91 
w nderstood that we for a moment propose or suggest the re- 
pudiation or disregard of the treaties, or of any obligations 
* ising out of them. That the French have undoubted rights 
| under the treaties we neither dispute nor forget. Neither do 
ir we dispute or forget the fact that these rights still possess some 
ve ant though it has now become both absolutely and relatively 
It is the clear and settled conviction of the whole people of 
L t! he colony—the result of a long and bitter experience, and of a 
full knowledge of the whole subject—that upon no other basis 
_ than that of an entire extinguishment (of course upon some 
f honourable and satisfactory terms) of French rights and claims 
in the colony of Newfoundland, can there be any solution of the 
ficulties which have now become so grave and acute; and, 
further, we have been specially instructed by the unanimous 
resolutions of public meetings held throughout the colony to say 
that to no “settlement” of the “French shore” question which 
‘does not contain this as an essential basis will the colonists 
igree. 
_ We are unable to see, in the light of present facts, upon what 
grounds, either practical or sentimental, such a proposition, as a 
basis of settlement of differences, should be peremptorily rejected 
_ by the French. From a practical point of view such a basis of 
" settlement would involve the loss of no advantage for which an 
_ adequate compensation cannot easily be found. The French 
pehery within the treaty limits is altogether insignificant, and of 
_ little or no value either as a fishery or as a training ground for 
4 sailors, both of which purposes are more fully and efficiently 
‘served by the Bank fishery than they ever were by the “ French 
_ “shore” fishery. And we are unable to understand, from the 
! standpoint of mere sentiment, how either the prestige or amour 
propre of a great nation like the French could in any way suffer 
_ from an honourable and amicable adjustment, upon mutually 
advantageous terms, of disputes and differences arising out of 
arrangements made to suit conditions which have long ceased to 
” exist, and which arrangements in themselves, as well as the 
” failure of all attempts to adapt them to present conditions, are 
' discreditable to both nations concerned. 
a 
