THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 101 



V 



of England not only to neglect but even to oppress and 

 restrain the commerce and navigation of New England. 

 The continued neglect of the colonists' interests and the 

 strong protests of the people served to arouse and main- 

 tain a sentiment in England for the exclusion of the French 

 from America. 



The terms of the treaty were extremely harsh towards 

 the French. By a stroke of the pen France transferred 

 her empire in America to the crown of Great Britain. She 

 lost forever the control of the vast region extending from 

 the mouth of the Mississippi to the Rockies, northward to 

 the Hudson Bay region, and eastward to the Alleghenies, 

 through the valley of the Saint Lawrence, and out to the 

 shores of the Atlantic. The only territory retained by 

 France was the small islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, 

 situated on the Newfoundland coast. The labors of Cham- 

 plain, Hennepin and La Salle in establishing a mighty 

 French power in America were set at naught in a single 

 day. Added to the losses of power and territory was the 

 serious curtailment of her fishing privileges. Henceforth 

 France was practically excluded from shore fisheries at 

 Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, the islands of the 

 Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the southern coast of New- 

 foundland. The three league limit applied to the Gulf of 

 Saint Lawrence would exclude the subjects of France from 

 its richest shore fisheries, leaving them only the deeper 

 waters of that inland sea. 



The dreams of France for supremacy in America were 

 over, her hopes for a monopoly of the fishing industries 

 were shattered. The ravages of war, the loss of territory, 

 and the restraint placed upon her fisheries were too power- 

 ful agents for her merchants and fishermen to combat suc- 

 cessfully. France never again regained her prestige in 

 American waters, although she had 259 vessels employed 

 at Newfoundland in 1768. 



