184 IXTEKXATIOXAL TliEATIES. 



arbitration wliicli secures for Canada all that could l)e fairly ex- 

 pecteil. If the colonists are patient and wise, while firmly hold- 

 ing on to their rights, the day may not be distant when all pre- 

 sent difficulties may admit of an easy solution. 



>KAV KAII.WAY AS A FACTOK. 



To the present writer it seems that the new line of railway is- 

 destined to be an important factor in the settlement of the 

 French Shore Question. Once those solitudes are people<l by a 

 busy thriving po}>ulation — farming, mining, lumbering, manu- 

 facturing, — (ince the smoke of homesteads fills the air anil the 

 whistle of the locomotive is heard amid the " forests primeval," 

 our French iishing friends will find that there is no room for 

 them ; and the last pale ghosts of the old treaties will vanish for' 

 ever. It may l)e found that the great innovator — the raihvay 

 — ^is destined to make Newfoundlanders masters in their oavu 

 house. 



Before chjsing this chapter it may be well to allude t(j another 

 serious evil inflicted on the colony by the concessions already 

 described. St. Pierre, which at the nearest point is but fifteen 

 miles from the Newfoundland shores, has long been a smuggling 

 centre, very large quantities of wine, brandy, rum, tobacco, tea, 

 sugar, drapery and other goods, are every year smuggled into- 

 the southern and Avestern portion of the island. The reA-enue is 

 is thus defrauded ; the honest traders are jdaced at a disad^'an- 

 tage ; and the worst of all, the jseople are demoralized. So many 

 small vessels are constantly running to St. Pierre, carrying bait 

 for the French Bankers, and bringing back contraband goods,, 

 that it is found to be cpiite impossible to preA'ent smiiggling on a 

 large scale. The evil might be checked by a British Consul re- 

 silient at St. Pierre ; but though asked for, again and again, the 

 Fi-ench steadily refuse to jjermit a consul to exercise his func- 

 tions on their island. Doubtless the French traders find it profit- 

 able to supply the smugglers, and do not Avant to be disturbed. 

 This gi'ievance has long been felt, but no redress has ever been 

 attempted. Taking into account the Avholc effects of these trea- 



