134 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



and the 

 "^ Declara- 

 tion of 

 Versailles 

 vetoed 

 English 

 settlements 

 there, 1783. 



was only one English settlement on the east coast (at Sop 

 Arm), and Cape Ray, beyond which there was only one 

 English settlement on the west coast (at St. George Bay) as 

 the new frontiers of the shores and seas on and in which 

 equal fishing rights were conceded. It was as though Fife's 

 Ness had been substituted for Flamborough, and Land's End 

 for Holyhead. The Treaty coast gained, and the purely 

 English coast lost in size. Frenchmen were excluded from 

 the estuary of the Exploits River, which is the greatest river 

 in Newfoundland ; Englishmen shared with Frenchmen the 

 estuary of the Humber, which is the next greatest river in 

 Newfoundland ; and idle disputes about names were laid to 

 rest. 



The vital question of exclusive jurisdiction was ignored ; 

 and hardly less vital questions as to exclusive possession 

 were resolved in a manner detrimental to British interests. 

 The Treaty was accompanied by a Declaration that the 

 English king would remove English settlers and would 

 prevent English fishermen from competing with French 

 fishermen on the Treaty shore. The policy of keeping 

 English settlers out of the Anglo-French preserves was of 

 doubtful legality, but it had been adopted to some extent in 

 1764, and was only invested with the sacro-sanctity of an 

 International Declaration for the first time in 1783. The 

 policy of warning English fishermen off the Anglo-French 

 preserves, where Frenchmen fished, was novel and contrary 

 to the Act of 1699 ; accordingly a special Act was passed in 

 1788, reciting the Treaty and Declaration of Versailles as 

 though they had equal validity, and authorizing the Governor 

 to remove not only permanent buildings but fishing-stages, 

 cook-rooms, boats, and ships from the shore between Cape 

 St. John and what the Act, with unconscious humour, 

 denominated Cape Rage, in order to give effect to the spirit 

 as well as the letter of the Declaration. 1 

 1 28 George III cap. 35. 



