The Fishery Qicestion. 37- 



mains the principal cod fishery of the world. 

 Both French and Americans are admitted^ 

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

 ing the Revolutionary War, Halifax was an 

 English naval station, the refuge of American 

 loyalists.5^ 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.57 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. 59 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 



