161 



by wliicli it was incessantly assailrd, tlicy pursued ihc'iv occupation in 

 small boats during the day, returned to their homes at night, and hauled 

 their craft above the reach and fury of the waves. They stated, also, 

 that the number of fishermen upon the island was nearly two hundred; 

 that they caught from ten to fifteen thousand quintals of fish annually, 

 about half of which were pickled and the remainder dried. The com- 

 mittee to whom the petition was referred made an adverse report, and 

 legislation in their behalf was refused. 



The embargo and other restrictive measures which preceded the 

 war of 1S12 j)roduced the most disastrous r(\-<ults in IVew England. 

 In ISQS, and during the existence of the prohibitory acts, a laimber of 

 citizens of Boston petitioned Congress for liberty to export a quantity 

 of pickled and dried fish in their warehouses, and liable to rot or decay 

 if kept ckiring the summer months. But the government declined 

 interlerence, and property of this description was allowed to perish in 

 most of the fishing towns, to the utter ruin of many of its owners. 

 These losses were followed b}' others; and as the results of the policy 

 of our own rulers, as well as the seizure and confiscation of cargoes 

 of fish in ports of Europe under the memorable decrees of Napoleon, 

 the distresses of all classes of persons engaged in the catching and 

 curing the products of the sea became in the end general and akuming. 



DurinGT the war with Kngland, the distant fishing grounds wxre aban- 

 doned. The British colonists determined that we sliould never occupy 

 them more. The duties .which devolved on Messrs. Adams, Clay, 

 Gallatin, Bayard, and Russell, the American commissioners at Ghent, 

 were consequently difficult and arducuis. On tlie one hand, they were 

 expected to arrange conditions of peace, and yet were instructed, in 

 terms which admitted of no discretion, to break off their consultations 

 and return home, rather than allow the subject of surrendering the fish- 

 eries to come under discussion; on the other hand, the British plenipo- 

 tentiaries met them with the doctrine that the privileges were entirely 

 destroyed by hostilitie-:. " These gentlemen," said the kite President 

 Adams, " after commencing the negotiations wuth the loftiest pretensions 

 of conquest, finally settled down into the determination to keep Moose 

 island* and the fisheries to themselves. This was the object of their 

 deepest solicitu'de. Their efforts to obtain our acquiescence in their 

 pretensions, that the fishing liberties had been forfeited by the war, 

 were unwearied. They ])resented it t(^ us in every form that ingemiity 

 could devise. It was the fiist stumbling-block and the last obstacle to 

 the conclusion of the treaty." t 



* Moose island, in the Bay of Pussiiniafiuoddy, and former name of Eaatport. This town 

 was captured in July, 1814, aud retained for more than three years after the peaee. On tho 

 30tli of June, Irsld, it wa« surrendered to the United States with imposing forms and cere- 

 umnii'.s. 



t Thi- f'llldwin;; letter, addressed I)y .Iiilin Adams fo President Madison during the negoti- 

 ations at Ghent, is derived from an autheulic souree: 



QuiNcv, Xoirmlirr2f^, IHM. 



Dr.AR Sir: \\Tien my son departed for Iiiissia, I enjoined upon iiim to write nothing to me 

 whieh ht; was not willing should be puidished in l*'reneli and Knglisli newspapers, llo lias very 

 Bcrnpulon.sly observed iln' rule. 



I have beiu e(iually reserved in my letters to him; but tho prineijile on both sides haH been 

 to me a cruel privation, for his eorreK])ondeni-e w hen absent, and his couverKation when prei^ont 

 has been a. principal enjoyment of my life. 

 11 



