CHAP. XXXV. FISHERIES OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 221 



ultimate effects of the operation of this measure would be 

 the depopulation of the colony of its British inhabitants, 



enterprise, and have hitherto been injuriously afffcted by their unequal com- 

 petition. Under the veiy extended privileges conferred by this convention, 

 it is the belief of our best-informed men that our trade and industry must 

 succimib to the influences they will have to encounter. The direct inter- 

 ference of the French with the prosecution of our pursuits on the one hand, 

 and the increase of their bountj^-sustained trade on the other, while lessen- 

 ing the amount of our produce, must lead to the further result of making 

 that smaller production of less relative value than before. 



Nova Scotia has a large interest on the coasts on which this convention 

 proposes to give the subjects of France concun-ing rights of fishing; and in 

 the proportion of that interest will this measure be productive to her of the 

 like results that we anticipate. This act of the British Government has 

 been received here with common feelings of indignation and alarm, and 

 there is the less palliation for this concession to the French, since the con- 

 sequences of such a measure have been repeatedly urged in despatches from 

 the local government. 



The convention, it is true, makes the assent of this colony, by the passing 

 of certain laws, necessary to give it effect. On this point I have but to ob- 

 serve, that not only will no such assent be given by the Legislature, but the 

 people, with one voice, have determined that eveiy just and honourable 

 means shall be employed to defeat a project so fraught with ruin to eveiy 

 interest in the colony. 



In pursuance of this detemaination, the Legislature are appealing to Her 

 Majesty and the Imperial Parliament, and will send a delegation to sustain 

 their rights. We are unwilling to believe that the British Government or 

 the Imperial Parliament would permit the ratification of such a measure 

 without our consent, and in defiance of the principles our constitution em- 

 bodies. But the great importance of the interest involved, and the fact that 

 the British Government has acceded to the convention in the face of the 

 strong protests that for years have gone from this colony, produce in our 

 minds a feeling of shaken confidence, and compel us to admit that our posi- 

 tion is one of extreme peril. Nor will it mitigate the effect of the treaty — 

 should it be confii-med — that it involves the broken faith of a parent 

 government to the oldest North American dependency of the Crown. I 

 respectfully appeal to you. Sir, as the organ of your honourable House, to 

 consider whether this convention does not embrace a question of colonial 

 right, in which all are concerned, and which it may not be unworthy of 

 your honourable body to entertain. The wrong will not be done if our 

 fellow-colonists view it as we think they must, and avow their sentiments 

 accordingly. Our rights are proposed to be sacrificed in this to Imperial 

 exigency, and if such a principle be sanctioned its application to other 

 colonies may be but a question of time and circumstances. 



And it will also be well to consider what its effect would be on the other 



