13 



Yet, at Newfoundland, the privilege of fishing on a part of the east- 

 ern coast from Cape Bonavista to the northern point, and thence along 

 the western shore as far as Point Riche, was granted to the subjects of 

 Louis. It is to be observed that England reserved the exclusive use of 

 the fishing-grounds considered the best, and also the territorial juris- 

 diction ; that the French were not permitted to settle on the soil, or 

 erect any structures other than fishermen's huts and stages ; and that 

 the old and well-understood method of fishing was to be continued with- 

 out change. 



By one party this adjustment of a vexed question was deemed fa- 

 vorable to England and just to France. But another part}^ insisted 

 that their rival, humbled by the terms of the peace in other respects, 

 should have been required in this to submit to her own doctrines and 

 to an unconditional exclusion from the American seas. The opponents 

 of the treaty did not view the case fairly. The cession of Acadia was 

 supposed to include the large island of Cape Breton ; and, this ad- 

 mitted, the French were to be confined to a region from which their 

 further, or at least considerable, interference with vessels wearing 

 the Enghsh flag was hardly possible : while, with regard to that very 

 region, it should be recollected that, though England claimed New- 

 foundland by the discovery of Cabot and the possession of Gilbert, no 

 strenuous or long-continued opposition had been made, at any time, to 

 all nations fishing, or even forming settlements, there; and that France 

 was entitled to special consideration, inasmuch as her establishments 

 tor conducting the fishery had been held without interruption lor more 

 than half a century, and had been recognised at the peace of Ryswick. 

 Besides, she had captured several English posts in addition, and, in 

 fact, was in actual possession of a large part of the island and its val- 

 uable appendages. 



The party in opposition assailed the ministry in terms of bitter de- 

 nunciation. It was said that they "had been grossly imposed upon," 

 that they "had directly given to France all she wanted," and that the 

 concessions were "universally and justly condemned." Such are some 

 of the words of reproach that appear in an official report. In the po- 

 litical ferocity of the time. Lord Oxford was impeached; and it is 

 among the charges against him that, "in defiance of an express act of 

 Parliament, as well as in contempt of the frequent and earnest repre- 

 sentations of the merchants of Great Britain and of the commissioners 

 of trade and plantations," he, Robert, Earl of Oxford, and Earl Morti- 

 mer,* had advised his sovereign that "the subjects of France should 

 have the liberty of fishing and drying fish in Newfoundland." 



* Eobert Harley, Earl of Oxford, and Earl Mortimer, a distinguished minister of state in the 

 reign of Queen Anne, was born in 1661. "After the peace of Utrecht, the tory statesmen, 

 having no longer apprehensions of danger from abroad, began to quarrel among themselves 

 and the two chiefs, Oxford and Boliugbroke, especially, became personal and political foes.' 

 Soon after the succession of George I, Oxford was impeached of high treason by the House of 

 Commons, and was committed to the Tower. The Duke of Marlborough was among his 

 enemies. Bolingbroke fled to the continent. Oxford was tried before the House of Peers in 

 1717, and acquitted of the crimes alleged against hun. He was the friend of Pope, Swift, 

 and other literary men of the time. He died in 1724. His son Edward, the second Earl of 

 Oxford, and Earl Mortimer, was also a great and liberal patron of literature and learned men, 

 and completed the valuable collection of manuscripts which he commenced, and which is now 

 in the British Museum. 



