53 



In 1771, thn nnmhor of souls nt Newfonindlnrifl was 3,449 Englisn, 

 and 3,34S Irish. la 177-5, merchants "at lioinc" wero oncourn^ed to 

 continue their adventures, by an act of Parliament, which allowed a 

 bountv of £40 to the first twenty-five ships, £20 to the next hundred, 

 and £10 to the .*ecoiid hundred, that should mnke fares of fish before 

 the niiddl*^ of July, ;md proct>ed to "the banks" for a second- liidiniy. 



Loi'd North's bill to prohibit the people of New England li-om fishing 

 at Newfoundland, which was passed in the year last named, will be 

 noticed particularl}'' elsewhere. 



During the discussion pending these measures — ^the one to "encour- 

 age," the other to "starve" sul)jects of the realm — Martineaux Shuld- 

 ham, who hnd been governor of Newfoundland three years, was exam- 

 ined at the bar of the Commons. The material part of his testimony 

 may be thus stated: that the catch of fish in 1774 was 739,877 quin- 

 tals, and that 23,652 men were employed in the fishery, all of whom 

 became sailors. 



With regnrd to the fishermen of New England, he said that few of 

 them ever entered the British n.ivy; that he had heard gi^eat complaints 

 of the outrages they committed on the coast; that they carried on an 

 illicit trade with the French, meeiing them on the sea and selling them 

 not onlv provisions and lumber, but vessels also; and that, in the French 

 war, few of them had served in his Mtijesty's shi])s-of-war. 



At the peace of 17S3, the English Newfoundland fishery — interrupted 

 by hostilities — was rc^sumed with spirit, and prosecuted with success; 

 and three years after, the bounty act of 1775 was renewed for a speci- 

 fied term. The condition of the colonists remained, however, without 

 material change. I find it stated that a gentleman formerly connected 



transatlantic fishintj vessels, having move nnmorous crows, constitutes a statistical difference 

 amoniitint,' to 2(i,(H)() sailors tisaiiist Kimlaiid, without iiicludiiij,' the United States — a fact that 

 oujfht nor. and, beiii;^ knf)\vn, ciuiiiot tn' looked on with indiflerence. 



Transatlantic steam-packets receive nationiil snpjjort, amounting to hundreds of thousands 

 of ])ounds a year, withoTit complaint being made even by the most zealous free-trade advocate, 

 because such vessels may j)rove useful in war. How, then, can tiie policy of granting a pre- 

 mium, thus forc<'d upon us, in order to presei-ve our imrsery f(»r seamen, be considered other- 

 wise than the cheapest means of manning our ships-ol-war? Such premium, for the de(;p-8ea 

 fishery vessels resorting to Europe, ought to be accomj)anied by iumiuniiy to <iur in-shoro 

 colonial fi-ilu-rmcn from the tax on foot, (from which the parent State is ha[ipily free.) and by 

 a reb-a'-e from otlier imposts, from which the French fisherman, under naval authority, m 

 wkidly exempt. 



IJrevity lieiug essential to admittance into your c<dumns, reference nniy be made for im- 

 portant derails to "Morris's Fishery of Newfoundhmd," containing [)etitions and remonstrance 

 of inhatiitant.s, which assuredly have never been read by our cobmial adminisfraiion, though 

 pressiugly urged for consicb-ration. 



Vessels-of-war are obviously not re<piired for the protection of the deep-sea fishery which 

 has ceiiscfl to exi.st, ; nor are they necessary for the security o( the un<listurbed c(donial ])uut8 

 which fish ill-shore. The stationing more vi-ssels-of-war to giiiird the fishery is ther<'fi)re a 

 mistake, oriciiiating in a want of knowledge of facts. l''isli caught by the Mrilish subjects 

 ♦•aiinot be suld witli pinflf eitiier ill coiuineiital Europe or in the I'nit^'d States. In l-)4'.i, ihtj 

 duty paid on Miiti^h fi^li in the ports of the I'nited SUites waa $163,000, wWle the premium 

 awarded to their own fishermen was .'j;21l{,i:{'2. 



Those who desire further insight into the circumstances of our western cidonies, espe<iaHy 

 as regards the fisheries of Xewfonndl.ind, may consult a painpblet published by Ividgway, cou- 

 tainiug a statistical map, which ought to br iironglit to the knowledge of those who posaosa 

 the power to avert inipending national inischirfs. 



I am, sir, your often otdiged and obcdimt senant, 



DUNDONALD. 



Lctno.s, August I. 



