Remaining in their native country, to which they are most
singularly attached, excluded from commerce with England, taught to look
to France as the only country from which they can derive sustenance,
they will, in case of war, become useful rovers against its enemies.
Their position, their poverty, their courage, their address, and their
hatred, will render them formidable scourges on the British commerce.
It is to be considered then, on the one hand, that the duty which M. de
Calonne had proposed to retain on their oil, may endanger the shifting
this useful body of seamen out of our joint scale into that of the
British; and also may suppress a considerable subject of exchange for
the productions of France: on the other hand, that it may produce an
addition to his Majesty's revenue. What I have thus far said, is on
the supposition, that the duty may operate a diminution of the price
received by the fishermen. If it act in the contrary direction, and
produce an augmentation of price to the consumer, it immediately brings
into competition a variety of other oils, vegetable and animal, a good
part of which France receives from abroad, and the fisherman, thus
losing his market, is compelled equally to change either his calling or
country.
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