182 



gree, and at times, indeed, to render attentian to them nearly itd~ 

 possible. After the peace of 1763, maritime enterprises were again 

 undertaken with spirit and success, and the fishing towns shared in the 

 general prosperity. But the controversies that produced civil war, and 

 finally a dismemberment of the British empire, had alread}^ commenced, 

 and soon disturbed every branch of industry. The fisheries suffered 

 first, and at the shedding of blood were suspended. The political 

 history of the fifteen years that preceded the Revolution relates to all 

 New England, and will form a separate chapter. 



NEAV ENGLAND. 



From the commencement of the RevoIutio7iary Controvermj to the Declaration 



oj Independence, 



In tracing the origin and progress of the fisheries of New England, 

 we have seen that they furnished our first articles of export, and laid 

 the foundation of our navigation and commerce.* It was so in Europe. 

 Of the present maritime powers of the Old World, there is scarcely 

 one that does not owe much of its commercial prosperity to the same 

 branch of industry. Some fugitives from the wrath of the monster 

 Attila fied to the isles of the Adriatic, wliere, of necessity, they adopted 

 the avocation of fishermen. By this employment, steadily continued, 

 Venice in a few centuries became renowned for her wealth, commerce, 

 and naval strength. The origin of the republic was celebrated for a 

 long period, and the omission or refusal of a Doge to provide the cus- 

 tomary banquet, and to submit to the fishermen's embrace, allowed by 

 his predecessors on this national festival, made the name of Contarini 

 kateful, and well nigh caused the subversion of all legal restraint, and 

 the overthrow of the reigning family. t Genoa, too, grew rich and pow- 



* The fisheries are identified, indeed, with the earliest mention of commerce. The Phoeni- 

 cians culled a fish sidon ; hence, according to some, Sidou, the most ancient of maritime cities, 

 derived its name from the abmidance of fishes that inhabited the waters near its site. Tyre, 

 which in Scripture story is called the " daughter of Sidon," was founded by Sidonians, and 

 became the greatest commercial mart of the ancient world. Stutfs dyed with the purple fluid 

 which was extracted from a particular kind of shell-fish formed one of the most extensive 

 branches of its trade and sources of its wealth. The Tyrians, by their industry and skill, 

 carried this precious dye, which in value disputed with gold itself, to the highest possible 

 degree of perfection. None but those of imperial dignity or of vast wealth could wear these 

 purple-colored stuffs ; and Rome, in her days of concjuest and power, conferred them as the 

 highest houor she could bestow upon such of her emperors, consuls, and warriors as she 

 decreed a triumph. Specimens of the purple fish have been found occasionally, in modem 

 times, on the shores of France and Britain ; but the Tyrian dye, as a branch of the arts, ia 

 now lost. Tyre herself has met the doom pronounced by Ezckiel. 



t The fugitives from the oppression of Attila devoted themselves to fishing and the manu- 

 facture of salt— the only employments which their scanty territory permitted. The growth 

 of Venice was rapid. In the course of five centuries the small band of exiles and fishennen 

 became a rich, powerfid, and independent nation. The custom was finally adopted of inviting 

 the fishermen to the capital to a public banquet every year, and to permit them to embrace 

 the Doge at its conclusi(ju. They were gratified with the privilege, and unwillingly relin- 

 quished it. But when the aristocracy was firmly established, some of the nobles revolted from 

 this "supple bonneting" of the people; and a Contarini, when in authority, refused the feast 

 and the kiss of fraternity. "His denial, if persisted in," remarks a historian, "might have 

 shaken Venice to its base. When the fishermen assembled on the appointed day, and clamor- 

 ously demanded admission, it was long before the reluctant Doge was prevailed upon to 

 appear ; and even wheu he did, he was masked. His guests approached him iadividually, in- 



