76 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



that the delegates be furnished with a copy of the memorial, aad be 

 required to take the action indicated in the report. 



In addition to the action of the genera 1 , court, the town also sent 

 William Rotch and Samuel Starbuck to Philadelphia to intercede per- 

 sonally in the matter. After conferring with General Lincoln, Samuel 

 Osgood, Nathaniel Gorham, Thomas Fitzsiinmons, and James Madi- 

 son, they approached one of the Massachusetts delegation who was a 

 resident of Boston, and who was greatly prejudiced against Nantucket. 

 After an interview of about two hours with no apparent relaxation of 

 the bitterness of feeling on his part, Mr. Rotch questioned him as to 

 whether the whalc-^shery was "worth preserving to this country ?" 

 He replied, " Yes." il Can it be preserved in the present state of things 

 by any place except Nantucket?" " No." " Can we preserve it unless 

 you and the British will both give us permits V " No." " Then, pray," 

 continued Mr. Rotch, " where is the difficulty ? " Thus this interview 

 ended. Messrs. Rotch and Starbuck then drew up a memorial and pre- 

 sented it to the consideration of the above-named gentlemen, desiring 

 them to review it, at the same time telling them of the conversation be- 

 tween Mr. Rotch and the delegate from Boston. By advice of these 

 friends they Avaited again upon the member from Massachusetts, and ht» 

 accepted the charge of bringing the subject before Congress, where, after 

 deliberation, it was determined to grant permits for thirty-five vessels 

 to sail on whaling voyages, and these were accordingly granted and 

 delivered. The very next day a vessel arrived from Europe bringing 

 the rumor of the signing of a provisional treaty of peace.* 



This was early in 1783.f The passage from the provisional to the 

 definitive treaty was long, circuitous, and at times dark. One of the 

 chief sources of difference was the settlement of the question of the fish- 

 eries, England with an apparent feeling of magnanimity conceding fav- 

 ors, and America with a sense of justice claiming rights. Against what 

 the United States considered her just dues the diplomacy of the English, 

 their late enemies, and the French, their recent allies, was arrayed, and 

 nothing but firmness, sagacity, and skill on the part of the x\inerican 

 commissioners saved the day. The English guarded their assumptions 

 with all possible jealousy ; the French sought a loose place in the 

 armor to insert the diplomatic sword, and gain by treaty what they 

 had been unable to sustain with force. The Americans were ever on 

 the alert to overcome the prejudices of a power from whom they had 

 conquered a peace, and to propitiate the supersensitiveness of a power 

 which had rendered them so valuable assistance. They could not, how- 

 ever, depart from certain propositions. The articles which must be in- 

 violate were those guaranteeing to America full and unconditional iude- 



* Memoranda of Win. Rotch — unpublished. 



t On the 22d of March, 1783, an order was passed in Congress granting 33 licenses to 

 Nantucket vessels to whale and to secure them from the penalty attached to double 

 papers. (Madison Papers, p. 405.) 



