Ministers, we trust, are ...
The Times, 1824-11-06T00:00:00

Ministers, we trust, are doing their office, and pressing with due diligence upon the French Government, the nie- cessity of leaving the rnaritimc rights of Englaiid, with her ships, her seamen, and her fisheries, unmolested : other- wise, the personages composing our Cabinet inay assure themselves, that they will be pressed upon by their own countrynen, and v ith uin very patient or gentle hanid. WVe have already brought under public notice the fishing tiade carried oni by England opposite the northl-west coast of France, and the unjust usurpations which have been aimed against itby the Frcnch Government. Though national rights and interests of high importance are equally affected by this alarming controversy, the question of commercial, and even of maritime interest, is nearly swvallowed up in that of sove- reign and inidefeasible right. Let us recapitulate, for the convenience of our readers, a few of the facts connected with the subject we are now con- sideting. The oystar-banlds, from which the Mlinisters of CHARLEtS X. are endeavouring to chase awvay our indus- trious fishernen, lie at the distance of more than one, and less thani three leagues from the French coast, off the Isle of Jersey. They were discovered by British cruisers about the year 1797-were never before or since that period fished upon by subjects of Fra-nce. To Frenclh subjects they are in- deed quite useless, because their own baniks, wvithin olle league of their shore, have a supply of oysters more than) sufficient for every market in Europe: the Frenich banks are much better also, both as to economy andl safety, being in shallow water. For 15 years this fishery has been peaceably carried onl, and has rapidly prospered, employing, at present, 180 siiall craft, with 500 seamen, from the island of Jersey alone, and a considerable number from Sark and Guern- sey, as well as from the south and cast coasts of Englaiid. In 1821 France seemed clisposed, as in other instanoes, to look only at the value of the thitng possessed, aud to pass by the title of the possessor. WVitlhout one inquiry illto the right or wrong of the proceeding, she sent armed vessels which chased our boats into the very bays ot Jersey. The British Governmrent, ea coiuplaint made, sent lik-ewise a man of war, the best ambassador on such occasions. A Commissiouer besides, Coloncl Tow- ZEL, was appointed, to treat vith a Frenchmaii about this dispute; and to hinm the French Commissioner admnitted the general priiciple that France had no iotnaini over the oceani beyond one league. from low water-mark, and that without such liits the English fishery was lawful. No t- withstanding this acknowledgrnent, France claimed an ex- ception for that particular section of the coast which, as ill fortune would hive it, in'luded the oyster fishery !-on what pretence, by what strain of tle' powers of logic or of litigiousness, or in virtue of what explanatory evidence, we have not yet heard. Colonel ToWZeL, however-and we suppose the man of war had sotfe share in it-prevailesL 60 far, that one league from low water mark, notwithstandling the new exception, was provisionally agreed upon as .itlhe ne plus ultra for our fisbermen. Now comes the worst feature in this case. Lord LoNDONugRay havlngperished, IMr. CANNING succeeds him ; and he, Mr. CiN iqniw-hag re- centlygiven up the pointwhich his all-aceemmodatihgprede.. cessor had refused to the FrenchGovernment. Mr. CAN N2Ne, or some Onle in his name, has actually transferred to France the provisionial benefit previously secured to E:ngland, and has suffered the French Cabinet to establish two leagues, as the space (instead of one) from which our ships alnd sailors are excluded. Now, in the name of common seuse, what pretext, as wa have already said, can be adduced flbrtheabrogatiof'a cge- "neral principle," distinctly recognizedby France herself- ? and if the exception be applicable to the shore betwven Car- teretand Lingreville,what hinders the application of thesaute perverse anomaly to every yard of French c0ast from Calais to the Heigbts of Toulon? This.it is wvhich c6mmunicateS such interest to aUl questions of national rihit, however minute or seeminglg insignificant tble`p eciseoccasion of thieir exercise. rt is not. the mere oyster-beds that are `now in litigation, nor the fevi hundred seamnrs! huts, - which, fronm being receptacles of happy innocerice-and tlNid'ing industry, may he re4fuced1 by fainine-to .o' mnanyieug of sufFering, of desperation and atroctty: ii is alo sic I painful vicisttdes owbhi we are-atithid moment thinklc ing: there is no possession safes if this bte vrug fr6ii usZ- nio right sacred, if this be violated: the signal is given for a universal assault upon the English dastards whom France h a ane mf xup ,y te-fdy aYe . uge4. -and tramp,led oa- to-iorw.o B.ut has tnglrnd.setgn exampleenof~ ,auch' aorbd d,,nd nialignint '.oh.iy ?. iSNo:: s*asl.eXilaed. hei:navr~tatiors lavws, and broken a,in be-? half af foreigniers,' hcnimono'poly of ilie.carrying 'rad}e;wiTh t.he iiorth of' Europe. Engand has shared 'wzth-France. ler own -irvialnua.e- Newfoutndland:isheryJ to -hie no foreign State- f Io d h the. -aaownof edeten,iont .-an4 is repait by aincmpt.of bergratefullnsus. to rob hier of another fishery,Ito whc siv.e has a l~ifuitad indisputable. right, and 31 romu whichi-France. does not even-.stieit.hy-. pothetically that: sheherself vould derive'one goW of- profit., We assert once more3 that th.-'people of ]Rnglid- mns-t7 ot :be so, trifled -With. IW&- ave purposely abstained from urgin' the marketabie value thinigiont&ndedfbr the -i d of honest asid prostdr6u?~eiitcr se-nuiseryi I forrar& and' hardj,ieame the m,ritime,. and: tlereXcre I precrous,.charac'te of .thV'6udstiori. -This, t hhough- an -ob. vious, is, -in our eatimate, aminferiorx. a.spect under wlich to consider it. .Whefi we all t igbt, we do not calculate the-pounds, shillings, and pience which it. iivolves-we speak not o Wkaloss,'bt;of,in outrage. - Should Miimsters, nevertielTesss.priduce any facts, not .already.beforetle pub,iaid Sit,C as to vary in a sensible degree.theinerit& or colouring of this important subject, vwe shall be the first to admit wlatever force may belong to them. -_