APPENDIX D. 403 



"7th. An additional and heavier duty shall he laid on all foreign oil, as 

 a farther encouragement to them, in order to facilitate the sale of their 

 own. 



"8th. The expense of removing those of the inhabitants who are not 

 capable of defraying themselves shall be paid by the Government. 



" 9th. A convenient docl£ shall be built to repair their ships. 



"10th. All trades-people shall be admitted to the free exercise of their 

 trades, without being liable to the forms and expense usually practiced 

 and paid by the native subjects for their admittance to mastership. 



"11th. They shall have liberty to command their own vessels, and have 

 choice of their own people to navigate them. 



" 12th. They shall be free from all military and naval service, in war as 

 well as in peace. 



"The above is certified to by Abner Coffin, notary and tabellion public, 

 by legal authority duly constituted, etc. 

 "Nanttjoket, June IS, 1786." 



In thus granting privileges and immunities superior to the high- 

 est orders of nobility, the French Government evinced its anxiety 

 to secure to the French marine and trade a share in a business 

 its own people failed in acquiring. And it furnishes evidence of 

 the reputation for skill, courage, and enterprise vyhich our own 

 hardy seamen had established for themselves, that they could ob- 

 tain such terms from a proud and powerful government. 



