158 



To omit the statements and arguments of Mr. Goodhue and of Mr. 

 Thacher, who participated in the debate, and sustained the main po- 

 sitions of Mr. Ames, we will refer, in conclusion, to the declarations of 

 Mr. Gerry.* " At a time when the policy of every countr}^," said 

 he, " is pointed against us, to suppress our success in the fisheries, 

 when it is with extreme difficulty that it continues its existence, shall 

 we lay burdens upon it which it is unable to support? If this import- 

 ant interest is injured, it will not only destroy the competition with for- 

 eigners, but will induce the peoyleto sell their j^foperfy in the United States 

 and remove to Nova Scotia, or some other jilace, where they can inoscciite 

 their hvsincss wider the inot('Ction of goverrimenty * * * * "I will not 

 reiterate the arguments respecting the fisheries : it is well known to be 

 the best nursery for seamen ; the United States have no other ; and it 

 never can be the intention of gentlemen to leave the navigation of the 

 Union to the mercy of foreign powers. It is of necessity, then, that we 

 lay the foundation of our maritime importance as soon as may be, and 

 this can be done only by encouraging our fisheries. It is well known 

 that we have a number of rivals in this business, desirous of excluding 

 us from the fishing banks altogether. This consideration of itself is 

 sufficient to induce a wise legislation to extend every encouragement 

 to so important a concern." 



Congress were not unmindful of these representations and appeals. 

 An act was passed in 17S9, which allowed a bounty of five cents per 

 quintal on dried, and the same sum per barrel on pickled fish exported 

 from, and imposed a duty of fifty cents the quintal and of seventy -five 

 cents the barrel on foreign fish imported into, the United States. The 

 system of protection, of bounties, and allowances, is as old, theretbre, as 

 the government itself, and was devised and adopted by the statesmen 

 of the Revolution. 



In 1790, Washington, in his speech to Congress, remarked that " our 

 fisheries and the transportation of our own produce offer us abundant 

 means for guarding ourselves against" the evil of depending upon foreign 

 vessels. The Senate waited upon the President and the Vice President 

 with an address. Among its topics we find the following : " The nav- 

 igation and the fisheries of the United States are objects too interesting 

 not to inspire a disposition to promote them by all the means which 

 shall appear to us consistent with their natural progress and permanent 

 prosperity." Mr. Hamilton, in his report as Secretary of the Treasury, 

 suggested that a reduced duty on the article of pickled fish, under the 

 circumstances of the time, would prove advantageous, but admitted 

 that he was not in possession of all the facts of the case, and, deferring 

 to members of the House familiar with the subject, declined to hazard 

 a decisive opinion. Such were the official acts relative to the fishing 

 interest, at the opening of the session. The relief afforded the previous 



, *The Hon. Elbridge Gerry was a native of Marblehead, the ancient fishing capital of Mas- 

 Bachusetts, and a graduate of Harvard University. He devoted several years to commercial 

 pursuits, and acquired a competent estate. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independ- 

 ence, minister to France, governor of Massachusetts, and Vice President of the United States. 

 He died at Washington in 1814, at the age of seventy. His life, by Hon. James T. Austin, of 

 Boston, who married his daughter, contains much matter relative to the maritime affairs of 

 the Kevolutiou, not to be met with elsewhere. 



