1740 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



"It will be seen by reference to the notes in the table annexed to this chapter, that the in 

 habitant* of the L'nited Slates derive incalculable advantages, and employ a vast number of 

 men and vessels in the fisheries in the river St. Lawrence, and on the coast of Nova Scotia, 

 tchUh etflusirely belong to Great Britain. This dense population of the Northern States, and 

 their local situation in = the vicinity of the most prolific fishing stations, have enabled them to 

 acquire vast wealth by the indulgence of this country." (p. 313 ) 



" It ought ever to be kept in view, that (with the exception of the small islands of St. Pierre 

 and Miquelon restored to France by the Treaty of Paris, in May, 1840) the whole of the 

 most valuable fisheries of North America exdusitely belong at this present time to the British 

 Crown, which gives to this country a monopoly in all the markets in Europe and the West 

 Indies, or a right to a certain valuable consideration from all foreign nations to whom the 

 British Government may concede tbe privilege of carrying on a fishery in these seas." (p. 

 314.) 



" Private fisheries are a source of great profit to the individuals, in this and other countries, 

 who have acquired a right to such fisheries. Why, therefore, should not the United King- 

 dom derive a similar advantage from the fisheries it possesses within the range of its extensive 

 territories in North America (perhaps the richest and most prolific in the world), by declar- 

 ing every ship and vessel liable to confiscation which should presume to fish in those seas 

 without previously paying a tonnage duty, and receiving a license limited to a certain period 

 when fisn may be caught, with the privilege of curiug such fish in the British Territories ? All 

 nations to have an equal claim to such licenses, limited to certain stations, but to permit none 

 to supply the British West Indies, except His Majesty's subjects, whether resident in the 

 colonies or in the parent state." (p. 315.) 



St. John's or Prince EdicartTs Island. 



" FISHERIES. This island is of the highest importance to the United Kingdom. Whether 

 the possession of it be considered in relation to the Americans, or as an acquisition of a great 

 maritime power, it is worthy of the most particular attention of government. Mr. Stewart 

 has justly remarked, in his account of that island (page 296), that the fishery carried on, 

 from the American States, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for some years past is very extensive, 

 and is known to be one of the greatest resources of the wealth of the Eastern States, from 

 which about 2,000 schooners, of from 70 to 100 tons, are annually sent into the gulf. Of 

 these about 1,400 make their fish in the Straits of Belleisle and on the Labrador shore, from 

 whence what is intended for the European market is shipped off without being sent to their 

 own ports. About six hundred American schooners make their fares on the north side ot 

 the island, and often make two trips in a season, returning with full cargoes to their own 

 porU, where the fish are dried. The number of men employed in this fishery is estimated at 

 between fifteen and twenty thousand, and the profits on it are known to be very great. To 

 see such a source of wealth and naval power on our coasts, and in our very harbors, aban- 

 doned to the Americans is much to be regretted, and would be distressing were it not that 

 the means of reoccupying the whole, with such advantages as must soon preclude all com- 

 petition, is afforded in the cultivation and settlement of Prince Edward's Island." pp. 318, 

 31*. 



It must be remembered that these statements were for the last 10 

 years of the last, and the first 10 years of the present century. 



We are not informed where the 50,000 barrels of mackerel were then 

 caught, but we have the opinion of Senator Tuck, cited at pages9 and 10 of 

 British Brief, who says : 



Perhaps I should be thought to charge the Commissioners of 1818 with overlooking our 



They did so in the important renunciation which I have quoted, but they are 



is to no complaint for so doing. In 1818 we took no mackerel on the coast of British 



Meuiotu, and there was no reason to anticipate that we should ever have occasion to do 



.ckerel were then found as abundant on the coast of New England as anywhere in 



it was not until jears after that this beautiful fish, in a great degree, left our 



Irom the assertions of seemingly well informed Gloucester officials, 



accepted as such by the American counsel, the state of things described 



these Boston gentlemen in 1815 would have undergone a complete 



hange, not progressively and in accordance with the laws of nature ; 



bat, on the contrary, the species and quantity of fish caught in our 



aters, and the number of vessels aud men engaged in that business, 



