THE GROWTH OF CANADA 277 



patent to judge, the position officially taken 

 by the government being that the privilege of 

 the inshore fishing was desirable for Americans, 

 not at all for economic advantage, but merely 

 to remove a cause of international friction. 

 This latter purpose was not wholly achieved. 

 In 1878, at Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, an 

 American fishing crew was mobbed by local 

 residents for disregarding the prohibition to 

 ply the trade on Sunday. The British Govern 

 ment ultimately granted an indemnity to the 

 Americans, but the question whether local 

 provincial legislation was seriously to affect 

 the rights based on treaties remained not alto 

 gether clear. 



The definitive committal of both Canada and 

 the United States to protectionism confirmed 

 the fate of the fisheries arrangement. The 

 fish-packing interests of New England entered 

 strong and continuous protests against the sac 

 rifice of their rights by the free admission of 

 Canadian fish, while other products of the 

 Dominion were subject to heavy duties. When 

 the ten years expired for which the fisheries 

 articles were to run, Congress, with little or no 

 opposition, directed the President to give the 

 requisite two years notice of the abrogation of 



