100 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



not difficult to be seen. Time and time again France had 

 been the favored party in negotiations referring to rights 

 and privileges in North America. Beginning with the 

 treaty of Saint Germain, in 1632, concessions were made 

 favorable to the subjects of France. These were continued 

 by the terms of the treaty of Breda, in 1667, confirmed by 

 the treaty of London twenty-one years later, increased by 

 that of Ryswick, in 1697, and so changed by the treaty 

 of Utrecht that French fisheries, instead of being seriously 

 curtailed, actually increased under its provisions during 

 the half -century preceding the close of the Seven Years' 

 War. 



The prosperity of their rivals was viewed by the fisher- 

 men of New England and Great Britain with envy and 

 with dread. The record of their own military triumphs 

 in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and Quebec made the New 

 Englander feel that the French were privileged to enjoy 

 what by right of conquest should have belonged to them 

 fifty or more years previous. Their recent success in the 

 Gulf of Saint Lawrence had demonstrated clearly the true 

 value of those fishing grounds and served to increase the 

 feeling of resentment. But beyond the question of justice 

 and economy was the more significant one of permanent 

 menace. The people of New England never could feel safe 

 in pursuing this industry of the sea nor could they be as- 

 sured of its continuance as long as the French remained 

 in permanent possession of the land and much of the sea 

 in regions adjoining their own, on the north and east. The 

 colonists had hoped for more than a half-century that the 

 idea of excluding the French from North America might 

 prevail in English politics. England at heart hoped for 

 the same, but heretofore her continental interests had led 

 her always to sacrifice the welfare of her colonies in 

 America when settling accounts with France. From the 

 Stuarts down to the American Revolution it was the policy 



