vr/ ^ 



I|IJVI1UI|IH1I|I|I|^ 





■*iHww<>jgiBi,ii.iiii.<[|^)lljjigj)^M.X£.j; 



I: ■) 



.ant in Cilouccster, 



\V(> liiivi' .selected 



L-n and owners, said 



.vu stalislies, and the 



n)w en<'a;;ed in tlie l)a> 



■\i; and shore fishi 



tlie l)ay 

 n^', with 



284 



your line of exclusion, do it. If you elioose to tlirow all open, do so. We prefer the 

 latter, as tin; i:;enerous, tiie more ])eaeeful and sale nietliod for both parties, if you 



r refer tiii; forn\er, talse tlie expense of it, take tlie risi\ of it, tai\e the isiiominy of it; 

 f von ;;ive it up, and it eosts yoti anytliinj; to do so, we will pay you what it i.s worth 

 tons." 



I eertainly liope tliat afier our olVerto open the hooks of ai 

 or any number of mereliants, to tlie other side, it will not be 

 our witnesses. Tlio witnessis lliat we i>rou^ht here, boil' 

 that the bay fisliery was dyiiij^ out. They sliow it by 

 statisties oi' the town of riloiicesler show liow few ves- 

 fisliery; that lliey arc eoulining; their attention to tlio eu 

 weirs, nets, pounds, and seines. 



We did not brini;- the bankrupt fish dealers from GloueestiT, the men wlio have lost 

 by attempting; to earry on tlirse iiay rislieries, as we mij^lit have done. We did not 

 briny; those wjioliad found all tlshiiii;- unprofitable, and had moved away from Cil('ueest<T, 

 and tried tlieir hand upon otiier kinds of business. We l)rou.i;lit, on the other hand, 

 tlu> most prosperous men in Ciloueester. We brought those men who had made the 

 most out of the fisheries, the men mIio had i;r()wii richest upon them, and we exhibited 

 their books ; ami as we could not brin.n' up all the account books of Gloucester to this 

 tribunal, we besoui;ht the otiier side to t^o down, or send down a Commission and 

 examine them for thenisrlves. We did not asU them to examine the books of the men 

 who liad become insolvent in tlie business, but the books of those who had been 

 prosperous in tlie business ; and after that, I think we hav(! a rii;lil to say that we have 

 turned (iloueester inside out before this tribunal, with the result of showinj;; tliat the 

 bay lisliiui,' has gradually and steadily diminished, tliat the iiisliore fishery is unprofit- 

 ahie, tliat the bay fishery has been made a means of support only to the most skilful, 

 and by those laborious and frugal methods which I have before described to this 

 tribunal. 



At this point Mr. Dana suspended his argument, and the Commission adjourned 

 until Saturday at noon. 



Sdtimhii, November 10, 1877. 

 Tlie Commissionmet at 12 o'clock, and Mr. Dana continued his argument. 



May it please your Excellency and your Honours: — 



We are met to-day, the seventieth of our session, to hear what may be said by me 

 in behalf of the L'nited States, closing the argument in our favour — a jiost which bv the 

 kindness and jiartiality of my associates has been a.ssigned to me. While without, "all is 

 cheerless and wintry, we have witliin the bright heanis of IViendly, and, if not sympa- 

 thizing, at least, interested countenances. I feel most painfully that, having the last word 

 to say for my country, I may omit something that I ought to have saiil ; or perhaps, 

 which is (piite as ba(i, tiiat I may say more or other than I might well have said. Yet 

 the duty is to be performed. 



I iiave no instructions from my country, gentlemen of the Commission, and no expecta- 

 tion from its Government, that I will attempt to depreciate the value of anything that 

 we receive. We are not to go away like the buyer in the Scriptures, saying, *' It is 

 nouiiht ; it is nought ;" but we have n'fer.ed to a ("ommission, wliieh will stand neutral 

 and impartial, to determine for us; and no proiianiations of opinion, however loud, will 

 have any ellbet upon that Commi.ssion. My country stands ready to pay anything that 

 this Commis.<ion may say it (Might to pay, as I have no doubt Great Britain stands con- 

 tent, if you siiall be oblii;;ed to say, what we think in our own judgment you shtnild .sav, 

 that you cannot see in tiiis extension, along tlie fringes of a great garment, of our right 

 to llsli over portions of this region, anytliing wliicii ecpials tlie money value tliat the 

 Britisii Dominion and Provinces eertainly receive from an obligation oi'i our part to lay 

 no duties wiiatever ui)on their importations of lisli and fi.sh-oil. Hut while we are not 

 here to depreciate anything, it is our duty to see to it that no extravagant demands sliall 

 pass unchallenged, to meet evidence with evidence, and argument with argument, fairly 

 before a tribunal competent and able. We do not mean that our side shall suffer at 

 all from too great depreciation of the evidence and argiuneiits of the counsel for the 

 Crown, as we feel (piiti; sure that the cause of the Crown has suffered from the 

 extravagant ilemands with wliicli its case has been opened, and the extravagant and 

 promiscuous kind of eviilence, of all sorts of damages, losses, and injuries, which it saw 

 lit to gallier and bring before this tribunal, from the tisherinaa who thought that his 



