THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 503 



1815 ;* and although this grant had been constantly made 

 in the last years of the ancient Republic, the fiction of its 

 exceptional character was upheld even now, and the 

 permission was given for one year only, and renewed after- 

 wards. The old exemption from excise duty on salt was 

 likewise restored, for the benefit of all herring and cod 

 fishery, by the law on salt excise duty of September I5th, 

 i8i6;f and a Decree of May 3Oth, i8i/t besides estab- 

 lishing peculiar facilities for the enjoyment of this 

 immunity, in the shape of credit for excise duty not 

 subject to the common bonded warehouse rules, held out a 

 special premium of fl.3 per last of salt cod-fish brought into 

 port, and a general bounty on exportation of salt cod or 

 herring. Another decree, dated July 3ist, i8i7, estab- 

 lished facilities of a similar nature for unrefined salt used 

 free of excise duty by the North Sea coast fresh herring 

 (or steurJiaring) fishery. In a word/no efforts were spared 

 to promote a speedy rising of the national fisheries ; and 

 as the sea was now free, and national labour anxious to 

 take avail of the withdrawal of the fetters imposed by 

 foreign domination, the herring-fishery, and its corollary the 

 North Sea cod-fishery, soon reached something approach- 

 ing their status of the latter part of the former century. 



Whaling was likewise attempted afresh, under the stimulus 

 of the very important premium offered ; but the attempts 

 were timidly made, generally in old and wretched vessels, 

 and the trade never regained anything like a rank worth 

 mentioning among the Dutch sea-fisheries in the present 

 century. A whaling company (limited) was chartered at 



* Staatsblad, 1815, No. 34. 



t Ibid. 1816, No. 36. 



\ Bijvoegsel tot het Staatsblady 1817, p. 220. 



Ibid. p. 236. 



