338 PROSE HALIEtJTICS. 



France could not effect by open force she next attempted 

 by covert encroachments ; and in spite of the treaty of 

 Utrecht, which had awarded Newfoundland to the Eng- 

 lish, 'la grande nation' again outwitted us, for in 1721 

 she had in her employ no less than four himdred vessels 

 trading in cod, which quite eclipsed our own, and chiefly 

 supplied foreign markets with French morue. Embol- 

 dened by success, they took, in 1762, during our third 

 George's reign, forcible possession of the island, but had 

 only salted their cod in peace for one year, when it was 

 again wrested from them by the English. After various 

 altercations on both sides, the modern Gauls at length 

 fired and consumed aU our drying-stages; a grievous 

 loss, and one amply retaliated no doubt by the English. 

 In view of this and similar acts of violence and misrule, 

 ' I need not,' says Mr. Pitt in 1800, ' urge upon the House 

 that the fishery of Newfoundland has been for two centu- 

 ries the constant object of rivalship between the French 

 and English.' And 'at this time' (1831), writes the au- 

 thor of ' Newfoundland' in the ' Penny Cyclopsedia,' ' it 

 is far from being placed on a satisfactory footing, though 

 the sovereignty of the island, as settled by the treaty of 

 Utrecht, remains undisputed.' Fortunately for all men, 

 cod, when fished for at a right depth (viz. at from twenty- 

 five to fifty fathoms), are to be found in vast and seem- 

 ingly exhaustless quantities ia many other parts of the 

 watery world, as well as over the summit of that great 

 submarine mountain, which was looked upon for a time 

 as their great and almost exclusive depot. So long back 

 as in the days of Edward IV., when English fisher- 

 men were strictly prohibited the cod-trade in the isles 

 of Sweden and Denmark, and were especially warned 

 off the coasts of Iceland, the exports from these places 

 were so great,- as to induce Elizabeth, during the reign of 

 Christian IV. of Denmark, first to beg and then take 

 ' French leave' to send her subjects thither on the ven- 



