JAMES II. AND AFTER 533 



unsettled parts of the coast of Nova Scotia, the Magdalen 

 Islands, and Labrador, so long as these parts remained unsettled. 1 

 It will be observed that by this treaty the liberty of fishing in 

 the territorial waters of the British possessions in America was 

 conceded to the citizens of the United States, who had exer- 

 cised the fishery before their independence was declared. They 

 continued to enjoy the right which they had had as British 

 subjects after they had ceased to be British subjects, and they 

 did so until the war of 1812. 



With regard to the fisheries at home, in whose interest James I. 

 had originally raised the question of the sovereignty of the sea, 

 the clamour against the Dutch gradually died out, or was only 

 heard at intervals and received but scant attention. Pamphlet- 

 eers continued to denounce the liberty allowed to foreigners to 

 fish along the British coasts, and drew the usual picture of the 

 great national advantage that would flow from the creation of 

 native fisheries to rival those of the Dutch. 2 Under James II., 

 William, Anne, and the Georges, the policy of fostering the 

 fisheries by protective legislation and by means of organised 

 societies or associations was continued, with but little good 

 result. The most serious attempt was made in the middle 

 of the eighteenth century, when an Act was passed 3 for the 

 incorporation of "The Society of the Free British Fishery," 

 giving power to raise a stock of 500,000, and guaranteeing 

 3 per cent interest on the sum raised within eighteen months, 

 which amounted to 104,509, as well as conferring various 

 privileges and immunities, including a tonnage bounty to 

 encourage the equipment of busses. This society, which was 

 incorporated in the autumn of 1750, with the Prince of Wales 

 as Governor, had a chequered career. Its headquarters were 

 pitched at Southwold, Suffolk, where docks were built and 



1 Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and the United States of America, signed 

 at Paris, 3rd Sept. 1783, Art. viii. Martens, Recueil, iii. 556. 



2 Gander, A Vindication of a National Fishery, wherein is asserted that the Glory, 

 Wealth, Strength, Safety, and Happiness of this Kingdom . . . doth depend (under 

 God) upon a National Fishery . . . to which is added the Sovereignty of the British 

 Seas, 1699. Puckle, England's Way to Wealth and Honour, 1699. A Discourse 

 concerning the Fishery, 1695. The British Fishery recommended to Parliament, 

 1734. The Wealth of Great Britain in the Ocean Exemplified, 1749, &c., &c. 



3 23 Geo. II., c. 24, 1750. An Act for the Encouragement of the British White 

 Herring Fishery. 



