East Hampton says he was "an original genius of good judgment but of an odd turn." It is related that while he was a member of the legislature he got into trouble by saying that the House was governed by the devil. When brought to the bar by the speaker, he explained that what he had intended to say was that the House was ruled by the Albany members, they by Colonel Schuyler, he by the Mohawk Indians, and they by the devil; whereat everybody laughed so heartily that the old man was forgiven for his plain speech. That he should have made such a decided stand against the governor was evidence in the minds of average citizens that he was what would now be called a "crank." But if his motives and ambitions be now examined, it is seen that he was not only the ablest citizen of Long Island, but a far-seeing statesman, one worthy of being ranked with the patriots of the Revolution. For he had come to be animated, not by a foolishly stubborn determination to oppose a tyrannical governor, but by a lofty spirit of patriotism. The fight as he made it was not to escape the payment of a fine of £50 that had been im

posed upon him, but to establish a principle, as shall now appear. Parliament had provided special encouragements for "subjects within this Kingdom," who might wish "to go a Whale Fishing to Greenland, Friezland and places adjacent." In Mulford's view "the subjects in New York" had the same rights under that act as any Englishman in England. If that were so, the decree of Hunter for taxing the fishery was contrary to the act of Parliament for encouraging it, and this was the plea which Mulford's attorney made when he was arraigned on the charge of trover. The subservient Chief Justice, in considering this plea, declared that the colonists "had nothing to do with the acts of Parliament," and that they "had no law but what the Crown allowed" them.

On hearing this decision Samuel Mulford determined to learn "whether the Subjects in New York Colony are to be governed by Prerogative and deprived of property, or whether they are to be governed by the Constitution of English Government.' That is to say, Mulford made his fight to determine the rights of the colonists as British citizens, and not merely to escape a petty fine that he was well able to pay.

Finding the power of the governor too great for him in the colony (Hunter called him a traitor for standing out against the decision of the Supreme Court), Mulford left home secretly, crossed over to Newport, walked thence to Boston, and sailed for London to lay his case before the Crown.

Rarely has a man seen a greater change in his surroundings than Mulford saw when he went from the stern sheets of a Long Island whale boat to the crowded antechambers of those who

waited upon royalty at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Dress, manner of speech, and every motion proclaimed him a wayfarer from a far country. The pickpockets of the streets "annoyed" him much. The gentlemen of the court found him vastly amusing at first, and latterly, as he persisted, perhaps something of a nuisance. But the resourcefulness and the determination of the whaler were in him. He sewed fish-hooks inside of his pockets, and so caught the light-fingered thieves; and by other hooks equally effective he drew those in authority around him. until the Lords Justices wrote to Governor Hunter, saying plainly, "We must observe to you that we

hope you will give all due encouragement" to the whalers.

Before Washington was born, Samuel Mulford, the alongshore whaler of Southampton, set the pace to which the patriot hosts at Lexington were to march. Decision on the main point for which Mulford contended was avoided. That was left for later arbitrament. But Hunter was compelled to reply, "I have remitted the five percent on Whale Fishing." By means of the mental qualities that he had cultivated when "out upon the seas" with "six men in a Small Boat to take and kill Whales," Mulford triumphed over one of the ablest of the royal governors of New York.

This account of Samuel Mulford has little of whaling in it, but it seems well worth telling here, first of all, because one of the most important features of the American whale fishery is found in its influence upon the men who were engaged in it, and, through them, upon the whole people.

C

II

TOLD OF THE RED INDIAN WHALERS

N the early days of Nantucket, while

IN

yet the people were engaged in alongshore whaling

by means of small boats only, it happened one day while thirty boats were in search of whales at a distance of something like six miles offshore that the wind suddenly whipped around to the north and began to blow with great violence. At the same time snow began to fall.

In the circumstances there was only one thing for the whalers to do, and that was to head for land and pull with all their might. This was done, though without much thought of danger at first. Boats were often caught thus by an offshore wind, but as time passed it became apparent to all hands that they were making little headway against the gale, and then one after another of the oarsmen became weary, and finally discouraged. Through the weakness of these men