THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES. 117 



same terms as the English fisherman, without being 

 subjected (as has been attempted) to taxes and duties. 

 It has been agreed, that in the event of their being 

 prevented from purchasing the bait for two seasons, 

 they shall have the right to prepare it for themselves 

 within a certain limit. The same stipulations are 

 in force with regard to the French, who are autho- 

 rised to pass the winter in Newfoundland, to keep 

 watch over the security of their vessels, and of their 

 fishing apparatus ; but there is a formal agreement 

 that there shall not be more than three persons to 

 each mile of coast, and that these persons shall be 

 subject to all the laws of the country. 



I should observe that this treaty was by no means 

 approved of by the inhabitants of the English colony, 

 who contended that the common right ceded to 

 Prance as regards Belle Isle and Labrador, was even 

 superior to an exclusive right, and that the effect of 

 the treaty would be to convert Newfoundland into a 

 French colony, by banishing from it the English 

 and the natives, and planting there the French. 

 Nothing, however, has resulted from this storm in a 

 tea-cup, and according to the latest information 

 within my knowledge, all is proceeding very much 

 to the advantage of Newfoundland. 



It was not so, however, in 1849, when I visited the 

 Newfoundland fisheries. About that time, some 

 American vessels had got up a quarrel with the 

 inhabitants, and Captain Wilson of the brig-of-war. 



