26 



of St. Pierre and Miquelon to France, regards them as ceded for the 

 purpose of serving as a real shelter to the French fishermen, and in full 

 confidence that these possessions will not become an object of jealousy 

 between the two nations, and that the fishery between the said 

 I'slands and that of Newfoundland shall be limited to the middle of 

 the channel." 



In the " counter declaration" on the part of France, it is said that — 



" The King of Great Britain undoubtedly places too much confidence 

 in the uprightness of his Majesty's intentions not to rely upon his con- 

 stant attention to prevent the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon from 

 becoming an object of jealousy between the two nations. As to the 

 fishery on the coasts of Newfoundland, which has been the object of 

 the new arrangements settled by the two sovereigns upon this matter, 

 it is sufficiently ascertained by the 5th article of the treaty of peace 

 signed this day, and by the declaration likewise delivered this day by 

 his Britannic Majesty's ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary; 

 and his Majesty declares that he is fully satisfied on this head. In re- 

 gard to the fishery between the island of Newfoundland and those of 

 St. Pierre and Miquelon, it is not to be carried on, by either party, but 

 to the middle of the channel; and his Majesty will give the most posi- 

 tive ordefs that the French fishermen shall not go beyond this fine. 

 His Majesty is firmly persuaded that the King of Great Britain wiU 

 give like orders to the English fishermen." 



The fishery at St. Pierre and Miquelon, at the period of the French 

 revolution, was in aprosperous condition ; butthe confusion and distresses 

 of civil war soon produced a disastrous change, and the fishing-grounds 

 were in a great degree abandoned for several years. In 1792, the 

 number of men employed both at Newfoundland and Iceland was less 

 than thirty-four hundred. The hostile relations with England which 

 followed the domestic commotions caused additional misfortunes, until 

 the peace of Amiens, in 1802.* 



In the year 1800., by a treaty between the United States and France, 

 concluded at Paris, it was stipulated that "neither party will interfere 

 with the fisheries of the other on its coasts, nor disturb the other in the 

 exercise of its rights which it now holds, or may acquire, on the coast 

 of Newfoundland, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or elsewhere on the 

 American coast northward of the United States. But the whale and seal 

 fisheries shall be firee to both in every quarter of the world." Napoleon, 

 at this time, was " premier consul of the French republic." 



The French cod-fishery at Newfoundland was hardly re-established 

 at the peace of Amiens, when renewed hostilities with England occa- 

 sioned fresh calamities. Until the downfall of Napoleon, in 1814, this 

 branch of distant industiy was pursued without vigor, and with severe 

 losses, 



■ ^ — r- 



' The fishing prWileges which were continued to France were again the subject of complaint 

 at the peace of Amiens. The Eight Hon. William Windham, in a speech in Parliament, No¥em- 

 ber 4, 1801 , said that, by the terms of the proposed peace, " France gives nothing, and, excepting 

 Trinidad and Ceylon, England gives everything ;" and in the enumeration of cessions which 

 " tended only to confirm more and more the deep despair in which he was pkmged in con- 

 templating the probable consequences of the present treaty," he mentioned," "in North 

 America, St. Pierre and Miquelon, with a right to the fisheries in the fullest extent to which 

 th&y were ever claimed." 



