51 



Were the inmates of British prisons to be subjected now to the 

 treatment received by the inhabitants at the hands oi" these masters, the 

 whole civilized world would join in a shout of indignant condemnation. 

 The first master who arrived at any particular harbor was its admiral 

 for the season ; the second was its vice-admiral, and the third its rear- 

 admiral. Thus, at the outset, no attention whatever was paid to the 

 qualifications — to the heads or the hearts — of these strange rulers. Ac- 

 cident — a long passage or a short one, a dull or a quick-sailing vessel — 

 determined everything. The triumph of the English merchants over 

 their fellow-subjects, in this lone and desolate isle, was as complete as 

 that of the warrior who storms a citj. In fine, the "admirals" se- 

 lected the best fishing stations, displaced at will the resident fishermen 

 who occupied them, drove the inhabitants from their own houses, took 

 hush-money and presents of fish in adjusting cases brought before them 

 for adjudication, and, in their general course, were as arbitrary and as 

 corrupt as the leaders of banditti. There were exceptions, it may be 

 admitted; but the accounts are uniform that, as a class, the "admirals" 

 were both knaves and tyrants. Yet the law which authorized these 

 iniquities bore the title of "An act to enconrage the trade of Newfound- 

 land." 



In 1701 we have a very particular and detailed return of the con- 

 dition of the fishery, thus: There were 121 vessels, manned with 

 2,727 men, 993 boats, belonging to the vessels and to the resident 

 fishermen, 544 fishing-stages on the shores, and 3,581 men, women, and 

 children employed as curers ; while the catch was 216,320 quiMals 

 of fish, yielding 3,798 hogsheads of oil.* 



In 1729 we record an improvement in the government of the island, 

 since a captain of a ship-of-war displaced the "admirals," and we find 

 the number of inhabitants estimated at about 6,000. Referring to the 

 accompanying table for the general statistics of the century ; and re- 

 marking that the number of ships was doubled in the six yenrs, suc- 

 ceeding the close of the v^^ar with France, which immediately preceded 

 our Revolution, we proceed to notice such events as our limited space 

 will allow: 



The first of these is the proclamation of the King, iti 1763, in which 

 it is stated that, "to the end that the open and tree fishery of our sub- 

 jects may be extended to and carried on upon the coast of Labrador 

 and the adjacent islands, we have thought fit, with the advice of our 

 privy council, to put all that coast, from the river St. John to Hud- 

 son's straits, together with the islands of Anticosti and Madalene, and 

 all other islands tying upon the said coast, under the care and inspec- 

 tion of our governor of Newfoundland," while "the islands of St. John, 

 Cape Breton, or Isle Royale, with the lesser islands adjacent thereto," 

 were annexed to "the government of Nova Scotia." 



The general affairs of Newfoundland were considered at about the 

 same time. Though no plan was devised for the government of the 

 colony, such as was due by England to herself and to humanity, the 



* In 1727 an act of Parliament was passed which authorized the importation of salt into 

 Pennsylvania, in British ships, (navigated according to the navigation acts of the realm,) and 

 for the curing of fish, on the same conditions as were allowed in New England and New- 

 foundlaiad. 



