THE NORTHEAST COAST FISHERIES 477 



ment of such an act would deprive over sixty-two hundred 

 inhabitants of Massachusetts of the means of livelihood, and 

 throw out of employment ten thousand persons. An expert 

 witness from Nantucket declared that the great number of 

 people then engaged in the fisheries in New England, if de- 

 prived of the right of following their calling, could only 

 subsist "perhaps three months." 



After a stormy debate in both Houses of Parliament, the 

 bill was passed March 21, 1775. The passage of this act, so 

 well calculated to destroy the fisheries of the New England 

 colonies, was soon followed by a motion of Lord North, then 

 the British Premier, that the " House do resolve itself into a 

 committee of the whole to consider the encouragement proper 

 to be given to the fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland." 



During the entire period of the war, the fisheries of New 

 England as a business ceased, and the fishermen took an 

 active part in the conflict. In the negotiations of the colo- 

 nies with France, seeking her aid against England, a proposi- 

 tion was advanced to attempt jointly the capture of Canada 

 and Newfoundland, and if successful, to divide between France 

 and the United States all fishing privileges accruing there- 

 from. The plan was never seriously entertained by France, 

 and was lost sight of in the United States, amid the stirring 

 events of the Revolution. 



Although systematic prosecution of work was necessarily 

 abandoned during the war, the importance and value of the 

 fisheries were steadily kept in view, and after the termination 

 of the conflict the necessity of preserving these interests is 

 evidenced by numerous resolutions of Congress, and is further 

 indicated in the debates of various state legislatures (espe- 

 cially in New England), and in frequent utterances of the 

 public men of the times. It seems to have been believed by 

 many American statesmen of that day that because New 

 England fishermen had contributed their share of blood and 

 treasure in the joint struggles against France for the purpose 

 of securing fishery rights in the Canadian waters, it followed 

 as a natural and legal consequence that Americans must have 

 a perfect right to their continued enjoyment quite irrespective 



