INTRODUCTION. 7 



Each of the seventeen colonies owned the fisheries on its own 

 coasts, and colonial laws regulative of them were of frequent occur- 

 rence. 



The Colonial System and the Navigation Laws. Another factor 

 in the situation in 1783 must be remembered, namely, the mutually 

 exclusive policy which all European nations had for many years 

 pursued with reference to the trade of their respective colonies. The 

 clause of the 1818 treaty permitting American fishermen to enter 

 British bays and harbours (App., p. 31) 



for the purpose of shelter and of repairing damages therein, and of 

 purchasing wood, and of obtaining water, and for no other purpose 

 whatever 



can scarcely be appreciated, at the present day, unless the fact is 

 borne in mind that, in 1818, no foreign vessel of any kind was, unless 

 under exceptional circumstances, permitted to enter a colonial har- 

 bour. 



Nationality. One other factor in the situation should be men- 

 tioned, namely, the strength of the conception which at that date pre- 

 vailed as to the advantages to be derived by any nation from an 

 increase in the number of its seamen. 



It was with a view to naval strength that England had from an 



early period confined to British subjects residing on the European 



side of the Atlantic the right to dry and cure fish on Newfoundland 



shores. Such was the policy of the statute of 1699 (10 & 11 Wm. Ill, 



cap. 25), and the meaning of that statute was, by the statute of 



1775 (15 Geo. Ill, cap. 31), rendered clear. Not only were foreigners 



excluded, but British subjects residing in the American 



7 colonies (other than Newfoundlanders) were refused liberty to 



exercise the privilege. (App., p. 525; App., p. 543.) 



It was to prevent depletion of her force of sailors that Great Brit- 

 ain insisted upon the right to stop United States vessels on the high 

 seas in order to search for British seamen. And it was the enforce- 

 ment of that claim which was one of the causes of the war of 1812. 



The exclusion of the Spaniards from the bank fisheries in 1763, 

 and the partial exclusion of the French in the same year, were thought 

 valuable to Great Britain, not simply because of the effect upon the 

 business of fishing, but because of the loss to Spain and France of 

 those " nurseries for seamen." (App., p. 10.) 



1776-1782. War of the American Revolution. 



TREATY OF 1783. 



1782-3. Negotiations for the termination of the war were carried 

 on in Paris at first informally, between Mr. Richard Oswald (in- 

 structed by Lord Shelburne, British Colonial Minister) and Dr. 

 Franklin (representing the United States). Afterwards, at various 



