274 



Majesty in regard to the rumored surrender of the rights of fishery se- 

 cured to British subjects by the convention of 1818." One gentleman 

 of consideration and influence appears to have ".protested against the 

 utility of the meeting," but to have been "promptly checked by his 

 worship the mayor," who presided. Several merchants were pres- 

 ent, but performed a secondary part. The political leaders had every- 

 thing their own way. One member of the "provincial parliament" 

 nominated the chairman ; another introduced a series of resolutions ; 

 while a third, who declared that "a strong expression of the opinion of 

 the meeting should go to the foot of the throne," closed his remarks, 

 with submitting a memorial to her Majesty, which " he had prepared." 

 A fourth honorable M. P. P. is understood to have said, that "if her 

 Majesty's government give up the fisheries, they must be prepared to 

 give up the colony also;" and the Hon. Joseph Howe, provincial sec- 

 retary, is represented to have advocated, with his usual power, the 

 adoption of the measur ~' presented by his associate politicians. Com- 

 ment upon these measures is not necessary. The tone of the resolu- 

 tions, of the address to the governor of the colony, and of the memo- 

 rial to the Queen, is offensive. These' documents, from beginning to 

 end, show a spirit of deep hostility to the United States, and a deter- 

 mination to be satisfied with no terms of accommodation tvhich would 

 be entertained by our government; and, like everything else in Nova 

 Scotia on the subject of the fisheries, contain much that is eiToneous in 

 statement of matters of fact, and that is unsound in questions of politi- 

 cal science.* 



* These documents are as follows : 



RESOLUTIONS. 



1. Resolved, That the citizens of Halifax feel deeply grateinl to her Majesty's goTerament 

 . for the determination to " remove all ground of complaint on the part of the colonies in conse- 

 quence of the encroachments of the fishing vessels of the United States upon the reserved 

 lishing grounds of British America, ' expressed in the despatch of the right honorable the 

 Secretary of State for the colonies, dated the 22d of May. 



3. Besolved, Tliat the citizens of Halifax have regarded with interest and satisfaction the 

 judicious measures adopted by Vice Admiral Sir George Seymour, to carry out that determi- 

 nation with firmness and discretion. 



3. Resolved, That securely relying upon the justice and maternal care of their Sovereign, 

 the citizens of Halifax are reluctant to believe that, because a few threatening speeches have 

 been made in Congress, and a single ship-of-war has visited their coasts, the Queen's govern- 

 ment will relax their vigilant supervision over British interests, or weakly yield up rights 

 secured by treaty stipulations. 



4. Resolved, That history teaches that the commercial prosperity and naval power of ev6ry 

 maritime State have risen, by slow degrees, from the prosecution of the fisheries, in which 

 seamen were trained and hardy defenders nurtured. 



5. Resolved, That reading this lesson aptly, the great commercial and political -rivals of Eng- 

 land — the United States and France — have, for many years, fostered their fisheries by liberal 

 bounties, and freely spent their treasure that they might recruit their navy and extend their 

 mercantile mailne. 



6. Resolved, That by the aid of these bounties Trance and the United States inaintain, on 

 the banks and coasts of North America, 30,000 seamen, respectively, which either power, iu 

 case hostilities impend, can call home to defend its national flag, and, if need were, launch 

 against the power of this empire. 



7. Resolved, That without the aid of bounties the fisheries of British America have been pi-oe- 

 ecuted, and her marine iuterests have expanded, until her shores are peopled with a hardy 

 class of men, who consume, almost exclusively, the manufactures of England in peace, aiid 

 who, in times of danger, would leap into the shrouds of their national ships to defend the flag 

 ■ftey reverence. 



