118 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



New England. England would lose annually between 

 200,000 and 300,000 in returns from the codfishery, as 

 all apparatus, fittings and ship chandlery used in New 

 England came from the mother country, being paid for in 

 cod and whale products. In addition, there would be the 

 loss of 1,000,000 that was due the British merchants. 1 



When the bill was finally taken up for consideration on 

 the 6th of March, the discussions were resumed with vigor. 

 Among those to take an active part in the opposition were 

 Fox, Burke, Townsend, Lord John Cavendish and Lord 

 Camden. The last named spoke with great feeling, char- 

 acterizing the measure as a "bill of pains, penalties, and 

 coercion, not of commercial regulations." And further he 

 stated, "The true character of the bill is violent and hos- 

 tile. It is a bill of war; it draws the sword, and in its 

 necessary consequences plunges the Empire into civil and 

 unnatural war." Lord North, however, was not without 

 a good following and the bill was passed by the House 

 of Lords on the 21st of March by a considerable majority. 



Twenty-one peers who were in the minority entered pro- 

 test which embodied the principal arguments they had used 

 during the course of the debates. The opening paragraph 

 of their document is well worth repeating for its earnest- 

 ness, its eloquence, and the spirit of humanity that it ex- 

 presses. The passage is as follows: "We dissent because 

 the attempt to coerce, by famine, the whole body of the 

 inhabitants of great and populous provinces, is without 

 example in the history of this or, perhaps, of any civilized 

 nation, and is one of those unhappy inventions to which 

 Parliament is driven by the difficulties which daily multi- 

 ply upon us from an obstinate adherence to an unwise 

 plan of government. We do not know exactly the extent 

 of the combination against our commerce in New Eng- 

 land and the other colonies; but we do know the extent of 



i American Archives, 4th series, I, pp. 1639^1675, passim. 



