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| um up, as it were, the whole statement, in the form of a few 
eading and general propositions. We say, then— 
1. That the sovereignty of the colony being in Great Britain, 
| he treaties conferred upon the French only the right to catch 
. lh, by which was meant cod-fish, and to dry them upon land, 
upon certain parts of the coast of the island. 
_ 2. That the French for many years contended for “ exclusive” 
ig both territorial and maritime, within the prescribed limits ; 
but these claims were always, on paper, resisted by the Imperial 
authorities, who contended that the utmost the French could 
im was the right bona fide to prosecute the fishery free from 
r erruption by the competition of the British. 
_ 8. That for many years, while the French carried on the 
ishery on a large scale within their treaty limits, disputes upon 
2 question of “exclusive ” as against “ concurrent” rights were 
quent, and the cause of many quarrels between the fishermen 
of the two nations, and difficulties between the high contracting 
es. 
4, That although the Imperial authorities have, on paper, 
sustained the colonists in their contentions against the French 
claim to “exclusive” rights, yet in practice the colonists have 
~ not been sustained in the exercise of thew rights; and that 
grievous wrongs and injustice have been continually inflicted 
_ upon the colonists by French fishermen, by French officers, and 
even by British officers at the instance of the French, in yielding 
: to the unwarranted pretensions of the French, and in denying or, 
failing to obtain redress for injuries committed upon British 
| subjects. 
5. That the methods or machinery employed for the enforce- 
ment of the treaties, or, as it is called, the “ protection ” of the 
_ people of the two nations in the exercise of their respective 
- rights—viz., the employment of naval officers under “ instructions” 
a —have been entirely unsuitable and inadequate for their purpose. 
_ That there has been no statement or definition of the law for the 
_ guidance of the subject, no tribunal competent either to ascertain 
the facts of any given case, or to declare the law applicable to it, 
_ or possessing authority to afford a remedy. 
6. That the facts and conditions existing at the time of the 
making of the treaties have been not merely changed, but 
entirely reversed. The French “floating” population which 
