21 



and in putting down French' pretensions, that our fathers acquired the 

 skill and experience necessary lor the successful assertion of their own. 



We pass to consider the terms of the treaty of 1763. In reply to 

 the propositions of the court of London, the French ministry, at the 

 commencement of the negotiations in 1761, consented to guaranty to 

 England the possession of Canada, provided England would restore 

 the island of Cape Breton, and confirm the right of French subjects to 

 take and cure fish in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as well as on the banks 

 and in the island of Newfoundland. The fortifications of Louisbourg, 

 the court of Versailles, however, suggested should be destroyed, and 

 the harbor laid open for common use. These terras seem to have been 

 the ultimatum of France. 



In reply, the British ministry insisted upon the unconditional cession 

 of Canada, with all its dependencies, and the cession of Cape Breton and 

 aU other islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They rephed, further, 

 that the important privilege of fishing- and curing cod on the coast of 

 Newfoundland, as provided in the treaty of Utrecht, they had not 

 designed to refuse, but merely to connect with stipulations relative to 

 Dunkirk; and that the island of St. Peter would be ceded to France 

 upon four indispensable conditions : first, that the island should not be 

 fortified, or troops be stationed upon it, under any pretext whatever ; 

 second, that, denying the vessels of other nations all rights even of 

 shelter, France should use the island and its harbOr for her own fisher- 

 men alone; third, that the possession of the island should not be 

 deemed to extend in any manner the stipulations of the treaty of 

 Utrecht — ^that is to say, "A loco Cap Bonavista non cupato tisqtte ad 

 extremitatem gusdem insula septenirionalem, indique at latus occideniale 

 recurrendo usque ad locum Pointe Riche appellatum" — [From the place 

 called Cape Bqnavista to the northern extremity of the said island, 

 and thence running westerly to thel place denominated Point Riche';] 

 fourth, that an English commissary should be allowed to reside at St. 

 Peter, and the commander of the British ships-of-war on the New- 

 foundland station have libeity, fi-om time lo time, to visit the island, to 

 see that these four conditions be duly observed. 



With these propositions the French ministry were dissatisfied. They 

 desired rights of fishing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while, with regard 

 to the cession of St. Peter, they remarked that it was so small and so 

 near Placentia, that, as a shelter, it would prove altogether illusive, and 

 serve to create disputes between the two nations, rather than facili- 

 tate the fishery of the French subjects ; and they referred to the cession 

 of Cape Breton, or of the island of St. John, as at first suggested, but 

 expressed a willingness to accept of Canseau instead of either. Still, 

 if the British ministry, for reasons unknown to them, could not agree 

 to the cession of Canseau, then theysubmitted that Miquelon, an island, 

 or, as they considered, a part of St. Peter, should be included in the 

 cession of the last-named island, for the two joined together did not 

 exceed three leagues in extent. They said also that they would main- 

 tain no military establishment at either of the places mentioned, except 

 a guard of fifty men to support police regulations ; and that, as much as 

 possible with so weak a force, they would prevent all foreign vessels 

 from sheltering, as required ; while they would limit their fishery on the 



