

THE NORTHEAST COAST FISHERIES 467 



liome government to arrest any foreign vessels found tres- 

 passing on the French shores, the southern limit of which he 

 placed at the Kennebec River. The way was now opened 

 to the goal of French ambition in America, and Villabon set 

 about to secure full and immediate control of the fisheries. 

 French fishing vessels, some five hundred in number, and 

 many of them well armed, soon practically enjoyed a monopoly 

 of the fisheries along the coasts and in the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence, the returns proving exceedingly remunerative. In 

 order better to maintain this monopoly, he inaugurated a 

 military campaign in Newfoundland, the full possession of 

 which was ever dear to the French. Success attended their 

 arms, and in a very short time nearly every desirable settle- 

 ment, port and harbor in the island fell into their hands, and 

 Newfoundland became virtually lost to England. French 

 enterprise had secured to them an almost absolute monopoly 

 of the fisheries, and they held besides the territory from 

 Maine to Labrador, including Newfoundland. 



The hostilities incident to this great advance of French 

 interests were terminated by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, 

 which very considerably altered the political situation in the 

 North, and may be said to have inserted a wedge that ulti- 

 mately rended and destroyed French prestige and monopoly 

 of the fisheries in North American waters. By this famous 

 compact the stronghold of Placentia was yielded by France, 

 and all Newfoundland restored to England. A reservation 

 was made, however, securing to the French a concurrent and 

 equal right of fishery with English subjects along the coast 

 of Newfoundland, from Bona Vista to Cape Riche by the 

 north, and of using the shores for curing, etc. Acadia again 

 became English territory, France retaining only the island of 

 Cape Breton. An instance is given in this treaty of a nation 

 establishing by agreement its exclusive sovereignty over a 

 wide expanse of high seas, for by one of its articles the 

 French were prohibited from approaching within thirty 

 leagues of the coast of Nova Scotia. 



The French were by no means discouraged by such re- 

 verses, and continued to press their fishing operations with 



