§ Captain Pechellwould avail himself of that opportunity of putting a question to the noble Secretary for Foreign Affairs. It would be in the recollection of the House that he presented a petition last Session from the owners of fishing-boats on the coast of Kent and Sussex, complaining of the conduct of the French fishermen on that coast, in pursuing a course calculated materially to injure, if not to destroy, the fishery. It appeared, however, that the subject of complaint not only existed on the coast of Kent and Sussex, but had extended to that of Norfolk and Suffolk. He wished to know whether Government had taken any steps with a view of putting a stop to this great grievance to our fishermen, and whether such interference had been attended with a favourable result, so that the French boats with their trawl nets would no longer come upon our coast, and impede the English fishermen during the mackerel and herring fishery.
§ Viscount Palmerstonreplied that his hon. and gallant Friend must be aware that the question put by him involved a subject of discussion between the French and English Governments of a much more extensive nature than he had described. It was true that frequent collisions arose on the coast between the crews of the fishing-boats of the two nations; much more serious differences, however, had arisen respecting the boundaries of the oyster fisheries of the two countries off Jersey. In the latter case a joint commission had been appointed by the English and French 374 Governments, which had been empowered to make a permanent line of demarcation between the fisheries of the two countries, and which, at the same time that it did justice to the claims of the English fishermen, did not do injustice to the French. The Report of the Commissioners as to the line had not yet been received, but he hoped that very shortly he should be enabled to announce a satisfactory result of their abours. With respect to the question now put, his hon. Friend must be aware that it involved a very different matter, and one of much greater difficulty, and could only be settled by the Governments of the two countries. He could not state what progress had been made on the subject, but he could assure his hon. Friend that the attention of Government should continue to be directed to it, and whatever could be done should be done consistently with the principles involved in the treaties between the two countries. The object of the Commission which had been appointed was confined to the oyster fishery at Jersey and on the French coast, and it probably would not be convenient to refer to it this much larger question. The subject was one of great importance, and the most convenient mode of settling it would be by an amicable discussion between the Governments of the two countries.