February 1, 1791.
The representation sets forth that, before the late war, about four thousand seamen, and about twenty-four thousand tons of shipping, were annually employed from that State, in the whale fishery, the produce whereof was about three hundred and fifty thousand pounds lawful money a year.
That, previous to the same period, the cod fishery of that State employed four thousand men, and twenty-eight thousand tons of shipping, and produced about two hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year.
That these branches of business, annihilated during the war, have been, in some degree, recovered since; but that they labor under many and heavy embarrassments, which, if not removed, or lessened, will render the fisheries every year less extensive and important.
That these embarrassments are, heavy duties on their produce abroad, and bounties on that of their competitors; and duties at home on several articles, particularly used in the fisheries.
And it asks that the duties be taken off; that bounties be given to the fishermen; and the national influence be used abroad, for obtaining better markets for their produce.
The cod and whale fisheries, carried on by different persons, from different ports, in different vessels, in different seas, and seeking different markets, agree in one circumstance, in being as unprofitable to the adventurer, as important to the public. A succinct view of their rise, progress, and present state, with different nations, may enable us to note the circumstances which have attended their prosperity, and their decline; to judge of the embarrassments which are said to oppress ours; to see whether they depend on our own will, and may, therefore, be remedied immediately by ourselves, or, whether depending on the will of others, they are without the reach of remedy from us, either directly or indirectly.
Their history being as unconnected as their practice, they shall be separately considered.
Within twenty years after the supposed discovery of Newfoundland, by the Cabots, we find that the abundance of fish on its banks, had already drawn the attention of the people of Europe. For, as early as 1517, or 1519, we are told of fifty ships being seen there at one time. The first adventurers in that fishery were the Biscayans, of Spain, the Basques and Bas-Bretons, of France, all united anciently in language, and still in habits, and in extreme poverty. The last circumstance enabled them long to retain a considerable share of the fishery. In 1577, the French had one hundred and fifty vessels there; the Spaniards had still one hundred, and the Portuguese fifty, when the English had only fifteen. The Spaniards and Portuguese seem at length to have retired silently, the French and English claiming the fishery exclusively, as an appurtenance to their adjacent colonies, and the profits being too small for nations surcharged with the precious metals proceeding from their mines.
Without materials to trace the intermediate progress, we only know that, so late as 1744, the French employed there five hundred and sixty-four ships, and twenty-seven thousand five hundred seamen, and took one million two hundred and forty-six thousand quintals of fish, which was three times the extent to which England and her colonies together, carried this fishery at that time.