THE THIRD ANGLO-FRENCH DUEL 157 



ships.^ The Attorney-General, when asked what laws applied 

 to it, replied that every law passed before it was settled applied 

 to it, although it was not mentioned by name; and when 

 asked when it was settled, replied that it was settled afresh 

 every year, and that the Governor took out with him in his 

 inner consciousness on his annual pilgrimage a complete 

 edition of the Statute-book down to date.^ As late as 1785 

 Dr. S. Gardner urged the advantages of colonizing Newfound- 

 land as though no one had ever thought of, much less done 

 such a thing before,^ and Dr. W. Carson wrote in much the 

 same strain in 181 3. 



Now that a Governor was permanently established in the the first 

 island the last pretence for insinuating that it was not a colony ^^^^JJ^^' 

 was torn to shreds. Views might differ as to the date at ^yj^S <^t 

 which the birth act was complete; some might say 1583, 

 others 1610, or 1637, or 1675, or 1729, or 1792 ; others again 

 regarded Governor Pickmore's presence during the winter of 

 the Rals as the first conclusive proof that the colony was in 

 being. If so, * The hour was darkest before the dawn. When 

 the pain was sorest the babe was born, ' and the historian is 

 tempted to turn once more from politics to personality and 

 sentiment, for Governor Pickmore was also the first Governor 

 who died in the colony. The mid-winter of the Rals killed 

 him. His residence meant death to him and life to the colony, 

 and he died that it might live. 



1 Opinion of Fane, A. G., cited in Kttst^' History, pp. 11 1, 112, 126. 



2 British Museum MSS. 15493. 



