1 86 THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHER V^ QUESTION. 



encircled with woods, with their rivers and streams pouring into the 

 bay, the harbours present a picturesque and attractive scene, which 

 adds a charm to the life of the fishermen. 



Twice or thrice a month the occupied harbours are visited by the 

 French men-of-war that are despatched each year by the Navy 

 department for the surveillance of the fisheries, and the duty of the 

 commanding officer is to inspect the fishing grounds, to listen to 

 complaints, to repress acts of undiscipline, and generally to see and 

 report that the state of things around Newfoundland is conformable 

 to the rights secured by Treaty. 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION. 



We will now refer to the nature of the political situation which 

 exists at Newfoundland, and of the difficulties that for many years 

 have perplexed the two Governments of France and England, and 

 that are now the object of their serious attention. 



The question at issue is similar in its character to that which arose 

 in 1783, when the Treaty of Versailles was signed, but it has become 

 infinitely more complex, and for many years the two Nations have 

 endeavoured to secure a settlement ; but all their efforts have been ' 

 unavailing, as not one step has been made in that direction. France 

 maintains that by the Treaties of Utrecht of 17 13, of Paris of 1763, 

 and especially by the Treaty of Versailles of 1783, that she secured, 

 in the first place, the right to fish upon the coast of Newfoundland, 

 from Cape Ray to' Cape St. John ; in the second place, that this 

 right is exclusive and absolute on the coast line defined by the 

 Treaties aforesaid ; and lastly she denies the concurrent fishing rights 

 over this portion of the littoral Anglais, that are maintained by the 

 Newfoundlanders, and this position assumed by France, she seems 

 determined to safeguard with a jealous eye. 



On the other side of the question, England considers that the Treaties 

 imply not a prohibition to the Colonists, but an obligation imposed 

 upon her not to hinder France from fishing operations ; or, in other 

 words, England demands the right for the Colonists to fish upon all 

 the points of the coast that France has the right by Treaty to prose- 

 cute the fishery, subject to one condition, that no injury is inflicted 

 on the French operations. 



These Treaties, or rather the interpretation of them, have, for 

 upwards of 100 years, been the cause of chronic controversy between 



