THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERY QUESTION. 211 



To this Despatch, Sir Terence O'Brien repHed as follows : 



' ' Ministers desire to call the attetuion of her Majesty's Government to the re- 

 rejection by the colony of the arrangement of 1885 as constituting a reply to the 

 second proposal of the French Government for a settlement based upon that arrange- 

 ment. With respect to the proposal for a settlement by Arbitration, if it is upon the 

 basis proposed by delegates in July last, my Ministers assent ; if otherwise, they wish 

 for information as to the meaning oif the phrase "settlement by Arbitration." My 

 Government cannot assent to any Arbitration which does not include withdrawal of 

 the French from the coast ; that the granting of facilities for procuring bait be con- 

 sidered only with the modification of bounties. Whilst my Ministers recognise the 

 necessity for sufficient time being allowed for complete negotiations after they take 

 definite form, they beg to remind her Majesty's Government of the emphatic protests 

 made by them, the Legislature, and the public, as well as by the delegates, against 

 the modus vivendi, as being most hostile to interests of colony, and they are net, 

 therefore, prepared to give legislative sanction to the modus vivendi," 



H.M. Government were now placed in an embarrassing position, 

 for on the one hand the Government of Newfoundland had refused 

 to recognise the modus vivendi agreed upon between England 

 and France for the temporary fishing operations during 1890, and on 

 the other hand, they had practically refused a reference to Arbitra- 

 tion of any portion of the fishery dispute, unless that reference em- 

 braced the wider question, viz., the withdrawal of the French from 

 the coast-line of Newfoundland, and, therefore, it is not to be 

 wondered at that in view of this persistent policy of resistance 

 adopted by the Government and Parliament of Newfoundland, H.M. 

 Government have been compelled to appeal to the intervention of 

 the Imperial Parliament to enable them to carry out a policy towards 

 Newfoundland of conciliation and of justice, in accordance with 

 what they consider to be the obligations of Great Britain with the 

 Government of France. The following extract from a Despatch, 

 from the Marquis of Sahsbury, addressed to Lord Knutsford, 19th 

 January, 1891, a copy of which was sent to the Governor of New- 

 foundland, conveys the views and intentions of H.M. Government : 



The existence of some French rights, whatever their exact interpretation may be, 

 is a matter of absolute certainty. The signature of England has been pledged again 

 and again to their acknowledgment. They cannot be repudiated so long as the bind- 

 ing force of any Treaty obligations made in the past is admitted. The honour of 

 England is committed to the acceptance of them, and the nation certainly would never 

 consent to a breach with France incurred in the support of what would be a plain 

 infraction of Treaty right. 



It is quite conceivable that the Colonial Ministers should dislike to incur any 

 responsibility in support of Treaty rights which they have no interest in upholding, and 

 the cogency of which may be imperfectly understood by the popidation of Newfound- 

 land. But their refusal to give us their co-operation in the matter does not reUeve this 

 country from the obligations which it has incurred. 



