Kentucky Gazette

The British court of admiralty at Halifax has condemned the American fishing vessels, Nabby, Washington and Raven, on the principle that our declaration of war in 1812 abrogated the treaty of 1783, by which we had a right to fish on the coasts, bays and creeks of the British provinces. But, says Rufus King, "as these provinces were originally conquered from France by the common sword, and mingled blood, of Americans and Englishmen, then members of the same empire, we, with them, have a common right to these fisheries; and, in the division of the empire, England confirmed our title without condition or limitation—a title equally irrevocable with those of our boundaries, or of independence itself!" We perfectly agree with Mr. King in this sound doctrine; but, if we go to war to maintain it, would not Mr. King and the other federalists desert us and oppose the war, as they did in 1812? Without the exertion of force, we apprehend the British will not permit us to use our common right to the fisheries, as the "royal navy" has been put in requisition to capture, and the British courts to condemn, the poor little American fishermen. It will be an honorable and profitable occupation for the British naval officers. They will no doubt be more successful in capturing our fishing smacks, than they were in combating our "fir-built frigates" in the late war; and, besides, they may feast to satiety on herrings and mackerel!