THI; WHAM-: FISIIKKY. 121 



"In 1776 the Continental Congress endeavored to induce France to engage in war against 

 Kngland, but in tbe proposed negotiations the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland and the 

 various gulfs and bays of North America were to be understood as not open to a question of 

 division. Spain, too, was applied to. 'The colonies,' says Bancroft, < were willing to assure to 

 Spain freedom from molestation in its territories ; they renounced in favor of France all eventual 

 conquests in the West Indies; but they claimed the sole right of acquiring British continental 

 America and all adjacent islands, including the Bermudas, Gape Breton, and Newfoundland. It 

 was America and not France which first applied the maxim of monopoly to the fisheries. The 

 King of France might retain his exclusive rights on the banks of Newfoundland, as recognized 

 by England in the treaty of 17(i;i, but his subjects were not to fish " in the havens, bays, creeks, 

 roads, coasts, or places," which the United States were to win.'" * 



THE ENGLISH WHALE FISHERY ENCOURAGED. " In the mean time how was England 

 a (leered by her American policy? The colonial fishery being abolished, it became essential that 

 something should be done to replace it, 'and particularly to guard against the ruinous conse- 

 quences of the foreign markets, either changing the course of consumption or falling into the 

 hands of strangers, and those perhaps inimical to this country. The consumption of fish oil as a 

 substitute for tallow was now become so extensive as to render that also an object of great 

 national concern ; the city of London alone expending about 300,000 annually in that com- 

 modity.'t The evidence taken on behalf of the ministry in support of their restraining bill, 

 tending to show that there already existed sufficient capital in ships, men, and money for the 

 immediate and safe transfer of the whale fishery to England, while well enough for partisan pur- 

 poses, was not considered so reliable by the parties bringing it forward, and the Government was 

 not at all desirous or willing to risk a matter of such extreme importance upon the testimony 

 there given. 



" Measures were, accordingly taken to give encouragement to this pursuit to the fishermen 

 and capitalists of Great Britain and Ireland. f The committee having the subject in charge were 

 of the opinion that a bounty should extend to the fisheries to the southward of Greenland and 

 Davis Strait, and at the same time that the duties on oil, blubber, and bone, imported from 

 Newfoundland, should be taken off. It was found that the restraining bill worked serious 

 damage to the people of Newfoundland, and also to the fisheries from the British islands to that 

 coast, as, in order to prevent absolute famine there, it was necessary that several ships should 

 return light from that vicinity in order to carry cargoes of provisions from Ireland to the sufferers 

 there. 



of tlm Colony oi'thc Massachusetts Bay or his .Successors in s d office in the Lawful & Just sum of Two thousand 

 pounds to the which payment well <fe truly to be made we bind ourselves our Heirs Exec' or Administrators, firmly 

 hy these presents sealed w th our seal Dated this fourteenth day of September Anno Dom : 1775. 



" ' The Condition of this obligation is such that whereas I lie above-said Nathaniel Macy is about to Adventure to 

 n a whale Voyage the schooner Dighton Silas Piiddaek Master if then the s d Silas Paddock or any other person 

 who may have the Command of S J schooner Dighton, during S' 1 Voyage shall well & truly bring or Cause to be 

 brought into some, port, or harbour of this Colony except the port of Itostoii or Nantucket ail the oil & whale 

 Bone that shall be taken by s a schooner Dightou in the Course of s' 1 Voyage & produce a Certificate under the 

 hands of the Selectmen of s<i Town Adjoining to such port or harbour that lie there Landed ye same then the above 

 Obligation to lie Void &, of none Effect otherways to stand and remain in full force & virtue. 



' 'XAT- 4 '- MACV. 

 " 'KICH 11 MITCHELL, Ju. 

 "'Signed. .Sealed. & did in presence of us.' 



"C. 



"(Mass. Col. MSS. Misc.. iii. p. til.) 



"The colonial papers of March 28, 177(i, mention that the English frigate Renown, on her passage I o America, took 

 ten sa.il of American whalemen, which were sent to England to avoid the. danger of recapture." 



"Bancroft's U. S., ix, p. 13'2." " t Eng. A unual Keg., 1775, p. 113." 



" t Speech of the Earl of Harcont to the Irish Parliament, October 10, 1775." " $ Animal Reg., 1776, p. 131." 



