134 



great marts of Europe.* Of France I may remark, that her fishermen 

 founded her marine, and that chief among her early offensive opera- 

 tions upon the ocean was the armament fitted jout by this class of her 

 people, under the royal sanction, to relieve themselves from the real or 

 fancied oppressions of their English competitors, while employed on the 

 waters common to the subjects of both crowns, in the pursuit of fish. 



Of the origin and rapid increase of the commerce of England, suf- 

 ficient has been said elsewhere, t We proceed to consider the course 

 of the British government towards New England. 



So steadily and successfully were the fisheries pursued by the people 

 of Plymouth, IMassachusetts, New Hampshire, and INIaine, that only 

 fifty years elapsed from the landing of the Puritans, before an English 

 wiiter of high authority in matters of trade expressed his apprehension' 

 as to the events likely to result, in the following remarkable words: 

 "AV?i' Enghind,'''' said he, "/s the most jn-ejud'tclal pla ntal hn tu tins Jcing- 

 dom.^^ And why? Because, "^' a// the Amrrican plinrkitiovs, his Ma- 

 jcstif has 7iune so apt fur hvilding of shpiiing as New E //gland, nor any 

 comparably so qiiaUjifid for the brecdhfg of seamen, not onlij by reason of the 

 natural indust/y of that people, hut p)r'v/cipally by reason of their cod and 

 ma el(crcl fisheries; and, in mif poor opinion, there is noihi/ig mjre 'preju- 

 dicial, and in prospect more davgerons, to any mother liimgdom. than the 

 increase of shipping in her colonies, phn/lations, or provinces.'''' Sir Josiah 

 Child was alarmed too much, probably, at what really was in his own 

 time, but still saw with a prophet's eye w^hat was to be. But the 

 polic}'' of England, fi'om the restoration of the Stuarts down to the 

 lievolution, was in strict accordance wiih the apprehensions expressed 

 by him, and she not only neglected and declined aD support to the nav- 



* The naval power of Denmark elates from an estrly period of mofloDi liistory. Tiiis king- 

 dom consists for the most part of islands and poitlons of the contineut separated from eachr 

 other by deep and stormy seas. lulereommunieatiou naturally produced seamen, while its 

 poor soil drove its people to fishing for subsistence. Canute tlie Sixth, who died in the year 

 1202, paid great attention to the herring fialieries of his dominions. A SchiToniim chronicler 

 describes this branch of industry at this period as productive and profitable, and as bringing, 

 into the country "gold, silver, and all other preciitus things." The exports of herrings from 

 Nalburg, in 17^:0, were more than twenty-three thousand tons, but in 17G5 only about eight, 

 thousand tons. Two years later, a herring company was established at Altona, by royal grant,, 

 for teu years; the King, however, bought up the deeds before the expii-ation of the tenn, and 

 commenced the fishery on his o\vu accotnit. 



While the fisheries of Denniark were in a prosperous condition, Copenhagen, Altona, Kiel, 

 and other ports, were crowded with ships. At present, the commerce of the kingdom is in a. 

 languishing state. In 1801, the Danish navy consisted of tweiity-three ships-of-the-line, thirty- 

 one frigates, guard-ships, and other vessels ; but in 1.^33 it had diuuui>-hed to four siiips-of the- 

 line, seven frigates, and eighteen smaller vessels. The diminution of the commercial marine 

 was quite as large. The seas abound with fish, and, mider regulations, might now, as in Ca- 

 nute's time, bring into Denmark all manner of '• precious things." 



t It may be added here, that about the year 1.0(10, there was but one (juay or wharf in the. 

 city of Loudon. The first was at Billingsgate, the great fish-market. The wharfage or toll 

 was a half-penuy fi>r every boat load of fish which was lauded. 



It may be said, further, that the first dock which ivas constracted in the same city (now so 

 celebrated for its immense docks and warehouses) was used by the Greenland whale-fishers. 



So, too, Liverpool, Eughind — the presentmart of American commerce — was (■nee a poor fish- 

 ing village. It derived its first importance, towards the close of the l'2th century, from the 

 circumstance of Heniyll having used it as a station for the embarkation of troops to Ireland. 



And Glasgow, in the reign of James I of Scotland, was a small village, " con.'iisting of little 

 else than the houses of the clergy belonging to the metropolitan church. A merchant af tlie. 

 name of Eli>hiustou, engaging iu the fisheries upou the coast, and accumulating considerable 

 wealth, inspired his fellow-citizeus with a similar ambitiou." 



