86 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



hibition of settlements within a quarter of a mile of the shore 

 was a prohibition of what was universal, and was therefore 

 ignored. Nine years passed by without any further result 

 being obtained. Then the long-expected blow fell and war 

 broke out between England and France. But for one 

 interval of repose introduced by the Peace of Ryswick (1697- 

 1702) — like blue sky in the middle of a cyclone — the war 

 lasted twenty-five years (1688-1713). Immediate orders 

 were issued for the erection of forts at St. John's at a cost of 

 £3,000, which the War Office defrayed, and for the appoint- 

 ment of a Governor. The forts were erected and the Gover- 

 nor was once more deferred. Captain R. Robinson wrote 

 that this was the only plantation of its size without Church 

 or State.^ He might have added that the Royal Navy was 

 its only Church and State. The strange paradox was accom- 

 plished that the messengers and instruments of destruction 

 created the reign of Law; and the executioners proved 

 saviours of society. The presence of the convoy-captains, 

 though intermittent, produced an abiding sense of order 

 among men living without any of its outward and visible 

 signs. During their absence primaeval instincts and habits 

 resumed their sway. 



1 Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1669-74, ^o- 3^9- 



Authorities 

 See note to chapters V and VII. 



