QUESTION THREE. 105 



istration of Newfoundland was, in a great measure, an exclusively 

 mercantile or trading government; which, as Adam Smith very 

 justly observes, " is perhaps the very worst of all governments for any 

 country whatever ; " and a powerless planter, or fisherman, never 

 expected, or seldom received, justice from the adventurers, or the 

 fishing admirals, who were their servants. Mr. Reeves, in his His- 

 tory of Newfoundland, states, " that they had been in the habit of 

 seeing that species of wickedness and anarchy ever since Newfound- 

 land was frequented, from father to son; it was favourable to their 

 old impressions, that Newfoundland was theirs, and that all the 

 plantations were to be spoiled and devoured at their pleasure. 



There is no doubt but that so arbitrary an assumption and prac- 

 tice of misrule produced the consequences that severity always gen- 

 erates; and that the planters soon reconciled themselves to the prin- 

 ciples of deceit and falsehood, or to the schemes that would most 

 effectually enable them to elude their engagements with the adven- 

 turers. The resident fishermen, also, who were driven from time to 

 time out of Newfoundland, by the statute of William and Mary, 

 generally turned out the most hardened and depraved characters 

 wherever they went. * * * 



The whole of the west coast of Newfoundland, north of the bay 

 St. George, is unsettled, although some of the lands are the best on the 

 island. At the bay of Port au Port there is plenty of coal. The Bay 

 of Islands receives three fine rivers, one of which, called the Humber, 

 runs out of a large lake. Farther north is Bonne Bay, which branches 

 into two arms; and then follow several small coves, bays and rivers, 

 for about sixty miles, where the Bay of Ignorachoix, containing 

 three harbours, enters the island. 



A few miles nearer the strait of Belle Isle, St. John's Bay is situ- 

 ated, containing several islands, and receiving the waters of Castor 

 river, which flows through about thirty miles of country. The lands 

 about this bay are mountainous. The coast, for about thirty miles 

 north, is indented with small rivers and numerous minor inlets; and 

 then along the strait of Belle Isle to Cape Norman, the most north- 

 westerly point of Newfoundland, a straight shore prevails, along 

 which an old Indian path is observable. 



MAGDALEN ISLANDS. 



This cluster of islands is situated within the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 seventy-three miles distant from Newfoundland, sixty miles from 

 Prince Edward Island, and sixty-five miles from Cape Breton. They 

 are the property of Sir Isaac Coffin, who appears to take very little 

 interest in them. The inhabitants about 500 in number, are Arca- 

 dian French, who live principally by means of fishing. In the month 

 of April, they go in their shallops among the fields of ice that float 

 in the gulf, in quest of seals ; and in summer, they employ themselves 

 in fishing for herring and cod.* * * * 



Custom-houses were not established on the south coast, westward of 

 Fortune Bay, before 1848, nor on the western coast of the island 



U. S. Counter Case, Appendix, 569-573, 677-579. 



