ran than
it does later. In April, 1760, he writes:

Apprehending the herring were come, hauled the seine but catched
only a few of them, though a good many of other sorts.... Hauled
the seine again, catched two or three white fish, more herring than
yesterday and a great number of cats.

August, 1768: Hauling the seine upon the bar of Cedar Point for
sheepshead but catched none.

April, 1769: The white fish ran plentifully at my seine landing,
having catched about 300 at one haul....

The term "white fish" is not now generally applied to any species
caught in the Potomac, but a good guess is that, with Washington, it
was an alternate for shad.

The Revolution was fought, but even before the surrender the minds of
America's statesmen were actively considering peace terms. Both Richard
Henry Lee and Thomas Jefferson suggested that the valuable fisheries
off Newfoundland be freely open to American ships. This time it was not
a question of the Northern Colony keeping the Southern Colony out as it
had been 150 years before. Thomas Jefferson, writing in 1778, wanted
the United Colonies to exclude England:

If they [Britain] really are coming to their senses at last, and it
should be proposed to treat of peace, will not Newfoundland
fisheries be worthy particular attention to exclude them and all
others from them except our _tres grand_ and _chers amis_ and
allies? Their great value to whatever nation possesses them is as a
nursery for seamen. In the present very prosperous situation of our
affairs, I have thought it would be wise to endeavor to gain a
regular and acknowledged access in every court in Europe but most
the Southern. The countries bordering on the Mediterranean I think
will merit our earliest attention. They will be the important
markets for our great commodities of fish, wheat, tobacco, and
rice.

Lee saw how fishing in Northern waters had started America on its way
to being a maritime power. In a series of letters to George Mason and
others he expresses his opinions forcibly:

Our news here is most excellent; both from Williamsburg and from
Richmond it comes that our countrymen have given the enemy in the
South a complete overthrow.... Heaven grant it may be so. I shall
then with infinite pleasure congratulate my friend on the recovery
of his property, and our common country on so great a step towards