The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-04 00:00:00

The Sea Fisheries Commission.

„. The are the
.reeowaenslations of the
Commissioners :-
1. We advise that all Acts of Parliament which profess
to regulate or restrict the modes of fishing pursued in the
open sea ho repealed ; and that unrestricted freedom of
fishing be permitted hereafter.

2. With regard to in-shore fishing, although the evi-
dence, so far as it is conclusive, appears to us to prove that
the taking of small and immature fish has not yet produced
any injurious effect upon the fisheries, it is undoubtedly
possible that by the use of improved engines the destruc-
tion of fry might reach such a pitch as to bear a largo, in-
stead of, as at present, an insignificant ratio to the destruc-
tion effected by the natural enemies of fish, and by condi-
tions unfavourable to their existence.

The existence of such a state of things, however, could
only be determined by the examination of trustworthy sta-
tistics of the fisheries in question, extending over a consi-
derable number of years; and should it ever be satisfactorily
proved to have arisen we conceive that the best remedial
measures would be to place a restriction upon the size of the
fish permitted to be brought ashore, and to subject the
possessor of fish below a certain specified size to penalties ;
but to avoid interfering with the implements of fishermen,
or with their methods of fishing.

For the present we advise that all acts of Parliament
which profess to regulate or restrict the modes of fishing
pursued in shore be repealed, with the exceptions purely
on grounds of police, of the Local Act regulating pilchard
fishing at St. Ives, and, for that part of Loch Fyn which
lies above Otter Spit, of the act prohibiting trawling for
herrings in Scotland.

3. While we do not consider it expedient to impose any
general restrictions upon the fishing of in-shore oyster or
mussel beds, we strongly recommend that every legislative
assistance be given to persons or corporations who may
desire to form private beds for oyster or mussel culture.
In doing this it will be necessary to keep two objects in
view. in the first place, to provide a means by which
companies or persons may easily acquire such a title to ade-
quate portions of the sea bottom as may make it worth
their while to expend capital in stocking and tending the
fishery. In the second place, to see that, in so doing, pre-
existing rights of fishery are not unduly interfered with,
and especially that the property in tho sea-bottom so ac-
quired does not extend so far as to confer a virtual mono-
poly of the whole productive area.

We are disposed to think that the most convenient
course would be to empower a public Board to grant
leases of the sea-bottom, after making proper inquiries into
the circumstances of each case. Such power should only
be exercised after proper notice to the public at the place
proposed to be so dealt with, and with duo consideration of
the interests :of the existing population ; and an appeal
from the decision of the Board should be given to the
Privy Council, whose decision should be final and conclu-
sive as to any claim of the public to dredge, or fish, over
the ground so granted. Grants made by the Board should
bo for a limited number of years only ; and should be
voidable after a certain number of years, on its being
proved to the Board that they had not been acted upon.
Where a valuable fishery now exists beyond low-water
mark no grant of exclusive fishing should be made with-
out the sanction of Parliament ; and it would be more
satisfactory to the public of tho place where any such ap-
propriation might be contemplated, if proceedings first
commenced before the Board and an inquiry on the spot
held by them, or by some person duly authorized by
them. The various schemes approved by the Board
might, we think, be embodied in a general Act, with
short reports on the individual cases.
4. We think it a matter of great importance that fishery
statistics should be systematically collected. It is only by
such means that the constant recurrence of the panics to
which the sea fishery interest has hithorto boon subjected
can be prevented, and that any trustworthy conclusion can
be arrived at regarding the effects of the modes of fishing
which aro in use. It is probable that the existing coast-
guard or customs organisation might be utilised to collect
fishery statistics, as is now, to some extent, the case in Ire-
land.

5. With reference to the police of the fisheries, we advise
that an act be passed embodying the substance of the pro-
visions enumerated above.

Wo recommend that the due enforcement of this act
should be confided to the Lords of the Admiralty, who
'should place cruisers, of such a character as the nature of
the stations may indicate, on such fishing stations as may
require their presence. The commanders of such cruisers
should receive and report upon all complaints that may be
made by fishermen, or others, respecting the falling off of
the supply of fish in consequence of alleged injurious prac-
tices, or respecting the interference of fishermen ono with
another not remediable by ordinary process of law.
6. Finally, we advise that all restrictions which prevent
foreign fishermen from entering British or Irish ports for
the sale of fish be removed in Great Britain and Ireland ;
and that measures be taken to secure the like freedom for
British fishermen in foreign ports.

All which we humbly certify to your Majesty under our
hands and seals. .
_.

JADES CAIRD.

THOMAS HENRY HURLEY.
GEORGE SHAW LEFETRE.

TIMES.--Mr. Cardwell is learning by experience,
which is a useful lesson to every Minister. Since
the news of the proceedingS in Jamaica roused the
agitation which is only now dying away he found
how little a readiness to yield to the clamour of a
sect or a party avails to save a public man from
the attacks of those who lead it and who gain noto-
riety by their invectives. When the denouncers of
Governor Eyre first stormed the Colonial-office
they were met with somethilg• more than the
courtesy which a Minister of the Crown owes to
any body of her Majesty's subjects. Both in manner
and matter Mr. Cardwell showed rather an execs-
sive deference to those who cane as the representa-
tives of their individual opinions, and who in no
way spoke in the name of the public. He suffered
himself to be rudely called tooorder, and, without
waiting to receive the explanations it had asked for,
the Government issued a Commission suspending
the Governor of Jamaica, and virtually putting on
their trial every military and naval officer and every
civilian engaged in suppressing the insurrection.
But not one word of praise, or even of common ac-
knowledgment, has the Colonial Secretary received
from the leaders of the agitation. They are haunted
with the notion that, unless they can discredit him,
he will be able in some way toprotect the men they
are assailing. A Colonial Secretary must be in the
same boat with governors, commanders of the forces,
colonels of regiments, and suck people, and he will,
of course, carry them through if lie can. Hence it is
as well to be beforehand, and to show that Mr.
Cardwell is weak, incapable, prejudiced, and that
in his secret heart he4-thinrs leniently of negro
slaughter when perpetrated by persons high in the
service. Perhaps before Parliament meets it will
be discovered that he shared with Governor Eyre
and the British officers on the station their passion
for indiscriminate executionz. We would advise
him to take care not to criminate himself, since even
to speak of the " great promptitude of the authori-
ties," and " skilful disposition of the troops," shows
bloodthirsty sympathies ; while it is enough to rouse
suspicion in certaia quarters that he should say the
appointment of Sir H. Storks was not intended as a
stigma on Mr. Eire. This language Mr. Cardwell
used at Oxford the other day, and it evinces a
courage and, in ear opinion, a generosity of spirit
which have been lardly apparent in some Ministe-
rial utterances on this subject. It may be that even
a newly constructed Cabinet, with a new Parlia-
ment to manage and several difficult questions to
encounter, is capable of throwing off its natural
timidity when it collects by the social intercourse
of its members that the demands of Exeter Hall do
not represent On opinions of the country, and that
in this matter be noise has been made by a small
and by no means important part of the community.
The Ministry nay have discovered within the last
month that there is a large, though comparatively
quiescent, mast of public opinion in favour of sup-
porting men vho have successfully performed an
arduous duty, who have saved a British colonyfrom
murder and rapine, and whose conduct has been ap-
proved in the most deliberate and emphatic manner
by the Constitutional representatives of the island,
as well as by the entire class which possesses edu-
cation and property. Mr. Cardwell's language ap-
pears to us such as nay be fairly used by a Minister
while an inquiry is still pending. The services ren-
dered by the Governor and the military in promptly
suppressing the insurrection will be doubted by no
one who reads the narrative of the outbreak of De-
cember, 1831, which, with a far less formidable be-
ginning than that of October last, caused the de-
struction within a single fortnight of more than a
hundred plantations, and the permanent impoverish-
ment of a large part of the island. There is every
reason to believe that the calamity would have been
even more terrible on the present occasion, since the
rebels betook themselves, not to incendiarism, but
to murder. Mr. Cardwell is, therefore, fully en-
titled tckpraise the energy of those by whom " com-
parative safety was speedily restored to all per-
sons, of whatever race and colour, who desired to
live in peace and orderly submission to the law."
On the other hand, if undue severity was displayed
by any of thb officers in command, or if the military
Commissions were wrong in executing the followers
as well as the ringleaders, Mr. Cardwell may well
urge that he has done all in his power " to obtain a
full and fair inquiry" into these alleged misdoings.
The event of this inquiry we shall be prepared to
'atti:dc,--a;tl dach-letti-7-ttiWs the disposition of - the
public, though already ,there is a tendency among
those who urged the institution of the Commission
to depreciate its importance, and to declare that it
must not stand in the way of any further action
which they themselves may think fit to take. As to
the Commissioners themselves, there is no fear that
they will be .wanting in respect for Constitutional
practice and legal proceeding. Sir Henry Storks is
a soldier, but lie has long been accustomed to the
exercise of civil functions. The man who was able
to deal successfully with the lonians in those last
years when the display of discontent was encouraged
by the hope of deliverance is not likely to sympa-
thise unduly with a hasty resort to the sword. He
governed without it himself, and may be expected to
believe that others should have done the same. The
other two Commissioners are barristers and criminal
judges, with a natural bias in favour of the time-
honoured system they administer, and a jealousy
of that hateful thing, almost unknown in English
annals, called martial law. The Secretary to the
Commission is also a barrister, and the evidence to
be brought before it will probably be in a
great measure prepared by lawyers. Constitutional
principles will, therefore, be fully represented in
the inquiry, and the Report of the Commission may
be taken to represent the view which minds emi-
nently civilian in their training and modes of
thought take of the proceedings in Jamaica. Al-
though the vituperation and menaces of a party in
England might justify the Governor and the princi-
pal officers in considering themselves as prisoners
on their defence, and as entitled to maintain a
due reserve in their answers, yet we cannot
doubt that they will give the Commission all
the support in their power in its task of ascertain-
ing the truth. Meanwhile, the best argument in
defence of what has been done is to be found in
the fact that so many men in such various positions
coincided in the opinion that the measures were just
and necessary. Unless we are to believe that a
general madness seized everybody, high and low,
who was engaged in maintaining the peace of the
island, the Governor and all these gentlemen must
have a reasonable account to give of their proceed-
ings. Their evidence and that of the magistrates
and other residents in the various parishes will
throw the best light on these unhappy events. It
is difficult to believe that all these people can have
been mistaken for months together concerning the
disposition of the blacks and the dangers which
threatened the island.

POST.—The late South American mail, though it
brought no reassuring tidings in respect to the
quarrel between Spain and Chili, at all events left
the belligerents in statu quo. The Spanish Admiral
contented himself with the exercise of the right of
blockade, and the threatened bombardment of Val-
paraiso is indefinitely postponed. When our last
advices left Chili the Admiral was awaiting further
instructions from his Government, and, as the
nature of the instructions which have been sent is
no secret to Europe, no apprehensions need be en-
tertained of blood being spilt in order to avenge the
fancied slight on Castilian honour. The remon-
strances addressed to the Spanish Government by
the Cabinets of St. James's and the Tuileries have
not been altogether ineffectual, and the results of
the acts of hostility committed byboth parties to the
quarrel will resolve themselves into a question of
pounds, shillings, and pence. Even this, however,
is bad enough. It seems at first blush inequitable
that a power like Spain should, after an explanation
of an alleged affront had been accepted by its am-
bassador, revive the quarrel by temporarily extin-
guishing the external commerce of a thriving Re-
public; but the injustice of such a proceeding
becomes still more apparent when the evil conse-
quences fall not only on the supposed wrongdoers,
but on several communities who have confessedly
been unoffending. England, as we took occasion
to mention on a previous occasion, has a large trade
with Chili—in fact, as large a trade as all the other
States of the world put together—and the effect of
blockading the Chilian ports was of necessity to
paralyse this trade. It may be said that the injury
inflicted on neutrals in time of war is an inevitable
evil ; but, assuming that such is the case, it is the
more incumbent on nations not to plunge into war
without sufficient justification. The trade between
Spain and Chili was comparatively unimportant,
and the Spanish Government have doubtless
consoled themselves with the reflection that,
being the more powerful of the two belligerents,
they will be enabled to compel the Chilians to in-
demnify them for the cost to which they have
been put by the war. This, however, is so selfish
a view to take of the matter that neutral States,
which are absolutely precluded from obtaining any
compensation for the losses indirectly inflicted upon
them in time of war, may well protest against so
one-sided an interpretation of international obliga-
tions. The war between Spain and Chili furnishes

a striking illustration of the ill success with which
civilised States have hitherto attempted to establish
some recognised system of laws for the preservation
of what may not inaptly be termed the public peace.
It is now as it has been since the commencement of
the world. Every State is entitled to look to its
own interests alone in determining on the expedi-
ency of going to war. During the past century the
practice has, however, arisen, in the event of dis-
putes between two or more Powers' for neutral
States to proffer their good offices With a view to the
amicable adjustment of existing differences, and
many instances have occurred in which a reference
to arbitration has been assented to by those who
otherwise would have relied alone on the arbitra-
ment of the sword. But it still regarded as an in-
cident to its independence that a senate should be
entitled to settle it differences after its own fashion,
and, however great may be the evils occasioned to
friendly Powers, a State is held legally justified in
declaring war against one by whom it considers
itself aggrieved. It was the dream of Richard
Cobden, and continues to be so of many others,
that it would be possible to create some supreme
tribunal of. States to which those disputes which
constantly arise between the members of the great
family of nations might be referred, and the neces-
sity of war and all its attendant evils be thereby
avoided. Visionary as this scheme must appear
to every one who calls to mind how seldom wars
are prosecuted with the object of vindicating an
outraged right, still there seems no reason why,
in all those instances in which the casus belli
was comparatively insignificant, and especially in
those cases where the aggrieved State admitted its
willingness to receive a pecuniary indemnity or
verbal apology, an arrangement should not be come
to between civilised Powers to refer the point at
issue. A few illustrations will serve to show how
easy it might be to apply such a system if once as-
sented to. A few years ago a difference arose be-
tween this country and Brazil out of two separate
incidents, namely, the plunder of a vessel wrecked
on the Brazilian coast and possible murder of the
crew, and an insult offered to some English naval
officers by the sentry and soldiers of a Brazilian
guard-house. We demanded an indemity for the
former outrage, which, being refused, we seized
several Brazilian ships and held them until our
claims were satisfied, and the consequence has been
that Brazil has ever since refused to send a represen-
tative to the English Court. The second point in
dispute we referred to the abitration of the King of
the Belgians, who decided against us. The arrest
of the Southern Commissioners on board the Trent
nearly gave rise to a war which would have cost
millions of money and occasioned incalculable mis-
chief if the American Government had not restored
them ; and in that case also one cannot help feeling
that, had such restoration been refused, a reference
to arbitration would have been better than a war.
At the present moment there is pending between
this country and the United States a claim which is
in every sense a pecuniary one, and yet its non-
satisfaction might occasion a war, pecuniary losses
incidental to which would dwarf the amount claimed
into utter insignificance. As to the cause of quar-
rel between Spain and Chili, it is simply puerile,
and yet it has been made an excuse for a war which
inflicts great damage on a thriving Republic. No
one will deny that the matters in dispute might
not have been referred to arbitration without
any loss of dignity to either of the belligerents. It
is well worthy of consideration, therefore, whether
the great family of nations might not enter into a
treaty similar to that by which many of its members
consented to abandon the right of issuing letters of
marque, with the view of avoiding the evils of war
in those constantly recurring instances in which one
State conceives itself aggrieved by another, towards
which, however, it entertains no real enmity.