The articles attacked, were
the privileges on the sale of our ships, and the _entrepot_ for codfish.
The former I knew to be valuable: the latter I supposed not so; because
during the whole of the time we have had four free ports in this
kingdom, we have never used them for the smuggling of fish. I concluded,
therefore, the ports of _entrepot_ would not be used for that purpose. I
saw that the ministers would sacrifice something to quiet the merchants,
and was glad to save the valuable article relative to our ships, by
abandoning the useless one for our codfish. It was settled, therefore,
in our conferences, that an _Arret_ should be passed, abridging the
former one only as to the entrepot of codfish. I was in Holland when the
_Arret_ came out; and did not get a copy of it till yesterday. Surprised
to find that fish-oil was thereby also excluded from the entrepot, I
have been to-day to make some inquiry into the cause; and from what I
can learn, I conclude it must have been a mere error in the clerk who
formed the _Arret_, and that it escaped attention on its passage. The
_entrepot_ of whale-oil was not objected to by a single deputy at
the conferences, and the excluding it is contrary to the spirit of
encouragement the ministers have shown a disposition to give.
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