AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1707 



greatest possible extent for the residue of the term, when we should be 

 left utterly without remedy. 



I propose, then, first, to consider what has been conceded to the United 

 States as concerns Newfoundland, and what is the value of that conces- 

 sion; and, secondly, what has been conceded by the United States to 

 Newfoundland, and the value thereof. 



The fisheries of Newfoundland are of historic celebrity, and have been 

 so since the day when Cabot, with his five vessels, steering northwest, 

 on June 24, 1497, caught the first glimpse of Terra Nova; and rejoic- 

 ing in his success, named the high projecting promontory, which now 

 bears the name of " Bona Vista"; and it is recorded that in such abun- 

 dance were the codfish seen, that Sebastian Cabot called the country 

 Baccalaos, in allusion to the circumstance ; a name which still designates 

 an island upon the coast. Of that period, which embraces the first 

 century after the discovery of Newfoundland, we learn that by degrees 

 there came to be attached to the cod fisheries on the Banks and around 

 the coasts more and more importance; and that in 1578, according to 

 Hackluyt, no less than 400 vessels were annually engaged in this employ. 

 From thence, until the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, the French, always 

 discerning the enormous value of these fisheries, availed themselves of 

 every opportunity and pretext, for further and further acquisitions, and 

 for securing a foothold in the island as a basis for fishing operations. 

 By that treaty Great Britain was solemnly confirmed in the exclusive 

 sovereignty of the entire territory, but the French were recognized as 

 having the right of fishing concurrently with the English along certain 

 portions of the shore, and in the use of the shore as far as was needed 

 for certain purposes connected with the fisheries. 



It is needless for nie here to refer to the various treaties respecting 

 the fisheries, which have been from time to time concluded between 

 Great Britain and the United States, and between Great Britain and 

 France since that date; suffice it to say that, prior to 1871, the United 

 States enjoyed a liberty to fish between Quirpou and Cape Ray on the 

 west coast, and between Cape Ray and the Rameau Islands on the south 

 coast. By the Treaty of Washington, of the 8th May, 1-J71, United 

 States citizens acquired the right to take fish of every kind between 

 Rameau Islands and Cape Race on the south coast, and between Cape 

 Race and the Quirpon Islands, comprising a large area of the most val- 

 uable inshore fisheries of the world. 



.We find a steady increase in the products of Newfoundland fisheries, 

 from 590,460 quintals of codfish exported in 1805, to 1,609,724 quintals 

 exported in 1874. The exports of herring have also increased, from 

 36,259 barrels in 1851, to 291,751 barrels in 1876, and the value of ex- 

 ports offish and products of fish, from $4,466,925 in 1851, to $8,511,710 

 in 1874. This, then, is the enormous annual product of the British 

 fisheries of Newfoundland, almost the sole support and sustenance 

 of about 160,000 people. And this, be it remembered, is exclusive of 

 what is taken on the coast of that island at St. Pierre and Miquelon, on 

 the coast of Labrador, and on the Grand Bank and other Banks by the 

 French and by the Americans, of the amount of which we have no ex- 

 act evidence before us ; and it is also exclusive of the large quantity of 

 bait fishes exported from Newfoundland to supply the French at St. 

 Pierre. This result is the product of the labors of the Newfoundland 

 fishermen, taken wholly from waters within three miles of the shore, 

 except for I wish to be particularly correct the trifling quantity of 

 about eight or ten thousand quintals of codfish, which Mr. Killigrew 

 and Judge Bennett say may possibly be taken outside that limit. I 



