80 NEW ENGLAND FISHEEIES 



the other hand, the French were given possession of, and 

 the right to fortify, the Island of Cape Breton and all 

 other islands both within the mouth of the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence and in the Gulf itself. At Newfoundland they 

 were allowed to catch fish and to dry them on land from 

 Cape Bonavista to the northern point of the island, and 

 thence down the western coast as far as Point Riche. They 

 were prohibited from settling or fortifying any place on 

 the island of Newfoundland. 1 



When all things are considered one must conclude that 

 the treaty was greatly to the advantage of Great Britain. 

 If adhered to strictly, it meant that the fishermen of New 

 England would secure a monopoly of the fisheries of the 

 coast of Maine, the Bay of Fundy, and the shore and bank 

 fisheries of Nova Scotia, with equal chance to compete with 

 French fishermen in all other fisheries. The narrow limits 

 of the French possessions would result in a serious curtail- 

 ment of their fisheries. Bitter opposition, however, was 

 aroused in England because France had been given any 

 privileges whatever in American waters. Lord Oxford was 

 impeached because he dared to advise his sovereign that 

 "the subjects of France should have the liberty of fishing 

 and drying fish in Newfoundland. ' ' This was a new senti- 

 ment in diplomacy for an English subject to express; but 

 since his day the great principle that ''the seas of British 

 America are not to be held by the British subjects as a 

 monopoly, and to the exclusion of all other people," has 

 never been entirely disregarded by British statesmen. 2 

 We shall see shortly how the treaty resulted neither in ex- 

 cluding the French from the coasts of Maine and Nova 

 Scotia, nor in diminishing the extent of their fisheries; 

 but, on the contrary, it gave them exceptional advantages 



1 McDonald, pp. 229-233. 



2 Sabine, p. 14. 



