XX INTRODUCTION 



had unfortunately existed between British and French fishermen. But 

 peace is to be maintained not by granting to Frenchmen rights which they 

 did not previously possess — namely, an exclusive right to fishing within 

 the defined limits — but to prevent British subjects "from interrupting, 

 in any manner, bJ^ their competition, the fishery of the French during 

 the temporary exercise of it which is granted to them upon the coasts of 

 the Island of Newfoundland." Competition is to exist in the future as 

 in the past, but British competition is not to prevent French fishermen 

 from exercising their treaty rights. Competition cannot be synonymous 

 with exclusion, because Great Britain refused to insert in the Declara- 

 tion the word "exclusion" which was pressed upon them by the French 

 negotiators. It means what it says and it says what it means. British 

 subjects were not to maintain "fixed settlements upon the French shore," 

 because the existence of fixed settlements would prevent French fisher- 

 men from erecting temporary fishing stages upon the ground occupied 

 by British structures. This would deprive French fishermen of the full 

 exercise of their treaty rights. Therefore, fixed settlements erected by 

 British subjects were to be removed from the French shore. 



But French fishermen could not build scaffolds, huts, or repair 

 their fishing vessels without wood, any more than bricks could be made 

 without straw, to quote a familiar expression. Therefore, the right to 

 cut wood for purposes of repair was acknowledged, and, in order that the 

 right might be exercised in the time and manner essential to the fishing 

 industry, French fishermen were not to be "incommoded." 



Again, while the French fishermen were permitted to build scaffolds 

 and huts, and to repair their fishing vessels upon "the French shore," 

 they were not to remain upon the island during the winter, because 

 experience showed that temporary settlements were likely to become 

 permanent and insensibly ripen into a claim inconsistent with the terri- 

 torial sovereignty of the grantor. But during the fishing season and 

 during their temporary occupation of the coasts, French fishermen were 

 not to be molested, and during their absence the scaffolds erected for 

 use in connection with the fisheries were not to be injured. 



Article IV of the Treaty of 1783 ceded St. Pierre and Miquelon in 

 full sovereignty to France, but the cession, however formal and complete, 

 was not to become a menace to Great Britain. They were still to serve 

 "as a real, shelter to the French fishermen," and Great Britain regarded 

 them as ceded solely for this purpose "and in full confidence that these 

 possessions will not become an object of jealousy between the two 

 nations." It seems, therefore, abundantly clear that the Declaration 

 as thus analyzed was merely a solemn recognition of antecedent rights 



