1090 MISCELLANEOUS. 



"It is not long since the French took licences from the English 

 Governor of Newfoundland to fish in the seas upon that coast, and 

 paid a tribute for such licences as an acknowledgment of the sole 

 right of the Crown of England to that island; and yet of late the 

 encroachments of the French upon our said island, and our subjects' 

 trade and fishery, have been more like the invasions of an enemy than 

 becoming friends, who enjoyed the advantages of that trade only by 

 permission." 



20. It is believed that after the Treaty of Ryswick, by which that 

 war was terminated in 1697, but in which Newfoundland is not named, 

 while it specifically deals with places in Hudson's Bay which were to 

 be left in possession of the French, the French retained possession of 

 Placentia and any other places occupied by French subjects; but 

 that no acknowledgment of French sovereignty can be inferred from 

 such circumstance is abundantly proved by the fact that the English 

 Parliament in the following year, 1698, passed the Act, which has 

 been before referred to (paragraph 8) , applying to the whole of New- 

 foundland, and forbidding aliens to fish or trade. It is difficult to 

 imagine any more formal assertion of the sovereignty of the English 

 Crown. 



II. Language of the Treaty of Utrecht. 



21. The documents cited above effectively dispose of any supposed 

 admission of French dominion prior to the Treaty of Utrecht. The 

 language employed in that Treaty will be found to be such as to 

 confirm the absence of any such previous admission, and, even if any 

 admission of the kind had been made, to render it absolutely nugatory. 



22. It will be found that in the Preliminary Treaty signed at 

 London on the 8th October, 1711, the VHth Article runs thus: 

 "L'lle de Terre-Neuve, la Baie et le Detroit de Hudson seront 

 rendus & 1'Angleterre," thus placing Newfoundland on the same 

 footing as places where British sovereignty had unquestionably 

 existed, but which, having been captured by the French, and sub- 

 sequently recaptured by the English, had again been placed in pos- 

 session of the French by the Treaty of Ryswick. 



23. The language of the Treaty of Utrecht follows the same classi- 

 fication as the Preliminary Treaty. The Xth Article of the Treaty 

 simply provides for the restoration to England, to be possessed hi 

 full right for ever, of the Bay and Straits of Hudson, with all lands, 

 &c., belonging thereunto, "which are at present possessed by the 

 subjects of France." While in the XHth Article, however, it is 

 stipulated that the French King shall deliver solemn 'and authentic 

 instruments, from which it shall appear "that certain islands and 

 places which had previously been French," together with the " ' do- 

 minion,' propriety, and possession" thereof, "and all right what- 

 soever by Treaties or by anv other way obtained by the Crown of 

 France or its subjects, are yielded and made over to the Queen of 

 Great Britain, and in such ample manner and form that the French 

 shall thereafter be excluded from all kind of fishing on the coast of 

 Nova Scotia." Thus, British territory previously seized by France, 

 and left to her by Treaty, is "restored;" while" territory, of which 

 the previous dominion or France was not disputed, is ceded by the 

 words, "yielded and (made over," and the cession is to be evidenced 

 by solemn and authentic instruments. 



