Bulletin 28 (revised); Langworthy, “Fish as Food,” in id., Farmers' Bulletin 85 (Washington, 1899).
FISH, Royal. Certain ‘great fish,’ as the whale and sturgeon, which by English law are the property of the Crown, when either thrown on shore or caught near the coast. “Our ancestors,” says Blackstone, “seem to have entertained a very high notion of the importance of this right, it being the prerogative of the Kings of Denmark, and the Dukes of Normandy; and from one of these it was probably derived to our princes. It is expressly claimed and allowed in the statute De Prærogativa Regis (17 Edw. II., c. 11), and the most ancient treatises of law now extant make mention of it.” Strictly, it was the head only of the whale which belonged to the King, the tail being a perquisite of the Queen Consort. In Scotland whales thrown on shore above six horse-power draught belong to the Queen or the Admiral. See Game Laws.
FISH, Hamilton (1808-93). An American statesman. He was born in New York City, graduated at Columbia College in 1827, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1830. In 1842 he was elected to Congress as a Whig. In 1846 he was the Whig nominee for Lieutenant-Governor on the same ticket with John Young for Governor. During the campaign Fish antagonized the 'anti-renters' (see Anti-Rentism), with the result that, although the Whig ticket was generally successful, he himself was defeated. In the year following, however, on the appointment of his successful Democratic competitor, Addison Gardiner, as a judge of the State Court of Appeals, a special election was held to fill the vacancy, at which Fish was elected. In 1848 he was nominated by the Whigs for Governor, and the result was a sweeping victory for Fish. In 1851 he was elected United States Senator to succeed Daniel S. Dickinson. The years 1857-60 he spent in Europe, returning in the latter year to take an active part in the campaign in behalf of the Lincoln ticket. Early in 1862 he was appointed, with Bishop Ames, a commissioner to proceed to Richmond and other Southern cities within the Confederate lines to relieve Federal prisoners; and although the Confederate authorities refused to allow them to proceed, the negotiations that followed resulted in an arrangement for the exchange of prisoners that was continued throughout the Civil War. In March, 1869, Fish was appointed Secretary of State, and served through both of Grant's administrations, retiring in 1877. In 1871 he was one of the commissioners who negotiated and signed the Treaty of Washington with Great Britain. During the ‘Alabama Claims’ arbitration he was successful in securing the adoption by the tribunal of a provision which relieved the United States from responsibility for indirect damages arising out of the Fenian raids and Cuban filibustering expeditions. He also brought about the settlement of the longstanding Northwestern boundary dispute with Great Britain, which resulted in the cession to the United States of the island of San Juan (see San Juan Boundary Dispute), and the satisfactory settlement of the complications growing out of the Virginius massacre (q.v.). Under his direction, also, extensive reforms were undertaken in the consular service, by which civil-service examinations were required of candidates.
FISH, Hamilton, Jr. (1849—). An American lawyer and politician, born in Albany, N. Y., the son of Hamilton Fish. He was educated at Columbia College, acted as private secretary to his father, and after his graduation at Columbia Law School (1873) was aide de camp to Governor Dix; he was Republican leader in the Assembly in 1890, and its Speaker in 1895. After the death of his wife he lived abroad for several years, and, on his return to this country, at Garrison, N. Y.
FISH, Nicholas (1758-1833). An American Revolutionary soldier. He was born in New York City, and began the academic course at Princeton, but left before graduating to pursue the study of law in the office of John Morin Scott in New York. There he became actively interested in the organization of the Sons of Liberty (q.v.), and in 1776 was appointed by Scott, who had been commissioned brigadier-general, as aide-de-camp on his staff. At the close of the Revolutionary War he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was a division inspector under Steuben in 1778, and ably seconded that officer in his attempts to drill and discipline the Continental troops. He participated in the battles of Saratoga and Monmouth, in Sullivan's expedition against the Indians in 1779, and in the Virginia and Yorktown campaigns, in which he served for a time on the staff of Lafayette. In 1786 he was appointed Adjutant-General of New York State, which position he held for many years. In 1794 he was appointed by Washington supervisor of the Federal revenue in New York City. In 1811 he was the Federalist candidate for Lieutenant-Governor of the State, and carried New York City by a large majority. During the War of 1812 he served as a member of the City Committee of Defense.
FISH, Nicholas (1846-1902). An American diplomatist, grandson of Col. Nicholas Fish, and son of the Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish (q.v.). Born in New York, and educated at Columbia and at Harvard Law School, he practiced law in New York City and then went into the diplomatic service. Appointed second secretary of legation at Berlin (1871), he became secretary (1874), and acted in the continued absence of his chief as chargé d'affaires; held the latter position in Switzerland (1877-81), and then served as Minister to Belgium (1882-86). He returned to New York in 1887, and became a member of the banking firm of Harriman & Co. He was president of the New York branch of the Society of the Cincinnati. He was fatally assaulted in New York City, September 16, 1902.
FISH-CROW. A small crow (Corvus ossifragus), common along the eastern coast of the United States, from the Hudson River to Mexico. It is about sixteen inches in length, and the plumage is glossed with violet blue on the back, changing to a more greenish tinge on the head and lower parts. It rarely leaves the coast and margins of tidal rivers—where it feeds on small animals and carrion found on the beaches and mud flats, or dexterously seizes floating morsels—except to make excursions in the spring to neighboring woods and fields in search of birds' nests, of which it is a persistent robber. It ascends the Mississippi and other large rivers long distances. Its flight and cry are easily distinguished from those of the common crow, and it does not form
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