BRITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 801 



Act of the Congress of Vienna of the 9th June 1815 are confirmed, 

 and shall be maintained in all such of their enactments which shall 

 not have been modified by the Articles of the present Treaty." 



Under the provisions of these treaties the French have hitherto 

 maintained that they enjoy 



1. An exclusive right of fishery on that portion of the coast of 

 Newfoundland between Cape St. John and (Jape Ray, passing round 

 by the north of the island. 



2. That all British fixed settlements, of whatever nature, on that 

 portion of the coast are contrary to treaty. 



The British Government, on the other hand, have maintained 



1. That British subjects have a right to fish concurrently with the 

 French, so long as they do not interrupt the latter. 



2. That the undertaking in the Declaration of 1783, to cause the 

 removal of fixed settlements, referred only to fixed fishing settle- 

 ments, and that fixed settlements of any other kind are not contrary 

 to the declaration. 



French fishermen have, moreover, been in the habit of fishing the 

 rivers, and of barring them with nets or weirs, interrupting the 

 free circulation of salmon, and thereby causing great injury to the 

 salmon fishery. 



The British Government, however, have always maintained that 

 the French have no right to the fisheries in rivers. 



The Government of France each year during the fishing season 

 employ ships of war to superintend the fishery exercised by their 

 countrymen, and in consequence of the divergent views entertained 

 by the two Governments respectively as to the interpretation to be 

 placed upon tne treaties, questions of jurisdiction, which might at 

 any moment have become serious, have repeatedly arisen. 



Such being the provisions of the treaties, and the construction 

 placed upon them by the Governments and subjects of the two coun- 

 tries, practical difficulties have naturally occurred, and it has become 

 of urgent importance that they should be removed. 



The" colonists have for some years past been desirous of developing 

 the resources of their country as regards mines, agriculture, and 

 other industries, but have constantly been met with the objections of 

 the French Government to their doing so, and the development of 

 the Colony on that part of the coast of Newfoundland where the 

 French enjoy treaty rights has been practically at a standstill, al- 

 though rich mines are known to exist there, and the agricultural 

 capabilities of the Colony are undoubtedly most valuable. 



Your Government are aware that the present Commission is the 

 eighth which has been appointed since the year 1846 for a settle- 

 ment of the Newfoundland Fishery question, and it may be useful 

 here to recapitulate briefly the various terms which have been pro- 

 posed in the previous negotiations as a basis of settlement, in order 

 to show distinctly how much more favourable to the Colony is the 

 present arrangement as compared with the terms proposed on any 

 previous occasion. 



In the year 1844 the French Government proposed negotiations 

 to be held in London, and previous to opening them it was determined 

 to appoint a British and French Commissioner in Newfoundland to 

 report upon the question. 



