34, 
purpose of censure as against him. On the contrary, it is one of 
the strongest parts of our case, that the exigencies under which — 
his authority and instructions are given him are plainly and — 
undoubtedly such as to make full justice or redress to the 
colonists under the circumstances impossible, and therefore no part 
of his duty. His instructiow$ are, in effect: “Keep the peace 
“between the English and French. ‘Protect’ the English, 
“of you can; go as far as possible in the assertion of their rights ; 
“put, you must draw the line somewhere, and draw it at that point, 
“wherever it may be, where danger of serious trouble with the 
“French begins. And do not go beyond that limit, even though 
“your holding back may involve hardship or injustice to the 
“colonist, for if we are driven to choose between offending the 
“French and neglecting to care for the colonist, the colonist must 
go to the wall.” We are not now misstating or overstating the _ 
case, or stating it for the first time. It is the same old story, — 
and its very age and our familiarity with it are the reasons why it 
is received with so much indifference, 
TERRITORIAL “ RIGHTS.” 
The cases of hardship and injustice just now described are for | 
the most part those which arise out of disputes in relation to 
fishery rights. As regards the other important matter—that of 
territorial rights—the questions at issue under these treaties do | 
not present themselves in so acute a form, and do not from time — 
to time press for immediate solution or action; and for this 
reason the whole question, vast in its importance as it is to 
the colonists, is, for the purposes of practically dealing with it, 
kept out of sight. But the conditions which the disputes and 
uncertainties in connection with this question have created, not 
only as regards the particular parts of the coast “ in question,” but 
as affecting the whole colony and its future welfare and prospects, 
are a greater reproach, and call more imperatively for some solu- 
tion of the difficulty, than even the disputes relating to the 
fisheries, 4 
We must again revert to the history of the: origin of the 
treaty for an explanation of so outrageous an anomaly, and so 
utterly impracticable an arrangement. At the time of the © 
making of the treaties there was no colonist in existence in 
Newfoundland—no settled population contemplated; but, on the — 
