upon 

 head 



429 



There are some other passages in this book to which I may call your attention. At 

 page 210 this language is used : — 



" These fisherios, as most advantageously secured to the United States by the Treaty of 1873, and 

 made at the time was, I have always understood, a xine qud Tion of that Treaty, o£fer an invaluable 

 fund of wealth and power to our country, one which has never been duly attended to, nor justly 

 appreciated ; but which, if continued and improved, was destined to grow with our growth and 

 strengthen with our strength. 



" The prosecution of these coast and bay fisheries, although it had already become extremely 

 advantageous, had undoubtedly reached, in a very smcU degree, the extension and importance it was 

 capable of attairiing. The unsettled state of the commercial world for the past twenty years, and the 

 more alluring objects of mercantile enterprise which such a state of things evolved, seemed, in point 

 of immediate) consideration and attention, to throw these fisheries into the background ; but still, until 

 first checked by the system of embargoes and restriction, and finally stopped by a declaration of war, 

 they were silently, but rapidly, progressing, and reaching an importance which, though generally 

 unknown to our country and its statesmen, had become highly alarming to the Governments and 

 more wealthy merchants of tlie provinces, and was beginning to attract the attention and jealousy of 

 the Cabinet of Great Britain towards them. 



" The shores, the creeks, the inlets, of the Bay of Fundy, the Bay of Chalcurs, and the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, the Straits of Bellei.sle, and the coast of Labrador, appear to have been designed by 

 the God of Nature as the great ovarium of fisli — the uiexhaustible repository of this species of food, 

 not only for the supply of the American, but also of the European continent. At the proper season, 

 to catch them in endless abundance, little more effort is needed than to bait the hook and pull the 

 line, and ocaisionally even this is not necessary. In clear weather, near the shores, myriads are 

 visible, and the strand is at times almost literally paved with them. 



" All this was gradually making itself known to the enterprise and vigilance of the New England 

 fishermen, and for a few seasons prior to the year 1808, the resort to this employment bad become 

 an object of attention from tlie Tliames at New London, to the Schoodic ; and boats and vessels of a 

 small as well as a larger size, were flocking to it from all the intermediate parts of the United States. 

 Li tlie fishing season, at the best jilaces for catching the cod, tlie New England fishermen, I am told, 

 on a Sunday, swarmed like flies upon the shores, and that in some of these years, it probably would 

 not make an over-estimate to rate the number of vessels employed in this fishery, belonging to the 

 United States, at from 1,500 to 2,000 sail, reckoning a vessel for each trip or voyage, and including 

 the larger boat fisherj', and the number, if the fisheries were continued, would shortly be still further 

 and very greatly extended. 



" The nursery for seamen, the consequent increase of power, the mine of wealth, the accumula- 

 tion of capital (for it has been justly observed, that he who draws a codfish from the sea, gives a 

 piece of silver to liis country), the efiect upon the trade and custom of Great Britain, and the corres- 

 ponding advantages to the United States, of which the enlargement of such an intercourse was 

 susceptible (for tlie stock of fish appears inexhaustible), you are much better able to conceive them 

 than I am to describe ; but I with pleasure point them anew for your consideration, as on many 

 accounts presenting one of the most interesting public objects to which it can be directed," 



At page 199 the following language is used: — 



" Be the opinion of Mr. Russell what it may — the portion of the fisheries to wliich we are entitled, 

 even within the British Territorial jurisdiction, is of great importance to this union. To New England 

 it is among the most valuable of earthly possessions." 



Now, in the course of his argument, Mr. Foster put the question as if it turned 

 distinctly upon who paid the duty, the producer or the consumer. Whether that be 

 absolutely necessary, for the purpose of determining this case in favour of Great Britain or 

 not, is not for me to say. That is a question of political economy with which I am neither 

 desirous, nor probably capable, of dealing. But I am not afraid to let our case turn upon 

 that question. I think I shall show you by evidence of witnesses and by figures, that in 

 every instance in this case the duty is paid by the consumer. I am speaking more 

 particularly of the mackerel ; I shall conclusively show that in the year when the 

 Reciprocity Treaty was in force, the price of mackerel fell off ; that immediately after the 

 Reciprocity Treaty terminated, the price of mackerel rose in the American market. I shall 

 show that immediately after tiiat state of affairs was terminated by the Treaty of Washington 

 the price of mackerel again fell off, and we say that these facts establisli at once that the 

 consumer must have paid the duty. Our witnesses have, one and all, or nearly all, 

 testified that in their judgment the consumer paid the duty. In answer to the question 

 put by the learned counsel associated with me and myself, " Would you rather have the 

 Americans excluded from your fisheries and pay the duty?" they have said "Yes." 

 While I am upon this subject I will remark, although I will not have time to turn 

 attention to the document itself, that Mr. Foster, or, at all events, one of the learned 

 counsel for the United States, read in his speech a communication from the Hon. Peter 

 Mitchell, then Minister of Marine and Fisheries, for the purpose of showing that the 

 repeal of the Reciprocity Treaty would be ruinous to our fishermen. Now upon reference 

 [280] 3 L 



