be built for that purpose, and actually
employed in the fishery; that a society should be incorporated, under
the name of the Free British Fishery, by a charter, not exclusive, with
power to raise a capital not exceeding five hundred thousand pounds; and
that three pounds ten shillings per centum per annum, should be granted
and paid out of the customs to the proprietors for fourteen years,
for so much of the capital as should be actually employed in the said
fisheries. Corresponding chambers were proposed to be erected in remote
parts of North Britain, for taking in subscriptions, and prosecuting the
trade, under the directions of the company at London; and the nation
in general seemed eager to dispute this branch of commerce with the
subjects of Holland, whom they considered as ungrateful interlopers. In
the house of peers, however, the bill met with a formidable opposition
from the earl of Winchelsea and lord Sandys, who justly observed, that
it was a crude indigested scheme, which in the execution would never
answer the expectations of the people; that in contending with the
Dutch, who are the patterns of unwearied industry and the most rigid
economy, nothing could be more absurd than a joint-stock company, which
is always clogged with extraordinary expense; and the resolution of
fitting out vessels at the port of London, where all sorts of materials,
labour, and seamen, are so much dearer than in any other part of the
united kingdom, exclusive of the great distance and dangerous voyage
between the metropolis and the sound of Brassa in Shetland, the
rendezvous at which all the herring-busses were to assemble in the
beginning of the fishing season. They likewise took notice of the
heavy duty on salt, used in curing the fish for sale, and the beef
for provisions to the mariners; a circumstance of itself sufficient
to discourage adventurers from embarking in a commerce which, at
best, yields but very slender profits to the trade in particular, how
important soever it might prove to the community in general. These
objections were answered by the duke of Argyle and the earl of
Granville, who seemed to think that this branch of trade could not
be fairly set on foot, without such a considerable sum of money as no
single individual would care to advance; that a joint-stock company
would be able to prosecute the fishery at a smaller expense than that
which particular traders must necessarily incur; that the present spirit
of