223 



the last and highest importance, the increase of our means to make 

 mariners, while those of our enemies must, in the same propor- 

 tion, be crippled, show the wisdom of preserving the ' vantage 

 ground' we now stand upon. /* nd your excellency's memorialists 

 feel the more urgent in their present representation, as the pros- 

 pects which happily have recently opened in Europe, may afford 

 a well-grounded hope that the time is not very remote when 

 negotiations may be opened for the return of permanent peace. 



" From the protection afforded to the trade of this island by 

 your excellency, as well as by his excellency, sir John B. War- 

 ren, a great number of fishing vessels have gone to Labrador from 

 Nova-Scotia, the number of them employed on the Labrador shores 

 this season has been double, and the absence of their former intru- 

 ders has enabled them to fish unmolested. Your excellency's me- 

 morialists beg to press upon your serious consideration, of which 

 they cannot too often urge the important policy, should fortunately 

 the circumstances of Europe ultimately encourage such a hope, of 

 wholly excluding foreigners from sharing again in the advantages 

 of fishing, from which a large proportion of our best national de- 

 fence v/ill be derived." 



The following extracts from Colquhoun's Treatise on the Wealth, 

 Power, and Resources of the British empire, further illustrate the 

 views of the British government in relation to the contested fish- 

 furies at the negotiation of Ghent, and the value of these fisheries. 

 The first edition of Colquhoun's work was published on the 20th 

 of July, 1814 ; the second edition, from which these extracts were 

 made, on the 18th of April, 1815. In the interval between these 

 two periods, the negotiation at Ghent commenced and terminated, 

 and Mr. Russell's letter from Paris was written. 



Extracts from Colquhoun's Treatise on the Wealth, Power, and Resources of 

 the British empire — 2d edit. l8l5. 



« The value of these fisheries (of the British colonies in North 

 *' America,) to the parent state, will be more obvious after the 

 *• lapse of 20 or 30 years, than at present. Certain it is, however, 

 " that their value is beyond all calculation : and their preservation 

 ♦' as a part of the British empire, is of the most vital importance." 

 — p. 16, note. See also p. 424. 



The value of these fisheries, in the table No. 8, p. 3G, is esti- 

 mated at £ 7,550,000 sterling. 



*' New-Brunswick and Nova-Scotia, from being both watered by 

 " the Bay of Fundy, enjoy advantages over Canada, which more 

 ** than compensate a greater sterility of soil. These arc to be 

 '' traced to the valuable and extensive fisheries in the Bay of Fun- 

 ** dy, which, in point of abundance and variety of the finest fish, 

 " exceed all calculation^ and may be considered as a mine of gold- - 



