MISCELLANEOUS. 1177 



739,877 quintals, and that 23,652 men were enployed in the fishery, 

 all of whom became sailors. 



With regard to the fishermen of New England, he said that few of 

 them ever entered the British navy; that he had heard great com- 

 plaints of the outrages they committed on the coast; that they 

 carried on an illicit trade with the French, meeting them on the sea 

 and selling them not only provisions and lumber, but vessels also; 

 and that, in the French war, few of them had served in his Majesty's 

 ships-of-war. 



At the peace of 1783, the English Newfoundland fishery inter- 

 rupted by hostilities was resumed with spirit, and prosecuted with 

 success; and three years after, the bounty act of 1775 was renewed 

 for a specified term. The condition of the colonists remained, how- 

 ever, without material change. I find it stated that a gentleman 

 formerly connected with Lord North's administration said, in the 

 course of his testimony before a committee of the Commons, that 

 "the island of Newfoundland had been considered, in all former times, 

 as a great English snip, moored near the Banks during the fishing season, 

 for the convenience of English fishermen;" that "the governor was con- 

 sidered the ship's captain, and all those concerned in the fishing business 

 as his crew, and subject to naval discipline." 



This quaint witness spoke in 1793. The same year, another func- 

 tionary, in his testimony before the same committee, declared that 

 he would "allow no woman to land on the island, and that means should 

 be adopted to remove those" already there. Thus do we conclude the 

 eighteenth century; barely adding, that the influence of the mer- 

 chants was yet sufficient to prevent grants of lands, and that the 

 colonists raised a few garden vegetables for consumption only by 

 violations of State papers and the statute-book. 



For the twenty years preceding 1815, the fishery was prosperous 

 beyond example. The profits to merchants engaged in it were some- 

 times fifty, sixty, eighty, and even one hundred thousand dollars in a 

 single season. Persons who commenced the business entirely des- 

 titute of capital, shared in these enormous gains, and accumulated 

 large fortunes in a short period. It would seem, however, that, as 

 previously, the advantages to the permanent residents were incon- 

 siderable, since the fishery was in the hands of English merchants, 

 whose adventures were conducted by agents, and of those who, on 

 amassing wealth, immediately departed from the island. A sudden 

 and disastrous reverse occurred. 



The quantity of fish exported in 1814 was about one million two 

 hundred thousand quintals, of the value of more than twelve millions of 

 dollars. The quantity shipped in 1815 was hardly less; but the 

 peace produced a ruinous change in price. The decline from eight 

 and nine dollars the quintal, to five, four, and even to less than three 

 dollars, was rapid. Almost universal bankruptcy followed; for two 

 or three years entire suspension of the fishery was the result appre- 

 hended. For awhile, the few merchants who escaped insolvency, 

 utterly hopeless in the general dismay, were bent upon closing their 

 affairs. The common fishermen, in the years of prosperity, had 

 intrusted their savings to their employers, and the distress of this 

 class would have been diminished could these have been recovered; 

 but, losers by the failure ot the merchants to an amount exceeding 

 one million of dollars, and destitute alike of money and of employ- 



