147 



The final question was taken in the House of Lords on the 21st of 

 March, when the bill passed by a decisive majority. The peers in 

 minority — twenly-oue in number only — entered a solemn protest, em- 

 bodying the objections they had uttered in the debates. This docu- 

 ment is one of the most earnest and eloquent state papers on record. A 

 single passage will indicate its general tone: "Wc dissent," said these 

 n()l)lemen, "because the attempt to coerce, by fiimine, the wliole bod}* 

 of the inhabitants of great and populous provinces, is without example 

 in the history of this or, perhaps, of any civilized nation, and is one of 

 those unhappy inventions to which Parliament is driven by the diffi- 

 culties which daily multiply upon us from an obstinate adherence to an 

 unAvise plan of government. We do not know exactly the extent of 

 the combination against our commerce in New England and the other 

 colonies; but we do know the extent of the punishment we inflict upon 

 it, which is univ^ersal, and includes all the inhabitants: among these, 

 many are admitted to be innocent, and several are alleged by ministers 

 to be, in their sense, even meritorious. That government which at- 

 temi)ts to preserve its authority by destroying the trade of its subjects, 

 and by involving the innocent and guilty in a common ruin, if it acts 

 from a choice of such means, confesses itself unworth}'^ ; if from inability 

 to find any other, admits itself wholly incompetent to the ends of its 

 institution."* 



Having destroyed the fisheries of Ncav England, Lord North, on the 

 ] 1th of April, moved that the House of Commons do resolve itself into 

 a committee of the whole house, on the 27th instant, to consider the 

 encouragement proper to be given to the fisheries of Great Britain and 

 Ireland. He introduced his motion with disclaiming any motives of 

 resentment against America, b}^ the present measure, or meaning it 

 eitlier directh^ or indirectly to oppress that country. The fisheries, in 

 his judgment, when well conducted and properly dir(x-ted, were an in- 

 exhaustible fund of riches; l()r, while the\' extended British commerce 

 and kept open a continual advantageous intercourse with foreign na- 

 tions, they increased the naval strength of the kingdom, and were, con- 

 se([uently, the great source of that power which gave it the pre-emi- 

 nence over all other nations of Europe. Such was the tenor of his 

 remarks. 



On the day proposed by his lordship, the House considered the sub- 

 ject, in the manner suggested. A bill was framed which granted boun- 



* Botta, in his Iliston' of the Revolution, tliiis speaks of this measure: " The niinisfry," he 

 remarks, "thus t^iiided, as usual, t)\ their spirit of infatiialiun, coiilided their cause, not 

 to tlie certain operation of armies, but to the su])posed iiicoiistaucy and partiality of ilie 

 Ameri<'an people. L'j)on such a foundation Lord North j)roposed a new hill, tlie object of 

 wbicli was to resti'iet the comnierci' of IS'ew Miifiland to (ireiit IJritain, Ireland, and Il:e ^\'est 

 luiliii isliinds: and proliilul, at the same tinu-, the fishery of Newfoundland. The picjiidice 

 that must liave resullcMl from this act to tlie iiihal)itiini s nC .New I'ji<;laiul may be calciilatod 

 from the siiinh; fact, that they annually employed in ihis business about forty-si.\ thoii.-;uid tous, 

 and six tliousand seamen; and the produce realised tVom it, in forei<^'n markets, amounled to 

 tliree hundred and twenty thousand lanmds stei'liii;;. 'ihis hill, however, did not pass without 

 opposition in the two houses; on tin- contrary, tiic del)aies and the aKilatiiui it e.xcited were 

 vehement in iiotli. Many (d' tlie members exerted all tlieir etforts f^» defeat if; and more than 

 any the Muripiis of Kockiii({hani, who ]ireseuted to this end a petition of the Lon^Ion lucr- 

 chautH. Tlur bill was, however, ajiiMoved by a f,'reat miijority. The oiipiisiuon protefted; (lie 

 uiiiiisters scurccl)' Jtijjnt'd lo perceive it," «!tc., «S:o. 



