The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1852-07-31

10 authorize an exploration and OF The
courses Of navigation used by whaling vessels in The
gons OF Behring's Straits, and also OF such parts OF The
China Straits OF Gaspar and Java lie direct
ly in The route OF vessels proceeding TO and from China
Mr. SEWARD said s
Mr. PREslnEkT Some years ago. when ascending the
Alabama, saw stag plunge into the river and gaany
gain The bank, while the desponding sportsman
whose rife he had escaped sat down 10 mourn his i'll
luck under the deep magnolia forest that shaded the
eastern shore. You, sir, dweller IN that region,
and are as all the world knows, gentleman OF culli-
vaied taste and liberal fortunes Perhaps them you may
have been lha, unfortunate hunter Howsoeyer that may
have been, wish 10 converse with you now OF the
chase, and yet not Of DEER or hawk, or hound, but OF
chase upon The seas and still OF angling roling
nor OF ,he busy toll OF those worthy fishermen who seem
likely to embroi us. certainly without reluctance on our
part, CONTROVERSY about their rights in the Bay of
Fundy; but of a Dob.f sport and more adventurous
spot ssmen than lxaak w alton. you, Daniel Boone
or even Nimrod The mghtest well most ancient
of hunters, ever dreamed ofthe chase OF the whale
over his broad range OF the universal ocean
DO not hastily pronounce the subject out of orler or
Improbable, or unworthy OF this high presence. The
rbuncians, the earliest mercantile nation known to u.s.
enrched themselves by selling the celebrated Tyrian dye
and glass made OF sand taken from the and they
quired not only these sources OF wealth, but the art Of
navigation itself. in the practice of their humble calling as
fishermen A thousand years ago. King Alfred was lay
ing the foundations OF empire Tor Young England,
are now doing for Young America The monarch whom
men Justly have surnamed the Wise well the Great
did not dsdain listen to Octher, who related the ad
ventures OF voyage along the coast of Norway $50
far north commonly the whale hunters nsed travel "
nor was the stranger suucIeu 10 depart unti he had sub
m.ed TO the King "a most Just survey and description"
of the northern not only they extended upwards
the North Cape but also as they declined downwards
along the southeast coast of Lapland, and so following
the icy beach OF Russia where The river Dwina dis
charged its into the White sea, or. was then
called The Sea OF Archangel. Perhaps my poor speech
may end in some similar lesson The incident have re-
lated is the burden of The earliest historical notice OF the
subjuga,on OF the of the the uses o man
The fishery was carried on hen anu near six hundred
years afterwards by the Basques Bscayans and Norwe-
gans, for the food Yielded by the tongue and the oil OBJ
tanned from the ia, OF the animal Whalebone entered
into commerce in the fifteenth century, and at first
mandei the enormous price OF seven hundred pounds
sterling per ton, exceeding value n this age OF ten thou
sand dollars. Those merry times if not for science,
ut least for royalty, wben although the material for stays
and hoops taken from The mouth, the law appropr
aed the tail OF every whale taken by English subject
the of the Queen Tor the supply OF the royal ward
robe.
In 1856 the Portuguese reached the Cape of Storms,
and, in happy augury OF ultimate passage to India,
changed il. l-omened name 10 thai OF Good Hope;"
and Immediately thereafter the States of Europe, espe
ciay England and Holland, began that series of voyages
not yet ended in search OF passage the East
through the floating fields aod mountains Of ice in the
Arctic The unsuccessful search disclosed the
refuge OF the whales in the bays and creeks of Spilz
bergen In 1875 London merchant wrote 10 foreign
correspondent Tor advice and direction to the Of
killing the whale aud received Instructions how 10
build and equip vessel OF two hundred tons and to
it exclusively with experienced whale hunters of Biscay
The attraction OF dominion stronger that than
the lust Of profit The English claimed Spizbergen
and all its surrounding ice and waters by discovery
The Dutch. with truth alleged earlier exploration,
while the Danes claimed The whole region part of
Greenland preienson that could then be disproved
and all these parties sent armed forces upon the fishing
ground, less protect their few fishermen than to esab.
lush exclusive rights there After fifty years these
nations discovered FIRST that absurd 10 claim urs.
dclion where no permanent possession could be
established BY reason OF The rgors of climate and
ondly that there fish enough and enough for
all competitors Thencelorward the whale fishery in the
Arctic ocean has been free 10 all nations.
The Dutch perfected the harpoon, the reel, the ne
md fba wal thn ,Y paip.r tba,, Anl
they established, aso the system which have since
found indispensabe OF rewardng all the officers and
crews employed IN the fishery, not with direct wages
salaries, but with shares 10 the spoils OF The game pro-
porloned TO skill and experience Combining with these
the advantages OF favorable position, and OF frugay
and perseverance quite proverba the Dutch even found
ed fishing settlement called Smeerenbugh on the coast
OF Spzbergen, within eleven degrees OF the North Pole
and they took whales in its vicinity in such abundance
that ships needed to go out in ballast carry home
the surplus oil and bone above the capacity OF the wha-
ling vessels. The whales, thus originally attacked again
changed Their lurking place Spzbergen abandoned
by The fishermen, and the very site OF Smeeepburgh is
now unknown In the year i4f6, Sebastian Cabot in
the spiri OF that age, seeking northwestern pa ssage 10
the indes, gave to the world the discovery OF Prima
Vista, or as we call II, Newfoundland, and The asoues
Biscayans, Dutch, and English Immediately thereafter
commenced the chase for whales in the waters sur
rounding It.
Scarcely had the colonists OF Massachusetts planted
themselves at Plymouth, before the slerity of The soil
and the rgor OF the climate forced them 10 resou 10 the
sea 10 exc out their subsistence Pursuing the whales
burden, they appeared on the fishing ground off New
foundiand IN the year 1000. Prohng by nearness OF
position and economy ~ building and equipping ships
and sharing also in the bounties with which England
was then stimulating the whale fishery they soon ey-
oeed all their rivals the Newfoundland waters as well
az IN Bafhn's Bay and of the OF Greenland Thus
encouraged they down the coasts Of America and
Aca, and IN the walters rolling between them they dlscov
cred The black whale and inferior species yet
Thy OF captures and then. stretching off toward the South
Pole, they found still another specestbe sperm whale,
whose oil still preferred above all other and thus they
enlarged the whale fishery for the benefit OF the world,
which since that time has distinguished the two branches
o. That enterprise geographically by the designation OF
lhe northern and southern fisheries In 1775 che fisher
les were carried on by The Americans the English the
Dutch, and the French. The French employed only
small beei, the Dutch, larger one, OF l2s sail The Eng
llsh had only 90 ships, while the Americans bad i32
vessels in the southern fishery, and III IN the northern
hshery manned with 1000 persons, and bringing IN oil
and wbaebone OF the value OF million one hundred
and eleven thousand dollars This precociousness OF
American naval enterprise ELECTED from Burke IN bis
great speech for Cancellation to the colonies tribute
familiar to our countrymen, aud perhaps The most glow
ing passage that that great orator wrote or
spake:
!, LOOK At the manner IN which the people of New Eng
nave OF late carried the whale fishery. Whilst we
,tt, mem among the tumbng mounlnins OF ice and
T mem penetrating into the deepest reossses OF Hud-
- pI ana Davis's Straits, whilst looking Tor
olenes'h The Arctic circle, we hear hat they have
"a no me opposite region OF Polar cod that they
ny ~ tne anupode. and ngagsd under me frozen
pone ~ ,ne south Falkland Island which seemed too
h, ~ touahue an object Tor the q national am
h.i, sage and resting place in the progress OF
M .eeplous Industry. Nor is The equauai heat more
nsco"ssing 70 them thar the accu both
fhuFx tba,vf The