The New York herald., 1868-05-09


The lively debate sf. Thursday in the House
Of Representatives, on the protection Of Ameri-
can fisheries in the Gulf of st. Lawrence,
resulted in the passage Of Mr.. Pixies resolu-'
tion as amended by Mr.. Spalding g-''That the
President be requested to send sufficient
number Of vessels Of war to the fishing grounds
in the Gulf of st. Lawrence adjacent to the
British provinces, for the purpose Of protect
ing American vessels In the exercise Of their
rights as indicated in the existing treaties
Mr.. Pike, In the course of his remarks, mem
toned the fact that the government of the
Dominion Of Canada Il proposing to impose Q
tax of four dollars per ton on American fish
ing vessels and to send vessels of war to
enforce that tax He also contrasted the sta
tistics Of American shipping and commerce
with its statistics at former periods, attributing
the decay to the high tariff on all materials
entering into shipbuilding and to high taxes
generally. |.'It costs" he said, s'two dollars
TO- build vessel in American ports where 1t
costs but one dollar in English ports. 1t costs
one hundred thousand dollars to set a thousand
ton ship aaoat in New York and but fifty
thousand dollars to set her aAost in Liverpool
And this he assigned as one reason why, as he
expressed it, "that In the meridian of our power
we were yielding the control Of the sea. !" Mr..
/ Chanler opposed the resolution on the ground
} that the ashing along the coast Of New England
had ceased to be In the hands Of fishermen
\ alone and had fallen9into the hands of lnonopo-
lists, who, by organizing large steam vessels,
were absorbing the fishing interests. That was
the case, he declared. around Cape God, and
itextended also to the Gulf Of ST. Lawrence.
This resolution, therefore, he regarded as in
tended to protect such fishing monopoles.a He
added that another object OF II appeared to be
TO give increased value to those small iron-clad
vessels which the government had been selling
and make it necessary to repurchase them
. Notwithstanding these and other objections to
the resolution, 1t passed in its amended form by
vote Of ninety two to thirt nine. b5Si gYls2i 4,
ob The importance Of the American fisheries on
the northeastern b coast is unquestionable.
Ever since the discovery Of Newfoundland, at
the end of the fifteenth century, the magnitude
and value of the fisheries have been duly esti-
mated. z The angry contests that began in 1877
between the French and the English about the
sovereignty of the fishing grounds continued,
with greater or less violence, for upwards Of q
century. The pretensions which the French
set up, after the treaty Of Ryswick, in 1697, to
pthelo exclusive ownership q of the American
fisheries, were among the causes Of the war
declared by England in 1902. The concession
to France, by the treaty Of peace in l7l3, to the
very limited privilege of t'6shing and drying
fish in Newfoundland" !" soccasioned one OF the
charges against the Earl of Oxford, q minister
Of Queen Anne, impeachsd \ for high treason
in 1717. The rise and growth Of such city
as Louisburg, e''the Dunkirk ofAmeriea," on Q
lone, desolate isle, in the infancy Of American
colonization, can be accounted for only by s'the
fishing enthusiasm of the period. - Among the
motives that led to the colonization of Massa-
chusetts was the hope Of profit from the fish
cries on the coast. The controversy that arose
in England in 1921 in consequence Of claim
by. the Council of Plymouth, "a company
chartered by James l., to the monopoly of fish
ing in the American seas between the fortieth
and forty-eighth degrees of north latitude, was
! continued into the reign of Charles l., and
was one Of the causes of the quarrel
between him and Parliament which brought
on civil war;. The whole history Of
the fisheries on the coast of New England, in
the neighborhood Of Newfoundland, in the
bays and inlets Of the British maritime posses
sions and on the coast of Labrador, is replete
with interest. The frmness of John Adams
secured the right Of the Americans to share
in the fisheries Of the northeastern coast.
This right was guaranteed by the treaty of
peace negotiated at the end Of the Revolu-
tionary war. It was guaranteed anew by the
convention Of 1878. The serious troubles that
broke out in the summer Of 1852 on the fishing
grounds of British America between the Ameri-
can fishermen and the British authorities
were temporarily settled by mutual conces-
sions, and in 1854 the Reciprocity treaty was
agreed upon, which ended in 1866. Subse-
quently the provinces imposed on American
fishing vessels duty Of half dollar ton, and
the Ottawa government has now proposed to
raise this tax to four dollars ton.
A resolution to send naval squadron for
the protection of American fishermen on the
northeastern coast certainly ''nvolves," as
Mr.. Farnsworth suggested in the debate on
this subject, "the constitution of treaties and
might involve the country in war" It must re-
vive the entire question Of the asheries-a ques-
tion which was full of difficulties previous to
the adoption Of the Reciprocity treaty. These
difficulties would now be more complicated and
aggravated than ever. The Fenians in this
country would eagerly seize the opportunity of
manning feet Of fishing vessels and of ex-
pressly provoking collisions that might result
in war. Mr.. Pike exclaims, ''war! Who
is afraid Of WARP" But were his resolution to
load n war n would prova 60 rrottx, 'L,t4Io