102 THE ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The repressive laws of Great Britain designed to prevent any de- 

 velopment of the island and to secure to the possessions of Great 

 Britain in Europe all the advantages accruing from the fisheries, 

 are to be found in the order in council of March 10, 1670 ; 7 & 8 

 Wm. Ill, cap. 22, 1696 ; 6 10 & 11 William III, cap. 25, 1699 ; 15 Geo. 



III, cap. 31, 1775; d 26 Geo. Ill, cap. 26, 1786; 29 Geo. Ill, cap. 53, 

 1789.' 



These laws, which made it possible for Lord North to give to 

 residents of the Island raw that which they wanted roasted, and to 

 give them roasted that which they wanted raw, remained in force 

 until the year 1824, when they were repealed by the statute 5 Geo. 



IV, cap. 51." 



In 1806 the population was only about 26,000. Back from the 

 coast the island was an almost unbroken wilderness as late as 1852, 

 and the only important settlements were confined to St. John, Ferry- 

 land, Fugo, Burin, the bays of Concepcion, Trinity, Bonavista, For- 

 tune, Bulls, Placentia, and St. Mary's, none of which were on the 

 treaty coasts. 



The foregoing facts are taken from Sabine's Report on the Fish- 

 eries, published in 1853. He also stated : 



The inhabitants [of the Island], as a body, are as ignorant of the 

 interior of the Island as are others. To them, and to all the world, 

 the Colony is known for its fisheries, and for these alone.* 



On the same subject the historian Bouchette said, in his work on 

 " The British Dominion in North America," published in 1831 : 



As all the importance attached to this colony (Newfoundland) has 

 arisen exclusively from its fisheries, little has been done on shore to 

 claim our attention. The different settlements amount to about sixty 

 or seventy in number, and are scattered on the shores of the eastern 

 and southern sides of the island, but principally the former; there 

 are indeed some inhabitants on the western shore near its southern 

 extremity, but they do not extend northward of St. George's Bay, 

 though the vicinity of that bay has proved extremely fertile. 

 ******* 



Since several merchants, deeply engaged in the trade, have settled 

 here (St. John's, Newfoundland), and many industrious inhabitants 

 have by their consistent efforts raised themselves to comparative 

 wealth and since the administration of justice has been placed on a 



British Case, Appendix, 578. British Case, Appendix, 555. 



British Case, Appendix, 520. f British Case, Appendix, 563. 



British Case, Appendix, 525. a British Case, Appendix, 667. 



* British Case, Appendix, 543. * U. S. Case, Appendix, 1179. 



