THE THIRD ANGLO-FRENCH DUEL 147 



and Anticosti, to be re-annexed to Canada (1774); Labrador 

 and Anticosti being re-restored to Newfoundland by the Act 

 which finally abolished the jurisdiction of the fishing-admirals 

 (1809 ^). The Magdalens, which had begun to attract French 

 Acadian fishermen before 1774, remained Canadian. Further, 

 for the purposes of these Acts the western boundary of 

 Labrador was St. John's River (opposite Anticosti), but 

 French Canadian or Acadian fishermen were now frequenting 

 the coasts of Labrador as far as Bradore Bay, which is nearly 

 three hundred miles east of this boundary; moreover, 

 Anticosti, which was uninhabited, had wrecked many a ship 

 while on its way to Quebec ; accordingly a later Act ^ re-re- 

 restored Anticosti to Canada, and defined Labrador as east of 

 aline drawn due north from Blanc Sablon to latitude 52°, but 

 the northern prolongation of this line to Hudson Strait was not 

 defined either by this later Act, or by the letters patent which 

 put the Atlantic coasts of Labrador under Newfoundland^ or 

 by any other Act or letters patent, and the Privy Council are 

 still considering what line shall be drawn. 



Progress was intensive as well as extensive, and Englishmen Bounties 

 became great sealers; but although Palliser's Act (1775) and Ifoyt^hal- 

 a similar Act passed in 1786 offered bounties to ^x\^^ ing, bank- 

 whalers who sailed thither from a British port in Europe, ^'^^^ carrying 

 bounties were ineffectual, and Englishmen only became oiu appren- 

 whalers in North-east America during the ensuing period. ^'^^^' 

 On the other hand, bounties offered between 1775 and 1802 

 to British fishermen on the Banks, who sailed thither from a 

 British port in Europe, were superfluous and only added spurs 

 to a galloping industry. Bank-fishers were put into a separate 

 class by the statisticians of 1769 for the first time, and in 

 that year out of 471 British ships, which sailed to Newfound- 

 land, 222 fished on the Banks. It was thought, however, by 

 adherents of the old school that ' bankers ' did not carry their 



1 49 Geo. Ill, c. 27, s. 14. ^ 6 Geo. IV, c. 59,3. 9. 



3 March 28, 1876. 



L 2 



