The Fishery Qitestion. 37 



mains the principal cod fishery of the world.-i^' 

 Both French and Americans are admitted, 

 under treaty, to the in-shore waters.^s Dur- 

 ing the Revolutionary War, Halifax was an 

 English naval station, the refuge of American 

 loyalists. ^^ So many of these people wished 

 to leave the United States that the evacua- 

 tion of New York had to be delayed until 

 transports could be furnished them," Re- 

 warded with office and grants of land in unin- 

 habited Nova Scotia they became the ruling 

 party on the north-eastern frontiers of the 

 United States. These regions had been 

 almost without a population. ^^ Attempts at 

 revolution were suppressed by the English 

 garrison and the minority reorganized the 

 government, on paper, from the safe distance 

 of Philadelphia. 5^ The fishing privileges of 

 the treaty were gained after a comparatively 

 easy diplomatic struggle, but the negotiations 

 nearly went to pieces over the indemnification 

 of the loyalists. Congress recommended 

 amnesty and restitution, as had been prom- 

 ised. The States, however, were in no tem- 

 per for such legislation. . It was most unfor- 

 tunate for the quiet enjoyment of the Fishery 

 under the treaty, that so many men with a 



