THE FISHERY QUESTION. 



IT is probable that fishermen from Brit- 

 tany visited the banks of Newfoundland 

 before Columbus discovered the Antilles." 

 Personal interests and the commercial enter- 

 prise of Dieppe and St. Malo were represented 

 by these voyages, rather than the Government 

 of France ; for neither the fishermen nor their 

 employers had much communication with the 

 French Court. They took upon themselves 

 the defence of their trade, and even the pun- 

 ishment of their enemies.^ By formal dis- 

 covery England might have asserted a mo- 

 nopoly in the Newfoundland Fishery, through 

 the voyage of John Cabot in 1497. Such 

 pretensions, however, would have been most 

 dangerous in the presence of the far more 

 powerful navies of Spain and Portugal. A 

 protest against possible interference was 

 lodged by the Spanish ambassador at the 

 English Court, but Spain soon became ab- 

 sorbed In her rich colonies around the Gulf of 



