CHAPTER VIII. 

 INTERNATIONAL TREATIES. 



THE TRENCH SHOKE (QUESTION. 



It does not full williin llic' scope oC a Handbook to discuss at 

 ixny great length the " ne\'er-ending, still beginning" " French 

 Shore Qnestion."' Only a few of the salient points connected 

 with it can Ije referred to viM'y brietly. It has been so long and 

 so often debated that the subject is worn thread-bare. 

 TREATY RIGHTS OF THE FRENCH. 



Among Great Britain's forty (polonies the position of Xew- 

 foundland is in one respect uniipie. The sovereignty of the 

 •entire teriitory belongs exclusively to Britain ; Init the French, 

 since the year 1713, have had the right of fishing along more 

 than half the entire shores of the island, and of using that por- 

 tion of the coasts for such pur[)Oscs as may be necessary in the 

 prosecntion of their fishery. In addition to this important 

 privilege, the French have hail ceded to theui possession of the 

 two small islands of St. Pierre and ^liipielon, at the entrance of 

 Fortune Bay, " as a shelter for their fishermen," the only condi- 

 tion attached to the possession of them being that no fortifications- 

 should be erected, and only such buildings as are necessary iu 

 carrying on the fishery. The line of coast to which these treaty 

 lights apply extends froui Cape Ray, at the soutli-A\'estern ex- 

 tremity of the island, around the western, northern and north- 

 eastern shores, as far south as Cape St. John, being fully half 

 the entire coast of the island, and that by far the most fertile and 

 valuable portion. The French have no right to occupy i)er- 

 manently or settle any portion (if this shore, or to erect any 

 buildings except such huts and scafiblds as may be necessary for 

 curing and drying their fish. Their fishermen are not allowed 

 to M'inter in the island. 



