MISCELLANEOUS. 1167 



property in and control over them, and were sustained in their preten- 

 sions by the King. 



The controversy which followed the attempt of the council to main- 

 tain this monstrous claim was fierce and angry in the extreme. 

 The limits of this report will allow but a brief account of it. It 

 commenced in 1621, two years before the voyage of West, and was 

 continued for several years. 



Sir Ferdinando Gorges's narrative of the troubles of the council from 

 this source and others is preserved in the Collections of the Massachu- 

 setts Historical Society, and contains many interesting statements. 

 He had been an officer in Queen Elizabeth's navy, and intimately 

 connected with Mason, who became the grantee of New Hampshire, 

 and, with Sir Walter Raleigh, the father or American colonization, and 

 was as determined as either of them to leave his name in our annals. 

 He was an active, indeed the principal, member of the council, and 

 after its dissolution, acquired Maine in his own individual right. 



The council demanded that every fishing vessel should pay into 

 their treasury a sum equal to about eighty-three cents the ton, which, 

 the small size of the vessels of the period considered, amounted to a 

 tribute probably of more than a hundred dollars from each English 

 ship that should come upon our coast. They had made no settle- 

 ments upon the land, and the tonnage money to be exacted of the 

 fishermen constituted the only present source of revenue from their 

 possessions. 



The spirit of the English people was roused. The Dutch herring- 

 fishery was regarded as the "right arm of Holland," and the imagina- 

 tions of Englishmen were filled with dreams of the fortunes which 

 were certain to be secured from a kindred pursuit in regions where 

 Dutch busses had not adventured ; and the prodigal act of the King in 

 granting to favorites of his court the seas which contained the treas- 

 ures they coveted, caused the most indignant complaints. The 

 House of Commons, obedient to the popular feeling, insisted upon 

 the abrogation of the obnoxious monopoly, and that every English- 

 man should be aUowed to fish at will, without molestation or tribute, 

 within the limits of the council's patent. During the debate which 

 arose, (a sketch of which may be found in Bancroft) the patentees 

 were assailed with great boldness. "What," said Sir Edwin Sandys, 

 "shall the English be debarred from the freedom of the fisheries a 

 privilege which the French and Dutch enjoy? It costs the kingdom 

 nothing but labor; employs shipping; and furnishes the means of a 

 lucrative commerce with Spain." "Nay," replied Calvert, "the 

 fishermen hinder the plantations; they choke the harbors with their 

 ballast, and waste the forests by improvident use. America is not 

 annexed to the realm; you have, therefore, no right to interfere." 



The friends of "free fishing" prevailed in the Commons; but Par- 

 liament was dissolved before a bill embracing and legalizing the fruits 

 of the triumph could be carried through the forms of legislation. The 

 council, giving no heed to the clamors of the people, and disregarding 

 the course of the Commons, sent over West, as we have stated. To 

 enforce the payment of the tribute, and to drive off and break up the 

 voyages of those who refused, were the principal objects of his mission. 

 He found the fishermen too numerous and too stubborn; and, accom- 

 plishing nothing, departed for Virginia, and thence returned to Eng- 

 land. His proceedings and the unyielding disposition manifested by 



