THE NORTHEAST COAST FISHERIES 465 



this desire to secure the bank fisheries for his own sub- 

 jects. The first French emigrants to this country, however, 

 came into immediate collision with English subjects, who, 

 taking shelter behind a royal patent from the English sov- 

 ereign to Sir William Alexander, in 1621, set up a claim of 

 their own to the greater part of the territory constituting 

 Acadia. Here, then, began in earnest the quarrel that, last- 

 ing more than a century, terminated only in the total extinc- 

 tion of French sovereignty in Canada. Charles I of England, 

 having married a French princess, was prevailed upon to 

 abandon all settlements in Canada, Nova Scotia and Cape 

 Breton occupied by his subjects ; and by the treaty of St. 

 Oermains (1632) the French were made secure in their 

 possession of Acadia. 



With so favorable a base for aggressive operations, the 

 French began at once to extend their fisheries and to enlarge 

 their dominion. They boasted that they would eventually 

 drive English colonists into the sea. Within three years 

 they obtained privileges from the English Government for 

 drying their fish on the southern shore of Newfoundland by 

 payment of a duty of 5 per cent on the product. In twenty-five 

 years more, by seizing the chance of an opportune moment, 

 they established a colony at Placentia, on the large bay of 

 that name (south shore of Newfoundland). In a short time, 

 and apparently through the favor and sympathy of the English 

 sovereign, they were relieved from the 5 per cent duty which 

 had been previously exacted of them in return for shore privi- 

 leges. Growing bolder by success, they carried their sphere 

 of influence along the entire southern coast of Newfoundland, 

 establishing here and there fishing stations and small settle- 

 ments meeting only occasional checks in their progress 

 from the English settlers on the island. 



Cromwell seized Acadia in 1654, during a period of per- 

 fect peace between the two nations, on the alleged ground 

 that its transfer to the French by Charles I in 1632 was 

 fraudulent and traitorous ; but upon the restoration of the 

 'Stuarts this valuable territory was again restored to France 

 ^(treaty of Breda, 1667), to the intense disgust of all Eng- 



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