Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-04-06

tag'towns and cities the Atlantic.
Hemp, iron, md duck, pay high duties to the
revenue, as also the rnolasses, sugar, tea, coffee
liquors, &c. which are i,sed for shipstorcs.
| The mind, n pursuing the business created
by this fishery inio nil its qualifications, is lost in
utter astonishrnent at ending such 4 vast yarie-
ty of interests to be involved in it, and such an
equal diffusion of its benefits; net enriching mo-
roposts, but bringing plenty TO the door of the
i iai,ner, the mechanic, the manufactures, and the
merchant; not paying miserable stipend OF
monthly wages for tic tolls, the dangers, tire
sufcrngs, the sickness, and the lives of our nc
ble-hearted and Invaluable seainen, but admit
ling them to share The p,oits, rs well rs the dan
gers, of their long and adventurous voyages.
The oil is shared IN certain proportions tr tic
ship owners, masters, inatls. seanIcn, and Joys.
The interest is common. The profit is common.
The loss is coinrut.I There is certainly no
| branch of navigation or manufactures which,
according to the capital employed, requires so
much labor as this.
| The menlorialists of New Bedford and Nam
tucket expect no relief, unless it shall appear.
after full examination, that it would be for the
national interest that they should be received.
| Every days experience proves thatit is to our
| navy must look for the protection of our
commerce.
That navy, to be efficient, must be manned
by young, hardy, aud active seamen. As
nursery of such seaInen this fishery is invalua-
BILE. Every whale ship takes from six TO nine
green hands; and, after one voyage, returns
| them finished seamen, made so, sir, by the long
and continuous voyage, and by the sober, cor
rect, and steady discipline which universally
prevails in these ships. They are returned with
| untainted morals, and with qualities peculiar
and great; yes, sir, great. 1t requires go or
binary resolution to unfurl the sail to the winds
/ of heaven; TO separate from persons and objects
made dear by association, conneXon, and fami-
ly ties; to abandon for years the face of civil
zaiion-their ship their world with nothing a.
round them but the wide waste of waters;
"'Thcir march upon the mountain wave,
| Their home pom the deep"
1t is by long separation from accustomed as
sociations that men acquire that habitude of
thought and of action, which qualities them for,
the employment to which they are destined.
The seamen nurtured in this employment are tho
hardest, the boldcst the most adventurous, the
most cnteIprisrg in the world. Without ques-
ton, they surpass all others. The nature of their
employment stimulates and strengthens quail
! ties the most rare, and the most valuable.
1t is not by creeping along our own coast, or
lodging into port in the West Indies, or rer-
forming a fair weather voyage to Europe that
seamen arc made. In this fishery the very boys
are fashioned into heroes they Injured to dall-
| ger i'll its di, est form. The man who can steer
! a boat upon, or strike 4 harpoon into whale
cannot be coward; courage is necessary to
him the air to life, and not only courage but
GOODNESS and presence of mind. Nur,ared on
| the ocean, he is familiariZed to its da- gers;
| no circumstance can discomfort, no disasters in
timidate him. The horrors Of sea fight have no
| tcrrors for the whaleman; he is constantly en-
gagged in fights, which render the puny efforts
| of hostile man but sport to him. Some of these
scamen were i'll the Essex, and was the gallant
| commander of that illlated ship now present, he
could tell you SIR that during that horrible scene
ut Valparaiso, when he stood on his deck knee
deep in blood and carnage, when his men were
falling in masses around him, until, to use the
words of Mr.. Madison. C humanity tore down
the colors which valorhad nailed to the mast''--
he could tell you sir, that during this disastrous
time, during this scene OF horrors, ne found no
| Drawer spirits in his ship than the whalemen OF
| New England.
A gentleman from New York, Mr. Cambrc-
leng,) in speech with which he favored this
committee, a few days since, on the general MGR
lis Of this bill, has appropriated the splendid erl-
| logium pronounced by Edmund Burke, in the
Parliament, in 177I, to our ancestors generally,
| and to our commerce generally. Ii was hardly
fair in him, hostile as he is to the Interests Of the
whaemen Mr.. Cambl, leng denie' that ne was
hostet them. MIR. BayIies expressed his satsfac-
ton to find it so, and continuedl- II say, sir, that
| this beautiful ef!usiop of eloqucnce was elected
| from Burke on the subject of the whale fishery,
when that fishery confined to Nantucket
and New Bedford. 1t will well bear repe atine
and with the indulgence of the committee | will
repeat il.
| NJ. Baylics then read an extractfrcm Burkets
| speech on Cancellation with America:
GAS to the wealth which the colonies have
drawn from the sea by their Fisheries, you had
all That matter fully opened at YOU rbar.
| s'You surely thought those acquisitions Oval
| ne: for they seemed even to 5Xcite your envy,
and yet the spirit by which that enterprising en-
| plovment has been exercised, ought rather, in
| nv opinion, to have raised your esteem and adj
miration And pray, sir, what in the world is
| equal to it? Pass by the other parts, and look
| at the manner in which the people of New En-
| gland have of lato carried ON the whale fishery.
| Whilst we follow them amongst the tijnblin2.
mountains Of ice, and behold them penetrating
| into the deepest frozen recesses ofHIDlson's Bay
and Daviss's Srats whilst we are looking for
| them beneath the arctic Circlc--we hear that
they have pierced into the opposite region ocpo.
| lar cold; that they are at the antipodcs, apd en-
gagged under the frozen serpent of the South
| Falkland Islands, which seemed too remote and
romantic an object for the grasp Of national ann
| bition, is but stage and resting place i'll the
progress Of their victorious industry.
| ssNor is the equinoctjal heat more discou-
raging to them than the accumulated winter OF
! both the poles. We know that, whilst some Of
| them draw the line, and strike The harpoon, on
the coast of Africa, others run the longitude,
and pursue their gigantic game along the coast
| of Brazil. No sea but what is vcxcd by their
fisheries. no climate dat is not witnessed To
their tolls.
"Noither tho perseverance of Holland, nor
the activity Of Franco, nor the dexterOus and
/ ~ I. 4