225 



«« rican 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 2000 

 *' schooners, of from 70 to 100 tons, are annually sent into the Gulf ; 

 *' of these, about 1400 make their fish in the Straits of BeUisle, 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 of the island, and often make two trips in a sea- 

 *' son, returning with full cargoes to their own ports, where the fish 

 *' are dried. The number of men employed in this fishery is esti- 

 " mated 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 own coasts, and in our very harbours, 

 *' abandoned to the Americans, is much to be regretted, and would 

 *' be distressing, were it not that the means of re-occupying the 

 " whole, with such advantages as must soon preclude all competi- 

 " tion, is afforded in the cultivation and settlement of Prince Ed- 

 " ward's Island." pp. 318, 319. 



It remains only to notice the painful and invidious industry with 

 which Mr. Russell inculcates the doctrine, that because the direct 

 and immediate interest in these fisheries was confined to the State 

 of Massachusetts, they were, therefore, of no value, either as 

 right, or possession, to the rest of the Union, if any thing could 

 add to the incorrect moral character of this doctrine, it would be 

 the claim of merit for enlarged patriotism and more than disinter- 

 ested virtue in maintaining it. When imputing to the majority of 

 the Ghent mission, the phantom of his own fancy, bj'^ assuming that 

 they had rested a right to the fisheries upon prescription^ among his 

 battering rams against this wind-mill, is the argument that the 

 United States, including their new acquisition of Louisiana, could 

 not claim by prescription, a right which had been exercised only by 

 the people of Massachusetts. The essence of this enlarged patriot- 

 ic sentiment is, that a possession or liberty, the enjoyment or exer- 

 cise of which is, from local causes, confined to one State, is not, 

 and cannot be, a possession or liberty of the whole Union. For 

 suppose prescription had been our only title to this liberty ; Mr. 

 Russell's argument is, that it could not be the liberty of the whole 

 Union, because, if it were, it would have been abrogated by the 

 acquisition of Louisiana ; and the point where this profound inves- 

 tigation lands him, is, to use his own words, that for the fishing li- 

 berty " WE ARE CONSEQUENTLY LEFT WITHOUT ANY TITLE TO IT 



*' WHATSOEVER." This was the last result of his enlarged patriot- 

 ism : for, as to the insinuation in the joint letter of 23th Decem- 

 ber, 1814, which he had signed, that the fishing liberty was a sti- 

 pulated participation of territorial jurisdiction, for necessary pur- 

 poses of the fishery, reserved by the United States in the treaty 

 of separation between the two nations • thi'^ ])rptfn=:ion, he says, 



