248 MISCELLANEOUS 



various sources, I can only reiterate my own opinion that the gain 

 to us, as respects the fishery, and the corresponding loss to the French, 

 would be of little value. But by embracing in the compromise the 

 cession to them of the Fishery at Belle Isle and the unrestricted pur- 

 chase of Bait, we should offer decidedly preponderating advantages to 

 them, attended with consequential injury to our fisheries, which can- 

 not now be easily estimated; to offer these in the expectation enter- 

 tained by Sir A. Perrier, that they will be refused, and lead to the 

 breaking up of the negotiation, unless we are prepared to yield them 

 in any event, and in my judgment, they certainly ought not to be 

 ceded is hardly safe as regards ourselves, and hardly fair as respects 

 the French. Moreover a distinct offer now of concessions which have 

 never been formally offered before, will, even if refused, carry with 

 it admissions as to the nature of their claims, which ought not to be 

 made, and will in any future negotiation furnish them with a justifi- 

 cation for reiterating their demands for these concessions. 



18. The last propositions suggested by Mr. Archibald and Mr 

 Strachey, I mean the giving to the French an exclusive fishery or 

 part of the Coast, and a concurrent fishery on the residue, are con- 

 sidered by the Council as altogether too liberal to the French. In 

 view of the contingency that Public Affairs in Europe might, at no 

 very remote period, permit our people to resume the active enjoy- 

 ment of their former fishery on the French Shore, so much more 

 valuable than that at the Labrador, the Council is opposed to even a 

 mutual exchange of rights, or to any modification of the Treaties by 

 which British Subjects shall absolutely renounce their right of fishery 

 on any part of the Coast. But if the Imperial Policy requires that 

 such an exchange should be proposed, the Council thinks it should 

 be confined to our yielding all right of fishery on that part of the 

 Coast between Cape John on the East and the 50th degree of latitude 

 on the West Coast ; the French renouncing their right of fishing from 

 thence to Cape Ray. 



19. If this proposition be approved of as a basis, I would suggest 

 of course, in accordance with the terms contained in the draft pro- 

 posals transmitted to me, that British subjects be excluded from 

 fishing 3 marine miles off the Coast assigned to the French ; that the 

 Fishery at Belle Isle South, and Groais, and other smaller Islands 

 adjacent to the Coast, be conceded to them; their fishery in the 

 mouths of Rivers not to be above the flow of the tide ; a certain width 

 of strand, subject to the use of any portion of it by the British Gov- 

 ernment for public purposes, to be assigned to them ; and no mode of 

 fishing at the mouths of rivers to be used which is illegal in such cases 

 in England. 



20. The right of the French, under certain limitations, to expel 

 intruders, as proposed by Mr. Archibald and Mr. Strachey, it is 

 unnecessary to concede, although in practice I do not apprehend it 

 would be attended with any ill consequences, the proposal being 

 guarded by a provision for superseding the exercise of the right by 

 the appointment of authorities under the direction of the British 

 Government. 



21. As a mode of compromise, the arrangement above suggested 

 will leave the French in the absolute possession, for the purpose of 

 the fishery, of the greater part of the Coast between Cape John and 

 Cape Ray, and of almost the whole of it upon which the Cod fishery 



