The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-08-12

France. nor the dexterous Mira 6asacity of Eng
lish enterprise ever carried his pehlous mode OF
hardy enterprise to the extsStto Wish It has been
pushed by this recent people, peope who are sun
it were, in the grstlc and not yer hardened into
the bone of manhood
But Britain did not conciliate. The Revou-
ton went on and the American whale fishery
perished. leaving not one vessel on either fish
ing ground
Yet it is curious, Mr. President, to mark the
elasticity of our countrymn in this their ia
vorite enterprise A provisional treaty of peace
between the United States and Great Britain
was concluded on the 3Oth of November 1882
On the Sd of February, 1893, Il read from
an English paper of that perodl the ship
Bedford, Captain Moores, belonging to NlaSSa-
chusetts, arrived in the Downs. She passed
/ Grayesend on the Ath and on the 9th was re-
ported at the custom-house in London She
was not allowed regular entry until after some
consultation between the commissioners of GUS
! toms and the Lords of the Council on account
of the many acts of Parliament yet in force
against the rebels Of America. She was load
ell with 5S7 barrels of whale oil, and manned
wholly with American seamen, and belonged
to the island of Nantucket. The vessel lay at
the Horsley- Downs little below the Tower,
ana WAS Iuc nlSJ WHICH ulSpldNcu lle luTIttu
stripes Of America in any British port
Nevertheless the lost vantage ground was
not easily nor speedily regaincd The effort
was made without protection, against exclusion
in foreign markets. and against bounties by
the English Government equivalent to forty
dollars per man employed, or sixty per cent on
the value Of every cargo obtaned-bounties
not occasionally nor irreguarly offered, but
- ty.1f ttt,.r1 u,
the aggregate to three millions of pounds ster-
ling Nor was this all These bounties, en-
HANGED with additional inducements, were of
lered to the Nantucket fishermen, on condition
Of their abandoning their country and becom-
ing inhabitants of the adjacent British Colo
nics, or of the British Islands 1t seemed, in
deed. that IL crisis in this great national inter
est had come Happily there was on the
! French side of the Channel at least one
unwearcd friend of America, as there were
many watchfu enemies OF England Lafi,y-
cite wrote several letters to Boston and ar
rested i'm immigration from Nantucket to the
British Colonies and Islands already on the
eve of embarkation. and then addressed him.
self to the French monarch and his Court
France saw at once the dangers of transfer
of 50 great number of seamen together with
the very secret, art and mystery of whale hunt
ing, to her hereditary and relentless enemy
The good but ll-iated Louis XVI equipped six
whaling vessels, with American harpooners, on
his own account, and offered a bounty of nine
dollars per man, payable by the Royal Treas
ury, to every American fisherman who should
emigrate to France In whole year, only
nine families containing thirty three persons,
accepted this offer; and therefore the King, in
compliance with Lafnyettes first advice, adopt
ed the expcdent Of discriminating in favor of
American cargoes of oil and whalebOne in the
French market. The American whale fishery
began to revive, and in 1897. 1898, and 1889,
it employed an average of l22 vessels But it
still labored under the pressure Of competition
stimulated by bomtics both in England and
i'll France. In 1890, the Great and General
Council Of Massachusetts appealed to Con-
grcss for protection to this great interest of
that Commonwealth. Mr. Jefferson, the Sec
rotary Of State. submitted an elaborate reply,
which, while it was liberal in its spirit, never
tholess closed with the declaration, that the
whale fishery was a branch Of industry so poor
as to come to nothing with distant nations who
did not support it from their treasures-that
our position placed our fishing on ground
somewhat higher, such as to relieve the Ma
tional Treasury from giving it support but not
to permit it to derive support from the fishery.
nor to relieve the Government from the obliga-
ton to provide free markets for the productions
Of the fishery, if possible
The enterprise had not yet languished into
life, when the French Revelation of 1899 oc-
CURED, which involved Europe, and ultimately
the United States in wars that swept the lat
ter. M well Us the French and Dutch from all
the fisheries, and left them in the exclusive en-
joyment OF Britain. who achieved in those wars
her now established prceminence ~ the con
qurrer Of the seas. At their close, the British
! had ll6 vessels in the Northern whaling
ground, which captured no less than 1873
whales and thus obtained 1880 tons of oil
and 1873 tons OF whaeb0ne and iifty-six ships
IN the Southern whale fishery equally sue
ccsslu The Americans now re-entered the
game, and the tables were speedly-and as
we think, pcrmancntly-turned in their favor.
In 1924 the British became discouraged, and
withdrew their bounties and in 1912 they had
no more than IS vessels in the North fishery,
which captured only ~ whales. The Southern
fishery declined still more rapidly; 80 that in
1919, not one British whaler appeared in the
South Seas. Since that time, all nations have
virtually abandoned this hardy form of peril
Gus enterprise in favor of the Americans The
entire whaling fleet of the world, in lSi7, con
sisted of about 900 vessels, 40 Of which belonged
to France 20 to Bremen and other ports in
Northern Europe, 20 to New Holland and other
British Polyncsian Colonies, and all Others,
more than 800 in number, with tonnage of
24O,0 tons, belonged to the United States,
The capital thus employed exceeded twenty
millions of dollars, and the annual productions
OF the fisheries amounted to thirteen millions of
dollars. With the decline of this enterprise IN
Great Britain, her commercial writer's began to
discountenancc whale fishing altogether; and
while they now represent it rs mere gam
bling adventure, they endeayor to stimulate the
people OF Continental Europe to substitute vege-
table oils for those procured in the seas.
MIR President Pray consider the cost, time,
dangers, and hazard of the whale fishery Each
vessel with ITS outfit is worth $50 600, and ear
RES thirty ablc-bodied scamcn, and is afoat on
SINGLE voyage one or two perhaps three years
lt finds the whale nowhere below the siXtleth
degree OF latitude, and can remain there only
during the brief Polar summer of three months
The whole time may capse without whale
beng seen When discovered, every stage of
his capture Is toilsumc. and attended with null
upled dangers to the asSailants, increased by
the shoals, the ice, the storms and the iogs,
which protect the animal against his pursuers.
The statistics are absolutely irightful to n
landSman or common seaman. In 1919, Of
SXty-thrcc British ships sent to Davis's Straits,
ten were lost. In 1921, ont Of sixty-nins, eleven
were lost Ofeighty-seven ships that sailed for
Davlss Straits IN 1890 no less than eighteen
were lost twcnty-four returned clean, while not
one of the remainder had full cargo, and only
one or two half fShd
Pray consider now, sir that the great triumph
OF the American fishermen was achieved, and
is still sustained not only without aid from the
Government hut practically also without aid
from the capital or enterprise of general COM
morce, and indeed, to quote the nervous Ian
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