51 



Were the inmates of British prisons to be subjected now to the 

 treatment received by the inhiil)itnnts nt the hands oi'thc^se masters, the 

 wholes ci\ihzcd world would join in a shout of in(h_L!;nant condemnation. 

 The first master who ;irrivcd at any particailar hnrbor w:is its admiral 

 for the season ; the second was its vice-admiral, and the thitd its rear- 

 admiral. Timsj at the outset, no attention whatever w;ts paid to the 

 ([ualilications — to the heads or the hearts — of these strange rulers. Ac- 

 cident — a loni? passage or a. short one, a, dull or a quick-sailing v(?ssel — 

 di.^termined everything. The triumph of the English merchants over 

 their fellow-subjects, in this lone and desolate isle, was as complete as 

 that of the warrior who storms a city. In fine, the "admirals'' se- 

 lected the best fishing stations, displaced at will the resident fishermen 

 who occupied them, drove the inhal)itants from their own houses, took 

 husli-moncy and presents of fish in adjusting cases brought before them 

 for adjudication, and, in their general course, were as arbitrary and as 

 corrupt as the leaders of banditti. There were exceptions, it may be 

 admitted; but the accounts are uniform that, as a class, the "admirals" 

 were ])()th knaves and tyrants. Yet the law which authorized these 

 iniquities bore the title of "An act to encourage the trade of Newfound- 

 land." 



In 1701 we have a very particular and detailed return of the con- 

 dition of the fishery, thus: There were 121 vessels, manned with 

 2,727 men, 993 boats, belonging to the vessels and to the resident 

 fishermen, 544 fishing-stages on the shores, and 3,581 men, women, and 

 children employed as curers ; while tlie catch was 216,320 (piiutals 

 of fish, yielding 3,79S hogsheads of oil.* 



In 1729 we record an improvement in the government of the island, 

 since a captain of a ship-of-vvar displaced the "admirals," and we find 

 the numb(H- of inhabitants estimatc^d at about 6,000. Referring to the 

 accom[)anying table for the general statistics of the centur}^ ; and re- 

 marking that th{! number of ships was doubled in the six years suc- 

 ceeding the close of the war with France, which immediately preceded 

 our Revolution, we proceed to notice such events as our limited space 

 will fdlow: 



The first of these is the proclamation of the King, in 1763, in which 

 it is stated that, "to the end that the open and free fisher}' of our sub- 

 jects may be extended to and carried on upon the coast of Labrador 

 and the adjacent islands, we have thought fit, with the advice of our 

 privy council, to put all that coast, from the river St. .John to Hud- 

 son's straits, together with the islands of Antlcosti and Madalene, and 

 all other islands lying uj)on the said coast, under the care and inspec- 

 tion ftf our governor of New{()undland," while "the islands of 8t. John, 

 Ca[)e Breton, or Isle Royale, with the lesser islands adjacent thereto," 

 were annexed to "the government of Nova Scotia." 



The general affairs of Newlbundland were consitlered at about the 

 sam(! time. Though no plan was dcsiscd Ibr the government of the 

 colony, such as was due by England to herself and to hnmanity, the 



* In 1727 an act of Parliament was pasRinl which authorized the iinportntion of salf into 

 Ptnnsylvaiiia, in Hritish sliips, (niivifjatcd acconliiij,' to tho uavijjiition nets «if the realm.) and 

 for till' diriiig of fish, on the sjimc couditiuus iw wore allowed in New Eiijjlaud and Ncw- 



fuundlaiid 



