MISCELLANEOUS. 1151 



American coast northward of the United States. But the whale and 

 seal fisheries shall be free to both in every quarter of the world." 

 Napoleon, at this time, was "premier consul of the French republic." 



The French cod-fishery at Newfoundland" was hardly re-established 

 at the peace of Amiens, when renewed hostilities with England occa- 

 sioned fresh calamities. Until the downfall of Napoleon, in 1814, 

 this branch of distant industry was pursued without vigor, and with 

 severe losses. 



At the peace, a deputation of English merchants and others con- 

 nected with Newfoundland entreated their government to refuse to 

 France continued rights of fishing allowed under the treaties of 1713, 

 of 1763, and of 1783. But the British ministry, aside from general 

 considerations, regarded the restoration of the Bourbons as an event 

 of momentous consequence to Europe, and confirmed to France all 

 her foreign possessions exactly as they stood at the commencement 

 of the war. The Newfoundland colonists have never ceased to com- 

 plain of the renewed competition which this policy required them to 

 meet. They contend that, whatever was the opinion in 1783, the 

 fishing-grounds along the shores from Cape Ray to Cape John, which 

 are enjoyed by the French to the exclusion of all others, are, in the 

 judgment of every person competent to decide, the very best at 

 Newfoundland; and they further insist, by reason of the advantages 

 possessed by France and the United States, that the English deep- 

 sea fishery has been abandoned. These and similar statements are 

 to be found hi official papers and in private letters, and are never 

 omitted by the colonists in their conversations on the subject of their 

 fisheries. 



It may not be unkind to reply that the French and American fish- 

 ermen are industrious, and that there need be no other explanation 

 of their success. 



The insertion here of the thirteenth article of the treaty of Paris in 

 1814 is not necessary. As already intimated, the French were con- 

 firmed in the rights which they possessed previous to the war. The 

 eleventh article of the treaty of Paris in the following year, at the 

 general pacification in Europe, reiterates the confirmation. Refer- 

 ence, therefore, to the articles of the treaty of 1783, to the "declara- 

 tion" and "counter declaration" recorded at length in the proper 

 connexion, will afford a perfect knowledge of the present extent, 

 limitations, and localities of the fishing-grounds of France hi the 

 American seas. 



With peace came prosperity. In 1816, the French tonnage at New- 

 foundland was nearly thirty-one thousand; the amount in 1823, how- 

 ever, appears to have been reduced nearly one-half. It rose suddenly, 

 and in a single year, to about thirty-seven thousand, and, increasing 

 annually, except in 1825, was upwards of fifty thousand in 1829 

 In the succeeding ten years the increase was only five thousand. 



The number or vessels employed in 1841 and two years later was 

 about four hundred; and the number of seamen in 1847 was estimated 

 at twelve thousand. These facts, on which I rely, afford proof that 

 the Newfoundland fishery is now prosecuted with energy and success. 

 To follow the statements of the English colonists which are to be 

 met with in official documents, the number of men engaged at St. 

 Pierre and Miquelon, and on various parts of the coast between Cape 

 Ray and Cape John, should be computed at twenty-five thousand. 



