de Calonne. The passage of the _Arret_ was stopped,
and the difficulty communicated to me. I urged every thing I could,
in letters and in conferences, to convince them that whale-oil was an
article which could bear no duty at all. That if the duty fell on the
consumer, he would choose to buy vegetable oils; if on the fisherman, he
could no longer live by his calling, remaining in his own country;
and that if he quitted his own country, the circumstances of vicinity,
sameness of language, laws, religion, and manners, and perhaps the
ties of kindred, would draw him to Nova Scotia, in spite of every
encouragement which could be given at Dunkirk; and that thus those
fishermen would be shifted out of a scale friendly to France, into one
always hostile. Nothing, however, could prevail. It hung on this article
alone, for two months, during which we risked the total loss of the
_Arret_ on the stability in office of Monsieur Lambert; for if he had
gone out, his successor might be less favorable; and if Monsieur Necker
were the successor, we might lose the whole, as he never set any
store by us, or the connection with us.
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