda.' 



So we pass into Ireland, worthy of our commendation for the fine friezes she 

 sends to us. 



* Sir James "Ware, in the time of James I., reckons " among the advantages 

 of Ireland, her great and plentiful fisheries of salmon, herring, and pilchards, 

 which, salted and barrelled, are every year exported to foreign parts, and yield 

 a considerable return to the merchants." Sir William Temple, the philosophic 

 secretary for Ireland, whose acquaintance with Holland had proved to him the 

 value of the wealth she drew from our seas, writes to the lord lieutenant in 

 1673, "the fisheries of Ireland might prove a mine under water as rich as any 

 under ground ;" and he might have added not so capable of exhaustion. 



