New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-02-06

better man neo e0vAed theO, would ~ t1eu We
cooclusons, though With grsss loss and mech misery,
till tine had taught them TO Ne their svn error; ks
such humorsts viii never believe Vol til hey b
besten with their own rod Bat since hey hsve
made salf-work, vherewi,h they preserve I'll the
feb they take and have freiekted this year fls9f
chip of an hundred and four score tur-livisg %
well, they desire nothing but more company. This
proves that the Pilgrims were familiar with Smith .
fsh storiee Of lsli and were induced thereby to try
their own conclusions.
Again: The confidence in wealth 70 be derived
fro m the newly discovered f,hng grounds bad made
American expeditions the subject Of esrDeet and ia
vorsble consideration with Epglish merchants; and
we frd the Pilgrims actively svsiliDg tAemselves
thereof, Lot Only in the selection Of the place for emf
grafton, but aho in procuring the recesssry pecu-
mary aid and assistance for the enterprise. We kno~
that Wtston, the English merchant, who was already
engaged in the fisheries, not only sdsised the Pill
erims to come TO America, and especially TO thst pan
Of il where there was hope Of present profit TO be
made in hshing, buthe made them advances in money
end engaged to provide vessels. We know that the
Puritan fathers stnt their agents to London, and
tered into copar'ne nbip with merch.n who, like
Weston, advanced money, and were to shsre in the
profits OF their hshing-as the very terms Of the CO.
partrenhip provided for fishing and the employment
Of fishermen.
Finslly-Edwsrd Wfrelow, that distinguished Pl-
grim Father, and who succeeded Bradford a. Cover
por wrote naatise Of the true grounds and causes Of
the srst planning Of Ne ~England, and speaking Of
the interview between King James and the agents Of
the Purtsns, who had been sen. over to England
from Leyden in 1913, to solicit the Kings consent 70
their going to America, he rays that the King asked
them, what profit might arise and the agents
answered, FishiDg-whtreupon King James replied,
So God help ny soul, It's honett trade, twas the
Apostles own calling. Thus We see, that it was sh
and fishing, that induced the Pilgrims to seek Q
wildernes &c home and faiths pure shrine.
Having completed their fishing cop srtnership with
the merchants, our Pilgrim refshers saledfor Amer
ice although it is recorded that they Intended to
land at the north Of the Hudson River il s singular
fact that they cast sncher at Cape Cod where Cos
mold, eighteen years before, caught great store OF
Goldfish, cav SOULS Of herring and msckerel, and
might have laden his ship herewith. Their famous
compact being entered into, whereby the majority
should govern they held solemn consultation as to
the place of their final settlement. Some we're for
place called Cod Harbor, because it offered advan.
tsces both for whale and cod-fshpg Others insisted
that they should 60 twenty leagues further to place
called Agawsm, Qpswch sharbor which was known
to shermen who had been on the coast before them.
But they finally landed on Plymouth Rock" and
embarked in fshing according TO their agreement and
original intention They found the bsys aud creeks
full Of bass and other f-h and the full Of cod
indeed the bass we're so abundant that they recorded
the fact that sometimes 500 Of them have been
stopped in a creek and taken in tide. In 1924 they
sent chip to England, laden with fish, cured with
salt of their own manufacture, and the year following,
two other ships laden With fish and furs. The fame Of
the fshrg success of the Pilgrims, told spread
abroad through all the western parts OF England,
and in 1924, Paron White afamous preacher, OF Dor
chester, England, induced sundry chants to make
fishir settlement in New-England-they began at
Cape Ann, under the Plymouth settlers, aud set up
fishing stage Five years later, find tina. the old
May flower and two other vessels were sent from
England 10 the colonsts freighted with twenty nine
tuns weight of salt together with lines hooks knives,
boots and barrel. Necessary for fishing. Fishing con
tinued to be the prevailing employment, and that all
others were made subservient and promove to it. is
shown by the follosing ordinance Of Massachusetts
Bay in l655-it reads thus: Because feb 10 the chief
"stsple commodity OF this country. therefore all due
to be given unto such hands a. shall
" Get forw ard the trade Of fshing-ss fishermen ms.
" rines and sbpwrig hu-sball be allie ~ed, man for
"man some or other Of the aborers Of the country to
"papt and reap for them in the season Of the year,
at the public charge for the space Of these seven
"yeais next ensuing; and such laborers TO be ap-
pointed and paid by the Treasurer.' Indeed the
history ofthe Pilgrims is full Of proof thsthey adhered
strictly to their original design. They continued 20
fsb exclusively to neglect almost entirely their
religious and educational we'll being. Fifty years
after the landing Of the Pilgrims, the country back
from the sea was yet wilderness aud although
generation bad been born in the Colony and OBJ
tanned manhood, there not single public SCHOOL
At length successful effort made, and the profits
Of the ackere, bass and herring fisheries at Cape
Cod were granted TO found public school; and in
the year le7l-ffty one years after the Pilgrims bad
sought and found a faiths pure shrine-John Morton
was engaged as the first schOolmaster, 70 teach the
youth OF the first public school to read write and cast
accounts.
Thus il il historically true, that fish and fishing oc-
easioned he exploration and colonization OF New
England, induced the Pilgrim fathers to seek this
"wilderness.ho home" and their controlling and
monopolizing employ for more than bali a Gen.
fury after the LANDING on Plymouth Rock.
In another article we will consider what feb aud
fishing had to do in alternating the colonists from the
mother country-in causing the Revousion, and in
preparing our fathers to 6eh. successfully the battles
of free fshing and freedom and establishing oar nie-
n.nsence OTsrGo.