297 



, The second Instance is from the letters ot the Hon. G. R. Young (a 

 distinguished gentleman of Nova Scotia) to Mr. Stanley.* 



" As early as the month of March," wrote Mr. Young, " if any stranger 

 approached the coasts of Nova Scotia, his observations would induce him 

 to believe that he was advancing to the territory of some great commer- 

 cial state. At a short distance fi'om the shore, and on the banks and 

 most productive fishing grounds, he would perceive fleets or continuous 

 lines of small shallops ; and if the day and season were auspicious, be 

 would discover that their crews were busily employed in drawing forth 

 tlie treasures of the deep. Seeing them thus anchored icith/n view, nrnj^ 

 unthin almost the shadow of the shore, and employed in appropriating 

 the resources which would appear to belong to it, the deduction would be 

 irresistible that they had recently left the neighboring harbors, and were 

 manned by their inhabitants. He would, however, be in error. On 

 inquiry he would learn that they have come a distance of three hundred 

 miles, to avail themselves of the privilege — that theij htlongcd to a rival 

 state, and tJiat they enjoyed the right by virtue of a. treaty, which the govern- 

 ment have bestowed without necessity and withotit return. He wo^dd learn., 

 also, that this liberal concession was highly disadvantageous to the inhab- 

 itants on the coast by lessening the productiveness ot" the fishing 

 grounds." 



That the ministry consented to act on the opinion of the Queen's ad- 

 vocate and her Majesty's attorney general, with much reluctance, is 

 very obvious. The first proof is found in their delay in transmitting it 

 to the colonial governor who furnished the " case " on which it is 

 founded. In the despatch which accompanied it at last. Lord Stanley 

 remarks that '• the subject has frequently engaged the attention of my- 

 self and my collegues, with the view of adopting further measures, if 

 necessary, for the protection of British interests in accordance " there- 

 with. But he adds : " We have, however, on full consideration, come 

 to the conclusion, as regards the fisheries of Nova Scotia, that the pre- 

 cautions taken by the provincial legislature appear adequate to the 

 purpose, and that being now practically acquiesced in by the Ameri- 

 cans, no further measures are required." The opinion thus disposed of 

 in November, 1842, was suifered to rest until the capture of the Wash- 

 ington and the Argus. Mr. Everett's arrangement in 1845 was, io 

 effect, an abandonment of the whole matter. 



Seven years of comparative quiet on the fishing grounds elapse, and 

 we are brought to the exciting events of 1852. 



There is another remarkable cuxumstance connected with this con- 

 troversy, which should not escape notice — namely, that New Bruns- 



vessels nearer the shore than three miles outside of a line drawn from opposite headlands of a bay. 

 Notwithstanding the opinion of the English crown laic officers, this interpretation of the treaty wiU 

 throw the argument entirely into the hands of the Americans. If the headlands be knv, or the 

 bay wide, like the entrance to the Bay of Chaleur, it is not possible for the fishermen to know, 

 or to estimate, their trae position in regard to those headlands. The horizontal line of vision, 

 from the deck of a schooner, is intercepted by the convexity of the earth at a distance of six 

 or eight miles. It is not to be concealed that a capture made, or a shot fired, under these 

 eircumstances, might produce war. And if war be the result, can Britain rely on the hearty 

 oo-operation of the provincials ? Exceedingly doubtful. Will the Canadians submit to have 

 tiieir flourishing towns and villages destroyed, and their families slaughtered, in order to pn^ 

 feet a few unprofitable fisheries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence?" 

 * Now the Earl of Derby. 



