FISHERIES OP THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



some of them to that country, where they attracted consider- 

 able notice. He would have made a large fortune out of 

 his Labrador enterprise, had it not been for the robberies 

 committeed at his expense by American privateers in 

 1775-76, which, after capturing a number of vessels in the 

 Straits of Belle Isle, took possession of his ship and rifled 

 his establishments on shore. He estimated that he had been 

 robbed of 14,000 worth of goods. Even after he had given 

 up active operations on the coast and had resumed his resi- 

 dence in England, he retained an interest in the business on 

 the coast, and in his evidence before the committee of the 

 House of Commons in 1793 he stated that his affairs in Lab- 

 rador were so flourishing that he had cleared over 100% in 

 the course of the past three years. 



In the eyes of Sir Hugh Palliser, 

 the Governor of Newfoundland al- 

 ready referred to the sole value of 

 Labrador appeared to be in keeping 

 it as a nursery for the British Navy. 

 This idea plainly runs through his 

 correspondence with the Admiralty 

 and his Orders and Proclamations. 

 Not only did he, as in duty bound, 

 take considerable trouble to prevent 

 French and New England ships from 



poaching upon the coast, but in de- 8ir Gu % r \ (L rd 

 fiance of the conditions of the Capitu- English Governor 



lation of Canada, he appears to have 



disregarded all property rights conceded to Canadian fisher- 

 men on the Labrador coast under the French regime. So 

 much so was this the case that Sir Guy Carleton addressed 

 two letters to him from Quebec in 1766 and 1767, requesting 

 that certain Canadians be permitted to retain fishing posts 

 occupied by them. Palliser replied, refusing this request, 

 and saying that it was the intention of the King to reserve 

 the Labrador fisheries for the adventurers from Great Brit- 

 ain. The opposition to Palliser 's policy in this respect on 

 the part of the grantees of some of the fishing posts on the 





