MISCELLANEOUS. 1087 



for the history of Newfoundland during the seventeenth century 

 will be seen to be a record of repeated acts of dominion over the 

 island exercised by England, who could not have accepted such a 

 cession without thereby disavowing all her past acts. 



5. It may be observed in passing (1) that if the present claim of 

 exclusive fishing on the ground of ancient French sovereignty be 

 disposed of, any argument for their exclusive fishing can only be 

 based upon the terms of the Treaty; and (2) that the terms of that 

 Treaty must be interpreted with reference to the existence of British 

 sovereignty. 



6. Her Majesty's Government are not aware that France ever 

 possessed any recognized sovereignty over Newfoundland, and, as 

 far as can be ascertained, this novel claim on the part of France is 

 not only untenable in itself, but if inverted would be an accurate 

 statement of the British rights. In order to dispose of this claim, it 

 will be convenient to examine the state of things that actually existed 

 prior to the Treaty of Utrecht. 



7. Without going back to the title which England acquired to 

 Newfoundland by right of prior discovery made by John Cabot in 

 1497, it may be observed that on the 5th August, 1583, Sir Humphrey 

 Gilbert, acting under a Commission from the Queen of England, 

 formally took possession of Newfoundland, on behalf of his Sovereign, 

 in the presence of various persons, subjects of other nations, who 

 happened to be there in pursuit of the fishery, and from whom he 

 exacted tribute in acknowledgment of the Queen's rights. 



8. During the interval from 1583 to 1713 England exercised 

 continued acts of dominion over Newfoundland; grants of land 

 were made by the Crown to individuals ; settlement was encouraged ; 

 Courts of Justice were held (the first as early as 1615); Commissions 

 were issued, and Regulations made for the government of the island, 

 and of the fishermen resorting to it, as well as of the settlers estab- 

 lished there; and eventually, in 1698, an Act of Parliament was 

 passed (10 & 11 Wm. Ill, cap. 25) applying to the whole island, 

 and the seas, rivers, and dominions thereunto belonging, and islands 

 adjacent; such Act being principally an enactment by the Imperial 

 Legislature of the Rules, Regulations, and Constitutions that had 

 prevailed for some time. 



9. The first section of this Act enacted that "no alien or stranger 

 whatsoever (not residing within the Kingdom of England, the 

 Dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick-on-Tweed) should at any 

 time thereafter take any bait or use any sort of trade or fishing 

 whatsoever in Newfoundland, or in any of the islands or places 

 above mentioned. 



10. The British sovereignty, formally established in 1583, and 

 duly and effectively exercised afterwards, was also, it appears, 

 recognized by France. Hatton and Harvey, in their "History of 

 Newfoundland," p. 38, state that in 1635 the French obtained 'per- 

 mission from the English to dry fish on the shores of Newfoundland 

 on payment of a duty of 5 per cent, of the produce, and that in 

 1675 Charles II was induced to relinquish the duty of 5 per cent., 

 which had been paid as an acknowledgment of British sovereignty. 



11. Anspach, in his "History of Newfoundland" (second edition, 

 1827, p. 112) says: "According to 1'Abbe Raynel, France, after 

 the Agreement made with King Charles I in 1634, sent annually 



